Trying to B-more

The house was built in 1885. It's a narrow place, a worker's home. Exposed brick everywhere, old wood. An extensive rehab a couple years ago has left it with the interesting juxtaposition of gleaming stainless steel next to ragged brick. I like it.

The cats are adjusting to having stairs. As fat as they'd gotten, they could use the exercise. So could I.

The combined ages of the widows on either side of us is over 160. The newcomer has been here in Federal Hill for about 40 years, the other, two decades longer. They are fun, and fiesty, and have that incredibly unique Baltimore patois that I can imitate for a word or two, but no further.

There are at least 100 bars within walking distance, one of which is six doors down. The Inner Harbor is 15 minutes away (by foot), as are the Ravens and Orioles stadiums. We're still living out of boxes, and half of my stuff is in limbo, but we're thrilled.

And yes, that is the view, looking east, from the rooftop deck...

Good Advice..

..from an experienced leader. If only the Bush administration had had access to this individual before committing us to a quagmire in Iraq...

Nats and (future) history

So I see that the local boys, the Washington Nationals (well, for a few more days, until I move to B-more), have a 4-day road trip against the Giants. That means some poor Nats pitcher will be immortalized as the guy who gave up 756. Tim Redding, perhaps? He's scheduled to take the mound on Wednesday.

I used to be such a Bonds fan. Back in my Techmatics days, when fantasy baseball was still pre-Internet, he was my #1 pick two years in a row. Such an incredible athlete. What I find sad is that he probably had the talent to make it here without the drugs.

Baseball is hurting again. Not quite as much as in 1995, after that horrific, World-series canceling strike. But the sport is definitely stained, so much that even the president mentioned steroid use in the State of the Union. Hmm, on second thought, maybe baseball isn't in that bad a shape...

My prediction is that Bonds will retire at the end of this season, probably with 770 under his belt. I figure A-Rod will finish with about 48, giving him 512 career. That means... let's see, a delta of 258. He's 11 years younger than Bonds. I don't think he's peaked yet. So here is my bold prediction, on this day, 4 August 2007, I predict that A-Rod will break Bond's record around the all-star break in 2014. And he will finish his career in 2018 with 828.

You heard it here first...

The Power of the Internet

I'm pretty sure this is what Vint Cerf had in mind when he came up with what would become the Internet: The ability to find showtimes for movies without having to call.

Google is handy at displaying them for me, and since I generally go to the movies with The Girlfriend, I had her zip code set as the default; 22314, Alexandria VA.

Today I asked it to show me when The Simpsons Movie is playing. Here are the results (click to enlarge).



See anything strange?

No? Well let's zoom in a bit:

---

---

...I can imagine the dialog: "Well honey, if we hurry we can either catch the 7:10 at Courthouse, or, hmm, if we really hurry we can catch the 7:25 in Lincoln Nebraska... well, 7:25 tomorrow...

Wathermen = Macho