Categories
Books

The DaVinci Code

The DaVinci CodeSomeone shared a list of 100 books or so that the average person has only read no more than 6 of. While I was over the lists claim of 6 books read, I did notice quite a bit that I hadn’t read.

Near the top of the list of popular books was The DaVinci Code. I hadn’t read that nor seen the movie, so now was a fine time to give it a shot. I recall it was quite the rage a number of years ago and I did read it’s sequel, The Lost Symbol which was pretty good.

It was pretty solid stuff. While I had a basic idea of the books formula, it was still pretty interesting. I was a little surprised at whom turned out to be the Teacher and what the grail was.

I’m kinda a bit excited that I figured to solve the one riddle by holding it to a mirror. Felt like a real super-sleuth for a bit.

Categories
Books

The Good Luck of Right Now

The Good Luck or Right Now

I felt like I had to read something that was a bit more on the positive side than zombie or end of the world stuff. Just needed to mix it up a bit.

With nothing specific in mind, I perused the new arrivals section at the library. My goal was to get something happy but not be a super girly book. From the titles and covers, this was looking to be a very daunting task.

After much indecision I figured I’d try The Good Luck of Right Now. It was blueish and seemed safe.

It turned out to be a pretty good book too. Not quite as happy as I was expecting, but still happiness was found in the end for some unlikely characters.

The whole philosophy behind the title was interesting and does seem to make sense at times. The format of letters written to Richard Gere was interesting as well. Strange at first, but you catch on to it in no time.

Easily my favorite part was the mecca to Cat Parliament. I did chuckle a bit at the grandness of it all and the excitement it brought.

Different, but a good break from the recent books I’ve read.

Categories
Sports

Shorthanded Improbable Kickball Victory

I do believe our victory over Pitches be Crazy last night was the finest athletic team effort I’ve ever been a part of. We were down a guy in the field all game, only started with 2 girls and had to take the out penalty, and played a fairly strong team.
Well in one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen, I watched us all take the field in the first missing 2 fielders giving them Grand Canyon sized gaps to kick to. With some amazing fielding we walked away giving up only 2 runs and would hold it to that until the very last inning. We won I believe 15-4 (though it may of been more for us) and all the ref could do was look at me like how is this really happening.
It was really awesome and I’m so proud that everyone gave it their all and played so well. It’d of been very easy to just assume that we couldn’t win with our lack of a proper roster.
A pretty amazing game.
Categories
Books

Pete Rose: An American Dilemma

Pete Rose An American DilemmaMy last trip to the library was right around the start of baseball season, so when I saw a new Pete Rose book I figured, why not? While I was a bit too young to know all the details of Pete Rose’s baseball scandals growing up, I was aware that they were going on. So I figured I could learn more about him and recall what all the fuss was about.

I did learn much about his early years and didn’t realize that he grew up right where he would end up playing the majority of his career. Besides his constant hustle which I knew all about, it must’ve been pretty exciting to have a local guy do so well for your team.

What did get a bit interesting was reading about the more modern Mr. Rose. I had no idea of his shady friends and even of his fairly recent reality TV show (didn’t sound too good). I’ve heard some negative stories from those who met him at card shows,etc. and a lot of it was matching up with what the author shared on him.

While I understand how wrong it is to bet on a sport that you are playing and playing/managing in, I can’t say I’m that surprised by his behavior. Not to justify it one bit, but athletes are extremely competitive individuals and for them to find themselves gambling a great deal doesn’t seem very unrealistic to me.

We treat them like their super beings and then eventually they begin to think that the rules of a typical person no longer apply to them. I’m surprised it doesn’t happy more often actually.

While the subject matter wasn’t incredibly interesting to me, the author did do and excellent job telling the story of Pete Rose’s rise and eventual fall from baseball.

Categories
Adventure

Scrabble Fun

scrabbleRecently I’ve found myself playing a great deal of Scrabble. Whether it’s head-to-head against the Shepherd (a very good player) or on my phone. Coming up with great words and getting high scores has really consumed me as of late

With our numerous battle the Shepherd and I have really noticed a marked improvement in both of our games. We both easily score over 250 a game now, and I hit 350 over the weekend!

Also of rather large note, we have scored Bingos (the use of all your tiles in a round) in 3 of our past 4 games! My 2 were with the words hipster and dentures. I was very proud of both feats.

We are now both looking into entering Scrabble tournaments to judge our skills against other advanced players. Apparently there are some big tournaments in Philly and Princeton that we are looking to check it.

Awesome game, and hoping to improve even more.

Categories
Sports

Kickball Opening Day Spring 2014

Easily on of my favorite times of year is the opening day of SJSL Spring kickball. The weather if finally starting to get nice again (even more grateful after this past winter), I welcome back teammates and say hello to opponents whom I haven’t seen in a little while. A great time.

While we still are staying with the majority of our past Honey Badgers kickball core, we do have some changes this season. Sitting out the Spring season are both Geoff and John B. As anyone who follows kickball knows, that’s quite a lot of talent to take from a team. Geoff has easily been one of the best kickers in the entire league, and John B. perhaps one of the best overall players.

New to the team this season are Dave and Meghan. Dave has been a most pleasant addition to our dodgeball roster and should bring a bit more speed to our lineup. Meghan played volleyball with us and as a fierce competitor will surely be a great addition to the team as well.

Our opening day opponent was the Fresh Kicks of Ball Air (clever name). While many of them we recognizable from past kickball seasons, they are a new franchise and we were eager to play them.

Unfortunately just a few hours before game time I found out that longtime Badger Kevin was unable to play. After frantically working my phone, I was able to get John B. to fill in on short notice much to the delight of the team (he’s a well liked teammate of course).

We did start off with a bit of rust defensively giving up 3 runs in the first inning. However, we did answer back rather swiftly tying it up in no time. From that point the game really turned into more of a traditional Honey Badger defensive struggle.

We would pick up a run, they would tie it back up, etc. Eventually late in the game we were able to tack on some extra runs giving us a 8-5 lead. Scarily in the top of the seventh our opponent would load the bases with no outs. With a little bit of luck and some heads up plays we someone we able to escape unscathed and held on for a 8-5 victory!

It was a great team victory with everyone contributing in a big way. Everyone seemed most pleased and seemed to have a good time. I do believe we will have a very competitive team this season and look forward to continued success.