1 pitch, 1 run

I haven't posted in a couple of days mainly because I haven't really had any urge to.

But I am back on this Wednesday (oh yeah, it's actually Thursday). I love short weeks!

Last weekend:

I had a good time all weekend.

Friday the wife, daughter and I went to this little pizza buffet place (which sucked) and to look at a new car. And while we came away feeling like we could afford it we decided that it just wasn't the right time to add the car payment to the bills.

After that we watched a movie (the holiday) which was very good.

Saturday I got up early (8ish) and got started on my yard (house) work that I had planned for the weekend.

I had been waiting for weeks to stain my deck because I needed a few days with no rain and a full day to scrub and stain it. Finally this past weekend came along and I got to do it.

I never want to do it again!

After scrubbing the whole deck which made my arms hurt I took a few hours break to let the deck dry from hosing it down.

While I took a break I walked around the yard (which I have had since April of 07) and picked up rocks and dug out rocks (that were there when I moved in) because they are ruining my lawn mower.

After that I had lunch and then got started staining the deck.

About 2 (I think, close to 2 anyway) Verb called and said he was coming down. I didn't remind him that I was staining the deck because I figured at worst I would have company or maybe he would help a bit.

And he did. He also ruined the shorts he had on as he somehow got paint on them.

After we were done with the deck Young Buck came down and we played some wii, had dinner, played some wiffle ball, watched the Pens/Wings game, and played more wii (mario kart) until about 2 am.

Good Times!

Sunday I got up early (830ish) and relaxed for a minute or two before starting to set up and get things ready for the cookout that would commence at 3pm.

I cleaned up the tools I used Saturday in the yard, got the toys out to play with, and started washing some furniture for later.

Verb came down around 1 to wash his car, after which we washed my car when it arrived home from being out. Young Buck arrived shortly after that.

We finished getting set up for the cookout before retiring to the couch to watch some of the Indy 500 and (surprise) play some Mario Kart Wii.

We went outside after that and tested the wiffle ball field to see if it would work for a kickball field. It wouldn't. It wasn't big enough and the yard next to me is not really a yard yet, just wild weeds and grass growing taller and taller every year. The first time I kicked it out we spent a good 15 minutes looking for the ball.

And to the minor amazement from the neighbors out back (who watched us search for the ball the first time), WE DID IT AGAIN! Only this time I also punted a football over there. SHIT!

At about 4 people started to show up. We goofed around out back until we started cooking at about 530.

After dinner the wiffle ball game commenced. You can check out this page for a minor recap. But the two teams ended up tied 5-5 and there was only 1 home run. (the first batter, with me pitching - SHIT)

After we finished with wiffle ball and talking for a while some people left while the others ended up in the living room......playing the Wii.

Until 2 AM!! (see a pattern anywhere?)

Monday was a lazy day for me to do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!! It was AWESOME!

And then back to work on Tuesday, Shit!

Making amends with the Universe

Well apparently my ego boost the other day has caused a rift between myself and the universe. You see, I am not really as conceded as my Friday post made me sound to be.

Yes there are days when I feel everything should be all about me. But they aren't and I get through those days anyhow.

But since I have made that post the universe has made an example out of me.

First lets talk about the poker game.

I played very well. Almost perfect even. I can only remember maybe 1 or 2 bad plays on my part. But the thing that EVERYONE has to remember about poker is that it is 75% LUCK!! No matter what anyone tells you, if you don't get good cards you aren't going to win.

Yes you have to bluff sometimes and win some pots without good cards but unless you get good cards you will not win the game.

And the universe made sure that I didn't win on Friday night. I got a couple good cards throughout the night but not near enough.

So, what I am saying is that I lost Friday night. I did not win anything, in fact I lost money.

Now lets look at the Wii.

Apparently Nintendo and the universe are on the same page here.

Because I couldn't do anything right on that thing Friday night. There was a group of us (Young Buck, Verb, Lazy Old White Guy, and Wifey) playing Wii sports and Mario Kart that night.

Lazy Old White Guy has minimum life so he plays or used to play all the time and has perfected the different games. Where as the rest of us just started playing about a week ago.

So LOWG beat all of us at bowling and anything else on Wii Sports.

After LOWG left we played some Mario Kart. And I couldn't do that either. Everything I tried to do ended badly. So instead of throwing the wheel out the window I just threw it at Verb and told him to play.

That was my Friday, eventful but not good.

Saturday I didn't do much. I tried the whole Mario Kart thing in the morning and turned it off again shortly after falling off multiple sides.

And then while running a little late taking my daughter to a birthday party I hit EVERY GOD DAMN RED LIGHT ON THE WAY!!! I am not even kidding. I sat at every single light. And I tried not to get pissed but as you can tell, I didn't happen.

After that it seemed like the Universe started to ease up a bit.

At least until I got up this morning with the intentions of cutting the grass. See yesterday the weather said rain Saturday night and SUN on Sunday. So I would cut the grass Sunday.

HA!!! It is raining and it is supposed to be showery all day.

DAMN YOU UNIVERSE!!

So I thought I would try to help myself out in the coming days. But I was told to do it NOW!!

Because my wife is a Penguins fan and they can win the playoff series against the (god I hate them) Flyers today.

And she wanted to make sure that I made amends and apologized to the universe for my mistaken comments on Friday. So that the team I am rooting for (Penguins) beats the hell out of the most hated team in the house (Flyers) with no input from the universe.

So universe, I apologize for my conceded beliefs in myself.

I now know that the sun does not set on my ass....

at least not everyday!!

Ah...the all knowing

WOW....two posts in one day?!?!?!? Kind of considering the earlier one was really early in the morning or just late at night depending on your perspective.

I was watching the movie Elizabethtown last night when I wrote that other post, which is what made me think of that topic.

This post is something that I have been marinating on for a couple days now.

This is a message to all parents and to all future parents.

If your child is playing a sport, DO NOT coach from the sideline.

It is fine and very much appreciated to CHEER from the sideline (appropriately of course). But there is no reason to give coaching advice.

Unless of course you are the coach!

So many times I hear parents who think they know what they are talking about telling their child what to do.

What if the coach specifically said not to do what you just told them to do?

My daughter plays under 8 soccer so right now the girls are all learning how to listen to a coach and learning the nuances of soccer.

The other day her team had a game and one of the girls was on defense. But the parent of this girl told her that she can’t help the team by standing back there on defense. She should run up and join the offense so that she can score.

WHAT??

Isn’t defense just as important? And if the coach wanted the girl to go play offense then he would put her on offense or tell her himself.

But this parent decided that his daughter was too good to play defense because she WASN’T helping the team.

No, she WAS helping her team by being in position to keep the ball out of the net if it came back there.

But the parent was unable to see past themselves to realize this.

All I am saying is that the coaches typically know what they are doing.

How do you expect these kids to listen to a coach if you are telling them different things?

The coach tells them one thing and you tell them another….?

That is not going to work and you need to STOP!

Unless of course you don’t want your child to learn the proper way to play. And I think you do.

So just let the COACHES coach and you the parent can offer words of ENCOURAGEMENT from the sidelines.

But PLEASE don't COACH unless you ARE the coach!

A little too much gamble!

Last night as me and the family were eating dinner, my wife and I were complaining a little but about what we had to do after dinner.

I was going to go out and cut the grass, some last night and the rest today. This is the first time that it needed cut in 2008. And by grass I mean mostly weeds. I have almost an acre of weeds and some grass.

She had to take our daughter to soccer practice and stand there and watch a bunch of 6-8 yr olds run around in circles and jump all over each other. Not really soccer but what can you expect at that age.

So I said to her "you can cut the grass and I will take her to practice." I didn't really mean it though. There was a hockey game (Hershey Bears!!) on the radio at 7 plus a game on tv at the same time that I wanted to watch. Plus I hate going to the practices more than she does.

Truthfully I only said it because I was certain she would just say hell no!

But she didn't. I bluffed big and she called!! NO!! Luckily for me I have no problem changing my mind or going back on something I said. So I said that I was kidding and that I would stay and cut the grass.

She pretty much knew I was kidding but almost got me anyways.

The listen here kids is don't be so sure that you know what someone is going to say. I thought for sure she would say no way to cutting the grass, but I was WRONG!! And it almost cost me 2 hours of boredom!!