Didja know?

I have received a request or two that some of my readers want to know as much as I think I do about miscellaneous trivial subjects. Okay - be careful what you ask for though...

Until I figure out the best to do this I will simply list my marvelous accumulation of interesting tidbits of knowledge like this:

• Do you know why some base runners in baseball will grab a pair of batting gloves out of their back pocket and not put them on? This one is simple - by running the bases with their hands clenched in fists while carrying the gloves they won't expose their fingers as much when sliding head first into the bases.
• Spent some time in the garage today talking to my daughter about music while she painted a chest of drawers - I grew up thinking it was pronounced "chester's drawers". 

Hey - it really is 2010 over here now.

I just sat down at my computer in a state of mild euphoria after the 2010 Giants beat Atlanta 3-2 in an amazing game. Eric Hinske of the Bravos mashed a two-run shot down the right field line in the bottom of the eighth to put Atlanta ahead 2-1 and also put his name into the Giants' all-time list of evil opponents. That list includes (now) Rick Ankiel after his splash hit in the 11th on Friday to steal game 2.

As it turns out however, Hinske is no more than a footnote of what might have been as the Giants rally back in the top of the ninth to tack a pair of runs up to win 3-2. Yee haw...

What happened to September?

So I just completely skipped September. It seems like the days all blend together now and I sometimes have a problem remembering which day of the week it is.

Here is a short list of what has been going on over the past 4 weeks or so...

1. Read a lot of books - the highlights were the Destroyermen series and "One Second After".


2. All three of my fantasy baseball teams made their respective playoffs - a first for me. Of course, two of them lost already and the third team plays tonight.


3. I collected more info on the various military exploits of family members but the flow has subsided. Time to send another round of emails!
   
4. Watched the Giants flame out in their playoff quest.


5. Received a summons for jury duty and submitted yet another letter from my doctor to be excused.

Also, we had to have our cat Elvis put to sleep. He was 15 years old when he stopped eating one day last month and within a week he was gone.

I love the smell of Naugahyde in the morning

I remember being around eight years old and my dad would take me with him when he went shopping for all kinds of cool things he would use around the house and in his work on cars in the garage. We went to flea markets and Army surplus stores back when they really had a lot of used army stuff for sale. I recall walking into a store that had a real air force pilot's used helmet with oxygen mask for sale - boy, did I want that helmet! I had no practical use for a helmet you understand, but when you are an eight year old boy, well, you don't think about that very much. I'm not sure what I really expected to see in the surplus stores but I always was excited to go to one anywhere. I think at that age I half expected one day to walk into one of these places and see a tank for sale. I knew my dad would never pass up the opportunity to buy an army surplus tank - I was sure of that.

One summer back in Oklahoma we found a well stocked surplus store right next to Fort Sill, which is the army base that trains soldiers in the art of artillery. I did manage to talk my dad into buying me a dummy 20mm cannon round. This was complete, not just a shell casing. It was bright silver and while it wasn't live and couldn't explode it was intact as far as I could see. That cannon round became every bomb I needed for my GI JOE to disarm (long before Jack Bauer required 24 hours) or ride like Slim Pickens in Dr. Strangelove.

Dad bought a lot of Naugahyde for upholstery work he did on cars both as a way to make some extra money on the side. I still can smell new rolls of Naugahyde and instantly think of flea markets and driving our car on the way home on a back road from Napa sitting on my dad's lap while steering the car - imagine trying that today! Funny how smells can trigger such strong memories.

Staples removed

On Friday I had 17 staples removed from the incision on my chest. It took the nurse less than a minute to remove them using the handy dandy official staple remover. I believe that with my stutter it actually takes me longer to say 'staples' than it did to have them removed.

I finished a second video using clips from the latest Zombie map in the Call of Duty 5 World at War video game and posted it here on YouTube. This new video is a commercial for a new theme park.

My parents must be proud of me now!

So, how many staples do you have in your chest?

I currently have 18 in mine. That's because I just had my first battery replacement surgery for my DBS pulse generator. It has been almost 3 years since the whole shebang was installed and the battery needed to be changed - it was in danger of running out of power. So, I went in on Friday morning at 6AM, was wheeled into the OR around 9AM, and was in the recovery room at 10:30AM. Home by noon. Big difference from the original surgery wouldn't you say?

All in all it was a very well orchestrated procedure and I don't remember much of anything after entering the OR. I recall talking to the doctor about Michael Jackson and Thriller and also remember talking to someone who was restarting the device after it had been sewn up in place. Don't ask me what we talked about though ... I have no idea.

A few pain pills here and there have made the recovery pretty easy so far. Took the bandage off today and a quick shower helped to make me feel somewhat normal again.

Baseball memories

Last night Jonathan Sanchez pitched a no-hitter, the least likely member of the Giants' pitching staff to do so. This was the first no-hitter by a Giant's pitcher since John Montefusco in 1976, the first at home since Ed Halicki in 1975 and the first by a Giant's left-hander since Carl Hubbell in 1929! The 33 years since the last Giants no-hitter was the longest streak going, not counting the New York Mets and (sorry, Tom) the San Diego Padres, neither which has pitched a no-hitter yet. The Padres were no-hit by Tim Lincecum for 6 + innings the night before. Wow, how would you like to be a Padres fan today?

I remember a game Tom and I attended at Candlestick Park back in the 1980s when Scott Garrelts of the Giants threw 8 2/3 no-hit innings only to give up a hit to Paul O'Neill of the Reds in the ninth inning. We were sitting in the upper deck and were out of our seats the minute the ball hit the ground trying to beat the crowd out to the parking lot. Getting out of the 'Stick in those days was very tough to do if you insisted on waiting until the end of the game.

Other interesting baseball moments I recall in person include:

Mark McGwire taking batting practice at Candlestick around the time he was making his run at 70 homers - out of 25 pitches he saw during his session he hit 15 or 16 over the fence in left ...
Will Clark driving a double down the line in right, driving in his 5th, 6th and 7th runs of the game in the bottom of the ninth to beat (ugh, sorry again, TW) the Padres ... the 13 runs scored in one inning in San Diego by SF ... catching a batting practice homer in the left field stands in San Diego ... watching a fan sitting a couple of rows in front of us in Cincinnati completely misjudge a foul ball and see the ball hit him flush in the eye socket ... the tough-looking tattooed biker dude in San Diego, who after spending almost three full innings heckling Willie McGee, began to sob softly (real tears!) after someone sitting around him complained to an usher who told him to knock it off.

One thing I haven't yet experienced at a baseball game is catch a foul ball. I have been to almost 100 games and never even had a foul come close enough to touch. The closest I have come was a game at AT&T a few years back when I was sitting in a lower box behind the first base dugout about half way up the section. A foul ball came back over my head towards the upper deck where it appeared to get ready to bounce off of the scoreboard. I had read the angle and thought this was going to be it - the one! Except the ball stuck in one of the light sockets that make up the old-style scoreboards! The socket was barely big enough to fit a ball into - and yet there it was ... it never came out.