I used to love Major League Baseball... even way back in the 80s when the Pirates were bad. When I was in college I would jump on a bus to downtown Pittsburgh and take in a game by myself. I watched every game on TV that I could.
Once, I even wrote a letter to the owners of the Cleveland Indians (David and Richard Jacobs) and told them to hire me as the team's manager. At that time, the Indians were one of the worst teams in baseball year after year. My main selling point was that they couldn't do any worse. I never heard from them.
But then 1994 happened. 1994 is the year that they played almost all of the regular season and then went on strike; ending the season and canceling the playoffs. It was the year without a World Series. It was also the last year I ever watched Major League Baseball. It was at least 10 years before I ever went to another game. Since then I have been to less than 10 games... and I haven paid to go to a single one. Every game that I have seen was because I was given free tickets. I haven't bought a single MLB licensed product. Major League Baseball absolutely lost a fan in 1994. And who knows... my kids aren't baseball fans now. Maybe they would be if I still was.
Now there's the National Football League. My current favorite sport. I will spend the entire day on Sundays watching games. Now they're on strike. Strike/lockout I don't care what you call it. It's a bunch of millionaires arguing with billionaires over how much they should get paid to play a game.
Keep it up NFL. You're losing me.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Summer Is Upon Us
Today is the second day of summer. Summer is, by far, my absolute favorite season of the year. I want to say that it is the busiest time of the year, but it isn't entirely true. Sure, there's grass cutting (which I haven't done in almost 2 weeks) and other things to take up all the time. But my busy summer seems to be taking the theme of spending entire afternoons and evenings in the pool - yay!
Problem is... spending so much time in the pool leads to not getting much done. As already mentioned, I'm behind on the grass cutting, though I plan to cut it tomorrow night. But it has taken me away from spending time on the computer (not a bad thing) and blogging (again, not a bad thing). Chilling in the pool also has me behind a bit some of the outside tasks that need to get done to get the house ready for sale next year. And finally, just hanging in the pool isn't quite the exercise that I need to be getting to continue to my goal of losing 10 pounds. Guess I need to spend more time throwing Paige and Nate across the pool to get my exercise in.
Maybe the exercise that I really need is throwing Jacob across the pool... ya, that doesn't go so well.
Problem is... spending so much time in the pool leads to not getting much done. As already mentioned, I'm behind on the grass cutting, though I plan to cut it tomorrow night. But it has taken me away from spending time on the computer (not a bad thing) and blogging (again, not a bad thing). Chilling in the pool also has me behind a bit some of the outside tasks that need to get done to get the house ready for sale next year. And finally, just hanging in the pool isn't quite the exercise that I need to be getting to continue to my goal of losing 10 pounds. Guess I need to spend more time throwing Paige and Nate across the pool to get my exercise in.
Maybe the exercise that I really need is throwing Jacob across the pool... ya, that doesn't go so well.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Different...
Today is the day that we celebrate our 17th anniversary. There were a bunch of different things that we did in our ceremony that I don't think I've seen anything like them in any other ceremony. I thought I'd list a few of them out.
As I already mentioned in my previous post, we responded with "Yes" when others normally respond "I do."
Unity Candle - We had a unity candle. But we did something neat with it. I took my candle and Tammie took her candle. Together we lit the unity candle at the same time. But then, after we blew out our individual candles, I gave mine to her mom and dad and Tammie gave hers to my mom and dad.
Vows - We wrote our own vows, but we used a passage from Ruth 1:16-17 to write them. Here's the inspiration for our vows, "Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me."
Rings - We copied a scene from the movie, The Scarlet Pimpernel, for our ring ceremony. Too much to explain, you'll just have to rent the movie.
I Will Be Here - My brother, Pete, played my 12 string guitar and sang this song by Steven Curtis Chapman in our wedding.
One other interesting fact - It was a sunny, hot and humid day. It did not rain at all that day... except for about 10 minutes during the ceremony. It was just perfect enough to ease the humidity. And honestly, if someone didn't tell me that it rained, we never would have known. It was sunny otherwise.
As I already mentioned in my previous post, we responded with "Yes" when others normally respond "I do."
Unity Candle - We had a unity candle. But we did something neat with it. I took my candle and Tammie took her candle. Together we lit the unity candle at the same time. But then, after we blew out our individual candles, I gave mine to her mom and dad and Tammie gave hers to my mom and dad.
Vows - We wrote our own vows, but we used a passage from Ruth 1:16-17 to write them. Here's the inspiration for our vows, "Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me."
Rings - We copied a scene from the movie, The Scarlet Pimpernel, for our ring ceremony. Too much to explain, you'll just have to rent the movie.
I Will Be Here - My brother, Pete, played my 12 string guitar and sang this song by Steven Curtis Chapman in our wedding.
Reception - I refused to kiss on demand when people clanged their spoons on their glasses. In fact, at one spot when the clanging was especially loud, I excused myself to the restroom. Oh, and there was my friend, Will, who clanged so loudly/hard that he broke his glass.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
A Drop in the Bucket
Over 18 years ago, I struck it rich; not in money. Somehow, I convinced Tammie that it would be a good thing for her if she agreed to marry me. And 17 years ago this Saturday, June 11, I convinced her that saying "Yes" was the right thing to do. Apparently I was a much better liar or a budding used car salesman back then ;)
An interesting fact about our wedding: we didn't use the phrase, "I do." Instead, when prompted by the pastor with the question, we gave the response, "Yes." We took the Biblical passage in Matthew 5:37 literally.
Matthew 5:37 New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
37 Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
17 years is something to be proud of these days. But it is just a drop in the bucket for what we've committed to. We committed to 'until death do we part' and we mean that. I got the better end of the deal on that one. Tammie is by far and away easier to live with than me.
When it comes to our marriage, I like to think of it in terms of a football analogy. I often tell others that I out kicked my coverage on this one. For some reason she has chosen to run slow enough for me to stay in the game. I love her for that, among many other reasons.
Happy anniversary, Babe!
An interesting fact about our wedding: we didn't use the phrase, "I do." Instead, when prompted by the pastor with the question, we gave the response, "Yes." We took the Biblical passage in Matthew 5:37 literally.
Matthew 5:37 New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
37 Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
17 years is something to be proud of these days. But it is just a drop in the bucket for what we've committed to. We committed to 'until death do we part' and we mean that. I got the better end of the deal on that one. Tammie is by far and away easier to live with than me.
When it comes to our marriage, I like to think of it in terms of a football analogy. I often tell others that I out kicked my coverage on this one. For some reason she has chosen to run slow enough for me to stay in the game. I love her for that, among many other reasons.
Happy anniversary, Babe!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Pool
When I was young, I always wanted a pool. We lived in the middle of nowhere. We had 2 neighbors and one house down the road a bit. Of the 4 houses we were the only ones without a pool. I felt so deprived. Truth is I grew up very, very spoiled. A pool was pretty much the only thing that I wanted that I didn't get.
That memory drove me. I was pretty sure that I would have a pool as an adult. 1. I wanted to satisfy that desire and 2. because I wanted to spoil my kids. Two summers ago we finally bought one. It was a surprise for the kids. We bought the pool during the week that they were all away at summer camp. They loved the pool. For the rest of that summer we could hardly keep them out of the pool.
Last year was a different story. For what ever the reason, I had to threaten or bribe the kids to get them into the pool. I think the primary complaint was that they hated having to put waterproof sunscreen on before getting in. I also think they got bored in the pool with just the 5 of us, or some subset variation. It got so bad that for the last month or so of the season, I had trouble keeping the pool from turning green. The water was too stagnant; not enough water churn.
This year, I hope to have better usage of the pool. We need to make a better effort to have friends over to swim with us. If you read this and are our friends, you ARE invited. Feel free to call if you want to come over.
Hopefully the pool will be open in a few days. I plan on putting everything together, filling with water and adding the opening chemicals tomorrow night.
That memory drove me. I was pretty sure that I would have a pool as an adult. 1. I wanted to satisfy that desire and 2. because I wanted to spoil my kids. Two summers ago we finally bought one. It was a surprise for the kids. We bought the pool during the week that they were all away at summer camp. They loved the pool. For the rest of that summer we could hardly keep them out of the pool.
Last year was a different story. For what ever the reason, I had to threaten or bribe the kids to get them into the pool. I think the primary complaint was that they hated having to put waterproof sunscreen on before getting in. I also think they got bored in the pool with just the 5 of us, or some subset variation. It got so bad that for the last month or so of the season, I had trouble keeping the pool from turning green. The water was too stagnant; not enough water churn.
This year, I hope to have better usage of the pool. We need to make a better effort to have friends over to swim with us. If you read this and are our friends, you ARE invited. Feel free to call if you want to come over.
Hopefully the pool will be open in a few days. I plan on putting everything together, filling with water and adding the opening chemicals tomorrow night.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Camping
We're going camping. I love to camp. I hate to camp.
When everything is going right, camping is one of the purest forms of enjoyment that there is. Two years ago we went camping over Memorial Day weekend. Just about everything went perfect. The weather was great. Cook Forest State Park was beautiful. We all caught some trout and cooked it up. We met some camping neighbors who were a lot of fun and who have kids the same ages as ours. It was the absolute best camping experience that we have had as a family.
The previous camping trip was almost the complete opposite. We arrived at the camp grounds in Tionesta on Friday night. We unpacked the truck and set up the tent. Then it started to rain. It rained non-stop until Sunday morning... just in time to take down the tent and pack up to head home. The showers and restrooms were absolutely disgusting. The only saving grace for that trip was that we spent most of the day Saturday at Tammie's aunt and uncle's house in town. Their whole family was home for the holiday so we had some great company.
The time before that, we went to Coopers Rock State Park with some friends. The first day there was pretty nice... until the niece of our friends (who was on the trip) was discovered to have lice. The second day there was a decent day until it started to rain that night. It rained so hard that night that our tent sprang a leak and we (and our stuff) were getting wet. One of our kids was very young at this point and she cried all night long. We woke up early on Sunday and packed up in the rain and headed home soaked and wet. This was the absolute worst experience that we've had as a family (camping or not).
So what will this trip be like? It almost depends on the hour that you check the weather. One report says sunny and hot (near 90) all weekend. One says 20 - 30% chance of rain all weekend, but sunny otherwise. One predicts scattered thunderstorms over the weekend. And one even predicts 40 - 60% chance of rain every day of the weekend. So what will we get?
One thing, those friends that we met 2 years ago will be there this weekend and we'll be camping next to them again. We have cots this year' my back will be very happy. I have a shade canopy that is large enough to cover our tent, so if it rains we should be able to stay dry. I have packed my huge tarp, which I now always bring to hang between trees over the tent in case it rains hard. So we should be comfortable if it rains. I'm just hoping that it doesn't.
I love to camp. I'm just not sure that camping loves me.
When everything is going right, camping is one of the purest forms of enjoyment that there is. Two years ago we went camping over Memorial Day weekend. Just about everything went perfect. The weather was great. Cook Forest State Park was beautiful. We all caught some trout and cooked it up. We met some camping neighbors who were a lot of fun and who have kids the same ages as ours. It was the absolute best camping experience that we have had as a family.
The previous camping trip was almost the complete opposite. We arrived at the camp grounds in Tionesta on Friday night. We unpacked the truck and set up the tent. Then it started to rain. It rained non-stop until Sunday morning... just in time to take down the tent and pack up to head home. The showers and restrooms were absolutely disgusting. The only saving grace for that trip was that we spent most of the day Saturday at Tammie's aunt and uncle's house in town. Their whole family was home for the holiday so we had some great company.
The time before that, we went to Coopers Rock State Park with some friends. The first day there was pretty nice... until the niece of our friends (who was on the trip) was discovered to have lice. The second day there was a decent day until it started to rain that night. It rained so hard that night that our tent sprang a leak and we (and our stuff) were getting wet. One of our kids was very young at this point and she cried all night long. We woke up early on Sunday and packed up in the rain and headed home soaked and wet. This was the absolute worst experience that we've had as a family (camping or not).
So what will this trip be like? It almost depends on the hour that you check the weather. One report says sunny and hot (near 90) all weekend. One says 20 - 30% chance of rain all weekend, but sunny otherwise. One predicts scattered thunderstorms over the weekend. And one even predicts 40 - 60% chance of rain every day of the weekend. So what will we get?
One thing, those friends that we met 2 years ago will be there this weekend and we'll be camping next to them again. We have cots this year' my back will be very happy. I have a shade canopy that is large enough to cover our tent, so if it rains we should be able to stay dry. I have packed my huge tarp, which I now always bring to hang between trees over the tent in case it rains hard. So we should be comfortable if it rains. I'm just hoping that it doesn't.
I love to camp. I'm just not sure that camping loves me.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Headaches...
I am working hard at getting healthier. I've been running, playing basketball and playing racquetball. Probably some time soon, I'll be adding some weight training. I'm also working at giving up caffeine and artificial sweeteners. Finally the last thing that I am working on is lowering my triglycerides.
In the past, I have had high cholesterol issues. Last week at a health fair at work, I had my lipid profile tested. The numbers were closer to being normal than they've been in a long time. Basically if I can get my triglycerides in check, the other numbers will be in the normal range. That's exciting to me.
But I'm having a problem with headaches. Usually that would be normal for someone giving up caffeine. Except that I made it through the whole weekend with no caffeine and no headaches. The last 2 times that I had horrible headaches have come directly after playing basketball or racquetball. I can tell that the source of these headaches is in my neck and shoulder muscles. As soon as I can get them to relax, the headaches go away.
Visiting the chiropractor helps because he twists my neck and puts electric stimulation therapy on the muscles that makes the muscles relax. But I want to work my way away from the chiropractor. I need to figure out what I do while playing sports that causes the tightness. And I need to figure out how relax those muscles on my own.
Any ideas?
In the past, I have had high cholesterol issues. Last week at a health fair at work, I had my lipid profile tested. The numbers were closer to being normal than they've been in a long time. Basically if I can get my triglycerides in check, the other numbers will be in the normal range. That's exciting to me.
But I'm having a problem with headaches. Usually that would be normal for someone giving up caffeine. Except that I made it through the whole weekend with no caffeine and no headaches. The last 2 times that I had horrible headaches have come directly after playing basketball or racquetball. I can tell that the source of these headaches is in my neck and shoulder muscles. As soon as I can get them to relax, the headaches go away.
Visiting the chiropractor helps because he twists my neck and puts electric stimulation therapy on the muscles that makes the muscles relax. But I want to work my way away from the chiropractor. I need to figure out what I do while playing sports that causes the tightness. And I need to figure out how relax those muscles on my own.
Any ideas?
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