Merry Christmas!

Owen did this one -- self-portrait he says.

Various Bears

The lead bear story is not the Chicago Bears squeaking out a patented 'unimpressive but win nonetheless' win over the arch-rival packers last night, thereby keeping the playoff drive alive.

It's that I've finally been featured in a website authored by teddy bears...(you have to scroll down some). I wish I could explain to you how it happened, but I can't -- partly because I don't actually know and partly because the stories you'll make up in your mind (and share?) will be better...

QB dilemma

Despite all my whining and crying, I made it into the fantasy playoffs and advanced to the finals. So who do I start at QB? I have Eli @ home vs. Panthers, Trent Edwards on the road vs. the Broncos or Dan Orlovsky @ home vs. Saints. And, yes, those are the only options.

FYI -- if you're looking for the lyrics to Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap on YouTube, DON'T click on this one to see what it's all about while your 6 year old looks on. The tune is just too catchy...

From the large and ever-expanding VA Mystery File

I ordered my patient a nebulizer from the prosthetics department. This was the electronic note added by them as an addendum to my order:

ORDER NEBULIZER FROM DEVILBLISS

Olympic sport 2024?

I think this would be pretty entertaining to watch. And there probably wouldn't be doping involved.

Bear-ly breathing

So I said the vikings game was a 'must-win' yet the Bears lost and are still alive after handling the Jaguars. The beauty of the NFL. Also, that was before the Williams wall hub-bub, Gus Frerotte getting injured and the pack officially tanking. A note on the Williams wall -- one of them was quoted multiple times during the Bears game as saying he had 'no respect' for Bears' star rookie Matt Forte. Well, who doesn't deserve respect now, half-wall? Yeah, take that.

O lost another tooth today -- that's two for those scoring at home. Julie and I were having a little trouble with the Tooth Fairy protocol. How does the Tooth Fairy know when to visit? Does she check under everybody's pillow every night? Luckily, Owen seemed oblivious to the logistical holes.

Speaking of which, O went with the saturation technique on his Christmas list. If Santa only brings half the requested presents based on a behavioral sliding scale, best to put as many options down as possible.

What the Dickens

O got a special holiday treat -- snaking around the bowels of Macy's as weirdly proportioned electronic dolls told the story of Dickens' A Christmas Carol. It was actually really cool, though Scrooge on his knees quaking in front of his own open grave as the grim reaper/ghost of Christmas future towers menacingly over him might be a little much for some little ones. At the end of it was Santa, who took a little extra time since Owen was the first kid to make it through (alive?) that morning.

Please put me out of my misery

"Really, the fantasy football season isn't fun. Winning is OK; losing is agonizing. You constantly feel awful about your choices and your bad luck; it's the only exercise that causes arguments with friends you normally never would argue with; and you spend roughly a kazillion hours managing your team for the 10 percent chance that you might win your league. There's just not a ton of upside. It's almost like smoking cigarettes -- it started out with good intentions, and it's something to do, and it can be fun in the right moments, but ultimately, there are an inordinate amount of moments when you find yourself leaning out a window in 20-degree weather to puff out a quick cig as your nose gets frostbitten, or bumming a cig from a group of horrible girls and then feeling obligated to talk to them, or waking up in the morning and coughing up your right lung. Really, it's more harm than fun. And yet, we continue to do it. And love it. This entire paragraph made me want to smoke." -- Bill Simmons (the Sports Guy).

That pretty well sums it up for me. I'll likely end up 10 points short of a playoff berth tonight and instead of seeing that as a blessing in disguise so I can more fully enjoy the next 3 weekends of my life, I'll probably sneak 47 peeks at MNF **JUST IN CASE** Maurice Jones Drew can manage to score 34 points. And all the while, I'll ask myself - why did I trade for Eli Manning if I was just going to bench him in the midst of one of the most dominant 18 game runs any team has had this decade? Sure, we all knew Trent Edwards would have a let-down after last week's explosion but ONE FRIGGIN' POINT?! Against the Niners?!? At home?!?

Ok, I feel a little better.

Turkey alert

We had a great Thanksgiving dinner at Grandma Liz' but O still refused to try off-the-bird turkey, as well as just about everything else served. It's like the ol' Chinese finger prison, this battling over the food. The harder you fight it, the worse it gets. Otherwise it was a fun day, including a primo spot at the float launch area @ the parade. Julie found another great board game that Owen can already beat me at.

Interesting study related to Thanksgiving

Reading, 'riting & relaxing

Julie and I had been trying to get a conference with Owen's teacher for a while since there had been some 'issues' (O not being allowed to go on a trip to the library ....) Seemed like she was dodging us so we showed up unannounced last Friday and waited til she had a prep period.

Apparently, O "does his own thing" often spreading his stuff out over a few different desks, rarely completing in-class work. Just that day, she informed us, he was at his desk READING A CATALOG during a lesson. (whether he had on bifocals and a cardigan and was smoking a pipe cannot be confirmed).

We've now instituted a plan whereby his teacher will jot down a note in his homework book informing us whether he completed his in-class assignment or not. This note will be tied to whether or not he gets to use the computer that night. In the past, he seems to have responded to the 'you're on notice' approach. We shall see.

Moose cuts loose

As far as I can tell, Mike Mussina announced his retirement today after 17 full MLB seasons, 9 with the O's, 8 with the yankees. I won't try to hide my bias: he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. Impossible to directly compare eras because of the increased role of relief pitching in today's game, so I don't want to hear anything about 300 wins. The two biggest stats in his favor -- 117 wins over .500 and NINE top 6 Cy Young finishes. No, he was never THE DOMINANT starting pitcher in the league over his career but nine top 6 Cy finishes says consistent greatness to me. Plus, the only other AL rightie with better numbers in his era is Roger Clemens and his forever-tainted legacy. Never was on a WS championship team BUT for the 1997 O's who went wire to wire first place, these were his postseason stats: 29 IP, 11 H, 4 ER, 7BB, 41 Ks against two of the highest run-producing teams of the decade (Mariners, Indians).

So he gets in, I'll say on the fourth try. In the nine years between now and then, he'll get elected to the Orioles' Hall of Fame, allowing some of the bad blood between him and ownership to disappear; then he'll go into Cooperstown as an Oriole.

Ewwww

The Bears went up to Green Bay and laid a stinker yesterday. Looking for the silver lining -- Orton a little rusty, team a little flat, badness snowballs on the road especially in Lambeau? I don't know how to explain 20 yds rushing given up to the undefeated Titans and 7 times that given up to Ryan Grant though. Anyway, the Minnesota game in 2 weeks basically is a must-win at this point because I don't see the NFC North producing a wild-card team.

Pujols won the NL MVP. Statistically, no argument here. Also no argument from the 'who would you want on your team?' standpoint. The whole issue of 'how much playing for a playoff team should count' means the arguing will go on forever. I hope the World Series ring matters more to Ryan Howard. He's already got an MVP anyway and will get another if he can shorten his swing w/ two strikes.

Veterans' Day at the VA

It's a little quiet around here...most everyone except 'essential clinical personnel' has the day off. Hmmm, does it seem right that a veteran who's here in the hospital can't get a psychiatry consult or an ultrasound because it's Veterans' Day?

Anyway, O is with me (not in clinical care areas) and I told him to wish any patients in the main halls a Happy Veterans' Day. He said he's not supposed to talk to strangers. This kid will be a great lawyer I tell ya.

Cats rock, as do giraffes

this one is pretty good

and Kath, yes, the giraffe video on SNL was superb. I'm trying to find it. Here it is.

A guy named Kerry

Da Bears D said - 'Make Kerry Collins beat us' and then Kerry Collins did just that. But with their back up QB, the Bears had a legitimate shot to tie the game late in the fourth quarter against arguably the league's best team. That's the silver lining.

This from the Sports Guy, Bill Simmons:

Saaaaaaved byyyyyy zerrrrrr-ohhhhhhhhhh.

"Now, for a limited time only, you can get amazing zero APR financing on your favorite Toyota."

Saaaaaaved byyyyyy zerrrrrr-ohhhhhhhhhh.

"That's 0 percent financing on 11 different models! Featuring Toyota's legendary quality. No other car brand can make this offer. So hurry in now, and see how much zero can save you on a brand new Toyota."

Saved by zero! Saved by zero!

(By the way, I did that off the top of my head. We are reaching the point that I am two weeks away from stopping by my local Toyota dealership, buying a brand-new Toyota Tundra with zero APR financing, driving the car off the lot, doing a U-turn, then plowing it through the front window of the dealership at 60 mph while screaming, "SAVED BY ZERO," like the guys from "Red Dawn" screamed, "WOLVERINES!" Cut down on the ads, Toyota. We're not kidding. You know why you haven't see John Mellencamp in two years? He's trapped in the basement of some frustrated baseball fan who dressed him like the Gimp and keeps him in a trunk after hearing "Our Country" for the 700,000th time. Look, we're all ecstatic that the guys from the Fixx are getting royalties again. Just tone it down. We get it. Zero APR financing. Heard you loud and clear.)

Rex in Effect

Da Bears will turn to Rex Grossman for Sunday's game vs. the undefeated Titans. I'm going to call it right here -- Bears 24, Titans 17. Oops - just checked the weather report: rain/snow showers. Let's go with Bears 13, Titans 10 in OT. It's a shame that Kyle Orton's progress towards legit starting NFL QB was slowed by this ankle injury. He wants to play Sunday but I think he and his neck beard should sit at least til the Packers in week 11.

Without cheating, name the teams whose home stadiums are below.

1FedExField
2Giants Stadium
3Arrowhead Stadium
4INVESCO Field at Mile High
5Dolphin Stadium
6Ralph Wilson Stadium
7Bank of America Stadium
8Cleveland Browns Stadium
9Lambeau Field
10Qualcomm Stadium
11Georgia Dome
12Candlestick Park
13M&T Bank Stadium
14Reliant Stadium
15Louisiana SuperDome
16LP Field
17Gillette Stadium
18Lincoln Financial Field
19Jacksonville Municipal Stadium
20Qwest Field
21Edward Jones Dome
22Texas Stadium
23Raymond James Stadium
24Paul Brown Stadium
25Heinz Field
26Ford Field
27Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
28University of Phoenix Stadium
29Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
30Lucas Oil Stadium
31Soldier Field

Finally!

Wow - surreal...what an exciting night. Can't wait for the acceptance speech; McCain is very gracious in defeat.

Halloween 2008

Per tradition, O had two costumes. School he was a cowboy and at night he was a clone trooper. No one, including possibly Owen, knows what a clone trooper is.

On an unrelated note, do you think foxes prey on wild turkeys? trying to settle a bet.

Philly Revelry

Broad St. was philled w/ revelers into the wee hours of the night. Julie and I went til about midnight to check it out. O could not be roused from sleep to take part but got my fingers crossed that there will be another celebration in his lifetime, maybe in Baltimore next time?

Tomorrow is O's Halloween parade and then the Phillies parade -- 20th and Market, east to Broad and then 4 miles down Broad to the Linc/Citizens' Bank culminating in a dual rally at the two stadiums. Did I really have the foresight to ask for the day off 6 weeks ago? Way to go, Dad. (And way to go Julie for scoring two tix to the Linc Rally)

2008 World Champs

Tampa's domed monstrosity gets revenge

There's no way Tampa should've had the chance to score the tying run in the top of the 6th last night. And I'm not just saying that because they DID score the tying run in the top of the 6th. The field was a mess and there was no end in sight....it's still raining for chrissakes. And this whole BS about they can only suspend a tied game is ... BS. They couldn't let an All-Star game end in a tie either but Selig found a way around that.

We did have outdoor large-screen viewing again last night with the individual likelihood of staying outside til the game was officially suspended described by this equation:

baseline Phillies' fandom x (blood alcohol level) x (stubborness^2) / gender (male = o.5, women=2)

Magical night of baseball

Harsha's bold vision of outdoor, very-large-screen baseball-watching came to life last night. The technology and the Phils didn't disappoint.

Skeptics asked questions like 'why do you want to watch baseball in the street when you have a flat screen HDTV 20 feet away in a warm house?' I didn't really have an answer for that one but something visceral was calling us into the street. Baseball is a game that is played outdoors, sometimes in the street (including Webster) so maybe it was a subconscious reaction to that domed monstrosity in Tampa. We had dogs and children running in front of the projector, we had strangers joining the party, we had hot toddies and chili, we had music and dancing breaks between innings, we had an open-flame fire pit and ladies and gentlemen we had COLE HAMELS! GO PHILLIES!!!

(hard to catch on film but you get the idea)

Time in a bottle

Another hilarious Office bit got me thinking about the song (Let's Get) 'Physical' by Olivia Newton John. This song was number 1 for TEN WEEKS almost topping Elvis' Love Me Tender as the longest running number one in history. It was considered racy and was banned on a lot of soft rock stations. Check out the lyrics below and you'll remember just how scandalous it was. AND THE VIDEO?!? the legwarmers, head bands, medieval work-out equipment... We make fun of the '50's quaint yet somehow creepy sexuality but I think early 80s win by a mile.

"I'm saying all the things that I know you'll like

Making good conversation

I gotta handle you just right

You know what I mean

I took you to an intimate restaurant

Then to a suggestive movie

There's nothing left to talk about

Unless it's horizontally"

Bunch of comedians

It was great to see Obama and McCain show their lighter sides (see Steve's blog for links). Assuming some of the mutual respect is genuine, is it impossible to imagine a role for McCain in an Obama cabinet (or vice versa, though for various reasons, I see that as closer to impossible)?

Palin looked comfortable in her limited  SNL appearance last night.  The real story here was Amy Poehler who just won herself an Emmy for musical/comedy performance.  Pregnant or not, that was an all-time great SNL moment.  

Poehler and McCain also teamed up in an older classic.  The goatee is best part of the whole thing.  

Phils grab the pennant

Phils kept the foot on the gas and steamrolled over the Dodgers 5-1 last night to get into the World Series for the first time since 1993. Cole Hamels was sharp, getting his second win in the series and making him the easy pick for series MVP.

Random notes:
-Contrary to my prediction, Manny stayed on fire. We'll never know whether the best team in baseball would've been Red Sox w/ Manny. Sox fans have to be a little peeved that BS theatrics interfered w/ dynasty potential.

-Shane Victorino just wants to be loved. We heard him consoling Furcal during the game and then expressing his wide-eyed amazement over Manny's hitting prowess in the dugout.

-George Sherrill's all-star game heroics may play a huge role in the WS: AL gets the home field advantage. There's never been a season where HFA has been more pronounced.

Who's in for a Game Three ticket?

Area cat loves corn, sounds like typewriter

Stairs' way to heaven

Matt Stairs hit a moon shot for the Phils in the 8th last night for the go-ahead runs in a 7-5 win. I've never seen a 5'8" dude hit a ball harder. I was watching on a non-HD 28 inch TV and the ball literally disappeared into the night. But then landed in the bleachers.

With a 3-1 series lead and Hamels going Wednesday night, the Phils need to go for the carotid (yes, the carotid. The expression has been officially changed from jugular to carotid as of late Sat night walking home from Ten Stone with Erin, Manish and Steve.)

Happy Columbus Day, streaming live

From Owen: "I want to go on the computer."

Daddy: "Let's go to the cheeseburger [local park]!"

Owen: "No."

Daddy: "Awww."

Owen: "We can go later."

Daddy: "OK."

What a game

The atmosphere WAS electric, if not nuclear. It was fun to get in our seats an hour early and see a half-filled stadium. Then there was the full-team introductions that got the crowd in a complete frenzy. Cheers for Larry Bowa, former Phils' shortstop and manager and current Dodgers' third-base coach and boos for Manny.

The game was a dog fight. Manny missed a two-run home run by a few inches in the first; Hamels was able to keep it together. Could Utley's first career post-season HR loosen him up some? Lidge's 1-2-3 9th was a big relief too.

LCS(s)

With some lame-ish World Series in the past few years, the league championship series' have been better bets for entertainment so don't miss 'em.

Dodgers vs. Phils -- will the Phils' bats show up? We're gonna have some chilly nights in Philly and they can't expect to mash in Dodgers Stadium so this could be a little dicey. On the flip side, with Hamels, Myers, Moyer and Blanton pitching well, I don't see the Dodgers exploding either. Tight games but Phils in 7 with Manny finally cooling off.

Sox vs. Rays. The Red Sox had a losing record to 2 AL teams in the regular season: the Angels and the Rays. That didn't seem to matter much vs. LAA but with the home field advantage, a mean streak and not much pressure, the Rays will hold their own. Sox in 7 but not because I'm rooting for them.

Chicks dig autumn

It is my unscientific observation that, when asked (but more frequently when not asked), 100% of women will say Fall is their favorite season.

Why is this? I will start the discussion -- which I predict will be a lively one -- with a hypothesis.

All women equate fall with 'sweater weather' so that's where we need to look for the answer. Another of my unscientific observations is that 100% of children, 90% of men and 10% of women love to nuzzle into a sweatered-bosom (here re-enacted by cats). And in their genetically-programmed-nurturing way, all women want to be the accepters of nuzzling. Nuzzling is better with sweaters, sweaters are worn in fall: all women love fall. I rest my case.

Grand Slam and a save

Shane Victorino hit his first career grand slam against arguably the majors' best pitcher to propel the Phils to a 2-0 lead heading back to Milwaukee. Bret Myers' 10-pitch walk to keep the inning going should keep almost as prominent a place in Phils' lore as the GS itself.

Palin also brought her A-game to the debate last night which meant for a few brief stretches, it actually seemed like a debate rather than 2 parallel-running campaign ads. She gets the award for 'most improved' after the Couric debacle but judging on the debate itself I give Biden the slight edge on style and a big edge on substance. On a side note, with all the distance Palin put between her ticket and the Bush administration ('huge blunders' of the past administration ... but all administrations make huge blunders?!?), she has clearly studied the Bush Manual on
Folksy Pseudo-Charm. But if we've learned anything from the past 8 years, it's that this plays well in Peoria. The race is back on.

Sports and Money

This is the time of year where we really need to consider national non-religious holidays just to catch up on the world of sports.

First, the O's played me the fool and went 5-20 in September to finish with 68 wins. The up side? No one can pretend the rebuilding phase is anywhere near complete. But I believe it has started at least.

Moose finally got his 20-win season, thereby punching his ticket to the Hall of Fame as I see it. What a great combo: yankers miss playoffs, but Mussina has a stellar season EXCEPT when pitching vs. the O's.

And THE PHILLIES! wow. Gotta like their odds vs the Brewers. The Fightins are hungry after last season's quick exit.

Bears went retro with an old-fashioned Goal Line Stand to stave off the potent Eagles offense. Correll Buckhalter might've done better with the 2000 Husker O line in front of him.

Speaking of the Huskers, big loss to VA Tech showed that the pass defense still looks suspect. Hmmm...probably not a great sign considering the calibre of QBs in the Big 12.


On another subject, who's pulling their money out of savings and putting it under the mattress? Call me a naive Nellie but I just don't see the FDIC going bankrupt as some have speculated. Of course, for those savings not FDIC insured, it's a different story, a story I'd rather not think about.

A.C.L.

Rather than stuff our money under our mattresses, Julie, Melissa & Crew and I decided to blow our wads in Austin, TX at the famed Austin City Limits music festival. Julie couldn't get her camera in the 3-day extravaganza so I'll just sum it up in words: 10 stages, 3 days, 120 bands, two clouds, 92 degrees, Barton Springs waterin' hole, Lone Star beer, funk, alt country, indie rock, bluegrass, Alison Kraus/Robert Plant 'Black Dog'gin' it, gently rolling Texas Hill Country brush kicked up into tiny dust-grass particles. It was lots of fun. I will give my Best-in-Show award as a tie: Antibalas, Band of Horses, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, and Kraus/Plant with Del the Funky Homosapien , Neko Case and the South Austin Jug Band not far behind .

(We got O some cowboy boots here. He wants to wear them to school -- this is OK as O says Kate wears 'cowgirl boots' all the time)

Soccer Bust

It was another tough Saturday out on the soccer fields. Initially, O was kicking the ball around enthusiastically w/ me and a teammate; things looked promising. But when the actual practice/game came around, O turned into rubber chicken -- the same rubber chicken I used to turn into when I went shopping with my mom -- and tears started to well up. We walked away for a while to see if he would give it a go without an easy out, but that didn't work.

Seems like that will be it for the season. I'll be sad if that's it for his soccer career but you never know.

There is joy in Owen's life, don't worry. He loves the Garden State Discovery Museum, for instance. We went last Sunday (click on newspaper to enlarge):

human on cat violence

A couple disturbing stories in the media, one of a former Met who may have kicked Norman the cat to death. I'm wondering if the picture of Norman has been doctored b/c he appears to be wearing an enormous red bow. Cat owners worldwide know that each phase of this: tying the bow, having the cat keep the bow on and keeping a bow-tied cat still for a photograph defies the laws of physics. Anyway, R.I.P. Norman...

Then another story of a mountain lion that was accosted by some hikers, but this cat made it out alive.

Pigskin Madness

You can't get much more entertaining than that Dallas-Philly game last night. In a semi-reasonable amount of football watching this weekend, I saw 2 amazing things:
Mike Shanahan and the Broncos going for two at home, down by 1 against a division rival and pulling it off. I hope we see more of this.
DeSean Jackson dropping the ball before crossing the goal line last night on a long pass play. DJ then proceeded to do a victory dance in the end zone while Dallas was throwing the challenge flag. Rookie mistake? C'mon... Hard to imagine Ditka or Landry or Noll not benching this kid but I guess since the Eagles have 2 injured starters it won't happen.

Pot luck

Steve -- please give us the broad view of what the heck is going on w/ Freddie/Fannie/Lehman/Bernanke etc....preferrably no graphs.

SNL debut was a little slack I thought. The opener w/ Palin/Clinton was hilarious and I definitely liked 'home schooled vs public school quiz bowl' but the rest seemed a little lifeless. The swimming coach pep talk skit was directly lifted from the Peyton Manning SNL and there were also one too many recurring characters for this early in the season.

Phils are TIED for the wildcard lead and one behind the Mets in the East. wow.

Bears could've/SHOULD'VE started 2-0 on the road. Of course I didn't get to see the game b/c 93 miles from NYC is not nearly enough to escape the Giants' market saturation.

Evaluate my trade....

I drafted Tom Brady with the eighth overall pick. Our league gives 6 pts for passing TDs so this was a no-brainer -- I was surprised he lasted that long. Anyway, as we know, his season lasted 8 minutes so I was left w/Trent Edwards at QB. I think Edwards will put up decent numbers at home but he struggles on the road.

I traded DeSean Jackon for Eli Manning to shore up the QB spot. (It's a 16 team league so there are no starting QB-free agents ). I don't know....I think DJ may have already had his best game of the season and it helped me get a week-1 win. When was the last breakout rookie WR season? OK a 5'10" rookie WR who's also a return man? Manning will be a top 10 QB some weeks ; the key will be picking which weeks those are. I'm betting this is one of them. Could I have gotten more for Jackson at QB? Dwight might have given me K. Warner but I give Eli the edge there.

Back to school

First grade is officially underway. Here's O on day one sans back-pack but w/ some wicked argyles. (Of note: 96% humidity or not, no shorts to school we found out, surely for the same reason orange shirts are banned.)

So far, there hasn't been a flood of reports coming back but we do know that O lost the baby tooth that was in front of the adult tooth coming in on the bottom. And when I say lost, I mean, it came out at school and he couldn't find it. We believe that it did not end up in his GI tract. Since the tooth fairy's visit was much anticipated, Mom came up with the brilliant plan to have O draw a picture of the tooth and put it under his pillow. This picture, which featured a tooth shaped much like Connecticut colored gray with an eye as backdrop ("I'm looking at it"), was inscribed with the following: "Dear Tooth Fairy: please bring me a present even though I left my tooth in the cafeteria. Love, Owen." And in case anyone questions whether O intended to color it gray, he labeled it 'kitten gray.'

Old-fashioned beat down

The Colts had their fancy new retractable roof and 7 billion megapixel jumbotron going for them but not their A game; the Bears took 'em apart on both ends of the ball. Prince Peyton made all kinds of faces: angry, petulant, frustrated, but not so many throws.

I'm trying not to get carried away but it's safe to say the Bears' performance makes a playoff run more realistic. Esp if the Lions' run defense is really that bad.

Pennant race...

I have shamelessly adopted the Phillies as my pennant race team. They're in NYC tonight for a crucial 3-game series against the Mets. It's 1-0 Phills, top of the fourth. Brett Myers, on the hill tonight, has been the Phils MVP down the stretch. If that's not enough excitement: espn.com mlb gamecast is now sponsored by Grape Nuts, thereby combining my loves of real-time game updates and high fiber cereal.

Football season begins in earnest this weekend. I have no idea what to make of Da Bears but my gut tells me: mostly staunch defense, electric Devin Hester, Orton/Forte better than predicted, shaky division -- 9-7 with a shot at the wildcard.

Disaster preparedness...

I got this message in my email inbox this a.m. ('All users' is everyone in the medical center):

"All users there is a very strong smell of gas coming from the refinery. Please call the Safety office for any other issues or emergencies"

Palin unleashed

Yikes -- I change my mind, I think McCain hired Palin on to do his dirty work. It started out all all shucks but then all heck broke loose. She did all but call Obama a communist. I had a feeling she was going to take out an effigy doll and start sticking pins in it. The gauntlet has been thrown; well played to her/them for using the second convention to its fullest potential for vitriol.

As per the policy plans -- we got some on drilling, which was sort of specific but everything else had a lot of 'reduce big government', 'root out corruption/waste' and 'John McCain has done a lot of amazing things for you' glittering generality feel to it. I know the top of the ticket is supposed to give us more specifics and I'm sure he will, but I would've like to have heard more from her, see previous posts.

Those kids are truly amazing and I'm not being sarcastic. The young daughter licking her hand and smoothing the baby's hair probably netted the ticket more points in a general election than the previous speakers combined. Maybe Track was just scared about being on national tv but with his baby face and that look of utter terror on it as his mom talked about shipping him off to war, my heart actually sank.

Lieberman unleashed

wow ... that was something else. Was that the longest passive aggressive semi-rant in history or a guy speaking from the heart? (And is there a speaker from either party whose bottom teeth are more visible that Joe Lieberman's?) I can't help but think something terrible must've gone down behind the scenes with party leaders when Liebs lost the CT democratic senatorial primary in '06 to Ned what's his face. And...applause for Bill....?!?! The whole thing went bizarro-world for a moment. In the end, Joe's message didn't go very far: we need a leader who can cooperate, build consensus, etc. Sure, great, but you're still left with having to decide which side of the issues you want that consensus to be built around.

And props to Fred Thompson...if he had put as much effort into his campaign as he did that speech, his appearance at the convention may have been a little later in the week.

Sports update

There were no soccer camp pics b/c camp ended in kind of a bust...It was probably a combination of the heat, some kid that was picking on O and the fact that he doesn't like soccer all that much but O left early the last day.  The good news is he's still OK about doing fall soccer league and we went out today and had a semi-successful practice.  Tricky this whole business -- I don't want to force him but he does say of his own free will that he wants to be in the league so I figure he'll like it more if he has some skills.  True, forcing him to do push ups til he pukes is a bit extreme considering the game is mostly lower body but it's more of a core work-out really.

The O's are in free-fall mode.  They've been in last place for a few weeks now so it's not so bad.  The bottom line is, they're on pace to equal the 70 win prediction I made early on.  Vegas was saying 62.  They still showed more fight this year than most were expecting; the two big offseason trades paid off handsomely and Matt Wieters, last year's number 1 pick, is looking like the second coming of Johnny Bench.  Check out the numbers from A and AA ball this season.

Now it's really getting exciting

First off, lots to say about the last night of the convention but the bottom line for me is that I feel better about Obama than I did before the convention started: better about voting for him, better about his chances of winning... the whole shebang.

And how about Don getting his pick w/ Sarah Palin? The only possible explanation is that McCain is a regular reader of PhillyWill, in which case I have to say -- "John, I tried the best pickle last week!" (he loves pickles)

In any case, Palin balances out the 'Bold and the Beautiful' and 'Young and Restless' quotient on the ticket, just as Biden did in reverse for Obama. Another oldish white male would've sunk the GOP unless he had been a cant-miss pick, and none of those existed. She's also got a muckraker reputation and can definitely play up the Washington-outsider card. However, the flip side of that is that if something happens to McCain, she'll take over with Geena Davis-level of national experience. I'm going to give McCain the benefit of the doubt and NOT assume he thinks Palin will win over former Hillary supporters. Palin's pro-life-ness would clearly negate her gender-ness on that front. But what about the 'independents'? The jury's out on that one.

I guess when it's all said and done, I feel better about all four of these folks than Bush/Cheney, so there's progress.

Rocky Mountain High ...

...was probably Tuesday night, but since I haven't caught up yet, I'll have to go with last night. Bill kicked ass as expected. I was impressed with Kerry, too, who was clearly getting out some pent-up frustration.

Biden was fine; my only complaint was the obviously-intentional Bush/McCain 'Freudian slip.' Kerry did the same thing earlier and it sounded stupid the first time. Anyway, Biden was energized but sane and shared the spotlight well. The intergenerational family theme was genuine; when 'We Are Family' came on, I believed it.

I am starting to get a little queasy about the roiling storm of the Repub convention. The 'he's not ready' and 'wrong ticket' themes are going to bludgeon us and will probably score some points; going second is a huge advantage here for the GOP. (I guess waiting til after Obama's acceptance speech before getting my panties in a wad makes sense too). One hope is that McCain picks someone goofy and he/they has to spend much of the convention explaining the choice. I guess I'm having trouble imagining a non-goofy choice, come to think of it. McCain is so clearly a superior candidate to his party-mates it seems hard to imagine how far from the nomination he was at one point.

Priorities

I haven't seen Hillary's speech yet. The plan was for the Phillies to make quick work of the Mets at the Bank and get back in time for the actual or recently TiVo'd start of the speech. Well, wouldn't you know it, the Phils spotted the Mets 7 runs through three, then held them scoreless for the ensuing TEN innings to finally win it in the 13th on a bases-loaded Chris Coste single.

It was a weird one: 7-0 Mets innings 1-3. 8-0 Phils innings 4-13. I got home just in time to watch the re-cap as the lead story on 1 a.m. Sports Center. Another shout out to Harsha who not only stayed for the full 13 but also biked home with me, protecting me from some thugs who started shouting 'tightie whities' at us. (Harsha's Indian and I was wearing boxers so I'm not sure what that was all about).

After last season's epic collapse and then this game, you gotta wonder where the Mets' heads are right now. The literalists might say "at the tops of their necks."

Did Hillary really make a 'Sisterhood of the traveling pantssuit' joke?

Biden time

By now I'm sure you've all heard that Obama picked Joe Biden to fill out the ticket. Great move, I think. He reminds me of Lloyd Bentsen: conviction, pragmatism, experience. Of course, there are some negatives -- saying Obama wasn't ready to be president jumps to mind -- but, hey, if there were a perfect choice it probably wouldn't have taken til the weekend before the convention to name him/her.

Speaking of which, I was pleased to get an email from Sen Clinton Saturday saying she thought Biden was a great choice and she'll support the ticket fully at the convention. No doubt there will be some dissent amongst her die-hards but I just don't see them getting much traction with the leaders presenting a united front.

The Repubs were up early Sun morning getting the spin out -- if Obama got 50% of the vote and Clinton got 50%, not picking her as a running mate was bad/weak/whatever. This sound-byte didn't have much oomph to it, especially from Giuliani -- c'mon, dude, your election strategy opinions are suspect at best. You could almost feel that their better ammo would've come if he had picked her (It's 3 a.m., we don't want either one of them answering the phone...)

Bass-ackwards

Wait...we won women's soccer gold and lost softball? to Japan? Didn't we invent softball?

Update

The streets of Brooklyn were hopping last weekend prompting Owen to observe wide-eyed: "Now I know what it's like to be out in New York on a Saturday night."

O started a week of soccer camp on Monday. UK elite's "Coach Matt", actually of the UK, was running the 6-and-olders through some drills, shouting out instructions, not particularly concerned if they were following along or not. I guess that's the only way to do it without going nuts. I'm going to stop back by on Friday for the scrimmage, hopefully getting some pictures.

In other news, Jack and Sam are out on assignment, attempting to rid Julie's house of mice.

Reports are that they are doing a lot of lounging around

but the hope is that their pheromones alone will do the trick, though recent reports suggest that it may only make the mice 'macho.' I'm sure Julie would appreciate if at this point I mentioned that her house is not overrun with mice; in fact, there's only marginal evidence of their/its presence.

Instant classic

You have to see "Tropic Thunder" ... funniest movie I've seen in a long time. Robert Downey Jr started the summer w/ "Ironman" and ended with this one -- he's on a serious roll.

Sign from God

I just got a text message from sms_casting that they're holding auditions for 76ers cheerleaders and dancers. Is the NBA ready for 'No Pants Man?' Only one way to find out...

Sexual harassment in the news

It looks like tenured professors aren't above the law after all. Luckily, the Onion was quick to help us put the incident(s) in perspective.

And, no, I don't think sexual harassment is a laughing matter, but this cake is. Not to mention the whole blog.

Cool review article

Check out this one from a couple weeks back in the New England Journal about effects of in utero development on adult disease later in life. The evidence is a lot stronger than I thought.

Speaking of which, Owen has an adult tooth growing behind a baby tooth that hasn't fallen out yet and isn't even loose. Shark-boy, as we now call him, hasn't been to the dentist in a year because Daddy believes that putting fillings in baby teeth (Owen has at least two) makes about as much sense as putting 90-year-olds on mechanical ventilation.

Please share any experience you have about double-teeth and later-in-life dental catastrophes (or lack thereof).

high yield entertainment

I tuned in for about 40 min of Olympics last night and got the whole Olympo-tainment spectrum. There was the tear-jerker about the 33-year-old gymnast who competes for Germany after bringing her young son from Russia to get needed treatment for leukemia. It's her FIFTH Olympics...and the leukemia is in remission. Then there was some ill-defined, pseudo-scandal about a hot French swimmer who was dating a hot Italian swimmer who broke up with the former to date another hot Italian swimmer. The latter two may or may not have posted nude pics of the hot French swimmer on the web. Well, um (as Owen would say), the BEST part was in the showdown between the two hot swimmers, a homely Brit took the gold!

None of that compared to the thrilling underdog U.S. men's 4x100 freestyle relay win over the haughty French ("We will smash them" they said -- sure, there may have been some laxity with the translation; the actual quote in French was probably "I hope we are victorious"). I was actually shouting at the TV, which I can't remember happening with a non-major sport.

This and that ...

Favre is a Jet. I could've imagined it but it seemed like Brett was on the verge of tears during his entire press conference announcing his new Jet-ness. Between the Packers' owner, GM, head coach, Favre himself ...what a fascinating psychodrama played out in restrained emotions in front of microphones. (I'm guessing it was the polar opposite of Mamma Mia, if hell were to freeze over and I were to see that movie.) I felt bad for Favre this go-round; it seemed like the Pack saying 'you can't win another Super Bowl' was like taking Old Yeller out back and ...

But, hey, the Jets did win 4 games last year. And Favre's already been in a movie with Cameron Diaz; could his next one be with Paris Hilton?

On an unrelated note -- listen closely... if you're saying a word with S-T in it these days, do you put an 'H' in between? Steven Colbert just said 'dishtracting' twice, the ad says it's 'Shtrong, Army Shtrong.' and Owen and I both say 'shtreet.' (Any relation to the mostly bygone fad of adding a 'zh' sound to the end of words ending in 's'? if you listen to NPR, you'll still hear Robert Siegel and Ivan Watson say 'NPR Newszh.' I think it makes the speaker feel more intense or learned but sounds awfully pretentious. )

Lastly, lots of people at the VA want me to have a 'blessed' day. People put it on their outgoing voice messages, the cashiers say it at the cafeteria, the nurses in clinic say it. Is this a new thing? Shtrangely, I don't find it intrusive, but it seems too ambitious. Back when you were just supposed to have a nice or a good day, the bar seemed more realistic.

Stop the Presses...

(And yes I do have the day off)

Word from the wire is we may have a rival for Long Wang and Pete LaCock. He plays linebacker for Eastern Illinois.

Favre Mayhem

This is getting nuts. And I would like to ignore it, thereby doing my small part to let it die, but with Owen not getting back til late tomorrow night, there's just not enough going on.

My take is he's being a prima donna. IF from here on out he practices at camp, competes for the job (likely getting it, let's be serious) and shuts up about what happened over the past three months, he'll get some respect back. I don't see that happening though. Did he really expect the Packers to be jumping up and down to bring him back after that display at the end of last season? Sure, he has the right to change his mind but the Pack has the right to make him jump through a bunch of hoops so that he proves his intentions are real. Yeah, Brett, no matter how great you were for how long for that city that doesn't have a heck of of a lot more to root for, management still has to make contingency plans. I heard today that the Pack has the best record in football since 1992 (his rookie year), which is impressive no doubt; but that's beside the point.

Reader poll

Can I buy $138 pants? I already did and I was about to go return them but I thought I'd get some opinions. Banana Republic, slate, wool, flat front, that fit well. As I discussed with Julie and Melissa, it would be hard to bike to work in $138 pants so that should be reason enough not to get them. But it does rain, esp in the fall/winter....

I love a bargain and these were only 25% off. The cashier said "$170 ?! I didn't know we had pants that cost that much." That's probably not a good sign.

As most of you know, I wore the same second hand $12 Armani suit with a ? blood stain on the inside of the crotch for all my med school and residency interviews. That may be more my speed.

How sweet it is

The O's broke their Sunday losing streak with a tidy win over the Angels, avoiding a sweep in the process. Dave Trembley was so giddy, he puffed on an unlit cigar and blew imaginary smoke into the post-game microphone, explaining later on ESPN, "It was the first cigar I ever had."

Then they went into yankee stadium last night and pounded the snot out of Mussina for the second time this season. Adam Jones, who's starting to get noticed, hit his first career grand slam. Will it be the last GS in 'old yankee stadium?' Perhaps....but not the last for AJ I have a feeling.

Vague, empty feeling

The blogosphere took a big hit when Steve decided to go on summer hiatus. Support groups are forming nationwide.

There's no way I can pick up the slack but at least I can pass on, courtesy of Felix, that there's a wrestler at UNC named Long Wang. Other bloggers have suggested this is the best sports name since Mike Hunt. For my money, though, we have to go back to Pete LaCock. I'm surprised to see that LaCock's middle name is 'Pierre', meaning we could've had the all-time best 'Lucky' Pierre LaCock.

I saw The Dark Knight..... Sheesh, I hate to spoil the party but watching an actor who clearly had serious mental illness play a homicidal clown while the audience titters over his tardive dyskinesia was about all I could take. And, wow, if you thought the 'random-chance-is-the-only-morality' theme was a little clumsy and trite in 'No Country', the Dark Knight makes that look like a revelation. Anybody see Step Brothers? I think I need a little lighter summer fare.

Go West Young Man

When things start getting dull in Philly to the point where you resort to re-enacting scenes from WALL-E using a laundry bag and a cat,




....it's time to head to Omaha where there's Wii, endless pool excitement and fun cousins

Sunday WOe's

It's now 15 straight Sunday losses for the Birds; yesterday's, though, not totally demoralizing as it was at the hands of the AL's best pitcher over the last two months.

Still, we now have to start thinking about curse-breaking antics. Maybe we can start by acknowledging that manager Dave Trembley
looks a lot like William Shatner.

I don't know where this gets us exactly - a Sunday Star Trek promotion? a pre-game lounge number from Dave? - but something needs to happen.

And while I'm on the look-a-like topic....without introducing any kind of bias, who does this pic of un-make-upped, un-buff Ed Norton remind you of?

Mid-summer Classic

The MLB All-Star game finished in dramatic fashion less than 24 hrs ago with the AL pulling out the win in the 15th inning. George Sherrill, the lone Oriole, pitched a tough scoreless 2 and a third innings to admirably represent the Orange and Black.

On another note, you can learn a lot about who you're supposed to be by taking in the ads targeted at you during your can't miss TV experiences. For example, if you watch the MLB All-Star game, your prostate is enlarged, you have erectile dysfunction, you drive American cars and you drink American beer. The male prostato-genital ad budget has got to be bigger than most countries' GNP. If you get up at night to pee, you HAVE to start taking pills, no matter how dizzy it makes you or how many deformed babies are born from women handling said pills. And, apparently, the time you'll be most grateful to have taken your flomax is when you're out on a boat with your buddies fishing. Newsflash marketers: there's nothing more American or manly than whipping it out on boat and pissing over the side 10-12 times per excursion; I'd target road trips instead if I were you. Kudos to Fox for not starting the viagra ads til after 11. There's nothing more embarassing and awkward than having to explain to your children why ten male musicians in a recording studio suddenly bust out in a countrified Elvis parody where the chorus is Viva Viagra! They tell us in the ad that this happened at 1 am which makes perfect sense: at that hour, the macho facade you have w/ your fellow musicians about your penis still working melts away and you all spontaneously break into musical catharsis singing the praises of viagra.

do you have an opponent that needs vanquishing?

Owen said they've been using this one at camp (to the tune of We Will Rock You):

"We will, we will, you know what
Kick your butt
All the way to Pizza Hut
When you're there
Comb your hair
Dont forget your underwear"

Whatever you do, DO NOT ask the singer "does that mean comb your underwear?"because this will only lead to more taunting and vanquishing.

Duct tape and bailin' twine starting to loosen...

The O's took another tough loss tonight. As of late, there's been no reliable starter, the middle relief has suffered some injuries and the closer has blown a couple (but still managed the lone Orioles all-star nod). The offense has actually been half decent but not enough to make up ground. Let's hope we can somehow stay at/near .500 to help our chances of luring, say, Mark Teixeira in the off-season. On the bright side, Adam Jones continues to get better and Nick Markakis is really good. They're 22 and 24 respectively.

WALL*E

Did you see it? I guess I was expecting typical Pixar cutesy zaniness and ended up w/ apocalypse cutesified. I don't want to overanalyze so I guess I'll go with the bottom line: I wasn't amused, moved, informed or compelled but was close to 3 out of those four. And (all together now) the animation is super cool. 2 and 1/2 stars (out of 4).

The Fourth

I should've posted this clip last week but still a classic. You'll never go to a convenience store again without wanting to request Homer's shopping list.

Julie got us hooked up with a rocket launch led by Capt Brian Biggs, which was a nice variation on the fireworks theme. O was more into the sparklers:...but I got into the rockets. This one I settled under and caught on the fly before it hit the ground in an effort to impress the kids. Mission not accomplished. (don't know why this is underlined but I can't fix it)

Voice overs

Back in the day, it seemed like big movie stars didn't get anywhere near commercials or TV for that matter. Now we got George Clooney doing Bud ads, Gene Hackman w/ Lowe's, Jeff Bridges for Hyundai but all as voice overs. (By the way, the Nasonex bee is NOT Antonio Banderas)

what's Clooney's take home for reading 20 seconds of copy several times over? Is this really worth it for the company if only a fraction of people recognize the voice? or is vague subliminal familiarity also worth something? and if vague subliminal familiarity is worth something, why not just pay a Clooney impersonator? These are questions only the blog-o-sphere can answer.

While we're on the subject, what's the take home for being a voice in a Pixar movie these days? Those movies have more stars than The Player.

Sports highs and lows

They finally delved into the ultimate frisbee waiting list so I joined my team tonight mid-season. Let's just say the rust was showing. I made more poor throws than decent ones. O was there and, luckily, he has yet to develop a spectating eye. He came running on the field to give me a high five after some young fast dude beat me to the corner for a score. 'Great play Dad!' (O was about 100 feet away but we also can't rule out a sarcastic high five). I guess the pain was worth it when O jumped into the circle at halftime and said, "When someone is next to you and they're getting the frisbee, you can catch it instead!" The team loved it. And we got to drive a convertible out to the field.

The O's stuck it to the Cubbies today 11-4. What can you make of one series? I don't know but the Cubs had the best record in baseball and a 14 game home winning streak going when the O's came to town. After dropping two out of three to the O's and recently getting swept in Tampa, I'm sure the Cubs have gained a little perspective on their championship dreams.

Slow sports day Monday...

The Orioles were off following their 11th STRAIGHT Sunday loss (it's not all bad; they're 37-25 on other days of the week) so the sports world was left to deal with the revelation of Shaq's latest rap effort. I kept seeing the same update scrolling on espn "Shaq disses Kobe in rap" or something like that. I couldn't believe this would make the scroll, as it were, until I saw the rap on TMZ. It's hilarious -- you must check it out: Shaq, a grown man by all accounts, settling the score w/ Kobe in a semi-private setting where he must've known video would be rolling.

On an unrelated note, scroll through The Onion's statshot archives for a couple minutes between patients.

George Carlin 1937-2008

Sad news of the passing of comedy legend George Carlin last night....

It seems that he'll be remembered as 'edgy' and perhaps even 'angry' but if I haven't forced you to already, watch "Playin' with Your Head" to see one of the most clever and playful stand-up acts of all time.

And, as always, when told to "Have a good one!" make sure to reply:

"I already have a good one - I'm looking for a longer one"

When the cat's away...

Julie was out of town for a couple days so Owen and I got a chance to do all the wild things we dream of such as:


moongazing at the Franklin institute with Bix, Janet and Don




smushing two dimes and a penny...because we can


Eating gi-normous portions of black forest cake for dinner at German Beer night at the ball park



taking cool pictures, (O not actually dangling precariously on balcony)



shooting pool (in red crocs) way after bed time with Harsha

**In no way is Dad attempting to belittle the importance of schedule-following and adequate sleep. By Father's Day, it caught up to O who during brunch went through wild swings of melt-down (these shoes are giving me blisters!) and giddiness (uncontrollably laughing reading aloud sign saying 'do not touch the dog. she will bite your ass.')

Sniglets needed

If you don't know what a Sniglet is, read this then help me come up with two. (If there are already Sniglets for these, post them and take credit).

1) That moment when you're monologuing on a cell phone for an extended period and then you stop and there's silence. you don't know whether the connection was lost or the other person isn't responding (conversuction?). Also, maybe we need a separate Sniglet for the talking that occurs after an actual lost connection.

2) A similar phenomenon, but with typing ... when you accidentally hit the insert/typeover button (or the person who used the keyboard before you had it on....wtf?!?) and you inadvertantly start typing new words over the ones you've already written. If you're looking away while typing, you can sometimes erase a whole line (mega-[fill in Sniglet]).

Also gives me a chance to acknowledge a great Sniglet made up by, I believe, Jackie Kiang. It's called "buttprehension" and it's the feeling of squirrely-ness that causes you to run up the stairs hurriedly when someone is following you trying to pinch/poke your butt. (I'm guessing if you've never experienced buttprehension, it's because you were an only child and/or currently do not have a young child that chases you on the stairs trying to poke your butt.)

Two things that will never look/be cool

First is the blue tooth in the ear while in public spaces (airports, grocery stores, doctor's waiting rooms, etc). Seriously, whatever it is you're talking about could be condensed into a text message or email and then you would spare the world two things (1) your loud, inane conversation and (2) how stupid that thing looks in your ear.

Second is the Seg%way. I see these people in packs on the river bike path and I find myself instantly annoyed. First, the bike path is for exercise, not taking dork joy-rides. Second, what is the practical value of these things that cannot be much more cheaply accomplished with a bike or two feet? I am OK with a letter carrier exception because they have the bag. But cops? Bikes/horses can get around the city 5 times faster.

Greenfield happenings

Last Wed was the big Spring Fair ... but it got rained out. Most of the stuff was moved inside, including the Moon Bounce, which I was in charge of for an hour. The cute, little kids had already been sent back to their classrooms so I was left to referee the big ugly ones. I had to kick one of them out for rough-housing; I had the sense he might punch me when I told him he couldn't get a refund on his tickets. He might've been 4'6". The best part was that one of the parents came up to me towards the end of my shift to ask if I had a card, thinking I was the Moon Bounce rental vendor. I guess if medicine doesn't work out, I might make it as a Carny.

Today, they called a half day because of the heat .

This should get O fired up for summer camp. We took him there for an open house yesterday and it looks like it will be just about perfect: swimming pool, creek, two playgrounds, tree house, basketball courts...

The Age of Aquarium

O and fellow 110 classmates had a field trip to the Camden Aquarium today. I arrived late, choosing to ride my bike over the Ben Franklin Bridge. (Note to self: check wind conditions prior to attempting again). The ride was a bit treacherous but helped remind me that we're long over due to check out the Camden River Sharks, whose Campbell field looks more kid- and wallet- friendly than the mlb parks.

Anyway, O seemed to have a great time at the aquarium, even asking if we could come back Saturday ("No! You planning to get a job to pay for all your entertainment?" I barked at him). He even found time to form a new indie rock band called 'Turtle Is Hot' (please enlarge album cover below)
As you can see, one of their artistic statements is anonymity. As Bix explained to me, they have made a visual pun on the hack-neyed name-tag tradition by having theirs face backwards. They performed their first single "Seriously, this turtle is hot.... is it time for lunch?" live at the aquarium.

Owen also got other children (rather than adults this time) to worship him:


He also took time to pose for a proto-Senior picture choosing 'Jungle' as backdrop even though most of the others in his class picked the neon, cursive 'Class of 2020' on top of a Camaro.

Hair-raising adventures

I was trying to get O presentable for a cameo at Julie's work event last night so I thought it would be best to cut his hair first. I decided we'd try one of the South St barber shops....

We walked in and I asked the barber if he cuts 'kids' hair' and pointed to Owen. I think somewhere implied in the question was 'white hair' since I've never seen a white person in there. (Sure, I seriously doubted that he would say no but it crossed my mind is all). Anyway, the guy said 'yes' and, noting an older gentleman who appeared to be waiting in the back, I asked how long a wait it might be. The barber said 'None at all, he cuts hair' and pointed to that older gentleman.

This guy was pushing 70, had coke-bottle glasses on and had a serious tremor. But now that the contract was already started, and - hey, no wait! - we went for it. Owen was a super champ...he watched the shaking scissors pass right above his eyeballs multiple times. He had the clippers pressed against the back of his scalp over and over again with nary a flinch. And the hair cut looks fantastic. (Eva was really impressed this morning.) Owen and the barber had some good chatter going even though neither of them could hear each other until the second or third repeat.

O got on his dress-up clothes (think Danny from Caddyshack at the yacht club) and did a great job charming the donors at Pennsylvania Hospital.

Oriole Magic

When one of your consistent starters gives up 8 runs including four HRs and your best hitter goes 0-6, an ugly loss would seem inevitable. But these Birds have some fight, coming back from 0-4, 4-8, and 8-9 deficits to win in the bottom of the 11th 10-9 against the dreaded Yankees. My assessment is that the Yankees are so busy being pissy about little things that they have lost team cohesiveness.

Update to the "that's what you really think of me?" file

Over the years, the image of yourself as pefect is constantly under assault. And sometimes you just have to give in. Despite what I thought were reasonable efforts to portray myself as otherwise, I might actually be cheap, self-righteous and not skilled in personal hygiene.

Yesterday, I told Julie over the phone that "I stole a shirt" from her. In this enterprise of one Owen in two houses (but MOSTLY in Julie's house, people! MOSTLY in Julie's house!!), tracking his dress-code-appropriate clothing can be maddening. So I might wash the one he wore Thurs and put it on him Friday, hope Friday's a dress-down day or, rarely, take an extra shirt from Julie's house.

But in this brief conversation, it became clear that Julie thought I had stolen one of her blouses and that I might be planning to wear it to work.

O Boy

You didn't miss a particulary good game but it was a lot of fun for the O's die-hards. The O's started the series in Yankee stadium scoring 7 runs (1 earned) in the top of first off Mike Mussina (former O's ace) thanks in part to some sloppy Yankee fielding. Two hundred million $$ doesn't go as far as it used to apparently. But the story of the night was Daniel Cabrera who lost 18 games last year and led the league in walks. After flashes of brilliance (I saw him one-hit the Yankees in '06) he seems to be realizing the potential we've been talking about for 5 seasons and should get some All-Star consideration if he keeps this up.

Speaking of which, don't forget to vote (pitchers excluded of course):

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/all_star/y2008/ballot_pop.html

No Oriole is a slam dunk, and perhaps only one is deserving (Brian Roberts) but that shouldn't stop you from voting early and often for the Black and Orange in this annual popularity contest.

Breakin' with the big kids

O had his first break-dancing class yesterday. We hitched a ride with Chloe way down into South Philly to the Teen Lounge of the rec center on 8th and Snyder. When we walked in, the music was already blaring and a dozen pre- and actual teens were doing break-dance warm-ups in perfect synchronization. O had no fear though -- he sat down in the stretching circle and introduced himself: O said his name was 'Owen' but his nickname was 'O.P.'. The teacher said "I'm gonna call you Big O," which seemed to make everyone happy.

Basically, O was already a few lessons behind and working with kids twice+ his age so it was hard to engage for the whole time. The teacher was really great though, trying to keep him interested and getting him his turns in the middle of the dance circle. By the end, O had a wacky twist and roll combo going that looked more like break dancing than the potty dance (yet with still some echoes of the latter) so I consider that an accomplishment. And man, look out South Philly because there is some serious break-dancing talent about to hit the streets. Some of those kids looked ready for prime time.

Today's sign that sports reporting ain't what it used to be

This was the last line in a brief espn.com story discussing Goose Gossage's displeasure with Joba Chamberlain's antics on the pitching mound:

"The elder Chamberlain [Joba's Dad] contracted polio when he was nine, and uses a motorized scooter."

The link between this fact and Joba's antics? Only the editors at espn.com know...

Silver lining thought for the day

I met a new patient today and we were talking about ordering a screening colonoscopy. It looks like he might get incarcerated for 6 months starting the end of the month. I told him we should wait then to schedule the test since we can't make it happen before then. He said, "Well, the test will probably be a lot easier after I'm done in prison," and then laughed heartily for about 30 seconds.

Quote of the Day

Recently called up Orioles SS/utility infielder Freddie Bynum who went 2-3 in last night's win:

"I can do anything and everything you want to do on a baseball field," Bynum said. "If you want me to run the catcher over I can run him over. If you want me to drop kick somebody I'll drop kick them. I am ready. I am ready to play ball."

Sunday Pics courtesy of Momo

have you hugged your frog lately?





Bustin' moves with the b boys




Always make sure children are accompanied by adult elbows