Entries Tagged as 'Random'

Random Thoughts, Worldwide Rebates Rant, FedEx, And My Week Nine (Fantasy) Football Thoughts

Wow, it seems that I have abandoned this blog for quite some time.

I hope I still remember how to do this…assuming I knew how to do this in the first place.

Random thoughts (aka a super sized “Quick hitters”):

- My loyal readers (all none of you) might have realized that I have yet to post a review for last week’s episode of The Office. That might have something to do with the fact that I have yet to watch last week’s episode!

Yes, I’m ashamed of myself…unfortunately, I skipped The Office to play Shot-Online during the bonus EXP days.

- Speaking of Shot-Online, a brief update: after grinding out the game over the weekend, I haven’t played much since. I logged in for several hours, nonetheless, but mostly just to go auction house hunting.

I’m at the point in the game where I should really be playing on Cadeiger. However, I hate the course so much that I’ve been pretty much sticking to Rufus Arena or easier courses for the caddy experience.

I might just quit using this character and start working on one of my other characters.

- It’s been rainy and cold…and yet pretty warm at the same time (???) the last few days.

Can’t the weather gods make up their damn mind?

- We swung by Costco a couple days ago, and somehow managed to only spend $50!

(Well, we really spent $100, but half of that was on a membership renewal.)

Of course, we dropped by VONS right after that and blew $30 on junk food and steaks :P.

- Current rebate-o-meter: $1650 and rising.

(And it’s not even Black Friday yet!)

(EDIT: Haha…I need to add another $210 to that total :P)

Time for a couple customer service-related rants!

(If I’ve ranted about WorldwideRebates.com before, I do apologize.)

- Back in early September, I mailed out four rebates to WorldwideRebates.com. Three of the rebates showed up in their system rather quickly, but the fourth has still yet to show up.

I called the 800# on the rebate form, and once I got to the “We’ll connect you to an operator” prompt, I waited on hold for a couple seconds. That’s when I got a message that said something like “Thanks for calling…all of our operators are busy…please call back.”

*click*

Seriously? I can’t stay on hold? I have to call back, sit through the IVR, connect to an operator, and repeat ad nauseum until I can actually reach a live operator?

Fortunately, Frys.com is going to assist me in this matter.

- Thank you, Fedex. Thank you for not leaving me a Door Tag when you supposedly delivered my package at my doorstep on Thursday. Thank you for not returning my call 48 hours after I called in on the following Monday to inquire about the whereabouts of my package. Thank you for making me wait an additional 48 hours after I called in on the following Thursday to check the status of my case. And thank you for finally telling me, yesterday, that the package was lost and that I should contact the shipper to initiate a claim.

The best part is, I’ve got two more packages coming from Fedex this week! YAY!

*cry*

- Fantasy football updates:

Kyle Orton’s injury didn’t sink me in one league, as I eked out a 66-65 victory to get to 4-5, tied for seventh place. Four teams are only one game ahead of me, at 5-4, meaning I might still have a shot at a playoff spot!

Chad Pennington was available on the waiver wire, so he’ll be my Week 10 QB.

In my other league, a strong effort by Pittsburgh’s D—seven sacks, two picks, a blocked kick, and six points allowed—propelled me to my fifth straight win and a 6-2-1 record, good for tied for second in that league. In fact, the top three teams in the league have now won a combined fourteen games in a row!

Non fantasy-football thoughts:

- Another bad Dallas Cowboys loss, and…NOTHING FROM T.O.??? WTF??? What am I supposed to talk about?

Well, how about the fact that the New York Giants are coping without Jeremy Shockey and Michael Strahan just fine?

Eh, that’s no fun.

- Is it just me, or is Indy rounding into “Team that nobody wants to face” form? Sure, they struggled to get past a Tom Brady-less Patriots team, and yeah, they still don’t have a run game, and yeah, the Colts won the game on a couple boneheaded decisions by the Pats (that timeout called by Belicheck which nullified a first down and that idiotic personal foul penalty on what would have been third and short), and yeah, the Colts needed a 52 yard field goal by Adam Vinatieri, and…

Wait…what was my point?

Yeah, the Colts are finished.

- Minus-2 first half yards? ZERO first downs? Seventy-seven total yards?

Was I watching the Oakland Raiders offense or the Washington State offense against USC? The Raiders should be forced to forfeit their next game just for that abomination.

- So the Titans are now 8-0. Are they for real yet, after being a solid Green Bay Packers team?

Yeah, they’re for real, and they could conceivably be 14-0 going into their final two games (PIT, @IND). They play @CHI (minus Kyle Orton), @JAX (more on them later), NYJ (Brett Favre = Pick Six potential?), @DET, CLE, and @HOU. Which of those teams will Tennessee be underdogs against?

- And finally, didn’t I say last week that JAX @ Cincy was a “trap game”???

And who does JAX play next week? Freaking Detroit! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

I’m tired, so that will have to be it for tonight. Until next time!

(Look, Ma! No Diva Favre commentary!)

Random Thoughts, And My Week Eight (Fantasy) Football Thoughts

Random thoughts:

- Has anyone seen Fall?  Seriously?  Why the hell is it so hot???

I just can’t win…

- Commercials:

1) Any time I see that stupid Sinupret commercials (”I love you more!” “No, I love you more!”), I feel like throwing my remote through my TV.

More WalMart commercials, please!

2) Cheesy cable commercials always bug the hell out of me, but Valley residents have to agree with me that the latest Keyes Woodland Hills commercial jingle (set to “Where in Thumbkin?”) has to rate as one of the dumbest, most obnoxious, cable commercial of all time!

Where is Honda?  Where is Nissan?  Woodland Hills!

(I think I got the line right.  Every time I hear that commercial, my ears start bleeding.)

3) The Guitar Hero:  World Tour commercial.  Enough said.

Now THAT’s a good commercial.

- Latest CVS trip:  bought lots of candy (2 for $3, $1 coupon), and some SoyJoy bars (4 for $4, $3 off 5 coupon, and $4 ECBs).

I will neither confirm nor deny that the candy was purchased for me first, and the Trick-or-Treat’ers second.

Next week, I’ll be buying some Brita pitcher filters which will cost me more than a buck after all my ECBs.  I hope that my favorite cashier isn’t there on that day :P

- Current rebate-o-meter:  $925, but that doesn’t include the $500 or so that I have not yet entered.

(I’m lazy!)

- Fantasy football updates:

Believe it or not, I actually played Brian Westbrook last week, and believe it or not, I did not hex him!

5-2-1 now (second place), after a blowout victory, and somehow, Rams WR Donnie Avery was available in this league, strengthening my average WR corps (Andre Johnson(!!!), Jerricho Cotchery, Roy Williams, Donald Driver, Lance Moore).

In my other league, I had WR Reggie Wayne, TE Dallas Clark, and a four-point lead over my opponent, who had (gulp!) RB Chris Johnson.  Fortunately for me, Johnson’s garbage-time TD did not hurt me, as Dallas Clark finally showed up in a game.  Now I’m 3-5 in that league, and amazingly, only two games out of a playoff spot.

Non-fantasy football thoughts:

- Let’s start with the big story of the week:  Deanna Favre is hurt over the recent allegations that her husband, Diva Favre, offered ousted Lions’ GM Matt Millen tips against Favre’s former team:

‘Brett does not, in any way, hold a vendetta against his former team…Some incidents, like the locker room pranks appear funny [but they are still untrue]…Others, like the questionable phone calls to other teams, are hurtful, distasteful, and…still untrue as they have been reported.

Because of this, lately, my heart has been so heavy. It is very hard to watch the daily toll this has taken on Brett.

Brett is the same man who has always put his team first, not personal gains or statistics. And, Brett is the same man we know who is filled with great character, strength, goodness and love. Truly, nothing has changed but a uniform.’

1) WAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Here’s a kleenex.

2) How can something that is untrue still “appear” funny?

3) Sure, any scrutiny directed at your husband must be hard to take.  However, wasn’t it YOU that pushed your husband to return for another season?

EDIT:  I saw a clip of an E:60 interview with Mrs. Favre—Greta Van Susteren must have been busy—where she denied pushing Favre back into the league.  Maybe you should convince your husband to retire mid-season.  He could always come back in Week 13!

4) That last paragraph makes me LMFAO.  Favre puts his team first?  The same guy that used to throw backbreaking pick after backbreaking pick, and then blaming the personnel around him for his poor play, “put[s] his team first?”  And oh by the way:

*cough* Michael Strahan? *cough*

*cough* The entire drama of the past three offseasons? *cough*

*cough* Declaring that he’s not responsible for the development of Aaron Rodgers? *cough*

Character?  Goodness?  More like selfishness and a swollen ego.

(BTW, I got sick to my stomach over hearing analysts anywhere praise Favre for that fourth-quarter rally against the Chiefs.

1) THEY WERE PLAYING THE CHIEFS!!!!!!!

2) Favre threw three picks in that came, if you don’t recall.  The Jets’ D probably had something to do with keeping Favre in the game, no?

3) Enough with the praise over that pass he threw to Laveranues Coles!  That pass was thrown about two yards behind Coles, and Coles had to adjust to the ball, NOT the other way around!  That pass was so poor that it could easily have been a Pick Six!)

- In lesser news, did you hear that the Tennessee Titans are now 7-0, after a drubbing of the team formerly known as the powerhouse Indianapolis Colts?

That being said, I’m still not sold on the Titans…yet.  Look at some of their past opponents!  KC?  Cincy?  Houston?  An overrated Jags team?  Let’s not put the champagne on ice just yet.  However, looking at their next four games (GB, @Chi, @Jax, NYJ), should they go 3-1 in those games, then we can talk about championship contention.

By the way, does the Pacman Jones trade count as “Ewing Theory” potential?

And even though they are 3-4, I just can’t bury the Colts just yet.  I might after their next four games, though (NE, @Pit, Hou, SD).  I’m thinking a 3-1 record in those four games is the worst the Colts can do if they want to contend for a playoff spot this season.

- Speaking of teams that are for real, is Carolina now on that list?  Not yet, in my opinion, due to the fact that they had to rally against an average Arizona team (and it didn’t help that Arizona’s defenders appear to be allergic to tackling.  Marion Barber a couple weeks ago, and Steve Smith on Sunday?)

- At 3-5, San Diego has to be finished, right?  JAX too, at 3-4.  Washington?  I’m not sold on them being for real yet.  And maybe New England will be OK after all.

And the New York Giants are pretty good.  So is Pitt, that entire fourth quarter notwithstanding.

- The Cowboys eked out a win against Tampa Bay, but not all is well in Dallas, even at 5-3.

And has anyone seen TO?  No comments?

- Can Cincy do it?  Can they go 0-16?  Here’s their remaining schedule.

The final game of the season (KC) scares the heck out of me, but next week’s game (JAX) screams “trap game.”

- Speaking of winless teams, can Detroit do it?  Here’s their remaining schedule, and it looks great!

That “trap game” versus Jacksonville scares me as well.

- And finally…who didn’t enjoy Niners’ coach Mike Singletary’s rant on TE Vernon Davis?

Incredible stuff, all of it deserved, by the way:

‘I told him that he would do a better job for us right now taking a shower and coming back and watching the game than going out on the field,’ Singletary said after the 34-13 loss to Seattle. ‘Simple as that.’

Until next time!

Random Thoughts Cooked Up While At The Laundromat, And “Crime Aid” (Office S05E04) Review

I’m sleepy—errands will do that to you!—but I’ll try to be as coherent as possible.

Random thoughts while sitting at the laundromat:

(Tangent: We go to the laundromat about once a year, and only because we had to wash our comforters. Also, we were out of quarters, so we couldn’t use the laundry rooms here in my condominium complex.)

- I had some McDonalds food today (yeah, I know), and as I was peeling out the Monopoly game pieces from my drink, a thought occured to me: what if I found a rare piece now?

(In case you didn’t know, one property of each Monopoly is much rarer than the others.)

How would I complete the Monopoly? Would I have to eat a bunch more times at McDonalds to get the remaining pieces?

It didn’t dawn upon me until much, much later that I could probably find someone on a message board and ask for the remaining pieces. Then again, what if everyone there is totally heartless, and they demand half of my winnings in exchange for the non-rare pieces?

No, I did not get a rare piece.

- Hey, moron that stole the wheeled-basket-thingy I was using to empty the dryer I was using: when I push the basket-thingy towards a dryer filled with clothes, it’s probably a safe bet that I’m GOING TO USE IT!!!

You know what else might indicate that I’m going to use said basket? The fact that I grabbed some clothes from the dryer, and got ready to toss them in the general direction of where the basket should have been!

A$$hole.

- Speaking of a dryer, I’ve a question for all you loyal readers of my blog (all none of you):

You have two dryers full of clothes (A and B). The clothes in A are completely dry, and there’s about six minutes left in the cycle (one quarter = 12 minutes). The clothes in B aren’t completely dry yet, and B just ran out of time.

EDIT:  Here’s some additional information to consider:

  • Both dryers have the same amount of clothes in them, roughly.
  • A and B are adjacent to one another; you wouldn’t have to walk halfway across the laundromat to move the clothes from one to the other.

Would you transfer the clothes from B to A, or would you shove another quarter into B?

- And finally, courtesy of my sister:

My sister ordered a Fruit n’ Yogurt Parfait from McDonalds, and when she got around to eating it, we noticed that she wasn’t given a spoon! Immediately, I noticed a restaurant right outside the laundromat, and I told her to go there and ask for a plastic spoon. Certainly the restaurant wouldn’t refuse that tiny request, right?

Hey, Miriam’s Cuisine on Sherman Way, just east of Reseda: look, we get it that the economy is slumping. We understand that small Mom & Pops are struggling to stay in business. That being said, you couldn’t spare us one plastic spoon? How much could a plastic spoon cost? A penny

(I could understand their reaction if she asked for a plastic cup, but not a spoon!)

And please don’t stare at my sister as if she was trying to rob the place, just because she was asking for a plastic spoon.

And to the guy who chimed in with “We only have silverware!”: if that were true, then why did the woman at the front say that we’d have to buy something in order to get one?

ONE FREAKING PLASTIC SPOON! Are you people kidding me??? I wonder what would have happened if I walked in with a cut on my hand, and asked for a napkin.

OK, one tacos plate, and a napkin to stop the bleeding, please! What? I have to pay first?

One plastic spoon…

- On to my late-as-usual review of Thursday’s episode of The Office:

“Crime Aid” wasn’t as bad as the second episode of the season (”Business Ethics“), but it wasn’t nearly as good as last week’s episode (”Baby Shower“). Could it be that a Michael-Holly relationship just isn’t as entertaining as a Michael-Jan relationship? Or maybe the episode needed more Jim-Pam interactions? I found it a bit hard to get into “Crime Aid” until late into the episode.

(Wouldn’t it have been funny if the writers paid homage to The Office’s Thursday night competition on CBS, CSI, by offering a scene or two where a character (ahem…Dwight) pulls out some fingerprint dust, latex gloves, and/or a blacklight? This should have happened!)

Well, the Michael-Holly relationship just hit a MAJOR snag, in the form of David Wallace. What’s next for the happy couple? Will Holly be fired over this? Will Michael actually get reprimanded? Maybe Michael can convince David that his relationship with Holly is as beneficial as Meredith’s relationship with the rep from Hammermill :P. If I had to put money on it, I’d say that Holly’s job is in trouble. Hmmm…is there anybody in the office that is qualified for a promotion to a corporate position?

I did like how Jim quickly U-turned on his way to New York. Is that a sign of Jim being secure with his relationship with Pam, or a sign of a further drift between the two of them? I’m just praying that the writers don’t use Roy as the wedge between Jim and Pam. I understand that there really isn’t another reason for bringing Roy’s character back on the show, but that’s the problem I have with Roy being the foil to the Jim-Pam relationship; it’s just too convenient and obvious. Ryan? Now that might be more fun.

By the way, I said it before, and I’ll say it again: Roy’s “Wow…I mean, you were a friend” was incredible. Roy could stop showing up on the show for the rest of the show’s run, and nothing could drive a stake further through Jim and Pam’s long-distance relationship than that single line.

I really loved the whole Phyllis-Dwight interaction throughout the episode. For a minute, I thought that Phyllis was actually going to get through to Dwight. How silly of me. I wonder how many people in the office, minus Andy, of course, doesn’t know of the Dwight-Angela shenanigans. I’m guessing that number is small enough to be counted on one hand, and if that’s the case, don’t you think someone should tell Andy?

Then again, why prematurely kill off a storyline that you know will be a winter break (if not a summer break) cliffhanger, in a season where several potential cliffhangers are possible?

(So I made this point in my running blog of “Crime Aid:”

Bob Vance just bid $1,000 for a hug from his own wife. David Wallace and Dwight both tried to outbid him for that hug.

It’s the scenes like this one that really make the show great. You all can have the scenes where Jim destroys Dwight, or the scenes where Michael does something stupid, but what really makes the show great is how personable most of the characters can be.

Let me elaborate on this point. We know that the show revolves around Michael’s idiocy, Dwight’s antics, Jim and Pam, and to a lesser extent (now), Angela and Andy. What I love equally as much about the show, though, is how the show respects the lesser characters enough to feature them in main plots during a particular episode. The second episode of the season and last season’s “Did I Stutter?” immediately come to mind. More importantly, it can be argued that the lesser characters are just as important to the success of the show as the main characters.

“Crime Aid” revolves around Michael trying to raise funds to replace stuff that was stolen from the office via an auction that, on the surface, sounds like something nobody would ever want to take part in. However, look at the scene where Bob Vance gets in a bidding war with David Wallace and Dwight over a hug from his own wife. Jim excepted (LOL), it sure looks like several people wanted to be at the auction by the end of the episode.

When I described most of the characters as “personable,” I mean that they are entertaining, and more importantly, they are engaging; you want to see what happens to them, because you know of their importance to the atmosphere of the office.

I’ve written the last three paragraphs over about 50 times, and I am still not sure if I got my point across :P.)

Until next time!

Random Thoughts (Dodgers, Weather, Shot-Online), And My Week Five (Fantasy) Football Thoughts

Random Thoughts:

- Never, ever, in a million years, could I have seen the Dodgers sweep away the Cubs in three games!

And Cubs fans, please stop saying that the Cubs choked away the series. The Dodgers beat them, plain and simple.

- The weather here has been crazy lately! Late last week, it was chilly; we’re talking mid-70s with winds. Over the weekend, it was a tad warmer, maybe in the 80s.

Today, it was in the mid-90s, and it’s expected to be even hotter tomorrow! Even stranger, the day after, it is expected to be back in the mid-70s!

WTH???

- Shot-Online Update: I’m a Level 48 semi-pro, and yet I’m too afraid to try Cadeiger :P.

(One quick Shot-Online rant: You morons that are clogging the AH with your one-hit items are freaking annoying.

All of you, please go DIAF.)

- Week Five Fantasy Football Updates:

Going into Monday’s Minnesota v New Orleans tilt, I was trailing by 11 points in one league (with only Minnesota’s defense left), and I was up by 30 points in another league (and facing, gulp, Drew Brees and Adrian Peterson).

Then the punt block/TD happened, and I felt really good about the first league.

Then, inexplicably, New Orleans’ run defense started playing really well, practically shutting down AD to the tune of THREE fantasy points! Brees ended up with 13 points, thanks in part to two lost fumbles, and my opponent in the second league ended up with only 16 of the 30 points required to overtake me.

I figured that I was in big trouble in both leagues, and now I’m 2-3 and 2-2-1, with plenty of Fantasy Football left to play.

Some non-fantasy football thoughts from the past week:

- A win is a win is a win, but T.O. going T.O is still T.O., and I love it:

‘This was a great team win,’ T.O. said. ‘It was frustrating out there, but I kept with it. My teammates stuck with it. … God used me today for his glory. Reality is where glory resides. That’s all I’ve got to say.’

What???

First of all, how is holding off a pathetic, winless Bengals team a “great team win”? Second of all…WHAT???

I can’t wait for T.O. to drop a game-tying TD late in the fourth quarter of game, then proclaiming that the loss as a “bad team loss” while staring in the general direction of Tony Romo.

By the way, how would you like to be 4-1 and be in THIRD place in your division? I have a good feeling that the NFC’s Super Bowl representative will come out of the NFC East.

- Another game, another Ed Hochuli controversy. How his crew blew that obvious facemask penalty is beyond me. But can we stop blaming Hochuli for this one? This was not his call!!!

Look, part of sports is the human aspect of it; officials are going to make mistakes! Yes, that’s what instant replay is for, right? Well, why not allow instant replay to reverse non-calls too? If we do that, then where would we draw the line on what is challenge-able and what is not?

Besides, two missed calls in a five-game stretch is not exactly a compelling sample size to determine if a referee needs to retire. Also, what if the Jay Cutler fumble didn’t result in a Broncos TD? What if Reggie Bush did not fumble following the facemask? I’m not arguing that these outcomes would have made the blown calls right, but I will once again hammer the point that one cannot attribute the result of a SINGLE play to the outcome of a game!

- Where are the pro-Diva Favre Packer fans calling for GM Ted Thompson’s head? Is Aaron Rodgers hiding in a bomb shelter? Is Greta Van Susteren getting ready for a second interview, entitled “I Told You So!” with Favre?

(By the way, Packers fans, your secondary looks TERRIBLE. I just thought I’d throw that opinion out there before you mail out your expletive-laden hate mail to the Packers.)

- I guess Kurt Warner shouldn’t retire just yet.

Poor guy, though, to have to witness his teammate—Anquan Boldin—get seriously hurt because of a poor decision on Warner’s part. I immediately became a fan of the guy, and I still am, and I hope that this is not going to be his final season. I would love to see Warner take a team to the playoffs one more time.

(Fantasy football tangent: the goose-egg I got from Trent Edwards, thankfully, did not ruin me.)

- Sage Rosenfels, congratulations on winning the Colts’ Team MVP award. My goodness!

That was kinda cool, I guess, for you to try to channel your inner John Elway. However, you do realize that this was Week Five of the regular season, right?

And Colts fans, isn’t it amazing that you are two failed second-half rallies away from being 0-4?

- And finally…

My Rams did not lose this week! WOOHOO!!!!!

:P

More Stupid Neighbors, Shot-Online Update, And My Week Four (Fantasy) Football Thoughts

No quick-hitters tonight.

- So as my loyal readers (all none of you) know, I’ve got idiot neighbors.  The neighbors upstairs, though, are especially rude and inconsiderate.  Everyone up there seems to enjoy constantly running around their condo with absolutely no regards for us downstairs.  I used to wonder if there were nine or ten people in that condo, or if the residents there were just all really…um…lead-footed?

Well, according to my sister, part of the reason why they are so noisy is because there are at least TWO families that share the condo!  Additionally, my sister, being awfully gratuitous, pointed out that several of them are…well…lead-footed?

(Hank—where are you???—might dub some of them “heroically portly.”)

Form your own conclusions; I am just speaking the truth!  Wouldn’t YOU get riled up about being forced awake at 5:30AM to hear what sounds like the National Jume Rope Competition going on upstairs?

- Shot-Online update:  I made it!  I am now a Semi-Pro—thanks to a -8 on Gladsheim—and I absolutely LOATH it.

I hate losing EXP just for making bogeys.  I hate the Pro courses!  Can I go back to being an amateur? :P

So, because only I care about how I got to Semi-Pro, here’s a brief recap of my Gladsheim round:

  • Birdie on 1 (-1)
  • Lip-out for birdie on 2
  • Birdie on 3 (-2)
  • A medium-length (3-7yd; the hardest putt to make consistently) double-breaker par save on 4
  • A similar par save on 7
  • Another birdie somewhere between 3 and 7 (-3)
  • Chip-in birdie on 8 (-4)
  • Birdie on 9 (-5)

And then…

  • A 2yd putt for par broke unexpectedly, and rolled 4yd back.  A tough putt for bogey kept me at -4
  • Pars on 11-13
  • Birdie on 14 (-5)
  • Par on the toughest hole on the course (IMO):  15
  • Birdie on 16 (-6)
  • Thinking I needed “insurance,” I made birdie on 17 (-7)
  • Birdie on 18 (-8)

Further proof that I’m a Shot-Online dork, right?

- Reason #9080329483242342 why I hate Fantasy Football:

My sister somehow blonded (please save the hate mail!) her way to a 2-2 record, while I’m 1-3 in one league and 1-2-1 (I absolutely stole a tie against a 3-0 team, thanks to Pittsburgh’s DST) in the other.

It’s not fair!

Amazingly enough, Le’Ron McClain was available as a FA in both of my leagues, as well as popular pickups as Lance Moore (WR - NO), Steve Slaton (RB - HOU), and Muhsin Muhammed (WR - CAR).

Hopefully this is the week teams start quitting, so I can start rallying towards respectability :P

Other, non-fantasy, football thoughts:

- No, the big story of the weekend was not T.O. remembering that he is T.O.  It was not the whole Al Davis-Lane Kiffin ordeal.

Tampa Bay K Matt Bryant playing one day after burying his infant son has to be the story of the week, if not the entire NFL season:

“The biggest thing for me, I wanted to honor [son] Tryson’s name,” Bryant said. “I mean, I don’t think it was very fair for his life to end so short. This is the best way I believe I could get out and honor him. I miss him and wish he was here, but he was here with me. He helped out.”

Prayers go out to the Bryant family.

That being said…

- Thank you, T.O., for remembering that you, not Tony Romo, are the most compelling figure on the Dallas Cowboys’ roster.  Seriously, complaining that you weren’t involved enough in the offense?  By everyone’s count, you were involved in 20 of 58 plays, or over 1/3 of all the Cowboys’ offensive plays!

Should we expect to see T.O. lined up as QB and/or RB sometime next week?

(And nice job, T.O., giving absolutely no credit to Washington DB Shawn Springs, who was in your back pocket all day.)

- Boy…what to make of the entire Al Davis/Lane Kiffen situation?  I certainly don’t know all of the facts, but if anyone has a case against the other, it’s Kiffen for everything Davis has done to him!  Remember the resignation letter Davis drafted for Kiffen to sign?

I sincerely hope Kiffen gets the money left over on his contract.  Should this be his one and only NFL contract, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind having to “settle” for a college football job.

Also, who the hell would want the Raiders’ coaching job, after this entire episode?

- Ninety-one points combined for Arizona and New York (Bretts)?  Crazy.

And I guess the “Greatest [QB] of All Time” can still play.

(Yes, that remark was made tongue in cheek.)

- Speaking of Diva Favre…are Packers fans seriously panicking now that the Packers are 2-2 and Aaron Rodgers might be hurt.

I sense that Diva Favre is quietly celebrating by himself right now.

- I hear there are plenty of job openings available in Pittsburgh’s backfield.

- With Kansas City out of the picture, that leaves my Rams as the only team winless.

The fact that they came from ahead to lose to Buffalo gives me hope!

- I guess Chicago’s defense is for real.  Same with Pittsburgh.  I guess Buffalo is really for real.  I guess L.T. is just fine.  And is Carolina for real?

Until next time!

Random Thoughts, Tom Brady’s Torn ACL, And Fantasy Football Geek-alysis

Let’s see if I remember how to do this.

(Week 1 NFL thoughts to come tomorrow…I hope.)

Random thoughts from the past week:

- Stupid commercials I’ve seen lately:

1) These two about high-fructose corn syrup. I was going to attempt a long-winded rant about these commercials, but I’ll let The Consumerist and their readers handle it.

2) “Pasta player-hater!” WTF.

- I have something like ten rebates that need to go out in the next week or so.

Who wants to bet that I won’t send them out until two days before the postmark deadline? :P

- Eight straight wins, and now nine of ten. A 2.5 game lead over Arizona. Four wins against Arizona aces (Brandon Webb and Dan Haren).

Three thoughts here:

1) Why aren’t teams giving Manny the Barry Bonds treatment? Manny had another HR today, as well as a scoring fly ball. Can we etch his name on the MVP award right now?

2) Speaking of Manny…hey, Jeff Kent, Andre Ethier is Exhibit B of the Manny effect, is he not? He had four more RBI today, including a huge bases-clearing double to give the Dodgers’ bullpen some breathing room.

Don’t rush back, Kent.

3) Derek Lowe just made himself a ton of money over the past few weeks. And who knows how much more money Manny made himself.

- So some of you might be thinking that I was kicking up my heels and celebrating the season-ending torn ACL that Tom Brady suffered.

You’d be wrong, and I will neither confirm nor deny that that eleventy billion replays I’ve seen of the hit that Brady took might have changed my opinion of the injury. Despite what I may have written in the past about the Cheat-riots, nobody deserves a season-ending knee injury, especially on a fluke play in the first quarter of the first game of the season.

And please stop with the “karma’s a b!tch” talk. If anything, the Pats got what was coming to them in last year’s Super Bowl.

I first heard of the injury when I woke up late Sunday morning, fired up my laptop, and saw something about Brady leaving the Chiefs-Pats game early in the first quarter with a knee injury. When I first read that headline, I immediately thought “Oh oh…season ender?” After seeing the replay for the first time, I was about 90% sure he was done for the year.

Was the hit dirty? I don’t think so. It seemed desperate, and definitely unnecessary, but I didn’t think it was dirty at all.

What sickens me about the entire situation is the fact that one could argue that Diva Favre’s Jets team might very well be the favorites in the AFC East. If the Jets win the East (even with Brady’s injury), we might not hear the end of it until after the Super Bowl, even if the Jets lose in the first round of the playoffs! Worse, we might have to suffer through weeks and weeks of “See? The Packers should never have gotten rid of Favre!”

(shudder…)

More NFL thoughts next time…

- My two fantasy football drafts had one thing in common: I somehow missed the first pick of each draft.

Both leagues are Yahoo! standard, ten-team leagues. Unfortunately, I was not able to get twelve players to partake in a BargainShare league. Oh well.

(Note: For some reason, I’m having difficulty getting screenshots of my draft results. As soon as I figure out what is going on, I’ll post the full draft results. For now, I’ll just list my team.)

Team 1 (currently 0-1 and in DEAD FREAKING LAST):

  • Round 1, Pick 4: RB Steven Jackson

(Grrrr…I was going to draft Joseph Addai here. I was also considering Tom Brady here, so at least I didn’t do that!)

  • Round 2, Pick 17: WR Reggie Wayne

(Peyton Manning better get back into “game-shape” real soon.)

  • Round 3: RB Maurice Jones-Drew
  • Round 4: QB Carson Palmer

(This is the pick that is going to make or break my team. So far, I’m leaning towards “break.”)

  • Round 5: WR Roy Williams

(I was going to take Williams in round 4, and was very happy to see him fall to me in round 5.)

  • Round 6: TE Dallas Clark
  • Round 7: DST Minnesota

(Don’t ask.)

  • Round 8: WR Donald Driver
  • Round 9: RB Thomas Jones

(Sleeper! And with the way Steven Jackson and the Rams are playing, he might be a starter soon enough.)

  • Round 10: WR Bernard Berrian
  • Round 11: WR Reggie Brown
  • Round 12: K Phil Dawson

(He has since been dropped.)

  • Round 13: RB Kevin Smith (Lions)
  • Round 14: WR Drew Bennett

(Rams’ loyalty :P)

  • Round 15: QB Jeff Garcia

I could see this team easily finishing 5-9 or something like that. I am not too thrilled with this team, and believe it or not, this was my “casual” draft.

Team 2 (1-0, second place after scoring 111 pts):

  • Round 1, Pick 4: RB Brian Westbrook

(I actually wanted Addai here too. I think I’ll live with this pick.)

  • Round 2, Pick 17: RB Ryan Grant
  • Round 3: WR Andre Johnson
  • Round 4: WR Roy Williams
  • Round 5: TE Antonio Gates

(Why was I not notified that he still has a foot injury???)

  • Round 6: QB Donovan McNabb

(Possibly my best pick of both drafts, if he stays healthy.)

  • Round 7: WR Donald Driver
  • Round 8: WR Jerricho Cotchery
  • Round 9: DST Pittsburgh
  • Round 10: RB Selvin Young

(Michael Pittman? Andre Hall? Stupid Mike Shanahan :P)

  • Round 11: WR Nate Burleson

(Ouch…torn ACL? Now who is Matt Hasselbeck going to throw to?)

  • Round 12: K Phil Dawson

(Dropped.)

  • Round 13: RB Justin Fargas
  • Round 14: QB Matt Schaub
  • Round 15: WR Ronald Curry

If (and that’s a huge IF) my top six stay healthy, this team is going to be a force to reckon with…I think.

Until next time!

Time Warner (Oh, Oh), Greg Maddux Back to LA, and Why Must Lesser Athletes Piss off the Best in their Sport?

So I’ve had quite the horrible last few days.  Idiots galore, topped off by McAfee/Parago rejecting a rebate of mine for $65 for a missing UPC (they said I have to mail in the original UPC…too bad I SENT IT WITH THE ORIGINAL SUBMISSION!!!), and now, there’s an eerie light outside of my window.

Relax, UFO folks, it’s not an alien.  It’s just a bunch of cops, flashlights in hand, probably looking for some suspect hiding in our apartment complex.

Wait a sec…

(me hides under my blanket)

- I got an email from Time Warner yesterday, saying that my latest bill was ready.

Oh great, I thought to myself, how much higher is this month’s bill going to be compared to last month’s?

You could imagine the utter shock and surprise when I opened the email, and saw that my bill actually went DOWN.

(You know…the opposite of UP.)

- It’s not official yet, but apparently the Dodgers are nearing a trade for veteran P Greg Maddux.  No details have been released yet, but speculation is that the Padres have not yet decided on what player(s?) to accept in a deal.  It’s pretty clear that the player will not be anyone on the Dodgers’ 40-man roster, because of the fact that such a player would have to clear waivers first before he could be included in a deal (and there’s no way that a team like the Rockies wouldn’t claim that player first, effectively killing the deal).

I just hope McCourt…er…Colletti isn’t throwing in a high prospect or two middling prospects just to get the Padres to pay most of Maddux’s remaining salary.

Full thoughts on this deal will come as soon as the details of the trade are released.


- I was watching women’s beach volleyball—May-Treanor + Walsh versus a Brazilian team—earlier today, when the announcer told us a story of something that happened earlier in the day.  Apparently, the Americans were on the best practice court, when the Brazilian team came by and demanded that the Americans leave the court.  The Americans obliged, though no word on whether or not the Americans cursed the Brazilians under their breath.

So how did the Americans respond? 21-12, 21-14, and to quote Brett Myers, “BOOM…outta here!”

(Tangent:  I’ve used that phrase no less than 50,000 times in the past few weeks, and I expect to use it another 500,000 times before the year is over.  Every Dodger HR or pitcher’s strike out, for example, is greeted by one.  Thank you, Jim Rome.)

But seriously, I gotta ask:  why the hell do people insist on slighting the best in their sports?  Exactly what are you going to accomplish from doing so?

(Right, “Alain”?)

You have crybaby Mark Spitz—GREAT article, by the way—Ian Thorpe, and Alain Bernard dropping jabs on Michael Phelps.  You have Rory Sabbatini and Stephen Ames famously ripping Tiger Woods.  I’m certain people have ripped Lance Armstrong (Jan Ullrich?)and Michael Jordan in the past.  And now we have the Brazilian women’s beach volleyball team allegedly disrespecting the Americans?

Let’s call it the Rory Sabbatini Corollary (in honor of Sabbatini, for this reason):

Sabbatini made waves at the Wachovia Championship in May 2007 when, after leading the field by one stroke after day three and then giving up five strokes to Tiger Woods to lose the tournament on Sunday, he proclaimed that Tiger was “more beatable than ever.” Rory went on to lead the field by one after day three at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in August 2007, but ended eight strokes behind Tiger Woods.  (source)

and declare that no athlete, bystander, legend, or team shall never again insult, question the ability of, doubt, disrespect, or do otherwise to annoy, tick off, and/or fuel the fire of the best athletes in the event in question.

(Unless, of course, the athlete wants a swift, “BOOM…outta here!” moment.)

Random Thoughts, And Damn Matt Kemp and Our Bullpen (and More Dodger Musings)

Wow.  It’s been a week since I last blogged?!?

Whoops!

I’ve got lots to talk about, but I’ll split it over two or more blog entries.

Random thoughts (aka an extended version of “Quick-hitters”):

- Speaking of not blogging lately, apparently one week of not blogging has absolutely killed my blog traffic statistics.  I got about one-third of the normal hits over the past few days.

- This is a very cool Eddie Izzard fan site, which I found via Google Analytics shortly after I posted my Stripped mini-review.

Check it out!

- How great is it that Diva Favre is no longer the top sports news story out there?

Thank you, Michael Phelps (more on him another time).

(And do we really have to hear about how his arm was fatigued after a practice?  What’s next?  Will we get an article about him being constipated before a preseason game?)

- In succession, I just viewed the following annoying-as-hell commercials:  a McDonald’s commercial advertising their apparently still “New” Southern Chicken sandwich, a Wal-Mart commercial (Do you know what I like about Wal-Mart?), and a really obnoxious Target commerical (You…say…goodbye…and I…say…hello…).

I need a TiVo.

- Current rebate-o-meter:  $1,100.  I received a couple hundred bucks in rebate checks and gift cards in the last week, and, naturally, I added about $200 in unfiled rebates over the weekend.

- Hey Dodger fans, do you realize that your team could easily be on an eleven game winning streak?

Stupid bullpen.  Damn you, Broxton, Kuo, and Park.

And what the hell was Matt Kemp thinking in the Dodgers’ most recent loss, a 4-3 decision against Milwaukee on Saturday?  For those of you that didn’t see the game, Kemp was at first, and Andre Ethier hit a towering drive to center.  Brewers’ CF Mike Cameron missed the ball as it bounced off the base, but Kemp was only able to get to second?!?  Apparently, he went back to first, thinking Cameron caught the ball.  What the hell?  If Kemp were standing at or near second, like he should have been, he ends up at third at the absolute worst, and a Kent sac fly (he lined out to center eventually) ties the game!

Dumb base running, a terrible bullpen, games choked away…I’ve seen this script before.  Oh yeah, I saw it last year.

Other Dodger thoughts:

- Two more bombs by Ethier, including a game winner.  Shouldn’t that all but cement Andruw Jones’ status as a $36 million cheerleader, and seriously shorten Juan Pierre’s playing time?

- I know Manny has only played a few games as a Dodger, but is it too crazy to consider him a possibility as the NL MVP?

(Call me a homer.  Go ahead!)

Isn’t it amazing what happens when this guy tries?  Six HRs, an NL-leading 21 RBI in August, and look what he’s done for Jeff Kent and Andre Ethier!  Ken’t BA has gone up 20 points or so, and Ethier’s raking!  Now, if Manny can rub off on Loney and Martin, look out!

What scares me about the Dodgers is that, despite their very nice run of late, they’re only tied with the D’Backs, and we know that the D’Backs won’t run into too many prolonged losing streaks (not with Webb and Haren on the mound).

Until next time!

A 168 Supermarket Freak Injury, Fresh Trout For Dinner, And Why The Diva Favre Saga Will Now Come to an End…For This Season, Anyway

I had no intention of blogging today, but something happened today that got my juices flowing.

One quick-hitter:

- Man-Ram’s line today:  4 for 5, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI, and a triple away from the cycle.

I’m just sayin’.

(Jason Bay’s doing incredibly well too, and I heard Andy LaRoche hit a HR today.  Talk about a great three-way deal!)

- I am NEVER, EVER AGAIN stepping foot in 168 Supermarket…EVER EVER AGAIN.

No, I did not get my ankle snapped by a shopping cart.  In fact, I wish that my ankle was what was injured!

While in the shopping cart autobahn that is the produce section of 168 Supermarket, I was standing in front of my cart, putting away a few bags of stuff that I had just picked up.  That’s when some idiot rammed his cart into my cart, ramming my cart into…well…you know where.

(That sound you hear is the sound of fellow UngsungBlog male readers—all none of you—keeling over.)

(Tangent:  You know how Jackie Chan and other martial arts protagonists always get caught in out-numbered fight scenes?  Why doesn’t the protagonist just kick one of the guys in the balls?  If he were to do so, the other guys would just keel over in sympathy pain as well, no?  Then again, maybe our protagonist would keel over too.)

Worse, the guilty party gave me the death stare as he passed by my bent-over self, as if I had done something wrong!  If ever there were a situation where punching someone right in the g*ddamn face should be legal, that would be it!

(As an aside…I actually had to admit that my mom was right about something today.  That might have hurt more than the physical injury I suffered!)

- My aunt and cousin went fishing this morning around Mt. Baldy, and they brought back some fresh trout!

I wanted to steam it with some slices of lemon and some fresh herbs, but we had neither, so I went with a bit of melted butter, kosher salt, and a bottle of “Italian seasoning.”  A few minutes in my mom’s Flavor Wave oven later, and dinner was served!

Believe it or not, this was the first time I’ve ever eaten freshly-caught fish.  At least, this was the first time I’ve knowingly eaten freshly-caught fish.  Good stuff, and at $10/fish, it wasn’t terribly expensive either.

- I had a really difficult time navigating through sports web sites today, because of all the pictures of a grinning Diva Favre all over the place!

Later on today, we got to see a beaming Diva Favre as he walked from his just-landed charter jet into an SUV waiting for him.  If the pictures of his face on those web sites were vomit-inducing, that shot of him walking towards the car could have been a biological weapon of mass destruction.

And who the hell were these people that greeted Favre off the runway?  You people reminded me of the numbskulls standing outside the court house when Wacko Jacko’s “Not Guilty” verdict was announced, screaming at the top of your lungs when it happened.  Are you myopians that blinded by his stature that you will let him jerk around with your emotions for THREE STRAIGHT YEARS?  What the hell are you guys going to do next year, if (when?) he performs Act IV of “As Brett Favre’s World Turns?”  Carry him on your shoulders from the airport to Lambeau Field?  Tattoo the number “4″ on to all your chests?

Speaking of divas, if I hear just ONE interview with Deanna Favre, asking her about her tribulations during this offseason with her husband, I might just stab my eyes and ears out.

(ETA:  Week 1 v. Minnesota…Michele Tafoya, get ready.)

Also, to make Aaron Rodgers’ life even more miserable, apparently the Packers are going to have an open competition for the Packers’ now-vacant QB job.

(clears throat…)

WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO “Aaron Rodgers is our quarterback??????????????”

Seriously, Packers, please release the guy.  Either that, or give him a gun to shoot himself in the face with.  Let’s face it; despite all of the pageantry and drama surrounding Diva Favre, he is clearly the better quarterback, and Rodgers has almost no chance of beating out Favre for the starting QB job!  Did Aaron Rodgers sleep with the wife of a high-ranking Packers’ official?

Check out this gem:

“Although we built this year around the assumption that Brett meant what he said about retiring, Brett is coming back,” team president and CEO Mark Murphy said. “We will welcome him back and turn this situation to our advantage.”

Are you kidding me?  You had to ASSUME that Brett meant it when he said he was retiring?  The tears, the hesitations…all that was just an act, wasn’t it, Diva Favre?

Please, Green Bay brass, trade Aaron Rodgers for a fifth- or sixth- round pick.  Otherwise, you guys are guilty of first-degree murder…of a career that never had a chance to take off.

Any time you can make T.O. look like a model citizen, you know you’re screwing up somewhere.  Diva Favre, you’re making Adam “PacMan” Jones look pretty good right about now.  Last year, I couldn’t watch SportsCenter because of all the butt-kissing of the New England Patriots.  This year, I won’t be able to watch because of all the coverage the Favre is going to get.

Congratulations, Brett Favre.  You have now surpassed Tom Brady as the most obnoxious player that I hated first out of professional jealousy, and then later hated because for being an idiot.

And I mean this last part with absolute sincerity:

Brett Favre, F**K YOU.  Stay the f**k off my television next year!  I will NOT watch a single game you play in next season, even if the final game you play happens to be the Super Bowl.  Please, I beg of you to throw three back-breaking picks late in a game, and then throw your teammates and the entire Packers organization under the bus.  THAT, I would tune in to.

(He’s already getting the double-middle-finger salute from my sister, and she used to be a HUGE Brett Favre fan.  And trust me, she’s cursing him out 10x worse than I am.)

Supersized Quick-hitters, And Customer Service Rants and Raves (Time Warner, J&R, Newegg, Discover)

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 :P

- 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!