1. So did I call it or what… the Callaway softball team lost in humiliating fashion in our first game Tuesday night, 17-9. Now, we’ve lost by much worse scores before. But the team we played was playing the second game of a double-header and had lost the first game 30-5. They had 3 women on the team and a guy over 55. We had 12 guys in our 30s. Basically it just comes down to the fact that our team can’t catch the ball. Fly balls fall in, grounders roll past, no communication on pop-ups. Really funny stuff, actually. The team we played had a whole bleacher full of redneck toothless hicks jeering us the whole game too. I was walking around the stands to go coach first base one inning and some goon stood up and yelled “Hey boy! You walkin’ the wrong way, motherf**ker! Losers’ bench is that-a-way! Haw-haw-haw, snort, haw-haw!” which prompted the whole clan to guffaw and laugh along. Oh well. I went 2-for-3 with a couple singles at the plate and fielded a pretty decent first base in the loss.

2. Prior to the game, Minnesota friend Dan Jaker was in town for business and we got together for a couple drinks after work Tuesday at Easy Tiger. Afterwards, we were wandering the streets looking for further entertainment when we stopped in an Irish pub with a band playing. Soon we realized this was no ordinary band. It was legend of rock Bonnie Raitt! … Kinda… Jaker posted the photo to Facebook and told the world we had wandered into an unadvertised Bonnie Raitt concert. While I cannot confirm with certainty that it wasn’t her… it wasn’t her, unless she was going under the stage name of something totally different. But it got a lot of likes on Facebook, and isn’t that the greatest gift of all?

3. Tonight was company happy hour at The Hideout… finally, a happy hour in my neighborhood that was inconvenient for the rest of the team! When I first moved to Austin in 2011 and was living with Mark Addison, The Hideout was within short walking distance and I spent many nights after work socializing there, or at now-closed Weirdo’s. The place still has some of the best burgers in town and the same staff and the same regulars. Unlike my old days at Tiny Boards, hanging out with co-workers after work is something I enjoy and look forward to.

4. You can call me many bad things… bad employee, bad swimmer, bad cook.  But you can’t call me bad dog owner. Knowing the poor pooch would be stuck at home for many hours today in a small crate and in dire need of exercise, I made a 30-mile round trip home over break where I took the dog on a 2.17-mile run, showered, and raced back to the office in just over an hour. That’s how much I care about that beagle’s well-being.

5. And of course, the thing on all our minds… Lauren at 27 weeks. My female co-workers have been upset with my lack of updates on baby stuff on a day-to-day basis. Every day it’s the same old “well, just looking into daycares and pediatricians and buying furniture.” Well there you go, a true photo update. It’s really happening.

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