Friday, June 27, 2014

And a Loss

Yep, I'm leading with the big news again.  My summer league team finally had a loss this year with our Tuesday night game.

We knew it would be a tough game from the start since the team we were playing was the other undefeated team.  And we were right.  We started out with an early lead.  And my early lead I mean two points.  That was all the lead anyone would have all night.  The usual pattern was one point ahead, tie it up.  And at the end, we didn't have our usual three point surge for the win.  Instead, we let them get two in a row to end it 15-17.

However, we are now 3-1 overall.  That's still a winning record.  I can live with that.  I can live with that big time.  In fact, I'm thrilled with that record considering winter league is the first time I've had anywhere near a winning record in years (and we had an even record).

Personally, I don't remember getting scored on all night.  I was thrown the disc once, and I passed it on no problem, even gaining us some good yardage.  So even though we lost, I'm actually still quite happy with the night over all.

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Word Association for June 25th

Here's this week's word association.

  1. Closed :: Business
  2. Tourists :: Vacation
  3. Footsteps :: Sand
  4. Ginger :: Snap
  5. Way :: One Way
  6. Designer :: Clothes
  7. Mattress :: Bed
  8. Disaster :: Natural
  9. Chips :: Salsa
  10. Campaign :: Election

Monday, June 23, 2014

Gladiator Rock n Run – Irvine

Just over a week ago on the 14th, I did the Gladiator Rock n Run in Irvine.  It will be the last event I do at the Great Park since that area is about to become a subdivision.  Honestly, I don’t think they ever did much with the land, but it was a great place for obstacle races.

I actually met up with some new friends down there.  While I’ve been part of the meet up group for mud runs, I’ve never actually tried to meet up.  This time, I did, however, since I couldn’t get any of my friends to do it with me.  I met up with three guys who were very nice, and we had fun running together.  Of course, it did highlight just how out of it my upper body is since I couldn’t do any of those obstacles.

Anyway, it was a fun day.  The course was challenging without being too challenging.  I had fun and got muddy.

Afterwards, I got together with family friends Chris and Joy for a late lunch and a fun afternoon of visiting and hanging out.  It meant I didn’t get home until very late, but it was so worth it.

I think this will be the only Gladiator Rock n Run I get in this year.  They are doing one in San Diego in August, but I’m not willing to travel down that far.  Sounds like fun and it is their longest one.  Four different companies have mud runs scheduled for the last weekend in October, and Gladiator’s annual trip to Pasadena is one of them.  I’m signed up for a different race, however, so that one is out.  I guess that means I’ll just have to wait until next year.

Friday, June 20, 2014

Summer League Game 3

I missed our second game since I was in Yosemite with my family when it happened.  It sounds like it was a fairly easy game, unfortunately, since I would have enjoyed playing in it.  But I was there for our game on Tuesday night.

It was looking like it would be fairly easy with us taking a quick 3-0 lead.  But then they started to fight back and tied it up.  We kept going in that fashion most of the night.  They took the lead a couple of times, but we were ahead most of the time.  We finally finished out the game with a 17-14 win.

That's right - My team is officially still in first with a 3-0 overall record!

I didn't play much in the second half, and only one point was I able to get the disc at all.  I caught both passes no problem, but I threw one of them away and almost threw the other away.  Not my best performance, but at least I got the disc.

Our next game is once again on Tuesday, so we'll see how it goes.

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Word Association for June 18th

Looks like it is time for this week's word association.

  1. Today :: Wednesday
  2. Lips :: Sealed
  3. Seethe :: Anger
  4. Desired :: Unattainable
  5. Patrol :: Car
  6. Nails :: Chalkboard
  7. Pastry :: Chef
  8. Jacket :: Chilly
  9. Button :: Shirt
  10. Feel :: Touch

Monday, June 16, 2014

Family Trip to Yosemite!

I got to spend almost a week with my family in Yosemite!

I headed up there a week ago Friday and came back on Wednesday.  My brother and his family left mid-afternoon on Tuesday, and Mom and Dad went home on Thursday.

And yes, that means I got to spend time with my niece and nephew!  Have I mentioned recently how cute they are?  I ate up time with them.

And we hit all the tourist spots.  We did a little hiking, although not anything too hard because of the kids.  We saw the water falls and drove up to Glacier Point.  Really, it's hard to go wrong with the awesome scenery there.  It's truly beautiful.

While Bridalveil Falls was fairly dry, the other falls had enough water in them to be spectacular.  Yes, they were low, and I'm sure come August and September they will be pretty dry.  But I was happy with how full they were given how little rain and snow we've had this year.

All told, it was a great, relaxing trip.

And I got to see my friends Donald and Heather and their daughter Aria on the way up and back since I drove right through the town where they are now living.

Friday, June 13, 2014

Word Association for June 13th

Better get in this week's word association.

  1. Fringe :: Outside
  2. Helicopter :: Hover
  3. Netflix :: Movie
  4. Humor :: Laugh
  5. Niece :: Cute!!!  (Mine's the cutest)
  6. Summer :: Pool
  7. Crazy :: Stupid
  8. Arrival :: Departure
  9. Nipple :: Chest
  10. Code :: Break

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Summer League Game 1

Yep, being June, that means that summer league for ultimate Frisbee is off and running again.  Hard to believe I know.

We actually had our first game the first night - Monday of last week.  I'm in Men's league this year - wasn't lucky enough to get into coed this year.

My team will be interesting since several of the guys know each other and have played together at the college level for several years.  Also, we're running an offense I'm not super comfortable with since it leaves me on the side most of the time with nothing to do.  However, when we tried to run the other offense, it looked horrible and we were losing big time.

We started out going down right away and were soon down 3-6.  That's when we switched offense and mounted our comeback.  At half we were down 8-9.  We tied it up at 11's and then traded points for a bit until we finally pulled ahead and won 17-15.

Hopefully, we can keep that momentum going for the rest of the season.  It would be nice to be on a team that wins more than loses for a change (although winter league was 50/50).

Thursday, June 05, 2014

Camp Pendleton Mud Run 2014

Sunday, I ran the Camp Pendleton Mud Run for the 5th year in a row.  Honestly, I can't believe it.

Every year, I'm reminded why I enjoy doing this run so much.  The scenery is nice, and it's just a nice atmosphere.  Plus, at 6.2 miles, it gives me a little something extra to train for.

This year, with all the fires down there recently, a mile or so of the course had been burned out.  That was a bummer, but overall it was still nice.

On the other hand, the weather was the nicest I think it has ever been for it.  The sun was out when we started instead of being overcast.  That makes the running in the first part hotter, but it is nice when you hit the mud in the second half.  I just hope we get enough rain soon to make the lake part a swim part again.

I did it with Spencer this year to make up for his having to miss last year.  So this was only the second time I actually ran with the people I signed up to run it with!

And we spent the night before with Ian.  Okay, at least at his place since he was out much of the time.  Still, it was nice to catch up with him and the price was certainly right.

Plus he recommended a couple of great local places to eat.  I want to go back to both of them.  Too bad they are 2.5 hours away.  For dinner Saturday night, I had chicken strip wraps that were delicious.  Then for lunch on Sunday, I tried raspberry orange pancakes that were amazing.  My mouth is watering just thinking about them.

I always prefer to do this one with someone, so I need to start drumming up interest in doing it next year.  I want to go for six in a row.

Wednesday, June 04, 2014

Word Association for June 4th

Time for some word association.

  1. Travel :: Fun!
  2. Glitz :: Glamour
  3. Bark :: Bite
  4. Wicked :: Oz
  5. Fifth :: Sixth
  6. Photography :: Picture
  7. Yellow :: Coward
  8. Counter :: Cash Register
  9. Country :: USA
  10. Speech :: Boring

Tuesday, June 03, 2014

Quiet Memorial Day Weekend

I actually had a fairly quiet Memorial Day Weekend.  I wound up going to see a play on Saturday night.  Glendale Centre Theatre is doing The Music Man, one of my all time favorite musicals, so naturally I had to go see it.  They did a wonderful job as always with a great cast of mostly people who we hadn't seen before.  I was surprised because I'd already mentally cast the play with their regulars.

Sunday was the usual ultimate Frisbee and church (not in that order).

Then Monday, some friends had a last minute BBQ.  It was wonderful hanging out with them.

So as you can see, pretty quiet and ordinary and not much to report.

Monday, June 02, 2014

Hot an Dirty Mud Run

I am so far behind, I need to start working hard at catching up.

For example, two weeks ago, I did a mud run with my friend Chris.  It was his first run, and we hit up one that was about 30 minutes from me.  I'd done this one last year and wasn't that impressed.  I liked it much more this time around.

The difference?  One was that we got there at the time we were supposed to start and were ready to go on time.  The other?  There were actually people around, so it didn't feel nearly as cut rate and cheap as the first time I did it.

And it was fun.  Lots and lots of fun.  There's a hill that is part of it that gives a great view of the valley.  There were a couple of fun water slides as well.  I liked them last time, and I liked them more this time.

Really, it was a great way to introduce him to the joys of mud runs.

Now to get him to sign up with me again.