Monday, June 26, 2006
peekaboo!
So, it's become pretty obvious to me that I can't blog here anymore. Not that I don't enjoy blogging, I really do. In fact, I've started a new blog -- I defected to WordPress to start a Cardblog since it's become increasingly apparent that I can't blog about anything but the Cardinals. I don't feel right blogging about any developments involving a special person, I can't rant about crappy roomies (oops), I sure can't write about my clients at the clinic, and my peanut butter-and-jelly existence isn't that exciting in and of itself.
So since I can't bring myself to blog about anything but the Cardinals, I decided to do it but that this wasn't the place I wanted to do it. So if you're a St. Louis Cardinal fan, join me over at the PG rated College of Cardinals (it's only mildly sacrilegious
and simultaneously respectful to St. Louis' Catholic heritage). The Reyes socks will be there and will hopefully be worn absolutely threadbare from wearing to too many games. If you're not a Cardinal fan, by all means, become one! And Vote Eckstein while you're at it!
So since I can't bring myself to blog about anything but the Cardinals, I decided to do it but that this wasn't the place I wanted to do it. So if you're a St. Louis Cardinal fan, join me over at the PG rated College of Cardinals (it's only mildly sacrilegious
and simultaneously respectful to St. Louis' Catholic heritage). The Reyes socks will be there and will hopefully be worn absolutely threadbare from wearing to too many games. If you're not a Cardinal fan, by all means, become one! And Vote Eckstein while you're at it!
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
and the glory of the yarn
Just in time to wear in public to Wednesday's game and in private for Kid Reyes' start in place of Carpenter, I present
I can't stop staring at them when they're on my legs. I think I'm entirely too proud of them.
Reyes socks
I can't stop staring at them when they're on my legs. I think I'm entirely too proud of them.
Thursday, May 25, 2006
hey, it could happen...?
With the end of school and the heating up of the Cardinals, I'm increasingly having a one-tracked mind. Say just about anything to me and I can relate it to baseball. Ask me what I'm doing next Wednesday and I'll gladly tell you my plans. Today is an off-day for the Cards and I'm pretty much out of ideas on what I can do except search out a time machine and fast forward to tomorrow at 9:05pm. I'm developing a pretty strong opinion on what the team should do with Carpenter, and it involves the 15-day DL, a short rest start for Soup on Tuesday, and recalling Kid Reyes for a Wednesday start. Best baseball decisions ever? Probably not, but that's why I'm not actually paid to make these calls. Besides, I chiefly want to see Reyes on Wednesday since I'll be in the stands proudly sporting my Ankiel-Reyes socks. Which brings me to the obsessed-fan portion of this post.
For those who don't know me personally, I apparently make the best brownies in the world. No, they are not "magic", unless you consider one pan's ability to magically disappear in 5 minutes (no hyperbole!). I've baked them on multiple occasions as professor bribes/handyman bribes, and they seem to be an acceptable substitute for buying a birthday gift (which I'm usually too broke to do). The brownies aren't secret-recipe; in fact I've told my recipe a few times and nobody believes me.
So my one-tracked baseball mind and baking ability have been plotting an idea that has me seriously wondering about its workability. What if... I baked as many pans of brownies as I felt I could reasonably sneak into the stadium. I offer the goods to neighbors in the stands and players during batting practice. People rave as usual. Word spreads to players. Some players eat and enjoy, thus earning myself brownie points (no pun intended). Other players eat and get on hot streaks. Players worship me and lay tickets at my feet. Ok, so I may have left reality at some point in that paragraph. The point is, anything is possible (including nobody eating them) and it might be worth a shot.
Potential snags:
- Security might not allow it. They may not like the entire intention of bringing in so much food that takes away from stadium revenue and there could be a "Please Don't Feed the Players" type policy. I'm not sure I could convince them that the brownies are for a chocoholic drinking type-game where you eat a brownie every time someone gets on base.
- If I were a celebrity, I'd never accept homemade food from fans -- you just never know about preparation conditions, ingredients, or malicious intent. Then again, I'm not a hungry male athlete that eats out of restaurants for most of the year, misses home-cooked food, and loves freebies. I heard about one lady that regularly sat next to the visiting bullpen in St. Louis and baked cookies for the relievers, who gladly ate her goodies. (She even baked the relievers' favorites and requests. How cute is that?) I believe she took some of them to a game in Houston and got them confiscated. Probably got eaten by the security guards who took them, which is why I might want to make extras and let the guards know "there's plenty to go around."
- Player accessibility. Players come and go during batting practice. It's not like they stay stationed right in front of me where I can easily distribute brownies. I've contemplated dangling a pan into the bullpen mid-game when players are trapped and getting the munchies, but there's the problem of getting seats next to the bullpen. I think BP is the most feasible (assuming any part of this plan is even feasible), but it will take some work to get the brownies into the mouths of players.
- Reaction. I've never had a bad reaction to my brownies (mental or physical), so I'm not really worried about setting anybody off with sickness or a bad taste, but you never know what dietary restrictions people have. Then again, anybody with significant restrictions will likely not partake out of caution.
Potential plusses:
+ I look pretty innocent and pleasant. This look, of course, matches my true pleasant and polite demeanor (see: entry where I seriously contemplated writing thank-you notes to players after last season just because it was an awesome season). In conjunction with the knitting, I appear to be a grandma that's 40 years too young to be a granny.
+ I could produce a signed affidavit of people who agree that my brownies are the best in the whole world, including one Jew who reported forgetting Jerusalem mid-chew and feeling their tongue cleaving to the roof of their mouth. [This is where I leave reality for just a moment..] Admit it, it would be pretty cool to acquire player signatures by adding them to my list of people who agree that my brownies are the best in the whole world. And, athletes are superstitious folk. What if someone had a brownie and got on a hot streak during that game? I'm in demand as a brownie baker who only asks tickets to be the form of payment! [snap back to reality]
+ Word of mouth and peer pressure works with my brownies. People eat and can't keep it to themselves, so they tell someone else to eat the brownies since the taste is indescribable. Said person repeats procedure until brownie supply is exhausted and a refill is demanded.
+ What's the worst that can happen? I raise a yellow flag from the security guys, politely beg to keep the brownies (& offer brownies to the security guys), peacefully see the brownies confiscated, and watch batting practice/the game as planned save for the brownie plan.
It might be worth a shot.
Oh yeah, and I graduated from college last week. Bachelor of Arts.
For those who don't know me personally, I apparently make the best brownies in the world. No, they are not "magic", unless you consider one pan's ability to magically disappear in 5 minutes (no hyperbole!). I've baked them on multiple occasions as professor bribes/handyman bribes, and they seem to be an acceptable substitute for buying a birthday gift (which I'm usually too broke to do). The brownies aren't secret-recipe; in fact I've told my recipe a few times and nobody believes me.
So my one-tracked baseball mind and baking ability have been plotting an idea that has me seriously wondering about its workability. What if... I baked as many pans of brownies as I felt I could reasonably sneak into the stadium. I offer the goods to neighbors in the stands and players during batting practice. People rave as usual. Word spreads to players. Some players eat and enjoy, thus earning myself brownie points (no pun intended). Other players eat and get on hot streaks. Players worship me and lay tickets at my feet. Ok, so I may have left reality at some point in that paragraph. The point is, anything is possible (including nobody eating them) and it might be worth a shot.
Potential snags:
- Security might not allow it. They may not like the entire intention of bringing in so much food that takes away from stadium revenue and there could be a "Please Don't Feed the Players" type policy. I'm not sure I could convince them that the brownies are for a chocoholic drinking type-game where you eat a brownie every time someone gets on base.
- If I were a celebrity, I'd never accept homemade food from fans -- you just never know about preparation conditions, ingredients, or malicious intent. Then again, I'm not a hungry male athlete that eats out of restaurants for most of the year, misses home-cooked food, and loves freebies. I heard about one lady that regularly sat next to the visiting bullpen in St. Louis and baked cookies for the relievers, who gladly ate her goodies. (She even baked the relievers' favorites and requests. How cute is that?) I believe she took some of them to a game in Houston and got them confiscated. Probably got eaten by the security guards who took them, which is why I might want to make extras and let the guards know "there's plenty to go around."
- Player accessibility. Players come and go during batting practice. It's not like they stay stationed right in front of me where I can easily distribute brownies. I've contemplated dangling a pan into the bullpen mid-game when players are trapped and getting the munchies, but there's the problem of getting seats next to the bullpen. I think BP is the most feasible (assuming any part of this plan is even feasible), but it will take some work to get the brownies into the mouths of players.
- Reaction. I've never had a bad reaction to my brownies (mental or physical), so I'm not really worried about setting anybody off with sickness or a bad taste, but you never know what dietary restrictions people have. Then again, anybody with significant restrictions will likely not partake out of caution.
Potential plusses:
+ I look pretty innocent and pleasant. This look, of course, matches my true pleasant and polite demeanor (see: entry where I seriously contemplated writing thank-you notes to players after last season just because it was an awesome season). In conjunction with the knitting, I appear to be a grandma that's 40 years too young to be a granny.
+ I could produce a signed affidavit of people who agree that my brownies are the best in the whole world, including one Jew who reported forgetting Jerusalem mid-chew and feeling their tongue cleaving to the roof of their mouth. [This is where I leave reality for just a moment..] Admit it, it would be pretty cool to acquire player signatures by adding them to my list of people who agree that my brownies are the best in the whole world. And, athletes are superstitious folk. What if someone had a brownie and got on a hot streak during that game? I'm in demand as a brownie baker who only asks tickets to be the form of payment! [snap back to reality]
+ Word of mouth and peer pressure works with my brownies. People eat and can't keep it to themselves, so they tell someone else to eat the brownies since the taste is indescribable. Said person repeats procedure until brownie supply is exhausted and a refill is demanded.
+ What's the worst that can happen? I raise a yellow flag from the security guys, politely beg to keep the brownies (& offer brownies to the security guys), peacefully see the brownies confiscated, and watch batting practice/the game as planned save for the brownie plan.
It might be worth a shot.
Oh yeah, and I graduated from college last week. Bachelor of Arts.
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
atlas he is not
Today in speech, a speech teacher was working on multiple meanings of the same word with a student. Lots of deaf kids have problems with this area, it's something we have to address yada yada yada. Ok, today's word with multiple meanings was "run". Think of all the meanings you can for that one. The resource used today listed ten of them. (Anybody see why this is a problem for learning English?) I kid you not, question #10 used the following sentences:
"Albert was very nervous. If he made this run, his team would win the pennant."
How appropriate. It would have been even more appropriate if I read this during the postseason, but I'll let that slide. I mean, this resource was not even developed in this city and it was developed well before El Hombre was ever a Cardinal. Some speech-language pathologist out there has prophecy skillz in baseball...
In other news, I was successful in my bid to watch extra baseball and read extra Wikipedia bios in preparation for my campus ministry's Trivia Night. I'd like to point out that not all female fans are to be named CFBs, as I was by far the most useful person at the table when it came to the baseball trivia. And yes, I can name the starting nine (probably all 25) on any given day. I refuse to own any pink team attire on principle even though pink is probably my favorite color.
Three more days of student teaching... why do I have the sneaking suspicion I'll need an entire box of Kleenex on Friday?
"Albert was very nervous. If he made this run, his team would win the pennant."
How appropriate. It would have been even more appropriate if I read this during the postseason, but I'll let that slide. I mean, this resource was not even developed in this city and it was developed well before El Hombre was ever a Cardinal. Some speech-language pathologist out there has prophecy skillz in baseball...
In other news, I was successful in my bid to watch extra baseball and read extra Wikipedia bios in preparation for my campus ministry's Trivia Night. I'd like to point out that not all female fans are to be named CFBs, as I was by far the most useful person at the table when it came to the baseball trivia. And yes, I can name the starting nine (probably all 25) on any given day. I refuse to own any pink team attire on principle even though pink is probably my favorite color.
Three more days of student teaching... why do I have the sneaking suspicion I'll need an entire box of Kleenex on Friday?
Saturday, April 22, 2006
h-e-l-p, help!
I need professional help. I cannot stop knitting. I have been on a knitting tear since that fateful box of KnitPicks Paint Your Own arrived in the mail on Thursday. Immediately thereafter, I had to purchase the requisite amounts of Kool-Aid in order to dye that white yarn to the colors necessary and proper for The Socks: Cardinal red and navy blue. I made the kitchen look like a Kool-Aid massacre had just taken place, microwaved the crap out of the yarn, and hung it up to dry. Once I returned from bible study a couple hours later, I soon realized there was absolutely no way I could wait 24-48 hours for the yarn to drip dry in the bathroom. Despite the advice from housemates that "Patience is a virtue", I decided "Screw virtue and get the hair dryer."
Why the disregarding of advice and reason? Simple - that box contained the yarn necessary for the Anthony Reyes socks. It's been awhile since I've been so stoked about a knitting project since I've had to do so much knitting work for others as of recent. However, these gems are all for me!! I've decided to revise the name in honor of Rick Ankiel, whom I oversighted because he's in the minor leagues due to injury, but who also wears the beloved high socks (proof). And because of the 2000 NLDS/NLCS, (cue fateful horror movie music) and a horrid string of injuries, every Cardinal fan with even the most microscopic bit of a heart wants this guy to succeed.
Thus, the Ankiel-Reyes socks are in process of being knitted. Behold:
For any curious knitters, it took one hank of Paint Your Own, about 30 oz. water, 6 Cherry Kool-Aid packets, and 3 Black Cherry Kool-Aid packets to achieve the red; the navy blue was achieved with just a bit of the same yarn, about 20 oz. water, 2 Blue Moon Berry Kool-Aid packets, and 2 Grape Kool-Aid packets. Unpaid endorsement: Paint Your Own feels like a dream. It's a very fine laceweight, and if I had bought the yarn in a store I likely would have bought the next weight up but it's working nicely and making manly athletic socks a bit more feminine though not too obtrusively feminine. Only 1 2/3 socks to go.
Why the disregarding of advice and reason? Simple - that box contained the yarn necessary for the Anthony Reyes socks. It's been awhile since I've been so stoked about a knitting project since I've had to do so much knitting work for others as of recent. However, these gems are all for me!! I've decided to revise the name in honor of Rick Ankiel, whom I oversighted because he's in the minor leagues due to injury, but who also wears the beloved high socks (proof). And because of the 2000 NLDS/NLCS, (cue fateful horror movie music) and a horrid string of injuries, every Cardinal fan with even the most microscopic bit of a heart wants this guy to succeed.
Thus, the Ankiel-Reyes socks are in process of being knitted. Behold:
For any curious knitters, it took one hank of Paint Your Own, about 30 oz. water, 6 Cherry Kool-Aid packets, and 3 Black Cherry Kool-Aid packets to achieve the red; the navy blue was achieved with just a bit of the same yarn, about 20 oz. water, 2 Blue Moon Berry Kool-Aid packets, and 2 Grape Kool-Aid packets. Unpaid endorsement: Paint Your Own feels like a dream. It's a very fine laceweight, and if I had bought the yarn in a store I likely would have bought the next weight up but it's working nicely and making manly athletic socks a bit more feminine though not too obtrusively feminine. Only 1 2/3 socks to go.
