It is currently late, and I am not tired at all, so I will tell you a few things.

First off, We had our softball practice on Wednesday. It was quite fun. It was my first time on cleats since the accident, and so I was a little nervous about that, but all went well. Of the part of my body that were sore or injured afterwards, in order of severity, my knee didn’t rank any higher than 4th… A bouncer off my ankle, a bad hop off my side/back, and a weird wrist soreness easily outdid it. The only real knee related problem I had was that I couldn’t jump. A number of times my brain sent the “jump” message, but somewhere between brain and legs, it got changed to “grunt disappointedly, and remain connected to the ground. I will have to find some exercises to fix up that problem. Our first game is next Wednesday. I am excited.

The game I’ve been super into the last few weeks is Lego Star Wars. The word I’ve been using to describe it is “charming”. (Charming –> Containing that rare quality that allows something to be thoroughly enjoyed by both adults (without embarrassment) and children, without any real objectionable material,.). It is just plain fun, and surprisingly well done. It takes place over Episodes I, II, and III, and treats each movie quite faithfully, with only minor changes made to make the game interactive (rather than just watching things happen.) Having completed the entire game, and unlocked all that is to be unlocked, I now have high hopes for an additional release of the Classic Trilogy, and wish for only a small change: that the game be longer, so I’m not finished with this fine adventure well before I wish to be. It’s a wonderful 2 player game for anyone who likes Star Wars, by the way. Certainly not complicated.. just very fun.. and charming.

I watched Hackers the other day. It was the first time I had seen the whole thing. Wow, that movie is awful. Hack the Planet!!

I’ve decided I need to rearrange my room again. I’m still not quite pleased with it. Quite obviously, this will require me to either learn Java, or break out the CAD again.

Seriously, you have my Love Actually DVD. Why not just give it back?

Dear Chicago Cubs:

I care about you.. I really do.. that’s why I have to say this. (again…). LaTroy Hawkins is not, I repeat not a closer. Stop treating him like he is. Here’s the situation: Your starter took you into the 9th, and we’re winning. Yes, it’s a save opportunity, and yes, your starter might be slowing down…but if you want to win, then you’re going to have to follow these simple rules:

1. Do not put in LaTroy Hawkins. He’s a setup man, not a closer. You proved that last year. This year, you’re just being cruel to him, and to us. You have to admit you have a problem.
2. You didn’t bother to get a closer during the off season, but we’ll let that slide. You must have though Borowski would be the man. But you’re going to have to try harder now. If there’s someone available, you should give that man money and make him wear your uniform. Talk to Detroit, I think they have 8 or 9 closers at this point.
3. Let your pitchers pitch the whole thing. If they say they’ve had enough, let them sit. But if they’re sitting around the 105 mark, and have 1 inning left to finish it off, just let them. Then, if they lose, at least they lost it themselves, and not because some other guy can’t get three outs without giving up 3 runs.
4. Make sure Lee gets as many at-bats as possible. He’s on fire. Putting him 6th is idiotic. Put him #3. That way, when you get to the 9th inning, you’ve got more runs. More runs means a better chance of winning. That’s Baseball 101 right there.
5. Stop losing games that you’ve already won. If you’re up 5 runs in the 1st inning, you should not lose. If you’re up 2 in the 9th, that should be a win. You’re killing me.. you’re honestly making me die on the inside.

Anyway, I hope that helps. Hugs and kisses.

[ UPDATE: I've added pictures of the game!]

First off, my screen is doing very weird things. Before, it was just flickering, but now it’s jumping, scrolling like mad, and jumping and garbling itself. Isn’t that awesome? Right, not so much. Now this is my work machine, and it’s fairly new (as in, like January 1ish) so it being broken is not all that good.. and considering my problems with machines, Laptops in particular, I was not pleased. Anyway, some dude is coming tomorrow to give me a new screen. Warranties are nice. I told you all that for no reason.

Now for the story. A while back, We decided (We started with me and BDF, but it quickly spread to be more people) that we ought to get Cubs tickets early in the season, when tickets are still gettable. With some searching and schedule comparing, and we found that the Cubs vs. Padres series (April 11-13) would work best. Some Ebaying and Web searching, and we ended up with 12 tickets (a group of 6 and another group of 6) for the April 13th game. And there was much rejoicing.

On April 12th, it rained in Chicago. The game was canceled, and rescheduled for the 2nd part of a double header on the 13th. Mark VA called me to let me know. I was in a meeting at the time, and I was overjoyed. I believe I may have even smiled.

We were now set to go to a double header.. to see Wood and Prior pitch. I believe I referred to it as “the greatest little bit of serendipity to ever happen to me.” I was excited.

Tuesday night.. the day before the game. I’m headed out to Kristin‘s place for dinner, Scrubs, and the Office. I get a phone call… the tickets are gone.

For the next half hour I wavered between believing this was a joke [a sick, evil joke], or believing I was simply being punished for getting excited about something. [I have this belief that if ever I announce my excitement about something.. genuine excitement.. It will somehow be ruined.. because life is mean, and gets its power by drinking good people's tears... the tears of unfathomable sadness. That's a whole post in and of itself... and I don't have time for it now.. plus it'll prolly freak you out and make you all like me less]. Anyway, after another phone call, it was pretty much official: Whether by theft or just misplacement, the tickets were gone, and were not likely to come back. I then took about the task of calling up everyone, and letting them know we didn’t have tickets, and weren’t going. Soon thereafter, it was decided that if we could find more tickets, everyone was still interested in going… Woot.

After much work online by BDF, and a small bit by me later on (Tuesday night, Pickwick Night…) we found a few leads on new tickets.. but most would require getting a hold of people the next morning… so we just decided we’d go, and at the very least, we could get a few at the door from scalpers in order to get everyone in. Well we won 1 ebay bid for 4 tickets, and could get 2 more from Lucas out in Chicago. So we only need 6 more. We’re doing okay.

We all met up at my parking lot the next morning. (And I played a joke on Brian Melles that he totally fell for, and it was funny. Zing!) We headed out around 8:15-8:30ish, and about an hour later I talked to BDF a bit on the phone, and eventually get got us set with a broker in Chicago with 6 tickets… so I called that place, bought the tickets, and after some more complications with confirmation emails and all that jazz, we were set with 12 tickets. Huzzah!!

We got the 2 tickets from Lucas’ place, then walked the mile towards Wrigley. On the way, I got a call from BDF, and he had gotten the 4 tickets [Ebay] and was on his way to the other place to get the 6 tickets. Woot. We met up at the Stadium, and we all headed in. I should mention at this point that it was cold.

We got to our seats (We == Me, Rachel, Joel, Leslie, Mark VA, Mark H, Tuuk, Brian Melles, Morgan,Jplant, Mary, and BDF). It was cold. Very cold. The first game started out with a bang.. and by “bang” I mean Kerry wood got knocked around. First batter hit a homer, and by the end of the 1st, we were down 4-0. Suck. The game continued, and as there were seats open, we were able to sit in 2 groups… until some people got so cold they moved back up to the upper deck where it was warmer. The game continued. It was very cold.. the Cubs weren’t hitting.. they really couldn’t get anything together… and the game ended.. Cubs lose 8-3. At this point a number of people took off, as they were too cold. The rest of us (BDF, Joel, Mark VA,Jplant, Brian Melles, Rachel, Leslie, Morgan, and myself) sat together between home and third, about even with the pitcher’s mound. (Section 218 Row 9 I think). This game was far better. Prior was on fire, and the Cubs were stringing hits together… It was still rather cold, but we were doing okay. That game was a ton of fun to watch. Cubs won 8-3. You hear that? Cubs Win! Cubs Win!

So with the game over, We took off. BDF needed me to drive his Jeep back to Michigan for him, to assist him in his upcoming move. So we walked to his house (BDF, Rachel, and I) and got to his Jeep, got directions, and were all set.

Rachel and I headed out.. and were doing fine, but then I missed one of the streets, so i had to turn around.. I saw a parking lot a little ways before an intersection, so I put on the blinker, and waited for traffic to clear, then started to turn…

I don’t know where you’re from, but where I come from, we drive on the right side of the road… this important life lesson was apparently not yet learned by the lady driving down the wrong side of the road. Anyway, I nailed the breaks in time to see this girl in a small red car hit the driver’s side fender with her passenger’s side of her car. I continued on into the parking lot, got out, looked to see what damage was done (paint scrapes and a little bit of the hub cap was chipped out.), I then headed towards the lady, in time to see her get back into her car, and start up the car, and turn the corner. Assuming she was heading to find a place to park, I followed her, walking at first, but as she past an obvious stopping place, I sped up the pace. She got stopped at a stop light just around the corner, and I ran towards her, while quickly getting a view of her license plate. Then the light turned green, and she was gone. Adios… idiot.

So I called BDF, let him know what was up.. then called the cops, who told me I had to fill out a police report at the station. Then I called BDF for directions to the police station… and then Rachel and I headed to the police station, and gave them the information… and they hooked me up with a report that I had to complete then send in… Then I called BDF again to let him know what was going on.. then Rachel and I headed home. Sigh. Long day. I was exhausted.

So yeah.. the moral of the story is this: don’t joke about smashing up someone else’s car.. cause later on that day, when you do, you’ll either feel like an ass, or just set yourself up for easy ridicule.

There was also this time, on the drive down there, where we stopped for food, and there was this construction guy working on a drill type thing… Anyway, he was sitting there with this giant metal shaft, as it went up and down… I saw it, began to giggle like a little boy, then searched around like mad, hoping someone else was catching the show… when I saw Tuuk, giggling like a little boy, and searching around like mad, hoping someone else was catching the show… We’re awesome.

The last few weeks have been (Interesting –> More often then not, “interesting” means bad. E.g. That’s an “interesting” answer/outfit/haircut/smell. Occasionally, interesting can mean entertaining or weird. E.g. Playing tennis with Robb was “interesting“.) It started few weeks ago when I got a mild cold that quickly changed into a really painful earache. Remember the beginning of Wrath of Khan when they had those ear bugs that went into people’s [e.g. Chekhov] ear, and make them go insane? I’m assuming it was just like that… So it hurt.. a . I took a bunch of pills, which is something new, because I hate pills (except vicodin and codeine) because they do nothing… and as expected, the pills did nothing. So after a couple of rather miserable days of that, I suddenly lost all energy. It was around last weekend, and for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, I didn’t venture much past my bed, and the couch in the living room… and my exercise bike, because I’m a gamer. [This just in: Cubs win! Cubs win!] So by Monday, I was feeling as close to death as you can get while still being alive.. and so I took some different pills when I got to work, and they made me kinda forget what was going on for a while.. not just with the sickness, but with pretty much everything. And by Tuesday evening, I was feeling a good deal better. [This just in: Tiger Woods is very good at golf.]. So that was the sickness portion of the last few weeks. Next was work, which was frustrating.. Lot’s of little frustrating things that kept cropping up, so I could never get to the things I had to get done, in order to work on the other things I needed to get done, so that I could finally work on the things I wanted to get done. In other words, I have a job.

Wednesday was the final time to show up for the Softball meeting. The softball meeting is where we sign up to play softball, learn all the new (read: exact same) rules, etc. Background: I’d been having some problems with my car, where the tires were going flat. So a few days ago I filled the front tire a bit, and since then the car has been wobbling/shaking a bit at higher speeds, and it really annoyed me, so when I got out to go to the softball meeting, I checked the tires, and the driver side rear tire was quite low/flat. So I drove across the street to the gas station, and began to fill it. I filled it a little bit, and then it started to make a really odd noise. So I stopped filling it, and looked at it for a while. it still looked fairly flat… but it was still making the noise. It was like running your hand along an inflated balloon. Anyway, so I sat there, my head maybe a foot away from this tire, listening to it make that strange noise.. thinking “Hrm.. that doesn’t seem like the kind o

!*#! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM !#*!

I just sort of stood there for a while, trying to determine if I was deaf. I couldn’t hear anything.. and then I realized that there was nothing going on. No movement, no wind, no anything. After about 30 seconds of me standing there.. finally a person walked by, and I heard her footsteps… and I thought “Oh, good. I’m not deaf.” Well, I didn’t make it to the softball meeting, but I’m told I’m still on the team so that’s good. Swac showed up (he was going to drive me to the meeting, until I was told I didn’t have to come.) and we changed the tire to the spare… and the next day Mark V.A. got me all set with 2 new tires (The driver’s side front was showing some problems as well. Story over!

Flava Flav, what in the world do you see in Brigitte Nielsen? I mean, you’re not exactly normal, but she… She’s insane.

Played some more basketball withJplant, his brother, Eric, and Swac. That was very fun, and no knee-related problems.

TAG body spray: Your commercials are awful. It takes skill to make AXE body spray commercials seems mildly classy. In short, you should be ashamed of yourself, and I hope you go out of business.

I’m going to try to read a book!!! I have 3 that I ought to have read by now (Franny and Zooey, Harry Potter 5, and The Bourne Identity), but knowing me, I’ll read the Hitchhikers Guide series again instead.

16 – 6

Happy opening day, everyone. It was a joy to watch and listen to.