Sundry Monday

First, sorry. It's been real tough to find time to post lately. There was a lot happening in the Sticking Point world last week. It was unreal. And this weekend I finally found the time to get some stuff down here that I wanted to share with you all, but Time Warner Cable of Brooklyn failed to supply internet service for some reason.

I bet you got tired of seeing that Liz Phair entry every day, huh? Hopefully, this will make up for my recent Inter-negligence. Why don't I pick some topics out of the handy Moleskine notebook and see what sticks to the webpage?

Earphones Hey. You. Yeah, you. When you are out and about, and you're suddenly stopped by a reporter from NY1 or WABC to give your opinion on something for the television camera, take your friggin' earphones out of your ears. You look like an idiot mutant.

"Mr. Mom" This is the name of a movie that came out about 30 years ago. It's time for lazy newspaper/magazine editors, TV reporters, and idiots-at-large to stop using this term to describe simply any man who spends time with and/or cares for his child. He's called "Dad."

Aqueduct Right on for David Terry (Aqueduct). He makes great, interesting music with hooks that end up in your head for weeks. (Like "Dinner Mints.") And now, he's got one of his songs ("Hardcore Days & Softcore Nights") on a Jaguar commercial that seems to be on TV every sixteen seconds. Check out Aqueduct's Pistols at Dawn EP on Barsuk.

Babysitter With Mrs. Sticking Point hired to work on a three-month project, we had to scramble to find the right babysitter / nanny person to care for H all day. And then, we had to adjust to the fact that his safety and happiness were in the hands of a total stranger. Yow. The very moment that "Mission: Babysitter" transformed from concept into reality, I felt like I'd been hit in the solar plexus by a bus. Man, it was hard, last Monday, to walk away from my son and toward the train station, as Madam Vee stolled him in the direction of the playground. One good thing came out of that day: I was able to think up 163 more items for my list of Ways a 14-Month Old Can Be Gravely Injured Before 7PM.

Now, a week later, I can report that Madam Vee is even warmer and more intuitive than she seemed when my wife interviewed her, and little H is doing well in her care. But I'm still a wreck.

Supermarket Smell Went for groceries yesterday, and had a great sense memory. In the local Key Food, I caught a whiff of a smell that I remembered from when I was a 16-year old working in my neighborhood Shopwell store. On Saturday mornings we had to show up extra early, at about 5:30 AM, to unload the contents of two enormous delivery trucks. The entire store would be filled with the scent of fresh-out-of-the-oven breads and rolls wafting out of the Baked Goods department. I caught a slight hint of this aroma the other day, and it brought me back. It was comforting. As, I guess, the smell of warm bread would be.

Bonus fact: Because labor laws required it, after unloading the trucks, we teenagers and early 20-somethings were allowed an extended lunch break. (About two or two-and-a-half-hours.) The whole gang of us would grab a bunch of food and head down to the Stadium for a few innings of the Yankees' game. (This being the victory-challenged early 80s, there were about 40,000 good seats still available after game time.) We'd stay for about 90 minutes, then head back to the store to pack out our aisles. (Mine was aisle 3: cereal.)

Aaron Small So, the Yankees have spent most of the season struggling to find consistent (-ly effective) starting pitching. Aaron Small bounces around from organization to organization before becoming the Yankees "mystery meat" #5 starter, and providing some magical consistency to the tune of 3-0, 2.67 e.r.a. in four starts. He pitched effectively against powerful Angels, White Sox, and Rangers lineups. Jaret Wright re-enters the Yanks' non-rotating rotation tonight and Small rides the bullpen pine. And that's wrong. Of course, the argument can be made that prior to this season, Small hadn't started a game since 1996. But the fact is, he's provided the team with quality starts every time, while Jaret Wright sucked before he went on the DL. Plus, I feel like Wright's stuff could be great in relief -- he could fill that flexible role that Ramiro Mendoza held down in the primo years. Joe Torre pisses me off. Jaret Wright starts tonight vs. the D-Rays. Let's see if he's got the stuff to make it through that lineup. Although it's not the most fearsome bunch of hitters in the majors, they come into the game with a team batting average of .276... the same as the Yanks.

One other thing; Aaron's middle name is James. Why this guy is not going with "A.J. Small" is beyond me. THAT's a baseball name, for god's sake.

Yankees 1Bmen Has anyone else noticed that the last three Yankees first-basemen have worn uniform numbers 23, 24, and 25?

Hard Rock Cafe I think the fact that the gift shop of the new Times Square HRC was opened a couple months before the restaurant itself speaks volumes about the franchise. Plus, who the hell are these a-holes, walking out of there with $25 t-shirts from a restaurant that has yet to crack the seal on a single bottle of ketchup? What, exactly, is that a souvenir of?

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Listening: "Come Back Baby" from Jefferson Airplane Loves You by Jefferson Airplane