Thursday, December 25, 2008

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!

I would like to wish everybody a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukkah! It's been a pretty hectic past few weeks since I last posted. Stef and I went to Disneyland for her birthday and stayed at the famous Disneyland Hotel. Let me be the first to say that this hotel is due for a much needed renovation. Our room took me back to the 80s with the wallpaper. Not that we would be spending much time there, but still, I think they need to give that hotel a makeover. Nevertheless, we still had a great time at the happiest place on Earth. We rode all the rides and saw all the attractions. Although we did see some weird things the first day we were there. We kept seeing these kids with all this bright colored clothes and bracelets covering their entire arms. It was the weirdest thing because we saw about 15 or 20 of them throughout the day. I decided to google it when we got back to the room and found out they're called "Candy Kids." Google it if you want more info. I don't feel like going into it. It was just weird seeing so many of them throughout the day and they all dressed the same. Anyways, I digress.

I did play this past Sunday morning with the Redbirds; my first game in two weeks. We played at Pasadena High School because we got kicked out of Brookside so they could redo the field for Pasadena City College. We played the Glendora Dodgers. It was a great game and ended up in extra innings. We were tied going into the bottom of the 9th inning but couldn't muster up the final run to put the nail in the coffin. We got into trouble in the 10th inning and ended up with the bases loaded and 1 out. I was called upon to finish the game so I dusted off my pitching glove and jumped back into pitching mode. I got the first guy to pop up to the first baseman and struck out the next batter with a 3-2 count to end the inning. We couldn't score in the 10th so I came back out for the 11th inning and shut them down in order, striking out two guys. Our lead off guy got on in the bottom to the 11th. He ended up on third base with one out and I was standing on deck. They signaled for an intentional walk to the batter before me so they could setup the double play. Well, that didn't really happen because the second pitch ended up right over the plate, so he popped it up to the right fielder in foul territory. Don't ask my why he was trying to catch it, but he caught it on the run and tripped over himself trying to get the ball out of his glove and we ended up winning it on that. The final score was 5-4. I finished the game 0 for 3 with two groundouts and a line out. That was my last game for a little over a month.

As many of you know I'm getting married on January 3rd, 2009. We'll be leaving on the 6th for our honeymoon to Spain for two weeks. There, we'll make stops in Madrid, Seville, Marbella, Granada, Cordoba, and Toledo. We'll return back to the states on the 20th, so I'll try to post some pictures after we get back.

I'll try to post while we're in Spain and maybe I'll post some pictures as well. Take care everybody!

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Another One Bites The Dust

Not too much has happened in the past 10 days since I last posted. I went and saw "Four Christmases" last Friday and I have to say that I was actually surprised. It was a lot funnier than I thought it would be. Of course it dragged at certain spots, especially the end, but overall, I give it a 6.5/10. It was quite entertaining and certain scenes actually had me laughing out loud.

I did play again this past Sunday. I had one of those what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-you-to-make-you-look-so-horrible-at-the-plate days. I looked like an absolute idiot at the plate Sunday. I struck out 3 times; HORRIBLY. I was taking pitches right down the middle and swinging at the bad ones. I seriously looked like I had no clue what I was doing up there. At least that's the way it felt. Out of the 3 at-bats I had I hit one pitch. Not very good. I guess it was just one of those days. I had been hitting the ball extremely well prior to Sunday so I guess I was due for a bad game. In my previous 4 games I was 7 for 12 with 2 HR, and 4 RBI, so I can't really complain. I did get some interesting news in that I might be playing with the Orange County Flyers of the Golden League next year. More details will come when I find out what's going on. Nothing is set in stone so I don't want to get my hopes up just yet.

On a happy note I will be going to the happiest place on Earth this weekend. That's right, I'll be spending 3 days at Disneyland celebrating Stef's birthday. It's not officially until the 17th, but this is the weekend we had free and could go, so we took the opportunity. For those of you who don't know, I'm getting married to Stefanie in a few short weeks on January 3rd, 2009. She's the best thing that's happened to me and I couldn't be happier and more thankful we found each other. I love you baby.

We'll be heading to Spain for our honeymoon shortly after the wedding, where we'll be exploring Madrid and the southern part of Spain. I've never been to Europe, so I'm really excited. Although I don't think I'll get really excited until the day before we leave. For some reason, the wedding and honeymoon haven't hit me yet. I don't think it'll really hit me until a few days before it happens. It just doesn't seem like it's that close; especially the wedding. Here's the part where I say the cliche "It seems like only yesterday..." It seems like only yesterday I was 12 years old and playing travel ball around the country and just being a kid. Now I'm all grown up and getting married. It's all so surreal. It's hard to believe that I'm 24 years old. I don't think I could have picked a better set of groomsmen either. You guys know who you are: Jason, Alex, Dale, Zack, and Steven. Thank you guys so much for being there for me and just being my friend. You guys are awesome and I'd do anything for you guys.

I'll leave you guys with a quote that I like from my favorite movie of all time, "The Shawshank Redemption"

"Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies."

-Ellis Boyd Redding (a.k.a. "Red")