Mental Meanders or Through the Looking Glass

This is a weird day. It's more than peculiar, it’s weird and it’s barely begun. When I started this, I had no clue, no vaguest hint of what I would put down or where it would go so let's see what happens.

I woke up early, about twenty minutes before my alarm was set to go off at 4:45. For whatever reason, when I stopped sleeping and my brain kicked in, I felt a sense of foreboding. Like something momentous and not so good is going to happen. It makes me a bit nervous. It's nothing I can pin down, nothing I can point to. Just a weird feeling that something is not right or something won't be right. It's like the heavy weight that is the prelude to a massive thunder storm.

Since I did get up without injuring myself, turned off the alarm without incident and made it downstairs safely, it’s none of those things. I didn’t electrocute myself when I turned on the coffeemaker. So it’s not that. I turned on my computer and nothing bad happened there. So far, so good.

Well, we’ll see. In life, at times like this, I find it’s best to hunker down in my seat and just be a passenger. What will come will come and que sera sera.

The good news that's going to be widely heralded today is the Warriors win over the Cavaliers last night. Even though I don’t follow, watch or (sorry everyone who does) care at all about basketball, congratulations to the Golden State Warriors! It’s been a long forty years since they won a championship and I’m delighted their drought is over.

What is a very pleasant surprise this morning is that the team’s fans didn’t burn down half the city in celebration last night. Oakland is a blue collar community with a history and reputation as being ‘rough’. Kudos to the residents for not getting stupid and ruining a great party.

Upon checking, it doesn’t look like the Chicago Blackhawk fans did anything silly in Chicago, either, which is also great news. But I guess they're kind of used to it, three Stanley Cup wins in six years. I guess they're a bit blase these days.

The reason I sound cynical is because when sports teams win something important, like a title, it seems that some fans take that as a sign to riot. I think a lot of people expected something bad to happen in Oakland if they won, and it didn’t, and that’s great. Particularly since the Oakland Athletics are doing so poorly. The juxtaposition between one team and the other this year is stark.

Last year, the Warriors got into the playoffs but got knocked out. This year they won the championship

Last year the A’s looked like they might get to the championships, except things started to fall apart with trades and injuries in the last third of the season, so they missed. This year, after trading away some of their better players last season, the A’s, in a word, suck. The poor players can’t catch a break even though most of them are playing their hearts out, but management, through its trade decisions, gutted a very good team.

Now I don’t know why they made the choices they did because I wasn’t in the room when things were decided. Perhaps the players were unhappy. Rumor has it that Josh Donaldson said some pretty inexcusable things to the manager, and that’s why he’s gone. No one with whom I’ve spoken understands why Yoenis Cespedes was traded, though. The guy was a solid outfielder and downright amazing at the All Star Home Run Derby two years straight but pffft off he went. Maybe he asked for the trade? I don’t know. Perhaps the team management just thought someone else might do better in those positions. Perhaps it was a combination. I don’t know. All I know is the result. Last year the A’s had walk-off after walk-off and they looked really strong through most of the year.

Oh! Excuse me for being rude. For non-fans, when a team is trailing or tied in the last half of the last inning and they win, it’s called a walk-off.

The Giants did that to get to the World Series last year – if someone had written a script for that team in the playoffs – start to finish – it would have been laughed at by a potential agent or publisher and pitched in the bin. It really was, in a lot of ways, a fairytale.

Travis Ishikawa, who hit the game winning walk-off in the bottom of the ninth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals to get the Giants to the World Series had talked about quitting baseball altogether before being signed by the team. Then he does this (it's short and it's great because there is such a feeling of tension and then - jubilation):

And the Giants go to the World Series, which they won.

Thanks Warriors and Giants. I feel better now.

 Have a lovely day!

Best~

Philippa

Follow me at Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories

Back to Square One

Another morning, another blank slate, another chance to right what's wrong, fix what's broke or just hang out.

As I suspected, yesterday was hectic but I got it all (almost all) done. A couple of loose ends to wrap up and then I can move onto the next. Yep, I have a couple of bruises from when things didn't go perfectly, but nothing that won't fade.

Our foreign visitor is all set and, in a few hours, will be settling into his temporary lodging near the airport until his flight leaves early tomorrow morning.

Today the auditors show up, always an exciting time.

I survived, sanity intact so I get to go back. No one said 'don't bother' anyway and I think I'm nuts. Even though I had all sorts of physical manifestations of stress because nothing stayed put, it kept shifting and jumping and changing, I had fun. Does this mean I'm insane? Stress is bad for us, or so they say. But when things are falling apart and jumping hither and yon and I'm trying to keep it together, I like it. Maybe I'm a failed adrenaline junky and this is how I get off.

Whatever.

Congratulations to the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup at home last night. Their first home win in the final game since 1938 - so a bit of history, too.

The Tampa Bay Lightning did an incredible job of keeping it close - good job and congratulations to them, too.

It was the sixth game of a long, hard-fought series and you could see how tired all of the players were. The Blackhawks had home ice last night and you could see how the crowd kept them playing strong.

And now, for something completely different. I'm out of ideas and time this morning, so, here's a little flash piece I wrote a while back in response to the prompt 'Friday the 13th'.

Daddy's Special Door

Thu-wank … thu-wank … thu-wank… giggles crawled through the wall.  With a sigh of patient frustration, Bill pressed down on the edge of the pillow to squint at the clock.  Thu-wank-giggle … thu-wank-squeal…, a groan lifted from the other side the bed, closer to the noise.

“Is she never going to stop?”  Eleanor muttered, turning onto her back, looking over at her husband in the bluey-silvery light from the full moon.

“I dunno,” he threw the covers back, “all I know is I’m not sleeping.”

“What time is it?”

“Just gone four.”

Eleanor groaned, draping a forearm over her eyes.  “Silly kid.”

“Yeah.”  Bill was sitting up, his back to his wife.  “But you remember the first time I showed you.”  Glancing back, he caught the flash of her smile.

“Yeah, I remember.”  She tossed her side of the covers over his, turned and got up.  “I’ll start the coffee.”

The noises from the other room kept up, marking the time while Bill and Eleanor committed themselves to their morning routine.  Showered, shaved and dressed, Bill opened the door to his daughter’s room.

“Morning, doll face, are you ready?”

‘Doll face’ was obviously ready.  Dressed in her pink leotard with the multi-colored sequins Eleanor had sewn along the neckline, with each bounce on her mattress, her homemade pink, purple and blue tutu flounced above her white tights and glitter encrusted red shoes.  Thu-wank ... thump, she landed on the floor, her face split with a grin that made her father laugh.

“Just like a woman, you are, never listen when I say ‘don’t jump on your bed’.”

“Can we go, daddy?  Can we go see gramps?”

“Soon, baby, real soon.  Mama’s getting our breakfast, then we’ll brush our teeth and then we’ll go.”

Normally, breakfast was Elsie’s least favorite meal.  She didn’t like cold cereal because it was ‘squishy and icky’.  She didn’t like porridge because it ‘felt funny’.  She didn’t like eggs on principle.  This morning, however, with the trip to see gramps in the offing, she sat down to her porridge without complaint.  Eleanor watched with a bemused smile and a hand waiting to prevent disaster while Elsie picked up the butter dish and carefully took off a thin pat.  The butter done, Eleanor’s focus intensified when the milk jug was lifted, wobbled nervously in Elsie’s small hand, and was poured with nary a splash.

“Did daddy eat?”

“Yes, all finished.  He’s getting everything ready for us.”

Elsie paused, the spoon hovering over the mess in her bowl, “Mama?  Why can’t we see gramps any other time?  Why is it only now?”

Eleanor continued the washing up and preparing their picnic lunch, “Because grandpa lives in a special place with a special door.”

“Why?”

Finished at the sink, Eleanor started packing the sandwiches and snacks into the carryall.  “He just does.  Your daddy came through that special door a long time ago and he can only go back on special days.”  She closed the bag and sat down across from her daughter.

“What days?”

“Only on Friday the 13th.  The door doesn’t open except on that day.  That’s what makes it special.”

“Ohh,” Elsie stuck her spoon in the thick mess in front of her, lifted it and examined the contents.  “Can I go visit gramps alone someday?”  The bite sized lump disappeared.

“When you’re old enough you can.”

“When will I be old enough?”

Eleanor smiled, “In a few years.  Then daddy will teach you the trick so you can open it yourself.”

“Ohh.”

From the living room came the sharp sounds of Bill setting up the framework they usually kept folded out of sight in the hall closet.  The noises stopped and Bill appeared through the swinging door.

“Just about ready, doll face?”

In answer, Elsie pushed the bowl away from her and flung herself from the chair, the light of happy expectation creating an aura around her.

“Do you think gramps will like my ballerina suit?”

“I think gramps will like it just fine.”  He led Elsie back into the living room while Eleanor took a moment to scrape the remnants of porridge into the trash, ran water in the bowl, and got the cooler bag of drinks from the refrigerator.  Picking up the carry-all with their lunch, she followed.

‘Daddy’s special door’, stood in the middle of the living room.  Although it didn’t look like anything special, the hairs on Elsie’s arms lifted as her skin prickled.  The swirling gold and bronze mist within the frame looked warm, but she knew it would feel cold.  They had gone to visit gramps once already since her last birthday, and she remembered.

“All ready?”

Elsie bit her lip.  Now she was a little nervous.  Last time, after they had gotten back, she had complained that she didn’t like it when daddy carried her.  She wanted to do it herself.  This was the first time she would go through without the comfort of knowing daddy was right there, his strong arms around her.

“It’s okay, sweetie.  I’ll be right behind you.”

She took a deep breath, looked back at her parents, and stepped into the mist.  For a moment, they swirled, purple and pink, then reverted.  Eleanor was next, and then Bill.

On the other side, gramps was waiting.  Elsie dashed forward, laughter streaming behind and her parents watched as she launched herself into her grandfather’s outstretched arms, his laughter melding with hers.

It was a wonderful visit and, at the end of the day, with the second of the two suns just dipping behind the golden horizon and the three silvery moons rising on the other side, Bill picked Elsie up in his arms.

“Bye grampa,” she said sleepily.

“Bye baby doll, we’ll see you again soon.”

Eleanor leaned forward and gave her father-in-law a kiss.  Bill shook his hand and leaned in for a ‘man-hug’ before they waved and stepped back through the portal into their living room.

* * * * *
 Have a wonderful day!

Best~
Philippa

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories

A Little Music and Quiet Happenings in a Quiet Life

May I suggest you play this marvelous piece in the background while you read this? It's not hip hop, rock, country or one of the typical genres. It's just a fantastic instrumental piece. And when you get there (if you get there), trust me - it's worth it. Besides, listen to one minute (it's a ten minute piece) and if you don't like it, turn it off. What have you got to lose?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNdlWXlTAK8

Anyway, here we are at another Saturday and I’m whipped into submission by the week. Tired, even with the caffeine, and not quite sure which end is up.

It was a good week, a really good week, actually. No bad happenings on the roads. Got a lot of things going at work that will, I hope, open other doors. Of course, I’m still struggling with that stupid database.

See (no worries – I’ll be very short but I have to vent), I don’t want just the form that’s linked by the two tables to reflect the information. Doing that is a piece of cake but I want to be able to see a bunch of records all at once, and the table view is the best. Therefore, I want the ID I assign to the record and the associated field to show up in the other table so I know without a lot of hard thinking what I’m looking at. Then I can I enter all the pertinent information that explains why I want them there in the first place.

The problem is, I’ve tried everything the books say and it still doesn’t work. But, since that’s the only shadow on my week I’ll call it good and leave it.

I did get started on a new template form for another project and I think that’s going to make the folks for whom I’m doing it sit up and take notice. Just suggesting having over-writeable fields was exciting. Now, when we sit down next week and I can show them off… Yay, me!

Other than that, things muddled along. It felt like summer for two days but we’re back to spring today. Fog and cool, which I love. It feels good against my skin.

 Last night, getting home, I was less than pleasantly surprised to find that my husband had done a bunch of laundry and it was will hanging on the line. He doesn't work. He stays home and takes care of his elderly mother so it was a bit disconcerting to get home to a pile of laundry waiting to be folded.

You know what, though? It was actually a good transition. Folding laundry (unless it's a fitted sheet) isn't precisely rocket science. It was a pleasant evening - not hot with a soft breeze - and I had a perfect excuse to be out in it instead of inside fixing dinner, taking care of Sam, or doing some other must-do. Halfway through the process my husband showed up with a glass of wine.

I don't drink a lot - I prefer not to because I don't like the way it makes me feel, but I won't say no to a little. A bottle of beer or one glass of wine is almost always enough. So it was very welcome and added a nice touch to the peacefulness of being outside, doing a simple task in a lovely evening.

After getting the laundry off the line I sat down on the deck steps and relaxed - something I never do - and that was nice, too. I need to do that more often because it set up the rest of my evening in a good way.

By the time we finished dinner, the Giants had won their game against Philadelphia and there was nothing worth watching on TV, so we popped in a disk from the 'Odd Couple' series and watched a couple of episodes of that.

This morning we'll have Giants baseball (they're only 1/2 game back from the Dodgers!) and tonight Blackhawks v. Tampa Bay (Go 'hawks!).

The Warriors are playing in the NBA finals against the Cleveland(?) Cavaliers. I am not at all interested in basketball. I've never been able to get excited by it, but I do feel terrible for the Cavaliers who lost one of their key players to a fractured kneecap. Now that is one injury that makes me cringe just thinking about it! Just how does one fracture a kneecap? Never mind, I don't want to know. So he's out for three to four months.

Just quiet happenings in a quiet life around here. Nothing bold, nothing exciting, just being and getting from here to there.

I hope you enjoyed that piece of music - have a lovely day!

Best~

Philippa

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Stuff, and more Stuff.

Meandering through my brain this morning there's 'stuff'.  All sorts of 'stuff'.

We watched game seven of the series between the New York Rangers and the Washington (DC) Capitals - if you have never seen professional hockey, you have never seen one heck of an exciting sport! It flashes by so fast, and the scrums in front of the Rangers's net last night (they were in overtime) were furious and intense - and seemed to last forever because I was rooting for the Rangers.

Mike Emerick - the game caller last night - WHEW!!  How he does it, I don't know, but he keeps up and calls the plays like an old time radio announcer. He gets so into the game, so invested, that I can just see him hunched over the microphone, his eyes following every move, every flash of a stick as he tells us who just did what. He's almost as exciting to listen to as the game is to watch - and he is one impressive caller!

And I use the term 'caller' with precision because that is what he does - he calls it, play by play - and it makes what we're watching that much more exciting because it adds so much to the visual. Sadly, great game callers are few and far between.

Emerick is one. Lon Simmons of the Giants who recently passed was another. Bill King is a third. You can count great game callers of the past on two hands. The rest, and there are a lot of them, sit back and jabber on about anything and nothing. We get frustrated by the A's announcers because it's like sitting in a room with two idiot blowhards.

They know everything but don't talk about what's happening on the field. They talk about everything but what's happening right in front of them. It drives us nuts because there will be a play - perhaps we missed it or what happened wasn't clear - but they won't describe it. There are at least two or three important plays - runs, hits, errors, great fielding - in each and every game we watch and they talk right past them. Sometimes, but only sometimes, they'll go back and mention it in a casual 'oh yeah, and...' kind of way. Grr! Infuriating.

So, back to last night. Lunqvist, the Rangers' goalie, was amazingly good! Through it all, he blocked every attempted goal - surrounded by bodies all flailing away with their sticks.

Credit to Holtby, the Capitals goalie, because he was just as good - but the Rangers got a shot off almost immediately after a faceoff because of a Capitals icing call.

Part of it might be attributable to the fact that the Capitals captain, Ovechkin, declared they were going to win last night. I'm sure the Rangers weren't happy with that attempt at a 'psych', so went in determined to prove him wrong. Whatever. Fans got a rockin' good time!

They've advanced to the second round of the playoffs, and game one for them is on Saturday against Tampa Bay (Florida). On Sunday, the Blackhawks (Chicago) will play the Anaheim (California) Ducks - and both of those are going to be really good series, too.

On the baseball side of things, both the Giants and the A's lost. I didn't see the A's game, but I heard it was 'ugly'. The Giants got a tough break. Apparently, the Houston Astros are 'hackers' - they swing at anything and everything, just as hard as they can. Normally, that's not a good idea because you get a lot of outs that way but, because of the power of their guys, they also get a lot of home runs. Last night there were three - which accounted for three of the four runs that won them the game. 'nuf said on that.


The weather people are saying we're going to get rain today. They said that about yesterday, too. I'll believe it when I see it. No rain that I saw yesterday and while there are clouds out my window this morning, they're not rainclouds. They're high and ... not rain clouds. Maybe that will change, later, but we'll see. At this point, if it's not actually raining, I don't believe it will because the promises sound almost desperate.

Watching television will get a little easier once hockey is over. The season is expected to end in early June - June 3rd I think, which is when Game 7 of the Stanley Cup will be played, if needed. In the meantime, hockey is a filler when the A's and Giant's are off or have early games, but when they're playing at the same time it's click...click...click... all night long until one or another of the games end. Which is fine - because if something exciting is happening in one, we'll stick to it - like last night's hockey game.

Next fall and winter we'll still watch 'nancy' football, but it will be primarily college ball. The pros have gotten too stupid.

'Inflategate' with Tom Brady knowing that the staff of the Patriots was tampering with the balls before one of the playoff games. Hello, Tom - that's called 'cheating'. Cheating is not good sportsmanship. Idiot.

If you can't win by talent and guts, and you have to cheat to win, what is the point of playing?

That's something hockey and baseball both have going for them. There's no really good way of cheating in either sport. You can't deflate a puck and you can't deflate a baseball. In theory a baseball team could 'throw' a game (sorry, couldn't help it) by bad pitching or taking swings at pitches that are obviously out of the strike zone - but it's not like football where there's so much scope for cheating.

Unfortunately, with the salaries the players make, the old saw, 'cheaters never prosper' is just not on any longer. Oh, yeah. They profit plenty. Bonuses for winning playoff games, wildly inflated salaries, signing bonuses, etc. They prosper plenty and the consequences for cheating are non-existent. Oh yeah. A fine - to the team. And a four game suspension to Brady. That'll be effective.

How about he's suspended for a full season? How about he's fined $1M and the team is fined $10M? That might make a bit more of an impression.

The one sport I really wish we could watch here is Aussie Rules Football. Every once in a great while ESPN will deign to show a match and it is so fun, so fast. It makes soccer look like a nancy sport (sorry, guys) and I can't see much scope for cheating there, either. Oh, yeah, a forward could take a dive, but it would be hard and with both teams using the same balls during the game any tampering would be seen immediately.

Anyway. It's getting late, I gotta run - have a lovely day!

Best~
Philippa

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories

All Sorts of Stuff

I have not got the first foggiest idea what to write about this morning.  My writer's drought seems to have far reaching consequences, so I'm going to just set it on Existential Stream of Consciousness, and see where it takes me.

How about them Giants (baseball)? It's about time! They have come alive again after starting off the season in very bad fashion. In the first half of April they lost eight straight. In May they've won five in a row. Pretty cool!

A lot of it has to do with injuries.

Hunter Pence (right fielder) was hit by a pitch in Spring Training. It broke his arm, badly, and he's been on the Injured Reserve, since. He's back to taking batting practice and then they'll send him out to one of the minor clubs to play a number of games and rebuild his timing and swing. It'll be a couple of more weeks, at least, but it'll be good to see him back out there.

Jake Peavey, one of their starting pitchers, has been out with back spasms. He's coming along and should be available again soon.

Matt Cain who threw a 'perfect game' in 2013 had Tommy John surgery and surgery to remove bone spurs in his throwing arm toward the end of last season. He seemed to be doing well, throwing in Spring Training (even though he was complaining of discomfort). He started one game this season and... out. With a strained forearm.  After R&R he's finally starting to throw again, but it has been a long road to recovery. I just hope that they keep a closer eye on him, and that he stops if it starts to hurt. No sense ending your entire career chasing after one or two more starts.

Travis Ishikawa (first base), who hit the last home run that got them into the World Series last year, has had back problems, but he's in rehab and should be available again, soon.

Then, Angel Pagan who missed the end of last season because of back spasms that ended with surgery, had his hand stepped on by a leaping player night before last. He was sliding into second base when the guy leapt for a ball and came down, right on Pagan's finger. In a post-game interview, he said the nail is split. OUCH! My finger hurts, just thinking of that.

Casey McGehee (third base) is the Charlie Brown of baseball. He has been playing so badly, I actually feel sorry for him.

He was an off-season acquisition from the Miami Marlins to replace Pablo Sandoval who signed with the Boston Red Sox.  Unfortunately, his greatest ability seems to be hitting into double-plays. He has got the worst luck when it comes to doing that, and it's almost always inning ending because there seems to almost always be one out on the board already.

For weeks he flubbed more plays than he made - missing balls, dropping balls, missing throws. At home plate, with his remarkable ability to consistently hit into double plays, it was really ugly. So ugly I feel sorry for the poor guy. Recently though, in the past few games, he's started to look better. He's fielded more plays than he's flubbed, and he's managed to get some base hits.

At this point, with the injuries resolving and players getting ready to come back, I'm starting to pity Bruce Bochy (team manager)! He is going to have some major headaches once these guys are all fit and ready to go.

Justin Maxwell has been playing great right field all season so far. He has made some spectacular plays, and his been a clutch hitter, but when Hunter Pence is ready to go, what's Bochy going to do with him? Bench him? Send him back to the minors? Trade him? That's going to be a tough call, although it won't have to be made immediately. Pence is going to need time to get all the way back (even though the guy is a gym fanatic so is probably still in fantastic condition except for his arm).

Heston and Hudson, two starting pitchers that have stepped up in the absence of Cain and Peavey will likely be benched. I don't know if there is room on the roster to keep these guys in reserve, or if they'll be sent 'down'. Both of them have been pitching extremely well, going deep into their games and keeping their earned run averages low.

As for Charlie Brown, if McGehee doesn't get his act together, I could definitely see Bochy keeping Matt Duffy available to play third base.

He came up into the minors as a short stop - arguably the toughest position to play since you're all over the place. They've been using him as a utility infielder - putting him at third, at short, at first. He's been doing pretty well there at third, and he's been hitting well, so that might bode well for his future.

Still, the roster is going to be over-full and Bochy is going to have to make some tough decisions. I just hope they're the right decisions and the team can keep putting wins up on the board.

Turning to hockey, it is making things very hard this spring.

I want to watch baseball - the A's are doing about as well as the Giants - right around .500 so far this season. The difference is that the Giants appear to be on a meteoric climb from the cellar (last place in the National League West) into second place (behind the LA Dodgers). With their season turned around, hockey is back to second place but the Stanley Cup playoffs are really fun to watch, too.

Since I don't have control of the remote (my husband insists it is his Right), I'm just a passenger on a wild ride. Giants baseball... click... A's baseball... click... Chicago Blackhawks... click... Calgary Flame... click... baseball...hockey...hockey...baseball. It's almost a relief when the various games end so we can settle in one place!

Last night, the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Minnesota Wild 1-0, so they're up 3-0 in their seven game series. One more, and they're into the final round. The Wild played well and hard, but Chicago just seems to be unstoppable. The best man on their team, though, is their announcer. Mike Emerick. This guy could make grass growing seem exciting - he is great to listen to during the game, never seeming to miss a call and with a genuine love for hockey that exudes from the speakers.

Anaheim and Calgary are 2-1, respectively. Calgary came back last night and won their game - which was impressive because Anaheim is such a strong team. The Anaheim goalie wasn't happy about one of the calls made by the officials - I didn't see the play about, apparently, an Anaheim goal was denied because the officials couldn't determine if the puck had crossed the goal line completely. Since there was doubt, they waved it off. In the end, if it had been scored, Anaheim would have won the game 4-3 in regulation, instead of losing 3-4 in overtime.

Thank God we're not basketball fans, too!  The Golden State Warriors are doing well in their playoff series. They lost their first game in the playoffs last night, in round two, against the Memphis Grizzlies. So that series is tied 1-1. I hope they win the next two and advance into the finals, but I really won't be paying attention.

Go Giants!

Have a lovely day (and I promise - no more esoteric American sports! Unless I have another drought and have nothing better to write about).

Best~
Philippa

Follow me on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories