Yes! Yes! Yes!

Hi, everyone. Dad had a really good sports Sunday. First, the Giants won by shutting out the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24-0. They looked good doing it, too. The only minor negative was Eli Manning was pulled fairly early in the game when Dad could have used more padded stats for his fantasy football team.

Then an hour after that game ended, the Yankees clinched the AL East Division, beating the Red Sox 4-2. They also won their 100th game of the season and locked up the home field advantage for the playoffs with the best record in the American League. This was made all that much sweeter because it happened against a despised rival. The baseball enjoyment actually started Friday because the Yankees swept the three game series from the Sawx. Yay! Dad's hoping for a deep playoff run, including a World Series Championship.

Isabella? No, It's Bella

So Dad couldn't find Casino Royale last week. He decided to read Twilight (The Twilight Saga) instead. Despite Mom's teasing that "It's a teenage girl's book!" Dad believes that one is never too old for a good book. A person can be too young for a good book--for example, when Dad was 13 years old, he couldn't get past the first sentence of To Kill a Mockingbird. A year later, however, he couldn't put it down and has reread that book at least once since then.

So far, though, he's finding it hard slogging. He really doesn't like Bella that much. Dad's wondering if it's going to be like The Catcher in the Rye where lots of teenage boys related to the book, but teenage girls didn't get it. Only in reverse: teenage girls absolutely love Edward and Bella's adventures, and boys scratch their heads thinking, "What's the big deal?"

How 'bout them Cowboys!

Giants helped the Cowboys christen the new stadium by beating them 33-31 on a last second field goal by Lawrence Tynes. Game really shouldn't have been that close, but for some reason, Kevin Gilbride gets really unimaginative in the red zone. Dad will take it, though. 2-0 so far this season, and both of those were division wins. This makes Dad very happy as a Giants fan.

It's nice to fire up the music player to let it choose a random album

So, while he was on the computer tonight with the music player set to Shuffle, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by Wilco started to play. Dad really likes that album. One of the best he's ever bought.

John, Paul, George, Ringo, Mom, and Dad?

Mom and Dad picked up The Beatles: Rock Band on Sunday. Limited time to play before the Giants v. Cowboys game that night, but they had a blast! The tunes are great to listen to, the visuals are fun to see while you're trying to track the music, and the guitar playing is better. The game lets you calibrate the guitar so any misses Dad makes are his fault, not the guitar. Mom seems better at the drums than Dad is, but she always dives into doing the Hard levels. Dad, on the other hand, is more than content enough to work his way up from Medium to get eventually up to Expert. Here's to imitating Paul and Ringo the next couple of months. Dad wishes he could get the mock up of the Hofner bass outside of the $250 limited edition bundle, though.

What next?

Well, Dad finished The Chosen the other day. He's pretty sure there's a copy of Casino Royale somewhere around the house. Yup, the first James Bond novel. If he can find it, then that's what he's going to read.

Off to New Jersey

Mom and Dad flew to New Jersey last weekend, along with Uncle Cris and Kaley. It was for a combination birthday/anniversary party for Dad and Uncle Cris's parents. I was told that a good time was had by all--they saw my Uncle Omar and lots of good food at the party. I wouldn't know. I didn't fly up with them. Instead, I stayed in Florida with Kaley's mother and stepfather. I had a really good time with them.

He's re-reading another book?

Dad finished reading his last book which I told you about on Saturday. Late Saturday morning, he decided to re-read The Chosen by Chaim Potok. It's a great story that speaks about many things--the relation between fathers and sons, heritage and responsibility, friendship, and so much more. Dad first read it about 15 years ago and just loves it.

Dad did get a suggestion on what to read, though, from a friend. Dad will keep To the Vanishing Point by Alan Dean Foster in mind when he is done with The Chosen. Thanks, Karen!

Thoughts on a Sunday afternoon baseball game:

So, on Sunday, Mom and Dad went to catch the Rays who were hosting the Detroit Tigers. Didn't take me, but most baseball parks don't have a pet day. Dad's got some thoughts on the game, in no particular order:

• If the Rays don't make the playoffs this year--and it's not looking all that good right now--you can point to the bullpen this year. The Tampa Bay 'pen could not get out of the ninth inning without giving up a grand slam, making the score 5-3 for the Tigers. In his major league debut, starter Wade Davis goes 7 innings, giving up 1 run on 3 hits and 1 walk while striking out 9. The lone run--which was earned--was on a solo homerun surrendered to Aubrey Huff in the top half of the 2nd inning. But it all goes to naught because Grant Balfour, J.P. Howell, and Russ Springer could not get any outs.


• The cow bells the Rays fans use to generate excitement during games may be the most annoying thing about going to the Trop. The Angels had those Thundersticks, but their stadium is open air, not a dome.


• There are few things in this world as irritating as giving a child a cowbell at a Rays game who has absolutely no idea what in the world is going on. It would be best for everyone's sanity if there were a test for baseball knowledge before anyone was allowed to ring those cowbells.


• What in the world is the point behind the Day-O cheer? So, over the PA system, you hear "D-a-a-y-O!" To which the crowd responds in kind. How is The Banana Boat Song supposed to rally the troops? The trumpet and then "Charge!" can get people excited, but Harry Belafonte?


• There seemed to be almost as many Tigers fans in the Trop as Rays fans. Dad didn't know the Tigers traveled that well. Is Labor Day a contributing factor? or the fact that the Tigers have spring training in Lakeland?

On Labor Day, the Rays are going to play the Yankees in a twi-night double header. Dad's looking forward to seven plus hours of baseball tomorrow.

Not bad for a lark

Hey, all. This happened several weeks ago, but a dog's got things to sniff and food to eat. Anyway, the bowling team that Dad, Uncle Cris, and Kaley were on finished in 3rd place in the league. Woofhoo! Here's a picture of the trophy Dad brought home:
Kaley also got a trophy for her high series of the season. That trophy is actually much nicer than the 3rd place trophy for 3 Strikes and You're In!, but I don't have a picture for it. You'll just have to take my word for it.

Congratulations, everyone!

What to read?

Dad just finished Altered Carbon and though he thought it moved pretty well, he had some problems keeping up with some details by the end of the book. Probably because he was reading it late at night just before he went to bed and forgot all those details. He's trying to figure out what to read next.