Giving up

I've just returned to Wisconsin from a Spring Break trip to Charleston, SC and Savannah, GA. Originally, I had planned to write a week's worth of posts prior to leaving for the southeast, but time ran short. Writing wasn't the only thing that I forgot, either. I remembered that I had completely missed a tux fitting deadline while walking through the Charleston Museum's exhibit on wedding dresses. Thankfully, that appears to have been more of a soft deadline, and I have remedied that mistake.

However, the missing blog posts are a different mess. I set a New Year's resolution to write something here each day. So far, I've been able to accomplish this (albeit with the considerable help of Blogger's feature that lets you post in the past. I've been using 14" of pine tar for this resolution, or HGH, or hair gel, or whatever. I cheat.).

Anyway, I'm giving up the strict one post/day resolution. The vacation set me back too far, and the feeling of having to catch up for those missing days is making me feel less likely to write new things. I can't quit while there are still rules to be written and muppet videos to be watched!

Closer to Home

Hope everybody's Labor Day Weekend was as enjoyable as mine - could the weather have been any nicer?

Last week saw me exploring a Wisconsin roadside in Clark/Jackson Counties...now I'm back making maps in the basement. I got to see most of my coworkers on Tuesday morning though for a company photograph. Since I hadn't seen most of them for any length of time in months, it basically was a barrage of jokes...mostly at my expense. Whatever. It's nice to see you guys again.

Since I'm on a work theme, I thought I'd do a pro/con list of being in the field (although, as you will see eventually, it's just an excuse for a video at the end)

Pros:

per diem!

pools/hot tubs

doing, you know, actual archaeology

finding artifacts (occasionally)

hearing Afternoon Delight rewritten about orthoquartzite

seeing the sun

the myriad interesting aspects of rural Wisconsin

Cons:

living in a hotel

having to pack clothes, and then eventually unpack those clothes

sunburn/bugbites/blisters

not finding artifacts (often)

there is never a piano around

it's a lot harder to cook

how interesting is rural Wisconsin, really?

I'll keep it at 7 and 7 for now. There's both good and bad about being near and far from home...

Tuesday Notes from the Road

What? The road?

Yeah, I'm out of Madison for the week. It's a little strange traveling again, and I have a hunch that it's not going to last for very long. For this week, anyway, I'm up in Black River Falls doing some archaeology with Norm, Susan, Rodney and Kevin. Here are some things we found/saw/learned today:

1. Surprising nobody, I got sunburned.
1a. Despite my best efforts, glove tans are probably not going to ever get cool.
2. A bunch of taconite pellets in a fill off the side of the road.
3. More evidence against my skill as a word creator - after seeing a jeep/truck mutt thing at the diner during lunch, my suggestions of either 'treep' or 'juck' were...not received well.
4. The Holiday Inn Express in Black River Falls has 17 steps, which is bad, and eight (8!) pillows in my room. That's good.
5. The Orange Moose Bar and Grill has a piano! I never find pianos on the road - it would be fun to go over there and play some night. Unfortunately, I tried it briefly and...nope. It's not anywhere near being in tune.


I'll end with this gem of a song:

Baseball? Graphics? Yes please!

Over the last two to three days the circle of baseball blogs/writers I read have latched onto a very cool site full of baseball-related graphics...go check it out! I think my favorite image is the fantasy showdown between the Wu-Tang Clan and the E Street Band (I'd love to see Nils Lofgren start a double play), with the Mike Morgan history coming in second. Oh, Mike Morgan. The 1986 Mets graphic gives me an excuse to link to a Sesame Street special, guest-starring (among others) Keith Hernandez and Mookie Wilson.

Celebrate!

After a morning full of mapmaking and then a lunchtime full of program-crashing (followed by a brief moment of forehead/desk interaction) I think I've solved the technical issues at hand. This, my readers, is cause for celebration!

Thomas B. Marlow undoubtedly will publish a set of rules pertaining to wedding/reception conduct - sneak peek: This song is acceptable ONLY when Muppets are involved.

Two Recaps and One Terrible Segue

A little bit delayed on the recaps, sure...but I've caught the Common Swift throat/nose bug (we're so sharing)...which put a crimp in my week's productivity. Also, I'm lazy.


Last Friday Eat at Joe's started the second half of our season with a record of 2-3. We won 7-4, bringing us to .500. Yay! It was a well-played game all around; much better than the first time we played the other team. I went 2-3 with a single, double, and two runs scored. The time I got out was on a hard-hit ground ball right to the pitcher. He fielded it cleanly but I was still only out by half a step. I felt out of sorts running to first on the hit - I think I was still shaken up by the previous inning's defensive escapade. The opposing pitcher hit a hard line drive to right center, where I was playing. I initially took a step to my right but when I saw the ball was slicing away from me, I sprinted back and to my left - diving for the ball at the last second. I missed...and hit the ground. It's disappointing, and resulted in a home run for the guy, but really - I don't want to play softball unless I can get grass stains on my shirt. I just wish I hadn't taken that first step to my right - I could've caught it otherwise. Still, we won, and there's a decent chance that we'll finish with a winning record on the year.

Eat at Joe's (3-3)
Game H/AB AVG OBP SLG OPS R HR RBI
2/3 .667 .667 1.000 1.667 2 0 0
Season H/AB AVG OBP SLG OPS R HR RBI
8/11 .727 .727 1.000 1.727 4 0 3

On Monday evening I played 4 player whiffleball - Joe and Kyle v. Brandon and Jeff. I pitched the first six or seven innings, giving up the pivotal tying run with ONE OUT TO GO IN THE GAME. PUKE. Brandon and I had a really nice start to the game offensively, but couldn't keep up the pace. On the mound, the Joe and Kyle seemed to make some adjustments midway through the second or third. Until then I had been throwing almost exclusively junk - crappy curves in on the hands and changeups low and away. After they started to hit that stuff I stole Carlos Marmol's delivery and started throwing hard sliders and fastballs. It worked...for a while. Another whiffleball game, another heart-wrenching loss, I suppose.

Anyway, as I was about to take the 'mound,' try to get Joe out, and win the game, I was thinking about how to celebrate/recap the victory. I was pretty sure that there was going to be a victory dance - if my time with the band has taught me anything, it is that I have "awesome" "dancing" "skills."
(I need to preemptively apologize, I think. Jody told me that she thinks I can do four consecutive posts with muppets in them, tops. So...the next two (at least) are going to have hilarious muppet references.

If, by hilarious, you mean barely relevant.)

Well, are you ready for the King? Girls? Here we go!