I’m back from my trip back home. The thing that started my trip was to be there for the closing of Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. I grew up there, and wanted to see the closing of the place. Was a quite emotional moment. I know a lot of people don’t get choked up over things like sporting arenas, but for those who are into sports, that can be a big deal. I’ll write more in detail about that later once I go through all the pictures I took…

It was nice to see my family again, something I haven’t done on my own in over seven years – all the times I’ve seen family since I got married, my wife was with me; this was the first time I stayed there on my own since I got married. Went well. Got to see my grandparents again, basically without boring you all, it was a great family trip. I probably didn’t do too well with Weight Watchers on the trip, but hey.. :)

I left last Thursday, and am now getting back into the swing of things. I didn’t really like being away from my wife for that long – I found that I really missed a lot of the “little things” she did which weren’t around when I was out of town. I’m back with her again, and then she goes and ships out on Saturday morning, as she’s traveling alone back home (she’s from Pittsburgh). I can then live like I used to before I got married. Clothes everywhere (on the floor where they belong anyway), dirty dishes stacked to the ceiling… The way men were SUPPOSED to live. OK, that’s a bit over the top, but the point is I’ll be by myself again – something I’ve rather gotten to dislike. My wife won’t be back until the following Thursday I think it is. I’ll miss her while she’s gone – but I can say this (I know my wife reads this) – SOCKS WILL BE EVERYWHERE while you’re not here. ;)

More random crap…

Anyone who knows me knows that I love baseball. This is an odd time of year for me, because the season is over, and for the fourth year in a row, my team (the Rangers) was in last place. So I’m down to roster moves as my only Ranger fix. Yeah, the playoffs are still going on (Don’t want the Yankees or the Braves to win a damn thing – beyond that I don’t really care who wins), but it’s just a weird feeling. I’ve already made plans in my head for my 2004 season tickets, and can’t wait until next season starts! Football & Hockey are OK substitutes, but none of them can compare to the awesomeness that is a 200 game season. Let football players who whine about “not being able to get up” for the game see what they feel when they play 200 games a year (162 game season, plus about 30-35 spring training games). Getting up for just a 16 game season should be something that should happen every week. Football players are weak.

Bowling..
I’m 38 now, and I’ve been bowling in a bowling league for 31 years now (minus a year I had to take off for health reasons). When I moved to Texas 12 years ago, I was averaging around 170 or so. When I moved here, my average dropped a lot – I never could get it higher than 155 (for any length of time), and it’s dropped as low as 143. That was rather distressing to me – I’m not naieve enough to think I’m really great, but when your average drops on the order of 25 pins or so, and stays in that general neighbhorhood, I wonder what’s going on. I’ve always known that when my weight is up, I bowl worse. So I was hoping when I started Weight Watchers over the summer that I’d be a better bowler.
The first week was a bad week, but first week is usually odd, because I hadn’t bowled in months at that point. The second week was better, but nothing to really write home about (or write on a blog – haha). However, the last three weeks have been great for me. On Sep 17th I bowled 176, 181, 178 (535 series). That jacked up my average for then new year a lot. Then on Sep 24th I bowled a 191, 178, 180 (549 series). Very good and consistant for me. Jacked up my average some more. Then last night I bowled a 201, 164, 176 (541 series). After these three weeks, my average is now up at 165 – which is in the neighbhorhood it used to be all the time back in Pennsylvania. It’s also felt good bowliong too, and I don’t mean the fact I bowled good games. I meant the fact that I didn’t feel like I was lucking out bowling this way – I didn’t have to overcompensate for problems during bowling, it just “felt good”. I’m hoping I can keep this up, as I haven’t been completely happy with my bowling since I moved to Texas a decade ago. I also switched leagues from one I’d been with almost all that time to another that bowls right next door to my old league. That was a great move, because this new league is overall a lot friendlier than my old one. All 5 teams I’ve bowled against were funny to bowl with, and everyone I’ve met so far seems to act like the league is one giant team, instead of bowling “against” others. It’s a great feeling; one I wonder about when I think about my improved bowling so far this season.

Also, I’d like to say that I sometimes don’t tell friends enough how I care about them, and those of you who are my friends who are reading this know who they are. I value my friends. A lot.

Oh yeah. Rush Limbaugh guit ESPN. Good – I might be able to watch the show again. What an f’in jackass he is.