Pumped!

Since we seem to have gone directly from epic gouts of rain into summer weather, I was wandering around the apartment in a state of undress this morning. I happened to glance in the bathroom mirror.

Great Ghu, I have muscles! There is noticeable definition in my arms and shoulders, and even my chest is showing improvement. I still have an impressive set of bruises from dealing with little boxes that weigh 50lbs, but as a I toughen up a bit more, I expect them to fade.

As an experiment, I went to bed last night without taking pain killers. Only time my back bothered me was when I rolled onto my stomach at one point. My spine did not approve of that at all. The lumbar support belt I wear at work really helps. Of course, the advent of spring means I'm now dealing with allergies.. *sniffle*

Work continues to improve. I'm learning more of my regular stops on my route, which speeds me up at bit since I don't have to keep checking the map book. The paperwork is fairly simple, and I just need to work on the skills involved in loading the truck. One big difference that I'm getting used to is the difference in forklift protocols. At PODS, I was lifting people's beloved household items.. and knowing the great unwashed, I knew that despite our warnings they had put their plasma screen TVs, Steuben Crystal, and Ming vases in the damn containers. So we had to treat these multi-ton containers gently. Not so at L&S! We deliver metal. Struts, bolts, fasteners.. stuff that can take a little punishment. So it is perfectly acceptable to shove things around with the lift, lever them with the pry bar.. all sorts of BFI.

My coworkers, as I have mentioned, are great. It's almost like being back in the Army, the same sense of mission and camaraderie. Same infantile senses of humor. :)

So, the weekend. No big plans other than watching the Giants and trying to finish the revision of the Concordat outline and history. Also, I'm in another play test for GURPS, and need to read the play test files. (GURPS Thaumatology, if anyone is interested.) We need to head out at some point to get my new bus pass, check on my mom's cat, and grab some groceries.

Alou!!!

After Randy Winn steals a homerun from the D'backs with a leaping, over the wall catch in the top of the ninth, Moises Alou leads off the bottom of the inning for the Giants. Count goes to 2-0. The pitch comes in...

...and vanishes over the left field wall. A towering walk-off homerun.

San Francisco Giants: 3
Arizona Diamondbacks: 2

GO GIANTS!!!

mmmm.. junk food.

Having Ho-Ho's in the house: good

Having Ho-Ho's in the refrigerator: better

Cold Ho-Ho on a warm day: best

Astronomy questions.

I'm still loving the Astrogator's Handbook, but I have a question or three for those of you on my friends list with more formal astronomy training.

I'm a little confused by some of the information on the star tables. I understand basic stellar classifications, but there are notations on some of the stars I don't get. Many of the stars have extra letters after the basic type and size classification. For example, Proxima Centauri is listed as "dM5 e" I know that dM5 means that this is a dwarf M5, but what does the "e" indicate? "e" seems to be a pretty common modifier, but I also see "p" and "J" used after regular . Also, many stars are listed only by a letter. "k", "m", and "0" seem to be used in this role. what does this mean?

There's also some confusion with binary systems. Take UV Ceti. The remarks section for the companion includes the following a=5.57" P=200 years. It's obvious that P is the companion's orbital period, but what is a? Is there a good on-line source for known binaries?

Reversing the Curse?

From the Giants Blog on the Gate

Are the Giants cursed? Does one of baseball's most storied franchises have its own Curse of the Bambino to exorcise? Well, it has been over fifty years since their last World Series title (only the Indians and Cubbies have longer droughts) and something I heard a few years ago got me thinking.

Way, waaaay back when, almost 100 years ago, the New York Giants had a utility player named Eddie Grant. In 1917 he volunteered to fight in the Great War (World War I), serving as a captain in the 77th Division (New York National Guard--they fought in the Pacific in World War II and became known as the Statue of Liberty Division because of their distinctive shoulder patches). He became the first major leaguer killed in the Great War, in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in the fall of 1918 (the largest offensive undertaken by American forces in that war, BTW).

In 1921 the Giants honored his sacrifice by placing a plaque out in center field of the Polo Grounds (I'm told you can see it in some of the shots of The Catch). There it hung until 1957, when the Giants came to Baghdad by the Bay. Supposedly Horace Stoneham promised that the plaque would hang in the Giants' new park out West, but it disappeared (perhaps looted) after the last game at the Polo Grounds and was never seen again. And every Giants fan knows the story of the team's postseason futility since then: 1962, 1971, 1987, 1989, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2002, 2003 . . . .

According to the Great War Society, they approached the Giants back in 2001 about righting this old wrong and putting the plaque up at Big Phone Company Park but "The current managing general partner [Peter Magowan?], however, declined replacing it on the basis that those were the New York Giants, not the San Francisco Giants." Hmmmmm.

Now this morning as I was fighting the traffic on Sir Francis Drake, I heard Pat Gallagher on the KNBR morning show talking about this very curse, and how the Giants, after an exhaustive search for the real plaque, commissioned an exact replica which now hangs near the elevator by the Lefty O'Doul Gate at Big Phone Company Park. What's more, Peter Magowan was apparently 100% behind the idea. Very interesting indeed. If he was in fact the one behind the earlier refusal, I wonder what made him change his mind? Maybe Game 6 in 2002 of cursed memory?

Anyway, next time you're at the ballpark, check out the plaque, and remember the sacrifice of Capt. Grant and those like him who gave the last full measure of devotion in all of our wars. And maybe this year the curse, if there really was one, will be broken.