Speaking of the Astros

This season has not exactly been great for the Astros, but today's game was just about perfect. It was low-scoring, which meant that it was over relatively quickly (around two and a half hours). The Astros won (2-1), which is always a good thing. Not only did they win, but they beat the noxious Cardinals while holding the noxious Albert Pujols hitless. Lance Berkman (a Rice alumnus) hit the go-ahead home run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Craig Biggio didn't start, but he did pick up a pinch-hit single in the bottom of the eighth. And Brad Lidge looked good in pitching a perfect ninth inning to pick up the save.

And I'm forced to observe yet again that if Mamacita truly loved her son Emmet, she would have selected Lance Berkman to be his Astro Buddy instead of stinky old Morgan Ensberg.

Calvinball!

In his comment to Mamacita's blog entry about him teaching his son Emmet to play chess, Papi Chulo writes:

I wouldn't say I taught him chess. I just clarified that whatever game it was he claimed to play and repeatedly defeat Miranda during game day at school was not chess. It was apparently Calvinball with chess pieces.

He has so far found chess to be excessively unfair in comparison to that game.

I had no idea what Calvinball was (although, knowing Emmet and other kids his age, I could guess), so I had to Google it. This page was the first one that popped up. There are a lot of rules to Calvinball, but the one that best captures its essence is Rule 1.2:

1.2 Any player may declare a new rule at any point in the game (Figure 1.2). The player may do this audibly or silently depending on what zone (Refer to Rule 1.5) the player is in.

Watching Emmet play Calvinball with chess pieces would have been amusing.

Emmet Needs This Shirt

If his mother loved him, she would get it for him.

Edit: Emmet's mother earnestly claims that he already has such a shirt. I'll believe it when I see it; and even if true, she would have him wear it more often if she loved him.