Cats, why?

The other day I was relaxing in my chair and suddenly had this 10 pound furry animal sharing my space. Yes, it was Riordan--the cat who came home.

Riordan seems to enjoy making himself very at home in our laps. I wish I could be that comfortable in my bed, let alone in someone's lap.


Well, after all, he is the cat that came back and so I guess he gets to choose when and where he can recline. Even in my arms, usually while I am researching something on my iPad.

Cats. Why does it have to be cats?

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Look, up in the sky--it's BLUE!

An amazing thing happened yesterday. The sky was the clearest blue that I have observed in almost a month.

No clouds and bright sunshine highlighted the approaching autumn colors in the trees.

No clouds--that was the cool thing. It has been so gray and depressing.

It was so refreshing to see the blue.

I wanted to play hooky from work.

And lay in the sun and imagine that I was on a warm beach somewhere.

But I didn't and stayed at work even though the sky was so clear and blue and inviting.

I hope we have a few more days like that, soon.

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In Need of a Messiah?

I read an interesting article the other day in Newsweek Magazine titled, "Wanted: A New Messiah" that postulated that Americans are searching for a messiah and the next presidential election (2012) is when many expect to find one.

It is sad that we are looking to politicians to be our messiah--when we already have one.

I believe that it shows how desperate we are as a people and a nation. We are expecting our leaders to deliver us from the evil that surrounds us. And we don't even realize that the evil that we are mired in is of our own doing.

Have your heard about the banks raising fees and charging consumers more tot use debit cards? Greed, pure and simple. They can couch it in terms of profit margins and return on investment, but at the bottom is greed, no doubt about it.and it is a reflection of our own greed being reflected in the policies of the banks.

And we continue to fight a losing war against drugs. People are looking to escape from their condition and the drugs and thugs are profiting--committing murder in the open in Mexico. Yet, if we were to stop needing to use drugs to escape, then there would not be a market for the dealers to exploit.

Yes--we need a messiah. Someone to lead us to the promised land. But is is not Governor Christie of New Jersey.

People need hope!

The need to look elsewhere that politicians--like at the real Messiah who came to give us life, and freedom from the penalty for sin.

We who know this need to help those who are searching just a bit more. And don't thump them with a bible, give them hope and teach them grace. The Messiah is searching for them. That is where we can help.



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October Arrives

Cold rain slapped hard on my face
punctuating the 40 degree bone chilling cold
that greeted me at the door as I
stepped outside to start the day.

October arrived cold and raw
driven rain greeting me on my stoop
dark mornings as the sun lags
by rising later for each new day.

The goblins are waiting for their night
by then darkness will fall
before I get home from work
and the moon will master the evening light

Cold and wet, even my dog resists
it just isn't fun to be in the still green grass
watching the trees don their autumn garb
and then lose it to the ground.

The pool is closed and quiet now
slumbering in advance of the coming snows
waiting for the sunlight to reign again
and shake off the approaching darkness

October, arrived with no applause
and grasped the remnants of summer fun
shaking off the light and plunging
day into ever increasing darkness.

Cold hard rains that too soon turn to snow
and become drifts obscuring the yard
with ice and cold and darkness.
October please, do not long tarry.



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Location:Rainbow Dr,Elkridge,United States

Monday Musings - October 3, 2011

1. Baseball is on to the playoffs. It always amazes me that after playing 162 games, teams can end the season with such similar records.

2. It was cold here to start October. It seemed as if the weather was watching the calendar, too.

3. I ran across an interesting quote: "Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake." ~ Napoleon Bonaparte

4. Important safety tip for Maryland driving--apparently as of 1 October, we can no longer even look at our cell phones while we are operating a vehicle--but we can continue to stuff ourselves with a Big Mac and fries. Maryland obviously wants us all to be heavier so the state can spend more on health care.




5. The inspection of the Washington Monument in the aftermath of the earthquake is continuing. I read there are some large cracks in the top. I saw an image of men suspended from safety gear round the secured to the top of the monument. I wonder who went out first without ropes to put the safety ropes around the top?

6. This week the next best sport regular season begins--NHL Hockey. Lets go Pens!

7. Wouldn't it be cool if Congress was run like a major sports team. After a dismal season they could be dismissed and replaced. Oh yeah--they can! It is called an election.

8. Happy new fiscal year (which started Saturday). Maybe we can get a budget soon.

9. The house is quiet now--the games are completed. But yesterday, with the addition of Patrick's big TV the place looked like a sports bar with three different games playing and the Red Zone channel monitoring the progress.


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Ugly Bug of the Day

As I was out on the back porch yesterday, I spied what is perhaps the ugliest bug that I have ever run across.

Hopefully it dines on stink bugs!

Anyone know whatitiz?




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Location:6155 Rainbow Drive, Elkridge, MD

Moneyball - Movie Review

Every so often, and it seems to be happening less and less, I view a movie where I really connect with the story and the actors make the characters believable. money ball is one of those rare movies where it all comes together, a compelling true story and good character development.

The movie is based on the book, Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis. The story is about the Oakland A's major league baseball team during the end of the 2001 season and through the 2002 baseball season through the perspective of the General Manager, Billy Beane, a former baseball prodigy who never made it in the big leagues. After losing the three stars of the team on whose backs they rode the wave to the 2001 playoffs, the team needs to find an innovative way to replace the talent without increasing the bottom line which is the lowest payroll in baseball. The philosophical change, which eventually revolutionizes baseball, is not an easy sell to the staff.

Brad Pitt plays Billy Beane and does a great job building a character that has many competing facets including a daughter with his divorced wife and the demons of his failures as a player. Jonah Hill, who I have never seen in a serious movie before, plays Peter Brand the knowledgeable statical genius who assists Billy in implementing the plan. His character is far less complex, but he provides the counterpoint for the story line.

The movie comes to a predictable conclusion, since it is a true story and I knew the ending. There are a few factual errors, but the movie and the story are very compelling. It is not just a baseball story--it is a story of people and relationships and the reaction to fundamental change is any endeavor.

RECOMMENDATION: See this movie. It is a great and touching story. And mostly true. Billy Beane is still the general manager for the Oakland A's.



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Greatest Night in Baseball

The regular baseball season is now ended. But what a finish. I have longed to see the Orioles play meaningful baseball during September--and this season at least I got my wish.

Wednesday night will probably be recorded as one of the wildest finishes in all of baseball history with the collapse of the Boston Red Sox and the Atlanta Braves and the ascension into the playoffs of the Tampa Bay Rays and the St Louis Cardinals.

But a part of the magic belonged to the O's who stormed onto the field for the last time this season after completing a bottom of the ninth inning rally to defeat the Red Sox and hold the door for open for the Rays, who just three minutes later stepped into the playoffs via a walk off bottom of the twelfth inning home run to overcome a 7 run deficit to the Yankees.

Sadly, I was asleep at the time. I had given up on the O's and the Rays. Never again!

Baseball is a wild sport and until the last out is recorded--anything can happen.

It warmed my heart to see the national sports media showing highlights of an O's game over and over again during the day. The way the players streamed out onto the field after the last out would only have been better if they themselves were headed into the playoffs. But at least the Orioles were a big part of the greatest finish in baseball history--as it has been called.

I am already dreaming of next year--maybe we will be better and be playing ourselves into the playoffs rather than ushering Boston out.

But the winter is coming and there are so many things that will happen between now and April.

For a day or two though, the O's were in the spotlight--in a good way.

And now it is onto the playoffs. I'm liking the Rays in the AL and the Diamondbacks in the NL. Betting money though is on the Yankees and the Phillies.


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Doctor Day - Again

So I had another couple of days devoted to doctors and appointments. It had nothing to do with the NDPH, but rather a recurring sore on my cheek. It seems that is takes so many doctors and specialists these days to get things done. This was my second appointment for the sore.

But that is not the reason I write today. No, rather it seems that in this day of computers and internet we are still required to fill out reams of forms when we visit a new doctor--which I sadly have done a lot more than I would like to admit lately.

And the forms are all filled out long hand in pen in the doctor's office before the first appointment. Why couldn't they have provided me with a website to complete the paperwork before hand and then had me just certify it in their presence. I mean--how many times do I really want to answer the question about all of the medicines and vitamin supplements that I am currently taking? And I tell you--it is too many to remember, I'd use a cut and paste function on the computer to get them all.

My experience yesterday was with a dermatologist. It was generally good--right up until she wanted to cut out a piece of my face. You know you are in trouble when they bring in the consent form and tell you that the xylocaine is going to hurt like a bee sting, and then laughingly they add it could be a big or small bee sting. Wait--I thought xylocaine was supposed to deaden the pain????

Small bee sting as it turned out.

And after the sawing was completed, the cauterizing began and I cracked a joke about the room smelling like burning flesh, oh yeah, it was my burning flesh.

Hopefully, I will soon get to the bottom of the recurring sore on my cheek and get my dashingly good looks back.

OK--so I'm not dashing.

Suffice it to write--another day, another doctor.

Here's hoping my 57th year gets better as it goes along and my visits to doctors decrease dramatically.

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Camden Yards Finale for 2011

Last night, Chris and I made our final sojourn to Camden Yards to see the Orioles play baseball for the 2011 season.We went to see some meaningful September baseball since the Red Sox, whom the O's were playing, are battling for a playoff spot. The final game of the season is tonight--but let night I went to see the Red Sox lose, which they did not do.


I got frustrated with the game in the sixth inning after the Red Sox took an 8-3 lead. It was a slow plodding game punctuated by Red Sox home runs and then inadequate responses by the O's. Although the final score was 8-7, the outcome was never really in doubt. Thankfully, the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Yankees so thoughts game will be equally as important since the Rays and Red Sox are tied for the Wild Card entry into the post season.

So, during the sixth inning Chris an I left our seats, wished Dave our usher a happy off season, and headed off to walk around the park and enjoy the sights and smells for one last evening.

We walked down Eutaw Street looking at the vendors and marveling at the playing field from the perspective of the famous flag court where so many lefties hit home runs. We went into the Orioles Store and checked out the over-priced wares. We heard the home run siren scream one last time as Adam Jones hit a shot to make the score 8-4.

And then it was time to say good-bye to the stadium I enjoy so much and head off to the car. I had lost interest in the game, sadly. Even the most ardent Orioles fan can lose interest when the team is performing so poorly in all aspects of the game--base running, fielding, pitching, and timely (or not timely) hitting.

There is next year. There is always, it seems, next year. We'll get them then. Play-off baseball will return to Baltimore next year, I hope.

And as we walked out the gate, for the final time in 2011, I said good-bye to another piece of summertime. The boys of summer are giving way to the boys of fall. And it shows.

I was even searching for Penguins tickets at one point during the game, if you can believe that.

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