World Champions

This hasn't happened since I was 11 years old! The Cardinals pulled it out and did a great job in the post-season. I'm so thrilled!

Hahaha Jim Leyland is on TV talking about how bad the Tigers were last year: only 71 wins. He hopes people will remember how far they came this year.

The Cards won the series this year with 83 regular-season wins. Ironic, no? The person who is not so amused by this is Steven Maloney.

Steven, let me just recommend you change your attitude about baseball. First, keep in mind above all that there are only two numbers that matter. One: the magic number in September. Two: the final score in the World Series. While the Cardinals from time to time have done pretty well with number one, it's been a looooong time since number two has come out in our favor. So I can't feel bad about winning. Plus, the Baseball Genius was running our team.

Now, since those are the only two numbers that matter, here's how I watch baseball:
* Early January -- Start to get excited. Pitchers and catchers report soon!
* Throughout spring training -- This could be the year!
* Opening Day -- Almost always the best day of the baseball season. All possibilities remain open. Really, the first couple of months are good.
* Be sure to re-engage in time to vote for my team for the All-Star Game. Of course there's no need to watch the All-Star Game [nor should you, Steven] since we're fans of National League teams and we haven't won in a decade.
* About the first of August, I start watching the standings closely enough to see if we could really pull it out. Now, I watch baseball all year, whenever I get the chance. I go to a game whenever I can. But I don't bother with the standings until the end of the summer. There's just no point. The season lasts seven months, for cryin' out loud.
* And of course, hopefully, I am doing the complex calculus to figure out if we're going to get to the post-season in late September.

But as I said the other day, you must keep it all in perspective. Any time it starts to seem heartbreaking, or inspires anger, frustration or other negative emotions, just remind yourself: we're talking about grown men hitting a ball with a stick and running in circles.

Until next April, congrats to the Cardinals!

One more game

No need to get excited. Lots of people lose at this point in the series. It's just that we could win it all tonight.

Play ball!

No more than a 30% chance of precip til midnight in St. Louis!! Go Cardinals!

Remember what I said before?

About Kenny Rogers not being available til the end of the Series? Scratch that. He'll be rested and ready to smoke us again in Game 4 at this rate.

Book club soup

  Book club soup 
 

So the book club met here Monday night. I will start by saying, I am not the best book club member. I go for months at a time without attending. I like strange books. I dislike many regular chick books and also wide swaths of literary fiction so beloved by the educated set [no interest whatsoever in Jane Austen, despite several whole-hearted attempts].

Somehow my book club still accepts me. Here's what we ate the other night:
* A delicious apple pie [sugar free, but you wouldn't have believed it] from Melanie
* Warm Brie and fresh bread from Beth
* Butternut sausage soup that I made

This soup is one I made up a couple of years ago and it's already a favorite family recipe. I can't believe I've never blogged it before. I did learn this time around -- now that I have directions -- it's actually important to follow them. In other words, I tried making this a different way and I had to scrap it and start over, following my own directions.

Butternut Sausage Soup
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts or 6 chicken strips
1 butternut squash
2 quarts chicken broth
2 T. butter
1 onion
1/2 - 1 lb. smoked sausage
8 oz. pasta
1 - 2 cans white or pinto beans
1 can whole kernel corn
Garlic
Rosemary
Basil
Herbes de Provence
Salt
Pepper

Cook chicken in skillet coated with cooking spray. Let the chicken get nice and brown - you want the pan to get brown on the bottom. Remove the chicken and allow it to cool.

While the chicken is cooking, cut squash in half, and place in dish with slight amount of water. Cover. Microwave for 8 minutes. It won't be done but it will be softer. Let it cool. Peel squash, remove seeds and cut into 1-inch chunks.

Dice the onion.

In the skillet, deglaze the pan with 1/2 cup chicken broth. Add butter. Cook the onion in the skillet until browned. Add squash chunks and garlic. Stir occasionally. As squash cooks, add sliced sausage [I use chicken apple sausage]. Cook until sausage is done and squash is ready.

Bring chicken broth to a boil and add pasta [I use fusilli]. Add skillet ingredients and chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces. Add the beans and corn, and spices to taste. I start with 1 heaping teaspoon of each spice, and a bit of salt and pepper. Turn heat to low and let cook til pasta is done. Add more broth if needed.

Why, yes, I have an opinion about Kenny Rogers

If you think you're about to read about The Gambler and my review of Islands in the Stream, please tune back in after the World Series. You probably quit reading a while back anyway; who am I kidding?

For the rest of you, since you asked, as a Cardinals fan, I certainly do have an opinion about Kenny Rogers and the potential substance on his left hand the other night. It is this. We are talking about a sport in which grown men take illegal drugs so they will do better at hitting a ball with a stick and running in a circle. You also are talking to a person who paid for mail delivery of the St. Louis Post Dispatch the entire summer and fall of 1998 only to discover not all that long thereafter that Mark McGwire's record-breaking season had also been fueled by questionable, if not then illegal, drugs.

At this point, I'm beginning to think we ought to pass out awards to those who try to cheat with just a little pine tar and by corking their bats. Remember when Sammy Sosa's bat cracked open in 2003? Given the MLB steroid hearings of the past year, corking your bat seems amateurish.

I don't mean to sound like I'm not still a fan -- but I am a fan with my eyes wide open. It's still possible to enjoy the sport of my childhood when you see the reality adults bring to it today. That's not always pretty, but pine tar or no, Rogers smoked us through and through on Sunday night.

Tonight, well just look at the homestanding Cardinals. Those guys still steal my heart every time.

Final score: 5-0 Cards
Series: 2-1 Cards

Too much Microsoft, not enough macros

So do you ever do this? Frequently when I am typing, I will stop mid-word, not because I'm thinking, or because I'm about to change course, but because I'm expecting the computer to finish the rest of the word for me.

If you use Microsoft products very much, you know that Word and Excel do this for you. Many email programs fill in addresses for you. And I've gotten so used to it that I now expect it all the time, in every program.

I'm a big fan of Mark Hurst and Phil Terry of Creative Good. In addition to being super-genius customer experience and web usability experts, they also help you with simple tips for computer usage. For instance, check out Mark's ideas about simplifying your email life. Mark is the smart person who recommends using applications that can type common words for you with simple key commands. Since I'm sitting around here expecting the computer to do that, I am thinking I better check into it.

HallowEast Returns

Rumors of its demise were most premature! HallowEast returns to East Nashville by popular demand. Check out the many activities beginning this weekend and running through Halloween itself. Truly something for everyone.

Good news

After pitching eight scoreless innings, Kenny Rogers won't be available to Detroit again til the end of the Series. Unless we can sweep at home!

At least it's not me

I was convinced after I blogged about the Cardinals in the middle of the NLCS and then they tanked in that game, that it was my optimism and loose talk that had doomed them. Apparently I'm not the negative factor. Because I haven't said a single word about the Commodores, and we still managed to lose to unranked South Carolina today, a week after tossing off No.-16 Georgia. Between the Hedges. [I threw that in there on the off chance that Mitch Light is reading.]

Of course, I've been a Vandy fan long enough to know that you don't ask questions or try to understand. You're just grateful for what you get. Hey, Duke is next week. I'll see what happens.

As for the Cards, Game 1 is underway. To the TV! [Apologies to Lasorda.]