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Friday, February 9th, 2007
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12:49 pm
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7 months is a long time not to post in my livejournal. I do still exist for those of you who were curious.
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(13 comments | comment on this)
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| Monday, August 14th, 2006
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1:55 pm
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Just a quick note to say: Mets, Dodgers, Reds, Cards (WC). NYM def StL 4-0, LAD def Cin 4-2. Mets over Dodgers in 6 in the NLCS. Tigers, White Sox (WC), Angels, Red Sox. Bos def Det 4-3, CWS def LAA 4-2. Sox (Red) over Sox (White) in 6 in the ALCS.
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(7 comments | comment on this)
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| Friday, August 4th, 2006
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2:39 am
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I was ___ years old the first time I...
Fell in love: 17. Okay, probably 16
Lost your virginity: 18
Lost someone close to you: 13
Drank alcohol: 17
Smoked weed: 18
Got your heart broken: Hmm, never
Got arrested: Close (at 23) but not quite.
Smoked a cigarette: 19?
Broken a bone: 15, if a finger counts, and 22 if it doesn't
Got cheated on: depends on exactly what counts. Either 17, 18, or 22.
Rode the city bus: not sure, 11 at the oldest.
Went to a concert: 14: Steve Miller Band!
Met someone famous: How famous? I've never met anyone famous.
Dyed your hair: 16
Got your first cell phone: 23
Got a Myspace: never
Snuck out of the house: 16
Got your own digital camera: never had one
First time you got drunk: 17, didn't we cover that?
Read Harry Potter: 23, just the first one, just to see
Traveled across the ocean: never
Wore a toga: never
Traveled out of state/country: state: I dunno, 3 or 4. country: 12
Shopped at Abercrombie/M&S: I'm actually not sure I've ever been inside an A&F. Don't know the other one.
Went to Disney World: 23
Went on a date: I dunno, depends again. Probly 17.
Saw a Broadway/West End play: I don't remember when it was, probably 16 or 17?
How old are you now: 25
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(3 comments | comment on this)
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| Thursday, June 29th, 2006
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9:44 pm
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1. Today I watched one of the best regular-season baseball games I can recall seeing in a long time. Not quite on the level of the '01 Pedro/Clemens matchup, but an amazing game all the same.
2. This is my gift to you: A 10-song list (note: list, not play-list or track-list, therefore, not in playing order) of some really fucking indie songs. If you listen to these, you will be awesome, guaranteed. The first song is from the best new (to me) band of 2006: Tapes 'N Tapes. This band fucking rules our lives. And if you've heard of any of these bands (other than Gnarls Barkley; they are kind of big, and other than the Walkmen; because all that probably means is that we're friends) I'd like to hear about it because I'd like to know where you've heard of them.
Anyway:
Tapes 'N Tapes - 50's Parking
Pony Up - The Truth About Cats and Dogs (Is That They Die)
The Eames Era - Talk Talk
Limbeck - Sin City
Koufax - Why Bother At All
Band of Horses - The Funeral
The Walkmen - This Job is Killing Me
Idiots! - Lies and Secrets
Gnarls Barkley - Crazy
Minor Leagues - The Pestilence is Coming
Bonus Track: Mirah - Recommendation
I ended the list (not the bonus track) with a band almost as heavily influenced by Pavement as the band that I began it with. That's called art.
current music: Tapes 'N Tapes - Cowbell
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(9 comments | comment on this)
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| Wednesday, June 14th, 2006
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12:33 am
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I've "upgraded" to the new SPONSORSHIP+!! level of livejournal, and I just noticed that it carries those 'ads by Google' things alongside my entries, and aren't those the ones that magically align themselves with your interests? I can't wait to see what they glean from the random shit I've been writing in my journal. How many entries do you think I'll have to write that mention pretzels before I start getting the ads targeted at Google's "likes pretzels" demographic?
I'm going to see The Black Heart Procession at the Fillmore this Friday and Built to Spill on the 21st at Slim's. Although at the former show, thelist seems to think Calexico is the headliner. They're not bad, I like them okay. I've missed a bunch of good shows lately, too.
In other news, Cursive has a new album coming out, and while I'm willing to board the "smaller group = tighter band" bandwagon, I also feel like I might miss the cello. Either way I'm really looking forward to it. Also either way, the guy they had reading poetry between Mike Park's and Cursive's sets last time I saw them was hella crazy.
( OOOH ooh pictures )
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| Tuesday, June 13th, 2006
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12:45 pm
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Yesterday I was talking to a stripper. She said her name was Georgia and I asked "Georgia like the state?" and she told me "no honey, Georgia like the peach." True story.*
Strippers are funny though; the first few you talk to, you think they have really creative names, but once you've talked to a few more you realize that they all have the same handful of seemingly original noms de plume. I guess 'nom de plume' isn't exactly the right word. What's French for 'pole'? Nom de poteau.
I just used Google's language tools to find that out, which I didn't even know existed until I complained to Ben "Google" Young the other day that there was no Google equivalent of Alta Vista's BabelFish and he showed it to me. Alta Vista dominated the Internet Translating Tool of Comedy market for so long, though (plus it has the funny/catchy/pop culturally referential name), that it still has a lot more cachet than 'Google Language Tools'. To use another French word. I mean, 'Babelfish' was verbed in much the same manner as 'Google' was. You'd think those whiz kids in Mountainview would have learned from that before naming their competitive product 'Google Language Tools'.
Speaking of French words, I wrote an essay this week that used the German phrase uber alles in the first paragraph and the French phrase idee fixe in the last paragraph. True story.*
Speaking of Ben, he caught me using Google's Language Tools to find out how to say 'pole' in French and asked me what I was translating. I told him what I was looking for and he asked me what the word was en francais. I told him 'poteau' and he said "that's gay" and I replied "well, it's French, so.. yeah." True story.*
*not a true story
current music: The Black Heart Procession - Not Just Words
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(14 comments | comment on this)
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| Friday, June 9th, 2006
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4:39 pm
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| Tuesday, May 9th, 2006
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2:40 pm
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I got bored after a while with this job that was affording me so much free time that I had to write a book to pass the time. It was a decent job, but after all, any job with that many empty hours to fill will be unsatisfying after a while. So I got a job at the recently renovated 24-hour Nation's (diner) they just re-opened down the street. The ad promised regular hours with 10 guaranteed overtime hours per week, so it seemed like just the thing. I've only just started the training, and I'm about to leave town for a week, but so far I haven't seen anyone get killed or even shot while being robbed. There's not much training, especially since my resume was slightly exaggerated, they figured I was fine to jump right in. It says something about me that I have to lie to potential employers to get them to assign me tasks commensurate with my actual ability. Can't say what. Maybe my next job should be college football coach.
I've also been doing a lot of crossword puzzles, and very few dishes.
current music: Built to Spill - The Wait
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| Monday, May 8th, 2006
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1:02 pm - All Our Selves Are Round
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Well, it's been a while. And I've been mostly away from the computer so I've not even been reading the old f-list much, either. The strange thing about that is, I find myself wondering all the wrong things about you guys, like what book Sonya's book group is reading now, how Kyle (of Shan and Vince fame) is doing, what Liam's girlfriend's real name really is, whether kabbes has disappeared again and how he's doing, what erl's Go rating has got up to, if JJ still likes the Giants (kidding), stuff like that. Instead of, you know, the really important things. But that's what I wonder, when I think about it.
Things change, you know. Really quickly, and the landscape of life will look unfamiliar and terribly exciting.
Anyway, it's been an insanely busy few months. And, though I've wanted to badly at times, I haven't been able to talk much about the main thing that's been going on. I finally got my shit together and wrote a book. After some concerted effort, I actually got a small semi-local publisher to distribute a few copies. Unfortunately, one of the main themes the plot was built on was this idea of a "Pretzel Eating Club," which I thought was whimsical and kooky, but apparently ran too close to an actual marketing scheme of a similar name used by a major U.S. pretzel and snack food producer, who somehow managed to get tipped off to my existence. I actually had to get a lawyer. The whole business looks headed for a happy ending, though, as they seemed to be pretty willing to compromise and not too bent out of shape when it came down to it. I may be eating a lot of free pretzels for a while. Which, all things considered, isn't a bad end result for any amateur's first novel. I have learned more about the inner workings of that industry than I thought there ever was to know, though. I wonder if there's a market for a The Pretzel Thief or P Is For Pretzel or even The DaPretzel Code for my next effort.
current music: The Arctic Monkeys - Fake Tales of San Francisco
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(40 comments | comment on this)
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| Tuesday, March 14th, 2006
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1:54 pm - me too
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"The first reason I play this game is because I want to win. I want to be the best baseball player I can be, but I want my team to be the best. Second comes the financial aspect, where I can help take care of my family. Three, yeah, three is the honeys. No doubt, the honeys are No. 3."
--White Sox center fielder Brian Anderson, on why he plays baseball (Chicago Sun-Times)
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Saturday, March 4th, 2006
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12:21 am
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March 22, 2004:
A.J. Pierzynski: .268/.310/.396 bank it.
Pierzynski's actual 2004 line: .272/.319/.410. Wow.
This was right after the Pierzynski for Nathan/Liriano/Bonser trade, the beginning of my realization that Brian Sabean wasn't actually a genius, and my first outspoken criticism of one of his moves. Anybody who I talked to about baseball circa 2004 will probably remember how bad I thought this trade was for SF. Recently, the experts have begun to write that it may turn out to be one of the worst fleecings of the decade. Which I knew the day it happened.
Just bragging a bit.
(I mean, we're not talking Slocumb for Varitek/Lowe caliber here (or Bagwell for Larry Anderson, to be evenhanded in my criticism), but it's close. For one year of Pierzynski performing at that level, they gave up: Joe Nathan, who immediately became one of the best closers in baseball, recording 87 saves over 2004 and 2005 at an ERA around 2, a ratio of .975, with 183 strikeouts to 45 walks... when the team knew Nen's career was over and they'd need a closer (well, if I knew, so should they have); the career of Francisco Liriano, now widely regarded as the top SP prospect in the majors; and Boof Bonser, who is just about major-league ready and could contribute some good innings to the Twins' BP this year (and is also named "Boof," which is never bad). The Giants didn't even get a compensatory pick for A.J. They released him outright after he kicked Stan Conte in the balls.)
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(4 comments | comment on this)
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| Monday, February 13th, 2006
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6:51 pm
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nohari
johari
Please click on these two links and briefly pigeonhole my personality. I am curious to see if what other people think are my strengths and my defects and if they match up with my own self-perceptions.
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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| Wednesday, February 8th, 2006
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1:20 am - Things I still Need To Know
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Who is playing LF/DH for the Mariners? Lawton/Ibanez/Everett? None can hit lefties. It's also more than likely that none can adequately play the outfield any more, especially in Safeco.
Who is playing RF/DH for the Devil Rays? Gomes/Gathright/Hollins... I can barely tell these players apart... I assume Huff plays 1B in place of Travis Lee... and what about Delmon Young? And, who is their closer?
Is Jason Bartlett really going to be starting at SS for the Twins? And, who the fuck is he? Also, Yuniesky Betancourt? What the shit?
Who is playing LF and 1B for the Orioles? Matos should be in the OF defensively (especially over Millar and Conine), but seems to have fallen out of the O's plans. Also, does anyone care? (Well, except for the humor value inherent in the idea of Kevin Millar being considered a starting outfielder)
Why am I still incapable of remembering that Aaron Hill and Russ Adams are two separate players, much less being able to tell the difference between the two? And while we're talking about the Blue Jays, what is their OF situation? I can't even remember, at this moment in time, who their manager is. But I wonder if he's aware that Frank Catalanotto should never, ever begin a game on the bench against a pitcher that is a) right-handed or b) a member of the Red Sox, if he wants to win games... actually, forget I brought this up... (sorry for the blatant BSG rip-off)
How come on the official mlb.com depth chart, my Red Sox have the same number of second basemen listed as outfielders? I don't think that's a good thing. (Graffanino for Matos! I'm fucking telling you!!)
And, one comment on the Bengie Molina signing: At first I was slightly unnerved, as the likelihood of this happening had occurred to me a little over a week ago, and I figured it was impossible as it would make too much sense.... then I realized that another thing I'd have thought even more entirely unimaginable at that time was that the Blue Jays could make another offseason acquisition that made their defense even WORSE... and now they've done it. Truly stupendous. Burnett and Ryan must be sobbing as we speak.
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(6 comments | comment on this)
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| Sunday, February 5th, 2006
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9:58 pm - The Peralta Principle
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This post is in order to exorcise my demons.
Last year, in an AL-only fantasy baseball draft with 25 rounds, I strongly considered drafting Jhonny Peralta in the 24th round. I mentioned it then, in the draft. At the time, he was a highly-regarded prospect, not projected to start for the team, not even a rookie. I didn't pick him. He went on to win the starting SS job midseason, and put up an .866 OPS season with 24 HRs, 78 RBI, 82 RS in 504 ABs.
It's been pointed out to me that I won the league, so why be bitter, but in an AL-only keeper league, you don't want to miss opportunities on players like that.
And with that, I give you my American League Peralta Principle nominees for 2006. Players that may be flying WAY under the radar, primed for breakout seasons this year, players you can't pass on in the next-to-last rounds of your drafts.
Andy Marte, 3B, CLE
Brandon Mccarthy, SP, CWS
Ervin Santana, SP, LAA/ANA/CAL
Jonathan Papelbon, SP/RP, BOS
Daniel Cabrera, SP, BAL
Erik Bedard, SP, BAL
Casey Kotchman, 1B, LAA/ANA/CAL
Dallas McPherson, 3B, LAA/ANA/CAL
Craig Hansen, RP, BOS
Jose Lopez, SS, SEA
Francisco Liriano, SP, SEA
Brian Anderson, OF, CWS
Jeremy Reed, OF, SEA
And as a bonus, players joining the AL from the National League or abroad, guys you should watch for in your AL-only draft, in some kind of rough order that I must have been thinking of when I drew up the hard-copy list that I am currently copying:
Jim Thome, 1B/DH, CWS
Troy Glaus, 3B, TOR
Josh Beckett, SP, BOS
Mark Loretta, 2B, BOS
Javier Vasquez, SP, CWS
A.J. Burnett, SP, TOR
Lyle Overbay, 1B, TOR
Jeff Weaver, SP, LAA??
Paul Byrd, SP, CLE
Adam Eaton, SP, TEX
Mike Lowell, 3B, BOS
Kris Benson, SP, BAL
Milton Bradley, OF, OAK
Brad Wilkerson, 1B/OF, TEX
Ramon Hernandez, C, BAL
Kenji Johjima, C, SEA
Rob Mackowiak, UT??, CWS
Luis Castillo, 2B, MIN
Corey Patterson, OF, BAL
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(3 comments | comment on this)
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| Friday, February 3rd, 2006
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2:22 pm - First baseball post
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2006 AL Power Ranking, Pre-ST version
1. White Sox I was not a believer last year, but the improvements they've made to a WS champ are unbelievable. Major weaknesses include holes in the lineup at 3B and SS, injury risks at the power positions DH and RF. Major strengths include offensive depth (Mackowiak was a huge, and underrated, acquisition, and the Sox easily have the best bench in the AL), the best rotation in baseball, and chemistry (I'm actually serious. This factor gave them a nod over Oakland in this list, that and the fact that they're defending champs).
2. Athletics This team has virtually no weaknesses. Their rotation is right up there with Chicago's (Loaiza should be their fifth starter, and Saarloos and Kennedy are available to fill in), and they have a stronger bullpen. Their lineup lacks the same middle-of-the-order punch, but is much stronger 1 to 9, with similar depth off the bench. The Thomas signing makes this team a potential powerhouse. A bigger-market team could sign the final Molina brother and just cut Kendall altogether, or make him a backup, but Beane will have to get more creative to fix his biggest problem.
3. Indians This team is going to be scary good in 2007 and 2008. As it is, they took a minor, and temporary, step back with the Crisp trade, but as Shapiro said, the Sox needed him more. Cleveland has a superior player in just about every respect in Sizemore, who should grow to superstar status this season along with "Pronk" Hafner, Victor Martinez, and Jhonny Peralta. Throw Andy Marte into the mix (many see him replacing Boone for good sometime mid-seasno) and you have just an unbelievable core of young players. Casey Blake could be upgraded, Michaels is a question mark, and Broussard still can't hit lefties, but that's just about the only negative things that can be said about their offense. There are more question marks on the pitching staff, between the loss of Milwood and the expectation that the bullpen will be taking a step back, but Lee and Westbrook are legit aces. This team has to be considered the WC favorite.
4. Red Sox I've done this team to death, obviously. The lineup is again extraordinary, and despite having more unknown factors than most years, should be the frontrunners to again lead the AL in runs scored. The entire infield has been replaced. The rotation and bullpen should be this team's strength in 2006, as they've put together a front line of starters and finishers that can compete with the top squads in the league, as well as a truly impressive array of depth options and backup plans.
5. Yankees Toe to toe with their hated rivals, the Yankees match up pretty evenly. Much weaker bullpen, and more questions in the rotation (though with 6 guys worthy of a starting spot, they've got the depth to work with this year), but with every offensive starter returning, while upgrading from Ruben Sierra to Johnny Damon, the MFYs know where they'll stand offensively.
6. Tigers. Call me crazy.
7. Blue Jays. Overrated. Big name pickups, but their infield defense is going to kill them, and I don't actually expect the bullpen to improve at all, considering that they had 6 total unknowns all have career years simultaneously in 2005, and only added one player.
8. Angels. Not enough runs to seriously compete, pitching will decline. Bullpen magic is at an end. This team will lead the league in "number of times fans collectively cringe in fear every time a ball is hit to the outfield". Their best outfielder is their DH, and their best middle infielders are in the minors.
9. Rangers. No pitching. Cordero loses his job this season. Is Kinsler really a big-league starting infielder out of ST?
10. Devil Rays. Kids start to gel. This team arrives in 2008.
11. Mariners. Jojima is the one bright spot for a dreary team. If they ever start talking about contraction again, we should just offer Seattle to Japan.
12. Twins. They stink. Terry Ryan appears to have adopted the Pittsburgh Pirates "design a team to finish as close to .500 as possible, without going over" method of roster building. Luis Castillo, WOO! Maybe this year they'll also utilize the second part of that role, trading parts to contenders to build for the future. Except the guy they were supposed to do that with in 2004, 2003, and 2002 has already been traded (Romero). What a conundrum.
13. Orioles. High hopes for Daniel Cabrera, though. But Leo Mazzone has to have warm bodies to work his magic (or so I assume, anyway), and warm bodies in the bullpen is something this team is low on. I guess it's nothing new to O's fans, but their management seems astonishingly directionless. Moves like acquiring Benson and signing Gibbons for three years, while overpaying for no reason to pick up a player in the thinnest FA market (Ramon Hernandez), who plays the position of (and whose acquisition pisses off) your second best hitter... I mean, what?
14. Royals. Naturally. Although, in a vacuum, they look better this year than last. I think the NL must just suck right now, because something like 12 of these 14 teams, when viewed individually, appear to have improved over 2005.
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1:45 pm
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Oh yeah, also, Steelers by 9. And the over. (Vegas has PIT -4.5 and 47 o/u. You can't get legit parlay odds online, that I can find, so I don't know what they look like for Pittsburgh and the over, but I'd take it.)
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1:14 pm
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Your live online draft is set for Sun Mar 26 8:30pm PST [ Add to My Calendar ], which is 51 days, 7 hours, and 16 minutes from now.
Sweet!
Goddammit.
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(10 comments | comment on this)
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| Thursday, January 12th, 2006
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2:10 am
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| Saturday, December 10th, 2005
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10:47 pm
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So, here's something about me. I tend to believe the lies people tell about themselves.
I think I must do it out of a kind of professional courtesy, being something of a sophist myself.
No, but seriously, toilets are weird. It's such an intricate, strange-ass contraption... how did it come to pass that just about every single home in America with running water has one? I mean, think about it... an automobile is a fairly simple device, with a simple, necessary purpose. And millions of people live their entire lives without one. A dishwasher... simple device, with a simple purpose. And yet no apartment in Berkeley has one. But a commode, this strange machine, designed to pump water into and then out of your house, ever-damn-body's got one! And who was it that decided that this was the most efficient method of disposing of personal waste? And how did it get to the point that it's so completely universally used, at least in the West? That guy must not have been much of a seafood eater.
You know what else I think is weird? Whistling. Isn't it strange that we can do that?
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| Thursday, December 8th, 2005
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11:46 pm - First round of year-end wrapup memes
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First line of first entry of each month of 2005.
January 4: One of the things that I really like about life is how everything that happens to you gives you a better perspective on everything else that's already gone by.
February 3: God, it feels good to be drunk again.
March, um, 24: My life continues to be completely action-packed.
April 3: Jesus. [it was a poker post]
May 2: I need something, and I don't know what it is. But it's getting bad.
June 1: So, I had a fairly terrifying dream Monday night.
July 4: "I'm not sayin I'd ever be with a hooker.
August 2: I realized when I woke up this afternoon that, as silly as it sounds given the circumstances, I'm actually going to miss that girl.
September 1: This is just a placeholder.
October 5: Holy Fucking Shit
November 7: In case y'all were curious? Piebald rocks.
December 1: wlight's mid-offseason reset and recipe for success for the Red Sox' 2005-06 offseason.
That reminds me! It's almost time for ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) wlight's Third Annual Sober Month! No alcohol will be consumed between the hours of 12pm January 1 and 12am February 1! Who's coming with me??
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| Thursday, December 1st, 2005
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8:54 pm - Red Sox. Cut for your protection
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wlight's mid-offseason reset and recipe for success for the Red Sox' 2005-06 offseason.Part I - Where We StandBatting There are 7 obvious spots on the diamond that are essentially set in stone going into 2006, of the 14 that we will presumably take out of spring training.
( Read more... )
Cross-posted to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) redsox.
Next: Part I, continued: Pitching!
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| Friday, November 25th, 2005
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3:07 pm - Volume 3
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Hey Mark, how did the beginning of that song go? The one by Los Mariachis.. naked? I keep forgetting the first part.
So like, all day yesterday I was watching this sweet-ass cartoon on Nickelodeon called Avatar: The Last Airbender. In between watching the Cowboys let another one slip away and watching the last few episodes of the WSoP broadcast on ESPN, anyway. They were showing all 18 episodes in a row and it was really fucking cool. Also I read a bunch of the press releases on it just now and I'm amazed that they really intended it to be for audiences from 6 to 11 years old. And it apparently is doing extraordinarily well in those markets, but really it's an awesome show. Anybody else ever seen or heard of it? It's what I like to call "hella cool".
And also, for your enjoyment here is the "If I wasn't Too Lazy to Make a Mix CD, These are the Songs That would Be On a 10-track Mix CD of Songs I've Been Listening To/Enjoying Lately" theoretical Mix CD. Volume 3.
Volume 2.
Volume 1.
1. Wolf Parade - You Are a Runner and I Am My Father's Son
2. Kind of Like Spitting - Canaries
3. Dinosaur Jr. - Just Like Heaven (the Cure)
4. Bradley Nowell - Saw Red
5. Owen - Places to Go
6. Tarkio - Keeping Me Awake
7. Crosstide - Opposite Day
8. Harvey Danger - Cold Snap
9. The Jealous Sound - Hope For Us
10. Piebald - Timing is Everything
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| Saturday, November 12th, 2005
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1:27 am
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Last night I dreamed I remodeled somebody's attic somewhere and put in a big skylight. It really opened up the space.
This morning's conversation as I was getting ready to leave for work:
Ben: Don't you look pretty today.
Alex: ...what are you talking about.
Ben: Just look at you!
Alex: How do I look any different today than I usually look?
Ben: I dunno, you just look... more you!
And for some reason, not only did I agree with him, I felt pretty good about it too.
This evening's conversation while we were going to get some dinner:
Ben: Are you in one of those stages where you're not even looking at girls?
Alex: I dunno, why?
Ben: I remember the last time you were doing that, last summer.
Alex: Really? I don't remember that.
Ben: Yeah, it was really boring.
Also, I got a kickass jacket yesterday.
current music: Crosstide - Opposite Day
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(11 comments | comment on this)
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| Thursday, November 10th, 2005
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11:50 pm - A
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A quick pop quiz for anyone:
1. What is the best Belle & Sebastian album?
2. If I decide I like B & S, what's another good band I haven't heard that I would like (don't say Sufjan Stevens)
3. Do you like Beulah?
4. Pick one: Joan of Arc or Owen?
Does this kid look anything like Brad Pitt?
(HAHA IMDB I outsmarted your clever scheme to prevent me from stealing your bandwidth. PWNED!)
(Edit: ARGH I got haxxored by IMDB they suck, just do me a favor and look here.)
This wishlist thing is getting out of control. There's 226 items on there at this writing and I spent at least an hour today just playing with it. It's not even a good feature in terms of usability.
current music: American Football - Letters and Packages
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(8 comments | comment on this)
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9:37 am
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Last night I dreamed I was cast as the lead in a production of Oliver Twist. But, on opening night, I had forgotten to study my lines beforehand and I was reading them from a newspaper article that had been written about our show. I also lost my little cap right after we went backstage. It was pretty hectic.
Those two tickets I got on the radio for the Deathcab show? At the time I wrote down that they were for 11/16. But it turns out they're playing on the 13th and 14th. I'm not really sure what I should do about that.
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(3 comments | comment on this)
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| Wednesday, November 9th, 2005
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3:16 am - Aren't toilets weird?
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I couldn't sleep and I got bored, so I made an Amazon dot com wishlist.
A.C. Newman of the New Pornographers has this to say: "Billy Joel really nailed the new wave rip-off song, just seconds after new wave. Visionary. You know what that means, hipsters of the world? Doo-wop is next."
While I'm here -- been meaning to say Thanks, huskerdude1 for the free music. You rock my life.
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12:20 am - Again with the "P" words
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| Monday, November 7th, 2005
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1:37 am - you're just a monkey in a monkey suit oh yeah!
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| Wednesday, October 26th, 2005
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11:52 am
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So, almost lit myself on fire last night. Seriously, actually, I was this close to burning down the place. Ben very nearly came home to find a gang of fire trucks instead of an apartment.
I'm standing there holding an inferno of burning hot oil by the panhandle and thinking to myself "We don't have a fire extinguisher, do we. Hmm. You're not supposed to put water on an oil fire, right? I wonder what I'm supposed to do here."
Funny, funny stuff.
Great game last night. I had several specific thoughts on it last night but the game lasted so damn long they're all gone now. I was actually more impressed with Guillen's managing than Garner's, which is more than likely mostly due to the fact that I actually expect Garner to be able to make rational decisions, so it's easier for the Oz-man to exceed my expectations of him.
Okay, I do have two thoughts. One: In the bottom of the ninth, with the game tied, Chris Burke on third and one out, Biggio gets ahead to the tune of 3-0. Willy Taveras is on deck, followed by Berkman and Ensberg. Not giving Biggio the green light here is idiotic. Taveras is the proud soon-to-be-NL ROY owner of a .325 OBP and a .666 OPS. Absolutely atrocious (we won't get into wondering why he's in the 2-hole in the first place). The winning run is on third base. Taking a walk here is completely useless... but cycling your pathetic lineup is going to kill you. The Astros only have three decent hitters, and letting one of them take a meaningless walk in the highest-leverage situation possible is so boneheaded I barely have words. And sure enough, Taveras Ks and the Sox only have to pitch to one of Berkman and Ensberg; El Duque fell behind Berkman so they put him on, being the only one of the two teams aware that any runners besides Burke were worth zero to the Stars, and pitched to Ensberg, striking him out. That was really stupid.
And the second one... How do you not score against Damaso Marte pitching 5/3 innings and throwing almost 40 pitches? He'd thrown 2 innings exactly twice all season; he pitched 45 innings in the regular season, spanning 66 appearances. He's a LOOGY's LOOGY. Guy comes in and faces 8 guys and gets 5 out. He walked the leadoff man in the 13th. Garner should be pitching fits and breaking stools in the dugout. I never thought I'd say it, but he's undermanaged this team out of the series, and Guillen's pushing all the right buttons.
Oh, and he left Zeke Astacio out there for one too many batters in the 14th. But we all knew that.
Um... I thought there were one or two other things I was going to say, but I got all into rant mode and forgot about them. Great game, anyway.
The Theo Epstein negotiations are fucking pissing me off. And I don't want to talk about it.
BP's Week in Quotes.
"I don't know what they could be thinking about with that--obviously the theme, believe in what we're doing, I would imagine. But that's kind of fluffy for me. That's something the chicks would like."
--White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper, on the team's unofficial theme song, Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" (Chicago Daily Southtown)
"Now we kind of go into bars when we're as a team and try to get them to play it. We always seem to be able to finagle a way to get them to play it."
--catcher A.J. Pierzynski, on the song
"It started out as a big joke, but you (media) guys have somehow found out about it. Now it's turned into this big media thing, which kind of makes us laugh even more. Now it's even a bigger joke because everyone keeps talking about it, you see reporters on the street trying to get people to sing it. It makes it even better."
--Pierzynski
"That's manly. Journey is manly. Why is Journey not manly? I heard Joe Theismann say on the radio that Journey was his favorite group, and Theismann was pretty manly, wasn't he?"
--Pierzynski, when asked why they didn't choose a song that's more manly (MLB.com)
I've gotten into a rut as far as singing in the shower. Every time I get in there I only want to sing Sublime songs. And it always ends up being "Santeria" (speaking of Ozzie Guillen, heh) or "What I Got." I'm getting bored.
I'm completely starving right now. I only ate one meal yesterday and it was really more of a snack. But by the time I realized I had to eat again, it was too late to go anywhere, and then after I lit the kitchen on fire for a little while I sorta lost my appetite. But now I'm hungry.
Oh yeah, I got a job. I don't think I've mentioned about how I was unemployed, so this may not sound as positive as it really is. My driver's license got suspended so I had to stop delivering pizza. And I'm in legal trouble and financial trouble and all that again. So being out of work for a couple of weeks was doubly bad. But, I answered a shitload of ads, sent out a bunch of resumes, made a bunch of phone calls, and the first interview I had (of course) I got an offer. So I'm going in tomorrow to sort out my hours and salary and all that. I was saying to Ben last night, I'm starting to feel like the last two years of my life almost didn't even happen. Here I am back in customer service answering phones. Eventually perhaps the whole pizza thing will just feel like a dream... but at least I'll have Matt and Markus around to remind me. Whew.
Also I saw my father. I think maybe things are going to work out. I met my "new family". Weird, weird experience. I have two "new sisters". They're both adopted. My dad's fiancee, as a single unmarried professional, managed to get herself two kids as infants. One's black and one's described as "Mayan". They're 11 and 6 years old. They both seem to be fairly crazy. But maybe it's just been a long time since I've been around kids that age. Thinking about this family stuff has put me in mind of the rest of my family. I kind of miss my cousins. After Christmas I was sort of hoping things would change, but of course they never did. I don't know why all this family-type stuff makes me feel so awkward. Well I guess I do, actually. We all feel that way. But we should learn how not to.
It's Salim's birthday party tonight so I'm gonna get druuuuunk! Woo hoo alright baby yeah. I wonder how I'm gonna get home afterwards.
So, it's been nice talking to you. I hope everybody's having a good day at work and isn't letting the peons get to them. At least it's a crappy day outside so by comparison being stuck inside doesn't seem so bad... right?
current mood: Morning
current music: Bloc Party - Always New Depths
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| Tuesday, October 18th, 2005
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5:06 pm
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Here's the "If I wasn't Too Lazy to Make a Mix CD, These are the Songs That would Be On a 10-track Mix CD of Songs I've Been Listening To/Enjoying Lately" theoretical Mix CD. Volume 2.
1. Beck - Girl
2. The Bravery - Unconditional
3. Braid - Collect From Clark Kent
4. Piebald - No One Else (Weezer)
5. The Doves - Cedar Room
6. Rogue Wave - 10:1
7. Deathcab for Cutie - Photobooth
8. Neil Young - Don't Let it Bring You Down
9. The Dismemberment Plan - Superpowers
10. Elliott Smith - Coast to Coast
Volume 1
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