PriorBlog

I can’t believe these bastards are making me work today.  This means this will be a quick post in which I will probably type there when I mean their.

I am hosting a bunch of British poets at my house this weekend, so last night I was up cleaning.  I am not crazy about cleaning house, but during baseball season I don’t half mind.  I had the Phillies game on as I did it, so I was able to zone out.  I have a hard time listening closely to baseball games on the radio.  Most likely this is because I was born long after the age when people sat around their radios and listened intently, or at least that’s what it looks like they are doing in those old pictures.  Maybe they were just like me, initially interested, but with other things to do, so they didn’t really pay close attention, knowing to perk up their ears when the announcer’s voice picked up in cadence to announce that Rollins (Ashburn maybe in their case) had homered again.

Or maybe I did listen closely but have blacked it out because the Phillies lost again 5-3 despite J-Ro’s two homers.

I was thinking though, as I am sure a lot of baseball fans have been thinking, about how roto league (note: I always refer to it as roto because I don’t know how to spell rotisserie) baseball is a lot like globalization, in that it dilutes traditional loyalties.  Personally, I always try to put my rotisserie team on the back burner and root for the Phils or Red Sox first (Dodgers third), but I find myself making compromises.  For example, I have Kenji Johjima and the other night when he was facing Matsuzaka, the thought ran through my head: It’s okay if he gets a hit because there are two outs and he probably won’t score.

Last night I definitely felt conflicted when Carlos Delgado was up, my first baseman.  I think he had an 0fer.  I dunno, like I said I didn’t listen too closely.  I took the time to feel conflicted, and then forgot about why.  It was a real Prior moment.

I am listening to Forever Changes, an album I like, but have not listened to in a while.  Thanks to that Dutch guy who for whatever reason threw it up on his website.  A lot of times when I play an old favorite, I discover things about it not to like.  There’s only one thing that I am not liking about this album, that I wasn’t too critically conscious of a few years ago.  On this album some of the lyrics are striking me as a little too pedestrian.  Like when Arthur says “This is the time in life that I am living…” [Insert your own Arthur Lee is dead now joke here, you callous jerk] Come on, now.  On the plus side, if you can find the Dutch guy’s site, he has some interesting bonus cuts up there, and a lot of other cool music when you click on parent directory.

Yesterday Brother-in-law Matt and I went to the Red Sox Mariners game.  There was a lot of hype about the game because it was Daisuke Matsuzaka’s first outing at Fenway.  Plus, the Mariners having two Japanese guys in their lineup, including Ichiro, added yet another angle to the story.  Going into the game that’s what I wanted to see, Dice-K versus Ichiro.  The only problem was “going into the game.”  We reached Fenway at about 6:50 and didn’t get into our seats until about 7:20.  For all of the new additions to the park, it’d be nice if they could get some gate attendants and maybe another door somewhere, anywhere.  Missed the whole first half inning waiting in an absurd line.

It was Felix Hernandez pitching for the Mariners who stole the show though.  He had a no hitter going into the eighth which got broken up on a JD Drew seeing eye single.  That was the only hit the Sox would get.  Hernandez was in the mid 90’s in the bottom of the ninth.  After two starts this year he has not allowed a run.  It should also be noted that he is younger than Cole Hamels.

I was going to scan my scorecard for you, but then I thought about the amount of time it would take versus the amount of people who would look at it (5 minutes versus 0).  I like old scorecards though.  The new deal with scorecards is to log on to MLB.com after the game and see what you did wrong.  For example, last night I only had one error for the Sox on my card but the scoreboard showed two.  Went to gamecast and found out I missed Dustin Pedroia’s throwing error.  Scorecard corrected.

My four-year-old niece is obsessed with dinosaurs.  I know a lot of kids are really into dinosaurs, but my niece is special.  This weekend she was invited to the natural history museum in New York to confer with a group of other scientists.  The museum was considering acquiring a recently excavated Halisaurus fossil, and needed her to verify its authenticity.  Since it was also her birthday, she decided to celebrate there, and after haranguing poor Heim into watching the dogs, we headed down to celebrate with her.

Getting down there was no problem, but the ride back was six and a half hours of hell.  Everybody will tell you that the best way to get from Boston to New York or Philly is to head out on the Mass Pike and then take 84 to 91 instead of just taking 95.  If you take 95 it’s about 20 miles longer.  But, on a holiday, getting back is the worst.  We ran into trouble getting on 84 (exit 29, I think).  This is a horrible exit when busy, and if it’s bad there you can bet you are going to be stuck at the Mass Pike toll for an eternity.  The Mass Pike toll was so clogged up that I listened to the entire Red Sox game from the time it took to get from just above Hartford to the Auburn exit of the Mass Pike.

At least it was a good game.  Schilling pitched really well and Papi had all of the Sox RBIs on two homers.  They were up 3-1 going into the eight when they removed Schilling and put in Joel Pineiro and Javier Lopez.  Caught some static after Piniero walked the first two guys to start the inning, and then I heard somebody smash a line drive into Youkillis’ glove.  One out in the eighth, tying run on third, Michael Young and Mark Teixeira up.  They bring in Papelbon.  I have to confess that when I heard that Papelbon was gong to be the closer again this year I was pretty bummed out.  I felt, and I kind of still feel, that they’ll ruin him.  But last night, he was amazing, striking out Young, and getting Teixeira to pop out.  Then he retired the side (Sosa, Blalock, Wilkerson) in order in the ninth.  Electric.  A game I’ll remember for a long time, but not as long as that traffic jam.  That was brutal.

One more note on the Red Sox.  I think I can get used to this Dave O’Brien announcer guy.  He kind of reminds me of Dave Campbell.  I really like Castiglione, and it is nice to have him out from under Trupiano.  For the record, the greatest baseball announcers of all time are Vin Scully and Harry Kalas. 

My buddy O. Quimby Melton over at vocab let me take his blog for a test drive the other day.  I am thinking that this might be a great career path for me, filling up other peoples’ blogs when they don’t have the time to do so. 

You may notice when you go to vocab, that Melton credits me with being behind wernerherzblog.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  I read in Film Digest that the site in question is solely Werner Herzog’s.

I never really liked Jerry Trupiano, but I have to say I am having a hard time getting used to the new guy.  I’m not even sure what his name is.  Dice-K just gave up his first Major League homer, by the way.  I was supposed to be working last night but I spent a good deal of time watching the Phillies game, which was great for eight innings.  Up 2-0 in the bottom of the eighth, Ryan Howard gets thrown out going from first to home on a two out double.  It was almost funny how slow he was, but then in the top of the inning Gordon blew the game in less time than it took Howard to get from first to the plate.  A huge bummer for the Phils.  They ended up losing 3-2 in 11.

Usually when I am waiting for the bus after work all of the other people at the bus stop are employees of the collection agency that works in the same office park that I do. It’s kind of like being a temp, in that I am recognized as not belonging to the group, and yet, at the same time I am part of the group. There is also the issue of race, as I am the only honkey.

Last night for whatever reason, there was only one of the collection agency people there. This guy is a little older than the others. I noticed a few weeks back that his pants don’t fit right. They are worn out floods. They probably fit when he bought them eight years ago, but with time, now all they do is point out that he could use a new pair of shoes as well. In this regard, the two of us are exactly alike.

Had the rest of the crew been there, they would have been wearing baggy pants, untied basketball shoes, oversized jackets with fur-lined hoods, et cetera, et cetera. It occurred to me, that like myself, this man was somewhat on the outside as well. Although not as outside as myself, we could relate to one another. As the bus was making its way towards us last night he said to me, “Hey you work in the same office park as we do, don’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“You know, we have a van that takes us to the bus stop. I’ve seen you walking along those train tracks. Why don’t you take the van with us? It’s a lot safer.”

As fan(s) of PriorBlog will recall, it was a big step for me, a few months back, when I began to walk along the tracks to work. If you were to walk along roads from the bus stop to my work you would basically go straight and then take a 90-degree turn and go straight again. When the collection agency people came, they decided to take a different route. Instead of going along my perpendicular way, they went along an angle, which is only possible if you travel along railroad tracks. Prior to their arrival, I considered this too dangerous a route to take. Even after they came, and began heading towards the tracks in the morning, I assumed for the longest time that they were heading to a spot where their van was waiting for them. Eventually, I realized that they were taking the tracks. At that point, I began taking the tracks too.

I like the tracks for a number of reasons. One, it’s shorter. Two, it’s trespassing. Three, it’s adventurous. Four, it’s quiet and hidden, it’s a secret way. Who doesn’t like a secret passage way? And, best of all, to get from the tracks to the parking lot of the office park, you have to descend from the tracks through the brush to magically emerge on the margin of the parking lot. It’s sort of like the way the baseball players show up in Field of Dreams.

I mentioned to the guy that I wouldn’t feel right taking the van, in part to protect my walks along the tracks, but also because I don’t work for them. The van is basically a moving logo for their company. It’s not like you’re hopping in somebody’s carpool. He said, “Don’t worry about that. Tell them Wild Bill sent you. That’s me.” How awkward would that be? Getting in someone’s van, someone who I don’t know, because “Wild Bill” sent me? What if they look at me like I’m crazy, or mention some sort of liability because of my being in the van. Or what if somebody from their company can’t get on, because I am taking their spot? At the same time, I wouldn’t want to disappoint Wild Bill, who was nice enough to offer the service in the interest of my safety. He also said I seemed like a nice guy. Would declining the ride be interpreted as my saying “I don’t want to ride in a van with a bunch of minorities?”

It’s time to get back on the bike.

I was reading about the British sailors on Google News this morning.  I forget what paper.  That’s the beauty of Google News.  By having such a wide range of papers to read from, you neglect to notice what banner you are reading under, or at least I do.  Yeah, I know that’s irresponsible, but like I don’t know the slant 10 words in anyways.  Now, as I was saying, I was reading some Indian paper about the British hostages, and at the bottom of the page was an advertisement asking for donations for Hurricane Katrina victims. 

Maybe it’s just me, but I would think that if you were reading an Indian paper, the ad should be for Bhopal victims or something. 

I read somewhere or other that you can still donate to the victims of the Bhopal disaster online.  Since the Katrina charity ad got me thinking about the Bhopal disaster, I went in search of Bhopal on the internet.  There are three competing sites. 

Bhopal.com- This site is Union Carbide’s. 

Bhopal.net- This site has been blocked by my work’s firewall for being political.  Same with Bhopal.org.

Final Score:
Activism 0
The Man 3

The bottom line is, since India’s economy is taking off, they no longer have domestic issues to worry about and can focus on helping the US with its hurricane victims.

One more bottom line, this time of the disclaimer variety.  Google generated the ad in question, so who knows why or how it got there.

The way the Phillies played in spring training makes me less optimistic than I previously was. Then again, imagine if your ace was Zach Duke. Don’t want to knock Zach Duke, but if he’s your no.1, who’s your 5?

Then there’s the basketball game tonight. I am kind of torn over who to root for. You can root for Ohio State’s rent a team, or you can root for the guys who already won a championship last year. Not a lot to love. Although they’re both talented teams, and should play well. As a casual fan, I can rarely if ever tell you the names of the starting five on a team aside from my own team and their divisional rivals. I’ve been able to name the guys on Florida all year now. They’re that good.

The ball is tipped.