Peeking Through The Blinds

I am thinking that today is a good day not to be a young sports fan in New England.  Last night, the Boston Red Sox managed to lose their 20th game in the month of September, and in the process, relinquished what had been a 9-game lead in the American League Wild-Card Race on September 2nd.  I can remember when I was almost 9 years old, and watched Bucky Dent's 3-run homer land in the net behind the Green Monster from the television in my family's apartment in Virginia. The result was a one-run loss for the Sox to the New York Yankees in a one-game playoff for the American League East Title during another season in which my favorite baseball team had a similar late-season meltdown.  I don't take these letdowns to heart as much as I did when I was younger, surely not to the same extent as I did before I started my coaching career, and became much more invested in the successes and letdowns of my own players.  The people that I feel for today are the kids who are old enough to understand how much of a lead the Red Sox had in the playoff race, and who had the misfortune of watching most of the games that the team played this season, only to witness this collapse.  Of course they have a support group, their parents and other family members who are there for them, nodding and saying, "yeah, been there, done that"... 

One of the reasons that I am posting again so soon is that Texas has been blessed with more rain, which has been a rarity this summer.  I usually sleep throughout the afternoon on Thursdays in preparation of working until almost 4 a.m., but an actual THUNDERSTORM kept me awake.  The apartment complex that I call home is set up much like some hotels that I have seen, where the rooms (apartments, in this case) are set up in a rectangle which all face a swimming pool in the center.  I moved aside the thick blanket that is hanging over my front window to keep out the sunlight, and looked through the blinds to check out the rain, and across the way, saw a couple who was sitting outside, enjoying the rare rain.  Well, the couple saw me, so after a few seconds of surveying the situation, I closed the blinds.  I hadn't done anything wrong, and I wasn't spying, etc..., but I started wondering if that couple would keep looking at my window, to see if I would show back up behind the blinds (something to occupy my mind as I tried to go back to sleep).  After about another half-hour of unsuccessfully trying to sleep, I looked out the window again, having completely forgot about the couple, but there they were, and again, they saw me as I scoped out the rain situation - question answsered...  :)  Have you ever done something that wasn't wrong, but that might have looked bad because of how someone else perceived the situation?  We can get some t-shirts printed up or something...  Have a good one!  ;)
 

Opening Day

Welcome to the first of what I hope will be many blog entries from Bikini Hill.  Bikini Hill is actually the nickname for a stretch of grass on the nearby university campus where many local townspeople, college students, and visitors enjoy the river that runs through campus (moreso when the state hasn't experienced the hottest summer of any state in any year since weather records have been kept).  The View From Bikini Hill was chosen as the name of my new blog after being the only prospective name that didn't already exist as somebody else's blog name, website, group, etc..., when I ran it through the internet search engines.  I plan on posting entries at least twice a week if my schedule allows me to do so, and more often if I have the opportunity.  My weekday posts will likely cover a wide variety of topics, while my weekend posts will more often be sports-related.  This is the first blog that I have ever set up, and I did not realize how much time would have to be dedicated to just that aspect of it.  For any of you who ever plan on starting your own blog, this site will allow you to do so for free, but be prepared to have a name for your blog, the time to set up the design for your blog page, the time to read the user agreements, etc, etc, etc...  I have spent over an hour on that part of the process, but it seems like the page is good to go...  The page allows you to leave comments, so please feel free to do so.  I promise to bring more in the future, but I didn't want someone stumbling along this page today, and leave thinking "that didn't have anything to do with bikinis, or hills, or even views"...  ;)  I hope that y'all have a great day, and I'll see ya this weekend, if not sooner...