I Forgot

I know there was something I wanted to blog about. Something vital to national security. (Okay, since I know nothing about national security, that couldn't be it.) And considering I haven't talk about much in the last couple of weeks, you'd think I'd be able to do that. But now for the life of me, I can't remember what it was. So I'll just talk about what I can remember.

Last weekend, I played some ultimate on Saturday. I spent the rest of the time writing reviews. Or at least feeling guilty for not writing reviews. I eventually got five of them done, so I was happy about that.

Daniel came home from his trip Monday night. And I found out that Brennon is going to move out by the end of August. Yep. The roommate search begins again.

Meanwhile, I also found out that Daniel is a huge fan of The Stockmarket Game, a game from the 60's that I've only found two other people who liked. I see many fierce battles in our future. We've already played two games, and each won one. We also played Monopoly the other night, and I won that.

I am once again missing Trixie camp this year. I don't know how I used to do it and still live on what I made. I am not saving any money right now, which was the whole reason I didn't go. I've got to figure out where all the money goes and plug up the holes.

Actually, I think I know where all the money goes. I need to stop buying books, CDs, and DVDs. I've been especially bad recently. Not looking forward to next month's bills.

It's cooled off some this week. Instead of being in the 100's, it's only been in the 90's. I'm sure it will climb back up again soon. But for now, the air conditioner is enjoying the break.

And no, this didn't jog my memory on what else I wanted to say.

Word Association for July 29th

Time for this week's word association.

1. Taxman :: Cometh
2. Material :: Possesions
3. Format :: Excel
4. File cabinet :: Storing Information
5. Ignore :: Rude
6. Super! :: califragelisticexpalidosous
7. Fireproof :: Movie
8. Blockbuster :: Movie
9. Snooper :: Detective
10. Good will :: Nice deed

I would claim not to have movies on the brain, but....

What is on My Nightstand - July 2009

Time for the monthly What's on Your Nightstand carnaval.

I have about 70 pages left in Still Life by Louise Penny. This is a mystery set in a small Canadian village. I really had a hard time getting into it. There were just too many characters and sub-plots to keep straight. But now that I know who they all are and have gotten into the story, I don't want to put it down. I may go home and finish it tonight.

On deck is Tenth Stone, the latest in the AD Chronicles series from Brock and Bodie Thoene.

I'm an Uncle!

My brother just called to tell me that my niece was born this morning. Mother and daughter are doing well.

I am so much more thrilled than I thought I would be (and I expected to be thrilled). It's all I can do to not hop on a plane right now to go meet her. I'm glad I already bought my tickets for mid-September or I'm not sure what I'd be doing.

Now to wait impatiently for pictures....

Summer League Game 8

Friday night was the 8th summer league game for my team. We were playing the only team left in co-ed that was undefeated.

And we got off to a great start. At the end of the first point, the score was 1-0.

Unfortunately, we had no where to go but down. And we did. We let them score the next few points in a row. We managed to make it a three point game at half 5-8. And we kept playing hard in the second half, but we finally lost 10-15.

Honestly, we play hard. We just keep throwing it away. Of course, shorter passes might help with that some. Long throws are fun, but they don't work as often as short passes.

On a personal note, it was a mixed bag as well. I felt I did okay on defense. I got beat back a couple of times, but never for a score. And I was able to stick on my man when he was trying to be the dump, thereby keeping him from getting the disc.

But on offense, I completely blew it. This was the first game in a couple of weeks where I was able to get open to get the disc thrown to me (mainly because they were poaching off me). The first time I got it, I threw it away. From there, I preceeded to drop it every time they threw it to me. A couple were hard throws, but one or two of them were easy. I thought catching the disc wasn't a problem for me, but obviously I was wrong on that account, too.

We went out for drinks after the game. I got water. Well, okay, and apple pie a la mode. I was going to head home around 11, but it was almost midnight before I left. Guess that means I was having a good time.

So our record right now overall is 4-4, which puts us at 8th out of 14 teams.

But here's the part I find really funny. Our point differential (points we've won by minus points we've lost by) is exactly 0. We truly are the middle of the road team.

This is our bye week, and our game next week is on Thursday. I'm ready for another win.

What Are We Owed?

I realize I am a fanboy. Get me started on Babylon 5 or Trixie Belden, and I can go for hours. (Just ask anyone who knows me.)

But I like to think I have some balance or perspective on things.

What brought all this up? This week saw the release of the second season set of Pushing Daisies. I loved that show and am bitterly disappointed that it was canceled. But I do understand that it tanked in the ratings, so I'm not surprised. After all, television is a business.

Yet reading comments from others at Amazon made me shake my head. (And no, they weren't reviews.) One person said that since ABC canceled Pushing Daisies, he had canceled ABC and would never watch them again. Um, so what happens when they have another good show on the air? You'll just skip it?

Then there was the one coming up with the theory that the government should sponsor one show a year that is excellent TV and not doing well in the ratings. That way, it would continue to be made. And the network would have to air the show. Yeah, that's the ticket. Government bailout of struggling TV! But only as long as the show was too good to fail. (As if the government bailouts we've seen this year weren't bad enough.)

Now I am currently working on tracking down a copy of the new comic book for The Middleman, the one with the unfilmed season finale in it so I can find out how that show ends. And I will do the same if they continue Pushing Daisies in comic book form. I would love for both those shows to continue in TV form. But if people aren't watching, it doesn't make any sense.

That's one reason why I review. It's yet another way for me to spread the word about the great shows (and authors) I love in hopes they'll become successful. But if people don't tune in, oh well. I did my best, and I got to enjoy the show while it aired. Hopefully the next show I find I love does better.

Reading Challenge Completed - Seconds

So, I have now finished one of the reading challenges hosted by J Kaye's Book Blog. I've finished the 2nds Challenge. (Yes, I am still working on the 1sts. What does that say about me?)

For this challenge, we had to read a second book by an author we've only read once.

Here are the books I read (Links take you to my reviews at Epinions):
1. Fearless by Robin Parrish
2. 2nd Chance by James Patterson
3. The Seeing Stone by Tony DiTerlizzie and Holly Black
4. The Dog Days of Charlotte Hayes by Marlane Kennedy
5. Too Rich and Too Dead by Cynthia Baxter
6. Shark Island by Joan Druett
7. Burn Notice: The End Game by Tod Goldberg
8. Murder in Grub Street by Bruce Alexander
9. Slay it with Flowers by Kate Collins
10. Mayhem in Miniature by Margaret Grace
11. Curse of the Holy Pale by Sue Ann Jaffarian
12. Mind Over Magic by William Rabkin

Word Association for July 21st

Time for a little more word association.

1. Banter :: Thin Man movies
2. Amazing :: Race
3. Towel :: Wet
4. Cinema :: Film
5. Newspaper :: Article
6. Not good :: Bad
7. My type :: Mate
8. Twinkle :: Little Star
9. Actress :: Jennifer Garner
10. Daft :: Crazy

An Ultimate Weekend

So, as you have already seen, I played ultimate Frisbee on Saturday. (And if you haven't seen it yet, go take a look at the post I made on Saturday). Yes, it was hot. And I drank about 3 times the water I would normally drink. But it was absolutely worth it. We had 15 people show up despite the heat, and we all had fun.

And Sunday, I did it all over again. This time, I play on the beach in Santa Monica. One of my roommates came down with me. We got there late, but we still got in plenty of play time. I was beat by the time I was done.

It was much cooler down there, but it was still plenty warm. I was sweating not too long into it. But it wasn't the triple digits we have had here at home the last few days.

But it made the water feel so much better afterward. Yep, we both hit the ocean when we were done. Swam for probably 45 minutes. The water was the perfect tempurature as far as I was concerned.

And yes, I did get some other things done. Watched Harry Potter #6 with a couple friends Friday night. Finished up the DVD set I borrowed from my boss a month ago. Now, I just need to review it. Almost caught up on TV on the DVR. And I went to church Sunday morning, helped out with the library, and watched some Babylon 5 with Joe and Josh Sunday night.

Yes, I am back at work this week to relax, why do you ask?

Making the News

Well, don't know how to imbed this, so you're just going to have to go to this link to see a quick clip of me on the local news.

Book Signings

Actually, it's been a pretty quiet week. I've been to two book signings, and that's about the extent of my excitement.

The first was Saturday. I showed up about half an hour late. Either I was the only customer to show up or anyone else had left already. Either way, it was just the store employees, Lee Goldberg, Bill Rabkin, and me. Got to hear some fun stories from Lee and Bill's times working on various TV shows, including some I hadn't heard before.

Then I raced back to town and arrived just in time to start a Harry Potter marathon with Ryan and Charis. We watched movies 3-5 to get ready for movie 6 (which I am finally going to get to see tonight.)

Sunday I just hung out at home between church in the morning and hanging out with Joe in the evening.

But what I really needed Sunday was a nap. See, I did not sleep well Thursday or Friday nights. Frankly, I still haven't completely recovered, but I am feeling better. At least I'm not getting a headache every time I run now.

The second book signing was Tuesday night. Rhys Bowen is out promoting her most recent book. Stayed longer than I thought I would because I was having so much fun.

And boy, summer has hit. It's been around 100 every day for the last week. I'm not complaining. I love hot weather. And it gives me a good excuse to go jump in the pool every day.

Having been working out quite as much this week. Did go over and have Ryan attempt to fix my cleans last night. He thought I was getting better by the time we quit, but I'm not quite so sure. Either way, my legs are mildly sore today, especially when I stand up after sitting for a while.

Word Association for July 15th!

We can't be half way through the month. I still have way too much to do!

Anyway, this week's word association.

1. Sister :: Sister (old TV sitcom)
2. Talks :: Alot
3. Electric! :: Eel!
4. Corner :: Bakery
5. Turnstile :: Admission
6. Swap :: Exchange
7. Young :: Old
8. Horrific :: Scary
9. Block :: Party
10. Wind :: in the Willows

Summer League Games 6 & 7

So I've had two ultimate Frisbee games I have yet to blog about. They were in quick succession, so that helps.

The first one was Friday night. To be honest, I shouldn't have gone. I was so out of it! I had not slept at all well on Thursday night. I was feeling tired and sluggish still. I played a few points, but I every time I started running, I would get a headache. Yeah, that was fun.

Heck, I was so out of it, I wasn't keeping track of the score. Usually, when I am on the sidelines, I keept track, but I couldn't even do that on Friday.

I was proud of my contribution on one point. They came at us with a zone defense. I was supposed to be a wing, but there was a wide open spot back behind the thrower. I circled around there, Frankie threw it to me, and I passed it on immediately. We got it up the field and scored without stopping from there. About six passes from me to the end zone one after the other.

Unfortunately, we weren't always that well oiled. We wound up loosing 12-15.

Last night was another hard fought game. We started out down 0-3. By half time, it was 5-8. We managed to tie it up at one point, but in the end we lost 13-15.

Since I'd slept well the two nights before, I was actually feeling much better. In fact, I wasn't ready to quit when the game was over. I still had some points in me. (The down side of having the majority of your team show up every week.)

However, of the points I was in, I only directly contributed in one point, and both were negative. I was wide open, the thrower threw it to me, and it was just out or reach. For some reason, I thought I could get it, but it whizzed right by me. I should have run to the left and I could have gotten it. Then, the guy I was guarding scored on me. I was right there, but they threw it over my head. Not much I could do about it.

There was one point where my team praised my possitioning because it was opening up other things on the field. I'll take it as my great contribution last night.

Back on the Fitness Bandwagon?

So the last few months, I haven't been doing too much as far as fitness goes. Right before Christmas, I hurt my shoulder while working out. I needed to let it heal.

To be perfectly honest, it still isn't 100% healed. It's much, much better (thanks in large part to one of my roommates). I've been thinking for a month or two that I need to get back into the crossfit bandwagon, but I've gotten very lazy and haven't wanted to do that. There, I confessed it.

But it looks like I am going to really get back into things.

Okay, so I've been playing lots of ultimate Frisbee (got another game tonight in fact), but that's just the start.

Yesterday, I signed up for the Disney Family Fun 5K. It's the Saturday of Labor Day and the course runs through parts of CA Adventure and Disneyland. How could I pass something like that up? Still need to figure out logistics like where I am going to stay Friday night, but it should be fun.

And, looking ahead, I am planning on the Mud Run at Camp Pendleton next June. I've got 11 months to worry about it.

But the biggest thing is that I did my first Crossfit workout in months last night. Turns out that Ryan and Charis have moved their home gym (at least temporarily) less than half a mile from my place. Which means I really have no excuse. One of my roommates joined me, and I think he'll be pushing me to get back into it. I must say, I think I need it.

Of course, last night the workout was running (we did it up a hill), and then squats. I can't tell you how sore my legs are. Will make tonight's game quite interesting.

And I am so tired. I didn't sleep well last night at all, and I've felt like I was in a fog all day. I hope it lifts soon because otherwise tonight's game won't be that much fun for me.

Word Association for July 7th

Early (at least for me) this week.

1. Independence :: Day
2. Meltdown :: Emotional
3. Vulture :: Death
4. Hope :: Happy
5. Float :: Boat
6. Hole :: Dig
7. Trespass :: Criminal
8. Moving :: Ugh!
9. Extinct :: Dinosaur
10. Alligator :: Sharp Teeth

4th of July 2009

Wow. For a blog that is supposed to be about my life, I sure haven't been doing much life blogging recently, have I?

See, I do have this life beyond ulitimate Frisbee. And books.

Heck, I even missed wishing you a happy new (fiscal) year last week. *Hangs head in shame*.

Actually, work has been pretty busy since we did have the fiscal year end last week. Added work trying to keep stuff separate between the two years. Plus I've been working with our CFO to finalize budget stuff. That's the majority of what I've done Thursday and today. In fact, today was one of those days where I was going at top speed all day long. Either I was in the CFO's office working or I was in my office trying to get the other stuff that needed my attention done. I came home and crashed. But it is amazing what a couple hours in front of the TV can do for you.

Thursday night after work, I went down and played some beach ultimate. Fun times. It was winder and colder than I would have liked. But that didn't stop me from jumping in the ocean when I was done. The water felt great.

I had Friday off work for the 4th. I didn't do a whole heck of a lot. And I'm not even going to pretend I'm upset about that, either. Just goofing off felt great.

I did go out that night with one of my roommates to a free blues concert they had downtown. I enjoyed it for a little while, but I got bored before it was over.

Saturday being the 4th, I did the whole BBQ and fireworks thing. I started with a pool side BBQ with the Friday night Bible study I attend. Had fun swimming and talking for much longer than I thought I would stay. I still left before the last dog was hung, however, to connect up with friends for dinner and fireworks. We went to a park near Kurt and Kellie's house. We had quite the show of (illegal) fireworks before the real ones started. I must admit I enjoyed them. They did keep shooting off the illegal ones once the real ones started, which bugged me. We were a little further away then I thought we would be, so some of the lower fireworks got hidden by the trees. Still, it was a good time. We left in a hurry though. The sprinklers were coming closer and closer to where we had camped out in the grass.

Sunday was church, both morning and evening again. Then I headed over to Joe's where he and I watched Sky High. The third member of our trio was out of town still. But Joe and I had a good time.

And I've been running. You could say I was breaking in my new running shoes. So far, I really like them. Friday morning, I went for a mile and a half walk. Saturday, I went for a two mile run. I completed both in 24 minutes. I just got back from a run tonight. Was supposed to connect with my friend Dan, but we missed each other. We both got good runs in, however.

A Late Plug

Yeah, I should have done this days ago. Sorry.

But there are still a few hours left to enter a drawing for Matthew West's CD Something to Say. Just visit this post at Callapidder Days. All you have to do is leave a post.

Good luck. As long as I win one of the five copies up for grabs, of course. :)

Word Association for July 1st

Can't believe that it is New Year's Day (at least fiscal new year). Where is 2009 going?

We can ponder that after we hit the word association for this week.

1. Guest :: Fun
2. Impact :: Crater
3. Unplanned :: Pregnancy
4. Tactic :: Military
5. Delayed :: Wait
6. Bombastic :: Loud
7. Comfort :: Zone
8. Trumpet :: Orchestra
9. Joe :: Average
10. Budget :: Balance

Gee, was that last one about me today or what?