Happy Birthday Cooper!

It is weird to think that Coop has been around 7 years now and for that the majority of that time, he has been with me. I love the first picture I took of him looking up at me and seemingly being so glad he was leaving the pen in GA. I remember him rolling around in the floorboard for about 2 hours and then deciding he wanted to sit in the truck seat the rest of the way home.

I was in Europe for his last 2 birthdays, so I thought I would make it up to him today. I found a real quick recipe for a peanut butter, honey and carrot cake and added cottage cheese for icing. I made it nice and messy, hoping that it would not last long and that it might create some memorable pictures. Needless to say he enjoyed his first ever birthday cake and probably would have eaten the whole thing if we would have let him.

I truly believe animals and pets aide and comfort us at all times and I am so glad I found my snotty nose friend below.

Well our little fantasy baseball league has made it to the All-Star Break with only 1 person really lagging behind. I think everyone is enjoying it and the second half should be entertaining. Glenn started strong and has been riding the Pujols machine all season. It took Justin's team a bit to start, but now Justin and Glenn have been swapping the lead after some injuries and suspensions knocked Nikki down a bit. Amanda has made a recent charge with some good pitching and key pickups. As for me, I have basically been watching the rest have fun with only small ventures out of the cellar. It is a long seasons though.

All-Star selections - Justin 15, Daron 13, Nikki 11, Glenn 10, Amanda 10
Most Batting Points - Glenn/Pujols 676 (2nd Amanda/Fielder 512) a huge gap between 1st/2nd
Most Pts/Game - Glenn/Pujols 7.51 (2nd Nikki/Ibanez 6.7)
Players in Top 10 in Pts - Glenn 4, Justin 3, Amanda 2, Daron 1
Players in Top 10 Pts/Game - Justin 5, Glenn 2, Nikki 2, Amanda 1

Leading Total Batting - Glenn
Leading Total Pitching - Amanda

The Pitching totals appear to be down right now, so I will get to those stats later. There are big stakes (ha) resting on this competition, so we will see how the 2nd half turns out.

Greetings from a guy enjoying a lazy Monday afternoon. We had a great 4th this year. I guess we can't top last year when we were able to spend it with Cary and Justin in London. Oh and that is where we met Tim (the face mask bachelor party guy). This year we enjoyed the Friday with James + family at the Pops in the Park. I am glad we made all 5 events this year and the fireworks were a splendid sent off. We expanded our typical fare to include some pizza for the finale. I think we both really enjoy our new pizza favorite, the Pizza Peel and the ants really enjoyed Nikki's pizza also. On Saturday we took in the Knights game. Nothing like baseball and more fireworks for the 4th. I really wish they would hurry up and move to the Uptown area. Nikki can attest to the fact that I would be there quite a few nights if they would move. Besides our 2 excursions, we had a nice and relaxing Holiday weekend.

• RIP - Steve McNair - I have just realised over the last few days how much I admired this guy. Too bad that it appears the circumstances will put a tarnish on seemingly a great guy.
• Congrats to the Cards All-Stars and they are still in 1st at the half way point of the season. A few tough games are left before the break, but hopefully they will take the majority of them.
• I was really hoping the Palin resignation was b/c she was under Federal investigations. I guess she is just here to stay for a bit longer.
• I had a great cooking week last week. First there was a sausage ragu that will be a keeper, then I tried stuffed Lamb loin wrapped in Prosciutto 2 different ways. One had an apricot stuffing and the other had rosemary wrapped in anchovies. Both were delicious. Maybe I need to take breaks from cooking more often for better results.
• No real news on the job front. I am rather busy in the mean time and still discussing options with a few suitors. I would like to position myself for an enjoyable, non-draining job and while I can, I will be keeping my options open. But as I stated last time, I am really enjoying what I am doing in the mean time.
• I can and can't believe Coop turns 7 this year. I have missed his last 2 birthdays, so I might have to do something special this year. Good thing he doesn't seem to mind much.
• I have been doing some spring cleaning and I found where Nikki and I have lived together for over 2 years now. I am glad she is such an easy going roomie. We have started discussing the details for the little ceremony in Costa Rica. I think it is about a 90% go right now. Sacrificing a few things this year in order to have a great wedding with friends and family will probably be a highlight that we will never be able to top.

And on that note, so long 'til next time.