Down Goes Pinata! Down Goes Pinata!

I have been wanting to provide some sort of update for my hombres in the past week or so, but I haven't really had the opportunity. Unfortunately, I now have the opportunity because I was diagnosed with strep today and will be in bed for about the next 24 hours or so. Truth be told, I haven't felt this lousy in a long time - I woke up with my throat on fire at about 5am with full-on body aches and shivering. I went straight to the doctor's office, where the strep diagnosis was made and I was given a shot of penicillin in my butt that would have felled a horse. I should be non-contagious by lunchtime tomorrow, but I'll be hanging out at home until then.

So now I can blog a few random thoughts for my fellow hombres. To wit:

1. Teo, I have not forgotten that I owe you a phone call. This summer has been far busier than I'd expected, so carving out that time for a call has been harder than I'd imagined. I will be taking my annual trip to Canada this weekend (assuming I'm healthy by then) and hope to have some time to chat.

2. I caught a game at Petco Park a week or two ago with my wife and kids. (The Padres beat the Mets.) We had a blast. With a new park, a decent team (the past few games excepted), and Tony Gwynn getting enshrined in Cooperstown, this is a great year to be a baseball fan in San Diego. We may go catch a game against the hated Giants in a week or two when they come and there's an outside chance Bonds could break the HR record while he's here.

3. Being sick in your grade school years is a hassle, but you get to miss school and eat ice cream. Being sick in your thirties is a major inconvenience. Mostly, you have to get your own ice cream and stay away from your family for fear of infecting them.

4. Catching up on my askaninja.com videos. I encourage you to do the same.

I think that's it for now. Nothing profound, mind you.

Teo is a genius.

Because he sent me this link. My sides hurt from laughing so hard.

Pastime

This is total Teo-baiting here.

I'm really a football guy. Ask me about the greatness of Dan Marino, Earl Campbell, or Johnny Unitas, and I'm likely to get all misty eyed. I suggested to my wife, in complete sobriety and seriousness, that "Shula" was an excellent name for our firstborn. (She disagreed and we wisely settled on something else.) So, I loves me some gridiron.

That said, baseball has grown on me in the past few years. Perhaps because I grew up in a town with a triple A ballclub, I never really loved the game. Also, I was not a baseball player; instead, I favored - and played - the brilliant game of lacrosse. (I was terrible at it, but I loved playing it and still love watching it when I can.)

But in the past few years, being in a town with not just a major league team, but a team in the decidedly finer game of NL baseball, I've learned to appreciate the game. And, if I may speak candidly, the Padres have the finest pitching rotation in all of major league baseball: Jake Peavy, Chris Young, David Wells, Greg Maddux, and Justin Germano (with Cla Meredith and Scott Linebrink in middle relief and the incomparable Trevor Hoffman as a closer). Is there a better rotation in all of baseball?

I'll be honest: they can't hit all that well. Adrian Gonzalez is a great hitter and a tremendously underrated player and a few other guys get hot from time to time; but in general, they're not likely to win a lot of 9-7 games.

And I'm watching the All Star game and loving it. Baseball, running unopposed in the summer sporting schedule, is great.

Swamped.

I apologize for not having posted more recently. With our Tres Hombres readership hovering near five or so, one would think that the mass public clamor for new posts would have caused me to write more often, but I've been a little busy. To be honest, I don't have a whole lot new to offer, so I'll just offer a few brief updates on what I've been doing and why I've been so busy.

1. Trying to make a major purchase. Can't say more right now.

2. Spent the 4th having a great time. Caught the parade in Coronado, went boogie boarding with my kids all afternoon, ate dinner at one of southern California's greatest institutions, and caught fireworks over a local park. My ten-year-old son described the day as "epic". I agree.

3. My kids are on summer vacation. We've been doing a lot of fun stuff, educational stuff, and generally goofy beach stuff.

4. I'm trying to get up to get a few nights of camping in before the kids go back to school, which is in two weeks. (They have year-round schools here, which is actually much cooler than it sounds. Four breaks a year - each of which is three or four weeks long - rather than one really long one.)

4. Did I mention that I saw the Police?

It may well be the perfect summer.