Some Updates

Hola amigos. Sorry I haven't rapped at 'ya in a while, but there has been all kinds of craziness going on. THE CHECK, as always, has been keeping me busy and stressed and now both of my boys are starting up in their baseball leagues. My oldest son made his junior high baseball team after two weeks (!) of tryouts. It turns out that 40 kids were vying for 8 spots on the squad, and he was one of 8 selected. My youngest son will be starting his first year of kid-pitch, meaning no more pitching machines. For being 10, he's got a cannon for an arm. He throws harder than I did at 16. Or at 36, for that matter. Anyway, all of this baseball business cuts down on my blogging time. Along with youth baseball, here are some other things that have kept me from blogging:

1. Watching Twins. Off to 13-6 start. The scary thing about the Twins great start is that I don't believe they are playing that well. Let me explain. While Joe Mauer (.382), Justin Morneau (.368) and Michael Cuddyer (17 RBI's) are off to a great start, other key players are struggling. Leadoff man Denard Span is hitting .230, DH Jason Kubel is at .169 (!), and shortstop J.J. Hardy, while playing great defense, is hitting a paltry .214. To make matters worse, the team is hitting .148 with the bases loaded. The pitching (3.59 team ERA) and fielding (2 overall errors) have been outstanding, however. Once the Twins get Span, Kubel and Hardy going, along with getting some key hits with men on base, they could be scary. Then again, there is no guarantee the pitching and fielding will hold up. I do know that it's going to be a fun summer watching these guys.

2. Watching Mad Men. OK. I have been purposely trying not to become obsessed by another television series. The last time this happened, I watched the entire Band of Brothers HBO series over the course of 2 days and had dreams that I was fighting in WWII. It's happened again, however. I'm hooked on Mad Men. For those of you who have not watched Mad Men, it's a series about Madison Avenue Advertising Executives in the early 1960's. Let's just say life was a little different back then. Smoking 3 packs a day, drinking scotch during business meetings, etc. And how the men treat the women at the office would not fly at THE CHECK in the 21st century. The series, however, is mesmerizing. The look and feel of the early 1960's is spot on (from what I hear). The characters are all largely unlikable, morally bankrupt individuals searching for the American Dream (i.e material goods) of the 1950's/1960's. The lead character, Don Draper, is a suave, successful, charming, handsome man who has a knack for advertising. He is also soulless, harbors unthinkable secrets and cheats on his wife repeatedly without a second thought. The rest of the characters are not much better. For some reason, the viewer ends up cheering for a few of them. Not all of them, however. My wife and I have watched three entire seasons worth of Mad Men over the past few weeks. We're hooked. I'm still waiting for the dreams that I am an early-1960's Ad Executive, which would be much better than the WWII dreams.

3. Scouring the News for Sasquatch Updates. We're in a dry spell, folks. Where, oh where is the stink ape? It must be mating season or something. There is news on the alien front, however. British astrophysicist Stephen Hawking claims that extraterrestrial life is out there, and it might be too dangerous for humans to interact with them. He speculates most extraterrestrial life will be similar to microbes, or small animals - but adds advanced lifeforms may be "nomads, looking to conquer and colonize." That would be truly bad news. I always expected something like an alien invasion or The Rapture to happen right before my first trip to Target Field. You know, bright sunny day, ready for the opening pitch, and the aliens invade. I'm really glad that didn't happen.

4. Waiting Patiently for New Tunes. Geez, talk about a dry spell. I'm ready to start listening to my old Hall and Oates tapes. Have no fear, however. In May, The National and The Hold Steady release new albums. I like what I hear from the Hold Steady's upcoming release. Check out this new tune from the band of former Minnesotans called The Sweet Part of the City. It's a different sound - part blues, part Rolling Stones. On top of that, I just heard DEVO is going to be playing at the Minnesota Zoo. Like I said, it's going to be a good summer.

Jeff