Wmcmanus

Well, there's a sigh of relief, huh Al? Mad Bum bowled a 300 tonight. Great job, Giants. Last night though... Kansas City vs. Oakland... man oh man, does a game like that ever make me love baseball more than ever! From the 7th inning on to the 12th, it was pretty intense. Fun to watch the range of emotions of the KC fans as well as those of the players for both teams. Incredible game, and I sure am happy for the Royals. KC has waited a long, long time. They're my favorite team still in the mix, although I don't give them good odds against the Angels. Possible close proximity World Series matchups: Angels vs. Dodgers Orioles vs. Nationals Royals vs. Cardinals A's vs. Giants... well, not so much anymore, you may have to settle for the Angels and call it close enough.

This guy is incredible!

Wow! Far out, Ric. I need to talk to my accountant. It might put me into a different, uh... tax... uhhh.

Had a great day today. Thanks for all of the well wishes. Got a big surprise actually, which turned out to be one of the best birthday presents I've ever received. Ironic, because it wasn't intended to be a present and I'm pretty sure nobody even knew that my birthday happened to be today. I was in a bit of a grumpy mood this afternoon as I left for a college event hosted on the other side of the Island when I would have rather been watching the game 162 excitement in a baseball season that I've followed more closely than ever in recent years. But off I went, duty called. It was an event to celebrate the 44th anniversary of the little college that I teach at here in Cayman, the so-called founder's day. Little did I know that I had been selected as one of two inaugural recipients of the first ever (official) teaching award presented by the college during its entire existence. Lucky me. It's nice to feel appreciated. Anyway, it was totally unexpected, and way cool that it happened on my birthday. I didn't even realize that they were introducing "formal" teaching awards today (or that they ever intended to). So I feel honored, yada yada. It's actually nicely framed.

My stupid computer won't load the picture... curious...

For sure! Many a bearding sites on the interwebz. I even have some T-shirts... http://www.cafepress.com/thebeardly

Careful what you ask for... just posted this on Facebook. "The other day, I was in St. Pete on my way to a Rays game and stopped in at Ferg's (famous sports bar across from center field) before the game for a reuben (most awesome sandwich, you really do owe it to yourself if ever you have a chance to catch a Ray's game)... So I'm sitting there, enjoying the last fews bites of my reuben and minding my own business as always, just waiting for the rain to stop so I can make my way over to the game. The White Sox were in town, so I was looking forward to the game and anxious to get moving because the opening pitch was closing in (it's an indoor stadium, so the rain wasn't going to delay the game). Time was of the essence, and now that the reuben was all but done and dusted, my mood was shifting from a 9 to a 3 on the scale of 1 to completely content and at peace with the world). The reuben really was awesome, but I had shit to do and I either had to get soaked or miss the first inning, neither being a good choice. Along comes an old geezer walking past my table, who was of course (as most old geezers tend to be) much better prepared for the rain (umbrella in hand) than was I... so although he didn't know it, he already had one strike against him in my book... but that's fine (I was thinking to myself), he didn't have anything else on his mind all day, so of course he would check the weather. Don't blame him. Not his fault I'm an idiot... But then he did it. He didn't have to, but he did. He could have just looked away like so many other people do, day in and day out, and just kept his mouth shut and his thoughts to himself. But he didn't. He stopped, while simultaneously opening his umbrella, looked directly at me and said/asked (I'm not exactly sure if it was a statement or a question)... but it was uttered without a hint of remorse or even playful sarcasm: "You haven't spent any money on razor blades for a long time, have you?" Although quite surprised, shocked even, and insulted if he meant it as an insult (although I'm not convinced that he did because it was an American accent, not British)... still, I didn't hesitate for even a second with my reply: "About a year... but did you know that they have a name for people who shave?" Now he looked confused, which made me that much more pleased to answer my own rhetorical question, so as he said, "No, what's that?" I said, "Women", then immediately stood up, walked past him as he was opening the door and without a hint of anger or frustration on my part said to him, "It's the same name they use for people who carry umbrellas." Then I wandered aimlessly out into the rain toward the Trop (although in truth I really wanted to run because it was certainly more than a drizzle and I was indeed going to get soaked if I kept up my he-man act... which of course I did). Yes... I did get soaked, but it was so worth it."

One, I believe... but lots of pulled pork nachos at the Trop in St. Pete.

The last 20 games were in Tampa in late August and throughout September. At $10 per game for tickets and free parking, why not? It's kind of quiet in there. Shame, really... but did get to see Jeter in his final series with the Yankees and Paul Konerko do his last hurrah with the White Sox.

Back home in Cayman today after seeing 48 (far too many but yet somehow not quite enough) major league baseball games this year.

Back sack.

RIP Richard, you were awesome. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/richard-kiel-dead-bond-villain-and-jaws-actor-passes-away-aged-74-9725322.html The bit at the end about how he went to lots of Bond-related events in his later years... makes me wonder if guys like Richard Kiel made enough money during their brief careers to live off of residuals, etc. I suppose he got appearance fees or was paid for photos and autographs.

You would probably get better responses if you provided a more detailed list of the kind of musicerable shit that you listen to.

Happy birthday, Matt. I'm going to check in on your folks next week and let them know how many people around here miss you.

I've been traveling of late and haven't kept up with this thread... so I just wanted to say thanks for all of the well wishes concerning my aunt. It was weird not being there for her funeral, but I've since had a chance to talk with her husband and each of my cousins. They all seem to be managing well. My mom, not so well... but I just think she's drained from all of the back and forth between Illinois and Colorado during these past 6 months. I was able to pick her up at O'Hare and have now spent several days with her, so I guess I've been able to play at least a bit role on this end of things. About Robin Williams... sigh...

My aunt June died this morning at her home in Colorado after a long battle with cancer. She was 82 and preceded in death by her first husband of 25 years now some 25 years ago, and is survived by her second husband of some 25 years who has now lost two wives to cancer. Nice lady, although you always knew where you stood with her! June was 10 years older than my mom, who absolutely adored her and has been back and forth from Illinois to Colorado 5 or 6 times since January trying to do what she could to be supportive. I think this has conjured back up a lot of memories from my dad's battle with cancer and death 7 years ago. It sure is hell getting old... but she was surrounded by love from her children, grandkids and great-grandkids for months and it's good that she's no longer suffering. Enjoy it while you've got it, kids. She sure did.

It was a good review, which is rare, so it should have been at the top of the heap!

Angry bird... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WL1foQKD3OI

Thanks to Facebook, I now know what my name means.

Also late seeing this. Pretty scary situation, Al. As Steve said, it sure would be comforting to know exactly what the root cause was - for preventative purposes.

Me too. I use one Tice Power Block 3 in my headphones setup (you've seen the pics with 3 racks of gear), and another identical Tice unit for my main speaker rig. Audiogon is another place to look for them.

"Dork say what?" "What?" Anyway, he's still dead...

I'm sure this will be all over the news... Andy Griffith was 86. He died today. RIP. You will be missed. http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2012/07/03/report-andy-griffith-dies-at-86/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=story&utm_campaign=ShareButtons