So, is this the spring that everyone is hoping for? It's been cold, pissing rain and windy - the worst conditions for a softball game. The last time we met this team, we got killed 15-4, so since this is the game that we had four missing players, I was expecting a similar, if not worse, result. However, my overall impression of the game was we did really well considering the circumstances. Going into the 4th inning, we were winning 6-4 and pretty much dominating the game. Then Lucy, our pitcher, tosses one and their hitter (luckily it was a female batter) line-drives it back straight at her and hits her on the side of her face. Lucy went down like a bag of bricks (although, I don't think you can get them in bags...) The game stops for about 20 minutes while she is being looked at and while we're waiting for the ambulance. She managed to walk off (barely) on her own strength and Dino, our coach/team-administrator went with her to the hospital. Last we heard, which was about an hour later, they were still in emergency waiting to be seen by a doctor. And she was pitching so well up until then... Good luck Lucy - we'll try and hold the fort until you get back. From that point on, the team just kind of fizzled. Our replacement pitcher walked the next 6 batters (which means two runs scored on walks) and they hit their 5-run maximum. We played another inning and a half but just could not get it going again. We lost the game 10-6.

After the game, "A" and I watched "The Incredibles", which is quite possibly Pixar's best one yet. The action sequences and subtle humour of some of the characters is really funny. Can you say "Sequel"?? I'm sure I'll watch it at least several more times before the next one.

Big weekend coming up as we're going to go see "V" and "B" in their church play. "V" has a lead role in which she'll sing a couple of songs and has some dialogue and "B" is the Robo-Scarecrow... I'm already proud of them for being in it but am really looking forward to seeing it. There will DEFINITELY be lots of picture taking so that I can post 'em up (although since I don't have my computer hooked up, it may be a while...)

ok, well yesterday's game certainly was interesting... Actually, it was more the preamble than anything else. My buddy Steve and I have this on-going joke where I keep reminding him about his shoes (he had forgotten them once before going to badminton so I keep razzing him about it). Anyways, after work, I head over to my old apartment to pick up some last minute things and I'm driving on my way to the apartment to pick up my softball gear before meeting Steve at his work. Well, 20 minutes before I'm supposed to meet him, I get this phone call saying he had locked his keys in his trunk... (wang!!!! Now I have to bug him about his shoes AND his keys...) So I turn the car around, pick him up at his work, rush to his place, to look for his spare key - but he can't find it. So we rush back to his work, I call CAA to have them come to unlock his car door, they come after 45 minutes, he rushes to the game, I rush home (I mean RUSH!!!) to pick up my stuff (by the way, I've still got all my last minute things in the car so things are moving all over the place....) and rush back to the field. I get to the field 40 minutes late, we're in the 3rd inning and losing 4-2. My first at bat, I get a double (it was really a safe single but I was feeling particularly aggressive, so I ran a little harder and beat the throw), next batter - a new guy, obviously inspired by my base-running (yeah, right!) - crushes one over the fence and we're all tied up. Next couple at-bats, I get two singles and drive a couple of people in, but our whole team played really well, and we managed to pull ahead and stay ahead. Final score 9-5... so we are now 4 and 1 and in second place.

And what does Steve do now? This morning he left for Myrtle Beach on his annual golf weekend with work guys, actually 3 work guys from the softball team. So the next game we play will be VERY interesting - apart from playing the 1st place team, four of our regulars won't be there... (sigh!)

wow! What a weekend - lots of things so let's get started. Friday night, I managed to pack the last few boxes and Saturday morning moved all of my stuff with my buddy Steve. I have now moved in again with my honey. And then Saturday afternoon, went to go see "Revenge of the Sith", which was a very good movie, with Steve and "A". It was very cool to see all the loose ends get tied up and to see how Darth Vader came into being... Now, I'm not a HUGE Star Wars fan but it was definitely a fun movie to watch.

Sunday afternoon, I had my referee clinic where I received my shirt, socks and red/yellow cards. I also got confirmation that I got 99% on my exam (the one question I got wrong was a stupid question anyways...). We did a little review of the rules and then also went over proper referee etiquette. Looking forward to my first game and then giving my first card....

Sunday night, I had my first soccer game and we crushed them 6-0. EVERYONE (on both teams) was very rusty - passes were off, timing was off and there was a lot of heaving breathing from the running. Of course, it didn't help that it was 4 degrees!! At 2-0 we had a throw-in in their end and (as some of you know) I have a pretty decent throw. I tossed it right to my center half who headed it in. 5 minutes later, another throw-in but this time one of my defense came up and flicked it to my center half and popped it in... My third assist, came after just tipping it away from one of their defenders who ran into my shoulder and then off we went to score... it was a good game to start the season off. The second team I play for starts this week as well, so I'm going to need to continue running to stay in shape. The mind is willing but the legs aren't there yet...

Getting ready for softball game #5 tonight...

Yeah baby!!! What a game... everyone on the team was on fire... I managed to hit a home-run and a couple of singles but more importantly we slaughtered the other team. And the funny thing was last week we had seen this team play and they killed the other team. So, naturally, I figured we were in for a tough game. But it didn't turn out that way...

I also got word that Jaden (my little dynamo...) got 2 goals in their 3-0 win in his last game. First goal came after 15 seconds, second goal a minute after that and then the other team realized they should put someone on him for the rest of the game... oh, and no cartwheel after his goals this time.... what a ham....

Looking forward to an awesome weekend coming up. It's gonna be a busy one so stay tuned to get the update...

Well, tonight was a really exciting game... Bottom of the 7th, we were leading 9-6 - their first batter, gets on base... next batter cranks one out of the park - two run homerun - arg!!! So now we're at 9-8... Their next batter (kind of a beefy guy) gets up and hits two foul balls and then strikes out!! PHEW!!!! then their next batter hit into our second baseman and game over... talk about a nail biter... when their batter hit the home run, I thought we were going to lose it... but luck was on our side and we managed to pull through... regardless of the fact that I totally sucked tonight, it was an enjoyable game... I am now wallowing in my self-pity eating Cheetos....

Had a good weekend with the kids. Naturally, we did the usual wrestling and Nintendo playing (I tried playing the GameBoy Advance but it's really tough...) We also did a round of mini-golfing. On the first hole, "J" gets a hole-in-one, so I'm thinking he's going to beat us all, but then he started fooling around and not hitting too serious. He ended up getting a 71 (on a par-38). "B" got a 63 (he started playing better as the game went on) and I shot a 45 (if it wasn't for that 5 and 6, I could have had par....)

Got a call from my soccer coach and we may be playing in an exhibition later this week to get ready for the season. And there are two softball games this week. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep up my average. Ideally, I'd like to stay above .400.

The movie trailer is now available for "The Greatest Game Ever Played", which you can access here. Looks to be a pretty good movie - I can't wait...

Awesome!! Tonight was a great win for our team. The rules are we can only score a maximum of 5 runs per inning... Inning 1 and 2, we got 5 runs in each... so we were looking at a 10-1 lead by the third inning... then we just kind of relaxed - but it was a good thing we ran out of innings. Going into the last inning, we were winning 14-7. Now, the last inning is usually an "open" inning in which the team can score any number of runs. However, luckily they only got 5 runs or else that would have been a real embarrassing loss... I almost managed to hit for the cycle - just needed a homerun to complete it... oh well - plenty of games to try....

Last night's softball game was pretty interesting. I was second in the batting order and for my first at-bat, I lined a shot directly to their shortstop - all he had to do was open his glove. Oh well, at least I connected. Then, after 2 innings, we were down 8-1 and just as we were about to go up to bat, the lights in the park turn off... (unreal - and we pay tax dollars for these kinds of screw-ups...) We waited 20 minutes for someone from the city to finally come back to the park and turn them back on. When they finally did come on, we got a few more runs but they also got several more runs. But since we lost some time waiting for the lights, we only played 5 innings (normal game is 7). Final score: 15-4. But that's ok - it was the first game of the season so we're (ehem!) ironing out the kinks.

I've managed to finish off the photo album (link at right) and I've also added the latest Sports Results (at left).

Got my "official" notification that I passed the referee exam (which I new anyways). My practical evaluation is in a couple of weeks.

Jaden played his first soccer game yesterday and, although his team lost 4-3, "J" scored all 3 goals!! woohoo!!

So, I've taken up a new hobby (yup! yet another one!) This summer I decided to try my hand at softball. I played MANY years ago as part of a high-school team but never as part of a team as an adult. Should be fun and I'm really looking forward to it. I'll be playing on my buddy Steve's work-team as part of an airline/transportation league. We had a practice on Tuesday and before the practice I expected to be in pain from throwing it so much. But surprisingly, it felt pretty good - a little stiff but it has recovered completely and I'm ready to go. (N.B. At left is a picture of my friend Steve...)

So sports fans! because of yet another sports hobby added to the list, I'll be adding a little "Latest results" section (probably on the right-hand side). This will show the result of the latest game, which will either be soccer (for either of the two teams I will play on), softball, or referee-ing (to show if I gave any cards or if anything exciting happened). Stay tuned...

(and pictures of my little angels and my honey will also be coming soon....)

Had my referee clinic exam yesterday and after taking the exam we went over all of the questions to review everything. I got one question wrong on a minor technicality but overall I was pleased with the result. I'll get the "official" mark in a week or so, but I believe I will get 98 or 99% - not too bad, eh? Next thing to look forward to is the practical review and then it'll be games.

Saw "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" on the weekend - was not impressed. I found the action to be very slow and some of the jokes very lame. The one part I did like was the manically-depressed robot. This was a seriously depressed robot.

I also have some updated photos which I should be able to post very soon...

What a great tournament. We didn't get the result we were hoping for, but the team played pretty well. On Saturday, we took 2 out of 3, to advance to the quarterfinals on Sunday morning. On Sunday morning, we played against a team we hadn't seen before (they were in another division). At the end of regulation, it was tied 0-0. So we go to shots right away. First off, is the 5-shots. We were down by two goals but Benny our ever-reliable keeper saved the last two shots and, so, it was tied 3-3. Then it goes to sudden-death shots (keep shooting until one team misses and the other team scores). I get up (I'm the 8th shooter) and bury it in the top left corner (what a relief since last year in the Labour-day tourney, the goalie saved my shot....). But their player scored as well. Next shooter, our guy missed the net and their player scored. End of game. Crap.... oh well - there's always next year, right? Right....

But because we were out so early, I managed to get back to Montreal in time for my referee-clinic. For this summer, I decided I would try my hand at being a ref. I've reffed games for tournaments and things but not as part of a league. So this year should be pretty interesting. I'll be a referee for Dollard and then next year, I hope to move up to the Lac St. Louis league to be a referee for Inter-City games. There are a several grades and a bunch of levels in between (don't completely understand them yet) so I'll just ref as many games as I can and then see where that takes me. Just another hobby....

Well, sports fans - it's confirmed!! There is a second Cornwall tournament which is happening this coming weekend. Got the call from my coach and we're back on. I just hope we do a LOT better than the last one. I should be feeling better by then too so that should help. I'll also be super-hydrating myself.

Found out that Lyric Theatre is looking for Baritones for their June concert. they're an awesome group. "A" and I went to hear their Christmas concert down at Ogilvy's and they did really well. But I think I'm going to have to pass as it will be too busy around that time. "V" has her play (in which she's the lead role!!!), and it's also her birthday that weekend, and since I'm getting ready to move, I need the time to get my boxes and pack and everything. I can't use the time to practice for a show...

Saturday night a group of us (about 30) went to see the Ottawa Savoy production of Patience. This would be interesting since LLO will be putting Patience on in 2006, so "in theory" this would be a good opportunity to see a production. Well, the show was anything but traditional. I think overall it was entertaining, but definitely not a G&S show. The majority of the songs were re-written with contemporary words and for some reason they had a fixation on "The Mikado" because they cameo-ed 4 songs into Patience (probably because they had performed it last year). However, I think the biggest let down was the solo sung by Patience in the second act - they did it in a jazz-style. This is normally a beautiful song and the best I have EVER heard it done was by Ellen Edwards at Montreal-West. Her voice was the purest voice I had ever heard. So I was looking forward to hearing it again. But what I heard was not at all the same thing. Anyways, the Ottawa show was definitely unique and reminded me of McGill productions. Next year they're putting on Pinafore - we'll see what they do to that one...

Double arg!!! Well, our indoor season is over. On Thursday, we managed to win the second semi-final game to force the third mini-game. With 30 seconds left, and we were leading 5-4, they scored a real cheap goal that tied it up. If it stayed like this we'd be out and they'd be in since they would have had a win and a tie. But we pressed on and with 8.6 seconds left, my buddy Danny, working along the boards slid the ball to me and I popped it in - giving us the win! We all went nuts as we managed to stay alive! But then in the third semi-final game, we just had no more gas left in the tank and lost the game 2-0.

Earlier today, we went to Cornwall to play in their annual tournament. On paper, we had a strong team and we were expecting to go far in the tournament. First game was at 7:30am and we lost 4-1. We played terrible. Vowing to do better in the second game (at 9:00), we lost that one 3-0... In that game we played even worse. In between games, we managed to see the other games, and when we watched the two teams that we played against, play each other we were amazed at how bad they were. We just could NOT believe we lost to them. The third game, we won 6-0. If only we had played that game first....

Good news is.... there may be another tournament next weekend. Hopefully, that will work out - We had BETTER do better...

arg.... well last night's game was extremely poor. We lost - got killed is more like it. 9-4 was the final score. We actually tied it at 3, but for some reason, some people on the team just don't like to run. Benny, our goalie, played really well. The score could have been a LOT higher but good ol' Ben kept us in it by making amazing saves. There's only so much he can do with 2-on-1's and 2-on-0's... Luckily, we've got next week to try and redeem ourselves. We HAVE to win next week - I know we can beat these guys and it would totally suck if they advanced and our season was over.

This weekend should be a lot of fun. I'm going to try and finish the behind-the-scenes programming for this blog/journal thing and I hope to be able to introduce an RSS feed. On the right-hand side of the screen you'll see the Latest News. I have figured out how to extract certain articles from news sites, so I want to finish that this weekend. Saturday night will be dinner with some friends of ours and Sunday, I've got my refereeing clinic and then dinner at my little sis's place. Her in-laws will be in town. We haven't seen them for a couple of years so it will be nice to see them again.

My first entry... so, I've finally decided to keep a small journal... This past weekend, I played in the Midnight-Massacre up at the Laval Sportplexe. We lost both games 4-1 (I scored our goal) and 5-1. I am now looking forward to playing the semi-finals this week. It'll be a home-and-home series, so we play 2 games. If both games are tied, we play a 3rd mini-game. I think it'd be nice to win....

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