I’m fairly certain that just about anyone who reads this blog is already on my “Cupertino Times” newsletter, but in case you didn’t get the latest episode, here it is. Oh, and if you’re viewing it in IE for Mac, the link to the video of Neal and me doesn’t work. Stupid IE. There are probably other problems on other platforms, but I don’t know about them yet, so if you find one let me know. Thanks!

Well, Henson has decided that it’s cuddle time, and that my lap is the place it has to happen, so I’m stuck here until he seems satisfied that I held still long enough. I thought I might take this opportunity to discuss something that the Peanut Gallery seemed interested in from my last entry. That’s right ladies and gents, I’m talking about my ambivalence towards (hatred of?) watching sports. This isn’t about playing sports, which I readily admit I would benefit from. I played baseball until 3rd grade, and I always did pretty well in gym class. And I enjoyed it. So I think my lack of participation in sports right now is simply laziness and a general “I’m out of the loop” feeling. Nothing more than that. But spectator sports is our current focus.

I’m a twenty-something male, and as such I keep company in that demographic. And it seems that throughout my life “the guys” have always looked at me with just a hint of, “Hello? Guys like sports, get with the program,” in their eyes when I tell them I have no interest. I’ve had people ask me, “What do you do with your free time if it isn’t watching sports?” or make incredible comments like, “Life just wouldn’t be worth living without sports.” Obviously not all sports fans are that avid, but I’ve met a few. We all have. The interesting thing is that my dad was never that way, and I think that’s an important key to understanding why I feel how I do about watching sports.

Continue reading “The Why’d World of Sports” →

A friend of Steph’s and mine was kind enough to take us out to the ball game this evening. We went to Pacific Bell Park to catch a game between the San Francisco Giants and the Minnesota Twins. I have to give the Giants one thing: their stadium is a heck of a lot nicer than the Metrodome. We had a beautiful view of the bay from our upper-deck seats, and as the evening grew darker and the clouds rolled in off the ocean, I actually wondered if I could enjoy watching baseball.

Then I came back to my senses.

Still, it was a fun evening in spite of the fact that I have the worst head cold I’ve had in years, and deadlines creeping ever closer at work. The one thing that stayed with me from the entire evening was a sign that one of the many homeless men held as the crowds filtered out of the stadium. True to form for overly-individualistic San Francisco, his sign simply said, “No lies. It’s for beer”. I decided not to put anything in his cup. The possibility that this sign might be effective in San Fran sheds some light on the character of the city.

In other news, in only 10 days we’ll be coming home (that’s the 14th if you’re not sure how I’m counting) to Minnesota. It will be truly great to see the crew again and see how people are doing. The fact that we also get to attend the wedding of a close friend is just a bonus! Then you throw WWDC on top of that on the 23rd, and things are really looking up. Now if I could just get rid of this cold…

I felt moved to tell you some of the many nicknames Grandmaster Henson (for yes, that is his real name) has earned in our house. Allow this list to entertain you and inspire you to send in some of your own: Henson, Hensa, Hens, Pens, Pensacola, Coca-Cola, Coco Loco, Tummo, Tummy, Tummy-Toe, Sir Barks-a-lot (not used nearly as often as it could be), Little Buddy, and The Guy.

Well, I’ve decided to blog, so I’ve gotten my hands dirty with Movable Type and I’ve created something I call “Blog.” Clever, no? Indeed the creative juices are flowing tonight. My jeans are positively soaked to the knee.

Steph and I went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium last Monday, and it was there that we saw the oddest fish we’ve ever seen in our lives. I say that with the understanding that those fish known as “deep sea fish” are excluded from that opinion since no fish could rightly compete with the deep sea Angler or the Vampire squid, but this fish was still quite odd. It’s called an Ocean Sunfish (or Mola Mola), and it’s ugly. Make no bones about it, this thing was beaten within an inch of it’s life by the unkind Ugly Oar. Parents pray their children wont look anything like the Ocean Sunfish, and rejoice when they don’t. But how could they? Take a gander at this thing! Wow. “Crime against nature” comes to mind. But I don’t feel bad insulting it, because I’m pretty sure none of them will ever read my blog. Or if they do, we’ve got bigger problems.