"INCOMING!!"

So, it's a pavement-wilting 91 degrees outside right now, but with the humidity, it's supposed to feel like a whopping 105 degrees by this afternoon....which is, of course, the ideal weather for chafing, dehydration and heat stroke! So, what better thing to do than....GO PLAY SOFTBALL!!!

As incongruous as it may seem (especially for those readers who know me), I pitch for my office's softball team. Yeah, go ahead.....laugh it up, but chew on this: we're the league champions. I'd love to say that we've won the championship two years in row because of my deftly speedy fastball (which, actually, is a bit of a liability, given that it's slow-pitch softball), but that would simply be a Fuji Blimp-sized fib. I share pitching duties with my estimable colleague John (pictured to my left in the green hat, and webmaster of his own implausibly silly weblog ). I've managed to hone my pitches into arcing projectiles that usually manage to make it to the plate with some degree of dignity, but suffice to say, there's still a lot of room for improvement. My fielding skills off the mound are dubious at best (given my natural instinct to assume the "duck & cover" position when a fist-sized spheroid comes screaming my way), and let's not even talk about my deplorable lack of direction when it comes to batting.

Anyway, we go up against Random House this evening. Expect a full report unless, of course, I get beaned in the solarplexus by a line drive or am immolated like an ant beneath a magnifying glass by the unreleneting sun.