Ball Abuse?

Been watching a bit of the U.S. Tennis Open on USA. Not that I’m a big tennis fan, but TV holds so little interest for me that anything new seems exciting. Sweaty, athletic women don’t hurt either. During a match this afternoon between two men, after one particularly hard fought point, the loser of that point picked up the ball and smacked it as hard as he could along the sideline. Apparently this is a no-no and he was given a ball abuse warning. A search of the internet unearthed little info about this kind of thing. What is next after the warning? Is there a penalty for continued spanking of the tennis ball? The only thing I can figure out is that some organization called SPOBA or PETOT* is behind this anti-cruelty effort. I wonder at what point in the ever increasing service speed of the men will they cry foul? 135? 140?

* Society for the Prevention Of Ball Abuse or People for the Ethical Treatment Of Tennisballs

Movin’ On Up

Big headline on yesterday’s Augusta paper was “Georgia SAT Scores Move Up.” “This is a great day,” Superintendent Charles Larke said at a 3 p.m. press conference. One local county was very excited because their school system averaged 1,025 which was about 150 points above the state average. Trouble is that 1,025 is still one point below the national average. The state’s average moved all the way up to 987 allowing Georgia to climb out of 50th, i.e. last place, where it has been the last two years into, yippee, 49th. They traded places with my home state, South Carolina, whose average fell just 3 points and that was enough to give us the dubious honor of 50th place.

Can You See Them Now?

Donna and I drove to the Master’s Miata Club meeting tonight, but she didn’t stay. She was on the edge about going and at the last minute decided to come. When we got to the room we would be in at the Aiken Brewery there were two people at the bar smoking. That was all it took to change her mind, she turned around and headed home leaving me to catch a ride with someone after the meeting. At first I was going to ride with Ray who lives on the southside of Aiken too, but Leroy showed up and he lives a stone’s throw (literally) from me, so I rode back with him. Leroy has a Laguna Blue 95 like I used to have. Even though they came from the factory identically built, it is amazing how differently we went when it came to customizing our cars. One thing Leroy did, that I considered early, but dismissed for cost reasons, was add some of the popular Low-Pro headlights from Brainstorm. Not only are they what I consider expensive at $349, but their has been quite a bit written about their lack of light output. Tonight on the way home I got to see their weakness’s first hand. Driving down some darker roads was an adventure, the high beams helped, but man am I ever grateful for not going that way. Sometimes substance is more important that style.

Comet Gestation Counter: 37 days

Do You Smell Smoke?

‘Cause my butt feels like it is on fire. No it’s not the hemorrhoids flaring up agaiin, but my appearance in Will Burnham’s bi-weekly feature, “In The Hot Seat” is live.

I Can’t Talk About It…

..for fear I might jinx it. I cringe at the opening of each game when the announcers talk of where the standings might be at the end of the evening if Team B wins and Team Y loses. I should be enjoying this run, but I can’t, I’m from New England and a long suffering fan. I just hope I’ve been cryptic enough in this post so as to not piss off the baseball gods. Now excuse me while I go out into my backyard and bury a Baby Ruth bar, while chanting ”Game 6.”

With the cabins and the camping and the bakin’ beans

Oh Yes My Shirt Is Here! Cafepress delivered today. It is long sleeved in preparation for cooler weather that is about a month and a half away. I will probably wear it around the house first because we keep the AC on real good. But first it gets washed, if you are lucky I might model it for you later this week.

Comet Gestation Counter: 34 days

You People Are Pathetic

While watching Fox News this morning I could see some people on the sidewalk out the window behind the anchors. The usual suspects were there, including a couple of folks that deserved to be culled from the gene pool.

Person #1 is holding up a piece of cardboard of about 12″ x 24″ and he is holding it up so his message will be broadcast all over America and possibly the world. Only trouble is that he probably wrote the message in 1″ high letters with a ball-point pen. You couldn’t tell if there was anything on the cardboard all. I didn’t get your message dummy and no one else did either.

Person #2 has a cell phone in her one hand and is waving madly with the other. She has obviously called someone she knows, to tell them she is on TV, because when the camera moves or zooms the person on the other end directs her which way to move so she can still be seen waving madly. It takes them a couple of times to get it right, because we she should move to the left, she goes right first. They finally get very adept at this so she can be seen waving madly constantly in the background whenever the one anchor is talking. She even manages to duck appropriately to get underneath the LIVE banner that appears periodically in the upper right hand corner of the screen. I hope she was on her way to a Cuddle Party because she needs some attention.

You need to try a little harder, like the woman near the end of this crowd scene outside the Today show during the last Republican Convention. Good Morning Katie! (2 Meg Video)