Blog Title: JasonBrzoska.com

I write about many topics that are on my mind, among them: sports, politics, the Jewish world...

RIP, Grandma

My grandma Josephine died peacefully on Saturday morning in St. Peter's Hospital after being sick for quite a while.

She'll be missed...

Dammit, John...

The news about John Edwards is extremely disappointing... I'm suddenly relieved he's not our candidate this year.

I don't have a lot to say about it, but I'll link you to some people who do.

I Suddenly Have a Little Respect for Paris Hilton

Why Don't You Give a F**k? The Government is Rotting from the Inside

Haven't done one of these in a while -- so much for a "regular feature."

Read D-day's list here. It's appalling stuff.

D-Day's conclusion:

Now mind you, this is simply a partial list of the last week or so. This kind of venality, callousness and contempt for anyone but the rich and connected has characterized the last eight years. Corporations are to be protected instead of the poor. Authority is to be demanded but assaults on the downtrodden tolerated. Regulations are eliminated and help for the needy denied. This has become America in the first decade of the 21st century - an authoritarian kleptocracy. The level of rot is so great that the next President won't be able to get at all of it.

So why don't you care about this?

Back on the Train, Yeah...

Another day trip to NYC. These absolutely get to me. I have another one next week.

Maybe I'll post something of use on my way home tonight. Or not.

Sunday Softball Blogging

Our short-handed Hebrew Academy team lost to Beth Emeth today in a weather-shortened game, 15-5. Not my best game; I was only 1-3 with one run scored.

We're 3-2 now, and still looking pretty good, though.

Congratulations, Wine Bar!

The Metroland just released its 2008 Best of List, and the gang at the Wine Bar and Bistro on Lark gave it the nod this year for Best Wine Bar:

It's like being in the wine cellar itself, with snug, sort-of- underground rooms in which to tope, and an innovative tapas menu for gustatory accompaniment. There even are some outdoor tables if you seek the open air. The selection is extensive, with many specials, and the servers are happy to help you choose.

Additionally, as a wise and beautiful woman once said about the Wine Bar: "It's so... orange!" :)

Anyway, congratulations to Kevin, Jonathan, Joni and the rest of the gang who have made the wine bar the success it's become!

Sunday Softball Blogging

I played in my first doubleheader today. We lost the first game, 17-11. Not particularly eventful, but I went 4-4 with 4 runs scored. It was our first loss of the season so far.

The second game was the most intense softball game I've played in my two years. We were up by about eight runs going into the fifth inning (out of seven) and our pitcher began grooving pitches and the other team hit a couple of home runs. Suddenly, we're going into the bottom of the seventh and we're only up 13-11. They got two baserunners and then next batter hit a groundball back to the pitcher, and it should have been the third out. However, the first baseman dropped the ball, didn't get the out, and then picked it up and overthrew home plate. Two runs scored, and their best hitter came to the plate with the score tied and a man on. We intentionally walked him (much to the chagrin of the other team's captain) and managed to get the next guy out. We scored a run in the top of the eighth as the rain started to come down, and held them in the bottom of the inning for a 14-13 victory. And I finished 3-5 with 3 RBIs... don't get a lot of those, normally.

We're 3-1 now, a far cry from last season when we didn't win a single game. I'm really looking forward to the rest of the season.

Am I the Only One Not Surprised?

Just got back after a month of self-imposed hiatus from politics after Hillary dropped out of the race. Obama appears to have tacked to the center since then; for example on the surveillance legislation and faith-based initiatives.

All of the long-time Obamaniacs seem to be surprised by this (I'm not one of them, remember)... I'm not. I've always been a little uncomfortable with him (and Hillary) because he's just not really a liberal. Remember his 2004 keynote speech at the DNC?

We liberals are not going to love him as President, but after 8 years of Bush and faced with 4 more in McCain, Obama's still pretty damn appetizing...

Alison's Away Message, #6

"it's funny to see the mexicans with their little american flags going to see the fireworks... like it was THEIR independence... stupid heads."

Happy July 4th!

I Get It Now

So, I've been fretting just a little that I'm starting to approach the big 3-0 and I don't appear to be on the marriage track. But now I understand why:

Wedding Bells Are in the Air

I'm off today to Daniel's wedding in New Jersey.

Mazel Tov, Daniel and Becky!

STP! STP! STP!

Ari's getting married in two months, and he and I did a bachelor tour this weekend... We saw Stone Temple Pilots at two festivals, the first on Saturday night in downtown Kansas City and the second on the outskirts of St. Louis. The shows were great, and we had a good time. STP is clearly back in form and enjoying themselves after nearly six years apart.

Scott Weiland was clearly going for a Jack-Nicholson-as-the-Joker look...



They played the same setlist twice:

• Big Empty
  
• Wicked Garden
  
• Big Bang Baby
  
• Vasoline
  
• Lady Picture Show
  
• Lounge Fly
  
• Crackerman
  
• Sour Girl
  
• Creep
  
• Plush
  
• Interstate Love Song
  
• Coma
  
• Down
  
• Sin
  
• Some jam I didn't recognize that sounded like a James Brown tune
  
• Sex Type Thing
  
• Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart
  
• Dead & Bloated
  

Taking a Break

Now that we have our nominees, I'm going to take a month off from politics online and in real life to get a bit of a breather. I'm hoping that by the time I start following again, Obama is up 10 points.

Fingers crossed...

Zohan

Saw it tonight in St. Louis (part of Ari's bachelor thingie)... not as bad as I thought. Some genuinely funny moments, to be sure.

My question is, if I didn't have a Jewish background, would I have understood 75% of the humor?

A Typical Hillary Supporter?

Facebook Peeve

For whatever reason, it bugs me when people use pictures of their kids as their Facebook profile picture.

Newark Sweet Newark

How many times in the last year have I been stuck in Newark Airport for three hours or more? Chalk up another.

And THIS time, they're charging me $25 each way for the additional bag I couldn't retrieve if I decided I want to drive to Albany.

This happens every time. It really would be faster if Continental replaced the plane from Newark to Albany with a bus.

Something is seriously wrong with this system.

Sign O'il the Times

Was filling up my tank today before heading to the airport in Phoenix, and this woman in her 30s came up to me asking for gas money...

She didn't seem poor or anything -- she was driving a kempt mid-90s Saturn.

I gave her five bucks.

Are we going to be seeing more of this sort of thing as gas prices go up? I noticed in L.A. that diesel, for instance, is well over five dollars a gallon everywhere.

In other news, Daniel is a child...



Yes, he paged me for no apparent reason.

All Over the Place!

Just a quick post before hopping a plane from Charlotte to Phoenix -- I'm going to be in a lot of places over the next 10 days or so -- Phoenix, Tucson, LA, DC, NYC, Kansas City, and St. Louis.

The Train, Boss, the Train...

For the third time since last Wednesday, I'm on Amtrak to NYC (got a last-minute invite to the annual Hillel gala and I've been told the food's going to be great!). I've really gained an appreciation for public transit in the last year or so. It's still a shame we don't have a high-speed rail between Albany and NYC; a European/Asian-style train would do the trip in an hour as opposed to two and a half. Unfortunately, Americans don't have much of a taste for trains and buses, and it really shows in our lack of such infrastructure.

Molly Ivors over at Whiskey Fire just did her first post in a summer-long series on the topic.

Speaking of Amtrak, the Herrick St. bridge in Rensselaer (the one that goes up to the train station) has been closed for a couple of weeks now. What does it say about the quality of the construction that they're doing bridge work only five years after the bridge opened?

UPDATE (10:34 AM): The train gets more and more attractive in light of stories like this:

American Airlines said Wednesday it will start charging $15 for the first checked bag, cut domestic flights and lay off workers as it grapples with record-high fuel prices. The nation's largest carrier said the fee for the first checked bag starts June 15 and that it would raise other fees for services ranging from reservation help to oversized bags.

American plans to cut domestic flight capacity by 11 percent to 12 percent in the fourth quarter. American had previously expected fourth-quarter capacity to fall 4.6 percent from the same period in 2007.

Who Was Justin Bailey?

Thanks to Ben Mallahan, we now know...

Random Dog Blogging

Riding home on the train... thought I'd share this nice picture of Mickey and Lily, my mom's two dogs. They usually don't get along that well -- little Lily steals poor Mickey's food and bullies him around, but look where we caught them when they thought we weren't looking!

Radiohead Is Awesome (Duh)

Great show in Virginia! It was downpouring torrentially all night, and people were turned away from the show because the roads were so bad, but we made it in. Good setlist -- they played the entire new album.

Here's a clip I shot (my first YouTube!) of them performing Jigsaw Falling Into Place (someone posted a full version here:

Hillary's Case in Five Minutes