My collective impressions of the new controls.

And what the hell was Bill Belichick thinking at the end of yesterday's Patriots - Redskins game??? With under 2 minutes to go in the game the Patriots were in range and could have tied it on a field goal, but because Adam Vinatieri missed his first field goal of the year back in the 3rd quarter, Belichick apparently loses all faith in him and instead decides TO GO FOR IT on 4th down for better field position???? WHAT???!!!! Did Bill forget about all those games won over the past couple of years with the "All-Adam-Offense"??

Patriots end up losing 20-17 in a game they handed to Washington on bad turnovers and bad decisions.

As the unofficial opening act to the rapidly approaching wedding of Lori’s sister Krissy next Saturday, Lori and I attended my cousin Dave’s wedding in Rhode Island this past weekend. It was a very nice ceremony and reception; it was good to see Dave and his new wife Kristy again (they live in South Carolina), even though we barely got to talk to them.

All in all, it was fun. The reception was at a nice hotel in Jamestown, RI, it had a great view of Narragansett Bay and Newport. My parents and most of my Rhode Island aunts and uncles were there. We even got a chance to stop by and visit my Nana after the ceremony, she was happy to see us. But there was one thing about the church in Warwick, RI they got married in that kind of creeped me out. Let me explain.

For all you non-Christians out there, most (all?) Christian churches I’ve ever been to have a section where the Stations of the Cross are displayed. The Stations of the Cross are fourteen standard scenes depicting the sufferings of Jesus on the way to Calvary to be crucified (i.e., Jesus carrying the Cross, Jesus falls down, Jesus is nailed to the Cross, Jesus dies, Jesus is put in a tomb, etc). I’m not trying to be sacrilegious, this is what these Stations show, and some of them get pretty graphic.

Anyway, this church in RI had what I thought were rather large paintings showing the Stations of the Cross. At first, that’s all I really noticed, the paintings were kind of big. Not huge, billboard sized renditions with neon and flashing lights, just bigger than what I thought for a church of this size. As the Mass continued I found myself drawn to the paintings. There was something different about these Stations, but I was just far enough away to not be able to instantly figure it out.

I really focused at the ones closest to me, ‘Jesus falling down’ and ‘Jesus getting nailed to the Cross’, and after a couple of minutes it hit me. It was the scene where Jesus is getting nailed to the Cross that clued me in to the mystery: the people in the paintings were wearing modern clothes! The guy nailing Jesus to the Cross is wearing a white tank top and the sad-looking guy standing next to him is wearing khakis and a blue button-down shirt!!!??? And then I thought: Why isn’t that guy from the J. Crew catalog doing anything to stop that dude wearing the wife-beater from committing a hate-crime by nailing that poor man to the Cross??? Where are the cops when you need them?

Yeah, I’m going to Hell. But I’m sorry, these paintings were weird.

I looked closer at the rest of the paintings and they all had people in t-shirts and cargo pants and dresses and work boots and sneakers, etc. But no corporate logos on any of them. I guess Nike or Old Navy didn’t want to sponsor a crucifixion. I see an opportunity here for Lumber Liquidators. Maybe have the guy doing the nailing wear an orange Home Depot apron? And a DeWalt pneumatic nail gun? At least give that guy a Yankees hat.

Oh man, now I’m really going to Hell. On the Express Train.

Of course now I told everyone in my vicinity to make sure and check out the paintings. By the time the Mass was over I was not alone in my creepiness.

I did manage to keep all of my comments to myself, until now, that is.

Easy there, Red Sox fans, keep that champagne on ice because we haven’t won anything just yet. All we did is clinch a spot in the playoffs. Yes, that is a good thing and we should be happy but the ultimate goal has not been reached and fan expectations for the season have not been met. There’s plenty of baseball left to be played.

And please, don’t buy those stupid “Boston Red Sox 2003 AL Wild Card Champions ” t-shirts and hats they are peddling on the Red Sox website, they are weak.

Sorry I haven’t been writing much lately, work has been brutal.

Here's my job in a nutshell:

Click here

This is so weird...I'm sitting in my apartment and I'm trying to read but every once in a while the wind must blow my way because the Bruce Springsteen concert over at Fenway Park suddenly becomes very audible.

I'm not that far away, I mean I can see the glow from the Fenway lights, but I certainly didn't think I was close enough to hear any of the show. I distinctly have heard bits of 'Glory Days', 'Born to Run', 'Born in the USA', 'Dancing in the Dark', and I'm not sure, but I think right now I am hearing that non-Bruce song called 'Dirty Water' ( you know, "I love that dirty water, ohhh, Boston you're my home").

Very strange.

My friend Alex was getting a little loud today so I had to put him in his place. He works at home. That's why this fictitious traffic report I sent all my Boston friends today via email is funny:


...it's 11:33 here at WBZ am 1030 and time for traffic on the threes, let's go to State Trooper Grant Molason in the WBZ Traffic Copter:

(pretend you hear helicopter noises in the backround of the steroetypical helicopter traffic guy on the radio)

"Not looking like a good start to the day for Alex Babitsky, south-bound on the Central Hall Artery we've got a work crew in the right lane slowing things down a bit just before the bathroom exit, traffic is slow back to the bookshelf. Heavy congestion between the coffee maker and the refrigerator due to an earlier orange juice spill that was cleaned up about an hour ago, the slow moving traffic is backed up all the way to the oven. Route 23 looking good in both directions between the Couch and the TV, no delays after the coffee table. There's a broken down slipper in the breakdown lane on Route 482 North by the Ficus tree causing curiosity delays. That over-turned laundry basket at the North entrance to the the Bedroom Tunnel is still causing backups so expect to add 20 minutes to your commute out of the bedroom this morning. Another update in 10 minutes."

Lori's cousin Lisa just had her baby!

Francesca Candelieri was born today at 12:32pm, she weighs 6 lbs 4 ounces. Congratulations to Frank, Lisa, Gabriella, Isabella, and Alessia on their new daughter/sister.

I hope I spelled all those names correctly, otherwise I'm going to really hear about it.

I think I may actually stay up here in the city this weekend. And it's supposed to be nice and sunny in the 70s on the Cape. I don't know, I'm just not feeling Cape-ish for some reason. Part of it is that I'm sick of the driving. I also need to address some nagging things that I've been blowing off all summer. I guess this is as good a time as any to get some of those things done. I do have to work on Saturday, I shouldn't keep forgetting that.

Lori's cousin Lisa is supposed to have her baby today (Girl #4). Well, what I should say is that they're inducing her today. I guess the baby doesn't always come out instantaneously when the doctor gives the Mom-to-be whatever drug induces labor. Lori said she'll call me if she has any news. I just talked to her, nothing yet.

And here's my take on the whole Lawyer Milloy issue: There's been a lot of talk about the Patriots’ new and improved Pass rush with Roosevelt Colvin, Teddy Bruschi, and Richard Seymour. If these guys really do their job by repeatedly rushing/sacking the opposing QB then the Pats' safeties won't see as much action because the opposing receivers won't be getting the ball as much. And if the Patriots rush defense has been improved by their new additions, the safeties won’t need to make as much tackles when the other team runs the ball. It will all work out, trust me.

The 3rd annual Aquinnah Challenge is now one for the history books. When it was all said and done, Tom, Jen, and I rode 38 miles last Sunday. Due to the Jimmy Buffett concert that Tom and I went to the night before, we ended up taking the 9:55am ferry instead of the 8:00am ferry, but not to worry. Our performance was in no way hampered once we got over to Martha’s Vineyard.

It could not have been a nicer day to do this ride, sunny and in the low 70s. Perfect. But there was a lot more traffic than in the past. Next year we will have to schedule the AC in early June, I think that would significantly cut down on the number of mopeds, scooters, motorcycles, buses, trucks, and cars we would be sharing the road with.

We did modify tradition a little bit this year, we did not go swimming once we got to Aquinnah and we also did not get ice cream at the end of the course in Vineyard Haven. It just wasn’t hot enough, we didn’t need anything but water and Gatorade to cool down. We were sweating, and those hills take a lot out of you, but a muscle-recovering swim and a refreshing ice cream cone just weren’t necessary.

Also, we had our first non-mountain bike Aquinnah Challenge participant, Tom rode his new fancy rocket-assisted 4-ounce Bianchi 27-speed rode bike that had 2 millimeter width tires. Maybe we need a new division for road bikes, Tom dusted Jen and I most of the way since we were on our clunky mountain bikes.

Anyway, it was fun and we encourage more people to join us next year on the “4th Annual Aquinnah Challenge”. Once you see our cool t-shirts from this year you won’t be able to say no.

Manny Ramirez has been benched. Good. It’s about time the Red Sox front office has done something to combat this me-me-me selfish attitude among their elite players.

Manny may have lost the support of even his biggest fans with the way he’s been acting lately: First, he has a sore throat that causes him to miss 4 games, including a Yankees series at Fenway. Second, while he’s “sick”, he’s spotted at a bar hanging out with members of the Yankees. Third, the day after he’s seen at the bar he blows off a doctor’s appointment. Then he commits the big whopper of sins for die-hard Red Sox fans:

"Ramirez, despite having five more seasons on an eight-year, $160 million Red Sox deal that runs through 2008, told ESPN’s Joe Morgan that playing for the Yankees "is one of my biggest dreams right now. I know I've got a big contract here in Boston, but maybe when it's over, I'll go out there and try it."

WHAT!!!???? While you play for the Red Sox YOU DO NOT SAY YOU DREAM OF PLAYING FOR THE YANKEES.

The time has come for the Red Sox to burn the village down in order to save it. Send Nomar off to Anaheim, let Manny fulfill his dream of being a Yankee, and let Pedro move back to the Dominican Republic. It really doesn’t matter because in case you haven’t noticed, we’re not winning championships with these guys anyway.