We're gonna sing the pirate's gospel

This annual article from one of my favorite sports writers, Joe Posnanski, is one reason why I love baseball. Also, Posnanski is the author of the book I'm currently reading, The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O'Neil's America. I'm a little over halfway through, and think it may be my favorite baseball-related book, ever. And a book I think even non-fans of the sport would love.

While I wait for Bill to send today's baseball video along, I'll give you all something to listen to. This one is for Captain Crab! Here's Alela Diane with "The Pirate's Gospel."



I'll figure out how to play it, then the next time you have some piratin' to do in Eastern Iowa, Cap'n, we'll have some rum and sing this song.

In other music-related blog postings, Bad Wims has found himself the perfect song to have as his theme. I'm jealous. It works so well. I have one that I've thought up for myself, and will try to get it posted soon. But it just pales in comparison. Check it out.

Alright, and Bill just sent out the video, right in the nick of being 5 minutes late!



I got a batting practice ball hit by Derek Jeter at the World Baseball Classic a few years ago, and a couple in some AAA games, a handful of A-League balls, and had a BP ball hit by Prince Fielder bounce off of my hands, but that's about it. Maybe some day that will change!

So I'm playing with the idea of starting a new blog, one for baseball specifically. If I get the initiative to do it, I'll have it going in the next couple of days. Stay tuned for more announcements on this front (I'm sure everyone cares!). And let me know what you think! I know there are a few readers out there who probably don't care as much about the baseball aspects of some of the posts, so I thought this could be a good way to clear up some posts, and maybe attract a different crowd, those looking for some baseball insight from some dude who really likes the Royals.

Starting my final tour

The past couple of days in Ames were pretty fun! Bill and I basically hung out, we didn't do anything too wild. We watched Superbad, which was pretty hilarious, went to the batting cages, where I was straight-up destroying the pitches (most of the time), and having a good old time. Some delicious foods were eaten, including a tres leches cake that I made Wednesday night. I was a little nervous about how it'd turn out, as it was a little more labor-intensive than the usual boxed cake mixes, but it actually came out wonderfully! Then on my way home last night, I was able to hang out with Captain Crab for a drink or two, which is always fun! Sorry, though, no pictures were taken.

You see, I had a little mishap with my camera while I was at Wrigley Field. It was in my pocket, got jostled around, and ended up with a broken LCD screen. So while it still takes pictures, I can't preview them or actually see what it is that's in the picture while I'm taking it. It was kind of disappointing, especially since I've only had it for a couple of months, but I only spent $100 on it so it's not like it was a top-of-the-line camera. But still. I'll make do for now, like I said it still takes pictures (almost all of the pictures that I posted from the Chicago trip were taken in its current state). Eventually, however, I'll have to break down and buy a new one. Probably after I actually have a job and some sort of income.

Well this will probably be my last post for the weekend, I'll be running around trying to fit everything in and see everyone that I want to see while I'm in Iowa City this weekend. But I'll be back on Sunday and Monday, and will try to have some epic, worth-while posts. This will probably be a little bit of an emotional weekend for me, so there may be lots to report. Until then, go Hawks!!

A couple videos, sandwiched around some words, and love

This video is for Captain Crab, who sent me the link this morning. It's awesome, truly hilarious!



Last night I apparently decided that I wanted to sleep on my futon in the living room. My room just felt too warm, the living room was much more comfortable. But while I was laying there, I really felt like falling asleep watching television, which presents a problem: we don't have cable, and can't receive any channels very well through an antenna. And it's worked out pretty well, there are very rarely any times where I "need" to watch TV, and not having anything to watch made me actually do stuff. If there's ever anything I have to watch (the World Series, Hawkeye away games, etc), I can just go over to my brother's place and watch it on their gigantic plasma-screen TV. There are the times, however, like last night, where having the Food Network or ESPN or the History Channel or the Discovery Channel would've been pretty amazing. Then again, I'd probably have to pay for it, and I'm not sure how I fell about that.

Something else happened last night that may have changed my life. At work, I found out that there is an ice cream flavor (I think Ben & Jerry's) called something like "Cinnamon bun batter" or something similar. This, when added to apple pie, has the power to bring about world peace, I'm convinced. It made me feel like life isn't so bad. I'm pretty sure when I took a bite of the ice cream and pie together, I saw love visualized, appearing before my eyes in the form of colors, and birds, and shooting stars, all on top of a grass-covered hill in the middle of a meadow. This combination made me want to cry. It seriously made me weak in the knees. I can't explain it, you must try it for yourself. Preferably with a warm, homemade Dutch apple pie. But if you fall into a love-(or sugar-) induced coma, don't say I didn't warn you.

And now, for a musical interpretation of love, ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Chet Baker!

Downtown Jazz

Well, the weekend was fun. It was Iowa City's annual Jazz Fest, so that along with the beautiful weather we've been having made it a wonderful time.

Saturday was spent at work most of the day, then kicking some ass at tennis in the afternoon. Later, a friend had a party for a good cause, a "Kegger for Cancer", so I felt ok paying $5 to go, even though I'm usually adamantly opposed to that sort of thing. As long as (some of) the money goes towards something like that, I'm alright. After a little bit, my friends and I headed downtown for a little bit, sneaking into a bar to avoid the cover charge, and then getting free drinks for the rest of the night. One of my friends is the manager of a liquor store, so he knows people in all the bars, and drinks for free. So, we do too. Awesome!

Yesterday Jimbo was in the area, so we went out for lunch at El Ranchero. It was an amazing lunch, cheap and delicious. Any time I can go out to eat and get full off of $6, I'm happy.

(note: photo borrowed from the Cedar Rapids Gazette website)

Interspersed throughout the weekend were trips downtown to listen to some live jazz and to eat some wonderful food. Oasis had a stand setup, but I didn't stop there... They were doing plenty of business, and I wanted to eat something that I couldn't get on any normal day. So Friday night I stopped at a place that had gumbo, and was glad I did. With a little hotsauce, it was tasty. Yesterday I opted for some ice cream. Sitting on the grass of the Old Capitol building, eating an ice cream cone, and listening to some excellent free music is something that I will always love. It's also something that I will really miss about Iowa City. (not that Austin won't have plenty of this, I'm sure I could probably do something similar every weekend of the year. But still...)

Another thing I will miss is running into people that I know everywhere. Iowa City's small enough that I can see someone I know almost everywhere I go. Just ask Captain Crab, I think at some point in our adventures he asked me if I knew everyone in town. Almost, Cap'n, almost.

You will thank me for having the song stuck in your head for the rest of the day

So going out and drinking with Captain Crab last night was a blast. Unfortunately, it left me a little brain-mushed today. Not hungover, just unable to think. It was most likely the second vodka martini. Or the second carafe of sake. Or the big beer. Or the Jack and Coke followed by the fruity drink, I don't even remember what it was now. Either way, there were some epic amounts of alcohol drank by a couple of piratin' fools. We even fit sushi in. It was delicious. The Crab told many stories, none of which I could do justice trying to tell myself. He needs to write more often over there at H's blog. Or create his own! I'd read it.

I had a great, great time last night, even if I went undrafted. I'm really happy for Adam Haluska, maybe I'll try to catch a Hornets/Spurs game when I'm in Texas. I'm definitely going to try to go to a Sonics/Spurs game, to see Kevin Durant. Although, that may be the hardest ticket to find, seeing as how Durant was a stud at Texas, I'm sure plenty of people would like to go see him play. I'll have to use my talents at getting into places.

The end of this post is sponsored by Bill Simmons, The Sports Guy, writer at espn.com, on Page 2. This week, his articles have been outta the park, seriously funny stuff. Starting off with a running diary of the NHL Draft, then a chat on Tuesday, and ending with last night's NBA Draft running diary. Anyways, I was reading the chat, and Simmons and the readers sending in questions had an ongoing thing where they tried to come up with the worst possible song to watch a stripper dance/get a lapdance to. Funny enough in itself, right? Some of the songs suggested were great. But my favorite part of the whole chat is as follows:

Mike (Chicago): I would like a lap dance to Rick Astley's "Never gonna give you up".

Bill Simmons: I'm glad you brought this up. When I was in college, we used to go to Papa Gino's for All You Can Eat Pasta night, which was fantastic. Anyway, right when we got there one night, I put $5 into the jukebox and just selected that same Rick Astley song over and over again so that it would play for the entire time we were there. The reactions from the diners were priceless. Every time the song ended, you could see people praying that it wouldn't start again, and then it would. I miss college.

That made me laugh out loud, really hard. Of course I had to look up the video. And so, to finish up, here is the wonderfully amazing video for "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley. Enjoy.

Captain Crab Coming to town

Sorry if this post is a little disjointed. I blame it one Captain Crab. He was in the IC, and we had a hell of a time, pirating and whatnot. I learned much on this night, and more will follow. but for now, bed will come to me soonly. Soonly may not be a word, but tonghit, it means more than you can ever know.