Tigers Thump Yankees!

Friday nights I usually take Marathon Girl (and the kids, if we don’t have a babysitter) out for dinner. This Friday was no different and after dinner we ran some much needed errands so I missed the Tigers 6-0 victory over the Yankees. Not a big deal. I caught enough of it on the radio as we were driving around that it appeared the Tigers were firmly in control of the game. The fact that the Tigers won, however, made this afternoon’s game all the more interesting. I was able to see all of that one and what a game it was. The Tigers looked like a championship team as they thumped the Bronx Bombers 8-3 and advance to the ALCS.

Their victory was even sweeter since not only did they beat the Yankees, they made the Yankees $200 million dollar payroll look like a bunch of minor league punks.

Look for the Tigers to beat the A’s in six games and advance to their first World Series in 22 years!

Tigers 4 Yankees 3

Congrats to the Detroit Tigers for slipping by the Yankees yesterday – a game that would have been fun to watch had I not been working. The series is now headed back to Detroit and I’m looking forward to watching a lot of baseball this weekend. (And a pox upon those who didn’t think the Tigers had a prayer in this series.)

The Dark Art of Interrogation

Since the Tigers Yankees game was rained out yesterday, there’s nothing to write about except the season premier of LOST. Thoughts on the episode:

*** Warning Spoilers Aplenty ***

• What a great opening scene/flashback to start the episode. We see Juliet at a book club and think they’re living some normal life until there’s an earthquake. As the people go outside they look up in the sky to see Oceanic flight 815 breaking apart and hurling toward the island. Just raises more questions about who the Others really are and why they view the passengers of the airplane as a threat.
• I’m wondering how much information Juliet and the Others really know about Jack, Kate, Sawyer, etc. Was their information gleaned form reconnaissance missions from Ethan and who were sent to gather intelligence or do they really have a connection to the outside world? For some reason I doubt they know everything about Jack. One of the basic interrogation techniques is to make the person your interrogating think you know more than you do. If person you’re interrogating thinks you know everything, they’re less likely to hold back from the information you need. Remember Jack told Juliet and he went to Sydney and his dad was dead before she came in with the “autopsy report.” Juliet could have just had a blank stack of papers at her fingertips. Info about Jack’s wife could have been picked up in their reconnaissance efforts from Ethan or other secret monitoring devices we’re unaware of. Juliet only said they knew everything but she really didn’t say what it was she knew other than basic facts about Jack that could have been known by anyone spending some time with him. (If you want to see what I’m getting at, read this fabulous report that appeared in The Atlantic a few years back titled The Dark Art of Interrogation.)
• Are we ever going to find out why there is/was polar bears on the island? Apparently they’re smarter than Sawyer. At some point there better be a good payoff about the bears because the writers keep dropping hints (subtle and not so subtle) about them.
• I think the kid who picked the lock of his cage then freed Sawyer was an Other who was just part of whatever experiments they’re doing on Jack, Sawyer, and Kate. 
• I can’t figure out if Henry Gale (real name is Ben, apparently) is just plain evil, some sort of genius, or both.

Whatever happens, I’m looking forward to a new episode next week.

Yakees 7 Tigers 4

Despite their loss to the Yankees last night, the Tigers played well. I was impressed by Jim Leyland's aggressive play calling even if I disagreed with some of his moves. The Tigers had several chances to score, but were unable to take advantage of the opportunities presented to them. Hopefully they will play better today – a game I won’t be able to see since we don’t have cable. At least the the season premiere of LOST so have something to write about tomorrow should the Tigers continue to flounder.

 

Saving Us from Ourselves

“We have met the enemy, and he is us.” – Pogo I just learned my favorite restaurants are trying to kill me.

For years the restaurants I frequent have included an invisible, dangerous ingredient in my food. Each order of pon pon chicken, french fries, or doughnuts has been purposely engineered to raise my cholesterol level and make me one of the 60 percent of Americans who are overweight. No, restaurants haven’t included radon with each hamburger I consume, but they use something even more dangerous: trans fats.

Trans fats are produced when oil is partially hydrogenated. It increases the shelf life of foods but also raises bad cholesterol and can cause heart disease. Restaurants have been using them for years in things like fast food, cookies, cakes, and other pastries. You consume high levels of them just about every time you eat out.

Thankfully, New York City has discovered this diabolical plot and decided to do something about it before we turn into walking balls of butter. New York City’s Health Department is attempting to limit the amount of trans fats restaurants can serve to 0.5 grams per serving. Food from evil fast food restaurants can contain up to 10 grams of trans fats! 10 grams! I’m surprised our life expectancy isn’t near third world levels with the amount of fast food Americans consumes every day.

Restaurants obviously learned their bag of tricks from tobacco companies. Instead of adding nicotine to their food, they added trans fats to keep us coming back and consuming more of their product. I don’t know about you, but every time I walk by Burger King I order a Double Whopper with cheese. I can’t help myself! Thanks to trans fats, I’m addicted.   Another thing restaurants must have learned from tobacco companies is deceptive advertising practices. Millions of us have been hoodwinked by ads that make us think that constant eating out would make us young, sexy, and have clean arteries. Next time I see thin, happy people in an advertisement for an eating establishment, I’m going to point to the television and yell “If you really ate there, you’d be dead by now!”

I’m just wondering what’s taken New York City so long to regulate this trans fat health hazard. If the federal government wasn’t so busy with the war in Iraq, they could probably find the time to make sure we’re all eating food with little or no trans fat like scrabbled tofu, carrot sticks, and wheat germ shakes.

What I don’t understand is why the New York City is just intent on ensuring restaurants serve healthy fare. I’m sure the cupboards of most New Yorkers are brimming with foods that are loaded with this invisible killer. I think the health department should check kitchens of every New Yorker just to make sure they aren’t purposely trying to burden the public health system with their clogged arteries and heart disease.

My only wish is that most government agencies cared about our health as much as New York City’s Health Department. Since it’s the only government agency that’s expressed interest in my personal eating habits, I’m thinking about moving to The Big Apple. It may be the only way to guarantee a long, healthy life.

***

Enjoy what you read? Subscribe to the Abel Keogh email list. Be the first to learn about new essays, book updates, and other exclusive information. 

This essay was originally published on FreeCapitalist.com. You can read all of Abel's FreeCapitalist essays here.

Happy for the Tigers...Sort of

All the Detroit Tigers had to do was win one lousy game and the American League Central Division crown would have been theirs. Instead they were swept by the Kansas City Royals – the worst team in the American League – and now are the wild card team. Instead of opening at home against the Oakland A’s, they have to go on the road to play the New York Yankees. I’m glad Detroit made the playoffs but I am no longer optimistic about their chances of advancing past the first round of the playoffs. And losing to the Yankees would just be rubbing salt in the wound.

The Lake House

Romantic comedies are very difficult to make. You need good chemistry between the actors, a good balance with the realistic and fantasy elements of the story and the ability to walk the fine line of not having things becoming too cheesy like You’ve Got Mail. However these elements come together in the wonderful film The Lake House. The Lake House is about a young doctor (Sandra Bullock) who leaves a letter in the mailbox for the next tenant of the lake house she's been renting. However, the letter is found by the owner of the home, a frustrated architect (Keanu Reeves) two years before she actually moved in. The two characters begin corresponding with each other though Bullock’s character lives in 2006 while Reeve’s character lives in 2004. Soon they realize that somehow their letters are traveling through time and slowly a relationship between the two develops.

The Lake House is enjoyable to watch because you actually get to see the romantic relationship between the characters develop. Instead of hoping into bed with each other soon after they meet, the characters are forced to cultivate a real relationship and feelings for each other. And unlike many romantic comedies (Sleepless in Seattle) you actually want the characters to meet. The few times Reeves and Bullock are on the screen together, it works. Both actors deliver a solid, real performance and make not only their characters seem real but they come across as normal people that we can relate to.

The film isn’t perfect. Some of the subplots don’t really work out like the one with Reeves and his father (played brilliantly by Christopher Plummer). And don’t think too hard about some of the space-time logic in the film because it doesn’t always make sense. (How could Bullock’s character forget about the man she kissed at the party? What about them having the same dog? And if events in the past could affect the future then how…well, never mind. Watch the movie and you’ll understand.)

But romantic comedies don’t always have to make sense. What makes The Lake House compelling is that we care enough about the two characters that we want things to work out between them and that makes it easy to put the illogical elements of this film aside.

*** 1/2 Stars (out of 4)

Running with Slowpokes

The other day Marathon Girl and I were discussing and article that appeared in Slate about how the popularity of marathons has ruined them. According to the author:

Today, the great majority of marathon runners set out simply to finish. That sets the bar so low that everyone comes out a winner. Big-city marathons these days feel more like circuses than races, with runners of variable skill levels—some outfitted in wacky costumes—crawling toward the finish line….When a newbie marathoner crosses the finish line, he's less likely to check his time than to shout, "Only 33 more things to do before I die!”

In many ways, the slow marathon is the perfect event for the American athletic sensibility. Just finishing a marathon is akin to joining a gym and then putzing around on the stationary bike. We feel good about creating the appearance of accomplishment, yet aren't willing to sacrifice for true gains. It's clear now that anyone can finish a marathon. Maybe it's time we raise our standards to see who can run one.

Though I don’t agree the popularity of marathons is a bad thing or necessarily ruined them, I do agree that there are a lot of people that basically walk the 26.2 miles instead of running them because they don’t put the proper time and effort into training for them.

Preparing for a marathon is time consuming and hard work. Marathon Girl puts a lot of effort into training and preparing for races. (Official tally: Marathon Girl has run eight marathons and won two.) One of Marathon Girl’s biggest pet peeves is going to marathons and meeting other “runners” who claim to have “run” multiple marathons only to find out all their marathon times are well over five hours.

That being said, Marathon Girl does think that your goal should be to finish your first marathon. No matter how hard you’ve trained, nothing can really prepare you for the grueling task of running (not walking) 26.2 miles. (I’ll testify to that.)

The article did, however, make Marathon Girl excited for 2007. She has several marathons she’d like to run (one marathon we’re planning on running together) and I’m looking forward to seeing her put all of her energy into it. And if all goes well, the Boston Marathon will be on Marathon Girl’s calendar in 2008.

Tigers Clinch

Congratulations to the Detroit Tigers who, despite their recent troubles winning games, clinched a playoff birth Sunday. I should really cherish this moment because it may never happen again in my lifetime. :-) As of this writing the Tigers hold a one game lead over the red hot Minnesota Twins. Hopefully a strong finish can keep them on top.

Random Thoughts September 2006

In early August the Tigers had the best record in baseball and a 10 game lead over the second place team in their division. Since that time they’ve looked like the Tigers I’ve known for the last 13 years. They’ve lost roughly two-thirds of their games and have a mere half game lead over the Twins. It’s getting harder to wear my Tiger hat in public.  

Steven has no problem falling asleep in my arms. It doesn’t matter how fussy or upset he is, there’s something about me holding him he finds comforting enough to fall asleep quickly. For some reason, I’m the only person who he’ll let rock him to sleep.

 

This September is unusually cold. It’s rained for three straight days and this morning there were snow flurries on my way to work. I’m crossing my fingers the weather returns to normal. Winter is my least favorite season.

 

Marathon Girl was feeling sick the other day so after I came home from work, I took the boys on a run with me. Pushing the double-wide, I managed to clock eight minutes a mile which is only slightly slower to my average pace when I run alone. I really need to push myself harder in the mornings.

 

Marathon Girl is convinced our running together as a couple has sparked a neighborhood trend. Whereas you never saw couples running together when we first moved here, you see that all the time now – many have even bought running strollers so they can take their kids with them.

 

Aidan sure knows how to get on my good side. The other day he came up to me, squeezed my arm and said, “Big muscles, Daddy!”

 

Aidan had his cast removed on Wednesday. He sure seems happier now that he can use both arms.

 

The little girl growing inside Marathon Girl is way more active than Aidan or Steven.

 

Yes, we have a name picked out for her but aren’t sharing it until after she’s born.

 

Doing a one hour radio show five days a week is both exhilarating and exhausting. Writing is also exhilarating and exhausting.

 

I have some great news about my book but can’t make any official announcements right now. Stay tuned.