Sox Win! Sox Win! Sox Win!

WOW! The Sox beat Colorado 4-3 tonight, sweeping the series 4-0 for their 2nd WS title in 4 years! I can't believe it - for 39 years of my life I never knew if I'd live to see them win one and now they've won a second just 3 seasons later - it's nuts I tell ya, NUTS! Big congrats to Series MVP Mike Lowell too. I really hope the Sox are smart enough to re-sign Mikey, who has proven himself to be a post-season stud twice now (he won a ring w/the Marlins in '03) & not go after you know who that just opted out the final 3 seasons of his contract with satan's team.

On the baby name front, since the sports guy has pretty much ruined the name Beckett for us, I'm now considering the name 'Champ' for JJ, in honor of the '07 sox. (and possibly the 19-0 2007 Patriots as well). We'll see what Irene has to say about that one. Do you think the name 'Champ' would work for either a boy or a girl? I do.

Millsy Did A Great Job

I sent this article to our friend Rod "Millsy" Mills today to thank him for his help getting the Sox to a 2-0 lead in the World Series. The key quote in the article comes from Sox catcher & captain Jason Varitek:

"Millsy did a great job right there and read the situation right and got us an easy out"

He was talking about Sox bench coach Brad "Millsy" Mills, who called for the pickoff throw for the 3rd out in the 8th inning last night, and not our friend Rod, but that doesn't matter much to me

Nice work Millsy! 2 down & 2 to go--A grateful red sox nation thanks you!

I love this play so much I have to post another photo of it:Yep - I think he was out!

Thar she blows!

Last week we were subjected to a freakish wind storm. My sister and brother-in-law from Michigan flew in that night. Since their plane was arriving late in the evening, they were subjected to the worse of the storm. They did say it was a rough landing. Well, someone posted some photos of a Washington ferry boat riding the wild waves caused by the storm. It looks like a toy bobbing in a tub.

Sox Are 1-2 vs Colorado this year

I looked this up earlier today - the Rockies beat the Sox 2 of 3 when they visited Fenway in June. They beat both Beckett and Schilling, our World Series game 1 and 2 starters, and their only loss of the series was 2-1 to Wakefield, who was left off the WS roster because of back/shoulder issues.

Hopefully this all means nothing & the Sox will kick ass but I don't understand why most Boston fans are thinking this will be a cakewalk. These guys are no joke. 21 of 22 is no joke.

OK, so the NL is a joke but I'm still feeling anxious.

Look Who's Forty

I finally reached the ripe age of 40 last Friday. My family came out to help celebrate my birthday and also see my burgeoning belly. Now at 34 weeks, I feel as big as a house. I'm amazed (and alarmed) at the speed my belly is growing.

We found a house in the South Sound that was big enough for the ten of us -- Jim, myself, my 3 sisters, mom, brother-in-laws, niece and nephew. Too bad the weather wasn't so nice, raining, cold and grey. We made the most of the weekend and enjoyed each other's company.

It really meant a lot to me to have everyone here for my birthday. It's been years since we were all together. Luckily everyone gets along even Mom though she doesn't speak enough English to effectively communicate with Jim, Bob, Martin, Ryan and Emily.

Beckett Martel?

I've been (only half-jokingly--I really do kind of like the sound of it) pitching the name Beckett to Irene for a few weeks now, and today the sports guy writes this (including the caption below the pic on left):

"When Cleveland had a chance to clinch at home, Beckett laid the smack down in Game 5. In my lifetime, the most clutch Boston pitching performance was Schilling's bloody sock game in the 2004 ALCS. Second was an injured Pedro coming out of the bullpen in Game 5 of the '99 Indians-Sox series. Third was Derek Lowe throwing a one-hitter for six innings ON TWO DAYS REST to topple the Yankees in Game 7 of 2004. And the fourth? Beckett slamming the door in Game 5. He held off a pennant celebration, swung the momentum of the series and threw his hat into the ring for Team Simmons' "What should we name our son?" sweepstakes. (You have to admit, Beckett Simmons has a nice ring to it.) Baseball is the only sport where a single person can shut up 55,000 people for an extended period of time and eventually break their will. This was one of those times. Just a virtuoso performance."


So much for that! Don't suggest Lugo Martel to us either, ok? Because that ain't happening.

Indians Going to EXTREME Lengths to end Series tonight. Plus: Torre out in NY

They hired Josh Beckett's ex to sing the anthem before the game - really! "Oh but I swear, it's just a coincidence. how were we supposed to know???"


Here's the link to this article on espn:

Teams have been known to go to extraordinary lengths to get an edge. But the Cleveland Indians swear Thursday night's choice of pre-game singer is not a piece of gamesmanship.

Danielle Peck, a country music singer who also happened to date Red Sox ace pitcher Josh Beckett, will sing the national anthem and "God Bless America" at tonight's Game 5 in Cleveland. Beckett is scheduled to start the game for Boston.

"It's an incredible coincidence. Honestly," said Indians spokesman Bob DiBiasio.

Taylor Swift was supposed to be the Game 5 vocalist, but when she couldn't attend, DiBiasio said a country music booker recommended the up-and-coming Peck. She is from Coshocton and her single "I Don't" is a hit.

"She's from Ohio. Her entire family are Indians fans. We did not know anything about her connections to Beckett. The next day, we find out the rest of the story," said DiBiasio of Peck. "How are we supposed to know who Josh Beckett dates?"

With a victory tonight, the Indians would close out the Red Sox and clinch their first spot in the World Series since 1997.

Yeah - "I Don't" is a HUGE hit - it's the next Stairway to Heaven - it peaked at #28 on the country chart -- in 2005! woohoo!

Also, Joe Torre turned down the yankees low-ball offer of $5M (as much as $8M including incentives) today. That's good news for fans of all other teams. There's not much chance any other manager would do as good a job managing that roster of high priced head cases & steroid abusers.

Somebody tell Manny we're still down by 4

Sox are down 3-1 to the Indians in the ALCS, in case you haven't been watching. I feel we have them right where we want them--their #1 guy going tomorrow night, at home, trying to clinch, oozing self confidence. Yep, right where we want em.

New trick for an old "dog"

I love this picture. Jim and I will have to work with Fred to recreate this photo so we can use it for the blog. It is named after him after all.

Another pizza joint in Ballard

There's a new pizza place, called Zayda Buddy's, in Ballard. It's just around the corner from the gym that I haven't been to in months. Last night, Jim and I met some friends there. Let's say that the menu is not the healthiest, but they do offer some options that won't send your cholesterol level sky high. The first of its kind in Seattle, Zayda Buddy's offer Minnesota-style pizza, thin crust with sauce and toppings to the edge and square slices (who knew?). We started with the gravy boat, thin cut fries topped with homemade (and lumpy) gravy. Crispy skinny fries -- super yummy -- with salty brown gravy. We also got a garden salad that comes with avocado, beets and garbanzo beans. It was lightly dressed but decent.

If I ever have the courage, there's a number of items on the menus that I would like to try (or at least, have a bite of). Tater tot casserole, deep-fried burger, velveeta cheese on texas toast, the official bratwurst of the Milwaukee Brewers and Minnesota Twins... This place is open till 2am so I'm sure they'll get a ton of people wandering in after drinking at the bars along Ballard Avenue.

With Zayda Buddy's, there are now 6 pizza joints in Ballard: Madame K's, Snoose Junction, Palermo, Zagi's, and Sopranos. I think that beats any other cuisine found in Ballard with the exception of burgers.

AL East Champs

The Red Sox were celebrating at a bar inside Fenway Park after they clinched the AL East. Check out the photos -- http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=1613zckz.7uefw8j3&x=0&y=ytvvj5 -- you don't have to log in to view the slideshow, just hit play. I have three words of advice for whoever took these pictures -- red eye reduction. Enjoy!

I totally love the Bud Light bottles with the Red Sox logos on them.

Less than 2 months to go

It's still hard to believe that we're having a baby. We still don't have the baby's room set up yet. We need to get rid of furniture before we can re-fill the room with baby furniture. I'll be surprised if the room will be ready before the baby's born.

One of our last trip down to visit Shirley in Oregon, she ordered us to Babies R'Us so we would start looking at stuff for the nursery. We didn't buy anything then, but we did make a list. We're slowly taking small steps to getting ready. We bought a car seat at a used baby sale. We're opting for an universal stroller where the car seat locks into it, something that'll cost less than $100. We've been discussing the pros and cons of strollers for months. We've experienced sticker shock seeing how much everything costs. Strollers for $800, cribs for $2,000, diaper bags for $200, etc... We've been looking at craigslist, hoping to find deals on used baby stuff. I figure the kid won't know the difference of something brand new or a few months/years old.

This week Jim sent me a link to an article about high-end strollers and stroller envy. Click the link, http://www.boston.com/yourlife/home/articles/2007/10/04/coveting_thy_neighbors_stroller/, to read the Boston Globe article. Then I saw posting on craigslist for a used Bugaboo Frog for $550. Yes, I'm considering buying one. Unfortunately, it was sold before I could even have second thoughts. We did decide that we really need to check out strollers before buying them used. On Saturday, we drove out to Merry Go Round in Bellevue, a store that carries high-end baby furnishings and strollers. We ended spending over 2 hours looking at strollers. Orbit, Quinny, MacLaren, Combi, Peg Perego, Svan , Baby Bjorn, Million Dollar Baby, Phil and Ted, etc... We had a good laugh or two when Jim couldn't figure out how to collapse the various strollers. The only stroller he could do without any problems was the one developed by some MIT engineer that costs over $800. We're trying to narrow down the options and find a stroller that folds small enough to fit our car. A lot of these strollers are great but are too big for our little car. Our search continues...

If Fred was a bird...

this is from an email someone I work with sent me
(click on the image to watch the avian Fred in action):

He s-l-o-w-l-y enters the store......and then he runnnnnnns........OUT!
A seagull in Scotland has developed the habit of stealing chips from a neighborhood shop.

The seagull waits until the shopkeeper isn't looking (so a camera was installed), and then walks into the store and grabs a snack-size bag of cheese Doritos.
Once outside, the bag gets ripped open and becomes a feast, for other birds!
The seagull's shoplifting started early this month, when he first swooped into the store in Aberdeen, Scotland, and helped himself to a bag of chips.
Since then, he's become a "regular". He always takes the same type of chips.

Customers have begun paying for the seagull's stolen bags of chips,... because they think it's so funny!

Sox Win East, Best Record

I'm pretty happy today about how the regular season wrapped up: the Sox won the AL East for the first time since '95, and also clinched the best record, which means they'll have home field advantage for the entire postseason, as long as they're in it. so Yay!

Here's Big Papi hitting a homer friday night in the clincher vs. Minnesota

Irene's Reading List for September

The Promise of Happiness by Justin Cartwright
Devils in the Sugar Shop by Timothy Schaffert
The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

Am I bothered?

Work has been a grind the last few days. My energy level is really lagging, but I have a hard time getting enough rest. I don't nap nor go to bed early. I get on average 7 hours of sleep a night, which isn't more than I wasn't pregnant. I've been scolded by my doctor more than once to get more rest. She's concerned that my blood pressure is alittle too high, but I try to explain to her that it's because I'm usually running late and rushing to my doctor appointments. She told me to get a blood pressure gauge to test my blood pressure until my next appointment. If it stays high, she's threatened me with bed rest. I can't imagine it'll be any fun except I get to hang out with Fred and I'll have time to actually go to the gym.

Countdown to the last 10 weeks of work begins

No, it's not JJ; this is just a 3-D ultrasound of what a baby looks like at 28 weeks.

Woohoo!! Now that I'm in my third trimester of pregnancy, I'm looking forward to the last day of work. I plan to work till Thanksgiving, which is less than 2 weeks before my delivery date of December 5. Work has been hectic for the last few months, and I have quite a few projects to wrap up before leaving. Let's hope the baby doesn't decide to come early or cause any trouble.

I still can't believe that Jim and I are a having a baby together. The last 3 months seems like an eternity, but I'm sure it'll pass quickly. We haven't even prepared the baby's room yet. We'll be sure to post our progress along with photos.

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!