I'll forgive you if you're not as big of a baseball fan as I am. I won't forgive you if you don't like baseball at all, but if you're just not quite fanatical, that's OK.

Just want to put this all in perspective before I send you to read about the boy again. 4 for 5 with two doubles and two home runs (one a grand slam) to drive in 8 runs in the game last night.

And because I knew you'd want to see it for yourself, here's a clip of the grand slam. Wow.

I know a lot of people named Terry. I used to work for one, I have one as a client, I play poker with one who uses an "i" instead of a "y", and there's one I used to try to send business to, until he stopped returning my phone calls.

But there's one Terry in particular that deserves special recognition because he's helped feed my baseball jones. So here he is, along with a certain favorite baseball player.

Yep, that's the one word summary of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Brilliant. As in, "Tim Burton is brilliant." Was this obviously a Tim Burton film? Absolutely. Was that a bad thing? Absolutely not!

I can't see how any detractors who were complaining about the new film before it was released can hold up their case now (if they've allowed themselves to see it). This adaptation of the book was dead on, and only Tim Burton could have pulled it off this well.

Going back to my movie scorecard, let's take a look at Charlie and the Chocolate Factory:

1. Was I entertained? Yes. Throughout the whole movie.
2. Did I have any "let's get on with it moments" while watching? No, not once.
3. Was I able to maintain my flexible suspension of disbelief? Yes, but that's probably because I've seen enough Tim Burton films to know that reality doesn't apply.
4. Was I completely unaware of my surroundings while watching? Yes.
5. Was there enough story to keep me intellectually stimulated? Yes, although I did catch myself going back to "here's what should happen next," but that wasn't a bad thing.
6. Did I care about the characters portrayed in the film? Not so much 'cared for' but 'let the little brat get what he/she deserves' which counts as a yes, I think.
7. Was I impressed with the cinematography or setup of the film scenes? Definitely. I only caught myself noticing a few times that some shots were obviously CG and not practical, and I loved the way Deep Roy portrayed all the Oompa-Loompas.

Thus, on the Eriq Scale, this is a "good movie." One that I definitely want to see again.

I hope I never see a Tim Burton/Johnny Depp/Danny Elfman collaboration that sucks. I want to hold these collaborations as high in esteem as I have for the last decade or so. And who can wait until Corpse Bride comes out, now that they've seen this piece of magic?

Guess who was named Player of the Week for both the Texas Collegiate League and the Denton Outlaws.

We're such proud parents.

Fame is a fleeting thing. Recognition can result from negatives as well as positives. Case in point:

As mentioned in an earlier post, we are hosting an Outlaw. Which means I'm going to a lot of Outlaw games. In fact, we haven't missed a home game when we've been in town. So when I got the invite to do the Dizzy Bat Race, well, how do you think I responded?

Like this...

I was driving down into Dallas today to work with a client. Fortunately, I left around noon, so traffic wasn't that bad. I was able to go the "normal" 70-75mph that my foot and my truck both seem to gravitate towards. At least for most of the trip. Up until the guy in the pickup truck that had been behind me for a while decided, suddenly, that he must be in front of me in the fast lane. So he went around me, on the right (for those of you who drive on the left side of the road, this is a bad thing), barely cleared my front bumper, and then proceeded to slow down to 60mph, keeping pace with the large furniture truck that I was about to pass. I remaind trapped in this position for about 5 minutes, until he decided, again very suddenly, that he needed to exit, so he lurched forward, weaving wildly across the three lanes of traffic separating him from the off ramp, and disappeared from sight.

But not before I had his company name and telephone number written down. You see, he worked for a company that had it's name and phone number in large vinyl lettering across the back of the vehicle so I could plainly see it. I plan on calling the number and explaining very clearly why I will never do business with them in the future, not that I would have anyway, given that I usually dont' need the type of services they provide. But boy, am I going to let everyone I know in the area that they shouldn't use the services of this particular vendor.

Then I remembered I have my company name and phone number emblazned on the back of my vehicle. Had I driven like a jackass on the freeway, giving someone reason to put my company on their blacklist?

Suddenly, I'm a lot more aware of how my driving may be percieved by others...

The Neale family grew by one today. We knew this was coming, so we cleaned out the Guest room and turned it into an honest-to-God bedroom for its new occupant. A living, breathing human being who is not related to either of us in any way has come to live with us.

Now before you get your knickers in knots, let me explain. Think of it as a sort of baseball exchange student that's staying with us through the end of July. That's right, we've opened up our home to one of the players of the Denton Outlaws for the rest of the baseball season. He's playing onthe local team, but he's from California, and currently attending Orange Coast College.

I'm sure this will be loads of fun for everyone involved. No. Seriously. That, and the home team won tonight, 9-7. And our new guest celebrated finding his new home by going 3 for 4 with a double and 2 RBI in the DH slot.