Softball Wrap - Game 1

Tonight marked something that I have been excited about for a few months now - the start of the softball season. Softball for me marks a chance to get out and get some exercise, have fun, hang out with the people I work with in a different setting and also the fact that it is warm enough to do things outside.

I got myself a new shirt for this season. Last year my shirt was a bit small, so this year I decided I would go the next size up. If you look at it like me playing a game, some sort of role play game perhaps, my new shirt adds +1 size, +2 movement and +1 dexterity. It doesn't up my strength attribute though... my charisma is handled by my hat (I wear my Aussie hat).

Following promising practice sessions I was excited to see if my form would move over to game conditions as well. Not so much, but I did play well, I thought. Nothing to report in terms of fielding. I play right center, so the ball rarely comes to me, unless a left hander is batting. Also, given that this was the first week, some of the people who might normally hit big were struggling. No balls came to right center in 7 innings, and only one ball went to right field.

Batting was more interesting. My first at bat I was brimming with nervous energy, and only managed to hit a ground ball to the left of shortstop. Luckily, it was far enough left that I knew I could make it if I hauled ass. Ass was hauled and I made it to first just before the ball did. Base hits from the people behind me saw me work my way to second and then third bases, before the 3rd out fell while I was running from third to home. I knew I'd have other chances though.

My second at bat was the one I was happiest with. Part of what ended up being a 9 run inning for InsightExpress, I'm pretty sure a runner was on second, so I just wanted to make sure I didn't leave them hanging. I watched the first pitch go inside for a ball. Next pitch was closer to where I wanted, so I went for it. Lobbing the ball into shallow left field I ran. I hit first and figured I could keep going. Looking up I realized that the outfielder had made the ball and was throwing to second. They released the ball and I was still a few feet away from the base. Because I could have stopped on first the fielder had to tag me - catching it on the base wouldn't be enough to get me out. I timed my approach and then dropped into a slide. To my surprise I had judged it very well - my outstretched left foot got to the base just as the fielder caught the ball and swung around for the tag. I'll admit it - it was a bit of a rush when the umpire called me "safe". Claps and cheers from the team were followed by the umpire approaching me and saying "Excuse me." I thought I was in trouble; he just wanted to clean the base and my slide marks. The next batter had a hit, moving me to third, then the next batter brought me home. My knee stung a little, just a small graze, but it was worth it. I loved sliding. It was even called a "textbook slide" by a teammate. I'd do it again - in fact, I'm sure on a few occasions this year it will come up as necessary again.

Third at bat I popped a ball up to first base and was caught out.

At the end of the game InsightExpress emerged victorious by a scoreline of something like 13 - 9. Good fun and a solid start to the season. I have a feeling I can get better, and, after all, Liz had asked me not to do anything totally spectacular tonight because she couldn't make it to the game... yeah, that's why I popped that last one up, I did that instead of hitting a home run...

New car

It's been a while since a post, but with good reason. Things have been really busy, especially for Liz, who did most of the running around for this:

It's a 2010 Kia Rio. Why a Rio? It's inexpensive and does reasonably good on gas (not as good as the Prius did, but OK still). With the money from the trade-in on the Prius we only had to drop a little bit of money on the Rio, which we looked at as a way not to have a car payment any more. Plus, our trust in Toyota is a little shaken at the moment with all the recalls and stuff like that. It's weird to drive a car that only uses gas/petrol to drive it - I will need to get used to it again. It has some cool features, such as Sirius satellite radio. Sure, it's not that big of a feature, but it's cool none the less.

The interior: note the Hummer in the background.

Did anyone fall for it? Probably not. The real reason there is a Kia Rio in our garage is because the Prius was involved in a rear-end collision last Friday. Liz was driving home from work and a girl ran up the back of her. The rear bumper is trashed, and parts of the boot/trunk have been pushed in, meaning that the hatch door no longer closes. That makes it not good to drive, so while the Prius is "in the shop", we have the Rio. Btw, Liz is OK, but she does have a very sore back and neck...

So, what about the Rio? It's everything you'd expect. It doesn't have electric windows, which you can live without, I suppose. It doesn't have central locking. What?! I kid you not. No central locking. It has stylish hubcaps and a plain interior. It really is weird to drive, but I'm sure it will be OK once I'm used to it (which may or may not happen in the 6 - 8 business days we are waiting for our car).

But anyone who has been to the Mo' Sho' (motor show) knows the true test of a car.

Boot (trunk): actually reasonably sized, but damn uncomfortable and hard to get out of. Yes, I took a photo in the boot. Self-timer on a tripod. Actually, 2 photos.

I SAW A GROUNDHOG!!!

What do you do when you yell out pretty much the entire content of your post in the title?

Oh, yeah. I could provide details. Q&A style.

You saw a groundhog?

Yes, yes I did.

Really?

Yes.

When did you see this groundhog?

I saw the groundhog at approximately 1:15PM, US Eastern Daylight Savings time.

Are you lying about seeing a groundhog?

No.

Then where did you see the groundhog?

I saw it at work. It was outside. It was at roughly 41°02'27.44"N 73°31'52.28"W.

Did you download Google Earth or something like that to get that specific about the location?

Yes.

Was anyone with you when you saw the groundhog?

Yes. Mike was there.

What did you do when you saw the groundhog?

I said "Dude, what's that?" then Mike said "What, the groundhog?" I responded with "That's a groundhog? But I've never seen a groundhog!" then I ran down the path to see where the groundhog went - it was sitting next to some rocks. As I got closer it went into the rocks, presumably to hide from me.

Do you think you will ever see the groundhog again?

Perhaps. I think things went well this time, so I'd like to hope so.

Did you have a camera with you?

No... but here's a file photo. It looked like this.

File photo? Why should we even believe you saw a groundhog?

Smells like mothballs, sounds like John Williams

This morning I got up and I put on my concert-going Sunday best - jeans and my Boba Fett musical t-shirt. Why? We just got home from seeing the Stamford Symphony's production "Themes and Screams". It was all music composed by John Williams, which was the big reason that Barbara asked us to go along. It smelled like mothballs because there were a lot of elderly (perhaps the regular concert going) people there. One individual stood out to me - he agreed in his deep voice a lot with what the conductor was saying and commented on a lot of the music played. I looked over at one stage to see what he looked like - wait, what?! Elderly woman?!

The Connecticut garrison of the 501st Legion had a presence there, with a female Sith (very unorthodox costume), Boba Fett, an AT-ST pilot and 3 stormtroopers (1 in desert gear) there.

The music was really well performed. They played, in rough order:

• Star Wars Episode IV opening
• Across the Stars (Episode II love theme)
• Jaws theme
• A song from The Patriot
• Jurassic Park
• The Olympic fanfare
• A song from The Cowboys
• Schindler's List
• Superman
• Duel of the Fates (no vocals), and encored with
• Indiana Jones

Harry Potter music was listed in the program but wasn't performed, which was a little disappointing. I would have enjoyed hearing it.

One of the good things about the performance, apart from how well they played the music, was that the Music Director/Conductor would give an explanation and introduction to the songs that they were playing. I understood what he was saying in words, but don't understand conductor movements. That's probably why I always lost the Mario Party "Mario Bandstand" mini game...

Chicks on Cam

The link to this cam was on Geekologie and is (if you like chicks) worth a watch. The action isn't great after dark (US Eastern time), because you can't see anything. But, sometimes, during the day, you see something interesting.

http://dukefarms.org/Education/Research/Duke-Farms-Eagle-Cam/

The chicks are only a couple of weeks old, but they must be pretty big already, based on when you look at them compared to the adult that is in the nest...

Header = blah...

The new header isn't really working for me any more. I might have to change it. I think it is part of the reason why I haven't been posting lately - I'm not fond of how the page looks. That, and while we've been busy, it hasn't been overly "post on the blog-interesting" type busy.

Last Sunday we went for a hike at a Connecticut Audubon (not to be confused with Audubon Connecticut where Liz works) society chapter. It was pretty cool there - a few trails, nothing too strenuous in terms of hills. I saw a Bluebird for (I think) the first time, and we also saw a tree that had been struck by lightning. That looked cool. From one direction it was completely normal - from the other, totally messed up. We may have been lucky that we approached from the way we did, otherwise we may have missed it. Though it did have a little plaque/sign next to it saying "This tree was struck by lightning." That's how we could tell it had been struck by lightning - because of the sign. We will probably go back there again - they had raptor aviaries that we didn't get to look at because they were closed on Sundays.

One thing that has been cool has been softball practice. With the coming of spring the new season is starting. Our first game is in 2 weeks, so we have had 2 practice sessions. I'm happy with how I hit the ball, and also happy with the fact that I still seem to be able to catch the ball in the outfield. Our last practice included a scrimmage against another team, during which I was fielding on 3rd base. It is completely different being in the infield - you have to have your wits about you, know a bit more about the game and be ready to either catch the ball or cover vital parts of your body quickly. 3rd base is right in line for hits to come as well. The next inning of scrimmage I was in the outfield again and was much more comfortable.

I'm looking forward to seeing the next episode of South Park to see how they finish off their 200th episode. I was surprised at the fact that it was their 200th episode, but then I looked back at some of their earlier episodes, like Chinpokomon and stuff like that, and realized those episodes were 11 seasons ago... FlashForward is on tonight, which keeps throwing up more and more questions to keep me interested, and then Adventure Time is on CartoonNetwork after that. Adventure Time is on Mondays, but we catch it Thursdays. It's an animated show, and it's really weird. There has only been one episode so far, and it was cool in a totally random way. At least I thought it was - it had so many things - candy zombies, dogs being bitten by lumpy clouds... did you know that candy people explode when they get scared? I do. Now. And the great thing about the show is that even though it is all totally random and crazy, it all makes sense. I also like the animation style. Here's an idea (low quality clip, unfortunately) of what it's like:

I'm playing with the idea at the moment of making a follow-up to the (not at all) critically acclaimed Redwich. Unless you count Liz as a critic, because she "acclaimed" it. It's kind of in development, I guess - I'm coming up with ideas for story, or things that I want to show or cover in a movie. I have an opening in mind, and a few scenes in my head - now it is about bringing together everything else. The last movie was very much an "add things as they come along approach" - we didn't devise the whole hobo storyline until a few days before leaving the US when we had already filmed a large portion of the footage. I don't want it to be like that this time if I go through with it. I should say we, because I know that Liz is keen to help out and do something like it again.

Time to help out with dinner and get things in before it rains so it can all be done before FlashForward...

Circle of life moment...

Yesterday Tiff and Ben came down and I was showing Ben the apartment because he hadn't been here before. I was showing him upstairs and we were out on the upstairs deck when Liz joined us. Her keen eye picked up a Red-Tailed Hawk in a tree in the neighbor's yard. We watched it for a second, as it scratched and pecked away at a nest. We continued watching - not sure if we were witnessing a hawk building a nest or tearing one apart. Out of nowhere a squirrel ran up the tree and towards the hawk. The hawk looked at it and hopped towards it - the squirrel scampered back to the ground (30 - 40 feet/10 metres) below, and we had our answer.

The hawk started tearing at the nest with renewed vigor. Exposing what it wanted, we heard the squeal of baby squirrel(s). Grabbing some in it's talons, the hawk took flight, the flapping of wings and the squealing of a baby squirrel in it's talons moving across the adjoining yards.

The hawk, moments before breaking through to demonstrate nature's take-away

After a minute the adult squirrel came back to the nest, very tentatively. When it realized the hawk was gone, it crept to the nest and stood next to it - that made Liz sad.

It made me laugh!

"What do you call cheese that isn't yours? Nacho cheese" is one of my
favorite all time jokes. The other day while Liz and I were walking at
the beach I thought of this joke, in a similar vein, and am only now
remembering to post it to the blog (while Liz is getting a haircut).

A cargo plane takes off from France, loaded with cheese. The plane
crashes, and it's a giant mess. The investigators arrive and start
examining the scene.

"What's that?" Asks one, pointing to a smashed box.

"It's debris!"

Spring has certainly sprung!

Easter weekend has been an awesome weekend weather-wise. Yesterday was nice and sunny, and today was as well - today was a record-high temperature for Stamford of 76/24 degrees.

The weekend started with an early finish on Friday, meaning that I could leave work at 3. Liz picked me up and we headed to the beach to go for a walk. We saw quite a few birds at the feeders, and unfortunately left the feeder area at the wrong time and ran into an absolute know-it-all fruitcake of a woman. We just couldn't get away from her...

Here are a couple of pictures of a Downy Woodpecker that we saw at the beach.

I was really happy with the last photo (click the photo for the uploaded size - which is resized to about 50% of the original crop) - I had been watching the birds, and between the feeders was a fallen tree. I crept into the fallen tree and gradually worked closer to the feeder. The woodpecker knew I was there but didn't seem to care. When I got to about 3 feet away it hopped to the other side of the feeder. I went to the other side and it hopped back to the original side. I decided I would leave it alone and started to walk away - as I did it took off and flew onto the fallen tree, and then into the still standing trees around the grove.

Also there were some squirrels feeding off the food being dropped by the birds.

On Saturday we went for a 3 hour hike at Trout Brook Valley a bit to the north of here with Richard. The hike was nice - it wasn't too warm, there was a nice breeze, and being near a reservoir there were a lot of streams trickling down through the trails.

Liz and I during the hike

While we were walking we found the occasional muddy/puddly patch from recent rain. Rather than find a way around this puddle I decided to jump it. It was more of a long stride in the end than a full-on jump.

When we arrived home Richard said "Hey, look at that bird!" There was a bird sitting right next to the driveway - it was a Blue Jay. A few days ago I said to Liz "I want to get a Blue Jay photo this summer." It turned out that it came sooner than expected. The Blue Jay is probably my favorite non-raptor. They're loud and somewhat obnoxious in volume, but I think they look cool. They are also good at mimicking the calls of the Red-Tailed Hawk.

This morning we woke up a little late and I saw another Blue Jay out the back. I grabbed the camera and walked out onto the back porch. I was greeted by a wide range of bird noises and sightings. Liz came out after I saw something interesting (below) and we ate breakfast outside. While out there we saw Blue Jays, several woodpeckers, Cardinals, Robins, Titmice, some Sparrows, Squirrels, the interesting creature below and lastly a Red Tailed Hawk. While the hawk was around the other birds were quite silent.

This is a possum! It's the first possum that I have seen in the US, and it is quite different to any possum that I have ever seen.

Following a haircut (Liz cuts my hair these days) we got our shopping done and sat out on the porch. A bumblebee decided to hover around the place for a while. Can I just say, fast moving bumblebees are tricky to manual focus on!

The plan for tonight is to bake/roast a ham. Apparently hams are a big thing for Easter here, but I'm not sure why. Liz is making hot cross buns at the moment, so it appears that the weekend warmth is soon to be joined by weekend deliciousness!