Why I Left New England

A student brought this in for me today. It's about Connecticut, but it pretty much applies to the whole northeast...

Dear Diary

Aug. 12 Moved to our new home in Connecticut. It is so beautiful here. The mountians are so majestic. I can hardly wait to see the snow covering them.

Oct. 14 Connecticut is the most beautiful place on earth. The leaves have turned all the colors and shades of red and orange. Went for a ride through the beautiful mountians and saw some deer. They are so graceful. Certianly they are the most wonderful animal on earth. This must be paradise. I love it here.

Nov. 11 Deer season will start soon. I can't imagine any one wanting to kill such a gorgeous creature. Hope it will snow soon. I love it so much here.

Dec. 2 It snowed last night. I woke to find everything blanketed with white. It looks like a postcard. We went outside and cleaned the snow off the steps and shoveled the driveway. We had a snowball fight ( I won ), and when the plow came by, we had to shovel the driveway again. What a beautiful place. I love connecticut.

Dec. 12 More snow last night. I love it. The snow plow did his trick again to the driveway. I love it here.

Dec. 19 More snow last night. Couldn't get out of the driveway to get to work. I'm exhausted from shoveling. F*#*ing snow plow.

Dec. 22 More of that white shit fell last night. I've got blisters on my hands from shoveling. I think the snow plow hides up around the corner and waits until I'm done shoveling the driveway. Asshole.

Dec. 25 Merry f@#$ing christmas. More friggin snow. If I ever get my hands on that son-of-a-bitch who drives the snow plow, I swear I'll kill the bastard. I don't know why they don't use more salt on the roads to melt the f#@%ing ice.

Dec. 27 More white shit last night. Been inside for three days except for shoveling out the driveway after the snow plow goes through every time. Can't go anywhere, cars stuck in a mountian of white shit. The weatherman says to expect another 10" of the shit again tonight.

Dec. 28 The f*#$ing weatherman was wrong. We got 24" of that white shit this time. At this rate it wont melt before the summer. The snow plow got stuck up the street and that bastard came to the door and asked to borrow my shovel. After I explained how I had broken 6 shovels already shoveling all the shit he pushed into the driveway, I broke my last one over his f(@*ing head.

Jan. 4 Finally got out of the house today. Went to the store to get food and on the way home a damned deer ran in front of the car and I hit it. Did about $3,000 damage to the car. Those f@*#ing beasts should be killed. I wish the hunters had killed them all last november.

May 3 Took the car to the garage in town. Would you believe the thing is rusting out from all that f*@#ing salt they put all over the roads.

May 10 Moved to Georgia. I can't imagine why anyone in their right mind would ever live in that God-forsaken state of Connecticut.

Random musings

stupid groundhog

Just when I have reached the breaking point of winter -- that point where I can't take one more cold day -- when the depression of winter turns to anger -- I need a target for that anger -- and suddenly that damn groundhog sees his damn shadow and silently declares SIX more weeks of winter. The image of Bill Murray frantically driving off a ledge with that stupid groundhog in tow....

I've never wanted a new laptop so badly

Yesterday, I saw the new apple commerical. They pull a laptop computer out of a manilla envelope. Holy crap!
Britney

Britney Spears suddenly has a dad. His name is Jamie. Her mom's name is Lynn and her sister's name is, obviously, Jamie Lynn. Creative, huh?

Kimmel's Unnecessary Censorship

I work at 6am, so I never watch late night tv. I did however, accidently tape Kimmel last night and just watched it. It was his anniversary show, so he did an anniversary version of Unnecessary Censorship in which they censor things that don't need censoring. The result is the funniest bit of tv I've seen in a long time:

Fenway Flashback: Send the Man to San Fran, Closer to Japan

July 2, 2007

The All-Star voting results were announced and FIVE Sox were celebrated -- Ortiz, Ramirez, Beckett, Lowell, and Papelbon. Furthermore, Hideki Okajima was named to an online ballot and Red Sox Nation was called to action to vote.
all the hot pitchers either come from or end up in texas
The game gave Gabbard his second win and Jacoby a few more firsts -- he got his first outfield hit, his first walk, his first stolen base, and his first time crossing homeplate. Here's a bunch of those firsts in one clip!


In other news, a fan's sign got Don wondering how many games Jerry had attended. Remy admitted that he took the announcing job in 1988. Holy heck -- that's 20 years! At 150 games a year, that 3,000 games! And that's just announcing -- not playing or coaching. I think it's fair to say that Jerry Remy knows baseball! A new camera up in the announcing booth, brought Jerry and Don's bickering to a new level...

Phewwwww! The family is intact...

So the Mets are gonna get Santana. Yes, it would have been nice to have another established Cy Young caliber starter, but Santana going to the Mets is best case scenario in my mind because (A) we get to keep our kids -- Ellsbury and Lester, (B) the Yankees didn't get Santana either and (C) Santana now plays for the National League, so who cares!

I would be the most cautious trader if I were in power. I can't even begin to count the number of times that the Sox trades have come back to bite us in the ass -- For instance, last night I watched cutie Kason (like Jason with a K because he gets a lot of them ;)) Gabbard get his second win of the season against his future team, the Texas Rangers. And the day before that and the day before that I watched Eric Gag-me, still a Texas Ranger, throw 2 well pitched saves. It makes steam build between my ears to watch him pitch so well against us, knowing how shitty he pitched for us. Errrrr.... And to think we gave up a decent prospect like Gabbard to get him..errrrrrrr.... So no, I don't really like trades all that much. (Except the one that brought us Beckett and Lowell. That was a good one =))

Fenway Flashback: Baby's First Steps

June 30, 2007

Ahhhhh... Francona must have been thinking the same thing as me when he started Wily Mo in centerfield. The following day, he called up little Jacoby Ellsbury. Yeah! And here's the boy's first major league catch:

And his first major league at-bat was a little embarrassing:

But an inning later, he had his first major league hit and proved he's fast!

4 8 15 16 23 42

In Anthony Breznican's USA Today's Sundance Blog The Edge explains the mystery of the number 42:

I said, "Isn't it weird how certain numbers seem to turn up in our lives? It seems like this kind of thing is especially common kind of game with musical people, who must make numbers and patterns a part of their art." "Yeah, we like numbers," Bono says...

For a moment I think he's going to dismiss the phenomenon. Then he jerks his head toward the guitarist and says knowingly: "Edge's is 42."

"I discovered recently that it is actually the secret number of the universe," The Edge says.

"What is it?" Bono asks, and The Edge repeats himself. Bono feigns concern and says, "Steady on, The Edge..."

"Why is that funny? Quite honestly..." The Edge replies. He's so stoic it's hard to tell if he's joking -- but he's joking. "It was in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy...But scientists have recently discovered that it's actually true..."

The Edge's voice is then drowned out as Bono blasts the volume on his jangling guitar intro, just in time for the "six o'clock" lyric. Bono sings along with himself for a moment, then turns the sound down again and looks back at the guitarist and smiles sarcastically: "Say it again...Sorry, Edge, for interrupting you, oh master of the universe."

The Edge is undaunted by his friend's teasing and describes a mathematical study about 42 recurring in formulas relating to mass, energy, speed and other physical properties. It's clear he's the scientist, and Bono is the poet -- but both see a mysticism in numbers from different directions.

I bet The Edge can explain what the hell is going on on that island, too...

And, yes, i am still cuuuckooooo for Coco Crisp

On June 27th, Coco Crisp dove for a ball and missed. I can't remember ever seeing him dive and miss before this.. He sprained his thumb. He managed to finish the game but he sat out the next game. Two days later, in his place, Wily Mo Pena started. Yup, so the outfield was JD Drew, Wily Mo Pena, and Manny Ramirez. It gave me chills. I mean, there are sooooo many times -- countless times -- that Coco saved his pitchers. So many hits, spared by Coco's diving catches. Catches that clearly (no offense) that Wily Mo would have never caught. So I started thinking that noone gets through a season without a rest. Without a little injury. Without a few days off -- and so what if the Sox trade away my little Coco.. Sure. Jacoby will do a nice job, right up until he sprains a thumb or whatever. Then we are back to, ahem, Wily Mo. Wouldn't it be nice to have a utility outfield who can really really field? Who can make the clutch play -- like coco did in the playoffs?? So yeah, it'd be nice to have another Cy Young candidate in the starting rotation. But on a team that already has one too many starters, wouldn't it be nice to have a backup outfielder that the pitchers can trust to make the play behind them? ...I think so!

Fenway Flashback: Someone's Got a Temper!

June 29, 2007

It's good to be back home and good to be back on NESN. I thought the bats would start flying once the boys got back to Fenway. Not so, but they did manage to eek out a win against Texas. The only weakness I've been able to see in the Sox bullpen, up until now, has been a long relief guy. We've got a setup guy and a closer, but if the starter doesn't make it through 7, then what? Well, we do have Manny DelCarmen and in this clip he proved that he's got the stuff we need against Sammy Sosa. Look what the babyfaced, DelCarmen does with the bases loaded...

Wow! I really thought Manny was out of his league up there against Sosa, but he totally rocked! Love love love that MannyD.

Then in the 9th, Pabelbon is on to save and ends up in a foot race with the uber fast Kenny Lofton. It's a virtual tie that goes to the runner and Papelbon loses it. The boy's got a temper! And it's little teeny Dustin Pedroia who risks his life and gets between the evil ump and Pap. Someone has to keep him in the game...

Pap was able to chill enough to get the final out -- after hitting the next guy, that is -- and the Sox won 2-1...