Dobrindts dot com...again

Song, Delta’s low fare carrier, is not longer the target of my ire. I am not traveling to the city that Song flies to and I take the wonderful Delta Shuttle to my new location, New York City. The new target of my complaining is going to be the New York Hilton.

I have been staying at this hotel every week for the past 6 weeks. Every…single…time…I check in they treat me like it was my first time in NY and the first time in their hotel. Here is how the exchange usually goes.

I wait in the Hilton Honors check-in line forEVER while the non Honors line moves like the conga at my friend Ray’s wedding. When I finally get called up, I shake the dust of my suitcase and wipe the cobwebs that have formed around my neck.

Me: Hi, checking in for the week.

I hand over my ID and credit card.

Clerk: (in a monotone and disingenuous voice) Hello Mr. (terrible pronunciation of my name), welcome to the NY Hilton, we are glad to have you.

Me: (mutter under my breath) No you’re not, stop lying you lying liar. You hate me.

Me: Thanks, I have two questions when you’re ready.

Clerk: (with no expression at all other than utter discontent that I am bothering him/her). Go ahead.

Me: Can I have a room on a high floor and is there any way I can have access to the concierge room.

Clerk: (doesn’t even think for a split second, response is faster than my buddy Jay reaching for a free beer). You are not a diamond level and have not purchased this option and our policy states...blah blah blah. (clerk launches into a long scripted response about policy and they cannot do this and there is no way that I am getting this).

Clerk: Let me see about the high floor…kind of tight today…not looking good…really full…highest I can do is 8…we are so freakin busy my eyes are going to pop…holy mother of God there is no way we can do high floor…you stupid ugly goat-kissing jerk how can you ask for a high floor…OUT of here right now and sleep on the street...asking for a high floor…who the (expletive deleted) do you think you are…Paris Hilton or something…high floor…jerk.

Ok, that last one was made up. I usually get a polite answer for my options. Never an issue with the floor.

Clerk hands me my key.

Clerk: Elevators are around the lobby to the left.

Me: I have been here six weeks in a row, I know where they are.

Clerk: Hope you enjoy your stay.

Me: Shut up! No you don’t. You hope I DON’T enjoy my stay. I will get to my room and it will smell like smoke and the bathroom will smell like elephant dung was recently hidden in there. Then I will find out that there is no wired broadband connection and the wireless in that room is spotty. Then I will get either a flat panel plasma that takes 3 seconds for each channel to materialize or a regular TV with dead batteries in the remote. And oh yeah the bathroom will not have shampoo or there will be dirty cue tips on the floor and the air conditioner will be loud I know it because there is SOMETHING wrong every single time I am here and when I try to remedy it things only get worse. Then I will be charged for a mini-bar item even though I told them to keep the key and there will be an extra charge for the internet use how can I be charged three times in a 24 hour period after the stupid thing DIDN’T EVEN WORK!!! Then the clerk will tell me she will take care of it but the computers are down and that is a ruse to get me to leave and she will not do anything and I will not realize it until I do my expenses three weeks later WHY DO YOU HATE ME SO I pay what you ask for your tiny run down rooms. And in the off chance I leave something in the room after I check out like I recently did with my iPod Shuffle I can kiss that goodbye and what will you say to me? Nothing. Not an apology for not being able to retrieve my item. Not a sorry that it disappeared somehow. Nothing after I have to leave 4 messages to NOT get a return call from lost and found and have to go through security and not have one…single…call…back…from anyone. And what will I do to reward the Hilton chain which is a laughing stock because of a silly media whore named Paris? I’ll book 3 nights a week for the next 2 months. All because I have committed to building my Hilton points. That one single dumb reason is why I will come back week after week and endure your torment.

Clerk: Have a free breakfast coupon.

Posted by David at 05:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A couple of weeks ago we got a kitten. It was kind of a hard decision because neither Patti nor I are cat people, we are more dog people. In fact, I had a bumper sticker on my car through college that said “I Hate Cats.” Both of us grew up with dogs and not cats, and we had a dog up until a couple of years ago. But we just can’t deal with a dog right now and wanted to get some kind of pet for the kiddies. So we got an 8 week old gray cat at the pound and have since called him Finley. It’s a long story where we came up with the name, but Emily still calls him Kitty-Kitty. The boy just goes after him and screeches whenever he sees him. The cat dodges the kids as much as possible but they catch him often, pick him up and basically make his life miserable. He is a hit when other little brats come to visit, all try very hard to catch and torment him.

Now, I have never had a cat, and I know it’s early, but a couple of things.

- They teach kittens to use cat litter at the pound so from the first moment we took him home he was house trained. Instant pet.

- The first day found the cat hiding and a little scared. But as with all kittens, it started to warm up because it wanted to play in the giant playground that is our house. Now it has to be by our side all the time. When I am in the kitchen, it is at my feet. When I am in my home office, it is under the desk. When Patti is giving the kids a bath, it lays on the floor. Strange.

- Cats are fairly maintenance free. We have to clean the litter box, but nowhere near as much trouble as maintaining a dog.

- It might change, but not as fulfilling as owning a dog.

- For some reason the kitten likes me. It constantly comes up to me, starts purring, and wants to hang out. Not sure but maybe because the kids torment it and I don’t.

- It’s cute. It’s soft. It purrs really loud whenever you pet it. It likes to hang out on our bed at night and sleep while touching one of us. It likes to play. It is patient with the tormenting by the kids.

Overall, having the kitten is nice so far. I make fun but it is a huge hit with the kids and both treat it as a pet and not as a toy. I put in a cat door so that we can move the litter box and food into the basement and it can come up and down the basement steps whenever it wants. Cats are known for being less personable than dogs, and for being standoffish, and Finley might get there but so far it is very friendly. I like having another living thing in the house that is not a spouse, child or fish. It won’t play like a dog or give unconditional and constant love like a dog, but it’s soft and much less of an impact on the house and yard.

I’ll keep you posted on how it goes. And put up some pictures.

Posted by David at 08:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

On July 22 the House and Senate agreed to extend daylight savings time by 4 weeks, starting it 3 weeks early in the spring and changing it back 1 week later in the fall. About time is what I say, goshdarnittoheck, I have been wanting for this since I was a little kid. As far back as I can think of, I have been telling anyone who would listen that we need more daylight and since Congress controls the sun, we now have it done. Massachusetts congressman Ed Markey, you are my hero. You have made us Mass residents proud. Good job and keep up the good work Edward.

"The beauty of daylight-saving time is that it just makes everyone feel sunnier," said Markey. Oh sweet joy of leaping through tulip covered fields, like a dancing gnome in a misty forest clearing chasing a fancy unicorn, singing happy songs of love. Edward Markey, sunnier sun shining summer sun is full of butterflies and rainbows and bare feet on fresh cut grass. Thank you, and your fellow lawmakers, for bringing more light into my world and extending the wonderful happiness of summer.

Oh, by the way, this was sarcasm. Ed Markey and his namby pamby nonsense.

Posted by David at 05:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Patti called me today and said that Ethan took like 5 steps a couple of times today. It was his first official day of walking. He has sort of staggered for a step or two and fell toward whoever was there, but never really walked. Emily started walking around 10 months and Ethan is 11 and a half, so I was worried.

I miss all the good stuff.

Posted by David at 04:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I freakin left my iPod Shuffle in at the New York Hilton hotel when I checked out this morning. AAAAHHHHHHHHH. CRAP!!! I went for a run last night and hung the iPod, which was in a waterproof case that hangs around your neck, and hung it up on a hook in the closet to dry out…PLUS a new set of running earphones, PLUS a hat, all in the closet. And I LEFT IT THERE. AAAHHHHHHHHH. Of course I called the hotel and of course no one turned it in. Now, I am not saying the housekeeping staff is less than ethical, but they didn’t turn it in. To their credit, they could have missed it and the person who checked into the room after me could have found it and taken it. True. But a couple of years ago when I left my Palm Pilot in a Hertz car in Philadelphia, it was gone forever. So someone, somewhere, possibly a child or nephew of a low-paid chambermaid, is listening to a punk version of 99 Red Balloons. AAAAAHHHHHHGGGGRRRUUUPPP I hate that I left it there and it is gone. DAMN IT. And I can’t yell at anyone, other than the staff who didn’t take it at the New York Hilton. Oh well, at least it wasn’t the more expensive version of the iPod.

Posted by David at 09:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Picture this – me, Saturday, late morning, wearing beat up sneakers, paint-stained shorts and a give-away T-shirt from a race I ran 5 years ago, work gloves on. Sweat soaked hat on backwards. Earphones off and hanging around my neck. Hot, humid and steamy weather. Then picture me staggering out of my garage onto the driveway and on a patch of fresh cut grass, first bending over with my hands on my knees, then squatting down, gulping in fresh air with the scent of newly cut grass, eyes closed, gagging and suppressing a natural reflex to throw up, trying not to let loose my breakfast, waiting for the vomit to rise to my throat. Finally, the feeling passes and I am fine. All of this because of a smell that came out of my garage. Interested in how this came to be? Read on.

The weekend before last we decided to have a seafood cook out. Patti’s parents came up Saturday night and since it was suppose to be nice out, we decided to grill up some lobster, shrimp. Swordfish and other side dishes. Saturday late afternoon Patti, I and the kiddies went into James Hook and bought three lobsters. We then went to a local seafood place and got uncooked and raw shrimp, the fish and some other stuff.

On Sunday we ended up grilling two of the lobster and boiling one, grilled the fish, steamed the shrimp and spend the afternoon playing in the backyard with the kids, eating and doing what people should do on warm summer Sunday afternoons.

After the day was over and Patti’s folks left, I cleaned up and took the lobster shells and left over non-edible parts, the shrimp peels and veins, and every other piece of garbage and put it in a bag in a trash barrel in the garage.

I was away on business during the day the garbage goes out so I didn’t have a chance to put this smelly bag by the curb. Also, the same garbage barrel included a couple of bags of the boy’s dirty diapers and a dead mouse I caught on a glue trap in the corner of the garage a few days before the cookout.

Now, picture this concoction of baby crap, lobster innards and shells, shrimp skin, and one dead mouse, sitting in a non-climate controlled garage for a week with hot and humid New England weather.

So Saturday morning after I cut the grass I went to move the barrel out of the garage to get to something else. When I got within about a yard of the thing, I smelled what could have possibly been the worst odor in the history of the world. Now, at some point some of the dead mouse’s friends got in and broke open the bag of fish crap, so on the bottom of the barrel was a bunch of loose floating fish and crustacean garbage with other assorted fruit and vegetables. It was awful. Truly awful. Hellishly awful. Mother of Mercy awful.

So I put on gloves and bent down into the trash can to get the bag and it fully ripped open, spilling the entire contents out so that the smell of fish, dead mouse and baby shit hit me like a garbage truck. It was at this point that a flash of nausea came over me and I staggered out of the garage.

Keep in mind I still had to get all of the crap into a large contractor’s bag, clean out the barrel, and find a place to keep it where the smell wouldn’t kill my kids and local critters wouldn’t feel compelled to break in.

Anyway, just thought I’d share. Fascinating, I know. I live a life that many men envy.

Posted by David at 08:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The guy who played Mr. Scott on Star Trek, James Doohan, died today at the age of 85. And like I have mentioned before, no one every actually said the phrase “Beam me up Scotty.” In the rare instances they said it, it was “Beam me up Mr. Scott.” Mr. SCOTT, not Scotty. Now that I think about it, could you see the insecure, camera-living and over-acting William Shatner every saying "Scotty"?

Posted by David at 02:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Trust me on this one, if you see Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle is going to be on cable, watch it. You will not regret it. How did this movie not become a cult classic?

Kalpen Modi, or Kal Penn as he goes by, is going to be a star. He is a cross between Mathew Broderick in Ferris Bueller, Michael J. Fox and David Spade. I am going to follow this guy, believe me, and I am never wrong on stuff like this. Maybe once or twice but usually am dead on.

This movie is so damn funny it reminds me of when I discovered Super Troopers. Kind of like finding a new drink to order or a great pizza place near the office. We need more movies like this.

But, in the off chance you think it is stupid, well, maybe you are STUPID...oh, sorry, I didn't mean that. Yum funny super glue, this move might not be for you.

Vote for Pedro.

Posted by David at 05:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Hogwarts and Muggles and give me a break. All this Harry Potter crap is driving me nuts. People waiting on line for 14 hours, let me correct that, adults forcing their kids to wait with them on line for 14 hours to buy the first book available at midnight. Harry Potter parties. Otherwise normal adults dressed up and speaking it that fake wizard voice. Give me a break.

Look, I am glad that kids are reading and not playing video games. I get that. They talk about that benefit all the time. Good for them. But how about this. Get those kids off the couch and outside. Because while reading is good, you are taking some fat lethargic kid sitting cross legged on the floor playing Grand Theft Auto, drinking Mountain Dew and eating Doritos, and moving him to the couch, where they sit cross legged next to an end table with a lamp on, reading a book about witches and warlocks, drinking Mountain Dew and eating Doritos. I am not knocking the idea of reading, it’s just that maybe we should try to break it up a little. I am by no means an expert, but this is what I would do if my kids were old enough to read. I would dedicate an hour or two a night after dinner to sit with them and take turns reading. We would shut off the TV, turn down the radio, and sit on the couch reading Harry Potter or, I don’t know, maybe a biography on Amelia Earheart or one on history. It might not be as much fun as turning mean kids into toads and flying on a swiftvac, but something tells me if I spent the time to do it, it would mean something to my kids. The rest of the day, that being the morning, afternoon and dinner time, the kids would be outside playing, doing activities, and other creative tasks that gave them a little more exercise than turning a page.

I am not bashing the idea of reading a book. If some 10 year old wants to sit in his room all weekend reading a Harry Potter book, good for them. It’s better than watching TV or playing video games. Fantasy books are great because it helps to expand the creative thinking of children. It enables a child to realize there are other things than the small world they live in. But this insane frenzy over the book is crazy and it bugs me.

Oh, one other things. How about this for a title of a Harry Potter book – Harry Potter and the Filthy Rich Author. While it is charming to think JK Rowling’s motive is purely altruistic, something tells me book 7 will help pay for the gold covering in the champagne glass holders for her three helicopters to take her between her 7 mansions. She is worth over a billion dollars on Harry Potter and we all know her story. On welfare. Wrote the book on napkins. Sat nursing a cup of coffee at a diner. Blah blah blah. She writes these books because kids whine so much their parents buy them. Or, and this is the case in my house, the parents (my wife) love the books so much they order them to be delivered on the exact day they are available. Do you think young Stevie in urban East Boston or Harlem is waiting at the local Barnes and Noble to get his copy? His parents are lucky to afford his school books. But look at some affluent suburb outside of Chicago and you have thousands of bratty kids buying 5 books so they can tell their bratty friends at Little Princess Day Camp on Monday morning how they had one copy for each bedroom in their house. Here’s an idea. Write a book called Harry Potter and the Poor Kid Who Could Care Less Because He Is Hungry and Cold and give it away for free. Do that Ms. Rawlings.

Posted by David at 05:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I can’t say enough about the Delta Shuttle. Here is my latest story.

Thursday evening is the business period of the week for the New York to Boston leg of the Delta Shuttle. The 5:30PM flight is tough to get on as is the 6:30 and so on. I have been in NY for the past 4 weeks and head home Thursday night. I usually book my flight early enough so I get on the 5 or 6:30 flights but this week due to a strange situation I had to cancel my 5:30 and couldn’t get another flight until 7:30.

This afternoon I decided to take a car at 4:40 and head to LaGuardia and see if I could make an earlier flight. It was a very long week and I wanted to try to get home. I got to the airport a little after 5 and had this exchange with the Delta ticket agent.

Me: Hi, I am on the 7:30 shuttle to Boston but was hoping to go stand-by on the 5:30.

I handed her my driver’s license, she dropped it.

Ticket Agent: My hands are so slippery today.

Me: It’s a sign of intelligence.

TA: Heh. I’ll put you on standby, it doesn’t look good though.

Me: Thanks, wish me luck.

TA: I’ll keep my slippery fingers crossed.

I got to the gate and it was the usual pandemonium. They had already boarded the ticketed passengers and there was a huge crowd of well dressed adults standing in a large roughly formed semi-circle around the gate. People were telling each other war stories

Passenger: I am on the 7:30 and am going to be here for this flight and the next (6:30, they leave every hour on the half hour) trying to get to Boston.

Passenger: I am on the 8:30.

Passenger: Since Accela went down all the flights are full.

Passenger: I did this two weeks in a row, I’ll never get out.

So I looked at the board and there were 63, Sixty three, standby passengers. On the board it says how many seats there are, how many have checked in, and how many are open. The board said this

Available Seats: 120
Checked In: 114
Seats Remaining: 6

I then looked at the list of standby passengers, expecting to see my somewhere in the 50s, but had to keep looking. I looked and looked and there I was, at number 6. NUMBER 6. How the (expletive deleted) did that happen?? I had just checked in. I guess I am starting to get some exposure in the Delta Medallion system.

So I called Patti and started talking to her. I thought there was no way I would make even though I had a good standing. As I was talking to her, mapping out my plan for getting home at 9:30 or so, I saw other passengers come up with legitimate tickets and board the plane. No freakin way I would make it.

After a few minutes, about 10 minutes before the flight was suppose to take off, I looked at the board and noticed there was 1 unclaimed seat. I then looked at the standby list and saw that I, DOB/D, was number ONE, numero UNO, on the list. Vote for Pedro I was close.

About one second later I heard the gate agent called out the two sweet sweet words I was looking for…”David Dobrindt”. Stunned, I looked up and half expected to hear he say someone else’s name.

I walked past the mass of suits and dress slacks standing there and said in a meek voice “Did you call my name?”

Sweet Mother of Mercy, they did.

I quickly hung up with Patti, handed them my ticket, and let them scan me through, and walked down the gangway.

How did I get this lucky. This doesnot happen to me. Ever.

You have no idea how happy I was at that point. I would get home to put my daughter to bed. I would get to watch the full Yankees/Red Sox game. This was unreal. I quickly told the gate agent that they just made my week and walked to the flight attendant checking carry-on bags. I always have a carry-on but as you can imagine all the over head compartments were full. I was so freakin happy at that point that I filled out my own slip and put it on my bag. After all, why not speed things up a little, I was the last person on the plane.

I then had a quick pleasantry with the flight attendant on the plane and looked for the open seat. Usually I hate middle seats but at this point I could have cared less if I sat between a sore infested crack addict and a decomposing corpse. I was on the plane heading home. Now that I think about it, I might have kissed the little old lady in the window seat who smiled at me as this handsome well dressed man took the middles seat, smiled and said to her “Good stuff.”

I love the Delta Shuttle more than anything I can think of other than some select human beings. In fact, if the Delta Shuttle were a woman, I might have married it instead of Patti. It has its flaws but otherwise has everything I could hope for in an airline and then some. If it were a woman it would be tall, blond, fair skin and light eyes, sweet personality and always surprising me with the small things. And she would be as reliable as my buddy Jay is when it comes to putting back beers. I love the shuttle for everything that it is and for making me sing out loud to the famous James Taylor song but with edited words…

…“How sweet it is to love the Delta Shuttle.”

I had an awful week but getting on before 60 or so other people made my day. Thank you Delta Shuttle, I owe you a drink.

Posted by David at 05:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

- Curt Schilling in the bullpen is a bad idea. I might be wrong here, I am certainly not the expert, but a guy like that is a starter through and through. He needs to pitch, have 4 or so days off, then pitch again. Having him warm up, maybe go in, not go in, three days out of 4, throw 30 pitches after a brief warm-up. Not sure that is what he needs to rehab and get back into the rotation. But what do I care, let the train wreck continue.

- Keith Foulke. Oh Keith, you make me so happy. I swear this guy is exactly what I needed considering how bad the Yankees have been doing. He is awful. I know he had 4 saves in the World Series last year, but it’s about what can you do for me now. I pray for a close game just so they have to use him. And trust me, Francona is the type to use him day after day while the ship’s propellers disappear under the surface. And that Johnny from Burger King comment could not have come at a better time. For the most part Red Sox Nation has had nothing to complain about this year. And if you know this place, complaining is part of their inner workings, right there with the liver that is soiled from alcohol, the heart that is black with hatred of the Yankees, and the lungs that are filled with smoke from playing Keno at Virgies and drinking 2 dollar buds. So when Keith mouthed off the fans and media smelled blood. I know what he was trying to do. It’s when I refer to the average Sox fan as a drunk third grade education level toll booth collector from Revere. I know that most Sox fans are fairly educated, nice, often drunk that part is true, but overall good…well…okay… people. So Foulke tried to come up with a word for your common Red Sox fan and knowing that working at Burger King was probably a step up for most, chose that. Bad decision. Like a pack of wild animals that spotted a wounded antelope, they attacked. Now he is “hurt” and has to go on the DL. Whatever, he was terrible and they are back to closer by committee. That’s another thing. It’s not “bullpen” by committee, which all bullpens are. It’s “closer” by committee.

- The Yankees are hitting their stride. I know we are not out of the woods yet, but if I were other AL East teams, I would be scared. Things might change, again, I am not the expert, but there is too much talent there to skid for the entire 6 month season.

- Baltimore is finally showing their true colors. Did anyone really think they would stick around with their pitching and Sammy Sosa stinking up the place. They will soon move to third place, where they belong.

- ESPN had a great piece on Jason Giambi the other day. As we all know he did steroids. But steroids do not help with seeing the ball and swinging at terrible pitches, like Giambi was doing. Now that he has had his fair share of swings, he is starting to connect. And under all those steroid built muscles, there is some raw power that we are starting to see. He is still a joke at what the Yanks paid him, but finally we have some power back from him.

- Two weeks ago when the news said Manny Ramirez hit his 19th grand slam I thought it was a mistake. Then this past week when he hit his 20th, that is TWENTY, I was shocked. Underneath that strange and goofy behavior is one of the best hitters of my generation. He deserves to be in the Hall of Fame just on how many grand slams he hit. I can’t wait to see him in a Yankee uniform.

- George Steinbrenner, Brian Cashman, please end the pain and get rid of Tony Womack. Take him out behind the tool shed and end the misery. Enough already. Sure, he steals a lot of bases, but what he is lacks in power he makes up for in a low batting average. Get rid of him. The only redeeming quality in Tony is that my wife went to college with him. I still remember after the Diamondbacks won the 2001 World Series, on national television right before an interview he was hugging a woman and the announcers asked if that was his mother and Tony said “No, that’s my wife.” I still laugh every time I think about that.

- Clement and Timlin deserved to be in the all star game. Especially Timlin. Shame on Francona for using his right as the AL manager to get them in somehow.

- I know it’s too early to tell, but seeing Randy Johnson pitch lights-out on short rest made me cry. Please please please if one wish can come true, make him the dominant pitcher we bought last winter. I say “we” like I have anything to do with the Yankees, other than run a site dedicated to hating the Red Sox.

- For some reason I like reading Terry Francona’s comments in the paper but hate listening to him during an interview. He says very direct and honest things but he comes across as such a goober.

- Oh Johnny Damon, I hate you so. The hair bugs me, the beard bugs me, the self imposed nicknames bug me. Now you drive the hatred spike even deeper by mouthing off about your manager. What’s up Damon? So you don’t think Schilling should be a closer. Neither do I. The difference is that you are a stud center fielder on one of the most popular baseball teams in the world. I come in a far second for most admired parent in my own house. SHUT IT!!

- Why didn’t a supposed locker room fist fight between Jeter and Arod get more air time? This is the type of thing that should have been splashed on every sports news desk in the country. I think I heard about it from two cab drivers making small talk while waiting at Laguardia. And trust me, I follow sports more closely than my own child’s development.

- Losing a close game after 6 innings because of a rain delay sucks. Glad to see it happened to fatboy Wells though. But still, that sucks. If they played innings 7, 8 and 9, something tells me they would have come back and won. It was only 2 runs they were down. Hey Sox fans, keep thinking about that when you don’t make the playoffs by 1 game.

- Is there a little scarf-gate going on in the Sox locker room? Why wasn’t I told about this when it happened? I had to find out from the washer women at the hair salon. I guess Schonda Schilling and Johnny Damon’s sweet ticket don’t like each other. Something about last fall Mrs. Schilling made scarves for the players significant others, in Veritek’s case his name is Ben, to wear during the playoffs. After a thumping by the Yankees in game 3 Mrs. Damon came in without her scarf on. Shonda Schilling supposedly said that if she had it on maybe little Johnny would not have been 0 for 16 at which point Mrs. Damon opened up a can of old fashioned vanilla flavored whip-ass and went after the old lady. They went fist-a-cuffs and never liked each other since. Just a rumor, but my sources say it’s true. Oh sweet glory of Heaven I would love to get a tape of that little party. Not enough money in the world could keep me from watching it.

- Why doesn’t Mike Adams get more airtime? He is one of the most entertaining guys on the radio and he gets mop up duty on WEEI. Did he piss off someone at some point? His story about his pet monkey was the funniest thing I have heard on WEEI since I moved here.

Posted by David at 05:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Some things I have been meaning to bring up.

- I knew it was a matter of time before Natalee Holloway’s mother, Beth Holloway Twitty, overstepped her bounds. I think she is starting to get close to that line. I feel for her, I really do. What she is going through has to be excruciatingly painful. For the most part, she has done a great job. She comes across as very sincere and heartfelt, not aggressive, passionate pleas to the public and tugs at the heart strings of everyone. But she is on every single news program day and night doing interviews. She has been vocal from day one that the Aruban police and government have not done a great job, and that is probably true, but she needs to settle down a little. Maybe only 12 or 14 interviews a day. I do hope they find something, even if it’s not what they are praying for. Let this nightmare end.

- Once again a pedophile low-life degenerate did something horrific to a little girl. There is a case in Idaho of a convicted sex offender who killed three adults, kidnapped two little kids, killed the boy, and did unthinkable things to the little girl. Trust me when I say this, there is nothing that can be done to that guy that is justice. I would like a few hours alone with him, some power tools, pepper spray and lime, but nothing can give back what that girl has lost. The two kids’ father has the mullet of all mullets. That thing has its own zip code.

- If you want to understand what it’s like to be a true “man” and an American hero, read the background of James Stockdale. Unfortunately most of American’s will only remember him as Ross Perot’s running mate and not having his hearing aid turned on during the vice presidential debates. 8 years as a POW in Vietnam, 3 in solitary confinement. Good Lord.

- In Scotland, President Bush collided with a British police officer during a bike ride Wednesday evening, suffering scrapes on his hands and arms that required bandaging. I think we should invade Scotland, those red-haired skirt wearing drunk sissies.

- The New York Hilton is the worse place on earth. But I am stuck here because I have invested three weeks into building Hilton points, and I like the location. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is good about it. I’ll get into detail in another post.

- I have to fight my anti-social urge every day. It seems the older I get the less patience I have with others.

- If I won the lotto, I would probably quit my job. Either that or pull an Office Space.

- My greatest fear is falling from a 20 story balcony. And surviving.

- I wish I had more time to read magazines. Great source of information and very topical.

- I have never had great pizza in Boston other than Al Capone’s, which I think is not very healthy.

Posted by David at 05:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I was going to write about London winning the bid for the 2012 Olympics. I intended to make fun of Paris and make fun of London with things about damp rainy weather with cheery drunks and bad teeth adding a certain element to the games. But after the horrific events this morning I thought it was inappropriate. The truth is that London is my father’s favorite city and I grew up going there as a kid and into my early 20s. It’s a fabulous city, easy to get around with history and culture and warm people. No one deserves what happened today but especially the British. Other than an occasional joke, there really is nothing bad to say about the British and they have supported us through our efforts with terrorism. My sister and her husband where living in a town outside of Manchester during the September 11th events and they said the Brits were genuine and sincere in there compassion about what happened. They were working at an American owned location and local people left flowers and other objects around the grounds to show their support and sympathy. While we have had our own horrors with 9/11, the coordinated and precise manner this was pulled off is chilling. I hope Americans show the same support we received 4 years ago.

Posted by David at 08:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)