Fun Trip To Toledo

It is my birthday today, i traveled from grand haven to toledo today to see Joel Zumaya pitch in his final rehab game (and see the beautiful fifth third field). When we got there we got to see him doing his bullpen session, which at the time thought he was just stretching out. Afterwards, he signed a few autographs and then then said to those of us standing nearby "I gotta go, I have a plane to catch". I wasn't sure of it until the 7th, 8th and 9th inning came and went with no more sightings of Joel. He looks very healthy, probably lost about 20-30 pounds and has added quite a bit of ink to his flamed tattoo arsenal.

Another Exhausting Week

A lot happened this week. First and foremost, my sister Lakkana and her husband Matt are celebrating the birth of their second daughter. I'm not sure of the spelling, according to my mom it's Linsey Rose Raterink, but with all of my mom's strengths spelling isn't one of them. The beautiful little one was born either late Thursday night or early Friday morning. Congratulations Matt, Lakkana and Isabel!

The Neitring Fine Carpentry softball team had a big game this week. We played the #1 team in our division on Wednesday and got beat 8-0. We forced them to play their first 7-inning game of the season by not allowing the 10-run mercy rule to come in to play. Defensively, we played almost flawless, apart from Dave and Jared colliding in right field while fielding a fly ball. Offensively, we could not catch a break. Our team falls to 4-2 as they padded their lead to 6-0 with 4 games remaining.

The Red Wings won the Stanley Cup on Wednesday, beating the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2. They gave us another scare by nearly giving up the tying goal again with seconds remaining in the game. This win marks the fourth time in the last eleven years the Wings have won the cup. It was cool to see Chris Osgood win as our goalie again, he was also the starter when we won in 1998 but not in 1997 or 2002.

Last night I got the chance to play baseball competitively for the first time in about 10 years. A friend of mine called and asked me to fill in for a team he plays on in Muskegon. I had my reservations but I accepted the invitation. Before the game I had my brothers, Brad and Ryan, and their friend Cody help get me ready. Thanks guys! While practicing I fouled a pitch off of my ankle, which hurt a lot more than I remembered. Other than that practicing went pretty well considering it had been awhile. When I reached the game, they gave me a jersey and hat, and I was thinking "Uh-oh, what have I gotten myself into?" They asked me to play second base and by this point I was getting incredibly nervous because as a middle infielder you've got a lot of responsibilities. The first inning went surprisingly well, I fielded two ground balls successfully and threw both runners out. WHEW! My first at bat, not so good. I fouled off a couple pitches, but ended up falling victim to a 2-2 curveball which I missed, but so did the catcher. They threw me out at first as I attempted stealing first base. At least I remembered that part where if the catcher misses a strike three pitch you can try advancing to first. my second at bat I fought heroically, but still was victimized by the pitchers curveball. With a 3-1 count, I was fully expecting a fastball and he threw his curve. I didn't miss this time at least, I tapped a grounder to third base and was thrown out at first. My last at bat ended up with another strike out. So, 0 for 3 with 2 strikeouts in my post high school baseball debut. NOT GOOD! But I have to say it was incredibly fun, but I can barely walk this morning. -j

Please post a response to let me know that somebody is actually reading these, thanks.

Yummmmm Steak!

There is something satisfying about a good, well-rounded hot lunch. Who knew that once you enter the labor force you so rarely get the luxury?

For the past 4 weeks, I have been working off-site on a pipeline assessment job. This assessment stuff is a really big money maker for my department so this is a super important project to be apart of. Its cool working on this high profile job; it is NOT cool eating lunch at this job. There is no place to go eat, no refrigerator to put a lunch, no microwave to warm up food. I have been sack lunching it for 4 weeks.....and I have had enough! After a month of living on peanut butter on apples and pretzels, I came home and made myself.............Steak.

Nothing else, just seared meat. I made enough for only me, and I savored every morsel while my poor animals looked on in intense jealousy. The picture is on the actual steak I consumed. It was dee-lish-oooous. In no way do I consider this random meal excessive.....merely payback for all the good food I missed while writing reports out of my mobile office.

Oh dearest School Lunch Lady.....I miss you!