FRS

You Mean It Counts Now?

Parking Lot PollenSomeone forgot to tell the FRS that it wasn’t spring training anymore. They lost big time to the KC Royals today on opening day. I was listening to the game on the net until I stumbled onto the ESPN broadcast. Kind of wish I hadn’t. Plus the Yankees won meaning we are already a game back…

The only thing that saved the evening was my after game channel surf discovered TDPM on USA Network again. I came in almost exactly in the same spot as last night too.

Jack Sparrow: I really rather hope we were past all this.
Barbossa: Jack… Jack! Did you not notice? That be the same island we made you the governor of on our last little trip.
Jack Sparrow: I did notice.
Barbossa: Perhaps, you’ll conjure up another miraculous escape, but I doubt it. Off you go.
Jack Sparrow: The last time you left me a pistol with one shot.
Barbossa: By the powers, you’re right. Where be Jack’s pistol? Bring it forward.
Jack Sparrow: Seeing as there’s two of us, a gentleman would give us a pair of pistols.
Barbossa: It’ll be one pistol as before, and you can be the gentleman and shoot the lady; and starve to death yourself.

This time I watched it all the way to the end and when I did I noticed that they added a little bit there to perhaps explain the very end of movie #2. The original movie ends with Jack at the helm of the Black Pearl, tonight it cut back to the cave and showed the monkey (Jack) swimming past the apple Barbossa drops when he dies. It hops up on the Aztec treasure chest and picks up a piece of gold, thereby turning into a skeleton. He hisses at the camera as we fade to black. I guess we are to assume that the monkey then puts the coin in Captain Barbossa’s pocket and that is how he shows up in the end of Dead Man’s Chest. Did we need this to explain his resurrection? I was perfectly happy to believe that Tia Dalma had brought him back to “life” by using some voodoo magic.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 106

Not So Busy Sunday

ConnecticutChanged the oil in the Emperor and rotated the tires. I did it a little early in preparation for our driving trip to the northeast starting next weekend. Then later in the day we changed our plans for the trip for the 8th and final time. We’re now flying into DC and renting a car. I say final because we are now locked in to some non-refundable airplane tickets. Two days in our nation’s capital, two days of who knows what, two days visiting my family in CT and two in NJ, before driving back to DC to get on a plane for SC.

I may get a second chance to sign the Ultimate Drive northern fleet’s signature vehicle that I forget about last Thursday in Columbia because they will be in Sterling, VA on Monday, April 8th. Its a mere 30 miles from where we are staying in DC.

We went for a tandem ride after I got done with the car. Cruised through some neighborhoods and hit a couple places to shove some bills into slots and then the Post Office to mail the rest. We ended up tallying over 15 miles, which is about 5 more than the last few rides and it felt pretty good. A few more weeks of 2 rides per and we’ll be ready to tackle a 25 mile loop. We have gone so far as thinking of adding some rack to the tandem so we can try to ride it to work some Fridays.

I re-upped for citizenship in the Red Sox Nation tonight. It was supposed to happen automatically, but they had the number on file of my comprised card that is no longer valid, so it didn’t happen. Tomorrow is opening day for the FRS in Kansas City, but the real season doesn’t start until Friday the 20th when the Bronx Bombers come to Fenway.

At approximately 9:40 PM my wife made the mistake of flipping through the channels and pausing long enough on USA for me to recognize what was showing – TDPM.

Will Turner: This is either madness… or brilliance.
Jack Sparrow: It’s remarkable how often those two traits coincide.

In other exciting news, with the 20% off coupon from Bed, Bath & Beyond that was in today’s paper, I got a new pillow for sleepy time. We bought a new one for Donna too.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 106

I’m A Tigers Fan

Although baseball season ended for me in the middle of September when the FRS were eliminated from post season play, I still keep my eye on the playoffs. I didn’t even need Tommy Lasorda and his little girl organist to come to my house to convince me to watch. It is kind of fun to watch this year with the Red Sox not in it, because it is good pressure packed baseball in which I have no gut wrenching emotional attachment to.

If you live anywhere near a place were there is heated rivalry in professional or college sports you have no doubt seen the bumper sticker that reads: “I root for two teams. My team and anyone who is playing my teams rival.” I don’t have one of those stickers, but when it comes to baseball playoffs I’m definitely rooting for whoever is playing the Yankees. The Red Sox fan in me won’t let me do this too openly, but believe me when I say I’ve been sitting on my couch silently cheering on the Detroit Tigers.

Today I got a treat when those Tigers eliminated the Yankees from the 2006 playoffs. I may go out and buy a baseball cap with an Old English ‘D’ on it to wear into work on Monday.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 410

Pesky Pole

pes-ky? [pes-kee]
?adjective, -ki?er, -ki?est. Informal.
annoyingly troublesome

The right field foul pole at Fenway Park has been called the Pesky Pole ever since I can remember. With Fenway’s funky configuration in right field and the foul pole being only 302 feet away from home plate, balls hit in that area are definitely annoyingly troublesome to deal with, but according to Red Sox lore that is not why it got that name.

It is named for 40’s Red Sox infielder Johnny Pesky after an ex-Sox pitcher and Club broadcaster, Mel Parnell, supposedly remarked that it seemed as if a number of Pesky’s homers were hit out near the right field foul pole. Johnny was a solid .300 hitter, but didn’t with a lot of power, swatting only 13 homers while with the FRS and only 6 of those came at Fenway Park.

Today is Johnny Pesky’s 87th birthday and the Red Sox will be honoring him tonight by making it official and dedicating “Pesky’s Pole” with a bronze plaque in pre-game ceremonies.

Other famous people born on this date are Samuel Adams, Marvin Lee Aday and Brian Bogardus.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 406

Wait’l Next Year

While not mathematically eliminated, it is all over but the crying. The FRS are 9 games behind the hated Yankees with 22 games left to play (24 for the Yanks.) So if the Bronx bombers play just .500 ball ’til the end of the season, the Sox will need to go 21 and 1 to win the division. They are only 6 games behind in the wild card race making it only slightly easier there. If the Twins play .500 ball until season end the Bosox only need to go 18 and 4. đŸ˜€

My Yankee lover boss would tell you that is was their 5-game sweep in Fenway that sealed the Red Sox fate, but their troubles really started after they waltzed through inter-league play and then were swept 4 games by the lowly American League Tampa Bay Devil Rays back in July.

Well, wait until next year. Maybe they won’t even be in contention and I’ll be saved from the shame.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 373

How Was Your Day?

At lunch I needed to go fill up the car with gas, so the low fuel light wouldn’t come on while Donna was on the way to or way back from her radiation treatment. Donna just hates that light. I do too because she reminds me that it is one of my few jobs to keep the car adequately supplied with the necessary provisions and that light is a shiny reminder of my failure. It is not like I am ever far away from a place to refuel, there is a station at every other corner in town, but I always seem to find a reason to avoid it. So I popped out and ran just down the street from work to a station and filled up ($30 worth at $3.02 a gallon.) I used the lane marked Express Pay for people who use credit cards only. Swiped the card and pumped the gas and then my least favorite thing in the whole world happened, that’s right, the LED display said “RECEIPT INSIDE.” %$#&

I was supposed to mail out a box to someone today. I didn’t go at lunch because of the other above mentioned errand, so I stopped at the Post Office on the way home from work. The line was out the door. I didn’t have time, so I’ll try again tomorrow.

We went out tonight to get a couple gift cards for a co-worker’s upcoming wedding. First stop was Lowes where Donna’s department had decided to get their group gift from. Snagged a card near the front of the store and got in line. There were only two check-outs open and both lines were pretty long, so we picked one and waited a bit. It was moving so slow that the word glacial wouldn’t cover it. Peeking down the line you could see the trouble, the cashier couldn’t scan anything on the first or second swipes and if it happened on the third try she was lucky. We put the card down and exited the store in a huff.

We got back in the car and drove across the street to Target to get a card from us personally. When we walked by the check-out area there were only two lines open and they were pretty long. So we picked some greeting cards that we needed and headed back to the cashiers. We were about to leave here too when they opened a 10 items or less line that we managed to get in at the number 2 spot.

We zipped back across the street to Lowes to see if the lines had died down. Unfortunately we thought they were open until 10 PM, but Monday through Thursday it is only 9:00 PM. That point was driven home by the click of the front doors as the red vested employee closed them while we were still 100 feet away.

The FRS lost to Cleveland and the Yankees beat Toronto, so what didn’t happen last night, did 24 hours later, the Red Sox are percentage points out of the division lead.

Not a lot went right for me today, but at least my spouse didn’t die. I’m so sorry Lillian, we will all miss Bob and I know all the grief that all of us who knew him are feeling put together can’t equal what you are going through now…

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
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Hi, My Name Is Brian…

…and I’m a Red Sox fan.
(all) Hi Brian!

Trot Nixon strains an arm muscle last night. Jason Varitek comes out of tonight’s game with a knee issue. David Wells comes off the the DL and promptly gave up 8 runs in less than 5 innings. Geez.

The Yankees have the night off, so the worst that can happen when the FRS lose this game is they be in a virtual tie for 1st place in the Eastern Division. Actually they will be a few percentage points behind the Bronx Bombers, which is the way it usually works around this time of the year. The Sox have finished 2nd to the Yankees for the last eight years and in the past that has been good enough to get them in the playoffs. This year 2nd place will only be good enough for an early end of their season.

I’ve said it before, but this time I really mean it, I’m going to find a real winner to back. I’m kicking this monkey right off my back. I hear over in the National League that a team called the Braves have won 14 straight division titles, maybe I’ll start to root for them…

Started up, went down, back up, back down, still down.
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