All right, the table is cleaned off and cleaned. Yippee. I've now moved over to my desk here, which could use some organization as well, especially since I'm throwing shit away. So I decided to update everyone on my cleaning prospects first. I know, you've all been waiting with bated breath. So now I'll "organize" this.

Meanwhile, I've had my Windows Media Player on, playing my music. I've got about 75 songs right now, and I've got it on shuffle. But it keeps playing the same goddamn songs over and over...I hate shuffle functions. It's completely overrated, because the damn player (or stereo) doesn't tick off a song as it's played...so you may not hear the whole album before hearing a song twice. At least, it seems that way with this player. I'm tired of hearing "Black Dog" by Zepplin again and again, as good a song as it is. Oh well...

Yeah baby! Welcoming the "long-lost" Josh Elder to the fold of links on the left (Planet Krypton, of course)...man, this is gonna be a pretty long list one of these days... Who needs newspapers when you can read about all my friends' lives? And you can even pick and choose. :)

In other news, I washed my sink and a half full of dishes. Next, we have cleaning my table off for $500 Alex. Um, that's THERAPISTS, Mr. Connery. :)

Yeah, yesterday I ran all over the city, but that's the way it goes. I originally was going to head to my cousins' house in Downers Grove early for their barbecue, but they postponed it to Sunday feared the rain that never came. So I hung out here until about 3, when I went into the city to go to my parents' and then next door, where most of the neighborhood friends and such were convening. I stayed there until 8:00, when I traveled up Harlem to Barb and Pete's and then on to the party their group of friends was throwing over near Foster and Western. Yes, there was a back porch, and yes, we sat on it like a bunch of "fux" (I promised I'd use that word here), except there was no danger, because we didn't have a keg and there were only maybe 10 of us. It was, as usual, a good time. I got to be all nostalgic because one of the guys who lives there collects and displays his Transformers on a shelf. So that was cool for about 20 minutes or so. Otherwise, we just had a good time sitting on the porch drinking, eating and shooting the shit.

Today I'm hoping to get a lot done around here, but I'm concerned that I won't. I need to do dishes and my carpet could use a vacuuming. I'd also like to clean my table off and maybe the counter top in the kitchen. But, like I said, I'm a little concerned I won't get to all of it today before I most certainly go out tonight. But here's hoping I do.

Happy Fourth of July. Happy Birthday to Kel. I now have things to do and people to see. :) More at some later time.

Best Hanacek teeth. That's what I heard this morning, and let me tell you, it was a relief just to hear those words. Of course, I'm still going to have a nice amount of work done, but according to the dentist, it's far less work than my brother and my Dad. I've got about six visits ahead in the next year or so, and I'll have to pay just over $600 to fill some small cavities on my wisdom teeth (which will not be pulled) and to put a crown on one tooth that the dentist doesn't trust (it was filled when I was younger and there's almost no tooth left--all filling) and wants to make look nicer.

The only concerns were the tooth I'm missing might require surgery (which, if it does, might qualify under health insurance and/or AFLAC--that would be huge)--I have to see a specialist for that. Also, my front tooth--the grey one, don't pretend you've never seen it ;)--seems to have a mysterious crack in the bone above the root that I need to see a specialist about also. Those two things could cost me a hefty chunk o' change, but we'll see. For now, I'm happy that's all that's wrong. I didn't get the sensitivity problem fixed this time around, but the dentist thinks he knows what cavity is causing the trouble, and I'll get that filled and get my teeth completely cleaned (and shiny white!) in a week and a half.

Yesterday in volleyball, we got ass-hammered as usual. I then watched the Sox sweep the Twins after meeting Luis and a coworker at Hawkeye's. My dad fixed my car today too. There was a problem with the front axle. Now I should be able to go get new tires, thankfully.

Traffic prevented me from slogging my happy ass up to Evanston to practice hockey a bit. I stupidly didn't put two and two together that I'd be in Bolingbrook, not Riverwoods, today since I had the day off. That makes getting to Evanston a major, major pain in the ass during rush hour, especially with the Taste (and the holiday) making Lake Shore (and indirectly, the Kennedy) a freakin' total mess. Speaking of the Taste, much later tonight while most people are downtown watching the Taste fireworks show, I'll be down in Oak Lawn at my buddy's new house, sitting around and drinkin' and enjoying my last "summer" weekend for a while. We get back into it at work pretty hard next week and we go to press every two weeks from here on out until mid-August, when we go weekly again. Football never freakin' sleeps.

Otherwise, everyone have a good Fourth, whether you're doing something or not.

Laz, thanks for Robbie Alomar. Norine Lisitza, if you're out there, thanks for Carl Everett. Sox general manager Kenny Williams cannot be faulted for trying. That's the key difference between him and former GM Ron Schueler. Williams is willing to deal some prospects for veterans to possibly put the team over the top. And, he's probably not done. We still need a fifth starter to get Danny Wright the hell out of the starting rotation. I don't mind losing the guys we lost in the Mets deal...Laz, Royce Ring is your Mets closer of the future, mark mine and my brother's words. I don't know who we're losing for Everett's services, but for all the talk about him being a bad-boy kind of guy, I think it's B.S. He's actually one of those hard-working players who is just going to make my White Sox that much better. I hope. :) The other nice thing though, is that ESPN, which usually ignores my White Sox, obviously has had to take notice today, as the two trades are quite blockbuster in their scope. So screw you, jackasses, you have to report on the Sox today, bitches! Yeah...

Today in softball, prior to the Sox's win and the trade for Everett, PFW softball won 22-14. I did not have a spectacular game pitching, but I did make a few nice plays in the field. I'd say I had an average game, period. I didn't hit spectacularly and I had a couple of mistakes in the field, but I think I made up for them with a couple really good plays in the field.

Yesterday, I watched "Swingers" and "Old School" with Luis, sandwiched around Hawkeye's 10-cent wing night. "Old School" wasn't as good the second time around, although Elisha Cuthbert is flat-out hot as hell in the movie. She's hot as hell otherwise, but she's particularly hot as hell in "Old School." However, "Swingers" seems to get better every time I watch it. By the way, I'm link-happy today, I guess.

I should add that I'm a little depressed that Buddy Hackett died. I don't know much of his stuff, but he had one of the better roles in one of my favorite movies, "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World." Just entirely too funny playing an innocent kind of guy named Benjy Benjamin in that movie. Just too good. But alas, nature continues...or something.

Tomorrow (Wed.) I have volleyball and then begins my four-day weekend. Then, we go balls-out once again, as football training camps approach. It kinda sucks, as that's about the end of the road for our easy time. But, I can't complain, really, even though the easy-going time is always too short.

So yeah...as usual. Go Sox. Screw you, Royals and Twins. We're comin' baby. We're comin'. Watch out.

I'm still here, just so you all know.

Damn these post-midnight posts. :) That should have been a Sunday post down there, but I typed too long.

I worked today, and, as expected, it wasn't so bad. I was home by 7:30 or so, which is quite good.

Sadly, the White Sox could not sweep the Cubs. I guess I should be happy they pulled out another 2-1 series, but I really thought with our supposed ace in Esteban Loaiza pitching and Kerry Wood (who we've creamed in past outings) pitching for them, we'd be in good shape. Alas, Wood pitched a great game and the Sox flat out blew it. We'll see if these three series they've just finished (2-1 at Wrigley, 2-1 in Minnesota, 2-1 at home vs. Cubs) really does catapult them or if they go back to being flat.

I spent the evening watching TV. "Witness" was on, so I watched it. Pretty decent movie, surely misrepresenting the Amish for all I know, but still a solid movie. Plus, if it's on AMC, it must be good, right? I also chatted on IM for a while with Jim and Nathan. Good to talk to them again.

Otherwise, tomorrow should be somewhat busy...I need to go get my car sticker and Kazak's dog tag from Bolingbrook. Then, maybe I'll do some cleaning around here for Christ's sake. I was going to clean off my "dining room" table today, but that went by the wayside. Either I'll do some cleaning or do some weeding in the garden. We'll see. Might hit the Sox-Twins game in the evening...it's half-price night. Then me and Luis will do the same evening ritual on Mondays...10-cent wings at Hawkeye's. Yippee. But for now, it's off to bed.

Hey yeah! The Sox won again today, in grand fashion once again, with a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the ninth. This after a 36 minute rain delay during which I got pretty soaked out in our left field seats and then trying to walk over to the Stadium Club entrance, where we were supposed to meet our cousin so he could let us in. But they weren't letting anyone in. Oh well, we'll take the win. I then went to Pete's (since Barb is out in Vegas) and played a little poker. I put in for $10 in change (we were betting pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters) and came out around $9 when I left. So, not bad, considering I blew much of it on my last hand.

Last night our softball game started but was called partway through because of lightning hundreds of miles in the distance. We ended up winning (it was an official game at that point), but it kind of sucked for our opponents, since it had been lightning for about an hour in that direction. There was also a big postgame brawl on the other diamond, and the Oak Lawn police came out in full force, with about 10 squads. It was interesting to say the least...don't know what started it or anything like that, because we were in the middle of our game across the park, but who cares, right? Right. Tomorrow, I have work, preventing me once again from attending the Sunday Sox-Cubs game at Comiskey. But it should be an easy day, hopefully. We shall see.