erica and i are headed out to Creation East tomorrow for a day-long date. it should be great. It’s been 8 years since we met there at Agape Farm.

I’ll give a full report on friday on the experience, including the Caedmon’s Call show and all that jazz.

bry

-the afternoon cup of coffee is becoming a staple for me, and frankly, i dont know how i feel about it. It seems i am about to about 8-10 cups a week on average. I really never wanted to go above 5. oh well, it’s better than smoking i s’pose.

-i have a knot in my upper back on the right side that is absolutely killing me today. my right shoulder area just hasnt felt right all softball season, to be honest. it hasnt affected my velocity on throws across the diamond, but on off days, and when i start warming up, it just doesnt feel right. Too bad our church team doesn’t have a trainer.

-So the NBA is going to have an age limit? I think I’m ok with it. Sure, it will screw a few guys here in the next couple of years. But the kids just coming into high school now will be adjusted to it when they graduate and going to college will be THE thing to do. Maybe that will force some of them to push a little harder in their studies, and that would be a good thing. It will also infuse a little bit more talent into the college game (even if these players will only stay in school for a year), so i think the college game will benefit as well. So yeah, bottom line is that i don’t really care too much, but if forced to weigh in, it’s ok with me.

-I recently caved in and got a McD’s breakfast on my way in to work. I try to limit that to once a month or so. Funny thing was, as i was waiting for my food, the late-forties manager lady started giving some attitude to the mid-twenties drive-thru guy, who happened to be mexican. He rude way of asking him to try and keep the pace quick was “Senorrrrr, Mucho Rapido Please!!”. I found it very rude, and extremely funny. which makes me a bad person i think.

-Hey Curt Schilling! Chill. Just wait until after the break. There’s no rush brother, no rush.

-Hey Georgey-Porgey! Panic. Your team is old and struggling to win series against teams like Tampa and KC. Make some more irrational moves, we love those. I hear Raul Mondesi is unhappy in Atlanta.

-Would you think less of me to know i eat Chef Boyardee Beef Ravioli? Right out of the can? And enjoy it?

-That video of Tom Cruise getting water in his face has been cracking me up all day at work just thinking about it. If you can’t find it, i can point you in the right direction.

-mini-golfing with the fam tonight. should be alot of fun. for kylie and parker it will probably be more like mini-hockey. Erica has beaten me before, but i smoked her the last time out. Look for more of the same tonight if we keep score.

-for the record, i dont really like the layout of this blog. Every blog i visit, i like better. The menu should be on the right, and i have to put different pictures up, if any. And the header sucks too. The colors suck. The font sucks. I pretty much hate all of it. But sense i was the one who did it, i’m to blame. Someone find me a nice layout that i can steal.

-Currently Reading: nothing.

s’all for now…

i had a pretty good weekend, i must say. especially considering erica was away all day saturday and saturday night. She was in D.C. with friends for the night. I missed her, but i found some things to do to keep busy. But before i get to that…

Friday night we lost 10-7 in a game we could have won. We were up 5-1 at one point. I played lousy at SS, booting a couple routine grounders. I belong in the outfield, but unfortunately i might be the best option at SS. I did go 3-4 with another HR, so that was nice. I’m finally feeling comfortable at the plate again. In fact, when i stepped up to the plate to lead off the 3rd, i felt like i was going to hit one out. FIrst pitch came and i rocked it to left-center. I knew it was gone right off the bat, and sure enough it was. I can’t reiterate how good that feels, it really does.

Saturday Afternoon i opened up an account on partypoker.com to pass some time while the kids were napping. My handle, in case we ever sit at the same table, is “GuessHansen”. I did this for two reasons. 1) as an homage to Gus Hansen, my favorite poker player at the moment. I don’t play like him, but i like watching him play. I figure if anyone picks up on my name, they will at least recognize that i know something about poker. maybe that will give me some more respect at the table. as for the other reason, 2) I like the fact that i have the word “Guess” in my name. It’s subtle, but i’m hoping it makes me look weaker to some players. Or maybe not weaker, but maybe they’ll think i play more loosely than i do. If you’re in a hand with me I am hoping that you’re either Guessing i have a bluff, or Guessing your bluff at the pot will work. I don’t know, it’s probably reading way into it, but you look for any edge you can get. Jackpot Jay Lovinger actually wrote a column about this a few weeks ago, you can read it here.

Anyway, i opened up the account, and entered the “Play Money” lounge (as opposed to “Real Money”…. With a $50 minimum deposit, i think i’ll keep it fake for a while). I sat down at a $25 buy-in table and played for 90 minutes. When i sat up, i had $142.00 in chips. Not too bad. Later that night i played again at a $25 table. In the first 10 minutes i was down to $6.00, but after 90 minutes, i was up to $195.00. Now i am not going to try to convince you what a great poker player i am, because i realize that this was against other people who a) arent brave enough to use real money and b) are playing differently because they’re not using real money. But it still felt good. I played the hands pretty well, didnt chase too many bad hands, slow played effectively, and paid attention to betting patterns more than i usually do. It was alot of fun actually. Maybe for my birthday i’ll ask for a deposist of real money so i can give it a shot…we’ll see…

Sunday afternoon my wife was kind enough to let me go golfing. This was my father’s day present. Chad, Buddy, and I walked 18 over at Crossgates in Millersville. I hadn’t played since October 04, and it showed right away. I made 8s on 2 of the first 4 holes, but then i started playing better. I played the last 14 holes 13 over par, which is basically bogey golf. I’m always happy with bogey golf. So it was a good day. Buddy ripped it up with a 106. Chad shot the best round of his life, an 86, which was fun to watch. And that was with an 8 on the par-5 18th. All around it was a great father’s day gift.

In other news, i have two softball games this week (thursday and friday), i found my cellphone (of course just days after replacing it), and i really need a haircut. that’s about it…

-my desk looks like my brain feels right now…cluttered. Not sure why, really, but it is what it is. i could use a 60-minute shoulder rub, some George Winston playing in the background, and a colostomy. ok, just kidding about the colostomy.

-So John Madden is moving to NBC Sunday Night Football in 2006? that’s fine with me for 3 reasons

1) I cant stand Patrick, Theissman, and McGuire on ESPN Sunday Nights. They are just brutal.
2) I don’t really care for John Madden, and the Sunday Night game is the one i most often miss, so that’s fine.
3) I do like Al Michaels, so I’d love to see him paired up with somebody better than Madden. Stick Tony Kornheiser in the booth with him. I’d be all over that. Then put Tom Jackson or Daryl Johnson in the booth with him as the color guy.

As far as who to team Madden up with, I don’t care. Put Marv Alberts on football games, that would be fun.

-CBS’s new reality show Fire Me, Please is pretty funny. 2 contestants go head to head, trying to get fired from a different job the closest to 3pm without going over. Winner gets $25,000. Apparently the store owners are in on the gig, but the managers that are working don’t have a clue. It’s amazing what you have to do to get fired no your first day on the job. The higlight of last night’s episode for me was the girl at the copier store. She was making a few dozen copies and would say the word “copy” every time one came out (roughly every second). after about 20 times, her annoyed co-workers finally told her to can it. She then proceeded to lay on the floor and sing a song about how boring the job was. very enjoyable, light viewing.

-i’m picking up steaks for dinner tonight so I’m leaving work now. If you’ve never had it before, or even if you have, i highly recommend Montreal Steak Seasoning. It gives your meat a nice peppery kick. Especially good for folks like me who hate A1 Sauce. That stuff is nasty.