All the world's a stage ...

And my boys are merely players ... This is from "The Best Christmas Pagent Ever." Alex is top left. Andy bottom left. Other kids are their friends Kevin, Geny and Nicholas.

And this is from Andy's Birthday party which Aunt Jannae was also able to attend this weekend...

A cold Coors

Through my job, I happened to meet the head of security for the Colorado Rockies. I told him that there was a large part of my book, Wrath, that takes place at Coors Field and I'd appreciate picking his brain about the security that's in place.

He said it would be better if I came down there so I could see it first-hand. So, I went yesterday.

This is the view from Dan O'Dowd's personal box!

(click on the pics and they'll be bigger)

It was pretty snow-covered, but it was so fun. Got to see the clubhouse ...

Including Matt Holliday's locker ...

And then, I heard many of the players were working out so I asked if we could see where that is. We went to the room and Garrett Atkins walked in as Jeff Francis was walking out. They yelled to Tulo who was on the treadmill and then the guy I was talking to says, "Hey, Walt." And Walt Weiss comes out.

I shook his hand and, despite the fact I promised myself I wouldn't geek out, I totally did. But Weiss was one of my favorite Oakland A's and I was so jazzed when he came to Colorado. He's now coaching for them. But he was totally in shape and looked like he could play tomorrow.

Here's the pic of us...

Remember when?

It was a great time. It was before Thanksgiving. Before NaNo. Even before Halloween.

It was a glorious time when the Colorado Rockies slid head-first into the playoffs and swept through the first round. Then they were to face the Arizona Diamondbacks (the alleged NLWest champs).

Well, back then, I made a bet with a long-time family friend, Joe Stone, who lives in Arizona. Since the Rockies swept the piddly D-backs, Joe had to pay up by wearing a Rockies hat for all 18 holes on his local golf course.

Below are the pictures he sent. He also sent me the hat which is so small it barely fits my kids. Guess that's what happens when you live in that much heat ... your head just shrivels up. That would explain how the D-backs played also.

The first picture is Joe. The other one, I'm assuming, is Joe after he's played 18 holes in the heat down there.

Either way, GO ROCKIES!!!

Grandma

This weekend my grandma, Sally Akkola, died.

It's teribly sad to think of the world without her in it, but she has been suffering for a long time now and everyone in our family knew she would not have wanted to live like that. We are very glad she isn't in any pain anymore.

When I think of Grandma Akkola, I think of the talks we used to have when I would visit ... usually over the summer. Most of the times these talks took place while she was "putting on her face" (her makeup). I would stretch out on her bed. She would look at me over the lighted mirror she used and we'd talk about our plans. Anyone who ever talked to my Grandma would know the one word you were guaranteed to hear when you asked a question was, "Well..." And she could stretch that word out to last until she figured out what she wanted to say. And then she would reply in a sing-song intonation that nobody will ever be able to get out of my head. Occasionally, I hear my mom talk like that and it makes me smile.

One of my fondest memories of Grandma was when we learned to swim together. I was probably 7 or 8. And neither of us knew how to swim. I was scared to death to learn. So was she. But we took lessons together. Grandma never really got the hang of it, but her courage to even attempt it helped me get over my fear.

Over the summers of my youth, I spent a lot of time with my grandparents when they were in Oklahoma City and then in El Paso. When Grandpa was still working, I spent most of my time with Grandma. She even got me to watch soap operas with her. No one (including my wife) has ever been able to do that.

I'm going to miss you, Grandma.

Now what?

I guess I kind of dropped the ball on posts (not that anyone cares).

Anyway, I finished NaNo but the book isn't done yet. My friend, Eric Anderson, and I have made a new pact. By Feb. 29, my book will be finished and I should have a rough edit of it done and printed out for serious editing. He is going to have a 75,000 word novel done by then, too.

Getting a novel every four years on Leap Day seems do-able, right?