My collective impressions of the new controls.

It was my birthday last week, so another year of my life has hit its expiration date. Like bad milk, this past year has fulfilled its inevitable destiny down the drain in the sink known as Time (man, that's a bad metaphor). Alas poor 32nd year, we barely knew ye.

I'm not sure where year #32 ranks on my subconcious "Best Years of My Life" list.

Nothing jumps out at me as being a gigantic event that excessively skewed me on the Good/Bad scale one way or the other. Just like everyone else, some good things happened to me over the last 12 months, some not so good. But that's life. So overall, I've got to say that my time as a 32-year old wasn't so bad.

I guess 32 will go down as a chapter where events weren't extraordinarily life-altering. Yes, nothing shot me into the stratosphere, but nothing sent me spiraling down into the deep, dark abyss either. Another even-keel year.

I've got lots of people and things to be thankful for, and if that's par for the course, it counts as a win in my book any day.


Hey 33, how you doin'?

Thank you, again, Bobby.

Free-agent pitcher Keith Foulke had just returned home from his first visit to Boston and was still undecided about re-signing with the Oakland Athletics or joining the Red Sox.

He hit the button on his answering machine to check his messages. Telemarketer, a family member, another telemarketer, and oh yeah, a call from Bobby Orr.

It is clear that the call from the hockey great helped nudge the right-hander to the East Coast. "He left a message saying that you win in this town and you are forever idolized,'' Foulke said on his recent visit to Fenway Park.

Foulke, who was introduced Friday at Fenway Park after signing a three-year contract with an option for 2007 that could reach $27 million, cited Orr's persuasive message as "one of those nice little selling points" that made the difference in his deliberations. But Boston's new closer, who also received an authentic Orr jersey, never got a chance to personally thank the hockey Hall of Famer.

"I was too scared to call him back," he said.

Here's the Word of the Day:

Intransigence in·tran si·gence

1. The quality of refusing to compromise or to abandon an extreme position or attitude.

As in:

"The proposed trade between the Boston Red Sox and the Texas Rangers is dead," Lucchino said. "The Players Association's intransigence and the arbitrary nature of its action are responsible for the deal's demise today. Reports that negotiations are continuing and shall continue are inaccurate."

Now batting for the Boston Red Sox, the shortstop, number 3, Alex Rodriguez...

It's just a matter of time.

This will be the scene down on Yawkey Way:

"All players from the 2003 Red Sox roster who will be back in 2004 take one step forward...not so fast, Nomar."

Don't get me wrong, I like Nomar. I think he is being sincere when he says he wants to stay in Boston. The problem is that it is not up to him anymore. Nomar got some bad advice from his agent and so he decided to roll the dice. When you gamble, some times you win, and some times you lose. Nomar will be fine when he eventually lands in Los Angeles. He's stlll gonna make millions.

Got more stories than J.D.'s got Salinger,
I hold the title and you are the challenger.
I got money- like Charles Dickens,
Got-the-girlies-in-the-Coupe-like-the-Colonel's-got-the-chickens

"The Yankees and Dodgers agreed to the outline of a tentative trade Thursday, with Brown going to the Yankees for right-hander Jeff Weaver, two minor leaguers and $3 million, two baseball officials said on condition of anonymity."

Jeff Weaver is one of my favorite targets of ridicule on the Yankee pitching staff, he is so bad in pressure situations it's laughable. He's such a punk. Why any team would want him and his $9 million salary is beyond me.

The problem with this NY/LA deal is that I get the feeling the Dodgers are going to turnaround and package Weaver in a Nomar trade scenario with the Red Sox. That ain't good for us.


Beastie Boys song lyrics of the day:
Puttin bodies in motion cause I got the notion
Like Roy Cormier with the coconut lotion

Unbelievable. I'm on my way home last night around 5:30pm, and as I'm just about to hit the Boston city limits all of the traffic on the highway comes to an absolute standstill. Dead stop in all lanes, no moving, a parking lot. What the hell?? There must be an accident fo' shizzle, I thinks to me self. I change the radio station to the news to see what the dealio is. Nope. No accident. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and his big ol' motorcade are headed to the airport, on their way back from a dairy farm in Middleton, MA where they were milking cows and eating ice cream or something. The Secret Service and the State Troopers decide it would be best to SHUT DOWN THE HIGHWAY so they could pass. WHAT??!! They decide it would be best to shut down the Central Artery at RUSH HOUR for this dude??!! Sure, inconvenience thousands and thousands of citizens just trying to get home after a hard day's work so Massachusetts and China can increase their future trade ties. But what's in it for me?? Where is my instant gratification? I was delayed, my time is valuable, I demand compensation. I want free egg rolls!

They are SO LUCKY I was still able to score one of the few highly-coveted parking spaces on the street after getting out of that traffic mess. I was going to boycott the Peking Palace or something in protest if I was denied resident parking.

I bought a brand-new, state-of-the-art, space-age, back-saving shovel for $20 at Home Depot last Wednesday in anticipation of the snow storm that hit us last weekend. We had so much snow that yesterday, while shoveling all that icy-snowy-slop, I broke the damn thing.

My next shovel is not going to be plastic, I can tell you that. Maybe I'll just spend $20 and get some local youth to do the work for me. Or just let my car sit until Spring.

I can't believe I'm at work on a day like today. We may get 18" of snow. Fun.

Bass from the back of my car feels soothin'
Eight bazookas is what I'm using
I'm Al D. and it's been proven
I love it when I see the party people just movin'

Why did the Red Sox hire David Letterman's musical director and sidekick Paul Shaffer as their new Manager? That doesn't make any sense to me.

My car windshield is apparently a magnet for rocks. I got a crack from a rock in it last week on Route 1, and now this morning on Route 93, another rock caused another crack!

Who am I gonna call when my windshield's busted?