It's raining in Amsterdam and Chicago, coincidence?

For the second straight Wednesday it rained in Chicago and my softball double-header was canceled. This week, after making the hour long drive through rush hour, at least I made it onto the field for some fielding practice before the games were called. Of course the first ball hit to me in practice takes a hop off the heel of my glove into my protective cup. Nice. Welcome back after 2 1/2 weeks off. Actually I think I've played one game in the last three weeks and Saturday we have a big state tournament: 8 teams, all powerhouses who we have beaten and who have beaten us. Should be a real blood match of a day. Could be the best tournament we'll play all year.

The only good thing about the rain is that I was able to come home, talk to Joisey Ken for a bit, open a bottle of my favorite wine of all time (currently at least) and get to see the rain-delayed Cubs game. Not a bad consolation prize.

Today I went to see a friend of mine who is working in the accounts payable area of the new Batman movie- Rory's First Kiss, at least that's the working title in Chicago. In fact, she called me at work and the number popped up on our caller i.d. as Rory's First Kiss. I turned to Ricardo, "Rory's First Kiss. Are you calling porno hot lines again?" Ha!!

While I was on my various journeys the past few weeks, two large trees on my block were removed due to Dutch Elm Disease, the silent killer (well, have you ever heard a tree with Dutch Elm Disease scream? I thought not.). When was the last time that you even heard about Dutch Elm Disease? I thought it was over. It had that one hot string 20+ years ago, but then I thought it was basically done. Apparently not. In fact, my neighbor thinks most of the elm trees on the block actually have it, which is supported to some degree by how the disease spreads. Anyway, it's amazing how much sunlight those trees blocked. An entire area of the sky is opened up when I walk outside now.