William has had a pretty screwed up sleep schedule lately, so yesterday Erin kept him from napping, and he fell asleep in the stroller on our way back from the mall (supper and grocery trip) So I put him in his bed at 7:30 last night. He woke up once before we came to bed, but quickly went back to sleep. This morning, he got up with me. The plan is to get him to nap early in the day, instead of the 5-7PM that he has been napping, thus paving the way for getting him in bed/asleep before midnight :)

I think the long weekend will be pretty low key around our house - getting some stuff done that has been badly in need of doing for a while, and otherwise relaxing. One of the things I’ve been putting off for too long is amalgamating William and Julia’s websites into one mega ultra lighting site. That will shave precious seconds off of some people’s days, as they don’t have to check both sites just to see that we haven’t made any updates…

Simpson’s quote of the day: “Okay Marge, its your child against my child. The winner will be showered with praise. The loser will be taunted and booed until my throat is sore.” - Homer

After saying that I wouldn’t likely play ball last night, I wound up going out and playing ball. I sat and watched for the first game, but I wanted to be out there, and Coach put me in to pitch. My strategy of giving the other team pitches that look nice enough to hit but really aren’t that nice paid off, and I pitched four scoreless innings (one inning was a 4 pitch effort ;)) Full credit to the defence though. I walked two in the following inning, and wound up loading the bases with one out, which required a double play to preserve the shutout. The hits that I did give up were hard grounders that found a way through the infield.

William played well with the other kids that were there, except for one or two incidents. I think Erin enjoyed her night “off” as well. My only regret is that I didn’t put my cleats in the car, so I was playing in my Cat shoes (Those aren’t actually the same shoe, but they’re close enough.)

Oh, and I tweaked my back a little bit on the last play of the game, causing me to underthrow a ball to first base.

Simpson’s quote of the day: “Slow down Bart! My legs don’t know how to be as long as yours.” - Ralph

So, it’s Wednesday, and I don’t know if I’m going to play ball tonight. I’m thinking not likely. I also think I’ll take William out the the diamond and run him so that he’s tired tonight at bedtime. My back isn’t 100% yet, though it’s pretty good - I just don’t want to take an silly chances with it.

So, I have a CFL Blog to talk football, which is great, but now suddenly there’s hockey to talk about again. Sorry to all you non-sports fans out there. This is where it will have to happen. Not that I have much to say at this point

I’d like to weigh in on the new rules though. First, I think the shootout is crap. I’ve felt that way for a long time, and it’s no surprise to anyone who’s talked to me about it. They might as well have the captains play “rock paper scissors” for the win - it’s as much like hockey as the shootout is. Note that I’m not disparaging “rock paper scissors” - shootouts might be entertaining, but they’re not hockey, and shouldn’t decide who makes the playoffs and who doesn’t, which is what is going to happen. The restrictions on goalies handling the puck are silly, and I don’t care if they’ll increase scoring - what they’re really going to increase is “dump and chase” hockey. Players are going to practise dumping the puck into the area that the goalie can’t play it. That’s not going to lead to the excitement off odd man rushes, though it might lead to more sustained pressure type goals (which I enjoy watching.) Making the goalie pads smaller is probably the best thing they’ve done, and will lead to a dramatic shift in goaltender rankings. Some goalies who were previously very good will suddenly become very bad, as the pucks that they’re used to stopping with the edge of their pads will sneak by. It was only a matter of time before a goalie went out there with a 4×8 sheet of plywood with head and arm holes, and hopefully this will stop that trend (I’m looking at you Garth Snow and Patrick Roy.) Removing the red line will not have as much of an impact as you’d think - the defence will just back up sooner. If they can successfully crack down on obstruction though (and that’s a mighty big if) there will be some excitement generated by skilled players, while less skilled players fall by the wayside. I like the icing changes (no line changes, and more discretion for linesmen to wave it off) and moving the blue lines back should lead to more dynamic power plays, and will maybe induce more chances to be taken to keep the puck in - maybe not though. Overall, I think they’ve done a good job though.

Simpson’s quote of the day: “Scott, things aren’t as happy as they used to be down here at the unemployment office. Joblessness is no longer just for Philosophy majors - useful people are starting to feel the pinch.” - Kent Brockman

It’s been a quiet few days at our house. Erin’s Mom was in town from Calgary for a brief visit, and we had Jim, Judy, Jessica and Ryan over for supper on Saturday night. We went out in the huge wind and tried (quasi-successfully) to fly the kite. It’s in need of some repairs, to say the least. William quite enjoyed it though, tearing around the park. When we were heading back in, he was wearing the leather gloves that Erin had brought out (the string is quite sharp) and patting the path - “fixing the road.”

Pretty cute. Anyway, Sunday afternoon, we watched Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory with William. He’s getting to be a big boy, so I thought he might enjoy some more “big boy” entertainment. He didn’t exactly sit through the whole movie. He was running around singing “Oompah loompa” songs for a while though.

Continuing in the same vein, Erin and I had been thinking that he’s probably ready for some “real” bedtime stories, so last night I grabbed some Thornton W Burgess stories, and read them to him last night. He seemed to quite enjoy them, even though I’m sure some of the vocabulary is beyond him. The sentence structure is remarkably complex too. He wanted to hear more about Johnny Chuck after I was done reading him one of the stories. It is pretty remarkable how well it calmed him down. Erin said that she’d never read any of them when she was a kid, so I imagine there are people out there who aren’t familiar with the stories. All I really remember is that I loved them when I was learning to read, and we had a big collection of them that were given to us as gifts. If you’ve got kids, you should check them out.

Simpson’s quote of the day: “Whoa-ho! A talking dog! What were you guys smokin’ when you came up with that?” - Otto

Ball went well last night. Mostly. We cruised along and won both games handily, I went 4-4 (no RBI’s but there was never a runner in scoring position for me) and pitched pretty well for 2 innings. The problem started in the bottom of the third inning though - I was in right field and came in to field a blooper that landed near the edge of the oversized infield. As I bent down to pick up the ball (on the run) I stepped in a gopher hole. Normally you’d think that would result in some sort of ankle or leg injury, but all it did was tweak my back a bit. I was coming out of the game at the end of the inning anyway, so I called for my replacement.

I stretched it out, and it was feeling pretty good, so when the second game started up, I went in as the pitcher for the second inning. Three up, three down on a half dozen pitches. Very nice. Third inning - three up, three down on five pitches. Nicer yet. Bottom of three, I saw that the outfield was playing very deep, so I dropped a line drive just over the infield for a double. Next batter hit a grounder to short, and I made him look me back. As soon as he let go of the ball, I took off for third. I probably could have made it, but I chickened out and got caught in a rundown. The second change of direction caused my back to sieze up, and I hit the dirt hard. I pitched to the first batter in the fourth, but I knew as soon as I threw the first pitch that I was done for the evening. I finished that batter (he blooped a single) and then came out of the game.

So I’m hurting a bit today still. Standing, sitting, walking, they’re all fine. Bending over is a major challenge though, and so my shoelaces are pretty loose today (couldn’t tie my shoes very well this morning…) It’s getting better though, and I think I’ll be back to normal by the end of the weekend.

Simpson’s quote of the day: “Young lady, in this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics” - Homer

I went to bed at a quarter to seven last night. Lack of sleep finally caught up to me, and I could barely keep my eyes open through supper. I’m still a little tired this morning, because William had a rough night, but I’m much better off than I was yesterday. While I was sleeping, Erin took William out to fly a kite, which he apparently quite enjoyed.

So yeah, I didn’t do much last night.

Simpson’s quote of the day: “Okay people, go home now. Nothing to see here. O…my God! A Fiery plane crash! Crowd around everyone! Come on, don’t be shy, crowd around!” - Chief Wiggum

Pretty quiet weekend. We went to Wakaw Lake regional park Saturday, and only got slightly lost on the way there. I learned that you should never give directions with the phrase “you’re going to think you’re on the wrong road.” :)

Simpson’s quote of the day: “Do you have ‘Go Dog Go’?” - Ralph