Like Lindsay Lohan Coming Out Of Rehab

Today’s strip of the Soxaholic centers around a couple FRS fans chatting on the phone about how now that the Sox are starting a nice home stand after a rocky road trip they should have an easier time catching Tampa and making the playoffs. In the second to the last panel one says to the other, “We’re kidding ourselves aren’t we?” The punchline in the last panel is this post’s title, “Like Lindsay Lohan coming out of rehab.”

The way they have been playing lately I haven’t been kidding myself. Often when you are watching a baseball game you can pick the winner, sometimes it is really obvious, like one team having an eight run lead, while in close games the winner can be foretold by the intangibles, line drives just squeaking by fielders or bloops landing just out of reach, etc. This can be extrapolated to whole seasons as well, and in this Red Sox season they just can’t catch a break (as long as you don’t count Jacoby Ellsbury’s ribs.) According to the math wizards over at the Baseball Prospectus, as of today, the FRS only have a 26.98664% of making the playoffs.

Today at work I verbally threatened to stop listening to them to a couple people, but I guess I’m too much of a fan to jump off the bandwagon because here I am in front of the PC listening to the WEEI broadcast. And right now I’m glad I did because they are beating the Angels 6-0 in the sixth.

Also I might have totally missed a rarity in the baseball world. If you have ever been to a minor league baseball game, invariably the PA guy will play the sound of breaking glass when a player fouls a ball out of the stadium towards the parking lot, so the crowd will think the ball broke a car window. Well tonight, Red Sox outfielder, Darnell McDonald hit a home run over the Green Monster in left field and actually did break a window in a car parked on Lansdowne Street. Quick thinking announcer Joe Castiglione, after making the home run call said, “I guess he is going to have to call 1-800-GIANT,” giving radio broadcast sponsor Giant Glass, who’s slogan is, “Who you gonna call when your windshields busted?” an extra, but very appropriate plug.

Started up, went down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 791

Zombieland

This is the explanation for those of you with puzzled looks on your face over the post titles this past week.

Last Monday the FRS had a day game, so in the evening, while Donna surfed her usual cooking, home or reality shows on TV, I decided to watch a movie from my Netflix queue. This movie was there because several of my co workers had seen it and were talking it up as something I just had to see, so to appease them I added it. Now I don’t watch a lot of monster movies to begin with and zombie ones are even at the bottom of that pile, but once I got watching it though, I was hooked. And it turns out it is more of a road trip slash geeky guy wins heart of attractive female romance flick than a zombie movie. Plus nobody told me it was a comedy!

The narrator of the movie is a college student that credits his survival of the zombie apocalypse to the strict adherence of a set of rules, which is where the last 7 titles came from. Not all the rules are actually in the movie, some came from trailers and other promotional items, and the list is not complete. I guess that is why they are going to make a sequel. So we can know what Rule #5 is and #10 and so on.

01. "Cardio"
02. "Double tap"
03. "Beware of bathrooms"
04. "Wear seatbelts"
06. "Cast iron skillet"
07. "Travel light"
08. "Get a kickass partner"
12. "Bounty paper towels"
15. "Bowling Ball"
17. "(Don't) be a hero"
18. "Limber up"
21. "Avoid strip clubs"
22. "When in doubt, know your way out"
29. "The buddy system"
31. "Check the back seat"
32. "Enjoy the little things"
33. "Swiss army knife"

On a side note, I thought that the lead actor/narrator, AKA Columbus, looked familiar and it turns out I had just seen him in another movie a couple of weeks prior. The title of that movie was called Adventureland. I wonder if every movie he will be in will have somethingland in the title? And Little Miss Sunshine is growing up nicely.

As long as you don’t have a weak stomach, sorry Donna, I recommend you see Zombieland. At least once.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 789

Rule #22

“When in doubt, know your way out”

There have been a few times when we have been out geocaching that following this rule would have helped us find our way out of the woods. It is a simple thing to do too, when you exit the vehicle, turn the GPSr to a map page, hold down the button for a couple seconds and hit OK. You have now created a waypoint to help you find your way back to the car.

Trouble is that, like today’s little excursion, most of the time we are no more than 100′ into the trees and it just doesn’t seem to make sense to do it. And because I feel that way and don’t do it, it has never become habit, so that the times it could come in handy, that lifeline isn’t available. Hasn’t got us in trouble. Yet…

We dodged muggles, prejudicial clues and light rain, but not spider webs and briars on our way to 7 finds this morning just north of town. We stopped at seven because that gave us a nice little milestone, 500. If you are a member of the local geocaching cult,when you reach 1,000 finds they present you with an ammo can painted gold. We are not, so maybe I should cover a pill bottle in silver duct tape, present it to ourselves and go hide it somewhere.

Started up, went down, went up, back down, up again, down again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 788

Rule #1

“Cardio”

Part of it is we have found other interests, part of it is time, part of it is age and when you get right down to it, all those are really the same reason. We used to ride thousands of mile a year, but now we are down to just hundreds. Now we are happy to get out at least on one weekend day and get in a 10-15 mile ride. There is hope that when the weather cools a bit we might stretch the mileage and maybe add a week day commute to the Valve Store. We still like to walk in the woods, but that pales in comparison to the cardio work out you get from bike ride.

Today we managed to get in a dozen miles surrounded by a biscuit breakfast at Popeye’s (whose service still sucks, even in the morning when you are the only customer in the joint.)

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 783

Rule #7

“Travel light”

Because the Miata is our only car and it has a mere 5.1 cubic feet sized trunk we have learned to travel light. We’ve taken two week driving vacations in it. But we have learned to pack smart, by taking at most 4 days worth of clothes and using the hotel laundry. We have even gone for a long camping weekend carrying 2 mountain bikes with us using the Miata too.

We travel light when flying too. Donna takes a small carry on with the essentials and her purse while I carry the laptop with various electronics. We check one big bag, so we don’t have to hassle hunting for an empty overhead bin.

Seems like the only time we don’t pack light is when we go on an overnight trip in the Miata, we always end up taking as much as we do when we go away for a week in it.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 783

Rule #12

“Bounty paper towels”

I always keep a roll of paper towels in my cube. Donna and I eat lunch together there, so we always go through a couple three then. They come in handy for wiping up desk dust bunnies that develop and hide behind my PC. Plus they are handy for the occasional drip when pouring my daily Diet Dr. Pepper.

This Monday I used the last one on the roll. I walked back to the Tool Crib where they usually have shelves full, except today. The shipment was late and the attendant said, “They are due in Wednesday.” Luckily I had a short roll of brown towels that came out of a bathroom dispenser as a back up.

I went back Wednesday to see if the paper towels had come in. No they hadn’t. Tried again today, but there are still no paper towels and my brown paper roll is just about gone. Hope the real paper towels come in tomorrow.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 782