upper deck twofer

Yay for vacation! That's why we work, right? Mostly at least.

And the blinding lightning and thunderstorms were unable to get in the way of gametime. It stopped raining just in time. At the baseball game Friday night, which was a great 2-1 win, by the way (have I mentioned that the Royals aren't in last place?-still, as I write this, several days later), there were two other exciting moments besides the outcome and fireworks. Not one, but two foul balls got hit right at our section, essentially straight back from home plate. The first one went two rows behind. The second one came in really fast, but I was apparently ready to dislocate a finger or something catching it. Unfortunately (or, perhaps, fortunately) the guy in front of me reached over at the last second with his glove. He didn't catch it, but did knock it over into the next section. Oh well. I haven't come that close to getting a ball since one of McGwire's home runs the year he set the record. I was ready to throw that one back, too! Candace and Scott, good to see you. Amy and Chris, congratulations.

Fridays' schedule worked out very nicely. After the game it was off to downtown to see Kelli and Nick and, eventually, Andrew. (There ya go Nick Kromnacher, did that show up in your Google search? Or wait, is it Kromenacker? Kromenocker? Nich? Nicholas? Nickolas? Guess we'll see just how good Google is!) Seriously though, it was really nice to see you all. It's been awhile since I've been back to KC. I am very excited to tell Julie that people actually play her game.

Then Saturday was family stuff, from Liberty to Blue Springs. Pools are great when they're in somebody else's backyard, and it's summer time, but after a major heat wave has broken. I didn't even get sunburned, although I did eat way too much BBQ. Oh well, the sacrifices we make for family.

And in other random news, how awesome is the speech that John Edwards gave? I really wish Senator Obama would drop the whole new politics/civility approach and really offer his critique of the system. The longer he goes, the more it appears that he doesn't really want to critique the system at all, in which case, we might as well just elect Senator Clinton. Julie, I know you disagree. But if you want a taste of why I have liked what Edwards has done so much the last couple years, the clip from Hanover is a great example.

the new one from Hanover
the press conference from Elisabeth's treatment
the speech at the winter DNC meeting

Finally something I'm sort of burying, but nonetheless am very excited about. I, uh, caved in to months worth of anticipation and bought an iPhone. I know, I know, don't say it, I know. But nonetheless, there it is. I can now text, and email and camera phone and googlemap and schedule, to my heart's content.

My raise is now officially gone. In my pocket. And on the new tires on my car. But it sounds more exciting to just blame it on the iPhone.