A Quiet Weekend

A Quiet Weekend

Or maybe we should make that A Good Weekend.

After all, the Yanks clinched [1] the AL East [2] . [3]

Again.

The rain that had been forecast did not arrive over the weekend (although there was no shortage of humidity), and my little suburban villageís final Street Fair of the season came and went without suffering a rainout. The crowd was nice, and I bought a few shirts and stuff, plus some holiday season shopping with the kids in mind.

Finished a book [4] I'd been reading for weeks, now. At first I jumped around, reading various chapters of interest. Finally this weekend I finished reading it from first page to last. The book, Word Freaks [5], by NPR contributor and Wall Street Journal reporter Stefan Fatsis, is a look at the inner workings of the elite members of the tournament-level Scrabble player community.

Apparently this book and one other have been optioned [6] for movie-making rights. Wow, a movie about Scrabble?! Maybe I shouldn't be so surprised. For sure I'd run out to see it.

So long, Ernie!

Today was the last home game in Detroit to feature the stellar calling of the play-by-play [7] by Hall of Famer Ernie Harwell. Theyíve been treating him [8] like the legend [9] he truly is [10], all season long, in Detroit. Tributes [11] have been pouring in from all over [12]. Harwell announced [13] in February that this would be his last year [14] in the Tigersí broadcast booth [15].

Harwell figures into an interesting bit of Baseball trivia: he is the only announcer ever to be traded as part of an inter-team deal [16]. Another Baseball legend, Branch Rickey [17], was a part of that deal. A negotiating party, of course.

One other note, indicating just how special a person he is: the players on this yearís Tigers team gave Ernie and his wife Lulu a trip to Hawaii. Sure, there was Ernie Harwell Day, and yes, there are always trips and cars given to honorees on these occasions. But how often is it that the players get together to give something to an honoree? And this year, when they were so preoccupied with issues of the pending strike possibilityÖthey were moved to reach into their pockets and do something nice for the legendary voice who brought their actions on the field to radio listeners, fans of the team, the game, and of this exceptional announcer.

Correction: my daughter tells me Fozzie is not the Muppet pianist. Oops, I may have misquoted her. And look! I found a Fozzie Bear Muppet Profile page [18].

The opposite of Disturbing Search Requests: when people enter type WTC blue lights [19] into Comet Web Search, it turns out that DeanLand.weblogs.com is the top of the list!

Defy Gravity! Enter the Contest!

Caption contest! Take a look at this [20] and send in your caption suggestion! The winner getsÖ.erÖthe minor satisfaction of winning, end getting their quip in this blog, for all the world (or anyone who clicks over) to see, memorialized in the blog archives forever.

I did a small mailer of the picture [20] to some people, and got back a variety of responses. All funny, some rather lewd, with one specific exception: a very scientific contemplation of the conditions [21] required to create the, uh, curious effects (?) in the picture.

Okay, enough whetting of the appetite. Go take a look [20] and then send me [22] your suggested caption!