Moonlit Jazz

1985 by Bowling for Soup

“Where’s the mini-skirt made of snakeskin? And who’s the other guy that’s singing in Van Halen? When did reality become T.V.? What ever happened to sitcoms, game shows?” You took the bitter with the sweet in 2004 – and kept laughing.

The old bed is gone, the new bed is here!

Over the weekend our new furniture got delivered. The old bed has been around since I was in high school (ye gods!), so it was definitely time for a new one. The new bed is much taller than the old one. The little dog is having a not so fun time trying to jump onto it. 😛 Oh well!

The new living room furniture…

We also got new living room furniture. I can’t seem to take a good picture of it, but above you can see the colorful cushion. 😉 The couch and loveseat are plum and the tables are a nice golden wood.

New Top Banner…

I needed something new for the weblog since the holidays are now past, so I decided to feature the first fellas of my online life: Kevin Smith and Erik Thomson.

Kevin Tod Smith was “Ares” (and a few other characters) on Hercules, Xena, and Young Hercules and the third actor I met from the shows. (Michael Hurst and Renee O’Connor were the first.) He walks among the angels now, but I still think of him now and again. I owe a lot to him– from my online adventures to friendships nurtured in mutual admiration for him. He was a man with presence, warmth, and sweetness.

Erik Thomson was “Hades” on Herc, Xena, and YH. Australian viewers probably know him best as Dr. Mitch Stevens on the medical drama All Saints. Erik’s family long ago emailed me, then he did as well. He was the first actor to email me because of my website and even though I’ve been neglectful of the site, I still really do adore him and wish him well in his endeavors. Someday I would love to meet him. 🙂

At the moment…

I am home from work because I’ve lost my voice. It began on Thursday. I went into work yesterday, but hardly spoke. I decided to stay in today because then I could rest and not talk. I did go see the doctor and the NP who saw me ruled out anything serious. Of course, if it persists for more than three days, then I need to go back and see the doctor. Right-oh!

My new Blackberry and my new camcorder…

Yes, I got a new Blackberry! I love it. It’s so groovy. 😀 And I am also the proud owner of a new camcorder. Rockin’! 😀 So far I’ve taken shots of the doggies.

I had the weirdest dream! This girl I know confesses that she’s been messing around on her boyfriend. And in real life, it would never happen. But I woke up very disturbed about the dream. It was so real!

I think it was the NyQuil…

The A’s Catchers: a look into the backstop boys. 😉 MLB is running a weekly series featuring a different position on the team. Groovay. Even though the article yaps more about Kendall, the picture is of Melhuse. 😛

Just a Geek signing in San Francisco: Omigosh, Wil Wheaton is going to be in San Francisco next week. I so want to go!!! I want to get my copies of his books signed. 😛

Sometimes my mind just goes blank when I sit to blog. Alas.

How about reading this week’s A’s mailbag? 😉

Oh, and I must remember to tell a funny story about a question asked in front of older Catholic ladies.

Inside Pitch: Mulder Says Goodbye To A’s Family
By Staff Scout.com
Date: Dec 28, 2004

[The link above is no longer readable, unless you subscribe to the site for a fee. Just in case anyone wanted to read it, here you go…]

The initial shock of getting traded had Mark Mulder so speechless, he later felt bad that he didn’t sound very excited when St. Louis Cardinals general manager Walt Jocketty talked to him.

But a few days later, it started to sink in that he really is gone from Oakland, that he’s really joining a team that was in the World Series last year, and that he really won’t be pitching in the same rotation with close friends Tim Hudson and Barry Zito anymore.

“Those are some of my best friends,” Mulder said. “It’s going to be weird. I’ve only pitched with those guys. We’ve all relied on each other. We all pushed each other in a good way. We all knew this would happen, sooner or later, but we didn’t think it would happen this quickly. It was quite the shocker.”

The friendship and rivalry will continue across divisions, leagues and time zones.

Mulder is excited to hit on a regular basis in the National League. He already has a bet with Hudson over who will hit the first home run.

“Me and Huddy will come up with some more good (bets),” Mulder said. “He already told me he’s raking me if we ever face each other.”

Mulder hit .335 his junior year at Michigan State, but he’s just 1-for-22 in interleague games.

“Those numbers don’t look too good,” Mulder said. “It’s tough when you only get four or five at-bats a year. I know I can do it. I just haven’t done it since college. I’m looking forward to taking batting practice, helping myself out by moving somebody over, or getting base hits.”

Mulder reiterated he was fine physically down the stretch, when he went 0-4 with an 8.31 ERA and .365 opponents’ average in his final seven starts.

“I don’t know if I got tired,” he said. “I started thinking too much down the stretch. I was completely fine. There’s nothing wrong with me. It was one of those things. I flat-out struggled. I’ve never struggled like that in my career — even when I was a rookie. More than anything, it was embarrassing for myself. I was trying so hard to get out of it.

“Is it something that I’m concerned with? No. I’ll be ready in spring training. I hit a bump in the road. It was a big bump.”

Mulder regrets that he wasn’t able to say goodbye to the friends he made at the Coliseum, such as the clubhouse kids, grounds crew members and security guards. He’s glad another buddy, Jason Isringhausen, could give advice on where to live in St. Louis during the season.

“I’ve heard nothing but great things about St. Louis,” Mulder said. “I’ve had numerous e-mails from players that I’m friends with who used to play there and how much they loved it there. They said it’s such a great baseball town; the atmosphere there is all about baseball. That’s exciting for me. The fans we had were great. We just didn’t have a lot of them. I’ll enjoy playing in front of a packed house every night.”

[from the OaklandClubhouse.com site, no copyright infringement intended…]

The rain began again just before sundown. We walked out of Best Buy to raindrops falling on our heads. Ah well.

Last Sunday of regular season football. Almost went unnoticed by me. I really wasn’t into football this season. Probably because the 49ers sucked this year. Blah! Besides, I’m a baseball chick, eh? 😉

I still haven’t figured out my resolutions. Does this mean I will be in a constant state of flux? I hope not.

I replenished the wardrobe today. Mostly work trousers. (I didn’t want to say pants because I didn’t want anyone to think of underwear. LOL!) One shirt. Oh, and two pairs of jeans. I can now conceivably *not* wear jeans to work all week, except for Fridays. Weirdness! Let’s see how I do with that.

I just finished burning two mix CDs. I love iTunes, it’s so fast! 😀

I can hear the rain outside. Drip drip drip…

Welcome to 2005. WOW! 🙂 So a new year begins. What shall this new year hold?

I was sitting in bed at the stroke of midnight last night. After watching a bit of the fireworks on tv, I settled in and went to sleep. You know, it’s much nicer being at home when you know the rest of the world is going a bit nuts outside. 😉

I woke up at around 8am or so. I think I turned on the computer with thoughts of revamping kiari.com. I’ve started a little bit of it. Maybe I’ll do it tomorrow. 😛 I also did some laundry and the dishes.

A bit after noon I started getting ready for my cousin’s birthday party. Yes, she was born on January 1st! The party was in San Lorenzo, which meant an hour drive (at least!) in questionable weather. Sans the husband, I drove through sunshine, cloudy skies, rain drops, raindrops in sunshine, etc.

A bottle of Firestone Chardonnay… the Hello Kitty bday cake (look at the pretty sparklers!)… me with the bday girl… Hello Kitty cut to pieces…

As always, it was great hanging out with my family. It doesn’t happen often enough with me, so I really do cherish the moments that I get to spend with them. 🙂

My dad with one of his favorite nieces (with a little bit of Kevin)… my handsome cousins Joe and Richard… Bev and John… Kevin and Christine…

I ate a lot. There was so much food! I think I took pictures on my camera phone. I’ll have to buzznet those later. Lumpia, pansit, sushi, chicken, turkey, etc. Good stuff. I need to learn how to cook Filipino food. Yummm!!!

I hope everyone had a great first day of 2005. Cheers to you all!

Something baseball: Mulder Says Goodbye To A’s Family… 🙁

I had a dream the other night that I was at a baseball game or watching a baseball game on tv and Mulder was on the mound in his Cardinals uniform. I was trying to figure out what his number was. 😛

The sun is shining right now, but who knows how long it will be? It’s been raining all week. Gray and wet it’s been. Ye gods!

It’s the end of the year, but I don’t really feel like looking back and reflecting on the days passed. Maybe later. Just not right now. I will say that I am grateful to be here in this world, alive and well.

And here’s a look at my doggies:

See how Saffy the Yorkie likes looking at the camera? She thinks she’s sneaky. And then Meggie always looks away. Oh well!