When Your Number Isn't Up

Hey, I'm on vacation. Again. Niiiiiiice. We're not going anywhere this week and I've got to do some work from home, but it's still a week that I won't be in the office. We had a quick visit from Matt, Tricia and the kids; they got in Friday night and left this morning. Yesterday, I got up early and got a 15-miler in. We then got everyone together and went to Stage Fort Park in Gloucester. It was beautiful and sunny while we were there; the beach there is the size of a postage stamp, mostly covered in rocks. But the kids had fun climbing the big rocks there. After we got home, it got dark and the thunder started rumbling, but the big storm never materialized. We spent the evening playing cards and watching the Olympics, especially Michael Phelps and the relay team winning the gold and the women's marathon.

This morning, I led a team of co-workers into battle at the Easter Seals softball tournament. The team we were supposed to play never showed, so we played the team that had played before us. We lent them our pitcher and they had a little kid playing for them, but they still beat us, 8-3. We just couldn't get the bats going. Oh, well. We stuck around and had bloody Marys (Maries?) afterward courtesy of our teammate Steve. I came home and watched the Jays just demolish the Sox, 15-4, to sweep the two-game series (Friday's game was rained out). Then I just sort of intermittently napped and read my book the rest of the afternoon. Weird, wild stuff.

Roll the dice:

• There are certain phenomena that interest me, even though the evidence is often sketchy to say the least. Certainly UFOs fall into that category, but another one that pops up on the news radar every so often is the search for the ever-elusive Bigfoot. This week, a couple of dudes held a press conference to announce they had found the body of a Sasquatch-like creature. But ultimately, it looked like another hoax. If you want to read more about Bigfoot research, check out this site. They take the topic pretty seriously and don't fall for stunts like the one this week.
• Belated congrats to my buddy Phil, who last month became a father for the first time with the birth of his son Aidan. He tells me that he's enjoying papahood and that Aidan and mom Harmony are doing well. I fully expect the lad to be a bruising winger for the Beverly High hockey team circa 2022-26.
• I've mentioned the great NBC-Fox streaming video site Hulu here before, but here's another plug. They've got all sorts of random stuff up for free viewing, from Eddie Murphy's "Raw" concert film to current shows to old classics like "WKRP in Cincinnati." Here's the classic turkey-dropping episode: