Tonight, the Minnesota Twins are in Chicago to face the hometown White Sox for the American League’s Central Division title. Personally, I want the pale Sawx to win.
As a New Yorker, this is a sad night since this year, Major League Baseball’s playoffs will not have a New York team in it. The last time this happened, I just finished college.
With baseball season over in New York, both the Yankees and the Mets get ready for the off-season. Both teams need pitching – the Mets need an entire bullpen while the Yankees need just about an entire starting rotation. The Yankees are in the market for a first baseman, maybe an outfielder, and possibly a catcher and second baseman. The Mets, meanwhile, are looking for anyone to play second base, a stronger bench, and maybe a first baseman. Reporters are halucinating over the possibility of high-cost free agents making New York their new home next year, while fans are just getting over the fact that both teams choked.
Last Thursday, I went to see the Mets play the Cubs at Shea. It was a rainy night at the old ballpark in Flushing. Thankfully, our seats were in the Loge section in left field — we were covered. The Mets came from behind to win the game in the bottom of the 9th on a hit by Carlos Beltran. Mets fans were over-thrilled, as was this Yankees fan who cheered for the hometown team.
The first time I went to Shea was to see a football game. Don’t ask me anything about it — I don’t remember going. Yes, it was a Jets game, one of their last ones played in Queens before moving to New Jersey. Family members told me about it. Beyond that, I attended a few Mets games over the years and a blessed concert event this past July — Billy Joel’s "Last Play at Shea," where Paul McCartney showed up to sing farewell to the orange and blue ballpark. Yes, the facility is not the greatest. The new stadium is going to run rings around Shea.
As the new Yankee Stadium will definitely run rings around the current stadium. For all the crying over the old stadium and the "memories" that the ballpark gave, people will easily forget it when they step into the sparkling new place across 161st Street.
Well, the ballgame between the Twins and White Sox is going on. I guess I will make a cup of coffee and sit down and enjoy it.
Yes, my days have been a little stressy lately. This blessed Tuesday – a perfect example.
Visiting a non-member this morning, a usual 30 to 40 minute visit lasted almost 90 minutes. To be honest, after an hour, I usually run out of things to say on a visit. Keeping them to a half-hour to forty-five minutes, things seem to work just fine.
But after that, I struggle to think of things to say.
I talked about going to Shea Stadium last Thursday (great game, by the way), the train ride that night back to my car, how much it cost to park in the lot and how I got my money back, how I can’t stand crickets, and the like.
Blah, blah, blah.
When I checked the time and realized I really had to go, my host offered me a tour of his house. Not that I haven’t been there before or haven’t taken the tour on my previous visits, I went on the tour. The gentleman was really excited about showing me his new golf clubs. Yes, he practice-swung in his house.
And no, I didn’t get hit accidently or intentionally. I survived this visit without a bruise or concussion.
After the tour, I told him I had to leave…only to realize two hours later and a visit to BJ’s in between that I left my notebook in his kitchen.
I go back to the house to retrieve the notebook, only to find out from his wife, who was not home when I was there earlier, that he was gone for the day. I ask for my notebook – and she can’t find it. She promised me that when her husband returned, he’d find out from him where he put it.
Twenty minutes ago I get a call — he called back to tell me he threw out my notebook along with a bunch of paper in a dumpster behind a store on Route 17, his every Tuesday routine. I guess he doesn’t like to recycle. He said he didn’t know to whom the notebook belonged, so he just threw it out.
Aaaarrrggghhhh!!!
That notebook only contained my visit list for the past eleven months.
How could he throw out a notebook that clearly said on the cover: “Rev. Anthony J. Iovine – Visit list.”
The stress continued — I just got off the phone with BJ’s in Paramus. Apparently a box of Splenda that usually goes for around thirteen and half bucks, the cost on the shelf and on my receipt today, was charged to my debit card for $133.49. I like Splenda, but not that much. It was a computer glitch. They said they would refund my money.
But the refund will take at least ten business days.
Several weeks ago, I attempted to mail some items to a friend in Virigina. After a few days, the box didn’t arrive, so I checked with the post office.
They said they didn’t know where it was.
Of course, I flipped my clergy lid. If Fed Ex and UPS can track packages to their exact location, even on a specific truck, how can the United States Post Office lose a package and claim that they couldn’t find it?
First, they said the package was in Washington State and that it was being returned. After days and days, I found out that my package was NOT in Washington State, but somewhere else. I just had to wait for it arrive back home.
That lasted more than two weeks. This morning, I received a phone call from the local post office that my package has indeed been found and is currently sitting in a post office in Newark. They said that they would deliver it to me either today or tomorrow.
When I get my package, I will buy a new box and ship it UPS.
But the Mets are still in the hunt, even though their bullpen is trying its hardest to prevent them from making the playoffs. They won last night because of the arm of Johann Santana. From Mike Puma in the NY Post:
Johan Santana gave a demonstration of the Heimlich Maneuver last night that should be posted in every kennel as the proper method to saving a choking dog.
There is no guarantee the Mets still won’t gag this thing away, but for one night the breathing was free and simple. Santana pitched a gem, the offense clicked and the bullpen got three outs. What more can you ask?
As a Yankees fan, do I want the Mets to make the playoffs? Of course.
I don’t hate the Mets.
I hate the Red Sox, who clinched a playoff berth last night.
Our summertime experiment with Tuesday night worship and bible study is over.
We’re moving back to Wednesday starting next week, October 1st.
To be honest, having a midweek service on a Tuesday was a stretch. Wednesday just seemed to work better for most people, especially those (like me) who actually consider Wednesday to be the Midweek point in the week, not Tuesday.
Plus, since we have special midweek services for Advent and Lent, a Wednesday night midweek service just seems to fit a whole lot better.
So starting on October 1st, our Midweek Service is back to Wednesday. Bible study will follow our service.
Last night was the final game played on the hallowed grounds of Yankee Stadium. The setting last night was as perfect as anything ever crafted by a Hollywood screenwriter. With retired Yankees and the new cast filling the field, it reminded me how much this franchise has meant to New York and all baseball fans, even though many of them won’t admit it.
The Stadium is closed and will be partially torn down, but the new one across 161st will surely make up for it. The ghosts that inhabit the current stadium will most assuredly cross the street. While the new building will be as perfect a baseball facility in the world — what would you expect from the Yankees? — there is a bit of sadness in the hearts of Yankees fans now that the old site is becoming a park.
For me, I remember my first time in that home of baseball giants. Reggie Jackson hit a home run. Don’t ask me who the Yankees played or what the final score was, but I remember Reggie pounding one over the fence. Over the years, I have attended many games at the old ballpark in the Bronx, including one World Series game in 1996. That just so happened to be Game 6. Our seats were way up in right field – the next to last row. When then-catcher Joe Girardi hit the ball into right center, none of us could see it. We just kept cheering as he ran around the bases with a triple. When Charlie Hayes squeezed the final out into his glove, the place erupted.
Some of the memories I have about the Stadium will forever be set in my mind. The time when “Donnie Baseball,” Don Mattingly, shook my hand and I forgot to ask for an autograph. The day when I ran into Phil Rizzuto and we talked a bit about Cora, his wife. Or even the time when as a kid, my father forgot where he parked the car in the lot across the street from the Stadium.
The new Stadium will be a home of many more memories. Though I don’t know if I can attend as much since the tickets are going to be quite up there price-wise. The new place will be the home of my beloved New York Yankees.
As many of you know, yesterday was my birthday. I didn’t do much to celebrate — I decided to take the time and rest.
I didn’t answer many emails or telephone calls; I just rested. Oh, and by resting, I watched football and baseball on the tube. Of course, when the Yankees game was on at night, I muted the TV and listened to John Sterling and Susyn Waldman on WCBS. As much as I wanted to hear Yogi Berra in the booth with Whitey Ford, I couldn’t find it in me to let the voice of Joe Morgan come through my television.
So was my birthday exciting? Not in the least. It was just a basically restful day. After my long run up — months of stress and aggravation — taking one day to veg out seemed like a good plan.
Today has been a little busy. Personal stuff that needed to get done got done.
Sorry about the lack of posts this past week — and for the lack of responding to emails, phone calls, and the like.
A friend of mine from the seminary came to visit the New Jersey/New York area for the first time and he wanted “the tour” of NYC. That was part of my job this week, as well as working on normal pastoral issues. So I had to put “stuff” off for a week, namely email responses and phone call returns.
1. I am taking time for myself today. I’ve been working too much without sufficient rest. My blessed doctor gave me this advice in an email this morning:
"Take time off or I will come down to New Milford with a needle filled with precious medication that will put you in a state of sedation. TAKE TODAY OFF, IOVINE! I’ll check in later."
I love my doctor. Too bad she’s leaving her practice and moving to Boston next Spring.
2. There is church this weekend – 6:30pm on Saturday, 10:00am on Sunday; Sunday School kicks off at 9:00am; choir practice is at 9:00am Sunday morning.
3. Sometimes I go a little batty. Yesterday was that batty day when it came to the Democrat Congressman and a Democrat political adviser / commentator who compared Barack Obama to Jesus Christ and Sarah Palin to Pontius Pilate. I lose it when people act so idiotic. And when I am tired, my battiness goes even more batty.
4. To prove I am taking some time today, I spent money on the new Metallica album on iTunes this morning. As I type this, I am listening to it (OK, I’ve gone through one track). So far, so good. After their last album that was just not very good, this one can’t be as lost. Yes, their last album seemed like it was just put together at the last minute and was over-produced. It wasn’t very Metallica-like. The one thing on this album — they seem to have gone back in their history a bit with "The Unforgiven III." Looking forward to listening to it.
A Democrat Congressman from Tennessee (oh, by the way, a Congressman who should invest in a comb) and a Democrat political adviser have both made probably the most moronic statement EVER when it comes to the 2008 Presidential election.
No, not another “lipstick on a pig” reference to Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.
He just compared her to Pontius Pilate.
What is with stupidity and politicians? For any political person to make such an insulting and dumb remark comparing Barack Obama to Jesus Christ and Sarah Palin to Pontius Pilate, it shows how low people will go to make a political point.
Jesus Christ was no community organizer.
He was only the Savior of the world. I guess in the mind of this Democrat Congressman, being the Savior is much lower than being considered a community organizer. What a dope!
To make our Lord and Savior out to be some political hack who walked around Judea and Galilee getting people together to do whatever a Galilean community organizer would do (maybe force the goverment to make more wine?), it is just plain moronic.
Didn’t anyone on this moron’s staff read the Bible, even a little bit? If they did, they would remember that Jesus mentioned something about His kingdom NOT being of this world.
Democrat Congressman Steve Cohen should be embarrassed today.
And so should Donny Brazile, political commentator on CNN, who made the same dumb comment.
Today is one of the saddest days in American history.
For us residents of the New York City area, it is our saddest day.
Seven years ago Islamic terrorists murdered nearly 3000 Americans and destroyed the World Trade Center towers, those not-so-perfect buildings that truly put the New York in our landscape.
We all remember those who were lost, those loved ones and friends who died seven years ago this morning. May God be with us all.
We were talking about judging others and in the course of our discussion last night, I mentioned James, Chapter 3 as a reference.
I was wrong – I meant to say James 4. James writes that one should not judge others, for when one does so one also judges the law. There is only one judge and one-lawgiver, and that is God.
Yesterday morning as I was reading through my sermon, I had the television on as background noise. For the past week or so, anyone with DirecTV has been bombarded with commercials for the NFL Sunday Ticket and Superfan — the NFL’s “you get every game” sports package. And, as you would guess, as I was reading through Pentecost 17s sermon, this commercial came on. Twice.
I toyed with the idea of signing up for the package since I love football. But the cost was keeping me from clicking “buy” on my remote. To have the opportunity each Sunday of seeing every game in HD, a 6-hour in-time review channel highlighting everything that was going on in each game, a game mix screen where 8 games are shown at the same time, and the chance to watch every game during the week in 30 minutes or less, it was very tempting.
And I fell into temptation yesterday morning — which went along very well with my sermon Sunday morning.
I purchased the package.
At around 12:30pm, I arrived home from church and turned on the TV.
Yes, I had to wait 30 minutes for the games, but I turned on the Game Mix Channel in HD … and I drooled. OK, they were only airing the CBS and FOX pregame shows in the individual game boxes. When the clock struck 12:52pm, the network switched over the games and those 8 boxes lit up. In the left corner, the Jets and Dolphins. Right next to that, the Chiefs-Patriots. And the rest of the boxes had their individual pregame shows being aired.
At 1, the games started. I switched over to the Red Zone Channel. Imagine a channel dedicated to highlights from each game as they happen. For example, just moments after Tom Brady of the Patriots went down with a left knee injury, the Red Zone Channel switched to the game and showed Brady down on the ground.
As this happened, I flipped open my laptop and turned on DirecTV’s new online player. Aaaahhhh!! The same games on TV now on the computer. I turned the Jets game on my laptop while the Red Zone Channel was on the television. Oh, I switched to the various games every now and then, but I stuck mostly with the RZC.
I was hooked.
But it got better. This morning, DirecTV started airing their “Short Cuts” of each game. Basically, each game in 30 minutes. I downloaded the Jets-Dolphins match-up. I started watching it while I was eating lunch (turkey sandwich, lettuce and tomato). By the time I was done, the game was in the third quarter.
As a football fan, this NFL Sunday Ticket package is just too good.
It’s a little past 3 in the afternoon Monday and I realized something: I haven’t posted in a long while. Actually, it was last Wednesday.
My schedule the past five, six days has been intensely insane. Trying to maximize time has been an utter failure. I have come to the conclusion that I can’t squeeze too much into a day.
And how did I learn that?
I organized my dirty clothes this morning and the piles were huge. A picture would not have done them justice. I hate letting clothes pile up like that. Ugh. So since just before Morning Prayer, the washer has been going. Clothes, sheets, towels, you name it — everything has to get washed today. I do not like living like a slob.
This is what happens to me when I try and be everything to everyone. My calendar is too stuffed and my free time is too short. And when I have less time to devote to me, my world goes out of whack.
Yesterday signalled the start of the normal schedule.
After a summer of reconfiguring schedules (which really didn’t happen for me this summer) to allow for time off and rest, the regular church schedule kicked into gear yesterday morning. Visits that were put on hiatus during parts of the summer were back on the schedule, meaning I am out of the office more than usual.
Tuesday, September 2nd also signalled my return to the church office. During the summer, I work mostly from home — it is just easier — but yesterday, I moved back into my church office officially. And to show what I mean, I actually cleaned off my church desk. Papers are now filed. Pens and pencils are back in the caddy. My MacBook is back on the desk. So now I can work in the church office, from where I type this entry.
I like a normal schedule. My day just seems to flow much easier when I have a complete schedule of things to do and where to do them. But I am tired. The summer didn’t give me time to rest. The one time I was schedule to go away for a few days, my brother ended up getting really sick. So I had to cancel my plans.
Eventually, I will take some time to myself. But that isn’t this Wednesday.
Today is a mostly an office day. I will be spending time in the office preparing for Sunday and Sunday bible class that starts on September 14th. I have a hosptial run this morning or afternoon, depending on how my morning goes. Also, I have a meeting or two where my attendance is mandated.
All opinions and ideas expressed on The Pastor's Blog are those of the individual writers. Copyright (c) 2006-8 - Saint Matthew's Evangelical Lutheran Church, 225 Center Street, New Milford, New Jersey 07646. Design Downloaded from www.vanillamist.com
Last Thursday, I went to see the Mets play the Cubs at Shea. It was a rainy night at the old ballpark in Flushing. Thankfully, our seats were in the Loge section in left field — we were covered. The Mets came from behind to win the game in the bottom of the 9th on a hit by Carlos Beltran. Mets fans were over-thrilled, as was this Yankees fan who cheered for the hometown team. 
4. To prove I am taking some time today, I spent money on the new Metallica album on iTunes this morning. As I type this, I am listening to it (OK, I’ve gone through one track). So far, so good. After their last album that was just not very good, this one can’t be as lost. Yes, their last album seemed like it was just put together at the last minute and was over-produced. It wasn’t very Metallica-like. The one thing on this album — they seem to have gone back in their history a bit with "The Unforgiven III." Looking forward to listening to it.
