Archive for December, 2005
Tom Terrific and The Mighty Pats
17 December 2005 @ 4:57 pm
What a game by New England today at Foxboro against the mighty Tampa Bay Bucs. Even with temperatures below 40°C, which historically spells a loss for Tampa in years past, and a chance to clinch the division at home in front of a boistorous crowd, an easy win was not expected. Instead, the Patriots scored a touchdown on their first possession, grabbed two quick TDs before the end of the first half, and kept quarterback Chris Simms and the Bucs’ offense off the scoreboard as they easily dominated play on both sides of the ball and won, 28-0. Tom Brady was near perfect with 3 TD passes, no INTs, and 258 yards in the air - MVP! MVP! MVP!
After a tough loss to KC on Thanksgiving weekend, the Patriots have reeled off three straight wins and are 5-1 after starting 4-4 in the first half of the season. Now its a Monday Night game against the Jets the day after Christmas followed by a season-ender at home against the Fish. Don’t look now, but perhaps reports of a Patriots demise have been greatly exaggerated. As it stands, New England will play Indianapolis at the RCA Dome in the second round of the playoffs, should they get past an opening-round matchup at home against… Jacksonville, perhaps?
Kong!
16 December 2005 @ 9:48 pm
One of our dear friends offered to watch the two kids this evening while we went and saw King Kong at the local cinema. As I have seen the original movie from 1933, Peter Jackson (same guy who directed the Rings trilogy) did a nice job staying somewhat true to the original, with some obvious nods here and there. However, he also added his own touch and made it his own (a $180 million budget helped with that!).
Actually, the only negative comment I had was that the camera movement was a little jerky at some points and, in a few instances, I started getting nauseous. I don’t know where that came from but it was a rather unpleasant feeling. It was like when I crew in the summer on our friend’s boat and I stay below deck for too long. Tiffany even got a little woozy near the end when the camera is panning around the cityscape.
In either case, go see it if you have the chance but don’t bring your little kids because there are some gruesome parts (we won’t go into detail). We wouldn’t say that it rises to the same level as the trilogy but a great job nonetheless.
Lost His Mittens
@ 7:00 am
Yesterday afternoon, Tiffany was home tooling around the house when she heard some cries coming from the deck outside the side door. Turns out that there was a little orange tiger cat (kitten, actually) freezing itself out there. Luckily for us, we have the Have-A-Heart trap because the kitten would not allow Tiffany to come anywhere close to him and, with some tempting Tender Vittles, caught him before I got home. Note: The photo is NOT a picture of the cat but he looks pretty similar.
A trip to the vet revealed worms but no fleas. It also appears to be feral. Right now, he’s staying in residence in the bathroom and one of our neighbors is considering whether to adopt him, as they recently lost their cat and had also seen this kitten running around the neighborhood looking for scraps and such. I’m not sure if we would take him because (a) we already have two cats and two kids, and (b) he may or may not have feline HIV, meaning that he would have to be an “only cat” if he were to find a home. Right now, we are looking to send him to Kitty Angels, a local non-profit no-kill shelter where hopefully someone will come and adopt him.
Please, folks, have your pets spayed or neutered if you don’t have the decency to care for these beautiful creatures. It breaks your heart to see a ten-week-old kitten trying to fend for itself in the middle of December with the nighttime temperatures dipping below 0°F… at least, it breaks ours.
Goodbye, Billy Mill, and Thanks!
14 December 2005 @ 9:23 pm
It was only yesterday that Bill Mueller scorched a single between Mariano Rivera’s legs in Game Four of the 2004 ALCS and pushed Dave Roberts across the plate, setting up what became the most improbable comeback ever in baseball playoff history. Now, as the Sox set sail in a new direction, another one of the 25 from that magical 2004 team is gone, with the beloved third baseman signing with the storied Dodgers today.
Of course, you can point out that he’s 34 and that he’s already had surgery on both knees, not something you want to see on an infielder’s résume, but Red Sox Nation will miss him for sure. Best of luck to you in Los Angeles!
Lea Turns Three (Months)
13 December 2005 @ 11:00 amShe’s officially three months old today - time flies!
Rocks
@ 10:20 amWe sat down for dinner at home the other night and included on our plates were salt potatoes (an upstate New York summer staple). Jakob took one look at them and said: “Rocks.” He also wouldn’t try them. Now, isn’t that a terrible commentary on Mommy’s cooking? *lol*
Sox Will Have Co-GMs
@ 9:55 am
Boston Red Sox President/CEO Larry Lucchino announced last night that, to replace former GM Theo Epstein, the Sox have promoted Ben Cherington and Jed Hoyer, two former Epstein understudies, to co-general managers. Our only thought is: when they come to an impasse on a personnel decision, will they use paper-rock-scissors? Best two-out-of-three? Well, with the matter of Johnny Damon’s return still hanging in the balance, it should be intersting to see what happens.
Our money is in for next year’s season tickets and it looks like, after splitting with our group, we will have another eight games or so, not counting potential playoff contests. Same seats in Section 29… with snow on the ground outside it seems like spring is far off in the future.
Photos Are Coming…
11 December 2005 @ 10:04 pmWe played around with the site a bit this evening and did update the header so that it rotates between about two dozen choices, including ones with the kids as well as some random shots that we’ve taken over the years. We are still working on adding recent photos to the mix, too, as well as bringing back some of the “classics.” Stay tuned!
Today being Sunday meant football all afternoon on the tube, though we caught just the second half of a game between our beloved Patriots and the Bills, who New England easily beat in the snow to move to 8-5. Now, a win or a Miami loss clinches the AFC East for the third straight season. Making it back-to-back-to-back Super Bowl wins, however, is a different story.
Well, even though the chances of a championship three-peat appear slim at best, you can never count out Bill Belichik and crew, at least not in recent memory. Go Patsies! Tom Brady, the thinking man’s MVP…
Snow Day!
10 December 2005 @ 9:45 pm
Friday came and there was talk of snowfall in the area, perhaps six to ten inches, and we ended up with sixteen total. The interesting part was that it all came down in what seemed like a matter of minutes. Jeff had to run down to City Hall for a building permit so that he could continue working on the basement renovation (excuse us - cellar renovation, according to the language of the building inspectors) and while the snow was falling, there was no sense of panic or urgency.
However, just after lunch, it seemed like the snow started coming in sideways and quickly accumulated to the point that, after it stopped at around 3:30, Jeff went out to snowblow the driveway and needed to push hard on the screen door to move what had drifted against it.
There was a beautiful pink sunset and, what was not surprising, within a couple of hours the roads were pretty-well plowed and nearly every driveway that we could see was clear. Snowstorm, what snowstorm?
Today being Saturday, we got out and played in the freshly-fallen powder, with Jakob helping Jeff build a “Frosty” in the backyard. We also pulled him around in his old sled, though it’s a little too small for him. Luckily, Santa already told us that there should be a nice surprise under the tree for Jakob very soon. *smile*
