Blogging My Life

We felt our first California earthquake yesterday afternoon, the 4.9 centered east of us in San Bernadino County. We were in Lowes looking at bathroom tile when the building shook and rolled a little. We scurried out of the tile aisle, not wanting to be buried under tons of broken ceramic tile! Nothing happened, of course, but people were talking about it everywhere we went.

Saw the rubber match of the Angels-Nationals series at Angels Stadium tonight (June 15th) with Dan and Stu. It was a great game, Colon v. Drese. The box score is here. Ryan Drese pitched a 2-run, 8-inning shutout, saved by Cordero, who fell off the mound, loaded the bases with two out, and then struck out Dallas McPherson for the win. The rally monkeys were out in full force, but to no avail. Colon gave up one run and eight hits in nine strong innings, for the loss. I sat up in 241 with Dan and Stu for the first seven and then moved down to F112, near my purchased seat (season ticket exchange via Angels website). Great seats both. I liked the stadium, loved the the game. The cameramen on the rocks in front of the waterfalls in center field look like bears in a zoo exhibit!

Here are the first pictures of our son. I have no idea what I’m looking at in one and a faint idea in another. Two are pretty obvious. Leda was there (imagine!) and has a better notion of what we’re seeing.


From the top, head and face (?!) and torso.


From the left side, arm raised to head.


Facing down, side view from the left. What a little alien!


A foot!

Esteemed housemates:
I know that this is officially a “laid-back” household, and it’s a good thing,
too. It seems to me, however, that the kitchen could be so much more pleasant
for all of us with a minimum of sustained effort by all. Everyone is good
about doing all their dishes eventually anyway, so making that eventuality
sooner after an outing in the kitchen is a small thing that would make a big
difference. With the exception of the occasional dinner party and so forth,
it really doesn’t take more than about five minutes to completely wash
all one’s dishes and put everything away, including food containers and
peels and so forth. I know this because, as you know, I’m a little obsessive
about doing this after my meals. The only really annoying site for me is
the sink, and I wish everyone would solemnly promise that, even if no other
cleanup can be done, the sink will be left empty after cooking and eating.
The problem, it seems to me, is that when the sink and counters are full of
dirty dishes, the easiest route is just to leave one’s own dishes until later
too. Eventually, I think we forget whose is whose.
The other little thing is the blender. Blake. <:-/ Your only annoying habit among many endearing ones. We all use the blender a lot, and sometimes it's out of commission for days at a time unless someone is willing to wash it, which, after three days like at the moment, is decidedly not easy. When we can find it. Ahem. Sorry for the email format, but we're so rarely all together. Feel free to respond with your own pet peeves or counter-arguments or throw coffee grounds on my door or whatever. All will be received in a happy and generous spirit! :-) Cheers, John

You can never get enough walk-off home runs. This one clinched a sweep. It was one of three in the major leagues today.
Guest of my friend Dan, I spent a nice sunny afternoon in the center field bleachers at Fenway. Clement pitched a great game against the A’s (Zito pitched well too but gave up four in the second and third), but Foulke entered in the 9th (Timlin and Myers handled the 8th) to lose a 4-1 lead, sending it to 5-4 into the bottom of the ninth. Jason Varitek hit a walk-off home run off Dotel with Ortiz on first from a walk. Dotel also gave up a walk-off RBI double the night before. Foulke ended up with a blown save and the win, something I don’t think should be allowed. I’ll tell the first MLB official who asks me. Blown save, no win. Foulke might agree; he was looking pretty glum in the post-game interview.
Here’s the box score.

Last night I made a spur-of-the-moment trip across the river to see Kathleen Edwards at the Paradise. I started trying to remember when was the last time that I went to a club to hear a band and I couldn’t remember. I’m not sure whether this reflects more on my sad social/cultural life or my lousy memory. I thought the last time was probably in Missoula, meaning Spring 2002 at the most recent. And this would have been one of the local dance bands, not a touring act. I now remember that I went to Johnny D’s to see Boy with a Fish last fall, but this was a band two of whose members I know, so it’s a little different. Anyway, yesterday while waiting for the dentist, I read an interview article with Kathleen Edwards related to her show last night. The name didn’t ring a bell, but the way she was described sounded up my alley and the musicians she mentioned as influences made her sound even better. And the price was under $20. Amazing. I went. Turns out she has a song on the radio that I have heard and noticed, but her name hadn’t registered. The show was great. Her band was excellent, and she is quite a fireplug. Her songs are sincere and engaging, and she has an incredible stage presence. It’s hard to take your eyes off her, actually. Her biggest and sweetest smiles were for the roadies and band members. She follows the band members’ solos with such intensity and interest, as if she’d never head them before, and coaxes more out of them with almost disconcerting sexuality-qua-musicality. I enjoyed the show immensely. I’ve seen her described as the next Lucinda Williams, a pretty inapt comparison, in my view, although this could be applied to the opening act, Mary Gauthier. She has the same dark and raw stuff that Lucinda produces. Kathleen is much too happy and polished and confident.
Added 5/22/05: Ok, now I get the Lucinda comparison, after listening to both of K.E.’s albums. Must have been a live thing.

Here’s today’s (yesterday’s, but who’s looking at the clock?) Boston Globe article on the latest Boston/Tampa Bay brawl. I was just reading along thinking my usual “who cares” kind of thoughts until I read about David Ortiz lecturing about respect and ethics on the field. David Ortiz??? Excuse me, but didn’t he throw a bat at an ump last year? Yes, he did and he got suspended, but not much.
You know, nobody missed hockey, really, and I kind of wish that Major League Baseball would go on strike for about a decade or so too. There’s plenty of softball in the park and it looks pretty good to me.