July 4

My sister Tania was at the Nathan’s Hot Dog eating competition today. She was happy with the result, I was rooting for Kobayashi. Oh well. My roommate was rather disgusted by the whole thing. Me? I found myself REALLY wanting a hot dog.

Speaking of food… my roommate and I were flipping channels the other day and she insisted on stopping on the food network. They had a show on about local resturants known only to locals. The first part was on a place I’ve passed countless numbers of times, called Chaps Charcoal Resturant. It looked pretty good, and the prices are good, so I may have to visit soon.

Since I’m on a food kick at the moment, one more… this may also soon become my favorite thing. Gotta try it.

Elsewhere…

The Sox won, beating the Yankees today, but are still behind the Rays. If the Rays suffer injuries down the stretch, they’ll fall. However, that seems to be a big if. The Red Sox need to get a number of people back.

And more locally…

When I have some free moments, I’ve been working rebuilding gbyo.com in Django. The programming part isn’t particularly hard (despite not being familiar with Python… though, it’s not unlike other languages), and I kinda like the database API (It’s been a while, so I only barely remember ActiveRecord, but I seem to like this more). The thing I haven’t grasped yet is overall project structure. I’m working on that.

I’ve bought a number of books recently, and hope to start reading them soon. Right now, I am reading this, as the publishers were nice enough to send me a review copy. Review coming soon. Additionally, I want to post some more formal thoughts about Crockford’s Javascript book soon. (Note: yes, that first linked book cost me .48 cents, w/o shipping)

I’m trying to convince people to go on vacation with me. So far, I haven’t heard back from anyone. That will only stall me, it will not deter me.

Photos!

Be that as it may, I’ve been focused the last 2 days, buring through many of them. I’ve got two sets down, with one remaining. I’ve posted the first two to my newly purchased flickr pro account (I ran over the 200 image limit, and want to continue to see the old ones.)

Check out my party/band shots, and my photos of Boston and ALCS game 2.

Game 7: I think Kenny Lofton was out at second

From the views that you will see on all of the replays, you will see Kenny Lofton’s hand getting to the bag before Pedroia’s tag touches him. That I will give you. However, from my view point, the point at which the Indians left fielder was out was AFTER that… when his hands both came up off the bag, and I could see no part of him touching second base. His hands shot over the base, and because he doesn’t weigh 300 pounds, his chest was not touching the bag.

I would like to see another view, and will be the first to admit that I may be biased. I tried watching it on Sportscenter, but they cut away before you could see his hands leave the bag. Objectively, however, I believe that the umpire could have seen this, and that would be the basis of the call. His hand was in there first, but did he stay on the base? I think not.

Regardless, it was a teriffic play by Manny. Despite stupid Tim McCarver’s near constant (and just plain wrong) assertions that Manny may as well be playing without a glove, he made yet another great play off the wall because of his expert knowledge (and regular practice!) on the wall in left. I am thrilled that they are going to the series. Leave it to me to travel up there to see the one game they lose at home. But I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

Concert Tonight

I’ve got a concert tongiht. Check out the Columbia Orchestra site for details. Tchaikovsky 4, along with Strauss’ first Horn Concerto, and a Brandenburg. Should be pretty good, especially since I’ve practiced a fair amount for this.

I don’t expect anyone I know to come, as there is also something going on in Boston tonight. Some sort of baseball game?

So yea, come and see me torn. Don’t expect me to hang around after the concert for any more than a second though.

Whirlwind

Tonight I am packing for Boston. Red Sox ALCS game 2 is tomorrow evening, and I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I was looking forward to visiting my friend Kacy, but I haven’t been able to get in touch with her yet. Kristen, my other Boston cello-playing girl has been in touch, and we’re probably going to hang out while I am up there.

Alas, because of my (stupid) XSLT class Monday morning, I have to leave on Sunday evening, so I don’t really get to see much. This is upsetting, as I haven’t been to Boston in YEARS. The part that makes it especially upsetting is that I still remember most of what I did the last time I was there.