Softball update

The playoffs for church league softball began tonight. We had an even .500 record in the regular season, and were seeded in the winners bracket. We played the team from Crown of Glory tonight, and I think our teams were pretty evenly matched.

Guardian Angels played an AWESOME game. I think we played the best we have all season! We were getting good bats and good gloves from everyone. Unfortunately, we were the away team, and COG was playing really well too.

In the top of the seventh (that's the last inning in our church league), we pulled ahead of the tie by getting two runs (I was one of them, I hit pretty well tonight). The score was 10-8, GA. COG gets up to bat, we get two good outs, and then BAM, one of their bruisers hits the ball out the park. That's the first time we had another team hit an out of the park homer. Dang. So the score is tied (they had a little guy on base) now, and they hit a huge fly ball with one person on base. It got lost in the lights, and they got another run...game over.

Dang! We played so well tonight! It's a real bummer to lose such a close game, particularly when we had some questionable calls from the ump that did not go our way.

Oh well, we lost gracefully, and we had a ton of fun playing tonight. We play again next week, and if we win our 6:15 game, we go on to play a doubleheader at 7:30. I'm going to have some optimism and see if I can get my husband to bring the team some KFC between games so we can have some delicious protein power. :)

Being on this team has been just awesome for me this summer. I've had a great time, and I am glad that the season ends just before I leave for Seattle. I doubt that any of them read my blog (YET), but if someone is, I'd like to say thanks for a fun season to Bryan F, Brian B, Brian R, Dan, Ken, Julian, Mike, Alex, Joanne, Sean, Brendan, Greg, Jenna and Amanda (my recruit! :) )

I meant to take a picture tonight, but I forgot to take care of that...so I hope to remember next week.

-SKH

Top 5 reasons I hate Wisconsin

First of all, let me start off by apologizing to all Wisconsinites. I am sure you are nice (particularly if I know you well enough that you are reading my blog), but man, me and the state of Wisconsin are just not friends*. Below are a few reasons for this long-standing feud I have with the land of cheese, the Pack and I-94.

1. Weather. I think that I must have a bad weather beacon from the state of Wisconsin. Almost every time I drive through there, there is a tornado, blizzard or torrential rain. Or all three, if I am lucky. Take, for example, the trip that Dad and I took to Notre Dame during the spring of my senior year of high school. We left Chaska on a sunny Friday afternoon, hoping to make it to Chicago before full dark (which was fairly early, because it was spring). Things were going well until about two hours into Wisconsin…sky darkens ominously and then…downpour. Lightning, thunder, pouring rain – these all make for awesome driving.

2. Cheese. Cheese as a standalone food is one of the most disgusting things I can imagine. The smell, the feel and worst of all, the texture – gross! The entire state of Wisconsin is one giant cheese factory. Some people may like this…I do not.

3. The Green Bay Packers. I’ll admit it. As a high schooler, I cheered for the Packers. Was it because they were Super Bowl champions? Maybe. Was it because I thought Brett Favre was HOT? Probably. Was it because the Vikings were simply terrible then? Possible, though not much has changed. Anyways. Whenever the Packers play the Vikings, state pride really becomes an issue. Even if the Vikes get killed, it doesn’t matter. The Packers are no longer a team I can cheer for…they no longer have (old) Favre, and they aren’t Super Bowl champions. Sorry, Pack.

4. I-94. As mentioned above, my luck with driving in Wisconsin is not good. Not only does weather torment me in that state, so do other road hazards. Particularly, but not limited to, construction. This past weekend, we had two major delays in the big WI, and while neither was due to construction (this time), we literally waited for over two hours on the stupid interstate. There really aren’t many exits, and thus, we were lucky enough to just…sit there.

5. Oddly named highways. Highways should be numbers, not letters. In addition, if highways must be lettered, please do not use multiple letters. Highway A and Highway AA appear mighty similar in the dark in the middle of nowhere.

*The only friendliness Wisconsin and I share is due to their wonderful lakes and beautiful “up north” country. Someday I will likely own land in Wisconsin (CABIN!), and therefore, I hope to repair my relationship with the state. I hereby offer my hand in peace, Wisconsin. Your reaction to my offer the next time I cross into your borders is now up to you. I hope we can be friends.

Yes, it took me almost 10 hours to drive home from Chicago yesterday.

End rant.

-SKH

Harry Potter and Chicago

So Hava and I finally made it into our room at the conference in Chicago! We had a time of it.

We left the office after a hectic half day yesterday at about 1pm. We decided to stop at Sonic in St Paul for lunch (who knew we had a Sonic in Minnesota?!) We had some delicious burgers, tots and limeades, and then got on the road in earnest. Things were going well, until we hit road construction and then horrible rain! The good news is that my car got 45 miles to a gallon for the first 5 hours of the trip. Regardless of the traffic and the rain, we pulled into the hotel lot at about 8pm, and made our first effort to check in.

Bad news. They didn't have us in the right room for last night, even though I had called two weeks prior to confirm. CRAP. The hotel was 100% booked, and so the only room they could give us had several issues...it was a parlor room, with a sofa bed and rollaway cot, and it wouldn't be ready until after midnight. Hava and I thought that this place sucks. Anyways, they did give us some vouchers for the bar, which was nice though we both got drunk on the strong drinks and no food.

Last night was also the opening of the Harry Potter conference we were at - they had a whole day of Wizard Rock. I'm definitely glad we didn't come for the whole day of Wrock, because it was (not surprisingly) sort of lame. It was a concert, in a ballroom, with every light on in the place, and chaperones sitting at tables in the back. Ha, awesome. However, we did actually like Draco and the Malfoys and Harry and the Potters, even picking up a t-shirt in the process.

Today, we started off with free breakfast (delicious) because my anger at the Hilton got us some free stuff. Then we wandered around Michigan Avenue for a few hours, waiting for our next (and final) room to be ready. We both bought some shoes. We came back to the hotel, checked in for Terminus (that's the conference name) and again tried to check in for our room. The people at the front desk sucked, so we decided to go up to the executive floor and try our luck there. Thank God for Isabel and Robert M - they are single handedly trying to make up for our bad experience thus far.

So now we are in the room (we got upgraded for free, thanks to Isabel) trying to relax for a bit before we meet some friends for dinner at Carmine's. (Yes, we are skipping the Opening Feast, I know, I know.) After dinner, we are coming back because I have to be in a trivia tournament...let's see how much HP I know.

So that's the news for now. More to come!!

-SKH

New layout!

What do you guys think of the new layout? I'm going to use this blog to document my life for my soon-to-be faraway family members and friends.

Yes, I realize the picture is from London. Well, I don't have one of me in Seattle yet, PLUS it shows how much I really love Harry. Potter, that is.

Comment and let me know what you think of the layout.

-SKH

Golden birthday party tonight!!

So tonight I am having a little soiree for my golden birthday. In case you didn't know (for real, how can you not know at this point?), my birthday was last Sunday (July 27). Yes, that's right, I am 27 this year. I feel like that is finally a respectable age - people don't think you are too young anymore!

I'm having some people over tonight for cocktails (nothing fancy, just beer, Mike's, etc.) and delicious burgers, brats and hotdogs. I've been spending my afternoon getting ready - stuff like shopping, getting the drinks in coolers, cleaning (that's coming up), blogging. You know, the really important stuff.

Anyways, I will be a better blogger here soon...I promise. The reason I have been remiss is no longer in play, so we are all set.

More to come :)

-SKH