Well, the Yankees/Red Sox game is not on TV tonight, but once the sun went down here, I was able to clearly pick up 880 AM in New York so I can listen to the game!
Tag: baseball
Writing and reading
Fairly busy day at work today and I even managed to knock some things off my next actions lists, so I feel slightly accomplished.
I feel even more accomplished on the writing front. I just finished another 700 words of “If By Reason of Strength…” (bringing the total to 1,200 words) and it still feels like it’s moving pretty well. I’m pleased with what I’ve got and I’m at a good stopping point, a good jumping off point for tomorrow. I also jotted down a loose outline for a new story, one which I am currently calling “How To Build a Time Machine”, and tossed it into the idea folder to work on at a later date.
And speaking of time machines, I’m nearly halfway through The Best Time Travel Stories of All Time, which is good because it means I should finish up by Thursday or so. When I got home from work, the books I’d ordered from Amazon were waiting for me: The Road by Cormac McCarthy, Brasyl by ianmcdonald, and The Reagan Diaries edited by Douglas Brinkley. More than likely, it will be The Reagan Diaries that I take with me to Morro Bay this weekend.
Important Yankees/Red Sox series starts tonight, although it’s not televised here. I’ll have to wait until tomorrow night to see a game.
Oriole blues
I went to the Orioles game with Kelly this afternoon and we watched the Orioles drop their 6th game in a row. What was worse, the Yankees lost and the Red Sox won. But it was still a fun game, and there was a pleasant breeze coming in from the outfield that helped cool things off, especially since game time temperature was 90 degrees.
I have a short week coming up. I work through Thursday and then I head to L.A. first thing Friday morning (and I mean first thing) for an extended Labor Day weekend visit with Dan and Megan. I’m very much looking forward to that trip.
My first Nats game
I went to the Nats/Mets game tonight with a bunch of people from work, including Kelly, Carmen, Kristy and Jesseca. There were six of us all together and we got seats out in center field, which were actually quite good. It was a lot of fun. The stadium was about half full (there were 23,000 fans in attendance) and we watched the game, talked, joked and drank beer. And to top it off, the Mets won!
I thought the Metro would be mobbed when we left, but we walked to the far entrance and got on the first train that came through, and here I am, home at 11:40 PM. The weather was perfect, warm, but with a nice breeze.
I have to be up around 7:30 tomorrow in order to take my car in for some scheduled service at Saturn at 8 AM, so I’m off to bed now.
Backpack-less
For the first time that I can remember (at least in the last give years) I came into work this morning without my backpack. I’m going to the Mets/Nationals game after work and didn’t want to lug a backpack to the stadium. It doesn’t sound like a big deal, but it makes the morning feel much different. I think it has a lot to do with muscle memory. When changing trains, for instance, I walked off the train feeling as though I was forgetting something. When walking up the escalator, something just didn’t feel quite right about the way I moved. It also meant that I didn’t bring a book with me to the office, which is an equally rare occasion. I passed the time on the train watching an episode of The Office on my iPhone.
I spent about 20 minutes this morning trying to book a room at the Westin Waterfront in Boston for President’s Day weekend 2008–where I will be attending Boskone 45–but for some reason, there are “temporary errors” on the Starwood website and I’m not able to book anything. (Hey, vickyandnorm, can you do something about that!) Once the site is back up and running, I’ll book my room.
I wore shorts to work today (another fairly unusual event) because I wasn’t going to bring a change of clothes with me (no backpack) and it’s going to be hot at the ballgame this evening.
Productive!
I had a fairly productive work day today and that felt good. Tomorrow, I’ll be in meetings for much of my work day.
I ran over to the bookstore today to see if they had the August issue of Locus in yet, but they didn’t. While there, I did a bit of browsing and added two more books to my list of books to read: (1) Cormac McCarthy’s The Road and The Reagan Diaries. This last deserves a brief explanation. Those who know me know that I am not a fan of Ronald Reagan’s politics. But I have a fascination with diaries that seems to get the best of me. I skimmed the book and it does look interesting. I think that when (some) diaries are kept, there is a questions as to who (if anyone) will ever read them. (I’m sure there’s no question when it comes to my own diaries–unless you consider this blog.) Even so, it is a place that reveals the non-public, non-persona thoughts of public figures. After they are dead, the information revealed, while perhaps not flattering, takes on a new light. So eventually, I’ll get a hold of that book and end up reading it. At any event, it’s on the list.
TiVo recorded the 2-hour Dustin Hoffman episode of Inside the Actor’s Studio from 2006. I’d never seen it before but it was a great episode. One of the better ones that I have seen.
I wrote about 1,000 words this evening, still feeling pretty good about it. At this point, I’m just trying to finish the story and decide whether or not to end it the way I originally intended, or to alter the ending somewhat. I’ll wait and see how the rest of the story goes.
I’m about 140 pages through Spook Country and I’m enjoying it.
Zeke appears to be doing well and that is a relief, although I still get anxious every time I see him go into the litter box. But he appears to be urinating without difficulty or discomfort.
As Doug pointed out in an earlier comment, Yankee great Phil Rizzuto has died. Growing up, I remember him best for the commercials he did for The Money Store.
I was watching the Yanks lose to Baltimore a little while ago. Their offense is hot enough that there is plenty of time for them to have a chance to come back, but I’m calling it an early night tonight. We have our last softball game of the year and it may mean the difference between first and second place. I want to get a good night’s rest.
Bonds, the homerun, and the baseball
So, as I’m sure everyone knows, Barry Bonds broke Hank Aaron’s record last night, hitting his 756th homerun. I didn’t see it in real-time, but I watched the video this morning.
I have to admit, watching it, I was a bit more moved than I expected to be. I’ve tried to keep an open mind about Bonds but one always wonders. What annoyed me more than anything else was all the talk of the guy who got the ball. He shouldn’t be the story.
I would like to think that if I happened to be at a game like that one, and happened to be lucky enough to catch the record-breaking ball, that I would handle it in a dignified way. (I’m not saying this guy, didn’t.) In my imagination, here’s what I’d do:
After being escorted away by the police, I’d ask if it was possible that I could congratulate Mr. Bonds after the game. I’d also ask to remain anonymous. When the game was over, I’d congratulate Barry Bonds, ask for his autograph (on my hat or shirt or something), and then hand over the ball, asking only that it go into the Hall of Fame. I wouldn’t try to sell it or get any publicity out of it. This is about the history of baseball, not anything else.
Of course, I wasn’t there, and I didn’t catch the ball, so who knows what would have really happened. I’m just annoyed at the fact that all of these records seem to get turned into get-rich-quick schemes for alleged fans.
A perfect day for baseball
Hours since I have slept: 9
I don’t think the weather could have been more perfect for baseball today. Game time temperature was 82 degrees with a strong, steady breeze of about 13 MPH. The sky was bright blue with some scattered clouds here and there. Best of all, it was not humid!
This turned out to be one of the quickest O’s games I’ve ever attended with a game time of just over 2 hours (2:20, I think). The O’s lost, but generally, it was a good game and a lot of fun to watch. It’s also the last O’s game I’ll see until I’m back from vacation.
The last of the laundry is finally done so I can finish up my main packing effort. All of my travel documentation has been collected and organized so I am finished up with that effort as well. This evening, I’ll be doing house-cleaning: vacuuming, sweeping, scrubbing, etc.
I also made a relaxing pool-side playlist for me to listen to while I am sitting by the various pools and beaches.
Baseball at midnight
A good game
I was up at close to 9 AM this morning! (After having been up until after 1 AM last night.) I haven’t been reading much lately and felt bad about it so before heading out to breakfast and then ball game, I decided to grab a book to bring along. I picked up American Prometheus: the Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer. I started reading it at breakfast and was instantly hooked.
After breakfast, I headed up to Baltimore for the Orioles game. It was hot, with the game time temperature at 90 degrees. Fortunately, our seats are in the shade. It was a good game, and an exciting finish. The Orioles were down by two runs in the bottom of the 9th. They eventually had runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out, but failed to score and lost the game 6-4. Still, it made for a fun game.
On the way home, I stopped at Chevy’s and treated myself to dinner.
The Yanks are finally coming alive!
I was able to catch part of last night’s game and watch them win their 8th game in a row and finally win themselves into a winning record. Hopefully they can keep it up.
Take me out to the ballgame
This morning, Jen, Jason and I headed to Plato’s Diner for breakfast. I’d never been there before, although I’d past by it many times. After breakfast, we headed up to Baltimore for the ballgame.
Jen headed to the Inner Harbor and Jason and I went to the game. We stayed for 6 full innings before we had to leave so that I could take them to the bus stop in downtown Baltimore for their ride back to New York. Jen managed to get some shopping done for our big trip, which is only about 3 weeks away.
The Orioles were losing 3-1 to Colorado when we left the game. The ended up losing 6-1.
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