Tonight, B's baseball team played the Cardinals. This is the third time they've played them this season. The Cards are in 1st place, B's team is in third, and B's team may be the only one that has beaten the Cards this year. At the beginning of the year, I wrote about how frustrating it can be to watch your kid play a sport when he really wants to do well and just ... struggles. Part of it is my fault - I don't have as much time to play, and even when I do have the time, I haven't been great at getting out there with him. Lots of these dads have been grooming their kid since birth in terms of throwing the ball around, batting, etc. We haven't done that, and B pays a bit of a price for that.
B played catcher in the game tonight. Until this season, his position has been firmly rooted in right field. If you are not familiar with youth baseball, right field is typically where your weakest player goes. He started this season in right field, then graduated to left field. There aren't a lot of balls in the outfield at this age in baseball, but even a shift from right to left field was a good thing. Then he started bugging his coaches about wanting to play catcher. He was bored in the outfield, and I can't say I blame him. There was literally nothing going on out there.
So his coaches, to their credit, put him in here and there as catcher. His first several innings were painful to watch - he hardly touched the ball, let alone 'caught'. The balls sailed past him and he just sort of ... watched. It was frustrating, and a bit embarrassing, but he was much happier behind the plate than in the outfield. After awhile, my dad started coaching him a bit, and I started spending the innings he caught standing directly behind him, trying to give direction where I could. His coaches also started giving direction, and he took it.
The last couple of games, he's gotten more time behind the plate, and tonight, he caught the entire game. During one rather excruciatingly long inning (that team had some GOOD batters), he let only three balls get past him. In previous games, it was good when he actually BLOCKED three balls an inning. Somewhere along the way, something clicked and he started playing the position. He's always played smart - he knows the game pretty well, and he doesn't make stupid plays. But tonight, he played his position and he played it well. It was awesome to watch him sink into that role and perform well at it. He persisted at this position, bugged his coaches about it, and in the end, showed he could do it and do it well. No, he's not the best catcher out there - but the improvement he's shown over the season makes me incredibly happy for him.
And incidentally, he's turned into a damn good hitter. He's not the strongest one out there, but he manages to get on base just about every time he's up to bat. He's settled into leadoff hitter, and one of his coaches asked him tonight if he's even struck out this year (yes, he has, twice I think). He loves this sport, he loves to play, he has a terrific attitude, and it's so awesome to watch something good happen to him after several seasons of playing right field and landing at the end of the batting order. This season, he also has a couple of good coaches who have spent some extra time with him, and have worked with him. To his credit, he's taken instruction very well, and everything seems to be coming together really well for him.
He's been bugging me for the last month (maybe longer) to get him some catcher's gear. I told him that I didn't want to get it for him until I saw that he was committed to playing that position and it wasn't just a whim. I do believe his request will be answered in the very near future - he's earned it, and earned it well. I'm just super proud of my little dude.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
By the Numbers
Yesterday we had a health screening at my office. It has been many years (pre-kiddos) since I've done a fasting cholesterol test, and considering the amount of butter, cheese, cream, and chocolate I eat, I figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to see if I needed to cut back or at least aware of any issues.
Although they had to stick me twice (apparently the machine didn't like my first blood sample), all the numbers turned out great. Except blood pressure - the reading I got for that was the highest I've ever seen it. Of course, the fact that I had a mediation in less than an hour and the screening folks were running late probably didn't help that measurement - I WAS stressed. Running late/making people wait on me will stress me out more than almost anything.
But it's very nice to know that the exercise and (mostly) decent eating I'm doing is paying off. That's one of those things that has been hanging over my head for a few years now to get done, so it's good to scratch that off my list. I'm also quite happy that I can continue to enjoy my butter-with-a-little-popcorn snacks every now and then. I mean, the hours spent running, tennising, etc., have to be good for something, right?
Although they had to stick me twice (apparently the machine didn't like my first blood sample), all the numbers turned out great. Except blood pressure - the reading I got for that was the highest I've ever seen it. Of course, the fact that I had a mediation in less than an hour and the screening folks were running late probably didn't help that measurement - I WAS stressed. Running late/making people wait on me will stress me out more than almost anything.
But it's very nice to know that the exercise and (mostly) decent eating I'm doing is paying off. That's one of those things that has been hanging over my head for a few years now to get done, so it's good to scratch that off my list. I'm also quite happy that I can continue to enjoy my butter-with-a-little-popcorn snacks every now and then. I mean, the hours spent running, tennising, etc., have to be good for something, right?
Monday, May 14, 2012
Dropping into Place
I requested one thing for mother's day this year - a new Ipod. If you've read here long enough, you know my old one died after somewhere around 5 solid years of use.
J gave me his old one, but it never really seemed mine. Maybe it was the fact that the inscription on the back read "Jimbob's Ipod."
Then I managed to drop it on the hard wood floor in Alabama soon after he gave it to me, and even though we got it fixed, it was never quite the same. A few months ago, I realized that I was no longer able to load new music onto it. It would charge just fine, and had no trouble playing music that was already on there. But it no longer played nice with Itunes, and my computer wouldn't even acknowledge its existence. Not cool.
Yes, I know that there are several other outlets I could use to play tunes in my car; however, none seemed to work as well. I don't really want to burn multiple audio CDs to play in the car (my 2005 era Nissan has no data port), and I didn't want to overload my phone with a bunch of music. Not to mention that the interface on the phone is a bit more difficult.
So on mother's day, I got to open this:
.
J and the kiddos did good, don't you think? Driving to work this morning, it sort of felt like something in the universe had dropped back into its proper place. I have my tunes again - this is a good thing for a musicophile.
J gave me his old one, but it never really seemed mine. Maybe it was the fact that the inscription on the back read "Jimbob's Ipod."
Then I managed to drop it on the hard wood floor in Alabama soon after he gave it to me, and even though we got it fixed, it was never quite the same. A few months ago, I realized that I was no longer able to load new music onto it. It would charge just fine, and had no trouble playing music that was already on there. But it no longer played nice with Itunes, and my computer wouldn't even acknowledge its existence. Not cool.
Yes, I know that there are several other outlets I could use to play tunes in my car; however, none seemed to work as well. I don't really want to burn multiple audio CDs to play in the car (my 2005 era Nissan has no data port), and I didn't want to overload my phone with a bunch of music. Not to mention that the interface on the phone is a bit more difficult.
So on mother's day, I got to open this:
J and the kiddos did good, don't you think? Driving to work this morning, it sort of felt like something in the universe had dropped back into its proper place. I have my tunes again - this is a good thing for a musicophile.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Mother's Day Recap
I got to start my day with a 19 mile bike ride this morning - woo hoo! My mom took the munchkins last night, so J and I spiffed up the bikes last night and took to the trails this morning after loading up on a couple of bagels. My bike has been around for about 11 years, so while it's a good bike, it's nothing like the newer, lighter bikes that a lot of folks have (J, I'm looking at you). But it gets me through, and I managed to not even fall today. I know that sounds strange, but if you've never clipped into pedals before, there's no way you can understand the fear of forgetting to unclip or not having time to unclip and basically tipping over on the bike because your feet are attached to the pedals. Exercisewise, it makes sense - you can use your legs on both the downstroke and the upstroke. Stresswise, most of the time I think I'd prefer the old fashioned pedals, but I'm afraid I'd fall too far behind with those.
The last time we did a ride, I was pretty happy with where my cardio was; this time, I could REALLY tell that I've spent some serious time on my cardio. My legs didn't get all that tired, and I hung with J a good bit of the time. Of course, we'll ignore the fact that his super fancy watch told him that he'd only put forth a "maintaining" effort for the ride, and I'll just live in fantasy land for a bit longer. And besides, he dropped me enough for me to know I'm nowhere near his speed. Ah well.
Anyway, it was a beautiful day for a ride, and we ended up riding a good bit of the distance out towards Pinnacle on the River Trail. The scenery was amazing - I sort of felt like I was on vacation, out for a biking jaunt. I forget how beautiful it can be here. At one point we were riding along the road with the ridge to our left, the river or some other body of water to our right, and beautiful lawns and forests all around. It was pretty fantastic.
So we wrap that the ride around noon, pick up the kids, and hit the tennis courts right after lunch. J's tennis team is going to state this year, and a few of them wanted to play doubles but couldn't find a fourth, so I joined in. It's been over a week since I've hit, so it was nice to get my strokes back and find some timing. The kiddos were amazing while we played a couple of sets (gotta love Sonic Oreo blast bribery), and then we finished the day by cleaning out the girl's closet. I don't even want to talk about what a disaster it has been in there since probably before Christmas. I hauled out two large trashbags of clothes that she no longer likes or can wear. Ahhhhh. MUCH better, and much less stressful in the morning. She crowned the organizational fest by hanging her clothes in her preferred order - school shirt, school shorts. School shirt, school shorts. She doesn't even have to think about it in the morning.
There's still a ton of stuff that needs doing, but I pulled the mothers' day card and asked J to go pick up Carinos for dinner. I don't feel too bad about that - after all the activity and stuff that still needs doin', the last thing I wanted to do today was cook. And I just might break out some of J's Mac 18...after all, it's my day, right?
The last time we did a ride, I was pretty happy with where my cardio was; this time, I could REALLY tell that I've spent some serious time on my cardio. My legs didn't get all that tired, and I hung with J a good bit of the time. Of course, we'll ignore the fact that his super fancy watch told him that he'd only put forth a "maintaining" effort for the ride, and I'll just live in fantasy land for a bit longer. And besides, he dropped me enough for me to know I'm nowhere near his speed. Ah well.
Anyway, it was a beautiful day for a ride, and we ended up riding a good bit of the distance out towards Pinnacle on the River Trail. The scenery was amazing - I sort of felt like I was on vacation, out for a biking jaunt. I forget how beautiful it can be here. At one point we were riding along the road with the ridge to our left, the river or some other body of water to our right, and beautiful lawns and forests all around. It was pretty fantastic.
So we wrap that the ride around noon, pick up the kids, and hit the tennis courts right after lunch. J's tennis team is going to state this year, and a few of them wanted to play doubles but couldn't find a fourth, so I joined in. It's been over a week since I've hit, so it was nice to get my strokes back and find some timing. The kiddos were amazing while we played a couple of sets (gotta love Sonic Oreo blast bribery), and then we finished the day by cleaning out the girl's closet. I don't even want to talk about what a disaster it has been in there since probably before Christmas. I hauled out two large trashbags of clothes that she no longer likes or can wear. Ahhhhh. MUCH better, and much less stressful in the morning. She crowned the organizational fest by hanging her clothes in her preferred order - school shirt, school shorts. School shirt, school shorts. She doesn't even have to think about it in the morning.
There's still a ton of stuff that needs doing, but I pulled the mothers' day card and asked J to go pick up Carinos for dinner. I don't feel too bad about that - after all the activity and stuff that still needs doin', the last thing I wanted to do today was cook. And I just might break out some of J's Mac 18...after all, it's my day, right?
Friday, May 11, 2012
Monday, May 7, 2012
Curveballs
And sometimes...life throws you curveballs that you didn't really see coming. And whatever you were feeling before is completely irrelevant to how your life is now.
Overwhelming
Why is it that some days more than others feel particularly overwhelming? Sometimes it feels like it doesn't matter how hard I run or what I get done, it will never be enough to stay on top of things. Even though things work in our house, they don't work smoothly. Maybe that's just life with kids? Or maybe that's just life. Thinking ahead and organizing a house with kids is a full time job, I suppose, along with other full time jobs. And it's not like I do it all myself - but sometimes it just feels like it's too much, and something needs to go. Maybe it's time to throw some crap out and pare down...simplification sounds really good this morning.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Crazy Weekend
We got a TON of stuff done this weekend. It was awesome and exhausting. I played tennis Friday night, we cleaned out the garage on Saturday, and spent Sunday working in the yard. Oh, and I ran 6 miles on Sunday. By last night, I was DONE.
But on the plus side, we got the waterfall in the backyard pond working again - hooray! So last night, I fired up the citronella torches, and sat outside for about 4 hours listening to the waterfall, playing words with friends, reading, and talking with J. God bless the ipad...I love being able to read outside at night. Something else that I love? I apparently have a mosquito repellent gene. Or I just taste bad - one of the two. I was in shorts the entire time last night, and didn't get a single bite. J, of course, got munched on his knuckles - he was totally covered in long pants and long sleeves, so that was about the only available real estate for 'em. Sorry babe, maybe they just like Asian food better?
Anyway, other than that, things are about normal around here. The kids are out of school in the next few weeks, which is just scary. And totally awesome. I'm so looking forward to not making them do any homework for awhile...NOW I understand why parents look forward to summer, too!
But on the plus side, we got the waterfall in the backyard pond working again - hooray! So last night, I fired up the citronella torches, and sat outside for about 4 hours listening to the waterfall, playing words with friends, reading, and talking with J. God bless the ipad...I love being able to read outside at night. Something else that I love? I apparently have a mosquito repellent gene. Or I just taste bad - one of the two. I was in shorts the entire time last night, and didn't get a single bite. J, of course, got munched on his knuckles - he was totally covered in long pants and long sleeves, so that was about the only available real estate for 'em. Sorry babe, maybe they just like Asian food better?
Anyway, other than that, things are about normal around here. The kids are out of school in the next few weeks, which is just scary. And totally awesome. I'm so looking forward to not making them do any homework for awhile...NOW I understand why parents look forward to summer, too!
Monday, April 23, 2012
Balance
The neverending quest - balance. On several levels.
Balance among different aspects of life - kids, home, spouse, friends, work, exercise, self - is really damn near impossible.
I know I'm not the only person who deals with this, but sometimes the struggle to find what makes you happy - not just content, but happy - conflicts with other major things in your life. What do you do then?
I'm not naive enough to think that life should always be happy. Nor do I think I'm selfish enough to think that my happiness should trump everything around me. At the same time, sometimes you have to stick up for the things that make you happy. And sometimes that makes other people very unhappy indeed.
How do you know when you are reaching too far in one direction or the other, so that things go out of balance? How far should you stretch? I have no answer for this. It reminds me of the film they had us watch in Governor's School - Koyaanisqatsi. Life Out of Balance.
Balance among different aspects of life - kids, home, spouse, friends, work, exercise, self - is really damn near impossible.
I know I'm not the only person who deals with this, but sometimes the struggle to find what makes you happy - not just content, but happy - conflicts with other major things in your life. What do you do then?
I'm not naive enough to think that life should always be happy. Nor do I think I'm selfish enough to think that my happiness should trump everything around me. At the same time, sometimes you have to stick up for the things that make you happy. And sometimes that makes other people very unhappy indeed.
How do you know when you are reaching too far in one direction or the other, so that things go out of balance? How far should you stretch? I have no answer for this. It reminds me of the film they had us watch in Governor's School - Koyaanisqatsi. Life Out of Balance.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Still Alive...
Yup yup yup, still alive.
I haven't been spending much time on the computer at night - we're at the baseball/softball fields at least 3 nights a week right now, which doesn't leave a lot of 'free' time. Not that there was any to begin with.
Job = going well.
Exercising = meh. I have a half marathon I'm gonna run this weekend in Fayetteville, and after that, I think I'll hang up the long runs for the summer.
It's been such insanity here, it's been hard to think of anything to write about that is more than "what I did today."
Although ... I did take off work last Friday, and J and the kids and I went over to Hot Springs for the day. We actually felt the hot water coming from the springs - it was pretty damn hot! I didn't realize it was 130F. We also ate at McClard's BBQ (spectacular), and hit the horse races for the afternoon.
I honestly expected the kiddos to last through 1, maybe 2 races before they were ready to go. Instead, they were ready to stay longer, but we had a commitment back in Little Rock and had to leave early. B was probably a little TOO intrigued at the fact that he could bet and *make* money on horse races. He kept begging us to make bets for him, although I don't know that he actually understood the concept of LOSING that money if the horse didn't win. I'm sure he'll figure that one out eventually.
At any rate, it was a really relaxing Friday for all of us, and we all needed it. The last few weeks at work had been in-freaking-sane, so a bit of downtime was greatly needed.
At any rate, I'll see if I can't back to this a bit more here and there. If I can think of anything interesting to talk about besides work, exercise, wash, rinse, repeat...
I haven't been spending much time on the computer at night - we're at the baseball/softball fields at least 3 nights a week right now, which doesn't leave a lot of 'free' time. Not that there was any to begin with.
Job = going well.
Exercising = meh. I have a half marathon I'm gonna run this weekend in Fayetteville, and after that, I think I'll hang up the long runs for the summer.
It's been such insanity here, it's been hard to think of anything to write about that is more than "what I did today."
Although ... I did take off work last Friday, and J and the kids and I went over to Hot Springs for the day. We actually felt the hot water coming from the springs - it was pretty damn hot! I didn't realize it was 130F. We also ate at McClard's BBQ (spectacular), and hit the horse races for the afternoon.
I honestly expected the kiddos to last through 1, maybe 2 races before they were ready to go. Instead, they were ready to stay longer, but we had a commitment back in Little Rock and had to leave early. B was probably a little TOO intrigued at the fact that he could bet and *make* money on horse races. He kept begging us to make bets for him, although I don't know that he actually understood the concept of LOSING that money if the horse didn't win. I'm sure he'll figure that one out eventually.
At any rate, it was a really relaxing Friday for all of us, and we all needed it. The last few weeks at work had been in-freaking-sane, so a bit of downtime was greatly needed.
At any rate, I'll see if I can't back to this a bit more here and there. If I can think of anything interesting to talk about besides work, exercise, wash, rinse, repeat...
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