justin plays ball

learning to fly

We found a sparrow fledgling lounging in the lawn. Zoe thought it was great to have found a lounging buddy. Seeing a bird in the lawn, my thoughts were a little different. I was concerned that I might have to perform some sort of animal rescue ranger act.

According to the National Audubon Society resources for wildlife rehabilitation and rescue, if the bird does not appear injured or distraught, it is possible that it has finished up its nestling education and moved on to its ground level education. Upon graduation, the fledgling will have an important skill required to make it as an adult bird - flight.

fun in the sun

 

go dog go

bocce ball

We decided to try out a new sport, Bocce Ball. I figured if hearing-impaired, vision-impaired, old men can do it, then so can I. I also figured that if I set my standards low, then I have a better chance of success. Besides, the old men make it look like so much fun.

Since I have never stepped onto a Bocce Ball court, I never understood how fast the court rolled. I always pictured something similar to lawn jarts, except with bocce balls. I was completely wrong.

To start off the game, I threw the pallino, the smaller ball, into the air with a lot of determination and very little technique. It loudly ricocheted off of the side and back walls with a vengeance. Come to think of it, my first throw looked very similar to one of my miniature golf shots, where the pallino could have easily been the golf ball desperately trying to miss the Indian's falling hatchet. That's when I blamed my throw on the poor conditions of the artificial court.

As it turns out, the artificial court was closer to what tournament conditions should be than a lawn jart court. ( Click here to see how to make your own bocce court.)

After tweaking my miniature golf inspired technique, I came to enjoy the game. It was fun and relatively effortless. Bocce definitely brought out the old man in me.

hideto's new ride

wrigley field up close and personal

do i feel lucky?

Inspired by my Mafia video game, I decided that it was time to learn how to shoot a gun along with a little gun etiquette. We headed out to the range to test my shot. In particular, I was looking to test my shot with the 45, since that is my mafia guy, I mean, 'property manager's' weapon of choice.

I started out with a smaller, film noir revolver and worked my way up to the .45. The .45 was surprisingly a lot heavier than I thought it would be, and there was more kick to the gun than I had expected. A few things that do not translate directly into video games.

And shockingly enough, one of the trickier parts was figuring out how many shots I took before I had to reload the magazine. I was concentrating on other aspects of shooting that counting them seemed non-essential. Then I thought about one particular time when it would be essential to know exactly how many shots have been fired . . . I can now fully understand Dirty Harry's line, 'Do I feel lucky?'