Another Weekend, More Baseball

Yesterday's game, however, I most definitely will discuss. We were just walking in the door after having gone to church and lunch. Of course, I was keeping up with the Astros vs. DBacks game over my mobile phone (not in church, but pretty much constantly thereafter). The DBacks were down by four. Astro's had 5, we had 1. Roger Clemens was pitching for the Astros, and being the legend that he is, nobody gained a single hit for four innings because of his talent.

Upon walking in the door, the first thing I do is bolt to turn on the TV to catch up. Still 1-5 Astros. DBacks at bat. I say to Chuck, "Okay, we need a run, and then we need to load the bases with two and have the third hit a home run and we'll catch up!"

I trotted off to change into my "home uniform" of t-shirt and shorts. Chuck starts yelling from the other room, "They tied it up!"

Tearing out of the closet, (did I just come out of the closet?) I flew to the living room and looked at him incredulously going, "Are you kidding?"

My eyes shifted from Chuck to the television and lo and behold, suddenly the DBacks have tied it up 5-5. They scored a run, got two base hits, and then Eric Byrnes wailed it right out of Minute Maid park to get three on top of the earlier run. Brilliant plays! I am so glad to have TiVo, because that was definitely a rewind moment.

The silence in Houston's Minute Maid park was glorious. You could almost hear the footfalls of the three runners crossing home plate. Definitely one of the best games I'd seen yet. Later on in the game, Conor Jackson blew it wide open with crack of his bat, scoring a home run in the top of the ninth.

This win put us second in our division. Now if we have a good showing against the Cubs this week, and Giants and Padres happen to lose a couple more, we could be in great shape. I'm missing being at the ballpark, though. Ready for them to be back at Chase Field at the end of this week.

Your baseball-chick reporter, signing out. ;)

Hike Hikety Hike

Since I do not wish to discuss the Diamondbacks performance this week, we'll talk about hiking. ;)

We were planning to hit the Tonto National Forest and do some hiking along the Mogollon Rim, but with it being monsoon season, we're expecting t-storms in the morning and afternoon tomorrow. So I think we've decided to hike locally. Normally at the end of July, it's not feasible to hike in Phoenix because it's well over 110 degrees, but we've had a bit of a "cold snap" where today's high is only going to be a muggy 96! So since we might not get above 100 degrees until next Wednesday or Thursday, we've decided to hike in town this weekend and take advantage of the great weather.

Of course, I bet everyone else has the same ideas. I never thought of trails being crowded until moving here, but they really do get packed on the weekends. Arizona is an outdoorsman's paradise, and residents here spend their weekends outside more often than not.

Cabela's! Cabela's just opened this morning in Glendale. For those unfamiliar, Cabela's is a 160,000 sq ft superstore of outdoorsy fun. Camping, fishing, hiking, shooting, you name it, Cabela's has it. It rivals the Bass Pro Shop in size. They had some hiking shorts on sale, but I don't think I want to brave hitting the store and fighting all the Phoenicians that are going to be doing the same. So hopefully in a few weeks I'll do a little hiking gear shopping spree there.

Monsooooooooon

Monsoon season is on the way. It means that it'll be 112 as usual, only humid to boot. Supposedly the t-storms here in Arizona are spectacular, and with our big living room window that looks out onto the golf course, we'll have a front row seat. I've already experienced the dust storms from the same window, scowling worriedly over at Chuck with my expression saying, "Is everything okay outside, should I be scared?" Having lived through years of dust storms being an Arizona native, he was well amused at my distress. In the end, the dust storms were just enough to whip the surrounding palo verde and creosote into an uproar of flailing limbs, and coat our cars with a healthy layer of dirt.

When the monsoon finally hits, I'll make an attempt at grabbing some great storm lightning shots and post them here.

LA Dodgers!

We're off to see the LA Dodgers play the Diamondbacks tonight, I'm so excited! Kickoff (ha ha) is at 6:40pm. There's nothing like being in a crowded MLB stadium and having a hot dog and cheering for your team. The electricity crackles from the crowd during a game, it's fun being in the stands. Makes for a great start to what will undoubtedly be a busy week.

We got to see "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" on Saturday. Hit the early 10am showing so we avoided much of the crowd. Breakfast of hot dogs and popcorn and soda -- oh yeaaaaah!

Yesterday we went to Carefree, Arizona (just north and west of Phoenix I think) and ate outside by a duck pond at a place called "El Encanto" (translated "the song" in Spanish). The ceviche was fantastic, and the flan was heavenly. Definitely a "must visit again" kind of place. It was hot out, but the misters were on and it made for a leisurely, romantic lunch.

Fingers crossed that the DBacks win tonight! :)

Summer's Here!

Apparently it's not really summer until the forecast calls for > 112 degree weather for a whole week straight. And that's what we've got until I think next Monday when it will be a downright chilly 108 for the high. Welcome to Arizona, heh heh. :)

Really, it's not too bad, I mean everywhere here is air-conditioned. During the day at work I'm wearing a sweater, since they like it arctic in the office. Oddly enough, unlike how Tulsa seems to hit their high a little bit after noon or 1pm, Arizona's high doesn't hit until around 4pm. So the evening commute's in the toaster oven at 114 degrees. Set me to broil, please.

You know it's too hot when I can't even bring myself to go lay out by the pool!

Alice Cooper

It's hilarious to see Alice Cooper in small local tv commercials here in Phoenix. Alice Cooper, a Glendale (suburb of Phoenix) resident, is on at least three or four commercials when I watch my "Good Morning Arizona" show while getting ready for work in the morning.

I've seen him hawking cars, and even a "House of Frames" commercial that does professional framing. Alice, who has had the reputation for being one of those evil 70's rockers, is in contradiction, quite the intelligent thinker. Still funny seeing him on local TV commercials though.

On an aside, Scottsdale was also recently named the #1 Spa city in America. No big surprise there. There are probably more spas in Scottsdale than there are people.

In other WoW news, I got my snow leopard mount last night. Had to hunt like crazy for the gold to pay for the darn thing, but I can now gallop across the Alliance side as easily as I do when I'm on the horde side. I think the cat mounts look cooler than the undead skelly warhorses. I also busted a Chinese gold farmer last night by following him around and stealing his skins before his botting script could get to them. Serves him right, the bloody dwarf.