Beauty & the Beast

Made it to the OK Café by 6:20, and there was no wait. When we left shortly after seven, the waiting room was full, and it looked longer than the posted 20 minutes. Ceil loved her vegetable plate, but Anna just poked at her mashed potatoes.

Beauty & the Beast was fine…Anna loved it, and we had good seats. We left using the upstairs exit that goes down to Ponce de Leon, reminding me that we’ve seen the actors exit there in the past. There we ran into Grover & Betty Swilley and Craig & Kay McKenzie. Daughter Kate McKenzie had a featured part in the show, one of the five miked singers. Years ago we had taught her in Sunday School. As we talked, we saw most of the other actors leave.

With today being a school day, it was easier on Ceil if the boys didn’t spend the night, so I dropped the girls at the van at Eastside Baptist, and drove near Jim R Miller Park to pick up the boys…making it home at 12:30 am.

Mark Bradley has a good reminder for everyone today…
http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/sportscolumns/entries/2006/09/07/tip_your_cap_to.html?cxntnid=sprt090806e

I guess Dave O’Brien meant that the BRAVES should sweep yesterday’s DH. Guess we shouldn’t read too much into Glavine’s comments. JS will make the decision, and Glavine would have to take a huge discount to come back. Think the Mets will pick up his option…unless they’re other FA out on the market.

The Braves slim playoff hopes were all but snuffed out Wednesday. Every year they have injuries, as do all teams. I think with all the injuries they had this year, especially to the pitchers, makes winning 14 straight divisions all the more special. No one else has done that, not even the Yankees…who The Mets have had a high payroll for several years, and this is their first division win since 1988. The Red Sox and Orioles are others with high payrolls but little to show for it.

The bats may have been silent Wednesday, but the pitching continues to be the problem. They’ve run through tons of pitchers, and have made comparatively few moves with the position players, despite injuries to Giles, Chipper, Andruw, McCann, and Jordan.

If you’re going tonight you’ll miss the Columbus LL team…they’re appearing Saturday, I hear. See them at the Tech game?

Saturday at First Baptist Woodstock at 10:30 am…SAFE AT THE PLATE with John Smoltz, Terry Pendleton, Greg Olson and Sid Bream.

Lang took his dad to a Yankees Tigers games last week…with nice box seats. Reid said it was the first time he’d been to Yankee Stadium since seeing DiMaggio in 1949. More from Reid…- Broadway musical "Tarzan" - Edith was disappointed right away as we discovered Shuler Hensley was taking the night off…show was very good - music good - lots of movement - people swinging back and forth, and from the top balcony to the stage - walked to hotel…- Lang had a car take us to US Open - security check about same as airport - great seats at center court - weather perfect with no sun - saw Phillppoussis vs (2 seed) Rafael Nadal and followed by Barrois vs ( 1 seed) Mauresmo…lunch in the Hospitality tent with free buffet plenty of delicious food - Wang vs Roger Federar (1 seed) and a little of Domingquez vs Serena Williams before leaving for Yankee Stadium by car.

I’m wondering if I want to drive from Orlando to Tampa and back the same evening just to see the Rays / Orioles game. I’ve been to a Rays home game before…I may be lazy.

Brush with greatness…the summer before I turned 16 I umpired Little League. Had a great time, got good at it. My supervisor was Brannon Bonifay. He got his kid brother to fill in some…Cam Bonifay…the Pirates GM, who kicked and played baseball at Tech. We were sharing umpire stories here at work…Damon also umped as a teen.

These days when I find the most recent NOLA Notes, the envelope has been opened, the stamp cut out, and any envelope inserts have been removed. I’m lucky to find the cards or cutout somewhere else in the house. We’re the world’s worst at hanging frames on the wall, but Anna has cutouts framed and on display in her freshly painted room.

No practice last night. I hate it when the coach’s shirt says COACH MURPHY on the back. Then everyone knows which one is my son…not that I’m not proud. I’d rather be anonymous. I’ve been digging deep into work lately. My desk is cleaner, but I’m also making headway into some research projects. I’m so scared these rookies are going to mess up the big Carrier account. I’ve got to make sure all actual costs aren’t much greater than the costs we show on paper. It’s different from our other large account, where so far we’re doing great...for a few years.