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June 30, 2005
502 Feet?
Posted by stan at 06:57 PM
My Four Days of Unemployment - Day Three
Day three of my unemployment was spent at Fenway, watching the Sox drop the Indians 5-2, courtesy of back-to-back 8th inning home runs from Doug Miribelli and Mark Bellhorn. The tickets were out in the bleachers, which are really pretty decent seats. Unless you are willing to plop down some serious cash for Field Box or Loge seats, the bleachers are really the place to go at Fenway. Grandstand & LF Box seats (Boxes 86-88 excepted) generally aren't worth the price since you never know which way the seats will be facing (some face center field, believe it or not) or what might be in your way.
Jason Varitek warms up Mike Timlin above.
And the most important picture.
Posted by stan at 06:39 PM
June 28, 2005
Ominous Clouds
Posted by stan at 06:00 PM
Nail
At The Squeling Pig in Mission Hill
Boston, MA
Posted by stan at 05:58 PM
My Four Days of Unemployment - Day Two
I had originally planned on posting something each day during my four days of unemployment between my full-time job ending (June 24) and my consulting assignment starting, since I'd obviously have some time on my hands and had nothing more planned than strolling around Boston looking for Wi-Fi hotspots. Sadly, I was so into the whole doing nothing business on day one that I neglected to make a post, oops. Anyway, the highlight of the day was just missing a run in with the Cleveland Indian's Kevin Millwood at the bar in the Radisson. The gentlemen at the bar insisted that he was a very nice guy.
So today, I decided to take it up a notch and throw a little culture into Day 2. I stopped at the Christian Science Mapparium, since walking inside a giant stained-glass globe seemed like it might be fun and I've walked by the building about 700 times in the last 8 years without going in. Sadly, they didn't allow photography inside the Maparium, so you'll just have to take my word that, while pretty, it wasn't exactly awe inspiring. On the way out, the tour guide allowed each of us to whisper any "thoughts or encouragement" to the world, to which I'm sure the most common response is to lean in towards Iceland and gently whisper, "this wasn't worth six bucks."
Another little exhibit they had there was the "Hall of Ideas," which was basically a light display flashing inspiring quotes on the walls and in a fountain like so:
Other than that, it was basically a bunch of Mary Baker Eddy and/or Christian Science Monitor propaganda - they are both really great, according to the museum. My favorite part of the whole thing were these ceiling lamps:
After that I went to play pool for two hours and had a couple Dunkin' Donuts iced coffees; not much of a cultural event. But then I stopped by the Boston Public Library to peek at the Boston Ink exhibit about the Boston Society of Printers' history. It was both free and interesting, I learned some things about the history of the Western Alphabet that I'm sure can go right onto my resume.
That was it for Day Two, other than to report that I got a haircut today and, lets just say that in the future if the barber is an ex-military man I'll refrain from insisting that I want my hair "really, really short." Also, we'll be heading to a little barbecue later on. I've heard reports that the steaks, "really do look good," so I'm looking forward to that.
Stay tuned for tomorrow, I'll be dropping by the Sox v. Indians afternoon game at Fenway.
Posted by stan at 05:08 PM
June 25, 2005
Asta La Vista Houston
Well, the last full day of Houston living is upon us. One of the odder phases of moving is always the use-up-what's-left-in-the-fridge type meals towards the last days. To that end, here's a look at my Friday lunch, a big plate full of obscure beans that Sara bought (obviously) and a martini to help empty out the booze cabinet:
Later on that night, with the beans thankfully gone and with the tonic water sadly gone as well, we concocted the lime martini, which Sara refused to drink but I actually thought wasn't half bad:
After the lime martini was done, we were pretty much out of options. We decided that the pasta and olive oil martini or the orange popsicle martini, while tempting, might be more of a sign of a problem than efficient use of cabinet contents. So we just called it a night, dignity intact.
Posted by stan at 12:37 AM | Comments (1)
June 22, 2005
Throwback Night
Sara and I are listening to the radio broadcast of the Sox v. Indians game right now, kind of a taste of the 50's. Except that we're picking it up online courtesy of mlb.com (for a modest fee), they didn't do that in their poodle skirts.
Update: And the Sox tie the game in the 8th, to the chagrin of the Indian's broadcast team!
Posted by stan at 09:53 PM
June 21, 2005
Summer of Frequent Flyer Miles
Well, the first day of summer is finally here and I've decided to dub this the Summer of Frequent Flyer Miles. My tenative schedule, courtesy of a consulting arrangement I've worked out with my soon to be ex-employer, between the Summer Solstice and the Autumnal Equinox goes a little like this:
Fly to Boston; Fly to Houston; Fly to Boston; Drive to Chicago; Fly to Houston; Fly to Chicago; Fly to Houston; Fly to Chicago; Fly to Boston; Fly to Chicago; Fly to Houston; Fly to Chicago; Fly to Houston; Fly to Chicago
Then somewhere in there I've got to find a new job in Chicago.
On the up side, I expect that they'll be letting me fly the plane starting around mid-September, so that'll be fun.
Posted by stan at 03:12 PM
June 17, 2005
Blue Paddle
Last week we went a-lookin' for some of the excellent St. Arnold Summer Pilsner. Sadly, we couldn't find any, so we sampled some Blue Paddle, another Pilsner brewed by New Belgium Brewing out in Colorado. They're probably better known for there Fat Tire beer, but I liked the pilsner quite a bit more.
Posted by stan at 12:52 AM
June 13, 2005
Martini & Manhattan
The one good part about moving (again)...cleaning out the liquor cabinet...
Posted by stan at 11:53 PM
June 10, 2005
Bratwurst
Posted by stan at 08:05 PM
Modelo Especial
Sadly, the Era of Cheap Mexican Beers is rapidly coming to an end, I'll remember it fondly...
Posted by stan at 07:14 PM
Live Blogging The Red Sox-Cubs Game
3:45 - It's 14-3 and this little live blogging idea is officially over...the only good thing about this game was the piece of cherry pie I had in the first inning...
3:44 - Embree promptly throws one to the backstop, another run scores...
3:44 - Ron Santos scores it as 3 unassisted....
3:42 - Don't see this everyday, Corey Patterson just lined a ball of Neifti Perez, the base runner at 1st. That's a single I think, Perez is out and baserunners don't advance...
3:38 - Michael Barrett doubles into the ivy, its 13-3, this was a bad idea, Embree's ERA is approaching 7, remember when he was untouchable a few years back?
3:36 - Alan Embree - 19ER/17K
3:35 - Great, Alan Embree comes in to relieve Halama, the only other pitcher on the roster to allow more earned runs than Ks...two quick hits and the Sox are down 12-3...
3:31 - And Edgar flies out to right to end the threat...
3:28 - Yep, Mike Wuertz is coming in to face Renteria, the line for Maddux: 6.2IP, 7H, 3ER, 1BB, 3K...Wuertz is having himself a nice year, mid-3's ERA with more a K an inning...15 walks in 30 innings though...
3:27 - Damon singles to center, driving in Mueller...that might be it for Maddux, he's thrown 87 pitches and it is pretty warm in Chicago today...
3:27 - The sox have strung together a couple hits here in the top of the seventh, they've got men at 1st and 3rd with one out and Kelly Shoppach as come in to PH....and strike out, he'll tell his grandkids about that K to Maddux though....
3:24 - Lots of guys that played for the other team in this one, huh? Walker, Mueller, Bellhorn, Nomar...
3:22 - Jeremi Gonzalez and Lenny DiNardo are pitching OK in Pawtucket, couldn't one of them fill the long man role at least as good as Halama?
3:20 - Manny throws out Artimis trying to stretch a single into a double...every once in a while Manny shows a flash of something in the field, doesn't he?
3:18 - John Halama - 20 Ks, 23 ERs, 6.09 ERA...he gets released this road trip, no?
3:16 - Jeremy Burnitz hits his second HR of the game, 11-2 Cubs...I am seriously considering cutting this blogging business short now, I don't want them to lose by 20...
3:14 - Chris Chelios & Jack O'Callahan have joined the Cubs radio broadcasters to talk baseball now, apparently Chelios was playing in some semi-pro league in Detroit during the strike...
3:14 - Until Derrek Lee doubles to right, scoring Perez from first and pushing the margin back up to 7...
3:12 - Wait, Big Papi hit one last inning, I missed that one, the Sox have cut the lead to 6...
3:09 - Wow, Neifi Perez has his OBA up to .336 this year, I hadn't noticed. I guess it can't last though, it hasn't be above .300 since he was playing in Colorado...
3:08 - What? Greg Maddux takes John Halama deep? I think that's the final nail in the coffin for this one...Halama's K/ER ratio as down to 20/20 now...
2:55 - And with that endorsement, Halama easily retires Artimis, Walker and Hollandsworth...
2:53 - John Halama relieves Arroyo, here's all you need to know, 20 Ks, 19 ERs this season...
2:51 - And it takes only the amount of time for me to send one email for Maddux to take care of the Sox in the top of the 5th...
2:48 - Mark Bellhorn goes down swinging for the 67th time this season...it's only June 10th...
2:45 - This just in from the little too late department, Arroyo Ks Lee and gets Burnitz to ground out to Big Papi, his line so far: 4IP, 97 pitches, 7ER, 10H...at least he hasn't issued any walks...
2:43 - Bottom of the 4th adn Bronson is in trouble again, a one out Corey Patterson double and stolen base gives the Cubs a man on third with NL MVP frontrunner Derrek Lee (though Bobby Abreu is having a better year)...
2:36 - Nope, he lines out to right to end the inning...
2:35 - Manny and Trot go down quick, but Varitek drives one into the gap for a two-out double...lets see if Billy Mueller can bring him home...
2:31 - Maddux grounds out to Big Papi and the inning mercifully comes to an end with the Sox in a 7-1 hole...
2:31 - Sara, if you're reading this, you need to move Wally to a new spot in the appartment, where he is right now isn't helping...
2:29 - Michael Barrett doubles in some runs...Cubs are up 7-1 now as apparently Johnny Damon misplayed that ball...getting ugly, this might be the first and last live-blogging of a Sox game for me...
2:28 - Michael Barrett is going to double in some runs in about 15 seconds...
2:28 - The radio broadcast is 3 full pitches behind the action...
2:27 - How annoying, MLB has all of these radio broadcasts on a 15 second delay or something, I'm getting updates on the game via cbs.sportsline.com well ahead of the gameplay...
2:26 - Hollandsworth is now smashing a series of line drives foul right now...meanwhile, Arroyo has thrown 75 pitches through 2.1 IP...
2:24 - Walker singles sharply to center field for the fourth consecutive hit and Arroyo is officially on the ropes with activity stirring in the Sox bullpen...the ignoble John Halama is warming...
2:21 - I've joined Ron Santos and someone else on the radio broadcast via mlb.com by the way, they've been discussing a particular contest winners long polish name for two minutes now, lets keep our eye on the ball fellas...
2:20 - Hmmm...three singles from Lee, Burnitz & Ramirez and a Jason Varitek throwing error were the culprit...
2:20 - Ugh...back to my desk and the Cubs have pushed 2 more runs across the plate...
2:03 - Big Papi flys out to end the threat, 3-1 Cubs after 2 innings...now I dash to the office...
2:03 - Its up to Edgar and the entire New England region knows whats coming....except Perez boots the grounder up the middle and Edgar beats it out! Run scores and apparently Nefti's uncle in the scoring booth rules it a base hit...
2:03 - Brenly notes with disgust that the Red Sox don't run much as Damon makes it to first, again, was good enough to win the World Series though...
2:02 - ...takes ball 4...
2:01 - Its up to Damon, he works the count full and then...
2:01 - Three pitches, three strikes and Bronson is gone
2:01 - If I ever got an at bat in the majors I suspect I'd look as bad as Arroyo does right now...
2:00 - Bellhorn moves Mueller along to third, giving poor Bronson or Damon a chance to cash him in...
1:59 - Brenly notes with apparent disgust that the Sox had only 12 sacrafice bunts all year in 2004, though that was good enough to when the World Series I guess...
1:58 - Bill Mueller quickly doubles into the left field gap and now I face my delimma, I need to run across the street back to my desk and start to follow the game online now, maybe at the end of the inning...
1:55 - Arroyo makes Perez look bad as he strikes out to end the inning...two left-handed bats, two home runs for the Cubs, that's been the story for Bronson over the last two years, lefties are hitting over .100 higher than righties against him...
1:54 - Bob Brenley compares major league baseball players to whittlers sitting on porches, glad to see I'm not drinking alone today...
1:52 - Maddux moves him over, putting the rest of the inning in the hands of Nefti Perez...
1:52 - And now Barrett gets on with a dribbler through the hole...this isn't looking good...
1:50 - Christ, Todd Hollinsworth just hit one out of the stadium...395 feet according to WGN, Sox down 3-0 pretty quickly here...
1:48 - Here's old friend Todd Walker...and Arroyo quickly blows him away with 4 pitches...
1:47 - Aramis singles to left on a ball Manny maybe should have gotten too, he hit a good pitch though...
1:47 - Here's Aramis, lets see how Bronson reacts...
1:46 - Uh oh, Jeremy Burnitz just took Arroyo deep to RF for his 9th HR of the year...
1:43 - And down goes Tek, Maddux has retired the first 6 in order...
1:41 - Maddux looks like he is hitting his spots today, as ususal, I don't think I've seen the catcher have to move his glove more than once or twice for him...
1:40 - Nixon grounds out bring up Tek, who I guess is the best catcher in baseball now, hands down?
1:38 - Here's Manny, we need him to snap out of his funk and ignite the team....not much igniting with that weak tapper to 3rd though...
1:37 - Hmmmm...maybe the next time I'll live-blog Sara's complaints about her job, though that could be a length post...
1:33 - Patterson goes down swinging...Bronson looks sharp so far...and he gets Lee to fly out with one pitch...end of 1, 0-0...
1:32 - Patterson is having a pretty good at bat here...and Brenly is talking about hairstyles...
1:29 - Looks like Arroyo mercifully did away with the cornrows...and he retires Perez easily and goes to a full count with Patterson...
1:25 - Boy, they're still running these same commercials for "The Claw" gardening tool that they were 20 years ago...
1;23 - Big Papi chases ball three up and flys out meekly to center, three up, three down....
1:21 - Johnny is scorching the ball this year, but Maddux just got him on a called third strike...you've got to figure he deserves that after that embarrassment on Queer Eye earlier this week...
1:20 - OK Johnny, let's get this started right...
1:18 - Apparently there's a guy that dresses up as an "Ivy Monster" at Wrigley? Is this new? The Cubs are taking the field...
1:16 - Wondering if I'm the first person in history to live blog a baseball game while drinking Mexican beer and eating cherry pie...my 15 minutes is here, I think...
1:15 - Whoa, almost had a small live-blogging disaster there, inadvertently deleted most of the post, this live-blogging isn't for the faint of heart
1:11 - Speaking of jewelry, Kasper's cute little blue bracelet doesn't
stand up very well against colorman Bob Brenly's GIANT world series
ring...
1:08 - Maddux is 4-0 in 6 starts lifetime vs. the Sox with a 3.32 ERA
1:05 - Nomar & Todd Walker interview on now, apparently Nomar doesn't
yet have his ring and is still uncomfortable in front of the media...
1:03 - OK, Announcer Steve Kasper just made the first Boston accent
joke...didn't see that coming...
1:01 - Oh, good teaser for the commercial break, Where's Nomar's Ring?
I wonder if we might have a sentimental presentation before the game?
12:58 - Showing an interview with Matt Clement now, he's doing a
pretty good job playing down his distain for the Cubs organization,
too bad he's not pitching this series.
12:56 - WGN is dubbing this "The Return of the Red Sox." Not the most
imaginative bunch I guess...
12:50 - Today's matchup features Bronson Arroyo against future
Hall-of-Famer Greg Maddux, should be a good one. Of all the Sox
pitchers, I've got to say I'm most comfortable when Bronson is out on
the hill, the kid is really turning into something good. Meanwhile,
I've heard Maddux is still pitching effectively even though he isn't
getting over 87 mph any more.
12:48 - According to WGN, last time the Sox were in Wrigley Woodrow
Wilson was POTUS and there were only 48 states...
12:46 - Things are looking good, I've got a nice slice of cherry pie
next to me and a cold Tecate right next to the pie, the way things
should be.
12:45 - Here we are, in sunny Houston, where it is about 184 degrees.
We've got the TV tuned to WGN and are preparing the first Red Sox-Cubs
game since 1918. This is going to be a little
difficult since I'm just on my lunch break and have to go back to the
office in an hour and a half or so, so we'll see how it works out.
Posted by stan at 01:45 PM | Comments (2)
June 09, 2005
Cherry Pie
Hello old friend, it's been too long since we last met...
Posted by stan at 08:12 PM
Miscellaneous Meat
I like a bargain as much as the next guy, but this seems a little much for me...
Here's a nicer cut I think.
Posted by stan at 07:41 PM
Hello Chicago (Goodbye Houston)
As you may or may not know, Sara & I have been living here in sweltering Houston on something of a temp to perm basis, courtesy of my employers. It's a nice enough city, but the car/train ratio is a little bit too high for are liking and, frankly, I'm starting to worry that one of us might melt or just plain spontaneously combust if we continue on through the summer. So we've decided to try our luck elsewhere.
And since I'll effectively be unemployed once we leave and Sara wasn't too fond of her job she's been telecommuting to back in Boston, we figured out that we could pretty much move anywhere we wanted, which is nice. So we made a list of cities that we really like, which roughly like this:
1. New York
2. San Francisco
3. Good Old Boston
4. Chicago
5. Seattle
So that's a nice list to start. Then we noted that, sadly, neither of us are independently wealthy, so we'd probably have to earn a living and pay rent/mortgage and all that stuff where ever we picked. So we weeded out the high cost of living places and the list look like this:
1. Chicago
2. Seattle
So we thought about Chicago for a while and couldn't really come up with a good reason not to move there. So we're gonna.
Here's a few pictures I took (a few of Sara's are here, here and here)when we were there last week trying to find an apartment, which by the way was like three days in a spa compared to looking for places in Boston. But before the pictures, check out this link, I think I'm going to like this town!
Posted by stan at 03:52 PM | Comments (1)
June 08, 2005
About Time
"United Airlines plans to announce today that it is the first domestic airline to receive approval from regulators to install wireless Internet networks on its planes."
Probably not until 2006 though, and I don't usually fly United, so unless one of those planes happens to be flying within 250 feet of my plane I'm probably going to be out of luck. This would have come in handy during the Sox playoff run for those unfortunate few of us that were trapped 30,000 feet up during game 5 of the ALCS.
Here's the whole article.
Posted by stan at 12:39 PM
The Bar Bill Is In...
...just got an impressive number back from the packie we used for the wedding. It seems our guest polished off:
-230 Beers - Sierra Nevada led the pack, followed closely by Anchor Steam and the workingman's delight that is PBR. The biggest hit of the drinking evening, Geary's Summer Ale, was also gone in about 45 minutes and unfortunately the store didn't have any more
-52 Bottles of Wine - Including a startling amount of Chardonnay, who would've thought our guests would be such big white wine drinkers?
-Just 9 Liters of The Hard Stuff - Not that much, but perhaps that's the reason that, in the biggest upset of the night, we didn't have one guest get completely trashed AND make an embarrassing scene. We are still in a bit of disbelief that this didn't happen, but since we didn't exactly have a traditional wedding and reception, I guess it is ok that we skipped that wedding staple as well.
photo via sara.
Posted by stan at 10:28 AM
June 07, 2005
Sara & Stan Trivia!
This picture features several important places in Sara & Stan history - see how many you get correct, but be careful, I threw in some extras to make it a little more difficult. Answers to come at the end of the week...
-Wedding Site
-First Fight Site
-First Meeting Site
-First Christmas Clebration Site
-Best Ribs in Boston
-Spot Where Sara Killed That Guy (in self-defense, or so said the police)
-Wedding Reception Site
-Pre-Date Rendezvous Site
-Where we watched the Sox clinch the World Series
Posted by stan at 05:44 PM
June 05, 2005
Boston
The day after we got married Sara & I were going to go see a movie, but we decided that darkness and comfortable seats would lead to us falling asleep in about 2-3 minutes given our unfathomable tiredness (getting married really tuckers you out).
Instead, we opted for pizza and a trip to the Skywalk in the Pru, since both were within two blocks of the hotel we were staying in.
Here are some of the pictures I took, a lot of them look the same on account of me finding a nice seat and not wanting to walk around all that much.
Posted by stan at 04:01 PM
Summit Hefeweizen
Sara & I sampled this Hefeweizen from the Summit Brewing Company while in Chicago last week. I'm not a big fan of this type of beer, but Sara seemed to enjoy it thouroughly.
Posted by stan at 03:55 PM
No Hat, No Cattle, No Longer Single
As you may have noticed, No Hat, No Cattle has been dormant for the last week. That's because I was out changing my tax-filing status for the next 50 years or so. It was a good time, I highly recommend it.
And to prove that time does indeed fly, we celebrated our 1 week anniversary yesterday at the scenic O'Hare airport. As you may know, 1 week is the processed meats anniversary, so we chowed down on some his and hers Chicago-style hot dogs.
Call me a romantic, but when my bride wants the neon-green relish, she gets the neon-green relish.
His...
...and Hers
Posted by stan at 03:48 PM