Scooter Chronicles

While out of town for business, I finished reading “Circus of the Grand Design” by Robert Freeman Wexler.

Thanks to Publishers Weekly and Amazon.Com, here is a quick synopsis:

A traveling circus with an otherworldly pedigree serves as a supportive surrogate family for a directionless young man in this diverting traipse through the terrain of magic realism. Lewis, an amiable slacker, is fleeing after accidentally burning down a Long Island beach rental when he bumps into Joseph Dillon, enigmatic ringmaster of the Circus of the Grand Design. Dillon hires him for...

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I will be heading out of town for business this afternoon. This will be my first business trip since Nigel was born. I will be away three nights, which I am not looking forward to. Not only being away from Marcia that long (I did have two nights away on business a few years ago), but I am really going to miss the Munchkin Man. Neither Marcia nor I have been away from him for more then a handful of hours. At his age, I am sure he won’t really notice. Maybe he will, but given his penchant for playing and getting into things, he won’t be missing me very long.

It was a two week round this time around. The AFL has each of it’s teams take a week off in the middle of the season, but it’s done over the course of two weeks. So it was a long time coming, but the Philadelphia Freedom squeaked by with a 890-824 win over the Montreal Saints. Next week will be the Liberty Cup Match against the Milwaukee Robins. Since Philly is the birth place of our independence, my team hosts this game every season. The opponent has changed every season (though always another American based team).

The Freedom are still holding fast to second place after this week. Here is the ladder:

...

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Pointless, But Interesting Trivia
Yesterday, June 21, a famous TV actress and a famous TV actor both celebrated their 60th birthdays. They were Meredith Baxter and Michael Gross. I thought that was rather interesting given that they played Mr. and Mrs. Keaton on “Family Ties”

Lack of Songwriting Talent
Yesterday on my way home from work, the CD I was playing started skipping. So I took it out and started scanning the radio stations. Like usual when doing this, I ended up landing on Lehigh University’s radio station where they were playing some pretty good tunes from some new releases by well established musicians. Eventually they got to another song that they didn’t...

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I review every book I read these days and post them here on my site. Since David helped me create it (originally through Blogger), I have read and reviewed 97 books (95 of them were fiction). But out of boredom recently, I was looking through some old files that I had lying around and found a spread sheet of a list of books I had read and some brief thoughts each one. I decided to pick out the good ones and list them here, with new comments.

“2001: A Space Odyssey” by Arthur C. Clarke
This was the book that began my strong desire to read. A couple of co-workers were discussing the movie version and I mentioned that I didn’t understand what was happening at the beginning of the movie. Like...

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Rush – “Counterparts”

Tracks:

1. Animate
2. Stick it Out
3. Cut to the Chase
4. Nobody’s Hero
5. Between Sun and Moon
6. Alien Shore
7. The Speed of Love
8. Double Agent
9. Leave That Thing Alone
10. Cold Fire
11. Everday Glory

Somewhat of a momentous moment for my “Favorite Album” series. This is the first recording artist to grace the list for the second time. (Even though a few particular individuals have been on the list more then once, including Geddy Lee, who makes his third appearance here.) I used the term “fanboy”...

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Night Night Nigel
It depends on who you talk to, but some say that a baby’s first words can be pinpointed when they say sounds that identifies something. Meaning that it is the same sound that always identifies that thing. Nigel has yet to say a real word that is clear, but over the last two weeks he has a strong grip on something that sounds awful close to “night night” when we say it to him. It has even reached the point that we don’t even have to say “night night”, but “it’s bedtime”, or “good night”, and he will reply with his version of “night night.”

Marcia and I are trying to find ways to make him talk. Sometimes it is tough...

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On Father’s Day I read the famed novella “The Old Man and the Sea” by Ernest Hemingway in it’s entirety.

The story is about Santiago, an old Cuban fisherman that heads out to the waters, farther then normal, to try and catch something after 84 days of nothing. Using very old methods, the “old man” hooks into an enormous marlin, but even he doesn’t realize how big it is until later. His fight seems to first end in triumph, but it soon turns to what the old man wishes was just a dream.

When I received my copy of this book (thank you BookMooch), I was surprised to...

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On Saturday evening I finished reading the historical baseball novel “The Veracruz Blues” by Mark Winegardner.

Thanks to Publishers Weekly and Amazon.Com, here is a brief synopsis:

Using real names and events, Winegardner playfully recounts how in 1946 one quixotic man nearly established a third, fully integrated major baseball league in Mexico. In 1994, the year without a World Series, aging baseball reporter Frank Bullinger Jr. sets out to write about “The Season of Gold” of 1946. Although Bullinger shapes the story, he frequently steps aside for chapters told...

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I want to send along wishes of a Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads out there that I know. Though most especially to my Dad.