Happy Birthday Ken Burns!

Yay! to celebrate I forsee watching discs 2-4 of The Civil War tonight.

My heart going boom boom boom

The Shining was nothing like this trailer promised.

God only knows how much worse my recent phase of nightmares will get now that I've finally seen it.

Overheard in Chicago

The other day on the train there were these two guys that got on (middle aged white men) and one of them sat down next to me and immediately I got a whiff of that wet-the-bed odor. Yuck, anyway, after I got over that, Man #1 opened the Red Eye and started reading some stats on ethnic make-up of different neighborhoods, stating some out loud to Man #2. Then this happened
Man #1: No, you'd be white non-hispanic.
Man #2: I'm not white, I'm German.
Man #1: Oh, I guess you'd be other. What is other? You're either black, white, Asian or Hispanic, what the hell is other?
Man #2 sits silently looking uncomfortable.
Man #1 finally says: Maybe other is Ecuadorian. It must be Ecuadorian.
Man #2: Where is Ecuador?


I just had to share.

Speaking of overheard tidbits, my bro overheard a gem at the beach, check it out

"Punch" A.J.

Hey everyone in blogland. Please go here (then click the appropriate link below the headline) and vote for A.J. Pierzynski for the final spot on the all star roster. You can vote 25 times per email address.

It was glorious when A.J. got his revenge on the Cubs' catcher Barrett by hitting the 3-run homer to win Saturday's game at Wrigley. (and despite having to go to Wrigley to see it I'm glad I was there) But it would be even more beautiful for him to get to the All-Star game through this ingenious campaign.

By the way, I have to say my first experiences at Wrigley were not that great and honestly I don't care to ever return. I was going to go on with a list of complaints but there's no point. I'm sure people love it for their reasons just as I love Sox Park for mine. But I came to this town totally neutral, if not leaning for the Cubs (after all I am from Iowa). But after experiencing obnoxious fans on the train, in and around Wrigleyville and now inside their own park I know I made the right choice. I would be ashamed if I were associated with them after seeing what the fans did to the field on Saturday--throwing cups and trash and cubs hats--out on the field because of A.J.'s homer. What sorry sad losers. I was also annoyed by having to watch where I was walking because there was so much trash on the concourses as we left, come on people throw your stuff away in cans like civilized people.

Anyway, that's all. Now go vote for A.J.