Happy Birthday to Mark, and then other, much less important stuff

Brother, I wish you a very happy 40th birthday.

You are one amazingly hoopy frood, Mark. You are such a good dad and all-around decent person, and you are a really cool guy who is great fun to hang out with. What more could a brother ask for?

Plus you have an incredible wife and wonderful kids, so what's not to like?

(I haven't read any Hitchhikers' stories in a long time and I have no idea why the 'hoopy frood' phrase popped into my head, but it seemed appropriate.)

__________________________
Softball doubleheader info very quickly, then a quick bite to eat because I've just realized I'm very hungry, then bed:

We won both games, which is great.

Two more injuries, which is getting ridiculous, and also scary.

Jim couldn't play because he has somehow injured his knee without doing anything. It sucks to be old, I guess. I wouldn't know, though, because on my first swing after my 38th birthday I hit a triple.

Then tonight our shortstop collided with our left fielder and took a very frightening knee to the head. He left the game obviously concussed. (****I think he's okay, see below****)
At least it gave me another chance to show how very young I am. I played one inning at shortstop, started a double play to get the first two outs, then threw the next guy out at first. As a board member, I intend to do everything in my power to not play shortstop again so that my stat line at the position reads: one inning, three assists, zero errors.

Tomorrow has all the makings of a very ugly night. We play a tough opponent and will again be lacking lots of quality players. As a board member, all season I've been prepared to-and felt obligated to try to- get guys playing time at my expense. But instead we are struggling to field a team and I find myself playing three positions in one game as a result of constant juggling.

____ ***I posted this and then 5 minutes later realized I should provide at least as much info as possible on the concussed player: Jimmy stayed on the bench with ice until the game ended, then immediately left with his wife and kids to get himself checked out. I'd guess he will be fine but I plan on calling him tomorrow morning to check.
It was an ugly play on a shallow fly ball, and I feel sure it wouldn't have happened if I had been at third base as usual instead of first base. Neither fielder called the other off because neither was sure they had it, so they both kept going for it. Whenever I see that situation-and it happens quite a lot- I look and see who has the best shot and call the other off myself. But nobody said a word tonight.

Thanks for the birthday wishes. I had a wonderful birthday weekend.

Friday night I saw "Romeo and Juliet." I liked it quite a lot, despite the fact that folks in the neighborhood shot off more than a few bottle rockets that evening. Also, I have a sneaking suspicion that Mr. Shakespeare might have stolen some of his ideas from "West Side Story." I just wish Officer Krupke had been able to keep those dangerous poisons and weapons off the streets of Verona.

Saturday I went to Ron's cook-out. The weather could not have been much worse- most of the day was spent crowded in the garage. But they are wonderful hosts and we had a great time. We played a few rain-plagued games of washers, ate a lot, and saw a spectacular backyard fireworks show that wowed the kids. During the fireworks Lauren Meyer told her mom and dad "THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!" so I guess it was pretty good.

Sunday Jim, Ron, Mike and I played golf at Belterra, saw another fireworks show (I know my birthday is a big deal, but I was surprised by the number of people who celebrated with fireworks), ate a terrific buffet, and did well at the casino.

This morning we teed off late because of heavy fog and the wet course, then played 16 more holes before we had to call it quits and get back to town.

All in all we terrific time.
*******
Evening addition: Tonight, just as the post-4-day-weekend blues were hitting- I was taking care of bills and thinking about work tomorrow and worrying about a doubleheader tomorrow with lots of injured or unavailable softball players- Mark and the girls called and sang Happy Birthday. Ta-da! Blues gone.

Oh, and Mom and Dad and Brian called, too. But they didn't sing.

My Year In Review

The REAL birthday season is in full swing.

As each calender year ends, newspapers, magazines, and tv programs fill up with retrospectives. It seems appropriate to do the same as my own 38th full year ends.

Here are some of my year's highlights.

Best book I read in the past year: City of Thieves.
Best movie I saw in a theatre: The Dark Knight.
Only movie I saw in a theatre: The Dark Knight.
Worst movie I saw in a theatre: The Dark Knight.
Favorite television series of the year: Chuck (I know, it surprises me, too).

Best meal: the first chili of the fall. I don't remember it, exactly, but the first chili of the fall is always the best meal of the year.

Most memorable weather: Windstorm Ike made for one fascinating day and one heck of a mess.

Neatest day: Thursday of the ice storm. My ice-coated neighborhood was beautiful and the damage was quite impressive. I took a long walk that afternoon- it was very neat, and probably very stupid since I was walking on solid sheets of ice and in constant danger from the frequent falling of tree branches. Still, though..

Three things I learned this year:
1) Don't try to 'tough it out' when the power goes out in January. 20 degree homes are not really fit for human habitation.
2) An extended hiatus from golf leads to lots more free time and a larger bank account.
3) Every married person on the planet
___ a)assumes I must be miserable because I live alone,
and b)wants to fix me up with a girl they know,
and c)thinks we'd really hit it off,
and d)apparently believes that if I don't have a girlfriend/wife/whatever it must be because I'm incapable of attaining one without their personal assistance.

Sorry. That's been getting a little aggravating lately.

I weigh 11 pounds less than I did on my 37th birthday. So barring a binge-eating episode of historic proportions, when my birthday arrives in a couple of days there will be about 5% less of me than there was last year.

Biggest news events of Kevin's 38th consecutive year on planet earth:
*) Obama's election.
*) The Large Hadron Collider failed to destroy the earth.
*) The monumentally greedy were finally exposed as con artists. We all pay the fine.
*) Michael Phelps' 8 gold medals proved that smoking pot was a great way to toughen up the lungs in preparation for Beijing's pollution.
*) Militants kill nearly 200 in Mumbai. Lots of Americans learn Bombay is now Mumbai.
*) The post-election protests in Iran.

Three words I would love to work into a conversation in the upcoming year:
*metagrobolize: to mystify
*adiaphoristic: theologically indifferent
*obambulate: to walk around or wander

The Culinary Post

Culinary comment number one: Once in a while as I'm preparing a meal I'll see it on the stove or plate and think, 'wow, that looks good enough to be in a cook book.' So this time I took a picture.
I guess I am sometimes bored on Sunday afternoons.

And it tasted great, especially over the basmati rice (not pictured).

Culinary comment number 2:Yesterday evening's trip to Kroger was timed poorly. Never go grocery shopping when you are craving junk. The cart gets filled with salt and sweets that are best avoided. Still, it led to an interesting discovery.

The Tostitos brand queso is, in my opinion, sub par. I buy it from time to time, but only because of good product placement and my distinctly American weakness for cheese and corn chips.

Last night I bought both the queso and the Tostitos creamy spinach dip. The spinach dip is mediocre, at best. But the queso and spinach dip mixed together is fantastic. It has now passed the test two nights in a row, so I'll recommend it.
______________________________
Softball Doubleheader
Game 1: We won 18-3.
Game 2: We lost 19-18. Our first loss, and my first league loss apart from our inexplicable Wednesday night losing streak.
It was an interesting game capped by a very interesting finish. We had runners on first and second, one out, down a run in the bottom of the seventh when our batter was ejected for arguing a strike call on a pitch that hit the plate. The third base coach replaced him. He was stuck in a lousy spot- not loose, and stepping in with a 2-2 count and the game on the line- and he grounded into a double-play. Darn.
I don't usually blame an umpire for a loss, but this time I will. He made a lousy call and he compounded it by tossing a player who had a reasonable complaint and did not go overboard with his remonstrations. Our guy had his say and was done complaining but the umpire egged him on, which is inexcusable to me.

School Zones

Update first: we won Sunday, 9-7. We won tonight 16-0. So my team has yet to lose in the Sunday night league, the Yogis are undefeated on Tuesdays, and we've lost four in a row on Wednesdays. Interesting, because all three leagues are of approximately the same quality. We just find a way to lose on Wednesdays.

Before tonight's game I got a chance to review the season's stats, which were tabulated sometime this week. The main reason was just to review how much playing time everyone had received, but all the stats were there.

My numbers were way down, which I already knew. But I also noticed that both my fellow board members had suffered a significant drop as well. That was interesting, and it didn't take me long to realize there was a connection.

Until this year, all three of us just showed up, got ready to play, and played. This year we spend most of our pre-game time fretting over who has not arrived, who needs to get in, who can play what position, etc. We spend very little time thinking about our own games. The time I used to spend swinging a bat and more or less thinking about the upcoming game is now spent making out a lineup, or worse, on the cell phone tracking down late arrivals.

It shows in the stats. I feel better realizing that, but I'm still not sure how to overcome it.

Ha Ha

I can't help being amused. Churchill Downs built this big new casino, er, clubhouse, which is wired to the hilt and all ready for slots and video gaming, and they can't get the go ahead. Ha ha.

"No, I do not know what Schadenfreude is. Please tell me, because I'm dying to know."

-Homer Simpson

I don't like being happy about it, but I am. I think I'm a typical Louisvillian who is proud of the Downs and has a proprietary feeling about it. I want the track to succeed. I see it as more than just a business.
But Churchill management certainly does not see it that way. So screw them.

I'm befuddled by the lack of moral consistency, anyway. I always have been.
The state says it's okay to bet on horse racing and buy (state-monopolized) lottery tickets (and play bingo as long as you don't smoke), but all other forms of gambling are illegal.

And that will apparently remain the law, even though the governor and a sizeable faction of the representatives tried to adjust it to "a couple of other forms of gambling are okay, as long as it's done at a racetrack and some of the proceeds go to promoting horse racing."

I obviously have no problem at all with legalized gambling, but I also have no serious beef with people who believe it's immoral and should be against the law. I'm just confused by the state-sanctioned argument that a few arbitrary forms of gaming are okay and the rest are not.