Ups and Downs of the Week

Red Sox – Playing better lately. Especially the starting pitching. They still leave way too many runners on base, though. Games that should be blowouts turn into close games.

Donald Trump – Does this jackass actually have a purpose in life? You’re fired, meathead.

Bruins – Came back from 2 games down to tie the series.

John McCain/Libya – No we do not need to get more involved in the Libyan civil war.

Ups and Downs of the Week

Sam Adams Latitude 48 IPA – Very tasty.

Red Sox – What a nightmare. Dustin Pedroia seems to be the only player who cares about winning. The pitching has been simply pathetic.

Formula One – It’s another F1 weekend. Good thing, too, as the Red Flops aren’t worth watching.

Ups and Downs of the Week

Red Sox – They finally won, and against the Yankmees no less, but what a horrible start to the season. 1-6 does not make them look like contenders. The pitching has been abysmal (with the exception of the 1-0 loss where Lester was superb). John Farrell must be having a good laugh.

Warm Friday Afternoons – Talk about therapy. I had a rough week ending with a depressing day, yet this afternoon was warm and sunny and I drove the 55 miles home with the top down on my Z4 and the tunes cranking. I arrived home in a very good mood. Best therapy in the world.

Mac Minis – Very cool little devices. Hook one up to an HDTV via HDMI cable and and you have a very capable HD media center/computer console. Throw in an HD webcam and you have an excellent video-phone to use for video calls to friends and relatives. The downside is the $650 price tag which does not include HDMI cable, keyboard, mouse, or the RAM needed to make it truly useful. If Apple would get off their high horse and charge reasonable prices for their cool devices, maybe they’d gain wider acceptance.

Ups and Downs of the Week

Red Sox – The season opener today was a serious letdown. The pitching was awful. But it’s a brand new season with a long way to go. Adrian Gonzales looked great as did Ellsbury. You still gotta….

DirecTV – The Sox game looked great today. I’m seriously impressed with the quality of the image and service. Can’t believe I put up with the crappy service from Mediacom for so long when I could have been watching this.

Sky View – The Smithsonian Channel’s Sky View series is awesome, especially in HD. We’ve seen Tudor England, Emerald Isle, and Italy. Fantastic photography.

Ups and Downs of the Week

5th Anniversary – I started this blog 5 years ago today.

Japanese Disaster – The nuke problem seems better one day, disastrous the next. And for a country with such wealth and technology, they seem to be having a hard time getting food, water, and basic necessities to the people in need.

Formula One – Started today with practice for the Grand Prix of Australia. And this year it’s being broadcast in full HD. This picture does not do it justice. Take my word for it, the picture quality is awesome. Add to that HD broadcasts of Red Sox baseball via DirecTV and MLB Extra Innings, and I’m a happy sports fan.

Formula One in HD

Goodbye to Spring – For a while at least. Temps earlier this week were in the mid-70s. Now they’re in the 30s and 40s and snow, SNOW!!, is in the forecast. Bummer.

Ups and Downs of the Week

Japan Earthquake/Tsunami – The news keeps getting worse. Possibly more than 10,000 deaths, a nuclear disaster in the making, whole cities destroyed. One city had just a few concrete buildings left standing and one of them, a three story building, had cars and debris on the roof. The tsunami must have been incredible to cause that.

DirecTV – So far, so good. Much better reception and image than with Mediacom cable. Can’t wait for baseball season to start.

Libyan No-Fly Zone – The last thing the US needs is any level of involvement in yet another Middle Eastern conflict. What are they thinking?

Springtime weather – Into the 70’s by Monday. The Z4 is coming out of storage this weekend. Can’t wait.

Finally, a nice sunny day. Spring is in the air.

I’m told this is a thresher (thanks, Dana). I bet it was noisy as hell when it ran. Now it just sits and slowly rots. Reminds me of a dinosaur.

Nice sunset yesterday, too.

Ups and Downs of the Week

Japan Earthquake/Tsunami – What a horror show. The images and videos are unreal. Such devastation. And yet a surprisingly low fatality count (so far). That shows how well the Japanese were prepared and how well they build their buildings. This was the strongest earthquake ever recorded in Japan, which is saying a lot. And yet their cities are still standing. Amazing. They have a huge cleanup ahead of them and there is still a concern about the nuclear power plants, but it appears their preparation and building codes saved countless lives.

Illinois Politics – The governor abolishes the death penalty, which is a good thing, and then signs the Amazon tax bill, which is sheer stupidity and arrogance considering the overwhelming evidence that this bill will hurt the state, not help it. So we’re 50/50 on the day. One step forward, one step back.

Habs Hockey Fans – So the Montreal Canadians fans called 911 to report an assault because one of their players got checked in an NHL hockey game? What’s next, reports of speeding at the Grand Prix of Canada? Give me a break.