The Straw That Broke The Camel’s Back

I shrugged last month when the Yankees swept the FRS in the Bronx cutting their lead in the East to 4 games. No big deal, with a month and a half to go we were still playing good baseball and the Yankees were red hot and bound to cool off.

The Yankees did cool just a bit and when we started a 3 game series in Boston last week their lead over New York was 5-1/2 games. I was not worried until they only won one of the three and the MFY left town only trailing by 4-1/2. Still, it seemed like we were OK and in command of our own fate.

But maybe being in command is not as easy as it looks. After Monday’s loss to Toronto and NY’s win over Baltimore the lead fell to 3-1/2. Crap.

Last night was the last straw. The Yankees won again. The Sox were winning 2 to 1 and the FRS manager sent in trade deadline acquisition, Eric Gagne. This was troublesome because all Mr. Gag-Me has done since putting on a Red Sox uniform is blow 2 of 2 save opportunities, lost 2 games with an ERA of 9.00 in 15 appearances. Well you guessed it, a walk, a single and a walk to load the bases. He should have been pulled out of the game right then. Nope, he then walked in the tying run. Did he come out now, nope again. The next batter doubles in two runs. I stopped listening to the game, I just couldn’t take it any more.

I started rooting for the FRS at about 8-years old, mildly at first, but the hook was set in 1967 when Yaz had his Triple-Crown year and they made it to the World Series. They lost in seven games. There have been quite a few terrible years with a few notable exceptions, 1975 and 1986 when they made it to the World Series again. Only to lose both in seven games. For about the last decade they have started fast and have lead the Eastern Division before cooling near the All Star break and eventually finishing 2nd or 3rd behind the Yankees. Somehow the cosmos shifted and in 2004 they won World Series for the first time in 86 years. Right after 2004 they returned to their old ways. This year they have lead the East since sometime in April, but it doesn’t look good for them to stay there. Another loss and a Yankees win last night cut the lead to 2-1/2 games. Tonight in the seventh inning of both games the status quo prevails, the Yanks are winning and the FRS are losing.

Divorce PetitionI can’t take the mental abuse any more, to the left you can see my divorce petition dissolving my relationship with the Red Sox. I am not listening to tonight’s game, I have washed my hands of them. My blood pressure may even go down a few points. I am now officially not following any team for that matter any sport. I can stop reading a section of the paper. I can drop several channels from the TV. I’m not sure what I’ll do with all the free time yet, maybe needlepoint…

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 398

If Charles Caleb Colton Owned a Miata

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

And if he had a blog it might look something like this:
The Miataman Adventures

Maybe not really imitation, but definitely influenced.

Still not sure about those new galleries, I still like the idea of having some captions which is not really possible with those flash style viewers. I like the stripe background though and I think that maybe it is time for a template change for here incorporating that stripe. Probably take a week or two to find one I like and modify it to fit me. For those of you who really like this theme, I’ll leave it available as an option.

Can you tell that the weather has been perfect for convertibles the last few days? The count hasn’t changed since last Friday morning when the top went down for the trip to work.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 398

Can I Worry Yet?

The FRS dropped 2 of 3 over the weekend to the MFY and their lead in the East was then down to just 4-1/2 games. But I was not worried, for the Yankees to tie us at the end of the season they would have to finish 11-2 if the Red Sox just won half of their remaining 12 games.

Tonight the Sox lost to the Blue Jays 7 to 1 and right now the Yankees are beating the Orioles 7 to 2. Looks like after tonight the division lead will be down to just 3-1/2 games, smallest since sometime in May. I’m now worried. Not only that I think I might have jinxed them because I opened my mouth saying how improbable it would be for them to lose the division. Is it 1978 all over again?

Since I revamped the Post Office Gallery, I decided to experiment with a couple of related pieces of software for some other galleries.

Phototime Tuesday is now running something called Postcard Viewer, a free Flash image viewer. The interface is based on the real world metaphor of a set of postcards shuffled onto a surface. And the Gnorthwest Gnorm gallery is using AutoViewer. It is designed to display a linear sequence of images and captions and has a slide show feature.

Check ’em out:
Phototime Tuesday
Gnorthwest Gnorm

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 398

Into The Woods

Hitchcock WoodsFor the first time in about 4 months Donna and I ventured into Hitchcock Woods. The weather was very cooperative as it was in the low 60s, so we both got to dress in layers to start. We even got turned around once and although Donna likes to say we got lost, I like to think of it just not being sure of where we are at that moment.

OK, I watched Killer Klowns From Outer Space this afternoon, well, 20 minutes of it anyway. Maybe if I was magically transported back to the 80s…

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 398

Fireworks?

Killer Klowns From Outer Space, the Special Edition sits unwatched on the coffee table. Maybe tomorrow afternoon, before the Killer Klowns from New York invade Fenway Park and are hopefully rebuffed by those scrappy kids in an ice cream truck.

After last night’s ballgame, I felt cheated by this afternoon’s contest, even thought Boston won, because the game only went for three hours and thirty-seven minutes. Compared to the four hour and forty-three minute marathon loss on Friday, today’s contest was a minute waltz . Tomorrow’s FRS / MFY game is going to be on ESPN and won’t start until 8 PM, which means it probably won’t go off until at least midnight. I may just go to bed without seeing the whole game, the FRS are going to win or lose whether I’m watching or not.

After the game this evening Donna and I decided to ride the tandem downtown and get a scoop of ice cream at the Sweet Cow Creamy. We have a fairly powerful headlight and a flashing taillight, so night riding in our small burg is a fairly safe proposition. Things were going smoothly until we were about a half mile from our destination and crossed some the railroad tracks. We hit a rough spot that wasn’t too visible and slammed the back wheel pretty hard. About 50 yards later a loud bang was heard. Gunshot? Firecracker? Nope, back tire. We had a flat.

Fortunately we had a spare tube and pump and were not too far from a well lit street corner. I popped off the back wheel and put in the new tube. Donna showed me the big hole in the tube, I showed her the bent rim and for good measure, the nice split in the tire (thankfully not all the way through.) Got everything back together and pumped the tire back up with a small collapsible pump that we got when we bought the bike. Because you can only get 1/2 to 2/3 the air pressure recommended for the tire with the bity hand pump, we finished the trip, including the ice cream stop, slowly and carefully.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 398

Vegas Baby

Vegas 1995I went in 1995, Spenser did in 1996. He tangled with mobsters, I on the other hand took a couple of pictures and bought a T-shirt. If you have been, you will recognize it in this passage from Robert B. Parker’s Chance, if you haven’t, after reading this you won’t need to go – it will be safer, no mobsters, and easier, you can find images on Flickr! and buy a shirt online.

On the Strip the dry desert night air was full of people and cars and lights, thick with the smell of exhaust fumes and cigarette smoke, and deodorant spray and hair spray and mixed drinks and cologne and desperation. There was a lot of energy on the Strip but it was feverish, the kind of energy that makes you sleepless, that makes you drive too fast, and chain-smoke, and drink heavy. The Strip was coked with people from Keokuk and Presque Isle and North Platte. It wasn’t like it was supposed to be. It wasn’t the adventure of a lifetime, but it had to be. You couldn’t admit that it wasn’t. You’d come too far, expected too much, planned too long. If you stayed up later, played harder, gambled bigger, looked longer, saw another show, had another drink, stretched out a little farther…

In Chance I did get a Spenser’s Rule, but it was un-numbered. There were a couple other crimestopper reference’s too – early in Chapter 20:

“This is Detective Cooper,” the gray-haired one said. “I’m Detective Sergeant Romero, Las Vegas Police Department.”

“You know I’m a famous detective, and you came here looking for crimestopper tips,” I said.

“Never heard of you,” Romero said, “until we found your card at a crime scene.”

“Pays to advertise,” I said.

And this at the end of Chapter 32:

If I couldn’t find Abbey Becker in Needham, Massachusetts, I’d turn in my file of Dick Tracy Crimestopper tips. As I started back across the bridge to New Bedford, I was calling information on my car phone.

Fixed It

Turns out the galley wouldn’t work with any browser, anywhere. When I thought it was working, it was only because it was loading cache images from the PC. I fixed it this evening after reading the Simple Viewer FAQ page. I had to turn off Hotlink Protection on the server. I also think I have figured out how to add a title and a link back to this blog too. All I have to do is relearn frames….

South Carolina Post Offices

A co-worker just bought himself some new wheels for his Lexus IS and I snapped a couple of photos for him.

New Wheels for an IS

He was of the same thinking as I, the OEM wheels on our cars are very well matched to the vehicles and we would be satisfied to keep them on there, but whenever we see all the other cars with the same wheels we crave a little individuality. Plus all those other cars out there with different, sharp looking, after market wheels aren’t helping.

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 397