Time to Think

Aaaah. Room to stretch. I am writing this post from the Messiah College campus on my iMac, all of the rest having been written on my iPad, and I can tell you, it is nice to get a little room to maneuver. Don’t get me wrong, I love the iPad, and am amazed that I have lived with it as my only link to the world wide web for so long without going mad, but I own a 21″ iMac for a reason. More on that on Monday.

I have been graduated for all of twelve days, and after moving, and cleaning the old apartment, I have been sitting around the new apartment.

My Jeep has a weird issue that restricts me from driving it above 40 mph, safely that is, and Hannah takes the car into work, so I can’t really go anywhere. This being central Pennsylvania, the drivers really hate it when you drive the speed limit, much less 10 mph slower than the posted limit, and this being central Pennsylvania, everything is distressingly out of walking distance. No, really, I would walk to the grocery store out of sheer boredom, but I draw the line at anything over 8 miles. Besides, this walking would be along the roads where the maniacs drive, and that doesn’t make me feel any safer than driving my Jeep does. So, I sit around the apartment.

I could get a job, maybe, though I have tried and haven’t been successful so far (apart from not having a safe car to drive) but my wife might be hired for a job that would require us to move to Wisconsin, and it isn’t fair to an employer to get a job and quit a week and a half later. So, for the moment, I sit around the apartment.

While I do, I watch baseball, blog a bit, but mostly think. I think about my life, and all that I have accomplished: graduating from high school, Bible school, and college; dating and marrying a wonderful woman; making a few friends; and, um, I am sure other things. If I were honest, or depressed, I would say that it doesn’t feel like I have really done any of those things. Sure, I have a woman who sleeps in my (our) bed now, and I guess in a few weeks Messiah College will mail me a diploma, but if I went by feelings, as far as I can tell I feel like I did when I was 15, sitting around at home playing Need for Speed on my computer.

Maybe that is because I sit around by myself most of the day. I don’t know, because I have no basis for comparison, not having ever had a full time, or part time, job that required me to be outside of the house. I honestly don’t know what kind of job would appeal to me, though the idea of lifting heavy things or working at McDonald’s turns my stomach. If it were up to me, and money didn’t matter, I would rather just hang out with my wife and create. Create writing, create art, create music, create photography…just create. Being alone for a large part of the day saps my energy and my creative momentum. Writing this blog takes most of what I do have. That might astound me, except for the observation that my most highly creative times in the past three years have come right after my favorite English classes.

Where do I go from here? I am not really sure. For the time being, I have to wait anyway to see what happens with my wife’s job/no job thing. On the complete other side of things, the past five years of college have worn me out more than I can say, so it is really nice to have no real demands on my energy besides dishes and making the bed.

Forgive my personal ramblings, dear readers, but that is what Thursday is about on this blog, and it is mildly therapeutic for me to write this stuff. Tomorrow is baseball day, and I have a feeling it may be a bit of a rant. The Indians haven’t been playing too well as of late.

Don’t forget to email me questions, musings, or random thoughts for Tuesday’s Q&A blog, or just to say hi.

Peace.

The Hunt for Red October

The only book I am reading at the moment is Tom Clancy’s The Hunt for Red October. I first read the “thrilling” tale when I was younger, probably in my teens. I must have read it a second time a few years ago because I currently own a paperback copy that has all the earmarks of a yard sale or thrift store pickup that I don’t remember owning back in the day. Anyway, having recently come across it again, I decided to give it another read through.

This time through the story, I was continually struck by how boring, monotonous, and detail-heavy the novel manages to be. According to the back of my book, Clancy’s included level of detail and realism resulted in a rumored debrief at the White House, but I found it unnecessary. Clancy is wont to give a detailed history of every character, ship, submarine, or term that he talks about, and very often he tells a part of the story from the point of view of a sub or person who is never heard from again. In and amongst all of his detail and dramatis personae, the story stops and starts like an old pickup truck.

The reader has to plod through most of the book before the action even starts, and then it is over in about two pages. Most of the book centres around the cat-and-mouse hunt for the defecting Russian missile submarine Red October, but that ceases to be interesting after the first few chapters.

Red October is certainly a well researched, planned, and thought out novel, but it fails to hold attention or keep the reader turning pages unless they really have nothing else to do. I confess that Red October is my bathroom reading, but if I was reading it in any other setting than the 20 minutes or so I am occupied thereby, I would not have continued to read it. I am fairly certain I won’t read the book again, once I finish it, which should be in a day or two.

I have read a few of Clancy’s other Jack Ryan stories, among them Clear and Present Danger and Patriot Games, but I dont remember them well enough to know if they fall victim to the same troubles with plague October.

Honestly, for my time and effort, I would more heartily recommend that someone watch the excellent film adaptation starring Alec Baldwim and Sean Connery rather than read the book. The literary person inside of me cringes at that suggestion, but sometimes the book isn’t really better.

Starting next week I will blog through the next book I choose to read, which, for the moment, is a mystery. During my capstone writing course at Messiah College my professor assigned me the task of compiling a reading list for future reading, and I will be selecting one of the books from that list.

Please don’t forget to email me a question, pondering, or random thought for Tuesday’s Q&A blog.

’till tomorrow!

the Slave

the slave

shadows slant as the sun
arcs across the prison walls
he walks his paces
sinking to his cot and rising again
he pounds the iron walls in frustration
days come and go
without count and number
how long has it been?
will deliverance….?
falling into the corner
he sobs
running out of tears
his crime, his punishment
the love he showed
and the kindness given
for this they beat and mock
forsaken
he waits in the dungeon
locked in a foreign land across the sands
forgotten
by all but his God
but still this man
the Hebrew
trusts
footsteps come

I wrote this poem some time ago about the Biblical character of Joseph. This poem takes place in the middle his story, while wrongfully imprisoned on a charge of rape. Go read the story in Genesis 37 and the surrounding chapters. It is an interesting story.

A Brief History

For most of my life, I have been a PC guy, that is, after my Commondore 64 days. I was there for the the very beginning of Microsoft Windows 3.1. I spent hours being amazed at their killer program, Paint, and the thrilling games Minesweeper and Solitaire. And then came the fully featured Windows 95 which became 98, ME, and 2000 before finally being updated for real in XP which was the last Windows OS I actually used for any length of time.

My paternal grandfather became my patron saint of computers through the evolution of the home PC, and the rise of the Internet. He tended to upgrade his system fairly often, and when he did he would pass his old computers onto my family. My older brother Joe learned more about the inner workings of computers, but I jumped right into the mode of the everyday consumer user. I remember logging onto the very first Lego.com and StarWars.com, back in the day when the Internet was still a novelty. I loved games, playing DOS favorites Commander Keen and One Must Fall, and the very first Need For Speed game that launched their rise to fame: Hot Pursuit.

While I was such a PC user, let’s be clear, I was never a PC fanboy, I was aware of the other side of computing: the Apple computer. Some friends of my parents were Mac users from beginning, and whenever we visited for dinner, they would invariably stay late talking, and I would get bored and be allowed to play Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego on the Mac.

Eventually though, through the mid to late 90s, Apple started to make their rise to dominance, which they are continuing through today, and I started to hear a lot more about them on a regular basis. I was so taken with them, that by the time I contemplated my very first computer purchase, I was dead set on buying an Apple computer. I hadn’t used one in years, and only knew about them by reputation, but that reputation was strong enough to convince me to spend three times what I knew I could spend on a PC.

My family was about to move to Papua New Guinea for mission work, and I didn’t want to lug my old beige tower and huge CRT monitor across the world. Besides, I knew I would soon be starting college, and wanted a smaller computer to take with me. So I sold my PC, and bought a 2004 generation Apple iBook.

Since that time I have owned another older iBook (a G3), one of the first Intel iMacs, a Macbook, and now currently use an Aluminum iMac and an iPad. My only prenuptial agreement with my wife was that she ditch her Toshiba laptop, and I bought her a Macbook Air. I will never go back to PCs, and that decision runs deeper than a Mac fanboy fascination.

I really believe that Apple will be the computer of the future. Computers began as a digitization of two things: math and file storage. Way back to the UNIAC and ENIAC days, computers were glorified building sized calculators. By the time Microsoft came along, computers were glorified typewriters that also stored all your documents. That is why Windows Explorer is a file manager. Programs, or applications (games, picture editors, and other things) really were sort of an afterthought. People began to see the potential of computers, and started to write more sophisticated programs for them to run. But still, computers were primarily file cabinets.

Once the Internet went mainstream and Mac rose from the ashes, Apple turned the computer into a machine that was about the program, not the files. In other words, it wasn’t that you could also store your pictures in a digital format on your computer, but it was that your computer could show you pictures in a way never before thought possible. Music on the computer wasn’t just an alternative to a CD player, but a whole new way to play music. And movies, and so on. While the PC could do all those things, the Mac was built from the ground up to be all about those things.

Mac took the daily life things, and exploded them. My iBook was my first step into the larger world of computers that were not machines to be used, but were extensions of myself, in the same way that clothing is not just something humans wear, but part of their being.

To be continued….

On the Field: Interleague Play

Tonight is the first night for interleague play in baseball in the 2010 season. The Cincinnati Reds have made the drive north to Cleveland to take on the Indians. As it stands tonight, the Reds lead the National League Central Division, and the Indians bring up the rear of the American League Central Division, but in their interleague matchup the Reds and Indians are almost dead even for wins and losses, so it should be an interesting game. At the time of writing, it is the top of the fourth, and the game is tied 1-1, so it remains either team’s game to win.

Ever since 1997, when Interleague play was adopted into Major League Baseball, the Reds and Indians have been meeting as state rivals, and similar matchups take place all across the nation. The New York Mets are playing the New York Yankees, and the Philadelphia Phillies are hosting the Boston Red Sox. Later in the year the Chicago Cubs will host their cross city rivals White Sox.

All in all, I like interleague play. Before 1997, anytime a team, or even a player, from either league saw one from the opposing league it was during Spring Training, the All·Star Game, or the World Series. The separation between the American and the National Leagues was a mile wide and a wall of iron. The only real difference between the leagues, as far as rules go, is in the American League with the implementation of the designated hitter, a player that bats in place of the pitcher, but who doesn’t play defensively. Despite this minor difference, the leagues seem to have an intangible difference: the National League is said to be more offensive, the American League is more of a pitcher’s league.

I like interleague play because I like seeing teams from opposing leagues play each other. Because the separation existed for over 100 years, the novelty is still fresh. Secondly, I have been an Indians fan my entire life, which means I have become a bit of an American League fan, but I have never really liked the designated hitter rule. My personal philosophy is that if you play defense you play offense. Pitchers should not be exempted because of their “special” status as a specialized position player. National League pitchers have been hitting since the dawn of baseball and still manage to pitch extremely well. Let’s not forget that Babe Ruth, the most legendary hitter in all of baseball, was a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. Sure, pitchers today are way more targeted than in Ruth’s time, but I think the logic holds.

Lastly, I like the idea of interleague play because it brings teams to town that otherwise a fan would not often see. Cleveland and Cincinnati are close enough that one could make the occasional drive to the other city, or in Chicago or New York one can simply take a subway or cab to the other stadium, but I doubt many people make the 5 and 1/2 hour drive between Boston and Philadelphia to be a fan of both the Red Sox and the Phillies. Now, at least three times during the season, a fan can see opposing league teams ride right into town and play the home team. In the era of internet and TV televised games, going out to the ballpark is still time well spent, and if you can see a team you would never before see, that is a bonus for fans.

As of 2010, every team in each league has played every other team at least once, and I hope that Interleague play continues into the future. I for one look forward to seeing which National League teams will come into Cleveland, and which cities the Indians will visit that they normally don’t see. This year, I am eager to see the Philadelphia Phillies cruise into Cleveland, because having spent several years in central Pennsylvania I have become a Phillies fan. Because my teams sit in opposing leagues, the opportunity that I would have to pick one over the other to cheer for is a limited prospect. In a few weeks, I will be forced to make that decision, but it is easy: I cheer for the Indians. Always first, foremost, and forever. However, my rational assessment of each team leads me to believe that the Phillies will beat the living daylights out of the Tribe, as currently the Phillies are the best team in the National League, and the Indians are close to the worst team in the American League. But, there is still plenty of baseball to play, and anything can happen.

Speaking of which, while I was writing this post, the Reds jumped ahead of the Indians 4-1, but in the last Indians’ at bat, Shin-Soo Choo of the Tribe went deep, hitting a two run home run helping his team tie the game 4-4. The top of the sixth is under way, and still either team could wind up with the win.

This is why baseball is the best sport in the world.

Back Up and Running

Hello, readers.

After several months of unintentional hiatus, my blog is back! I would like to welcome any new readers that I have solicited.

If you would like to be more active, please register and you will be able to comment, and if you were to contact me, there might even be the possibility of a guest post. Also, if you are good with editing, and would like to help, I might distribute a few editing privileges.

On Saturday past, I graduated from Messiah College, the liberal arts college in small town Pennsylvania that I have been attending for the past three years. I graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in English.

I have also recently moved into a splendid little apartment, one with windows and a tall airy ceiling, and I feel like my life is moving forward. However, I have been unable to find a job, but for the moment, I am very glad that I haven’t. The past few years have been really tough for me, and I am physically exhausted from the past few days of graduating-moving-cleaning and am mentally exhausted from all the college.

But, while I am weary, I am also excited for the future. Part of that future is a commitment to regular blogging, something I really enjoy but, as a college student with a myriad of other things to write, never really had the time to do. Now that I am free I want to write something every day, for the discipline in writing and for the joy of sharing my thoughts.

I have devised a simple schedule of one topic per day, to help me plan and keep writing, and also to make sure things stay easy to follow for my readers. The schedule, tentatively, is as follows:

Monday is iGeek, and I will post about my iPad, Apple, and other tech things which excite me.

Tuesday will be a double post day. I will start with Q&A. If you have a question, query, or wondering that you want me to write about, email me, and I will select one and write about it. I will finish with a poem. I consider myself to be a poet, and will write, or revise, a new poem every Tuesday.

Wednesday is about literature and language. iRead day will be the day I disseminate and parse through whichever book(s) I am currently reading. Nothing too formal or academic, just my thoughts based upon my college degree.

Thursday will be my iLife day, the post being about myself, and my life, and something interesting or significant that occurred during my week.

Friday, always a fun day, will be about baseball. I love the sport, and watch every game that I can. I am a die-hard Cleveland Indians fan, and will be till the day I die. (Today’s game vs the Kansas City Royals starts soon!) I have also become a Philadelphia Phillies fan, but will always love the Tribe first and most. Anyway, Friday I will talk all about baseball.

Saturday and Sunday I will take off, though there maybe eventual guest posts if anyone wants to contribute to my blog.

Anyway, sounds like a plan, and I hope that you can enjoy the experience.

Follow me on Twitter @PhilipJoelM, and email me stormrider@wordflood.net.

Be seeing you!

(Not So) Special Features: On iTunes Extras

Recently Apple added a new feature to the iTunes movie store: iTunes Extras. Certain movies (mostly new releases) on the iTunes store now include Extras, or what are commonly known in DVD circles as Special Features.

I was intrigued by this newness in the iTunes store, and was curious about the comprehensive nature of the Extras, but haven’t had a reason to try it out until yesterday. I am a massive film nut, and watch all the special features I can, usually springing for the $20 2-disc DVD set at Wal·Mart just to get a whole extra DVD of featurettes, interviews, and FX breakdowns. But, I also like to have the digital copy on my computer, which usually means a complicated process involving Mac the Ripper and Handbrake.

iTunes Extras seemed it could be the perfect solution for me and I decided to give it a whirl. GI Joe: Rise of Cobra was recently released, and I saw the movie in theaters, and was reasonably entertained, and put the movie on my short list to buy, and yesterday bought it for the new release price of $14.99 from iTunes. I accepted this price because it is about the same as the 1-disc from Wal·Mart which usually don’t come with many Special Features, so if this was a digital edition + extras, it seemed like a good deal.

It wasn’t, really.

After buying, and waiting for the download, not only do you have a digital copy of the movie, but you also have a secondary file called “Extras”. When you click on it, a menu comes up that looks very much like a DVD menu, but inside of iTunes. This then has a “Play Movie” button, a “Special Features” button, and a few others. But, what was disappointing was there were only 5 or 6 special features, and of those, only one was longer than a minute (it was 6 minutes). Two even seemed to simply be scenes from the movie, but without the soundtrack. The only interviews were with the Special Effects director, and a few blurbs from the principal actors. The only really interesting feature was a whirlwind history of GI Joe from a Hasbro executive.

Now, I am willing to chalk this up to GI Joe not having good special features, but I just can’t make that fly. Having already spent money on the movie I am not willing to buy the DVD and find out, but I have been watching Special Features for very many years and I haven’t seen a DVD that doesn’t have at least a 15 minute “Making Of” and a few shorts on key action scenes in about 8 years. Most of the good ones even have “Behind the Scenes” on soundtrack, sound editing, lighting, or other parts of the filmmaking process. GI Joe actually lacking on special features just doesn’t make sense. What I want to see is the process of filming, the journey undergone to bring the story to the big screen. This is all lacking in the iTunes Extras.

I am willing to give Apple the benefit of the doubt, and say that as the idea is a new, it is therefore underwhelming, but my analysis at this junction is that it is not worth it. I really want this to get off the ground, and want to see as many special features available to download as on a DVD, but I think I may be waiting a while longer for this to come to fruition, if it ever does.

Not Some Conjurer of Cheap Tricks

Well, I have, and have been using, my brand new Apple Magic Mouse. I won’t attempt to explain the inner workings, but it is really really cool.

To afford it I sold my second brand new (formerly known as) Mighty Mouse on Ebay. I say second because this is the second replacement Mighty Mouse that I have acquired from Apple, courtesy of my iMac’s Apple Care.

While the Mighty Mouse was a technological wonder when it arrived on the computing scene, it contained a hold-over from previous generations: the scroll ball. Instead of a scroll wheel that went up, and then down, the scroll ball was capable of 360° movement. This seemed like a new idea on a mouse, but really, it was a very old idea. Before some genius applied laser tracking to mice, they literally rolled around on a ball. All Apple did was put the ball on top of the mouse, and use it for scrolling. Honestly, I don’t know why no one thought of that before, or tried to market it. However, back to my replacement mice, the ball-on-top was prone to the same problem as the ball-underneath: gumming. Rolling the ball around on your desk, or even mousepad, invited the ball to pick up dust, dirt, grime, and whatever hangs around on your computer station. Rolling your fingers around the scroll ball on the Mighty Mouse had the same effect. The only difference is those old mice used to be really easy to clean. The scroll ball on the bottom was very easy to remove, clean, and replace. The scroll ball on the top was completely integrated into the casing of the mouse, and only by literally breaking it open could you clean it. So, I had not one, but two Mighty Mice replaced because eventually the ball would quit sensing the scrolling I was trying to do.

I wanted for some time to replace my latest gummed-up Mighty Mouse, but had been hearing rumors of a new mouse from Apple, and so waited. Sure enough, the Magic Mouse was released a few weeks ago. I immediately called Apple Care, and negotiated for a new mouse. Secretly I hoped that they would note that I had a wireless Mighty and out of the goodness of their hearts upgrade me to a Magic (all Magic Mice are wireless) but alas, they must have a few old Mightys in storage. However, my good friend the global garage sale came to my aid, and some dude in Manhattan bought my Mighty.

Thus in the need for a mouse, I went to the Apple Store and ordered a Magic Mouse. It arrived a few days later. After the obligatory install of new software and a reboot, I was up and running, or should I say, gliding. The Magic Mouse glides. Having used a variety of mice in my technological career, this is the smoothest mouse I have ever used. It sits on two parallel runners on the bottom of the mouse, and however they are designed, they make the mouse fairly float across my pad. Add to this a decent amount of weight built into the mouse (the Mighty Mouse felt a lot lighter) and the movement is the best you could hope for. Also, they say that the laser sensor is among the best ever designed and at least to my mind, the pointing seems more precise, but this could just be my imagination.

The mouse is precisely symmetrical (or would be except for the Apple icon). It is no bigger front to back or right to left. It is slimmer than the Mighty Mouse, and a tad shorter. It is also about 3/4 the height. You might think that this screws up ergonomics, and admittedly I know nothing about that, but it feels great in my hand. My arm-wrist-hand is flatter and in more of a straight line when I use this mouse, and I don’t have as much of an incline using the Magic as I did using the Mighty. People with really big hands might have trouble with it, but for us average folk, it shouldn’t be a problem.

But, to my favorite feature…the surface!! There is NO scroll wheel, NO scroll ball (“only a ray shield prevents beaming!” um…) because the Magic of the Magic Mouse is in the multi-touch surface. Using the same technology available on Macbook/Pro touch pads, and the iPhone/iTouch surfaces, the Mouse senses where your finger is and what it is doing, and interprets actions from your phalange motion. A sweep of a finger down the mouse surface scrolls. A click anywhere (literally, anywhere, front or back or middle) on the left is a left click, same with right. The scroll is accelerated, so if you swipe, it scrolls fast, if you slide, it scrolls slower. And it is still 360° scrollable. Finally, a two finger left/right sweep advances forward or backward in apps that have a forward backward (Safari, iPhoto, etc).

Finally!!!

No gummed up scroll ball. No only up-down wheels. Unhindered, effortless, magical scrolling. Always. This is by far my favorite part of the Magic Mouse, though it is all amazing.

In my mind, this is the best human/machine interfacing device since the keyboard. It is sleek, sexy, functional, state-of-the-art, and on the cutting bleeding edge of today’s best (for this type of hardware) technologies in a single piece of hardware. If you like the Mighty Mouse, you should love the Magic of Apple’s new Mouse.

I do.

The Game of Baseball Part One: Time

The second game of the 2009 World Series is going to begin in just over an hour. I thought I would take this opportunity to vent/respond to some things I have been hearing lately, mostly negative comments on the game of baseball itself.

I begin with a few generalities. Baseball is a game of endurance. Everything in the game is built around this fact. The season itself is 162 games scheduled over 180 days. The game is comprised of 9 innings, during which each team has a chance to bat until they suffer 3 outs. It takes 3 strikes to get out, unless you hit the ball, and get out in the course of the play. Generally speaking, the game takes about 2 hours to play, and less than that is considered really fast (and is probably a game without a score). The fastest game on record is 51 minutes. There is no time limit for a baseball game, and unless there are extenuating circumstances, the game cannot end in a tie. The winning team is not only the one who scores one more run than the opposing team, but also is the team that outlasts their opponent.

Once a team wins the regular season, and advances to the post season, they must play several rounds of playoff series. The Division Series is the best of 5 games. The League Championship and the World Series are best of 7 series. To be the best, you must be the best consistently over a long period of time. It is grueling and it is challenging.

Thus, I am confused when people complain that the game is too long. I assume they mean that a particular game they want to watch is too long, and usually they mean a playoff game, because the majority of fans who watch games during the season either 1) don’t care about the length or 2) are ok watching part of the game. Usually if you complain about it being too long it is because you would want to watch the entire game, but don’t feel you have the time.

Before I address this, some more numbers: technically a football game is only an hour long (4 15 minute quarters), but with timeouts, side changes, and other considerations most football games take between 2 and 3 hours…the same as your average baseball game. Similarly, technically a basketball game is only 48 minutes long (4 12 minute quarters) but with time outs and other considerations most games take around 2 hours to play…about the same as a fast baseball game. And, for my international friends, a game of soccer is technically an hour and a half (2 45 minute halfs) but with a half time and other considerations, a soccer game could last 2 hours or more. Again, like a fast baseball game.

Now, at least on Sunday afternoon and Monday evening, alot of Americans will watch at least 1 football game, lasting around 2.5 hours. On Sunday, some fans will take in two games, taking up around 5 hours of their time. Add to this consideration pre and post game shows, and you’ve got close to 7 hours. And a really long baseball game is about 3, 3 and 1/2 hours.

Now, for baseball’s playoffs, the game tends to take a little longer, mostly because the commercial break is longer. I defy anyone to prove that baseball has longer commercials than Monday Night Football, or the SuperBowl though, which sometimes is just as much about the commercials as it is the game (Bud. Weis. Err.)

So, why the annoyance over the length of baseball games? The only conclusion I can come to is that, if one really has something more important to do, or kids to care for, or whatever, the game can seem longer than it is. Basketball and Soccer players are almost always running. Football players run for short bursts, and stand around in between. Baseball is focused on three men: the pitcher, the catcher, and the batter trying to cut in on their fun. This can give the illusion of alot of down time. The pitcher throws. The batter stands there. The catcher throws the ball back. The pitcher looks in to the catcher. The batter stands out. The pitcher looks in again. Checks the runner at first. The pitcher pitches. The batter swings and hits a ball into the stands, foul. In reality, it isn’t that long of a time. I have heard comments to the effect that “they should stop the batters from stepping out of the batter’s box, and stop the pitchers from stepping off the mound” and that this would speed up the game. Hardly. This interaction isn’t what takes time in a baseball game.

Most of the time in baseball is taken up when a team is actually hitting the ball and having a good inning, offensively. In last night’s game, for instance, the Phillies loaded the bases and looked fairly dangerous, in the top of the first inning. They eventually made 3 outs before scoring, but total half inning time was about 12 minutes. The bottom of the first, in which the Yankees did nothing, took about 4 minutes, a third of the time. And nothing much happened until the eighth inning, due to alot of pitchers pitching and hitters failing to hit, for both teams, except for this one guy who hit a home run, but it takes about a minute to run around the bases, three if you are Manny Ramirez, so this didn’t add much to the length of the inning. The Phillies added two more runs in the top of the eighth inning and took about 16 minutes to do it. The bottom of the eighth clocked in at about 5 minutes.

My point is this: all the supposed time that is being wasted by batters and pitchers is insignificant compared to the whopping time being wasted in innings when stuff actually happens. The Phillies took about 45 minutes to score 6 runs. The Yankees took about 15 minutes to score 1 run. The other two hours were full of 8 really quick innings, the average length of which was all of 10 minutes (5 for each half). I don’t see how a whole lot of time could be saved there, really.

So, my conclusion on the time aspect of baseball: it takes about the same amount of time to watch a baseball game as it does any other sport. Those that complain don’t really like baseball that much. Put this in terms of watching a chick flick with your girl instead of T2 and you see what am getting at.

As Game Two is about to start, I will save “Black and White Blindness: The Ump Factor” for next time. Play Ball!

Literary Non-Fiction

I am about to start my night class for this semester, Literary Non-Fiction Workshop, to give it it’s full title, and we are discussing the slippery nature of what is “non-fiction”, or more correctly, what is “literary” non-fiction.

On the outset, it seems painfully obvious what “non-fiction” is. Anything that isn’t fiction, right? Well, yes. And literary non-fiction seems almost as non-sequiturian. If something is literary, that just means it is a form of writing, right?

That kind of reasoning might work for the normal person at home, but for someone like me: the “English Major” at a slightly-stuffy high brow aspiring liberal arts college, than that reasoning definitely does not work.

To begin, “literary” is a form of writing, a classification. It is a separation from journalism, and “dry” reporting (though I am well aware that some journalism is very captivating, as Richard Gere says in Runaway Bride “Journalism is great literature…in a hurry!”). There is also memoir and autobiography, which are not the same thing. Biography, and the collections of letters or other correspondence. Oh yeah, and lumped in there are technical journals and other writing that certainly isn’t fiction, but probably isn’t literary either.

And, I should leave it at that, as I haven’t explored the topic further, and class is about to begin, and since there are only seven of us I can’t get away with ignoring the prof.