Second Tree after the Map

What is wrong with me? I got a cactus plant at Lowe's down in IL - and now have left it at my mom's house not once - but twice. Good thing cactuses are hardy. And my mom is nice enough to sprinkle some water on it.

I did kill one cactus though when I first moved here. Actually I think winter killed it. I had another one when I was younger that the cat decided to nibble. THAT cactus lived forever, including outliving the cat. (He pretty much ate anything he could that wasn't hidden or nailed down. He also only lived to be 4. Chasing cars? Nope. Didn't get him.)

I probably just had one of the most powerful nights of my life. And I can hardly talk about any of it due to confidentiality. I can say that what I was expecting to do tonight (introduce myself to a new group) and what I wound up doing are two vastly different things. I still got to do some of the former, and look forward to do more. But prayer is awesome...and just. wow. I don't know how much I - and others - actually helped this person yet. But just to see barriers be broken, and the outpouring from a bunch of people who barely met this person. So great.

I shouldn't be surprised, really. I specifically asked God to speak through me prior to this meeting, and oh, did He ever.

Haven't had a lot to write about, I guess.

We all entered the "name the new Northern League team in Zion" contest. I had Harbor Lights and Breeze. Tonight they announced they are down to five, and want votes. This is how the tally was running earlier.

Cowpokes 13.8%
Luckies 10.4%
Fielders 21.4%
Comets 40.6%
Skippers 13.7%

None of our names :( and some that don't fit at all. I voted for Comets. Hopefully Cowpokes and Luckies continue their low totals.

The address to vote is http://www.lakecountybaseball.com/ for those so inclined.

Random thoughts.
So Danny Gokey will be third on American Idol. :(

I think we had a circuits problem in the MKE last night because I wasn't able to vote for him.

Given that USC is now buying players (OJ Mayo) I am very happy Arizona did not hire Tim Floyd.

Winning is the best revenge.
The Rangers coach, John Tortorella, threw a sports bottle into the stands, which struck a fan. He received a pathetic one game suspension, compared to what some athletes have gotten for attacking fans (hello Pacers and Pistons a few years back)

However, the Rangers lost game 7 to the Capitals last night. And Tortorella now could be fired.

Happy Opening Day! I did get to see some of Mets-Reds. Noted the Oriole rout of Captain Cheeseburger and his new mercenaries. Now settling in to watch the Twins-Mariners.

In a way, this should not have a "die of the cuteness" tag. It should be a model for all of us.

(awww, he got all sappy)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rooyt3ptNco&eurl=http://www.purpleboard.net/~purplebo/forums/showthread.php?t=11041&feature=player_embedded

(if this were MY kitties, they would be about to wrestle-rassle each other. But these are not my kitties)

The Knight Family
Like father, like son!

Son had to be restrained not once, but twice after getting successive technicals from two different refs. And then he broke away and ran off to yell at the officials some more. No chairs thrown, unlike his daddy, however.

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/28955492/

Ah, old Sanford and Son reruns. Always makes me think of the "boys club" in-jokes from the bank days in Baltimore. Someone (not me) earned the nickname of Fred due to his scavenging of old computers that were put out for salvage. Although I am not totally immune. I have 2 working computers, an ancient laptop (that probably still works but won't run anything much useful since it's a 386 chip) and a tower with a hard drive that needs to be copied and then destroyed.

And there is no pink pickup truck or garage door here. SO there :)

However, I have nothing against pink. I wore a pink shirt this week.

So Clear Channel laid off 1800, which means 2 of my favorite sports radio shows are no more. One of them was hardly ever on here, but the other was the Fox overnight show which was usually my insomnia radio of choice. I'll miss you on the air Ben and Karen.

In happier news, there are Brewer Classics on TV. The one today was Yovani Gallardo's 2 homer game against the Dbacks from 2007.

Looks like the Orioles are moving along with Fort Myers for spring training 2012. But Vero and Sarasota were sunk at the last minute, so we'll see. The O's would take over City of Palms when the Red Sox leave for their to be constructed stadium on the south side of Fort Myers. Presumably the Twins would remain in town, which would make me happy.

As we are about to spend another $880 billion on bailouts.
"In sports, you can win and still get fired. In business, you can lose, and lose, and lose, and not only keep your job, but often get a bonus.

It would be a better world if the world of finance was more like the world of sports. "

http://www.projo.com/sports/content/projo_20090118_jim_donaldson_column.84304cd.html

This is funny :) Pittsburgh mayor Ravenstahl changes name for upcoming AFC title game to what amounts to "Steelsteel"

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs2008/news/story?id=3832512

And now ESPN is showing all the players who failed to fasten their helmets last weekend.

"Son, back in MY day we'd have been RUNNING for something like that" :)

At least the BCS game wasn't a total blowout this year. I really didn't care who won though.

I was maybe going to Iowa tomorrow but we are supposed to get anywhere between 3-11 inches of snow.

I won't be doing much caching since we just got another bit of snow today, but I had to post this...

Walk Like a Geocacher: (I love how they pronounce it Geo-cay-cher)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6Mp0kLFDjg

Stuff
Woo Trevor Hoffman possibly coming to Milwaukee. Maybe we will get the Wildcat alumni chapter going after all. He's gotta be better than Eric Gagne.

Fiscal responsibility update...California is discussing issuing checks - that it can't pay. That's right - IOU's! Just like the neighborhood poker game, except most people aren't needing to say, EAT based on that poker game. I'm sure this makes

anomaly_kat even happier than I am.

I'm watching the Winter Classic from Wrigley. Looks like this is one of the times when TV is better than being there. The rink orientation (from first to third base and behind the pitchers' mound) makes for a lot of weird/long views.

If the Badgers and Gophers ever get together on an outdoor game and make it slightly earlier in the season, that would be cool. Today, I'm not regretting that I don't have tickets.

First of all, Congratulations to Here for the Sass on their Zoober Bowl title! I also exercised some commissioner-y powers and strung together all the old league records. So they should be under the "All Time" link on the league page. We've still never had a defending champ repeat although the Zoob Turtles won in 2003 and 2006. The Cyberpunks have also been in the top 3 every year.

And Happy New Year to all!

I just finished loading some caches into the new Magellan, so maybe it will be decent enough outside to hunt for them in the next couple days.

I have a new game if anyone would like to play. It's the Hollywood Stock Exchange. I just found it today. Basically you "buy" stock in upcoming movies and see how they do. I had to buy an Eliza Dushku bond (for celebrity crush reasons) but I'm trying to be "efficient" (HaHa) and invest in some sure things. (OK, my first buy was Bride Wars for which you've probably all seen the ads)

The URL, you say? movies.hsx.com

If you do join let me know so I can add you to my group there.

So the Hoosier Dome was imploded over the weekend. As a former resident of Maryland, most of my antipathy for the Colts died with Bob Irsay. (The recent teams have dulled it even more, as Peyton Manning and crew are just fun to watch)

However...I still find it hilarious that the company that imploded the Dome was none other than Maryland-based Controlled Demolition. It wasn't really a surprise - they have done most of the other major implodings around the country. But still funny.

Happy Wright Brothers Day!

In the spirit of invention/Mythbusters/Rube Goldberg, I bring you this contraption...an old V8 block from a Chevy truck made into...a snowblower. Something that some of us could actually use this time of year. http://www.v8snowblowers.com/

No leak in my shower. I was kind of skeptical since I hadn't been at home all weekend to take one. I think it's more likely snowmelt around the ground level basement windows. I know they've had that before.

In other news, cheap solid white hardhats at Home Depot have inspired me to create. I'm not sure what yet, but I am armed with Sharpies among other things. It just begs for drawing. Sort of in the vein of the sadly retired Buckethead Brigade at Brewers games (I still have my shirt)

I was going to go out this evening. However, I seemed to have used all my energy on chipping out the car. At least it's done for tomorrow morning. So I'm back in with a drink and watching the Wisconsin basketball game.

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