Off the Top of My Head

I think I've decided to kill the concept of having a regular (if varied) title for an entry of random notes. Since I've never had any actual quotes in these entries, and since coming up with a clever rhyme for the title often took longer than writing the actual text, I thought it was time for a name change. I've got plenty of random things on my mind today.

I'm the only one in the office right now. I don't think that's ever happened before. Everyone else is on lunch break. I took my break an hour early today and the two days previous so someone would be here to answer phones and such. Normally our office manager takes a different lunch break than everyone else so that she can do it. However, since Wednesday of this week she's been spending her days at our company president's house, helping his fiancée clean it up after it was trashed by his ex-wife. Sounds like a soap opera, doesn't it? It also sounds to me like questionable business practice, but what do I know?

Coming in and out of the building over the past several days, I've noticed that it smells like monkeypiss outside. Right outside our main office door, in fact. I'm not sure what's up with that, but I hope it manages to go away over the weekend.

The upcoming weekend is unfortunately not a long one, as last weekend was, but it should definitely be a good one. Brandi and I are going to see Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban this evening--the latest showing (10:10 p.m.) so as to hopefully minimize the number of irritating children at the same show. Tomorrow we're driving down to Troy to spend the night at my parents' house. This weekend is the world-famous Troy Strawberry Festival, which I thought would be fun for us. I haven't been in Troy for a while, so I'm really looking forward to it.

Okay, it's probably a stretch to say that the Strawberry Festival is "world famous," but it is fairly well known at least around the U.S. It brings in a ton of people. I never really cared about the Festival one way or another while I actually lived in Troy (it's not that cool, and it creates major traffic problems), but now that I've been away for a while, I'm actually kind of excited about it. Mostly it's fun to walk around the levee and pick out familiar faces. Anyone in the Dayton area should definitely check it out, though. If nothing else, get some of the strawberry doughnuts. They're probably the most popular item, and they're awesome. Proceeds benefit the THS Marching Band. I was not in the band, but I helped make the doughnuts for the Festival before my senior year at THS.

In case anyone has missed it, I love my hometown. I want to be famous someday just so I can give Troy a plug at every opportunity.

I have 128 pages remaining in Wolves of the Calla, which I need to finish by Tuesday so I can be ready to jump right into Song of Susannah. I should be able to polish off those pages with no problem. I'm also getting close to the end of The Godfather, so I'll soon be needing another lunchtime book. I haven't yet decided what that's going to be.

I'm totally stoked about the continued good play of the Cincinnati Reds. They were off yesterday after completing a three-game sweep of the Marlins in Florida. Sean Casey is just pounding everything he sees, and Barry Larkin is doing a lot better than expected. Ken Griffey Jr.'s average is still a little low, but he's definitely got his home run stroke, and his other numbers will catch up. Adam Dunn is coming back around, too, after starting strong and then slumping a bit. The pitching isn't great, but it's been good enough. I think this team might just be able to stick around in the NL Central race. Hopefully the front office staff will make some deals to get some pitching help (and maybe a third baseman) if the team is still doing well toward the end of this month.

Speaking of baseball...let me start by saying that I am not in favor of taking away fan voting for the All-Star Game, or restricting it in any way. However, sometimes you just have to wonder how so many people can be so misguided. Boston's Nomar Garciaparra is currently the leading vote-getter for American League shortstop, despite the fact that he hasn't played a game all season. Not one! He's been injured. Also, what about Sean Casey being fifth for National League 1st basemen? Has anyone noticed that he's leading the league in hitting? I can't argue with a vote for Albert Pujols, who's leading the voting right now, but there's no way there should be three guys between him and Casey. Hopefully all of this will straighten itself out between now and when the game is played. I know I haven't cast my own ballot yet, so that will help.

Incidentally, Garciaparra played in Toledo last night, and will do so again tonight and tomorrow. He's on an injury rehab assignment with Boston's Triple A team, which is in town to play the Mud Hens. I thought about going out to the game last night--how often do you get to see a future Hall of Famer for just eight bucks?--but ultimately decided against it. I will be going to a Hens game later this month, though, when they host the Louisville River Bats, which is the Triple A affiliate of the Reds.

I often listen to ESPN Radio (1470 AM in Toledo) when I'm in the car, and they frequently play perhaps the most annoying radio commercial I've heard. It's a commercial for OnStar in which they play clips from an actual call, featuring what sounds like an old lady wailing in distress after an accident. I'm sure there are better clips they could have chosen.

On the other hand, there's one commercial in particular that I happen to like, and I'm not sure why. It's advertising the nationwide crackdown on seatbelt laws, the "Click It or Ticket" campaign. Anyway, it starts off with a guy saying "Everybody knows that safety belts save lives, blah blah blah." For some reason, it cracks me up when he says "blah blah blah."

Yesterday while driving, I saw a car with the license plate FA74SS. From a distance, or just at a glance, that looks a hell of a lot like "FATASS." I hope I'm not the only one who sees that.