Marty October 11th, 2008
It’s been a long time since I’ve gone to a show of any sort, let alone one at a bar. But when I heard that Grace Potter & the Nocturnals were coming to town, I immediately mentioned to Shari that I wanted to go. I got my newly-married cousins Erin and Chas interested and they grabbed tickets even before we did. Then I got my cousins Mark & Lisa and their daughter Megan interested in going, too - next thing I knew we were 7 strong (9 after friends of Erin & Chas joined us). And it was still almost 2 months away. Continue Reading »
Marty September 10th, 2008
After last night’s game, it’s evident that the Phillies need to do to Kyle Kendrick what they did to Brett Myers - send him to the minors to get his shit together. In his last 6 starts, Kendrick’s line:
21.6IP, 29R/29ER (5HR), 16BB/8SO, a 1-4 record and a mind-boggling 12.08 ERA. Charlie - get this guy out of the rotation before he kills your chances at the playoffs!
Marty September 8th, 2008
Metallica’s new album comes out at the end of this week, and I’m really not sure how I feel. I should be excited that they might be putting out some good music - but they have done so much damage to their musical reputation, and reputation in general, that it’s hard to by into all of their self-promoted hype (although it’s better than the endless nothing which is Guns n’ Roses next album). I want to believe, but can Metallica make a comeback? Continue Reading »
Marty September 2nd, 2008
It was a good weekend - especially since it was 3 days long. Shari and I figured that we would spend at least one day out on the road, and to avoid shore traffic, Sunday seemed the best choice. That being determined, I spent Saturday mowing the lawn, cleaning up the yard, cleaning and fixing the gutters, filling the feeders and some other basic duties around the house. Shari did her part by cleaning up the kitchen, installing new shelves under the sinks and washing the windows. By the time we were done, it felt like a full, satisfying day. We still had other stuff we wanted to get done on Monday - including going to Home Depot to get the materials to redo our door frames and baseboards, but we figured we would do that later. Continue Reading »
Marty August 26th, 2008
I have to say that the Olympics were a lot of fun to watch this time around, particularly with my family around during our ‘vacation’ (more on that later). The opening ceremonies will be difficult - if not impossible - to beat, although the closing ceremonies were far less impressive (Does Jimmy Page look about a half-step from death, or was it just me?).
But it was a very impressive Olympics overall — sure NBC focused almost exclusively on the U.S., when there were other great events going on, but I guess that’s to be expected. I had a little bit of Michael Phelps overkill, but there was no denying that his races were exciting and spectacles of human athletic achievement.
The judging in the gymnastics was … difficult to understand (yes, Shari got me to watch a lot of the women’s gymnastics events), but it was still breath-taking to see what they could do. And I watched a lot of volleyball and a smattering of other events when I could. I winced when the relays dropped the baton, sat wide-mouthed at the speed of other runners, and cheered when the men’s volleyball team overcame the tragedy of the murder of their coach’s mother-in-law to win gold.
It was the best of times and it will be well remembered.
Amusements
Marty August 9th, 2008
I have to say that I think that demotion was one of the best things to happen to Brett Myers. When he left the Phillies for AAA, his line:
17G, 4-9, 101.2 IP, 71 R, 66 ER, 88 K / 44 BB, 5.18 ERA
But since his return, he’s been doing a heck of a lot better. Since his return:
4G, 2-0, 25.2 IP, 6 R, 6 ER, 13K / 7 BB, 2.14 ERA
I’m not a fan of Manuel, but sometimes it really seems like he knows what he is doing. Now if he can just get the bats going again.
Update 8/25: And he keeps getting better. His stats since he came back:
7G, 4-1, 48.2IP, 9R, 9ER, 38K / 13MM, 1.68 ERA.
Marty July 24th, 2008
Well, we have another softball game today - and since we already have 1 loss in the playoffs, it could be our LAST one unless we come up big. We’re playing the #1 seed, and while they didn’t kill us the last time we played, they weren’t exactly in dire straits to beat us. And coming off the 18-2 drubbing we took in game 1, our confidence is a bit shaky. As a team, we aren’t hitting very well and although we’re playing decently in the field, if you aren’t scoring runs, you aren’t going to win. Continue Reading »
Marty July 22nd, 2008
Well, HOlympics V is over. This past Saturday, our annual celebration of sports athletic-like endeavors occurred, with 11 of us getting all-too-close to the top of that hill guys congregated at Bloser Arena (that is, my buddy Jim’s place) to compete, drink and talk a LOT of shit to and about each other. Like the four previous events, this one was full of more mouth than prowess, more beer than common sense and some truly spectacular displays of ‘recreational activities’ (c’mon … you can’t call darts a ’sport’, can you?). Continue Reading »
Marty July 15th, 2008
After our trip to Cape May, we decided to head to old standby Forsythe NWR in Brigantine to find some shorebirds. We had good success with the insects at Cape May, but not so much with the birds. So, we figured we could get all 3 at Forsythe although we would focus on the birds. Continue Reading »
Marty July 15th, 2008
Last year my wife and I spent a long weekend at Cape May to celebrate our 5th anniversary; this year, we couldn’t do awhile weekend but we wanted to continue the tradition. I wanted to get really early so that we could be there at sunrise; Shari wanted to get up just before sunrise and make it down there early-is in the morning. We compromised and did what she wanted. Continue Reading »
It’s been a long time since I’ve gone to a show of any sort, let alone one at a bar. But when I heard that Grace Potter & the Nocturnals were coming to town, I immediately mentioned to Shari that I wanted to go. I got my newly-married cousins Erin and Chas interested and they grabbed tickets even before we did. Then I got my cousins Mark & Lisa and their daughter Megan interested in going, too - next thing I knew we were 7 strong (9 after friends of Erin & Chas joined us). And it was still almost 2 months away. Continue Reading »
