Compilations

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Unfortunately, Frazy.com doesn't have the Chantel Kreviazuk CD on there yet... nor does it have many of her older ones as well. Hmmm... really need to help them out with that one. The new CD that did make the list yesterday was the new Razorlight album, which kind of was a little sub-par. I was expecting the same sort of catchiness of Up All Night, but it's kind of like they didn't want to be that catchy again, rather try and mix the tempos with the same kind of lyrics that need catchy tunes. Ah well... it'll probably be a grower on me.

Speaking of CDs... Chris and I went for a beer last night (and we were good little boys and only stayed for $20) and Ashley was doing some more approaching of me. She wants to exchange mix CDs. First I have to give her a blank disc, but she wants to make up a mixed disc... she approached me with this idea. Talk about a first. I don't think any girl has ever done that for me, let alone offer to do it for me.

Now, I can make a really good mixed CD... but there is a little bit of skepticism still in me. A lot of this all depends on what kind of disc she wants to make me, in theory. This is a situation that seems to need some delicate handling. I mean, there could be a serious faux pas if I receive this subtle (like a train wreck) expression of this pent up emotion and I give her my new favourite tunes, including Fuck Forever by Babyshambles. Talk about something to rack one's brain about... so I also thought about come time of the switch, bringing two and cheating a bit. One of some classic tunes and/or two, the complimentary CD. Argh. Both will be stellar, make no bones about it... but I'm not quite sure which way I'd want to go yet. I'm sure there could even be a solid middle ground. Here's hoping.

Anyways... we'll see what happens. Does anyone else have any thoughts? I mean, I could over-analyze this some more, maybe give some more insight... but I'll drop off a blank disc to her tonight and we'll see what happens. I'm ripping some discs at the office, it gives me something to do in the background and gives me more tunes to listen to during the day.

Looks like I might have my work cut-out for me this morning. I have one client, who is pretty good for the most part, they do keep me busy... that has 9 filings on the go, including some restating of financials from a year ago. Whoopie! I also have a big annual filing that I need to get started on... probably get going on that in the afternoon. It has been fairly busy for me these last couple weeks. I know it's been quarterly results and all... but wow. Busy.

Yesterday was a bit of a dreary day... lots of clouds and a fair bit of rain. This morning is actually kind of the same, cloudy... but the wetness is more what has remained on the ground from the evening before. I drove out to Langdon last night to sort out the registration forms for the Street Hockey Tournament. Apparently, it's been pushed back to the end of September and first of October, which may actually work in our favour. But that was finally sorted out... I also brought my PC out from the house in Langdon, I might try and clean that sucker up and see where that goes. I didn't get a chance to see the folks when I went out there last night, both were working late. Benny was out at the Bull & Finch celebrating a co-worker's Journeyman's ticket, so he wasn't about... and Jeff doesn't get back until late anyways, so I was pretty quickly in and out.

On the way home last night, there were a lot of rescue vehicles parked along Memorial Drive, around Edmonton Trail...



I didn't watch the news at all, so I haven't heard what it actually was in the end. I did manage to sneak the pic on the way by.

Well, I should get started on the day... there's quite a bit to be had. Gonna try and keep everyone sweet on me today. I can do it... I know it!

Smashing

Last night's feature was 2005's Brick. Chris and I finally got a chance to watch it, as a copy finally returned to Blockbuster. This is one hell of a movie. Now, the only real thing that was memorable about the trailer was the visuals and maybe one or two of the lines. It doesn't really leave you with the plot of the movie. Neither Chris and I really knew what this movie was about, but we knew that we wanted to see it. And man, talk about not being disappointed.

I'm not really a guy that tries to depict everything as it happens. Sometimes I do manage to do that, but that's when a movie is slap-you-in-the-face obvious. Then it's just not enjoyable. Brick is a well-paced movie that doesn't slow down... even in the slower parts. The dialogue is quick and catchy and the story just works. It's goin' straight into the DVD collection.

"Where have you been eating lately?"

Jen was out and about last night, I actually thought she was working. Nevertheless, the house was empty, so I invited Chris, who had rented Brick, to come upstairs and watch it and he did. We were doing so well... up until there was 20 minutes left. Then, storming through the door... Jen bursts in and proclaims that she needs the DVD player for 2 minutes to show Betty something. Ummmmm... how 'bout no. Man, that's annoying.

When the movie finally ended, Chris and I were not sticking around, rather we headed for the pub. On our arrival, Gerald was sitting at the bar enjoying one... Lee was behind the bar again and so we sat down and shot the shit for a while. Before we even finished our first beer, Lee had set down a Guinness that he mistakenly poured in front of me... and we had two shots. Chris was absolutely amazed, continually quoting that he had to work the next morning... or that he'd have to work in 'so-many' hours. It was kind of a gong show... I had 3 beers and 4 shots... Chris had 2 beers and 4 shots... Gerald... who knows. He was pretty liquified by the time we got there.

It was a pretty good night all around.

Finally... Sunday!

Now that I'm finally ahead of the game at the office, I can sit down and finally finish up the weekend that was not written about at all. It's amazing what a drunken Wednesday night, hungover Thursday and a horrible client can do to a Blogger, eh??

Sunday morning... up and at 'em fairly early. This whole not drinking much during the weekend was getting me up earlier and earlier in the morning. What a crock! My only plan for the day was to go for lunch at the Yardhouse and a slow pitch game at 3pm... and that was primarily it.

I climbed online and chatted with Julie for a bit. She wanted to go for a skate and since I had all sorts of energy from not being hungover, I agreed to go. It was only around 10:30am, so I had lots of time before lunch to go and get a little bit of exercise. So, I got dressed, neglected a shower, since I was gonna get all sweaty anyways, put my skates on and took off before Julie called to say she was ready. I skated down to Eau Claire Market to wait for her and I was almost there when she finally called.



While I sat down I took a few shots with the ol' camera. The Eau Claire area is such a nice place to sit. It was still before noon, so it was still rather quiet around there. The afternoon on a hot day sure fills up with people... the kids get that small waterpark to play in... lucky bastards! Maybe I should grab the cousins this weekend and go to the waterpark or something like it somewhere. This whole summer has been watersports-free for me... it kinda sucks.

Anyways... Julie and I did the loop around the river and up to the Calgary Zoo and then back down through to Eau Claire. It's a few clicks worth of skating and at our leisurely pace, we took about 45 minutes. I think I could do that loop in just over 20 when I was skating everyday a few years ago. It's a pretty good little workout.

Julie and I parted ways at the C-Train overpass around 10th St. and I went home for my shower and such to head off to the pub for lunch.

Okay, I gotta admit... I did have some expectations of meeting with Ashley, but I wasn't gonna let that bog me down, really. Sure the idea of maybe getting somewhere with her would be an exciting thought and it would be hard to keep it down, but I did manage it, reminding myself of Kelly's advice and not taking too much stock in the situation. It was a good thing that I was too... 'cuz none of what I was hoping for was to be that afternoon.

I was sort of met with disappointment for when I arrived at the pub and sat down at the bar, she was already being chatted up by someone... and that just doesn't fly. If that was supposed to be some sort of competiton for attention and/or affection, that just isn't my game. So, I didn't let it be. That's my policy anyways... I will just concede all competition, 'cuz if someone was to actually like me, I don't think that sort of thing is necessary. I don't think I would pit two girls against one another to see who would go further... it's not fair to anyone. If I was to actually like someone, I would just be up to give them my attention and would book a back-up just in case one doesn't show up.

I put on my brave face and sat there for a bite to eat and a couple... and I didn't stay long. I knew I had the game to go to and all as well, so I didn't want to do anything too dumb. I did get caught in a conversation about music with the two of them... this kid, couldn't be too old, was asking me all sorts about music and shit, 'cuz I had made a comment about Be Your Own Pet. Meh... so I stomached that a bit and then took off. Wasn't necessarily my scene.

The ballgame was quite good in the afternoon... the Hooligans faced one hell of a test, especially with only a partial squad. I think the game finished 23-22 for the other team, in a game where the Hooligans came back from 17-6 to take the lead into the last inning, but we were hit against as the away team and they clawed back to win. It was quite the game indeed. I think I went 4-for-5 there with a double and a couple RBIs and runs scored. Pretty much everyone in the game got at least a couple hits... quite the slugfest.

The evening was again fairly dull... didn't get up to too much. Jen was at a BBQ all night, so I just sat with the TV all night. Watched Scary Movie 4... which was shit. There was absolutely no redeeming quality to that film at all... especially since I wasn't a fan of War of the Worlds or the Grudge.

When Jen finally walked in... I was about ready for bed. But she did proclaim that she had nine beers at this work BBQ, alienated a co-worker a bit and then talked on the phone for the rest of the night. Man, was I glad that fan was working again. I managed to fall asleep to the white noise of that instead of her loud chit-chat.

What Did I Do On Saturday?

Let's see... I mowed the lawn when I got up. That meant taking down the wonderful investment... the badminton net. Used only half a time, before the skinbag did a runner on me. I went for a walk in the afternoon... thought I would go into the core for my general shopping trip and lunch. Picked up a few things, including the Hockey News Pool Guide, newest copy of NME, blank CD's to copy some pics for Alan and some deodorant. Very exciting. Thought I might meet up with Julie, but by the time she phoned back, I was already out of the core and back in Kensington. Then I went to the pub to watch the end of the Jays game and a little bit more baseball. Did my reading with the Pool Guide, wrote in some numbers, read the important articles. Ashley was about and hanging around, since it wasn't too busy. I again didn't hang around for very long... still didn't feel like getting shitfaced. Ashley asked if I would come around the pub for lunch on Sunday, since she'd be the only one working... so I thought sure, why not? Headed home after four... watched Chasing Amy with Jen. She had never seen it before... definitely one of my favourite flicks of all time. She crashed before it ended. Again... an early night. Nice & easy.

Friday's Highlights

It was quite something when Fred and I went for lunch on Friday... when we walked out to his truck, on the edge of the bed was a little baby bird. I'm not much of a bird watcher or anything, so I couldn't tell you what kind of bird it was, but it sure scared the shit out of Fred when he walked past it on the driver's side. It kind of startled me as well, because it cheeped and didn't fly away. Actually, it wasn't going anywhere for the most part. It seemed to be quite happy to stay on the back of the truck. Saying that, I ran back up the stairs and into the office to grab my camera. Fred had already started snapping some pictures with the camera on his phone, but I ended up grabbing a couple good ones including a video, which will be posted below this paragraph. We tried to shoo it away when we wanted to take off for lunch, but all the little thing did was fly to the other side of the truck. So Fred picked it up, posed for the camera and then placed it on one of the branches of the tree behind him in the picture. The poor little thing was abandoned by the looks of things.



Friday night was pretty quiet. Chris was off to Victoria to do some electrical work for his brother at his brother's house and Jen was milling about. Since I felt bad about waking Jen up on Wednesday night, I thought I'd take her for a beer or two. So we went off and did that. Had ourselves a couple and then she got the inkling for a burger from Peter's Drive-In. Dammit, I thought... that does sound pretty good, but it'll be busy. Sure enough, once we drive up there, the line-up was pretty huge, both through the drive-through and the window... and Jen really had to pee. So instead, we went to McDonald's. Way to trade up!

At McDonald's, Jen was already half-cut on Crown Floats and when a girl went up to the counter for something small and jumped the line, Jen piped up and sarcastically took a verbal jab at her. All I could do was roll my eyes in disbelief. I would have thought it was on from there. Instead, we just waited forever and ever to get served and/or wait for our order. The McDonald's on Barlow Trail and 27th Ave. NE... slow as fuck.

I dropped Jen back off at home and went back to the pub for another few. I didn't spend too much money that night, so I was doing pretty good. Then it was home and an early night for me. I was still sort of reeling from the big Wednesday night, although I did feel so much better during the day, since I didn't have anything the night before.

Ah, Fudge

You know, I find it rather convenient that I was to hear something and that a set of lyrics from a CD, maybe not so much recommended, but tried by association could mean anything.

Black Cadillacs by Modest Mouse

And it's true we named our children
After towns that we've never been to.
And it's true that the clouds just hung around
Like black Cadillacs outside a funeral.

And we were done, done, done
With all the fuck, fuck, fuckin' around.
You were so true to yourself.
You were true to no one else.
Well I should put you in the ground.

I've got the time, I got the hours,
I got the days, I got the weeks.
I could say to myself
I've got the words but I can't speak.
Well I was done, done, done
With all the circ, circ, circlin' round.

I didn't die and I ain't complainin'.
I ain't blamin' you.
I didn't know that the words you said to me
Meant more to me than they ever could you.
I didn't lie and I ain't sayin'
I told the whole truth.
I didn't know that this game we were playin'
Even had a set of rules.

We named our children after towns
That we've never been to.
And it's true that the clouds just hunger around
Like black Cadillacs outside a funeral.
And we were laughing at the stars
While our feet clung tight to the ground.
So pleased with ourselves
For using so many verbs and nouns.

But we were all still just dumb, dumb, dumber
Than the dirt, dirt, dirt on the ground.
Well wings on flames, kings with no names,
Well this place just ain't got right air right now.
You were so all over town but still so Crayola brown.
Well you should run 'round yourself right now.
And we were done, done, done
With all the fuck, fuck, fuckin' around.
Circlin' round.

Now, it's not to say that there were any kids to name after town that anyone's never been to, but the rest seems quite relevant.

The day at work was a little stressful, so a beer at the Yardhouse was definitely in the question. Since I found that I didn't have any days that were involved with ball this week, that maybe I would see what Ashley was up to... but as it turns out she's out with some other guy this week and well... this song came up and made some good sense.

This isn't to say I make of anything of it, but I have no felt fooled, yet again, by some crafty flirting. I know I haven't covered the entire weekend yet and now that I'm posting this, I sort of wish I did. It would cover some ground I would be arguing if I had put it out there to begin with.

Nevertheless, I think I've been fooled again. The question now is will I learn from it. If you ask the right side of me, it is optimistic. The wrong side is a little more devious and might seek what the hell is going on. As the middle person trying to decide between the two, a comprimise might be sought, but knowing me... it's gonna be one or the other.

Jump in here if you feel the need.

Last Thursday Night...

Let's see if I can catch up with a few of these forgotten nights (or even just the highlights of) with some posts while I wait for the end of the day.

Well, with the day being so tired and/or hungover, the end of the day couldn't really come quick enough. That's not to say that the day didn't try to extend itself when Alan was calling looking for a ride home from the Elbow River Casino in Victoria Park. That was something that just wasn't gonna happen. Into the core and then out to drop him off... and then back into Kensington to go home and sleep. I don't fuckin' think so.

Instead, it was straight home for me. I tried to go to bed when I first got in, but the room was really warm and near impossible to sleep in. So I went onto the couch in the living room, where a fan actually worked, laid there and watched the Simpsons or Teen Titans before nodding off for a couple hours. Jen was workin', so the house was very quiet.

When I finally woke up, I got around to watching I Love Your Work. What a fantastic piece of work that is. I very introspective look at a troubled celebrity, which makes you look at yourself to a certain degree. I know I sure did. It made me sit down and think about all sorts of stuff again and even did a little more writing. If I have had more time, I would have posted a few new poems on the Scribblings page... stay tuned, they'll be on soon.

When Jen finally got home, I was sort of winding down. I had finished up some dishes and was just about to sit outside for a while. It was such a lovely evening to sit outside with the new hoodie on and just smell the fresh air. It had rained a little bit in the early evening, so the air was very crisp. It had that hint of autumn in the air.

That was my quiet Thursday.

At Long Last!!

Thank goodness that's over.

This client that I've been dealing with over the last couple weeks left it to the last hour to give me another 60+ pages to convert and add to their filing that I had been editing all day. It's companies like these that make me wonder how they stay in business or listed on the stock exchange for longer than when they first open their gob to say anything.

If they weren't so slow at doing their revisions, I wouldn't have been able to do the other four filings that needed to be done for today. With 44 minutes left in my work day, I'm so burnt out that I don't really feel like doing the small filings that are due for tomorrow. Granted, they'll only take me a combined hour first thing tomorrow... so it's not like I'm worried that they won't get done or anything.

I'm going to need a beer.

Still Busy At Work

Coming into work this morning and looking at my inbox and my list of things to do, I again, don't really have much time to write a whole lot, if any, this morning. I know I have a lot to catch up on... but thankfully, Thursday was being dead to the world and last night was some quality time with the television, so I don't really have a great deal to write about anyways.

Nevertheless, I will catch up... hopefully either this afternoon or I'll take my laptop home tonight and do it there. I don't forsee this evening to be a very mad one at all. Jen did all of her drinking by the looks of things last night at her work BBQ and it didn't look like Chris even got home from Victoria quite yet... so, I might be just hangin' around the house anyways.

No promises though.

The Celebration Afterwards

Despite not being the guy doing it on the field, the celebration was still fairly sweet... especially when the beer hit home. There were a few moments of bittersweetness, but that soon faded and the camera was just snapping away all night. After we received our trophy and our City Champion hoodies, we all poured out to the parking lot for beers and champagne with the new trophy.

Unfortunately, some took the bittersweetness to heart. Aaron unfortunately took off with his girlfriend after the game and presentations had ended and I ddin't get a pic of him taking a sip out of the trophy. It was a shame, especially since he was instrumental in getting us there... especially getting the save in Game 2. But he wanted to start... he wanted to pitch, but he didn't make it in. So, it was a big shame when he didn't show up to the party.

With only a hot dog in my stomach, the beers and champagne started to hit fairly early. We finished it all off and had ourselves a really good time... so much so, I showed a few of them to the Yardhouse for some more good times. There, I was really able to let loose, 'cuz I could just leave the car there and walk home.

By the end of the raucious evening, I locked my keys in the car, got stuck with a good portion of the bill and went home and woke Jen up at 1:30am to let me in the house. Wow... what a friggin' party.

For all the pictures of the game and the celebrations, go to My MSN Space and check out the slideshows.

How the City Was Won

It would seem that Blogger is down for the time being, so I have given thought into just writing on Notepad, so I can finally give the update about the ball game on Wednesday night.

The clouds hovered over the ballpark when Alan and I arrived at the batting cages. Nick was already there and almost dressed already. That was kind of a surprise. Just like the weather, I suppose. It was sort of dripping down as we waited for the team to show up. I still had a token or two left from the previous days of showing up to the diamond, so I jumped into both the fast and slower cages, just to get some swings in.

When Tom showed up, we were informed that since we (and by we, I mean Tom) being such constant customers and having won Game 2, we got our round in the cage on the house. It was probably one of the better turnouts we had all year... and the day of the deciding game, it fuckin' should be, right?

After our round at the cages, we headed over to the diamonds for warm-ups. The skies looked a little more positive when we showed up there, so we continued to warm up a bit. But as we closed in on 6:45pm, the skies managed to get darker and more and more daunting.

My warm-ups were not going so well. I was throwing fly balls to Menzies and the arm wasn't feeling too great. Maybe it was the cool in the air, but I was close to throwing it out pretty badly doing it. Taking a few groundballs, I just wasn't all there. I couldn't stop everything and it just didn't feel right. Not exactly what you want to hear when you're warming up before the big game.

Come game time, the skies opened up a bit and the wind started to blow. Both teams huddled in the dugout as we waited for the umpires to get the game started.



Tom opened up with some keen words about starting the game and we were all listening very intently as the words were to get us all going. Finally, the umps came out and it was time to...

Play ball!

The first inning opened with us taking the field. Alan took to the mound, much to the chagrin of Aaron. Aaron had felt that he was told that he was going to start Game 3 and was very jacked up about it. He is that kind of guy... a very competitive player, especially when he is relied upon to carry the team. But no, Alan took to the mound and Aaron was left to designated hit for Alex again, as that seemed to work pretty well in Game 2.

Alan came to pitch and did he ever pitch well. Three up... three down and gave us the opportunity to take a lead early in the game. What a great position to be in.

The bottom half of the inning, Munden led off, but flied out to left after taking an early pitch... but not taking it quite far enough. I stepped up with the instructions to bunt no matter what the situation was. The Us Guys third pitcher was certainly not the fastest pitcher they had... actually, he was probably one of the slower pitchers in the league who tried to rely on his junk. So when I stepped up to bunt, I took the first pitch and from what I was told, just spun off my bat and died on the ground, eluding the pitcher when he bent down to pick it up, so I was on first without a throw. A passed ball while Jesse was up to bat moved me over to second base. Jesse then stepped up and hit a groundball into the outfield and when Jesse rounded first for second, he was getting caught in a rundown and when I rounded third, I was caught in their sights. In an unexperienced move, I took off for home when the throw to third came, trying to bank on maybe them throwing it away. A foolish decision, as the Us Guys were very solid on their defense... probably even more so than us. In the end, I was caught out at home, which wasn't very close at all. With two out, Alan couldn't help his own cause and was out to end the inning.

The second inning was a little bit more of a disaster. Not huge... but still pretty bad. Especially for me. Alan was up there giving it his all and then there was a pretty big over Jordan's head in right field, which the batter had a really good jump on. I went out to cut-off the throw... Jordan threw it in just fine, but my relay to Munden standing on second base went right over his head. Oh fuck! I didn't even throw it that hard. My whole intention was to just get it to him and then he could throw it back to Alan... but nope. It went skyward and the runner scored on the overthrow. We stuck it out only down 1-0 going into the bottom half, but what a piss-off.

The bottom half, it was much of the same as the first inning. A couple more touches on the bat, got a runner or two on, but it wasn't enough to cash any of them in for a run. So we went back to the top of the third, still down by one.



The third inning was again quite difficult. With a runner on, there was a slow roller that came up the gut, straight at me. Unfortunately, between the ball and timing the runner on first, I couldn't quite get the timing down right and when I picked it up and threw it, I was already a step late. It wasn't like I threw it away this time around, but it still wasn't a stellar play. The foreshadowing of the warm-up really is coming into play now, eh?? We still managed to get out of the inning unscathed, which was a positive.

The bottom half of the third led off with Munden again. This time... he got a hold of it. Another solo shot, straight out to left field... where's he's been putting them all season. There's one tree, just off the left field line, over the fence, that took a beating from Munden's hits all year. Next, I came up and battled with the pitcher. I took a strike and a few balls. I fouled one off and with the count full, I was waiting for something I could hit and I did... right back to the pitcher. Shit. The rest of the inning, the pitcher wasn't touched and we came out of the third with the tie. Well, the team came out with the tie... I ended up coming out of the game.

Talk about a heartbreaking moment, despite knowing I wasn't having quite the game I should have been. I tried not to let it get to me, even when I walked over to the folks, who attended the game to watch me play, which I was now not playing and grabbed my camera so I could play both cheerleader and photographer.

Alex took my place at second, Jordan moved to center field and Josh came in for me and played in right field. A move which seemed pretty good at the time. Hey, when the coach says he won't be afraid of taking players out of the game who aren't giving it their all, you have to be prepared to face the cut when it comes time, if you're due. I was... I accepted that. So, I took my place on the bench and sat beside Nick, who was also sitting on the bench. Aaron was still stewing in his own juices, getting madder and less focussed as the game wore on.

The fourth inning went down in order for the Us Guys with very little of a challenge. Alan was firing absolute rockets in there. On the other end, the Us Guys pitcher was keeping us off the board... well, in actual fact, it was more of the defense keeping us at bay. Runners were getting on, a single here and there, move them around, but still no good.

The fifth inning still played out the same. One out... two out... inning over. Alan and the defense were playing as good as they had to... it was quite awesome. Back in the dugout, the bottom half of the inning saw the top of the order again. Munden stepped up and found himself getting out again. Josh, who took my spot in the order finally cracked the pitching wide open by hitting an awesome triple with the meat of the order coming up. Jesse stepped up and hit a groundball to short and with one out, really shouldn't have seen Josh take off for home. But when the shortstop picked up the ball, Josh was already on his way and he was DOA at home. A dejected team moaned and groaned in the dugout as Josh was swearing at the ump about the call... which had him thrown out. Yup... one at-bat and Josh was tossed from the game. That meant Nick came in for him in the sixth inning, as did Dave who came into right field for Menzies.

The sixth inning saw yet another error by the Royals have another run scored for the Us Guys. The defense on yet another overthrow trying to get a runner at third found another unearned run score. Talk about cliche time, I tells ya. Gut-check time and all that... it certainly was for the Royals. Alan and the team managed to get out of the inning thanks to a huge catch from Nick in left field. A ball hit that looked like it would clear his head, as he isn't normally positioned well, but he managed to backtrack and pick the ball out of the air. To the bottom half we went.

No luck. We couldn't quite get there. It would have to come down to the seventh inning, where we'd have to hold the Us Guys and then score one, at least, to tie the game up. Two runs to win, of course.

The defense sure held their part of the bargain just fine. Alan went out there and steamrolled them. It was a little antsy at the end of the inning as I think there was a runner on, but it was over in no time and it was back to the bats.

And like it was meant to be, Jordan hit himself a double to get on and Derek hit him home to tie the game.



Derek, who I've been a big fan of lately, made it look so good. He was on pumping his fist and the game was tied. Talk about exciting. The real shame of it was though, we couldn't rally enough to get that last run we needed to win, so the team had to go back out onto the field in extra innings to get it done.

With the runner on second, as per the international tie-break rules, the Royals cooly and calmly went to work. Alan pitched a couple groundballs and like a routine, they were taken down at first, but the second out saw the runner score for the Us Guys, but at least there were two outs. The third out was again pretty routine, so now with a little momentum of a good inning played, the Royals came back into the dugout.

Alan ended up being the last player out, so he was the runner on second and like magic it all came together. Ryan was the first batter up and he battled. He battled so much and so hard until as Sid, the homeplate umpire had said it afterwards, it was the smoothest swing he saw Ryan do all year... he hit a beauty triple out to left-centre, scoring Alan and the winning run was on third. Next up was Jordan... and well...



Okay, yeah... I was taking the video... you can't really see what happened in the at-bat, but I'll tell ya. Jordan hit a sacrifice fly into center field and Ryan scored easily from third and the game was over. What a finish. The Calgary Royals were city champs.

Here's One For Ya...

I'm cool with being single, 'cuz I'm cool with the idea that I am...

1. Unattractive to some
2. Uninteresting to some
3. Not forward enough for some
4. And everyone else is either one or all to me.

I'm cool with that. I can sit in a public place and be cool with that. I can admire the beautiful, but I can understand that I don't fit the bill for them. Sweet. Awesome.

Move on.

The Update I Want...

... is way too long for the allotted time I have here at the office. Between my hangover/fatigue yesterday and being uber-busy with my two least favourite clients, I don't really have the time to spell out the whole update from Wednesday night and well... the sleepy last night... so, I won't... yet.

How did we do on Wednesday you ask?



How's that for ya??

Now We'll Take A Third Game

It was the same pre-game routine as the first game, but with a little bit more calm and focus assigned to the task at hand. Jesse spoke of an eerie feeling during the warm-up, but I needed to retort that we needed to focus ourselves and change the outcome with our play. The mood in the dugout before the game was quiet and focussed. We had the luxury of having Alex, Menzies and Jordan back after their trip to California, so we had lots of subs for the game, if needed.

For the Us Guys, they were starting their second pitcher. A larger set fella with some reasonable pace and a simple riser. I had seen him pitch for a couple innings against Rusty's and he didn't really show much for junk... most just a rising fastball was his main artillery. Despite coming back from the roadtrip on Monday afternoon, Alex was getting the start for us in Game 2. During the warm-up, he looked pretty sharp, so that put away a few of the doubts I had about him not being ready to go last night.

Game 2 meant we were up to bat first as the away team. Play ball!

Munden led off the inning with a little single into center field... I stepped up and laid down a bunt down the first base line, with the first baseman not picking up the ball when trying to apply the tag and I was safe at first... passed ball moved both of us to 2nd & 3rd... passed ball again, Munden scored, me to 3rd... Jesse went out... Alan drove me home on a groundout... Ryan singled... Jordan singled, Ryan scored and Jordan was pegged going to second on a close play. We were up 3-0 after the top half.

The only blemish in the bottom half of the inning was a walk that eventually scored the Us Guys first run of the game and it was still 3-1.

You know it's always generally a struggle to remember everything that happens in the game, despite knowing that you watched a great deal of it. Stupid failing memory.

The second inning was the bottom of the line-up... Derek, Dave & Aaron (batting for Alex, to save his arm). Yeah... the top half or the second half didn't last long. Sort of a non-memorable inning.

The third inning, it was back to the top of the order. Munden doubled... I walked... Jesse grounded one to short, I broke up the double-play with a good slide into second, Munden to 3rd... Alan came up singled in Munden and 1st & 2nd... Ryan singled, scored Jesse... Jordan singled to score Alan... and then Ryan hit into a soft double play. 5-1.

The Us Guys again responded with one run to make it 5-2 in the bottom half of the third. Alex was throwing a tight game and despite a couple hits, the defense was tight, making all their throws to the cut-offs and not throwing the ball away.

The best thing about playing defense behind Alex is that he is a groundball pitcher. There were tons of grounders to Jesse at third, Munden at short and myself at second, with only one runner beating a throw by Munden and Jesse bobbling one at third. Tight.

The rest of the game, upon review of my writing, gets a little fuzzy. The fourth inning was a nothing inning for both sides.

I had reached again, I think in the fifth inning when I hit into a Fielder's Choice to load the bases up, thanks to Derek and his keen base-running on third. I had reached... Jesse had another couple RBI's on the next at-bat and I was caught out at third making the turn. I think we ended up scoring three runs there to go up 8-2.



In the sixth inning, we picked up one more run on a solo homer by Josh (pictured coming into home above) and Alex struggled a bit to allow three runs in that frame. It was some decent hitting by the Us Guys that cashed in their runs, but we got out of the inning still ahead.

In the seventh frame, it was quick... including myself lining out to the second baseman. Unfortunately for me, the numbers didn't look too good... but they look worse than they actually were. I went 0-for-3, reached on error, reached on fielder's choice, groundout, walk, run scored and 4 or 5 assists in the field on groundouts.

The bottom half of the frame, last bats for the Us Guys, they scored one more on Alex before Aaron came on in relief to close the game. They scored one more in the inning for a 9-7 final for the Royals. The picture below was one of the last outs of the 7th inning where a groundball was hit sharply to Alan and as Alex and myself came over to cover, Alan lunged at the bag to take it with his glove and with the motion captured of the ump, you know what the call was. What a great play! I stopped up short to make sure the ump could see it or else the call may not have gone our way.



Game 3 goes tonight at Shouldice... 6:30pm again. CFCN News in Calgary was there last night and should be there again tonight. No parents, no Jen... so I had no crowd support, except from those who had shown up all year. Menzies was taking all the pictures that I had on my camera... including that wicked one of the play at first. Nice job!

Work is a tad quiet this morning... got to finish up the trouble client and then they're sending yet another registration statement for me to rush this afternoon, which I'm not looking forward to. Hopefully, I'm outta here in good time again today.

Anyways... gonna clean up my desk of a couple more big ones so I don't have to worry about them when I'm hungover tomorrow. Ha ha.

Overdosing on Sleep?

The after-effects of a sleeping aid has done me in almost all day. I took a couple last night because I didn't think I'd be able to get to sleep, where sleep would be really good in front of another big game of ball... but rather, it's done the exact opposite to me.

I had troubles getting to sleep last night, although I did finally make it eventually, but now I'm still drowsy. A walk outside and a slurpee seemed to help, but now I'm drowning again in sleepiness.

What a bad thing to have whilst having your least favourite client being dumb. My patience for these people had boiled over into, get this, capital letters in my e-mail explaining to their lawyer that I cannot change an address on a Form when it is automatically linked to this filer's login codes. Apparently, that sort of explanation confuses the simplest of people. Argh!

I haven't called Ashley yet... I'm really just an accident waiting to happen.

I just got a call from Greg, he wants the registration forms for the Street Hockey Tournament. Maybe when I wake up tomorrow, I will get some on the go. Everything is still on the old PC at the folks' place... then I have to get out there and do them. Fuck me! I can't believe he stills wants to do this.

Sigh... only an hour and a half to go. I really hope that this client pulls his head out of his ass, 'cuz I'm not hangin' around all day for him. I'll tell ya that right now.

Us Guys 7 Royals 6

Despite our best efforts of getting to the ballpark early for some batting practice and a good warm-up, we still couldn't escape the clutches of our early inning mistakes.

I managed to get out of work early to sort out a water bottle and a few other things before heading over to the diamond. I managed to get there before the 5pm meeting time, sorted Alan out, since he left his gear in the back of my car and went for some batting practice.

Everything felt pretty good... the arms were loose, in the cage felt fine, all the tweaks and sore spots were alright and the nerves were pretty calm. Maybe that was because of a little Hooch & Cranberry.

All those who showed up, showed up on time last night. We were stretching on the diamond come 5:45pm... a good 45 minutes before game time. Everyone seemed pretty relaxed and pumped up at the same time, so you know, it was looking good.

Play ball!

The first inning jitters came to fruition with an error in the field which cost a first inning run against. Since we were the home team, we batted second and responded. Munden hit a second or third pitch homer to start the inning and Alan crushed one over the right-centre fence to take a 2-1 lead.

The second inning really knocked us on our ass. A sharply hit ball to right field dropped in front of Josh and took a funny hop between his body and arm, which led to a 2-run inside the park homer... which was really a single with both runners scoring on the error. I think the Us Guys managed to score 2 more in the inning to take a 5-2 lead.

As most of our games have gone this season, we were caught behind the 8-ball early. Another fairly common occurance is that most of the runs in our games come in the early innings.

The bottom half of the second inning, we chipped away 2 more runs against their lead. We held them in the third and we scored another 1 to tie the game. They managed to chip away single runs in the fourth and the fifth inning and we could only rescue one more run in the bottom half of the sixth inning, which obviously wasn't enough.



Errors were the most noticable mistakes in our game last night, but there was some coaching decisions that a couple of us felt were a little odd. The coach's son, Ryan, was icing his arm in between innings and complaining most bitterly about starting in left field. Sadly, as the coach's son, he got moved into third base and Nick came out in favour of Dave. Nick, a decent fielder if he's in the game, was pretty healthy and not having a bad game, but he was the one that got benched instead of the injured player. There was also one other incident even with myself, with Munden on base and I being next up to bat, I didn't get the normal signal to bunt when it was an obvious time to bunt... instead found myself striking out, 'cuz I was swinging away. Even Rollie said to me after the game, I should have been bunting a lot more, even just to get on.

So, that was the game in a nutshell... I went 0-for-3, a groundout, 2 K's and a walk. I also had one error in the field myself. A slow roller to second and I was playing pretty deep for the out. I ran in, picked it up in stride and failed to connect with the underhand throw to Aaron. I'm not too sure if I could have actually got him, but it didn't look or feel too good to throw it away.

Game 2 goes tonight at 6:30pm, Diamond 3 at Shouldice Park. Should be a gooder.

Mom and Dad came out to watch last night. Dad was the one taking the pictures for me on the camera. He got quite a few, which was really cool. Jen didn't make it out, but by the sounds of things, she'll be coming out with Sarah tonight, so that'll be really cool. I'm gonna give Ashley a call when I go for lunch and see if she'll come out... not pinning many hopes on it, but it'll probably mean great things if she does.

Today at work, I'm gonna clean up this stupid trouble client I hope. They're just continually surprising me with all their changes and needs and complaints and such. I'll have to file another small one for them this afternoon, which'll be fun. I hope I get that filing early enough so I can take off at 4pm. Bastards. Otherwise, I have a few filings that are due in the next couple days, rather than today, that I'll work on. Might as well get them off my desk so I don't have to worry about them at all.

Well, I'm gonna sign off...

Beers, Balls & Phone Numbers

As this busy day at work comes to a close... well... the busy part of the day anyways... the anticipation grows for the ball game tonight. Crikey... the nerves are starting to go already and I'm sure once I get to the batting cages for practice this afternoon, it'll calm down a little more.

This morning, I forgot to grab my laptop when I ran out the door, so I don't have it or any pictures I may have taken over the weekend. Oops. I was a little busy grabbing my backpack with my ball clothes in it as Jen was ushering me out the back door so she knew I took out the garbage. Yeesh.

I'm looking back at my post on Friday afternoon to remember what I did on Friday night. Man, it was kind of a blur... the evenings of the weekend seemed to disappear or blend into one another. Makes for a very short weekend.

As I wrote in the previous post, I wanted to get home and do some laundry before anything else. I managed to do that just fine... except someone, more than likely Jen, had been using my Tide Cold Water detergent AND fabric softener, so between loads in the wash, I had to run over to Safeway and pick up some new stuff. I also ran over to Blockbuster on the trip and picked up a few DVDs for the week; 'The Libertine,' 'Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang' and 'I Love Your Work.'

The laundry was finished and it was a little later before Chris and I went over to the Yardhouse for our usual evening. Friday night there was certainly a bit of a blur. If I do remember correctly, that was the night of the Eskimos and Lions game, so both Chris and I watched that... GO LIONS! I should really double-check that to make sure that was the case. Yup... that's the one. The Eskimos missing that cruicial field-goal kick that could have won the game... yeah, that was a gooder.

Now by judging by the post I did at 2:45am on Saturday morning, I would guess that Chris and I were at the bar for quite a while, but I'm pretty sure I didn't take out anymore money, rather just spent the $40 that I had from during the week. I'm pretty sure that was the case. I must not have eaten a great deal for that take such a huge effect on me. But thanks to the football game, I remember a little bit more and can associate the events that night a little better than not.

Also by the judgement of that last post, I would have to say that Ashley was hangin' around quite a bit. I think she had turned up the flirting a little bit more that night and my resistance fell as the drinks went down. I'm pretty sure I didn't do anything over the top that night.

Saturday, I had the plan to go out to Langdon and look underneath the car with Dad. Jen had her stepsister's wedding to help decorate and attend that day, so when she was finished doing that she was going to annex the shower for 11am. I didn't get out of bed until 10am... and decided against showering in the morning to avoid the wrath of the demanding roommate.

Oh yeah, on Friday night, Chris and I were joking that we should prank Jen because of the shower. When she'd arrive and climb in, I would get a text from Chris to get the camera ready as she'd go for the shower. We can hear Chris run the water downstairs, so when he'd start it up, Jen would freak and I would get a movie clip of that. It would have been pretty funny... but I was too lazy and I didn't have the phone around me when Chris sent the text. D'oh!

Jen and Chris Stainsby were goin' to the wedding together and Stainsby was hangin' out with me watching the Martina Hingis semi-final match and the Red Sox/Yankees game until they were ready to go. I was waiting for Dad to give me a call back as he was in the office for a little while and wasn't going to be home... as was Mom, actually. Jen and Stainsby took off around noon and I left the house after 1pm to pick up a bite to eat.

In Langdon, Dad and I hung out for a while inside the house before looking at the car. We were chatting about his Hooch that he makes for himself, which he gave me a 40oz. of to take home. It's not bad stuff... he can get like 9L out of $20 worth of ingredients. That's pretty fuckin' cheap, eh?? He had made some of his own Southern Comfort and we has mixing that with Lime Juice for a wicked drink that we were having all afternoon.

When we looked at the car, we figured that if I got some cheap parts around the oil pan from a wreckers and a few gaskets from a dealership, we'd be able to make the change ourselves and then do a desperately needed oil change to the car. We also sorted out the transmission fluid and windshield wiper fluid... so the car is working a bit better than before.

The Shavers popped by during the work on the car and hung out for the chat in the driveway for a little while. Everyone pulled up a lawn chair when the car was off the blocks and we all sat down and chatted for a while. Harold, the next door neighbour, joined us to enjoy the warm day outside and the chat. It was so nice out... but the bugs started to come out later in the afternoon. Dad BBQ'd a large pan of lasagna, so I had dinner with the folks before taking off for the evening.

On the way out of Langdon, I gave Chris a call and he was just coming back from a family BBQ himself and was not going to be far behind me in getting home and was well up for going out for a couple. I got home and showered and then called Chris up for a glass of Hooch before goin' out.

We didn't get to the Yardhouse until almost 10pm. Jen and Stainsby were gonna show up around 10:30pm, that's when they'd figured they'd be out of the wedding and there for a drink. So, we found a table before they arrived and sat down. Again, it was in Ashley's section and so she was always around, giving it her best flirt as well. By my second drink though... at the Yardhouse, I was already 5 or 6 in before we got there... I was starting to feel the effects. It was only then that I started to feel it... so I was impressed about that.

Jen & Stainsby showed up... Jen was showing us all sorts of pictures that she got with Chris's camera. Some were pretty funny, including pics of her Dad dancing. They were actually quite funny. Then Stainsby's friend, Amy, showed up... then a few more of the Starbuck's crew came by. Chris took off, 'cuz he wasn't feeling the good vibes and would have rathered been home playing poker... so he did. Gerald and Christina were at the bar... so Jen went over and chatted with them. All of a sudden, I'm sitting there with a bunch of people I didn't really know. I did have a good chat with that Amy about all sorts of music and such... but that wasn't really enough to keep me at the table. So, I jetted off to chat with Gerald as well, which is always a good laugh. Then slowly everyone at the table, including Jen, took off and I was left at the bar chatting with the kitchen staff. Ashley was always about and the bar slowly emptied. I was convinced by the end of the night that Ashley was holding my bill hostage so I wouldn't leave... and I didn't get out of there until well after 2am.

Somewhere in the Friday or Saturday, Ashley and I were chatting... I got a little braver and started to see what days she was working and what kind of time she had off. Well, she had told me that she only got Tuesday off this week, so brave as I was, said that we should do something. Well, Saturday, I had to ki-bosh that since I had a ball game scheduled in Langdon. There wasn't any way I was goin' to invite her all the way out there. That would seem to me to be a counter-productive idea. So, Saturday night I had to disappointingly tell her that.

Sunday... I had to be up nice & early... around 10-10:30am for the Hooligans ballgame. I saw Rob & Michelle in Langdon on Saturday and they reminded me of the game. I agreed to make it out. After the $80 night at the Yardhouse, I only woke up with a tiny little headache that went away with a large glass of OJ and a Tylenol. So, I was pretty good to go in like 15 minutes.

I just got there in time to only be the third or fourth one there anyways. The team did eventually fill out to have a full squad and a couple extras, which saw me take to the bench for the first few innings to keep score. I eventually made it in, played a little third base and went 0-for-2 at bat, two line-outs to short. Anyways, the Hooligans won in the end, 16-13, which was a pretty good game.

Afterwards, I grabbed a bite to eat and went to go pick up Alan. Picked Alan up at his place and we went to the batting cages for practice. It was a pretty good practice overall... we had 11 guys for batting and 8 for field practice, some had to leave right away. Everyone was pretty jacked up about the game tonight. The excitement level was pretty high.

At practice, I found out that the games this week would be Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (if necessary), so that got me to thinking that I wasn't going out to Langdon for the Cruisers game, rather the second game of the Finals. Hmmmm... eureka!

The practice had ended and I dropped Alan back off at his place and Jesse down at the Prince's Island Park bridge on Memorial Drive. I got back in the house and had myself a shower again. Neither Chris or Jen were about, so I didn't want to hang around the house... so I went over to the Yardhouse. This would be great for my eureka moment... as now I can actually invite Ashley out on Tuesday night and see where that went.

I got there and it was pretty dead. I only took $20 in with me, so that would limit what I could have. I wanted to only go for a couple, do the invite and get home to make dinner and have an early night.

For the most part I did. Shawn actually got me to stay for a third... which was still in my $20 range, which was alright. I got Ashley's phone number and I'll give her a call tomorrow to see if she'll come out. And I went home and made dinner. I also watched that Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang... which was a damn funny movie... really enjoyable. Robert Downey, Jr. is a funny guy when he's on his game... which he definitely was in that flick. An early night to bed and a pretty good night overall.

I'm now finishing this post closer to the end of the day. Fuck... it's been busy. One of the two problem clients was a pain in the ass... the other not so much. I got pretty much everything except for that one problem done today and I'll get to go at 4pm so I can go get Jen and head to the batting cages for 5pm. That's the plan for now... hopefully will get some good shots from the game.

Anyways... wish us luck. I'll have the recap of the game posted first thing in the morning.

Another Drunk Post

I was kinda held captive by Ashley at the Yardhouse tonight. I was there until just about closing tonight. She kinda kept my bill, being the last one of the table around, but also one of the last one's there, period. Nevertheless, despite her flirting, which she was devious of tonight... I was still torn about what to do.

I am not the guy to jump on every opportunity. I'm not. I like a little meaning, even if it's just a little.

She likes me... it's clear as day. She's a super good girl... but I just can't get past the fact that she's a waitress for a living.

"Clayton," my good drinking buddy Kelly said, "whatever you do in life... don't fall in love with waitresses and strippers."

That piece of advice makes too much sense. I mean, I've been burnt before on the waitresses, can't say the same about the strippers, but waitresses are evil creatures... in a hot way. So I'm sorta torn. What to do.

I have been trying a bit more lately, but since she got back from Mexico, she's been working almost every shift. So, I've been a bit unlucky. Tuesday, this week, is her only day off... but I realized that it was a Cruisers game... and I really feel bad if I left down the team. I also felt bad when I told her about it tonight... to a point. The rule keeps me in check."

There is clearly no question, if I had an opportunity with Ashley with nothing overhanging, I would be there to find out what it's all about... no question. But... schedules are a bitch. Especially in the food-service industry. Not good at all. So... this is why I'm skeptical. I know it's there... for reasons beyond me... but it seems to be there.

I would rather a platform to do it all in, besides the place where she works and where I drink myself stupid. There has got to be a better place for it all... but where?

Thursday Continues as the New Friday

Yeah, picked up Alan last night at Tim Horton's at Southland & ElbowDrive... and the evening just went downhill from there. Ha ha... in a good way of course. It was a trip straight to the ball park, since he had a Modified or Orthodox ball game at 6:15pm. So he picked up a 30-pack of Kokanee and we went over to the diamonds. I hung out and watched his game and another game before we went over to the main diamonds for Game 3 between Rusty's and Us Guys.

I didn't get a chance to eat anything and the beer tasted pretty good... so I was getting a little loose a little easier than most nights. It wasn't until we were watching the big game that we ate anything... Alan and his teammate on the Modified team, Tony, went for some KFC and brought it back to the diamond.

The Us Guys won the game in the end and that's who we'll be facing next week. They won rather handily in the end, 4-1, I think. It wasn't a bad game, either... not quite as good as I thought it would be, but it was still pretty good. That Tony guy is a funny fucker... we had a pretty good laugh at the Ump's expense all night.

Tom & Ryan showed up to watch it as well, so they were about for the evening. We all did our little bit of scouting and had a pretty good time.

But the taste of beer was in my mouth though and after I dropped off... I tried to cajole Chris out of the basement, but it wasn't to be. So, I went to the Yardhouse by myself.

It was pretty good there as well... 'cuz I didn't end up paying at all there either. Nick came in with a bunch of his buddies and he bought me a couple, 'cuz of the good tips he'd get from Chris and I. That was awfully nice of him. I chatted with Ashley a bit and tried to make some plans with her, but I was quite a ways out and didn't quite finish what I had started, so I'm a little regretful of that today. Maybe tonight, 'cuz I know Chris will wanna go out.

That was pretty much my night. If it wasn't for Nick though, I probably would have made it home in good time, rather than 1am. That was a little late and we all know how the the mornings come so early.

Today hasn't been too bad... I managed to stomach my way through the tough filings that I had for today and finished off another for Monday... so I was kinda productive today. I did lay down when I got into the office for about 20 minutes... I had that much time before I had to take the call forwarding off the phones, so I made the most of it.

I want to get some laundry done tonight, so that will probably be my first piece of business this evening. It's that or sleep... since I really don't feel like doing anything... even now. So, I won't.

Who Needs a Third Game?

Not us... that's who.



Aaron (pictured) pitched five solid innings, but unfortunately it was a no-decision in what was probably the most intense and thrilling game for the Royals this season. An 11-8 victory saw us through to the finals in two games over Canmore. The victory was full of good baseball, bad calls and temper tantrums.

Where to begin when reliving this game? The game itself was sort of in disrepair even before it got started. I actually went to the ballpark early to meet up with Alan and caught a little bit of the other semi-final between Rusty's and the Us Guys and noticed that there was only the Home Plate Umpire and no Base Ump. Well... the first semi, in just the first two-plus innings I saw were marred with a couple short calls that a normal Base Ump would have got. So, I already knew that the game was in some state of trouble.

We were the away team for the second game, so we were to bat first. We were facing the pitcher that we hammered for 15 runs last week and that was the most positive sign of the early part of the game. I was back up to the second spot in the batting order, which fitted well again. Munden led off the game by flying out to left... I reached on a single and was moved around to third before being stranded there. We actually left the bases loaded on three singles, but couldn't cash anyone in.

A rough bottom half of the inning, which saw a couple runs score on a throwing error by Nick. The Canmore team did seem to find Aaron's meatball pitches and took advantage of them, but it was the errors that cost us through the first few innings.

The next few innings saw quite a bit of back-and-forth ball, each team finding their stroke up at the plate. Aaron continued to improve in his pitches, but he was still hit in most innings, which made the intensity all the more great on the defense. Our bats at the same token continued to find life and we finally broke out in the fifth inning, scoring I think it was four runs to secure a three-run lead. A run back and forth until the seventh. I don't think we mustered too much in the top half, but we went into the bottom half up by three. Alan started pitching in the sixth inning and started to dominate, but going into the seventh, up by three, we got worked a bit. Canmore started spraying a couple hits at one out and another error or two later, the game was tied and we had to go into extra innings.



During the first seven innings, however, when we found ourselves behind, we started to really get down on ourselves and when the Ump was making some very questionable calls, more calls that himself, in his position behind home plate, shouldn't have been making, the tempers really started to go. In the fourth inning, Jesse (pictured) lost it... a combination of really dumb calls and his own decisions at that really burned him up. We tried to talk him down, but his top finally blew and he walked out of the dugout towards the complex's exit. This was all going on in the top half of the batting order and he batted right behind me. I couldn't catch up to him, because I was on deck, so when Munden finally reached base, I was up... so I had to tell Tom that we may need to sub Jesse as he had done a runner. I eventually made it on and scored, but the turning point for the Royals came in the middle of the inning.

When we had gone back into the dugout, Tom came racing in and started screaming at the team. It was for a good reason, too. He had made the points that we shouldn't be letting this game slip away and how much better we are and all sorts... but the important part of it all was that he was yelling. It was the only way he'd get the attention of the team and I'm glad that he did. Canmore had finally found some momentum against Aaron and his pitching, but we matched it step for step.

So, going into extra innings, the determination was still there, even despite giving up the three runs in the seventh to go to extra innings. I led off the inning and by the rules of the league to keep the games short, both teams start their half of the inning with a runner on second. With Munden being the last out, caught stealing in the 7th, I led off and was going to advance him with a bunt. Playing some small ball. I got up, first pitch, laid down a great bunt down the first base line. The bunt elluded the pitcher for most of the way down, allowing me to get past in good time. Unfortunately, although I beat the pitcher's throw by a full step, the ump from well behind home plate called me out, but Munden had still advanced and my job was done. I was disappointed though that I didn't stay on as it would have raised my production to 4-for-5, instead of 3-for-4 with a sac bunt. Nevertheless... the blown call sparked the team again and we scored four in the final frame. The home half of the inning went okay... okay enough to win. Their starting runner from second would eventually score only before I picked up the last groundball of the game for the final out and the win.

It was quite the game and a good time was finally had by all. That result should have us jacked up for the finals which starts on Monday night.

Beers were had in the parking lot, as our new tradition sort of goes. Munden went and grabbed a 24-pack of Kokanee and we stuck around for a while to have a beer. I drove Alan home again last night, picked up a couple burgers at Wendy's and didn't make it home until 12:30am.

Tonight, a few of us will meet up at the diamonds to watch Game 3 between Rusty's and the Us Guys... it should be a gooder, I'm assuming. Us Guys won last night 4-0, but not before Rusty's took the first game on Monday. I'm sure that'll turn into quite the game... plus, we get to know in advance who we'll be playing and how we will want to play them. Something that will be discussed on Sunday during practice.

In other news today, work has been alright. A couple big ones done today first thing. You know, more quarterly reporting. Can't wait to do it all again in November. I've been putting off my new trouble client's filing that is due for tomorrow, to actually do tomorrow. That made way for a half-hour waste of time from another one of our problem clients. Today's problem client is the only one we have that could possibly send a FINAL set of documents before their auditors could sign off on them. For me, it isn't a big deal, because it takes a while to process and convert the files. While for Lee, it doesn't. All he has to do is convert the Word documents to PDF and that's that. Moments. That's all it takes. So in between, receiving, waiting a half hour and then filing, the auditors came back to said client and gave them a laundry list of changes. An e-mail not long after explained to us to stop all filing, with a copy of the auditors changes, which wasn't pretty. I stopped all work on this filing and Lee had to explain why he did what he did. Not fun... especially with this client, who has given us this kind of trouble before. Argh! This company's CFO is a huge idiot who gives proof that you don't need any sort of qualification to make a six-figure salary at a company doing a job that handles all their financial records and spending. I know I could do a better job than this guy. The butt of all of our jokes.

Well, that's enough writing for me... probably enough reading material for a while there. More than a 30-second stop, that's for sure.

Wolf Parade in Calgary

That was a pretty good little show there at the Warehouse last night. Well, Wolf Parade was anyways. The opening band, Frogs Eyes, although they seemed to be musically gifted at times, vocals were very detracting to the good tunes that they were playing. There were a couple tracks near the end of the set that went on for a while each, which sounded great musically, but when buddy started singin' there, man, was that rough.

Wolf Parade didn't get on stage until about 10:30pm. A really late showing... if it wasn't exactly 10:30pm, it was definitely later. Kicking it all off with Grounds for Divorce, with the likes of You Are a Runner and I am My Father's Son, Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts, Modern World and a few more from their album & EP, but they also included a few tracks that I hadn't heard before and they were all really good. The encore last night was another track I hadn't heard of and Dinner Bells, the 7+ minute opus, which was really fantastic.

It was really great to see them again, since they were mildly memorable opening for Arcade Fire, now they are wholly memorable for their own show. Magnifico!

Chris and I beered both pre-game and post-game last night as well, but it was a pretty cheap night nonetheless. A couple here, a few there and one at the end... all in all, it was pretty good night. Got home just before 1am and surprisingly, I'm doing quite well this morning.

I have at least 9 filings to finish up for today and who knows how many more will stream in this morning. My new least-favourite client is amending a large document, yet again, which doesn't please me at all. As if I wanted to deal with them any more. Oh well... I will just have to plug away. I'll get it all done, that's not really the question... it's just more of an inconvenience that I have to work when I'm at work. Ha ha.

All-Afternoon This One Took

Lunchtime on Tuesday... wow, it's been busy here at the office. Yesterday, I received the most filings in one day since the annual deadline days of March. It was quite sickening to see a few more came in after I left during the day. What a crock. Ha ha.

I suppose I should really give the recap of the last few days. I should open up the Tales just to read what I have given already. I know it wasn't very much yesterday, but what could I do?

Saturday

Well, after the post on Saturday it was the ball team's get together at Schank's North. There was some indication that it was going to be a gong show, but even when I talked to Munden on the phone to tell him which Schank's we were going to, we were a little less ecstatic to really knock ourselves on our asses. I was actually pretty content with the idea of showing up for a while, taking part in the Schank's Olympics that Tom had booked, having a few beers, a bite to eat and then taking off. I was going to be driving since the C-Train doesn't go up that far in the Northwest, so I'd rather go up for a beers and then come back down to Kensington to polish the evening off.

I grabbed a couple burgers before heading up there. I thought the more I had to eat, the longer I could stay and drink. This theory may have been bunk on a scientific basis, but it did make sense at the time.

There was all sorts of time to kill before heading up for 7:45pm... so Chris and I watched a bit of The Best of Saturday Night Live: Will Farrell. Well, I watched some of it... Chris ended up nodding off for a while. I remembered quite a few of those skits from those days... those being the days that I actually watched SNL on somewhat of a regular basis. Jen had rented the DVD from Blockbuster and left it lying around when she was out and about, so I scooped it and watch a half hour of it before taking off for Schank's.

The drive up was quite funny as Munden raced up in his Mustang and caught me as I was driving up Crowchild Trail. I didn't even think to look for him coming as I thought I was leaving rather late to get there. But sure enough, he sped up in his more-than-recognizable vehicle behind me and then blew by. Once we got to Nose Hill Drive, he had no idea where he was going, so I had to take the lead again and show him the way. In the turning lane off of Nose Hill Drive, Munden crept up ever so slowly and nudged up against my bumper and gave a little bump. Laughingly, I put the car in reverse and did the same to him... ha ha. All good fun. No damage done.

The get-together was a little more quiet than I was expecting. It turned out that Derek went to the Stamps game, Alan was playing orthodox ball at a tournament out of town and a few others were either away or doing something else. Nick, Munden, Jesse, Ryan, Aaron and myself were the only players that showed up... both Tom & Rollie (the coaches) were there and there were a few girlfriends and such as well. It was pretty low-key since it was missing guys like Alan, who would probably make the party a rather drunken affair. The Olympics went over quite well, although Munden, Jesse & I, as a team, finished last in the team competition. There's every indication that we didn't cheat enough. I think I was the only one to hole-in-one a hole in the mini-golf, as I won that event individually. I was putting quite well.

The waitress we had for the evening, Kaitlin, was quite nice. Not quite Joey's or Earl's material, but a nice girl nonetheless. Poor girl had no idea what she was getting into though. Unfortunately for her, she had forgotten about a drink order for Munden and myself and we got ourselves a rather funny picture out of it, as she was apologizing.



Well, I thought it was funny anyways.

At the beginning of the do, Tom announced that we actually, in fact, finished first in the league standings and that we'd have a home team advantage through the playoffs. How cool is that? Even with the forfeit and the rain-out, we still made the top of the plateau. For that, Tom brought out a load of Cuban cigars that he picked up on his trip a few weeks ago. I snagged one in the end, despite the fact that I don't smoke. But if Bill Clinton ever proved anything, it's that cigars are not just for smoking. Ha ha.

After the Olympics and jerkin' around with the camera all night, we all watched the end of the Stampeders/Alouettes game on TV, which had a thrilling finish for a Stamps win (boo!) and it got the whole place excited. Oddly, after the game ended, THAT is when I decided to go back down to Kensington... knowing full well I would have to drive through the outpouring of people at McMahon Stadium. Oh well, I thought to myself. It still only took me 15 minutes to get home, traffic was moving quite well.

So I picked up Chris and we headed to the Yardhouse for a couple after I got home and that was pretty much the evening. The place was rather packed and we didn't get too much conversation in with too many, so we didn't stick it out very long.

Sunday

A day that pretty much led off with sleeping in until 11:30am. Man, was that ever fantastic. I do love those mornings where I don't have to get up and my body just doesn't want to get up, so every aspect wins. It's so damn relaxing.

I finally dragged my ass out of bed and sat on the couch to watch some sports on TV. There was NASCAR, tennis and baseball to choose from... all of which I can sit and watch. I don't mind any of them on TV... so I was doing quite well. There was a scheduled ball practice at 2pm and since we were heading into the playoffs, it was probably a good idea to go to practice on Sunday.

Whilst I was sitting on the couch, around 12:30pm, I realized that I was supposed to go out to play slow pitch with the Hooligans at 11am. Well, that didn't happen now did it? Fudge. I did get to sleep in, however, if that counts for anything.

Jen got home after 12pm after her excursion to church and a few other things. She was carrying one of those skeleton kits of a Stegosaurus. Apparently one guy at her church assembles these for shits and giggles and gave her this giant Stegosaurus to give to her nephew. Okay, not odd or anything.

Anyways, she wasn't home long before I took off for ball practice. She had put the idea in my head as I was leaving the house that she'd like to go for a beer after I get back, so I said maybe. (chuckle, chuckle)

Sunday was a hot one. Not very many clouds in the sky and the sun just beat down on us out at Shouldice. We did some batting practice to begin and then took the field at one of the diamonds we usually play our games on for a while. New to the team for the week, Luke, a guy who had played ball with most of the guys last year. He came out since Alex & Menzies were away on a trip to the States for this week. He was shaggin' some balls in right field and the few of us that showed up (again) worked on a few things in the infield and cut-off throws from the outfield. All good practice. It would have been better if there were more people and I remembered to pack a water bottle. It was super-hot out.

I got back to the house around 4:30pm, had myself a shower and got changed and then Jen and I went over to the Yardhouse for a beer. I only packed $20 and a little bit of change and man, did it ever last! Nick & Ashley were the only ones working in there and Gerald and Christine, two from the kitchen, were out and about every so often to chat and such. It was pretty quiet in there, but Nick & Ashley were expecting a large bunch to show up around 8pm. They never did... so it was pretty quiet regardless. When Jen wanted me to go, Ashley convinced me, or twisted my rubber arm to stay for another, so I did. I didn't have my bank card either, so I couldn't stay very long at all, but since Ashley was left by herself for a bit, as Nick went to go grab some juice, I hung out with her for a while and chatted. That was all good... then when the two from the kitchen were finished in there, I was chatting with them until the last drink was empty and I left for home.

Monday

It wasn't a very hazy morning, but there was a little fog when I got up Monday morning. As soon I was into work though, I jumped on the projects that I already knew needed to be done, so the fog quickly lifted with a couple cups of coffee and some organization for the day. Once I was off and rolling, every time (it seemed) that I finished one, two would come in. One for later in the week and one for right away. It was kind of mental there for a while. I didn't expect it to be THAT busy, by any means, but it was. The filings kept coming and coming. But I kept my head and everything that needed to be done was done on time, unless there was something wrong with a client... which there was one problem client, but nothing major. The filing just pushed to today, by their accord.

With all the work, it really made the day fly by, which was great, because it was the first game of the playoffs on Monday. I drove home with enough time to change into my uniform before heading out the door to make a 5:30pm batting practice. Alan was already there when I arrived and I took a few rounds in the medium speed cage before everyone showed up. Alan was telling me all about his weekend playing ball and how he hit a ball and hit the top of the fence, 450 feet away. He was dead-impressed with himself, but not with the umpire that called somewhat of a ground-rule double on him as the ball landed in the puddle and was wet. He was choked as he was already rounding third base when the call was made. Most of the team showed up for the batting practice and then it was over to the diamond for warm-ups and the game.

The schedule read that we were facing the Canmore team, the same team we shit kicked last week as our first round opponents. Fantastic. With Alan starting and a full-side plus one on the bench for the evening, we were ready to kick some serious ass. Unfortunately, the top-half of the first inning was again one of our stumbling blocks. A huge drive over Nick's head in center field and a couple balls thrown away led to Canmore taking a 2-0 lead into the bottom half. One run for us in the home-half, two more in the second for us had a 3-2 lead fairly early. A 2-run homer by Ryan, his first of the year, cracking his bat, gave us a 5-2 lead in the fifth inning, another run in the sixth inning made it 6-2 and they rallied for one in the top half of the seventh for a 6-3 final. The Royals up 1-0 in the best of three series. Next game is tomorrow night at 8:45pm.

The game last night was a little quiet on my end. I went 0-for-3, two groundouts and a strikeout made my night at bat kind of miserable. I was batting again in the 7th slot and I was sort of looking for 2nd slot pitches, but instead I got a lot of junk that either handcuffed me (for my groundballs) or I was fanning well ahead of and just couldn't make good contact at all. By the third at-bat, the one of which I struck out at, I was so impatient that it just threw me right off my game. It was horrible. In the field, I made a good catch behind first base on the edge of the grass and also had a bobble on a ball that was spinning heavily on the well-kept shale. No harm done though. I can't wait for some redemption tomorrow night.

After the game, it was a few beers in the parking lot and then I drove Alan home as his truck isn't working at the moment. I said I'd go pick him up tomorrow night if he still needed a ride.

Today

Well, even as I wrote this piece, I got stuck with a crappy rush of an annual filing. Good thing it was only 26 pages, but the client was in such a huge rush, he made a really crappy looking document that took me a little longer that I would have enjoyed, but I still got it done in good time. Bastards.

I'm kind of putting off some of the other stuff that could be done for tomorrow. Since I hadn't posted in ages, I thought I would get one big one done this afternoon. I might go back and clean up a few of the smaller ones for tomorrow... or maybe one or two bigger ones. I don't know. It could all work out, really.

Tonight, home... lasagna... Wolf Parade. Woo hoo!! I will have the camera poised and ready for a good evening at the Warehouse. I'm sort of wondering if Chris is still coming... I'm sure he is... or is he? Anyways, even if he doesn't come, Julie is back... I'd try and recruit her if necessary. Time will tell. There's only an hour before the end of the day (yes, it took me this long to write the post)... so, I best look at doing something else before it all ends. I won't have much time tonight to post anything and tomorrow looks busy again... so, yeah... I'll do some more work so I can post about the concert tomorrow.

Quarterly Busy

Been busy all day today... waiting sort of between patiently and not for one more of the major filings to finish up, so I can relax. I did my best for this one to get it done in good time, but I fear there might be more to come on it. I just don't know.

I've got stories from Saturday, Sunday and well, even today I guess to tell, but I'm not in any shape for time to tell them... yet. I hope tomorrow I can sit down and get some of it written out. But until then, I'll leave the Tales with a few pics from Saturday night at Schank's North.

Middle of the Rainy Afternoon

Middle the afternoon and I got back from my walk into the downtown core. When I took off, I walked Jen over to Safeway and we parted ways there. As I walked through the gates at the Sunnyside LRT Station, I remarked about the awful clouds that were coming our way. They were awfully dark. The walk was quite nice... I had the mp3 player on random and was listening to all sorts of great tunes. In fact, I'm still listening to it as I write this... it's good to have it recharged and working again.

Current track: Daphne Descends by the Smashng Pumpkins.

I took a walk down to TD Square and Eaton Centre for a little shopping at HMV and lunch. I picked up the new copy of NME there and browsed around for ages. I wanted to pick up a copy of Super Troopers, but it was a 2 for $20 DVD and I couldn't find another one to buy, so I decided against it. I also held in my hand the latest disc from Metric... I wanted to hear that, but it was a 2 for $25 CD and the same problem arose. So, it was only the magazine for me. Next, I went upstairs to the food court in Eaton Centre for some Poutine and to read my new magazine. I didn't really have any desire to get anything else, so I didn't. I just left.

There wasn't a train coming for a while, I didn't think, by the 4th Street Station, so I decided to walk. This despite those big dark clouds finally being overhead and it was really starting to come down.

Current Track: Reunion by Collective Soul

The rain wasn't too bad until I got in between the buildings, where the raindrops joined forces to make themselves quite big in the wind tunnels of the apartment highrises. The blustering winds and the rain made a chilly little situation, but it wasn't too bad. I had a long-sleeved shirt on with my shorts and sandals, so I didn't get too cold at all. It was actually good practice for those wintery days, but in the summer. Once I was out of the buildings, the walk was actually quite easy and not too wet.

Current Track: Leader of Men by Nickelback

So, now I'm just sort of sitting here recapping a bit.

Last night, the BBQ at Ernest's house was alright. We didn't sit outside, which was a bit of a shame, but everyone from the office showed up, which was quite good. Ernest's son, Dieter and his daughters were around as well, so it was sort of a housefull. It was quite a good evening that ran quite late actually. I tried my damndest to drink rather slowly, the six-pack of bottles that I brought to the house, but I managed to get through them and a Rickard's Red as well. It was rather re-assuring that the bottles don't get ya as drunk as pints do. If that was 7 pints, I would have been fucked. But with all the food and the bottle factor, I kept my head and it was really fun. We all had quite a good laugh and a good time, so it was a nice change from the bar on the Friday night... and much cheaper.

Current Track: Steady, As She Goes by the Raconteurs

I arrived home around 12:30am and Chris was still up, so I went down and chatted with him a bit. That was just about that.

Tonight, it's the ball outing at Schank's North... that's supposed to kick-off around 8pm. I think I'll try and stay on bottles there and keep it as light as humanly possible. I can't remember if the C-Train line goes that far up or not. Hopefully it does, just in case. That way I could get home and there won't be a problem.

Rainy Friday

The sky is lighting up, the clouds are parting and we might have ourselves a pretty nice afternoon in Calgary after all the rain this morning. The whole city was a wash this morning in the dreary, but necessitative rain. The rain fell for a good while last night as well, which prompted the ball games to be cancelled. Well, that prompted me to stay in... for a while.

Actually, when I got home from work last night, the clouds were on their way, but it was a tad darker than usual. Jen was asleep on the couch, passed out to the world with the TV on. So, I actually went and had myself a nap as well. Man, was that ever refreshing. I awoke to some weird guitar rift coming from the house next door. Without the fan going, all those shitty irritant noises were getting in and it awoke me from my afternoon slumber. I almost thought the world was gonna end for a moment there and then I looked at the clock... it was 6:15pm... I kinda freaked there too, 'cuz I wasn't sure if it was am or pm. Gasp! I did finally come to and then made myself some sandwiches. As far as I knew the ballgames were still going, so I prepared myself a bit. Jen was still dead to the world, but I sat down and watched some TV until she woke up.

After a rousing episode of Married... With Children, instead of watching Neon Rider, she switched the channels to MuchMusic where the E! True Hollywood Story of... wait for it... New Kids on the Block was on. My laziness in the big comfy chair soon became unrest and boredom and disgust.

Munden called trying to track down whether or not we were playing. He was still in Langdon and it was looking pretty bad out there and didn't really feel like driving into the city if he didn't have to. I hadn't heard from Tom then, but I did not long after saying that it was, in fact, cancelled. He also called back right after hanging up to tell me why I was moved down into the 7th spot in the batting order... to even out the batting in the line-up... not like it actually bothered me at all. He cited that some guys get kinda upset when that sort of thing happens. I was cool with it... especially since I went 2-for-2.

Since the ballgame was cancelled... my boredom increased quite quickly. Well, I didn't have to twist Chris' arm to badly to go out for a drink... or six.

Yeah, went out drinking AGAIN. Dammit... there's got to be a better activity on a rainout day. But there wasn't. We went and hung out at the bar for a while and had quite a few. During the evening, Jen's co-worker, Chris, joined us. He had just finished up his shift, closing down Starbucks, and chatted with us for a while. The poor bastard didn't eat anything and he was hammered, just as he got into his second beer. It was quite noticable... and funny.

We retired fairly early, I think... no, no it wasn't. It was closer to midnight again. D'oh. I went to go retire to my room last night, but sans the fan, it was awful in there. I didn't need anything awful to sleep in whilst drunk as a skunk... so I grabbed a blanket and a pillow, went out to the living room, opened the front door, locked the screen door and put the fan in front of that. Oh, was that ever sweet. I had my alarm on my phone set for 7am and I was good to go.

The phone alarm went off on schedule, so I still-drunkenly walked into my room where my alarm clock was going off, well the radio was on, so I hit the snooze button and went back to sleep in my room. I got another half hour in, which was absolutely marvelous. I showered without any resistance from the still-sleeping roommate. Got dressed and out the door into the rain I went. The rain was actually quite nice. There was a lot of it, which kept the wiper blades going.

The drive was awfully interesting this morning. The water made lots of puddles to hydroplane on. It was both hands on the wheel pretty much the whole way. On Memorial Drive at the lights to Edmonton Trail, traffic was going through the lights as per the normal traffic rush, later than usual (I should point out... since I got some extra sleep) and the lights seemed to be even shorter than what I usually pass through. As I was slowly making it through the intersection, the traffic slowed down and I was the last car to pass through before it went yellow, but there was no real acceleration up to the 70 km/h speed limit that the road has. The big 70's Ford pick-up in front of me came to a dead stop and I almost barrelled into his bumper if it wasn't for my foot on the brake right away. I was only inches away to poppin' him one, which would have really sucked. I didn't need that, I'll tell ya. As it turned out, it was some jackass trying to make a left-hand turn to go North on Edmonton Trail with a long empty boat trailer or something... he had neglected to go into the turning lane and decided to tie up traffic with his incompetence. Fucker! I deked out from behind the Ford and drove off and hydroplaned all the way to the office, getting here at 7:55am. I was here so late that I didn't even get my usual parking spot right in front of my window. That stupid Lexus SUV I had made mention of before was in it. Ass. Oh well... into work on time was kind of a new thing for me. Since I'm usually here at 7:30am or earlier, it had kinda threw my morning off. That's why I'm doing a mid-afternoon post, since there were a few things to do this morning.

This week has been mostly quarterly results news releases and other quarterly filings. So many tables to be done. Some turn out better than others, but overall it isn't too bad. I have time to do this, right?

Of course, now that I say that more quarterlys are coming in and it might get a little hairy on Monday. Hmmmm... please don't let me go crazy on Sunday night. Please, please, please. I do believe this song illustrates me pretty good. Good tune.

Well, I think I better jet. Gotta sort out all this working goodness out. Might catch ya all tomorrow. The day remains unplanned... and hopefully inexpensive.