Ups and Downs of the week.

 Vacation – As of today I’m off until Nov. 1st.

  Weather – It’s been a miserable autumn so far. Cold and rainy. The poor farmers couldn’t get their crops in the ground this spring, and now they can’t get harvest going. It’s supposed to warm up this coming week.

 Phillies – I’d love to see them take the World Series again. Talk about a quiet, under-the-radar group of performers.

  Kid-in-the-Balloon – Had to be a hoax. The father is a pathetic attention whore and should be billed for the rescue services.

  No Less Than Victory – Jeff Shaara’s latest novel is another winner. Outstanding novel about the end of WWII in Europe.

  Illinois State Employee Ethics Training – It’s sadly ironic that the crooks at the top of state government want us to take ethics training.

Ups and Downs of the week.

 Red Sox – Doing really well lately. Looks like they’ll make it into the post-season.

  Renault F1 – They won’t contest the charges that they intentionally crashed one car to help their other car win. Same as admitting guilt. Shame on them. F1 really needs to start eliminating cheaters from the series. 

 New Restaurant in Town – Two Flowers is awesome.

  Narcissism – It’s becoming the norm. Sadly.

Ups and Downs of the week.

  Dad – Another setback. Serious this time. Things are day-to-day now.

  The Economy - No raises this year, possibly 12 furlough days (equating to a 5% pay cut), and continued unemployment everywhere. 

 New Laptop – Dell Latitude E6500. With lots of horsepower, it runs Flash programs a thousand times better than my old laptop. This image is MLB.TV’s Flash-based video of the Sox game. This picture really doesn’t do it justice. The full screen image is clear and crisp and the motion is very smooth. Like having a new TV in the house.

  Red Sox - Playing like the 2006 Sox. No offense, limited pitching depth, no spark. They went 15 innings against the Yankmees tonight and couldn’t score a single run. They wasted outstanding pitching by their entire staff. Pathetic. Time for hitting coach Magadan to go. They need a fresh start.

Ups and Downs of the week.

  Dad – Home again. Hopefully for good this time.

  The Gates Affair – Will it ever end?

 Vacation – We just booked a trip to Germany for October (after Oktoberfest). We’ll be doing the Munich, Nürnberg, Prague, Vienna loop. I am so looking forward to it. 

   Red Sox - Playing a little better. They picked up some talent today with Victor Martinez and Casey Kotchman. I felt bad for poor Adam LaRoche, who barely had time to unpack and probably didn’t dirty a single Sox uniform. I know he was psyched to be on the Red Sox and now he’s in Atlanta. Still, it’s his former team, so he’s come full circle, I guess. Sox are now just one and a half games back (1 game in the loss column).

 Decent Summer Weather – July has come and gone and not one day above 90. I can deal with 80s all summer long.

  Illinois Highway Department – I guess I shouldn’t expect much out of a group who believes the best way to repair a highway is to pour some tar in a hole and then fill it with peastone. It keeps the same crew employed filling the same holes week after week and it helps keep the windshield and autobody folks busy repairing glass and paint. Still, today I had to deal with stop and go traffic for 9 miles because they closed one lane of I-57 for that distance even though there was only one small crew working at the very end of the stretch. Why they needed 9 miles of lane closure for a single work crew is beyond me, but I guess I shouldn’t be looking for intelligence or consideration from this bunch of morons.

Ups and Downs of the week.

 Dad – Not doing too well. He’s still in the hospital with a fever and pneumonia. We were hoping he would be home for his birthday this Sunday, but it doesn’t look like that’ll happen. I visited him tonight and will be here over the weekend, so at least we get to spend some time together.

 Mom – Simply the strongest woman I know. How’s she’s managed to keep it all together through my Dad’s health issues is beyond me. I’m proud of her.

   Red Sox - They won tonight (barely), but they’ve been losing steadily while the Yankmees have been winning steadily. Sox are now a couple games back. The pitching has been decent, but the offense has been pathetic. Something better change soon or we’ll be thinking about “next year.”

  The Gates Affair – Every facet of this bizarre story has been poorly handled, starting with Gates’s neighbor for failing to recognize him as he was entering his house. Then Gates himself for refusing to identify himself to a cop doing what cops do. Then the cop for losing his cool and arresting Gates. Then Obama for passing judgment before having all the facts.  This is how a very minor misunderstanding mushrooms into a huge racial/political brouhaha. Everyone needs to stand back and accept that they’ve all screwed up and then move on.

  Air Travel – It keeps getting worse, not better. Today we landed in the pouring, blowing rain in Boston and because the jetway couldn’t reach down to the tiny airplane we were crammed into, we had to disembark in the rain and wait in the rain while they unloaded our planeside checked bags in the rain. This is progress?

Ups and Downs of the week.

 Chicago, IL – Great city, except…

  Chicago, IL – Lots of obnoxious people here.

Dad – Home for good it seems. Going to visit in two weeks.

  Red Sox – Still stumbling along, but they’ve lost the offensive spark. Maybe the All-Star break will help.

 Baby Raccoons – All kids love a pool. Baby coonies are no different. Just before I was able to snap this picture, this guy’s sibling was fully into the bin and splashing around.

Ups and Downs of the week.

     Red Sox – They kicked butt for a bit, then blew a 10-1 7th inning lead in one game, then came back from 5-1 in the 9th to win the next game, and then blew a chance to win tonight at home. Typical Red Sox roller coaster. I’d sure would enjoy another 10+ game winning streak about now.

  Michael Jackson Coverage – Enough already. You can’t escape the hype over every snippet of tape the newsies dig up. CNN (Celebrity News Network) is one of the worst.

 Dad - Home since Thursday and doing better.

  The Sanford Saga – Infidelity is nothing new. Why do we treat every occurrence like it’s the first time it ever happened? If Sanford abused his position as governor or misused public funds, then can the bastard and move on. Personally, I couldn’t care less what his wife thinks about the whole thing. It’s not my business.

  Cool Weather – This week has been a nice break from the heat and humidity of recent weeks. I can deal with mid-to-high 70s and low 80s.

Ups and Downs of the week.

 Red Sox – Actually winning consistently on the road. I like it. Beckett had another great game tonight and Papi is to be feared by opposing pitchers again. All is well in The Nation.

  Celebrity Coverage – Do we really care that much? Or does the media just tell us we do?

 Dad – Coming home again on Thursday.

  Paving by gravel - I know I complain about it every summer, but this damn gravel is lethal to car paint.

 My Sister - Trekking up to MA again (third time) to help Mom take care of Dad when he comes home. Glad she’s there to help out. I know my folks really appreciate it. As do I.

Ups and Downs of the week.

 Long weekend – I need it. Starting Thursday we’ll be gone for most of the next three weeks. Thursday we’re off to NYC to BookExpo. We come back on Monday and leave again on Thursday for London, Ontario for Sarah’s cousin’s wedding. We’re back on that Sunday and gone again on Wednesday to Chicago for the HNS conference, finally coming home the following Monday. Lots of travel and not much rest.

   Dad – Back in the hospital again. Nothing too serious; just the same buildup of fluids that makes it hard for him to breathe. Thing is, this is exactly what convinced the docs he needed heart valve replacement way back in October. Now after 7 months of recovery from that, he’s having the same symptoms. Modern medicine is still a lot of guesswork. Dad should be home again on tomorrow, though.

 Red Sox - Despite tonight’s loss to the Mets (they got outpitched and Lugo was playing, so there you go), they still swept the Jays this week and are a half game out of first. Jays and Yankmees both lost tonight as well, so no ground lost.

 Weather – What a great week for weather. Got a bit of a sunburn from all the top-down driving, though.

  Illinois government – What a joke. The whole bunch of them need to be fired. Start over fresh. Maybe if the job paid better and was full-time we’d get some intelligent people to run for office.

 Bob Marley - What a shame he died so young. Incredible music.

 Grand Prix of Monaco – The premier race of this weekend. True racing talent on display here. High speed racing between Armco barriers through the streets of Monte Carlo. Much better than a couple hundred identical laps around an oval track like that other race this weekend.

Ups and Downs of the week.

 Dad – Home at last. He came home Tuesday and has been doing well. My sister is staying with my folks now to help out for a bit. Welcome home, Dad.

  Celtics/Bruins/Red Sox - All three teams lost last night. Bruins are done for the season. Celts now face a Game 7. Sox again fail to capitalize on a Toronto loss. Big Papi went 0-7 and left 12 men stranded. Something needs to be done to move him out of the number 3 slot.

   Weather – Some nice days this week but lots of rain as well. More nastiness in store for us tonight, but starting tomorrow we should be entering a dry spell. Good news for the farmers.

 Graduation weekend - It’ll be nice going to work next week with the students all gone.

  Emergency Alert System – While the system itself can be useful, this cable company goes way overboard with it. I’ve been watching TV for about 90 minutes now and these messages have interrupted 9 times (so far). Sooner or later you just stop watching them.

 The Wall – Never know what you’re going to see. Our newest resident bird, The Redhead, or Mama Coonie cooling herself on the concrete.