Saturday Morning

I slept late today. I didn’t get up until almost 8:00am. The temperature outside at that time? 31 degrees. Shit. Winter is here.

I did my morning exercise before breakfast today. Over the last couple of weeks I have been walking in place for a bit then running in place for a bit and alternating until I hit about 5k in simulated distance. Yesterday I just ran the whole thing About 32 minutes, I think. Today I did the same except I actually used the indoor run workout in the workout app instead of the indoor walk setting. I went a little over my distance goal so that I could get up to 700 calories. I ended up at four miles (simulated). My feet and my calves are hurting, but I feel like I accomplished something.

The plan for today is another small kitchen improvement project, a visit to my mother, and a visit to my father. Beyond that, I don’t know for sure. Guitar, I hope. Bond movies, I assume. I want to watch yesterday’s That Pedal Show but the topic is a Boss pedal and I don’t really like Boss pedals, generally speaking.

I just stumbled over the new clock app in the new MacOS. I opened the clock on my phone and it came up on the laptop as a handoff. Sweet. Now I can track my time between bites on my computer instead of my phone.

I started a Bond movie while doing my faux running today. A View to a Kill. The last Roger Moore. It’s better than I remembered it, but it’s not very good. Christopher Walken as the bad guy. Can he play the bad guy in every Bond movie going forward? That would be fun.

I haven’t done my pick for the World Series post yet. Game one was last night. No spoilers on my pick, but the Phillies won and I am happy. I’ll do the real post later today. The UMass Lowell Riverhawks won too, and the Bruins are off to their best start in 10000 years at 8-1-0 after another win last night. I failed to watch/listen to either game, but I followed the scores as best I could. It was the first time I didn’t listen to at least a few minutes of either team’s game. Oh well.

Last night Jen and I both threw our names into the hat to be beta testers for Jack Dorsey’s new social network, Bluesky Social. Over the last year or so this page has been the only sort of social networking service that I’ve really been using. Actually, that isn’t entirely accurate. I stopped using Facebook and I’ve nearly stopped using Twitter, but I still use Flickr and lately I’ve been using the Flickr Groups more than normal and all of that counts as a social network. I have no idea what Bluesky Social is going to entail, but if it lets me thumb my nose at Musk and Twitter a little then sign me up.

Okay, time to wrap this post up. Bond and Tanya Roberts just stole a fire engine and jumped a draw bridge and that’s not cartoonish at all, right?

World Series… Someday

The matchup for the World Series is set and I am both happy and sad.

First, the bad news. I told Jen we were going to go to San Diego to see a World Series game if the Padres won the pennant. They did not win the pennant. Can we still go to San Diego? Please? I friggin’ love that city. The Phillies beat them in five games (I think… it was five games, wasn’t it?).

Now the good news. THE YANKEES WERE SWEPT AND IT IS AWESOME!!!!! The Astros have not lost a game in the post-season. Let me say that again… The Astros have not lost a game in the post-season. They beat Seattle in three games and the Yankees in four. I picked them to win, but only because they are not the Yankees.

Now for the World Series. The Phillies vs the Astros. Who should I back? Who should I root for? On the one hand, I don’t particularly care for the Astros after they eliminated my Red Sox last year, though I am very happy for the way they crushed the Yankees. I could go either way, I guess. I have been a Phillies fan in the past, though I know nothing about this year’s team and I am pissed at them for cancelling our San Diego trip. I could go either way with them as well. Does the possibility of the Astros running the table make me want to back them? Naw, I’m going to be a Phillies fan. Screw the Astros and their trash can crap*.

The only question that remains… why the hell are they waiting until Friday to start the series? Is the goal to stretch it out until Christmas? What the hell? The series is set, let’s play the friggin’ games!

Go Phillies.

*Yes, I know the Red Sox did the trash can shit too. Leave me alone.

Major League Baseball Post Season Wrap Up

The Dodgers are World Series champions.

I have mixed feelings. First, I was hoping they would end up being the new breed of eternal losers. Now that the Red Sox (and the Cubs, I guess) have ended their futility streaks, it was time to replace them with a new team that consistently comes close but never wins… well. So much for that.

On the other hand, Mookie Betts. I want Mookie to win it over and over again. I want the Red Sox to constantly be reminded of how they screwed up by letting one of the best players in the game go. I don’t want the Dodgers to be a dynasty, but if that’s the price I have to pay to see Mookie be a dynasty then so be it.

Anyway, there is the coin flip predictions to wrap up. The coins picked seven out of 14 series leading up to the World Series. Exactly 50% correct. With an odd number of picks to make it was never going to finish off at 50%. It was either going to be one above or one below.

How’d it turn out?

One below. A final record of 7/8. The coin picked the (Devil) Rays and they lost. That leaves the final success rate at 47%. Good job, totally random coin flips. You did exactly what you were supposed to.

Major League Baseball World Series Prediction

It’s coin flip time again. The League Championships are over and the pennants have been won and there were lots of sick comebacks, both successful and otherwise.

So how did I do? First, let’s recap. The coin flip predictions in the first round were even at 4-4. The second round was a slaughter at 1-3. That’s 5-7 on the playoffs so far. Now let’s see the third round results, shall we?

Astros vs Rays: The coin picked the Rays, which was nice because the Astros are cheating pricks (so are my Red Sox, but let’s not talk about that today). Who won? The Rays won! The coin was right!

Braves vs Dodgers: The coin picked The Dodgers. The Dodgers should win it all, right? They are awesome. Still… they’ve blown it in the playoffs in each of the last 4000 years, so how’d they do this round? They didn’t blow it! They won! The coin was right again!

I was 2-0 in the Championship round, which puts the coins at… 7-7! Exactly 50% correct! Which is what a coin should do! How cool is that? Now there is an odd number of series in the post season, so it’s impossible to finish at 50/50, but whatever happens in the World Series, I will be as close to 50/50 has mathematically possible.

Let’s let the coin pick one more time. Heads for American League champ, tails for National League champ…..

Rays vs Dodgers: It’s Heads, babie! The Rays, whom I loathe, unfortunately, will bring the World Series to the American League East yet again, and the Dodgers will blow it in the big show once more!

There you have it, boys and girls. The Tampa Bay (devil) Rays will win the World Series!

The Royals Win

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Kansas City Royals for making me look smart. I picked them, they won. Unlike last year, I got it right!

That’s seven correct predictions out of nine series. I would say that’s a pretty good score for a red head who didn’t watch a whole lot of baseball this year. Maybe I should fill out a March Madness bracket (I won’t… unless that billion dollar thing is happening again).

Congratulations to the World Series Champion Kansas City Royals! May the Boston Red Sox make you look like garbage next season!

Go Bruins!

World Series Match Up

I was so wrong. After correctly picking the winner of both wild cards and all four division series, I got both league championship match ups wrong. I’m 6-2 now.

I predicted a Cubs vs Blue Jays World Series, but we have Mets vs Royals instead. Oh well, I guess I get to be a Royals fan again.

Go Royals.

Go Bruins.

They Lost

The Royals lost.

When I was rooting against them they didn’t even lose a single game.

When I was rooting for them they lost.

From now on the San Francisco Giants will be known as the San Francisco Jerkfaces.

Once again the Giants are your World Series Champions. Is it April again yet?

The Last Game

The Boston Red Sox reign as World Series Champions will officially end tonight when either the Royals or the Giants (it’ll be the Royals) win game seven of the 2014 World Series. Well… the game is on Fox, so we technically might not have a winner until tomorrow morning. What with the ridiculous length of each commercial break and all of the crap they add in because they don’t believe the game is enough to hold our interest and the games end up lasting four hours and then they wonder why the games are too long.

Anyway, as a Red Sox fan it will make me sad to see the title given to someone new. As a baseball fan it will make me sad to see a good series end, and even more sad to see the season come to an end.

Although… from a Red Sox fan’s point of view, this season sucked so bad. So very, very bad.

Bring on 2015!

Oh yeah, and Go Royals.

Wrapping Up My Post Season Predictions

I just realized I never wrapped up my stupid, pointless post season predictions. Well I was 4 out of 8 after the championship series’. That puts me at 5 out of 9, or 55.6% for the entire post season.

Who cares.

As long as the Red Sox win, I could really care less what else happens. I could have gone 3 out of 9 and been on top of the world, so long as the three wins were all Red Sox wins.

I also want to make one little point about sports fans in Boston. While we all live and die in the hopes of our teams winning, there really is only one thing we need from our pro athletes. That one thing is hard work.

John Lackey is the perfect example of our expectations. When he first came here he was a little out of shape. He had a rough time on the mound and he put up bad numbers. He made a lot of excuses, and became the butt of a lot of jokes. Why? Because he gave us the impression that he wasn’t working hard. He got his big money contract and (whether accurate or not) he looked like a guy who was coasting through the seasons. The chicken and beer fiasco in 2011 was just a big exclamation point on the end of the sentence. He wasn’t giving us his all, and therefore we ripped him mercilessly.

Last season doesn’t count. He was rehabbing from surgery and he fell out of the public eye, mostly. The ripping didn’t stop, but it should have. Most of us were hoping he would get shipped off to Los Angeles too, but when he didn’t we just stopped worrying about it and let him get back to his rehab.

Then this year, everything changed. He lost more games than he won. That should imply that the fans were justified in their earlier attitude, but somehow he managed to win us over. How? Because it was crystal clear that the guy came into this season with a new attitude and he was working his tail off. He was working hard. That’s what we want. That’s more important to us than a good win loss record. That’s more important to us than anything, and that is why he won us back. That is why as the season rolled on a Lackey start was something to look forward to. He was the tough luck guy who was getting the least run support on the staff, but damn it if he didn’t always pitch a good game and give his team a chance. Damn it if the guy didn’t work hard.

That’s why when the post season came around we were completely confident when he took the mound. That’s why when a chance to clinch a World Series title came we were thrilled that it was his turn in the rotation.

Hard work. That’s all we ever really want from these guys. This season, John Lackey finally gave us what we needed. Thank you, John!

Important Announcement

I have a very important announcement:

We live in a world where the Boston Red Sox are World Series Champions.

AGAIN!

My step daughter came out of her room in the eighth inning or so. She couldn’t sleep. She tried to wear herself out by reading, but she finished her book. So she came out into the living room to sit with me and my beloved wife. In the top of the ninth Jen woke up my step son to see if he wanted to watch the end of the game. He said he’d come out later and immediately fell back to sleep. He didn’t remember it this morning. Funny though, he woke up just after midnight and was convinced that it was 6:00am. I was still awake so I heard the whole thing. He went to the bathroom, then went out to the kitchen to get himself some breakfast, then back to his room to get dressed. I called out to him to go to bed. He said he looked at the clock and couldn’t understand why it said 12:00 and not 6:00. We’ve all been there, buddy! It happens to the best of us every now and then.

By the sound of it my fellow Bostonians were mostly well behaved. There were a few arrests and I’ve heard of one car getting flipped. I will never get that, but it happens. We in Boston are getting pretty accustomed to championships at this point so we know how to act like we’ve been there before.

The rumor is that the victory parade will be Saturday. We have plans early Saturday morning so unless it’s an afternoon celebration (pretty please?) we’ll miss it. That’s okay. I am so happy right now that I can’t even put it into words.

The Red Sox won the World Series.

1903
1912
1915
1916
1918
**then a looooooong drought**
2004
2007
2013

I still cannot believe it. Hell, I’m still stunned over 2004, never mind 2013!

Thank you, Boston Red Sox. Thank you again!