Hodgepodge

• Big big day today in history. Back in 1912, Jack met Rose and they had a very short and wet courtship. Or put plainly, the Titanic sank. For all you sports fans out there, today is also the day (back in 1965) that Havlicek stole the ball. And perhaps the most important thing to happen today, in 1947 Jackie Robinson became the first black to play major league baseball. This wasn't only huge for sports, this was also huge for our country. If you haven't read Arnold Rampersad's Robinson bio, I highly recommend it. And to think, baseball was only Robinson's fourth best sport (behind basketball, football and lacrosse)...
• Tv recommendations: The Unusuals on ABC, on after Lost and pretty darn entertaining. Sure it's another cop procedural, but the characters are interesting and the dialog if fun. Castle, again on ABC, is another fun watch. The cases are a little mundane, but the writing and chemistry between the actors is great, plus I really like Nathan Fillion. And Southland, on NBC (also know as the cop show with the kid from the OC). First episode bounced around a lot, but I'll give it time to tighten up. A very watchable 10pm show though. Apparently, I like police shows, go figure...
• Links: so you know that show America's Got Talent, well this clip comes from the British version. I don't care if you like the show or not, you should watch this clip... This one is a little tougher to explain, but it's pretty funny...

Old Versus New

I'm having a bit of an old fogey moment. I like things the way they are and I don't want them to change, specifically, Tropicana..

Old label, versus new label...

I don't know about you guys, but I like the old one way much better. In fact, it actually bothers me that they changed it. Why would they? It's one of the most recognizable brands out there, why make it look generic and boring? I just don't understand... did they learn nothing from 1985's Coke incident...

Two More Points..

First, before I forget, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my dad and uncle. I won't say how old either of them are, but let's just say it's oooooold...

Second.. Direct Tv is awesome. Not only did I get the CBS feed for the Masters, but there were four additional channels showing golf too. One showing exclusively Amen Corner, one showing the 16th and 17 holes and two just bouncing around the course. Really entertaining stuff...

Happy Easter

Good weekend all around for us. Headed down to Boston Friday morning and spent the afternoon walking around the city. In a sad turn of events, the wife seems to have lost her Barbie feet. Ever since I've known her, she's never complained about her feet hurting while wearing heals. Well apparently two years in Maine have cured her of her strong arches. The feetsies (as she calls them) were killing her after walking around for a couple of in heels.

We had dinner that night with my parents and my brother and my future sister in law. It was great seeing everyone, and there's always a ton of laughs to be had. The biggest laugh is always from the wife, who after all this time, still thinks it's funny to see my brother in his police uniform..

Saturday I hit the batting cage with a buddy of mine. I've been playing softball for the past ten years, but couldn't tell you the last time I hit a baseball. We had the machine on 75 mph and we each too turns hitting. Surprisingly enough, my swing came back real fast. I guess it's easier knowing that the machine will throw each pitch in pretty much the same spot...

Otherwise, it was a pretty quiet weekend for us. Got to see my grandparents which is always nice too.

In other news, we put the house on the market last week. Not sure what's going to happen yet, but as soon as we figure it out, you'll be the first to know...

Just Waiting

I listen to the radio all day at work, usually flicking between sports talk radio (two different stations) and music (three different stations depending what kind of mood I'm in). At least once a month, each of these stations runs their emergency broadcast signal test. You know that siren-y noise followed by "this has been a test of the emergency broadcast system..." . Well even though I'm used to this test, and have been for years, it still catches my attention. I always think, wow, is this the time it's for real? Obviously it never is, but I still think that. Is that morbid of me?

No news on the adoption front. But I find myself playing on more and more adoption related sites lately. I think it's because I want to keep it front and center in my mind. Technically we've only been "in circulation" since late December, but it feels like forever and a day since we actually started the whole process in July/August...

Things like this, really really bother me... I have no problem at all with you believing in whatever god you choose to believe in. But c'mon people, evolution is a scientific fact! You can have both faith and science in your life, really you can, it doesn't have to be one or the other...

Have I mentioned that I have rediscovered port. I always forget how much I like it, and find myself having more often then before (by more often I mean a glass every 3rd night or something like that, not 10-12 glasses a day). And for the most part, it's pretty inexpensive..

And finally, nice opening day win for the Sox today. Thankfully, the games are on the radio, so I can pretend it's 1950 and listen in.

Good Weekend and Movie Review

Good weekend, nothing crazy but pretty productive. Almost done with the last of the painting around the 3rd floors stairs. Can't wait for that to be finally done.

And it's been raining constantly for the past couple of days here (and is supposed to continue thru the week) which is great for two reasons. First, it's washed away pretty much all the snow (finally!! spring cometh!) which led to our daisy's and tulips poking out of the ground. Bye-bye winter...and you know I just jinxed us and we'll get three feet of snow Tuesday now..

We saw, I Love You Man last night. If you're looking for a really funny movie to see, I highly recommend this one. And it's not just me saying this either. The wife will completely agree with me. She even went into it, not wanting to like the movie (we were supposed to see Witch Mountain, but they cancelled the showing to add a third viewing of Fast and Furious.. i know huh..), but we both laughed our arses off the entire time. And if you do go see it, stick around thru the credits, there's a couple of funny scenes two-three minutes after the credits start to roll.

Made a fantastic burger for dinner tonight too. Beef, with hot sauce, crushed red pepper and taco seasoning mixed in. Nice and spicy, and very tasty. I'm always looking for new ways to prepare a burger so if you have an suggestions, fire away.

Opening Day tomorrow... don't know about you guys, but I can't wait. This means spring is here! (or at least very very very close to being here. that and the fact that I had a Sam Summer, on tap, the other day. good times)

WTF?

So I'm at the gym this morning doing my thang... Now at the gym, they have ten tv's, each tuned into something different. Sportscenter, Good Morning America, The Today Show, Discovery Channel, stuff like that.

Well for some reason this morning, one of the tv's was on PBS. No idea why as there are no children at the gym. There was the most bizarre show ever on. It was these three alien looking things, wearing old school pajamas (you know the ones that button up the front and have the assflap in the back). At one point I glanced up and there was this psychedelic dance sequence going on (i couldn't hear it, only see it) where it looked like something out of a Deee Lite video (groove is in the heeeeeart) and all the alien things were bustin out N'Sync moves (not that i'd know what those were) It was the weirdest thing ever.

What happened to normal kids shows like Tom and Jerry, Mighty Mouse and things like that? What's with the trippy androgynous character stuff? If this is the best PBS can come up with, I think they're just better off showing Masterpiece Theater reruns...