Mo's Marketplace | August 2007

Friday, August 31, 2007

Karma Restored: So Sayeth The Cookie...with a Mash

I'm sure, dear reader, you're more than tired of hearing of the exploits of my encounter with a fortune cookie and my subsequent flouting of it's direction. I promise, this will be the last of this discussion, but I feel the need to report out to those of Red Sox Nation who have been hanging on news of resolution to this debacle. It seems, that despite the sweep at the Yankees, I had not angered the cookie as feared. Mrs. Mo and I ordered out this evening - as is our wont for Friday nights....

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Thursday, August 30, 2007

I Should Have Turned Left

Uh, WHAT was that? Holy smokes - in the last 24 hours the Sox have lost twice to the Yankees. That'd be a sweep, for those of you who are uninitiated. Yes, yes, yes. It was my fault. I should have turned left. On Tuesday night, I believed the cookie to be marginally irritated with me. On Wednesday night, I believed my karma had been truly compromised. Today - well, today, I simply didn't have any time to make it right. There I was, wandering Faneuil Hall - I sat with Red Auerbach and compared...

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Wednesday, August 29, 2007

The Cookie Was Annoyed...It's Me Who Is Angry

I am here for penance. Despite my meager attempts at reconciliation, the cookie was at the least, annoyed. It is a passionate cookie, for indeed my hash brown was warm and crunchy and an encounter with the Red Hat Society was thwarted, yet it was an authoritative cookie and it demanded compliance. Today though, I am angry. I watched a decent game last night, with several flaws in evidence, HOWEVER the object of my ire is very specific. I am angry with the man who now wears Trot Nixon's...

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Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Do Not Anger the Cookie

Well, I messed with karma. Not a good thing to do on the eve of what will likely be the most important series of the baseball season. You see, I received last night a most unusual fortune from my Chinese cookie - "Turn left when leaving home tomorrow." What the hell is that? I flouted that very explicit instruction - after all, who gets THAT kind of instruction from a fortune cookie? I walked out my door, and kept going straight this morning. I then turned right to get to my automobile....

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Monday, August 27, 2007

Of Cows & Yankees

I've taken to calling my youngest mo-bot, "Ness" because he looks so much like the Nintendo character when you throw a baseball lid on his head. So, Ness has decided that just about everything is a "cow." Now, you have to understand that we really don't live anywhere near cows. He's identified the neighbor's Tundra as a cow, the dog, you know just about everything. Took him to the car wash yesterday and there were a lot of cows there. There's this Volkswagen radio commercial...

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Saturday, August 25, 2007

Sports Mash

Just a few notes - the Patriots dominated the Panthers Friday night 24-7. Tom Brady demonstrated no ill effects of his cross country trip; he reportedly arrived in North Carolina from California at 5:45. Not bad - imagine if he had more time to prepare. Kelly Washington showed something, as did Donte Stallworth. Randy Moss? No where to be seen, nor was Richard Seymour, Assante Samuel nor Ty Warren. Laurence Moroney did show up and looked good doing it. Overall, a fine demonstration of what this...

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Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Failure to Launch & Brady's a Dad

Argh. Where to start? Daisuke's career record against the Devil Hens? 1-3. Consider that for a second. Then consider he gave up 2 runs tonight, and still lost. I feel bad for the guy...truly. 14 LOB? Failing to support Daisuke who pitched his tail off - allowing 2 runs - and losing to the Devil Hens 2-1? How about Mike Lowell getting screwed out of a base hit in the top of the 9th because the umpire wasn't paying attention? Delmon Young trapped a fly ball. I will say though that even if it...

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Who's Your Anderson?

Get it?  References yesterday's "Who's Your Budde?"....oh, never mind. Anyway - you looking for a new car? How about this one? And you thought $10,000 for Manny's Grill was something....I just looked at the actual eBay listing and since the article appeared, there are 35 bids on the car. Phew. Hate to think Papi wouldn't be able to sell his car. News on the baseball front just keeps getting better and better. Most unusual for me to feel this way. A couple of days ago,...

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The Tragic Story of Bullet Bob Hayes

A man with raw physical gifts transformed himself into a gold medialist in the Olympics and a Super Bowl Champion died young - almost without recognition from the sport he played for 11 seasons. To this day he holds Dallas Cowboy receiving records and possesses career numbers that should have found him in the Professional Football Hall of Fame. Yet, the NFL effectively disowned him and the sport effectively forgot the man. Save for a fleeting display of honor granted him by the Dallas Cowboys...

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Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Who's Your Budde?

Hey, how cool was it to wake up this morning to find out that not only had the Sox taken Scott Kazmir apart, but also to find out that the Yankees lost out on the West Coast on a 10th inning walk off double? This pushed the AL East lead back to 5. You know I actually saw someone walking around yesterday wearing a Devil Hens t-shirt. Of course, it was a Scott Kazmir number t. But lingering questions persist - specifically, as we in RSN are all focused on winning the AL East, which is important...

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Monday, August 20, 2007

Sox Grousing

Isn't this just one of the most typical things you can think of - on Friday, the Sox sent Wily Mo Pena to the Washington Nationals with some cash for "a player to be named later." The guy has something like a $700,000 contract and we're sending cash along with him for the Nats to take him off our hands. Great. So, in one of his first appearances, what does HE do? CRUSHES a pitch into the stands after having a very good debut earlier. Of course. When we sent Bronson Arroyo to the...

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Thursday, August 16, 2007

We're Caught in a race..

30 years ago today, on a quiet side street in a greater Boston neighborhood, a young lad - much too young to understand what it was that he was reporting - ran out of the house into the afternoon sun to announce to the assembled neighborhood kids playing out in the street that "The king of Rock and Roll was dead." Minutes later, an older teenager came down the street and filled in the pieces missing from that young man's report. Elvis Presley had died. August 16, 2007, the Red Sox...

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Wednesday, August 15, 2007

If I must lose, I must take others down with me

It's not bad enough I forgot to activate Scott Kazmir yesterday, I was definite I was not going to let that happen today - so I made sure Daisuke Matsuzaka was one of my starters. Ugh. He's going against a guy that's 1-8 with close to a 6.00 ERA and this dude - Sonnanstine - was smoking the Sox while Daisuke's wheels came off. A 9th inning rally fell short as Manny struck out with the winning run on first. The only thing that was keeping me the least bit sane was watching the ticker...

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Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Alice Cooper: Top 10 Songs

Alice Cooper all but created the shock rock that spawned Kiss and eventually Marilyn Mason and Rob Zombie. Beginning as Vincent Furnier and becoming the lead "persona" for the band that had changed it's name to Alice Cooper, he eventually accepted the moniker as his own and began a solo career. The story goes that Alice Cooper, a 17th century witch, had been reincarnated as the man who eventually took the name after communicating with her via Ouija board. The story has changed at...

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Monday, August 13, 2007

Jimmy Buffett: Ranking of His Top 10 Albums

Who doesn’t enjoy a little Jimmy Buffett music every once in a while. Whether you’re a straight out Parrothead or a casual listener of adult oriented album radio, you’re sure to know more than a few Buffett albums. While it’s difficult to pull together a simple list of the Top 10 songs, its far easier to pull together a list of Buffett’s top 10 albums of his career. This is not to say it’s an easy task, just easier than compiling a top 10 songs. I’m...

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Sunday, August 12, 2007

Becks & Becks: The Suite Life of Josh & David

Congratulations to the Walpole Mass little leaguers on their way to Williamsport. Walpole has it's place in my growing up and it's nice to see the kids succeed. The Red Sox, while not advancing to Williamsport, did win in Baltimore last night. Josh Beckett pitched into the 9th - going 8 1/3 - but lost his bid for a shut out when Miguel Tejada singled in a run. Manny Delcarmen didn't look particularly sharp - getting no credit for a part of an inning - but Jonathan Papelbon came in and because...

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Friday, August 10, 2007

The Providence Steam Roller - 1928 NFL Champions

As we begin the start of the 2007 football season, we should harken back almost 80 years to remember the NFL Champion.  In today's NFL, we have The Steelers, Ravens, Jaguars, Raiders, and Panthers. There are teams in Pittsburgh, Miami, Houston, and Indianapolis. Imagine if you will a time where the monikers were Maroons, Legion, Stapletons, Jeffersons, Bulldogs and Steam Roller and the host cities were Kenosha and Racine Wisconsin, Rochester New York, and Canton Ohio...and Providence, Rhode...

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Thursday, August 09, 2007

Employment Series of Articles

In my writings on Associated Content, I've developed a series of articles on Employment issues:

Keeping Employment Benefits Up-to-Date
describes information you will need to have updated at life changes: divorce, marriage, new babies, etc.  It's important to update your information so beneficiary information is current and your insurance covers those who you think it does.

The EEOC has described steps to avoid illegal discrimination on the basis of Caregiving status.  As the baby boomers get older and care for their parents and the "Gen X" generation continues to define what it seeks in "work/life" balance, this will become an increasingly important issue.

It happens even to the best people, what to do and not to do when getting fired is a helpful guide on walking through the hardest conversation you will likely ever have in your work life.  The opposite side of this is interviewing for your next job when you've left your last job under less than auspicious circumstances.

If you're planning a career change (perhaps you've just been fired??) this article addresses how to go about searching for a job and how to present yourself.

Choosing the correct resume is such an important piece of your job search and sadly choosing how to present credentials is the least of many people's concerns.  Another piece for which you need to account is how to present your information for non-human eyes - the scanner - in "What you need to know about writing scannable resumes."  You also need to know how to write about your previous experience - how to write about the action in your jobs, not just use action words.

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Red Sox and a Panic Button? Not Yet...please

BREAKING NEWS This just in - Barry Bonds has hit home run 22 on the season. I'll let my man REIGNBLOOD discuss whatever implications this 22nd homer of the year may have. RED SOX at ANAHEIM Now, I'm as big a Sox homer as anyone else here. Is there anyone who reads this blog that doesn't know that? Please raise your hand and you will be summarily removed from the tavern premises. Anyway, the on refrain you have heard from me almost the entire baseball season, regardless of what the Red...

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Tuesday, August 07, 2007

"No Real Than You Are" or The Ferris Bueller Entry

"Who is it? [pause] Oh, I'm sorry. I can't come to the door right now. I'm afraid that in my weakened condition, I could take a nasty spill down the stairs and subject myself to further school absences. You can reach my parents at their places of business. Thank you for stopping by. I appreciate your concern for my well-being. Have a nice day!" Well, I woke up this morning to find that I couldn't move. Put another way, when I did try to move, it was - in a word - excruciating....

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Monday, August 06, 2007

Pats & money, Soccer & Physics, Sox & Moose...

We’re now less than a week away from the first preseason NFL games. AH! Love football season. Love love love Football season. Asante Samuel continues to hold out – I have no idea why this makes sense in his world, but I’m sure it does somehow. The risk he runs though is that the Pats just won’t need him by week 10, that whomever comes in and takes his place performs just as well as he could have. We all know that the Pats defensive secondary goes through something approximating...

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More Favorites: Albums

One of the benefits of housekeeping is finding those treasures from yesteryear, dusting them off, and enjoying them again. And so, it goes, as I've been dusting off my old compact discs, I have found several of those long since forgotten favorites and thus the second of the "More Favorites" series, Albums. The first in the series was Comedy Movies. The Cult "Electric" 1987 saw the release of The Cult's third album "Electric." Their second album, "Love"...

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Sunday, August 05, 2007

Musings on Children and Their Birthdays

Today we celebrated a belated birthday for my oldest.  She's really becoming quite a young lady. Funny thing about having kids, they provide a guide for the passing of your own life.  They don't hasten the passing of time, but they really make you far more conscious of the passing of time.  She just finished up her second year of Middle School this spring/summer, when it seemed like at the beginning of the school year I was putting her on a bus for kindergarten.  I just...

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Saturday, August 04, 2007

The Munson-Nixon Line

Check this article and other similar ones out at Associated Content. Professional sports have an interesting twist in New England. As late as the late 1990's, the New York Football Giants were as popular as the New England Patriots in the Greater Boston area. Before 1960, the Giants were the only team around and a lot of the old timers stuck with them as the new AFL Patriots bumbled through their first 35+ years of existence. While the Patriots lay claim to New England, the Boston Red...

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Friday, August 03, 2007

Sports Mash Up - Unfocused but with a soundtrack

I don’t usually do two posts in such rapid succession, but I know my Baseball Salaries post one of those things that not exactly a subject everyone is completely into. I do appreciate the comments... particularly the secondary analysis Vagabondguru went into. Man, that dude can write!! I've been accused of speaking in paragraphs, but I get the sense this guy thinks in fully formed paragraphs. You really need to read his stuff - even if you don't agree with him, you gotta respect him. Thanks...

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Thursday, August 02, 2007

Do Higher Baseball Salaries Translate to Championships?

The New York Yankees are often accused, particularly by Boston Red Sox fans, of attempting to "buy" championships. One way to measure this is through looking at the World Series Champions over the course of time. One way to measure this premise is to look at the average player salaries over the course of time and the average player salary per team, as well as looking at the average player salary for the World Series finalists. Data. Sean Lahman's Baseball Archive has a comprehensive...

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Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Top 10 Blog Crossover

Welcome to the Marketplace edition to the Great Blogger Crossover, featuring the “Tavern Twist” on donny_jays6’s Friday Top 10. So, it's not quite Friday, but I'm just itching to get this up. “Come writers and critics, Who prophesize with your pen And keep your eyes wide, The chance won't come again And don't speak too soon, For the wheel's still in spin And there's no tellin' who that it's namin' For the loser now, Will be later to win For the blogs they...

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