Happy 4th of July!

Today marks the end of my long vacation; I've got to go back to stupid work tonight. I use the term "long vacation" in the sense that I actually got both of the weekend days off. The extra night (last night) was just gravy on the taters. (I live in the South, so's I can say "taters".) I'll pay for this long weekend by working Saturday and Sunday this upcoming weekend. And there wasn't much rejoicing...

This also marks the day where we, as Americans, cook out (I'll be eating veggie burgers with Gruesome-Twosome member Number Two), drink heavily, and then blow our little piddies off with small-grade explosives. There aren't any explosives here yet, but the day's still young and there are lots of road-side firework "dealers" nearby. Me? I like fireworks but am very careful with them, as I don't like the idea of blowing my piddies off. I am not above a little deafness/ear ringing, however. As a wise man once said, "you ain't had no fun if your ears ain't ringing". Truer words have never been spoken.

I watched the All-Star selection show last night. I'm a bit upset with many of the National League selections, I must say. I'd like to think that NL fans have a bit more sense and reasoning capabilities than those Neanderthal which claim the American League as their own, but I'm beginning to have my doubts. I'll go into more detail at a later time. (I'm sure you can't wait.)

The good news for the week? I'm finally going to make it to my first Braves game of the season. Myself, the wife, and The Tommy will make the short trek south to meet some friends of ours who live in the Atlanta area. We've got field level seats for the Wednesday night game and it looks to be a good one: Mark Prior vs. John Smoltz. I'm interested to see how the group dynamics break down: Tommy is a staunch (and long suffering) Cubs fan. I had suffered along with Thomas for years but the joys of not working second shift and having satellite television (damn, you can watch the Braves every freaking night!) have swung my loyalties to the Atlanta Club. Tony is an Atlanta boy, so he pulls for the local club as well. Sybil has lived in Atlanta for years, by way of Chicago, so her loyalties will be pulled in both directions. As for my wife, well, Janet is opportunistic and says she'll cheer for whichever team is winning. Dammit, I've married a band-wagon jumper...