What a long, frustrating week. Bowled like crap Tuesday, won't even bother with the scores since a couple of the games were barely over 100... we all had horrible nights bowling except Christina who was over her average. Probably had something to do with her nice shiny new bowling ball, bag, and shoes combo we got there that night at the bowling alley. Pink shoes and black and pink bowling ball bag with a Carolina colored (sort of) deep red, black, and some white swirled (sort of) metallic sparkled bowling ball. Wow... never thought it'd be hard to describe a bowling ball. I'll try to get a picture to post later.
Regardless, the only good part about bowling night this last week was the all-you-can-eat crab legs at the place next door for dinner before we bowled. Plan to hit it again this Tuesday with a few more friends. I blame the Discovery Channel... if it weren't for Deadliest Catch and an episode of Dirty Jobs where he catches crabs, I wouldn't have had such a craving for them.
Took Wednesday off to both take the cats into the vet to have their ears looked at and clean up the boat for this weekend. Both were frustrating. The cats are fine - just some bulbous little black things in Cotton's ears - she said she sees them in Persian cats a lot and they're not dangerous... just itchy. So she gave us Cortizone for his ears and he seems to like it.
As for the boat, me and gelcoat don't get along... I can't get it to have a good finish to save my life. Tried everything, including Tim's suggestion of wet sanding it with 600 grit sandpaper, rubbing compound, finishing compound, and marine wax. Got it to an okay level, but can't get a consistant finish to it at all, nor can I get all of the oxidation out either. Hate to take too much of the gelcoat off too, so that might be as good as it gets. Mildly frustrating unless you factor in the South Carolina heat... which makes doing anything outside miserable right now.
Anyway, the week is over thank goodness. Tonight Michelle is staying with us since she's in town for a wedding... no real plans Saturday yet... and Sunday we're going out on the lake with friends... may have 10 or 11 out there in 3 boats - our own Navy of sorts. Tokyo Joe is playing at Dockside at 4pm that afternoon, so we're looking forward to that show too.
Even though my birthday was Thursday I took both that day and Friday off work. Thursday night we were invited over to Jane and Wendells for a pool/birthday party... had a great time - they have a huge pool with a deep end, diving board, and built in raised hot tub area that waterfalls into the pool. Told them it all looks green to me... the green of envy. Then he reminded me of all the work it takes to maintain it.
Anyway, it was a good thing I took at least Friday off since my present from Christina was tickets to watch the Detroit Tigers beat up on the Atlanta Braves that night. Not only is it rare for them to play since it's interleague play, but for them to play on my birthday weekend was perfect.
I lugged the camera, a wide lens, and the 70-200mm zoom lens. 200mm isn't enough from Left-Center field where we were sitting, so the images that look zoomed way in are cropped a little, but they still turned out all right given how far away we were. Though honestly, the seats were good - great view of everything, you don't feel that far away. Plus, the third base line and left field were in the shade from the time we got there, unlike the poor folks cooking on the first base line and right field.
The game was great... Detroit ended up winning 5-0. Other than Christina getting a migraine around the top of the 9th inning, we both had a good time. We were lazy and didn't get out of Columbia until 2pm Friday, so we ended up driving straight to Turner Field since we wanted to get there a little early anyway to check it out. Then since she had the migraine, we didn't end up going out to Buckhead despite staying in a hotel less than a mile from the area. Slept in the next day, hit Cracker Barrel for a great breakfast, then headed home. Still, even though we were just there for the game basically, it was nice getting out of town for the day.
Satureday night we polished off 1/3rd of the bottle of Jose Cuervo Black Medallion I got for my birthday from Lee, a guy we work with, and watched movies that night. Went out on the lake Sunday afternoon for a while too... and other than paying $3.95/gallon for gas on the water, that was a good trip too. The motor is barely missing now... only every once in a while... maybe once or twice a minute tops. So, the new plug wires seemed to have helped a little - maybe we'll go ahead and just replace the ignition coils also.
This coming Sunday Tokyo Joe is playing again at Dockside, so we'll probably invite some friends out in the boat either before or after the show since we're parked next to the restaurant where they're playing.
Anyway, it's late, so I'll just post up a link to the pictures from the game last Friday:
I should rename this a bowling and boating blog since that's the only updates going on here.
And speaking of which, I continued my streak of getting better through three games again last night. Bowled a 110, a 149, and a 175 last night. Worst part is that in the last game I had a turkey through frames 7, 8, and 9 and I bowled a 7/2 open frame in the 10th... I wish I would have had that turkey in the 10th from last week's third game! Would have easily been the highest game I ever bowled since that would have been 6 strikes in a row with two other strikes and two spares in other frames that game. Instead, I choked like the Buffalo Bills and bowled a 7/2. Just beautiful... So my average now has gone from a 151 to a 137 and now back up to a 140 even. Just like my GPA in school, it sure seems to fall a lot faster than it rises.
Never felt quite right anyway to begin with. We had a tough workout Monday - set new highs on bench press, but I tweaked something in my upper back/shoulder. Then yesterday afternoon we played a few games of basketball before running home, showering quick, and getting to the bowling alley. Still, as sore as everything was, it's really more about consistency than anything else... if I learn nothing else in these leagues I hope I learn to be consistent with my approach and throw.
At work I moved over our first group the last couple days so they're done and on the domain now with all their shared folders set up. Their folders are a little different because they have their own server instead of the School's fileservers, so I used DFS (distributed file system) to set up a kind of a pointer link that looks like a folder on the School's fileserver drive, but really points to a shared folder on their server. That way their group has a lot more available space for data instead of being lumped in with everyone else.
We've got a couple other groups that will be like that too, so it's nice to test out that feature of Server 2003 with the first group. The second group has their own server also... it's the group Christina works in, so I'll have a little extra help when running around upgrading their computers out there. Hoping to start their group next week.
As for this week, still haven't decided if I'm taking my birthday off work tomorrow or not. Christina and I are both taking Friday off, so it's a short week anyway. Friends of ours from work, Jane and Wendell, offered to host a get together at their house (they are the ones with the pool) tomorrow night. If it ends up a late get together like Kristi's birthday party last Saturday night, I figured a Friday off work would be nice.
That party for Kristi last Saturday was a lot of fun too. Ran until 11 and we ended up going over to their new house they just bought afterwards. Ended up being a very late night... yet somehow even though I was a bit green all Sunday, we did take the boat out that afternoon. There... covered the other half of my bowling and boating blog, so the world is complete again.
If anybody lives in a drought stricken area of the country, just buy yourself a boat and a wet slip for it. Guaranteed rain every day, I promise.
Maybe it'll clear up for this weekend. Our friend Kristi here at work is having a birthday party this Saturday... reserving an area on the lake somewhere on the South side. We'll probably bring the boat, though we'll bring it by land. The party lasts until 11pm that night and I don't know the lake well enough to go approx. 13 miles back across the lake at night during a new moon. All of those coves out there are confusing enough in broad daylight.
We also finally start our Microsoft domain rollout next Monday. It's crazy how long it's taken for the high speed internet connections to be installed at all of our remote sites. Anyway, this project is definitely the biggest we've had since I've started working here and I can't wait for it to be over. Going to be probably a 2 month headache most likely.
Bowled a 104, a 124, and a 144 last night in league play. That drops my average from 151.3 (third highest in the league) to a 137.6 instead.
At least my games got better as the night went on... usually I'd just blame the beer, but usually the scores get worse for later games. Not sure what happened with that 104 game, but all night I didn't feel like I could throw the ball straight. Very frustrating... until I got a turkey (three strikes in a row) in the 10th frame of the last game. Guess that's a good way to end the night.
Went back out there this morning to put on the bimini top and other covers on the boat. All in all, the covers were in pretty good shape. A couple zippers need some work and we are going to look into getting the bow cover modified a little. I'd like to have one of the marine upholstery places in town cut out some of the center and install a reinforced middle section with a pole making it tent in the center so that water doesn't pool in it any more.
Still, with all the covers on, it's pretty well protected from rain and ducks:
Click the link above for some pictures from out on the lake this afternoon.
Thanks to Brian the boat runs a lot better now. He tore apart the carbs and cleaned them out and we replaced the plugs. Still trying to track down a new set of spark plug wires since they could use replacing, but it doesn't stall nearly as much anymore.
Had a great visit with Brian and Tasha in town last week. They went to Myrtle Beach mid-week but they were here both weekends. Went out to eat a lot, took the boat out, went bowling one night... good times.
Speaking of bowling, our first week of the league I joined at work was last Tuesday. It's only a five week league, followed up by another five week league that we'll probably play also. I bowled a 157, a 119, and a 178 the first week, so my handicap is screwed now with a 151.3 average! A guy bowling with us cannot make it the next three weeks (odd in a five week league, I know) so Christina is going to fill in and bowl the next few weeks too. Then in the next league we've got another four-person team lined up for Christina to be a part of so she can bowl the whole next set.
The class I took last week was okay... boring, but okay. I knew probably 98% of the stuff in the course already, so it probably wasn't worth it. I didn't test Friday since they recommended studying for a week before testing, so I'll probably set up the test for another day later next week.
Anyway, lots going on and a bunch of stuff to do around here, so I'll just end this. Watching Carolina playing UNC right now in baseball. We lost last night after having a 6-0 lead going into the 6th inning... very frustrating game. We're up 4-2 right now in the 4th, let's hope we can hold onto it tonight!
