Number 1?

How does a rookie come to have the #1, especially in baseball with such tradition?

I believe that at the end of the season player paid back part of his salary or didn't accept a bonus because he didn't think he played well enough to deserve it. That is a classy move.

Cleveland Hot Dog - Delicious Summer 2012

Cleveland Indians 2012

Day 26 -Bats

Did you know that a quiet weekend is never quiet, and that a bat found in the house in the morning is bad. Especially if you don't know when it came in. Apparently bats can bite you while you are asleep and you may not even know it. Apparently bats are one of the animals that routinely carry rabies. Apparently where I live there have been 6 animals identified with rabies in through April 2012. Fortunately the local emergency room has plenty of vaccine for it. Unfortunately it takes a lot of shots to get it done. Our Saturday started quite enough until my oldest said that we have a bird upstairs. Great. More of a pain to get out but nothing too dangerous. I go to investigate and decide it isn't a bird but a bat. I manage to isolate it to one room, which turns out to be the messiest room. I close all the other doors and have my wife google catching a live bat. I change into long sleaves and jeans, hat and leather clothes, and with a painting drop cloth in hand go on a bat hunt. I enter the room and can hear but can't see it. I start picking stuff up, shaking it out, open the door and throw it into the hall. I open the windows to allow it to fly out if necessary. Now I have to find it. I hear a scratching noise behind a painting. I moved the painting and saw it. I put the painting back, take a deep breath, and take the painting off the wall, hopping to shake the bat out the window. No such luck. It drops off onto the dresser. I throw the drop cloth over it but realize that the drop cloth is too big. I call out for somebody to get me a pillow slip. As it turns out they are all hiding in the basement. I tell my wife that it is safe to get me a pillow case. After getting the pillow case I return to the capture. I lift the drop cloth and the bat takes off across the room and lands under the dek behind a book. I move the book, throw the pillow case and it is caught. I pick it up and put in in a box outside. In the meantime we have called animal control for our township which is closed on the weekend and it is diverted to the police, who say do do nothing. We check with the kids pediotrian who at first says do nothing, but changes her mind ten minutes later and sends us to the emergency room. 5 hours in the emergency room, 23 shots later we are free to leave. I end up with 7 shots, my wife 5, the boys 4 each and my daughter 3. We have to go back 3 move times in the next 2 weeks to finish the remaining 3 shots. I'm not looking forward to the next quiet Saturday.

Hump in sales as Sydney gets camel burgers

Hump in sales as Sydney gets camel burgers

Day 2

Church - Sermon on being sorry and forgiveness. No baseball for the kids. Out There Outfitters -20% off sale. Black North Face Fleece and Black Padigona Jacket. Pool - Beautiful Day Devon Horse Show - Rode the Ferris Wheel twice with he linger too kids. Sat in the Chairman's box to watch a couple of events. Ate a chicken salad wrap which was just ok, and shared a small bottle of Pinot Grigio with the Mrs. It was bad although I did finish my half to a least remind me n to drink that brand again.

Day 1

All Star Saturday for our Little League. Arrived at the field at 7:30 am. It was a beautiful day, and I was alone. Raked the field and line it. It really looked good. Hang balloons on the outfield fences. Still alone. Start to line the next field and realized that I need to get home again and bring back my own All Star. Got back at about 9 and in the 20 minutes since I had left about 20 other families had arrived and the place was hopping. Our game ended in a 5-5 tie which I thinks great for 10 and 11 year olds. My older son also umpired his brother's game. He also went on and umpired 2 other games that day which meant that I was watching little league games until about 4 pm. Went to the pool for a couple of hours. Started the summer season with a Tecate at poolside. Also had an Avery IPA. Took the boys to see the Avengers at the Movie Tavern. Great idea to be able to eat dinner while watching a movie. Had "The Works" pizza which hit the spot although probably just an average pizza but I was starving. The movie was excellent and a lot of fun. Finally home by about 10 and crashed.

Day 0

Friday before Memorial Day. Office closed at 2:30. Home at 3:30, pick up my boys 4:00 At the Little League field prepping it for the night's game. My team wasn't playing but one of the other coaches needed a hand. I took a good hour and a half. I was really muddy and wet by as other Dads came we got it ready. My oldest son was umpiring and he asked if I would umpire the bases which I love doing. The game was one sided but that is Little League. We got home about 8:30 very tired but happy.

100 Days of Summer

I know we don't have 100 days of summer but we have about that many between Memorial Day and Labor Day. It is a great time of the year. The weathers better, school is winding down for the kids, the pool is open, and vacation plans come together. I have been away for a while but I thought I would document the days from the start of Memorial Day weekend to the end of Labor Day weekend. Nothing more that places, drinks, activities, food. Just stuff. Let's see where it goes.

Quote

Apparently, I'm supposed to be more angry about what Mitt Romney does with his money than what Barack Obama does with mine." -----Anonymous

Accents

A received an email from a work collegue yesterday asking some technical questions. I responded to the email with what to do and said that if she had any questions or if I confused her that she could call me. No more than 5 minutes had past, the telephone rings and the caller ID shows that it is her.

I answer the phone and say "So I must have confused you". The response "No. I just wanted to hear your accent". I never know what to say to that, except laugh.

The accent comment came up again that night at my son's rugby game. I was explaining an aspect of the game to some friends and they said I could tell them anything as they didn't know the game as well as me, but it was especially true because of my accent. Interesting.

What does it mean?

What does it mean when people provide quotes at the end of an email? The quotes I can understand, but I would like to understand the motivation. Does every conversation end in a quote, that had no context to the conversation. Interesting.

A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.."
�- Thomas Jefferson

Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!—Ben Franklin

"Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway." John Wayne

Yazoo

I tried the Yazoo Pale Ale last night in Nashville. An okay ale, nothing special and nothing too wrong. Just an average pale ale.

Jever Beer

I tried the third beer from the recent 6 pack. It was Jever from Germany. It was promising as it was in a green bottle.



It was light, not a strong flavor and easy to drink. It is described as a Pilsener, which is my favorite type of beer. I would recommend trying his one.

Burger.org

As I continue on the Burger quest from 2011, I recently read a review in the local paper about a new burger place located at 19th and Chestnut, where the Snow White Diner used to be.

I collegue was going to Reading Terminal and ask if I wanted anything, I almost said that I would join her but decided to try Burger.org instead. First clue that I was going to be disappointed. Anyway away I went. The second clue was that the decorating wasn't much better than what I remember Snow White to be. The third clue was that a customer walked in, read the menu and walked out.

Like anything it is about the comparisons too. We are lucky in Philly to have a number of very good burger places, but this was just blah. The roll looked promising. It was large and even seeded but it turned out to be too big. The meat was okay but too small, the guacamole and jalepanos didn't add anything tone burger. I was fortunate enough that I took it back to the office to eat it.

All up I score it a 1.9. It wouldn't even go back to give it another try.

Outside Magazine March 2012

Just read an interesting story about playing baseball in San Quentin State Prison in California. The prison team gets to play against outside teams. The only fight in previous seasons was between team mates on the visiting team. The article was written by Abe Streep.

Brooklyn and Bitter American

I hadn't been to Wegmans for months but got there on the weekend, and got a 6 pack of assorted beers. The first I tried was the Brooklyn Pennant '55 Ale. This was a favorable and easy to drink beer. Not overly strong, and a good start with baseball just around the corner.

The Second was Bitter American Pale Ale from 21st Amendment Brewery in San Francisco. What a great beer. Only 4.4% APV, great taste and very easy to drink. I would have this again. I love the name too.

Indy

I made my first trip to Indianapolis this week. Like most business trips I was in and out in just under 30 hours but which is never really enough one to evaluate a city bu initial impressions were favorable. It is clean, and appears to be safe. The people are friendly, like most Midwestern towns, and it seems to be very sports orientated.

I flew in and saw the Indianapolis Motir Speedway from the air. It is huge and a unique way to get the full perspective on its size.

I arrived a my hotel (The Marriott Downtown), only to be told that they had overbooked the hotel. Gut check time. No problem they said. They would upgrade me to their JW Marriott Hotel just a block away and my room would be free. That was awesome. Both hotels had NFL Combine ads all over so I guess they had a number of NFL teams and hopeful players staying their. I saw a number of football types but nobody that I recognized.

I had dinner at St Elmo's Restaurant on a recommendation of a friend. It was very good. The service was exceptional and very fast. The shrimp cocktail is their speciality. 5 good sized shrimp lather in Cocktail Sauce which has a huge amount of horseradish. It is made fresh daily, but we warned it is hot, and will clear out your sinus passages. I followed that with a Rib-eye that was delicious. With each entree they also offer a choice of bean soup or Tomato Juice. I thought the choice was interesting and went with the tomato juice. Sure enough it was just tomato juice.

Dinner was washed down with a Goose Neck Seasonal Ale From Illinois. This was a dark beer, almost black but surprising lighter than it looked. It was easy to drink and not over powering.

New Game

PrimeTime, T-Bone and I were off to a business appointment and continued a conversation from earlier in that day. If you were a state what would you be? PT took California, I took Texas. The Minx was Nevada (because of Vegas). We then went on what if you were a city. If you were dreary probably Seattle, if you were dark and angry maybe Oakland, if you are run down Detriot or Camden. You would be Harrisburg is you are a little out there, and not as successful as you should be.

We then went to New York neighborhoods, and cars. Interesting to see what people think they are and what others think of them too.

Shoe Size

I'm constantly buying shoes for somebody in my house. The kids are always growing out of their shoes, or a new sports season requires a different kind, color or size. What is amazing to me is that so few shoe varieties come in a wide fit. Two people in our house take wide and the rest normal. Why is that?

What happens if pants only came in variable lengths but not widths. That would be uncomfortable too.

Brookside

Getting back into the habit of posting favorite things and random thoughts.

At Christmas I was in Costco (one of my favorite stores) and walked past a sample table of Brookside products. I took a sample, loved it went back for more, and then purchased a packet of Dark Chocoalte Pomegranates. As you can imagine it is small pieces of pomegranate covers in dark chocolate. Absolutely delicious. I can even convince myself of the health effects of fruit and dark chocolate.

6 more weeks

Phil saw his shadow and predicts there is 6 more weeks of winter but the great news is there is less than 24 hours to wing bowl.

Countdownn

What happens in 1 day, 20 hours and 25 minutes? Clue, the greatest sporting event in Philadelphia (at least in winter).

Uggs

When should Uggs be worn? I just saw a professional in our office wearing Ugg slippers. Not the boots, slippers. Very interesting.

Tuck or no tuck

If a grown man wears his favorite team's jersey should it be tucked into his pants? I say probably not.

Ranking Football

As I sit her watching the Texans and Ravens game, and very match wanting the Texans to win I was wondering how I would rank the teams still in the playoffs as of yesterday. They are:

1. Packers
2. Saints
3. Patriots
4. Broncos
5. Texans
6. 49ers
7. Giants
8. Ravens

But what if I looked at all the teams in the NFL? I could divide them between love, like, hate and don't really care.

Of course there can only be one love, being the Eagles.

The hate is easy too, Cowboys, Giants and Ravens.

That leaves 28 other teams to choose.

The likes? Now some of these are because of people I know from these cities and others just because they are not obnoxious at least in my experience.

Broncos, Vikings, Bills, Packers, Patriots, Saints

Now that leaves the rest: Seahawks, Raiders, Chiefs, Rams, Chargers, Cardinals, Bears, Lions, Colts, Jaguars, Texans, Titans, Redskins, Dolphins, Jets, Falcons, Panthers, 49ers, Buccaneers, Steelers, Browns, Bengals.

The ranking is harder. If one team was playing somebody else who would I want to win. Ok here is the order without the I don't cares.

1. Eagles
2. Packers
3. Saints
4. Patriots
5. Broncos
6. Bills
7. Vikings
8 - 28. The also rans
29. Redskins
30. Giants
31. Cowboys
32. Ravens

Best Book 2011

I have a goal to read at least 20 books each year, and have done so for many years. The best book I read this year was Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. It Is a great story of overcoming extreme adversity. After crashing in the Pacific Ocean during the Second World War he survived extreme cruelty in a POW camp only to fight other demons when he gets home. I also read Seabiscuit Hillenbrand's previous book which was also brilliant.

I read other books by James Patterson, Lee Child, David Balducci, Suzanne Collins (first one in Hunger Games series) Stieg Larsson (all 3 in the Dragon Tattoo series), Daniel Silva, Vince Flynn, Adam Carolla, Mark Chisnell, JR Rowling, Brad Thor, Michael Palmer, Stephen Frey, Glenn Beck, Alex Berenson, and Michael Robotham.

Another notable book I read was Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. A good mix between history on the Chicago World Fair and a murder mystery.

Say So Long to Ted’s Montana Grill

A sad day in Philadelphia with the closing of the Center City restaurant. The marvelous Kitchen Sink Burger with Bison is no more. I'm glad I got there one last time in December.

Say So Long to Ted’s Montana Grill