Another year, another 30 posts in November. Some would say I "made it", though I didn't think of it as such a burden (though TLM will attest to more than a few nights where I "still had to post").
Maybe I'll keep this going for a while; see how long I can keep the streak alive.
(to my lovely fiancée: I swear it won't be neurotic about it, promise!)
I couldn't help myself. After a couple of very tough days at work, I went through my "to be looked at later" bookmark folder and found this at (where else) WidgetBox.
I kid you not, I've played exactly once and, yes, I picked the million dollar case, and had a string of "no deals" to win it...
This is a piece of a Red Sox "Sgt. Pepper" Montage AL-9000 sent me. There's a nice page with a full size version of it on the NY Times site, complete with a listing of each person included.
It's always good to see Nuf Ced McGreevey...it's too bad he couldn't just give a quick jolt with his left elbow a bit and tag Harry Frazee in the ear.
Back in high school (not that many years ago, I'd like to think), I was in a programming competition that pitted a program I wrote to play a 2-player game against those of all of my classmates in a single-elimination tournament. I made it to the finals and eventually won, though after discussion with the other finalist we both realized that based on our PASCAL code (ok, that many years ago) the winner would have been the program that went first. More importantly, both of us wrote very shortsighted code; that is, we set up a series of rules like "look for a winning move first" and "look for a block second". It was only a matter of time before I learned the more traditional computer science approach to creating algorithms for 2-player games: game trees.
A game tree is a symbolic representation of all the possible outcomes of a game where nodes are the "states" of the game at a given time and the connecting arrows are the possible "moves" (called "plys" in game theory). Think of it as an inverted tree where the root node represents the start of the game and all its branches representing a player's first turn.
The common example for explaining game trees is the well-known game of tic-tac-toe. Player 1 starts out with a blank grid and 9 possible squares to click in. After a spot is chosen (and an "X" is placed), there are 8 other squares from which player 2 can choose (and place an "O"), which then leaves 7 squares for Player 1, and then 6 for Player 2, and so on. You can guess that even a game as simple as tic-tac-toe, guaranteed to be over in 9 moves, can have a pretty large number of possible ways it can be played. At first glance you may even calculate the number of nodes in the game tree to be 9! (362,880), though luckily there are several factors we can use to trim this number down (to 26,830 nodes, in fact).
The first way to trim a game tree is to consider all of the branches that never make it to ply number 9 because the game has already finished. For example, imagine Player 1 winning with 3 spots still on the grid (however unlikely, it's still possible); the last 3 plys for that branch never need to be calculated. Another important way to "prune" the trees is to recognize any kind of symmetry (rotation, reflection) across branches and represent each by one and only one branch. For example, if Player 1's first move is to a corner, any corner, our game tree only needs to have one branch as each of the other 3 nodes where Player 1's first move is a corner can be rotated to look like the first. The same is true of Player 1's first move if to a side spot. Add in the branch that stems from Player 1's first move to the center spot and you now have 3 branches coming out of the root node, not 9...now that's some good and efficient pruning.
In the project below, I've recreated the commonly seen 2-ply game tree for a tic-tac-toe game. Playing with this visual and interactive model may give you a better understanding of how game trees are constructed. The sitemap of the workBench project is what the (beginning of the) game tree would look like. Look at the number of branches each node spawns and see if you can figure out why none of the 2nd-tier nodes spawn 8 branches. Also, there are lots of other, more sophisticated ways of pruning game trees if you are interested, but they are beyond the scope of this post.
So why are game trees important anyway? Why would knowing about them have changed how I made that program all those years ago? The answer is simple: if you can make a model of all possible outcomes, you can choose the path that helps you the most. In a 2-player game tree, this can be done in a variety of ways, though an easy example is to "rate" each node, started from the end of each branch, or leaf nodes. If a node gives Player 1 a win, assign a rating of 1 to that node. If it gives Player 2 a win, rate it -1, and if it is a tie, rate it 0 (this is how I was taught, though you can use any rating system you'd like, such as colors or shapes). Once all of the leaf nodes have been rated, the nodes in the ply above them can be rated as well, all the way up to the top using the following rules:
For each node X on ply Z, look at the parent node Y one level up on ply (Z-1).
If all of node Y's children are rated the same way, give node Y that rating.
If any of node Y's children are rated as a win for the player whose turn is on ply Z, rate node Y a win for that player.
If neither condition applies, rate node Y a tie.
This may seem hard to understand, but in a nutshell all it means is that if you have to choose between a bunch of moves, all of which have ratings already, you don't want to choose one that has at least one outcome where your opponent wins, assuming your opponent will see that opportunity and take it (that's the crux of step 3).
If you are an educator and involved in anything that revolves around game theory, recursion in programming, or even symmetry in high school Geometry, constructing (or filling in already started) game trees for simple 2 player games may be a fun and productive activity.
It may even be the key to you winning a programming tournament in your high school computer class...
The Eagles gave them a run for their money last night, that much is certain, but the New England Patriots are still undefeated improving their 2007 season record to 11-0. The toughest challenge of the remaining games still seems to be Pittsburgh, though Philly showed last night that not every game against the Pats is a blowout.
Who was the player of the game last night? Was it Wes Welker (13 catches, 149 yards), Jabar Gaffney (6 catches, 87 yards, 1 TD), or maybe Asante Samuel (2 interceptions, 1 runback for a TD)?
Of all of the questions, the ones that gained the most publicity (by far) were the questions asking students what they'd settle for in return for their right to vote (forever). I'm not sure if this was multiple choice format, but many headlines read something along the lines of "Students at NYU hapy to give up their right to vote for an iPod".
This is, of course, an oversimplification, but reading the article made me think about my own right to vote. I'd always been taught that voting was perhaps the most important thing I could do as a citizen of this country (right up there with jury duty!), and for all intents and purposes this teaching stuck; I make sure I go out just about every November and cast my ballot. However, I can remember some heavy discussions about recent elections (see election, presidential, 2000), many of which brought the actual value of my singular vote into question as well.
How much is my vote really worth? For the moment, forget monetary value...that is, does my vote really matter for anything? I'd like to believe the answer is "yes", but can anyone be so sure anymore? If, then, one's vote is worth nothing, why not take a million bucks or free tuition?
The answer is simple, to me at least. I believe that the right to vote is priceless, and is one of the reasons, nay, freedoms for which people want to come live in this country. Even if my one vote doesn't sway an election, I treasure the fact that I have the ability to choose who our leaders will be and how our laws will evolve...
TLM showed me this today, which I used as a basis for my post over at TRintuition. Somehow this has been around the net for a long time and I had never seen it until today. Still pretty cool...
You're supposed to see the figure spinning one way, then try to get it to spin the other way. Using the shadow underneath the figure makes this easier, and eventually you will be able to do it, trust me.
To commemorate this year's birthday of Baseball Joe, I'm including a clip from the "Baseball History Podcast", something I think he'd enjoy. Too bad most of this week's episode revolves around the Highlanders (soon to be Yankees) and their totally disreputable star, Hal Chase.
If you want to subscribe to the podcast, you can find it in the iTunes directory, or alternatively just subscribe to http://bhp.libsyn.com/rss. Happy Birthday Pop!
I found this comic on BoingBoing, and I think it's an interesting take on today's holiday, it's history, terrorism, and let's throw in illegal immigration (why not).
I'm not sure if it's a consequence of getting older, and it certainly has nothing to do with what the holiday is supposed to represent. It's everything else about it that makes me crazy. The people in the stores, the pressure to plan out tomorrow making sure to be as inclusive of everyone as you can, and of course then there's the actual family members. As far as I can tell, any plans you make with them prior to the day before Thanksgiving should always be disregarded; they always seem to change at the last minute.
Ah, how I miss the days of my childhood, never having to worry about where or when I had to be somewhere for a family event.
I found this on Joel Spolsky's "Joel on Software" blog...and it's pretty fresh. It's a Google Maps mashup called Walk Score, which, once you supply an address, gives you a list of stores, bars, restaurants, and parks in the area. and, as it's name implies, a "walk score". They are pretty big on getting people to walk places, and identify themselves primarily as a tool to "help homebuyers, renters, and real estate agents find houses and apartments in great neighborhoods."
Our place only got a 58 out of 100 (I believe that's just failing), not surprising since we now live in a suburb. My last place in Eastie got a 75, which leads me to believe whatever algorithm they use to calculate this score doesn't take into account personal safety while walking.
Bust out the Black Sabbath clips - Mike Lowell appears to have come to an agreement with the Red Sox for 3 years. Excellent. Things couldn't have worked out better.
Happy Birthday Al! Sorry the Celtics lost, but the Pats are still undefeated, A-Stupid stayed with the Yankees, and now Mike Lowell gave us some good news today.
We decided it was time to give our facelift, and so last weekend we went out, got some paint and some tiles and went to task. Who knew vinal tiling was this easy?
TLM even found a nice replacement for the whiteboard. Note the coat hooks, er, mega key rack on the bottom.
So it looks like A-Fraud will remain a Yankee after all, and the deal was done without superstar sports agent Scott Boras (haha). Good...he can hit all the home runs he wants, but as long as he's on the Yankees, they will never win a postseason series.
"I like to keep all the people I hate together, so I don't feel conflicted." -TLM on A-Rod staying with the Yankees
I agree. Needless to say many others called up sports radio today and shared the same sentiment. My big question is, why the rush? Wouldn't it have made more sense business wise for A-Broad to hold out until January, like Johnny Damon did? At least another month of shopping himself around was, I think, expected.
Some say he came crawling back because he always wanted to stay with the Yankers (maybe)...that it was his agent who caused all the friction (highly likely). Others will point out that not that many other teams would have been able to afford his hefty price tag (probably true). Still others will claim that he just wants to be on a winning team, a claim to which I respond "...so why is going back to play for the Yankees?".
I think something else is going on here. The Mitchell report is coming out within the next couple of months, and we already know that there are going to be some "big names" on the list, including over 10 current free agents. We also know that those free agents know who they are. Could it be that the big rush to sign a guaranteed contract with a team was, dare I say it, an act of desperation by a man who knows his value is about to go down? Is there a clause somewhere that will let the Yankees opt out of his contract if that's the case? Are purple lips a side-effect of using too many steroids?
Let him play on the Bronx so he can hold them back...while he is still allowed to play.
How cool is that title? "Aquatron" - is it some kind of underwater computer? Might it be an 80's game where you race fish? Perhaps it's a color most men have never heard of.
In fact, the Aquatron was a "Space Age" 8-track stereo put out by Brother in the late 60's / early 70s. I ran into one today when I went over to see Jaz's new place (finally, seeing as how he's been there a year).
The place was nice, and definitely lived up to the description he gave me, including lots of homemade art on the walls, a dance room, and an impressive ready-to-record music room. There was even an office (work is done between painting, dancing and playing music), complete with at least three Macs in sight - laptops and desktops - and it was in this room I saw the Aquatron sitting innocuously on the corner of a table.
It didn't really stand out at first, as there were lots of other interesting objects to look at in the room, but shortly after Jaz pointed out its suction-cup base and hide-away handle, he casually mentioned what I think is its coolest feature (and the reason I'm even posting about it): they have the Aquatron hooked up to play music through Airtunes.
That's right; one can port any music they want to hear directly to this stereo, (thus completely removing the need for 8-track tapes!). In a house where, and I quote, they "don't have cable, man", I find this to be the best use of Airtunes I've seen yet. Nice.
One of the classics is still the best, and is even available as a widget, though I decided to make it a post rather than a permanent part of the site in the name of productivity. Don't waste too much time, you have work to do!
I thought a little levity was in order today. TLM showed me a site a few days ago called icanhascheezburger.com, and I agree with how she described it to me: you may think it's stupid at first, but then you keep looking and you eventually find something hilarious. This is my recent favorite:
I lost a family member today. He'd been sick for a long time and he passed away early this morning in his home. He wasn't a brother or a grandfather, but I knew him, and he knew me.
Most of my memories of him come from my childhood. He and his wife would always be at family gatherings, and they would even host a Christmas party every year that seemingly everyone went to. I also remember my mother taking me on many, many summer trips out to a house he owned with his brother on a lake, where I learned how to swim.
I would never have to refer to an aunt or my mother and ask "What's his name again?", and I had heard many stories from my parents and others about him, though I never really got a chance to have a good conversation with him in my adult life.
I would see his wife, my 2nd cousin, at weddings and milestone birthday parties, but he was always not well enough to be there in person. I would ask about him and she would give me honest answers, then I'd say something like "Tell him I said hello."
More recently she'd suggest I come over for a visit, and though I always meant to, I never did. Never, that is, until two days ago when I went with my mother and my aunt and saw him nearing the end of his life.
He was mostly in a daze and wasn't able to talk much. All we could really do was talk to him, hold his hand, and ultimately say goodbye.
...
While we were there I saw lots of the things he had crafted around the house. This was his hobby and a big part of his life, and I never knew this about him. He had hand-made decorations everywhere, and I was even shown his workshop. It made me realize I could've known him a lot more, and likewise he could've known me a lot more too. I could've told him about how I met my fiancée, or how I play in a baseball league, or even just how I have my own blog.
I never had the chance to get to know him better, to know him as more than a figure from my childhood or a character in a family story. I never made the time to go and see him, and I should have.
It may sound cliché, but it should never be the case that you "don't have time". If there is something you mean to do, something you want to do, you make the time.
I can remember the first time I signed into Yahoo messenger all those years ago. I encouraged many of my friends to sign up for a Yahoo account just so they could use this wonderful new technology with me. In fact, I remember seeing recently a TXT somewhere on a backup disc that contained a transcript of a chat with AL-9000 (yeah, I was geeky then, too).
Then along came AIM. "Meh, who needs more than one of these things anyway?" I thought to myself, "Besides, all my friends are on Yahoo".
Such was not the case for too long, especially after the introduction of iChat. Even I, an ardent AOL hater, signed up for a free AIM account just so I could use this new IM client. Eventually, a dilemma evolved: how do I monitor all of my Buddy Lists at once? A better question: is there an easier way to monitor them all without having to open up all of these programs.
In fact, many people wondered the same thing, and consequently many solutions have sprung up over the years. My new personal discovery: Meebo. Not only do they allow for AIM, Yahoo, MSN, GoogleTalk, ICQ, and Jabber accounts, but they also have a nifty feature called MeeboMe that lets you put a "live chat" box (or whatever you want to call it) right on your blog (um, take a look to the right). Any visitor who wants to drop a line or chat love can do so through the Meebo widget, and it's as if they were on your buddy list.
You don't download Meebo; it's web-based and you let it stay open somewhere on your screen. Besides that the only downside I can see so far is no audio/video chat, but that's not uncommon. Oh, and let's hope you don't get MeeboMe'd to death from randoms who want to tell you how awesome your blog is....we do have actual jobs and work to do, after all.
So I stumble upon this site called BustedTees and almost immediately my inner adolescent manifests itself and I'm thinking not only about which of these I'd wear, but also of all those shirts I used to own. I had quite a collection, albeit in high school. Among those I can remember were a black Huckleberry Hound shirt, a "Don't Have a Cow, Man" Bart Simpson tee, a Speedy Gonzales shirt...I even had an original black Phillie's Blunt shirt (that wasn't telegraphing anything to the police, noooooo).
As I'm about to add to my cart a red shirt featuring a chimp in a beret with the words "Viva La Evolution", TLM walks in. I think to myself, "Great"...who better to enjoy a little online shopping with me? Instead, I'm told "I would rather you get something more age-appropriate. You can quote me on that." (see below!). Well, all it took was another look at their online catalog until we found something she thought was worth buying: a tee that read "Jesse and the Rippers", a reference (obviously) to the band John Stamos fronted in the TV show "Full House".
"I would rather you get something more age-appropriate." -TLM
So, is TLM right? Are these shirts meant to be worn only by high-schoolers and people born in the 90's? There were definitely some that I would guess people that young wouldn't understand, yet still there does seem something weird about wearing something that said "Leave Lindsay a-Lohan" or had a picture of William Shakespeare and the phrase "Prose before Hos". Should I live with reckless abandon and buy a few?
Hmmmm....maybe I'll just buy a few as "Christmas presents"...
Part 2 of 2...otherwise known as the top half. Before we continue: Number 6 is a tie. Ok, so some may think a tie in a top 10 list (or 12, whatever) is cheating, but when coming up with the shows I wanted to include, I could only trim it down to 13...and since it's my blog I say ties are allowed.
House features perhaps the most sarcastic character in the history of television, rivaled by only the likes of Archie Bunker. This season there's a slew of new characters in the form of candidates to fill the now-empty House assistant positions (Kumar!). The writers were smart to find ways to keep Omar Epps et. al. in the show while still introducing some much needed new blood into the mix. The most interesting part is that these new characters are systematically being "rejected" as the season moves on...sort of like a reality show.
Speaking of reality shows, no one does it better than the original: Survivor. This year they're in China, and so far it's a great season, full of controversy, drama, innovative challenges, new twists, and plenty of both characters we love and characters we love to hate. James looks unstoppable, albeit unintelligible, so much so that at times the producers give us subtitles. One weird name is gone (Chicken) and the other is becoming a favorite (Frosti). Peih-Gee and Courtney need to go home soon. Denise, the "school lunch lady" from Revere who happens to have a black belt in karate and loves throwing axes and knives, is my current favorite to win.
Any show that is crazy enough to include Tracy Morgan signing "Werewolf Bar Mitzvah", in HD no less, seems sketchy (sorry for the pun), but throw in some witty situations, a ton of one-liners, big name guest stars, Kenneth the Page, and Alec Baldwin (in perhaps his best role ever), and you have a quality show worth catching every week. Only downside for me: 30 Rock is just 30 min. long.
This one is 90% about the characters and 10% about the storylines, but that's fine when you have characters like Henry, Justin, Amanda, Marc, and of course the show's namesake, Betty. Oh, and as TLM may excitedly point out, Posh Spice is guest starring next episode. All of the people you see on the show epitomize some specific aspect of people's personalities in an extreme way, yet we find ourselves able to relate to them all at one point or another - something I think to be maybe the strongest part of the show. On a side note, I'm glad they finally ended Hilda's mourning over the loss of Justin's father (some pretty sad moments in there).
This show is funny, funny, funny, and gets my vote for "most underrated show on television". Every once in a while I'll throw out something I heard Barney or Ted say on a recent episode and three different people within earshot will turn around and smirk knowingly. Every episode makes me laugh and I don't even care anymore who Ted eventually has kids with (ala the show's title).
So suit up and watch this show, because the viewing experience is.....wait for it.....legendary.
The only reason this isn't tops on my list is because it got beaten out by a show everyone I know watches, and that's it. I've been hooked on Heroes since episode 1, and I can't think of any show ever that has a storyline as amorphous almost to the point of being too convoluted yet compelling enough to not lose its viewers. I watch this one as close to broadcast time as I can.
[DISCLAIMER: GEEK ALERT] I subscribe to a podcast about it.
This season Hiro is off fixing history in feudal Japan (he just got back), there is a mysterious villain killing off what is turning out to be a previous generation of heroes (Takezo Kensei / Adam, anyone?), and once again an ominous future is spelled out via a trip to the future by Peter - I think the stat was 93% of the world's population dies. Of course, we were introduced to several new characters, and as of yet no one has been killed off. If you've never seen an episode, it's worth starting at the beginning...of season 1.
This may not be a surprise for many, as it's one of the most popular shows around. As I mentioned in the Heroes blurb, everyone I know watches this, and if you work in an office environment I'm sure you're used to the water-cooler Michael Scott impersonations. This show has become so popular there was even a convention" this year in Scranton, PA (yup, the town agreed to it).
[DISCLAIMER: GEEK ALERT #2] I thought for a moment of tricking TLM into a "vacation" to Pennsylvania around the same time. Then I remembered about the real world.
This year we've seen, among other things, the irrigation room at Schrute Farm, Ryan's promotion and launch of a new website for the company, and Andy's problem with nipple chafing when running (byugh). Will Pam and Jim continue to be an item or will Roy come back? Will Dwight and Angela get back together? Can Darryl reign in Kelly? Can Kelly not annoy the hell out of anyone she's dating? Will Toby (the HR guy) ever find love at all?
In review:
The Office
Heroes
How I Met Your Mother
Ugly Betty
30 Rock
House / Survivor
Chuck
Gossip Girl
Journeyman
My Name Is Earl
The Sarah Silverman Program
Bionic Woman
So there you have it. NBC takes the cake broadcasting 7 out of the 13 shows mentioned, followed by CBS (2), ABC (1), FOX (1), the CW (1) and Comedy Central (1).
Which shows do you think got snubbed? America's Next Top Model? CSI? Bridezillas? Biggest Loser? The Hills, perhaps? Comment away...
I posted over on the TRintuition blog today about using its workBench to create scavenger hunts for a "basic computer use" class, an activity akin to what I used to use back in the late 90's.
(byugh...that feels like yesterday but was really about a decade ago).
TLM and I tried to watch "License to Wed" tonight, and in short, we could not get through this movie. It wasn't long before we started skipping ahead to the next chapter (and that was her idea...mine was to quit watching it altogether). This movie was predictable (except for maybe the robot babies - didn't see that one coming), not that funny, and overly focused on Robin Williams and his creepy kid sidekick. It was a waste of time and I give it half a star, my lowest so far, and that's only because of the cameos by cast members from "The Office".
Being down in the fourth quarter for the first time this year meant nothing, save for maybe setting the stage for 14 unanswered points and some huge defensive plays.
BC may have lost, but the Pats are unbeaten going into the bye week.
We're about 20 minutes away from the much anticipated (and hyped) matchup today between the Pats and the Colts. This is, needless to say, the game of the week. Both teams will start the game undefeated...but only one will still have a zero in the loss column when they end it.
Halloween's behind us, and to many people (and department stores) this means turning our sights towards Christmas. Since my sights are usually turned towards the TV watching shows on the DVR, I give you my:
Twelve Shows of Christmas This Fall
Please note that this list includes only shows that are on right now (else 24 and Lost would both have gotten the nod for sure).
I had higher hopes for this one. I was bored with the plot by the second episode, but for some reason I find myself not missing an episode...eventually. Must be the dialogue...
TLM has no time for this show, but I think it's brash and borderline vulgar humor is hilarious. Then again, I also watch a lot of cartoons, and not the Saturday morning variety. We're talkin' Family Guy, American Dad, Metalocalypse, and Frisky Dingo, to name a few. Silverman is right up my alley.
Ah, Earl. This year he's in the joint doing time for a crime he didn't commit. Ah, but what better forum in which to continue turning people's lives around in the name of karma? This show came close to not making the list as the novelty had all but worn off, but once Randy became a prison guard...well, I was hooked again.
This show was a surprise. I find it both engaging and interesting, and am glad the producers didn't ruin the story with bad or overwhelming special effects. Though each episode is essentially self-contained, the writers do a good job of keeping those other storylines moving along each week.
Ok, ok, so this show is meant for teenagers...TLM loves it and got me hooked. It's my guilty pleasure; I just can't wait to see what drama will unfold each week as the fantastically rich kids mingle with the rich-enough-to-attend-the-same-private-school kids. Too unrealistic? The suspension of disbelief occurs right away as each episode is narrated by "Gossip Girl", who seems to have spies and hidden cameras everywhere, not to mention lots of free time.
This is my winner for the "way better than I expected it to be" show. The basic plot is fun, the characters aren't shallow, and the cast includes Adam Baldwin, the Baldwin who isn't a Baldwin brother! Even the other nerds in the "Nerd Herd" (loosely based on the "Geek Squad", perhaps?) have depth, oh, and I think one of the geekier-looking actors went to my high school. I see this series continuing several more seasons before becoming stale....of course now that I wrote that it won't make it past episode 10.
Looking at the list, it seems that NBC is heavily represented in this half. Check in tomorrow to see who made the top six.
After the recent price drop a couple of weeks ago, I finally caved (to myself) and bought a PS3. Tonight, on our seemingly weekly trip to Target, I splurged some more and bought my first Blu-Ray movie. In fact, I ended up buying three of them...they had the "Spiderman" trilogy and I just couldn't resist.
Oh, and as if that wasn't enough, TLM noticed a Fantastic Four - Silver Surfer PS3 game on sale for $20, so I threw that in too (though the fact that it was 1/3 the usual price of games should have maybe persuaded me to leave it there).
To our immediate friends and family, it's no secret that TLM and I are engaged to be married. We want to do the right things at the right times, and we told people like my parents the next day or as soon as we could. There is of course the traditional and more formal announcement, complete with an engagement picture, usually published in a local newspaper.
Now I'm trying to be as educated a groom-to-be as I can (I'm even reading books like "The Everything Groom Book" to prove it) and I know that this initial engagement announcement is a big deal. How we look in the picture has to be just right, the details about who we are and what we do should be honest and modest, and the timing of when it gets printed is important...a rule of thumb is 3 to 4 months before the wedding.
(Before I continue...no, we haven't set a date yet. I can tell you it will be a lot more than 3 or 4 months away.)
In step the Red Sox. They win the World Series, and TLM and I go out the next day to buy commemorative shirts and hats, remembering what a challenge they were to find in 2004. As we're shuffling around our local Sports Authority, apparel in hand, a soft-spoken man with glasses stops us, mumbles something as he takes out a notepad, and starts asking me questions. I thought he worked for the store and was worried we were going to make off with the goods (why that was my first reaction is telling...), so I gladly supplied him some answers with a smile. He asked my name, where I lived, why I was there, and then he asked the same of TLM.
It was after the fourth or fifth question that I realized he may not be affiliated with the store at all, and asked him if he was an employee there. It turns out he was a reporter from the Patriot Ledger, and was there to cover...you guessed it...people buying Red Sox World Series stuff. We even had some photos taken of us holding up our new shirts.
In retrospect I don't even remember mentioning that TLM was my fiancée (though I am not surprised seeing as how proud I am of the fact), though surely enough that fact was made clear in the next day's paper as TLM and I were the first people quoted and featured in an article about the scene at the store.
So the question is: does this count as an engagement announcement, albeit an indirect one?
TLM says no, and so do I...I mean, they didn't even print our picture.
Content found on The Neoteric is of no particular genre, topic, or focus, other than it was all at some point, in some way, interesting enough to me to write about.
In light of Google's announcement that 
