America's Roller Coast

Last weekend was a lot of fun. On Friday Jennifer and I got a late start since she worked until 11:00 PM, so I stayed back in Wooster for the evening doing work around the house and watching some late softball games. However, I met up with Jenn afterwards since we needed to leave from her place Saturday morning when we left for Cedar Point which is where my workplace's company outing was. "America's Roller Coast" was a blast, and much better than last year. In 2009 I went by myself and had nobody to walk around or meet up with, so it was lonely and not the most fun. However, one thing that was good about last year was that since I was alone, I could go at any pace I wanted. I took advantage and rode every ride in the park except the Mantis by 4:00 PM which is when our company picnic was. After that, I walked aorund a bit more, then went home. This year was much different. First of all, I had my girlfriend with me, so that was a start. Then I already had it planned to call Craig when I got there and meet up with his group, the same guys and gals that I play poker and frisbee with. There ended up being 10 of us altogether: Me, Jennifer, Craig, his wife Kristin, Nino, his wife Shellie, Steve, his girlfriend Stephanie, Brian, and Dan. There were a few rides that 3 of the girls didn't want to ride, and Jennifer and I broke off for a bit after the 4:00 company picnic to ride the water rides; but other than that, the 10 of us were together all day long. The company picnic was fun, as well. Jenn and I got some good food including fried chicken, pulled pork, hot dogs, baked beans, cookies, ice cream, and pop. Between the time we got in line to when we left our seat after the meal and raffle prizes, we met lots of people from work, chatted, and had a good time. After leaving Cedar Point at about 8:00 PM or so that night, we went over to the hotel and swam in the pool and hot tub for another 2 hours before Jennifer and I finally headed back to her apartment.

Sunday was another long day. We got to sleep in a little bit until 10 or so, but afer getting ready, we packed up for the day and went to Hinckley Reservation in Hinckley, OH, in the southern part of the Cleveland Metroparks. It was a pretty sweet place with a huge lake, a swim hold, creek, lots of trees, some open grass/fields, and lots of room to picnic and hang out. We were there on Father's Day with my parents, both brothers, their wives, and Kris' wife Annie's family. Jennifer and I got there early but couldn't find Kris, Annie, and the family; eventually my parents and other brother Rod and his wife Mandi and their daughter Keira showed up, and we all found out where Kris and them were. We went and found them then cooked out, played corn hole, threw the frisbee, went and swam, and had a real good time. Around 6:15 or so, we left to head to Lakewood where I had two softball games at 8:00 and 9:00 PM. We lost both games but I hit the ball pretty well. I just checked stats for our league (http://bgsd.com/softball/stats/2010/lw-L4-sun-eve-men-10.shtml) and my team Sofa Kings, and I am 4th in batting average, 4th in on base percentage, 3rd in slugging percentage, 2nd in runs scored, 2nd in doubles, 1st in triples, 1st in home runs, and 3rd in walks. Finally in week 6 of the season I was Sofa Kings Player of the Week! It's not about stats, though. It's fun playing two games back-to-back. It'd be better if they weren't on Sundays breaking up the weekend, but it's still fun playing at different fields every couple of weeks. The competition is decent, too, which makes it more fun.

This week has gone by quickly. Things at work are going well. The projects I'm on are coming along well, too. Just now, as I was typing this blog, I began to feel sick. Over the past 2 hours I've spent my time going back and forth between hunching over the toilet and rolling around on the couch with pain in my stomach, so I think it's time to get to bed. I just finished watching the 1st round of the NBA draft forgetting that the Cavs did not have a 1st round pick. What a waste of time.

Smile! May God continue to bless you.

Good Players Make a Good Coach

Life's been busy, but it's been fun. One thing taking up my time on Mondays and Wednesdays has been me coaching a junior high summer league basketball team in the Triway Summer League on the outdoor Kiper Courts. It's a fun summer basketball league with a Junior High and an Adult division, played on two different outdoor courts. It's a big community event, and kids, adults, and teams come from surrounding communities to take part. My team of 7th-to-9th graders to-be is doing pretty well, sitting at 4-1. Our only loss came when we were missing our 3 best players due to baseball conflicts. We only have 7 players as it is, so we played with 4 guys that game and faced one of the most dominant players in the league, which didn't help. We have two more regular season games and then the tournament begins. We have a good chance to make some noise, but hopefully we can continue to play well and not miss too many kids. It's exciting to have a pretty good team, since the last few years I haven't been so lucky. We'll see what happens!

I just found out that I have the next two Fridays free, so now it's up to me to find out what I want to do with them. Well, this Friday is free - next Friday I have a softball game, so that's something, I guess. My nights may be busy during the week, but when I get home it's still kind of boring. Like tonight, for instance - I got home from my basketball game, took my shoes and socks off, and got on my computer to check Facebook and watch TBS..? Oh, I did get an M&M McFlurry on the way home, so that was some excitement. I guess I shouldn't complain about having a boring home life when I am home, since I'm only home a few hours a day. I love being busy, but I just wish I had more things of substance to do when I was here other than mow the yard and do laundry. But I must say... My yard looks awesome! Haha. That's all for now. Nothing creative today. Please don't stop reading my blog. I promise something neat will be coming soon. I promise! Oh, Cedar Point Saturday!

Smile! May God continue to bless you.

Church League Isn't That Bad

I just got home from an 8:30 PM softball game at Four Square softball field next to Wal Mart in Wooster. The weekday games that I have are part of our church league, which has always been very competitive. However, I never knew just how competitive it really was until I recently ventured out into other organized leagues around the area. Our church team, Ripley Church of Christ, has been playing very well lately and would be very competitive in the other open league I'm playing in currently. Tonight we won 17-5 in 6 innings, advancing our record to 4-1 and giving us our 2nd run-rule victory of the season (the other two victories were clutch, come-from-behind wins). I'm really liking our team. Top-to-bottom in the lineup, all the players know how to play the game, they hustle, and they work hard at the game. I am pleasantly surprised with our play on the defensive end, as well. I'm sure we'll lose a few more games before the regular season ends, but our team definitely has potential and could get a good seed for the tournament in a month or two. (it's a much shorter league than the other one I'm in on Sundays, which lasts all Summer)

It's encouraging knowing that I think I've gotten over the hump of trying to hit the softball. I've always had a good swing and good bat speed, but I never really knew how to hit a softball really well. Lately, though, I kind of had an "Ah-ha!" moment when I was at the plate, I adjusted some things with my swing, and I have been hitting the ball on the nose ever since. I just want to get out there and keep playing and see how long this streak can last. We don't have any more church league softball left this week, but I'm super excited to play this Sunday for our Lakewood team, Sofa Kings, at 4:00 PM and 5:00 PM at Usher Field. We play a team that is 7-1, so we'll need to bring our A-game; but we are definitely capable of beating anybody! Here's hoping to getting a split this Sunday, or maybe even getting two upset wins. Who knows!

When I got out of the shower tonight, I immediately put duct tape on my right ring finger, between the base of the finger and the first knuckle, to cover up a wart that I've had there for almost a year. I used to have a wart on another finger on the other hand a long while ago and killed it by covering it with duct tape for about a week, depriving it of oxygen. It eventually died, and I was able to pull it out (not pretty!). I'm hoping the same will happen with this one eventually. It's not as developed as the other one was, though, so I'm not sure if it's sticking out of my finger far enough to be pulled out once it dies... but I'll find out. Haha. I'll keep you updated, 'cuz I'll be pumped when this thing is finally out of my body.

I think that's about all I have right now that's going on. Soon, though, football season will be creeping up on us, and we all know how exciting the football season can get. I cannot wait! Oh, I am playing my first game of ultimate Frisbee this year tomorrow in Akron. I used to play just about every Friday last year, but I haven't been able to go yet this year because of baseball and other obligations that happened to fall on Friday. But I'm finally free, and I'm excited to get out there, throw the Frisbee around, run it down some, and get a workout. That's the thing about ultimate Frisbee - it's fun, but, boy, is it a workout!

Smile! May God continue to bless you.

11 Days

This Tuesday morning I left for work, leaving my girlfriend Jennifer at her apartment. After work today I went home to my house, marking the 1st day since Friday, May 28, that Jennifer and I did not spend the day together. That's 11 days in a row! I know it's not anything outstanding or to marvel at; but for Jennifer and me, who live 59 minutes from each other and normally only get to see each other on weekends, it was a big deal and a lot of fun!

The stretch started two Fridays ago when I met up with her, and her friend Danielle, and Danielle's boyfriend Pete, as we walked around Chagrin Falls for the Blossom Festival, which was basically a carnival. Jenn and I had some awesome Italian sausage while Danielle and Pete had an elephant ear (I think) and some French fries. Well, I think I ate most of their French fries since they forced me to. Haha! The next day Jennifer and I left early with her sister Amanda, going to Andover in extreme Northeast Ohio to camp for the Memorial Day weekend. While there we met up with their mother Deborah and other friends of their family. Jenn and I had a good time raking and blowing leaves, putting up tents, making fires, roasting “gigungous” marshmallows, watching ducks walk on top of fish, and playing putt-putt, cornhole, Apples to Apples, and Phase 10. It was relaxing and fun, and we needed a weekend like that. Monday we traveled into Jenn’s home town of Conneaut for their Memorial Day parade where I met her ex-fiancé, Adam, who is in the military and also attended the parade/ceremony. We got back Monday evening in time to have Amanda's boyfriend Kevin come over to have dinner... the four of us (Amanda, Kevin, Jennifer, and me) had stromboli that Jenn and Amanda made, and then we hung out on the patio watching the thunderstorm roll in.

Originally Jennifer was supposed to work that Tuesday, but she got a late, late text telling her she no longer had to work; and since she and I were leaving for Columbus Thursday morning and she had nothing else going on until then, she came to stay with me at my place for the next two days to ease the logistics. I worked Tuesday and Wednesday while she stayed at home during the day doing anything she wanted. Thursday morning she and I got up bright and early and left for Columbus, Ohio, where we were going to watch the Ohio High School baseball state championships! There were four games on Thursday: the DIV and DIII state semifinals; four games on Friday: the DI and DII state semifinals; and four games on Saturday: all four state championship games. It was a LOT of baseball and a LOT of sun! Saturday's games got cut in half due to severe storms, so we stayed in Columbus an extra day to watch the rest of the games finish on Sunday. The night before (Saturday night) we were able to stay over at her Aunt Judy's house since our hotel was only booked for Thursday and Friday night... plus it saved us some money and was just outside of Columbus! Overall on the weekend we saw 12 games and spent 43 1/2 hours at the ball park. Wow! But we had an absolute blast, no matter how burnt we are now!

We didn't get back to my house Sunday night until about 10:30 or 11:00 PM, so we decided, since Jennifer didn't work Monday, that she would stay at my place that night. I went to work Monday while she stayed at home and did her laundry from the weekend (since it costs money to do it at her apartment). That night (last night) we went to my summer basketball league where I coach a junior high basketball team. Our team is pretty good but didn't have all our kids there last night, so we did not win.

Anyway, I took Jennifer up to her place after the game where Amanda had made dinner for us. Then we watched a movie about two gay guys, and went to bed. I got up in the morning, got ready for work, and headed off to "the grind" straight from her place. So, that was a summary of the last 11 days, all of which were fun and would not be taken back for anything!

The week ahead still holds a non-stop schedule: a softball game tonight, another basketball game tomorrow, a softball game Thursday, possibly ultimate Frisbee with Craig (from work) and some of our common friends, the (Craig) Wheeler Poker Tour (aka WPT) Saturday night with that same group, then a softball double header Sunday. Man, my life never stops - I swear! One of these days I’ll get a break... maybe. Haha! I've always said, though, that I love being busy and that I'd take being busy over being bored ANY DAY. I still stand by that, no matter how tired I may get or how unbearably heavy my eyelids may be. It's time for me to go now and maybe get a nap.

Smile! May God continue to bless you.