« July 2006 | Main | September 2006 »
August 2006 Archives
August 1, 2006
I'm Ready for the Heat Offensive...
I' have some Friendly's Watermelon Sherbert.
--------
August 2, 2006
links for 2006-08-02
-
This Boston Globe Spotlight Team investigation into the world of consumer debt in the United States found a system where debt collectors have a lopsided advantage, debtors are often treated shabbily by collectors and the courts, and consumers can quickly
-
Tax holiday coming -- August 12 and 13
-
It's so hot, watermelon sherbert may not be enough
-
Just the fact that considering the comparison isn't that shocking.. well, welcome to greatness, David Ortiz!
--------
Maybe It's Just Me...
but it looks like Jeter's head has outgrown his hair:
--------
Transportation Woes
I'm sure you're all eagerly awaiting to hear my decision on how to get to the airport from a few days ago. Well, I did literally the most ridiculous thing: I created a 4th option, a combination of 1 (risk squishing by taking Silver Line through Ted Williams tunnel) and 2 (risk road rage by driving). I drove, took a wrong turn somewhere on the detour in Southie, so decided to park at the $9 lot and take the Silver Line). It was the worst of both worlds. I need my head examined. The only interesting part was going through the Ted Williams tunnel. Going east toward the airport, the tunnel remains closed except for the Silver Line (which is actually a bus, for those of you not from Boston).
The first thing that happens as the Silver Line approaches the tunnel, is the bus picks up it's police escort (one can only assume that should the bus be squished from above, the 1 police officer in the car would rescue us all - ?). As we approached the entrance to the tunnel, we passengers on the bus all look nervously at each other, a mother grabs her 12ish year old son's hand (which he quickly snatches back with a cry of 'Mom!' and a look of embarassment). As we pass into the tunnel, we lean toward the windows, all staring up. Not a sound is heard on the bus. The ceiling appears to be fine, but the bus travels very slowly, allowing for lingering glances at the walls of the tunnel that never occur when driving through at 60 mph +. The spots where there have been leaks are really obvious at 20mph, the rust, the dripping, the skeeviness. Not exactly confidence building, I'll tell ya.
And let's just talk about the Red Line today. There was a medical emergency on a train ahead of mine, which turned out to be 2 people having heat exhaustion. So the train stops in the station, leaves all the doors open, which simultaneously lets all the a/c out and allows more and more people in, on a train that was already a billion degrees with a/c. People were sweating like cold beverage on a hot day. I turned around and there I spied a guy with wet patches all over his shirt. He just shrugged. Then the T sprang a leak. Water started dripping from the ceiling above some of the seats, causing people to jump up and even further crowd the space. I hate the train sometimes. On the way home, we had the small problem of needing to go slow because in this heat, the tracks can expand, increasing the derailment odds. Yes, my confidence in being able to get around is skyrocketing!
--------
August 3, 2006
links for 2006-08-03
-
egads. What really amuses me is the DO considers this breaking news.
--------
August 4, 2006
links for 2006-08-04
-
Rock on, Jason Feifer!
--------
August 5, 2006
Cut the Crap
Doesn't this picture look as if the gas tank is about to be abducted by aliens or zapped from above. Almost as if God were saying: "Cut the crap. Stop using so much gas and letting the need for oil control your whole society. Do I need to send Jesus back to smack you guys around?"
--------
links for 2006-08-05
August 7, 2006
links for 2006-08-07
-
aka - How to kill time
-
Just like for BIll Simmons, it never gets old for me
-
Jesus, Mary & Joseph!
--------
I Am Losing My Mind
I just returned a can of Lysol to it's home on the laundry room shelf. The Lysol can wasn't on sure footing and toppled over, causing the Scrubbing Bubbles to go flying - the hard landing resulting in the top popping off. I found myself so annoyed, that as I picked up the Scrubbing Bubbles, I was speaking tersely to the Lysol can.. telling it: you'd better hope that bubbles still come out of this can, Mister. You'd better just hope!
August 8, 2006
Running on Empty
My body is fighting me. I致e been wanting to take up running again and each time I plan to start, well, nothing happens. For the past 2 days, I致e planned to go at 6am. The alarm goes off at 5:45 and I can稚 move. I say to myself: just 1 more minute of sleep, just 1! The next time my eyes manage to focus on the clock, it痴 6:15, too late to go. Is it really too late? Well, yes because by the time I get dressed and hit the road, I値l only have 25 minutes to run before I have to shower and get off to work. Wouldn稚 25 min. be better than nothing? I知 thinking that just now, at 6:30 when it really is too late. 15 minutes is really not worth getting out there for, is it? Oh no, it痴 really my mind that is blocking this effort, not by body. I stopped running before due to injury, perhaps my mind is protecting me from myself.
--------
links for 2006-08-08
-
"The tone of the [New York Times] article was distinctly different from pieces in days past featuring lower rates of marriage by women -- no terrorist statistics were trotted out. No whiff of desperation"
-
HEY! There is another blog with a suspiciously similar name to mine... feh. Obviously, I corner the market on blog names ripped off from Led Zep songs.
--------
August 9, 2006
Dear Dr. Laura...
I received this via email today and it's so great, I had to post it.. yes, an email chain letter. Read on.
Dr. Laura Schlessinger is a radio personality who dispenses advice to people who call in to her radio show. Recently, she said that, as an observant Orthodox Jew, homosexuality is an abomination according to Leviticus 18:22 and cannot be condoned under any circumstance. The following is an open letter to Dr. Laura penned by a east coast resident, which was posted on the Internet. It's funny, as well as informative:
Dear Dr. Laura:
Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination. End of debate. I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the other specific laws and how to follow them:
When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord - Lev.1:9. The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?
I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?
I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness - Lev.15:19- 24. The problem is, how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.
Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?
I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?
A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination - Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this?
Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?
Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?
I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?
My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? - Lev.24:10-16. Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)
I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.
Your devoted fan,
links for 2006-08-09
-
He is such a tool.
-
Now I love my hoops (and it was supossedly invented here), but MA is a baseball state... with an occasional break for a Super Bowl championship or 3.
-
Jeez louise... get over it. People who come to play in NY or Boston need to be able to take the heat. From whom much fan attention and loyalty is given, much is expected. No whiny babies need apply!
--------
Yes, We Have Some Bananas...
This evening I saw a woman wearing that wonderous fashion trend of old, the Banana Clip. Could there be a more attractive way of taming your big 80's hair than by creating a giant bush-like growth on the back of your head?
I spotted the Banana Clip a mile away and couldn't believe it. For a moment I considered approaching the woman and asking if she had kept the clip since the 80's or if (god forbid), she had purchased it recently and they are coming back in style. I'm not sure which would be more scary.
** Update ** the clips are out there in the wild on Ebay.
--------
August 10, 2006
Sometime You Just Have to Laugh or You'll Cry
(AP Photo)
Um.. am I the only one wondering why if the plot was to take down planes to the US, why is it that all traffic out of Heathrow to other European countries is cancelled, but planes to the US are flying? And can liquid explosives not explode from the cargo area?
--------
links for 2006-08-10
-
Someone in my office wears them and every time I see them I cringe. They are heinous.
--------
Lights Out
Tonight I was quietly cooking dinner, the normal sounds and smells permiate the house when suddenly, shazam! All sites and sounds cease and the house plunges into darkness. There is NO electricity. I stand for a second, perplexed. Hmm.. when will it come back. A minute passes, nothing changes. I look out the window.. no streetlights. Shit! I begin to look around for that flashlight I know I have somewhere. It is made of glow in the dark material, just for an occasion like this. Where is it? Where is it?!? Then I remember that the glow in the dark material annoyed me so I conviently had placed it in the back of the cabinet under the sink behind all the cleaning supplies and the approximately 2 billion plastic grocery bags that I save, thinking I'll use someday for something, but no normal person could ever find that many uses for. I can't see, it's too dark. On auto-pilot I reach up above the sink to turn on the light. Right! No electricity. After digging around for a few minutes in the back of the cabinet, I finally find the flashlight and turn it on. The light provided is weak at best. The battery must be close to dead. Damn! I turn around to the left, I turn to the right. What am I supossed to do now.. me and my flashlight. Sadly, I think.. well, at least there is no potential of having to see the Red Sox lose to the Royals again without tv. Another minute goes by. I'm bored and I'm standing here with a flashlight. Must go out! Can't stay here, obviously. I mean how is a person supossed to survive without tv or the internet for even a short period of time? There are limits. hahah.. Even as I was thinking it, I was laughing at myself. Then picked up my purse and left.
--------
August 11, 2006
7 Days..
til the Yankees come to town for 5 games (5 games!) in 4 days and I'm not feeling good. So last night I had to pull out the old tried and true:
and watch the 9th inning of Game 4 of the ALCS. What can I say.. I needed a pick me up.
--------
Law of the Office Jungle
Walking by the conference room nearest my desk around 11:45am, I spied a lunch spread being rolled in which one could assume is for a 12pm lunch meeting. Time passes. 12:20, no one is in the room. 12:30 still no one. I walk by again.. the cookie tray looks SO GOOD! 12:35pm, still no one in there. All those tasty cookies.. going to waste! This is when I reach the zenith of my patheticness. I look up who may have that conference room booked. No one had it booked at 12, but someone has it booked at 1pm and it's someone in my group. So I walk over and ask him: is that your lunch spread? He says nope. I say: I'm going in for one of those cookies. You can't leave food sitting around for 45 min. and expect it to be there. Free food brings out the vultures in us all.
--------
links for 2006-08-11
-
It is useful that the commission co-chairs are now willing to reveal some of the means by which the Bush administration undermined their investigation. Unfortunately, their account provides further evidence that, by the design of this president, we still
-
this is not a sane individual. Turn back now!
--------
August 12, 2006
links for 2006-08-12
August 14, 2006
The Nuturing Manager
So we have a new manager at my company, who "management style" is "nuturing". This person feels the need to explain everything to you as if you're 5 years old, and seems to think this is a good thing.
She just explained to me that sometimes you have to figure out the best way of communicating with people.. some people like email, some prefer the phone. For busy people, it may be easier to catch them early in the morning or after 6. etc, etc.
I stood with my mouth open. I wanted to reply: no way! So that's how you do it! Seriously, does she think we've never been in an office before, does she really think people who are more than 6 months out of college need instructions like this?
--------
links for 2006-08-14
-
everyday I think going cash only is a better idea
--------
August 15, 2006
links for 2006-08-15
-
Nancy Giles on CBS Sunday Morning, shared with us her thoughts about how safe she feels after the latest terrorist plot was foiled by the UK.
-
I just may be in love
-
ok....
-
Katrina victims with insurance are screwed.
--------
That痴 one bottle of whiskey away from being an Irish Catholic
Oh how I love when Denis Leary and Lenny Clark visit Fenway, leaving an uncontrollably giggling Remy and Orsillo in their wake.
Not to mention this paraphrased exchange:
Clark: Youkilis � is he a Greek kid? What is that.. Irish?
Leary: He痴 not Irish.
Remdog: Maybe, I think he痴 Jewish
Clark: That痴 great! That痴 fantastic!
Leary: That痴 one bottle of whiskey away from being an Irish Catholic. They致e got the Manischewitz, we致e got the Jamison痴. It痴 the same guilt, the same bad food.
Clark: That痴 fantastic! We致e got a Jewish first baseman.. I didn稚 know that.
( editors note: You know where this is going right? )
Clark: I hope Mel Gibson doesn稚 come into this park, we値l run him out on a rail.
{ Youkilis makes a great play }
Where痴 Mel Gibson now? He痴 in rehab and Youkilis is at first base!
They friggin' kill me. Only an hour til Rescue Me is on!
--------
August 16, 2006
links for 2006-08-16
August 17, 2006
Gorgeous Weather Expected This Weekend
and what will I be doing?
What can I say, I've got my priorities.
Do or die, boys, do or die...
--------
links for 2006-08-17
-
I could watch it 100 times
--------
August 18, 2006
links for 2006-08-18
-
Haley Joel Osment is old enough to drive? Holy crap.
--------
August 19, 2006
Deathwish
So things are not good in Red Sox Nation, but I'm not ready to throw in the towell just yet. See, I've got the Red Sox Fan Deathwish syndrome. We'll talk some trash after a debacle like yesterday, even to the point of throwing Theo under the bus, but when the chips are down, we'll be back in front of the tv, ready for more punishment. Deathwish.
Of course, yesterday is all my fault. I lost, for a day, my warn out and bedraggled Red Sox hat. Yes, the hat that I bought after game 2 of the 2003 Oakland series because they needed a change in luck. And their luck changed (with the exception of 1 Aaron Boone homerun). I wore that hat nearly every day during 2004 and look what happened. Yesterday, when I went to find it, it was missing. Ack! The horror. Today I found it crumpled up in the bottom of my gym bag, but I couldn't wear it yesterday and that caused all the problems. So I'll be running out this morning to buy a new Red Sox hat in order to cause another change of luck in my boys. Deathwish.
How will I handle it if Beckett gets in trouble, starts ripping pitches right down the middle (when he isn't tipping off what he will be throwing) and things unravel? I'll do what I heard Angry Bill suggest this morning on EEI*: drink, drink hard. Deathwish.
I read Shaughnessy today. Seriously. Deathwish! The article included the line "Start with this scenario: Biggest series of the season . . . make or break against the storied rival who has finished ahead of you in eight straight seasons . . . first of five games in 76 hours . . . and the Red Sox went into battle with a starting pitcher they knew they were going to dump after the game." Nice.
And I'll have to watch Randy Johnson in HD (Ack! My eyes!) Did I mention I recently got an HD tv (complete with disasterous Comcast visit to deliver an HD box. Serously, the guy told me he'd never seen a set up like mine before, I have to call in my supervisor. My response: you've never seen set with a tv and a Tivo before? Needless to say that's an entire day of my life I won't get back)? Yeah, watching Randy Johnson on HD is really how I want to spend a Saturday afternoon. Deathwish.
So bring it on! It's the worst possible situation: We've just lost 2 in a row to the Yankees, in Fenway, Game is on Fox.. I'm sure will have McCarver and Buck. Oh wait.. I seem to remember a worse situation, in Fenway one time back in 2004.
Go Red Sox!
* listening to EEI in these situations is in and of itself proof of Deathwish syndrome.. it's the surest way to bring on mental illness
--------
links for 2006-08-19
Post Mortem
I originally created this during a Red Sox/Yankees series in 2004. I want to say the sweep at the end of June of that year (oh the games of yore, when Jeter went into the stands and Nomah didn't play for still mysterious reasons), but I could be wrong. The image, however, captures the feeling perfectly.
The only positive to come out of todays game? I was so irate at the Red Sox and I needed to get this irritation out so badly, that I said: I've got to get out of here. I need to run! Now.. I haven't been running in awhile due to an injury. Since the injury, I've been babying myself and believe me, my butt has been telling me (and showing others) that the low impact workouts I've been doing are just not going to cut it if I don't want my butt to hit the ground when I get older. So off to the track I went... and ran 3 miles, although I had already worked out today and I haven't done a double workout since high school. 3 whole miles and it felt great. Of course, I could actually feel the running muscles that haven't been using in so long getting sore during the actually workout, but I don't care about that. I care if I wake up tomorrow re-injured, because if I don't.. then maybe I can start running again. YEAH.
Meanwhile, I wonder if I can return my apparently unlucky newly acquired Red Sox hat.
August 21, 2006
links for 2006-08-21
-
researchers have speculated that our happiness is influenced not by our absolute level of wealth and income, but rather by how our financial situation compares with friends and colleagues
--------
August 22, 2006
links for 2006-08-22
-
Verizon blows chunks
--------
I've Figured Out What To Do During the Remnants of the 2006 Baseball Season:
route for the Dodgers!
Nomah deserves a ring. Ok, they gave him one in 2004, but he deserves his very own World Series.
Tivo recorded last nights Dodgers/Padres game which I watched part of this evening. All my old friends took plae: Nomah, DLowe, Mariano Rivera killer Bill Mueller, Todd Walker, Mark Bellhorn, even Grady Little and the stealer in chief, Dave Roberts. Yes, he stole a base in the game causing Sutcliff to wax on about his stolen base in the 2004 ALCS, which I loved, of course.
Not that this means I won't still be on my boys side, but seriously they are making me sick to my stomache right now.
--------
August 23, 2006
links for 2006-08-23
-
I provide food for all, sunsets, cute babies, music, even the Internet! But the minute I turn my back, they all start fighting. Holy War this, Crusade that, and Jihad, blah, blah, blah,"
--------
August 24, 2006
links for 2006-08-24
-
Bush's cranky, feeble defense of the Iraq war at Monday's press conference echoed his father's political meltdown.
-
The second I start routing for the Dodgers, they get swept. I am a baseball curse.
--------