I realize there hasn't been a new post here for some four or five days (I don't even remember anymore). It's certainly not my intention to ignore this blog, though, so let me provide an excuse-laden story that, in its humor and stupidity, might make up for the neglected days.

I went up to Fresno this weekend. Clovis, actually, though I stayed in Fresno. More on that later. Now, I could just provide use the old "out-of-town" excuse for not having posted my blog, but in the age of laptops and wireless internet, that's really not going to fly. And I was working, technically.

So I get to Clovis-Buchanan High School on Friday to cover Stockdale's girls soccer team in its Central Section Div. I championship against Buchanan. Lo and behold, it's pouring rain. Maybe not pouring, not by Midwest standards or anything, but it was pretty steady. And there were definitely patches of hail. And mud. Oh my goodness, the mud.

But hey, I said, I'm getting paid to watch quality soccer. I can deal with a little rain. And though I considered Stockdale a bit of an underdog to the two-time defending Valley champs, the Mustangs scored first, in the second minute — for those who don't watch a lot of soccer, that's incredibly quick. And so the game was very interesting. Buchanan finally cashed in on a bevy of assaults on the Stockdale goal late in the first half, tying the game at 1. And the Bears dominated the second half, adding two more goals and nearly several more.

Stockdale coach Janien McGowan tried to tell us after the game that the game was evenly played, that each team had an equal number of chances, and that Buchanan simply finished better. As much as I like coach McGowan, I've got to disagree on this one. Stockdale's chances came against the flow of the game, and only a couple of times did I really think the Mustangs had a chance to score. Buchanan, on the other hand, might have scored five or six times on a dry field.

That said, Stockdale performed admirably and had a chance to win a road game and a championship (Heck, it had a 1-0 lead in a downpour and in the mud). But instead, it's three straight titles for Buchanan and a fourth second place for McGowan and Stockdale in its 16 years.

OK. Now to the excuses part. I drove to my hotel, which was in Fresno, dried off a little, warmed up a little and opened up the ol' laptop. Wrote a story on Stockdale and another on the amazing streetballers who were at East High on Saturday night, and e-mailed them both to the Californian. No problems there.

I still wanted to blog and do a little research on some wrestlers before Saturday's Grand Masters tournament at Clovis East, but I felt like, through the rain and mud and driving, I deserved a little break. Plus I was starving.

So I went to get something to eat, come back and screw around on the internet for a little while. You know, watching videos on YouTube, reading about my favorite teams, checking e-mail, etc.

Here's the catch: I snatch a glance up at the battery meter on my laptop, and it's at 29 percent. OK, maybe time to plug it in. Now about that power cord. Where is my laptop bag? Not in there? OK, I'll run out in the rain to my car. Not there either?

Oh yeah. It's still sitting on my kitchen table at home. Oops.

Quickly, the problem went from not being able to blog to not having any way to write or send my wrestling story the next day. Big-time oops.

To make an already long story a bit shorter: I tried to write the story from Clovis East the following night, but ran out of battery about three-quarters of the way through. I called down to the Californian and had a pow-wow with assistant sports editor Ross Priest. We decided there wasn't enough time for me to drive back to Bakersfield and write the story, so Ross called the Fresno Bee. The folks there were kind enough to let me in and type a story from their newsroom.

Disaster was averted, and the end result is that we just owe the Bee a favor. I do, anyway, seeing as how the whole thing was my own forgetful fault. And so now I come before you, hoping you can laugh with me and at me — and maybe, someday, forgive me for not posting a blog in the past week. Done and done? That easy, huh? Oh, you don't read the blog religiously anyway? OK, well, um, let's move on.

Lastly, a couple of congratulations are in order. First to Highland's girls soccer team, which was the only of five Kern County soccer teams (boys or girls) to win its section championship. The Scots took out Madera South 2-0 in the Div. III final Friday night to win their second section title in four years.

Also congrats to 27 KC wrestlers who qualified for the state tournament at yesterday's Masters. That's especially for Bakersfield High's Travis Rasmussen, who rebounded from an upset loss in the finals of last week's Yosemite Divisional to win a Masters title. He'll go into Rabobank Arena next weekend as one of the 145-pound favorites.

Before the state tourney, though, we've got a few things to watch for. East plays at Centennial in a huge Div. II boys basketball semifinal Tuesday night, and Garces and Bakersfield Christian also play at home. Girls semifinals are Wednesday night: Stockdale hosts Fresno-Bullard and BHS travels to Clovis West in Div. I, and Centennial, Tehachapi, Garces and Bakersfield Christian are also in action that night.

The section basketball championships are Friday and Saturday in Fresno. I'll be at the wrestling tournament, so I won't be the one making the trip. After last weekend, maybe that's a good thing.