As I alluded to in the previous post, Sarah had her All-Star soccer tournament this weekend. Out of three games, her team lost two. Which isn’t all that surprising considering they’ve had about four practices together. Individually they might be good, but soccer is a team sport and you can’t gel as a team with only four practices. But this morning’s game (the third one) the team played well. They won 2-0 and Sarah scored one of those goals.

But I digress in what I really wanted to talk about.

I’ll admit, I’m a bit of a grammar Nazi. Not that I’m perfect; I’ve made stupid mistakes as I’m sure many of you have, and I’d be completely unsurprised if there weren’t a couple in this post (double negative!). But I have a healthy respect for the language, and it drives me insane when I see ‘your’ or ‘there’ instead of ‘you’re’ or ‘their’. And it’s scary because I’m seeing college-aged kids who don’t seem to know the difference as well.

There’s another word that’s been driving me nuts in the way it’s being used lately, especially now that I coach soccer; the word is ‘verses’. The girls all seem to think that saying “who are we versing today” is acceptable. I’m constantly correcting them. And it was really driven home when I overheard one of the other parents ask the All-Star coach who the team was ‘versing’. The way she said it sounded almost mocking, as if she was fully aware that she was using it completely wrong (and I really hope she was). But how long before she stops mocking herself and using it naturally? I understand language is fluid and dynamic and is constantly evolving, but this is driving me up the wall.

Why do I let it bother me so much? Good question.

If any of my neighbors looked out their windows around supper time last night, they might have seen my wife leaving my house...in the back of a cop car.

Yes, you heard me right. My wife was taken away in the back seat of a county sheriff's cruiser.

And that's about as dramatic as I can make it. No, she wasn't being arrested or anything like that. No spousal abuse, no domestic disturbance, and no, she didn't short circuit after having finally finished her mid-term and term paper. Let me tell you the story...

I'm going to have to get used to writing in a journal/blog again. I kinda fell off of writing long entries like I used to, as it seemed the LiveJournal just wasn't really the place for it all. I currently have my own account, but I've always seen LJ as more of a "see what I've got" as opposed to "here's what's going on in my life" type of stage. There are several others who use it to spill out the details of their life, and that's fine. I will be keeping it, but I think just for the ability to post in other's journals, as well as placing the odd link now and then.

Oh, and I like my LJ Icon, so I have to keep that too.

I'm still working on getting the site to look the way I want, as well as getting used to pMachine as a journaling tool. Then there's the website I'm trying to do for my friend Marcia's work. And my other website, Harleyroads (which is currently in the garage for a tune up, and has been for months now. How embarrassing...). I also want to try my hand at "modding"...I've been surfing the Bit-Tech forums for weeks now, and want to get my hands dirty.

And speaking of getting my hands dirty, every time I watch American Chopper, I want to go weld/grind/build/paint/throw stuff around. I need a hobby that doesn't involve computers, and something that requires using a welding torch sounds like good fun to me!

The previously mentioned jackasses actually came forward and apologized to the neighbor, gave her money, and helped clean up. Well, 2 of the 7 did. I'm glad at least that they took responsibilities for their own actions; that's a rare thing these days...

I'm supposed to be QA testing our latest client build...I just can't. It's such a gorgeous day out, that I want to go riding, do some work around the house, do anything but work on the computer. And that says something...not only not wanting to work on the computer, but work around the house...I hate house maintenance stuff, but I feel like getting out and cleaning flower beds, or something.

Weird.

Hopefully, with Gail being home during the summer, she'll get to get out and do some of that stuff. She at least likes it. Me, I just view it as a chore. One which I usually have to spend money on. I don't have any money as it is. It never seems like we have enough money. They say that the key to happiness isn't all about money, and I agree, for the most part. A little bit more money sure would help though!

Our neighbor across the street had her house vandalized sometime last night. When I first peeked out, I thought it had just been TP'd. It was much more than that, however. The idiots who did this smeared Crisco on the door and front steps, stuck sanitary napkins with ketchup smeared on them all over the garage, poured Fruit Loops in the lawn, threw tampons all over the place, cut up dead fish and threw them everywhere, and pulled up her recently planted flowers and put them in the mailbox.

As a kid, I did my share of TP'ing. But this went way beyond a prank. Obviously, this is the work of some kids, and apparently they have a bone to pick with one of her kids. They just don't understand that it's not the kid they're "getting back" at, but it's the parents who suffer. She might have to replace the garage door because of this idiocy. She did call the cops and file a report, and they have an idea of who it might be, but proving it will be a whole other story.

To top this all off, our neighbor is getting married on Saturday and is expecting a bevy of relatives, including her soon to be Mother-in-law. She doesn't need this kind of crap.

Gail called and we were talking about it. I told her to go buy her some new flowers, and get them planted for her. Hopefully that'll cheer her up.

Jackasses. I hope they get caught.