Eight more days

In 8 days, pitchers & catchers arrive at the spring training facility and the baseball season officially kicks off. In the case of the Red Sox, their first game is always against NorthEastern University and this year it will be played on February 24^th. Their first major league game will be against the Braves on the 25^th.

I have no idea what games, if any, NESN will carry, I have no idea if my buddy Walt will be there to provide me with his witty and in-depth commentary and I have no idea if the Red Sox will be any good but I do know that I will do my best to pay attention to the game because it's baseball and that's what I do.

I like to think that NESN will carry some of the games because they usually do and I hope this year is no different.

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Mice 4, Me 0

All four traps in my garage were picked clean of peanut butter. That means the factory settings were not sensitive enough for the dainty little rodents I have marauding through our cars.

I tweeked the triggers a bit and now those traps go off if you look at them the wrong way.

Hopefully the mice will look at them the wrong way...

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At 9:00pm this evening, Goofy Joe will stand up in front of congress and pontificate about how great things have gotten under his leadership.

He will say that the average American is better off now than he was two years ago, the economy is the best it's been since Monroe was President and our place in the world had never been stronger.

Half the attendees will cheer and applaud loudly while the other half will shake their heads and fold their arms across their chests. Depending on what channel you are watching, the talking heads will analyze every word he says and either tell you that he is a lying sack of dog crap or he is the second coming of Christ.

I will see none of that because I would rather watch a rerun of Star Trek that I've seen 20 times in the last 50 years rather than watch that crap.

Article II of the U.S. Constitution defines the Executive branch and the role of the President. Section 3 of that article defines the Presidents duties and it starts off with the following line:

He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient

Please note that it does not say he needs to present them with the State of the Union in person. Hell, it doesn't even say it needs to be done annually. It just says that he needs to periodically tell them how the nation is doing and what he thinks needs to be done to assure that it keeps clicking along nicely.

This desire they have to pontificate in front of congress and the American people is a complete waste of time. It simply massages their giant ego and fulfills their need to be seen as some sort of royalty.

I've always disliked the state of the union and I have never really believed anything any of them has said during it. I personally think the President should simply write a one page memo addressed to the Speaker of the House that clearly gives the State of the Union. The Speaker could have it read into the record and that would more than fulfill the constitutional requirement.

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I'm going to warm up some leftovers for dinner. Then I'm going to see if there are any Star Trek reruns on.

While I do that, you can check these out:

• Here's your Naked Guy In The News story.



• The Daily Star is fast becoming my new favorite news source.



• I can't help but wonder what new diseases will come of this.



• Speaking of cows, if you have ever been on a farm that raises cows, you know how bad this was.



• It's the old, "The check is in the mail" ploy.



• Key phrase in this story: "I knew I was in trouble when I saw mountains covered in snow."