A Night at Citi Field

Is, for Hopper and family, an exercise in ascetical mastery.

But it’s fun nonetheless.

We went last night and watched the Mets lose to the Rockies 2-0. It wasn’t a blowout; the Mets offense just didn’t show up and their pitchers made two mistakes. They threatened in the bottom of the eighth, with Yoenis singling, stealing second, and actually stealing third (though he was called back as the hitter fouled away).

Now I think I’m 1-6 lifetime at Citi Field.

Still, we enjoyed the night. There’s a nice party atmosphere at the park, and the girls had fun. Was hoping the Mets could stop their early season slide (they started out 11-1 but now have lost 5 in a row, being outscored 28-7 in the process). Like to get back to the stadium later in the season, hopefully with the Mets contending. That oughtta be even more fun.

We’ll see ….

The view from our seats (not as bad as it looks)

Yours truly and the Mrs.

The Big Apple that rises every time a Met hits a homer ... alas silent on this night

The whole Hopper clan

Inherent Illogic of Revolutionary Lingo

“Lying deep within the French Revolution were the seeds of its own destruction because the concepts of liberty, equality, and fraternity are mutually exclusive. A society can be formed around two of them, but never all three. Liberty and equality, if they are strictly observed, will obliterate fraternity; equality and fraternity must extinguish liberty; and fraternity and liberty can only come at the expense of equality. If extreme equality of outcome is the ultimate goal, as it was for the Jacobins, it will crush liberty and fraternity.”

- from Napoleon: A Life, by Andrew Roberts, Chapter 20, page 465

You, know, he’s right! I’ve heard that expression – liberté, égalité, fraternité – a hundred times, and I never really thought about it that way. It’s kinda like that expression “fast, cheap, or right – pick two!” that you see hanging in some repair shops. It’s the inherent illogic of revolutionary lingo.

I like that, and will have to file it under REVOLUTION, FRENCH in that vast cavernous storage repository located between the ears.

Settling Down into Routine

Ah! What a difference a week makes!

Somewhat settled down now into a comfortable routine. A lot of things happen at once, once I get into a routine, and these things tend to complement themselves. Win-wins, all around.

For example, I started walking every morning. 6:30 the dog starts scratching in his crate. Our new alarm clock. The wife or one of the little ones walks him, and I walk myself. About a mile every morning, so I’ve logged five this week. Gives me energy for the day, a quiet half-hour to think things over, kick in the half-century metabolism. So far I’ve lost 3.5 pounds, according to the scale. At this rate I’ll be at my fighting weight in about five weeks.

Now that I have energy and some time in the evening, I started lifting the weights. Slowly, one set the first night with light weight / low rep, two sets the second, two sets with greater reps the third, etc. Already starting to feel the body realign itself. Had some muscular aches and fatigue up until yesterday, but today I feel fine. Lifting always gives me added energy and confidence. It’s a wonder I don’t look like Arnold – but it does take commitment, and without that energy, I don’t always do it consistently.

I’ve made significant headway into my Napoleon bio (490 pages of 810) as well as the book on the Orthodox Church (just passed the halfway mark of 340 pages). Not sure what to read next, but I have a while, as I don’t think I’ll finish them both until the end of the month. Most likely some fiction – Silverberg or Dostoevsky or one of the slim trashy horror novels I’ve accumulated, or maybe a revisit of Tolkien. And speaking of the Orthodox Church, I have a somewhat lengthy semi-planned post on that subject. Maybe Monday, maybe Tuesday.

Did some significant bonding with my girls this week. Watched Death Trap with Little One and Killer Klowns from Outer Space with Patch. Made them dinner every night, installed air conditioners in their rooms (we go from snow right to 80 degrees here in North Jersey), hit the library and the grocery store with my little and not-so-little helpers. It’s fun, and I missed it these past couple of months.

Busy weekend on deck. We go to see the Mets play the Rockies at Citi Field tomorrow night. Will have a recap and some pics; hopefully the Mets can right their weeklong nosedive; we’ll see. And Sunday we’re visiting my parents for an early Mother’s Day gathering. I’m gonna try to eke out some time to write and get some posts on deck. Also, to read, to keep walking and working out, to keep my honey-do list fairly short, and to enjoy spending time with my family.