Mishmash Musings

Wow, has there been an unusual amount of natural disasters in recent weeks or what? From killer cyclones and devastating earthquakes overseas to deadly tornadoes here at home, it seems that Mother Nature is on the warpath.

I just read that there were a couple of tornadoes in Colorado and Wyoming today that caused major damage, left people without power, and even killed at least one.

The tornadoes mainly affected Windsor, Colorado (Weld County), a farming community of about 16,000 residents; Johnstown, Colorado, about 10 miles north of Platteville; and Laramie, Wyoming.

Colorado Governor Bill Ritter has declared a state of emergency in Weld County, and has the Colorado National Guard assisting in the area.

AP Photo/ Darin McGregor, Rocky Mountain News

We bought an alarm for my husband’s new car today. It cost us more than $400 (installed), which was a bit more than I thought we’d have to pay. I mean, for that price, I figured we’d be able to get gps tracking and other cool features, but that wasn’t the case at all. It’s just your standard alarm that beeps and wails when it detects someone trying to break into the vehicle.

Oh, well. This was a purchase that we had to make, so I can’t complain about it too much. At least we’ll be able to save a bit on our car insurance now that we have the alarm installed!

The results are in! Kristi Yamaguchi is the Dancing with the Stars winner for 2008. Kristi and professional dance partner Mark Ballas bested pro football player Jason Taylor and his partner Cheryl Burke. This was the first time in four years that a woman won the competition, so good for Yamaguchi!

I actually like Jason Taylor too, so it wouldn’t have mattered to me if he had won. He was surprisingly good all season long, which made it easy to pull for him.

Anyway, Dancing with the Stars has become one of my favorite guilty pleasures. Yes, it’s just a “stupid dance show”, as my husband likes to say, but it’s really a lot of fun!!

The public library in my town has a Book Fair every year where they get rid of some of their old, outdated stock, as well as titles that they have multiple copies of. This is the time of year that they also accept donations from patrons. Library staff members then sort through all the donated books to see which ones they want to add to their collection, and the remainder go straight to the Book Fair.

I always use this time to clean out my bookshelves and closets, and this year is no different. I’ve got a bunch of nonfiction books that I want to dispose of this time around, including travel guides to places I’ve already visited, biographies, math refresher books, and assorted how-to manuals.

It’s nice to be able to clear off my bookshelves every once in a while like this, but the space doesn’t stay empty for long. It seems as though I always end up buying just as many books at the fair as I get rid of!!

One of the hottest videos on YouTube this past week was a short clip of FOX news analyst Bill O’Reilly throwing a temper tantrum on the set of Inside Edition after the producer (or whomever) couldn’t get something to appear on the teleprompter the right way.

O’Reilly says, “We’ll do it LIVE! FUCK IT!” at one point, and again later explodes with, “Fucking thing SUCKS!”

Wow, I’ve always heard that he was not exactly, um, nice, but this clip shows what kind of a jackass he can be. We never see the guy he’s talking to, but from the voice, it sounds like a much younger man.

Anyway, this clip has caused such a stir that O’Reilly even ended up addressing it on his show The Factor. Of course, he played it down, saying it was 20 years ago, blah, blah, blah, but whatever. It’s unprofessional as hell. I wonder if he’s still a diva these days….

We’re not going to be able to take our usual summer vacation this year, but we could possibly swing a short three- or four-day trip to Las Vegas in October. My husband has some vacation time coming up then, and we’ve got to use our frequent flier miles before the end of the year anyway, so the timing is actually pretty good.

I’ve been checking into suggested itineraries for Las Vegas vacations and have discovered that there are tons of fun things to do besides gamble away all our money. We can see shows, attend sporting events, visit museums and art galleries, or participate in thrilling activities such as skydiving and zero gravity flights. Plus, who can forget about touring the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam?

Discount tickets for all of these options are available at a website called BestofVegas.com, which means we’ll be able to save money no matter what we decide to do in Sin City.

We’ve been wanting to visit Las Vegas for a long time now, but have not quite gotten around to it yet. Could this be the year that we finally get to go? We’ll see!

One of the top stories on Yahoo! news today is about Steven Domalewski, a Wayne, NJ 14-year-old who suffered a catastrophic injury while playing Little League baseball. Steven was pitching in a game less than two years ago when his life suddenly changed forever after the batter drilled him in the chest with a hard line drive.

Because of the freak timing of the blow — the ball smacked Steven right in between heartbeats — the boy went into cardiac arrest. The condition is known as commotio cordis, and is extremely rare, but has devastating results. Since Steven was without oxygen for 15-20 minutes while rescue workers tried to resuscitate him, he suffered permanent brain damage and will now require expensive medical care for the rest of his life. He can’t speak, can’t walk, and can’t control many of his muscles.

It’s a sad story for sure, but one thing I don’t like about it is the lawsuit that his parents are pursuing.

They’ve decided to sue the bat manufacturer (Hillerich & Bradsby Co.) because they feel the company knew the Louisville Slugger TPX Platinum bat was too dangerous for youth leagues. They’re also suing Little League for allowing the bats to be used, and — get this — The Sports Authority for selling the bats!

Give me a break! I can understand the parents wanting to blame someone for what happened to their son, and in today’s litigious society, it doesn’t surprised me that they’re suing the bat manufacturer. But to sue Little League and the freakin’ Sports Authority? That’s crossing a line and just makes them look greedy. They lost my sympathy as soon as I read that. Sure, it was probably the lawyers telling them whom to sue, but still… the Domalewskis had to agree at some point.

Sorry, but this is utter crap. I feel bad for them and think what happened to their son was terrible. But it was an ACCIDENT and they shouldn’t be able to sue in this instance. The bat wasn’t defective, so where’s the liability?

I hope they lose this one.

It seems that everyone is buzzing about Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher starting the season 9-0, and deservedly so. But did you know that Boston’s Daisuke Matsuzaka is now 7-0? Yes, the former Seibu Lions star has won 7 of his 9 starts this season, and but for some bad luck, could very easily be tied with Webb at 9-0 right now.

In his first game of the season back on March 25, Dice-K had an admittedly shaky outing and lasted only 5 innings. But the Red Sox won the game 6-5, so if he had been able to hang around for a bit longer, he might have gotten the decision. Could the fact that the game was played in Tokyo have anything to do with the subpar game? Probably, though Matsuzaka would say no.

Then, on April 30, Dice-K went seven strong innings against the Blue Jays, giving up just two hits and no earned runs. But he ended up with another no-decision, even though the Red Sox won the game 2-1. That was definitely a game that he deserved to win (much more so than the opener, that’s for sure).

Frankly, I’m surprised that he’s doing so well. I thought major league hitters would have him figured out in his second season here, but that’s obviously not the case. Let’s see how many more wins he can reel off before tasting that first loss!