Some friends of ours gave us tickets to the Rangers-Mariners game Monday night. It was a perfect night for baseball – a nice breeze, temp in the mid-70s, a few clouds. In elementary school and junior high I followed baseball closely, especially the Rangers and my hero Nolan Ryan. I remember being really upset one night in 4th or 5th grade because I had all this math homework to do and couldn’t watch the game with Mom and a cup of Blue Bunny strawberry frozen yogurt. I read two or three of his books plus his wife’s book, and even met his wife at a Christian bookstore one afternoon. After Nolan retired, my interest gradually waned. Before last night, I hadn’t even been to a Rangers game in a few years. We had a great time once again sitting in the Ballpark, which I am THRILLED to note is now named Rangers Ballpark in Arlington – not Ameriquest Field or some other lame name chosen by a company who paid millions for the naming rights. Stadiums should be named after people, places, or teams, not companies. Anyway, two Rangers homered while we were there, setting off fireworks and the wonderful theme song from The Natural. Hecklers, cheeseburgers, Dot Race tickets, The Wave, kid-sized baseball gloves, and overpriced Cokes all made an appearance. As a sign that I’m truly a grown-up now, I was actually more focused on talking with our friends about our children than on the game itself. I’ve never discussed pediatricians at a sporting event before. When they left in the 4th inning to take their tired and fussy baby home, it didn’t seem weird, especially since we waddled out in the 5th so Jenny could get to bed and I could go to work. I wondered whether Brenden would be a baseball fan or even a player someday, imagining myself at a tiny Little League field watching him play shortstop. The Rangers’ ad agency was right – I could use some baseball.
Category Archives: Sports
STARS ADVANCE!
In QUADRUPLE overtime, Stars captain Brenden Morrow scored the winning goal to advance the Stars to the Western Conference Finals against Detroit. The Red Wings are an outstanding team and present a large obstacle in our quest for the Cup, but we have proven ourselves worthy of facing them. This should be a tough series that could go 7 games. I stand by my prediction of a Stars-Penguins Stanley Cup Final. Jenny and I got tickets for Game 4 on May 14 with some friends from our apartment community. This will be their first hockey game ever, so they’re going to be spoiled forever. =)
Tennis and Alaska
It’s a great sport. I’ve started playing once a week with some friends of mine from the Southwest People department. We all played some in the past, so we’re neither horrible nor heirs to Federer’s throne. It’s great to be back on the court regularly. I make a few horrible shots for every great one (ask the guys about my serve that went over the fence), but fortunately I enjoy laughing at myself. Between my running and almost-weekly tennis, I’m gradually getting into better shape.
I’m set to leave for Alaska on Friday morning and have a long list of items to pack on Thursday. My new digital camera came in a couple days ago, and I love it! I’m not sure I’m smart enough to use all its different features, though. Good thing some poor tech writer put together a semi-detailed manual! The forecast for Juneau looks great – nice and cool, sunny, with little chance of rain. I’ll try to post some pictures after I get back.
House News and 2 Cool Sites
We’ve decided to put our house up for sale! We’re currently decluttering, cleaning, rearranging furniture, and putting some stuff in storage to make the house look its best. We even redid some of the landscaping, replacing several scraggly bushes with some Texas-friendly Navajo sage and petunias for color. We hope to have it on the market within a couple of weeks. I might even put up a special page on here so YOU can see (and buy!) it. I’ve been enjoying a GREAT website called Zillow that shows you a map with estimated values for all the houses in the neighborhood along with satellite photos and home details. Pull up your house and add info if you want for others to see. You can even set a “Make Me Move” price, the amount of money someone would have to offer you to persuade you to move. I’m watching my neighborhood and our target neighborhood in Irving to see what’s out there. The whole house-selling thing will be taking up most of our free time for the next couple of weeks, so please forgive me if AndyBox.com isn’t quite as fresh as it normally is.
In other news, the NHL playoffs start this week! The Stars play the Vancouver Canucks in Round 1 starting tonight. Some friends of ours from church lived in Vancouver and are huge Canucks fans, so we’ll have to harass them if (no, WHEN!) the Stars win.
I also have to mention another very cool site, Freecycle. It has groups all over the world, and each group is a mailing list where you tell people about stuff you want to give away for free or stuff you want to get for free. For example, we just bought a new entertainment center from IKEA, so we told the Keller Freecycle group that we’re giving away our old one for free to the first person who can haul it off.
No Wife, but I Have US Open Tickets
Jenny is now up in Baltimore/Philly getting the job fairs set up. She’s due to come back September 1. It’s kinda sad being a bachelor again, and it’ll be great to have her back. Mom and I are supposed to leave for NY on Sunday for the US Open. When we’re not watching tennis, we hope to go see a play in Central Park and visit Ground Zero. I haven’t been to New York since 1999. I used to have a great picture of the Twin Towers, but I’m not sure where it is. I’ve been trying to figure out how to get around on the subway. Mom’s been trying to figure out how to protect us from muggers. We have tickets to the day and evening sessions of the US Open on Monday and Tuesday. Sunday and Wednesday we should have a little time for sightseeing. Go Andre!
Traveling Fools
The Boxes plan to very a lot of the world over the next couple of months. For starters, Jenny has a 10-day trip to Philadelphia at the end of August to help with a couple of job fairs for ramp agents. At the same time, Mom and I are scheduled to go up to New York to see the opening round of the US Open, which will be Agassi’s last tournament. Then Jenny and I head out to Vegas in September for a few days. She’ll be working the LAS Spirit Party and another event, and I’m going along for the ride. Finally, to celebrate my birthday and the end of my MBA classes, we’re planning a Carnival cruise to the southern Caribbean in late October. Whew!
Half-marathon training is going well. I’m up to 12 miles per week and trying to increase it by a mile or so each week. I also joined Jenny’s gym, LA Fitness, to strengthen my muscles and swim a bit. I guess at some point I need to register for the race to make sure I don’t chicken out. =)