The Trading Deadline

Ivan Rodriguez to the Yankees? Ken Griffey Jr to the White Sox? Manny Ramirez to the Dodgers?! No front line pitchers moved? The world seems to have turned upside down.

Saddest to me is that the Braves have surrendered hope of making the postseason. It's understandable, since their starting pitching has been ravaged by injuries all year, starting with John Smoltz's season-ending shoulder surgery. Now, with Tim Hudson out for the rest of the season with elbow ligament damage and Chipper going on the DL with nagging leg injuries, and considering the two big leads they blew to the Phillies last weekend, it simply made economic sense to trade Mark Teixeira. The Braves couldn't have afforded him as a free agent this winter, not with Scott Boras as his agent.

As Dodger fans used to say, just wait till next year!

Ashton Shepherd: Sounds So Good

Ashton Shepherd is a 21 year old wife and mother from Alabama who released her debut country CD last March. I saw a lot of positive online commentary concerning her CD, with frequent comparisons to giants of the genre like Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline, and Hank Williams. I've been resisting buying it, because it seems more and more that such hype is empty, and spending my money based on it is only a waste.

While we were on vacation last week, we hit the Wally World in my folks' hometown, and I saw the CD there for under $10. I decided the price was low enough and threw it in the shopping cart.

I am very glad I did. The production on the CD is clean and has much more of a traditional country sound that most current Nashville "product". And, where the typical new female vocalist in country is a willowy blond with a quavery high pitched voice who has had moderate success in some other area of show business and has "always wanted to sing country", Shepherd really has been singing country music as long as she can remember. Writing it too.

She has a very twangy voice, singing in a lower register, with an assurance and emotional maturity that belongs to a much older soul. I think mid-1990s Patty Loveless is a very apt comparison. And, by the way, Ashton Shepherd is a willowy brunette :)

To my ears, Sounds So Good is the finest country debut of the last decade. If I were to use a single word to describe the CD, I think it would be...astonishing.

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That's my weigh-in for today, and I was actually astonished to have lost another pound. All three of my kids were here last week, we went to visit my parents, which meant all the family came to visit, and you know grandparents like to feed the family well. Then, we took the kids to Myrtle Beach for a couple of days, the Bay Watch resort had a very nice breakfast buffet in one of their restaurants, and dinners out at Fuddruckers and the Original Benjamin's Calabash Seafood with their 170 item buffet aren't really conducive to weight loss.

What was conducive to weight loss were the trips David and I took to the fitness center and the pool at home, and the three hours we all spent playing in the rather rough Myrtle Beach surf last Wednesday (think of it as full contact water aerobics). I did think that we were well protected with the 30 and 50 SPF sun screen we all used, but we didn't take the need to reapply it into account. All five of us got burned, but we are well on the road to the recovery. Or at least we will be, once the itching is past.

RIP Randy Pausch

The world is a sadder place today, as the man behind The Last Lecture has passed away from pancreatic cancer. He had more to say about living well than almost anyone else I've heard, and I feel richer for having experienced them. I believe it's time to install my copy of Alice and start playing. Randy would think that a worthy legacy.

Aunt Mildred

Aunt Mildred is my dad's older sister. She's 86 and has been widowed for 10 years or so now. Sadly, no one misses her husband. No one. They were married almost 50 years, and he moved her around the South, never staying in one place more than a couple of years. Luckily for us, he moved her back to a spot on Dad's farm, where they set up a mobile home not long before he passed away. When he was ready to move on that time, Aunt Mildred told him he could go, but she was home.

During the last 10 years, my sons have usually stayed with Aunt Mildred when we visit Dad and Mom, and I've visited her a lot. We've gotten close, and the best discovery of all is that we're kindred spirits in many ways. I'll have more to say about her soon, and I need to find a picture or two. She deserves for people to know about her, if not to know her for themselves.

Goodbye Gigi, Hello Georgia...Maybe

I think my daughter has outgrown her childhood nickname. Or, at least I did. We're vacationing at Myrtle Beach, and we just got back from a late walk on the beach. Lisa took a bunch of pictures, David spent a lot of time dancing in the waves, and Gigi told me that she was itchy. I asked her, "Where is scratchy?" She said, "I don't know, but I want to find him."

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The diet and exercise changes are showing some results. The challenge for this week will be to continue to eat healthy while traveling with the whole family.

One thing ends, another begins

Yesterday was a very good day. David and I went to the apartment fitness center and did both strength and cardio workouts. Afterwards, we met Lisa for lunch and went to Tex and Shirley's for breakfast. We finished the day by going to the Greensboro Grasshoppers game at Newbridge Bank Park. The Hoppers beat the Savannah Sandgnats 5-0, Babe Ruth the bat dog and park mascot did her thing -- including running the bases after the game (strategically placed dog biscuits!) with little Yogi nipping at her heels -- and then there were fireworks. Simple, colorful, loud fireworks. It was an All-American day.

Today, I've already taken Blazer our cat to the vet for his annual checkup and boarding for several days, and David and I have gone swimming. We're heading to Charlotte in a couple of hours, to meet Gigi and Andy's flight from Chicago. They'll be here for the next week. We're all going to see my mom and dad tomorrow, and on Tuesday, we have a surprise for Gigi and Andy that David already knows about. We're going to the beach for a couple of days. We did a similar trip three years ago, which was the first time I got to take the kids on a vacation. I hope this one turns out as well.

Next Saturday, all three kids will fly back to their mom. Including the summer they moved away, this is the fifth sixth time my summer has been punctuated this way. It's no longer life period full stop for me, though. It's now life comma pause, and then go on. My children are still there, out in the world, even when I don't see them. I'm here, they are there, and we connect often. It's called growing up, and I'm glad I've done it, since my children shouldn't outstrip me in that regard.

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Now playing: Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water
via FoxyTunes

What not to say at dinner

I have a PDA, a Palm Tungsten E2, that I've had for a couple of years. You'd think that in that time, especially as I like to tinker a bit with my gadgets, that I'd know all of its quirks in and out. Not so. I discovered yesterday that I can use its Bluetooth capability to connect to my Bluetooth-enabled cell phone and dial a number on the phone from the PDA.

This seemed like a really cool thing to me, and when we were eating dinner at Ruby Tuesday, I decided to tell Lisa about it. Hilarity ensued when I said, "I found out something interesting this afternoon that I can do with my Palm."

Is this Dusty Springfield I'm listening to?!

Nope, it's Duffy's debut CD Rockferry. I had heard a little bit about her, and bought the CD on an impulse at Starbuck's a couple of days ago. It sounds pretty darn good, so far. I'll have to listen a few more times to have an informed opinion, but color me impressed on first listen.

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Now playing: Duffy - Rockferry
via FoxyTunes

The Mid-Summer Classic

For the first time in several years, I watched the MLB All-Star game last night. Well, I watched most of it. When the AL tied the game in the bottom of the 8th inning on Evan Longoria's ground rule double, scoring Justin Morneau, I suspected that the NL was going down again. I really didn't have much interest in watching a glorified exhibition game go into extra innings, and I saw this morning that the game lasted 15 innings, ending after 1:30 a.m.

I'm glad for J.D. Drew that he's finally living up to his talent in Boston, although I'm certain the fans in Philadelphia and Los Angeles are none too happy with him, still.

Ryan Dempster was the most impressive pitcher I saw on the field.

Best play of the night - Ichiro throwing out Albert Pujols when he tried to stretch a single off the right field wall into a double.

Hopes for the second half of the season - that the Atlanta Braves make a real run for the postseason, and that the New York Yankees fall flatter than flat.

Never, ever, let it be said that I'm anything less than partisan and biased when it comes to my baseball.

Compare and Contrast; or, What a Difference 15 Years Makes!

September, 1993 - Andy, Gigi, and David:





June, 2008 - Andy, David, and Gigi:





I felt nostalgic and inspired yesterday, because I saw the newer picture in the slideshow on my Google Sidebar and noticed the older picture on the fridge, so today I'm sharing.

Blues

Greensboro has a summer music series that has been ongoing for over 20 years, Music for a Sunday Evening in the Park. Yesterday's offering was EMFfringe Series: Music for a Sunday Evening in the Park with Steady Rollin' Bob Margolin. Bob Margolin is a blues guitarist and preservationist, who played with Muddy Waters back in the 1970s. David enjoys the blues, and when Lisa saw this on the local events calendar a week ago, she suggested that David and I go.

It was held on the lawn at Guilford College, which is a couple of blocks from home, starting at 6:00 pm. Just before we left, the sky got really dark with clouds. Lisa checked the weather radar online, and there was a line of storm clouds just off to the west. Of course, they were headed east.

There were a lot of people already there when we arrived at 5:30, and the band was warming up. About 15 minutes later, it started raining. I'm glad we had an umbrella, along with our canvas chairs. This was a unique chance to do something with the child I lived with the shortest time, and I just didn't care that the umbrella was a little bit too small. My left leg got soaked, as did David's right one, but we were having fun.

Right about 6:00, the rain, which had slacked off a bit, picked up. The band just sat on stage, waiting. And waiting. And waiting. And...no, still waiting.

About 6:15, the guitarists unplugged their instruments and packed them away. The band's roadie walked up to one of the mics and said, "That's all folks." They didn't play a single song.

The sky really opened up as David and I walked back to the car, and it kept pouring...until we got home. I swear, it quit raining as soon as I pulled into the parking place in front of the apartment.

I wouldn't trade that hour getting soaked and waiting for live blues for anything. It was time spent with my son.

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Now playing: Kenny Chesney - Don't Blink
via FoxyTunes

In a candid moment...

I'm working from home most mornings this week, and yesterday, while I was waiting on a test of long running batch program, I caught David in a candid moment. He was reading Watchers, having a cup of coffee, and we were listening to Bach's Brandenburg Concertos. He laughed from time to time, which is an appropriate response to Dean Koontz.

It more than pleases me that he has been enjoying something that gives me special pleasure.

In Odd We Trust

I'm a huge fan of neither anime nor manga. For that matter, "graphic novels" don't do much for me either. However, I am quite the fan of both Dean Koontz and Odd Thomas.

As it happens, the very latest in the Odd Thomas series is a graphic novel. It's actually a prequel to Odd Thomas. I didn't have a very good mental picture of Odd, Stormy Llewellyn, not even of their home town of Pico Mundo. Now, I'll never be able to picture them any other way than how Queenie Chan drew them.

The story is vintage Koontz: very fast paced and suspenseful, chock full of humor, hard collisions of the sweetness and the darkness of life. At about 190 pages, it was longer than I expected, but the story itself is probably 30-40 pages. It will make you smile, and if you know any of the rest of the Odd Thomas saga, it will break your heart a little bit.

I'm so proud...

Today's the day we're supposed to get my son David for his summer visit, but it's not quite happening that way. We actually got him last Monday, because he came to North Carolina from Indiana when his mom's partner came to visit her parents. Like I'm going to complain about spending extra time with my kids...

So, anyway, to the moment of pride: a couple of minutes ago, while I was reading some sports blog linked from SI.com, Lisa was over at her computer and David was playing something on the PlayStation. I thought Lisa said something -- I'm in some other world when I'm reading -- and when I asked her if she called me, she said, "No, I said 'Ummm, steak'". David chimed in with, "It's Dad's mating call."

Kung Fu Panda

Dreamworks runs a very close second to Pixar in animated movies these days. This is the studio that has brought us Shrek and its sequels, Over The Hedge, and now Kung Fu Panda. The story is charming, the animation is, like Pixar, extremely realistic, and Jack Black is far funnier when you don't actually see him.

There is the rather standard "believe in yourself and you can do anything" message, but this is not empty self-esteem BS. Our Panda hero Po actually has to work and train hard to harness his inborn talent to achieve something worthwhile, and his teacher Master Shifu manages to adjust his teaching methods to accomodate how his student learns. These are lessons that would greatly enrich our real lives.

Oh yeah, each of us in my party laughed our heads off during the entire movie. Get up and go already while it's still in theaters.

Odd Hours and The Why of it All

I finished Odd Hours, the latest novel from Dean Koontz, this morning. This is the second series from Mr. Koontz, and the protagonist is perhaps his most singular creation. Odd Thomas is 20 or 21, I'm not exactly sure which, and a fry cook on the, well, not exactly run, but more, journey towards his life's purpose. He can also see dead people.

This series seems to polarize Koontz fans more than any other of his works. The Odd Thomas novels are more overtly spiritual, and Odd is both a smartass and radical humility embodied. His point of view comes out very well in this passage, which was pointed out by one of the regular posters in Usenet group alt.books.dean-koontz:

"Grief can destroy you -- or focus you. You can decide a relationship was all for nothing if it had to end in death, and you alone. Or you can realize that every moment of it had more meaning than you dared to recognize at the time, so much meaning it scared you, so you just lived, just took for granted the love and laughter of each day, and didn't allow yourself to consider the sacredness of it. But when it's over and you're alone, you begin to see it wasn't just a movie and a dinner together, not just watching sunsets together, not just scrubbing a floor or washing dishes together or worrying over a high electric bill. It was everything, it was the why of life, every event and precious moment of it. The answer to the mystery of existence is the love you shared sometimes so imperfectly, and when the loss wakes you to the deeper beauty of it, to the sanctity of it, you can't get off your knees for a long time, you're driven to your knees not by the weight of the loss but by gratitude for what preceded the loss. And the ache is always there, but one day not the emptiness, because to nurture the emptiness, to take solace in it, is to disrespect the gift of life."

I'm on the side of those who really like this series. I believe that humility, courtesy, and sense of humor go a long way toward making a livable society.

Odd Hours has something that, to me, sets it apart not only from the rest of the Odd Thomas series but Mr. Koontz's entire body of work. It is a palpable sense of place. I feel that the the book is more grounded, that Magic Harbor is more tangible that his other settings, which makes both the supernatural and thriller elements of the novel more effective. Mr. Koontz has been quoted, prior to this novel, that he felt he had an open-ended series; now, he believes that it will end after seven novels. This book feels like a turning point, like the story is moving in a much darker direction than before. It reminds me a bit of another seven book series about a young man learning his place in the world, another series that took a much darker turn in book four.

It's also intriguing to find possible connections to other Koontz works: Odd's sweat shirt that says "Mystery Train" on the front; a lightning bolt on a manhole cover, signifying perhaps the resumption of a long delayed war against an ancient enemy of humanity.

I heartily recommend the Odd Thomas series, but the books should be read in publication sequence: Odd Thomas, Forever Odd, Brother Odd, and Odd Hours. There is a new graphic novel, In Odd We Trust, which is a prequel to the series, but I haven't read it yet.