A Fun Thursday Night

Must admit I did nothing last night. The Braves were on NASN, is a game starting at 5pm BST (midday in New York). A big fifth inning, including back-to-back home runs by Chipper Jones and Mark Teixeira led to a 7-6 win over the rival Mets at Shea Stadium. I really enjoyed those, especially Chipper's which was a thing of beauty, sailing high over the 371-foot sign and clattering half-way up the Mets' scoreboard in right field.

It led to a bit of web surfing, and it made me realise that I've never mentioned David O'Brien's excellent Braves blog. It's impartial reporting that you don't get on the Braves official site (understandable), plus it frequently throws up some funny stuff from life on the road, like this from yesterday:

Oh, forgot to tell you guys, a cab driver took Villarreal and Escobar to the stadium this morning, only it was Yankee Stadium. He was Middle Eastern, Escobar speaks almost no English, and Villarreal was cussing in Spanglish. Ah, if only it were a Taxicab Confessions cab with the camera in place to record that for us all.

David O'Brien cracks me up with stuff like that.

(Notes for non-Baseball fans: Yunel Escobar is Cuban and Oscar Villarreal is Mexican.)

Another site which usually cracks me up is Deadspin, but it does have more than it's fair share of Mets fans. I hope they all enjoyed Chipper's 470-foot bomb (as Kevin Costner said in Bull Durham, "Something travelling that far ought to have a stewardess on it, don't ya think?"). To paraphrase Kevin Keegan, I would love it, LOVE IT if we beat them to the NL East division title this year.

Finally, as David O'Brien frequently ends blog posts with some appropriate song lyrics, I felt as a tribute to him that I should do the same.

M.C. Hammer - U Can't Touch This

You can't touch this (Repeat 5x)

My, my, my, my music hits me so hard
Makes me say "Oh my Lord"
Thank you for blessing me
With a mind to rhyme and two hyped feet
It feels good, when you know you're down
A super dope homeboy from the Oaktown
And I'm known as such
And this is a beat, uh, you can't touch

I told you homeboy (You can't touch this)
Yeah, that's how we're living and you know (You can't touch this)
Look in my eyes, man (You can't touch this)
Yo, let me bust the funky lyrics (You can't touch this)

Fresh new kicks, and pants
You got it like that, now you know you wanna dance
So move, outta your seat
And get a fly girl and catch this beat
While it's rolling, hold on
Pump a little bit and let 'em know it's going on
Like that, like that
Cold on a mission so pull on back
Let 'em know, that you're too much
And this is a beat, uh, you can't touch

Yo, I told you (You can't touch this)
Why you standing there, man? (You can't touch this)
Yo, sound the bell, school is in, sucka (You can't touch this)

Give me a song, or rhythm
Make 'em sweat, that's what I'm giving 'em
Now, they know
When you talk about the Hammer you talk about a show
That's hyped, and tight
Singers are sweating so pass them a mic
Or a tape, to learn
What it's gonna take in the 90's to burn
The charts? Legit
Either work hard or you might as well quit

That's the word because you know...

You can't touch this (Repeat 2x)

Break it down! (Music breaks down) Stop, Hammer time!

Go with the flow, it is said
That if you can't groove to this then you probably are dead
So wave your hands in the air
Bust a few moves, run your fingers through your hair
This is it, for a winner
Dance to this and you're gonna get thinner
Move, slide your rump
Just for a minute let's all do the bump, bump, bump, bump

Yeah... (You can't touch this)
Look, man (You can't touch this)
You better get hyped, boy, because you know (You can't touch this)
Ring the bell, school's back in

Break it down! (Music breaks down) Stop, Hammer time!

You can't touch this (Repeat 3x)

Break it down! (Music breaks down) Stop, Hammer time!

Every time you see me
The Hammer's disco hype
I'm dope on the floor and I'm magic on the mic
Now why would I ever stop doing this?
With others making records that just don't hit
I've toured around the world, from London to the Bay
It's "Hammer, go Hammer, MC Hammer, yo Hammer"
And the rest can go and play

You can't touch this (Repeat 7x)

This Is Why I Don't Shop In City Centres

One of the occupational hazards of working in Glasgow is that there are loads of shops around. You can't help but see them and walk past windows full of interesting items.

Today I was looking for some more CD-RWs. One of my current ones is a bit nicked-up, and on it's way out, so I wanted to get a replacement for burning podcasts onto and listening to in the car.

Normally I get my CD-RWs from a shop in Wishaw. The cost? 60p. Unfortunately I can't really get there during the week, so I took a look for them in Glasgow. After taking a look in two hard-to-find stores (one of the upsides of working in Glasgow, although they're a bit of a trek) which didn't have them I headed back to the city centre.

Finally I found some individual CD-RWs. The cost? £2.99! I think I'll wait until the weekend to get some more.