A's and Red Sox Tonight

With our season package to the A's, we see a lot of weekend games, with half our Fridays and Saturdays all summer being absorbed at the Coliseum cheering on the green and gold. But getting out to the ballpark on a weekday is a rare treat. Tonight, with three friends from the office, we're here in Oakland to see if the A's can win their fourth in a row, and the first two games against a very good Boston ballclub. In fact, using my BlackBerry and Blogger, I can blog directly from my seat, a long as I ignore my seatmates.

The A's, despite losing an early lead in yesterday's ballgame, won out in dramatic fashion with a walkoff home run from Eric Chavez, well known for his struggles in the clutch. And as a sidenote, Mark Ellis managed a rare feat in hitting de the cycle.

The two teams are getting in their last stretches, the stadium is filling up, and we are ten minutes away from first pitch. With any luck, tonight's game will be just as enjoyable, and just maybe I'll put the BlackBerry away and try to catch a foul ball. Go A's!

Technorati Down Again, Google Sure to Benefit

It's happened again. Blog search engine and tagging leader Technorati's site has gone completely unresponsive. See here, here and here. It's not exactly the first time Technorati has fallen off the radar, as the site has shown an unacceptable level of instability for the last twelve to eighteen months.

For a cog so crucial to the blogosphere as Technorati not to have a robust, redundant infrastructure is something of a surprise, and the company's struggles here have been well documented to the point it's likely driving more users to Google's Blog Search and other alternatives.

Dave Sifry, the company's CEO, has been an incredibly open friend to the blogosphere, and has visited this site on more than one occasion. We'd love for him and Technorati to pull through, but at what point should we recognize we're being abused, and should just simply turn away?

Our Dog, Molly, Seems to be Doing Much Better

A little over a week ago, we had a mini-crisis here at home, when it looked like our 17-year-old beagle had undergone a major hit to her equilibrium. We were very concerned it would be something she wouldn't recover from, and could signal the beginning of the end for a dog who has stuck around for more than her fair share of time. But after a few vet visits, a battery of pills and ear drops, she's walking straight, sleeping through the night and keeping food down, so it looks as if the worst is over.


Molly relaxing this evening on the loveseat.
(Ignore the red-eye from the camera flash)
The veterinarian crew accurately surmised Molly was the victim of canine vestibular disease, further complicated by a pair of ear infections, and later, an irritated colon, which had emerged after she was unable to keep down her dinner too many times. Interestingly, instead of fancy animal-only drugs, Molly was prescribed more run of the mill prescriptions, including Benadryl, to calm her down, and Pepcid AC, to help her stomach problems.

As we've undergone this battle, it's been amazing to see how my first post on the subject reached far further than I had expected. Kent Newsome of Newsome.org noted the story, and remembered his family's loss of an 18-year old cat in 2003. But even more amazingly, Molly's story touched the hearts of beagle owners throughout the US, and likely abroad, when her story reached a BeagleWorld e-mail list, powered by Yahoo! Groups, sending many dog-lovers to our site.

One reader wrote, "The story about Molly is so sad." Another, "17 years though, going on 18....wow. I cried when I read it." and "It's funny as they turn to be seniors, they all look alike with their white faces and soulful eyes."

I didn't mean to send complete strangers to tears with our story. And those who were made sad by our first message should be relieved to know we're near a full turn-around for this beagle that just simply won't give up.

ANtics Episode 3.15: Breaking the 2 Hour Barrier

Cross-posted to Athletics Nation...

On Saturday night, Joe Blanton beat out the Twins' Carlos Silva in a one-hour, 49 minute shutout, making the crowd of 30,000 at the game wait for more than an hour before the promised post-dusk fireworks. While the game's duration was quite short, it doesn't match other short-lived items we've seen this season...


Click to See Larger Comic

Can you think of anything else you've seen this season that lasted less than one hour, 49 minutes? Let us know in the comments!

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