Kevin's Ramblings…

I signed a lease in a new place in the North-West of Calgary in the Ranchlands community. It is a large townhouse, about twice the space I have currently and only a bit more per month. It has an attached garage on the lower level, a great sized kitchen with a nook and a separate dining area.

The living room has a wood burning fireplace and deck which leads to the back yard. The upper level has three bedrooms, the master is big enough for a king size bed.

I don’t mind where I currently am, there are some minor issues. There are lots of paths where I am going to for walking the dogs and a few off leash parks as well. There are several malls around, lots of grocery stores and what not.

Now that I don’t have to commute to the office, being close to downtown isn’t necessary. It is still close enough to the ball parks I coach at, traffic will be heading north when I’m driving south to the parks. Not bad.

So, the move in date is the end of November, a month from now. A new place will be a good change. Let me know if you want to help me move 🙂

So, I looked at a couple of places yesterday. I’m only looking really, to see what’s out there. I’m happy with where I am, with the he occasional disruption, I can live with that.

I rejected the two bedroom place above the garage in Airdrie. It was a nice place, but smaller than what I have now and no backyard for th dogs. I enjoy walking them, but to do that every time they need to pee would get tiresome, quickly. 

I looked at what would be a perfect place, also in Airdrie but they want to rent it for November 1 and that’s a month too early for me. They have others interested, so it’ll go, I’m sure. 

I’m looking at two today. One is a town house in the North West and the other, a detached house in the North East. Far North East as well, beside the airport. It isn’t in the flight path though, so that’s good. Again, no rush on my part.

Previously, I tended to find a place and move. Now, since have a place that is great, I can be a lot more selective. Maybe I’ve mellowed out a bit as I get older too, who knows?

Tonight is the Babe Ruth AGM. I’m looking forward to being on a Board of Directors again, it has been a few years now since I last sat on a baseball board. Speaking of Boards, not sure what’s happening with the Calgary Centre Conservative EDA since the local candidate lost the election to the rival Liberal. I’m not sure what the good people of Calgary Centre were thinking, electing a Liberal. One might assume they are as stupid as people in Eastern Canada. That can’t be, can it? Anyway, I emailed the President a few days ago, have not heard back. I presume I will, eventually. I really hate it when people don’t reply to emails… One of my many pet peeves.

So, now that baseball is done with (Babe Ruth), and MLB has another week to ten days, what do I do with myself?

Well, tomorrow is the Babe Ruth AGM. I plan on running for a position, likely secretary which I have done on other Boards before. I enjoy it, hang out with other baseball people, do some good work for th organization. It also keeps me busy in the off season. Since I work at home, I don’t see a lot of other people over the winter. Not that I mind… In general, I don’t have a lot of use for strangers. I like people, or most people anyway, after I get to know them. I don’t want to turn into a hermit after all.

I am remotely looking at house rentals in and around Calgary. I’d like a place where people aren’t walking above my head. They are, in general, pretty good neighbours. They tend to make a little too much noise late at night, or early in the morning, up until around 3am… Sort of irritating.

I’ve looked at a couple of places, nothing too special. One was in Cochrane, great place but they wanted way too much as a pet deposit. They wanted $100 per month per dog for the term of the lease. So, if I was there for 10 years, I’d end up paying $24000 in a non refundable pet deposit. Nope… He offered to lower it to $75 per month per dog… Still a little insane.

I looked at a really good place last evening in Airdrie, it is a two bedroom unit above a garage, a new build. It was fine, except it is a bit smaller than what I have, for more money. Also, there is no heard at all for the dogs so not ideal at all.

I’m looking at another house today at noon, again, in Airdrie. This one is the main floor of a house, full backyard, fireplace. It is the same price as what I’m paying where I currently am.

There is nothing wrong with this place either, don’t get me wrong. The main reason to look elsewhere is to have a whole house, or the top half anyway. I’m in no rush, at all and no real need either.

I guess I will see what comes around.

Nothing else planned for today, other than hitting the dog park, presuming it doesn’t rain. No baseball to watch on tv tonight. The Jays were eliminated last night. I wasn’t too surprised. It didn’t come without controversy though. I’m sure Jays fans will whine for a bit, likely until next year anyway. The World Series starts, when, Tuesday likely. I’m going for the Mets. My earlier predictions on the NL side were not good, bang on with the AL.

Enjoy your weekend.

We are in the Babe Ruth Fall Ball Championship today, but we took the long route to get here.

We played the first place team yesterday afternoon, the winner moved onto today’s championship, the loser had to play a sudden death game right afterwards with the winner of that game moving on.

This team has been a team that can hit. They have been a team that drives in runs, a lot of runs. In one three game weekend, we drove in 44 runs, that’s some pretty serious offence. Yesterday, against a pitcher that we should have been all over, we sputtered and only managed 2. Our defence kept us in it for the whole game, only allowing 3 to cross but that resulted in a. 3-2 loss. A great game for sure.

The Cyclones moved onto today’s championship game, we were then the home team against the 5th place Clippers team. They started out with a run in the top of the 1st. The Manager, who is a friend of mine joked before the game that he’d be kind to me after they won. How kind 🙂

We belted in run after run, they made a number of errors, pitching wasn’t solid, defence as spotty. My pitcher threw the game of a lifetime, pitched a complete 5 and only threw 43 pitches. Our defence as solid, they only had a handful of base runners. We ended up making quick work of it, ending the game on the mercy rule in the bottom of the 5th by a score of 12-2.

The boys were pleased with their comeback. One of them turned 18 yesterday and his dad brought cake for the team. 

That sets up a rematch today at 11. We will be the visitors again. It should be a good match up, we’ve had close games all season. Win or lose, the team hits Boston Pizza afterwards. Good times to be had for sure.

Regardless of the outcome, it has been a successful Fall Ball season. It has also been very enjoyable. I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed coaching this much before. It’ll be sad for it to end, but we all need an off season.

Go Bandits !!!

Tough decisions today we regards to my Fall Ball team and our semi final game. Should we win, we are in the final tomorrow. A loss and we have a game immediately following this game. So, the question is on pitching. The starter is fairly easy. If it is a close game, the relievers are the tough part. If I use a starter in the relief role and we end up losing the game, it spells trouble for winning the second game of the day.

I think we just play it by ear and count on our offence scoring 8 runs or so. I’m likely overthinking it, like I typically do with ball. I like to have everything mapped out so that come game time, there are no surprises. I take the game as a must win, even though it really isn’t. It is a very convenient game to win, that’s for sure.

It will be a disappointment should we not make Sunday’s championship. I’ve had plenty of baseball disappointment though. Today, and with this team, I think we’ll be where we need to be. The weather is supposed to be awesome, especially for this time of year. High will be around 20C. At any rate, wish us some luck.

In MLB action, the Jays lost and didn’t look good at all. I love the whiny players complaining about the strike zone. You know what, get the bat off of your shoulder. You’re paid to hit, not to look back at the ump and blame all your issues on him.  I’m sure they’ll bounce back, they have all season. I’m not even sure if there was a second game on last night or not. I was zonked.

Well, the weekend is here, this is a good thing. It was a busy week at work. Have some server work to do tonight as well, but that’s easy stuff. I also like the lieu time. Enjoy your weekend.