This weekend was quite enjoyable and successful. First thing was to wake up and watch the Wallabies play New Zealand in rugby. What a super match! Not only did we beat them, buw we won easily (15 points). It was refreshing after a few years of poor results to experience a big win over New Zealand again. The rest of the day was spent running errands and with some friends in the afternoon, unsuccessfully trying to work out a possible joint family vacation.
In the evening, Gary, Kevin and I went to a friend's house for a poker game. It was a lot of fun and an interesting experience. One of the female players at the table seemed to feel that it was a smart thing to do to throw money around like it was meaningless and to disregard odds when making her bets. For much of the night, this tactic worked quite well for her, constantly hitting her miracle cards and winning some big pots. At one point she had worked her $60 buy-in up to about $700...then her luck began to change. Her silly bets and outrageous bluffs began to not be rewarded. I doubled up through her twice and on the last hand of the night she pushed all in, only to be called and lose. So, in the end, she walked away with nothing, and from the way she played, was lucky to only lose her original $60. I ended up with a $120 profit, a nice return for a fun evening.
Sunday brought a drive to Norwalk CT for a cricket match. I am playing a few games this year with a side in the Southern Connecticut League which is proving to be rather interesting. This particular game was against the Bridgeport side, known as the best team in the area. Their fans were certainly also an interesting group - about 50 Jamaican men hanging out, playing loud music, yelling at the players, drinking rum and smoking pot. One of our players swore you could get high from just fielding on the boundary! They batted first and had a very strong batting lineup. Every time we got a wicket, another good batsman would walk out. One of their players is a current representative for the USA side and his ability was quite clear also. I actually bowled quite well, the best I have bowled in a while taking 4 wickets. However, before I got a chance to test myself against the USA bowler (who could bowl at 90 mph according to several people who had played him before), the rains came and the match was abandoned. A draw was not a bad result for us...but I was looking forward to facing a truly fast bowler like that. Maybe next time...
Monday, July 28, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Ashes
Every year, a team of local Aussies plays a team of local English in a battle for the Ashes. For various reasons, I missed the game for the past two seasons so was looking forward to this match very much. Also, the Poms held the trophy amid much controversy last year, so we were all well motivated to try to win it back in 2008. Another twist to the match is that many of my regular team mates played on the English team, so it was a chance to get bragging rights for the rest of the year as well.
The day was one of the hottest days of the year and unfortunately, we lost the toss so had to field in the worst of the conditions. We all bowled and fielded well, bowling them out for 172 in their final over (35). One of their players who is a Mad Dog as well carried his bat scoring 106 n.o., quite an achievement in the conditions. I picked up a couple of wickets and bowled OK, but still too many full tosses to make me happy.
I opened the batting and we got off to a flying start, reaching 60 after 6 overs. A couple of wickets fell and then I got out for 39 with the score around 90. Things were chugging along nicely, we were 6 down with 13 to get for the victory and still 10+ overs to go when they took a hat trick! Fortunately our #4 Darren was still there and playing well so we felt that if our #11 could survive, that Darren could get us home. A few defended balls, singles and a hurried two set up the finale, when Darren hit consecutive balls over square leg for 6 to bring up the win! It was a great result, despite us almost throwing it all away at the end.
Earlier in the day, I had watched us beat South Africa in the rugby. Certainly a good result but I feel the real test will come this weekend against NZ. I think we have improved over every game this season so that is positive and also, the newer players seem to be showing they are worth their place.
Sunday brought another hot day and I did not feel like doing anything much at all. Mindy spent the afternoon with her friend Holly, so Gary and I got together to watch the kids. It also seemed like a good time to test out his two new reclining chairs and we both grabbed some nap time while the kids were playing. We had two when we arrived and we left with two, so I guess nothing bad happened while we were asleep!
Mindy and I are also slogging through my recordings of Babylon 5 from years ago. I have all of the episodes on tape from when it first aired in the USA and it is actually good to watch them again. Mindy has not seen it and I kind of remember the basic plot, but not well enough to spoil the viewing this time around. It is quite intimidating though...110 episodes lined up and waiting for us. Right now we are about 35 episodes into it. I think Mindy is enjoying it...if not, it will probably be a pretty rough 6 weeks or so for her.
The day was one of the hottest days of the year and unfortunately, we lost the toss so had to field in the worst of the conditions. We all bowled and fielded well, bowling them out for 172 in their final over (35). One of their players who is a Mad Dog as well carried his bat scoring 106 n.o., quite an achievement in the conditions. I picked up a couple of wickets and bowled OK, but still too many full tosses to make me happy.
I opened the batting and we got off to a flying start, reaching 60 after 6 overs. A couple of wickets fell and then I got out for 39 with the score around 90. Things were chugging along nicely, we were 6 down with 13 to get for the victory and still 10+ overs to go when they took a hat trick! Fortunately our #4 Darren was still there and playing well so we felt that if our #11 could survive, that Darren could get us home. A few defended balls, singles and a hurried two set up the finale, when Darren hit consecutive balls over square leg for 6 to bring up the win! It was a great result, despite us almost throwing it all away at the end.
Earlier in the day, I had watched us beat South Africa in the rugby. Certainly a good result but I feel the real test will come this weekend against NZ. I think we have improved over every game this season so that is positive and also, the newer players seem to be showing they are worth their place.
Sunday brought another hot day and I did not feel like doing anything much at all. Mindy spent the afternoon with her friend Holly, so Gary and I got together to watch the kids. It also seemed like a good time to test out his two new reclining chairs and we both grabbed some nap time while the kids were playing. We had two when we arrived and we left with two, so I guess nothing bad happened while we were asleep!
Mindy and I are also slogging through my recordings of Babylon 5 from years ago. I have all of the episodes on tape from when it first aired in the USA and it is actually good to watch them again. Mindy has not seen it and I kind of remember the basic plot, but not well enough to spoil the viewing this time around. It is quite intimidating though...110 episodes lined up and waiting for us. Right now we are about 35 episodes into it. I think Mindy is enjoying it...if not, it will probably be a pretty rough 6 weeks or so for her.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Feeling Better
I think we are all well on the road to recovery. I still have a very annoying cough but feel much improved over last week - so I am back at work. Fiona seems completely better and Mindy is improved but still not 100%. Naomi's cough is still there but it appears to also be improving.
Not a lot happened over the rest of the week other than resting and coughing. On the weekend I watched the last ODI cricket games...quite impressed with Luke Ronchi and David Hussey. I have to think that these two players, along with Shaun Marsh will become regulars in the side in the relatively near future. I also watched the rugby test v France. A good result and some improvement compared to last week but the scrum is still a concern. The only way we will really know where we stand is in the Tri-Nations...so hopefully we are ready for that.
I went down to Atlantic City for a quick trip on Saturday. Ended up even after playing for 4 hours...so not a horrible result. I paid for it the next day though and probably should have rested instead of making the trip. Live and learn.
Not a lot happened over the rest of the week other than resting and coughing. On the weekend I watched the last ODI cricket games...quite impressed with Luke Ronchi and David Hussey. I have to think that these two players, along with Shaun Marsh will become regulars in the side in the relatively near future. I also watched the rugby test v France. A good result and some improvement compared to last week but the scrum is still a concern. The only way we will really know where we stand is in the Tri-Nations...so hopefully we are ready for that.
I went down to Atlantic City for a quick trip on Saturday. Ended up even after playing for 4 hours...so not a horrible result. I paid for it the next day though and probably should have rested instead of making the trip. Live and learn.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Sick
We are all sick. The kids have had a cough for a few weeks now. Mindy caught it soon after them and I got it a few days ago. On Monday night I woke up with a fever so we all went to the doctor yesterday. I have pneumonia and am on antibiotics and off work for the rest of the week. mindy has an upper respitory infection and is also on antibiotics. Naomi is OK apparently...her lungs are clear. Fiona's sounded a little like she might have the beginnings of pneumonia as well...so she is on antibiotics as well!
Today we are all feeling a little better but I am planning to enjoy relaxing at home for the next few days.
Today we are all feeling a little better but I am planning to enjoy relaxing at home for the next few days.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Switching Off
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...
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...
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.
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