the pod bay door

:: The last few days have been a bit of a blur. The weekend was a trip to Calgary, featuring visits with good friends, including one who just had her second baby a week ago today. On Saturday night, I attended a gathering of old friends from my 1971 high school class – you can see some of the photos here if you like.

I’m too busy at work for words. Heavy G and I are coauthoring (yet another) article on blogging, and are preparing a presentation on “biblioblogs” for GELA, on November 13. (Geoff will deny it, but I think he’s doing most of the prep work, and I deal with my catholic guilt.) Otherwise work consists of putting out small fires everyday – lately, mostly to do with ordering much needed CSA standards for a mechanical engineering design project. My last big instruction session for 2003 is tomorrow afternoon. We are a couple weeks away from beginning our Winter 2004 instruction preparation.

Twice in the last three days I’ve misplaced my yet-to-be-paid-for hearing aid that I’m road testing. Each time I couldn’t find it for hours. Now I’m leaving it in its case, otherwise it is causing me too much anxiety.

Oh, what’s that? The World Series? Oh, right…The Yankees. Pardon me while I go back to sleep.

:: Dave Barry brilliantly summarizes recent baseball events, including the Cubs’ loss to his beloved Marlins, the arrogance of the NYY, and the (potentionally boring) World Series, beginning tonight. Reluctantly, I’ll pull for the Marlins – the lesser of two (boring) evils. (Via Derryl.)

:: It is a gorgeous sunny, fall day in Calgary. After two visits to Tim McKay, the best chiropractor on Planet Earth, my shoulder area is less painful, and my lower back feels fine. This morning I spent time with my dear friend Carole and her mom, and met her new, 5-day old angel, Grace Elizabeth. Later this afternoon I’m off for coffee with another friend, then a visit with my brother, Chris, and then on to my high school class Mini Reunion in the evening. Tomorrow morning it will be dim sum with – wait for it – another friend (it’s nice to have a lot of friends in Calgary!), and then either a movie, or head back to Edmonton.

:: Bill Maher makes an interesting case for the hypocrisy surrounding Rush Limbaugh’s addiction to pain killer medication and the ongoing drug wars in the USA.

:: In my youth, I was an avid Montreal Canadiens fan, I lived and died by their Cup wins and losses. I was also a huge baseball fan, the Minnesota Twins being my team of choice. I was thrilled when The Twins won the 1987 and 1991 WS, followed by the Blue Jays in 1992 and 1993.

In my later years, hockey has fallen considerably as a sports interest, although the Habs remain my team of choice. I’ve lived in Edmonton since 1978 but maintain no allegiance to the Oilers. Strikes, idiot owners and greedy players aside, I still love baseball.

The possibility of a Cubs/Red Sox World Series loomed large two days ago. Today it will be a Yankees/Marlins World Series. The Yankees have won 26 WS, 4 since 1996, the last in 2000. The Marlins have been in the league for 10 years, and won in 1997. The Cubs last won in 1908, the Red Sox in 1918. You tell me which series would have been more exciting.

I think, for the first time in years, I will pay little attention to the World Series next week. The Yankees, a team fueled by 180 million US in salaries, are becoming as predictable and boring as the Atlanta Braves. The Marlins?? Can you name one player on the team? Their fan support this year was pathetic, averaging under 17,000 per game. The word was that Fox Sports was hoping that at least one of the two sad sack teams made it to the WS, so as to assure a large TV audience for the games. Now with the NYY and Marlins, chances are the ratings will match last years’ WS, the lowest in decades. The Yankees? It’s like a broken record. You need a better position player? Well, buy the player. Combine deep pockets with great management and media revenue that does not get redistributed to poorer teams, and your team, in this case The Yankees, will be there every year.

It’s no surprise that fans have turned away from the WS in recent years. The small market teams can’t compete without the income. But more importantly, in the World Series, there are few, if any, surprises. Some of the players on the Yankees are entering their sixth WS in eight years. It would be cool to see players from other teams get their once. But the Yankees, as players, are not to be faulted – they won, they worked hard to get there, they deserve to be there. At the same time, don’t fault the fans who are losing interest in the World Series each year because there are few surprises left for them.

:: Last night around 3:00 am, I woke with pain in my upper right arm, near the shoulder. It hasn’t subsided. I’m heading to Calgary in 2 hours, and will stop for a chiropractic check on the way in. I hope the chiropractor can help. I don’t know what’s wrong. I may have been sleeping on it or something, but it sure hurts like hell.

:: Do you think you know your (somewhat obscure) album covers? Take this test.

:: ConsumerSearch is a portal site, linking readers to consumer product reviews. It also provides reviews of the reviews, as it were, ranking them “according to how well they identify the category’s best products”.

:: In Canada, our Thanksgiving is tomorrow, Oct 13. This year I will be celebrating and giving thanks among the company of some good friends. There was an interesting article in today’s Edmonton Journal about the first Thanksgiving ceremony in North America. It took place in 1578 in the Canadian Arctic, 43 years before the so-called “first Thanksgiving in the New World” in 1621, in Massachusetts.

:: Tonight I do not feel well. My body feels a bit sore all over, and I’m more than a little tired. I’ve been working out and still eating well for the most part. My head hurts too. Time to boost the Cold-FX capsules, perhaps? This was also a day that included events about which I cannot write on this site, and that were quite draining. It is a lousy feeling to be helpless when long-term behaviour of a mean-spirited nature goes on and on, with malice of forethought.

:: I saw the movie Intolerable Cruelty tonight, and give it 7/10. I also saw School of Rock on Friday, and give it 8.5/10. It’s fun to assign numbers to things.

:: Regarding Neil Postman, I was a day ahead of the news of his passing reaching at least one major internet site. The NYTimes published a lengthy obit today. Surprisingly, there is still no mention of his death on the NYU site.

:: Last August, I made mention of ManPop, a rock festival held in Winnipeg in what I thought was 1971. My friend in Minneapolis, Garth Danielson, sent a link to the 1970 Led Zeppelin tour list, and under August 29th, is the Man Pop Festival. So ManPop was in 1970, not 1971. Thanks for the correction, G.

:: I’ve made small progress with my workouts and nutrition program. I’ve tipped the scales down about four pounds since I turned up the intensity of the workouts a couple weeks ago, while continuing close monitoring of my food intake on a number of levels.

:: Remember Tears for Fears, and how they wanted to rule the world and shout, shout, let it all out? Principal members Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal are have reunited recently, after 13 years. After Smith left in 1990, Orzabal kept the name of band going, releasing a couple of albums in the 1990s under the TFF banner, but ostensibly those were solo albums. The band has signed with Arista to release a new album in Spring, 2004. The album will be called Everybody Loves A Happy Ending. (And this really isn’t new news: here’s an interview with Orzabal from July 15, 2003, that mentions the reunion (requires Real Player). More details here as well.

:: Among the many interviews given by Al Franken, here’s an interesting one conducted by Steven Waldman, EiC of Beliefnet, a multi-faith web site of no particular religious affiliation. (From: Derryl.)