Blockbuster Friday

They're Here!

My wife and I negotiated through amazingly (at least for Connecticut which is the sun source of totally inept highway construction planning but I digress) easy traffic to the big event of the day – picking up my daughter and son in law in New Haven.  We even reconnoitered a new rest stop off the I-84 HOV lane when I proved less than predictable in the rest stop arena.  I will not embarrass any of my co-travelers except to say that my daughter is now a huge fan of a certain Mobil station.  I am the proud owner of a brand new watch (see photo) that was the product of my wife doing battle with Macy’s.  She returned to Macy’s yesterday with the refund she earned the day before and spent it on a non-Bulova watch – a Citizen eco-drive.  My son in law was impressed saying the watch doesn’t need batteries and is powered by solar regeneration.  I felt extremely cool – thanks to the wife.  We stopped at Zorba’s on the way home, of course, and caught up with each other over the mystical pizza which always restores my soul in an almost medical fashion.  I think it has more to do with the company than the pizza but it always works.  We can home to watch a very flat Patriots preseason game while my wife checked out Facebook.  She mentioned that my sister had posted something about the Red Sox being involved in a huge trade so I quickly changed channels and learned the still not final trade details.  The Red Sox seem to be trading three of their superstars, Josh Becket, Carl Crawford, and Adrian Gonzalez for prospects.  This represents a monumental change of direction for the Sox and I applaud their audacity.  This season is lost and the club house of this team just didn’t seem to get it.  The Red Sox and New England share a bond that spans generations but this team seemed content with mediocrity.  We’ve been cursed with mediocre Red Sox teams over the decades but for the most part they understood that their rabid fans (guilty) could excuse mediocrity if they only cared and gave us their best effort.  Beckett was an unapologetic shadow of his former self who let himself get out of shape and was going through the motions after signing his huge contract – he needed to go.  Gonzalez was the typical southern Californian who never connected with the New England fan base.  Immensely talented but maybe all those years in San Diego robbed him of the edge needed to compete against the hated Yankees.  Crawford was a victim of bad luck health wise and being thrust into a club house with a routine already set.  Coming from the outside I always thought he felt powerless to impose a more professional attitude and suffered in silence.  I’ll miss Crawford a lot, especially if he gets healthy.  I’ll miss Gonzalez’ bat and defense but not his attitude.  I won’t miss Beckett even a little bit as he is leaving town one step ahead of a very uncomfortable trip on a rail adorned with tar and feathers.  Today should be a lot of fun as we are heading up to New Hampshire to conquer the forbidding mountain fastness of Mount Monadnock.  I am certain I will have to also show the Elm City Brewery to my son in law, something of a beer connoisseur that guy, because that’s just how we roll. (I think I used that phrase correctly?)

Good Bye

My New Solar Powered Watch
Apparently Buddy Approved