He Knew He Was Right

When Feelin' Blue is not Feelin' Blue

2012-02-06T18:56:00.000-05:00

CCR may have been my first favorite rock band. Growing up, I can still remember the records that would rotate at family dinners throughout the seasons and years. Cosmos Factory was a favorite, with my Mom particularly fond of Ramble Tamble. And, what is not to like about that! Appreciation of CCR stayed with me, and I eventually bought all their albums myself, still owning them on CD. Anyway, I don't want to go off on too much of a tangent here, and will simply segue to this song that I can't get out of my head for the last month or so...

Perhaps one of their lesser known songs, the "Feelin' blue, blue, blue, blue, blue" chorus just won't leave my head. And I don't want it to leave any time soon. I'm feelin' blue in the best of possible ways.

Congrats to the New York Giants on their fourth Super Bowl Championship. Outstanding!!

Maybe I have one more football post in me for this season, but, if not, what better way to end it than a Super Bowl victory? Fantastic!!

If I post it, they will win... I posted, and they won. Sweet.

Go Blue, All in!

If I post it, they will win

2012-02-02T18:57:00.002-05:00

Ok, I've been posting on the Wednesday or Thursday before each of the Giants playoff games, and they've won. I grew hip to this trend before the Championship game, and they squeaked out the win. No way will a Big Blue loss be attributable to my not doing my part now. So, here goes nothing....

That last game really was something else, eh? I was lucky enough to watch it in a great sports bar in Stowe, VT--the Sunset Grille and Tap Room. We spent seven or so hours there, ate two meals, and, well, enjoyed some pints of Switchback Ale. Enjoyed them we did through the AFC battle, and then through about the first half of the NFC game. By then, the nature of the latter game was clear--a tough battle with momentum swinging back and forth. I get nervous watching these games, and this game was no exception. Afraid to watch the TV at some points, I just stared at the mostly consumed dinner that remained on the plate in front of me. Nerves aside, it was a fun atmosphere.

Stowe is nicely situated to the north of NYC and to the northwest of Boston. Patriot fans were there in force and had their way during the first game, but then we Giants fans had the stage during the second one. Needless to say, there was much excitement when Tynes kicked Big Blue to the Super Bowl. And then there were the many discussions by fans regarding the rematch. Many wanted it, and many were concerned about it.

That's where I am 11 days later: I want to say that my team's win in SB42 wasn't a fluke, but I don't want to pester a formidable opponent.

It's been a surreal stretch since the Giants were 7-7. I was at the game that sunk them to .500, and they deserved to sink lower than that based on their performance, but, of course you can't earn more than a single win for a good performance nor more than a single loss for a dismal one. As it turned out, that was their last loss, and they have steadily improved most every facet of the game since then.

When the playoffs opened, the offensively potent Falcons laid an egg. The Giants moved on. Not lost on me in the next game is that Green Bay didn't play nearly as well as they did earlier in the year. I marveled at his perfect aim when Rodgers faced the Giants during the season. He couldn't replicate that in the playoffs. Conversely, Eli and company executed more than well enough to win, and the Giants moved on. Then there was that Championship game. I posted before the game that the Giants were a better team than they were when they had met the 49ers earlier in the season, but knew the same was true for the home team. It was a heavyweight fight with the visitors making more plays to win it. And the Giants moved on.

So here we are. What do I think? Well, some point out that New England's defense is playing better than they have in recent weeks. Who have they played though? The Broncos and the Ravens, neither of whom are offensive powerhouses by any metric. I think the Giants really should put up some big numbers in this one. They should be able to run, and they should be able to pass deep and shallow.

I'm more nervous about how the Giants defense will match up against New England. The Giants D only had to stop the San Francisco TE and couldn't. If the Patriots' significantly better TE Gronk is healthy, the Giants simply don't have a DB or LB to match him (at this time, his health is a big uncertainty). It's going to take a stellar performance by the Giants DL to disrupt the passing game. And, they may have enough muscle and speed and moves to do that--yes, collapse the pocket, run through the gaps, run around the ends. They did it in early November, and they're healthier now. Tuck, Osi, JPP, Kiwi, Tolly, Joseph, Canty. Those last two may be the key, for if they win their matchups (or simply draw), the Giants will be set up nicely.

Of course, all analysis can be discarded just as easily--these games often come down to nonstarters, and non stars. Both championship games were largely decided by reserve players who, depending on your perspective, were in the right or wrong spot at the right or wrong time.

That's all HKHWR has. Let's hope it's enough. Go Big Blue!

Hip, hip..

2012-01-31T18:30:00.000-05:00

At the start of his career, he was the second best catcher on the Yankees. For a few years after that, he was the second best catcher in New York. But, there is no denying Jorge Posada was a very essential part of the Yankees' success for so many years. That switching hitting bat of his lived in the middle of an always potent Yankee lineup, and created pitching matchup problems for the opponent. Despite some ups and downs with the press as his career slowed down, he always has seemed so worthy of our respect and admiration. Some will argue that he is a Hall of Famer, others will argue the opposite. Maybe he does have too few hits to cement his legacy (perhaps that double off Pedro in the 2003 playoffs is his grandest, and even that was eclipsed by what Boone did to end that series). As he says here, however, he "did come out to play everyday", and for a catcher, that's no small feat.

We'll miss you, Jorge.

Your browser does not support iframes.andYour browser does not support iframes.It's really going to be tough to replace him...

The Night My Beretta Died

2012-01-27T19:26:00.000-05:00

I'm rather surprised to have so few pictures of my first new car, a 1990 Chevy Beretta GTZ. It mostly predates my interest in photography, and the only pictures I have with it were shot with a little Ricoh point and shoot. But still, I have so few of it.

That car got me to football games in the midwest in 1990, to ballgames in Boston and Baltimore in the spring of 1991, and then to a bunch of games in September of 1991, when I spent the middle days between weekend midwest ballpark and stadium visits on a sojourn to South Dakota. Here is my best picture of it, taken in Badlands National Park...

Wait, let me make it pop out a little more...

That's better. The day before, she had topped 100 MPH for the second time. It was a great trip in so many ways.

Little did I know that my car would be declared a total loss a few months later.

Without warning, my deep red BerettaGTZ spewed orange–red flames into a rainy grey January evening. I was returningfrom the DMV of all places, when the fateful incident took place. On thewestbound LIE, at the Cross Island Parkway interchange, a sudden loss of power, powersteering, and, worst of all, brakes occurred. A tap of the brake pedal resultedin its just swinging aimlessly back and forth like a pendulum. While I tried tofigure out what was going on, I saw smoke rising from the sides of the car. Tomy left, I could easily read the lips of a passing driver shouting “YOUR CAR ISON FIRE”. I calmly gave a “Thank you, I know” wave, and realized I had tosomehow get my car off the road and get out of it. The fact that it was on firehelped here: Surrounding drivers were unsurprisingly courteous and cleared a very widepath for me. I slowed the car with the emergency hand brake using my right hand, while steeringthe car toward the shoulder with my left hand--again, power steering was gone.

Boltingfrom the car, I stepped over flames coming from beneath it, and retreated agood 100 feet or so. It was an unbelievable sight. The flames grew, rising forspurts to what I’d estimate was 50 feet. The police and fire departmentsarrived about 15 minutes later. This was the pre-cell-phone, clunky car-phoneera of the early 90s. My father, still active with the NYPD, learned soonthereafter that about a dozen people had placed 911 calls.

The NYFD quickly extinguished the flames and told me on the spot thatthe car was a total loss, and I suspected they were right. Not knowing what to dowith the car—but knowing the insurance adjuster would need to condemn thevehicle—I had it towed back to my place. I entered the house where everyonewas already seated for dinner. I told them that “I am fine”, words simpleenough to convey personal safety and well-being while at the same time lettingthe listeners know that there was a problem, and that a “but…” was about tofollow. When I explained what had happened, there was a mad dash to thewindows.

The next morning, I went to see the insurance agent, and later that day an insurance adjuster arrived, almost instantly saying what we all knew—the car was a total loss. The nextstep was a sad one. My car was lifted onto a flatbed truck, and I neversaw it again.

Perhaps the subject of another post, I did get a new car soon thereafter. Anyway, it's hard to believe that was 20 years ago this month...

I'm not superstitious, but...

2012-01-19T20:39:00.002-05:00

For the past few weeks, I've done a post about the Giants, and they've won the next Sunday. Now, there may be plenty of reasons for Big Blue to lose, but let it go on record that HKHWR is doing his part to keep this nice run going.

Not boastful in either of the first two rounds, I am certainly not going to change my tone here. I will note that I like the way the Giants are playing on all three sides of the ball--offense, defense and special teams. A wise coach from a division rival once said you had to win two out of three to win, and the Giants don't look overmatched in any of them.

For most of the season, I had thought the Giants special teams were average at best. They're certainly not an elite group, but they are playing more competently than they have all season.

I am very happy happy with the way the offense is going. The running and passing games are both solid. The two-back rotation does take a quarter or so to start moving, but they seem to get stronger as the game goes on. No worries there. As for the passing game, well, it's becoming clear that the Giants have two talented receivers in Nicks and Cruz that frequently command double teams, and then they have the speed in #82, who can be a difference maker himself. The line is solid, the tight end position is solid, and the man running the show is ELIte. Some may say it is a dELIght the way he is playing, and others simply bELIeve he can do no wrong.

The defense seems better by the week. The healthy front four, the return of Boley, and the improvement of the DB play absolutely belies the 32nd place ranking this team had at season's end. They gave up no points to the Falcons, and then 20 to the explosive Packers (and who knows if they'd have had half of that were it not for the worst officiating I can remember seeing).

No doubt, this team has gotten hot at the right time. They are clearly better than they were when they lost by a TD in San Francisco in November. The only problem I see is that the same is true for San Fran. I can't sum up my thoughts better than what I heard their QB say today: neither team is better than the other, and the winner will only be decided by who executes Sunday evening.

Championship Sunday. The Final Four. I certainly didn't see my team here a month ago. It's all gravy now.

Go Blue! I've done my part with this post, now it's up to you!

Can history repeat for Big Blue?

2012-01-11T21:08:00.000-05:00

When the Giants built that momentum that got them to the playoffs at the end of the 2007 season, their first opponent was the Bucaneers. I remember thinking that the Giants could totally win that game if they played as they did the week before against the undefeated Patriots. And they did.

Their next opponent was the dreaded Cowboys. I remember thinking that game could go either way. The Cowboys looked good going into the playoffs, and I wouldn't have been shocked at all if they won, but I thought Big Blue could do it. And they did.

Then there was that little game against Green Bay. Lambeau Field. The Frozen Tundra. Manning, a QB who had never played in weather like that, and ditto for many on the team, who I thought tipped their hand about the frigid temperatures presenting a problem. I recalled that the Bucs, who had never won a game when the temperature was below 40 at kickoff, had in a recent season knocked off GB up there, but I simply didn't give the Giants a chance. They had won two games in the playoffs, and nobody had a right to think this team could win the Championship game given how they were playing a month or two earlier. I thought that was the end of the road for the Giants. Yet, they gave a stellar performance: The defense stepped up big time, Plaxico Burress had what I think was the greatest game ever by a wide receiver, our kicker got a chance for redemption, and Favre threw a late pick. And they did it.

Now, the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl. Against the team that had just beaten them a month earlier. The Giants played that season finale nearly perfectly and New England didn't, but the latter still had enough to win. I also realized, however, that New England had some older players and simply weren't blowing out teams like they were earlier in the year. They seemed to have peaked weeks earlier, and the Giants were peaking now. But, did the Giants have enough? No, I didn't think or predict that the Giants would win. I remember, though, saying that I wouldn't be surprised if they won. And they did.

Fast forward to this season.

The Giants seem to be playing better and more consistently as they've gotten healthier and faced elimination pressure. Against Atlanta--a four seed playing a five seed--a close game was expected that I thought the Giants should win. And they did. And they really did.

Now they head back to Lambeau. Aaron Rodgers and company. What do I think now? A few injuries to those protecting Rodgers has me thinking the defense might get to him. The suddenly potent Giants ground game furthers my optimism, as does the reappearance of #82--a third WR threat for Manning. Rodgers, though, has had such a tremendous year that anything other than a Super Bowl would be a disappointment and a surprise. I can also imagine Green Bay licking their chops at the chance for revenge, meaning added motivation. I do think it's the end of the road for the Giants, but I still wonder...

What a difference a year makes

2012-01-03T19:47:00.001-05:00

A year ago, the Giants finished 10-6 and missed the playoffs. I blasted them (or maybe whined about them) a number of times on this blog. They did plenty of things right, but clearly it wasn't enough, and, when push came to shove, their record appeared to be better than they were.

This year, their record is worse, but they seem like a better team than that one, especially of late. They've been playing without a number of key starters from last year, yet other players have come in and played well or well enough in their absence, and others have simply excelled.

The QB has thrown two fewer TDs this year, but has had a much better season: He's thrown for well over 1.5 miles more compared to what he threw last year and has nine fewer INTs. He also lost one less fumble this year compared to last, and I must throw in the fact that he had one critical fumble recovery this year, extending a drive in the second half of the deciding final game.

Last year, the Giants simply didn't beat anybody with a winning record. They did well at beating the teams they should beat, but couldn't do it against the better teams. They also fell victim to the division winner twice. The division record has been 3-3 each of the last two seasons. This year, they fell to the cellar dweller twice. That's not an admirable thing to do by any means; however, they swept their main competition for the division title.

As the Giants go into the playoffs, I do wonder what this team is. They've been inconsistent, and unpredictable. They have puzzling losses, especially at home, against some of the weaker teams in the conference. Yet, they somehow swept the AFC East (including the Patriots in Gillette) and the Cowboys, and managed their first win against the Eagles in quite a while. They struggled but beat the Dolphins, and fought nicely but succumbed to the 49ers and Packers.

A disturbing stat on this team is that their 394/347 points for/against last year has fallen to 394/400 this year. I was surprised by this, as I only remember them being blown out by the Saints, and the Seahawks beating them by more than a TD thanks to a late pick 6.

The defense seems better now than they did early in the year. 400 points allowed is a ton--25 ponts a game, in fact. They're especially prone to one botched coverage for a long TD each game. Still, with their defensive line finally healthy, and their secondary playing pretty well, I like the defense. They seem stronger against the run than earlier. Goff and Thomas were two big players to lose, but their loss is somewhat negated by the emergence of JPP. With Tuck and Osi healthier than they've been, and in turn Canty and Joseph playing strong up the middle, and behind them Boley and then KP looking better too, they should be OK for a game or two, at least OK enough as the offense has been matching those 25 per game they're allowing...

Now the offense. Scoring the same number of points two years in a row is interesting (if it really happened--I'm sure that defensive and special team scores are reflected in the total, but it's surely close enough for comparison). The big difference is that they are more of a passing team this year, and have become so with largely a different set of receivers. Nicks has played most games but is playing hurt. Manningham has had a very quiet year and Smith and Boss are gone. The difference in the receiving corps can be explained in one word, a word that is seldom spelled the same way twice, as the person spelling it seems free to hold his or her finger on certain keys as long as they see fit: Cruuuuuuuuuuuzzzzzzz!! Add in two guys unexpectedly putting up adequate TE numbers and a FB making big plays, and you end up with a QB that missed a 5000-yard season by less than 70 yards. The running game has been statistically abysmal, but played well the last few weeks, no doubt the result of the jelling line.

If I had to make a note about special teams, I'd simply say they were average--a bit more likely to cost us a game than to win us one, but largely a nonfactor.

It should be interesting Sunday. Admittedly, I haven't followed Atlanta closely, but know that they have very solid players at the skill positions on offense. Let's see how they do against the Giants pass rush. And let's see who on the Atlanta defense can stop Manning and his receiver set.

Go Blue!!!

Sharp enough to...

2011-12-28T19:20:00.001-05:00

Last week I dropped them off, and now I have them back. Look how shiny the edges are...

Yeah, I know, lots of people get their skis tuned each year, but I got a little bit excited because I happened to go out and pick them up on a really cold and windy evening, an evening that started with some peeks at the snow reports from resorts to my north: six inches and up is what they're boasting.

Finally! Cold weather, snow, and a set of skis ready for it. Sweet!

But, take another look at that picture. Look how the flash bounces off the sharpened edges. Trust me, those edges are sharp. Sharp enough to shave with. Sharp enough to split a hare/hair. Sharp enough to cut a shadow off an icy slope. And the base is waxed as smooth as it was the day I picked them up.

Really hoping for a few good runs at some point over the weekend.

The Winter Solstice

2011-12-22T20:33:00.000-05:00

Here's another one of my favorite days--the winter solstice. It happened overnight, but it's today according to most calendars and web sites.

What's to like about the solstice, you wonder? For one, it means that days are no longer getting shorter: They start to grow. For the next six months, every day will be longer than the one before.

For another, it means that Christmas is right around the corner. Sure, some may say Thanksgiving signifies that point, but December is a long month and a lot happens between the two holidays--football teams arise and collapse during that stretch, ski resorts start enticing suckers like me to hit the slopes, and the list goes on and on. At Thanksgiving, Christmas is still a month away, but, when the solstice arrives, you best be ready.

But really, the solstice makes me think about the sum of all that's great about this time of year: Skiing, playoff football, the end of one year, the start of another, and of course Christmas too.

So, celebrate! Ring out those solstice bells!

Hope you enjoy that wild, crazy-eyed, zany 3:30 performance. (And, I can't believe I pulled this off, but that's Jethro Tull's second appearance in my little blog, and second in my last three posts, no less...)

Really, though, hope you have a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and hope that you just enjoy the time with those around you.

New York Giants Future Schedule of Opponents

2011-12-16T21:39:00.001-05:00

New York Giants Future Schedule of Opponents

This is the kind of link that will keep me awake at nights. For example, the Bengals have a "new" gridiron and the Giants are playing there next year? Sweet. I could knock off Paul Brown Stadium in 2012!

Likewise, in 2013, I could check off Detroit, catching Big Blue at Ford Field. Awesome.

Then, in 2014, I have a friend in Jacksonville, and need to scratch a Jags home game off the list. Nice.

In 2015, the Buccaneers will be a definite temptation when they host the G-Men. Woot.

I won't commit to deciding between Giants opponents the Browns and Vikings in 2016 unless the Vikings are in a new stadium.

In 2017, I suppose the 49ers will be the Giants opponent that I haven't seen play at home at that point, and so may as well pencil them in...

...Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. The Giants have lost the last few of their road games I've attended. Let me start over and not pick Giants opponents.

In 2012, Kansas City will be hosting...

Jethro Tull | CD Reviews | East Bay Express

2011-12-07T20:48:00.000-05:00

Jethro Tull | CD Reviews | East Bay Express

What to do, what to do. I first had Aqualung on vinyl, and then it was among the first CDs I picked up. Fifteen years ago, I bought the digitally remastered, 25th Anniversary version of the album. When the urge to hear Aqualung comes, it is the latter that I pluck from the CD rack.

But now this.

A 40-year, 2-disc, commemorative version is out there? Crisper vocals? Sharper guitar? Oh, I guess I'll be plucking down a few dollars for it. Forget all that song downloading stuff I've been posting: I like CDs. And this is a great one.

Anyway, be sure to check the comment box soon after this goes up, as Sliced Tongue probably has his retort ready before he even gets to this sentence...

Was it just a dream?

2011-11-30T17:29:00.001-05:00

As I noted back in September, I look forward to autumn big time. I look forward to this season, and the promise of what follows, with skiing a huge part of that. Skiing requires snow, and so the first snowfall is something I await rather eagerly each year. It doesn't need to be a blizzard, no, just some flakes, flurries, and really just a little white on the grass will do. And, to make me really happy, let there be some white upon the trees, especially those bearing leaves that have changed colors. It's called "snowliage" by some, a term I would like to see in the dictionary one day. Snow + fall foliage = snowliage. Simple and beautiful.

Most years I actually don't get to see any snowliage, as, despite my Hudson Valley locale, the first snow usually doesn't strike until the trees are bare.

That was not the case last month. It was Thursday, October 27 when some snow started to fall. The trees in my yard were well past peak at that point, but there were still a few with leaves. Following are a few pictures I shot with my G10 that evening.

I kind of wished I had pulled the weeds and spruced up the mulch before taking this picture (of course, I did that a week or two later), but I just loved the look of the snow on these shrubs.

Might be a bit too wet and chilly to enjoy a beverage on the deck this evening...

Snowliage, snowliage! Why couldn't the snow have fallen during daylight? I feared this might be my only snowliage op of the season, though, and took it.

Snow never looks out of place atop my weeping white pine...

...nor falling around my Colorado spruces...

...and I especially liked the way the snow decorated my viburnum, with its leaves nicely changed.

So, there I had it, right? A first snowfall, some adequate snowliage pictures, etc--all amounting to a nice tease for the coming ski season. It was mostly gone the next morning, however, as milder temps melted it away. So long, snow. I knew that it wouldn't be long now. Yep, I'd be strapping those skis on in no time.

That morning, though, I turned my attention back to another fall favorite: football, and made plans to hit the Giants game that Sunday with a friend, which promised to be a nice day. No sooner had I secured the tickets, however, when I took note of the weather predicted for the day before the game and following the present one. As much as 6" expected? Nah, that had to be a worst-case scenario for some of the higher elevations to my north, right? Later, the estimates doubled.

Saturday morning, I scrambled around the yard, picking up branches, leaves, etc, and doing what yard cleanup I could get in before the promised snow came.

Snow started falling around noon, and fell, and fell, and fell. Nevermind snowliage, this was a midwinter blizzard. I started to have doubts about the game, but did what I could to be ready, parking the car at the bottom of the driveway, keeping a path clear down the driveway, and clearing in front of the driveway each time the plow came by. And the plow came by often!Still, before it got dark, I took these pictures:

It was clear early on that this was a more serious storm than the one two days earlier.

...ahhh, snowliage.

Here's the viburnum, pinned down from the weight of the snow.

And here's the weeping white pine, rather unfazed by the early snow.

Toward the back of this picture is my river birch, which I thought was a goner, with all three trunks bent down in different directions from the weight of the snow.

It was an amazing evening. I could hear branches snapping--many breaking off altogether and others safely springing back into position when accumulated snow was blown off. I shot this picture with my phone late that evening:

It was easily over a foot. The next morning, the snow had stopped, the temps were above freezing, and I had those tickets to the game. So, in what was really a wild ride, with snow and ice falling from branches, downed trees littered all over the road, and emergency vehicles everywhere clearing the damage, I made the drive down to White Plains to catch the train, since all stops north of there were canceled thanks to the storm damage. We got to the stadium where there was nothing resembling the destruction up north. Big Blue squeaked one out, we had a good time, and that was all good.

Now Monday morning, Halloween in fact, I finally got outside to get a sense of the damage. I lost one tree, and maybe two--the verdict is still out on my weeping willow. A large, nondescript shrub was lost as well, as were a number of large limbs. The river birch, though, made it:

Still it was Halloween, and I couldn't resist throwing on the skis for one quick run down the yard. I mean, I've never had the skis on in October. Now, bear in mind that it was my first time putting on skis in seven months, that I was using a single pole to push through two flat areas, and that I was trying to hold my phone securely and steadily with the other hand...

Ok, it could be worse, but there's plenty of room for improvement. And I will get better with filming my skiing, don't you worry about that.Anyway, that was a month ago, and I haven't seen any snow at all since. In fact, it's been rather balmy for the past few weeks, and I even mowed the damn lawn this past weekend. So, I do wonder if all of this transpired. Or, was it just a dream. It seems so real to me.

(Ah! böwakawa poussé, poussé / Ah! böwakawa poussé, poussé)

Some modest proposals

2011-11-19T18:43:00.001-05:00

Without knowing all of the specifics of the sale of the Houston Astros, I really like the idea of their moving to the American League West in 2013. This will mean that all six divisions have the same number of teams. It is rather ludicrous to have four teams fighting for one division while six fight for another. Now it will be five teams fighting for a division all around. So sensible.

Geographically, I suppose the Astros are farther "west" than any AL Central team, so I don't see any need for jockeying baseball teams beyond the straight move from NL Central to AL West. Clean and simple.

In football, however, I'd like to neaten things up a bit.

First, a move that struck me while attending those games two weeks ago: swap the Bills and Ravens. Buffalo travels over 300 miles to every one of its division road games. Now, that's a hop, skip and jump for western teams, but, in the interest of strengthening regional rivalries, why not swap Baltimore and Buffalo? Last time, I looked, Baltimore was way more east than Buffalo, and Buffalo was more north than Baltimore. The Ravens can easily build rivalries with the Patriots and the Jets, and, sure, it's still a good trip down the coast to Miami, but at least there is no disputing the fact that the Fish are also in the east. Not to say that western NY isn't east, but Buffalo is considerably closer to Cleveland and Pittsburgh in the AFC North than any of its current division rivalries. So simple.

Second, can we just get the damn Cowboys out of the NFC East already? I mean, their basketball and hockey teams are in the western divisions and conferences of their sports, and as a Giants fan I just see no good reason to have America's team on the schedule twice a year. They are the Cowboys after all, and will fuel rivalries in any division they play. Further, St. Louis is farther east than Dallas. A simple, straight up swap: Rams to the NFC East, and the Cowpokes to the NFC West. So desirable.

Now we need to come up with a proposal for getting Indianapolis out of the AFC South. Indianapolis in the south just just sounds stupid. If Miami and Indy trade places, and then we put Buffalo back to the East in exchange for Indy going to the North, we may have something. There are enough domes all around to negate the influence of warm and cold playing locations in the schedule. I think I like this. Still, so confusing.

And, finally, if I can go back to hockey for a second, I'd propose more Canadian teams and no more franchises south of the Mason-Dixon line. Or, at least not south of I-40...

Heinz Field

2011-11-06T20:12:00.001-05:00

So here I am at Heinz Field! That's right, baby, HKHWR has done it: The knucklehead, no, the magnificent bastard, has made the 209-mile trip from one gridiron to another, Buffalo to Pittsburgh, and is now watching a Steelers game. Two games in one day. Fantastic. The ride was surprisingly easy as the traffic stars completely aligned.

The black team-neutral NFL gear blends well, and I am totally rooting for the Black and Gold. I may be rooting against the Ravens, who I watched have their way against the Rams six weeks ago, and, worse, who beat my Giants in the Super Bowl, but I kind of like the Steelers. Hell, they were my favorite team when I was 6. I didn't realize that I bled blue until I was 7...

I guess I could note for symmetry with my post this afternoon that attendance here means I've now seen the four AFC North teams play a home game, so I'm getting there. I'm a hair over two thirds of the way done: 21 teams and counting.

Ok, I've got to get ready for this game...

Ralph Wilson Stadium

2011-11-06T12:42:00.001-05:00

So here I am at Ralph Wilson Stadium. I circled this weekend on the schedule when the lockout ended. Given that I have been to over half of the NFL stadiums it does somewhat surprise me that it has taken so long to watch a game here, in my home state. I nearly did way back in 1991 when this see-them-all endeavor was in its infancy, but decided to drive home from a weekend in the area rather than stay out an extra day. Not many opportunities to see a game here came up after that. But, then again, many other games were attended because of the way they lined up with, say, business travel. For better or worse, business travel has never led me west of the Hudson in my Empire State. I'm here now, though, for the intrastate rivalry. The AFC East becomes the first division where I have seen all four teams. It was rather docile in New England, more rambunctious in Miami, and, well, of course the crowd is always into Jets games. I'm curious as to what I'll see here, but I know plenty of Jets fans made the trip.

I had no idea what type of weather to expect, though I was pretty sure I wouldn't be wearing shorts. Suffice it to say that it is perfect November weather--it simply could have been so much worse here in Buffalo....

Anyway, go Bills! No, go J-E-T-S!...I don't have a strong rooting interest here. I'm certainly more of a Jets fans than a Bills fan, but I do like going with the home crowd. I'm glad to be wearing my team-neutral NFL gear, and mostly hoping for a good game...and a quick one. You see, I have another ticket in hand. That's right, blogosphere, you can expect to hear from HKHWR one more time today...stay tuned...

Thirty minutes until kickoff...

I need more Cowsills!

2011-10-26T22:01:00.001-04:00

So, it's two months already since I posted about my great audio cassette purge, wherein I was able to digitize a large chunk of my collection thanks to a nifty converting device I found online. I also noted that iTunes purchases came fast and furious for awhile.

I've had my iPod for seven years already--almost seven years exactly--and that means I've had iTunes for that long too. I bought the iPod days before a trip to Hawaii, loading dozens of CDs onto it to help me get through the long flight. I similarly dubbed dozens of CDs a few more times over the years, ultimately ending up using about 10 MB of space for the 2500 songs that made their way onto the gadget. During the first, say, six years that I had iTunes, though, I may have downloaded a mere 20 songs. I'm a CD guy afterall, but one who is breaking the habit.

In the past year, and especially during the recent cassette cleanup blitz, I downloaded over 250 more. A good chunk of these songs were ones that I had on cassette. For one, I had a multi cassette collection of 60s tunes that I had copied from a friend who had bought it off of one of those TV commercials; "Keep on Rockin'" was the name of this particular set, and I'm not ashamed to admit that. While building my CD collection over the years, I ended up owning many of these songs on CD; however, many others would have been lost if I simply tossed the tapes, as it simply wasn't worth hunting through them to retrieve two- or three-minute gems and then recording them. There were a few other songs from other cassettes that I had hoped would be released on CD but never were, and others where I simply didn't want to buy a CD for one or two songs that I liked. I probably purchased close to 100 songs to secure these.

I also blame Facebook, and many of my friends on Facebook to be specific, for interesting me in stuff I either didn't know or just hadn't heard in a long time. I'd say I blew about $50 on such songs.

I'd say that I absolutely threw away $10-$15 buying songs I already owned on CD, albeit stuff that was buried on compilation CDs. This would bother me less had these not been guilty pleasure songs in some cases and songs from silly Facebook threads in others.

The bulk of the remaining songs I've purchased were either different versions of the same song, or a second or third song from an artist where I might have only known or owned one or two songs.

Some songs get done over many times. Take "Ghost Riders in the Sky", which was brought back to my consciousness through a friend's post. If you're going to own one version of it, whose would it be? Johnny Cash's? Couldn't go wrong there. But, Burl Ives did an awesome version of it before Cash. The Ventures did a nice instrumental one too. And, of course, the Outlaws made it a southern rock hit. So, I'm happy to say I now own all four.But, really, for all the tunes by Al Green, Amy Winehouse, Billy Joe Royal, the Mekons, the Neon Philharmonic, the Rascals, Roy Orbison, Robert Palmer, Uriah Heep, and Warren Zevon that have found their way into my iTunes library at that feverish pitch, it may have just boiled down to needing to hear some more Cowsills...

Peace.

¿ʍou ǝɯ pɐǝɹ noʎ uɐɔ

2011-10-20T20:51:00.002-04:00

˙sıɥʇ pɐǝɹ oʇ sɹnoʎ uo puɐʇs noʎ pןnoɥs ɹou ؛dıɥsɹǝpɐǝɹ ǝɹoɯ ʇǝb oʇ pɐǝɥ ʎɯ uo puɐʇs oʇ buıob ʇou ɯɐ puɐ 'ɹǝʌǝʍoɥ 'ǝɯ ɹoɟ ǝʇıɹʍ ı ˙ןןɐ ʇɐ uoıʇuǝʇʇɐ ʎuɐ buıʎɐd ʎןןɐǝɹ sı ʎpoqʎuɐ ɟı ɹǝpuoʍ op ı sǝɯıʇǝɯos ʇnq 'ʇou ɹo ǝʇɐɹnɔɔɐ sı ʇɐɥʇ ɟı ʍouʞ ʇ,uop ı ˙ǝɹoɟǝq uɐɥʇ ǝɹoɯ sǝɯıʇ ʎʇɟıɟ ʇnoqɐ pɐǝɹ buıǝq ǝbɐd sıɥʇ uʍoɥs sɐɥ ǝbɐd sʇɐʇs uʍo sʇı 'ɹǝbboןq ʍǝu ǝɥʇ oʇ buıɥɔʇıʍs ǝɔuıs

Let's play seven!

2011-10-19T20:48:00.000-04:00

Are you going to watch the World Series? Who do you think is going to win? Who do you want to win?

Those seem to be the baseball questions going around right now. It is October, there's a definite chill in the air, and it just seems right for the Fall Classic and a final round of games for the boys of summer. With my favorite team out, and all local regional rivalries done for the season, resolving these questions is more easy reflection than anything else.

So, first question: I absolutely will watch, as long as it doesn't turn into a one-sided affair, and with the offensive might both teams have shown, there is no reason to think that will be the case.

Second question: Hmmm.The Rangers simply put up runs that look like football game scoring totals. But, pitching wins the World Series. Usually. If it's the case this year, well, I don't think much of the rotation after Wilson. For the Cardinals, they likewise score runs at a pace that would make the Arizona football team with their name envious, as they too have an explosive lineup. And, they also have that one dominant starter, and not a ton of ammo behind him. The bullpens will no doubt come into play, and I don't know who gets the edge there. Regardless, I can't help thinking of it like this: For as easily as the Tigers handled the Yankees, the Rangers handled the Tigers. The Cardinals have been fighting since mid September just to reach the playoffs and just finished a seven gamer in the NLCS. Texas seems like the more dominant team at this point. But, St. Louis fights, and if it comes down to a Game 7, it will be on their stage, which is huge. Still,I think the Rangers are the better team.

Who do I want to win? Well, back in September, I spent a really nice weekend in St. Louis. And, if you read down a bit on this blog, you'll see that I went to a Cardinals game. A damn good Cardinals game, where they won what was basically a do-or-die win with a comeback in the home half of the ninth. I've been pulling for them since, especially with their overcoming teams like the Braves and Phillies, for whom I never cheer. So, I definitely have a rooting interest in them. Then again, they did just win it five years ago, while Texas has never won. I definitely wouldn't mind seeing the Rangers get that first world title. For as much as I hate the Cowboys, it doesn't carry over to their baseball team. Go ahead, Texas, win this one. I won't mind one bit.

All I want is an exciting World Series. Seven games. Some high scoring, and some pitching duels. Just give us some good baseball memories before we turn our focus away until pitchers and catchers.

Whoa, I think Blogger might have something here...

2011-10-12T20:05:00.005-04:00

Well, I'm in one of my I-don't-feel-like-blogging spells. I was away for work for last week, and then needed to catch up in the yard big time, plus I also wanted to spend some time with friends, and really just have a lot of baseball and football to watch. All that has left little time for posting much here. The closest I've come to a worthy topic lately followed that shameful loss the Giants suffered last week to a hard-to-figure-out Seahawk squad. Maybe before Sunday, I will get one out on that, but there's just too much sports to watch to spend much time posting. I mean, the MLB playoff rain delays do provide adequate time, but, there's just not much to write about.

Then I sat in front of my computer and relented to this "dynamic viewing" option Blogger offered. My first reaction was nice job! Well done for sure. Some post have slightly altered formatting, but nothing too irritating as far as I'm concerned. I really like how it brings some older posts right up front, so my newer readers (both of them) can browse a little easier and hopefully spot something that catches their interest--i.e., making more content accessible with fewer clicks. I think that is great. The current white background with black text is a bit boring, but I can see from the feedback page that color options is a coming feature. Nor was I thrilled to have widgets gone--I miss my labels! And, I miss that NIST clock that generated a specific post here earlier in the year. The recent Tweet widget was kind of nice, but I don't think it's led to many new followers. Still, I'll be happy to slap all of them on the margins of the page when available. Finally, there's a "Preview" pane where I usually catch the lion's share of my typos that ain't lit up. That definitely need repair (and has me posting this with fingers crossed).

Either way, the features and upgrades are nice, and not at all as frustrating as are the upgrades made at a certain other social networking site. Yeah, you Facebook. Nice too, that I could undo this if need be.

But, I won't be doing that. I will, though, be looking for my next post topic...

Where to Hit the Slopes in 2011-12 | Farmers' Almanac

2011-09-28T17:31:00.001-04:00

Where to Hit the Slopes in 2011-12 | Farmers' Almanac

This past Friday I was at good ole Adams Fairacre Farms and picked up and flipped through a copy of this quaint almanac, something I remember showing up in our home every year when we were young. I was doing some serious shopping though--I was there for a roof rake and a stink bug trap, neither of which I even knew existed until these past couple of years, let alone ever read about in the Farmers' Almanac or any other resource. It hit me while shopping that I hadn't put down fertilizer since the spring, and I do know the importance of that fall fertilizing, so I set myself up with that. Then I walked by the bulb rack. I didn't bother doing my usual checking labels for that little portrait of the deer with a circle and slash, and went straight for daffodils, which I know they don't like.

I used my neighbor's roof rake last winter, and knew it was something I should have. Apparently, the Farmer's Almanac thinks I'm going to need it as well. No, it's not a tool I'm particularly eager to use, but if it's snowy here, it's going to be snowy at the mountains too. And, that would be quite swell as far as I am concerned. Yes, despite some balmy weather, football is in full swing, the MLB regular season ends today, leaves are falling, Mallomars are on supermarket shelves, spring bulbs are on nursery shelves, and stink bugs are trying to invade my home, all signaling the retreat of summer and the full onset of fall. That means winter and skiing is just about 10 weeks away.

Let is snow, let it snow, let it snow...

Baseball ballparks so far...

2011-09-26T19:55:00.000-04:00

Ok, as promised last week, here are the baseball ballparks at which I've seen a game. Unless I win some kind of radio contest, I'm done for the season, concluding visits with three straight walkoff wins by the home teams: The Angels and Dodgers obliged in consecutive games in July, and then this past Saturday, the Cardinals came to life in the bottom of the 9th, first tying the game, then loading the bases and scoring on a wild pitch. Great stuff in any ballpark.

74or75		Mets/Yankees	Shea*	Many for both (but Yankees first)
1985		Yankees	Yankee*
1991	5/28	Orioles	Memorial Stadium	NYY2-BAL1
	6/22	Red Sox	Fenway	BOS9-OAK5
	9/9	Cardinals	Busch	STL4-PHI2
	9/10	Royals	Kansas City	MIN4-KC0
	9/13	Brewers	Milwaukee County	DET3-MIL2
	9/14	Cubs	Wrigley	CHI7-MON5
1993	5/17	Giants	Candlestick	SF8-HOU7
	5/28	A’s	Oakland	OAK3-TOR2
	7/17	Orioles	Camden Yards*	MIN4-BAL2
	8/28,29	Indians	Cleveland (old)	Split vs NYY
	9/17	Twins^†	HHH Metrodome	TOR4-MIN2
1994	7/21	Blue Jays	Skydome	TOR9-TEX3
1996	9/13	Rangers	The Ballpark at Arlington	MIL6-TEX3
1997	9/1	Phillies	Veterans	PHI5-NYY1
1999	5/28	Indians	Jacobs Field	BOS12-CLE5
	5/29	Tigers^†	Tiger	CHI7-DET1 (last year for Tiger stadium)
	7/23	Rockies	Coors Field	STL6-COL4
2001	9/19	Reds^†	Cinergy Field	CHI10-CIN0
	9/20	White Sox	Comiskey (new)	CHI7-NYY5
	9/21	Brewers	Miller Park	CIN5-MIL2
2004	4/22	Mariners	Safeco Field	OAK8-SEA2
2004	4/29	Giants	SBC (PacBell)	FLA4-SF3
2007	7/8	Nationals	RFK	WAS7-MIL2
2009	6/26	Mets	Citifield	NYY9-NYM1
	7/1	Yankees	Yankee Stadium (new)*	NYY4-SEA2
	7/11	Phillies	Citizens Bank Park	PHI8-PIT-7
2010	4/10	Rays	Tropicana Field	NYY10-TB0
	4/12	Marlins	Sun Life Stadium	CIN6-FLA5
	7/1	Pirates	PNC Park	PIT3-PHI2
2011	4/13	Nationals	Nationals Park	PHI3-WAS2
	4/30	Braves	Turner Field	STL3-ATL2
	7/8	Angels	Angel Stadium of Anaheim	ANA4-SEA3
	7/9	Dodgers	Dodger Stadium	LAD1-SND0
	9/24	Cardinals	Busch Stadium (new)	STL2-CHI1

Like with my football chart, the asterisk simply means I've seen multiple games at that venue; the dagger means I've only been to the team's older stadium but not the new one; and an italic entry means the opposite, that I've seen the team play at their old and new joints.

The tally goes like this: 36 ballparks (7 to go), and 27 of the 30 teams on their home field.

Since my posts over the weekend, I spoke to many who do the same thing, hitting some new parks every year. Some follow their team, others look to see multiple venues on single trips, some are satisfied getting to a new ballpark each year--spoke to one guy this morning who with some of his friends have a 23-year streak of getting to a new football stadium. Great stuff in every ballpark.

Edward Jones Dome

2011-09-25T16:50:00.001-04:00

So here I am at the Edward Jones Dome. For the past few years, I've kind of thrown a dart at the NFL map, and thought "I want to see a game...there". St. Louis was that city this year. When I realized that their baseball team was home this weekend too, well, this game became the target.

To my surprise, there are many similarly minded fans out there: my flight from New York yesterday had many sports fans who had also noted that they could get to a baseball and football game in a different city (and New York teams are not playing St. Louis ones this weekend). Other fans noted that the two Arizona teams were home too; I believe there were other cities with dual baseball/football games this weekend. That this team is on the rise, though, is a nice perk. That they're playing the Ravens means I have the villain to root against, so it's all good. If the Rams can't clobber the Ravens, I will certainly settle for a game that had the exciting finish the Cards game had yesterday.

It's September football, so I'm not bundled up. It's also a dome, so weather isn't a factor at all, still, it was a nice little walk from the hotel over here. This is the first of a few football stadiums I'll be hitting this year, and no doubt I'll be bundled up down the line. For this one, I'm sporting my spanking new team-neutral NFL shirt. Last year, I felt a bit foolish, absentmindedly wearing a shirt that looked to be the colors of the visiting 49ers rather than the colors of the home Panthers. Now I don't have to think twice about that.

Attending this game is my second NFC West home game. How is this for balance? I realize that I've seen a game in half of the stadiums of all eight divisions, but haven't been to all four in any division--yet.

I do prefer outdoor stadiums, but domes are fine, if not really noisy. This place is nice enough. Nothing really jumps out either way. I have a great seat that seems reasonably priced, and I know that my Giants won in Philly, so the next few hours are football gravy.

Anyway, back to the game.

Busch Stadium

2011-09-24T13:28:00.001-04:00

So here I am at Busch Stadium. It's been too long since I've been to this city, let alone seen a game here.

Actually, it was 20 years ago this month when I made my last trip to St. Louis: After making a few weekend trips to see various baseball and football games, I made a meandering trip through the Midwest and Plain states, taking in six games in the two sports over eight days. The old Busch Stadium was the first ballgame I saw on that trip. I spent a nice afternoon and evening there then, and look forward to the same this weekend.

That game was on a weekday evening in the old, somewhat forgettable cookie-cutter stadium, the nice views of the Gateway Arch notwithstanding. It's beautiful today, and this ballpark is a vast improvement, with a big weekend crowd (lots of Cubs fans too), and the same great view and presence of the beautiful Arch. The game itself is a rather important one, with playoff implications (my team has won their division already, so I had to travel some 900 miles to see a game with something on the line for the home team).

This will conclude a pretty good season of hitting new ballparks (5). A post on that will certainly follow. Then, the focus will go to football, with that shift occurring, well, tomorrow!

To wrap up, I don't know why, but I've always liked the Cards, so, despite the fact I'm wearing a team-neutral baseball shirt, I'm definitely rooting for the home team.

Back to the game...

Your sew vein

2011-09-23T16:14:00.000-04:00

Eye think their are two many words that sound the same butthave different spellings. Don't bee blew if your won too get them mixed up: Itsa common era wee all make hear and they're. Know, your knot alone, as eye seamyself inn this boat to from thyme too thyme—you’ve scene me dew this, write? Worse,you're spell checker won't always get them write when ewe right either. Sew, what canyew dew? Bee careful, make shore too understand the difference, I you're work a we bit closer, and perhapspaws before yew type won of these words two sea if the usage is write.

Weight, theiris moor: know doubt ewe will meat vein heels who can’t bare such eras and willsleigh ewe four it; it really greats on these pour folks, butt don’t let it wayon ewe: Eye think ewe right grate.

Anyway, thyme to poor a cold won…

Mariano!

2011-09-19T20:01:00.000-04:00

For as much as my father has given me, I must give my mom credit for my great taste in sports. From the time I was very young, I remember her stories about going to baseball games as a little girl, about her favorite Yankee players and all that. She was also a Giants fan, Rangers fan, and Knicks fan, and definitely had her favorite players from these teams in every era: LT--her initials too, a fact she was well aware of--was a definite favorite, as was Frank Gifford. So was Willis Reed. And Mike Richter.

But, it was baseball I talked to her about the most. Mickey was a favorite. Joe D too. On the 70s teams, I remember her talking about two players more than any other: Ron Guidry and Rich Gossage--Louisiana Lightning and the Goose. One the skinny pitcher that struck out everybody, and the other the intimidating closer.

In 1996, while her cancer was in remission, the Yankees had that first championship year in 18 seasons. I remember her taking note of the 7th- and 8th-inning pitcher. Yes, Wetteland had a really good year as closer, but that skinny kid wearing #42 that came in first caught her attention. He combined some of the elements of her two favorites from the 70s: You just don't think that easy motion is going to generate such a nasty break, and you know you're finished before you even reach the plate.

That was the last season she got to enjoy, as she died before opening day the next season. I have wondered at times what she would have thought about this team or that team, this player or that player. I know, for example, that she would have hated to see Boston win in 2004. Or maybe not; she might have appreciated their triumph. No, no, she would not have liked to see that.

She absolutely would have loved Mariano and his next decade and a half--his remarkable steadiness; his quiet, undemonstrative demeanor; and his absolute dominance.

And that stretch in the playoffs from 1998 through 2000, where he was virtually untouchable, really is without parallel. While the Yankees won three straight, they went through every closer each opponent offered one playoff round after the next: Wohlers, Hoffman, Myers, Benitez, etc. The Yankees hit them. But, their batters couldn't hit Mo.

Yes, I sometimes wonder what would have happened if he didn't give up that gopher ball to Sandy Alomar in 1997, if he would have made a clean throw to second in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series, and, well, I don't want to mention 2004 again. The Yankees have won with him, and they have lost with him. They have won five titles with him coming out of the bullpen. One every three years. It's certainly debatable that they would have won that many without him.

I had a Saturday package to home Yankee games in the early 2000s. Watching the Yankees blow out an opponent was always fun, but, it was also exciting when Metallica's "Enter Sandman" would be blaring at the top of the ninth. No, I'm not a heavy metal fan, but just knowing Mo was coming to close out the win always got the crowd going. A broken bat here, a weak fly ball there, and a strikeout--another save in the books.

Those saves sure have added up.

Congratulations, Mo. 602 and counting. You've been making so many of us cheer for longer than anyone could have expected.

Football stadiums so far...

2011-09-16T20:40:00.003-04:00

Ok, with football season underway as noted in my previous entry, and lots of plans this season, I thought it would be good to post my current list of football stadiums I've visited. I'm not sure how MS tables will play with Blogger, but there really is only one way to find out...

1988		Giants / Jets^†	Giants*	Many for both
1990	11/4	Browns^†	Municipal	BUF42-CLE0
1990	11/5	Colts^†	Hoosierdome	NYG24-IND7
1991	9/8	Bengals^†	Riverfront	HOU30-CIN7
1991	9/15	Bears	Soldier Field	CHI20-NYG17
1993	12/11	Redskins	RFK	NYJ3-WAS0
1997	12/7	Ravens	Memorial Stadium	BAL31-SEA24
1998	11/1	Redskins	Jack Kent Cooke* (Fedex)	WAS21-NYG14
2000	11/19	Ravens	PSINet*	BAL27-DAL0
2000	12/3	Chargers	Qualcomm	SF45-SD17
2001	12/2	Dolphins	Pro Player	MIA21-DEN10
2002	10/20	Saints	Superdome	NO35-SF27
2003	10/12	Packers	Lambeau Field	KC40-GB34 OT
2006	11/12	Raiders	McAfee Field	DEN17-OAK13
2007	10/14	Seahawks	QWest Field	NO28-SEA17
2008	11/9	Falcons	Georgiadome	ATL34-NO20
2009	10/4	Patriots	Gillette	NE27-BAL21
	11/15	Titans	LP Stadium	TN41-BUF17
2010	10/24	Panthers	Bank of America Stadium	CAR23-SF20
	11/28	Giants	New Meadowlands Arena	NYG24-JAC20

Ok, it took a few edits, but this definitely gives the gist of it. The italic font means that the team has replaced the stadium since my first visit, and I've visited that too. Conversely, the dagger means that the team has replaced the stadium since my first visit, but it's still on the to-do list. An asterisk simply means I've been there more than once. I've put the score and opponent in the last column (I have some game highlights listed in my source document, such as, in the Fish game, the home team gave up 10 before scoring three unanswered TDs. Pasting limitations from Word to Blogger meant I had to cut that out). Nothing is missing from the first column, which is a dummy I had to add so that the column with the years didn't get cut off.

Anyhow, I will definitely add three lines to this table by season's end, and maybe a fourth. Attending a Jets game in Giants Stadium, no, no, in the New Meadowla...oh yeah, in Met Life Stadium is pretty certain. After all, I need one crazy year to make me think that hitting all 32 is doable, and this may as well be it.

I'll repost the updated version of this at the end of the season. And, I'll post my baseball one at the end of the current season...

MLB unveils schedule for 2012 season | MLB.com: News

2011-09-14T13:39:00.000-04:00

MLB unveils schedule for 2012 season | MLB.com: News

I'm really just testing this "Share this" tool bar, but the release of the MLB and NFL schedules does make my heart beat a bit quicker. It makes me dream of road trips, and visits to those ballparks I desperately want to visit. Not to mention those others I'd really like to visit. And, those ballparks I'd like to see again. It's three teams to go--Houston, San Diego, and Arizona. And, Miami has added a new ballpark, so I'll need to get there one day, before or after I get to the new ones that have been built in Detroit, Minnesota, and Cincinnati. It's also been too long since I've been to Camden Yards, Fenway, and Wrigley.

But, hey, football season is just kicking off, and I have some more immediate dreams to fulfill...

I remember

2011-09-11T12:09:00.000-04:00

There really was this nice stretch of weather in New York inSeptember of 2001. I don’t remember if it was Saturday September 8 or SundaySeptember 9, but I know I was at Jones Beach with friends. A couple of us took awalk from Field 4 to the West End jetty. It was perfectly clear, and I rememberbeing amazed that the Twin Towers were visible on the horizon, some 25 miles tothe west.

That weekend was also the start of the NFL season, one ofpromise, as my Giants had surprised many with a trip to the Super Bowl in theprevious one. Later that week, I was to fly to New Orleans, going to a footballgame and knocking the last continental state I hadn’t visited from my to-dolist.

I remember staying up late on Monday, watching the Giantslose a Monday Night Football game to the Broncos. Still, I woke up Tuesdaymorning and got to work in plenty of time for my 8:00 start. I remember theshort walk from my car to the building, and thinking that the weather couldn’tbe more perfect.

I settled into work and the last thing I remember beforeeverything changed was a silly email I received from a co-worker, explainingthat he had seen a clip from a Seinfeld episode that he didn’t remember thatwas driving him crazy and wanting to know if I had ever seen it.

Then the department secretary, who sat 15 feet from meanswered her phone, and quietly said several times, “Oh my God. Oh my God. Ohmy God.” I peered around the corner to see if everything was ok, as did a fewothers who passed by. She said that a plane had just hit the World TradeCenter.

Now, the 1993 attack on the WTC was pretty fresh in my mind,but I also think I recalled that a small plane dinged the building a couple ofyears earlier, so I wasn’t sure what to make of this. I immediately went to theCNN web site and saw the first pictures. Clearly, this wasn’t a little planethat had hit it. Something truly terrible had just happened.

As office chatter started to swell, a second co-workerreceived the call that a second plane had hit the other tower. There was littledoubt at this point that we were under attack.

A small crowd huddled around my desk. As I recall, CNN andother news sites were flooded, and only those who had gotten to the page earliercould get on. Co-workers started getting calls about missing planes, a possiblestrike at the Pentagon, etc. Many started worrying about family and friends.

A few minutes later, I was in the office of a colleague whohad a radio when the live report of the first tower collapse came in. TVs wereset up in a few spots in the building, and we watched for a chilling fewminutes. We were dismissed for the day before lunch. I then learned that oneco-worker couldn’t reach her son, who was in one of the Towers.

I got home and sunk into my couch, and remained there allafternoon, watching news, rather in shock. I was relieved to learn that my extendedfamily was safe (two were downtown at the time).

My emotions went in every possible direction the next fewdays, as the horrific images poured in. Sorrowful. Angry. Useless. Frightened.Humbled. Confused. Defiant. Hopeful. I mean how could this have happened? Thenagain, I was driving home from work that morning when emergency vehicles racedpassed me on their way to the city. Help was on the way.

But, that footage--the dust clouds. Poor souls jumping fromthe building. The people running from the building. The wreckage at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania.

Then there was that footage of those who saw fit to dance inthe streets in places where we are not liked. Conversely, there were thenational and international headlines those next few days. Oklahoma City andLondon letting us know they were there for us as we had been there for them.Iranian fireman expressing their sorrow at the sight of our firemen rushinginto the buildings, just as they would do.

I took great comfort knowing that the USS Theodore Rooseveltwas rushing to our harbor. I remember thinking that our enemies could sendevery boat and every plane they had at us now. Go ahead, try and get by thatship…

When the stories came out of Flight 93—the first flight tobe hijacked and know the fate of the two previously hijacked planes, and howthose heroes stopped the terrorists from meeting their objective, I realizedthat no plane would ever be hijacked and used as a weapon like that again.

But, really, so much was lost. Our leaders, locally andnationally seemed to say the right things. Regardless, there was no escaping that wehad been attacked on our soil.

My flight to New Orleans was canceled, and that was fine, as Ireally didn’t feel like going anywhere. Many, though, were urging people toget out and do things--to help where you can, to spend money, anything otherthan wallow in pity. Sure enough, about 12 days after the attack, I did feel the urge to getout. I went to see my father in Pennsylvania. From there, I continued on aminiature version of a great road trip I had taken 10 years earlier.

I drove to the Midwest to see some ballgames. Proudlydisplaying a flag in my rear window, I went to games in Cincinnati,Chicago, and Milwaukee. My New York plates caused many people to blow theirhorn, wave, and offer other signs of support. I don’t think I’ll ever forgetthe site of sending some kids into a frenzy as I honked, obliging their requestas they draped a flag over a bridge. Nor will I soon forget the Chicago driverracing up the highway to catch me, blowing his horn until I looked over, and then bowed hishead, and tapped his chest. The White Sox played the Yankees in this game, andI wasn’t particularly cheerful or boastful, but not a single negative vibe wasfelt from anyone even though I wore Yankee gear.

When I drove west in 1991, part of my route led me on Route I-64across southern Illinois. On this trip, I was heading south on I-57, whichbasically bisects the state. As I came up to the interchange where these tworoads crossed, I remember looking up at the I-64 overpass and realizing that I musthave driven across it 10 years ago—I was in this exact rather remote andunfamiliar area before? I can’t explain why, but in a big way, it struck meright there how much things had changed…

Reminders are everywhere. I will never forget.

A quick glance at the football schedule

2011-09-05T19:18:00.001-04:00

In the early spring, I spend a lot of time looking at the baseball schedule, planning trips--scheming really. I'm nearly finished with the first objective of my ballpark mission: to see every team play a home game. I may very well complete that next season.

When the football schedule follows a month or so later, well, I start drooling. With baseball, the main challenge has been figuring out how to align multiple games in the same trip. For example, wanting to see both Angels and Dodgers home games this year, I was restricted to one weekend where they were both home. With football, there are only 17 weekends with which to work, and holidays and weather start becoming a factor later in the season.

However, during the four weekends where the MLB and NFL seasons overlap, a savvy fan starts noting weekends where, say, the Tampa Bay Rays and Bucs, the Colorado Rockies and Denver Broncos, the St. Louis Cardinals and Rams, etc, are both home. And, if one is a fan of the NHL too, well, then one may take note of that single weekend where both the Penguins and Steelers are both in Pittsburgh.

I've seen just over half of the NFL teams play a home game, and getting to each stadium will take a while. With one baseball/football weekend booked, I next eyed that October 15/16 weekend as a time to scratch the Steelers off the to-do list and catch some hockey in the process. Unfortunately, these combos don't help me check off football stadiums any quicker. Then I turned the calendar over.

In week 9, the Jets are at Buffalo. It's kind of hard for me to understand how I've not made it to a Bills game yet. Regardless, it's a 1:00 game. Rather interestingly, the Ravens are in Pittsburgh that evening for an 8:20 kickoff. Wow, two games in one day? Is that possible without a private jet? Google maps says that it's a 3:20ish drive. So, if the Bills game ends at 4:00 then I could just high-tail it to Pittsburgh. Without traffic, it's, well, no, not a no-brainer, but it is very tempting. Having to contend with traffic leaving Ralph Wilson Stadium at the start of the trip and heading to Heinz Field at the end of the trip, however, I could be looking at a considerably longer journey.

So, that means I need to consult with my friends who are Bills and Steelers fans for input and make an intelligent decis...wait, what? Huh?! The Eagles are hosting Monday Night Football the next night?

Three stadiums in one weekend? That can't be done, can it?

The question, HKHWR, may be whether or not you are prepared to enter enemy territory.

Rumblings

2011-08-23T17:54:00.001-04:00

I knew that a sizable earthquake hit Colorado this morning, and that it was considered unusual. I never, though, got around to reading about it or finding it on TV or online. In fact, I mostly forgot about it by this afternoon.

So, there I was, plugging away with work at my computer desk. I didn't remember starting it, but at some point early this afternoon I leaned back for a really good stretch. Really, really good. I felt a little shaking, and thought it was just me until realizing that things around me were rattling. I straightened up from my stretch, and the same items continued to rattle. As I didn't hear a helicopter, or the usual home-rattling suspects, I suspected a small earthquake. Remembering that this iPad features a pretty nice earthquake app (QuakeWatch), I ran over to it to see if the app registered anything, or might have info on the Colorado quake.
--
Magnitude: 5.8
Location: Virginia
Time: Tue, Aug 23, 2011 1:51:04 PM EDT
GMT: Tue, Aug 23, 2011 17:51:04 GMT
Latitude: 37° 56' 9" N (37.9360°)
Longitude: 77° 55' 58" W (-77.9330°)
Depth: 3.7 mi
Map: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=M%205.8%20-%20Virginia@37.936001,-77.932999&amp;amp;amp;z=6
More Information (while available): http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/se082311a.php
Data provided by US Geological Survey.
--
Brought to you by QuakeWatch, http://itunes.com/apps/QuakeWatch
--

Huh.

When I saw that a 5.8 had hit in Virginia, I figured that we were hit with a separate small one 330 miles to the north. Then I checked the social media sites, and the posts/tweets started flying in. It took a minute for me to realize that I felt the same one that friends to my north and south were feeling. I checked in with my VA-based office and learned that they had been evacuated.

As the dots became more and more connected, I was just glad to learn that frazzled nerves seemed to be the worst of it. I did take another look at the app and saw that a 2.2 had hit less than 80 miles away this morning, but I didn't feel that at all. That struck me as interesting, that one four times farther away was felt, but not one in my own backyard.

Still, all I know is that a mint stretch was shortened because of some damn plate shifting.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Goodbye 1980s

2011-08-21T22:07:00.000-04:00

When one of my friends stopped by my place a few months ago, he looked at my CD rack and said something like, "Dude, what is this, the 90s?" He didn't take notice of any of the collection, let alone the beautiful construction of the rack. No, just that a CD collection is considered outdated. That rack is a woodworking project I did with my Dad, constructed from oak, ending with a nice 10-shelf housing, with each shelf holding 100 disks. There's also room for cassettes, as a bunch survived each move I've made. I had peaked at about 250 back in the late 80s, when I made the switch to CD. The ones I had left were double stacked on the bottom shelf, out of view, and perhaps saved me the ignominy of a "Dude, what is this, the 80s" retort.

I liked cassettes. You could purchase them by the album, or record your own songs on to them. They were great for the car. They didn't scratch easily like CDs, and could be changed while driving without ever taking your eye off the road--you would just smash it into the car stereo until it went in. There was no worry about breaking or dropping it or storing it carefully in its case--you just picked it up from wherever in the car it was lying, loaded it and kept driving.

Finding specific tracks on a cassette was a bit more irritating, and they had a finite shelf life, sounding warped or not playing at the right speed after awhile. And, song recordings (say, from the radio, or, especially in my case, from old vinyl) were far from perfect, usually ending with a song cut off, or with just too long or short a gap between songs, and always managed to pick up the scratches or skips that made you know it was from your record, etc. As my CD collection built, however, my cassettes did get tossed. I ended up holding onto a bunch of mixes and a really nice collection of classical tapes.

From 1987-1988, I worked in a bookstore. Like a lot of bookstores, this one sold some music--on cassette. I remember that I had just purchased my first CD player, but took notice of a collection of about 20 cassettes being sold featuring everything from Bach to Wagner. I knew this would be better to have on CD and that I should probably back off buying cassettes, but I also couldn't turn down a bargain: The cassettes went for something like $3 each, and one of the best perks of the job was a 30 or 33% discount. So, I bought them all. Beethoven, Chopin, Grieg, Handel, Mendelsshohn, Mozart, Rachmaninov, Schubert, Strauss, Tchaikovsky, Vivaldi--they were all in there. And I can say that I played them plenty for awhile.

At some point in the mid 1990s, I bought what I knew would be my last good cassette deck. No backwards-and-forward-playing dual cassette player, just a solid recording and playing device to fit in with my other stereo components. At this point, I was just playing my remaining store-bought and previously recorded tapes, and recorded songs off of CD, mostly for playing in the car. I eventually bought a CD recorder for my system, and had intended to burn these cassettes onto CD. Rarely finding time for that, and now not driving a car that plays cassettes, the deck got very little use the last few years. Some time last year, I did go to listen to a cassette, and the damn thing wouldn't play. Then, I couldn't get my damn cassette out of it. I figured it was toast. I know that cleaning and fixing tape players wasn't too difficult, but I noticed that they weren't carried in stores anymore. I eventually broke the cassette door (accidentally) while trying to force it open, and figured it just wasn't worth fixing. But, I didn't feel like spending a lot of money on a new cassette player either. So, what was I to do?

Let me first say that iTunes is going to love me this month. I won't get into what I bought, as Sliced Tongue has given me an idea for another post, but let's just say that I've received a fistful of emails all showing $40 purchases in their store.

All in all, there were about 30 cassettes I wanted to lose once and for all, including those 20 or so classical ones that I had owned for over 20 years. But, I had no intention of shelling out the money to buy every single song I owned on cassette either.

After considering the different ways to digitize cassettes, I settled on Ion's Tape Express ($40 on Amazon). Amazon reviews were very mixed. Some complained about a flimsy door--it's not flimsy; it's just hinged on the narrower side of the player rather than on the wider side, but it doesn't feel fragile by any means. Some struggled with installation, while others describe it as plug and play. The favorable reviews said what I wanted to hear, that it will simply convert your CDs to a digital format, and load them into iTunes. If the source isn't great, the recording won't be great--no surprise there.
But, it worked seamlessly for me.

I couldn't be bothered breaking most of my remaining cassettes into separate tracks (especially the classical ones, which are often one song to a cassette side anyway), which can be done with an automatic function it has, or by tapping a button to start a new track if you don't mind sitting near your computer for the length of the cassette playing time. For the three cassettes where I tried using its automatic track finder, the first two were cut up perfectly, but the third ended up with about five extra tracks. When I just let it record straight through, there were no problems. And, when done recording, the user can type in song and album info, which appears in the iTunes console--definitely a nice touch.

My CD rack will stay where it is for awhile, but it is nice to know that no cassettes are hidden on it, and more importantly that I preserved everything I wanted.

My glimpse of PEI

2011-08-05T12:31:00.001-04:00

A couple of my blog posts have been extracted and recrafted (chopped down) for posting here from a much larger travel log I started compiling about six years. The moose tales from last year come to mind first. When a friend mentioned that she was going to Prince Edward Island last week, I felt compelled to tell her of my misadventure when traveling there in 1997. So, here is another extraction from that log that I thought worth sharing...

...[From Newfoundland] the ferry ride back to Nova Scotia was without incident. Prince Edward Island was my next destination. Prior to the spring of 1997, the only way to get to PEI in a car was via one of two north–south running ferries—one on the east side of the island that connected with Nova Scotia, and one on the west side that connected with New Brunswick. A bridge, however, had been recently constructed, and was replacing the west-side ferry, much to the chagrin of the ferrymen who were losing their jobs, and some residents of the island who felt that their home would turn into strip malls and become overrun with visitors. Still, there was a serious celebratory atmosphere in both provinces. Heard on the radio were warnings of long traffic delays—45 minutes, that is—nothing much to a New Yorker; so I took the ferry that led to the east side of the island. Once off the boat, I drove the roughly 60 or so miles west across the island, passed through the city of Charlottetown, and made my way to where the festivities were taking place. Rumor had it that the Queen of England was making a trip to see the opening of the remarkable Confederations Bridge.

Further, while on the island, I had hoped to see the Anne of Green Gables house, since I heard that it had been seriously damaged by fire. I thought it would make an interesting picture, especially since a couple of co-workers had tried to persuade me get a picture of it for them (that is, before news of the fire).

So, I trudged across the slow but moving road and could see bands, carnivals, etc., taking place. All I needed was a place to park, and then I could walk around and see all that I wanted. The only thing was, I couldn’t quite tell where I was going: I was stuck behind a truck, with a line of cars behind me, and, because of barricades on each side of my lane, could only follow the truck around a long curve. Before I knew it, I was under a sign for the other (the west-side) ferry, where the only option for my lane was to board. So, I spent about two hours on the island, but never stepped foot out of the car, nor snapped a single picture on the island.

I'm glad my friend got to spend more time there and was able to take some pictures...

The Orange Whip

2011-07-29T08:20:00.003-04:00

I had a few of these this week. It's a local favorite, an awesome IPA that I know better than to try to describe why it's so good. Trust me--or, trust the beer experts at beeradvocate.com--they agree...

Now I'm here...now I'm there

2011-07-20T21:31:00.008-04:00

So my friend PaulBe asked me how useful I find the check-in features of certain social media sites. We swapped a few messages about it and he laid down the gauntlet for me to share my thoughts here.

I use two check-in services: Gowalla and Facebook's Places. Let's start with Gowalla, which may be something of a Betamax to Four Square's VHS. I went with it, however, after reading this and deciding that it suited me as one who travels place to place more than interacts with friends at, say, a local coffee shop. Further, I really have no interest in competing for mayorships, or even being in one particular place more or less than someone else, which seems to be more of the goal with FS. I'm mostly more interested in recording where I've been, especially places outside of my local community, and Gowalla serves me well in that regard.

One thing I wish Gowalla (and for that matter, Places) offered would be a report of some kind that shows when I was where. For example, I did a bunch of check-ins on my Maine and Vermont ski trip back in February. But, if I look back on my check-ins on Gowalla, all I see are details such as my being at Stowe's "The Octagon" restaurant five months ago. I was also several hours away at Sugarloaf that same five months ago. Now, was I at Stowe first or Sugarloaf? I also met a friend in Boston and a cousin in Maine on that trip, but what was my route? Hmmm...Wish the info presented was a bit more detailed, customizable, and even exportable to, say, here in particular, and, as noted in the blog mentioned above, say, on my TripAdvisor map.

Now, I'm not an isolationist, and there are plenty of times where I'll happily tag friends with me, or have others tag me. Gowalla doesn't strike me as ideal for that, but the Facebook Places feature works fine. And, I do like how Gowalla and FB Places are in sync on FB for noting check-ins; that is, a Gowalla check in shows on Places so that my friends can see where I am. But, sometimes I might be with friends in a Tweet-worthy spot--FB Places won't cover me there, right? I know I can have Twitter display my location, but I have that turned off. In those instances, it's easy enough for me to do both: tag my friends on Places, and then do a Gowalla check-in that sends only a Tweet. That is another nice feature of Gowalla: I can easily have it toggle to just choose FB or Twitter; I can share it to FB and Twitter, which is what I mostly do; or I can just silently check-in some place and have it stamped that I was there.

"Does my sharing my location result in anything interesting, comment or otherwise," I was effectively asked. Sure, sometimes, especially on Facebook, friends seem interested to know where I am, and some comments may follow. Likewise, I am interested to see where they are, particularly when they're traveling (but much less so when they're at their local coffee chain, gym, etc). So, yes, these check-ins do enhance my social networking experience in that regard, I suppose.

The more I think about it, though, it's the "I was here" stamping that is most important to me. One of my greatest travel regrets is not getting a National Parks Cancellation Book--a little booklet that you bring to National Parks, and use their park's date stamp to record the date of your visit. When I started hitting National Parks en masse in 1992, I failed to really notice these little books sold in every gift store until I had hit about a dozen parks, and figured that it was too late to start, that I wouldn't get to too many more, and that I had lost the chance to record the earlier visits. With scores of National Park visits under my belt, what a nice record of my travel that would have been, even with a late start. So, Gowalla, for example, has something of that kind of record keeping ability. It has at least kept track of each new state I visit. Now, I know I've been to all of them, but, it's kind of cool to see the state pins it's collected for me (about 15, I think). I would love for it to do the same with National Parks, ballparks, football stadiums, etc.

I should add that I've been using these apps on my Droid, which handles them infinitely better than my BlackBerry did. I'm also wondering how these devices will play out on Google+ (not to mention how that will play out when it gets rolling). One drawback I've noticed, though, is that these check-ins can cause me to look down at the device longer than I feel comfortable doing, waiting for the device to find the geographic location and then scrolling through a list of options to find the intended spot--many of us have our heads buried in our phones too much, and these apps don't always let you get your head out of them any quicker. But, it is nice when the location pops up, check-in selected, and "Done" shows up.

Again, no mayor stuff needed; just a simple "HKHWR was here" will do just fine.

MiLB’ing around

2011-07-14T20:26:00.001-04:00

I wrote this while en route to a couple of West Coast baseball games, when the Dodgers and Angels were both home this past weekend. When planning this trip, the thought did strike me that it might be fun to catch a Minor League game in southern California. I've only been to about a dozen minor league games, and that includes a bunch to my local team, the Hudson Valley Renegades, a short-season Single-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. I've been sticking to games “in the area”, and have seen two AAA venues, three AA ones, and the aforementioned Gades at the Dutch.

The current trip was about me getting to all of the MLB parks. I have no such aspirations with Minor League ball. I do, though, have some interest in seeing all of the Yankee affiliates (with a few visits to Trenton and Scranton Wilkes-Barre under my belt already), and I have strayed here and there to get to the games in New Britain, CT; Allentown, PA; and Binghamton, NY. With AAA and AA Yankee games seen, a trip to see the SI Yankees is pretty certain, and others to see the Yankee kids down in Tampa and Charleston are on the wish list. Getting to most of the International League, Eastern League, and NY-Penn League would be nice, as would a game in Nebraska or especially Iowa, in a “Field of Dreams” kind of way. Here are other teams on the wish list:

- Pawtucket Red Sox
- Durham Bulls
- Toledo Mud Hens
- Columbus Clippers
- Syracuse Chiefs
- Reading Phillies
- Bowie Baysox
- Portland Seadogs
- New Hampshire Fisher Cats
- Burlington Lake Monsters
- Wilmington Blue Rocks
- Tri-City Valley Cats
- Connecticut Tigers
- Aberdeen Ironbirds
- Brooklyn Cyclones

Sometimes, the team name grabs me; other times, a recollection of a team from reading about it, its feature in a movie, etc., grabs me. Of course, there’s just the simple enjoyment of seeing something new, and even the way it may pass time when other travel is required. To that end, a recent trip to Boston and Maine irritated me to a small degree when I realized that the four "local" (reachable) teams were all on the road.

The allure of these games is multifold, starting with small, but good, crowds, all into the game. There’s rarely a bad seat--more often than not, seats very close to the field are available. There looks to be more enticement for families, as many events between innings take place; further, there are plenty of adults there too, many with scorebooks, others just casually enjoying the game. I have not been to a game where a major leaguer was rehabbing, or where a known prospect was playing, but that didn't lessen my enjoyment, though I imagine it would have greatly enhanced the experience. Then there is the price: At my first game, I remember purchasing parking, ticket, food, a beer, and a shirt for something like $32. That doesn't cover parking in some MLB venues. In Scranton, AAA locale for the Yankees, I paid $3 for parking. And, what a beautiful park in a quaint setting that is. I really enjoyed a great day there. That stands as my favorite MiLB park.

Anyway, I wrote this post out long hand while on the cross-country flight, and have now "MyScript"’d it (akin to OCR'ing), and am cleaning it up. I correctly guessed that I would not add a California League team to the list.

Feel free to post a comment with any favorite MiLB venue of yours—always interested in such recommendations.

A whale of a tail...tale?...no, tail...

2011-07-13T21:48:00.002-04:00

This is one of the coolest things I've seen in a long time. As mentioned in one of my posts over the weekend, I had this LA excursion planned since the MLB schedule came out. But, LA is kind of a hike from New York, so I stretched the trip out from a weekend to five days. I added a few stops to the itinerary, including a whale watch trip out of Dana Point, about 75 minutes south of LA.

We were only a few miles out when we spotted our first whales, finbacks. But, the captain was told of a blue whale sighting and took us to where it was reported. We saw a few, following them around for a bit. I haven't finished going through my pictures yet, but felt compelled to share this brief clip I was so fortunate to see.

Nothing short of extraordinary, in my opinion. Then again, there's nothing short about these critters, is there? Six or seven (including a cow/calf pair) were observed this past Sunday morning. One surfaced just in front of our stationary boat, remarkably audible, as the sound of water pouring off of it and it exhaling drew our attention while we were fixated on another whale somewhat more distantly off to our starboard side. I would have loved to have had my video rolling when that transpired, but I am more than content to have this one.

It really was a whale of a morning...

It's all relative

2011-07-12T00:33:00.004-04:00

In addition to checking two more stadiums off the list, another goal of this brief SoCal trip was met when I got to meet my cousin Frank. He's my fifth cousin, once removed (5C1R), which means our first common ascendants are my fourth great grandparents and his fifth great grandparents. The father of my fourth great grandfather on this line is Johann Carl Wagenhorst, who arrived in the colonies in October 1772. This is the same ascendant as shared by another 5C1R who I met back in February. Are these two 5C1Rs related? Certainly. Siblings? Nope, not these two. They're third cousins.

A 4C2R of theirs will be interested to learn some of the family history we discussed. Further, a third cousin of mine, and coincidentally a 5C1R of theirs who I expect to meet in the coming months, will be as well.

While we joke about the specific relations, there is no denying the effort we've put into our genealogies. We've shared data, discoveries, pictures, resources, and have bonded in the process of expanding the family tree.

'5C1R'? 'Cousin' will do...

Dodger Stadium

2011-07-09T12:12:00.003-04:00

So here I am at Dodger Stadium. Yes, another round of SoCal baseball is on the docket for today. I had this weekend circled on the calendar as soon as the MLB schedule came out, as it is the only one this season where the Angels and Dodgers are both home. I was treated to a great game yesterday that ended with Rally Monkeys and a walkoff homerun. I can only hope for some of that excitement today.

It's a nice day now, but I'm sure the heat will set in later. Wouldn't expect much different from a ballpark that's been around over 50 years, with something like a total of 10 or 11 rainouts. It's also one of the oldest ballparks (with only Fenway and Wrigley older)--rather amazing when you think about it.

After this game, I will have three teams left to see: the Astros, Padres, and Diamondbacks, all of whom I will try to see next year (although this will necessitate a drive or flight between San Diego and Phoenix). Then, it will be a matter of getting to the new ballparks of the Tigers, Twins, Cardinals, and Reds. Oh yeah, and the Marlins...

I have another really nice seat, this one courtesy of a cousin that lives out here. And, that will be another highlight of the trip, meeting this cousin (5C1R, to be technical) whom I've known for years now, though only via email and phone.

Anyway, a frequent rival of the Yankees in the past, I nonetheless have no trouble donning a light blue shirt and rooting for the home team.

Inside I go...

Angel Stadium

2011-07-08T21:55:00.006-04:00

So here I am at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. I have a phenomenal seat in the row behind the visiting team dugout, right in line with the first 'L' in 'Baseball' painted on its roof. I am pecking away furiously because the phone will be put down while the game is going on--this is a pay-attention seat, as bats and balls could well fly this way.

The seat was somewhat expensive, but very fair. It's not the kind of ticket I would buy for every game, but who knows if I'll ever get here again. The food was fairly priced, as it was under $10 for a tasty brisket sandwich. Beer, though, was a ripoff at $12.

My attendance at this game means that I have now seen every AL team play at home (although I still need to see the Twins and Tigers play at their new ballarks). That brings me down to four teams I haven't seen play a home game, but that will change to three tomorrow....

With the Yankees finally winning a series against these guys, it will be a little easier to do what I always hope to do at these road games: root root root for the home team. Hell, I'm even wearing a red shirt.

Anyway, on to the game...

Ahhh, telecommuting, how I miss thee

2011-07-06T18:03:00.004-04:00

Sometimes I take for granted the advantages of working from home. Sure, there is the missed social interactions, free coffee, and general structure of a day in the office. But, hey, if I'm an early riser and can get a grand jump on things, more power to me, right?

Anyway, I headed to the city today for a business meeting with colleagues. This meant a long train ride into the city. Here are some things I never endure when my commute is from my kitchen to my office down the hall.

1) I never need to sprint the equivalent of seven football fields to catch a train (loyal readers may recall my rant against my second most local train station), in any weather, let alone summertime heat and humidity.

2) Nobody ever sits behind me gabbing on her cell phone for most of the 90-minute ride.

3) Nobody ever sits right on top of me, wearing a trench coat or some equivalent, again, let alone on a hot and sticky day, which of course produces some, nice, noisome body odor.

4) Never do I have to hear someone quarrel with a conductor doing his job, enforcing the higher rate for tickets bought on board.

5) Never do I feel like so part of the herd as I walk with the commuter stream, thousands upon thousands of us, trekking to our office, meeting point, etc, following paths we could do if blindfolded, because we've done this same sad walk countless times before.

6) Never do I sit wondering why the person next to me (this time on the commute home), struggling for elbow room with her mobile devices, won't simply slide across the aisle, where three empty seats have become available.

But, it's not all bad.

1) The girls in their summer dresses.

2) The chance to grab a pint at a favorite bar.

3) The material you gather for a quick and easy blog post.

4) The girls in their summer dresses (yeah, worth repeating...)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Happy birthday, Mom

2011-07-03T12:06:00.001-04:00

Cute kid, eh? Well, it's not about me. Today would have been my Mom's 75th birthday, but thanks to pancreatic cancer, she hasn't seen the last 15.

I mentioned awhile back a picture I was dying to get my hands on, one of my mother holding me in her outstretched arms as an infant. This is not the shot I had in mind, though it's a pretty nice backup. I just hooked up my old film scanner so that I could upload it. I'm on a new computer and haven't installed much photo touch-up software yet, but this shot really doesn't need much--I thought it totally post-worthy as is. With few pictures of her in my possession, and exceedingly few of us together, preserving them all is a certainty. I'm just glad to have some.

Miss you, Mom. RIP.

The sign at the bar

2011-06-25T20:44:00.001-04:00

I saw this sign today.

It kind of made me chuckle, and kind of made me think back to my Rapture post a few weeks back. I immediately Tweeted my picture of it, and then, when looking at it on Twitter, noticed the "share on your web page" button, and thought, why not? (I also wanted to test the functionality of that button...)

Anyway, I had a few pints here, a nice Irish pub right by the Poughkeepsie train station, where an old friend from school and I had decided to meet. He was completing a 110-mile bike ride. I was running some errands, and then wandered over here, and shook hands with my old friend.

Chowder

2011-06-16T20:50:00.002-04:00

I had something of a Seinfeldian streak of vomit-free years going that was ruined in October 2004.

The cause? Well, there was a great little fish store near my apartment in Westbury, and, during this period, I had developed a taste for clams, usually broiling them, but always dousing them in lemon juice or tabasco sauce. Good stuff. But it only takes one bad clam...

During that same month, the Yankees had jumped out to a three-game lead in the ALCS. With eight innings of Game 4 in the books, the good guys were a Mo save from the World Series. But it only takes one bad inning...

The blown save was followed by a Red Sox win in Game 5.

I honestly don't know if it was nerves or the clams, but I hurled before Game 6. More than once, I believe. An off-site meeting was on the docket for the next day. I remember getting sick in the office before leaving for the meeting, but I toughed it out and went, though I didn't mask my condition well: I was told that I looked greener than Kermit the Frog (or maybe it was greener than the Grinch. Or was it Gazoo?--anyway, someone green).

I did recover, but the Yankees didn't, and I didn't go near clams for several years after that.

So, what is it with our sports allegiances that can make us sick when things go wrong? And, what fuels the rivalries? The proximity of teams obviously enables them, as do playoff encounters, especially when these meetings occur several times within a few years.

For the most part, though, the rivalries reside with the fans, and not the players. Money drives players, and they switch to the uniforms of their rivals pretty easily. Further, I've been surprised at the camaraderie often evident from the players on "rival" teams. I'm not talking about sportsmanship like a handshake after a game. I'm referring to the commercials the players on these teams have done together, the pre-game embraces between the likes of the rather likable Big Papi and Yankees like A-Rod and Mo, and, most unsettling, a tender, hand on the shoulder, moment between Varitek and Jeter between pitches in the last series between these two teams (the announcers didn't comment on it, but it was a bizarre sight, albeit one that I think many missed). Sure, each team has players that the other team may not like, but any real contempt is between those players and the fans of the opponent. Red Sox players and Yankees players don't dislike each other nearly as much as Red Sox players and Yankees fans, and vice versa. Clearly, this dislike transcends across the four sports, for me anyway.

As the basketball and hockey seasons were nearing championships, it struck me how my dislike for teams in other sports influenced who I wanted to win and lose the two finals, and I became slightly disinterested when I realized that all four couldn't lose. A bit bitter? Perhaps. Still, as a Giants fan, how could I possibly root for a team from Dallas? Well, it was easy to root against Miami this year. The Canucks? Well, until the last Winter Olympic Games, I'd never have a problem with a Canadian team winning the cup. More than a bit bitter? Well, no not really: A grudge against any team or country can be washed away when the team faces one from Boston. Truth be told, I don't have any grudge against the Bruins either, other than their city (and I add that I have nothing against Boston other than their teams). With the recent multiple championships of the Red Sox and Patriots, and the frequent championships of the Celtics, the notion of a Stanley Cup going to the Bruins just wasn't palatable. Remarkably--enviably--Boston teams have won championships in all four major sports in the last six years. This gives them great claim to the "Title Town" billing.

Thinking about this for more than a couple of seconds reminds me of that October evening seven years ago, and I won't be eating clams for the next few weeks.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

What if I were one of those taken?

2011-06-05T19:58:00.001-04:00

Found this in my "Drafts" folder, an expansion of a suddenly not-so-recent FB comment...

When the time of The Rapture came and went, social media sites were loaded with comments, tweets, etc, including one by yours truly. I played it from the perspective of one who was taken, as unlikely as that may seem to some. In response to a comment asking what it was like, I offered some thoughts, silly and perhaps hopeful. Here, I expand on that.

Where do I begin?

The skiing consists of constant perfect bluebird powder days, with no lift lines, wind holds, and especially no snowboarders. Each day starts with a fat breakfast, followed by an easy trip to the slopes--it's ski-in/ski-out, of course. A pint or two at apres ski is followed by a requisite soak in the hot tub. Hey, even up here, muscles get achy after a proper day of skiing. A nice dinner and then a few more pints round out the day.

In golf, I haven’t missed a fairway yet, nor a green in regulation, and suddenly my putting is perfect.

The baseball is just like Field of Dreams, and you never know who is going to take the field each game. Just a short time ago, I saw Ted Williams batting against Walter Johnson. The Splendid Splinter couldn’t get a hit, and the Big Train couldn’t put Williams away. I think Williams ended up fouling off about 50 or 60 pitches before laughing and letting someone else take some hacks.

In football, the Giants and Jets never play each other, and of course win every weekend. Meanwhile, the Cowboys naturally lose every single Sunday.

Then there’s the music; oh, the music—they’re all here! Hank Williams, Roy Orbison, Duane Allman, John Lennon...All of them! A few of them sat down together and started to jam, even playing Wyld Stallyns one big hit. It was most excellent stuff.

The beer is always served at the perfect temperature, and it isn't available in cans. It's predominantly hoppy ales, but a few lagers made it in.

Every meal is served with crispy bacon. Not the lean stuff, just the good stuff...

Anyway, I could go on quite a bit with this, but probably best to just post it already to (1) discourage me from rambling further and (2) not blow my chances in October... :)

Memorial Day, once again

2011-05-30T18:18:00.001-04:00

I don't know that I could say anything more sincere than what I said here last Memorial Day. Describing it as a "favorite" holiday is the only thing I sort of wince at when rereading it. As holidays go, its meaning strikes me as important as any. But "favorite" would be a more apt description if I thought of it the way many I know do--as the official start of summer. For the record, I have no problem at all with those who think of Memorial Day that way, for I believe most of us still reflect on this day at some point about those who paid the ultimate price in protecting us, those in the military now, and those who protected us years ago. The posts from my friends on Facebook and Twitter support this, as did the large crowd at my small town's Memorial Day parade and ceremony. To echo what I've seen posted and heard throughout the day--Thank you to all those in the military now and those who served in the past.

As I noted last year, my family tree is filled with those who fought in the Revolution, in the Civil War, and in WW II. It is on this day that I think of them more than on any other. Last year, I described my father's cousin, who was killed on January 8, 1945 at the Battle of the Bulge. This year, I considered writing about one of several of my Revolutionary War forebears, but that strikes me as more appropriate for an ancestry post when that urge strikes me.

One does not need to have an ancestor in the wars of our nation's past to be respectful of this holiday. Nor does one need to be in the military, or have a family member in there now, to have a measure of appreciation for this day. Further, this holiday does not demand that you sit around and meditate all day, and it certainly doesn't mean that you shouldn't enjoy that day off off from work, that beach day, BBQ, beer, pool opening, or whatever. It just should hit you at some point that you were given much by the sacrifices of others.

Happy Memorial Day!

The continuing viburnum posts

2011-05-15T18:56:00.000-04:00

A few years ago, using my Scandinavian Forest Axe, I felled a cottonwood that had an 8"-diameter trunk and stood over 20-feet tall. That was pretty cool. I've also precisely dropped a couple of 30-feet-tall maples with my chainsaw, guiding them to safe landings. Again, it felt kind of cool, and was certainly a relief when nothing got damaged, myself included. Then there's what I've done with the forsythia, but that is an ongoing effort.

Nothing, though, has given me the satisfaction that I took from my fight while planting my viburnum mariesii, chronicled in this wordy post. It's flowering now:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've posted pictures of it before. As far as plants go, though, it's simply the best $170 I've spent outside. Two neighbors have asked me what it is, and one just looked at it and told me that I should get into landscaping. I thanked him, but it is the shrub doing all the work. Now anyway...a helluva fight occurred in that very spot two years ago...

I sincerely mean it...

2011-05-10T21:44:00.002-04:00

I give up. I'm not going to fight it or fret over it anymore. I've been trying for years with maybe a 50% success rate, and I'm glad technology seems primed to pick me up the vast majority of times I'm in the 50% failure zone.

I'm talking about basic words like "sincerely" and "initially" that I never seem to type correctly. For whatever reason, I frequently transpose or duplicate some of the middle letters of these frequently used words. But, good ole autocomplete and spell check have my back. I don't even try to spell "sincerely" correctly anymore. I just type "sinc", and pelt out what feels like one or two "er"s. Next, autocomplete bails me out, or I right click on the errantly spelled word and smile as "sincerely" shows on the short list of word choices.

It's no coincidence that this post was done on my iPad, as it has a nice autocomplete function, and spared me from having to fully negotiate through those tricky words. Sure, many will gripe when autocomplete fails--and it can bomb at times--but not me. I'll gladly manually correct autocorrect mistakes if it spares me the ignominy of screwing up the easy words. And, autocorrect doesn't force me to stick with its choice; undoing is easy.

Now, if only Excel/Word would similarly learn and realize when I'm trying to not do what it seems so cock sure I'm attempting...I'm talking about you, "general" cell format, and you numbered/bulleted lists...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

I feel fine, but...

2011-05-06T07:46:00.002-04:00

...my woodruff is spreading, and overwhelming my pulmonaria, which I believe I've already explained here is a type of lungwort...

Good riddance

2011-05-03T22:30:00.000-04:00

It was a good weekend in Atlanta. A nice, but not at all complete, break from a busy week, as I brought work with me. After an uneventful flight and then hour drive home, I forced myself outside to do a few hours of much needed yardwork. This was followed by some time spent in front of the computer, then watching TV, before crashing at 10:00 pm Sunday night.

I slept through the night, waking up yesterday morning just before 6:00am, and picked up my phone to check messages.

What!? He's dead?

I thought it was a joke. I proceeded to check Facebook and Twitter on my phone with one hand while fumbling with remotes with the other. We really did it. We killed him.

Great use of intelligence, great calls by our leaders, and great job by those in uniform!

Like others, I'm glad he's dead. He deserved it. He completely and totally deserved those bullets.

I read what others posted/tweeted early on, but said nothing myself. It was almost old news by the time I was aware. I liked what many others had written, as friends on both sides of the political spectrum said some poignant things, some said some humorous things, but nobody seemed to overlook the fact that what happened 10 years ago cannot be undone, though what had just transpired might perhaps bring a measure of closure to those most directly impacted by the heinous acts of his.

But I still didn't know what to write. I try to sidestep politics in social media, and didn't want to say anything trite, inflammatory, or really anything that had been said before. I felt like I should say something somewhere, however, and here seemed to be the place. What it is that I want to say, though, I don't know. I didn't feel overjoyed, and I didn't feel safer. I just felt a sense of relief, and perhaps of victory. Then again, knowing that someone else will try to fill his shoes, and guessing others might try some retaliative terrorist act, means that "victory" is not what I should be feeling. I'm just glad he's dead. Justice was served, and served quickly. No trials, no media circuses, just dumped in the ocean. Nice. Then I started to note the divisive posts that followed from both sides of the aforementioned political spectrum, making me think it was politics as usual.

Anyway, I watched the news for over an hour yesterday morning, and then got to work. And life does continue with one less evil being.

Turner Field

2011-04-30T13:50:00.002-04:00

So here I am at Turner Field. Seeing the Braves at home literally brings me down to a handful of teams I haven't seen at their home ballpark. For those of you counting at home, that's 25 of the 30 MLB teams at home, 33 MLB venues, and 9 stadiums to go...

I'm particularly glad to check this one off the list, because it's bugged me since 1999 that I haven't seen a game here. A June business trip to Atlanta that year concluded the morning that the Yankees were arriving in town for a game that evening, but I failed to seize that opportunity. So, now I can just sit back and watch the likes of Pujols and Holliday of the visiting Cardinals take on that guy who just surpassed Mantle's career RBI total and his Braves teammates.

Anyway, back to the game....

Finding my Pulse

2011-04-21T20:17:00.001-04:00

My last post was from my iPad. Now this...

Sometimes I feel like writing, and I do mean writing; not typing. With that, I picked up this gadget, to see how I might use it.

When in a meeting last week, I thought this device would have come in handy--transcribing a few words and a simple diagram from a white board. Instead, I walked out with some good ole-fashioned notes that I had to type up. But, I really bought this Pulse pen for blogging, and had in mind that OCR add-on (MyScript) I had seen advertised on the Echo/Pulse site. So, this post was written out long-hand (it can almost be made out from the picture), the conversion to text done remarkably well given my handwriting, and then some minor edits and expansions of thought were done on the computer.

The pen & notebook seem really easy to carry around, but who knows. I think some of these gadgets are me trying to keep up. That is, my last PC was seven years old, as is my iPod. A DSLR followed in early 2005. Other than another digital camera purchase in 2009, I feel like I really fell behind in the gadgetry world. True, there were various smartphones, but they become outdated within months, and not much else.

So many gadgets, so many ways to use them...I remain curious to see how I employ the ones I have.

Stay tuned...

Playing with my iPad and testing BlogPress

2011-04-17T18:50:00.002-04:00

Yesterday, I made my first post with a video, and today I am again trying something new: blogging from my new toy....errr...work device...ok...it's something in between that is closer to a toy. I've downloaded some apps--some purely for fun and others to help my productivity--that I've been taking for test drives, and now it's BlogPress's turn...so far, so good, but I've only been typing so far. Let's see how it does with a picture...

All too easy. That picture is one taken with the iPad's front camera, and here is one with that hard-to-aim rear camera...

Again, very easy to drag and drop pictures into this app. This will no doubt come in handy when traveling. My Droid serves me well in this regard too, though I haven't attempted a multi-pic post from it. I'm eager to work out a method to move pictures from my cameras to my iPad, as I don't see taking more than a picture or two at any one time with this. I can see using this app more at the point I work out file transfer.

Unless I am missing something, labels will have to be added from one of my other Blogger devices. Still, nice app...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Ski season may be over but...

2011-04-16T18:47:00.003-04:00

...at least I logged a few days on the mountain later in the season than usual for me. I've been skiing solo or with snowboarders a lot these last few years, so it was good to ski more this season with other skiers.

I don't get to see what I look like often: a few pictures here and there, but nothing too revealing, other than showing I have too wide a stance. This year, however, my friend Ray got a few clips of me. Looking at them reveals plenty of flaws in technique, and has me wishing the video had been shot earlier in the season so that I could work on some of these faults. But, in this 9-sec video, where I'm not too ashamed of my form, I have something I feel comfortable sharing. I can watch it and see some things I am doing right, and I can see other things that have me yearning for the start of the 11/12 season so that I can improve. (You need to lean forward more and keep yer skis together, HKHWR! And avoid staying so upright...)

Still, it will be just nice to take a look at this from time to time, especially when the temperature really starts rising.

Nationals Park

2011-04-13T21:07:00.002-04:00

So here I am at Nationals Park, a considerably nicer venue than when I saw the Nationals play at RFK about four years ago. It's my first new baseball venue of the year, but I still need to see six more teams play at home. Still, I'm glad to knock the number of ballparks I need to see down to about ten.

The game itself? Well, it's Halladay against the Nats, and that ain't really a fair fight. He did, though, come awfully close to a splintering bat that must have scared the entire organization and Phillie fan base. Who am I rooting for? Well, I usually go with the home team, plus I never have a problem rooting against a team from Philly....

Back to the game...

The family has been here awhile...

2011-03-26T22:46:00.000-04:00

I haven't done a family history post in awhile, but I have certainly been thinking about it. I intend to pick out certain names in the family tree, and write out what I can, with the hope of providing information to others who descend from these lines. Here is a chart that I put together a long time ago, giving arrival date, boat name, and of course ancestor plus relation.

Some lines of my family have been here a long time.

I had to move it from Word into an image application, so I can't create links to the names. Still, it is my hope that some of the folks mentioned here will be the subject of future posts. I've learned a lot about some of them, and know next to nothing about others. I'm interested to know all I can about every one of them.

Stay tuned.

First day of spring

2011-03-20T12:42:00.003-04:00

The temps broke 70 a few days ago.

The last bit of snow vanished from the yard on St. Paddy's Day.

I've already been outside with the thatching rake, and had the idea that ski season may be done for me.

Then I woke up...

The return to cooler temps had me checking conditions at local ski areas, and I took the familiar 70-minute drive north.

Score!

February ski trip

2011-03-06T19:22:00.035-05:00

I took my latest trip to Stowe during President's week, meeting up with friend Mike and his family. I love it up there: the mountain, the restaurants, the pubs, the village—all of it.

For the last decade, Stowe has been the centerpiece of my Prez week trip, but each year I try to visit at least one surrounding ski area too. This year I opted for Sugarloaf, in Maine, a mere 5 hours to the east on Route 2.

Now, I have a certain fondness for the Loaf too, which I chronicled last year. When I was into cross-country skiing in the 90s, I found myself wandering farther and farther north to the better XC areas, and it was at the Sugarloaf XC ski center that I learned how to use skate skis. The impressive sight of that mountain, though, made me want to try alpine skiing again (and some XC struggles going downhill ended up forcing my hand). As a neophyte skier, Mike and I went there in 1999, but I hadn’t been back since. When I learned that a cousin would be living in Maine for a year, I had the added incentive I needed to do the extra driving.

After a fantastic afternoon in Brunswick, I made the drive towards Sugarloaf. A cold but beautiful day, I was not let down at all. While the sight of the mountain from the roadway is truly impressive, the one from the steps leading up to the base area isn’t bad either.

I only had one day here, so didn’t spend much time taking pictures, and really only thought one other post-worthy, from Tote Road, which I recall being listed in a ski magazine as one of the five most scenic trails in the northeast. Sure, it was nice enough, but my best run of the day was on Hayburner. And, I absolutely would have taken a picture from this trail, had I known that I would be on Stowe's Hayride a day later. I felt very fortunate to be able to hit these two great trails on consecutive days.

After one day of trying to cover as much of the Loaf as practical, the long but mostly pleasant (i.e., scenic) drive west ensued. I was in the Stowe village for less than an hour when the first pints of Switchback were poured. With the massive selection of beer from local brewers in this area, I think Switchback is my favorite. Anyway, take note of the Switchback trail and Switchback Ale. One was served cold and icy and was rather tougher to get down than expected; the other was not quite so cold and goes down easy.

I also took some shots on Mt. Mansfield. No picture I took shows it well, but you can make out New Hampshire’s Mt. Washington in two of them. (And, yes, I did hit those four trails.)

Hayride, though, was my favorite this time around. The sign in the picture is prominent, but to the left of it, you might imagine its “waterfall pitch”.

As in Sugarloaf, the weather cooperated nicely. Well, so long as the cold doesn’t bother you: Village temperatures were subzero overnight, warmed to single digits in the morning, and then into the teens during the day. That’s perfectly comfortable ski weather when the sun is out and the wind still. I don’t remember ever seeing the sky so blue up there. In fact, the beautiful backdrop seemed like it might enable a self-portrait profile picture.

No dice (although I kind of like the one without the helmet—had I not captured so much of the empty parking lot, I might have used that one. Oh well…)

I mentioned the appeal of all the good eateries up here, right? First, there are the waffles (so worth the 15-minute wait). And, there is popcorn at the Shed—nobody got sick from it!

But, it is mostly about the mountain, and the trails on Mansfield look enticing from the top of its own quad (left) or from trails off the Sensation quad on Spruce Peak (right). Now the fourth day of the trip, I wasn’t sure if this would be my last day of skiing, so I tried to get in as much as I could. The skies turned cloudy and the winds picked up, but the temperatures had warmed through the 20s. The scenery still struck me as awesome. Different, but awesome.

Then there was the last day on the slopes, which was the day I had planned to drive home. I realized, though, that I needed to stay an extra day: I had no intentions of driving in a blizzard, especially one in which I could be skiing! But, my legs were worn out. This was the second day I skied with Mike and the family (and their fourth straight). I knew I was pretty much done by lunch, so I had a nice one in the Octagon Café, and then hoped my legs had enough for one last cruise to the base. It was ugly but without incident.

After that, I walked around for a bit to play with my new wide-angle lens…

Finally, apologies for the lack of action shots. One of these trips...

So many ideas, so little time, and a new device

2011-03-05T17:23:00.002-05:00

I'm a Droid user as of a few hours ago. I'm trying to get comfortable with it, updating my accounts, downloading apps, and all that. Still, I have pictures ready for a few posts, ideas for a few others, but something of a case of writer's block. Maybe, just maybe, this gadget will magically create order and help me pick up the writing pace.

Two posts last month?! I have more in me than that...

Anyway, back to the app store...

Beautiful day on the slopes

2011-02-23T17:53:00.002-05:00

I'll post more pictures and tell the full story soon enough, but suffice it to say that it was incredible today here in Stowe. The temperature was one whole degree this morning in the village, was up to about 9 by the time I made it to the Mansfield base 5 minutes later, and warmed up just right on this windless and cloudless day.

Armed only with my cell phone and Sony flip camera, I wanted to stop constantly to take pictures. But, uncrowded trails were too inviting to pass up for more than minute or two breaks.

Tomorrow should be more of the same. I may bring one of my other cameras along...

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

My first birthday as a Capricorn

2011-02-13T12:34:00.006-05:00

Well, blogosphere, thanks for all the birthday greetings. Not a single one of you checked in with even the mildest "Happy birthday, Tom". What? You didn't know it was my birthday? It's not provided here? That's no excuse.

But, don't feel bad: The Twitterverse ignored me too. Then again, even the crustier LinkedIn world chimed in with a birthday salutation...

Facebook, however, more than made up for it. From two days prior to a full week later, it was rather remarkable as scores of family and friends checked in.

I was away on business for my birthday. When I woke up in the hotel room that morning, the little red light on my Blackberry was flickering away, letting me know that friends had written birthday messages on my Wall through all hours of the night. After a quick scan of those postings, I went into the bathroom, and threw water on my face. Looking up at the mirror I could only laugh at a wet, single, very lengthy eyebrow hair that somehow had previously gone unnoticed, was now pinned halfway up my forehead. I thought for a second about snapping a picture of it, but then thought better of it (you're welcome...), and just yanked it out. Unwanted hair--those unfortunate reminders of aging. Gotta love them.

Anyway, by the time I showered and shaved, a fresh batch of greetings were showing up on my phone. I made the trip to the office, and still more greetings were arriving. Yes, their were phone calls and texts, but those are more expected. The number of postings on Facebook, though, was stunning. I received greetings from people I knew as a child, met in grade school, in high school, college, my old job, my business circles, newer friends, second cousins, more distant ones, etc. Truly humbling and flattering.

After a long day at work, I headed back to the hotel, then went across the street to the same brewery I had mentioned in a previous post and had dinner. I really don't like a fuss being made about my birthday, so was perfectly content to have a nice meal and a couple of pints. Still, I have to say that the greetings that poured in all day long were very warmly received.

It's kind of interesting: Last year at this time, I was an out of work Aquarian able to spend a nice day skiing. As a telecommuter, I hadn't been in an office on my birthday in a long time; in fact, I believe I've been skiing on a number of recent ones. This was the first time I was in an office on my birthday in probably 6 or 7 years. Still I have to say that I am in a better place on this birthday than I was last year, and it has nothing to do with my new sign. Plus, I still get to ski on weekends...

What time is it?

2011-01-18T20:39:00.003-05:00

Psst...there's now another good reason for you to stop by here from time to time. Now, you can do more than read about my bemoaning of the failings of Big Blue or my discussions of baseball, skiing, travel, and ancestry; and more than gaze at pictures of the general backyard landscape. You can come here to check the time. That's right, if you want to know the time, just look at that little Widget below all of the search labels to the right.

And I don't mean approximate time. I mean official atomic-clock time, courtesy of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. If the clock on your computer shows a different time, it's wrong. If your watch shows a different time, you should reset it. This clock is spot-on accurate. Thank you, NIST friends.

Hey, my computer clock is off by 4 seconds...

Just a few shovelfuls

2011-01-12T22:09:00.020-05:00

With all the snow we've had so far, and a brand new pair of skis to boot, it pains me that I have only hit the slopes once this winter. Or, maybe the pain comes from a few rounds of clearing the driveway, the steps, the walkways, the deck, etc.

Just the same, here are some pictures from around the lot. I didn't take any after the storm that cut short my Christmas visits to family. That one dropped something like 15 inches around here. The ground was still mostly covered when we got hit with about six inches last Thursday night. I snapped this one after that:

Here's a similar picture with a fresh foot on top of the snow that was already there:

Moving behind the house, here's one of a junco (which for years I had been mistaking for chickadees), one of many birds that hang out near my deck, and obviously undeterred by a little snow on the handrail:

Tomorrow, I'll be shoveling the rest of the deck, but at least I can get out if needed:

And, I can get to the grill if the desire for a grilled burger or steak strikes:

Had I been thinking, I might have tried skiing down the steps just once before clearing them:

(ok, not really.)

Anyway, let's take a look at the winter landscape. I posted long ago about the long winters, and the resulting appeal of evergreens. Here is one of my boxwoods...

(it's green, really!) and here is one of my Alberta spruces:

This is a dogwood. I got suckered into buying it when seduced by the fact that its red branches stood out nicely against the snow. I had forgotten until walking around with my camera:

And, I would be remiss in not offering a picture of my viburnum. Sure, its symmetrical shape is evident in winter...

Well, regardless, it doesn't matter how much time I put into the yard: the bare spots, the weeds, all look the same when blanketed in snow:

I haven't seen anything take refuge in that birdhouse visible above, but they do like sunflower seeds:

Now, what am I going to do about the snow on the roof?

Trying to clear some of that will no doubt result in more pain. Still it's winter in the Hudson Valley. Nothing too unusual.

When not making the playoffs has you posting a week later

2011-01-07T19:46:00.007-05:00

So, the playoffs start tomorrow, and Big Blue is not in the picture. They just didn't make the cut. I let my brother-in-law make the preceding post, and I can't say I disagree with him in that I don't blame the schedule makers. I don't even blame their bad luck in playing east of the Mississippi River. See, 7-9 records only work out west. But, regardless of any Tweet or Facebook post I may have made, that's not to blame.

The schedule is what it is. I actually like its formulaic design, as it promotes great rotation. You know your team will get to play against every team at least every four years. That only two games (you know, the two games you have a tough time explaining to others when asked how the NFL comes up with each team's opponents) are specifically scheduled against teams with a similar division ranking is not remarkably conducive to parity, but it's a fine way to complete a 16-game schedule. If parity were the objective, maybe the schedule could be altered so that, instead of playing a complete division in the opposing conference, the team would play four games against similarly ranked division teams in that conference. But, I like the idea of playing every team in the NFL on a somewhat steady rotation.

I believe momentum is more at play in determining a team's fate. Since the preceding post brings up the 2007 Giants, I will happily recount my thoughts of that team. Into the second half, the Giants did not give the appearance of being glory bound. A four-interception game against the Vikings in late November stands out. But, they started to turn things around after that. Against the Bills, Bradshaw had a breakout game, and suddenly, the Giants had another real threat in the backfield to go with the bruising Jacobs. With Ward, Earth, Wind & Fire was born. Further, Steve Smith emerged as a third receiver, big on third downs and playing the middle of the field, pulling coverage from established threats Burress and Toomer. Meanwhile, the Patriots, who had been destroying opponents, had tough games against the Ravens and Eagles. They won, but they were suddenly playing closer games, and some of the older players on defense didn't play as sharply.

When the playoffs rolled around that year, I was not surprised that the Giants beat Tampa Bay--momentum was with the Giants, and TB didn't didn't seem like a far superior opponent. Ditto against the Cowboys the next week: A division opponent led by a QB who had failed in the playoffs the year before, it just felt like a toss up. Then the Giants entered the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field. I did not think the Giants had a chance in that game. But, Manning and Burress had great games, Tynes got enough chances, and Favre threw a late INT. After that game, their momentum was strengthened. Throw away their record, throw away the Patriot's perfect record, and go. I would not have been surprised if the Pats won. But I wasn't shocked that Big Blue won.

Go forward three years. Yes, the Giants play in a tough division. Yes, they only beat one team with a winning record. But, I have little doubt that, had there not been a careless fumble along the sideline in the third quarter against the Eagles, the Giants would have won that game. Had that game unfolded with a Giants victory, well, an 11-win season gets them in the playoffs. But, that fumble happened. And with that fumble lost, momentum was lost. That, more than the schedule, more than any single play, more than anything borne out by analyzing records, is why the Giants are watching at home. Sorry, #82, I blame you.

At least three Wild Card teams have won the Super Bowl, so the idea that the team with the best record deserves to win is shot. A corollary may be that the teams with the best records don't necessarily deserve to make the playoffs. Momentum and finishing strong is how teams win. Will 7-9 Seattle topple the 11-win Saints? The 13-win Falcons? Who knows? That is why they play the game...

When is a 10-win season no better than an 8-win season?

2011-01-05T17:10:00.006-05:00

[You know you've hit the big time in the blogosphere when someone who's written for retrosheet.org and baseballpastandpresent.com asks to fill a page on your blog. The contributor is my brother-in-law, and occasional commenter here, "BB". And, I must say that I like that I now have four posts up so far in this young year; so what that one was borrowed and this one given...]

Earlier this week, a post on this blog noted that the 2010 Giants’ then 9-6 record reflected who they are – a good, but not great, team. In fact the Giants added another victory and finished with a 10-6 record, and like their fans, they will be experiencing this year’s playoffs from the couch. Blame the players, blame the coaches, blame anyone else you care to for the Giants not making the playoffs this year, but don’t blame the schedule makers. They did their part. A closer look at the schedule the Giants played this year will put their 10-6 finish in perspective.

First a note about NFL scheduling: Beginning with the 2002 season, the NFL has been structured into 8 divisions, each consisting of 4 teams. With that reorganization came the current scheduling formula. Each team plays a schedule consisting of 6 games against its 3 division-mates, 4 games against the teams in one of the other divisions within the same conference, 4 games against the teams in one of the divisions in the other conference, and 2 games against the remaining conference teams that finished the previous year ranked similarly in their divisions. By this formula, the 2010 Giants played Dallas, Philadelphia, and Washington twice each (NFC East); Chicago, Detroit, Green Bay, and Minnesota (NFC North); Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, and Tennessee (AFC South); and Carolina and Seattle (like the Giants, third place finishers in 2009).

This method of scheduling has several consequences. One is that teams in the same division play very similar schedules (12 opponents in common with each division foe). Another is that every team plays no less than 2 games and no more than 12 games against teams that will end up in the playoffs. This might seem like a wide range (and it is), but the extreme values can come about only under extreme circumstances. Most teams play 4 to 8 games against playoff-bound opponents, with 6 being the average.

So, let’s have a look at the Giants’ 2010 schedule. Big Blue’s opponents were an aggregate 24 games below .500 in 2010, at 116-140 (that’s counting records of division teams twice, since the Giants played them twice). You might prefer to subtract the Giants’ contribution to that aggregate record. With this adjustment in place, the opponents still have a record of 110-130. While there might have been teams that played weaker schedules (check San Diego’s, for example), the poor showing of the Giants’ opponents raises serious questions about just what the G-Men accomplished in finishing 10-6.

The Giants posted 7 wins against teams that rightfully can be called lousy: 6 against teams that finished 6-10 (Houston, Detroit, Dallas, Minnesota, and Washington twice) and one against the 2-14 Carolina Panthers. There’s nothing wrong with beating up on lousy opponents. That’s a necessary part of a successful season – necessary, but not sufficient. The Giants’ other wins came against 8-8 Jacksonville (ho-hum), 7-9 and playoff-bound Seattle (also ho-hum), and 11-5 Chicago (hey, one good victory in 16 games!). Ironically, I was very slow to come around to believing that the Bears were a legitimate team this year, so it’s only recently that the Giants have gained my respect for having earned that Week-4 win. In fact, a week later, I considered the effort against Houston to be a better win. No doubt I was too heavily swayed by the pre-season hype of the Texans as the latest team to challenge the Colts for the AFC South title, as well as the prognostications that the Bears would finish behind Green Bay and Minnesota (not necessarily in that order) in the NFC North. I was enthusiastic about the win against Houston at the time, but seeing that they went on to a 6-10 finish, my enthusiasm has faded. As for Giants’ losses, they came against a couple more lousy teams (6-10 Tennessee, 6-10 Dallas), as well as the more respectable Indianapolis, Green Bay, and Philadelphia twice (all went 10-6, all are in the playoffs). In all, the Giants played 6 games against playoff teams, posting a respectable 2-4 record. I say respectable, because let’s remember that playoff teams win about two-thirds of their games. Oh, but let’s also remember that one of those wins was against Seattle, who won considerably less than two-thirds of their games.

For contrast, let’s look at last season. The 2009 Giants finished a middle-of-the-road 8-8 in 2009, but they played a very difficult schedule. Their opponents (division foes plus NFC South, AFC West, Arizona, and Minnesota) were 137-119, or 18 games above the .500 mark. The Giants played 8 games against playoff-bound opponents, winning two (both against 11-5 Dallas). So, weigh this: in 2009, 8-8 against a +18 schedule with two good wins; in 2010, 10-6 against a -24 schedule with one good win. From this perspective, 8-8 looks better than 10-6, much better. Strange, especially since all season long we heard (seemingly from all directions and from all manner of experts) how the Giants were so much better this year than last.

I can’t resist one more comparison – to the 2007 season. Like 2010, the Giants were 10-6 in 2007, but unlike 2010, they played a difficult schedule. Their opponents were 8 games above .500 (12 games above if you factor out the wins and losses contributed by the Giants). Only one of the Giants’ wins in 2007 came against any of the 6 playoff-bound teams they played, and that was against the 9-7 Redskins, so really, you could say that there were no good wins that year. That is, no good wins until the playoffs, when Big Blue (wearing their road Whites) strung together four in a row.

That’s the problem comparing to the 2007 season. That was the year that provided exceptions to all the rules, including the one that says that a 10-6 team should be sitting on the couch on Super Bowl Sunday.

sliced tongue: YOU'RE GOING HOME If you're a child of the '70s a...

2011-01-04T21:54:00.001-05:00

sliced tongue: YOU'RE GOING HOME

If you're a child of the '70s a...: "YOU'RE GOING HOME If you're a child of the '70s and can claim to be untouched completely by Baker Street, well then you're a liar or someth..."

A more Giant problem

2011-01-02T14:39:00.008-05:00

Dear Big Blue-

I just said a few things to #82 that I hope you've already addressed. See, I simply think he's been too careless with the football lately. Yes, I'm basing that off of just a few plays, but we have so few players that are really good at hanging onto it that I hate to see another one fall victim to fumblitis.

Now, what is up with this? Players go through it, I know, but to this degree? I remember when Tiki had his issues, and the problem got corrected. Why are the same players on this team repeatedly putting the ball on the ground? The extent to which Bradshaw fumbles is ridiculous, but even Jacobs is too careless with it. In fact, I knew he was in trouble on his breakaway run in the Packers game, and was hoping he'd turn out of bounds before it was poked away--you'd think the coaches might have the players prepared for situations like that.

But, fumblitis is only half of the problem on offense, isn't it? What is going on at quarterback? Now, the most famous play of Eli's career was the sling pass to Tyree in the Super Bowl. He is something of a chucker. But, the interception rate is easily as ridiculous as the fumble pace. And, we know they are not all the QB's fault. Some passes get tipped or bounce off the receiver. Other times, the receiver runs the wrong route. Those are easy to pick out, because you can see the QB let the receiver know that they failed. Now, this is my big issue--Eli admonishes players who screw up, whether they miss a block, run the wrong route, or whatever. Who does this to him when he screws up? There are plenty of times I wonder why he doesn't take a sack and protect the ball. Instead, he fights and fights, and then throws off his back foot or slings it side arm. Ok, he hasn't thrown a left-handed pass since week 2, but that doesn't mean he's been smarter with the ball either. Eli has thrown 30 touchdowns this year. That's incredible. He's also thrown 24 ints. That too is incredible. And, even more incredible is that the coaching staff hasn't been able to do anything at all to curtail this.

Just like the running backs fumbling, a quarterback giving away possessions is a problem requiring attention. It seems to me that the comfort level between the quarterback and head coach is too high.

This head coach won us a Super Bowl, which is an awesome feat. But, the team he's coaching now is remarkably undisciplined. Changes are needed.

As I said to Mario, I'm rooting for you, Big Blue. Take care of the ball today. And good luck.

Sincerely,
HKHWR

PS: I realize that I thoroughly let the defense off the hook with these pregame posts. Surely, better defense could have covered up some of the problems on offense. But, I'm really not sure how good this defense is. They've looked great at times, and horrible at others. The fact is, outside of the Bears and Jaguars, I don't think the Giants have beaten anybody that currently has a winning record. They're 9-6, and I think that is who they are: a 9-7 or 10-6 team at best.

Part of a Giant problem

2011-01-02T13:56:00.005-05:00

Dear Mario-

I know it's a little close to game time for you to be receiving this, but, well, I was hoping someone might give you that smack in the head the coaching staff clearly isn't.

See, should Big Blue fail to make the playoffs, I will long remember how the season unraveled the second you dropped the ball along the sideline in the third quarter of that crushing loss to the Eagles two weeks ago. Yes, tons wrong occurred after that play, but, had you simply taken care of the ball, we'd have run some time off the clock, maybe a lot of time, and, who knows, maybe the Eagles would have taken Vick out at some point shortly thereafter. (And, even if that is unlikely, it is much more likely for time to run out before that infamous punt return.) Instead, there was that long TD run by the opposing tight end, the completely unready set up against the onside kick that followed, and, in a flash, score, score, score. Now, you're nowhere near the team leadership in the fumble department, no you're not. Still, that was a devastating, careless play.

Well, things happen, and players move on, right? So, what happened against Green Bay? You score on a beautiful 85-yard TD play. Why, why, why, though, did you slow down near the goal line? I saw it, and thought it ridiculous that there be any kind of showboating given what had happened last week and what the scoreboard in this game showed.

Then, later in the game, after catching a ball along the left sideline, as you tried to pick up more yards, you held the ball out, with your right hand?! Why? Why leave it unprotected like that? Did you forget what happened last week? Tuck the damn ball. Hold on tight. Who knows what was said to you after each game, but I hope you heard it from your coaches at some point.

This kind of play says to me it's time for the Giants to change coaches. Undisciplined play is not the hallmark of teams vying for playoff contention, let alone championships.

Good luck today. Take care of that ball. You're our number 1 receiver--I'm rooting for you.

Good luck, Big Blue.

Sincerely,
HNHWR

"Bah, Humbug"

2010-12-26T09:35:00.009-05:00

There are, of course, many versions of "A Christmas Carol", but to me there are only two Scrooges: Alastair Sim and George C. Scott. I always make a point to see the version starring one or the other at this most wonderful time of year, and the other night I watched the older one.

Alastair Sim is the definitive Ebeneezer Scrooge. From the bitter Scrooge, to the frightened Scrooge, to the reborn Scrooge, he wins. Scott was great too, but this year Sim did it for me. Patrick Stewart? Please. Albert Finney?! That's the musical version, right? I don't think so.

Beyond the lead character, I think the Scott-starring version has a better Bob Cratchet and Fred. As for which has the better Jacob Marley and Tiny Tim, I'll call a draw. The Scott version pulls away, though, for its better ghosts, and I don't mean the better special effects afforded by 33 years of advances in this department. And, there is no better ghost ever than Edward Woodward as the Ghost of Christmas Present, nor a better line delivered than when he opens his robe to reveal the two orphans, offering the novel's often quoted warning "They are your children. They are the children of all who walk the Earth, unseen. Their names are Ignorance and Want. Beware of them, for upon their brow is written the word ‘Doom.’ They spell the downfall of you and all who deny their existence." Absolutely chilling. Great words and superbly presented.

Both are among my few remaining video tapes, and may very well be doomed, as the words "Video Calibration" did flash on the TV a number of times during the 90 minutes I watched the Sim version. When I'm done here, I am going to Amazon, where I will buy these 1951 and 1984 classics on DVD.

Anyway, this Christmas weekend had me prepared to drive 140 miles four straight days, visiting family and making merry. A blizzard warning forced me to change that to two days of 140-mile drives and one day of nearly 280 miles. That change of plans also is preventing me from seeing some of the family. Bah, humbug.

Still, there is one more version of "A Christmas Carol" worthy of a nod, and, so, from Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol, I'll end this with, well, musical number...

I hope your holidays were anything but a humbug. Merry Christmas!

Why Big Blue, Why?

2010-12-20T19:31:00.004-05:00

Why did you change your evil ways? For the first three quarters, this game seemed well in hand, thanks to some wicked good, merciless play on both sides of the ball. Then, a mistake here, and a mistake there changed things. Changed things to one of the most painful losses I remember from this team, and there have been plenty of those.

Now, before I continue, let me note that the last time I devoted a post to the play of Big Blue was after their first few games, where I saw what everyone else did—a weak team that some were writing off (I didn’t). Then they played the month of October brilliantly, really looking like the team to beat in the NFC for a stretch, in fact. I didn’t blog about them then because, well, life, or simply writer’s block, got in the way. Yeah, there were struggles against the Cowboys and Eagles, but they rebounded again, and set up the big matchup in the Meadowlands this past Sunday.

When all is said and done, they’re a 9-5 team, and they really seem like one: Playoff worthy, but not upper echelon.

Anyway, I was antsy all morning, rotating between every available media source to keep up with friends and pregame analyses. The Eagles have the Giants number, but I had a good feeling about this game. I normally don’t against them, but I did yesterday.

Then the game came on, and the Giants proved more than up to the task. I had this post halfway written in my head early in the game. I was all over the things the announcers discussed:

O’Hara, back after an extended absence, looked overmatched early, and the running game suffered. Then he got his legs under him, and the offense clicked. Negative rushes turned positive, and passes down the field started flowing. They scored, and scored plenty.

On defense, number 1 pick JPP blocked passes, and two other recent number 1 picks in the secondary played like it. Oh yeah, Vick got hit. A lot. Between Rolle and KP and those brilliant corners, everything clicked, as none of the Eagles sprint squad got open for Vick bombs. There was one play where KP blitzed, occupied a lineman, and then broke off the block and kept Vick in front of him, chasing him to the sidelines. Superman was on.

So was Super Mario: Two touchdowns—the latter a great effort by him—gave the Giants a nice lead. And they kept scoring. 24-3 at half-time! Sweet!

All my Facebook friends who are Giants fans were in a frenzy. All my Facebook Eagle fan friends (yes, I have a good number of them) were silent. I remember thinking at that point that they’ve been oddly merciful to me during this streak, and, should this game play out this way, that I would, well, I would be happy about the Giants, but I would do no taunting.

Little did I know.

Then the misplays started. First Super Mario just let go of the ball. Then Superman missed a tackle. And little went right after that. That aggressive defense went into prevent mode. Instead of four defensive linemen and miscellaneous LBs and DBs blitzing, trying to get hits on Vick, it seemed that about four players stayed in, and everybody else retreated at the snap. Even the defensive linemen! I mean, Canty and Tuck 20 yards downfield? C’mon, man. Instead of Rolle and Phillips playing up tight, they were moving backwards at the snap. A lot of QBs would rush for big yards against this style of defense. But, Vick? He scorched it. I think my complexion matched the Eagles’ uniforms when Vick broke down the sideline, with Ross futilely chasing him.

In a lot of the Giants’ wins, it seemed that they’ve made mistakes that could cost them against better teams. That happened Sunday. The Eagles scored three touchdowns in no time, tying up the game. But, Big Blue got the ball one more time. They couldn’t get a first down, let alone drive for a field goal, and so had to punt, and a rookie punter is looking like the goat right now. But that game should not have come down to him, not even close. No, this should not have ended up the second worst loss I’ve ever seen by them.

I remember the infamous Pisarcik fumble well, but that's become almost comical. The Giants were not going anywhere that year. "The Whiff" playoff loss to the Bears in 1985? Nah. The Super Bowl loss to the Ravens? Well, I was stunned that they were in the Super Bowl in 2001, and they were simply overmatched. Flipper Anderson running down the tunnel in the OT playoff loss in 1990 hurt, as did the Vikings comeback playoff win in 1997. But, nothing was as bad as the 2003 playoff loss to the 49ers. Not only did the Giants blow a huge lead, but the game was also decided by some very poor officiating. That game killed me.

The game yesterday just made me really sick.

A half empty glass of ginger ale

2010-12-08T18:08:00.008-05:00

After a long stretch out of work, I was quite relieved to land a nice job with a really good organization. I'm telecommuting, but they've put me up in a perfectly nice hotel a few times here in Virginia, as I get some on-site training, build familiarity with the team, and all that.

One of the perks about the hotel is the extreme cordiality of its staff. I've run into four people at the front desk (it's a small lobby), and am treated with remarkable courtesy every time I pass. A second perk is its proximity to a great brewery: it's directly across the street. Now, I love the Hudson Valley, but I can't walk across the street to get a draught beer, let alone one that is cask-conditioned. In fact, this place often have several cask IPAs on tap (perhaps my favorite style of beer).

Anyway, when I was here a month ago, I went into the brewery two or three times. The staff are friendly and easy going, and the patrons at the bar all seemed fine. In fact, it was here where we watched that thrilling Falcons-Ravens Thursday night game, and the crowd was actually a lot of fun. It was definitely a place I knew I'd visit during this stay.

Each time I was in there last month, I did notice one older man, mid 60s perhaps, sitting in a corner at the end of the bar. I sat two seats away from him on that last occasion, only noting that I had seen him in that seat before. He had a bunch of magazines, Sudoku puzzles (I think), etc, and talked to the bartender and a friend who happened to be with him. I didn't notice at the time, but all he drank was ginger ale.

Well, on Monday, after work, and after dinner, I decided to cross the street and watch the start of the Monday Night Football game. The staff were noticeably low key. I took a seat at the bar, ordered my beer, and started talking to the bartender. He apologized for any lack of cheerfulness, and pointed to the corner seat at the bar. I had noticed something was odd, as some newspapers were neatly arranged and a half-filled glass of ginger ale rested near them. I figured that same guy who had been sitting there just left.

It turns out that the he was staying in the same hotel I was staying: his house had burned down a few months ago, and the insurance company put him up there. Every day, he spent a few hours in the friendly place across the street.

Apparently, shortly after I had checked-in the day before, the man left his seat at the bar, and was killed when struck by a vehicle while walking back to the hotel. I was stunned, saddened at the news, and its obvious effect on the crew.

The next morning, while getting coffee in the lobby, I spoke to the manager, and explained that I was in the bar the night before and heard what had happened. He repeated what I was told in the bar--first the terrible misfortune of having lost his house, and now his untimely death. He added that, upon seeing the Christmas decorations in the hotel lobby, the man had lamented the loss of his decorations, and the hotel staff had been planning to put some in his room.

I went back to the bar last night, saw the same bartender and some staff who are becoming familiar. They seemed in better spirits, but the newspapers were still by that empty corner seat. Along with that glass of ginger ale.

First game at New Meadowlands Arena

2010-11-28T13:21:00.005-05:00

So here I am at the New Meadowlands Arena.

Ok, first of all...hmmm, actually for my first Giants game in their new stadium, I don't know what "first of all" I want to raise. The weather, the trains, the stadium, or the condition of Big Blue.

I left my house at about 8:30. At 28 degrees, there was a perfect autumn chill in the air. I have simply seen too many games wearing short sleeves these past few years. Be it domed stadiums, more southerly ones, more unseasonably warm games (I mean over 70 in Lambeau?!--I was almost tempted to not count that as a real Packer home game...), I'm finally at a game wearing long sleeves, and know I may have a jacket on by half time. Perfect football weather!

Then there was that trip here. Having sat on the exit ramp of the NJ turnpike for over an hour the last time I went to the old Giants Stadium, I'm simply not in a hurry to drive here. But, luckily, I was not in a hurry to get here today. Even with everything perfectly synched and quite reasonably priced, it was a full three hours of train rides: 100 minutes on MetroNorth, plus time on the Shuttle and A subways from Grand Central to Penn, NJ Transit to Secaucus, and then the train from there taking the completely circuitous route around the stadium to its gate. I'll wait until I see what the return trip is like before judging, but kind of hard to complain about no traffic, no parking fees, or the associate hassles of driving, especially at the end of a holiday weekend.

The stadium itself? Hey, it's home. There's not a whole lot that jumps out at me beyond that. I picked up a face-value ticket online this morning, and have a really good seat. What else matters?

The state of the Giants? Hmmm, let's just try to enjoy the game!

Go Big Blue!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

That BBC top-100 book thing

2010-11-21T14:56:00.004-05:00

It strikes me that if I can post my blog entries on Facebook, I should be able to do the reverse. So, what follows is one of those Notes going around, tweaked just a bit for posting here...

The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books listed here.

Instructions: Copy this into your NOTES.

• Bold those books you've read in their entirety.

• Italicize the ones you started but didn't finish or read only an excerpt.

Tag others. Tag me as well so I can see your responses! (Or not, after all reading is not a competition! I'm betting that we're all well over 6 books, and I am curious to see the common ground).

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien

3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling

5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

6 The Bible

7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell

9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott

12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

14 Complete Works of Shakespeare

15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier

16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien

17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk

18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger

19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

20 Middlemarch - George Eliot

21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell

22 The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis

34 Emma -Jane Austen

35 Persuasion - Jane Austen

36 The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe

37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres

39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

40 Winnie the Pooh - A.A. Milne

41 Animal Farm - George Orwell

42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving

45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery

47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood

49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding

50 Atonement - Ian McEwan

51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel

52 Dune - Frank Herbert

53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth

56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

57 A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon

60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov

63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt

64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas

66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac

67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy

68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding

69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie

70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens

72 Dracula - Bram Stoker

73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson

75 Ulysses - James Joyce

76 The Inferno - Dante

77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome

78 Germinal - Emile Zola

79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray

80 Possession - AS Byatt

81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker

84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert

86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

87 Charlotte’s Web - E.B. White

88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom

89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery

93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks

94 Watership Down - Richard Adams

95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute

97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas

98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare

99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

I would not be surprised if I read a few more and have forgotten, nor would I be surprised if it was that I was supposed to read some of these and either didn't or didn't finish. But, close enough. I do like that "Hamlet" is listed separately from Shakespeare's other works. Finally, I have no idea what 23 or 26 were, but I will guess that I read them...

I put a quarter in, really!

2010-11-15T21:22:00.009-05:00

November 15, 2010

Dear Sir or Madame:

While on a week-long business trip, I made plans to meet a friend of mine in Bethesda on Tuesday November 9. I arrived at just about 6:00pm, and found parking on Norfolk Avenue. I noticed the spot I pulled into had a non-operating meter. I then saw that the spot to the left of that had a note affixed to its meter stating that it was broken and that two quarters had been inserted. Since the spot to the right of me was vacant, I pulled back. I didn’t notice anything wrong and inserted two quarters. No time registered. Not sure what to do, I looked around, saw nobody to ask, and so wrote a similar note and inserted it into the coin slot. I walked the very short distance to the restaurant on Del Ray and told the host what I had done. He explained that the town is known for issuing summonses and suggested that I move the car to be safe. So I walked back to the car, and pulled into the metered garage on Del Ray.

In the garage, I encountered three more consecutive empty spots. I got out of my car, inserted another quarter into the meter, and nothing registered. By this point, I was not happy. I looked at the first empty spot next to me and saw a small indicator that that meter was also not working! I then looked and saw no such indicator at the spot in which I was sitting. I then walked to the next spot, and that meter actually looked to be working. So, I tentatively inserted a coin, and was elated to see time register. I pulled my car into that spot, and filled the meter mostly with nickels and dimes, since I had run out of quarters from sprinkling your other meters with them.

I went into the restaurant, had dinner, and walked back to my car. It is then when I saw the ticket on my windshield. We took a number of pictures of this meter, wondering why I had received a citation, since there were 21 minutes left, before later realizing that it was from my initial parking mishap.

Because I was away from my car for less than 5 minutes when it was parked on Norfolk, I am surprised that a ticket was written so promptly. That the ticket notes my car as white (it is not; it’s gold/green) suggests that the issuer was hastily filling out the form. It also strikes me as extremely unfortunate and unfair that 5 out of the 6 meters I checked were not functioning. That I moved my car multiple times and inserted coins into a number of meters is indicative that I had zero intent of cheating, or committing any violation. That I was away on business and that I live 300 miles away means I have little recourse here but to pay the $45 fine. Fine. However, I would really like to know how many summonses were issued on 11/9 (and surrounding dates) on Norfolk Ave and in the two spots to the right of mine in the parking garage (I was at spot 7 in there). Or, I would like to know why so many meters are broken and if they are fixed. But, I suspect you’ll simply cash my check without any response.

I’m copying the Chamber of Commerce of your county and town on this letter, as I would be interested to understand if they really want visitors to your town feeling as resentful and unwelcome as the above series of events made me feel.

Sincerely,
HKHWR

Not all the hockey arenas too?!

2010-11-11T20:33:00.002-05:00

So, here I am in the Verizon Center, kind of high up, but still with a clear view of all that is occurring on the ice (1-1, early in the second). I really like the sport, but it is a distant third to baseball and football for me. With those two sports, there is no question about it, my mission is to see every team play at home, and I'm getting close in baseball and am more than halfway there with football. But hockey?

No, I can't do hockey too. Can I? This game makes six arenas (counting that of the defunct Hartford Whalers, who like many CT and surrounding state residents relocated to warmer areas down south), but I really have no touch-them-all desire here. Then again, I guess I'd like to see home games for the Original 6. And maybe the Canadian teams too. Oh yeah, and maybe even that first expansion wave. Well, I don't know. I guess I'll just get to them when the chance arises.

Either way, it's time to get back to enjoying this one, now 2-1 Caps. Go home team!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Top 10 ways I get rid of leaves

2010-11-06T21:19:00.008-04:00

1) I let mother nature blow them away. Coincidentally, this made the neighbor's list of the top 10 most hated ways other get rid of leaves...

2) I crush small handfuls in my hands. You know which leaves I mean: the ones when you open the door and a bunch of them are packed into the corner of the door frame, just waiting to get in the house. If they're dry, and a broom isn't handy, I just grab them, rub them together in my hand, and toss them to the side. That's right; I let them know who's boss.

3) I sweep them out of the garage, the basement hallway, the kitchen, and any other place into which they've made their way.

4) I rake, and I rake, and I rake.

Ok, enough of the enviro-friendly leaf disposal stuff. I have a lot of trees, and sometimes I just need to bring out the big boy toys...

5) I use my leaf blower (gas; not electric) to move them into a small wooded area on the side of my lot. Overuse of this tool, though, was also noted on the neighbor's most hated list...

6) I mow over them, either discharging them into manageable piles, or mulching them into the lawn. This means, though, revisiting step 4. And 10.

7) I throw the baggers on the lawn tractor and suck them up.

8) I use the vacuum on the leaf blower to finely mulch them.

9) I pulverize them with the thermoplastic polycut blades on the mowing head of my grass trimmer! This was my favorite method this year, though one I'm not sure Stihl would endorse. "Thermoplastic" may really understate the cutting power, but plunging my Kombi into leaf piles easily cut their volume in half. Wet leaves or dry--it was not an issue; it was simply a matter of letting the tool do the work. Of course, safety goggles were on the whole time, and I was covered in leaf debris when finished, but it makes the next step much easier...

10) I get my wheelbarrow. You can mulch, pulverize, or whatever all you want, but you cannot make leaves disappear. I am lucky to have a wooded area where I can dump yard debris, but the leaves don't all neatly fall and blow into it. Nope, they get scooped up and carted in there.

Note that I did not mention using a chainsaw. Leaf disposal does tempt me to fire it up and get rid of the leaves at the source, but it hasn't come to that yet. Then again, for as much as I like my maples, it's more than coincidence that I've been planting lots of evergreens and smaller leaf trees like birches.

Finally, I note that tonight is the end of daylight savings time. That means an extra hour of sleep, and I am going to enjoy every single minute of said hour.

With one swing of a pick axe

2010-10-27T18:30:00.021-04:00

Well, a few people have been asking me where the foliage pictures are, so I thought I would share some fall shots from the yard, taken before the leaves really started covering it. First, though, here is proof of the old adage that you can't turn a sow's ear into a silk purse.

I finished restaining the deck a few weeks ago. I'm glad that's done as it looks considerably better than it did a month ago. But, I won't be happy until I have a new one. Or at least do something about the rails. Why it was built with four rails on one side and three on the others has been bothering me for some time. Further, those four rails are all 2X6s while the other sides were made from 1X6s, suggesting that the last side was probably made from leftover wood. Still, if I take the picture emphasizing the nicely turned maple a bit better, the imperfections on the deck don't quite stand out so much...

Here's one of my burning bushes. Travel prevented me from seeing them in their deep red state.

Here is my largest maple, just starting to turn. It too probably peaked while I was away.

In a family-history connected post I mentioned that maple and another, concerned about portions of them that needed to fill out now that a maple squeezed between them was removed. They're getting there, kind of...well, the bigger one is anyway...

Ok, the spruce looks this way all year long, but I like this shot across the yard:

Zooming in on these last two shots, here is my viburnum mariesii. I thought the foliage was salmon, but I've never been good with colors. I just know I like it.

What color would you call this?

In front of the viburnum are some Montauk Daisies.

I was given a few of these not long after I moved in. Deer or rabbits did a number on one of the plants, but I have two others that have been left alone and are doing great. They fill out in a nice circuclar shape without much care at all. In November last year, though, I saw that one stem was growing a good foot away from the rest of the plant. I was about to simply clip it off, when I noticed that it was separate from the rest of the plant. So, I grabbed my nearby pick axe, and aimed to cut through to the roots with the flat end, hoping to break the offshoot away cleanly. I took one deft swing, hit my mark, and lifted the plant with some roots right on that flat end of the axe. Figuring it was 50/50 that something would grow from this (it was past the growing season up here), I threw it in the cold ground with some fertilizer.

This past spring, a dried-up remnant of what I had planted was all that remained, but I left it alone. A few weeks later, however, some green leaves started emerging. Now I have this, all from one swing with my trusty pick axe:

These daisies, though, are the last thing to bloom here. The next picture I post from the yard will probably have snow...

Panthers-49ers

2010-10-26T22:39:00.005-04:00

So, the drive to Fredericksburg and back wouldn't have been bad, but the shorter drive to Manassas on Saturday was desirable because of what I planned on Sunday: a day trip to Charlotte, NC.

Yep, I was ticking another football stadium off the list.

And, Bank of America is a fine place to watch a game. You can't tell from my picture, but just to the right of the frame, some of the city's nice skyline comes into view. One thing you might notice from the picture, however, is the number of empty seats, which may be expected when an 0-5 team hosts a 1-5 one. And there were plays in the game that reflected their records, including a pathetic pass right into the gut of a defensive tackle, although that led to a remarkable TD return, not to mention that there was a 55-yard field goal, and, most important, a nice 10-point fourth-quarter comeback for the home team.

Plenty of fans for the 49ers were present, but there was no anomosity shown by the friendly, easy-going Panthers fans.

It was a good game, and a fun day was capped when I got to meet up with an old friend who now resides in NC. One last note was the site of Charlotte airport--a hub for US Airlines--that evening, where fans wearing uniforms for most every team in the NFL could be seen. Clearly, I am not the only one who thinks hopping on a plane for a game isn't crazy...

As a footnote, I'll note that my mobile blog app has been down for a few days. I actually had this post ready to go yesterday, but just gave up and pasted the text into my bookmarked blogger page on my phone. Then, I tweaked it on my laptop, where I will no doubt spot a typo right after posting...

Manassas

2010-10-25T18:16:00.009-04:00

After visiting Antietam last weekend, I decided to visit another battlefield this past Saturday. Which one, though, was the question. Even at breakfast, I was torn between Fredericksburg and Manassas. I've been to both, more than once in fact, but not to either in 10 years. The last time I was at Fredericksburg, it rained most of the 4 or 5 hours we had alloted for this stop (one of about seven battlefields my Dad and I saw on that trip), and we knew there were things we missed.

Manassas, though, was the shorter trip this weekend, and one of my favorites based upon earlier visits. The impressive statue of Stonewall Jackson that welcomes visitors sets the mood for the day: You sense right away the history that took place here.

I also like that it is so easy to cover much of the battlefield with some nice hikes right from the visitor center. Before doing that, though, a 40-minute movie about the battles is a must see, as is a remarkable lighted map that shows the movements of the two armies during both Bull Run campaigns. After watching these, walking the trails allows you to get a sense of how the action took place in 1861 and 1862.

Do watch where you walk though, as this crossed in front of me down by the Stone Bridge...

A beautiful October Saturday was well spent here. (And I hope to get such a day in at Fredericksburg soon...)