Future Poltergeist

It's not easy to explain to people why a pitcher's duel can be more exciting than a slugfest. This game was exhibit A. Griffey's throw to the plate would have been lost in a 10-6 game. Thome's homerun would have been impressive in any game though. Nick Blackburn was very good tonight and deserves congratulations even with the loss. Losing a 1-0 game isn't shameful. I hope Twins fans don't take it too hard. Both teams were very even, both good but not great. Both with very strong strengths and very obvious weaknesses. Who do I like in the postseason? This is the order I'll root for teams, not necessarily how I think they'll do. 1. White Sox - of course. I'm not at all confident in their chances. They've got three things going for them: strong starting pitchers, power throughout the lineup and a strong closer. Weak defense, slow team speed and big holes in the bullpen will be tough to overcome. 2. Tampa Rays - The big cinderella story of...

I finally broke down and set up an account. You can find and 'friend' me if you know how. If you don't know, then you probably won't care.

Man, it just felt like we've been on an unstoppable course for tomorrow's game for a log time, doesn't it? Twins/White Sox play tomorrow at 630p in Chicago. Winner plays in Tampa on Thursday, the losers have five months to think about the game. The best tourney in sports is certainly March Madness, in large part because it's a series of single elimination games. Baseball mostly avoids that under the theory that a longer series will benefit the best teams. The exception comes when two teams play 162 games and wind up with the same number of wins. Then they face off. Every play becomes magnified. Each pitch becomes critical. Every error is unthinkable. That's what tomorrow's game will be. In the immortal words of Marvin Gaye, let's get it on.

Niagra Falls at night

Yesterday night the FP Gal's folks babysat for us and gave us a much needed night off. We treated it as a date night of course. I have distant memories of my parents taking those some 100 years ago or so and it felt weird to be in that position myself. We had discussed going to Friday's which has some personal history for us and instead went to Olive Garden. I've often been tempted by their 'endless' pasta bowl. Endless is something that really only describes stellar distances and movies by long celebrated directors. How does that work with pasta? Is it so deep that you can't really reach the noodles? Well, inquiring minds want to know and all that. Plus, the FP Gal likes to have pasta with seafood. So off we went. We dropped Relia off about 5p and then went to the restaurant. I know, going out to eat before 6p on a Saturday night, how elderly were we? As it turned out, the place was packed and the other patrons were mostly young themselves. It reall...

Today's game was the first game where I thought the Vikes lost to a clearly better team. The bounces went the other way but the Titans clearly deserved to win. They might be the top team in the NFL after four weeks. That the game was still close after all of the Viking fumbles is a testament to the defense. The good news is that the Vikes schedule this year is front heavy. Three of the their first four games were against playoff teams from last year and the other (Carolina) is leading their division currently. They only play four more playoff teams from last year in their last twelve games. If they can win in New Orleans next week they should be in good shape.

The Twins and White Sox finally unwrapped their hands from around their own necks and won the games that they needed to. That means that the division still isn't settled. Here is what's left: The White Sox play the Tigers in Chicago on Monday. If the White Sox lose than the Twins are the division winners and they play against Tampa in the first round. If the White Sox win... Then the Twins play the White Sox in Chicago on Tuesday. The winner of that game goes to Tampa for the playoffs.

We swung by Ikea tonight. I love that they have little rooms fully laid out and decorated to show how their different products would fit together. Question though, is there an Ikea game of clue? Just think of it, "It was Professor Plum, in a dorm room with an ivar ".

Ok, maybe I should leave this alone but I think it's time for someone to say something. Twins fans, you're embarrassing yourselves with this whole AJ thing. It's time to let it go. A brief review of history for casual Twins fans (and yes, I know there's a lot of you). From Wikipedia: Pierzynski was drafted by the Minnesota Twins on June 2, 1994, out of high school. [2] After four years in the Twins organization, he was called up to the Major League team, and made his debut on September 9, 1998. He spent the next five seasons, through the 2003 season, with Minnesota, though he was not a regular starter until 2001 . From 1998 - 2000 , he appeared in just 49 games for the Twins. In 2002 he made the American League All-Star Team as a reserve catcher. In the 2002 American League Division Series , Pierzynski hit an important home run in the ninth inning of the final game, in which the Twins clinched the series. I lived in Minnesota all of that time and believe me, Twins...

(Except you AJ haters.)

I suppose I should post something here, but I'm not quite sure what. The visitation for Grandma was on Tuesday. She looked good. She had a very strong relationship with Nips (the candy, and don't google for it unless you're safeties are fully activated). In fact, she used to have the family sneak packages of them into the hospital so she could enjoy them and avoid a lecture from the nurses. Afterwards they would sneak the boxes back out so the wouldn't end up in the garbage. In honor of this, they put a box in her coffin. I spent most of the visitation chasing Relia around. Remember the apple pictures from last week? The foyer at the church had an apple motif, with clusters of fake apples and apple shaped candles. Needless to say, we undecorated that room in a hurry. She also loved to play with the commuion tray lid (just like a cymabl!) and was very curious about the electrical sockets. She kept me moving. Later that night we went to David & Donna's ...

For a limited audience maybe, but I liked them. Great big list here (via Althouse). Examples: Q: What is the difference between an etymologist and an entomologist? A: An etymologist would know the difference. - The Buddhist monk approaches the hot dog vendor and asks: "Make me one with everything" - I tried this dessert called Death by Chocolate , but it only made me stronger. - Irishman goes for a job on a building site. Foreman asks; 'What's the difference between girders and joists?'. 'One wrote Ulysses, the other wrote Faust'. - So Buddha orders a hot dog from a cart and gives the guy a $20. There's a confused moment of silence and Buddha asks "where's my change?" Vendor says: "Ah, change must come from within." - If you're not part of the solution you're part of the precipitate! - Steven Wright - The other day I was playing poker with Tarot cards. I got a full house and four people died. (look of dismay) Demetri ...

The FP Gal has found a boyfriend for our baby girl. His name is Thomas Sangster and here's his info . She picked him out while watching 'Love Actually' last week. Quote: That's the one. He's cute and intelligent. And a redhead. There's a catch of course. You might note that he turned 18 this year so there's a slight age difference. No problem, when he's 48 she'll be 30 and then it won't be such a big problem. We want to encourage her to marry late anyway. One other note of interest, he appeared in two Doctor Who episodes. The main villain in those two is an actor named Harry Lloyd who is the spitting image of the FP Gal's brother. Judge for yourself .

Relia is big enough now to start moving the furniture on her own. This has some definite downside. Ever since she's been walking we've barricaded off the DVD player, VCR and cable box. She likes to push buttons, changing channels and turning off important things. Not so good. Well, our barricade (most would call it a table) is no longer an obstacle for her. We don't have a good way of keeping it in place that doesn't involve bolts or welding or something. So she can get to the critical stuff. Today she discovered the button that opens the DVD player. Big mistake! The tray slides out without warning!!! She gets a worried look on her face and runs to the couch where she's (probably) safe. In the background, Mommy and Daddy laugh.

One of the traditions surrounding my Grandma had to do with crazy Christmas presents. Each year my brother and I would pick out the worst possible gift for her. It was either unfathomably ugly, age inappropriate or something having to do with snakes. Some of my favorites were: A pinata filled with candy and a toy hockey stick to break it open with. A remote controlled snake. Boxing gloves. A chainsaw. A Hello-Kitty toaster that makes toast with the Hello-Kitty imprint. A giant stuffed shark. All year long when I'd walk past the clearance section at Target, I'd think, "Hey, that Tiffany styled rooster would be a great gift for Grandma. Seriously, who did they think would buy something that ugly?". She loved the whole thing. We'd wait until all of the other gifts were exchanged and then this last gift would suddenly appear, almost always still in the bag from the store we bought it at. I think that's when it will really sink in for me. On December 24th, ...

My Dad just called and let me know that my Grandma has just passed on. The last few weeks were very up and down. She seemed very near the end and then gradually brightened. It seems that today she slid back down and that was that. She lived a very full life. We have many wonderful memories of being with her and around her. We know that she's no longer suffering. Her brightening near the end was a great blessing because it allowed most of her family to see and talk with her one last time. We were able to tell her that we love her and know that she loved us.

Today was my companies annual Valleyfair day. This is the day that they rent out the entire park and open it just for employees and their families. The pluses here are pretty obvious. The lines are nonexistent. You can literally go on a rollercoaster, walk around to the line and get right back on. Try that on a regular Saturday. In the past they've also offered prizes ranging from $20 to 10% of your annual pay. They've also offered cruises and vacations. A girl I used to work with won a trip to Tahiti for two, airfare, accommodations and an extra week of vacation so she wouldn't lose any pay at work. I said 'in the past' because this year there was no mention of any of this. It's been a tough year for us and this might be a reflection of that. Understandable but kind of sad. Also sad was the state of the park. The rides this year were very rough. We went on six different roller coasters and three of them made me wonder if they were up to code. There ...

A few weeks ago, baseball decided to ok a replay system to review close calls on home-runs. This was mostly decided because of an unusual string of tough plays during the early part of the season, at least one involving the Yankees on national TV. Home-run decisions have become harder because ballparks are more and more going with unusual dimensions in the outfield. I'm a fan of this because I like the goofy factor, but this is definitely a drawback. Modern umpires are being asked to make quick judgments on whether or not a ball hit above or below something like a yellow line. Keep in mind that the umpire is more than 200 feet away when this happens and each play involves a change in score. Last night for only the third time, a replay was involved and it cost the Twins three runs. (I didn't see the play and have no opinion but the Twins don't seem to feel robbed.) I heard some of the after talk on the radio while driving home and they said this was the third time in ...

I'm sure we'll drive on it soon but we might wait awhile. Word on the street (ha!) is that there is quite a bit of gawker traffic right now. Understandably, but still I don't want to add to it.