The Next Step

I need a new banner image for the top of this page. I’ve been using the stock one for far too long. If you have an idea or a banner I can use, let me know in the comments and/or send me an email. It needs to be the same size as the one that’s there now: 800px by 200px. If I get a good one, I’ll put it up. If I get a lot of good ones I might have to put them in some kind of rotation.

If I don’t get anything, then I’ll be forced to use my own creativity. And I don’t think anybody wants that.

Fear not! This blog will stay around to chronicle my regular thoughts and rants. However, I recently moved into an apartment with three roommates, all of whom are women. It seemed to me that this had far too much entertainment potential for me not to document it in some way. So I set up Estrogenous Encounters to document my experiences. Enjoy.

It’s a little weird how closely the Democratic party’s candidates for president match up with the candidates for the last Massachusetts gubernatorial race. Take a look:

1. The “Mean” White Women – Hillary and Healey
2. The Inspiring Black Men – Obama and Patrick
3. The Rich White Guys – Edwards and Mihos/Gabrieli

Perhaps it’s a sign?

According to my fancy-pants analytics script, my blog received visits recently from countries as varied as Canada, Turkey, Trinidad & Tobago, South Africa, and China. It can’t be long before people start fearing my vast media empire and its tremendous influence.

If you are one of those people reading from overseas, I’d love to hear from you. Do I know who you are? Did you just stumble in by accident? Leave me a comment and let me know.

Drew vs. Nixon
Lugo vs. Gonzalez
Pedroia vs. Loretta

Fake news is better than real news. Actually, it’s as good as reading a newspaper. Which is pretty good when you consider that the shows are only half an hour long counting ads.

So who knew you could import blog posts into facebook? Not me, certainly.

As my first act since introducing facebook-visibility, let me present to you Dougie’s Going Deep Tonight. Because let’s face it. Dougie is the man.

This brings back memories of the bathtubs backing up last year after our two straight months of rain or so. Well, I suppose it’s not quite that bad yet.

Also, nice opening day, Red Sox. You managed to hold a lead against Kansas City for a whole half inning, and only ran yourself into outs at second base twice (that I saw).

This brings me to my annual Red Sox season starting… thing, where I talk about the Red Sox. This time I’m going through the lineup to give praise and criticism where it is due. Mostly criticism.

1. Julio Lugo – No doubt about it, we’re going to miss Alex Gonzalez’s miracles at shortstop. However, from what I hear, Lugo can actually get some hits. That’s a trade I’m willing to make.
2. Kevin Youkilis – I have a hard time saying anything bad about Youk. I fully expect to see him outperforming Loretta’s performance of last year if he stays in the number 2 spot. Of course, we know he could be productive anywhere in the lineup.
3. David Ortiz – I don’t need to say anything.
4. Manny Ramirez – Same as ever. No reason not expect his trademark brand of superproductive laziness.
5. J.D. Drew – I admit that I have a certain bias against J.D. Drew. Everybody says he’s a clear upgrade from Trot Nixon, but… I miss Trot Nixon.
6. Mike Lowell – I hope he can produce like he did last year, and I hope he’s not lonely on the left side of the infield without Gonzalez. He’s getting old, though, and he needs to stay healthy.
7. Jason Varitek – Jason, I really need you to bounce back from last year. Really. The Jason Varitek I know does not bat seventh.
8. Coco Crisp – Does anybody else remember that when we got Coco, we were promised a Johnny Damon caliber player? Well, I do.
9. Dustin Pedroia – I have no idea. His salary is listed as “N/A” on ESPN’s website. I suppose I can give him a chance. On a side note, how did Mark Loretta end up with the Astros?

What’s the matter, winter? You getting soft in your old age? In case you didn’t notice, it was fifty-something degrees out today. You might want to look into that.

Got a lot going on. First off, I have finally admitted defeat at the hands of the evil cable companies and have gotten myself some real web hosting. Look for napalmer.com to appear in the near future, if they’ve gotten the DNS set up correctly. If that goes smoothly, we may even see artisene.com return.

I’ve been putting some time into a game lately, kind of an ambitious project (for me, at least). Lauren and Nora are helping out with the art since I’ve never been much for the art thing. Once I have the site up and running, you’ll find more details there.