Well, it's that time again: July 4th. The nation's birthday. (This year - #235!) Patriotic music. Grillin' out. Swimming in triple digit Texas heat. Fireworks. Sparklers. Oh...and my birthday!

Just for fun, I thought I'd scour the internet for some fun facts you may not know about July 4th:

1) It's the 185th day of the year. The Aphelion, the point in the year when the Earth is farthest from the Sun, occurs around this date.
2) In July 1776, about 2.5 million people lived in the United States. Today? There's about 311.7 million.
3) In 2010, we exported $486,026 worth of U.S. flags. Mexico bought over half of that: about $256,407 worth.
4) Betsy Ross, according to legend, sewed the first American flag.
5) In 1941, Congress declared July 4th a federal legal holiday. It is one of the few federal holidays that have not been moved to the nearest Friday or Monday.
6) The national anthem is actually set to the tune of an old English drinking song called To Anacreon in Heaven!
7) More than 74 million Americans will BBQ today. Over an estimated 150 million hot dogs will be consumed today. That's roughly one dog for every two people in the US.
8) China is a huge part of July 4th: 
--> Over $211 million has been spent on the importation of fireworks from China.
--> Oddly, the majority of the nation's flags and patriotic paraphernalia in relation to the Fourth of July is produced in China. Nearly $349 million are used each year to import the flags, banners, decorations, and emblems.
9) It is a felony to shoot a bald eagle.
10) The Founding Fathers actually signed the Declaration of Independence on August 2, 1776.

Happy 4th of July!

Last night, I went to see the Texas Rangers play the Houston Astros with Robert, his parents, and 2 nephews. I won't even talk about the game (such a disappointing 9th inning loss!)...instead, there's one thing in particular that is worth discussion in my book:

I got a ball during batting practice! (Well, kind of.)

Robert found some awesome tickets on StubHub - section 5, row 1 (left field). We made sure to get there early for batting practice, and for good reason. As the Astros were hitting, one flew our way. Rob had a decent shot to catch it, but it ended up bouncing off the tip of his glove into the row behind us. Still rolling around just behind where I was, one of Rob's nephews couldn't quite reach the ball that was still rolling around, so I leaned over and grabbed it for him. Of course, I gave it to him after that. Last night also happened to be autograph night for kids 13 and under, so his nephew was able to go stand in line for Matt Harrison (a Rangers pitcher) to sign it. I think he considers it a nice little souvenir for sitting in the heat for 5 hours.

Ever since I went to the last game of the World Series last year, you don't know how badly I've wanted to catch a ball - foul, fair, home run, or otherwise. Rob's friend from work got one during batting practice at the World Series game last year, and I had no idea how jealous one could be of such a thing; it's such an exhilarating feeling when you see one flying your way! I don't know about anyone else, but I'm constantly thinking, "man, what are the chances it'll come my way?" Given last night's events, though (even if it was just batting practice), I think I can go ahead and say...

Mission accomplished.