3. Baseball America’s 2011 Baseball Almanac

Category: 50 Books

I know what you’re thinking. “She read a baseball almanac? Nerd much?”

Well you can shut your judging judgehole. First of all, half of the book is just tables and stats, and I didn’t read all of those. I looked at the stats for the teams I like, but I skipped ALL of the high school, college, minor, independent, and international league stats because I don’t work for baseball.

I thought it did a good job of giving a summary for the the 2010 year, and I enjoyed reading about the year all at once. I had forgotten so many things happened last year. One of the things I read about and went, “Oh yeah! That.” was the retirement of Ken Griffey Jr.. And I vaguely remember something about him getting in trouble for falling asleep in the clubhouse during a game. And then a few days later he retires? As interesting as that story sounds it seems like it was popular for a day and then vanished. Wha’ happened? Oh well, the sooner he retires the sooner they can elect him in the HoF, right?

Anyway, it was a rehash of last year’s season as well as highlights of how awesome some pitchers did. The book goes over every team and starts out each team section with a one sentence summary of how the team did. These were great. I do wish they had been more colorful or snarky, but that’s just me. The writing in the book is really straightforward facts, and not much else. Still, you wouldn’t read this if you didn’t like baseball.

I did scan through the minor and international league stuff, but only to look at the names of some of the teams. Oh my gosh I love the names of minor league teams. Here, I have made a list of some of the more “the who now?” teams:

Rail Cats, Jackhammers, IronPigs, Mud Hens, T-Bones, Wild Things, SkySox, Zephyrs, Thunderbolts, Beach Bums, Cornbelters, Isotopes, Sounds, Crushers, Otters, Freedom, Flying Squirrels, Curve, Biscuits, Rox, Revolution, Wingnuts, Hooks, Dash, Marauders, Miracle, Airhogs, Saltdogs, Owlz, Bees, Lugnuts, TinCaps, Loons, Ghosts, Chukars, Dust Devils, Spikes, Scrappers, Lake Monsters, Sand Gnats, Drive, and Intimidators.

The Isotopes? Really? Owlz, with a Z? 
I love it.

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Parks and Recreation

Category: dribblings

omg, you guys.

The Swanson Pyramid of Greatness.

This is the best show.

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Meet the new boss…

Category: dribblings

http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2011/01/gov-elect_robert_bentley_inten.html

What? Day One and he’s already saying weird things? Yeah, yeah, he was in a church when he said it, whatever, shut up, I don’t care.

Yeah, he’s “colorblind”, except to Jews!

So here’s the deal, New Guy, if you want to be  Brother Preachy Preacherson, then quit this gig and go start a church. In the mean time, put on your Governor Hat and go find us some fucking jobs.

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2. The Diviner’s Tale by Bradford Morrow

Category: 50 Books

Oh, this was such a good book. I must admit, I chose to read this one the same way I chose The Dead Path: the cover. Although The Dead Path had a gross cover, this book had a really pretty, mysterious cover.

The story is about a lady named Cassandra who is a single mom of twins and a dowser. She uses a divining rod to find water for people who own land and don’t know where to dig a well. When reading this I sort of vaguely remembered learning something about dowsing in elementary school. You don’t really hear much about it these days.

In Cassandra’s case she sometimes divines more than just water. This leads to a mystery! A runaway girl! Danger! Which sounds like a rollercoaster ride of a whodunit, but I promise you it is not. This was a lovely and subtle mystery story. It reminds me of Johan Theorin’s novels, where there’s a mystery to solve as well as a hint of the supernatural.

The characters in the book are so great. Cass’s twins do seem older than they are because of their witty banter. Cass’s dad, Nep (short for Neptune [get it? GET IT?]) is also a diviner. Cass’s mom, Rosalie, is not a diviner, but is in fact a Christian. This leads to some disagreements in beliefs, but she’s not pushy or preachy and you can tell she loves her family very much.

A subtle, sweet story. If you like fiction give it a try.

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deer? doo? d’oh!

Category: dribblings

on my walk at the park this morning i saw two deer, but because deer apparently wear jetpacks (where did they get those?) i didn’t get a picture of them.

i did get a picture of the biggest pile of animal scat i’ve ever seen, but i will refrain from posting because

A. gross and

B. i do NOT want this to become a poop blog.

once you post pictures of poop, you can never go back.

***

on a related note, i told Laura that next time i found some fresh coyote scat i’d take a picture of it every day and post like a time-lapse type thing about it. because the thing about coyote scat is that as it dries out it just becomes hair because it’s mostly the fur of whatever it ate.

you can see where this is going: poop blog.

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1. The Dead Path by Stephen M. Irwin

Category: 50 Books

Nicholas Close has always had an uncanny intuition, but after the death of his wife he becomes haunted, literally, by ghosts doomed to repeat their final violent moments in a chilling and endless loop. Torn by guilt and fearing for his sanity, Nicholas returns to his childhood home and is soon entangled in a dis­turbing series of disappearances and  murders—both as a sus­pect and as the next victim of the malignant evil lurking in the heart of the woods.

This book was so good and creepy. The cover got my attention (what with the dead bird with it’s legs cut off? and then shoved in the hole where the head should be? what?) and from the first page I was hooked. I guess it’s a supernatural thriller. The main charater, Nicholas can see images of dead people. This in itself is not so thrilling, but when he gets back to his childhood home in Australia is where the thrills hit the fan.

It was part fairy tale and part early Stephen King nightmare. No kidding, halfway through the book I was all, “This reminds me so much of back when Stephen King was awesome.” Turns out, I’m not the only one to go, “OMG it’s like Stephen King all over again!” Pretty much any review mentions it. And they’re right.

The story has good and evil, a wicked witch, haunted woods, huge spiders, and a hero you root for. It is not for the faint of heart. It would get so creepy that I wouldn’t read it at night because I didn’t want it to be the last thing I thought about before going to bed.

If you enjoy a well-written horror novel give this one a shot.

I think this is the author’s first published book, and if he writes another one I’ll definitely read it.

*SPOILER*

I kind of hate it when evil saves the day, The Prophecy, anyone?. Yeah, it was like that. There wasn’t really a good side in this story. The church was wholly ineffective because the church was actually built by the witch more than a hundred years ago. When I found out that part I thought oh great, so there’s no way to win here. And I was right. 

I kind of hated the ending, but I guess it was really the only way to end it.

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Have I talked about Hoarders this week?

Category: dribblings

Oh my gosh, did you see the finale? Did you? With the rats?

I didn’t think Zasio was ready for that, but she proved me wrong. She was actually on hands and knees trying to help catch the rats. And she managed to be all, “Glen is having problems with the grieving process.” and not, “Sweet fucking hell! That’s a lot of rats!”

As much as I hate to admit it, Zasio is a pro. Well, she’s a pro in that TV doctor kind of way. You can tell she’s gunning for her own show. And, I’d probably watch it.

The one thing I really love about Hoarders is the sound thing. That chilling ‘shing’ noise they use? If you’ve never seen an episode of Hoarders (Liz), you know how in the Law & Order series, the sound? the juhgung! sound? Well, Hoarders has it’s own juhgung; it’s a shing. Love it.

Kathy Griffin calls it a meep, but i dunno.

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hilarious or pathetic?

Category: dribblings

fellykish: what’s for dinner?

me: i guess it’s going to be the *Kelly Taylor.

fellykish: again?

me: i know. but the only other thing is left over potato soup and i can’t remember how old the soup is.

fellykish: the Kelly Taylor it is.

me: with a glass of red wine, heh, the Jackie Taylor!

fellykish: ha! the Taylor combo!

me: is the cocaine dessert?

fellykish: for an extra 99 cents it is.

*if you eat microwave popcorn for dinner it is called the Kelly Taylor because in the season one episode “Perfect Mom” Brenda wants to eat popcorn for dinner because that’s what Kelly eats for dinner. you’ll want minute 8:09. you’re welcome.

answer: pathetic

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typical convo

Category: dribblings

this morning:

Mr. Fleegan: Oodelolly oodelolly golly what a day.

Me: heh. Do you remember what that’s from?

Mr. Fleegan: Yeah. The guy who beat his wife.

Me: … You mean… the singer?

Mr. Fleegan: Yeah.

Me: I was thinking more of the Robin Hood cartoon.

Mr. Fleegan: That’s what I meant to say.

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Snow Day

Category: dribblings

snowroxie04 

the abominable snow roxie was hilarious this morning.

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