Bookworm

Mariano for MVP?

"When Mariano Rivera joined the Yankees in 1995, he was a skinny kid in his 24th summer of life. He wasn’t even a reliever, but rather a spot starter who got some work out of the pen. . . Rivera is today more than just the most valuable Yankee, the only utterly reliable performer on a pitching staff that has more holes than a two-acre putting green. He is the leading candidate for his first Cy Young Award and, if the Yankees somehow make the playoffs, as good a candidate as there is for the AL MVP award." [MSNBC.com]

Writing in a Global Language

"Borges said there are only four stories to tell: a love story between two people, a love story between three people, the struggle for power and the voyage. All of us writers rewrite these same stories ad infinitum." [Paolo Coelho in the NY Times]

In the Hunt

As I write this, the Yankees are 1.5 games behind the Red Sox in the A.L. East and hold the lead in the A.L. Wild Card.  Jason Giambi is showing the power that tempted Steinbrenner to sign him as a free agent a few years ago.  Sunday night he went over 1,000 RBI for his career and went over 1,500 hits for his career, numbers that are impressive but forever tainted by the steroids scandal.  Here's what happened last night:

"Giambi homered to lead off the fifth, a towering blast that just missed the neon bull's eye on the "Hit It Here Café". . . [T]he Yankees went ahead in the sixth. One-out walks to Gary Sheffield and Rodriguez drove Franklin from the game, and brought the left-hander Matt Thornton in. Giambi had homered off Thornton on May 17, and he did it again, lashing a 1-1 pitch inside the right field foul pole for his 25th homer. The Yankees had a 5-4 lead, and Giambi had a two-homer game for the second day in a row. His home runs have often come in pairs this season. Giambi has seven two-homer games, all since July 4. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Giambi is the first player in Yankees history to have consecutive multiple homer games twice in the same season. He also did it on July 20 and 21. Giambi is the first in the majors to do it since Barry Bonds in 1999."  [NY Times]

Yup, it's Monday

How do I know this?

1. Overslept.  Am blaming it on my cuddly 15 month old daughter who was so very sleepy when she'd woken me this morning that I decided to cuddle her on the couch before getting breakfast for both of us.  A cuddle that turned into a very long nap, making me late for work.
2. Realized that I'd accidentally uninstalled the driver for my sound card on my work PC (on Friday, but still).  Spent time on phone with tech person who, honestly, knew less than I did as it turned out, then ended up fixing the issue myself.
3. Feeling tired and stiff-shouldered from late-making nap
4. Isn't that enough?
5. OK, I'm done complaining now.  I'm sure I'll survive.  People on the Gulf Coast have something to complain about today -- I do not.  Have a good day and count your blessings.  I think I'll do the same. :-)

Caffeine

Good to know: I could drink 217.16 cans of Diet Mountain Dew before croaking.

How much of your favorite caffeinated beverage would it take to kill you? 

(I found this amusing -- if you don't, please just ignore this post.)

Four in 9/11 Plot Are Called Tied to Qaeda in '00 - New York Times

"More than a year before the Sept. 11 attacks, a small, highly classified military intelligence unit identified Mohammed Atta and three other future hijackers as likely members of a cell of Al Qaeda operating in the United States, according to a former defense intelligence official and a Republican member of Congress. In the summer of 2000, the military team, known as Able Danger, prepared a chart that included visa photographs of the four men and recommended to the military's Special Operations Command that the information be shared with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. . . The recommendation was rejected and the information was not shared, they said, apparently at least in part because Mr. Atta, and the others were in the United States on valid entry visas. Under American law, United States citizens and green-card holders may not be singled out in intelligence-collection operations by the military or intelligence agencies. That protection does not extend to visa holders, but Mr. Weldon and the former intelligence official said it might have reinforced a sense of discomfort common before Sept. 11 about sharing intelligence information with a law enforcement agency. . . The account is the first assertion that Mr. Atta, an Egyptian who became the lead hijacker in the plot, was identified by any American government agency as a potential threat before the Sept. 11 attacks. Among the 19 hijackers, only Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi had been identified as potential threats by the Central Intelligence Agency before the summer of 2000, and information about them was not provided to the F.B.I. until the spring of 2001."  [NY Times; registration required]

Discovery Lands Safely in California

"Discovery and its crew of seven glided safely back to Earth on Tuesday, ending a riveting, at times agonizing, 14-day test of space shuttle safety that was shadowed by the ghosts of Columbia. Discovery swooped through the predawn darkness and landed at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert at 5:11 a.m. PDT, concluding the first shuttle re-entry since Columbia's tragic return.

The landing was moved to California because of thunderstorms at the shuttle's home base of Cape Canaveral, Fla."  [AP/Yahoo]

Torre Wins #945 | Giambi & Mattingly Work Well Together

"With Friday's victory over the Blue Jays, Joe Torre moved into sole possession of fourth place on the Yankees' all-time managers list. The man he passed made it a special achievement.  Torre's 945th victory as Yankees manager surpassed Ralph Houk (944), another former catcher turned successful manager. "That's good company, passing Ralph Houk. Before he was a hell of a manager, he was a hell of a man," Torre said. "I've gotten to know him from Oldtimers Day. You can't get more honest than him. That's an accomplishment I'm really proud of."  Ahead of Torre are Joe McCarthy (1,450), Casey Stengel (1,149) and Miller Huggins (1,067)."  [Newsday]

"Nearly every day, whether in a windowless, concrete room below the right-field stands in Yankee Stadium or in a similar batting cage on the road, Giambi hits off a tee while Mattingly watches for the most subtle variation in his swing. They work on squaring his stance, setting his hands and perfecting his contact point, the little things that can mean the difference between being a .250 hitter and one of the most feared offensive players in the game. "The ball doesn't lie to you," Mattingly said. "When you're hitting a ball off the tee and you're set up the same way every time, the ball should be basically going to the same spot. You want to get that consistent ... then you know the mechanics are falling into place." Along with spending long hours in the weight room and facing a minor league coach who throws sinkers, Giambi's work with Mattingly has produced the most prodigious month of power by a Yankees hitter in 44 years. Giambi hit 14 homers in July, the biggest barrage in the Bronx since Mickey Mantle also hit 14 in July 1961." [Canada.com]

R.I.P. Peter Jennings

"Peter Jennings, a high school dropout from Canada who transformed himself into one of the most urbane, well-traveled and recognizable journalists on American television, died yesterday at home. He was 67 and lived in Manhattan.  The cause was lung cancer, said Charles Gibson, who announced the death of his colleague on television in a special report just after 11:30 p.m. Mr. Jennings had disclosed that he was suffering from lung cancer on April 5, first in a written statement released by ABC and later that night on "World News Tonight," the evening news broadcast that he had led since September 1983.  In brief remarks at the end of that night's program, Mr. Jennings, his voice scratchy, told viewers that he hoped to return to the anchor desk as his health and strength permitted. But he never did.  It was a jarring departure for someone who for so long had been such a visible fixture in so many American homes each night. Along with the two other pillars of the so-called Big 3 - Tom Brokaw of NBC and Dan Rather of CBS - Mr. Jennings had, in the early 1980's, ushered in the era of the television news anchor as lavishly compensated, globe-trotting superstar. After Mr. Brokaw's departure from his anchor chair in December, followed by the retirement from the evening news of Mr. Rather in March, Mr. Jennings's death brings that era to a close."  [NY Times; site requires registration]

Update (8/9/05):  I was very moved by the tributes to Jennings on last night's news broadcasts.  We watched NBC live and taped ABC to watch later in the evening.  There was a lot to admire about the man.

Orioles' 1B Palmeiro Suspended

"Orioles first baseman Rafael Palmeiro was suspended Monday for 10 days by Major League Baseball for violating its Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program and will begin serving the suspension immediately.

Palmeiro. . . is the highest-profile player to test positive under the current policy adopted earlier this year. He reached the 3,000-hit plateau on July 15, becoming the fourth player in history to accumulate 3,000 hits and 500 home runs. He has 569 career homers and has been considered a strong candidate for induction into baseball's Hall of Fame after he retires. . . [Palmeiro wrote, in a statement] "I have never intentionally used steroids. Never. Ever. Period. . . All of us have to be responsible and exercise extreme care in what we
put in our body. I hope that all MLB players and kids will learn from
what has happened to me. I have never intentionally used a banned
substance, but I unfortunately wasn't careful enough."  [MLB]

Update (8/3/05):
"Rafael Palmeiro's positive steroid test was for stanozolol, a powerful anabolic steroid that is not available in dietary supplements, according to a newspaper report. The New York Times, citing a person in baseball with direct knowledge of the sport's drug-testing program, reported Tuesday that Palmeiro tested positive for the drug known by the brand name Winstrol, most notably linked to the Olympic sprinter Ben Johnson of Canada." [MLB]

Update (8/4/05):
"Palmeiro said he must have accidentally ingested the drug. But medical experts say that stanozolol is almost always used in injectable form and would not show up from a contaminated vitamin or other pill. It is legal as an injectable animal steroid. "There is no chance stanozolol could be in an adulterated pill," said Dr. Gary Wadler, a New York University professor and steroids expert."  [NY Times]

Murray Chass, in another NY Times article, writes:
"The steroid Palmeiro was found to have in his system was, one of them said, a heavy-duty steroid, a substance often injected, not ingested. It has one of those strange steroid names: stanozolol. It is No. 24 on the list of anabolic androgenic steroids, covered by Schedule III of the Code of Federal Regulations, that appears on Page 160 of the collective bargaining agreement. Palmeiro presumably has a copy of the agreement. The names of the steroids are not easy to pronounce, but anyone who has been in the major leagues for 19 years should know enough to check the list to find out what is illegal before injecting or ingesting anything. Stanozolol comes in pill form as well as juice form, so maybe Palmeiro did ingest it. But if he put a pill in his mouth without knowing what was in it, he deserves a 10-day suspension for stupidity."