Friday, May 30, 2008

The extra point

Welcome to Friday Photo, a new feature where I share photos that I've taken with the world.

field goal tryThe Drillers kicker attempts an extra point in the second quarter of their game on May 24 against the Conroe Storm. Conroe went on to win the game 30-22.

Yes, folks. That's light from the sunset you see in the background there. Conroe plays an an open-air (albeit roofed) rodeo arena. It was brutally hot in there.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

These little shitheads got no respect for us old fogeys!

You all may have heard about Jay Bruce, the kid (and I mean it when I say kid) in Cincinnati that made a hella impressive MLB debut on Tuesday night.

I'm happy for him and all, but there's one problem: he makes me feel old.

For those that don't know, Jay's from Beaumont.

What most of y'all might not know is that I watched him playing little league alongside my little brother.

You see, up until now, I was used to seeing ballplayers in the majors that were older than me. This is the first time I know of that I've been put in my place, so to speak, and watched a player that's younger than me out there on the field.

Nevermind the fact that the person who does it to me is someone I watched play in little league.

gmbmbadge.jpgIt's quite humbling.

In all seriousness, I wish all the best to Jay (whenever he's not playing the Astros of course)

RANDOM FACTOID: The Astros are 75-41 against the Reds since 2001, and have won the season series in every year of that span except 2006.

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Sunday, May 25, 2008

In which my temper is analyzed

Welcome to Stupid Quiz Sunday, in which I'll take an online quiz that may or may not be stupid and post the results.

Your Wrath Quotient: 57%
Ouch! You've got a bit of a temper going on there, don't you?
Just make sure to keep your revenge fantasies just that... fantasies only!

I DO NOT HAVE A TEMPER YOU IDIOT! TAKE THAT BACK NOW BEFORE I SLASH YOUR TIRES!!!

Oh dear, I don't know what got ahold of me there.

Have you taken this quiz? Have a quiz you want me to take? Leave a link in the comments.

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Saturday, May 24, 2008

Saying hey to the fans

Welcome to Friday Saturday Photo, a new feature where I share photos that I've taken with the world.

greeting the fansOne of the Drillers players interacts with some fans during their game May 17th. The Drillers went on to defeat the replacement Port Arthur Hurricanes 75-0

The Drillers were playing an outdoor semi-pro team, the Port Arthur Hurricanes, after the team they were scheduled to play failed to make the trip.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

An open letter to Twitter

Dear Twitter,

Your service sucks ass. Three days in a row it breaks. That's just pathetically sad.

I wish I could quit you...

Sincerely,
Justin

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Tuesday, May 20, 2008

The night in which I'm reminded I am, in fact, not a great hitter

Tonight I got sent back to earth.

Due to having just enough guys, I was in for all of both games.

First game didn't do much, 2 K's and a groundout.

Second game, well, that one's a story.

We let in three runs in the top half of the inning, but put it together in the top half to bat around and get seven across the plate. I did my part late in the lineup by getting a two-out walk with the bases juiced, waling in two runs. Remember, in co-ed a man gets to go to second on a walk and, with two outs, the woman batting behind him can take first automatically if she chooses. She did.

After a pitching change, my brother came up to the plate and hit me and whoever was on third in.

My next AB I grounded into a fielder's choice and advanced to second on a single by the next batter before an inning-ending grounder.

There was about 5 minutes left on the clock and we were up 11-3. All of us are thinking "just get three outs." We'd already sat the other team down

Uh, yea, well that didn't happen. They mounted a furious comeback and ended their half of the inning up 12-11.

I was leading off the bottom half. I hit a fly to right-center that dropped in for a single. The batter after me grounded out and I was forced out at second on a grounder my brother hit.

That turned into a good thing.

My brother ended up scoring from first on a hit by the next batter, something he wouldn't have done if he'd had my slow ass in front of him, for the tying run. The next hitter hit a deep fly that dropped, practically allowing the winning run to walk in from second.

We won it 13-12! What a game!

I decided to do my stats for the season:

BA: .333 (3-9) OBP: .455 (5-11) 1B: 3 BB: 2 K: 2 RBI: 3

Nothing spectacular, but it's better than I've done in the past.

We're off next week for Memorial Day, then we've got three more weeks in the season.

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Sunday, May 18, 2008

Those folks that say I talk too much are so wrong and here's the proof

Welcome to Stupid Quiz Sunday, in which I'll take an online quiz that may or may not be stupid and post the results.

Do you talk too much in your blog?
OnePlusYou Quizzes and Widgets

Can't say I'm really all that surprised by the results...

Have you taken this quiz? Have a quiz you want me to take? Leave a link in the comments.

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Saturday, May 17, 2008

I felt sick just watching this

Sure I hadn't eaten at Beaumont's Baytown Seafood since November after they got a bad grade from the health inspector, but this just convinced me to never go there again:

A Beaumont restaurant owner is denying allegations that he re-served food that had already been on other customers' plates.

However, a former manager of Baytown Seafood on College Street says she's seen it happen with her own eyes, and that's not the only thing she's concerned about.

You can watch the video here.

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Friday, May 16, 2008

Proof that my readers aren't the only people who think I'm crazy

Welcome to Friday Photo, a new feature where I share photos that I've taken with the world.

Me down at Petey's level:

Petey looking at me funny What the HELL are you doing? 

I really don't know Petey, I really don't know.

I feel somewhat humiliated posting this photo, seeing as there's something from whatever I had for lunch that day on my chin. Oh well.

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Thursday, May 15, 2008

Someday, ants will rule the world

"Crazy" ants are in Houston:

In what sounds like a really low-budget horror film, voracious swarming ants that apparently arrived in Texas aboard a cargo ship are invading homes and yards across the Houston area, shorting out electrical boxes and messing up computers.

The hairy, reddish-brown creatures are known as "crazy rasberry ants" — crazy, because they wander erratically instead of marching in regimented lines, and "rasberry" after Tom Rasberry, an exterminator who did battle against them early on.

Well, at least they do something that I don't mind much:

The good news? They eat fire ants, the stinging red terrors of Texas summers.

I can't say that it's really a good thing considering the rest of the stuff I'm reading about these pesky little buggers.

Seriously, ants like these will rule the world someday.

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Wednesday, May 14, 2008

My hot bat shows me just how out of shape I am

Well, softball picked back up on Monday after a week got rained out.

We lost both games by fairly wide margins, but I think I had an OK night.

I came in about halfway through the first game but never got an at bat. There was a throw to me that I "let pass by me" because I "knew it would bounce off the fence and go to the catcher."

Hey, it sounds good, right?

Anyway, I started the second game and was put in the leadoff spot. As I said, "Y'all got too much faith in me." We were batting first so I started out at the plate. I hit a grounder towards the second basemen that I should have been out on, but the first sacker had her foot on the orange base instead of the white one, meaning I was safe.

In slow pitch, there's the normal white base and an orange one right next to it in foul territory. It's set up that way to avoid having collisions on close plays like that, as the first basemen takes the white bag as the baserunner runs for the orange one.

That's the first call I've ever seen argued in my years playing softball, and I can understand why as I was sure I was out.

I got moved up to second by the next batter but was tagged out as the front end of a double play ball hit right at the third basemen.

An inning or two later, I got another at bat, being told that after the AB they'd take me out for someone else. Since I don't really care about how much playing time I get as long as I get some, I was happy.

I hit the ball to about the same place as the first time, but not as hard. This time I legitimately beat out the throw. Again I was moved up to second by the next hitter. The next batter I took off running to third. I swear the guy we had in as first base coach was telling me to go at first and then said something to the tune of "NO, NO, STOP!"

It was too late for that. I rounded third, figuring as hard as I was running I would have been halfway home before I could have slowed down my momentum enough anyway. The throw was in time to the catcher, but the catcher dropped it, allowing me to cross the plate safely for a run.

It's about the time I used the backstop to stop myself that I realized just how out of shape I was. I walked over to the bleachers and just laid down for a few minutes to catch my breath.

Thank goodness I didn't have to go back into the field.

Wonder if they'll have me bat leadoff next week...

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What happened over the weekend

Do you want to read about my trip to Dallas on Saturday to see the Drillers play?

If you do, click here.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

MySpace makes me want to blow chunks all over Tom

Welcome to Stupid Quiz Sunday, in which I'll take an online quiz that may or may not be stupid and post the results.

How Much Do You Hate Myspace?
Created by OnePlusYou

For the record, the number it gave me is 66% filled with hate for MySpace.

Have you taken this quiz? Have a quiz you want me to take? Leave a link in the comments.

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Friday, May 09, 2008

Whoring out my links

Welcome to Friday Photo, a new feature where I share photos that I've taken with the world totally botch the whole idea behind this feature for the sake of shameless promotion.

This week I'm not posting a photo here.

Why, you ask?

Because a good chunk of the photos I took while at the last Drillers game are posted in a gallery on that little website I've been working on.

Normal Friday Photo content shall return next week.

Updated: Rule number one of online surveys

If you leave a goofy answer as an option, a good chunk of participants are going to pick said goofy answer.

I said they should "fill it with water and stock it with fish."

Update: When I'd scheduled this post, half of the people responding had selected the last option. Seems to have leveled out a little now.

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Thursday, May 08, 2008

That's quite a big hole ya got there, son

Daisetta: getting a hole to China?

DAISETTA — The nervous vigil at a huge sinkhole that mysteriously opened in this Liberty County town on Wednesday -- and grew rapidly throughout the day -- is continuing early today as county officials hand off oversight of the emergency to the Texas Railroad Commission.

The sinkhole, which appeared near the center of Daisetta on Wednesday morning and grew to four football fields in diameter and 200 feet deep by nightfall, did not grow severely during the night and no evacuations have yet been ordered, a Liberty County sheriff's official said today.

I must say, the pictures of this are quite impressive. The size alone is just baffling.

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Sunday, May 04, 2008

Updated: I now know what Purgatory is like

Purgatory is like the Stars game I'm watching right now.

They've just begun the 4th OT period and there's no sign of either side giving up anything.

Yep, this is what it's like.

UPDATE: Apparently I got heaven. Stars win 3-2!

Good eatin'

Welcome to Stupid Quiz Sunday, in which I'll take an online quiz that may or may not be stupid and post the results.

How many cannibals could your body feed?
Created by OnePlusYou

Have you taken this quiz? Have a quiz you want me to take? Leave a link in the comments.

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Saturday, May 03, 2008

Blogging may be light

Blogging may be light for a while as I'm putting a lot of effort into getting a new Drillers fan site up and running.

Sorry for the incontinence.

Friday, May 02, 2008

The grill man

Welcome to Friday Photo, a new feature where I share photos that I've taken with the world.

This shot's from the pre-game tailgate before the last Drillers game:

tailgating

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I really ought to wear a chest protector

So I finally remembered to write about softball this week.

I really didn't do that much.

We won the first game, but I can't remember the score. It was a game where it looked like we were going to get clobbered then we wound up batting around and then some one inning, giving us the lead.

After that inning I got put in at third base and got some action, though not the kind I'd prefer. Fighting the setting sun right in my face, it wasn't a friendly place to be playing. The other team had folks on first and second. Their batter hit a grounder and the 2B threw it to me.

I didn't see it coming and the ball hit me squarely in the chest. Before you ask, I'm fine.

Thankfully I redeemed myself a little by grabbing the ball once it hit the ground on one knee and touching the bag with my other hand to get the force. Embarrassing, but I got the out. Had another throw to me later that I saw coming but didn't get a glove on.

Second game was interesting. I got put in the field on a temporary basis after one of our teammates had a ball one-hop her in the mouth. Her boyfriend (I think he is anyway) helped her get cleaned up and stuff so the ump let us put in someone to fill in while that was getting taken care of. I was in the field for about two at bats then came out.

Don't worry, she'll be fine.

Last inning of this game I get put in to hit. Two outs with us down pretty big. I worked the count to 3-2 then got pretty solid contact on one, but I got too much air under it.

It was really solid contact. I mean, I've gotten hits out of much weaker-hit balls. I remember one where the ball never got more than a couple feet away from home plate that I somehow beat out.

Fun times.

One game next week against the other church team in our league.

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Scheduling posts is now out of beta

Blogger Buzz informs us all that Blogger has rolled out scheduled posts to everybody.

It even works with Windows Live Writer, just change the date in the box to the right of the categories box to set the desired time and date and click publish.

(Image found in a TinyPic search for clock)

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