11 Things For Which I'm Grateful

1) The grammatical constructions "for which," "to which," and so on.  They make me feel smart.

2) Pitchers and catchers in eight days.

3) Lavoy Allen balling out.  If they really wanna do this thing, the Sixers need toughness and physical play.  Lavoy isn't enough, but he's been a pleasant surprise.  He battles his man on defense on every position, he rebounds, he hustles, and he makes open jumpers.

4) Recently, the Alliance for Student Activites, an organization dedicated to the promotion of the value of student activities for middle school and high school students, launched its "When X=Student Activities" campaign.  This presentation and its accompanying parts are a grassroots effort that will change the public education debate in this country, and I am proud to be a part of this effort.  Please click on the link above and "like" us.

5) The opportunity to work with Bob Tryanski on #4

6) "Postcards from Hell" by The Wood Brothers

7) The staff of the PASC Grove City Gold Workshop

8) David Uzumeri says that Frank Quitely is almost done with his issue of Grant Morrison's Multiversity, which may come out this summer.

9) A semester of leave, which allowed me to submit on Sunday the best article manuscript I have ever written and researched.

10) "This too shall pass, so raise your glass to change and chance.
And freedom is the only law.
Shall we dance?"

11) New opportunities

The Smartest Animals, featuring Phillies talk

One of the things I have learned in the first months of TWEDP is that fewer people read stuff on the weekend.  I need to get better at accounting for that fact in my writing, because the two posts I wrote this weekend are, in my opinion, among the best I've done so far.  So I'm going to cop out a bit today and ask that if you're looking to read some of that raw, uncut Shelly, check Saturday's entry about how to change the world or Sunday's entry about what Tara Stiles means for yoga.

Oh, and the Phillies signed Juan Pierre.

I'm not mad.  It's a minor league deal.  If he makes the team, he pinch runs, pinch hits when all other options are gone, and starts maybe 30 games.

Most importantly, the Phillies needed to address the scrapiness deficit facing their team and Major League Baseball.  For the Phillies, you can't just let the veteran know-how of Raul Ibanez leave and expect your team to remember how to play the right way.  Adding Pierre to the outfield rotation ensures that we have a guy who will teach all these fancy-pants high priced stars how to run hard and put their pants on one leg at a time.  The Phillies have also done a great service to Major League Baseball and BBWWA, which is reeling after the loss of its sweet, sweet prince.

Whatever.  You don't care about that, and neither does Takao.  You're just waiting for me to link to the greatest Fire Joe Morgan post in history.

Wish granted.

Dolphins on the Delaware, y'all!!