Barb’s Burblings

The Nationals revealed that their mascot, like that of DC United and the Capitals, would be an eagle. The Nats’ eagle is a baby, and goes by the name of “Screech.” Well, when most people think of Screech, they don’t think of the eagle, they think of Zach Morris’s best friend on Saved by the Bell. SBTB alum Dustin Diamond will discuss the distinctions between the two on washingtonpost.com at 1 this afternoon.

Baseball brawls, while fun to watch in their own right, are made even more fun when reenacted with Legos.

I stopped at the bank at lunch today. The teller must have been new; it took him forever to deposit and check and give cash back. Anyway, he handed me my money and said, “Have a nice weekend!” Me: “…Thanks?” I mean, I do plan on having a nice weekend, but it’s kind of early to think about. Maybe the guy was convinced that it was Friday. Wishful thinking. Of course, I woke up yesterday morning wishing it were Friday. It’s never a good sign when you’re already hoping for the weekend and it’s only Sunday.

OK, there are times when I really don’t understand my fellow Americans. The Discovery Channel and AOL got together to name the Greatest American. Nominations were taken for over a month by normal, everyday Americans. The top 100 are listed here. A lot of them make sense; you have your Abraham Lincoln and George Washington, your Walt Disney and Babe Ruth, your Jonas Salk and Malcolm X, your Eleanor Roosevelt (and I admit to being one of the people to nominate her) and Jackie Kennedy.
But some of the nominations are just like, “Huh?” Dr. Phil McGraw? Both Bush presidents? Mel Gibson? Barack Obama? Brett Favre? Hugh Hefner? Tom Cruise?
What’s really scary is that these are the top 100. I shudder to think who else was nominated.

AL Player of the Week, baby. He also received this award last August.

I’m a little bitter that I had to come in on Friday, particularly since I wasn’t really needed. It’s just frustrating. Though I did spend some quality time divying up a coworker’s set of Nationals season tickets.
In baseball news, I’m in the middle of the pack of my fantasy league. I have pretty good offense, but my pitching sucks. I’m not sure what to do about it, though. I’ve won both of my matchups so far, but not by much.
When I was working out last week, my CD player was having some problems. I don’t know whether it was just that the batteries were dying, or whether the CD player itself is busted. I’m kind of disturbed, because I cannot deal with 45 minutes of exercising with no sound but my own breathing. Particularly when I’m on the elliptical and can’t read. When I’m on the bike, it’s not too bad. We’ll have to see what happens tonight. If it’s the CD player, I’m tempted to use the money my dad gave me for editing a paper he wrote to buy an iPod shuffle. Or maybe a Mini, though that would cost me more than that check. I’ll have to see what happens tonight, then contemplate from there. I really should just fork that money over to Citibank, but…iPod! Pretty!
We’re coming into the pre-Conference home stretch at work, but we have some books that aren’t going to make it. We still need them out quickly, so unfortunately it doesn’t look like the couple weeks before Conference are going to be as empty as they usually are. I was going to use that time to clean out my files, dammit! The stacks of paper are taking over.
Current song in my head:
“New York, New York” from On the Town
ETA: It looks like my batteries were just dying, which is a relief. Though now I have to buy batteries. Yes, they’re cheaper than an iPod, but also less fun.

You know what perks up a day? Having your boss call and tell you that she needs you to come in on your day off. The day off that she knows you had planned to spend with your mother, who lives on the other side of the country. Like, swell. I know that it’s because we’re swamped but it’s still annoying. But at least I don’t have to come in until the afternoon. And yesterday the company paid for a nice lunch out, which was a bit gratifying.
In other news, I started Intermediate Tap last night, which is cool. And we’ve actually started to learn a routine! I guess that’s what happens when you have the basic steps down pat. It’s to “One” from A Chorus Line, so, you know, insanely stereotypical, but there’s also something really fun about tap dancing to it.
Current song in my head:
“Hey Jealousy” by the Gin Blossoms

I’m at this odd point where my eyes are reeeeaaalllly tired. They’re like, “Take a nap! Sleep!” But the rest of my body is fairly energetic. If only there were a way for me to rest my eyes while on the elliptical…But I know I’d kill myself if I did close my eyes while doing that.

You know, I thought I had posted about this before, but I guess I haven’t. This week, April 12-19, is one of the most momentous in history. April 12 stands out in my mind as the anniversary of Franklin Roosevelt’s death (it’s the 60th anniversary this year). But a lot happened This Week In History. The starts of the Civil and Revolutionary Wars, the sinking of the Titanic, the discovery of the polio vaccine…there’s a lot out there.
History, fun!

I swear that I am trying not to make this the All Brian Roberts All the Time Blog, but he’s making it so hard!
The Orioles website just had to have an article about him. Complete with a helpful link to a bunch of video clips of him! (Though it doesn’t have any of his grand slams on there.) Yay!
Though if you’re on the website, you should also check out the amusing clip of when Tejada lost the “1″ from his uniform while sliding home. Whoops.