It’s so nice to know that when my cat came over minutes ago, rubbing up against my legs, purring, then pushing his head in to my hand when I dropped it down, it was all so that when I picked him up, he could use me as a ladder to get to the top of the high-back chair I’m sitting in.
And for this, I scoop the litter.
Tag: fun
So I’m hearing that the shortened name for the Washington Nationals is “Nats.” Does this not strike anyone else with negative connotations? It has already resulted in the obvious references to swatting.
Because that so-and-so Tom publicly foisted this meme upon me, and Michael tagged me, too, here goes:
Total size of music files on my computer: Tunaphisch is loaded with 25.72 GB of music, exactly 5,000 songs at the moment. Only one of those is a purchase from the iTunes Music Store, and “purchase” may be stretching it, since I redeemed a Pepsi cap to get the song.
Last CD I Bought: Where Angels Fear to Tread by Matt Redman. Most people know Matt’s work from the worship hit “Blessed Be Your Name,” and this is the album it’s on.
Song playing in iTunes: “Come Down
” from the Vineyard Music album Just Like Heaven, the second-to-last CD I bought.
Five songs I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me: There are a lot of songs that I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me, so here’s what you could call the current batch of such songs, and since I couldn’t decide which one to give up, you get six.
“Callin’ Baton Rouge” by Garth Brooks – it’s not often a song contains the name of your hometown, and it was while at LSU I met my wife.
“Love of a Lifetime
” by Firehouse – the song we danced to at our wedding. I wish the slower acoustic version had been available then.
“May Your Wonders Never Cease
” by Third Day – this song became incredibly important to me when our son was born, nine weeks early, and he spent the first seven weeks of his life in the hospital. Today, you would never know our toddler was a preemie, and God’s wonders do indeed never cease.
“Barely Stay Inside of My Own Skin” by Ceili Rain – like the song says, “Can’t believe the life I get to live.” Despite being unemployed, despite all of the other bad things that have happened to my family over the past two years, I still have a really great life. This is a great pick-me-up song.
“Be Unto Your Name
” by Robin Mark – this is one of my favorite worship songs, and I come back to it again and again.
“A Living Prayer
” by Alison Krauss & Union Station – I saw them perform this on Leno during the Christmas 2004 season, and Ms. Krauss’ vocals cut right to the bone.
The five victims I’m cursing with this meme:
Since Michael stole the bulk of the ATPM bloggers, and most of the other bloggers with whom I am friends have already gone through this torture, here’s my hit list.
Wes Meltzer, because he needs to blog about something other than interning at Popular Mechanics.
Jim Riggs, because he always has something I like, but may not know about.
Brian Borden, because the SuperToad needs to blog about something other than politics.
Tiffany Baxendell, because Tom foisted it on me, babe, so you get to suffer, too. (And I like what Tiff has previously recommended.)
Damien Barrett, because while we don’t always agree on things, he’s a good guy to hang out with, and he gave me my Newton 2100.
Radical Left falls over itself volunteering packing help. Soros confirms he will cover all moving expenses. Bill Maher “despondent.” News at 11.
Jim Geraghty, via Tom:
I’m being warned about the dangers of capitalism from a man who made perhaps more money from merchandising than any other man in history. I’m getting lectured about the dangers of greed from the man who authorized, “C-3POs” breakfast cereal, “The Star Wars Christmas Special” featuring Bea Arthur’s musical number, and not one but two Ewoks made-for-TV movies.
I’m being warned about the dangers of technology, and the glory of primitive cultures like the Ewoks, who are able to defeat the ‘technological terror’ of the Empire, in what is supposedly an allegory of Vietnam. Technology is bad, soulless, dangerous, and dehumanizing. Mmm-hmm. This from a man who replaced a tall man in a hairy suit, a projecting the human-eyed loyalty and sadness of Chewbacca, with the CGI cinematic war crime that is Jar-Jar Binks. A man who tossed aside the Yoda puppet, the spaceship models, the stop-motion animation of the Imperial walkers to go all-computer-animation-and-green-screen, all-the-time.
Having been an ardent Star Wars fan since seeing Episode IV at the age of six, I simply choose to ignore Mr. Lucas’s attempts to inject a little of his political philosophy in to the prequel eye-candy. Sometimes, you’ve just got to enjoy the movie for what it is and not read too much in to it.
John Stossel ran an unscientific, blind taste test of six different brands of coffee, ranging from $12 a pound to $4 a pound. The result was, at least for me, not surprising: the more expensive brands were not necessarily the better tasting coffees.
I am not a coffee drinker. I’ve tasted various coffees scores of times, but it is not something that is regularly brewed in our house. I do love the smell of coffee beans, and of coffee brewing, but don’t care for the beverage.
When my wife and I visited the big island of Hawai’i in 2001, we purchased some Kona coffee from one of the local growers, Country Samurai. While there, we learned that coffee is a lot like scotch. Most of the coffee one finds is a blend of beans, much like the inexpensive scotches one finds are a blend of malts. The best scotch is single malt, and the longer it’s aged, the better. Likewise, the best coffee is from a single batch of beans. Country Samurai sells that kind of coffee, and it was the first I remember really liking. Of course, at $25 a pound, my taste for coffee runs about as expensive as my taste for scotch, which explains why either is a rare find in our home.
Courtesy of Brother Spikey Mace of Loving Kindness, according to the Unitarian Jihad Name Assignment Committee, you may now refer to me as The Gatling Gun of Compassion.
So at this past Sunday’s game, we learned that Faith Lutheran–the team which handed us our only loss–lost their game earlier in the day. A win on our part would put us in a tie with them at the top of the league.
Our game was called after the top of the 5th inning, due to our 11-0 score over the opposition.
I played all five innings, the first two at third, the remaining three behind the plate. I was much more comfortable on defense this game, and got in a good catch and a good throw to first during my two innings at third.
Offensively, I was a wee bit off. Only at the plate twice, and the first time up I struck out looking. The second at-bat was a single, right up the middle, which advanced a runner.
So in the past three games, I am now seven of eight at the plate. I’m really pleased with the way my hitting has picked up, and I’m convinced it’s because I’m choking up on the bat more. I really need to get to the cages for some workout with the new grip. My season average slipped to .667, and lifetime dipped to .583.
All games for this coming Sunday have been rescheduled, due to it being Mother’s Day. This means our second-game showdown with Faith Lutheran will now be the last game of the season. Depending on what happens in two weeks, it could be the game for all the marbles of the spring season.
Apparently, the higher-ups at Honda in the mother country love soybeans. A lot.