Year: 2011

9-5 12-5 5-1

We got our baseball preview issue of Sports Illustrated last week and guess which team they picked to win the American League East? The Boston Red Sox. They picked the Red Sox to beat the A’s in the Division Series and the Sox to beat Twins to win the American League and play the Giants in the World Series. Who did they pick to win the World Series? Right. The Red Sox. SI isn’t the only ones singing the praises of the Boys from Beantown this year either.

Maybe the players believed with all that good press and they would just have to show up to crush their enemies, see them driven before themselves, and to hear the lamentation of their women! Or maybe they forgot that this season started before the first weekend in April not after it. But for whatever reason, the FRS were soundly beaten by the Texas Rangers in the first three games of the season by a combined score of 26 to 11 (see post title.)

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
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Aiken Horse Show

The above is not a photo run through some sort of plug in filter to make it look “artistic”, but an actual image captured by my digital camera (click on the image to see what it should look like.) It started today while we were at the 2011 Aiken Horse Show in Hitchcock Woods. All of a sudden the LCD on the back of the camera looked all purple and scrambly. I spun the mode dial and it cleared up. It happened again and I cleared the same way. It would crap out randomly, sometimes I’d get 10 pictures and others only a couple. After awhile nothing would get it out of “Purple Expressionist” mode, even resetting the camera to its default state. Do you think I need a new camera? I do.

So I did some shopping this evening and ended up buying another Panasonic. The recently deceased TZ3 was purchased in August of 2007 and if I can interpret the file numbering system it took 5,946 images. The new camera is a model ZS5 that is 12 megapixels instead of 7 and has a 12x zoom instead of 10 with a slightly wider angle setting of 25mm instead of 28. It has a panorama assist mode and those manual exposure controls I wanted back in 2007, but didn’t get. At 7.3oz it is 2oz. lighter and is almost exactly the same overall size. The LCD viewfinder is a bit smaller at 2.7 inches instead of 3, but that should help increase battery life. (I wonder if they use the same one?) It is black in color instead of blue, $100 cheaper and should be here Wednesday.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
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Papercraft Tease

These two items are from my next papercraft project. What do a Rubik’s Cube and a plastic insulated cooler have in common? This one will take some time and a whole lot of patience. When completed it will be considered my thesis for my Master’s in Papercraft.

Started up, went down, still down.
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Greg’s Wet Car

I guess he took enough ribbing on Monday and Wednesday about not bringing the new car out in the rain, that today, in spite of the forecast of more rain, Greg did drive it to work. Or maybe it was because he had an appointment to get the windows tinted in the afternoon, but whatever the reason, there Jackie O was, covered in raindrops in a very damp parking spot this morning.

Started up, still up.
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Greg’s New Car

The wait is finally over, Greg got his new Camaro convertible on Saturday. He drove it most of the way home with the top down, but some gray clouds on the horizon made him stop and put the top up and according to him it was a good thing, as he just made it into his garage before the skies opened up.

The photo above is a simulation of Greg’s new car because he has decided not to drive it in the rain and it has been raining a lot around here lately (actually he did drive it to work yesterday, but I forgot to take a picture.) I may totally explain the blue glove later, but it was for something similar to last year’s great roach kidnapping caper. The car is painted a sharp looking orange metal flake with black stripes and the interior is black leather with orange inserts. Not my cup of tea, but God bless the individuals who buy cars that outrageous.

I heard Greg on the phone to his wife on Tuesday afternoon telling her how much fun it was to drive, but the car hadn’t told him its name yet. He did say it was definitely a she though. I haven’t told Greg that I have a name for his car and it is Jackie O. This is not a reference to JFK’s widow, but a reference to the car’s color scheme and it is short for Jackie-O-Lantern.

Started up, still up.
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Paparecraft Propaganda

Papercraft Propaganda by Paper Tom. It is supposed to put you in mind of an old school Soviet statue.

I was out of contention in the NCAA Basketball Pool after last week and after this weekend’s games everyone is out of it. We still have the first winner, second place and third place winners, plus the Booby Prize for finishing last, but no one has any more points to gain. Of the teams in the Final Four, only 3 people had Kentucky, 2 people picked UCONN & one person picked Butler to make it that far. Of those 6 people, no one picked any of those three teams to move on, thus rendering next weekend’s Final Four irrelevant.

Started up, still up.
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Mmmm…Pancakes

Unlike usual, the MMC’s monthly breakfast was held on the fourth Saturday instead of the third. Like last year, the March breakfast was at the North Augusta Optimists Club Annual Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser.

Somehow, I don’t think they will be using my this year’s picture on next year’s flyer like they did with last year’s picture this year.

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
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