Let’s see if this makes me feel any better…

I hate David McCarty – first baseman for the Boston Red Sox.  I cannot recall ever hating a Sox player with as much intensity as I hate McCarty.  It started with the fact that he stole Brian Daubach’s roster spot on the team coming out of the 2004 Spring Training.  That Epstein/Francona decision was based on the cute little idea that McCarty could also pitch out of the bullpen if necessary.  That happened two or three times, which was hardly enough reason to let Dauber rot in Pawtucket all season. 

I went to a couple of PawSox games in 2004 and in one of them, both Dauber and Old Mustache Face were playing.  McCrappy was drilled with a pitch and I cheered louder than I ever have.  He later grounded out to second and I cheered once more.  Dauber hit the game winning home run in the bottom of the eighth inning of that game and I had to be restrained from running onto the field to hug him and yell "Daubach is my daddy!"

Okay, not only did I get off track a bit, but I failed to keep it very brief.  There’s nothing I like about Old Mustache Face.  Not his ugly, leathery face.  Not his handlebar mustache, circa 1880.  Not his horrendously ugly swing which usually leads to groundouts or lazy fly outs.  The worst part is that Francona insists on playing Old Mustache Face every game.  Millar could be 3-3 with 5 RBI, yet Mustachio will trot over to first base in the seventh or eighth inning.

Sure, there have been plenty of sucky Sox scrubs, but none who have gotten as much unearned playing time as this jackhole.  Do I feel better now?  Yes, but only until the eighth inning of tonight’s game, I’m sure.

(a) What have I gotten myself into?  Do I have a problem saying ‘no?’  Perhaps.  I let LTJ talk me into becoming his blogging co-conspirator and all it’s done for me so far is increase my chances of getting an ulcer.  And that was just from my own web site navigation issues.  What will push me over the edge is trying to keep up with LTJ.  It’s impossible, so I pretty much have resigned myself to the fact that I’ll post a couple times a week and (hopefully…maybe) always leave you wanting more.  Hey, I’m entitled to a little ego now and then.

(b) It feels like my life just got a whole lot less interesting recently.  From November until about a week ago I seemed to be always on the go.  There were always plans and always something to look forward to and holidays and dates.  But now I get the feeling that the brakes got squeezed on this go-go lifestyle.  I think I’m okay with that.  I don’t mind being home more often to catch my favorite TV shows (just in time to catch the summer reruns of all the shows I missed) and read a bit.  Plus, I can recharge my battery and come out swinging for the summertime, which I hope will be a return to constant activity.

For a little while at least I’m going to live by Ferris Bueller’s philosophy:

"Life moves pretty fast.  If you don’t slow down once in a while, you could miss it."

10. Google Groups – Great feature that has turned the long forgotten newsgroups (that I enjoyed from my BBS days) into a working messageboards system

9. In order to work there, you have to pass the GLAT (Google Labs Aptitude Test)

8. People + Google = Clever

7. Newly introduced Google Maps. Now with Satellite Imaging! You can even get a map of Things that suck in Manhattan

6. Google Whacking

5. Opening up Google’s API has allowed for crazy things like Craigslist Meets Google

4. Want to take a tour of the US, but too lazy to leave your house? Go Google Sightseeing

3. Looking for anything? Google it. Can’t remember a song lyric? The Capital of Arkansas? Pictures of Boston?

2. Google AdWords and their contextual link model has forever changed online advertising

1. Gmail – Can e-mail get any better? Contact me if you need an invite!

Have another reason why Google is so damn cool? Disagree? Add your $.02!

I’ve beeen using GMail for quite a while now, and back around the first of the month Google announced that they were going to be increasing the Storage Capacity of all the e-mail accounts from 1 to 2 Gigs. Since this announcement, I’ve noticed my GMail capacity slowly increase over time. As of this writing, my current Capacity is 2113 MB.. But, what’s bizzare is that it didn’t cap off at 2,000 MB.. it just kept going.

Marketing Guru Seth Godin has the answer, and in true Google Fashion, it’s brilliant.

I was blessed to get a pair of tickets to yesterday’s game at Fenway vs. the Devil Rays.. the third game of the three-game series. And the Sox swept the Rays in formidable fashion. They’ve got 5 wins in a row, after today’s victory on Marathon Monday. [ Photos ]

Yesterday’s game was absolutely fantastic! The weather was beautiful, the game was graet, and it’s absolutely marvelous to look out to center field and see the 2004 World Series Champion flag waving in the wind. The bad news, however, is that the price per beer has increased from $5.50 to $6.00. That’s roughly a 10% increase from last year.. I can remember when beers used to be $4.50. THOSE were the days. Two of ‘em and plus change for a $10 bill.

* * *

I did get some bad news, today.. my Puma Sneakers were declared out of stock, and I was not notified. It’s a good thing I contacted them to find out what was up, as I never received shipping confirmation. They didn’t have any in my size, so I tried 5 other pairs — no dice. It’s not easy being stylish.

Well, the good news is that I’m alive.  The bad news is that the First Annual Quincy Center Pub Crawl didn’t quite reach all its destinations.  I’m not sure how many bars we visited (I think Nurse Mandy said 13 last night; the dream was to hit 21), but we tried our best.  We kept a journal along the way and I’d love to read it today, but it’s in Davis’s trunk, so I won’t see it until Tuesday at work.  I don’t remember signing the journal at the last couple of places we visited, but I now know just how frustrating and infuriating it is to try to write when you’re drunk and it all comes out as nonsense.  We also took photographs along the way (disposable camera), so maybe we’ll be able to get some of those on The Diatribe soon.

We started out at the Presidential Pub (Busch draft for me and Bud Light bottle for Nuse Mandy) just before 1 pm and by the The Fours (which was the fourth bar, in a strange twist of cosmic irony) Nurse Mandy was already dozing off.  I went outside to wave Cazz into the parking lot and when I walked back in five minutes later, Nurse Mandy was sleeping at the bar.  So, we got some coffee in her pronto and
while she was momentarily awake, we dashed over to Bad Abbots, where we got more coffee in her (with Kahlua this time).

A number of work peeps joined the crawl (Cazz, MJ, Davis, and Perry and his wife), which spiced things up.  I’m just not looking forward to all the razzing when I return to work on Tuesday.  I was apparently a little drunk (shocking), but I won’t know just how embarrassingly drunk until I get the recap from Nurse Mandy.

As planned, Malachy’s Saloon was the final stop.  It was just a couple of hours earlier than I thought it would be.  It was too bad, too, because I was really rallying at that point.  I was comatose at X&O (the previous spot) while everyone ate dinner and I was only allowed water (thanks to Nurse Mandy).  But the walk over to Malachy’s revived me to the point where I was feeding the jukebox and playing pool.  I  wanted to head back out to the Center where we could hit the places I knew we had missed (The Half Door, Holy Ground, Siam House, and Finan’s), but Davis and Nurse Mandy were beat and just wanted to get beer at Brooks and chill at home.

So, perhaps Roselin Avenue was an even more fitting final stop for the  Crawl.  I think I’ll try it again in six months or so.  I’ll learn from my mistakes (I didn’t eat enough and forgot to drink water altogether) and hit that magical 21 mark.