God's in His Heaven, and All's Right With the World. Well, sort of!

Tonight, Major League Baseball opened season! Yes, near the end of July, with no fans in the stands, canned crowd noise, and some restrictions like no sunflower seeds.  The league will do regular testing, and the travel schedules will be truncated, and announced tonight, they will have an extended play off season that will not extend the season, but add more playoff games. Other changes include "a universal designated hitter" i.e. both the National League and the American League will be using the designated hitter. 

The New York Yankees played the Washington Nationals in Washington, D.C, aired on ESPN.  Before the game, the players took a knee, and connected with each other by holding a black ribbon or rope, for a moment of silence, then stood for the national anthem.  Behind the mound, the MLB logo was displayed in the dirt above the letters BLM (Black Lives Matter.)  

Dr. Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, threw out the "ceremonial" first pitch.  

The Yankees and Nationals played beyond the 5th inning, when the Heavens opened up, and the skies lit up.  A very heavy thunderstorm delayed the game, and eventually, caused it to be called, with the Yankees winning.

This was a doubleheader night on  ESPN, the next game was the San Francisco Giants playing against the Los Angeles Dodgers.  The opening ceremonies were similar to those at the Yankee - National game.  Only, some players chose to continue to kneel, with the blessings of their team leadership.  

I learned some things tonight:   

Mookie Betts, who had performed so well for the Boston Red Sox, signed a 13 year, $392 million dollar deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. 

Mike Yastrezmski plays for the San Francisco Giants.  Yes, Mike Yastrezmski is related to Carl Yastrezmski.  He is Carl's grandson.  He wears number 5, and supposedly, when asked why not wearing number 8, he said there was enough pressure on him, he did not need to add to it by wearing number 8.  Wise young man. 

Also, the Boston Red Sox unveiled a 250 foot billboard along the Massachusetts Turnpike, near Fenway Park, that says Black Lives Matter. 



Baseball really is America's game, and Major League Baseball has stepped up to promote racial equality.  

I like baseball.  I am sorry that baseball was segregated until the late 1940s. I like that baseball sponsored a women's league during World War II.  I like that many of our presidents throw out the first pitch on opening day.  And baseball is important enough in our society, that many baseball terms have been appropriated for non-baseball situations.  

One thing I am not sure of is the runner-on-second rule for overtime games.  I understand, especially this year, it is a way to prevent very, very long overtime games, but how is this justified?  Why does the person who made the last out of the previous inning get to be on base?  It makes no sense, other than "time management."  Sorry, our world is full of time management ideas that make no sense, promote stress, and do not allow for quality or pure performance.  

Oh well, there is always good and bad in changes.  We will have to see what survives and what does not. 

Response to COVID-19

I am very concerned about how people are responding to safety precautions relating to the COVID-19 virus. I understand that no one, including me, wants their personal rites curtailed or imposed upon. I also understand the importance of safe social practices. I am not sure why wearing a mask to protect you and me is a violation of my personal rights. I am not sure why keeping a 6 foot distance in public is a violation of my personal rights. I understand that people want to be able to negotiate themselves in public as they want and may not want their public personal interactions limited. But, why would I want to put someone else in danger. As citizens of the United States, we resist restrictions on our lives. But do we feel safer flying in airplanes with the inconveniences of TSA inspections? Do people feel safer having been educated about safe sex practices and other ways to avoid infection by HIV? I want our economy to survive. I want public education to be available to everyone who needs it. But more importantly, I want you and I to wake up tomorrow morning, alive, alert, and able to function without medical support. You tell me, what is more important.

Tea Cozies

Are you a tea drinker? I am, and in the last 15 or 20 years, I have become more of a tea deinker than a coffee drinker.  I sometimes make a cup of tea, but more often, I make a pot of tea.  Sometimes, I use loose tea leaves in an infuser, but more often than not, I use tea bags to make tea.

Sometimes, I go out to restaurants to have a quiet and comfortable meal, with the intension of having a pot of tea  with  the quiet and relaxing meal.

I  have several tea pots, but many are decorative.  I do have a couple of teapots that are functional.  Several years ago, I purchased a tea cozie which I use for pots of tea, either brewed with tea leaves and an infusor, or with tea bags.

Saturday, 4/4/2020 I made tea in the afternoon in my tea pot.  I had it brewing in the pot and under the tea cozie for about 3 hour, before I remembered to drink some of the tea. It was still warm.  The tea cozie did its job.

Television Outage

At about 1655 this afternoon, my cable television service went out.  I tried what I could do to restore the service, but was unsuccessful.  So, I called Suddenlink.net and the technician helped me through all of the reset options.  Nothing worked. We set an appointment for Saturday, for a technician to investigate the problem.  The technician told me to keep trying to see if the problem is repaired.  It was not. For a long time.

The weird thing was that my Internet service from Suddenlink was not interrupted. 

I watched the Yankee - Mets game on my cell phone. The Yankees won.

I received a phone call acknowledging my problem, and indicating that the Suddenlink equipment  showed that my service was restored.  The message indicated that I should call to cancel the service call, if that was the case, but if not, no action was required.  

At about 2030, I decided to try again. Lo, and behold!  The TV service was restored!

I will wait to see if the service continues, and if it does, I will cancel the Saturday appointment.  

A Short Week at Work

I am blessed to have a supportive supervisor and wonderful co-workers. I am taking Friday off, to have a 4 day weekend. The problem with that, that I never identified until I was in my 40's, is that I try to get 40 hours of work in the lesser time.  This week felt the same, but I had to let some things go.  I am not allowed to work overtime (although I would, willingly paid or not, to a certain extent) so I have to be realistic about what I can accomplish.

On the other hand, I am looking forward to a 4 day weekend.  I do not have any special plans, although I might go to the street fair 4th of July Parade, although my original plan was to watch it on TV.  

I also have some errands to run the next few days, including taking Haiku to the vet for her yearly vaccinations.  

The Table Top Battery Powered Lantern

I shopped this weekend for a table top battery powered lantern.  I went to a couple of stores, and found one at Academy Sports.  It was a Coleman Lantern,  and it had a feature that was just the ticket:  when it is shut off, the battery drain stops, so the battery life is not effected while it is in storage.  And, it takes 4 D cell batteries, instead of the weird batteries my other battery powered lantern takes.  It was a little more expensive than I wanted to spend, but the battery drain feature will pay for itself.

Taki Likes to be Brushed

Earlier this year, I purchased two brushes for the cats.  One was for Haiku because she had become terribly matted.  She is still terribly matted, and hates being brushed, but the brush (or comb) does help with the mats.

What surprised me was that Taki loved to be brush.  She has thick, short hair, which really does not mat, but sheds incessantly.  Brushing has helped with the shedding.  Taki would sit on my lap and let me brush her for an hour or more, unusual for her.  She started wanting to jump on my lap, so I could brush her, even when, some days, little fur comes off of her.  She has also started just wanting to sit on my lap.

The other thing that has happened is that she is more social.  She used to hide away when I had someone in the house.  Now, when I have company, Taki comes out to visit the company, and sometimes, even smells them and lets them pet her.  Haiku has been good about that, and I am glad to see Taki being more social. 

I am not sure what brushing her has to do with her increased socialization, but I am pleased by it.