Last Day of March, First Day of Baseball Season

Or a whole lot of randomness:

My mother had another milestone birthday last Saturday. A good number of the grandchildren were in attendance, even after her favorite grandchild commented, "Only grandma can invite a day before the event and expect everyone will show up." Well that was my fault, really. My mother wanted to celebrate her birthday with just her children, all five of us, but my brothers didn't know about this wish. Only I know what she really wanted for her birthday. However, I cannot let that happen. How can she have a birthday without her grandchildren and great grandchildren in attendance? After all we hardly get together in one place aside from Christmas day, so I sent out an email and facebook messaged grandchildren of the plans after I heard from my brother that he reserved a place for us at a local buffet. Mother wanted to eat at buffet. Well, that's her only vice and joy to eat out every week. Sometimes, twice when I happen to take her on a Saturday and bro #4 takes her out on one of the weekdays.

And so when we arrived at the restaurant after braving the strong downpour she saw her grandchildren at the entrance first. So I whispered to her, "Everyone is here."

It turned out to be really good day. The restaurant gave us two hours to eat and eat we did. Then we all came back home to have cake and one of the grandchildren brought ice cream. Then there were card games for the adults, card games and board games for the younger set, and a whole lot of running inside the house and chasing by the much younger set (great grandchildren).

I made tea three times and we put coffee on once. When only my brothers and one sister in law were left because they were still playing cards, I made pizza and heat up the meatballs I made the previous night so they can nibble while playing cards.

Moving on....there isn't much going on with me. Work is pretty busy so far. My tv shows are quite interesting. I have gained two new addictions - Crisis and Believe. But I'm catching them via On Demand on the weekends.

What is most anticipated is the start of the baseball season today. The Giants are playing the Diamondbacks tonight. Hopeful that they would be competing when September comes, isn't that what's first day of baseball is all about?

On the homefront, my dear Emma celebrated her fourth adoption day (GOTCHA DAY) on Sunday and of course she had treats and lots more treats whole day long. Now she's back on diet :)

It's been raining, so it's fun. At least it helps our very dry state. I wish there would be more storms coming up.

So until next time.

Daily October (5)

Watching the A's-Tigers match, game 2, and it's bottom of the 9th, 0-0.....


The A's just won....walk off hit by Vogt.


Yay!!!!!!

Oh Giants, My Giants

It is the second week of September. The baseball season is winding down and I've only blogged about the Giants 2013 season here once. And only two pathetic lines saying the Giants were opening their season at Chavez Ravine (LA Dodgers) and they lost their first game of the season. I even ended that paragraph with it's only one game. Meaning I was hopeful that despite a lost to begin their season that it was after all only game 1 of 162.

That was the full extent of my Giants coverage this season. Pathetic isn't it? Add remiss to that as well.

I remembered about the Giants last night while watching their 10th inning win over the who-the-heck-were-they-playing again? Anyway, because the game was quite exciting for a no-bearing game, I was reminded to check my Giants posts this year. That was when I found out that I made one mention of them on an April post this year. That was all I wrote.

Unfortunately for the Giants, after highest of highs last season, their 2013 was dismal. The Giants resigned 2012 heroes back to the fold in Marco Scutaro, Hunter Pence, and Angel Pagan. Of the three, only Hunter seemed to earn his paycheck. Marco Scutaro was on and off, in and out, was hurt and wasn't as effective. Angel Pagan was effective until he got hurt and needed to stay on disabled list for a long time.

The starting rotation that was unbelievably effective in last year's post-season seemed to completely forgot to pitch. Barry Zito, Ryan Vogelsong, Tim Lincecum - they showed no sign of the brilliance of the past post-season. I'm not 100% sure about Vogie, but I believe all 3 have contracts expiring at the end of this year.

If I were the Giants, I'd resign none of them. Barry Zito already has made money off the Giants with that incredulous contract he signed years ago. Vogelsong on the other hand has his peak and I don't think he'd be able to go back that high again. Tim Lincecum is a tough problem. He had 2 lackluster seasons, but he's once the face of the franchise and this year had shown glimmer of his old brilliance with that no-hitter against San Diego. But if I were the Giants, I would beg off resigning him.

As a fan, I would like the Giants to resign Tim Lincecum. While his stuff as a starter is no longer there, he is a great reliever. He still has nasty stuff in middle relief. Plus, it would really be weird if he dons a different jersey.

As a Giants fan, I would have no problem releasing Barry Zito. While his work in the community is unparallel and noteworthy, he simply doesn't have the stuff to be competetive in the field.

For Vogelsong, as a fan my loyalty remains, but as a fan I also would like my team to field a strong crew that will be able to compete for 162 games and beyond. This is after all a business as well. The fans come when the product is effective.

It's sad to see them go, but it's time to shake up the team.

Other players that need to go Gregor Blanco is one. While his defensive skills are without doubt, his offense is lacking and dismal. And if the Giants resign Hunter Pence (please do) then they only need one outfield post for next season. Are there any in the farm system that can come up and patrol the left field?

I am very pleased with the recent development of Brandon Belt as an offensive punch he's been expected to be since his arrival in the majors. It took him long enough but he's finally showing what the management was excited about. I would like to see more offense from the other Brandon - Crawford. I would like him to be a double barrel threat. I am expecting him to get Golden Gloves very soon, if not this season.

I hope that the adorable Panda would take his physical conditioning seriously. He lost time this season with injury and while that has nothing to do with his weight (or maybe it does) he needs to be in fighting/playing form. Please Panda do something.

It's really hard to complain about Buster. In fact I have nothing to say against him. I just hope that with a longer time off this season he can stay rested longer and return next season fresh and healthy and ready to take home more accolades and awards.

Chatter

Cannot come up with sensible things to say so let me just give you a run-down of what's been happening here.

Good Friday was mom's birthday. No celebrations because it's Good Friday you see. Went to the usual schedule of Visita Iglesia and only hit up 3 churches this year. I know from experience that the other 2 churches that we visit every year opens after 2 pm and we are done with our visit by that time.

Between Visita Iglesia and Taize Good Friday service, I managed to get a mammogram and pelvic ultrasound procedure, per doctor's order. It's a screening mammogram that every one should get after a certain age. And the pelvic ultrasound is to just check on the conditions of fibroids - if they reappeared after my myomectomy 3 years ago.

Family lunch at brother's house on Saturday for mom's birthday. Went for a mile hike climbing the El Sobrante Ridge. Great views from up there. The path goes a long way, maybe will tackle this with a group, more fun walking with a group. Had fun with just hubby walking and photographing too.

Easter Sunday service was so much fun. Church was full of people. Congregation formally welcomes twins that are a few months old. Potluck followed service and egg hunt.

Sunday pm was spent doing laundry, blogging/surfing, and spent a whole night of catching up on the Watchathon that Comcast had. We found out too late. We could only watch 6 epi of last season's Game of Thrones.

Easter Monday commute was wet, doesn't feel spring at all.

Baseball season opened with the Giants on the road at Chavez Ravine. They lost the first game. It's just one game.

I must find an exercise/work-out plan/routine that would suit me and interest me. Help.

Bullet time

What's going on?  It's been a week since my last post. 

A few of the things on my mind lately:

• Cold here. Having a cold snap.  It's 36 F (2C) when I went to work this morning.  I love the cold weather.
• Looking forward to having sake tasting this weekend with another couple, friends of ours.
• Might miss the SF 49ers game though.
• Watched the entire 49er V Packers last Saturday.  Must admit that Kaepernick is pretty good.
• American Idol is back tomorrow.  Are you ready for another Idol season?
• The Golden Globes was Sunday.  Happy but surprised that Ben Affleck bagged the Best Director award.  I am so looking forward to watching Argo.
• Personally, I feel blah - physically, emotionally, mentally.
• I think I need baseball to perk me up.
• No concrete travel plans for 2013 yet.
• Must plan vacation times this year, deadline for submission at work is by the end of the month.
• Zoom lens for my DSLR still broke.  Boo hoo.
• Need massage, ASAP.
• Pancit palabok from Red Ribbon was dinner last night, courtesy of Brother #1.  Thanks Kuya, I needed that!
• Dreaming of Mendocino this year. 

Well that's all folks.  Still not in the mood to blog here. I don't know why. 

10 Down, 2 To Go

This was Orange October. Orange for the the October Quest post-season games that the Giants were playing. Orange October was good, in fact very very good to me because my team, my love, the San Francisco Giants won their 2nd word series trophy in three years. So yes, that would always be the highlight of October. Three glorious weeks in October were for watching the baseball games, the pre- and post-games and reading all the articles online. It was madness, and maddening at the same time. I am just in heaven right now, orange and black heaven. Today is the victory parade. I am not going. I went to the first one in 2010, it was craaazy, lots of people, shouting, crowding, just total jubilation. I am not going, because, well because I wasn't feeling it this year. I know I got a better camera and hubby just picked up a little upgrade for his camera as well. However, I am going on a cruise in a few weeks so I don’t want to use up another day off for this. But the DVR is recording two different stations covering the same parade. I hope I taped all the happenings, with DVR you don't know. It always cuts off the best parts.

In addition, I have won (or given, however you see it) a cruise. There's a lot of things attached to claiming the prize, but as long as there's no money leaving our pockets we're going to go with it. Plus, our thinking is even if we fork out some money, as long as the cruise would still be less than the regular price of the cruise then we'd take it. Right now, we are awaiting for the processing of claim to be completed. But this was really fun for me, because I join many contests, raffles and drawings over the years and I never really get to win something substantial as this is. So this is really neat!

And speaking of more winning, we received a thank you card over the mail yesterday from a fellow church member thanking us for the Pirate cruise along the Sacramento River that we donated for the church fundraiser last June. She won the cruise, which was tagged as second prize. The first prize was an overnite stay in a lighthouse converted into an inn in a little island between Contra Costa and Marin counties. Anyway, she said that after years of joining raffles and losing she was shocked when her name was picked out. They only used their prize last weekend, and she and her husband had one wonderful night and experience. And she sent us a card to let us know. How thoughtful of her. And I thought that sending cards via snail mail is completely gone. I love receiving and giving cards over snail mail. I hope to send Christmas cards this year as well.

Hubby and I also joined a local newspaper's photo contest where the prize is a trip for two in the Pacific, something like a tropical vacation. I'm not very hopeful about my entries, although I stand by them, but I've seen the sampling of the entries and boy oh boy compared to those images, mine look like a 5-year-old snapped them. I didn't do a lot of picture taking this month.

Darby came early for trick or treating. He is growing up to be such a darling of a boy. My niece is raising him so well. It's a hoot to hear him call his parents Nanay and Tatay. He yelled with glee when my mom came down the stairs to greet him and said LOLA!!!! He calls me Tita and my hubby Tito.

Looking forward to November I'm very sure I'd be more rushed than October.

Day 14 (30 days of June)

A PERFECT NIGHT AND THE MORNING AFTER

PERFECT NIGHT

In my 19 years of watching baseball, I've never seen it happen before last night. Well neither did the organization that I pull for. In their 128-year history, the San Francisco Giants didn't have a pitcher who pitched a PERFECT game. A perfect game in baseball is when 27 batters come to the plate and not one gets on base, either by hits or error. Well, until Matt Cain performed with flawless precision last night.

I should have known something was going to happen. You see as I was leaving work last evening around 6 pm, my head was busy with SF Giants thoughts. I know. I know. You can't believe I'd waste precious times thinking about the Giants when there's so many things to think about. But just the same, I was preoccupied with the Giants as I walked to my car. My thoughts were mainly on Tim Lincecum, the other Giant's ace who has been struggling big time this season. He can't seem to find his groove and no sign of his brilliance is coming out yet. I was thinking that the only way to get his groove back is for him to pitch a no-hitter, well a perfect game really if I'm dreaming.

So last night when the game went on, I switched the channel from reruns of Big Bang Theory to the baseball game. I thought I'd watch them again since there is nothing else on the tv that night. Doncha worry I wasn't vegetating. I was actually doing my stretching and my made-up yoga poses while watching the tv.

I wouldn't have stayed on the game except that the giants were offensively wreaking havoc to the hapless opponents, the Houston Astros. And I love to see high-scoring game. It's fun.

As the game progressed, my hubby who was in the couch with me by this time begged me to change the channel since it's a lopsided game anyway. I showed him that the game wasn't the scoring game he can see but the fact that Matt Cain wasn't giving anyone a chance to be on base. He has zero hits and the game is on the 6th innings already.

And so it happened. The magic oozed through my tv set. I'm so happy and excited and glad I tuned in last night. Boy that was great. I was too tired to write on facebook about it last night.

I watched all the post-game coverage and all the interviews. I think my baseball mojo is back, baby!!!!

THE MORNING AFTER

Who would have thought that after such a perfect night, the morning commute would be anything but perfect. There was a fire in the transbay tunnel that prevented any trains coming from the East Bay to enter San Francisco. Without the trains, buses were called to transport stranded passengers who did not know the overnight fire.

However, many have chosen to drive. Now more cars in the roadways mean more traffic. And there was a barrage of cars in the roadways. My 20-mile commute turned into an hour and half drive. Luckily the talk radio was all abuzz with the perfect game last night that I didn't really mind the delay, however, I was still late coming in to work.

That's all I have to say.

Feeling October 20

It's Wednesday, October 20, and I'm feeling a mixture of happiness and anxiety.

Nothing big to you folks. Big for me though.

Oh before I go on. October 20 will always be significant. For two reasons. One it's my niece Cherrie's birthday and two, it's my hs bff's birthday. Cherrie has been raised by my mother, not as a granddaughter, but as the second daughter. We have a 10-year age gap. I considered her my little sister more than my niece to be honest with you.

Now to the explanation why I am feeling both sides of the emotional coin today:

One - the Giants are playing the 4th game of the 7-game NLCS. For those not in the know, the Giants are the hometown's baseball team. Happy that the Giants are ahead 2 games to 1 against the highly touted and defending NLCS champs Philadelphia Phillies. Anxious at the same time because this town has been burned before - personally I can remember the deep hurt and disappointment of 1997, 2000, 2002.

Two - happy that later in the day I'll be able to bring home my little kitten that I adopted last Saturday. I could not bring him home then because he needed to get fixed and have whatever medical check ups and shots he needed. Anxious at the same time because I don't know how my beloved Emma ( the resident queen cat) would react to this new addition to the family and to her household/queendom.

We were assured that if the cats don't get along, the shelter is happy to have the kitten back. I don't want to do that. I don't even want to think that eventuality will happen. I hope things will go well.

And six days from now, it would be my dad's birthday. I always feel a tug in my heartstrings when his birthday and death anniversary come along. Well, that's a week from now still. Let me just stew with my mixed emotions while I sip my hazelnut coffee.

Hope you all are having a wonderful Fall day.