The increase is mostly due to my increasing interest in science over the past 12 months. Now that I don’t have homework to do, papers to write, chapters to read, presentations to make, I can learn what I want when I want.

I was never a great science student. But I have learned that science isn’t just memorizing boring facts; it’s a way of looking at the world around you — a deep understanding.

Consider that all living organisms on this planet share a common ancestor. If you trace your genealogy and one of a maple tree back billions of years, you would find that you share relatives. You are, literally, distant cousins with that maple tree.

Or consider that the sun is one of 200 billion — written out as 200,000,000,000 — stars in our galaxy. And there are hundreds of billions of galaxies in the universe. Think of the kinds of life that may be out there, orbiting one of those other suns.

I have a finite amount of breaths left to live. I would be remiss to fail to understand the universe I find myself in before it’s too late.

The owner of the team is a guy who played for the Indians in the early 1980s, Kevin Rhomberg. “Super” Joe Charboneau, who won the 1980 AL Rookie of the Year award, is the team’s hitting coach.

Opening day was Friday night. Len Barker, who threw a perfect game for the Indians in 1981, threw out the ceremonial first pitch. I got to speak with Barker and Charboneau during the evening, which was pretty cool.

I finished my story on the Indians affiliated with the team and left work around 11:30 p.m. After an hour of driving and an hour of winding down, I got to bed around 1:30.

Then I woke up at about 5 a.m. to drive to Columbus to cover the state track championships. I was down at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium for about 12 hours — 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

There was a ton of people in the stands (and all around the stadium) and a ton of other writers there, so it was an interesting experience.

Rain and thunder delayed action two separate times. Three of our local athletes won state titles and a dozen or so others placed. While it was an extremely long and draining two days, I felt very accomplished.

I crashed the next day, sleeping for more than ten hours. I think I’m fully recovered now, and I still work five more days until my next day off.

Since 2004, the first semester of my senior year of high school, I had been extremely interested in this show. Lost made you think. It stretched your imagination. The characters were complex and dynamic. The plot was unique.

I don’t think I will ever be interested in a show like I was in Lost. Most TV today is simple, straightforward and predictable, e.g., cop shows where the bad guy gets caught or medical shows where the doctors come through.

But Lost cannot be summarized in a paragraph. A group of people survives a plane crash on some “special” topical island. There’s time travel, mythology and alternate timelines. Nobody really seems to know what’s going on.

The finale did not answer some of the big questions: what exactly was the island? What was the significance of Jacob and the Man in Black? What happened to the characters on the island after the final scene?

It seems the show focused more on the relationships between the characters, which is hardly unforgivable; they are what drove the show. It seemed a little cheesy, though, to have all of the characters –presumably deceased — reunited in the alternate timeline in some kind of a heaven/purgatory afterlife.

I will most likely spend the next few weeks wracking my brain over what happened. I still feel like I need some kind of closure.

With Alias and Lost — and to some extent Prison Break — I have gone from 2001 to 2010 (nine years is about 40 percent of my life now) watching such compelling shows. Now I have no idea what I will watch on TV.

Probably nothing. I don’t foresee anything being able to compete with Lost.

In the offseason, the team acquired C Shaquille O’Neal, SG Anthony Parker, SF Jamario Moon and PF Antawn Jamison — a great increase in talent .

There were ups and downs throughout the season, but they were consistently the best team in the NBA. They finished with the best record in the league for the second year in a row.

The Cavs beat the Chicago Bulls in five games (best of seven) and moved on to face the aging Boston Celtics.

It suffices to say the Cavs fell flat on their face and lost to Boston in six games. They had no answer for PG Rajon Rondo, and the whole Cavs team seemed to be discombobulated. The effort cost head coach Mike Brown his job.

SF LeBron James is going to be a free agent this summer, and nobody knows where he will sign. It’s been the talk of the town/country all year. Many think he will leave Cleveland for a larger market.

No matter what happens, this season ended way before most fans thought it would. The result was the same as always — watching another team hoist the championship trophy.

Plus, the Indians suck and Browns aren’t looking much better. Things could get very bleak in this town.

Consecutive seasons in Cleveland since its last championship: 128

I have been in the swing of things for a while now at work. I’m not the new guy anymore, and everything is going more and more smoothly as time goes on.

I have covered playoff basketball games (boys and girls), baseball, softball and track. Luckily for me, a lot of these games have been close and fun to watch. I definitely can’t complain about this aspect of my job. (Check out the Writing page to read some good stories)

Aside from writing, I spend most of my time at work laying out pages. Most of the time, I lay out the Scoreboard page, which is the first inside page of the sports section — the one with all of the small print on it.

Around the middle of April, I actually got to lay out the section the front page and the other main pages). I didn’t do too bad for my first time, though some typos had to be fixed right at deadline.

My only real complaint I have about my job, if I had to pick one, is that I don’t know when I will work until the week beforehand. And I don’t get two days off in a row very often. I’ve gotten used to the hour drive. It’s not that bad.

Oh, and I have a new car. From age 16 to 22 I drove a red Ford Ranger. My brother had it for four or five years before that. It lasted 11 years and served its purpose. Now I am driving a white Volkswagen Jetta. Better gas mileage, a back seat, power windows and locks. Major upgrade.

RIP Red Ranger, 1998-2010.

Senior center fielder Colin Watson began the inning by walking and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by junior shortstop Mark Andrews.

Brookside then intentionally walked junior Ian Mezlak. With the score 3-2 in favor of the Cardinals, senior first baseman Eric Thompson was hit by a pitch to load the bases.

Presutto was ahead in the count, waiting for a fastball to drive.

“I took a pitch on a 3-0 count, but I could have hit that out of the ballpark,” Presutto said. “(The ball I hit) was a fastball, and I just tried to give my team the best chance to win. I was feeling a lot of pressure at the plate. I don’t know what I was thinking. I was just hoping for the best.”

Brookside scored a run in the top of the eighth to break the tie but was unable to hold its lead.

Junior third baseman Nick Ackerman led off the inning with an infield single and stole second a batter later.

With one out, senior Stephan Moody dropped a double down the left field line, bringing Ackerman home.

Brookside could have added more, but the inning ended with a play at the plate.

With two outs the bases loaded, a pitch from Melzak got behind senior catcher Angel Flecha. Flecha ran to the backstop, picked up the ball and raced to the plate, diving to tag Brookside’s Rockey Radeff just before he got to the base.

“This team never gives up, they play hard and are real resilient,” Clearview head coach Dennis Pihlblad said. “It’s giving me a lot of grey hairs, but I’m real proud of the way they came through in the last inning.”

Senior Kyle Baughmann started the game for the Clippers, allowing two runs on six hits in six-plus innings. The right-hander struck out three and walked two.

Baughman was replaced by Mezlak, who earned the win. He struck out four and walked two in two innings.

“Kyle pitched a fantastic game,” Pihlblad said. “His pitch count was in the upper 70s, and when you have a closer like Ian, we had to bring him in.”

At the plate, Mezlak tripled home the first run of the evening for Clearview in the first inning. He finished 2 for 3 at the plate with two RBI.

“I felt pretty good when I was pitching out there,” Mezlak said. “I was working my fastball and tried to use some changeups, but it was mainly my fastball. I’ve been good at the plate all year. A lot of hard work in the offseason put me there.

Brookside took an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Ackerman hit a double to the gap in right field, scoring sophomore shortstop Hunter Skolnicki.

Radeff later brought Ackerman home with a hard-hit single through the left side of the infield.

Junior starter Tyler Tapaszi went seven-plus innings for the Cardinals, allowing seven hits, striking out four and walking none.

Baughmann and Tapaszi settled down after the first inning, going scoreless for the next four.

Clearview was able to do just a little more at the plate.

“They were able to do the little things, like moving runners,” Pihlblad said. “There are going to be close games, and you’re going to have to move runners.”

Andrews was a perfect example. He bunted two runners to second in the game, each of which ended up coming around to score.

Brookside next plays a doubleheader at home against Glenville today at 11 a.m.

Clearview travels to North Ridgeville to play a doubleheader at the same time.

You can follow me at Twitter.com/SchuettCL.

I will try to keep writing here as much as possible, but the next time won’t be until my day off on Thursday.

Unfortunately for the Saints, Tuesday night’s game lasted 32 minutes.

Waite used a 21-3 run to end the first half after Southview took an early lead in the first quarter. The Indians kept pulling away in the second half en route to a 73-34 victory in the Division I Regional Semifinal at Norwalk High School.

“We came out and battled,” Southview head coach Scott Plzak said. “I think we surprised them a bit. All of a sudden the pressure came and we did not take care of the basketball.”

Southview had a difficult time getting past the Indians’ physical full-court press, led by athletic Natasha Howard in the middle.

The 6-foot-3 All-American senior helped her team force 34 turnovers.

She also finished with a game-high 28 points, including 10 in the critical third quarter.

Southview’s junior standout Shanique Ogle hit a 3-point shot early in the second quarter to give her team a 13-9 lead.

Waite’s 21-3 run made the score 30-16 at halftime.

The run continued into the third quarter, as the Indians pushed their lead to 50-20 in the third quarter.

“We knew they were going to come after us, and we panicked,” Ogle said. “We just lost focus when the pressure came.”

After the competitive first quarter, Waite outscored the Saints by 40, 64-24.

Ogle finished with a team-high 22 points. She was continually able to get to the rim early on, making three layups driving to her right in the first quarter.

Southview held a 10-9 advantage after the first eight minutes.

But Waite soon turned the defensive pressure up after falling behind early.

Six-foot-two junior Shanice McNeal was a dominating presence inside, scoring 21 points. The height and athleticism of Howard and McNeal helped the Indians out-rebound Southview 53-28.

Howard had 12 rebounds in the first half.

Ogle had to be substituted out with five minutes remaining in the second quarter after picking up her second personal foul. That’s when the devastating run got out of hand.

“We turned the ball over a ridiculous amount of times,” Plzak said. “That led to easy points the other way.”

The two teams each had 18 turnovers heading into halftime. The difference was that the majority of Southview’s turnovers happened near Waite’s basket, resulting in easy layups.

Any chance for a Southview comeback was put to rest when the Indians began the fourth quarter on an 11-0 run.

Ogle took the brunt of the scoring responsibility, as no other Saint recorded more than four points.

“Our plan on defense was to keep (Ogle) in control,” Howard said. “We did what we had to do.”

Senior guard Mariah Haynes added 12 points for Waite.

The future is uncertain for many Southview players as the school will consolidate with Admiral King in the offseason. However, the Saints did not have many problems with the way their last season as Southview ended.

“Overall I felt we did well this year,” said Marisol Torres, who scored Southview’s last basket. “We went hard in every practice and game. We accomplished a lot this season, especially winning the district championship.”

Torres, Tanitra Smith, Valancia Frymier and Shanel Melendez each played in their final high school basketball game.

The Saints were underdogs in the playoffs against Westlake and needed a late comeback to defeat Cloverlead in the district finals.

“We played hard, and I couldn’t be more proud of my team,” Plzak said. “We are district champs, that’s what I’m going to take away from this.”

Waite will move on to play the winner of the Perrysburg vs. Brecksville-Broadview Heights game in the regional finals on March 13.

With less than 20 seconds left and the score tied at 56, Skolnicki hit a pair from the line. Harrison then hit two more to ensure the Cardinals’ victory.

“I had been practicing a lot, so I was confident,” said Skolnicki, who was playing with a broken middle finger on his right hand. “After that, I just had to focus and get over the crowd.”

Harrison finished with 10 points, including four free throws and a key rebound in overtime.

“Mike is not our best free throw shooter on the team,” Brookside coach Brent Schremp said, “but he kept his head in the game and handled the pressure.”

Brookside (11-11) spent much of the first half gaining momentum and extending its lead. By the middle of the third quarter, the Cardinals held a 41-31 advantage.

However, a 10-0 run by the Green Wave (14-7) tied the score at 41 with five minutes left in the game.

After exchanging five travelling violations in a two minute span, Brookside senior Stefan Moody hit a 3-point shot to give his team a 46-43 lead.

Moody made a layup in traffic to extend the lead to five, but Holy Name senior Corey Elliot made a 3-pointer soon after to bring the score to 48-46 with 20.7 second remaining in regulation.

On the next posession, Holy Name fouled Chris Matthias, who missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw opportunity.

Holy Name controlled the rebound, and with 6.1 seconds left, junior Seamus Day found himself wide open under the basket after a back cut. He made the easy layup to tie the game at 48.

Brookside junior Art Howell missed a halfcourt shot, landing out of bounds with less than a second left.

Holy named attempted to inbound the ball, but it sailed high and got stuck in a crossbeam near the ceiling. The ball went back to the Cardinals with a chance to win the game with .2 second left. A high lob near the basket was tapped away by Holy Name.

After trailing for much of the game, the Green Wave successfully extended the game.

“Fortunately for us, basketball is a game of ebbs and flows,” Schremp said. “We learned from our mistakes earlier in the year. We didn’t get too high or too low tonight.”

Holy name took its first lead since 4-0 with two free throws from Elliot, making the score 50-48.

The Cardinals quickly responded when senior Nick Jackman hit his second 3 of the game.

With the score 54-53 in favor of Brookside with 49 seconds left, Harrison came through with two free throws.

Elliot then hit another 3 to tie the game.

Brookside sealed its fate when Skolnicki and Harrison made their last four free throws.

“Coach makes me do extra free throws,” Harrison said. “I was pretty nervous after missing one earlier in overtime.”

The ability to consistently make free throws was the difference in the game. Brookside shot 16 of 22 (73 percent), while Holy Name shot 10 of 22 (45 percent) from the line.

“We are usually a good free throw shooting team,” Holy Name head coach Mark Krakowiak said. “We missed a lot of shot we should have made. It just wasn’t our night.”

Senior Matt Heben led the Green Wave with 14 points. Senior Kevin Krakowiak and Elliot added 10 and 12, respectively.

Moody led Brookside with 17 points. Jackman added 15.

The Cardinals will move on to play Bay in the district semifinals on Wednesday. Brookside started the tournament with a comeback victory over Keystone.

“We said all week that if we can establish a tournament mentality, pick up the pressure and intensity, good things can happen,” Schremp said.

I have done quite a bit of writing:

• Two basketball game stories – Elyria @ Southview and Huron @ Brookside.
• A wrestling story that I am ashamed of. I know nothing about wrestling. I want to pretend it never happened.
• A feature on the Southview basketball team. They have a chance to win their conference in the last year of the school’s existence. I also shot and edited a video for the story.
• A feature on a local high school football player playing at Pitt next fall.
• A story on a new high school volleyball coach in the area.
• A short hockey story.

Other stuff I do includes answering phones, laying out some easy pages, and calling local high school athletes that we name “Athletes of the Week.” My responsibilities have been increasing as I get accustomed to the job. I got my picture in the paper next to a Super Bowl prediction – that turned out to be pretty wrong.

I keep learning more and more every week. I still make some mistakes, though, and I need to be more careful proofreading other people’s work and my own. I am learning fast, but there is still a lot of room for improvement.

You can find some links to my writing at the Writing section above.