My Niece Turned 1 Last Sunday...

Nice smiley shot of my baby sis with lil Mia kissin' her new rubber ducky!

Mia wasn't too sure about her new rocking moose at first... but she got the hang of it later!

Then it was time for cake! Which apparently is only okay with utensils! (Jodie should be so happy her baby wanted to stay nice & clean!)

Even George the kitty got into the festivities!

Pics from the ranch this weekend...

Zito’s got a new bag!

After arriving to his first Spring Training session with the Giants, Barry Zito made three rather goofy moves on just his first day. He arrived to the clubhouse & his new locker (2 away from Bondsy’s with an empty one in between) carrying his usual Oakland A’s bag. Seems to me the highest paid pitcher in all of baseball can easily afford a new gear bag, so I’m just guessing that was his not-so-subtle way of showing his respect for his old club. I like to think he’s that cool in my head.

But things get funnier still… While being interviewed, someone asked him if he realized he was sitting in Bondsy’s chair. He didn’t, of course, & while he didn’t stress about it, he did acknowledg that the other Barry probably would & got up to find the chair with his name on it. Bondsy’s going from 5 to 1 lockers this season & losing his paid entourage he normally has tagging along with him so I’m dying of curiosity here wondering how he’s going to react having Zito so close to him all season (or at least til he breaks hanks record & retires.) I’m guessing it’ll be like having a cool little kid always around that everyone but you completely adores. He won’t be able to find a reason to hate him, but I betcha he won’t been too friendly either.

Then things got real screwy. Zito took to the mound for his first throwing session pulling a camera on a tripod! He set that up then measured out his new, longer step. Then he started to throw and all around everyone was asking each other “What the H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks was that?”

His new pitch took off way faster, way harsher, & um, kinda dorkier too. He pushed off hard & his legs looked really weird. You just gotta see this new toss for yourself. It’s so very, very different. Much like Zito himself.

Zito‘s been quoted as saying he put on 10 lbs. of muscle into his legs this Winter, which shows in the funky lil jumpy-thingy he did to start his push off. Then he pushed it all the way through delivery without a pause. It kinda looks awkward, but the ball comes off sharply.

The G’s bossmen were the most surprised. He’d had told them he’d done some tinkering, but this was the first they’ve seen to hint that there’d been a major change. The camera pretty much threw them for a pretty good loop too: “I guess you haven’t seen that too much, have you, Bruce?”

“Not only not too often,” Bochy said, “I’ve never seen that.”

“Tiger changed his swing a couple times when he was at the top of his game,” Zito said. “If he can pull it off…” (Let's just not mention to Sabean that it took Tiger a year & a half to get back on track after that adjustment k?)

Of course, maybe Zito's just messing around with them since they did have him show up on Wednesday, just after he just found a possible new Valentine… (So far the only confirmed rumor is that he & Miss Duff were seen leaving a trendy Hollywood club together a couple weeks ago, but she is quite the lil cutie!)

If the Giants didn’t make sure he had a new gear bag by the end of the day, I’m sure his new lady could set him up with a lil something from her brand line:

Thanks to GiantsFan9 for the info thats always more interesting that the guys getting paid to write come up with...

Valentine's Day is Sooooo Easy Guys!

Today is the day before Valentine's Day... & all my girlfriends seem to be having similar worries. It seems many of today’s significant others seem to think it’s completely okay to blow Valentine’s off. Where on earth would they get this idea?

Even my own roommates (2 of which are in committed relationships) cite that it’s a made up, Hallmark & monetary holiday. This tells me that they KNOW something is expected of them but they really couldn’t care less. Or they do care, but they’re broke & ashamed so they’re taking the “Valentine’s Day Sucks” route to get out of their own unimaginative mistake of not planning anything earlier. The simple fact that this is a hallmark Holiday is exactly how you silly boys can save yourselves. Look at these ideas that are everywhere you look right now!

Us ladies are bombarded with so many outrageous jewelry ads that we’ve honestly believe it would be nice to receive any kind of token from a guy to show he cares. Seriously, how hard could in be to send a sweet egreeting or stop by the mini mart & pick up some ice cream & a teddy bear holding a silly heart on your way home from work? Wanna make it extra special? Send flowers to her work, or better yet, make a special trip & deliver them yourself!
And if you’re really stressed about the money, don’t spend a dime. Start the day by waking her with a fantastic foot massage or breakfast in bed.

It’s not about what it costs you; it’s about what you put into it that counts. The sweeter you are, the better your chances are that your sweetie will give you the kind of Valentine’s Night you boys know you’re secretly hoping for… Good luck in love kiddies.

Sharks-4 Ducks-7 2/6/07

My buddy Roy hooked me up with some sweet Ducks tickets for Tuesday's game in San Jose. He's a loyal Sharks fan & I think a part of him suffered greatly to have to give up four of his season tickets to a Duck girl. But he's a loyal friend too, so I totally scored!

Now this time of year my household is semi-dominated by hockey so I figured my boy roomies would jump at the chance to go with me. And they kinda did, all except Kev who a Redwings fan & never really excited about anything unless he's at least a 6 pack deep. Only one of my roomies is actually a Sharks fan (you'll see a pic of him pouting below) & then Kenny a Penguins boy. Kev ended up flaking the morning of the game so it ended up with just 3 of us & a dude B-Rad works with:

The seats were fairly fantastic. I can tell there was some time spent picking the right spot cause if I look straight ahead, my seat is right at the Sharks goal line. As they’re singing the National Anthem, I make a mental note that I haven’t seen a single other Duck fan anywhere in the building. And there must be close to 20,000 people here – It’s an obvious sellout! This could get interesting… Yay! Game on!

Almost immediately the Ducks were on the board. Which is about the moment when I realized that I was jumping up & downing & celebrating... completely alone. The place was dead silent. People seemed to be a tad annoyed in my section that I was so happy & were not timid about letting me know this. I got to repeat this experience several times, much to their dismay. I even had a lil 4 year old kid tell me to sit down! I did at this point hear a distinct Duck call to my left and another cheering-like-crazy fan way down to my right.

Well, I could go on with the details of how much the Ducks dominated the Sharks in the first two periods, but lets just let these shots showing the scoreboard do the talking:

I'm not actually sure that Kenny was really smiling so big because My Duckies were kicking ass or if it was the generous level of talent present:

The ladies did not impress B-Rad at all. He was deep into a pout even though IMHO he should be grateful it wasn't a shutout at this point! He kept giving me the bird so I took the opportunity to demonstrate the human scoreboard:

During the intermission I did meet another Ducks fan - all clad in his crisp new black & gold Duck jersey & just plain old hotness. He was even a tad flirty! Too bad I didn't have my camera out there!

Did I mention the great seats? Check out the perfect view:

Chris Pronger is huge up close! Here's another score update for ya.

The Sharks put up a rather impressive fight in the last 10 minutes or so. And in my defense I barely celebrated the Ducks goal on the empty net near the end! Here's a shot close to then:

After we got outside I found another Ducks fan! He of course wasn't nearly as hot as Mr. New Duck Jersey Guy, but I did have my camera this time! (Poor kid musta thought I was a freak!)
Super long drive home with mostly snoring boys. I had to share this interesting find from a gas station though. See the red on the door?

I had to zoom to get up close enough for you too see it:



That's right - No Robbery Zone!
Someone shoulda told the Ducks that before they destroyed Toskala that night!