In the spirit of online grocers, I put a few things in my shopping cart at Homeruns; I'll complete the order tomorrow.  One part of my shopping process that surprised me was that I put a couple of "new" (as marked by Homeruns) Hood Peak Treasures half gallon containers of ice cream in my cart (one container of Brownie Mudslide and another of Vanilla Snow Drift) -- priced at $3.99 -- after I had placed a quart of Brighams vanilla ice cream -- priced at $2.99 -- in my cart; I subsequently removed the Brighams vanilla ice cream (by the way, the Brigham's homepage looks much better these days).  I have always liked Brighams ice cream, however, Homeruns recently included with an order some free samples of Hood's Peak Treasures ice cream.  Both Amy and I liked it very much.  The flavor was very good -- though a second taste will be more definitive -- and the value is better.  I'll probably add another flavor to the cart for Amy before I place the order tomorrow night after the final show of Savivah (as pronounced in the Boston spirit).

Tomorrow, I will be locked into the tube for the three hour finale of Survivor.  Who shot JR will win?  This is a tough one to call.  The possible scenarios and my predictions:

First immunity challenge of the evening
if Rich gets immunity
then survivors will be Rich, Kelly and Sue
if Rudy gets immunity
then survivors will be Rudy, Rich and Sue
if Sue gets immunity
then survivors will be Sue, Rich and Rudy
if Kelly gets immunity
then survivors will be Kelly, Rich and Rudy

Second immunity challenge of the evening
if survivors are Kelly, Rich and Sue
- and if Kelly gets immunity then Kelly and Rich go to the finals
         (I believe the jury would select Kelly).
- and if Rich gets immunity then Rich and Sue go to the finals
         (I believe the jury would select Sue).
- and if Sue gets immunity then Rich and Sue go to the finals
         (I believe the jury would select Sue).

if survivors are Kelly, Rich and Rudy
- and if Kelly gets immunity then Kelly and Rich go to the finals
         (I believe the jury would select Kelly).
- and if Rich gets immunity then Rich and Rudy go to the finals
         (I believe the jury would select Rudy).
- and if Rudy gets immunity then Rich and Rudy go to the finals
         (I believe the jury would select Rudy).

if survivors are Kelly, Rudy and Sue
- and if Kelly gets immunity then Kelly and Rudy go to the finals
         (I believe the jury would select Kelly).
- and if Rudy gets immunity then Rudy and Sue go to the finals
         (I believe the jury would select Rudy).
- and if Sue gets immunity then Kelly and Sue go to the finals
         (I believe the jury would select Kelly).

if survivors are Rich, Rudy and Sue
- and if Rich gets immunity then Rich and Rudy will go to the finals
         (I believe the jury would select Rudy).
- and if Rudy gets immunity then Rich and Rudy go to the finals
         (I believe the jury would select Rudy).
- and if Sue gets immunity then Rich and Sue go to the finals
         (I believe the jury would select Rudy).

A few unknowns exist in all of this, such as the nature of the immunity challenges and precisely how the voting will take place in the the last three rounds.  Whatever.  I predict that Rudy will walk away with the million dollars.  I would be completely shocked if Rich won.  I believe that Kelly and Sue have an outside shot at being the final survivor. (Posted at 7:59pm EST August 23, 2000.)
 

Luis Castillo RBI Watch (Through August 22, 2000)

Number of Hits......Batting Average......Number of RBI......Runs Scored
......143.......................356............................9........................79

Luis went 1-4 in a Marlins  victory over the West Division leading San Francisco Giants 7-5.  He leadoff the first inning with a walk.  In the second inning, with no outs and a man on second, he reached first base by grounding into a fielder's choice (? - that's what the game log said).  In the fourth inning with no outs and a man on first, Luis singled to center field.  In the fifth inning, with two outs and men on the corners (i.e., first and third), he grounded out to the first baseman.  Luis leadoff the eight inning by grounding out to the shortstop. (These data are obtained from ESPN.com.)