O-pening Day

So the Bosox-A's already played 2 in Japan and the Nats opened their new park with a thrilling bottom of the ninth win last night but 2008 mlb really gets underway today at The Yard with the O's facing the Rays at 3:05.

There have been some pretty dire pronouncements about Year I of the O's official rebuilding phase (reminds me of Billy Packer yesterday during Texas-Memphis: "I have a pronouncement....Texas cannot win this game unless they stay on the perimeter." Billy, you take yourself way too seriously. Relax, it's amateur sports). I don't buy it. I think the offense will perhaps be average and the pitching somewhere around a 5.00 ERA leaving us with 70 wins, or 1 more than last season for those of you scoring at home. I think Markakis-Jones in right and center will be 2/3rds of the AL's best outfield in 2009 (pending a savvy free agent pick-up next off season). As much as I hate to say it, Brian Roberts needs to get traded at this point since the deal-in-evolution is taking up way too much energy.

leaning on houses

If you come home and find someone leaning on your house for no good reason, do you say something? My feeling is 'yes'. People in the 'burbs probably don't struggle with this issue because someone leaning on their house has come up into the property and the violation is clear. I feel like having no extra-home property makes it even more imperative that people not lean on my house since otherwise, there is no boundary at all for them to just fall right into the living room.

I tried to solve this yesterday by making enough noise locking my bike that the person had a chance to step away casually, which of course he didn't, leading to the awkward (but effective) "Dude, get off my house" conversation.

What Happened in Vegas

It was a great trip ... We had amazing sunshine and an effortless intermingling of the East Coast, West Coast and Outer Space (Dan) posses. We ate some good food, didn't gamble and partook in various uniquely Vegasian entertainments. Pic(s) to follow.

Philly Battleground

O got to go to his first political rally last week. He put in a few 'Hill-a-ry' chants but got a little cranky towards the end. Here's a video at Temple's gym. Look for me next to a couple union guys. Apparently Colbert Report will be in Philly 4/14-17 but tix are sold out.
http://hillaryclinton.com/video/148.aspx

Practical advice...

If you're getting recurrent deep MRSA abscesses, don't forget to treat your cats:

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/reprint/358/11/1200.pdf

O updates...

Sorry no pics to share but I'll get some soon.

I finally gave Owen his birthday keyboard and we've had a couple jam sessions in the basement. He even brought his microphone down for vocals.

He's in the Fleisher art school on Saturday mornings thanks to Mom's effort:
http://www.fleisher.org/

We now watch the Simpsons together almost every time he's here, which warms my heart of course. Today, we added America's Funniest Videos to the must-see tv father/son line-up. O kept saying 'I can't believe this is all real!' The funniest part is that for the standard crotch shots he always says the person got hit 'in the stomach!' and I say 'I think he got it in the penis!' because that's what O can relate to. I originally tried referring to the victim's 'testicles' but O had no reaction. Apparently, when you're six, you haven't quite learned to live with that fear (no, not the fear of hearing your dad say 'testicles').


Steve and other docs out there... this blog packs a lot of info (of course without the breadth and wisdom of Cocanuts):

http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/

More birthday excitement

You might need to right click on the pic to enlarge it so you can get a better feel for the splendor of the dinosaur cake complete with a river and flowering miniature palm trees. Please also notice that Owen is holding ten spoons to make sure that he samples each of the cake's regions. Look how placid Lucas is taking in the moment (right).