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February 17, 2000 |
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Today is another special day. It's "Pitchers and Catchers" day.
Aren't those baseball terms? Well, yes they are. Today is the day
pitchers and catchers report to spring training. It signifies the start of
the baseball season. It's wonderful.
My friend Dave, who is also a big baseball enthusiast, took the trouble to
schedule lunch today. Dave is a San Francisco Giants fan; despite that, we
get along just fine. The Giants are getting a new ballpark this year
(Pacific Bell Park), and there's always big excitement with a new ballpark.
I remember a few years ago when the Braves moved to Turner Field. It's fun
thinking about the new records and forming new memories with the new park.
Of course it meant that the Giants were moving from Candlestick park, and
that's a little sad. I've been an Atlanta Braves fan since 1982 and track
their games from day to day during the season. Although these days, it is
really pretty easy on the internet.
Of course, the lunch included Dave and I, but a few other people also
joined us. Steve whom I've known for years and a couple of other folks
with whom I'm not so familiar. Trudy
was also invited; although she wouldn't be able to make it. We met at
Thai Chef. I had been there before; the food was good. Today was
no exception.
We talked about our hopes for the respective teams we each rooted for.
Dave and I have a bet on the Braves vs. Giants season series. The one who
wins gets lunch at the restaurant of our choice. So I'm patiently waiting
for the day when Dave is going to be buying me lunch. I can't wait to see
them play in Pacific Bell. They say that if you hit a homerun to deep
right field it may fall into the bay. That would certainly be something to
see.
Inevitably, we talked about the entire John Rocker fiasco. Of course, I voiced my
opinion. I realize that I can't be quite objective since Rocker is
talented and he plays for the Braves. I think we all agreed that the
original suspension was too severe and it will almost definitely be
overturned with the appeal.
Well, that's pretty much it for lunch. We regrettably went back to work.
I sent a quick mail to Pam today; I sent it fairly late in the afternoon so I'm not sure if she got a chance to read it. We had planned to get dinner tomorrow night and I had not heard from her. I sent her a quick message with some more details, hoping to firm up our plans.
Thursday is kickboxing day. Dan's ankle is still injured, so he's out. Carlos decided to come though, which is certainly a pleasant surprise. The order for our gear came in and I got my hand wraps. Actually, I was wrapping my hands in my current set of wraps, when my kickboxing instructor chucked my new set at me. That was pretty funny.
Carlos showed up… on time, I might add. This was a first. So we did the typical kickboxing thing. The different kicks, punches, combinations, etc. I won't bore you with details. It's just kickboxing. Our instructor happily announced that she would be running our class until 8:05pm today. Everyone groaned. She didn't actually… she ran the class until 8:20pm. I didn't have to hold the pads today.
After the class I turned to Carlos and simply said, "Weights!" The expression on his face was priceless. He called it a night after that. I went on to do the weight machines, which is my abbreviated strength routine. After leaving the gym, I went to grab dinner.
Once I got back to work, I started looking at fixing some bugs. After some time, I hear Dan scream my name from beyond my office door… Yes, really. He wants to play table tennis. So I take a break and we skip to the next building where they have a table. Now, Dan and I have different approaches to playing; we have different goals. My goal is to get better, this means that I want to develop certain parts of my game.
I'm not sure precisely why I started off being more of a defensive player, this means that I concentrate more on backspin than topspin. I typically don't try to overpower other players, but instead prefer to throw their game off balance. On occasion, I'll even use some side spin, although not nearly effective enough. In any case, I always look to improve my game… making sure that I'm developing more control and consistency with the quality shots. Winning points and games are secondary to developing my game.
Dan's approach is to win; he is very competitive. He measures himself on how he rates vs. others. Not that there's anything wrong with that, except that I find it a bit tough to take when he gloats. I know that I'm not aiming so much to win the game, and I realize that I should be a bit more sage-ish about it.
…Or maybe I should simply stop playing him. I'm not sure.
February 17, 2000