Cleaning out the inbox....
We got something for everyone in this entry....
So I am actually using Microsoft Word 2007, which is part of the Office 2007 suite that was released by Microsoft a few months ago, for this blog entry. It's actually kind of cool since the editing features in Microsoft Word are way more robust than they are in Microsoft's Live Writer product, which is still in beta. If any of you use Word 2007 and blog, just go to the 'New' option and you will see an option to create a blog entry. You'll then be prompted for your blog's login information and you should be all set. J
Let's kick it off with one of my biggest pet peeves in sports (other than my team losing) – refs/umps impacting the outcome of a game with a blown call and of course, the game can't be appealed after it has ended. Well it happened tonight between a very close game between the Yankees and the Mariners. The replays showed it wasn't even close that a base runner was out (would have ended the inning), but the ump declared the runner safe. Of course, that runner scored on a broken bat single on the next play. That runner, Willie Bloomquist, offered this gem of a quote, "We'll take it. It's just a good thing there's no instant replay in baseball." Well Willie – glad you gave yourself some 'good karma'. Harv always says something along the lines of what comes around, goes around. I look forward to seeing it come around.
Refs/umps have a role in sports, but they should not be trying to steal the spotlight from the players and influencing the outcome of the game. The ump should be suspended without pay but most professional sport leagues never hold their officials accountable. Once again, Bud Selig is a joke. I guess at least we can say we split the series 2-2 with Triple A pitching and we have the Rocket coming back. And we found another young pitcher for down the stretch when all of the Red Sox pitchers get injured, as they typically do in the 2nd half of the year.
Enough of that - moving on to YCMSTU – Sports Edition, I guess it's never too soon to start bulking up your kid to be a sumo wrestler. Tanya, Greg, Lisa, JB, Glenn and Gwen – are you reading? Continuing with the sports topic, this has got to be one of the funniest videos I have seen in awhile (you have to listen to the audio commentary to get the full effect) – only Red Sox fans and announcers can create this kind of drama.
More of YCMTSU – Current Events Edition, we have found a dry cleaner that is being sued by a judge for $65 million (yes, that is US dollars). I can't even believe that a judge would do something so ludicrous given how many of them complain about how litigious our society has become.
Going back to my employer, did you all know that Microsoft hosted the Pac-Man World Championship? My mom (aka Big Yves according to my bro-in-law) used to be quite the Pac-Man player when we had it on our home computer in the 80s – an Atari 800, I believe. But her real passion was around Lock-N-Chase (scroll all the way down), a game created for the Intellivision console, which competed directly with the Atari 2600 game console.…. and BTW, Intellivision kicked the 2600s ***! When I was about 10 years old, I used the Atari 800 to help Harv out with cataloguing his sales and I guess I belted out one day something along the lines that quality (aka $/sale) was way more important than the quantity of sales. I guess it was one of those moments that made him realize that I was wired slightly different than most kids – I'm sure there were other less flattering ones as well.
Continuing on the video game theme, I hear that Sony's Playstation 2 has now been banned from prisons in the UK. Yes, you read correctly, prisons in the UK provided inmates with the opportunity to play videogames. I wonder if they will have videogames where Paris Hilton is going, since she was sentenced to jail for 45 days. Good one. Anyone from the UK want to comment on prisons having PS2s?
Moving over to another favorite topic – food. More from the UK – now this has to be riveting TV. Think I may go back to the BBC the next time I am across the pond. Just kidding, the BBC has some good programming and blows away any local news that you would find in the US.
I found this article in the NYT about how to avoid 'mindless eating' to be pretty accurate. I have no self-control when it comes to sweets. I see them, I eat them. This causes a conflict with Marc as he has a sweet tooth that is more controlled, so we have solved this by putting things in hidden locations throughout the house out of my reach. With Marc being a foot taller than me, this is not too hard. J
Frank Bruni, the lead NYT's food critic, wrote this great blog entry. It really gives me perspective as a foodie because when I was 15 years old, Shake 'n Bake with Chicken Rice-A-Roni was considered gourmet (no offense, Big Yves). As Ian likes to say, I didn't even really eat onions until I was about 22 years old and then things took off from there. I couldn't ever imagine appreciating Le Bernardin (#26 in the world – and yes, it is all that and a bag of chips) at even 22 years old, let alone the age of the students who Mr. Bruni took along for the gastronomic adventure. Excellent stuff.
It would be sad if Chumley's had to close. I have spent many evenings at this speakeasy when I lived in the Village, although looking back – the beer is awful (note Marc's influence here). It took me a long time to get over Grange Hall's closing (scroll halfway down the page). I still have not been to the restaurant that replaced it, even though I have been told it is very good. Guess I am not over it yet.
NY'ers – cutting in line in Washington State may violate the law soon. Take note for when you visit. We can't agree on how to manage serious traffic congestion issues, particularly on bridges that can fall with one major earthquake, but our legislators can focus on drafting legislation to deal with line cutters.