Instrumental

I love a good instrumental. Here are my 10 favorite instrumental jams.

Green Onions Booker, T. and the MG’s – Still my favorite. The MG’s were just a kick ass backing band that were filled with a number of great studio musicians. Many of the MG’s went on to play in the Blues Brothers band.

Fire on Ice, ELO – I am an ELO fan. Jeff Lynne, the forgotten member of the Traveling Wilbury’s is an underrated musician and song writer. Fire on ice is simply a jam.

Sparks, The Who – Well, come on now, anyone who knows me knows I have to include this one. I am a Tommy junkie and this is just an amazing song.

Scuttle Buttin, Stevie Ray Vaughn – Poor Stevie Ray. What an amazing guitar player. I could have picked a couple of other from Vaughn but to me this is where he is at his guitar playing best.

Jessica, The Allman Brothers – I wrote about my love for this one a couple of weeks back. Dickie Betts smokes on this one.

Pick up the Pieces, Average White Band – I am a sucker for a good horn section and AWB had that. Can’t hear it without taping a toe.

Pipeline, Dick Dale – I had to include one surf guitar song, and pipeline is my favorite. Dick Dale is the king of surf guitar and thanks to Quentin Tarintino had a bit of resurgence in popularity in the mid 90’s.

Hocus Pocus, Focus – The long ranging debate about weather this is an instrumental aside, this is a rock and roll classic.

Rebel Rouser, Duane Eddy – With his twangy guitar riffs, kick ass drumbeat and killer horns this is a forgotten classic. Trust me give it a whirl.

Rockit, Herbie Hancock – Had to include one lame 80’s song. A great video as well by the way.

A Kmart Night

I have often reminisced about my time at Kmart. I like to wax nostalgic over that time in my life when I worked there. I reminisce about those years and yearn for them simply because they represented a period in my life when I had no responsibility and my main concern was which party am I going to hit that weekend. Anyway, here as best as I can, I will try to re-create a typical four hour shift working at Kmart on an average weeknight.

I worked in the party goods and health and beauty aids departments when I first got hired and that is where I put in a good amount of my seven years at the store. I would never have gotten to work in the Pharmacy if not for my time stocking adult diapers and Henry’s salad dressing.

As a part timer, I would start at 5:30 and would be there until the store closed at 9:30. That gave me four hours to get done what I needed to get done. The first thing I would do once I clocked in was talk to the full timers in my department. That usually meant two ladies that were very interesting.

Mary was the full time lady in party goods. She was quiet and a tad deranged. She belonged to some goofy church that she was always yammering about. All I wanted to find out was if there was anything she needed to get done for the next day and all she did was talk about nonsense. But compared to Cele she was a saint.

For the record, I liked Cele. And though she would never admit it, deep down she liked me. Cele was an older woman who I would guess to be in her 60’s at the time. She chain smoked L&M cigarettes and had the classic old lady who smoked too many cigarettes voice. What she did for eight hours was anyone’s guess. She could not lift anything heavier then a bottle of aspirin so that meant for the most part, the heavy lifting was left to me.

Of course Cele loved to accuse me of slacking. Her favorite line was to me was, “All you do is come in and flirt with all the girls.” Sure I did, but I also stocked more shelves in ten minutes then she would in a week. After Cele’s tongue lashing I would head out into the department.

My basic job was to listen for any calls over the loud speaker, help customers, stock items that needed replenishing, and put away unwanteds. Unwanteds were items a customer would pick up at some point and then decide later on that they did not want to purchase them. So, they would either just throw the item anywhere they saw fit, or get to the register and tell the cashier they no longer wanted to buy the item.

I usually would go row by row and pick up the items that did not belong and put them in a cart. Once I was done, I would take the cart of unwanteds to the front by the service desk and start the long task of sorting things out by department. I would grab the stray bottle of KY and four pack of Charmin and put them in a new cart so, that I could put them back in their proper place in the store. I liked doing unwanteds simply because, this gave me a chance to interact with the apparel girls.

God bless Jim Fields. Jim was the manager of the apparel department and well he was a horn dog. He stocked his area with what would be any red blooded eighteen years olds wet dream of a lineup. For the most part all the girls he hired were attractive and I was always trying out my lame material on them. Sometimes it worked, usually it didn’t but either way it was fun.

At some point during the four hours I would take my allotted fifteen minute break though rarely was this break only fifteen minutes. Since I would not eat dinner at home, I usually subsided on something from the Kmart deli for supper. Either I would get a foot long hot dog, a microwave egg roll, an order of nacho’s or a slurpee. I would wolf it down in the men’s break room that was the size of a linen closet that had smoke residue from Rich the receiving manager caked into the walls. On a daily basis this guy would smoke a pack of Pall Mall’s.

After my break and my standup routine with the apparel girls, I would make sure at the very least that the sale items were stocked. For the most part those were the items that would sell the quickest as they were on sale. These were the days of pricing guns, so we had to price each individual item in the store. I had my own gun that I hid in the back stockroom. My first encounter with my now good friend Rob involved me accusing him of stealing my gun as when I went to look for it, saw it missing and then found Rob using it.

Usually at least once during the night a customer would ask me to look for some item in the back. I was always perplexed by this. It was not like our stockroom was this magical place where we had a plethora of items that we only saved to sell to customers who were intelligent enough to ask us to look for them. In reality the Kmart stock room was pretty dense. I used to hate when I would have to cover domestics for someone on lunch or break. The domestic’s department basically consisted of yarn. Some blue haired old bag would ask me to look for some color of yarn in the back and I would have zero clue what she wanted.

Most times when a customer summoned me to look in the back, I would go back there, find someone to shoot the shit with for a minute and come back out and let them know that we did not have the item, but if they wanted to fill out a rain check I would happy to assist them.

Eventually at one point during the evening, I would also make sure to make a stop at checkouts to scope the talent. This was more of a crap shoot as the hiring was done by a woman, but there were always a couple of cute teenage girls lurking. (As a matter of fact this is where I would meet my Kmart romance, Jenny.) Linda was one of the checkout supervisors and she knew what I was up to but, I made her laugh so she never gave me shit. (She also would routinely make beer runs for me when I was underage.)

As the night wore on and closing hours loomed, I would do a last sweep of my department making sure everything was neat and organized and that there were no unwanteds that I had left behind. I would do this waiting for the call that the store was closed. Then I lose my patience as I waited for the last strangler customer to checkout so, I could punch-out and leave. I mean the night awaited where I would nosh on fast food, try to score some beer and maybe catch a bad movie at Harlem Corners. Life was good.

Cubs Postseason Roster

The Cubs won the NL Central. Now the real fun begins next week with playoff baseball. Jim Hendry and Lou Piniella have some decisions to make concerning the roster. Here is in my opinion whoshould be on the Cubs 25 man roster for the post season.

Catchers – Geovany Soto and Henry Blanco. Really not any decision to make here. These two will make the team.

Infield – Derek Lee, Mark De Rosa, Ryan Theriot, Aramis Ramirez, Mike Fontenot, Daryle Ward and Ronny Cedeno. Again not much controversy here. These guys have all been with the team from April and all of them will be there in October.

Outfield – Alphonso Soriano, Jim Edmunds, Reed Johnson, Kosuke Fukadome, and Felix Pie. Soriano, Johnson and Edmunds are givens. Kosuke has been horseshit since July but has to make it. He still brings the glove and can lay down a bunt. Still, he should not start any games in the playoffs. The Cubs will more then likely only carry 11 pitchers. That leaves one spot for a position player. To me it comes down to Houfpauir and Pie. While I think Houfpauir has had a tremendous year at Iowa, in the playoffs you might need a pinch runner or someone to go play centerfield. Pie fills both roles. (He may be the fastest guy on the team.) So, while I feel bad for Houfpauir, Pie should make the roster.

Pitchers – Carlos Zambrano, Rich Harden, Ryan Dempster, Ted Lilly, Kerry Wood, Carlos Marmol, Neal Cotts, Sean Marshall, Jeff Samardijza, Bob Howry, and Jason Marquis. To me this comes down to three guys for two spots. The four starters are obvious as are Marmol and Wood. Marshall and Cotts have to make it because you will need at least 2 lefties in the post season. Samardzija has been shaky lately but in the post season I think he will turn it on. This guy is a big game player. So, that leaves Marquis, Gaudin and Howry for two spots.

Gaudin based on last night’s performance looks like he is still hurt so, this decision becomes easier. Marquis has earned a spot. He has pitched much better over the last six weeks. He also provides insurance in case Zambrano or Harden get hurt. On top of that, he can pinch hit or pinch run or you could ask him to lay down a bunt. Howry has been bad all year. Howry has two pitches at this point. A straight as an arrow low 90’s fastball and a slider that is as flat as a pancake. Both of those pitches are very hittable. Howry needs to be perfect with his location or he gets hit. I just don’t trust the guy and I think he is done. However, there is no other choice. I’m sure that Hendry and Piniella are hoping his experience in the post season will serve him well. I just hope we don’t need him in a crucial situation to get a big out.

Let’s hope these 25 can get it done and this city can celebrate like never before. I have always maintained the day the Cubs win it, it will make the celebrations we had for the 85 Bears, the 2005 White Sox and the 6 Bulls Championships look like a funeral in comparison.

Here Comes the Flood

I write this knowing that a lot of people had it a lot harder then I did this past weekend during all the storms. Still, I did have to deal with some flooding of my own. I spent this past Friday evening sitting on my ass and catching up with my netflix queue. Since there was no Cubs game on, I just wanted to relax and watch some movies and stay up late knowing that I did not have to work the next day.

I still like staying up late watching movies at my advanced age. I think I inherited this from my Dad. I remember many a Friday night in the summers I would visit him laying awake until all hours of night watching bad horror movies hosted by Fritz the night owl on a local Columbus, Ohio television station. So, with that in mind, I stayed up late Friday watching some netflix dvd’s and some bad cable. I don’t remember exactly what time it was when I finally crashed but it was late.

Joyce had to work Saturday morning. She woke me when she got up which was 7ish to alert me that there was water in our utility room. We have stairs that go into our basement from outside in the back yard. At the bottom of the stairway sits a storm drain. If that drain is clogged the excess water has no where to go other then under the door and into our utility room. We have another drain in the utility room but that one goes to our sewage pump. The storm drain goes to our storm pump.

A year earlier I had to snake the drain (sounds like something you would hear at a swinger’s party.) So, I figured that this was all I had to do this time. So, I dragged my tired 39 year old carcass out of bed and went outside in the pouring rain to do exactly that. I usually can do this with a wire coat hanger. However as I was fishing around for a clog I did not find anything. Meanwhile as I am outside I am getting wetter then Lindsey Lohan at a Hooters on a cold day.

Finally, I say fuck it and head to Ace Hardware to buy an actual drain snake. I get it and return home and nothing. I am turning the handle on the thing and again it not catching anything. And, since it is still raining the water is continuing to rise. I had a spare pump that my Step Dad had left at my house a while back. So, I was using that to pump the water out of the bottom of the stairway as best I could. But as this pump was not equipped to be used in that fashion the motor kept overheating. So, it was a constant battle to keep the water at its current level. I wasn’t winning, I was maintaining.

I always hesitate to call me Step-Dad to help me in times like this. I mean I have owned my house four years now. I feel I should know by now what to do in times like this. Everytime he comes over, I do my best to pay attention and see what he is doing. My logic is not to call him for the same problem twice. Once I see how it is fixed I can usually figure it out the next time. Of course a part of me whishes I had paid attention to this shit when I was a teenager as opposed to just holding a flashlight.

So, I call Lou. He comes over and brings this industrial snake drain that he has had since the LBJ years. He tells me he has never seen this thing fail to snake a drain. Well, just my luck the thing is not able to do anything. So, we make yet another trip to Ace this time for a drain balloon. For a picture see this http://plumbing.hardwarestore.com/51-285-clog-busters/drain-king-uncloger-662892.aspx

This thing is for a big clog which at this point we figure is what I have. We head back to my house attach the thing and try to unclog it. Again, we are disappointed in the results. Now, things are starting to look grim. Lou thinks I may have to call Roto Rooter or I may have a broken pipe. This is not good as both options are not cheap. I am starting to curse the situation.

At some point with no other options we decide to look in the crawl space to see if the storm pump is working, when we at long last realize what the problem really is. The crawl space has also taken on water. Meaning that the pump is not working. (Why we didn’t look there first is beyond me.) So, a third trip to Ace is made to get a new pump.

Of course now the hard part comes in. We have to crawl through an inch of water in my crawl space to where pump resides to replace it. This was not pretty or a whole lot of fun. But, as soon as we were able to put the new pump all normalcy was restored. The drain outside starting draining and the water in the crawl space evaporated. Joyce and I have a lot of cleanup but, at least if that happens again I know what to look for.

Still, both Lou and I were a complete mess. We stank, were tired and filthy. I cracked open an Old Style I had sitting in the fridge when it was all over and it was the most satisfying beer I have drank in a very long time.

The Bad News Bears of Basketball

Baseball has always been my game. I have been playing some variation of it ever since I can remember. Being of Italian decent means that I do not have the requisite height to play the sport of basketball. Sure I could hit an outside shot from time to time but, I am the first to admit my skills in the game are limited.

My senior year at Argo I lucked out in that I had a number of friends in the class with me. So, everytime we picked teams for sports we would make sure one of us was the captain and while all the other teams were picking the best jocks we picked all of our friends. We didn’t win a whole lot of games in any sport really (other then floor hockey in which I believe we won the class championship) but I would have to say basketball was by far our worst collective sport.

Our team to the best of my memory always included the same group of people. Myself, Zar, Chuck, Scott Palmer, Russell Gibson, (who always begged to picked on our team for some unknown reason) Dave Pankow (who would bitch when we picked him but then would goof around with the rest of us two minutes after the teams were picked) and Jim Edwards (who was a nice guy who no other team wanted because he was not athletic and didn’t give a shit. Meaning he fit into our team perfectly.)

At the time Argo was a basketball juggernaut. Our varsity team just did not lose. We had a couple of guys from the team in our gym class. Mr. Rutkowski was our gym teacher and he knew what was up. But, he was a pretty easy going guy so he just let us do our thing and give us all B’s as long as we dressed. As you could have predicted as soon as the gym class games in basketball started we got our asses handed to us on a regular basis.

So, when we up against the team with Andy Summers (not the guy in the Police) and Steve Nelson (who were both jocks) they pretty much figured they were going to have an easy win. (I wish to God I could remember who else we played that fateful day but this was over twenty years ago.) But the stars were with us on this winter morning in 1987. And we pulled off an upset that was on par with 1980 US Hockey team.

I was the point guard of the team, and I could do no wrong that day. Everyone I passed the ball to was hitting their shots. Chuck had his patented hook shot that he was on fire with. We had Pankow crashing the boards. Scott Palmer was hitting jumpers like he was Dr. J. Zar, God love him was about the worst basketball player alive. He was great at hockey but he just never played the game growing up. But we needed five guys on the floor, so while the rest us played the whole game, Zar, Edwards and Gibson all substituted in and out.

Like I mentioned we were playing the game of our lives. We were holding our own against the jocks. It was back and forth the whole way. When Mr. Rutkowski blew the whistle the game would be over. Well, when the whistle sounded Chuck had just hit another hook shot and had tied the game. So, Mr. Rukowski let us play overtime meaning the next basket wins. I remember what happened next like it was yesterday. To this day Chuck and I still talk about it like we are from the cast of that Championship Season.

The jocks had the ball and one of them took a shot and missed. Pankow rebounded the ball and threw it back to me. It was a half court game and the rule is you have to take it back before you can proceed with your offense which is what I did. The jocks were playing monster defense. They knew I was trying to get it into Dave, Scott or Chuck. So, they basically left Zar who was in the game, unguarded. I had no choice so I threw the ball into Zar.

I was hoping he would just pass it back to me. But instead Zar, dribbled once to his left and threw up the ugliest, hardest running shot you will ever see, that by some miracle went right into the hoop. We celebrated like we had just won the NBA finals. My favorite memory was Andy, (who despite being a jock was actually a pretty cool guy) after the game was over telling me, “I can’t believe we lost to you guys and that shot went in.”

It is one of those memories that will be with me forever as Chuck and I still reminisce about that game like it was yesterday. We still marvel at the sight of that shot going in and the joy it brought our seventeen year old asses. We didn’t win another game the rest of the year in gym class while we had basketball. It didn’t matter we had already won a game that we would remember for the rest of our lives.

A No No

That Cub game yesterday is what makes baseball the greatest sport of them all. You never know when one ordinary game out of 162 will be historical. Late night that is exactly what happened. Big Z gave all of us Cub fans a thrill. To put this in perspective, the last Cub to throw a no hitter was Milt Pappas in 1972. That was thirty six years ago. Nixon was still in the White House and I was three.

Meaning this is the first Cub no hitter that I have ever been able to witness and celebrate. (And celebrate I did, I think my wife thought I was going to bring the house down with my cheering.) There is nothing more exciting in all of sports then a no-hitter. I would love for someone to explain the equivalent in football.

Seriously I would love to hear an example in really any other sport one can point to where a regular season game can be as exciting. This is just one of dozens of reasons I spout as to why baseball is far superior to football, basketball, hockey, soccer, or water polo. I like football as much as the next red blooded American but baseball is still America’s game and is healthier then ever.

As to the Astros bitching about having to play the games at Wrigley Field North, blame your owner. It is rare I agree with Bud Selig on anything, but on this one I am not sure what other decision he could have made. Drayton Mclane (John’s brother) the Astros owner was deluding himself into thinking they could play in Houston at any point this weekend.

By delaying the decision that left MLB with very few options. I agree Milwaukee is very close to Chicago and it gave the Cubs an advantage. But name me another stadium in America outside the Houston city limits where it wouldn’t have been a pro-Cub’s crowd? Also, name me another option where the weather was clear or had a dome. Minnesota and Arizona had home games yesterday. Tampa has one today. The only other alternative was Atlanta but according to MLB, there was rain in the forecast. Really Baseball had no other choice. It sucks for Houston I agree. But I just don’t see any alternative.

Also, let’s not ignore the greed factor in this one on the part of Mclane. Where else was he going to get a gate of 23,000 for this game with 24 hours notice? Houston as the home team gets 70% of the gate. I know it is crass of me to think like this but, it would not be the first time in baseball history that an owner put money ahead of his team’s welfare. (See: Cubs Andy McPhail era)

Lastly, if I ever hear that Cub fans just go to Wrigley to drink and look at girls, I am going to point to the fact that 23,000 people got in their cars with 24 hours notice and made the trek to Milwaukee to see the Cubs play. Meanwhile, the Sox announced a crowd of 28,000. That was paid attendance. If there were 5,000 in the park I would be surprised. I know the weather was bad last night but, your team is in first and that was all you could muster on a Sunday night playing locally? But I guess you guys are the “true” baseball fans. Whatever.

A Palin in the Ass

I took a little bit of grief for calling Sarah Palin the "C" word in my previous post. I am not one that uses that term loosely but in this case I feel it is justified. That woman is simply a deplorable human being who has no business being one 72 year old heart beat away from running this country. To think otherwise is nothing more them foolishness and the most partisan of politics.

I hate anyone that wants to keep a section of society down that does absolutely nothing to them. That is called bullying and she is nothing more then that. Her stances regarding the gay community are unforgivable. Any right minded person who votes for her is voting for keeping gays down in the closet and without benefits. She not only doesn’t support gay marriage, she is against civil unions, life partner health benefits and her church believes you can pray away the gay. She is also on record agasint gays adopting. (of course she is also pro-life so, put your unwanted kid up for adoption but make sure none of them big city gays gets your unwanted child.)

It saddens me that in 2008 we live in a country where it is ok, to keep a section of society down like this. If we said, that blacks couldn’t get married would that be ok? Or how about Latino couple can not adopt a white child? Is that ok? I don’t get what two people do in the privacy of their own bedroom have to do with anyone else. Palin and her ilk are nothing more then hate mongers. They can use the bible all they want to defend their hate, but deep down they know it is bullshit. Gays for whatever reason give them the willies and that, and that alone is the reason they try to create laws to keep them as second class citizens.

If that wasn’t enough reason to label Palin the C word, well, then maybe it is her art of bullshit. I mean there is lying and then there is Palin who is astonishingly gifted at it. There is an old saying, lie enough and it becomes the truth. This has always been the GOP’s political strategy. (Just Google John Kerry and swift boating.) Palin claims she has always been against the bridge to nowhere. This is simply not true. She is on video in 2006 (two short years ago) saying when asked about it, “I'm not going to stand in the way of progress that our congressional delegation and the position of strength that they have right now.”

She also claims she is against earmarks and wasteful spending. Well, her actions sure speak otherwise. When she became mayor of Wasilla, the books were all balanced. She left the office with over 2 million in debt. Alaska received 52 earmarks valued at 256 million while she has been in office. Do you smell that? Ya, it is a big steaming pile of bullshit.

Not enough for you, well how about the fact that to a man anyone that has dealings with her that shared an opposing viewpoint has described her as being vindictive and a bully. We can disagree on issues. I have a number of friends and family that I disagree with politically, but we do so in a civil manner. Palin, from a number of stories I have read when she does not get her way turns into a spoiled brat who will use her power to make sure she gets her way. If you oppose her you get fired or smeared.

Palin is the type of politician that gets into the game for all the wrong reasons. Is not to better people, it is to force her views onto others. Obama is a smart man who came from nothing to get where he is today. And for that the Right and Palin mock him. She is an evil woman and if you watch this youtube clip and don’t get scarred then something is wrong with you. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QG1vPYbRB7k&ei=KiDISMj2F5ikMo3WyB4&usg=AFQjCNFE5WD6DLSSJkxS5BgBvRGf5WVRGw&sig2=jBvyKLT2i4ybVweQu1O_EA

Look, at the end of day I don’t think being a Hockey Mom and the governor of a state with a quarter of the population of Brooklyn qualifies you to be Vice President. She stands for everything that is wrong with American politics today. The fact that people have become smitten with her proves beyond a reasonable doubt that, we have become a nation of drooling boobs who only respond to issues that have no bearing on the health and prosperity of our country.

In case you haven’t noticed we are in what I would call, the shits. House prices are dropping so fast our collective heads are spinning. The economy is in the toilet. Gas costs over $4.00 a gallon. Unemployment is reaching highs not seen since the Regan years. We are fighting a winless war that John McCain keeps wanting to fight, while the real asshole that attacked us on 9/11 is still out there. To ignore all that and vote for a guy who for as much as wants to call himself a “maverick” has agreed with the Bush polices at a 90% clip is criminal. There is no other choice of words.

Eight years of George W. Bush has created a country at the lowest point of my lifetime. I don’t know if Barrack Obama is the answer. I do know that John McCain and Sarah Palin are not. For a Republican I never really had anything against McCain. I actually felt sorry for him after the campaign Bush ran against him in 2000. But, all that was thrown out the window when he chose this degenerate as his running mate and then ran the same kind of campaign he rallied against in 2000. If America falls for this shit yet again then there really is no hope. If you are even entertaining the idea of voting for McCain all I have to ask is have you just completely buried your head in the sand for the past eight years.

Nick Back in the House

Where the fuck have I been? I have been on vacation and it was glorious. (With the exception of having to watch the Cubs lose twice while I was at Wrigley and having to had to endure the smarmy smile of that cunt Sarah Palin whenever I turned on the television.) It was relaxing time and totally re-charged my batteries.

Joyce and I headed out on the road to Washington D.C. If you have never been there I highly suggest it. My opinion of a city is often times based on their public transit. Washington’s may be the best I have ever been on. Their train system while not only easy to manage (unlike New York’s utterly confusing one) was also clean. We stayed in Northern Virginia and caught the Metro there. We were then able to take the train anywhere we wanted to go.

We saw the Federal Mall which includes the Capital Building, the Library of Congress, the Air and Space Museum and ends with the Washington Monument. We also hit Georgetown, their Chinatown and the new ballpark they built.

The historic stuff is all pretty cool. I thought I would like the Air and Space Museum more but there were an awful lot of yokels there. One thing I did notice was just how many Europeans were in the city itself. If I needed more proof of the weakness of the dollar it was right in front of me. Not that there is anything wrong with the number of foreigners we encountered, if anything they are far more civil then your average Kentuckian.

Georgetown was nice as well, even if I felt about a hundred years old when I was there. Their Chinatown is a bit on the small side but we did eat there one night. We found this place where they have a chef in the window that makes noodles and tourists (like Joyce and myself) gawk at him like he is some animal caged at the zoo. Still, that was the freshest dumplings and noodles I ever ate in my life and it was damn tasty.

The ballpark was nice but very new. There is something about walking into Wrigley that I can’t explain that no other ballpark can duplicate. Maybe it is the smell of onions, grass, trough residue and sweat all mixed together. National’s Park is very modern and has a lot of nice things. But I found it sterile and there was nothing unique about it. The ballpark hot dog was also a miss. I know what you are thinking it is just a hot dog. But, as someone who eats a lot of ballpark dogs, I can tell you there are differences.

I prefer a non plump dog that is longer. Not the jumbo ones. Also, they should be steamed. There is nothing like a steamed hot dog. The bun should also be steamed. What should happen is the hot dog is in the bun already before you get there. Then when you order it up, the server can just give you the dog wrapped in tin foil. In Washington each server would have to get the dog and place it in the bun, which took more time. They did offer brown mustard (which I like) but I did witness a number of hill rods throwing Ketchup on their dogs, which as most know I believe should be an arrestable offense.

We also farted around Northern Virginia, which was rather nice. Whenever I am East of Pittsburgh I make sure to get some Yuengling beer. I love the stuff. It may be my favorite beer. I picked up two cases and hauled them back with me. Yuengling is still an independent brewery so, they don’t have any distribution west of Pittsburgh. Which is too bad because the stuff is not expensive and tastes very good.

On Monday, we headed back home, and Joyce had to go back to work on Tuesday, while I had the rest of the week off. I caught the Cub games on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings and left both times pissed off. Don’t want to get into a long diatribe about the Cubs, so I will just leave that at that. It rained balls on Thursday so, that put a crimp in any plans I had. I entertained the idea of catching a movie but, there is nothing out right now that I haven’t already seen that I have any interest in viewing.

Joyce had to go out of town for work on Friday so, that left me a bachelor for the weekend. On Friday night, I ordered a Fasino’s pizza and dived right into the greasy delight. Saturday I had my fantasy football draft during the day and afterwards my friend Bob had his annual bean bag tournament.

I have not played a lot of bags this year, so I was kind of rusty. I got paired with my buddy John Rosier and thought we might have a shot to win the thing. We easily won our first match but in the second round we got smoked by the eventual tournament champs, Bob and Amanda. That makes three years in a row that I have lost to the tandem that won the whole thing. (Which is little consolation.)

Yesterday, I went to the Castle and watched some football and the Cubs choke another one. Joyce got home around 2:30 so, I left the bar and headed back to the ranch. All in all I had a good time and relaxed. Anyone who has ever taken a vacation knows that first day back can be a bitch. Still, it has not been too bad today and tomorrow is Tuesday, my work from home day so, I should be fine.