UngsungBlog: A (Fantasy) Sports Blog

Lots of stuff happened this past weekend, but I have a few other things I want to talk about first.

I’ll try to keep this entry as short as possible.

Quick-hitters:

- On Friday night, my meteorologist of choice—in other words, the the weatherperson I happened to be watching at the time—said that warm weather was “coming.”

She didn’t mention that Saturday was going to be 10-20 degrees hotter than Friday.

(It’s not as if I didn’t appreciate the warmer weather.  I just like my temperature changes to be gradual, not immediate.)

- Happy (way overdue, I know) Chinese New Year!

- One more issue I have with my DIY iPod mini project:  it seems to be leaking juice at an abnormally high rate.  I had the iPod locked and sitting in my pocket all day on Saturday, and when I got home that night, the battery meter appeared to decrease by 2-3 “ticks.”  Hopefully, I was just imagining things, or the problem goes away after a few recharging cycles.

- While cleaning up my desk on Friday night—that was seriously long overdue—I heard a loud *POP* (think glass shattering) followed by a sizzling sound coming from the kitchen.  I ran there, thinking I had left the stove on, but I found nothing out of the ordinary.  Strange, I thought to myself, as I walked back into my office.

About an hour later, I went back into the kitchen to grab a drink, and I happened to glance at a set of AAA batteries that were sitting on my kitchen counter.  For reasons unknown to me, I decided to inspect the batteries, and when I picked them up, I noticed a tiny brown puddle where the batteries used to be.

Apparently, one or more of the batteries popped and leaked acid, while sitting on my kitchen counter.

I’ve seen batteries leak acid before, but usually this occurs inside a device, and I’ve never had quality (Duracell, in this case) batteries leak acid before.

- Yet another update regarding my ZoneAlarm rebate fiasco:  a check for $40 from Fry’s Corporate Office showed up in my mailbox on Saturday!  Thanks Fry’s!

I’ll be especially happy if the $25 for my American Telecom Systems phone shows up in the next couple of weeks.

- So awhile back, I mentioned that my credit score took a murderous fall, and it was partly due to Citibank no longer reporting the credit limit on two of my cards, totaling over $15,000 in “lost” credit:

According to my credit report, Citibank only is reporting the limit on one of my cards, and the limit on that card [(a Diamond Preferred Rewards card)] is a paltry $1,000.  So, I have devised a plan:  I’m going to re-allocate most of my total Citibank credit limit on to this one card, and hope that Citibank reports the new limit to the three bureaus.

One thing I forgot to mention about that incident was the fact that, months prior, I had shoved most of the credit limit from the card that now has a $1,000 limit on to the PremierPass card.  I don’t recall exactly why I did this; I might have taken out a balance transfer.  Anyway, my lazy ass decided that now was the time to call Citibank and request a reallocation of credit.  Unfortunately for me, the rep I spoke to could not help me out.

The rep explained that even though my PremierPass card has a $16,000 limit on it, the line of credit is what’s called a “revolving” line of credit aka a “no pre-set spending limit.”   She then explained that the Diamond Preferred Rewards card had a fixed line of credit, and since the two lines of credit were different, I could not reallocate any part of my credit from one card to the other.

Fan-freaking-tastic!

After the thorough explanation, the rep then tried to sell me a personal loan (it might have been called a personal line of credit; I honestly don’t remember) at a fixed rate of 9.9%.  I quickly refused, and the rep continued to push the loan on me.  I explained that I had no need for a personal loan, and the rep all but insisted that I was passing up on the opportunity of a lifetime.

(It’s not as if I was going to tell the rep “If I needed a loan, I’d take out a 0% balance transfer, not a 10% personal loan!”  Maybe I should have said that…)

This wasn’t the first time Citibank tried to sell me this personal loan; I miss the days where they would just try to sell me their Credit Protector service.

- On the heels of the latest Citibank saga, I think it’s about time for me to update “The List:”

1) Bank of F’n America (still in a class by itself)

2) AllRebates/Ohana Companies (and yet I still insist on doing business with them; at least I now know that I have backing from Fry’s)

3) Citibank (thank you, Citibank)

4) Time Warner

5) (tie) Parago/USPS/Buy.com

Yes, CompUSA has been removed from the list, due to their closing.

by Peter
3 Comments »

Yeah, I know…four days between posts?

Be quiet.

Quick-hitters:

- My Wii friend code is 1963 4549 4969 1019.

- How about them Lakers?  Andrew freaking Bynum is a stud!  Jordan Farmar has been a spark plug off the bench.  And Kobe’s happy!

(Did I just jinx them?)

- One quick sports take:  how about this ruling that the Hawks and the Heat have to replay the last 51.9 seconds of OT because of a miscalculation in the number of fouls Shaq had?

Questions:

1) What the heck took so long for this ruling to come down?  Shouldn’t this have taken a couple of days at the most?

2) What if Shaq is hurt when the replay occurs?

3) What if players on either team get traded before the replay can happen?  I would love to see the NBA mandate that a traded player has to return to his original team just for this one minute of action.

4) Um…the Heat are one of the worst teams in the entire NBA!  One extra win (should they pull this game out) isn’t going to make a lick of difference in where they finish!  Besides, if I were Pat Riley, I’d strongly consider tanking the rest of the season starting now…that is, if teams actually tank games to better their draft position in the first place…

- So what else did I do during my prolonged absence?  Like I mentioned in my last blog entry, I took a trip up to Elk Grove, CA, to visit my cousins and nephews.  They were staying in Reno on the 26th, and we planned on meeting them up there for the night.

We drove up there, and somehow got from Tarzana to Stockton—we stopped for a lunch break—in a bit over four hours.  Stockton to Reno via Sacramento and Lake Tahoe took another four hours, though, and the precipitous drop in temperatures got me sick.

(Great, huh?  The first day of my vacation, and I got sick!)

Amazingly, while in Reno, I did no gambling.  I got the joy of following two ultra-hyper kids through Circus Circus’ kiddie land, while feeling sick as hell.  I might have gotten an hour of sleep that night; it didn’t help that one of the brats woke me up at 7AM.

Thursday was spent sucking on cough drops one-at-a-time for the entire day (to hell with the dosage recommendations!) while going on a second tour of duty through Circus Circus’ kiddie land.  After that, we headed back to Elk Grove, but not before stopping in Truckee, CA (just south of Tahoe, if I’m not mistaken) for an unforgettable experience.

And by unforgettable, I mean I’m never doing it again.

My uncle thought it would be a fun idea to do some sledding (sorta; basically, we’re doing down a snow-filled hill on a board, sitting down.  Anyone wanna let me know what that’s called?  In the meantime, we’ll go with “sledding”).  I emphatically announced that I would not be getting anywhere close to one of the boards, knowing full well that riding one of those things would probably have killed me.

(Totally off topic:   I’m placing some online orders while typing out this blog entry.  Should a random string of characters—some random digits, my credit card number, etc.—appear on this blog, let me know, yeah?)

Anyway, the highlights of that day include:

• My seven-year-old nephew went down the hill first, and I immediately noticed he was drifting left, right towards me.  Instinctively, I jumped over him and to the left, to avoid certain death.  Thank goodness for my cat-like quickness and agility, even for a person my size, and especially considering I was sick!
• Twice, my cousin was ready to slide down the hill, only to have the board slide down…with him not on it.  Both times, he decided that he had no choice but to slide down on his shoes.  By the way, he was wearing dress shoes.  The second time he went down, all I remember was him barreling down the hill.
• I also distinctly remember watching my sister go down the hill twice.  Each time, she (the lightweight that she is) couldn’t stay fixed on the board, and she kept bouncing off the board as it was going down the hill.  And I’m not talking about coming off the board slightly!  We’re talking 3-6 inches!
• In my delirium, I may or may not have been forced to go down the hill once.  I honestly cannot remember.

(*whistles*)

- The rest of the trip was pretty boring, even though every morning was started with coffee and a donut from my cousins’ donut shop.  I did get a ton of recipe ideas, cooked them some tasty steaks—could you believe my sister wanted to serve them London broil???—and thankfully, I got over my sickness…when the trip ended, naturally.

We returned home on Christmas Eve, and just about nothing happened between then and now.  I did get Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii, though, but I haven’t even ripped off the shrink wrap on the case.

That’s all I have for now.  Until next time!

by Peter
1 Comment »

(Warning:  Today’s blog entry may run a tad long.)

I’m such a slacker :P.

I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas and New Year’s.  I know I did.

Despite the fact that there is so much in the sports world to talk about—the Cheat-riots going 16*-0, Roidger Clemens, LSU winning a national title, the Lakers and UCLA Bruins rolling, etc.—I’d much rather talk about what I’ve been doing lately.  I’ll save my thoughts on the big sports stories for another day.  But first…

Quick-hitters:

- Current rebate-o-meter:  ~$1,300.  That number will probably rise with tax software deals now available.

- CVS has a deal running through January where you get $4 ECBs when you buy 4 SoyJoy bars (limit 5 offers).  Combined with various coupons—$1 off 4 bars, $3 off 10 bars, and freebies—my sisters and I made a killing off these bars.

Has anyone tried one of these bars?  I tried one, and let’s just say the thing tasted like a nastier fruitcake.  Just thinking about how bad it tasted is giving me the chills right now!  However, my sisters actually enjoyed them, and even my brother thought they weren’t terrible.

*gag*

I’d almost rather down an entire bottle of castor oil than have to eat one of these bars.  I’m thinking about leaving them outside the local gym, for anyone to take :P.

- It’s good to see some of the late night television shows back on the air, even though the shows aren’t quite what they used to be.  I thoroughly enjoyed Jon Stewart’s monologue, though.

- So I made mention in my last blog that I had a hot date a few weeks ago.

Krunk happened to swing by for our annual meeting of the minds, and we spent all day chatting, Wii-ing, and watching TV.

(I’m a boring host.  I am aware of that.)

After Wii-ing all day, we went to an all-you-can-eat Korean restaurant for dinner.  Damn place raised their prices!  Good stuff, though.

Freaking Krunk brought me a Christmas present:  a Wii remote!  Being the bad friend that I am, I have yet to reciprocate (no, Krunk, dinner doesn’t count!).

- On the 24th, my sister and I went to my cousin’s house—thank you, Ellen and Darren—for a Christmas Eve dinner (I was asked to bring the entertainment, in the form of Guitar Hero III).  The night was memorable; unfortunately it was more memorable for bad reasons than good :P.

• Dinner was great.  It was the quintessential potluck:  roasted chicken, tamales, a Honeybaked ham, a shepherd’s pie, spaghetti with broccoli, steamed veggies, etc.
• Both of my mom’s sisters attended, but my mom did not, which led to one of the more traumatizing incidents of the night.  Those that attended the party know exactly what I’m talking about.  Let’s just say that my aunt says some really strange things when inebriated (and by “inebriated,” I mean “had one sip of beer.”)
• I cannot play Guitar Hero without an HDTV with Progressive Scan enabled.  I have no idea why.  I think I’m going blind.
• I almost died when I nearly took a tumble down a couple of steps.  Actually, I almost killed Ellen; I tumbled right into her, nearly knocking her down.  No, I did not have a drink that night.
• The night ended on one really traumatizing moment, right before we left for the night.  Again, those of you at the party know exactly what I’m talking about.

Good times.

- The Ung family Christmas dinner, on the 25th, was also quite excellent.  We brined our turkey—thanks, Alton Brown!—and it came out juicy and tender, though quite salty.  Green bean casserole, stuffing, steamed veggies, and mashed potatoes completed the meal, and my sister made some pumpkin bread as well, which was very good, even though she really cut back on the amount of sugar the recipe originally called for.

Sadly, we could not take any of the leftovers home.  That’s because I went out of town the next day, on a trip to see my cousins up in NorCal.

More on that next time.  Later!

by Peter
1 Comment »

I’m such a slacker…

Quick-hitters:

- Argh!  Watching the Pats-Ravens game was so aggravating!  I was SO hoping for the Pats to choke!

Full commentary on that game tomorrow, along with yet another reason why I hate Fantasy Football.

- I could not believe that my Bruins lost to Texas on Sunday!  What an awful first half!  I hope UCLA coach Ben Howland does something to fix the slow starts that the Bruins have had in recent games.

- Current rebate-o-meter:  $2,600.  That includes the $400 or so in rebate checks I got over the last two weeks, and I have yet to file over $300 worth of rebates.

Anyone wanna bet on whether or not I’ll hit $3,000 again by the end of the month?

Speaking of rebates…seriously, Symantec, why even offer upgrade rebates if you’re going to reject every single one I try to claim?  I filed four more upgrade rebates in the past month, and all four were rejected for various reasons.

- I’m not sure if my loyal readers knew this, but I love CVS.  ECBs + rebates FTW!

(Rite Aid Single Check Rebates don’t suck either.)

I got eight bottles of Febreze, a bottle of Tums, some soda and Doritos, four bottles of mouthwash, a Gilette Fusion razor blade, and a stick of Degree “Clinical Strength” deodorant.  Net cost:  about ten bucks, and it would have been three bucks less if the cashier had followed my simple instructions of scanning my ECBs in the order I stacked them.

(Yeah, I know I’m whining about three bucks here, but WTH?  I handed him three ECBs–a $10, a $5, and a $2–stacked on top of one another.  What gave him the idea to scan the $10 first (on the top), then the $2 one (on the bottom???

Note to self:  hand the cashiers coupons and ECBs one at a time from now on.)

So why so much crap?  The Febreze worked out to about a buck a bottle.  The Tums made me a buck after rebate (minus tax and the stamp, of course).  Each bottle of mouthwash netted me $1.50.  The razor and the deodorant were free after Rite Aid SCR.  I rest my case.

- I hate this time of year, weather-wise.  It’s kinda warm in the daytime–there’s enough sun to make it not cold–but it gets ridiculously cold and windy at night.   I almost long for the ~120 degree summer days again.

(I know, I know; I shouldn’t be complaining about night time temps in the low 40s.)

Rain is in the forecast in the next few days…fantastic!  And I’m considering a trip up to NorCal at the end of the month?  I must be insane!

(Tangent:  Until last night, I have never heard “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” sung by Rod Stewart and Dolly Parton.  My ears are still bleeding from hearing the song last night.

If I hear the song again, I might just pass out.  I’d rather listen to a record of chalkboard/fingernail scratching on infinite loop than hear that song one more time.)

Somebody get me an electric blanket.

- If you are the only coffee drinker in your house, and you do not brew coffee with a coffee press of some sort, you must be insane or only drink coffee five minutes before you leave the house.  No thanks to my sister, who was kind enough to give me a canister of Folgers Simply Smooth coffee, I am now hooked on coffee.

(Tangent:  I don’t want to be chewed out for suggesting that one can make a “perfect cup of coffee” using Folgers.  Go away.

And by the way, yeah, you’re right.)

I have one of these Vietnamese coffee presses, and all I know is that this Folgers coffee tastes like crap when brewed in my sister’s Gevalia coffee-maker, and it’s quite tasty when brewed with my press.  Water quality doesn’t explain the difference; my sister uses water filtered through her refrigerator–quite tasty water, by the way–while I use Brita pitcher water, which is drinkable only if I pass the water through the filter 2-3 times.

Drool…typing this up just tempted me to brew another cup of coffee.  Yes, I’m an addict.

Later.

Tags: baltimore ravens, coffee press, cold weather, cvs, folgers, new england patriots, rain, symantec rebates, texas longhorns, ucla bruins by Peter
5 Comments »

Hello again, loyal readers!

Quick-hitters:

- Current rebate-o-meter: $3000, and dropping fast!

(W00t!)

- Why must oatmeal raisin cookies be so damn tasty??? I baked a batch last Thursday, and thanks to myself, my sister, her co-workers, my mom, etc., I’m down to five cookies.

(Four.)

Next up: a batch of chocolate chip cookies. I’ll put the over/under on how long those cookies will last at three days, and I’ll take the under.

- Trader Joe’s is evil. Costco is evil.

Going to both stores? Wallet homicide.

(I dare anyone to convince me otherwise.)

- OMG! The NBA season starts tomorrow, and I haven’t even signed up for a Fantasy Basketball league!

- So the big news story, which I just heard about a few minutes ago, is the report that the Los Angeles Dodgers (actually of LA!) are going to fire incumbent manager Grady Little and hire former Yankees’ manager Joe Torre!

THIS. MUST. HAPPEN.

Yes, Grady Little got a bum rap for the 2003 Boston Red Sox debacle. Yeah, he’s probably going to be unfairly fired for what happened last year with my Dodgers (the locker room fracturing, I mean). Still, it’s awfully hard to trade in Little for a four-time World Series-winning manager. I’m really looking forward to see who the Dodgers will end up signing, now that Torre appears to be on board?

(No, I’m not going to be myopic enough to believe that Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, et al., will be donning Dodger Blue next year.)

Great statistic mentioned by SportsCenter, by the way: in 2003, Grady Little was fired by Boston; the Red Sox won the World Series the next year. In 1996, Joe Torre was hired by New York; the Yankees won the World Series the next year. Hmmmm…

me *crosses fingers*

- Speaking of fingers…I was filing some rebates about a week ago.

(I’m usually quick when it comes to filing rebates; it helps to use pre-printed address labels.)

(By the way, the squeamish might want to stop reading here.)

Anyway, I was attempting to flatten one tri-folded rebate submission, getting ready to stuff it into an envelope. I ran my hand across the stack, and proceeded to flatten the submission (five 24# sheets of paper are pretty thick!). That’s when I noticed that my hand had quite a bit of blood on it.

Yeah, somehow, while flattening the rebate submission, I had managed to slice my pinky like a Ginzu knife through a tin can. I shook it off immediately, telling myself “eh, just another paper cut.” Ten seconds later, I was screaming and running towards the nearest sink.

I give myself 25,000 Stupid Points.

- It’s time for UBMe #3, aka “Shopping Cart Obstructions.”

While in line at Costco, you realize that you forgot an item on your shopping list! Knowing that the item–no, it was not Mexicoke–was located at the back of the store, you realize that nothing short of a power walk would get you to the back to the registers in time. You proceed to semi-jog to the back of the store, and realize that there are way too many people there for you to be jogging. You slow to a brisk walk, reach the refrigerated section, grab your item, and head back.

Like a running back in football, you keep trying to hit holes between shopping carts and their owners, trying desperately to get to the front of the store as quickly as possible. Halfway on the return trip, you hit a snag: you reach a section where nobody is moving! Out of the corner of your eye, you quickly notice a small gap opening, so you beeline towards it. That’s when some stupid woman pushes her cart through that gap, beating you to the spot. As if that isn’t bad enough, she then proceeds to leave her cart right there in the open, walking away to go check out some items an aisle away!

UBMe! Do you gently push her cart aside, and continue on your way to the front of the store? Do you patiently wait for another opening (which was unlikely, as the obstruction occurred in front of a smoothie display, and there was a big line of people waiting for samples)? Or do you do something more drastic, like walking across an aisle to get to the much less crowded perimeter of the store?

You decide to gently push her cart out of the way. You reach out, and a split second before you come in contact with her cart, you notice some guy coming in the opposite direction with his cart. You immediately realize that he is approaching you with a good deal of speed, and you know something is going to happen. With his cart, he literally swings his cart into hers, hitting the blockade with such force that the offending carts rolls away about 5-10 feet. Eventually, the cart coasts to a stop in front of a display of pillows, as the guy continues through the newly-opened gap. You turn around, and see the woman head back towards her cart, clearly pissed off! You grin in the direction of the guy who cleared your way, and continue towards front of the store.

You reach the registers, just as the cashier starts ringing up your order.

Seriously, that was awesome. The look on the woman’s face was priceless!

Until next time!

Tags: cookies, costco, joe torre, los angeles dodgers, oatmeal, paper cut, raisin, rebates, shopping cart, stupid points, trader joe, UBMe by Peter
7 Comments »

First of all, prayers go out to everybody affected by the fires here in SoCal, especially those in San Diego County. What’s going on here is eerily reminiscent of the fires of 2003–I was a UCSD student at the time, and one of the fires was burning no more than ten miles south of where we were. I remember waking up that Sunday morning, wondering why I could see bright orange rays of light coming from my window. Although I had a midterm that Tuesday–it was subsequently postponed by a week, as the campus was closed for a couple of days–I remember doing nothing but playing video games all day, just to get my mind off the fires.

When the campus re-opened, I returned to my volunteer position at the Preuss School (a charter school adjacent to UCSD) and I made it a point to ask the students how their families were doing, fully aware that most of the kids lived in areas affected by the fires. Talk about a humbling experience; it made my whining on Sunday look awfully pathetic by comparison.

I noticed that the winds have died down here significantly; hopefully that helps the firefighters out there in controlling these blazes. And as far as the arsonists that caused a couple of these fires are concerned, I think we should use those fire-fighting planes, pick them up by their legs, and drop them head-first into the Pacific Ocean…or an active volcano.

Let’s get on with it.

Quick-hitters:

- Current rebate-o-meter: $3300. That total includes the $150 or so I got in the past few days. Sigh…

- I can’t wait for Halloween!

Well, I can’t wait for the day after Halloween, when Halloween candy is clearanced :D.

- Somebody please remind me to watch the World Series with my TV muted. Between Tim McCarver, John Mellencamp, AT&T (’tis a shame they dumped the name “Cingular”; I can’t call them Crapular any more.), and that XBox 360 commercial with the kids absolutely f**king up Poison’s “Nothin’ But A Good Time,” I’m this close to buying a TiVo.

More on baseball later.

- In an effort to make my blog a bit more interactive, I am introducing a new feature here: UBMe! Every now and then, I will blog about an interesting event that happened to me, and let my loyal readers (all none of you) decide what they would do in my shoes.

(Please refrain from posting your “Create Your Own Adventures was so 1980s!” comments).

Yes, you loyal readers can now advise me on how I should have handled a particular mind-numbing situation!

Presenting UBMe #1:

You’re sitting in front of your computer, enjoying your tasty ham-and-cheese sandwich (the meal of champions!), when all of a sudden, someone pounds on your door.

You open the door, and see a teenage girl holding a box of candy. Nothing special about the candy; it looks like something that you could buy from Costco. The girl, without any introduction, asks “Would you like to buy some candy for one dollar?”

You immediately identify this as a fundraiser, and ask the girl to wait while you go fetch your wallet. When you find your wallet, you open up the currency compartment…to find nothing but receipts!

Knowing that you’re going to disappoint the girl, you go back to the door and tell her that you don’t have even a single dollar in your wallet. The girl then tells you, “Well, can you look around your house for a dollar?”

If you decide to slam the door in her face, you’re either really really mean, or really really smart. If you decide to politely tell her again that you don’t have a buck, go on.

You decide to tell her, even more politely, that you just don’t have a buck with you. After the girl pleads for you to find a freaking dollar, you show her your wallet, empty the contents, and give the wallet a shake, in an effort to prove that you don’t have any money in your wallet!

To your amazement, two quarters drop out of your wallet and roll away. The girl, giving you the “you dirty liar!” look, points out, “Look! You have money! Can’t you look around your house for more?”

If you decide to slam the door in her face, you’re a heck of a lot smarter than I am. If you decide to politely ask her to come back later (when, hopefully, you actually have a buck in your wallet), read on.

For some really dumb reason, you ask her to come back later tonight. The girl, obviously disappointed, tells you that she can’t, but she would like to come back tomorrow. You say sure. She responds, “And you’ll have a dollar then, right?”

If you decide to slam the door in her face, you’re just being human. If you say “OK, I’ll see you tomorrow,” go back to the beginning.

Wasn’t that fun?

- Here are my super-quick MLB/World Series thoughts

1) The sight of [that Boston RF that I refuse to name] hitting that clutch grand-slam was absolutely nauseating. I’d rather see 1,000 Chevy/John Mellencamp commercials end-to-end than to see that replay one time.

2) Stat that summed up the Boston-Cleveland ALCS: touted pitchers C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona combined to win ZERO games in the series.

3) Cleveland rocks! (Nope!) Cleveland rocks! (Nope!!!) Cleveland rocks! (Wrong!) Cleve-land rocks! (WRONG!)

4) Josh Beckett: man. That RF: ()#*$)(#*$#@*(#@(*)!!!

5) As much as I love watching the Rockies play right now, I cannot pick them to beat Boston. The thought of that RFer with a ring, though, sickens me. Boston in *puke* *gag* 7 games.

- Here are my Week 7 (Fantasy) Football Thoughts:

1) F**k you Heath Miller. F**k you Travis Henry. F**k you Chad Pennington + Jerricho Cotchery. Despite getting 33 points from Cincy RB Kenny Watson, I’m now 3-4 in the BargainShare league, riding an awesome three game losing streak! At least I won in my other three leagues, running my records to 2-5, 3-4, and 4-3.

At least I’m over .500 in one league @@. And I’m pretty sure there are a few Joseph Addai and Travis Henry owners that were screaming at their TVs this past weekend.

2) I guess the Colts can’t be called a “finesse” team any more, eh, especially after the drubbing of the Jags last night. Next week: Pats v Colts!!!

(Well, at least the media is acting like these two teams play each other next week. I wonder what Washington and Carolina think of the media coverage of that Nov. 4 tilt.)

3) Sage Rosenfels owners (all none of you) and Rod Bironas owners had to have been really really happy this past weekend. How the hell did the Titans give up 29 fourth quarter points to the Texans?!?!??!

4) Go Rams! Let’s go for 0-16! An NFL record + the #1 pick! W00t!

(Naturally, the Rams are going to break my heart, and actually win a game soon.)

5) Pats 7*-0. Colts 6-0. I’m surprised people aren’t calling the Pats better because they have a better record.

This leads me right into the final topic of today’s blog:

- I am be-freaking-yond sick and tired of hearing members of the media insist that the Pats are playing with such a big chip on their shoulders (I’m looking at you, Kornheiser). Yes, it’s clear that the Pats are in “screw you” mode after PatriotGate (Week 1 against the Jets); obviously this is their way of flipping the bird to the rest of the league for all the negative attention they’re getting. Vilify us, and watch us kick the asses of every team we play! Make us look like the bad guys, and now we’re going to play the rest of the season with a HUGE chip on our shoulders!

I gotta ask one thing, though…

*clears throat*

WHOSE FAULT IS IT THAT YOU GUYS ARE GETTING ALL THIS NEGATIVE ATTENTION???

(Hint: It’s your team’s fault, Patriots’ myopics.)

I know! It’s the fault of Eric Mangini, right? If he didn’t catch you guys cheating, you wouldn’t be acting this way, right? No, wait, it’s Roger Goodell’s fault, right? If he didn’t levy such a steep penalty on you guys for cheating, you wouldn’t be so angry. Or maybe he shouldn’t have made spying on your opponents via the use of technology illegal in the first place, right? Nah, it’s certainly because we’re jealous of all your successes. Yeah, that’s it!

(I’ll allow for everybody’s sarcasm-o-meters, New England myopics excepted, to cool off before I continue.)

And who knows how many of those Super Bowl wins were tainted? Can anybody, beyond a shadow of a doubt, tell me that the Patriots won three Super Bowls without even a tiny bit of assistance? Myopic New England fans might respond, “We’re so good that we don’t need to cheat!” If that’s true, THEN WHY DID YOU CHEAT AGAINST THE JETS???

Why do some kids copy other kids’ homework? Why do some kids try using crib sheets during exams? Why do some people not file taxes? Because they can? Because they enjoy it? Or because cheating gives them an advantage over other people?!?

By the way, if you Patriot fans think the rest of the country hates your team, you’re right! Do we hate you for your successes? Sure! However, I believe there are a number of other reasons to hate you guys:

1) Your arrogant coach who refuses to shake hands with former proteges, makes nothing-apologies after being caught cheating, and likes to ignore league memos reminding teams that video surveillance of your opposition is illegal.

2) Your pretty-boy QB who once uttered to the media that he “hates” all the attention he gets.

3) Randy Moss.

(Tangent: I think it was Keyshawn Johnson, on Monday, that said that some teams didn’t want Randy Moss.

WHAT

THE

F***???

Teams didn’t want him BECAUSE HE STOPPED GIVING A DAMN!!! He stopped trying! He gave up on routes! I’m surprised he didn’t go Vince Carter on his former teams and tell the other team what play his team was running!

W T F?)

4) The fact that you guys play the “We’re so unselfish” card as much as you do. If you’re so unselfish, why do you keep saying this? To selfishly gather more attention on your team?

The reason why you guys have this chip on your shoulders is YOUR OWN DOING! Don’t cheat, and nobody wants to label you the “NFL Yankees!” Tell your coach to stop looking like an arrogant ass, and nobody will liken him to Darth Vader! Most importantly, stop messing with football karma and the NFL Gods, and you will be rewarded in kind, because the way you guys are acting, I fully expect a full-blown meltdown to occur in the AFC Championship game.

I’m just about convinced that Belicheat got caught cheating intentionally, just to find a way to motivate his team. It’s the only logical explanation I can think of.

Until next time.

by Peter
2 Comments »

I’m going to make tonight’s blog entry short and sweet.

F**k Fantasy Football.

F**k Time Warner.  F**k Staples.

F**k Symantecrebates.com.

F**k everything else that ruined an otherwise awesome weekend of (college) football.

At least dinner was good (burgers, homemade fries, and a tropical banana milkshake).

I may elaborate on one or more of the above topics another time, or I may ignore them (as usual) altogether.

Until next time.

by Peter
4 Comments »

Sorry, loyal readers (all none of you), but a number of things have kept me away from blogging for the last few days.  Being under the weather doesn’t help.

Quick-hitters:

- I think I have found a drink that is more awesome than Mexicoke.

Mexicoke with a wedge of lime!!!

Methinks I have to go back to Costco to get another case of Mexicoke, and some vials of insulin ;p.

- Current rebate-o-meter:  ~$3200.  And that total comes after receiving about $200 in rebates earlier in the week.

I need help.

- So Kobe Bryant is whining again, eh?  What else is new?  More on that another time

(Maybe.)

- So with the World Series nearly set, here are my quick thoughts about the MLB playoffs to date:

1) Go Rockies!

2) I was giddy for about five days after the Yankees got knocked out of the playoffs.  The Ung-hex lives (more on that later)!

3) Assuming the Indians don’t choke…Cleveland v. Colorado, eh?  I wonder what the Vegas odds on that World Series match up was.

4) Hey Boston!  How’s that [unnamed RFer who formerly played for the Dodgers] working out for you?  Oh, and Julio Lugo too.

5) Should Boston SP Josh Beckett have pitched in Game 4 of the ALCS?  Absolutely.  Why else was he pulled after 80 pitches in Game 1?  Besides, pitching him in Game 4 gives Boston a chance to pitch him in Game 7!

Of course, if Wakefield won Game 4, everybody would have praised Boston manager Terry Francona.

5) Finally, and most importantly, as freaking annoying as Tim McCarver has been, he can’t hold a candle to the sheer number of f**king annoying commercials that Fox has been airing during the playoffs!  Those AT&T commercials (Prague-Chicago-whatever???):  really really stupid.  Those iPhone commercials?  Equally stupid.  Starburst/Snickers commercials?  Absolutely stupid.  And don’t get me started with those “This is ouuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrr country” Chevy commercials.  A few more of those, and I’m going to stab my ears with a screwdriver.  I can’t believe I long for the days of “I’m lovin’ it!”

Yeah, like annoying the holy hell out of me is going to get me to purchase your products.  Actually, I think I get it! Maybe these companies are threatening us with these commercials!  Buy our stuff, or we’ll be forced to continue playing these really stupid ass commercials!

Sheer genius!

That Taco Bell commercial about the rules of dating is pretty funny, though.  Crack that whip!

- Here are my super-quick (Fantasy) Football thoughts for the week:

1) I’m now 1-5 (ugh), 2-4 (thanks LT), 3-3 (bleh), and 3-3 in the BargainShare league (poop).

2) After the Patriots ran over a legitimate opponent in the Dallas Cowboys, running their record up to 6*-0, I guess I can finally admit that the Patriots are far and away the best team in the NFL.   That Tom Brady guy is a pretty good QB!

By the way, Patrick Crayton, feel free to be quiet.  After the loss, Crayton relished the thought of facing the Pats again this season.  Of course, the only way that would happen is on Super Bowl Sunday:

“If they make it to Arizona, we will see them again. Seriously, I’m not backing down from that statement,” receiver Patrick Crayton said Monday, a day after a 48-27 loss to the Patriots.

You do realize you are playing on a team that can’t defend against the pass, is completely under-utilizing the beast that is Marion Barber III, and haven’t won a damn thing since the team was QBed by a guy named Troy Aikman, right?  Yeah, you guys are currently the class of the NFC, but is that really saying much?  Not to mention, you’re one TO blowup or one Tony Romo “I do realize I’m Tony Romo, right” game from having to watch the Super Bowl at home, right?

(Argh, they just aired another stupid AT&T commercial.  And they followed it up with a Dane Cook/playoff baseball commercial!!!  Shoot me now!)

I will give Crayton props for one point, though:  at least he realizes that the Patriots’ road to the Super Bowl (Colts, Steelers, and maybe Jags and Chargers) will be a heck of a lot harder than the Cowboys’ road (Packers?  Giants?  Maybe the Seahawks?  Please!)

Well, it looks like this blog is going to run a bit long, so I’ll save the Ung-hex story for another time.  This time, I swear I’ll remember to blog about it!

- Time Warner is awesome.  I love them!

(I’ll allow everybody’s sarcasm-0-meter to cool off before I continue.)

In the past three days, I’ve had eight outages of 5 minutes or less (no cable or internet), and one four-hour long outage.  I called in to TW tech support to report the outage, and of course, I got the standard “Sir, we’re looking into it.”

Stupid Time Warner.  Well, at least Time Warner lets me use their internet service to talk crap about them, unlike another company I can think of…

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!1111  They are airing a Chevy commercial!!!

*bang*

by Peter
2 Comments »

Yeah, yeah, yeah…as usual, I am not going to blog about what I said I was going to.  Deal with it

No quick-hitters today; let’s just get to my weekend.

- To call this past weekend an “exhausting”one is quite the understatement.  We cleaned most of the house on Saturday.  I manned the kitchen, while my sister handled the living room.

(Tangent:  The Magic Eraser is the greatest thing ever.  Magic Eraser + water + elbow grease, and no grease, dirt, or grime stands a chance!  If only the Eraser wasn’t such a mess to use as it wears out.)

After toiling for about two hours, we decided to reward ourselves in about the best way possible:  sushi and gelato ice cream!  We went to a sushi bar that my sister really likes, and ordered four different rolls:  an “Arigato” roll (fried shrimp, soft shell crab, wrapped in various sashimi), a “Firecracker” roll (spicy tuna and spicy scallops), a Spider roll (soft shell crab), and a “Super Philadelphia” roll (salmon, cream cheese, avocado, and asparagus, wrapped in salmon sashimi; Philadelphia rolls generally use cream cheese and smoked salmon, not raw salmon).

Awesome stuff.  ‘Nuff said.

After that, we went to get some Gelato.  I got a scoop of white chocolate raspberry, and a scoop of strawberry cheesecake (OMG that was awesome!), while my sister ordered a “sampler” of four scoops of ice cream.

We think we deserved it.

- Also on Saturday, we swung by CVS (what else is new?) to pick up a few more deals.

(Yeah, I’m totally addicted.)

I got more toothpaste, more mouthwash, more dish washing liquid, and yeah, yet another box of tampons.  I also got (don’t laugh!) four boxes of Beano.

Now, you might be wondering:  WTF would I be buying Beano?  Well, other than the obvious possibility (:P), I’m getting paid $9 to take this stuff off their hands:  $2.99 per, with $2.99 in Extra Care Bucks per item, a $1 coupon for one, and an $8 MIR for buying four.  And yes, I’ll be going back some time this week to buy another box, since a $1 coupon showed up in my Sunday paper.

- So back to the exhausting weekend…the entire day was spent running more errands.  We had to go to a laundromat today to wash our comforters, and that took a good two hours.  That place was packed, and we had to wait about 20 minutes just to get usage of a washer!

After doing our laundry, we went to the grocery store, planning on making some chicken and rice.   We bought all the stuff we needed, and then I noticed that it was already 6:30, and the chicken hadn’t even been defrosted yet!  That’s when I decided to stop by Sam Woo BBQ and pick up some BBQ pork.  Good stuff!

- On the way home from doing all our errands, my sister stopped by the nearby Shell to fuel up.  I felt like having a cup of coffee, so I went into the mini-mart.

Big mistake.

I walked in, quickly got my coffee, added my creamer, and headed to the cashier.  That’s when I saw what might be the most ridiculous customer-cashier exchange ever.  A woman and her young child were at the register, and the woman started going ape-shit on the cashier.  Apparently she bought a few items, and the cashier bagged them one at a time.  For some reason, this seemingly innocuous act riled up the woman, to the point where she started pointing her finger at the guy, screaming “I’M…NOT…DONE…YET…PUT…IT…ALL…BACK!”

(WTF?  And yeah, she paused like that between words.)

She screamed some more, saying “PUT…IT…BACK…I’M…NOT…DONE…YET…GEEZ!”, and then continued to shop around for more crap.

(Tangent:  Who actually “shops” around a mini-mart?)

I stood by the register for about thirty whine-filled seconds, and then decided that she wasn’t going to be done shopping any time soon.  I went up to the register and got ready to pay for it, and as I did so, I could hear the woman utter “WHAT THE…???”  I thought to myself, “Look…I’m not going to wait for you and your kid to finish shopping.  Finish your shopping, THEN check out!”

I would have handed the guy my money and walked out of the store, if not for the fact that he overcharged me for my coffee.  I pointed out this fact, handed him the correct amount, and high-tailed it out of there.  Before I made it to the exit, though, I could hear the woman yelling at the guy again.  Her kid needed the bathroom, and rather than politely asking for the bathroom key, the woman screamed “MY…KID…NEEDS…THE…BATHROOM!”

We pulled out of the gas station, drove around a bit, and drove past the station again a few minutes later, and the woman was still there!

As I told my sister, where do you have to be in your sad, pathetic life, to go ape-shit on a mini-mart cashier like that?

I’d like to see anybody top this story.  Until next time!

by Peter
3 Comments »

Shoot, I can’t believe it has been a week since I last blogged!  I’m going to skip the football talk this week, and explain what has kept me away from blogging for so long.

Tomorrow:  my Office review, among other things.

Quick-hitters, a really long version:

- I hate stupid buyers.  That is all.

- A week ago, I bought a ton of batteries from batteries.com (96 AA and 20 AAA batteries, I believe).  I bought them thinking that I was going to go through them quickly; three days after I received them, I’ve only used two AA batteries–they were used in one of my wireless mice.

Silly me forgot that my two LED flashlights use AAA batteries!  Oh well, I’ll have a lifetime supply of batteries for my remotes.

(Tangent:  Am I the only one out there that “recycles” batteries by using seemingly drained batteries in a remote control?  I don’t recall ever replacing the batteries in any of my remotes with a fresh pair.  And it’s not like I’m being cheap; I’ve seen drained batteries last a good 3-6 months in one of my remotes!  Now, if I had something like a Logitech Harmony remote, I wouldn’t bother with drained batteries; for that, of course I would use a fresh pair when needed.

EDIT:  I just found out that Krunk does this too!  Cool!)

- If there’s one thing I absolutely love about visiting my parents (more on that later), it’s the fact that I always get to take home free stuff!

(In a way, I’m still living like a college student.)

I was able to pilfer an entire bag of oatmeal, some dish washing sponges, a bottle of Dawn with Bleach Alternative–my mom says it didn’t work well–and a huge Tupperware filled with some soup–my sister will eat that.  My aunt also had us take home some steamed banana leaf-wrapped rice, chicken, and Chinese sausage concoction that is absolutely to die for.

I need to get that recipe.

- Hey Hank, have I ever told you how much I dislike you for mentioning Peggle?

- So while in Monterey Park last weekend (more on that later), we swung by Rite Aid, CVS, and (eventually) Costco.  Over at Rite Aid, I managed to pick up some MMAR (Make Money After Rebate) toothpaste, and a box of Pepcid AC.  My math works out to $6.71 after taxes + coupons, with $8.97 in Rite Aid Rebates, and a $2.49 mail-in rebate on one of the toothpastes.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love MMAR toothpaste?

(Tangent:  Boy, was it HOT this past weekend!  It was so hot that Rite Aid sold out on about 20 different flavors of their ice cream!)

We hit up CVS next, where I got some free mouthwash, really cheap candy, more dish washing liquid, and yes, a box of tampons.  After using a $10 ECB and my coupons, my total was -$0.13.  Yes, -$0.13.  I was forced to buy a candy bar–I went with Reese’s Pieces–in order to get my balance above negative.

Speaking of CVS, my sister also bought some stuff, but the cashier she dealt with only let her use one ECB!  WTF is that?  If I were her, I would have had the cashier re-ring every item as a separate transaction, so that I could use each ECB individually.

me <– evil

A day later, we hit up Costco, and in the soda section, I saw something in the distance that caught my eye.  I walked closer to it, thinking that it might have been a mirage.  As I crept closer, the image seemed more and more true; was that really what I thought it was?

When I approached the cases, I nearly let out a girlish-scream, as I waved my sister over to the display.  “I gotta have some!” I exclaimed, as I hurriedly grabbed a case and dropped it in my cart, even though there were at least thirty cases left.  What if some guy came by and grabbed all thirty cases?!?

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I got myself a case of Mexicoke!  In fact, I’m about ready to enjoy a chilled bottle right about now.

- So why was I AFB (Away From Blog) so long?  Well, if you remember, my sister’s computer had been (twice!) fried.

Or so I thought.  I hooked up her second, also fried, computer to my LCD monitor, and as soon as I fired it up, I heard a not-out-of-the-ordinary single beep.  Soon after, the display lit up, and I figured that my sister did something wrong.  Just to make sure, I let the computer boot into Windows, and sure enough, the computer got there just fine.  As a precaution, I ran some tests, scanned for viruses, and figured that the computer was working just fine.  I replaced the PSU–some cheapy Raidmax 420W PSU–with an Ultra 400W PSU, fired up the computer again, saw that everything was working, and brought the computer home.

At this point, I figured that the power outlet was the problem, so I brought home a brand new surge protector and two power cables.  I hooked up the computer to a new outlet, and immediately started running into (software) problems.  I figured it was a good time to reformat and reinstall Windows, and that’s when I encountered my next problem.  As I was formatting the drive, a very high-pitched sound started coming out of the computer!

I isolated the sound and found that it was coming from the PSU.  A quick Google search led me to conclude that a capacitor in the PSU was about ready to fail.

On Monday, we went to Fry’s to pick up a PSU.  Fortunately, there was a $10AR Cooler Master PSU, so I picked that up, went home, hooked up the PSU, and found that all was well.  I then helped my sister rearrange her entire room–we moved the computer desk so that the computer could be plugged into a new outlet–and went to work installing software.  I finally finished the install early Tuesday morning.

Now that I think about it, I might have hurt my knee moving all that furniture around.

Until next time!

by Peter
2 Comments »