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Look Up Lucky In The Dictionary

Today at lunch, our fantasy football league had our 6th annual draft lottery to determine the order in which we draft come August. Well, for the 3rd straight year, Craig Petinak's ball was pulled first. His picture is in the dictionary next to the word lucky. The lottery is weighted so that the players with worse records the previous year have a better chance of drafting early. 2 years ago Craig won the whole league, so he only had 1 ball out of 40 something. This year he had the 4th worst odds out of 12 and he still had his ball pulled first. On the flip side, Ivan had the 3rd best odds and ended up with the 11th overall position. Regardless, it was fun to get together for lunch with 2/3 of the league and kick off the pre-season.

Hit Me Baby One More Time?

I enjoyed this show the first week. It was fun to see Arrested Development, Flock of Seagulls, and Tiffany. The second week was pretty good as well with Vanilla Ice. Then last week, they started running out of good acts (Cameo anyone?). You know it's bad when the linup tonight is Billy Vera, Club Nouveau, Glass Tiger, Greg Kihn, and Thelma Houston. I have never heard of any of these people and therefor will not be wasting my time anymore. They should have spread the talent out over the course of the summer.

Sweep

What an exciting series against the Texas Rangers! I can't believe that the Angels were able to stop their bats for the whole series and extend our lead to 4.5 games in the AL West. Now we get to play the hated Dodgers. Luckily they suck big time like always so we should continue to own them.

Wild Rivers

On Monday I skipped work to chaperone Alissa's 6th grade class to Ruby's and Wild Rivers. I hadn't been to Wild Rivers since I was around 15 and now I know why. 95% of the guests there were under 15. With Alissa being pregnant, we figured we would just sit in the lazy river all day and just chill. Well, the water was ice cold and it wasn't too lazy. There were so many kids in there that it was hard to relax. I ended up taking 2 laps around the lazy river and went on one water slide. The rest of the time, we just hung out under the shade tents. It was better than being at work though, so the day wasn't a total waste. The kids weren't too bad. Of course they made a mess and were loud at Ruby's, but it's to be expected with 11 and 12 year olds.

Gilmore Girls Season One

We have started to watch some TV shows on DVD, since there is very little worth watching on TV during the summer. I started watching the Gilmore Girls this season with my wife and really enjoyed it. Since I didn't see the first four seasons, I missed out on some of the background. In a little more than a week, we powered through Season 1. It was great from the very beginning. The writing is witty and the storylines are unique. I would love to spend some time in Star's Hollow, but would not want to live there. The best part about watching it on DVD is that we don't have to wait all summer to find out what happens next. We went right into Season 2 and I have Season 3 waiting as well. Hopefully Season 4 will be coming out soon so that I can get fully caught up. The next series that we will be catching up on is 24.

Softball

My church started up a softball team in the Ladera Ranch city league. I missed our first game due to Poker night at Nick's last weekend, but played this week. I hadn't swung a bat or thrown a ball in years before getting out there. I am the starting catcher and batted in the middle of the order at number 6. In the first inning during my first at bat I smoked a single down the third base line and eventually scored. I am pretty sure I got an RBI on the play as well. In the second inning I hit a single between third and short. I scored during that inning as well. In my last 3 at bats I grounded our, popped out, and struck out. In my third at bat I bruised my palm by hitting the ball on a bad part of the bat. The rest of the game my palm was stinging. I had some nice defensive plays as well. I caught a pop up behind the plate during the second or third inning to stop the bleeding. The first couple inning we both scored a ton. After 3, we were down 21-12. Somehow we were able to come back to take a 22-21 lead going into the bottom of the sixth. They proceeded to load the bases with no outs and we figured we were screwed. The next batter struck out. The next batter hit a sharp grounder to short and he fired a strike to me at home for the second out. Finally, we escaped the inning when the last batter popped out to end the game. I had forgotten how much fun it was to be involved in organized sports. I was constantly reminded of that the rest of the weekend too as my body hated me. My quads were killing me because I was stupid and decided to squat down the whole first inning. The rest of my body ached as well, but I expect it to get easier as the season goes on. For now, I am batting .400, with 2 runs scored, and a few RBIs.

2 Years

Today Alissa and I celebrate 2 years of being a couple. 2 years ago today, Alissa and I decided to take the next step and date rather than being best friends. Here is our story.

We both finally realized how important we were to one another when I was off camping for a week in Yosemite with a bunch of my buddies. We had really started to get close in the months leading up to my trip and talked on the phone daily. When I was in Yosemite, my cell phone didn't work. Only one of our cell phones worked, so I had to borrow it every couple days to call her.

On the day that I was supposed to come back, we were going to see the Mighty Ducks in game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals. The whole time I was in Yosemite, all I could think about was her. I kept telling my friends that I was finally going to take our relationship to the next level. On the way home, I told my friend Mikey that I was going to ask her to be my girlfriend that night. On the way home, we talked a few times. The first call was to tell me that the tickets for the finals fell through, but that we should still get together to watch the game. I was stoked because that meant we would be alone. A couple hours later she calls back and says that our friend who was dieing of cancer asked if she could watch her child while she got some rest. I was bummed, but what am I going to say about that? Finally, I get another call saying that our friend found another sitter, but that she is house sitting. At this point, I am just going crazy. I decide that I am going to wait a day to ask her out because the day has been draining as it is. I finally get home while driving like a madman from Yosemite. I get cleaned up and meet her at the house she is watching. It was so great to see her. We decide to go the grocery store and make dinner before the game is going to start. After dinner, we settle in and watch the game. After the game she brings me a letter that she wrote me while I was gone. It basically said that she didn't realize how much I meant to her until she couldn't get a hold of me while I was gone. She said that she wanted for us to be more than friends. Now, I am sitting here reading this with her sitting next to me. I don't know if I am reading this right, but I don't want to read through it again right then. So, I say thank you and we sit there in awkward silence for the next hour or so. At that point she is thinking oh crap, I read all the signs wrong. She asks me if I am getting tired because of the long trip.

I say yes and it looks like I am going to leave. Finally, I just lay it all out and tell her how I have been feeling about her for the past 3 years. I explained that I wasn't sure that I had read the letter right. It was just words on a page because I couldn't comprehend it. We talked for at least an hour and I was finally able to explain all the feelings I had for her for so long. I met her right after her husband left her on her birthday several years back. After about a month of knowing her, I fell hard for her. I knew that it would be a while before she was going to be ready for any type of relationship though. Every time I wanted to ask her out in the past, God shut the door quickly. Alissa would say something like guys suck right before I was going to ask her out. Or she just started this book that has her not date for 6 months as she starts to heal. I decided that it wasn't meant to be, but I valued her friendship so much. I didn't want to ever lose her. On my trip to Yosemite, I finally decided that if I didn't date her, I would eventually lose her anyway because no guy wants his girlfriend/wife to have a guy as their best friend. It was nice to finally tell her all of this. She told me how she had been feeling as well over time, but that she wasn't ready. We know God brought us together at just the right time because any other time in our life wouldn't have been right. After that night, we haven't been apart for more than a few days. It is quite amazing.

We were engaged about 7 months after we started dating and married 9 months after that. We have had some amazing times over the past 2 years and I look forward to many more to come.

Cinderella Man Review

The winner and still champion is Ron Howard. Once again, Ron Howard has delivered a phenomenal motion picture. This is his best work since Apollo 13, if not ever. It is the inspiring true story of Jim Braddock that takes place during the Great Depression. Russell Crowe was as good as ever portraying Jim. Throw in Paul Giamatti as his long time manager and friend Joe and you have a powerful 1-2 punch. The knockout blow is Renee Zellwegger's portrayal of Jim's wife Mae. It is rare to see an Oscar worthy film out in the theaters so early in the year, but this is one of them. While I have no idea what is coming out this December, I have a hard time believing that it could be any better than this.

The story begins in the last months before the Great Depression starts. It shows Jim and Mae living well due to his success as an undefeated boxer. Fast forward to 4 years into the Great Depression and you see Jim, Mae, and the three kids in tattered clothing barely scraping by. While this movie has boxing, it is not a boxing movie. It is a movie about a man who fights to bring home milk and pay the heating bills so that he doesn't have to give his children up. In one of the most touching scenes in the film, Jim tells his son that no matter how hard it gets, we do not steal. He then promises that they will stay together as a family. After breaking his hand in the ring, Jim has his license to box revoked and he is forced to wait at the docks each day in hopes of being one of the lucky ones to work that day. As time goes by, they are so far behind on the bills that their electricity is turned off and the kids are freezing. Mae sends the kids to stay with her sister while Jim is at work one day. Because he promised his oldest son that he would not send them away, he swallows his pride and gets relief funds from the government. He also begs the men from the boxing commission for some help until he could get back on his feet. He gets just enough to turn the heat back on and the kids come home.

Due to a last minute dropout, Jim is given one last chance to box again at Madison Square Garden. It is against a great boxer and he is given no chance to win. It is for enough money to get him back in the black though, so he fights. Inspired by his family, he beats this guy and gets his manager's attention. (In this first comeback fight, the audience was cheering. I love going to movies that stir up so much emotion that people forget that it is a movie and begin clapping.) Joe sees the fire inside Jim and gives him money to stop working so that he can train for a comeback. He pulls some strings and gets Jim his license back.

The rest of the film shows Jim fighting for his family and inspiring all of those struggling through the depression. He became a hero to everyone. I laughed, cried, and cheered during Cinderella Man. My wife even loved it despite not looking forward to seeing "a boxing movie". I would recommend this movie to anyone. This is definitely a movie that I will own on DVD as soon as it comes out. I give this movie a solid A.