physician, heal thyself

getting my late winter cold a few months early this year. started with just a scratchy throat last thursday, and has progressed to general misery, mostly in the head and neck. sound worse than i feel, but i have no voice. (good thing this isn't an audio blog).

thanks to the hoarseness i got a remark from just about every patient today, more than half quipping unoriginally "you need to see a doctor!" the other half thought i had been rooting too hard for the phillies. i of course told them i'd rather have tuberculosis than root for the phillies, and if they insinuated similarly again, i'd cough in their general direction.

6 quirks

got tagged a while back by n., she of lovemomworklife, to post about 6 unspectacular quirks about me. "tagging" amongst bloggers is equivalent to chain letters, and i'm really supposed to "tag" 6 others now. don't have enough people to keep the chain going, but i will go ahead and post my quirks, because i think it's a fun idea.

1) i love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but they should be made with skippy peanut butter and welch's jelly (NEVER jam), and always accompanied by a glass of milk
2) i can sleep on either my right or left side, but i must face the outside of the bed
3) i eat ice cream with a teaspoon and cereal with a soup spoon, no exceptions
4) i can't watch half a movie. i've never left a movie in the theater, and won't start a movie on DVD unless i can finish the whole thing
5) i always keep the money in my wallet in denominational order, from lowest to highest, all facing the same direction
6) while i may forget the names of people or places, i almost always know how many letters are in the name of the thing i'm trying to remember

you can see n.'s 6 here and googs' 6 here. show us yours- leave your 6 in the comments section.

can it really be "classic" if one team has only been around for 10 years?

as you know, i love baseball. and despite the b-list headliners of this year's fall classic, i'll be watching every game. plenty of reasons to watch, not the least of which to root, root, root against the hated phillies and their fairweather, bandwagon fans.

granted, the rays were a team that could barely attract 10K people even earlier this season and now fill their awful domed stadium with bandwagon hangers-on. but philadelphia fans are different. they come out of the woodwork every time a team of theirs gets into the playoffs and cry about how long it's been since their town has had a champion. happened all those years that the eagles were making it to championship games, and now that the phillies have a chance, it's resurgent again.

i say, if the phillie phaithful want to see a local champion, they can suck down a cheesesteak while watching the DVD of the philadelphia soul's arena football championship season from last year. let the rays join the '69 mets in the lovable-former-loser's hall of champions.

falling into the season

finally had some fall-like weather around here, with temps barely cracking 60 this weekend. celebrated it appropriately enough by hitting the pumpkin patch today. googs and rachel were up from DC for a visit, so the 7 of us went across town to visit the local agri-tainment farm. a short hay ride, some apple cider, pick-your-own indian corn, and plenty of pumpkins of all varieties.

mentioned the other day that i've got the running bug after watching erin in chicago. to help keep myself honest, i decided to keep a running diary, and what better way to do that than with a blog. i can't promise any scintillating, insightful posts, but if you're interested in following my progress towards chicago 2009, check out the newest flog*, finkathon.

*fink blog, of course.

election 2008: debate #3

a two-for-one post day, so i can hold up my pledge to respond to each debate.

enjoyed last night's debate a little more than the previous one. for starters, i thought the format was great, and i thought bob schieffer did a great job. i thought he missed a few opportunities to chase them down a little more, but overall i thought he was unbiased and fair with his questioning.

from the candidates, the rhetoric was all the same, most of it right down to the sound bites that are all too familiar now- "the same kind of insurance senator mccain and i enjoy", "clean coal, solar, biodiesel, wind...", etc. even the newest proposals, those regarding the recovery plans for the falling economy didn't seem to offer much of anything new. like with the last debate, i think i was too familiar with each candidate's policies and plans to get anything out of their context.

i did, however, gain a lot by watching these men in their attitudes towards each other. the longer this campaign goes on, the more mccain comes across as a grumpy old man. his tone of voice, his snide comments, and his annoying smirks give the impression that he's completely fed up with obama. on the times when obama gave his negative opinions of mccain's plans, he gave straightforward opinions of why he felt those choices would not work. when mccain brought up perceived flaws in the obama plan, he did so with a sense of incredulity and arrogance that those suggestions would even be made. this kind of attitude does not exactly match up with the open-minded, reach-across-the-aisle persona that he is trying to portray. worse, it insinuates an inability to negotiate with adversaries, a quality that a presidant can ill afford.

time is winding down, and as you can see from my lack of recent posts, i've not found my own time to comment more on this election. i'd like to put up another comparitive post or two on policies, but as much as i wanted my vote decided only on issues, i'm having a difficult time separating the subjective from the objective. this ship is listing to port, and it will take a strong wind in the next 3 weeks to change the course to starboard.

runner's high

still trying to catch up after spending the past weekend in chicago watching my beloved run her 5th marathon. an awesome, inspiring event. erin and our friend bryan (fellow hoya M'97) ran on sunday, while their respective spouses (myself and bryan's wife cindy) and a gaggle of other hoyas were in attendance to cheer them on. one of them went so far as to run the last 6.2 with erin- thanks, maguire.

the chicago marathon is truly a spectacle. 33,000 people running a viewer-friendly course through a great city. so inspiring, in fact, that i've pledged to run it next year. a while back i ran the san diego marathon and while it was certainly an achievement, the entirety of the event itself coupled with my less-than-kenyan performance made me immediately want to have another crack at a marathon someday. so here i am, 8 years later, finally with enough inspiration to make it happen.

thanks, erin.

election 2008: debate #2

i think the banner headline on drudgereport.com last night summed it up best: "BORING!" if the VP debate frustrated me, this debate annoyed me. fortunately, i missed the first 40 minutes and was subjected to only the second half. don't think i missed very much from what i've read.

the only thing i learned last night was that mccain's disdain for obama seems to be growing by the day. maybe the third and final debate will provide more insight into the candidates, but i'm not hopeful after watching their behavior yesterday.

there's always next year (though that's what we said last year)

"could've been so beautiful, could've been so right" - tiffany, "could've been"

you know it's bad when you start your post quoting tiffany. but that's how messed up my mind is tonight. see, here's what came in the mail the other day...




it's where i should be tonight- at game #3 of the NLDS against the cubs. never been to a playoff game before, and finally got my chance. i won the online lottery to purchase tickets for the NLDS (this was of course before the flushing in flushing), and bought 4 tickets to the first home game. figuring the mets would take the wild card, by choosing home game 1 i'd get to see game #3, which would have been tonight at shea. best case scenario, mets take 2 in chicago and have a chance to win the series. next best case, they split in chicago and come home for a meaningful game. worst case, they lose 2 in chicago and i get to see possibly the last game ever at shea. instead, i am at home tonight, rooting hard for the brewers, downhearted like all other met faithful.

well, perhaps some are a little more than just downhearted.

election 2008: vice-presidential debate

at some point during last night's debate, i realized that the experience was not unlike watching a NASCAR race: i was watching the competitors going round and round in circles, waiting for one of them to crash. made it a little less exciting since neither of them truly crashed, but i think something may have been gained in the exercise.

first off, some comments on the moderator, gwen ifill. a wonderful woman, i'm sure, but if i were in the mccain camp, i'd be furious. i didn't keep track, but if i had to guess, ifill offered the last word to joe biden on at least 80% of the questions she asked, regardless of who was asked the question first. maybe some of that blame can be shifted to palin, who seemed to not use all of her allotted time on more than one occasion, but i think the disproportionate opportunities for rebuttal by biden were glaring. i think ifill also could have pressed each candidate further during the free time after the 90-second answers were given.

regarding the debaters, it was interesting to watch the differences in style. from the outset, biden looked directly at ifill when answering questions and rarely at the camera, while palin looked directly at the camera almost immediately after she began speaking each time. biden used the camera more so as the debate went on, but only when he had aggressive points to make, which came off as harsh and negative. palin came across as speaking directly to the public, which was clearly intentional. because her style was smooth and pleasant, her points seemed more substantive than they truly were.

this debate frustrated me. i think biden had more substance, but it was hard to tell because he blew much of his credibility with his style. he kept tripping over words, needlessly repeated phrases, and ranted about "fundamental" differences so much that the term got watered down. he refused to acknowledge any potential differences between himself and obama. biden insisted he and obama have always been of the same opinions on iraq, although their voting records demonstrate otherwise. palin hit him hard on that, calling out his kerry-esque reversal given his aye vote on the war resolution. biden could have defended himself better but chose to lose face to defend the ticket. it painted a wishy-washy picture which i think weakened biden a good bit.

palin, to me, had nothing to say. she brought up the points she was coached to bring up, and made them well. it infuriated me when she said something like "i may not answer the questions directly as you or the moderator would like me to", and she kept her promise. she repeatedly brought up unrelated topics and harped on "energy independence" as if it were the answer to all the world's problems. often, her answers started well but turned to canned fluff (shout-outs to all her buddies in alaska), and on one occasion (don't remember the question) she just rambled for all her alloted time with a bunch of patriotic cheez-whiz and not a single salient point. she came off as as a promoter for the ticket, someone like giuliani or romney, rather than someone on the ticket herself.

and then, she said it. the one thing about this current president that drives me crazier than anything, and palin said it. during an answer to a question about the dangers of pakistan and iran, palin dropped the N-bomb: "nucular". i didn't want to believe it at first, but she said it again. "nucular". and again. "nucular". and again. "nucular". there is one and only one way to pronounce the word "nuclear"- just as it's written, with the "l" right after the "c". our current president doesn't seem to understand that, and unfortunately, it seems mrs. palin doesn't either. it is extremely hard for me have faith that someone can comprehend the intricacies and ramifications of nuclear proliferation if they cannot even pronounce the damn word.

here's my bottom-line interpretation: biden is a good guy with a strong background of service who is afraid to say where he differs with obama for fear of presenting a divided ticket. palin is a wonderful public speaker, and i'm sure the best gosh-darn cookie-makin', baby-totin', moose-killin' hockey mom up there in juneau, but someone who has no right being a proverbial heartbeat away from running the free world.

almost every pundit i watched last night before and after the debate made the point that while VP debates may be interesting, they don't affect the election at all; people vote on the presidential candidates, not the VP's. unless i am given reason to be swayed differently between now and nov. 4, i may be the exception to that rule.

a tale of two cities

somewhere in lower manhattan today, david wright woke up around two p.m. still reeking of piss and wild turkey from the atrabilious night before. streaks of eye black still ran down his cheeks, courtesy of the river of tears that turned him from a pretty boy third baseman to an alice cooper look-alike. he clapped twice to turn on the projection screen TV just past the foot of the bed, quickly navigated past the channels of the ESPN family to avoid any sight of the previous afternoon's events, and stopped on CNBC to check how his abercrombie and fitch stock was performing. he rubbed his eyes, not sure if the smeared eye black was somehow distorting his view of the ticker, then stared agape when he realized the carnage befalling wall street. taking a swill from the warm half-empty bottle of miller chill on the nightstand, he muttered to himself, "thank god i'm not a stockbroker", then pulled the sheets over his head and went back to sleep, content with the knowledge that someone not in orange and blue would be on the cover of the post tomorrow.

election 2008: debate #1

i'm not avoiding the obvious post on the collapse of the mets, i'm just fulfilling my promise to promptly report on the debates as they happen. honest.

watched the whole of friday's debate live. i took no notes, because no average american does, and haven't and won't read any transcripts, because i want to remember the debate as an average american would.

from the outset, it was clear that moderator jim lehrer was intent on having a debate filled with banter and interaction between the candidates. the candidates, especially mccain, were not interested in that. (i know the candidates were not privy to the questions in advance, but if it was expressed to them in advance that this was the kind of debate lehrer was looking for, they intentionally made it difficult for him by opting for a standing-at-podium-style debate rather than a seated one.)

it was meant to be a foreign policy debate but because of the recent financial crisis and the bailout plan in congress at the time, the first 40 minutes of the 90 minute debate focused on the bailout plan and the struggling economy in general. with regards to the bailout plan, neither candidate cared to elaborate on details they preferred, but expressed faith that a good plan would come out of negotiations. when asked what they'd cut from their presidential wish lists to pay for the bailout, obama couldn't list a single thing. mccain talked about spending freezes and getting rid of pork barrel spending. the cuts he mentioned were cuts he planned on anyway, so didn't really answer the question he was asked.

each candidate tried to sneak in bits and pieces of their domestic policy into their answers on the financial crisis. energy independence seemed to be a hot topic, and a few mentions of reforming health care as a means to save money were made by obama. overall, i don't think i heard enough from either candidate that would sway me towards one or away from the other on the domestic side.

foreign policy was where the fireworks came out. the basics of the candidates' foreign policies are: obama- focus on afghanistan, let the iraqis run iraq, begin diplomatic proceedings with rogue states; mccain- focus on iraq, increase presence in afghanistan but not at the expense of the iraq theatre, no diplomacy with rogue states. mccain repeatedly name-dropped and place-dropped, playing his experience card while exploiting obama's lack thereof. i'm not sure just knowing the names of foreign leaders or saying you've been somewhere makes you more qualified, but it's hard to discredit 25 years of experience on the world stage.

as a debate, i thought obama's presence helped him early, but mccain fought back hard throughout the foreign policy section. since this post is more an evaluation of the debate itself than the content, my final evaluation is what i think the perception of the average american would be. scoring it like a boxing round, i've got mccain winning 10-9 on my card on the strength of his attacks towards the end.

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.