Living Reflections from a Dream

I don't have anything to say that hasn't been said about tonight's game.. so I'll just say:

Go Sox!-----
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In my excitement about potential trick or treaters for the first time, I bought Halloween candy this weekend (it was on sale, after all). Yes, Halloween candy two weeks before Halloween. This is never a good idea as the chances of the Halloween candy making it to Halloween is infinitesimal. Who are these people that can buy the candy and just let it sit there? No, you eat a little here, a little there and then you have to buy more. This, of course, is the Halloween candy makers master plan and is why Halloween candy now appears right after Easter (slight exaggeration). What you should do is buy it the day before or better yet: the day OF Halloween.

I decided to leave the candy in the car trunk. But I know it's there. The sad thing is that how long it lasts will come down to an internal debate: am I too lazy to go out to the car and get the candy.-----
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Some things just shouldn't happen! Somethings are beyond ridiculous.

Ann Coulter Talking Action Figure

Dolls are items given to children, usually representing something they would like to emulate (which is why Barbi is so wrong, but that is another post), so what are we saying here: that we should teach children to hate others whose views are different than our own? That unsubstantiated, flat out lies are ok if we are attractive and wear short skirts? This doll would, of course, come from the same people who brought us the Bush action figure (the fact that Bush skipped his military action is conviently ignored). But I can understand the Bush doll. The man is, unfortunately, the President of the United States and as such deserves some kind of respect. Children should look up to the role of the President (not the current holder of the office). But there is no excuse for this piece of garbage!-----
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I am beginning to question the sanity of the Democratic National Committee or whoever it is that is scheduling the debates for the Democratic presidential candidates. There is a debate this evening at 8pm on CNN. At the exact same time as Game 2 of the Red Sox/Yankees series. They also had a debate on the first night of Monday Night Football. Are they just writing off the sports loving population as not interested in politics? Do they not want to have all people informed of their views? What is the deal???-----
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Dear Citizens of California:

134 candidates and this is your front runner? Seriously?

Schwarzenegger: 'I have behaved badly sometimes'

I'm sorry I groped you inappropriately, but really, I really, really, really want to be governor (that'll show those inlaws), so I promise to champion women's issues. Just come over to my office around 9pm and we'll discuss. wink.

The hypocracy is mindboggling. Can you just imagine the shit storm that would brew up if this were a Democrat?-----
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Just when my life was beginning to get back to normal.. upon us once again is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).

What is NaNoWriMo? Their website describes it as follows:

What: Writing one 50,000-word novel from scratch in a month's time.

Who: You! We can't do this unless we have some other people trying it as well. Let's write laughably awful yet lengthy prose together.

Why: The reasons are endless! To actively participate in one of our era's most enchanting art forms! To write without having to obsess over quality. To be able to make obscure references to passages from your novel at parties. To be able to mock real novelists who dawdle on and on, taking far longer than 30 days to produce their work.

When: Sign ups begin around October 1, 2003. Writing begins November 1. To be added to the official list of winners, the 50,000-word mark must be reached by November 30 at midnight. Once your novel has been verified by our web-based team of robotic word counters, the partying begins.

Those of you who were around this site last year may recall that I completed my NaNoWriMo "novel" last year even though I was extremely sleep deprived to do it. And even though I've never opened that piece of writing again.. I do think about it sometimes. If you've ever thought about writing, I would highly recomend giving NaNoWriMo a try. It's sort of fun and there is support out there for you - it seems right up many bloggers alley. You have a few weeks to get organized, so start your engines!-----
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on the 2004 Election (I know I've been up nights wondering...)

According to CNN, Kutcher is going to endorse John Edwards.

I really want to believe this is a joke, but I'm really, really scared that it isn't.-----
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and I'm getting ready for Halloween and everything!

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Recently I've noticed a new trend of pseudo spammers who leave comments that sort of seem related to the post, but really are just a way to link to cheesy online stores: cut it out! Your comments will just be deleted, your IP banned and no one reading blogs has time to click on your lame links!-----
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I've come to the conclusion (after only one month of being a home owner) that home improvement never ends. There is always something to improve, something that looks bad in comparison to the something new you just bought. Always more things that can be done. I'm exhausted already... I just want to stop. All this decorating, etc. has taken time away from my other "creative" persuits. I haven't taken many pictures (and those I have remain in my camera), I haven't painted (except for walls) and I certainly have been lame here on the blog. Of course I'm spending this evening staining a bookcase while watching the Red Sox (if they play) because I can't stop. I'm out of control.

That said, I just want it to be known that my future dining room chairs - chairs that I love, LOVE, LOVE and were ordered so long ago, backordering has prevented them from being here where they belong - made an appearance on Trading Spaces 100 Grand. No, not the $2,800 chair Laurie bought. The ones that she said had really cool wood, but seat was sort of blah, so she covered up the seat with fabric (SO Laurie). At first I was horrified.. she defiled my chairs. But a few minutes later I realized she was right and the chair looks really cool the way she did it.

And I have to say something Trading Spaces fans may find sacrireligious - the carpenter on Trading Spaces Family is way hotter than Ty. And in the episode that is on as I type this, he is wearing Red Sox shirt - just another plus for him.

Go Sox..-----
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People in Boston take being a Red Sox fan very seriously. The Yankees are the Evil Empire!

Example 1 overheard in the elevator this morning:

Guy 1: sucks about the game last night
Guy 2: what do you mean? It was awesome!
Guy 3: oh yeah, you're one of those*

* obviously referring to the creature from outer space: a Yankee fan (living in Boston, no less). Obviously someone with mental deficiencies.-----
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why the FBI was bugging the Mayor of Philadelphia's office? What possible, legal reason could there be and how could they not have known that the office was "swept" periodically and the bug would be found.

What is happening in this country??

It seems the only thing going as it should is the Red Sox winning game one over the Yankees (Cowboy Up!) and the Cubs winning last night. :)-----
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Famous last words: yeah! Boone is up first, he'll be an easy out.

Damn Yankees..

So as I've heard every year of my life, my parents have heard every year of their lives and even my grandparents heard most of their lives: we'll get 'em next year!

Thanks Red Sox for a great season

Go Marlins!!-----
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can be demonstrated by this quote regarding the Red Sox/A's series:

So... paying them more will solve your problem (of not being able to win a post season series to save your life)? How much exactly do they need to make... these guys who live the dream of millions of little kids, who get to do what they supossedly love, for quite a bit of money (when many people are putting up with something they hate just feed their families). What does it say about your team if you think that paying them more would make them play better or harder? These guys signed a contract when they came to the team, they make a certain amount and they should be expected to play their best.-----
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Yesterday I was watching the local news. During the sports segment they were still going on and on and ON about Pedro being on the mound in the 8th inning, quotes from the players on not second guessing Grady, footage of Nomar and Mia Ham kicking a soccer ball around Fenway - none of this was new footage or information. Then they go through the rest of the sports news including Syracuse kicking some boot-ay over BC (yeah!), even spending a few minutes on the UMass/Hofstra game (Division 1-AA, I believe they are). And in the last 10 sec. of the segment they say: and there is one more sports story that we have to report... the World Series starts today. That was it. Not even who was playing, who was pitching, where it was. That was all they had to say about that.

Go Marlins!-----
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Twice today the phrase went through my head.

The first time was sitting in traffic (again) on 93 North driving to my training class. We are moving approximately 1/2 a mile per hour and the whole road is packed. Directly ahead of me is a truck with something loosely tied on it which looks periously close to falling off onto my car. This same truck has what appears to be gas leaking from a pipe in the back. We come to a complete halt and I'm waiting for my windshield to shatter or to go up in flames along with this truck. Just then "Can't Smile Without You" comes on the radio. {pause} Barry fucking Manilow. I can't laugh and I can't sing... I'm finding it hard to do anything... Kill me now!

The second time is during the training class when then guy who sits next to me asks if I know that there are rats in the maze screensaver that comes with Windows. Me: what? Him: yeah, yeah, yeah.. let me show you. He proceeds to show me (with great enthusiasm) how to set up the maze with your own pictures, or alternative selections that are provided. Naturally, he choses a very loud tye dye like pattern which gives me a headache. Then he starts up the screen saver and I'm forced to stare at it, waiting for a rat to appear. None show up in the first go round of the maze, so we have to watch it again. Finally, something grey flashes on one side of the screen. Did you see it? Did you see it? I stare at him. How can anyone find this so interesting? I have to fake excitement about this, but what I'm really thinking is: kill me now.-----
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Nomar came out of his slump, the Red Sox Cowboy-ed Up and tomorrow night, it's Game 7:
Pedro vs. Roger, one more time for all the marbles.

Have I mentioned that the last time the Red Sox won the World Series (1918) it was against the Chicago Cubs? Go Sox! Go Cubs! Bring on the rematch!-----
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Every year it happens... the temperature gets cooler, it starts getting darker earlier and the all the vibrant leaves begin to turn brown and blow away. And then it happens: day light savings time. With the fall back of the clock, suddenly it's dark when I leave work, it's cold when I leave work, the time of year when I rarely see the sun begins. I hate it. It means that winter is practically here and this year I'm just not ready. WHat happened to the summer and the still warm days of fall? (ok, I missed the enjoyment of a lot of that due to the big home purchase and then spending countless hours glued to the tv watching baseball). I don't want it to be dark.. I don't want it to be cold. waaaa! Come back sun.. come back!-----
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by and scared for the people of California, that I can barely speak. What were you thinking? I understand you are angry at Davis for the condition your in (not that it's entirely his fault.. take a look at some of the resolutions you've voted for), but to put someone with no experience and no apparent ideas on how to fix things except to shake a broom around in charge is just lunacy.-----
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it's been about 6 months, I'd say. Long enough... not to mention I couldn't live without putting up a Halloween version. So here you go.-----
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from home! Yes, for the first time since 8/31 I have internet access at my home. That is over a month kids, of only being able to access the internet at work (and during the 10 days I wasn't at work during that time.. well: no internet).

I'd like to thank the Verizon employee who couldn't grasp the concept that someone would order new phone service at a location they were moving to and dsl at the same time. Because that person set up my address for dsl as my old address so (and I quote) I could get the dsl modem right away after ordering my service. Well, what good does that do me when they don't process your dsl order or ship the modem until your phone is actually turned on, by which time you've moved to the new location? Once the phone was turned on, it took 2 weeks to get dsl, but natually they shipped the modem to the old address. That only took a week to clear up with UPS (my other favorite completely un-customer service oriented co.). And it isn't as if I didn't call them to tell them they seemed to have the wrong address on the order, but guess what? Once the order is in the system, they can't change the address because it has already been sent to another division with a separate database (or something like that).
WHY IS IT SO HARD to be customer centric?? WHY????-----
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Although I has sworn not to watch 1 second of the world series, a couple of times I have been unable to control myself and I take a peek at what is going on. The first time, Aaron Boone was at bat and I immediately turned the channel. Last night I tuned in and it was the 9th inning, the Marlins were up 3 - 1, with two outs, runners at first and third (I think). Sierra was up. 2 strikes down and then he hits a triple tying the game. ARGHGHGHGHHGH! I yelled. Damn Yankees! And I turned it off. The Marlins recovered to win the game, thank goodness, but I really don't know why I torment myself this way.-----
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that really make me miss my old 'hood, the area of the city of Boston called Fenway. On any given summer day just walking around the neighborhood it would be possible for me to hear: now batting for the Red Sox, Number 5, Shortstop, Nomahhhh Gaahhhciaaapahhhraaaa, followed by the roar of the crowd. I always knew when things were going well for the boys in red because I could hear the screaming. Imagine what I would have heard had I still been living there this weekend.

Cowboy Up!

Go Red Sox!-----
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We had quite a rain storm this morning (which caused all kinds of traffice fiascos - of course on a day when I am driving to a training class rather than sitting on my butt on the T reading. How can a 30 mile drive take an hour and 45 minutes, you ask... well I'll save the Boston area traffic woes for another post). Late in the afternoon things began to clear up, the sun starting peaking through and the sky was the most unbelievable colors - not to mention a rainbow!

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I am sick and tired of all the sports stadium names being bought by big companies that have absolutely nothing to do with sports except to be the advertisers. This selling out for dollars robs these places of their individual personalities. Dunkin' Donuts Arena? Verizon Center? Gillette Stadium? You tell me where these places are or what teams play there. They could be ANYWHERE. Compare and contrast with: Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, Yankee Stadium... these are NAMES! These bring up images and memories that go along with the sports teams. Can't you practically smell the hotdogs and beer? How commercialized does sports need to get.. how much money do they need to make?

Today Bank of America announced it was buying FleetBoston. Inevitably, this means the Fleet Center (home to the Boston Celtics and the Boston Bruins - not that you would know this if you didn't live in New England) will be renamed Bank of America center or some such shit. Bank of America - a company with NO roots in the New England area... sacrilege! Of course I never agreed with calling it the Fleet Center, either - the building they created next to the site of my favorite sports facility ever - the Boston Garden, where the Celtics teams that won 16 championships played, where Larry Bird, John Havlicek, Dave Cowens, Kevin McHale, Bill Russell, Cedric Maxwell* and Robert Parish played. Fleet didn't even pay to put their name on the new building. Another bank that they bought had paid and they just took over the sign. It is just plain wrong. The new building should have continued to be called the New Garden. I say we go back to calling it that. Boycott the name Bank of America Center. It's just not right!

* whose number is getting retired this year. Yeah Max!-----
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ok, I will never love baseball the way I love basketball, (in fact it's only since this game, not in '86, not in '99, that I've even grasped the obsession), but I understand the game and I know that up 1 run, bottom of the ninth, with 2 outs, bases loaded, 2 strikes... the next pitch will come a bit under pressure and Derek Lowe nailed it. I mean nailed it.

It wasn't until at least 5 minutes later that the first "Yankees Suck" chant was heard on Causeway St., but you can bet there will be more in the coming days.

I think this should be the year of teams that deserve to win, but never do... Syracuse has won it's national championship which is all I, personally, can ask for in one year. But on the train on the way home tonight I sat across from a little old man... just sitting there with a Red Sox hat on and a big smile on his face. He is who the Red Sox should win for this year.

Go Sox!

p.s. Paul Katcher: care to make a wager??

p.p.s: get better soon, Johnny Damon..-----
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From yesterday's Boston Globe: Fleet claims for itself a home team advantage

NaNoWriMo starts this Saturday!-----
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I'd like to point out some helpful information a very nice commenter left me (for those who don't delve into the comments):

I will take the time to delete this and block the IP's because this is bullshit. How low a life form do you have to be to do this? Pathetic.-----
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What the hell was going on at the Red Sox/Yankees game yesterday? I can't fathom what anyone involved in the melee was thinking? Everybody was in the wrong. I don't think I've ever seen anything so ridiculous in my life (with the exception of the entire Bush Administration).

I think Trot Nixon hit the nail on the head when he described it as "a whole lot of testosterone flying around out there". How else could you explain a 72 year old coach going after a player on the other team and that player throwing him to the ground? What were either of them thinking? I don't ever want to see something like this again. It was unsportsman-like on both sides and I'm sort of disgusted.

Kids at home: this is what not to do

And later Karim Garcia goes is in the NY bullpen in a fight with a Fenway groundskeeper?? Seriously, what are you thinking? Get control of yourself.-----
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