new and improved

it's time again for another site re-design for adamjmartin.net - this time the focus has moved from trying to come up with a sexxxy graphic design to simplifying the navigation and distributing the content of this site in a more useful way.

formerly this blog was a place for me to rant/vent/exult about boston sports teams (especially the Sox) and also ramble on technology, tv, movies, quantum physics...

recently it has been brought to my attention that I may have what others might consider useful knowledge when i talk about multimedia, cdns, web apps or just theorize on what media orgs should be doing to succeed on various digital platforms (apparently working for a small outfit called npr.org is well regarded by certain types - who knew?)

so there's new navigation to help find that information and there's individual rss feeds and a few widgets on their way to help keep you up to date on the stuff you care about while I (try to) avoid the many rants, musings and ramblings that are sure to continue to take up space on this blog.

so this is my (very minimal) attempt to add something of value to the 'conversation' - use any of the info/tips/tricks you find here only for good, never for evil (that's from the super hero's creed or google or maybe that's the same thing now?) and if you're so inclined, add something of your own in the comments or use the contact page

thanks - hope this place becomes something useful
-- ajm

the top 10 list @ 30

top 10 'life-goals' to reach before 30th birthday (today! 5/9)

10. amass large fortune and become an eccentric philanthropist
uhh yeah... not quite there yet
9. perfect a signature cocktail
done *rye, fresh ginger, simple syrup, lemon, ice... call it 'a damn fine drink'
8. earn college degree
done (twice) got that BS in '01 and an MA in '07 - a real man of letters now
7. be deserving of the respect and admiration of others
2 nephews tell me i'm the coolest guy in the world... good enough for me
6. three ladies at the same time
5. lead Red Sox to 1st World Series title in 86 years
no starts in CF during the 2004 season but i feel my off-the-field contributions had a positive impact on the Sox impossible comeback and WS sweep so I'm saying 'done'
4. buy Porsche 911 Turbo for my old man
sorry Pop didn't quite get to this one... you deserved it though
3. find a career that i can be passionate about
done? i'm definitely living (and sometimes loving) life with npr.org making things happen for public media on the innerwebs but sometimes i think maybe there's something else...?
2. complete work on perpetual motion machine
almost there
1. find good woman to love and take care of my ridiculous ass
done *bonus points because she's good lookin' too

Home Opener 2008

Fenway Park, in Boston, is a lyric little bandbox of a ballpark. Everything is painted green and seems in curiously sharp focus, like the inside of an old-fashioned peeping-type Easter egg. It was built in 1912 and rebuilt in 1934, and offers, as do most Boston artifacts, a compromise between Man’s Euclidian determinations and Nature’s beguiling irregularities. Its right field is one of the deepest in the American League, while its left field is the shortest; the high left-field wall, three hundred and fifteen feet from home plate along the foul line, virtually thrusts its surface at right-handed hitters.

from John Updike’s essay Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu

opening day

“I believe in the Church of Baseball. I’ve tried all the major religions, and most of the minor ones… I’ve tried ‘em all, I really have, and the only church that truly feeds the soul, day in, day out, is the Church of Baseball.”
Annie - from Bull Durham

It's opening day (morning? the next day?) with your defending World Champion (never gets old) Boston Red Sox taking on the Oakland A's at the... Tokyo Dome?! 6a est is start time, can't say I'll be awake for the first 'official' pitch of the season but that's what TiVo is for...
Not sure how I'll handle this season's posts - maybe play-by-play and running commentary on Twitter?! (or maybe not, I'm thinking that could easily become very annoying for everyone involved so i'm open to suggestions) anyway as always, the sox blog will be the place to go for in-game rants and raves and some post game analysis as the development of AFSAB continues...

LET'S PLAY BALL!

Freezin' for F1rst Jobs

Thanks to everyone who supported this year's Freezin' for F1rst Jobs plunge. There was plenty of snow on the ground at Hampton Beach to add to the overall ridiculousness of the day's event but nine 'plungers' braved the elements to help raise money for the Ernie Martin / F1rst Jobs Scholarship fund. Last year's event raised enough money to provide scholarships and internships for 3 north shore area students and this year we hope to raise even more money through all your support.

Enjoy the video and check out more pics of all your favorite plungers in action
-- AJM
*there's still time to pledge your dollars for this year's plunge - just e-mail adam@adamjmartin.net for more info and updates on future events.

A Welcome Arrival to Sports Fan Normalcy

The joy, exhilaration, fulfillment and satisfaction that come from this latest Red Sox World Series Championship cannot be matched by the complete and overwhelming sense of 'normalcy' I now feel.

This is what it should be like to be a fan of a professional sports team. You cheer your team all season long enjoying the wins while agonizing over the losses. The team is successful and reaches the playoffs where the intensity of each game rises to a higher level. The wins become more rewarding, the losses more painful. But there is no sense of sickening dread. No feeling of physical anguish, no heart-stopping, stroke-causing, mind-crippling, comatose-inducing accompaniment to every...win (the losses go beyond any literary description I am capable of)

I thought (hoped, wished, prayed) those feelings would have left me after the glorious 2004 Season. That October, The 25 triumphed over 86 years of not hopelessness, hope is what had made it all so cruel...
Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane©Red What that Team did was triumph over all the forces; cosmic, karmic... demonic, that had made being a Red Sox fan a fantastically miserable one that could only be understood by those who had staggered on as survivors of the team's tortured history.

Sadly though, those same feelings persisted. Once the elation of 2004 subsided and a new season began, they returned once again. Only now they were accompanied by a new feeling nearly as devastating as 'what if I never see them win it?'. The feeling that 'what if I never see them win another one?'. Those fans of the 1918 Red Sox had no idea what their life and the lives of their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren would become. But fans of the 2004 Red Sox knew all to well the burden that had been hoisted upon us... "what if there are no more championships? what have we done to future generations who will be born in to this unholy cadre with only the mythical memories of the names of Ortiz, Schilling, Varitek, Ramirez and Foulke... no more real to them then the names Ruth, Hooper, Mays, Leonard and Strunk are to our generation?"

But now, after the Boston Red Sox second World Series championship in the last four seaons I feel a sense of... normalcy - which as a fan, is all I've ever wanted. I don't need to cheer for a team that wins Back-to-Back-to-Back' championships or becomes a 'Dynasty'. As a fan, all I have ever really wanted is simply the chance to enjoy the game. To know that if my team possesses the necessary talent and performs to their potential over the course of the season, that as a fan, I will be rewarded quite logically (remember the word 'logically' once held no meaning for Red Sox fans) with a Championship.

No longer does each season carry with it a sense of dread. No more intolerable anguish. All those feelings can now be replaced with normalcy. Happiness follows a win, disappointment a loss... and that's it. Am I somehow less of a fan now? I don't think so. Is being a Red Sox fan somehow less special, the experience less singular than it once was - probably. Is being a member of 'The Nation' now just like being a fan of any other successful sports team? I hope so...

The 25 made a chance at normalcy a possibility on October 27, 2004 but it wasn't until tonight, October 28, 2007, that Sports Fan Normalcy became a reality.
So Thank You and Congratulation to the 2007 Boston Red Sox - World Series Champions and bringers of normalcy to Red Sox Nation.

¡Alegría!

¡Alegría! the 'Joy of Beisbol' is back! Pedro Martinez returned to the mound today for the first time this season, completing his recovery from shoulder surgery. His final line, 5 IP 2 ER 4 K (including punchado #3000) was not a vintage performance as Pedro worked mostly in the mid-80s with his fastball relying heavily on his cutter + changeup but it was enough against the Reds for career win number 207. More importantly he provided the Mets with an emotional boost that may carry them deep into October.

"Having him back in the clubhouse is a shot of life," -- David Wright.

'Life' is something Pedro will always bring to the game. The Pedro Martinez that dominated baseball from 1997 - 2002 will never be seen again. The 96 mph fastball he used to intimidate hitters before baffling them with his Bugs Bunny changeup is gone and he's no longer able to summon the vicious curveball that left batters motionless. His tattered, torn and now surgically repaired shoulder won't allow him to call upon his once unparalleled physical talent for pitching a baseball. But the alegria, the joy, that is inside of him cannot be suppressed by age or injury. All of us who are fortunate enough to witness him on a mound even at this stage of his career should welcome his return to the Game with his same passion and joy.