Recharge begins

It's a big weekend coming up. This weekend also shows up conveniently at a time where I've been fairly busy during the day. Getting away like this works out perfectly. Its amazing how fast a day can go when you have a full plate. Its depressing to think that my 'work off-days' are long gone.

Being busy means I can't keep up with the news of the day. You feel so detached after a few days like this. Now I know why so many corporate folk don't know whats going on in the world and don't care. They tend to forget that the world exists because they're so focused on the dollar. Is it better to be rich and not know whats going on in the world than the opposite?

The Bucks made it a game tonight. I had to watch the game through stat updates on the interweb. Statistically speaking, they had a rough first half. They came back fighting a bit in the second half. Tim Thomas shot 29%. That won't win you any games. I know that he's a slow starter...but the guy should be "taking over the team" these days. Anywho, while watching the game by checking stats is fun...I should check out some television action this weekend.

Well, its time to get as much sleep as possible in the next three days.

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The Latest 6 pm in the Year

Yes, for some reason today's 6 pm took longer to arrive. I guess that's the way it works sometimes. Today's daytime adventure featured a habitat alteration. I showed up and considered a relatively private ten by ten foot block of space my corporate cell. I left work considering a fairly public six by eight block of space my corporate cell. This will take some getting used to.

I was greeted today by a handwritten note on the elevator that read "repair men on their way." It was almost six o'clock and I didn't see any reason to wait fifteen to thirty minutes for twenty-five seconds of modern convenience. So I took an impromptu sixteen story climb and ran out of breath. That's a damn good workout. When the legs recover, I may or may not begin the made-for-winter home jail workout. That's a bunch of pushups, situps, and a ten to sixteen-story step jog.

I made chicken soup with bok-choy last night. I'm sure that there exists a conventional name for that soup, but I'll just call it that. I basically guessed at what my mom would use to make this soup. It came out just fine. I cook by feel and smell. Recipe's and I never got along. I can come up with something pretty tasty almost every time I feel my way through a dish. Now, if I can only perfect the guesswork that goes into getting dates around here...

The Bucks open their season tomorrow. Everybody is picking them to win no more than thirty games. I say they'll surprise a few folks and come out a little bit better. I'll hazard a guess on this in a few weeks.

I used a lot of numbers in today's post...add them up and win a prize.

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The Latest 6 pm in the Year

I got home at what I usually consider early (which actually has been closer to the norm for the past month), sat down and looked out of my window. The city lights cast against a faintly lit sky meant that the days are "short". It's no fun getting home when its dark. Its always nice to come home before sunset. Oh well, I won't even notice this occurrence in about two weeks.

We packed our shit in the office and are headed up a floor for the time being. The genius site designers for the newly reformed corporate alliance decided to double the occupancy in our office. This means: 1) they made the lights brighter, 2) they made the carpets brighter, 3) they made the cubes lower and smaller. Gone is the privacy I enjoyed very much working in the cube. Not only that, it's busy season and work picks up around this time of year. I expect my disatisfaction with corporate America to escalate in the next few months. Yes, yes...the pieces seem to be falling into place.

I've been playing way too much Metroid lately.

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Back to Standard Time

Unless you have been living under a rock (or don't celebrate this biannual rite), your clocks should be an hour back. I use the timechange as my mental milepost for Fall. We're halfway past fall which means we're that much closer to winter misery. I should probably purchase warm clothes in the next few weeks...and now, let us enjoy this weeks installment of my random musings.

- Aesop Rock, Mr. Lif, Murs all put on a damn good show. Unfortunately, we just caught the Aesop Rock/Mr Lif portion of the show. I guess that is what happens when you take your sweet time because you assume the show won't end at 9:15. Oh well, what we saw was pretty amazing. Aesop Rock has a unique flow. Listening to the CD's I always wondered how that guy can do that. Seeing it live actually made it more of a mystery.

- Last night, I watched The Big Lebowski by myself. I think that this was the first time I ever watched it alone. The movie is totally different when you watch the movie isolated in your own thoughts. Instead of repeating lines and laughing at the obvious jokes with your friends, you actually stop and try to process each scene. The movie has a different feel when you're alone...and that makes the movie that much more awesome. I think I'm getting a grasp on why this is one of Shugart's favorites.

- My darkhorse pick for the playoffs won. I just had a feeling that they would pull it off. The Marlins overcame quite a bit to win the trophy. At one point in the season, they were ten games below five hundred. In June, they were in last place. Give the guys some credit. The Yankees didn't lose the series...the Marlins won it.

- The band spent almost a total of two hours working on Van Halen's "Right Now". If I hear that song again in the next day or two, I'm going to go crazy. It's my least favorite song on that album. The show should be fun though.

- I got me a space heater / energy burner. I'll use it tonight to see how it works...then I'll use it only when it gets cold like it did last night. I don't pay for heat, so the landlord provided heat can be non-existent when the weather swings. I should only use this thing only when it gets really cold in my room...right?

- I'm looking forward to another four day week. The job has been getting increasingly annoying lately. I just need a day off (other than a sick day) to clear the head before the stretch run towards thanksgiving. Wow...I'm looking forward to a four day week before a three week stretch run. Hmmm...

- I may or may not have recorded a 446 line about the O.C. Keep that one quiet.

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Week Four

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Day 1 ---- > Day 29

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Head Games II

Work sucked, I have a cold, loss of appetite and the World Series is not in a rain delay. All in all I couldn't be any peachier. Note to self: don't play with babies suffering from a cold. Note to self: get some sleep.

I probably should have called in sick and sat at home all day. However, I'm at the point in my life where sitting on my couch all day on a weekday would drive me nuts. Once you settle into the 9-5 life, you may ask yourself: "what did I do between nine and five back in college?" I can't imagine having a staggered day anymore. Its kind of depressing.

So I stopped this post to watch the top of the 9th inning. Those damn Yanks did it again. All that team needs is a crack and they'll bust through. Things start innocently enough, but then turn into a rally with just a few missed pitches. They tie the game, send it into extra innings, and let their annoying batters burn through the Marlin's bullpen. I'm not sure if it is luck...or if its because they have high priced players who deliver when they play. I think it is a little bit of both...but watching them march to their 27th title is not fun at all.

My brother looked at me and noticed something...with the way my hair is combed, I look like:

Hmmm.....

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Head Games

Work sucked, I have a cold, loss of appetite and the World Series is in a rain delay. All in all I couldn't be any peachier. Note to self: don't play with babies suffering from a cold. Note to self: get some sleep.

At prescicely 2:00 am this morning, I heard a series of loud pops. At first I thought that the world was going to end...then I thought that someone was firing a gun. Then I thought that a plane crashed. I heard no firetrucks, police sirens, screaming. All was good. What the hell happened?

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Too much face

I realized today that my face has been on the front page way more than it needs to be. I forgot that half the fun of this weblog involves relative anonymity. I'll toss in a few group shots here and there, but the single shots are long gone....and now, let's take a look at the last 72 hours as if it were yesterday.

- More than four hours of sleep a night is a pretty sweet thing to enjoy.
- Sleeping on a bed is much more comfortable than any floor.
- Bonding with familiar strangers and casual acquaintances equals fun. It's nice to work your way through the acquaintance door into a friendship with those you've known for a long time, but never became friends with. I'll have to do that more often.
- After listening to a lot of Van Halen in the past 10 years, one can only take so much.
- That girl who looked at us strangely at 1:45 in the morning may or may not have been the girl I dated before I left town. I had not seen her for almost a year. I only caught half of a side profile, so I couldn't be too sure. Either way, it would have been strange. I sported facial hair at the following events: when I dumped her, when I ran into her last year, and this past weekend. Does correlation mean causation in this case?
- I'm pretty glad that I got to substitute 8 hours of watching losing football with band rehearsal.
- Big Bowl in Madison, WI is in no way as good as the versions we have in Chicago.
- When two people break-up after seven years of dating, the girl gets to play a game where she has to walk around a bar and kiss guys. A kiss on the cheek is one point. A kiss on the lips is two points. Slide some tongue, its five points. Who made this game up?! Anyway, if the guy has a mo(u)stache (not a goatee), its a bonus point. Again...who made this game up?
- Oregon, WI seems farther from downtown Madison than I remember but still worth the distance to drive home at 1:45 in the morning.
- Maintaining a shitty diet for four days didn't wind up making me feel as bad as I thought I would. However, playing with sick babies can get you a sore throat. Its a wash.
- I am going to be a bunny for Halloween.
- Once again, I need a weekend in Chicago where no agenda is involved.
- In CHiPs, Ponch's codename is 'seven mary three'. I think that band got its name from CHiP's. That's pretty funny. What isn't funny is the fact that the theme song has yet to be sampled in hip-hop.
- In two weeks, a good time will be had by all.

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Diario de la foto del fin de semana

I went back to Madison, WI this weekend. The excursion was part business and part pleasure. I used to get fired up for weekends like this, but as my social connections to the city slowly change locations...the edge of these weekends have worn off. I drove through the campus area and realized that I'm in an entirely different world these days. I also noticed that my perspective of the city has shifted. It's more a symbol of 'Leftover Chinese: the College Years' than it is my old stomping ground. While I can't call it home anymore, I still find the city a lot of fun to show up for.

Here's a brief look:


By day, the building is a place where important issues are decided that affect over four million people. By night, this building makes for fun scenery as you stagger from tavern to tavern. A friend of mine may or may not have disrespected this building in a manner unmentionable to those who read this.


Soup and I ran around the city until 4am. We probably looked like two out-of-work porn stars looking for our next gig.


Everything looks brown in Madison during the fall. The leaves change, the air becomes dry and cool, and in only two months you can toss your friends into snowbanks. Also, your shadows become a good way to measure how much fun you are having.


I reunited with D-rock for an evening. The man is always up for an evening of running around town. He used to be pretty shy, but now can run the game with any cute lookin' girl at the party. He got sick at our place a few years ago because he couldn't handle the 'hour of power' on Mike's Hard lemonade...on friday night, he poured himself a drink of vodka with just a lil' splash of grapefruit juice into an empty (but washed) beer bottle at 3 in the morning. If life were like Bachelor Party, D-rock would be the O'neil to my Rick Gasko (back in 2002, that is).


If we were one of those annoying major label bands who had agents, PR, and an 8 x 10 glossy....it probably wouldn't look like this picture...but the concept of having a glossy is pretty funny.

(weekend lessons to appear in tomorrow's edition)

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Week Three



Day 1 ---------------> Day 22

I think we can call it an official moustache.

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Don't Blame the Guy

The Cubs concluded their season by losing three in a row to the Florida Marlins. Many say losing the series just another day in the life of the billygoat curse as evidenced by the now-infamous fan interfered missed foul ball. The superstitious folks buy into that. The crazy fans will say the same thing because it makes it easier to blame the fan. The sad thing is that the guy is going to live with this for the rest of his life...and folks will never forgive the guy. Well, let him be because he's just another fan like us. I say the cubs lost this way: After being up three games to one, the cubs were unable to score more runs than their opponent in the three following games. Its as simple as that. So, Chicago...tip your proverbial 40 oz. to the ground for a few seconds and smile at a successful Cubs season.

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Uh...okay

My parents...they're definitely a pair. First last week's advice...now it's my mother's turn to make the call:

Ma: "Where are you?"
E: "I'm at the Bulls Game."
Ma: (concerned tone) "You're at the Game?!"
E: "Yeah, I'm watching the basketball game."
Ma: "Oh, good...you're not at the cubs game."
E: "Uh...Yeah"
Ma: "We just wanted to see where you were...how are you getting home?"
E: "My friend is driving me."
Ma:"Oh good, don't take the trains on the way home."
E: Why?
Ma: (More concern) "Just don't go outside and celebrate if they win."
E: (calmly) "You mean you don't want me to have fun and enjoy a once in a lifetime event?"
Ma: "Just don't...here, talk to you father."

C'mon...I mean...c'mon...I've ranted about this before. My mother is scared of crowds, scared of minorities, and scared of people who apprear to be standing on the street. Therefore, I should stay way from crowds, minorities, and not walk on the streets...what gives? When I was in elementary school, she didn't let me out to play with my friends in winter weather because it was "too cold"...I got teased quite a bit for that one. I'm suprised I turned out this independant seeing as how my mother raised us to be scared of the outside world. I blame the news.

Special thanks to that fan who may have cost the Cubs a trip to the world series....you asshole!

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...and then I started to walk funny

Everyone around me knows the story, and I'm actually sick of telling it. Yeah, I trudged through the first half of the Chicago Marathon. If you look at Saturday's post, you'll notice that I guaranteed the first five miles. I happened to deliver on the guarantee plus a few to boot. If you have been paying attention since early May, I have bitched and moaned about sore legs, feeling out of shape, frustration, blah, blah blah blah. Finally, I got to take a deep breath look around me and say "fuck it, I'm running." I saw a lot of cool things in thirteen point one miles and I came away feeling like I can do the whole damn thing next year. If you live vicariously through me with posts from this blog, here's the leftover chinese version of the marathon (a mental diary of sorts):

- Opening: A lot of people show up for this. How in the world can 40,000 people get up at 6:15 on a sunday morning to run 26 miles? I'm a night owl kind of person, this sort of thing is an entire different world for me. There also appears to be lines 20 deep at the long of port-o-lets. Is it me or do a lot of people have to go to the bathroom?

- Start: Van Halen's 'Right Now' is alternating with a few other songs. Its funny that a song about sexual frustration is being played while 40,000 finally get to engage in something they've spent the last six months training for. I'm probably one out of 30,000 who sees the irony. Note to self: hydrate yourself next time. When we start running, everybody gets excited...and they cheer as if the superbowl just started. Again, people can get up this early and have this much energy?

- Miles 1-2: Everybody gets going, I start to wonder if I should have drunken at least a glass of water before I left the house. I also realize that I should probably have gotten a little bit to eat. Well, nothing matters at this point. I'm surrounded by thousands of people crazy enough to run this thing...no time to worry about that...its time for now, its time for fun. Unfortunately, I really needed the first water stop sooner than I thought...I better take care of myself better.

- Miles 3-5: People are starting to hit their pace, I have fallen into a pace comfortable enough where I don't think my tendonitis will fire up. Running while you're drinking is hard to do. After the first attempt, I just stop and drink. At this point we head north on the same street my bus takes me on. My first impression is that this portion to will seem long because I'm familiar with every street. The crowd is pretty intense at this point. They're cheering you on, holding out signs, reading everybody's shirts. At this point I don't even know that I'm running. Hey, someone has a bowl of oranges out! I can get something into my stomach to bear. Here, I start to curse myself to for forgetting to take a pain killer...avoiding leg pain might extend my run a few miles.

- Miles 5-6: We're heading uphill towards another neighborhood in Chicago. It's funny to see that the crowds change as you change neighborhoods. This one wasn't as intense, but everybody was positive. Some needs were met at this point, too...I grabbed some pain-killers at the aid station and some vaseline for comfort. Here, it felt like I had a rock in my shoe, I stopped a few times to do a half-assed quick stretch and see if I can take care of that rock. Also, I decide that I'm going to try to run half of this...fuck the pain. Oh yeah, that rock feeling was actually a blister.

- Miles 7-8: The funny part about this portion is that we're as close to my apartment as we can be. I told my guest that I was going to run home, shower and change and meet her after the race. This didn't happen...I wasn't going to stop now. In this neighborhood the crowd is more 'festive'. There's club music playing on the corners, drag queens singing 80's metal on stage, and the taunting smell of hamburgers. I laughed at what was going on in the sidewalks a few times.

- Miles 9-10: The race moves on to Lincoln Park where the crowd calms down again. Its more fun to run when people are going crazy. Here, I'm keeping pace with the 4:15 marathon runners (they had a sign saying what they were going to finish the marathon in). I also spot a few people I saw before the race. Everybody seems to be in the same boat. Also, being a solitary runner, I get to hear people's conversations. Some people are coaching their partners, some girls are gossiping, a few chumps are on their cell-phones. Yeah, cell-phones. Why can't people put those damn things down for a change?

- Miles 11-12: I notice that I stopped sweating and I'm getting the chills. Hmmm...probably dehydration setting in. I slow down a bit and hydrate myself a little more at the next water stop. Note to self: dehydration can be dangerous. Here, the crowds get to be similar to the ones at the start. I bet those people walked over from the start. My legs hurt quite a bit at this point, but I tell myself to stick it out. I see two guys playing Fleetwood Mac's 'Landslide' on a bridge. I hate Fleetwood Mac and sure as hell didn't want to hear it at that point (see Jeff Lebowski and the Eagles).

- Miles 12-13.1: Here I just tell myself to get through to halfway. However, the mile posts seem to be getting further and further apart. I toy with the idea of picking it up to a fast pace to the halfway point, but getting to halfway was my sole goal. I get my last glass of water and cruise to halfway. When I reach that point, I ask myself: "did I just do that?" I feel good about myself. While I cool down, someone tells me that I can do it and to keep going...I just smile and laugh...then consider it...nah, I'll probably do more harm than good to my already damaged lower legs. I look around at the scene...and then I start to walk funny.

Yep...I did it...as I walked back to the finish to meet my companion, I saw thousands of more runners behind me. Strange...when I was running in a big crowd, I felt like the last person in the pack. I didn't realize that thousands of people behind me were on their way to run further than I did...what a sobering thought. That's the re-cap of the race, its a culmination of the last six months...all packaged into 2 hours and 23 minutes of fun. Here are a few lessons for you to take home:

- Don't take your monthly bus pass to a marathon and tuck it underneath the tongue of your shoe...you'll probably lose it.
- Drink water, eat something and stretch before the race.
- Wear briefs, not boxers.
- Don't run with hard plastic orthotics...those can give you tendonitis.
- Finish next year.

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Run! run! run!

After having an encouraging and relatively pain free run on thursdsay, I will attempt the Chicago Marathon tomorrow. I don't plan on finishing it. In fact, I can only guarantee the first five miles....but it should be fun to be running with 40,000 people bent on creating pain for themselves for four to six hours. My supervisor did say one interesting thing: "you might surprise yourself." Yeah....that's true...I might suprise myself...lets just hope the suprise doesn't come in the form of vomiting in front of a group of people as I run...that job is reserved for the serious runners.

My alma mater is playing The Ohio State University in a collegiate football contest right now. Watching the game on television is kind of depressing. When they show the student section, I tell myself "hey, that used to be me"...but now I work five days a week and I don't get to have the fun that the kids get. Do I miss college because I miss it, or do I feel like I didn't live college like I should have? I probably had too much fun, but I'll guess that the latter is part of it too.

During the game they have been showing us the "new color of money". In case you haven't heard, the twenty dollar bill features more pink. One question...does this need to be advertised on television? Are people not going to use the dollar because they never heard about it on TV? Call me cynical, but it seems like a waste of money for the treasury to advertise the new color of money in sporting events...just put a poster up at the post office...it will still be treated as legal tender. Did I miss something here?

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Let us Review

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Day 1 ----------> Day 8 --------> Day 15

Questions, anybody?

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More Books!

Things Fall Apart is a pretty damn good book. I read this literary pleasure in less than a week. That time frame is amazing considering the time I waste not reading. Basically, the book is about a determined head of the household and his struggles to adapt to the changes in his village while trying to overcompensate for the shortcomings of his father. As he is forced to deviate further and further from tradition, his world around him falls apart. To top it off, achieve makes a few statements about the battle between long standing tribal beliefs and the intrusiveness of Christianity. Towards the end of the book, we grow to despise Christian colonialism in Africa. That angle was perfectly framed by Achebe as he uses it to complete the path of the tragic hero. I was educated and entertained with this book and recommend it for those who want take in a small piece of the ignored continent. If you're actually going to read this, you might want to ignore the last few sentences. That is all.

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Eh....the guvornator

Ahnold won the recall election. With only 28% of the state's precincts voting, it has been conceded and awarded. As I type/edit this post, Gray Davis is giving his concession speech right now. He's handling it with total class and dignity. When the crowd boos (when he refers to the recall and losing to Ahnold), he calms them down and says: "Lets focus on the future of California." As usual, the loser has to handle the loss with class...but this time around, it seems kind of sad. The guy sounds like Mr. Rodgers...who'd recall a guy like that?!

This recall election does prove the fact that Americans like flashing lights, hip music, and a shallow Hollywood star to lead them. It doesn't matter how much the guy knows of if he's a decent politician. It turns out that having the skill to remember lines, ability to kiss babies, and knowing what to do when the director says 'action!' or 'cut!' can get you the leadership post of the fifth largest economy in the US. If that is possible, then I'm headed to Hollywood right now...

The Cubs lost, but I experienced some of the scenes you witness when you watch a Cubs game on TV. Having the ballpark inside your neighborhood is pretty sweet. As soon as I stepped out, I heard a loud cheer from the direction of the stadium. I'm almost a mile away, so that sound was pretty cool to hear. I took some pictures of what it looks like from outside the park during the game. The shots on Sheffield (the place where big-ass homerun balls land) were pretty sweet. Baseball is pretty fun when its right in your backyard. Stay tuned.

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Pop Quiz

"Fool around for a while before you get married, okay?"

This advice was bestowed upon me by which of the following people?:

a) Nick V.
b) Disgruntled married Co-worker
c) Miller Bradley
d) My father
e) One of my brothers
f) My boss
g) Fortune Cookie

If you answered: D, you were correct. While I'm not sure why he tells me this, its a pretty awesome and funny thing to hear out of my dad's mouth. I would expect that kind of advice from pretty much anybody. Since it was my dad of all people, it is certified hilarious. Amid the shock and chuckles at this remark, the following rhetorical questions popped into my mind: Is this a case where a father wants his childern to experience certain things that he did not get to enjoy at the same age? Is this a case where my dad wants me to keep turning the machine until I find someone he likes? Was my dad a ladies man?! Well, I guess the only thing I can do now is make my dad proud. Heh-heh.

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The Weekend I actually Stayed in Town (and watched a lot of baseball)

- That's right folks, for the first time in since the first weekend of September, I stayed within city limits. It is really damn nice not having to travel for once. For those who get bored with getting out of town barely once or twice a month...you don't know how nice it is. It was nice to sit back, relax and...as I look back at it...watch a lot of baseball. My take on the weekend....Sunday Style:

Beisbol!

- Maybe the fact that I'm in a city with a team in the MLB playoffs, but October seems to be the best month of the year for sports. Think about it. National Football League teams start to heat up and teams are getting ready to kick into high gear. College football is in full swing and the conference contenders establish themselves this month. Major League Baseball settles the championship this month. This is the only month everybody can forget about the economics and just watch baseball in as pure form as you can get with cry baby millionaires. Not only that, you can speculate on the upcoming NBA season. It doesn't get much better than this...that is unless I win the lottery.

- The Cubs advanced in the playoffs. We get to see more (over)reactions from that player's wife (see last tuesday). We get to see the Chicago fans go absolutely ga-ga (kind of annoying when you're not a die-hard Cubs Fan). This will be a fun week and I should probably take advantage of the fact that I live less than a mile from the ballyard. It seems that Wrigleyville is going nuts right now (just like when Wisco went to the Final Four)...I need to enjoy the street festivities at least once this fall.

- I was watching the team celebrate over the pitchers diamond just now. In the background you could see someone getting hauled off in 'cuffs. Its just like Hank Aaron's 715th...but with more violence.

- The Marlins get a way to go for upsetting the Giants. I watched the end of games three and four and was blown away at the drama. Ivan Rodriguez owns the diamond. He gets the winning RBI's, owns the homeplate collisions as a baserunner and a catcher, and is clutch as shit! The rest of the team is a bunch of never-will-be's who love to play the sport and after playing most of the season in an empty stadium, they get to play on the big stage. I'm rootin' for the Marlins....Everybody's doin' the Fish.

- I was watching the Sox/A's game today and when the A's were up 4-3 in the 8th inning, I noticed the their closer was up and there was one out. I checked the Bears game, then fell asleep. Next thing I know, I wake up to the final score of both games. Note to self: stop falling asleep at the end of games.

- The Twins were taken out of the playoffs by those fuckin' Yankees. Every year, it goes like this: the Yankees lose a game, the media say that they're done, next thing you know...a few freak things happen during a game that change the momentum of the series (i.e. 7th Inning of thursday night's game, the Jeter play to get Giambi out back in '01) . Before we know it, the Yankees advance. I'm sick of it. What sucks about the Yank's win is that they play a team who will be coming off a greuling and emotional draining five game series. Its another cakewalk for the team representing everything that's wrong about baseball.

- I won't give you the list, but there are quite a few former Brewers playing on the teams that made the playoffs this year. We're not talking about star players who demanded an exit from Brewtown, but the ones who sat through the perennial 90+ loss season. From my count, I've noticed that there are at least two former brewers from the last three seasons (and a few from the mid-to-late 90's) on the 8 playoff rosters. It kind of pisses me off, but at the same time, you gotta give credit to those former brewers who didn't turn out to hate baseball after spending a season in Milwaukee. At least they didn't spike themselves.

- My NL darkhorse pulled the upset. If you want to root for the little guy this season, root for the MArlins.

- I'm done.

The Steak Game!

- The Steakhouse I ate at last night was okay. As one of the 'little guys' I could respect their work. It was a little tough, but tasty. I won't waste reviewing their potatoes or veggies, but their Pea-Pods were damn good. Although I tend to avoid red meat in my diet, I like steak. I won't go out for it every week but every six weeks or so, I'm glad to indulge. Last night I determined that enjoying steaks at different steakhouses would be a fun hobby. Being in the big town, there are plenty of places to check out. Every steak outing would be a different experience. If I'm going to rate Steak Houses as a hobby, I should pick a cut and stick with it. If I know the steaks aren't that good, I go for the Prime Rib. There's more that the kitchen can do for the flavor in that case. With a t-bone or New York Strip the meat has a lot more to do with its taste. Thus, I think that the measuring stick for the steakhouse rating game will be the the New York Strip or Prime Rib. And every six weeks or so, I'll check out a different steakhouse and rate it.

The Last 48 Hours!

- Some people say they don't like the idea of a m(o)ustache on me. Some say it makes me look like I'm from a different ethnic group. Others say I look awful. Hell, nobody at the workplace has even made a mention about it. That's before they gave it a chance. It doesn't take long for me to make a convert of the disbelievers. I can't explain it...but the 'stache has a unique power about it.

- I witnessed a presentation of those percussionists who wear blue. Its a sensory overload of music, sight, and feel. I could tell that the drummers listened to a lot of Rush. It was surreal at times. I didn't expect how intelligent the humor was in this display. Unfortunately, most in the crowd were probably hypnotized by the sound and the fury to get the most interesting messages. It was art for the common man, but entertaining nonetheless. I'd see it again in a year or two.

- My caller-ID batteries are dead in my living room. I've been too lazy to replace the batteries or check the other display to see who's calling. Then again...I realize that Caller I.D. ruins the fun of getting phone calls. The element of the small surprise you get when a hot chick (or old friend) calls out of the blue. However, since telemarketers call about seven times a day, I don't mind having to rely on the Caller I.D. like a trained Ape.

- This post is a lot longer than I had intended...sorry.

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Mustache Month begins



Yeah, it can grow fast....but its definitely not even close to being a mustache. We're in the latter stages of the "dirt above your lip" phase. By mid-month, I should be able to comb it.

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Mulligan Day

Its just one of those days where nothing is different, yet everything has a different vibe. Days like this can plant a bizzaro feeling inside of you. I guess everyone has their boring and lethargic days. I just didn't see this one coming. I was hoping to bust out tonight and tie one on weeknight style, but I'm to show up at work tomorrow morning about an hour earlier than usual. I feel no stress or didn't have a "bad day" per se, but nothing felt right at all. I can't explain. Has this happened to you? Hence, I take a mulligan day and declare October 1st, 2003 to have never occurred.

I finished The Bridge on the Drina today. It is a very nice chronicle of the Serbian history. No matter what happened during the Turkish rule to Austrian rule to Serbian rebellion, the bridge was always there. I never could understand why the Balkans is such a 'powder keg'. This book gives you a good idea as to why it is. What's even more strange about this is that I've actually read more books since I purchased a Gamecube than I have all year....go figure.

MLB Darkhorse Picks:
AL - Twins
NL - Marlins

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