Another Day at the Diamond

Just came in from another game behind home plate announcing a little league game. The team representing our league won an exciting game with a 5 run rally in the bottom of the 5th. One more win and they are in the final. It's been a long week of working and then riding through town over to the diamond. Today I got a ride as there wasn't enough time to do it by bike, good thing as I would have been wet by the looks of it.

We are ordering new carpet tomorrow, finally. Sears has a pretty good sale on and we met with their carpet guy who had plenty of knowledge and advice, too bad he is a little behind in the tech department. The man needs a cell phone.

Sal scored 3 crabs yesterday at the Super Store, leaving behind just 1. She took them to work and brought home supper, Cantonese Style Crab. I can't remember a meal I have enjoyed more. I decided to forget about  trying not to get messy and just enjoyed every mouthful.

Sal picked up tickets for the gold medal game in the World Juniors on Sunday. That should be a great game and hopefully the Canadians will be there as the upsets have really put things in their favour.

I put in a day at Petrie's on Thursday. I boxed up Mike's bike and took it to Purolator. $130 by ground or $600+ by air! He was in no rush once I gave him the quoted price. He'll have to wait until next Wednesday to ride 'Rachel', his Felt X-City 2. She's a sweet ride. I brought her home for an extended test ride one night but just a size too big for me. I may still get Farz to build me one with the internal hub. It would make a great commuter as I hope Rachel is for Mike.

Long Days, Fun Days

We had breakfast with Mike and Mel this morning then put him on a plane back to Calgary. We had two great outings with them while they were here. On Sunday we all headed out to see Mom and Dad, and I mean all of us. AJ, Mike, Mel and Ginko all had fun trapping 'clawfish'. Lots of food, some drink and perfect weather.

On Monday we all went to Mel's parents place. Lots of food and drink again and the kids all hit the pool as the weather behaved again. It was another sad goodbye to watch as Ginko gave Mike a hug. They had spent most of the day together, Brandyn collected on an ice cream bet and scored a Nerf machine gun to boot.

Then came Tuesday and back to work capped with a ride over to Current River to announce a ball game in the provincials. A half day today and another game. At least this one was worth watching. I really hate the little league pitch count. A 2-2 ball game in the 4th inning, Current River's pitcher hits his maximum and the other team score 4 runs immediately. The Kingston team had a neat story. They had no diamond to play on. It was finally ready about 6 weeks ago but no one would come to their all clay diamond to play. They got in 2 exhibition games and then won the draw from a hat for district playdowns and the other teams had to come play on the clay. They won 3 more and then practiced 7 days a week for 6 weeks and here they are in the Ontarios.

New Phone, Old Books

One of the many functions my new phone has is the ability to download public domain books into a 'Kindle' type reader. I found a good one today and it links directly into the archives where many of the classics can be downloaded and read. I already finished London's "Call of the Wild" and am into the second chapter of "White Fang", two classics I've never read. There are hundreds of books available and the software keeps track of the last page read, a simple touch on the screen turns the page. All very cool.

I got an email from Dave Wadson yesterday. He and a few friends are entering the 2010 Caribou Charity Ride so I'll get signed up and have someone to ride with. I wasn't going unless I found someone to ride with. They still aren't asking for donations outside of the entry fee, seems like a lost opportunity.

It came to me today that driving across the prairies with Sal sleeping in the seat beside me is a lot like riding my bike solo over long distances. Lots of time to think. Biggest difference is the cd player is on and I don't have tunes running over and over in my head. Butt gets sore just in a different way. The twist on words 'relative humility' came to me somewhere in Saskatchewan and today I created I don't know what. Anyway...



Relative Humility
feel good about achievement,
without making others feel otherwise.
take pride in accomplishment,
realize there's more to be done.
accept praise gracefully,
don't expect it.

Somebody Grew

The Ginko was over today for a bit. Sal and I both swear he grew since we saw him last. Jen says he actually is eating more so maybe that's it. He seems to be more mature in speech and other things as well. I didn't think we were gone that long.
The property at FCD has been for sale for a while now with no takers. A sign is going up so hopefully that will help us get to the smaller location we need.
I sent the Bank of Montreal a nasty little note today. When in Langley I went to a local branch for some cash, the debit machine was down so I went to a teller, put my card on the counter and asked for $200. She asked me which account and I said savings and was handed the cash. No id, no pin, no security! If it had been a stolen card the account could have been cleared out easily. Not very secure.

Back to Reality

I know, I know I still haven't finished the Quest 2 the West blog. I'm waiting for Mike and the memory card with the rest of the pictures. It was back to work today for both Sal and I. By the end of the day my toes felt like they each had their own little vise squeezing them into my runners. I hadn't worn socks but once since July 1st and today was a long one. I didn't sleep well last night probably because all I did Monday was snooze, I guess the driving finally caught up with me.
I rode Molly in today and on the return at lunch I got caught on the leading edge of a downpour. I stopped to put on my rain jacket and stomped on the pedals to try and stay dry. I arrived at work before the heaviest rain but was still sweaty.