He Knew He Was Right

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 Powered by ShowMeBlogger.com

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 previo...

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...

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 gr...

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 b...

[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 sch...

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..."