Last night as the Riverdogs were playing Hickory, I commented to my friend Josh that our seats seemed to be in good foul ball territory. Mid-way down the third base line, just past the covered pavilion.

Then just as our boys were cracking open juice boxes, it happened - A crack and the ball was coming our way. It took a hard bounce down low, then landed three rows in front of us. Everyone kind of froze.

I made my move, and before I knew it the ball was in my hand. I instinctively raised my fist high with its trophy, and my crew howled.

I gave it to the boys, and realized after 34 years, I finally had my first foul ball.

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So, my wife has been rocking a “Cheney/Voldemort ‘08″ bumber sticker for a while now, and it’s recieved mixed reviews. She thought everyone would get it, but clearly not that many people actually know who Voldemort is. I’m not sure how this is possible.

A lot of people sheepishly ask her who Voldemort is, instead of asking what is really on their mind - “Do you actually support Dick Cheney?” The fact that people would need to ask this kind of scares me. Clearly he isn’t running, and who doesn’t know this?

But the craziest comment came a couple weeks ago. Jen was at a stop sign waiting to exit out of our neighborhood. A huge pickup pulls up to the left, blocking her view. She’s not shy, so she sarcastically says, “Thanks man!” The driver leans over, and yells, “Shutup you stupid republican bitch!” Wow, just wow.

This message was left on my voicemail about a year ago, but I’ve never posted it here. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t who she was looking for. It’s short…enjoy!

Here’s the .mp3

I meant to post these shots of Chris a couple weeks ago. We skated the rec center by ourselves for a while, and he even got a shot of me for a change.

Despite the fact that catching a blue-tailed skink may have given my cat feline vestibular disease, he fearlessly brought one up on the porch yesterday. The boys and I immediately captured and documented it with photos. I also learned that these are technically called 5-lined skinks.

I love this sticker found on my banana…I wish all branding were this easy.

Since we don’t watch TV with the boys very often, we constantly have our iPods plugged into various devices. They have playlists, but mostly they like to listen to our music. So as we made our way through our nation’s birthday, I made sure they heard some songs about freedom. Here are five of them:

• Freedom, by Rage Against the Machine
• Fight the Power, by Public Enemy
• Get Up, Stand Up, by Bob Marley and the Wailers
• Freedom, by Richie Havens (live at Woodstock)
• Freedom ‘76, by Ween (this was just for fun)

The 4-year-old really liked Fight the Power, and I loved explaining why that was important. What’s weird is that I actually think he got it…kids are smart. Since I usually fly my “Don’t Tread on Me” flag the whole 4th of July week, I might as well keep on with the Freedom Playlist…I want my kids to know why this country is important, and why they should stand up against their oppressors when the time comes.

The Delaware River is a special place, for special people.