UngsungBlog: A (Fantasy) Sports Blog

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!)

Tags: bill belicheck, cadeiger, costco, dallas cowboys, fedex, indianapolis colts, new england patriots, oakland raiders, random thoughts, rebate-o-meter, rufus arena, shot-online, tennessee titans, The Office, vons, worldwiderebates by Peter
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Quick-hitters:

- Man-Ram: 2 for 4, HR, 2 RBI, 2 R, .500 batting average since the trade.

I’m just sayin’

By the way, what is it going to take for Joe Torre to realize that Ramirez-Kemp-Ethier MUST be his outfield against any RHP??? Does Torre have something against Ethier?

And does anyone want Andruw Jones? We’ll take a bag of sunflower seeds for him!

- (Un?)fortunately, it appears that Sprint has fixed my billing issues from yesterday, and I only owe the correct amount of $31.77.

Drat. I really wanted to yell at them too!

- Current rebate-o-meter: $1,300 and still falling.

Big-box-in-living-room-o-meter: nine and rising

- Dear Fedex delivery guy,

2 <– This is a TWO.

3 <– This is a THREE.

1 0 2 <– This says “ONE ZERO TWO,” as in “Unit 102.”

1 0 3 <– This says “ONE ZERO THREE,” as in “Unit 103.”

If a package is addressed to “Unit 102,” you should probably leave said package in front of the door labeled “102.”  You probably should not leave said package in front of the door labeled “103,” and you definitely should not stack three huge, heavy boxes in front of the door labeled “103.”  What if my neighbor couldn’t move the boxes, and, therefore, could not get into his house?

(And you most definitely should not do this on consecutive days.)

I’m thinking about asking my neighbor if I could stick a sign on his door with a huge arrow on it and the words “ONE ZERO TWO is over there!”

- As soon as I found out that Foreigner was headlining the August 2nd edition of this year’s Alhambra Summer Jubilee, I circled this date on my calendar.  That was several months ago.

We swung by Victory Restaurant for lunner—a late lunch/early dinner—and had the grilled garlic with chicken.  In other words, it was a grilled piece of chicken with a crapola of chopped fried garlic on top.  Good stuff, though it was a shame that we couldn’t get there in time for the lunch specials.

We got to the Jubilee at around 5PM, and apparently they now require you to get wristbands before you could sit in the bleachers.  These wristbands had section, row, and seat #s on them; I don’t recall getting assigned seating at last year’s Jubilee.  After we got our wristbands, we strolled onto Main Street where we listened to this “band” butcher GnR’s “Sweet Child of Mine” for 30 seconds, or 29 seconds too long.

After that horrific experience, we went east of Garfield to a drink shop (I forget the name), where I had a Green Apple Green Tea.  At least, that’s what they said the drink was; it tasted like slightly watered-down Apple Pucker.  It was ridiculously sweet!  I felt like I was eating one of those green apple lollipops.

From 6-7 and 7:30-8:30, we were entertained by 80z All Stars.  They weren’t terrible, but I couldn’t really get into the music, as I was anxiously awaiting for Foreigner.  Finally, at around 8:45 (fifteen minutes later than scheduled), Foreigner finally came on stage, starting off the night with Double Vision.

When the second song came around—I believe it was Head Games—some guy who sat directly to our left returned to his seat, and proceeded to royally piss me off.  He got to his seat, but instead of sitting down, he started singing and gesturing to the band!

Picture this:  Head (gesture) games (gesture)…It’s you (gesture) and me (gesture) baby (gesture)…Head (gesture) games (gesture)…and I can’t (gesture) take it (gesture) anymore (gesture)…

(EDIT:  After a bit of deliberation, this douchebag’s act reminded me of this.  Go to 1:07 in the video, and focus on the guy in green.  Note the gestures, and then realize that the douchebag sitting next to us gestured at Foreigner

Not much later, the guy left again, and thank goodness that he never returned.

As for the rest of the concert (Note:  I’m recapping this off the top of my head; if I made a mistake somewhere, please let me know):

1) The first half of Waiting For a Girl Like You, sans strings, was incredible, as well as their new “remix” of Say You Will.  I especially loved the latter.

2) Urgent got the biggest screams of the night…at least by the individuals near me (and my ears have yet to recover from all that screaming).  Jukebox Hero was S T R E T C H E D out to nearly fifteen minutes, mostly of crowd interaction, and they could have ended the show right there without anyone being disappointed.

Fortunately…

3) After Long, Long Way From Home (a song I’ve heard once or twice before), Foreigner played an amazing rendition of I Want to Know What Love Is, and they could have ended the show after that song.

4) Then again, what better way to end a concert on what started as a hot summer evening than with Hot Blooded?  Right?

Awesome concert overall, and the fact that it was free doesn’t hurt.  And thank goodness that the Lou Gramm Jr. left us after only a few seconds of torture.

Tags: alhambra summer jubilee, andre ethier, billing issue, delivery guy, double vision, fedex, foreigner, head games, hot blooded, i want to know what love is, joe torre, jukebox hero, long long way from home, manny ramirez, say you will, sprint, urgent, victory restaurant, waiting for a girl like you by Peter
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