Memorial Day

A few friends came over on Monday and we grilled out. I had the first steak I've had in a couple of years. It was delicious. The highlight of the day for me was playing croquet with Wendell and Brigham. I used to love playing croquet during formative years with my Dad and Grandmother. We used to have some pretty spirited games. We had a few spirited games Monday also. I hope it's something we do now and then. I don't want this croquet set I bought to be a household item I only use once and then forget about. I was worried that would happen with my golf clubs and I've kept up with that so maybe croquet will work out as well.

Here's a shot of me and Brigham during one of our matches.

It makes me sad

I see that Barry Bonds passed Babe Ruth on the all-time home run list. When Hank Aaron did this I was too young to really appreciate his achievement. As a follower of baseball I read more about the history of than watch and follow the current game. I think I understand the statistics enough to know that someone passing Babe Ruth in total home runs should be one of the great sports stories of my life. But, due to baseball's apathy towards steroids (owners and players and reporters), I just don't care.

I've seen some quotes from current players saying that, no matter what, you have to appreciate what Barry has accomplished. The game has always been bigger than the players and owners, that is what makes baseball so endearing. It's a tragedy that the game wasn't bigger than steroids.

don't watch!

Since I've mentioned racing on here more than a few times you might be considering watching some of the race Sunday night. If you have not watched a race and are curios please do not watch the race Sunday. First of all, it's the longest race they run which makes it a bad race to watch unless you are really into the sport. Second, NASCAR seems to be doing everything they can to make the race real long. A new surface, hard tires, and smaller fuel cells are going to make Sunday's race even more of a marathon. I'm really afraid we are going to see a few bad crashes like the one Kahne and Martin got into when there is side by side racing.

I may not even watch it myself after reading this. Humpy and his guys, NASCAR and Goodyear need to unscrew Lowe's Motor Speedway and do it right away. Charlotte is the best track they got, why mess with it?

Wonder no more

Just the other day someone asked me what soldiers in the field during World War I used for urinals. This is what I found to answer that quesion.

Middle of the week

It's the middle of the week and you can't help wonder why the recovery of that horse with the broken leg is being covered with an enthusiasm usually given people who are screwing Tom Cruise. Is this horse screwing Tom Cruise? Is this horse a follower of L. Ron Hubbard? I guess when your sperm is worth more than mercury whether or not you will coninue living is a big story.

I went by Borders today to check out their new gizmo that allows you to pick and choose songs to burn to a CD. The cost was around 8 bucks for seven songs and ninety nine cents per song after that. It's not a bad idea but the interface is clunky and the screen is too sensitive to touch and the audio snippets they offer of the songs are lo-fi. Offering low quality audio samples when you are trying to sell audio seems self defeating to me. Maybe they are worried that if they offer quality audio samples someone might bring a recording device with them and then bootleg high-quality thirty second samples of Black Sabbath songs. Or it could be bandwidth. All I know is if you have ten songs you know you want then it might be a valuable tool but if you feel like browsing then do it at home.

Sleazier and sleazier

Prosecuting reporters for reporting on the administration's wrongdoings? Ah, what can you expect from the sleaze ball that rationalized torture?

I see another enlisted man is being prosecuted for prisoner torture. When are people like Gonzalez going to answer for their role in bringing back torture?

The Allstar race

As usual, last night I watched the NASCAR all-star race. It used to be called The Winston and now it's called something else much longer. Every year this once-exciting race just gets harder and harder to watch. It's become a wreck fest with interminable delays between the segments. It's just not fun anymore. The race consists of three segments and after the first segment the friggin' stinkin' Red Hot Chili Peppers played a song. Not only that, in a race that is short and brings out aggressiveness in the drivers they used a hard tire that seems designed to best serve long green-flag runs. Like restrictor plate racing, it's almost like NASCAR intentionally designed this race to have a big wreck. I guess aggressive driving and an inverted field wasn't a good enough guarantee, NASCAR made sure they got "the big one" with an inappropriate tire. I don't know if I am going to even bother next year. Last night was the second race in a row at Charlotte that sucked.

If it hadn't been for Robby Gordon driving in the open I might have fallen asleep before the end. His blatant disregard for his, or anyone else's, race car was truly a sight to behold. Three wide in turn one? Let's give it a shot. I was half expecting him to get his right side tires up on the wall and pass like he was Tom Cruise in "Days of Thunder."

It really is time to change the nature of this race and I have the perfect idea. I think they should leave Charlotte and take the race to Bristol. They should then completely change the format. They should run a series of ten to twenty lap shoot-outs and invite everybody: Busch drivers, Craftsman Truck drivers and a few regional champs to duke it out with the big guys. You could do it like the U.S. Open, if you have success at a high enough level then you can bring a car and test your mettle with the best. Each heat would have one or two Cup drivers and they would be on the pole, everyone else behind them would scramble for the last transfer spot or two. Heck, you could do this over two nights. It would be huge and could attract race car drivers from all over the country like the Daytona 500 used to. Just imagine a two night stock car shoot out championship at the coolest race track in the world? Surely there would be a Cinderella or two and people go crazy for those kind of competitors. I really should be in charge.

He can't wait to meet god

I've always been fascinated by Evel Knieval.

Rainbows at the library

I went downstairs to buy a soda in the breakroom about 7:45 tonight. When I got back upstairs the downpour from earlier was now a steady rain. Looking out the windows behind the reference desk there was no rain, just dark steady-moving clouds. Sitting at the reference desk and looking across, out the windows opposite, I could see a golden rain lit by the sunset. I thought that there must be a rainbow in these conditions. I looked back out the windows behind the reference desk and, sure enough, a half rainbow arcing out of the trees and to the left out of sight. It's nice to have windows at work.

The porpoise is waving, goodbye, goodybe

Ah, god bless the RIAA. They keep jamming their heads further into the ground. It's a losing battle and they are fighting it horribly. Thank god for that, it'll end the recording industry sooner.