Pinky on the Mend

So how did my pinky finger fare while playing sports the last couple of days? Just fine, I’d say, even though it’s still a bit sore and tender. At football practice yesterday I was playing a bit gingerly and dropped at least a couple passes I normally would’ve caught. The splint served me well though, absorbing some shocks, especially on one pass that hit my finger just right and popped it right off, despite me taping it to my hand. And then at softball this evening we didn’t have any extra players so I had to put on a glove and head out to right-center. But again my finger didn’t bother me too much, as I was able to catch the only fly ball that came my way without pain. I also went 1-for-2 with a run scored in our 13-8 win, it’s nice to put a W on the board finally.
We’re definitely having a touch of fall around here, the temp dropped into the upper 30s overnight last night, and should do so again tonight. And quite a few trees have started changing colours too, due to our very dry August and very cool September. Usually peak isn’t until mid-October, but it’s looking like it’ll probably happen a little earlier than that this year.
Even though the Twins dropped a game tonight to the Red Sox in which Johizzle took the mound, these are very good days to be a Twins fan. They’re red hot, and have shaved 12 games off Detroit’s lead, now trailing the Tiggers by only half a game in the AL Central. We’re comin! And with Chicago’s loss tonight, keeping them at 5 1/2 games behind the Twins in the Wild Card race, the Twins’ magic number for clinching a playoff berth is now at 5. They’re pretty much ensuring that my Twins “TC” cap will remain firmly ensconced on my head well into October at the very least. Go Twins!!
My Uncle Gary sent me a link yesterday to a very interesting article, an excerpt from the book, “From Squaw Tit to Whorehouse Meadow: How Maps Name, Claim, and Inflame” by Mark Monmonier. Now, I’m naturally interested in maps, and also quite intrigued by odd placenames, so I found it quite a fun little read. Gary brought up something in his email that this author didn’t though, which is that fairly recently the State of Minnesota mandated that all the many Squaw Lakes had to be renamed (the one in Cook County was renamed Olga Lake, for instance); Jap Lake in Cook County (which was named after a local, J.A. Paulson) was renamed Paulson Lake; and that Fag Lake and Hooker Lake still retain their names, along with Lake County’s very own Neglige Lake. Does anyone else know of any strange, vulgar or risque lake or place names? This could turn into a fun little exercise. 🙂
The screenwriter for “The Path to 9/11” has come out with an editorial defending his docudrama that’s very much worth reading.
Could the recent spate of suspicious passenger behavior on airlines be more than just airline crews and passengers being overly cautious? Hopefully it’s just that, but you can never be too sure in this day and age.
As a final note, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hugo Chavez both just need to shut up. I really don’t understand how anyone can treat either of them with even a modicum of respect, much less fawn over them with a sense of awe, like several members of the mainstream media do with crazy Mahmoud in particular. And Chavez’s tirade doesn’t sound much different from what’s being spewed by large swaths of the far left in our country either, unfortunately.