Sealing the Deal

Notice how no bride and groom ever hesitate when the pastor says, 'You may now kiss the bride'? And that's as should be!!

BazBiz Cleveland

This weekend was Bazaar Bizarre Cleveland, a craft fair for the quirky and artistically minded. We went, and it was ourfirst time. Verdict? AWESOME.

First, most of what we saw was top notch craftsmanship. The less high quality stuff would have been the highest quality at a church craft fair, so it wasn't bad at all!!

Another great thing about BazBiz was the sheer quantity of friends we saw. It was a startling number. Some I'd expected to see. Some were delightful surprizes. We also made some new friends. Quite a memorable day!

Oh-did I mention we actually got some Christmas shopping done?

Bazaar Bizaare

My beautiful friend Xan shows off her mad skilz on the the stilts.

It was wicked crowded, and she was not only sure-footed amidst the crowd, she held a baby AND leant over to exchange kisses with me. She is so awesome!

Everyone needs a Xan in their life, if not the original!

 

At the Colectivo Holiday Party

My cookies were disappearing! :-)

 

Colectivo Holiday Party!

Celebrating the season with fellow altruists.

 

Foodfetchers em rte 2 Browns s Stadium

So.

That post title.

My cellphone display is broken, and I can only see a very little bit of what is typed into my phone at a given time. I have to count clicks (it's not a QWERTY keyboard, just a simple phonepad with numbers and multiple letters sharing the keys), and as I was walking to the stadium as I typed, I lost count a couple of times.

The temptation is there to correct my work, but I think I will leave it as is. It will serve as a reminder -- a PAINFUL reminder!!! -- for me of what it's like to have a phone suddenly go out of commission.

On a sidenote, it was disappointing early in the day that this was the only picture I got to take of our day at the Browns game. My battery ran out as soon as I took and posted it. I'm not sure if that was actually related to the damaged display. In retrospect, however, it may have been a mercy I was denied my chance to take more pictures. The Browns made some really dumb plays. (Who throws to a receiver *already on the ground*???)

We did have fun, though. And it was yet another visit to Cleveland Browns Stadium during which we did not, nor were we remotely tempted to go to any concession stand.

 

I dislike that I rejoice in this sign.

It's been a dog's age since I've seen gas prices like this. I have very mixed feelings!

Garcia WINS!!

Beautiful. Just fantastic performance. Well done, Leonor!!

 

Final Battle!

 

Garcia v Steinway: advantage Garcia!!!!

In this shot Leonor is playing a piece that is entirely playful and completely wacky. It is thus far my favorite of the evening. There are many yet to come, though, and I fully intend to be just as delighted with the rest of them!

 

Garcia v Steinway: point, Leonor

 

Garcia v Hamburg Steinway

This is my beautifuul sister-in-law Leonor, whose talent is awe-surpassing. I am so proud of her, and thankful I am so blessed to be able to call her "sister".

 

No trucks on the Innerbelt Bridge????

So much for THAT rule. And, while we're at it, so much for 3 lanes of traffic on a 4 lane bridge.

 

Um... Jumping the Gun, Much???

They don't make any announcements regarding this year's Cy Young Award recipients until this afternoon, yet this is what I just found on Wikipedia under Cliff Lee's entry:

2008 Season

Cliff Lee on the mound at Progressive Field on September 12, 2008.In 2008, Lee had a career year. Despite the Indians playing with a l 500 winning percentage for the season, Lee started the 2008 season with much success. Lee was one of only eight pitchers since 1920 to win 19 or more of his first 21 decisions. He was the first Cleveland pitcher to win his first six starts since Greg Swindell in 1988. He also recorded his first career shutout on April 25, 2008, against the Kansas City Royals, allowing just 3 hits and 0 walks.[9] He had the lowest On-base percentage-against at .163 through five starts since 1909. For his efforts and success, he was named the American League Pitcher of the Month for April, when he went 5-0 with a 0.96 ERA. .[10] Lee was selected to his first All-Star game in 2008, and was selected to start the game. Lee worked two scoreless innings for the American League team, surrendering only a Chipper Jones base hit and striking out three.[11]

On August 26, Lee won his 19th game of the season, yielding only 2 runs to the Detroit Tigers.[12] This victory set a new career high for Lee, besting his previous mark of 18 wins set during the 2005 season. On September 1, Lee won his 20th game of the season, throwing a complete game shutout. He was the first Indian to reach 20 wins since Gaylord Perry in 1974.[13] In August, for the second time in the 2008 season, Lee was named American League Pitcher of the Month. He went 5-0 with a 1.86 ERA in the month. On September 12, Lee won his 22nd game, making his record 22-2 on the season. This marked the first time a pitcher had gone 20 wins over .500 since Bob Welch in 1990. Overall to end a career year, Lee went 22-3 with a 2.54 ERA and 170 strikeouts. He started 31 games, completed 4, and had 2 shutouts. He pitched a total of 223⅓ innings. Lee ended the season as the American League champion for both wins and ERA.

On September 30, 2008, Lee was awarded the AL Comeback Player of the Year Award.

Lee was awarded the Players Choice Award for AL Outstanding Pitcher of the Year, and AL Comeback Player of the year, by fellow players.

Lee was also given The Sporting News Pitcher of the Year Award and The Sporting News Comeback Player of the Year Award for his 2008 season.

Lee's 2008 winning percentage of 88% was the twelfth best of all time, and the fourth best by a pitcher starting a minimum of 30 games. Coincidently, the three pitchers ahead of Lee also pitch left-handed (Randy Johnson, Ron Guidry, and Lefty Grove). Lee's winning percentage is the second best in Indians history, behind Johnny Allen's 93.8% (15 wins, 1 loss, in 24 games) in 1937.

In 2008, he also won the AL Cy Young Award for his outstanding pitching in the season

[edit] See also
List of Major League Baseball wins champions
List of Major League Baseball ERA champions

Trippy, huh?

Notice how the important sentence is incomplete. The boldface and italics were added by me.

It'd be great if it's true. In fact, it will be rather suspect if Lee doesn't win. No American League pitcher had a better season this year. However, no one should have this information reported on a website at this time of this day. A leak of this sort is more appropriate on ESPN or MLB.com...

Wikipedia? REALLY??? (Yes, that's a link to the article referenced!!)

 

I'm late with this post. Wait...

...no, I'm not going to say it (you know where I was going, though, right???). I AM going to post a silly web comic, because when something sad or scary happens, I take comfort in humor. And this week something sad happened, so here's the silly before the big sad:

Subscribe to Doug Savage's daily insanity-on-a-sticky-note HERE.



Herb Score in 1958, from The Cleveland Plain Dealer
Tuesday morning Cleveland learned we lost a local sports giant. Herb Score, Indians pitching great and radio voice of the Tribe for decades, passed away at the age of 75.

He'd been retired since 1997, so we've been without his voice as a broadcaster for over a decade. Still, it seems a little less Cleveland-y right now.


Herb at Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) in August, 2005 from MLB.com.

Enjoy your Endless Field of Dreams, Herb. I hope you get to pitch one now and again.

 

Thankful Thursday: My Cup Runneth Over

Time for another list. I am well and truly blessed.

I am thankful for:

1.) this glorious day. The sun is shining, the temp is up around 70 degrees F (I've installed a bright yellow button along the right margin that blinks and says "convert me" which you can use if you prefer Celcius!), the sky is brilliant blue, and our autumn leaves are vivid and gorgeous against the cloudless sky;

2.) coffeecoffeecoffeecoffeecoffeecoffee; and while that is a daily given, I choose not to take it for granted;

3.) the Cleveland Browns, no matter how well or not well they do. They are a part of our city's heritage and football is an important part of our state's legacy! ON THIS DATE, Art Modell announced that he was moving our team -- OUR TEAM!! -- to Baltimore. Tonight we have a football game here at home on national tv. I am thankful that we have our team back with its colors and name and history intact!

4.) a clean kitchen and the tools and skills I use in it. They must be darn good, because my husband goes back for seconds and thirds every time.

Which reminds me, I've been cooking so much that we are out of key staples, and I need to replenish. Finally, I am thankful that I am both free and able to go to the grocery store and buy whatever I need from shelves that are stocked plentifully with a variety of items to suit my needs.

That's plenty for now!

 

Election Day, part 13: SWEET! SWAG *still* means "Stuff We All Get"!!

I scream, you scream, we all scream for FREE ICE CREAM!

Thank you, Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream!! It was very yummy. Rick had the eponymous Cherry Garcia, and I nearly finished the very delicious Phish Food. Rick was delighted to finish that for me, as I intended.

 

... says it all, really.

 

Election Day, part 11: SWAG means "Stuff We All Get"

This time it's Starbucks, for my celebratory cup of coffee.

3 companies are dangling 'carrots', as it were, for people who voted to haul their patriotic behinds into their stores for free stuff: Starbucks is giving away a small (they call it "tall") coffee, Ben & Jerry's offers an icecream cone, and Krispy Kreme wants to give us a free donut.

Except it's illegal to offer goods in exchange for votes, so now, REALLY anyone can go up and ask for this stuff.

Isn't that interesting, though? To see such marketing ploys as potential bribery!

I'm glad, though, that the watchdogs are out. Ol' 43 has often seemed to be steering us dangerously close to a Third World status, behavior-wise. He treats the Constitution with as much regard as a paper placemat: he filled out all the mazes and the puzzles, colored the picture, spilled his Coke on it, and let someone else clean up. Child.

I can't wait til he returns to Crawford for his life in stand-up comedy; he's not leaving the country!

A delightful postscript to my visit to this Starbucks: I was originally going to just go in for my free cuppa. However, since we are out of coffe at home, and I love Starbucks coffees, I figured I'd buy a pound of something yummy. I don't normally buy their coffee: Costco's Kirkland brand coffee is far more economical and just as high in quality, if not as wildly wide ranging in variety. (As my tastes are simple, that hasn't bothered me.)

ANYWAY. I chose my beans, indicated my grind preference, and they informed me that I now get a SECOND FREE CUP OF COFFEE, because they give you a free cup of coffee when you buy a pound! Plus, they were giving free 'shots' of some seasonal latte with candied ginger bits on top of the whipped cream.

(I know!!!! Can you believe my luck?)

I left, caffeine-laden in both liquid and ground bean forms. The liquid-form caffeine was the only thing keeping me from happy-dancing all the way to the car, not wanting to waste One. Precious. Drop.

CAFFEINE BLISS!!!!!

Oh, if only there were a punctuation mark more expressive than a mere exclamation point. That could be the caffeine talking.

 

Election Day part 9

Overflow parking, Board of Elections.

It's not in use today, as the BOE is not a voting location. Early Voting ended yesterday evening at 7:30pm. Now everyone must go to their regular polling location.

Please excuse the rotten photograph. (It shows a sign giving directions to alternative parking for folk who would have needed it during the previous weeks.) My cameraphone has lousy resolution when I use the 'zoom' function. This is the difference between "digital" and "optical" zoom: "digital" stinks, and looks like this.