Miscellaneous Notes

Got word today that Felipe Castro's mother wasn't kidnapped in her home in Venezuela over the weekend. She was kidnapped in Felipe's house. Forced entry. They broke right in through the front door. Also missing is Felipe's gardener. They're not sure if that man is kidnapped or a suspect. Obviously, I haven't been able to speak with Felipe. But I know this has to be a terrible time for him.

My dad, "Red" Scott, said if he could, he'd switch places with Felipe's mother. At first, I was tempted to reach out to Hugo Chavez myself and ask him to broadcast the offer throughout the country with the hopes of an exchange actually taking place. But then I got to thinking, this is exactly what my dad would want. He'd become the kidnapping victim just long enough to establish residency, then he'd escape and become a hero. I'd never hear the end of it. No, Dad, just come over to my house this Christmas and brag about something else you've done. I stopped listening in 1986 anyway.

I saw we traded for Sergio Dunn yesterday. He's an amazing athlete. I just hope he's in one piece when we see him in spring training. To be a tight end for the Dallas Cowboys and play left field for us, there's a lot of ice needed to keep that soreness away. If you think he's good now, how good would he be if he focused on just one sport? I'm just glad I won't be pitching against him this year. He's hit two grand slams off of me over the years. I'm unhappy when that happens.

My personal trainer, who I own, is trying to make me left handed. Since my right wrist is all wrapped up for a few weeks, Andy wants to take advantage and make my left side "stronger than one of those X-Men people." Since the X-Men are mutants (well, they as characters are mutants; real X-Men don't exist), Andy thinks my body will mutate from human to inhuman over the next three weeks with his patent pending Left Side Workout. I told him I should still have a strong right leg. And my right elbow needs the rehab, since it's the thing that was surgically repaired. And my right hip, right tricep, right pectoral, and right ear should all not atrophy just because my wrist reacted badly when I landed on it after slipping in my icy driveway. Andy listened carefully and quickly abandoned his patent pending Left Side Workout. Instead, he had me chasing roosters again. And yes, I am crapping thunder now.

We're having a holiday party at the house tomorrow night. A gaggle of strangers have been inside and outside the house, stringing up lights, greenery... That's really all they've done. But since they've been here for two days, I guess it's a lot of lights and greenery. It's a big house, so that makes sense. Mostly neighbors and family invited. Parents of Julia and Grace's friends. But I'll be keeping my eye open for anything out of the ordinary. I'm thinking the vandals will want to crash and try to learn more about the house and our habits. We've hired some security (Andy) for the bash, so nobody's getting past the door without a full crevice strip search.

I'm thinking Vanessa won't allow this for very long, so hopefully the vandals/party crashers come early. Plus, the food will be fresher too.