Archive for the ‘Life’ Category

This Saturday I am running in the Beach to Bay relay marathon in Corpus Christi, TX.  Am I ready for it?  Hell no.  But I am part of a team that is relying on me and I gotta do what I gotta do.  And right about now, that mostly consists of not dying.

I have been doing some running in preperation for this weekend.  What I’ve noticed is that I don’t do well when I run on a track.  I do much better when I am on a treadmill or running from point A to point B.  For some reason, I can’t run in a circle.  Or at least I can’t do it with any consistency.  Another thing is that I find myself running better in the heat.  I have ran at night, but it just gets too cool and that slight breeze that you would think would be welcome actually bothers me.  I can’t explain it.  I know it doesn’t make sense.  Any of you experience anything like that?

I’m a little bummed out that I had ordered a handheld HD camera on Amazon with the hopes of having it this weekend.  So far, it hasn’t arrived.  The worst part is that I ordered it in early April.  I knew they were backordered, but I had hopes anyway.  So that leaves me with my trusty old Sony Cybershot.  I’ll be posting pics of the event later.

Feel free to wish me luck.  I will need plenty of it.

-Dave Q.

I just wanted to take a moment to say thanks to Dom DeLuise, who passed away yesterday at the age of 75.  The guy made me laugh quite a bit when I would watch those movies he starred in during the ’70s and early ’80s.  The guy was funny.  Plain and simple.

Here is Dom DeLuise cracking up in outtakes of the movie The Cannonball Run.  This film came out in 1981 and had what was referred to back then as an “all-star” cast.  Hard to argue.  It had Burt Reynolds, Roger Moore, Dean, Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Farah Fawcett, Terry Bradshaw, Jackie Chan, Henry Fonda, and of course, Dom DeLuise.  Not bad, huh?  If you’ve never seen it, do yourself a favor and and watch it sometime.  Warning:  Sense of humor required.

Anyway, this was the first Burt Reynolds – Dom DeLuise flick I watched as a kid.  And I loved it.  Always brings back good memories.  Thanks for the laughs, Dom.

-Dave Q.

I’m just curious how all of you out there are feeling about this.  Is it really as bad as they are making it out to be?   I’ve read the headlines.  Heard the chatter.  And seen it all over the news.  But in the end, the goverment is telling us to just wash our hands.  That doesn’t sound so bad, right?

They have shut down some schools in San Antonio out of fear of this thing spreading.  I hope they are making a bigger deal about it than it really is.  So far my life hasn’t ben impacted by any of this.  How about you guys?

-Dave Q.

Happy Easter to everyone!  That means it’s the end of Lent.  Whew.  This year was tough.

I ended up keeping up with no eating of red meat, no drinking of sweet tea, and of course no shaving or haircuts.  I’m definitely not doing the latter again.  Damn it sucked.  And I’m amazed I made it.  The image below is my best attempt to chronicle the no shaving/haircut struggle. Yikes.  I know it’s ugly.  And I heard plenty of jokes along the way.  But maybe you have some new material.  So if you feel so inclined, let’s hear it…

Anyway, I’m off to get a haircut.  And dinner will consist of a nice thick, juicy steak.  Washed down with an ice cold glass of sweet tea.  Hmmm.  It just occurred to me that being Easter and all, maybe some businesses to help me accomplish these things could be closed.  Crap. 

-Dave Q.

So I have 2 weeks to go in Lent.  And I am barely hanging in there.

I have been good without eating any red meat.  But damn I want to tear into a steak so bad.  You just don’t know!  And the lack of sweet tea (or any tea for that matter) has been killing me.  I am amazed at my self-discipline.

The no haircuts and no shaving thing is in full effect.  I am truly shocked by this.  About 2 weeks ago I was so close to shaving that I actually applied the shaving cream to my face.  It was oh so close.

I failed in trying to avoid going out for lunch.  It was just to damn hard to do.  So I botched that one up.  And the not eating after sundown?  Yeah.  That’s down the tubes as well.  Now you know why I stacked the deck.  I knew I would crack on a couple.  Oh, yeah.  The no sarcasm thing?  Didn’t work either. 

Anyway, bottom line is I have 2 weeks to go.  And right now I look like a homeless guy.  A cranky homeless guy.  I have been trying to keep up with some pics of the beard, so I will be posting what I have the day after easter.

See you at the finish line.  Which also resembles a barber shop.

-Dave Q.

Early Friday morning (just happened to be Friday the 13th), a small pizza parlor near my neighborhood went up in flames.  A moment of silence for Pizza Italia please… 

Damn I loved the food there.  It was a place to hit after a softball game.  And I had them on speed dial when I wanted a pizza delivered.  Dominos and Pizza Hut can suck it.  Pizza Italia was some awesome stuff!  And they had the best damn wings, too.  (sigh)…

I hope they rebuild.  The damage was pretty extensive.  In some cases, a total loss was reported.  But I have faith that Pizza Italia will rise again.

On a side note, my roommate hated Pizza Italia.  It was too complex for him (his thing is a simple pepperoni pizza from Little Ceasar’s).  So I have to question where he was at approximately 4am last Friday.  And whether or not he had lighter fluid and matches on him.  I’m just saying.

-Dave Q.

Last night I was playing some pretty solid defense in the outfield.  And since it was the last game of the season, I asked to play an inning at shortstop.  Well, ladies and gentlemen, God doesn’t want me to play shortstop.  Ever.

It was a funky play.  Nothing cool about it.  I was basically taking a relay throw back from the outfield.  The throw bounced just short of me and came up and drilled me in the right middle finger.  I picked up the ball, threw it back in, and then looked at my hand where I found blood everywhere (my friends told me there was a trail of blood leading to the bathroom).

I thought the extent of the injury was that the nail on my finger got pushed up by the ball.  So at worst, I figured, I would just be losing the nail.  But the wound never stopped bleeding.  So I went to the doctor this morning and the found that the reason the nail on the finger was being pushed up was that a bone in my finger broke and was forcing the nail up.  Sucks, don’t it?

Here’s one of the x-rays in case any of you know how to read one.

Anyway, I have an appointment tomorrow with a hand surgeon.  I’m hoping surgery can be avoided, but I just don’t know.  If they have to cut my finger open, then I can kiss my dreams of being a hand model good-bye. 

***UPDATE***

Surgery was successful.  Typing will be difficult, though.  I wish I had some voice recognition software for this.  But anyway, my finger is numb and I have some vicodin waiting on stand-by.

Well, I’m going with what people voted for that I give up for Lent.  AS LONG AS I CAN.  I’m a pretty clean cut dude, so this won’t be easy.  But I will be adding a few other challenges to the list to fall back on, because I’m realistic about this haircut/shaving thing.  Anyway, here is my list for Lent 2009.  Gonna be a good Catholic…

• No haircuts or shaving.  This is what was voted on.  I will do my best, but I wouldn’t bet on me.
• No eating out.  I may actually starve to death.  This will force me into learning how to cook.
• No sarcasm.  I will break this one within the hour.
• No red meat.  I’ve done this a couple of times and it has gotten more difficult.  But it has lowered my cholesterol.
• No sweet tea.  Oh the humanity!!!
• Fasting after sundown.  Hakeem Olajuwon did this one year.  I figure if a world class athlete is capable, why not me?

I look at this list and see that most of the stuff that people sacrifice, including myself, have to do with eating.  I bet they don’t do that in other parts of the world.  Only in America.  But, hey, what can you do?

So it begins today.  Wish me luck.  Say a little prayer for me.  And if I start looking pretty scruffy, don’t call the cops claiming you saw a terrorist.  Wait.  Was that politically incorrect?  Maybe I will give that up next year.

-Dave Q.