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.