night with amy

Amy and I got to enjoy our late afternoon, evening, and night together. We dropped Aidan off at his grandparents' place, and we then went to dinner. We ate at Applebee’s, at Central & Camelback. It was happy hour, so we got a bunch of appetizers and that's all we needed. We enjoyed our time just taking it slowly. We then went over to Aaron Bros. to see some of Amy's previous co-workers. It was good to see them. We then headed downtown to get a good parking spot for the Suns' game we were going to. We parked in a garage that was only a block and a half away from the arena. We walked over, and on our way, Raymond and Marcus Roberts (people from our church, ncc, were there because we got the tickets through the church) got in front of us. We talked about them behind their backs, and when they realized who we were, we had a good laugh together. The game was fun, but it was even better that Amy and I got to enjoy the experience together. When the game ended, we started heading back to the car, but it was pouring! The sky sobbed its tears, and we swam our way to the car. We were definitely moist by the time we reached the garage. We dried ourselves off and headed to a Wal-mart so that Amy could get some decorative flowers for Kate's baby announcements that Amy's prepping. We then headed home, but stopped off at a McDonald's to get some ice-cream cones to make us even colder than the stormy weather. We then watched TV or something until about 1:30 am, and then went to bed. Since Aidan wasn't home, we felt that we could just enjoy ourselves and take all the time in the world...and we did. It was a great evening together.

fifty-two and sixteen

The Suns (52 - 16) could just sit during each of their remaining regular season games and still win the division and make the playoffs, but that's not our style! The Suns went out with some zeal to start the first quarter, but let the Kings (29 - 40) right back into it. The Suns won the half, but they weren't up by much. The third quarter proved to be all Suns, winning the quarter by 11, putting themselves up by 16 going into the fourth. They won the fourth by two points, and won the game by 18, 118 - 100. The Suns take on the Kings again on Sunday, but this time in Sacramento. It is a matinee, starting at 12:30 pm AZ time, and it's on national television, ABC. GO SUNS!

fifty-one and sixteen

And with that, the Suns (51 - 16) have now taken the Pacific Division Championship again for the third year in a row. This makes the Suns the first team to clintch their division. The Suns played the Minnesota Timberwolves (28 - 38) and played much more like the Suns we've grown to love watching and cheering. 108 - 90, the Suns won by 18 points. They won every quarter. The third quarter was the Suns' quarter, though; they went 33 - 20. A good way to bounce back from two embarrassing losses. The next game is at home against the Kings (29 - 39), the team ranked last in the Pacific Division that we just clinched. Amy and I will be going to this game, so I should have plenty to talk about after tomorrow night. GO SUNS!

spring break

I'm now on Spring Break, and lovin' it! I got to go with Nanny and Francy to the Diamondbacks and Mariners game yesterday. The Mariners came out swinging, get a run in the first, one in the second, and four in the third. The Dbacks couldn't do much until the fourth, where they got one run, and then in the sixth and seventh (or so), they scored three more and one more run. The Mariners went on to win 8 - 5. It was a long 2.75 hours, but it was nice to get out and enjoy a game with family. Francy and I got to talk a lot about what to do with the backyard at my house. I'm hopin' to get some work done to it this week. We'll see if I'm not too lazy. I've got a Suns game that I get to go to on Thursday, so I'll post more about that one later. Other than that, I have nothing else planned for the rest of the week. Sounds great to me. Sleeping in; enjoying the day; not being rushed; not having to be somewhere (except for a Suns game, and I want to be there); "Oh, what a beautiful mornin', Oh what a beautiful day. I've got a wonderful feelin' everthin's goin' my way!" Thanks Oklahoma.

fifty and sixteen

If I was unsure about the Suns' chance for a championship after the game with the Pistons, now I'm not sure how we are still second in the NBA at all. This was Suns' style ball: no massive defense to combat, simply run and gun. The Nuggets (33 - 31), just above .500, came out and played Suns' ball better than the Suns (50 - 16) by far. They outscored the Suns 37 - 25 in the first, 33 - 19 in the second, and 41 - 29 in the third. I have to admit, I stopped watching the game. The Suns made a push in the fourth, it seems, outscoring Denver by 14, but that only brought them within 24. Suns lose 131 - 107. This one was just that much harder to bare than the loss against the Pistons: at least the Pistons are the number one team in the East. Denver was the 7th seed in the West (only one game above .500), but moved up to 6th after they beat us (just two games above .500). Barbosa had another good game, though, with 25 points. Nash had a double double with 15 points and 10 assists. Alan Iverson went for 44 points and 15 assists, though. Carmelo Anthony had 29 of his own points in this domination of the second best team in the NBA. Oh, well. We move on. The Suns play the Timberwolves (28 - 37) at home at 7pm AZ time. GO SUNS!

fifty and fifteen

Whelp, my thoughts of Suns' dominance over the East were shattered as the Suns (50 - 15) setted against the Detroit Pistons (42 - 22) at home last Friday. Even Stat's 24 points and 15 rebounds weren't enough to beat the Pistons great defense that held the Suns to only 83 points and their offense that won by 22 points, 105 - 83. It was a sad display of how we cannot play the Pistons well. It made me rethink the championship possibilities, even after such a great win over Dallas (but that was a close game, not a blowout). The Suns took on the Nuggets (32 - 31) in the Mile-High City next. GO SUNS!

kdice

I'd have to say that blogging has become filler for me at times. It is the thing I do when I don't have anything else to do. That's not been true all of the time, but it has been true recently, if you can tell by all of the Suns reports but not much of anything else. Last week I only posted 4 times, the lowest in my short, illustrious reign as Dutch Royalty. I hope to remedy this with more interesting things being reported on. There is much that I could have written, but I found another thing to occupy my time: kdice. It is an intriguing strategy and chance game that needs 7 people to play. It is totally online, so I can play with people from all over the world, and I have. Many players are from the US, but there are those from Germany, Denmark, Australia, Britain, Brazil, and many more countries. Guess I'm not the only one who enjoys the game. Matthew du Mée is the one who introduced it to me, so I thank him for my newest addiction! He challenged me to get 1600 as my level so we could play on some of the more illustrious boards, and I fought to get there. I made it, and now I am just waiting to take Matthew on. Amazing that the level he told me to aim for was the score on his SAT and the street address where he eventually wishes to end up at (1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW). Coincidence? I think not.