Memorial Day

Our 10u girls went to a tournament in Clairemont, and went 1win, and 2Loses in pool play, to advance to bracket play. They played the number 1 seed ( Lakeside) in the 1st round, and was winning 1 - 0 until the last inning. Lakeside came back to win 2-1 on a last minute play to advance, and eliminate our 10u team. We learned a lot about stratagies of other teams, and what we need to work on.
"S" had some great catches, and made some good plays. She hit the ball when she was up to bat, but it was always to someone for an out. "We'll get em next time kid."

"S" and I also went riding to the mountains by Lake Morena about an hour outside of San Diego. The weather was perfect 71 degrees, and we found our way to some difficult trails, I wanted to check them out before letting Sydney ride on them, but every time I turned around, she was keeping right up with me. Here are some pictures. The only time I could stop and take pictures, is when the trail was mellow enough that I could pull over. Most the trails were so rocky and windy that these pictures don't do it justice.








Notice Lake Morena in the background. Also you can see what fire has done to the landscape










Looking up at S from half way down. This rock was huge, a couple hundred feet long, and wide, The picture doesn't capture how stepp it was, but it was tricky, and fun.














This picture is about half way down the rock, looking down to our little trail. Negotiating the slopping rock was a new expieriance for the both of us, and S handled it well.

Started working on the streetbike

I got tired of seeing all the rust and corrosion on my streetbike ( Suzuki GS500).
So I removed everything down to the frame. Took the frame and wheels to get powder coated. The frame and wheels will be semigloss black, and gloss black.
I had to strip off the paint on the tank, and the plastic bodywork. It took a lot of sanding. I also Took the shock apart, and sanded, and painted the shock body, and spring.
I will keep the blog updated with progress reports, but here is some pictures for those of you who are having anticipation anxiety:
The before picture












The shock before,














The shock after,















Now, the tank partialy done,















And completely stripped:

Visit to Ohio

K left for Ohio. Brandon is Graduating after 7 years of High school.... just kidding.
He graduated on time, and is probably going to Lake Erie College.
K is meeting her parents who flew out on the same flight.
The girls and I are managing just fine. S and I will be attending a Softball tournament all weekend. A will go to the movies, and a birthday party. Then we will try to get her some rest.

!!!!!!We're going to Nattionals!!!!!!!

We had two good weekends in a row for 'A's travel team " San Diego Renegades"

This weekend they had a tournament in Tucson that was a National Qualifier. You had to win it all, but if you did, you get to go to the nationals in Sacramento, CA. The girls went 7 - 0 to win it all. They defeated the "OC WildCats, ( who beat TNL, to advance)They played so well.
I believe there was only two errors the whole weekend. The Renegades outscored their opponents 44 - 4, on Sunday.
'A' got to bat only a couple of times( struck out, and grounded out), and did some base running. I think she played the outfield once or twice.

Qualifying this early in the year means less tournaments, and travel that we would had to do. It will cut our cost of trying to qualify this year considerable.
Congratulations to the Team, Coaches, and Parents. We are very proud of you.

From the Renegades website"San Diego Renegades 12U (Margulies) Qualify For 2007 USA-ASA Junior Olympic Nationals: The San Diego Renegades 12U (Margulies) are Champions of the Region 13 National Qualifier Tournament, held in Tucson, Arizona on May 5-6. The championship gives the Renegades a berth to the USA-ASA Junior Olympic 12U National Tournament in Roseville, CA from July 29-August 5, 2007. The Renegades won the Region 13 Qualifier Championship playing in a tournament field of 24 teams from Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. The Renegades finished with a perfect record of 7-0 and outscored their opponents 71-7. Congratulations Renegades! -- On To Nationals!"

last weekend in April

Pretty boring weekend.
I pulled my truck in, and replaced the front brake calipers, with rebuilds. Brake fluid everywhere. It wasn't too bad, I drove it to work today, and it actually stopped.
We watched the SDSU girls play softball against Colorado State. SDSU won. Those girls are bad asses. Throwing 67-70mph from 40ft. There is not much time to react. I would say you have to plan on swinging at everything, and stopping if it is not a good pitch. Instead of the opposite ( waiting to see if it is a good pitch before you start your swing).
Amber was in a tournament in Palm Springs for her 12u travel softball team. They went undefeated, and took 1st place.
It is starting to heat up out here. it was 94deg out where Amber was playing. It was about 80 in San Diego.

I just got a used laptop this weekend, and I am trying to set it up wirelessly at the house. So I bought a wireless router, and experimented yesterday. After 2 hrs., and lots of help from the neighbors kid ( 27 yr. old kid) I found out that the wireless card in the computer is faulty. Yeah! another purchase needed. I need to by a new wireless card for the laptop. You see how important this is now, right?

We are moving into the picks for Allstars. Sydney will make it on one of two teams.... probably the better team.
Amber is in travel ball, and is not elligable for Allstars. I think she is a little sad about that, but she is excited about being on a team that could go to nationals.
Talk to you all soon