Merecats Softball 2006-2007 Champions!

I never really got around to blogging about this last weekend so I thought I'd take the time to do so today. Last Friday night was the Championship/Playoff night in the Point Loma YMCA Softball League. Flor and I have been playing softball every Friday night for the past 3 months or so and it's been a lot of fun, much more fun than I ever expected.

Over the course of the season Flor became the second baseman for our team and I became the first baseman. All those many games in little league at first came back to me quickly. Anyway we weren't an amazing team but we ended up winning a stepladder playoffs last Friday to take home the championship. We won! We won 3 games in a row in fact to take the championship! The last game was crazy, we ended up almost not even playing it because the team we were playing against was not fun to play. They were like moron kids on steroids and had very abrasive attitudes. Not to mention they all were on steroids and thought they were entitled to not just win every game but beat up on the other team too.

We ended up playing them and going into the last inning we were down 10-4. Needless to say we scored 7 runs to take an 11-10 lead and we sealed the deal with a 1-2-3 inning for the win. Flor made the game ending catch a soft hooking line drive to second base that was deemed "The Catch". Man that was fun... and tiring. Flor and I were both sore for a few days after the 3 1/2 hour softball marathon. A couple pictures from our softball nights are featured below. Maybe I can get a few more better quality pictures and add them to my gallery at a later date but until then these are the best I've got.

The rest of the gallery can be found here.

2007 - Merecats Softball

Blessed Hero Economists

OK so my girl friend lost her purse today and was going to cancel all of her cards and accounts and phone plans and not be able to swear in as a new American citizen like she intended to do tomorrow morning. I had to buy her gas and lunch because she had no access to money and the world was crumbling but all this was before a savior came into her life. Of course who would that savior be? Not a super hero, not a burly manly-man, not Mr. Rico Suave, not a Christian Evangelist, not even an ethics professor. It was an economist. You wouldn't have expected it unless your were really thinking clearly. Economists save the world every day already! :) Thankfully the Prof. James D. Hamilton of UCSD's Department of Economics stepped in to save the day. he found the purse and has returned it swiftly and safely to the woman I love. Thank you James!

Health, Cholesterol, and a new topic... longevity

When I was kid I always wanted to live to 100. I think the spark of interest was lit by an old lady in our church. I was very young, maybe 3 or so and there was this old lady in our church named Penny. she was 99 when she died but while she was still alive she fascinated me and I became convinced I was going to live old like her, even older than her! Twenty-some-odd years later nothing's really changed much. I'm still convinced that I'm going to live a long time but I've never really consciously attempted to live extra healthily in attempts to make sure I live long. Recently however the taught has been cropping up from time to time about what I can do to ensure a long lifespan and I'm beginning to think about doing what I can.

I've read in the past 2 months from about four different sources that oral hygiene is significant for lifelong health and not just that of your teeth and gums. Apparently the cleaner your teeth and gums are the smaller the chances of heart diseases and such. Anyway, I note this in particular without specifics because I've been in a dentist visiting period as of late as I have a couple cavities that I'm getting filled. Needless to say I've been much more diligent in my brushing, flossing and hope that I can remain as diligent in the future.

All of this is to say that I think I'm going to continue being interested in the concept of longevity or increasing ones lifespan and I will probably chronicle some of the various things that I find here in this blog.

Not to long ago I was looking for lists of medical things to be done to 20-something guys and found some decent stuff but since then I haven't seen the doctor so I will soon be making an appointment for a general checkup. According to the list I should be doing dental exams, which I'm currently doing, and should know my blood pressure, which is currently a healthy 120 over 80 but I should also know my cholesterol levels so maybe I'll ask my doctor to test those for me on my first visit just to know where I stand. According to consensus I should have over 60mg/dL HDL, low would be less than 40mg/dL; less than 100mg/dL LDL, high would be 160-190mg/dL; for a total of less than 200mg/dL cholesterol. Lastly Triglycerides should be less than 150mg/dL while high levels would be higher than 200mg/dL.

I guess once I get to the doctor I'll see where I stand. After all I probably won't live past 100 years of age if I don't make sure I'm safe when it comes to my cholesterol levels.

Another funny video from my past...

OK, so I don't know how I missed it but my good friend Aaron posted yest another NGS Fact Finding Mission a few weeks ago and it slipped right passed me until today. This video happens to be on Mother's Day 2005... unfortunately my mom only gets a cameo appearance as does my dad and my other friend AJ but we all ate at a Japanese grill. Fun times.