Kicking open the door with a snarl, you see a Monday!

Howdy folks.

Yeah, I know I said I'd try to write more, but weekends are difficult for me to write on. I've got stuff to do, dammit! So, here I am. And there you are. And that wierd guy is over in the corner doing...odd things...to his Star...Wars...collectibles...ODEARGHODS! Stop THAT!

::ahem::

OK, seriously, hope everyone is doing well.

As for me, I am. Day 1 of the second week of the new job, and things are going well. Still don't have a badge, or full access, or useful things like that.

I have coffee though. And my 3 liter bottle of water.

Friday night was uneventful, really. Got home, had some dinner, played some WoW.

Saturday, I got up and went to BestWorstBuy to get some movies for the Easter Baskets. The Easter Bunny (or Easter Spider, if you prefer) has been putting movies into the Easter baskets for a few years instead of a lot of candy. Oh sure, there's SOME candy, but not a lot. I picked up Next Avengers for F. and Pokemon Battle Frontier, Vol 2"> for B. I already had Top Gun for mousecat0. Well, once I did that, I met everyone else over at Giant for some grocery shopping, then mousecat0 & B went off for the monthly Chivalry & Sorcery game at MSD HQ, while F. & I went home. We put groceries away and cleaned the living room a bit, then settled down to watch Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk. Although it doesn't lose much in translation to the small screen, I'm still glad I say Iron Man in the theater. I also liked Incredible Hulk, but...it seems to suffer from the same damn problem that the comic went through from the late 60s until the early 80s: Predictability.

• Something or someone shows up.
• Hulk comes out.
• Hulk beats on it.
• Hulk gets madder and stronger.
• "HULK IS STRONGEST THERE IS!"
• Antagonist gets crushed.
• Hulk jumps away.
• Lather, Rinse, Repeat.

So, anyway, we had some fun & played around until the girls got home. The kids went to bed, and mousecat0 & I put the baskets together, then I hid the Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs. Sleep beckoned, so I answered it's siren song.

Well, on Sunday, F. was up first, so he got us all up. In my basket was the twin pack of Rocky and Rocky II, as well as some goodies. mousecat0 had, in addition to her movie, had 2 cookbooks (Tis the Season to be Baking: Christmas Reflections and Bread Recipes & Bake And Be Blessed, both by Fr. Dominic Garramone), as well as Chocolate Truffles from Glenstal Abbey, Ireland.

While the kids made sure that the table was ready, I set about preparing Easter brunch, consisting of:

• Homemade kielbasa
• Krakus Polish canned ham
• eggs
• fresh rye bread
• OJ
• milk
• coffee
• butter lamb
• lamb cake

And yes, F & I once again shared the lamb butt. ;-)

Afterwards, we cleaned up, then emptied the pantry. Once empty, mousecat0 & B. cleaned out the area, while F & I disassembled the old shelf unit. I had purchased a wire-frame shelf unit a few weeks ago, and we finally had the chance to put it together. The other advantage, of course, is that we could get rid of canned goods that have since expired (including a box of store brand jello that had a date of June 2002 on it...)

I'll tell you this: Next time I choose to make nacho fixings or anything that requires refried beans? I'm making my own. We had *6* bags of pinto beans in the pantry. Mainly from Angel Food, and I know they don't go bad...but 6 bags? Oof. That's a bit much.

Finally, we got all that done. mousecat0 & F went to her mother's to feed the cat B watched some of her new Pokemon, and I took a nap. When they got home we got ourselves cleaned up a bit and headed to Hamburger Hamlet for dinner. 2 reasons for that: 1: I forgot to take anything out for dinner and 2: Kids ate free. So, Hamlet it was. So, we came home and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

And now, a few notes:

( On the Amazon Kerfluffle )

( On the so-called 'Tea Parties' )

Going to do Mother's Day dinner at my place again. Not sure how many people we're going to have yet. Definitely 8, maybe 10-13. I'll do the proposed menu as a separate post later, as soon as I figure out what I'm going to do with the asparagus (I cuss, you cuss, we all cuss for asparagus!), as well as what appetizer and dessert I'm doing.

Crap. Just got the following article from tenku_no_shiro via Twitter: Harry Kalas Taken to Hospital Harry is the long-time voice of Phillies baseball.
EDIT: In the time it took me to finish writing and posting this, Harry Kalas has died. My thoughts on this can be found here.ENDEDIT:

That, I think, is all I have for now.

Remember: You woke up on the proper side of the grass this morning. By definition, that makes this a good day.

Peas. Out.

RIP: Harry Kalas

Longtime Phillies announcer Harry Kalas dies at age 73

Philadelphia Daily News

Daily News Staff Report
WASHINGTON - Legendary Phillies broadcaster Harry Kalas has died. He was 73.

"We lost our voice today," team president David Montgomery said. "He knows the game and made a tremendous contribution to the sport and to our organization . . .

"Anybody who has played for us, it's an immediate point of connection with the club. He is the Phillies."
( Rest of article behind cut )

People who know me know that I am not a big baseball fan. I enjoy going to the occasional game, but as a rule, I just don't get into it like I do football or hockey.

But to not hear the voice of Harry Kalas anymore will be jarring. He was part of the soundtrack of my youth. Down at Jersey shore in the summers, whenever the Phillies were playing, you couldn't swing a sand bucket without hearing a radio with his voice coming out of it. I can't possibly count the number of times while growing up when I was doing something else at home and heard his voice on the TV or radio as the game was on in the background. Feeling a small thrill when he cut loose with his trademark "Outta here" call for a home run.

No more.

I'm glad that he got to see the Phillies win one more World Series before he passed. And you always will want to hear him call just one more game. And I feel bad for whoever will be calling the games now, because he will probably not be compared favorably to Harry.

To his family, his friends, his co-workers, and his fans, I offer my deepest sympathies and condolences.

YAM: Animated/anime

(Blame it on jvowles)
( cut for length )