Six Degrees of Derek Jeter

Here's something I bet you didn't know:

Derek Jeter's new teammate Brett Gardner drove in the winning run for the Yanks in last night's game against the dreaded Red Sox. Brett Gardner played college ball for the College of Charleston. His coach at the CoC was Scott Foxhall. Scott's lovely wife is none other than my PC buddy and pal, Laura (Ballenger).

Now that I count it up, that's only five degrees. I am so cool.

Happy Birthday Ben!

That's right - Ben-Jammin' is eleven years old today! It doesn't seem possible...

Still coming down from his camp high, we had a low-key celebration yesterday. He got lots of small gifts (T-shirts, DVDs, a bag o' baseballs, etc) which he is enjoying thoroughly. We went to see Wall-E (different - good, but different) in the afternoon and spent the evening watching School of Rock (great movie, that one). I made all of his favorites: roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, berries and whipped cream, and for dessert we had molten chocolate cake with homemade ice cream. The eating continues today with smoked ribs, BBQ beans, potato cakes, and chocolate chip pie. It is the weekend of Ben!

Happy Birthday, Ben! We love you!

Another Letter from Camp!

Better late than never, I say.

Star Trekkin'

Check out the lift this guy's getting:

Back From Camp

We picked the boys up from camp this afternoon. They had a blast! We bought the souvenir picture CD. True to form, Ben stayed out of the forefront of any picture, but you can spot him in a few if you look closely. DP was, of course, front and center.

Mom and Dad's Movie Marathon

OK, so it wasn't really a marathon. But Mark and I did take advantage of our week without kids to check out a couple of movies that we've been wanting to see.

I had a hunch I wouldn't like this one, but I was pleasantly surprised. Movies set in a future where all has gone to seed don't do much for me. This one was blissfully short (it told a good story, but didn't drag it out) and wasn't as far into the future as I anticipated. The New York City scenes were cool as well. After watching, I read a fews things about the movie that made me realize I missed an entire (and important) piece of the story. Oh well. It was still good.


This one, I knew nothing about going in. I knew there had been some buzz, but I couldn't remember what the buzz was. I'm glad I went in cold. This was a really, really good movie. Very unusual. Very disturbing and creepy. But very good. Also short, but not one that needed to be any longer. I won't say anything else about it, in case you haven't watched and don't know anything about it either. I enjoyed the NYC scenes in this one as well. A lot of the action took place at Columbus Circle, which is where we grabbed the subway when we were there. There is also a scene where the statue of liberty becomes seperated from her head, as you can see from the image above, and the head is found laying on the ground and people stand around and gawk at it. If you recall from our vacation photos, Daniel stood under the left nostril of a full-sized replica of the statue, and I'm watching this scene thinking "I don't think the statue's head is that big - you could fit several Daniels under that nostril." Turns out I was right - they enlarged the head for dramatic effect. Travel is so broadening....

Letter from Camp!

We got a letter from Daniel today. He and Ben have been away at camp all week. Apparently, he is enjoying himself, despite sustaining a variety of injuries.

A-D-Piiiiiiiiiii.......

Paul recently posted a picture of Sam, obviously about to face-plant. I posted a comment asking if anyone remembered "A-D-Piiiiiiii!" and no one has responded as of yet. This tells me that either a)no one remembers this or b)one or more of you remember this but are unable to comment because you are trapped under something heavy. Either way, I thought I would share this, my fondest memory of the ADPi Sorority.

When I was a sophomore at PC, we added these things they call sororities. We'd had fraternities all along, just no sisterhoods. We brought on Zeta Tau Alpha, Sigma Sigma Sigma, and Alpha Delta Pi. Since there were no existing sisters on campus to do rush week and pledges and blackballing and the like, sorority sisters from neighboring schools came in and handled the whole thing in one weekend.

The deal was this: if you were drafted into any one of the three sororities, you got your pledge letter (or whatever they called it) at Douglas house. You then ran gleefully to one of three locales to meet your new sisters. Alpha Delta Pi girls ran gleefully from Douglas House to Neville Hall.

The night all of this went down, I was sitting outside of Smythe Dorm with several folks. Laura was there, and I'm pretty sure Paul and George were there, and maybe Hoyt and Neek. There was a good sized group of us, I remember that much. Laura and I had opted out of the sorority thing, and none of the guys had pledged, of course. We were just watching all the goings on. All would be quiet, then a pack of girls would rush out, often holding hands, squealing their new Greek monikers, and rushing off into the night. Then quiet. Then more fun and gaiety. This went on and on and on.

Finally, three girls come out of Douglas House and sprint with great joy and zeal to Neville Hall. Picture them - big bows in their hair, big flouncy dresses, all pictures of girlish perfection. They were yelling "A-D-Pi! A-D-Pi!" About halfway through the cross-walk, the girl bringing up the rear wipes out. Toes go up in the air, arms flailing, and she's completely parallel to the ground. I'm certain she saw her own loafers before landing flat on her back on the asphalt. "A-D-Pi! A-D-Pi! A-D-Piiiiiiiiiiiii...." WHACK!

I laughed at that poor nameless sorority girl till I thought I would die. Few things in life amuse me more than someone wiping out. Hard pavement, nice clothing, and the presence of on-lookers only make it funnier.

I'm happy to say her new sisters came back and collected her, bruised and bleeding, and slowed down their happy gait so she could limp along with them. I don't think any of them had the uncouth to laugh in her face. Ah, sisterhood. I knew sororities weren't my thing...

Mom's Movie Marathon

Both boys left for church camp on Sunday. Mark left for a business trip to Louisville, KY, right after. That left me with nothing to do all afternoon Sunday, and Monday night. So I rented a bunch of movies I have really been wanting to see, that I know Mark doesn't want to sit through with me. Good times....

Lots of angst here - starving artist angst, herion angst, HIV angst, gay angst. Not the kind of angst I can really relate to. (I relate to working-mom angst, soccer practice angst, who's-putting-up-the-laundry angst. Granted, not as edgy.) But while I didn't really relate all that well to the story, I did really groove on the music. Lots of songs I've been singing in my head all day after hearing just one time. "Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes...." ....... "How we gonna pay-ayyy...how we gonna pay-ayyyy...."


Loved this book. And the movie was true to the book, only they crammed it into too hours. Made it seem very rushed. I would have preferred tacking on another half hour to really tell the story right. It was extremely well-cast, and the costumes were great.


John Travolta is not an attractive man, and he's REALLY not an attractive woman. And his accent drove me NUTS for the entire movie. But everyone else was great - I've become quite the fan of Queen Latifah. She was great in Chicago and in Stranger Than Fiction (in a very understated role). And she was great in this.

Laugh-out-loud funny at times, bordering on stupid at others. Would definitely be a better live show.

Wow. Much like a Jane Austen novel, only without the happy ending. I really enjoyed this one. The woman who plays Molly Weasley in the Harry Potter movies played Jane Austen's mother, and was SUPERB. I'll have to do some research to see how much of this is based on history and how much is movie magic. But definitely a good one.

So, no real duds in my movie marathon. Mark and I will likely watch some more movies when he gets back tomorrow, so I'll try to post on those as well. But don't expect more musicals or period pieces. Not Mark's thing. Probably some sci-fi and things blowing up. Everything has its place.

What I'm Reading Now

Wicked, by Gregory Maguire.

This is the book the musical is based on. It's the story of how the Witches in The Wizard of Oz came to be witches, good and bad. (According to the musical story, they were college roomies, and the Wicked Witch of the West was just a misunderstoond animal rights activist. I know it sounds crazy, but it works.) I had read that there is much more to the book (there always is).

Gregory Maguire has a lot of books based on the other side of famous stories. Cinderella's Ugly Stepsisters and Snow White are two that come to mind. He has also written a follow-up to Wicked, and might even be working on a third book in the series. This is the first of his books that I've read.

I've only read a few chapters, and so far, I can only say that it's unusual. But that could be a good thing. The Wizard of Oz is a pretty unusual story too, when you think about it.

They Always Say Polls Are Notoriously Unreliable

I can't seem to vote on any polls - not mine, or D's, or Kyle's. When I click "vote", I get that Internet Explorer White Screen of Death, aka The Webpage Cannot Be Found message.

I checked blogger help, which told me to "clear my cache". I didn't think that was legal in Tennessee, but I did it anyway, to no avail.

Is anyone else having trouble voting? Any suggestions?

Hmmmmmm........

From Broadway.com: (This article is more than a year old, but it was news to me.)

The Phantom in Manhattan: Lloyd Webber Back at Work on Sequel to Broadway Smash - by Broadway.com Staff

Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber announced in a video message on his website March 9 that he will definitely write a sequel to The Phantom of the Opera, the longest-running show in Broadway history. Although few details were revealed, he did say that the long-gestating show will be set in New York City.

Lloyd Webber had previously announced that a sequel was in the works for the show, which premiered in London in 1986. In fact, at a 50th birthday celebration concert for Lloyd Webber at Royal Albert Hall, a song from that project, "The Heart Is Slow to Learn," was performed by opera diva Kiri Te Kanawa. The plot for the sequel was developed with Frederick Forsyth, author of many books including The Day of the Jackal and The Odessa File. After the composer dropped the project in 1999, Forsyth released the story as a novel, The Phantom of Manhattan. Although Lloyd Webber indicates on his website that he was unhappy with some of the plotting of the novel, his collaboration with Forsyth seems ongoing.

The Phantom of Manhattan novel is set in New York City in the early 1900s and filled with famous characters of the day including Irving Berlin and Teddy Roosevelt. Narrated by a dying Madame Giry, the ballet mistress of the Paris Opera House in The Phantom of the Opera, it tells the story of how The Phantom left Paris after the events of the original story and fled to New York City. There, he becomes a wealthy entrepreneur, building the Manhattan Opera House and luring his Phantom love Christine, now a famous diva, to perform there. Christine is married to Raoul, with a son named Pierre.

Based on the original novel by Gaston Leroux, The Phantom of the Opera features music by Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Charles Hart and Richard Stilgoe and a book by Stilgoe and Lloyd Webber. It opened at the Majestic Theatre on January 26, 1988. The 2004 film version, which was nominated for 3 Academy Awards, grossed $154 million worldwide.

The Manny

The boys are having a great summer! Our good friend Shea teaches middle school, and of course gets the summers off. He's keeping the boys during the day, and they LOVE him. They go to the pool everyday for two hours (both boys are working on swimming requirements for scouts), play video games, board games, and just generally do guy things. Shea has even devised an elaborate playoff grid for Wii baseball - the World Series is this Friday. They're having a ball.

Church camp is next week, then a special day camp the week after, and then more Shea (we call him Showtime - it's a long story).

I once heard a person say "When you remember your childhood, why is it always summertime?" Ben and Daniel are making lots of wonderful summertime memories. We couldn't be happier!

Saturday Night Funnies

Saturday night, we went to Best Buy to get a new TV. Our family room TV has been dead for over a year now, and we finally took the plunge to replace it. We borrowed Mark's mom's truck to get it home.

As soon as we get to Best Buy, the boys take off for the video games, and Mark and I shop in peace. After we find a TV, we decide to replace the DVD player as well. We make our purchases, and I go find the boys. Mark goes to get the truck so he can back it up to the front door and load the TV.

When we catch up to Mark, he is still in the parking lot and has put the DVD player in the truck bed. Daniel hops up on the back of the truck, looks at the DVD box for a few seconds, then says "Ummm, guys? We could've hauled that in our car."

Additional humor ensued when Mark cracked his shin-bone on the trailer hitch while loading up the TV. He manned-up and walked calmly to the driver door, before collapsing in agony onto the front seat. I helped things by laughing uncontrollably.

We should've saved the money on the TV. We're clearly more than capable of entertaining ourselves.

City Tournament - Game Three

Well, we're out of it. We lost 2-0 to the Juggernaut that is the Coke squad. They were an extremely good team. I think I graduated high school with two of them.

I'm kidding of course, but in our Little League, we have three divisions. Two of the three divide their teams into 9-10 year old squads and 11-12 year old squads. The younger teams only play other younger teams, and the older teams only play other older teams. The third division - ours - plays 9,10,11, and 12 year olds on the same team. There are good arguments for both, but the short of it is come City Tournament time, our 9 year olds are up against teams made up of only 11-12 years olds. Such was the case tonight.

And we played well. We had great pitching, and awesome defense. The fact that we held them to two runs is impressive by itself. Their pitcher was just unhittable. We got runners on, but couldn't score any runs. The pitcher finally reached his pitch count in the top of the sixth inning. They brought in a new pitcher, who appeared to be quite hittable. This was when the controversy began.

Now, I'm no Ump-Griper. We have a lot of them in our stands. No matter what happens, if the ump makes a call against our team, he sucks. These people argue the most ludicrous calls you can imagine. My take is, umps make mistakes. And they usually make as many mistakes for us as against us, so we should just take our lumps and shut up. After all, what are we teaching the kids if we insist every loss was because of bad officiating? Sometimes you just lose.

HOWEVER....

We're in the top of the sixth and we're batting. The new pitcher is in, and we have one man on first with no outs. The second batter hits one just past the infield. The second baseman takes a few steps back and the ball lands in his glove. And then rolls out into the dirt. Play continues as if it were an error and not a catch. Our runner is almost at second and the batter is safe at first. And then the ump signals an out. He seems to think the second baseman made a clean catch. Which means the runner at second has to get back to first to tag up, which is metaphysically impossible at this point. The second basemen tosses the ball to first for the second out.

We now have two outs and no one on, instead of two on and no one out. Next batter hits one clean and gets on. We would have had the bases loaded and no outs had the ump made a different call. I'm not saying we would have won, I'm just saying that ump's call reversed our chances considerably. Next batter grounds out, and that's the ball game.

The kids were devastated. About half of them cried, even the older ones. They played a fantastic game against a fantastic team. I hated for them to lose it that way.

The home plate ump told one of our coaches after the game that the ump in question made a horrible call. But....what can you do? A friend of ours was there, and his sage comment was "Well, now you know how the Cubs feel."

So, baseball is over at our house until next spring. We had a great season. Ben has made great strides and is like a vacuum cleaner in right field now. So just wait till next year....