The NFL Season has Begun!

Football began in earnest this weekend (except for the Thursday night game which generally sucks). My Las Vegas Oakland Raiders lost in the late Monday night game. Expect them to go 4-12 this season. Chucky!

My fantasy team (aka D Minus) scored 135 points...and lost. Rough. Couple of different offensive players from my bench inserted and I might've won. Oh, well...week one.

A Lesson In Hiking

SoulSlam likes to hike in the outdoors sometimes. It's nice to be outside, especially in the warm weather months. I will confess, I am a novice hiker I guess. I just hit the local trails sometimes.

So last Thursday, I decided to hike. It was a cardio day and I didn't really feel like being inside at the gym. So after work I headed to the High Mountain Preserve which is coincidentally near my gym. The goal was to hike the red to yellow to red (which I had never done.

So some particulars: it was about 87 degrees this night, and I started out about 6:15pm. I generally wear a homemade rucksack that is home to duct-taped bricks for additional weight (all the better to burn calories). For this hike I decided to err on the side of caution and remove two bricks and hike with only a couple, so I'm guessing I was wearing about 12-15 lbs. I also brought along two bottles of water. Away I go.

Red trail is pretty flat and easy, takes about a half mile I guess to cross yellow trail, which ascends to "summit". Now never hiking here, and only having small trail map, was probably my first mistake. Using the MapMyWalk app, I clocked the first mile at about 22 minutes. Better part of valor and I would have turned around since my goal was to hike for an hour. But noooooooo....

Anyway, I found the summit. It was a pretty steep, very rocky trail up to a meadow. Nice up there. But it's after 7:00pm so I gotta go. Well the backside of yellow was marked not so well IMO. I lost trail a couple of times and had to backtrack. Each time ramping up the panic in my head as I figured that darkness was getting closer and closer. Had to find red trail to get back...which became a problem when that became elusive. Told myself "don't panic" a couple of times, as well as "you're effed!".

At about 7:25pm I got my bearings and trails correct...but under the canopy of trees it's now pretty dark in the woods. Now High Mountain is a pretty rocky, ankle flipping place. So walking in dark takes patience and careful execution. the iPhone flashlight was a lifesaver here. Anyway with red trail located it was just a long walk out (about 2.5mi I assume). Problem now became cramping in the calves. Ouch! Last mile was pretty exciting. Walking like one of the soldiers in the March of the Wooden Soldiers...

So at about 8:20pm I emerged from the woods to the parking lot. A little shaky no doubt. Absolutely drenched. My goal of burning calories aided by the 6.5mi hike, 15 lbs on my back and sheer panic of being lost in woods. Drove home, showered, waddled around on creaky wheels the rest of the evening.

Lesson: HIKE IN THE DAYLIGHT STUPID.

All Over But The Shouting

Summer that is...though not technically. see, 'round these parts it's the day after Labor Day...and Labor Day is the end of traditional summer. We still have about three weeks of calendar summer though...and it's gonna be in the 90's here for a few days. So it's still kinda summer. And since SoulSlam doesn't have to attend school anymore, I rule. Funny thing is, woke up this morning with the "new school year" feeling.

OSSS is at TCNJ starting his junior year. Wow. YSSS is a senior in HS, and his HS allows him to attend the County College of Morris for senior year, killing some birds with one stone. He's got class (for now) on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday so that's pretty sweet. He also has to complete an internship for school, which he is in the midst of. Good boy.

September Blues.

Countdown to Vacation

Bound For Philly

Manana. Going to see the Red Sox @ Phillies at Citizen's Bank Park. Doing the math, the last time we was there was for OSSS's 9th birthday, which means 11 years ago. Mets lost to Phils that day. Mike Pelfrey pitched. Here's the Box Score. Victorino had a big day.

Anyways we head down in the afternoon for the game then right back. About 2 hours or so one way. Not bad. Certainly no Fenway up and back.

Then it's some MiLB baseball on vacation. Pensacola Blue Wahoos and Mobile BayBears. Labor Day Weekend gonna see Trenton Thunder. What I can't believe is summer 2018 is almost over. Wow.

When Your Teams Season Is Over

So we are smack dab in the beginning of August. According to the calendar we have 7+ weeks left of regular season MLB. SoulSlam's team, the NEW YORK METS are currently 18 games BELOW .500, with a tremendous record of 47-65. That means 50 games left to go. On the current pace, that puts the team at a finishing record of 68-94. I guess you could whistle in the dark that they wan't lose 100 games.

And so I say this to all the rose-colored Mets fans who, in April, were predicting a WS appearance: I TOLD YOU SO DOPES!

So with that in mind, what's a fan to do? Well, SoulSlam does watch other teams, so my baseball needs are provided a fix. Over the next two+ weeks we will attend a Red Sox-Phillies game in Philadelphia (been 10 years since we've been to Citizen's Bank Ballpark), and we will see at least one, maybe two MiLB games while on vacation. Definitely driving to Mobile for a BayBears game (Angels AA) and maybe checking out the Pensacola Blue Wahoos (Reds AA), though we've been there before. As for the rest of season, I'm sure at least I and YSSS will attend another game or two at Citifield. I'm also tempted to go see the Yankees at the New Yankee Stadium. Haven't been there yet, but my sons have. So I may cross that one off the list.

The August Post #1

Wow, I've not been here in a few weeks. You know what August means!?

VACATION!!!

But that's in 9 days. So all we have right now is work and heat, with daily trips to the gym mixed in.