20180630 + Baseball Party

20180630 + Everyone up and out early, D left first for his game in Carol Oh and G was next out heading back to his game. J&I put up some tents and then L&I headed back to G's game. J hung out at home on the Xbox. I scored and it somehow got messed up and the feed showed the other team winning on the feed, but my screen was fine. The boys played great and easily won the game. After the game the team came back to our house for a picnic lunch and hang out for a bit before our next game. D reported wining his 1st game of the day. G's game 2 and another nice win! Folks came back to our hose for a bit to hang out. D arrived and reported they lost their second game. Everyone left so we all had some leftovers for dinner and headed to the cool basement to watch Pacific Rim: Uprising before heading to bed.

20180629 - HOTTs

20180629 - Up in the am and in to work. Had a full day at the desk organizing and publishing policies and procedures. Interviewed a couple of the folks for info and had a good day. L went to D's games and texted me throughout the day to let me know how it was going, they won both games. J went to a buddy's for the day and G went to the pool with some friends. After work I headed to a poker game with the guys from work. We took a tour of the new building that is looking better and better and got some pizza before settling in for some poker. We played one round of Texas Hold'em using their rules, which were crazy, but it was a lot of fun and a good time. I beat L home as she was with some of our friends for a 50th bday party.



20180628 - Wire Down

20180628 - Up in the am and in to work. Talked with my boss for a bit to make sure we are heading in the right direction before digging in for the day. Had a vendor come in today for a meeting and discussion on the future direction. It was a busy productive day. Headed home through crappy traffic. Got home and had a couple beers on the back porch while the boys and a friend of J's that is spending the night played wiffle ball. L cooked dinner and Doc came to get me to look at a wire that fell down in his backyard. It was his TV cable and it will be ok until his son can get over and help him. The McClains showed up for a couple beers and to hang out on the porch for a bit. Nice relaxing night.

20180627 ‡ Metal Target

20180627  Up in the am an in to work. People showing up later that usual due to the event last night. I got a lot organized and caught up on some things today, nice and quiet. Looked for a vacation spot and had no luck. Headed home and L was painting another kitchen table, DJ&G were in the backyard working on an invention of theirs they built together, a metal strike-zone that clangs when struck by a wiffle ball to announce a strike. I checked it out with J&G and we played a bit until it started raining. On the back-porch with L to look for vacation spots until the batter died on the laptop. In and J&G playing on the Xbox and D at DGF7s. Everyone home and closed down in good time for the night, but still didn't sleep well.

20180226 - Old Friends

20180226 - Up in the am and in to work. it was a busy day of heads down on the PC and many discussions. L took J to XC in the morning to run and LJ&G gathered more pipestone after J's running and then hung out at the pool, where , D worked from 11-4. Rain rolled in and I changed plans to head downtown to the Clippers game with the folks from DataField for dinner and to watch some baseball, a very friendly and close group here. Ran into Dena from DecisionOne and her, Keith and I caught up for a bit. I hung out and met some new folks and headed home before the 7th inning stretch. Home and L&J watching TV in the living room, D&G watching the College World Series in the basement. I got changed and then hung out with L&J until folks headed to bed.

20180625 + Feels Pretty Cool

20180625 + Up in the am an in to work. Moving around this morning with lots of questions and moving things forward. After work headed home L headed out for dinner with her girl friends. I helped D get the belt back on the mower before heading back to G's game. It was the first game of the COYBL tournament and we had the #2 seed. But if your team doesn't get in the game before the 4th inning the good seeding doesn't matter. G was pulled up to pitch too late and the bats were hitting right to fielders. After the loss and the end of our regulation season Tom and the McClains stopped over for a beer and to discuss the disaster we just watched. After folks left I stayed up and talked with G. I asked him what it feels like to be in a game and when things are going wrong or the coach just wants to make sure we end with the W to be called to the mound to do that job. He said 'It feels pretty cool'. J&G to bed, D spending the night at a friends, L home late and told me all about her evening.

20160624 - High Five!

20160624 - Up in the am and in to the office working on bills. LG Sam and Lena making all kinds of noise. Before I knew it we had to head to D's 2pm game. G headed ot the pool with the boys from his baseball team for a friends bday party. LD&I dropped Sam and Lena off on the way to Olentangy Liberty for D's first game of the day. It was a good game and the boy won pretty easy. After the game L&I left D there as DGF7 was on her way. L&I headed home and picked up J on the way. Home and G was there crashed on the couch. I got the bills done and then LJG&I headed to D's game 2. This game was against a bunch of D's buddies from high school baseball and they had a bunch of fun on the field. They won game 2, champions of the black bracket and LDJG&DGF7 to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner. It was an expensive not good food or good service dinner, so Joe's has been permanently removed from our future restaurant choices. Home and closed things down getting ready for week.

20160623 - Hitting the Brakes

20160623 - Up in the am and helped J make a list of Scout tasks he needs to do before Summer Camp. L&I got around and headed to D's fist game of the day in Dublin. The game didn't go as planned and the boys lost. We all headed home and I got a couple of things done before I had D run me on some errands in his car. I was terrified at the noise his brakes were making. D ran me to the Home Depot to return some stuff, Advance Auto to get brake pads for his car, the bank to deposit my first check, the gas station to fill up his car and Dick's to get him some turf cleats. We swung by home for a minute before D&I headed out for his second game. L&G stayed home to be with Sam and Lena  as they are going to spend the night. J left to spend the night at a friends. I started reading a book waiting on D's game and then they played, but lost. Home and D&I put brakes on his car all the way around. The back drivers side brake was completely worn off and dropped down to rattle around between the splash guard and the rotor, this is what was making all the nose, on top of the caliper pushing directly against the rotor :-o  Tom showed up and helped a little bit and then Tom and I changed the back brakes on his car. After all the mechanic work I relaxed on the back porch with a Natty before heading in to remove all the grease and head to bed. Very productive day.

20180622 + Relaxing Evening

20180622 + Up in the am and in to work. L&G went to D's midday game, they won by run-rule. I finished up week 3 and took the back-way home from work just to see how it would go and it went ok. Home and LDJG&I walked downtown to the Gahanna Grill for a nice dinner. We ran into the Wright's there and chatted for a min. The boys rushed ahead of us on the walk home so L&I took a detour and walked through the car lot. Home and boys playing nice in the backyard. The McClains were out and stopped over to hang out on back porch for a nice relaxing evening.

20180621 - Cancelled

20180621 - Up in the am and swung by the gas station on the way in to work. J had Dr appointment today. In the afternoon D showed up at my work as the rain was coming down so we could carpool to his game in Olentangy. As soon as I left work a bit early and ran to my car in the pouring ran they cancelled the game... D&I headed home. G's game was cancelled too so we just hung out at home the rest of the evening.

20180620 + Many Takes

20180620 + Up in the am and in to work. Got a ton of stuff done today and graphically represented for ease of explanation. Headed home through horrible rains and bad traffic to get L&G to head back out across town to Upper Arlington. We got to the field and somehow the clouds split and we had rain to the North and South of us and we got the game in. G did ok, not following through with his swing and grumpy about it... The boys had a great game overall and won 13-4. We stopped at Tee Jaye's for some steak and eggs on the way home, it was nice to sit with L&G and just relax. On the way home we swung through Wendy's to get some food for D&J. Home and we sat at the table with D&J as they ate. D worked at the pool today, through the rain, and had a good conversation with his college baseball coach. J skipped running in the morning and didn't do much all day... everyone cleaned up and to bed.

20180619 - Diversions

20180619 - Up in the am and in to work. Dug into a program called Confluence today and it seems to be an amazing tool. Picked my head up out of the screen and the day was over... Headed to Upper Arlington for G's baseball game. It rained like crazy, stopped, the guys worked to get the field ready and then it rained again... So no game tonight... L&J followed G&I as we headed to the movie theater by where I work. Got there and the place was PACKED. So we left and headed to the theater by our house and got right in to watch 'Incredibles 2'. It was a cute show. After the movie J&I hit Arby's to pick up some dinner. Home and we all ate. L got the supply closet at work cleaned out, D didn't work today... J ran with the XC team this morning.

20180618 - Knot Smart

20180618 - Up in the am and in to work. L was getting J around to rtack to running as I left. In to the office and getting things rolling. Had a good day and headed home through light traffic and got home in time to eat with LJ&G before heading out to a Booster meeting. Meeting was ok, I did a presentation of Team App after the meeting and quite a few people stayed to learn more about the app. Talked with Penn after the meeting about the Scouts and their vacation to Alaska. Ran home and quick chat with D about his first day lifeguarding, no one drowned so I call that a success! Got Doc and headed to Bible Bangers. McD's was closed so we diverted to Burger King for a short meeting. Home and up too late watching pickers, searching auctions and listening to J and his buddy that is spending the night play on the Xboxes.

20180617 - Father's Day

20180617 - Up in the am and getting ready for the day. L has house all nice for a cookout later today, D left early with DGF7 for her games today, J still asleep from being out too late last night and G in the basement on the Xbox. G&I headed to Academy Park for his game a bit early to get things set up. It was blasted HOT, but we got some tents set up and extra water for everyone and got down to playing baseball. G did ok today, went 1-3 and had 1E. The boys won in 4 innings 14-0 and we packed up quickly and headed home for some AC and shade. Home and Gma&paB, Gma&paW, the Coles and Tom and Landon came over for a Father's day cookout. L had the house looking nice and had a good meal planned and everyone got plenty to eat and good conversation. In the evening L&G went to Gma&paB's hotel to swim with Sam and Lena. I hung out with J. D to a friends for the night, J&G playing Xbox until late.

20180616 - Clippings

20180616 - Up in the am and had J clean his fingernail clipping off my desk... L on back porch, D attempting to get something done before noon, J&G on the Xboxes. I am trying to whittle away at the stack of things that build up on the desk over the week. D headed out to his game at Otterbein, J activated his debit card and hung out at the house and LG&I wrapped things up and headed to D's game. D played 2nd and they won their first game before the skies opened up and poured. G left with Nicole and L&I hung out for D's second game. D caught the entire second game and was doing ok when L&I left in the 3rd to pick up G, head home to pick up J and then on to the Troop 98 75th anniversary dinner. We were late getting there and there was hardly any food left, this group of dysfunctionals has about pushed me to the point of giving up on the BSA... Home and dropped off J&G and L&I ran to the store. J&G headed to the Jazz & Blues Festival with the McClains and it POURED and lightninged all around us. D got home and ate and about 10pm everyone, except J came to the back porch to hang out a bit. J got home 30 min late... Wrapped up the evening.

20180615 + Golfer?

20180615 + Up in the am and in to work. Met with Jason in the am and had a good discussion, I am doing the right things ðŸ˜ƒ  Watched some videos on inventory and financial management and interviewed some more folks. Around lunch time I got shorts on and met the guys to head to The Susan Mosure Golf4Autism event. We had a nice lunch and my boss bought me some golfing shoes so I wouldn't 'embarrass' him, so I put them on, but left the tags on just to embarrass him ;-) We played a 4 man scramble and it was realy fun. I actually did really good for only my 4th time ever playing golf. We started at 1:30 and wrapped up about 7 and they had a dinner for us, a presentation and a silent auction. I won som Clippers tickets in the auction and headed home. D had a game today and they won and he was with DGF7 the rest of the day. J had XCountry this morning and then hung out with his friends at the Gahanna Jazz & Blues Festival in the evening. G had a game but it was cancelled because of no umps available and he went tot he festival with some friends. L got groceries today and I met up with her on the back porch about 8:30 and we hung out the rest of the night.

20180614 - Doc Walk

20180614 - Up in the am and in to work. Watching some videos on a tool we are going to be using before meetings start. D had games today and L&G went to his first game and his team won, L said D played well. Had a couple good meetings today and finished the day and sat in horrible traffic for 45 minutes trying to get home to G's game. Got to the game and scored it and played music. Doc came back to watch and set next to me and enjoyed it very much. D&DGF7 showed up, D's team lost their second game, but D said he had 3 amazing plays. G's team played well and G was brought in to close as pitcher and shut them down for the W. Back to the house and Tom and the McClains stopped by quick and then I headed to Granville for 'Bourbon and Bonfire' night with the guys. tried a couple new ones and had some good conversation. Headed home and got things wrapped up and laid out for tomorrow.

20180613 - North?

20180613 - Up in the am and L up getting ready to take J to XCountry for his first day of conditioning with them in case soccer doesn't work out. Headed in to work and L had to call me to find out which end the stadium was the North end, I thought J was a Boy Scout... Dug into the day. and had a good meeting with our software provider. It was a great meeting and I learned a lot about what we have available. After the meeting he took us to an Indian restaurant. I was nervous but he ordered for us and the food was really good. After lunch we headed back to the office and I had a couple more informal meeting with some folks. I headed out a bit early to get to G's game and got soaked on the way to the car walking through sheets of rain. Not 10 minutes from work and the game was cancelled... Changed my plan and went and got a hair cut and some groceries on the way home. Home and LDG&I ate and then L&G ran some things to J so he could spend the night at his friends. When they got home we headed tot he basement and watched the new Tomb Raider. It was a great movie. I was beat so I headed to bed before anyone else.

20180612 + No Show

20180612 + Up early and in to work. Fast start setting up meetings and digging into an issue. L took G to the Dr for a well check today, D worked at Panera and J hung out and worked on Scout stuff. I had a very productive day and headed home on time. Home and headed back to fields for G's game. The boys did not show up today and lost in the first three innings as they didn't start playing until the fourth as is becoming their pattern... and they lost to a team they should have easily beat... Home and grilled some chicken on the grill and we all ate on the back porch. D headed to a friends, J&G played the Xbox and L&I hung out on the back porch. In and to bed.

20180611 -Being Judged

20180611 - Up way to early and in to work. On the way into the building a feather presented itself to me... I got the box installed and Keith (a woodworker friend we judge each others work) came in to inspect it. He said it was 'OK' hahahaha  Got caught up from the weekend and then started meetings. The IT guys took me over to the new building to have a look and then we went back to the main office. Finished the day with some more research and inputting of notes. Home in good time today and it was a stressful evening getting the J&G to Scouts and discussing income with D... Got J&G to Scouts and they walked to Wendy's and back from the high school to practice the walk to the camp site for summer camp, I hung out talking to some of the leaders about how things are going in the Troop... not happy with the direction it is heading... Home and Doc has an early Dr appointment tomorrow so he didn't go to Bible Bangers with me. Everyone else was there and we caught up for the couple of weeks we missed and got some studying done too. Good to talk to the guys. Home and watched the last episode of of Supernatural.

20180610 + 2nd in Ohio!

20180610 + Up in the am and J's buddy got picked up. I made lists for the day and didn't have much I had to do so I made a couple easy lists for D&J and headed to Hammersville OH to watch G's team in the USSSA State Tournament. It was a 2 hour drive and they started early so I got there in the 4th and the other team had tied it up and then went up one. G came in to pitch and shut them down and somehow we pulled off the win with some good hits, G drove in the insurance run for the W. That made the trip worth it. There was a short lull and then the championship game that was awful, the wheels didn't fall off, they all spun off in all different directions and the errors destroyed us right out of the gate. Lost the championship 10-0 in 4 innings... Even with the loss it was a state championship tournament and our boys walked away with some huge gem encrusted rings and the #2 spot, pretty nice. This lands them at #18 in USSSA for Elite teams in OH and #10 in Nations Elite State rankings... Pretty sweet place to be. We headed home and stopped for food with the McClains at a local place. Then LG&I stopped off in Wilmington to show G where D will be going to school and play baseball, he thought it was cool. We drove the rest of the way home and D&J did get the bushes trimmed, J got the box painted and D looked for work. DGF7 was there and D and her ran to D-Bats to hit while J ran to a bible study with his buddy Patrick. G got cleaned up and L and I just hung out on the back porch, no TV, just chatting about what we did over the last 4 days, it was nice. In and everyone home, cleaned up and too bed.

20180609 - Party with Doc

20180609 - Up in the am and J and I headed to the bank to sign him up for a high school checking account with a debit card. The banker spent a lot of time explaining things to J and he listened intently. After that we headed home and J mowed the yards while D&I filled out some of his college paperwork. I was able to use J’s new checking to send him $ for mowing, he liked that! D headed to his game and J put new weather stopping on the garage door while I got things finished up in the office. Then J&I headed to the post office, a neighbors grad party, the bank and stopped at the Pettit’s grad party 2hr early to drop off a card and sit on the front porch and chat with them for a min. Home and J down to play the Xbox and I headed to Grove City to watch D play baseball. L and I chatted bit. G's team beat the Dayton Sting, a team that beat us yesterday and had beat us at least once earlier in the year and today our boys played flawless and shut them out 10-0 in 4 innings! The boys got to go to Dave and Busters and L had to be the responsible adult for the group. I got there as D's team was up and they hit 2 triples and 2 doubles, D grounded out to 2nd. D went out to play second base and then the game was over... I was there for 18 minutes before the game was over... Followed D home and then DGF7 came over, J still in the basement and I worked on designing and starting the monitor box for work. We took a break and D got Doc and J&I rode together and we all went to the Pettit's for Sean's graduation party. We mingled a bit, got a bite to eat and then headed back home. D went out with DGF7 and then stopped by a friends house. J had a buddy come over to play Xbox all night and I worked on the monitor box, finally getting it assembled and the garage cleaned up about the time D got home. In and to bed after a long productive day.

20180608 - STUFFED

20180608 - Up in the am, made sure D was up, fed Lilly and headed in to work. Learned a bit more about entering data and figured out the desk box I need to build. Had a lunch to honor a fellow that was leaving Df so I attended that and met some more folks. After lunch I met with several other folks and gathered more intel. I wrapped up the day and headed home to pick up J. J&I went to Meijer where we got him a billfold, then we went to Home Depot to get supplies to make my monitor stand. On to Family Video and we couldn't find anything worth watching so headed on to Best Buy where we looked at TVs and eventually traded in his watch for a new Xbox One S. Steak n' Shake was our next destination and we each had a Frisco burger w/ cheese fries, a hot dog, a mushroom burger and s milkshake, we were STUFFED. Home and unloaded stuff and J got the new Xbox set up and D&DGF7 joined us to watch a funny movie in the basement while J worked on the old Xbox. To bed not too late. A good day!

20180607 - 3 Distant Games

20180607 - Up in the am and D up, seems excited about meeting and playing with his new team. I said bye to L and headed in to work. Had a FULL morning of meetings extracting puzzle pieces. D called me after his 1st game pretty excited about his team, said 'We're REALLY GOOD!' They beat a very good team in their first game playing together 13-3. had some afternoon meetings and headed home listening to G's game on my phone. Got home and J was on the Xbox, I headed to the back porch to have a couple beers and listen to G's game, L said the place is amazing. I got a notification that D won his 2nd game. J came out and was telling me all about his soccer conditioning that morning. D got home and told me all about the games and his new team, he seems really happy and says they don't talk much on the field, they just click and get it done. Finished listening to G's game, he was brought in as relief pitcher and sealed the W. D&J ran to the Chinese place and picked up dinner and we ate on the back porch. Boys headed in and I hung out on the back porch, facetimed with L&G and fixed the remote.

20180606 + Blocked Lanes

20180606 - Up in the am and the city thought it would be a good idea to change the banners on the light poles in the main intersection in town this morning, backing up traffic in all directions for miles... Made it in to work, moved some things around and took some measurements for the monitor stand I will have to build. Dug into the system and learned more... Had a couple meetings finding edge pieces this afternoon and headed home through horrible traffic. Got home, L had dinner ready and LG&I ate on the back porch. After dinner L&I hung out on the back porch and talked a bit. D out with friends until not too late, we wanted him home early so he would be ready to meet and play with his new team tomorrow (he seems excited), J got home and I helped him with the Xbox. Finished the evening watching the Cavs game with L&G.

20180605 - Thank Yous

20180605 - Up in the am and headed into the office for day 2. Spent some time digging into the program and seeing how things are laid out. Met with some folks for a couple hours and learned more drinking from the fire-hose. Home and everyone at home, L making dinner, her and G went shopping all day, D working on thank you notes, he has lifeguard training all morning and froze, J lumbering around looking up Scout stuff so he is ready for summer camp.  We all ate together and then G went down to play some Xbox until LJ&I headed down to watch 'A Wrinkle In Time'. It wouldn't play on the Xbox so we headed upstairs to watch it. L was sitting in J's bungee chair and fell over backwards hitting her head on the bureau. We finished the movie and bos headed to bed. I talked to J about Scouts a bit and then turned in for the night. L not feeling great so we looked up some concussion tests, she passed so we watch Supernatural on Netflix and it was an episode where they are sucked into a Scoody-Doo cartoon as I entered shirts for sale on the high school soccer web page.

20180604 - Capital L

20180604 - Up in the am and headed to the new job! I was given a tour, introduced to too many people to possibly remember and shown to my office. I settled in and got my PC set up the way I like it. Met with some folks to learn a bit about the process and started making lists. 

Headed towards home and stopped at the high school to help get the area ready for the awards banquet. Pretty soon all the players and parents started rolling in. The coaches handed out the awards and Coach Shade had very nice things to say about D, gave him his varsity letter ‘L’,  mentioned he was an Eagle Scout and that he was going to play baseball at Wilmington. I got up and  apologized for all the emails and thanked the parents for their help in the concession stand. Then the other Booster Reps joined me and we handed out the  4 ur participation awards. It was very hard to do, D has been playing baseball with these guys since he was 6 or 7 and I coached many of them throughout the years. Andy caught me off guard and made me give D his award, a very touching moment and I got a nice hug. We finished up and I finally made it home after 9. I called Doc to let him know we were skipping Bible Bangers and L&I hung out on the back porch a bit before closing things down and heading to bed. A good day!

20180603 + 2nd & Swim

20180603 + Up way to early for a Sunday and headed to Hilliard for G’s game. It was a good game and the boys had to battle back from a huge hole and through some ran to get the W. We had a couple hours before the championship game so hung out and the boys lost interest in baseball and were run-ruled in 4 innings to get 2nd place in the gold bracket. Home and the usual suspects came over and hung out on the back porch a bit and the G&I headed to the pool where he got to swim and I got a couple of wieners and a Twix for dinner. Home and L got my 1st day of work outfit laid out and we all got to bed in good time in prep for a busy week ahead.

20180602 - Afternoon Game

20180602 - Up late and got some things done in the garage and the bills paid for the next couple of weeks. D was at DGF7’s softball games and J helped me in the garage a bit. L&I ran to Connor Ryan’s graduation party and then home to pick up G and head to the ballfield. The boys were losing, Tom got thrown out and then the boys rallied and pulled off a huge comeback for the W! After the game we skipped Bws and headed home, hung out a bit and called it a night.

20180601 + Bacon Donuts

20180601 + Up in the am and swung through McD's to get a sausage McMuffin for bfast. In  to the office and Mary Ellen arrived with donuts from Jack Frost in Cleveland, a dozen bacon maple one just for me! YUM! I had my exit call with HR. I finished out my day, turned in my PC and badge hugged some folks and headed out a bit early to pick up an auction win and head to the ballfield. G’s Team was asleep at the wheel for the 1st 3 innings and then woke up and scored 5 runs to tie up the game. Tom and the McClains came over and G&I got a ton of nuggets from McD’s and brought it home. Folks hung out for a bit and then headed out. A long emotional day.