Geez, I stink. Here's a phatass update.

--I finished Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix. The nice thing about being a book behind is that I could pick this up in paperback (and save 10-20 dollars), plus now I can dive right into HP & The Half Blood Prince with no pesky waiting.

The bad thing is that it's been so long since I read a HP book, and these things are so continuity heavy, I have a hard time remembering who Viktor Krum or Firenze were.

As far as HP&TOOTP, it was hard to get through at first since Harry just got shit on so much. It should have just been called Harry Potter Gets Shit On. Things definitely picked up, and I really had a hard time putting the book down for the last 200 pages or so.

--Check out this link, which compares every Major League baseball team to a Simpsons
character. Shame on you if you can't guess who the Yankees are.

--I think I'm finally taking the iPod plunge this week.

--There's nothing like picking up Tiger Woods 2004 for the first time in a year and shooting a -20 round at Spyglass Hill.

--I don't know what to make of this whole Mark Bellhorn deal. The guy hit home runs in three straight playoff game, including the game winner (the one that made this huge KLANG as it hit Pesky's Pole) in game 1 of the World Series. But he's been awful this year. Just God awful. He's hitting .216 with 8 homers and 29 RBI, plus he struck out 109 times in 283 at bats. So roughly every five official at bats he struck out twice. Now he's going to the Yankees. I don't know how to feel, other than sorry for the Yankees.

What rules: Being on vacation
What sucks: Roofer starting their job at 8:00 on your condo in the morning.

Watched Anchorman today. Pretty funny. More later.

You've probably heard the flap about the "Hot Coffee" feature in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, a downloadable patch that opens some, dare we say, graphic intercourse scenes.

The fallout is predictable, including this story from GTA-SanAndreas.com (an invaluable site, btw)

"An 85-year-old grandmother is suing Rockstar Games and Take Two Interactive Software Inc. for including the hidden codes in the then M rated game that she had bought for her 14-year-old grandson."

Right. By the way, here's what my last four missions entailed.

--Burning a field full of pot with a flamethrower, shooting down a police helicopter with a missle laucher, and making a getaway in a van filled with three tons of marijuana (not driven by Nate Newton, however).
--Driving around and picking people up (OK, bad example, but I did run over some pedestrians).
--Demolishing a contruction site and burying the foreman (trapped in a Port-O-Potty) in concrete.
--Killing a valet, stealing his uniform, using it to plant weed in a D.A.'s car, then calling the cops

But a sex scene? To quote Mrs. Lovejoy, why won't anyone think of the children?

Anyway, I'm thankfully through the Countryside missions and on to San Fierro. That "Wu Zi Mu" race took about ten tries before I got it right, but the next race (Farewell My Love) I nailed on the first try. Go figure. Love the continuity of having Claude, the main character from GTA III make an appearance. And true to form, he doesn't speak a word.

It was a terrifying couple of weeks here in Red Sox Nation as rumors swelled of Manny Ramirez possible being traded. Manny had been ripped in the press lately for not running out ground balls and refusing to play on a scheduled day off when the team was shorthanded (Trot Nixon having sustained an injury the day before). I found the latter inexcusable, and actually found myself wondering if maybe we should trade Manny. That strain of thought lasted about six seconds.

Yeah, Manny can be a pain in the ass and a liability in the field (although he somehow leads the AL in outfield assists), but damn, he's leading the AL in RBI and is tied for the lead in home runs. How do you replace that kind of productivity? You don't. At least, not with the trades that were being offered.

[Was anyone else upset the Devil Rays were asking for so much? Who the hell are they to demand anything--they're the Devil Rays for god's sake]

So Manny stayed a Red Sock. And wouldn't you know it, he pinch hit in a tie game Sunday against the Twins with the score tied 3-3 and men on first and second. And he got a hit. Not only did he get a hit, you knew he was going to get a hit, even when he fell behind 0-2. It just had to happen. So yes, all's well that ends well. But I leave you with a theory. The turning point of last season was the famed Varitek/A-Rod brawl, when the Sox came back to win the game. That became a rallying point and after the Nomar trade the Sox caught fire.

Last Tuesday Matt Clement was bonked in the head and carted off the field, and the Sox won a grueling game against the Devil Rays 10-9 in extra innings, where they really came together as a team.

The A-Rod incident happened 7/24/2004. The D-Rays game was almost a year to the date later, 7/26/2004. Oh, and the Red Sox are 5-0 since that game. Hmmmm...