Yesterday, I attended what will be my last game at Yankee Stadium.  For those who do not know, after this season, they will be tearing down 'The House that Ruth Built' and next season they will be playing in a new stadum right next door.

First, let me say that this is kind of bittersweet for me.  As a kid, we would go to Yankee games several times a year and I have fond memories of beign there with my entire family.  But, if we are being honest, Yankee Stadium is a dump.  It outgrew its usefulness long before I even knew it existed.  I have been to baseball games at Coors Field in Denver and Camden Yards in Baltimore adn those stadiums are simply amazing. That being said, the new stadium looks like it will be absolutely astounding.

As I said this was the last game I will see at Yankee Stadium, but it was also the first time my kids have seen the Yankees play a home game.  They seemed to enjoy the experience, but, what made it best was that at one point during the game, the kids were shown on the 'Jumbo-tron' at the stadium as part of what they call 'fan-cam'.  Unfortunately, I was unable to get a picture of them on the screen.

All in all, it was a great day (the Yankees wound up winning in extra innings).  I got to take my kids to a place from which I have such wonderful memories and they seemed to enjoy it as much as I remember enjoying it. Here are some pictures I snapped before and during the game.

These are the kids, pretty good looking if I do say so myself.

Here is a picture of Joba Chamberlain throwing a 101 MPH fastball. If you look closely at the umpire, you can see the ball.

Here is a picture of Brett Gardner about to get caught in a rundown.  He was trying to steal second, put the pitcher threw the ball to first base.  You can see the ball on its way

My father-in-law just sent me this and I cannot stop laughing about it so I felt compelled to share.

I apologize for the lack of technical posts here recently.  Most, if not all, of my technical posts have done at the Alagad blog. Be forewarned, this is another non-technical post.

In June, I am speaking at Scotch on the Rocks and will need a passport. The last time I had a passport was when I was in high school (a long, long time ago) and because it has been expired for so long, I needed to apply as if I never had a passport. This is where the story begins...

I submitted my passport application in December, along with the required documents, which included my birth certificate.  Keep in mind this is the same birth certificate I used for many purposes, such as getting my driver's license, getting my original passport and even more recently, getting clearance from more than one government agency.

About 4-5 weeks later (maybe longer) I received a letter for the Department of State that because I was born in Hudson County, New Jersey, I needed to get a 'new' copy of my birth certificate from the New Jersey Division of Vital Statistics.  A phone call to the passport agency revealed that, at some time in the past, there was some 'malfeasance' in the Hudson County Registrar's Office, and any birth certificate issued by that office was no longer acceptable for acquiring a passport.

It seems that in order to obtain your birth certificate from the New Jersey Division of Vital Statistics in a timely manner, they suggest that you order it through a third party named Vital Check.  This does not come cheap.  it cost me $55.00 for 2 copies of my birth certificate.  it also did not come quickly, it took about 3 weeks before I received the copies.  I quickly sent one of the copies to the passport office as they requested. Basically, it was the exact same thing I sent earlier,  but on different paper.

Fast forward about 2-3 weeks and I get a call from the passport office (which really took me by surprise) letting me know that the new copies were also not acceptable as the date my birth was filed was not legible on the copy. Crap!

So, I ring up the New Jersey Division of Vital Statistics.  I was able to speak with someone who was very friendly and appeared to willing and able to help me.  They assured me that new birth certificates with all the correct information would be sent to me. Surprisingly, a week later, I received the new copies.  Unfortunately, aside from the date they were printed, they were identical to the copy I was already told was not acceptable.

I ring up Vital Statistics again this morning (the office was closed Friday), and after about an hour of trying to actually speak with a human, I get the same person I spoke with last week.  Again, very friendly and very eager to help. They explain that the only thing they can do is 'manually type' the birth certificate and send them to me (which is frighteningly similar to what they told me they were going to do last time). They assured me that it would 'go out in the mail' today. So, heres to hoping that is indeed the case.

All this hassle, and stress of possibly missing my trip, because of a small case of 'malfeasance ', God knows how long ago, in Hudson County, NJ.  This just reaffirms my belief that New Jersey is a great place to be 'from'.

**Disclaimer**

You are about to get a peak into my brain.  This is not for the faint of heart.  If you read further, it may permanently alter you view of me (for better or worse).

**End of Disclaimer**

Just today, I noticed a really cool 'side effect' of 'Adobe ColdFusion'.  On my development machine, and the few servers I help maintain, I no longer have to scroll down in the services MMC in order to see all my ColdFusion instances.  They are all there, sitting right on top thanx to the 'Adobe'.

I do not think there has even been a more satisfying win as a Giants fan (though, the Cowboys game a few weeks ago is close).  No one gave the Giants a shot, all the hype was about 19-0 and Tom Brady.  Today, during the pre-game, I heard several times that in order to win, the Giants had to play a perfect game, and they did just that. Holding the Pats to less than 50 yards rushing and 14 points (note, they did not even score the 17 Plaxico Buress said they would) was a phenomenal showing. The play where Eli got away from trouble and then connected with David Tyree was awesome, and should be one of the most memorable in Super Bowl history.

After the Minnesota game and the 4 interceptions, I jumped off the Eli bus.  I would like this post to stand as my official request for permission to get back on.

What a great win!!!

I came across this link for a book being offered on Amazon. The book is about how the New England Patriots went 19-0 during the 2007 NFL season.  There is one issue though, they have not gone 19-0.  In order to do that, they must beat the New York Giants this Sunday in the Super Bowl.

Now, I am a Giants fan, so this is more of a slap in the face, but this is by far one of the most insulting things, towards a team, I have seen in professional sports.  Even worse than Jerry Jones putting 2 tickets in each of the Cowboys' lockers before the Giants beat them 2 weeks ago.

Seeing that Amazon is taking pre-orders for that book would make me cheer for anyone who would be playing the Patriots this week, even, dare I say, the Cowboys.

Go Big Blue!!

As many who know me are aware, I am a big fan of the New York Giants (An American football team for those readers outside the US who may not be familiar with the name).  Tonight, the Giants defeated the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship Game to make it to the Super Bowl. In the process, the Giants set an NFL record by winning 10 road games in a row.

When we made it to the playoffs, not many gave us a chance to beat Tampa Bay, few gave us a chance to beat Dallas and even fewer picked us to beat Green Bay.  To all the sports columnists, TV analysts and anyone else who makes a living offering their opinions about the NFL, I have one simple favor to ask.  Please, please, don't pick us to win the Super Bowl.  I want every one of you to pick New England.  It seems to motivate the G-Men when you think they are not worthy of beating the 'better team'.

Win or lose in Phoenix, the Giants have given me much more than I could have hoped for during this season. Now, if we can just find a way to ruin prefection.....

When I was a kid, one of the things I really looked forward to around Christmas time was my father getting the electric train set out. We did not have a big elaborate set, but the track was attached to a 8x4 piece of plywood, with lighted billboards and trees.  My dad even painted it green with a 'road' going through it.

What does this have to do with the Wii my kids got for Christmas?  Well, 2 years ago, my parents gave me the train set that we used to have as kids.  Unfortunately, the track was in bad shape, and the transformer plug was so dry rotted, you could see the copper wire.   This Christmas, I was determined to get it running. 

After a trip to a local train shop, I was able to purchase some new track and a new plug for the transformer.  Thanks to help from my father-in-law, the new plug was soldered on (I don't do solder) and the new track assembled and the train was running like new.  When we were looking to see how the wires needed to be attached to the transformer, I noticed the copyright date on the instruction manual, 1971. The trains set is 36 years old, and still running like new, even after not having ANY maintenance in those 36 years. I will say that I plan on taking the train to that shop to get a 'tune up' so that maybe my grand-kids can enjoy the set as well.

This, to me, proves the old saying, 'they don't make them like they used to'.  How many toys that you or your kids got this Christmas will still be operating in 2043?  I would venture to guess not too many.

For the last 24 years, Christmas has been a mixed blessing for my mother.  In 1983 she had to take care of a 17 year old girl, who died, on Christmas Eve.  This year, a local paper where my parents live thought it was a story worth telling.  Check out this link for more on the story.

To everyone who celebrates, Merry Christmas!

For my birthday this year, one gift I was given was a grill cover with the New York Giants logo on it. I had added this item to my Amazon.com wishlist and it was purchased off of Amazon.com.  What I didn't know at the time was that it was actually being sold by a reseller, or whatever Amazon calls them.

When the cover arrived, I thought it was a bit thin.  I have used garbage bags that were thicker.  But it fit the grill and seemed to do  the job it was designed to do, cover my grill.  The last few days have been a bit windy, and as a result, the grill cover has been torn and is no longer usable (see pictures below).  

I phoned Amazon to complain about the cover and try to get a refund.  I was told that because it was sold through a 'reseller', I needed to contact them, I am OK with that.  I asked for the phone number and was told Amazon did not have it. I am not OK with that.  After being transferred a few times, I was finally told that they did not have a phone number for the reseller and that I would need to contact them in writing.  Not ideal, but I was OK with that.  I asked for the address and was told Amazon did not have that information either. I am not OK with that either.

For those playing along at home, I added an item from Amazon.com to my Amazon.com wishlist, the item was purchased from the Amazon.com website and the credit card was charged to Amazon.com, yet, Amazon.com could not tell me how to get in touch with the company that they claim actually sold me the item.  How is it possible that Amazon allows others to sell things through Amazon, yet not have a way to contact them.

After a few more transfers, I was finally able to get the number of the company, and I have called and left a message twice, with no return call yet.   While all this was going on, I attempted to contact the company who sold the item through Amazon.com.  I explained the situation and received an e-mail a little bit ago that basically says, because we did not express dissatisfaction when we received the item, they will not offer us a refund. The irony here is that I was not dissatisfied until the cover was ripped to shreds.  It also says we ordered the 'economy' cover, which is not stated anywhere the description page.

Amazon.com has washed their hands of this situation.  I was told I need to resolve this with the reseller, and their resolution has basically been, 'tough sh*t'. So, now I need to go back to Amazon to complain even more. Should be fun.

I may regret saying this, but part of me hopes we do slip into a recession.  During a time of economic stagnation, companies typically try to lure and keep companies with good customer service.  During a time of economic prosperity, customer service almost seems to become an after thought.

I also learned a very important lesson, make sure you know whether or not an item is being sold by Amazon or by one of its 'resellers'.  I for one will not be buying from any of their 'resellers' again anytime soon.

***UPDATE***

After my wife sent a carefully crafted e-mail to the company, they have agreed to refund the full cost of the cover.

***END UPDATE***