Summer camp bliss

Today was the girls' first day of summer camp. They were SO ready for it. I thought they were both going to burst there at the end of the school year. Looking at the summer camp field trip schedule, they're going to have quite the fun summer. Throw in California (if we ever get to it) and Six Flags (they got free tickets from school), and now we're talking. But it'll all go so fast I'm sure. Here in a few blinks I'll be griping about the impending winter.

ROTS again

I was uncertain I should take Darby to see it, but everyone seemed to think I was crazy for depriving her. So I took her to see it this afternoon, and she enjoyed it. False alarm on my part I guess.


Update
Perhaps I was incorrect in my assumption of false alertism. A couple days after the movie, Darby pulled the hand off a lego figure and said, "look dad, it's Anakin."

Madagascan delight

The girls got back from their camping trip today. They seemed to have quite the good time. After I mowed the lawn I went to get them from their mother's. We got some dinner and then I took them to see Madagascar, which they'd been asking about for a while. Every weekend the last several weeks, is Madacascar out yet? Finally it was here, and there would be little delay before our viewing.

It was a pretty good flick. The kids enjoyed it pretty well. Personally I didn't think it was as good as Shrek or any of the Pixar movies, but it was no Home on the Range or anything.

When we got home and got ready for bed, Darby said, "I haven't slept on a mattress in SO long." She was quite eager to be back in a bed again.

Surprising win

While Darby was off camping, I still had a job to do as first base coach, so I was at the ballgame tonight even though Darby was not. There were two other girls not there, so we were short handed. We had to recruit a girl from the school's other machine pitch team (there are two, the other team just moved up from t-ball, so are slightly less experienced) just to have enough to play. The three girls missing were all regular infielders, so there was some initial adjustment issues with fielding, but it turned out okay. There were particular surprises behind the bat as just about everyone got a hit, and the younger girl from the other school team even got a home run (inside the park) -- personally I think we should keep her, not that the other coach would let that happen.

It all added up to a victory that even I wasn't expecting, given that we were missing some of our best arms and bats. In fact, one of the other parents made the statement, "well if Darby isn't here we're not gonna win." As much as it would be neat for that to be true, as Darby's father, I'm glad it turned out quite the opposite.


When I spoke with Darby on the phone tonight, she was quite pleased that her team won without her. But she seems to be having quite the good time camping out.

Last day

Today's was the girls' last day of school. It was a party/field trip day, and they both seemed to have a good time of it. Personally I can't believe the school year is over already, and that my oldest child is, practically, now a fourth grader.

By rights, we should be backing bags for California. But some work things have sort of messed up the summer vacation schedule. We'll get there. Just not exactly sure when yet.

The girls get a little mini-vacation for starters at least, as they left with their mother tonight and will be camping and canoeing the next few days.

Taking one for the team

The game started out not so well. We were down a player, and the girls were just not so into it. The opposing team went ahead like six-zip. Darby even grounded out her first at bat. It didn't look so good.

But then the girls seemed snap out of it, scored a few runs, bringing the score to 8-4, and were in the middle of a rally at the tail end of the game with a reasonable shot to get back into it.

Darby was at the plate, with a runner at first and one out. I was first base coach and I told the runner that we must score, so please take off with all due haste the very moment Darby hits the ball. And indeed a moment later, the ball was in fact hit by Darby, and the runner did indeed take off with much speed, until...

Thwack.

Darby was a little late on the ball, so instead of her usual third-base-side line drive, the ball travelled directly between first and second, well on its way to right field and hopefully extra bases. But then, it hit the runner. Runner's out called the umpire, and we were back in the same boat, only with two outs.

With Darby as the runner on first, and a good hitter up to bat after her, I leaned over and to tell Darby that there was one out left in the game, and that she must score soon if we were to hang in there. I ask her to please exit the first base area in the specific direction of second base as quickly as she possibly could the very moment the ball is hit.

The batter hit the ball with much speed, Darby took off, looking good, and...

Thwack.

Darby was hit, square in the thigh by the ball, and dropped straight to the ground. The umpire pointed to her, yelled runner is out, that's ballgame, and the whole thing was over in one hasty, anti-climatic mess.

I ran over to Darby and cringed as I saw softball stitch marks on her leg. So I picked her up and carried her through the team handshakes until she said she could walk. Within a few minutes, you wouldn't have know she had just taken one for the team, as she was running around with her teamates, going after team drinks.

That wasn't quite the two in a row I was looking for, though. But at least they made a good go of it.

Winners at last

For I think the first time since their tournament back in March, Darby's softball team won a game. And it was a legitimate, hard-played win, too. They were ahead 3-0, the other team scored two, but the final score was 4-2 as Darby's team managed to hold back their opponents' rally. Darby had a hit and a run scored, along with a ground out.


A note for the calendar, their Friday game was moved to Wednesday because a lot of people will be going out of town for the holiday weekend.

Bringing the heat in

Just as the temperature outside dropped to a "cool" 94 degrees today, inside, both at home and work, the temperatures climbed to barely tollerable levels. At work a fire alarm problem cut-off airflow to our area and caused temperatures to rise to somewhere in the nineties. We had to shut down servers to avoid heat damage issues. Also, at home my A/C has apparently ceased functioning properly, so in the next day or two I'll need to work-in an appointment to have it repaired, as it is about 85 in the house, with all ceiling fans on full blast.

Yet another record

Today's 99 degree high was a third straight record setting temp. We had outdoor plans for the day, but I cancelled them. It's bad enough Darby has a game tomorrow and it will likely be quite hot.

HOT

Yesterday's official temperature (96) set a record for that day in OKC history. Today's temperature (98) was also a record setter, and I was out four hours in it doing lawn work (mostly chopping hedges down about a foot). Stupidly, I didn't eat breakfast first, and then lunch time came and went, so by the end of it I felt pretty unwell, not to mention tired.

It's a shame Spring took leave from this area, as it was going so well. Temperatures had been quite tame all season and there hasn't been too much rain. The last several years we flat skipped Spring and went straight into deep Summer, so this year was a pleasant departure.

The girls went fishing with their mother for a few hours this afternoon. I picked them up from the lake, though I had some trouble finding them at first. I went the wrong way on the dirt road that goes around the lake and ended up on the opposite side of the lake from them (in the map, I was down by the dam, and they were at pier 6).


In the spirit of the weather the last couple days, I picked up the new Hot Hot Heat album. It got some not great reviews, so I was hesitant, but I saw them on Letterman last week and was impressed. I then went and listened to all the sample tracks I could find and wasn't disappointed. After listening to the album many times through now, I dare say it's as good as if not better than their last (breakthrough) album.

ROTS not rotten

I saw Star Wars Episode III today. It was quite good. Not perfect, but quite good. I really like how Mr. Lucas makes even his newest movies in the same style as his earliest movies.

Considering there were beheadings and the killing of young Jedi, I'm not sure I'm comfortable having even Darby see it.

Now, Mr. Lucas, I understand if you don't want to take the time to make the last three movies, but if you could please brain dump onto someone else so that they might take up the reigns, that would rock.

NPOSD

Apparently, it's National Pick on Shawn Day. So if there's anyone else out there that wants to have a go at it, now's your big chance to do so and remain in context.

Shelby Chalk-Face

When I picked up the kids today, Shelby's face, chest, and leg were covered with chalk. Apparently she and her friends were rolling around on a sidewalk that had been written on with chalk. It's difficult to tell in the photo, but her nose, mouth, and the left side of her face are covered in chalk.

That crazy kid.

So close

Darby's team played very well and hard today -- probably their best ever -- and went ahead early in their game 4-0. Darby had a couple hits and a run scored. But they made way too many silly mistakes that allowed the other team to come back to tie the game, and eventually win.

Oh, I'm back to being first base coach.

The spill meister

You'd think I was referring to Shelby at first thought. But you would be incorrect. At least for today anyway.

Today I was the victim of my own non-coordination.

During the course of the day I:
- Spilled barbeque sauce on my shirt
- Spilled barbeque sauce on my pants
- Dropped barbeque beef on my pants
- Spilled Dr. Pepper on my shirt
- Spilled half a medium sprite in my car


I blame it on the earthquake.

H2G2: Mostly Harmless

While I had planned to see it much sooner, I finally got around to it today, but not before re-reading the book in the interim and taking the quiz to make sure I had my facts straight.

In general, I thought it was good stuff. Having just finished re-reading the book yesterday, it was clear to me that they strayed from the book a bit in some key parts, clipping here and adding there (or more precisely, they threw a little bit of the second book into the story), but I think it was probably necessary for continuity and succinctness. It was already nearly two hours long as it was. Explaining in further detail as the book does in some cases would have probably exceeded audience tolerance. Even the great epic films get around to their point in not much longer a time (unlike myself).

Probably the one thing that disturbed me was the misinterpretation of the title of the next story, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. They end the movie like the first book is ended by saying they're going to get a bite at the aforementioned restaurant, but then they stop and someone says something along the lines of "ahem, it's at the OTHER end of the universe", and the ship turns around and goes the other way.

That's all well and good, but the trouble is that the great thing about the title of the second book is NOT that it refers to "one end" of the universe vs "the other", but rather that the restaurant is TEMPORALLY located at the precise moment when the universe ENDS, so you can watch it end while you enjoy your meal.

So now you understand my very slight distress. There is no "other end" unless we are talking "alternate universes", but then we'd also be talking about a different restaurant.

Almost toothless

When I picked up Shelby from her mother's today, I was greeted by a child that had one less tooth up top, and almost no front teeth at all left on the top row.

We had a birthday party to attend, so the plan was to hit the nearby Wal-Mart, pick up a gift (we were just invited Thursday, and the kids went to their mom's before any shopping could be done), and then head to the party back on our side of town. It was supposed to be a quick in-and-out operation at Wal-Mart, but that didn't happen thanks to the craziest barcode/scanner/computer system incident I've ever experienced at any store, much less Wal-Mart.

There was a sizeable stack of the item we picked-up in the toy section with one of those "rollback" labels on it, clearly identifying the price. But when we got to the check-out lane, the item wouldn't ring up. Even when the (very patient) clerk manually punched-in the number. Her response? "Sorry, we can't sell this to you, it's not in the system." I couldn't believe it. So what system printed the "rollback" label? How can they just refuse to sell something to someone with cash in hand?

The clerk got a manager who fiddled more with the scanner before going to the toy section to check the numbers and get another box. Same result. Same reaction. "Sorry, we can't sell this to you, it's not in the system." I explained that we spent fifteen minutes looking for that gift, and another almost ten minutes fussing around at the check-out line, and that we had thirty minutes to be on the opposite side of town with a gift in hand. So that manager went and got another manager, who approved a manual override, allowing me to finally purchase the otherwise unpurchasable item. Sheesh.

Fortunately, even with all our trouble, we still made it to the party right on time. It was a skate party, so I took my blades in, though the kids didn't want to tkae theirs in, preferring rental skates for some crazy reason. But they had fun. Darby had to be made to leave the skate floor for cake and gifts, otherwise she was out there pretty much the whole three hours of the party. Shelby was out there quite a bit, too, but I had a hard time keeping her away from the wall. She had regressed a little since the last time she went skating. I skated on and off, mostly trying to help Shelby when I did skate.

Afterwards the girls went to Saturday mass with my step-mother, while I got a haircut.

Game ball blues

After each softball game, the coach gives out a game ball to the player he thinks played their best. Also after every game, Darby asks me, do you think I'll get the game ball (even when she really hasn't done that well)? And I always tell her not to worry about whether or not she'll get the game ball, but to just play her hardest and if she's earned one, she'll get it. (She got one last Fall.)

Well, tonight, while she wasn't perfect in the field (her attention strayed a bit at times), there weren't any misplays, and her hitting was as reliable as it has been the last several games. She got two singles and scored the teams only run.

Considering we lost 8-1, and that we stranded seven runners on base during the game, I was actually thinking Darby probably should have gotten the game ball today. This is not to say that the girl who got the game ball was undeserving, but Darby was clearly disappointed for not getting the game ball, and for once I agreed with her.

Happy Eight Years

Today is my eight year anniversary at this job. Somebody bake me a freakin'
cake.

Or maybe get off my back for five seconds. That's worth going cakeless.

New music T... Wednesday

Part of my big plan for yesterday, which was new music Tuesday, was to swing by Best Buy after I picked-up Darby to grab the long awaited new Weezer album. But I forgot. Can you believe that? I was so worried about being on time for Darby's game that I forgot about the all important big plan.

So today at lunch I used up most of that time to get to and from the Best Buy. In addition to the new Weezer album, I picked up the new Starting Line album.

Unfortunately, it was almost not worth the trip. Based on the fact that it had been three years since their last album, and on the fact that -- per their website -- they stopped and restarted their new album effort after being inspired somehow, I expected more, or at least a more refined release. And this is not to mention some of the advanced reviews, which left me with the anticipation of a Pinkerton-esque release.

The present verdict is that there are clearly a handful of really good songs. But there are, atypically for them, quite a few what-on-earth-were-they-thinking tracks as well. In particular, "We're all on drugs". I really hope that song's not autobiographical. There were also way too many touchy-feely songs for a band operating under the Weezer franchise.

The whole effort was saved by the Starting Line acquisition. While not as a whole better than their last album, it's generally quite good, and there are several tracks that are easily better than any one tune on the last album. I've spent much more time enjoying this CD than I have with Weezer. Sorry guys. I'll still listen to the good stuff, but the other stuff kind of hurts my ears.


Anti-Negativity Update, 12 May
It occured to me that I may have come across with a "this Weezer album sucks" attitude. Let me correct myself. I am a fan, and am grateful for fresh, new, quality Weezer tunes, so while I'm disappointed in some of the track choices, I'm generally satisfied with this release, which maintains that distinctive, classic Weezer sound. Rock on.

First to third

Well, I WAS the first base coach. The third base coach has a foot injury and would rather not walk as far if possible. So tonight since our dugout was by first, she took first and I took third.

Darby had a couple of solid hits and scored a run. But she was mostly not great in the field. She had three to six (depending who you ask) grounders hit hard, but in her range that she flat missed. Towards the end she did finally make a couple good plays. Pretty much everyone was botching plays, so they were quite thoroughly trounced. It didn't help that we were playing the uber team.


Shelby again didn't finish her classwork. I called the school to speak with her teacher around the end of classes and asked the teacher to have Shelby do her work after school instead of play at after care. When her mother got there to pick her up for fencing, she still wasn't finished. She had to finish during the ballgame since it was a late game and I knew it would be after bed time when we got home.

Slacker Shelby Returns

A few months ago Shelby went through a stage of not doing her classwork in class, thereby having to do it all at home in addition to regular homework. She was doing fine for awhile there, but has recently fallen back into the glut. For the last three straight school days she has brought classwork home, and boy are her parents unhappy about it.

Tonight was particularly distressing because Darby had a game, so I had Shelby in the dugout doing her work while I was doing the first base coach thing. It was hectic trying to keep her focused on her work while I was trying to be focused on the game. On two occassions the coach had to call for me to get to first base because I was in the dugout helping Shelby and there was a runner on first.

The game is long since over, we've been home since shortly after it, yet Shelby just finished her work a few minutes ago and finally got to bed.


Darby had a pretty good game in that she had a good hit and made good plays, though she did get tagged out at third (didn't slide) and missed applying a tag to a runner that eventually scored.

We slept-in this morning, since the girls attended mass yesterday as part of Darby's first communion. When we finally got around, we got some brunch and then went to see a play at the Oklahoma Children's Theater.

We were supposed to go bike riding after the play, but we had some technical difficulty. I had borrowed a pad lock from my father to lock the bikes onto the bike rack of my vehicle (because I had temporarily misplaced mine), and as it turns out, he gave me the wrong key. So the girls played at the park for awhile, before we headed to my dad's for the right key.

We did finally get a bike ride in, just before dinner time, my third in three days. But the girls wouldn't let it go, which is fine. A little bike riding never hurt anybody (who didn't then crash).

Comic relief

The whole free comic book day thing rocked. The girls and I each got a dozen or so free comic books, not to mention a few action figure type things, stickers, and tatoos. We're talking Spider-Man, Batman, Hulk, Star Wars, and more. I don't think the girls were too pumped-up about the activity when I first told them about it, but when we walked out of there with all those comics they were ecstatic.

There's something cool -- as a former comic book collector -- about hearing your kid say with excitement, "Dad, I finished reading Spider-Man!"


After comics, we ran some errands and then hit the park. The girls played at two different playgrounds for quite some time, and we rode bikes on trails for about three miles. It was threatening rain all day, but fortunately we never got more than a sprinkle, so the day's potential wasn't taken away from us.

Everybody gets a veil

In some of the pre-communion parental briefings, church members told us that veils were "optional". So I didn't get one for Darby when I got her dress and shoes. It was not until last weekend that I ordered one because, "you just have to have a veil" people said. Sure enough, today at Darby's First Communion, all the girls had a veil. If that's the case, they really shouldn't tell you it's optional. I mean, they told us to get a white dress...

As promised, here's a couple pictures of Darby in her dress.

Communion and comics

Today is Darby's First Communion. We have to be at the church in an hour, and will probably be there a couple hours. I will post pics of Darby in her dress this evening.


If you have kids, you'll not want to miss Free Comic Book Day. I know I plan on taking the kids by the comic store later today to partake of comic freeness. Some of the local stores are staying open until midnight for this, so you have no excuses. Don't just sit there!

Stress relief

Today was a team building day at work. I participated in the bike riding activity in the morning before lunch. We rode six or seven miles. It was the first ride of the year for me. Kind of getting a late start this year. Usually I've got several rides in by now.

Just before lunch we had a presentation about stress. The presenter explained the causes of stress and demonstrated some exercises to relieve stress. One of those exercises I think she called progressive relaxation, involving the tightening and relaxing of the different muscle groups starting form the extremeties and going inward. At one point she told us, "squeeze your butt, then relax". That got an interesting reaction as you might imagine.

So, the lesson of the day is: squeezing your butt relieves stress. My question is, do you have to squeeze your own butt to relieve stress, or can you have someone else squeeze it for you? Or can you ask someone else if you can squeeze their butt because you're stressed out?

I can see it now...

"What are you two doing in there?"


"Relieving stress!"

Who's on first?

Well, me, actually.

Darby's softball coach asked me tonight to be first base coach. I didn't ask for it, and really for a lot of reasons I'd rather not do it, but they asked me to give it a try, so I did.

It wasn't TOO bad, and while I'll probably continue doing it for now, I'm not sure I want it to be a long-term thing. For one, I can't also take pictures and video of Darby playing. Already I missed Shelby making dirt-angels because I put the camera away. During Darby's two games in particular, she had solid hits during every at bat, and she scored a run or two. For another thing, most days it's just Shelby and I in the stands watching the games. If I'm on the field coaching runners, who's watching Shelby? The coaches wife offered to keep track of her, but I don't think she understand the ramifications of what she thinks she signed up for.

Funf von Mai

In what should be the last gasp of this story, my team and I were treated to lunch by the company today. We would have done it sooner, but were quite busy. We went to Old Germany, which was a little ironic considering it's Cinco de Mayo, but at least it was not so crowded as it often is (since everyone else was at Mexican restaurants). It was quite tasty on its own, but the free part always makes the taste sweeter, though since we worked hard for that lunch there was technically nothing free about it.

Please test and give feedback

For many years (like nine to be almost exact) I've done the majority of this site mosty by hand (the "Taco Bueno" method, or TBM), with the exception of certain third-party integrations added over the years (Blogger, LoCalendar, dotComments, PollHost, etc). The biggest pain in the glutes all these years has been maintaining the photo album without any kind of management software behind it. So I'm testing some different things. I'm starting off first with Web Album Generator, but I'm also looking at a PHP solution such as YAPPA. There are pros and cons with moving away from the manual method of maintaining the hundreds of photos I have on this site, but I'd like to get some feedback.

So, if you are a frequenter of the album, please visit, try out the "new software" link, compare it to the old way, and let me know what you think. As I put more test versions out there, I'll let you know. Thanks!


(there are already a couple "broken" things I've noticed, like the home link and that the photo order should be inverted, etc)

It's a good thing Darby's team practiced on Sunday. They took off yesterday and it rained today, so they'll probably not get any practice in before their two games on Thursday...

How did you spend your afternoon?

Unless you work where I work, I bet you weren't standing outside in the rain while dogs sniffed your facility for "threats". That's how I spent the afternoon, which made the local news (PDF).

The funny part about this story is that I had my team in a conference room with the door closed for a staff meeting, and no one told us they had evacuated the building, at least not right away. Sometime after the initial evacuation, someone poked their head into the conference room door and said, "hey, did you know there was a bomb scare and the building has been evacuated?"

Needless to say, that put an end to our staff meeting. As we ventured outside, there were already squad cars all over the place. After checking in with our organizational contact, we stood outside in the rain for awhile before figuring it was about lunch time anyway. Of course, then there was the awful traffic because, as it turns out, that idea wasn't so original. I figured at least the situation would be cleared up by the time we got back from lunch. But that was not a correct assumption. More rain standing was in order. Strangely, it always seems to happen this way. In the eight years (next week) I've worked here, there's been a dozen or more "threat scenarios" that involved us going outside at less than optimal times, usually during bad weather of some sort. Couldn't we ever evacuate on perfect spring day?

If you hear me squeaking

It's because at Darby's softball practice today, while helping in the field, I took a "grazing blow" to areas that would typically be shielded by protective gear. But as I'm not actually on the team, there was no protection going on in those areas. It's difficult to "walk-off" such injuries, but I had to seriously downplay the whole thing as to not detract from practice (not to mention the fact that I tell Darby to "tough it out" quite frequently when she gets injured at practice or games).