It is finished
Finally, the project is done.
It took two and a half days, but my sister and her boyfriend are all moved in. After much delay, they finally decided to move in for the duration of the lease hoping that they'll be able to stay longer than the 6 mo. they signed for.
Originally, the lease was a 6 mo. lease but they were led to believe from the realtor that they would be able to be long term renters. However, the actual owner hopped on the fence and led them around by their noses. Mindy was able to talk sense into the boyfriend and say that they should at least live there for six months and they could see what happens after that.
During last week, they both started packing stuff up. Originally the plan was to move them Wednesday, but rain and other things disallowed that from happening. We all went out to dinner that evening when a stroke of brilliance hit me. I told both of them to leave their places open and I would move boxes using my explorer during the day Thursday. My motivation to blow their minds was high.
And I did.
The bf had a bedroom of stuff packed up, boxes and stuff like that. I cleaned out the entire bedroom in two trips complete with unloading it in the garage. Then I went to my sister's aparment. There I did two trips again from her place in my explorer. It was at this point I realized I hate stairs. Mindy lived in a basement apartment and I probably moved 15 boxes from her floor up and out to my Exploder. Neither one of them knew exactly what to think but I did some ass kickin'.
That night, we borrowed two pickups and did a good majority more including furniture and desks. We wrapped things up on Saturday with a few more loads. They are officially in and now have to unpack.
The fish are biting over there though.
Accio'd from Amy (2 posts in one day. it's a record)
OLOGY Survey
MOUTHOLOGY
1. What is your salad dressing of choice?
Ranch, ranch and Ranch
2. What is your favorite fast food restaurant?
I'm going to go with Arby's or BK
3. What is your favorite sit-down restaurant?
Mexican food or the China Inn
4. On average, what size tip do you leave at a restaurant?
I'd say 20% unless the service is very bad or something. I'll take into account busyness too
5. What food could you eat every day and not get sick of it?
egg rolls from the China Inn
6. What are your pizza toppings of choice?
Canadian Bacon and Sausage
7. What do you like to put on your toast?
butter and cinnamon/brownsugar mix
8. Number of contacts in your email address book?
Lots. I can't count that high
9. What is your wallpaper on your computer?
Lightning
10. How many televisions are in your house?
Three.
11. Do you use a laptop or desktop?
I use a desktop
BIOLOGY
1. Are you right-handed or left-handed?
I bat right and throw right and write right
2. Do you like your smile?
I guess
3. What's your best feature?
I have no good features.
4. Have you ever had anything removed from your body?
Other than the norms, i'd have to say gravel and dirt
5. Which of your five senses do you think is keenest?
sight
6. When was the last time you had a cavity?
Oh wow...8th grade maybe?
7. What is the heaviest item you lifted last?
Ask me after tonight when I help my sister move
8. Have you ever been knocked unconscious?
As if this is a surprise to anyone, yes.
BULLCRAPOLOGY
1. If you could, would you wanna know the day you were going to die?
I'm never going to die because i'm too far behind in life
2. Is love for real?
I hope so.
3. If you could change your first name, what would you change it to?
I like my first name. It's not that common
4. What color do you think looks best on you?
Heck if I know, so i'll go with my favorite color of green
5. Have you ever swallowed a non-food item by mistake?
yes. mowing outside with lots of bugs. you get the idea
6. Have you ever saved someone's life?
Yes. We saved millions of people when we put out a fire that could have swept northward and killed everything
7. Has someone ever saved yours?
Yes. Jarr grabbed my belt loop as i was falling out of the back of a pickup at 60 mph
DAREOLOGY
1. Would you walk naked down a public street for $100,000?
I think I would.
2. Would you kiss a member of the same sex for $100?
Depends on the person. I've got standards and stuff
3. Would you cut off one of your little fingers for $200,000?
Half a mil and you've got your self a deal
4. Would you never blog again for $50,000?
I think i can do that.
5. Would you pose naked in a magazine for $250,000?
I don't think so there kids.
6. Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1000?
Bring it on!
7. Would you give up watching television for a year for $25,000?
I don't know. I'm really hooked on the Deadliest Catch
DUMBOLOGY
1. What is in your left pocket?
I have no pockets
2. Is Napoleon Dynamite actually a good movie?
I don't know for sure. Jury is still out
3. Do you have hardwood or carpet in your house?
Both.
4. Do you sit or stand in the shower?
Who sits in the shower?
5. Could you live with roommates?
Yes
6. How many pairs of flip flops do you own?
Not a single one
7. Where were you born?
up the road 6 miles
8. Last time you had a run-in with the cops?
When I went to interview them for a story. Other than that i'm a good boy
9. What do you want to be when you grow up?
Alive
10. Who is number 1 on your top friends?
I can't just pick one
LASTOLOGY
1. Friend you talked to?
MMF on the phone
2. Last person you called?
see above
3. Person you hugged?
Technically, i guess it would be the pitcher who threw water on me last night, Shannon.
FAVORITOLOGY
1. Number?
2 or 10
2. Color?
green
3. Season?
I gotta go with fall here.
CURRENTOLOGY
1. Missing someone?
Yes I am.
2. Mood?
almost anxious. I want it to storm
3. Listening to?
music. specifically "Share" by Bag of Toys
4. Watching?
The weather
5. Worrying about?
Hurting myself moving stuff tonight
RANDOMOLOGY
1. First place you went this morning?
outside
2. What can you not wait to do?
play ball again
3. What's the last movie you saw?
Wow. The Departed I guess
4. Do you smile often?
All the freakin' time
5. Are you a friendly person?
I would say yes. very friendly
6. Now that the survey's done what are you going to do?
Go outside if it rains and stand out there
Holy
So last night I played something I've never played.
Fastpitch softball.
It was the high school players vs. parents softball game. I got to play on the parents' team because as my sister said to her coach "Coach, but my parents are ancient." When the coach told me that during Riverfest while we were drinking beer out in the parking lot, I laughed quite hard. Tina then told me that I was playing on their team.
So I did. And let me tell you, that first pitch got there faster than I thought it would. In fact, I said "Holy shit, that's quick." I chopped one right back to the pitcher and was thrown out at first. Thankfully, I did hit it so I was ready the next time I came up.
This time, I unloaded a shot over the centerfielder for an in the park homerun. We were up 8-1 before the girls cut the lead back to 8-7. In the top of the final inning we scored 6 but had to hold off a charge to win 14-13. Between games, there was a cookout where everyone brought a side dish.
I had water poured on me by the pitcher who started this war for no apparent reason. She was trying to avoid me but didn't pay enough attention as I grabbed her with the full intention of sticking her in a trash can. As I'm dragging her towards the receptecle, one of her teammates walks by casually and just drills me in the face with a cupfull of water. I'm not going to lie, it felt good because I was hot. There was a little awards ceremony for the girls, and then it was back to the field to play the second game.
This one wasn't as close as players and parents alike were both tired from playing and laughing. There was some high comedy as a couple parents fell down trying to field. I'm positive there was some serious groaning this morning across town as people struggled to get out of bed. As for me, I got out of bed pretty well, despite having a semi-overstretched groin. But now, I feel great almost as if I could play ball tonight.
But I'm not going to.
Rats
That's how it goes.
Because I didn't have anything better to do, I went ahead to the ball park to watch the games. My team was slated to play at 9:30, beer was to be served at 10:40.
It just so happens one of the 8:30 teams was short two players so they asked me to play. I said that was fine and I caught.
It was a back and forth game with neither team getting the advantage. We were the visiting team and trailed by 4 in the top of the 7th, 16-12. We ended up tying the game thanks to me sneaking home when they weren't paying attention. I thought we were in trouble but the home team couldn't manage a run so we went to an extra frame.
I was batting in the third spot in the inning. The first guy flew out. J-rob in front of me, tripled to be standing on third with one out. The pitcher threw me a perfect pitch and I hammered it over the fence for a home run, my first ever home run. That opened the floodgates as we tacked on 7 and held of their charge to win 23-17.
I was ready for the next game against our rivals, but I guess I was the only one. We scored 4 right away as we were the visitors. They came back and scored 4 in the bottom of the first. From that point on, we put our bats away (save for myself) and we got drilled 20-4.
Chris was pissed at himself, I was more of the "eh, it happens" attitude. We're 1-1 on the season and most likely one of the top three teams in our league. We just need to get everyone there and on the same page.
Riverfest
has come and gone.
As that was the first major tournament of the summer, we were pretty happy with the way it turned out. We finished fifth out of 30 teams which is pretty respectable. Of course we started out 3-0 too. During the 4 oclock game, we put our sticks up and lost. I don't know if it was the heat or what, but we didn't play well.
I managed to tweak my back as well causing me to struggle during the game. Brett asked me what I did, then told me to go hang. I did that and something popped in my lower back and I was cured. We played in a "winner stays, loser leaves" game at 6 and no one showed up for that as we were drilled 17-2.
I didn't even try to wash my clothes before our league game. I apologized to anyone downwind of me during the league game. It must have worked, because we won 21-4.
Our summer league starts here tomorrow. We'll see how it goes.
Gone fishin'
And that's where I was yesterday as we took the boat out for the first time in 2007.
It was good. The fishing was sporadic at first, then it heated up and things got wild. We were catching wipers.
Wipers are the mule of the fishing world or the attempt by biologists to build a better fish. So far, they've been pretty darn successful as wipers are turning into one of the major game fish in Kansas. A wiper is a cross between a striped bass and a white bass as biologists take sperm from one species of fish and eggs from the other and grow new fish. They might be the most aggressive fish swimming in Kansas waters as they grow fast, fight hard and taste good. We were catching wipers that weighed between 4 and 6 pounds. A fish that size (20 inches) does pretty much whatever the hell it wants to or goes wherever the hell it wants. All we do is hang on and enjoy the ride.
What a ride it was! We quadrupled twice, once with where my father and I each had two fish on at the same time. The boat was drifting around because we had to stop to try to land these fish. Our livewell was full of fish. My hands and forearms are slightly sore from holding on and fighting the fish, along with the effort of cleaning the fish with a dull electric knife.
About 2 ish, we saw a cold air funnel. Not a funnel cloud, not a tornado, nothing dangerous, just a rareish weather thing. Of course, we didn't pay a lot of attention as the fish were biting. As we were catching the wipers, it kept getting darker and darker to the north. I had a watchful eye to the sky because I get no service on the water when it comes to my cell phone. After a short disucssion that consisted of "Wow, I think that's coming at us." "Yeah." "We should probably get out of here." "Yep," the four of us left. The water was sea green, which was lighter than the sky that was a color of dark, bluish, steely, gray that was very ominous. After we got loaded, and on the way home, it started to rain.
It was indeed a good day.
