Foulke to Indians?

Fox Sports.com's Ken Rosenthal is reported that former Red Sox closer Keith Foulke is close to signing a 1-year deal with options with the Cleveland Indians. Several other teams are said to have offered multi-year deals, but, reportedly, Foulke's agent, Dan Horwits, has advised the other clubs that Foulke will likely sign with Cleveland. It was earlier thought that Foulke would want to sign with a club closer to his home in Arizona.

The 34-year old Foulke was 3-1 with a 4.35 ERA in 44 appearances with the Bosox last season, but has been plagued by injuries the past 2 years, and hasn't closed since the Red Sox' world championship season in 2004. Foulke posted a 2.04 ERA in his last 15 appearances in 2006 after coming off the disabled list with tendonitis in his right elbow.

If Foulke does sign with the Indians, it would represent another major upgrade of the Tribe's bullpen, which was one of the worst in the major leagues last season. General Manager Mark Shapiro has already signed former Cubs and Marlins closer Joe Borowski, veteran righthander Roberto Hernandez and lefthanded specialist Aaron Fultz to offseason deals. Foulke would likely come into spring training as the leading candidate to be the closer, especially since the Indians did not promise Borowski the closer's role when Boroski signed. However, since both Boroski and Foultz have some question marks about their health, a spring training competition between the two for the closer's role is a possibility.

The Foulke signing is expected to be completed sometime after Christmas.

Here's big bad Rick in his big bad truck. OK, it's a Ford Ranger, so here's big bad Rick in his little bad truck!

Welcome to the 21st Century

Well, I finally joined the 21st century communications age over the weekend. First of all, I went and got a new flip-type cell phone. I previously had an old, larger cell phone that served me well, but frankly made me look like the 55-year old technologically-challenged man that I am. Trust me, when you are 55, you need all the help you can get to look technologically-savvy. OK, so the phone doesn’t have a camera or any of the other gee whiz stuff that a lot of the new cell phones have, but at least I can make and answer a call on it.

Secondly, I bought a new phone system for the home. We had some old, cheap wireless phones that worked fine when we had the typical landline service through the phone company. However, they don’t work that well with the internet phone service, because the main phone has to be plugged into the computer modem rather than the wall, and all the base units we had required plugging the base unit into a phone line. So we bought a multi-phone system that has a separate handset unit that does not have to be plugged into a phone line, only an electrical outlet. So we now can have some phones in different rooms of the home. But don’t worry, I do not have a phone in the bathroom!

I’m cool……..I’m a techie……Ooops, I pushed the wrong button and disconnected this blog!

Useless Factoid

Thunder Over Louisville, held the week of the Kentucky Derby, is one of the largest fireworks displays in the world, with over 50 tons of fireworks used.
--The History Channel

God's Children

We know that we are God's children via 3 truths:

1. We obey His commands

2. We walk as Jesus walked

3. We avoid hatred toward others

Reference--I John 2:3-9

Weekend Update

Saturday was a lazy, do-nothing day for me, but Tracy worked like a crazy woman, cleaning and scrubbing the house. She's paying the price for it today because the cleaning chemicals has really made her asthma act up this morning. Normally she can use her inhalers and she's OK, but she's having to use her breathing treatment this morning because she's having such a hard time breathing. Went to Blockbuster yesterday and rented Big Momma's House 2 and Chicken Little. Watched Big Momma last night....it was OK. I did not see the first BM movie, but Tracy said the first one was better than the 2nd. Rick had a fit because I rented the movies from Blockbuster. He said I could have gotten them far cheaper somewhere else, but I went to Blockbuster because they have a good selection and they are within walking distance of the house. It's still cheaper than going to the movies to see the flicks.

The Blame Game

From today's Turning Point online:

The reason people blame things on previous generations is that there's only one other choice.
Doug Larson

Over the Hedge

We went to see the movie "Over the Hedge" yesterday. My opinion is it was a waste of money. Certainly not as cute as many of the other animated movies I have seen, such as Ice Age and Shrek. There were a few cute scenes, but overall, the movie was a big disappointment. Maybe the kids liked it, but for adults, not really worth the time or money to see it.

I've Started Working Out!

The Doctor told me I should start an exercise program. Not Wanting to harm
this old body, I've devised the following:


Monday
Beat around the bush
Jump to conclusions
Climb the walls
Wade through the morning paper

Tuesday
Drag my heels
Push my luck
Make mountains out of mole hills
Hit the nail on the head

Wednesday
Bend over backwards
Jump on the Band Wagon
Run around in circles

Thursday
Advise the President on how to run the country
Toot my own horn
Pull out all the stops
Add fuel to the fire

Friday
Open a can of worms
Put my foot in my mouth
Start the ball rolling
Go over the edge

Saturday
Pick up the pieces.

Sunday
Kneel in prayer
Bow my head in thanksgiving
Uplift my hands in praise
Hug someone and encourage them.

Whew! What a workout!

What a nice weekend! Got some things done in the morning and afternoon Saturday, then went to the beach in the evening and watched the sun set. Another excellent church service Sunday morning, went home and rested for a while, then went back out the beach for a couple hours Sunday afternoon. Lots of seaweed in the water, especially Saturday, pretty gross! Sunday though, the water was a much more pretty green/blue color.

OK. Bye.

Omigosh! What a hard day at work today. First of all, there was an ice cream social I had to attend as a reward for having perfect attendance for the first quarter of 2006. Then a half hour later, we had a pot luck lunch with lots of great food. Of course, I prepared my specialty of brownies with cream cheese frosting. The preparation consisted of driving to Publix to buy them. Another rough day tomorrow with a graduation party/pot luck lunch for the new trainees; I have prepared macaroni salad. Preparation consisted of walking from the baked goods section to the deli section at Publix.
The big news in the neighborhood this afternoon was that the neighbor's 2 large dogs broke through the lanai screen and got out and were roaming around the apartment complex. David spotted them, then Rick went out to investigate. A police officer came by on patrol and Rick said he knew where the dogs came from and asked if he could go through the broken screen, put the dogs back in the apartment and close the sliding door. The officer said she would be a witness that he put the dogs back in and did not steal anything. I saw the couple later in the evening repairing the screen and I told them their dogs had gotten out. They said they must have left the sliding door ajar. They had thought someone had tried to break into their apartment, but did not realize the dogs had gotten out. They were really thankful that Rick had put the dogs back.
Aren't you so glad that you read this post?

We're back in the normal routine of everyday life after our week-long trip back to Ohio to see family. First time we had been back since we moved to FL in 11/04. First few days in Ohio were grey, cold and dreary, but the last 3 were pretty nice. Drove straight through on the way up, and it was a rough trip. We stayed in Beckley WV on the way back after visiting Rick's grandmother, so the trip back was not as difficult and was uneventful, which was good. Tracy and I were both glad to get back to FL; not sure about Rick--he's saying now he wants to move back to Ohio once he gets enough money saved, which will take about a year and a half. It takes a lot of discipline to save a lot of money over that period of time, so we'll see how that works out. David says he's moving back to Ohio when our lease expires in October. Hope to be able to post some pictures in the future.

God bless!

Hi again, after a long absence! Just a quick update on the Hartley household.

Tracy completed her first week last week at her new job. She finally got out of the nursing home cleaning rat race and took a job as a back office processor for ABCO Payroll Services. That's a small payroll company in Bradenton, just right down the street from our home. They were looking for an organized, detail-oriented person to help get payrolls out for companies in the area. If there was ever a job that Tracy is suited for, it's this one, because she is very detailed, organized and meticulous. She really likes the job and I think everyone there is very pleased with her work. The company had a dinner last night at Capalbos, a local pizza place, for its employees and their families to celebrate getting through the month of January and getting out all the W-2s on time. It was a very nice time and all the people seemed very friendly. The company has just 8 employees and Tracy says they try to keep a family-like atmosphere, and it was sure evident last night. And it was really nice that the company would pay for the food for everyone, including spouses and kids.

Enough for now. Later..............

Hi again, after a long absence! Just a quick update on the Hartley household.

Tracy completed her first week last week at her new job. She finally got out of the nursing home cleaning rat race and took a job as a back office processor for ABCO Payroll Services. That's a small payroll company in Bradenton, just right down the street from our home. They were looking for an organized, detail-oriented person to help get payrolls out for companies in the area. If there was ever a job that Tracy is suited for, it's this one, because she is very detailed, organized and meticulous. She really likes the job and I think everyone there is very pleased with her work. The company had a dinner last night at Capalbos, a local pizza place, for its employees and their families to celebrate getting through the month of January and getting out all the W-2s on time. It was a very nice time and all the people seemed very friendly. The company has just 8 employees and Tracy says they try to keep a family-like atmosphere, and it was sure evident last night. And it was really nice that the company would pay for the food for everyone, including spouses and kids.

Enough for now. Later..............