Since I had a few hours before I start work for the day today, I thought I'd update you all on how I'm doing and of course, update you on the bet that I have with *that Yankee fan*.

*smiling from ear to ear*

With that grin that you're seeing, yes you're thinking right, I won that bet... When I was in Des Moines on a business trip last weekend, the Yankees lost their 51st game on Friday night and I learned about it on Saturday morning. Of course, that means what? I won that bet! Out of respect to the original people involved, the Twins fan and I won that bet! When I came back home, I took every opportunity to remind the Yankee fan that I won, now the fan's telling me to wait til the end of the season?!? No problem, here I am counting down the days til the end of the season... only 31 more days... ahh - I can wait.

Like I said in my previous post, the Jays have absolutely no hope of winning anything this year, except to go out with some dignity with an above .500 winning record, I hope! Just a week ago, there was a controversy in Toronto with the manager going off on Ted Lilly, the pitcher. Of course, whatever happened in the tunnel to the locker room may be all hearsay, it wasn't on the cameras so I can't believe the rumors that the manager had a bloody nose or what not. Poor management? Perhaps. But everyone is human, they all have emotions. Lilly might have been fired up by being pulled out so early when he thought he was doing fine, and the manager may have been fired up by Lilly being stubborn in front of all of the fans in attendance plus with it being on television (in Canada that is), he might have been berating Lilly in his mind for doing this in front of millions of people (literally), and one thing led to another. They're both human with emotions. To tell someone that they can't express their anger is to tell them that they can't be human. That's illogical. But the baseball fans here in Sioux Falls have been giving me those nudges... "Toronto manager, what's up with that?" or "Toronto really likes to beat up their players?" blah blah - whatever. Like I just said - it's them being human.

Now... what's up with the AL East? Ahh - don't ask... the Yankees have a very BIG and comfortable lead in the AL East, so I wouldn't be surprised if the Yankees will be clinching the AL East within the next few weeks. I just hope they don't clinch it on September 18th that's when I'm planning on watching the Blue Jays AND the Yankees at Rogers Center in Toronto when I'm there. I would never live that one down. *smiles* The Red Sox just lost some players, Ortiz (to heart palpations), hope he's all right there and Ramirez with a knee injury to name a few.

Speaking of injuries, you would hate to see anyone injured, but it's not a perfect world that we live in, these things happen, and if your team benefits from injuries to another team, in a way you do feel like it was a big help, but another part of you goes out to those injured players. Conflicting emotions - of course, another part of human nature! Ahh - did any one of you see the beaning that the Seattle Mariner pitcher took off the head off the bat of Vladimir Guerrero of the Angels? That had to hurt, but the latest report is that the pitcher, Soriano, is doing okay, just some residual headaches. I wouldn't blame him for the headaches, after that hit he took off the back of his right ear! But am glad he's okay.

Enough about baseball - because once you get me started, I would not know how to stop!

Shifting to an update about MOI now - nothing much to tell really - ever since the completion of the SFAD/MAAD softball tournament, I've been keeping a low profile, catching up on movies, catching up on my sleep (which is now a problem as I'm getting up so early in the mornings now!), staying at home a lot more now, not going anywhere much except for that Des Moines business trip. However I have one thing I'm looking forward to - my trip back East, yes, my second one in less than 6 months. This one is for my uncle's wedding in Rochester (actually, Pittsford - a suburb of Rochester), but after this wedding, I'm staying in Rochester for one week, catching up with old friends and old faces. This is a long overdue vacation for me, one that I so deserve! Then watching the Toronto Blue Jays and the Yankees at Rogers Centre in Toronto (like I already mentioned), I'm going to refrain from going on with more baseball tidbits *slapping myself on the wrists* - then I'll be back on the 19th after a 12 day stay in Rochester/Toronto. Oh oh yeah, I've also been doing a lot of reading - catching up on some books, re-reading some books that I haven't read in years, refreshing my memory on those novels, and visiting the library - free books me no complain! I also have this book that a friend of mine lent to me, I need to start reading that soon (I did start, but put it away when I got a book from the library) I just need to pick it up again. For some of you who didn't know, I'm quite the bookworm. Always have been ever since I was little, but I noticed that ever since I went off to college, I went through this phase where I wasn't much of a reader - I've had enough books to read with all of the required readings! :) Once college was over, I started again, but not as strong as it is now, it took me a couple of years to get myself back to my 'prime' bookworm form. :)

My roommate is more of the bookworm than I am. She has a LOT of books, she is a frequent shopper at Amazon.com - they should thank her for helping with their success! (at least in part!) *winks*

Speaking of books, I'm going to post this, and then jump on the couch and read this book that I'm in the middle of. It's an older book, but it's one that I'm re-reading - Body of Evidence by Patricia Cornwell.

*thinking to myself: "june, shut up!"* :)

Shutting up now...

'Til next time...

-j