Matthew

I've been able to borrow from a friend all seven volumes of Thomas Merton's journals. I'm on volume one: Run to the Mountain: The Story of a Vocation The Journal of Thomas Merton, Volume 1: 1939-1941. Very interesting to see the bad and boring theology Merton writes before his entrance into the monestry, but not surprising. The first volume discloses a very disjointed person, who is striving to get the different aspects of his life together. On the plus side, he is very interested in the world and in the arts, and these topics are the most interesting part of volume one. Very daunting to see all the pages I have to wade through on these journals though, but I think it'll be worth it.

Sad times at the org. to be sure. I was one of those who left at the end of 2007 because of the "tone" that had developed. I came back (not that anyone cared), but for what it's worth, the problem here is not moderation, but one common sense. If people cannot take a step back a understand what they post can have a negitive effect on people, then there is no hope for them. You can be creative, tell the truth, and disagree with someone, and not turn everything into a flame war. I pm'd Jim back in 2007 that he should shut the board down, I'm starting to feel that way now -- not all the way, but starting. Jim has a family and a real life away from this board, and if this is causing him distress, it's not worth it. Why add something that is stressfull to your life, when a person probably has enough stress as it is?

Neither game was too great yesterday. Orlando vs. Cleveland will be interesting, I don't think it'll be a walkover for the Cavs, and I just have a feeling that LA & Denver will go seven games.

The "big city" huh? Must be moving to Silverton... Good luck, we'll be waiting.

Who the heck are Madden and LaRussia? I meant Joe Maddon & Tony La Russa. Since I'm such a terrible speller, I usually check on the ESPN website to spell names. This time, to no one's surprise, I didn't.

They (meaning the Red Sox) are playing brutally atrocious baseball and if it doesn't change fast, they will find themselves with only the Orioles beneath them in the standings. Its fucking ugly and I have no reason to feel remotely good about this team. Shitty starting pitchers. Inconsistent offense. And no one can play SS and field the ball. Not to mention the DH who shall remain nameless. Will it even matter that they are now finished with West Coast trips for the rest of the year? I'm not expecting one in October, that's for fucking sure. Boston is playing some strange baseball right now, that's for sure. Beckett, I don't know what to make of him at this point, talk about inconsistant -- he goes from pitch to pitch in quality. I'm not a big fan of his, but Jason Bay impressed with his play over the series, and I really got to appreciate Jacoby Ellsbury & Dustin Pedroia, very classy players. The rest of the team however? Otiz sitting down for all three games? Franconia has to start getting worried pretty soon, though it looks like no one is going run away with the East right now. Re: Joe Madden. If he and Tony LaRussia were in the same room, they would have nothing to talk about since they both know everything.

Did I just see the Mariners take advantage of a Boston error and win in the bottom of the 9th? I think I did at that! These are not your 2008 Mariners by any means, they actually have some heart. I digging very much taking 2 of 3 from Boston, it will make for a nice flight to Seattle tomorrow.

Oh My Gosh!!!! Those old Padre pictures are really a walk down memory lane for me. I wasted my youth at Padre games at the Murph'. We lived five minutes from the Stadium, so my parents would drop me off at the game, then pick me up after the game (no one was worried about some kid-teen ager by themselves at the game in those days) -- imagine, ticket prices in those days for G.A. was $2.50. Brodrick Perkins, Nate Colbert, Johnny Jeter, Reberto Pena, "Number 11, Enzo Hernandez!" Too bad he didn't have Al "The Bull" Ferrera, who hit a home run in the very first MLB game I saw. Weird baseball story about one of my boyhood heroes, Willie "3 Dog" Davis. This takes place when Davies was on the downside of his career. Willie Davis is on first, with Reggie Smith at the plate. Reggie hits a line-drive single to right, where Dave Winfield catches it on one bounce, Winfield looks up, and he sees 3 Dog, dogging it to second base, says to himself: "What the heck!!??!!" Guns a throw to second, and forces out Davis at second base -- that's right, a force out at second! I couldn't believe it. Wow, thanks a 1,000,000 for the link! It is bringing back so many memories! You got to love those hedious yellow Padre uniforms. PS: Davis was with the Cardinals at the time of the play. When he got forced out at second, at first base, Reggie Smith jumped high in the air, and then threw down his helmet in disgust.

What the heck has gotten into Yuni???? First time up tonight -- two run homer!

Thanks to mmilovan: The June Christy part of The Complete Peggy Lee & June Christy Capital Transcription Sessions. June Christy

Yeah, there is just something about Christy's voice that hits me where I live....

Bill Lawrence must have special pictures of someone at ABC.

Well, now I've seen everything -- John Lackey thrown out of the game after two pitches! First one, behind the batter. Second pitch hits the batter. You're out of the game. Wow!

Looks like there will be a season 9 to Scrubs. Mass panic on the internet over the move by Scrubs fans, people jumping off the ledges as I type. Geesh, it's only a tv show, I love it, and I hoped this was the finale, but life goes on, if season 9 is good, great! If it stinks, I think I will somehow survive....

Stange as it may seem, Capitol was able, during that era, to do tasteful emotional excess (if that's possible??). Now, when singers tackle this kind of material, they always make sure you know that they're above taking the emotional content seriously, which, to me, is a huge loss for music. I often wonder if the emotional aspect, and at times, way over the top emotions at that, is, in a way, too honest for out times.

Ichiro was just light out against Lester last night. Good win for the Mariners. I was very surprised that Papi sat down against Jakubauskas, Jak is the kind of pitcher that Big Papi could get some good hacks off. Of course, the big event last night was Yuni Betancourt getting not just one, but two walks in the game. Pigs are now flying around SafeCo field as we write this. It's Garrett Olson vs. Beckett tonight, looks like a huge mismatch, we'll wait and see what happens

Darn, this is sad.

Disk two this morning. This is really good stuff.

Yeah, the Mariners are sinking fast in the west, still hoping for .500 though. Would not be surprised if there isn't a fire sale come June or July. Beltre gone, Bedard gone, Washborn gone, maybe even Felix..... Most likely a three game sweep by the Red Sox, once you're past Bedard & Hernandez, the pickings are very slim, I don't think Washborn can keep going like he has for much longer. It's going to take a long time to recover from the damage that Bavasi did to this team.

Now Dan, relax, you just know they're going lose 2 out of three to the Mariners this weekend. Chuck: .429 isn't too bad....

Amen to that, and I'm not sorry if it offends, it was just "Friends" set in a hospital. You're not far off. They even admitted as much in a roundabout way in one episode when either the janitor or Dr. Cox was giving JD & Elliot grief about them being like Ross & Rachel. "From Friends?" "No, Ross the doctor and Rachel the nurse. Now THAT'S a cute couple." (Going from memory here) I mentioned earlier about Zach Braff not having much range, and at this point, the same can also be said of Sarah Chalke. Shame, too, because her character was cute without being cloying, alluring without being slutty, and just the right bit of nuttiness to become endearing. Unfortunately, her character ended up being cloying, slutty, and anything BUT endearing. Okay, so the writers ruined her character; that's not an indication of anything else, right? Not to those of us who watch "How I Met Your Mother" and saw Chalke basically reprise her Elliott character as one of Ted's love interests. (And she worked in the medical field on THIS show as well! Talk about type-casting!) Imagine our shock when she came back for the last two episodes of this season. Hopefully, it's just a two-episode deal. But it looks as though she's only capable of playing whiny, sex-obsessed neurotics. Either that or she needs to get a better agent who can get her better parts, because I think she's still quite attractive. I also hated what the writers did to Sarah Chalke, things really went downhill for Dr. Elliot in terms of quality, especially after Molly Clock (Heather Graham) went away. The final season was especially painful, to see a once vibrant character descend into a cardboard cut-out. That Miss. Chalke can do better is proved by her performance in Why I Wore Lipstick To My Mastectomy, where she was very good and believable.

Very Interesting Article on Manny and PED's

Will someone please shut Joe Morgan up! I mean, no thought left unspoken. Please Joe, Shut Up!!

Scrubs: Season one, disk one. Yes, I'm going to go through the entire eight seasons, from beginning to end.

I didn't know you lived in Southern California also...