Speaking of surprises, looking at my checking account today I saw that my economic stimulus money showed up!! Hooray for being $600 richer (well, once the pending transaction clears anyway)! Although, sorry government, I'm not a crazy spender to begin with, so I'm afraid I'm not going to blow this money on frivolous things I didn't need or want before I had the extra cash. Instead, I'm most likely going to do something even more exciting--invest in my future. That's right, this money is probably going into my Roth IRA, woohoo!

So, while I might not be helping to give a false illusion of an economy on a comeback, I suppose I am still banking on the market in general. My IRA has recently come back into the black after being red (along with the rest of the market) since like December or something. It's not ahead by much, but up is up and considering how long it's been since that's happened, I can't complain--especially when I'm doing better than things like the Dow and NASDAQ.

Happy Friday, everyone! :)

TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)

Comments on this Entry:

We were the first team to kick, and I was the leadoff kicker. I got out on a bunt that the catcher picked up and chased me down the field with. Oh well. By the time we were done kicking in the 4th inning, we were up 4-2!! We had some good plays, including a homerun. In addition, we did some awesome fielding that kept the other team from scoring--one guy kept making these amazing catches while practically doing flips and other crazy moves in an attempt to wrangle the ball. We were pretty much playing super awesome, and I think the other team must've been surprised and maybe even a little worried.

Continued reading The Win That Almost Was...

TrackBack (0) | Comments (2)

Comments on this Entry:

(Ivette on May 6, 2008 10:51 AM) it sounds like you are improving a lot, congrats! :) and yay for fun nights!

(Ingrid on May 6, 2008 12:26 PM) Yes! That is great - and a flip cup win - what a good night for you! If I forget to say this in the near future, good luck in the next game and in the playoffs.

Today is once again the 5th of May, which means, you guessed it: white people drinking lots of tequila and possibly donning sombreros.

I don't have any real celebration plans, but tonight is kickball, and I think there will be margaritas involved. Some people might dress up, but I will not be among them, because I do not own any such attire and today is probably not the day to find any. We're playing the undefeated team in the league tonight so I don't expect any victories from us, although, how awesome would it be if this was the only game we won?? Maybe there is an correlation between margarita consumption and kickball performance? Guess we'll find out!

TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)

Comments on this Entry:

So, it's entirely possible they are just coming in the front door, but it's still annoying. I mean, there aren't like hundreds or enough to form a swarm or anything, more like the occasional one here and there, but when they decide to fly near your face (why, oh why do they insist on flying at my face??), even one is too many! I try to kill them when I can, clapping my hands together in the hopes of smooshing one (totally gross, but I try not to think about that, since they are tiny). I've caught a few in this way, but it always seems that shortly after, another is flying around to take its place.

Enough with the gnats!

TrackBack (0) | Comments (2)

Comments on this Entry:

(Barbe on May 2, 2008 8:35 PM) Check any plants or fruit. I know you don't have many plants (or did you kill them?), but the gnats hatch in dirt.

(Jennifer on May 2, 2008 11:50 PM) My one lone plant looks a little worse for wear but is still hanging on. I looked at it, and no little gnats hanging around it. Apparently they only like hanging around my face. Maybe it's not a bunch of gnats though? Maybe it's just one zombie gnat, that keeps coming back?

At any rate, we had another game last night. One of the girls brought some pregame margaritas for us, which were enjoyed in some lovely plastic flamingo glasses. We had to wait a bit to start our game because the refs weren't present--which was odd considering that they had just finished playing their game, so where could they have gone?

Eventually the game started, and while we did have better fielding, we still lost (sigh). We didn't score as many runs as in the last couple weeks, which was disappointing. Some of that can probably be blamed on the ball, though. The ball we were using was kinda flat, so it was substituted out--but that one was way bouncy and weird, and no one could throw or kick it properly. So, then it was swapped back out again, with the original ball, after it had some air added to it. The ball issue definitely had an impact on our game, but oh well.

Next week we are playing the #1 team in the division, so I don't expect to be writing to you this time next week proclaiming our awesome victory. Although, if this is the one time we win, how awesome would that be?? Hopefully the weather won't be too unbearable--last night it actually cooled off a lot right around 5pm, but if the game had been held on Sunday night, we would've been miserably hot! Time will tell!

TrackBack (0) | Comments (1)

Comments on this Entry:

(Keir on Apr 30, 2008 12:08 AM) Yes, nostalgia is a powerful thing. Extremely dangerous when in the wrong hands, too, but I agree that you're safe with kickball.

I spent Saturday at the beach, since even though it was still hot down there with not a lot of breeze, the water is really cold. All you need to do is wade in for a bit--it's amazing how much cooler you feel when you make your feet go numb from the icy water.

Yesterday I decided it was definitely time to pull off those flannel sheets from my bed, but in the middle of that, I decided to run some errands. I hopped in my nice air conditioned car and headed to some air conditioned stores. Unfortunately though, I didn't time this for peak heat hours, and so when I got back, I still had to wait out a few hours of the hottest part of the day. Next time I will have to not leave until it starts to become unbearable--I left before it even felt too hot.

I spent a good portion of yesterday evening spraying myself with water and then standing in front of my fan. Luckily the temperatures are supposed to drop this week, so things should hopefully be back to normal soon. I mean, it's not even May yet! I like hot weather and all, but I do admit to disliking sitting in a room where the temperature is like 100 degrees!

Anyone else experiencing a heat wave?

TrackBack (0) | Comments (1)

Comments on this Entry:

(Jessica on Apr 30, 2008 11:10 AM) We've been having a cold spell here! It snowed last weekend, Friday & Saturday, and now it's in the 40's-50's. Hopefully it will warm up again soon! I can't believe how warm it's been by you!

The night went pretty well for the most part, although the girl's friend wound up irritating me to the point where when I left for the night, I didn't say bye to her because she was talking to said friend. Pretty annoying, but the rest of the evening was good. We got cheap drinks and a bunch of free food--I ate a ton of mozzarella sticks and some taquitos and chips and salsa! Good stuff! :)

TrackBack (0) | Comments (2)

Comments on this Entry:

(Angel on Apr 27, 2008 6:48 PM) Hey- I love your thermal from a few posts back- I have so many half-completed sweaters, I need to get those going now that I will be moving to a place where I can actually use them! And I love all the kickball updates. I loved kickball as a kid and I think its awesome that you are in a league.

(Ingrid Getzan on Apr 28, 2008 12:50 PM) Don't you hate when that happens? I think the older we become, the less tolerant of people we get. I'm not saying the friend wasn't annoying, but I find I'm more annoyed with people in general now than I used to be.

Still, even though I didn't do so hot, it was nice to hang out and talk with the group of people. If they had challenged me to some foosball, perhaps this story would be different, considering that I really did pretty well when I played last time. At any rate, we didn't stay too much past midnight, but it was a nice little weeknight excursion.

TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)

Comments on this Entry:

Anyway, without any further ado, I present to you, my sweater:

Pattern: Thermal, Knitty Winter 2006
Yarn: 6.25 skeins Knit Picks Gloss in Pumpkin
Needles: US 2
Began: December 2007
Completed: April 2008

TrackBack (0) | Comments (4)

Comments on this Entry:

(Lisa on Apr 24, 2008 11:07 AM) That's really cute!! Good Job!

(ingrid on Apr 25, 2008 10:40 AM) I really like the color that you chose for that sweater. It looks like it took some serious skill to make that, I love that neckline.

(Jeff on Apr 26, 2008 12:58 PM) Nice sweater. You look beautiful.

(Jessica on Apr 30, 2008 11:12 AM) I love this sweater, and I love hearing about your knitting-related things. Hmmm, I guess that's because I'm probably one of your only readers who knits....oh well! :)

It's pretty much a total fluke that it happened, because by all things logical it should not have happened, and yet, it did, so go me! I made it to first, amid much yelling that sounded a lot like "don't go. The ball is foul. You're Out." things of that nature that sound anything other than "yay yay, keep running". After first, I also somehow managed to make it to second. And then to third. While on third there was a play where the ball was caught, and I should not have run home. Since I had already left the base, I am pretty sure I was supposed to go back to my base, but the girl on 2nd had run as well and had already reached 3rd, therefore I could not go back to my base. The only option left was to run home! So, run I did. On the way, I got tagged with the ball--BUT....they pegged me in the back of the neck! You are not allowed to hit people above the shoulders unless they are diving, and I assure you I was most definitely not diving. SOOOO that means that I got to run home! Hooray for confusion and illegal tags!

My teammates probably think I'm not very good, and they would indeed be correct, so at least I was able to bring in a run for them. I also joined them for a bit at the bar that officially sponsors kickball and we had a pretty good turnout. Many of them partook in a game of flip cup--but since it involves beer, and I do not drink beer, I did not participate. I did, however, take some pictures for posterity with my phone, so I suppose that counts for something.

All in all it was an entertaining evening. The last inning especially of our game was pretty exciting, as it is when we scored the most runs and also had lots of people on base (a not too common occurence with our team). We do seem to improve each week though, so I suppose it's always possible we can win at least one game before the end of the season.

TrackBack (0) | Comments (2)

Comments on this Entry:

(Barbe on Apr 22, 2008 8:16 PM) You go girl! Congratulations on your run home. Here's to a repeat.

(ingrid on Apr 23, 2008 7:42 AM) Nice one! Congratulations. I love your kickball posts. I want to play on the team, too! I should just come live out in SB for a couple of months.

It was crazy walking around down there because there were tons of skater kids everywhere--I felt a little old walking around a group where the average age seemed to be 12, but it was cool to see so many people all hanging out and having a fun time. There were of course adults there too, including some you probably wouldn't expect to find at such an event.

Continued reading Dinner in Ventura...

TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)

Comments on this Entry:

Ok, but seriously, 6 years is quite a long time--well on its way to being a decade of blogging. Who would've thought I'd still be doing this after all this time--it was created on a whim because it seemed like a fun thing to start up. One of the best parts of blogging though is having a record of events--little things you might not have remembered otherwise. And of course, interaction with people I might otherwise never have known is pretty cool too.

Thanks to everyone who enjoys visiting my site, even when I only talk about the weather or what I ate for lunch!

TrackBack (0) | Comments (1)

Comments on this Entry:

(Ivette on Apr 17, 2008 8:26 PM) Congrats :) And cheers! for many more years to come.

1. My kickball team, despite being undefeated in the losing category (translation: we have yet to win a game), will still make it to the playoffs! This may of course be because EVERY team will make it. Sooo, no matter how much we suck during the season, we could still win it all!
2. Today is indeed the 15th, the day on which my rent is due. Today is NOT the 16th, the day that my landlord thought it was when he knocked on my door this afternoon asking why I was late with the rent. After paying exactly on time every single month I've lived here, you'd think he'd double check the calendar. I guess he really needed the money if he came looking for it so soon.
3. I am debt free! Around the 15th of every month I submitted my car payment, and my last one was sent this month. I finished paying off my student loans a few months ago, so now I have no more loans! Think of all the money I can save up and all the expensive trips and things I can go on!

TrackBack (0) | Comments (1)

Comments on this Entry:

(Ingrid on Apr 16, 2008 4:26 PM) WOHOO! #3 is a huge one (well, as is #1). Congratulations, that's a big deal.

The film was interesting--I didn't even know this group existed, nor did I know about the politics of being allowed on the beaches in Australia through the years. There were apparently some crazy laws back in the day! Ben also learned stuff from the movie, as he only knew about some of the infamous run-ins with the law, not about the whole culture that went behind it. And man those dudes are pretty crazy.

Today the weather has been sooooo nice and warm. It's the type of weather that is good to be outdoors but that is pretty stifling if inside my apartment. I think it was at least upper-80s today, and with that in mind, I headed down to the beach for the peak hours of sun.

The beach was surprisingly not TOO crowded--though there are so many beach options, it's entirely possible everyone was just somewhere else along the coast. I brought a book and just chilled, read, and people-watched. I also got to see the dolphins and pelicans that are always out in the water. I put on a bunch of that magic sunscreen of mine since I've long since lost my color from last summer, so while that probably made me safe from burning, I am hoping a few rays were able to get in and not make me look so scarily pale.

Tomorrow is forcasted to be more of the same, so I am thinking I might have to do a repeat of the beach--down by the water it was perfect--not too hot and a nice breeze making it very comfortable to just hang out in the sun for hours. Much better than a stuffy apartment. On that note, it's still hot in here, so I am thinking I might go see where else I can stay cool!

TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)

Comments on this Entry:

Luckily both parties involved were totally fine--although the state of the vehicles involved is apparently another story. My mom thinks my dad's car will be totaled--it was kind of old and had a lot of miles on it. Kinda sad since he loved that little car and it took him on all his long commutes to work over the years. Now that he's retired he probably doesn't drive nearly as much as he used to, so this accident was probably a shock. Even more shocking is the fact that my dad's airbags didn't deploy--he was going fast enough and hit head-on, so he's lucky he wasn't in a situation where those airbags would've made all the difference. Ultimately, the fact that he was able to walk away is the most important thing. I'm sure he'll be plenty sore in the days to come, but at least he is all right. And hopefully insurance will allow him to get a new little car to get him around town in his retirement.

TrackBack (0) | Comments (2)

Comments on this Entry:

(Ivette on Apr 11, 2008 9:10 PM) I'm so sorry about the accident but I'm very glad your dad is fine.

(ingrid on Apr 12, 2008 12:01 AM) hey - glad that your dad is okay!