UngsungBlog: A (Fantasy) Sports Blog

Quick-hitters:

- Despite getting some really really sweet (read: icky!) tomato sauces last night, I threw a few cans together with my usual mix of ingredients: one onion, chopped and browned; a few cloves of garlic, ditto; some olive oil; a bit of black pepper; some dried basil and oregano; and ground turkey meat–I was out of beef–the sauce came out pretty damn good.

(Drat! I forgot to put spinach in the sauce! Oh well, it’s not too late!)

Anyway, why do some tomato sauces insist on putting corn syrup in their product???

- Speaking of corn syrup: I forgot how awesomely good MexiCoke (Coke imported from Mexico, sweetened with sugar instead of that high fructose corn syrup crap) is! It tastes crisper than its American sibling, and it seems to go down a lot smoother as well.

I bought a couple bottles yesterday ($1 each), thinking I was getting 20oz bottles. It turns out that I bought 12oz bottles instead. Oops! Still, even at $1/bottle, it was kinda worth it.

Why, oh why, must we Americans suffer with HFCS-sweetened sodas?

(Don’t answer that; I’m aware of, at least somewhat, the reasons why.)

- I’m not sure of all the facts surrounding the whole Michael Vick/dogfighting indictment situation, but here are my quick thoughts on the situation.

• I don’t know if Vick deserves to be kicked out of the league indefinitely, as some people have suggested. Yes, an indictment spells huge trouble, but last I checked, he hasn’t been convicted yet. Don’t forget, a felony conviction will take care of Vick’s NFL career anyway.
• Should Atlanta take this opportunity to cut Vick? I say yes! Ignoring this entire legal situation, Vick is nowhere near worth the huge contract he signed a few years back (I believe the contract is in the vicinity of $130 million over seven years). Yeah, he’s probably the most electric QB in the league, and yes, he’s easily the most popular athlete in Atlanta today. But he’s not producing, and does Falcon fan really think Michael Vick can lead them to a Super Bowl title? Yes, the Falcons’ options after Vick are crap, but I hear there’s a QB on the market that was recently released from Miami…
• I wonder what Vick’s teammates think about the whole situation. If I were a player, I don’t know if I could deal with the distraction of Vick’s indictment during the season. All the questioning that is bound to happen, all the “what ifs?” surrounding Vick’s fate during the season…and what about the fact that Vick may have to leave his team during the season to stand trial?

You’ll have my thoughts on the 2007 World Series of Poker Main Event tomorrow.

Happy blogging!

by Peter
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Quick-hitters, Grocery Store edition:

- I really hate leg injuries. I always find myself compensating for the leg injury by stressing out my left leg, and, of course, I end up hurting my left leg as well. It didn’t help that I had to carry a five-gallon bottle of water from the parking lot to my place.

Oh, the humanity! Maybe I can find a wheelchair I can commandeer. Or a Radio Flyer.

(Actually, I’ve always wanted a Radio Flyer, for those trips to Costco. Have I ever mentioned that Costco was evil?)

- In my continuing quest to find the perfect canned tomato sauce to use in my spaghetti sauce recipe, I dumped about four different brands of sauce into my shopping cart.

(Tangent: I realize that “perfect canned tomato sauce” is a probably an oxymoron. You’d be surprised, though; with a few added ingredients, even a crap can of tomato sauce can be made edible. Adding some $1.99 Chuck Shaw white wine–yes, from Trader Joe’s–also helps to add a distinct flavor to otherwise crap sauce.)

Anyway, the problem with some of these crap tomato sauces is that they add corn syrup (!!!!!!). Why on Earth they’d do that is anyone’s guess. I found some decent Hunt’s tomato sauce a few weeks back, and that actually made quite a good sauce; unfortunately, I couldn’t find that exact sauce today.

One of these days, I’m going to find the perfect canned sauce!

- Limes were on sale at three pounds for a dollar, so I got a whole bunch of limes to make limeade. My recipe:

• One cup lemon or lime juice (about 4-5 lemons, or closer to 10 limes)
• Simple syrup: 1 cup cold water and 3/4-1cup sugar, heated slowly until all the sugar is dissolved
• Cold water (6-8 cups will do), ice, and lemon or lime slices, if desired

I’ve got some frozen strawberries in the freezer, and some ice as well. Maybe I’ll make myself a strawberry limeade.

- I saw this article a couple days ago, and am still laughing about it today. What do you do when you’re dissatisfied with your cellular phone service? Commandeer a military vehicle and destroy cell phone towers, of course! No word on whether or not he was let out of his existing contract.

Then again, the article made no mention that the guy even had cell phone service. Maybe he was high, and he was one of those tinfoil-hat wearing conspiracy theorists who think cell phones are a means for the government to spy on citizens. Or maybe he really really hates the Verizon guy.

(Yes, I realize this incident happened in Australia. Sorry, but I don’t know what the mobile phone carriers are there.)

Here’s my question: how the hell did he get a hold of an APC in the first place?!? Did an army soldier leave the keys in the vehicle when he stopped to get some coffee? Did the driver leave the emergency lights on to go into his apartment really quickly, because he forgot something? Or is Australia that dangerous, that people are now buying APCs to protect themselves?

Well done, sir.

by Peter
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Quick-hitters:

- Well, I’m no longer sore all over. A very good night of sleep, and a handful of Tylenol, will do that.

Unfortunately, I woke up this morning with serious knee pain. It hurt so much that I could barely walk on it. And I don’t have any pain relief ointment!

Woe is me…

- Damn, I love dried apricots!

I really, really hate Trader Joe’s. Such an evil store…

- I’m even richer! Another three clicks and another $2 via Google AdSense today!

Only $87 and I can request a check!

(Maybe I should put up a running tote board of my Google AdSense earnings, kinda like a telethon! We’ll call it the “UngsungBlog Webspace Fund.”)

I hope I’m not violating any Google AdSense rules by openly discussing my earnings

- Continuing with my beach story, from yesterday: Unlike Saturday, we actually arrived at the beach at a decent time (1:00pm). The water was really nice; if I recall correctly, the water temperature was an awesome 66F.

(Now you see why I could spend hours in the water.)

After getting pounded by the brutal waves for an hour, taking a stroll across the beach (the sand was HOT), and repeating ad nauseum, I got a chance to take a short break. Then, we jumped back in the water for a while, strolled across the beach again, played some frisbee, lathered, rinsed, and repeated.

(Tangent: Of all the projectiles out there, why is it that I cannot throw a frisbee??? I can throw a football, I can throw a baseball–I have a mean slider, and a wicked changeup–hell, I could probably throw a javelin well. But there’s something about a frisbee that absolutely befuddles me!

I hate frisbees.)

We spent a good four hours at the beach, of which three and a half were spent doing something other than chilling out. Now you see how I woke up in as much pain as I did this morning.

That being said, I wouldn’t mind going to the beach again next week.

I had more to talk about, but my knee is still hurting, and I’m sleepy.

Happy blogging!

by Peter
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- If there’s one thing I hate about my parents’ place in Monterey Park (and trust me, there are a lot!), I hate how hot it gets here!

I should mention that the MPK house is a West-facing house, which is nice in the late morning/early afternoon. Around 2-3pm, though, it gets unberably hot, as the sun shines directly on us. It also makes television watching difficult to enjoy, due to glare.

At around sunset, the entire house gets extremely hot, as the heat absorbed by the walls starts being released. My sister’s JVC RA-P10 said that her room temperature last night was 88F, and I thought it was lying; it felt a heck of a lot hotter than that!

The combination of the ultra-hot room, the shut windows–the neighbors around here don’t understand what common courtesy is–and my sore legs after yesterday’s excursion to the beach caused me to get very little sleep.

Too bad for me; we’re heading out to the beach AGAIN today. I better be careful, or I might get sick of the beach eventually.

(Eh, not likely.)

(EDIT: I am so sore from the trip to the beach. Between the constant beating I took from the waves, to the trips across the beach numerous times, I’m hurting. Where the heck is my BenGay?

At least it was very nice and warm there, until 4pm, when the sun finally hid behind some clouds.)

- Ugh, I’m in a serious food coma AGAIN. Trader Joe’s is evil, and so is Korean BBQ!

After the trip to the beach, we stopped by Trader Joe’s. I walked in, telling myself that I wanted only a single item: a bag of veggie chips.

(Tangent: Veggie chips are chips made out of potatoes, tomatoes, spinach, and I forget what other veggies. I absolutely love these things!)

As usual, I walked out with a few other things: a bag of dried apricots, a bag of banana crisps (think banana chips, but thinner, crispier, and a tad sweeter), some caramel popcorn, those veggie chips, and a bottle of Arizona Green Tea with Ginseng and Honey.

*shakes fist at Trader Joe’s*

After the trip to Trader Joe’s, we had dinner at Manna Korean BBQ, for the umpteenth time. As usual, we all ate way too much meat, and paid the price for it afterwards. It got so bad that, on the car ride home, everyone nearly fell asleep (driver included!).

I’m sore, in a food coma, and really really tired all over. Zzzzzzz…

by Peter
3 Comments »

- So I got an email today, saying that an urgent package was en route to me via DHL Express.

(Before you assume that this is some scam, it is not. It’s a package that I was expecting for some time.)

That was nice of the company in question to send me an email regarding the status of my package. Too bad that I had received said package two weeks ago!

It was the thought that counts, right?

- I’m rich! My site is finally making some money, thanks to Google AdSense! W00t!

(Ok fine, so I had a mere two clicks, out of thirteen impressions, which paid a cool $1.91. However, considering that I had earned $6 since I signed up, back in October of last year, I have nothing to complain about. Hey, I just increased my AdSense income by 33%! At this rate, I’ll be at a hundred bucks in no time!

I need the money to pay my domain + webspace bills!)

- I love the beach! I could stay in the ocean for hours on end, frolicking (sp?) around, especially when the water is nice and warm.

(Yes, readers, you can totally disregard what I wrote last week. I hate to admit it, but I love the beach.)

It’s a shame we got there so late, though; we left the house at almost 2:00pm, thanks to somebody *peers over at the guilty party*. Unlike last week, there was hardly a cloud in the sky, even though it seemed a bit cooler than last week was. The water temperature was absolutely perfect.

We must be crazy, because we’re probably going to go back to the beach tomorrow. And there’s a possibility that we’ll be having some Korean BBQ tomorrow. No word yet on whether or not there’s an available bed at my local hospital, for the angioplasty that I’m certainly going to need tomorrow.

- If you’ve ever watched Whose Line Is It Anyway?, you’ve seen Drew Carey (or Clive Anderson of the UK series) award points to the players, pointing out that the points don’t matter. Well, a couple of weeks ago, I had a particularly bad day, screwing up just about everything I did. It got to the point where I started awarding myself “Stupid Points” (SP) for every foul up I had.

Since then, I have found myself liberally offering SPs to people left and right.

Case in point: I just awarded myself 5,000 SPs because I came home (MPK) with my laptop, sans laptop charger.

Does that mean I hang around stupid people all the time? Definitely not!

Anyway, just like the points in Whose Line…:

• The points are just a gag and don’t really matter
• At the end of the day, the person with the most points wins nothing
• The points are completely arbitrary; if one event scores more SPs than another, that doesn’t mean the former event is necessarily more idiotic than the latter.

Why did I come up with Stupid Points? Because I live a sad, sad life.

(That last line was not meant to be taken seriously. If you did take it seriously, you just earned 5,000 SPs.)

Happy blogging!

(I nearly misspelled “Happy,” which would have been worth 10,000 SPs.)

by Peter
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Quick-hitters:

- Have I ever mentioned how evil Amazon Prime is? I’ve now placed six orders on Prime since signing up!

- So my poor mom had some teeth pulled out earlier today. My sister called me up to let me know that she wasn’t feeling too well.

I started sympathizing with her, and then my sister dropped this line on me:

“Yeah, she’s worried that she won’t be able to go out to eat this Sunday.”

Moms…can’t live with them, and it’s awfully hard to be alive without them.

- So I think I found my self-birthday present: a pair of Oakley RazrWire glasses! I’ve got a pair that look similar to these, and am pretty happy with them.

(Tangent: I don’t recall ever getting an actual gift for my birthday when I was younger; I’d usually get loads of cash, though. It took me a while to realize that, if I wanted a gift, I’d have to purchase one myself. I coined the term “self-birthday present” a few years after coming to that realization.)

Unfortunately, I’ve got a big head, and my glasses aren’t the most comfortable pair for my frame. I only got them because they were dirt cheap (yeah, bad purchasing strategy, I know).

I tried the RazrWire out at the mall a couple weeks ago, and was impressed with how lightweight they were, even with the BlueTooth headset built-in. Most importantly, they felt very snug on my face–the pair I have tend to move around a bit every now and then. I could not believe the MSRP on these glasses, though: $285?!?

$94.99 after a $15 coupon for these glasses? I’m game! The best thing is, even if the BlueTooth headset turns out to be absolute crap, it is also removable.

So…anyone wanna pitch in for my self-birthday gift?

- Craiglist is really starting to piss me off.

(The users, not the site itself, though an unnamed individual might disagree with that statement.)

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been getting tons of lowball offers, promises to meet to purchase an item (and not following through), and morons that obviously can’t read (I thought eBayers are the only ones that can’t read). I long for the days of the different flavors of the 419 scam, such as:

• I’ll send you a cashier’s check for $1000, and you send me $500 back, with my item.
• I use this escrow site, and it’s SAFE!
• I’ll send you a Western Union money order (followed by a fake WU money order confirmation).

I wouldn’t mind a pathetic “oh, my [relative] is sick, and I need the part! Can you sell it to me for [10% of cost]?”

Stupid Craigslist.

(No, this is not list-worthy.)

Happy blogging!

by Peter
4 Comments »

I know, I mentioned Rashard Lewis in yesterday’s blog, and never got around to the topic.

My apologies.

(A heads-up to my non-sports-fan readers: the next few blogs will be spent discussing NBA free agent signings, the MLB trading deadline, and tons of other sports topics.

I’ll try to sprinkle in a blog about a barbecue every now and then :P)

- So I got a new toy a couple days ago: a Logitech Z-4i speaker system.

I bought these speakers with the intention of reselling them, but after finding out how little of a market there is for these speakers, I decided to try them out. I have not yet regretted the decision.

I should point out that my current speaker system is this cheapy Altec Lansing 2.1 setup, with a paltry 35W RMS (the Z-4is sport an 80W RMS). These Z-4is absolutely blow them away. The Z-4i’s subwoofer puts the Altec Lansing’s to shame, and I love the wired remote. The wired remote has an on/off switch, a volume control knob–as opposed to up/down volume control buttons on the Altec Lansing–and a number of features absent on the Altec Lansing remote: a bass knob, a headphone jack, and an auxiliary input jack.

If there’s one thing to complain about, it’s the fact that these speakers are white. I would have preferred black speakers. Oh well. For $29.99 after a $40 rebate, I shouldn’t be complaining at all.

In any case, I finally get to get rid of my super crappy 2.1 system–which will be replaced with the Altec Lansing speakers–which probably spits out 0.5W of power :P.

- I made some Won Ton soup today. The broth was made with powdered chicken bouillon, garlic, chopped onion, ground black pepper, and a touch of soy sauce (yes, soy sauce and chicken bouillon seem redundant in the salty department, I realize). The meat was just ground pork, black pepper, and soy sauce.

(Tangent: My mom insists on using ground pork tenderloin for the filling. I don’t care to use $3/lb meat, especially if it’s going to be ground up and used for soup. Every time I see her approach a butcher, order a cut of pork tenderloin, and then ask the butcher to ground it up, I cry a little. I’m sure the butcher agrees with me.)

Anyway, the one thing I hate about making Won Ton soup is the preparation. Someone (Ron Popeil?) needs to invent an automatic Won Ton maker!

Damn…I could go for some more soup right about now.

Happy blogging!

by Peter
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Quick-hitters:

- Apparently lots of people found my blog via a Google search of “Pat Benatar” and the “Alhambra Summer Jubilee.”

(It wouldn’t surprise me if my sister was responsible for all of those hits.)

This saturday, Kool & The Gang will be performing. I haven’t yet decided if I’m going to attend.

- We’ve had two straight overcast days here in Tarzana. I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I miss the hot weather!

- I don’t know what’s worse: the stupid dog that keeps barking outside my window, or the idiot neighbor that has never heard of an “indoor voice.”

- About a year ago, I refilled the toner cartridge in my Samsung ML-2010 laser printer.

(Tangent: It’s actually a piece of cake to refill this cartridge. All you have to do is remove two screws, pop off a plastic cap, and pour the toner into the cartridge. Fill, cap, re-attach the screws, wait a few minutes, then run a couple test prints, and you’re done!

It’s very difficult to screw this up, but as you shall see, I found a way to screw up.)

Unfortunately, while finishing up the refill, I dropped the cartridge, denting the drum in several places. I kept using the printer, anyway, because it still printed well (if I ignored the white spots where the dents on the drum were).

Today, I got an empty Samsung ML-2010 printer cartridge in the mail, with the intention of pouring in the toner from the dented cartridge into this brand new one. I had a plan: I would use a paper funnel (made out of a 24#, 8.5×11″ sheet of paper, heavily taped to make sure that the toner wouldn’t spill anywhere), latex gloves, and I would do this all in my bathtub, in case of a major spill.

Needless to say, my idea was disastrous. I got toner dust all over my bathtub, and the paper funnel didn’t work nearly as well as I expected it to. The transfer also took a heck of a lot longer than I expected it to (those ML-2010 cartridges sure hold a lot of toner!). Oh well, I needed to clean my bathtub anyway.

After the transfer of toner and the reassembly of the cartridge, I gently shook the cartridge back and forth a few times to loosen any stray toner. I also had to very gently clean the drum, as some toner dust found its way there. After all that, I did a few test prints, and to my utter amazement, it worked quite well! There are still a couple minute spots on the printouts, but it was not nearly as bad as the old, dented cartridge.

By the way, is it bad that I’m coughing up black powder? Someone please remind me to wear a mask the next time I even consider refilling another cartridge.

I had another topic I wanted to get to (unfortunately, it was sports-related), but I’ll save it for tomorrow. Happy blogging!

by Peter
2 Comments »

So I’ve got half a watermelon in front of me, and a big spoon.

Who wants to bet that I’ll finish off the watermelon by the end of this blog entry?

(The watermelon has been refrigerated, making it even more tempting to finish.)

- I got a brand new toy in the mail today!

(Brand new to me, that is.)

It’s an iPod Shuffle!

(It’s really my sister’s, but I get to play with it first.)

It’s pretty interesting how Apple integrated the dock connector into the headphone jack, which also serves to charge the Shuffle. Also, the on/off and shuffle switches are located on the bottom of the Shuffle, while the headphone jack is located on the top. I would have liked a scroll wheel on the Shuffle, but then I realized how unnecessary that would be (considering that the Shuffle does not have a display on it).

I am amazed at how ridiculously small the Shuffle is! Clipped on, I could barely feel the Shuffle on my shirt.

(Off topic: I just got started on that watermelon. I probably won’t come anywhere close to finishing it by the end of this blog. Maybe that’s a good thing.)

I’m wondering when Apple will create the iPod pico. I can’t wait for them to release an iPod that is embedded into your skull, powered by intracellular reactions, and with built-in WiFi for transfer of music.

- (from Consumerist) Here’s a typical “scam” that’s out there today: you cash a check, which enrolls you in a trial membership with some discount membership/credit protector/etc. After xx days, if you don’t cancel, you get charged a monthly fee.

(I say “scam” in quotes because, most of the time, the companies make it fairly obvious that you will be charged after the free trial period. It’s up to the consumer to cancel the subscription before the trial ends.)

So what’s so interesting about this particular “scam?” Well, it costs $119 for the first year, and $129 thereafter. For your money, here’s what you get:

• 2% cash back on up to $5,000 in purchases ($100)
• $40 in “seasonal” coupons for use on gas and groceries ($10 each)
• “Prearranged deals and discounts,” which are essentially useless these days (with all the deal sites out there)

So for $119 in year one, and $129 every year thereafter, you have the privilege of earning up to $140 every year! And check out the wording on the cash back refund: “You can look forward to receiving a check for up to $100.00 each year you keep your refund privileges.” Sounds like you only get the check if you keep the service active for at least one year…

If making $20 off your $120 (and $10 off your $130 after year one) is your idea of a hot deal, then by all means, go ahead and sign up!

(Oh yeah, I completely forgot about the $9.25 check you get when you initially sign up @@).

- Last night, I grilled rib eye steaks (what else is new?), roma tomatoes, and had a tossed salad and some mashed potatoes and gravy. Unfortunately, my steak was a tad overcooked, and by a tad overcooked, I mean it was medium instead of medium-rare. My sister’s steak was perfect, though; a pretty reddish-pink interior, and extremely juicy.

(Off topic: All-Star game color commentator Tim McCarver just said that, if anyone needs a big bat in their lineup, it’s the San Diego Padres, because their pitching staff is excellent. Hey moron, what about the Dodgers?)

(Off topic #2: I just found this site, via a Google search for “Tim McCarver.” LOL!!!)

The tomatoes were unbelievably tasty too.

I plan on BBQing again, later this week; I’ve got tons of chicken wings and beef short ribs in the freezer. All I need is some asparagus and some more tomatoes, and I’ll be set.

If only I could BBQ every day.

That’s all I’ve got for now.

by Peter
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- Time for some Google Analytics fun!

For the previous week (July 1-July 7), the #1 keyword hit on my site was “Kevin Hain.”

(For those of you that don’t know who Kevin Hain is, he’s the “Escalations Supervisor” of CrapUSSR. Here’s my rant on Mr. Hain and CompUSA from almost two weeks ago.)

I wonder if Mr. Hain actually Googles his own name and reads what people are saying about him. If he is, hello Kevin! *waves*

Other common keywords from the past week:

• Tammie “I am not a monster” Garlin
• Time Warner (naturally)
• Citibank (naturally)
• BigCrumbs.com

- I hate the beach. I really do. I’m not even sure why I keep going back.

Maybe it’s the temperatures in the mid 70s. Maybe it’s the warm sand, or the crisp, lukewarm water. Or maybe it’s the sights and sounds of the beach (emphasis on “sights,” if you know what I mean).

Anyway, I hate the beach. If there’s even a little bit of sunshine, I’ll get sunburned, no matter how much sunblock I use. I could probably use an entire bottle and still end up medium rare. And don’t get me started on the waves; they were absolutely brutal yesterday.

(Yes, yesterday’s return trip to the beach was much better than the day before. The sun was out, even though it was still pretty cloudy, and the water was very comfortable.)

I hate the beach. That being said, I think I’ll go back next weekend…

- ESPN aired the MLB Home Run Derby today, and Vladimir Guerrero took the crown in an anti-climatic final round against Alex Rios. A few thoughts:

• I picked Prince Fielder to win. Nice job showing up.
• My sister picked Albert Pujols to win. I thought he was going to win for sure, watching him effortlessly smack homers in his second round. Too bad he ended up a single homer short.
• Hey ESPN, next year, how about more Erin Andrews, and less Peter Gammons?
• Speaking of ESPN, their coverage of the Derby was awful. If you’re going to interview Bonds and A-Fraud, could you have the decency to do so between hitters, and not during a hitter’s round? By the way, why did ESPN need six hosts for the Derby (the three at the stadium, and the three on the Baseball Tonight studio)? Last I checked, this was the freaking Home Run Derby!

Eh, who am I kidding? The Home Run Derby is still leaps and bounds better than any pre-all-star game event that the NBA or NHL showcases.

I BBQ’ed again today, and yes, I’m in a food coma. Details tomorrow.

Happy blogging!

by Peter
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