Bad news Bears...

After 16 inglorious defeats (a coup attempt, a barrage of hate emails, and a stern talking to by a grouchy old umpire), the AAA Sun Devils of the San Clemente little league won their final game of the regular season 13 - 12.  Josh scored twice.  On to the tournament...

Coup d'moi

So the little league team is 0 and 13.  Feels like 0 and a gazillion.  Tuesday night's game was one of the sloppiest losses yet.  Fortunately, Josh wasn't a part of this fiasco, as he was getting his braces on.  We should have won, but the kids were lethargic and unfocused.  They were playing tight.  The weather was also generally crappy.  So I decided to cancel the next night's batting practice and regroup the kids at Saturday's practice.  Well, one of the parents had a k'nipshit.  "We need more practices.  In football, when it get's tough, the tough get going.  You've given up on the kids.  You shouldn't be coach anylonger".  He wanted me to step down.  He even tried to run his own practice.  I told him to chill, respect my decision, and that I resented his accusations.  Fortunately, my highly vocal assistant coach backed me up.  The other dad eventually backed down.  Just more stress for a thankless, time consuming job.  Good practice today, though.  Off to certain defeat tomorrow....

Literary Tuesday - Saltwater Buddha

A light quest for Zen and the perfect wave.  Left me thirsty.  It's the saltwater.  Seriously, it's a shame I'm so wimpy about the cold water because I'm looking forward to getting back out there (and hopefully, on a wave) in the near future.   I've also been reading White Tiger, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, and Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom.  I'm a busy beaver.

In the "What will they think up next" category, bacon in the waffles.  Bacon:  the king of all meats.  Starting work has been pushed back to at least Wednesday.  So, the bride and I went to San Diego's world famous Hash House a Go Go (now, also in Vegas) yesterday for some brunch.  Shared the sage fried chicken and waffle tower, with eggs.  A more gourmet, upscale version of Lo Lo's.  (pssst....Lo's is better, but it's not dining al fresco in San Diego).

Off to batting practice for the Oh and 6 Sun Devils.  Brutal.

The week in review

Mowed the lawn.

Saw a movie:  She's Out of My League.  It was mildly amusing.  Seemed like the movie was made with the sole purpose of employing a running "manscaping" joke.  Also, didn't really buy the chemistry between the two leads.

Little league game...don't ask.

Watched Parenthood...losing steam?  Or am I just not caring about the cliched characters.  Also, watched Pacific.  Slow start, will give it some time.  Loved Band of Brothers.

My car.  The right door stopped locking and the window stopped working.  Made an appointment with the dealer.  Daughter slammed the door.  All was ok.  Soon after "check engine light" came on.  Kept appointment.  It was the flux capacitor or magnutron or something.  Actually, it was the air intake meter.  Seriously.  I think they make this stuff up.

me:  do i need to fix that?
dealer:  you do if you want your check engine light to go off
me:  is it bad?
dealer:  short term, no; long term, yes
me:  well, what's it do?
dealer:  you're car is running lean
me:  I don't want to drive a fat car
dealer:  no, it's pumping too much air in the engine and not enough gas
me:  great, so I save on gas...

$630 later....$400 for the part, $200 for the labor, and $30 for a crab enchilada lunch at Javier's.  (On an aside, I just love that restaurant:  the food, the architecture, the architecture of the clientele.)  To top it all off, when I went to pick up the kids, the door and window stopped working again.  And, the window is stuck in the down position.  Hope it doesn't rain again.

Haven't heard anything about the job that I am supposed to start Monday.  Hope it's legit.

Go Go Greene

Just settling in after a whirlwind trip to the desert of my past.  After blowing off ll practice (they lost without me on Sunday, btw, so it isn't me....although I am the one who picked the team - no fantasy baseball for me this year), we had an uneventful drive to my P's house.  I was feeling congested and unfortunately missed my old neighbors' St. Pat's party (Steph went and didn't get home til 2).  Had Micky D's with the rest and played some RummyQ.  I must have been sick because my Dad won once.  Sunday had some Dunkin' Donuts and took the wife and kids to a Cubs/Angels spring training game in Tempe.  It was hot, steep and full of bees.  The kids got autographs of Larry Rothschild, the pitching coach, and some prospect named Chris Robinson.  Three innings and $80 in food later the kids had had enough.  The Cubs went on to win.  Took Cubby to visit his rock star brother, Bugsy.  Dinner at NYPD.  Monday:  had breakfast at OverEasy, took the kids to school, Chipotle and the hotel.  Played taxi service between the kids friends' houses - Perry's, Max, & Katies.  Had a nice dinner in a choice hotel - the Westin Kierland, thanks to shopper wife.  Drinks, picked up the dogs (thanks Mom & Dad....and how about my Dad, walking the beast after going on an all morning hike - impressive), and back on the road (mmm, Popeye's).  Think the desert air cleared my congestion.  Need to go back and be more liesurely next time.  Now packing for Atlantis.

p.s...hope to get back on track with literary tues, geni wed, and novel thurs. soon....

The week in review

Well, our Arizona company came and went.  A couple of Steph's lady friends and their daughters.  Jilly had a blast.  I survived the heightened estrogen levels.

Took the dogs to Laguna dog park.  Cubby had an especially good time (no, that's not Fozzie):

I had an especially good time riding the segway.  An hour and half of riding along the boardwalk and on the piers.  Quite fun at 12 m.p.h.  And no, didn't wipe out once.  Might have to get one.  Or an Ipad.

Well the San Clemente ASU Sun Devils are now 0-3.  After Josh struck out, he quit the team.  But on his second at bat, he got a hit.  So, he's back.  We were actually winning through 4 of the 6 innings, but then we fell apart.  My assistant is running the game on Sunday, so if we win, I know it's me.

Off to the accountant now.  That should be fun.

The week in review

Another largely uneventful week here in the OC, which is sometimes better than an eventful week.  It's still cold and damp, can't handle these 60's.....brrr.  More rain a'comin.  Jilly tried turning on the fireplace with the wall switch.  Only this house has a real, wood burning (ok, with a gas starter) fireplace, not the fake kind like at our previous abode.  Speaking of which, at least, we're not at the old Scottsdale house where the water heater pilot went, the tv lamp needs to be replaced, and a window won't shut.  Oh wait, $500 later, yeah, I had to cover that too.  At least their magnetron is holding up.  Will  have to check out the place when we go back to the 'Zona soon to visit the P's and the Flubbies.  Spring training is fully underway.  It's a new dawn.  The year of the Cubs.  It could happen.  Wait, probably not since I put money on them when I was in Vegas.  What's the deal, wasting 5 homers on their opening spring exhibition schedule.  Save some for the season.  Had a good batting practice last night.  Josh is less afraid in the batter's box and expressed an interest in more actively practicing his pitching, instead of camping in front of the xbox.  Actually, he's been a busy beaver with 2 auditions this week.  Hopefully, we'll get our first real game in tonight, freezing are butts off, playing on a bluff overlooking the ocean. Not too shabby.

All action, all of the time

    - the California state motto.

Earthquakes, aftershocks, and tsunamis, oh my.  Haiti, Japan and Chile.  More torrential rains and mudslides locally.  Jilly falling asleep (how does one sleep with all this action?) on her brother in the car.  And Josh letting her.  The apocalypse is near.  Could 2012 be accurate?  Begs the question:   why bother blogging?  To leave a written record for a future master race of armadillos or something?  Why is it that Mother Nature reacts so negatively shortly after The Amazing Race or Survivor film on location?  Maybe somebody really doesn't want my little league team to practice.  I'm just saying.  Jilly wonders, "Do they have earthquakes in California?"  Afraid so.  But no hurricanes, blizzards, or ha-boobs.  I could go for a hurricane from Pat O'Briens, right about now.  Jilly would like a blizzard from Dairy Queen.  Nobody wants a ha-boob.  Are the volcanoes and asteroids taking the day off?  Where is Super Cubby when you need him?  Oh yeah, aliens... Confused?  You won't be after this episode of Soap!

The Major: Let's synchronize our watches. It's now... 3-ish. 

---

Ingrid Svenson: You think I'm finished? 

Jessica Gatling Tate: No, Swedish. 

And now, a poem:

Earthquakes and tsunamis


Birth makes for new mommies


Haiti, Japan, and Chile


Fate can be awful silly

Spinning squid, twirling starfish

World like a whirling dervish

The week in review

The lovely bride's SUV, of the 2004 vintage, hit 170,000 miles today.  That's a lot of miles.  If you laid them from end to end, it would cover 170,000 miles.  Going to need a new car or three someday.

The good news this week is that I might have secured a sort of job.  One that gets me out of the house and meeting new guys.  Day trading with a group.  Could be interesting.  Bad news, I might have to skip out on my upcoming trip to AZ to see the P's and a Cubs spring training game.  Went to get fingerprinted today and they copied my license and social security number.  Kind of scary from an identity theft point of view.

Ran a good ll practice earlier in the week.  One of the coaches was overstepping a little bit, but I can deal, especially if he's going to sub-manage for me in the future.  Got a practice tomorrow and our first game that counts on Sunday.  Looks like a rainy weekend.  Come on rain!

License plate du jour:

So, wife and son were driving home from L.A. today, where son might have a second extra role on an upcoming Modern Family episode, when the I-5 was shutdown near San Clemente due to the following explosive news:  a grenade was found on the highway.  It's always something.

UPDATE:  The grenade has been detonated...purposely by the police.

More Cowbell

Firstly, I'd like to give a big shout out to my P's for watching the two animals....and my dogs.  Thanks for driving out.  Sorry the canines took time to settle down after we left and especially for the dukey in the bedroom.  Didn't get to spend enough time together.  More cocktails!  Didn't even get a game of scrabble in.  Anyway, will see them again in March.  Planning a pilgrimage to Ho Ho Kam.  Go Cubbies.  BTW, placed a twenty on the flubbies to win the whole shebang.

Drove home today.  Pretty straight and easy.  Loved taking the 241 all the way into Oso.  Good to be back from that sin-filled Gomorra.  Spent half our trip (when not giving back the ephemeral winnings), planning our next vacation--a trip to the Bahamas.  And now for a brief psychoanalysis:  this is how my brain works.  Need to focus more on living in the moment, and not on the next place I need to be.  Probably part of my (now mostly latent) type-A personality, but as a blogger I need to appreciate the moment and observe the minutia.  Stop and eat the roses.

Had ll practice today.  It was run by a former Met (boo, hiss) named Lindsey.  Boom boom practice (golf clap).  Raising the bar (and pressure) on me for future practices.  Half of our team is starting to get it going. Josh banged his knee before practice and was not 100% (more mentally than physically, I think).

Speaking of Josh, he went to his first boy/girl cotillion last night.  He did great and had a good time.  Sorry that we missed it.  His grandparents (and little sister) got a big kick out of it.

Guess what?! I've got a fever, and the only prescription... is more cowbell

Happy VD

Survived our first ll scrimmage today...if you count a 21-5 drubbing as surviving.  Josh, actually, did a good job pitching...not much velocity but got the ball over decently.  Coaching was exhausting.

Off to VD dinner at Peking Dragon, yum, with the family.  Steph is miffed, but as I tell her:  everyday is Valentine's when you're married to me.  Besides, we're off to a romantic Vegas getaway in two days.

p.s.:  Cubby ate a week's worth of Max's food in one sneaky sitting.