Random thoughts halfway through Christmas vacation

While I'm waiting for paint to dry (we decided at the last minute to paint the bathroom), I figured I would take the opportunity to catch up on some of the tidbits I've been meaning to mention during our week off. Besides, there are only so many times that I can write about some random program I've had lying around for decades or the fact that Jason Bay will be playing for the Siberia Mets.

--Eric Bruntlett, who went from a throw-in to the Brad Lidge trade, to a defensive specialist, to World Series hero, to author of an unassisted triple play, has signed a minor-league contract with the Washington Nationals. How does someone go from being the utility guy on the league's best team to hanging around with the Pete Orrs, Eddie Guardados and Jamie Burkes of the world just trying to make the roster of the league's worst team?

--Big jeers to Sports Illustrated. I know everyone tends to overrate the things we're most familiar with, but didn't Harry Kalas deserve more than one line when Sports Illustrated recapped the sports figures who died in 2009? At least Paul Hagen did him justice.

--A year or two ago, when I finished saving all my childhood sports memories from my parents' attic, Christine and I agreed to condense them all into a couple of plastic bins in the crawl space. Even though we have never had a drop of water in that area, we've been hesitant to store anything there.

This weekend, we learned that even our basement has its breaking point: two feet of snow washed away by a day's worth of pouring rain. It was a large puddle, but not a big deal. It touched one of the bins, but my extensive baseball card collection is safe. Christine is very relieved we didn't have to throw it out. {No, just disappointed. The water was so close and almost finished off the thousands of cards that Greg insists he must keep for no good reason.}

--Christine and I went to the art museum on Monday. We saw the Rocky statue from the car. We didn't run the steps because it was too cold.

--Speaking of which, it has been frickin' cold this week. Yesterday, the wind chill was 11 degrees. Today, I took down the Christmas lights, but wanted to come in after 15 minutes because my hands - even with gloves - were going numb. It's a perfect day to drive to Boston and watch an outdoor hockey game or football game or rock concert. Brrr. Somehow this story made me colder.

[Photo credit: MSNBC.com]