The Boston Red Sox will win the American League East...or the New York Yankees...or the Tampa Bay Devil Rays...or even the Baltimore Orioles.
Anyone but the Toronto Blue Jays.
After witnessing the Boston Red Sox launch home run after home run off Toronto's Brett Cecil in a six-run fifth inning tonight in Fenway Park, I realized something, something I wish I could say wasn't true. The Toronto Blue Jays will not win the Division, no matter how well their season began, no matter how many injuries they managed to overcome with smoke and mirrors, grit and determination.
Why? Because no matter how good they may look against the White Sox, the Detroit Tigers or the Orioles, losing series (what exactly is the plural of series?) to the Yankees (which they did) and the Red Sox (which a loss last night and an 8-0 deficit so far tonight assures) means that it's just a matter of time before they relinquish first place and start heading back to the third place spot that they've resided in since 1993. (Wait, they finished last a couple of times, didn't they? Okay, so the third place has been their best-case scenario from the very moment Joe Carter's home run landed in the Blue Jays bullpen on October 23rd, 1993.)
I guess the big question is, how badly is Roy Halladay going to sully his reputation on his way out of Toronto? Will he stick around until free agency or will he start whining to the media about his disgust with the team, the city, the fans, the owners, the country, and demand a trade to "a contender"? I mean, I love Halladay as much as the next guy, but then I loved Clemens and Alomar back in the day, and they both turned their backs on us. (And don't get me started on David Wells.)
Oh well...thanks Jays, for giving us a few weeks to ponder the possibilities.
(And I love the fact that TSN2 is giving us more access to Jays games, but it sure shows the difference between the Jays commentators and Boston's crew, especially colour commentator Dennis Eckersley. Toronto's duo is pretty even-keeled, while Eckersley was openly playing the "homer" role to the point I was like "Okay, Boston's winning. You're happy about that. We get it! Now at least try and showcase some decorum!" Jesse Ventura was less biased.)
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I didn't think I would enjoy "the Spanish Bow" by Andromeda Romano-Lax as much as I did. I have just a few pages left (I may finish it up later tonight and start on "If By Sea: the Forging of the American Navy - From the Revolution to the War of 1812" by George C. Daughan.)
The Spanish Bow tells the story of one young man's journey from a small Spanish village to international fame as a Cellist (is that a word?) during the turbulent years of the early 20th century. The hero, Feliu, rubs shoulders with kings and queens (but doesn't complete the Dusty Rhodes motif by sleeping in alleys and dining on pork and beans). Joining with his childhood idol, he turns from the student to, if not teacher, then almost a guardian, of sorts. As political fever boils over during the World Wars and the Spanish Civil War, Feliu tries to believe his music will set him apart from the turmoil. Meanwhile, he meets a damaged young violinist with whose affections he and his mentor, Al-Cerraz, vie for.
It is quite easy to get caught up in the narrative that Romano-Lax delivers, and with the characters that she creates. In fact, so intriguing are those characters, that I will be reading, with great interest, her afterward to see just what is fiction and what is fact. Feliu, who goes from naive young boy to experienced man with hints of bitterness seeping through, is especially interesting. Romano-Lax certainly created a fine, if imperfect, protagonist, through whose eyes we see a most interesting time period, one of great change in Spain.
Wow! I think I just wrote the bulk of my review for Shelf Life (although I'll probably take out the Dusty Rhodes reference). I definitely give it 4 1/2 bookmarks (out of a possible five).
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So I've decided. Barring a major catastrophy, on Friday night, I'm taking the bus from work (or the closest bus to GDLS-C) out to White Oaks and taking in a showing of Terminator: Salvation.
If anyone is up for seeing the movie with me, just show up to the Wellington 8 for the early showing. I might be hanging around White Oaks prior, so if you see me, flag me down.
I started watching the original Terminator last Saturday night but, having seen in already (although way back in the summer of 1991) and having just read most of the script on-line, I kinda knew what was going to happen.
I read a pretty lackluster review of the movie in today's London Free Press, but that's not going to deter me from going to see it. I find I have a taste for apocolyptic movies, although I tend to enjoy the opening scenes where I know what's coming but the people on the screen don't. I don't know what that says about my personality, but I'm going to assume that it's probably not a positive thing. Best not to dwell on it too long.
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Speaking of the Apocolypse, I had this strange dream last night. (No, not that kind of dream!) I dreamt that myself and someone else (a female someone else but not sure who she was or who she was supposed to represent) were standing on a bridge, with a machine gun turret (like we were set up to guard the bridge from enemy aircraft.) I was looking through the view-finder and the 1979-style dot graphics, wondering how I was supposed to figure out which were enemy planes and what were friendly planes.) A short while later, we say these streaks in the sky heading towards a city on the horizon and realized, with some horror, they were nuclear missiles, about to strike the city.
After I woke up this morning, I began to think about the dream and decided it would make for a good short story. I'm going to tell it from the vantage point of my female comrade and it will basically be the story of these two soldiers on a forgotten outpost (they're basically banished there) who watch and (over the radio) listen to their world being wiped out in a nuclear war.
Once it's finished, I might publish it here.
Happy birthday, Queen Vicky. I'm celebrating by hanging out in home-town Glencoe, working on my infamous To Do List. Considering I had something like 50 (but that's several large projects broken down) when I came home on Friday night, the fact that I'm down to 25 some 24 hours later isn't too bad.
As much as I think I might, if I really put my mind to it, get everything done if I worked non-stop (or close to non-stop) over the weekend, I think I might take a break tomorrow and make it a movie day. I have a couple of TVs on DVDs I think I might check out (Generation Kill, Undeclared or the Office - Season 2 - yeah again!!!!).
I went to see Star Trek (No Subtitle Here?) this past week. I went with Sean and Jim from work. I'm not a huge Star Trek fan (as in I've watched one or two episodes of the show, and a couple of the movies) but I really enjoyed the movie. I'd definitely give it four stars, and if they decided to make a series based on this movie, I'd probably watch it.
This past week was the season finale of the Office, and the 100th episode. For such a landmark show, they didn't really bring it. I think they provided closure for the Michael and Holly storyline, even if Michael doesn't realize it. The company picnic was fun, much like the Disco Lounge was the episode before, especially with the Scranton Branch banding together to battle the other branches in volleyball. I loved Pam's accent when she revealed she "went to volley ball camp most summahs!"
And I understand that they revealed that Pam was pregnant (which I semi-called when the nurse asked her if she was pregnant) which I suppose counts as the big season cliff-hanger, but it would have been nice if they could have given the other characters a little something to go on, especially in this season, in which we’ve seen less Pam and Jim and more of what we would have called on Gilligan’s Island “and the rest”. We got hints of reconciliation between Angela and Dwight, a nod to Andy wanting to start something with “the new Kelly” but both of those were minor and the latter is really not something that will make anyone tune in next season for.
As a mid-season episode “Company Picnic” was, like “Cafe Disco” a fun episode, but not “Season Finale/100th Episode” worthy. But having said that, it might show up ranked fairly high in my All-Time Favourite Episodes list. (Which I need to do come next September when the DVD of Season 5 comes out.)
Nice surprise tonight while watching the introductions to the NASCAR All-Star Race. When they announced the Guest Race Director, the Theme to 2001 starts up (I know there’s a fancy name for it but...) and I’m joking “Hey it’s Ric Flair!” and sure enough, they announce that it’s the 16-time World Heavyweight Champion “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair.
Ironically, one of his first duties as Guest Race Director was to announce the winner of the Fan Vote. I was going to mark out heavily if the voting had picked Bill Elliot (who I made sure to vote for). Bill Elliot and Ric Flair standing together??? How awesome would that have been? Instead the voters picks Joey Logano, who drives the #20 Home Depot car formerly run by Tony Stewart. (Oh well, maybe Bill and Ric were hanging out backstage or something.)
I watched the first half of the original Terminator tonight, but I got bored with it and came back to blog. I will say that, if at all possible, I'll be in a theatre somewhere in London next weekend to see Terminator: Salvation.
So, Swine Flu is still here (or whatever random collection of letters and numbers they've tossed together). We've already had two e-mails at work regarding it, one from our local Health and Safety committee and one from GDLS Corporate. What makes for interesting reading is clicking on the links they sent along.
While the Canadian Health officials website and the WHO (What does Pete Townsend have to do with this? Oh...It stands for World Health Organization, never mind) were basically saying "here's the situation. It's changing rapidly. Here are the symptoms and what you can do to protect yourself", the US's Center for Disease Control is practically calling for the end of the world.
"Very few people will be immune to this disease... there will be more hospitalizations and fatalities in the days and weeks to come". It even comes with a handy scorecard of the number of cases in each state (and New York City) for those who want to play along at home.
So, before the inevitable Armeggedon comes, I'll just give you a brief update on life on McKellar.
First of all, it may not be life on McKellar for too much longer. No, this isn't a joke about Swine Flu. As some of you may know, we have our house up for sale, although save for a showing a couple of days after putting it on the market, there hasn't been too much action. Still, one never knows what tomorrow may bring.
Actually, my Dad and I might be going to the War of 1812 Reenactment at Longwoods Conservation Area just outside Delaware. We went a couple of years ago and I got some great photos so I'm hoping to repeat that tomorrow. It will depend on the weather, of course.
I'm reading a couple of books. (Hope to be doing more of that -reading- I mean.):
The Spanish Bow by Andromeda Romano-Lax. I was suprised at how quickly this book drew me in. It's about a (to date) young boy who learns to play the cello. Eventually, I must assume he becomes a famous musician as the early part of the 20th century plays itself out.
Contact Charlie: The Canadian Army, the Taliban and the Battle that Saved Afghanistan by Chris Wattie. I found this book at the Glencoe Public Library and decided to give it a read, since it's about the Canadian Army in Afghanistan. Of course, the fact it includes a lot of references to the LAV IIIs the Canadians use, and even mention GDLS in London, Ontario by name, is pretty cool. (Of course, they actually mis-name us, since we're GDLS-C, GDLS is in Sterling Heights, Michigan.)
The Jays are 3-3 in the 10th against the Orioles.
I'm actually getting a few things done today. Started the day with 30 things on my To-Do list and am down to 18, although I have come up with a few more things to add to that list. I figure if I keep working away, I should have it down to maybe 10-12 items left for tomorrow. (Since one of those items is to upload pics from the reenactment, I guess there's at least a couple of items that will have to wait until tomorrow.)
One thing I did do was to update the main page of my website. Nothing fancy, just links to other sites, so check it out at www.geocities.com/docmilner
JM
