Sometimes things take a long time to happen... a really long time. We hear things in the news regarding weather. Things like the 100 year storm, 100 year flood... I guess it only fitting that it is that way for Chicago baseball.
It's been over 100 years since the Sox AND the Cubs have made it to October baseball... that being the same October that is... and so it has come to pass, both Chicago baseball teams in the post season.
While I am long a Sox fan, I have to give due to those that deserve it... in this case the Cubs. They've had a great season and have the opportunity to go to the World Series... not to take away anything from the Cubs, but the National League isn't overrun with awesome teams, and the Cubs had this all but wrapped up a long time ago. They are my... as Hawk Harrelson puts it... my pick to click for emerging the National League champs. From a record perspective, they were head and shoulders above everyone else in the NL and statistically superior too. Anything less than a ticket to the World Series (in my book) has to be somewhat of a failed season.
Remember though, this is the start of a whole different season, everyone is 0-0 and anything can happen to anyone at anytime. A lot has to do with how you're playing as you enter the playoff season. How dead are your pitchers arms? How slow have the bats become? You have to play your best baseball right now! Everything has to align just right for that to happen and if it doesn't, the best you can hope for is that the other team plays worse than you do. Having said that...
The White Sox weren't even supposed to be here, nor were the Twins... I know, they (the Twins) are not. They're not because of the White Sox. The White Sox aren't favored to beat the Rays (Tampa Bay for those not in the know) and based on what we saw of their (the Sox) play on the road... just see the last road series against the Twins... I can understand why no one is picking them to click in the post season. Like I said though, everything starts out 0-0 and a clean slate. Do I think that the Sox will win? I don't know, but I will say that for me, as a fan, everything hinges on game one. For me, how this is going to go will be seen in game one. Unfortunately, the starter for game one for the Sox has been (of late) pitching more like Charlie Brown. If they manage to steal one with Vazquez (wow, what a great scrabble word his name is) on the hill, then I think that it will give the series a huge swing in the Sox favor.
Will they make it to the World Series if they manage to beat the Rays? Tough to say, unlike the Cubs, the Sox do not have home field advantage throughout the playoffs and would only have it (I'd have to check) but I think that they'd only have it against Boston since they (Boston) are the wild card team. If by some chance the Sox do make it as the AL champs, the Sox would be the home team thanks to the AL winning the All-Star game.
Talk about the stars aligning... I think that IF it were an all Chicago, subway/EL series, they will have to lock the city down. I was talking to Julie, and mentioned the fact that it's been over 100 years since both Chicago teams were in the post season. I went on to say that if the Cubs manage to make it to the Series and the Sox don't, I will probably root for the hapless Cubs, but only for the sake of the city. I guess it's made a tad easier since the Sox won it in '05. I also said that it's one thing if the Sox make it and end up losing to a NL team , it's another thing entirely if that NL team happens to be the Cubs! It would be unbearable. Given that they (the Sox and Cubs) split this season's 6 games, winning in their respective ballparks, that would favor the Sox... the Sox having home field that is.
I think that a Sox Cubs World Series would turn the city on it's ear. There are plenty of friends that are one or the other and it would be great to settle the bragging rights once and for all. The last time were both in the playoffs was in 1906 and that was the World Series... which incidentally, the Sox won. I won't be around in another 100+ years to wait around and see it again. I for one hope to see a Red Line series... with the south side prevailing of course.
I'm going to attempt to blog about the playoffs for both teams for as long as they are in there. I can't say that I will be anything less then Sox biased though. For the record, aside from my mother-in-law being a Cub fan, I have a few (uneducated) Cubs fans for friends.
Let's face it, it's going to be exciting because at this time of the year (year after year) in Chicago, the only team playing is the Bears.
Glad that the Sox play in the afternoon and not at night, then it won't interfere with the debate.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
The Slient Thief...
What is the silent thief you ask?
Aging.
It mockingly and silently moves along without any prompting... as a matter of fact, we celebrate it with cake and ice cream. Oh I understand why we do so. It starts out in your younger years... something every kids longs for... cake, ice cream or sometimes both. It sets a precedent, it grooms us into having it when we're old(er) to remind us of a time when things were made better with cake and ice cream.
Ironically as we age, those cakes should be lower in sugar and higher in whole grain fiber. Imagine if you got that as a kid? A cake that looked like someone dumped the box birdseed into the mix... yuck! Who's mocking whom then?
Life is full of defining moments... marriage, death... though there are those that might argue that there is no difference between the two. Not me of course, but some.
*Cough* Ahem...
Where was I now... oh yes defining moments that mark your aging. Births, graduations, buying a house, buying a car, dealing with a tragedy... something life altering in nature. Watching your kids (for those us who have them) grow up and make a life of their own... though we are a little ways away from that yet.
One could also argue that there a plenty more to add to the list, but for my purpose it goes back to music... again. It's time to start rascal shopping or shopping for a walker when you hear a song from your youth (and you remember when it first came out) being played on the radio.
On the oldies station!
Ouch. The song? Boys Of Summer by Don Henley... circa 1984... almost a quarter of a century ago. I was still a teenager of 19 then ... albeit my last year as such, but a teenager nonetheless. A touch of irony I suppose too in that the song itself is about aging. Can you feel the symmetry?
I know what does that say in that I (from time to time) listen to the oldies station?
As Sonny and Cher said "The beat goes on", for those of old enough to remember that duo let alone their variety show. I know that there are emails a plenty circulating pointing out the good old days. I feel compelled to point something out at a bit of my mom's expense (sorry mom) but she somewhat recently sent an email (like the aforementioned) to my brother and I. A link that plays a montage of music and pictures about and from the 60's. It was fun, and I've seen others like it.
My mom, in her message, said something along the line of "since you were both born in the 60's". While I remembered (if you will) most of what was playing (in the montage) since I was born almost smack in the middle of the 60's... early '65, I can't speak for what Brian remembered. It is true... he was born in the 60's as well, but in a mere three days a new decade began, the 70's. I found it humorous is all, yes, he was born in the 60's alright, all of three days of them.
I realize that I'm missing an even reasonable segue there, but it was something that I had a humorous laugh about when I read what she wrote and I wanted to share it. I imagine that Brian did in fact remember a number of things too, but to what extent I don't know.
It's really more about Brian being a child of the 60's... all three days of them. I imagine that my mom (or anyone else that knows Brian) is doing the math and I want to be clear in that I'm counting the partial day (his birth date) as one of the three days. I know details, details.
Sorry to just prattle on but it's not like I make anyone read this.
Aging.
It mockingly and silently moves along without any prompting... as a matter of fact, we celebrate it with cake and ice cream. Oh I understand why we do so. It starts out in your younger years... something every kids longs for... cake, ice cream or sometimes both. It sets a precedent, it grooms us into having it when we're old(er) to remind us of a time when things were made better with cake and ice cream.
Ironically as we age, those cakes should be lower in sugar and higher in whole grain fiber. Imagine if you got that as a kid? A cake that looked like someone dumped the box birdseed into the mix... yuck! Who's mocking whom then?
Life is full of defining moments... marriage, death... though there are those that might argue that there is no difference between the two. Not me of course, but some.
*Cough* Ahem...
Where was I now... oh yes defining moments that mark your aging. Births, graduations, buying a house, buying a car, dealing with a tragedy... something life altering in nature. Watching your kids (for those us who have them) grow up and make a life of their own... though we are a little ways away from that yet.
One could also argue that there a plenty more to add to the list, but for my purpose it goes back to music... again. It's time to start rascal shopping or shopping for a walker when you hear a song from your youth (and you remember when it first came out) being played on the radio.
On the oldies station!
Ouch. The song? Boys Of Summer by Don Henley... circa 1984... almost a quarter of a century ago. I was still a teenager of 19 then ... albeit my last year as such, but a teenager nonetheless. A touch of irony I suppose too in that the song itself is about aging. Can you feel the symmetry?
I know what does that say in that I (from time to time) listen to the oldies station?
As Sonny and Cher said "The beat goes on", for those of old enough to remember that duo let alone their variety show. I know that there are emails a plenty circulating pointing out the good old days. I feel compelled to point something out at a bit of my mom's expense (sorry mom) but she somewhat recently sent an email (like the aforementioned) to my brother and I. A link that plays a montage of music and pictures about and from the 60's. It was fun, and I've seen others like it.
My mom, in her message, said something along the line of "since you were both born in the 60's". While I remembered (if you will) most of what was playing (in the montage) since I was born almost smack in the middle of the 60's... early '65, I can't speak for what Brian remembered. It is true... he was born in the 60's as well, but in a mere three days a new decade began, the 70's. I found it humorous is all, yes, he was born in the 60's alright, all of three days of them.
I realize that I'm missing an even reasonable segue there, but it was something that I had a humorous laugh about when I read what she wrote and I wanted to share it. I imagine that Brian did in fact remember a number of things too, but to what extent I don't know.
It's really more about Brian being a child of the 60's... all three days of them. I imagine that my mom (or anyone else that knows Brian) is doing the math and I want to be clear in that I'm counting the partial day (his birth date) as one of the three days. I know details, details.
Sorry to just prattle on but it's not like I make anyone read this.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Tell Me Why...
I don't like Mondays...
I should be glad this Monday because the rain finally stopped (after an official O-Hare measurement of over 12 1/2") allowing me to stop with the designing and build of the ark. I should be glad this Monday since after all the rain, our sieve of a basement stayed water free... well, some very mild seepage. In years past with this kind of rainfall, it would look like a marina down there. So it was good to see the cats without their life jackets on. They've been banished to the basement due to a ongoing flea problem. We found out from the vet that they (the fleas) are bad this year... so I suppose we're not alone in that respect.
I did manage to see somewhat of a comical sight... comical in that it was kind of like visual oxymoron. A elderly-ish gentleman was walking down the street with a long over coat, a hat of some type and a SpongeBob umbrella. Kind of made me chuckle and made me think good for him, then I thought any port... you do what ya gotta do.
I suppose that you can't really tell me why I don't like Mondays... and most specifically this Monday.
Let's see, if today's Monday, that means yesterday was Sunday... and if yesterday was Sunday that must mean that the Bears played. They did... for only a half. They gave the game away and should be sitting 2-0 instead of 1-1. Oh well, they have 14 more games.
The Sox just lost an important game, luckily the Twins also lost.
So with all this rain comes wetness. With wetness can come some slipperiness... hence the slippery when wet warning... and so it happened. I was walking and hit a wet piece of wood and it was like I stepped on a banana peel. Suddenly I was skeeching on my right heel and to keep myself from going down I had to take an exaggeratedly wild step with my left foot. Upon doing so (and I'd like to add that I had my steel toe boots on) my left foot met with something solid, something very solid and unmoving. More specifically the toe of my boot, as in like kicking something. Problem was that while my boot stopped, the foot within said boot did not. It continued at a high rate of speed and slammed itself in a crumpled heap against the steel toe... my poor poor index toe, my number #2 toe taking the brunt of it. See, I'm one of those blessed with their second toe longer than the big toe. Under the nail bed is purple and the end of the toe is red and a tad swollen. This was the mother of all stubs.
Yes, it hurts to walk... quite a bit in fact.
Obviously, yet another blatant attempt to delay and put off working on the house.
On the upside, at least I wasn't carrying anyone...
I should be glad this Monday because the rain finally stopped (after an official O-Hare measurement of over 12 1/2") allowing me to stop with the designing and build of the ark. I should be glad this Monday since after all the rain, our sieve of a basement stayed water free... well, some very mild seepage. In years past with this kind of rainfall, it would look like a marina down there. So it was good to see the cats without their life jackets on. They've been banished to the basement due to a ongoing flea problem. We found out from the vet that they (the fleas) are bad this year... so I suppose we're not alone in that respect.
I did manage to see somewhat of a comical sight... comical in that it was kind of like visual oxymoron. A elderly-ish gentleman was walking down the street with a long over coat, a hat of some type and a SpongeBob umbrella. Kind of made me chuckle and made me think good for him, then I thought any port... you do what ya gotta do.
I suppose that you can't really tell me why I don't like Mondays... and most specifically this Monday.
Let's see, if today's Monday, that means yesterday was Sunday... and if yesterday was Sunday that must mean that the Bears played. They did... for only a half. They gave the game away and should be sitting 2-0 instead of 1-1. Oh well, they have 14 more games.
The Sox just lost an important game, luckily the Twins also lost.
So with all this rain comes wetness. With wetness can come some slipperiness... hence the slippery when wet warning... and so it happened. I was walking and hit a wet piece of wood and it was like I stepped on a banana peel. Suddenly I was skeeching on my right heel and to keep myself from going down I had to take an exaggeratedly wild step with my left foot. Upon doing so (and I'd like to add that I had my steel toe boots on) my left foot met with something solid, something very solid and unmoving. More specifically the toe of my boot, as in like kicking something. Problem was that while my boot stopped, the foot within said boot did not. It continued at a high rate of speed and slammed itself in a crumpled heap against the steel toe... my poor poor index toe, my number #2 toe taking the brunt of it. See, I'm one of those blessed with their second toe longer than the big toe. Under the nail bed is purple and the end of the toe is red and a tad swollen. This was the mother of all stubs.
Yes, it hurts to walk... quite a bit in fact.
Obviously, yet another blatant attempt to delay and put off working on the house.
On the upside, at least I wasn't carrying anyone...
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Afternoon Delight...
And not the kind the "afternoon delight" that the Starland Vocal Band was singing about in their song with the same name. Besides, when you have six kids, the "delight" seems to be less prevalent... least of all an afternoon one.
No, this little afternoon delight is more of a chance for me to dodge the mid-afternoon sun for a bit, type out a quick afternoon posting (kind of unheard of, posting in the daylight) and the chance to enjoy a cold coke and some salt replenishing salty pretzels. It also enables me to let my ummm... sweat infested shirt to dry a bit.
I know, probably a little TMI on both accounts, but hey, I didn't make you read it.
So what's the point of all this?
Nothing...
Just killing some time while Julie and the two oldest are at the orthodontist and I have child duties with the other four (luckily one is napping) while they're gone. It also is enabling the paint to dry on a window sill that will be going up when the get back home.
As you were...
No, this little afternoon delight is more of a chance for me to dodge the mid-afternoon sun for a bit, type out a quick afternoon posting (kind of unheard of, posting in the daylight) and the chance to enjoy a cold coke and some salt replenishing salty pretzels. It also enables me to let my ummm... sweat infested shirt to dry a bit.
I know, probably a little TMI on both accounts, but hey, I didn't make you read it.
So what's the point of all this?
Nothing...
Just killing some time while Julie and the two oldest are at the orthodontist and I have child duties with the other four (luckily one is napping) while they're gone. It also is enabling the paint to dry on a window sill that will be going up when the get back home.
As you were...
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Life In The Fast Lane...
Well, I've decided that I will log what I did for the day... just random days... and today will be one of them. Please try to contain yourselves. This could actually serve as being motivational in that it should make your lives look pretty good.
So today started like any other, I woke up, but then realized that my bed had betrayed me... I didn't feel rested AT ALL! Even though I slept 'til 8am. I figure that most of you are saying, "must be tough to sleep 'til 8"... one of the "perks" of being gainfully unemployed, but I was not rested. The bed continued it's betrayal in that my back/shoulders were tight and sore. I know... the perils of aging. While that's true (to some extent) and I guess the fact of being on the larger side of the scale doesn't help matters any... I maintain that it is in fact the bed. Whatever the reason, the end result is one of discomfort and unrest. Did I mention that I don't feel rested?
SIDE NOTE: I suspect that the root of this particular go round of unrest has more to do with the fact that I have been dealing with a tight and sore shoulder now for going on about a week or so. It all started when I was painting the scale shingles for the west gable of the house. Around 300 shingles in all, but when you factor in priming (both sides and edges) and two coats of paint (only on the face side) that's like painting around 900. I did this one day after the next until one morning I woke up and my wrist was aching along with my forearm and then eventually my shoulder. I couldn't figure out what the problem was so I wondered if it could have been from the motion of the painting. I grabbed a paint brush and mimicked the motion I was using to paint and well... that was it. Try as I might, I couldn't really do much with my wrist and now basically my entire arm's hurting. My thinking is that it was because of this (compensating for my wrist) that my entire arm including the shoulder went bad on me.
So I make my way downstairs to take a hot shower (seems to help a bit, but not enough) and go through the rest of the morning routine... getting dressed and eating and the like. Today is the first day that my wrist felt normal again, but now my lower back was bothering me to go along with the shoulder. So I sat thinking and contemplating about something that I needed to work out for the gable ends of the garage. Julie's going to try her hand at siding the garage... should be pretty simple, the siding we're going to be using is T&G (that's tongue and groove to those of you who aren't in the know) and once the bottom course is level, it's just a matter of cutting and stacking and nailing/stapling. Before she can get to that, I have to trim it out for her... I get the grunt work, she gets the glory work. Anyhow, before trimming, I needed to figure out how I was going to work out the gable box cornices. I needed to make sure that one wouldn't interfere with the other and was having one heck of a time picturing it in my head. After a few "Googles" I came away with a plan. Now having that tucked away, I went out and primed some of the trim (a totally different motion than the shingles) and started to layout the trim for the wall that she's going to start on.
Then, I changed a tire on Nick's bike and did some other small PM-ing (preventative maintenance) on his bike. He needed a new tire since one had developed a bubble on the sidewall. Forgot to mention earlier there that I took Nick to his making lego movies class... at the park district. Worked some more on the trim and rounded up the stray kids for dinner.
The garage door wouldn't close so I fixed that. One of the eyes got knocked silly by Jake and well, the eyes didn't see each other and that was that. So a little adjustment here and a little electrical tape there throw in a couple of "dammits" and good as new. Had dinner, grumped at the kids for not doing what was told and needed of them to do. Packed in the tools that I left out and locked up the garage. Put the dinner leftovers away and washed some pots and pans. Attempted to get the kids to bed and then finally sat down here and typed out this twaddle.
Now I face the task of getting into a betraying bed to start the process all over again tomorrow.
Truly life in the fast lane.
So I will leave you with this ponderable... well, it was a ponderable for me, one that still has no answer either... I have my suspicions though.
Most houses have ceiling fans in them now. Most (if not all) fans are three speed. In many installations, there is a light on the fan as well. Additionally, in many of those installations, there is a dimmer and a speed control installed in place of a regular switch. This give you a possible 9 speeds to run your fan... well 9 if we do the math that 3 speed switch and 3 speed fan. So my ponderable is this. If you have your fan set to low (by the pull chain) and high at the wall switch... is it the same speed as having your fan set to high (by the pull chain) and the wall switch on low? Obviously there are other combinations that work there, and I'm not about to go into them (I have a date with a malfunctioning bed) at this time, I just tossed this one out there to give the idea.
*SIGH*... Life in the fast lane? More like limping along on the shoulder... and a sore one at that!
So today started like any other, I woke up, but then realized that my bed had betrayed me... I didn't feel rested AT ALL! Even though I slept 'til 8am. I figure that most of you are saying, "must be tough to sleep 'til 8"... one of the "perks" of being gainfully unemployed, but I was not rested. The bed continued it's betrayal in that my back/shoulders were tight and sore. I know... the perils of aging. While that's true (to some extent) and I guess the fact of being on the larger side of the scale doesn't help matters any... I maintain that it is in fact the bed. Whatever the reason, the end result is one of discomfort and unrest. Did I mention that I don't feel rested?
SIDE NOTE: I suspect that the root of this particular go round of unrest has more to do with the fact that I have been dealing with a tight and sore shoulder now for going on about a week or so. It all started when I was painting the scale shingles for the west gable of the house. Around 300 shingles in all, but when you factor in priming (both sides and edges) and two coats of paint (only on the face side) that's like painting around 900. I did this one day after the next until one morning I woke up and my wrist was aching along with my forearm and then eventually my shoulder. I couldn't figure out what the problem was so I wondered if it could have been from the motion of the painting. I grabbed a paint brush and mimicked the motion I was using to paint and well... that was it. Try as I might, I couldn't really do much with my wrist and now basically my entire arm's hurting. My thinking is that it was because of this (compensating for my wrist) that my entire arm including the shoulder went bad on me.
So I make my way downstairs to take a hot shower (seems to help a bit, but not enough) and go through the rest of the morning routine... getting dressed and eating and the like. Today is the first day that my wrist felt normal again, but now my lower back was bothering me to go along with the shoulder. So I sat thinking and contemplating about something that I needed to work out for the gable ends of the garage. Julie's going to try her hand at siding the garage... should be pretty simple, the siding we're going to be using is T&G (that's tongue and groove to those of you who aren't in the know) and once the bottom course is level, it's just a matter of cutting and stacking and nailing/stapling. Before she can get to that, I have to trim it out for her... I get the grunt work, she gets the glory work. Anyhow, before trimming, I needed to figure out how I was going to work out the gable box cornices. I needed to make sure that one wouldn't interfere with the other and was having one heck of a time picturing it in my head. After a few "Googles" I came away with a plan. Now having that tucked away, I went out and primed some of the trim (a totally different motion than the shingles) and started to layout the trim for the wall that she's going to start on.
Then, I changed a tire on Nick's bike and did some other small PM-ing (preventative maintenance) on his bike. He needed a new tire since one had developed a bubble on the sidewall. Forgot to mention earlier there that I took Nick to his making lego movies class... at the park district. Worked some more on the trim and rounded up the stray kids for dinner.
The garage door wouldn't close so I fixed that. One of the eyes got knocked silly by Jake and well, the eyes didn't see each other and that was that. So a little adjustment here and a little electrical tape there throw in a couple of "dammits" and good as new. Had dinner, grumped at the kids for not doing what was told and needed of them to do. Packed in the tools that I left out and locked up the garage. Put the dinner leftovers away and washed some pots and pans. Attempted to get the kids to bed and then finally sat down here and typed out this twaddle.
Now I face the task of getting into a betraying bed to start the process all over again tomorrow.
Truly life in the fast lane.
So I will leave you with this ponderable... well, it was a ponderable for me, one that still has no answer either... I have my suspicions though.
Most houses have ceiling fans in them now. Most (if not all) fans are three speed. In many installations, there is a light on the fan as well. Additionally, in many of those installations, there is a dimmer and a speed control installed in place of a regular switch. This give you a possible 9 speeds to run your fan... well 9 if we do the math that 3 speed switch and 3 speed fan. So my ponderable is this. If you have your fan set to low (by the pull chain) and high at the wall switch... is it the same speed as having your fan set to high (by the pull chain) and the wall switch on low? Obviously there are other combinations that work there, and I'm not about to go into them (I have a date with a malfunctioning bed) at this time, I just tossed this one out there to give the idea.
*SIGH*... Life in the fast lane? More like limping along on the shoulder... and a sore one at that!
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