Ah, yes, another potluck post.
1. My Internet Explorer is pulling a mini freak out on me. It won’t let me visit websites, blogs, etc that use Site Meter. This is very distressing since I use it on this blog. At least, I did until I figured out why I couldn’t get on here and deleted the Site Meter thing-a-ma-bob. So, if you have Site Meter on yours, and are wondering why I haven’t visited you…that’s why. I’m not a computer geek, so I’m not exactly sure what I.E. has against S.M., but I hope they kiss and make up very soon. Is anyone else having this problem????? [UPDATE: Looks like it’s not just me. Check out this article.]
2. I have to weigh in on the Manny Ramirez thing. If you’re not into baseball, feel free to skip ahead to #3. Basically my thoughts boil down to this: Thanks for the laughs, Manny, now good frigging riddance. The Hall of Fame awaits you, no question, and deservedly so. But no amount of homeruns can make up for selfish bullshit you’ve been pulling all season long. Oh, how I long for the days of real baseball! Before it became a haven for soulless, money hungry agents like Scott Borasshole. To quote my hero, Bill Lee: “That was real baseball. We weren’t playing for money. They gave us Mickey Mouse watches that ran backwards.” (Imagine what my thoughts were before I boiled ’em down…)
3. I’m going to a Portland Seadogs game tonight!!! Whoo hoo! (Ooops…I guess those not interested in baseball should’ve skipped ahead to #4.)
4. A Waiting for Spring reader emailed me yesterday wondering just what the hell Watermelon Tourmaline is. It’s a pink and green gemstone that–when cut just right–looks like watermelon slices and–when cut another just right way–is just plain beautiful. I used it in WFS for a few reasons. 1) it was once mined in Maine. 2) it went along well with the color motif that runs through the book. 3.) its ‘energies’ (if you believe in that kind of thing) are love, healing, and power…also very important themes in the story. 4.) a few years ago I fell in love with a tourmaline ring I saw (but couldn’t afford to buy) at Bennett’s Gems & Jewelry in Belfast, Maine. I figured if I couldn’t have it then Tess could. Here’s a website that’s chock full of information about tourmaline, including lots o’ photos.
5. Chapter 20 of Waiting for Spring has been posted at Readers & Writers Blog, along with Chapter 32: Hillsborough of Gerard Jones’ Ginny Good. Check ’em out!
6. Have a great weekend!
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R.J. Keller 
I couldn’t agree more about Manny, although I must admit a Yankees bias — man, he owned us at the plate — but if I were still a Red Sox fan (as I was for many years before the 1986 fiasco against the Mets), I also would be terminally irritated at his selfish behavior.
And speaking of baseball and the Sea Dogs, I was there at the opening game of the old Maine Guides in 1984. For those who may not remember, it was a triple-A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians and brought some great talent to the ballpark in Old Orchard Beach. But, alas, the franchise failed, mostly for two reasons: First, although OOB attracts hundreds of thousands of summer visitors, most are Franco-Canadians who are not the greatest baseball fans in the world, as the defunct Montreal Expos will tell you. And second, Portlanders, basically resentful because they wanted the team instead of OOB, refused to come to the games. Well, their dark intentions finally were vindicated when the Guides went out of business after their second season and eventually the Sea Dogs came to Portland, although the city had to settle for double-A instead of triple-A.
By the way, thanks for the Bill Lee video. He always had baseball right. And for those who may not recognize it, his hat is not from the Catholic Church Charities Program. It’s the cyrillic acronym for the old USSR. Ha, ha. That guy has always cracked me up.
i have been using this one…
http://www.statcounter.com/
so far so good. Once it hit 500 I thought it would stop, but all is does is take stuff off from the beginning.
Hi Sid!
I remember the Maine Guides, but never got a chance to see them play. Bangor had a brief chance at hosting an A-league team, the Bangor Lumberjacks. My family and I went two or three times a month. Unfortunately, not many other people did and the team took off for greener pastures.
And yes, Spaceman’s hat cracked me up too. You’d probably love “Spaceman: A Baseball Odyssey,” a documentary that follows his trip into Cuba to play ball. Very cool.
Hey Crystal!
Thanks for the info! I’m a little nervous about trusting sitemeter again, even if they fix this problem.
Well, thanks for the excuse to dump site-meter off my site, as I am, as you may or may not know, an extremely compulsive checker of everything, including the pot boil, so having one less thing to obsess about will free up chunks of time and worried obsessions about who is visiting when from where and how can I be sure?
As for Manny, I have managed to absorb no baseball interest or knowledge despite living and working among Red Sox fanatics who can’t stop ranting about Manny. I sort of feel like I’m a ghost from another time and place in the room. Who’s this Manny? And why do they care so much? He seems to have long hair that I am concerned he will be losing. What could possibly be under there?
There’s no brain under all that hair, of that I’m certain. And I’m hoping that he–like Samson and Johnny Demon (oops…I meant Damon) before him–will lose his strength once his flowing locks are shorn.