Cats and dogs

We have now snapped both of the streaks Nolan's baseball team had going this season. They finally got their first win last weekend -- and we got rained out tonight.

We've been lucky and have had reasonably good weather for most of his games, but the luck ran out tonight.

The sky looked pretty ominous as the kids were warming up. Then just before game time, the heavens opened up. We had thunder, lightning and hail.

Oh well. One more game to go. We wrap up the season Saturday afternoon.

Bragging rights

There is nothing to get me blogging again like an opportunity to brag about my kids.

We’re knee deep in baseball season and both boys are doing great.

Let’s start with Thomas. He took his first crack at T-Ball last year when he was 5 and it didn’t work out too well. He just wasn’t ready. Ever since he was a toddler, he was never one to go off and play with a group. He’d always want to stick close to mom and dad if he could. We signed him up for T-Ball, but we couldn’t even get him to stay on the field. We wound up quitting after a few games when it became apparent that it just wasn’t going to work out.

What a difference a year makes. We signed Thomas up for T-Ball again after he insisted that he really wanted to play this year. So far he’s been doing fantastic! He hits the ball and runs where he should, he stands in the field and waits for his chance to field a ball and he goofs around in the dugout with his teammates. He really seems to be having a great time.

He may not have been ready yet last year, but he sure is now. It’s great to watch him having fun.

Then there is Nolan, who has become Mr. Baseball lately. After two years in Single A, this is his first year in AA – where the level of competition goes up a notch. We’re now officially keeping score and for the first time the kids get to pitch.

Nolan loves playing first base and never wanted to do anything else. But about a week ago, his coach sent him to the mound to pitch. Nolan was nervous. I was a nervous wreck. But in his first inning, he got two strikeouts and caught a pop-up. He’s pitched for one or two innings in every game since.

He’s hitting the ball pretty well too. So far he’s gone 7 for 11 this year, including a double and two triples (Note, there are no walks in AA. After ball four, the coach takes over pitching until the batter either strikes out or puts the ball into play.).

Nolan also took part in a pitch, hit and run contest and qualified to advance to the sectionals next week in Saratoga.

So both boys are doing great and loving America’s pastime. And I’m having a blast watching them. Standing on the field, helping to coach their teams and watching them do so well and have fun is heaven on Earth.

Mr. October

Nolan played a good game today as his fall baseball team traveled to North Colonie.

We didn't have the really cool professional umpire we had last week. This time it was just a kid only a few years older than the boys playing ball.

But still, Nolan thought it was cool to go to another town for the first time and play on someone else's field.

He had a great day at the plate with 3 RBI for the day. The first two came on a double in the first inning. The third RBI was on a single he hit with the bases loaded.

In between he reached base when he got hit by a pitch. He took one in the shin, but says it didn't hurt.

His single really should have been a walk. But I guess they have some crazy rule that says they're not allowed to walk in a run. So even though he took four balls, he had to keep going until he either struck out or got a hit. Two pitches later he got his single.

We have one more game at home next weekend. That might be the last game for the fall, although there is a chance we'll play one more.

Season finale

Another baseball season is in the books. These shots were from Nolan's last game on Saturday. I love the look on his face as he gets ready for a ground ball coming toward him.

This and that

My blogging mojo has really been out of whack lately. Here’s a sample of the things I could’ve/should’ve been blogging about recently:

• An update from the Free Stuff Files: I recently scored a free necktie from Christopher's Men's Store. They're running a promotion with the local station that carries Yankee games. They randomly pick an inning before the game and if the score is tied during that inning you can go to the TV station's website to print out a coupon for a free tie. Sure enough, the first time they ran this promotion they wound up giving away dozens and dozens of ties. The deal was good for any tie in the store. I had a $90 tie in my hands at one point, but passed on it because it was kind of ugly. I settled on one worth about $40.
  
  
• I can’t believe Thomas is done with preschool. He’s still such a little pipsqueak. It’s going to be really weird when he gets on that bus for Kindergarten in the fall.
  
  
• Nolan has been playing really good baseball lately. His whole team has come a long way this year. Hard to believe we only have one game left.
  
  
• We’ve really been getting our use out of our Great Escape season passes. We’ve already been up to the park twice with the whole family plus Kris went up one more time with Thomas and his friend Leo. I finally have someone to ride rollercoasters with since Nolan is now big enough. We’re now planning a trip to Six Flags New England (formerly Riverside Amusement Park) since our passes will work there too. Thanks mom and dad Chase!
  
  
• We’ve gotten into the habit of riding our bikes to church every Sunday morning. I really enjoy that.
  
  
• We recently downgraded to regular old basic cable. So far we’re surviving. We’re watching more PBS. Plus the kids are getting by on a steady diet of DVDs from the library and I’ve found Hulu to be a lifesaver. We’re also reading more.
  
  
• Speaking of DVDs for the kids, I continue to educate them in the classics. We recently picked up a 4-DVD set of Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoons at the library. Nolan is now well versed in “moose and squirrel,” as well as “Mr. Peabody and Sherman,” “Fractured Fairy Tales,” “Aesop and Son,” and of course “Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties.”
  
  
• My two little geeks-in-training are also getting hooked on “Doctor Who.” One of the most asked questions when I get home from work is “Dad, can we watch ‘Doctor Who’ tonight?” Thomas has taken to walking around the house pretending to be a Dalek and Nolan has moved beyond the current 10th Doctor and asked to watch some of the classic episodes from the 1970s and 80s that I have on DVD.
  
  
• I’m steadily getting more addicted to Facebook. Several more friends from high school and college have signed on recently. It’s been a great way to keep in touch with people.
  
  
• I’ll leave you with this question – when can we stop referring to years as “two-thousand” and start saying “twenty?” For example, when I see 2010, I want to say “twenty-ten,” but it bugs me to hear people still say “two-thousand ten.” Just a little pet peeve I guess.

Angels in the Outfield

Nolan (and his whole team for that matter) played one of his best games tonight.

He made two outs at the plate as catcher in the first inning, one at first base in the third and he assisted with an out at second base while playing right field in the fourth inning.

Batting he went four for four, with a double (the most you're allowed in Single A) and three singles. It was his first ever double. When Kris congratulated him, he made sure to point out to her that it was his first "career" double.

Here's the crazy thing. When I arrived at the game (I was running late unfortunately) I noticed there was a C-130 circling overhead. Every time I see one of the ski birds from the Stratton Air National Guard Base I can't help but think of dad. So I smiled and thought to myself that it's going to be a good game.

And it was a great game -- with that C-130 up above for what seemed like most of it. A part of me can't help but think that meant Nolan's pop was looking down on him.

'Put me in, coach'

It's been far too long since the last time I posted anything. Sorry, one and all.

We've had a lot going one with various end of the school year activities. Both boys are done with school for the year and the baseball season is over.

Hopefully, I can get back into the swing of things with regular updates on our lives and other meaningless meanderings. I'll get the ball rolling with some highlights from Nolan's baseball season...

Take me out to the ballgame

Nolan's team played another baseball game last night.

It's really great to see how far these kids have come in a couple of years. They're starting to pay more attention to the game and are getting a much better feel for how to field the ball. It's fun to watch!

Here is a shot of Nolan in action taken by one of the other dads at last weekend's game...

Burning the candle at both ends

Wow. Life has been crazy lately.

It all started a few weeks ago when I took on the task of editing the end-of-the-year Cub Scout slide show for the annual Blue & Gold dinner. I guess in past years the slide show has been a relatively simple presentation. But I wanted to do something really cool.

However, that meant about four or five late nights, working on the computer until about 2 a.m. But it was all worth it. The seven-minute video turned out really nice and people seemed to enjoy it.

I finished the slide show just in time to spend another week of late nights working on getting the new WNYT.com ready. It launched this past Monday. But with less than a week to go to launch day there was still SO MUCH to do. Actually, there is still a lot left to do, but I got enough ready that we were comfortable launching it.

It will never feel completely finished, but that’s just me. It’s been almost three years since our last redesign and I never really stopped feeling like that site was a work in progress.

Anyway, after those two weeks I was just worn out. Then I got sick. I had a nasty cold for the past week.

Oh, and did I mention we’re also knee-deep in the baseball season? We usually have at least one practice a week and two games. And for the first couple of weeks (yes, those same two weeks I was putting in the late nights) our games were all on weeknights. That meant leaving work early despite how busy I was there. And so that meant even more working at home on those nights.

So now you know what I’ve been up to lately and why the blog sort of fell by the wayside.

I’ve fallen WAAAYYY behind on my RSS feeds too. The time was when I was practically addicted to Google Reader, checking my feeds almost constantly from the time I woke up until I went to bed at the end of the day. But these last few weeks I’d be lucky if I’d glance at the reader once. And then I’d usually feel so overwhelmed by the list of unread items that I wouldn’t know where to begin—so I wouldn’t.

Anyway, I hope that in the weeks to come things will settle down some and return to normal a little.

Summer is here!

We’ve had a number of events in the past few days that serve as fitting kick-offs to summer.

It started with Nolan’s final baseball game of the season. He played third, first and stood at the pitcher’s mound (a coach pitches) and made two or three outs in the field.

At bat he was the last batter of the game. His manager was pitching and I was catching. After a few strikes and fouls he got a weak hit that came to rest about four feet in front of him. It was quite unspectacular. His manager and I looked at the ball, looked at each other and we both seemed to be thinking the same thing: we can’t end like this. So we both laughed and called it foul. Nolan got one more pitch. This one was a strong grounder that rolled all the way out into right field. Since he was the last batter he got to round all of the bases.

After the game the kids all got trophies. Their manager got a baseball autographed by all the kids and a bobble head doll that said something like “#1 Coach” on the base.

Later that afternoon we took the boys to see “Cars.” This was Thomas’ first trip to the movie theater. I watch video clips and movie trailers on the computer with the kids. Thomas loves to watch the trailers for “Cars,” or as he calls it, “Funny Trucks.” He did well at the movies. He got a little restless toward the end and started moving from seat to seat. But for the most part he was well behaved and had a good time.

We all thought the movie was great. I imagine this DVD will wind up on the Christmas list.

We saw the movie at the Latham Circle Mall, which is of course right across the street from Krispy Kreme. On our way to the theater we noticed a steady stream of people going in and out. So we figured that after the movie we’d go over for our final doughnuts before they closed for good.

When the movie ended we headed over to Krispy Kreme only to be greeted by a couple of employees standing outside who informed us they were closed…for good. They were supposed to shutdown at 10 p.m. Sunday. But it turns out that during the time we were in the movie theater they ran out of doughnuts and weren’t going to bother making more. So that’s the end of Krispy Kreme.

We explained to Nolan that they went out of business and he said, “But they give me hats!” referring to the cool old school paper hats all kids get for free. The boys were bummed, but they got over it pretty quick when we decided to go to McDonald’s instead for dinner.

Father’s Day got off to a great start Sunday morning. I was awakened with breakfast in bed. I got to lay there sipping my coffee, skimming the Sunday paper and watching SportsCenter. There are not many better ways to start your day! I also got cards the kids made and a cool magnet Nolan made for me at school.

It was a beautiful day Sunday. After church we decided to go for a family picnic/bike ride. We drove to Lock 8 in Rotterdam just be different. We ate lunch there and then hopped on our bikes and rode a few miles west along the Mohawk River to a park where a creek feeds into the river. It was a good spot for Thomas to dip his feet in the water while Nolan and I tried skipping some rocks.

We bought a new bike rack for the car a few days ago that we used to get to Rotterdam. Although we enjoyed the bike ride, let me tell you, dealing with this rack was a nerve-wracking pain in the ass. It seemed really hard to get it to fit securely on the car, especially after the bikes were mounted. And as we were driving they seemed to be swaying around far too much. We could see cars behind us backing off for fear they’d wind up with a mountain bike on their hood. So I think we’ll be returning the rack.

Later in the afternoon we went over to my sister’s house to hop in the pool and then enjoyed a great cookout. That was a lot of fun.

Tomorrow is Nolan’s last day of school. But today his class put on a concert, which was great. The kids were so cute. I hope to YouTube (is that a verb now, like Google?) some video of it at some point.

Refreshments were served for everyone in his classroom after the concert, where we said our goodbyes to Nolan’s teacher, Mrs. Bacchia.

Tomorrow he finds out who his first grade teacher will be. Next year will be strange with Nolan in school for the full day and Thomas starting preschool. I’m sure Kris will have some more thoughts to share on the end of the school year.

So that was our action-packed few days. Let summer begin!

Rookie of the year

Well, I remembered the camera for Nolan’s game last night and snapped some decent pictures and one video clip.

The video is of Nolan fielding a ball at the pitcher’s mound and throwing it to first.

I thought I had shot a really good one of him hitting it and running the bases, only to find out the clip was actually of my feet walking away after he was done. I never pressed record at the start, and then when I thought I was stopping it I was actually starting it. Uggh. What a rookie mistake.

I’ll just try again another day. It was pretty cold and cloudy, and it looked like it was going to rain. So I didn’t bother bringing the camera to today’s game.

Catching up

I realize I’ve been really neglecting the blog lately. Here are some of the significant goings on…

• I recorded my demo Friday night, which I will soon send out to people in hopes of landing some voiceover work. The recording session was a great experience. I can’t wait to hear the finished product. I should get the demo in about a month. At that point I’ll make sure to find a spot for it online so you all can hear it.
• The price of gas continues to frustrate everyone. Last Thursday it took $50 to fill the minivan (it would have taken a little more, but I stopped at $50)! Subsequently, we’ve cancelled our planned summer vacation in Maine. Instead we’re going on an extended camping trip in the Adirondacks, a little closer to home.
• Nolan played another game last weekend. Once again I failed to bring the camera. He has two games this weekend. So I’ll try to get some pictures of one of them.
• I’ve been enjoying the new season (ok, “series” if you’re British) of “Doctor Who.” The first episode was fun. The second was better. But this past Saturday’s show, “School Reunion,” was a sheer delight! It was so much fun seeing old characters Sarah Jane Smith and K9 make a welcome comeback. The special effects were the best ever produced for a “Doctor Who” show—and on par with the best of sci fi TV (long gone are the days of guys in cheesy rubber monster suits and really cheap sets). And Anthony Stewart Head made a terrific villain.

As always I’m sure there’s more I’ve forgotten about that has slipped through the cracks. I’ll endeavor to do better.

I'm still here

It’s been far too long since the last time I posted anything. I had some vacation time last week, then our friends the Reeds came to visit last weekend and the last few days have been busy at work.

So with all that I haven’t had time to blog—except for last Friday’s news about Star Trek. I mean c’mon, we have to make time for the important things, right?

Anyway, the vacation was good. I had three days off. We were supposed to spend that time in Boston, but when our plans changed I decided to keep the vacation time and just hang out around home. On Day 1 I took Nolan to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. On Day 2 we went for a family bike ride and picnic. On Day 3 we took a day trip to the Mid-Hudson Children’s Museum in Poughkeepsie.

It poured buckets over the weekend. So our visit with the Mike & Sharon and their kids was a washout. We kept to indoor activities like a trip to the Children’s Museum of Science and Technology and dinner at Applebee’s.

Last night was Nolan’s first baseball game of the season. Sorry…no pictures. We didn’t even bother bringing the camera. Kris had her hands full with Thomas and Chester and I was busy helping to coach the team. He has another game this weekend, so hopefully we’ll snap some shots then and maybe even get some video.

About half of his team was also on his tee ball team last year, and I’m really proud of them. You can see such a big improvement since last year. It’s going to be a fun season!