Finally!

For the past week my internet connection has been terribly slow if not totally non-existent. Hence my extended absence. Believe me, this wasn't intentional.

So where do I even begin now that I'm back? Well I guess I'll pick up where I left off: I'm still in the process of breaking in my new dress shoes. As I write this now, I'm looking at a well-developed scab on my right heel, marking the precise spot where my new shoe is rubbing the heck out of my skin. The breaking-in process is coming along though, and I'm still very committed to breaking them in because I'm not quite rich enough to simply go out and buy another pair at the next half-size up.

Speaking of hurting feet, I've also kept up my playing basketball. I played again last Saturday, and it was the best that I've played in years. In the last game up to 16 points, I scored about 11 or 12 of our team's points. And this is saying quite a bit when you realize that, of the five guys on the other team, three of them were around 6'4". The guy guarding me was that tall, but he couldn't guard me since I simply had the quickest first step on the court and my ball-handling skills were the best that they've been this year.

Now that my cardiovascular endurance is slowly building up now, I decided to play just a couple nights ago, i.e. this past Wednesday. Before playing, though, I made the mistake of drinking a coffee toward the end of the workday. I realized while I was playing that I felt jumpy and nervous. It wasn't until later that night that I put two and two together and figured out that the caffeine must have still been coursing through my veins when I went to play. I had more than a few shots that just didn't feel smooth, they were either too strong or they'd rim in and out of the hoop. It was frustrating at the time since I'm definitely a scorer. In the last couple of games I focused a bit more on playing good defense and grabbing as many boards as possible.

But before ending this brief recap, let me say that my best move was probably one in which I got a dish right near the hoop, on the left-hand side, with two tall guys right there (one was probably 6'5" and the other was about 6'2" with disproportionately long arms); after catching the ball, I stepped forward on my pivot foot and jumped in the air, both guys defending as if I was gonna go straight up on the left-hand side, but I angled my body to jump up right under the rim, and I reached out with my right hand to the opposite side of the rim to toss up the ball for a reverse lay-up that went right in. It was a beautiful play, and I was even complimented on it after the game.

Before I push my luck too much with this internet connection, let me close here. I'll only mention in passing that I'm heading out of town tomorrow to visit my sister in Easton, Pennsylvania, to celebrate her birthday with her. She turns 28 on the 12th of May.

Thanks for hanging in there, folks! I'll be back again as soon as I can. So until then, I'll see ya when. Regards to Jen and hi to Ken. The Flyers are gonna beat the Pens.