UngsungBlog: A (Fantasy) Sports Blog

I’m still…um…somewhat shaken by the earthquake from earlier this morning.

(BTW, this earthquake is a precursor of quakes to come?  Really?  And raindrops are a precursor to more raindrops, right?)

Quick-hitters:

- The Los Angeles Angels nowhere near Los Angeles got 1B Mark Teixeira from Atlanta, eh?  And all it cost them was Casey Kotchman (who will be a fine pro, but isn’t going to be THE guy to push the Angels to the World Series) and a middling prospect?

As much as it sickens me to admit this, the Angels seem to be the clear favorites now to win the World Series.  They have everything it takes to win:  outstanding starting pitching, lockdown relievers, dangerous middle-of-the-order hitters, and an experienced coach.

Oh well…at least the Dodgers got Casey Blake!

- It looks like the Lakers will not be getting Ron Artest, as the Sacramento Kings have agreed to trade Artest to the Houston Rockets for Bobby Jackson, the rights to Donte Greene, and a 2009 #1 pick.

That’s a pretty heavy price to pay for Artest, if I’m the Rockets.  Also, does Artest and Shane Battier both play SF?  And what if T-Mac and Yao miss a ton of games, and the Rockets miss the playoffs next year?

(I’ll have to check to see if the pick is lottery-protected.)

- Current rebate-o-meter:  $1,400, and falling rapidly.  I should be getting somewhere along the lines of $500 in rebates real soon.

- The 5.8 magnitude earthquake, centered near Chino Hills, CA, was one of the more brief and sudden quakes that I’ve ever experienced in my life.  Five brief seconds of shaking—similar to what you would feel if a big truck drove by your house—was followed by a good 20-30 seconds of my building swaying back and forth.

It was certainly a strange experience—I had never been in a multi-story building during a serious quake—and one I’d like to not have to experience again for a while.  And consider this:  I am a good 45-60 minutes away from Chino Hills.  If we ever get a repeat of the Northridge quake around here…

- I got a package from DHL a few days ago, and noticed this peculiar sticker on the box:

(I’d scan it for you all, but I’m too damn lazy.)

DHL Signature Service Options

Signature Preferred:  Attempted Delivery Notice release or Signature On File agreement is acceptable when an in-person signature cannot be obtained.

Signature Required:  In-person signature only…blah blah blah

Adult Signature Required:  In-person signature only…21 years of age…blah blah blah.

Krunk noticed it immediately, and I must also ask:  isn’t the “Signature Preferred” option nothing more than the default shipping option?

Gosh, I love it when companies pretend to give customers something, when in reality, they’re not!

- Very quickly:  dinner tonight was Chinese delivery food from California Wok.  We ordered a full plate of Kung Pow Chicken, and I was surprised how very full the little tray was!  It was so full that the lid nearly popped off when we opened it!

I also ordered the Beef Chow Mein, which was not-terribly-greasy good as usual, though the beef pieces looked like they were peeled off larger pieces of beef.  Good stuff, nonetheless, and not terribly pricey for a highly-rated restaurant.

zzzzz…

Tags: anaheim angels, atlanta braves, casey blake, chino hills, earthquake, los angeles dodgers, mark teixeira by Peter
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I have not yet recovered from Saturday’s Pig Roast.

(More on that later.)

Quick-hitters:

- You know that your blog is pathetic when a simple blog entry about a spammy caller-ID number doubles your blog traffic.

Not that I’m complaining…

- I didn’t get to play much Shot-Online over the weekend, mostly due to yesterday’s affairs.

I did, however, absolutely steal a win on a nine-hole match earlier tonight.  I was playing Hela, tied with my opponent on the final hole (a par 3), when I seemingly drove my ball into the water (my ball rolled on to the brown perimeter of the water, and not actually in it).

Even though it said I hit it into the water, I was not accessed a penalty stroke (apparently, you get relief if this happens, without being accessed a penalty).  On my next shot—just off the green—I thought I putted the ball much too hard, and the darn thing went in!

Needless to say, my opponent was incensed.  She got so mad that she didn’t even attempt her tying birdie putt, as her shot clock ran out!

- Quick thoughts about Diva Favre:

1) “‘It’s pretty clear — and this is what I told the commissioner — that they want me to go away, stay retired.’”

Do you blame them if this is true?  If you hadn’t jerked around with the team for three consecutive off-seasons, and the Packers still did this to you, then we have a different story.

2) “‘They would much rather see me in a Packers’ uniform, paying me $12 million to be a backup — which you know they really don’t want — rather than see in another uniform, no matter what they say.’”

The Packers wouldn’t mind seeing you in Packers’ gear, had you not jerked around with them a third time!

3) “‘Roger is willing to help but he has to be careful,’ said Favre. ‘I told him I could easily send in this letter [of reinstatement] but they really don’t want me there and it’ll be a big circus.’

Um…too late!

4) “According to Favre, Thompson asked him if he was interested in a trade. ‘Yeah, but not just to the teams you want me to go to,’ Favre said, relaying his conversation with the Packers’ GM.”

WTF?  If the Packers get a good offer, and he shoots the trade down, then that is his own damn fault, isn’t it?  Seriously, I would pay good money to see Favre in Oakland or Miami.  And for the record, I’m 99% sure that the teams the Packers don’t want him to go to are the Vikings and the Bears.

Somebody please call this guy a WAAAAAAAAAmbulance.

- So the Woodland Hills Kiwanis Pig Roast was this past Saturday, and my sister (still a proud Kiwanian!) and I arrived at the festivities at about 5PM.  About half an hour later, my partner in crime, Mr. Don Doner, showed up.

I call Mr. Doner my partner-in-crime because, for the past three years, we have been responsible for selling tickets to buy booze from the bar.  Every year, sales have gone up, and I think alcohol sales went WAY up this year, despite the cooler-than-expected temperatures.  More importantly, though, I attend this Pig Roast every year because I get to spend 2-3 hours with Mr. Doner.

You see, he is a counselor, and at the ripe old age of 1,000 (:P), he’s forgotten way more than I will ever learn.  Every year I’ve attended the pig roast, we talk about life, business, and philosophy, so much so that I treat the Pig Roast as a paid life lecture with a complimentary meal.

(Watching Mr. Doner charm the ladies—and the gentlemen too!—out of their money for booze tickets is pretty awesome too.)

As for the food:  roasted pig, roasted chicken (some people were complaining that the chicken was undercooked; my piece was cooked perfectly), potatoes, cole slaw (w/celery?), salad, beans, and a slice of cake for dessert, and I was stuffed.  The best part was, I got to take tons of leftover food home!  Too bad there was no left over pork…

(The chicken I took home turned out to be undercooked, unfortunately.)

I can’t wait for next year’s Pig Roast, and I’ll see you there, Mr. Don Doner.

- So the Dodgers got Casey Blake?  Awesome!

(Not really.)

So we traded a future catcher prospect (Carlos Santana) and a good pitching prospect (Jon Meloan) for a 35 year old 3B who can’t defend, hits only decently (though, compared to the rest of the Dodgers, he’s an All-Star!) and is a free agent at the end of the year?  Worse yet, speculation is that the Dodgers had to throw in Santana to get the Indians to pay the rest of Blake’s $2 million salary.  Really?  You’re doling out $118 million, and $2 million more is a problem?

That being said, I can’t fault Colletti for having to save money, even at the expense of an extra prospect.  What I CAN fault him for is EVERY OTHER FREAKING STUPID MOVE HE’S EVER MADE!!!  Juan Pierre for $44 million?  Jason Schmidt?  Andruw Jones???

(And I’m fully aware that I actually ENDORSED the deal late last year.  I must have been drunk that night.)

If I hear that Colletti traded away Kemp, Kershaw, and Billingsley for Mark Teixeira and money to cover his contract the rest of the year, I better hear about 200,000 Dodger fans chasing Colletti out of town.  Then again, Colletti doesn’t trade his best prospects, so I better expect an Andy LaRoche-Andre Ethier for Jack Wilson swap, with a third prospect being thrown in for the money issues.

Speaking of Andy LaRoche…what the hell did he do to get treated so poorly?  Did he make a pass at Mrs. McCourt?

Until next time!

Tags: andy laroche, blog traffic, brett favre, caller id, carlos santana, casey blake, diva favre, jon meloan, los angeles dodgers, pig roast, woodland hills kiwanis by Peter
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My thermostat says it’s 82 degrees in my living room right now.

It’s 10PM!!!

Quick-hitters:

- Time Warner, you’re so funny. One week after I discovered you guys started charging a “Digital Programming Fee,” I spotted one of your commercials still advertising free HD channels!

(Granted, the commercial says you need a set-top box to get the free channels, and I guess you can call it a “fee” to rent said box, but wouldn’t that be a “STB rental fee”?)

Nicely done, Time Warner.

EDIT:  Krunk brought up a very good point, one that I completely whiffed on.  Digital programming does not necessarily imply HD programming.  Any regular STB can offer digital programming; however, an HD STB is what is required to get HD programming.

I’ll have to look over my bill again to see exactly what I’m getting charged for.

- Speaking about bad customer service, it’s almost time to call Sprint again to get my 10% credit. This is assuming, of course, that Sprint didn’t auto-credit me this month, which is a safe bet, no?

I should be careful, though, about calling in Sprint way too frequently. I do not recall where I read it from, but I recall reading somewhere that Sprint cancels contracts of users that call CS way too often. And now that the great deal that was Sprint SERO is effectively dead—it’s now $60 for the cheapest plan—I better do whatever it takes to keep my plan alive.

- Current rebate-o-meter: $1,290. And yes, I did submit those nearly-expired rebates yesterday.

- Today’s blog will be dedicated to the food that I made this week (sorry, no pics!).

(In no particular order…)

1) I made a New York Strip steak with some roasted red potatoes (coated in melted butter, olive oil, seasonings, and kosher salt). The steak was pan-fried, cooked in butter, and coated (naturally) with black pepper and kosher salt. Delicious, but the piece of meat was far too fatty for my liking.

2) I made California rolls twice, once with brown rice. The latter was a terrible idea; the rice just didn’t stick well, and all the sweetened vinegar in the world couldn’t mask the fact that it tasted like…well…brown rice. Sadly, I also did not have any avocado.

3) My sister Nancy gave me a bottle of buffalo wing sauce from Anchor Bar, the (paraphrasing) Home of the Buffalo Wing, so I decided to make some Buffalo wings.

(She has a friend that lives up there).

I didn’t have any celery or carrot sticks, unfortunately, so I was forced to slice up some cucumbers to go along with the wings.

Note to self: never, ever, use wing pieces from 99 Ranch to make Buffalo wings. Some of those chicken wing pieces sure didn’t taste like chicken! I loved the sauce, though—we got the Suicidal recipe sauce—but I could have used something a tad hotter.

(Did I just say that?)

I have a hankering for some California rolls right now.

Oh yeah, tomorrow is the Woodland Hills Kiwanis Pig Roast. Oh no…

Tags: 10% credit, anchor bar, buffalo wings, california rolls, digital programming free, employee plan, Food, free HD?, kiwanis, new york steak, pig roast, roasted potatoes, SERO, sprint, time warner, woodland hills by Peter
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I don’t have much to blog about, but despite that, I’m going go blog anyway.  So here goes.

(I actually do have something I could blog about, but it’s going to take me a while to arrange all my thoughts on that subject, so I’ll hold it off a bit longer.)

Quick-hitters, a somewhat super-sized edition:

- Lack of sleep = bad.

Lack of sleep + red eyes every morning = really bad.

Lack of sleep + red eyes + a screwed-up sleep cycle = insanely bad.

Speaking of lack of sleep…

- I’ve gotten back to the habit of a cup of coffee or two daily.  Normally, when I brew coffee with my Vietnamese coffee press, I don’t bother replacing the metal lid after pouring the water into the press.

A couple days ago, on a whim, I decided to try brewing the coffee with the lid on.  Wow…what a difference!

(You would think that this is common sense; without the lid, steam can easily escape, rapidly cooling off the water being used to brew the coffee.  Have you forgotten that I am an idiot?)

- Shot-Online update:  my primary character, fdsfdsg, is a level 25 amateur, and I really have to get rid of this driver I’m using (power +5 is nice, but not at the expense of minus-2 points of impact).

I also had two of the worst rounds of my life (yes, even worse than when I was a beginner):  +6 in nine holes on Alfheim (the beginner course), and +8 on six holes on NamChoc CC.

Gosh I suck.

- I filed nine rebates with Parago over the last few days.  Five approvals, four rejections.

AKA par for the course.

Speaking of rebates…

- Current rebate-o-meter:  $1,400.  However, I have about $300 in rebates that have yet to be filed, and they must be postmarked by TOMORROW.  Oops!

- In the pantheon of douchebag-y commercials, I think McDonald’s might finally be topped by another superpower retailer:  Wal-freaking-mart.

(LOL.  Just as I finished that sentence above, a McDonald’s commercial aired.  I may have to reconsider my stance.)

Case in point:  that stupid commercial with the mom, the kid strapped to her, and the little girl causing general mayhem, including spilling something on her shirt.  Am I the only one that wishes he were in that commercial, so I could trip the kid?

Yes, I have problems.

Do you know why I can’t stand Wal-Mart?  Do you need to ask?  Wal-Mart commercials annoy me so much that they have influenced me to introduce a new category of blog topics:  [bad] commercials!

(As an aside, while Googling another commercial I can’t stand—that Secret one where the girl has her hands raised throughout it—I stumbled upon this site:  CommercialsIHate.com.  Awesome site!)

OMFG!  Another WalMart commercial just aired!  AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

That’s it for today.

Tags: bad commercials, coffee, lack of sleep, parago, shot-online, walmart by Peter
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You may have noticed that I have yet to discuss the nightmare I suffered while building my sister’s new computer.

Don’t expect the blog entry regarding this any time soon :P.

Quick-hitters:

- This is either the funniest thing I’ve seen in a while, or the most disturbing.

I’m inclined to vote for the latter.

-For the last few days, I’ve been getting annoying junk phone calls on my cell phone.  Most of the calls are from 818 #s, advertising cleaning and maid services.

Here’s the caller ID# of the last two calls I’ve gotten from these clowns:  818-648-295.

(Um…)

(And please save the “That’s probably caller ID spoofing.”  There’s a good chance that’s the case.)

- Current rebate-o-meter:  $1,400 on the nose.  About a third of that is currently unfiled

- A couple of days ago, I sold an item on Amazon.com, and the buyer wanted the item shipped to the Radisson Lexington Hotel.  Having never shipped a package to a hotel before, I emailed the Radisson for information regarding shipping packages there.

By Monday—I emailed the Radisson on Saturday—I did not get a reply, so I called the Radisson’s toll free number.  When I got to a live operator, I explained my situation.  Before I could finish, though, the operator told me that I had to contact the Radisson Lexington Hotel directly; I should have known that the toll-free number was the Radisson’s national hotline.  She gave me the direct number to the hotel (the 212 # listed on the web site to which I linked above), and hung up almost immediately afterwards.

I called the 212 #, got to the front desk, and explained my situation to the front desk operator.  About half a second after I finished my question, I heard the muzak again.

When I finally got to the correct department, I explained my situation a third time.  The rep explained what I had to do, and after I told him that that was all the information I needed, he quickly said “take care” and hung up.

Total time spent on the phone:  four minutes, tops.  If only my calls to Sprint could last that long AND be that effective.

- My Nintendo Wii is gathering dust.  My Guitar Hero guitars are buried somewhere in my office.  My PS2?  It’s around here somewhere?  Why am I seemingly avoiding my console games?

Meet my new gaming addiction:  Shot-Online.  Now, I’m a fan of the Tiger Woods series of golf games.  I’m NOT at all a fan of MMORPGs, though, but this game is thoroughly enjoyable.  The game is extremely easy to pick up—if you can click a mouse three times, you can play—difficult to master, and about 99% of the players that play Shot-Online are nice guys (this may be completely untrue, but when I think of MMORPGs, I think of ten year olds that must use an obscenity in every sentence spoken, written, or typed).

(As I was typing up this blog entry, I just got kicked out of a Shot-Online game in which I was dominating.  Stupid server maintenance!!!)

I picked a female character in this game, and I’ve already been hit on a couple times.  You should have seen one guy’s reaction when I pointed out that I was really a guy!  Maybe I should try to use my female character to score some money or loot :P.

EDIT:  So far, I have two characters.  The first, my primary character, is named fdsfdsg.  Yes, it was created when I slammed my fingers on the home row of my keyboard.  I had no intention of playing this game for very long, until I actually started playing.  My other character is named Hospitalsrule, a tribute to my Calculus professor butchering the pronunciation of “L’Hopital.”

Yes, I’m a dork.

Tags: golf, jimmy kimmel, junk phone calls, mmorpg, new york, radisson hotel, shot-online, unnecessary censorship by Peter
2 Comments »

Ugh…I’m stuffed.

(As you might expect, there’s more on that later.)

Quick-hitters:

- I can’t remember the last time I’ve stepped foot in a CVS.

I’m surprised I haven’t gotten a “Where are you?” email :P.

(Either that, or a “Good riddance!” email.)

- Speaking of shopping, I stepped foot in a Ross earlier today…and stepped out with ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!!  Then again, it helped that none of the three shirts I tried on fit very well.  I didn’t even think that was humanly possible!

My sisters, on the other hand, did some nice damage to their purses.

Wait a sec…no trips to CVS in three weeks?  No purchases at Ross?  Am I the same person that has been blogging here for the past year and change???

- So earlier today, I made what might have been the easiest forty bucks ever.

The older of my two sisters (Nancy) had a $40 debit card, for which I was going to give her cash—I planned on using it to buy a $40 Amazon.com gift certificate, since I buy so much stuff from Amazon anyway.  When she got here, she handed me the gift card, and then we got to talking about her wanting either a new cell phone plan, a new phone itself, or discounted service.  I suggested that she get in contact with AT&T’s retentions department.

After being on hold for five minutes or so, she whined about not wanting to talk to customer service (apparently she keeps up with my battles with Sprint :P).  She begged me to speak with CS, to which I politely declined.  She then yelled, “I’ll give you that [debit] card if you deal with them!”

One minute on hold followed by fifteen minutes with a VERY knowledgeable rep later, I pocketed the debit card.  In fact, the experience with that rep might cause me to (at the very least) consider a switch back to AT&T.

Yeah, I’m THAT sick of Sprint.

- Over the Fourth of July weekend—I think that’s when it happened—cousin David casually mentioned something about Outback Steakhouse.  I forget the context of the conversation, but I think it had something to do with the best “mainstream” steakhouse out there.

Well, fast forward to last weekend, when Nancy offered to take me out to dinner.  For what occasion, I had no idea!  Anyway, that conversation with cousin David stuck in my head, and because I knew that not making a quick decision would have resulted in a week’s worth of deliberations over which restaurant to eat at (right, Krunk?), I quickly chose Outback Steakhouse.

We got to the nearest Outback at around 7pm, and were seated about ten minutes later (by a very attractive blonde, for the record).  I “settled” on the 16 oz. Prime Rib dinner, and was surprised to see Coke Zero among the drink options!  Nancy had ribs and chicken; my mom had the grilled salmon (the “l” is silent, dammit!); and my other sister (who likes to remain anonymous :P) ordered the steak, scallops, and shrimp dinner.

There is a good chance that my standards of food have gone down dramatically, but I thought the food was, overall, quite good.  It could have been a lot worse, I suppose.  I sampled every dish—and by “sampled” I mean everyone tossed a portion of their food onto my plate—and thought the ribs were quite tasty, the chicken was meh, the salmon (SAM-on, dammit!!!) was very juicy, and the bit of scallop I had was perfect.  My sister’s sirloin steak, though, was not close to medium-rare; it looked almost medium-well!

As for the Prime Rib…it was excellent!  It was so good, I had a hard time handing out portions to everyone else at the table (I’m stingy when it comes to good food.  Is that a crime?).  I could have used some horseradish sauce, though.

Actually, I could have really used an antacid.  Or at least some Beano.

Tags: at&t, cell phone, chicken, csr, customer service, cvs, debit card, easy money, outback steakhouse, prime rib, ribs, ross, salmon, scallops, shrimp, sprint, steak by Peter
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I’ve decided to stay away from the latest Diva Favre news.

And the story about my horrible computer build will have to wait.

(Yeah, I’ll manage.)

Quick-hitters:

- I think I figured out the secret as to why diet drinks and protein shakes either work spectacularly, or not at all:  they are intentionally made to taste disgusting!

(Have you ever tried Strawberry Milkshake flavored Muscle Milk?)

These drinks are so disgusting that you’ll either not want to eat anymore ( = instant weight loss!) or you’ll immediately go back to eating junk food after one day on the diet

- File this one under “Quick ways to earn tons of stupid points.”  Do you remember how your high school chemistry teacher always told you to never sniff the chemicals in a beaker/test tube/flask/whatever, and that the proper thing to do is “waft” the odors towards you?

I should probably have heeded that advice.  Yesterday, while cleaning my bathroom, I found a nearly empty bottle of Tilex.  Thinking that my sister might have added water to it (you know, add a bit of water in a nearly empty bottle of cleaner, shake it around, and you have a decent quantity of a dilute cleaner that could be useful for 1-2 more cleanings), I unscrewed the spray, and sniffed the contents of the bottle.

I have no idea what happened in the next 10 minutes.

(Fifty thousand stupid points.)

- So I finally have a serious gripe about my Logitech Cordless Desktop MX3200 Laser keyboard + mouse combo.  The way my desk is set up (opposite the single torch lamp in the room), the media keys—next, previous, volume up/down, mute, play/pause, etc.—are virtually impossible to distinguish!  Am I going to have to buy a small lamp for my desk just to make sure I don’t hit next instead of play/pause???

Too bad this keyboard doesn’t have a built-in backlight.

(Whew!  That was long!)

Before I get to my customer service rants and raves, can you guess which of the companies I listed above are going to get rants, and which are going to get raves?  Decide, and then read on.

- Time to rant and rave!

1) Thank you, Time Warner.  Seriously.  Three rate hikes in three months wasn’t enough?

I got an email from Time Warner saying that my next month’s bill was ready.  That’s when I immediately noticed the amount due:  ~$80.  FOUR rate hikes, and we’re only in July???

It turns out that Time Warner is now charging a “Digital Programming Fee,” bundled into the cost of the monthly HD Set Top Box (STB) rental (now $9.00).  They also, I believe, raised the rental fee of a regular STB to $6.00.

I’m probably going to have to cancel HBO.  I wonder what fees they’re going to try to charge me this time.  I know the downgrade fee is a given.  Will I get hit with a “Live Operator” fee?  How about a “Dial Tone” fee?  Who knows?

(If you put Time Warner in the “rave” category, you must be smoking something.  Can I get a hit of that stuff? :P)

2) So I ordered some free after rebate (naturally) software from J&R a couple of days ago, and two days later, I got a shipping confirmation.  Unfortunately, J&R could not provide me any tracking info, or so their shipping confirmation stated.

The USPS Delivery Confirmation number on the address label of my padded mailer says otherwise.

(Huge drop-off from the first story, huh?)

3) I ordered a Belkin surge protector from Newegg.com a couple days ago.  It was advertised for $9.99 - a $5 coupon - a $5 mail in rebate and free shipping.  When I placed the order, I noticed that I was charged $8.25 for shipping and handling.

I immediately fired off an email to Newegg customer service, requesting a refund of my shipping and handling charges.  That was three days ago.

I eventually found out that the free shipping was a misprint, a Newegg Live Chat CSR explained.  The rep offered me a refund on my shipping charges anyway, and soon after, I got an emailed “invoice” from Newegg granting my credit.

(We’ll score that a half rant, half rave.)

4) OK…this one is neither a rant nor a rave; it’s just a funny story.  I got a letter in the mail about a 0% balance transfer option with Discover, and for kicks (that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it), I called in to inquire about it.  I had intended on doing a transfer in the $2,000-$2,500 range, and explained this to the CSR.

The CSR, who sounded overly cheery for a phone CSR, answered all my questions quickly and adequately.  Right when I was about to hang up, though, she offered me a reduced cap on the balance transfer fee, which was 3% capped at $99; she offered a reduced cap of $75.

It took me half a second to point out that a 3% balance transfer fee on a $2,500 balance was going to cost me $75 anyway.

All the rep could do was chuckle and say “Whoops!”

(OK OK, we’ll score this one a rave anyway.  So if you guessed rant, rant, 50/50, and rave, congrats!  You win 50 Ung-bucks!)

Whew!

Tags: advertising error, balance transfer, belkin, cordless desktop mx3200 laser, delivery confirmation, diet drink, digital programming fee, discover, disgusting, FAR, free ship, hbo, high definition, j&r, keyboard, logitech, media keys, muscle milk, protein shake, rate cap, rate increase, set top box, shipping confirmation, sniffing chemicals, stupid points, surge protector, time warner by Peter
3 Comments »

No quick-hitters tonight:

- Quick thoughts on the Clippers-Nuggets deal that sent Marcus Camby to the Clippers for the rights to swap second-round picks:

1) Clearly this was nothing more than a salary dump for Camby, but certainly they could get more than the right to swap picks, right?  They couldn’t get the Clippers’ second-round pick outright for the former All-Star?

2) As for the Clippers, I like the deal, even though Camby’s not close to Elton Brand’s talent level.  Camby’s contract is reasonable—two years, ~$16 million left—and the Clippers still have a bit of cap space to add another piece.  The problem with this deal is that it effectively wastes two years of Baron Davis’ career.  Still, I might rather have Camby for two years and cap space for the key free agent year of 2009-2010 than five years of Emeka Okafor at some obscene amount.

- So I went weeks without commenting on Packers’ diva Brett Favre, and now I’m going to comment about him on consecutive blog entries?  Wow.

Apparently there is a second part of the interview between Favre and Greta Van Susteren (who just happens to be a family friend of Favre’s AND a Packers’ shareholder!  Talk about a conflict of interest!).  And boy, is the second part a doozy.

Apparently Favre does feel “bad” for current Packers’ QB Aaron Rodgers.  How nice of you, Brett!  Three years of pissing all over the guy while you waffled over whether or not to return, and you finally admit that you feel bad for the guy?

(And why do people insist that Favre is such a great guy?)

The entire quote is a great read:

The one thing in this, I do feel bad for Aaron a little bit. I think he’ll do a fine job, to be totally honest with you. I do. He has been injured. The two injuries are not his fault. Couldn’t control them. I know this has been tough on him. I think he’ll do a fine job. And this has nothing to do with him, this whole deal. If they want to make me a backup … The thing is, they’ve been preaching about, ‘We want to protect Brett’s legacy’ … and we both know what that’s about. How does that protect my legacy if I’m a backup? Brett, we welcome you back, we’ll play you $12 million but you’ve got to hold the clipboard and ball cap. That’s probably better for them as opposed to letting me go somewhere and me coming back. Then, their legacy, the management, could be in jeopardy. Let me worry about that. You don’t worry about my legacy. It’s a bunch of bull. That’s all it is.

Did the Packers’ brass really state that they wanted to protect Brett’s legacy?  If that’s so, then I’ll have to agree with Favre, in this sense:  right now, the Packers owe Favre NOTHING.  They don’t have to protect him in any way, shape, or form, not after his recent waffling.

And what’s all this garbage about Favre wanting to return to the Packers to “call their bluff?”  As rough as it would be on Rodgers to have to look over his shoulder to see Favre on the sidelines during every one of his pass attempts, the thought of seeing Favre holding a clipboard on the sidelines slightly amuses me.  And I’m sure GM Ted Thompson wouldn’t mind seeing that as well.

It’s 50/50 that I’ll have ANOTHER blog entry about Diva Favre tomorrow.

- So I tuned in to the MLB All-Star Game today, and after three innings of scoreless ball, I shut the TV off.  Later in the day, I turned the TV back on to see the National League score a go-ahead run against Jonathon Papelbon.

(Tangent:  Despite all the stupid comments Papelbon made about wanting to close, then deferring to Yankees’ closer Mariano Rivera, then flipping flopping a la Diva Favre, no way did Papelbon deserve the treatment he got from the Yankee fans during the eighth inning.  And never mind the treatment that Yankee fans gave his wife during an All-Star Game parade).

I flipped the TV back off—the game just didn’t appeal to me, for some reason—and we went to Coldstone (note to self:  get the Apple Pie a la Mode sans caramel next time).  When we got back, it was 3-3 in the bottom of the ninth inning, and little did I know what we were in for.

Dan “Ugh”-la’s late-game attempt to cement the All-Star Game Least Valuable Player of the Millenium—a huge double play, two nearly crushing errors, two strikeouts, followed by a third “error”—fortunately was thwarted by outstanding pitching by Aaron Cook and Carlos Marmol as well as ridiculous (!!!!!!) defensive gems by (where do I start?) Miguel Tejada, Christian Guzman, Nate McLouth, and Russell Martin.  I don’t know what play was better:  Tejada’s off-balance throw in the 10th to get Aaron Cook out of a bases-loaded jam, or Nate McLouth’s strike to Russell Martin to nail Dioner Navarro in the 11th.  And the game nearly was extended on a bang-bang play at the plate involving Corey Hart and Brian McCann.  Now THAT would been awesome.

What a way to say farewell to Yankee Stadium, eh?  Yankee fans might want a World Series championship to top it all off, but I’m content with this All-Star Game

Tags: "calling their bluff", "night heat", aaron rodgers, brett favre, denver nuggets, diva favre, green bay packers, greta van susteren, los angeles clippers, marcus camby, on the record by Peter
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Argh…my legs are sore as hell!

It took me ten minutes to get from my bed to my bathroom…a total distance of about eight paces

Quick-hitters:

- Has anybody heard that a new movie, called Mamma Mia!, is being released soon? I just saw a commercial of it for the first time today.

(Believe that, and you’ll also believe that I own oceanfront property in Utah.

Oh look…the commercial aired again!

Mamma Mia

There it airs again

My my

How I want to end myself

Tyler Perry’s House of Payne and The Bill Engvall Show think that movie is being seriously overhyped.

- SUPER quick thought on the Elton Brand-LA Clippers situation: the fact that Brand signed with Philly for only four million dollars more per year tells me that either Brand is a backstabbing liar, or the Clippers clearly blew it by throwing Brand an eleventh-hour, lowball deal.

In any case, I wonder if Baron Davis regrets signing his deal with the Clips.

- Current rebate-o-meter: $1,410, and that number will go up once the backorder on a couple things I bought from Frys.com gets lifted.

- If you’re even a slight baseball fan, and you missed out on the Home Run Derby, you missed a great show by Josh Hamilton. What a shame he couldn’t hold on to win, though. The record books will say that Justin Morneau won the Derby, but who could forget the show Hamilton put on? Twenty eight home runs in the first round? That’s just stupid.

If I recall correctly, he had THIRTEEN straight bombs after hitting fifteen in his first eight outs. As great as his first-round performance was, watching the crowd cheer Hamilton on was surreal. Once you factor in the fact that this guy was out of baseball three years ago (due to drugs), the scene becomes even more memorable. Add to it the fact that this is the farewell season of Yankee Stadium, and…you get where I’m going. It almost appeared as if the crowd was completely winded after Hamilton’s run; one could say that Hamilton’s performance was truly breathtaking.

Major League Baseball could change the rules of the Home Run Derby to include all rounds in the final scoring, but it won’t change the fact that we saw one of the finest single-round Derby performances ever. Then again, Bobby Abreu hit 24 in the first round only three years ago; maybe someone will come around and hit 30.

- Brett Favre, you did it. You finally got me to say something about the recent drama surrounding your changing-of-the-mind. Let me start by saying (clears throat…)

YOU HAD TO GO ON FAUX FREAKING NEWS TO AIR OUT YOUR FRUSTRATION AT THE PACKERS???

Were all ESPN interviewers busy? Were Len Pasquerelli and John Clayton on vacation? Couldn’t you have sent another text message to Chris Mortensen? Seriously, Fox News?

That being said, are you freaking kidding me? If you had even a shred of doubt about your retirement, why did you seem so emotionally torn during that infamous press conference? If you really weren’t sure about retirement, couldn’t you have worked something out with the Packers’ organization?

This is easily my favorite part of the interview:

Favre told [On The Record host Greta] Van Susteren that “I worked my butt off two years ago to try to get them to sign Randy Moss.”

Favre added that he offered to give up salary to sign the receiver who ultimately landed with the New England Patriots.  Favre said that Thompson publicly denied that the quarterback had lobbied for Moss.

Favre also said that he tried to convince Thompson to re-sign linemen Marco Rivera and Mike Wahle, but the two key contributors signed elsewhere.

In a final instance that riled the quarterback, Favre said that he told Thompson that he should interview Steve Mariucci, an old friend, for the head coaching job after Mike Sherman left. Mike McCarthy was hired instead. “And none of those had anything to do with me retiring once again but, you know, it’s hard for me to trust, you know, this guy when I — either I’m told one thing and everyone else is told another, or he’s telling the public one thing and telling me another,” Favre said, according to the newspaper.

Uh-huh.  You brought up all these points, and then mention that none of these factors drove you to wanting out of the Packers’ organization?  Right…and a girl telling her boyfriend “I’m not mad!” really isn’t mad.

And what really gets me is the number of Packers’ faithful that want the guy back!  This guy put your team in limbo with regards to his playing status for three straight years!  Why the hell would you want him back?  Sure, he led the team to a 13-3 record last year, but attributing his play with the team’s record would ignore the Packers’ much-improved defense, their rounding-in-to-form receiving corps, and the play of Ryan Grant.  Sure, he’s the face of the franchise, but you drafted Aaron Rodgers for a reason, did you not?  If Favre returns, and Aaron Rodgers walks at the end of the season, what if Favre were to really retire then?  How horrible of a situation would Green Bay be in THEN?

If I’m Ted Thompson, I would not release the guy until the very last minute, and then I would hope he signs with Minnesota or Chicago.  Both teams have awful offenses, and I can’t wait for the day for Favre to chew out his new team, citing management for not surrounding him with enough talent to win, and then backstab the team by acting out Act Four of the “Brett Favre Saga.”  Sure, Green Bay will have to see him twice, but so what?

Since telling Brett Favre to go away isn’t going to do a damn thing now, I’ll just tell him to please sign with Chicago so he can throw 60 times a game, average three picks, and lead the Bears to a 4-12 record.

(Please?)

The whole story enrages me, and perhaps I will clean up this blog entry at a later date (I looked over it once, and it looked kinda messy.)

Until next time!

Tags: baron davis, brett favre, brett favre saga, elton brand, fox news, green bay packers, greta van susteren, home run derby, josh hamilton, justin morneau, los angeles clippers, mamma mia, on the record, overhyped by Peter
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My sister’s computer build has gone from a horrible time to a full-fledged disaster (and it’s still going on).  Brett Favre is really ticking me off.  The pet peeve I referenced last time still beckons to be talked about.  The Elton Brand-Los Angeles Clippers saga is getting interesting.

All that being said, I am a lazy bastard after all, so I will blog about one single topic:  this weekend’s July B-Days BBQ.

Quick-hitters:

- Oh dear.  It appears that that stupid KFC commercial where the blonde ditz declaring that “anything is possible” in this “whole new wing world” is airing again.

So apparently the brass at KFC not only thought the commercial was good enough to air it once…but they thought it was good enough to air it AGAIN???

Yikes.

- Speaking of stupid commercials, have you seen the T-Mobile one where Brett Favre makes a cameo?

Absolutely disgusting.  Seriously.

- Current rebate-o-meter:  $1,199.  I can’t wait for the 2009 software to come out!

- (The following story is about *a* computer build, but not *the* build referenced at the beginning of this blog entry.)

So six months ago, I got a CPU/mobo combo (some junky ECS board + a Pentium Dual Core 915 @ 2.8GHz) from Krunk in exchange for a super-duper pricey, 23K gold-painted 6′ HDMI cable (no, not really).  Three months later, with the parts still sitting in their original boxes, I acquired a 500GB SATA hard drive (for reasons which are not important *whistles*).

This past weekend, I finally got around to hooking up the parts, though I did have to buy a new motherboard; Krunk warned me that the mobo’s onboard LAN port was busted, and I feared that that was going to be the beginning of a disastrous build.

I bought a cheapy ECS board (GF7050VT-M) on eBay for ~ $35 shipped, thinking that I was going to get 25% back via M$’ Live Search cashback (and for the record, I have not yet been able to claim my cash back, but that’s a story for another day).  The seller shipped my purchase almost immediately, and because he was located in SoCal, I got my package in two days.

(insert rant)

The motherboard was shipped, IN ITS ORIGINAL BOX, with nothing more than a USPS Priority Mail Tyvek envelope wrapped around it!!!  Who the hell thinks that the original box that a mobo is shipped in is sufficient packaging for something as delicate as a motherboard???

(end rant)

Fortunately, the board is working fine, and my system build went without a hitch.  I know have 300GB of free space to use for, um, data backup.

If only my sister’s computer build went that well…

- On Saturday, my aunt decided that she wanted to BBQ to celebrate the birthday of her sister (my other aunt on my mom’s side) and another individual who shall remain nameless.

We decided to go to Almansor Park for the festivities, and even though it was really warm that afternoon, it got chilly quickly, so much so that it became a chore to keep the charcoal hot enough to thoroughly cook all the food.  We had to go through two bags of charcoal and tons of lighter fluid, but eventually everything got cooked.

Food, you say?  Kebabs (New York steak, mushrooms, and bell peppers), chicken wings, ribs, potato salad, salad, celery and carrot sticks, some other stuff that I don’t remember, and of course, a birthday cake.

(In fact, when the birthday cake was ready to go and Happy Birthday was sung, I found out that a third person had a mid-July birthday:  “cousin” Darren :P.  Three birthdays, one BBQ…talk about saving money!)

EDIT:  I forgot to mention…during the day, I was forced into several hours of touch football and my best James Loney impersonation as a first baseman.  Boy am I sore today!

Until next time!

Tags: 500gb, annoying, bad shipping, bbq, birthday, combo, commercial, cpu, Food, kfc, motherboard, sata, seagate, steak by Peter
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