Play Ball!

Happy 8th Birthday Jacob!

I woke around 5:25 feeling better than I had all week. That was a good sign. My rump still ached but the edge, I could tell, was gone. I quickly processed my exercise routine and dashed out the door with Ykrap in tow. It was another lovely morning although still a little chilly. The forecast, however, called for temps near 70.

Back at home I enjoyed my coffee while exploring the internet and reading some email. Bob Imber emailed the evening before asking about my availability for golf after work. As much as I wanted to, my time was spoken for. Tonight was Jacob’s first baseball practice, and I certainly didn’t want to beg out of that.

I delivered Mindy’s coffee around 6:10am and then returned downstairs to meditate and then prep for a run. I considered a pre run hot tub but didn’t. I figured it certainly couldn’t hurt. I also took some extra time stretching focusing lots of attention on my right ass cheek. I felt pretty good out the door not quite sure what to expect. It still hurt, but the edge, like earlier, was taken off. No more than a half mile into my run I felt good enough to think/dwell on other things beyond the immediate pain. That was a good sign!

I finished my run in much better spirits feeling as though I was on the rebound. That carried over into my family interaction as well. This was not just a normal day. This was Jacob’s 8th birthday! Mindy made cinnamon rolls and prepared them with a lit candle as we sang the happy birthday song. I snapped a couple of pictures. We gifted him yet again with a webkinz – the hottest new thing for young kids. His is a lizard looking thing. He seemed most pleased.

After the mini-b-day celebration Mindy & Bella departed for school. I headed off to the shower while Jacob took to the basement to play with his new Lego set. At 7:50am Jacob and I reconvened in the kitchen where we put the finishing touches on our preparedness and then dashed out the door for the bus stop.

I arrived at work at 8:25am. This was staff meeting day. Our meeting went until 12:30pm. Too, we were having a potluck. My peers & I supplied about 10 lbs of cold cuts. After a quick bite to eat, I hopped in the Trooper and ran over to the Dublin Wal-Mart to check out their car batteries. Locating the correct battery for my BM’r has proven thus far elusive. They didn’t have one for it. First off, it must be vented meaning that it has a port on the side to vent battery gases out of the stowage area. This is typical with most trunk mount batteries. Even though there’s a Diehard in there now, Sears claims they don’t carry one for it any longer.

Back at work I enjoyed a giant brownie as I toiled through the remainder of my day. I left for home around 5:30pm. Jimaken had already picked up the kids by the time I arrived home. The house was freakishly quiet and there was no sign of Mindy. I checked the garage. Her car was there. I went about my routine of walking Ykraps and reloading the coffee. I assumed her out frolicking with neighbors or perhaps even napping. Turns out, she was napping.

I woke Mindy around 6:15pm. We’d be hooking up with Jimaken and the kids at St Brendan’s ball fields, where Jacob’s first baseball practice was being held. It was a lovely evening for baseball practice – not to hot not to cool. We left the house just after 6:30pm.


We were early for practice and beat Jimaken by about ten minutes. I introduced Mindy to Rob B., Jacob’s coach. He used to work for me at Time Warner. We casually watched another team practice while awaiting our team’s diamond time. Jacob arrived just before 7pm. Soon his team took the field. We weren’t sure how long they’d be at it, but I thought Rob said that it would be a short one. That wasn’t the case. They went for1.5 hours practicing catching, throwing, running bases, fielding, and hitting. It was very entertaining from my perspective. I was proud of Jacob’s progress. He’s a natural athlete. Mindy got chilly as the sun set and took to the Trooper, her & Bella.

Just after 8:30pm practice ended and we all headed home. Mindy got Bella a bath. I got Jacob a shower. They weren’t in bed until almost 9:30pm. Mindy wasn’t too pleased. We went to bed a short time later after watching American Idol’s elimination round.