harbormoon.com

When you see Jakob today, make sure to wish him a happy third birthday!

No reason to put this photo here other than we thought both Jakob and Lea looked cute and that you can see how much higher Jeff’s forehead seems these days.

Out of the blue, Jeff’s friend Dave Bradley called last night from Wisconsin where he and his beautiful bride Jenn have lived for… what? eight or nine years?  Well, the two of them just had a baby, James, in January, two days after Jeff’s own birthday, and they’ve been “heads down moving forward” in their new role as parents.  David remarked that, with some of the issues that James has had in his first couple of months, he can’t imagine what it must be like to be dealing with these issues when you have a toddler to watch after as well.  We say, give them a few years and they may just find out!

Of course, congratulations to them and we wish nothing but the best for what’s to come!

Now that the thought of wireless home networking has become more of a reality, I had been thinking about taking the computer that we bought last year for the business, making that the family computer, and getting a laptop.  So, last week there was a sale at CompUSA on a nice laptop from HP where there was an instant $300 savings and, coupled with a $50 rebate, brought the final total to $599.  Unfortunately, it was one of those “deals of the century” that got people knocking over their grandmothers to get one, the stores sold out in a heartbeat, and many of these bargains mysteriously showed up on eBay.

Suddenly experiencing one of those I just gotta have it moments, I went on eBay to try and get one.  First, I tried getting one for $599.  Then I started bumping my bids to $650, and kept going up in $50 increments until, by this past weekend, I was willing to part with $800 for one of these babies; even at that price it was a bargin - 2.0 GHz, 80 GB HD, 512 MB RAM, 15.4 widescreen monitor, DVD+/-RW, and plenty of bells and whistles - and a refurbished unit from HP cost $859.  However, I kept getting outbid again and again to where I thought that I was never going to catch a break.

Then, out of nowhere, a Buy It Now! offer of $720 appeared and, while some sellers were asking upwards of $80 for shipping and “handling,” this person wanted just $20 for that purpose.  So, without hesitation, I snatched it up and by tomorrow (Wednesday) I should happily be the proud owner of one of their beauties.  Of course, for now, I’ll have to stay connected via a 6-foot network cable but, when the basement gets finished, I’ll have decided upon a nice wireless network system so, in the meantime, if anyone out there has a recommendation, please pass it along to us!

So Monday afternoon, I get an email that has been forwarded to me by a friend of mine who owns another Red Sox fan site.  A request had come to him from a Utica (NY) radio news/sports station, WIBX 950, to break down the upcoming Red Sox season.  He wasn’t readily available to do it, so he told them to contact me about the opportunity.  Seeing this as an opportunity to talk Sox with some fellow sports nuts, I more than happily said: Yes!

Just before 6:10 this evening, I got the call from the director and host, Dave Richards, who put me on hold and then gave a nice intro before allowing me to step in, introduce myself, and start answering questions about the club.  It was great!  They asked me my thoughts on everything: the changes in the clubhouse, the different players, the race for the AL East title, who might be the X-factor this season, and many other subjects.  Unbelieveably, we talked for just over a half-hour with no commercial breaks; whether that was intended or not, I don’t know but, per usual, I had plenty to say!  Of course, they made sure to plug my site about a dozen times or so, so I can only hope that it draws a few more visitors to FenwayFanatics.com!

Afterwards, I asked whether they might have a copy of the segment but, unfortunately, they don’t tape it unless it’s requested (my fault).  However, I do have witness to the event: my sister-in-law, Sheila, and her three kids, Ryan, Cody, and Heather, all listened to the broadcast down the road apiece in Fort Plain.  Sheila called immediately after it ended and told us that it sounded great; just for fun, she also told me that I have the face for radio. (heh!)

I also got a nice email afterwards from Dave who thanked me a thousand times over for helping upstate New York prepare from another Red Sox season (heh!).  He also told me that he might give me a call later in the season and have me talk about the team again, so perhaps my fame won’t be fleeting?  I guess we’ll see; for now, I’ll enjoy the moment.

Well, here we are with the spring equinox upon us and, at present, the temperature outside is 28°C.  Hmmm, that doesn’t seem right - oh, wait!  We’re in New England, where we usually skip the spring weather and go straight to summer around late May.

The basement project is coming along well with 99% of the wallboard in place.  We still need to finish the bathroom but we are waiting for our contractor to mount the basin of what will be our shower stall.  Hopefully that will happen shortly because as soon as we are ready, the mud-and-tape guy should be here to do his work.  We are all anxious to have the work done but, if anything has come out of this project, we have learned that patience pays off in the end.

Tiffany is close to having Lea fully weaned so she should be getting off the diet from hell shortly; five months with no eggs, butter, dairy, chocolate, and a few other things have been a real challenge for her.  Heck, it would be a challenge for just about anyone!  Lea has now switched to a special formula that costs about $40 a can but we managed to get Blue Cross to cover that expense.  Fortunately, she should really need it only for about another six months and then she will hopefully be free of those dietary restrictions as well.

The Red Sox are now just 13 days from Opening Day in Arlington, TX where they will face the Rangers.  Fan favorite Bronson Arroyo was traded yesterday to Cincinnati for utility outfielder Wily Mo Pena.  Arroyo had signed a three-year “discounted” deal worth approximately $12 million a couple of months ago in the hopes of staying in Boston but, with a bulk of starting pitchers at their disposal and the need for a fifth outfielder, the deal makes sense for the Sox.

 As for Pena, he is young (24) and is known for his power numbers (19 home runs in just 99 games last season), but he also lacks plate discipline (128 strikeouts last season).  However, Boston hitting coach Ron “Papa Jack” Jackson has worked wonders with the likes of David Ortiz, who was criticized for similar faults just a few short years ago, and may yet turn Pena into another right-handed threat in the lineup.

Somewhere, someone is putting something in the water because, once more, we are in the throws of another bout with a cold.  First, Jakob and Lea got it, of course, and then Tiffany fell ill on Saturday.  Luckily, here we are on Monday evening and she is feeling much better as are the kids.  Somehow, Jeff has escaped this round.

It just seems like, since Christmas, hardly a day has gone by without someone being under the weather.  First, we had a rather nasty cold virus hit us just after Christmas that lingered for a couple of weeks.  Then, in mid-February, we all came down with what seemed like the same thing.  The likely culprit has been the up-and-down weather this winter; usually the ponds freeze solid by early December and don’t thaw until late March or early April, but this year we’ve had several warm spells, with warm being a relative term (40 °F or so).  In fact, Friday it got up into the low 70s here, which was great for taking the kids for a stroll around the block, something that we haven’t done in a long time.

Well, we are looking forward to the coming weekend when we will be joining Jeff’s parents at the Portland (ME) Boat Show.  We aren’t in the market but it’s interesting to see all the big power boats and should be fun for Jakob.  Plus, the hotel where we will be staying has a nice pool, so that should be fun for everyone!

Believe it or not, Lea turns six months old today!

More work in the basement was done this weekend with help from Jeff’s mom.  As Tiffany kept the kids at bay, the framework in the laundry room was finally completed, though it was tricky trying to work around the dryer which we kept connected to the natural gas line; lucky for us, nothing went boom.  We also framed two out of the three windows on the southwest side of the house and installed wallboard in one of them to give it a more “finished” look.  Little by little, it comes together…

Now we have more incentive to finish hanging the wallboard.  Friday afternoon, we had a mud and tape guy come and look over what we wanted done and he was going to get back to our contractor with a quote.  He was supposed to have come the previous Friday but went to the wrong house.  In fact, he went to the house just behind us - perhaps we need to oversize the house number?

The Grapefruit League season is finally underway and the Red Sox are 2-3 through Sunday, with the only two wins coming against Boston College and Northeastern.  Of course, those technically do not count in the standings so they are really 0-3 but, then again, preseason games count for nothing in the regular season.  Right now, quite a few players, like Jason Varitek and Julian Tavarez, are off playing in the World Baseball Classic which runs through the next two to three weeks.  Plus, the preseason games now tend to serve a purpose more to review the farm talent and see who might be a potential mid-season call-up if a regular goes on the DL.

Two good things recently out of camp: Manny Ramirez reported as promised on 01 March and David Wells said that he would pitch for Boston this season, dropping his request for a trade.  All is well in Red Sox Nation…

So Saturday morning, I go into the basement and peer into the walkout that goes out to the backyard and I’m thinking that I need to make a hole when the forecast calls for one to three inches of snow later that day.  Well, luckily it was an easy repair but what made me decide suddenly to work out there where I haven’t even given it much thought in the past six months is beyond me.

Long story short, the foundation, or lack thereof, meant that the base of the walkout was essentially resting on the ground and, over the years, the wood had rotted.  So, using some pressure treated wood, some cement board, and a mixture of cement, I built up a new foundation that will most certainly stop further damage and keep moisture, critters, etc. out of the basement.

One of these days, I need to get some photos posted here of the work that we’ve done.  There is still much to do but we are getting closer and closer to a final product.  We were suppose to have a mud-and-tape guy come on Friday afternoon to look over the job and quote us a price but he either forgot the appointment or was held up for some other reason.  Whatever the reason, our general contractor will look into it and hopefully resolve the situation early this week.

The first Red Sox spring training game is scheduled for THursday against Minnesota!  Makes you forget for a moment that the temperature is only 4 degrees outside (without accounting for wind chill).  At least one writer from Fox Sports, Dayn Perry, has Boston winning the East this year, and why not?  Even with Damon off to the Yanks, Boston still has a potent offensive, the defense is much improved in the infield, and both the starting rotation and bullpen look solid.  They’re even a little younger, which never hurts over a long season, eh?