[Fiona] Tuesdays with Papa George

I try never to brag about my mad bowling skills. In truth, I am just mad because I suck at this New England favorite way to spend an evening. Shrek and I bowl on a couples' league in the summer. He always says it is for fun, but you know that's a crock. It can get pretty cut throat.

To me the best part of Tuesday nights in the summer is stopping at Papa George's Pizza for a nosh before we go off bowling. Papa George's Pizza is located at 351 June Street in Worcester, Ma. It is owned by Stephanie and Panagiotis (aka Peter) Stratos.

Sometimes it is more than just about the food that you get at a favorite spot. First, let me say that the marinated chicken is the best I have ever had anywhere, any place. Trust me, I eat a lot of chicken so I would know. What I love about this place is the love that they put into their business. Stephanie and Peter are very picky about the ingredients that get used in the making of their masterpieces. Pizza, fish and chips, grinders, calzones, salads, chicken wings, homemade baklava , cookies, ice cream novelties. They have it all and do it all so well. Drop in sometime, place an order, get to know the folks. I know you will go back again and again. It is that good.

Going for food here tugs at my heart. It reminds me of going home to family. There is a mix of bickering, laughing, good times, great food, and people you love to be with. We are always welcomed with open arms and questions about our general well being. I ask you when was the last time you went out to eat and someone cared about how you have been?

Just recently Stephanie and Peter went to Greece for three weeks to be with their family.Waiting for them to return was like waiting for Christmas. Sheer torture. I am not great at waiting, especially when I know that something great is waiting for me to sink my teeth into. While they were out of country Shrek and I went to Elsa's Bushel and Peck...ok but not the same. Food without a proper dose of love is...feed.

[Shrek] Reunions, part deux

As I tell just about everyone, I am terrible at recognizing people. I am forever asking Fiona "is that so-and-so?" or "how do we know that person?". I'm even worse with names. People think I call folks "buddy" or "pal" because I'm friendly, but it's really because I don't have a freakin' clue what the person's name is. So for me to remember someone from more than twenty years ago would certainly be an odd occurrence.

But for me to remember that person's husband...well, you can't even get odds on that from Vegas.

Several weeks ago Fiona and I were in White Hen Pantry after work getting a soda when the older gentleman walked in. The light bulb went off in my head--I knew that I should know who this person was, but as usual, I couldn't place the face. So, I took my next usual step, I asked Fiona who it was. She had no idea.

I just presumed I was wrong and didn't know the person, so while Fiona was gabbing with the girls behind the counter I went out to the car. As I was walking out to the car I passed another car, and thought I recognized the person in the passenger seat. Seeing as the driver's side window was open (and she was parked next to my car), I asked if she had been a teacher at South High.

She quickly said she had been, and we spoke for a few minutes. Not shockingly, at first she didn't remember me, but after mentioning a few of the people in the class she even remembered the table I sat at during vertebrae anatomy class I had her for.

I jokingly mentioned how bad I am with names and faces, and the oddity that I would recognize her husband--a person I'd met just twice, the last time in 1986. At this point he returned to their car and mentioned that we probably had last met at my senior prom (and it was).

Funny thing is, I don't remember much from my prom night.

I've just recently had another reunion--albeit an virtual one--with someone else I haven't seen in nearly twenty years. When Paul Howley was at That's Entertainment a few weeks ago, we were exchanging information about people each of us hadn't run into in awhile. One of those folks he talked about was a former employee of TE, David Lynch.

One of the things Paul mentioned many times was that David was writing in his blog the story of a friend called My Island, and that I should most certainly check it out. It was supposed to be a six part series, but it had already swollen to many more than that.

So the next morning (Sunday), while Fiona was at Weight Watchers, I started reading the story. It is mindbogglingly good, and I spent much of that morning reading all the parts available. It is an incredibly soul searching collection, free of the gloss that often accompanies stories where the writer plays a major role.

I don't want to give too much away, and I urge everyone to read it.

David is currently on chapter 23, but THIS LINK will take you to chapter one. For other chapters, simply click on the purple arrow next to "June" in his blog for a list of the other chapters. You should also read the comments (and leave one if you'd like)...there's some lighthearted stuff that offsets some of the darkness.

I left a comment for David after one of his posts, and after he's finished with the story I'll run him off an e-mail to really catch up. If there's one lesson I've learned in life, it's never interrupt a writer when he's busy.

[Shrek] Reunions, part un

Now to the topic I wanted to write about last time...and it's turned out to be way too long for one post, so I'm splitting it into two parts.

A couple weeks ago John and Kile came up from Virginia for the weekend. There was a mention at TotalCon in February that we should all get together in the summer for a day of playing D&D or whatever else we decided on. So right after the convention e-mails went around trying to pick a good weekend for the possible get together to take place. We settled on the weekend of July 18-20.

So Kile and John drove up from Virginia on that Friday, and after checking into their hotel gave us a call to begin Friday's festivities. Our predetermined plan was pretty straightforward; we'd pick them up at their hotel, head on over to Scott & Jadira's house, and then off to dinner at Joey's Bar and Grill on Mill Street. (Joey's is currently working on a web site, so here's a link to Fiona's mention of them in her Large Marge blog: Where everybody knows our name.)

After enjoying some still warm focaccia with a house blend olive oil with herbs and Parmesan cheese to dip into, and pre-dinner cocktails (Fiona got her standard--a coffee. She loves their coffee so much we've gone out of our way some late afternoons to sit at the bar so she could enjoy a cup or four), our dinners were served.

John and I got the Chicken Pepperoni, Scott got the Caesar salad, and after a bowl of Clam Chowder (in my opinion, the best you can get in the city) Kile got a shrimp dish that was one of the nightly specials. Jadira ordered the "All American" burger, and as usual Trish went "off the menu" with her modified Joey's Salad and "Weight Watcher friendly" baked haddock with lightly sauteed summer squash and zucchini. Fiona and I didn't get dessert, but everyone else did. Based on what was said every dish tasted just as great as it looked.

As it has been every time we've gone there, everything was perfect at Joey's. John and Kile are both looking forward to a return trip on their next visit. As an aside, if you're looking for a quiet place for a drink (including the previously mentioned coffee or any other non-alcohol fare) and a snack--go to Joey's, sit at the bar, and order the onion rings or sweet potato fries. Heck, get them both...and add those things to the list of "best you can get in the city".

After dinner we walked down a couple of doors to the candlepin bowling alley. Being from the area, John was very familiar with candlepin. Kile, being from Kentucky, had no idea what it was about. We all had a good time bowling and hanging out, and as all of our luck is, finished and left the building in the middle of a intense downpour.

Saturday Fiona and Jadira went to Salisbury beach (look down one post for how well that turned out), while the rest of us were joined by Pinhead (yes, that is Mike's chosen, preferred, and well honored nickname) and Wes Carpenter for a day of D&D, that (as expected) turned into mostly hanging out and joking around with each other.

Throw in a BBQ lunch and chicken dinner and we had ourselves a pretty nice day.

Sunday was supposed to be the day the John and Kile spent with John's parents, and so it was...until early evening when Kile called asking if Fiona and I had eaten dinner yet, apparently looking for some "fun" people to hang out with after all day with family. We hadn't eaten, and quickly took them up on their offer to go out to dinner for some "bonus" get together time.

Our attempt to go to Pub 99 failed miserably as the dinnertime line was almost out the door. So we decided to go to Steve's Pizzeria instead, which as it turns out was more what John was looking for versus a "real" sit down meal. (Steve's doesn't have a website, so we'll head back to Fiona's Large Marge blog for more info: Steve's Pizzeria

For those that have never been to Steve's, they have the largest grinders I'm aware of anywhere around here. They are so large that Kile ordered a small meatball grinder and took half home. John got the steak and cheese (just the way I order it too--just steak, cheese, and mayo), I got the chicken salad, and Fiona got a salad topped with grilled chicken. We added fries and onion rings to the mix, and when the folks at Steve's heard we'd brought friends from Virginia in, the threw in some nicely toasted and buttered garlic bread.

We finished the evening hanging out at their hotel for a while enjoying the conversation. When Fiona and I arrived back home, there was a phone message from Ray looking to confirm potential plans for when he and Kathy are up in September. Unfortunately due to computer issues I had to cut that conversation short, but I suspect we'll be enjoying some fine dinning somewhere while they're up.

And, at least for now, I don't need Ray to repair my computer.

Part deux will follow soon, and includes some reunions with folks I haven't seen in twenty years or more...

[Fiona] What?

Ok,Ok...I know I need to post otherwise people think I have given up on sharing my little insights on the crazy things that surround my life. Fear not I am still out and about viewing the insanity of the living. I guess I just haven't been feeling like there was anything I really needed to comment about. Shrek has been at me about my lack of posting and so here I sit trying to wax poetic. Looks like I failed my pilot check. I am in a summer slump I guess.

Last weekend my galpal(two of her kiddos), myself,and a friend of ours went to Salisbury Beach. Shame on you town of Salisbury! Gross! How do you get people to come in for a visit? Kidnap them? Nothing like cruisin' by life on glory days gone by.

Shrek was surprised that we were adventuring out to Salisbury Beach. He tried to warn me. Amusement park...gone. Cute shops...gone. Beach side pizza...has seen better days. I need to say that the state park and camp grounds were nice enough. My galpal had secured a day pass from our local library and so when we got to the state grounds we got to park for free. I was very happy with our day at the state park. I was just disappointed with what has become of Salisbury public beach.



When was the last time that the governing town officials ventured out to... the police department at the public beach? I mean come on. Am I the only one to be surprised that the public men and women's bathrooms are interconnected? I was afraid to go in and use the bathroom NOT just because it was filthy but because there should never be MEN in the LADIES bathroom!!



I was not surprised to see some of the trash come off the beach. It went walking by under the influence of whatever. What moves a person to get stupid and screwed up on a hot day?

Maybe I am naive but whatever happened to family day at the beach? Where is your pride? I would lie about where I lived if I were unfortunate enough to have to live in town. You seem happy enough to take my tourist dollar... please put some of it back into your community. You could have a beautiful boardwalk and shops if you just would put in the effort. How about better public bathrooms? Find reasons to make people want to visit.

[Shrek] Reformat

This is not what I intended my next post to be about.

This was supposed to be about last weekend's get together with friends John and Kile from Virginia, segueing into a Labor Day get together with Ray Conrad, and then finally mentioning...well, I'll leave that for when I make the post, probably Wednesday.

But what happened instead was I needed to reformat my computer after being hit with a Trojan Horse.

I'm not 100% sure how my computer became infected by it because my machine is buttoned up pretty tightly, but after about five days of fighting it I became 100% sure I was losing the battle.

The final straw was when, ironically enough, I was talking to Ray after having dinner with John and Kile last Sunday night. He had left a message on our machine confirming our potential Labor Day reunion (well, technically the weekend after), and as I returned his call my firewall was turned off by the infection while I watched. I decided to quickly remove my PC from my network.

At that point I went from trying to snipe at it file by file to deciding to use the nuclear weapon of wiping the hard drive totally clean. But even in making that decision, I still faced a small hurdle. My CD drive was broken, and had been for some time. I'd tell you how long it had been broken, but I don't recall. It was long enough for Ray to have offered to fix it; not the last time he was up in Worcester, but the time previous.

Yeah, that long.

Monday morning the first thing I did was pull the old one out to make sure I was competent enough to put a new one in. After seeing how easy the removal was I was already shaking my head about not doing this earlier.

So at 8:30am, Fiona and I went off to the Circuit City at The Shoppes at Blackstone Valley in Millbury, Mass. We arrived just before 9am to find out--SURPRISE!!!--Circuit City opens at 10am. We thought it was odd that it opened so late, but as we hadn't had breakfast we decided to head over to the McDonald's on Rt20 at the Millbury/Worcester line to grab a cup of coffee and a breakfast sandwich.

As we drive up to the intersection just before the McDonald's we find out--SURPRISE!!!--that particular McDonald's is under renovations and closed. We both just looked at each other and started to laugh. So much for a quick, painless trip.

We ended up going to the Golden Arches across from the newly rebuilt Auburn High School, where we know some folks from our weekly stop there Thursday evenings after bowling. Of course, despite many of them usually working the occasional morning shift none of them are working that particular morning.

After we ate and returned to Circuit City, where we were helped by two really great employees that answered all my silly questions, including one that said the replacement was going to be a very easy thing. He was right, it was very easy. So easy I am still kicking myself for not fixing it earlier. That fact I have since used it very little not withstanding.

As I had already saved all the files/pictures I wanted, all I needed to do was begin the reformat process. Having done this several times on older computers, and on other people's machines when they had issues, I knew that it is seldom a pain-free process. But with a little patience it usually all works out in the end.

And so it did, but as I'm not really that patient a person there was some cursing involved before it all worked out fine. Of course, even when things do work out fine there is usually some cursing, so I guess nothing truly out of the ordinary happened.

Now come the painfully slow process of downloading all the Window's updates and various programs I had installed before nuking the hard drive. I didn't realize how many I had until earlier this week when I figured I was less than a third done recapturing all that info. Five days later, I'm still only two thirds done.

And--SURPRISE!!!--there has been more cursing involved.

[Shrek & Fiona] A "not so brief" update

We've both been meaning to make an update post but we just haven't gotten around to it until now.

Firstly, jury duty...the guy was--SURPRISE!!!--found guilty of all charges. I forgot to copy the guy's name down, but it doesn't matter that much. He'll be a guest of the Commonwealth for the next 20 years or so. A brief mention in the Telegram mentioned that he'll be facing additional charges in Connecticut soon, with any potential sentence to be served there after his time here is served.

We were both on vacation the week of July 4th, and spent the first couple days running some of the errands that had piled up over the last few weeks. We dubbed Tuesday "Hell Day" as Fiona had to go to the RMV for a new license picture, I had to go to my doctor's office for some blood work, and we capped the afternoon off with a trip to the dentist. All three errands were completed almost painlessly.

Thursday was Fiona's birthday, so we celebrated by going to breakfast at Eller's on the Hill, a breakfast place in Cherry Valley on Stafford St. Our usual breakfast place, Bickford's, closed a while back and one of our favorite waitresses from there went to work at Eller's, so we "followed" here there.

We didn't do much the rest of Thursday, and late in the afternoon went to dinner at Chuck's Steak House on route 20 in Auburn. It has one of the best salad bars around (all you can eat, too), and Fiona filled up on soup and salad and could barely touch her chicken-kabobs. I had no issue finishing my prime rib despite a couple salad bar trips.

We had planned to go to the Tornadoes game Thursday night, but with the heat and humidity we decided to pass on the game. Good thing too, because as were were driving on I-290 past Fitton Field it started to rain. It rained so hard that despite having the tarp over the infield they had to call off the game because the field was unplayable.

We spent the Fourth at a cookout at my uncle's house, catching up with family I hadn't seen in awhile. As is the custom at Hunt family gatherings, there was more food than an entire army could eat. Fiona ate lots of veggies. I ate lots of meat, potato salad, and desserts. Together we added up to a couple of well balanced meals.

There wasn't much going on last week, at least nothing worth mentioning. We did spend a portion of Saturday at That's Entertainment catching up with Paul Howley. Paul only gets to the store a couple times a year so we make sure to have nothing planned for the day he's at the Worcester store.

It's funny, despite not seeing each other much it's just like the old days when we saw each other just about every day. A few other of the "old timers" dropped by and it was just like old times.

Conversations eventually turned to blogs, and Paul mentioned Cousin Steve had one (for the record, "Cousin Steve" is Paul's cousin). Steve owns a store in Waltham called The Outer Limits--which I would have linked to had his store had a website--and writes a blog called "I Ain't No Oprah", which Paul said to check out. I did, and now it's linked in the right column.

Next weekend will be another reunion when John and Kile come up from Virginia for the weekend. We'll be joined by some other TotalCon friends for what hopefully will be a fun day.

[Shrek] Jury Duty

Last Monday I had the chance to take my turn at jury duty. I suppose I shouldn't complain as I hadn't been chosen for jury duty in over 12 years, but it really is one of those things I want no part of.

Now I understand that it is my civic duty to perform the task of jury duty, and I understand how important it is for the judicial system as a whole that folks serve on juries. The Massachusetts Constitution, largely written by John Adams, uses the word "sacred" just once. That's the word Adams used to described a person's right to a trial by jury of his peers. The fact that such a great man used that word to describe the process is proof enough that I should be much more enthusiastic about participating in it.

But alas, I just can't get that fired up about it.

My day began with Fiona dropping me off in front of the new courthouse here in Worcester, and with the memories of how terrible it was to navigate the old courthouse I was already grumbling my displeasure at the thought of trudging through a building I didn't want to be in looking for a room I didn't want to go to.

Luckily, they hired moderately smart architects. The Jury Room, which is on the third floor, is clearly visible from the entrance. After passing through security--which consisted of a young male security officer flirting with a young female security officer as I passed through a metal detector--it was just a minute or so of walking up staircases to get to the Jury Room. I saw signs for elevators, but as I didn't need them I didn't look to see where they actually were.

I intentionally got there early so I wouldn't have to wait in line at the Jury Room, and when I got to the room there was a few people already seated but no one waiting to check in. As I walked up to the desk the Court Officer greeted me with an unexpected smile and took my paperwork. He game me my juror number, #80 (it's on a piece of paper you're asked not to lose), told me to take a seat, and that there would be a presentation at 8:30am.

So I took a seat against the windows and started reading my book, Misconceptions by O.J. Simpson lawyer Robert Shapiro and Walt Becker. It's a suspense/thriller courtroom drama around the topic of abortion. It was pretty good...I recommend it if you find a remaindered copy.

So at 8:30am they play this presentation on the four mounted HD televisions about what you can expect during the day. The presentation is on video tape, which when you figure the HDTVs, makes little sense. Something that makes even less sense? The street in front of the courthouse was paved over before the cable TV wires could be run into the building.

I was tempted to discern what John Adams would have thought about that, but chose instead to continue reading.

In case you hadn't heard, there is no cafeteria in the new courthouse. So around 9am a coffee cart was pushed in for the jurors to purchase coffee, doughnuts, juice, etc., for a "nominal fee". Apparently my definition of "nominal fee" and theirs is a little different, and I chose to not plunk down higher than Dunkin' Donuts prices for smaller servings than you'd get at my favorite coffee place.

After reading for a while I got up and stretched a little, and after looking around suddenly something hit me. Nearly every person in the room was white. There we no African-Americans and no Asians, and there was only one person I could easily identify as being Hispanic. Not exactly reflective of the populace of any urban area I'm aware of.

Around 10am they called for Jurors #1 to #56 to go into Superior Court for jury selection. Within a half hour people not chosen for that jury slowly filtered back to the Jury Room. Somewhere around 11:30am they took Jurors #57 to #79 (anyone remember my number?) into District Court, and like before, folks that weren't chosen came back to the Jury Room. Knowing that lunch is at 1pm, and with the time approaching 12:30, I figured we were getting to the point of being home free.

Wrong. At exactly 12:30 every remaining juror was sent to Superior Court for jury selection. I figured it had to be something big because there was around 75 of us in the room. And big it was. Let's just say the victim was a child and the Defendant was a 50ish year old man.

Yeah, exactly what you're thinking...and now I know I really want no part of this. And then the judge says the trial could last until Friday...I really, really want no part of this.

At 1:25pm when we broke for lunch they had finally gotten 14 jurors seated--#76 was the last one seated. Because it was raining very heavily I called Fiona and asked her to bring me lunch because there was no chance I could get anywhere without getting soaked. When she arrived we drove around the block a couple of times as I ate.

As we talked, Fiona reminded me that we had a doctor's appointment Thursday afternoon. I'm glad she did that, because I had forgotten.

When we returned to the Jury Room at 2:25 and sat there for awhile, we were again brought into the same courtroom. I was wondering why they were doing that when it suddenly hit me--both sides could still challenge jurors! I wasn't home free like I thought, and was in fact going to be up to be seated in the next few minutes.

When my number was called I went to sidebar like everyone before me and was asked a couple questions by the judge. When I mentioned I had a doctor's appointment for Thursday, he asked me if I could produce an appointment card. I told him all I had to do was call Fiona and I could have one in his hand within 20 minutes.

I was excused! WOOHOO!!!!

When I got back to the Jury Room the Court Officer scanned my number and told me I was free to go. He didn't need to tell me twice, and I was quickly out of there.

So I'm free for at least the next three years. Far too soon if you ask me.

I've also checked the Telegram every day since to see if the trial was mentioned, but so far it hasn't been. Notice I didn't say "to see of he was found guilty", because I saw him sitting there behind his lawyers. I have no doubt he was guilty.

So much for his "sacred" right to trial by jury, eh?

[Shrek] Thanks for the mammaries

In the past couple weeks I've had a couple topics I wanted to share with folks but so far hadn't gotten around to it yet. But after yesterday one of those subjects popped up again, so I guess it was a signal that I should spend a few minutes and talk about them.

I like breasts.

I have always been a breast man, and make no apologies about it. I never judge a woman by the size or shape of her breasts, and I'm not one of those testosterone driven morons that stares at a woman's chest while having a conversation with them.

Fiona knows I'm a breast man and is very amused by it, even occasionally laughingly pointing out a pair that are worthy of such notice. Usually that "notice" is when the woman is wearing something inappropriate for the size of her bosoms. Or, in some cases, not wearing.

Fiona and I were in Target recently during the early June heat wave, shopping for some shirts for her as she had very few summer-weight tops. Well, perhaps more correctly, she was shopping and I was enjoying the store's air conditioning.

As I'm standing there feigning interest in the stuff Fiona is looking at, two college age girls come strolling by with their puppies running free. Observant as I am I noticed immediately, and determined they were the perfect size to be allowed to roam leash-less. They also decided to look at the same displays Fiona was looking at and were in my through line, so my interest became slightly less "feigned".

(For those that don't know what a "through line" is, it's the imaginary path that a golf ball would travel on should the putted ball go past the hole; or the path of continued trajectory of a bullet fired that missed its target. This will come as no shock that guys use it all the time to obscure what they're really looking at.)

Unfortunately, also in my through line was two older women of a slightly larger size that also decided on the hot day to let their doggies run free. They also both chose to wear tops that were not really conducive to folks that are not in decent physical shape. It was not a pretty sight.

So, as a person that has spent a lot of time noticing boobs of all types and sizes, allow me to make an observation for you that might help when choosing what to wear when going out:

If you're college aged and in shape, let the puppies run free. If your child is college aged or you're not in shape so much, tie those doggies down. Please.

Now about yesterday.

Fiona and I went to a cookout/graduation party for the daughter of a woman Fiona went to school with. As one would expect at such a gathering, there were several recent high-school graduates--all girls--along with a couple "drinking age" girls that are friends of the graduate's older sister.

Not knowing anyone at the party and not really seeing any group of folks I'd fit in with, I basically stayed close to Fiona, who herself only really knew a couple of folks at the party. We stayed in the kitchen area, mostly because that's where Fiona's friend spent most of her time preparing stuff during the party. The gaggle of girls was also there, but for except when they went into a mass-giggle they weren't really doing anything to attract attention to themselves.

After a while a friend of the host's shows up with his room mate. He's an older (50ish) gay man that we had met last year at a housewarming party, and is a very funny person that makes no bones about his sexual orientation. He is a touch "stereotypical" (although, aren't we all in one way or another?), and plays that up using humor. He's one of the few people I've met that I've actually thought would make a great stand up comic.

But at one point it got a little creepy.

Despite being a connoisseur of breasts, I think it would be a little odd for me to be starting a discussing of a girl's breasts when she's younger than my daughter. It just seems like one of those topics an older male--gay or not--probably shouldn't be bringing up addressing a group of young girls. Never mind doing it twice. I know I'm a pig when it comes to breasts, but I at least exercise a little discretion about it.

Although we did find out that one of the drinking aged girls--who was already "well served" at this point--had bosoms sized 36G (which I had guessed correctly in my mind) and has uneven nipples (even The Amazing Kreskin would have been lucky to guess that). She did have the common sense to tie those doggies up, although that may have been out of necessity as she may have fallen over forward had she not.

[Fiona] Father's Day

For anyone who has ever had to take care of a relative my deepest respect goes out to you. June 11th was the first anniversary of my mother's passing. It still sounds strange to me and some days I feel like the phone is going to ring and she will be at the other end crabby or laughing or in whatever mood she needs to share with me. It has been an odd year for myself and my dad. I have an older sister who lives in NY but her visits here are limited as she has her own issues to deal with and illness.

Dad and I do the best we can with what we have to work with. Sometimes he thinks it is Saturday all week long. At times he makes me chuckle with his antics and sometimes I cry. The best memories of my dad live in my head...young,strong,vital. He is not so strong anymore and not so young. He is more likely to remember fifteen years ago then this morning but he is my dad and I love him more than I am sure I can ever convey to him. I try to live for today and not think about a time that will someday come when I will have to be in this world without him.

It frustrates me that I can't make things "all better". Today is Father's Day. Tell the people in your life while they can hear it that you love them. I tell my dad every time he calls me, every time I see him, every time I need to. Dad I love you.

[Shrek] On to baseball...

With the New England Surge playing the last game of their regular season and the team opting to play its opening playoff game on the road, it appears that the Surge won't be playing another game this season in Worcester. Or if the rumors are true, maybe ever.

So now it's officially baseball season in Wormtown, and Fiona and I will be taking in our first game Saturday when the Sharks Boosters invade Fitton Field. We're doing the "all you can eat" cookout before the game. While Fiona won't be taking full advantage of the chow line, you can bet I'll be having enough for the both of us. When you consider what food and drink costs at a ball game, the $25 cost of the meal/tickets is a steal.

I used to be a huge baseball fan, but in the last few years I have become a little bored with the attitude major leaguers have. The fact that free agency has killed major league baseball to the point where it's the same teams every season adds to my boredom. Sure it's cool when the Red Sox win, but all things being equal I'd like to see how well they or the Yankees could do if there were a salary cap.

Actually, seeing how poorly the Bronx Bombers are doing this season with the highest payroll one has to think they can't do any worse with a lower one.

That's one of the reasons I like the Tornadoes so much. It's a bunch of guys playing hard for the love of the game. Can't ask for more for your money.

If you're interested in talking about the Tornadoes, you can go to tornadoes.mordel.net.