• Someone stole my lunch out of the freezer at work today -- I was hoping to rush headlong into going back on a proper diet today. Deflated, I replaced my lost Cheeseburger Lean Pocket with leftover timesheet candy. The fight begins anew tomorrow.
  
• There's a possibility of four softball games this week, two of which are tonight.
  
• For those of you who haven't already seen it, here's another reason from The New York Times why I'm glad nannygirl is no longer true to her LJ moniker. The nanny mentioned in the Times piece lays the smackdown on her former boss in her blog. Guess whom I am siding with.
  
• Issue #5 is going online tomorrow. Very happy with it and am already looking forward to compiling #6, which will be the First Anniversary Issue.
  
• The Phillies are once again trying to tease me into believing that they are a playoff contender. As a wise acquaintance of mine once said, "When you get kicked in the head too many times, you buy yourself a helmet." I'll believe they're for real when they actually appear in a playoff game.
  

Many members of the 1980 Phillies team - the only one to win a World Series in the franchise's 122-year history - will sign autographs at a sports memorabilia show at Atlantic City's Trump Marina on Oct. 15.

The Phillies will not have an official 25th anniversary reunion. Most of the members of the 1980 team returned to Veterans Stadium for the park's closing ceremonies in 2003, Phils spokesman Larry Shenk said.

About 20 members of the 1980 team will gather at the 1 p.m. casino affair, including Steve Carlton, Mike Schmidt and Pete Rose. Dallas Green, the manager of that club, Greg Luzinski and Bob Boone will also be among the attendees, event organizers said.

No prices have been set, but autographs are expected to cost $10 to $99, said Scott Widelitz, the vice president of Mounted Memories, a Florida company that is helping to sponsor the event.

Some of the proceeds will benefit the Tug McGraw Foundation, which aids brain cancer research.

There will be no charge for admission, but visitors must obtain a ticket at Trump Marina "wild card" booths.

The Phillies, who once believed that power-hitting first baseman Jim Thome would lead them to the promised land, now want to dump him, and maybe everyone else, too.

The Phillies, according to two National League clubs who were asked by the Phillies to not publicly convey their intentions, have been trying to trade Thome, who still is owed $54 million through 2008. If they can find someone to take Thome, they'll keep rookie first baseman Ryan Howard, who was hitting .371 with 16 homers and 54 RBI at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. There are four teams who have made offers for Howard, but the Phillies first are exploring trades for Thome.

Thome, who's on the disabled list with elbow tendinitis, could become the first high-priced commodity to move in the Phillies' fire sale. The Phillies told one NL executive that virtually everyone is available, which could lead to a massive bidding war for closer Billy Wagner.

The Phillies aren't making their intentions public, but they realize they're not going anywhere.

• Thanks to nannygirl's mom and some last second schedule juggling, I got to go to Philly this weekend. Caught both day games at CBP and went to the Sunday game with dhpdesign, whom I hadn't seen in a decade and had a great time catching up with. It was quite nice to see the Phils take a couple one-run games from the Nationals in their last at bat.
  
• While in Philly I also spent some time with keith89 and took in War of the Worlds with him and his girlfriend on Saturday night. I'm saving my comments for SF, so let me just say for now that the movie is an interesting mess, but I'm glad I saw it.
  
• Nannygirl left for Florida on a business trip on Saturday morning, and I'm missing her horribly. This is the longest stretch we've ever been physically apart since the wedding, and I cannot wait for her return.
  
• I got my groove back on the softball field last night, going 2 for 5, 1 RBI and 1 R, along with making two nice catches in right. I could've easily gone 4 for 5, but the fielders on the other team had some mad defensive skills.
  
• When I returned home from playing softball last night, Tank was waiting for me in the living room. It was really great seeing him after going over two days without him. Of course, the Wiggles were on and it was 9:30, so his responsive was understandably a little more muted than I would've liked.
  
• This morning was my first day of "single parenting" Tank. Let's just say that Tank doesn't like it when his normal routine is interrupted, but unfortunately due to my need to be at work at 8:00 I couldn't take him into daycare at his normal time.
  
• I was nonetheless late for work anyway.
  
• Looking ahead to the Fall issue of SF, this summer has turned into a crappy one for DVDs. Last check of the new releases lists gives me a grand total of three I'd like to see reviewed: Constantine, Code 46 and Resident Evil-Apocalypse. Hopefully I can make up for that by getting a couple more book reviews than I am usually able to pin down.