Memorial Day Weekend This and That

Just to catch up...

I like Memorial Day. I'm moved by the commemorations. A 3-day weekend is always nice, but the holiday itself seems important to me.
Of course, I also like Labor Day, and for the same reasons. Sorry if that confuses my Republican readers.
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I PAID to go to the Bats' game tonight. I wish I knew someone important who worked there.
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Softball: We won 16-3 Wednesday. From what I've observed, we are the by far the best team in both leagues. I hope that's accurate, because as one of the 3 board members responsible for the lineup, I've just about decided we can be quite free with playing time and still be successful. And that would make my job a lot easier.

I'm happy with the lineup tinkering our all-new board had done so far. The batting order has been easy. Everybody but me is hitting great.
Defensively, we've moved two or three people around. They are all performing well and seem happy. I think those two facts are not unrelated. They seem to like being where they are on the field.

That all makes me less upset about my own hitting, too.

A couple of years ago I reviewed approximately three years' worth of stats and noted that I basically hit better when the rest of the team was hitting poorly. My batting average was noticeably higher when we scored fewer than 10 runs. So I sincerely hope I have very few reasons to hit well this year.
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I don't think *God wants me to fix my golf swing. 99% of today was beautiful and sunny. Around 3:30 I decided to hit some balls. I left home at 3:40 and caught a downpour that lasted about 20 minutes- exactly as long as it took for me to get involved in something else.
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Two weeks ago I finished a book 2 hours before bed-time. When I went to bed I wanted to read something for 20 minutes or so before I turned out the light. That wasn't enough time to get involved in something new, so I picked up the first Harry Potter book. I've now zoomed through the first 4 again and just started the 5th.

I'm sure I'll finish all seven before I start something new. And then I'm storing the Potter series in a closet so I'm not tempted again.

I'm not a huge fan of Rowling's craftsmanship. Every quote comes with an adverb. Hermione 'beams' way too often, and all the action is entirely too dependent upon vague adjectives (astounding, wonderful, incredible, and such). The story, however, is astoundingly (oops) good. I extend hearty, jealous kudos to Ms. Rowling for that.



*Brian, I haven't abandoned my atheism. I'm still an athiestic zealot, if that isn't a contradiction. Feel free to substitute "Ben Hogan" for "God" if it makes you more comfortable.