the first dunkin donuts run!

when you have a new car, you do silly things. Like document the first time you go to dunkin donuts!


so here it is, the first Two Donut Friday in the Super Black!

i'd like you to meet The Super Black!

isn't he fab! A special shout out and thank you go my friend sanjay. (Though he mostly knows my friends debra and ben, i sincerely hope he doesn't object to me calling him that as well) He's very skilled when working with dealers, and he's not a waffler! no wishy washing from him! (it's a good foil those of us with fold-like-a-lawnchair tendancies).

This is the first car for which i've ever really done research, test driving, comparison shopping, and consumer reports investigation. It's also the first one where i did all the appropriate research on credit scores, interest rates and so forth. I did a fair amount of searching around dealers and all, and then found the car that was within my budget, yet was also within my expectations on looks.

I traded in the trusty space pod;

and while the space pod was indeed trusty, it was close to the edge of his life- i don't believe he would have survived another winter. No, that's not true, he would have survived, but using him was no longer comfortable. the heater had gone, and the radio was beginning to crap out; so driving him was unpleasant. structurally, and mechanically, once the brakes were replaced (which was simply a wear and tear repair- not a fault of the car), he would have been good to go, if you don't mind being cold, with nothing on the beatbox. No, after ten years, and 140,000 miles it was ok to trade him in. (~sniff!)

The super black is indeed super, i love it so very much! it goes like the clappers, handles like it's on rails and goes 450 miles on a single tank! i won't even mind sending the car payment every month and really, that's the best thing. if you've gonna have a car payment, you should love the car.

even more than an 86 year drought

This will test our mettle. Anyone can hop on board in 2004 after 86 years. But i'll tell you what- this is a better litmus test of a fan's dedication than even the shittiest of shitty years.

And it seems to be pretty clear some fans in boston aren't fans at all (I'm looking at you Dan Shaughnessy, bob ryan, and regrettably, even you mazz.

How quickly you all are to dump him, seconds after it comes across the wire. The sports wire for crissakes!

How fast you are to pen your knee-jerk and reactionary articles before all the facts are released. So lets have a look at an important thing that's lacking; creditable sources. Your only source has thus far been a new york times article which in turn cites unnamed, untraceable, and anonymous sources itself. if i were writing a highschool term paper and turned in crap like that, i'd get a D.

Have you done any investigative work on this project? Have you gone to the New York courthouse yourself? Failing that, have you even done any kind of due diligence and called the lawyers involved in the case to cajole them into corroborating statements? So far, i have not seen any indication that you have done so. Essentially you have been nothing more than a sports version of perez hilton and TMZ. Shame on you.

You don't even pretend to offer an innocent until proven guilty possibility. For crying out loud- you leave it to Nomar and Youk to point out the holes and reasonable doubt that is all over this stupid "list". Kudos to Amalie Benjamin and Nick Cafardo to put their byline on something that is a bit more than thinly veiled op-ed snippets masquerading as journalism.

This is going to test our mettle as fans, and my sox are red. I've long ago dismissed the late '90s and early 2000s as the steroid years; and d'you know what? those bombs over the green monster? Still pretty awesome. And d'you know what else? Steroids don't affect timely hitting; A Clutch is a clutch hit. How far you hit it is irrelevant.

Until i get ALL the facts, i'm as pleased as punch to have ortiz on our roster; and along with mike lowell- i'm not giving my rings back, so don't ask.

my latest sweater!

here's the sweater i finished last night.


it came out so good, if i do say so myself! it totally fits, there isn't a single mistake on it, and it's made of smooshy soft yarn made for wool and silk. Silk! ooooh la la!

'tis a bit too warm to wear it today, but i yam anyway, because i just finished it last night!

help me with a playlist?

so i've decided that we should all dance more. the next family gathering we have were going to do some dancing! Mom even agrees that the Living room is a good dancing room, now that the orange rug is gone!

so here's my preliminary playlist. You'll note that some of them are clunkers, but are fun none the less (i'm lookin' at you captain and tenille!) Some are in jokes for heidi and i, and others are dancing staples.

Now, true to form, i have thought far too much about this, but that's ok, it's fun for me. But i'll to open it up to suggestions. i'd like tunes from all eras, but i'd rather they weren't too terribly obscure, and they've got to be dance=ish.

please, dear readers, note that this has to be moderately PG-13. a naughty word here and there is ok, but we can't have parental advisories all over the place.



post replies of your ideas, i can't wait!

Everyone needs a sweater style tea wallet!

and here is how you can make one!

it's fabulously easy, and is a good project for learning and practicing the very basics of knitting. knit, purl, use of a pattern and row counting. Plus, you can make it with scraps!



you can click the photo of the pattern to make it bigger, and then print or save it to pdf!

woo hoo! what a day!

first, the game. the game was early in the morning, 8.30- not my most favorite of kick offs. but we were there, and it was a full squad- and my gosh, were we all amped up. Yesterday was the championships you see, and regardless of the level of play, the league being played, or whether the players are a bunch of young studs, a collection of slightly creaking joints, or a mix of the two, the championships are the championships; and anyway you slice they are something else.

so yesterday was epic. nil-nil going into half time. 0-0! That in itself was crazy, because both of us teams were goal-scoring teams over the season. So it's no score, and at half time we regroup a little bit; but we hadn't done so enough, because they drew first blood on us, only about four minutes into the half. yeep. but lets see if i can get this right- i think dan scored the equalizer 10 minutes or so later, and then they went on top again on a bit jumbley clearance from the 18. I think Kris got the second equalizer with around 15 minutes left. gosh, High drama at lancaster!

so it went back and forth for the last 14 minutes until there was a big mix up in FC United 18 box, and Davey Pitts comes away with the go ahead into the far side of the net, with something like 1 minute 27 left on the clock. sweet georgia brown, what a play!

If i'm totally honest, we didn't really play our best soccer; But that's ok, because we sure as shit played the hardest, most aggressive, and most dialed-in soccer we've played all season long, and that was what pulled out the win. in the end, both teams really had left it all on the pitch the only thing left was to go have a bbq with a band (a real live rock n roll band!) and sit in the hot tub at kris and april's.

gah, what a day!

gosh but this is heavy

so, i haven't been paying enough attention to the voting in tehran. I should have but i'm remiss.

Often times i get too tangled up in fairly mundane shit that's not important, as i think americans in general do as well. The thing is, there's a big huge world out there; with big, huge problems. Just because they may or may not affect us, or have an impact on our every day lives, Doesn't make them any less horrible.


go have a look at the photos, you'll see what i mean. There's no way to tell who's who; there are no signs on anyone. Just by looking at the photos, we can't see any placards: "i voted for mousavi" or "Hell no, we won't go, Ahmadinejad all the way!" no, the only thing i see when i look at the photos are people; handsome men, gorgeous beautiful ladies, moms, dads, aunties, sons, daughters, wives, husbands, old people, children, and they are all getting beat up.

people in tee shirts and nike shoes, suits, work clothes, laptops and cell phones scattered in pieces. cops and rioters clubbing each other. Rocks and pepper spray. it's absoloutely awful. All those people- all those injuries.

A curious thing is that i don't know that there's anything i can do. Posting here helps some, but really, how can i fix it? I'm not brave like those people who go to the peace corps, i'm definitely not brave enough to demonstrate for my candidate. how can i possibly contribute to peace?

the hounds of ulster

so, mom and i have returned to the US, against my wishes, mind, but i haven't yet been able to finance a move to killaloe.

anyway, the first day we were there, we came across a band practicing. they were very good, and i bust out my super fantastic camera, and took a bit of video!


they are called the hounds of ulster, and they are a band out of belfast, and though it was very hard for me to understand what the guy was saying, we managed to learn that they were playing at Glor for the Fleadh Nua that evening, and mom and i went to get tickets.

they are very good, very polished, and if you find yourself at a music festival this summer, especially if it's an irish festival, do yourself a good turn, and stop in to see them. they are very good.

ships in a bottle

a few years ago i posted about going to see butch walker at the paradise. At the risk of seeming like a crazed lunatic fan, i implore you; dear readers, run on over to itunes and get one of his albums and if he stops in your town, do make a point to get yourself some tickets.

here is what i love about him- he is inherently creative and truthful. For good or for bad, his stuff is true to himself, and is a true window into his personality and the lemons life is squeezing at him at the time of writing the song. At a time when real creativity and musical experimentation is not terribly fashionable, he's a refreshing oasis in a desert of my chemical romance, fall out boy and repackaged fleetwood mac and dave matthews band.

Depending on his mood at the time of writing, He's unapologetically crass and hopelessly juvenile; other times he's hair-raisingly candid and self-doubtful. He sings of break ups and new first loves, of drug abuse and recovery, of sunny days and crummy days. He sings about his grandparents, his friends and himself; when it's pretty and when it's ugly. he even makes videos that might even be called thought provoking.

Butch Walker "Ships in a Bottle" Music Video


If everyone should get to know the bouncing souls, they also should get to know butch walker!

one, two three, four, five, six seven eight nine!

in just nine short days me and me mam will be on the big metal bird over the big blue ocean, on our way here:

(incidentally, this fab photo came from a flickr member, go see the rest of his great photostream!)

We're going to go to ennis for the fleadh nuah, cork city and dunmanway, and we're going to go to the rock of cashel and end the trip in limerick. I say end the trip, but what i really mean is that if i find a single guy or a job, or hopefully both, i'm going to stay on!

hoo hoo hoo! one, two three, four, five, six seven eight nine!

the springtime snap

over the past year or so, i've taken a few snaps of the wood square park, and here is the spring time snap!

I love the trees in bloom, the pretty pink flowers and the leave just beginning to unfurl. i just love this park. if i ever move away from hudson, there will have to be alovely park like wood square!

everone should get to know....

the bouncing souls.



It's been 20 years of rock n roll mayhem, and all of it good. It's been about nine years or so for me; and you guessed it, all of those were good too.

Tonight i came from the show at the paradise. it was jumping, for sure! truth be told, i think the souls are a bit too big an act for the paradise. Though they did graciously agree to play two shows to accommodate all us crazy fans, they're well beyond the days of house party antics and drunken dudes jumping on stage. There was a tiny skirmish at the end, but all in all it was a fantastic night.

They played a fair few new songs (which i rather groove on) but the very best is when they hopped in the wayback machine for some real gems. No Rules, Quik Chek Girl, Here We Go, and Single Successful Guy. I don't know that i ever heard Single Successful Guy in concert. There were a few notable missing pieces, East Coast F*ck You was not part of the show, and i would have liked to hear Lamar Vannoy, but there were some edgy replacements- Lean on Sheena was in the set- interesting Ah Ha! and a gem of all gems! these are the quotes from our favorite 80's movies!

It's true, they're approaching middle age, but methinks that when i get there, that i would like to be as good at my job as they at theirs. Clever as Greg, solid as papillion, smooth as Rockabilly silk as the pete and rumbly rockin as mike mcD. I also hope I'm as hardworking as they are. there was a nifty article about them in the globe a few days ago, all about their hard work over these 20 years.

So i implore you, dear readers; run on over to itunes and download yourself a Bouncing Souls album. Any one of them; new or old, studio or live, you'll be glad you did.

Really, Everyone should get to know the Bouncing Souls!

whshew! it just gets worse and worse!

little wonder they had to close HCHS! they've got a million in payroll expenses! oh, and lest you think that's for the entire archdiocese, Au contraire mon frere! that's just for four people!

$1,125,000 for four employees.

Now i'm no economist, nor am i an HR coordinator, but that's kind of a lot. Here's the thing, how can the diocese possibly think that their parishioners are going to be ok with that? I rather thought the entire archdiocese ran as skinny as my own parish has done for the 33 years i've been a member. I thought rather thought ALL the employees of the archdiocese made the same financial sacrifices to benefit the greater good. Much the same as when the HCHS faculty agreed to teach for the paltry salary. If i worked for a diocese school and i saw that salary, i'd be hacked, that's for sure!

Now i see i was wrong, i see that even in the Boston Archdiocese there are haves and have-nots. At first, i thought it was simply a power struggle; some have power, and some have not, and those that do have the power simply can't cope with the thought of reliquishing even a smidgen of it. But now i realize that it also involves money. Those who have the money are LOATHE to share it; how bout this? this is a time of raise freezes, furloughs, pay cuts, and even layoffs. A million dollar payroll for four employees is EXACTLY the same as million dollar payrolls for AIG- criminal.

The whole thing just gets worse and worse. This is exactly why there is attrition at catholic parishes, and increased membership at presbyterian and episcopalian churches. Because people are TIRED of being treated like shit.

Hey Hold Up!

A steal of home, and it works! Jacoby Ellsbury Has Stole Home!



That is so good, Jon Miller declines the use of correct grammar! And on top of it, he'd already stolen off pettitte that night. And! he even stole second on friday night, and then came around to score on a wild pitch! be sure to make a special note of how silly joba chamberlain looks, and how ellsbury is modeling his heisman trophy pose. (Hey, why not football too?)



hoo hoo! Whomever says baseball is boring clearly doesn't watch the same games i do!

where did all this come from?

I'm just a family of one and a cat! We live in a one bedroom apartment! I've only been here for five years! How did i get all this stuff? I try not to be a pack rat, I really do; but alas, I guess being sucessful is much easier said than done. Can you believe- this isn't even the stuff form the closets, or the sewing center, or from under the bed! This is only the stuff from my bedroom and dresser drawers!

So tomorrow all this stuff is going to the St. Vincent de Paul Society. Then, I'm going to start all over again, and do my best to unload yet more stuff. I mean geez, if I haven't used it or worn it since I moved in, what's the sense of keeping it?

Some say that he can hear the sound of colour...

And if you give him a really important job, he'll skive off and play croquet. All we know is...he's called The Stig


i'm really sorry, but i cannot keep it to myself any longer. I think i've got a crush on The Stig. it's preposterous, but i cannot help it. he's like a mystery, but he's the best part of a mystery man- he can drive any sort of car, he has a fab outfit, that makes him look all slim and tidy, and he never really says anything aggravating, because; well, because he never says anything at all! Perhaps it's the arms folded in complete omnipotence that i love most, perhaps it's when he was driving the diesel beemer in the 24-hour race. i don't know. but if he showed up to drive me home from work, i would swoon!

Ride along here!

what a great night tonight!

After last week's moderately unhappy post about HCHS, i'm so pleased to post this one tonight! Tonight was our fifteen year reunion, and i hate to admit it, but i think that the last time i saw many of my classmates was at the ten year.

We had such fun. the interesting thing is that any clicks we might have been in at school were totally gone. As a mater of fact, we hardly even spoke of high school, we really focused on today, on now, and the future. it was such a great night. Any petty grudges we might have held have simply melted away, and we could focus on having a laugh with each other (and perhaps at each other a few times!). After all these years I've finally realized that people don't have to be close friends to be dear friends.

I'm so pleased i went, and Big Props go out to Dave for organizing the whole thing.

What a great night.

can't save the Wave, Sniff!

So here it is. It's about a week and a half or so since we heard word that my high school alma mater is closing. My reaction has been a strange amalgam of emotion, running the true gamut from indignation, to sadness, wistfulness, nostalgia and back again to anger.

Yet in a way, the anger is not really from the fact that the school couldn't survive, its financial viability has been uncertain for many years. No; for me, the anger stems from being the last one to know; from having the rug pulled out from under me (and especially from my sister and my mother). I'm rather aggravated that the Church in general and St. Michael in this case have not learned from recent upheaval and reconsidered some operational procedures.

One would think that that this ship didn't sink overnight, nor did it sink over a period of a few months, more than likely this ship has been sinking for several years. I mean going beyond the general "one sheet of paper per art project" budget. So why are we, the parishioners, the people who are supposedly the focus of the parish, the point of the parish (the people who are the best source of capital) the last ones to learn about it? And why have we found out about it after the decision has already been made? I have a feeling it's because generally, the parishioners point of view is still largely irrelevant.

Perhaps this is the latest in the long line of perpetual punches in the gut. Perhaps the Church is banking on parishioners to turn the other cheek again and concede to the mandates and dictums, regardless of how it affects us. Adding insult to injury is the fact that any attempt for St. Michael's parishioners and HCH students to make their jumble of emotions known, have fallen on deaf ears; not just deaf ears; plainly dismissive, and outwardly aggressive and hostile ears. How is it possible that the spiritual leader of the parish might close the door in the face of his parishioners? And how is it possible that the layperson principal of the elementary school might punish a student for clinging to the hope that their school might be saved. Is that actually Christian? Is that actually practicing the concepts you teach?

My anger over this entire thing is how poorly it's been handled. How poorly parishioners, students, current faculty, and alumni have been treated. I'm equally upset that some of these injured parties have resorted to unseemly letters and comments, but that being said, much of the reason for this entire episode spiraling out of control, can be laid at the feet of the pastor and the group he selected to handle PR.

Hudson Catholic High School is immensely important to me. Much of who I am, and most of my values can be attributed to both the school and the parish with which it is associated. Much of how I behave and act toward others can also be tracked back there. How interesting that a parish that instilled Kindness, Patience, Compassion and Service as core values in me can seem to throw them by the wayside when situations most demand them.

HCHS is closing. It is unfortunate. But even more unfortunate is how parishioners; no, people have been treated during this episode. At this rate, no one is going to come out of this without injury, and that is what never had to happen.

Generally I don't say things like "I'll pray for them." That's not really my style. But really that's all that can be done right now.

p2tbl

so, i am not a filmmaker, as you can see. i will never have a project greenlight. this is how i purl 2 together through the back loop.