pitching mounds

i played fast-pitch softball up through high school. what i never knew is that the center of the pitching mound for adult female fast-pitch softball is 43' away from the back of homeplate . this is significantly shorter than professional baseball (center of the mound is 59' from the back of homeplate).

dayenu!

happy passover! (hag somayach!)
here are a few pictures of the seder saturday.

lyrics

I wanted everything for a little while.
Why shouldn't I?
I wanted to know what he was like.
Now you can pull a little bit,
There's a little give and take.
And love will stretch a little bit,
But finally it's gonna break.

everything but the girl, 'wrong', 1996

thrilling decatur, indiana

weekend algorithm: 18 hours in the car yields 16 hours in thrilling decatur, indiana.
betsey and richard are happily married.
the swim-in-place pool is most excellent!
and remember:
1. pray for linda
2. pray for lindsey
3. pray for bryan

nats, again

oh yeah! last night was incredible: i witnessed the return of baseball to washington d.c. and the first home win for the nationals. my new man crush is vinny castilla and his homerun last night has everything to do with it. my boys are in first place after the game last night!
highlights from the experience:
1. security (thanks, bush! i was standing in line to go through a metal detector during the opening ceremonies)
2. my seats (they are on the aisle in the first row of the section)
3. castilla's double down the third baseline deep into left field
4. castilla's homerun (did i mention this already?)
5. watching this guy try to start the wave about 15 times in the section to our right (he was tireless! and it never caught on with the crowd)
6. castilla's triple which brought in the first scores of the game
7. the firework display at the end of the game celebrating the win
8. night view of downtown from the top of rfk
can baseline life be any better than this?
monday night i am going back for more...

land of the beehive

betsey gimbel and richard hawkins are now married. the event was incredible and joyful.
true to utah weather form, there were literally four seasons this weekend --snow, rain, sun, and wind.
do you know moment: one of utah's nicknames is the beehive state. on all highway and state signs you will find a small black beehive. take a close look at the state flag as well...

favorite american pastime

i can hardly contain my enthusiasm!!!!! i just bought season (okay so they are half-season, but that's 41 games!) tickets to the WASHINGTON NATIONALS! i love watching baseball. it was probably a matter of love it or kill myself because i have to watch another one of daron's games growing up--but i truly love the game, the atmosphere, and the pace. the best part is i have never had my own team. the sf giants were my brothers' and father's pick. the A's were not even an option (akin to preferring Ford to Chevrolet...). so, here i am. new place i call home. new team. alissa is a nationals girl.
if you are in the area and want to go to a game, let me know (we have two-four seats).
GO NATS!

Trying something new

My family has had a family website for years www.janisfamily.com. We decided it was important to maintain some solidarity as a family unit and set the website up to keep track of each other with ease. My personal page on this website is horrendous (gone-bad html programming class project), so I am not going to fight it and will post as the mood strikes.
Enter, the blogger.