Spring Training Games, Bowling, Pool Tournament, Corona, and Ember's Birthday!

Spring Training - an Arizona tradition:

Every year, my friend Mike coordinates a trip back to Arizona to go to multiple spring training baseball games.  He gets his friends from the east coast to all attend and it's a good time hanging out and just checking out games during the day, since it's so convenient to go to multiple games in different stadiums throughout the Phoenix area.  At the beginning of March, Nate, Chris, Head, Brian, and Paul were all able to make it out to Phoenix for this yearly tradition.  Kevin and I were the local ones in the photo below.

While I didn't attend all the games they did, I still made it to 4 games in 4 days, featuring ballparks in Peoria, Salt River Fields, and Mesa and seeing teams like the Padres, the Royals, the D'Backs, the Brewers, and the Athletics.  For me, I don't even really watch much of the baseball game.  It's honestly just a great time to enjoy the weather, drink some beer, and hang out with my friends I grew up with who now live on the other side of the country and I only get to see a few times a year. :)

IBM Bowling League Ends:

The most recent bowling season ended on March 12th.  This was a strange season for me.  My entire team from last year moved on from bowling (leaving Arizona, to take care of kids, etc).  I was the only one to return to the league, so I ended up joining another team in the league that had lost two members.  Our 4th member actually turned out to be a coworker of mine, who had always wanted to try bowling league.  He had never really bowled before, but he really got into it this season, purchasing a new ball and learning how to bowl a ball with the proper form and mechanics.

While we were able to sneak into the playoffs as the 4th and finally seed, unfortunately we weren't able to overcome some of the huge scores other teams were bowling the championship night and yours truly did not pull-off a miraculous repeat.  It's okay though, I'm still very much into bowling and I look forward to the next season!  Just not sure who I'll be bowling with yet...

Singles Local Qualifier for APA Pool League:

I recently moved up to a 6 in pool league.  If you need a refresher, the skills levels vary between 2-7 with 7 being the highest.  I would say most people in the league are on average a 4-5, and being a 6 is quite an accomplishment.  However, there's also a lot of pressure being the highest rated player on my pool team.  I am expected to play the other top players in the league and beat them.  I don't really feel like I can hang with those studs just yet, so I've been trying to enter more tournaments on the side to improve and get better.

On March 14th, I entered the singles local qualifier tournament.  It's open and free to enter, and if you win, you go to Phoenix for regionals for a chance to play at Nationals in Vegas.  You may recall this is something I tried back in 2016 when I moved up from a 4 to a 5 in 8-ball.

Honestly, I only wanted to play in the tournament for practice, but after 8 hours at the pool hall, a bye, and 4 matches later, I found myself a winner and qualified for the regionals at Phoenix.  Whoops!  I am gonna consider going though, not with the intention of winning, but to play other great players and learn how to beat them on a more consistent basis. :)

Corona:

It's a really sad time in the world right now.  Many people are unable to work and forced to stay at home for the upcoming future, without a real good estimate of when they can go back and start making money again.  Personally, my job has not changed too much.  I already work from home 3-4 days a week, so going a full 5 is no big deal.  I am on the list of "essential employees" who have access cleared to go into the lab should I need to.

I am however affected in other ways because of Corona.  I can't go to my gym anymore (closed until at least the end of the month) and there is no pool league or golf league (which would have started on the 18th).  With no leagues to play in, I find myself just working out every day from home to the point that my legs are starting to feel like jello.  But in reality, my problems are very minor and trivial.  I don't have kids who are staying at home because school is canceled, so I don't have my hands full or a family using up all of the house's resources.  I am still working and making money, so I am the least of anyone's worries right now.

Take care out there, it's a scary time but hopefully all this crazyiness will be over real soon and we can get back on with our lives!

Ember's 1st Birthday:

And now to end the blog entry on a more positive note.  March 23rd was Ember's 1st Birthday!  She is officially an adult cat and a wonderful one at that.  She's so friendly with anyone she meets and is a great addition to my little cat family.  Happy Birthday Ember, I love you!