Retiring Jersey Numbers

This article discusses a recent decision to honor all the great names in baseball (and in particular, Babe Ruth) by retiring all the single digit numbers from current and future players' jerseys. In the past when they've retired numbers (or I suppose I should say that one time they retired one number) they allowed players currently using that number to keep it, however this time when they retire the numbers, current players will have to choose a new number immediately.

I have to ask the same question that the above articles does: Where is it going to stop? 75 years from now when a handful of current players have become baseball legends, are we going to retire their numbers as well? Pretty soon it seems to me that players are going to have seven-digit numbers to match their seven+ digit paychecks. "Next up to bat is number 1,764,982."

The article mentioned that players will (might?) be allowed to use non-number characters (such as commas, periods, etc.) and symbols (such as pi and epsilon) to represent their jersey number. For example, they player who has 3 now could become 3.0, which is technically a different number as far as baseball is concerned. Seeing as I never cared for significant figures, it's all the same to me.

Squirrels

I was out for a walk with a friend of mine the other day and we were on our way to the park. All of a sudden my friend stopped suddenly and excitedly pointed ahead of us. I realized that what they were fussing about was a real live BLACK squirrel. That's right! I was stunned - I'd never seen a black squirrel before, and it was really pretty cool. It scampered across the street and up a tree, and we watched it entranced the whole time.

Second squirrel encounter of the evening was when we saw another squirrel climbing up the gates on a store front (you know, the ones they pull down in front of the windows and door when they lock up for the night). This was not that extraordinary, but the really funny bit was seeing it make it to the top of the gate and then disappear into the roof of the store. Aha! So that's where they're hiding these days.

Open Windows

The summer weather in New York City has (with the exception of a few 90° plus scorchers) has been surprisingly pleasant. During the day it's been pleasingly warm, and at night time surprisingly cool.

My roommate swears by air conditioning, but I myself prefer a thriftier way of beating the heat and enjoy trying natural ways of cooling down the apartment, like opening the windows on cool nights. Occasionally my stubborn views on the matter of apartment cooling have resulted in a rather sweaty uncomfortable state of being on more than one steamy night. However, most recently this form of climate control has been quite effective as the temperature frequently drops to the sixties when the sun goes down.

Unfortunately, New York is a city that never sleeps and my Brooklyn 'hood seems to support this mentality. During the day children screech endlessly on the playground outside my window, and at night the racket does not halt. Parents bring their kids out for midnight romps, and neighborhood hooligans shout obscenities at each other while loping through the various jungle gym apparatus. My neighbor down the street seems to think that the only way to enjoy his reggae music is by blasting it full volume from two speakers sitting on his porch. This reggae music, in addition to the occasional bout of ice cream truck melodies, has been a pretty constant soundtrack to my life. And as always, street sweepers and fire trucks scream down our street ad infinitum, setting off that annoying building alarm every time they go by.

In short, I'm tired of living on this street.

Luckily, I am moving! I've found an amazing 3 bedroom apartment with my friends in a lovely little neighborhood that is more reminiscent of small town New England than of busy, noisy, dirty New York City. The apartment is on the third floor and features a huge living with fireplace and built in bookshelves, two full bathrooms, a new kitchen, and our very own washer and dryer.

While I'm looking forward to spreading out in our palatial apartment, what I am most looking forward to is living on the top floor of a building located on a dead end road in a neighborhood featuring calm streets without traffic lights. In other words, I'm looking forward to finally getting a full night of sleep in peace and quiet.

Pumpkin Pie

Today I was rummaging around in my food cupboard and found a can of pumpkin and I decided that it was as good a day as any to make a pumpkin pie. I went to the store and got all the necessary goods, and am now enjoying a delightful pie - yummy!

If you like pumpkin pie but are open to change and are interested in trying a pie with a slightly different flavor, I recommend adding cinnamon, maple syrup and vanilla to make a sweeter, less spicy pie... it's delicious!

Hello, NonStop Reader

I've got a stat counter on this blog. I get *maybe* 10 views a day and so it might seem silly to even bother with a counter, but I really like it. I don't care about the count, but I like seeing how often my sister reads this blog (and if she hasn't, I call her up and tell her to get on it, pronto!). I also like seeing what searches people run that my blog is a match for (why does nobody search for "drunk zamboni driving"? I thought that would be a hit, for sure!) and also what (occasional) web sites link to me (sexxxyjade.com, the home of "the black shemale", has scarred me for life... Brittany made me follow that link, I swear!).

Usually I can figure out who is reading my blog based on their location - my family in NH, a friend from college, my roommate or friends in NY - but every once in a while I see some poor random soul with whom I have seemingly no connection has stumbled upon this site. Usually they are not repeat offenders, but for some time now I've noticed that one person who randomly found this page continuously checks this site.

The fact that someone I don't know reads this blog on a regular basis is not noteworthy at all... I mean, that's the whole purpose of keeping an online journal, right? The thing is that I don't really write about anything of interest. Sure, people who know me might think what I write about is interesting, but I am continuously fascinated with the idea that some stranger out there likes reading the random and unorganized thoughts that are my meager contribution to the world wide web.

So thanks to the person I've labeled the "NonStop Reader" in my stat counter. I'm glad that, for whatever reason, you keep coming back.

(Want to know if I'm talking about you? If your IP address is 24.184.191.130, then you be the winner! And if I actually do know you, break the news to me gently.)

When Making A 2-Minute Phone Call Is Simply Too Taxing

I saw an ad on Facebook today for a company called Seamless Web. The service that they offer is online ordering from restaurants in cities. For example, let's say you have a hankering for your favorite sushi but you can't be bothered to take two minutes to call it in. Instead, you can just fill out the online form stating where you live, search through the sushi restaurant listings to find the one you want, enter in what you'd like to order as well as all your credit card information and call it good. I'm a fast typer, so I could do this in maybe 5 minutes.

Call me crazy, but ordering your food online seems like so much more of a hassle than just picking up the phone and making a quick call. I'm filing this web site into the "pointless use of technology" category, along with the site I found the other day that provides you with the current time (the site got the time from your computer, and quite frankly if you have to use a web site to see what time your computer thinks it is, well... I have no words).

Now, if you want an example of an awesome web page, check out What Be My IP. I was just thinking about how cool it would be if that site actually existed, and what do you know, it does.

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By the way, if anyone can explain the correlation between the name of Seamless Web's site and the service they provide, please let me know. I'm not making the connection.

Blackle - Save Energy While Surfing the 'Net

Many of my environmentally conscious students have mentioned to me several times that computer screens with black desktops and web pages with black backgrounds save energy. It makes sense, for sure, but I wondered if changing your whole computer aesthetic and redesigning all your web pages would really make that much of a difference.

Apparently the makers of the Blackle search engine think the effort it worth it. Blackle's search is powered by Google, but features an almost entirely black search page, and also tallies how much energy has been saved as a result of people using their web site.

I'm not ready to be rid of my signature Mac earth desktop or to completely change my color scheme on this blog but sure, I'll turn the white background black. It might not help, but it certainly doesn't hurt, right?

Pudding Brûlée

I have not had crème brûlée in such a long time that I can't pinpoint when it was exactly that I've had it - tragedy, I know. So today on my first day off of the summer (yes, I am officially DONE with my first year of teaching... hooray!) I did a Google search for restaurants in Brooklyn that make crème brûlée.

Now, for some reason Google thinks that Manhattan is really part of Brooklyn, or Brooklyn is part of Manhattan, and I got a million results for restaurants in Manhattan that serve the object of my desire. I found a few restaurants in Brooklyn, but none were acceptable. One restaurant's dessert was reviewed as lumpy; one restaurant made a crème brûlée'd goat cheese appetizer; another was a green tea Asian version; another had a meal tag of $115. No, no, no and definitely NOT.

I decided perhaps I should look into making my own dessert, but it turns out that many traditional recipes are exceedingly complex, and even more simple recipes require special dishes and wisks (neither of which I own).

I've come up with an easy solution, though. I am going to go to the store and get some no-bake vanilla pudding, sprinkle it with sugar and broil it for about 30 seconds.

Yeah. I'll let you know how it goes.

Leaving My Funk

I've been in a funk lately (did I already mention this?) and it's been really hard to shake... but I think it's gone now and I am really happy about that. Here are some of the contributing factors that I believe have led to the break in my funk (try them if you are feeling blue!):

1. Bryer's Mint Chip Ice Cream: It's amazingly delicious and a little scoop goes a long way to mending my mood. I know it's wrong to eat for comfort, but can you blame me when it tastes so darn good?

2. Good Communication: I've gotten a few things off of my chest.

3. Sex and the City: Ha! I'm talking about the movie. Sure, I think it could have been a good 45 minutes shorter, but it was still fun to go see it with my friends in its place of origin.

4. Walking: Lately the weather has been amazing here and I've been walking home from work in the sunshine. The other night when it was gorgeous out my friends and I went for a walk on the promenade and admired the city skyline. Being outside clears my head.

5. Looming Vacation: I've been working every summer since I was 14. I can't help but be psyched for a summer of rest and relaxation!