Month: April 2011

Pretty Much How Things Are Going

Even with today’s win the Red Sox still have the worst record in Major League Baseball at 2-10. They also have the dubious distinction of having the worst run differential in the Majors (meaning both the American & National Leagues) at minus thirty. That means they have been outscored in those 12 games by 80 to 50. Those 80 runs allowed are also the highest in the bigs, which means our pitchers probably have the highest team ERA. Indicative of the FRS’s season so far, today I received my Red Sox Nation packet and it was inside a small plastic bag with the following label:

WE CARE
Dear Postal Customer:
We sincerely regret the damage to your mall during handling by the Postal Service. We hope this incident did not inconvenience you. We realize that your mail is important to you and that you have every right to expect it to be delivered in good condition.

Although every effort is made to prevent damage to the mall. occasionally this will occur because of the great volume handled and the rapid processing methods which must be employed to assure the most expeditious distribution possible.

We hope you understand. We assure you that we are constantly striving to improve our processing methods in order that even a rare occurrence may be eliminated.

Please accept our apologies.
Sincerely.
Your Postmaster

At least the Membership card survived intact…

Started down, went up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 998

Veggie Pie

The MMC evening dinner meeting is on again, after a several month hiatus. Tonight we dined at the Polka Dot Pig Gastropub in Augusta. Nineteen members showed up, which is almost the entire Club, at least the active part anyway. The food was good, but not great. It could have been great, but it just missed in small ways, like there was too much flour left on the bottom of the crust on my veggie pizza. Someone else’s pasta was kind of watery, like it wasn’t drained entirely. Another’s burger was rarer than the requested medium. In an order of fish ‘n’ chips, the fish was a bit soggy on the bottom. Maybe that many folks at one table overwhelmed the cook staff.

Started down, went up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 996

Well, I Feel Better Now

The FRS can’t lose tonight, they got rained out. They can’t lose tomorrow night either because of a regularly scheduled day off.

But what really has turned around my dour attitude was that the Warlock has spoken: “It’s a long season and there’s a ton of talent there and a really bitchin’ hitters park they play in. Relax.” Thanks Charlie, I really feel better now.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 994

Why Bother?

It is halfway through game #11 and the FRS are losing 3-0, fast on their way to being 2 and 9 to start the season.

At first I thought it was kind of comical that the team that many predicted to be the best in the majors stumbled out of the starting blocks, but now it is not so much funny as it is depressing. Their fantastic pitching staff has appeared more like little leaguers and their fearsome batting lineup has only about two of them batting more than their weight.

I know, I know Mark, I should have faith and believe that it is till possible to finish the season at 154-8, but right now it is kind of hard to believe that they won’t finish dead last in their division. Right now the only bright spot is that they lead the MFY 2 to 1 in the season series.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 993

Not Much Effect

Last December my PCP decided to double my dosage of simvastatin in effort to drop my LDL numbers. Six months of 40mg instead of 20mg lowered the numbers slightly, but if you look at what my numbers were last May on just the 20mg dosage, you’ll see they are pretty much indentical to this round of numbers on a 40 mg dosage. Seventy-five dollars later, his learned opinion, come back in 6 months….

  Chol HDL LDL Trig
Goal <200 >31 <100 30-150
04/04/11 155 38 96 107
12/06/10 176 41 114 105
05/18/10 151 38 91 109
12/15/08 167 41 92 171
03/21/08 164 37 104 115
12/12/07 175 38 104 165
07/17/07 185 36 117 162
03/05/07 195 39 123 167
09/19/06 167 37 103 135
04/06/06 168 37 106 126
12/08/05 182 35 120 137
07/28/05 177 30 113 169
06/17/05 164 31 85 238
05/06/05 174 27 108 194
01/10/05 176 33 110 167
09/21/04 209 24 131 271

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 992

Oh, This Twinkie Thing, It Ain’t Over Yet


Mirabeau Blue Genesis Coupe

Bike rode to pay our bills (cable, water, power & doctor) this morning and ended up at Atlanta Bread Company for breakfast. Maybe tomorrow I’ll tell the paper cup story.

This afternoon I fixed something, which is a rare occurrence around here. Last time I went to use the leaf blower it wouldn’t go. The gas line from the tank to the “carburetor” was broken. It had dried out and cracked in a couple places. We found a kit at Big Box Home Store and I managed to replacethem without too much trouble. I did have to enlarge one hole in the plastic tank to fit one of the plastic tubes through. There appears to be a miniscule bit of leakage at that point, but I doubt it creates any hazard.

With that repaired, I proceeded to blow the oak pollen clusters off the roof and back deck. Donna then took over and cleaned the front walk and driveway. While she did that, I finished hosing the pine pollen off the screened porch, so that maybe we can enjoy our dinner out on Monday.

Tonight I’m watching the Red Sox – Yankees game on ESPN, but listening to it on the WEEI off the ‘net. I’ve tried several times in the past to do this, but the audio and video never lined up. Tonight, for some reason, they are in sync.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 992

Saturday in North Augusta

We started out trying to find a spot for the MMC to breakfast next Saturday. It is our turn to take the troops to someplace for breakfast and we thought we had a spot that would work well, until we went inside. It failed on so many levels that we didn’t even breakfast here. We ended up at Burger King at Exit 5 of I-20. We split their Ultimate Breakfast (not really all that ultimate), read the Augusta Chronicle and watched the golf fans eat before they headed over to Augusta National.

Next year we may join them. For the first time in, I don’t know, like forever (47 years), you can apply for a chance to buy daily tournament tickets. At the risk of lowering my already very narrow chance of getting tickets, you can go and apply too. You can register to get your name thrown in a hat for the right to buy Practice Round tickets, four per day ($50 each) or two Daily Tournament tickets ($75 each.) The last time we entered in the “lottery” for practice round tickets an got them was 1993 or 1994. We figure we are about due.

After breakfast we headed over to the North Augusta Greeneway (photo above) to try and find the 3 new Green Lion hides and to attempt one of his that we failed to find, twice, but now had a solid hint for. We did manage to find those four and four more around town before shopping for some new blouses for work for Donna and consuming a gi-normous lunch at Ruby Tuesday.

We came home and spent the afternoon watching the one golf tournament we watch all year.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 991