Random Thoughts

-- Glad this thing let me back on without changing my password since it's been so long since I've posted.

-- Nice outing from our "closer-in-training" Craig Hansen tonight: Came in the game and gave up a double, wild pitch, walk, three-run home run, another double and then got lifted. That guy scored after another single and a force out. Final line for Hansen: 0 innings pitched, 3 hits, 4 earned runs, 1 walk. Nice. Can't wait til next year.

-- The sunny side to this though is that it was the Twins doing the damage and I'm rooting for them now that my Sox are out of it.

-- Another upside: David Ortiz (Big Papi) hit his 50th home run of the year, which ties the Red Sox record for most in a season. He should break it later this week. Speaking of home run mashers, Ryan Howard has my other team, the Phillies, on the brink of the playoffs for the first time in 13 years. Here's hoping the Padres or Dodgers fold so we can get some October action.

-- In other sports news, I may be lucky with slots (roughly three encounters over the last 20 years and I'm up about $30 -- which is good for me) but I'm definitely NOT lucky in fantasy football. I lost one game because the officials missed Heath Miller stepping out of bounds and Nick Saban was a bit too tentative with the challenge flag and another game because, well, take your pick ... my margin of defeat was 0.16 points. Yeah, we use decimals. To translate that into yards, that would be less than 2. Painful. Utterly painful. Being well prepared and having good players doesn't matter if you're just plain unlucky.

-- Everyone together now: wah wah wah! (thank you for crying with me)

-- Speaking of crying ... got a wee bit weepy watching the Steve Irwin memorial service on Animal Planet tonight. I feel bad for his family, who will miss him most of all.

-- While watching footage of his exploits I felt sudden regret that I hadn't tried to wrestle one of the alligators we saw down in the Everglades earlier this summer.

-- Today was one of the best comp days I've ever had. I get a comp day when I work on the weekend, which was the case this past weekend when Naomi and I were visiting a church in Savannah. I spent all day Saturday meeting with people interested in missions, which was great fun, but meant that I didn't have much of a weekend. Got in around 11 Saturday night and then spent most of Sunday at church for a missions committee meeting.

Anyway ... I slept in an hour, had leftover waffles and bacon (yum; diet starts at lunch) and then went to meet my pastor to "brief" him on missions. He's speaking on missions topics the whole month of November and has invited me to give him ideas for messages. Banzai! Unfortunately, some kind of family crisis arose just a bit into our time so that got cut short. (You might take a sec to pray for him. No idea what about, but the Lord knows). So...

... prayed for him, then left and took advantage of the early end to our meeting to get my hair cut. Normally I don't like dropping $15-20 to have someone do something which I could easily do myself were my head not actually attached to my body, but every once in a while something compels me to go ahead and have it done. In some cases the shaggy, unkempt look is what compels me. In this case it was the hack job that I did on myself last week in an attempt to buy another week of financial freedom before giving in to the barber. Alas, I still have some measure of financial freedom in addition to a nice haircut all while still having my head squarely attached to my shoulders which, in the end, is a good thing.

... After this Naomi and I went out on a date. Recently we've been rolling in the chain restaurant gift cards. Got a $50 one with credit card points, another $50 one as a thank you from a friend who stayed with us and $20 in vouchers as a reward for Naomi giving blood yesterday. So we decided to cash some of these in today. Went to Olive Garden and totally gorged ourselves: All you can eat breadsticks, Zuppa Toscana and all-you-can-eat pasta (we each only managed one serving though -- tricky Olive Garden people), followed by some rich chocolate cake with vanilla sauce and sliced strawberries. It was all very yummy, but we were filled to near-bursting, which, had it happened, would have grossed out the other guests. (I guess the diet will start at dinner).

We had already planned to walk through Blanchard Park when we were done, but our Great Olive Garden Gorge turned the walk into something more like a waddle. Waddle a quarter mile, sit in the shade and rest. Waddle some more, rest some more. After roughly 2 miles in the 2 o'clock sun we were cursing ourselves. Conclusion: hooray for gift cards and Olive Garden; boo for lack of self-control. Should have ordered the salad.

An hour or two of digestion later I managed to get outside and cut the grass in our backyard, which is looking very healthy right now. I also cleaned mud off my boots -- mud left over from our South Dakota adventure (see previous blog entry), added pages to our scrapbook, filed missions papers from our church and finished off a library book about the history of ESPN (OK, I admit, I only skimmed it; but I still feel a sense of accomplishment).

I must confess that I did download my PIONEERS email today (I can't help it, I'm a company man!). And, even worse, I replied to one or two. (What can I say? I can't stop. I need group counseling). But nevertheless, I come to the end of the day feeling rested and relaxed and ready to go back to the office. I got stuff done, spent time outside, didn't waste much time with TV, spent quality time with the wife and have a shiny new haircut on my still-attached head. I'd say it was a good day.

Oh, and dinner was a bowl and a half of Honey Nut Cheerios. Does that qualify as starting my diet?

Oh, and one more thing ... Naomi was offered a job at Campus Crusade this afternoon! (But more about that later...)