JJ's 3rd trimester & Sox playoff tickets

Irene and JJ (and me too I guess) officially entered their 3rd trimester last Wednesday. That's right--less than 3 months to go! It's starting to feel real now--we even bought a car seat and some onesies on Saturday. I'll post a picture of Irene in the near future if I can get her to let me.

Also - The Red Sox emailed me today about signing up for a chance to buy Fenway playoff tix here. I love the picture in the email--it really captures the Fenway experience in full: an overweight, drunk, bearded white guy in a red tshirt leaning/sweating over you for 3 and a half or 4 hours.
Good times!Speaking of baseball, very very funny Onion article here.
(Warning: Contains beaucoup f-bombs)

Scary!

I saw this on my Amazon homepage today &
it almost made me shriek from the horror if it:

Note: that's just a snapshot of the image.

If you must watch the video, here's the link

Excellent Analysis here

I wish I could take credit for writing this breakdown of the Mariners recent meltdown, but it's from the Seattlest.com blog:

The Mariners. WTF?

Well, that was spectacular. From the heady days of August 25th, when the M's were three up in the wild card and only one back in the division, had won two straight in Texas, when we were all excited about Blue-za-palooza or whatever the fuck it was...to now, after 11 losses in 12 games, when we're all pretty much in wait 'till next year mode.

You've all seen the boat sink, here are the numbers.

August 25th-September 5th

Team pitching:
100 2/3 IP, 138 H, 20 HR (!), 5.81 ERA. Opp BA .334, Opp SLG .550

Team batting:
400 AB, 41 R, 6 HR, 22 BB, 70 K, OBP .309. 3.4 runs per game.

For a little perspective, no team's had an ERA that bad since the 109-loss, 1996 Detroit Tigers, and no team's averaged so few runs per game since the 107-loss, 1988 Baltimore Orioles.

So, in the midst of a pennant race, the M's reverted to being an epochally bad hitting and pitching team. Nice!

Reporters asked John McLaren what has to change after yesterday's game.

"We'll see what we're made out of, how about that? We'll see who steps to the plate."

Who has to step up?

"We'll start with the manager and work our way through the whole team."

The M's clamber up onto the shores of Detroit tomorrow, where they'll throw Miguel Batista against Justin Verlander. The Yankees, meanwhile, fly to the friendly town of Kansas City, where Gil Meche stands between them and reducing their magic number to 20.

Nudity at the County Fair

Jim and I love VH1's Rock of Love featuring Bret Michaels of Poison. He's trying to find his soul mate among the models and strippers who are competing for his attention. And you thought VH1 was scraping the barrel when they were casting for Flavor of Love. We have no idea who Brett will pick but he definitely deserves Lacey since she's obviously the psycho in the house and he professes his connection with her every week while the rest of the house HATES her (with the exception of 1 girl).

Well, in more recent news, Bret's band, Poison, played the Douglas County Fair in Roseburg, Oregon. Apparently bare breasts were displayed on the video screen behind the band during their performance, and people are outraged by this. The fair organizers are demanding an apology. I love the following quote from one offended fan:

“Personally, I’m kind of shocked,” said Jo-Anne Tinkle, a Roseburg resident attending the concert with her 18 year-old son. “I conceived my boy Brett here at a Poison show in Kansas City back in ’89. I thought it would be kind of special to bring him with me tonight, like a family thing, but I didn’t expect this.” Son Brett (wonder who misspelled the name, the reporter or the mom) declined to comment.

Priceless! You can read the full article here. Warning: All quotes and/or names in the article may have been made up by the funny folks at seattlest.com, though the story itself seems to be true.

Eddie's rant after sox get swept by nyy (BOO!)

My buddy Eddie (who I've known since the 8th grade & now lives out here too) sent me this email this afternoon, after the sox got 2 hits (woo hoo!) and lost 5-0 to complete the 3 game sweep by the yanks (BOO!). In the past I've described him as the "Glass is always empty" type of sox fan - he makes me look like the eternal optimist, if you can imagine that


Subject: Hot Potato

If the M's take the wild card from the Yanks, which is doubtful, and ended up playing the Sox in the playoffs, would the Sox and M's be like the Cubs and Brewers and just keep stepping back saying, "we don't want it, you take it, no really, you take it!"? Can a playoff series end in a tie due to neither team wanting to win? Friggin' joke of a week for both M's and Sox.

Sox don't deserve division if they can't hit and M's don't deserve anything after their shellacking and losing 5 straight at this time of year.

Go Pats!

At least this gives me an excuse to run the BEST PHOTO EVER again

Airline Lounges

I came across this article, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118843392046712939.html?mod=googlenews_wsj, and thought of Jim when he had to kill hours between connecting flights going to and from the Final Four in Atlanta. After reading the article, I'm glad he flew Delta. It got the best reviews of the airline lounges.

What I Did This Summer

Here's a preview of what to come on The Office. Pretty funny stuff :)

email from Brooks Brothers

I received this today. Even though I have a few shirts from there,
I'm not sure that they really 'get' me:

Biggest Rat Leaves Bush's Sinking Ship

this says it better than I can:

South Park Kelly

So far my Hoya pal Kelly is the only one

who has sent me a South Park likeness. Here it is:I'm gonna go WAY out on a limb here & guess that
she based it on this photo from our last trip to Vegas:

We recommend the Las Vegas Gun Store if you're down there &
want to fire automatic weapons. 25 rounds for $25,
and it's WAY more fun than a hand of blackjack.

Look how much fun Irene is having:

Sorry, Ladies

Yao is off the market.
Here's the happy couple, measuring in at a combined 13' 8".
He's 7'6", she's 6'2" and also plays hoops, on the Chinese National team:

Irene's Reading List for August

Geek Love by Katherine Dunn

Irene's Reading List for April - July

The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean
Black Swan Green by David Mitchell
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire
Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return by Marjane Satrapi
Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner
Beneath the Metropolis, The Secret Lives of Cities by Alex Marshall
A Year in the Merde by Stephen Clarke

Tommy Girl?

Kris sent me this pic this AM - she says it's the reincarnation of a
deceased former SNL star - guess which one:

But I think that's mean and would never say anything like that

Weaver Makes His Sad Face

Jeffy only went 4 innings in last night's 8-0 drubbing from the Angels. I am doing the unprecedented, and hereby revoking the Schrute buck he earned a few weeks back, leaving him with a grand total of zero Schrute bucks, a 2-10 record, and an ERA of 6.32 for the season.

I looked it up and he was 3-10, 6.29 (thru 16 starts--the same number he's had here) when the Angels gave up on him last year. So he was actually one win better & had a marginally lower ERA than he has this season--and they dropped him. When will Bavasi do the same? I'm guessing never, since that would require the Ms management to actually do something mid-season other than trade a guy like Mateo.

How can a team that thinks it's playoff ready have a 2-10 guy in its starting rotation? When will Bavasi be fired? These are the kinds of questions I'd like to know the answers to.

Lastly, here are the probables for the Sox-Ms series this weekend, according to the Boston Globe:

Friday, Aug. 3
Jon Lester (Red Sox) vs. Horacio Ramirez (Mariners)

Saturday, Aug. 4
Daisuke Matsuzaka (Red Sox) vs. Jarrod Washburn (Mariners)

Sunday, Aug. 5
Curt Schilling (Red Sox) vs. Miguel Batista (Mariners)

Looks good on paper but you'll get no predictions from me--I know how bad the Sox play in Seattle. They've lost their last 8 games at Safeco.

Creepy Cute Cat is Harbinger of Death!

Oscar (no relation to my sister Geegy's Oskar) is a cat who lives at an elder-care hospice (FKA Nursing home) in Providence and "seems to have an uncanny knack for predicting when nursing home patients are going to die"---CREEPY!

but look how cute he is: Read all about it here

South Park Me

The simpsonizeme.com website that Irene wrote about last week is pretty cool but I think this South Park version of me is a much better likeness (well, it was until I got new glasses & shaved the goatee off):

Go here to make your own South Park likeness, then email it
or your Simpsons one to me and I'll post them on here

It's Drew Carey!

Drew Carey has been chosen as the new host of TPiR, as he announced on Letterman last night.



I'm okay with this choice. Really. I think they needed to hire someone funny, but in a pre-age of irony kind of way, and I think he's a great choice. The 50's dork glasses he's been wearing his whole career probably were the thing that clinched the deal with the suits over at CBS.

Kris, Ben & Barry plus ipod project update

Our friends Kris & Ben were at Wrigley last Thursday for the Cubs-Giants game (Ben's a Cubbies fan from way back) and they weren't even sure if Barry would play, since he was limited to one pinch hit appearance the 2 prior games of the series. But it turned out that Ben bought tickets for the right game --they got to see Barry go 3 for 3 with 2 Homers and 6 RBIs--career homers #752 and 753! NICE! He knocked out the first pitch he saw leading off the 2nd inning, then later popped a 3-run shot to center, right into a into a stiff headwind. The guys on ESPN that night said they didn't think anyone would hit one out to center that afternoon.

here's Barry receiving props from former Mariner Randy "Winny" Winn after HR #2 that day:

and I think that might be Ben holding up that sign,
though it would probably be held up much higher if it really is him:

ALSO: here's the latest update on my ipod a-z project, which I started on January 1, 2006. My goal is to listen to the entire contents of my ipod, al l in alphabetical order.

as of 4:23 PM Monday July 23: Currently listening to "Some Might Say" by Oasis. (I just heard "Some Like It Hot" by Power Station 3 times in a row from a number of 80s compilation cds I have on there--really glad that's over with).

"Some Might Say" is song #10617 of 14412.
I had hoped to finish by the end of this year, and still might but I'll need to focus and stop listening to other stuff when I'm at work. Big thanks to Kris for helping me stay on task with this when we were visiting her family's place outside of San Jose a couple weeks ago--we cranked through a lot of the S's that weekend. (Thanks for hosting us too!)

Intro to Aqua Teen Hunger Force Movie

Cool website of the day

Check out this website where you can upload a photo of yourself and Simpsonize it, http://simpsonizeme.com. I haven't tried it personally, but someone did up a version of the gang from The Office.








Here's the Simpson version of Jim and I.

Honk if you want to get arrested

Driving in Seattle has always been challenging, especially with Jim behind the wheel. He seems to attract all the bad drivers when he's on the road, a real "shit magnet" as I like to call him. I know that there are alot of California transplants here which may be part of the problem, but this area is full of passive aggressive drivers that can really frustrate anyone. You never see a cop when you really need them. Drivers that run through red lights, drivers that have a blind spot for pedestrians, ...

But this takes the cake. In one of our local paper, The Seattle Times, there is a Bumper to Bumper column where people can write in and ask traffic-related questions. This past Monday, someone wrote in about being pulled over for honking at an inattentive driver in front of him.

The other day Mark Cruz, of Renton, was waiting to turn left at a green light in downtown Seattle. The car in front of him was sitting under the light, turn signal blinking, but had not budged even though all oncoming traffic had passed.

Cruz honked his horn to urge the driver to move. "Then I was pulled over by a Seattle police officer on a motorcycle. He let me off on a warning for honking at the car in front of me.

"Dumbfounded, I said, 'Of course I was.' What am I supposed to do when someone just sits there at a green light?

"He then told me that use of your horn is only for emergencies."

I'm glad to live in a town where cops have nothing better to do but remind drivers of a state statute(RCW 46.37.380) that a horn should be used only when reasonably necessary.

Mexican Coke at Costco

I've practically given up caffeine during my pregnancy. I'm down to 1/2 cup of coffee each morning, an occasional Diet Coke (sometimes a caffeine-free Diet Coke), and a handful of Hershey's Kisses now and then. Last weekend Jim and I were shopping at Costco and came across Coca Cola from Mexico. We immediately put a case into our cart. How can anyone resist pure cane sugar, as opposed to the corn syrup they use for the American Cokes. I'm totally loving it -- even drinking one in a tall glass with ice. If you know me, I don't even care for ice in my drinks. These really hit the spot when the temperatures in Seattle was hovering in the 90s.

Average Parking Space in New York Costs $165,000

Real estate prices in New York never cease to amaze me. The New York Times have an article about how people are willing to buy one of five private parking spaces for $225,000 in Manhattan (For Parking Space, the Price is Right at $225,000). Guess I shouldn't complain about the over-inflated housing prices here in Seattle.

Summer has arrived in Seattle

It's been in the low 80s most of this week, and I don't think the warm weather is going away. It was less than 2 weeks ago that it was still cool in Seattle (jackets optional).

It's been a weird week with Jim gone to attend the funeral of a college roommate and me working a lot of hours (including on 4th of July and today). I'm picking him up at the airport shortly. Since coming home after working a few hours today, I've been a lump on the coach watching Live Earth on Sundance and Bravo. There's been a lot of great acts. Too bad I forgot to watch this morning when they were broadcasting the concerts from Sydney, Tokyo and Shanghai. I've had to settle watching acts from Hamburg, London and New York -- Alicia Keys, Kelly Clarkson, Akon, Yusef Islam (formerly Cat Stevens), Madonna, John Mayer, Dave Matthews Band, Chris Cornell, Joss Stone, Kanye West, Pharrell. I hope to catch a few more bands before leaving for the airport. Go to http://liveearth.msn.com/ to check out some videos.

Murph Photos attempt #2

For some reason the photos I posted of Murph from out 20th GU reunion aren't displaying correctly--I blame google. Here's attempt #2:(click image for larger view)

Raph, me, Kelly, Murph, Joe, Booter and Sad Clown at Millie & Al's

Rest in Peace Murph.

We miss you already.

Here's to Murph

My Hoya buddy and housemate Pete Murphy died this past weekend of a heart attack at age 42, leaving a wife and 3 children, 2 boys and a girl. They were on a beach in Mexico celebrating Sheila's 40th and their 10th wedding anniversary. This hurts--a lot. I just can't believe it. I've known Murph since we were 18 and never knew the guy to be sick a day in his life.

I'll be taking the redeye to DC tonight and for the wake and funeral on Wednesday and Thursday, back on Friday. Here are a couple shots of Murph from last month, when Irene and I were in DC for our GU class of '87 20th reunion

Raph, me, Kelly, Murph, Joe & Booter at Millie & Al's

Rest in Peace Murph.

We'll miss you.

ALSO: my buddy Scooter just sent me these 3 classic photos from our college days:

Pirate Party Senior Year

me, Murph, Laplante, Clare, Kresse, Scooter, Kroter, Bruce


Senior Ball
back row:Clare, Scooter, Kroter. middle: Murph, me, Kresse. front: Pete Clare's dad


The aftermath of senior week, front steps of 1648 33rd St. Note the bloated puffy faces that result from excessive alcohol consumption (mine & Kresse's, mostly)
top: kroter, Stefano, Murph, Clare, Bones. middle: Me & Laplante. front: Kresse & Scooter

More dumping on the sox

I had to post this picture; it's too funny (and no, it' not Eddie Odey). Check out the writeup too, http://seattlest.com/2007/06/28/the_boston_mass.php. I find Red Sox fans annoying too but at least they know how to stick with a team through wins and losses. I have one more observation about Red Sox fans -- they sure love to drink. At Tuesday's game, practically every Red Sox fan had at least 2 beers in hand at any given moment. Maybe that's how they've learned to cope watching the team (win or lose).

Sox Swept! & NBA Draft tonight

What the hell??!! It's gotten ridiculous around here. The sox come to town and lose to the Mariners every game, and that just the way it goes. They've now lost 8 in a row at Seattle, which is no fun for me or Eddie or the rest of the Sox fans out here. I'm just glad the rest of the AL east is so awful this year, and that we still have a 9 game lead after a brutal June travel schedule that included 2 west coast swings in a 3 week period.

Thanks to Irene too, for noticing the Sox were playing at home when we were going to be in NH over Memorial Day weekend--we got to see them win a game this season.

The Sox will be back in August, and hopefully Terry Francona will remember to send up a pinch hitter next time we're in an 8th inning, tie game, 2 on, 2 out situtation. He didn't seem to remember he could do that yesterday & sent up SS Julio Lugo, mired in an 0 for 31 slump or something like that, who managed to turn a 3-0 count into a strikeout. End of "rally", end of sox last best hope to at least take one of the 3 games this week. And then when Piñeiro came in to pitch the 11th, everyone in the place knew the game wouldn't last much longer.

Tip of the cap to Ichi - he recorded 11 put outs on fly balls yesterday - only 1 shy of the all time record. Not that I enjoyed a single one of them, but he is a great player. Too bad for all the Ms fans that this is the final year of his contract & the team doesn't seem to be very interested in re-signing him. I just hope he's not wearing pinstripes next year.

NBA draft is tonight - Sonics have #2 pick, celtics the 5th. Smart money says the sonics will get Kevin Durant but you never know - maybe Portland will take him & the Seattle/Las Vegas/OK City Sonics will have Greg Oden for the next 10-12 yrs. Weirder things have happened. I hope Jeff Green ends up on the Celts but they're probably going to take Yi, the 7footer from China, described by the sports guy's dad as the Chinese Brad Lohaus. Hooray!

Red Sox in town

Tonight starts a 3-game series with the Red Sox in town. Of course, Jim plans to go to all 3 games. Tonight it'll be Jim and Keith (a former Amazon who now lives in VA). I get to suffer through the loud obnoxious Sox fans (including Jim) on Tuesday night. The bummer is Wednesday's game; Daisuke is scheduled to pitch and I'll be stuck at work. It's a day game starting at 1:35PM.

Considering how much talk there's been about Daisuke, there's no mention of him pitching here this week. Our lame newspapers have been occupied by the return of Griffey Jr. It was great seeing him back in Seattle, but we need to stop being so nostalgic and start focusing our energy into fixing the Mariners. Feierabend (who the hell is this guy?) is scheduled to pitch for us; his record is 1-2 with a 8.20 ERA. Though I'll miss the game on Wednesday, I don't think I can suffer through a Sox win.

When nature calls

Squat toilets are always puzzling to me. It's simple to figure out to use IF there is toilet paper, but what do you do when there's only a pitcher of water? I came across an article that explains how to use a squat toilet. After reading it, I'm not sure I can still do it. It really makes me think twice before signing up with the Peace Corps. If you're curious, check out the article, http://www.worldhum.com/how_to/item/use_a_squat_toilet_20060923/.

Weaver is da man!

hey - to all the haters and naysayers out there who have been on Jeff Weaver's case this season, people just like me, in other words, he got win #1 last night - a complete game 4 hitter against the powerful Pittsburgh Pirates!

for this magnificent start, I'm awarding Jeff one Schrute buck

Netflix guilt

Jim and I have hundreds and hundreds of titles in our Netflix queue. We're in no danger of running out of things to watch. Now, if we can only have the time to watch the dvds we get from Netflix.

We've had 2 movies in our possession since early March, and they're beginning to gather dust on the shelf. We can't simply return them without watching them. Our third movie has only been around since early May. I think the longest we've had a movie in our possession before watching was 6 months; it was Das Boot. Can anyone top that?

Seven years of bliss and counting!

It's been awhile since I've posted. We're still recovering from a weeklong swing out to the East Coast to see friends and family. Jim and I were in New Hampshire to celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary on May 27th. The following day we went to Fenway to see the Sox beat the Indians. Check out what Jim's dad did for us.

The End Of An Era

After 35 years, my hero Bob Barker is taping his last episode of TPiR today (it will air next Friday, June 15) and people have been lined up waiting for days to attend. Read about it here.

Tis a very sad day indeed, and will be even sadder if someone like Rosie O'Donnell or Mark Steines is the new host. But then again I'll probably turn off my tivo season pass no matter who they pick.

"Mindfreak" tonight!

Cami Diaz's new boyfriend Criss Angel escaped from a cement box in Times Square today to coincide with tonight's 3rd season premiere of his show "Mindfreak" that I sometimes watch, for unknown reasons:Illusionist escapes cement box in Times Square

By Michelle Nichols Tue Jun 5, 10:20 AM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. illusionist Criss Angel appeared to escape on Tuesday from a cement box suspended above Times Square in New York after it crashed to the ground without anyone seeing him emerge.

Angel, 39, was enclosed for 24 hours in a clear box that was encased in cement as fans and reporters watched. The box was hoisted 40 feet above the ground in a parking lot just off Times Square.

Hundreds gathered to watch his escape and a big screen showed Angel inside the box, kicking at the walls and dejectedly holding his head in his hands. When a countdown clock hit zero, the box was sent plunging to the ground.

As organizers called for paramedics and fans went quiet, Angel appeared atop the screen's nearby scaffolding, waving to the crowd and with his hand across his heart.

While much of the crowd cheered, several people were heard asking: "Was he actually in the box?"

"Well, I was in it when I fell -- that's the truth," Angel told Reuters, adding that people should be asking how he got from the fallen box to the scaffolding.

The stunt was meant to draw attention to the third season of his show "Mindfreak," which starts airing on U.S. cable channel A&E on Tuesday night. Angel said the first episode would reveal how he escaped.

"You never know with me. You're waiting for something and I flipped it on you," he said.

Angel has been building a career as a magician since he was a teenager in New York and grabbed the spotlight in 2005 with his show, which has included levitation, walking on water and lying on a bed of nails while a vehicle drives over him.

After his stunt, Angel turned to a television camera to tell "my very special person"-- actress Cameron Diaz -- that he loved her. Gossip magazines have been speculating about a romance after the two were seen together in Las Vegas.

2 recent Onion articles that could have been about me

1. Employee's Multitasking Doesn't Include Work

2. Gaze Upon My Baseball Cap Collection And Try To Remain Unmoved
(except this guy only owns 11 hats & 2 of them are A's and Mets--I would never own either of those)

a little salt in my wound

just got this email from the very, very lucky Seattle, Oklahoma City or Kansas City Sonics:

The lone piece of good hoops related news for me today is that Roy Hibbert will return to lead the Hoyas to next year's national championship, though he'll have to do it without Jeff Green, who has decided to remain in the draft. I hope the Celtics take him with that #5 pick.

Congrats to Blazers & Sonics; Giambi=Lying Cheating Hypocritical Scumbag

Congrats to the Blazers who won the Greg Oden NBA draft lottery last night, and to the Seattle/OKCity Sonics, who got the 2nd pick consolation prize of Kevin Durant. This despite having only the 6th and 5th best chance of winning, respectively.

BUT...I'm very disappointed & angry that the Celtics, who had the 2nd best chance of winning the #1 pick, have to settle for the #5 choice. WTF?! I guess it'll be another 10 years of mediocrity in Boston & of me not really caring about the NBA.

In other news 'roid boy Giambi failed a test for amphetamines within the past year, it was reported today. This less than a week after he called for baseball to make a blanket apology to its fans, despite never apologizing for his own steroid use. what an ass!

I love Frank Robinson's reply to 'roid boy's disingenuous comments last week:

Hall of Famer Frank Robinson took issue with one of Giambi's comments, saying the Yankees first baseman should speak for himself.

"If Jason wants to confess, then he should come out and say: 'I'm guilty. I apologize. I apologize to baseball. I apologize to all the fans that have supported me and supported baseball over the years. And I will clean up my act and promise you I will not do anything like this again,"' Robinson said during an interview on ESPN. "He should not drag others into [it], because when he says baseball, that includes everybody in baseball."

Happy Norwegian Constitution Day!

Today's the big Syttende Mai parade in Ballard (our neighborhood in Seattle, which is full of Scandinavians of all type, but particularly Norwegians), so I thought I'd send along my warmest holiday wishes to everyone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Constitution_Day

Bob Barker's Farewell

Since I am a HUGE TPIR fan, as many people can attest, I wanted to remind you all to watch Bob in his farewell tour over the next couple months, and in prime time this Wednesday and Thursday nights at 8PM:

• Wednesday May 16, 8-9PM: The Price Is Right Million Dollar Spectacular

Contestants play for bigger prizes than ever to commemorate the retirement of longtime host Bob Barker.

• Thursday May 17, 8-9PM: Bob Barker: A Celebration of 50 Years on Television

Longtime show host Bob Barker reminisces about his 50 years in television, most notably his tenure at "The Price Is Right."

Here's the NY Times take on Bob's retirement

Even Less Shocking

I've been singing the praises of Mariners Fan Favorite Jeff Weaver since his first start this season. He continued his perfect start today, and is now 0-6!! The good news for Ms fans is that he lowered his ERA to 14.56 with a quality outing today--only 6 earned runs in 5 innings pitched! Sweet! He's gonna break through for that first W any time now

Here he is almost getting Magglio Ordonez out!

Today's Less Shocking Headline: Fistfight mars Boston Pops' opening night

Whenever Irene and I are at a Sox game in Fenway, we try to guess when and where the fight will be, not whether there will be one.

I wonder if either of the Pops pugilists were the Fenway Pizza Tosser from the Patriots Day game earlier this year. (heh-heh -- I said tosser)

Fistfight mars Boston Pops' opening night


BOSTON (Reuters Last update: May 10, 2007 – 9:03 AM) - A fistfight in the balcony stopped the music on opening night at the Boston Pops, drawing gasps from hundreds of well-heeled guests at one of the country's oldest and best-known city orchestras.

Famous for light classical music and family pop tunes from decades past, the orchestra briefly halted its performance on Wednesday evening as two men wrestled in the side balcony of the 107-year-old Symphony Hall.

Concert-goers looked up after a woman's scream interrupted a rendition of the Hollywood musical "Gigi" about 20 minutes into the performance.

Shortly afterward, conductor Keith Lockhart stopped the orchestra with a motion of his hand as the murmuring crowd turned to watch the scuffle, apparently caused after one man told another guest to be quiet.

One of the men could be seen with his button-down shirt ripped open as a security guard pulled the two apart, according to a Reuters reporter at the scene. A man had his arm wrapped around another's neck, pulling him backward.

"House security and Boston police stopped the fight, and the audience members were escorted out of the hall," the Boston Symphony Orchestra said in a statement on Thursday. "The concert resumed and ended with cheers and a standing ovation."

No charges were filed against the men.

The Pops, comprised of the Boston Symphony minus its principal players, is perhaps best known for July 4th concerts along Boston's Charles River that began in 1974 and include fireworks accompanying Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture."

Its concert hall is considered among the best in the world.

Shocking News Headline of the Day

`Dukes of Hazzard' car buyer doesn't pay

For some reason the person who bid over $9.9 million for one of the General Lee Dodge Chargers did not actually pony up the money.

I'm shocked! Shocked! and Jon Schneider is pissed!

Hermaphroditic deer with seven legs ‘tasty’

That has got to be one of the best headlines ever, and the fact that he killed it with his pickup truck adds to the overall comedic value. The sub-header (italics below) ain't bad either:

Wisconsin hunter bags odd beast with pickup in driveway, eats it

The Associated Press

Updated: 2:04 p.m. PT Dec 14, 2006

FOND DU LAC, Wis. - Rick Lisko hunts deer with a bow but got his most unusual one driving his truck down his mile-long driveway. The young buck had nub antlers — and seven legs. Lisko said it also had both male and female reproductive organs. "It was definitely a freak of nature," Lisko said. "I guess it's a real rarity.”

He said he slowed down as the buck and two does ran across the driveway Nov. 22, but the buck ran under the truck and got hit.

When he looked at the animal, he noticed three- to four-inch appendages growing from the rear legs. Later, he found a smaller appendage growing from one of the front legs.

"It's a pretty weird deer," he said, describing the extra legs as resembling "crab pinchers."

"It kind of gives you the creeps when you look at it," he said, but he thought he saw the appendages moving, as if they were functional, before the deer was hit.

Warden Doug Bilgo of the state Department of Natural Resources came to Lisko's property near Mud Lake in the town of Osceola to tag the deer.

"I have never seen anything like that in all the years that I've been working as a game warden and being a hunter myself," Bilgo said. "It wasn't anything grotesque or ugly or anything. It was just unusual that it would have those little appendages growing out like that."

Bilgo took photos and sent information on the animal to DNR wildlife managers.

John Hoffman of Eden Meat Market skinned the deer for Lisko, who wasn't going to waste the venison from the animal.

"And by the way, I did eat it," Lisko said. "It was tasty."

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16210496/

The newly remodeled Seatle Art Museum

The Seattle Art Museum (SAM) reopened this past weekend with lots of fanfare and gimmicky promotions. The museum was opened for 32 hours straight from Saturday morning through Sunday evening. Admission was free, but a timed-entry ticket was needed which were issued at the museum box office.

Luckily for us, Jim and I got to see the museum before its grand reopening because they held special preview hours for WAMU employees (the art museum occupies lower floors of the new WAMU Center, where Jim works). Sad to say that I'm not terribly impressed with the space, though everybody absolutely loves it in all the reviews I've read.

I feel that the museum has degenerated into a space where you can throw awesome parties. As evidence on the night we went, there were a few people who had a fit when they were told they couldn't enter the galleries with oversized bags, umbrellas and wine glasses (handed out complimentary during the evening).

Unlike other museums, SAM isn't arranged chronologically. I'm not convinced that this works for a museum the size of SAM; there's just too much to look at. Some of the art is hung in odd locations, like just off the elevator banks where you may otherwise see directions signs pointing where to go, or on a wall between 2 doorways.

I give credit for the creative design incorporating the old museum designed by Robert Venturi and his wife, Denise Brown. There were nice touches that were sorely missing in the old space -- there's more natural light in some of the galleries, an additional museum shop upstairs, and elevated ceiling heights. In the old space, traveling exhibits had a premium location while the permanent collections were relegated to the upper floors which were mainly forgotten. There were a few exhibits Jim and I saw that were packed elbow to elbow downstairs, while exhibits on other floors would be virtually empty.

I hope everyone has a chance to check out the museum. I would love to hear your opinions.

Mothers Day Gift Ideas from the Red Sox

From the same thoughtful folks who brought you the Remote Control Caddy gift recommendation for Valentine's Day, here are some great gift ideas for the Moms out there (click pic to enlarge; click here to shop):

Happy 100th Birthday Memere!

Jim's Grandmother Lena Demers, who passed in July 2004, would have turned 100 this Saturday, April 28. I just wanted to say Happy Birthday Memere! We think of you often and miss you.
Love, Jim & Irene

Too much to ask

Is it too much to ask if I want cheap but good food in Seattle? I usually pack a lunch for work, but on a rare occasion I won't. Today I couldn't decide what to eat so I headed over to Pike Place Market to see what would catch my fancy. I stopped to get a char sui bao (or humbow, as Seattlites call it here) at Mee Sum Pastry. To my dismay, it was $2.25. Yes, it was alittle bigger than the ones you might find in Chinatown (or the International District as Seattlites call it here), but $2+ is quite alot to pay for a pork bun. Still hungry, I wandered over to DeLaurenti for a pizza slice. They don't do round pies; they're actually rectangular but I'm not quite convinced you could call it a Sicilian pizza (you know what I mean if you've ever had pizza in New York City). The slice was only $2.45 for plain cheese. It wasn't bad but the crust was hard and alittle tough to chew.

Life would be so much better if Seattle could offer decent inexpensive food. At least I can't complain when I pack my own lunch.

Will I ever visit London again?

The British Pound is now equal to $2.00 US. It's been almost five years since Jim and I have been in England, but I remember that it was expensive then too. A single trip (cash) on the London tube is £4. Of course it's cheaper buying a fare card, but still that mean it's $8 for a single ride! Even on our trips to Europe, Jim and I avoid connecting through London because the airport taxes are so high. London connections typically add about $50 to your ticket price. Plus you'll have to exchange money into £ which is useless everywhere else in Europe (except Northern Ireland). I sadly don't see a trip to London for us in the near future.

Are we clueless?

My sister, Helen must not think Jim and I are smart. She may have misplaced a cable for her digital camera while visiting us earlier this year. She was nice enough to include an image in her email, just in case Jim and I had no idea what cables were.

We found the cables as instructed.

Federal Judge Laplante

This article from last Saturday's Manchester Union Leader is about Jim's old Georgetown roommate, Joe Laplante:

Federal prosecutor tapped to be U.S. District Court judge

CONCORD – Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph N. Laplante of Nashua has been selected to be the next U.S. District Court judge for New Hampshire.

Laplante, 42, is set to succeed Judge Joseph DiClerico who assumed senior status last month after 15 years on the federal bench. Federal judges are named to a lifetime appointment.

The New Hampshire Union Leader confirmed yesterday through U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg's office that the White House has given Laplante initial approval. Gregg submitted Laplante's name to the Bush Administration for its consideration.

Laplante must still go through a final vetting process that includes review by the FBI and the American Bar Association, then a confirmation hearing in the U.S. Senate.

Laplante is second only to U.S. Attorney Thomas Colantuono among New Hampshire's federal prosecutors. He oversees the U.S. Attorney's Office's criminal, civil and administrative divisions and is lead state prosecutor for the New England Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force.

Colantuono said yesterday, "I think Joe Laplante will become an outstanding federal district court judge and I'm very happy for him." Laplante has also been a prosecutor with the state Attorney General's Office, the U.S. Attorney's Major Crime Unit in Boston and the U.S. Department of Justice's campaign financing task force.

Before he joined the state AG's office for a five-year stint, he was in private practice at Wiggin & Nourie in Manchester from 1990 to 1993.

Laplante's was one of three names that Gregg submitted for consideration.

Others were Concord attorney Sherilyn Young, president and co-founder of the Rath, Young and Pignatelli firm, and Superior Court Chief Justice Robert Lynn of Bow.

LaPlante graduated from with a BA from Georgetown University in 1987, and from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1990. He lives in Nashua with his wife and three children.

The confirmation process takes months and is expected to wind up sometime this summer.

In the meantime, DiClerico's senior status means he will remain on the bench with a reduced caseload.

The rematch of Ichiro and Daisuke

It was exciting to see Daisuke pitch to Ichiro; even the Red Sox fans were on their feet for the first few pitches. (It was a bigger night for Felix and his one-hitter.) If you didn't watch the game tonight, check out the highlights.

World's Largest Dog!

My friend Larry (AKA Booter, Boot Guy, etc) is working on a book about the history of the Guinness Book of World Records and has been sending me weekly emails of interesting records he's come across. He sent me this one today:

Hercules: The World's Biggest Dog Ever According to Guinness World Records Hercules was recently awarded the honorable distinction of Worlds Biggest Dog by Guinness World Records. Hercules is an English Mastiff and who has a 38 inch neck and weighs 282 pounds. With "paws the size of softballs" (reports the Boston Herald), the three-year-old monster is far larger and heavier than his breed's standard 200lb. limit. Hercules owner Mr. Flynn says that Hercules weight is natural and not induced by a bizarre diet: "I fed him normal food and he just grew"... and grew. and grew. and grew.

Looks kinda fake I know, but if it's good enough for Guinness it's good enough for me.

Bacon on my mind

I'm blaming Martha Stewart for putting bacon on my radar this week. She did a segment on candied bacon -- a mixture of brown sugar and black pepper sprinkled liberally onto bacon, and then baked. I've had these once at a party thrown by Mark and Audrey. They were oddly addictive.

Now I hear about bacon ginger cookies!? The bacon ginger cookies use bacon fat instead of butter. What?! I think one stick of butter is required for a dozen cookies. I wonder how much bacon fat are we talking about here? They're serving these cookies at the Purple Cafe and Wine Bar. There's one in downtown Seattle, so I'll have to give it a try. Stay tuned for an update.

Now that I think about it. Shirley is to blame for the bacon/pork on my mind. We had a honey-baked ham Saturday night, and bacon for Sunday brunch. She also gave Jim the bone from the ham so Jim could make black bean soup (which we had last night -- YUM).

100 Million iPods Sold

Apple announced this week that 100 million iPods have been sold worldwide. Jim and I alone have purchased 3 iPods (the first one actually died on us), and 2 iPod shuffles. I'm not complaining; I love my iPods and so does Jim.

Jeff Weaver era begins in Seattle

M's fans - get used to this picture:

Happy Easter

We're down in West Linn, Oregon for a quick visit with Shirley and the rest of the Baltazars. Sometimes a three hour drive seems so far. We haven't been down to the Portland area since Helen's visit in early February. We've been busy or too tired -- simply put, lame.

Two weeks from now, the Look sisters will all be in New York for our cousin Elizabeth's wedding. I'm looking forward to the trip, and being in NYC. Martin will be the only male representing the family. Jim will be in San Anselmo, CA watching our nephew's baseball game, and possibly seeing the SF Giants. Bob and Ryan are stuck home, enjoying the silence with Emily gone.

It's sad that we don't all see each other as much as we would like. This summer there'll be small gatherings of the Martels in Seattle and New Hampshire. I plan to be get better about posting photos.

Irene's Reading List for February and March 2007

March
Hannibal Rising by thomas Harris
Rumo and His Miraculous Adventures by Walter Moers
The Empire of the Wolves by Jean-Christophe
“Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” by Beverly Daniel Tatum

February
The Lucky Ones by Rachel Cusk
Everything You Know by Zoe Heller
The Stone Council by Jean-Christophe Grange
Chinatown Beat by Henry Chang
Blood-Red Rivers by Jean-Christophe Grange

Grace Morton!

Our friends Kate and John Morton had a baby girl yesterday:

Grace Allison Morton was born this morning, April 4th, at 10:45am Central Time. She tipped the scales at 7 pounds one ounce and stretched 19 and three quarter inches. She is perfect. If you don't believe me, check her out at http://graciescrib.blogspot.com/

Congrats to the Morton family!

And yes, Gracie's dad is the same Morty who burned his hand on the grill in his state of delirium after the Hoyas beat UNC, as documented here.

But don't worry...I'm sure he'll be much, much more careful with the baby.

In other news: The Hoyas did not win the Final Four, as had been predicted by a few people around here, especially me. Oh well --- it was a fun trip anyway and I'm glad I went. Pete Kouretas (AKA Kroter) and I got to check out the practice round at the Masters on Monday before going to the finals that night. That was completely Pete's doing, he rented the car & practically dragged me there but I'm really glad to have gone.

Next year: Final Four is in San Antonio! woo-hoo!
my advice: Start booking flights now if you don't want to pay a grand to get there

4 Hours at SLC

Jim's on his way to ATL to see the Hoyas go all the way. Instead of dropping a grand for airline tickets, Jim used his miles to book the flight to Atlanta. He's flying first class, but he has a four-hour layover in Salt Lake City. He's keeping himself hydrated at the Northwest/Delta lounge with the complimentary Makers Marks (all for the low low admission rate of $25 -- suckers!) Jim can attest that not much is happening in SLC. No food was offered in the lounge so Jim ventured out into the terminal looking for food. When flying, Jim and I always end up having a meal at Burger King, and tonight was no different. The highlight of the meal was the employees at the Burger King. There were 2 guys and 1 small Asian gal. One of the guys called the girl "Chinita," which seemed a little too familiar for co-workers. But lo-and-behold, when Jim had a chance to look at her name badge, her name was Chinita. Chinita is Spanish for saying "Chinese girl" in an affectionate way. That name has now officially gone straight to the top of my list of possible girl names when Jim and I ever have kids. At my first job in Seattle, there was a guy named Juan who used to call me Chinita. I always that it was a funny nickname. I mean it's like calling every little white girl "Whitie." How un-pc?!

K-FED Father/Husband of the Year Award Nominee

This is what I meant earlier today when I talked about posting "stupid stuff":

I hereby nominate current Velvet Revolver, and former Stone Temple Pilots Lead Singer Scott Weiland as early front runner for the K-FED father/husband of the year award for 2007.

Here's the story, in case you haven't heard.

He has best embodied the K-FED-like qualities of somehow appearing to be the more "normal" "sane" and "sober" one in his relationship, despite incredibly long odds against that ever happening.

Well done!

Jim's Brother in Baghdad

Usually I just post stupid stuff on here that makes me laugh but my brother is stationed in Baghdad (for the 3rd time now) and sent me this picture today:We're all very proud of you & think of you every day.
Hope you make it home safe & sound, BG!

something else

It's not my intention to stray from the topic of the Hoyas for too long, but check out this pile of money police seized from a meth ring in Mexico City last week:

That's $206 Million!!!

Plus about 200,000 Euros up front there. That's got to be the biggest stack of money I've ever seen. Makes me wonder how much was there before the Mexican Police started "counting" it.

Jimmy to FINAL FOUR!

That's right - I'm flying out Friday night to watch the Hoyas play Ohio St on Saturday, and then hopefully watch them again in the championship game Monday night against UCLA or Florida.

Look for me on TV - I'll be the guy wearing blue and gray.

Big thanks to Irene for tolerating my frequent bouts of childish behavior. Apparently my constant screaming at the TV during the UNC game wasn't all that much fun for her to watch either. XO Baby

HOYAS to FINAL FOUR!

I'm at a loss for words - just an incredible game.

my friend morty sent me the above picture along with this about the rest of his night:

I was so delirious I tripped into the barbecue, burnt the crap out of my hand, and went to the ER in the middle of the night. Home at 3:30 am. Very tired now but I can type. A small price to pay.