January 27,2006

Hello All:


I had been looking forward to last Friday night for a while. It was my sister in law's birthday,
and she was celebrating at a Japanese Restaurant.



RESTAURANT REVIEW--D & S Harumi Sushi
Where: 937 1st Avenue, New York, NY
When: Last Friday
With: Tara, Megan (the birthday girl) Kerry, Brian and other assorted friends of Meg.

     I wasn't looking forward to the eating as much the drinking. The e-vite mentioned
something about all you can drink beer and sake bombs. (pronounced sock-ee). Sake bombs
are done by dropping a shot of sake (sort of a Japanese vodka) into a half a mug of
Sapparo beer, and chugging. I made several friends in Savannah with my ability to do similar
shots, I figured this would be a piece of cake.
But not quite.
      While the rest of the table were drinking them down like fruit punch, I was having my
struggles. I managed to get one choked down. I blame it on being married. I think when you
are up there on the altar, something happens. Although those who were at my bachelor
party would argue that I lost that ability a couple of weeks before.
      And you know something? The food itself was actually quite good, which was a surprise
and more importantly, it didn't make my stomach do backflips, as Asian cuisine usually does.

       The customers at the other tables were crazy, yelling and screaming and cheering as
they were doing their sake bombs. It was raucous to say the least.
        And when it was time to go, they rushed us out of there, which was fine because
Metro was right around the corner. That meant more favorable domestic beer and shots.

3 Patties.

Needless to say, Saturday was no easy trek to work. It didn't stop me from going to Uncle
Ming's on Saturday night to bid co-worker Marianne Garvey adieu while she goes to work in
London for a few months. Seems like just about anytime we go out with the work crew, we
end up at some bar down on Avenue B or C in the teens. One good thing about these places
is that they aren't usually super crowded and there's no dress code per se. While Uncle
Ming's had no dress code, there was a line out the door and it was near impossible to get a
drink at the bar. One of my pals from work asked me Saturday night if it was weird being
married, and if it was tough having to behave myself as there was plenty of females around.
It wasn't.


News Item: Ridiculous Jail Sentences:

Bill O'Reilly has spent most of the past week ripping into a Vermont judge who sentenced a
convicted child rapist to 60 days in jail. He's  pretty much declared war of the state of
Vermont. Anyone whose come to the defense of this judge has done so by saying that
rehabilitation, and not punishment is the answer, blah blah blah blah blah.
This is probable one of the most extreme cases of ridiculous jurisprudence going on. But its
not the only one, hell, its not the only one this year, and 2006 isn't even a month old yet!
       For example, John Hinckley Jr. is allowed to spend 7 weekends un supervised with his
parents. 7 weekends may not seem like a lot, until you realize that Hinckley spends his other
45 weekends locked up in a mental hospital after shooting and wounding President Reagan 25
years ago. Reagan's injury was so severe that the operation to save him took several hours,
and put our national security at risk.
       And in Turkey, the man who tried to kill Pope John Paul II, Mehmet Ali Agca, was freed
from prison on parole, 25 years after he shot the Pope in Vatican City. It was later
discovered that Agca still owed time for killing a journalist in Turkey before he tried to kill
John Paul II.
       In other words, you rape a 6 year old girl you get 60 days, you try to kill the leader of
the free world, you get to spend your weekends at home, and if you try to kill the Pope, its
29 years then you're free to go.
         Meanwhile, this nutjob who put someone's severed fingertip in her chili, then tried to
sue Wendy's, is going away for 9-12 years. While what she did, was illegal, (as well as
disgusting and stupid) is it worth half the amount of time you get for trying to knock off the
Pope?
Apparently.

       
Sports: The Metsicanos?

          There's been a little bit of controversy this week regarding the Mets and Omar
Minaya. Seems there have been a bunch of calls and e-mail's coming into WFAN and other
sports outlets questioning Minaya's motives, namely that he is trying to build an all Hispanic
team.
          Of course, this wasn't a problem when Minaya was bringing in Pedro Martinez, Carlos
Beltran and Carlos Delgado, while trying to put together a deal for Manny Ramirez.
           But when he trades Jae Seo to the Dodgers for Duaner Sanchez, and Kris Benson to
the Orioles for Julio Lugo--questionable deals at best-- and signs 47 year old Julio Franco to a
2 year contract (to play, not coach), are you surprised that some eyebrows are raised?
           Personally, I don't think Minaya cares what race or creed his players are as long as
they win ballgames. He may have a certain comfort level with Latino ballplayers, which is
fine. As I said, I don't like either of the above mentioned deals, but the Benson deal was
probably to get rid of Anna Benson and her mouth as it was to get rid of Kris and his large
contract.

(Although besides Anna B's contention that Minaya was hoarding Latino players, which I
think is wrong, she and I see eye to eye on some things, namely that Michael Moore is an
anti-American fat slob, and that Carlos Delgado is wrong not to stand for God Bless America.
But talking about doing her husband's  teammates if he cheats on her and talking about
doing Kris in the parking lot, knowing that she has three young kids, that's just wrong.)

But the Jae Seo trade was a bad one too. And unless Minaya's got another trick up his
sleeve, it looks to me as if he's robbed Peter to pay Paul. And with alot less quality.

Last week, I mentioned a few engagements from December, today I mention a birth from
December. DJ Timmy Tubbs is a daddy, as he and Kelly welcomed Lauren Jane Tubridy into
the world on December 19th. Congrats all around.

Have a Great Week
Wild Bill