Update

Yes, it's been a little while since I posted anything for many reasons. 1st, because I didn't have anything interesting to say. Do I ever?! 2nd, I do most of my writing at work since it's SO slow here, but as of late, I've been completely sucked into Stephen King's Dark Tower series! It all started so innocently a few summers ago. A friend coming to LA had "The Gunslinger", finished it during the trip, knew I was a Stephen King fan and left it for me. (I believe I'm remembering that correctly). I mostly remember reading it by the pool in my old apartment on the verge of the San Fernando Valley in the summer. It was freakin' hot and I couldn't get into the story all that much. Some parts were good, but mostly I thought it was dry. I mean I should have related to the guy - he was wandering across the desert - I was baking in the southern ca sun. . .! Anyways, I eventually finish it and think maybe someday down the road, I'll get the rest of the series, not putting too much thought into it. Flash forward a few years later. The Otter is visiting my place for one of the first times and is doing the routine check, looks at my bookshelf and notices "The Gunslinger" sitting there all by itself (with no others in the series). We have a brief conversation about it, and he says he has the rest of the series if I want to read them. Eh, I'm not too eager, but a few months later he's giving me the 2nd one to read. I'm sort of dreading it. It summarizes "The Gunslinger" in the beginning and I think "Hey, that sounds like it would have been a good book"! By then it was starting into the summer of 2005 and I'm reading "The Drawing of the Three". It's so darn good, but I wasn't taking too much time to read, so it drags on a little past summer. The 2nd one gave me faith for the series, so I wanted to eventually borrow the rest from the Otter, but my mound of reading was high, it was going to be awhile. Flash to present summer. I finally get caught up with my other readings, thanks to a boss who gives me minimal work and lets me bring books to work! I quickly read the 3rd and 4th books in a few weeks time. I was wondering if I was going to read them all at once, or space them out, maybe finishing the last one in the summer of 2010, but the 3rd one abruptly ends, so I have to continue. Luckily I didn't read them right when they came out, or I would have been waiting 7 years for the 4th one! "Wizard and Glass" was SO good! I mean last week at work, I lost track of time and ending up staying late because of that story (I didn't take the overtime for it - I'm an honest person)! I finished the 4th one on Friday and started the 5th one this morning. The first few pages were tough, then I got distracted by the wonderful internet and eventually blogging. Roland or Susannah or Eddie are not in the first few pages, so that bummed me out. But then again, they were not in the first few pages of the back story in the 4th book, and that bummer me out, but it turned out to be such an awesome story. I just need to be more optimistic about this 5th one because before long, this book will be the equivalent of Roland's Tower and nothing will stand in the way of me reading!! Haa Haa (evil laugh)! :)

Weekend Follow Up

Okay, so if you follow baseball and saw the Phillies-Giants game on Friday, I went 50% on my predictions. I actually saw Barry Bonds play! I was happy about that, and thought it might have been an omen that things were going to change. I mean, not only did he play, he stole a base and made a great outfield catch! I was even in the concession area one time he came to bat, but I wasn't lucky enough to catch a HR ball. :( I'm not like other Philly fans - I actually respect the guy. Hitting seven hundred and some home runs is still a feat. If I hold any grudges against him, it's for leaving the Pirates. I was happy and nervous when the Phillies took the lead early in the game. Then thanks to a couple of fielding miscues, the Giants regained the lead and ended up winning. I'm not too surprised, but it's getting frustrating! They ended up taking the series from the Giants winning 2 out of 3, but what game was I at - the only one in the series they lost! Someone pointed out that I'm not a jinx because last year after I saw them lose, they went on a 7 game winning streak. So far this year it's a 2 game wining streak, but they go to San Diego tonight and that is going to be a tough battle. Come on Phils!!!!

Concert tip: If you ever have the opportunity to go see Blues Traveler - GO SEE THEM!! I saw them on Sunday and they were amazing! The otter is a big fan, and I like them, but it's not like I own a lot of their CD's, but their show was so full of energy. I wanted to stand and "dance" the whole show. (I have dance in quotes because I think what I do doesn't quite qualify as dancing)! Unfortunately, there were some old cranks in the audience that sat the whole time and were telling people to sit down. It's an energetic concert - let people have fun! I mean Blues Traveler only stopped because the venue shut them down! Seriously, some noise ordinance or something. It was at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga, beautiful place. And luckily thanks to the otter I'm going back next month!!! Yeah!!!!!!! :)

Sports Betters

Oh, and I'm going to see the Phillies-Giants here in San Fran on Friday! WOOO HOO!!
2 almost sure bets:

1st: Barry Bonds will not play. He hasn't played during any of the San Fran games I've been to.

2nd: Phillies will lose. I don't mean to be a downer, but I've been going to see Phillies games since I was about 10. I saw them at the old Vet, the new Citizens Bank Park, Dodger stadium. . .They didn't win once!!!! Not ONCE!! I told myself last year if I have a game 7 ticket to see the Phillies, I wouldn't go. Seriously. Time to break that streak!

All Star Game

Okay, so the American League won the All-Star game again. And a Southern CA NL pitcher blew a save opportunity again. Remember a few years ago when the Dodger's Gagne was going on that streak of saves? Well, he missed one in that time and it was the All Star Game! Part of me was glad the the game went to the bottom of the 9th, I wanted to see Ryan Howard bat. Unfortunately, he didn't smack that game winning homer like I imagined he would. drat! I hated that the Mets were responsible for all the NL runs. And those darn Fox announcers seemed to snub the phillies. Chase Utley made a nice catch, but unfortunately it was right after Vladimir Guerrero smacked a homer, so the announcers barely acknowledged it. Then Utley got a single, but that happened right after Wright smacked a homer, so they barely acknowledged it. Poor Utley was batting 7th. If he would have been 6th and Wright was 7th - it could have had a better outcome.
Thome trade. . . Yeah or nay? During the HR derby the announcers said it worked out for both teams - the sox needed a power hitter and the phillies couldn't have kept Howard in the minors performing the way he was, and got Rowland too. When is the last time Thome put his face at risk to make a catch?! The biased Fox announcers basically said only the White Sox benefited, completely forgetting about Howard. The otter thought Fox is a west coast biased station, but just remember they talked about the Mets enough, so that can't be it.
And Kudos to Tom Gordon for pitching a scoreless inning and for making me feel young!

More baseball venting:
Stadium names. In Pittsburgh when PNC bought the naming rights to the new ballpark, they thought about naming it Roberto Clemente Park. Obviously, they named it PNC Park and named a street after Roberto Clemente. That's sad. I lived in Pittsburgh. Everyone and their dog knows PNC - they don't need the name recognition. And are you going to switch your bank just because there is a PNC Park?? If you are, stop reading and never visit this site again! Or better yet, send me your rationale. I'd like to know!

another bad example: "On April 7, 1999, Houston-based Enron Corporation agreed to pay more than $100 million over 30 years to name the stadium Enron Field. However, on December 2, 2001 Enron became the largest corporation in history to declare bankruptcy. On February 27, 2002, the Astros made an agreement with Enron to buy back the naming rights. After two full seasons of being called Enron Field, the home of the Houston Astros then became temporarily know as Astros Field. On June 5, 2002, the Astros announced that the Minute Maid Company, a locally-based subsidiary of the Coca-Cola Company since 1960, will pay an estimated $170 million for a 28-year naming rights deal."
need I say more?

same subject, different sport: The former Fleet center in Boston. People in Boston knew it was named by Fleet Bank, others did not and you ended up with some smirks, and chuckles. . .

It's about 2:00 p.m. on a Thursday and I should feel bad about taking the time out of my day to write this, but I do not. You know why? I have nothing to do work-wise!! nada! You have no idea how many books I've finished at this job. I shouldn't complain, but sometimes I just want to be busy so the day goes by fast and some days I just feel the brain cells flowing out. . .

Link and a bit about the Home Run Derby

Funny little web comic, sort of applicable to first post:

http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=2099


I'm sure some All Star game and HR derby commentary will follow! WOOO HOO RYAN HOWARD!!! At least the Phillies can win something! (in poor taste I know). Let's just hope the Bobby Abreu slump from last year doesn't affect Howard. Interesting, but sad fact from Sports Illustrated:

18 - Home runs hit by the Phillies Bobby Abreu before the All-Star break last year. . .

14 - Home runs, in 145 games by Abreu since the Home Run Derby.

and btw, I believe it was 24 home runs he hit last year in the first round of that derby!
Come on' Bobby, I want to like you. . .

Am I a trendy wannabe?

This is a question I was pondering during my recent job search. The job I really wanted at the time was for a trendy home store and it just got me thinking. Plus when I was in college trying to decide where to go next, a former friend said it to me, (btw, where is she now - SEATTLE)! I sit at work and listen to my iPod and read books in which a lot have turned to movies. Although, I don't think the music on my iPod is trendy - it includes a variety from Neil Diamond to Pantera and everything in between. I go home in my not so trendy car that I want to trade in. I play my PSP, sometimes watch Friends or Sex and the City repeats and watch the O.C and Smallville on Thursday nights! (I don't admit to many people about the O.C., but it's addicting and maybe a part of me does miss living in southern cali). I know my current wardrobe isn't trendy, but I do wish I had more style. Now I'm wondering if Blogs are trendy. I have asked people how mutual acquaintances or even how my cousin is doing and what response do I get- a Blog link!

Me at work:
thanks to the super talented otter for the sketch!

why me?

Okay, so i'm trying out this blog thing. Not sure how good i'll actually be at keeping it up. Maybe i can use it as a sounding board for those editorials / compliant letters i've been wanting to write (or maybe elaborate on the ones i did).

why Philly Piggy? well, why not? Actually, i'm from eastern PA and Philly Piggy sounds much better then Bethlehem Piggy and I do like my philly sports teams. One of these years they will end this drought and win a championship. It would be awesome if the Mets go on a major losing streak and the Phillies make all there talent work at the same time for the 2nd half of the season. Is that too much to ask for? uh. . .well. . .let's go eagles!

And I do adore those pigs! I don't like when cops are called pigs - it's an insult to the pig! They are a lot smarter then most people give them credit (pigs, not cops!). See for yourself:

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/pigs/smart.html

it's online, it must be true! I'm having an ethical dilemma since pork and ham are so tasty! luckily, there are some alternatives. turkey dogs or even better veggie dogs! why can't i like cows - i don't really like beef!


and a big thanks to the Otter for introducing me to this site! :)