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+ Mae is releasing it’s 3rd album, Singularity, on August 14th. I’ll be picking that puppy up on release week for sure. They’re also touring with The Fray, which would be fun to go see.

+ Chad Gibbs, a friend of mine from Alabama, has a new piece on Burnside this week about his 10-week stint as a maintenance worker at a mental health facility. You can read it here. There’s tens of thousands of people in the world that are funnier than I am, and Chad is one of them…it’s quite a distinction, I know…probably something he’ll put on the cover of the book he just finished. He sent me the book proposal for it, and it looks like it’s going to be great. In fact, if you’re a book publisher and you found this site because you were googling “Chad Gibbs” to see if he was a peeping tom, then you need to publish Chad’s book because it will make you rich and famous. As for whether or not he is a peeping tom, i can not vouch for him.

+Frightening story on “cheese heroin”, a low-cost drug that has killed over 20 kids in Dallas. It only costs about $2 per hit and is a combination of low-grade heroin and the over-the-counter antihistamine diphenhydramine.

+Hey look, here’s a successful writer who has a chemical engineering degree. Maybe i can follow in his footsteps! Oh wait…he’s a she, not a he…and she writes “steamy sex novels set among black professionals”…ok, well maybe not so much.

+You know how there’s one hot toy every year? Well, this could be it for 2007. Pleo is a six-inch dinosaur with 14-motors, 6 processors, and a $300 price tag. It’s like the Furby on anabolic steroids (and actually created by the same guy). Parents who actually buy this for their kids will probably need to be institutionalized when their little ones have more fun playing with the box on christmas morning.

+I’m playing Chesapeake Bay on Friday with some blokes from work. Our 10am tee time will mark the first time i’ve ever played golf in Maryland. In honor of the event, the Governor of Maryland will be breaking wind in his office, unaware of my plight. Hopefully i can improve on the abysmal 110 i shot last time out. what’s that? Hole #7 has a triple-tiered green? oh brother. Perhaps I’ll report back next week as to how i shot.

and finally…

+Andy Osenga, Caedmon’s Call member and owner of only 19 digits, just released an EP over at his website called Letters to the Editor, Vol. 1. You can download it for free, and if you have a soul like it, you can donate some money for the disc through paypal. What’s so special about it? A month or two ago Andy petitioned readers of his blog for song ideas, either a specific line or just a story, and then he built songs around what he received. He even had blog readers send in background vocals that they recorded on their own computers for him to use in the songs. It’s a brilliant idea that few could pull off, but Andy can (and did) because he is extremely talented. I haven’t listened to the EP yet, but i will probably give it a spin today.

Everyone is blogging about the Sopranos today so i thought I’d throw my hat in the ring with 10 not-so-salient points about the show:

1. I have never watched a second of the show. Some would say this is tragic. I’m not too concerned about it.
2. People are pretty bent out of shape now that the show is over. I can’t relate, but know that i will be feeling like that in May of 2010 when LOST ends
3. Apparently Tony had a different shirt on when he entered the diner than he did sitting at the table in the final scene? i don’t know if that’s true or not, or if it has significance, but I like spreading rumors.
4. The ending left things up for interpretation, in case you hadn’t heard. 25% of folks think it was genius. 70% are ticked off and disappointed. The other 5% think Paris Hilton should be freed so she can go cry to her mommy.
5. Will Leitch, huge Sopranos fan and David Chase apologist, had a great take on why he was hoping that there would have been more closure over at Deadpsin.com:
   

   “Years of television have trained you to expect a conclusion, he [David Chase] seemed to be saying, but you’re not gonna get one. To which we respond: Years of “The Sopranos” have trained us to expect nothing. We just thought you might be nice and give us something anyway.“

6. Most popular theory out there now is that when the screen went black it was Tony being shot by the guy who went into the bathroom. Earlier in the season Tony said something to the effect of “you never hear the sounds of the bullet that kills you”.
7. I thought the show’s creator David Chase was, like, 31. Googled him today to find out he’s a few years into his sixties. doh.
8. James Gandolfini apparently wants nothing more to do with the character of Tony Soprano. We’ve seen this before, when Bronson Pinchot swore off everything to do with Balki Bartokomos that he could.
9. Some say “The Wire” on HBO is every bit as good as “The Sopranos”. There’s another show i’ll probably never watch.
10. David Chase told me not to say anything, but, i just can’t hold my silence any longer. I shot Tony Soprano. It was me. And then i shot Meadow and A.J. and Carmela. I would have shot Phil, but apparently his head got crushed by a car. I shot Paulie Walnuts too, though i don’t know if he is still alive or if they killed him in Season 5. I tried to shoot David Chase, but i shot the wrong guy because i thought David Chase was 31. Turns out i wounded a key grip from the show’s production staff. He’s in stable condition and recovering quite well. I’m looking for a good lawyer. Leave a comment if you know of any.

Game 8 against the Indians (7-0)

After a 17-day layoff we took the field against the 2-time defending champs and we couldn’t touch their pitcher for anything. i think he struck out about 7 or 8 of us. i flailed at a third strike myself, looking pretty pathetic in the process. defensively we played alright, but they picked up a few runs each inning, scoring their 10th run in the top of the 7th to beat us 10-0. My bro Jordan had the only hit for us.

Game 9 against CMBC (3-4)

Frustrated from our early game shutout, we batted around in the top of the first to take a 6-0 lead. The lead got up to 9-0 before CMBC started to come back. They closed the gap to 9-5 in the 4th inning, but home runs by Dwayne, Doug, and Ken put the game out of reach. I still can’t hit for crap this year (between the 2 games i think i went 1-6 with double, 3 RBIs, and 1 Run scored), but i did have a nice full speed, over my shoulder, diving catch in right-center that got me a high-five from the opposing coach and a “nice play” from the umpire. i feel a bit like Coco Crisp this year, impotent at the plate, but enjoying myself in CF. After i popped up with the bases loaded in the top of the sixth inning, Doug hit a single to drive in 2 and end the game. Final Score 15-5.

That brings our Record to 5-4

Up Next, a tussle with the Rockies on Monday night. Will be a challenge as 3 of our starters will be at the beach.

if you read this blog in a feed reader, then you won’t even notice the new theme i’m using. click on over and check it out.

i’m not done playing with the graphics yet, i’d like to throw all sorts of little icons and images up on the top there. so stay tuned for that.

last night erica and i had a great date night. we ate at an upscale restaurant on the Main Line called Nectar. I think our Jetta was the only “regular” car in the valet-parked lot. (the place was littered with BMWs, Mercedes, Porsches, and i even saw an Astin-Martin). After dinner we did some shopping. I picked up a pair of XL running shorts, only to come home and realize that they were boys XL. it was a terrifying sight when i put them on. Erica picked up a new pair of running shoes, the new Nike+ Pegasus, and then we came home. We watched a chick flick, “Catch and Release”, and then called it a night. Thanks out to Jordan for watching the kids tonight on short notice.

On tap today, we’re staining our deck (which i designed myself, incidentally). Should take most of the day. Jordan left us his wii, so i might try to sneak in a few minutes of that as well…

off to be bob vila