Fun Softball Action

At my softball game tonight I was hitting the ball really well. I putting the ball all over the place and the ball was hit with good power. I even got my first homerun of the season. That felt really good. What is funny is before the game I was at My Office with several others from the team. As I looked around I noticed that all of them have hit at least one homerun except for me. I mentioned that. Then in the game I hit one and everyone was joking about how I had said something about my lack of homeruns. We went on to win pretty easily.

After the game I was on call for the evening. It was a very quiet night. I was able to sleep through the whole thing.

My Office Women’s Softball Game

I got going in time to get to Moscow for my doctor’s appointment. I am getting my ankle looked at because of the pain. He did a few things then said he wanted another MRI. So I will be coming back to Moscow in the future to get an MRI.

I went to get some pizza from Pizza Pipeline and headed into work. I am having some problems with my box. I am unable to get anything going becuase of the problems. I worked on getting them fixed for the majority of the day.

I went to the Bank to make a deposit for my business and to talk about getting a loan for getting the softball bats. I got some information and have a better idea what I will need to do to get a loan.

I went back to work and figured out things were not working correctly. I spent until around six-thirty trying to get it to work. I was working with Chris to make it happen. At one point Chris said Ricky was laughing at me. I was getting frusterated that things were not working and then being laughed at made me feel stupid. So I went to the WSU HR site and found a job that I thought I might apply to. Nothing was working correctly, so I finally gave up and headed to Moscow.

The My Office woman’s team was playing a game. I went to root them on. They only had nine at the game and people had to play out of position. They ended up losing a really well played game.

I went to Pullman grabbed some dinner and then headed to Colfax. I watched some TV and talked to Ryan on the phone before I went to bed.

Happy Mother’s Day

I got up this morning around nine o’clock AM. I was tired from lack of sleep. I got ready to go to the Eagles for breakfast. Jon and Janet were there with their families. Ricky came. Brian and his family also came. We were there for a couple hours eating and talking.

Then we went home. I sat around and relaxed until it was time to get ready to play some softball. I got my uniform on and headed to the field. I was worried that we would not be able to play, but the rain held off for us until the last part of the second game.

The first game we were playing the best team in the league. They are eight and oh up to now. We went out and scored a couple runs. They got seven on us and batted around. Then we went to work and played good defense. We held them scoreless from there on out. I had two hard hits that went between first and second base. In the top of the last inning we had the bases loaded. I crushed a ball deep to right field. I started to run. I got to third base and the coach sent me. He said you have to hurry. I got to home and I saw the catcher was ready to catch the ball. I slide in under the tag, but I got called out anyway. I got a small raspberry on my knee from the slide. But we scored enough runs to take the lead. We held them in the last inning and won the game. We were all happy about it.

Then we played the next game. The team fell apart. There was some bickering and it was ugly. We did not play good defense. I had two more hits. We lost by four runs. It was ugly.

I went home and got out of my uniform. I was tired and dinner was almost ready. I watched some of the Sunday night shows on FOX. I ate. Then I watched the Simpsons, Family Guy, and American Dad. I stayed up a little longer before finally deciding an early night to bed would not be all that bad.

Girls are evil… here is the proof

I got this for a guy I work with. It has been around, but it is pretty funny.

The Family Guy is BACK!

With the alarm clock blasting only ninety minutes after I went to sleep, I hit the off button. Then about thirty minutes later I realized I should be up already. So I jumped out of bed. Got ready. Put my uniform on and ran out the door. I still got to the field only about ten minutes late. But I was a little on the tired side.

As we got ready for the first game we were throwing the ball. It was warm and very humid. I was uncomfortable. Then we played our first game. I had an inside the park homerun. It was fun. I played first base. Then we had a second game right away. I hit the ball well again and played first base and did some pitching.

We won both games. So we are now seven and one on the season with one more game today. We had almost a two hour break. So I went to the store and got a small sub sandwich. I hung out in my truck a little bit and let the AC cool me down.

When I went back to where everyone else was I tried to sleep a little bit, but the best I was able to do was rest as little. Then we had to go warm up. After throwing the ball a little bit we went back to play. My first at bat the pitcher was throwing the ball about two feet over my head when the ball crossed the plate. So after ball three I swung the bat. And the umpire said “that was ball four, but he swung the bat, so STRIKE!” The next pitch almost hit me in the head. I had a walk. I was out of energy though. I was tired and just exhausted. By the middle of the game I worked on my PMA to get my head back into the game. I did not hit the ball well. I actually had two pop-ups after the walk. My last chance for a hit came in the last inning, but I knew what would happen. I would stand in the batters box and the last out would be made the by the guy in front of me. I was right. That always seems to happen.

In the second to last inning while I was at first base I made two good plays. One was a big stretch to get the out. The other one was a throw from third base. The ball was too high. I was going to jump up and get it, but I would have pulled my foot and the guy would have been safe because he was almost there. So I did a quazi-jump keeping my toe on the bag. I caught the ball with the upper part of my mitt. The team cheered for that play. I even had guys from another team who were waiting to come on the field compliment me on the play.

We ended up winning that final game to go to eight and one on the season. We were next going to head to Raphael’s house for a team get together. He has a really nice house south of Auburn. He cooked all sorts of Mexican dishes.

Everyone sat around and chatted and ate. After dinner I went outside and hung out with the dogs and played with them. Mark was out there with me. Then everyone went into his pool room where he also has a roulette table setup. A bunch of the people on the team played roulette and I watched and took some pictures.

Maulers gambling at Raphael’s

I left a little before seven o’clock. I wanted to get home so I could watch the Sunday night shows on Fox, including the return of the Family Guy. The Simpsons had two new episodes. There was also a new show called American Dad on. When the was over with I watched Gray’s Anatomy. But I fell asleep during that show. I was so tired I was just ready to sleep.

Softball practice at Woodland Park

I had practice after work today so I hung around the office until around six-thirty pm. I went to get some new stuff for softball. I replaced my longsleeve undershirt with a shortsleeve underarmor shirt. I also got a new pair of shorts to replace my ripped shorts. I got a pair of sliding shorts with a cup holder.

When I was getting ready for practice I realized I got the wrong size of the sliding shorts, but I forced them on. I will probably have to buy a new pair because those ones are too small and the cup rides too low. They were pretty uncomfortable.

Practice went pretty well. I did some work with the outfielders by throwing them popflys and having one outfielder backup the other outfielder.

Week two for ECSA Softball

What a day for softball! I got up this morning and I was tired, but I pushed forth. I got in my truck and whisked myself away to Renton. When I got home I got ready for softball and headed to Sea-Tac. I had three games today and I wanted to have some fun. The sun was shining and I would be able to use my Synergy II.

I hit the road and cruised home. I was a little on the tired side. When I got home I changed into my softball uniform and headed to SeaTac. I was early so I hung out and watched some of the other games. Then the rest of the team started to arrive and we did some work outs as a team. The coach wanted us all to do stuff together today.

After warming up we had our first game. I was hitting the ball really well today. I only made one out today and that was in the third game. In the first game I crushed one. It felt so smooth going off the bat. It was an inside the park homerun. We won that game. I played on firstbase and then I pitched two innings. The second game we were worried about the team manager challenging me so I toned down the hitting and got a lot of singles in that game. We again won it.

We had an hour break. So I took the time to lay down and rest. One of the guys on the team brought some chicken for everyone. I had a couple pieces and then we went to get ready for our last game. In my first at bat I had another inside the park homerun. It was all the way to the fence, after the bounce and roll, on a three-hundred-and-fifteen foot fence. It was this game where I made an error at first base that allowed the inning to extend longer. The other team was winning going into the last inning. We were at the bottom of the batting order.

The guys started to hit and we strung a lot of hits together. We had two outs and I was on-deck. I was hoping for one more hit. But instead the guy who was hitting third got a great hit and two people scored. That was the game winning hit. So I did not get my last at bat. It seems like I have been on-deck for either the last out of the game or the game winning hit. We are now five and one on the season and are tied for first place in the league.

After the games I went home and had dinner. Then I hung out the rest of the night. I was tired so I was sleeping by midnight.

Nadirs’ Post Season Party

I had two events planned for today. One was the post-season softball party for the Nadirs and the other was being the PA for the Thunder. The morning started off with a couple phone calls. Then at ten am I got up and started to get ready for the party. We were meeting at Zeppoz at noon.

I got up and got all my stuff for the football game and the post-season party gathered and ready to go. I went to Zeppoz a little early to make sure we could get a big table. When I got up there it was empty. I was about fifteen minutes early.

Soon the others started to filter in. I had some pizza and finger steaks ready to eat. I also had three pitchers of beer and some pop. As more people get there the food and beer quickly disappeared. So I ordered some more with the remainder of the money. I got some photos of the rookies as well as the guys who will be leaving the team after graduation.

Rookies: Trent, Dave, Jory, Ryan R

Retiring: Richard, Trent, Aaron

I announced the award winners as well as the new team records that were set. This season, records were tied, none were broken.

I had a few beers with the rest of the team. I also met one person who will probably play with us next season. He came along to hang out as well.

When the party was over, about two hours later I headed to Moscow for the football game. I met with the Yakima Manager to get the pronunciation for some of the players taken care of. I also learned about some new Thunder players. I pulled out my laptop and found I left the power cable at home. Luckily I had extra batteries.

I got the text files updated. I got the PA room opened and set up in there. I saw that Wally, from last years team was at the game. I went down to the seats to see him. I was David come in. He is the barefoot kicker for the team. He was limping. He hurt himself in a rugby game earlier in the day, so he would not be able to play.

The game got going and in the middle of the first quarter my computer shut down. So I had to restart it. In the mean time I used the paper sheets to announce the game until the computer was running again. I put in a second battery in the DVD slot. But it did not make the battery life get better. I pulled it out and found that that battery was nearly dead. So I put in the other battery. That raised the battery life. I also turned down the contrast and closed the lid during the longer breaks to make it last as long as possible.

Yakima was undefeated going into this game and beat the Thunder pretty easily. We scored a few times, but not enough. The replacement kicker did not have the leg that David did, so Yakima had better ball position all the time.

After the game I gathered my stuff. I got some dinner and headed home. I met to go to bed earlier that I did, but I could not get myself to find the bedroom right away, I chose to watch some TV first.

Nadirs in the Playoffs

I was excited for this evening to come. The Nadirs were back in the playoffs and we were playing Below Me. We beat them in the regular season sixteen to six. Ryan and I spent part of the trying to figure out a line up and playing positions for everyone. It took a while to hammer it out and see what we could come up with that would be fair to as many people as possible.

I spent some time also trying to debug the negative rental income I am working on. It took a long time to find a spot it would break for me. Finally I found it. So I started to step through the process. I think I found where one problem is. I just have to continue to step through it and see what else is going on. So I recorded some of the information in the journal I have.

Finally at four o’clock I started to get ready for softball. I was putting on my ankle brace and one of the laces broke. I was mad. I have to fix it. The lace is located near the bottom, so I had to do some fancy stuff so it would get tight when I lace it up. Then I drove to the field. Ben and Ryan were there and Oly also showed up. We walked to our field. I was pulling on the shoe lace on my cleats. The eyelet in the shoe broke. I yelled out in frustration. Both problems were on my left foot.

Ben, Mark, and Dave come off
the field after warming up

We threw the ball around to warm up. Ryan brought the line-ups and fielding positions he printed out. I got the line ups written down and informed everyone of their fielding positions. Ryan went out for the coin toss. He lost so we were the away team. We went to work right away. We scored four runs right away. I had a stand up triple.

In their half of the first inning they scored two runs. We had the lead going into the bottom of the third inning when they scored four runs. There was a ball that Ben ran down in the outfield. It appeared that the ball was out of play when he touched it. But the umpire said it was fair. So the ball was thrown in and people were arguing with the umpire and not making the play. They scored an extra run because of that.

Phil trying to get something started

Both teams were scoreless in the forth. In the fifth, they scored another run and were ahead of us seven to four. We were in the top of the sixth inning. That is the last inning of an Intramural game. We needed three runs after having been held scoreless for four straight innings. We went out there and finally started to hit a little bit. We scored two runs on a hit by Ryan, and then they threw the ball out of play allowing one more run to come in. We tied it up. Then we made the final out. They went up in the sixth and we held them scoreless. So it was off to extra innings.

During the game while Bryce was playing second base he ran with his back to the infield to make a juggling catch of a ball. It was great. Later Ryan, while at second, did a long run and caught one over his head. We get through the seventh and eighth inning scoreless.

In the top of the ninth, we finally broke it open with two runs. They took their at bat and scored one with an out. Then they had two on base with two out. Rudolph was playing right field. The other outfielders were all playing in left field, because we had a rover going.

The ball was driven deep to right-center. Rudolph got on his horse and ran like crazy. He back was to the infield the whole time. I did not think he would get to the ball. With two outs the baserunners were running for home. If the ball got on the ground there would have been no time for a play at home. They would win the game and eliminate us from the playoffs. I sat there thinking we were done for. Then with his back to the outfield Rudolph made a diving catch and caught the ball! The team cheering and ran to right-field to meet up with him and give him props. It was in many ways like winning the whole thing for us. We battled andwh battled. We made some good defensive plays and finally the game was won with a catch that would have been on ESPN had it been recorded.

Back: Aaron, Richard, Ben, Mark, Jory, Trent, Ryan R
First: Ryan G, Scotty, Phil, Dave, Bryce

After that game we got a team picture taken. Then we played the Longballs. It was a bad game and we lost after only getting three hits. But in many ways, winning the whole thing would have been cool, but compared to the first game, anything else would have been anti-climatic.

Opening Season for the Maulers

Today is exciting for me. It is opening of the Season for the Maulers. We have three games today. From the practice from the other night we were not looking too awesome. We are still working to get to our mid-season form. I slept in a little better than yesterday. But I think the work on the bathroom woke me up again.

I helped to get the new bathroom cabinet upstairs. Then I started to get my uniform ready for softball. I decided to do something I have not done in YEARS. That was not wear my Philosophy shirt under my uniform. I did not wear it for two reasons. One I have been having a bad softball season with the IM’s. Two is because under my new uniform it would be visible with all the holes in it because my new uniform has micronetting type stuff so it is cooler, but it is more or less see through.

I got to the field and got my batting bag. It is heavier than I remember. I lugged it to the playing area and got my cleats on. We did some team warm ups and stretching. Then we started to throw the ball and hit the ball. Our first game was against a new team. They beat us seven to eleven. They were getting free-outs. It was not good. One inning we should have had three outs in three batters, but instead they scored several runs on us. Our hitting was not great either. I hit clean-up for the team and I think I got two at bats.

We had an hour off. I watched a couple teams in our league. Neither team had a pitcher who could get the ball across the plate. While I was watching the game Mike called me. He said they need a pitcher for his sisters team. That is the same team that Gary is on I believe.

In the next two games I did a lot better than the first game. I pitched a few innings and played first base in other innings. I was hitting the ball well. I had one ball that I crushed to deep left field. Somehow the left fielder ran that ball down and at the last minute just stuck his glove in the air. The ball just fell into his glove.

We ended up winning the last two games, so we are two and one on the season. I went home with an ankle that was a little bit on the sore side. I decided that I was not going to go back to Colfax tonight because there was no fire training in Pullman and I wanted to sleep in a little bit and stay up late tonight.

I got home at dinner time. I ate dinner and helped to clean up. Then I watched TV for most of the rest of the evening letting my ankle recover from the day of fun.

Softball practice with Gay-Rod

After spending a fun-filled day trying to figure out how to get Dexma to respond to my computer and getting the final touches on everything, I left the day without anything working. I did get the latest changes to FootballPA completed. I have the offense indicator that will start the cursor in the correct box.

After work I went home and got my softball stuff put on. Then I headed to Auburn to pick up Mike. He seems to think I am gay for some reason. Mainly because I am playing in a gay softball league. I keep side-stepping the question. Only one person in my class from high school knows and I want to leave it that way for now. I don’t think there would be real harm in him knowing, but I still don’t want him to know.

So when I picked him up he said “okay… now come clean.” After side-stepping the question we headed for Woodland Park. At practice Mike did really well, and he showed the coaches that he would be too highly rated to play on the team. So he would not be able to play with us.

I took him home and then I went home myself. I chatted with Ryan about the Mariners big ten to two victory and we also talked about CSI that I has missed. I did not get home until close to eleven o’clock PM. I watched the news and the Simpsons before finding my way to bed.

A new project

With the new week I now have a new project that I am working on. It is one that I spent most of the day trying to run down and figure out how the thing works. It was slow going at first as it always is when I first get going on something.

On my way home I called Mike about playing softball on the Maulers team. He asked if I was gay. Because he does not understand why I would keep playing in the league. I side-stepped the question. Only Matt from my high school friends knows I am gay, and I will leave it like that for a while.

I told him that I want to play softball and if he can find me another team I will play on it, but until then I am going to play ball with these guys. I talked him into coming out and practicing with us. I hope that he will work out.

I got home and worked on a problem with the credit cards on the Janders site. It is not taking payments like that. I am not sure why it popped up, but there was a problem with the SQL statement. There were also some other problems that related to that elsewhere. I spent a while trying to run down all the problems. Finally I was able to figure them all out. For a while I was getting mad because I could not get it working correctly.

Regular Season games

After waking up I was having a hard time walking because of golfing yesterday. But after a while it warmed up and life was good.

I went to the fire station and talked with Carl a little bit. The people showed up for the Hazmat class. I took off and went home. I watched some TV and relaxed waiting for game time.

Once it got close to five o’clock pm I got my uniform on and then headed to Pullman. I got the fields and waited for the others to show up. We had two games today. But we were informed that one team did not show up. So we were going to get a forfeit. We played the first game and we could not get a rally going. I had the best hitters at the top of the order and no one was hitting. So we lost four to two. We turned in some great defense. We had a double play that went five-four-two. Then we had back-to-back-to-back six-five plays that stopped runs from scoring. But we still ended up losing.

Then the second game was a forfeit like we had been told. The Longballs had a forfeit as well. We played a scrimmage game against them. We took them deep twice and held them to one long ball. We beat them four to two. It was funny because we always beat them in games that don’t matter and lose when it does matter.

I went home and got some dinner. I watched TV before going to bed hours after I really wanted to. I was mad at myself.

Intramural’s week two

I was woken up to a EMS call. I rushed to the station and made the call. It was a lady who was sick. After the call I hung out at the station. I talked with Carl and watched some TV. I was going to hang around to see if any more calls would come out. I was getting tired so I went home and I planned on taking a nap.

When I got there I found out I was supposed to be on call for the coroners office. I didn’t think I was on call today. So I called Pete and let him know I was around and available. I then went to my bed to take a nap. I slept for about an hour when Pete called.

There was a death at the hospital. I called the Colfax hospital and found out the details. It sounded like a case we would turn down because the doctor would sign off on the death. I was happy because it was getting close to game time. I went back to sleep.

My alarm clock sounded and I drove to Pullman for the games. The weather was better. We started by playing the Longballs. We lost two to fifteen. We did not make it through the order twice. I only had one at bat and it was an out.

We went to the next field and did some BP and infield practice. Then the second game started. I pitched the first one so I let Dave pitch the second game. It was a closer game but we still lost. Three to four. So we have to win one of the two games next week to make the play offs. I again went oh-for.

I grabbed some dinner and went home. I watched the Simpsons and the Sketch Show then I went to bed. I had to get up early and get some stuff done before I left Colfax.

Not working on anything

So I am still in a holding patter at work. Just waiting for stuff to come down the pipeline. I spent most of the day just doing stuff on the Nadirs’ website.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today is my mom’s birthday. I got her a card when I came home from the office. I spent the day today doing more work on the website for my softball team. I even put together a “records” page with the old era records and new era records. With the change in style of doing stats I figured it would be unfair to have stats that covered everything because in the past we use to count anything that got you on base as a basehit, even if it was really a fielders choice or an error. The old batting averages were artificially high because of that. So were other stats.

I got home with the card for my mom around eight pm. We had dinner then I went to my room and talked to Ben and Ryan on the phone. We talked about softball and I asked Ben if he wanted to watch Harold and Kumar go to White Castle. He said he did. So we will do that on Friday.

I watched some TV and then got on the computer and checked my E-mail and a couple message boards before finding my way to sleep.

Softball Season is GAME ON!!!

What excitement is hovering over me. Today is the first softball games of the season. It has been raining all weekend and I am slightly concerned that they will be cancelled, but the IM’s hardly ever get cancelled.

We had a practice at noon at the Valley Road Playfields. Everyone except Mark showed up. We practiced for about one hour. I gave everyone some BP. I watched the new guy do some pitching. Some of the new guys look good.

After practice Ryan and I went to Cougar Country for dinner. Then I decided to go to Moscow to get some new plastic spikes for my cleats. But the mall was closed. I went to Tri-State. They did not have any, but I got some batting gloves for the cold weather. It stings my hands when it is cold. I also got a new thirty dollar bat to use for cold weather. I figured I would not mind if it got ruined. It is a twenty-six ounce thirty-four inch bat.

I went to my office and went to sleep for a while. I was really tired. I did not get a lot of sleep. When it was getting closer to game time I got ready and headed to the Valley Road Playfields. I waited until some other people got there. I met up with other players on the team and we headed to our field. We played our first game. It was so wet it was crazy.

Phil was not going to be there for the whole game so I volunteered to sit on the bench and replace Phil when he had to leave. We were playing Below Me. They are a good team. They only had eight guys. We beat them sixteen to nine. I have the stats from the game on the website http://www.softballteams.org/nadirs. I got in and played catcher when Phil left. I had one at bat and it was a single. So I am batting a thousand for the season so far. The second game was a FFT by the other team. We we are two and oh. With one more win we go to the playoffs for the first time in about two seasons.

Following the games I went to Cougar Country. I got some hamburgers and went home. I watched some TV before going to bed. I had to get up and travel to Seattle tomorrow so I need to get some rest.

Jello Shots

When I got to work Terry and Shawn were having a smoke out back. We were talking about my ride along. Terry asked what I had going for the day. I told him I was done with my bug, so he told me to take off early. So I stuck around until around one pm and then left for lunch.

I hit the highway and I was on my way to Whatcom county. I was about twenty miles from Bellingham when Joe called and said he was sick and would not be going on patrol. So I turned around and headed home. I had planned on helping out my softball team at the bar on Saturday, but I would be going with Joe on Saturday, so I called Eric and he said I could come over tonight to help out in making the Jello Shots.

I got home and my parents were planning on going to the Eagles for dinner and invited me. I went down and I was not feeling all that hungry so I ate what I could and then I left to go to Seattle to Eric’s condo. My job was to pour the liquefied jello mix into the shot cups. Other put the lids on them and then Mark put them in boxes. After we were done I drove them to the bar. Mark and Gerry took them into the bar.

I was planning on meeting Dave at Billies Casino. I pulled out some money from the cash machine and started to play. The Four-card poker table was full. I played some PaiGow to start out. I was doing well, then the dealers changed and I started to lose. So I went to a blackjack table. I got a couple blackjacks in a row then the shoe changed and I went down hill.

I moved to four-card poker because the table had some spaces on it. I played for a while and was doing well. Then I got a straight-flush. That was a forty-to-one odds on my five dollar bet. Plus another twenty-to-one odds on a second five dollar bet. So I won more than three hundred dollars in the one hand, because I also got paid fifteen buck on the final bet. Dave and I were given another comp for a meal. So we decided to quit after a little while. I cashed in and I was up three-sixty. We got dinner. Then as I figured we would be going Dave suggested we play some more.

We went over to the four-card poker table again. I sat in the first position and I sat at an angle because there were two ten-six-seven’s playing pool. I keep watching the ten-six-seven’s and I was unable to concentrate on the cards. Finally they left and I got to playing. I was doing well for a while and then I could not get a hand. So finally I told Dave I was done. I walked out with another forty bucks for a total winnings of four hundred bucks on the night.