UngsungBlog: A (Fantasy) Sports Blog

L O N G blog entry today.  I’ll split it into two, with my Office review in part two.

Random thoughts (an HGH-enhanced version of quick hitters):

- A pair of UngsungBlog PSAs, just for my loyal readers (all none of you):

1) Something you should not yell when your bedroom window is wide open: “Why are my pants still on?”

(Hey! I happen to enjoy sleeping in my boxers. Sue me!)

2) When smelling the scent of a candle, it would be a good idea to keep your face, especially your eyes, away from the flame. In fact, the “wafting” technique you might have learned back in high school comes in really handy here.

(I still can’t see straight :P)

- For the love of everything that is right, please stop with the “Oh, MO-JA-VEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE” Windows Vista commercials!

I’d do anything for a Wal-Mart commercial right about now.

(”That’s why I go to Wal-Mart.” HILARIOUS!

…..)

- Shot-Online thoughts:

1) These new items are ridiculously misleading. If an item gives you an “additional 1.5x EXP,” doesn’t that suggest that you should get 2.5x the normal EXP (normal EXP + 1.5x more = 2.5x)? Also, if something “enhances” a Mageia, doesn’t that suggest that the item can be used in concert with a Mageia? Alas, neither is the case, which leads me to…

2) Auction House shoppers: if a 250-durability item that gives you 2xEXP (the regular Mageia) costs 10-12 million NG in the Auction House, why the heck would you people pay 12-15 million NG for a 250-durability item that only gives you an “additional 1.5x EXP” (as defined above)???

(Then again, these AH patrons are the same people that aren’t willing to pay 100,000NG for an 18-durability Mag (~6,000NG/hole), but would happily pay 12.5 million NG for a 250-durability Mag (50,000NG/hole)).

- A while back, my sister and I switched from plain old white rice to brown rice. The transition was kinda rough at first—do you blame me?—but ever since I perfected the recipe of brown rice for my rice cooker (a 3:5 rice:water ratio), I’ve been able to eat the stuff just fine.

However, while browsing through the manual of my rice cooker—yes, I do read manuals on occasion—I found out that my rice cooker has a brown rice setting! I am so excited over the discovery that I might go cook a pot of rice now, using the “new” setting, just for kicks!

Yes, tiny, stupid stuff like this amuses me.

- Jets/Pats thoughts: since I’m not a subscriber to NFL Network, I followed the game as best as I could through Yahoo! Sports.

This pains me to admit it, but Favre was absolutely huge in OT, completing an enormous third and 15 pass to TE Dustin Keller. As soon as I saw that completion, I was almost certain that Favre was going to lead the Jets down the field, and that’s exactly what they did.

What I couldn’t believe was the fact that the Pats were down 24-6 in the first place. At least Pats fans can take solace in the fact that Matt Cassel’s numbers—30-51, 400yds, 3 TDs—were awesome. Then again, I don’t know if the Pats want Cassel to have to win games, just like how the Titans love it when Kerry Collins doesn’t have to win games.

The AFC East-leading New York Jets…gag me, please.

- The following is yet another UngsungBlog PSA, yet it’s one that is important enough to get its own section:

ESPN’S TMQ believes in the football gods; I believe in the food gods. At least, I do now, after a hair-raising incident last night. My sister and I went out to grab some ice cream and food. We ended up buying store-brand ice cream, and I opted for some McDonalds food.

(Yeah, I know, but their Angus Chipotle BBQ Burger isn’t half bad!)

Anyway, when we got home, I walked into the kitchen to put the ice cream away. That’s when I felt a harsh scratch on my back, followed less than a second later by something crashing to the floor behind me! I quickly turned around, and realized that the plastic cover of my kitchen light fell, and one of the corners scratched my back on its way to the floor! Thank goodness the cover was plastic and not glass!

I’m still trying to pick up small fragments of the cover today.

Food gods, next time, we’ll buy Dreyers and go to Carl’s Jr, I swear!

Tags: auction house, mageia, mojave, shot-online, ungsungblog psa, windows vista by Peter
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Quick-hitters:

- Boy was it COLD today.  Cold, chilly, windy…can I have summer back?

Oh well…cold weather means I can go have pho again!  Yum!

(And yes, I did have some today.  Gosh I missed that stuff.)

- A new toy arrived at my doorstep a few days ago, delivered by USPS (more on that later):  an LG Shine!

Too bad it was for my sister.

Nevertheless, I ripped open the box, popped the battery into the phone, popped the backplate onto the phone, and then immediately plugged it in.  I hit the power button, and it immediately asked me for a SIM card.

Nooooooooooooo!  A new toy, and I can’t even play with it???

Then I remembered…I used to have an AT&T Prepaid plan.  Would the SIM card work?  I rushed to my desk, dug through my desk drawers, and somehow found the little SIM card buried between some manuals.

I rushed back to the phone, stuck in the SIM card, and it worked!

I played with the phone for about ten seconds, before putting it away :P.

- Current rebate-o-meter:  ~$1300.

With the fall season comes new TV shows, the MLB Playoffs, NFL football (of course!), and the NBA regular season on the horizon.  For me, I like to add “2009 Rebate Deals!” to that list!

Yeah, I’m a rebate degenerate, as well as a gambling degenerate, and a fantasy sports degenerate.

- My USPS carrier has NEVER left a package on my door.

(I’d argue that she never actually knocks, but who knows?)

The package could have been torn apart to reveal a t-shirt inside, and she still wouldn’t have left the package in front of my door.

So you could imagine how absolutely shocked I was to see a USPS Priority Mail box sitting on my front door, containing my sister’s cell phone!!!

(clears throat)

YOU WON’T LEAVE ANY OF MY PACKAGES ON MY FRONT DOOR, EVEN IF I FILL OUT THAT STUPID POSTCARD PERMITTING THIS, BUT YOU DECIDED THAT THIS ONE PACKAGE WAS WORTH LEAVING ON MY DOORSTEP??????????????????????????

(I need a throat lozenge.)

- To my loyal readers (all none of you), I present an UngsungBlog PSA.

If you have attempted to order from Frys.com lately, you might have run into a situation where adding an item to your cart leads you to a webpage asking you to enable cookies.

If you run into that problem, there’s an easy workaround:

1. Copy the seven-digit Frys.com item number.
2. Enter the item number into the search field.
3. When the item shows up, click on the “Buy” button, and the item should show up in your cart.

Hope that helps.

- (Yeah, I should have posted this yesterday.  Shoot me.)

Andre Ethier at first, none out, and the Dodgers played hit and run.  James Loney hit a grounder to short, and oops!  SS Ryan Theriot, running to cover second base, overran the grounder, and stuck his hand out to try to barehand the ball.  It glanced off his hand, trickled into left field, and all of a sudden, it was first and third with none out.

You could just feel Cubs fans fearing the worst.  Even after Matt Kemp struck out looking, you could hear the nervousness in the crowd’s response.  Once Blake Dewitt hit that grounder directly to 2B Mark DeRosa, though, you could almost hear the crowd breathe a heavy sigh of relief.  4-6-3, inning over, right?

Whoops!  DeRosa kicked the ball, and then tried a desperate flip to Theriot.  Loney beat the throw, Ethier scored, and you just had the feeling the the Cubs were in deep trouble (and members of the crowd were probably calling their therapists).  But then, Casey Blake hit a hard grounder to 1B Derrek Lee, and the Cubs had ANOTHER chance to get out of the inning!

So close!  Derrek Lee booted it, everyone was safe, and now the Dodgers had the bases loaded with only one out.  At this point, you almost felt sorry for Cubs fans.  But wait!  Chad Billinsgley was up, and down he goes on strikes!  Two outs now, and Carlos Zambrano only had to get Rafael Furcal out to escape the inning!

Of course, Furcal ends up burning the Cubs by laying down a perfect drag bunt—it would have been terrible, except for the fact that Mark DeRosa was playing on the outfield grass!—and all of a sudden, it was 2-0 Dodgers, and Zambrano had to face Russell Martin.  The rest was history; Martin lined a double into the left-field gap, and the rout was on.  The crowd was ABSOLUTELY DEAD by that point.

I could spend some time explaining how the Cubs aren’t close to being done in this series—Harden could quickly shut down the Dodgers’ roster, and so could Lilly, and then the Dodgers would have to win a Game Five at Chicago, possibly facing Zambrano!—but I’m not going to waste my time.  It seems that Cubs fans are so certain that their team is cursed that Peter Gammons couldn’t convince Cubs fans otherwise, much less a stupid blogger.

One parting topic about this series:  can people stop arguing that the Cubs are choking this series away more than the Dodgers are winning it?  Sure, Ryan Dempster was crazy wild in Game One, but Loney still had to hit a 1-2 pitch into the center field seats, right?  Sure, the Cubs’ infield defense looked like they were using frying pans as gloves, but the Dodgers still had to make contact with Zambrano’s pitching, right?

Sorry, Cubs faithful, but the Dodgers are winning this series 2-0.  However, THEY HAVE NOT YET WON!

(Never mind.)

Other Division Series-related thoughts:

- How are all four DSes 2-0?

- How did Brett Myers (????) draw two walks against C.C. Sabathia?

- How are the Rays doing it?

- How are the Angels not?

One parting thought about the Angels:  as an Angels “hater,” I was mildly amused with watching K-Rod give up the game winning bomb in the Los Angeles Angels nowhere in Los Angeles’ loss to Boston tonight.

Then I realized who hit the game winner.

Damn that unnamed right fielder.

Until next time!

Tags: chicago cubs, cold weather, comedy of errors, cookies, frys.com, lg shine, los angeles dodgers, rebate-o-meter, ungsungblog psa, usps by Peter
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