As you may have heard by now, a string of bomb scares in Boston today turned out to be marketing gone horribly wrong. The mysterious packages turned out to be magnetic lights put up for a planned promotion for Aqua Teen Hunger Force. These lights were put up in a number of cities, but apparently we were the only one to find them (or find them and go the bomb squad route).

I'm not sure if I should be happy that we picked up on this, or concerned that these things were up for a couple of weeks before being detected. Given the locations involved, an actual bombing would have screwed up traffic for months. Which is saying something, given how screwed up traffic is already.

And while it's not exactly relevant, this whole thing does remind me a bit of the book Remembrance Day that I read a month or so ago.

I was working on a post about my "blogging ennui," addressing a bunch of stuff of minor importance that was dancing around in my head. But I got a bit of a cranium sweeping earlier today thanks to a job-related snafu that will impact our fall graduation on Thursday (feel free to muse to yourselves about a fall graduation occurring in February).

Problem is that I don't like to write too much about work here (for the usual reasons), and thus you don't get the full story. I also don't quite get the same feeling I would for unloading. So I shouldn't even bother writing about this. But I am.

Is it time to go home yet?

Our run of warmer than usual winter weather has finally caught up with us in a hurry, as we're in single-digit temps at the moment and won't be getting out of the low teens today. I was considering the cold commute this morning when I went to turn on the shower and was met with something unexpected: an almost total lack of water.

As you can imagine, this got my attention pretty quickly. The cold water tap on the sink was putting out the barest of trickles, and the toilet tank did not seem to be refilling after a test flush.

After 37 years, I was facing my first frozen pipe.

Once I'd gotten the full scope of the problem in the bathroom, I went downstairs to the kitchen and found that we were getting plenty of cold water there, which was something.

I then trooped down to the basement, fearing that I'd see evidence not of a frozen pipe but a burst pipe. Thankfully, there were no indoor waterfalls in the basement, so I went to work confirming what I'd figured before: our cold water pipe runs along the front of the house before turning to go upstairs at the front left corner of the house. A corner which might as well be exposed to the elements, given how cold and breezy it was over there.

As I've mentioned before, I'm not the handiest guy around, so I hadn't really worked up a plan of action to this point other than getting our space heater and setting it to work in that corner of the basement. But what I lack in handiness I more than make up for in research skills, so I located the homeowner's guide book from Home Depot that the fabulous DeVeaus gave us for Christmas and looked up frozen pipes. Turns out the book had several excellent solutions for preventing frozen pipes, but was suprisingly quiet on unfreezing pipes.

But the Internet was more than willing to offer advice, giving me a couple of ideas that I put into motion. The first was to keep one of the upstairs taps open, which I think the wife had already done (she being from Maine, where this does happen on occasion). The other was to take a hair dryer to the pipe, though that seemed to be geared more for attacking the actual section of pipe with the frozen area.

I had no idea where that was (and it could very well be several feet up the wall), so I tried something related to that trickle of water. I kept the hair dryer at one point on the pipe, hoping that it would warm the water enough so that it'd speed thawing once it reached the frozen area.

After a few minutes of using the hair dryer (and moving it to a point farther along the pipe), I was rewarded with a banging sound and the audible flow of water as things started moving again. I hung out for a couple of minutes to see if this would lead to any leaking, but as things stayed dry I figured the worst had passed.

We've kept the cold water tap on the sink open a little, hopefully enough to keep the water moving so it won't freeze. Keep your fingers crossed.

Book Log 2007 #2: A Certain Justice by P. D. James

Once again Adam Dalgliesh is called upon to solve a murder, this time of a London barrister in her chambers whose body has also been desecrated in a way that may or may not be related to the killing.

From the few Dalgliesh mysteries I've read, I've always been impressed with how a series can be built around someone who appears in so little of the book. I'm assuming he was more central of a character in earlier entries; regardless, it underscores the job James does in creating the story that she can pull this off as successfully as she does.

Recommended, of course.

During those months when we take the long drive to the in-laws in Maine without the benefit of the Red Sox Radio Network, we've found a new on-air friend who gets us to where we're going with music, musings, and information that will improve our lives.

His name is John Tesh.

As noted by Cooch a few days ago, John Tesh has his own radio program (to which I can't bring myself to link, though it's easy to find via Google). Not sure when we first came across it, but it seems like most drives involve at least a few minutes listening to this cross between Prevention magazine and soft/light rock radio.

We don't exactly like the show, but the music is generally agreeable for a longish drive. The "intelligence for your life" is at least amusing, as witnessed by a discussion prompted by a list of the acceptible places to touch co-workers. Let's just say I could never engage in as much ass-pinching at my job as the wife does at hers.

It's exacly the sort of show you'd expect from John Tesh, which I guess is why we're not as horrified by it as we could be. At least he doesn't play any of his own music.

(I promise, at some point I will post on something other than sports. Just not now.)

For reasons I can't even fathom, I started to read today's Bill Simmons column at ESPN.com. I suppose I was drawn in by the teaser that compared the Pats to the Yankees (apparently in terms of hate by outside fans).

I couldn't bring myself to wade through however many words were used to explain why we should love the Pats, but I was taken aback by a comment that, as a sports fan in Boston, I was supposed to grow up hating the Yanks, Habs, Steelers, and Cowboys. The first two made sense. The Cowboys doesn't seem to fit geographically, but I learned to dislike them given the hubris behind the "America's Team" thing.

But the Steelers? I still don't understand why I was supposed to dislike them. Simmons may have resented their winning ways, but I didn't. The logical team to put here is the Dolphins, whose general success and marquee players were capped by the long-time losing streak we had to them at the Orange Bowl.

Once again, I have no idea what Simmons is talking about. I suppose that's a good thing.

So equal time for some other sports, in the hopes of placating Greg with something:

Baseball - The wife will be displeased with the news that Trot Nixon signed a one year deal with the Cleveland Indians. I suppose she'll get to see him when the Tribe and the Sox face off. Assuming he's not hurt.

Hockey - steer yourself over to Slate to see an interesting article on how the NHL fixed the All-Star vote to keep Rory Fitzpatrick from starting. Clearly there were voting irregularities, but it's amazing to see how inept the league was in (a) preventing it from happening, and (b) correcting the problem.

A similar problem hit the Hobey Baker folks, and they at least caught it early enough to shut things down and start over. I'm still a little surprised at how the parties involved - or their IT folks - didn't set up the security correctly in the first place.

Unrelated, but the pair of wins by the Icedogs in Maine last weekend was the first time they'd won two in Orono since 1986. Now if we can just manage to win both this weekend against Merrimack.

Basketball - the Celtics still stink.

Cycling - with Floyd Landis out of the way, things were clear to name Tour de France runner up Oscar Pereiro as the actual winner, right?

Wrong.

Turns out that he also failed drug tests during the race. In his case it was for a banned asthma medication, for which he claims to have a waiver. The problem for Oscar is that the French officials don't seem to think that the waiver was justified.

If Pereiro gets bumped, there are only four more riders the French would have to disqualify to get a native son into the winner's circle. That's doable.

So, anyway, there are a couple of football games this weekend.

NFC - as much as I feel for the people of New Orleans, I am getting a bit sick of the Team of Healing story line for the Saints. It's a little too reminiscent of the post-9/11 Patriots as Team of Destiny vibe, as both are understandable but liable to wear thin over time.

And while I hate to be a party pooper, I do tend to think that the Saints won't win in Chicago. Not sure why, as the Saints clearly have enough offense and a strong enough defense, and there's always an even chance or better that Rex Grossman is going to implode.

I suppose I'm going based on the lack of success dome teams have out in the open when it's cold. Sunday's forecast for Chicago says snowy and 30 degrees, which sounds like it could be problematic, even for a team whose top pass and catch tandem played at Purdue and Hofstra.

AFC - in stating the case for the Colts, Len Pasquarelli called them a team of destiny. He didn't have much of a rationale, which is understandable, as there is none. Clearly, if anyone gets a break from destiny this year, it's the Saints.

His other points were more reasonable - the Pats injuries at DB and the Colts vertical passing game, and the Colts now having the NFL's pre-eminent clutch kicker on their roster. The Colts also get to play this game at home, which can't hurt.

But I'm still going for the Pats, because I'm a total homer. I think the Pats are smart enough to know that they can't just beat the Colts with the run, and that they've got the defensive coaching talent to throw some things at Manning that he's not seen on film. I'd also like to think that the secondary will actually execute that game plan, and that Asante Samuel takes Ty Law's place as chief Manning tormentor. But that may be wishful thinking.

I also hope that the Pats win on a Gostkowski field goal. Nothing against Vinatieri, but after hearing about that story every game, it'd be nice to shut people up about it.

An open letter to Brent James, athletic director at the University of Maine at Orono

Dear Mr. James:

My name is Mark Coen, and I attended tonight's men's hockey game between your school and Boston University at Alfond Arena. I was seated in section FFF, row 7, seat 10. I note this because, for $23 (the same price I would pay at the state of the art Agannis Arena at BU), I got a seat with an obstructed view.

What it did not obstruct were the four times the game was stopped in order to make repairs to the nets, which apparently come off the moorings and break if they're looked at cross-eyed. Which leads me to the point of my letter: please take some of the $23 I paid to see 85 percent of the game and replace your shitty nets.

Thanks,

Mark

Book Log 2007 #1: Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero by David Maraniss

Back during the baseball book a week phase I'd read a somewhat unsatisfying biography of Clemente, and found it odd that a player of his caliber and with his tragic hero background hadn't commanded a definitive work. And while I wouldn't call this a definitive work, it does go a long way towards that goal.

Part of what keeps it from making that final push, for me, is that while there's a lot of discussion of Clemente's personality quirks, it's not always clear to see where they came from. There is but one chapter about Clemente's formative years in Puerto Rico, and while what is there provides some insight, I can't help but feel that there's something missing. I suppose it can't be helped in some cases - a number of useful interview subjects now being deceased - but I still think there's material out there that'd be useful.

A smaller part comes late in the book, when Richard Nixon pops up. There's enough of a tie-in to make Nixon's presence germane, but I don't get the feeling it was useful, either in recounting and examining Clemente's life or in setting the tone for that part of the book.

Still, this is a nicely written work that gives the fullest examination of Clemente's life to date. That it's a contemporary baseball book not about the Y@nkees (or even the Red Sox, I have to admit) is a bonus.

We apparently got tremendous value from our free burner service today - the last inspection tag on the furnace was from 1998, and it appears that was the last year it was actually serviced. According to the wife, the technician said he was surprised that the thing was working. He spent a couple of hours working on it, which I imagine was more than he planned.

And we've finally got a thermostat in place, so we can control what is hopefully the more efficiently-generated heat. The problem is that the wires were backwards, and given how some of the other stuff has gone, why wouldn't they be?

Another step in the house work completed: we have a new chimney. OK, it's more like 99.5 percent completed, as there's some roof work needing to be done around the new flashing, and it's been suggested that we put in a liner. Roof work will be done next week. Not sure about the liner - it's a lot of money, and I don't think we're required to have it given the age of the house. It may be something we do later.

We did have one tricky night/morning during this part of the project, as we had some strong winds that, when combined with the loosely-tied tarp, caused part of the staging to come loose and bang around. No damage done, but it was more noise than you like to hear on your roof at 3 a.m.

The living room work continues, with new trim installed and work done in preparation for painting. The real issue, though, it that we're currently living without a thermostat. Which means we get heat or no heat, depending on whether or not the wires that used to go into the thermostat are crossed or not. This was less of a problem when the temps were unseasonably warm. It is more of a problem now, given that lows last night and tonight are going to be in the teens and low 20s.

There's been some sort of problem installing a new one, but someone from the oil company is coming to service our furnace today, so they may have some specialized knowledge to help get it working. Let's hope so, anyway.

Outside of the joys of home ownership, the other notable thing going on now is at work, where we continue down the path of switching over information systems. I won't go into too much detail, but let's just say that there seems to be a correlation between the number of consultants and such running around here and delays in getting things done. Admittedly I'm way at the fringe of this thing, so I'm quite likely underplaying the progress that's been made. It doesn't feel like it, though.

Blogalicious College Football Top 10 FINAL

1. Boise State (def. Oklahoma 43-42 in OT) - Yup, me and Greg Archuleta are locked and loaded and heading to BCS HQ. When you win with a modified Statue of Liberty and the guy who scores it then gets the girl, I have to throw you my vote.

Next opponent: Weber State (9/1)

2. Florida (def. Ohio State 41-14) - While I'm not a fan of the Fake Bowl, I'm happy they didn't have the "plus one" bowl once talked about. Had someone decided to let Florida play Boise State, TVs across the land would have imploded from all the blue and orange. Though I suppose that would hasten the HDTV conversion in a lot of homes.

Next opponent: Western Kentucky (9/1)

3. Ohio State (lost to Florida 14-41) - I prefer to think that the opening kickoff return caused such a tsunami of momentum that it injured Ted Ginn's ankle and put the rest of the team in some sort of shock. It'd explain why they played like ass for the other 59+ minutes, at least.

Next opponent: Youngstown State (9/1)

4. LSU (def. Notre Dame 41-14) - I was thinking of putting LSU in front of Ohio State based on their bowl results, but between playing what was basically a home game and getting to play the Irish - who haven't won a bowl since they took out Illinois-Normal in the 1923 Sorghum Bowl - this wasn't their most taxing challenge of the season.

Next opponent: Middle Tennessee (9/1)

5. Wisconsin (def. Arkansas 17-14) - I was also thinking of putting the Badgers in front of LSU given that they've only got one loss and took out the SEC runner-up in their bowl game. But then I reminded myself of their non-conference schedule - fat with teams like Bowling Green and Buffalo - and wonder if I shouldn't drop them lower.

Next opponent: Washington State (9/1)

6. Louisville (def. Wake Forest 24-13) - Perhaps too high, but this could be their swan song given Petrino's flight to Atlanta and the possiblity of Brian Brohm turning pro. So let's throw them a bone.

Next opponent: Good question. Louisville doesn't have their 2007 schedule up, and the two schools that seem like candidates - NC State and Vandy - don't have anything, either.

7. USC (def. Michigan 32-18) - Similar reasoning here for what I did with LSU, given that they also played a home bowl game and got to play the Wolverines - who last won the Rose Bowl in 1904, when they bested a plucky squad from the Los Angeles College of Art and Design.

Next opponent: Idaho (9/1)

8. Auburn (def. Nebraska 17-14) - I miss the days when the Cotton Bowl was a major game. That's all I've got.

Next opponent: Mississippi State. I think? Schedule information here is sketchy.

9. West Virginia (def. Georgia Tech 38-35) - Sadly, there are no more Georgia schools for the Mountaineers to play in bowl games. They'll have to start on a new state next year.

Next opponent: Ball State (9/1)

10. Appalachian State (def. Massachusetts 28-17) - It was not as close as the score makes it appear. Back-to-back titles for the Mountaineers, who are the best college football team in North Carolina at this point.

Next opponent: OK, I'm too impatient to wait for their athletics site to load to keep looking for this. Sorry

Out of top 10:

Michigan - probably too harsh on the Wolverines, but it was a very ugly loss.

Oklahoma - a completely different kind of ugly loss.

Massachusetts - not an ugly loss per se, but there were very few times that you thought that the Minutemen were going to make a game of things.

Hey, it was a weekend.

Friday we went back to the Cabot for The Queen, the story of how the British royal family couldn't get out of their own way in the wake of Princess Di's death until Tony Blair saved them. Seriously, Tony Blair comes out out this thing smelling like a rose.

Pretty clear to see why Helen Mirren is getting accolades from one and all, though. Very nicely nuanced performance when she could have easily taken Her Nibs into one-note territory.

Only two previews, for Stranger Than Fiction and For Your Consideration. We'll probably see them both.

Saturday we had folks come to plaster the living room, though we spent most of the day doing walking-distance errands and just farting around. We did go to see the Icedogs skate to their 0-0 tie with Northeastern, which was pretty frustrating given how they'd taken it to PC the night before.

The hockey meant not watching much of either playoff game. I did watch a decent amount of the first ever International Bowl, which had all the excitement you'd expect from a Western Michigan-Cincinnati tilt (though there was apparently some exciting trickery from WMU, which I think I slept through).

Sunday was pretty lazy indeed, as after church I pretty much spent the next six hours sitting on the couch watching football. Going back to the church part for a moment, it was the last service for both the main part of the church and the pipe organ for some time (renovations to both), and as a send off the choir closed things with the Hallelujah chorus from Handel's Messiah, and did a very nice job for a bunch of volunteers and an organ that needs six months of work. Though it will make the next few months, when we're in the lower church with an electric organ, seem a little drab.

Colts, Seahawks, Pats, Eagles.

The mercury cracked 63 degrees in Boston today, setting a new high temperature for the day. The old record was 62, set in 1993.

The wife and I used to talk about where we'd move down south when we got to retirement age. Now, I don't think we'll need to move, and we'll have to keep the in-laws' house to have a cool place to retreat to in the summer. On the plus side, my brother will be happy with being able to golf 365 days a year.

And for whatever reason, the National Weather Service uses the same system to notify us of the record-setting event that they do to warn of severe weather. Here I was thinking we'd get a January thunderstorm or something.

So I went on to Boston.com to read up on today's inauguration of Deval Patrick, and instead of seeing the new governor, the first image I get is that of Speaker Nancy Pelosi. And while I recognize the import of that story - first woman Speaker, House changing hands and all that - I find it odd that a newspaper in Boston wouldn't work it out so that the first thing you see is inaugural coverage of the guy who is running the state that Boston is in. I'm blaming the Times overlords.

Hello, all. I wish I had some good excuse for making this my first post of 2007, but I don't.

The wife and I continued our War Against New Year's Eve by staying home. She was asleep before Ryan Seacrest could pry the last scrap of confetti out of his product-coated hair, but I couldn't sleep and instead watched a couple of episodes of No Reservations. One was the show Bourdain did while writing a magazine article that later turned up in The Nasty Bits, so that was an interesting bit of recursion to kick off the new year. It's a pretty good show, and I find that I'm getting used to his prickish personality. Not sure if that's for the best or not.

New Year's Day saw us start our next bit of significant work on the house, as we demoed the living room in preparation for an overhaul. Took out the trim and moldings, removed the tiled ceiling (about half of which came down on its own in a cartoon-like moment, but without anyone getting hit in the head), opened up a doorway the previous owner had covered up, and tore down the plaster and lathe from one wall (there was some damage, and it'll allow us to add insulation as it's the wall that's on the side of the house).

To be fair, "we" was predominantly my sister-in-law's boyfriend. I mostly did the three things I do best - hold things, clean up, and stand around waiting to be told what to do. Having seen a few of the things, though, I think I could do more the next time we do something like this. Just not a whole lot more.

Oh, we also took out the carpet and found that we do have a decent wood floor. There's hope that it can be refinished, which would be nice.

I do have pictures, which I'll put up somewhere as we go along.