This weekend became a weekend of near misses. Saturday morning involved watching the Australia v NZ rugby. We played well in patches but made too many silly mistakes to deserve the victory. However, losing by such a close margin considering the soft tries we allowed is a little frustrating.
Saturday was also the first playoff game for one of my cricket teams, because of my bad back right now, it was decided that I would sit out the Saturday game and be ready to play on Sunday. The catch was that we had to win on Saturday to get the chance to play on Sunday. Apparently, we were chasing 160ish and were 5/140ish when a message got sent out to our captain who was batting at the time. We were ahead of the other team on run rate and the light was quite bad, so we should ask the umpires about the light. If they agreed it was bad, we would win by run rate. So, the light was bad and they called the game...but when they did the calculation, we were 1 run short, so the other team got the victory. Our captain was shattered after the match. I was annoyed that my ill-timed back injury kept me from playing. All in all, a disappointing way to end the season.
So, Sunday was not a family day - we spent it at the house and with friends in the afternoon - so it was a nice, relaxing day. Kind of quickly coming to the end of summer, you feel that the warm weekends are coming quickly to an end. Of course, I will then be able to burn all of the wood I have been stockpiling...so I must admit to looking forward to it in a weird way.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Welcome to 36
Last weekend I turned 36. This Friday I got home from work and mowed the lawn. After coming inside, I noticed my back was a little sore. This proceeded to get worse for no reason whatsoever, pain also shooting down my leg. The most frustrating thing about all of this is that I have no idea what caused it, other than simply being 36! So, no cricket on Sunday and a weekend of lying around hoping that it gets right for next weekend when we are set to play our cricket playoff game(s). The only positive is that it pretty much excuses me from most household chores for the week, so every cloud has a silver lining I suppose.
Friday, September 5, 2008
School Days
On Thursday, Naomi began the school year at her new school - Unity Charter School. The location of the school is about 30-45 minutes from our house but we thought the benefits of the school outweighed this inconvenience. Making it more appealing, at least in the short term, is the fact that the school is around the corner from my current client...so I will be able to bring her to school saving Mindy a trip.
She was a little nervous about everything but the day largely went well. In the evening, she was talking about her friends and the things that she had done during the day...so hopefully it will be a good experience for her.
A surprise for us was Fiona's transition to going to school without Naomi for the first time. Mindy noticed that she really missed her sister during the day. It was good for us to know that even though they fight occasionally, they really are good buddies.
She was a little nervous about everything but the day largely went well. In the evening, she was talking about her friends and the things that she had done during the day...so hopefully it will be a good experience for her.
A surprise for us was Fiona's transition to going to school without Naomi for the first time. Mindy noticed that she really missed her sister during the day. It was good for us to know that even though they fight occasionally, they really are good buddies.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Last Days of Summer
Over here, summer officially ends over the Labor Day Weekend, which includes the first Monday of September. So this was the last weekend before the kids go back to school and summer hours (half day Fridays) end at work.
Saturday brought a trip to Mad Dog Park for a cricket game. One of our team members works for a beverage company and so had brought along a few cases of a new energy drink - "Burn". As the day was quite hot and I wanted to drink something with a little more sugar than water, I ended up knocking back three of these things in about an hour. I was to find out that each can was the equivalent of over two Red Bulls...so I was bouncing off the walls for the rest of the afternoon. I certainly got my daily allowance of caffeine...along with "taurine" and a bunch of other healthy sounding chemicals. As to the game, it was a very satisfying victory. I bowled shockingly and now officially have the "yips". Fortunately I had a good knock, getting 39 before getting fired on a dubious LBW call. This is the team that we have beaten in the final for the past two years and while we will not be there to defend our title, it was nice to score a win over them.
In the evening I downloaded and watched the Australia v South Africa rugby match. What a waste of time that turned out to be. A horribly bad performance that cannot be defended. Hopefully we sort things out again before the decider v NZ in a couple of weeks.
On Sunday, Mindy was doing henna at a street fair, so I spent my birthday with the kids. We ran some errands, grabbed lunch and played a few games at home before I took a brief nap on the couch (a 30 minute TV show was the diversion for the kids!).
Monday was also a busy day. We went to a local nature reservation with some friends to (we thought) have a picnic, walk to a stream and let the kids play there before heading home. Well, it turned into a serious hike...not really a problem except for the fact that none of us were wearing appropriate shoes and I did not bring any water. We ended up walking around for 3+ hours, carrying Fiona for the last 1/2 of the journey as she had a blister from her shoes. Eventually we made it back and all set upon a watermelon that our friends had brought.
The evening brought more Babylon 5...we are now almost done with this and are about 1/2 way through the final season. I think Mindy is enjoying it even more than me! It will be like losing an old friend when we finish it I feel. Fortunately, we should get through it right when the new seasons of our TV shows will be starting up, so we will still have plenty to keep us occupied!
Saturday brought a trip to Mad Dog Park for a cricket game. One of our team members works for a beverage company and so had brought along a few cases of a new energy drink - "Burn". As the day was quite hot and I wanted to drink something with a little more sugar than water, I ended up knocking back three of these things in about an hour. I was to find out that each can was the equivalent of over two Red Bulls...so I was bouncing off the walls for the rest of the afternoon. I certainly got my daily allowance of caffeine...along with "taurine" and a bunch of other healthy sounding chemicals. As to the game, it was a very satisfying victory. I bowled shockingly and now officially have the "yips". Fortunately I had a good knock, getting 39 before getting fired on a dubious LBW call. This is the team that we have beaten in the final for the past two years and while we will not be there to defend our title, it was nice to score a win over them.
In the evening I downloaded and watched the Australia v South Africa rugby match. What a waste of time that turned out to be. A horribly bad performance that cannot be defended. Hopefully we sort things out again before the decider v NZ in a couple of weeks.
On Sunday, Mindy was doing henna at a street fair, so I spent my birthday with the kids. We ran some errands, grabbed lunch and played a few games at home before I took a brief nap on the couch (a 30 minute TV show was the diversion for the kids!).
Monday was also a busy day. We went to a local nature reservation with some friends to (we thought) have a picnic, walk to a stream and let the kids play there before heading home. Well, it turned into a serious hike...not really a problem except for the fact that none of us were wearing appropriate shoes and I did not bring any water. We ended up walking around for 3+ hours, carrying Fiona for the last 1/2 of the journey as she had a blister from her shoes. Eventually we made it back and all set upon a watermelon that our friends had brought.
The evening brought more Babylon 5...we are now almost done with this and are about 1/2 way through the final season. I think Mindy is enjoying it even more than me! It will be like losing an old friend when we finish it I feel. Fortunately, we should get through it right when the new seasons of our TV shows will be starting up, so we will still have plenty to keep us occupied!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Win-Loss-Win
This weekend ended up being amazingly busy. Friday night I was with the kids as Mindy went out with a friend. Gary came over with his kids and the evening was spent getting them fed and watching baseball.
Saturday morning brought the Australia v South Africa rugby clash. We had not won there since the early days of this century, so I was hopeful but not getting ahead of myself. Well, we cam away with a nice victory. SA did not play their best game but our play was solid and we did enough to be comfortable winners. This sets up a showdown with NZ in a few weeks for the Tri-Nations title, so we have a chance to win it all if we continue to play well. I was extremely impressed with Elsom's game - he has blossomed into a top class #6, right when he is leaving to play in the UK. Hopefully it will only be a short leave of absence.
In the afternoon we went over to a friend's house for a few hours to hear their annual concert that they put on. Everyone seemed to have a good time. I also tried Sam Adams "Octoberfest" beer for the first time and really enjoyed it. All of their seasonable brews are top class. Their "Summer Ale" is also great and I quite like their "Winter Lager" as well. America really does produce some nice beer, you just need to go past the regular mass-produced stuff to fine it.
Saturday night was poker night. A few friends and a few new arrivals made for an interesting game. We certainly had 3 of the craziest hands I have personally witnessed occur. Once we had 3 all-ins after the flop - two made flushes and an over pair...for the board to then go runner-runner 6 to put a full house out there. Also we had a full house, Kings over 7 beaten by 4 7's. Finally, a full house, Aces over Kings was beaten by a Royal Flush! I had a losing night unfortunately, partly due to bad luck but mainly due to some poor play. I will need to adjust for next time.
Sunday brought a trip to Connecticut with the family for a league cricket match. My team batted first, I did OK before being caught to a good catch for 27. Our team posted a score of 224 in the end which is quite a nice total. They got off to a great start with their chase and looked like they were going to get the runs before their best batsman sliced a catch to me at backward point. After he went, their side lost their way and in the end, we won by 20 runs. It was a really good fightback over the last 1/2 of their innings. I was playing again for Norwalk, the 2nd team I am a part of, and they look like making the playoffs in their league...so hopefully there will be some more wins to come.
Saturday morning brought the Australia v South Africa rugby clash. We had not won there since the early days of this century, so I was hopeful but not getting ahead of myself. Well, we cam away with a nice victory. SA did not play their best game but our play was solid and we did enough to be comfortable winners. This sets up a showdown with NZ in a few weeks for the Tri-Nations title, so we have a chance to win it all if we continue to play well. I was extremely impressed with Elsom's game - he has blossomed into a top class #6, right when he is leaving to play in the UK. Hopefully it will only be a short leave of absence.
In the afternoon we went over to a friend's house for a few hours to hear their annual concert that they put on. Everyone seemed to have a good time. I also tried Sam Adams "Octoberfest" beer for the first time and really enjoyed it. All of their seasonable brews are top class. Their "Summer Ale" is also great and I quite like their "Winter Lager" as well. America really does produce some nice beer, you just need to go past the regular mass-produced stuff to fine it.
Saturday night was poker night. A few friends and a few new arrivals made for an interesting game. We certainly had 3 of the craziest hands I have personally witnessed occur. Once we had 3 all-ins after the flop - two made flushes and an over pair...for the board to then go runner-runner 6 to put a full house out there. Also we had a full house, Kings over 7 beaten by 4 7's. Finally, a full house, Aces over Kings was beaten by a Royal Flush! I had a losing night unfortunately, partly due to bad luck but mainly due to some poor play. I will need to adjust for next time.
Sunday brought a trip to Connecticut with the family for a league cricket match. My team batted first, I did OK before being caught to a good catch for 27. Our team posted a score of 224 in the end which is quite a nice total. They got off to a great start with their chase and looked like they were going to get the runs before their best batsman sliced a catch to me at backward point. After he went, their side lost their way and in the end, we won by 20 runs. It was a really good fightback over the last 1/2 of their innings. I was playing again for Norwalk, the 2nd team I am a part of, and they look like making the playoffs in their league...so hopefully there will be some more wins to come.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
A Lovely Surprise
This morning, about 5:00am, I woke to the sounds of Tito (our oldest Chihuahua) scratching at the door of his cage. Based on his recent "stomach problems" ... a polite way of saying his "crapping all over the house problems", I feared the worst. Sure enough, upon investigation, there were a few special nuggets waiting for me. A brief cleanup and an escourted trip for them outside to make sure it was the end of it is not really what you want to be doing so early in the morning...I am REALLY hoping he gets over this soon.
Work is pretty busy now as well. I am currently juggling Colgate's needs as well as remotely testing the latest version of my company's software, due for release later this year. So much for feeling rested from last week's vacation!
Work is pretty busy now as well. I am currently juggling Colgate's needs as well as remotely testing the latest version of my company's software, due for release later this year. So much for feeling rested from last week's vacation!
Monday, August 18, 2008
Vacation Part 2
The 2nd leg of our trip was a trip to Hershey PA. There is the chocolate factory there, an amusement park and many other family related activities to keep us busy. Fiona was still not feeling the best, but we decided to head out there and see how things went as all of the bookings had already been made.
Our first stop was to visit the "Indian Echo Caverns", which was a big underground cave near to where we were staying. The tour was OK but really spent most of the time making bad jokes about the different features in the rocks "Here you see the bunny rabbit", "Here you see the dragon" ... etc. I think more discussion about the actual formations themselves would have made the trip more interesting. Towards the end of the trip, Fiona's fever came back again so we headed to the hotel to rest...again. It was quite bad that night and into the morning, so we made a decision to bag the planned day at Hershey Park and to go to the movies and the hotel pool instead. We saw "Wall E", quite enjoyable but much of it was aimed at an older audience than our kids. They enjoyed it though, I guess.
Saturday we drove back to get the dogs from the boarding kennel and catch up on everything that needs to be done around the house. The delightful bonus from the trip was that Tito, our oldest dog, has been farting and crapping all over the house since his return. He did this once before at a different kennel, so I guess he simply frets so much he destroys his system. Certainly makes for a fun few days cleaning up behind him.
Sunday was cricket - we got 223 and bowled them out for 110 - so a crushing victory for the good guys. Mindy and the kids were at a pool party and had a good time as well. I am now back at work, and struggling to get through the day. Things should be busy for the next month as I am working on an extra project for another client and catching up on what went on here last week.
Our first stop was to visit the "Indian Echo Caverns", which was a big underground cave near to where we were staying. The tour was OK but really spent most of the time making bad jokes about the different features in the rocks "Here you see the bunny rabbit", "Here you see the dragon" ... etc. I think more discussion about the actual formations themselves would have made the trip more interesting. Towards the end of the trip, Fiona's fever came back again so we headed to the hotel to rest...again. It was quite bad that night and into the morning, so we made a decision to bag the planned day at Hershey Park and to go to the movies and the hotel pool instead. We saw "Wall E", quite enjoyable but much of it was aimed at an older audience than our kids. They enjoyed it though, I guess.
Saturday we drove back to get the dogs from the boarding kennel and catch up on everything that needs to be done around the house. The delightful bonus from the trip was that Tito, our oldest dog, has been farting and crapping all over the house since his return. He did this once before at a different kennel, so I guess he simply frets so much he destroys his system. Certainly makes for a fun few days cleaning up behind him.
Sunday was cricket - we got 223 and bowled them out for 110 - so a crushing victory for the good guys. Mindy and the kids were at a pool party and had a good time as well. I am now back at work, and struggling to get through the day. Things should be busy for the next month as I am working on an extra project for another client and catching up on what went on here last week.
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