Thanks for caring, Pete.

I guess I have a new fan...

I am currently at an internet cafe next to my hotel in Madrid, and will be returning to the States in a couple of days. It´s been good not caring about what´s going on over there, for the most part, for a few days. When I get back, I plan on posting an entry or two detailing my journey.

On a completely unrelated note, non-American keyboards and menus/messages in ¨foreign¨ languages are slightly annoying, but kinda cool.

Greetings from across the pond.

I arrived in London 3.5 hours ago, and am readying to check into my hotel. I'm both excited and scared about the next 10 days. I've resolved to make this the best vacation EVER. It is almost 11 AM here (5 AM in StL) and the tour doesn't start until 6 PM, so I have 7 hours to kill.

The most interesting person I've met so far: Margaret, a 37 year old scientist who was born in Australia to Chinese parents but now lives and works in North Carolina...I sat next her on the plan from Raleigh/Durham to London. Honorable mention go to the engineer I sat next to on the flight from St. Louis to Raleigh/Durham, the ECU chick I met in the Raleigh/Durham airport, and the fair trade chick I met two gates down.

Kudos to Yahoo!

In their attempt to take over everything related to the Internet, Yahoo! has launched (pun intended) their new music subscription service, Yahoo! Music Unlimited. It does what Napster To Go and Rhaphsody do for less than half the price, as low as 5 bucks a month..."unlimited" legal music downloading. I use the quotes because some of their 1,000,000+ tracks are available only for purchase (e.g. any thing from Radiohead's catalogue). Note that you are not allowed to burn tracks acquired through the subscription service, though you can transfer them to approved portable music players.

In addition to the great value, the Yahoo! Music Engine's not too shabby. Admittedly, it still has it's bugs (which I've personally experienced - it is in the beta test phase), it lacks an equalizer, and it only downloads one track at at time. However, I was able to rip from 2 CDs, download an album, play a track from my library, and transfer an album to my MP3 player all at the same time.

Yahoo! Music Unlimited gets the Obezma Seal of Approval.

This weeks's fortune.

You are the evening star in someone's romantic eye.

Swingers Softball Recap 5/16/05

If Monday night had been a charity walk event, it would have been a resounding success. Instead, it was a messy softball game that the Swingers fumbled away in the final frame.

The Swingers came out of the gate strong and scored 12 runs in the top of the first inning, taking advantage of 8 free passes issued by the home team's pitcher. Dan Higa and Melanie Ureta both walked to lead off the frame, and the bases were loaded on Jamaal Granger's single to shallow right center field. Bobbi "The General" Closser then delivered the first blow with a bases clearing single up the middle for her first 3 RBI's of the year. It was a breakout game for "The General", who went 2-3 with 3 RBI and 2 runs scored, pushing her average up to .286. "The tablet a couple of weeks ago said, 'Thou shalt keep thy front shoulder in at the plate,' and it worked out for me," commented Closser. "Now if she could only catch the ball at third," added teammate Obi Orjih. There was clear tension between the two players, especially during the bottom of the 4th inning, when Orjih was heard yelling at Closser from the dugout, "I'm gonna tear your head off!" After Closser's single, Jarrod Ross broke a streak in which had had reached base in every at bat this season. Ross grounded out to short stop. "I didn't get my puffy fix, and it showed today," said Ross. Whether this is a reference to steroids or something else remains unclear. Kristen Babb followed with a walk, and came around to score on manager Christine Aylward's RBI walk. It was Babb's first run scored of her career. "We think Kristen is coming around. She knocked a base hit last game, this game she scores a run. We're looking for her to continue to improve," commented Aylward. "Of course she'll improve," stated Ron Sturm, "it doesn't get any worse." When asked to comment on her team's loss Babb said, "Yeah, but we won at pool later on, so it's all good."

By the end of the top of the first the swingers had sent 16 men to the plate, and scored 12 runs on 8 walks and 4 hits. Pitcher Eric Ridenhour, however, did not have his best stuff. The usually accurate hurler walked 11 batters and surrendered 4 home runs in his worst outting of the season. "I wasn't locating my fastball, and when you can't establish the fastball, then the breaking pitches don't help you any," said Ridenhour. "He couldn't have hit the broad side of a barn from 3 feet away," remarked short shortstop Dan Higa when asked about Ridenhour's wildness. The few pitches Ridenhour threw for strikes routinely landed over outfielder's heads, in what was a tough game defensively for Jamaal Granger and Jarrod Ross. "The Juice only helps you hit, it does nothing for your defense," said Ross. Ridenhour gave up 21 earned runs and ballooned his ERA to 18.20, while dropping his record to 1-2.

The Red Devils appeared to be in control of the contest until the final two frames, when pitching woes and defensive miscues doomed them to failure. The Swingers commited 8 errors in the final two innings, costing them 9 unearned runs. Those 9 runs became the difference in a 30-23 loss. It was a particularly rough night for Jerico Collins, who commited a costly 3 run error in right center field, and struck out in his only plate appearance. "He looks like Homer Simpson at the plate," commented catcher Amber Moodie-Dyer, "He's fat, dumb, and balding. It's really too bad he doesn't hit like Homer." For her part, Moodie-Dyer reached base twice with a pair of walks, and scored both times.

When asked to comment about the game manager Christine Aylward had this to say, "We're encouraged by the way the offense has sparked the last two games, but whenever you score 23 runs, you should win the ballgame. Erik had a rough day, but it happens. I'm more concerned with the way our defense fell apart in the last few innings." The Swingers take on the Mayco Sharks next Monday night at 7:30, and good seats still remain. Call the Swinger ticket office today!

- Dan Higa

Swingers season statistics.

Chino's a pimp.

My youngest brother, Nedu, had possibly the best game of his volleyball career against Webster Groves today. Unfortunately, I was not there. Here's his stat line: 21 attempts, 2 errors, 15 kills, 3 block kills.

Here's an actual exchange that took place on the Webster bench during the third game:

Coach: Alright, they've only really got one hitter on their team.
Player 1: Who?
Coach: You know...the big black guy...number 5...
Player 2: So what are we supposed to do?
Coach: Well...hope they don't set it to him...