Boston

Boston was great I had an amzing time, played lots of golf, saw lots of movies, ate lots of lobster, ran twice (10 miles and 3 miles), went to Fenway and saw a red sox game, had a dinner with lots of my relatives, and above all, was able to spend some quality time with each of my parents.

I will write more about it if/when I have time.

I liked getting to see Jon Lester pitch, even though the Sox lost- he is a good pitcher, definitely has potential.

Oh and I love this quote about Papelbon:

Papelbon's ERA Could Crawl Under a Snake's Belly with a Top Hat On

Boston Bound

Just realized today the game Friday I am seeing with my Dad is against the Los Angels ANGELS and not the Los Angeles DODGERS so there will be no watching Nomar!

That's ok because the rookie phenom Jon Lester is pitching for Boston so I will finally see him. Funny how most Sox games I have been to I have seen Wake pitch, over the years I saw most of them. Saw Wells, Arroyo, Schilling, Oil Can Boyd, AL Nipper, Casey Fossum, Paxson Crawford and of course the beloved Pedro.

I'm getting thrilled to see Big Papi, Trot and of course Papelbon. Should be good. Rumors are swirling that the Sox might trade Mike Lowell to San Diego for a relief pitcher and put Youk back at third, not sure who would play first base if this is true.

Watched lots of season 7 of simpsons last night and packed for the trip, leaving work shortly, need to roll home and ask the neighbors to pick up the mail for the next few days.

After flying to Poland and driving to Cleveland and later Indianapolis from Des Plaines, a flight to Boston seems like a walk in the park, short and sweet!

:)

Twin Peaks

Worth a look if you have the time:

http://www.notcoming.com/twinpeaks/chart.html

Erratic Miscellania

Ok lots I wanna say tonight.

Firstly while I have not been able to get used to the absolute quiet in my home without my family here, I suspect I have made some progress as a chef. I've been cooking, yes indeed. And I am planning on having a bash with some close friends next week, but that will be easy as I will just grill some steaks and bacon.

So.

Things are decent, rather than the dictated 9 mile run on my "marathon training schedule" instead I did 7.25 miles at which point yeah I felt good but my knee hurt, my feet hurt, and I had other things in my mind that I wanted to do.

Namely: watch simpsons and doctor who. I actually fired up the vintage "full metal jacket" last night after returning home and I made a delicious hodge podge of scrambled eggs, meats, and cheese, it was very tasty. So I ate and watched the movie which still bugs me but it is a good one. Certinaly not as good as band of brothers of course but still. I have manged so far to get in 6 of the 10 band of brothers episodes, still hope to finish all before family returns August 3rd. But tonight I watched stellar season six simpsons episodes followed by a glorious rewatching of vintage who" "the pyramids of mars" which sadly reminded me I have yet to visit the field museum to see the new tut exhibit. :(

Ok so other stuff, well I have been reading and the time traveller's wife is a revelation. highly recommended. if and when I can detemine how to spell the authors name I shall.

In other news, my red sox look damn good. Bully for them for setting so many historical records this season. All this while espn radio every morning on my drive to work debates on whether or not the New York Spankees should trade A-Fraud!

Well, the final thought I want to impart is why/how I cannot comprehend when a parent is not supportive of their child. I was exposed to this twice today and quite frankly, it saddened and shocked me. My parents always backed me regardless of whatver mischief or bad decisions I made. I guess I remain naive as I truly thought parents love and believe in their children.

Guess even though I pride myself on maturing and gaining some wisdom as I grow older I STILL have a lot to work.

p.s. I will post the Def Leppard setlist when it's available on their site. Eighties anyone?

Ta ta for now.

Babysitting

I've been watching a friend of Aga's son since Friday. He's a good kid- loves the simpsons and video games, and also def leppard- so I took him to see Journey and Def Leppard last night in Indianapolis- supposedly a 3 and a half hour drive but in reality was 5 hours! Def Leppard was great but the driving back really tired me out. I am taking him back about 4:30 today.

Saturday morning I did laundry, cut the grass, watered the plants, cleaned the bathrooms, lots of stuff just keeping ths house looking reasonable until the family returns. Wednesday afternoon I fly home to play golf, watch my Mom's plasma tv, and go to a Red Sox game and see Nomar play, going to the game with my Dad, also will try and eat some lobster of course.

So- I did three runs this last week- 3 miles, 4 and a half miels, and 3 miles. I am supposed to do 9 miles tonight but not sure I am ready for that- if not might do some today and another one tomorrow or Tuesday.

And I am strongly thinking about buying these new Nike + shoes so I can listen to iPod and it charts training, etc. for runs.

Oh and the great news is my Mom might be able to visit for the Marathon is October after all! We will see.

movies at home

Saw a good movie called Europa Europa on dvd and also watched two more episodes of Band of Brothers, so have 4 of 10 of those done.

Lynch Quote

"The more unknowable the mystery, the more beautiful it is."—David Lynch

Loud

To offset the utter quiet at home I decided to blast my stereo last night, did this while running on the treadmill and then while playing ps2 video games, then kept it going while I followed the last few inings of the red sox game, which they won 1-0.

After that I watered all of the flowers and plants outside and also the neighbors as they are in Mexico on vacation, and THEN I sat down and watched the first two episodes of Band of Brothers, the show about Easy Company the US paratroopers in world war two, it was really well done and I am planning on watching more soon.

Discovered these two neat facts about the Red Sox:

Varitek broke Carlton Fisk's team record when he caught his 991st game for the Red Sox, this happened a few days ago.

AND

Boston is 30-13 at Fenway, its best record through 43 games there since 1979.

Getting very excited about going home next week, will of course go to Fenway and see Nomar's return with the Dodgers, but also will get to finally see my Mom's new plasma tv!

And I think the a/c will finally be fixed today, I decided to call another company as the other guy came three times and the same problem is not fixed, they are coming at 330pm today so I need to leave work early.

Plan on running again tonight, watering all the plants and flowers of course, and then watching more dvds. I ordered some used books on amazon but they have not arrived yet, one of them I am very interested in reading, it is called the Time Traveller's Wife.

Oh and in case anyone wondered the word for today is "obstreperous"

defintion=
Noisily and stubbornly defiant.
Aggressively boisterous.

Quiet

It is so quiet at home without the girls there.

Rock and Roll Museum

Wow this is my 400th post.

Cleveland was really lots of fun- the rock and roll museum was very impressive. My most memorable objects (and I saw very very many) were definitely John Lennon's glasses and his green coat he wore on the Sgt. Pepper album cover. Also they had the silver suit David Bowie wore in the Ashes to Ashes video and on the cover of his Scary Monsters album. The featured artists were Tom Petty and Roy Orbison. I also very much liked seeing all of the Clash, Sex Pistols, and Neil Young stuff. And I was reminded of the fact that I used to love Louis Armstrong!

Also of interest were the materials on Jim Morrison from the Doors, including his boy scout uniform, and letters to and from the Police to his Dad regarding his arrest in a concert for indecent exposure, also his death certificate from Paris, Keith Moon's Pictures of Lily drumkit, and the Wall from the Pink Floyd Wall concerts in the seventies. Surpisingly, they had very little things of Elton John. They had Bryan Ferry's velvey jacket from his seventies tours with Roxy Music which was cool.
There also was a history of listening devices ending of course with the iPod!

And of course there was quite a bit of Elvis stuff.

Brian and I also went bowling which was great though he beat me numerous times. The driving really wasn't too bad for me because I was able to talk to Brian practically all of the time and also we had good luck with not too much traffic.

And we went to Cracker Barrel restaurant for a very good breakfast too.

I am at home doing laundry now, just finished a nice long run and so feel very good. Time to drink gatorade and watch more Doctor Who. Evidently the Sox lost today and the NYY won, oh well guess the weekend couldn't be perfect!

Friday night

Wow what a busy week, work and grocery shopping, mowing the lawn, doing my own laundry, reading ofcourse, watching doctor who new dvds, following the red sox, running, playing ps2 star wars games, eating caesar salads, seeing that johnny depp pirate movie, bbqing burgers in the backyard, quite a week.

I'm still tired but I think it is due to waking up at 2am all the time to call my family over in Poland, they are staying there and return August 2nd, so needless to say I have lots of free time.

My neighbors brought me dinner the other night which was fantastic- italian food!

It is so hot out, the a/c finally is fixed and I even bought a special filter that supposedly is to be used when you have pets in the house- looking forward to getting our cat in August.

And while I am not over enthused about the Lolla lineup, I think seeing the Dresden Dolls and Flaming Lips Saturday is cool and Sunday the lineup is even better- the Frames, the Shins, She Wants Revenge and Red Hot Chili Peppers. So yeah, now I definitely think I will go after all.

More later.

Update

After work I am driving home to change the filter in the a/c as it still seems to be having problems, then I am going to see the new Pirates movie starring Johnny Depp with Roley.

Tomorrow after work will be very busy, I need to mow the lawn, do laundry, water the plants and flowers, and do a run.

Saturday I am going to drive to the Rock and Roll Museum in Cleveland with Brian.

In other news, I have been watching the new Doctor Who dvds, doing some reading and also listening to music. Not sure yet what I think about the new Thom Yorke cd, likely needs to grow on me.

Oh and I charged my satellite radio so I can finally listen to some red sox games!

:)

Another reason to love the Red Sox

Another record is set for history by the red sox!!!!

BOSTON -- For perhaps the first time in decades, the most noteworthy wall around Fenway Park is not the Green Monster, but the stonewall fortress the Red Sox have built behind their pitchers.
In a 17-game stretch that started on June 11 and ended on June 30, Boston's defense went from underrated to historic.

The Red Sox did not make an error in any game during that span, becoming the first team in the history of Major League Baseball to play flawless defense for that long.

Then, the little secret the Red Sox had been admiring up close on a daily basis since the beginning of Spring Training became noticed, and so did a large reason the team led the American League East at the All-Star break.

Because it's gotten a little bit of national attention, I think [the streak] brings some notice to our team's defense, which I think is good," said Red Sox manager Terry Francona. "We show up to win. I think a good way to win is to not make errors. I just think it's brought some notice to what our team can do defensively, which is great."

For virtually the entire first half, the Red Sox have led the Major Leagues in fewest errors and fielding percentage.

Auschwitz Name Change

What a coincidence since I was just there:

WARSAW, Poland (Reuters) -- The United Nations has agreed to rename Auschwitz concentration camp to stress that Nazi Germans, not Poles, were responsible for the world's most notorious death camp, Poland's Culture Ministry said on Wednesday.

"Auschwitz Concentration Camp", a U.N. heritage site, will be renamed "the Former Nazi German Concentration Camp of Auschwitz", the ministry of culture said in a statement.

Poland asked the U.N. in April to rename Auschwitz, where 1.5 million people, mostly Jews, died in World War Two.

Warsaw objects to references to "Polish gas chambers" at the "Polish concentration camp" in foreign media. Nearly 3 million non-Jewish Poles died at Nazi hands, and Poles see themselves as victims of the war.

Because of this image, the role of Poles in the deaths of millions of Polish Jews, and at Auschwitz, is a sore topic.

This month, Jewish and Polish officials marked anniversaries of two massacres of Jews carried out by Poles before and after World War Two, and some accounts say Poles assisted the Nazis at Auschwitz, where 6,000 died every day during 1944.

But Poles say their fellow nationals risked their lives to hide Jews. Poles are the largest group awarded Israel's Righteous Among the Nations title for helping to save Jews.

Some Jews were angered that Poland's communist government portrayed Auschwitz as a place of martyrdom of Poles, too, in the 1940s and 1950s. Poles, Gypsies, homosexuals and Russians also died at the camp.

Cool Words List

Shucks I just realized it's been months since I typed out a cool words list. Here are three I just discovered:

1.) flibberdigibbet = a frivolous overtalkative person

2.) antimacasser = a protective covering for the backs of chairs and sofas

3.) sentient = endowed with feeling and unstructured consciousness

Poland REvisited

The hiking in the Tatry
> mountains was amazing, this was in a city called Zakopane, we traced some of Pope John Paul the
> Second's path on his final visit to Poland! We hiked up a
> mountain! It totally sucked and I thought I was going to die but we did it!
> The air and the way my heart pounded was scary, Aga kept teasing me
> about running marathons part of the climb too, which at the time
> was something else but now I am laughing about it of course! (She
> said it should be easy since I run so much but it sure was not)
>
> Additionally I took the train to Krakow and went to Vavel castle,
> went to Tarnow a few times and walked in a public garden, went to
> Aushwitz and Birkenau which was incredibly emotional and disturbing
> but of incredible value obviously.

The summer cottage we have is in a village called Sanoka, we had many barbeques there. Neighbors are farmers or have cows, chickens, horses, turkeys in their yards. Something new, something different!

My niece Monika got engaged the night before I left to her boyfriend Lukas.

The food there was great in addition to the blueberries I also ate a kind of cucumeber salad, shashwiks,(which are like kebabs with onions, peppers, meat and bacon), hot tea with lemons, some great pasta dish with brocolli and mushrooms, and natural eggs.

No cds were purchased as the prices were crazy in Poland, cds cost twice as much as out here, for example $30 each.

One of the cutest things was when I had to leave, Nicki got a little suitcase and asked Aga to pack her too so she could fly home with me. And when I phone over there, Julia keeps asking me about the Big Papi. I am glad my girls are Sox fans, pretty cool though likely impossible for them not to be with me as their father!

The rest of the family is still there until August 2nd so I am on my own. Last night my neigbors brought me over garlic bread and mostacolli, I did small grocery shopping, cleaned the house a bit, and even got to run this morning.

Additionally I am planning on seeing lots of movies now, I've watched some dvds at home and also I plan on listening to some Red Sox games on my satellite radio.

Plus I've got some books about world war two to read now. So after work I am staying busy. It is difficult to get used to how quiet it is at my house though!

BACK IN THE US, I'M BACK IN THE US

Paraphrasing John Lennon.

Yes I am back, I have a lot to write about though now I am exhausted and I write this at 12:10 am central time but it is 7:10 am in Poland and I have not slept since yesterday.

Tomorrow or Monday I will tell all, it's a fascinating story!

:)

p.s. What is this I hear about Boston winning 12 in a row?!! :) MVP=BIG PAPI!