The vacation to Sarasota was a lot of fun. I got to hang out with my family and eat way too much food. We did some snorkeling at Venice Beach, rides at the Busch Gardens water park, horseshoes, shuffleboard, and golf, and lots of card playing. I managed not to get too sunburned so that was a definite plus. Lots of good Amish-style cooking, but we also included some barbeque and a Chinese buffet.
The Carolina Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup, and it was fun to root the home team to victory. Nailbiting to the end and a great series. I would have liked to see Brind'Amour get the Conn Smythe, but I couldn't argue with the choice of Cam Ward.
I did a lot of reading this trip and I'll be sure to update my reading page soon.
Tonight, I am going looking for that snake again. It was able to escape Elise this week, but I plan on redoubling my efforts!

Vacation starts today and continues until next Sunday. I'm looking forward to a fun trip with family, food, the beach, golf, water park, and anything else that comes our way!

The snake returned! I have got to figure out a deterrent before he comes and eats all of my frogs and fish!

We won 10-8 tonight, keeping our winning streak alive. I struggled mightily at the plate, 0-4 plus a sacrifice fly. Hopefully that improves before the next game!

I played in a fun softball game last night. Interesting thing was that I reached base five times on five at-bats and never got past second base. At least we won!

When I took my dogs out for the final bathroom break of the night, I took the flashlight out with me so I could look for frogs in our little fish pond. I saw a different, unexpected and unwelcome reptile instead -- a snake! Nearly three feet long, it was slithering among the submersed plants, no doubt looking for a tasty snack. With a surplus of fish and frog eggs in the water, I wanted this predator out! It took about ten minutes, two flashlights and one long-handled net, but I was finally able to scoop the guy out and dump him into a nearby stream. Maybe I should have used my hands, but I wasn't taking any chances :-)

Carolina played a great game tonight, and Eric Staal finally came through with two assists. Very fun to watch, I hope they can finish off the series in Raleigh!

The Hurricanes were outplayed in a 2-1 Game 3 loss, but I think they will be ready for Game 4. Cam Ward was awesome... let's hope he keeps it up. Now would be a good time for Eric Staal to score a couple!

I ran in a 5K race today, the 10th annual Race for the Cure 5K in Raleigh. Felt pretty good throughout and was pleased with my finish of 26:30, a little bit better than my goal.

The bane of my front yard has been exterminated. For weeks, I struggled fighting an ant hill nearly two square feet in size. It took half of the bottle of ant killer, but victory is finally mine!