Randomness

- Sara and I were talking at lunch, and realized that there's basically one week until we're in Full-On Christmas mode. Next Saturday is the Christmas party at our place with my sister-in-law's family, and the in-laws. It'll be a fun time, especially with all 6 kids together.

- We're supposed to get our first taste of nasty winter weather starting tomorrow afternoon. Just what exactly we're going to be getting, is still up for debate. It seems like we're always on the border of either getting a mix of rain/snow or just rain. As much as I hate winter, and cold weather, I kind of wish we were getting hit with a bunch of snow. It makes things easier when it happens on the weekend. We'll probably end up with nothing when its all said and done. Sara and I were supposed to go see the Bob Schneider show in town tomorrow night, but the threat of bad weather had us decide against it..so far.

- Sara and I got tickets to see Bruce Springsteen here in Charlottesville at the end of April. I'm not a huge fan, I know a lot of his stuff, but I hear his live shows are legendary. He's one of those people that I've always wanted to see live. It sucks that the show is so far away. I still really want to see Van Halen when they come here in February. Now hopefully Led Zeppelin will decide to tour this summer. The only thing bigger for me than seeing Led Zeppelin, would be to see the Beatles..and well, that's just impossible.

- I had been doing pretty well with the baseball withdrawls so far this year. Having Tucker around, I haven't paid much attention to sports lately. After the big trade for Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis last week however, I'm really getting the itch for baseball season. At least Spring Training is only at most, 2 months away..but who's counting?

- Speaking of baseball, the steroid report came out yesterday. I'm neither all that surprised, nor do I really care. Can't we all just agree that from the late 1980s until the early 2000's should just be called the "Steroid Era" of baseball. I really don't think anyone caught doing the drugs prior to the testing policy that was implemented a few years ago, should be punished. Baseball knew it was going on, and they turned a blind eye to it, because it was bringing back popularity to the sport. At least it gave something for ESPN to O.D. about once again.

- R.I.P. Fleetie (a.k.a. Crackwhore). You were a good, but crazy dog to Kristen.

Randomness..Its Been Awhile

- So its been awhile since I've posted on here. What can I say, I've been busy.

- Tomorrow is Sara's first appointment with the doctor. We should find out the due date and all that fun stuff. I'm pretty excited. I really can't wait to find out what it is we'll be having (I mean, a boy or a girl...I know we're having a baby)

- How is it mid-April already? February and March don't even seem like they happened.

- My parents are due into town tomorrow for the weekend. I haven't seen them since October. It'll be good to see them. Hopefully the weather is better than predicted for the weekend, so we won't be stuck inside all the time.

- I'm glad its baseball season again. After the success the Tigers had last year, I really missed following it the past few months. I just wish we could get the baseball package through our cable company, so I could watch the Tigers every night, or at least flip over to the game throughout the night.

- Sanjaya is still around on Idol. I really don't care anymore. I'd like to see him go far now, and totally screw with the format of the show. I'm no longer liking Melinda (aka as Shrek) or LaKisha. They do the same stuff over and over, and I'm bored with it. I really hope Blake wins it all.

- Speaking of Idol, last nights show has to be one of the most boring of all time. Latin night? Why? I understand having different themes every week, to see what the contestants are capable of, but why latin night? Latin hasn't been mainstream since the late 90's/early 00's, when Ricky Martin, J Ho Lo, Marc Anthony, and Enrique Inglasis had hit records (records, plural as in when you combine their records together there were multiple hits, but individually, they each had like 1). And why was J Ho Lo the celebrity guru? She's not particularly good at anything that she does, let alone someone who should be giving out "expert" advice.

- If you're looking for something new to listen to, I highly recommend Amy Winehouse. She had a free single of the week on iTunes awhile ago, so I downloaded it and listened to it at work a couple times, and really dug it. She's got a jazz/soul sound, reminescent to old school jazz, but only sounding current. My description isn't doing it justice. Suggested songs to try out are: "Back to Black", "Rehab", and "You Know I'm No Good". You really can't go wrong with the whole album in my opinion.

Sings That Spring Is Right Around the Corner

"Well, beat the drum and hold the phone - the sun came out today!
We’re born again, there’s new grass on the field.
A-roundin’ third, and headed for home, it’s a brown-eyed handsome man; Anyone can understand the way I feel."
-John Fogerty "Centerfield"

Well after another cold week here, where we were hit with a bit of an ice storm on Tuesday night, finally today comes a hint that spring is just around the corner. Spring Training has started!

Randomness

- We got our first snowfall on Sunday. Actually it more sleet/freezing rain than snow. Either way, winter is finally here, and it can go back to where it came from now.


- Speaking of winter/snow/freezing rain - On Sunday Sara and I went out at 11:30 to go pick up Blake from his dad. We couldn't get out of town. About 2 miles into the trip on Route 29 (the main road here in C'ville) there was a minor fender bender. Once we got past that, traffic soon came to a halt again. After waiting impatiently for about 15-20 minutes, I tried to take a back route to where we were going. I got about 2 miles down that road (a country road), we had to turn around because the road was blocked, due to probably an accident. We tried yet another backway (a dirt road..I felt like I was back in North Branch for a minute), and had to turn around because small cars tried to take the same route, and were going off the road. After about an hour of going absolutely nowhere, Blake's dad called and postponed the transfer until later, due to the roads being bad for him as well. We found out on the news that there were 12 separate accidents on Route 29 around the time we were on the roads. Pretty crazy, I don't think I've experienced anything like that before.


- Right now is my favorite time of year....for TV watching. There's basically something good on every night that we watch TV. Sunday's have "You're the One That I Want" (Sara made a point to watch this, and I'm hooked) and "The Apprentice". Monday's have "How I Met Your Mother" and "Two and a Half Men". Tuesday's have "American Idol"(finally!!!), and Boston Legal (my 2nd favorite TV show). Wednesday's have American Idol, and Thursday's have "The Office" (my #1 favorite TV, thanks to getting hooked on the original British version) and Scrubs. As far as Friday and Saturday goes, we're usually doing something else. And yes, I'm not afraid to admit I like American Idol. I'm can't wait for the actual competition to get started. Right now we already have a favorite. A guy named Blake from Seattle. And maybe we are biased because of his name!


- Thanks to iTunes and some random music blogs I've come across lately, I've found some interesting stuff to listen to. Some of my new finds are: Lily Allen (a UK artist..kinda pop like Jem, only more edgier) and David Vandervelde (from Chicago, has a cool 70's David Bowie-like sound going). If you're interested in finding something new to listen to, you should look them up on iTunes, or Myspace to get a taste of what they sound like.

-Spring Training is less than 1 month away. I can't wait for baseball to get started back up again!

FINALLY!!!

(Photo: Steve Perez / The Detroit News)

So the Tigers clinched a playoff spot for the first time in 19 years on Sunday. It has been a looooong time coming. I can remember the last time they were in the playoffs. I can remember listening to the game on the radio the day they beat the Blue Jays in the final game of the season to earn the playoff spot. It sort of seemed like a long time for me, but when I really thought about it, I actually started realizing just how long ago it was.

I was 10 years old
My brother was only 5
I was in 3rd Grade
These were some of the top songs during 1987 (thanks Google):
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - U2
Who's That Girl - Madonna
La Bamba - Los Lobos
Bad - Michael Jackson
I Think We're Alone Now - Tiffany
Faith - George Michael
Livin' On a Prayer - Bon Jovi

Looking at it in those terms makes me realize just how long its been. I'm also now feeling really old as well.

Considering that at the beginning of the year all I was hoping for was 81 wins this year, making the playoffs is just an added bonus. To go from having 100+ losses over the past couple years, to contending not only for the playoffs, but for the best record in baseball, is quite the achievement. Hopefully the Tigers success will help brighten up the sports scene in Detroit, considering the lost cause that is known as the Lions are sucking yet again. That's been happening for 50+ years though, so that's nothing new.

I was lucky enough to get tickets to the 1st home playoff game in Detroit, and I can't wait to go. Now I just need to find out who they're playing and when the game will be.

Last 5 songs I've listened to:
Just What I Needed - The Cars
Crosstown Traffic - Jimi Hendrix
The Lemon Song - Led Zeppelin
Novocane for the Soul - Eels
I'm Gonna Miss Her (Fishin' Song) - Brad Paisley