flashback

it's after midnight- can't sleep, all fired up after another devastating loss by the mets. got up to re-read one of my favorite posts, coincidentally from a year ago today.

a favorite because i like the way it's written, but also because it's a good one for me to go back and read every so often.

4 more games left in the regular season- i may be re-reading this post daily if this keeps up.

technical difficulties, please stand by

been having some access problems at work these past few weeks- can't seem to get my laptop to connect to our wireless network. quite frustrating. hope to fix the problem soon, and get to posting more in the near future. lots of topics to cover before the election.

keep checking in- i'll be back on track soon.

for dessert, astronaut ice cream

i thought about posting today about the candidate's positions on the economy, but i couldn't bring myself to do it. too depressing. so, i present you with some lighter fare.

in no particular order, the top 5 foods that sound to me like they could be on a martian middle school lunch menu:

5) gravlax
4) dolmas
3) pad thai
2) chicken tikka (even martians would have chicken as a lunchroom staple)
1) scrapple


and for my first ever embedded video, the coolest physics teacher ever:

election 2008: immigration

obama calls the issue "immigration" on his website, mccain calls it "border security and immigration". that's about where the candidates differ the most, because as far as i can see it, their plans for reform aren't that dissimilar.

both candidates support reinforcing border security with manpower, financial aid, and technology. obama says nothing more than just that; mccain suggests he'll spend money on unmanned patrols of the border and subsidies to US attorneys in border states. both candidates support an employment eligibility system for businesses to verify the immigration status of employees. obama just says he'll "crack down" on employers who hire illegals, mccain supports their aggressive prosecution.

with regards to the immigration system, both support streamlining the process, with mccain giving some detail and breaking down immigrant workers into several groups- highly skilled, low-skilled non-agricultural, and low-skilled agricultural. his suggestion for the last group, however, is the quite vague promise of providing "a non-bureaucratic, adaptable, useable program that is reflective of market needs and protects both the immigrant and US workers". translation- "we'll conveniently ignore this group, since we know our food supply system would collapse if we cut off the supply of illegal workers in agriculture". at least mccain gives it a shot though- obama doesn't address the topic at all.

neither candidate supports a mass deportation of illegals. rather, they both would ask that all illegals be accounted for, be asked to learn english, pay a fine, and be offered a chance at citizenship after all others who are currently in the system. mccain gives a little more language about weeding out those with criminal records or who have used ill-gotten social security numbers.

obama gives additional points about working with mexico to promote their economic development as a way of decreasing illegal immigration and to expedite the citizenship process for immigrants who serve in the military.

in summary, i'm struggling to find much difference between the candidates on this point. i'll have to call it a push for now, and see how it plays out during the debates.

pass the can

another fleeting memory of days gone by popped into my head the other day. not sure why i was thinking of it, but i had this great memory of the summer theater fundraising campaign for the will rogers institute.

there was a time, probably when i was about 13 or 14, that i would ride my bike to the mall with a friend or two and see a movie almost weekly during the summer. the multiplex at the mall participated in the fundraising campaign, which involved a trailer starring usually one or two a-list celebs of the day telling the story of will rogers and his eponymous institute. the trailer would end with the celeb shaking a coffee can emblazoned with the will rogers logo and announcing that ushers would now be passing the cans. house lights would come up again for a few minutes while people dug for change and passed the cans, then dimmed again once the collection was over so the movie could start.

apparently this is still done, as the website attests. while i don't go to the movies nearly as much anymore, it's been quite a while since i've seen the will rogers promo. anybody else remember these, or seen one in the past 10 years?

only half the story

there's no denying that the met bullpen is terrible and has been so most of the season. night after night, they collapse almost on cue. even last night, after a huge 9th inning grand slam to take a comfortable 3-run lead, they tried their best to blow it but barely missed out. tonight, 4 walks in the bottom of the ninth in a tie game (ok, two were intentional, but still...) were painful to witness.

not receiving enough of the blame however is the offense- almost automatic in the first 3 innings but non-existent in the last 3. last night's 9th inning 4-spot was an anomaly. tonight, runners left on base in each of the last 4 innings, including one in scoring position in the 7th and 9th. most of the times the bullpen has blown leads, they've been able to because the offense has not been able to pick up their share of the slack towards the end. earlier this week, when the mets blew a 7-run lead to lose to the phils 8-7 in 13, it was partly because after jumping to a 7-0 lead after 4 innings, the offense put nothing across over the next 9.

1 game up with 26 left to play. not much breathing room. at least there's no chance of a blowout like last season, because with this bullpen, there's no chance we'll be up more than a few games at any point for the rest of this year (if we're lucky). here's hoping we can hold on.

best seats in the house

you might have heard that this is the last year for shea stadium (and that other stadium up in the bronx). new stadium called citi field is being built in what was once one of the shea parking lots, and will open for the 2009 season. shea will go away to make more parking room, but because of building codes in NYC, the old stadium cannot be imploded and must be disassembled.

ostensibly to raise money for the "mets foundation" (whatever that is) and to offer a once-in-a-lifetime memorabilia opportunity to fans, the seats from shea are being sold in pairs to any and all comers.

took the leap and ordered mine yesterday as soon as they went on sale to the general public at 9am. purchased a pair of orange field level seats. thought about getting the red upper-deck seats to remind me of the times we'd go when i was a kid and pay $3 for day-of-game tickets. but, red's not really the color associated with los mets, so i opted for the more traditional orange. i was sure the seats would sell out quickly (hence my 9am purchase yesterday), but it appears only the orange ones have sold out so far. a disappointing commentary on met fans in general, i think.

seats will reportedly be shipped 8-12 weeks after the final game at shea. hoping for a january delivery, which would mean that last game was played in late october.

the prodigal family returneth

the weary travelers rolled in on thurs night, and it's like they never left. back to the usual routine of pokemon and legos, with a little wiffle ball mixed in. one more week until school starts for the boys, then molly starts preschool the week after that.

still getting bits and pieces of information from them at various times about their journey- fun to see what triggers those memories. best line had to be from molly, though, who upon getting ready for bed on thurs night when they returned, looked for a place in her room to put her dirty laundry and asked "how long are we going to be here?"

too good to be true

looks like muxtape is down for a bit. seems the RIAA has a problem with the way the site is set up- even though clicking on each track would give you the option of buying it on amazon, there was no limit to how much you could listen to anything. hopefully they'll work things out, because i just was informed of a way (thanks teej) of converting all my music files to shareable mp3's. dj phyngck was about to start mad spinning.

bachelor summer ends tomorrow! the fam is en route to ohio, last stop before they make the final leg of the journey tomorrow. ETA is sometime in the late evening. got about 30 hours to fill the fridge, clean the kitchen, and get things tidied up. can't wait for the stories.

just because we didn't think of it doesn't mean it's not a great idea

baseball has often been identified as the sport most tied to its traditions and history. it's come up a lot recently with the arguments over instant replay in baseball, and tradition (or unnecessary adherence to it) has been for years a central point in the argument for or against the DH.

just this morning, i read about the US baseball team's loss to cuba in the olympics and learned of a new rule instituted to avoid limitless extra inning games. per the article:

"International baseball's new extra-innings rule was used for the first time Friday. Beginning in the 11th inning, runners go to first and second and teams can start at any point in their batting order." (this rule is quite similar to the overtime format in college football, where each team starts with the ball on the 25 yard line until the tie is broken.)

i love this rule. i love free baseball as much as the next guy, but long extra-inning games are more of a war of attrition than any kind of skilled victory. sure, managing a bullpen takes some savvy, but most games that go past 14-15 innings are beyond managerial skill and are left to chance.

having this overtime system in play would save wear and tear on bullpens and would likely see the end of position players having to pitch. it would still require plenty of managerial acumen, as saving the right guys for the overtime would come in to play. the international rule allows for only one true extra inning, which i think is a little stingy. in finkworld, the overtime would go into effect after 3 extra innings (i.e. the 13th inning). or, maybe we'd start in the 11th as they do, but do it progressively- for the 11th, you could start your lineup anywhere but have no one on base, for the 12th you'd get a guy on first and start the lineup anywhere, and the 13th 2 guys on.

"tradition" will keep this from ever happening, and the pitchers' lobby will be sure of that. (this system would not go over well with pitchers, but would be great for middle-of-the-order guys looking to increase their numbers since they'd likely get an AB in each extra inning.)

but who knows- if baseball does implement replay this year, as is widely expected, it shows that as long as fans and players put up enough of a stink, even tradition can be put aside for the good of the game.

olympic fever

i've loved the olympics since the first ones i remember- the 1980 winter games in lake placid. being a new yorker, and one who vacationed in the adirondacks, there was a great connection to those games. certainly the hockey team and the eric heiden 5-medal haul were big factors in the allure of those games for americans, but i was drawn to the pageantry, the national pride, the international flair, and the olympic spirit that make the games more than just a world championship of sport.

the boycott of the moscow games deprived me of experiencing the summer olympics until '84, but being in LA there was again that sense of nationalism that made the games even bigger. and being 4 years older, i was able to appreciate it even more. i remember loving the sheer diversity of events in the summer games. for someone who was the furthest thing from a swimmer, runner, or gymnast, events like archery, rowing and javelin were appealing because they seemed reachable.

since then, i've watched each olympics with enthusiasm and interest. still prefer the winter games to the summer, but i find myself attached to the TV this week, watching plenty of swimming and gymnastics- two things that as exciting and artistic as they may be, i'll likely never watch at any other time during the next 4 years.

the downside to NBC's "more hours that in real life" coverage is that because they want you to tune in to their prime time broadcast, none of their affiliates are showing any events during the evening hours. i'd love to watch some fencing, or weightlifting, or table tennis, even if it were taped. maybe i'll have to start setting the tivo. then i may not leave the couch until labor day.

the best kind of music

...is free music. (similar, of course, to the best kind of beer) happened to be at my local public library a few months ago and was trolling through the cd case while the kids were book hunting. pleasantly surprised to find a few discs that i've always wanted but never actually purchased- some u2, white stripes. also found a few soundtracks with individual songs that caught my eye.

since then, i've made a few trips back and picked up different CDs, mostly soundtracks, and have been importing tracks to my itunes catalog. i'm a big fan of cover songs (a top 5 post someday on that one), and soundtracks are a gold mine for completely random cover songs. the great thing about the library gig is that these CDs usually only have one or two worthwile songs, so it saves buying the whole disc.

i'm also a big fan of christmas music, and i've also been scooping up the library's collection of christmas discs and ripping them too. figure i'll beat the december rush this way.

election 2008: health care, part 2

never listen to me when i promise to post "tomorrow"...

here in the second half of health care discussion, i'll present the position of barack obama. obama goes into good detail on his site about his health care plan, and outlines it even more in this position paper. his plan was presented initially during a speech in iowa last year, a speech which is the usual cut-and-paste politician speech: start with the depressing story of a local couple, outline in detail and with lots of statistics the issue at hand, give your background and previous accomplishments with regards to the issue, outline your new plan, resurrect the ghosts of political heroes gone by, then bring back the local couple and inspire hope that your plan will save them.

obama plans to insure all americans by enrolling all those without insurance in the same insurance plan open to all federal employees. eligible citizens will receive a federal stipend to join the program. he plans to finance the plan by doing away with the bush tax cut for the wealthy, and by having businesses who don't offer a "meaningful contribution" to employee health care contribute "a percentage of payroll" (i.e. taxing business). i presume this new payroll tax is meant to stimulate businesses to participate in private insurance. he also pledges to support businesses with federal money for catastrophic coverage.

obama also feels there's money to be made by optimizing health care- he (like mccain) supports a movement toward electronic medical records, and focusing on preventative medicine. obama's plan calls for what he calls "incentives for excellence". in his speech and position paper, he speaks of how much money is wasted on suboptimal care and preventable complications. in his plan, providers will be "rewarded for achieving performance thresholds on outcome measures". this is what is usually referred to as "pay for performance" and it is a noble but miserable idea.

[a sidebar on P4P, as it is called in the industry. no payer, whether private or government, has the resources to pay extra. so while it seems nice that providers who perform well will be "rewarded", it means that there will need to be providers who will be "punished"- read: reimbursed less- for not meeting metrics. in a perfect world, we'd make everybody better, and maybe we could all achieve the benchmarks set. but because many patients are either too sick or too non-compliant to ever meet a benchmark, there will be a population of people who will never be "at goal". having too many of these folks in a practice will hurt the bottom line of the doctors who care for them. those doctors don't want to wind up in that bottom group who will be "punished", so they will weed out the "bad patients". the logical path of P4P is a selection by providers of healthy, compliant patients and a spurning of complicated, non-compliant patients who bring down performance numbers. this leaves a pool of people who need doctors the most but will not be able to find anyone to care for them. that's an improvement?]

back to the plan- lots of fluff about protecting kids from lead and pregnant women from mercury (the metal, not the planet), fighting aids, helping disabled americans, and a little blurb about "prevent(ing) insurers from overcharging physicians for their malpractice insurance". not a word about tort reform and reducing frivolous lawsuits though.

there's lots of stuff he wants to do, and even if all he puts through is his national health plan, the costs will be astronomical. i realize that before medicare was rolled out, it was probably met with much the same skepticism, but i just think that if there's a proposal for such a big policy, it should be offered with a realistic "we've all got to pitch in" financial plan rather than "we'll tax businesses and the rich, and it'll be OK" plan.

so when i try to pick a side here, while mccain's plan amounts to really nothing, at least it doesn't set us back. i think obama's plan is a bit overzealous, and the whole P4P thing really frightens me (in case you hadn't guessed). after one round then, the voting so far in the fink electoral poll is mccain 1, obama 0.

please, please follow the links to the candidate's pages and read the policies yourselves. it takes a bit to get through, and a keen eye to read between the lines, but it is well worth it.

this was fun- next topic soon- got a lot to get through before november.

election 2008: health care

i chose an issue near and dear to my heart to be the first in my election 2008 series. despite being in the trenches of the health care battlefield, i'm by no means an expert in health care policy. my attitudes towards socialized medicine sometimes change by the day, depending on the kind of day that i'm having. when i see a system struggling to keep afloat, and grow more skeptical by the day that anything can save it, it's hard for me to align with any philosophy on reform.

bookkeeping item: all information in this series about the candidates' plans and positions will come from their websites or links that they themselves provide. a few additional links may be placed just for fun or clarification. additionally, since i'm now finding these will be long posts, i'll going to do one candidate's position at a time, alternating who goes first. today, it's mccain.

mccain gives a somewhat brief outline on his health care policy, expanded upon in this speech from april. his plan to help uninsured americans involves a direct tax credit for those who either opt out of their employer's health plan or who are self-employed. he claims there will be no repercussions for those with pre-existing conditions, yet his policy abides by the HIPAA rule stating, as mccain puts it, that "if you remain employed and insured you will build protection against the cost of treating any pre-existing condition." many americans who will be using his plan will have a period where they will be either unemployed or uninsured, thus exposing them to cost liability.

he also proposes a "guaranteed access plan" for those who are the worst of the worst- people with illness who can't get coverage. it establishes a guideline system for states to provide the services with some federal support- basically, a "best of" medicaid system, taking advice and policies from states where things are working well.

to cut health care costs, he and obama both propose supporting disease management programs, with mccain pledging research dollars towards primary care, and they both pledge support of electronic medical record systems. sounds nice. mccain also plans to support "walk-in clinics in retail outlets". (ouch- that's hitting below the belt for a primary care guy like me.) lastly, he supports tort reform for medical malpractice, specifically pledging to eliminate suits against doctors who follow guidelines and "best practice" plans. how he'll do that, he doesn't say.

overall, nothing truly groundbreaking. mostly status quo, with the republican carrot of tax credits dangled as the bait for his plan. the plan moves almost all responsibility away from the federal government (a point mccain seems to celebrate in the speech above), either delegating to the states, the individuals, or the private sector. good? i'm not sure. but leaves him as president with little to blame if things don't go well.

tomorrow, obama, and my overall assessment of the issue.

21st century digital boy

everyone's favorite futurist, uncle googs, has decided to go back to the future and take blogging to another level. his eponymously titled endeavor can be found at googs.tumblr.com (and of course now on the finkipedia faves list to the right).

tumblogs are the next generation of blogs, evolving from traditional blogs and sites like twitter. consider it a place for quick anecdotes, links to the news of the day and to sites that all the cool kids are checking out. sorry, despite his title- no lottery numbers.

back in the saddle again

just returned from my quick trip out to seattle. met up with the rest of the clan for a short but fun-filled trip. kids were waiting for me at the airport, which was exciting for them and me both.

did the usual seattle fun things like walking around the market, riding ferries, going to REI. mostly enjoyed just reuniting with the kids and erin again.

miserable travel experience coming home- flew from seattle to philly via chicago, but storms in the east wed night caused my chicago-philly flight to be cancelled (along with many other east-bound flights). wound up spending the night with friends (which worked out great- watched fireworks from the top of the hancock!), then battled with united reps on the phone to try and get out of chicago at a reasonable hour on thurs. wound up getting back to philly via richmond, and finally home late yesterday.

pics and more stories soon.

my 3 songs, this day in history edition

some day i'll get the muxtape version up, but for now, it's the old fashioned way. this one requires a little lyrical knowledge, or just take the wikipedia shortcut...

• dada, "dizz knee land"
• billy joel, "we didn't start the fire"
• sly fox, "let's go all the way"
  

new look

finally got around to making some changes. layout and background color were the things most suggested for change. had a hard time trying to change the layout, so to make the posts stand out more from each other, i tried to darken the headers a little bit. i think the gray scale is easier on the eye, don't you? added the picture at the top to provide a little color- it's from our trip to yosemite in the spring of 2000. someday, i may try to learn some html code and customize the site even more.

you also notice a new link on the right under the heading "dj phyngck" (get it?). muxtape.com is a site to which mp3's can be uploaded to create your own mix tape to share, just like back in high school. most of my digital music is mp4 and m4p, which are currently not supported by muxtape. so, finkipedia.muxtape.com is the best i could do with the limited selection i had in mp3 format. i think it turned out pretty good. (hopefully, if muxtape is able to support other formats in the future, i'll be able to use it to set up muxtapes to provide audio support to my "my 3 songs" posts. that'll make things a lot more fun for you and me both.)

hey chicago, what do you say?

finally recovered from a weekend jaunt to chicago, highlighted by a trip to one of baseball's most hallowed grounds, wrigley field. as a baseball fan, it was a pilgrimage that needed to be made, and no better time than this year when the cubs are hot. what an event. sat in the bleachers, which was practically like going to a frat party with a baseball game in the background. cubs scored early and often, gave up the lead, then won in extra innings. electric atmosphere. after the game, we drifted on over to one of the many local establishments right outside of the stadium, then made our way around the city on what turned out to be a beautiful night weatherwise.
(photo above is from my cell- if you've got good eyes and a good monitor, you may be able to make out the name on the readerboard at the bottom, one of chicago's favorite sons who threw out the first pitch and was the official leader of "take me out to the ballgame")

took forever to get home on sunday thanks to weather delays in the philly region (actually had to land in pittsburgh to refuel because we were circling philly for so long). dragged thru most of yesterday, but am finally back up to full steam. good thing, because only a few more days until i'm off again, this time to seattle to reconnect with my long lost family!

alone again, naturally

i'm now 2 weeks into the bachelor summer, and i'm getting nowhere near the productivity i thought i would out of the alone time. part of that is because my holiday weekend was much busier than i thought (i was on call and spent long days at the hospital each day). but it's also because a quiet house just breeds laziness.

i've never lived alone for this long- with the exception of a few month-long stints in a hotel room while doing military stuff, i've lived either with family or roommates my entire life. i can see now how most bachelors keep simple (and frequently messy) living spaces. there's just no motivation to do anything when you're by yourself.

i'm going to have to some how find my way out of the black hole that my couch has become and get on with the list of things i'd like to get done. the noisy house will return before i know it, and while it may not breed laziness, it breeds disinterest in tasks so as to enjoy the noise.

election 2008

my presidential voting record is not very good- i've voted in every national election i've been eligible for, but have never voted for the eventual winning candidate. that doesn't really bother me as much as the fact that my previous presidential votes have been cast on an opinion mostly formed from what i saw and read in the media. i, like most americans, made my choice based too much on sound bites and images- both things selectively presented to me by someone else and occasionally taken out of context.

this year, whether i vote for the eventual president or not, i'm determined to vote for the candidate who most closely represents my values across the entire spectrum, and to educate myself by thoroughly researching the issues without the help of the media. when i make my decision, i will do so by using only the candidates' own words, whether they be in print or live. no sound bites or video clips, but rather entire outlines, essays or speeches to give context to every comment.

i'm going to take you on my electoral journey. every so often between now and november 4, i will post about one of the major issues being discussed in this campaign. i'll link to the candidates' websites and give a brief interpretation about what their own words mean to me. i will watch every debate in its entirety (either live or recorded) and post about it a day or two later.

with each post, i'll let you know how i feel about the particular issue at hand and which candidate i feel more aligned to. my posts will not be meant to influence your decision in any way other than to encourage you to read more on each topic with an open mind.

this blog has always had an open comment section, and these posts will be no exception. feel free to comment however you want, including lobbying for one candidate or another. i only ask that you respect the opinions of others and cite anything you quote with a link to wherever you found it. after all, there's no better way to make your point than to educate others further on it.

my 3 songs, casey stengel edition

here you are- consider it my gift to you today...

• 50 cent, "in da club"
• duran duran, "rio"
• the beatles, "when i'm sixty-four"

speeding at the DMV

twitted about this yesterday... had to renew both my license and registration this month, and i must say, i had the most pleasant DMV experience ever. waited only about 20 minutes yesterday to get my license done, renewed for 5 years for the low, low price of $25. today, went back to do the inspection and registration. got through the inspection station in about 7 minutes- no joke. went inside to do the registration, got a number from the info desk, had my number called before i could even sit down, renewed for 2 years for $40, and walked out. total time inside no more than 3 minutes.

that's a little over a half hour to renew a license, get a vehicle inspected, and renew a registration. small wonder, indeed.

the married bachelor

as many of you know, erin decided a while back that she and the kids would spend the summer in seattle with her folks. since she knew she'd want her car out there, she decided early on that she'd drive there and make a journey out of it. they left this morning for a 10-day trip across the continent, with extra time scheduled with friends in st. louis, omaha, and colorado springs.

this all means that i'm left here, tending to the homestead and living the bachelor life for the first time in 12 years. there are certainly benefits to being alone- just finished up 2 hours of "guitar hero 3"and am currently watching baseball while i type this- but it's been a little tougher than i anticipated. i mean, my 4 best friends just rolled out of town this morning and won't be back for months.

between work, some scheduled side trips, and a wish list of home improvement projects, i'll have more than enough to occupy my time. but to combat the silence, i'll have to do more than yard work. maybe i'll leave the toilet seat up, just because i can.

please, please don't say "forking"

so, i rolled over sometime early this AM and was knocking knees with my beloved (get your minds out of the gutter- that's not a euphemism for anything- our knees truly were hitting), and i started wondering, what's the opposite of "spooning"?

traditional spooning involves both parties facing the same direction, so there are actually two alternatives- both parties facing each other, or facing away from each other. do either of those positions have a colloquialism?

(this post didn't start out to be a reminiscing, but thinking about neologisms has triggered memories of sniglets and rich hall and hbo's NNTN- a far cry from the colbert report, to be sure.)

a deafening silence

well, it was about 9 months in the making, but we all knew it would happen sooner or later. willie's gone as of early this AM, along with two of his coaches.

it's easy to look at him as a scapegoat for the team's failure, but i have to believe at some level he truly wasn't getting the job done. i've always been a huge willie fan, way back to the time he was a yankee second baseman. on the surface, his demeanor suggested he was a good man for the job. but in recent weeks, amid all the turmoil in flushing, i was struck by the audible silence of the players. when asked about willie, most just didn't want to get involved, and some even went so far as to suggest that the mets should just do whatever they were going to do and get it over with. i didn't hear or read a single comment from a player either in support of willie or accepting any blame for the team's collapse.

you have to believe that their silence is an endorsement of this decision. we'll see if by getting their wish this team can salvage this season before it's too late.

happy fathers' day

what better way to celebrate the day than with a finkipedia grammar post, right?

today's question- what's the right title for the day? is it "father's day" or "fathers' day"? i don't think there's a right or wrong answer to this- like the posts on "myriad" here and here, i believe the ultimate answer is that they're both technically correct.

most of what i see used in print is the singular possessive ("father's"). the official holiday, first proclaimed by lyndon johnson and officially reproclaimed this year by president bush, assigns the title of "father's day". i would argue however that since we're celebrating all dads and not just one that the day should be more appropriately addressed in the plural possessive. someone out there must agree with me, because the wikipedia entry on father's day (titled using the singular) starts off with this comment:

• Although normal practice for English punctuation indicates that the holiday should be called "Fathers' Day" (as it is a plural possessive), common usage dictates that the ostensibly singular possessive "Father's Day" is the preferred spelling.

common usage be damned. band with me, my fellow grammarians. buck the trend and start recognizing all mothers and fathers by using the plural possessive when you send your best wishes. pledge your allegiance and make my fathers' day with a comment below.

tree huggin'

had a rare weekday off yesterday to spend with the kids. went up to longwood gardens (which you may remember from a previous holiday posting) to see how things look in full bloom. kids liked checking out some large treehouses that have been built since our last visit there.

boys have their last day of school today; i'm here in the office for a full day then on call this weekend. looking forward to doing a bunch of cool things together next week before they all leave me for their summer trip. (more about that sometime this weekend).

poll comes down today...10 votes- wow! (thanks for voting 3 times googs). general consensus was that things were good, but i like a few others think the background could use some adjusting. look for some changes this summer.

too hot to post

...or do much of anything else. not supposed to be 95 degrees here in june, much less 95 degrees for 4 days in a row.

tried to escape the heat this weekend by going to the pool on saturday and the movies yesterday. took the kids for ice cream after the movie yesterday afternoon, which seemed like a good idea at the time. unfortunately, the heat must have warmed the store enough to make the ice cream a little soft; the situation declined rapidly once the goods were in the hands of the intended. molly and brendan fortunately chose to get their ice cream in dishes, convenient receptacles for the soup they inherited after about ten minutes. owen ordered a small cone of chocolate marshmallow ice cream that was actively melting when it got into his hands. poor kid didn't stand a chance. within minutes, he had more ice cream on his hand and on the ground around him than he had actually consumed.

next time i think we'll just get milk shakes.

new poll

a while back i put a poll or two at the bottom of the blog, but it was so far down no one ever saw it. trying to resurrect the idea a bit, and will occasionally put something immediately to the right of the newest entry to increase visibility.

first poll is more self-serving. looking to change the site up a bit over the summer, and am curious to know what i should work on first (maybe everything?). please make with the clicky and vote on the poll to the right. (should you be more of the essay type than the multiple choice type, feel free to comment away on this post with any recs for updating the site).

none of the hits however mentioned "lionel hutz"

read a random snippet on the onion the other day regarding the FDA disallowing the stop-smoking drug Chantix for pilots because of reports that it may increase the risk of auto accidents. (turns out it was the FAA, not FDA, which makes more sense, but that's beside the point.) as i had heard nothing about this, i was curious and googled "chantix auto accident".

the 34th result was a link to the usa today article mentioning the recent ban. the first 33 results were all links to attorneys' websites, looking for individuals interested in filing a claim against the drug company.

next google search was for "tort reform".

(googling "finkipedia", btw, gives you 8 hits- several to this site, two to official finkipedia-endorsed blogs, two more to a site that somehow found my tag of "FoF" noteworthy, and two dead-end links to some site that has something to do with cough syrup with codeine. huh?)

my 3 songs, sittin' on the dock of the bay edition

time for more tunes. to get you ready for summer, here's 3 songs that might come in handy on a lazy summer's day...

• guns n' roses, "patience"
• peter bjorn and john, "young folks"
• billy joel, "the stranger"

easy one, right?

how did this happen?

for those of you with both inquisitive minds and ipods (i presume that to be many of you reading this blog) i encourage you to download this recent podcast of the public radio show "this american life". it is a one hour program outlining in very basic terms just how the whole mortgage crisis thing came to be.

warning- you may come out of it feeling a little more pessimistic about the economy as a whole. but if its comparisons are valid, and our current situation really is just like the 1970's, then we've all only got to wait another 30 or so years until another boom comes along, right?

could this be the turning point?

exciting win last night for the flushing nine... was it a sign of the phoenix rising from the ashes, or just an aberrancy thrown in to frustrate the faithful? fun to watch either way.

hard to believe it's taken this long...

office got a call this AM from a panicked mom of a 3 1/2 year old, asking for me and reporting that her daughter had put a lego up her nose and it was stuck. i called the mom back as soon as i could, but as it turns out, she managed to get the lego out before i could call her.

molly has promised never to do this again.

a day to come out of your shell

not only are we on the doorstep of a 3 day weekend (and a "chamber of commerce weather" one here in the mid-atlantic), it's also a big day for shelled reptiles everywhere. it's world turtle day today. celebrate however you see fit- maybe kiss a turtle, eat a chocolate/caramel nut cluster, or just listen to "happy together" over and over again.

remember, whatever you do, do it for the turtles.

here, there, and everywhere

if it seems like finkipedia is taking an extra few seconds to load up now, it's probably because of a new widget i set up. over on the right side just under the blog listing is my new link to twitter. for the unaware, twitter is a new message board-style website that encourages users to post short bits about what they're doing at that very moment. can be used by sending e-mails or instant messages to twitter, but at its best when used via text messaging.

at twitter.com, you can select a member and "follow" them by receiving e-mail, instant message, or text message updates when that member posts something new. i thought it would be fun to link my new twitter account to this page, so i can occasionally send text messages and essentially update the blog from afar.

i just discovered this whole thing yesterday and have no idea where i'll go with it, but even if i do nothing more than the occasional text posting, i think it's pretty cool.

back in metropolis

was back on LI this past weekend for the annual '89 friars golf weekend. used to be 2 rounds of golf per weekend, now down to one round of golf and one wild card day. golf this year was an adventure- played in 50 degree weather and a steady driving rain, lasted only 12 holes before we realized that the 80 bucks we paid to play wasn't worth getting pneumonia over.

second day turned out much better- hoops, stickball, mets/yankees game, poker, and plenty of old stories. hard to believe these stories are 20 years old now. yikes.

as if the weekend alone wasn't enough for a post, got a little gift as i was headed off the island. big flashing construction sign on the belt parkway with a message about nypd's attitude towards fireworks: "ZERO TOLARANCE". apparently they won't allow sparklers in NY but have no problems with public displays of spelling ignorance.

once upon a time...

some of the many things that pass through my head on a daily basis are memories of some pretty random items, events and encounters that may or may not have any relation to my current situation. i don't want this to become a pretentious trip down memory lane, but i thought it would be fun to share some of these things and maybe generate a little discussion.

today's reminiscence came up when noticing that for the first time in dover, gas is $4.00/gallon. i of course wasn't driving during the gas crisis of the 70's, but i do distinctly remember the odd days/even days gas thing, and the long lines at the gas stations. i realize that setup was due to shortage and not pricing, but could you just imagine what a supply problem would do to the current situation? chaos.

my favorite memory of the gas crisis though was a line from "good times", courtesy of jj "dyn-o-mite" walker. either florida or james were threatening to kick jj's deadbeat butt out of the apartment, and when jj realized he'd have to use the gas station bathroom if he lived on the street, he announced in horror that would mean he'd only be able to pee on odd numbered days. now THAT's comedy!

first quarter report

hard to believe, but this weekend will be the1/4 way point of the baseball season. mets are 2 games back of the first place marlins and not showing any signs of being a team that can truly contend. here are some of the ups and downs of the young season so far...

first, the ups:

• ryan church and brian schneider - trading milledge for both of them is looking like a huge coup- they're each hitting over .320 and church is leading the team in HR. (as a side note, i think every met fan is breathing a huge sigh of relief that we didn't trade milledge a few years ago for barry zito.)
• john maine - is he the ace of the staff? pitching better almost every time he's out there.
• david wright - late april slump is hurting the average, but he's been solid as far as run production (3rd in NL in RBI) and clutch in the field (8 errors, but gets to more balls down the line than most).
• luis castillo - showing signs of his former hitting prowess and playing above expectations at 2B.
  

and the downs:

• pedro- getting hurt 3 innings into the new year was not a good sign. due back in a few weeks, but how long will he last?
  
• jose reyes - flashes of brilliance in a sea of mediocrity- can't have a leadoff guy with an on-base percentage of .335 and expect to contend.
  
• carlos beltran - sorry, but i don't think we're getting our 18M/year worth. only 3 HR so far- less than guys like paul bako and rickie weeks. ("who?" exactly.)
• the bullpen - some guys have been ok (schoenweis) or even pretty good (smith, wagner), but the disappointing showings from heilman and sanchez, who were supposed to be our solid setup tandem, and the horrendous blowouts by jorge sosa (mercifully cut today, praise zeus) have made every game an adventure after the 6th inning.
  

the rest of the team seems average at best. santana has been fine but not scintillating, delgado seems to be giving us what we should expect (.250 and on pace for about 25 HR), and the bench has been fair but not fear-instilling to opponents.

maybe starting off like they have is their way of avoiding another late-season collapse; if they're mired in 3rd place, there's nothing to collapse from. next update at the all-star break, hopefully with a brighter outlook.

he may get stupid, i mean outrageous

hope you're checking in at least occasionally on the official finkipedia-endorsed blogs. we know you have many choices in blogs, and appreciate your business.

here's one more for you, just kicked off yesterday. i've got an idea that i want to share is a project of official finkipedia cardshark and rap impresario 2white. if the inaugural post is any indicator, his rants will not exactly be the quick 2-minute read that this blog tends to be, but should be interesting and engaging enough to draw you in. if you're a sports fan or just love a good debate, i think you'll find 2white's blog VERY enjoyable.

in the future, TV's will watch us instead

more FoF's in print- this time, official finkipedia futurist and brother-in-law (national division) googs is featured in a TV week interview about the future of television.

no mention anywhere in the interview about whether the success of the recent "knight rider" movie will finally get that rumored "momma's family" miniseries off the storyboards and into our living rooms.

best mother's day gift ever

never having been a mother, i don't have the credentials to determine what the best gift would be. but i'd think some kind of confirmation that you're doing a great job has got to rank way up there.

erin's gift today came from brendan, who was playing outside with owen this afternoon while we were getting some yard work done. he approached her, unsolicited, and proclaimed matter-of-factly, "mom, i'm having a great lifetime so far."

if that's not confirmation of good mothering, i don't know what is.

support our troops

in case anyone's up tomorrow AM, check out the CBS early morning show about 7:15AM- a good friend of mine from the air force currently overseas will be featured on the show. can't tell you much more because there's some kind of surprise involved with family, but it will be neat to say that there's only one degree of separation between you and someone on national TV!

finkipedia turns 100

well, believe it or not, this is the 100th post on finkipedia! (if you're adding up the monthly numbers right now and scratching your head, those tally the days only and don't take into account the occasional two-a-day postings.)

it's been a ton of fun so far. i think i'm achieving my goal that i set out in the first post- to have a place to update friends and family on our family happenings, and also to have a place to let others listen to the voices in my head.

hopefully you are enjoying reading along. for those lurkers who are reading but never drop by the comments page, feel free to chime in here and there and join the fun. for my regular commenters- thanks for keeping this interactive. it certainly makes it more enjoyable for me.

the next 100 posts will likely come more rapidly as i'm settling into a writing groove lately. i've also developed a few recurring features that i'll probably bring out more often- top 5 lists, my 3 songs, and of course, grammar lessons. also look for a new recurring feature, a trip in the way back machine to reminisce about things and events that you may not think of daily but will certainly remember. all this scattered amongst updates and quotes from the finkipedia clan.

thanks for reading, and happy 100 to me!

a day in the life

i would never say that my job is hard. people who lay brick for a living have a hard job. marine infantry have a hard job. i would describe my job as challenging, on some days very demanding, and often puts me into situations that are emotionally taxing. today seemed be all of the above.

one of my first patients arrived at the office in full septic shock- no blood pressure, faint pulse, very weak. got her stabilized and sent off to the hospital by ambulance. interrupted two patients later by a phone call from the pathologist at the hospital with the report on the autopsy from the patient who died last week a few hours after i admitted him. two more patients later, i'm in with a guy telling him he needs a biopsy and likely has cancer.

the afternoon wasn't much better- a patient with trouble breathing (spared a trip to the hospital for now), 4 stitches into the eyebrow of an 8 year old, and a call from the daughter of another patient reporting that her mom's blood pressure was very low (advised her to head to the ER).

down to the hospital after work to check on the lady from the morning (doing better) and admit the lady sent to the ER from the afternoon (doing fine also). then, got a call on my way home that another patient of mine from the nursing home arrived DOA at the emergency room.

hard day? you be the judge.

most publicity since the "washington slept here" stone was placed

picked up this link yesterday off of drudgereport.com. nice to see the ol' hometown finally getting some attention in the national media for things we do well. it's just too bad they failed to mention anything in the article about the mensa convention that was in town that week.

(apparently this fine gentleman is still taking applications for counsel- any takers?)

first communion

big day in finkdom yesterday- owen celebrated his first communion. he was excited, and admitted to being a little nervous just beforehand, but did great. he and about 15 other kids received their first communion as part of the regular sunday mass. near the end of the service, the priest acknowledged all the kids, congratulated them and led the congregation in a round of applause. owen, obviously moved by the spirit within him, felt inspired to do this great little dance of celebration. so funny.

had a small gathering of family back to the finkstead afterwards for mimosas, bloodies, and too much food. weather turned out perfect, which kept the kids outside for most of the afternoon. only the allure of the new mariokart game owen got for wii (thanks gramma and big buddy!) was enough to keep them inside for any stretch of time.

favorite quotes of the weekend-

• owen, at communion practice thursday night: "will i be able to go up for seconds?"
• ciaran, responding to rachel's "disappointment" that she didn't know mimosas were available when opting for a bloody mary: "you never take the first food item offered you at the finks until you've seen the whole menu."
• trooper kev, upon listening to my mom's description of the new time share my folks just bought into: "wait- lemme get this straight- you mean the indoor pool is indoors? that place must be amazing!"
  

FoF's in the news

here's a short piece from the washington post featuring official finkipedia economist and sister-in-law (national division) RK-K.

supports both the arguments of teachers that they work hard outside the classroom, and the arguments of others that teachers overall work less than other professions.

i'd like to see a financial analysis based on the hours worked of the true hourly rate of a teacher's salary vs. other professions. that would be interesting, and most likely very disappointing.

true heroes walking among us

tried to fit this in a comment on the last post, but the link was too long. for my fellow grammarians, i think you'll find this article enjoyable (and reassuring that there are some out there carrying out our mission). courtesy of big buddy, official finkipedia editor emeritus:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/dannywestneat/2004367117_danny23.html

look! another grammar rant!

i've hit you with most of my grammar pet peeves, but there are plenty more things that i come across that are worthy of a rant. here's one from today, the greeting of a letter from another physician: "to all perspective members,"

maybe there are some members of his organization that have a good outlook on things and get the big picture, but i believe he is addressing those of us who are not yet members. of course "prospective" is the term he was looking for (pun intended).

it's not easy being green

after pledging on tuesday to be greener, i cut my lawn on thursday and bagged some of the clippings into 3 large trash bags. my green conscience kicked in that night (fueled no doubt by the renewable energy source that is catholic guilt), and i spent an hour searching online about how best to deal with grass clippings.

the consensus across multiple websites was, of course, to leave them on the lawn. most sites agreed that long clippings (like the ones that were in my bags) didn't sit too well on lawns, but this could be avoided by just cutting more frequently. no one seemed to have very good advice for those of us who had already let the lawn get too tall. so i looked for other alternatives to leaving them on the lawn.

apparently grass clippings make great mulch, if you want green mulch that turns a yellow brown when dry and smells like a sewer when wet. they can also be composted by digging a "shallow hole" and covering them with dirt. i have an acre of grass to cut- a shallow hole to fit my clippings would have to be about 40 feet in diameter. one site did recommend using the clippings as a blanket to kill weeds along fence lines, which seemed like the most reasonable resting place for my clippings at this point.

so, after another cutting today and a collection of clippings from most of the lawn, i now have a 60 ft long, 18 inch high "blanket" of grass clippings all along the back of our property. after the rain coming our way tonight, it should take care of the weeds quickly while providing the lovely aroma of spring in the country.

yay! new e-friends!

the online finkiverse is expanding again. you'll notice a new official finkipedia-endorsed blog, lovemomworklife. authored by one half of one of my favorite duos in the world, n. is a great friend and the wife of my college roommate, bucket. (maybe she'll let him guest-post as to the origin of that nickname).

definitely plenty of blog material for her- a beautiful family, a career in advertising, and an ongoing renovation of her 100+ year old hudson river valley home. and she uses capital letters, so if you're into that kind of stuff, check it out.

earth day

i think i've always been a little "greener" than the average person- years as a boy scout provided me with a healthy respect for the outdoors. but there are two particular experiences i've had that have pushed me more down the tree-hugging path.

the first of which was an ecology class i took in college, a requirement for all bio majors. the prof i had was an amazing guy- absolutely loved his job and was so passionate about ecology and the environment. we went on field trips weekly, from the woods of connecticut where we counted trees, to his own backyard where we saw his compost pile. i've always thought that his passion for the earth tied in so well the jesuit beliefs of faith, peace and justice.

the second experience was a mission trip to jamaica, also in college, during which i lived for a week and a half in the slums of kingston. our section of the city had indoor plumbing, but the water was only a slow trickle and didn't run at all after late morning. the abject poverty helped give me a greater appreciation for the resources we all have and take for granted.

i'm still far from being as green as i'd like to be - i own a gas guzzling monster SUV, have dual-zone AC, and have incandescent bulbs in every fixture of my home. but i'm trying- i recycle about everything i can, i use as little water and energy at home as possible, and am certainly considering composting my trash and purchasing a hybrid vehicle.

whatever your views on global warming, i don't think you can argue that renewable energy sources and more common sense resource management are good ideas. maybe someday in the not-too-distant future, the opinions of those in power will be the same, and we'll have some progress towards environmental justice.

seg-way cool

one of the things i got to check out while at WDW was a segway exhibit at epcot. they show you a 10+ minute video on the history of the segway, then let you take one for a test roll. just a short down-and-back on a carpeted path, only about 60 feet round trip, but enough of a test to get an idea of how cool these things are.

i must admit, i've been skeptical about them from the get-go, and find it hilarious to see mall security and city police zipping around on these things. but they're incredibly cool, easy to use, and after riding one i can see how they would be helpful for many situations.

disney offers two segway tours- one of the countries around epcot (done before park opening) and one cross-country segway tour at their campground. something i'll definitely look into next trip.

back to the grind

back after a very enjoyable, albeit initially soggy trip to the sunshine state.

spent the week with my folks and my sister and her family doing the disney thing. tough getting 11 people on the same schedule, but we managed pretty well i think. had some good meals, a few great meals, and saw some cool things (make sure you catch "soarin'" at epcot if you're headed to disney anytime).

drove straight thru from orlando to middletown on the way back- about 16 1/2 hours, most of it overnight. comment of the week came from owen, who woke up when stopping for breakfast at 7AM (after sleeping in the car for 9 hours straight) and asked , "did we stop at a hotel last night?"

runners-up for the comments of the week:
owen, upon seeing all our bags packed and sitting on the bed of the hotel room friday morning, "are we leaving today?"
brendan, waking up next to me after the first night of the trip, "dad, i think your toothpaste wore off during the night"

por favor, mantengas alejado de las puertas

you're on your own for the next week and a half- headed out tomorrow to the house of mouse for grandpa eddie's retirement celebration. we're driving down, which means 15 hours of radio disney and south of the border billboards. stop tomorrow night in GA, then the rest of the way friday AM.

the boys got new nintendo DS's for easter, which should keep them occupied nicely. brendan surrendered his old leapster to molly, which she's taken to and will hopefully find interesting enough to engage her for at least a few hundred miles.

plenty of blog fodder to come from this trip, to be sure!

long drive contest

headed up to LI yesterday for a round of golf- 6 1/2 hr round trip for a 5 hour round. the outing was planned a month ago, when we figured the conditions would be more spring-like. turned out to be cold (high- 42 degrees) and windy (gusts to 25+ mph), but thankfully clear and dry.

despite the less-than-optimal playing conditions, was well worth the long trip. great catching up with old friends, one of whom i've been playing with for about 20 years. and no matter what the weather is or how i play (was another round of flashes of brilliance scattered amongst a baseline of inconsistency), when playing with 3 other great friends, golf is the greatest sport in the world.

word up!

(no, not that cameo from the 80's)

thanks for the overwhelming response to the my 3 songs question. the answer, which eluded all of you, was that each of those songs featured a cameo from a prominent artist. all 3 of those songs make my list of "top 5 cameos from the 80's"...

5. glass tiger, "don't forget me when i'm gone", featuring bryan adams- canadian superstar adams helped to make his fellow countrymen a flash in the 80's pan with this hit.
4. howard jones, "no one is to blame", featuring phil collins- collins produced the album too, and i believe played drums on this track as well.
3. rockwell, "somebody's watching me", featuring michael jackson- i can't think of another song in which michael does backing vocals for someone else (besides those awful duets with paul mccartney). according to wikipedia, jermaine appears on this song too.
2. michael jackson, "beat it", featuring eddie van halen- the legend goes that when eddie did his guitar solo for this song, the only compensation he asked for was dance lessons from MJ.
1. dire straits, "money for nothing", featuring sting- the quintessential 80's cameo, sting's only line in the song is probably the motto for 80's music in general.

any other nominations?

yeah! more songs!

hopefully more guesses for this one- it's a lead-in to a top 5 post for friday...

• rockwell, "somebody's watchin' me"
• dire straits, "money for nothing"
• glass tiger, "don't forget me when i'm gone"

and no, the answer is not "80's songs"...while that might be true, there's another more unique common thread to these three.

5 days of eating over the sink and leaving the toilet seat up

kids are off from school this week and vacationing at camp ironwood (aka my parents' house) while erin works a few days in a row. that leaves me here to feed the fish, water the plants, and empty the fridge of leftovers. lots of time to update the ol' blog, so i'll try to get some fresh entries this week.

no takers on the "my 3 songs" post from last week- goes back in the vault to be pulled out again someday.

as if i needed further confirmation that i married the right woman...

very disappointed (but not terribly surprised) when i hit mcdonald's yesterday prior to my hoops-a-thon and found that they were no longer serving shamrock shakes.

very excited when i returned home to find a post-it note on my tournament edition sports illustrated that read "we bought you a shamrock shake on monday in case you couldn't get one today- it's thawing in the fridge. enjoy the games! love, us".

i love us.

my 3 songs- holy week edition!

might have been better later in april, but it works now too- here's your newest installment...

hooters, "all you zombies"
talking heads, "nothing but flowers"
burning sensations, "belly of the whale" (not on iTunes, but a great lost classic of the 80's- found it on one of the "living in oblivion" discs- you can listen to a bit of it here)

good luck!

what rocks?!

while my heart is always with the stags come march, it's nice to have another alma mater with a little more of a basketball pedigree.

fairfield made some noise in the closing weeks of their regular season, but lost in the first round of their conference tournament. georgetown, however, seems to be getting stronger as the big east tourney moves on. a nice win against villanova today, coupled with the loss by their nemesis uconn, gives them a clear path to another big east tournament championship and possibly a #2 seed in the NCAA tournament.

maybe last year wasn't a fluke, and the hoyas will go far in the NCAA tourney again. that'll make the shamrock shakes taste even better.

extreme makeover- plumbing edition

looking for some advice on home repairs? you've come to the right place! here the first in what may be yet another recurring series: a little how-to based on some real-life experience. this one's fresh- just from last night!

how to repair your leaky outdoor faucet (also called a sillcock- *snicker*):

1. when playing outside with your kids, if you notice the sillcock is leaking, check to see if the knob just needs tightening. when the knob begins to turn freely in all directions and the water begins to run faster, you've confirmed a leaky sillcock.
2. shut off the water to the house. be aware that once this is done, all children in the home will immediately crave water as if they had been travelling in the sahara for 3 weeks.
3. remove the knob from the sillcock, exposing the pipe and the long rod within it that connects to the thingy inside that turns the water on and off. remove this rod.
   
4. take rod to lowe's and ask for replacement. when advised that among the 5 bazillion things they sell there, sillcock parts are not any of them and only entire sillcock mechanisms are available, head to home depot.
   
5. show rod to attendant at home depot and learn that rod you removed is not supposed to come out of the pipe, and that entire pipe/rod/spigot mechanism will need to be replaced. unfortunately, said part is not available at home depot.
   
6. head back to lowe's and purchase part. return home.
   
7. find spot inside basement where sillcock pipe comes in and fastens to copper piping. attempt to loosen nut on sillcock pipe, then inspect closely and realize that copper pipe is soldered into sillcock pipe and nut is really just there for show.
   
8. cut copper pipe with broken hacksaw blade, freeing old sillcock pipe. remove old sillcock from outside home, breaking as little of surrounding stucco as possible. (save large chunks of stucco which can be crazy glued back on later.)
   
9. go back to lowe's to purchase fitting for end of exposed copper pipe that will allow sillcock pipe to be screwed in.
10. head to home depot after finding out that lowe's does not sell said fitting. purchase fitting, and return home.
    
11. slide new sillcock in from outside, then screw copper fitting onto end that is now inside the house. be sure to tighten as much as possible, despite the fact that the space you're working in could barely fit a moon pie much less two pipe wrenches and your hands.
12. affix other end of fitting to exposed copper pipe.
13. turn on main water line to house. watch as water drips from screwed in portion of fitting.
14. disregard bloodied knuckles and further tighten fitting with pipe wrenches.
15. dry fitting with towel and watch closely for length of time that it takes to finish one beer (at this point, 4 minutes).
16. no water? congratulations- you're done! (in case of continued dripping, repeat steps 14-15, including beer.)

let the madness begin!

one of my favorite times of year- march madness. conference tournaments start this week, meaning i'll be watching semifinal matchups of conferences i've never heard of between schools i've never heard of, all to see who ultimately will draw the coveted #16 seeds in the ncaa bracket.

while the conference tourneys are fun, if nothing else for the sheer excitement of the players and the sparse crowds they play in front of, my absolute favorite day of the year is the first thursday of the ncaa tournament- this year on 3/20. as thursdays are my early day around here, my usual routine for the past few years has been to leave here at noon, hit the mcdonalds drive-thru for a burger and a shamrock shake, and park myself in front of the TV hopefully just in time for the usual 12:20 tipoffs for the first games. at sometime around midnight, i get up and go to bed.

maybe this year, i'll bring the laptop home and post updates as the day goes on. i'm sure you'd love that.

my three songs

a new feature here on finkipedia, based on a contest run on many radio stations and named after the one that was a regular feature on the WHFS afternoon show years ago.

very simple- i give you 3 songs, you give me the common link between them. a little difficult to do because of the lack of sound, but i think i can come up with some that are common enough that you'd know them and can figure out the link.

sometimes the link may be related to the lyrics, or sometimes it may be related to more of a generality about the songs themselves.

here then is your first installment- a relatively easy one, i think:

1. bangles, "manic monday"
2. prince, "little red corvette"
3. sheena easton, "sugar walls"

good luck.

even leonardo was 6 years old once

brendan's taking to sketching things lately- he got a sketch book for christmas, and likes to sit in bed before going to sleep sometimes drawing things he sees in his room. the other day, he must have been thinking about something he saw in a puzzle book or a worksheet at school, because he came up with this:


hard to see unless you've got a 21" monitor, but my favorite part is the answer key, written upside down on the lower left.

also of note: the pepsi can, because i don't believe we've ever had a can of pepsi in this coke-loyal house. he must be sneaking it on the side.

a stitch in time

walked into work this AM a few minutes before 9, and our receptionist said to me "rough one already". not too unusual a comment for a thursday, because it's my half day and therefore usually busy. the story unfolded further when our office manager took me aside in the hall, coat still on and coffee still in hand, and said "a patient of yours walked in a few minutes ago- he's on coumadin and fell yesterday morning, and his arm hasn't stopped bleeding since. and that's not the bad news."

uh oh.

put down the coffee, hung up the coat, rolled up the sleeves and fixed mr. jones up quick with a single well-placed stitch and a pressure dressing. the other stuff, more business than medical, will take quite a bit more to resolve.

i always knew fixing people would wind up being the easiest part of this job.

great work, if you can get it

kids went back to school today after a 4 day weekend (off friday and monday). erin was talking to them yesterday about how nice it is to have 4 day weeks- goes by so fast, weekend here before you know it, etc.

despite the holiday, my office was open yesterday. this led to another discussion about how great it is to be a kid, because when you grow up, long weekends are few and far between, and every week seems like a full 5 day week.

brendan's comment: "that's ok. i only plan on working 2 days a week."

not sure if that means he's got his career path set on 1) corporate tycoon or 2) priest.

doubt the latter.

lose the extra "o"

rant time again...

straight from a communication to parents from the principal's office at our school (slightly paraphrased): "...it seems that they loose their mittens and hats very easily".

while not as prevalent as some of the other grammatical missteps i've soapboxed on before, this one has annoyed me for years: the misspelling of "lose" as "loose".

this isn't one i've seen (thank god) in any print media, but i've seen it quite often in personal communication. i didn't realize the word "lose" was that confusing, but unless i really am sending my kids to school with gloves that are too tight, it must be.

open season

flu season here in DE- swamped in the office, and feeling the effects at home too. brendan started it the other day, erin started with some symptoms last night, and molly woke today with a temp of 104. owen and i have dodged it so far- we'll see how the week goes.

patients always ask me how i'm able to stay relatively healthy. i use the same line on all of them: "you never see a farmer with a sunburn, do you? constant exposure builds my tolerance". whether it's true or not, so far, i've been lucky.

our lenten journey

i usually eschew the traditional catholic behavior of giving up something for lent- for several years now, i've spent the time focusing more on prayer than on not doing something i probably shouldn't be anyway.

this year, the kids have for the first time chosen to give something up. owen, on his own, decided to give up the wii. he's been enthralled with it the past few weeks, so this is a big deal. so far he's doing very well.

owen's explanation for giving up the wii was that he knew he should be giving up "something i really like to do". on those grounds, when brendan was asked what he would be giving up, he offered "i'm giving up waking up grumpy."

and you thought jesus had it hard for 40 days in the desert. 3 days down so far, and i must say, they've all been great. if this kid gets to easter waking up happy every morning, i'm lobbying the vatican to make lent a year-round season.

CCCLXII days until finkbowl XIII

the guests are gone, the house is mostly clean, and there's still one gladware container of gumbo left over. another successful finkbowl has come and gone. thanks to all who made the trip, from near and far. we always have a great time, but this year's game made the day that much better. couldn't have scripted it better.

things i learned this weekend:

1. i am most definitely allergic to mangoes
2. don't continue to bet a seemingly unbeatable hand when your opponent asks "what's the ranking of hands again?"
3. cheering for "eli" and "plaxico" and "osi" is way more fun than cheering for "tom" and "randy" and "teddy"
4. super bowl commercials just ain't what they used to be. bring back the budweiser lizards!

kitchen confidential

cooking marathon starts in about 1/2 hour. over 4 gallons worth of soup to pump out today- gumbo and chowder. because i only make the gumbo once a year, i learned years ago to make enough to enjoy afterwards too. (only took one year without leftovers to convince me to make plenty extra.)

got news earlier in the week that superdad lead guitarist mikey will be unavailable for this weekend, which means that "middletown's favorite three-car garage band" may need to change their name to "plan B". we'll see if the show goes on...

joy in mudville

hold the football! baseball news from the hot stove too hot to let go...

after last year's historic collapse, the faithful were screaming for something to be done this offseason. and while endy's extension was nice, and dumping paulie bag o'donuts cleared some space for the HGH cap, this is the news we've been waiting for.

hopefully, sir johan will inspire pedro to get off his rocker and actually train for this year. then we may finally have a rotation that will get us through until october.

now, if only someone could teach delgado (aka cerrano) to hit a curveball, we may have a shot.

one week to go!

preparations are well underway for sunday's big event- finkbowl XII in just 6 days!

did some menu planning last night, will be making the circuit of the local groceries sometime this week. keeping with the tradition of the last few years of making a regional dish representing each of the teams, current plans are for some NE chowder and reuben sandwiches. of course, the gumbo will make its annual appearance as well, along with a few other things.

the celebrity death pool that we tried out last year was good but not great, but i still wanted to have some kind of contest that would last the year between finkbowls. i put together a year-long sports championship pool with wagers on different sporting events throughout the year. we'll see how that goes over. usual finkbowl wagering rules specificially prohibit off-site involvement in any competition. however, to increase interest in this year's special event, i'm opening it to anyone interested. the only caveat is that while you need not be present to participate, you must be present to collect. if you win but don't show at finkbowl XIII, your earnings roll over to next year. interested? let me know.

life goes on

for the second time in a month, i'm having to get started here after posting about deaths and funerals. and even though this time it involved family, seems a little easier to move on. gram's passing has been something we've all taken well, and are moving on from with comfort and peace.

makes it easier to address the matters at hand- finkbowl XII, only 10 days away!

movin' on up

just got word that gram has passed on. sounds like it was peaceful, not just for her but for my mom as well, who was at gram's side when she died.

this was all very sudden in a way, because although her alzheimer's was worsening over the past few years, her general health was fairly good. the cruelty of a disease like alzheimer's is that it often extends a person's decline because it doesn't affect anything more than the mind. in this circumstance, the sudden onset of an overwhelming, terminal disease like leukemia can be seen as nothing more than a blessing.

working in long-term care for the past 4 years as i have, i harbor very strong views about end-of-life care and an individual's right to die. (maybe fodder for another post someday, but just to clarify now- euthanasia is murder and is not part of my right-to-die philosophy). gram was allowed to die in comfort, with dignity, and with her daughter and a priest at her bedside.

a beautiful end to a beautiful life.

comfort care

sorry about the paucity of updates lately. a mini-vacation to start the year, followed by a ridiculously busy week last week in the office, and now a weekend of illness (others, not mine) make for not much time to check in here.

erin's battling some kind of flu bug, brendan's just getting over a weekend of MOOFE (multiple-orifice odorous fluid expulsion), and my gram was diagnosed with acute leukemia yesterday.

87 years old and in the throes of alzheimer's disease, she's not been herself for years. but she's maintained fair overall health until the past day or two, when she drifted out of sorts a bit. the nurses at her assisted living facility sent her over to the hospital yesterday at 10, and by 4 we found out it was likely leukemia.

already stricken with a terminal illness (her alzheimer's), the decision on what to do now was fairly simple: comfort care. she will likely enter under hospice care tomorrow, and soon move on to a better place.

no better comfort care than up there.

2007, we hardly knew ye...

working christmas week and relaxing the week after kept me off the computer for a bit, so the year-in-review post i was planning is coming out now. hey, if the NCAA can have its title game on jan 7, then you can get my best-of column on the 8th.

here, in no particular order, are my best-of's for 2007. not that every one of them were new in 2007, but they were new to me, which as you are now well aware is all that matters in this space...

• best album- "the virgins '07", the virgins: as recently as early december i'd have put the art in manila disc in this space, but i found this EP on itunes after catching one track on XM radio, and fell in love instantly. hoping that maybe they'll play a live show locally in '08.
• best book- "better", atul gawande: the author is a surgeon and frequent contributor to the new yorker. his book is a collection of essays on how the medical profession strives to better itself and humanity in the process. great even for non-medicos.
• best blog- the comics curmudgeon: and you thought i'd say this one, right? the curmudgeon is way better than this sorry old rag. it's hilarious, well written, and updated daily for your reading pleasure. if you're a fan of newspaper comics, you'll love this site.
• best new toy- the recent acquisition of the wii makes this a little tough, but i've got to go with the acoustic guitar i picked up in august. just as interactive, and works outside too.
• most prescient use of background music: fox's BCS selection show. i stand corrected.
• best movie- i went to one movie in 2007. i watched maybe 2 more on TV. so i have no authority to even have this as a category. but since everyone needs a best movie, i pick "superbad", since if i had seen it, it would probably be my favorite.
• best joke: a grasshopper walks into a bar. bartender says, "hey, you know we got a drink named after you?" grasshopper says, "oh yeah? you got a drink named fred?" not really fair, because that's my favorite joke every year.

happy new year!

4 days into january, and brendan may have the line of the year already - actually, the quote was from wednesday, only about 40 hours into the new year: 8 days after christmas, surrounded by games, books and two video game systems, one floor above a ping pong/pool/foosball table and bins full of power ranger toys, one floor below an entire room full of legos, wearing a long, pouty look on his face: "i have nothing to do".

god bless america.


here, from some happier times this christmas break:

a day trip to longwood gardens...


and the christmas picture you all almost had...

no better feeling...

than the one you have when you're minutes away from the end of your last work day before a vacation. i can smell the barley and hops from here. not a long break this time, but a much needed 5 days at home starting tonight.

(no worse feeling than the minutes before returning to work after a vacation, but fortunately i come back next thursday for a short 2-day week.)

wii are the champions

been a strange week for me- worked the weekend before christmas and christmas day, so despite the holiday i feel like i haven't really had my vacation yet. i'm off a few days next week, so after tomorrow at 5pm it's happy hour until after the new year.

santa was good to the fink clan as usual. molly got the pink fishing pole and toothbrush she asked for, brendan was thrilled with his webkinz, and owen had all 6 bionicles that santa brought him built by dinnertime.

the big hit for everyone has been the wii. brendan likes it, owen loves it, and grandma and grandpa are infatuated with it. it's been on almost non-stop since christmas afternoon. the interactivity makes it so much more enjoyable than other games, and the fact that it involves some physicality makes playing it a little more justifiable. it wears on you, though- i'm nursing a sore shoulder thanks to the baseball game, and i'm a little worried owen may develop little leaguer's elbow without playing a single game of little league.

after a few flying controller incidents, the boys are getting better about wearing the wrist straps. still funny watching them jump all around the living room, though. thank god there's not a soccer game as part of the package- i'm not sure my living room could handle it.

merry christmas!

no post tomorrow, so here's my chance to wish you all a merry christmas.

don't forget to track santa tonight- always fun to see where he is before your sugarplums start dancing.

sounds of the season

i've often got a few things rattling around in my head that i think would make good posts. this one's been brewing for a few weeks, but got tabled because of the events of this past week. time to pull it out, if for no other reason than to transition to a sense of normalcy and restore some brightness back to this blog.

i'm a big fan of christmas music, and have assembled what i think to be a pretty decent collection. i thought it would be easy to do a "top 5 christmas songs" post, but then as i started to compile my list, i realized how hard a task it was (bing's "white christmas" is by christmas law supposed to be #1 on every list, but i couldn't put it even in my top 5). i tried breaking it up into traditional and modern lists, but even that had too many crossovers (elvis' "blue christmas"- traditional? not exactly an old english carol there. sting's "gabriel's message"- modern? the song's got its roots in medieval times).

so, i decided to make the list of "top 5 christmas carols", whereby "top" is defined as "most likely to give me the warm-all-over christmas fuzzies". here we go:

5) "must be santa", mitch miller & the gang: if you grew up with a mitch miller album like i did, you know this is on your list too. back when we'd stack 5 LP's on the turntable, and they'd drop down one after the other, then we'd flip them over to hear side B on all of them, this was the song that the arm got lifted back and the needle replaced so we could hear it over and over.
4) "christmas must be tonight", robbie robertson: i love this song. i remember hearing it in the christmas rotation on WBAB, long island's finest rock station, and found it on a compilation disc a few years back. great lyrics, pleasant melody, way better than that paul mccartney song.
3) "i believe in father christmas", emerson, lake and palmer: at the risk of coming off like some classic rock geek, this was also one i picked up an appreciation for thanks to WBAB. got this one off yet another random christmas compilation.
2) "(there's no place like) home for the holidays", perry como: this is always the first christmas song i listen to every year. i won't allow myself to listen to christmas music before thanksgiving, and usually at some time on black friday, i'll pull out this song and put it on. i think my love for this one goes back to a 4th grade chorus concert.
1) "rockin' around the christmas tree", brenda lee: we didn't have this song on LP as kids, but it certainly got its fair share of radio airplay. i always liked it a little, but after "home alone", it became my favorite song of the season. (that movie for me is a classic, and i absolutely love the scene with him dancing by the tree to this song, with his bb gun over his shoulder and the cardboard cutouts moving by on the toy train.) never feel more christmasy than when i'm swingin' to this song.

honorable mentions: "do they know it's christmas", band aid, "twelve days of christmas", john denver and the muppets (by far the absolute best version of this song- "BA-DUM-BUM-BUM"), "i saw three ships", sting

intentionally left off: "white christmas", bing crosby (see above), "little drummer boy/peace on earth", david bowie and bing crosby (got nuthin' but love for bing, but this song just doesn't do it for me), "father christmas", the kinks (fun, but not fun enough)

if you managed to get through all that, and still care enough to leave a comment with your top few, be my guest. remember, though- my blog. i always win.

back to the grind

emotional service yesterday, as was expected. as with most memorials, it was a litany of accolades, all deserved, for a great person. hopefully all in attendance will have heard something which inspires them to make their lives a little better.

kids start their christmas break today, which could spell disaster for their already emotionally and physically fatigued mother. thank god for tivo.

what do i call this feeling?

hard to put up a post between the last one and the likely one that will follow tomorrow's memorial service, but i thought this was appropriate and fit some of the recurring themes on this blog...

erin and i were discussing the differences between sympathy and empathy, and both realized we didn't have a great idea of the differences between the two. i had always thought that one of them dealt with a sharing in emotions because of one's prior similar experiences. kinda right.

both words describe the sharing of feelings with another person. sympathy can be used very generally, for any feeling or emotion. empathy involves shared feelings, but usually describes the sharer with a deeper sense of feeling the actual emotion. no need for prior experience, but that's probably what had been explained to me before as empathy.

right now, either works, but not as good as a much simpler word: sad.

tragedy

as a medical professional, one of the worst but usually unfounded fears is that the anonymous patient in the next room, bed, or ambulance is someone you know.

erin worked yesterday and happened to be chatting with another nurse who was reviewing her patient's labs. erin recognized the name as that of a friend of ours, and then confirmed that the patient, in fact, was a classmate and friend from georgetown. he had gone to another hospital with a severe headache the night before, and was rushed to georgetown. tragically, he had a massive bleed into his head from an undiagnosed tumor, and died yesterday.

ray was 41, leaving behind a wife and twin 6yo girls. he was the last person you'd think something like this could happen to- an outdoorsman, rock climber, AF academy grad, helicopter pilot before going back to med school, family physician, all around great guy.

at a time of year when you're already more likely to appreciate those around you, do it a little more today. that is the only way any good can come from this.

apostro-phed up

as promised, the long-awaited apostrophe rant...

more than any other grammatical mistake, the misplaced and misused apostrophe gets me all fired up. maybe because it's the most common, or maybe because when misused in public, it's the most ridiculous appearing. the two main uses for an apostrophe ( contraction and designation of possession) are equally abused, but because abused contractions (like "your welcome") are usually just homophone mistakes, i'll limit my rant to the possessive apostrophe.

the rules really are quite simple: if you want to show one thing belongs to another, put two nouns next to each other, then give the first noun an apostrophe and an "s", and the second noun now belongs to it. (any two nouns will do- it might not always make sense, but it will be grammatically correct). if there's no belonging involved, there's no apostrophe involved. that's it.

acceptable: "the computer's keyboard", "the water's edge", "a winter's night"
unacceptable (actual phrases from signage in THIS VERY COMMUNITY!): "hour's of operation", "hot dog's and hamburger's", "shirt's- $1.29"

special apostrophe occasions:

• plural possessives- if you want your first noun to be plural, the apostrophe goes after the "s" ("the cars' headlights", "their parents' joy").
• "its"- "it's" is a contraction for "it is" or "it has", and is not a possessive form. "its" is the possessive form of "it", used similar to "his" or "her". there is no such word as " its' ".

whew. now that's off my chest. next up, more top 5's.

that time of year again

one of my favorite things about this time of year is pulling stuff out of the mailbox that actually is worth reading- your christmas cards. always fun to see how many we can get in one day. been a slow trickle so far, nothing yet to challenge last year's record of 12 in one day.

got my nog here in front of me, which means i'm about to start the annual missive myself. so keep an eye on your mailbox, estimated time of arrival is early next week.

sing along with freud

apparently, the networks and major ad agencies have openings in their media departments for pop music aficionados. only that can explain the lack of insight that goes into the choices of music paired with some recent TV spots. while the songs may be catchy (and some would argue, isn't that the whole point?), the titles, artists, or lyrics of the song don't always match up well with the subject matter.

two very recent examples while watching football this weekend:

• happened to be watching the BCS selection show this weekend (only because it immediately followed football on FOX), and when they announced that ohio state would be going to the championship game, they showed a montage of clips set to the new foo fighters single, a rockin' song that (unfortunately for OSU) is titled "the pretender"
• those UPS commercials that come up almost every other commercial break, the ones with the artsy looking guy writing on his dry-erase board with his brown marker, are set to a very pleasant electronic melody (recognized by some as "the song from grey's anatomy") called "such great heights", recorded by a band called 'postal service'- one of UPS's main competitors

oh, tannenbaum

got the tree and dressed it up real purty yesterday. our initial intent was to ride the wagon at the tree farm out to the field and select the most perfect tree God hath created, fell it ourselves, then have a few teenagers in overalls drag it back to our car for us. with the miserable weather here yesterday, it turned into this: getting out of the car, walking 40 feet to the pre-cut lot at the tree farm, looking at one tree, finding it acceptable until the helpful TOAs (teenagers-in-overalls) pointed out a second one which was even more acceptable, purchasing said tree, strapping it to the roof of the carbon-footprint-leaving conestoga, and hauling it home.

the time between our arrival at the tree farm and our departure- which also included getting 3 kids out of the car, into their muddy tree-finding shoes, an additional 7 minutes to purchase 75 feet of pine roping and a wreath for the front door, then getting the kids back out of the shoes and into the car- was no more than 18 minutes.

you say rush job, i say more time for egg nog!