Law v. Life

Some things are just wrong.

I simply cannot root for a team that plays on astroturf.  And I don't care if it is technically FieldTurf Duo.  I guess I'll be rooting for the Phillies.

I just learned that the Buckeyes play on FieldTurf.  That doesn't make it better.  And I think it is much more common in football anyway...maybe because football players are harder on the grass with how the game is played and because the surface would have more of an effect on the players than on the ball in football?

Can you believe it?

I am about to leave for vacation!  I always seem to be going somewhere, but it's always for a conference or a case or something work related.  Not this time!  (Well, kind of, a little bit, but not intentionally, and kind of as a separate add-on trip).  Like 5 months ago, feeling suffocated by winter and work, I started fantasizing about when it would someday be warm again and I signed up for a rowing camp.  So I will be spending four days next week rowing.  Yes, that is my vacation.

Everyone who I told that I was going to a rowing camp thought I was nuts.  I probably am.  And when I tell them it's at the Naval Academy, they always get this look.  This look that says, "wow, that's hardcore."  And also conveys at least a hint of, "can you handle that?"  I think it is going to be very intense, but less hardcore than it sounds because rowers of all skill levels participate.  I say that, but I am also terrified.

Although the camp doesn't start until Monday morning, I am leaving today to spend the weekend with a friend in Baltimore.  The weekend o' fun will include a James Taylor concert at the pier and an Orioles-Red Sox game.  My friend left repeated facebook messages tempting me with the game before I committed to flying in a couple days early.  That girl knows me.  I think it should be a fun weekend, followed by an interesting week.  The weekend in Baltimore has to be better than my last trip there (the after the bar exam debacle).

During the rowing camp, to offset the pain I'm sure I will be feeling during the day (and probably for several days afterwards), I will be staying at a fancy hotel at night.  I figure I will deserve a little luxury by the end of the day, and if I have to check in with work eventually, it will be much nicer to do so from a heavenly bed.

Now that's utility

I watched a great baseball game today.  Sure, the Clippers gave up 7 home runs.  Interestingly enough, each came in a different inning....  And yeah, that was after giving up 4 yesterday.  So what if the final score was 10-0?  No big deal leaving 12 men on base.  I mean they left more, possibly because they had more than twice as many base runners.  It was a kind of ugly game, really.

So if the Clippers pretty much sucked, why was it such a great game?  Because in the top of the 9th inning, down 10 to nothing, the Clippers made the most brilliant tactical move I have seen.  I look up and Larry Broadway is walking onto the field.  Number 44.  We all know Larry.  Larry Broadway is the Clippers' first basemen.  At 6'4" and 230lbs, and being left-handed, Larry is the type of player who belongs at first base, or at least looks the part.  He is well liked by the fans, having played in Columbus all of last year, and being a solid, if not extraordinary, player, on both offense and defense.  Even being out for a month last year, it looks like Larry may have turned the corner of the injuries that have plagued his career.   There is just something about him that makes you root for him.

Larry Broadway played college ball at Duke for three years, including pitching as a freshman.  He had one win his freshman year, going 1-1 with a 4.68 ERA.  He has not pitched since.  Going into today, the Clippers had a team ERA of 4.04.  After today's game, the Clippers have given up the most home runs in the IL (oddly enough, they surpassed the Mud Hens, who are now second, with Charlotte in third).  The Clippers have some decent pitchers, but it's not their strong point.  Fielding isn't either, although it has improved markedly since they got rid of that old guy (Bret Boone) and Olmedo started looking like he's paying attention.  At the very least, the pitching wasn't really working out for them so well today.

And so, in the top of the 9th, Larry Broadway walked out to the pitcher's mound.  We expect to see him walking to first, but there he is walking to the mound.  If we weren't paying attention, he might have just blended in because he kind of looks like he belongs there, tall and strong and built like a pitcher.  The few hundred fans who were still at the stadium squinted to make sure they were seeing right, looked to their neighbors with quizzical looks, and then started cheering for Larry.  And Larry earned the cheers.  He had the only perfect inning of the entire game for a Clippers pitcher!  He even struck out one batter.  It was unbelievable.  He did throw one pitch well over the batter's head, at which the crowd laughed heartily.  (And is it "inside" if it's behind the batter?)  But Larry Broadway had a 1-2-3 inning.  It was awesome.  The crowd gave him a standing ovation when he left the field with his 0.000 ERA intact and having done a better job than any of the other pitchers of the afternoon.  The Clippers were never going to come back, but there was actually a moment of hope when we saw Larry on deck (as the DH, I would assume) with the bases loaded.  Yurendell de Caster hit into a double play, so he didn't get the chance to be a hero (or a get your hopes up guy) at the plate, but Larry Broadway was totally my hero today.  Larry Broadway shut down the Mud Hens when no one whose job it is to pitch could keep them from hitting home runs.

1 Week

I feel like I should be counting down to something more significant (like a wedding in 9 days!!!!), but I can't deny that I am super excited that opening day for the Clippers is in 1 week!  I hope it doesn't rain and isn't ridiculously cold.  I just have to decide which shirt to wear.  I'm thinking about going with the classic navy blue with the Clippers emblem in the center, or maybe my ringer tee (below), and also my baby blue fleece with the small logo (right).  Of course, the outfit will be complemented by my pink cowbell.

There's a reason I have a dolphin tattoo

Have I mentioned that I'm learning to swim? Yes, I know that is funny. Everyone thinks so. It's not that I don't know how to swim. I'm not at all afraid to jump into a pool, I never minded having to take a swimming test at camp, and I wouldn't hesitate to water ski or do something like that where I could theoretically need to swim some small amount. It's more that I've never been able to progress in my swimming ability because of one minor impediment. That would be my uncontrollable impulse to swallow large amounts of water when I swim.

Basically, what happens is this: (1) I get in the pool; everything's good. (2) I prepare to begin swimming; still good, no anxiety, ready to go. (3) I put my head in the water to begin swimming, and briefly everything is okay, as I either hold my breath or breathe out. (4) Then I try to take a breath like they taught me when I was little in swimming class, and it all starts to go down hill. (5) It is hard to pinpoint when the problem starts, but within a few seconds of beginning to "swim," I begin to inhale large quantities of water.

It's like my lips perceive the water I can't help but open my mouth and swallow instantly, and it isn't even directly related to needing air. This makes swimming kind of miserable in many ways. You know how when you work out and then drink too much water too quickly you feel sick? That's how I always feel after swimming. Plus my throat hurts from all the chlorine I've swallowed.

So, anyway, I figured if I'm going to keep up the rowing, I probably should feel more comfortable swimming. Just in case. I finally got up the nerve to talk to my trainer about it (well, email him actually, because I am a wuss in all contexts), and last week we started working on my swimming skills. I completely embarrass myself by simply getting in the pool, and when I choke and cough and appear to be lacking in basic breathing and swallowing skills I reconsider if I should have brought this upon myself. I hate to do anything I'm not good at, and I am definitely not good at this. On top of everything, focusing on breathing properly makes me forget how to do everything else. Like kick. And of course the lifeguard was kind enough to point that out.

One exciting thing is that I wore goggles and opened my eyes underwater for the first time, and that helped dramatically with not running into things. Although somehow, the bottom of my left big toe is very bruised and painful, the inside of my left knee is bruised and it kind of hurts to walk because of it, and my left elbow is bruised and feels like I just hit it on something really hard. Not only can I not figure out how swimming could have possibly caused any of these injuries, but there is no way they could be related despite the fact that they are all my left side. This whole swimming experiment is actually quite stressful and hard work, but I am enjoying myself so far, and I'm excited about being a little less likely to die should my boat ever flip, and maybe some day even feeling comfortable enough to make swimming part of my regular routine.

But if I ever say I'm taking up tennis, someone should stop me.

Go Tribe!

The players are so cute jumping all around. Kenny Lofton was hilarious, he was so excited by his homerun. You would think he'd never hit a homerun in the postseason, let alone been there multiple times with six different teams...and I think he has now hit 7 postseason homeruns. Maybe once you get that old you don't have to hide your glee and can just enjoy it. It would be so awesome to be there.

It is a new era

The Indians are on their way to Fenway!  And the little boys in pinstripes look like they might cry.  Actually I just saw one wiping away tears...

Do you remember where you're from?

I hope LeBron James gets hit by a foul ball.

The facts of life

The Good:
- I am feeling kind of generally content lately, kind of like everything in my life is going along the way it should be...even if it doesn't feel very enjoyable in the moment.
- The Indians are in the postseason!  It's been a long time since October has been fun, and it's nice to see the re-building/development of young players theory coming to fruition. 
- Church has been very satisfying lately, with good worship and sermons, and our young professionals group might be gaining a few new members.  And I made apple pie for our open house this afternoon and it was very good and demonstrated my domesticity.  I did not wear an apron.
- I'm looking forward to the YLD conference this coming week, although I don't know what to wear to the dinner dance.  Which is obviously a top concern.  I'm really looking forward to Charlotte...
- I have an oral argument a couple hours before my flight Thursday which should be fun since there is not too much at stake for the client so I can just enjoy myself.
- Did I mention, four days until the Indians begin their sweep of the Yankees?!

The Bad:
- Work is stressing me out so much that I feel kind of nauseous all the time.  My firm cares and is trying to improve the situation, but I'm not feeling too optimistic that it will ever get better.  It really doesn't feel okay.
- Things are on the bad side of normal with my sister, i.e., she isn't hospitalized but probably should be or will be before long.  And I'm worried about my stepmother's health, too.
- My sociopath ex just got engaged to a very young girl who he has treated in many of the same destructive and manipulative ways that he treated me, and she knows it and accepts it and it makes me really sad in a lot of ways.
- My car needs repairs, so I am about to buy a new car that I can't really afford.  This will also be very good, but thinking about the financial side of it is not so much.  And even making the time to buy the car is stressful.

I'm ready for this coming week to tend towards the good side.  First I have to listen to (and respond to, I suppose) my 14 voicemail messages that filled up my phone's entire capacity on Friday, write a supreme court jurisdictional brief, prepare for a mediation, respond to some discovery requests, write some bad news emails to clients (because I apparently have the "golden tongue" for these type of emails ...although that would really be fingers), drive to two cities in the next two days, enter the rest of my time for September, get a continuance of a trial scheduled for this week, and that's just the stuff I can remember right now!  And get my nails done and hopefully manage to get in a row tomorrow night.  And I think I have a meeting Tuesday night for something.  But four days from now I will be in Charlotte with no responsibilities other than to "network" and watch the Indians win.  Just four more days of real life...

The weather is starting to make me mad

I have not complained about the weather the last couple of weeks. Sure, there was snow on Easter, but I didn't say a word. Yes, rowing was supposed to start this week and we couldn't go on the water, but I just tried to be patient. But now I'm starting to get aggravated. The Clippers home opener is Friday. The forecast currently predicts a high of 50 on Friday, so for an evening game it will probably be close to freezing. At least there is part of a sun in the picture. Sunday isn't looking so good. (that's good?! this weather has already warped my perception). Sunday is supposed to have a high of 43 with rain/snow showers. Not okay! I am still trying to tell myself it will somehow be nice.

I know it is much worse other places, and I don't care.