Triumphant Beard Defying The Gravity of Cyber Tuesday

Last night the beard recovered its mojo and impelled my beloved Sox to an elimination win over the Tampa Rays.  I’m kind of sick of the Rays’ manager smarmy, new age pronouncements but the guy showed a monstrous set of “juevos” when he lifted his starting pitcher in a scoreless tie after only one inning and went with his bullpen the rest of the way.  These lovable Sox were not to be denied and I stuck with em even though the game didn’t finish until almost 1am.  The burnt taste in the mouth from last year’s pathetic team is irrevocably eradicated.

The Bearded Wonders Strike!

Monday through Wednesday of this week I am imprisoned behind my computer inputting the schedule changes into our high speed, low drag scheduling software system.  It’s about as user friendly as your neighborhood grizzly bear but it’s a necessary step due to the link with our onboard tracking systems. 

It’s a Canadian system that they jealously guard against modification to make it user friendly.  I can understand their reluctance to open it to more modern type input methods because this is their literally their bread and butter.  It still doesn’t keep my partner and I from cursing them soundly each time we have to jump through one of their 1990’s version hoops to get something done. 

 

A nice young guy from our planning group joins me for these mind numbing sessions.  We trade swaths of time behind the mouse while the other monitors what is done and catches the inevitable mistakes before they are saved (well mostly).  The added benefit of this week’s session is the presence by phone in of my favorite cyber geek.  The big boss’ recently graduated IT consultant who wanted to learn more about this system.

Unfortunately for him (and us) he has a fiancé living in Germany and this is Oktoberfest time so you can connect the dots.  He dutifully calls in via Skype and logs into our computer from his girlfriend’s apartment in Mainz.  We warned him ahead of time and each time he chirps in by saying there’s a faster way we have to disabuse him of the software’s ability to perform common sense functions.  I feel bad for him (and his fiancé) because this is incredibly boring stuff in person, I can imagine what it must be like just watching over a computer.  I think I would have better things to do with a fiancé and a lot of German beer around, but I digress.   The matrix truly has me. 

I finally had my date back for date night and we went to see Gravity.  This movie just blew me away with its simple, stark, unrelenting tension.  The plot has Sandra Bullock and George Clooney as astronauts struggling to survive after a disaster in the unforgiving cold vacuum of space.  The effects are so real that suspending disbelief is automatic.  This movie belongs to Bullock who plays lead not as a superwoman type but on a simple human level that made it so easy to relate to.  This is one of those rare movie experiences where you realize the full power of the medium.  My wife and I looked at each other when it was over and voiced a simultaneous “Wow!”.  Do whatever you can to see this movie on the big screen.  It’s a taut individual human drama played out on a massive canvas.

Playoff Beard - Day 10 - Now 3-1
First Series Win