Summer is here!

Yeah, you wouldn't know it by the weather, but summer is here. The facts are undeniable:

The NBA season only has two weeks more to go!

In other cities girls are wearing really short things and people are drinking outdoors at night.

I'm going to Chicago twice this month to enjoy the city's few months of decent weather and a couple of 40th birthdays.

My little sister is graduating from high school on Thursday. This implies that at some point in the next year or so, I will have an excuse to visit a sorority.

When's that beer festival in Booneville? Who wants to go to Tahoe and raft in July? Lets see some Giants games!

Whaddya say?

I'm Done

Until the Giants get an athiest as a closer, I'm not watching any more games. I have been pushed too far.

What Makes Us Happy?

As I wait for my boss to get back to the office today so I may give him my notice, I read this Atlantic Monthly article and wanted to post it as soon as possible. I had this bookmarked for a few weeks, so I don't remember how it came to my attention but I found it captivating.

Is there a formula—some mix of love, work, and psychological adaptation—for a good life? For 72 years, researchers at Harvard have been examining this question, following 268 men who entered college in the late 1930s through war, career, marriage and divorce, parenthood and grandparenthood, and old age. Here, for the first time, a journalist gains access to the archive of one of the most comprehensive longitudinal studies in history. Its contents, as much literature as science, offer profound insight into the human condition—and into the brilliant, complex mind of the study’s longtime director, George Vaillant.

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200906/happiness


I have been diligently studying for my exams and cannot wait to start the new job. I feel very optimistic right now. I look forward to celebrating with you all soon- but I have at least 40 hours of studying left and a wedding in LA this weekend so I predict it wil be 2 weeks before we can do so. At that time, we will drink many large cold glasses of delicious, expensive beer.

Until then, my friends!

Is There Life After Breakfast?

I'm on another Ray Davies kick. He goes away for a few months and then sneaks back on to the turntable without me deliberately seeking him out. The older I get, the better he sounds. He makes aging sound cruel and silly at the same time, and he may be the best eraser of self-pity I can stick in a cassette player. He'll save you a fortune in shrink costs.

A complete candy ass

The Cliff Notes version: After hitting a homer off Wilson in the 12th inning of the Giants' 7-5 13-inning victory, Blake was seen on television making the same well known gesture that Wilson makes after every save in tribute to both his Christian faith and his late father.

By the time Wilson returned to the clubhouse after securing the win in the 13th, some friends had sent images of Blake to his cell phone, sending him into an agitated state that his teammates instantly had to calm him down from.

The meaning of Wilson's gesture was pretty well-guarded secret until last season, when the All-Star reliever finally told Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News that he adapted a slogan for an ultimate fighting clothing company to reflect his own personal beliefs and that he has never intended to offend any opponents with it.

"It shows no disrespect toward anybody. It's all positive praise. It's not for showboating. It's not to start an epidemic. It's just me getting a quick message out to the world and to Christ and that's it. I just thought, `What more perfect time to display my faith than at the end of a game?'"

Since he's considered one of baseball's good guys, it doesn't seem in Blake's DNA to get that personal with an opponent. Then again, just last season he expressed his distaste for showboaters, as Diamond Leung so excellently recalled from a rivalry game with the Giants last season, so who knows?:

After Giants reliever Billy Sadler struck out Casey Blake to end the eighth, the rookie made a demonstrative celebratory gesture similar to the one he did after getting Manny Ramirez last month. This time, Blake and Matt Kemp exchanged words with Sadler, causing both dugouts to empty.

"Apparently, that's his gig," Blake said. "It's dumb. If I hit a home run off him, I'm not going to pump my fist and yell, especially if I'm not in the race."

Going down?

I understand if you don't give a damn about New York. But after returning to the city I lived in for three years, my trip was an eye opener. NYC appears to be returning to a dirtier, poorer and bleaker past. And that's good news for the punk rock!

The Freak Tames Wrigley

The Bay Area's best (only) reason to watch sports. Nothing like watching the freak dominate the Cubbies at Wrigley while you're fighting off the ravages of food poisoning. Get some bats in the lineup before these young pitchers walk!

Just Cuz