The New Musings of a Quiet Geek

After reading this article this morning, I was inspired to blog. I personally like the wild card but I admit the Sox could have tried harder this weekend. I've never understood why the Nation League has 16 teams and the American League has only 14. Why not 15 each? Having teams hurting for money makes it hard to think about making even more teams but what do I know? Also, I've never understood why the Phillies and the Pirates are National League. One should be in the American League. The teams the writer of the piece put into the North and South divisions are crazy. Detroit, Minnesota (Where from Mary Tyler Moore re-runs I understand it snows year round.) and Colorado in the South? Really? To that end here are my suggestions for division break up: AL East Boston Red Sox Cleveland Indians New York Yankees Philadelphia Phillies AL North Detroit Tigers Minnesota Twins Toronto Blue Jays Chicago White Sox AL South Baltimore Orioles Kansas City Royals Tampa Bay Rays Expansion Tea...

Movies Now that we have NetFlix, we've been watching more movies lately. First was the animated Superman: Doomsday . Overall, it was a great film but too short. I realize the whole "multiple replacement angle" may have been too convoluted for it but it still seemed more simplistic than it really should have been. Running at only seventy-something minutes, they could have expanded it more... Last night, we watched 88 minutes with Al Pacino, Alicia Witt, William Forsythe, Amy Brenneman, Neal McDonough and Leelee Sobieski. Going into it, my roommate thought it would be a 24 -type thing but, thankfully, it really wasn't. Don't get me wrong, I like the show but I prefer originality...They did it in such a way, everybody seemed too obvious to be a suspect. I really enjoyed it. Books Forged in Fire is, hopefully, the first Star Trek: Excelsior novel. Telling the story of blood oath pact three Klingons made with Trill Curzon Dax. Adding Captain Hikaru Sulu to the mi...

This whole controversy on permission slips being handed out to parents on whether they want their child to watch President Obama's speech to them is just one more example on the whiny losers conservatives really are. I personally think children should know who their president is. You only have to watch one installment of "Jaywalkin'" to see most adults have no grasp of current events. (As an aside, back in '84 I supported John Glenn for president while my parents were for Walter Mondale. This wouldn't happen today...) I'd assume the plan is just for him to wish the kids a good school year. Since kids aren't old enough to vote, I seriously doubt he's trying to use it as an opportunity to pass health care reform. So why demand a permission slip? But what if he does exhibit a point of view different than the parents? My feeling, as a non-parent, is that it's good to expose them to such points of view. At the very least it gives families something...

Except for the Neanderthal brow ridge, cute!: What do you think about my little new baby Julia? MakeMeBabies.com - What will your baby look like? OK, I don't know where the curly hair comes from but the kid is cute... What do you think about my little new baby Dresden? MakeMeBabies.com - What will your baby look like? My son looks like a cancer patient... What do you think about my little new baby Kirk? MakeMeBabies.com - What will your baby look like?

There Are 0 Gaps in Your Knowledge Where you have gaps in your knowledge: No Gaps! Where you don't have gaps in your knowledge: Philosophy Religion Economics Literature History Science Art Do You Have Gaps in Your Knowledge?

Oscar Fellows had two sons Frank and Raymond . The descendants of these two branches gathered this past Saturday on a lake in mid-coast Maine. Frank, my great-grandfather, had more children so, naturally, more of them where there. It may have been tough for many but still being introverted, I found meeting relatives I've never met and then others who I haven't seen since some family funeral a decade ago quite overwhelming. That's in addition to everyone I knew of course... As befitting the occasion, there was tons of food... I drove up and back with my grandmother, uncle and little cousin, who is even more annoying in a small car. On the way back, we saw a moose by the side of Route 1. It was still far off in the distance so we didn't get a great view. I get home and realize my glasses case, with my glasses in it, was still in the car (I was wearing my sunglasses) so that added even more excitement...

Yesterday morning, I went to a funeral for a well-respected churchgoer. It was very touching. Though I knew the man well enough to want to pay my respects, I wouldn't say I knew him all that well. Yet, I cried twice. One of the hymns they'd played makes me weepy anyway as perhaps I will always subconsciously connect it to when we moved away from my hometown. (That's my explanation for that but hopefully there's a better one.) I realize now there was transference as well. Many things the two of his children who spoke related to us my own father would do/does. And then I discover he had the same cardiologist as my grandfather... As I was preparing dinner last night, I blew up the microwave which caused the whole apartment to fill with smoke. Just before I had to go back to work... I had followed the directions on the package and never had a problem withthe product before save for water leakage but something wasn't right. I couldn't possibly have cooked it for more...

After going to see the latest Harry Potter film, I had to re-read my reviews of both this book and The Deathly Hollows . Interestingly, the biggest peeve I have with this movie was that they left out the "Half-Blood Prince" explanation that didn't make much sense to me in the book anyway but, still, some explanation on why this person went by the name in the first place would have been good... People have complained the end falls flat but I pointed out, in my review of the book , the death wasn't surprising to begin with. Yeah, the final battle(s) in the book was better but that would have added another half hour at least to the movie which is really not the way to go. That's what the director's cut of the DVD is for. (Actually, the only thing if you ask me...) With the opening scene in the movie, it's established Harry is a playa which makes his infatuation with a certain young lady make more sense than it does in the book. My mother, who only read the ...

Tuesday, I was supposed to go to the dentist. I call for a taxi as I didn't want to risk being late on the bus. They said they'd send one right out. I wait outside and when the taxi arrived, the fun began. Another person in my building apparently called the exact same taxi company not 5 minutes before I did! I realize now that this confused them. It became too late for my appointment so I had too call and reschedule for next month. Hopefully, the penalty for a missed a appointment isn't too steep... Wednesday night at work, I finished reading Death Star by Micheal Reeves and Steve Perry. The book was good all the way through but had no central plot until the last third in my opinion which was a downgrade. In that last third, we basically get a "Lower Decks" retelling of most of A New Hope . I did like how they were able to incorporate what we now know about Darth Vader and Grand Moff Tarkin into it though...The question I now have is, if Millennium Falcon is w...

I've seen a lot of family recently. This has been good. Went with my parents to spend the Fourth visiting my father's, and my "upstairs aunt's" sister in New Hampshire. This was a nice change of pace. The weather wasn't too bad but it wasn't good swimming weather so boo to that! Now that he's 10, that little cousin is not the annoying little kid he used to be. They themselves came here to Portland to visit my cousin this past Thursday and we went out to lunch. Nothing exciting happened. Today, another mutual cousin and her husband, who have rented a house up near my parents, stopped here for lunch. It was good to see them as I don't think I really had since their wedding. Maybe... Going to the dentist tomorrow. I'm not expecting terrible news; just the usual "floss more" stuff. I'm just not looking forward to it. Like haircuts, it must be done... The weather has been nice finally after days upon days endless rain. Living in a...

I almost forgot to go to work Wednesday then forgot to actually make sure the door was unlocked for the groups to get in. I've been pretty absent minded lately. That's of course including the leaving my cell phone charger at my parents while clearly "remembering" it was in my pocket... After I unlocked the door and finished dinner, I finished finally finished reading a book from Christmas: The Town and the City by Jack Kerouac. As really most of his books, it's a fictionalized autobiography about the Martin family of Galloway, MA which anyone who spend one night in the area knows it's Lowell. Despite the fact that there wasn't really a centralized plot per se, there was many a scene or chapter that was interesting. But Josh, if it was so good, why'd it take you six months to read it? Well, I kept getting distracted by books my book group wanted to read and I didn't say it was good; I said it had it's moments. I got the sense while reading it...

Instead of giving you a huge recap of what I did over my little vacation up north, I decided to give you, more or less, what I'd have said on Twitter, more or less, at the time. I'm not counting characters and this probably won't be in order. -Had root beer float with dinner. Why is that funny, Dad? Hmmm? -Why does the new Iron Man cartoon suck? I mean besides them making Pepper annoying... -I'm glad the Sox finally capitalized on Lowe's weakness. Prick him and he bleeds. -Saw Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore . Apparently basis for '70's sitcom. But funnier. -If Green keeps this up, Lugo may never play again. #redsox -Saw The Proposal with parents and aunt. Green card wife couldn't make it. - Centurions not as good as I remember from my youth...

It's been awhile since I did a full CD review on here so let me tell you about Kelly Clarkson's new All I Ever Wanted . It's more and more awesome with every listen. It's not as good as her previous two albums. She has less writing credits with this album so it's less personal or "personally personal" as it contains genuine emotion but in the more generic sense. The sensible side of me wants to say the songs she actually did write are the best but I really can't say that. My favorite tracks are "All I Ever Wanted", "My Life Would Suck Without You" (Which she didn't write) and "Already Gone" (Which she co-wrote with one other). I know this can't be the first example of an album that combines phat (which is in Firefox's vocab apparently) beats touching lyrics throughout the entire album but it's the first I've thoroughly enjoyed. Yesterday, our final movie was The Spirit . It was very good but the che...

Yesterday, since my roommate was going with friends anyway, I went to see UP! What a great movie. After seeing Wall-E , I worried that Pixar had lost it but this was great. There are few actors still living that I can think of when I think crotchety old man and Ed "I Hate Spunk." Asner is at the top of the list. Christopher Plummer was awesome as the villain but this should not surprise anyone. (True story: he blames himself for William Shatner's rise to stardom.) I loved the Dennis/Mr. Wilson dynamic between Carl and Russel. ("Can help walk you across your yard?" "No.") Last night, our friend that likes to cook and watch movies came up so we watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Exorcism of Emily Rose . The first film was full of deep meaning and sadness. The one problem I had with this movie and I really don't think this is a spoiler, Benjamin is born as a baby-sized old man. As he grows taller, he grows younger at least until ...

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While doing two stints at church this week unlocking doors, etc., first at the dance group and domestic violence group on Wednesday then for the final string quartet concert of the season just yesterday, I finished reading Heart of a Woman by Maya Angelou for this afternoon's book group. Today due to vacation schedules and possibly naps, I was the only male among four women; all of whom are over 50. (I don't think that last bit's important but maybe...) The book had it's moments but, frankly, aside from all the name dropping, I've seen better Lifetime movies because "men are evil and they will hurt you." The book basically deals with her life between like '57 and '62. Several instances were interesting and amazing that one woman actually went through all this but it simply was not a "guy's book."

1. My boss at the library is on vacation this week though was here on Monday anyway. Yesterday, it was fine. The semester is over so, besides the workstudy students, we had only one come in who needed help with the copier occasionally. The biggest problem lately has been our computers are totally crappy. We have 4 and it really seems like I have to go to each one to perform a specific task and it involves much rebooting. Today, I walked down as usual to find the seminary closed today due to the elevator project my church has been involved in. (You knew it was the same building, correct?) Was I called? Nope. The secretary called me once so I don't know why she wouldn't have my number... ::shrugs:: 2. Though thinking back I know when it happened, we discovered a couple nights ago that we no longer have BBC America as they moved it to the digital cable level. This was the cable system I've encountered where it was expanded basic but still... Epic Fail. 3. I heard through Fac...

The movie reviewing continues this episode with Terminator Salvation . I've said this before, twice, and I'll say it again: the acting was way better than I was expecting. Christian Bale was great as the finally adult John Connor. Sam Worthington was awesome as was Bryce Dallas Howard who was somehow in a smaller role yet way more interesting as Kate than Claire Danes' more-involved version in T3 . I never thought Danes was was a terrible actress by any means so it was either script or direction. (Um, wait. Didn't McG direct this one?) Moon Bloodgood (No, not Moon Zappa. Where is she now anyway?), from the kick-ass, yet tragically short-lived, Journeyman , had an oddly bigger role in the movie than Howard and it was not wasted in my opinion. One more casting point: Anton Yelchin, whom I just saw in Star Trek as the re-imagined Pavel Chekhov, was more convincing to me as the re-imagined Kyle Reece. One could rightly argue the latter role isn't nearly as iconic so th...

Wednesday was the Seminary's end of the year party. Despite no homemade feast this time, this was more fun to me than the last Christmas party. Once again, graduating students rang the bell for every semester they attended. This year, we had two 16s! But, Josh, you work on Wednesday night. Yes, I was working I just didn't get the money I'm used to. The dance group was canceled so we could use the space. The seminary gives more money to my church in terms of rent so there you go... The family crisis group still met so I had to give directions. To both groups actually. My mother and aunt came down to visit their mother as my aunt was on vacation this week. I went over for dinner on Monday and then they took me, my cousin and my other aunt out to lunch. (Well, actually, only me and my roommate hadn't actually eaten yet but whatever...) While they were down, their brother's cat was very sickly so they offered to pay to have him (the cat, not my uncle) put down. It wa...

JJ Abrams has taken the mantle of God, if you will, from Rick Berman. Starting with Alias , I can't think of anything that guy has done that hasn't totally rocked. (Didn't watch Felicity and don't want really want to...) His vision for the new Star Trek universe is scary cool. Almost every nitpick I may have had was wiped out from the opening scene. Every review I read say the same thing about the casting: Eerily close but slightly different. I agree with this assessment. Exact quotes were even used. Abrams said, probably more than once, that he wanted Star Trek to be more like Star Wars . So, he blew up Alderaan. I don't think I would have had the balls to obliterate the planet they did but, reading interviews with writers Kurtzman and Orci, I understand why they did. They wanted to show that this universe isn't the one we know and love. Because I can't do a review without nitpicks, here they are: Kirk's older brother's part apparently ended ...