CrabAppleLane Blog

The new temporary site is here. I'll be moving files and tweaking in the coming days and weeks.

Posted by Rob at 8:03 PM | Permalink

Though football is looming large, baseball still has center stage. Michael Rando (12) had a moment that every kid who ever wore a glove thinks about. He made the play of the day (Watch the video). That it was shown on the big screen at Fenway Park is just cool beyond words. When the stories in professional sports are guaranteed money, referees on the take, steroids, dogfighting, gambling, and the like, I find something like this joyous and refreshing. Big tip of the cap to Michael and to ESPN for reminding us of what sports should be.

19 days until football season ...

Quote of the Day

I don't think I'll ever let go of this ball

Michael Rando, Walpole

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "A funny thing happened on the way to the Little League World Series for the Chandler, AZ team....apparently no one told their parents that it is not an all-expense paid vacation to Pennsylvania....they actually have to pay if they want to go watch!"

Posted by Rob at 12:01 PM | Permalink

New CrabAppleLane revelation: A day off with no plans is most excellent. I offer two from the backyard for a fun Friday.

CrabAppleLane Argiope Spider - August 17, 2007

CrabAppleLane Brown Thrasher - August 17, 2007

On an unrelated note, this is a movie I want to see. Not playing around here this weekend, though. Bummer.

Downloaded Movable Type 4.0 last night. Tried installing it in a newly created clean folder on my website and created a new database just to see if maybe the constant internal server errors we get here are related to my installation. Let’s just say that I now think the culprit is the server. The host is simply not allowing the site adequate resources to run the script files. Most likely, there is simply too much activity on my server. Moving the entire website to another host is a major undertaking but it looks like that is the best and only option. Any suggestions?

Yes, we have our eyes on Hurricane Dean as do some of our Florida friends. Category 3 now. Just die, Dean.

20 days until football season ...

Quote of the Day

I saw the roof of a municipal building fly off.

Louis Joseph Manscour, Deputy Mayor - Trinite, Martinique

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "On fondue and Hurricane Ivan."

Posted by Rob at 3:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I realize that the subject matter has been more boring than usual around here for the non-football fans amongst you. I'm now relegating my football entries to two days per week. They'll be Thursdays for whatever football-related thoughts spring to mind and the day after the Saints game for some rather astute (Shut up) armchair quarterbacking.

I get the feeling that the Cincinnati Enquirer is trying to make fun of the Pittsburgh Steelers in this piece. The Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers are bitter rivals. The Steelers have a "17-page hotel contract rider that lists their requirements down to the tiniest detail". So what? They want to maintain a routine and nothing they mentioned seemed unreasonable to me. Having a NFL team stay at your hotel is prestigious AND lucrative. I'd wager most hotel managers would run out and buy some foam pillows for Mr Rooney if that's what he wants.

Today's QOTD regards Michael Vick. I was listening to ESPN and someone was saying that the biggest issues here are the gambling charges and the transporting of the dogs across state lines. In a cold textbook sense, that may be true. However, that's not what's going end Vick's career and keep him out of the NFL for the rest of his life. It's the dogfighting and the treatment of those animals that is responsible for that. Those activities are so repugnant to so many people that Vick will have protests at every single public event he's involved in and I doubt it would ever subside. Very, very bad for business. The NFL would never tolerate that. He's done, folks.

21 days until football season ...

Quote of the Day

If I were scripting this for him, and again assuming that he's guilty, I'd have the man sign a plea agreement as charged. Then do whatever he can with the NFL (in terms of league disciplinary action), set a re-arraignment for Friday morning to coincide with these other two and then hold a press conference at least (Thursday) so you can get your spin out there before you go in and plead guilty, especially having begun with a denial of any guilt and an assertion of intent to prove innocence.

Steven Benjamin, Past President of the Virginia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers

Blog of the day via Charlotte is here.

Quote from said blog: "It wasn’t the highlight of the show (that was when I realized that a member of the Chinese acrobatic troupe the AcroStars, was the same guy that ushered us to our seats, multi-tasking at its finest), but it made the wonderful experience of watching two little boys dig the circus all the sweeter."

Posted by Rob at 10:57 AM | Permalink

Why Britney Matters is the headline. It took up seven paragraphs and half a computer screen. Why She Doesn't would probably require a bit more, I suppose.

Been tooling around with iTunes since I upgraded my QuickTime. It's not a bad service but it is woefully short on material.

Seems like not that long ago they were just coming into camp. Today is the last day of Saints training camp. They'll have a practice this morning and then board a plane this afternoon for Cincinnati for a couple of practices and a game with the Bengals. One of my fantasy leagues has their draft next Sunday and I haven't looked at anything yet. Will do that this weekend.

The Saints and Colts open the NFL season in just 22 days and there is definitely a side story working here. The Colts All-Pro left offensive tackle, Tarik Glenn, has retired. The Saints All-Pro left offensive tackle has a bone bruise and may not be able to play in the opener. It is doubtful he'll be up to full speed by then. Facing the Colts tackle will be All-Pro Saints defensive end, Will Smith, and facing the Saints tackle will be All-Pro Colts defensive end, Dwight Freeney. It will be an interesting night if Peyton Manning and Drew Brees are both looking over their shoulder.

22 days until football season ...

Quote of the Day

Why should anyone care what happens to these wealthy, foolish people?

Noah Oppenheim, TODAY

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Now that Kenny Irons is down for the year, the Cincinnati Bengals are back to 2006 with Rudi Johnson expected to take the workload. In 2006, Rudi Johnson finished with 341 rush attempts -- Kenny Watson had 25."

Posted by Rob at 6:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

There are times when punishing someone hurts just about everyone BUT the person it intends to. Punishing Vince Young last week was like that. He was benched for the game against the Redskins for violating team rules. So he doesn't have to play in a meaningless exhibition game. That can only hurt his team, who could probably use some practice with him on the field, and the fans, who paid full price to see the game.

Michael Vick is another day closer to losing his football career. Two more of his co-defendants accepted plea deals. If he pleads guilty to felony dogfighting charges or is convicted of them, he will do time and I can't imagine how the image-conscious NFL would ever touch him again. He's done.

23 days until football season ...

Quote of the Day

Arena Football League star wide receiver Bobby Sippio agreed to terms on a two-year contract. In his most recent AFL season, Sippio had 163 catches for 2,391 yards and 70 touchdowns with the Chicago Rush.

ESPN

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "The Tennessee Titans Official Blog"

Posted by Rob at 5:32 AM | Permalink

We watched Man of the Year yesterday. Barry Levinson is hardly noticed here even though he wrote, produced, and directed it. It seemed to me like a typical Robin Williams vehicle. I'm not really sure what the message was, though. Williams plays Tom Dobbs, a comedian who jokingly gets into the presidential race and wins as an independent. We have computerized voting machines that have a glitch in them that declares the wrong winner and somehow no one suspects anything is wrong. We have a person, who knows the results are wrong, who couldn't possibly get near a president-elect with her background and under the false pretenses she presented yet she gets private access. I suppose it was intended to be part political thriller and part satire. Still, as implausible as the political thriller part of it was, the film wasn't all bad. We kind of enjoyed it.

24 days until football season ...

Quote of the Day

Funny. You like samurai swords. I like baseball.

Hattori Hanzo, Kill Bill: Vol. 1

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "QT talked a bit about Inglorious Bastards while over in Germany, but he says he doesn't want to say too much as it might "jinx it"."

Posted by Rob at 5:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

No change in the spider saga this morning so I offer two from the backyard on this sunny and surprisingly mild-temperatured CrabAppleLane Sunday. It's so nice here that I might have to break out the grill.

Unknown CrabAppleLane wildflower

CrabAppleLane Tiger Swallowtail

25 days until football season ...

Quote of the Day

Have you ever been with a warrior woman?

Wash, Firefly - Bushwhacked

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Caroline found this sign in the bathrooms at the top of Haleakala (the volcano) in Maui."

Posted by Rob at 9:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

I don't mean to go too Discovery Channel on everyone but I was somewhat fascinated by the goings-on of this group of Argiope spiders. No sign of his rival from last week (Correction: 4:30PM - Her other suitor has made an appearance this afternoon). She had a bigger day planned than I thought. The rival is on the move now. I suppose one might call this "spider p0rn" (Intentionally misspelled). Her web is in the center in both images, her lover's "companion" web is on the far left, and his rival's is on the far right. She spurned his first advance, was somewhat tense in their first actual encounter as shown in the first image, but she was totally relaxed thereafter. If you're not completely creeped out after looking at these, check out Ree's spiders. Living a country life has its joys and one of them is forging a coexistence with spiders.

Argiope spiders at CrabAppleLane - August 11, 2007 - Enlarge if you like

Argiope spiders at CrabAppleLane - August 11, 2007 - Enlarge if you like

I also would like to offer an image from last night's dinner run.

Taco Bell Drive-Thru - Covington, LA - August 10, 2007

26 days until football season ...

Quote of the Day

We were a little sharper tonight on offense, but you would still like to see us complete those drives with touchdowns.

Drew Brees, new Orleans Saints Quarterback

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Now, I've never milked a goat personally, but I don't think he was doing it right. Nope. Definitely not the right way to milk a goat."

Posted by Rob at 12:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBacks (1)

I watched Out of the Past last night. I'd been keeping an eye out for it since Dan mentioned it in the comments here. What a delightful film this is. Classic noir. Robert Mitchum is excellent as the ill-fated gumshoe, Jeff Markham aka Jeff Bailey, but Jane Greer steals the show as the femme fatale, Kathie Moffat. As with all femme fatales, good guy Markham initially falls hard for her charms. The transition he goes through about her is the story here. When Markham is told "She can't be all bad. No one is.", he delivers the classic "Well, she comes the closest.". This is one to watch on a late Friday or Saturday night with a couple of big bowls of popcorn. It's a blast. Thanks, Dan.

27 days until football season ...

Quote of the Day

How big a chump can you get to be? I was finding out.

Jeff Bailey, Out of the Past

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "The bridge was opened to traffic on March 29, 1998, in time for Expo 98, the World’s Fair that celebrated the 500th anniversary of the discovery by Vasco da Gama of the sea route from Europe to India."

Posted by Rob at 5:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)