Monday, November 29, 2004
The week that was …
What a weekend: turkey, corn, Cats, shopping, family, football, the turnpike and James Bond. That was my Thanksgiving … My wife & I left our home in Wexford on Tuesday afternoon and arrived in Downingtown after a long 270+ mile trip. I’ve driven the turnpike 50-60 times in my life, so the trip was pretty much the same old, same old. The turnpike toll collectors strike didn’t effect me because I have EZ pass.
My parents took us to see Cats at the Walnut Street Theater on Wednesday night: I was pretty impressed by the performance. I had never seen it before, so I knew nothing of the story, but I liked what I saw. My wife & I are cat people, so the performance (based on a collection of short stories by T.S. Eliot) was a lot of fun … on our way there we drove by the stadiums. Remarkably I hadn’t seen them in their finished glory, so, much to my wife’s amusement, I was craning my neck as we drove on I-95 to scope them out … they loomed out of the night mist like ghostly apparitions … I remember when my father took me to games at the Vet I used to stare at the ships moored in the Philadelphia Naval Yard. I haven’t changed much in 20+ years.
Thursday it was off for a day of football and turkey. This was the first time my wife had come to Thanksgiving in Southeastern PA, and only the second time she had met a lot of people there (the first being our wedding in September). We had a lot of fun catching up with people and hanging out. I typically don’t get to see too much of my extended family, living about 300 miles away. My poor wife had trouble getting into the holiday spirit because she missed the parades on TV. Too me, if I’m watching the Detroit Lions get their behinds whooped, it’s Thanksgiving.
That evening I kept us up until Midnight watching Pitt surprise West Virginia in the Backyard Brawl 16-13. I was surprised by how stout Pitt’s defense was against the Mountaineers rushing attack: time and again they’d run until the line and Pitt tacklers would wrap them up for no gain. Thanks to Syracuse’ surprise upset of Boston College on Saturday (thank you, Orangemen), Pitt has the inside track on the Big East’s BCS bowl bid, provided they defeat South Florida. When I was a sophomore at Pitt I watched them get thumped by Ohio State 72-0. The idea that they are on the cusp of playing in the Fiesta Bowl blows my mind.
Friday we met a friend of ours at the King of Prussia mall for lunch (at the Bamboo Club, by the way: very good food). She’s a doctor in Philly (she was also one of my wife’s bridesmaids) so she has an erratic schedule. After that her and my wife did shopping while I walked around. I love the King of Prussia mall: Nordstrom’s, Bloomingdale’s, Lord & Taylor … we have nothing even roughly comparable in Pittsburgh. There are so many interesting and eclectic stores in King of Prussia. They recently opened a bigger mall in Robinson Township, near the Pittsburgh Airport, but it was your usual mall staples: Hallmark, Abercrombie & Fitch, the Gap, etc. I’d love to have an Organized Living or an Urban Outfitters around here.
I didn’t buy much: an Eagles t-shirt and an Eagles “fan pack” at Model’s… they had Phillies sweatshirts on sale 50% but I didn’t buy it. I really regret not getting a Buffalo Bills Eric Moulds jersey they had on sale for $15 … I always thought my wife was obsessive in shopping on Black Friday, but they have some terrific deals … Saw The Incredibles on Friday night. Great movie, although it was very different from previous Pixar offerings: much more adult and darker. I enjoyed the movie a lot though … Saturday my wife and my mom went to a baby shower while my dad and I bought a tree and watched Syracuse stun BC. We watched the 007 flick Diamonds Are Forever on Spike. I love that Spike runs all of the 007 films and includes Brosnan’s films in the mix. I love the job Brosnan did as 007: he had the right mix of humor and charisma that eluded Lazenby, Moore and Dalton. Diamonds is probably Connery’s best performance as 007 (also his last, unless you count “Never Say Never Again”). Here are my favorite 007 flicks, by actor:
Connery:
Goldfinger
Diamonds Are Forever
From Russia With Love
Thunderball
You Only Live Twice
Dr. No
Brosnan:
Die Another Day
The World is Not Enough
Tomorrow Never Dies
Goldeneye
Moore / Dalton / Lazenby:
For Your Eyes Only (M)
The Spy Who Loved Me (M)
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (L)
Live and Let Die (M)
License to Kill (D)
The Living Daylights (D)
Moonraker (M)
The Man With the Golden Gun (M)
A View to a Kill (M)
The next day my wife & I drove back, getting home just in time to watch a little Desperate Housewives … I know a lot has been happening in the sports world. The Eagles victory over the Giants clinched their fourth consecutive NFC East title and their fifth consecutive playoff berth. Incredible to think that since Andy Reid took over the Birds in 1999 they’ve gone 61-30 in the regular season, and 5-4 in the playoffs … this is a record of unparalleled achievement in the team’s history … speaking of the Eagles, I got mentioned in USA Today a week ago for The Bird Blog. I would have preferred that they focus on my work with the A Citizen’s Blog, but I loved the attention. (Click here for the link.) … Meanwhile, the only big news has been that the Phillies have apparently made a nice offer to David Wells (mercifully, it is a one-year contract). I don’t hate bringing Wells to Philly, but I wonder if their money might be better spent bringing Millwood back or getting a new ace hurler … I don’t see Carl Pavano wearing the red stripes in 2005: he’ll end up in New York with the Yankees … Scarily, I think Pedro might end up in Queens with the Mets. The Mets might be awful at the plate, but it is hard to argue that a Pedro-Leiter-Glavine rotation would be the best in the NL East … The only big deal of the post-season so far has been the A’s – Pirates trade. I’ll try to comment on it a little later, because I think it deserves comment, but I’ll just say that I think the Pirates got the short end of the stick: they’ll be giving the A’s $5 million a year in 2007 for a guy who hasn’t played for them in three seasons, while the A’s are getting an OBP machine … Score one for Billy Beane.
More later, ya’ll…
My parents took us to see Cats at the Walnut Street Theater on Wednesday night: I was pretty impressed by the performance. I had never seen it before, so I knew nothing of the story, but I liked what I saw. My wife & I are cat people, so the performance (based on a collection of short stories by T.S. Eliot) was a lot of fun … on our way there we drove by the stadiums. Remarkably I hadn’t seen them in their finished glory, so, much to my wife’s amusement, I was craning my neck as we drove on I-95 to scope them out … they loomed out of the night mist like ghostly apparitions … I remember when my father took me to games at the Vet I used to stare at the ships moored in the Philadelphia Naval Yard. I haven’t changed much in 20+ years.
Thursday it was off for a day of football and turkey. This was the first time my wife had come to Thanksgiving in Southeastern PA, and only the second time she had met a lot of people there (the first being our wedding in September). We had a lot of fun catching up with people and hanging out. I typically don’t get to see too much of my extended family, living about 300 miles away. My poor wife had trouble getting into the holiday spirit because she missed the parades on TV. Too me, if I’m watching the Detroit Lions get their behinds whooped, it’s Thanksgiving.
That evening I kept us up until Midnight watching Pitt surprise West Virginia in the Backyard Brawl 16-13. I was surprised by how stout Pitt’s defense was against the Mountaineers rushing attack: time and again they’d run until the line and Pitt tacklers would wrap them up for no gain. Thanks to Syracuse’ surprise upset of Boston College on Saturday (thank you, Orangemen), Pitt has the inside track on the Big East’s BCS bowl bid, provided they defeat South Florida. When I was a sophomore at Pitt I watched them get thumped by Ohio State 72-0. The idea that they are on the cusp of playing in the Fiesta Bowl blows my mind.
Friday we met a friend of ours at the King of Prussia mall for lunch (at the Bamboo Club, by the way: very good food). She’s a doctor in Philly (she was also one of my wife’s bridesmaids) so she has an erratic schedule. After that her and my wife did shopping while I walked around. I love the King of Prussia mall: Nordstrom’s, Bloomingdale’s, Lord & Taylor … we have nothing even roughly comparable in Pittsburgh. There are so many interesting and eclectic stores in King of Prussia. They recently opened a bigger mall in Robinson Township, near the Pittsburgh Airport, but it was your usual mall staples: Hallmark, Abercrombie & Fitch, the Gap, etc. I’d love to have an Organized Living or an Urban Outfitters around here.
I didn’t buy much: an Eagles t-shirt and an Eagles “fan pack” at Model’s… they had Phillies sweatshirts on sale 50% but I didn’t buy it. I really regret not getting a Buffalo Bills Eric Moulds jersey they had on sale for $15 … I always thought my wife was obsessive in shopping on Black Friday, but they have some terrific deals … Saw The Incredibles on Friday night. Great movie, although it was very different from previous Pixar offerings: much more adult and darker. I enjoyed the movie a lot though … Saturday my wife and my mom went to a baby shower while my dad and I bought a tree and watched Syracuse stun BC. We watched the 007 flick Diamonds Are Forever on Spike. I love that Spike runs all of the 007 films and includes Brosnan’s films in the mix. I love the job Brosnan did as 007: he had the right mix of humor and charisma that eluded Lazenby, Moore and Dalton. Diamonds is probably Connery’s best performance as 007 (also his last, unless you count “Never Say Never Again”). Here are my favorite 007 flicks, by actor:
Connery:
Goldfinger
Diamonds Are Forever
From Russia With Love
Thunderball
You Only Live Twice
Dr. No
Brosnan:
Die Another Day
The World is Not Enough
Tomorrow Never Dies
Goldeneye
Moore / Dalton / Lazenby:
For Your Eyes Only (M)
The Spy Who Loved Me (M)
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (L)
Live and Let Die (M)
License to Kill (D)
The Living Daylights (D)
Moonraker (M)
The Man With the Golden Gun (M)
A View to a Kill (M)
The next day my wife & I drove back, getting home just in time to watch a little Desperate Housewives … I know a lot has been happening in the sports world. The Eagles victory over the Giants clinched their fourth consecutive NFC East title and their fifth consecutive playoff berth. Incredible to think that since Andy Reid took over the Birds in 1999 they’ve gone 61-30 in the regular season, and 5-4 in the playoffs … this is a record of unparalleled achievement in the team’s history … speaking of the Eagles, I got mentioned in USA Today a week ago for The Bird Blog. I would have preferred that they focus on my work with the A Citizen’s Blog, but I loved the attention. (Click here for the link.) … Meanwhile, the only big news has been that the Phillies have apparently made a nice offer to David Wells (mercifully, it is a one-year contract). I don’t hate bringing Wells to Philly, but I wonder if their money might be better spent bringing Millwood back or getting a new ace hurler … I don’t see Carl Pavano wearing the red stripes in 2005: he’ll end up in New York with the Yankees … Scarily, I think Pedro might end up in Queens with the Mets. The Mets might be awful at the plate, but it is hard to argue that a Pedro-Leiter-Glavine rotation would be the best in the NL East … The only big deal of the post-season so far has been the A’s – Pirates trade. I’ll try to comment on it a little later, because I think it deserves comment, but I’ll just say that I think the Pirates got the short end of the stick: they’ll be giving the A’s $5 million a year in 2007 for a guy who hasn’t played for them in three seasons, while the A’s are getting an OBP machine … Score one for Billy Beane.
More later, ya’ll…
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# posted by 
: Sunday, October 30, 2005 9:49:00 PM
: Sunday, October 30, 2005 9:49:00 PM
