I hate baseball. Yeah, ... right now, I hate the game, hate the players, hate the owners. Don't really care that a strike was averted... doesn't really matter. These selfish, egotistical babies have ruined the season for me. Right now, I hate the game. Ask me again next week...

Dave's gone away to college. A big milestone in his life as he moves towards adulthood and independence. All the thoughts and images of my son's childhood and growing up come back at times like these.

Little League World Series. What a joy to watch. Tonite, the classic matchup... New York vrs. Massachussets. More specifically, Harlem v Worcester. Can't wait to watch. Sad, I would rather watch a game of 12 year olds than Major League Baseball. Considering what is going on with the NY Mets (10 game loosing streak), and strike talks, I'll gladly watch LL World Series.

Its been downright sickening to watch the Mets overpayed "Stars" play piss poor baseball (talkin' bout Mo, Mike, Roberto, Jeremy, Roger....). On top of that, the players are moaning about the owners taking away their opportunity to make more money with the proposed Luxury Tax on big market teams. OH COME ON!!! How greedy can these guys get!! With an average salary of 2.4 million, and stars making tens of millions... I just don't have any sympathy. As a result of this, us fans will most likely not have a finish to this season, maybe no playoffs and world series. Hundreds of ballpark vendors, office workers, ticket agents and parking attendents, small businesses, etc., will be out of work. Shame, shame shame.

Kids away doin' their own thing, so Wife and I get to have a little overnight getaway. Stayed at the Seaward Inn , Rockport Massachusetts. Perfect little mini-vaca. Really relaxed and enjoyed the scenery, lobsta, beaches. Ahhhh!

There is a new Apple Power Mac G4 in the family! Always cause for celebration... yes, I am a certified geek. The day it was announced Dave ran down to the Apple store and picked it up (courtesy of insurance claim from damaging thunderstorm). Awesome Machine! With that comes something for me... Jaguar (Mac OS X 10.2). Disks with new Mac used to upgrade my iBook. Cool - I get to upgrade 10 days before the official release.

Another weekend, another Softball Tournament. This time came home without trophy. That's OK, cause it was a great tournament, and the girls played exceptionally well. We made it to the semifinal round, but got smitten in extra-innings in a great close game. Venon U-16 team had a record of only 2 wins and 8 losses in the regular season, yet made it to the final four in the tournament. Go Vernon Girls Softball. We are proud of ya.

Woa! Won free tix to a Yellowjackets concert. Put my name in for a drawing at the Jazz Fest... and won! I never win stuff! A pair of $45 VIP 6th row seats... hot damn! Love this group, too!

I do lust for an iPod.

I had a great time this weekend relaxing in the hot sun and watching Rachel's softball tournament for girls 14 and under. It was all day Sat and Sun - 6 games in 2 days in the 90 degree summer heat. Maybe that doesn't sound like fun... but to me, it doesn't get any better. Something about girls softball... these kids had so much fun, good competition, and they really came together as a team. They just struck that perfect balance between being competitive, and having a good time. It was an absolute JOY to watch this event all weekend long. Vernon U-14 Girls won the championship, and my girl Rach won the throwing competition to boot!

Oh yeah... we get to do this all over again next weekend for the Girls 16 and under league. yipee! Pics here.

Got this email today from *Robyn*... just somebody surfin the Web that came across my page... "Dropped by unexpectedly while looking for a link to the Litchfield Jazz fest.  Cute page......looks like a nice family and happy life you have.  Congratulations.  What more could you want?" Damn straight. Sometimes it takes a total stranger to make you realize how lucky you are. That note gave me a nice little pick me up for the day! Thanks, Robyn!

How cool is this! Listenin' to The Dave Matthews Band concert live from Hartford over the Net with streaming audio. Piped through my stereo... sounds real gooood.

Hartford is still alive and kickin'... barely. Just returned from the Greater Hartford Festival of Jazz. Very hip. Patricia Barber- pianist and singer from Chicago. Damn good piano, and unique vocal style (she has lots of mp3's on her web site, check it out). The great Phil Woods tight, swingin quintet. And the Joe Sample Trio - What a full deep sound for just three cats. Dude played swing, funk, r&b, ballads... he did it all and really rocked. Great summer evening downtown.

So much has happened, so little time to post. Job - excellent. Presented technology plan... plan approved... now, lots to do. Macworld Expo - yearly gathering of Geeks, Artists, Musicians. Good time had by all. Great crowd, lots of vendors, New stuff? ho-hum. It's like... its all been done. There is nothing left to show that will knock your socks off. Apple - no more free ride. $$ Upgrades, $$ iTools (now .Mac)... guess it is to be expected in these economic times.... but it really sucks. Family Ties - Angst in the extended family. Laura lives on in her sibling. Amazing how strong the pull of bloodlines are on your emotions. 'Nuff said on that one.

The great baseball legend Ted Williams passed away Friday. Twice a triple crown winner and last player to achieve a 400 batting average. Now... this is a bit strange. *On Saturday, Williams' estranged daughter accused her half brother, John Henry Williams, of planning to cryogenically freeze their father's body and preserve his DNA, perhaps to sell in the future.* (from CNN)... and I just watched Vanilla Sky!

Woa! Very cool web applet.

It's been a week since I have journaled here. A lot has happened, but I will try to keep this note brief.

Work - first week on the new job. With that comes anxiety, anticipation, meeting so many people and trying to remember their names, figuring out what my priorities should be when so much needs to be done. As with anywhere, there are some obstacles to overcome, but, I think I'm going to like this place. Some good people here including some old friends. It'll take a few weeks to get all this straight in my head, but with every day, I feel more and more comfortable.

Play - Chilled out after the intensity of my first work week. Saw the movie Minority Report with Tom Cruise. Great flick. Sorta Sci-fi with an incredible vision of the future. Then today, went to NY Mets game. Incredible, exciting game with the Mets winning 5-4 in a come from behind victory.

Other - Dave's graduation! He did it. Graduated HS with honors. Finished up on a high note. Very proud of him. Mom and Dad came up to attend, and so did sister Di and Andrea. Nice to have the family close to celebrate. They put on a huge party for the graduation class. Kids partied from 10PM to 4 AM. See pics here.

Finally, the damn DSL is down again, and I am fed up with SNET taking their sweet-ass time to keep this up and running. We were down for an entire week a couple of weeks ago, and we have been down all weekend, and they haven't even returned my call. Soooo.... it'll be out with DSL, and in with Cable modem. We'll see how that goes. Meanwhile, trying to get along with the dial-up modem speeds. Grrrrr....

For at least a week now, NY City has been salivating over the prospect of Yankee pitcher Roger Clemens coming to bat against the New York Mets. Mets fans were hoping to see Clemens get beaned as retaliation for throwing at Mets star Piazza two years ago! Its been a circus for a week as that has been the big talk of the town. Today, it was like a scene from Gladiator, as the crowd cheered as Clemens walked to the plate... everyone hoping to see blood drawn in the batters box.

Well, what happened was Mets pitcher Shawn Estes threw at him, all right... threw so far inside, that the pitch actually went behind Clemens fat ass... missed him completely! I've got to wonder if that was done intentionally... show the fans and teamates that he was willing to throw at Clemens... yet do the right thing, and not actually try to hurt him. Then the Mets did the right thing and beat the crap out of Clemens on the baseball field. With Estes and Piazza hitting HR's, and having Clemens leave the field injured after sliding into 2nd base. Mets beat Yanks 8-0.

Ahh, Vacation this week, before starting the new gig. To Do's... Read a book, excersize my ass off at the gym, see a couple of movies, go down to the shoreline with wife one day, have lunch with M&D and some friends, learn a new programming skill that I can use at work (PHP), prepare myself for my new job which starts one week from today. That should fill up the week just fine. Wish there was some baseball in town.

Went to see the great Wayne Shorter Quartet in Hartford last night. For those who do not know, this Jazz master made his mark as the saxaphonist and main composer for Miles Davis's most innovative band in the '60's, followed by the co-leader of the great Weather Report fusion group in the 70's.

His current quartet consisted of an incredibly fluent pianist Danillo Perez (first time I have heard him), the great John Pattitucci on bass, and Brian Blades playing drums. They played only about 4 or 5 extended compositions, for less than 1 1/2 hour. Leaving us yearning for more. The musicianship was just incredible. Perez in constant motion on piano, laying the groundwork for Shorters sparse yet perfect playing (especially his beautiful stoccato phrasing on soprano sax). Pattitucci's pyrotechnics and melodic acoustic bass added a full deep tone to the quartet, and Blades wild playing of his entire set, constantly changing between sticks, mallots, and even bare hands. It seemed they were all always soloing, yet never soloing...Very free, "out there" playing, yet within a compositional framework that often blended jazz, ballads and classical influences.

We ended up at Black-Eyed Sallys... a blues club in Hartford. Good food and drink. The group played a so-so blues set, that got a little tiring after a while. I guess it would be pretty difficult to follow up musically, after the incredible performance of Shorter's Quartet.

Yes! My DSL is back. Last Friday, a thunderstorm took out our DSL... fried some wiring in the house. Also smoked a microwave oven, DVD player, an ethernet hub, maybe screwed up Dave's computers, a telephone, a lamp, some light switches... whew! Loosin' the DSL, though really sucked. Had to live with dial-up connection for 4 days... thought I was gonna die!!! Mother Nature took away my geek toys... life's tough!