Scattershooting while wondering whatever happened...

to all those little things that should have been posted but weren't.

The best desert, hands down, especially since it was probably the only one we had, but nevertheless would have defeated all comers: at the Hurricane in Kennebunkport...Warm Chocolate Banana Bread Pudding with Grapenut Ice Cream with Bourbon Sauce. I'd give my first male child to have that again.

Sometimes you hear people complain about Toll Roads, especially "up East." The ones we experienced were very harmless...New Hampshire = 1 Toll Road for $1.50...Maine = 1 Toll Road for $1.00. Newport's Pell Bridge = $1/axle, which was fine, but Cindy said, "how many axles do we have?" Made me think...Texas should have a Toll Gate at the borders...$1/car. What an awesome revenue stream once the oil/gas royalties dry up.

Prices in Maine (for everything) should be about 4 times higher than they are. People are only there 3 months out of the year - at best. Some big nice house that is a Bed & Breakfast? To recoup the cost of that requires LOTS of boarders and HIGH fees...but, nobody's making me go there and invest in anything so I guess I'll just keep my mouth shut.

Legal Seafood in Boston? Numero Uno. Was planning 2nd trip but unexpected diversions prevented it. If you ever fly hungry into Providence there's one right outside the airport.

There's so many nice and friendly people in the service/travel industry that when you run across a sourpuss it really sets you back. They need to go find another job.

How lucky are we to have a son-in-law and a boyfriend that went to BC and escorted our daughters through Boston and then have the 4 of them recommend so many fun, nice places to go see in New England. Here's to our kids! (hiccup!) James, I tried drinking all the beers you recommended, but think it'll take another trip.

I totally recommend the Duck Tour. Thanks Nathan for suggesting that. Our ConDUCKtor was one funny and informative dude. I would have liked to have gone around with him again since he might accidentally have some different material. Oh, who am I kidding. It's probably just rote, but, he was a combination History Teacher plus stand-up comedian. The one "other" couple that was staying at our B&B in Kennebunkport that last night was from the Boston area. May have been older than us/me. And when I told him about the Duck Tour, he goes..."I've always wanted to go, but she says, we live here, blah, blah, blah..." I told him some weekend when she's out of town, he oughta go. Lady goes, "thanks." I have such a way with the women.

We met some nice people at our various stops. Always fun meeting people from other parts of the country/world. Cindy latched on to Young Phil at a bar in Boston. I made the mistake of giving him my business card with my email address at the end of the night. Have already heard from him. Pretty sure Cindy will recommend we adopt him.

It's pretty funny what people that have never been to Texas think it must be like down here. Even if they have. Residence Inn Manager said he'd been here and been to the restaurant where they "cut off your necktie." That's his image of Texas.

Gift Shop Owner in Kennebunkport asked me what would his family do on vacation in Dallas, especially since there are no mountains or beaches. Told him I'd never been on vacation in Dallas, so it was a bit of a tough question. Ended up telling him they could go to 6 Flags, water parks, Ranger Games, J.R. Ewing's Ranch, 6th Floor School Book Depository...and he can go get his necktie cut off.

Newport, we hardly knew ya

Gosh, how fast can 4 days go? We made our way to the Residence Inn about 5 miles from the Wharf area of Newport. Lots of fun things to see and do there and since we had so much time we tried not to get in a hurry about anything.

The most unusual aspect of Newport are all the Mansions that exist. The real deal. Not only magnificent, but really beautiful. Built in the Gilded Age by the "Captains of Commerce." Think Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, the Waltons,etc. in the 1800's. They lived in New York or elsewhere for 9 months of the year amassing great fortunes, and then moved to Newport for the summer. Their families lived a life of luxury, especially the children. The wives were the CEO's of the house which was quite an organization in itself with all the staff required to operate the house. Not to mention she may have 7 changes of clothes during the day for the various activities like riding, tennis, tea and entertaining. One can only imagine how stressful that might be.

There is a 3-mile trail called "Cliff's Walk" that can be walked along the coastline where the mansions overlook the ocean. Cool, misty day made it seem very "New Englandish." We toured the Vanderbilt mansion ("The Breakers") and one other. We sorta had the picture down after that, though there are many others that could be toured. Additionally, there are still mansions where people live today - obviously off limits to tourists.

Day #2 (Friday) we had wanted to take a ferry trip out to some island in the area, but rain had moved in overnight and rained most of the day. So, we went to Plan B. Took the "Ocean Drive" around the perimeter of Newport which was beautiful. We drove to Ft. Adams which is an historical part of the War of 1812. We looked at it from the outside and moved along. Someone had mentioned the Eisenhower House that was close by and drove out to it. Only one problem. It isn't open to the public. Used for private functions like weddings. Pretty sure the lady there thought we were crazy when we drove up to the front door and walked up on the porch.

The International Tennis Hall of Fame was our next destination. (See rainy days are okay.) Think Cooperstown and Canton except for everyone that's ever played tennis. Plus they have grass courts on site there and play an annual ATP tournament not to mention all the local tennis tourneys. It was really fascinating. Far more than I imagined. Great displays of all the people who are inductees with video boards that are self-guided. Lots of rooms set up with historic types of equipment and "outfits" that have evolved over the years. Okay, I'm not presenting this as very exhilarating, but if you're ever in the area, check it out. Four stars.

That night we decided to do a nice dinner...and no seafood. Gils and fins were starting to sprout on us. So we went to a really nice steak restaurant called "22 Bowen" on the Bowen Wharf and not named for the Boarding House I lived in Austin...that would be the Bowen House. And we dun good on dinner. Each had a steak we loved with some good fresh spinach and a little mac and cheese thrown in for good measure. Now all we needed was a sunny day for our last full day there.

And we got it. And actually the rain had worked to our advantage, because the location we thought we'd catch this ferry was really not operating until late June. Thus, we were able to get to this other location - Pt. Judith - by 10:30 Saturday morning to catch the ferry to Block Island. High speed ferry took only 30 minutes to get there, but was adventuresome in that it was high speed with a little choppy water. But, not Barking Crab choppy. :) Thank goodness.

Block Island is this 10 square mile island...that would be, I'd say, 2 miles wide by 5 miles long. So we'd seen the map of Block Island, it's roads around the perimeter, up the middle, various cross roads, etc. Someone had said, oh it's flat land so you can ride bikes all over. Plus there's mopeds/scooters you can rent. Once we got there and started walking a ways, we realized we needed some form of transportation. The terrain was actually very hilly. The guy that said it was flat must have been smoking something. Bikes were not going to do it going up all the hills. Mopeds were definitely a possibility, though we ain't kids any more so that appeared a little dicey. Then we saw it.

A Smart Car. One of the rental places had stashed behind their lot some Smart Cars. $25/hr for 3 hours. OUTSTANDING. We had motorized transportation, plus it was comfortable, had a radio and a convertible top. Now, that is the way to see an island. Had a great 3 hours scooting around in that. Had to replace the gas. Took one gallon. Went to really good restaurant for lunch on the far side of the island called The Oar. Cindy with one more lobster roll. I had some blackened mahi mahi, which I'm sure they had caught earlier that day in Hawai'i.

Caught our ferry back to Newport at 4:30. Went exploring down some little back streets of Newport and came across a neighborhood Pub. Really was. 3 TV's in the place all showing Futbol. Headed back to the hotel with plenty of time to leisurely pack and get ready for early Sunday flight from Providence.

Only one thing unexpectedly happened. Texas played Boston College in baseball Saturday Night, was not on tv, but was on an internet website and they played for a while longer than one would expect. Let's just say that I gave myself a 1:00 a.m. curfew for a game that began at 7 p.m. so that I could get 4 hours sleep. Thus, I got to see up to the beginning of the 22nd inning. OMG. It was mesmerizing. The opposing pitchers were mowing down batters one after the other. (And just now in real time, Texas scores EIGHT in the bottom of the 9th to eliminate the Army Black Knights and advance to the Super Regionals).

At any rate, one of the beauties of flying Southwest Airlines across the country is that you have plenty of opportunity to sleep and we did. And we made it. All flights were on time, going and coming.

Lots of catch up on the trip. So, probably will have a couple of more posts maybe. And my pictures. Got a gazillion. As always, you don't have to look at them, but hey, if you read all my crap, you probably want to see what the heck I was really talking about.

Love to all and see you soon.

Hooking on to Newport

Up till now weather had been pleasant in 60's and 70's, but on Tuesday night wet cold front blew thru dipping temps into 40's with rain most of the day. But, no prob, this is travel day to Newport...took Hwy 1 North so that we could go thru beach (New England definition) towns such as Wells and Ogunquit (picture above). See you later in Newport.

Here's where the Bushes live...in the summer

Hanging in Kennebunkport

Can understand why anyone would want to come up here for a summer retreat, regardless of their political persuasion. Very cute little town. Boats, water, big houses, restaurants, bars, shops... Cindy and I had a very comfortable 2 days here, even though we weren't here the entire time. Took a day trip to Portland along the coast...Highway 9 or 1, beautiful drive.

Their beaches? Are.not.swimable. But are beautiful to view and in middle of summer are eligible for picnics or wearing a wetsuit and getting in the water.

Best restaurant? The Hurricane. Great soup. Great salads. Great cocktails. Great service. We asked our waiter, Wally, if they stayed here year-round, and he said 9 months. Gone Jan-Mar. Said restaurant is over the water and it's impossible to heat the building, so they close down. In fact, there's hardly anyone who stays around here for 12 months. Hard to believe that people choose to live in places that is that desolate, but this is one.

Our B&B is really nice. Comfortable. Great bed. Nice sitting area. Good view looking out over the back yard towards nice acreage and water/boats in the distance. On 3rd floor, top room, skylight to the stars. And on first night, we're the only people in the house. 15 bedrooms. Second night - population doubles - another couple arrives from outside Boston.

This is typical of our entire week in New England. Vacation population is down. You would think after Memorial Day, traffic would increase, but not so. Everywhere the recession is hurting tourism.

On Tuesday, the day trip to Portland we are heading for Cape Elizabeth. Kristin has told us about a place to have lobster rolls at Cape Elizabeth; LJJ told us about cafe in Portland. We decided we can only have lobster roll at one place and Cape Elizabeth is the closest. I checked my notes. I got "Lobster Shack at Cape Elizabeth." On the road, the only place I see is "Two Lights State Park" at Cape Elizabeth. Haven't bothered anyone at home prior to now...bowl-hugging or no...and decide I should call KLF...and, God bless her, she's sitting at her computer, fires up her Google and goes, "...Go to the State Park, but don't go in; take the road to the left and it should dead end into the Lobster Shack." At that point we lost phone contact and lo and behold we drive straight into the Lobster Shack! Guess what? Best frickin' lobster roll you could imagine...well, unless you wanted to match it up with the Legal Seafood in Boston that James insisted we eat at, and then I'm not sure how in hell you would pick a winner. Somehow I didn't get a picture of the Lobster Shack, but did get the Lighthouse outside and shown above.

Definitely recommend Kennebunkport. Oh and we did see the Bush Compound and will had that picture above also. As a rule when people ask you where you are from here, and I can't imagine why they do that, and then we tell them "Texas" they want to know if we're with the Bushes. There's all sorts of responses we could give them...choose your own punchline...but, we just said, "no." (If you don't see a picture of the Bush home with the Texas flag (feintly seen lower than the US Flag next to Maine State Flag) it'll be on the next post.)

On to Newport. Though you may be watching Leno right now...Can't beat Letterman repeat last night with Tom Hanks - most outstanding performer in my lifetime, slightly ahead of Dustin Hoffman - but, best part of Leno tonight...James Taylor. What fricking goes around, comes around.

A Day for Remembering

Memorial Day 2009. A day to remember all those who have represented us in defending our freedoms all around the world.

At the Boston Marriott Copley Place excitement was abuzz. And not just because there wasn't anyone going to work that day. The NCAA Division I Lacrosse Finals was being played that day. The final two teams standing after playoffs leading up to the Finals (gosh! what a novel concept!) were Syracuse and Cornell, two New York schools who had lots of fans in town, not to mention the Orange team staying in the hotel. (FYI: The Division II and III championship games were played the previous day. In case you're wondering...DII: C.W.Post over LeMoyne; DIII: Cortland beat Gettysburg. Hey, where else can you get such comprehensive reporting??)

Meanwhile upstairs in a 32nd floor suite your weary travelers were really glad to see the sunlight of a new day. Seems the night was pretty rough. Your boy here set a new PB...Personal Best. Most "trips" in one night. And we're talking on all fours, bowl-hugging trips. A variety of New England Beers certainly contributed to this little ordeal, but a variety of rich foods seemed to greatly help create this result. The last evidence...please turn away if you have a soft constitution...jasmine rice. The Barking Crab had the final bark.

Never was a $2 ginger ale in the vending machine so welcome. But, hey, they don't give these traveling jobs to a couple of chimps. We managed to get all our stuff packed and downstairs, and then took off to pickup a rent car that we would have the rest of the week.

Figured out how to get out of Boston - it helped that it wasn't a work day - and took off for Kennebunkport. Went through 3 states in 2 hours...but in all fairness...it's further from Dallas to Waco. Found the town - it's over the 25-ft. bridge from Kennebunk - found our B&B, and then went for a late afternoon lunch at Alisson's(not misspelled). No clams or 3 kinds of beers. Things were picking up and more fun yet to come as we enter Phase II of Larry and Cindy Do New England.

Stay tuned.

When last we left

Our travelers were enjoying an extended weekend in Cosmopolitan Boston. On Sunday we headed down past the Financial District to the Seaport area. Two huge thunderstorms blew thru a couple hours apart. Luckily we were in a bar both times...first the Atlantic Beer Garden watching the rain-delayed Red Sox game...but their DirecTv gets no better signal than ours during a storm, so no tv watching anything else.

In between storms we caught the subway out to the UMass campus and went to the JFK Library (guess that's close enough to a museum to count it) and flew thru and got run out at the 6 p.m. closing time. Luckily it was dinner time, which meant time for our last scheduled recommended stop...The Barking Crab.

Had a minor run-in with the young lady taking names for the waiting list...she requested my credit card in exchange for their cutesy red lobster buzzer thingy. I told her nobody had ever asked me for a credit card in exchange for putting my name on a Waiting List. I could see her tossing it back to some other goofball. Then, I go "how am I supposed to buy drinks at your bar without my credit card?" Cindy, calmly, of course, informed the lady that she would use her credit card.

After 30 minutes in the bar and the 2nd thunderstorm of the day, we got seated. Believe it or not they actually had a little filing system with credit cards vs. buzzer numbers. Imagine that. Started with a bucket of steamed clams. Then we each went with the cod dinner - she with the potatoes side dish, I with the jasmine rice. It wouldn't be the last time I see any of that again.

Wherz Waldo?

This guy says he's going to blog and what's he do? He goes to a remote B&B in Maine and doesn't surface for 3 days. So, I got a lot of catching up to do here, and I don't know if I should go in chronological order, do a Benjamin Button and go backwards, or just give you a listing of every restaurant and bar we've been in. I can catch you up right away with the museums we've been to...nada.

Later.

Another Big Day in Beantown

Sorta slept thru breakfast, but as Avon always says, I got up before breakfast. We grabbed a Starbucks (had a coupon, otherwise would have definitly gone to Dunkin' Donuts since that is the coffee shop du jour of Boston...will explain at another time), hopped a Subway and headed to the Boston Commons area. Had a difficult time locating Charles Street of all places but eventually wound our way thru the park and found it. Then headed up to Paramount Deli. Very vundebar. By the time we got there we were ready for lunch, so Mrs. J had the Crabcake BLT and I went with standard deli fare - the grilled Reuben. Really liked the place. It's small. Had 30 minute wait, but those folks know what they're doing and the experience was great.

From there we found our way back over to the State House and then to Faneuil Hall and Qunicy Market. LOTS of people out on Saturday. But, from there we took the subway back to Fenway and landed there around 4:30 for 7:05 first pitch. More great fun. Went to the Cask and Flagon. When's the last time you went to a Rangers game and stood in line outside a bar to get in...2.5 hrs before game time? Guess I should amend that...when's the last time you went to a Rangers Game and there was a bar outside of the game?

The atmosphere is really great there. Lots of excitement in the air...on Yawkey Way...just outside the stadium...souvenir shops, food stands, beer stands, etc. and that's actually all INSIDE the area where they take/check your ticket. From that point, you can get food/drink and step right inside to the stadium and go to your seat. Had a sausage dog from El Tiente...i.e, Luis Tiant's place. And guess who was at game tonight? Louis Tiant himself.

Game atmosphere was great - LOTS of Mets fans...who had not had too much to cheer for until top 9 with two outs, guy hit a HR off top part of Green Monster - the only hit off of the GM tonight. To add to the suspense, the umps called it a double, but then huddled and reviewed it...then called it a HR. Mets stole victory from the jaws of defeat.

Just another day in Bostonaradise

Great day here. Apparently warmer here than in Dallas. Glad I brought a jacket and longsleeve shirt. Picture above is view from our 32nd floor hotel room in the Backbay area.

Started our day off with taking a Duck tour...led by our ConDUCKtor. Ha! Historical. Great information. Rode in vehicle that was used in WWII to carry soldiers as they invaded Normandy. Or somewhere. Sounds good for Memorial Day. Really. Seriously.

Best story by the ConDUCKtor: the Duck vehicles are used whenever there's a parade for a Championship for one of the Boston teams - and there's been plenty recently - the Sawx, the Celtics, the Pats...anyways, last year this guy was driving some of the Celts in the parade including Paul Pierce..and they were all smoking cigars, ala victory smokes in honor of Red Auerbach...and Pierce had never smoked before...and he ended up having to come up to the front of the "Duck" and laying on the floor b/c he was sick as a dog. Go figure.

And as we speak...Turkoglu makes a 3 that appears to be the gamewinner with 1.0 second left, but then LaBron with tha Rainbow 3 to win 96-95.

Great lunch at Legal Seafood, though I pulled the misspeak..."Should we ask this lady where Boston Legal is?" And Cindy goes, "uh, it's Legal Seafood." But, outstanding Lobster Roll and Lobster bisque and oysters on the half shell. That's what I'm talking about.

After afternoon rest, headed to the North End buying our first "T" ticket and riding the subway up there. Great afternoon watching kids romp in the fountains, and dogs run in the park. Saw Paul Revere's house and then head to the Florentine Cafe for pre-dinner cocktail. Met a guy named Phil. Local guy. 24 yrs old. Has been to Florida but that was the furthest he's been out of New England. Wants to go to Texas. Wants to see San Antonio b/c of the River Walk. And wants to go to Midland...but, not sure why. He asked for my card, so Phil may be showing up on our doorstep some time.

Went to dinner at Villa Francesca, courtesy of recommendation from Jim and Janet Sheppard. Outstanding food. Absolutely delicious. Met a young couple sitting next to us - close quarters - very friendly. From Albany NY. They had two sons 6 and 2. Have only been to 3 states - NY, Conn, and Mass. He said that it must be great to have such a variety of College Football in Texas and Oklahoma. Said the only D1 team in the state of NY is Syracuse and they suck. In Mass...they have BC. Everything else is DII or DIII. Never thought about that. We are lucky to live in Texas and/or Oklyhoma. As if we didn't know that.

For desert we headed to Mike's Pastry. Chocolate chip canoli. Chocolate mousse canoli. M&M pretzel. Black/white cookie. Good thing we have a fridge in our room. Great room. See picture above.

Tomorrow: Red Sawx.

Love to all.

Timeout from Vacation: This guy was the one that declined the White House Invitation

This is the guy that said the only reason he was invited to the White House was b/c the Steelers won the Super Bowl. And if they had lost Obama would have invited the Arizona Cardinals. Per Jon Stewart, " My god, you've cracked the code."

And this just across the wire: Harrison's son was bit by his pit bull. Not expected to be life threatening. "There's no reason to believe that this is anything other than something that sometimes happens to children."

Oh, brother.

Just a Hop, Skip and Jump to get to Boston

As long as Southwest Airlines is not allowed to fly Non-Stop to the East Coast from Dallas, they should come up with some kinda marketing slogan to promote their flights here. Something like Hop, Skip and Jump. That's what we did today. We hopped to St. Louis, skipped to Philadelphia, and jumped to Providence. Not the quickest ways, but hey, it's free and that's Cindy's favorite price.

Speaking of, we're staying at the Boston Marriott where the Craigslist robberies of "erotic service females" apparently took place. Tonight, after dinner, we're riding elevator and there is a female aboard who looks like she may be one of the aforementioned 'call girls.' After we got back to the room, Cindy said people shouldn't be so hard on those girls. "They're just trying to make 'ends meet.'" That's what I'm talking about!

Rangers lost again, Sawx won again, Lakers-Thuggets close in the 3rd.

Duck Tour tomorrow. Until we meet again.

What will a Triple Play do for you?

Rangers just turn one and come up in top of 5th with ONE hit in Detroit thru 13 innings...

T - 1/2...and counting down to Launch

Took Oliver into his home away from home. Those people are really good actors, or they just really love Oliver. But, anyways (:)), the little girl that was going to lead him away, asks me, "Should we feed him?" I must have had the strangest look ever from a customer. "Uh, yeah, please. We're going to be gone 10 days." She goes, "no, I mean, has he been fed today?" How is it possible I've gotten more simple-minded the older I get? Something about this full cycle we all ultimately go thru. Hopefully.

In case anyone's wondering how we're getting to Boston, it's by way of Providence. And if you don't know where those places are, it looks like this:

http://www.mapquest.com/maps?1c=Dallas&1s=TX&2c=Providence+&2s=RI#a/maps/l:::Dallas:TX::US:32.783298:-96.800003:city:Dallas+County:1/l:::Providence:RI::US:41.823898:-71.4133:city:Providence+County:1/l:::Boston:MA::US:42.358299:-71.060303:city:Suffolk+County:1/m::3:37.556343:-83.906248:0:::::/io:1:::::f:EN:M:/e

Please follow us on our journey that starts on Thursday.

And it's T-1

Celebrated Laura's Birthday in advance, as well as James' GaTown Law Graduation, down in the Bishop Arts at Eno's Tavern. Excellent outing. Came home to a couple of quick hours of Tivo, watching the 4th qtr of the Thuggets - Lakers. Actually rooting for the Thugs to take down the Lakes to make the Mavs look better, and despite leading a large part of the game they go down by 2 pts, the last lead change coming on a lame foul called allowing Kobe the King to go to the line. Oh well.

And my first tivo'ed Rangers game of the year - afterall, doesn't everyone have Rangers fever...and they get shutout, PLUS, get a grand total of ONE hit. Am I a Jinx or what?

Time out for baseball stat of the night: Joel Zumaya, Detroit relief pitcher throws it real hard. Like 100 mph hard. Last year he threw 18 pitches over 100 mph. The rest of the American League - every other pitcher on all 30 teams - threw 19 pitches over 100 mph. No wonder they call him Joel Zoom-by-ya.

Okay, as you were.

There will be no Boston playoffs while we're there

Celtics lose Game 7 tonight vs Magic. Bruins lose G7 vs Carolina Hurricanes this week. Rough week for Beantown. Sawx aren't playing especially well. Maybe we'll bring some Rangers good luck to them.

James Taylor - Getting Ready for Beantown

What better way to prepare for a trip to Boston than to go to a James Taylor Concert. Can you believe he came to Dallas, of all places? Last year (2008) I thought I'd check to see where the boy was going to be playing and the entire year he was in the U.K. except for one weekend at Tanglewood in Boston - and it was our Anniversary, Aug.24 - but we ended up with conflicts and couldn't go then.

This year he decides to tour and lo and behold he comes to the Texas State Fair Music Hall. Wow. A New England Liberal Musician playing in Dallas Texas! And the weekend before we go to Boston. Went with Bobby and Suzie and it was a grand occasion. Great performance. Over two hours. His voice was strong. His song list was outstanding. His back-ups superb.

But, don't take my word for it. Below is link to the DMN Music Critic:

http://www.guidelive.com/sharedcontent/dws/ent/overnight/stories/DN-taylor_0517gd.State.Edition1.44d8393.html

Overall, a great way for getting into that Boston frame of mind.

It really is baseball season

Mavs blow game 3 at home, despite the NBA acknowledging the officiating screw-up. BUT, the Mavs did not execute down the stretch like they should have. Ends up costing them the series. Cindy and I went to Game 4 and had a great time helping the Mavs do what they couldn't do in Game 3 - Finish! But, down 3-1 the inevitable happened, losing to the much more talented, more athletic, more obnoxious (especially their head coach - Fat Face George Karl).

If we're going to transition to baseball this is the right time. The Rangers are hot. Maybe red hot. They win 2 straight on walk-off hits which is always an exciting way to win. The Dallas Morning News (DMN) had the best headline - "Party at the Plate" - referencing the team piling on the winning runner as he crosses home. 2.5 game lead on Angels heading into Saturday game vs. the Halos.

5 days until we leave for Boston. Then this blog is really going to pick up steam(ers). Yahoo!

It's already picking up steam(ers). Just posted a random picture to see how that works. :)

Not the way this was supposed to start

Mavs ran into the buzzsaw that is the Denver Nuggets. Dropped the first two games at Denver. Were competitive for 3+ quarters, but then got buried at the end of each. Heading home for two games where it becomes imperative to win both. Will watch Saturday game at Burks house with tv front row seat. Monday Night will require me to attend the game and do my deadlevel best to amp up the AAC and make the Nuggets doubt themselves.

Poor Dirk. Gets scammed by some woman he picked up somewhere. At least he suspected something wasn't right with her and sicked the cops on her. Wonder if he wishes he had some litle German girl in tow instead of some of these scary Texas women. And this all happens after he was subject to public dissing of his toughness by Barkley, Webber and Kenny Smith on TNT. Us Mavs fans know he's a Warrior on the court. He'll now have to prove his toughness off the court and not let his private life, which ain't so private anymore, affect his game on the court.

Except for Bryan Adams Cougar alum Kenyon Martin throwing Dirk to the floor early in Game 1, there's not been outlandish beyond-the-rules punching and elbowing like has broken out in the Lakers-Rockets and Celtics-Magic. Probably means it's time for the Mavs-Nugs to evolve in such behavior. If only we had Jerry Stackhouse healthy.

While this has all been going on, the little Rangers have been quietly moving up the AL West standings all the way to the top! Five game winning streaks will heal whatever ails you. Unfortunately today the twosome of Brandon McCarthy and Kris Benson allowed the Oakland A's to bomb away in an afternoon game ending the win streak 9-4. Heard someone state the other day that teams playing afternoon games on the road on "get-away-day" lost biggest percentage of time. Oh brother. Soundling like Norm. On to Chicago for the Rangers for weekend 3 game series vs the White Sox.

Seems there should be way to end a blog - you know a summary or conclusion. But, haven't come up with one yet.

Later, that same day

Can't imagine this blog will be very serious. Sorta like my life. Sports and fun things.

Tonight the Rangers bust one open 9-1 vs White Sox and the Umps let them play during rain so that the game will be official. They'll probably now call it since the Heavens have descended.

Anxiously awaiting Game 1 of Mavs vs Nuggets in Denver on Sunday afternoon. Nice treat to be the first game of the Second Round. Mavs traveled to Denver today so they could get a practice in in the Mile High City. Definite underdogs. But will be prepared to play. All hail to Coach Carlisle. Mavs have very good leader this year, as opposed to last year when the Little General had worn out his welcome and the players had all but jumped ship.

Hello World

Wow, this really is the first day of the rest of my life. Wonder what sweetness lies ahead. Only The Shadow knows.