Light Begins to Fade in Boston

Due to, I suppose, nearly 700 consecutive Fenway sellouts, Red Sox fans know what to expect when the going gets tough in the autumn. Last night the heroic Yankees evened the score in the loss column and Sox fans are beginning to clean their rear view mirrors for better vision of the soon to be soaring Yankees. The green monster provided no resistance for the Yankee second string catcher who hit a towering blast and then clapped his hands while crossing home plate. The poor sensitive Boston team was offended resulting in a direct hit the next time at bat for Cervelli. Still, the point is that with a second string catcher and a second string third baseman the score favored the heroes. Tune in today for a new lesson in baseball politesse.

BTW, the photo at the right is Yankee fan, Barbara Hoffman, with retired Yankee hero, Al Downing, at this year's Old Timers' Day game.

The Talking Heads

Leaving aside the comedians, knaves and complete fools--mostly of the late night variety--such as Colbert, Stewart, Olbermann, Letterman and Garafalo, I am listing below my view of the best and the worst of mainstream broadcast journalism and punditry. Of course I invite alternative points of view.

The Best in descending order:

1. Neil Cavuto

2. Charles Krauthammer

3. Brit Hume

4. Joe Scarborough

5. Carl Cameron

6. Juan Williams

7. Brian Ross

8. Harold Ford

9. Chris Wallace

10. George Will

The Worst (with the very worst being number one below):

1. Chris Matthews

2. Christianne Amanpour

3. Paul Krugman

4. Matt Lauer

5. Joy Behar

6. Piers Morgan

7. Al Sharpton

8. Mike Barnicle

9. Gloria Borger

10. Norah O'Donnell

Dim Sum

If you want the real deal in Dim Sum go to Flushing. With our friends, the McLeods, we had this pleasure today. The location is Jade Asian Restaurant where hundreds of people indulge in these treats. It is located on 39th Avenue just across the street from the enormous outdoor parking lot. You can eat delicacies for hours and spend next to nothing to do so. And while there don't miss a visit to the Hong Kong Supermarket only a block away where you will find perhaps a dozen types of bok choy, winter melon, Dorian for the strong at heart and many other things that you do not encounter every day. The entire area looks like Kowloon and the food is super. It helps to speak a Chinese dialect but it's not obligatory.

PS-- The food in the nearby photo is not Dim Sum!

Green Jobs, Red Faces

IBD drives the point home about where the BHO regime is going with their jobs program.

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/582154/201108191845/Green-Jobs-Red-Faces.htm?

Surfing Bulldog

Check out what an athletic, not lazy, bulldog can do on the link below. Harry is only a poseur! http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch_popup%3Fv%3DcqxTUxzOceE%26feature%3Dyoutube_gdata_plaJ&h=pAQCIhEegAQCsgLfcPgphXhLk2niUxRmQDgN-aZ9f67q7BQ

Our Bulldog, Harry

Bulldogs are good pals and good friends. We have had two, first Jack and now Harry as seen in the photo nearby. In a previous life I also had another, Agnes May. None of them was particularly quick or bright, maybe the female was a bit smarter but not to the extent that she could compete with a terrier, a boxer, a poodle, even a French Bulldog. Our Harry, now a fully mature four and a half years and 65 pounds of not quite muscle is particularly slow. His body is flaccid. Eat (37 seconds, twice a day), sleep (alot, and on our bed at nights, various places during the day), play (rarely), walk (as little as possible and less in the summer), swim (cannot and would drown if not held with both arms in a pool), run (never), bark (when there is a variable such as a window cleaner), snore (almost always when sleeping which is almost always)...these are the things he does, the things we appreciate he does and, of course, the things we love in him. Our neighbors from across the street have a bulldog named Monty. Monty can roll-over. Monty is a year older than Harry so perhaps Harry will learn this trick in the next twelve months. But right now Harry cannot roll-over although he can sort of beat Monty at their sumo-like wrestling engagements. This unusual achievement makes me proud. Harry likes to be petted so we all indulge him and this includes my mother-in-law whom he appears to make very happy. Harry has a leash that is inscribed with the New York Yankees logo. This alone helps to make him the prince and envy of our block. He also gets his photo in the frame store on the corner of our block and this makes other dog owners jealous. Except Monty's owners because Monty can roll-over. But then again Harry has a year to catch up to Monty.

A Ramble

So now this is really me doing the typing and making the comments. What to say?

First, I thank everyone for the good 70th birthday wishes again even as I realize that I said exactly that in a duplicative email to most of you earlier. In my family we tend to say thank you for just about everything. How did you sleep? Thank you, yes, fine. Would you pass the milk please? Yes, thank you, please, no I mean thank you. So thank you, I mean it. Yes and oh, thank you.

Second and I don't know what is customary in blogs, do posts stick with one subject or can they ramble? For the time being, I choose ramble. Thank you. So second, I bet there has never been another winner of a major golf tourney who won the tournament while having a triple bogey in the 4th round. Keegan Bradley, Red Sox fan, Vermont native, St. John's alum, nephew of Pat Bradley the super champion of the 1970s wins the PGA and will never be an unknown again. Who knew?

Third, while the heroic Yankees are now only one-half game behind the Bosox we are just hitting our stride. ARod will be back soon and we can only get better so Boston fans would be well served to purchase rearview mirrors. Sooner or later we will actually find a method to beat the Sox face to face. In the second round of the Playoffs?

Fourth, I read today that for those of you who stubbornly remain Democrats, Warren Buffett would like for you to pay more taxes. To my knowledge, nothing in the tax code prevents folk from volunteering to do just that! Go ahead, save the Union.

Fifth, Romney v Perry? Today when asked in Iowa how he is different from President Bush, Perry aggressively responded, "he went to Yale, I went to A & M."

Sixth, my current favorite bumper sticker seen here is:

CHANGE? CAN YOU SPARE A STIMULUS?

The Dawn of a New Decade

The kids have just given me this blog as a 70th birthday gift, and though I don't totally understand it yet, I am nothing if not persistent and will figure out what all these buttons and icons mean in good time.  I look forward to sharing humor, insights, Yankee bravado and the recapturing of our country with you all through this blog.  Please be patient as I am a slow typist, but I am embracing this gratefully as a gift from my kids and as a gentle step into a new decade.

Thank you all for your kind birthday wishes and comments.  And please keep reading!

Tips for Commenting

A quick tutorial in how to leave a comment. 

Below each post is a link that says comments (with 0 or a number depending on the number of comments already posted).  Click that link.  It will take you to a box which says Post a Comment where you can type your message. 

Below that box is a drop down menu next to where it says Comment As.  In that drop down menu you can select the name to go with your comment.  If you already logged in on Gmail or AIM, it will show that user name if you select that choice.  If not, select Name/URL and type your name where it says Edit Profile.  Leave the URL line blank.  Then click Continue, which will bring you back to your comment. You may also choose to comment anonymously, or under a clever pseudonym - we'll leave the mystery up to you all.

If you then click Post Comment (or Preview if you want to see what it looks like first), your comment will be live for Ron and all the world to see!

The First Post!

Welcome to the Ron Hoffman Blog!  A 70th Birthday present to everyone's favorite mass emailer, this blog is intended to be a very 21st century way for Ron to share his views (mostly conservative), his jokes (mostly dirty), and his photos (mostly Harry) with you - his ever-growing audience of readers.  We'll be giving this blog to Ron for his birthday on Saturday, and from then on, it will be his to use to set the blogosphere afire.  Let the internet buzz begin!
- Barbara, Babi, Alex, EB and Josh