Smokers

My friend Scott just wrote a great post about how smoking makes otherwise fantastic, smart, caring, loving people stupid, careless, mean, and selfish. Smoking destroys people's health, and I don't think destroys is a strong enough word. I started to write a response but then decided to post it instead.

Thank you for writing that, but, unfortunately, even if the people in your family who smoke read this (I know at least one of them), they might think about it for a minute, but then forget it. I know this because of years of trying the same thing with my dad. I hate to be such a pessimist, but that is what happens after years of telling someone you love that they are hurting themselves, wasting money and frustrating you to no end. This is not to say that those people won't respect your wishes of not smoking around you or your family, they will, and by doing this they feel they are justified in their disgusting habit. What they don't realize is that they are really eating into the time you have to spend with them and choosing the cigarette over you. This may be harsh, but it's true.

It really has to be up to the smoker to quit. My mom is a great example of this. She finally decided it was right for her to quit. And she hasn't smoked in 3.5 years and I am extremely proud of her for this. That the smoker won't decide to quit based on medical evidence and the pleas of family and friends may be very selfish on the part of the smoker, but there must've been something subliminal in the advertisements in the 60s and 70s for smoking telling people the smoking was as harmless as a fly. It is something I will never understand.

I usually think about the Different Strokes episode when Gary Coleman's character's uncle/some sort of relative has to go have a lung removed because he smoked for years, and the last shot of him is walking out the door to the hospital, lighting up a cigarette. It is just such a foreign concept to me, I can't even begin to comprehend.

That's my boy

I still love Nomar.

Seadogs win!!!!

The Portland Seadogs have just won their first Eastern League Championship Series! It is like the World Series of the Minor Leagues in this division, so I guess it is more like the ALCS, but without the World Series existing. I am very happy for the Seadogs - I just wish I had been there today, a beautiful, somewhat hot, fall day. But, we had a good weekend in Rangeley, so I guess I wouldn't change it.

PS - sorry I haven't posted in forever, but things are getting quite busy with the wedding coming up so soon, and I feel bad posting at work, when I am supposed to be, you know, working, even though I have nothing to do.

YEAH SEADOGS!!!!!

Big Disaster

I feel the need to post about this since my friend Scott is on hiatus for a few weeks. As those of you from New England know, there was this HUGE tunnel project in Boston officially named the Central Artery/Tunnel project, affectionately known as The Big Dig. It has been leaking since before it was finished. It has leaked dirt and water which have caused minor damage to cars. It's lastest problem - tons of concrete falling from the ceiling of the tunnel - took a life. The tunnel has caused more problems than the billions - that's right - Billions of dollars it cost and Years of time it took. Traffic is not much better, it is still a nightmare to drive through the city and it's unsafe. Now that this happened, even less people will use the broken tunnels and will cause even MORE traffic in the city. Who knows what will happen next?

An Inconvenient Truth

GO SEE THIS MOVIE!

If you care about yourself, the future, your children, your friends, your friend children, you will see this movie.

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT! Most of you know that I am an environemtal nut. I am very proud of my sister who bought a hybrid car last year. My next car will be a hybrid. I buy energy saving appliances and lightbulbs. I would ride my bike to work if it didn't cripple me from pain. We keep the temperature in our apt. very cold in the winter (fortunately, this allows us to save money too!)

This movie (and the book that Gore wrote) is about the "Climate crisis" as he puts it (aka Global Warming). It is about how if Antarctica and Greenland keep melting MILLIONS of people will be underwater. Then, we will experience an ice age, and MILLIONS of people will be under frozen water.

Seeing this movie is important, but taking action is even more important. Here are a few SIMPLE ways you can reduce your energy bill and reduce the amount of energy you use and therefore decrease the amount of fossil fuels you use:

- buy flourescent lightbulbs (they are a bit more than regular light bulbs, but they last at least twice as long and dramatically decrease your energy usage)

- if you need a new appliance, look for one that has an EnergyStar label on it

- make sure your hot water heater has a blanket to retain all that heat is producing (readily available at Home Depot)

- if you are not watching the TV - turn it off!

- if you live close enough, walk or bike to work/school (if it won't cripple you)

- if you live near people you work/school with, carpool (saves money and gas!)

- write to your representatives/senators/governors and tell them to sign the Kyoto Protocol and support other greenhouse gas reduction measures.

Ok, I think that is enough preaching for one post. Thanks for your patience.


Have a safe and fun trip Ry!

Ode to Mystery

With fur as soft as silk
and a gentle purr when you wanted some milk,
You always brought cheer
to everyone you were near.
A comforting cuddle,
or playing in a puddle,
you always brought a smile
and were never vile.
Sometimes you got sick,
but we cleaned it up quick,
and although you didn't have a strong brain,
we loved you just the same.
You will certainly be missed,
you brought us such bliss.
Now you will be with Sunset
and others you have never met,
to play with your friends in the sky
as we say bye-bye.

My 4 things.....

Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. Boatyard chick
2. GAP employee
3. Camp slave
4. Research Scientist

Four movies I could watch over and over:
1. Armageddon
2. Notting Hill
3. Bull Durham
4. The Little Mermaid


Four places I have lived:
1. Westerly, RI
2. South Boston, MA
3. Tacoma, WA
4. Portland, ME


Four TV shows I love to watch:
1. Friends
2. Scrubs
3. The OC
4. Behind the Music: Aerosmith


Four places I have been on vacation:
1. England
2. Italy
3. Montreal, Canada
4. Rangeley, ME

Four websites I visit daily:
1. My YAHOO!
2. Redsox.com
3. fourthrow.blogspot.com
4. projo.com

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Lobster
2. pizza
3. ice cream
4. pizza


Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Rangeley
2. Ogontz
3. On the couch
4. At an Aerosmith concert

In another category of obvious.....

There was an actual study done on this.

Rock of Geezers

This week VH1 hosted a show called Rock Honors. It was the first of such shows and they decided to honor Queen, Judas Priest, Def Leppard, and KISS. Now, I don't know what kind of "rock" they were honoring but it was interesting that a classic (in every sense of the word) rock band in Queen, a father of metal band in Judas Preist, a pop rock band in Def Leppard and a performance/merchanidising band in KISS can all be classified as rock.

Now, most of you who know me, know that I am a die-hard for anything rock and roll. I was pretty excited to watch this show and watch these great bands perform and have tribute paid to them by some of the great artists of today. In my opinion, Priest stole the show, although, the mega-band that was put together to pay tribute to KISS was a close second. I will admit right now that I never owned a Priest tape or really listened to them much, but they were still full of piss and vingear on that stage and you could tell they really were enjoying themselves (and they didn't sound half-bad either). They are a great band because they have great riffs behind their songs and bad-ass lyrics. They also showed that they were the ones who started the move where all standing members of the band get together and move as one back and forth (NOT KISS). I thoroughly enjoyed their performance and was glad they were honored since they are not and probably won't get into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since Sabbath is already there. Plus, anyone who drives a motorcycle on stage rules.

The mega-band put together for the KISS tribute was as follows:

Tommy Lee - drums
Slash - guitar
Scott Ian - bass guitar
Gilby Clarke - guitar
Rob Zombie - vocals
Ace Frehley - guitar

It was really cool that Ace played with them since he was an original member of KISS. They performed "God of Thunder" which is a pretty good song, and Rob sang it really well. I actually love Rob Zombie and if I wasn't scared, I would go to one of his shows. Part of the time he looked just like a marionette dancing all over the stage - his jacket had a skeleton bones on it and his pants were cut just so they looked like his legs weren't really attached to his body. The rest of the time he looked like he was dancing an Irish jig, but sounded like a monster the whole time.

I was not impressed with Def Leppard at all.

KISS was as good as they usually are and I'm sure it was much better if you were actually there. Pyrotechnics are much better in person than on TV.

The major complaint I had about the show was Jamie Pressly, the host. Who the hell is she and why did she get the gig? I wouldn've much rather had one of the VH1 VJ's or someone who actually knew something about the bands (bsides just loving them) up there to introduce them. OR ME! ;)

A few other things:
Did Rick Savage get an entire new face? Come on, he's not that old! Rock stars who get plastic surgery are just weird.

Paul Rodgers is NOT a good fill-in for Freddy Mercury - unfortunately, no one is. :(

Brian May is still amazing, I'm sure he is wicked nice too, he looks so kind and gentle.

If Gene Simmons wants to make out with his fake Ace, go for it - I don't think anyone would be surprised.

It was really awesome at the beginning of "We Will Rock You" when Roger Taylor, Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins were all playing the drums. Still one of my favorite songs of all time and associated with one of my few happy memories from high school when it was playing on the radio when were were pulling up to the field where we beat Wheeler in lacrosse for the championship. Go Fighting Quakers!

They had an air guitar champion - this is an actual thing - there is a national championship for this. Really? Wow.

My last question is how did they decide who would get these rock honors? Apparently they all got rings like the World Series rings (not as expensive I'm sure, but it looked like just as big made of silver and black onyx). However they decide, next year's should be just as interesting.

WEDDING!!!

Congrats to John and Emily, who got married yesterday! I am so happy for you guys. Your wedding was beautiful and your reception was really fun! Thanks for being a part of our lives. You deserve all the happiness in the world.

Soul Patrol!

Well everyone, Taylor Hicks is your new Americal Idol. I must say I am surprised, but think that he deserved it more than Katherine. In the last show he showed he had more chops that she did and is just a better performer. Katherine was also good although, I thought her "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" performance was inexcusable. She was trying to cover all the covers that had ever been done on it and didn't act like herself. She will be great in musical theater if that is the way she decides to go. She will do well if someone tells her how to look, how to sing and what to do. Plus, she chose Meatloaf as her duo when she got to sing with someone famous. Maybe he'll choose her to be in his next video. I don't remember who Taylor sang with, but his voice was definitely giving way. It must be a vocally challenging 12 weeks to say the least, it is a wonder any of them can talk afterwards. I was pleased with Mary J. Blige's performance on "One" with Elliot Yamin. I must say when I first heard the recording of that song with Bono, I didn't like it. It is one of my favorite U2 songs and I didn't want it changed, but she does have an amazing voice and it is growing on me.

On another note, sorry it has been a while. I was recording data on red crab for the past 10 days. This weekend is ripe with graduations and weddings so I will post again sometime next week. I want to say congratulations to my cousin, Brian, who graduated from Endicott College, Sean's cousin, Emily, graduating from Holy Cross tomorrow, our friends Emily and John getting married on Sunday and to SEAN FOR GRADUATING FROM LAW SCHOOL MAGNA CUM LAUDE (even though he doesn't read this blog).

The Ringers

To stick with the family theme, my friend Chuck (brother to my friend who just had twins twins!) and his band, The Ringers just made a demo CD. It is AWESOME!!! When you click on their name here, it will take you to their myspace.com page and it will start playing a few of their songs. If you are in the New London area, GO SEE THEM! I, unfortunately, have not been able to see them live yet, but I imagine they are great live. You can purchase the demo for $5. Quite a reasonable price I must say. Congrats guys and come to Maine if you get a chance!!!

BABY GIRLS!!!

I would like to extend my congrats to my friend Amber and her husband Brendan on their new additions - twin girls! Although earlier than expected, eveyone is doing fine! YEAH!

Why Me?

I would just like to say good luck to my friend Ryan who is in charge of making sure this student opera goes off without a hitch tonight. (He also has to take his law exam). We're thinking about you!

What happens when you're really bored and not supposed to be blogging

Check this out. What happens when you enter the word silly in the google search and hit I'm Feeling Lucky.

Chopped up

Well, if any of you have been following the Sox for the past two days, you are wondering what the hell is going on. It is a good question. Is it pitching? Is it lack of good pitching on our part? Better pitching on the Indians part? Who knows, I just hope this 15-3 loss is the kick in the pants they need to realized they need to be better if they are going to beat the Yanks next week.

Pickler gets kicked (finally)

Finally, the voters for Americal Idol have come to their senses and gotten rid of Pickler. Her lack of confidence reared its ugly head again this week and she delivered a dreadful performance of "Unchained Melody" (apparently it was Leann Rimes version of the Righteous Bros classic). So, with the fact that voters may actually be smarter that I was giving them credit for, I am revising my final two to Katherine and Chris. The rest have the chops or charisma to be good but not both. Not that Katherine and Chris have both either, but they appeal to the widest population of voters, even Chris, as a rocker, is cute so all those 12-15 year old girls who have posters of Nickelback and Bon Jovi in their rooms will vote for him. I am still leaving Paris in there as the wild card.

BIG NEWS!!!!

I would just like to use this space to say CONGRATULATIONS to my little sister on getting ENGAGED!!!!!! I am so happy for her and her old boyfriend/new finace. I love you both!

Ads and Americal Idol

I was just reminded of this horrible commercial I saw yesterday. I usually don't watch commercials anymore because we have TiVO, but I was just flipping through and there was this commercial where these people were driving in a car talking and all of a sudden they were blindsided on the drivers side by a suburban, and the next shot is of the girl in the passengers side saying something like, "holy sh*t", but it's obviously not that since you can't swear in commercials, and then it shows you the car is a Jetta. It definitely has shock factor - I'll give it that. But seriously, are they trying to beat Volvo or somthing? There are so many other selling points they could choose from. Maybe it's just our society isn't wowed by anything except shock factor anymore, which is a sad commentary on society that we are so numb to everything that we have to see an horrible car accident on a commercial to movitate us to think about safety in our vehicles. I'm glad I don't have to watch too many commercials anymore.

On a completely different note, does anyone watch Americal Idol? I am totally hooked on it, and the remaining singers are actually pretty good, although, I cannot
for the life of me understand why country girl Pickler is still on there, except that she is blond and has big boobs (they're not even that big). And I am not on the Katherine McPhee bandwagon. Sure, she can sing, but she's kind-of a boring performer and just doesn't seem genuine, however, I skip right through the interviews and personal interest stories and just listen to the performances so I could be missing something. For those of you who know me, I am a sucker for a rock star and so I love Chris. He has a good rock voice, and although I don't think he will win Americal Idol, I think Clive Davis is already assembling a band for him when he gets kicked off. I am glad Ace finally got kicked off, I don't know if I could stand any more falsetto from him. My best guess for the final 2 is Katherine and Kellie. Elliot has the voice but not the looks, Taylor is too crazy, Chris is too much of a rocker and Paris is too young, although she could be the wild card.

Fenway Home Opener!

Congrats to the Red Sox on the Home Opener yesterday. I was a little nervous in the first inning when Beckett walked a couple of guys and gave up a run, but his nerves settled and he pitched pretty well for the remainder of the game. Foulke is still having problems but then Papelbon came in to get the save. Maybe Foulke intentionally gave up those runs so Papelbon could get another save, boost his confidence a little..... (Doubt it though). I can't wait to go to our game!

Red Sox Opening Day!

Today is the first game of the regular season for most teams. My beloved Sox will be playing the Rangers in Texas at 2 pm today - Schilling v. Millwood - should be a good game. I am very anxious to see how the boys will play together considering this is practically a brand new team. I am quite hopeful that with the mix of new blood (Coco Crisp), veterans (Varitek), and power (Big Papi) we will be successful. Yesterday was the season opener, White Sox v. Indians with the reigning World Champs winning 10-4 - good for them - a great way to start the season.

I will not be making many predictions except that it will (as usual) be a good race between the Yanks and Sox and that I hope the Reds and Dodgers do well this year.

GO SOX!

1st Concert of the Season

Went to see NICKELBACK last night in Manchester. It was a fun show. Trapt and Chevelle opened for them, and Trapt was WAY better (in my opinion). Chevelle is the kind of band that has good music and a good singer, but they don't go together - their music is very Metallica/Megadeth-like but then the singer starts, it just doesn't work, plus you can't understand one work of what he sings and screams a lot. Unfortunately, neither band did a good job warming up the crowd - which is what opening bands are supposed to do. Finally, Nickelback came on about 10 pm and played until about 11:30. Set list follows:

Animals
Woke Up This Morning
Photograph
Leader of Men (which Chad informed us he wrote while out of his mind on 'shrooms)
Someday (extended with guitar and drum bit)
medley of rifs from the Curb album
Never Again
Savin' Me
Side of a Bullet (very nice video tribute to Dimebag Darrel)
drum solo - AWESOME!
Follow You Home (Chad changed one of the lines in the last chorus to Duchess of Manchester - on the album it is Duchess of Detroit)
How You Remind Me (crowd did a fairly good job singing along)
Too Bad

encore:
Rockstar (Chad and Ryan playing acoustic)
Figured You Out (crowd also did well singing along to Mike)

It was the last show of this leg of the tour and now they have a break until the end of April when they go to Australia. They have been touring pretty much for the past month with sometimes a few days, sometimes no days between shows and you could tell. Chad's voice was very tired although he still was able to pull off the songs, he just sounded a bit more gravelly (is that a real word?) than usual. I think all the guys were happy to be playing, but mostly happy because they were finally going to get a break.

The pyro at the show was amazing - lots of flames, fireworks falling from the ceiling, sparks everywhere. Everytime I am at a show with pyro, I am amazed that the people on stage just don't spontaneously combust or melt into nothing because we can feel the heat half-way back from the stage so they must just sweat like crazy up there.

I have only seen Nickelback once before (I think it was in 2001 after Silver Side Up came out) in Providence at the Prov. Performing Arts Center. It was a GREAT show - it was their first "major" tour and they had so much energy, sounded phenomenal and really solidified me as a fan. It was nice to see that Chad and Ryan have learned to share the stage and play off each other for a good show. Mike (bass) still doesn't do much, but the new drummer (Daniel Adair, formally of 3 Doors Down) was amazing as proven by his rockin' drum solo, his set moved out to the middle of the stage and he pounded for about 15 minutes.

It was funny when Chad introduced that they were going to play a medley from the Curb album (their first album) and practically no one knew what he was talking about. I thought it was great though. I know there are some people who think Nickelback sucks and all their songs sound the same, but I would like to differ and say there is nothing wrong with writing a hit song that is catchy and has good music, singing and lyrics behind it. And, not all their songs sound the same.

The crowd was amazing - there were very young kids there (about 7 yrs old I would guess) to the oldish (about 60s) crowd. Not as amazing at an Aerosmith show, but I was surprised at how many yound kids were there.

All in all, it was a fun night, and considering it is probably going to be my only concert this year, I am glad we went.

I also want to send a message out to Steven Tyler who is having throat surgery sometime soon - take care Steven!

3 days till OPENING DAY!!!!

Getting close!

Only a few more days until Opening Day! It is getting warmer, the days are getting longer, and baseball is about to start. We had our 3rd Fantasy Baseball draft the other night. All in all I think it went quite well even though there were four managers who could not make the draft. I am hoping there will be more trading this year so people don't get stuck in a rut and to keep it more exciting.

I can't say how the Red Sox will do this year, we (again) have a whole new team and it will be interesting to see how our young pitchers work with our seasoned veteran behind the plate. Hopefully the new hitters will be able to go long when needed and steal bases and ever more be "wiley" to get the runs scored (hee hee).

Congrats to Scotty on his "publication." I saw it in the flesh last night - Aarrgh! RAMEN! It is a freaking hilarious book.

This day sucks

WARNING: Whining Alert - Move along if you don't want to hear about my already crappy day

This is my day so far:

Wake up to dog crap on the floor
Clean up dog crap
Take dog out
Eat breakfast while waiting for shower
Get in shower
Get out of shower and realize previous occupier of shower didn't dry off so now the shower rug is all wet (minor pet peeve)
Leave for work
Stop at Dunkin Donuts for .99 latte
Get hit while in line at the drive thru because some idiot has no depth perception while trying to park and decides to swipe my bumper instead of backing up the 2 feet (he had plenty of room) - IDIOT!!!!!
Get 1/2 filled cup of latte
Get to work
Realize that Vinateri is no longer a New England Patriot :(
Spill water all over floor in hallway
Clean up water

All before 10:00 - I should've stayed in bed today, my boss nor officemate are here today. Ug.

ICHIRO!

I am glad that Japan won the WBC. Of course, it would've been nice for the US to win, but it was not really expected despite Varitek, Jeter and A-Rod all on the same team. I personally thought that the Dominican was going to run away with it with Big Papi and all but Japan pulled it out (not surprisingly - they did win the bronze medal game in the '04 Olympics, plus they have Ichiro). Good for them!

It was a fun way to start the baseball season watching (or reading about) players you had never heard of and checking on some of your favorite players who played despite the pleadings of their managers, owners and fans. I am glad now that they can concentrate on regular spring training and start playing as a team to get ready for April 2.

Forgive me if I have baseball fever this week - our fantasy draft is Thursday which will be fun, we have 14 teams so far and I am expecting at least one more person to sign up. YEAH BASEBALL!! GO RED SOX!!!!

Arroyo

:(

I have to tell you I am quite sad to learn that Bronson Arroyo will now be playing for the Reds. He was one of my favorite Red Sox players and helped us win the World Series. Plus, he is a rock star. I will also say that he has had a terrible spring training so far except when Varitek finally made it back from the World Baseball Classic. This does not bode well for Arroyo. He is being sent to a different league, with catchers he has never worked with before. I do hope he can pull it off our there in Cincy, a long way to go for a Florida boy (I think at least he is from FL).

It is also interesting from a Red Sox fan point of view considering they are also trying to deal David Wells and Matt Clemente - that doesn't leave many others around....

Coffee, Quesedillas and Monkfish

Aahhhh, Fridays. The end of the work week. At least that is usually the feeling when there are no looming deadlines, such as today. This morning, after taking Sean to the train, I got a nice White Satin Mocha and a piece of blueberry cake - yum! After getting to work and failing to do something for Sean, I did a little of my own work, then my office-mate and another co-worker and I went to lunch at Granny's Burritos where I had a mango chicken quesedilla - yum!! Then, we got back, I did some more work, tried to explain to my boss something I did that was very simple, yet somehow sounded complicated when she explained it, then we went to a slide show about the Gulf of Maine. It was awesome. I love the Gulf of Maine, there are so many cool things that live there - camouflage flounder, frilly sea anemonaes, sunstars, and of course, lobster. Now there is only an hour left and I might even leave a little early. Everyone else has.

Chorus Alumni

So, my great friend Ryan has this website. He organized a fundraiser a few weeks ago so kids who currently sing in the chorus that we used to sing in, could attend a concert performed by Chorus Angelicus. It was a great cause and from what I hear, the kids and parents were very appreciative. Congrats Ry for organizing a great event!

Being a part of the chorus was a life-forming experience. I like the descriptor of life-forming instead of life-changing because I grew up in the chorus. I joined the chorus (and Christ Church choir) when I was 8 years old and sang actively until I graduated from high school. I met my best friends through the chorus and we remain close to this day. I learned more about music than I ever could have in any classroom. I learned discipline during my high school years when I was trying to balance a school that was 45 minutes away from my home, sports and chorus rehearsals. I learned respect of elders and your peers and that you can learn from anyone as long as you are looking for it. This is just the beginning of how the chorus has impacted my life. Talk to anyone who was a part of it for even a little while and most of them will tell you what an amazing experience it was. This is not to say that I didn't learn all this stuff from my parents as well, but when you spend so much time with the same people, kids and adults, and you are working toward the same goal (a perfect performance of that semester's master work), you tend to learn/teach all aspects of life.

A few of our adults in the chorus are having a rough year, all of whom have been integral to the forming of the chorus as an organization. Please know that we are thinking of you all at this difficult time.

Manny's back!

Well, I for one would like to say that I am glad that Manny is back with the Sox. As many people who love and hate Manny for whatever reason, there is no denying that he is one of the best players ever and when he retires, his numbers will certainly dictate that he is inducted in the Hall of Fame. Sure, Manny is quirky and sometimes acts like an idiot, and sometimes doesn't put 100% into running after the fly ball, but his bat is merciless. And yes, he acts like a primadonna, but what great player doesn't nowdays? Another good thing about Manny is that he keeps Big Papi happy, and with our basically band new team, we need all the consistency we can get.

My First Post

Just trying this out to see what it looks like.