How did my family react to receiving these gift boxes from The Onion?

In order to have a little fun over my Christmas break on Cape Cod, I decided to package a select few presents inside these gift boxes. On Christmas Eve, four boxes were distributed. One, the Sounds of the Rainforest Smoke Alarm, went to my grandmother for her to open on her own. Three of the boxes were used at the annual Christmas Eve party at my Aunt and Uncle’s Yarmouthport home. My Uncle Eddy received the Visor-Ganizer (pictured above), my Aunt Margaret received iFeast (pictured above), and My Aunt Jeanne was subjected to the Kleen-Stride (also, pictured above). My Uncle received his gift first and caught on after reading that he could have “7 lbs.” on his visor. My Aunts, however, seemed content with their unique gifts. The iFeast stayed in its box for half of the evening, because the iPod, for their dogs, probably “had to charge”.

On Christmas morning, my mom received the Professional Whisk Set with 28 Whisks. Even after seeing the three boxes the previous night, she didn’t catch on immediately that this was a joke. Meanwhile, my grandmother called to say thank you for the Smoke Alarm, because they needed a new one. At that point, my family packaged up the whisk set (with two oranges and a new CFL bulb) to give them at Christmas dinner. Surprisingly, it was also thought to be a real gift. Even after its citrusy and environmental innards were uncovered, the smoke alarm, which has a remote with a “snooze button”, was still thought to be real.

Overall, it was a successful experiment and provided a lot of laughter on Christmas Eve. I am headed back to Raleigh on Monday morning, and will be back to work on Tuesday!

Unfortunately, Cape Cod only has one VW dealer: Tracy Volkswagen in Hyannis. I’m banned from their service department.

And the story begins…

After a thorough car search this past summer, I ended up getting an ’07 VW Rabbit (aka Golf V outside North America). It’s a great little car that a tall guy like me can fit in. I decided to purchase from Tracy after reading mixed reviews, and was overall happy with the purchase process (though I now know that I overpaid). After barely driving it over the weekend, I left for work and my MIL (emissions) light went on. I brought it into Tracy a few days later and they said that mice had chewed through a hose. It would cost me $400+ (not covered under warranty).

I later called up the service manager John Medeiros, who quickly escalated his voice after I suggested if the light was not activated due to not the car not being driven. I even did a little science experiment with bait around where my car was parked. All the bait was still there after a couple months. Sales manager Steve Tellegen kindly refunded me my money after a couple emails.

This week, I needed service for my big trip to North Carolina. I called up Tracy (crazy, I know) to schedule an appointment since I also had a headlight recall I needed checked out. Soon enough, I was on the phone with John Medeiros, who informed me they would prefer not to service my car. They apparently did not like me telling my story on some VW forums (I told them I posted there).

If you want a VW in Massachusetts, I’d recommend Wellesley Volkswagen and South Shore Volkswagen (poor choice for a domain name, though) [EDIT 11/16/09: out of business].

• Video on Dailymotion
• Video on NewsBusters

A= Zero critical violations and no more than 3 non-critical violations
B= One critical violation and less than 4 non-critical violations; or if no critical, 4-6 non-critical violations
C= Two critical violations and less than 4 non-critical; Or if no critical, 7-8 non-critical violations
P= Probation, establishment requires monitoring due to failure to meet minimum sanitation standards.

In LA, restaurants with a B or less are avoided by the public. Here in Barnstable, some of the most popular restaurants were given Bs, Cs, and Ps. A total of eight eating establishments got probation including Au Bon Pain (Cape Cod Mall), the expensive Cape Cod Melody Tent Snack Bar, Cotuit Grocery (Main St., Cotuit), Freshens Yogurt (Cape Cod Mall), Lambert’s Rainbow Fruit (West Main St., Centerville), the Osterville Fish Market (Rt. 28, Osterville), Pizza 1 & Subs 2 (Rt. 28, Marstons Mills), and Scottie’s Famous Pizza (Rt. 132, Hyannis).

207 eating establishments were rated in total. 93 received an A, 66 got a B, and 40 were given a C. Read more in the Barnstable Patriot article and see the official results from the Town (PDF) . Next time you go out to eat on the Cape, make sure to check the list first.

For more interesting articles about the Cape League, check out CodBall.com, where I blog along with Cape league fan Greg Shaw.

More new league info was released yesterday this CCBL press release.

The Gatemen roster will see many changes before next season. Half of their initial roster has returnees. If anything, I just hope Beamer Weems (Baylor) returns in 2007 to the Cape. Talk about having a baseball name.

Since I grew up in a section of Barnstable Village, I was skeptical of not only ghosts, but also of learning anything new on the tour. To my surprise, I learned quite a bit about what was haunted in Barnstable Village, and some history too.

The tour started at Sturgis Library and proceeded down 6A toward the Cobb’s Hill Cemetery, with a few stops along the way. Then, the tour crosses the road to the Coast Guard Heritage Museum (formerly the Trayser Museum) with the old jail. After that, the tour proceeds back down the other side of 6A with plenty of stops including the Court House. The climax of the tour is at the Cape’s most haunted house: the Barnstable House. Eleven ghosts are said to haunt the house in total!

The tour lasted a total of 2.5 hours, and cost $15/person (with a couple dollars going to the library). I highly recommend spending an evening on the tour. Click here for details on the tours. Every other weekend there is a dinner tour ($30/person), where you can eat at the haunted Barnstable tavern.

However, is this really what we wanted? Shouldn’t we be making it harder for people to come to the Cape? Isn’t getting to the Cape part of the experience for tourists?

Below is what I am proposing. This model will ensure that Governor Mitt Romney gets all of Cape Cod’s presidential votes in 2008.

Seriously though, thanks to all the workers involved in the Sagamore Flyover project. Everything looks great so far and it is hard to believe that it is almost ready for action!

I didn’t get a chance to attend too many games this year, because the Cape had an usually rainy July (which resulted in a lot of double-headers for the second-half of the season). However, I did get a chance to check out the beautiful new fields in Bourne and Brewster, and attend all of the playoff games it was physically possible to attend.

I’m looking forward to the 2007 season and the re-addition of lights at McKeon Park (Hyannis Mets). Also, hopefully there will be continued improvements at Arnie Allen Diamond/Guv Fuller Field (Falmouth Commodores) and the Upper Cape Tech Field (Bourne Braves).

2006 Games Attended:
06-16 Bou @ Fal *Opening Day, Arnie Allen Diamond at Guv Fuller Field
07-14 Cha @ Bou
07-15 Cot @ Har
07-29 All-Star Game
08-05 Bre @ Cha
08-08 Bre @ Y-D *Eastern Division Championship Game 1/3
08-09 Y-D @ Bre *Eastern Division Championship Game 2/3
08-09 Cot @ War *Western Division Championship Game 2/2
08-10 Bre @ Y-D *Eastern Division Championship Game 3/3
08-11 War @ Y-D *Championship Game 1/3
08-12 Y-D @ War *Championship Game 2/3
08-13 War @ Y-D *Championship Game 3/3