Much Nothing About... Ado?

Took last week off to get a little break after our big launch at work. It turned into a fairly busy period in between all the loafing on the couch. Highlights:

• Had a meeting with Ma and her giant dog rescue crew and got them introduced to my boss in case we can do some pro-bono work for them. We have a meeting scheduled for this Tuesday, so we'll see if anything comes of it.
• Took Mingus in for shoulder x-rays to see if anything joint-related was making him gimpy. Turns out the joints look pretty darned good. Hooray no surgery for the dog.
• I had a medical visit myself, but that warrants its own post... Coming soon... ;)
• Painted the kitchen a pretty little shade of blue with the help of The Wife.
• Spent the 4th at Brozo's, which is fast becoming tradition. Drank some beers, threw a couple bottle rockets, managed not to start any fires. Y'know, standard stuff.
• The next day we made it out to see the Burlesque As It Was troupe put on a righteous USO-style show. That Charlie Champale is something else, I tell ya. The girls were pretty fun, too. We liked it so much, in fact, we're going to see them again on the 26th at the Bluebird theater in Denver.
• Today's highlight was Rafa "Gun Show" Nadal finally finishing off Roger Federer in a marathon Wimbledon final. That and being able to buy a bunch of beer on a Sunday. Nice!

Other than that, I got to watch some Red Sox baseball, but really that hardly matters to me -- I don't really pay attention until September. ;)

So, the iPhone 3G comes out this Friday, eh? Hmmmmm...

Wow Sox

I am gobsmacked the Red Sox got the sweep. Bless 'em. I'm sure people who care will spend days debating why the Rockies didn't manage to snatch as much as a game in the World Series (my fave is still the 8 day layoff and the snow angels). I feel bad for the Rockies - after all, I've actually been to Coors Field whereas I never ventured into Fenway while I lived in Boston - but I can't help but root for (and be psyched for) the BoSox.

Mike "Eyebrows of Love" Lowell is my hero. (I even called him for MVP when he homered tonight. Yay me and my total lack of baseball knowledge!)

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Retroactive Track o’ the Post: Sweet Caroline from Neil Diamond's 12 Greatest Hits, because Red Sox Nation is crazy about that song.

No Tix for Rox & Sox

Totally awesome. Say your team is in the World Series for the first time ever. Say the World effin' Series is coming to your town for the first time ever. What the one thing you can't do?

That's right, fuck it up.

And that is just what happened, boys & girls. I suppose you could say the Rockies were trying to fight the power by not going with TicketMaster to distribute their tickets.

Locally, the Rockies are the only pro team that isn't a Ticketmaster client. It picked Paciolan in 1998, primarily because the team wanted control over its own inventory, said Kevin Fenton, the team's senior director of ticket operations.

The Rockies' previous provider, Destinet, went bankrupt and left the Rockies in the dark for six months.

(Or maybe that's a history of bad decision-making?)

I suppose you could say they were trying to make the ticket sale more "fair" by doing online sales only. (Or at least they did.)

All I can say is that the end result of Paciolan's entire evenue.net service crashing utterly under the strain of 8.5 million hits in 90 minutes is nothing if not completely obvious.

You see, online-only sales are "fair" to everyone, so anyone who saw that it snowed in Denver yesterday is thinking "Sweet! World Series + ski trip!!" and trying to log on to get some seats. If you are a team like the Rockies, who have been in the dumps for so long nobody knows WTF is happening right now, you need to sell some season tickets with this miracle run. You NEED to get some local fans in those seats for a World Series game. Next in line, you should get some Red Sox fans on board, because they are everywhere and love them some baseball. After that comes the tourists.

Screw being fair! You need to take care of that guy (I personally know a few) that comes to as many Rockies games as he can and always has a hell of a time. The people that showed up at Coors Field today, with a vague threat of riot int he air? Those are your people. Take care of your people and they might forget that the team is winning in spite of a front office that could seemingly care less.

Update: As of about 7pm Mountain, they still have no answer. Also this here site comes up #1 for "fuck Paciolan". How cool is that? Granted, it's pure coincidence, since I never typed that phrase until now, but whatever. If the shoe fits... ---

Track o' the post: All The Old Showstoppers from The New Pornographers' latest, Challengers for this lyric:

When we hit the numbers we broke Broken and changed 'em Changed as we spoke

Unbelievable

Holy crap! Go Rockies! Meanwhile the BoSox are playing some silly see-saw game in their series, trying their level best to lose to the Indians.

I'm starting to think I'd prefer it that way now. At least then it would be clear to me which team to root for.

I am no longer waiting for the wheels to come off for this Rockies team. They are some sort of juggernaut of destiny right now. It's crazy.

Stuff and Junk

Firstly, it's worth noting that The Mother-in-Law has a new dog. Molly is a blue heeler mix of some sort. She's really sweet, though a bit crazy and fairly untrained. We're hopeful, though, since Australian Cattle Dogs are in the top ten for dog breed intelligence. ;) Next on the docket are the mighty Rockies. Now, I'm not a baseball fan. I root for the Red Sox on principal alone. But c'mon! Who doesn't love a "hometown underdog does good" story? Best of all, I know one Phillies fan who is an extremely sore loser. This could be fun.

In general, Autumn is upon us. The transition seasons always get me fired up in one way or another.

The Wife and I are taking a lot of long walks with Mingus to try to shed some pounds and keep the dog happy.

I've barely been on the Bonneville this year, but it's OK. My favorite riding time is now, so hopefully I'll get in the saddle at least a few times. I wish I was like these guys.

I'm itching to start a home project or a woodworking project (or both) soon. Updates when I do.

Trip Report and Other Junk

Well, really there's not much to report. The drive to Vegas went quickly and easily. We literally did nothing in Vegas -- In fact, we we most excited by the fact that the Luxor has two Starbucks. Party animals we are not.

The second leg of the drive into Los Feliz also went without a hitch. From then on it was just the usual sort of "hang out with Chris, Kate, and Chowda" sort of scene. Highlights as I remember them:

• Best of all, we got lots of quality time with Scot & Matt. We love those kids. You might recognize Scot. Thanks to both him and Kate, I have a Bacon Number of 3!
• Casa Bianca has the best sausage pizza I have ever consumed. I am curious as to whether it's the sausage or the pizza. I cheese pie trial needs to happen someday.
• The Museum of Jurassic Technology is supremely weird. A must see if you're in LA (and like weirdness).
• Friday poker: In spite of playing like an idiot (and in doing so, pissing Scot off a bit when I rivered and ace to beat his pocket kings), I managed to finish in second place. I had a chance to do better than that, but Matt's crazy enough that I shouldn't have tried to scare him out of a pot by going all-in with ace-high.
• Saturday was Chris' birthday cookout/party in which Chris ended up doing all the cooking... *shrug* Staggering amounts of Guinness were consumed, and I got to see some of my favorite people.
• The Wife and I hiked up to Griffith Observatory a couple times. It's a steep little hill, let me tell you!
• Lots of dining out, but not as disastrous as usual. Though, we totally had to hit Tito's Tacos.

The drive back was fairly ordinary except for a crazy huge moon we saw rising over the Utah desert.

Today, when I came back into work, I found a strange Japanese swan phallus thingy on my desk. Thanks to Miracle Ed, I now get the reference, but nobody here has owned up to actually putting it on my desk...

Random, unrelated crap follows ...

In sporting news, the Red Sox managed to hold off the Yankees and will face the Angels in the ALDS, the Rockies are actually trying to get in the playoffs, the Broncos finally got the trouncing they've deserved after stealing their first two wins, and hockey season is about to get fired up.

...

On the booze-review tip: If you enjoy a good shiraz (I like to say "shih-RAZZ" because it's Australian, after all.) you should give the 2006 Mollydooker "The Boxer" a go. It's one of those uber-hip Stelvin cap jobbies, so no cork-screw needed. Also, it seems mollydooker is Aussie for left-handed, though as of yet, I've been unable to confirm it...

...

Weeds and Californication might be my favorite hour of television right now. Though, I already miss John from Cincinnati. (I might be alone on that one, though.)

Go Sox!

Not that it really needs to be said, but ... Wow. Nice start, boys.

Screw Sports

So, the Broncos failed miserably -- The Steelers managed to turn "No Mistake Jake" back into "Jake the Snake". End of story. Also, the Avs are rapidly losing ground in the standings after losing two in a row.

I also don't care if Theo is back, the Sox are going to blow this year.

Bah.

I needed more time to read books and sketch out my future tattoos anyway. ;)

Theo's Back

Well, that little tantrum didn't last long.

"Ironically, Theo's departure has brought us closer together in many respects, and, thanks to these conversations, we now enjoy the bonds of a shared vision for the organization's future that did not exist on Oct. 31. With this vision in place, Theo will return to the Red Sox in a full-time baseball operations capacity, details of which will be announced next week."

Isn't that sweet?

Good While It Lasted

This just in: The Red Sox are fucked. Here's to another 80-odd years without a World Series Championship.

Update: Well, Theo can always go work for the Brockton Rox!

"We don't actually have an office for Theo," Rox president Jim Lucas said. "But we built two new cubicles this year and he'd have his own phone and access to the internet."

After all, Brockton is the City of Champions. (After only a couple years, though, I don't think the Rox contribute to that reputation.)

I never liked sports anyway...

It was a tough night to be one of "my" teams last night. In the NHL opening night, both the Bruins and the Avalanche lost one goal games. But that's just the first game out of more than eighty, so no biggie. (BTW, I was wrong about Forsberg not being able to start.)

More depressing is the Red Sox loss to the White Sox. They are now two games down in the series, and I just don't feel any miracle comebacks this year.

Update

Hezzy and I have been a little crazy since we got back. For one thing, Wifey really wanted to paint the trim (baseboard, etc.) in the living room. Lucky for me, I haven't had to do much more than paper and mask for that. My primary excuse from here on out this weekend is, of course, my motorcycle class. Tonight was all classroom workbook/video type stuff. But the people seem fun, and I'm totally impressed by the diversity of the crowd in the class. We have a mother-daughter team, a couple/few older dudes, a father-son duo (junior is only 16), and then a couple guys that are probably in their twenties, one of which is an Air Force recruiter.

Also, thought I'd point out that Threadless is doing another $10 sale, and you can hurry up and pre-order the Sailor Jerry Chuck Taylors, if you are so inclined.

Oh, and the Red Sox are killing me.

In Tek We Trust

Strong work ethic defines Varitek

"When you have to handle Schilling one day and Pedro the next,'' noted a major league executive, "that's a handful right there. They're both pros, but they can be a little prickly. They're both dominant personalities. The fact that Varitek handled them, without incident, tells you something about him.''

Good stuff about the Red Sox captain.

B Tom still alive?!

This Red Sox update caught my eye for completely non-baseball-related reasons:

With nearly all of his free agent comings and goings completed by Christmas, Epstein actually found time to take a few days off around New Year's, play some guitar with rockers Buffalo Tom and devote his Sundays to following his beloved New England Patriots.

What?! Buffalo Tom is still kicking around?! Cool!

B Tom was one of my favorite Boston bands during my college years. One of my best concert experiences was seeing them at the Paradise — My buddy and I ended up sitting on the stage, Indian-style, for the whole show. Bill Janovitz could have spit on us, but luckily he's too nice a guy to do that. ;)