I am a slacker

The Goo Goo Dolls/Counting Crows concert was awesome! One of these nights I'll actually put up a more lengthy review of the evening. One of these nights...

Cursed

My flight back to Hartford last night was supposed to leave Philadelphia at 10:40PM. I was running a little late since I spent the entire evening at the 'Nog in Philadelphia with the regular crew there. I arrived at the airport at 10PM (Mpls Ju - you must be shocked). To my dismay, I notice that my flight is delayed and I am not leaving until 1:30AM. 1:30AM? How on earth can a flight be delayed for over three hours? Can't they just switch us to another plane if the incoming flight is that late?

I almost hopped back on a train to Center City, but decided that I would just wait it out. I made some phone calls to keep myself entertained, until I drained my phone battery. I was quite irritated that the airline offered no explanation for the delay (since the storms passed through around 2PM), but I figured it was just an incoming aircraft issue. Well, the incoming aircraft was even later than it was supposed to be. When it arrived from Dallas, about 8-10 people on the flight were going to Hartford, so it makes a little more sense why we had to wait. We didn't leave until 2AM and I didn't get back to my apartment until shortly before 4AM.

It's days like this when I love that I cannot sleep past 9:30AM. Really, it's quite an amazing talent of mine. Thankfully, I got about 1-1.5 hours of shuteye during the whole travel ordeal, so all is not lost for the Goo Goo Dolls/Counting Crows concert today.

I am just a little sarcastic this morning.

The flight to Philly on Thursday also was delayed. We left the gate on time at 7:15AM (which resulted in a 5AM wake up alarm for me). About two minutes later, the pilot says that due to air traffic in Philadelphia, we have to sit on the runway for an hour. I didn't get into the office on Thursday until 10:15AM. It just feels wrong walking in that late (unless you are RoopDogg).

The rest of the trip (i.e., other than the work part) was awesome. I went to a sweet Indian restaurant on Thursday night with someone from the office that I didn't really know before this trip and I checked out the Society Hill area that evening. It seems like a really nice place to live if you can handle a 1-1.5 mile walk (or bus ride) into work each day.

Blah

I know I haven't really written much lately. Other than the 'red card' story, I haven't had anything fun to write about recently. It's too early to start pumping up the 2006 Michigan football season, so things might be dead here for a few days.

I'll be in Philly the next couple days for work. Then I am going to the Goo Goo Dolls/Counting Crows concert on Saturday with RoopDogg, UNICorn, K-Pal, and two of RoopDogg's friends that I met on the Bucknell trip last March. That should be fun.

Other than that, I am just a boring actuary these days.

I Didn't Do It

Mouse referred people here from her blog recently to make fun of me. I'd just like to say two things:

1) I never called her ugly. We all know she is smokin' hot.
2) The RCI is rigged.

However, I am sorry I pissed you off, Mouse.

Rigged Composite Index

I vote Michigan #1 on my preseason RCI ballot, and RoopDogg excludes my ballot. Give him hell!

Caption Contest, part 2

You know the drill...

Caption Contest

Comment away. I'll put the "right" answer up later.

Hey Ref? You Suck!

Last night was the annual summer intern party. Basically, this is the night where the summer interns throw a big elaborate party for the full-timers at work. This year's party theme was a 'Soccer Ball'. Everyone was asked to come dressed in soccer related attire in honor of the 2006 World Cup.

I didn't really have any soccer gear other than the jersey of my indoor soccer team, so I wore my red 'Shenanigans' jersey.

I wasn't planning to drink, so I offered to drive a car full of people over there. After a few minutes of enduring some random intern trash-talk, I was wishing that I had not volunteered to DD for the second night in a row this weekend. Thankfully, RoopDogg switched 'roles' with me and offered to drive my car home from the party.

Anyway, back to my story. One of the interns was wearing his soccer ref outfit (since he once reffed youth soccer games). At one point in the evening during a beer pong game, one of the interns bumped into the table and the legs gave way and collapsed, spilling a lot of beer. The guy in the ref jersey ran across the room and showed the offended a red card for his vicious offense and sent him out of the party. Maybe it's just me, but I was laughing hysterically at the send-off by the party ref.

Knowing that I am constantly a target for abuse anywhere I go, I should have realized that there was a scheme in place all night to have the ref send me off. Unfortunately, their plan worked to perfection. Late in the evening, some of the interns surrounded me and started dancing. Of course, when several lovely ladies start dancing with me, I have to start dancing as well. Out of nowhere, I hear a loud, shrieking whistle. I see the soccer ref running towards me. He pulls the red card out and kicks me out of the party for 'bad dancing'. I should have head-butted the referee before walking away. I must admit that the plan was quite funny and well executed, even if it was at my expense. However, I take offense at the 'bad dancing' accusation. I've shown solid improvement over the past couple years!!!

I called Mouse a few times late in the evening. However, she was avoiding my calls. Then she criticizes me on this blog late last night. Boo urns.

Picture Time

Here are some good pictures from our game last Monday in the searing 100 degree heat.

PhillyPhanatic has 'Franchise' on the back of his jersey for a reason. However, I still think 'E-6' was more appropriate.

P&C all-star Tricki digs out another bad throw from the P&C infield (probably from me).

He's ok everyone! WhiteIverson gets up and runs to second base on the overthrow after inexplicably tripping over first base and flipping in mid-air. Thankfully, he was not hurt (since Puddles broke his leg last season after a similar fall).

The Michigan intern, subbing for us this week since we were short on girls, stretches to catch the ball, completing a fantastic 4-6-3 double play to get out of a jam.

Someone please get Tricki a better hat!! We'll keep the run, though.

UNICorn rounds third and gets ready for a play at the plate during his clutch two out grand slam in the third inning.

Cover on my soon to be released book, "How to Field a Ground Ball" by Gary. It will soon be endorsed by Fred McGriff, I swear.

Um...yeah. In my defense, I had to charge the ball to even have a chance at getting the batter out at first. I refuse to consider this play an error, despite how bad this picture looks.

PhillyPhanatic's attempt at a web gem with a bare-handed catch. Next time, use your glove! Nice try, 'Mr. E-6.' :)

If I was K-Pal, I'd duck and run for it too. I have no clue where the softball is going once it leaves my hand.A much needed post-game drenching. It was H-O-T outside.

Today was a good day!

Ever have one of those days where everything goes your way?

I was able to make it out to the actuarial picnic around 3:30 this afternoon. I was just in time for the water balloon toss. Needless to say, UNICorn and I were up to the challenge of avenging last year's heartbreaking runner up finish. The defending champions were talking a significant amount of smack, but we were ready for them.

There were about 35 teams participating this year. The balloons were quite full, so you definitely did not want to get soaked by one of them! The game dragged on for quite some time since balloons would hit the ground often, but not always break. However, once the teams were about 40 feet apart, there were only six groups left, including us and last year's champions. UNICorn lofted a beautiful toss to me, and I barely hung on without breaking our balloon. I then looked to my right and noticed that all five other groups had broken their balloons. UNICorn and I were pumped to finally win the prestigious competition! The rest of the opponents responded by charging at us with about 30 other unused water balloons, but they missed me with every throw. One of my employees used the opportunity to try and get me, and she failed miserably. I'll be sure to remember that when I write her performance appraisal next week. :) j/k!

The official photographer of our softball team got a great picture of me making the winning catch at the water balloon toss. Actually, it's a very unflattering picture of me, but it's still great. Once I get a copy of it, I will post it here. You can all have a caption contest with it.

The great day continued when the raffle started shortly after the water balloon toss. Every year I buy about $10 worth of tickets (about the average for the group), and every year I seem to win about $50-80 worth of prizes. This year was different, but in a good way! I won a $50 gift certificate to a nice steak house and the grand prize, which is four rounds of golf at a super difficult golf course (worth roughly $400). Of course, I always seem to get a loud round of boos whenever I win a prize, even though everyone else gets cheered (and I cheered for everyone else). Why do you all have to hate on me?

Too bad I don't golf, but I think RoopDogg and UNICorn would love to join me as I hack my way through 18 holes sometime in the near future. Right guys? Besides, I don't think I've ever golfed with UNICorn, and I am sure that I will double his score on this course.

Afterwards, we had a big softball game against the Beerbuddies, who were one game behind us in the standings (since we beat them on Monday). We were missing Hawkeye and Tricki, so we had to fill big holes at pitcher and 1B. The game was definitely a grind and full of missed opportunities. The other team played really well, too. We were down 7-5 with runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 out on the bottom of the seventh. Our leadoff guy popped the ball up to shallow left center field, and their center fielder dropped the ball. One of the best guys in the league made a rare error. I was shocked. PhillyPhanatic scored on the play, and we tied the game and put a runner on third when I came up with two outs. I was having a good hitting day so far (2-2 with a double and a triple), so I felt pretty confident, despite all the "Gar-bear" catcalls coming from our bleachers. I fouled off two pitches, and the pitcher was throwing me absolute crap (since I think he wanted to pitch to the girl after me in the lineup if I wouldn't swing at a bad pitch). I took a high and inside pitch and lined a single between SS and 3B. We won 8-7! Actually, we stole the game 8-7 since the other team was better than us today. Good ending to a great day!

I hosted an impromptu poker tournament tonight since a bunch of interns and a few full-timers wanted to play. Stakes were low ($10), but we had 17 people. Unfortunately, my luck ran out since we paid the top 4, but I finished in 5th. Oh well, I'm still happy! :)

I have a bunch of great pictures taken by P&C's official photographer at Monday's softball game. I will post a few of them tomorrow when I have more time to upload them onto this site. Now it is time for bed.

Don't Rain on my Picnic, Please

I just feel like whining today (as opposed to any other day).

Tomorrow is the actuarial program summer picnic at work. It's a half day away from the daily grind to eat picnic food and play random games. It's also my chance to avenge the heartbreaking second place finish in last year's water balloon toss (sorry, UNICorn!).

I was looking forward to the picnic and an afternoon away from my desk since work has been crazy lately. 'Was' is the key word. I received a call from my manager yesterday. He needed to schedule a staff meeting to go over a bunch of items. Two of my boss's four staff members will be out of the office on Friday, and Wednesday was no good for him. Since everyone else on the team is based in Philadelphia, my manager called me yesterday afternoon and asked why I blocked Th 1-5PM off on my calendar. I told him that the CT actuaries had their annual summer picnic (which he knows about since he once worked in CT). He told me he needed to schedule the meeting for Thursday afternoon and asked if it was ok with me (though I really had no choice).

I assumed he would hold the meeting from 1-2PM so that I could still catch the picnic. Wrong. My meeting runs from 2:30-3:30. Brilliant. To make things worse, he also forwarded a 2-2:30 meeting with some senior/important people that he also wanted me to call in to attend. I guess I won't get an afternoon of fun. By the time I get to the picnic around 4PM, I will have missed all the fun games (including the highly anticipated water balloon toss) as well as the visit from the ice cream truck. All that remains is the raffle, which I won't win anyway, and some leftover lunch food.

I'm not bitter. I hope you all enjoy your little picnic tomorrow afternoon. Don't choke on those hot dogs.

College Bowl Humor

It may be out of season, but this post on the MZone was funny.

Which reminds me, come late August there will be lots of attention on the greatness that is Michigan football. I am sure none of you will mind! :)

2006 Michigan Football: It can't be worse than last year

It's Too Hot!

Playing softball in near 100 degree heat is not very fun. Yes, it was nice playing a game for the first time in 3 weeks. Yes, it was nice to get a game in against a very good team (the other team was tied with us for first place with a 5-1 record). However, it was so damn hot and humid. It didn't help that I had an upset stomach all day and felt like crap. Thankfully, #1 fan FlyingV stepped in for me after the fourth inning and provided stellar relief. Both teams were so exhausted after the fourth inning that neither team scored a run in the last three innings. No one had the energy to hit the ball anymore after running so much in the first four innings.

We won 18-10, so we are alone in first place. However, we lucked out from a bunch of uncharacteristic errors from the other team (and a clutch two-out grand slam from UNICorn).

Our official team photographer took some awesome pictures from the game with his sweet camera. I'll try to post some of the pictures in the next day or two.

I'm tired and sick and ready for bed. Other than that, I have nothing else to complain about tonight.

Tough Times

I'll refrain from providing any additional opinions on the recent flare up in Israel and Lebanon. I've been in daily e-mail contact with my uncle and one of my cousins who live just outside of Haifa. They stayed home the past few days since they thought that the risk was limited from a stray rocket reaching them. However, apparently one or more rockets fired by Hezbollah stuck very close to where they lived. Thankfully, the family is safe and has relocated farther south to wait out the current flare-up. I can't imagine how stressful/scary the past few days have been. I don't know how they can get any sleep when they are fearing rocket attacks all night long.

It's events like this that make me scared to ever visit Israel. However, I'd love to visit someday, so at some point I'll just suck it up and go regardless of the tension level in the area.

Another Engagement

Congratulations to Bright on his engagement earlier this month! Although he knows about this site, I don't think he visits. Regardless, a few of you knew him quite well in high school and/or college and would be happy to hear that the news.

I've traded an e-mail with him over the past week, but I have been unable to reach him by phone. Hopefully I can talk to him soon.

Not surprisingly, my favorite hockey friend and wanna-be Canadian popped the question on July 1st, which is Canada Day. The diamond also apparently came from Canada!

Actuarial Judgement Day

I know that many of you who read this are learning your fates from the May SOA exam sitting today. I wish you all the best and hope that today is a happy day.

Special shoutout to TheCrazyCanuck for passing her exam! She had a lot riding on her results this sitting at work and I am thrilled that she passed, especially given how anxious she was waiting for results the last two months.

More Violence in the Middle East

This is a very tough subject to write about since the Israeli conflict with their neighbors often raises strong opinions.

Back in my college days, I was an adamant supporter of every decision made by the Israeli government for and against their neighbors, even though Israel often takes a hard line. However, after having a long discussion about this with my cousin that lives in Jerusalem when I met up with him a couple years ago, I learned that many people in Israel, including my cousin to some extent, do not agree with the aggressive tactics used by their own government. It leaves me quite torn about where to stand regarding the recent escalation in the region.

Instead of summarizing the recent escalation (for those of you that don’t read the news), you can go to CNN to read about recent events.

It’s tough for a country to exist when all of its neighbors want to see the nation destroyed. The sad part is that Israel poses no real threat to their neighbors if Israel was not under the constant threat of being attacked. The problem is that the governments of the Palestinian Authority, Iran, and Syria are so corrupt and incompetent that they need to divert attention towards an enemy to distract their citizens from their ineptness. If they ever succeeded in driving Israel into the Mediterranean Sea, they would all be much worse off because they would no longer have an enemy from which to distract their people. Maybe ‘Eurasia’ will start becoming a threat in this region if Israel was ever destroyed, but that’s not likely.

The question of the day is how should Israel respond to the constant attacks from terrorist groups in their region that are state supported? Thankfully, Israel’s army is far superior to every neighboring army (at least until Iran gets a nuclear bomb). Israel also knows that Syria and Iran are more involved with recent attacks than the Palestinians and Lebanon, but attacking either of those countries will start an all out war, whereas Israel seems more interested in just sending a message to those two countries.

I’m not sure if I agree with Israel’s decision to bomb Southern Lebanon after the recent kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers. I am ok with Israel going back in to Lebanon and re-establishing the ten mile buffer zone to minimize the risk of Hezbollah rocket attacks, but I think they are sending the wrong message by bombing suburban Beirut when Lebanon is not the real enemy here. I am not against Israel starting a war in the region by any means. I just want to see them kick the shit out of Syria, since Syria is one of the biggest two state supporters of Hezbollah and Hamas. I’d also like to see them bomb Iran and destroy any site currently being used to build nuclear bombs, but that’s a much tougher enemy to fight/target to locate (and the biggest threat to Israel in the region).

I am certain that some sort of war will break out soon since tensions are too high and no party is willing to negotiate. I have 100% confidence that Israel will “win” this war, but nothing will be resolved and all parties will be worse off as a result. It’s truly a shame that the people of the Arab world have focused their hatred against Israel instead of their own corrupt leaders.

I have an aunt and uncle currently live near Haifa, which was recently attacked by Hezbollah rockets. I’m hoping that all is well there, but I have e-mailed my best wishes and am looking forward to an update in the near future.

Boo urns

Thirty minutes of rain ruined three days of smack talk. What's worse is that when I drove by the field after work, it was playable. Ten minutes of raking and the two puddles would have been gone. The rest of the field was dry. Argh.

I guess we'll crush the interns another day.

Rainout #7 on the year. This is really getting ridiculous.

Smack-talk War

Shortly before the softball season, FlyingV came up with the brilliant idea of creating an additional team in the co-ed league consisting entirely of our summer interns. We wanted a 10th team in the league (even though they wouldn;t be around for the playoffs), and FlyingV figured that the interns would have fun playing one game per week during their time in CT.

Tomorrow, P&C plays that 1-2 intern squad. They are not very good when they work all 15 male interns into the game, but they plan to play their "all-star team" for the entire game tomorrow. Also, some of their girls are damn good players.

The build up for tomorrow's game has resulted into an all-out war of words between the two teams via e-mail. I'll let you decide who won the smack-talk war. (We don't actually work during the day)

The only question not in doubt for tomorrow's game is who will win the actual game. I don't think there is a chance in hell that they win, especially since The Swinging Bunts beat them down pretty bad a couple weeks ago.

(all specific company references have been altered)
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Friday morning e-mail from Intern #1:

"We have been constantly doubted by our imaginary critics. We have been called too young and too inexperienced. But yesterday the beginning of our magical season truly began with a 25-23 victory over Bloomfield's Best. In the longest game in company softball history, we constantly fought back until we captured the lead and held on for the victory.

We are looking to pull off a feat equivalent to the U.S.A hockey victory over the USSR at Lake Placid when we play your team next Tuesday. Even though our team may be outmatched in payroll (comparable to the K.C. Royals playing the Yanks) and there are rumors of performance enhancing drug use by our opponents, we have the heart of a contender. It's going to be "Upset City," baby! (copyright Dick Vitale).

The softball league's wrecking ball has been sent in motion. Don't forget to duck. Haha."
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Friday afternoon response from Me:
Subject - Who Believes in Miracles? Not Me!

"There comes a time in a young lad's life when childlike imagination yields to the cold, harsh reality that is life. Most of us stopped pretending that we had imaginary friends back when we were four or five years old. Most of us also gave up that dream of being a professional athlete around age 13. We also know that upsets in sports along the magnitude of the USA "Miracle on Ice" happen so rarely, that referencing a potential repeat upset on that same scale is overdone and pointless.

This Tuesday, another young, inexperienced team will attempt to repeat the magic of the 1980 USA hockey team. Like hundreds of other teams in a similar situation since 1980, the intern softball team will learn that it is futile to waste your time with such hallucinations. In fact, you might as well not even show up to the game on Tuesday because it might get ugly in a hurry. I would hate to leave you all so bitter after the game that you don't want to face us at work the next morning.

You beat the last place team from 2005 last night. For that, I congratulate you. However, you are about to mix it up with the big boys (and girls) on Tuesday. Not only do we plan to provide you with a free lesson on how to play softball, but we are going to annihilate you in the trash talking war. We are not going to lay over and take your abuse like our JV team did last month. We ARE going to smack you around the field in a similar fashion, no matter how many nights of batting and fielding practice you have between now and Tuesday. Take it from me, you weekend will be better spent partying like crazy because you will be in no mood to celebrate for a while after Tuesday evening, and I would hate to see you waste a lot of your time this weekend practicing so that you lose by 30 runs instead of by 40 runs.

There's a pecking order that must be followed around here. The actuarial interns have never beaten a full-time squad in softball prior to this year. In fact, the full-timers dominate every sport around here. You name the sport, and we will beat you at it. I guarantee you that the softball streak will continue through 2006. I'm just hoping for the sake of your self-esteem and team spirit that we don't shut you out!

My prediction? Pitchers & Catchers 31, Sacrifice Flies 1. The ump will feel so sorry for the destruction that he will invoke the mercy rule after 4 innings instead of waiting until the 5th."
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Friday afternoon response from intern #2:
"To quote myself from 7th grade, "It's on like Donkey Kong!"

Nice job getting the smack-talking started, Gary. I'm just wondering why I wasn't included in the list of players who got your email, and had to get it from my co-captain. I understand that you may be intimidated, but I assure you I should be the least of your worries. We are a new breed of intern...a class of firsts. It's the first year the interns have fielded their own lineup...first time an intern has betrayed his own team...first time we've had three times as many guys as girls on our team...so when you think about it, first victory against the full-timers falls right in line. It's the dawning of a new age.

You see, you've got to ask yourself a few questions:
Are we really that sure that we can contain a lineup that scored two dozen runs in six innings?
Will the aged legs really hold up?
Can we really live up to the hype?
Do I feel lucky? (I felt it belonged here)

So I guess the best bit of advice I can offer is this: pool your Yankee-esque payroll and buy as many Tom Emanski videos as possible. (They're endorsed by Fred McGriff)

My prediction: A game that will go down in company softball history."
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Monday e-mail from intern #3 (official smack-talker for the Sacrifice Flies)
"I am assuming that since you're on salary you can all afford a TV, and that more than likely you witnessed the Zinedine Zidane incident. (If you haven't, look it up on the internet because it is the funniest/most absurd moment from this World Cup)

This is your official warning:

Every single member of our team has a stronger head and is crazier than Zidane. We even held an extended practice session yesterday evening perfecting our head butt mechanics. So make sure to keep your heads up at all time, because if you don't, the last thing you'll hear is a loud thud as one our skulls permanently damages your chest cavity, and when you regain consciousness, all you'll see are the enraged eyes of a crazed, bald French man staring down over your lifeless body, and as you try to muster the strength to call out to the heavens in anguish and pain, you're cries will go unanswered, because Yahweh has always and will always be a Sacrifice Flies fan at heart."
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Monday afternoon response from UNICorn:

"Most great civilizations throughout history have shown the desire to make sacrificial offerings. Some groups make offerings to the Gods…others, I think just do it for fun. Regardless, all sacrificial offerings were generally completed swiftly and without mercy. Tomorrow will be no different when the Orange clad warriors offer up to the Gods of intramural softball a group of slaughtered young little boys and girls.

The question is, what should we ask for in return from those very same God's of intramural softball? I mean, we need something that we don't already have! This question has been tormenting me all day, and so I decided to make a check list of all things our team wants.

Want # 1: Gods, may we please have the best record in the entire intramural softball league…..oh wait….we do…..(Cross this one off the list)

Want # 2: Gods, would you please grace us with a team filled with the best looking people in the intramural softball league….darnit….I guess we've got that too!

Want # 3: Gods, would you please inflate our egos by allowing a team of under-achieving and over-hyped "newbies" into the company softball league for us to use as batting practice….again, strike 3…..I guess that prayer from last year has already been answered.

As you can see, not an easy question for us to come up with an answer…..and asking for something that we already have…well….that just seems greedy.

So for tomorrow, I propose that we offer up our sacrifice to the Gods, and in return, we ask for a better group of intern softball players next year. A group of young little boys and girls that will actually challenge us and give us a game…

Until then, we'll just have to settle for yet another blowout. See ya on the field! "
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I'm not Finished

I haven't written much lately, so I think a third post is in order this evening.

I played an awesome doubles match tonight with three of the summer actuarial interns. Two of the interns are both respectable players and the third one was phenominal (he played #1 singles at his high school a few years ago). We had an intense 7-6 7-5 doubles match (I lost). My partner and I struggled a bit since the #1 singles player lost like 4-5 points on his serve the whole match (over 6 service games). There were very few service breaks for either side, though the only time my serve was broken was when I tried to force the second set tiebreak.

On the bright side, my net game was better than it has been in years. Between the match I played on Friday and the match today, my net game was surprisingly good. I was really happy with how I played, and I look forward to playing a lot more tennis with those three this summer now that we all live in the same apartment complex. Unfortunately, my recurring tennis elbow hurts like crazy right now. I have had constant soreness in my right elbow for the past 6-7 years. It bothers me a little when playing tennis and hurts like hell when I throw a softball. I have a feeling I will be in pain at my softball game this week. I've resisited playing tennis with an elbow brace in the past because I have never felt comfortable wearing one, but I am going to give it another shot because the pain is pretty bad right now.

On another subject, there have not been many comments lately. I know some of you have been away on vacation lately (but thank you to those of you who have commented while away). Am I boring you all? What can I write about that will bring us back to the exciting days of ten comment posts. I'll take suggestions.

Why Zidane? Why?

Here's the video of the incident.

You Idiot! What were you thinking?

Today's World Cup Final was a very exciting game. Although I am not a fan of either Italy or France, I had a good reason to root for France. LittleDrummerBoy was running a World Cup pool among a group of 16 soccer fans. Each of us drew a team at the beginning of the knockout stages at random. If your team won, you win the entire prize ($80 total). I drew France.

However, I really did not like either team. Italy is a pathetic bunch of divers that disgrace the game of soccer. France has their share of divers, but I had tremendous respect for Zidane and Ribery since they are both fantastic players and very excited to watch.

The game started well for me with an early France goal (on a BS PK call), but Italy fought back and tied the game a little later. In the second half, France dominated, but unfortunately they could not score. Italy appeared to be playing for penalty kicks for the last 70 minutes. It was sad. I really wanted France to win this game and not go to penalty kicks because their goalie was not very good. I knew that France would lose if the game went to penalty kicks.

France was carrying the game in extra time until Zidane commited a disgraceful foul. I have no clue what set him off, but he head-butted a player behind the play and was shown the red card by the referee. One can only wonder what was said to him to cause him to lose his cool and cripple his team in the waning moments of the World Cup final, but it must have been something really bad. I'd love to hear what Zidane has to say about the play, but I can't find any post-game comments from him yet. I wouldn't put it by an Italian player since they seemed to find every possible way to cheat in this World Cup, but there is no excuse for how Zidance responded to the comment. Seriously, what was he thinking?

Oh well. Maybe the Netherlands can win it all in 2010.

Do You Know Someone From Luxembourg?

I was talking to an old friend on AIM this morning that I have not chatted with in years. Only Mpls Ju knows him among those of you who read this site, but he was a foreign exchange student from Luxembourg at my high school during my senior year. He was a trumpet player in the marching band and also in a couple of my classes (including the Humanities class I took with Mpls Ju).

I spent a couple days visiting him in Luxembourg during a one-month family vacation in Western Europe after my freshman year of college. After that, we were not in touch very frequently. He came back to the states to attend a year of college at Miami University in Ohio. He joined the marching band there and we met up after a Michigan-Miami football game during my senior year of college. After that, we had basically lost touch.

As it turns out, he got a degree in political science and has spent the past few years working for a United Nations program in various unstable locations working to improve the way of life. He absolutely loves the work he is doing, despite the demands of the job (and that fact that 'helping the poor pays poorly'). He is currently living in Pakistan working to improve the quality of a local school. I can't say that Pakistan is a country that I'd ever visit (since no matter what kind of person I really am, it's probably not safe to be American and Jewish in that country). To no surprise, living in a strict nation like Pakistan results in a significant case of culture shock. However, living in Serbia, Bosnia, Armenia, and other poorer and less stable countries has helped him prepare for this current assignment in a place where all types of fun are outlawed.

I am incredibly jealous about his experiences. I would love to be able to travel more frequently to far away places. I have only been out of the country once since I moved to Connecticut. Even though I have been to Vegas, Arizona, NYC, Philadelphia (many times), rural PA, and Upstate NY in the past two months, I feel like I don’t get away as often as I like. All my trips are 2-3 days long. I have not taken a full week off of work in a year and a half. Of course, I don’t get to make a difference when I travel like my friend does, but just getting to travel to some of these places would be fun.

The good news is that I will get to travel out of the country at least once and possibly as many as four times over the next 12-18 months. I definitely need some real vacations!!

Dilemma of the Day

FlyingV needed a sub for his softball game today since they only had 7 players for their game. Since I am their #1 fan and go to most of their games anyway, I filled in as a sub. The Swinging Bunts were playing against the only team other than P&C that has only one loss so far this season, so they were playing a tough team. Thankfully, the other team volunteered a “non-fielding” catcher even though they were not obligated to so that The Swinging Bunts would not have to play a man short in the field.

In the 4th inning of the game, I was faced with a difficult dilemma. With two outs, one of their guys got a base hit. The girl on first base tried to take third on the play, and I was playing 3B for The Swinging Bunts. The play to get the girl out was going to be very close. I was in such a hurry to catch the throw to me and tag the girl that I made the tag before actually catching the ball. The ball barely deflected off my glove and hit the girl in the back of the head. That’s definitely a scary situation and I was worried that the girl was hurt. The girl turned third base and appeared to be running home, but I was not sure if she just overran the bag or if she was hurt/knocked out. I immediately asked her if she was ok and picked up the ball. Then, the girl stopped running and was standing about ten feet from third base. I was prepared to throw her out at home if she tried to score, but now I was just confused. Thankfully, she was not hurt at all since the ball hit her ponytail (and she had a lot of hair tied up).

I could have just tagged her out at this point and ended the inning. However, I felt so guilty about not catching the ball that ultimately hit her in the head that I let her walk back to third base safely. The next batter got a base hit, scoring two runs for the other team before we could make the third out.

During the course of a seven inning slow pitch softball game, you would not expect two runs to make a big difference, especially given that The Swinging Bunts only had eight players against a very tough opponent. However, The Swinging Bunts lost the game 9-8. My decision to let the girl go back to third base when I could have tagged her out ended up giving the other team two runs and costing FlyingV's team the game.

Should I feel bad about costing The Swinging Bunts from winning today by letting the girl walk back to third? I honestly think I would have done the same thing if this play happened while playing with P&C.

Discuss...

Great Yzerman Goal

The most intense hockey game I have ever watched on TV. 1996. Second round. Game 7. Scoreless tie. Double OT. Gretzky, Hull, and the Blues fall victim to a wicked Yzerman slapshot.

Excuse me for being a big nostalgic today.

Goodbye to a Hero

Steve Yzerman, one of the 10 best NHL players ever, announced his retirement from the Detroit Red Wings yesterday. Despite the fact that he is over 40 years old, ravaged by many knee injuries, and a 22-year NHL veteran, I still cannot comprehend seeing anyone else wearing the 'C' for the Detroit Red Wings. Stevie Y has been the captain of the Red Wings since I was old enough to remember watching them on TV. Captain. Not just a player, but he was captain of the team for 20 years. He was not only my childhood idol, but he was surely the childhood idol of millions of other people who grew up in Michigan.

One memory that stands out for me was from the first Red Wings game that I ever attended. The date was February 14, 1987. I was six years old and almost finished with my first season of organized ice hockey. Given that the league consisted of kids aged 6-9, I was a terrible player on my team! My dad and a few of the other dad's on the team took some of us into the city for the Red Wings afternoon game against the New Jersey Devils. I spent the whole game watching Steve Yzerman play. I watched how he skated, how he held his stick, how he shot, etc. I wanted to be like Steve Yzerman.

After the game, we all rushed back to Marysville (where I lived at the time) since we had a hockey game that night. Not that watching #19 play all day probably had any impact on my game, but I scored my first goal that night (and only goal of that season). Thankfully, my dad filmed the game that night, so I have a permanent record of that goal, as ugly as it was! :)

Steve Yzerman was like the Barry Sanders of hockey for so many years. The Red Wings only had a couple good teams until the mid 1990s. It wasn't until Yzerman gave up his ability to rack up amazing offensive stats and focus on defense first did the Red Wings become an elite team. His willingness to sacrifice his personal stats and the ability to lead the rest of his teammates to play the same unselfish brand of hockey finally brought the Red Wings the Stanley Cup in 1997 after a 42 year wait. After so many heartbreaking losses in recent years, that night when #19 raised the Stanley Cup was one of the best memories from my childhood.

Yzerman slowly lost his amazing skills as his body wore down, but nothing could break his will to win. He played an entire Stanley Cup Playoff in 2002 with several torn ligaments in his knee (you name a ligament and it was probably torn), and led the team in points for the playoffs and won his third Stanley Cup. Seriously, every functional ligament in his knee was torn and Yzerman played two months of fantastic playoff hockey. In my opinion, that's the gutsiest performance by an athlete. Ever.

When I think of athletes that are fantastic role models for children these days, Steve Yzerman is definitely one of the best. His unselfish attitude and the "aw-shucks" demeanor are too rare among today's sports stars. I wish him the best in retirement. Detroit Red Wings hockey will never be the same for me without #19 on the ice.

Here is Mitch Albom's farewell column to Yzerman. It does a far better job than I could do.

Better Material

So I do have some material I guess I can share. Many of you non-CT readers knew this, but I had a date today. The first date I have ever had with a Jewish girl, in fact (not that her religion matters). We had been trying to find a time that would work for us to go out for a while now since one of us always seems to be out of town. Saturday morning was the only time that worked, so we went out for breakfast at a small diner in Cromwell.

The girl is a lawyer that focuses on medical malpratice cases. She is clearly a brilliant girl since she recently passed the New York Bar exam while working 80 hour weeks and barely studying, even though that may be the hardest bar exam in the country.

I had high hopes for this date. This girl was quite funny when I first spoke to her. Furthermore, she was incredibly sarcastic, which means that she can probably put up with me quite well. I thought we'd get along really well.

However, I don't think we clicked today. Maybe she was just sidetracked by the 4-day vacation she was just about to leave for (right after the date), but we didn't seem to have much to talk about. We spent most of the time talking about her since I was the only person asking any questions. I'm pretty sure she was not interested in me, and I am not sure I am interested in going out with her again either. We'll see what happens, but I don't think I'll make the next move here. It's probably back to the drawing board (again).

I'm dead tired

All this running around since mid-May has caught up with me. I'm dead tired. I've only slept passed 9AM once in the past several weeks, and that was after staying up past 4AM the previous night. But I'll stop whining now...

On an unrelated note, someone found my blog today by doing an MSN search for 'butt bouncers'. I was admittedly caught off guard by that one. I decided to do my own Google search for this site with those keywords. Can anyone guess which entry would show up? There shouldn't be any surprises. It was the post about the Crazychica NYC reunion. I didn't actually use that phrase anywhere (just the word butt and the word bouncer in the discussion about Mouse's traumatic fall).

Sorry, I really need to come up with some good material. This site has been kind of boring lately...