My collective impressions of the new controls.

Wait a minute.

This afternoon, July 31st, the Pittsburgh Pirates traded 3 right-handed pitchers, Jeff Suppan, Brandon Lyon, and Anastacio Martinez to the Red Sox for SS Freddy Sanchez and left-hander Mike Gonzalez.

In a previous trade with pittsburgh on July 22nd, the Red Sox obtained pitchers Scott Sauerbeck and Mike Gonzalez from Pittsburgh in exchange for pitchers Brandon Lyon and Anastacio Martinez.

So in the end, the Red Sox traded minor league shortstop Freddy Sanchez for pitchers Scott Sauerbeck and Jeff Suppan??

Is that right?? There's got to be a prospect headed to Pittsburgh that I'm missing.

Holy crap, the Red Sox actually traded away their Nomar safety-blanket, AAA Pawtucket shortstop Freddy Sanchez for Pittsburgh Pirates right-handed pitcher Jeff Suppan. I thought Sanchez was one of the Red Sox's minor-league untouchable prospects. This means only one thing: the Sox are going all-in and obviously think that they have better than average odds at doing the unmentionable. Hey, with Pedro and Derek Lowe on the mound and the way the Sox have been crushing the ball this year, why the hell not!

Jeff Suppan will be a good fit as another starter as neither John Burkett nor Ramiro Mendoza inspire great confidence these days. And Theo's previous acquisitions of quality relievers Byung-Hyun Kim, Scott Sauerbeck, and Scott Williamson patch a hole that completes one of the most solid pitching staffs in the league.

Is there another GM who has done a better job with trades this season than Theo Epstein?

"Love Thine Blogs & Heal Thyself"


I admit it...I have a problem.

My problem is that my blog entries are really starting to suck, and I think I have been losing readers because of it. I knew that the quality was beginning to suffer, but I didn't want to admit it and I blamed it on my new job, the weather, whatever was convenient. But this past weekend, my buddy Tom clued me into the true source of my recent suckitude: Now that I know people actually read these ramblings, I have developed an internal censor, a firewall, if you will, that has blocked the packets of semi-retarded creativity that once made this site great. To sum it up, I'm thinking too much.

The once unrestricted brain-dump that used to flow out onto these pages like the clear waters of the mighty Mississip' has become a stagnant and trite trickle, all but unrecognizable in its current condition.

It's time to let loose the uncensored thoughts swirling around in my head, to once again set Mr. Issippi's Wife free, and to stop bearing false witness against my readers. I need Ronald Reagan at the base of my cerebral cortex declaring: “General-Secretary Alsbrainachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Lorial blogsite, come here to this gate. Mr. Alsbrainachev, open this gate. Mr. Alsbrainachev, tear down this firewall!”

It's going to take a little while to get back up to speed but deep in my heart, I do believe, we shall overcome some day.

And today is Dave's 29th birthday. Happy Birthday Dave.

Things that are bothering me today (in no particular order):

1. The fact that I have to work on Saturday (and it's supposed to be a great beach day)
2. The Republican Party
3. The Democratic Party
4. The extra-horrific Friday traffic I inevitably will be facing on my way back into Boston at 5:30 tonight
5. The fact they are forecasting thunderstorms on Sunday (and I want to go to the beach)

Watch out world, another male Pokraka has just been added to our ranks:

Brendan Tyler Pokraka, 7 lbs 7 oz, was born at Falmouth Hospital on Tuesday 7/22/03 at 11:06pm.

My Mother is having kidney stone problems again, it's been 10+ years since her last episode. The doctors say it's the same stone from before, I guess it was just hibernating. Can't they do some procedure with GPS and laser-guided ultra high-frequency sound waves or something to get rid of that thing?? I'm sure they will at least give her some good drugs to keep her comfortable, she had her own self-regulated morphine drip last time.

I heard on TV that Bradley Whitford, the actor who plays Josh Lyman on 'The West Wing', is also dealing with kidney stones this week. I'm sure my Mom finds that comforting.

One of the (many) geeky things I do during the course of a normal day is use the Internet to check the water temperature at the C-MAN (Coastal-Marine Automated Network) Station BUZM3 out at the SW entrance to Buzzards Bay.

As of 12 Noon today the water temperature is 63.5 degrees. The reason I do this is because when I am down on the Cape on the weekends I like to go swimming in Vineyard Sound, and lately it's been pretty chilly in the ocean. It's getting warmer, 63.5 water is chilly at first but eventually comfortable enough to take a swim. The ocean was hovering around 60 up until very recently. I would love it to get into the 70s very soon. The station says it was up to 66.7 degrees at 4am this morning. What made it go down since then?

Wow, this has got to be one of the most boring posts I've ever done.

Anyone else agree?

It's official, I now own a car; I just bought a black 2000 Honda Civic LX. I haven't been a car owner since I got rid of my red Toyota truck back in 1998. Now I'm going to have to pay back all those people who gave me rides all over the place during the last 5 years. I guess what goes around, comes around.

I'm glad the fans of Major League Baseball came to their senses and finally voted Boston Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek to the American League All-Star team this year. He is one of the most deserving players in the game of this recognition, he's better than 75 percent of the guys that made the team as Starters.

As you could vote online as many times as you like, I personally voted 15 times. I think he won with 3.2 million votes or something.

If all the forces in the cosmos run relatively smoothly over the next couple of days, you, my industrious readers, may be dealing with a blogger with a new (new to me, that is) set of wheels. I have found a 2000 4-door sedan suitable for someone with impeccable tastes and savvy like myself, now I just have to get my ducks in a row and work out the deals with the insurance company, the RMV, the dealership, and the bank. Isn't this the reason why God created the fax machine?

I finally got a chance to go swimming this past Indepedence Day weekend. It was great. Chilly, but great. 62 degree water is not ideal for ocean swimming, but given this past Spring's crappy weather that I thought would never end, I'll take it. I even got to sit on the beach and had to liberally apply sunscreen to prevent sunburn. It was good, I thought days like that may not come around this year.

I got to see my favorite 3-year old on July 4th, my rambunctious niece Samantha was down visiting her kinfolk with her parents, my sister Jessica and brother in law Keith, at her other grandparents' house in Plymouth (where they blew up over $500 worth of fireworks that night, I might add). Samy's such a little cutie; I love her so. And she loves me. :) :) Too bad Keith's Mom tripped and broke her leg after their private firework display. What a bummer.

Lib's parents had a big party on the beach the evening of the 4th, complete with a bonfire and hamburgers, hot dogs, and potato salad, all put on to make our watching of the fireworks more festive, which it did. Then Lib's parents had another big party on Saturday, complete with homemade 'Chipwich' style ice cream sandwiches, on the banks of the little pond by their house to celebrate Lib's 30th birthday. It was way cool.

I begin working Tuesday to Saturday this week. We'll see how that goes.

I forgot how much a job interferes with your life. I mean, when the hell am I supposed to do my laundry, and go food shopping, play hockey on my PlayStation 2, and go to the gym?? Not to mention watch all the Netflix DVDs I have sitting on my TV. These things were not issues 2 weeks ago. In fact, I have added things like dry cleaning, finding parking spaces, and paying Tobin Bridge tolls to my weekly 'To-do' list. Am I supposed to use my weekends for these mundane tasks? I think not.

Work is nothing but a set of cheap tires on the finely-tuned Ferrari that is/was my life.

What a drag. But my bank account seems happier. :) :)

It's going to be a short work week for this chap, folks. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. That's it for me and that work thing-a-ma-jig, then I'm headed back down to the proverbial Cape to begin celebrating the proverbial holiday season of holiday seasons (except for Christmas which I hold near and dear to my heart), it's the big ol' 2-for-1 combo value pack of the summer, come on people, put your hands together, it's time to get out your big red, white, and blue beach umbrellas and get ready for...... The 4th of July on Friday and Lib's big 3-0 birthday party on Saturday!!!!! (Oops, the proverbial cat is out of the bag!)

Yes, you probably didn't hear it here first but the proverbial Lib is turning the proverbial 30 years old this weekend. I, for one, am proud to see her hold her head so high and gnash her teeth at the proverbial Reaper who even now edges closer by the day. Shake your fist in proverbial defiance young Lib!! Do not fall victim to decay and proverbial obsolescence without a fight!!! Rage on Lib!! Rage on 'til they have to pry that proverbial gun from your elderly cold dead fingers!! And when you get done doing that, Lib, come visit the rest of us, we'll be down at the beach. And bring us some food and drinks while you're at it. Oh yeah Lib, one more thing. I also heard that they're giving out free Jose Cuervo shots at the Steely Dan album release party at Shucker's on Friday night. See you there.