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| Thursday, June 30, 2005 |
| I Made Some Science |
Yeah, that's right, I jumped on the bandwagon:
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posted by FINY @ Thursday, June 30, 2005   |
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| Wednesday, June 29, 2005 |
| Screaming in my Head |
WAAAAHHHHOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
I am listening to the MLB Audio webcast of hte Sox game right now. Doug Mirabelli just hit a homerun to put the Sox ahead 4-2 and I literally threw my hands in the air and opened my mouth as if I could actually yell. Of course I didn't but i could hear it in my head.
Oh my lord!!!!
OK, just did the same thing all over again. Mark Bellhorn just followed up with a back to back homer! See? See? Bellhorn is NOT as bad as everyone says. I have a huge soft spot in my heart for that man and moments like this only justify it more.
I am sorry for the ramble here, especially for those of you who are not Red Sox fans (or even baseball fans for that matter) but since I can't celebrate while in the office (can't make it too obvious I am listening to the game through my headphones) I needed to gush somewhere :) |
| posted by FINY @ Wednesday, June 29, 2005 |
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| The Raw Data (or: Social Experiment Update Number 2) |
First off, for those of you new to the blog, you may need some back story here, so check out the following:
The Beginning: A Social Experiment
Expanding the Experiment
The First Update
An Email from Craigslist
Now for the “raw data”.
Nine of the men who responded to my ad agreed to answer my questions. Only three of them actually responded to the questions, but I've included the emails from the guys who agreed to participate even if they didn't respond to the survey since I now have it in writing that they agreed to the project (and I'm not using any of their real names). Anyway, I thought you guys might want to see what they had to say. I’ve posted the email correspondence back in the January archives as I didn’t want to bulk up the front page. I’ve only got five of them up there so far as it’s taking a while to format them all, but I’ll update this post every time I get another one up.
After reviewing the craigslist policies further I realized that the reason I got flagged was because two of the ads were running simultaneously in San Francisco and London. I’ve created a new email address (I have about a thousand now!) and think it may be time to get this started again.
I am still planning on trying to turn this into an article of some sort, and I have some comments on the various emails I’ve received, but I’ll post more about that later. For now, enjoy!
NYC Response 1 – The Rower
NYC Response 2 – The Actor
NYC Response 3 – The Alias
NYC Response 4 – The Fellow Jokester
NYC Response 5 - The Swedish Security Officer Labels: the experiment |
| posted by FINY @ Wednesday, June 29, 2005 |
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| Monday, June 27, 2005 |
| TRAIN SAFETY |
It is 11:13pm. I jus returned from a frantic trip to the Pacific Street subway station just a few blocks from my apartment. Why? Because half an hour ago I got this call from MM:
MM: Hi are you home?
ME: Yeah, why?
MM: Because I just got ejaculated on on the train.
That's right. Now, this is a sad fact that many women who live in the city are not unused to seeing penis on the subway. It happens at least once to most women I know. But this time the guy took it further.
It's hard to know in that situation what to do. You don't want to look at the guy because it might encourage him. You don't want to get up and walk away because you don't know what he'll do.
The one thing the cops told MM as we were talking to them was to NEVER sit in the last car. You're as far away from the conductor as you could possibly get, and it is almost always where things will happen. and always sit near other people. Never sit on your own.
So just a note, a reminder to all you ladies living in the city. Watch out for yourself. Be smart and be safe. We take it for granted sometimes. We go for years without anything happening. I know I've done it. We've all done it. Wandered home on our own at hours we shouldn't. Stood on empty platforms on our own.
My mom is going to flip when she reads this. |
| posted by FINY @ Monday, June 27, 2005 |
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| Finy in Philly |
Finy in Philly
Getting up at 5:30am on a Saturday is not exactly my idea of fun. But, as those of you who don’t live in the home city of your favorite team already know, sometimes you need to make some sacrifices to feed your addiction. And on this day the Red Sox were playing down in Philly and damned if I wasn’t going to be there.
The trip did not start out well. After boarding the bus at Port Authority at 8:15, driving ten blocks, sitting for 45 minutes in a maintenance lot, returning to Port Authority, and switching busses, we were finally on our way at 9:30. The delay put me in my friend MC’s childhood home at around 11:30, which didn’t put us at the park until noon.
We met up with the Welshman, the Welshman’s friend and J at the bar attached to the park, a place called McFadden’s. The first thing I noticed when I walked in was that it was EASILY 50-50 Sox fans to Phillies fans. The bar was overcrowded, but a good place to grab a drink before going into the park.
And I’ve got to say that park is gorgeous. It was much more intimate than I would have thought a field of it’s size could be, and incredibly clean. For Saturday’s game we were sitting in the Terrace Deck (read: the upper deck) up the right field line. The view was better than any other “upper deck” I’ve ever been in including Camden Yards.
The game, of course, was a thing of beauty. Clement went 7 innings with one earned run, the bats were absolutely on fire. It was a great game to see. The Phillies fans, at least in our area, got very quiet very quick. It was like they had given up. By the time we had scored 5 runs (which was only the third inning) most of the Phillies fans had gone completely silent. Now, I know being 5 runs down, but with it only being the third inning, it felt like they were rolling over and playing dead a little. This includes my Philly Fan friend MC. She found some friends, wandered down to the bar, and saw maybe a few pitches here or there after that.
The story wasn’t the same Sunday. (yes I am completely skipping over Saturday night. There’s a reason for that. What happens in Philly stays in Philly. Or so I’ve decided anyway ;) Let’s just say they do seem to have quite an active nightlife down there!) By Sunday the Phillies fans were just angry. Our seats on this day were directly behind home plate (again in the “Terrace Deck”). Before the Phillies came back to tie it (which I think we all saw coming when Embree was brought into the game) there was a lot of booing going on. If the fans weren’t silent, they were yelling obscenities at their own players. It was a bit disconcerting actually. Perhaps I should have seen it coming when on the way to the park a pair of sports talk radio hosts were insinuating the one of the reasons the Phillies lost was that they didn’t have enough fans in the stands. These guys were literally taking their own fans to task for not buying enough tickets that the Sox fans couldn’t get in. Because that would have gotten them 6 runs. *Finy shakes her head*
At the time of the game I was pissed. I was pissed that we let them get back into it, I was pissed that we couldn’t hold the lead. But overall it really didn’t detract from what a fantastic two days at the park it was. Good friends, good games.
Oh and Rebecca … on returning to Port Authority late Sunday night I was able to confirm that the stickers are, in fact, still there :) |
| posted by FINY @ Monday, June 27, 2005 |
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| Everyone Go Check This Out |
| My friend John writes a column for a Sox fan site called Bornintoit.com. They just posted a piece from him based on the "100 Things About Me" post I made a while back (and that I blatantly stole from about a thousand other blogs). Definitely go check it out, it's only 50 things, not 100, but there are a lot of great Sox moments in there, and reading anything John writes is ALWAYS time well spent. |
| posted by FINY @ Monday, June 27, 2005 |
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| Update to Come! |
| I made it back from the weekend in Philly just fine, though my liver may be a little worse for wear after the antics of Saturday night. There's a whole lot I want to say about the city, the games, the "culture" ;) but it's been a hectic day at work. As soon as I get home I'll be sure to wax poetical on all things Philly. |
| posted by FINY @ Monday, June 27, 2005 |
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| Friday, June 24, 2005 |
| Woohoo! |
Just a quick note before I dash off to bed and head to Philly at the ass crack of dawn tomorrow: The Sox are in first place at the moment.
Love it. With Tim Wakefield getting the win tonight (and a hit, my boy is SUCH a well rounded player!) and Baltimore losing, the Sox are now 0.5 game ahead in the AL East. Love it. Absolutely love it. Don't care that it's only June. Don't care that there's a ton more baseball to play. For this moment I am going to enjoy that my favorite team is in first place, that I am going to see them not once but TWICE this weekend, and with that I bid you all goodnight and sweet dreams! |
| posted by FINY @ Friday, June 24, 2005 |
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| Jeans and a Tank Top |
That's all I am in right now. Jeans, a white Gap tank top from three years ago, and a large Target "One-Spot" plastic flower on my hip. All I was going to do was play some beer pong with friends. And this was what was clean.
I walk in and immediately one of R's friends says "I know you, you were wearing a green shirt last time with something funny on it."
Dude, a) that was like a month and a half ago, b) it was Big Bird thankyouverymuch. Hell yeah, Sesame Street!
"Yeah, you made out with J"
Fuck. Yes, yes the last time I was here I made out with the man-whore of your Podiatry school. Yeah, yeah that was me. Damnit. Great I LOVE that that's how I'm known. Awesome.
Over the course of the night, James and I become beer pong partners and destroy everyone in our path (seriously, why do my friends even try to play me anymore?!) And then he starts in.
"Do you have a boyfriend? You've got an engagement ring on."
"No, it's my grandmother's and it's on the wrong hand."
"so you don't have a boyfriend."
"No."
"Why not?"
"Fuck if I know! What the hell kind of question is that?!"
I distract him by pointing out that we;re down by a cup. I don't want to have this conversation. I am never going to date a guy who's sleeping with a girl who's sitting in the corner just WAITING for him to approach her. I'm not that kind of girl. I don't sit around waiting. I play beer pong if I want to. I don't sit around. I watch sports. I drink beer. If I'm at a party, I'm there to PARTY.
"Why won't you date me? Is it because I'm Asian? Are you racist?"
I make another shot and then hit him. Hard. After our game we step outside while the other team sets up because it's so hot. As we do he takes my hand and asks me to dance with him, on the sidewalk, to "No Woman No Cry".
Under normal circumstances this would be incredibly sweet. Under normal circumstances I would be swept off my feet. But the Asian (as he will now be called) is wasted. And alreaddy sleeping with someone. And I tell him so.
"I would stop sleeping with her for you."
Oh gee, thanks! This is the second time in as many months that I have heard this line. And it just makes me want to scream "Ok, sure let's do it, and then a few weeks down the line, what's to stop you from meeting someone else and dropping my ass like you did theirs?!" I don't do that. Well. Ok, I don't do that anymore.
I guess I just don't get it. I went out tonight looking like ass. Ready for a chill night with my buddies. Why is it when I WANT someone to be interested in me they aren't, and when i have NO inclination to date someone he is?! Can someone please, PLEASE explain this to me?
And to make matters worse, when he was trying to figure out why I wouldn't date him (listing stuff like: "I'm Asian, I'm from CA, "etc, etc, etc.) he said the only reason he wouldd be scared to date ME is because I make him feel inferior with my baseball knowledge. If you can't deal with that then why the hell are you even TRYING to date me?!
I dunno, I am sorry for the mildly drunken rant here. I guess I am just frustrated. I attract the wrong guys. Am I doing something wrong here???Labels: dating |
| posted by FINY @ Friday, June 24, 2005 |
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| Welcome to the Weekend! |
Welcome to the weekend everyone!
Just finished doing my laundry, and packing for Philly. That's right, I may have backed off from my Sox posts for a while (in favor of the ever entertaining "social experiment") but this weekend I'll be sweltering in 95 degree weather from my comfortable seat at the Red Sox game. Wait, make that gameS. God I'm excited.
I am a little upset that with the way the rotation has worked out I am yet again missing a Tim Wakefield start. Wakes takes the mound tonight, the only game of the three game series down in Philly that I'm NOT going to. Still the positives outweigh that negative, as I am going with a great group of friends, to a ballpark I've never been to, and then there's always the cheesesteaks! Mmmmmm ... cheesesteaks.
Please excuse me while I go wipe the drool off my chin.
Ok, well I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend. I'm off to the ever popular 25 cent beer night at Pat O'Brien's (88th Street and 2nd Ave for those of you New Yorkers who like a deal) and of course to go kick my friends asses at beer pong (seriously, why do they even try to beat me at this point?!).
I am sure there will be stories when I return. And don't worry, mom, I already packed the sunscreen. |
| posted by FINY @ Friday, June 24, 2005 |
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| Thursday, June 23, 2005 |
| BUSTED! |
Well, it had to happen sooner or later, but I am AMAZED that it happened now.
I posted my little social experiment on craigslist for San Francisco this evening. Withing two hours I received this email from craigslist:
Your posting has been removed by the craigslist community.
Several craigslist readers flagged it for the following reasons:
PROHIBITED:
posting appears to conflict with craigslist Terms of Use http://www.craigslist.org/about/terms.of.use.html#conduct
MISCATEGORIZED:
posting appears to be in the wrong category
The flagging system is a work-in-progress, with all the pros and cons of a democracy - Please post suggestions for improvement in the feedback forum:
http://forums.craigslist.org/?forumID=8
After reviewing your posting and our policies, if you are convinced that those flagging your post were mistaken, please feel free to repost.
Sorry for the hassle! and thanks for your understanding.
Ok, the miscategorized thing I can understand, I had been posting in the "apartments" section and not the "rooms/shares" section since it was more visible, but if you follow the link about "conduct" you'd get the impression that the people of San Fran were actually offended by my offer.
Much as I was the first time I saw an ad with the gender roles reversed.
So this may be the end of my using craigslist for this. However, I've been writing back and forth with a nine of the original respondents (seven from NYC, two from Boston) so I'll post their responses to all my questions as soon as I organize them. I am just still a bit in shock that the one other city in the country that could rival NYC in housing prices would be the city I got caught in.Labels: the experiment |
| posted by FINY @ Thursday, June 23, 2005 |
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| School Girl Silly |
His name was Andrew Wessner. He lived around the corner from me, had sandy blonde hair, played baseball and was a bit of a rebel. And he made my heart go all aflutter.
I was six.
Andy was my first crush. My mom used to baby-sit for him when we were kids, and we would play “baseball” in our side yard. Since it was just the two of us, and since I had yet to turn into the tomboy I would eventually become, the game consisted of Andy swinging a pretend bat, throwing his arms in the air as if he had hit a home run, and me sitting on the sidelines clapping. As he rounded the imaginary bases he would pick a bunch of rhododendrons from the bush on the “third base line” and hand them to me as he crossed home plate.
I was in love.
As I grew older, of course, the crush faded and many more rose to take it’s place. In high school just a smile from Ben Lamanna could make my knees melt. But once out of college, I assumed that type of silly school girl crush, the kind that makes you say stupid stuff because you’re nervous, that makes you smile for days because he said something nice, that makes your stomach flip at odd moments, would fade into oblivion, replaced by a more mature dating experience.
But as I sat at 212 last night, trying desperately to act “normal” in front of The Twin, I realized that that’s not exactly true. (I also realized that it’s nearly impossible to flirt while watching a Sox game together. I mean really, how cute can screaming at the television be?). Actually, it’s not true at all, because here I sit, still smiling about something he said last night, remembering all the stupid stuff I said because I was nervous, wondering if he meant it when he asked me to call him when I get back from Philly this weekend.
Yeah it’s official. I’m in full blown crush mode. And it’s kind of fun.Labels: dating |
| posted by FINY @ Thursday, June 23, 2005 |
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| Tuesday, June 21, 2005 |
| The First Installment |
So here it is, FINALLY, what you’ve all been waiting for … *Finy cues the drum roll* ….
THE FIRST INSTALLMENT OF “THE DESPERATE THINGS MEN WILL DO TO LIVE CHEAPLY”
I am calling this the first installment because I plan on continuing this little “experiment” for quite a bit longer. But just to catch people up:
I began this thing as a joke, to be honest. I thought it was appalling that men all over Manhattan were offering reduced rent to “attractive females willing to cook, clean, and walk around in their lingerie”. All I could think was “What woman would do such a thing, would demean themselves in that way, just to live in a desirable neighborhood for next to nothing?” The more I thought about it, the more upset I got. Why did men think they could get away with this? Well, probably because people were responding. I am certain there were women responding or people wouldn’t keep trying it (more on the follow up on that later).
So in talking to some friends, we came up with the idea to switch things around. I had a hypothesis that there was no way men would respond to a similar ad. An ad requesting an attractive young man, to cook and clean for me without a shirt on? Never. I could see women doing it, but never men!
So I posted this ad on craigslist for NYC. And I was amazed at the responses.
The first email I received was one sentence. And it was a simple enough question “Can I still have girls over”. He didn’t describe himself, he didn’t send a picture. Harmless right?
Things began to get more interesting over the three days that I kept the ad up. Some of my favorites included a VERY attractive rower from UNC. His email was quite tame actually, talking about how he loves to cook, and goes to the gym often. He actually seemed quite sweet, which made me feel a bit bad that I was misleading people like this.
That didn’t last long. A few hours after posting the ad, I received an email from a guy we’ll call “the actor”. The actor immediately described himself as NOT 20-something and a former actor/model who was in reasonable shape. He included a link to his picture but I should have been tipped off when his PS read “Sometimes older men know things young ones don't.”
I still clicked the link to his website. And then I fell on the floor. The man was easily late fifties and looked a bit like John Kerry in certain shots. The page was a series of headshots, I am assuming in order to get himself work. The bio on the site mentioned things like a failed marriage and a teenage son. Yowza!
All told I received 30 responses to the ad. Some of my favorites were a Swedish UN security officer who sent pictures from his time serving in Liberia, the 28-year-old who offered to “give me everything I need” and to “do all chores naked”, the COUPLE that wanted to move in, and the entertainment “executive” who needed to look the part by having a place on Lexington Avenue and thought that letting me know that all of his friends were models and actors would help him get the place (THAT email was more than sketchy).
After sifting through 34 emails of blatant self-fluffing and some very amusing pictures (surprisingly NO nudes!) I started thinking. Ok, the men of New York City are obviously very desperate. I wonder what it’s like in other cities. After consulting with my friends yet again (who had all been enjoying the emails I was being sent as of COURSE I was forwarding them) I decided to expand this venture.
I posted the ad in Boston.
Surprisingly, VERY few men have responded from there thus far. You Bostonians are a bit more prudish, eh? Just kidding, it hasn’t been the full three days that I left the NYC ad up, but at this point, I’ve only received four responses from Boston and all of them were very tame.
So here’s the plan now. I am going to post the ad in London and San Francisco next. I want to compare cities in various areas (and countries). The thing that has surprised me the most is how many rational and non-skeevy emails I received. A lot of these men seemed like they were just broke and needed a place to live.
To try to get some more insight behind their motives, I’ve emailed them ALL back. Telling them about the experiment, how I would like to write an article about it, and asking if they’d be interested in participating. I haven’t received any responses yet, but if and when I do, you’ll definitely get an update.
I’ve also emailed the two original men, who I linked to here to see if they were getting as many responses as I was. If I’m really going to do this, I should have something to compare it to.
So keep checking for more emails from various cities, and more about these guys lives, if they’ll let me use them (though wouldn’t it be ironic if they got upset at me for using them for a potential article, but wouldn’t mind me using them as eye-candy? Lol.)
And I will say, I am sorry I'm not FULLY quoting the guys emails yet. I want to make sure they don't mind be associated with this before posting. After some of the experiences I've had with some of the content of this site, the last thing I want to do is make things worse ;)Labels: the experiment |
| posted by FINY @ Tuesday, June 21, 2005 |
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| Monday, June 20, 2005 |
| Experiment Update |
| No, no "Best Of" yet, but I have decided to expand the experiment a bit. After talking to some friends over the weekend, a few fun ideas came about. One being that perhaps this would make a good Village Voice article, another being that it would be interesting to see if people in other cities are as desperate as they are here in NYC. I'll begin posting the ad in cities across the country sometime today. If anyone has any suggestions on cities/neighborhoods, feel free to post them! Labels: the experiment |
| posted by FINY @ Monday, June 20, 2005 |
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| Friday, June 17, 2005 |
| A Social Experiment |
Over the last week I’ve been searching through Craigslist for potential living situations. With one, if not potentially both, of my roommates leaving the apartment in the next few months, I figured it was time to start taking a look around.
In so doing, I stumbled across an astonishing trend. Check these two listings out:
http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/roo/77597483.html
http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/roo/78749479.html
It seems that there is a new trend in the real-estate market in NYC! There are men, all over the city, offering ridiculously low rents in order to have young, attractive roommates who will do their cooking and cleaning (and in the case of that first poster, possibly more).
This absolutely amazed me. And what actually bothered me was that I was sure that these men were getting responses from people!
So I had a thought. And an evil one at that.
I wondered if the genders were reversed would the listing still get responses?
So here’s what I did. I’ll let you know the outcome of this little social experiment next week.
EDIT: Here's the ad. I've taken it off of Craigslist: NYC, it's now listed on Craigslist: Boston ... more cities to come.
Hi there! I have an available room in a luxury two bedroom apartment on Lexington Ave. It’s a fantastic place with high ceilings, hardwood floors, a doorman, and a fully decorated living room with state-of-the-art entertainment system. The bedroom available is 10x12 and is available immediately. It’s very close to public transportation and in a great area
I am looking for one male roommate who could help provide services in exchange for greatly reduced rent.
It might sound crazy but this is a great opportunity for a new college graduate or someone just starting out in NYC. I am an extremely busy 28-year-old female professional who travels quite often for work. So you’d actually have the apartment to yourself for a majority of the time.
By “services” I don’t mean sex, it would just be nice to have an attractive male around the house to help with the cooking and cleaning, perhaps without a shirt on.
So if you’re an attractive 20-something male who’s interested, please email me and describe yourself, and perhaps send a picture. I look forward to hearing from you. Labels: the experiment |
| posted by FINY @ Friday, June 17, 2005 |
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| Baseball in the Bronx |
So yesterday was a Red Sox off day, but clearly I could not go an entire day without having some sort of baseball in my life. So what do I do? I take advantage of the $5 ticket night at Yankee Stadium.
Now before people start calling me a traitor, let's get something straight. Yes, I am obsessed with the Red Sox, but I am still a baseball fan, and it's almost impossible for me to turn down the chance to see a game live. But clearly there was no way in hell I was going to root for the Yankees. Obviously.
It started pouring right before game time and the five other people I was planning on going with (the Welshman and a bunch of his friends) bailed on the game. They didn't want to get wet. From the Welshman I could understand this, but his friend L is a huge Yankee fan. I just could not justify missing a game of the team you're such a fan of just because of a little water. But she didn't seem to agree, so I took my ticket and headed to the Bronx by myself.
My roommate MG, her boyfriend, and a few of their friends were supposed to be at the game too, so I figured I was ok. However, when I got up there, I couldn't get in touch with her. So I stood outside the stadium for a bit debating. So I go inside and sit by myself, or do I turn tail after coming ALL the way up to the Bronx and head home?
Clearly the answers was to watch some baseball.
What really cemented it for me was that Johnson was pitching. Now, I hate the Yankees as much as the next Red Sox fan, but I had never seen "The Unit" pitch. And regardless of team affiliation, this man is a future Hall-of-Famer. So with my five dollar ticket in hand, I entered Yankee Stadium and headed to the upper tier.
I had never watched a game on my own before, and I must admit it was an interesting experience. You concentrate a lot more on the intricacies. Which pitches Johnson was throwing, how the Pirates don’t play the shift on Giambi, things that if you’re with friends and chatting, and drinking, that I probably would have missed. And Johnson absolutely dominated. A complete game, 11 strike outs, one run allowed. It was an amazing performance even if I would have rather seen him get shelled.
Eventually MG and her crew did show up, and we had a great time, but it was a great experience watching some of the game on my own. And something I may need to try more often. Well, maybe at Shea next time, you can only go to the enemy's home so often. |
| posted by FINY @ Friday, June 17, 2005 |
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| Thursday, June 16, 2005 |
| I Am A Jerk! |
Ok, so Amy made a good point in her comment on my last post. I never mentioned the people I added to my links list a while back (conversely I still haven't added Epiphany or Little Pieces of Nothing to my Link list).
Anyway, here are some more people who have been on my links for a while but I haven't talked about:
Red Sox Bat Girl (Amy): Another female Red Sox fan who has, quite possibly, the cutest daughter ever.
A Red Sox Fan in Pinstripe Territory: Always good to have Sox fans infiltrating from behind enemy lines!
Empyreal Environs: One of the most well informed female Sox bloggers out there. I bow down to the queen (she's also ridiculously funny, check out her parodies, I dare you not to laugh).
Bullshit Memorial Stadium: Tim scares me with his wealth of baseball knowledge. And his commentary on various pop culture topics usually has me nodding along.
Mikey, over at hey, freak has absolutely nothing to do with baseball (which makes me wonder a little how the hell he found my blog) but I now have a tendency to stalk his site and I suggest all others do too.
Ok, I THINK that's everyone I haven't mentioned before. Amy, I'm sorry sweetie!!!! |
| posted by FINY @ Thursday, June 16, 2005 |
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| Brain Dump Part II: Blogging From the Laundromat |
More thoughts on CFBs:
I’ve been thinking a lot about a few emails I’ve gotten from Julia over at Epiphany. We’ve been talking about CFB’s (among other baseball topics) and I have started to wonder if my disdain for such fans is really justified. While I hate sitting next to those pink clad girls who sit here chatting about how hot Tek’s quads are (even if I DO agree) and wondering when Pedro is pitching or why Nomar isn’t playing, didn’t they pay just as much for their ticket as I did? That pink Boston hat is MLB licensed. And isn’t it true that by buying said ticket and girly team gear they are pumping money back into the team? When it comes down to it, I may hate all that stuff, but their fandom, from the team’s standpoint, is exactly the same as mine. Because all our money goes to the same place. Into the contracts of the players I so adore.
Sigh. This is going to be a debate I have with myself for a long time.
Bloc Party at Webster Hall:
Went to go see Bloc Party at Webster Hall the other night. It was a great show, though not as energetic as I was expecting. This actually had little to do with the band itself. It was approximately 100 degrees in the venue. There was seemingly NO AC, and on a 85 degree night, in a crowd of hundreds all squished together, it felt like the surface of the sun. I felt bad for the band, because many people in the crowd barely had the energy to even nod their heads to the beat. Most of us were just concentrating on not passing out. I am sure I lost ten pounds in sweat that night. Still glad I went to go see them, but damn does Webster need to make some updates to their systems. I will say though that this was the first show I had been there when the band didn’t have to stop the show due to some technical problem. Webster really is falling apart. And yet I’ve still got two more shows to see there this summer. Eek!
100 Things:
Ok, so it seems like a blog requirement to have one of these. So here’s mine. I wrote it over the last couple days but posted it back to January so that it wouldn’t take up the entire front page here. Though this second Brain Dump is coming dangerously close to doing that anyway.
New Links:
Be sure to check out:
Epiphany
Little Pieces of Nothing
Ok, that’s all for now. Brain Dump finished. |
| posted by FINY @ Thursday, June 16, 2005 |
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| Tuesday, June 14, 2005 |
| An Email From My Mom |
In response to a few comments that were left after I mentioned that my mother now reads my blog, I received this email from her:
From: Finy's Mom
Dear FINY,
Rest assured your Mom will NEVER post a comment and/or embarassing story on your blog. That's your space - if anything maybe she'll start her own blog! How do you like the name "Stories from Finy's Mom" as a blog name?
Love you,
Mom
I cracked up. Not just because she sent the email, but because she actually sent it specifically to my blog email address and didn't use either of our real names. Stuff like this only highlights how damn cool my mom actually is.
Love you Mom! |
| posted by FINY @ Tuesday, June 14, 2005 |
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| Brain Dump Part 1 |
Been meaning to write for ages but have been soooooo busy. Been writing this one over the last couple days.
Wakefield’s Last Outing:
A few thoughts here, all of which have been commented on over and over and over again in the Sox blogosphere.
* Was it coincidence that Wakefield emerged from his slump the day that Mirabelli came off the DL? I think not. Wake tried to downplay Mirabelli’s impact in order to not put Varitek down, but I most people probably didn’t believe him.
From the Boston Globe:
'Jason did a great job," Wakefield said. ''Doug back there, he's been catching
me over such a long period, he does such a great job back there. I don't want to
take anything away from Jason."
Yeah that’s sweet and all Wake, but we know the score. ALL of Wakefield’s numbers when pitching with Mirabelli behind the plate are better. Now granted, knuckleball pitchers are almost designed to be streaky, so perhaps Belli’s stint on the DL just coincided with a rough patch, but I doubt it.
* It would have been REALLY great to see Damon hit for the cycle. I wasn’t watching the game, so I’d love a little input here. Did it look like they were intentionally pitching around him?
* I’ve never been a lover of Dale Sveum. He’s left far too many Red Sox out to dry on the bases, and I think save the World Series last year people would have been calling for his head this off-season (oh wait, they still were). Now, I love that picture I posted below as much as anyone, the one of Wakefield sliding into home? But what was Sveum THINKING sending him to the plate?
I mean, not only is Wakefield not used to base running, but you’re up 3-0, and are risking your starting pitcher. You KNEW it was going to be a close play, and God forbid there was a collision, you’ve got a 38-year-old pitcher who hasn’t run that much in his entire career probably (remember he was on first when the play started) going up against a man in full catching equipment? 9 out of 10 times who do you think wins that fight for the plate?
It all worked out for the best, but wow that's a lot to risk when you're up 3-0.
Great Interview:
David Laurila over at redsoxnation.net recently interviewed Mike Tamburro, President of the Pawtucket Red Sox. For any of you who have never checked out any of David’s interviews you really should, they’re always fantastic, but this one was flat out joy inducing.
Tamburro has been with the club since 1977 and shares some hilarious stories about Sox such as Win Remmerswaal, "Walpole" Joe Morgan, Oil Can Boyd, and Wade Boggs. Go check it out!
Interview
More to come:
*New links to be added
*Another conversation about CFBs as inspired by an email from Julia
*And various other brain-dump-type topics |
| posted by FINY @ Tuesday, June 14, 2005 |
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| Monday, June 13, 2005 |
| Ahhh ... The American Justice System |
I haven't been following the Michael Jackson case closely at all, I'll admit. But when the definition of molestation "touching that brings sexual gratification to either party" (as was stated by a radio commentator this morning so I don't know how accurate that is) how can this man be found not guilty?! He wasn't even charged with a misdemeanor for giving alcohol to minors!!!
So pissed right now. That sick, sick bastard. |
| posted by FINY @ Monday, June 13, 2005 |
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| ARG!!! |
I just wrote a REALLY long post about Wakefield and the Sox, which of course blogger lost. Will have to rewrite it on my lunch break, but for now, this picture just makes me smile:
That's right, that's Tim Wakefield executing a textbook slide to avoid the tag at home. Just not every day you see an American League pitcher do that. Love it. MUCH longer post to come later. |
| posted by FINY @ Monday, June 13, 2005 |
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| Thursday, June 09, 2005 |
| Coming Out of the Closet |
Welcome to the blog everyone. MM, Mom, nice to have you. You'll have to excuse me while I go have a heart attack.
I've recently started telling my friends and family that this place exists. And it's scaring the living hell out of me. Why? well, because when I started this thing, I never thought people were actually going to read it. And let's not joke for a long time, no one did :). But now that some people do, and now that I've started to get a bit more excited about the whole thing, I felt there was no way I was going to be able to "hide" it anymore from the rest of the people in my life.
So I started telling people. But I held of on telling two people until recently. Mainly because I was scared to death to have them read it. I don't edit the stuff here, and I've read back millions of times thinking, good LORD did I really just use "you're" instead of "your"? Or my God, did I really feel that way back then? And I was scared not only of them being critical of it, but of the potential hurt feelings.
Those two people were my mom and Meghann. My mom luckily seemed to like it. MM, I guess I'll just have to wait and see. And quietly die in my cube until I hear from her. |
| posted by FINY @ Thursday, June 09, 2005 |
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| Wednesday, June 08, 2005 |
| The World Series Ring |
So I may still be afraid that I came off as a CFB at the game on Sunday, but this makes it a little better. The pic is kind of grainy, but that huge piece of metal sitting on my thumb? That's a Red Sox World Series Ring. I wonder if saying those words together is ever going to get old "Red Sox World Series".
Nah :)
EDIT: Thanks go out to BlackJack for helping me fix the picture issue. |
| posted by FINY @ Wednesday, June 08, 2005 |
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| Tuesday, June 07, 2005 |
| Boston, The Sox, a Thong, and the fear of Looking Like a CFB |
Casual Fan Bitch: (N) A description coined by soxaholics.com to describe sports fans of the female persuasion who don’t actually know much about the team except for which players are cute. Most CFBs could not name the starting nine for the team they are supposedly fans of. You can typically pick them out by their pink team attire.
It is every die-hard female fan’s worst fear to be thought of as a CFB. Or at least, it is mine. The problem with being a woman who is obsessed with a team (and I mean any team, not just the Sox) is that many men assume you don’t really know you’re team. I can’t begin to tell you the number of people I’ve met who, after getting into a long discussion with me about, say, why Mark Bellhorn is better than people think he is, turn to me and say “Wow, you really know your stuff, don’t you?”
Um, yeah. But why are you so surprised?! You wouldn’t have made a comment like that if I had been a male. Asshat.
This past weekend I made my way up to Boston to catch up with some fellow Royal Rooters from RSN.net and see the Anaheim game on Sunday. A few of us had met up the night before and perhaps partied a bit too hard. So when I started drinking at Boston Billiards less than 12 hours later, it hit me a bit harder than it normally would have.
What this led to was me playing pool, in low rise jeans, with a thong on. Not the best idea ever as it was immediately evident that there would be no way to hide said thong while playing pool. Now, had I not been wasted, I probably just wouldn’t have played, but damn those inhibitions melting away!
So instead of not playing pool, and instead of slowing down on the drinking, I did neither. Not only did I do neither, but quite a few of my RR friends, decided that snapping my thong might be fun (though I did destroy BlackJack's beer for doing so).
So now here’s my fear, did I come off as a CFB this weekend? I wore no pink (I had a Bill Meuller T-shirt on - red and blue the ONLY acceptable colors for Red Sox apparel), I could still name everyone on the damn team, but I said some seriously stupid non-baseball-related stuff, and flashed my thong around like it was my job. Perhaps I shouldn’t be judging those pink-shirt-wearing, Johnny-Damon-loving, short-skirt-sporting girls at baseball games as quickly anymore. Perhaps they’re just having an off day.
Yeah, we’ll see how long that outlook lasts. |
| posted by FINY @ Tuesday, June 07, 2005 |
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| Monday, June 06, 2005 |
| The Grass is Always Greener |
Remember back at the beginning of the year when I was bitching about being cold because our delinquent landlord wasn't around to fix the heat? Yeah, I want those days back. It is easily 100 degrees in here right now, and as I sit on the couch, trying to do work, laptop in my lap, I seriously think I might pass out from how warm it is. Even shorts and a tank top aren't getting the job done.
Suddenly being cold doesn't seem so bad ... |
| posted by FINY @ Monday, June 06, 2005 |
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| Friday, June 03, 2005 |
| Heading North |
Ok all, I'm heading north to see the Sox game on Sunday. I've been meaning to post SO many thoughts this week that I haven't gotten around to, but I am sure 4 hours on the bus will give me time to write it out of my system. So stay tuned, MANY updates to come.
GO SOX! (clearly they need to win at least the game on Sunday, I mean come on, I'm traveling for four hours to see this game!) |
| posted by FINY @ Friday, June 03, 2005 |
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| Fill in the Blanks |
Mikey over at hey, freak! did this on his site a few days ago. Since I am too tired, and too upset to be creative, I'm copying him. Thanks Mikey!
Idea is simple, just fill in the blanks.
I ____ FINY.
FINY is ____.
FINY thinks a lot about _______.
When I think of _________, I think of FINY.
If I were alone in a room with FINY, I would _______.
I think FINY should _____.
FINY needs ______.
I want to ____________ FINY.
If I could describe FINY in a word: _______. |
| posted by FINY @ Friday, June 03, 2005 |
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| Panic and Sleep |
I'm having a lot of one, and next to none of the other. Who can take a guess at which is which?
I woke up last night at 3:30am in a cold sweat. I was hyperventilating, tears were running down my face, and my mind was absolutely racing.
Random thoughts kept popping into my head and making it worse. Like my bills. Or things that are going wrong at work. Accounts Payable issues. Reviewer issues. Author issues. I kept thinking of things I hadn't done, hadn't had the time to do, didn't want to do. And every time I tried to calm down they'd creep back in, and the panic would start all over again.
At 4:30 I finally gave up. I broke out my laptop, put in a Friends DVD, and attempted to drown out all the thoughts in my head. I worked for about half an hour, when I sort of dozed. I gave up for good at 5:30.
Have I mentioned this has happened the last three nights in a row. So not only am I panicing about most everything at the moment, I am also going on next to NO sleep, which is not exactly helping me get stuff done. |
| posted by FINY @ Friday, June 03, 2005 |
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| Thursday, June 02, 2005 |
| Don't Blame Wake - He Sucks Because of Me |
 Don't look so down on yourself, Wakes, this wasn't your fault. The Sox lost last night to the Orioles . 9-3. With the Yankees losing to the lowly Royals, this would have been a nice night to have back. But Wake's just wasn't on, and the offense just couldn't win it for him. It's no secret around these parts that Tim Wakefield is absolutely my favorite player. No question. But the problem with loving a 30-something knuckleball pitcher is that sometimes he's on and sometimes he's just not. It's the nature of the knuckleball. It's either dancing so much that even the catcher is having a hard time seeing it, or it's just laying there, a meatball in the middle of the plate. Last night it was clearly the latter. And I blame no one but myself. Wakes started the year on a tear. His ERA was sick, he was winning games, it was fantastic. Loving Wakes as I do, and needing some starting pitching on my fantasy team, I traded for him. A friend of mine over at RSN warned me that if he tanked because I traded for him that she would clearly have to blame it on me. So blame away, Piney, I'll take the heat. |
| posted by FINY @ Thursday, June 02, 2005 |
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| Wednesday, June 01, 2005 |
| The World Series Trophy |
FINALLY got the picture of me and the World Series Trophy from the photgrapher who was at 212 that night. Not going to post it directly, but here's the link. Not a fantastic picture of me, but the trophy makes it the best picture ever. :)
FINY and the Trophy |
| posted by FINY @ Wednesday, June 01, 2005 |
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| A Sad Reality |
Every other Tuesday my friend Esther and I get together for coffee. Esther at I met when I began working my first job out of college, and since I've left the company we have made a concerted effort to take time, at least twice a month, to sit down and update each other on our lives.
Most of last night consisted of my random weekend stories, and looking at pictures of her best friends wedding, but towards the end of the night we were discussing the new job she's starting in a few weeks. After hearing all about the job description and complaining about the dress code, I had just one question:
"What do they think about you having to leave the office early every Friday?"
See, Esther is Jewish. Not in the casual way that so many people are these days, but what she calls "conservadox". She stays kosher, observes the fasting days and whatnot, and every Friday, has to be home before sundown. The reason she does not consider herself fully Orthodox is because she wears pants and does not intend on covering her hair when she gets married.
Being friends with Esther, while at times a bit interesting when it came to MY stories, has been an eye opening experience. I've learned so much from her, and I admire her faith. As a lapsed Catholic who after years of searching for a religion i agreed with, I am almost jealous. However, the answer to the question I asked her brought me back down to earth.
"I haven't told them yet. If you tell an employer that before they hire you they'll find some other reason NOT to. If you tell them afterwards, and they fire you, they're in a whole world of trouble."
This bugs me on so many levels. It bugs me that Esther would have to put herself in the position to upset her employers so soon after she starts working. It bugs me that she can't be open about who she is. It bugs me even more that what she said is completely true.
Esther's always been really responsible about how she works her home-before-sundown-on-Friday routine. Since sundown is so late in the summer it almost doesn't affect things at all, but during the winter there are times she needs to leave by mid afternoon. To make up for this she works extra hours the rest of the week. I watched her for a year and a half work in the cubicle next to mine and not once did she let her religion get in the way of her career. So why then, would a potential employer find some other reason not to hire her? And is that really the case?
Unfortunately I really think it is true. And that is going to continue to bother me for a while. Discrimination is discrimination, and just because someone needs to work different hours because of their religious beliefs doesn't mean they shouldn't get hired. As long as the employee demonstrates an ability to get the job done religion shouldn't be an issue at all.
Sorry for the rant, and if this doesn't make sense it's because this is a bit more personal than just the abstract thought. I get a bit defensive when I think my friends have been wronged, and even though her new employer hasn't said anything yet, just the idea that she's had to hide it from them just to get hired in the first place REALLY makes me angry. |
| posted by FINY @ Wednesday, June 01, 2005 |
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