A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

sami callihan

Notes from my noodle: Aug. 7

My noodle has been speaking lately — and it’s asking why I haven’t written one of these in a while?

My answer? No idea.

So, here it is. For those new to the blog, this is basically a spot where I’ll write about some things that have happened or caught my eye recently, but didn’t really work as its own blog post.

For the first time in a few years, our softball season ended before reaching the league final. We’ve won our league the past two seasons, but this one was a bit of a struggle. Despite a large roster, we had issues getting some people there at times.

No three-peat for us this year.

The problem with that?

We never really had the same lineup or people in the same positions. Though we had a lot of good players, we had to move people around. That makes things hard.

Still, we finished quite strong.

We earned the fourth seed in the playoffs and opened with a 2-games-to-1 series win over the fifth seed. We then took on the top seed, who we beat last year in the final.

In the opener, we played well. Our top pitcher got hurt and I had to finish. We ended up losing, unfortunately, in a game we played really well.

I pitched Game 2 and did as well as I’ve done in a long time. We ended up losing, 5-3.

Though not all their faults, the umpiring we had in these two games was downright awful. It seems like that was a theme for most of the year. Both teams suffered from it, too. The second game really hammered us, though, as we lost three close plays where I think he was dead wrong. He also threw one of our players out of the game for “throwing a bat.” The umpire didn’t even see it. He heard the bat clip the fence on the toss (and it was a toss, I was right next to it). The guy was downright awful and was for most of the year.

Look, bad umpiring is one thing. It’s at all levels. All I ask is to be consistent. If you strike zone is a shoebox, fine. Make it both ways. These things can’t — and shouldn’t — change every inning. But with some umps, they do. And for the money they are being paid, there should be some accountability. The semifinals of the playoffs should have the two best umps, not some of the worst. We got that in our two games and I’m sure the other team will agree.

In the end, it’s all good. We still won 10 games, found some new players for the future and have an idea on how to move forward. I’m sure we’ll be right back in the thick of things next year.

****

When it comes to geocaching, I’ve gone through several phases.

The excitement of being new, the numbers hound, someone who chased first-to-finds to now, where I kind of just dig playing the game and having fun.

One thing I’ve always done, however, is plan when it comes to a bigger trip. This, too, has gone through phases. I used to be an in-depth planner and then it got to the point where I basically wrote down caches in the best order to grab to be efficient.

Every once in a while, though, I go back to the in-depth planning. This upcoming weekend is one of those times.

My current Delorme map — which will hopefully be filled in much more by the end of the weekend!

Four of us are going on an insane trip through the top of New York to fill in squares for the Delorme Challenge. For those who don’t geocache, the Delorme Challenge is based up on the New York  Atlas and Gatetteer, which is published by Delorme. In the atlas, the state is broken down into 80 squares. Your job is to find one cache in each square. Once you do, you get the coordinates to the Delorme final so you can go find that cache. My hope is to make that my 3,000th find, of which I am approaching.

At this moment, I have 63 of 80 pages filled on the Delorme map.

As long as nothing goes wacky, by the time this trip is done sometime Saturday night, I should have filled in 11 more squares and will be a mere trip to the Buffalo area to get six more squares to finish it up.

At the same time, I’ll be getting all the counties I need (sans the Buffalo-area ones) for the New York Counties Challenge.

The three others on the trip will also be filling in squares and counties, but on different levels. Some have more and some have fewer to get. We’ll also be taking a quick trip into Vermont for a few caches.

In the end, I had to go in-depth because with a trip that will eclipse 600 miles and be for more than 12-15 hours, we needed to make it as efficient as possible. We have some good caches on the list and we have a lot of quickies, too. But in the end, it will make for a memorable and fun trip with caching friends. I’ll be blogging more about this next week.

****

Speaking of geocaching, I’ve recently gone on a hiding spree. I archived some of my older caches and decided to place some new ones. Another cacher in a town not far from here has placed a whole heap, too. Hopefully with all of these new caches, some cachers will come our way to make some finds.

One of my recent hides.

See, this area isn’t easily hit by major highways and such. We’re in a rural area, so sometimes people don’t want to come here and find caches. I know one cacher who basically refuses to come to this area because all the roads are winding and such.

Their loss.

On top of the ones I’ve recently placed, I have several more to put out. I just need to find where to place them.

The hides have been fun to do. I like writing the descriptions and I like getting the notices when people find them all. It’s kind of a cool thing to know people are out finding the ones you hid and are enjoying them.

I have two caches, specifically, I need to get out. One is one I got at a cache I found and will be a “spawn” cache and the other is one I received from a fellow cacher when out in Chicago in 2011. These caches are his signature items. He gave me two, so I want to get one placed with the other remaining in my collection of sig items.

Further, I just have some other lock-n-lock containers I want to put out there!

****

As many of you know, I dig attending independent wrestling shows. One, it’s great action and usually better than what you see on television. And when it’s not better, it way worse, which makes it fun that way.

I know how hot it was for three of us to watch this card — I can’t imagine what it was like in the ring performing!

One company we watch often is 2CW, based out of Syracuse. They always put on a great show and this past Friday was no exception.

Except for one thing — it was hot!

The company returned to the Pastime Athletic Club in Syracuse for what seems like it will be the final show at this building, which is affectionately called the “2CW Arena.”

Herein lies the issue — it was hot as can be outside. Inside, which was basically a small gym, had the ring, wrestling, probably 400 fans inside and… no air conditioning.

Holy cow was it hot!

With the action going on, it got hotter as the night went on, too. It easily had to be above 100 inside.

We stayed for the whole card because we wanted to see the main event, which featured former WWE superstar John Morrison against one of the top indy stars, Sami Callihan. The match didn’t disappoint. Overall, the card as per normal, was solid. It was worth going to and watching.

I just wish it had been cooler!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook! 

Notes from my Noodle: December 20 edition

There's nothing like a trip to the city during the holidays.

First, my apologies for a lack of a blog post the past couple of days. But it seems like, all of a sudden, I’m packed up with everything. I’m back, however, with some notes and such from recent things.

On Monday, I took my annual trip down to the city to New York City. I like to try and get down there during the Christmas season because it’s quite the place to be. From the lights to the decorations to everything else, it’s really quite magical.

For avid readers of the blog, you’ll remember I went out to Chicago earlier this year to see a friend, Brendan, graduate from the Navy’s basic training. He’s been in the Chicago area ever since, working through his schooling and such. He got liberty for a couple of weeks, however, and is home. So I took him with me to the city and met one of the finest guides one will ever have for the city — fellow geocacher Heather.

Brendan with his new buddy, Elmo!

Despite a delay in the train leaving Harriman, it was a fun day. A little colder than it was supposed to be, but still a fine day. We got to see a bunch of good things (including Rockefeller Center, as seen above). We had a couple of solid meals, saw some interesting things and I, of course, got a dirty dog on the street.

Why wouldn’t I, right?

With this season in full bloom, there were a lot of characters wandering around, looking to earn a few extra bucks by posing with people. It was quite funny to see. And, being it was Brendan’s first trip to the city in this time of year, he had to take advantage of this, no?

The hustle and bustle of the city was definitely there. That comes with people who still don’t have the thought of slowing down and peeking at things. But, I wouldn’t expect anything different.

We stopped and saw the building of the new skyscraper at Ground Zero and went inside and checked out the 9/11 memorial building. We were going to try and check out the new fountains and garden, but ended up having to look at it just from afar and above as the lines to get in were quite long and daylight was dwindling as we were thinking about that. I’ll hope to visit in the spring and see it closer.

We did, however, get to find a geocache this day. A regular-sized cache in the middle of the city, which was awesome.

Heather with Cirque du Cache.

Heather (and her husband, Jim, who met us later for dinner) are mega fans of Cirque du Soleil, mentioned a new cache. Of course, it has a Cirque theme — called Cirque du Cache.

This was a fun cache to do and it’s always nice to snag a cache in the city.

What was really cool about this cache was that once you opened the cache, you signed the log and all, but there was also this piece of fabric. And you could draw something on it. Very neat stuff and very well thought out. The best part is that it was in a high-traffic area, so it was pretty fun to retrieve the cache, walk away a little bit to check things out and then put it back. Fun times.

In all, it was a lot of fun to head down to the city and see things. I got to also see a former co-worker and catch up a little bit and it’s really nice to see things all lit up.

I even got one of the thickest hot chocolates I’ve ever had (thankfully it was small, because it was rich!) while we hung out a little bit at Bryant Park.

Bryant Park is a great little spot in the city.

***

Speaking of geocaching, two of us worked to organize and run an annual ornament exchange event. It was quite the success, too, which is always nice. Having halfway decent weather recently probably didn’t hurt us, either!

A large turnout at our holiday event.

We had about 55 people to the event, by far one the largest since this annual event started four years ago, and also one of the largest turnouts of any of event in our small area.

I co-planned the event with Beth, who had a successful game she created for the event. But, more than that, was her Toy Drive idea. It seemed that most people brought unwrapped toys and filled the large box her and her brother and sister-in-law brought. They then delivered the toys to the local Salvation Army, making sure that the toys would remain in our area.

So as fun as the event was (the spot we held it was excellent as well), it’s even better to know that our geocaching community was good enough to give back to the community during this holiday season and thought about others in need.

As this week continues, if you have the chance to give to an area Toys for Tots or something else, try and remember that there are people out there that have it worse than many of us. So if you can give at all, try and do so this holiday season.

***

Eddie Edwards vs. Sami Callihan delivered on a recent 2CW card.

For the final part of this Notes From My Noodle, I want to turn to 2CW, an independent wrestling federation out of the Syracuse area. Several of us have gone to a bunch of their events, but basically in Binghamton. We took the trek to Syracuse on Friday to see one of their biggest events of the year and to see a match that indy fans have wanted to see — Eddie Edwards vs. Sami Callihan.

Each time we’ve gone to watch 2CW, I thought the federation has delivered some great entertainment, good matches and a well-planned event. But this event was really solid (seeing matches such as Brodie Lee vs. Jay Freddie was outstanding and many other matches were excellent). And it was capped by Edwards vs. Callihan, a match that made me really want to drive to Syracuse.

I have seen Eddie Edwards many times. He’s athletic and works stiff — in other words, believable beyond belief to the point where some of the things he does really make you wonder how these guys do it.

Callihan, well known among the independent fans, is also a top-notch talent.

A five-star match was predicted. And these two delivered. It was a high-paced match, full of athleticism and character. Say what you will about professional wrestling — no matter if the outcome is determined or whatever — you have to be athletic and be able to tell a story inside that ring. These two did it.

The card, overall, was excellent. I would make the trip to Syracuse to see these guys again.

A funny afterthought. We stopped at a convenience store down the road from Syracuse to grab something to drink and something to snack on. While there, Sami Callihan came in. I noted that we had traveled a couple of hours to see that match because everyone was talking about it.

He asked me if it was worth it?

I told him they delivered and it was worth it. We chatted with him for a few moments and he shook hands a couple of times and thanked us for coming. I’ve talked to a few of these others and they, too, are very friendly with fans. That’s a good thing. Independent wrestling survives on smaller fanbases and these guys have the hope to, one day, make it big. Being friendly and outgoing will hopefully help them in their quest to reach the top.

Until then, it’s my hope they keep working local promotions so, when I can get away and go, I get the chance to see this top-notch and affordable entertainment.

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