FRS

Not The Same Ol’ Sunday

The early morning, beat the heat, bike ride with a downtown breakfast stop was as usual today. The ride was different because we went for 16 miles instead of the usual 10 and rather than those fabulous New Moon Cafe muffins for breakfast, we went for the Veggie & Egg Quesadilla with the Breakfast Parfait. We did get a couple muffins to go for tomorrow’s breakfast though…

We ate out as usual with our usual friends today, but instead of our usual lunch it was for dinner. And in lieu of our usual Subway trip, we met at Moe’s, which may become our usual.

Tonight I’m watching the FRS get their butts whooped by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and although it seems to me to be something usual, the Sox have the second best record in Major League Baseball, so it really isn’t that usual.

And on a nice sunny day…

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 295

Just Brian Being Brian

We went for another tandem ride this morning. We did the old Aiken Bicycle Club pre-meeting loop of out Rushton and back in Wright’s Mill, a nice 12 miler of smooth roads, little traffic and a nice variety of elevation changes.

The FRS were on TV last night on ESPN and this afternoon on FOX, so I’ve been glued to the TV so far this weekend. The announcers on ESPN are less annoying than the yutzes on FOX, but in both cases I would rather listen to the Red Sox radio guys call the game. The only problem is I can’t do it, the radio broadcast on MLB.com is about a pitch and a half behind the TV. I don’t know what the reason for the delay, it is not like it is the MTV Music Awards or the Super Bowl halftime show…

Part of today’s non play by play chat has concerned the fact that the American League’s top vote getter will not be appearing in the All Star game this coming Tuesday. Boston’s Manny Ramirez has begged off because of a right knee soreness. Tim McCarver felt that maybe even if he wasn’t going to play, he should at least make an appearance at the game. But Manny is going home to spend three days resting, this being attributed to “Many Being Manny.” This phrase is used quite often to explain his erratic or odd behavior both on and off the field. Because he is such a great hitter he gets cut a lot of slack. I thought, cool saying, it’d make a nice T-shirt, maybe I would add it to my CafePress shop, but somebody had beat me to it.

Well I paraphrased a Lance Armstrong T-shirt for myself by substituting Brian for Lance, why not do it for Manny? Look for a Brian Being Brian T-shirt on CafePress soon.

Started up, went down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 254

Can We Go Back To Interleague Play?

The FRS were 16-2 against the National League East and now that interleague play has ended, they have lost the last 2 games to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays who are in last place in the American League East 14-1/2 games behind Boston. The only saving grace is the Yankees have lost the last 2 games against Cleveland, so they are still 4 games back.

Washed the car yesterday and I waxed it today. If it wasn’t for a last minute night-time drive for a Micky D’s Hot Fudge Sundae, the Emperor wouldn’t have left the driveway today.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 250

Robbinsville

Fun drive up. We stopped a couple times and took short walks. Once at Whitewater Falls which we have visited before and once in Gorges State Park which we hadn’t. Took our usual Wyah Bald Road from Franklin to Nantahala. Instead of fighting the expected crowd at the NOC restaurants, we stopped at a roadside place and had a pretty darn good BBQ sandwich and some nachos.

By the time we got to Robbinsville we were pretty worn out, so we did a little shopping at Ingles and headed up to the Inn. The Blue Boar now has wireless internet, so I could blog and listen to the FRS beat up on the Marlins. I took a few pictures today and about the only thing missing in my mobile office now is a way to transfer images from the camera to the laptop. Kodak had an Easy Share camera similar to the one I bought with wireless connectivity, but it lacked a couple things I really wanted, so I didn’t get it. While looking around on the net for a sort of multifunction USB thumb drive and SD card reader I found the perfect solution. Behold, the transforming SD card that folds to reveal a USB connection – Sandisk 1 GB Ultra II SD Plus.

Later tonight we plan on a quick trip up to the Cherohala Skyway for some star gazing. We get up to almost 5000′ and far enough from any lights that, weather permitting, we can see the milky way. Breakfast at the Inn is from 8 to 9AM, so tomorrow morning we plan on an early rise to get in a out and back run through the Gap and then get breakfast.

Started up, went down, went up, back down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 239

I Forgive You Bill Buckner

Tonight at Fenway Park the Mets are in town for an interleague game against the FRS. Before the game they will have a small ceremony “celebrating” the World Series of 20 years ago. If you are a Mets fan you remember the final out of the 7th game with your team mobbing each other in victory, but if you are Red Sox fan you remember Mookie Wilson’s ground ball towards first base in the 10th inning of game 6.

I Forgive You Bill Buckner

Started up, went down, back up, down again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 228

TDSHM

That Damn Super Hero Movie

Well it has happened again. As I mentioned the other day we have access to the Starz/Encore families of movie channels and as I feared, I have lost a major chunk of my life to watching a movie too many times. In the span of 36 hours I have seen most of “The Incredibles” three times.

In between all this movie watching I did manage to sneak in watching the FRS beat the Philles 5 to 3 on Saturday afternoon and most of the Bourne Supremacy today.

We actually got out of the house a couple times this weekend too. We took an early morning Miata drive of a couple hours on Saturday before the heat hit. We went out and did the weekly grocery shopping late yesterday afternoon after the heat subsided some. We beat the heat again this morning, but went out on the tandem for about 11 miles of neighborhood and local road cruising instead of Miataing.

Lucius: Honey?
Honey: What?
Lucius: Where’s my super suit?
Honey: What?
Lucius: Where – is – my – super – suit?

Started up, went down, back up, down again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 220

I’m A Citizen

100_0242.jpgAfter a mere 6 weeks my membership card arrived in the mail yesterday. After today’s split with Texas and the Yankee’s loss to Oakland the FRS magic number for clinching the American League East crown is 101.

Also yesterday I had a chance to see if the new tires helped make the speedometer more accurate, short answer no. The borrowed GPS unit showed 66MPH when the speedo indicated 70. GPS said 37 when the speedometer read 40. Looks like when the speed limit on the Interstate says 70 and I want to go 75, I’m still going to have to get the speedometer to read 80MPH.

Trunk Lid Update – I finally used some calipers to measure the trunk lid gaps on Friday. The left side moved in the correct direction by .013 and right by only .007, but it looks much straighter to the naked eye.

Paid bills via tandem this morning. Went 15 miles to accomplish it too, first time we have been in double digits since New Year’s Day.

Behind the Scenes – Updated to Word Press 2.0.3

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 198