August 5 Stupid Americans

I'll keep this short and sweet. Why is there a sign telling stupid Americans not to stop on the tracks? Am I alone in believing that people who are dumb enough to stop on the tracks and get obliterated by a train would be no loss to society. It is addition by subtract in my world. If we are lucky, they did not procreate before stopping on the tracks.

August 4 The Savior

White Sox fans already know this is a picture of Gordon Beckham. Most baseball fans already know he will probably be rookie of the year in the American League. When the White Sox promoted him from the minor leagues in May this year, their season was going down in flames. Manager Ozzie Guillen sarcastically said that everything will be alright now because our savior has arrived. It turns out Ozzie was right. Beckham, a shortstop his whole baseball career, was brought up to play 3rd base. He got off to a terrible start, but real fans could tell this kid was a real player. I was at the game against the Cubs when he made two errors to allow the Cubs back into the game. The guy behind me kept yelling send him back to the minors. At the time he was batting about .200. He came up in the ninth inning with the winning run on second base. I told Patty that great baseball players want to bat in this situation. A chance to redeem himself with the game on the line. The kid smoked a double to the right field gap to win the game. He's been on fire ever since, currently batting about .310. In my mind, Beckham is the best baseball player to come through the White Sox farm system since Frank Thomas. And for the first 8 years of his career, Frank was the best hitter I had ever seen in baseball.

August 3 Random Thoughts...Again

My SAD is becoming a real problem, cloudy rainy day again. I am losing my will to live...I thought about calling today's post "The Year Without Summer" kind of like the cartoon, "The Year Without Santa Claus".... the big difference is Summer really does exists...doesn't it...I hear the Cash for Clunkers government program is so popular that it will run out of money by Friday...maybe there is a lesson to be learned here...if the government keeps handing out money at what point will it run out of money and no longer exist...that could be a great day...I found another cool blog called Bowery Boogie...it chronicles the slow disappearance of the Lower East Side of Manhattan as it once existed...this neighborhood was home to all my ancestors at different times from the 1850's until the 1950's...the German, the Irish and the Italians all lived here over the years...I read with great sadness that Guss' Pickles is leaving Orchard Street...you can't say you've had a real pickle unless the owner pulls one from the barrel for you to eat...Mayor Daley says the city has the billions of dollars needed to put on the 2016 Olympics...really Mr. Mayor...then why did I have to wait 15 minutes on the packed 35th Street subway platform for a train after Saturday's Sox game...couldn't the city afford to run a few extra trains to handle the crowds...actually it was time well spent...I taunted Yankee fans who looked like they had lost the will to live...go ahead and jump, the third rail is less than 10 feet away...I'm going to bed...good night.

August 2 Steven Bowers

This is Steven Bowers latest CD, Homing and a picture of him performing on stage. You probably never heard of him. Here's the story of how I met him.
A few years ago, Chrissy & I drove across Canada to Nova Scotia, then drove back through the US. It was a dreary October day on Prince Edward Island. It had stormed all day. By the time we found the Trailside Cafe & Inn, it was about 8:30pm. The owner apologized profusely about screwing up our reservations. He said an artist friend of his would put us up for the night just a few blocks away. He took us to Mary's house and kept apologizing. He said he would feel better if we came back to the café to watch the musician performing that night. Anything we ordered was on him. We settled in, washed up and headed downstairs to chat with Mary. The old lady was very engaging so we invited her to go with us to the Trailside Café. She declined. She wanted to finish the book she was reading. She told us to enjoy the latest traveling troubadour. The Café was almost empty. Only about six people were there. A young man with an acoustic guitar walks onto the stage, then he says since the crowd is so small, why don't we all move to the middle and he'll play while sitting at one of the tables. After two songs, I am a fan. He is a gifted songwriter. I felt sorry that no one was there to see him. As he tells stories about the songs, takes requests and spends time just talking about music, songwriting and living life, he continues to perform as if it is a packed house. He introduces his father, who came with him from Halifax, Nova Scotia. During a break, I began talking with Steven's father. I tell him his son is a great songwriter and performer. Then Steven sits with us and we talk about music. The conversation continues long after he is done playing. Steven asks about our trip and when we say we'll be in Nova Scotia next week he gives me his phone number and insists we call if we need a place to stay in Halifax. I bought his CD, Tired Light. We listened to that CD every day for the rest of the trip. We didn't take him up on his offer, we drove straight through Halifax. The whole trip I kept thinking that kid deserves to be heard by more than 6 people. He really is very talented. When I got home, I found out that Steven Bowers is very well known in Canada. He has won the Canadian Grammy for songwriting. I would have never guessed it. He was extremely humble about my praise for his music. So now you have heard of Steven Bowers, check him out and support a fantastic musician.

August 1 Yankee Beatdown

The weather was iffy at best, 80% chance of rain, very windy, a sweltering 68 degrees on the first day of August and I am on call this weekend. All the stars aligned in my favor. I made it to the game in the bottom of the first inning, it only rained for 5 minutes in the seventh inning. I had a fun day with my fellow baseball fan friends, Patty, Tom & Bob. The cherry on top of this perfect Saturday afternoon sundae, the White Sox beat the crap out of the mighty Yankees 14-4.

July 31 Flowers

After work today, I picked up dog poop in my yard. Then I cut the grass. While cutting the grass I noticed that all over the front and back yards, Chrissy's flowers were still blooming. Just for the record, I knew we had flowers around the house. It's just that today I really noticed how colorful they looked in contrast to the freshly cut green grass. We've had a very cool and rainy summer. Since we haven't had many blistering hot days (not one 90 degree day in July), the flowers haven't wilted or dried up. It does make for a picturesque yard. So I decided to practice taking close up shots of the flowers. I posted a few of the better shots.

July 30 Why Does This Keep Happening?

        

The New York City Council approved Mayor Douchebag's plan for Coney Island. Even though the Mayor has been adamantly opposed to hotels or condos in the area zoned for amusement use only, his plan now downsizes the amusement area and allows for four 27 story hotel/condo buildings to be built along the beach. You can read about it here and here and here. I fully support rebuilding Coney Island, the right way. It is long past its glory days. I know that. I also believe that is also part of its charm. Over the last 60 years, beachfront amusement parks have disappeared almost to the point of extinction in the country. They have been 'upgraded' with hotels or residential buildings that allow only those people staying or living there access to the beach. The boardwalks are gone, the amusement rides are gone, families enjoying a day at the beach are gone. Sure some developer made tons of money but he destroyed something that everyone could enjoy. I am disappointed time and again by the American people who continually let the filthy rich and their government conspire against their best interests. The people who currently live in Coney Island deserve the infrastructure improvements the city has now promised with this development plan. But do not believe for a minute they will get to benefit from them. After years of neglecting the area, these improvements are only going to benefit the developers who will profit immensely (and donate huge sums of money to scumbag politicians) and the people who can afford to live there after the neighborhood is turned around. Those people are not the ones currently living in Coney Island. Yet some of them believe the politicians who say all this redevelopment money is being spent for them. Fucking idiots.