Tragic Andrews Antacid and Red Sox News

So I bought these Andrews antacids when we were in Ireland a while back . The reason they caught my eye originally was this bit on the wrapper:

"Andrew antacid chewable tablets neutralise excess acid and provide fast, effective relief from acid indigestion, heartburn and trapped wind" (emphasis mine)

So how could I not buy them, right? Anyhoo - turns out they work really well, kind of fizzy, so it's a little like what sucking on an alka seltzer must be like (but more enjoyable. I think. I 've never actually done that.)

I only have half a roll left so figured I should look online to buy some more & I found this horribly distressing news. (under the image of the box)

So now I'm not sure what to do about my dilemma. Any ideas?

In other tragic news - for some reason the red sox (my team) literally are incapable of beating the blue jays this season (unless the recently demoted Josh Towers is pitching - they're 3-0 against him but something like 0-8 against the rest of the team). Not sure if I can do anything about that, but I sure do love to complain about it. And somehow they're still tied for first place, so go figure.

That's it for now--no TC Boyle vocab lesson today

TC Boyle Vocab Lesson #5

Don't worry--not too many more of these entries to come--I'll be done with "The Inner Circle" soon

allision, n. The act of dashing against, or striking upon.
"The boisterous allision of the sea." --Woodward.

bo·lus n. pl. bo·lus·es [Medieval Latin, from Greek, lump of earth.]

1. A round mass.
2. A round medicinal preparation, such as a large pill or tablet, that is usually of a soft consistency and not prepackaged.
3. A soft mass of chewed food within the mouth or alimentary canal.

Vocab #4

2 more from the Inner Circle:

ac·cip·i·ter,n. A hawk of the genus Accipiter, characterized by short wings and a long tail.


crenellation, n. The act of crenelating, or the state of being crenelated; an indentation or an embrasure. [Written also crenelation.]

Not much help so far, right? Fortunately there's more:

1: a rampart built around the top of a castle with regular gaps for firing arrows or guns [syn: battlement, crenelation] 2: the action of constructing rampparts with gaps for firing guns or arrows

I also like how they point out that crenelation is a synonym for crenellation

that's it for today

TCB Words #3; Monkey News #3

here are 2 more I came across today in TC Boyle's The Inner Circle

hor·rip·i·la·tion Function: noun
The bristling of the body hair, as from fear or cold; goose bumps


mast Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English mæst; akin to Old High German mast food, mast, and probably to Old English mete food
: nuts (as acorns) accumulated on the forest floor and often serving as food for animals (as hogs)

Obviously I already knew the word 'mast', just not this usage


AND.....as much as I hate to do it again so soon, I just found some more monkey news. ''Something very unusual happened," said David Reich, one of the report's authors and a geneticist at the Broad and Harvard Medical School.

yup I agree--very unusual. I think this is more than enough for one day--my plantars wart update will have to wait til another day.

Monkey News #2

This one's not as funny as the story about the drunk monkeys from last week: Dutch Monkey Trouble

warning: does not end well for the monkey.

On the bright side, we finally have an answer to that age old question of what would happen if a bear fought a monkey (old school amazon types will get that reference)

no new words today

but I'm finally ready to post something about my tooth implant procedure that was started last Friday. It kind of sucks - I have a screw in my lower left jaw that's going to be the root of the replacement tooth, which should be done in the next 3-4 months. We need to wait for the screw to graft into my jaw before slapping a crown on it so it'll look like a normal tooth.

Here's more than you ever wanted to know about dental implants, courtesy of the American Academy of Periodontology. One note: I think they meant to say "Aesthetic" under those lovely photos. One other note: is Periodontology a word?

Maybe tomorrow I'll post something about my ongoing plantars wart drama

As my dad told me a long time ago ( I think it was maybe when I turned 18): "Jim, it's hell getting old"

Pretty fly for a white guy

Tom Cruise drops by the set of BET to promote MI-3. I never get tired of this clip. I'm hoping Jim will pick up a few new moves from Tom.

TCB#2

only had to look up one word from TC Boyle today:

an·i·mad·ver·sion n.

1. Strong criticism.
2. A critical or censorious remark: “entertained serious animadversions concerning the U.S.S.R. and its behavior on the international scene” (Adam B. Ulam).

TC Boyle words #1

here are 2 words from TC Boyle's "The Inner Circle" I had to look up when I got to work today:

ar·ras n. pl. arras

1. A wall hanging; a tapestry.
2. A curtain or wall hanging, especially one of Flemish origin.

pe·lag·ic adj.

Of, relating to, or living in open oceans or seas rather than waters adjacent to land or inland waters: pelagic birds.

Damn that TC Boyle and his fancy words! more to come, I'm sure

Irene's Reading List for April

Superstud: How I Became a 24-Year-Old Virgin by Paul Feig
train by Pete Dexter
Wake Up, Sir! by Jonathan Ames

polargrizz entry #2

here's another link about the polargrizz I killed, with photo

OK it wasn't really me, some other joker named Jim Martell

Who Pays $45k to Hunt Polar Bears

Apparently there are a few nuts who's willing to pay lots of money to kill wild animals.

I came across a story in the Seattle Times about DNA testing verified the first grizzly-polar bear in the wild. The bear was killed by an American hunter on Banks Island in the Beaufort Sea. The hunting guide suspected it was hybrid and reported the kill to authorities who seized the carcass. Here's an excerpt:

Kuptana, a guide from Sachs Harbour in the Northwest Territories, was tracking with Idaho big-game hunter Jim Martell, who paid $45,450 for a license to hunt polar bears.

The DNA results were good news for the 65-year-old hunter, who was facing a possible $909 fine and up to a year in jail for shooting a grizzly. The Northwest Territories Environment and Natural Resources Department now intends to return the bear to Martell.

Martell told the newspaper he has dubbed the creature "polargrizz."

Of course, the coincidence of having the same name (albeit with an extra 'l') is pretty funny.

drunk monkeys

found this article today on the RSS news feed at the top of my gmail page. Apparently google thinks I'm interested in monkeys or drinking--either way they're right, as anyone who knows me could confirm. This is my first of what will hopefully be many posts of Monkey News (apologies to Karl Pilkington).

Nice win for the sox over that team I hate last night (and will not mention by name).
Let's hope for another couple wins tonight and tomorrow.

today's mariners quote o'day

"I'm puzzled," Guardado said. "I'm not going to go out there and strike the world out or anything, but I do get ground balls and I do get fly balls. These fly balls are just going over the fence. And at the time, I don't need them to go over the fence."

-Eddie Guardado last night after blowing his 3rd save in 7 chances this season. This time he gave up Pablo Ozuna's first career HR (in 334 career at bats) with 2 outs in the 9th.

I'm just wondering if there's ever a time when he does need them to go over the fence.

I shouldn't laugh too hard when the sox can't seem to be able to beat the jays at all this season

Weight Loss Challenge

I had a brilliant idea to compete with Jim to lose weight over the span of six weeks. We're very competitive, and thought this would be great thing to do together. I did trick Jim into this challenge. I had him say yes before telling him what he agreed to do. Ten pounds over 40+ days -- sounds like a breeze ; )

We both failed to reach our goals. I only managed to lose five pounds, while Jim maintained his weight. The upside to this challenge is it got us to gym on a regular basis. We were at the gym 3-4 days a week. I think we're going to keep challenging ourselves to lose weight. Now I have to work on the diet part. We haven't been watching what we've been eating, though we've been real good about not eating fast food.

I think I'm going to have Fred join us on our weight loss challenge for the next month. He's weighing a whopping 18.6 pounds.

Crazy Carl at it again

here's another memorable quote our new least favorite Mariner (thanks to Phil Vandecar for the heads up)

Carl Everett, signed from the White Sox last winter to add power, has three home runs in 22 games and is batting .232.

Is the lineup pressing?

"Pressing?" Everett said, scoffing. "We ain't doing nothing offensively -- not even pressing."

I remain in awe of CC's ability to sound overconfident while saying something so dumb. He doesn't approach his famous dinosaur quote here but still a fine effort.

eyepatch smoking guy

so I was on the way to the gym tonight (yes sometimes I go to the gym too) and I was nearing a corner & I saw a guy about my age wearing an eyepatch under his metal rimmed glasses. plus he was smoking a butt. Since he and I were both nearing the same corner, I made sure to stay on his good eyeball side so he wouldn't walk into me or burn me with his butt.

the end.

My Head Is Spinning

I've stepped up my workout and finally tried spinning at my gym. I was lucky enough to have the instructor help me adjust my bike before class started. A spin bike has more adjustable parts than the standard stationary bike. There were moments when I was sucking wind and thought I couldn't take it anymore. BTW, the instructor likes Smashing Pumpkins; that was the music of choice when we were doing the hard rides. It was a challenge, but I did enjoy it. The worse thing was the smell from the newly varnished floors in the racquetball courts. There were 4 four fans running in the class so it helped, but about 9 people left during the class complaining about the fumes. The instructor cut the class short and ended class after 45 minutes. The class was supposed to last 90 minutes. I don't think I could have made it for that long. Even a half hour after leaving the gym, I was still a little light-headed. A little toast and ginger ale seemed to help. I look forward to trying spin class again (but not for awhile till the fumes dissipate).

Irene's Reading List for March

1. Black Earth: A Journey Through Russia After The Fall by Andrew Meier


2. The Concrete Sea by John Dalton


3. A Place of Execution by Val McDermid


4. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Cadavers by Mary Roach


5. Nature Noir: A Park Ranger's Patrol in the Sierra by Jordan Fisher Smith


6. Heir to the Glimmering World by Cynthia Ozick


7. The Distant Echo by Val McDermid

my ticket to big money - finally!

got this email tonight:



FROM MR. DOM CELLE
HEAD OF DEPARTMENT
BANK OF SCOTLAND
UNITED KINGDOM
CONTACT.
Dear sir,

PLEASE, TREAT THIS PROPOSAL AS TOP SECRET.

IN ORDER TO TRANSFER OUT (15,000,000.00) ( FIFTEEN-MILLION POUNDS STERLINGS) FROM OUR BANK HERE IN LONDON. I HAVE THE COURAGE TO LOOK FOR A RELIABLE AND HONEST PERSONWHO WILL BE CAPABLE FOR THIS IMPORTANT BUSINESS TRANSACTION,
BELIEVING THAT YOU WILL NEVER LET ME DOWN EITHER NOW OR IN FUTURE.

THE OWNER OF THIS ACCOUNT IS MR JOHN HUGHES A FOREIGNER AND THE MANAGER OF PETROL CHEMICAL SERVICE HERE IN LONDON,A CHEMICAL ENGINEER BY PROFFESSIONAND HE DIED SINCE 1995.THE ACCOUNT HAS NO OTHER BENEFICIARY AND MY INVESTIGATION PROVED TO ME AS WELL THAT HIS COMPANY DOES NOT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THIS ACCOUNT AND THE AMOUNT INVOLVED IS (15,000,000.00)POUNDS STERLINGS.

I WANT TO TRANSFER THIS MONEY INTO A SAFE FOREIGN ACCOUNT ABROAD BUT I
DON'TKNOW ANY FOREIGNER,I KNOW THAT THIS MESSAGE WILL COME TO YOU AS A
SURPRISE AS WE DON'T KNOW OUR SELF BEFORE,BUT BE SURE THAT IT IS REAL AND A GENUINE BUSINESS.I BELIEVE IN GOD THAT YOU WILL NEVER LET ME DOWN IN THIS INVESTMENT.

YOUR FULL CONTACT PHONE AND FAX NUMBER NAME WILL BE NECESSARY FOR THIS EFFECT.

HOPE TO HEAR FROM YOU IMMEDIATELY.

THANKS

MR. DOM CELLE