So by now everyone has probably heard about the lovely incident at the Oakland A's/Texas Rangers game last night. Nice huh? Rule #1 in professional sports - Ignore Idiot Hecklers. Rule #2 for Women Everywhere - Get Out Of The Line Of Fire If You're Dumb Enough To Be Married To An Idiot Heckler.



I told my boyfriend that this is just further proof that women are really stupid when it comes to men. I'll admit it - we really are!



My boyfriend also sent me this article on the most notorious Players Vs. Fan fights in MLB history. My favorites? Ty Cobb of course. Arguably the greatest ball player of all time (and the greatest Tiger. Period). What a A-hole though. Geez. And wait until you read the Albert Belle account - priceless.



I finished up a totally fabulous book this morning, and just have to gush. Leave It To Cleavage by Wendy Wax is more of a cozy mystery about a woman finding herself than it is a romance - but it's being marketed as a romance, so there you go.



The heroine is a former beauty queen who discovers that her husband:

1. Likes to wear women's lingerie
2. Is having an affair with someone who likes French manicures
3. Has left her - and vanished off the face of the Earth
4. Has run her family's lingerie company into the ground.

So it's up to our heroine to:

1. Dust off her MBA degree and save the company before panic ensues
2. Find her no-good husband
3. Divorce his sorry butt
4. Survive her various charity obligations
5. And somehow get the snooping (and handsome!) police chief off her back.

Naturally we have a romance between the police chief and our heroine - but what works so well is the fact that the heroine has to resume control of her life. She's been coasting. She thought her marriage was fine. So in between sorting out the mess her husband dumped in her lap, she's also becoming a stronger, better person.

It doesn't hurt that I found this book very amusing in parts, and Wax's writing style is breezy and charming. With only her second book, Wax comes off like a seasoned veteran. Brava!

A very high B+ - and I could easily make an argument that it's a "keeper" (A!).

Since it's Monday (and I'm about as ready to work as the Hilton sisters), let's add a new feature to the blog shall we? I'm going to call it Wendy's Football Pick Of The Past Weekend. My boyfriend and I make the NFL season a bit more interesting by entering into the spirit of friendly competition by calling each game (using a point spread if we pick the same team). I totally kicked his ass this weekend (Ha!) and came out looking like a genius with this pick:



San Diego over Houston.



Yep - I actually picked the Chargers to win. My boyfriend's exact words were "What?!?!" followed closely by "relying a lot on LaDainian Tomlinson aren't you?" Ok, so yeah I was - but turned out Drew Brees had a good game too.



As this new feature evolves, you can also expect it to include the various bonehead calls I make - which this past week included me picking San Francisco over Atlanta. A close game, but still I should have known better.



In other non-sports related news - my new toys arrived this weekend. There's nothing like a TV upgrade to make life a little sweeter. We now have a 36" flat screen TV with a surround sound system. Of course, with no entertainment system, we've had to be a bit creative organizing all this new "stuff." All I can say is God bless Rubbermaid totes. I also got my beautiful new oak dining room set - which is so heavy I've declared that we cannot move anytime soon.



As far as reading, I finally put aside Summer By The Sea by Susan Wiggs. It's a fine enough book, but I just could not get into it. Also, the arrival of my Amazon order, coupled with new a patch of review books, were so enticing I opted to start something new. The lucky winner was Leave It To Cleavage by Wendy Wax. I know, I can't believe I'm reading something with that title either - but so far I'm enjoying it immensely. This coming from a girl who has never really gotten the romantic-comedy trend in the romance genre.

Being a Detroit Tigers fan takes a lot of hope (or denial depending on the season), and a lot of Mylanta. After losing to Kansas City today 5-26 (!) they came back for game 2 of the doubleheader and won 8-0.



God bless Alan Trammell - it's amazing he doesn't have an ulcer the size of Montana.



Just further proof that we need pitching. Heck, us and just about everybody else in the league.



In other updates - Hell is only experiencing mild flurries. The city posted 2 "Unauthorized Vehicles Will Be Towed" signs, but I have yet to see my "Staff Only" parking signs in back.



Oh well....

I think Hell is close to freezing over.



I just got e-mail this morning that the city is finally going to put up new parking lot signs here at work. Signs that say "Staff Parking Only" in the back - and signs in the general lot that say "Unauthorized vehicles Will Be Towed Blah Blah Blah." These signs are supposed to be in place by 3PM today - but since I've been waiting since May, I'm not exactly holding my breath.



Why do I need these signs? Evil Little League Parents. OK, I'm not being fair - Evil Sports Parents In General. My library sits next door to a park. A park that is overrun every Saturday due to various sporting events. Naturally, despite our current signage, sports people take up library parking then library patrons naturally come complaining to me.



After a couple of meetings with the city, who assured me back in May that they were sympathetic, I've heard nary a beep from them. Sick of people complaining to me about it (when I tried, I really did), I started handing out the city's phone number to every complaining library patron. I said, "Here, call them on Monday. Maybe you as a tax paying citizen will get somewhere."



New signs of course will not alleviate this problem entirely. I'm probably going to have to take to patrolling the lot myself and calling the cops to come and ticket. This is of course assuming I can get the cops to come out and ticket. They've been crying "budget cuts!" every time it is suggested that they might want to patrol our parking lot every now and then due to the feces, used condoms, graffiti, and abandoned cars being left here.



Silly me.



In other more pleasurable news, NFL Kick Off is tonight! Yeah!



For the past several years my boyfriend and I have entered into the spirit of friendly competition by calling the games and using a points spread. Because I'm hopelessly optimistic (or maybe hopelessly clueless?) I picked the Colts over the Patriots tonight. Yes, I know - they are playing in New England. But it's also not December, 20 below with 10 feet of snow dropping from the sky. My boyfriend probably made the wiser choice and went with the Pats. We'll just have to wait and see how it all plays out won't we?

So as not to disappoint Kate - looks like the Skankies will have to play that game against the Devil Rays after all. David posted a lovely link in my comments section that sums up the debacle nicely. My hatred for the Skankies is closely followed by my intense dislike for Bud Selig. I figure about the only thing he hasn't screwed up is introducing inter-league play, and worse still we're stuck with him for a while. Didn't he just sign a massive new contract with MLB?



In other news - I'm finally done furniture shopping! While our bedroom still looks like something out of a college dorm, we have a new TV, surround sound system, dining room set, coffee table and end tables on the way to us. The coffee table and end tables had to be ordered - so it looks like it will be a 3-4 week wait for those. However by Saturday morning - I will be basking in the glow of our new 36" TV (football season here I come!) and eating lunch on my new oak dining room set.



In other not so good news - I seem to be in a reading slump. I'm trying to read Summer By The Sea by Susan Wiggs. One of my favorite historical writers, the jury is still out on how her contemporary voice works for me. I feel I'm not giving SBTS a fair shot - but if it still hasn't grabbed me after a few more chapters, I may have to set it aside for something else.

Confession time: I once dated a NY Yankees fan. I know, I'm not terribly proud of it either. However I was able to overlook this unfortunate characteristic because he had other sports affilations I approved of, most notably his dislike for the NHL NY Rangers.



If you read the comments section in my blog you'll notice that this ex left me a message about my previous post where I rejoiced that the Indians crushed the Skankies 22-0. Well David, I've just got one thing to say to you....



Ha ha! Kevin Brown!



Sorry - I know this isn't terribly mature of me. In fact, it's plain mean on my part. But like my boyfriend told me this morning, "Hey I like Kevin Brown - but he's a dirty Yankee now."



Speaking of sports - it's that time of year again. The time of year where Wendy becomes a college football widow. I do enjoy the NFL - but I've never been able to muster up much enthusiam for college football. There are a couple of reasons for this:

1. They're kids.
2. The games tend to be one-sided towards offense. I like watching good defense.

My boyfriend is a fierce Notre Dame fan - despite growing up in NY state. I think it's the whole Irish Catholic thing - with emphasis on the Irish more so than the Catholic. So while he's screaming at Notre Dame vs. BYU this evening, I'll probably be hiding out somewhere. At least we have a second sofa in the computer room now, ideal for reading - and who knows? Maybe I can squeeze a bookstore run in this evening.

Oh no Ugi! My favorite pitcher for my Detroit Tigers got some bad news - here's hoping his mother is returned unharmed.



"Ugi, Ugi, Ugi til you just can't Ugi no more."



Sorry I can't help myself.



Anyone get to watch the fantastic Cleveland Indians crush the dreaded New York Skankies earlier this week? The highlights on ESPN were awe-inspiring, but alas, I could not watch the game. Heck, assuming I hadn't been working and the game was televised in my region (which it probably wasn't) I still probably wouldn't have watched it. My hatred to the Yankees means I only watch them when I absolutely have to - which is unfortunately every god damn post season.



I suddenly feel my blood pressure spiking. Calm blue ocean, Wendy - Calm blue ocean.