Labor Day - one month to go in the baseball season

With the Yankees' season finally dead most likely, I've compiled this video, hope you enjoy. Happy Labor Day weekend! I'll be heading to NY to spend time with my family and enjoy one more shindig before the end of the summer. I haven't seen them since May and the new baby must be getting so big. Lots of photos to come, for sure.

Doodle Week: Sunflowers

It's time for another Doodle Week!

I need to bust out of this creative slump, so I thought I'd really give some effort and replicate Vincent Van Gogh's Sunflowers.



And here is the original, care of Wikipedia:

The Blame Game

(AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Frank Gunn)
Red Sox' Coco Crisp comes to the aid of RF Jacoby Ellsbury after making a catch crashing into the outfield wall.

All work and no blogging makes Redbeard a dull blogger...

Apologies for the extended absence, I've been suffering from blogger's block, plus Saturday I focused my energies so that Nothing But The Girl would have a nice post. Also now that a lot of my Red Sox bloggy buddies are on Facebook, we've been whooping it up over there. I could also blame the Olympics, that's also sapped a portion of my interest, sadly leaving the blog to hang out to dry.

Then there's also my fantasy baseball team tanking and mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, 2 fantasy football drafts (one autopicked so I'm scrambling to make changes before next Thursday), not to mention domesticity. There is much to contribute toward my blog delinquency.

I will get cracking on a cracking good post for tonight or tomorrow, hang tight!

Oh, and did I mention, I really hate John McCain and his divisive Rove-like tactics? I truly hope that you, the voter, can see through this thinly-veiled rouse.

This world is way too small...

So I get an order for processing this afternoon from one of my colleagues. I looked at the name on the order and did a double take. Looked at the address on it, sure enough, that's got to be him.

I went over to my colleague who took the order and collected the information and said "This is too funny, you're joking with me right?"

He looked perplexed.

"See this address? This is where I went to college. And this name? He was one of my professors - Western Civilization, freshman year."

Now mind you, I didn't go to a large school, we only had about 1200 students maximum at any given time. But after 9 years of not hearing that name took me aback.

Another colleague had overheard this and said "Maybe you should 'lose' this order."

I said, "Well, he may have not have been my favorite teacher but he wasn't the worst one. I'll give him fair treatment."

Just another random chance meeting.

More on McCain

Care of TheRealMcCain.com and Brave New Films Youtube Channel.

If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention.

Separation of Church and State?

courtesy of someecards.com

Exactly what does God or religion have to do with running the country?

Tonight there will be a "forum" at the California megachurch Saddleback, home church of the Reverend Rick Warren and 23,000 of his mindless sheep. Here is an article.

If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention.

At any rate, it's going to happen. Obama really needs to shine here and frustrate McCain to the point of showing McW's need for anger management and inability to calmly and rationally lead a country, amongst other misgivings. By now those of us in this country have all seen the audacious and incredulous ads McCain has blanketed us with. You would think it's a no-brainer that Obama should win the election in 3 months. However there are still some small-minded ignorant individuals who are in need of enlightenment, like Hillbilly Willy or the asses at Free Republic, where if you have a differing opinion, you will be ridiculed, zotted, and your IP banned from the server. How American. As the title of Michael Moore's book asks, "Dude, where's my country?"

[I can't believe I've linked those 2 horrible places on the net, but I'm just doing it to prove a point that these kinds of people still exist and cannot be reasoned with. I know, I was brainwashed by one for about 4 years. Yes, I'm looking at you, Jeff Baker of Pennsylvania.]

Just Because... More Distractions

Thanks to Claire for sharing this lovely little tidbit. Llama llama duck!

Top 10 Albums Ever, IMHO, a distraction.

To distract myself from what's going on around me (see yesterday's post just below), I'm going to list my top 10 albums. Something simple, but maybe it will create some interesting comments or you can even list your top ten if you so desire. I won't judge you.

1. Death Cab for Cutie: Transatlanticism
2. Elbow: The Seldom Seen Kid
3. Cure: Disintegration
4. Tears for Fears: Songs from the Big Chair
5. Sigur Ros: Takk...
6. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss: Raising Sand
7. Barenaked Ladies: Gordon
8. Depeche Mode: Violator
9. The Smiths: Meat is Murder
10. Coldplay: Parachutes

Thank you to all the well-wishers, I am feeling a little better today, but who knows when the next wave will hit me. Anyone who's suffered grief before will understand - I compare it to treading water in the open ocean. You may or may not see land nearby. You can be treading water just fine, then a huge wave will suck you under, then you resurface, just trying to keep afloat, keep it together. Even for those of us some people consider "the strong ones", it's still the same. Tomorrow I will see the family and I'm sure it will happen all over again.

My/our supervisor who is blissfully unaware and out of the country - I'll be the first familiar face she sees when she comes back (I'm storing her vehicle at my place), and I'll have to break the news to her, and I've been thinking about how to do that. I won't have to do that until next Monday, and I'm sure all the same things will hit me all over again. Maybe not quite as hard or in a different way, but it will still hit me all the same.

Thanks to The Girl who made us a fantastic breakfast this morning, I was not expecting that. Thanks to her for putting up with my zombie ass.

This isn't how I wanted to start my Monday.

The kind of coffee I usually get coming into work wasn't available.

I slammed my hand into the counter.

Small potatoes, those are nothing compared to what's really troubling me.

This morning I've come to find out the co-worker who happens to sit next to me, a part-timer, passed away this weekend. He was only 22. What I didn't know was that he had a heart condition. It was quite sudden by all accounts. Also his mother works here full-time, also in my department, actually my partner-in-crime as I like to refer to her as we work together on most of our projects. The poor woman... I've known her for the last 2 1/2 years. Her son I've only known like a year, maybe less.

I'm still trying to take it all in and just get through the grieving process so if I seem a bit off in the next few days to come, please understand. Thanks.

What I've Learned From "No Reservations" with Anthony Bourdain

Ok, I'm going to wrap all this China/trout stuff together.

Awesomest show of the decade, No Reservations, featured either on Food Network or Travel Channel (I can't remember which - maybe both!), had a wonderful episode a few months ago. It featured Anthony in rural China, fishing with fisherman in the boats on whatever river it was in those funky looking mountains that look like something out of a fantasy novel or Lord of the Rings.

Except these fisherman had no fishing poles. None in sight. Instead they used an ancient method used in some societies around the world which used partially domesticated cormorants. Fishing with birds. The birds dove (see what I did there?) off the boat, diving to deep depths for what seemed to be an eternity. Suddenly the cormorant would surface on the water, the fishmonger would grab the fish from out of the cormorant's gullet. It was amazing to watch...

Ok so it shouldn't be any surprise that birds have been domesticated for ages. But placed in cages. Most people don't trust birds outside of a cage, you know for that whole flying away thing. Even used in occupation - the canary in a coal mine, those were caged. And what's preventing the cormorants from swallowing the fish for their own? I was so transfixed on this faraway place and the ancient time-tested traditions.

If I was in China, that's what I'd want to do, not inhale the nasty Beijing smog... I'd rather work in the rice fields than in a factory...

Have a marvelous weekend!

Hey, where's that trout that stole my comments???

Is anyone else having issues with disappearing comments? Because in the Striped Bass post, 2 comments disappeared. Not marked 'deleted'. Just GONE.

Brown Trout

Beware of the Brown Trout...



aka Phoning It In...

Trout Bass Week!

The best way to catch a salt-water striped bass is to use a hot dog as bait. True story. The Girl's 8 year old cousin did it off the Maine coast earlier this year.


Obviously not the 8 year old cousin. Photo by massbayguides.com.

Trout Week!

Ok so I bet you're asking yourself, what does Moxie have to do with trout? Well, I'll tell ya.

This week has been declared Trout Week by the lovely and also Canadian Cake, and she has delivered a very punny trout post today. So I thought of the only trout story I could think of.

With camping week still fresh in recent memory, I'll tell you a camp / fishing story.

There's this fishing hole some distance away from where we camp where one of The Girl's uncles takes the kids. All the kids are sworn to secrecy and I've never been there, so I can't tell you exactly where it is other than it's in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont.

It's on private property, I can tell you that. Uncle brings a whole gaggle of kids once or twice a year during the camping trip to this fishing hole. Uncle tells the kids there's just one price for admission to this coveted fishing hole.

A SIX-PACK OF MOXIE.

Soda. Fizzy drinks. Non-alcoholic. This man loved his Moxie.

Now if you're not familiar with Moxie, let me tell you. Moxie is one of the most vile concoctions ever produced. It can only be found in New England shops. It's like liquid marmite in a can. I've tried it only once, and only once is all you need.

Uncle and kids give the gentleman his Moxie, and he shows them the way to the fishing hole. Uncle and kids come back with about THIRTY Brook Trout (affectionately called Brookies around here), all about between 8 to 12 inches in length. Evidently fishing here is like shooting fish in a barrel. Just drop in your baited line into this small stream, and a bite is just moments away. Unreal. These are quality fish too, not some farm raised fatty fish. I ate at least three of these little guys last time they brought fish back.

So moral of the story is:

Almost in Jesus-like miraculous fashion, you can turn 6 Moxies into 30 Brook Trout and feed the multitude.

Happy Blogoversary, DrowseyMonkey!

A little over a year ago, I began on my own blog venture. On June 10, 2007, I took on the Redbeard persona originally as a baseball journal. It didn't take long for all other aspects of my life to take over the blog, which has made it more of a personal / humor / sport / music / political / mixed bag type of blog. As the cliche goes, life is what happens when you're making other plans. Now here I am on the eve of my 150th post! (I didn't post very often in the beginning.)

Little did I know shortly after I had begun my blog, so would a happy-go-lucky Canadian that goes by DrowseyMonkey. We had only met just a short month ago or so just before I went on vacation and just before Doodle Week.

So here's to you, DrowseyMonkey! :lifts glass: Cheers! Salut! Slainte! Tops and Bottoms...