Super Tunes

Here is my current playlist. It's one of my best, if I may say so myself! 

I highly recommend you head over to iTunes and download them all!

Happy Birthday, Mike Lowell

I think it absolutely sucks that we get to watch him in Spring Training knowing that we’re going to lose him soon. (It kind of reminds me of watching the Eddie House thank you video at the Celtics vs. Knicks game last night.) Why do I get so attached? I’m just a girl I guess. I know that sports is a business: a form of entertainment. But after a while it feels like the players are your family/friends, despite the fact that you don’t even know them. I know you shouldn't use mushy words like "feel" or "friend" in reference to sports, but I do anyway.
I saw Mike Lowell play third base at my first game at Fenway Park last year. A ball came screaming down the third base line and I expected to see it continue into the outfield, but it stopped when it got to him because he had snagged it. I still can’t believe he got it! It was a great play to watch even from my far away seats in Grandstand 6!
I had a special place in my heart for Lowell after watching his great performance in the 2007 World Series. (I had also been rooting for him in 2003 with the Marlins.) He always seemed to have a great at bat if he got a ball first. When he came to the plate, I called him “Scary Lowell” because he looked like he could kick your butt if he wanted to, but he’s the nicest guy. (His autobiography is a great read and made me like the guy even more.) That’s why losing him is so hard.
It's one thing to lose a jerk like Manny Ramirez who quit on the team. Or a traitor like Johnny Damon. But a class-act and a wonderful hitter like Mike Lowell should be someone a team hangs onto for dear life.
So, Happy Birthday, Mike Lowell. You will be missed.

What I'm Reading ("Eclipse")

February 24, 2010
As ashamed as I am to admit it, I'm currently reading Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer. I know, I know. I'm not a teenage girl anymore, and even if I was, I would be hideously behind the times. Anyone who's anyone has already read the books and have moved on to either the Sookie Stackhouse books or some other hard-core vampire lit.
In my defense, I started reading Twilight just to see what the big deal was. I am finishing the series because I'm curious to see what happens (even though I kind of already know). Frankly, I am not in love with either Edward or Jacob. (If you held a gun to my head and made me choose, I would go with Jacob. Only in my head he doesn't look like Taylor Lautner, but more like Jacoby Ellsbury!) I have seen the movie of Twilight and it was good, not great. I'm glad that I read the book first. I think I've enjoyed the soundtrack more than anything else. I've yet to see the movie of New Moon, though I will rent it when it comes out on DVD.

January 27, 2010
I started reading Say Everything by Scott Rosenberg. I have become interested in blogging and this book's subtitle ("How blogging began, what it's becoming, and why it matters") hooked me right away.
UPDATE: I hate to admit it, but I've given up on this book for now. I've read quite a few nonfiction books in a row, so I'm switching to fiction for a bit. Maybe I'll come back to this one some other time.

January 26, 2010
I finished reading Superfreakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen Dubner. I enjoyed Freakonomics because of the way the authors wove together seemingly unrelated ideas with stunning results. I was hoping for more of the same from the sequal and the authors delivered!
Through Superfreakonomics I learned how the Baseball Hall of Fame effects your life expectancy and how Mike Lowell feels about drug testing. The book also featured monkeys using money and ways to avoid looking like a terrorist. Certainly it was not your average economics book!
It was an interesting read and hard to put down. I recommend you check it out.

The Future Looks Bright (at the moment anyway)

In my last post (Good Day Watching Today RT) I was glad that the word  "today" was in my top 5 most tweeted words (according to tweetstats.com). I felt that this is a good sign that I'm focusing on the present and not dwelling on the past. I didn't, however, have much to say about the future.
Today I bought and printed tickets to Wicked: A New Musical. I was so excited (though I was more excited when my Red Sox tickets came in the mail on Truck Day!) that I added the date of the show to my "Days Until" application. That's when I realized that I had quite a few events to look forward to.

I used to feel like always counting down was a bad thing because you were counting your days away. Now I think it's nice to have things to look forward to. It makes the boring days more interesting when there is an event on the horizon.

Good Day Watching Today RT

good day watching today rt
These are my top tweeted words according to Tweetstats.com as of 9:45pm Saturday February, 20. I can't say I'm surprised by this result. (I am surprised that neither "red" nor "sox" were in the top 5, but at least #redsox was in the top 5 hashtags, so they won't have to revoke my Red Sox Nation Citizenship Card!)
I'm not surprised, but I am a little disappointed with myself, that "watching" is one of my most tweeted words. I would rather it had been "going" as in "I'm going to a Sox game" or "I'm going to New Zealand." Or "making" as in "I'm making another video project." Or "playing" as in "I'm playing my violin more often now." Or "writing" as in "I'm writing a story." Maybe I can work on replacing "watching" with something more proactive.
Does having "RT" as a top tweeted word mean I'm unoriginal and can't come up with my own ideas and just retweet the thoughts of others? Or does it simply mean that I follow some pretty great folks and I like to share their thoughts with my friends? I'm going with the latter.
I am glad that "good" is one of my top words. I'm not an incurable optimist, I just try to ignore the negative when I can't do anything to change it. The fact that "day" and "today" are in the top is also a positive thing: I'm focusing on the present and not the past.
Overall, "good day watching today rt" isn't a bad set of words. What words will show up in the future?

A Short Facebook Rant

Have you ever made a Facebook status update that you thought was totally innocuous, but someone responds with an angry, snotty comment that takes you totally by surprise?
I will spare you the details. But let’s say, for example, my friend says, “Yankees Rule!” I read this and roll my eyes and move on. I’m tempted to write, “You are wrong. The Red Sox rule and you’re an idiot!” but I don’t because it’s not like my friend will read my comment and suddenly say, “you’re right. I hereby desert the Evil Empire and pledge myself to the Nation!”
Ok, so baseball is an overly simplified example, but you get the picture. If I write something in my own status that is offensive to you, how will writing a mean-spirited comment make me change my mind? Will I do a 180 and subscribe to your way of thinking? Wouldn’t a kind word of encouragement do more to “convert” me to your way? You catch more flies with honey.
I personally don’t agree with everything said by my Facebook “friends” (I use quotes because some are relatives that I don’t have anything in common with but felt it would be rude to not accept), but I don’t say anything because I follow the rule of “If You Can’t Comment Something Nice, Don’t Comment At All.” You’re not going to change your mind based on something that I said. Can’t we agree to disagree?

Sorry for the rant. I just needed to air that out.

A Boston Fan Grows Up (HD Video)