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.