Thank Goodness We Can Always Find Divers
I realized the other day how wonderful it is that the broader diving community
has not only invented a flag but also felt the need to have it shrunk down and
stuck on all of their vehicles. Just last week a friend of mine drove into a
lake. In a panic I searched frantically for someone to rescue him. Thank
goodness I saw that little diving flag on the bumper of a passing car. I flagged
down the driver who immediately came to the rescue. Thanks Mr. Diving Flag
Inventor!
Mariner Report
Things keep getting better for the M's. We went 5/1 this week, which is great,
but it stinks to lose that 1 to Detroit. Closer Kazuhiro Sasaki went on the
disabled list. The Blues and I had suspected something was wrong just because of
his lack of effectiveness. It's nice to have a phenomenal bullpen so that you
can lose a guy like Sasaki and not have to worry. Jeff Nelson and Arthur Rhodes
should be more than sufficient. I've been very pleased with Dodger's cast-off
Giovanni Carrera so far. He's currently 1/0 with 2.05 ERA in 13.1 innings
pitched. I was astonished the other day when Mike Cameron hit a walk-off grand
slam against the Indians. I had gotten used to having very little faith in
Cameron and it was good to see him get a clutch hit. Cameron should be back in
the line up Tuesday after having the weekend off with a slightly strained groin.
The M's have a much tougher schedule this week as we hit the road for three
against the Yankees and three against the White Sox. We're 17/11 against the
Yankess over the past three years. The schedule doesn't get any better next
week; we have the Yanks and ChiSox again.
Mariner of the Week: John Olerud. The Mariner's Mr. Consistent hit .391 with an
insane .520 on base percentage. He also scored 5 runs and drove in 6. All this
along with his always stellar defense.
Odd Thoughts on MLB Week 4
I thought about jumping ahead and doing my baseball report yesterday, but it's
good that I waited for the action today. The Cardinals and Marlins played a
20-inning epic, which the Cards won 7 to 6; they played ten scoreless innings
after the 9th. Just two weeks after missing a start due to injury Phillies ace
Kevin Millwood got the win in a 1-0 game against the Giants - he threw a
no-hitter. Randy Johnson returned from the DL today and got his first win of the
season striking out 12 in only six innings. In other individual performance
news, Richie Sexson of the Brewers had a 3-homer day on Friday. Andy Pettite was
the first Yankee starter to get a loss when he lost to the Angels last
Wednesday. The Yankees still have the best record in the game (20/5) despite
loosing two this week. Finally, in an effort to show that Toronto is safe
despite the SARS outbreak, the Toronto Blue Jays' parent company is offering $1
dollar (Canadian) tickets for Tuesday's game against the Texas Rangers. ``We
encourage everyone to attend the game on Tuesday evening and show the world that
Toronto is safe, Toronto is dynamic and Toronto continues to be a world-class
city,'' company president Ted Rogers said. This offer came four days after the
World Health Organization warned against travel to Toronto because of the
outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome. Milestone Watch: Roger Clemens -
297 Wins, Rafael Palmeiro - 497 Home Runs.
The Solo Sock
Of life’s many troubles, I’ve known quite a few:
Bad plumbing and earaches and troubles with you,
But the saddest of all, when it’s all said and done,
Is to look for your socks and find only one.
Here’s a series of single socks stacked in a row.
Where in the world did their fellow socks go?
About missing socks, we have very few facts.
Some say cats steal them to use for backpacks,
Or desperate Norwegians willing to risk
Prison to steal socks to make lutefisk.
But the robbery theories just don’t hold water:
Why would they take one and not take the odder?
Now, some people lose socks, and though you may scoff,
Some go to shows and have their socks knocked off.
Some use a sock to mop up spilled gin with
And some people had just one sock to begin with.
But for most missing socks, or sock migration,
Sockologists have no quick explanation.
Socks are independent, studies have shown,
And most feel a need for some time alone.
Some socks are bitter from contact with feet;
Some, seeking holiness, go on retreat;
Some need adventure and cannot stay put;
Some socks feel useless and just underfoot.
But whatever the reason these socks lose control,
Each sock has feelings down deep in its sole.
If you wake in the night and hear creaking and scraping,
It’s the sound of a sock, bent on escaping.
The socks on the floor that you think the kids dropped?
They’re socks that went halfway, got tired, and stopped.
It might help if, every day,
As you don your socks, you take time to say:
“Thank you, dear socks, for a job that is thankless.
You comfort my feet from tiptoe to ankles,
Working in concert, a cotton duet,
Keeping them snug and absorbing the sweat,
And yet you smell springlike, a regular balm,
As in Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps,
And so I bless you with all of my heart
And pray that the two of you never shall part.
I love you, dear socks, you are socko to me,
The most perfect pair that I ever did see.
I thank you and bless you now. Vobiscum Pax.”
Then you bend down and put on your socks.
This may help, but you must accept
That half of all socks are too proud to be kept,
And, as with children, their leaving is ritual.
Half of all socks need to be individual.
- Garrison Keillor, We Are Still Married
News from PETA
I caught a radio interview yesterday with Dan Shannon, a spokesman for People
for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). I thought it was strange for him to
be on a sports talk station, but I listened anyway. It turns out that PETA has
sent letters to the NBA's Yao Ming and Amaure Stoudamire asking them to refuses
the NBA Rookie of the Year award should they receive it. The award is sponsored
by the American Dairy Association - you know, the "Got Milk?" people. The reason
for the request is to get higher profile people to speak out against the way
milk cows are treated by dairy farmers. Another argument as to why they should
refuse the award was that %75 of blacks (Stoudamire) and %90 of Asians (Ming)
are lactose intollerant. He even argued that milk and other dairy products were
not necessary for a healthy body/diet. All I can say is, "Got bone-density
issues?"
From the Strange Meat Files
Friday night I went to a restaurant called Bubba Luigi's. I'd been hearing about
the place for over a year but Friday was my first visit, and they really knocked
my socks off. The menu was an impressive array of Italian and Cajun cuisine.
They also had three specials including Camel. That's right, the hump-backed ship
of the desert Camel. Naturally I couldn't pass up the opportunity to have the
camel, and I must say it was fantastic. I'm not sure what particular cut it was,
although I suspect it was comparable to a beef tenderloin. It was cut into half
inch slices and cooked medium rare and covered with a Thai peanut sauce. It was
definitely red meat and it had a stronger flavor than beef, and it was
surprisingly tender considering it was so lean. I had a 10 to 12 oz. portion
without the slightest trace of fat. I highly recommend this place to everybody
but Duane. They have the bizarre meats on Thursday and sell the rest throughout
the weekend. Next weekend they're serving Yak, which the owner says is better
than the Camel. I know he's served Rattle Snake in the past along with more
common things like Elk, Bison, and Bear, aside from the Aligator, which is
always on the menu (this is Louisiana). Next time I go I'm going to ask him if
he can get Hippopotamus; I've never heard anything about Hippo, but it seems
like it would make a great meal.
Mariner Report
This week went much better than the first two with the M's posting a 5 and 2
mark that could have easily been 6 and 1 if Kazuhiro Sasaki had been able to
hold off the Angels Saturday night. Although Sasaki had 2 saves this week he
also had 2 blown saves. Despite his poor performance, the M's bullpen still has
the lowest ERA in the game. Here's how we stand now that we've wrapped up our
first run through our division rivals: 3/3 vs. Anaheim, 4/2 vs. Texas, 4/3 vs.
Oakland leaving us 11/8 on the season and 1 game ahead of the A's in 1st place.
The bats looked much better, although Ichiro is still not measuring up to
expectations. Now is our chance to establish ourselves as the best in the West.
Other than 2 series against the Yankees, we have a pretty easy schedule until
the middle of June, highlighted by next week's line up against Cleveland and
Detroit.
Mariner of the Week: Honorable mention last week turned into full honors this
week for Bret Boone. Boone batted .393 with 3 HRs and 7 RBI. Maybe 2001 wasn't a
fluke.
Odd Thoughts on MLB Week 3
The Tigers are worse than I initially imagined: they've opened the season 1 and
16 - ouch. Meanwhile the Yankees keep rolling, setting a record by having their
starters open the season 13 and 0, highlighted by Mike Mussina's 4 wins in 4
starts. In other Yankee news, one of their big acquisitions of the off-season,
Cuban defector Jose Contreras, has been sent to AAA Columbus. He's your average
$5 million a year minor leager. And what's with the White Sox's fans? After
attacking the Royals' first base coach Tom Gamboa last year, umpire Laz Diaz was
attacked by another White Sox fan in their series against Kansas City. One of
the attackers, Eric Dybas, apologized and said (I'm not making this up), "I
wanted to do something that would stick out a little more, but I never intended
for it to be like I was trying to inflict any danger on anybody." Good move,
buddy. You definitely stuck out a bit more, and you're going to make it tougher
for fans all over the country to get into the game without bag searches. While
Randy Johnson is now having some injury problems, Greg Maddux, Curt Schilling,
and Pedro Martinez all got their first wins of the season. Rest assured Johnson
will bounce back too. The Atlanta Braves, who started slowly, have now moved to
within 1 game of 1st place in the mediocre NL East, and more importantly the
Mariners finished the week in 1st place in the AL West. Milestone Watch: Roger
Clemens - 296 Wins, Rafael Palmeiro 495 Home Runs.
Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch
I've been working hard trying to get things taken care of at the house. It seems
that everytime I finish a project I have two more to add to the list. It's not
bad though. It beats putting in a lot of time working on a rental.
Only three more weeks until the due date. Everything seems to be going just
fine.
Softball, Flag Football, and Half-Court Basketball
We had our first AAPC softball practice last night and it went pretty well.
Earlier that day I went to the batting cage to take a few practice swings on the
slow-pitch machine. There was a Little League kid there who thought it was odd
that I was getting in the softball cage. I told him that when you're old you'll
be thankful for things like softball. That made me think about the sports we
love and how generally unatainable they are. You just can't duplicate most
sports the way they are played at higher/organized levels, mostly because we
just can't do it physically. We don't want to run up and down the basketball
court (we could but we'd be out of breath in about three minutes). We don't want
to get pounded by Bart in a game of tackle football. And we don't have the
catcher's equipment or the arm strength/ability to do reall baseball pitching.
But we do have lower impact games like those mentioned in the title, and I think
that's pretty good.
The Comfort Zone - Part 2
Part 1 of The Comfort Zone was written by Christin and can be found at
verbingnouns. In it she talks about moving and "being home" and the break in
periods required for feeling like you're at home. I have an almost identical
travel history, except that I have not lived in Nacogdoches, and totally hear
what she's saying about the roads in Texarkana and Moscow. I've been in the
greater Monroe area for almost three years now, and I hope I never miss the
roads in Monroe. I have a job where I drive about 100 miles a day in the rural
areas west of Monore. I like those roads. I didn't mind the roads in Ruston. But
I don't have the slightest of fond sentiments for Louisville Ave., US 165, 18th
St., all of Downtown Monroe, and even I-20 from Well Road to Millhaven. The road
planners for this town must have been on crack.
Odd Thoughts on MLB Week 2
The Royals finally lost last night, but how about that 9 -1 start. I'm still not
convinced they're for real (the Indians started 9 -1 last year and finished in
3rd place). Baseball in Puerto Rico has been a huge success. The Expos must
think it's great to see a full stadium cheering them on. On top of that, they
managed to sweep the Mets and still lead their division. Rafael Palmeiro inched
a bit closer to 500. I think his current count is 494. Schilling, Johnson, Pedro
- still winless. They'll come around though. In fact they'll probably still be
among the Cy Young contenders. Finally, Forbes reported on MLB salaries and, no
surprise, showewd the Yankess with the highest payroll in the game: $
152,749,814. That's a record. They also set a record for the greatest margin
between the highest and second highest payroll - 34 million (the Mets are second
with about 117 million). The Yankees had a profit margin of 16.1 million, which
was second. Who was the first? Seattle (23.3 million).
Mariner Report
Another slow, frustrating 3 and 3 week. 2001 ruined me for the Mariners. Back in
the summer of '01 I commented to Deacon Blues that it was great to wake up know
your team going to win that day. I was watching the M's Friday game against the
Rangers and the commentator said someting about a 2001 M's slogan that went,
"Two outs - so what." After we lost three in a row in the middile of the week I
felt like our opponents were saying, "No outs - so what." I'm trying hard not to
despair after two weeks, but the 2001 and even the 2002 squad (18-6 in April)
made you believe they were invincable during that first month and this year they
haven't. One more tough week - A's at home, Angels on the road. The pitching
hasn't been terrible, but the hitters are still yet to get going. Perhaps
winning these last two in Texas will give the guys a morale boost. As for the
A's series, we won't see Zito during the 4-game series, and that's something to
be thankful for. After this week, we've got a week with Cleveland and Detroit -
can you even wait?
Mariner of the Week: Jamie Moyer. Moyer, Edgar's ageless counterpart, went 1-0
in two starts giving up only 2 runs in 12 innings pitched. Honorable mentione to
Bret Boone and his 2-homer game last night.
Cuts of Steak
Short Loin: This is the most tender section of the cow, located toward the back
of the cow's mid-section. Four of the five big-name steaks come from this
section: strip, T-bone, porterhouse, tenderloin (filet). These steaks don't need
marinade, A-1, or any significant seasoning to be fantastic. When I grill these
cuts I only add salt, pepper and maybe just a touch of worcestshire sauce while
the meat is over the fire.
Rib: This is the second most tender portion of the cow and is on the front end
of the cow's mid-section. While it's not the most tender section, it is
considered by many to be the most flavorful. There are two steak cuts from this
section, the rib steak and my personal favorite and the fifth of the big five,
the rib eye. Like the group of steaks in the short loin, these steaks don't need
much outside help to be great.
Sirloin: Despite the descent down the tenderness chart, this is still a good
part of the cow located on the back side of the short loin section. The two cuts
from this section are the well-known top sirloin, and the tri-tip, which is more
like brisket than steak. The top sirloin is really an excellent cut. It usually
tender and doesn't need much help in the flavor department. The best part is
it's usually about half the cost of the previously mentioned cuts. I like to
have fancy steaks, but I'm not too good for some top sirloin.
Lower: The cuts from this section (lower, or belly, section) of the cow are
tougher, but definitely have their place. The front part of the belly is the
skirt steak, and the back is the flank steak. These cuts are commonly used for
fajitas and stir-fry. I usually season these cuts heavily, not because of poor
flavor but because the types of dishes I use them in calls for it.
The last two sections, Round (hip) and Chuck (shoulder) are much tougher cuts. I
generally would not use them as a steak sitting beside a baked potato. The cuts
from the round are the round itself, round eye, and round tip. The cuts from the
Chuck are blade, top blade, mock tender, round eye, and shoulder. These cuts
usually end up as ground beef, cube steak, and stew meat. Obviously their common
uses tell you that these cuts need more seasoning and tenderization than the
other cuts.
Robbie and I took a little trip to Sheridan, AR yesterday. We went to get his
tiller and several other yard implements from his in-laws. On the way we picked
up a Thrifty Nickle. Robbie asked me to read adds of interest to him. The short
of it is that he ended up buying a dog. A Black Lab: male, 9-weeks old. After an
hour of effort, we decided on a name: Charter. Can you guess the four-fold
meaning of Charter?
After we got the dog, we went into the Camden, AR Wal-Mart and got dog food and
a bowl. Robbie also bought some doggie snacks called Pup-eroni. They looked like
little beef sticks. We decided to give them a try ourselves. We each took a
bite. It smelled beefy and bacony, and the intial taste was pleasant. After
chewing for a moment though, we noticed that it was like a beef stick with saw
dust in it. Then the liver flavor took over. We commented that we would be happy
to have them if we were starving. Silence follwed for a few minutes, and the
liver flavor lingered. Fortunately we had some Reese's Pieces to clense the
palate. We didn't take another bite.
Steak Grading Facts
Under the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), inspectors oversee the
processing of all meat to insure sanitation and safety is maintained. The USDA
inspection process insures that the meat is safe and processed under sanitary
conditions but does not insure the taste and tenderness, qualities that are also
important to you in your meat purchasing. For taste and tenderness, the USDA
established a voluntary grading system to standardize the ranking of quality of
meats. Beef has the highest number of grades - 8, while only 3 of these grades
are of interest to most consumers.
Most people have heard of the prime grade. This is the grade of beef that you
see at steakhouse-type restaurants. The prime grade is awarded to a very small
(less than 2%) and select amount of meat from cattle raised specifically for
prime meat. Prime meat is tender with a high degree of marbling (small amounts
of fat evenly distributed through the muscle), fine texture and well flavored.
Prime beef is also dry-aged, a very expensive process. With prime meat being
quite expensive and with limited availability, consumers rarely even see this
grade of meat for sale.
The grade of beef just below prime is choice. Choice meat is much less
frequently seen today as most supermarkets have shifted to select meat. Choice
grade beef is well marbled and has good flavor and texture. Rather than being
dry-aged, choice beef will be wet-aged, a less expensive method of aging that
still results in the meat becoming more tender through aging.
Select grade beef has less marbling and less juiciness than prime or choice
beef. This is the grade of meat that most supermarkets carry--sometimes even in
their fancy meat service counter--so, pay careful attention to what you are
buying. With less marbling, there is a greater risk of dryness, if the meat is
overcooked. If you are careful with your cooking, you will end up with an
average steak or roast.
All the other grades are less frequently seen and include in descending order:
standard, commercial, utility, cutter, and canning. Most of the time, these
grades end up in canned soups, dog food, and of course hot dogs. Sometimes you
will see these other grades of meat in the supermarket. These grades will have
no marbling and a coarser texture. They can be a good choice of meat, on a
limited budget or for certain uses such as tenderized steaks and hamburger but
should be value priced. As with everything, you get what you pay for.
Mariner Report
Well, we went 3 and 3; not the kind of start I wanted, but we do have the
toughest division in the game. The bats have been a bit too quit overall
(although we did score 11 runs on Sunday). Unlike the last two years where the
M's got off to a hot start, I think it will take a bit longer for them to get
going this year. I wee can come out of the next two weeks with things pretty
even in the west, the whole situation will get better. We'll finally get the
joke-schedule the Yankees and Twins have had.
Mariner of the Week: Edgar Martinez. The ageless wonder hit .381 with 2 homers
and 6 RBIs. This was the M's best, but we need some hotter streaks than this.
Odd Thoughts on Baseball's 1st Week
We have one week of baseball under our belts, and I thought I'd make some short
obeservations about a few things I've noticed.
Who can believe the Royals and Pirates? I don't think it will last for KC, but
the Pirates are likely to be a real nuisance for the rest of the NL Central all
year long. Jeter got injured. Who's surprised? Griffey got injured. Who's
surprised? Who's surprised that the Red Sox bullpen has been a dismal failure?
In the vein of the Royals and Pirates, what about Tampa Bay? Their record
doesn't look great, but I doubt Boston or the Yanks will take them lightly for
the rest of the year. I'm happy Sosa got number 500 and Clemens has only 5 more
wins to get to 300. I hope he gets the chance to win #300 in Fenway. How about
no wins for Johnson, Schilling, and Pedro in the first week? At least Pedro
pitched well, though. And finally, although the 3rd game of the series got
rained out today, how about the Astros sweeping the Cardinals in St. Louis this
weekend?
With that in mind, here's some news for all you P.G. Wodehouse fans out there.
Overlook Press is now publishing a beautiful collection of Wodehouse works. They
have twelve titles available and four more coming out this summer. These are not
Penguin paperbacks; these are truly beautiful books. If you don't want them,
feel free to buy them for me.
This goes back to an old inside (but broad) joke. It's funny no matter what, but
I thought folks like Jon would really appreciate this quote from P.G. Wodehouse.
Bertie Wooster, refering to Jeeves said,
"He never fails. He wears a number fourteen hat, eats tons of fish, and and
moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform. See, here he comes, looking as
intelligent as dammit."
— Bertie Wooster in The Mating Season
I would really like to be able to put images on my page here, but I can't seem
to get it to work. When I click "Upload File" and find the image I want to
upload, I'm just not sure what to put in the "Path" blank. I have been putting
"images" in that blank, but I just end up with the broken image "X" when I'm
done. Am I doing something wrong?
According to military analysts, an invasion of Iraq by U.S. forces could cost
between $20 and $100 billion. The Pentagon announced that it would offset those
costs by referring to the war as the "Verizon Wireless/Pizza Hut War Against
Iraq."
—Tina Fey, Saturday Night Live's "Weekend Update"