I’ve got a bunch of pictures that I need to get onto here, and as some have been specifically requested, I spent part of today rewriting all of that admin type stuff to make it easy to add new photo groups and pictures to the site. It took a while, but I believe it is now all “fully functional.” To test it all out, I have added the pictures from what was, without a doubt, the most exciting Cubs game I’ve ever been to. My cousins Tim, Mindy, and Becky, and I headed out last year, September 17th, to see a night game at Wrigley. The Reds were in town, and the Cubs needed a win to retain the tiniest of leads over the Brewers for first place in the division. The game started out fairly well, with a couple of homers for the Cubs, but as the innings went on, the Reds pulled ahead, and things looked dire… until the 9^th inning.

With the score 6 – 4 bad guys entering the bottom of the ninth. Ryan Theriot started out the inning with a leadoff walk. Darrek Lee singled, putting two on with no outs. Then Aramis Ramirez came out and belted a 2-run triple to right-center, tying the game, and causing Wrigley to erupt in such an uproar that I have little doubt I’d have heard the cheers from home. Next up wat Daryle Ward, who was intentionally walked, putting men on first and third with no outs. Sam Fuld was put in as a pinch-runner at third (he’s very, very fast), and Felix Pie was put at first. Next up was Mark DeRosa, who already had 4 hits in the game. The Reds pulled one of their outfields all the way in to the infield, giving them 5 infielders around, and two left to cover the whole outfield, since any ball that cleared the infield was going to score Fuld anyway… DeRosa hit a grounder back towards the pitcher, who lunged for it and deflected it off his glove. The second baseman scrambled for it, but fell down as the winning run crossed the plate, and Wrigley went completely nuts. I think this video I found most accurately captures what it felt like to be a Cubs fan at Wrigley that day:

Anyway, that game was awesome, and the pictures are up at : Cubs vs. Reds

Thanks to a timely phone call from Carolyn, I was able to go out and see the lunar eclipse last night. It was lovely. I scrambled to grab my camera and my little tripod, and managed to get a nice enough photo of it just as it was going away, and seconds before the clouds moved in and put the moon out of view. It was nice of the clouds to part long enough for me to see it, though. I was pleased.

A few days ago while driving to Meijer the sun came out in full force. It had been raining for a while, and was clearly still raining off in the distance, and as I headed down Baldwin I was treated to a giant rainbow (a fully visible half-circle and everything). I attempted to get a good photo of it with my phone, and came rather close to sliding my car into a giant snow pile. As it is, I got this photo, which (after a ton of color enhancement) at least shows the start of said rainbow.

So… this is me working this year…

It would appear I like my hoodies.

On July 21^st, 1983, Vostok station (a Russian research station in Antarctica) hit a record temperature of -128.6° F. Looks like they’ll have to settle for second place now.