Greetings, Blogosphere! Your humble correspondent has awaken from his move-induced malaise and is now back to full blogging capacity! Yesterday, I kicked Comcast to the curb and for the first time became a FiOS customer. The jury's still out (my TV isn't exactly HD quality), but as you can clearly see, my internet is very much active. In a previous post, you will note that I have so many items that need to be addressed. So instead of slaving away at tackling so many different topics in 5 or 6 massive posts, I am going to address each topic in quick hitter format. Anyway, here it goes.
-Back/Wilson Wedding
We begin with more highlights from Wedding Season 2011. Congratulations to Caputo's Corner reader Tom Back who married his new wife Melissa 2 Fridays ago at Martin's East in Middle River. It was a very simple, yet meaningful ceremony. Caputo's Corner reader James served as a groomsman. Speaking of wedding season, James is certainly running the gauntlet of wedding season, having been at the Hosford wedding 3 weekends ago, the Back wedding, and the wedding of fellow Loyola grad Jay in Sleepy Hollow, NY this past weekend. Kudos to James for making the most of wedding season. Anyway, back to the Back wedding. Following the ceremony, the feast began. Open bar and open buffet (with a social shot of Jack Daniels to boot...). Oh yes, the buffet also featured crab cakes!!! You can't have a wedding in the state of Maryland without crab cakes (just ask the Wedding Crashers...CRAB CAKES AND FOOTBALL, THAT'S WHAT MARYLAND DOES! Jeremy Grey loves crab cakes too!). There was dancing (including the chance to dance one-on-one with the bride and groom themselves) as well as the traditional bouquet and garter toss (something the Hosford wedding did not have). Whenever I get called out for the garter toss, I usually do everything I can to NOT catch the garter belt, just not my thing. Whoever the lucky lady is who catches the bouquet will have to have the services of another gentleman to slip that thing on... All in all, it was a very enjoyable evening. The bride was lovely, the families were genuinely happy, and Tom had this grin on his face that just would not go away (especially when he was asked to show off his N'Sync dance moves...). Caputo's Corner even once again attempted the Cupid Shuffle...but to no avail. All in all, it was a great night with some great people. Congratulations once again to Tom and Melissa. May you have many happy years together.
More hits after the jump...
-Move In Highlights
The official move in date to Caputo's Corner's new Southern command took place on May 15th. We would like to officially thank Dr. Laura (although she wasn't Dr. yet at the time), as well as Caputo's Corner's readers Dustin (aka The Reporter), Patrick (Paddydiddles), Kevin (The Gym Teacher), and Josh (of Lattanzi Land fame). We would like to also thank Kevin for the beautiful entertainment center (currently home to my spectacular 13 inch TV) and assorted mugs and glasses. The day started at 9AM at the U-Haul of Laurel on Route 1 where we picked up the truck and took it back to my parents' house. We loaded up the truck with the sofa, chair, mattress, one dresser, my desk, lawnmower, and assorted boxes. We proceeded to Kevin's place where we picked up the entertainment center. Then we moved over to the new command center and unloaded the stuff. The menu for the afternoon consisted of Domino's Pizza and Yuengling Traditional Lager (offical beverage of Caputo's Corner). Following lunch, I proceeded to unpack some of the boxes while Dustin elaborated to both my Dad and Laura on the joys of collecting diecast model race cars. The day ended with me mowing the lawn for the very first time (yay...).
-NFL Lockout updates
So while the union won just about every court decision it could in the state of Minnesota, the owners finally put one in the win column in the 8th Circuit Court in St. Louis. The appeals court, traditionally more conservative and pro business than its Minnesota district counterpart, ruled in a 2-1 decision that Judge Susan Nelson's injunction be stayed, pending a hearing early in June. The majority decision cited that the injunction could cause "irreparable harm" to the league. Wait a second? Didn't Nelson's decision cite the lockout causing "irreparable harm" to the union when she ruled for the injunction in the first place? What the hell does "irreparable harm" mean anyway? Is there a judge out there that can just say "Alright you overgrown, rich crybabies. The only entity getting irreparably harmed here are the fans. We can live without football, but your senseless quibbling over millions of dollars is ridiculous. I hereby find both sides equally at fault, fans are allowed to attend NFL games for free, owners are not allowed to make any money off of it, and players make minimum wage." OK, perhaps that's a bit on the extreme side, but hasn't this gotten to the point where you would think enough's enough? The outcome of the hearing on June 3rd at the appeals court likely will decide whether or not the NFL season will start on time. If the court allows the stay to continue, the lockout might continue indefinitely. If the injunction is allowed to resume, there's a chance we might get a full training camp in, but at what cost? Players may say that they've been "training" on their own, but really, without any input from coaches, what are they actually accomplishing?
-Mark Turgeon hired as UMD Head Coach
Not really much to say here. Has a pretty good record going back to Texas A&M. Don't really know enough about him to cast any sort of judgement. This is once again, however, another example of the new world order in the Maryland athletics department (and higher up) looking to make their stamp on the history of the program. It started with the hiring of Randy Edsall (under somewhat dubious circumstances...) and continues with this new hire. You have to think that they had some kind of tip off from Gary Williams that he was going to step down, because you don't conclude a nationwide search as fast as they did without some kind of inside information. In any event, it will be interesting to see what direction Turgeon takes the program. Will he follow the Gary Williams mantra of flex offense and up-tempo full-court press? Or will he radically alter the philosophy and go with something like a Princeton offense?
-STS-134 to the International Space Station
The second to last Space Shuttle mission is underway after a flawless launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour from Cape Canaveral last Tuesday. I had the good fortune of being able to log into NASA TV so that my class would be able to watch the launch live as it happened. I always like giving a play by play of shuttle launches, especially to my class whenever they happen. I've watched enough of them that I think I could be the Shuttle Test Director (Mike Leinbach for those of you keeping score at home). I was dropping acronyms like nobody's buisness: MECO (Main engine cutoff), TAL (Transatlantic Abort Landing), ATO (Abort to Orbit), Negative return (unable to abort back to the launch site). I love them all. Unfortunately, Atlantis will be making just one more reach into the heavens before the American space program goes dark. How long it will be dark...only time will tell............
That's it for now. Hopefully this gets us back to a regular blogging pace just like before. Thank you for your patience as Caputo's Corner continues in this time of transition. Welcome back, Blogosphere!!!!
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