Again with the long delay between posts! Well, nothing to write here at the moment but check out this great clip from last night’s Red Sox game. Even though they lost, there was a great exchange in the Red Sox broadcast booth that involved Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy, the usual suspects, and Denis Leary and Lenny Clarke, two very funny comedians. If you aren’t laughing at this, you are either asleep or dead.
Go Sox! We still believe…
We are so very close to finally having the cellar project completed. I installed cabinets for the wet bar and we’ve had measurements taken for the countertop, which hopefully will be installed by early August. The carpet was also installed in late June and we picked up our new sofa with the dual recliners along with a solo recliner shortly after that. I also finally hung the flat screen that we purchased in January on the wall and I’ve hooked up some of the new components to it so that we can watch DVDs and TV and surf the web with the computer (something that we’ve done very little of in recent weeks, judging again by the length of time between posts here).
We still need to have the plumber return to hook up the new toilet and sink in the bathroom but that should happen very soon, so hopefully we will have it ready to use full-time very soon. The trick is to make sure that what we don’t finish just yet will not pose a hazard to the kids. For instance, the fireplace that we have no plans to use does not have a door on it and it’s not quite the season to pick those up at Home Depot, in light of the recent heat wave that saw temperatures near 100°F this week. We also need to find a new home for the litter box so that Lea isn’t looking to try out those apples. This weekend, we should get some doors installed so that we can also close off areas like the laundry room, the workshop, and the utility closet.
In other recent news, we finally caught a Red Sox win in person! This season, Boston was 0-for-3 in games that we had attended but Curt Schilling and the offense finally caught fire last Saturday and shut out Oakland, 7-0, which coincidently was the first shutout pitched by the Sox this season. Boston had been as much as four games ahead of New York in the standings entering the All-Star break but some tough losses combined with a hot Yankees club has seen the lead drop to a half-game. It’s no surprise with these two teams again with strong rosters but the challenge this season may be to get that division title, as the Central looks like a better candidate to produce the wild card, with the defending World Series champion Chicago White Sox battling with an upstart Detroit Tigers club.
All is still well with the family. Jakob is “being three” and Lea continues to surprise us every day with something new. The cats are also doing their best to get those necessary 18 hours of sleep per day; it’s not easy with those mini-humans running around the house, shrieking with excitement. Mommy and Daddy just do what it takes.
We apologize for the infrequent posts. It seems to be that, between work, the kids, and everything else, it’s tough to remember that there are those readers (all three of you) that hang on our every word.
Paul McCartney turned 64 this past weekend, giving more meaning to Track #9 from the Beatles’ St. Pepper album. My mother still has the vinyl in its original sleeve but she wouldn’t trade it for the world, being that she was in college when the 1960’s “British Wave” was hitting the American shores.
Congratulations are also in order for Tiffany’s nephew and godchild, Andrew, who graduates Friday evening from high school. He’ll be attending Clarkson this fall, which is just a little out of laundry range from where Tiffany’s brother and his family live.
The cellar project took a huge turn today when the tile was laid out on the floor in the entryway and the bathroom. Next week, the same people should be returning to lay down the carpet and then we plan to pick up our new couch. This past weekend, Jeff and his mother installed an A/C unit which should keep matters cool down there. With any luck, we can start using the place early next month!
Oh, and the Sox are riding a six-game winning streak and sitting pretty in first place in the East, two games in front of New York. Of course, championships aren’t won in June but it’s still nice to say “first-place Sox.”
That’s all for now, folks! A belated happy summer solstice as well…
So our softball season finally got underway yesterday to a not-so-successful beginning. It was a tough one-run loss - they scored 23, we scored just one (ouch!). Perhaps it was the fact that our team had far more grey hairs than the 20-somethings that filled the roster of the other team. Maybe it was the fact that we hadn’t practiced and were entering the game cold. Or… maybe it didn’t matter because we’re playing in a fun league and it’s more about the socializing than the winning. Yeah, I’m going to keep telling myself that one.
I apologize to those of you that have been wondering when we’ve been; I guess that we’ve just not had time to even say hello lately. The basement project is still a work-in-progress; right now, we are having tile and carpet laid down and I have some clean-up left to do for that to proceed. The kids are both doing well; Lea has master crawling and is now pulling herself to standing while Jakob is getting into the routine of asking to use the potty. We’re also still keeping track of our beloved Sox, who are a half-game back of first behind New York to start the night and, coincidently, are at Yankee Stadium playing a four-game series with the bombers.
Also, big news out of Virginia: my brother, Greg, has just made Petty officer First Class rate (E-6) so that will mean a senior position in the Navy. He also just got his papers to begin shore duty starting in November in Chesapeake, VA; that means that he’ll be working a normal 9-to-5 job and getting to come home on evenings and weekends to see his family instead of spending day after day after day in the bowels of the USS Vella Gulf. He also recently participated in a daring rescue out at sea, which made an otherwise uninteresting two-month voyage a little more exciting. I guess it’s true that good things come in threes.
So you know, the photo was taken in town today. Fortunately, there will be no need to start building an oversized dinghy and placing calls to local zoos despite the 12-plus inches of rain that has fallen in the past few days. A good percentage of the Merrimack Valley is underwater these days but, fortunately for us, we are on high ground and, even better, only a small trickle of water has entered the basement, meaning that all that work we’ve done in the past year or so won’t suffer any future water damage.
If there’s good news, it’s that the Sox have now won 13 straight against the Baltimore Orioles after squeaking out a 6-5 win at Camden Yards tonight.
Like it? This is our team logo for the upcoming softball season here at Raytheon. I say upcoming because we are still waiting to step foot on the field. League play was suppose to begin the last week of April but a new field was put in and, with the dry weather this spring, they are still waiting for the grass to take root in the outfield. Right now, they have the season starting the week of the 22nd but even that is in jeopardy. Our first game now won’t be until 30 May (the day after Memorial Day) so I guess it’s a wait-and-see approach. Hey, at least we have a cool logo, eh?
At least the Sox have been playing well as of late. After a tough stretch on the road to end last month, Boston returned to Fenway Park and took five-of-six last week, with wins against New York and Toronto, and a weekend sweep of Baltimore. This week starts off with the local nine on the road again, this time facing the Bronx Bombers at Yankee Stadium. Right now, both teams have their best starters lined up for the series: Josh Beckett and Randy Johnson tonight, Curt Schilling and Mike Mussina tomorrow, and Tim Wakefield and Shawn Chacón Thursday. The two teams also enter the series tied for first in the East and while some might say that it’s too early to worry about the standings, just point to last season when they finished tied at 95 wins apiece and New York won the tiebreaker on account that they had won one more game in the season series (10-9).
We’re in trouble now! Lea is up on her knees, wiggling back and forth and looking for a way to inch herself closer to that toy just out of her reach. Soon, it’s going to be the car keys. Well, at least there is no way that her small frame can reach the gas pedal and steer at the same time.
We also just went wireless today so Jeff is able to roam free around the house carrying his laptop so he can waste time surfing in, say, the living room or, more likely, the bathroom. All kidding aside, it is really amazing how technology has made it so easy to manage how we live. We can pay our bills, we can order tickets to concerts, we can buy that last-minute gift for the mother-in-law… now if we could figure a way for it to get Jakob potty-trained, we’d be set!
On another note: the basement ceiling got its first coat of paint this evening. A nice cream color that should go well with the “hubbard squash” yellow paint that will go on the walls. The electricians are due back Monday to finish their work and hopefully we can get started on the floor next week as well.
Every year our friend Jim donates his time to a worthy cause and this year he is raising money for breast cancer research. He will also be participating in a two-day walk around Boston in support of this effort. Whether you know him or not, it’s a good cause because it’s hard not to have known someone who was affected by this form of cancer. So, please, support the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer and make a donation in Jim’s name - he’s looking to raise $2500 and is already halfway there. Thanks!
Well, as I write this, I’m sitting in an airport bar in Huntsville, AL and I just watched Pedro Martinez win the 200th game of his career on ESPN Monday Night Baseball. I’m here on a business trip for my company, meeting with a customer tomorrow morning. I’m also using the WiFi feature on my laptop for the first time ever and I love it! I can’t wait to install it in my own home once the basement work is complete.
Lots has happened over the past week. Speaking of the cellar (the “official” designation on the permit), the mud-and-tape guy finally made an appearance Friday morning and, as of this afternoon, the first coat of mud are on the walls. According to my conversation with Tiffany this evening, the new family room is actually beginning to look like a room!
Saturday, we went to our first Sox game of the season; of course, it was the one game out of a four-game series against Seattle that Sox did not win. Tim Wakefield pitched a complete game and was near-perfect for eight of those nine innings. Unfortunately, an ugly top of the third plated three Mariner baserunners and the Boston offense was shut out for the first time since a 1-0 loss to the Yankees last September (thank you, FenwayFanatics.com for the quick reference!). However, that game was sandwiched between two well-pitched games by Curt Schilling and newcomer Josh Beckett and then a great game this afternoon that saw Mark Loretta hit a game-winning two-run home run in the ninth after Big Papi had already tagged two home runs earlier in the contest.
Of course, Jakob also turned three last Tuesday and he now clearly understands the terms “birthday cake” and “presents.” He also had his annual check-up at his pediatrician and now stands 37 inches tall and weighs in at 31 pounds. Meanwhile, Lea is working on two new teeth and has started grinding her upper and lower teeth together, which probably sounds worse than it is.
That’s about all for now! Oh, and I did take photos of the work in the basement so I have no excuse now. They will be posted soon, I promise.
Yes, ’tis a holy day in these parts as the Red Sox prepare to open Fenway Park at 2:05 this afternoon for the first time in 2006, with several changes having been made to the place over the winter that will be interesting to see in person on Saturday when we head in for our first game against the Mariners. Today, however, the full squad will be introduced, from Josh Bard to Kevin Youkilis, all the coaches, and perhaps even the team doctor. Then, it’s Josh Beckett taking the hill against Josh Towers and Toronto Blue Jays, divisional opponents and brings of baseball from the country where every sentence ends in: “Eh?”
(Like: “That was a wicked slider, eh?” Wait, do they say “wicked” there or is it just us Boston metro types?)
Fenway is sure to be rocking and, sadly, I’ll be in a proposal meeting all afternoon trying hard to concentrate on the topic of discussion while thinking in the back of my mind: “I wonder how many home runs David Ortiz has hit this afternoon?”