I finally have something I care enough about to post about.

Our new house is not only closer to the Angels (one of the factors in me switching allegiances), but it’s also much closer to Cal State Long Beach. Last month I decided it would be fun to go to some Dirtbags game. After a look at the prices, a full season (28 home games) costs the same as about 11 individual games…so I went for it and purchased season tickets. There’s also some strange pleasure in saying “I have season tickets,” haha.

This was opening weekend, and the Dirtbags faced off against The VCU Rams (Virginia Commonwealth University). On Friday I took Luke. I’ve got four seats…but taking the baby isn’t very easy, so for the three of us to go means leaving the baby with grandparents. So Luke and I went together, to our first real baseball game! We got some mini hot dogs and a sprite. He informed me that every time I took a drink he had to take a drink. He lasted into the 7th inning. Luckily we missed the Dirtbags give up 4 runs in the 9th to lose, but in the future I think we’ll go late so we can see through the end.

Saturday Stacie and I went and left the kids with the grandparents. Lorelai has started taking a bottle, so we can finally go out! The Dirtbags were looking for redemption, and they won it in a nail-biter. 7-6. It was nice going out with the wifey.

Today I got to go with my Dad and brother, my first day game. Weather was really nice, and the Dirtbags had VCU’s number again. They won 3-2 on some exciting scoring plays and some great pitching. Twice a runner scored from first on doubles down the third base line, and they also scored on a suicide squeeze.

I bought tickets right behind the third base dugout. There are people around us that have probably been coming to games for decades. There’s a good mix of older people and college age kids. Some people like to yell out, but so far it’s all been clean. “Throw him a meatball 1 – 9!” There’s not a bad seat in the house, and for the price, you get to see some pretty good baseball. I know I won’t make it to all 28 home games, but I’d like to go to as many as possible. Following a brand new team means there are a LOT of new players to follow, and just like a good season of Survivor, a team is a lot more fun to follow when you recognize the people playing.

Maybe this will spur me to get back into blogging more. My blog has always been very random…my thoughts on politics, video games, kids, family, sports, etc. Whatever interests me. I’m not sure there’s any one thing though that I could start a blog about. I love video games, but I only get to play a few times a week. I love baseball, but does anyone need another blog about the Angels? (and would anyone read one about the Dirtbags?) I love minimalist running, but I love doing it more than writing/researching about it. Politics constantly interests me, but it’s not something I want to write about. If there’s any one topic I could probably write about with great frequency, it would probably be about being a dad.

But the Blarg has never been about any one topic…it’s always been a mish-mash of posts about me, and the random thoughts that come out of my head.  I’m not sure I can see it being anything else.

Updated the living and dead links on the side. For the first time ever…the dead list is longer.

Darn you facebook and twitter for the laziness you’ve brought to social networking.

Kurtis is back from the dead, so good for him! He inspired me to get my layout more finished. I think it’s pretty good….though I’d prefer some kind of outline around the whole thing instead of the background just going on forever to each side. Smart people, tell me how.

More posts coming soon. Is bedtime.

No better way to start a blog post than with a PUN, don’t you think?

Went for my first run today in about 2 weeks. A couple weeks back I pushed myself to 1.5 miles barefoot (longest ever), and my feet weren’t ready for it!

I’m finding out that getting into barefoot running is going to be a sloooow process. After my very first run, my calves were super tight for like 4 days before I could even think about running. Then my next couple runs I spaced out by a few days, and I didn’t have any major setbacks. But then two weeks ago I did 1.5 miles, and I paid for it.

For the last two weeks my feet specifically have been recovering. First it was the tops of my feet. Those muscles (the few that are in there) were not happy with me. But even when they started to feel better, my ankles were hurting. I told myself I wasn’t going to do any running until they felt strong enough.

So today I forced myself to stop at .5 miles, because I did not want a repeat of the last run. I’ll probably be a little sore tomorrow, but it’s a good feeling. I’d rather my feet take months to get used to running this way, than to develop knee and hip pain from traditional running shoes.

I have no idea how long it will take before I can really push myself, but that’s what this blog is for…to chronicle that progress. Here’s hoping for a quick turn around so I can run again soon!

The Android WordPress app came out with an update, and it said something about pictures, so I’m giving it a try.

You can’t put pictures in between text, only above or below. You can set a thumbnail width, center it, and an option for linking to the full picture.

I forget that I can blog anywhere now. When I’ve got two minutes to spare I need to make posts! Today’s post is an excuse to show Luke’s after daycare snack. A drink and cheese!

If all goes according to plan, this blog post should show up automatically on Facebook. Since not that many people use RSS feeds to check and see if blogs get updated, this is a great way to let everyone on Facebook know that I’ve updated the blog.

Trying out a blog post via wordpress for android. Nice interface…can add pictures, publish to specific categories, and do comments and all that other stuff. Wouldn’t want to write an entire blog this way, but might be a great way to update with minor things or with small discussion items.

I love that people check facebook, but blogs seem so much more focused. It’s a pain in the butt to have discussions on facebook, but a blog can move so much slower that some time can actually be spent on a topic. I guess I need to have my blog auto-update to facebook just so people see new posts. The average person still can’t do RSS.

I posted on facebook this morning that I was starting a journal for Luke, so I thought I’d share what that is here on the blog. I mentioned it back in October, but I actually started it today.

I’m writing a journal to “future Luke” for him to read when he’s older. Right now our conversations are pretty simple, usually revolving around Elmo, our elbow, or bananas. I can’t tell him how cool it is to see him grow or how fun it is to tickle him, and if I wait 25 years…I’ll probably forget all this little stuff. So instead of waiting and having to remember it all, I’m writing it down for him to read some day. I don’t think I would have truly appreciated something like this from my Dad until I was married and on my own, or even until I had my first kid, but some day he can read it and I think he’ll enjoy it.

Today I told him all about the day he came into the world. There’s all these fun little details like how I had to run through the hospital to get the camera from the car, or how it was pretty scary that first day. I’m not sure I’ll forget that stuff, but it’s something that doesn’t come up in regular conversation. Either because we don’t consciously bring it up, or we get so busy in our day to day life that we forget to reminisce and talk about the past.

So now it’s archived for all eternity. It’s a long project that will take years and dedication to keep up with, but it’s also priceless. It would be so awesome to read what my dad was thinking the day I was born, and to read that 20+ years after he wrote it. Not only is it fun to read about yourself, but to get that insight into what your parents were thinking and feeling is something that’s hard to put a price on. I can’t say exactly how it will turn out, but I highly recommend all new parents give it a shot, because once you forget stuff, it’s gone forever.

Luke (and the rest of us) had a very fun Halloween. He liked being Elmo for the most part, though we spent most of the night without our Elmo head on.

I’m working on getting a plugin working that will automatically cross post to facebook, but it wants a higher PHP doober than we have. Then I would just post to my blog, and have it magically appear on facebook to notify people. Best of both worlds!