Monday, January 30, 2006

Practice in the cold (X posted from my LJ)

Softball practice on Saturday. Got up, made porridge, dressed warmly and set off for Finsbury Park. The ground wasn't too squelchy at first, but that was only because it was frozen solid. When the sun came out, it thawed into goo. The sand they’d put down at the bases just made it stick to your boots more. Very cold, but once we'd warmed up with a run and some throwing practice it wasn't too bad. Lots of throwing, played "pepper" (batter hits ball softly to a semi-circle of fielders, catching fielder throws it back to batter, lather, rinse, repeat), and did fielding and batting practice. My catching's still my weakest thing, but I had a pretty decent, and fun, turn at bat. Some decently placed grounders, a few big hits, none of them caught out.
The guys from the other dev team were there again, and doing much chest-beating. Sometime we’re going to have a closed training session, without the “Cobra Kai” in attendance.
Good beer and chat at the pub afterwards. We all felt we'd earned it.

Sunday, January 29, 2006

Softball Practice

Saturday was very very cold but things improved after a warm up. Lots of throwing practice and batting. Jane, Peter, Kate, Ben, Richard, Andy, Vic and Julian all turned up. I had a go at pitching. Ben and Peter made some good catches, and I think Vic did as well. Richard's batting looked good and also Jane, Ben and Peter. I found batting using the equivalent of a golfing tee rather difficult and managed to miss the ball altogether on a number of occasions. Also I need to improve my fitness.

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

My New Glove!

Well I won the bidding for the glove I was after on ebay. It was very satisfying to be crowned the winner! (there's some very subtle consumer psychology going on there I think - I can see how people get addicted to ebay)

Here are some pictures.




The guy I bought it from is an established ebay trader from St. Louis, Missouri. Here is a link to his online shop if you fancy a look.

The glove cost me $41 (about £24) and the p&p was $22 (about £13). The guy was directly selling these gloves for $47.99 (with the same p&p on top) so I made a slight saving through the auction.

Now I can't wait for that package to arrive!

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Going batty in NYC!

I can officially declare we are the proud owners of a softball bat!
(Or rather I am until I get some money....)
My 2005 award for "most intimidating stance with a softball bat on
the public transport system" was given a workout in New York, as
I took the newly purchased bat onto New York City's subway and
into various shops along Fifth Avenue. Karen and I walked into
one electronic goods store where four men promtly stopped their
conversation mid-sentence as I walked in with the bat. In addition
I discovered the bat was too long to fit in my suitcase, and Karen's
too, and so I rang the airline and asked if they'd mind if I carried it
onboard. Their reply: "Are you crazy?! A softball bat?! In these
times of heighened security?!" So I had to purchase some
packaging and check it in to the hold....
I got us a bargain too, price-wise! Paragon Sports on Broadway
had a 40% post-Christmas discount on DeMarini bats! So I'll let
you know once I've worked out the exchange rate. Manjiv - do you
think Brendan would pay for it for us on production of a receipt?
So we should all meet up some time to celebrate the New Year and
for the official presentation of our DeMarini bat. (And colour highlights
on the bat might suggest a uniform colour should we wish....)
Cheers,
Jane.