The Commen-Tater

Last night I went to the Reading Phillies game. Imagine our surprise when we arrived and they were already in the first inning. Turns out a rain-out the night before gave us a double header. After securing seats in the grandstand we set our sites on gathering our food stuffs for the evening. All was right with the world until half way through the first game when "they" arrived. The man and woman with the two year old and a huge obsession with baseball. We only stayed through the first inning of the second game but in the short amount of time they were sitting behind us I formulated a couple thoughts about this family...

1) The husband had an annoyingly expansive and detailed knowledge of baseball which he wanted everyone to know about.
2) The wife seemed equally as obsessed and it was evident that they wanted the two year old daughter to become obsessed too
3) They, like many parents, felt the need to commentate the entire evening for the benefit of a child who was happy as a clam having "Blooper" the Goofy-esqe dog mascot shake her hand. She doesn't care if a pitch was a strike or if a hit ended up as an out.
4) Finally, the mother couldn't get over the fact that they didn't play music between the games but spent time honoring long time stadium volunteers and players. Because her kid was getting bored...how dare they not play music? Plus they were bitching about the late start of the second game, didn't they know kids had school? What do you care - you're kid is 2!!!! Won't be 3 until November 18th, which he said over and over to some guy who happened to come along and join their party.

Plus they had goofy accents that I just couldn't place. At first I thought the four teenagers who came and sat in front of us would be the problem turns out I was wrong. I should have been more worried about the queer looking guy in the bright blue newsboy hat. GOD!!!!

Soggy Night...Great Show

Last night my husband and my mom accompanied me to the Allentown Fair for a country music triple header. Miss Miranda Lambert kicked off the night with a solid performance. At certain points during the show her microphone was really over modulated and a few notes went right through my left ear like an ice-pick. But all in all she was a good start to the evening.

The venue was no where near sold out, which was a shame, because people missed a good show. Having seen both Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley before - the wild card of the night was Jason Aldean. In my humble opinion this relative new-comer stole the show. Working from a debut album can sometimes make for a difficult stage show but after playing several of his songs "Why", "I'm Just a Man", & "Amarillo Sky" he asked if he could sing a few songs from groups that influeneced him growing up. True to his country roots he belted out fabulous renditions of three of Alabama's biggest hits "Tennessee River", "Love In The First Degree" & "The Closer You Get". Then swinging the pendulum in the other direction he played "Paradise City" and "Sweet Child Of Mine" by Guns & Roses. I thought it was AWESOME!!!! The woman my age a few seats over didn't appreciate Jason's foray into hard rock because she sat with her fingers in her ears until he was through. I could have listened to Jason rock all night long.

Around 9:40pm Dierks took the stage and was grateful for everyone who came and sat in the rain to see him perform. Having seen him this summer on tour with Kenny Chesney, there weren't many surprises. He played two songs from his new album, all his hits and a couple extra gems from both his debut and sophomore album offerings. It was nice seeing Dierks with only a few thousand people instead of in a jam packed arena. He said he always wanted to return to the Lehigh Valley for a show and last night he got his wish.

As we ate our waffles and ice cream and walked back to the car - I had to admit it was a great night all around - good music, good company and no crazy talkers to ruin my good time.

Another Groovy Way to Waste Time Online...

Courtesy of the Pop Candy blog there is a site out there where you can create your own concert tickets, records, cassettes etc. I think it's brilliant...

Feel free to visit and create your own at Says-it.

A Different Kind of Bridal Shower...

Sunday eight of us journeyed to downtown Philly to try our hands at rolling our own sushi. We learned how to make round sushi, triangle sushi and square sushi. The occasion we were celebrating is the impending nuptials of my older sister Stephie. It was a good time, despite the fact that I don't really like eating sushi.

Didn't we all???

Now We Wait...

I was inseminated on Friday (8/25) & Saturday (8/26).
The doctor said things looked good so I am trying to be
hopeful that things are going to work out.

Isn't He Sweet...

Milk Dud boy at my office was in Michigan this weekend to visit family and see the Nascar race. Somewhere along the line he acquired a 16oz aluminum "collectible" Dale Earnhart Jr bottle of beer (like the one in the picture). Knowing my love for all things "Junior" - Milk Dud boy brought it to work and gave it to me today. Right now it's sitting on my desk with my Dale Jr trick or treat helmet, my mega blocks car and pit set and my Dale Jr Daytona 500 statue. Thinking he had a whole case of these custom bottles I asked him what he did with the rest of them. That's when I found out he only had one and he gave it to me.

I wonder if this is some kind of overture :):)

Shooting Up...

Today will mark the 7th day that I've been injecting myself with hormones to try and manipulate my body into creating, and holding onto viable eggs in a scientific attempt at getting pregnant. In seven days my estrogen levels have risen from 32 to 136. The doctor seems pleased with that so I will be too. The directive for the next three days is to continue with my regimen from the last six days, which is two vials of meds mixed with one vial of saline. But tomorrow (Tuesday) I have to give myself a second injection of a medication that will keep my right ovary from releasing, what the doctor called my "lead follicle", early. I also have to take the second injection Wednesday night. Then it's back to the doctor Thursday morning for blood work and another ultrasound. Should everything be on schedule I will have to give myself yet another shot of medication, only this time to signal the release of the egg. Luckily these needles just go into the skin of my stomach because for the last two nights I think I injected an air bubble along with the medicine. I just can't seem to get them out of the top of the syringe without spitting out the medicine. Since each night I'm shooting $100 worth of medicine into myself I don't want to waste any of it and muck something up. I must say this process is giving me a new respect for people with illnesses and insulin dependent diabetes - at least there will be an end to the constant bloodwork and needles for me. Other people aren't so lucky.

I Couldn't Agree More...

The other day my 8 year old niece said that the
days pass so slowly for her...when she's 33 like
me she'll wish they still did...

A Whole New Level of Crazy...

Yesterday my dear husband and I went to a three year old's birthday party at Green Lane Park. It was a lovely day for such an event and there were lots of people walking, fishing or riding bike. At some point during the party one of us realized there was a group of people over from us who had brought their cat and had it on a leash, tied to a nearby tree. What we couldn't figure out was why. We're all familar with people who have dogs and bring them to other peoples houses when they visit because they don't want to leave them home alone. There are also a lot of people out there who take their dogs to any outdoor event that they attend, but I thought this behavior was limited to dogs. Did these people actually think their cat wanted to leave the comforts of home behind for an afternoon spent tied to a tree sitting in the dirt. I must say, seeing that was a first for me.

Awesome...

The "Pop Candy" Blog on USA Today is a never ending resource for all that is cool. Use this link to make your own Steven Colbert "On Notice Board". The possibilities seem endless.

A Groovy New Toy...

Yesterday I decided I had to get out of the office at lunch so I went down to Kohl's to see if there was anything that jumped out at me. Why Kohl's you ask? Because I had a 15% off coupon burning a hole in my pocket. I stopped briefly to look at clothes but nothing spoke to me. I was cruising by bedding on my way to shoes when an aisle display caught my attention. They had this cute little boom box that will either play FM radio stations or songs from my I-Pod. Supposedly it retails for $169.00 but it was being offered as part of the "Big Wednesday" sale for only $99.00. I reasoned that it would be an even better deal with my coupon so I tucked one under my arm. The shoe department looked like a tornado hit it and I didn't see anything that struck my fancy. With tax my little radio was $90.00. I'm listening to it now...my I-Pod peaking out at me from behind it's protective plastic shield. I'm glad I went to Kohl's yesterday.

Stop "Needling" Me...

Monday dear hubby and I visited our fertility doctor for a post surgery follow-up. Things appear to have healed up nicely and I got to see some groovy pictures of my insides before and after surgery. It appears the next step is learning how to give myself injectable hormone medication. We learn how to do that on Friday 8/18. If two months of that doesn't yield a pregnancy we move on to something else.

The doctor is hoping the first time will be the charm, I fear allowing myself that same optimism will only result in disappointment. I know every person is different and every infertility situation is different, but knowing people this hasn't worked for always lingers in the back of my mind. But I suppose for every negative story there are positive ones.

That dear husband of mine decided that if he has to administer the injections - he's going to handle it like playing darts. He will throw the needle at me and then run up and press the plunger...he thinks that's funny.

Is Your Corp Ready???

Saturday night, my mom, my ween and I headed up to Allentown for the "East Coast Classic" stop of the DCI drum corp tour. It's been somewhat of a tradition these last few years - sitting in the bleachers reconnecting with our marching band days gone by. This time though, we also got to reconnect with the drum corp days gone by of the people sitting behind us. When I say "days gone by" - I mean DAYS GONE BY - they marched with Crossmen in 1982. I was ten in 1982. What made them even more endearing to us - was their North Jersey accents. They were priceless.

All in all the performances were good. Though our socks were definitely not blown off. As always, our first choice, was the Madison Scouts. The Scouts are an all male corp from Wisconsin and musically they reign supreme in our humble opinion. The Carolina Crown also deserve kudos for a performance that should have garnered them higher then fourth place. But in the drum corp world, as in figure skating, there are obvious judge favorites and very rarely is anyone shocked when the final scores are read.

In case anyone is interested. The results for the evening were:
Blue Devils - 95.550
Blue Coats - 92.350
Santa Clara Vanguard - 91.475
Carolina Crown - 88.550
Blue Knights - 88.350
Madison Scouts - 86.750
Spirit from JSU - 84.700
Crossmen - 80.825
South Wind - 76.150
Seattle Cascades - 74.425
Pacific Crest- 74.275

For those of you who don't know, participants "age out" of drum corp at age 21. For the last two years there was a particular individual in the post of drum major for one of the corps, who was sorely missed this year. So in his honor, one more time with feeling..."Jonathan Holmes...Is your corp ready?"