Public service announcement from the DCV

The DCV has it's own spinoff now.

If you're as tired of reading about Dolberry as I am tired of writing about him, then perhaps you also will enjoy my new blogging venture. It's the story of a high school basketball coach, but hopefully it'll be about more than that.

Please check it out & let me know what you think. Thanks!

What I did on my blogging vacation (part 2)

Whoa, ho, I've been busy. Too busy to blog that's for sure. What have I been doing? Hmmm. Lots of stuff. Let's see what I can remember. Bear w/ me a bit, here.

Well, let's see, there was yesterday. Yesterday, I played softball. It was the State Church Tournament. 12 teams. We lost our first game, then won the next two, then lost the last one. I was 8 for 15 on the day which is about what I always do. It was a lot of fun, as always.

Before that ... I remember I worked a full week. That was tiring.

Before that ... we went on vacation to Emerald Isle w/ most of the Dolberry family. That was a lot of fun. Maybe even more than softball.

Before that ... I went to Colorado for work. That was fun and tiring. I drove into Rocky Mountain National Park which was a cool experience. If I was a better blogger, I'd have written about it and taken some pictures.

Before that ... we went to Louisville, Boone, and Evansville. It was really cool to see all the people we saw. Oh, and it was fun and tiring.

Please view immediately for important information!

Life Episodes: The Fleetwood Mac concert

In the continuing series of "Life Episodes", we're entering into the way back machine and turning the dial all the way back to November 7th, 1979. Your hero, Dolberry, has recently turned 13 and is in 7th grade at Myers Middle School.

(Aside here: my favorite memory of Myers Middle ... and admittedly it's the best from a small sample of happy memories ... is the week I got to walk home from school to Gma & Gpa Fitz house because I was staying there while my Mom & Dad were in ... Las Vegas. This (ahem) "hands-off" nature to parenting actually sets up the rest of the Life Episode pretty well. Second favorite memory was when Mrs Coffey gave me 5 demerits ... but you've all heard THAT story.)

Anyway, my best friend in those days was David DuBard (David, if you google search your name ... hey we all do it ... and get this link ... e-mail me ... hope all is well.) One of the radio stations in Louisville was running a "Magic Bus" contest. Winners got to invite a friend to accompany them on a bus ride to the Fleetwood Mac concert at the Riverfront Coliseum. Well, David was the 43rd caller (or whatever) and won two seats on the bus and he invited Dolberry to go as well.

Dolberry agreed to go, fully expecting his parents to sensibly veto this decision, thus allowing our hero to save face w/ his peers and at the same time not risk his barely-just-having-gotten-started life w/ 10,000 addled devotees of a mediocre group of 70's hippie rock. For whatever reason they did not. I have a vague recollection they were in Reno over that period ... but I could be wrong on that.

Now keep in mind, at age 13 Dolberry had been to exactly two concerts:

1) Joe Wise in a church gym w/ my entire fam (except El Cueto who was at the riverboat if I remember right), where we rocked out to numbers like "The Epic of Peanut Butter and Jelly" and "The Grizzleback Snookerhog", and

2) John Denver and the Starland Vocal Band w/ my Mom. (I think we got the tix from her bookie.)

Bottom line: I may not have been ready for the Fleetwood Mac Tusk tour. I know a fair number of 7th graders ... some of them read this blog. Frankly, I wouldn't trust one of them to point out Cincinnati on a map ... let alone travel two hours back and forth there on their own for a rock concert.

Anyway, I recall heading out from home on that Wednesday night ... a school night no less (!) ... telling Kathy & Kris that there was Mac & Cheese in the cupboard, to keep a good eye on Carrie, and that I'd be back sometime around 1 am. I walked up to that old Sub Shop near that rundown hotel near the intersection of I-64 and Hurstbourne. We met some of our compatriots on the magic bus and it was at best a "wayward" contingent. On the bus, our chaperone told us "that only cigarettes were allowed on the bus ... save the good stuff for the concert". Dolberry stood up in his bus seat and said "I'm OUT." I called my Mom and Dad (crying like a little girl) at the Bingo Hall and asked to be picked up.

There was a lot of fallout from that decision. 1. Dolberry grew a little bit by making a wise decision on his own and truth-be-told (unlike the rest of this post) those are the only experiences we really learn from ... when we're accountable for our own actions. 2. Dolberry was mocked by most of his 7th grade peers for a considerable period. 3. Dolberry's parents "re-engaged" w/ their parental responsibilities ... all is great now and I can't wait to see them at Churchill Downs this weekend.

(There was a tragic epilogue to the story. A little less than 4 weeks later, 11 people were killed at Riverfront Coliseum at a Who concert when the crowd attempted to storm the entry doors before the arena opened. Very sad.)


Anyway, let's end this blog bit on a happier and more traditional note ... w/ Dolberry's Top 10 Attended Concerts ever:

10. Big Country's New Year's Eve show at the Barrowlands (didn't actually attend ... but have the CD)
9. The Rainmakers @ Park West w/ Stephen in 1989?
8. Newsboys/Toby Mac/Relient K at Kings Dominion in 2005 w/ tbKMD and APD
7. Warren Zevon at the Park West in Chicago w/ Stephen and friends from EPA R5
6. Switchfoot in big old open field at Campbell Univ w/ the TCC YG
5. The Rainmakers in a "private concert" at WXRT studios w/ Stephen
4. John Mellencamp w/ the Super Sisters and Stephen in Indianapolis
3. John Denver w/ my Mom in Louisville a long long time ago
2. Switchfoot, Relient K, & Ruth w/ the beautiful KMD and APD last fall in Winston-Salem
1. U2 in St. Louis w/ Matt Jung

Dolberry Days

A recap of my last few weeks.

May 30: Blue (Apex) loses 14-7
May 31: Blue loses 12-11
Jun 1: Blue wins 10-7

Jun 3: Gold (Cary) loses 19-18

Jun 5: (DH) Gold wins one and loses one
Jun 6: Blue wins 18-1 to earn #3 seed in tournament (finished 8-7)
Jun 7: (DH) Blue beat #6 seed 15-0, then upset #2 seed 14-11 in extra innings
Jun 8: Blue lost in the championship of the winner's bracket 8-6. (I hit a 3-run HR in this one.)

Jun 10: Gold team won 13-6, last game of regular season finished 3rd (8-6)

So after 11 games in 13 days (w/ very sore muscles), tonight was supposed to be the start of the Cary tournament with one game if we won & two if we lost the first one. Instead, we got "smoked" out. Really bad air quality here today (code red) due to fires in eastern NC, so Cary canceled all their games. I also play on our Office team in the EPA league (though I've missed every game so far due to other conflicts). One would think that the EPA league would be canceled on bad AQ days, but one would be wrong. So, I got to play today after all ...

June 12: EPA team lost 15-8.

Tomorrow, we need to win three straight games to win the Apex crown. Any loss & we are done. I've been playing better lately, so it's been fun. No games though Saturday, Sunday, & Monday ... maybe my soreness will abate.

Hope all readers are doing great!

Things can only slow us down if we let them ...

Check out this story. See video link on the right. Very cool.

Maybe I've Been the Problem ...

... maybe I'm the one to blame.

I've been thinking, maybe I've been partly cloudy, maybe I'm the chance of rain
Maybe I'm overcast and maybe all my luck's washed down the drain

But when I look at the stars ... when I look at the stars,
When I look at the stars, I see someone else,
When I look at the stars, I feel like myself

------------------
Hey, ho faithful readers and longtime hail contemplators ... wzzzzup?

I'll tell you what's up here ... in snippet format. The official format of the DCV.

Names: Did you see that the SSA came out w/ their list of most popular baby names for 2007? There were some odd things as noted by the SSA data collectors:

1) there are seven boys names that rhyme w/ "maiden" in the Top 102: Jayden (No. 18); Aiden (No. 27); Aidan (No. 54); Jaden (No. 76); Caden (No. 92); Kaden (No. 98); & Ayden (No.102). (Then there were another 27 in the top 1000: Braden; Cayden; Jaiden; Kaiden; Aden; Caiden; Braeden; Braydon; Jaydon; Jadon; Braiden; Zayden; Jaeden; Aydan; Bradyn; Kadin; Jadyn; Kaden; Jaydin; Braedon; Aidyn; Haiden; Jaidyn; Kadyn; Jaydan; Raiden; and Adin.)

Raiden? Really? Kris & Tim ... I nominate Quayden before it gets too trendy.

2) "Neaveh" is the #36 name for girls. It's backwards for "heaven". I just wish Harry Carey had lived long enough to see this. Strangely enough, "Lleh" is not in the top 1000. Parents are pretty optimistic I guess, at first.

APD/School: He's done w/ 5th grade. Haven't gotten his report card yet, but it looks like he got straight A's all four quarters. And he was like U2 at the Grammys in his elementary school awards ceremony (thankfully w/o Bono's "expressive" Irish tongue) ... collecting 5 awards including Top Math Student in 5th grade and Top Reader of the School. He has been blessed w/ excellent teachers every step of the way. The beautiful KMD & I are so thankful that he's had such talented and caring instructors helping him get where he's at (not really that far ... only 6th grade ... pick it up son). Blog-reading teachers ... we salute you. Truly important work, it is that you do.

APD/Baseball: His team won their first tournament game tonight & it was exciting, 6-5. The tying run was on second in the bottom of the sixth, but two great plays by their SS & P won the game for them. They were 9th of 10, so having dispatched #8, they now get to face the #1 seed on Saturday. APD hasn't gotten a hit since shortly after Abner Doubleday invented the game, but he's playing good defense, having fun, & most importantly has a great attitude about it all ... so it's all good.

Softball: Dolberry's play has been erratic at best. More bad than good, I'd say. I have 6 games over the next 7 days, so maybe I'll get into a groove. Dolberry is currently putting a hurt on the bathroom scale and the scale has somehow karmaically retaliated against my poor heel & Achilles. Anyway, I think both my teams are in 3rd w/ similar records (6-4 and 6-5). About 2-3 weeks left in the spring season.

Work: Is fine.

Other things: Can't really think of anything else. Oh, I added another blog to my list of ones that have the Dolberry seal of approval. Enjoy! Hey, toodle-oo everybody! Thanks for reading!

Golf ball sized hail in Apex

Not at our house unfortunately, though. Storm just rolled through. One of the few storms I can remember that you heard coming about 90 seconds before it came. Loud winds and presumably the hail was making some noise. As it blew by here, it hailed for about 90 seconds. The biggest I could see (i.e., landed on the porch) was just over pea-sized, but not quite marble-sized. Very cool!

I know DCV readers want to know where it ranks among hailstorms that Dolberry has experienced. I rate this as the 4th best hail storm I've ever seen.

#5 Louisville, 1983? - The one that dented our station wagon & El Cueto got the insurance company to pay us for (ahem) "repairing" it. I don't really remember the storm or I'd rank it higher.

#4 Apex, 2008 - For about 45 seconds, this storm was as good as any storm. Pea-sized, but plenty of it.

#3 Apex, 2004? - Remember it nearly covered the ground. Want to say it was in March.

#2 Arnold MO, 1989? - Was visiting Ron McCann over 4th of July and there was a huge storm. Largest hail I've ever seen. Just short of golf-ball sized.

#1 Louisville, 1984? - The one that shredded our awning. That was awesome! Remember it hit right around 5pm and I tried to watch it from our front porch but got scared when the wind ripped the door out of my hands. Retreated to the basement at that point and watched out that little window by the dryer.

(Remember, graupel is not hail. The Derby Day graupel event is #1 in graupel events. 1 of 1. If I did count it as hail, I'd probably put it as #2 or #3 on this list.)

I'm going to bed now, though. Lousy poison ivy + PI medicine has made sleep pretty much a non-entity over the last two weeks. Feel sorry for me! (that's pitiful, more so than the hail countdown)

Ha. Ha. Check out video on the right.

Run for the Roses: Episode 134 (by guest blogger APD)

The Dolwicks had a very busy day on Saturday. Peak Fest, baseball, Derby party, tournament, you name it, we had it.
We started off with some BIG Spring Cleaning, outside and in.

Lawn Mowed: Check
Walk Swept: Check
My Room Cleaned: Check
Vacuumed House: Check

Next: Peak Fest AND my Heroclix tournament for a special figure AT THE SAME TIME! Problemo? Nah! Mom (a.k.a. KMD, in All-Important-PAT's words) & I dropped Dolberry off in downtown Apex for TCC booth in PF, maneuvered around traffic, and headed toward AF&G.

Heroclix Tourney: Check
Peak Fest: Check

Unfortunately, after winning once and losing once, (tourney probably had 3 games for each player) I had to forfeit because I had more on my schedule.
Next: Baseball game vs. undefeated White Sox.
I Gobbled down Wendy's, then Mom dropped me off and went to get Dolberry at PF.
In baseball, I went 0-1 w/ BB. My team was up 5-nil going into bottom of 4th w/ about 20 min. left. We Gave Up 7! Sox clean-up was up and we were up 5-3 w/ 2 outs. I was playing CF. Mr. Cleanup hits a TOWERING fly to CF. I was far back in the OF, but ball drifted over my head even w/ a dive towards it. Triple. 3 runs score. We end up losing 7-5.

Baseball: Check

Next: The biggie of the day: The 10th annual Dolwick Kentucky Derby Party.

But before that, for once in the jam-packed schedjy, we had a one-and-a-half hour break until the jam-packedness came back.
We had a smaller party than usual this year, even though it was the 10th annual. Dolberry invited three friends from EPA/NOAA/work; two of them brought family. One came over early (early meaning about 3:35) to watch STL play our national past-time. (Um, you missed the message, but we're having a party for horse racing, not baseball. We already had our baseball part of the day. See, I have it all planned out here!) Whatever the case, D-berry decided to show extra hospitality and let him in before the gates opened. Once everyone came, we hung out and ate from about 4 to about 6, (the eating started at about 5:20, of course. I could never eat for two hours.) which was when the Call to the Posts came (precisely 6:04). And we'll have MR. fancy schmancy ESPN announcer call the race... Aw, well, he bailed on me, but at least I can show you the results.

RESULTS
Winner: #20 Big Brown
Place: #5 Eight Belles*
Show: #12 DenisofCork

* = Filly

Unfortunately, I didn't want to take the time to show you the rest of the results.
Unfortunatelier, (a word I learned from my arguable favorite Christian writer, Bill Myers) that means you'll have to look them up yourself.
Unfortunateliest, the filly, Eight Belles, fell down after finishing and had to be euthanized.
Unfortunatelierer, (that one I made up myself) which is a word that is unfortunatelier than unfortunatelier, but ununfortunatelier than unfortunateliest, I have no more unfortunatelies to say (whatever that means). Confused? How unfortunate.
After the Derby, we finished dinner, then went outside. The kids, Kevin, 13, Sarah, 6, Jake, 4, brother of Sarah, and I, 11, played while the grownups, led by D-class berry (must not have tasted very good) talked about poison ivy and other stuff. After a while, the adults went inside because the mosquitoes were bad. Mosquitoes don't like my taste. They never have, and they hopefully never will. The other kids stayed outside, too. we played with tennis balls and Cherish, our dog for a long time.
When it was time for people to leave, we handed out Mom's cookies on their way out. Finally, our day was over. After taking a shower, I went to bed.

The next day was Sunday. Mom stayed home from church because she had a bad headache. Everyone in my family was tired. Mom & Dad were very tired. I was just normal tired I met my Sunday School teacher on the way in. She said, "Alex, you look like you just got out of bed."
"Actually," I replied, "I'm probably the most awake in my whole family!"





I am honored to be the first guest blogger in this archive of indescribably great blends of art, talent, and writing, and I am amazingly overjoyed that I was hand-picked by the highly esteemed, fluent, and legendary Dolberry himself.

-Alexander Paul Dolwick











Yeah, right, what fancy schmancy overrated speech do you want me to be forced to recite next?!?!?!? Some war victory speech by a leader of the French Resistance? A revealance of a Pablo Picasso painting? James Buchanan's Inaugural Address???!!!???!!!!?!?!? GIVE ME A BREAK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-very sincerely, APD

Derby Picks

4 - Eight Belles
3 - Z Fortune
2 - Colonel John
1 - Pyro

Another Apex oddity

This happened early last Friday. You gotta love Apex.

As one wag has already commented ... he should have worked for the ABC station as their slogan is "Eyewitness News".

A lot going on ...

recapping quickly what you've missed if you haven't been in Dolberry's shoes lately ...

Friday: Won a softball game 18-3. Dolberry didn't do much.

Saturday: APD's first game of the year. In his very first AB in the 11-12 league he got an RBI single to put his team up 1-0, then stole 2nd. They ended up losing 8-2. He grounded out in his 2nd AB. Dolberry spent the rest of the afternoon working in the yard and coming in contact again w/ the dreaded poison ivy. Went to movie w/ youth group. Fun.

Sunday: Was 4th in line at the opening of the urgent care at 8am. Don't think I've waited in line before something opened ... since waiting for U2 tickets in college. Got my steroids. Went out to
Asheboro to see the cousins/Shelly/Chuck. Was fun, but I fell asleep while out there due to Benadryl. Others that were awake reported that it was fun.

Monday: Travelled to DC to make a presentation to the director of EPA's Office of Transportation & Air Quality. Think it went pretty well. Always fun to go to DC. Makes you feel like you're doing something important. Always nice to spend $16 dollars for a burger for lunch as well.

Tuesday: People at work were asking me who punched me in the face as PI has spread pretty much over my entire face, neck, arms, and lower legs. Both Dolberry softball and APD baseball games got rained out (thankfully, in my case).

Today: APD's team evened their record at 1-1 w/ a 4-1 victory. One of APD's teammates jacked one out of the yard which was quite impressive. APD followed him and Dolberry called for back-to-back jacks, but he grounded out instead. Still he had a walk and another SB. Good little player. He is totally not afraid of these fast pitchers ... he knows what a strike is ... and he can make contact w/ pretty much any pitch. Still needs to grow into some power, obviously.

Upcoming: I am going to spray enough Roundup through our yard this weekend to undo any good I've ever done for the environment while at EPA. I am going to spray enough Roundup to kill pretty much any organic thing w/in a 2-block area. Maybe the big maple tree will survive, but I wouldn't count on it.

Hope all is well for all DCV readers, near and far ...

So, we're driving home this evening ...

... after the beautiful KMD picked me up from the bus stop and we see a guy using a weed eater to trim along his driveway a ways ahead (50 yards top) and tbKMD says:

"That's the littlest dog I've ever seen."

She said this in reference to the weedeater. This was after she said my two choices for dinner were chicken breast sandwiches or turkey breast sandwiches. Wow.

On a more encouraging note ... APD had a baseball scrimmage and played really well. Against much faster pitchers than he'd seen in 4 season of 9-10 yr old baseball, he worked a 8 pitch walk in the first and grounded into a 5-4 FC on his 2nd AB, after hitting a line drive down the LF line that was just a few feet foul. I was impressed.

Labels and blog topics

One of the upgrades to the DCV made in our makeover from a few weeks ago was to start adding labels to blog posts. That way, you, the reader, can go straight to the topics of your interest when checking out the archive for some salient piece of Dolberry wisdom (see the "blog topics" on the left side of the page). A lot of lesser blogs don't offer this convenience.

Anyway, one of my favorite labels is "genius ideas" and I've got two more of them tonight.

1) When a network promotes a new show incessantly during an event your interested in (e.g., TBS' full blast assault w/ Frank TV during the baseball playoffs) and the show is awful and gets ratings that are surpassed by Ginzu knive infomercials, they are not allowed to take it off the air until it has aired at least as many times as thousands of commercials, guest appearances in the booth, or seemingly impromptu mentions by the broadcasters. (How's that for a sentence. Diagram that one.) For example, say there were 14,856 commercials for Temptation Island during a two-week promotional blitz, plus there were 234 mentions of the show by Joe Buck for a total just over 15,000. Thus, Fox would be required by law (Dolberry's Law) to show at least 15 episodes and take the ratings hit. I think this would curtail the every-90-seconds reminders the networks think we need.


2) In the same vein, if a developer clears out a whole bunch of trees to build a shopping center in which more than half the stores remain unoccupied (or have gone out of business) one year later ... that developer is required to clear out all his concrete and asphalt and replant the trees. OK, well, new trees. There needs to be some penalty for so badly misgauging the consumer economy w/ a useless building at the expense of useful trees. We could call it Dolberry's Law.

Tonights labels: genius ideas and ginzu knives.

The darkness has no choice before the dawn ...

Today was opening day for APD, but after a really nice start to the day (temps in the mid 70s), rain moved in around 2:00p and caused the postponement of his team's 3pm game. He's on the Braves this year. Some pictures follow.




I mowed the lawn this morning w/ my brand new Cub Cadet lawn mower. Very fun. Not much assembly required ... though I was a little confused when it told me to remove the 'mulching baffle'. The folks who write these instruction manuals are just ridiculous.

Today is 4/12. Which is the title of a really cool Switchfoot song. Lyrics follow. Enjoy!

Been having trouble staying asleep
You've been waking up at 4:12
You roll the voices over in your head
Then you try to put them neatly on the shelf
You watch the sun rise
You saw the darkness had no choice before the dawn
With your own eyes
And then you broke out laughing from a yawn

You said
I’m so sorry I’ve been so down, I
I started doubting things could ever turn around
And I began to believe that all we are is material
It’s nonsensical, (yes it is)

So you walk outside and everything’s new
You’re looking at the world with new eyes
As if you’d never seen a sky before this blue
As if you’ve never seen the sky in your whole life
And then the phone rings
As it turns out, you're already late
And now you’re wondering
Was peace just a temporary state

You’re waiting tables and parking cars
You’ve been selling cell phones at the shopping mall
And you began to believe that all you are is material
It’s nonsensical

I’m so sorry I’ve been so down
I started doubting things could ever turn around
But I still can’t believe that all we are
And that all of are dreams
Are nothing more than material
Souls aren’t built of stone, sticks and bones (repeat 12x)

The DCV Interview

The DCV was lucky to sit down this evening (via phone) with two great youngsters enjoying a Spring Break week at Disney World. Thank you to Miss A and EAB for taking some time to share their experiences thus far w/ the DCV.

Q. What's been the highlight of your trip so far?
A. Miss A: I liked the ride "Soaring". You get to fly over San Francisco in a hang glider.

Q. What's been your favorite park?
A. EAB: Animal Kingdom. There was a funny gorilla who was like "I don't want to see you." He had his back to us for a long time. Then he started peeing, for an even longer time.

Q. Has the food been good?
A. EAB: Daddy ordered 3 dinners and 3 desserts tonight. Miss A: This morning we went to the Princess Breakfast and I got autographs from Jasmine, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Mulan, and Belle. EAB: One of the princesses said I was a monkey. I loved the bacon, but I didn't like the cinnamon roll.

Q. Have the lines been long?
A. EAB: No. For "Soaring" you just go straight in, then stop a bit, then go.

Q. Tell me about a special experience you've had at Disney World?
A. Miss A: I was chosen to be a padawan at the Star Wars Jedi Training Facility. I got to go up on stage and be part of the show. We got to swing lightsabres and fight Darth Vader. Storm Troopers ran on the stage. It was so fun. EAB: And I got a Darth Vader outfit.

Q. What country did you like best at Epcot?
A. Miss A: I like Japan, Mexico, and especially England because they let us stay late at their restaurant so we could watch the fireworks. We've seen fireworks every night, except tonight.

Q. How the hotel been?
A. EAB: Great. We have 4 TV's. Miss A: They have three pools, one w/ waves, one shaped like a flower, and one shaped like a bowling pin.

Q. Last question. Would you recommend to someone who's never been to Disney World that they go?
A. Miss A: "Yes, they should. Everyone should go." EAB: "You should go. You can even borrow one of our TVs."

Sayonara Sarasota (after 2009)

The Goodyear (AZ) city council approved $33 million to expand the spring training facility they're building for the Indians into one that will house the Reds and the Indians. This probably signals the end of our annual pilgrimage to Sarasota.

I know as a blogger I'm expected to bloviate knowingly that either Sarasota or Goodyear elected officials screwed things up royally, but I think only time will tell. Sarasota's mayor indicated that there was doubt on whether the Reds were just posturing ...

"There has been a feeling in the community that the Reds would not leave, that they were simply threatening the city of Sarasota and they weren't going anywhere," she said. "Well, now reality has set in. They are going."

Dolberry is just a fan but it seemed clear from the beginning (2-3 years ago) that the Reds were looking to improve their position. I do think it was a good move on the part of the Reds. Ultimately, it will save them money, maybe enough for them to sign an extra early-round draftee or two next year. People in Sarasota are talking about maybe the Orioles moving into Ed Smith, but I'd give 50-1 odds on that ever happening. Peter Angelos simply isn't going to pay to play in a older, even if refurbished, park when other towns are paying teams to play in new stadiums elsewhere.

The Reds are pretty sure they'll be in Sarasota next year, but they have until August to exercise their 2009 option. I wonder how many years of cheesesteaks I can fit into that extra duffel bag I'll be bringing next year.

Softball update

Honest, I won't blog on every single softball game played this year, but tonight's was exciting. Opening night for Gold team. We led the whole way, including 11-8 going into the 7th. Unfortunately, they hit two HRs w/ two outs as part of a 7 run 7th. So, trailing 15-11, we came out w/ a walk, single (me), single, single, double, single to win it w/o even making an out.

I made a few more comical throws ... my throws are starting to resemble my golf game (everything's about 20 degrees off to the right) and a humorous diving attempt in a left field that matched last year's Derby Day track for sheer muddiness. The ball plugged about 5 feet in front of me while I slid right past it. But I did go 3 for 4, so that's a little better.