Da Cubs

Mark Grace is calling the Cubs-White Sox game on Fox.  Well, he’s doing the color not the play-by-play but you know what I mean.  Regular subscribers will know that I LOVE Mark Grace.  I have had a raging crush on Gracie since he came up with the Cubs in 1988.  And that, my friends, is pathetic. 

So, even though the Cubs are losing 3-2 at the moment I am thoroughly enjoying this.  But I would be enjoying it more if we were winning.

I am getting worried about the Cubs.  We dropped two to the Orioles and lost again yesterday against the stupid White Sox.  I hate those guys.  I really hope this isn’t where the wheels fall off.

On the other hand, the Cardinals keep losing too.  A teeny tiny part of me thinks maybe the forces of nature want this to be the Cubs year.  I don’t know.  I don’t generally believe that kind of stuff, but I have a really good feeling about this season for the Cubs.  Next century is this century and all that.  I suppose time will tell. 

As Annie Savoy says in Bull Durham, “It’s a long season and you gotta trust it.”

4-2 Sox now in the bottom of the second.  Come on boys.  Don’t blow it.

 

Go Cubs

 

More Softball

We won!  Well, actually I didn’t have anything to do with it.  The Princess won, with the rest of her team of course.  It was another exciting game.  The Medics (that’s our team) were leading 4-0 going into the top of the 3rd.  Then the other team came to life and tied it up.  Oops.  When it was our turn in the bottom of the third The Medics scored two quick runs.  Then The Princess walked and represented the winning run on the bases.  Gulp.  She stole second, and then she stole third.  The batter got a hit, and my baby crossed the plate!  Medics win right?  Wrong!  She didn’t slide.  You have to slide into home.  It’s in the rules.  Not many of the umps enforce it, but this one did.  Nuts.  Luckily it was only the first out and the base runner behind her remembered to slide on the very next play.  Medics win.

That win gave them third place in the tournament. Yes, The Medics were playing for third place.  They played on Monday but lost a heartbreaker.  I think the final score was 10-7.  So close.  And of course we still had to play again tonight anyway. 

It was hot tonight.  We were in the shade, sitting still and we were still sweating.  Now that’s hot.

So, our plan was to watch the Princess play then pile into the car and grab some fast McFood and get back to the softball fields before the end of the championship game.  As planned we all piled into the car and drove to our Fast Food Restaurant of Choice after the last out.  When we pulled into the parking lot Her Royal Highness said, “Oh, I left my glove at the ballpark”.  Grrrr. 

Tom took the car keys and drove her back to the fields, meanwhile the C-man and I ate some deliciously bad food.  Tom and the Princess return about 20 minutes later with no glove.  One of the other parents took it home and will deliver it at a later date.  They eat and we go back to the fields again. 

In the meantime it had started to rain and there was a lot of lightning in the distance.  We get back to Softball Central only to discover that the game has been called and the medals have already been handed out.  Nuts.  Her coach said one of the other parents would deliver the Princess’ medal.

Back into the car, and home again.  When I went outside to get the kids swimsuits off the porch I found her medal hanging on our front doorknob.  I put it on her placemat.  She will be so pleased in the morning. 

And boy am I glad that’s over.  I hope she doesn’t want to play in the fall league.

Why I should never watch the Cubs

Every time I watch the Cubs they lose.  I am watching right now and they are losing 7-1 in the bottom of the seventh.  

I should turn it off, but I just can’t.  Sorry Cubs fans.

The French Grand Prix Report

I should write my French Grand Prix report but I am too discouraged.  Alonso started third on the grid, and the best he could manage was 8th place.  Nuts.  He did not have a good race.

But then, neither did Lewis Hamilton.  He started P13 because of a 10 spot grid penalty and only managed to finish tenth.  So technically he had a better race than Alonso because he went up three places and Alonso dropped five.  But Alonso got one point and Hamilton didn’t get any, so there.

That’s two races in a row where Hamilton hasn’t scored any points for those of you keeping score at home.  The British press has begun sharpening their knives.  I think they are about to knock him off that nice pedestal they built for him.

So the winner is:  Felipe Massa.  Congratulations to him and Ferrari.  His teammate Raikonnen was second.  He drove about half the race with a broken exhaust so a good effort from him to hold off the rest of the grid. 

And the best news of all is that Jarno Trulli in the lowly Toyota finished third.  This is the first podium for Toyota since 2006 (I think).  But of course if you want to know for sure you should check a legitimate F1 news site.  This is just me thinking out loud.

Anyway, Trulli has always been one of my favorites so I am very happy for him.

Next up is the British Grand Prix from Silverstone.  This is my favorite race.  And rumor has it the drivers might boycott the race to protest a recent hike in the cost of a super-license.  I really hope this is just a rumor.  It would suck if my favorite race didn’t happen this year.  And of course, it really is all about me.

I love that they call the racing licenses super-licenses.  I always wonder what they look like.  I mean do they have a big red S in the middle of them?  It would be interesting to know.  

Softball Update

Well, The Princess’ team won on Friday.  It was actually pretty exciting. A dramatic come-from-behind victory and my baby, Her Royal Highness scored the winning run in the bottom of the fourth.  Not that I’m bragging or anything.

So the good news is, they didn’t lose.  The bad news is, we have to keep playing.  She should only have two more games though and then we call it a season.  Her team will play Monday and if they win on Monday they will play in the finals.  If they lose (perish the thought) they will play the other losing team from Monday for third place.  Confused yet?  It is very important to play for third place because the first place team gets trophies. Second and third place get medals.  Fourth place gets the satisfaction of a job well done. 

Anyway, I’m excited for the Princess.  She was so happy after the game Friday night.  Happy because they won, happy because we were going to Culver’s for dinner, and most of all (I think) happy because she didn’t have another game for two whole days.  Woo Hoo!

So tomorrow we go back to the salt mines – I mean softball fields.  But first we will have to slather on the bug spray so the giant flood-produced man-eating mosquitoes don’t carry us away.

I weighed 115 pounds on the gym scale this morning

Just had to tell somebody.  

Yippee

Softball

I am in softball hell.  The princess is playing in the 10-11-age bracket in the local girls softball league and it’s killing me.  I am exhausted.  I can only imagine how Her Royal Highness feels.

Normally it’s a nice easy season.  There is usually one game a week, and maybe a practice.  The most intensive practice schedule is in April and May and we missed that because we were happily wandering around Rome at the time.

But, as some of you may have heard, the vast majority of the state of Iowa has been under water.  Luckily our neck of the woods didn’t get hit like Cedar Rapids or Iowa City, but we did get enough rain to flood the softball fields, so a number of games got called off.

The league president then had to figure out how to make the games up.  I don’t envy her.  So, we have had a game every single night since Monday.  And last night we were supposed to play a double-header, but our team never got that email.  So we showed up for what was the second game to discover that we had missed the first one.  Oops.

I felt terrible for the other team who came out and stood around waiting for us, and I felt bad that we had to forfeit the game, but did I miss sitting through yet another 3 innings of softball?  No.  And I don’t think the girls cared much either.

Plus with a game scheduled for 5:15 and another set for 6:45 exactly when were these girls supposed to eat dinner?  Just a question.

The tournament starts tonight.  We play at 5:15 and then if we win I don’t think we have to play again until Monday or Tuesday.  Of course if we lose we don’t play again until May.  I really don’t want that to happen but we could all use a break. 

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love my daughter and I love that she loves softball.  I love that the dreaded sucky at baseball gene seems to have missed her, and she is actually pretty good.  But I am so done with this game right now.  And I know I shouldn’t complain, but I’m going to anyway. 

Spray on Sunblock

First of all, let me just say I love spray-on sunblock.  I think whoever invented it should win a Nobel Prize.  And while I am handing out Nobel Prizes I think the inventors of Invisible Grape Kool-Aid and Popsicles without food coloring should get them too.

So, back to the sunblock.  I love the stuff.  It is quick and it is way easier than lotion.  Especially when you are trying to slather it onto the stomach of a ticklish eight year-old.  I think it would be easier to stuff a live salmon into a string bag than it is to put sunblock on my son’s belly.

We went to the pool today.  Our first trip of the season.  I was careful to spray both of the children from head to toe and then turned the nozzle on myself.  And this is what I learned today about spray-on sunblock:  It is very easy to miss a spot.

So I sat there on my chaise lounge reading my book and drinking my Diet Coke and all the while I was slowly frying.  But not everywhere.  I have a red streak down my left arm, a palm sized red spot on my right shoulder and a bright crimson strip across my chest from where I either missed a spot, or the top of my suit shifted during the afternoon.

I feel like an idiot.  On the plus side, it is not very painful –yet.  I have been very generous with the Banana Boat sunburn relief spray.  I can’t remember what it is called, but it seems to be working, so far.

On the other plus side, at least it was me and not one of the children.  So at least I just feel like an idiot, and not like an idiot wracked with guilt.

I can’t wait to see what I look like in the morning. 

Stupid.  Stupid.  Stupid

Still reading about Rome

I am re-reading Four Seasons in Rome again.  It’s really such a good book.  This is my third time through it.  I read it twice before we went to Rome, and now again.  Maybe I should buy it.  To date I have been checking it out of the library.  But I am hoping after this time I will have gotten it out of my system.

It has been a lot of fun reading it again this time because I recognize some of the places he talks about.  I can see exactly what the author is talking about.  Anthoy Doerr was a fellow at the American Academy, just up the hill from our apartment in Trastevere.

I’m reading thinking to myself:   “Hey!  I’ve been to that fountain, I have ridden in that elevator.”  At one point he mentions being outside the Oviesse in Trastevere and I just about jumped up in my seat.  Oviesse in Trastevere is the home of the Standa!  Standa was our supermarket.  The place where we we got baguettes and those good sausages.  And blood orange juice and red wine in boxes.  I love the Standa!

I must admit I am kind of skimming through the book this time around, looking for references to places I know.  I need to get my map out to look up some of the street names he mentions.  You know, the ones that sound vaguely familiar but I can’t quite place where they are.  I am enjoying myself tremendously.

Meanwhile, I was fooling around on youtube today looking for the usual Spanish TV interview with Fernando Alonso.  I can’t understand a word of them, but I always watch them anyway.  I didn’t find one from the Canadian GP,but I will keep looking.  But I digress.  I did find a long interview with him (long by youtube standards – about 4 minutes) in Italian!  I was amazed how much more I can pick up in Italian versus Spanish.  Mind you, I still really can’t understand a word, but I think I get more of the general overall meaning with Italian.  

 

Floods and Le Mans

While much of Iowa is under water, things actually seem to be getting better here.  They evacuated parts of Des Moines yesterday, and I think almost all of Cedar Rapids, but Ames has been relatively dry.  Many people have called to see if we have floated away, and we have been able to report that we are happily sitting high and (mostly) dry.

We did get our usual water in the basement and I think the time has come to pull up the carpet down there.  But we will have to wait for it to dry out because I don’t want to drag soaking wet disgusting carpeting up the stairs and out of the house. 

Things are starting to quiet down.  You can’t hear the water rushing through the storm drain in the street anymore from the porch, and you can’t hear the water rushing into the sump pump drain anymore either.  Everything smells like wet basement, but that hardly seems worth complaining about in the grand scheme of things. 

Now I am watching the 24 hours of Le Mans on Speed channel.  I have never watched this race before.  I am only watching it this year because there are a lot, and I mean a LOT of former F1 drivers racing this time.  Including two of my old favorites:  Alex Wurz and Jacques Villeneuve.  So I put it on after the kids went to bed.

I don’t know anything about endurance racing so I have no idea what is going on.  This is actually very relaxing.  I talked on the phone for a while, did some knitting, ate some Doritos and now I am writing this.  The engine sounds make for good background noise, and if the announcers start yelling I know to look up and see what happened.  And I have to admit I keep thinking of that line from the Steve McQueen movie Le Mans;  “I want you to go all out.  I want Porsche to win Le Mans”.  It is starting to really get on my nerves.

I should probably pay more attention to the race, and then I could learn something.  However, there are something like 55 cars running and there is no way I will ever keep them all straight.  The team Jacques Villeneuve is on is first in his class so that’s exciting. 

That’s the other thing; there are two different kinds of cars running at the same time.  It’s kind of confusing. 

 And how do you attend a 24-hour race anyway?  Tom says he thinks there is camping involved, which means we will never be going.  I don’t camp.  I actually have a bag (a birthday present from my sister) that says, “I love not camping” on it.  It’s funny because it’s true.  I shall take it everywhere.