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Thursday, July 31, 2008

If It's So Wrong, Why Does It Feel So Right?

I may in the minority of Boston fans, those of us who are happy to see Manny Ramirez be traded from the Red Sox. I was shocked when I heard the news today. There have been rumors about trading Manny for the past few seasons, but it never really happened. I expected these rumors to be the same way. Not this time! Torre and the Dodgers get Manny, and Jason Bay is headed our way! His stats aren't too bad so far this season: batting .282, 22 home runs, 64 RBIs, and an OPB of .375. I hope he does well in Boston!

Boston.com has all the details if you're interested.

On a side note, Surviving Grady gave the Sox a good talking to today. Too funny!

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Thank Goodness . . .

So it seems that Kevin Youkilis is staying in Boston! Yay! The Angels nabbed Teixeira from the Braves in a trade today. The Braves received first baseman Casey Kotchman and pitcher Stephen Marek.

So long, handsome Mark Teixeira! I wonder if Tito and the Gunshow will make a new Mark Teixeira tribute song?

Sunday, July 27, 2008

366 Pictures: #338 Lamp

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I passed this lamp while driving around my neighborhood recently. It stands at the end of a driveway at one of the homes along the Chattahoochee. Not the best picture, but for some reason I really like the pollen on the side of the lamp.

Date: July 13, 2008.

366 Pictures: #308 Skill

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Michael Koenen showing off his punting skills at training camp.

Date: July 27, 2008

366 Pictures: #175 Crowd

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Not a typical crowd picture, but that's okay. This was taken at Atlanta Falcons Training Camp. Once practice was over the players huddled together to form this small crowd.

Date: July 27, 2008.

366 Pictures: #77 Coins

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The small pile of change which continually sits in my Xterra.

Date: July 26, 2008.

366 Pictures: #289 Cooking

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Part of dinner on Friday night. Roasted red potatoes, seasoned with yummy greek seasoning. This was pre-oven.

Date: July 25, 2008.

Rumors Abound . . .

There hasn't been a whole lot of baseball talk here lately, but here goes. There are rumors the Red Sox and the Braves have some trade talks going on. Who are the contenders, you ask? (Or, maybe you don't, but oh well!) Mark Teixeira and Kevin Youkilis (a.k.a. Youk).

I totally get why the Braves want to trade Tex. First, he's a free agent after this season which means he's unlikely to be with the Braves next year. They can't afford him. Isn't this the main reason Texas traded him last year? This makes Youk attractive because he's set at $3 million until 2011. His stats have been decent, he's currently .271 at the plate, but his on base percentage is better, around .380, I think? He's good for yard having hit 20 homeruns so far this season, and 77 RBI.

I also understand why the Sox would be interested in trading Youk. Their stats are similar -- Youk's BA is less, his OBP is higher, and he has 17 homeruns, and he's 10 down on the RBI's compared to Tex. Both have earned Gold Gloves in the past, and Youk is expected to earn another this year. Comparatively, there's talk that Youk will flame out, unlike Tex who is expected to be a solid position player for several more years. Tex would also be able to help out with power should Ortiz or Manny present problems. Theoretically, if Tex came into Boston and is successful, there is less of a need for Manny, if they find a fit in left field.

The Sox would have to offer up someone alongside Youk, probably a relief pitcher, which the Braves need. Boston has done well with their pitching depth this year. The most talk has been about Craig Hansen. Hansen hasn't been super productive for Boston, but when his slider is on, he usually does well. Just don't let him get behind in the count -- that's when he struggles. Another suggestion, Sox prospect Michael Bowden. To whom I say, no, no, no. Bowden did well at Portland this year, going 9-4 with a 2.33 ERA. He has the potential to develop into a great pitcher. I'd rather see Boston develop Bowden than send him to the Braves. Look how well they did with Papelbon!

So, I'm torn. I'm a fan of both Youk and Tex, and to be honest, it would be fun having Youk in Atlanta. He's a fun player to watch. I can see both sides. But, I'd be sad to see Youk leave Boston if the trade happens.

One thing I would like to again mention to Theo and rest of the Boston front office: Why not attempt to rid yourself of the faker within your organization? I've been saying trade Manny for years! He has no hustle whatsoever. He practically walks to first base on the ground ball. And now? Faking an injury so he's able to sit out? He's making $20 million! He sat out after MRIs on both knees came back negative. Imagine the surprise when, after being faced with disciplinary action, that his knee is magically okay! I am so tired of hearing it's just "Manny being Manny." Bullcrap. That would be one trade I'd be happy to see.

Unconscious Mutterings Week 287

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I say ... and you think ... ?
  1. Memory :: Fondness

  2. Original :: First

  3. Exclusively :: Only

  4. Listings :: Sports standings

  5. Bucket :: Of beer

  6. Knight :: Dark

  7. Dusty :: Needs cleaning

  8. Choice :: Decision

  9. Sunlight :: Summmer

  10. Change of plans :: On the fly

Join in here

Friday, July 25, 2008

Best. Dog. Ever.

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This is Charlie. Or, as I've always called him, Charlie Bear.

We found Charlie underneath my Mom's car Thanksgiving Day of 1998. He was the tiniest, most adorable little guy. We brought him in the house and he promptly ate two large bowls of food so fast that his little belly became swollen with air.

I took Charlie home with me. He was such a sweet puppy. You absolutely could not allow him to become bored because then he became destructive. My old couch can attest to this. He drove my boyfriend at the time crazy because each time he came over, Charlie would jump up and land right between his legs! :lol: And the vacuum cleaner? Forget it. It was despised like no other object in my apartment.

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Charlie was a snuggler, too. His absolute favorite game was to push his toys under the couch and bark until you retrieved them. Then, the game of fetch was on and never-ending.

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As he grew older, and learned more manners, he did his very best to please. However, he absolutely hated living in an apartment. So, my Mom offered to take him in since she lives on 4.5 acres. After moving him back home, Charlie was free to roam as he pleased. He did this all the time when he was younger, but not as much once he got older. He liked to stay in with his people.

I called him a Benedict Arnold after he began living with my Mom, because he immediately became her dog, too. Although, whenever I came home he was right at my feet ready to be loved on. He really liked having all his people in the same room, where he could watch over all of us at the same time. He hated having his picture taken and almost always would turn away when the camera was on him. He ignored me every single time I began to load up my car to drive back home, until I was just about to leave. Only then did I receive attention.

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Over the last 6 weeks or so, Charlie's health began to decline. Although the vet couldn't give a definite diagnosis, we knew it didn't look good. Finally, this week, he was diagnosed with cancer and took a turn for the worse almost immediately. Today, my Mom and StepDad made the decision to put him to sleep. I'm thankful that I was home for a visit not long ago and had the chance to spend some time with my sweet boy before he passed away.

He was loved as much as a dog could be loved, and will be missed terribly. He was without a doubt, for me, the best dog ever.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

The Big Read

From Mel.

The Big Read thinks the average adult has only read six of the top 100 books they've printed below.

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicise those you intend to read
3) Underline the books you LOVE.
4) Reprint this list in your own blog so we can try and track down these people who've read 6 and force books upon them.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter Series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones' Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

* A note on my italicized books. Each book is currently on one of my "to read" shelves.

Unconscious Mutterings Week 286

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I say ... and you think ... ?
  1. Flicker :: Photos

  2. Styling :: Profiln' (Wow. Ric Flair from out of nowhere!)

  3. Episode :: The Office

  4. Sexier :: Older

  5. Studious :: Smart

  6. Mushroom :: Yum

  7. 8 minutes :: Morning commute

  8. Bald :: Mr. Clean

  9. Immunity :: Project Runway

  10. Sectioned :: Stadium seats

Join in here.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Childhood Fears: Part Duex . . .

So, remember a few months ago I mentioned my Childhood Fear of dead insects coming back up from the toilet? Well, this news story is nearly as bad!

Maine Woman Shocked to Find 8-foot Snake in Washer

Oh, and this wasn't just any ol' 8-foot snake. This was an 8-foot long python!! A python?! Yeah, this would really put a damper on my laundry I think. Can you imagine reaching in to grab your jeans or t-shirt and instead grabbing a snake?! No freaking way!

Thank goodness I washed clothes last night!

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Unconscious Mutterings Week 285

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I say ... and you think ... ?
    1. Intimidated :: Bullied

    2. Brush :: Hair

    3. Masquerade :: Ball

    4. Procedure :: Civil

    5. Tattoos :: Ouch!

    6. Square :: Circle gets the. . .

    7. Tuck :: Pin

    8. Boyfriend :: Girlfriend

    9. Badass :: Kickass

    10. Thousand :: Island


Join in here.

366 Pictures: #227 Blur

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This photo was taken from my car. I drove down one of the riverside roads near my house and spotted this squirrel. He was happily eating a nut, but just as I was taking the picture decided to chase after another squirrel nearby.

Date: July 13, 2008.

366 Pictures: #318 Tiny

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I saw this little guy as I was walking down the steps leading to my apartment. I ended up having to wait him out because he wouldn't move back to the top of the stair railing until I was farther away. I took several pictures of him, trying to make sure I had at least one that was focused, as he crawled up the railing.

Date: July 13, 2008.

366 Pictures: #171 Cheese

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One thing I like about Whole Foods, although I usually only shop there for specific things I can't find elsewhere, is that they always have samples available. Usually several different fruits, lots of cheeses, usually sauces and salsas, too. I picked out this cheese this afternoon. It's Tarrago River Clothbound Goat Chedder and it tastes wonderful!

Date: July 13, 2008.

366 Pictures: #208 Sugar

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I was working a decent picture of your run of the mill sugar when I remembered I had four tubs of colored bar sugar. If I remember correctly, it came in a rum set. It isn't the best picture, but it'll do in a pinch.

Date: July 13, 2008.

366 Pictures: #326 Barcode

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The barcode on the bag of quinoa I picked up today. I have a couple of recipes I want to try with it this week, rather than just flavoring it with spices like rice.

Date: July 13, 2008.

366 Pictures: #106 BBQ

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Quite possibly the best BBQ sauce ever. The only place I've seen this brand is at Whole Foods. They have four for five different flavors, but this Roasted Shallot & Garlic is my favorite. It's really flavorful and has a nice heat to it.

Date: July 13, 2008.

366 Pictures: 295 Pastry

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I do not ever buy doughnuts. Other than this morning, I couldn't begin to tell you when I last bought some. Don't get me wrong, they're yummy, but they're sooooo bad!

This was a complete impulse buy this morning at the grocery store. Had I eaten something before I went shopping, this box would not be on my counter.

Date: July 13, 2008.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

366 Pictures: #172 Black and White

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This is one of my favorite picture frames. It has ivory as the top layer of the frame with black scroll work painted on it. I think it's just really pretty. Currently, it's housing a picture of a friend and I.

For some reason, I hardly ever take pictures in black and white. So, for this theme I wanted to take a picture of something that was already black and white. So, this works perfectly.

Date: July 8, 2008.

366 Pictures: #30 Ribbons

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These ribbons I randomly found packaged together at Target several months ago. Each of them is about a foot long. I purchased them to go into a super secret package that I'm sending to a friend. Needless to say, the ribbons still need to be tied and the stuff packed in a box. Procrastination much?

Date: July 8, 2008.

366 Pictures: #32 Rain

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Atlanta had a series of thunderstorms move through right as I was getting home from work. I literally closed the gate leading to my apartment, safely out of the drizzle, only to hear the sound of a torrential downpour! The wind was howling, huge gusts of wind, and all the trees across the walk were really swaying. All of this plus the downpour. While I was on the patio taking pictures my neighbor sprinted by on his way to meet friends for dinner. Poor guy didn't even have an umbrella!

So, these aren't the best pictures, but they give you an idea of what our thunderstorm looked like. This was around 7:00, so normally it would be plenty bright outside.

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Date: July 8, 2008.

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Unconscious Mutterings

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  1. Notification :: In trouble

  2. Cheat :: Hurt

  3. Top Ten :: David Letterman

  4. Draft :: MLB

  5. Unbelievable :: Crazy

  6. Cheap :: $.99 store

  7. Spontaneous :: Fun

  8. Harass :: Pester

  9. Lipstick :: Nars

  10. Transpire :: Happen

Join in here.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

366 Pictures: #265 Faith

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The South has many, many beautiful churches. We also have many different varieties of churches. This beautiful church is the Church of the Redeemer Episcopal which was built in 1868. It was built after Civil War refugees, from Charleston and Savannah, and two local families petitioned for an Episcopal church to be established in the area.

I decided to use this photo for "Faith" rather than "Church" for two reasons. First, I associate Church with my faith and I imagine that would be the case for most people. Second, I know there are many gorgeous historical churches to visit in Puerto Rico, and I want to post them, too! :)

Date: July 1, 2008.

366 Pictures: #27 Job

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Courthouses are tied in closely with my job. Today, I had a bench trial in Greene County. The county seat is a sleepy little town with a pretty historic district.

Date: July 1, 2008.

366 Pictures: #73 History

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This is the old Greene County "Gaol" which was built in 1807. It's built of granite and each stone is two feet thick. According to the information plaque, the cells are basically dungeons and have no light or ventilation except for the small grates. Can you imagine being in there during the hot, humid Georgia summers?

Date: July 1, 2008.