Tuesday, May 27, 2008

The Accident

I was reading a Deseret News article about cell phones in schools. Yes, cell phones are annoying, but I'm going to make sure my kids have one, if we can afford it. In the end, if you have a good kid, they won't be getting in routine trouble, regardless of the technology. As a teacher, I do wish that parents would be better at controlling thier teenager's use of cell phones. I have confiscated a few cell phones in my day.

They can also be helpful, I just don't want to end up like this guy, all over Youtube:



We have a softball game tonight at 9, hopefully, we keep it rollin'. Umpiring has been calm this year, meaning that I haven't kicked anyone out. Last Thursday was close. Runners on the corners, and a double play ball is hit to the 2nd baseman. He flips it to the shortstop covering second, who then tries to relay it on to first, only to be barged into by a non-sliding runner. So, the obvious call is a double play, with the runner starting the play at 3rd being called out since he is the most advanced runner.

The barger had a different idea, and was trying to explain to me at the top of his lungs that he's not out, because he didn't mean to run into the shortstop. My argument was that his team mate probably didn't mean to hit a crappy double play ball to 2nd, but he still had to suffer the consequences.

So, I decided to make a list of other things you have to suffer the consequences for, even if you didn't mean to:

16 - Choosing the wrong line at Wal-mart*.
15 - Attacking a fully functional Death Star.
14 - Rear-ending someone.
13 - Bombing a test.
13a - Bombing the Chinese Embassy.
12 - Stubbing your toe.
11 - Burning popcorn in the microwave.
10 - Voting for a Liberal.
9 - Eating Salmonilla.
8 - Misquoting a Seinfeld line around John.
7 - Going to BYUI instead of BYU regular so you have an excuse to not play on Platypi.
6 - Getting sucked into a Star Trek episode.
5 - Not immediately changing a poopy diaper.
4 - Being a white male.
3 - Watching a Drew Barrymore movie.
2 - Believing that "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit".
1 - Burping in front of Steph.

Yes, I paid the price for #1, to the tune of an aluminum bat to the shins, but that which does not kill you makes you stronger, so I continue to accidently burp in front of Steph.

Out

Elmo

Friday, May 16, 2008

The Bubs being the Bubs

One of the funniest baseball plays I've ever seen was Manny Ramirez (Left Fielder) cutting off his centerfielder, Johnny Damon's throw. Manny was literally 50 feet away, and had to dive to cut it off. This allowed for an in the park homer.

Manny almost topped himself the other day...



Note: this video may not work soon, because Major League Baseball has the copyright. Not sure how those laws work, only that I'm not supposed to copy text books for students unless I posses an equal number of copies of said textbook.

For those who can't see the video, ManRam makes a great catch running backward, runs to the wall, high fives a fan, then throws the ball into the infield to complete the double play. Good one.

In Platypi playing really well right now news, the Platypi is playing pretty well. We won our second game against a team that probably shouldn't be in the upper league, 23-4. It would have been worse had we not gotten sloppy by the 4th inning.

Last Tuesday, we beat our nemisis, Salt Lake Blues, 23-16. Yes, we tend to score 23 runs.

13 days of school left until summer break. Summer break is going to be nice, because we'll be able to sit around and do nothing at home because of gas prices. This, of course, is better than sitting around doing nothing at school, which is what would happen if you forced students into the classroom in July.

Ella is now walking. I consider a child able to walk if they can make it 15 feet. This is not good news. Better news would be that she stays in a swing chair until she's 22 or so. Looks like we'll have two kids to chase around now.

The End
Trogdor

Thursday, May 01, 2008

Lincoln the Flopper

So we have these personal leave days that we get each year. There are 3 such days, and if we don't use them, then they go away. If we don't use any, then we get $180 at the end of the year. I was forced to use one the very first week of the year to attend Natalie's wedding. Yes, she was very inconsiderate to plan it during the school year. Now, I am using my final 2.

I wanted to go to Idaho, but that was before I remembered that gas isn't $1.32 a gallon anymore. Idaho will have to wait until early August. So, it looks like I'm going to fill the first half of the day blogging.

Platypi is now 1-0. We won our first game on the strength of two Brett in the park homeruns, and one from John. Our game last Tuesday was cancelled because they told us it was at 7, and the other team it was at 6. Next Tuesday, they told us it was at 7:30. They should find a way to write down all the game times for the entire season, and give it to us at once. When they do, I'll post the schedule here for any interested parties.

Lincoln has taken up the annoying habit of throwing himself on the ground then pretending he's hurt. He is a pretty good flopper, he reminds me of Robert Horry:



Anyway, no sympathy is given by me, which can be uncomfortable if done in public.

In conclusion, the Jazz had better win Friday.