soapbox

So, even though it sucks when Big Papi has to take a break for an injury (get well soon!), you do get some quality Tito quotes out of the whole lineup shuffle that inevitably takes place:

“Manny was all excited about hitting third yesterday,” Francona said. “He didn’t get a hit, so he wants it right back at fourth. That’s the extent of that baseball genius.”

Now that’s comedy gold there, people, let me tell you!

In other news, it was great to see Lester back and pitching pretty darned well after last year’s scary run-in with cancer. He got a little frazzled after giving up the 2-run homer, but he held it together well in the end and gave a solid start. Welcome back, Jon! Welcome back indeed!

On Mike’s orders, I am setting up a post for everyone to list “must get” applications for a new Macintosh.  Please list any software that you think a new user should have.  I recommend Firefox and Thunderbird for all your web and e-mail needs.

I’m back home from a weeklong conference trip, and have two interesting things to report.

First, I managed to get a little bit over 34 mpg for the 700 or so miles that I drove. Sticking it in 6th and cruising at 70 apparently works well. (Especially since the window sticker claims I should have only gotten 31 mpg.)

Second, if you ever want to drive a pucker-inducing road, try Route 321 S out of Johnson City, TN, towards Boone, NC. There’s a 30 mile stretch where you never go straight for more than 1000 feet, where occasionally one side of the road is up against a hill and the other side is up against nothing, where kudzu has completely removed the ability to see around curves, and where the road designers were apparently in love with decreasing radius turns. Oh yeah, no shoulders either.

Managed to get the brakes pretty hot through some sections there and my milage definitely wasn’t in the 30s. I think though with 2 or 3 runs through it to really understand the road, it could be a really impressive ride.