Random Ramblings

Sorry that I missed the last two days,but life throws curveballs to us all.
Monday was wonderful as I was lucky enough to sit in a garage for a few hours and pay hundreds of dollars to do so,while Tuesday brought snow and ice to the region and not much to comment on.
So here is our version of the two minute drill....

The Pirates signed veteran first sacker Doug Mientkiewicz to a minor league contract.
The smooth fielding lefty bat looks like a questionable signing on the surface with current starter Adam LaRoche a lefty hitter also.
However after one peels the onion a few layers,perhaps the Pirates are quietly shopping LaRoche.
LaRoche is under contract for the year at an affordable price and could get some decent prospects in return.
That in turn could give Steven Pearce the first base job and then Mientkiewicz makes sense as a mentor and late inning defensive caddy.

We did vote in the Maryland Primary yesterday and voted reluctantly for Barack Obama.
The Illinois Senator was far from my top selection,but compared to his opponent was more to my liking.

The New Jersey Devils are rumored to be looking at several trade prospects before the deadline and some of the names would be quite an upgrade.
Most notable among them and therefore most expensive are Florida center Olli Jokinen,Chicago
right winger Martin Havlat,Tampa center Brad Richards and two top notch defensemen in Buffalo's Brian Campbell and Tampa's Dan Boyle.
Either of the defensemen would help and Jokinen would be a tremendous addition,as would Havlat,if he could kick the injury problems that have trailed him over his career.
The Devils play the first game of their 3 games,4 days run against the high flying Ottawa Senators tonight at the rock.

Looks like the 2009 move of the Columbus Catfish to Bowling Green Kentucky is one step closer to a finished deal.
The city of Bowling Green has agreed to build a downtown 4,000 seat for the SAL franchise as part of a downtown rejuvenation plan.
Meanwhile,Hagerstown with more population in its "metropolitan area" prefers to use its downtown funds on "blues fest" and "octoberfest".
Pathetic.

The lovely Cherie sends us a few notes from the environmental side.

Lake Mead ,which is a major link in the Colorado River chain and has been under drought conditions for the last eight years, has a 50 percent chance of going dry by 2025 according to a study released this week..
The lake is losing millions of water acres each year.

London is beginning to tax gas guzzling vehicles at a rate of almost 50 dollars a day that enter the main portion of the city.
New York City is supposedly considering a fee to drive your car into the center of their city as well.
Now I would not want to pay that type of fee,but then again-I would not drive that type of vehicle either!