On Friday afternoon, Gary and I headed down to Atlantic City for a night of poker. Our other usual partner in crime, Kevin, was to pick us up at a train station along the way. Due to some fouled up train schedules and some horrible traffic, we did not get down there until about 7:30. Still this gave us about 6 hours of gambling time. I was actually quite successful. We were playing $1/$2 NL and by the end of the night, I was up $330. So I was quite pleased with my efforts. My biggesy hand was doubling up with a set of 5's. I was quite patient and basically waited until the others at the table were overplaying their hands and tried to win a big pot.
Saturday was Mindy's day. She went shopping with Holly (Gary's wife) and was gone the whole day. Gary and his kids came over for lunch and dinner and Mindy did not return until about 8:30. She was tired but had a good day and enjoyed her downtime I think.
I also watched the Australia v France rugby game. Robbie Deans described it as "progress" but I really did not see much improvement. If we don't start playing a little better, it will be a painful Tri-Nations to watch.
Sunday was a lazy day at the house. I watched the ODI between Australia and the West Indies. I thought we played quite well and was very impressed with how Watson batted. I think we have a good side and have covered the recent retirements quite well. In the test side, it is another story...
Monday, June 30, 2008
Friday, June 27, 2008
Pearl Jam
On Wednesday night I got the train into New York to see Pearl Jam play at Madison Square Garden. I am a big fan of their music but for a variety of reasons, I had never seen them live before. From talking to my brother Mick who has seen them many times, they put on a good show so I was expecting big things from them.
I got to the show a few minutes before the support band was due to start and planned to get a t-shirt. There was one with a particularly good design, a not-too-subtle design showing their feelings about the war and the current administration, however they had NO XL shirts available. Apparently the delivery had not arrived for the New York shows. A little disappointing but I am sure I will get over it - it is not like I don't have other concert t-shirts to wear from time to time!
I decided to ignore the support band and save my ears a bit which was quite easy as they only played for 30 minutes. I was sitting in one of the upper sections - not all the way back but closer to the roof than to the floor. There was nobody in the 4 seats to my right until near the start of the show when two early-20ish girls walked up to take the two vacant seats furtherest away. It was clear that one of them had had WAY too much to drink as she was swaying all over the place and struggling to hold her head up. Next thing I knew, she was throwing up in front of the now two vacant seats to my right. Fortunately nobody came to sit in them though. After this she passed out for the first 1/2 of the show and then sprung to life and began dancing! I was impressed with her recovery.
Pearl Jam went on at 8:45 and the crowd went crazy. 20000+ people screaming like crazy and singing along with every song made for quite the atmosphere. The band was amazing. I was actually surprised with how much guitar Eddie Vedder played, I guess I had always thought of him more as a singer, not a singer/guitarist. They always mix up their sets, so you never know what you are going to get. This is good in one sense...but also could be frustrating if you did not get to see some of your favourite songs. However, the songs they picked were great and I was more than happy with the result. There were only a few songs I would have liked to have seen that they did not play but with their catalogue, you are always going to miss out on a few. They played for 90 minutes, had a 5 minute break, came back for another 30, one more break then a final set of 30 minutes. I think they had planned to end the show with a great version of Alive and were performing their final bows when Eddie said something to the rest of the band, prompting them to play one more song - Yellow Ledbetter, one of their frequent closing numbers. An instrumental of "Star Spangled Banner" wrapped it all up and I was able to get out of there in time to make my train home.
Highlights of the night - Do The Evolution; State of Love and Trust; Even Flow; Better Man; Rearviewmirror; Alive; Yellow Ledbetter. Sounds like a lot, but they played 29 songs in their set. Certainly good value for money and they will be a band I will make sure I catch whenever they are in the area.
I got to the show a few minutes before the support band was due to start and planned to get a t-shirt. There was one with a particularly good design, a not-too-subtle design showing their feelings about the war and the current administration, however they had NO XL shirts available. Apparently the delivery had not arrived for the New York shows. A little disappointing but I am sure I will get over it - it is not like I don't have other concert t-shirts to wear from time to time!
I decided to ignore the support band and save my ears a bit which was quite easy as they only played for 30 minutes. I was sitting in one of the upper sections - not all the way back but closer to the roof than to the floor. There was nobody in the 4 seats to my right until near the start of the show when two early-20ish girls walked up to take the two vacant seats furtherest away. It was clear that one of them had had WAY too much to drink as she was swaying all over the place and struggling to hold her head up. Next thing I knew, she was throwing up in front of the now two vacant seats to my right. Fortunately nobody came to sit in them though. After this she passed out for the first 1/2 of the show and then sprung to life and began dancing! I was impressed with her recovery.
Pearl Jam went on at 8:45 and the crowd went crazy. 20000+ people screaming like crazy and singing along with every song made for quite the atmosphere. The band was amazing. I was actually surprised with how much guitar Eddie Vedder played, I guess I had always thought of him more as a singer, not a singer/guitarist. They always mix up their sets, so you never know what you are going to get. This is good in one sense...but also could be frustrating if you did not get to see some of your favourite songs. However, the songs they picked were great and I was more than happy with the result. There were only a few songs I would have liked to have seen that they did not play but with their catalogue, you are always going to miss out on a few. They played for 90 minutes, had a 5 minute break, came back for another 30, one more break then a final set of 30 minutes. I think they had planned to end the show with a great version of Alive and were performing their final bows when Eddie said something to the rest of the band, prompting them to play one more song - Yellow Ledbetter, one of their frequent closing numbers. An instrumental of "Star Spangled Banner" wrapped it all up and I was able to get out of there in time to make my train home.
Highlights of the night - Do The Evolution; State of Love and Trust; Even Flow; Better Man; Rearviewmirror; Alive; Yellow Ledbetter. Sounds like a lot, but they played 29 songs in their set. Certainly good value for money and they will be a band I will make sure I catch whenever they are in the area.
Monday, June 23, 2008
A Night With Allan Border
Through a cricket playing friend who works in sports marketing over here, we had received word that Allan Border (Australian cricketing legend and on of my childhood heroes...for any non-Aussies reading this) was travelling to New York and was looking for some Yankee tickets for Sunday's game. As it turns out, he was able to get tickets through Mastercard (a sponsor of his) but still, through his representative, had indicated that he was happy to have a drink with us on Saturday night.
I clearly jumped at the chance to do this and so the plan was for us to meet Allan and his family in the lobby of his hotel at 7:30 on Saturday. Two of us were there by 7:15, and two more were on the way, so we were simply waiting and looking for Allan to make an appearance. Deep down, I had not let myself get too excited about this and was kind of thinking that it might not end up happening for some reason. I guess the first sign that I might be a bit of a psycho fan was that I saw a lady walk past and recognized her (from his book) as Allan's wife Jane. I then turned around and there was Allan, standing there looking like he was looking for someone. In somewhat of a surreal moment, I approached, stuck out my hand and said "Hi Allan, my name is David, I am one of the people here to meet you tonight.". Getting a much better response than my "meeting" with Pete Sampras (an arrogant jerk) a few years earlier, he shook my hand, introduced his family and we began chatting.
After all of us had arrived, we discussed the plan for the evening. They were only in New York for a couple of days and did not know their way around the city at all. One of our group suggested a casual French bistro a couple of blocks away and so off we went. Now the initial message was that he would meet us for "drinks", so once it became clear that he was happy to have dinner with us I knew we were in for a much longer evening.
I ended up sitting next to Jane and across from Allan, so I felt like I had a prime position. The dinner conversation was quite fascinating, some cricket related but a lot was just general dinner conversation. He was interested to hear our perspectives since we had lived in the area on 9/11. Also, there was much discussion about differences between Australia and the USA and changes in Australia since we were all last there. Among the cricket topics touched on were David Boon's 52 can beer drinking record from Sydney to London. All true...in fact, apparently, other players in the team were acting as "pace setters" for him, sitting in and drinking a few cans at a good pace to keep him moving. In the end, a ring pull from one of the cans was gold-plated and engraved "52 not out" and presented to Boonie by Allan on the tour. I guess a second sign I was a psycho fan was that when the topic of State of Origin League was being talked about, I reminded him of a promotion he did for Channel 9 in 1985 with Dirk Wellham for this event. He had no memory of having done this but I remember it like it was yesterday. Mindy told me later that I was a little bit "Single White Female-ish" :-).
After a couple of hours, the table was cleared off and we were asked about dessert and coffee. I was assuming that this would be a good time for him to lead things to get wrapped up. Instead, he said "I think I wouldn't mind having another beer". My response was pretty obvious - "I think I'll have one too!". We then all sat and talked for about another hour before feeling the need to leave and give up our table since there was a line waiting to get in at that time.
We walked back to his hotel and chatted in the lobby for a few minutes. I (of course) had brought a picture for him to sign and also had a couple of photos taken with him to mark the occasion. We then said our goodbyes and left - it was, by then 11:15...so we had spent the best part of 4 hours with them all. Anyone who knows me will understand how this truly was a life highlight for me. He and his family could not have been nicer or easier to talk to. Truly, a fantastic night that I will never forget.
I clearly jumped at the chance to do this and so the plan was for us to meet Allan and his family in the lobby of his hotel at 7:30 on Saturday. Two of us were there by 7:15, and two more were on the way, so we were simply waiting and looking for Allan to make an appearance. Deep down, I had not let myself get too excited about this and was kind of thinking that it might not end up happening for some reason. I guess the first sign that I might be a bit of a psycho fan was that I saw a lady walk past and recognized her (from his book) as Allan's wife Jane. I then turned around and there was Allan, standing there looking like he was looking for someone. In somewhat of a surreal moment, I approached, stuck out my hand and said "Hi Allan, my name is David, I am one of the people here to meet you tonight.". Getting a much better response than my "meeting" with Pete Sampras (an arrogant jerk) a few years earlier, he shook my hand, introduced his family and we began chatting.
After all of us had arrived, we discussed the plan for the evening. They were only in New York for a couple of days and did not know their way around the city at all. One of our group suggested a casual French bistro a couple of blocks away and so off we went. Now the initial message was that he would meet us for "drinks", so once it became clear that he was happy to have dinner with us I knew we were in for a much longer evening.
I ended up sitting next to Jane and across from Allan, so I felt like I had a prime position. The dinner conversation was quite fascinating, some cricket related but a lot was just general dinner conversation. He was interested to hear our perspectives since we had lived in the area on 9/11. Also, there was much discussion about differences between Australia and the USA and changes in Australia since we were all last there. Among the cricket topics touched on were David Boon's 52 can beer drinking record from Sydney to London. All true...in fact, apparently, other players in the team were acting as "pace setters" for him, sitting in and drinking a few cans at a good pace to keep him moving. In the end, a ring pull from one of the cans was gold-plated and engraved "52 not out" and presented to Boonie by Allan on the tour. I guess a second sign I was a psycho fan was that when the topic of State of Origin League was being talked about, I reminded him of a promotion he did for Channel 9 in 1985 with Dirk Wellham for this event. He had no memory of having done this but I remember it like it was yesterday. Mindy told me later that I was a little bit "Single White Female-ish" :-).
After a couple of hours, the table was cleared off and we were asked about dessert and coffee. I was assuming that this would be a good time for him to lead things to get wrapped up. Instead, he said "I think I wouldn't mind having another beer". My response was pretty obvious - "I think I'll have one too!". We then all sat and talked for about another hour before feeling the need to leave and give up our table since there was a line waiting to get in at that time.
We walked back to his hotel and chatted in the lobby for a few minutes. I (of course) had brought a picture for him to sign and also had a couple of photos taken with him to mark the occasion. We then said our goodbyes and left - it was, by then 11:15...so we had spent the best part of 4 hours with them all. Anyone who knows me will understand how this truly was a life highlight for me. He and his family could not have been nicer or easier to talk to. Truly, a fantastic night that I will never forget.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Top 7 Songs
A blogging friend of mine asked me to respond to one of his entries about his favourite 7 songs of the moment. This list, as with everyone's list, could change in a week...but for right now, I guess this is it (in no particular order).
Midnight Oil - Warakurna . Great, underrrated song. Best version by far is the live version for their Unplugged show that is available on their "The Real Thing" CD. Great stuff.
AC/DC - Whole Lotta Rosie. My favourite song of theirs and a true classic. Awesome riff and great, sophisticated lyrics ("42-39-56...you could say she's got it all!").
The Angels - Mr Damage. Have been on a bit of an Angels kick since I heard about them reforming for a tour back home (which unfortunately I will be missing). Quality song from my favourite album of theirs.
John Lennon - Imagine. Never far from my playlist. Kind of hard to find much wrong with this one.
Alan Jackson - Remember When. I hate country music but I love this song. One of the few love songs I really like and I find it tough not to get a little sentimental when listening to this one.
Pearl Jam - Spin The Black Circle. I love what this song is about and then to throw in the total intensity of the music and you have a classic. I have been listening to Pearl Jam a lot lately to prepare for the concert I am going to next week.
AC/DC - Back In Black. The kids love this song and often request it to be played. They both know how to "head-bang" and learned it from this track. The sight of them punching the air, flipping the "devil's horns" etc is quite priceless. I guess this one will always be considered kind of special for me.
So, Willow...hopefully this was a satisfactory attempt...
Midnight Oil - Warakurna . Great, underrrated song. Best version by far is the live version for their Unplugged show that is available on their "The Real Thing" CD. Great stuff.
AC/DC - Whole Lotta Rosie. My favourite song of theirs and a true classic. Awesome riff and great, sophisticated lyrics ("42-39-56...you could say she's got it all!").
The Angels - Mr Damage. Have been on a bit of an Angels kick since I heard about them reforming for a tour back home (which unfortunately I will be missing). Quality song from my favourite album of theirs.
John Lennon - Imagine. Never far from my playlist. Kind of hard to find much wrong with this one.
Alan Jackson - Remember When. I hate country music but I love this song. One of the few love songs I really like and I find it tough not to get a little sentimental when listening to this one.
Pearl Jam - Spin The Black Circle. I love what this song is about and then to throw in the total intensity of the music and you have a classic. I have been listening to Pearl Jam a lot lately to prepare for the concert I am going to next week.
AC/DC - Back In Black. The kids love this song and often request it to be played. They both know how to "head-bang" and learned it from this track. The sight of them punching the air, flipping the "devil's horns" etc is quite priceless. I guess this one will always be considered kind of special for me.
So, Willow...hopefully this was a satisfactory attempt...
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Team Juice
On Saturday down in Virginia and I was asked to play golf with Mindy's brother Ben and her uncle Austin. There was a tournament organized by some people Ben worked with and they wanted to round out their group. My golfing ability is fair at best but when I found out the format was a "Captain's Choice" format (all 4 golfers hit their shot, you pick the best one then all four hit from there) I was really looking forward to playing.
We got the the meet up point, a bar near the golf course. It was described by Ben as a "smokey, divey bar"...and this was quite accurate. The "Harbor Inn" was nothing more than a glass door shop front with a small (and very smokey) bar area inside. Most pubs have a decent selection of beers - the only two taps in this place were for Budweiser and Miller Lite. Kind of like a Blues Brothers moment - "What kind of beer do you have?". "We have BOTH kinds - Budweiser AND Miller". Anyway, we paid our money to the organizer - "Buzzy" - and were told that "Juice" would be our team captain and 4th member. We left for the course and began searching for Juice.
Juice turned out to be a nice guy in his late 50's, having quite a large belly and (from his own admission), of dubious golfing ability. However, winning was not the intention of the day but he was quite friendly so all should be fine. Our plan was simple - try not to get any bogeys, figuring that we will get the odd birdie along the way which might get us to a competitive total.
After a few pars we started to play a little better. I was mixing in some good shots with some amazingly bad ones but because of the format, this did not hurt the team. My main aim off the tee was to put a 3-wood on the fairway which would then allow the other guys to take a rip with the driver, knowing that we had a ball in good shape if they were not accurate. This was working well for much of the round, setting us up for the toughest hole on the course...quite a long par 5. With my drive in play, Ben took a rip and drilled it down the left side of the fairway. He then drilled his approach shot to about 10 feet from the hole. After Austin hit the putt for the eagle, we found ourselves at 5 under. We made the turn at 6 under and were thinking we were in good shape to maybe get a place.
We scrambled well for much of the back 9, making some tough pitches and putts to get pars and keeping us in the round. On the 17th green, we were sitting at 7 under and facing an 18 footer for birdie. We all took a shot at the putt and narrowly missed. However, we still had a few "mulligans" available to use and we figured that this was a good time to try to get back another shot. I had two to burn and so figured that putting was where I could use them best. I lined up the putt again and pushed it a few inches to the left. Grabbing the ball and lining up again (for my final mulligan), I made an adjustment and tried to push it more to the right...it worked, and the ball dropped in the hole to send us to 8 under with one hole to play.
The final hole was a 270 yard par 4. Again, I hit first and put the ball about 50 yards from the flag in the middle of the fairway. Ben then took a crack at the green and absolutely creamed his drive. We watched the ball bounce and roll right up on the green in the direction of the hole. The group in front of us was still putting at the time! So we knew we were looking good but not sure exactly how close we were. When we got up there, they were finishing their putts and told us that the had marked where the ball went, adding to the suspense for a few more seconds. Then they placed the ball 6 feet from the hole! Ben walked up and knocked in the putt for the eagle and a final score of 10 under. We felt this would be quite competitive so back to the bar to get the results.
After eating, they annouced the winners. In first place, with 10 under, "Team Juice"!! 2nd place was 9 under, so the eagle made the difference for us. It really was a lot of fun. Our prize was $50 a piece, which paid for the $40 entry fee and my lunch...so a good price for a day of golf. Ben was the star of the team but we all contributed throughout the day at different times. Whenever he would hit a poor shot, one of us would hit a nice one and keep us in the hole. Not sure if it can be arranged but it would be nice if the "Harbor Inn Golf Tournament" was a regular stop on my golfing calendar.
We got the the meet up point, a bar near the golf course. It was described by Ben as a "smokey, divey bar"...and this was quite accurate. The "Harbor Inn" was nothing more than a glass door shop front with a small (and very smokey) bar area inside. Most pubs have a decent selection of beers - the only two taps in this place were for Budweiser and Miller Lite. Kind of like a Blues Brothers moment - "What kind of beer do you have?". "We have BOTH kinds - Budweiser AND Miller". Anyway, we paid our money to the organizer - "Buzzy" - and were told that "Juice" would be our team captain and 4th member. We left for the course and began searching for Juice.
Juice turned out to be a nice guy in his late 50's, having quite a large belly and (from his own admission), of dubious golfing ability. However, winning was not the intention of the day but he was quite friendly so all should be fine. Our plan was simple - try not to get any bogeys, figuring that we will get the odd birdie along the way which might get us to a competitive total.
After a few pars we started to play a little better. I was mixing in some good shots with some amazingly bad ones but because of the format, this did not hurt the team. My main aim off the tee was to put a 3-wood on the fairway which would then allow the other guys to take a rip with the driver, knowing that we had a ball in good shape if they were not accurate. This was working well for much of the round, setting us up for the toughest hole on the course...quite a long par 5. With my drive in play, Ben took a rip and drilled it down the left side of the fairway. He then drilled his approach shot to about 10 feet from the hole. After Austin hit the putt for the eagle, we found ourselves at 5 under. We made the turn at 6 under and were thinking we were in good shape to maybe get a place.
We scrambled well for much of the back 9, making some tough pitches and putts to get pars and keeping us in the round. On the 17th green, we were sitting at 7 under and facing an 18 footer for birdie. We all took a shot at the putt and narrowly missed. However, we still had a few "mulligans" available to use and we figured that this was a good time to try to get back another shot. I had two to burn and so figured that putting was where I could use them best. I lined up the putt again and pushed it a few inches to the left. Grabbing the ball and lining up again (for my final mulligan), I made an adjustment and tried to push it more to the right...it worked, and the ball dropped in the hole to send us to 8 under with one hole to play.
The final hole was a 270 yard par 4. Again, I hit first and put the ball about 50 yards from the flag in the middle of the fairway. Ben then took a crack at the green and absolutely creamed his drive. We watched the ball bounce and roll right up on the green in the direction of the hole. The group in front of us was still putting at the time! So we knew we were looking good but not sure exactly how close we were. When we got up there, they were finishing their putts and told us that the had marked where the ball went, adding to the suspense for a few more seconds. Then they placed the ball 6 feet from the hole! Ben walked up and knocked in the putt for the eagle and a final score of 10 under. We felt this would be quite competitive so back to the bar to get the results.
After eating, they annouced the winners. In first place, with 10 under, "Team Juice"!! 2nd place was 9 under, so the eagle made the difference for us. It really was a lot of fun. Our prize was $50 a piece, which paid for the $40 entry fee and my lunch...so a good price for a day of golf. Ben was the star of the team but we all contributed throughout the day at different times. Whenever he would hit a poor shot, one of us would hit a nice one and keep us in the hole. Not sure if it can be arranged but it would be nice if the "Harbor Inn Golf Tournament" was a regular stop on my golfing calendar.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Ballet and a Road Trip
Tuesday was ballet recital day. Fiona in the morning - it is truly very cute to watch 8 3-4 year olds try to remember a dance routine. She did very well and had a good time. After lunch it was Naomi's turn. Her class did a ballet routine AND a tap routine. Again, all very cute and fun to watch.
On Wednesday, the kids had their last day of school for the year. After this, we jumped in the car and drove down to Virginia to see Mindy's family. The main reason for the celebration was to see Maurita (her sister) graduate from high school. We are down here for the weekend and I just found out that there might be a golf outing planned for Saturday. Considering I have not swung a club in a couple of years, that might prove to be interesting!
On Wednesday, the kids had their last day of school for the year. After this, we jumped in the car and drove down to Virginia to see Mindy's family. The main reason for the celebration was to see Maurita (her sister) graduate from high school. We are down here for the weekend and I just found out that there might be a golf outing planned for Saturday. Considering I have not swung a club in a couple of years, that might prove to be interesting!
Heat Wave
This past weekend we were hit with a heat wave. All of the days were hot and humid that made doing things outside pretty uncomfortable. So, we proceeded to have an amazingly busy weekend, doing lots of stuff outside!
Friday night involved a trip to the Liberty Science Center with our friends. It was a fun night, Naomi in particular enjoyed all of the exhibits. Donough works there and was able to get us in for free AND get us the staff discount for dinner, so not only was it a fun night but the price was great!
Saturday was supposed to be cricket. However, due to a calendar update error, Mindy had noticed that she was scheduled to do her henna at a local street fair...so this took precedence. Unfortunately the weather was too hot for people to enjoy walking around and so there were pretty much no potential customers. Considering this, we packed up early and left by mid-afternoon. Upon arriving home, our street was being setup for the annual street block party, which we had not planned to attend. Based on the other cancellations, we decided to go along for a while and spend some more time in the sun. It was fun and it made us regret that we have not done more with our neighbours over the years.
Sunday begain with a trip to a local diner for breakfast. It was pretty much a typical diner experience - 50-something waitresses with massive chips on their shoulders acting quite impatient and other assorted weirdos in attendance. The food was OK, even though the kids really didn't find much they wanted to eat. A late morning call from Gary involved an invitation for all of us to go to the movies to see Kung Fu Panda with the kids. However, the theatre was sold out! Plan B was enacted - grab some lunch and then go to the local pool where they are members to cool down. The kids really enjoyed this and it was nice to cool down. After this, back to their house for dinner and an end to a hot, tiring yet fun weekend.
Monday was the last day of work for a week. Vacation starts on Tuesday - always a good thing!
Friday night involved a trip to the Liberty Science Center with our friends. It was a fun night, Naomi in particular enjoyed all of the exhibits. Donough works there and was able to get us in for free AND get us the staff discount for dinner, so not only was it a fun night but the price was great!
Saturday was supposed to be cricket. However, due to a calendar update error, Mindy had noticed that she was scheduled to do her henna at a local street fair...so this took precedence. Unfortunately the weather was too hot for people to enjoy walking around and so there were pretty much no potential customers. Considering this, we packed up early and left by mid-afternoon. Upon arriving home, our street was being setup for the annual street block party, which we had not planned to attend. Based on the other cancellations, we decided to go along for a while and spend some more time in the sun. It was fun and it made us regret that we have not done more with our neighbours over the years.
Sunday begain with a trip to a local diner for breakfast. It was pretty much a typical diner experience - 50-something waitresses with massive chips on their shoulders acting quite impatient and other assorted weirdos in attendance. The food was OK, even though the kids really didn't find much they wanted to eat. A late morning call from Gary involved an invitation for all of us to go to the movies to see Kung Fu Panda with the kids. However, the theatre was sold out! Plan B was enacted - grab some lunch and then go to the local pool where they are members to cool down. The kids really enjoyed this and it was nice to cool down. After this, back to their house for dinner and an end to a hot, tiring yet fun weekend.
Monday was the last day of work for a week. Vacation starts on Tuesday - always a good thing!
Friday, June 6, 2008
Gardening Success
Last night we ate a salad made from a lettuce from our garden. Mindy has done a great job in getting this going and I guess the final proof was last night. There are several more lettuces there along with beans; carrots; squash and beets...and probably something else I cannot think of right now. Hopefully we have continued success over the summer.
Our new trees are also growing well and sprouting little leaves. They are still quite small but considering what we started with, there has certainly been some progress there.
This weekend is shaping up to be quite busy. Mindy has another street fair tomorrow, which actually meant I had to cancel cricket :-( . I guess it will be a lot of home/kid stuff for two days and figuring out how to beat the heat.
Our new trees are also growing well and sprouting little leaves. They are still quite small but considering what we started with, there has certainly been some progress there.
This weekend is shaping up to be quite busy. Mindy has another street fair tomorrow, which actually meant I had to cancel cricket :-( . I guess it will be a lot of home/kid stuff for two days and figuring out how to beat the heat.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Cricket/Rugby
The 2nd test ended in a draw. We were not far off winning the game and had the close MacGill stumping decision gone our way, we likely would have done it. However, we had some umpiring luck earlier in the game so I am not complaining. Glad to see they are listening to me and now using Stuart Clark with the new ball. I never understood why this was not done from day 1. You have a guy, who is a very similar bowler to McGrath and I seem to remember McGrath being pretty decent with the new ball on occasion...and you throw the ball to an erratic rookie because he is a lefty. Lee and Clark will put batsmen under a lot of pressure from ball 1 and I think we will see better results due to this. The spinning position is now very much a weakness of our team but it is hard to see anyone doing much worse than MacGill / Hogg did of late. We will never find another Warne but there has to be a young spinner in the country who can send down a few decent overs for use. Casson will get his crack in the 3rd test it seems.
I watched the Super 14 final. A good match but in the end, Canterbury were too strong for us. I am excited at the prospect of the Wallabies having a different look and feel this year. New coach, a number of new, young players and a few years to get things right after the last World Cup disaster. I think we can push the All Blacks in the Tri Nations, but it is hard to see them not winning the series. I will be interested to see where we stand up against NZ and SA. Based on the Super 14, I think we have the players to test both of them. Vickermann's loss is huge and without him, our tight 5, already with some questions, will be severely tested. On the bright side, Mumm was a huge find this season and I hope they let him have a crack for the Wallabies. Looking forward to the next couple of months!!!
I watched the Super 14 final. A good match but in the end, Canterbury were too strong for us. I am excited at the prospect of the Wallabies having a different look and feel this year. New coach, a number of new, young players and a few years to get things right after the last World Cup disaster. I think we can push the All Blacks in the Tri Nations, but it is hard to see them not winning the series. I will be interested to see where we stand up against NZ and SA. Based on the Super 14, I think we have the players to test both of them. Vickermann's loss is huge and without him, our tight 5, already with some questions, will be severely tested. On the bright side, Mumm was a huge find this season and I hope they let him have a crack for the Wallabies. Looking forward to the next couple of months!!!
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Mad Dog Blues
Played cricket on Saturday and it was another tough loss for the Mad Dogs. My bowling is terrible at the moment and I am not sure if/when/how I will fix it. I batted OK but got out to one that kept a little low on the pitch, just as I should have been ready to kick on with the innings. A few of us got out that way and so it was a disappointing loss. We now have our work cut out for us to reach our league final, especially when we are throwing in an understrength team for our game on Saturday.
Saturday night was more successful. Played in our neighbourhood poker game, hosted by Kevin and his new, hand made, oak poker table. No hands that were too crazy, my patience was rewarded with a $40 profit on the night. Many laughs were had and everyone had a good time. Got back home at 3:30, to get 3 hours of sleep before a day with the kids.
On Sunday, Mindy was doing her henna art and face painting at a local street fair, so I was on kid duty. After helping Mindy set up, we spent some time at the house, hit Taco Bell for lunch and then to the bookstore where the kids enjoyed the train table; stuffed animals and books in the kids department. I enjoyed reading a poker book and drinking coffee trying to stay awake. With the coffee not doing a thing, we went back home and I took a 40 minute nap while the kids watched some TV, then off to get Mindy. She had a good day but was quite tired by the end of the day. She went out with a friend for dinner, so I got the kids to bed and watched some TV before enjoying crashing in bed and getting ready for Colgate on Monday.
Saturday night was more successful. Played in our neighbourhood poker game, hosted by Kevin and his new, hand made, oak poker table. No hands that were too crazy, my patience was rewarded with a $40 profit on the night. Many laughs were had and everyone had a good time. Got back home at 3:30, to get 3 hours of sleep before a day with the kids.
On Sunday, Mindy was doing her henna art and face painting at a local street fair, so I was on kid duty. After helping Mindy set up, we spent some time at the house, hit Taco Bell for lunch and then to the bookstore where the kids enjoyed the train table; stuffed animals and books in the kids department. I enjoyed reading a poker book and drinking coffee trying to stay awake. With the coffee not doing a thing, we went back home and I took a 40 minute nap while the kids watched some TV, then off to get Mindy. She had a good day but was quite tired by the end of the day. She went out with a friend for dinner, so I got the kids to bed and watched some TV before enjoying crashing in bed and getting ready for Colgate on Monday.
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