- Why on earth does the All-Star Game need to start at 8:50 PM? I had promised the kids they could stay up and watch a bit of the game, not realizing that we would be "treated" to nearly an hour of pre-game show, including a guy trying to win money from Taco Bell by hitting a ball off a tee.

- That said, the Willie Mays tribute was well worth the time spent. Very reminiscent of the Ted Williams tribute at Fenway during the '99 All-Star Game. I especially liked how Mays told Jose Reyes to "Move back!" for the first pitch and how he signed the ball for Reyes afterwards.

- I have been immersed in Harry Potter for the last 8 weeks or so, as I have been reading the first 6 books in anticipation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. J.K. Rowling packs so much detail into each book, and refers back to events in previous books so frequently, it helps me to have a Harry Potter "refresher" before reading a new book. The only problem was toting around the 870-page Order of the Phoenix book in my briefcase while I was reading it. That sucker's heavy!

- I'm a lot more excited about the new Harry Potter book than the new movie. I already know what happens in The Order of the Phoenix, although I am looking forward to seeing how they translate a nearly 900-page book into a 2-hour movie.