Soooo, at last check, Joe was a big puddle of goo after he attended a funeral for the father of a friend. Much has happened since then, so let's dive in!
Friday, still a Friday during Lent for those unfamiliar, was actually a pretty relaxing day. Church at 8:30, some work, hit the gym from 11:30-1:30 and then I hooked up with a bright-eyed, happy looking dejesus freak for lunch. I mention his state of mind because we all go through good times and tough times and it's been a mixed bag certainly for dejesus recently. But he had just taken a trip to the Dominican Republic and while there got certified for scuba diving. Being certified myself, it's a fun accomplishment. Scuba diving is something I truly love, on par with golf (pardon the pun). Unfortunately, it's easier to go golfing around Chicago than it is to scuba.
After lunch, dejesus and I actually had coffee too since it's been so long since we'd gotten together and had much to talk about. After coffee, we bid adieu and I did some laundry prior to heading out to my first minor league hockey game, which in Chicago is The Wolves (though many people would argue that watching the Blackhawks is like going to a minor league game). My companion and I were on the jumbotron as soon as we entered the seating bowl as the mascot came over to question a youth about current players. Thankfully they didn't ask me as I noticed that the only player on the team that I knew, had his numbered retired and hanging from the rafters, so clearly he was no longer a player. It's a fun time though and I recommend taking a game in if you have time and interest. Lots and lots of kids there too.
Saturday morning came early as I had two softball games in Arlington Heights which started at 9:00 a.m. We took batting practice at 8, which meant I had to leave at 7 and get up at 6. After not getting to bed until shortly after midnight, it was going to be a tough morning. Despite periodic showers, we split the two games which were used to determine our seeding in the rest of the tournament on Sunday.
Friday was my mother's 70th birthday, so we planned a surprise for her on Saturday. My aunt flew in from D.C. and the three kids, et.al. went to a suburban restaurant to surprise her. It was a big success! It's always good to see the family at those types of events. I actually hung around in the burbs because I had another league softball game in a dome at 10:30!
Sunday morning rolled around, Palm Sunday, but no church for me in the morning at least. Under bright sunshine, I headed back to Arlington Heights for the rest of the softball tournament after 9 hours of very restful sleep. Unfortunately, many games from the day before were rained out and had to be played first, so by the time our first game started, the rains had come back. Ugh. We came out rocking though scoring 15 runs in the first inning and winning 20-9 after six innings (game was stopped due to slaughter rule). The fields were looking bad though and we finished one inning of our next game before the tournament was postponed. I may miss the rest of it since I think I'll still be in The Turks when they play it out. Oh well. In this particular softball organization, ISA (Illinois Softball Association), we have to play one level higher than we do in other softball organizations, because we won one of their tournaments last year. So against good competition, we were 2-1 and were winning 2-0 when the next game was called. That bodes well for us for the softball season upcoming!!!
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4 comments:
a friend of mine is getting certified for scuba-diving as well - takes a long time!
Can we assume that your hand is ok by the softball update? Loyal fans want to know.
Actually, I got certified during a weeklong trip to the Dominican Republic, in a course that went over four days. I spent about a day and a half reading a 250 pg. textbook and watching some videos, then went on two extended pool dives (we crammed five short pool dives into two longer ones), took a few quizzes over the reading material, went on four open water dives (fantastic!), and finished by taking a 50 question final exam.
I understand that most formal courses (such as the one Joe took) go for many weeks, but I don't believe they do a whole lot more than what I did over four days. It was pretty intensive (I didn't see my family until the evenings), but it was a whole lot of fun and I'm proud that I was able to accomplish something on my trip. Now I'm looking forward to the first opportunity to take advantage of the certification!
Always good to catch up with Joe -- we ought to get afternoon java more often.
Yeah Alexis, it took me like 6 weeks of classes. Like dejesus says though, in the proper setting, you can knock it out in a week.
My hand is about 80% or so now el supremo. I would have said a higher number, but Saturday night I picked up a football and went to throw it, but it really hurt to spread my hand that wide so I didn't even try to throw it. Ugh.
I can see us having some java outside now that the weather is warm dejesus. Be careful though, Ricardo started doing that with me and now we work together!!
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