Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Waynesboro, PA...Land of the Forgotten

Hey there. Remember when I posted more often than twice a week? We're going to try to do that again, but I actually have excuses (kinda) this time. Let's get on with it then.

Marriage is way too real, as most of us that attended the Cilley-LaRue wedding decided. Don't get me wrong, I'm very glad for both Cilley and Emily, but getting married at this point seems somehow out of place. Maybe because the only marriages I've ever been to are the marriages of my aunts and uncles, who were much older than Cilley and Emily. So it's not the committment aspect, so much, as the aspect that I'm just not used to seeing my friends do things this serious.

Mapquest is the avatar of the beast, and Waynesboro, Pennsylvania is unreasonably hard to get around in. Seriously. What the hell. I can't even think of a way to put this into words. Perhaps I should start with the fact that every single road appears to be a circle, leading back to somewhere where we'd just been. Perhaps I should continue with the fact that Mapquest took us about a mile and a half out of the way before depositing us back onto the "main road" if the place with the carwash and ice cream shop could be called that (it was much more "main" than anything else around). Perhaps I should relay the fact that Mapquest believed we should "turn left" on a road that we were supposed to, instead, drive over. Maybe then to the man who gave us directions to the country club where the wedding was being held, who advised us to "turn right after the church" (he forgot to mention that he meant "eventually, not immediately") and included "You'll go past some horses" in his directions. Here's a tip. If you're giving directions to people that aren't familiar with the area, don't use living things that can move and are not at all guaranteed to be there in your directions.

The Bucs enjoy losing 11-1, and Zach Duke seems to be the only bright spot in the lineup, which doesn't matter if we're not going to help pitchers out by getting more than two hits per game. Craig Wilson's back out after breaking his hand...Ian Snell's starting tonight's double header, and everyone in the world wants Mark Cuban to buy the Pirates despite the fact that he's not going to. I don't know. Let's drop this.

On a related note, despite having just dropped it, I keep seeing the name Pittsburgh Pirates. Unfortunately, it's in one of those books I got for $4.75, specifically "Fair Ball" by Bob Costas as a team that has no chance of winning with the early nineties reforms. This isn't the most optimistic reading experience I've ever had, because while good arguments for league realignment (more accurately, reversing the realignment that's been done) and the important point that baseball is not a free market enterprise (and cannot be), it repeats the message that small market teams aren't going to win.

There's the Karl Rove thing, which...whatever. Before, whenever the Plame leak occured (by that impenetrable wall...no...jello mold sculpture of integrity Robert Novak) Bush said he'd fire anyone found to have leaked classified information. So, finding out that the person that did it may be Karl Rove, the argument is whether or not what he did was crime, which is irrelevant because the position of the administration was to fire anyone to have leaked classified information, not anyone that has committed a crime. So we have here another flip-flop, to use the parlance of our times. I can't believe it, but I actually agree with Bill O'Reilly, who chastises the op-ed that claims that Rove is a hero for exposing the wife of someone who he disagreed with politically. Firstly, that implies Rove did expose Plame. If he did, he is not a hero. He endangered national security for personal reasons, which is remarkably petty and an abuse of power. However, until we figure out whether or not he actually did disclose information, he's not guilty. If he did, he should be fired, based on what the president actually said and the fact that abuses of power for personal political gain should not be allowed.

...More importantly than anything else that's been stated thus far in this post. Laurel Aitken died. The Grandfather of Ska has passed away, July 17. If you don't know who Aitken is, please listen to the inspiration for most of the music I listen to.

I'm going to get a shower now. I'll post Before Friday. Promise.

3 comments:

Rory said...

yeah, I don't even bother reading the news anymore.

Anonymous said...

What do you mean, we all came away with the impression that marriage is way too real?

I came away with the impression that we should get married right now. In the Pittsburgh Mills mall. In the bowling alley/martini bar. Engagement's off, you son of a..

it wasn't called westboro, was it?

-Murphy said...

You're right. It was Waynesboro, and the title's been changed to reflect that.

Also, I said most of us. Most of us has always meant myself and Abrams.