sox finish out the first half on top!

So, edgar and i went to the ball game yesterday. I scored a pair of tickets from a very gracious vendor, Source 4. we had a good time, the recent rennovations to fenway allow a nice breeze to blow in from right to left, so it's not nearly as hot as it used to get. But i'll be glad when they renno those old grandstand seats. yipes. I'm not terribly tall, and still there was nowhere for my short legs to go. the Sox won, despite papelbon's best efforts to give it away in the ninth.

I got a nifty new camera pecifically for the game, and boy am i glad, it takes fab photos!I a should have taken more of the batters, but i didn't, i'm a dumbhead. I also should have taken some of us (even if for no other reason but to get evidence of a yankee fan at fenway having a good time!) dear readers you'll have to be satisfied with game shots.
This of course is manny ramirez, he drives others crazy, but not me, this fanny is for manny.

here's pedroia catching the throw comin'down


and sally's future son in law ellsbury (she just has to figure out a way for him to get in touch with her daughter).


oh, i nearly forgot; dice-k matsusaka pitched.
He doesn't throw gas, so it's a bit hard to watch sometimes, because he's a moderately finesse style pitcher, I rather find hardball pitchers more comforting, but he got the job done, and he was very good, since the offense seemed to have phoned it in a bit. Note to Sean Casey- no more stretching singles into doubles, you aren't nearly as fast as your mom told you.

tea wallet 2.0

A short while ago i posted the tea wallet on a crafting site. Sometimes i'm moderately disappointed because there have been some misrepresentations with other tutorials. i'm going to hold off posting version 2.0 there until i get the pdf made. Truthfully, a pdf really shouldn't be necessary, because it's as easy peasy a project as there is, but sometimes directions are useful.

so without further ado (and without further sour grapes) here it is, tea wallet 2.0



These ones are a bit different, rather than slots for tea envelopes, they've simply got a pocket and a flap cover. This is to accommodate nekkid tea bags as the GlitterKitty so lovingly calls them (she's the person for whom these were made). i really enjoy making things like his because they are a great way to use up scraps. They are a fun project.

My shermy sherm is so handsome!

so here's my sherman.

He's a terribly handsome cat, though i have to admit, i'd rather like it if he would stop being social while i'm in the bathroom.

he's a good cat, he's very pleasant, and he doesn't even scratch or bite very often, unless i tease him.

tote bag mania!

So i needed to make a new tote bag for myself, it was supposed to be like this one here but as it turns out, it's not really like that one at all, the shape is very different. But i rather like this one anyway.

it's smaller thatn the big satchel bag i use when i go on interviews, yet it's large enough to carry a small knitting project and all the other crap i've gotta cart around. it's quite sunny and bright, rather cheerful. i like it.

I'd like to make an amendment

To my afore mentioned desert island discs. I would also please like to bring the entire Weezer Library.

When i was in college, my roommate had the blue album, and i loathed the music. What can i say? I was still a WAAF Listener. But people can learn! People can learn to appreciate new and clever and truly creative music and lyrics.

Fast forward to the also afore mentioned 2005 foo fighters show. that's where i learned how to love the Weeze. since then thy have gone into regular rotation, and i listen to it very loud indeed. I just recently got my hands on the red album, and i think it's my favorite, there isn't a dead spot on the record, and most of the songs are really rockin. I like my records to rock, I like he soul searching as well, but i really like my music to be rockin.

sewing circle

So debra came over on saturn-day to learn how to sew. I had to teach her on my little engine that could sewing machine. my machine really needs to go to P.C. Vac and Sew for a tune up. But debra persevered and went home with a super nifty tote bag. the fabric is a super pair of stripes and toille. We did use a pattern, i thought it was a mccalls pattern, but now i can't find it on their site. the pattern called for also including a hidden pocket, but i felt that that was a tiny bit too advanced a concept for a first date with a sewing machine. Perhaps next time.

Debra did a really great job of sewing, i did hardly any of it. She even did the tricky bits of sewing around the top seam, with all those layers of batting and fabric. She wasn't even put off by how long it took, and how moderately boring it can turn out to be. I'll have to see if she can send me a photograph so i can post it, I'm a Dumbhead, so i didn't take one at the end of the lesson.

Ah, i've been remiss

Cristiano Ronaldo is the footballer i spoke of earlier. he's got a wiki page here.

he's terribly good, but he's terribly melodramatic, and people often times are angry and bitter when his team beats theirs (my friend dave is still bitter over win against england in the World cup 06).

but Uefa Euro Football is indeed exciting. According to soccernet.com, This is how the groups line up as of today:


I'm not so skilled at keeping track of this stuff, but from what i've heard, #1 plays #2, and Group A plays Group B, while C plays D in the next round, which is a knockout round. so Croatia will play Turkey (incidentally, Turkey beat the Czech Republic whom i predicted would advance. So really, don't listen to me!), and Portugal will play Germany. Yipes. That be some football!

Now, from what i gather, Group C is all sorts of up in the air, with the exception of Holland; they advance as #1. here's the qualification explanation. Group D is a bit tangley too, though not as much, nor as exciting. Essentially it's must win for all teams playing today, making for some excellent soccer. check them out on espn360.com. They are all on at the same time, to avoid any sort of match fixing. I'll be streaming today, for sure!

sewing for me!

So, even though saturday was World Wide Knit in Public Day i made myself a shirt.

It's a very easy pattern

I did make an alteration to the length than is shown in the refece photo, I'm too short to really wear something long like this, and the additional length really didn't look good on my hips, so i made it more like a blouse, and it mostly fits perfectly.

It took me the better part of saturday, since I'm really only beginning to sew clothing. but I'm pleased with the results and I'm sure that the next one i make will really look nice, and won't take nearly as long.

I love to sew!

And when the urge to sew hits, i like to take advantage of it. I'm beginning to dabble in clothing, as you have already seen, Niece Kristen got a few dresses a few months ago. This time Niece Caitie is going to be the recipient. (incidentally, Kristen wore the pink swirly dress in public the other day, and i have to admit, though it looks cute on a hanger, it looks way better on a cute baby! I've heard that clothes make the person, but the opposite is true, kristen makes the clothes!)

anyway, here are the two things i made for Caitie:

this is a a summer dress that looks like it's the same pattern, but it isn't. I suppose i could have use d the same pattern, but i'm just learning, so i didn't realize they were so similar until i already had it purchased. The biggest difference between this pattern and the one from before is that this calls for a zipper in the back. the next one i make i'll probably use the first pattern, and make it so the straps are buttoned or snapped, like before, so the other girls won't have to fumble with the zipper in the back (too much of a PIA for a little girl.)

I had some of the blue polka dots left so i thought i would make a top to wear with jeans or shorts on a summer day.
So from the same pattern i made this:


I also wanted to try something i've had in my head for a long time. Should I ever get married, I'd like the bodice of my dress to have something like this- so the front looks like the breakfast at tiffany's dress, but in the back, the straps would taper to about 1/2 inch wide or so, and then go straight along the shoulder blades. This shirt was an exercise to see if it's possible.

I suppose it sort of did. I have a feeling a more experienced seamstress could figure it out much better than i can. But it worked pretty well for a child's summer top.

Methinks these are pretty ok, all in all.

he is really good.

I just wish he didn't play for manchester united, and i wish, wish, wish he was a little less melodramatic! Please, don't act like such a wanker when you get fouled.

But i have to tell the truth, he's a really good player. His silliness with the ball drives me crazy, but that's because i don't normally have much patience for showboatsmanship, (and as someone who used to play marking back and stopper it's really aggravating) but the rest of his game is really solid. He's incredibly fast and really strong. He's a big guy, and despite his whining on the pitch, he's a pretty tough customer.

have a look at this goal in yesterday's euro match:


beside that, he's not even too terribly selfish, as far as working with and using and helping his teammates- it seems that he really does rather win the game than get all the goals.


All of this is made all the better by the fact that he's still just a kid- he's only 23 years old, Not to mention he's pretty easy on the eyes, footballer or not.

Yesterday's game against the Czech Republic has a deceptive score. Portugal was very good, but the Czechs were very good too. They'll make it through to the Quarters, and then they will give their opponent a very good game indeed. But, on the other hand, don't count out Turkey from this- they beat Switzerland yesterday. Yhat really makes it so that the only shoo in is portugal, and that's not even really a shoo in. Wow, what a good tourney so far!

someone is definitely stealing my milk, dammit!

Yesterday, i left the mark on the bottle in red, it's on the side, you can see it in the photo (I also put my name on the bottle hoping it would be left alone. When i arrived this morning, the milk was at the same level. I figured for sure no one would use the last few ounces of milk that didn't belong to them. i thought i'd have it for lunch, a small cup of milk, but a cup of milk anyway.

This is where it is right now:

WTF?


Seriously, what kind of a jerk leaves that amount of milk in the bottle anyway? You're already a jerk, so just finish the effing bottle! As if leaving a tablespoon in the bottom of the bottle is going to make me less hacked off. My stinking name is on it for a reason. it's mine. If my name weren't on the bottle, i suppose i could appreciate that you didn't know who to ask, but that's not the case. If you figured hey, she'll probably let me borrow some anyway, so i'll just go ahead; you're only partly right. had you asked, i would have agreed. but now you've been a jerky coworker and i don't really know who you are, but i don't like you just the same.

so on monday, when i bring the hannaford half gallon in, i'm going to plaster a big huge jerky-jerk KRISTINE all over it in sharpie marker. hell, i might even put a super snarky Don't drink this milk! on it too.

rockin' the aran sweater

Last summer i invested in an ipod (not really sure why though, i don't use it terribly often); and it's really great, i do like it a lot. The trouble is, they are somewhat delicate. the chrome finish is really taking a beating. Even though it's not typically my style, i decided to make it a sweater. Since i'm going to give an aran sweater a try this summer and fall, i thought the ipod sweater is a good place to start practicing.



i have to confess, this is an idea I acquired while browsing around etsy. I’ll admit, that it’s moderately poor form to make something someone else is trying to sell; but on the other hand if you search for tea wallet on etsy, you’ll get a trillion hits. Tea wallet is actually something I posted on another crafting site, and it was my idea to call them tea wallets. Call me snarky, but i don’t feel so bad about borrowing another person’s idea for the cabled cozy.


I'm not terribly crazy about the green button, but it's all i had on hand when i finished up last night at midnight. i'm going to look around yardsales to see if i can find a wooden one that will be more in keeping with an aran sweater.

The Whole Milk Whodunnit

Methinks someone here at work is stealing my milk.At first i thought well, you must be imagining things; you must've had more cups of tea than you thought. Well, then it started to be whole glass amounts less than what i left it at. So, i set about laying traps so i could determine if indeed someone is stealing la leche. I decided to mark where the milk measured in the bottle after my last use (I marked it in permanent marker, the same color as the bottle label, so the perpetrator wouldn't notice i was on to them).

Sure enough, this morning, upon arrival to work, the milk is lower than yesterday's mark. A-ha! well, now i have to step it up a bit, i have to make the mark in a color that is noticeable to the perpetrator. so i marked it in black marker. 40 minutes later the milk is lower again! Sacre Bleu!


Sometimes the milk has my name on it, other times it doesn't. I don't know if that's a significant theft deterrent. But since the Hannaford Whole Milk in the corner of the fridgerator often times has my name on to, wouldn't you think the ones without a name might be mine too? I know, I know, it's terribly childish for me to be so indignant. But on the other hand, it's not really polite of the person doing so either. I suppose I should just get over it, it's only a couple of ounces of milk. But why should I be the one to get over it? As a matter of fact it's more than just a couple of ounces, it's gotten to be so that it's probably close to a half-pint of milk every week. I don't buy the milk so other people can drink it.

And besides that, it's fucking rude! Stop drinking my milk!

Oh god, how horrible

merriam webster defines Accident like this: 1 a: an unforeseen and unplanned event or circumstance. Curious that the definition leaves the emotion out. Merriam and Webster never tell us how heart wrenching they really can be; even for total strangers.

This horrible accident happened on the commute home yesterday. I spoke to my mom this morning and she said that the poor girl's dad was waiting at the next stop with her supper. Oh god i can hardly stand it. It's just so unfathomably sorrowful.

Every so often when i think my life sucks, these awful things happen and remind me to be more thankful, more appreciative and more deserving of the really great life I've got. I'm horrified that it took another family's sorrow in order to do so.

So in keeping with molly's TGIF idea, i'm gonna give it a go too. Though today is only thursday, i'll make a post anyway.
Today i am mostly thankful for my family. Even though they drive me nuts, I'm thankful that they help me, and they aren't too angry when i'm less than helpful. I really love my family. And i like to think they really love me too. A thought that makes me sad (because i am reminded of the poor man on the platform at Waban) is that my mom would bring me supper if i asked her to. I really am a lucky person, and i really am thankful for that.

sweet georgia brown!

Did you watch that game yesterday? Jon Lester threw a no hitter! A no hitter! no one even got a single! Jacoby ellsbury made a great play in center, and that was the only play of concern the whole night!

He was throwing gas the whole night. It's nice to see him throw so well, because he does sometimes have a bad inning, or sometimes he's a bit fall-apart-at-the-seams-ish. but he had his good stuff last night, that's for sure!



A no hitter. Wow.

the devil rays?

Yipes! but the devil rays are in first place in the AL East. I don't think it will last very long, but it does appear that they are becoming a pretty good ball club. the AL East is really full of good teams, and adding Tampa bay to the mix is going to make for a good summer indeed.



If there is one good thing that came of them topping the sox in the standings, it is that they beat the yankees to do so.

Find more videos like this on www.truveo.com.

fits like a.... mitten!

so, remember the Not So Superbowl Hat? well, i came across a second ball of that yarn. I hadn't realized the NSSH only use a part of one single ball. i thought it used all of one and part of the second. This is good, because now i can make matching mittens for debra as well.

Tomorrow is the first day of May, so hat and mittens are not needed any more, but here is what i learned: mittens are great fun to make, and they don't take very long, and they only need one ball of yarn. yay! I really like this yarn,i might try to see if i can find some more on line.

here is what i love about ravelry

It's sheer and utter and complete usefulness.

Sure, at first glance it's just a place for nerdy knitters to get together and act the part, but it's really a great tool for learning. The site admins have really made the site very intuitive and user friendly.

Since it's sort of a Bulletin Board, you can post back and forth on all sorts of topics. Who knew there were so many knitting Foo Fighters fans in the world? I so wish there were more sites set up this way- a sewing one in particular, but the possibilities really are endless.

but since it's also sort of like wiki, there's a lot of great actual info available. If you have a question, you can search the threads, or the techniques, or the patterns. This is key because there's no trawling through pages and pages of info you can't really use because the search hit on the word "the". There's a directory of useful places to shop. so say you need to find a particular yarn or needle, search the yarns or search the shops. There's a directory of people, so you can see where people are from, and what they knitted- you can ask them how they liked the project, the yarn et cetera.

my favorite thing about ravelry, is everything. I've really improved my knitting knowledge and skills in the few short months i've been a member. Rock On Casey, Jess; and Bob too!

Here is what i love:

Trail mix! not the yucky kind you get in packages, oh no. I make my own. I make it on sunday evenings, and it lasts through the week for lunches.

here's what i buy:
1 bag dried apricots
1 bag dried cherries
1 bag dried apples
(these are all available in the raisin section, or the produce dept of the grocery)

1 package of pecans
1 package of whole almonds
1 package of chocolate chips
(look in the baking aisle for these)

1 box of some sort of cereal that doesn't have too much taste, but does have substance- shredded wheat squares, or the like.

Here's what i do:
I use about 1/2 package of the dried fruits, a handful or two of the nuts and cereal, and a single handful of the chocolate chips. Now, to start, you should toast the nuts in the toaster, on the shortest cycle. just enough for them to get toasty and warm, not long enough to burn. When they come out, throw them in a metal 13x9x3 rectangle pan and toss the chips over them so the chips get melty, but keep their shape. set aside so the nuts and chips begin to get cool.

Set aside, and begin work on the fruits- chop the apricots roughly, so you sort of get three pieces from each one. same for the apples if needed. then, throw everything into the pan with the nuts and chips (that are sort of melty cool now) and toss around so the chocolate gets on somethings, and not on others. you really want the chocolate to be on the other stuff, but not so that its too hard to eat with your hands. Spread everything out in the rectangle pan and set aside to thoroughly cool. then scoop into snack size baggies- 1/3 to 1/2 cup serving size please! Viola! you have a whole week's worth of tasty trail mix.

you can mix it up any way you like- i tried cinnamon chips in there- not my favorite. I also sometimes use apple jacks for the cereal. other times i use cranberries instead of the cherries. I once used prunes because i could only find mixed dried fruit that day- hey are tasty, but, there are other.... benefits shall we say. You can put pretzel sticks in there too. I get roughly two mixes out of a single package of the fruit. The other stuff is really just pantry junk you probably already have on hand.

It's quite tasty, and according to these nutrition facts, while it might not top the list of great foods, it's not so bad for you that you'll feel too guilty.

try it, you'll like it!

Flight AEI 132 Hat!

so, I've managed to work out a pattern for the hat i knitted in time to keep my ears warm in ireland. Though we had spectacular weather, my ears are wimpy, and i like to keep them covered.

It's a pdf, and here is the snappy snap:

kimono jacket mania!

So i just recently began sewing clothing. i've made a couple of summertime skirts for myself, but clothing is still very intimidating. a cure for that? Children's clothing, YAY! As you have seen in my recent littlest googie posts, children's clothing is quick, usually easy, and it usually doesn't use too much fabric. Also, if you flub it up, you can start over with less remorse.

so here are my first forays into more complex clothing. kimono jackets!
This one is the very first. it's totally reversible, both because it's more useful that way, and because making it reversible allows me to have a much better looking product- i'm terrible at finishing.



This set also has some shoes made out of the scraps. These are so tiny though that they were not as fun to make. I suppose i should have made them by hand sewing, not using the machine.


Now, i also need to have a gift for my cousin's new baby. I hope she doesn't see this before the shower.
here is his kimono.


Boy fabrics and patterns are hard to find. Often times fabrics that are boyish are sort of ugly. but i think these are tremendously cute, and not in an overpowering drippy kind of way.

sign the petition?

I think it's pretty clear by now to which political party i belong. That said, i would like to take a tiny bit of your time to ask you to click this link: http://www.voteboth.com

I don't think many people will disagree (even republicans) that the country seems to be in a morass of uncertainty politically, economically, and yes even morally. I also don't think I'll be saying anything new if I propose that the current administration has done very little to get us out of the quagmire. Sometimes it even seems that they initiated it, or at the very least exacerbated it.

So I don't think I'll be saying anything controversial if I opine that change is needed. A combined democrat ticket would be both unbeatable as far as voting goes, but it could also be a very successful administration. They both have strengths that can be useful, and these individual strengths sort of jive and dovetail- where one might be too junior, the other has a bit more tenure in washington. Where one might be off putting, the other is smooth and approachable.

It really could be a dream ticket. Vote Both

the littlest googie

hee hee hee. That's what we call her.


So here is what I learned over the weekend: Baby things are quick and easy to make! In one day I made three and a half dresses! And they are ridiculously cute.


The white farmyard print is made of flannel, and this pink one is reversible. Is that spit up? no problem! i'll just flip it inside out!


Kristen is going to be the proud recipient of lots of things from me i imagine. It's not that i'm spoiling her over the others- it's just that i'm a much more advanced crafter now than i was for the others. Johnny is four or five now, and i was just learning how to sew, and i hadn't even learned how to knit until January of 2007.

So it's just the luck of the draw that the littlest googie gets to have all my handiwork. I hope i don't make them so that photos are embarrassing when she is a teenager.

here are the others

So here are the other photos of the dresses.
This one is the inside of the pink one- it's totally reversible. This side is nice and bright- orange and bright magenta.


This blue one is actually the first one I made. It's made almost entirely out of on hand materials. I'm doing my best to work only with materials that i already have on hand. (course that's a pipe dream just ask the people at the fabric shop)


then there is this nifty trim around the edge- i had concerns about using the yellow, but i think it turned out pretty ok.

St. Patrick's Day, So Tis.

Today is St. Patrick's Day. and at the risk of being silly, I do extend a happy one to you.

On St. Patrick's day, I often forgo my bright kelly green and Kiss Me I'm Irish shirts, and instead opt for my Dublin Shirt from the Gaelic Athletic Association. The Association was founded as a way to enjoy, promote and preserve culture that was inherently and fundamentally Irish. What is truly brilliant is that it's through sport. Sport has a way of uniting people, even when their teams or clubs are polar rivals.

As you must know by now, I'm a sport-o at heart. So the GAA is like home for me. A dream for me is to work for the GAA. I secretly wish that someone reads this and has a stateside job for me. Did you know that the players who play in GAA Teams get no compensation for it at all? They play because they love the game, and they love being Irish. I love being American, and I love being of Irish decent, so i think that makes me an ideal candidate to work for them; but I dunno if I could play hurling.



I like to think that Gaelic Football is something i could play. Since I'm a soccergirl, I think I would be able to at least understand it a bit, but I don't think i would be very good at it, and it would be a learning experience, for sure.

So today is St. Patrick's day, hoo hoo! It's a day to celebrate being Irish, not just a day to get bombed. Go have a look around the GAA Site, or these wiki travel sites: Cork City, Dublin, Belfast, Sligo. Here are some good Neighborhood cameras.

Menu Pages is a great way to keep from starving, and Arnotts will ensure that you keep the Irish economy afloat. If I had just a bit more money, I would return to Ireland again and again. If I had just a bit of luck, I would work for the GAA.

Can i borrow another pencil?

So it never occurred to me that people might be reading this blog. I mean sure, we've all heard about the Facebook horror stories, in which a blogger posts disparaging comments about their boss and then gets sacked. But i confess, it never crossed my mind that people would have a look round. I sort of figured, for sure people took one look, saw how boring and frivolous the thing is and then split for something more....relevant.

So imagine my surprise when my pencil case partner said she saw a post on my blog and was suddenly stricken with swap anxiety. Gosh, i feel so sheepish! get a load of these great things she made for me:


They are so well made, and so fit my personality that I can't believe she had anxiety. I'm so excited to use them and put things in them. i'm going to use the green meadow one for pencils and pens and things for continuing education classes. The crazy quilted one has got all my manicure supplies in it. I so needed one for that job, because the old one sacrificed it's zipper pull in the name of haute couture. (and a zipper with no pull is not actually a zipper anymore!)

and have a look here.
Shermy even received new toys to chase all over the apartment. He's quite good with a catnip toy, he wings them all over the place, then he carries them with him and hops into the bed. occasionally he puts them in his water dish, which makes me mad.

I'm pleased to have done this swap, What fun! Though i don't think i'll lend out any of my new pencils. i'll just keep one or two of those chewed up ones with the eraser missing and give those out instead.

Can i borrow a pencil?

I belong to craftster.org, as it seems half the whole world does. I used to enjoy it quite a lot, and i still do, though i find it much less useful than i did before. I did what many members did- Swap Swap Swap like crazy, until i blew myself out. A swap is when a person collects some members, and questionnaires about themselves, and then assigns partners. the partners do a bit of conversation back and forth on-line, and then craft for each other. The item crafted is usually centered around some kind of theme- i.e. a Pink Purse Swap would require all participants to make a purse that is pink for their partner, based on the questionnaire and bits of cyber conversation.

I don't swap too often anymore- the themes are a bit too.... mundane for me, and there are all sorts of qualifications and requirements and deadlines and things that for me, it's just gotten a bit too stressful. I really just like to craft for people.

so to the point of this post:

i recently completed a swap for pencil cases. My partner in this swap is still in school, so i wanted to make her something she can use with binders. but i also wanted to make something centered on her great loves- music and polar bears. well, it's hard to find polar bear fabric, so i had to settle for her favorite color, teal.

I think i hit the mark pretty well. the case is useful, and it's full of fun things. it can be threaded around the binder rings, and it's pretty durable. the omi-yuri pin was an afterthought, it can go on a purse quite nicely.


I really like to craft for people; Though i DO NOT like to do freelance or commission work. I like to try to make something i think someone will like and be able to use. For me, it becomes much less fun if a person keeps asking- where is my bag? how much fabric will it take to make....? my all time favorite is How hard is it to make curtains? not hard at all. my first sewing projects were curtains and pillow cases. You should start there too.

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.