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It would be easy for me to write a blog that would be enjoyed by a particular demographic of loser: say, a divorcee, whose kids are teenagers that don't like her very much, and whose ideal (and typical) Friday night includes taking a long bath, polishing off a pint of ice cream while watching Beaches, and crying herself gently to sleep.

For that sort of reader, I could post a cute picture of a dog, cat, or kid every day, and include cute little stories. Watch; I'll illustrate....

I can't go on, lest I be overwhelmed by the urge to rip out my own fingernails, but it's amazing how many blogs read like this.

The heat during the early part of this week was unreal. You're smart enough to go look up the numbers for yourself, but I can tell you that just stepping out the door on Monday afternoon felt like getting into a black car parked in the sun on any other summer day. We haven't been getting our normal summer afternoon downpours, and I guess they make a difference.

I walked the dogs at 8:30 Monday night, and my ankles could still feel the heat radiating from the street. How hot was that for the dogs, whose bare feet walk the road, and whose entire undersides are just a foot off of the heat source? Still, Lily seemed to enjoy her walk, as always, and Blossom seemed to drag behind, as always.

I played tennis on Wednesday night, and even though we lost, it was the most fun match I've played. I was all over the court, getting to shots that I couldn't have even whiffed at six weeks ago. It was mixed doubles, and the man on the other court hadn't lost a match yet. Let me tell you, without just a couple of critical errors, he would have lost his first this week.

Most painful was a point where we were up 6-5 in the first set tiebreaker. I was at the net, and the ball came right to me. I knocked a dink straight down that they had no chance to get to, and for a millisecond it was point and set to us. But then right after I hit the ball, my racquet hit the top of the net. Point to them. They ended up winning the tiebreaker 9-7.

We won the second set 7-5, and then handily lost a 10-point tiebreaker to see who won the overall match. I noticed during that tiebreaker that the other matches had finished, and we had probably 12-15 people watching and cheering, mostly cheering for the bad guys.

I was completely drenched with sweat at the end. Even my hat was without a single dry spot on it.

Afterwards, one of the pros who works at that park invited me to come hit with a bunch of guys ranked much more highly than me a couple times a week. I mention this for two reasons. First, I am clearly a bad-ass now.

Second, Stacie had a raging hard-on for the guy a couple of years ago. Or whatever the female equivalent of a raging hard-on is.

Stace, let me know if I can pass him a note from you.