Early 20th century basketball

Score: LCA 34 - Roxbury Latin 33. Boy, was it ugly. I don't know that I've ever experienced a game quite like the one LCA played last night.

Second half scoring? LCA 13 - RL 9. We didn't score for the last four minutes. Four minutes! I would like to say that both teams just played exceptional defense, but I can't. Both teams shot below 30 percent. We were 1-for-18 on 3-pointers. Ouch. But you know what, it gave us our first win, and a W is a W (unless it's a UU). And after a tough loss on Monday to Chapel Hill (52-49), we needed something encouraging. So here we go at 1-2 on the season with St. Sebastian's, a very good team, coming in on Tuesday. Bring your kneepads and peach baskets everybody; it could get Naismith-like real quick.

Season Opener

I'm coaching basketball again this winter at Lexington Christian Academy. The AD and coach from last year left after the school year to take a position in Miami, so there is a new AD and coach this year. He's young like me, so we're most definitely the youngest coaching staff in the league.

Anyway, we had our first game of the season tonight and lost to a school in southern Rhode Island, Portsmouth Abbey, 53-40. We didn't shoot well at all and I think our guys are still getting used to the new offensive system. I'm excited to be back into another season and competing again, even if it is from the bench. As it was last year, I'm sure this season will be full of ups and downs, but here's to there being more ups than downs.

Driving home...

On my way home from work today, I had to stop at just about every stop light between Cambridge and Arlington. It was not enjoyable at all, but it did allow me to see something I'd never noticed before. Just before Rt. 16 (Cambridge-Arlington line), there was a building sign for a cosmetic dentist. On it was the dentist's slogan -- "We Cater to Cowards."

I'm sure that's supposed to be comforting and all for people with "dental anxiety." But does anyone really see that and think "Hey, I'm a coward! That must be the place for me!"

Mall Cop

Paul Blart: Mall Cop. It's a new Columbia Pictures movie. I was just watching the trailer on apple.com and noticed something very interesting. A lot of it was shot in the Burlington Mall! (For those of you who don't live near Arlington, that's our local mall.) I nearly couldn't believe what I was seeing, but Legal Sea Food and a very distinct Burlington Mall kiosk can clearly be seen. No idea as to when they shot it, but I'm sure it was a few months ago at least. Here's the link to check it out:

Paul Blart: Mall Cop trailer

De-pantsing

When writing for a major news source, details are important to a story. Early on in reporting class in college, I was taught how to structure the details of a news story. Important/general, eye-catching items go at the top. Not-so-important, filler info items go at the bottom. It's called an inverted pyramid structure.

That in mind, there was an article this afternoon on ESPN.com that caught my eye. I started reading at the top...In summary, this past weekend, a football coach (Mike Singletary) was trying to motivate his team (the San Francisco 49ers) during a halftime speech. To emphasize his point that the 49ers were having their tails whipped, Singletary pulled down his pants. Hmm, ok. I appreciate knowing that, John Clayton, senior writer for ESPN and football Hall-of-Fame writer. Now, what else is going on in sports...

"Singletary was wearing boxers."

Whoa! Whoa!! Where'd that come from? But I kid you not. That was the second to last line of the article. By putting that line in there, John, you're telling me that Singletary wearing boxers actually has some impact on this story. That's like telling me there was cheese on the pretzel Bush, Jr., choked on! That the child Michael Jackson dangled was wearing pampers!

I know baseball is now over for the year, but to me that came straight out of left field.

Snow show

Hey, no snow! I can't say I was too sad to wake up this morning and find that all of the snow forecasted to hit Boston dumped in eastern NY/western Mass. In fact, I even took the time to document how well uncovered the front lawn was by snow.

There was some excitement in front, however, despite the noted absence of snow. For a few weeks a section of the sidewalk out front of the Wrights has been set for replacement. Today, that replacement happened. Great news for those walking by and those pushing lawnmowers.


Even more exciting was the case of the missing piece of asphalt. Donna, the next door neighbor, who has some mental deficiencies, was sure one of the kids in the neighborhood had gotten to the asphalt too quickly and knocked out a piece. Exhibit A in picture below.


Once I caught on to what she was getting at, I quickly assured her the hole was for accessing the piping underneath. "Ohhh, I've got one of those, too. Actually, I've got two in my sidewalk," Donna quickly quipped. She's always trying to one up me.

For those of you not in New England, here's a few shots of the tree out in front of the Wrights.




Most of the trees around Boston still have their leaves. It will still be a few weeks before everything really starts coming down. Then the fun of raking begins, and after that, undoubtedly snow! Have I ever told you how much I enjoy spring?

It's coming...

It looks like Boston is going to get its first taste of snow tonight. Right now, it's rainy/drizzly and in the low 40s, but the forecast is for it to get colder overnight. Looking at the radar, New York is pretty well covered in snow, so I don't think it's going to just scoot its way around us. Guess we'll see what it's like in the morning!

My trip to Sunnyvale

The first week of September, I attended a quarterly meeting at Lockheed Martin in Sunnyvale, Cali., for the program I am a part of at work. It was quite the experience flying all the way across the country, and marked only the second time in my life I'd been in California. I didn't do much at all during the two days of meetings but I was able to make up for it by seeing family who live in the Bay area!

My bed at the hotel--it's nice traveling for business as I get put up in business suites. This particular room had a living space and a bedroom with a flat-screen TV in each space.

The living space, more or less, with the couch not able to be seen off to the left.

I live life dangerously so I took some photos while driving to my cousin's house. I really wanted a shot of the mountains out there and this was one of the best views of them I got.

And there's cousin Margo and Steve's house!

Here's their littlest guy, Simon.

This expression of his cracked me up.

My cousin and her husband have three boys, and after watching them live life for an evening, I couldn't help but think that it was a glimpse at my family in its early days. This was the oldest, Zach, playing with my uncle Bill.

The whole family.

My uncle Bill and aunt Betty.

I had a direct flight to San Jose, but on the way back I had to stop over in Salt Lake City. Flying into SLC, it was absolutely gorgeous with the Rockies and the Great Salt Lake rolling by underneath. Unfortunately, I had an aisle seat so I couldn't take any photos from the plane, but I did get some once we were on the ground.


While it certainly wasn't a thrilling business trip, I had a lot of fun seeing that area of the country--not to mention family. Here's looking to next year's trip!

Hitting the links

My life consists of "kicks." One week I'm on this kick and the next I'm on something else. It's how I work. It's how I play. Right now, I'm on a golf kick. Well, a low budget golf kick. I've gone to the driving range twice this week and both times I've bought the smallest basket of balls. That's the good budget-conscious Scot coming out in me. But halfway through those plus/minus 50 balls, my golf kick kicks in! That's when I start to argue with myself.

"You know, it's only three dollars more for the medium basket."

"Yeah, but that's three dollars more!"

"But three dollars more would buy you at least a half hour more on the range."

"Hmmm, good point--but then that's a half hour more on the range, and you've already got the Wrights convinced that you're half-looney just being out here."

"Boy, excellent counter-point. But just think about how much your game will improve..."

And that's where I'm stuck. Pay to play and enjoy more or continue to prove that I'm a nim-wit that spends hours on the athletic equivalent of swatting gnats. I consider gnat-swatting a worth-while effort, and for those of who you feel less strongly about the activity, try hitting one straight, let alone far. It's pretty tough! That's why I need to buy more balls to work on my shot more! And...and...

Well, it doesn't matter--I'll have a new kick next week.

Random Pics on my Phone

Mrs. Wright and I went to look at a church today for the wedding. I forgot my Canon camera so I was stuck taking photos with my phone. While retrieving those photos, I came across some other photos of interest from here and there.

This first one was taken at a restaurant in downtown Boston. A group of us had walked there after seeing some movie at the Boston Common Theater. Susan Burger and I decided to play "Throw the onion ring around the ketchup bottle," a classic children's game. By the end, we decided to decorate it for our waitress--she was not so impressed.


This next one is amazing. While driving my old car from Kansas to Boston, I stopped for a couple of nights in my old hometown, Walton, NY. I stayed at the parsonage, my old house. Brad Johnson, the current pastor, gave me a tour of the place. Much had changed. But one thing hadn't--recognize that material around the beam? That's the stuff boys (or Justin Finley boys) are made of--duct tape. It has remained intact from when our basketball hoop used to be there 15 years ago! I was astounded. The memories flooded back when I saw that. I was giddy.


I intentionally planned to stay in Walton over the Sabbath so I could go to church there. I took the chance to take a picture of the stained glass window where my dad's pastorate in Walton is remembered.


Ahhhhh! Actually, it's alright. This was Thanksgiving 2007 at the Howes' in Providence and Daniel was letting us shoot his air pistol at paper targets in his basement. Turns out the Wright women are better shots than the men. Mrs. Wright is shooting while Daniel (in the midst of his Hispanic phase) looked on, as many a fine Kansas newspaper would say.


Faith's kindergarten graduation!


So, there you have it. A random collection of events in my life over the past year-and-a-half captured on a camera phone. Toodles!

On the back deck

This week I went to Sunnyvale, Cali., for a meeting at Lockheed Martin. I arrived home late last night, went to bed and got up late--real late. I didn't have anything planned for today so I watched some college football and then started playing around with my camera. My mission was to use the manual settings and focus.











I'll hopefully have pictures up of my trip to CA in the next few days. Take care all.

Visiting the Syracuse Wrights Pt. 2

After "breakfast," we all headed outside for some volleyball. It was a great, sunny day, so it was fun to be outside.

Visiting the Syracuse Wrights Pt. 1

Mid-July the three youngest Wrights and I traveled to Syracuse to visit their uncle, aunt and cousins. It was a quick trip, arriving late Friday evening, leaving late Sunday afternoon, but we managed to fit a lot into that small amount of time. Such as, tie-dye waffles and volleyball, a little XBox 360 here and there, and a trip to Starbucks/Barnes & Noble.

Tie-dye waffles...I wasn't too sure about this whole concept. Especially when you add ice cream and sundae toppings, and then make it your breakfast. Definitely wouldn't have flown at the Finley house! You've gotta admit they sure are colorful, even in the early stages.

The finished product--I'm still very wary.

Now I'm sold. Having eaten this like an ice cream sandwich (think waffle, ice cream, waffle) topped with whipped cream and syrup...mmmm. It was a good breakfast after all.

While the waffles were being made, I decided to get out my camera and go to work.

For Faith, this is Violet's cousin's dog, Whistler. He's got lots of energy. The Wrights also have a cat, and some peacocks that they are trying to get rid of. Any takers?

A lone sunflower in the garden. Beside chewing sunflower seeds (yumm...), living in Kansas has given me an affinity for these buggers.

The barn on the Wrights property is old and rickety, so no going inside, but I was able to get a shot of the morning light coming in through a door to create a cool light/shadows effect.

This is the Wrights' house. It's large, as is the yard. Teaser--we played volleyball shortly after breakfast. This has not been confirmed, but some folks think you can actually see the Wrights looking out of their windows...

The Wrights' barn. Growing up in Walton knowing dairy farmers with barns, moving to Kansas and knowing more people with them, not to mention having a barn on the Finley family property in Illinois, barns are a part of my life--and I'm happy about that. I love these elevated New York barns.

Alright, more to come from this visit later. Right now I need to go mow the grass.