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it may sound morbid, but whenever i ride the motorcycle i'm constantly thinking about death; and perhaps that's what's going to save me in the long run. i always try to remind myself of the consequences of a motorcycle crash, and those sobering thoughts keep me on my toes, because i don't want to be another statistic. i've been logging a lot of miles the past few weeks, traveling out to norwood, and i'm afraid of getting into a routine, because familiarity leads to carelessness, and i can't afford to be complacent when i ride. i'll be glad once this norwood gig is over, not because i don't like the work (job's fine, pays the bills), but because it means i won't have to ride down there anymore, vastly increasing my life expectancy. not that it really matters anyway, most accidents happen close to home, but somehow it makes me feel better taking little roads to local haunts versus long stretches of speeding on busy highways. once the weather gets colder (not for a few more months i hope), the motorcycle will go back into storage, and it's back to walking for me. at least when i fall while walking (it does happened!) i don't get my limbs torn off or my bones smashed into crumbs. despite all that, motorcycling is still great fun and everyone should try it!

i was hoping to return to norwood early this morning but i had difficulty waking up. i finally did make it there by 10:30am, dressed in a t-shirt, the weather was already 80 degrees. the office was nice and air-conditioned, and i had little idea that today would be one of the hottest days in boston this season. the work was fine, but there was one bug that seemed amazingly easy to solve but i couldn't find a solution. i looked everywhere online for a clue about what's going on but found nothing. by day's end everything was fixed except for that bug, and looks like another morning in norwood tomorrow, hoping just half a day because thunderstorms are rolling into the area. when i rode home it was so hot i felt like i was in a furnace, and especially on the roads, where sitting on a motorcycle i had zero shade, and could feel the intense sunlight just cooking my skin even darker. skin cancer skin cancer skin cancer! i stopped off at the foodmaster to buy some grapes, then went to star market to buy some salmon steaks for tonight's dinner.

i cleaned up the house a little bit (the place can get pretty cluttered when i don't have people over in a while) before riding out to trum field near ball square, where julie was playing in her softball league, some sort of playoff game where the winner would advance into the semi-finals. i could hear the "doink" of aluminum bats hitting balls as soon as i got there, and the cacophony of frantic shouting as players in the field relay instructions to one another. i stayed for just an inning, enough to watch julie pitch for her team and bat the ball for a base hit. it's weird, but other than professional athletes, i've always attributed sports playing to the realm of children. the idea of adults of every ilk getting together to play amateur baseball (softball) is fascinating enough that i'd read a book or watch a documentary about it. what drives these people? were they former athletes themselves, trying to achieve some former glory? you could definitely see some of those playing tonight, the swagger they have at the plate, the confidence when they make a catch, you know they've played before. others might come for the camaraderie, a chance to meet other people.

i went home before julie arrived and started preparing dinner. tonight's menu was some mexican rice along with sichuan-style toaster oven prepared salmon steaks with a side of chinese five-spice edumame beans. i was worried the fish wouldn't turn out very good (20 minutes in the toaster oven set at 400 degrees) but it seemed to come out just right. dinner wasn't anything fancy, but it hit the spot. we watched a classic red sox game in the making, a come-from-behind tie in the 9th with a win in 10th inning. a costly victory however, first trot nixon seemed like he twisted his back, and then matt clement gets hit in the head with a ball. schilling might have to return to starting pitching, while that new manny delcarmen kid could become a closer. we also discovered a new nickname for jason varitek, a rather unflattering photo that makes him look like he has no jaw, jason "neckface". it's good to be able to laugh in the face of tragedy.