Feeling Philadelphia

OF COURSE I pay attention to my Phillies. Of course. I get scores texted to me, so I know how they did last night. I go to games when I can (such as I did a few weeks ago while in Philly, and such as I did last September when I drove all the way to Houston to see them). But I stopped paying attention to NL East division standings months ago when the Phils were 10 games back. Why focus on that, I thought? There's no way they'll make the division this year, might as well focus on the wild card. And for some time now they've been two-ish games back from the wild card spot.

So when my best friend from Philly calls me in the middle of the work day very excited about the Phils sweep of the Mets in dramatic style, and tells me they're only two games back, I share in his excitement, and go about my day. But really, I didn't share nearly enough in his excitement, because I thought he meant they were two back from the wild card. Not news, I thought. After all, I pay attention, or so I thought. But oh how under-appreciative I was. Oh how ridiculous was my poor attempt at joy.

It did come, the joy. And not too much later.

When I finally sat down and took a good, attentive look at the standings, I was shocked. SHOCKED I tell you. The Phils ARE only two games back. FROM THE DIVISION (freakin) TITLE. At that moment, I literally jumped out of my seat with overdue and uncontainable excitement. Seriously, you should have seen it. You would have been embarrassed for me, because I wasn't at all.

I mean, COME ON. There's a whole month left in the season, and they could... COULD actually do it. For the first time in a long time, they could win the division. It is seriously and actually and realistically in reach. Wow.

I know, I can't believe it either. But I am so bloody excited about it (gotta make up for my initial reaction). There is certainly the possibility of a let down, which the Phils do well, but remember... I didn't expect this much progress at all. Not even a little. I would have been happy with a strong second place division finish, and overjoyed with a good run at the wild card, much less actually getting the wild card. And so to win the division? That's above and beyond. That's legendary for a typically underachieving team like my Phils.


Okay, boys. You now have my full attention. I'm watching. And I'm paying attention to everything. Just keep playing your hearts out, and you'll get me every time. If nothing else, thanks for the effort. You've earned every kudo I have to give.

Softball Schedule

Darby's Fall 2007 softball schedule has been posted to the calendar. Friends and family, if you'd like to attend let me know, and I'll shoot you the address.

So much for Montana

Shelby is what you might refer to as... an utter freak. When it comes to, well, several things, but in particular when it comes to Hannah Montana. Let's put it this way, she BEGGED me for a Hannah Montana wig not so long ago when we were out shopping. I didn't give in. But she hasn't given up.

So imagine my vicarious excitement to learned that Hannah Montana herself was coming to Oklahoma City for a concert in December. Perfect, I thought, I'll get tickets for Christmas. She'd love me forever. Okay, until she's a teenager, but I'll take it.

Tickets went on sale at ten this morning, but I was committed to be at Darby's softball practice at that time, so someone was in line for me at one of the ticket venues. We also had folks hitting the website and calling the order hotline just be sure. But still, hopes were low because we heard that tickets sold out for a Dallas show in ten minutes.

While my ticket-line person (who deserves to be called much better for the effort) got in line at 8am, there were folks in line since 3am, further dashing hopes. And it didn't take long into softball practice for me to get the word via text message...

Sold out.

The 3am people were the last to be able to get group tickets. The 6am people were able to get single tickets. The 8am people, well, they got to WATCH the 3am and 6am people get their tickets.

While I'm sorry we weren't able to have a nice early Christmas present for the kiddos, I can't say we didn't try. I would not have asked anyone to be there at 3am, however, and I'm thankful for the effort I got instead.


But I do think I'm going to be buying a Hannah Montana wig for Christmas. It's the least I could do.

Fall ball

Today begins the fall softball season with the first practice, and I'm so glad we've finally found a team (and a decent one at that). Darby's Fall team from last year disbanded and we couldn't find a team for the Spring, so I had her play baseball in the Summer to keep her in shape. I was getting worried we wouldn't find a team again, but got a call this past week from a coach with an opening.

We had practice bright and early this morning, and while we were nervous about it at first, not knowing what we were walking into, all turned out pretty well. The coach had his act together, the practice was very organized, and the team seems pretty decent. Most of the girls seem to have played awhile, and a few are quite good. Darby is definitely not the best on the team (though she could be if she pushed herself just a little harder), but she's easily in the top half. And she performed nicely at practice this morning, so I think she left a good impression with both the girls on the team and the coaches.

I'm looking forward to the season, but not so much the Monday night practices. It's going to be tough making the distance that must be covered to get from work to pick-up Darby to practice and then to piano lessons immediately after. Monday nights are going to be... tiring to say the least. But if we're able to keep with this team through the Fall and Spring seasons, it will be worth it. Darby is right on the cusp of being a great player, and these next two seasons will determine a lot about her future with the sport.

FOB, here I come

Somebody VERY cool has already bought me Fall Out Boy concert tickets for my birthday, and my birthday is still a couple months away. Thank you!

Mythical school supply hunt

Why must teachers specify school supplies that are available in very few venues? Seriously, is there THAT much difference between a bound graph paper notebook (widely available) over a composition book with graph paper pages (not so much)? I mean, we're talking science lab notebooks here. Either should do, right? Ugh.

It's okay. I don't mind going to five places trying to find the right thing. Really. Now I know exactly where to get them the next time. On the lower shelf next to Nessie.

Back to school and happy birthday

Happy Birthday Shelby!
(I cannot BELIEVE both of my kids are now in the double digits)

So maybe it didn't start so happy, but it eventually got there. You see, generally it's a good idea for your child to actually be enrolled at the school you drop her off at on the first day. Apparently that form I filled out at the end of last school year was an "intent to enroll" form, rather than an actual enrollment form, for the purposes of accounting for transfer students. I didn't realize I still needed to report to the school last week for Shelby to be enrolled in her classes. So, when we tried to find her class this morning, there wasn't one until we reported to the office to fill out a stack of paperwork. Ugh.

I think her woes were wiped away when, at her traditional birthday dinner this evening, she was given a Nintendo DS. Lucky girl.


Darby's first day of school went off largely without a hitch. Not surprisingly, she wouldn't let me take a picture of her at her first day of middle school. Too embarrassing. Oh, boy, here we go...

What I did on my summer vacation

So I've been gone for awhile. What's it to ya? I'm not even sure I'm back for good yet, so hold your tongue.

I have no good excuses. But the last time I blogged it was at the end of the school year. And tomorrow begins the next school year, so we'll just say I was on summer vacation for lack of a better reason.

I wrote many a blog entry over the summer, but didn't post for various reasons I'll not get into now. I may back-fill some of those blog entries, but I'm not making promises for the time being.

So, here's a brief summary of our summer...


Softball Camps and Clinics
Darby participated in a softball camp in June. Says she learned a thing or two. She also participated in an NCAA softball clinic.



Baseball
Darby played on a co-ed baseball team that experienced a "make-up season" instead of make-up games due to all the rain in June. There are photos in the album in addition to the below sample. She got to pitch quite a bit, and hit a couple homers of the inside-the-park variety.



Kingfisher
The girls spent two separate weeks with their grandmother in Kingfisher. The first week was rainy and indoors. The second was outdoorsy, but Shelby took a nasty spill off her bike. Guess it's good they got all that out of the way before Kingfisher ended up underwater.

New York
We took a trip to New York City in August, which was quite an adventure. We visited four of the five boroughs, took many subways and buses, went to both a Yankees game and a Mets game, and spent a lot of time in Central Park, among other activities. Additional pictures are available in the album.



Philadelphia
After NYC, we went down to Philly to visit family, friends, and landmarks. We went to the nations first zoo, fully experienced Six Flags Great Adventure, BBQed with friends, and spent a good amount of time in the historic district re-visiting Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, and other sites. Naturally, we also took in a Phillies game. Additional pictures are available in the album.



Got Hitched
Okay, so this is a complete fabrication. Pick your jaw up off the floor. But in all seriousness, I did meet someone rather unexpectedly, if you can believe that. I'm quite fortunate, and things are going rather splendidly in that regard, but I'll not be going into that much here or now.


Well, that covers most of the highlights. Hopefully this will not be the last you hear from me in awhile. Trying to get back into the swing. Bear with me.