Kevin's Ramblings…

I umpired at New Brighton park last evening, AA Giants @ AA Angels.  It was a pretty good game, took until the 7th for the Giants to get anything going offensively but was a pretty even game otherwise.  The Angels came out on top.  This was likely the last, or very close to being the last regular game of the season.  Play-offs start very shortly.

That was something I had to get used to when I was coaching with Babe Ruth.  Although it is only early July, the season wraps up by the end of the month.  August is off time from baseball, I guess for one reason so the families can take vacation time.  We miss out on some great August weather though.  Older players are also moving off to college and university, so I guess it works out.

I am off work tomorrow, it’s Stampede Parade Day in Calgary, most of downtown is closed and the BDO office is closed as well and although I work from home, I take tomorrow as my “office event day” and will enjoy the time off.  I’ve booked a uHaul cargo van to take my old couch to the dump.  A co-worker/friend of mine is assisting – should be a quick trip.  Will be good to get that off of the patio.  I have a few other things I am going to dispose of as well.

At least I know now that bonded leather is garbage.  I don’t know if the sales person knew exactly what bonded leather was when I bought the set, but I asked if it was good around dogs and was assured it was – so, he either didn’t know, or he plain lied to me to sell a couch.  I guess I shouldn’t have expected much more from The Brick, seems they sell a lot of garbage.  The new set that I have will likely last a LONG time, may be the last couch I need to buy.  I do need to get some blankets for it, to protect the leather from dog claws.  I’ve found some nice ones on Wayfair so I may order those.  I may also go and take a look at Homesense and see what they have.

Well, the weekend is almost here – hope you enjoy it.

In just over two weeks from now, I am off work for 24 days.  I don’t think I’ve ever taken three weeks in a row off before, not that I can remember anyway.

The first week of my vacation, I will be umpiring in a Babe Ruth Regional Tournament that Babe Ruth Calgary is hosting.  There are 4 games per day, I will have to umpire 1 or 2 of those games per day, so it will likely work out to 8 games or so over the course of the tournament.  We are working the 3-man system for umpiring and in the play-off round, we go to the 4-man system which will be good practice as I normally work the 2-man system.

I have a few days off before heading to Missouri for the Cal Ripken 70/Major (12u) World Series in Branson.  The flight leaves @ 6am so that means a very early start to the day.  I guess I will get up around 3am to head to the airport for 4am.  This likely means I won’t sleep much, if any that night but that’s ok.  I have a proven record of not sleeping on planes so it will be a long day.  Not quite travelling to Mauritius though.

I will be in Missouri until August 12.  It will be hot and humid, I am sure, and there will be some good baseball as well.  I don’t have a schedule as yet, but I can’t imagine that we’d have to do any more than 2 games a day.  I am looking forward to the experience.

A friend of mine is looking after the dogs while I am gone.  They will be much more comfortable at home and it will save me some money as well.

Between now and the start of my vacation, Stampede comes to town.  I doubt I will visit this year.  It seems to be more of a 14-late twenties thing, unless you have people coming in from out of town.  That’s OK though, it’s pricy, you can’t get away without spending at least a hundred bucks, I am sure.

OK, so the countdown is on – 2 weeks to go.  🙂