hopefully enough to extend past the sidebar
i'm keenly aware of the stark lack of action in this space, but i think i'm just going to pretend that i'm European and thus getting a month off to enjoy the summer. with this year's baseball trip on the horizon and a bachelor party and wedding also upcoming, t.s.o.a. will be dark again until after Labor Day when we'll return with World Cup updates, D.I.Y. nonsense and hopefully more. until then, some random clutter to get out of my system:
* the t.s.o.a. household has a new member: an albino (also known as a Pink-eyed White) rat named Lulu that the wife inherited from a departing co-worker. her [the rat's] tail is a little creepy, but i have to admit that she is a kind of cute. still, it's hard to completely separate her from the disease-ridden brethren who routinely parade down the subway tracks and frolic in the mountains of refuse that blotch the sidewalks. i'm considering building her some sort of maze.
* for those wondering whatever happened to Dwight Schultz (Murdock from The A*Team), he appears to have carved out quite a niche for himself doing video game voices, including at least 21 of the voices in Everquest II.
check out a full array of Where Are They Now?s here
* having moved cross-country twice by the age of 10, i've seen a lot of the country and i've always wanted to be able to say that i've been to all 50 states. with a recent trip to Durango (another wedding) required flying into and out of Albuquerque, allowing me to cross New Mexico off the list. we flew through Dallas on the way back, so i could technically cross Texas off the list as well, but spending 2.5 hours in the airport playing Peanuts Uno doesn't quite seem like experiencing anything. Alaska and Hawaii will be on the list for a while, but other than the class of '59, i've only got Oklahoma, Montana, North and South Dakota to go.
* for those who haven't experienced air travel recently, i offer this anecdote: on the flight from ABQ to DFW, i was sitting behind a friend and his girlfriend, both of East Indian descent. they exude no foreigness outside of her British accent and the color of their skin (he was born in Kansas). halfway through the flight, the guy next to me - who had occasionally tried to make conversation when not chuckling while looking through the want ads - leans over and asks me "you want to ask them if they've got bombs in their shoes?" to which i could only reply "um, they're friends of mine. we're travelling together." he mumbled a half-hearted apology, and was quiet after that, except when he was spilling tortilla chip crumbs and Sprite on himself. i can only assume he was trying to figure out how he miscalculated the level of racism that my whiteness made acceptable to show. i almost wanted him to say something else so i could call him a jackass, but was mostly just happy to be able to read in peace thereafter.
* finally, in response to my May 15 entry regarding the Devil Rays and their flaccid "watch it happen" campaign, Seattle correspondent (and world-class "boo"er) nicole had this to say:
i had to write you in response to your entry about the devil rays and their
horrible tagline. for the record, i must inform you that the mariners are the
absolute WORST in this department (hmmm....maybe it's related to lou pinella).
please refer to the list below, a list so uninspiring it's no wonder the team has
been in a downward spiral for the past several years.
-- You gotta love these guys
-- Ain't baseball great
-- Sodo Mojo
-- Viva la mojo
-- Get all of it
and this year's...."what a show!" the lack of creativity of this year's is only
bested by the bitter irony that one is subjected to when watching a game this
season (lost in 14 last nite after being one strike away from winning in the top of the 9th!). i can only hope that the crack team of monkeys on typewriters that
they have working behind the scenes are being well cared for, perhaps wearing
silly hats and smoking cigars.
i hope she doesn't mind me using this before i even respond to her message. hopefully i can use some of my "vacation" time to catch up on such small courtesies.