Major League Jerks

One would think in this day of Mitchell Reports and Perjury allegations against Hall of Fame Contestants, that major league baseball would be a bit more inclined to foster goodwill toward fans and take part in a renewed effort toward young players.

But, oh no! As I hear over and over and over ad nauseam, MLB is actually a business,not a game.

Sorry, but get stuffed, MLB. How can you say that a team with a mariner for a mascot has to pay royalties- The team mascot is a tribute to a bunch of Massachusetts fishermen you jerks. I suppose a team can no longer call themselves the Cardinals. After all, it is a bird. My grandmother had a pair who liked yo use her bird feeder. I hope she doesn't owe money. Can't be called the A's? surely the team isn't made up of a roster full of Athletes, so Athletics is certainly a logical thing to call them.

MLB is a bunch of sillies, who want nothing more than to run the show. They like to dazzle us with their fund raising and community service, but they only want to serve the community on their terms; and ONLY when it ultimately benefits them- they make big fat money of the sale of Licensed Merchandise and they would on the purchase of uniforms. At Cape League games- they make big fat money of the 50/50.

An interesting thing is that many of the players who play in the Cape league go on to have fantastic MLB careers- thus helping the MLB recoup the money granted in the first place. This is simply bad business, and if you ask me just another PR mess for the MLB who appear more and more often to be like F-troop.

Go See a Cape League Game this Summer- you'll be glad you did. you can find all the schedules, rosters and stats here:
http://www.capecodbaseball.org/

I have to confess,

i think i might go see the sex and the city movie.

Though i'm on the fence, the series finale on hbo was so good, and so ridiculously happy, that I don't want to wreck it by an unhappy movie. i dunno. I really enjoy that show, because it really is true to life- believe it or not. Those girls have in the past been self conscious, self-assured, happy, scared, sad, neurotic, self-destructive, cruel, hurtful, caring, nurturing, supportive and above all, sincere people. Each character is a well done exploration of how a single person can exhibit such a varied number of foibles, and qualities.

not just the women on that show, the significant man characters are explorations of these things as well. The stupid name of the show was actually quite a clever thing- people are drawn to it by the name, but then they stick around because the show is really quite good.

i'm on the fence.

starbucks closing?

we can only hope. Actually, it's just for a little while. Too bad.

The thing I hate about starbucks is everything. The coffee is swill. It is just too strong. True, there is something singularly bad about weak coffee, but the solution isn't to make it so strong that you make that funny face like when your beer is skunked. That's essentially skunked coffee. Blech!

I can't stand the stupid names they give or the fact that you have to order in quasi italian. Ah for criminy sake. i don't want the biggest one you have, and i don't want the smallest one you have. i just want a medium coffee.

I cannot stand the people. The workers at starbucks are too often disinterested and disingenuous. They seldom have a knack for dealing with large queues of customers, and it's very evident. The queues themselves are another source of angst for me while i'm at starbucks. There are so many retail gee gaws and impulse item stands in the way that just waiting for your stupid drink is an exercise in irritation.

The worst thing about starbucks is that they have really ruined a fledgling cafe culture in the US, certainly the Northeast. when starbucks moved in, independents couldn't compete with the marketing machine. Other times, the horrible customer service standards set the bar so low for independents that even if they pull a good coffee, they are such assholes behind the counter.

I know, if i hate it so much why do i go? well, i don't actually I haven't been to starbucks for probably 8 months. But posting this makes me feel better anyway.

Woo hoo, the Foos!

So Colleen and I went to see the Foo Fighters at the Centrum on Monday. As noted in my Desert Island Discs yammer, I love the Foo Fighters. I just love them. I love that their lyrics are poetic, and crafty, and I love Dave Grohl's voice- it's a pretty wide range; and i just love the music. I simply love the way they put all the components together. It's hard for me to pick a favorite album- though I continually return to The Colour and the Shape. And it's even harder for me to select a favorite song- though I continually return to Doll/Monkeywrench. The fact of the matter is, there are very few current bands that I dig more than the Foos.

Against Me! were alright- a typical opener. Their sound is sort of like the Cult- which I dig, so I was moderately interested in hearing what they had to sing. The second band- Serj Tankian was really disappointing. I guess he's the guy from System of a Down. They had a bit of schtick- top hats and frilly tuxedos- but they were just unimpressive. His voice was too shrill to enjoy.

The foo fighters came on and rocked.

I think Dave Grohl is a better front man than Kurt Cobain was. There I've said it. He's very good with an audience- he's very personable on stage and the audience can really get the impression that he's actually speaking to them and interested in them. As a matter of fact- he actually engaged one guy in the audience about the Tee shirt he was wearing. "What's that shirt say? Wait, wait, Hold still, I can't read it"

They played lots of hits- they have a bunch of albums now- so they can't play everything, but they do play many of the favorites. I would rather they steer clear of the semi acoustic versions of things like everlong and things like that; I like it when they rock, but the rest of the crowd seemed to dig it so, ok.

It was a really long night, they played for a long time, in the middle of it, the whole band, plus a bunch of other musicians came down to the other end of the arena floor and they did a long set- half and hour or forty minutes or so. It was really cool- they were very close to the audience. It was a really good part of the tour, it made the show feel a bit like it feels at the Paradise. I wish more huge bands would do things like that.

We had a really good time- well worth the investment.

This is priceless

you have got to go see this
hilarious film of spring training.

i would be so mad if my teammates did that to me! how cruel!

I Heart Spring Training!

sweet georgia brown, i love spring training.

when I was in college, we went to orlando for softball spring games. So I totally know just how inherently great spring training is. It's like a secret society of all things good- a whole bunch of baseballers getting together to play ball. There is just something sublime about spring training. Spikes on concrete walkways, funny looking tan lines. There's a particular kind of hot in florida in february and march. it's not really hot an humid, but you still work up a sweat. The sun is just so welcome after a long hard, snowy winter. It's just fantastic. And there's nothing to worry about- you just need to play ball. The media isn't as fiendish, if you're in college, classes are miles away. It's just pure baseball or softball. At the end of the day, it's still sort of light out, and you can feel really good about working hard and playing a great game.

Red Sox pitchers and catchers are here- I SO wish i could be too.

sigh. i need new cleats

It became pretty evident on my first cut to the ball yesterday that my beloved Copas will not last too much longer. The cleat plate has become separated from the leather upper on my right heel. Around the entire heel. it was just one side of the heel, but after last night it's the entire thing. It's clear the white cloth tape used to repair everything in sports is no longer cuttin it.

the thing is, Copas are SO EXPENSIVE. when i was in college i wasn't too upset to make the investment, after all, they were a hundred bucks, and i was only a sophomore at the time; i had three seasons on tap. That was ten years ago. and I've used them in every rec league since then. I've gotten a good value from the investment. But now, I'm only going to be playing rec leagues. thats not a commentary on the level of soccer, it's more one on the actual amount of time. that seems like a big investment. I never ever pay more than $50 on shoes if i can help it. if they are more than that, i simply don;t buy them. Carrie Bradshaw I am not.

but i am a sucker for something that has the right image- and copas have the right image, they indicate soccer. nothing else, they aren't golden, they don't have the laces on the outside. (let me tell you if you strike the ball dead on, the laces aren't going to hinder the speed, direction or accuracy of the shot. any more than laces on the side will help correct a shank. if you've shanked it you've shanked it; unlucky) Copas are just hard working soccer. I'm a hardworking soccer player.

I'll probably get them online, big toe sports has the best prices i've seen anywhere. i hope i order the right size.

TRUCK DAY!

Saturday is truck day.
hoo hoo hoo! if only i could do a cartwheel!

I think I posted about this once before. Truck Day is indeed a most important day in boston. Perhaps it's only meaningful to cold weather climates. Though I do wonder if the people in Chicago or detroit get in such a euphoria over their truck day.

The thing is, the winter is long in the northeast- it's long and kind of crummy there's rain, and snow and wind and yucky cold. By the time february rolls through, we are getting very tired indeed of wool coats. And even though truck day is sort of early in february, it's kind of like a beacon of spring. Certainly it's a time to reset ourselves with something to help us ignore the recent superbowl (for now, i'm trying to ignore the entire sport. It's as if the entire 2007 football season was never played. Curious, considering how frequently I posted about it)

But truck day! It means that pitchers and catchers are not far behind, and then position players. Just a few short weeks after- it will be opening day. hoo hoo hoo! Opening Day!

Opening Day means spring and summer! Spring and summer is my favorite time of year. So you see, truck day means so much more than just a load of catchers gear and pitching machines and buckets of David sunflower seeds. Truck Day means the end of winter is near!

This is what good teams do,

They win.
The trouble is, I didn't think the Giants were as good as the Patriots.

But it became evident as the first half ended, and the pocket around Brady just collapsed on every play that this was not going to end well. When we scored that second touch down i thought, well, that's good- now the Giants have to score a touchdown, a field goal isn't enough. And I really didn't think Eli Manning had the gumption to play clever football. I really thought he would fold like a lawn chair.
Silly really, given that he hadn't done so through a very demanding playoffs.

So in the end, it was a super bowl; a really great defensive game- certainly it must be one of the lowest scores in a long time. Certainly it was tremendously heart pounding football- we were all on the edge of our seats. After all, a blowout superbowl is kind of a snore (the only snore in this game was Tom Petty-zzzzz). It's just too bad the Giants won. It's too bad for me because I'm a Patriots fan; it's not too bad for the Giants. They played a very well thought out well executed football game. it's not personal; they weren't being mean to us yesterday; they just crushed our quarterback on every single drive, almost every single play.

well, to resurrect a phrase I thought I had retired in 2004- there's always next year. The patriots will be back next season, and we'll be a good team. Look out.

Not so superbowl hat

this is the hat i started at kickoff yesterday. I needed something to knit while I watched the game, and this is what i grabbed before I left the house. It's a good hat, nicely shaped. there are some math discrepancies on the decreases at the crown, but come on, the Patriots were losing the superbowl, cut me a break.

It's made of something called spirit, made by Twilleys of Stamford I purchased it in Derry, county Derry. It's nice yarn, quite predicable and knits up nice and even. I would like a self patterning yarn that allowed for wider stripes, rather than blotches, but i don't think it would deter me from buying the yarn again. I think the hat will be nice and warm. My friend debra will be the recipient of the hat, she said at kickoff, "I would like a pale purple hat, I don't have a pale purple hat." I don't think she expected me to give it up, but truthfully, i have too many hats, and not enough heads to put them on. So there you have it; The not so superbowl hat.

a physical and technological fence?

To keep the bad guys out? Come on. Fences have been used throughout history with little success but for the shepherds. Illegal immigration isn't only affecting the US. No no, it's prevalent all over the world- Germany is having trouble with it; in Spain they worked out a broad plan in 2005. I've heard from friends that in Portugal there are illegals from northern Africa and Brazil.

The tough nut about illegal immigration is that illegals are not inherently bad guys; they are not all terrorists or drug czars. Perhaps they are desperate, maybe they have so few work prospects that they have to leave their family. Perhaps the family they left behind is so poor that even our weak dollar is yet stronger than their home currency. My point in all this is that the question of illegal immigration is not black and white. It cannot be- it is about people. The concept of people includes both contributors to the community as well as undesirables. Make a note that even illegals have people who love them; people who cry at their funerals.

Perhaps it's time to reconsider why mexicans, or Brazilians or whomever, need to come here in the first place. Perhaps it's time to rework the immigration system- it's very hard to become a citizen legally. There is a lot of scary red tape. Hell, manny ramirez didn't become a citizen until he was a year and a half with the Red Sox- and he was in Cleveland for 7 years before that. He's a big league athlete, with presumably the best lawyers, translators and work sponsors around. It took him 8 years. imagine a kid just off the boat, with little more than a set of skills. Come on. That's not easy.

I don't have the answers. but I do know that wholesale deportation is no more the solution than wholesale admittance. More so, if I don't have the answers, I certainly don't have the means to carry them out. That's all for the politicians to do;

I sort of hope that this silly post on a thursday morning will reach politicians, and make them aware that illegal immigration is not to be trifled; is not simply an "issue" with which to win an election, it is a conundrum of human proportions. Real, human, proportions.

why trade Johan Santana

why do you think the twins are so interested in trading johan santana? Has he been unhappy? the twins are a pretty good team. this past season wasn't the greatest perhaps, but as far as i can recall, the twins were a team to be careful of. i sort of recall that they have always been pretty competitive.

have they decided that this is going to be a rebuilding year? there isn't anything wrong with a rebuilding year, but it seems that they could have used torii hunter and certainly santana as leaders, not to mention pretty dependable production from both of them. it seems strange to me. I kind of wonder why they are letting their good players- veterans if you will, go. And they would have to get some good players for johan santana. he's too good a pitcher right now for them to be satisfied with retreads, rookies, or even prospects.

I don't think sherman would like this!

My shermy is no traveller- no, he'd much prefer to stay home and help with my homework.


Though he doesn't mind going in the carrier, i only take him to visit my mom and to the vet in it. i haven't taken him on a plane- but it's probably best that he didn't go with us on our trip,

like this cat did

the cat is very cute, and i think it's funny what the guy said about shrieking like a little girl. hee hee hee.
Suitcase is a good name for a cat. can you imagine? first you get home with the wrong suitcase- argh! then out hops a cat! hee hee hee. it's very funny.

i don't think i'll put shermy in a suitcase. he could get squashed, or freeze to death. No, my shermy had better not stow away.

18-0!

Holy Cow! and that wasn't our most impressive offensive game ever. Maroney was very good, he's a crafty runner, not someone like Corey dillon. but here's a news flash to all those people who still want us to get corey dillon back (Dad) Crafty can get it done too. That game was very good. the weather sure did play a part in the game- it was hard to catch the ball. new england only had 198 yards passing, but the chargers only had 207. that is pretty even, the difference is that ladanian tomlinson didn't play. had he played- the game would have a very different score.

oooh but it was cold here on sunday- i would much rather watch football from the couch than actually play it in foxboro. it was one of those days that takes your breath away the minute you step onto the porch. no question the weather was a factor.

the new england defense was very impressive. the chargers were 0 for 3 in the red zone; they didn't even score a touch down. anyway you slice it, that is very good. It was a very good football game. the Chargers played well, the patriots played better. it's not personal, it's not anything other than the fact that the patriots are a complex, adjustable, talented and aggressive football team.

People can be pissed off because it's the scandalous patriots (come on, are you still bent about something that happened in week one?) or begrudge the record (is that cause you actually follow the dolphins?), teams can moan about how the patriots went 52 points on them (perhaps it's time to reassess the defense?) or how since 2000 the patriots are like these mean schoolyard bullies who win, win, win, and never let anyone get a chance to try it on for size (that's plain jealousy).

But everything boils down to the simple fact of the matter- the patriots are a talented football team, and they play well together. Sunday was a good example of it. Here we come arizona!

here is what i love;

tea!


tea is my favorite favorite. i just love it. the irish way please, one sugar and a bit of whole milk. oh my gosh, my crumbiest mornings and most foul moods can be improved by a simple mug of tea. a good cup of tea is not sweet, but it is not bitter either. it's strong, but not stewed. it's gotta be hot! no lukewarm left over please. and it's gotta be made with triangle tea bags. PG Tips or Lyons please. made in a tea pot is best, but in a pinch, a mug and a tea bag is ok too.

picture the worst bit of sideways rain and cold weather- now picture coming in from it, and putting the kettle on. see- you're in a better mood already.

i love tea.

a satisfying crash into the dumpster!

so yesterday, while the football games were on, i took the opportunity to throw away all the jewel cases in my cd collection. When a person is young, a music collection is a tangible, visible expression of personality. I remember being in college and dismissing a person based on their music collection (god how utterly daft and incredibly narrow-minded that is, i realize now).

A music collection is a mirror of a person, sure, but it's more like a fractal than a mirror. music ebbs and flows according to your circumstance in life, the other major players and characters in your life, and even things like your job commute and the job's location play a role in selecting the cd's in your stacks.

my collection has it's share of crap. i admit, i was a victim to the high school hair band era, Though most of that was on cassette, and those have all been in cold storage for years. i have Appetite for Destruction and Kix to remind me of my formative years. then it moves to the college days, i have the van halen, queen, Creedence clearwater that i used to listen to with my friends in college. Russ loved the classic rock. specifically he loved Led Zeppelin, but all the others fell into that group as well. from college i moved to emo, punk and brit rock. What a strange demographic. i collected en masse (truthfully i like this stuff the best). the clash, and the bouncing souls, weston, ah, the suicide machines. love it! since then, i've settled down to regular rock and roll, leaning toward punk rock tenancies. it's gotta be rockin. and have proper guitar riffs and adequate tempo to drive too fast.

I threw away all the jewel cases because once you reach a certain number in the collection, the amount of space they consume in the apartment is too great. i don't think i'm a real collector of music per se, not like that guy rob gordon from the nick hornby book high fidelity. i'm sort of more a collector of my favorites. i haven't got too many, around 500 or so.

so i threw away all the jewel cases and kept just the disc and the insert booklet. i even threw away the crates that were holding them. they landed with a satisfying crash into the dumpster!

so here's the best part of this post (it's good of you to keep reading this far).
my desert island discs !
(i've changed the rules, and i can bring as many as i want; they're in no particular order.)

the clash, foo fighters, and bouncing souls their complete sets. Oasis, blur, U2, pete yorn, the replacements, millencolin, butch walker and the marvelous 3: complete sets for everyone.

I would like to bring the metallica black album, Appetite for destruction, the bravery, and hot fuss. I would like to bring With Teeth, franz ferdinand and my mary chapin carpenter discs. i would also like to bring some sheryl crow. i would like a greatest hits album from: Aerosmith (just the columbia years please) the rolling stones, led zeppelin, elvis costello and garth brooks.

i would also like to have an unlimited power supply to listen to them and i would like the option to get replacements if they wear out. this is only today's desert island discs, it may change tomorrow, with the exception of the complete sets. those are the constants.

lace scarf for marianne

Marianne was our travel partner when we went to ireland a month or two ago, she was quite nice about my knitting. she also sent us a very nice thank you gift when we returned home. i decided to knit her a scarf with some super fab louisa harding yarn. i also have had a hankering to do something other than stocking stitch, because though it's easy, it's really kind of boring.

so here is the beginning of it. it might take me a long time to complete it.

so here it is, 2008

whoopee. For me, New Year's is just so anti exciting. i dunno, it's just not too thrilling to me. it's freezing cold here, there is snow everywhere, and i still have the same remarkably boring job. This is the time of year when i start daydreaming and planning my next travel adventure. my friend sofia is hoping for us to come visit her in Lisbon. Perhaps i'll start planning that.

it would be so nice to be able to really plan the trip- my dad would like to run in a race, and there is a

half marathon

but it's in march, and i haven't even paid the bills for the trip to ireland yet. i was planning to use my tax return to put hard wood floors in my apartment, but now i sort of wonder if i would rather use it to pay for air fare. Lisbon is beautiful, and at the risk of letting too many in on a secret i would like to keep for myself, it's one of the nicest places i've been to. it really quite magical- it's very modern, in an antique sort of wardrobe. the roads are well maintained, the retail therapy is outstanding, the food is so delicious, and the weather is just perfect.



the real draw for me though is the population. It was very easy to be a tourist in lisbon, but I've learned a bit of portuguese just so i can be a bit more useful in conversations, and people don't have to keep translating for me. I don't think i'd insult anyone by saying something like sua mae desgasta botas do combate. i could fumble through a coffee order- duas sandes mixtas com bicas se faz favor, e dois pasteis de nata, tambem! muito bem!

it sounds hokey, but the residents of portugal are fantastic. there are no pretenses, they are welcoming and pleasant, and polite, and genuine. the waiter at the cafe in mertola was funny- we had a snack of bread, and coffee, and sofia's family had some caracois; those are snails boiled in salty water. i'm afraid i was just too timid to try them. they said as much to the waiter, and he said, perhaps it's because she hasn't been able to try ours yet. It was really nice. perhaps this time i'll give them a try. perhaps.


maybe today i'll start working out a financial plan and start saving up for it.

argh!

The 2007 NFL post season is upon us, and what to my wondering eyes do appear? A whole new crop of anti-patriots. There is just nothing worse than bandwagon jumpers- god how i hate those fans who only watch because the QB is so cute- or only watch because a team is suddenly good. How infuriatingly agonizing is it to watch a game with those kinds of fans.

Conversely, it is equally infuriating it is to watch a game with anti-fans. God, just listen and to read all the reports from newspapers around the country- the patriots have no respect, the patriots are arrogant, the patriots haven't actually done anything noteworthy yet when compared with the 72 dolphins. This is all because the season has been boring for the fans in other markets. Andy peloff is having this manufactured apoplexy with his idea that the patriots operate under the guide of humility, while the whole season they have actually been arrogant on the field when they play. Of course they have! No one has beaten them this season!

It is only reasonable to find a degree of confidence from the patriots they have beaten everyone! it becomes arrogant and insulting when trash talk and superiority comes from schmoes like anthony smith. Who?

The thing is, no one ever calls peyton manning arrogant, but y'know what? It's not very often that manning said something like- he's a good player; i hope they take the day off, it will make my game easier. Manning very seldom concedes that someone other than himself is a good player. He doesn't even go out of his way to say his own teammates are good players! God if that is isn't arrogant, I dunno what is!

This nfl post season is going to be both nauseating and riveting. I don't think i can take one more minute of the patriots (and they are my team!), manning, or tony romo and terrell owens.

Ugh. God, if i have to hear one more time how good tony romo is in his first full year, I might barf. If i hear just one more word about how good peyton manning is at calling the offence, I’ll commit harey carrey. God, but if one more announcer speaks about upsetting the perfect season or knocking the patriots back a notch; how in once game we can finally prove that the patriots aren’t that good after all, i can't be responsible for my actions.

Argh! Anti-fans are the worst! They are just the worst. They are a detriment to their own team's fan base. God if you hate the patriots, fine. But hate them on the basis of football, not on sportsmanship smoke and mirrors. At least admit that you hate them because you are jealous of them. Or admit that you're pissed because they beat your team. i suspect that no fan in the world would keep their 7 and 9 record instead of a 16-0 playoff bound record.

Please don't use contrasting thread!

please, seamstresses and seamsters- i implore you! don't use contrasting thread to sew your projects together. no mater how you hard you try convince yourself that it's a design element, it's not. For instance- using red thread on a black fabric just doesn't look good.

use a contrasting embroidery floss as an embellishment after you've completed the bulk sewing? Sure. that's a good idea. but doing the main sewing in a color that is not the same as the fabric itself does nothing more than show where you sewed too fast, and where your feed dogs were taxed. Using contrasting thread shows exactly where you strayed from the correct seam allowance, and it shows when your starting point and ending point don't quite match up. it is, of course most obvious where topstitching is required.

no matter what level you are, beginner to intermediate to an advanced clothier- please please please; resist the urge to use thread that isn't the same shade as your finished piece!

it's not the patriots' job to run plays the defense will stop

so all you bellyachers who are pissed off because the patriots went 30 points on you- get stuffed. it is not the patriots fault they compiled such a good arsenal- to the contrary- it's their intention. no team in the league compiles a team to be mediocre. no team does that! no team happily collects scrap heap quarterbacks and gimpy running backs; or shrinking violet inside linebackers- no team goes on the hunt for a free safety with poor peripheral vision. come on. if a team's front office did that they would be run out of town.

so the fact that anyone outside of New England is moaning and wringing their hands or feeling insulted is crap. Teams exist to put the best possible team on the field. Real sportsmanship is not about making sure the other team on the field gets positive reinforcement. Sportsmanship is about respecting the game, your teammates, and the other players. but just because you respect a team or player doesn't mean you shouldn't take advantage of their flaws. do you think for one minute that the teams i play against don't take advantage of the fact that i'm a girl and probably slower than them? of course they do. I can take advantage of that just as well, i can play give and go against them. At the end of the game, they know that i played them hard; and i know that they played me hard.

i have to admit- i don't think i want my opposition to go easy. sure it's embarrassing, no one wants to get schooled, but if you're a sport-o, ask yourself (and answer truthfully now), would you really pull back if there was an open net? honestly, would you intentionally kick it wide if you were on a breakaway? that is simply a foreign concept, even to the most beginner of athletes. the point is to score points and goals.

it's going to snow on sunday, so i don't think the score will be very high, but i'm afraid to tell you that i don't think the jets have a chance.

Ellsbury should be untouchable

Dear Theo, A move to acquire Johan Santana by using Jacoby Ellsbury is foolish. 80% of the armchair GM's think this too. sure we aren't as smart as you, and sure we don't know all the facts, but what i do know is that Ellsbury is a better player than crisp. he's faster which is saying a lot, because crisp is fast. he plays the outfield as well, and he's as good a hitter as crisp. I don't believe Crisp in centerfield is the best team possible, I'm sorry, i just don't.

we already have a powerful rotation. acquiring santana would make it dizzying, for sure, but that leaves us with an outfield that is less powerful. (remember crisp has to play every day, and he doesn't always contribute every day. besides that- letting ellsbury go is 100% foolish in terms of batting order- who's going to lead off for us this year? julio Lugo? come on. Youkillis? along with his piano, sure. Crisp? a .330 On base % is not too shabby, but he's so remarkably streaky.

for me, ellsbury is too complete a player- he is too good and too young to trade him.

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/polls/11_28_07_jacoby/

That is what good teams do- they win.

Even when they play somewhat poorly, even when the temperature is freezing, even when the ravens give them a game.

No question, the Ravens played well, had the Patriots lost, it would have been ok to have lost to a them. Last night was a good football game. Gosh- back and forth, scoring on almost every possession for both teams. At half time, I said to myself- this game is going to come down to the last team with the ball. And sure enough it did. It just so happens that Bowler's hail mary was two yards short. That is heartbreaking, any way you slice it.

But to act like this is anything other than a well played game is preposterous. The Ravens played very well, that's true, why can't people concede that the Patriots did as well? Is it so hard for people to admit that the Patriots have cultivated a culture of winning? Come on, four weeks ago, the Patriots were vilified because they ran the score up. Now, in the close games they're vilified simply because they won. Sorry, but all this appears to be is sour grapes. Mike Sando from espn was in Baltimore last night-

here are some tidbits.

Ravens linebacker Bart Scott on the timeout: "I didn't hear a timeout. That was very convenient." Sorry Bart. There was film of it on espn, some coach on your sideline was calling for time out, he made the big T with his hands and walked right over to the ref.

Phantom calls? Are you for real? Come on. I sort of remember when the pass interference was also called the Ty Law rule. Get stuffed. Sour grapes.

Hard to play against Brady and all the extra people. Sure it is, the thing is, you're only playing against Brady and ten other guys at a time. Sour grapes.

I suppose the Ravens are just searching for some sort of moral victory in all this- searching for a way to win a game they clearly could have. But the fact of the matter remains, they didn't win. They called that time out. They assessed 35 penalty yards on their last possession.

Sure the Ravens brought it, but don't you think that Patriots brought it too? That was a hell of a game last night. And it clearly prepared the patriots for the post season- which is infinitely more important than the season record.

We'll see you in February.

i love my new walmart pjs!

I confess, i have a love hate relationship with Walmart. on tho one hand i really don't like it- the store always looks like a yard sale- merchandise is picked over, shopworn and often times not even there. the employees can be real crabby- they are so busy- who wouldn't be? working in retail i know that it is sometimes hard to keep a genuine pleasant demeanor through an entire shift.

but on the other hand- it really is a good place for me to get lots of stuff i need and cheap. i hate to say it, but i can't afford to get everything at the grocery or at the gap. so i go to walmart and get cheap cereal, soap, cleaning supplies and the like. this is a PRO on the list, which leads directly into a CON on the list of walmart things. these cheap prices are clearly predatory. they are clearly putting other places out of business. the problem is that i am not very affluent, so i need to take advantage of savings when i can. it's all very tricky for me.

another walmart PRO is that you can get a true feel for the demographic off your neighborhood. there are lots of languages at walmart- i like that. i admit, i like to go to walmart and eavesdrop on conversations to see if i can understand what they are saying. that's very rude, yes, but i need to get more practice with spanish and portuguese, and i'm too shy to actually say something polite- Bom dia, Fala Portuguese? but i listen in on their conversation! This also leads to a definite CON about walmart- the customers can sometimes be as crabby as the employees. i once saw a real fight at the checkout- some guy had 20 items in the fast lane, and the guy behind called him on it. well, 20 items was all pissed off, and he gets into it with the man behind. Actual Fisticuffs took place. i didn't even need to eavesdrop, this was all in english.

so what was supposed to be a quick post about the walmart pj's i got the other day has turned into a quasi commentary about social anthropology. but you should see the pj's! they are pink, and they have christmas scottie dogs on them! they are so cute! they also had little jingle bells on them, but i took those off, because they made a racket.

today i have to go there again to get buttons, because i'm so flaky. i only got two buttons, the sweater i made has three holes.

Destructo Cat

So Debra and Ben looked after Shermy while we were away. I heard that the cat was oh so well behaved while i was gone. So sweet and lovable that Ben is smitten, and wants to keep him. This is all fine, since at least i know there's a family who would consider taking him in if i kick the bucket. Well, when i returned home, there's was one day of "i was so lonely, you abandoned me!" from the cat, and then it was back to business as usual.

I got home from work and there was this to greet me:

Yep, that's the trash knocked over, and the water dish broken into pieces by something heavy that must have been hidden. Criminals hide their weapons, why shouldn't the cat too?

It had to be the water dish that broke, right? So all the water went all over the place, and i had to clean that mess up too. I sent this photo to Ben asking if he still wants the cat. Silly guy he still said yes. well, he'll have to wait till i kick the bucket.

that voting is fixed!

bah! that cy young vote is fixed! i admit it, i'm greedy, i want beckett to have that cy young, on top of the WS Ring!

boston.com article

CRUMB! i simply cannot believe it!

iwanted all those extras- rookie of the year, cy young, gold glove, silver slugger! i wanted all of them. i'm a hoarder!

the Sally Gap

there's a road in the eastern part of ireland called the R759 road. it goes through the Wicklow Mountains, along the Sally Gap. it is here where I saw the most spectacular shade of blue ever. For the rest of my life, the mere word "blue" will evoke memories of this icy cold, crystal clear lough.



it really is fantastic!

so here are some photos

so here we all are, with proof that we were here. In appropriately touristic photos.

This is Mom and Dad and me at the upper lake at Glendalough.




This is ma and dad with marianne, outside St. Mary's Pro Cathedral

these photos are a jumble of the hundreds that we took the chronology on this post isn't tight. i should have tried to check in at the cybercafes while i was there, but i just didn't.

this is the GAA Museum at Croke Park- there was a good tour, and you can give it a try playing both hurling and gaelic football in the cages in the museum. Did you know that none of the athletes in the GAA are paid for playing? they play simply because they love it! so on all ireland day, some of the players might never have had to do that sort of thing before. imagine playing in front of 70 thousand people on one day and then going back to being an accountant the next!

here is mom doing her best to blend in with the locals on the Dart.

I have a whole bunch of really good photos, but i can't post them right now, this blogspot is giving me fits because of the size of the photos, so i'm a but aggravated right now. you can go see them here:

kms Ireland 07

i'll work more on this post later.

A-Rod; is he really worth all that?

I was away in ireland when my sox won the series again. i'm on the fence over whether i am happy to have been in ireland or whether i'm bereft for having missed the series. it is a very different feeling than when they won in 2004, when i was glued to the tv.

but i digress. the point of this post is to wonder wheter or not alex rodriguez really is worth those giant dollar signs being thrown about like warmup toss. $350 million dollars? for real? first of all the guy is no spring chicken in terms of baseball age. he's 32, sure he's just a baby- he's my age in fact; but for playing ball professionally, that's middle age at best. he's a bit of a malcontent- anyway you slice it, he's not the clubhouse guy that teams need. i don't ever remember him being called a team leader by the NY press- jeter, possada, pettite, sure- even clemens every so often. but never ever a-rod. He gets into dustups with the press- even manny is more eloquent when he's mad than a-rod is. if i were a major league GM, these would be concerns.

i suppose if i were said GM, i could overlook both those things if A-Rod had proven himself to be valuable in the postseason. i'm afraid he hasn't; and not just with the yankees- the mariners and rangers didn't win post season series very often with him on the roster. it's tough for a team to build themselves around a stud like a-rod. he's so costly that it leaves very little payroll cash available for other signings. so the signings have to be cheap. either on the downhill slide, or rookies and youngsters. both of these present problems- rookies can be unpredicatable. they could be great like pedroia and ellsbury, or they could struggle, and often times they don't hit well enough to be a matching threat to a-rod, essentially making his bat less of worry- pitchers can just walk him. old hats can be worrisome too; older, slower, can't hit as well as before, so it's hard to even make the playoffs, let alone be successful.

so i have to wonder- will teams be willing to take on such an ineffective postseason player at the risk of the rest of their roster? sure he's great- i can agree that he's a baseball talent; a rediculously impressive talent, but are teams willing to pay a guy to improve his own resume, yet not contribute to the ultimate goal of the team- win the trophy with many flags? sure baseball is a team sport played by individuals- but make no mistake- dave roberts stolen base off the bench in 2004, and coco crisp sitting out the end of the ALCS and the beginning of the World Series- those were individuals playing for the team. they helped the team win.

I just don't think A-rod has that kind of selflessness in him i just don;t think he has the integrity. if i were a general manager, i wouldn't pay a player who is an individual to be a part of my team. there is no I in team.

so here we are home from ireland

booo! we had a tremendous trip, and soon i'll post photos and stuff, but for now i have to pick up the pieces from being away from work without posting and auto-reply to my email. what a pain.

this is the funny dancing frosting

A Foodies Opera is a funny little you tube animation. it's quite nice, and it's a great "it takes all sorts of people to make a world" sort of short film. it's very well done and quite clever. go check it out!

heidi had a girl!

so my sister heidi had a girl yesterday. a tiny little baby, 6 pounds 1 oz. though i confess, i don't really know if that's tiny or not. but i think the otehrs were bigger than that. her name is kristen marie- after thirty two years of grating my teeth at people who call me kristen, (no no, my name is Kristine) this will take some getting used to.

blessedly it's all done- if either of my sisters have any more kids, i don't know if i'll be able to stand it.
hee hee hee.

yay!

hoo hoo hoo! If i could do a cartwheel!

so i was playing on sunday- an early morning match- not my favorite. but i am a sport-o at my core- a windpants wearing, sandals with socks, ponytail hairstyled, smelly old cleats kind of girl. and 9.00 kickoffs are part of the drill. Soccer is my true love. there is something about playing soccer for me that is just absolute euphoria. at bell hill park, for 90 minutes every sunday, there is no mortgage, no crummy job, no patriots game or sox lead just 1 and a half. there is no trip to ireland, no knitting project, no truck that needs an oil change, none of that.

there is just me and 21 other people kicking around. i simply love it. as it happens, i'm on a great team that calls you out when you suck; but props you up if you need it. we tell each other when we play well, we tell each other when to shut up. then we leave it there and actually are friends. it's so great. i haven't played such satisfying soccer since college- actually i think it was even highschool. and it's no big deal- it's a rec league, it's not world cup, but it's not skirts and sallys either.

it's tricky for me to explain it- i'm a bit old-ish these days- not nearly as fit or motivated as i was in college and shortly after graduating, i should probably retire soon but i find that I just can't give it up. I find that playing ball on sundays is a tiny little bit of complete me-time, shared with those 21 other people. it's a bit selfish really, but i simply love it.

I also love scoring goals! hoo hoo hoo! i never knew scoring goals could be so fabulous! it came on a corner kick, dan tried to redirect it on a header, but it didn't go in. then i dunno, it bounced somewhere, and came right to me, voila! i knocked it right in to back of the net! what a strange feeling, scoring goals. i'm a modified midfielder these days, i used to be a sweeper- not a whole lot of goalscoring chances for me. but now i'm more offensively minded, so i get in the mix a bit more, and take more shots- especially this season. it's mostly the men who get the chances, but every so often jess and sarah and myself get in on the action too. it's nice when they go in.

so here is my advice that i like to give when i post so infrequently to this blog. Do what you love- you will only love it more!

fancy a cuppa?

i've got one right here in my wallet. My Tea Wallet!


so i was at my favorite beach town, and there's a new tea shop there. in amongst the gifts and knick knaks i found a basket of tea wallets. not very expensive, they were only $4.95. normally right up my alley. but i'm a seamster, so i decided to make my own instead. folded they're about 3 x 4, flat it's roughly 6 x 4 it's got four pockets you can put teabags, or sugar packets or even little coffee sachets in there.

I'm going to make a whole bunch for my coworkers at the pharmacy for holiday gifts. and you really can make them with scraps.

I've been able to work up some directions to the tea wallet.

1. start with two rectangles of fabric of two different prints; 6.75 x 4.75 each, plus one rectangle of muslin for the interface.


2. take one of each print and iron it in half, print side out, the long way. They should end up 6.75 x 2.375. this is also when you make what ever closure you want, for this one i'm using a strip of bias tape.


3. top stitch the crease to make it look nice and professional


4. take the fold that is the same as your outside fabric and lay it on the lining fabric so the raw edge running parallel to the lining edge (with the muslin beneath) and sew together. this is the contrast pocket. the yellow highlight shows where you want to sew.


5. take the fold that is the same as the lining and place it over the contrast pocket (hiding the stitching from the contrast pocket) and pin everything together.

(Now is also the time to sandwich your closure in. put it between the ouside fabric and the pockets, don't sandwich it between the pockets themselves.)

6. place your outside fabric over all (RSF!), and pin the whole sandwich together.


7. sew a U starting at one corner of the top, down the side, along the bottom, and then up the other side.


8. Trim your bulk and clip the corners. turn right side out. press and match the top edges together, and then topstitch around the entire thing.


9. fold in half and press to give a bit of crease. then sew along the spine crease. this will help define the fold and it also creates the pockets inside.


10. add a button, and viola!


They are really easy, and methinks the possibilities are endless!

Hey Roger! Get Stuffed!

NOW HERE THIS! under no circumstances have i ever wanted Roger Clemens back as a red sox pitcher. you will never, ever, ever be able to find a place in time where i have said, boy it's too bad... Not once, not ever.

he is a jerk. he's arrogant, he's over paid, he's full of himself and i do not want him to play for my team. i have never once wanted him to play for my team since he left. not once ever did i cheer for him when he pitched at fenway as a yankee, a blue jay or an astro. not once. not even begrudgingly. I was at that game a few seasons ago, I think it was when pedro pitched against clemens in july of 2004. and the whole park was yelling Roger!.... roger!..... roger!.... YOU SUCK! i liked that. then we smoked him that game. that was nice.

In 2004 he couldn't even say, boy it's nice they finally won a World Series. he couldn't even conceed that it might have been nice to be a part of the team that finally won. because being a big person is a foreign concept to him. he has no loyalty- not even to the astros- supposedly a team that had an emotional draw for him because he's from texas, and his family is there. whoops, gotta go- more money elsewhere, more fame in the bronx. better press coverage on the YES network.

Sure, roger clemens is a very skilled and rediculously talented pitcher. but he's an asshole, any way you slice it. I for one, am so pleased he's not back in boston, because i would not be able to deal with all the media and fans tripping over themselves to gush and kowtow and shower him with platitudes. He's a guy who wrote the book on me-me-me-me-ism. And I can't wait to see him get smoked again, by the sox, by tampa bay, baltimore, toronto or whomever.

If I could do a Cartwheel...

I surely would! I just completed the booking for our trip to Ireland!

Mom and I are going along with Dad and Marianne so they can run the marathon. Personally, I think running a marathon is a bit daft, but 'tis ok! After all, it is the Dublin Marathon.

So now I just have to endure another six months of waiting. But between now and then I'll have to find a place to stay, and book the coach trip to the Giant’s Causeway in County Antrim.

(http://www.northantrim.com/giantscauseway.htm)

Besides that, I'll have to start Practice Packing, agonizing over knitting needles and DVD players on board the aircraft, and printing maps and itineraries.

Plus, Dad and Marianne will have to start really training, now that we all have our tickets there's no backing out! Mom will have to start reviewing her journal and organizing the one for this trip. There's a lot to do in six months!

Hoo hoo hoo! I can hardly wait. This time it's a long trip; ten days! But it works out to only be six days of vacation from work, because there are two weekends worked in.

Yippee!
Gosh, I wish I could do a cartwheel!

so, i'm beginning to be worried about hitting

it seems that even with JD Drew in the line up- the sox are somewhat anemic in the hitting department. - i suppose i'm more interested in consistency. It's no good when we can open with 13 runs and then have only one hit the following night. that is not cool.

i'm also concerned about this julio lugo guy. Alex Gonzales is a tremendous shortstop, easily as good on the field as Lugo- so the only thing lugo might be able to bring to the table is a bat- but if he's going to only hit around .250 or .265, then what's the point of swaping gonzales out? and for that matter- i'm beginning to be a bit tired of the revolving door at short and second. Especially shortstop- that is too key a position to have four different players in three years.

I hope that the sox bats will start up soon- i heard once that the early part of the season is always better for the pitchers- then the middle of the season it's pretty even, then the end of the season is better for hitters. makes sense, sure. but the sox need to start hitting more regularly- and all of them need to. Gone are the days of playing the long ball. so far the only REAL threat for the long ball in our line up is ortiz/ramirez. i suppose Drew will be good for a 20 or 25. I don't think Youk will be too dependable for home runs, and clearly neither will jason varitek and mike lowell- a few here and there, maybe, but not the machines thay might have once been. so we get back to what the sox have never done well since the dawn of time- small ball and run manufacturing. coco crisp needs to get on base, as does lugo. get on base.

it's only the first week or so, but it's awfully early to start leaving our starting pitchers out to dry- they are too good- dice k kept us in yesterday's game. but you can't win if only one man gets a hit.

O Museu da lingua Portuguesa

so there is a museum for the portuguese language in São Paulo, Brazil. it is the only museum desicated to a language in the entire world! Though i've never been to Brazil, I've been to portugal, and i have many portuguese friends. so i'm planning on attending a keynote lecture given by the one of the directors of the museum, and you should too!

it's talking place at Boston University in Room B12, in the college of arts and sciences building on Thursday, April 19, 2007 at 5.00pm. the address for it is 725 Commonwealth Ave, Boston. you take the green line out past kenmore square. it's one of hte stops along there- if you take the train to mass art or the paradise, you've gone too far.

See you there!

tomato juice wishes and security dreams

when i travel on a plane, i get tomato juice. I'm not sure why, but i always get tomato juice on a plane. there is something inherently special about a plastic cup with think red juice and a single ice cube. i think it's because i travel so infrequently that i associate the drink with it. When i travel, i try to consider the security check as part of the package. sure it's a pain, and it's a total free-for-all at the security gate; true the TSA workers can sometimes be right prats, but who cares? suffer through that part of the package, and before long, you'll have your tomato juice!

then you can land in some far away destination and do your best to fit in with the locals. try new things, try old things again- you know you love tehm after all. Go to the public library, take a bus and then the grocery store.

so yesterday i was entering purchase orders at my NEW job, (yay new job!) and whilst doing so i couldn't get the memory of the last trip to dublin out of my head, strange isn't it- memory. mom and i went last February, 2006. we were only there for a few days, but we jam lots of stuff into those short days. while we were there we went shopping. there is a road that goes away from trinity college, it's not grafton street, but it runs roughly parrallel to grafton. i'm not sure the name. but there is a fantastic book shop- Hodges and Figgis, i think, and there's an oxfam shop, and across the street there is a gourmet food shoppe.

It's funny to me, how i remember the most inane things about trips. not really funny i guess; i like it.
that's how i know the trip was a success!

I think i might start getting newsweek

i think that would be a good way to get some information. sort of like vitamins, but for my brain. I'm not sure i can float along in life without real facts. though it seems that the big cheese in washington gets along fine without real facts.

to get my mental vitamins, i've recently started to watch 60 minutes. it started with condoleeza rice at the beginning of the season- but now i have begun to watch it with regularity. i watched it yesterday. did anyone else watch 60 minutes yesterday? I wonder if the president ever watches 60 minutes.

what i wonder about the president is how can he blithely ignore all the ugly bits of his pet war in iraq. I really wonder if he truly is not aware of them.

lets start a list:
1. well, there's the stagering cost in dollars. it's hard for me to keep track of how much money we've sepent on the war- bloomberg has an article

here,

but even with the concise, well written article, i still can't get my head around how much we've actually shelled out.

2. lets see, there's the absolute complete crumbling of any sort of diplomatic relationship, rapport and integrity in that neighborhood of the world.

3. I suppose this could be 2a. there's the absolute complete crumbling of any sort of diplomatic relationship, rapport and integrity with many other nations the world. (note the reception to the current Latin American tour)

4. there's the heart-stopping amount of collateral damage. between the civilians who are stuck there, the refugees who now are having difficulty finding a different place to be safe, and the iraqis who worked with the US troops who are now targeted as collaborators, I find it hard to believe that there is anyone still alive in iraq.

5 and the coup de ta! the cost in US Soldiers. the price the army and the armed forces is paying is criminal. it really is. Though i understand that to leave now would leave things unfinished, but this is a civil war now. there are civil wars all over the globe that the US has kept at arms legnth, why is this one so important? the fact of the matter is that Iraq is an unstable place. yes saddam hussein was a dictator and he was cruel and he needed to be removed, but i'm not sure the subsequent civil war is ours to fight.

then you add to it that soldiers who come home go to walter reed hospital, if they go at all, and it's posititively criminal. American construction companies would be in big trouble if they cared for injured men as poorly as they do at walter reed. the federal government would fine them!



the other day there was a

scrub drive in Natick.

The organizers have said that it was compassion that was the root of it, and not politics. but come on, how can it not become political? how can the nurses not have enough scrubs?

Could it be because this was an ill-conceived and ill-planned war, and that the ring leader behind it is short sighted, and didn't allow for that sort of thing? Could it be that this war is spiraling out of control with no end in sight? the fact of the matter is that the american people have been hoodwinked into this morass of suffering and ill-will, and it will take many years for us to recover.

perhaps we are the ultimate dumb dumbs, but in the end we lose. the current administration is going to ride out their 35% approval rating, and go screw you other 65%. just because you are the majority, even though in a democracy majority rules. the current administration will contine on it's power trip of power trips, fuled my our very own zealots how gave it an approval. leaving the rest of us with little; no not little, NO recourse of the matter.

Americans need more vitamins, for their body, and for their brains. We'll need to be strong for the upcoming weeks.

boy is he handsome!

I don't usually go in for gushing about famous men and how i would love to be their wife, but i have to confess, that george clooney does cause some weak in the knees.

he sure is handsome. i suppose it's because he's sort of just regular, especially since if he's not on a movie he doesn't bother with hair dye. he just seems so approachable. I suppose girls and women must throw themselves at him, i imagine that if i ran into him at the ballgame i would probably have diminished motor functions, and i bet i would stutter and giggle in a high pitch too. but come on, he's got tremendous fashion sense, he's rediculously funny, and he's got that voice. and that smile.

this all came about because i watched that dopey movie One Fine Day yesterday. you know, with michelle phiffer- (another beautiful person, but we concentrating on the men right now) it's not a terribly creative movie- two people can't stand each other then they fall in love! so it's not too original, but it's cute and it's sweet and it's got some funny bits in it.

but at the end they are in her amazingly outfitted kitchen, which she could only afford if she were totally rich, or inherited the rent control from her parents, and he is trying to kiss her and it's just so preposterously sweet! then they fall asleep on the couch in the equally amazing living room and it's just so agonizingly romantic it's absurd. the reason i think the whole thing is a little believeable is because clooney is so believeable in that situation.

i do like that george clooney. he's dreamy.

sewing shermy.

hee hee hee. My shermy, he's a seamster, and he didn't even know it. Actually, he was trying to catch a ladybug. I've only had him for a short while, three months or so. So he's still totally cute and kittenish. He's got some bad habits, he chews on the plugs at the outlets, and he's terrible about knocking things off the coffee table- he also thinks the pin cushion is a toy. But all in all, he's a totally good investment. he comes running to say hello when i get home from work and he doesn't eat any sort of people food. He's stopped peeing on the floor, and he's not a scratcher or a biter. I love my shermy the cat.

if you haven't got anything nice to say...

don't say anthing at all.

this is a lesson i learned when i was a child- literally. i was perhaps five or six when my dad first said this to me. FIVE OR SIX. so naturally i am surprised when people say rotten things to one another. I'm even more surprised when i'm the recipient of rotten sentiment.

picture it- workplace, october 31, 06. three of us embark on what seems to be an inoccuous enough conversation about a particular hair product we've all tried. it's billed as a leave-in conditioner, but as it turns out a person has to apply heat to attain it's full benefit. Upon learning this, i mention that this is not a route i'll go, so it really wasn't too appealing to me. upon speaking these words, VICE PRESIDENT OF SALES quips, "Yes, and everyone knows that we can't get Ms. Kris to expend more than three steps for her hair".

sorry, but back the bus up. that just isn't ok. Firstly i do not leave the house looking like a bag lady, nor do i leave the house with uncombed hair. secondly, with those two salient points established, telling someone their hair is wrong is on the same level as telling them they are too fat!

What boggles the mind and hacks me off the most are three thoughts: one, this person thinks i'm too stupid to pick up what they're laying down; two, this person thinks it's ok to pick on other people (essentially being a bully); and three, this person thinks that since i'm lower on the work totem pole, i have no recourse (essentially i'm an easy target).

At what point are people going to be responsible for their own actions? I wonder why lots of other people in the world expect that they can say whatever comes to their lips with no consideration for its result and repercussions? Aside from the idea that insulting people, no matter how playfully is delivered is RUDE; Self preservation at least should cause a person to think before they speak- note that now i'm even less inclined to work with this person than i might have been before, because now i realize that they are kind of a jerk. who wants to work wih a jerk?

my personality is to be pissed off and hold a grudge. this is not something i will forget easily. but i will not pass it on. i will not stoop to the lowliness that got me into this snit in the first place. my dad's life lesson is one that i live by, and continue to strive to achive. If i haven't got anything nice to say i won't say anything at all; because no one likes a punch in the nose.

it is voting day in massachusetts,

get out there and vote dammit!

I wish i had a dime for evry person who said, i don't vote, nothing changes. my vote doesn't actually mean anything. or i'm too busy to vote. i don't believe in voting. i don't vote, i don't own my home, i just rent.

pardon me, but if you don't vote, then you have NO SAY whatsoever! you have left the decision to others- and if some texan with ideological plans for the middle east, impossible plans for education, and absolutely no grasp of the actual economy and job market ends up as president because he's hoodwinked thousands of others who DO vote, your non vote means more!

too busy to vote, come on- the polls are open from 7.00 to 8.00 even in my small town. stop in on your way to or from work. it takes longer to park at the mall than id does to mark a few boxes.

i don't believe in voting. why not? if you belive in your freedom of the press, your freedom of speech, or your right to bear arms you shold believe in voting. you can't have freedoms like those and not have a certain amount of responsibility.

you don't vote because you rent your apartment? that is absolutely ridiculous and preposterous and all of those words that mean dopey.

to be an american means you live in a democracy. the reason everyone wishes to live in a democracy is because you get a say. Exersise your right to vote. For that matter, exersise your responsibility to vote. if you don't vote, you forfeit your right to complain about inadequate government.

so today is an anniversary

do you call it an anniversary, though? i always thought an anniversary was a cause for celebration. not one of inherent heartbreak. it seems so preposterous, for me to be so upset, i didn't know anyone personally, who died, nor even through six degrees. but i simply cannot help but feel heartache just the same. I teeter back and forth- trying to forget, and hoping to never forget. if i am not careful, i will work myself into such a state that i'll really need medical attention. then i wish and wash back and forth between guilt over my complete fear of remembering and fear of forgetting.

Then i wonder how here at work we can be so blasé about the whole day- today we have a sales meeting. can you belive it? a meeting dedicated to figuring out way in which we can sell people more product which they truly do not need. But what else can we do? we have to live, we cannot buckle. people have birthdays today. people have wedding anniversaries today. those are real celebrations.

I just cannot get my head around that anyone would want to do something like that to any one. Aside of the fact that it was America who was attacked; September 11 was horrible. the subsequent bombings in madrid were horrible, the bombings in london were horrible, and the recent foiled plan in london were horrible. the situation in lebanon and israel is horrible, and the war in iraq is horrible. the bottom line is that hate breeds hate, and if allowed to continue, human kind will cause its own destruction.

if september 11 taught us anything, it is that we are never ever going to share the world's ideals. nor is the world interested in sharing ours. so what of that? how do we move on from the mutual exclusivities? Can we move on from them? All i can do is make my best effort to do so. i can learn about people, and i can learn to appreciate and celebrate such differences. surely that is possible? if i cannot celebrate a difference, then i can work to understand it and accept it.

i suppose my efforts are just one drop in a bucket, but i am going to make them anyway. and you can't stop me! You can join me if you like though. i wish you would in fact.

the little girl on 60 minutes last night said it best- you cannot kill love.

now hear this!

dunkin donuts drive thrus are for COFFEE ONLY!

when i'm behind you, and you are ordering your effin' bacon egg and cheese on a lightly-toasted poppy-seed bagel and your copilot's steak and egg sandwich on a croisant; plus three coffees: two medium with splenda and skim milk, and one large extra cream and four sugars; oh, yes, and three jelly sticks too please...

bear in mind that i'm behind you and i haven't had coffee yet! for the love of god and all that is holy! DON'T BRING THAT ORDER TO THE DRIVE THRU! sweet jesus, would you just go into the effin store!

the poor kid behind the mic is going to screw it up, and the rest of us have to wait while the dam thing is made, and then for it to be corrected when you aren't satisfied.

you know when you see that big long line at the drive thru? that's because some jerk brought a stupid food order to the drive thru!

coffee only!

Butch Walker....

and the lets go out tonights!

so i've had this question in my head lately, since i'm a singleton; worse, i'm a thirty-person. which is less cool? going to a rock and roll show alone, or skipping it altogether? my research indicates that it is WAY worse to skip something you dig than to go alone. if you dig it, go to it. if you enjoy going to a ball game, then go to a ball game. anyway, you might have a better chance of getting a single seat at fenway than if you have to get one for a sidekick.

so i went to see Butch Walker at axis the other night. i timed it perfectly, i arrived just in time for the last set change, so i didn't have to see the openers or sit through the awful set changes, which i swear bands intentionally make long. and then out come seven people. seven! and they've all got the ridiculous 80's get ups on. it was very funny. i was a bit nervous at the beginning, there was a lot of sort of dorky things; like tossing the pick into the air and all that hokey stuff. but i realized it was part of a little schtick. and it was a short lived schtick, and we soon got down to business of rockin.

the thing i love about this guy butch walker is that his stuff is really like these little stories and anecdotes and a little bit of poetry. it's sound really queer, but his stuff is this really emotionally charged material. even when he was with marvelous 3, the material was full of this sort of truth. i told my friend eric that i would swear his guy writes his stuff whilst spying on everyone's life, though it's probably about his own life mostly. on the album Letters, there are three songs in particular, Mixtape, Best thing you never had, and Maybe it's just me; that every person in the whole world can apply to their own life. everyone! and on a marvelous 3 album there's a song called Beautiful that every girl dreams about some guy dedicating to her.

so this show was full of all this ridiculous emotion, and energy, and tangible, palpable truth and realism. at one point walker sat at a piano all by himself and sang three of the most heart wrenching songs i've heard in a long time. complete with sorrowful back stories. that really is a ballsy move for a musician- who knows if the crowd is going to tune in on the sorrow behind it? and you know, and that certainly does reduce the pace of a show to a crawl. who knows if they'll be able to recover from it? it might be hard to get the rockin energy back. but it was perfectly seamless. such a good part of the show.

i have no idea if it was the end of the tour or the middle, but it hardly matters, because it could have been on my living room with 5000 close friends. it was such a good show, and i would have been so mad at myself if i talked myself out of going simply cause i had no companions.

now i can accept paypal!

I'll probably get smoked with some sort of horrible per use fee, but who cares! I just want other people to be able to buy some of my products! and I want it to be easy for them. It really is a pain in the neck to have to jump through hoops to make a purchase from an online up and comer. so I don't want to be one of those artists.



if you have a bit of time, go have a visit to my on-line shop! i Think you'll find something you like!

www.violetgarden.etsy.com

so, I've got an esty shop!

here is my newly opened esty shop.

Violet Garden Gifts

I'm planning on selling the things i make, bags and accessories. i'm planning on offering coin purses, messenger bags, mini and regular size, belts, key chains, and travel pouches.

I've only just opened the doors, so there's a tiny bit of construction still going on. Paypal will be up and running on Monday; and a more extensive product range witll be available. If you need a gift for someone, or you want to give yourself a well deserved present, stop on by.

see you there!

oh how i hate aol!

aol is the most ridiculous thing on the planet! and shame on them for tricking people into thinking that aol for broadband is some kind of great thing. here's a newsflash everyone! your online experience is no safer by using aol! rememebr that aol is time warner, and time warner is the most giant company in the world right now, with their shjitty little fingers in every pie imaginable. from entertainment to banking to communication and probably to cars and energy too. make no mistake, they share your info, because privacy laws allow for sharing info between divisions of companies. so where's your safety, really?

and then i could go on and on about the horrilbe interface they have. they make everything so effin cutesy, that you can't find the effin send button! and downloading a file? who knows where it goes, when you really just want it on your desktop so you can move it to the proper folder yourself.

i am on vacation this week, but i need ed to check on thestatus of a proof for work. so i'm using my sister's computer. a computer geek like myself can't fault her, she dosen't make her living electronically. so she hasn't realised yet how aol is a complete disservice to her and to her family too. none of her kids have any internet smarts, and they can't even get to the effion bbc news site, because phrases like "raised fears" send the aol safety flares off. on top of that, aol has shitty attachment features, so sending and receiveing attachments, (if they are permitted)is clunky, and cumbersome. if you want to go to a yahoo mialbox, and you type www.mail.yahoo.com in the aol search engine bar you get a new window! irritating! and then if you decide you're done in yahoo mail, you go back to the url bar, and put www.boston.com, another window! and it's not even the same one as when you were in yahoo mail! DUMB! and all that extra shit that aol offers- buddies, and instant messenging, and favorites, some sort of search list- all these things are are little more than desktop clutter!

Clutter on you pc desktop is no better than on your desktop desktop! it's littele wonder that america's children are geting less and less cerebral as the days go on. so when they go to college and find that www.yourcollege.edu doesn;t run like aol. they'll be in trouble. that is why those IT guys will always be in jobs, they'll always have to pick up the pieces of aol.