Hey! We won our softball game! It started out kinda rocky, but we settled down and ended up winning 20-14. My new pitching style really seemed to work. I only allowed 5 (I think) runs over 5 innings. My knuckle-ball seemed to baffle them, and I even got a strike out! That's a stat to write home about in slow-pitch softball.

My wife meant to take pictures again this week but found herself too busy cheering us on, so you will have to wait until next Tuesday for pics of my white-with-red-stripes kneesocks. Maybe it was my socks and not my pitching that worked so well...

It feels great to be a winner again!

Today was definitely a day of mixed emotions for us at PCS. Today was our last day of school. We started the day off with graduation practice for the graduation which will take place tomorrow night. This morning before we started, I walked over to the bathroom where I heard running water only to find one of our students, Jessica, filling water balloons. I asked her if they were for one of the other teachers, or for herself. To both questions she answered no. She said I wasn't supposed to know anything about it, so I left her to her business. I knew we had it coming to us! After we finished eating pizza at a local park, the students all rushed over to a couple of vehicles. I thought we were toast. It ended up that before the water balloons, they decided to present me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers and my husband seven boxes of dots and a "Cat In The Hat" book (long story). They also gave us a scrapbook with many memories from this past year as well as the frame that you can see above with their pictures and notes to us. Many tears were cried.

Thanks guys for the gifts and for an awesome first year! You are our first class and we will never forget you. We love you!

Tonight I practiced my pitching for around an hour with Greg. I developed quite a nice curve ball, a decent two-seam fastball and a wicked knuckler. Needless to say I am quite excited to try them out on some suckers Thursday night.

The Reds finally won tonight. Valentin hit a pinch-hit two run shot in the bottom of the 8th inning to give them the lead, and Weathers claimed the save. Greg was listening to the game with me and called the homerun right before the pitch. It was pretty cool.

Not much else is happening that's very exciting. This is the last week of school, which I guess is exciting. For the students at least. But it brings my unemployment. Welfare is calling, I guess...

We didn't fare so well in our first game. Actually we got our rears handed to us. Not good. Not good at all. Offensively, I went 3 for 3 with a sacrifice fly and 1 or 2 RBI and a double. I am working on some new pitches, however, and I hope to stymie the opposing batters in games to come. My wife took no pictures, so I have none to post. But perhaps the weather will be warmer and she will be outside watching and will take more pics next week.

I can hardly contain my excitement. Tomorrow night is the first game in our softball league. Well, our team's first game anyway. We are playing on Lima Baptist Temple's team, with a good friend, Uncle Louis (pronounced "loo-yee"). I am our starting pitcher, and we have no bullpen, so hopefully my arm stays healthy. It being my rookie debut, the jitters will no doubt haunt me for at least an inning or two, but I hope to work through all those annoyances and pitch flawlessly. Just to let you know, I've got a wicked 12-foot arc.

I'll be sure to let you know how it goes, and also upload some pics of my victory.

Tonight I ventured into a first-time experience. It was one of those things that I had been talking about doing for a long time but also one of those things that you just never get around to doing. As I mentioned to my brother-in-law, it seems like these types of things only get done on whims, with no planning. Anyways, with his help and expertise (he once painted his car), we got my rusting running boards off of my Explorer (named Meriwether, by the way), grinded and sanded the rust out, primed them, then repainted them. Monday will see them returned to their prominent position flanking Meriwether.

Mucho thankso to Grego for his helpo.


I also made a rather profound connection
tonight. I realized that running boards are a lot like love handles. They both really add to and dress up their objects. That's really something, huh?

Running across this picture tonight gave me a quick chill. Reality then returned, as my tiny fan in the window beside my head continued to blow slightly-cool air into my right ear. I must admit that I do not miss the bitter cold we experienced this past winter. Even though I hate sweating, it is better than freezing for months at a time.

Of course, ask me in about 4 months which I'd rather have and I'll probably say the cold. I go through this cycle every year, it seems. Alas, why not let it continue?

Oh, by the way, the Reds lost, compliments of their bullpen.

As you know, our basement flooded a little over a week ago. Here is a picture of our living room that evening, after the boxes of books had been carried to higher ground. The floor eventually looked about twice this full of books, pages flapping wildly in the wind, musty scents wafting across our nostrils. And yes I meant "across" and not "into." I like the mental picture of "across."

The books are pretty much completely dry by now, but we have yet to purchase new boxes to hold them. I also need to purchase some shelving to the basement, so that should the floods come again the books can be elevated enough to avoid contact.

The Reds lost again...

Most people don't know that back in 1912, Hellman's mayonnaise was manufactured in England. In fact, the Titanic was carrying 12,000 jars of the condiment scheduled for delivery in Vera Cruz, Mexico, which was to be the next port of call for the great ship after its stop in New York.

This would have been the largest single shipment of mayonnaise ever delivered to Mexico. But as we know, the great ship did not make it to New York. The ship hit an iceberg and sank, and the cargo was forever lost.

The people of Mexico, who were crazy about mayonnaise, and were eagerly awaiting its delivery, were disconsolate at the loss. Their anguish was so great, that they declared a National Day of Mourning, which they still observe to this day.

The National Day of Mourning occurs each year on May 5th and is known, of course, as Sinko de Mayo.