Rain Delay Vindication - Finally

The Phillies had to Win. Karma Demands it. I'm not talking about horrible handling of Game 5 by MLB. The Phillies should have won the World Series last year. At the very least, they deserved to destroy the Colorado Rockies in the playoffs. They didn't. Karma must have been taking a vacation.

Last season, the 2007 MLB season, the Phillies were playing the Rockies in Colorado. A storm sweeps into Denver that forces a rain delay. It happens. But the storm carried some impressive winds. Winds that were strong enough to whip some things around. So if you were carrying a sail - like say a tarp to cover the infield - you might find yourself no longer attached to the Earth.

Watch this video. Watch it again. It'll make you feel happy about sports. Happy about the Phillies having just won the World Series. Happy that these multi-millionaire athletes jumped right out of the dugout to help out the Colorado ground crew. The Colorado ground crew. Where were the Rockies? I don't know. The Karma Gods of Baseball (KGB) should have granted the Phils the World Series last year.

The KGB got it right this year. And they were good enough to remind you why you should love this team. Why you maybe should love baseball. Why the Flyin' Hawaiian shouldn't never be booed. The Fightin's are not even afraid of Mother Nature.

80 - 08. Way to go Phillies. . . Way to go Phillies!!!!!!!!!!!!

Think Blue; You're Not Fooling Anyone

Have you been reading about how you should unplug everything you own - presumably when you are not using it - so you will not waste electricity? Some of it makes a lot of sense: turn off your computer; turn off lights in rooms you are not in; unplug the TV when not in use. I can get behind all of that. But why do I need to unplug my cell phone charger? I hear this one mentioned all the time. But where is the electrical potential that is going to waste electricity? I don't get it. But I do it anyhow.

I don't want to talk about any of that though. I come to you with a new plan to promote being green* and stop wasteful electricity usage: Stop trying to fool me that you are still at work. You probably work with a guy that leaves everyday about 10-30 minutes early all the time. The offender will invariably leave the lights on & computer screen on with an open Excel spreadsheet. It's always a spreadsheet. It all is meant to make it look like he might just have stepped out to use the bathroom. Well, you're not fooling anyone, so could you please turn off the lights and PC and save a kWh or two?

*Why do we call it green? I've never questioned this before, but really there is a heck of lot more blue that we are worried about: the oceans, the sky, those guys that make odd music out of PVC instruments. Plus, the Berkeley hippies already have green. We could start a new movement to be blue and then anyone those that doesn't want to be associated with Berkeley (think Code Pink) can just call themselves blue. Plus if you care to be snotty you could now say, "Well I'm blue, because I care about more of the planet than you do."

Last week I went to go visit a client. Evidently, he likes to get into work late. Who doesn't? I didn't mind at all waiting in his office for five minutes before the start of our meeting. But I didn't know he wasn't there yet. There were three, yup three, monitors actively displaying work like substances, the lights in the office were on, and a radio was playing -- country. So I ask the first guy who walks past if my client is in some other part of the plant. "Nah. He's just not here yet. He gets in late, but he stays late too." Good for him. However, if three monitors, lights, and top 40-esque nasty country music cannot fool a coworker, then give up. Turn the lights off. You'll sleep better at night.

Now go tell all your friends.

Orange Preferences

I know I shouldn't, but dammit I like candy corn. At least I like candy corn in the autumnal season. And come to think of it, why shouldn't I like candy corn? Screw you anti-candy corn lobby, we are taking Halloween back.

Now I have question: Do you prefer a corn of candy that doesn't have all of its color parts? I'm talking about the piece that doesn't have the white part. That's the most common variant: yellow bottom and orange through out the rest. Of course, it is supposed to be yellow, orange, and white - from bottom to the top. But occasionally you get this malformed kernel, and for some strange reason I like that piece best. Why?

I fully realize that there isn't going to be a taste difference. Yet if I have five kernels to eat, I'm eating that abnormal one last. I'm saving it for last. It's like finding a four leaf clover, but better because it's candy corn and you get to eat it. Plus, it should be autumn and that's a pretty bad time to be looking for clovers.

Sure I'm thinking too much about this - someone has to - but I also vastly prefer my abnormal corns to be predominantly orange. What's up with that? I'm afraid if I ever got one that was greater than 38.5% white that I'd throw it back. A solid yellow corn I might be able to take. Solid orange - yes please!. Yet I'd be horrified to see a bowl* of just misfits kernels.

*For such a pedestrian food stuff you will see candy corn in the fanciest of dishes. Have a look at the bowl on the coffee table of the open house you are going to on Saturday. It'll be full of Brachs candy corn and you'd probably be able to buy your weight in candy corn for the MSRP of that Swarovski crystal vessel.

Well, I hope you are enjoying some October. I just got my pool back this weekend. My first dip, post Ike, came on 05-Oct. And if you have been following at home, my sister does have her power back. Suz regained power after being out of juice for about sixteen days. And I regained my apartment at the same time. It was great having some live in family & the cutest niece ever living with me. And you can thank the Official Sister of the Song of the Summer for providing the bowl of candy corn that inspired this piece. Thanks sis.

Keyboard Shortcuts Will Make You Happy

If you are a geek like me, you love the keyboard shortcut. Even if you are not a geek* you ought to learn to love the keyboard shortcut. Death to the Mouse! Chances are you already know and love Alt+Tab (switch between Windows applications) and WinKey+E (open Windows Explorer).

*If you think you are not a geek, I would like to point out that you are reading my blog. The outlook for your non-geekness is looking pretty slim. However, we all love geeks here at the Song of the Summer.

Keyboard shortcuts really are fantastic - and I alway want to learn more. However, every now and again I learn about other PC fun that just makes me happy. It's not surprising that most of it comes from the good folks at Google. Well I just read David Pogue's NYTimes blog entry on PC Basics. And I picked up three little gems that I didn't know about:

1. You can use Google to do math for you. Just type the equation, like 23*7+15/3=, and hit Enter. {There is literally no need for this, but I find it fun anyhow.}
2. Google is also a units-of-measurement and currency converter. Type "teaspoons in 1.3 gallons," for example, or "euros in 17 dollars." Click Search to see the answer.
3. WinKey+D will show the Desktop. WinKey+D again will return you to what you were doing. {The return thing is the money part. And to think that I've been using WinKey+M all these years...}

By all means have a read through David Pogue's article, maybe there are new and good ones for you in there as well. In the meantime, I have pulled a few other gems out the comments section from this particular blog.

Special bonus features from the user comments:

• In Microsoft Word - Shift+F3 makes a word change from all uppercase to all lowercase to just the first letter upper case and so on. (Big Fizz BIG FIZZ)
• A tip for Texans on filling in the "State" box. Type tt and then Enter. Texas will be entered into the box. No more having to scroll down to the bottom of the list of states. (This one is a little Mike specific.)
• In Firefox, CTRL+K or COMMAND+K will navigate your cursor to the Google search bar, so you can type in your searches without taking your hands from the keyboard.
• Google Synonym Search - If you want to search not only for your search term but also for its synonyms, place the tilde sign (~) immediately in front of your search term. e.g. ~fast food

Comments I just thought was humorous:

• …And thanks for not including the words "idiots," "dummies," "morons," "half-wits," "simpletons" or "Alaskan governors" in the title… Many regular, intelligent people don't know — and need to know — this stuff!
• If you "run out of mouse pad," all is not lost! Just lift your mouse, reposition, and continue. [This, based on a real life experience with a work colleague.]

And finally from the angry anti-cell phone lobby:

When your cell phone is ringing in a public place, you should push any button on the side of the phone as soon as possible to silence the ringer. The call will still be there and ringing, just not audibly. You can then answer the phone at your convenience, or you can let it go to voicemail if it is not an appropriate time to answer the phone.

It never ceases to amaze me to see people who think their only two options are to answer the phone or to let it ring outloud until voicemail picks up. Letting your phone ring repeately in a public place is not acceptable.
— Posted by Mike

(Note: this last comment was not posted by Mike Lennon. However Mike Lennon does find it humorous that someone is upset enough to post a comment deep, deep on a NYTimes blog & maybe thinks he might find the intended recipient(s). Good Luck Mike. Good luck.