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 :)