My Sports Tees And Miscellaneous Caps, Part 4.5

Not Part 5 because it's so short. On Friday I celebrated my final radiation treatment with a Phillies ticket via StubHub, behind the visitors' dugout along the third-base line. Face value: $70.00. I paid $32.75. And the Phils won. After the game I stopped in the store to check out the merchandise, hoping to find something marked down or on clearance. That wasn't happening. Things are definitely more expensive at the ballpark. However, they did have a sale on caps: buy one at regular price, get one for 50 percent off. I wasn't going to buy any until I spotted the one on the left and succumbed to PPP (Pride-related Peer Pressure).

The other cap, however, had an interesting tag on the inside that I didn't notice until I got home:

So when I wear it, I'm wearing soda bottles on my head!

This last one is what the Phils gave fans who purchased their birthday greeting package in 2013 (you get a cap, your name on the scoreboard and confetti thrown on you by a performer as he or she sings Happy Birthday). My friend Kurt and I, who were born 20 years apart on the same day (I'm the younger one, no matter what the birth certificates say), went to the game that night and got confetti'd...or confettied?...spell check in Blogger accepts the former but not the latter. Okay, confetti'd it is.

Odd Timing...Oh, And My Blog Is Free Today!

...I mean, it's THREE today. (I can say "today" because it's after midnight.) Happy birthday, blog!

So this actually happened earlier...

I decided to start watching "The Big Bang Theory" regularly. I've sampled it a number of times but never really gave it a chance, and now it's part of the roster of shows I watch. You could say there was an opening, with "Desperate Housewives" ending its run, but that's not really relevant. Anyway, TBS is running the episodes from the first four seasons in order on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights, which is part of the reason I jumped in when I did. I'm also watching the reruns from this past season on CBS, but there will be a few I'll still have to catch up on.

Anyway, tonight I was watching an episode from the third season, which was when Leonard and Penny got together as a couple for the first time. In this particular episode they were explaining to Sheldon why they were in Leonard's bedroom instead of in her apartment: it seems they broke her bed.

And just as they're discussing the broken bed, that's when I heard a snapping sound and felt a sudden jolt.

My rocker-recliner broke. A spring on the back snapped, causing the back to loosen from the rest of the frame on the right side. I hate this because now I can't rock in the chair (I looooove rocking). In fact, I had to move the chair back against the wall just so I can sit on it without one side sagging back. And of course I need to buy a new chair now, which means spending money. This will be, I think, the fourth rocker or rocker-recliner I've owned. At least number three lasted longer than the other two.

No Diving

Obey!

This is on Locust Street at S. Sartain, a tiny little street that's across from More Than Just Ice Cream. It was convenient of Mother Nature to fill the "pool," wasn't it? Not sure if you can see it, but on the other corner the message is stenciled there as well.

So I've been out of work for a full week now, and I'm still not catching up on things I've wanted to blog about for so long. I will get to them, I promise. I did my online application for unemployment benefits, and I saw a few movies. Tomorrow I'm going with my friend Kurt to a theater on the Princeton University campus because there's a production that stars one of his favorite actors, Paul Gross. This, plus a hotel room for the night so we can stay for a post-show discussion of some kind -- whether Paul Gross will attend that or not is unknown -- was my gift to Kurt for his 30th birthday. His (along with his BFF Stacy) gift to me for my 50th b-day (remember, we have the same DOB 20 years apart) was a digital camera. The above was not taken with that camera, but I got some other shots that I took on Sunday and this afternoon that will be posted at some point.

50; No Softball

So here's a magazine cover from fifty years ago, on the day I was born...

Or if you're a little less highbrow, like me...

50. Yikes. So far it isn't really any different from my 40s. Except I can join the AARP and start benefiting from my advanced age. (And dammit, why can't I find a video of this Grampa Simpson clip?)

Anyway, if you've ever checked out my Twitter profile page you've seen what I wrote for a bio, at least since I began my job in October: "I may have a job now but I will still spend way too much time online, on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Oh, and blog. And play softball..." But I've made a change. It now ends with "...but not this year." The softball league's season begins this weekend, weather permitting. However, this year I'm not playing. I had been planning to, but there was a problem with my team's practice schedule that led to my not making it to practice. (We talking about practice! Not a game, not a game, not a game -- we talking about practice!) I won't go into the gory details; suffice it to say there was an exchange of negative emails and, had I decided to play, I probably would have preferred finding a new team.

But I got to thinking (which is always dangerous). If I did play I wouldn't be as effective pitching as I've been in the past. One of the things that spurred me to rejoin the league in 2008, after a 20-year hiatus, was the fact that I had been dieting and lost a lot of weight (eventually the total loss reached 50 pounds), so I felt more able to do things without overtiring. Unfortunately, since then, slowly but surely I've been gaining it back. And if anything, with the stress from my job schedule and commute to and from work, I've probably eaten worse over the last 6 months.

They Say It's My Birthday!

It's after midnight, so...happy birthday to me!



And don't forget this, for those in the Philadelphia area...or wanting to take a last-second trip. ;-)