Friday, June 12, 2009

Could be a "decision day" today; and What a Game!

We had some nice sunshine yesterday morning, but then the day deteriorated. As the day went so did my bones and joints. It wasn’t a nice day. I had thought I’d be able to mow my lawn yesterday afternoon to get it done before the rain. But when I went out to check, the lawn was damp and “iffy” for my bagging chutes. It was also very cold and windy and I could almost feel the dampness in the air. The lawn didn’t get mowed.

Now today the rain is here. I won’t go into the way my body is reacting. By now I suspect you already know. I’m hoping it will stop in our area early enough to begin the drying process so that if the expected sun tomorrow morning can complete the dry, I’ll be able to get that mowing done before that “chance of showers” arrives.

I came very close to doing the unthinkable last night. I almost went to bed before the Sox came from behind to beat the Yankees. Boston was sailing along with a one to nothing lead, thanks to a home run by David Ortiz and strong pitching by Brad Penny through six innings. Then the Red Sox bullpen took over in the seventh. That wasn’t a nice inning as New York scored three times to take a three to one lead.

The Sox didn’t do much in the bottom of the seventh and that’s when I almost conceded. I shut down my computer, began my usual routine of shutting off the light and then powering down the TV. I reached for the light and thought, “Shucks, what’s one more inning.” The top of the eighth was a good one for Boston and no more damage was done. The Yanks’ turn to come apart was in the bottom when Boston scored three runs of their own and took a four to three lead into the last chance for New York.

Boston’s closer, Jonathan Papelbon, is one of the best in the league and he didn’t let his team down as, for the eighth straight time this season, the Sox beat the Yankees and now have a two game lead in the AL East. Boston has swept all three series so far this year. And keeping the old Gator Dude up after ten o’clock is what a century’s old rivalry is all about.

Legislators planned to adjourn this session of the Maine Legislature today. I’m not sure they’ll succeed. They have been working to tweak and get passed several items that involve raising your taxes. No bill completed in short haste can be good for Maine. I’ve already given my feelings over most of the items, so I’m not going to add anything more today. Except we now know how good the governor’s word is. Perhaps we’ve known it all along.

My cable company is expected this afternoon to send their “last resort” guy to get my reception problems fixed. If you follow me just a little, you know that since March I’ve been going through all sorts of rotten situations concerning what some of the cable guys call pixelizing. The picture and the sound become totally useless on the high definition channels. All the channels I watch there can also be seen on the lower digital channels clearly, but I’ve come to love watching sports in hi-def. There is no comparison.

We’ve had so many phone calls to the service department I lost count. There have been technicians here at least five times with two of them on two occasions. Each does something and for a few hours the channels work. The last one even added an amplifier which he was absolutely certain would solve the problem.

I’ve been threatening to give up the cable for satellite service, but I really don’t want to switch. The reason for that is, perhaps, the silliest, dumbest reason anyone could have. We also have digital phone service through the cable company and the caller I.D. is the television set. When an incoming call arrives while we’re watching TV, the caller’s information is in a box on the screen. I don’t want to lose that. At least I know how childish that is.

And here’s something I’ll bet most people don’t know. I called the satellite company to find out about costs of their service. To get the same channels I now get, plus the rental of the reception box, plus the rental of boxes for other rooms, plus the fee for HD service, plus the fee for a DVR service, plus tax and other fees, the cost of that satellite even with low, introductory prices, is within a few dollars of the cost of my cable service. And, believe it or not, those few dollars are more than what I’m now paying.

So I’m really hoping this guy of “last resort” truly knows what he’s doing and can resolve my problem.

GiM

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