after arriving in florida last weekend, and spending most of the week unpacking, grocery shopping, and catching up with teammates..it's time to get started again.

unfortunately, this means the (offseason) blog will be offline for the next nine months or so. don't worry though, ill be back as soon as the offseason is. thanks for keeping up, and in the meantime, check this blog out....caught in the middle.. it's written by a good friend of mine from back home in pittsburgh about her travels through europe..and it's awesome.

 

now, i dont really consider myself a main art guy. and that's not to say that i don't appreciate art, or that i wont go to an art piece every once in a while. ill even help out on the occasional creative bit joe dude gets down on. im just saying as far as art lovers go, im middle of the road. with that said, this guy is awesome.

one full year after my inaugural caravan trip, im back in the far north for another round. as you may or may not recall, last year's caravan leg was a southeast (that's up for discussion) run with stops in red wing, owatanna, and albert lea...this year they've given up on directional descriptions and merely termed our trip route #3... im not kidding, our itinerary reads "2009 Twins Winter Caravan Route #3"

                                                 

so far so good with route #3...jesse crain, bert blyleven, john gordon and i left the twin cities monday morning and stopped in at the home of a WFTC contest winner for breakfast, coffee, and some autographs. after eating more than our fair share of bagels (bert had a protein shake), we packed up and headed to the american legion in red wing for an afternoon luncheon. 'action' jack of KWNG radio was our friendly emcee and the fans in red wing all came out to show their support...

from there, we took off for gillette children's hospital in st. paul where i ran into a good friend of mine, luke seufer .....luke and i met last year at the courage center in lakeville, where he informed me of his intent to go dog sledding later that afternoon ( it was the middle of July and at least 90 degrees outside)..i, of course, thought dog sledding was a fantastic idea, and we began planning out our trip... kids like luke are the real reason we go out on caravan...as much as we love bert's jokes, radio liners, and autograph sessions, they don't mean as much as a single smile from a kid like luke...

we finished up day one in rochester, mn with a visit from our main man and gm bill smith. john gordon ran the program, and the fans who came had plenty of questions for mr. smith..which just left autographs for us before we finally retired for the night.

day 2 started with a bank visit to the Community Bank of Owatonna, where jesse and i signed autographs and took pictures while bert and john tried unsuccessfully to lighten the load in the vault..we completed our task, but the other two guys failed miserably..from there we shoved off towards austin, minnesota for a nightly event hosted by our radio amigos at KAUS. and now, after another tremendously successful program, we are all headed to bed...thank you very much.

                                                          

                                               (rik aalbert blijleven) 

 

if, for some unbelievable reason you are not familiar with the terrible towel...this is what it looks like..
      the towel, a creation of the late Myron Cope, became famous long before ridiculous rally animals, thunder sticks, dog masks, that 'caroline' song, and starter jackets.. and is generally considered the greatest fan demonstration implement of all time. I suggest you find a way to get one of these by 6:30 Sunday night ...or you'll miss out on this.

   For the first time in school history, the Pittsburgh Panther men's basketball team is ranked #1 in the country. As a Pittsburgh kid.. the son of two Pitt graduates and the brother of a future grad, I am obligated to jump on this wagon post-haste. The Panthers (14-0) earned their number one ranking in the ESPN/USA Today poll this week by pasting the Georgetown Hoyas on the road and receiving a little help from Boston College (in Chapel Hill no less). However you look at it...being undefeated into the second week of January is no joke...As Dickie V put it, "these Panthers are for real, baby"

     

      It has come to my attention, thanks to rueters, yahoo, google, msn, cnn, and rick reilly, that the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service will be adding one second to 2008 tonight, just before midnight. This addendum to 2008 will "fix" what time-scientists believe is an unacceptable gap between our current time and the slowing rotation of the earth about its axis. Now, Im all for science, and fixing things...but you would think, if you were adding just one second to a whole year, you would maybe pick a less conspicuous time to do it. New Year's Eve is really the only time all year that people around the world are actually paying attention to every second that goes by..why not just sneak it in at 3:15 am on June 12th?...no one would even notice.

                                                   ('3..2..1..1..Happy New Year!')

      Joe Dude (my main roommate and science answer guy) proposes that the IERaRSS is using this 'extra-second' bit to garner some global attention...I mean, let's face it.. International Timekeeper isn't exactly the flashiest job in the science field. Maybe this midnight modification, coupled with their new slogan "We Control the Time" will help the International Service turn the corner...but I wouldn't count on it..

     I know there are a lot of good Christmas movies out there..National Lampoon's, Elf, A Charlie Brown Christmas, even the old timey It's a Wonderful Life...but the greatest Christmas movie of all time, is without a doubt, A Christmas Story. You may not believe me, and if that's the case, then I don't believe you not believing me. In order to prove its greatness, I've compiled the following (abridged) list to detail exactly what sets A Christmas Story apart from all of those other Christmas bits..

1. The Narrator- All the best movies have narrators, (Shawshank, Forrest Gump, Goodfellas, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Fight Club)...and Ralphie is the best narrator of them all.

2. The Ridiculous Sibling- Randy is the greatest movie sibling ever...and he says stuff like  "Meatloaf, smeatloaf, double-beatloaf. I hate meatloaf." ..what?

3. The Major Award - Honestly, everything about the leglamp is awesome...Ralphie's Dad can't get enough of it, his mom detests it, and I think Ralphie has a crush on it.

4. The Fight - Scott Farkus deserved it, and the onlookers reactions are hysterical...

5. The Outlaw - Anytime you can mix a cowboy into a movie, it's a good idea...plus, Black Bart was a real gunslinger..who knew?

6. The Christmas Presents - Oh, like you never got anything ridiculous for Christmas.

7.  The End - That's right, the end of the movie is good too. Most movies have trouble with the end, but this one is spot on.

I think that about covers it. If you don't like this movie, you have no one to blame but yourself.

     Some baseball types think a double play is a pitcher's best friend. I respectfully disagree. Having Nick Punto on your team, making highlight reel plays everyday is a pitcher's best friend. How's that.