Garage Makeover

Memorial Day Weekend was very productive. We did ton's of work around the house, which desperately needs to be done. Owning a house is hard, by the way. So the next huge project that needs to be tackled is the garage. I'm going to try to post a picture of the progress weekly (yes, that's how bad it is, this isn't a one weekend job....this is like a 12 weekend job) I'm hoping that the pressure of posting a new picture each week will motivate me to get something done. So here goes, if you can wrap your mind around it, try to imagine that this isn't even taken at the peak of mess.

Any words of encouragement?

Softball Guy

Try to guess which type of "softball guy" Zeb would be.

Who's Afriad of the Calico Cat?

Click to view and read the picture close up. It is pure hilarity. This flyer was dropped off at all the houses in the neighborhood today. Apparently this guy has an affinity for song birds & a little too much time on his hands. Reading this thing 'effing killed me.

I'm pretty sure Zeb is going to commend this cat for all it's hard work, because he was pretty pissed Monday morning to be woken up at 5:00AM by the sound of those darn songbirds!

So what is your favorite part of this lovely public service announcement? I'll have to go with "I've tried scaring it off but it keeps coming back -- temptation for the taste of of wild prey is too great" WHAT?!?! It's a calico cat guy! Are! you! jo-king!?

Also, please note the caption on the picture, and the awesome photoshop skills.

Puppy Crisis

Long story short - Ollie started limping sporadically last week. Zeb and I freaked out. Ollie continued about his business and thought we were crazy for making such a big deal about it, but continued limping sporadically. I almost got an ulcer worrying about the guy, so we took him to the Vet. Apparently they think he has a subluxing knee cap. Yeah, I know. I would get a gimp dog with an orthopedic issue. Really!?
The Vet recommended Ollie go on a strict plan of rest, no running, no jumping. Which, I'll have you know are about the only things Ollie does on any consistent basis. It's been hell. The little guy is going crazy and so are we. So far the improvements have been...less than impressive. But we're not even halfway through the recommended period of rest (2 weeks!?) I realize that I am the worst patient/parent of a patient ever because all I want is an instant fix. I spend probably 70 hours a week convincing athletes that "there is no magic fix, it takes time and commitment to your treatment plan", but what do I want? Oh I want an instant fix. And I want it now.

Tuesday Rant

How about these widescreen clips from The Youtubes? Gosh that's annoying. It really doesn't fit into my blog layout. So I have a dillema, change the layout...avoid clips altogether? It's a no win situation.

Now on to make tacos for dinner & watch The American Idols.

I'm Not Even Mad

I can't even be mad at this, that's how impressive it is. Just some good effing baseball, stealing home and other shenanegans.

2 Great Things and an Observation

1. Madcon - Beggin' : Love the old school swaggar of this song. Saw it on some commercial a long time ago, but finally figured out what the song actually was. Gonna be rockin' this on the old Ipod this weekend in The Bay.
   
2. Twitter : Okay, so I know what you're thinking....oh she finally figured out what Twitter is and got on the band wagon. But that is false. I've known about it for a long time, but Damon recently got serious about it, and turns out he is a much better twitterist than a blogger. Also turns out that he's had a twitter account since 2007. I'm pretty sure that makes him the first twitter user ever. He also has had his blogger account since 2004. I asked him what the big thing is going to be in 2012, but he refuses to give up his secrets. Also, Greg, Nick Swisher is on Twitter...so.....

An Observation: Blazer fans are coming out of the wood works, walking around the neighborhood in their Brandon Roy jerseys, talking about "what time is tip off" non-stop. Get out of here. No one cares about NBA. Thanks.

Here's a Thought

First of all - who knew there were still real pirates out there? But this whole Somalian pirates fiasco has got me thinking. Why don't they just take all the time, money, energy & man hours spent trying to end music & dvd piracy and funnel all those resources over to eradicating real pirates around the world? Seems like it's a win-win-win situation for everyone. Lemme get that free Napster back.

Nick Swisher On His Pitching Debut

This is a ridiculous situation, but I like the guy because he's a team player and he's going to do what it takes to help the team and to keep the team "camaraderie" high.

We Like Sportz

First, on a completely unrelated topic, let me say: Screw you Josh Beckett, and your 10 strike-out getting ass.

Since Charles brought this up, it really wouldn't be fair to deprive the "Married To The Game" readership. Basically it started out as something that Damon and I thought was hilarious for no apparent reason. It reminds us of Zeb, especially the "when my team loses I'll be mean all night" line. And it makes us laugh hysterically.

Yesterday I was mean all night, by the way.

Some however (COUGH *charles* COUGH) don't find it to be funny at all. So solve this debate for us please, is this video funny or not?

Opening Day

This pretty much sums up my day.

By today I was JUICED for the Yankees opening day. I'd been watching plenty of baseball tonight, and I'd been buying into what the sports casters were saying about my boys. They said that they looked GOOOOOOOD. I'm talking filthy good.

This weekend we had our first real sun, which, as anyone who has ever lived in Oregon knows, means that 1) Everyone has been outside soaking up that 70 degree Sun from sunrise to sunset, 2) Everyone has a nasty sun burn from finally uncovering their neon white skin, 3) Everyone is in the best mood possible, because they're high off sunlight.

I wake up this AM, fresh off my weekend of sun intoxication, promptly dress for work in SHORTS, yeah, thats right. And roll off to work, barely able to stand myself and the anticipation of opening day, and my new ace, CC Sabathia pitching a gem.

Let me just cut to the chase. CC gave up 6 runs in 4.1 innings, his first start without a strike out since July 2005, oh yeah, and the first time EVER that a yankee starter gave up 5 walks with no strikeouts on an opening day. Awesome. I'm pissed. I kick over my co-worker's chair. Don't feel bad for him. He asked for it.

In other news I picked my fantasy baseball team name. HangOutW/YourWangOut, with a picture of Chien-Ming Wang on my profile. And don't worry my first post draft move was to pick up Chein-Ming Wang. Luckily enough, I also have C.C. "I only pitched 4.1 innings in my Yankee Debut" Sabathia on my fantasy team too.

Ken Griffey Jr. hit a homerun in his prodigal return with the Mariners today. I love it. I have a theory that "The Kid" is going to light it up all year long, knocking bombs like he's on roids, only hes NOT of course. It's going to be like magic, he's going to recapture the glory of his youth. And then when A-Rod and Randy Johnson see how well he's doing with their old team, they are going to demand a trade and go back to Seattle also to create a 1995 alumni team. And Edgar Martinez & Jay Buehner (can't spell that) are going to come out of retirement too. And it's going to be amazing.

I guess you can now understand how my over-active imagination led me to believe that the Yankees were going to be awesome this year.

Teru Teru Bozu

This little guys is a Teru Teru Bozu (sunny, sunny little guy.) According to my Japanese Athletic Training Student, Yuri, he will keep it from raining. So far he is batting .666 in keeping us from getting rained out of practice or games. It might not be a sure thing....but it keeps us from getting too bored I suppose.

In other news I need help picking my team name for Fantasy Baseball. Check out the poll, and post up any other clever ideas you may have. I'm looking for something that has to do with one of the yankees, preferably CC Sabathia or Mark Texiera

Stapler in Jello!! Get Serious.

HA! Happy Birthday Strick! Yes, blink again, pinch yourself...that is indeed a stapler in jello. Suck it. If you're wondering, it was as awesome as it looks in person, and even better.
The key is that you want to use the Jello Jigglers (uh...thats what she said?) recipe, not the regular jello one. This way it's going to be a little more thick and stable. A little thread or dental floss to keep the stapler hanging in the middle of the jello and you're good to go.
And for the record my co-worker was delighted to find this waiting for him on his desk on Monday morning. Well, until he realized that he would have to clean his stapler off.

This "The Office" prank was so good that now I want to try the one where Jim puts the change in Dwight's phone......hmmm.

Sugar

Yes, and Yes. Damon found this movie, and it is right up our alley.

Really?!? WBC Edition

One of my favorite recent SNL segments is "Really?!?" during the weekend update. If you're not familiar with it, check out this clip, one of my favorites of this gimmick.



So now that you get the reference, here's my version of REALLY?!?! World Baseball Classic Edition:

Alex Rodriguez, you're gonna pull up and decide you need surgery the week before WBC. Really!? You couldn't figure this one out, oh say ANYTIME earlier during the off season? Really!??! You're gonna decide that you need surgery a few weeks after you get busted for steroids, Really.

And team USA, you're gonna let Canada stay within 1 run all the way into the 9th inning? Really? Have you no national pride? You're playing in Toronto, and you're going to let the Canadian team think they even belong in the same ballpark as you. Really!? This isn't hockey you know. Really.

And really team USA, you have Ted Lily on your team? Really? Ted Lily hasn't even been an average baseball player since 1998, really. Maybe you could actually put away the Canadian team a little more authoritatively if you had more pitchers on the team that aren't Ted Lily. Really.

And The Netherlands (except I only like to pronounce it De NeDerlands) Really? Who knew they even play baseball there? Really. I have strong suspicion that most of these guys are actually cricket players that they recruited in order to field a team. Really.

And The Dominican Republic, really? You're gonna get beat by De NeDerlands? Do they even have 1 major league player on that team besides Sidney Ponson? Really!? And tell me, Mr. Alou, how are you going to manage a baseball team that is losing the elimination game to De NEDERLANDS and not keep David Ortiz in the lineup. REALLY. It's F'ing Big Papi, the clutchiest player in the MLB (second to Derek Jeter of course) Really?!? And you don't think that the guy who's made a career out of dropping bombs when a season is on the line might be able to to help your cause a little bit?!? Really. But you've got your son Moises Alou, who by the way hasn't taken an At Bat in a game in what, a year and a half, oh you've got him in the line-up. REALLY?!

Oh and Russell Martin, you're Candadian?! Really!??!

Strick's Mix

Toasted Corn
Chocolate Covered Coffee Beans
Wasabi Peas
Almonds
Peanuts
Yummy.

Leaving for Hawaii in a few hours. So tired can't type full sentences. Deal with it.

Coming Soon:

• New Theory on "The Bachelor"
• World Baseball Classic starts this weekend
  

Happy Birthday Jenny!!!

First to Make the Fridge

I am one of those annoying people who delights in covering their refrigerator with various magnets, pictures, coupons and such. Is it super classy? Probably not, but it's what I like. I was pretty psyched to announce the first person to make the refrigerator, this morning I proudly gathered two recently delivered Save-The-Dates for upcoming weddings and marched into the kitchen. I picked out the perfect Michael Scott magnet (the highest magnetic honor) to hold A-Ross & Laef's prominently placed picture on the front of the fridge, but in a perfectly anti-climactic turn of events both the magnet and picture fell like a ton of bricks to my feet.

Who makes a refrigerator with a door that isn't magnetic? Really? Why do they want to ruin my life. I actually had a moment that I thought, 'how can I live here with a refrigerator that you can't put magnets on the front?'

Luckily the side of the refrigerator is magnetic, so I was able to stick up A-Ross & Laef, and Meagan & Chris' save-the-dates, but I can't lie, I am still a little bit disappointed. What's a magnet-loving girl to do?

Great American Blog Out

I'd like to be able to say that I quit blogging for 3 straight weeks as a personal challenge, to better myself if you will, to rid myself of the technology that binds us all and to take up some more sophisticated hobbies....but that would be a lie. The truth is that all this time I've been trying to think of the perfect Michael Phelps joke.

Finally pulling up the ol' bloggeroo I was horrified at the last posts. Seems like so incredibly long ago. As you can see pictured above, I'm pretty far behind in my google reader too (and that's actually accumulated in only about 4 days worth of deliquincy.)

We're all moved in to the new house, and we're loving it. Zeb and Damon did an excellent job with the move 2 weeks ago while I was on my first road-trip of the softball season. With plenty of help from Sam, Jaton, Stan, Nita and my Dad somehow the house got put all together in my absence. I am so thankful for them.
Within the first week of homeownership Zeb got some great news as he accepted a position as Office Manager for the Salem-Liberty Willamette Dental Branch. This is great news on many levels as he will be getting back into the company that he worked for before we left for Montana, a company he really enjoys working for. This also means that he's getting a big raise from his job with the Boys & Girls Club, which with help out with the old mortgage payment big time. Oh, and it also means he gets to go back to working 9-5, instead of 12-9PM. Awesome. We celebrated appropriatly by breaking out the Sheridan's, a delicious liquor...or something...that Emily & Chicken brought back for us from Mexico. Apparently you can't buy it in the US, so next time you're in Mexico be sure to pick some up.
Now I'm off on the road again, heading back to Palm Springs for another 5 days (its not as glamorous as it might sound) but I've got some new reading material that should keep me busy.
Oh, and Ollie is still really cute.

The Office Friday

• FACT: Any episode that starts at Jim & Dwight's ajoined desk is bound for greatness. I like the way Jim pronouces Dwight - D'Wight sometimes. Anyone else notice this?
  
• Whachu Talkin' About Wallace?
• Is Hillary Swank Hot? I'm pretty sure we've had this exact conversation and many like it at my office.
  
• Your fictitious name? Michael Scarn, of course.
  
• You know how I feel about IHOP! One of our Grad Students has oddly strong negative feelings toward IHOP. He's going to hear about this tomorrow.

Check out this sneak peak at the next new episode of The Office, and watch it on Super Bowl Sunday!

Your favorite moments from tonight?