Floundering Writer Meg

Dull Stuff About Canning

2012-01-16T09:28:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted in months, and apparently some people missed me, so I thought I would pull something off before having to drag myself back to school at the beginning of the semester.

I recently took up canning (in the past two years). For Christmas I got a load of canning books from my mother, some with up to date information, others that were maybe not so much. Oddly enough the book I like the most is the 2009 revision of the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning and Preserving. This book is the Bible of home food preserving. This book is the least cuddly of the canning books I was given. It is strictly practical, there are very few, if any references to the wonderful times the authors had children canning with Granny, of the delights of going to a pick your own orchard, etc. There aren't any pretty pictures (except on the cover) of home canned goodies, or anecdotes about eating with your spouse. What you do get is very sound information about what to, and what you can and can't do.

Once you get over the fact that the page numbers of the book are a little tricky (the book is divided into guides, with each page numbered by which guide it is in, for example the third page in guide 2 is numbered 2-3) it is very easy follow this book. The recipes are written in plain English and are very easy to follow, you would really have to try to screw most of them up. And if you follow the directions, you won't. All of the major methods of canning are discussed, jams, jellies, pickles, preserves, etc. There are also detailed instructions on how to both boiling water can and pressure can, where to use what method, and the difference between a dial gauge and weighted gauge pressure canner, including the pros and cons of each.

Food safety is held at a premium. The first guide of the book is devoted strictly to the principles of home canning, including how to sterilize jars, keep food in pristine condition until you can it, and how to tell if things didn't go right and what to do if you have to dispose of spoiled food.

This book actually solved a lot of my problems, from the mundane (I only have a three gallon crock, can I make pickles in it [answer, yes, their recipe can be adjusted by the volume of your crock]) to the relatively serious (How long do I have to process sauerkraut for?). I even know the latest ways to can for people with special dietary needs; for example I now know where and how I can reduce the salt and sugar content of some recipes without compromising safety (important, because high blood pressure and diabetes run in my family). The same page also gives information on how to make home canned baby food (not something I need to know just this minute but it's nice to know where to find this information if I ever need it). They even provide a table telling the reader how to determine how much to can.

The Federal Government doesn't always gets everything right, but this book is undeniably a treasure. I look forward to finally making dill pickles this summer. I should also note that this book doesn't ask for a lot of fancy ingredients or equipment beyond the things you'll need to can properly, things that aren't all that hard to find at places like the hardware store or the farmers market. It seems that the authors decided to focus on giving us information we actually need. Don't expect any wildly innovative taste sensations though, most of this is for more conservative taste buds.

If you want to get wild with your taste buds, I recommend Put 'Em Up: A Comprehensive Guide to Home Canning, by Sherri Brooks Vinton. This is another easy to follow book, but the recipes are a little more exotic, for example Orange Marmalade, Pickle Relish, Watermelon Rind Pickle, and others. This is also a very easy to follow, hard to screw up book. There are a bunch of recipes for non canned preserves as well, for example dried corn, frozen berries, and several kinds of booze that I will likely never try because I don't drink. She even threw in a bunch of refrigerator pickles, which are great for preparing on Sunday then eating down during the week.

I have yet to read the Blue Ball Book, I plan on asking for it for my birthday. Until then I'm just going to have to be satisfied with wading through the other three canning books I got but decided I don't want to post about just yet.

I have to go back to school Wednesday, I am seriously hoping for a snow day. I bet don't get one.

2011-10-15T19:36:00.000-07:00

Anyway, I've been busy, but I just wanted to take the time to say that Theo Epstein should be sent to go live on a desert island. Seriously, he should have been the one to get fired, not Terry Francona. Needless to say it has been very hard to walk around campus, given that it is full of Yankees fans. I'm pissed off with the players too, let me tell you...

2011-07-08T09:23:00.000-07:00

Just got done watching the Space Shuttle launch, but I don't think I'll be over it for a long time. I'm really sad that the shuttle is being retired, especially now that we don't have a replacement vehicle. Never mind the government is dithering around on making a replacement (why did they have to cancel Constellation?). I'd secretly hoped to go up in the shuttle someday, just like millions of other children.

Actually, the shuttle program ended for me the day they took Endeavour out of service, it was the subject of many childhood adventure fantasies after my mother read me a book about it being sent to repair the Hubble as a bedtime story. It dosen't help that the Daily Telegraph has taken a gloom and doom attitude towards all of this, predicting the end of manned spaceflight, that the Indians and Chinese now own space, people leaving comments that say NASA is a waste of time and that we should be happy it's all being turned into museum exhibits and scrap metal, it makes me so very sad.

The Paw Sox game on Sunday was a dream. The whole neighborhood it was in seemed to have been celebrating the fourth a day early, with a whole bunch of people setting off fireworks at random. Every so often there would bean explosion, they started before it was dark, while the sky was still blue. Either the fireworks laws there are much more enlightened or the cops just don't care. Whatever it was it was magical. they won, and Lars Anderson was even better than last time. I see great things for him. They also won by the way. and on the way out we managed to pick up a bunch of free cheese samples from Cabot (the lady actually forgot she had already given me one and gave me too, then they just left the box unattended. Everyone was doing it). I wish I remembered more of the game so that I could tell you about it. Maybe I will later.

2011-07-03T09:43:00.001-07:00

Seeing the paw Sox soon. I'll keep you posted.

Bruins at Fenway

2011-06-20T08:38:00.000-07:00

I had a once in a lifetime experience yesterday! Seriously! I was lucky enough to just happen to have tickets to the game where the Bruins came with the Stanley Cup! What a sight!

I honestly thought I was going to miss it. When we got to the T station there was a line a quarter of a mile long to get in. Then we had to wait for the T to arrive (another 5 minutes). The T was crowded, and I spent the whole time worried that my mother was going to find a reason to snap at me. Then there was the matter of sneaking food into Fenway( I refused to do all of it, which pissed my mother off even though she ate more of it than I did). Fortunately they didn't look inside of the sweatshirt rolled under my arm. My mother made it impossible for me to eat any of the strawberries 10 minutes later by taking a bite of one and then putting the stem (which had been in her mouth) back in the bag immediately afterwards. Them she ate half the nuts as well.

We got there just in time to see them come in on the duck boats. We hadn't even found out seats, we just stood near right field and watched them come in. I swear, I never thought I would be so close to the Stanley Cup in my life. It was absolutely cool when they circled the park then all got off the duck boats at home plate and were greeted by the Sox. The way the two teams mixed together, with Boston being primarily a baseball and a hockey town, was...was...I just can't describe it. Oh, and during the circut they were throwing baseballs to the crowd. That was gilding the lily right there. And they all simultaniously threw balls for the first pitch. Cool!

I have a load of pictures, but I can't figure out how to get them up just yet.

The game went extremely well. First, we either missed or they forgot the national anthem. There was a jingoist rendition of God Bless America during the seventh inning, but thankfully it wasn't drawn out. Wakefield was pitching, and all of my favorite position players were there (with the exception of Lowrie). They started out strong, and the whole of the Sox rotation went up at least once (and in some cases more than once) before the second inning. The game was more or less a disgrace for the Brewers, their supposedly hot pitcher wasn't so hot and they were outscored by the Sox 4-1, that is to say the final score was 12-3 Red Sox.

Alas, we were sitting in Right field, which had a good view of Pesky's pole but but not such a good view of the batter thanks to this woman who was blocking my view. Also, it was Father's Day, and I felt as if I were being accused of neglecting my filial duties because I no longer have anyone who could justifiably be called a father figure to sit with and buy power tools for. During the whole game the goal music for the Bruins, as well as their foghorn, were played after every home run (and I already told you there were a lot of them).

I learned an exciting new game there. Yell Marco at Fenway and hear everyone respond "Scutaro".

Yep, fantastic game. Truly a once in a lifetime experience. After they won I went home and had pasta for dinner.

If I can think of anything more to say I'll post again (probably I will).

Life in Hell

2011-06-17T10:15:00.000-07:00

I'm suffering from both unrequited love and having to turn down what might have been my first relationship (because the guy turned out to be a creep), so I thought I would post on a book instead. I've been ignoring this blog for no good reason, so I might as well put up a post instead of feeling sorry for myself.

Well actually I am feeling sorry for myself.

Anyway, I went a took a book out of my brothers room while he was out walking the dog (and quickly replaced it before he noticed). It's really a coffee table book, but who cares, I'm not in the mood for much more than doing studies in oil paint and working on my own writing, so why one earth would I be doing heavy reading?

Akbar and Jeff's Guide to Life, is one of the only "Life in Hell" (Matt Groening's comic strip) books that dosen't have the word hell in the title. As a long time fan of this strip I was more than satisfied with this book. Akbar and Jeff (who are, according to the author "brothers or lovers, possibly both) are two mainstays of the strip. They are impossible to tell apart and both wear striped shirts and fezzes (in fact one of the cartoons features them giving each other fezzes for Christmas. Once again, you shouldn't have!).

I love this strip when I'm in a bad mood. When you need something nice and angry to read, this hits the spot. I will say that this might not be something for you seven year old (although I was reading it when I was ten and I turned out all right, I had a 3.4 GPA this year) on account of the fact that it is very racy. It's also a good treatment for the "I'm only 22 and it's already just another birthday" feeling of disappointment I'm suddenly suffering from (I turned 22 quite unceremoniously earlier this week).

Anyway, I'll soon be forgetting about the whole romance thing. I'm going to Fenway for the second time this year on Sunday (and there could be a third in the works, Mom said so). Who on Earth could be sad at Fenway? I think they'll be playing the Brewers. I'll let you know.

2011-05-27T09:48:00.001-07:00

I've been late with this one, I'm sorry. I actually skipped an exam to go to this one, so I was nervous about putting this up. Then I realized that no one has any idea I have this, so any and all worries were more or less baseless. It didn't matter, I would have failed the course no matter what.

Anyway, it was raining on and off all day. When we got to the T I realized I was the only one who was wearing shorts. Feeling like a loser I got on the T and rode to the park. It was still clouded over and the sky was a forbidding shade of grayish white. If I hadn't been at a Red Sox fame I would have been depressed. They had the usual embarrassment for the pre game ceremonies. Then I found out Matsuzaka was pitching. Total washout, he only lasted four or so innings before he disappeared into the dugout for reasons that escape me (oh right, all those runs he allowed). To make matters worse all of those balls were coming just short of being hit out of the park. They would make it to within a few feet of the wall and just fall. I think that this had to do with the wind that was blowing into the park more than anything. It was looking grim, and I left to get some overpriced peanuts.

Then, about an inning after I got the peanuts things began looking up. Suddenly they started scoring runs. Right after we stopped yelling Yah Tay (Navajo for hello) at Jacoby Ellsbury he not only got on base but managed to steal one- and oh what a spectacular steal, I saw him finish it but I didn't see him start, I don't think anyone else did either, it must be his special secret for successful steals. Then, finally, in the last inning, Adrian Gonzalez finally managed to hit one out of the park and win the game. I don;t know what happened to the ball, I think the sky ate it.

2011-05-15T17:05:00.000-07:00

Good Lord, I just realized, I'm going to see the Red Sox tomorrow! Don't know who's pitching yet, hopefully it's a good one.

More soon!

2011-05-11T20:18:00.000-07:00

Hi,

Still up to my gizzards in work but it is, in fact, abating little by little. I'm all done with one class, will be all done with two others tomorrow, and am as good as done with one of the others. Needless to say, my brain keeps trying to leave me, saying that I do too much, etc. I keep it working anyway. I'm thinking of becoming a political psychologist if I can get into grad school for it.

See you in a week or two.

2011-04-08T19:59:00.000-07:00

Haven't had much time to post lately but I just had to say how relieved I am the Sox finally won and how amused I am that Manny tested positive again and retired.

I hate stats class and love liquitex paints. More soon.

2011-03-14T19:01:00.000-07:00

I have been neglecting my posting I am very sorry. After a particularly ghastly midterm that might result in my needing to retake a class (lousy spss) I decided I needed a break and decided to indulge myself here a little. The usual though, a book review.

Billy Pilgrim, a chaplain's assistant who probably shouldn't have even been allowed in the army is captured by the Germans during WWII. He encounters all manner of trouble, eventually hiding in an abandoned slaughterhouse during the bombing of Dresden, which he survives (and Vonnegut himself survived). Billy has become, "unstuck in time." He has been kidnapped by the Trafalmadorians of the planet Trafalmadore, who look like plungers, have eyes on their hands and can see in four dimensions. They already know every moment of their lives, and believe in predestination, that they have no control over their futures (indeed, they say the universe is ended by a Trafalmadorian pilot testing new spaceship fuels). They keep him in a zoo, where he is a star attraction with a 20 year old movie actress named Montana Wildhack as his mate. what the Trafalmadorians can chose to do, they say, is to focus on the good moments of their lives as opposed the bad ones. Pilgrim believe this, and even knows how he is killed, assassinanted in a Balkanized United States after giving a speech on flying saucers. This is not however the end of the book, it has a non linear narrative that is very out of order, which makes sense, given the subject matter of the book.

Why yes, I am working my way though Vonnegut's works, thank you every much. And I very much liked this book.

Snowdrops are out and we have a couple of warm days ahead, but that dosen;t mean a gosh darned thing, I know that we could still be armpit deep in snow a week from now.

Pirate Latitudes

2011-02-20T19:01:00.000-08:00

Did I tell you about Pirate Latitudes yet? I don;t think I did, I'm sorry. Pirate Latitudes is a book by Micheal Crichton, one of the manuscripts found after his death. It was published in late 2009 and I found a copy of it in 2010 at the library that I occasionally patronize with my mother. I gave it back a couple of weeks ago, but that dosen't mean that I can't still tell you about it.

Set in 1665 in the Colony of Jamaica, the Governor of Jamaica, Sir James Almont awakes to another hot, muggy day in Port Royal, the capital of the colony. He attends a hanging, followed by the arrival of a ship from England. On it is Robert Hacklett, his new secretary, his promiscuous wife with whom he has a spectacular fight later on in the book, and a number of criminal women meant to be wives for the colonists. One of them, Anne Sharpe, who was convicted of witchcraft is taken Almont's home to be a servant. From her Almont finds that there is a Spanish warship loaded with treasure not far away. Determined to rob the Spanish of their treasure, he immediately hires Captain Charles Hunter, a Harvard educated privateer to raid the ship.

Hunter puts together a colorful crew, Don Diego the Jew, a tinkerer and explosives expert who lost his son the the Spanish Inquisition and wouldn't mind revenge; Sanson, an assassin with a very high voice; Lazue, woman raised as a man living as a man who has superior vision, excellent marksmanship, excellent sailing skills, and the ability to confuse her opponents by showing them her breasts; Enders, a master helmsmen; and Bassa, aka the Moor, a mute who cut out his tongue, killed his wife, came to Port Royal to make a living and is the image of power and intimidation. Mere days into their journey they are caputed by a Spanish Warship commandeered by Cazella, the commander of Mantanceros, which they hope to raid, and manage to escape him.

They manage to reach Mantanceros and after a struggle to enter the fortress capture the galleon and kill Cazella. On their way back they are pursued by Bosquet, Cazella's second in command. they narrowly escape and after a dew says succeed in evading their pursuers. Then on their way home they are attacked by the Kraken, which they are able to mortally wound. Finally they reach Port Royal only to have Hunter arrested as a pirate and sentenced to be hanged. Iwon't give away the ending, but it really is thrilling.

Yes, I liked the book.

Spring training has started and that makes me happy. Supposed to snow soon though.

"The Pyramids The Spinx: Tombs and Temples of Giza."

2011-02-08T18:45:00.000-08:00

Every so often I find a subject that interests me and pretty much indulge myself in learning about it for a few months. This can be any of a number of things, from submarines to a rock band to some kind of plant. Right now my subject is Egyptology. My mother is brutally aware of this habit to the point of voluntarily subsidizing it, without even being asked, taking me totally by surprise. Ironically though, I have come to expect this, so it wasn't a surprise when I got a book on the Giza Necropolis.

"The Pyramids The Spinx: Tombs and Temples of Giza." by Peter Lacovara is the first book written exclusively on the Giza complex according to the jacket. The necropolis is situated on a slab of stone on the banks of the Nile. Flanked by mortuary temples and minor tombs the Great Pyramids are the only remaining of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World that are still standing, if not in mint condition. The book told me everything that I might have wanted to know and more, and was mercifully free of pictures of mummies. Instead there are stunning, informative photographs of the tombs, temples, and other buildings, as well as various artifacts such as ropes from the Khufu Ship, found miraculously preserved next to his pyramid. There is also a photo of the only known image of Khufu, an ivory statue of Aybdos. There is also a chapter on the tomb of Hetepheres, found hidden next to the pyramid of her son; the history of ancient Egypt, and the tombs of Khafre and Menkaure.

This book has some pictures of things that I have actually seen, such as the replicas of the furniture of Hetepheres. I might have also seen several of the statues in this book, including both of the ones featuring Menkaure. I would have to say that having learned about him this past semester he is my favorite of the Pharaohs; he was a good king, but disobeyed the Gods by being pious as opposed to carrying out Egypt's intended curse of a hundred and fifty years of wicked kings. He was therefore fated to die young, but managed to double his time on Earth by not sleeping (alas, I don;t know how he died, the neuroscientist in me wonders if it wasn't caused by his supposed lack of sleep.)

I really liked this book, and I recommend it for anyone who wants to know more of their history (history belonging to everyone.)

Less than two weeks until spring training starts, whoo hoo!

A Night of Hockey

2011-01-26T20:15:00.000-08:00

Certain readers of this blog are currently in warmer climes, where the risk fishtailing on account of the road being covered in snow negligible. Today I went all the way into school only to find out that it was canceled.

I am almost done reading Micheal Crichton's Pirate Latitudes, but not quite. So instead I thought that I would do a post about a hockey game I went to.

I don't want to reveal too much about my location, but I am within a short distance of Worcester MA. Big whoop, so are three million other people at least. My brother wanted our family to go to a hockey game. There is a minor league hockey team in Worcester. So last Saturday night to Worcester we went.

Worcester used to have a hockey team called the Ice Cats. They had a commercial looking mascot called Scratch. He was blue green and had a large toothy smile. They were the farm team for the St. Louis Blues. Now they have a team called the Sharks, a farm team for the San Diego Sharks. This is the not the same team, sold and re branded. The Ice Cats abandoned Worcester after 13 seasons and moved to Peoria. The city was without a team for a year before the Sharks came. I like them well enough; the players come on the ice at the beginning of the game though a giant inflatable shark.

Theoretically this was a special night; some awards ceremony was being held. One of the more memorable attendees was the former Ice Cat's captain. He liked to fight. His last name was Virtue, ironically. They had a tolerable rendition of the national anthem, followed by the start of the game, which was promptly interrupted by a radio personality who possessed less talent than she thought. How did I know this? She interrupted the game to welcome us, which made me feel oddly unwelcome. she really should have waited for a penalty, which honestly wouldn't have taken too long.

I honestly don't remember much else from the game. There were a bunch of fights (which, as a north American hockey fan, I like), a tedious awards ceremony in between periods, and a youth league game in between the second and third periods (to give them a little thrill). I'm actually going to level with you, I only remember about five seconds of the game. Actually, the most memorable part of the night was waiting to get out of the parking garage. It was an hours wait, most of it with the innumerable other behind us honking and those in front standing still. At one point I bent over because I had this paranoid fear of being shot by one of them (not shots were fired). Then we got lost in Worcester. At night.

Watched the state of the union last night. then I listened to Rammstein's Benzin. It felt oddly appropriate.

2011-01-20T18:49:00.000-08:00

I've read a number of books this break (which ends Monday, unfortunately), but I only finished one that I really wanted to blog about (and am closing in on a second). Thankfully the Red Sox did some resigning in the past few weeks, so I have something to blog about. They resigned Papelbon, which sounds good to me, and they resigned Ellsbury, I also have a good feeling about this. Hopefully Ellsbury has his ribs healed. Papelbon was bound to have a bad time of it at some point, it;s mathematical probability, you can't win every time. I don't have any bad feelings about this year.

Not much else to talk about. I got a new pressure cooker, one of the Hawkins Futura ones. It's easy enough to get the hang of, but the lid is kind of tricky and the pressure is regulated by a whistle like thing instead of the old, one, which had a jiggle top. The old one was a lost cause, one of the vents popped out and wouldn't go back on. This was dangerous. After 10 minutes of trying to hold it one, a near argument, some bratty behavior on my behalf, and a ruined meal(the cooker's fault) my mother decided we needed a new one. We got one of the more high end one's this time, I guess you get what you pay for (this one came from Amazon, the last one from Sears). Hopefully this new one will work better.

The only other thing to talk about is the weather. We had a blizzard last week, an ice storm this week, and a northeaster scheduled for tomorrow. Supposedly the high tomorrow is supposed to be 15 degrees. My gelding is in an impromptu stall in a hay barn right now, next to a couple of ponies who like to fight with each other.

God Bless You Mr. Rosewater

2011-01-10T16:47:00.000-08:00

I just finished "God Bless You Mr. Rosewater, or Pearl's Before Swine" by Kurt Vonnegut. This was my second Vonnegut book that I have read. I must say that once I figured out what was going on I liked it very much. Kurt Vonnegut had a style of writing that gets to the point very quickly. I had to read some of it a few times just to figure out what he meant.

The book focuses on Eliot Rosewater, who is the trustee of a foundation that was founded by his rich father, a former senator, in order to keep the tax man from taking the money. Eliot receives a pension of 3.5 million dollars from the foundation, and a large legal firm in New York City runs the foundation. Norman Mushari, one of the lawyer, wishes to declare Eliot insane in order to take a portion of the money for himself under the pretense of giving it all to a distant relative of Eliot's in Rhode Island, Fred Rosewater, who is a poor insurance salesman. Eliot wanders around, from town to town, doing what he thinks philanthropists are supposed to do. Finally he settles in Rosewater County, the place where his family is supposed to be from, and becomes a firefighter. The whole book is basically short stories that chronicle this. Kilgore Trout, from Breakfast of Champions (who is also Vonnegut's alter ego in the books) as well as Diana Moon Glampers from Harrison Bergeron.

And oh, yes, it rocks.

2011-01-08T15:40:00.001-08:00

I will post again the moment I finish God Bless You Mr. Rosewater. Really. It's a hard book to read.

2010-12-28T08:20:00.001-08:00

For the first time in months I have a book to tell you about. Yes, I know that it's been a while, I've just been busy. My commute and the amount of time I spend in class has doubled, as well as the amount of nonsense I have to put up with. I have actually read a couple of books in the past few days, as well as one during the semester for one of my classes. Unfortunately it was for the class I hated and therefore I don't want to think about it again just yet. Maybe next summer. The book that I had been wanting to read for about a year and a half seems like a good choice for today, so I guess I'll have at it then.

I really like weird flavors. I read this book "Twenties Girl" by Sophie Kinsella while I was listening to a Tool album. That is to say I like very different flavors mixed together sometimes. I had been wanting to read this book since last year, before it came out. However, it was only recently that I was able to wrest it from the hands of the rude librarians at the library that I frequent. But enough about the sorry state of my library (which I have seriously considered ditching).

The protagonist of the book, Lara Lington, is not at a particularly good place in her life. She is still obsessed with her ex boyfriend, the headhunting company that she started with her friend isn't going so well (especially since her partner took off on her), and she has to attend the funeral of a great aunt that she did not even know. At the service, she runs into her filthy rich Uncle and his family, who has just put out a best selling memoir about his rise to fame and fortune. All of a sudden in the middle of the service the ghost of her great aunt, who is about to be cremated, suddenly appears in front of her. Her great aunt is bossy, sassy, and has been twenty three inside her whole life. As it so happens she is missing a necklace she has had her entire life, and she can't go on without it.

Basically the entire rest of the book is their misadventures trying to find it.

I'm not myself, I suppose I'm out of blogging practice. Well, at least I'm getting back into it. Colder than hell where I am by the way. I went and stood outside last night after midnight well it was windy and the stars were out just because I could.

2010-12-21T09:09:00.000-08:00

Forgot there was a lunar eclipse last night. Nuts, I would have liked to see it. But I had other stuff on my mind. Probably hormones.

I finally got done with school for the semester, so I'll post again as soon as I finish reading my next book.

2010-12-03T18:25:00.000-08:00

Now that I have a moment I guess I'll do another post. All I really have to talk about is that I Think I might have seen a raven a couple of weeks ago while I was out riding. It was big and shaggy and sounded sort of like a crow with a sore throat. The crows were harassing it. Trust me, crows will harass anything they think would be worth harassing. Maybe it wasn't maybe it was and it was just passing through.

We found a canister of Christmas cookies from last year and we gave it to a flock of crows that lives near our house. Just as my mother thought that they didn't want them a crow flew right in front of her with a cookie in its beak.

Victor Martinez is gone, which would have upset me had I not been busy working on a paper. David Ortiz got resigned, I like that but I'm not sure if I want him in as pronounced a role. Same with Varitek. I suspect that the Sox might be on the verge of a long period of uncertain catching, that is a period of flitting from catcher to catcher every season or so. I wish that they could keep someone for once. Preferably someone who can replace Varitek.

2010-12-02T19:48:00.001-08:00

I have not forgotten you, I will post tomorrow when I do not have to be at school for 9 a.m.

2010-11-25T13:21:00.000-08:00

I probably should have said this yesterday but the turkey won't come out dry if you roast it on its breast.

Happy Thanksgiving anyway.

2010-11-20T20:22:00.000-08:00

All the leaves are gone. All my bulbs are in, and I only have four weeks left in my semester. The only problem is registering for the next semester is such a hassle I almost quit. But I didn't.

School is freaking me out. Last week I sat down in Art History class and immediately overheard two other kids talking about buying aderrall for a dollar in their dorm. Then the boy tried to talk to me. Really, I'm glad I don't live there. And to think that in June I nearly asked to live there. The place is nuts. I know a couple of kids who say that their roommates are crazy (read violent). Also, 80% of all fire alarms in at least two of the dorms are caused by someone who dosen't know how to cook trying to learn at 2 a.m. I think I'll just put up with my mother for another few years; at least she has the sense to be in bed then. Also, one of my professors is still evil but at least I'm getting an 80 something in her class. If I pass with a B something I will be elated.

Still need the Cure. Freakshow. That's what my school is. Also, Franz Ferdinand, This Fire.

2010-11-06T19:40:00.000-07:00

My school problems are slowly dissipating. I went to see my guru and my new mantra is "semesters end". Right now I'm in the mood to listen to The Smiths and The Cure a lot, I don't know why. Who cares, both the bands are awesome.

When I went to vote Tuesday it was crazy. I forgot to do it in the morning so I spent the afternoon in class suffering from an almost neurotic need to go vote. When I got out I went right back to town to do it. The Tea Party (or the tea party idiots as my mother likes to call them) were acting so rowdy that I almost didn't want to walk past them. I wonder why. I did anyway. Fortunately none of the frankly whacked out candidates they were pushing got in where I am. I am so glad Blumenthal won, I love him to death. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy when he said "I have something money can't buy, I have you!" which was very smart of him to say. My mother said he had to mortgage his house to run, poor guy. Wise wise move. I can honestly day I wasn't very impressed with McMahon. Don't really like the wrestling stuff. I did vote for a republican, god help me, but not Foley or Peckinpaugh. My only thoughts regarding her is how she used to be an idiot on channel 3 and I never watch channel 3- and no one else in this part of the state does either.

2010-10-31T19:16:00.000-07:00

In its ongoing effort to look cutting edge, RISD has brought in some of the least inspiring artwork I have ever seen, I noticed that when I went to the RISD Museum on Saturday. They had this whole gallery devoted to 20th century modern art. All I can say is boring. Also, kind of gross, one of them incorporated a casting of the inside of someones mouth. They should have used their lips. On the other hand one of the people that worked there said that maybe my stuff would end up there. This could either be good (I make good stuff), or bad (they'll take anything, no matter how bad). I neglected to go see the Asian art, which was probably bad because that is what is being covered in class right now. I was hungry for modern art though, so really I had no choice. Besides, I can only absorb for so long. I did give the Greek art a good look as well. And I have been through that gallery several times. I'll go back.

It's free the last Saturday of every month. I plan to hit the Isabella Gardner Museum next.

2010-10-22T20:02:00.001-07:00

It just occurred to me, the joy of college is that you get to graduate. It dosen't go on forever. within three years I'll hopefully be in Grad School instead.

Oh wait, grad school is supposed to be even worse. I keep worrying that I might dislike what I've gone into as well, but I've recently realized, no matter what I can always go back and learn something else. So I have decided this. Whatever I go into unless extenuating circumstances occur I will give whatever I go into five years. If I don't like what I'm doing then I will either see if it is something that can be fixed or if I cannot fix it and really do not like what I went into I will make a career change if at all possible. I'm sure it won't be that hard, I'm told people do it all the time. Actually, back in community college I saw people doing it, so I know I can too unless someone really messes up post secondary education big time. My only catch is that I don't want to be one of those people who changes careers every five years. I want some stability already. That's all I ask. Five years sounds reasonable enough, dosen't it? and I will not take such a change lightly either. I'm not taking what I'm doing now lightly either, and I really want to work out so I am making my best effort to make it so.

I hope the Yankees lose.

2010-10-18T18:38:00.000-07:00

Busy. Saw a blue jay this afternoon.

2010-10-05T19:22:00.001-07:00

Just a quick couple of paragraphs. I'm alive and as well as one can be when during college. More on the museum. I just learned it's free on Wednesdays after 4, I might use that to my advantage. I saw the famous statue King Menkaure and a Queen and spent 20 minutes taking notes on it. I initially thought that the queen was naked her garment was so skintight. It's made out of greywacke. The king is wearing a headdress and a loincloth, and his queen (sister? Very possibly both) is wearing a very skintight dress, I could see the shape of her nipples under it. She also wore a headdress, but a more feminine one. It used to be colored, but most of the pigment is gone, washed away by time. There is a little on Menkaure's ears.

I also saw the reproduction of some of the furniture from the tomb of a queen. With it came a simulation of the deterioration of the originals in the tomb over 4ooo years. For some reason there were a bunch of gold tubes on top of her sarcophagus. When they opened it up the place was a mess and she wasn't there. Probably her body was stolen around the time of her burial. The tomb was in the Giza necropolis.

2010-09-28T19:12:00.001-07:00

So much for posting regularly. School is driving me nuts. For the past two Saturdays I have been waking up, wondering what crap classes I have to go to that day, only to get giddy when I realize there is no class, I can go back to bed. In other words, I am stressed. Also, one of my professors is a dips**t. I'm not taking another class with her if I can help it. The only days I don't dread are Tuesdays and Thursdays, when my art classes are. My math professor looks like a gecko.

Anyway, I went to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and I had a grand old time after I was able to get past the mummies. I saw a crocodile mummy and now I don't want grinders, as well as a ram mummy that has put me off lamb. Had I seen a fish mummy I don't know what I would have eaten for dinner. They also had a cat mummy and a load of other stuff that was probably lifted from tombs. For shame. They had a bead dress found on a mummy and a large number of roman coins.

I'll do more later.

Soon I'll Have Something Nice to Blog About

2010-09-23T19:40:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday I eneded up having to sit through a lousy cd by a mighty mighty bosstones ripoff. I didn't say Ska wasn't fun anymore, I said it sucked! I blame my art teacher for inviting the dope to bring it in. No, I don't like ska. I like noise.

Anyway, I'm going to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts on Saturday. I haven't been since I was in Elementary School. At minimum it'll be good for a laugh.

2010-09-12T18:52:00.001-07:00

Finally I've gotten to more. School sucks right now but I can take it. At least I'm not a professor, they have to stay forever. I have a new book I read right before break ended.

I had wanted to read "The Year of Yes" by Maria Dahvana Headley for several years, ever since I read about it in Newsweek. This is the memoir of playwright Maria Dahvana Headley's decision to spend a year saying yes to every man who asks her out, no matter how old, ugly, or undesirable he (or she) seems. As a student at NYU's Tisch School of Arts, she had gotten asked by all sorts but only dated a select few. Eventually she suspects that she my be a bit too picky. But she can change, and therefore she vows to go out with every man who asks for a year, may she die alone of she backs down. Hopefully, she thinks, by the end of the year she will know what is really important in a relationship.

She then goes on to date a plethora of different men. From a French millionaire who still lives with his mother, to Chupa Chupa, a 70 year old man whop speaks only Spanish, two other women (but not at the same time), a homeless man, and a taxi driver. Meanwhile she kept up her work as a temp as well as her studies at the Tisch, the days passing quickly. finally, just when she is about to end the year of yes she meets the man she is going to marry, playwright twice her age that she admires, someone she never would have considered before! But he was a perfect fit!

One might expect Headley to be an idiot, but she isn't. As a matter of fact this is a very witty, intelligent book on an often over dramatized subject. For once I have found an english major who can actually write something that excites me. This book has the unusual qulaity of making me feel hopeful about my own love life. I recommend it highly!

2010-09-06T08:04:00.001-07:00

I went to the zoo and a baseball game yesterday. That was a bit of a story. The zoo was a bit more crowded this time. While I was in the petting area I heard a mother tell her child "look" at the baby llama. She was pointing to a goat. Also, I saw a woman tell her child "look at the ostrich, and the big turtle". She was pointing to an emu and a tortoise. I half wondered if she was going to call the wallaby s jackrabbits. Ah the dumbing down of America right before your eyes. Look, when I was three I knew the difference between a goat and a llama, an emu and an ostrich, and a turtle and a tortoise. Maybe your kids should too. The otters were off taking a nap on their log, while the lemurs were themselves, that is to say sitting around. I also had a macaque look me right in the face. I smiled at it but didn't show it my teeth for fear it would take it the wrong way.

Bubba Bell is now important enough to appear in that video before the game telling us to behave ourselves. Congratulations Bubba. I actually spent most of the game watching him because honestly he's the only member of the team I really follow. They should market him as a cure for shyness, when one person starts yelling for Bubba Bell a bunch of other people join in. He seemed like Mr. Social out there. I saw him make some graceful catches and he walked a couple of times. Fun. They lost though.

I'll get more done later, maybe tomorrow.

2010-09-05T09:26:00.000-07:00

I'm going to see the PawSox tonight, and I plan on posting about it either when I get back or tomorrow morning. Jason Varitek is supposed to be there. Not my favorite, but hey. Looking forward to seeing all the others, this season I've gotten to see Nava and Kalish before they went up along with Beckett on that rehab assignment, not bad, not complaining. Plus I'm going to the zoo first, I can't wait to see Ramses the lion and the river otters. I also read the most delightful dating book.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend so far, whether or not you have a holiday this week.

2010-08-31T07:43:00.000-07:00

I started school yesterday. I ended up at Eastern in Willimantic. I'm living at home still because room and board are 10,000 a year and I will need at least a masters degree. Yesterday it was hot and I had to walk back and fourth about 20 times it seemed because I got a mutant schedule that told me to go to the wrong place. I don't hate psychology just yet, I'll give it a semester. My dog went nuts when I got home from class. More later when I know what to think.

2010-08-18T17:47:00.000-07:00

I'm finally done with art history. Only three more art history courses to go and I'll have the art history portion of my art degree done. Still majoring in psychology, but you never know. If I hate it at least I'll only have done a semesters worth of work on it. Who knows, maybe its just jitters.

I saw Dustin Pedroia last night he looked his old self, like a balding little boy who can't find the bathroom. I'm very fond of Dustin Pedroia but I find his appearance to be comical at times. He seems to have done well. It stinks that Ellsbury got hurt so quickly again. His ribs again. Shame. Buchholz looked good as well. If everyone else pitched like that we would be set.

I have to go attend to our burgeoning crop of peaches now. Fire up the canner.

2010-08-11T17:58:00.000-07:00

I've been quiet, I know. I've been busy in the summer for the first time ever- taking an art histiry course. I think I might need to take it again though, because I am convinced that Velazquez did a painting called "Penthouse at Jaffa". I did though, have time to read a decent book that I got in a charity sale. It, like a lot of the Art I have had to look at is religiously themed. But not in the way you might think.

"The Year of Living Biblically" by Esquire writer A.J. Jacobs chronicles the authors year long attempt to follow the Bible as literally as possible. Raised in a mostly secular Jewish family but, like any sane person aware of how influential religion is in today's society embarks on a year of the spiritual, questionable, and downright silly. He abstains from shaving for the year. He celebrates the Sabbath, forgives debts, and gives to charity. Then comes the weird stuff. Apparently the Bible says that we are to attach tassels to our clothing (which must be completely white), but we are not to wear mixed fibers (in particular wool and linen mixed together). We are to live in a hut for a week each year and blow a horn at the beginning of each month.

The characters he meets are truly amazing. A brief sampling includes a snake handler in Arkansas, The Samaritans (yes, they are still around!), and his ex uncle Gil, who was a Hindu Guru (among other things) before becoming an Orthodox Jew again.

Here's the thing though. It's impossible to follow the Bible literally because we don't know what every thing in it really means. Likewise, Jacobs dosen't get too radical. When his wife has twins, he doesn't stand between her and the anesthesiologist. He quits eating meat for the last few weeks in order to keep from violating the Bibles dietary laws (we don't really know what birds to avoid), and at the end of the book derides the term "cafeteria style christian" because of this. Because, Jacobs concludes, religion is like a helpful lunchlady who guides you to the best dishes.

I liked this book, and I have since taken to looking at things a little differently, as well as leaving Kale in the donation bin at the food pantry regularly. Don't take my word for it, go see for yourself.

This is Your Brain on Cooperstown

2010-08-01T19:08:00.001-07:00

I went on an unexpected trip last week. I meant to post about it earlier but I had a class assignment to get done and then I got sick (a rare occurrence for me). Guess what I saw! It's a bird, its a plane...no, just kidding, I went on a bus trip to the Baseball Hall of Fame. It was a trip, let me tell you. It was induction weekend and for some reason or another that likely had to do with the fact that the team was actually playing there that day one of the local something A ballclubs was sponsoring a day trip to go. Here's how the day went.

I went with my family, who was kind enough to pay for the trip. I was actually the cheapest we were ever likely to go there, 50 bucks lunch, bus ride there, admission to the museum included. Otherwise we would have driven on our own and ended up paying at least a hundred dollars for a hotel room. We left at 8 a.m. on a bus of a blend of Yankees, Red Sox, and Tigers fans (the team sponsoring it was, after all, part of the Tigers farm system). Here is what I have to say about the people running the thing. Pair of dumb girls, equally dull dark male, and a big, loud, redheaded but more intelligent and amiable man from Georgia who knew the town where one of our dog came from. If I had to fire three I would keep the last one. There was also a creepy bus driver but he doesn't count. The trip immediately took on the air of a pilgrimage, with baseball movies playing all the way there and back. The ones we watched on the way up liked, The Natural and The Rookie, but honestly if you had told me that The Benchwarmers was made to annoy and bore me and that Field of Dreams wasn't meant to actually have a plot I would have believed you.

Cooperstown is an unbearably picturesque town in upstate New York. I could have stayed there for the rest of my life. The Hall of Fame is located on an almost too perfect main street. There was a baseball field right next to it where a game was playing but I chose to spend the whole afternoon at the Museum. On my way in I waved my wristband, which absolved me from having to wait in the admissions line at the guy guarding the door and he said "Wristband, nice nice. Red Sox fan, bloody sock third floor, nice nice." I immediately made my way to the second floor where the history of baseball was. Cooperstown is one of the legendary birthplaces of baseball, legend stating that it was invented in a farmers field near or in there. The place was surprisingly progressive, which by my standards is good. In various locations there were signs marked "family friendly" in various places that encouraged the youngsters to actually think of how others might feel in areas such as women in baseball and the Negro Leagues area. I went though the area in great detail. Unfortunately I kept running into the same man with bad breath, which has led me to conclude that stale urine smells better than bad breath. We were both leaning in near the Red Sox exhibit to get a look at the same time (gag). I especially enjoyed the section on Latin American players, it gave me a chance to practice my Spanish.

Yes, I saw the bloody sock. It's about 40% of what I remember from the third floor. I'm surprised I didn't vomit. Honestly I would have just thrown the thing away after the game, not put it in a museum. What do they mean by sanitary sock anyway? I asked my mother, a nurse, but she didn't know. She also wanted it thrown out. Six year dried old hemoglobin, classy. The other 60% is taken up by: Schillings shoes, which he wore with the sock (my, what big feet he has, 30%), a montage of world series wins (10%), those hideously large world series rings (5%), the balls from Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz's no hitters (10%), and a description of some wooden stadium that burnt to the ground(5%).

The bronze plaques are placed under year headings without rhyme or reason it seems. You know, 1958 would be next to 2004, and there would be three 1962's if you know what I mean. I half wondered if they were conspiring against me. I left in frustration, went to the bookstore, and came back and found Ted Williams with help of my mother. In exchange I had to show her the bloody sock. Six year old dried hemoglobin, classy. I wonder what blood type he is?

We spend an unusually large amount of money at the gift shop. I got a t shirt and a pose able Josh Beckett doll that I plan to photograph riding our cat. My mother got a t shirt and a photo of Ted Williams giving it Carl Yaztrzemski. My bother got a shirt and a pennant. After the Fall of Fame Closed we went outside to watch the parade. Yes, since it was induction weekend there was a parade. We actually got kicked off one side of the road so they could block it off somehow. The space we were kicked out of was soon taken up by dim looking women in ridiculous high heels and older men. I was wearing my bootleg Red Sox hat, one of my Red Sox shirts (Beckett, used, Salvation Army, $3.00), cargo shorts (men's), and my running shoes. I accessorized with a an LL Bean backpack I intend to use until it wears out, and I was proud of it. Some of those women were bimbos, I know it. They should be ashamed of themselves. I was also given a little American flag to wave when I say Reggie Jacksons(?) elbow. They were in the back of trucks and got off before they got to me. At least half of them were with women in short skirts and those ridiculous high heels that appeared to be half their ages and not their daughters. My very cool mother told me some Spanish profanities to yell at them if I got the chance. I waved to on of the truck drivers and went jogging for five minutes. When I got back the parade was over and we went for dinner.

We went to a pizza place. If you are ever in Cooperstown I do recommend Sals on main street. I had a slice of pepperoni. I didn't have my act together when we ordered and I apologized. The guy forgave me. When we got back outside Wade Boggs was signing autographs. I almost tried to get him to sign my wristband but then I realized I don't like him very much.Instead I muttered they lyrics to Bjork's "Human Behavior" under my breath (there's definitely, definitely, definitely no logic to human behavior). The bus home. My mother was crabby and the air conditioner stopped working but at least it came on again and there was all the drinks we wanted complements of the people running the trip. We got home at 1:30 a.m. and I didn't get to bed until half past 2.

I have other assorted memories but I'll tell you about them later. Yes, I had a good day. It was magical and I will never forget it. Peace.

2010-07-17T16:41:00.000-07:00

I'm taking advantage of my mother being out of the house to post on a book I just read. It was Roald Dahl's "Boy". It is more or less a collection of stories from his childhood. He got into a lot of mischief, stuff the troublemakers of my childhood would have aspired to. He was born in Wales to Norweigian parents. His father originally came to Wales because he thought that a small country like Norway was no place to make his fortune. Still, Dahl considered himself Norwegian and spent his summers there as a child. The book starts out when his Father chooses to leave Norway and move to France. From there he moves to Wales to work in the shipping industry and that is where he was born. His father died when he was young, but his family remained in the U.K. because his father felt that English schools were the best in the world.

A sampling of highlights of the book:

The time he gets back at a mean storekeeper.
The time he fills his brother in laws pipe with goat droppings.
His first boarding school.
His faked appendicitis.
his first Job.

I loved the book to pieces.

2010-07-11T18:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a literal washout. Believe me. The first gamer up at Fenway lasted all of maybe six and a half innings before it started raining. Hard. For two hours. I sat there with my mother for one of them before ditching her and going under cover. We all waited for two hours before they decided that they were going to cancel the game due to "unplayable conditions". We all booed. I was tempted several times to run out on the field and dance around in the puddles on the tarp. I didn't, but maybe I should have. I gave a dollar to the Jimmy Fund and left. The highlights of the day included a tacky, tacky marriage proposal (they should never be done in public, it's immodest. I yelled at the couple to get a room) and a catcher with a whole lot of alliteration in his name. They said to save our tickets for some kind of discount for next years game, all I can say is if they don't give us at least a discount I am going to start writing nut letters to the management.

Today was better. We got there to find a 20 minute line to pick up the tickets we already bought and paid for online. Fortunately we missed the national anthem. I continued my tradition of not standing up for "God Bless America" (it is not the national anthem. Don't you dopes know that?). We there were no places for us to all sit together at first so we stood near third base to stare at Josh Beckett. Somehow he didn't seem real, like he was actually a robot or something. My mother suggested I run down to the side of the field and have a good look at him, but I could see him just fine from there, and besides, I wanted him to stay perfect. He was very sedate and paced around like a cat most of the time. He gave up one run and two hits. He left to rapturous applause after four innings. We spent the rest of the game cheering for Lars Anderson and Bubba Bell. Bubba Bell (he was a minor league all star this year!) made it to first base the first time out and might have caught a couple of balls, I don't remember. It's funny how I can watch a whole game and only remember one or two things that happened. Lars Anderson made it to at least third one time.

2010-07-09T18:55:00.000-07:00

Stupid octopus. My premonitions have been backfiring on me. I am now in preparation for a weekend of marathon minor league baseball. First I'm going up to Boston tomorrow for that Futures game, then my family impulsively decided to go on Sunday because Josh Beckett is supposed to be pitching. The really amusing part? This wills still cost less than our annual major league trip. Go figure. I'll post as soon as I have a chance.

2010-07-07T11:38:00.000-07:00

First of all, I'm thinking its going to be Germany. Just a hunch. Germany is going to win today. If they win this I think the odds are good that they will get the Netherlands as well. I wish I could watch but my brother is hogging the TV. More later. Bye.

2010-07-01T11:13:00.000-07:00

I really did sign up for that art history course. The only problem is the course started Monday and my book still hasn't arrived. Neither has the letter carrier for that matter. Expedited shipping my foot. So far I have learned what art is (no I haven't), and what the world would be like if linear perspective were reality via a Simpsons clip. Oh, and towards the Renaissance art started to get more realistic. so basically for the past week I've been waiting for a textbook to come in the mail while wondering if I really want to be a psychology major should I change it but what if I don't want to be a biology/history/computer science major maybe I'll just be a psychology major after all but what if I... In all honesty I've realized I can always go back to school if I want to, but then there's the cost and feeling like you don't have a direction matter. Rest assured though, I'll be going to school this fall.

Last night sucked for the Sox, but the night before was bad for the Rays. Is Brazil still in the World Cup? I want Brazil to win if it is.

2010-06-24T10:30:00.001-07:00

Wow! I was hoping the U.S. would do well but this is great. Finishing at the top of our group! This is a big deal, to me at least. Who knows how far the team will go. I hope they at least make the quarterfinals. I need to figure out how to watch a game. Alas, I do not know how to use a TV remote. Good thing? Bad thing? Who knows.

I know exactly what is wrong with Jonathan Papelbon- he is human. He's been pretty good lately, give the guy a break. Maybe the altitude is getting to the team? I don't know. They seemed to have blown it last night. Hopefully they don't get swept. I heard Josh Reddick being called to the plate a couple of nights ago. This was neat because he is one of the players I kept seeing in Pawtucket.

All I really have to say now is that it's close to 90 degrees here and humid. I don't do anything outside between noon and 4 or 5 in the afternoon. The black raspberries are ripe, and I have garlic scapes. My lettuce is bolting and my broccoli is blooming, but I eat it anyway. There are already female flowers in our cucumber plants. My mother pulled up all my pea plants. I bet you in three weeks shes going to be asking me why we don't have any peas.

My Night at Fenway!

2010-06-18T11:22:00.000-07:00

We meant to get there an hour before the game started, but that didn't happen. Instead we got stuck in traffic somewhere near Wayland on the Mass Pike. At least we had easy pass so we weren't arguing over who lost the toll money this time. Otherwise the trip up was uneventful, although we were on our way to an event. A rather subdued one, it turned out, possibly due to the wet weather, but an event nonetheless.

We were near third base this year. My Mother's favorite spot. I signed up for the designated river thing and they gave me a coupon for a free soda. Since it was cloudy the green the walls and the field wasn't as bright, cooler green as opposed to a warmer one. For once the national anthem wasn't a disgrace, but the first pitch was thrown by a nobody that I cannot remember.

Pleasure of pleasures, we had real pitcher this year, the second best on the staff right now in my opinion, Jon Lester. To make things even better, Victor Martinez was catching. This was good, very good. Alas, Jacoby Ellsbury is off somewhere else, but what are you going to do? Oh well. Its funny, but I usually go the see the pitchers for some reason. Somehow the game started, and before I knew it it was the third inning. I know I was watching but I can't remember exactly what I saw. No big deal. This happens at every game I go to.

The atmosphere at Fenway has changed since I first went there. It used to be more relaxed, more roomy. Now the place is packed and people aren't as friendly. I don't recognize the workers there any more and its five dollars for an ice cream bar. I saw a whole box of them for about three fifty last Tuesday. At least the Fenway drunks weren't out in full force. People actually said excuse me this time. I went for my soda.

When I got back things started to get interesting. There were some off the walls, and at one point a ball went out of the park. Lester preformed well, and after the seventh inning he left the game. A bunch of foul balls got hit, and then Ramon Ramirez got called in to finish the game. It had been a sort of subdued evening, but I was sorry to see it end. The miracle of miracles, for the last out, Jonathan Papelbon got called in and I got to scream my lungs out. Third year in a row I've seen him. In usual form, he threw a number of fouls, then all too soon it was over. We went to one of those obscenely priced souvenir shops where I paid $30 for a Lester t-shirt. I got a blue one, although I seriously considered a red one. I nearly got one of those bootleg Grand Theft Ellsbury shirts as well, but I just wanted to get going.

Yes, I had a good night. I'm going back in August for that Futures game, if I really want one I'll get one then. It would have been an impulse purchase anyway, a type of purchase I try to avoid making.

I will be listening to the game tonight. Manny's back. I'll get to figure out how I feel about him.

Peace.

2010-06-16T11:22:00.000-07:00

Sorry I've been so quiet. I turned 21 this past week. But anyway, I'll have a big post either tomorrow or Thursday. Assuming I got the date right, I am going to Fenway and yes I plan to blog about it afterwards. A good, long, solid post. Hopefully someone good is pitching and hopefully I got the date right.

2010-06-10T10:00:00.000-07:00

Today I give you a review of the lovely, heartwarming novel by Nelson DeMille "The General's Daughter".

Paul Brenner, and CID investigator, is working undercover when he is suddenly assigned to a new case. The seemingly perfect daughter of the post commander, Ann Campbell, daughter of the mighty "Fighting Joe" Campbell, is found naked, bound, and strangled to death on a rifle range. His ex girlfriend, Cynthia Sunhill, is assigned to the case with him. Their case is a bizarre one, the circumstances more than odd. Ann Campbell was a model soldier and citizen, a graduate of West Point, who volunteered outside of her work in the Army and seemed the picture of the ideal soldier. Soon though, details of her odd personal life come into the open. Hiding the evidence of this from the meddling civilian police, the pair soon finds that her relationship with her father is not what it should be.

Don't know what else to say, I suppose this will be a short one.

Jacoby Ellsbury needs to realize that it takes longer than that to get over cracked ribs.

2010-06-04T11:58:00.000-07:00

I have been reading too many gossip columns lately. This is bad for me because I strongly oppose gossip on moral grounds, having been hurt by it in the past. In an effort to not read gossip, went to a slightly less ridiculous genera of literature and read another science fiction novel. I was at a bookstore and lo and behold, I came a across a copy of Stephen Baxter's first novel "Raft", which I had been wanting for quite some time.

The setting is truly a marvel. Five centuries before a spaceship full of humans somehow enters into a new universe where the force of gravity is somehow a billion times stronger than ours. Humans have noticeable gravitational fields, stars are only a mile wide and burn out in a years time, and the ship is destroyed. Somehow the group manages to exit into a cloud of breathable air and survive in this new universe.

Rees, a miner of burnt out star kernels in the looked down upon belt mining region of the nebula, finds that his curiosity about the world around him is too great to bear. He manages to stow away to the Raft, constructed 0f star metal and the home of the cream of the Nebula's society. There he manages to wrangle a place in among the scientists and learn why the nebula is dying. Soon though, the heavily stratified society of the nebula breaks out into civil war, and Rees soon finds himself exiled back to the Belt mines, and then to the Boneys, nomadic outcasts who live on worlds made of corpses. He escapes eventually escapes on on the back on one of the whale like creatures who lives in the nebula, and subsequently gets an idea that could save them all.

I like it, it certainly kept me away from gossip. Now I am reading Micheal Crichton again in hopes of further distraction. It is not working so far, maybe I should read more of it.

2010-06-01T08:28:00.000-07:00

Doesn't Ellsbury know that it takes longer than that to get over cracked ribs? We like to call him Baby Jacoby at our house because he is, after all, about 5 years old it seems. It doesn't take a surgeon to figure that out. Seriously, he should have been off longer. Hopefully he gets sent back to Pawtucket so we can yell this at him in person.

I'm going to continue to tell Josh Beckett to sleep on the floor. I'm sure he has very nice floors.

I was in Pawtucket for a game the day before yesterday. Tacky, tacky Memorial Day celebrations. I've said it before and I'll say it again,the only good jazzed up version of the Star Spangled Banner is Jimi Hendrix's version (because Jimi Hendrix is the greatest guitarist of all time). Furthermore one is not supposed to tell the audience to stand up during God Bless America. I actually refused out of principle(I did however, during the national anthem).

The game was better, even though they kept making ridiculous errors like falling over and accidentally throwing the ball past basemen when they could have gotten an out. It was the second most hilarious errors that I have seen in a ballgame, after an independent league game in Worcester MA. where I could have sworn they were trying to imitate The Three Stooges. Good times. They won, we saw Bubba Bell again, and every time he came to the plate we started yelling BUBBA! Sort of a tradition now. He struck out a couple of times though.

England picked its world cup roster. I thought Ashley Cole had a broken foot or something. Oh well.

2010-05-26T11:52:00.000-07:00

Some opinions.

I think that the Red Sox should sacrifice the 12th pitcher and keep on with Darnell McDonald. McDonald is just too good to give up, especially with Ellsbury so dicey. Maybe Ellsbury should have waited a bit longer before coming back. I think that Ellsbury will eventually make a full recovery, maybe he should go back to the minors for a bit though. I really don't want them to get rid of McDonald, they could really use him in the offense department. A 12th pitcher is a luxury anyway,and my mother always taught me necessitates before luxuries. I'm very pleased with Ortiz right now. He seems a lot better. I still think that Josh Beckett should sleep on the floor. The floors of the places he frequents must be very nice floors, I don't know why he wouldn't. It would be good for his back.

I saw a Brown Headed Cowbird last week and a dying horse wandering aimlessly this week. I should start another painting. It would be good for me.

2010-05-19T18:38:00.001-07:00

It seems that Josh Beckett needed a new hang up. I understand he used to have blister problems, now he seems to be suffering from back problems. How many times do I have to say sleep on the floor and your back will be way better? Probably I keep saying it forever, the odds that word of it will ever reach him are slim to nil. Nil seems more likely. It seems that he gets them whenever he might be under some sort of stress, whenever things are going badly for him. Maybe its psychosomatic. Who knows? What do I care, its not like I'm a doctor. I'm studying to be a psychologist,which is like a doctor but probably not the kind he might consult. I just like having a blog is all. Schools out for the summer, so I have way too much time on my hands, although I suppose I could clean my room. I am actually supposed be cleaning the top of the fridge right now. I'll do it eventually. When things dry out I'll work in the garden as well, and tomorrow I am going to beg to be allowed to take a summer course online, probably in art history or biology. Or psych. Who knows?

Saw an ad for a hospital which featured a doctor who looked like a Daumier interpretation of the French villain Robert Macaire. Don't want to go to that hospital now.

2010-05-17T18:30:00.000-07:00

To answer your question Mama Zen, yes, it was a whole boatload of fun, no kidding. Alas, Jacoby Ellsbury was not due there until the next day, but a day at a minor league baseball game is rarely, if ever, a loss. The weather was good, the guard believed me when I said that I was diabetic and needed my apple, and best of all, they won. They were playing some other team called the Chiefs. The game started off badly for them; they were behind by 1 until the seventh I think, until they scored their first run. Then late in the game they scored two runs and won the game.

Those of you who have been visiting me for awhile will remember the infamous Bubba Bell, made a source of one liners in out household after we sat in front of what appeared to be his fan club at the Futures at Fenway last year. We had no idea if he actually existed or not, but after several Google searches and having seen him (well, at least his backside), in person two or three times I have to concede that he does, in fact exist in the real world. We could barely believe his name, what a name I say. A catchy one. I wonder if his mother gave it to him. It's exam week, I have to go.

2010-05-15T19:21:00.000-07:00

Going to see the PawSox Sunday. Whee!

2010-05-08T12:21:00.000-07:00

Why on earth don't they just take Beckett out midway through the sixth inning? That's when he seems to be falling apart anyway. Anyway, that's what I would do. If they could do that it would be great. I hope that this is just one of his characteristic slumps. He seems to have a lot of slumps. I wish the game had gone better today. It self like it went on forever. Hopefully there won't be a sweep sandwich of sorts for them. You know, being swept, a sweep, then being swept again. I certainly hope this won't happen, but I have a bad feeling about tomorrow. Maybe things will get better when Ellsbury comes back.

The only other thing of note that I can think of is that I saw a new kind of duck last week. My first urge was to run around yelling "new duck, new duck", but I knew better. It looked like a mallard, but it had a kind of brownish gray head and neck,a white patch on the front, and a gray back with black bits on the feathers. It was one of only three ducks braving a school of koi. The other two were mallards who had probably just walked out on their mates. It turned out to be a northern pintail duck. I had never seen one before. Here is a picture of a specimen. Not the one I say though. The koi must have eaten it by now, assuming it hasn't figured out how to avoid them. I sincerely hope it has. They are beautiful ducks. I would like to see it again.

2010-04-27T18:41:00.000-07:00

I just read my first Kurt Vonnegut book ever. It is called "Breakfast of Champions" and it features one of Vonnegut's favorite characters, Kilgore Trout. Kilgore Trout is the author of an obscenely large number of books and short stories. However, they have all been published in disreputable magazines. All of his work is printed as pornography, and next to no one knows that he is an author. But then things change. His greatest fan, Dwayne Hoover, richest man in all of Midland City, Ohio, has begun to take all of Trout's work seriously. To thicken the plot, Trout has been invited to do the keynote address at a local arts festival. Trout has an eventful journey to and arrival in Midland City, where he gives a copy of his book "Now It Can Be Told" to the already mentally unstable Hoover. Finally Hoover takes the book literally, that he is the only being in the universe with free will, and goes on a rampage. Good stuff.

This book is also full of illustrations done by the author. They include some graphic things though, such as an electric chair, little girls panties, and an American flag. Don't say I didn't warn you. Like I said, its Kurt Vonnegut.

2010-04-22T19:11:00.000-07:00

Get Buchholz out of there, I say. They better have. I decided to forgo the rest of the game in order to get some schoolwork done, only to find that the website I need is down. Go figure. Last night was a relief. They won, that is. I don't know what the score is now and I don't want to know. Ellsbury is out, which kind of sucks because he is one of the best they have in my opinion. I'm really pleased that the replacement they have is working out so well though. He can keep that up if he likes. I'm still sorry about Ellsbury's ribs though, that has to suck. Daisie Matsuzaka is about to come into the rotation, supposedly. I forgot about him again. Just like last year. Shame, all that money they spent. Put him in the bullpen. I mean it. Papelbon is in another one of those stupid advertising campaigns for Dunkin' Donuts. I don't go to Dunkin' Donuts and I don't plan to in the near future. Too expensive. I don't even drink coffee.

I have read a couple of new books, here's to hoping I do a post on one this weekend.

2010-04-12T19:50:00.000-07:00

Oryx and Crake is my idea of a good book. It is the second by Margaret Atwood that I have read and I loved every minute of it. Set in a apocalyptic future formerly run by corporations that have genetically engineered every possible absurdity, it is a dystopian novel much in the vein of The Handmaid's Tale. The book begins in the post apocalyptic wasteland brought on by a genetically engineered plague. the protagonist, Snowman, lives a painful, mutated existence in the company of strange, human like creatures known as the Crakers, who care for him and consult with him on matters beyond their understanding. To make things even peachier for Snowman, other, even stranger mutants with names like pigoons and wolvogs. We soon learn how Snowman got to where he is not- a virtual God to the Crakers. We then learn of his past, of his life in the corporate compounds where he was raised, where his mother and father worked in genetic engineering. Snowman's mother leaves at a young age, her reasons for doing so do not become clear until later in the book. He grows with is best friend Crake, with whom he visits websites such with content such as graphic surgery and child pronogrpahy, where Snowman gets his first view of his beloved Oryx, whom he later meets when she is hired by Crake to work for him. He attends a less than prestigious college where the students are taught the by then disrespected humanities as opposed to the more profitable sciences. Finally, Snowman is hired by Crake to work on an advertising campaign for one of his products, and all hell breaks loose.

I would definitely recommend this book, but not for the squeamish and prudish. I have to get back to work now.

Peace.

2010-04-10T19:48:00.000-07:00

Just when I think that I don't have any topics, the president of Poland dies in a plane crash and John Paul Stevens decides to retire.

I have cousins in Poland. My mother is half Polish and thinks the world of the place. Ironically the Polish president was on his way to pay tribute to poles that had been killed by the Soviets years ago. So sad.

Well, another Supreme Court is retiring. Shame, I liked Stevens. I liked most of his opinions (with the exception of Kelo v. City of New London, hated that one). He's almost ninety anyway. Now for his replacement, I have a good feeling about Elena Kagan. Today was not the first time I ever heard of her by the way. Might I note that this is much cleaner than having him die in office.

I will try for something more substantial tomorrow.

2010-04-09T19:23:00.000-07:00

Planning a real post tomorrow.

Peace.

2010-04-05T18:50:00.000-07:00

I was a little worried last night, but it all turned out well for the Red Sox in the end and that's what really matters. I would have liked to see Beckett do better but at least Sabathia was equally lousy. Speaking of Beckett, I am pleased that they have resigned him, as this will allow my Beckett T-Shirt to remain fashionable for another four years as well as put me in the market for one of those Beckett mugs at my mothers friends farm stand if she still has any. I would like a mug with a handle. Have you ever tried holding a hot mug without one? It's hard. They are nice mugs as well, with pictures of ballplayers in what I refer to as heroic poses (pitching, hitting home runs, stealing bases, etc). Anyway, keeping Beckett is a good thing I think.

There is a spider with another spider caught in its web right next to me. One has longer legs, at least twice as long, as well as a smaller, lighter body. The other is heavy, dark, and short legged. It is gone. The long legged one just gave it the kiss of death while I watched. It is now proceeding to wrap its arachnid prey, which is already becoming foggy under a layer of spider silk. I actually feel sort of privileged to have watched it. Some people have problems with spiders but I don't. They do not bother me.

2010-03-28T11:33:00.000-07:00

So, Josh Beckett is going to be pitching opening day. I like that. I might watch. It sounds like a nice way to start off the season. I like that idea. It will be nice to start off the season on Easter Sunday as well. Begin a new baseball season and celebrate the resurrection at the same time, I can do that. One of the advantages to not being a member of a fundamentalist cult. I like Beckett immensely.

No, I am not worried right now, its still early days yet. Really, my biggest concern is when my garden will come up. Actually, I am seeing more garlic shoots every day. This is good, I hope it will keep the deer away. I saw a turtle last week, as well as a red tailed hawk looking for mice. The Juncos have yet to leave for their nesting grounds, and the mallards have yet to abandon their wives. Go figure. I never see ducklings in the wild, but I have seen goslings once.

2010-03-22T19:52:00.000-07:00

The spring peepers are making fun of me. It seems that we will miss out March snowstorm this year. Flurries are still possible though. Usually a good March means a lousy April though. I planted last week. I am planting this week as well. I plan to plant some of my castor oil beans tonight. I put peas in last Thursday. The day before I dumped in all of last years lettuce seeds to get rid of them, and on Friday I planted most of last years leftover radishes along with some of my new Emu spinach. My new spinach is supposed to grow slowly but blot the slowest.

Almost all of my crocuses are up. The yellow ones seem a bit slower than the others. The pickwicks are the biggest. The snow crocuses are the earliest and are starting to pass their prime. The skunk cabbage is on its way to shading everything shorter than it into oblivion.

I have another idea for Josh Beckett's health. I read that he believes that he may have caught the flu by drinking out of the wrong water bottle, claiming that everyone's looks the same. So, I make the radical proposal that he buy a different looking one and write his name on the lid or one the side in permanent marker. That might help him determine which is his and avoid further illness.

Speaking of permanent markers, has anyone ever used one to the end? I always lose them or have them leak or dry out before that happens.

2010-03-13T09:47:00.000-08:00

Well, it's spring break, which means that I have a week of from school. No, I haven't the least intention of going off to Florida, or Mexico in order to get drunk, I can't justify the cost. Maybe when I graduate. It's much warmer here than it was a month ago, but I am not holding my breath. We always have a snowstorm in March. I refuse to put away my shovel until the spring peepers commence their peeping. It's like an all clear signal. I almost have my seed order put together, I just want to see if the Farmer's Co-op will be selling Outredgeous lettuce seeds. James Crockett recommended it and Black Seeded Simpson (which they must have, or no one will buy from them), so they both must be good (and the Simpson lettuce is). I am also trying to decide whether or not to plant corn. I might, I might not.

Some baseball ranting, as I have time to kill. Daisuke Matsuzaka has been reported by Call of the Green Monster to be one of the best bullpen pitchers ever. His wife is supposedly expecting their third child; I'm sure the Japanese premier loves them for it. There are rumors that Josh Beckett is in talks to resign, I think that if he did that would be wonderful. I have no sympathy for Jason Bay. Oh shoot, I just Googled Marsuzaka and now he is having neck problems. How many times do I have to tell those lugs to sleep on the floor? It does wonders for your back! No, seriously. I love Josh Beckett, I think he should stay. When he is on one of his good streaks he cannot be beat. Besides, he is supposedly the role model for the younger players on the team. I read somewhere that Jacoby Ellsbury is coming out with a charity wine. I find this a tad inappropriate. First of all, I spent the first ten years of my life going to a church that favored the temperance movement(Methodist), so I'm a little chilly towards giving out alcohol for any reason, let alone charity. I don't mind if you drink really, it's just that... To make matters worse, I find it odd that he is promoting wine in order to help a population where alcoholism is rampant(part of the money id going to a fund that supports Navajo's). No, actually I find it downright inappropriate. There are better things that he could be promoting, other ways that he could raise money. Why dosen't he those sell wool blankets that Navajo's are so famous for at horribly inflated prices? Or sell decorative corn cobs (yuppies are suckers for them), or, since he is quite possibly considered the most attractive member of the team, set up a kissing booth or auction off an opportunity to go on a date with him? Well, the last two could be kind of dangerous but really...

2010-03-02T19:42:00.000-08:00

I wasn't planning to post tonight but I just did the most stimulating assignment for history. No, really, for a history buff like me this is good. Go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/launch_gms_muck_brass.shtml and http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/launch_gms_cotton_millionaire.shtml

Apparently I would not have made a good Victorian Industrialist. At least not right off the bat. I am apparently ahead of my time for the Victorians. It appears that I am too altruistic.

Peace.

2010-02-23T20:06:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted in a while, so I felt that since I have little to do tonight I might as well do one before things get hectic again. I just got back from abnormal psyc. class, which was spent trying to pay attention while to professor said something about anxiety disorders, which bore me for some reason. It seems that I am much, much more interested in mood disorders.

Seeing as spring training is upon us I thought that it might do well to do a post on baseball. I have been at this blog thing for over two years now, and I am reminded of how my first post worth more than a few sentences, was about the oft maligned Mike Lowell. I have read nothing about him as of late. I am much more into Josh Beckett right now. Yes, I do think that we should resign him, I think that he has a lot of good left in him even though he can be a bit erratic. Besides, I also heard that he is fairly good teaching younger pitchers what to do and the like. I think that Lester will have a good season as well, because if I don't say that I will likely end up being yelled at for not mentioning Jon Lester. I'm having bad feelings about David Ortiz. I see Victor Martinez doing well, he might be the wave of the future. I don't think that Jacoby Ellsbury going to left will a problem.

I actually forgot that Daisuke Matsuzaka was on the team last year. Hopefully this year he is around long enough for him to remain present in my mind. I think that Papelbon will injure his back soon. I keep expecting Dustin Pedroia to start flapping his ears and fly away like Dumbo.

I should probably go to bed now.

My Cucumber Endorsement

2010-02-14T18:30:00.000-08:00

I can say for sure that if it is what I had last summer, Marketmore 76 is my choice of slicing cucumbers for the place that I live in. I initially bought it as part of an impulse purchase that I made of of guilt for walking up to a booth at the farmers market and chatting last year, but it turned out to be one of the wisest purchases I had made all year. I planted the week old seedlings in mid June of last summer, right at the beginning of last summers horrid cool, wet month and a half. Lo and behold, the plants were bearing by the end of July. And cucumbers prefer the heat! These were classic, long, dark green ones as well. No disease problems either. My only problem was that I had too many cucumbers by the end of August. The vine didn't even get any diseases. Really, if you live in southern New England this is a great cucumber to grow. It is my first choice, as it is a non hybrid and you can save seed from year to year. If you want a pickler, plant Northern Pickling. I have also heard good things about H-19 Little Leaf.

I might be planting salad greens a early as the last week of next month. I have to put my seed order in soon. I want some nice Bibb and Butterhead lettuce this year, along with some Black Seeded Simpson and a red lettuce. I might try Outredgeous, I have heard good things, and I like a nice red lettuce so leaving it out us out of the question. Radishes are a must, along with mustard greens. Leeks are also mandatory as well as kale and collards. I will also be making another attempt a peas after last years miserly showing. I will need some pumpkins as well, plus I always like to try something new. I might need to do some spinach as well, I do love spinach.

They're sugaring off already! Either that or all the maple trees have abscesses that had to be drained.

2010-02-06T18:10:00.000-08:00

As a bird owner (cockatiels, a lovebird, three zebra finches, and watching someones Quaker Parakeets), I have found myself in possession of a number of bird books. Needless to say, some have been more useful than others. One is several decades out of date, and mentions that if you breed cockatiels you might want to remove their tail feathers to make it easier for them (then how do they do it out in the bush?). At least half of them recommend that you give seeds as their primary foodstuff (exactly what you shouldn't do). Fortunately, veterinary science has improved vastly since the 1960s, especially in the avian department. We now know that a sick bird is not a dead bird and that one does not need to split a mynah's tongue in half to get it to talk. Of these modern bird books, there is a need for a favorite. And there certainly are a few candidates. So I thought today that I would review my favorite of my good, basic bird books (I have a few species specific ones as well).

Barron's Guide to Companion Parrot Behavior by Mattie Sue Athan, is one of the best books that I have ever read on the subject of parrot keeping. I have had it since I first got birds as a middle schooler and it has helped me immensely since. The book contains all matters of practical advice on living with parrots. I tells what to expect from parrots based on their species, how to choose the right bird for you, bird development, and managing behavior problems. By far the most extensive part of the book is the types of parrots, which allows the reader who is preparing to obtain their first or second or more to look over the various species of bird and pick the right species for them. It covers a wide variety of common and uncommon parrots, from the for experts only Cockatoo (I am not kidding, the only member of the family really worth keeping is a cockatiel, of whom I wholeheartedly recommend as one's very first bird), to the easygoing green cheeked conure, from the messy lori to the easy keeping budgerigar,this book has every companion parrot species that one might expect to see in America. Once you have gotten the dear little fellow, you can move on to the chapters on behavior (after putting him up in the cage you set up with the advice of the book before you got him), training, and dealing with problems such as screaming. I intend to use the information in this book to see if I can get one of the Quakers to stop chewing. The only content of this book that I disagree with is also Quaker related, mine are not interested in socializing with me for anything other than telling me that it's time to feed them.

Still angry over Jason Bay going to the Mets. They had better not screw up again like this for a long time, I'm telling you.

2010-02-05T19:24:00.000-08:00

I cannot, for the life of me, understand why anyone would rank Westview Nursing Home in Dayvill as one of the best in America.

Really.

Frankly I think that most of the patients there would be better off trying to rent a stall at the barn up the road, at least the food and roommates would be better. The level of care would probably be better as well. The staff are rude and often incompetent. Frankly I think that it is disrespectful of the staff to call adults, whether or not they are with it, by their first names in a tone of voice that I would not use on my dog. It is also not acceptable to call patients families "you guys". I would not give the food to my dog either, as he was once offered some and refused it. And it was right before his suppertime.

How do I know this? I had a relative live there. He never seemed happy. The aides spoke to him in a disrespectful tone of voice. Exceptional levels of rude staff I say. The food looked as if it had been sitting in a sink of half an hour before they gave it to him, they made him go back to bed at three in the afternoon even though there was no reason for him to do so, and oftentimes the dementia stricken elderly women would come into his room and take things. I'm not sure how one might prevent the last one, but I'm sure there's a way. It was not a one time event either.

I suspect that the place is better to the short term patients, who incidentally are more profitable. Also, it is very easy to fudge data such as which they gained their favorable rating. Anyway, shame on you U.S. News.

I think that the reason that all the testimonies in the ads for the place feature admonishments is because those who have problems with the place (and Lord knows there are many), just go straight to the state instead. Given the personality of the management there, it might be the best course of action.

Anyway, thanks for letting me say this.

2010-02-04T19:46:00.000-08:00

It's spring, it's spring, I saw a robin today!

* Just kidding. A small percentage of Robins do not migrate and instead remain in low, swampy areas in search of food.

Blurry things and random things

2010-01-27T19:00:00.001-08:00

I have a whole list of things to post about, but few of them seem good enough for an entire post. So I thought that I would just give them a go, from highest to lowest in substance.

Birds of Connecticut, By Stan Tekiela, was sent to me when I renewed my Audobon Society membership. The book would be one of my bathroom books, except I have been keeping it near the window nearest to my bird feeders. It has been next to useless for anything other then speculation, as I have only identified one bird species. Now an embarrassing confession to make: I mistook a male house sparrow for another species for a year and a half. I also did the same with a female hummingbird. On the other hand, I now know that I may have seen a bufflehead, and I also know that mallards and wood ducks are incapable of mating with each other; it was black ducks who are being wiped out by black ducks falling in love with mallard drakes. The book is well organized though. Unlike other bird books, this book only contains birds found in Connecticut, as well as arranging them in to chapters based on color. I appreciate this immensely. Incidentally, some species may be found in more than one chapter due to different coloration between the two sexes. I found this useful,and there is usually a photo with a picture of the opposite gender as well. My only beef is that I have never seen an indigo bunting, nor a scarlet tanager (alive, that is), and there are a bunch here in my part of the state that are not listed, such as the Red Shouldered Hawk. Oddly enough I have seen snowy egrets, the new worlds answer to the little egret. Never seen a green heron though. And catbirds are not timid. But all in all, the book was worth the renewal of the membership.

Incidentally, here are the birds in my feeder, in order of abundance: Dark Eyed Junco, Black Capped Chickadee, Blue Jay, Squirrels don't count as birds, Northern Cardinal, House Sparrow, Mourning Dove, and odd gray and white streaked bird. I know I will see the Pine Siskin fight with the Head Chickadee soon. The crows are around, but they prefer the traffic island.

Here is a wonderful article about humanity's seeming lust for the end of the world by Daniel Kalder. I had something witty to say but I have forgotten it.

I went for a walk today and the river had flowed over and covered much of the low lying areas in the park. Now it is freezing. I think it will be like this for a while yet.

Who invented making oil paint so expensive anyway?

2010-01-23T12:02:00.000-08:00

I just made the mistake of taking painting this semester. Apparently the course is an oil painting course. Did you know that oils paints are pricy? Anyway, It could have been worse, I already have a lot of stuff from drawing that I can use. I almost want to go to art school, but being a starving artist does not appeal to me. At all. And I need health insurance. Stupid Scott Brown.

I have decided that I will continue on with the comic book theme and go on to "Striking Close to Home: A Close to Home Collection by John Macpherson". Needless to say, this is a collection of strips from the comic Close to Home, the favorite of Pharmacists and Science Teachers everywhere, provided they have a sense of humor. This book is another helping of the strips classic sense of one panel humor, with merry themes ranging from child care to dentistry. Unique (but fictional) solutions for life's little problems, service providers with bizarre methods of providing their services, unusual promotions, customs, you name it, along with classic visual gags abound. It is an excellent bathroom book. Notable strips include silly string taking place of rice at weddings, girl scouts selling insurance, squirrels building a pile of snowballs to get to a bird feeder, and the states one millionth speeder. Also, they no longer sell replacement mufflers for your car and the best they can do is sell you these earphones for $35. Good luck.

Anyway, I have been looking at all the stuff that's been coming out on the Red Sox. Papelbon resigned- for more money than I can ever hope to make. Yes, even though he blew that last game I think that he deserves to be paid like a king- although he is a little wild. Maybe the team should consider having him neutered. Or debarked. Whatever works. Ahh, don't remember much else.

2010-01-16T19:00:00.000-08:00

I just spent the whole day driving to Hartford and back for a party...I have decided that Worcester is a more exciting city (No, Yara, I am not worried that saying that I am within driving distance of Worcester MA and Hartford CT will give my position away, so do about a million other people). It was a little warmer in Hartford, about 10 degrees Fahrenheit warmer. The ground was brown. It was depressing. And I forgot to fill the bird feeder outside. Rats, the chickadees are going to be pissed at me. Best of all, I have a root canal scheduled for Wednesday and then school starts again on Thursday! Yay! In making the best of my time off, I have been reading comic books. In particular, I have been reading Dilbert, which I only recently started reading. Oddly enough, I loved the TV show. Since I feel like I should do a post of some sort tonight, I thought that I would just go ahead and talk about the one that I have sitting in front of me right now When Body Language Goes Bad.

who can resist the regular characters in this strip anyway. As usual there is the long suffering Dilbert, his seemingly uncaring apparently some sort of beagle Dogbert, the lazy, balding Wally, Ratbert, Alice, who has hair that reminds me of a pyramid, Catbert(evil director of human resources), Asok, the pointy haired boss, and some others that I have either forgotten or am too lazy to speak of. Also present are a large number of one shot characters, such as M.T. Suit, an empty suit that walks the halls spewing corpratese, as well as the usual slew of outside consultants that do absolutely nothing to help the company at all. Notable parts of the book include Dogbert founding his own airline(sans planes), Dogbert's All Natural and Holistic Tech Support, a visit to the accounting trolls, Dilbert's downsizing and eventual rehiring to work in sales, Catbert's usual antics,and Dogbert's anthropological expedition to study the culture of the company and make detailed recommendations. I loved it.

I should probably mention, what with the earthquake in Hati and all, that there is a good website called freerice.com where one can donate rice to the UN for minimal effort. Also, I'm pleased that the Red Sox signed Hedeki Okajima to another year. Hopefully Matsuzaka won't injure himself this year, last year I actually forgot that he was even on the team with him away for so long. I had better things to worry about. Like cucumbers.

2010-01-13T18:00:00.000-08:00

I have to do another book review while I still have time. I am currently reading "The Fountainhead", but the protagonist seems like a sociopath. The Gremlin in my bird room just knocked over the new bay plant(for tomato sauce when it gets big enough to sacrifice leaves), and Trigger seemed this close to dumping me in a ditch today. It's usually a bad sign when he gets spunky.

"Cleaving" is the second book by Julie Powell, of "Julie and Julia" fame. I loved the first one, so when I saw it at the library that I currently have a tenuous peace with, I decided to pick it up. After finishing her first book and quitting her dead end job as a secretary, the Texan Expatriate was bored. Wanting to ingrain herself with a noble new profession, she chose to become an apprentice at an upscale butcher shop in Kingston New York. But the book is not just about butchering. At the same time she becomes embroiled in a affair with an irresistible man. Needless to say her husband finds out about the whole thing, and the rest of the book is about her marriages slow recovery. The book culminates with her taking a trip to the meat capitals of the world, such as Argentina, land of the worlds best beef (which I aspire to someday try), The Ukraine, and the Masai, on the Serengeti. Eventually she gets back together with her husband, working as a butcher, etc.

Jonathan Papelbon's wife is having another baby. The last one, judging by it's name, was some sort of cocker spaniel. I appears that this one is some sort of hunting dog.

2010-01-11T09:58:00.000-08:00

I went off to another zoo this weekend. This one was a lot more little kidsy oriented, which was a good thing and a bad thing. On one hand there were lots of nice exhibits and interactive things, on the other I was worried that someone would accuse me of being a child molester because I was the only person there who was not yet either a parent or an aunt over the age of 15. Sigh... Still, I hope that I never grow out of zoos. They had a wood turtle. I met one in the wild once. And a polar bear. She would have driven the Brazillians that live in Worcester (where the zoo is) nuts, because she was out rolling in the snow, scratching herself, and otherwise enjoying the weather, which obviously did not bother her a bit. She is the zoos feature attraction, she was born there has lived there her whole life. There is a petition out saying that she needs to be with other bears, but due to the naturally solitary nature of polar bears, I don't think that that will really be necessary. Giver her a bigger exhibit sure, but somehow I don't think that she is dying of loneliness. Neither is the boa constrictor inside either. I have to go.

"Hi, I'm Denis Leary and I'm the only one who has any sense in this room!"

2010-01-07T17:56:00.000-08:00

"Hi, I'm Denis Leary and I'm the only one who has any sense in this room!"

Well it's true. He really could say that. I can tell now that I have read"Why We Suck: A Feel Good Guide to Staying Fat, Loud, Lazy and Stupid" By Dr. Denis Leary. Don't believe he has a doctorate, there's a picture of the one that was awarded to him in either the foreword or the first chapter, I'm too full of rice and beans to check. Anyway, this is a wonderful book. It's clear that Leary is one of the better entertainers of our time. Part memoir, part rant about the quirks and downright stupid stuff of today's society, this is not a book for conservatives, Yankees fans, and people with no sense of humor. With enlightening chapters such as "Why Everyone Hates Us", "We'ed Hate You Even If You Weren't Black" and "I Had Sex With Kathy Lee Gifford (And She Was Amazing)*, we get valuable information that will help us make sense of modern society and improve ourselves. For example, how many of you knew that skinny jeans were for skinny people? and that men will never change. Not even into clean underwear. Or how useless the Kardashian sisters are? Also included are heart warming stories such as how you can put your hand through the glass on the screen door and not get cut (it will cut you when you pull it out), the superiority of coffee flavored coffee, and traditional Irish Recipes. Anyway, if you do not belong to one of the groups above, you will love this book. Hopefully I can put this post up without being sued for copyright violations. Hopefully the stuff I put in here was brief enough for them not to bother. Anyway this book is a rallying call to action or something. Go out, buy a couple of copies in hardcover. According to the back flap, Leary is the author of over 15 books, including "Why God Gave Us Donuts", "George Bush Jr. Can Kiss My Irish Ass", and "Lederhosen: The Best Sock Ever". Due to a vast right wing conspiracy none of them were ever published.

* No he did not, he just wanted to see if you were paying attention.

The Devil Wears Prada

2010-01-05T18:08:00.000-08:00

I have just finished reading (and rereading and rereading because I read it in a rush during exams when I shouldn't have) "The Devil Wears Prada". I had the copy of the book for over a year before I actually read it. Stuff got in the way. Stuff is getting in my way right now. Shut up Mom, I'm in the middle of something. Alright, I didn't actually say that but it was in my head. Anyway, the book is a roman a clef, the author worked for Anna Wintour, the notoriously demanding editor of Vogue Magazine for a short period of time as an assistant.

The protagonist, Andrea Sachs, has just graduated from Brown and after a spot of travel has blanketed the publishing industry with her resume in hopes of finding employment. She is granted a interview with the magazine Runway (which is as fictional as the book is), and is hired to be the assistant for the powerful Miranda Priestly, editor of the magazine and, in the book "most powerful woman in publishing. The book is a blast really. Runway one of the most influential and storied high fashion magazines around, making it an exciting place to work if you are in love with such things. While there, Andrea learns about style, how a magazine is run, and who is who in high society, never mind that the magazine has very loose expense account policies which she can use to the benefit of herself and her friends, as well as deeply discounted to free designer cloths(which incidentally are the only cloths that are acceptable to wear around the office). Best of all, if she can make it a year working as Miranda's assistant, Miranda will make a phone call and get her any job she pleases to have. Unfortunately, Miranda (as she prefers to be called) is in the running for the worst boss in the universe, pulling things such as leaving incomplete instructions for tasks, turning work into a guessing game, rushing around in high heels to pick up lattes and run errands, bringing things to her apartment as late as eleven at night, and putting up with various other abuses and insults, such as being blamed for her flight being late. To make matters worse, few are willing to admit Miranda's shortcomings, leaving Andrea at a loss for what to do. Needless to say this makes for an exciting and shocking conclusion.

Mmm hmm, yes, I do recommended this book, it is pleasingly devoid of slow spots.

Well Jason Bay is officially a Met, and I am full out ticked off. I think I'm going to go argue with my lovebird now so that I forget all about it.

Shanghai Girls

2010-01-04T11:57:00.000-08:00

I have been out of school for two weeks now, more than enough time to rest. I have very little to do other than cleaning and getting my college transfer applications done, so I really should be posting and commenting more. There is snow everywhere, good clean snow. I made fried chicken for Sunday dinner last night, and for the first part of the recipe I had to soak the chicken in ice water. I used snow instead of ice. I also have to use the snow to make molasses candy before I miss the chance. I have decided to do a new book review, so here it goes. I have chosen to do "Shanghai Girls by Lisa See. I have been on sort of a Lisa See jag lately, I know. also, those who have been with me for awhile in the cyber world will no doubt remember the review of her amazing book "Peony in Love" which I did last spring.

"Shanghai girls" begins in the mid 1930s, right before the Japanese invasion of China. The protagonist, Pearl, and her younger sister, May, are living the life of Reilly in Shanghai. They are (or at least they think) that they are modern, liberated girls. They are the much doted upon daughters of a well off father; they love to socialize, have other liberal friends, and for fun they work as "beautiful girls" posing for advertisements. Their world is shattered, however, when they learn that their father has lost all of his money gambling and has sold them into marriage as so to pay off his debts. They attempt to escape their fates, but the first the Japanese take Shanghai and next the girls learn that their marriages have been arranged by a ganglord who will not allow them to remain in their home city. As a result of this, they flee to Hong Kong and then to California, where they hide May's illegitimate pregnancy, waiting at Angel Island Immigration Station until May gives birth and then claiming that the baby is Pearl's, before and moving in with their husbands family. Unfortunately married life in America (known as "Gold Mountain" to the Chinese) is not as good as they had dreamed. Finally, Joy, the daughter, becomes embroiled with a communist right after leaving to attend the University of Chicago, leaving their family in need of a way to save her.

Yes I did like this book, it is just as good as her other two. I would recommend reading it.

Let's see, what else is in the news, the Spanish have too much ham, I wonder if that means that I can get a discount, the worlds tallest skyscraper opened, and John Frusciante left the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Nuts, he is my favorite guitarist.

I am ridiculously grateful that right now that not too many people read this blog.

2009-12-30T19:07:00.000-08:00

I have not the least idea of how I am going to tell my mother that Jason Bay is said to have signed a deal with the Mets. THE METS. Jesus, I wish he had signed with the Sox. With us I want to say. Can I say that? I'm not sure. To cheer myself up, I am going to tell you about one of the books that I got out of the library before Christmas to tide me over until my Christmas books came.

I chose(well, actually my mother showed to me) Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. i read one of her other books, Peony in Love last summer, and it went down very well. Needless to say I was eager to read more of her work.

Lily, the protagonist of the story, comes from a lower class farming family in the early 19th century in China. At the age of seven, she is decided by a matchmaker to be a child of exceptional potential, and enters into a laotong pairing, described as an eternal relationship for emotional companionship which is closer than marriage, for which the only purpose is to produce sons. They undergo rites such as footbinding at the same time, and write to each other in Nu Shu (with those two little dots above the u in the first word), a secret language that was invented by women to communicate solely with each other, out of the reach of men. They are both known as "old sames" and born under the same sign, that of the Horse, but they have different characters; Lily is of the more practical set, while Snow Flower is always attempting to rise over the retrictions set on women in those days. Also, Snow flower is from a much more prosperous family than Lily. However, upon reaching maturity their roles reverse. Lily marries into a prosperous family and eventually becomes known as Lady Lu, the wife of a powerful and wealthy man, while Snow Flower finds her family fallen into disrepute and herself married to a butcher, the lowest of professions, and lives a miserable life of children dying and beatings. Still, the two remain close, surviving an attack on their province that forces them into the mountains together, among other things, until a misunderstanding pushes them apart. The book then brings us to 1903, where Lily, at the age of eighty, begs for forgiveness from the ghost of Snow Flower and tries to make things right again.

Some notes on the book, the dates are done in the fashion of the time period, of which the years are listed as the xth year of Emperor So and So's reign.

This Post Deserves A Title.

2009-12-26T09:36:00.000-08:00

No,I didn't read Sarah Palin's biography and I'm not going to. First, I can't stand the thought of giving her money. Second, she has enough money. Third, this book was cheaper. Behold, my opinion on the autobiography of Warren Rudman, former U.S. Senator from New Hampshire.

A Korean War veteran, Rudman's biography is fittingly entitled "Combat"(ISBN 0-679-44135-2). Born to hard working Jewish parents in New Hampshire, he has lived there his entire life, with the exception of his college years and his stint in the army. After leaving the army, where he was decorated (I will let you find out for yourself what kind), he came home to work for his father, but found he wanted to go to law school. After attending Boston College Law School by night while working a full time job for his father in New Hampshire, he later went on to become the states attorney general, where he met and became friends with the recently retired Supreme Court Justice David Souter, who was his subordinate and then successor. Rudman was elected to the senate in 1980, where he began to make his mark as one of the last of the moderate republicans that have gotten so rare as of late, at least in politics. While in the Senate, Rudman played a significant role in many events that many of us have likely forgotten about, such as the Iran-Contra Affair, the Keating Five (Everybody Doesn't do it!), The Graham-Rudman Act, and attempt to force a balanced budget, the nomination of David Souter to the Supreme Court (he was Souter's Champion. If you only read one chapter of this book, make it the one on his nomination), and various other scandals. Best of all, we learn of one of Rudman's most endearing traits- that he can give up power and live without it, as he did by not running for reelection in 1992.

Yes, I recommend this book. It came out a while ago, so you might have to look for it. My copy is copyrighted in 1996, so there. I got mine at a used bookstore. At seven dollars, in hardcover, the price was right, which is at least seven dollars less than Palin's book. Also, it was available in my favorite used book store. Also, Souter was my favorite sitting Supreme Court Justice, so I especially enjoyed the chapter on his nomination.

2009-12-23T12:53:00.000-08:00

I'm done, I'm done. A in Lit, passed Drawing well enough to take painting, chem grades have been posted, but I am too scared to look at them. I just read that Bay refused another advance from the Red Sox. What fo you want to be that he doesn't get signed until at least mid January. I wish that he would sign with the Red Sox. No news of how the Adrian Gonzalez business is working out, none that I think is worth reading. I would, no they had better, keep Ellsbury. as I have said before, he is one of the teams chief sources of base stealing, leadoff hitting, ecent outfield work, and dimpled cheeks. Not to San Diego, not anywhere.

2009-12-19T20:22:00.000-08:00

La Dee Dee, La Dee Da, I have two papers due in 48 hours, one overdue, and two exams, but after the 22 I'll be done, yay. Maybe then I will be able to do the stuff that I have neglected during the semester.

No, I would not mind Adrian Gonzlaez coming but not at the expense of Ellsbury. I am pleased to hear that whatshisface is said to know this. I sure hope so.Well, back to work! I plan to spend tomorrow shoveling out of the snow, which will cut into my work time, ugh. But it must be done.

2009-12-15T20:01:00.001-08:00

No, no, no do not get rid of Ellsbury or Buchholz. We need decent pitching, and Ellsbury is a one of the teams most reliable sources of decent leadoff business, base stealing, and dimpled cheeks. Get rid of Youkilis or something, I have a bad feeling about him. Or use something from the farm system. Hopefully Ellsbury stays, I would really hate to see him go.

Nuts, I have to go to bed, I have class tomorrow. No, no exams until Monday. Already handed in my art portfolio. Stuff was missing, stuff was missing, I need good grades, please, please.

2009-12-14T19:05:00.000-08:00

Just a quick one here, then I have to get back to work. Would have done it sooner, but my internet went on the fritz. John Lackey got signed by the Red Sox, I guess that this is good news. Halliday went somewhere else though, but I can't remember where. My mind is full of balanced chemical equations. My memory can sometimes be as inert as helium. I had a bad feeling about Halliday anyway. I am wondering how long Varitek will be able to hold on, I hope that after next season Beckett resigns. I think that Lester will do alright next year, let's hope I'm not wrong. I'm not sure how I feel about this Lowell trade business. What do you want to bet it falls though?

2009-12-07T20:01:00.000-08:00

I am still alive, I will post soon. The chemistry class bug got me!

And Only Three Days Late!

2009-11-28T09:52:00.001-08:00

And now, at least three days after i said that I would post in my last, I have a new post for you. I am going back to the original(well one of the original purposes of) this blog, which is to go and review something that I have read and tell you what I think of it. I also made little scribbles that indicated that I might say how it related to real life, etc. And so, in this brief window of time that my mother is not around to mettle I present to you a book review.

With all this talk of what to do about Afghanistan, and to a lesser extent, Iraq, in the media, I thought that it was my civic duty to help contribute to the overload. Therefore I have decided to review the book "Just Another Soldier; A Year on the Ground in Iraq" By Jason Christopher Hartley. According to the inside of the cover "If you are distrustful of the media and want to know exactly what's going on in Iraq, you'll have to pray for divine enlightenment because god only knows what the hell is going on over here!...However, if you want to know how it really feels to be a soldier in Iraq, to hear something honest and raw-that I can help you with". Since the only person I know that could possibly tell me if this guy is being honest left for the Marines at least a year, quite possibly two years ago, I;m just going to have to take this mans word for it. At the first page of the book the author grabs your metaphorical hand and takes you on a guided tour of his tour in Iraq. A tour of a tour, isn't that lovely? Anyway, Hartley is a number of things. A computer programmer, a prankster, a wise mouth, a recovering Mormon (as he calls himself a one point), and a paratrooper. He joined the National Guard at age 17 and at the time of this writing had done 13 years in the service. He is deployed to Iraq as a Sergent in 2003 and spent a year in Iraq as a member of the infantry. He has a cynical attitude about all of this, and for a man who wrote a book about his experience actually seems to be a bit publicity shy. This is evident in the first chapter where he meets a politician at an awards ceremony where he receives an award that disappoints him. This book grew out of a blog that he began,which eventually led to his loss a grade in rank and a few hundred dollars in pay when he puts it on the internet against what his superiors allege to be orders. A word of warning, when I say cynical, I mean cynical. You can also visit him at www.justanothersoldier.com

Still no news on Jason Bay. I hope that they sign him before Christmas. I think that they should start looking for a decent starting pitcher as well, I mean really look, because they really need it. Look at least season. But they shouldn't get rid of Papelbon, no not at all. Give him ten years, at least. I hope.

2009-11-24T19:20:00.001-08:00

Planning a real post tomorrow, I would be thankful to wake up without finding that Jason Bay has signed with some other team.

A disgusting post

2009-11-20T10:44:00.000-08:00

Sigh, I had that helmet since I was in third grade. That is, a dog ran off with my helmet and chewed it up. Granted the material world is an illusion and all things are impermanent, but there is something to be said for keeping things nice and making them last a long time. I remember the day I got the thing, the falls it protected me from, the cost of a new one... but supposedly there is a new one on the way for me. Apparently I am allowed to kill the dog if I wish, we'll see.

the indubitable Daniel Kalder has begun a new period of employment with the Austin Crime Examiner, where he will be writing blurbs on crime until the editors fire him. Give it a visit or maybe even subscribe, as he has suggested. Give it a look see, why don't you?

A Peruvian gang was found murdering people and selling their fat for cosmetics. Eww... and sad. I guess you'll want to look at that as well.

I'm going to go plant Jerusalem Artichokes now as a money saving scheme.

Lions

2009-11-16T19:05:00.000-08:00

I, can no longer say that I have not seen a live lion. That is, I seen a real live African lion at a zoo. Three to be exact. Ramses, Nyala,and Kayla, a white lion and his two lionesses. A white lion to boot! How many of those are there? Right across the way there were two endangered Red Crowned Cranes and in the pen right next to them there were two sloth bears. I have now seen Moon, Polar, and Sloth bears in person. Oddly enough, I have yet to see a black bear, which is odd because they are the only kind of wild bear we have where I am. I came close in Vermont once, but it got around the corner before I got so see it. I was so ticked. I can now no longer say that I have not seen a meerkat either. I walked past the ocelot and there was a whole cage of them. They were smaller than I expected and seemed thrilled to see us. All of the animals were, which I have never seen in a zoo(but once did in an aquarium). At the very least they paid attention to us. I even had a goat let me scratch it. It must have liked it, because it got a dreamy look on it's face and began to chew it's cud. They had a few animals I had never heard of, like the pygmy slow loris, and a bunch of species of rare lemur. Here's the neat thing, two of the lemurs were on islands in a pond. Ingenious! The Otters were, as always, putting on a water ballet for anyone who cared to watch, and there were flying foxes in one of the buildings. I also got to see a golden lion tamarin, Japanese Macaque's, llamas, red kangaroos, a tree dwelling carnivore who's name I can't spell, snow leopards, southern screamers, a bunch of other exotic, endangered animals that I cannot remember the name of,and five million squirrels. Plus my mother got to find out what the zoo was like in November.

I think that the place was better than Roger Williams. It was sort of kiddie oriented, but not so much that adults couldn't enjoy themselves too, even if they came with other adults. I saw animals that I had only read about in books! Less expensive too! Did I mention that they had a fennec fox? And snow leopards? And amusing signs? (ex. please do no throw your cigarette buts on the ground.The fish crawl out at night and try to smoke them and we are trying to get them to quit.)
I should mention that the zoo I was at was the Capron Park Zoo in Attleboro Ma.

2009-11-11T19:32:00.000-08:00

Yes, I am still alive. I'm busy, that's all. I'm taking chemistry, does that tell you anything? I have had little time for reading and even less for writing my little blurbs about what I have been reading. Much of my entertainment has come from things that I happen to drive past, such as a Buck White Tailed Deer chasing a doe through a cornfield, or a bunch of crows making short work of a dead squirrel. Heady stuff, this nature. I also had to plant a large amount of garlic as a money saving scheme, hopefully it will actually grow. Also, it may keep the aforementioned white tailed deer out of there.

To give the things I have seen their due, I have seen some interesting things that I do not usually see. For example, the buck represented only the second time I had seen, for sure, a buck with antlers. And what antlers, at least 4 points, which is considered a large amount, apparently, the type of deer that a hunter dreams of shooting. I pulled down the window and told the doe that she didn't have to do what he wanted. It seemed like a good idea at the time. It took the buck 3 minutes to figure out that I was there and make a big show out of running away, while the doe saw me from the get go and left only because he was. The juncos are back and eating off the ground while the chickadees eat in the feeder, and Trigger has come up with his hang up of the year, a tradition of his where he bucks, bolts, and otherwise gives me excessive amounts of trouble whenever I ride him from early November to mid January. The Yankees fans have been very, very, laid back, at least where I am. It's obvious why, the higher population of Red Sox fans would murder them. Putnam, a town near where I did, reelected it's mayor, which is a shame because he is a slime ball who supposedly used taxpayer money to fund his victory party. Anyone with proof of this is advised by Meg to step forward, because I am not sure that I can take much more of seeing the town where my maternal grandparents are buried being turned into an endless wasteland of bread and circuses.

http://whenfallsthecoliseum.com/2009/11/11/the-truth-about-fort-hood/

I leave you with this link to a work by the indubitable Daniel Kalder.

2009-11-05T07:27:00.001-08:00

Yankees still suck.

What I Think is my 300th Post Spectacular

2009-10-30T19:32:00.000-07:00

Moscow's Underground Planet, Ukranian Hell, The End of the World in Siberia, and a Wooden Skyscraper. That's the tag line on the cover of Strange Telescopes: Following the Apocalypse from Moscow to Siberia by noted anti tourist and lunatic Daniel Kalder. situated in luxurious locations in post Soviet Russia, the book is sure to provide hours of wholesome entertainment for all. I'm kidding about the second half of the second part, keep reading, you'll see why.

A number of those of whom I visit regularly are of the faithful type, and have a love for books on faith. If you are looking for your next book of keeping faithful, you are in luck, as Stange Telescopes is one book that is written on the theme of faith. For you see it takes faith to go form a society in a sewer, or tell everyone that you are the second coming of Christ, or build a skyscraper out of wood. In fact, the only portion of the book that I did not list in the last sentence was a Ukrainian priest who preformed exorcisms. Never mind the fact that it takes even greater faith to do such things in a place like Russia, where you are at a much higher risk for starving than if you were to do so here. And so our Kalder takes us on his journey to look for people with the courage to form their own realities as opposed to subsisting on the one that they are already in. He first take us to meet Moscow's "Underground Planet" as it is called on the cover, a group of ... well, I'm not quite sure, can I call them intellectuals? I'm going to call them intellectuals, who either live in a sewer or in a requisitioned apartment building, I really don't know, I had to sort of rush through that part of the book because it was due back at the library and I wanted to savor the third part. Anyway, they grew sick of the world and blah blah blah, I have no desire to ruin it for you. Then we go to the Ukraine with Kalder's weird, train ticket losing friend,who introduces him to a Ukrainian Orthodox priest who preforms exorcisms and allows him to watch. We then go to along to Siberia in the heartwarming "The Strange Dream of Sergei Torop" a former traffic cop who has been married at least twice who now calls himself Vissarion Christ and lives on a mountaintop over his villages of followers. Finally, during the last three weeks of Kalder's visa, right before he leaves Russia for good (he lived there for ten years), he makes a mad dash for the city of Archangelnsk (Archangel), just below the Arctic Circle, where we visit Suyatgin and the worlds only wooden skyscraper. As a special treat, I have here a link to a youtube video of the structures eventual destruction by the city of Archangel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa_Ahn29Myw

It was sent to me by Mr. Kalder himself*. Also, here is Kalder's eulogy to the one of a kind structure http://danielkalder.com/sutyaginelegy.html I strongly recommended you visit his entire website, especially the picture galleries. They are worth at least an evening.

I hope the Yankees lose. Go Phillies.

A horse fell on me, I am very sore so I will end this for tonight.

*Note, I do not have a personal relationship with Kalder, nor have I contacted him in anyway other than joining his email list under the name of "Screw Lieberman". Speaking of which, did you hear about the ninja that wanted to injure Lieberman? http://www.courant.com/community/vernon/hc-vernon-ninja-1011,0,6287103.story

2009-10-22T19:35:00.000-07:00

This is to tide you all over til I finish Daniel Kalder's Strange Telescopes sometime within the next few Chemistry Classes. Chem has me bogged down right now. Also having fun in lit. No, I am not getting straight A's but be assured that I am passing with a healthy margin. Anyway, a large number of my blog buddies are, in fact, much older than, although now that I am (just barely) into my twenties age has come to matter less and less when it comes to my social life. About half of my real world acquaintances are nine or more years older than I am... and this book was written for those of that age bracket.

The Tightwad Gazzette: Promoting Thrift as a Viable Alternative Lifestyle, By Amy Dacyczyn aka the Frugal Zealot (ISBN 0-679-74388-x), is full of all sorts of thrifty advice for today's busy individual. Actually the book is from the early 90s but it still has most of its kick. Dacyzyn is a stay at home Mom from Maine who began a newsletter of frugal household tips which eventually blossomed into this book. In it the author gives advice on how to do things like save hundreds on ones utility bills, make budget meals that taste good, painless ways to save a hundred dollars this year, and other useful things. I read though the book while waiting for my computer to boot up, and I was impressed. I tried her tricks for reducing sugar and egg usage and found that they worked. The author is a mother of six, so much of the advice is meant for parents, a group that I have yet to join, if I ever will. But still, good stuff. Bulk purchasing, how to do a yard sale, all of it is here. I give the book a ten.

Coats and Ballplayers

2009-10-15T18:54:00.000-07:00

It figures.The Red Sox have an abrupt end to their season and we get an abrupt bout of cold weather that may bring snow. Hopefully it won't damage the remaining outside squash. The deer already have their winter coats on. The fawns have lost their spots and now both fawns and does have a grayish brown coat as opposed to a reddish brown one. I broke the zipper on my winter coat, so now I need to try and find a new one because the old one is wearing out. Hmm, the deer and I are both getting new coats. Interesting. They get theirs from God, I will attempt to find one at the Salvation Army Store. Sometimes cloths from there have money in the pockets. I also saw a whole flock of wild turkeys. I also went to a bison farm and had bison chili. I might have to do a post on that.

anyway, I saw an article suggesting that Jonathan Papelbon should be traded. I could not disagree more. Yes, he blew a save, but he got all those other ones. Would they be saying this if that save had been blown in the middle of the season? And besides, where would he go? Do we really want to see him in, I don't know, I think the only real option is Detroit. Do we really want to see him there? No. Thank God Buchholz had a mostly successful major league season once he got there. What they really need is bats that are awake during the games and a good starting pitcher rotation. I have a good feeling about Beckett and Lester, as well as Buchholz. Matsuzaka I am sort of iffy on. I see a big gaping hole where the fifth member of the roation should be. Who should go there? I have no idea? Wakefield? Mmm, I don't know. And i think that they need to keep Bay, and he wants to stay... why can't they come to an agreement?

Muse is my favorite band. Just listed to Fury... loved it.

What Have I Learned?

2009-10-11T18:08:00.000-07:00

I have finally gotten on the computer. I am sorry that it took me this long. I spent yesterday doing schoolwork and today I got to watch the Red Sox get swept in such an embarrassing manner. During the moments just before they lost Josh Beckett looked like a cat that wanted to pounce but couldn't.

So what have I learned in the past year? By last year I mean this season. Let's see.

The quality of a medical insurance plan and/or hospital is inverse to the amount of advertising it does. Ditto the amount of specialists that they have there full time if they aren't a large hospital.
Going to visit the myspace page of any and all ballplayers is like visiting a temple to an idol. You will never see a change other than the offerings that worshipers have left and perhaps the occasional new head shot of the player.
It is easier to go in the woods during the winter, there is less brush and no mosquitoes.

I can't remember anything else right now. Dustin Pedroia says that he thinks that this season was a disappointment, and I agree with him. They should have won I say, why did Papelbon have to blow that save? He must be kicking himself right now.

2009-10-06T19:16:00.000-07:00

I know, I know this is late. A lot of stuff in my life has been late lately, not just here. About the only things that are coming right on time are books needing to be back at the library and my bill for schoolbooks. Go figure. I will have to go read "The Yellow Wallpaper" which is supposed to be a pain in the neck the first time around, in just a few, but first the promised political endorsement.

I live in a small town that is slowly being turned into a tourist trap by a small group of people who control the town government as well as profit from the various business interests that taxpayer money supports. A large number of hoaxes have been put out by them such as "tourism will make the town better" (only for those who have the money, I sure as hell don't have the estimated $100 that you need to have a night out there), the ash landfill won't cause any environmental harm (I don't believe them), "the towns water is unsafe to drink because of e. coli"(turned out to be a hoax after the check got signed to pay for the needless improvements on the water system). I am just steamed with the local government.

The other option isn't good, in my opinion either. Lets just say I don't like the political beliefs of the type who usually attend Bob Jones University.

So what to do. I thought about it, and I have decided to take a note out of the book of the Guns and Dope Party (love those ostriches). I hereby nominate everyone for mayor. Those who still feel that they need someone watching out for them can vote for one of the candidates. Those who do not can take control and self govern themselves. It's all on the party's website.

2009-10-02T20:15:00.001-07:00

Expect a comparison of the Topsfield and Woodstock Fairs early next week and a political endorsement tomorrow.

I promise. Looking forward to a Josh Beckett start tomorrow, let's hope he does not get any more spasms.

2009-10-01T19:14:00.000-07:00

I have a wild idea for what Josh Beckett should do for his back. I swear this works. I know it sounds crazy but it does work well for a bad back. Sleep on a hard floor, the harder the better. Concrete and hardwood work well, but any will do. He blamed the beds he slept in on that last road trip for his problems. So what he should be doing is not using a bed at all. I swear it works. Also good, the hard ground. My back always feels good after a camping trip where I sleep on top of rocks.

I'm going to go engage in a more productive activity now. I'll do a more substantial post tomorrow.

Attack of the Endless Hickory Nuts

2009-09-28T18:29:00.000-07:00

I have just stretched out a brand new shirt and seriously modified a jogging outing for one reason and one reason only- there are hickory nuts all over the road. Big, palatable nuts that no one other than the squirrels has had any sense to pick up. Last year was a black walnut year, this year is a hickory nut year. I feel that it is both sad and wonderful that no one else seems to be taking the nuts. Sad because people seem to be wanting as much cheap and free food as they can get right now, wonderful beacause no one else is competing with me for the nuts other my rodent friends. They remind me of my toddler years before I started going to school, when my sadly deceased Grandfather would crack them for me around this time of year. I picked up about 5 pounds of nuts at various locations today,and I will bring a bag tomorrow so I can keep it up. The advantage to the nuts falling in the road where I jog is that most of the hulls are already off and the nuts are easy to pick up. Then I just take them home and crack them open on our stone wall. The only downside to today's run was that a insect got me on the deltoid so badly that I nearly fell over. I got a welt that has now subsided, thankfully no allergic reaction developed, which is good as the emergency room nearest to my house is so lousy it is not even funny. It could be worse though. Go to UMASS up in Worcester and you will be behind a bunch of Oxycontin seekers.

Squash is doing well as well. I have at least 20 butternut squash in my garden right now. Plus a number of pumpkins and other kinds of squash, including a couple of yeallow pumpkins the size of beach balls and a blue pumpkin called Jarrahdale from Australia. Leeks are doing well, we had a lot of cherry tomatoes before the frost, potatoes are looking well, I will be digging them up til the ground freezes. We had a lot of peaches and blueberiies, and I was pleasantly surprised by a large amount of raspberries growing in a hidden part of out yard near some goldenrod. And how many people grow mulberries. I smelled grapes today as well. Almost time to go make juice.

Why am I talking about the harvest all of a sudden? Because it's going much better than the Red Sox are as I write this. Lester is feeling better, but Beckett seems to have some sort of back pains. Cramps or something. I remember him having this stuff last year, I think it might have kept him from that big Japan trip or someting. I don't know, I spent much of that part of my life in a daze.

2009-09-25T19:26:00.001-07:00

Jon Lester nooooooo!

Mosaic

2009-09-24T18:58:00.000-07:00

Finally, I have time to do a real post... well, actually I should probably be writing up my lit homework right now... and finding that calculator I need for chemistry... and getting an art portfolio for art class(we got to draw a real human skeleton today, I wonder what that woman would have thought had she known that her skeleton would be placed in an erotic pose with a plastic model of a male skeleton and then joked about by a bunch of teenagers, twentysomethings, and working mothers). Anyway, I have decided to do a book review, if that is all right. How does "Mosaic" a thriller about a woman who's children are kidnapped to the Middle East by her Arab husband sound?

Mosaic(ISBN 0-765-31235-2) by a member of one of Saudi Arabia's most prominent families Soheir Kashhoggi, is set in Jordan and New York City, soon after 9-11. Dina Ahmed is a mother of three and the owner of the bustling flower shop Mosaic, one of the most prominent of the city. But one day she arrives home and finds her two youngest missing, disappeared without waring to her husband Karim's native Jordan. From here we learn more of her life, of the stigma her family experiences after the 9-11 attacks, of her gay oldest son, who has been sent away to school due to his father misunderstanding of who he is, and her husbands belief that his children will lack morals if he does not take drastic action- action which was too late for his oldest son.

And so we follow Dina, who is half Lebanese and half Irish, along with her friends Em, a cooking show host who is in a dead end relationship with her boyfriend Sean while trying to deal with the walking out of her sons father years before, and Sarah, a Jew who is divorced from her husband in every way but the way that matters most to her- her Get(religious certificate of divorce) which her ex withholds as a way of manipulating her. After the initial shock, Dina pulls herself together, hires a man to kidnap her twins back, and goes to Jordan to pull the mission off. Meanwhile Em finds herself in a tight spot with Sean, who's employment is erratic even for an actor, and the father of her son, who suddenly reappears into her life. Sarah has a brainwave and hires David, a lawyer, who agrees to research ways to put pressure on her ex husband, the prolific womanizer Ari, to give give her what she feels is the proper ending to her marriage. when Dina arrives in Jordan, she is faced with a number of challenges- how talk with her children about what their Father has done, dealing with her husbands family and what they think of her giving up her children (which is what Karim has told them), worrying about her terminally ill father,who knows nothing of what is going on, and being supportive to her oldest son, who just wants to come home from boarding school- all while orchestrating the kidnapping. Eventually her husband offers her a compromise, and she leaves for home with her daughter but not her son. Soon though, her son disappears, which leads to the happy ending she has been waiting for. Things turn out for the best for all of them, I will not spoil the ending. But it is brilliant, as is the book. Kashoggi does a wonderful job of pulling off this story of three women from different faiths and cultures. Women and Men everywhere take note!

Well, Josh Beckett didn't have a perfect night last night, but nothing a great deal of scoring couldn't fix. He seems to have come out of his slump alright. Here's to his doing well in his remaining starts. As they said in Night Court "Don't worry, you're still young, bigger embarrassments are still ahead".

Cool!

2009-09-22T13:08:00.000-07:00

There's a soccer arena in Munich, Germany that lights up on the outside! Cool! Usually I am not fond of too much lighting but this is the clear exception. It lights up different colors when different teams play there. Ingenious! I like it.