Softball Wrap - Game 3

I'm eating lunch at my desk today, which means I have some time for a wrap up.

Last night saw game 3 of InsightExpress' softball campaign for 2010. A nice day, albeit kind of cool, sandwiched between 2 rainy days, greeted us, which is a change from last year. Last year it just rained every day.

Before leaving work I got changed, used the bathroom, ate an apple and washed it down with some water. The water was a rookie mistake. I got to the ground about 45 minutes before game time and started warming up, throwing the ball around with Brian and Jeff. After not too long I got the feeling like I might need to use the bathroom again. "Damn water", I thought to myself. I looked around and spotted a Royal Flush (file photo) sitting beneath a tree. Never sure what to expect from something like that, Liz raised the question of whether I really needed to go that bad. I decided against it, and I think it worked in my favor, because, for the rest of the night, I played with the sort of sense of urgency that can only be afforded by not being sure if you need to go to the bathroom...

Some of you may recall that I said in a recent post "I hope I don't lead off ever again". By recent I mean last week. With InsightExpress batting first, Ryan read out the batting order - number 1, yours truly. Remembering what Mike had said to me about leading off: "You're doing alright as long as you bat .500" (what does that mean?) I resolved to do better and get some base hits.

I stepped up to the plate. Scanning the field I decided to try and play the ball into right field. The first pitch comes, and I swing, putting the ball low between 1st and 2nd bases towards the outfielders in right field. Momentarily surprised that the ball had gotten close to where I wanted it I set off for first, but wait, the fielder has completely misjudged where the ball is going! I accelerate a little, the bleachers calling out "3rd! 3rd!" I continue my running, stopping on 3rd comfortably. MY FIRST TRIPLE! The next batter roped a ball into the outfield for a base hit, and I had been brought in for a run.

After a few runs were on the board the team got our third out, and we went out into the field. After taking my normal position at right center I waited. No way! First play and a ground ball comes out towards me. I scooped it up and threw it back to the infield, the runner having to stop at first. Cool - didn't mess it up, contained them to a single. Not long after another ball came my way, but this one took a weird bounce of either the grass or a piece of goose shit. Moving my glove towards where the ball had deviated I knocked it into my chest, and grabbed the ricochet. Wow - I kept the ball in front of me. Nothing else happened the rest of the inning, I think one more ball perhaps came to me in the outfield for the rest of the game.

A couple of innings passed and I found myself at bat again with us holding a few (~5) run lead. Deciding to try and play it up the middle this time I hit a ground ball just to the right of second base. I ran reasonably quickly, thinking if I ran fast I could put pressure on the fielder and perhaps make this a double. About 3 paces from first base I felt my hat starting to lift off my head. Not wanting to lose all of the charisma it affords me, and, also, thinking I probably had hat head by this stage, I slowed up. It was probably for the best, as one of their fielders had picked up the ball and making it to second could have been tough. Next batter scored a base hit, and another batter later I found myself running in my second run.

My third at bat I decided to try and go down the middle again, but this time I got some of it. Flying towards the outfield I ran, hoping that the ball would land somewhere safe and I could make something of the hit. Unfortunately it appears I slice softball hits like I used to slice golf balls, and the ball started falling towards a fielder. The guy was standing there, his arm and glove up in the air. My luck seemingly out, he had moved just enough for the ball to fall into his glove. Not overly disappointed because I was still over .500 I went back to the bleachers, the rest of the team bringing in some runs.

15 minutes or so before the scheduled end of play we ended another of our innings, with the score having blown out to 17 - 5 in our favor. Because we were leading by more than 10 the umpire told the opposition "You have this inning to score 2 or more runs - if you don't, it's game over". First batter hits straight to a fielder - 1 out. Second batter hits straight to that same fielder - 2 outs. Third batter hits to another fielder - 3 outs, as the opposition go down without so much as a whimper.

So, in all, I was happy with the evening. I batted .667, didn't mess up in the field, and thanks to the early finish we were able to get home, make some dinner and watch FlashForward.

We're not moving this year!

Yay! Liz and I last night officially informed our landlord that we wanted to renew our lease and stay on at the current apartment. I'm happy we did, because for a while there I felt like I was living the life of a nomad. In a 13-month period I moved from Australia to Liz' mother's place, to Apartment 1, to Apartment 2, then to Apartment 3 (the current apartment). That's around 7 moves right there! (I realize it is only 4)

This move (or lack thereof) should help us get more out of summer. The past 2 years we have been moving, cleaning, unpacking and finding places for things, so you start to miss out on a few weekends, or find yourself doing stuff after work to get yourself settled. But not this year! No painting and cleaning before dashing out of the apartment to get to the 4th July fireworks; no missing out on a day outside because we have boxes to unpack.

On top of all of that, we both really like the current apartment. It is close to places we ordinarily go and the apartment itself is better than any we have had before. There is a garage for the car, the deck for the barbecue and table, and there's all kinds of stuff around the backyard (namely birds, squirrels, and the occasional/one-time raccoons and possums).

Only downside is that I won't get to drive a big truck for the foreseeable future, but I guess I can live without the aura of "I'm driving a big truck..." For some reason I found driving the moving van to be awesome. But packing it stunk.

Dinner was so, very, very damn good...

Dinner tonight was the best thing I have eaten for a long time, both home made and served at a food-serving venue. I absolutely mean that, no exaggeration. I liked it so much that I posted twice today, and dedicated my 100th post to it, so that must say something. I had no hand in dinner, apart from making some rice as a side dish. Liz really out did herself this time.

The main part of dinner was this absolutely delicious beef dish, I don't know if Liz has named it yet. It was shredded/pulled beef, cooked in stuff, and it tasted fantastic.

The sauce/juice that ran off it couldn't be wasted.

"You never lick your plate!" Liz shouted and ran for the camera... and, yes, I am holding 2 forks. Why? To get double the deliciousness in my mouth.

One of the greatest things about dinner was that Liz has been working on her recipes lately. To keep track of what she has done and what has worked she has written down very exact directions/quantities of ingredients so she can go back and tinker with her creations. Tonight's dinner was perfect, no modifications will be necessary, and, because it was all documented, it can and will be made again!!!

Actually, one modification. MORE!

What - A Repurposed Jar

Liz and I try to eat and prepare food in a healthy fashion. One of the things we normally do is drain excess fat off meats that we cook. This week when we went to take the garbage out we found that our fat jar was full. This is how it looked:

It reminds me of Jupiter... different swirling masses of color. The colors tend to give away what we cooked and tell the story of the meals we had in the time of the fat cup. It also raises questions, such as "What did we eat before chicken?", and "Why would people take photos of this?"

Sometimes the smell of the jar is awful, other times it is just reminiscent of what we made. This week wasn't so bad.

Despite the luring aroma of bacon, no competent medical practitioner would recommend this as a weight gain method.

Softball Wrap - Game 2

2nd game of the season was on Thursday - a bit of a disappointment for myself personally and for the team as a whole. Short on numbers, we called in some ringers - one of the girl's husband played, and Liz also played!

Due to the missing people, the lineup was reshuffled a bit. Normally I come in to bat lower in the order. Instead, I lead off... leading off I figured the best thing to do was make sure I got on base. I failed to do that my first 2 at bats - both of them dribbling towards shortstop and beating me to the bag. I was simply being impatient. Their pitcher wasn't doing anything special, and I found myself reaching for hits that I didn't need to. My third at bat I decided to wait until he actually gave me something worth hitting. He never did and I ended up being walked. Later that inning another batter brought me home for a run. My fourth, and last, at bat, saw the scores very close, and the pitcher finally gave me something that I could hit. I roped a long fly ball between left field and left center. Unfortunately for me their left center seemed to be a vacuum cleaner, and anything that went anywhere near him he caught. My best hit and he took a good catch. Oh well, that's the way the game works I guess.

In the field I did poorly - during warmup I was sneezing and had irritated eyes due to spring time allergies. They seemed to get better as the game started, but the sun got lower. The first ball (which was big and yellow) that came towards me got lost in the other big yellow ball in the sky, and I only managed to knock the ball down in front of me. Luckily they didn't have anyone in scoring positions, so keeping the ball in front of me was at least beneficial. 2nd ball that came to me I actually caught it when it counted, because they could have scored from it. Third ball I lost but luckily it didn't cost us.

I was proud of how Liz did. Short a girl we would have faced an automatic out every time that girl was due up to bat. Liz arrived a minute before that would have happened, and as luck would have it she was wearing sneakers. Not wanting to let the team down she said she'd play. She went down swinging her first 2 at bats, she looked nervous. After taking a walk I assured her there was nothing wrong with doing the same thing. A full count (3 balls and 2 strikes) recorded against her another ball came her way, and she was walked. That walk had her on 2nd base for what ended up being the most contentious play of the game...

Top of the 7th, 2 outs. Bases loaded, scores tied at 7. One of our good hitters steps up to the plate. He smashes a ball down the third base line - straight into the runner, Erin, on third base. Due to a rule I don't quite understand she was called out, and the inning was over. The decision was argued with the umpire, because it was big. A hit like that would have brought Erin and Liz home, and put us up by 2 runs. Instead the umpire ended the inning with the scores tied and a few minutes of play left. In the end one of their batters hit a big hit and they scored the winning run. It was a bit disappointing, but you can't win them all. We did pretty well in the end - in an 8-7 scoreline we held the opposition scoreless in numerous innings. Unfortunately, when they did score, they scored multiple runs.

There's always next week! I hope I don't lead off ever again!

Cinco de Mayo

Yesterday was Cinco de Mayo (5th of May), which is apparently some kind of Mexican day celebrating the Mexican Army's defeat of an invading French army in the 1800s. It's something like that, anyway. The French army well outnumbered the Mexicans, according to Wikipedia. The day seems to be of interest here, and, perhaps, in a couple of parts of Mexico.

We picked the car up, it's fixed apart from the seal around the hatch/trunk/boot door, which is getting done tomorrow. We drove home, Liz happy in the Prius and me in the POS, the plan being to make Lemon Pepper chicken for dinner. But, when we got the chicken out it smelled off. Having more food in the kitchen but plans for it that made sense on other nights, we decided we'd go out and grab something. Yep - remembering that it was Cinco de Mayo we went to that little place just up the street... and got middle eastern food. No way we were running the potential gauntlet of the Mexican cocina on a "mexican" day! That would be like going to a hamburger place on... umm... the Hamburglar's Birthday!

While I was waiting for the food to be cooked (we got falafel, hummus and some skewered chicken), I watched the TV they have in the "restaurant", which, in reality, is a small take away place. They always have the same channel going - a middle eastern music channel. Not understanding what they are saying is interesting, it means you have to put the story together with what you see. That's why I like watching Telemundo, aka the Spanish Channel. Also, to learn Spanish. I learned that Batman in Spanish is Batman thanks to watching Batman Begins.

Anyway, last night's music video was epic - the whole song/video/story took about 5 - 7 minutes or more to tell. It involved a photographer, a model, photo chemicals in the eyes and then seemingly an eye transplant or something similar. In the end the irony was that the photographer was blind!

Yeah, weird things still amuse me.

But, the point of the post was on Cinco de Mayo we didn't risk a Mexican restaurant, and we got the car back.

New Look

Back when I started this blog I said "I doubt I will tweak the look of this template too much, it's one of the default ones and it does the job". Famous last words. I got bored of the look, and when I went to a blog the other day looking for a picture and the blog had the exact same layout and color scheme I knew it was time. The plan is to regularly update the image that is beneath the header to keep things fresh. Rotten bacon can make you sick.

So, here it is, baconisgreat version 2. As the header says - same sporadic posting with a new look!

Wow - I just noticed something! I've jumped to 4 followers!!! Love the picture, Buttahz.