Well It's About Time

I've been playing indoor soccer on Sunday's now for about 8 years...all on the same team. Of course the players have changed here and there, but the biggest change is that we are now the "old guy" team. Don't get me wrong, we've got a couple of whipper-snappers out there...but we've got more guys over 30 then under these days.

That means a couple of things...but mostly it means we run out of gas in the 2nd half and end up losing a lot of games. That sucks.

It's very frustrating and lately we have been on a losing streak to end all streaks. In fact we've lost so many games in a row I almost can't remember what it feels like to win. Hell, it's gotten to the point where I don't even care if we win or lose, I just want us to play well enough to be competitive.

That said, for some reason, all day today I had this feeling we were going to win tonight. And hot damn, would you believe it, we did win...and I scored 2 goals. With next week off because of Easter, that means we're going to carry this new streak...the unbeaten one, through the next 2 weeks.

Can you say "on a roll"?

Grade A...Absolutely

So the wife and I headed to LA this weekend for our friend Ingrid's birthday celebration. Awesome time with some great food and great friends...but what made it even better was that my buddy Guido happened to be in LA for the weekend too. He was the best man in my wedding and lives in San Francisco so I don't get to see him all that much. Needless to say I was excited to meet him for lunch in Santa Monica.

Here's the SUPER awesome part, he was there with his new girlfriend Annie who I hadn't meet yet.

(*Authors note: I'm not sure if they have actually defined their relationship as "boyfriend - girlfriend" yet, but they were in town for Annie's brother's engagement party...which means there was family there...which means whether or not they've defined it, they are boyfriend and girlfriend. There you go Guido, I saved you an awkward conversation...or just made it 5X more uncomfortable)

Anyway, the point is, she's absolutely Grade A material. Totally cool, very easy to talk to and super cute...basically a great hang. The thing is, when you like a guy as much as I like Guido, you want to like the girl he's dating a whole bunch too. Maybe more importantly, you want your wife to like her that much as well.

Mission accomplished...and not in the way George Bush said it about the war in Iraq. More like the way George Washington said it about the American Revolution.

Bound For the Big Time

You know you've made it when you're emceeing a raffle in the parking lot of a Cox Customer Service store...right?

God I hope so, because that's exactly what I was doing this afternoon for 2 hours in the middle of the day. Don't get me wrong, it was a nice enough event. We had pizza, popcorn, swag...and of course it was all free. Star 94.1 FM was even out there with there morning show host A.J. It's just that things like that are always so awkward. More often then not the people that show up are only there for the free food, but they always seem to feel the need to justify why you should give them free stuff. If they only knew we don't mind giving them a free water bottle or tot-bag...in fact we want to give it to them.

Instead you end up getting forced to small talk about things like cable boxes and UFC fight packages. Look, I know we don't know each other, that's fine. Just take the free stuff and stop pretending to be interested in the bandwidth capacity difference between satellite and cable...because I don't care about it either.

Now go enjoy a fake tattoo.

So We Meet Again

For two weeks during the winter of 2007 I was a bachelor. My wife (who was my fiance at the time) had gone home to her parents house for Christmas and I stayed home for work and to hang with my folks for one last holiday season. Over the course of that two weeks I ate pizza, drank beer and was generally completely unhealthy. So much so in fact, that I pledged to go on a diet once the holiday season ended.

So I, along with the rest of the New Year's Resolution workout enthusiast, started back to the gym with the goal to lose 20 lbs. For me that was a first, I had always gone to the gym before to work the beach muscles...pecs, arms, and abs. This time was different though, this time it was all about losing the gut.

Long story short, I pulled it off thanks to an amazing diet/workout plan from Men's Health. It's called the Bell Off! diet and it totally worked. I'll spare you the long testimonial and just say that if you want to lose a few lbs this is a great way to do it. You can do the workout almost anywhere and the diet is not that hard to follow.

Fast forward to mid-March 2010, and after the straw that broke the camels back (i.e. Spring Training in Peoria...land of the chain restaurant), I'm back on the Belly Off! diet. Today was my second trip to the gym for the workout portion of the program, and let's just say I'm a little sore.

Actually that's a complete lie. I feel like I was in a car accident. I can barely lift my arms, my chest is on fire, my neck is tight and my quads burn. Know what else...it feels great!

Baby Boom

A baby boom is generally defined as a time when the number of annual births exceeds 2% of the total population size. From 1946 to 1964, 78.3 million babies were born in the United States...that qualifies as a baby boom.

Apply that same equation to my group of friends and guess what...we've got another baby boom. Maybe it's just because I'm at that age or maybe it's something in the water, but it sure seems like there are a lot of new babies laying around these days.

Ainsley Clarke is one of the newest. My friends Trevor and Kristen welcomed little Ainsley into the world 3 weeks ago today, so naturally we celebrated with some dinner at their house tonight.

I've learned a couple things about newborn babies over the last few months watching my friends with their new kids, but one thing stands out. Apparently newborn's don't sleep all that much...which begs the question, who the hell came up with the saying "I slept like a baby". Obviously it wasn't a parent, because all the parents I've seen look like 3rd year medical students working their residency.

Seriously, they all have that same glazed-over-I-haven't-slept-in-a-month look. It's like they're auditioning for the Thriller video remake or something. And they all say the same thing...they knew they wouldn't get a lot of sleep but non of them thought it would be like this.

Of course they also all say something else as well. They all say it's the most amazing thing ever...then they usually nod off for a second when you're holding the baby.

The Last Honest Pizza

When I was in 5th grade I was in a commercial for a local hospital here in San Diego. I didn't have any lines and all I had to do was walk into a kitchen with a soccer ball under my arm while my "Mom" extolled the virtues of alcohol rehab. I think I got paid around $50 for it and it ended up running during "Days of Our Lives" in the middle of the day...presumably when all the drunk moms were at home.

Today I shot my second commercial. This one was for Round Table Pizza...and they even let talk this time around. It's only a 15 second spot, and to be totally truthful I guess it's more of a promo then a commercial, but whatever, it was fun.

I'm sure you're all dying to see it so I won't spoil it for you, but the gist is I'm a selfish bastard who won't share his pizza with Bob. I guess it's better then having an alcoholic for a mom?

Mica

Funny story.

So I was in Arizona last week covering Spring Training for the Padres. For those that have never heard of it, Arizona is a desert. That means it's hot out there...and dry. So, being the fair-skinned-freckly-guy I am, I decided to upgrade my sunscreen by going to Target and purchasing some Neutrogena Ultimate Sport, SPF 70+.

While I was in the sunscreen isle I couldn't help but notice my lips were a little chapped, so I decided to go ahead and upgrade my lip balm as well. My wife always gets the Burt's Bees brand so I decided, why not. Of course my hands and legs were pretty dry too, and since I was already standing in front of the Burt's Bees stuff I went ahead and picked up some body lotion as well. At this point I was so far gone I went ahead threw in some face wash and facial cream too...I know, totally lame.

When all was said and done I had spent close to $60 on lotions.

Here's the funny part. The next morning after I showered, I put the body lotion on my arms and hands and legs, and headed out to the ballpark. While I was standing around waiting for one of the guys to finish up BP, I glanced at my watch to check the time and nearly went blind.

There were a thousand points of light all glaring back at me. My arm was covered in glitter! I looked like a Laughlin stripper after a night out on the town. Apparently my body lotion had mica in it...and apparently mica in code for glitter. How the hell was I supposed to know that?!?!

Not that you even had to ask, but I'll tell you anyway, the interview that day was a tad uncomfortable.