Ramble On ... Day Late

The Rangers had a homecoming
In Harlem late last night
And the Magic Rat drove his sleek machine
Over the Jersey state line
Barefoot girl sitting on the hood of a Dodge
Drinking warm beer in the soft summer rain
The Rat pulls into town rolls up his pants
Together they take a stab at romance
And disappear down Flamingo Lane

Bruce in Jungleland

With all due apologies, to The Blog @ Terry Lyons dot com readers, to the loyal fans of STAR WARS and to The Boss, here is my lede:

"Well, the Celtics had a homecoming in Newton late last night
And the Rebels found a new base station near the Ice Planet Hoth property line,
Bauer skates and snow boots tucked in the back, third row seat
as I close the swingin' door of a Rav 4
T pulls out the drive and heads to the rink
Together they shovel another record snow
And disappear down Grant Avenue."

-- You get the idea.

It is cold and snowy once again. Schools Closed. The Ice Planet Hoth thermometer is hovering around 60-degrees in the dark overcast sky.

I made my Folgers single packet and the wife and kids are still asleep. Fireplace is roaring, although the logs are sizzling a bit, meaning there's some moisture in the wood.

Two major set backs.

1. Marymount automatically calls Clare when the school closes. That call came at about 5:30am - on both home and cell phone.
2. I left my "Weekday Only" alarm on.

***

TL STRIKES BACK.

Snow boots on (check)
A quick jaunt down the driveway to get papers (check)
Boston Globe (check)
Wall St Journal (check)
NYT (check)
Space heater. (check)
Some quiet and soothing classical piano on the Bose Sound Box (check)
Duraflame log to get the fire going (check)
Plenty of firewood for the rest of the day (semi check)
Only 6-7 logs left and that could be trouble... Damn.

***

Quick catch up.

Johnnie's on the Side has been "Rockin Steady"
Kickin' Ace. Doing great. Full house.
Good Friday crowd turned to the post-game Saturday Bruins then to the pregame Boston Blazers crowd to the UNBELIEVABLE Boston Blazers postgame party.
Great tunes - live downstairs.
Blazers players dressed in suits or classic business casual was impressive.
Bill Belichek at Johnnies for pregame dinner with his family, then taking in the Blazers game, then returning to Johnnies for a postgame relaxation fest.
Sunday Reggae brunch PACKED as the pregame to the Celtics.
The brunch is so popular now, you'll need reservations two+ weeks in advance.

My buddy, Stephen, invited me to the Pistons at Celtics game.
Caught up with a ton of people near teh Celtics media section and in the press room at halftime. (A place, I usually try to avoid when I do not have a legot working function at a game).
Yesterday, I did, as I was doing some serious business with Stephen and also needed to chat with a gew media types for stories in the works.

***

I cut a deal to work as a columnist for Basketball 24/7 of Britain from March Madness through the NBA Draft. I will concentrate on a lot of college hoops going forward and will benefit greatly from the strategic location of Boston to see no less than:

ACC - BC as home base
BIG EAST - Providence right down the road -- (I digress by noting that it is closer than taking the M-86 to the C line to The Garden from my NYC apt or the M86 to the Lex 4 Train to the E to Queens to Queens Blvd to the Q 44 to Springfield/Union Tpke to Utopia Parkway to see my "Jamaica Mistakes.")
Colonial - Northeastern Huskies at Matthews Arena
America East - BU Basketball
IVY - at the house that Tommy Amaker hasn't built (yet)
Among others...

NCAA Men's East Regional (Boston) and the Div II championship in Springfield, Mass will fill out the March Madness before the Celtics and the NBA Playoffs take over town, never mind the Sox and Bruins. Good things ahead for Mass sports fans.

***

Here's the Boston Globe take on the weather:

A heavy winter storm dumped up to 8 inches of snow in parts of Massachusetts this morning, slowing the early commute to a crawl and canceling classes at hundreds of schools.

The swirling snow is expected to keep falling at a rate of 1 to 2 inches an hour into the early afternoon, leaving 6 to 10 inches of accumulation in Boston with higher totals west of the city.

"The heaviest snow should taper off by noon," said Alan Dunham, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Taunton. "This is a wetter snow, so you have to be careful when you shovel. It can really get you going."

By 7 a.m., snowfall totals hit 4.5 inches in Roslindale and 8 inches in Westfield. On Long Island, the National Weather Services measured 11.7 inches of snow, giving an indication of what is headed to New England. The snow mixed with sleet on Cape Cod and in Plymouth and Bristol countries.

A winter storm warning remains in effect until 1 p.m. When the snow does stop falling, wind gusting to 35 miles per hour is expected to continue to make driving difficult.

The storm was forecast as the second half of a one-two punch that began hitting the region yesterday. A small storm in the morning yielded 1 to 2 inches in some parts of Eastern Massachusetts by afternoon.

Even that storm created trouble on the roadways, making for slippery driving conditions that sent a few cars off the road.

In Marion, a state police cruiser traveling westbound on Interstate 195 struck a guardrail shortly before 9 a.m. The trooper was taken to Tobey Hospital in Wareham, where he was treated for minor injuries and released, according to State Police.

State Police Sergeant David Mahan said the weather had caused many accidents on state highways in Wilmington and Barnstable.

After 8 p.m. yesterday, the roads basically froze over, police said. Dozens of cars slid out of control or crashed in the South Shore, particularly on I-93, where there were reported 20-car and six-car pileups around the Route 24 exit, according to Mahan . Mahan said there also were accidents reported on I-95 in Norwood and I-495 in Wrentham. No serious injuries were reported.