My birthday was this weekend, and it fucking rocked. There is nothing better than expecting nothing (bdays have never been a big deal to me), and getting completely blown away by what goes down. Three dinners, presents, and a sweet surprise party thrown by my girlfriend. From what I remember the party was awesome. You nailed it this year Miss General!
*Also love the fresh kicks
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Thoughts on Michael Jackson
I just picked up MJ's new 25th Anniversary Thriller album and I can tell you one thing. Those songs sound just as good as they did 25 years ago. I know I'm only 20 years old and I wasn't even born when that album was released, but they don't make cds like this anymore. Every song is a hit. This cd has some of the most memorable songs in history on it. He has more number one hits on it than most people have in their careers. I can listen to this cd tracks 1-9 straight through without even being tempted to skip a song. MJ will always be the King. New artists can continue to copy him as much as they like, but they will never come close to recreating his career.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Thoughts on the Twins 2008 Season
The Minnesota Twins are the perfect cure for winter time blues. And take a look, their season is here. I would like to give a little preview for your enjoyment.
Primary Concerns:
The first concern lies in centerfield. We need to find some one to replace VicToriia Hunter. As you can probably guess, I wasn't a fan of his. It appears that the Twins have some candidates to fill the job. However, the problem is that none of them are capable of filling Hunter's stats. Carlos Gomez, Denard Span, and Jason Pridie look like good young players with a lot of potential, but I want to win now, so this might blow. And I suppose any of these three can hit popups to short and strike out in the clutch. My vote goes for Gomez, due to his speed and arm strength. Also, since he barely knows english, his sound bites will be hilarious.
The starting rotation is going to be a damn mess since Johan Santana was traded away. Having a lights out stopper every 5 days is a luxury we won't even be close to having. My votes for the rotation goes as follows: 1. Livan Hernandez 2. Scott Baker 3. Francisco Liriano 4. Boof Bonser 5. Anybody who can get it over the plate. Our fifth spot is a mess. Odds are good that the spot will go to Kevin Slowey, with any outside shot of it being Nick Blackburn. Blackburn has some good stuff, but last year he got shelled in September and that is the lasting image in my mind. Glen Perkins is another possibility, but he also spends most of his time watching Metrodome fans throw back homerun balls. It appears as if Slowey is the lesser of 3 evils.
The second base competition can be summed up in 2 words: Not Punto. His good defense is trumped by inability to put wood on the ball. Alexi Casilla is my choice. His speed is reason enough to get him some work in the big leagues.
Key Addition(s)
Delmon Young is the only addition that matters. His bat is going to make this summer pretty sweet. We've always been a team focused on pitching and defense. Screw that. I want offense and Delmon is the guy for the job. With him sandwiched between Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau we have our own version of a murderer's row. We also improved on offense with former Twin killer Craig Monroe and third basemen Mike Lamb. They should provide a little punch where we lacked in the past. With our pitching situation the way it is, our offense is going to need this extra punch. I'm thinking like 5 runs a game if we want to be competitive. It will be entertaining regardless.
Big Prediction
This might be a little bold, but I'm thinking we'll go about...160-2. Kevin Slowey will be responsible for those 2 losses. I'm pretty confident that's how it's going to go.
Primary Concerns:
The first concern lies in centerfield. We need to find some one to replace VicToriia Hunter. As you can probably guess, I wasn't a fan of his. It appears that the Twins have some candidates to fill the job. However, the problem is that none of them are capable of filling Hunter's stats. Carlos Gomez, Denard Span, and Jason Pridie look like good young players with a lot of potential, but I want to win now, so this might blow. And I suppose any of these three can hit popups to short and strike out in the clutch. My vote goes for Gomez, due to his speed and arm strength. Also, since he barely knows english, his sound bites will be hilarious.
The starting rotation is going to be a damn mess since Johan Santana was traded away. Having a lights out stopper every 5 days is a luxury we won't even be close to having. My votes for the rotation goes as follows: 1. Livan Hernandez 2. Scott Baker 3. Francisco Liriano 4. Boof Bonser 5. Anybody who can get it over the plate. Our fifth spot is a mess. Odds are good that the spot will go to Kevin Slowey, with any outside shot of it being Nick Blackburn. Blackburn has some good stuff, but last year he got shelled in September and that is the lasting image in my mind. Glen Perkins is another possibility, but he also spends most of his time watching Metrodome fans throw back homerun balls. It appears as if Slowey is the lesser of 3 evils.
The second base competition can be summed up in 2 words: Not Punto. His good defense is trumped by inability to put wood on the ball. Alexi Casilla is my choice. His speed is reason enough to get him some work in the big leagues.
Key Addition(s)
Delmon Young is the only addition that matters. His bat is going to make this summer pretty sweet. We've always been a team focused on pitching and defense. Screw that. I want offense and Delmon is the guy for the job. With him sandwiched between Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau we have our own version of a murderer's row. We also improved on offense with former Twin killer Craig Monroe and third basemen Mike Lamb. They should provide a little punch where we lacked in the past. With our pitching situation the way it is, our offense is going to need this extra punch. I'm thinking like 5 runs a game if we want to be competitive. It will be entertaining regardless.
Big Prediction
This might be a little bold, but I'm thinking we'll go about...160-2. Kevin Slowey will be responsible for those 2 losses. I'm pretty confident that's how it's going to go.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Thoughts on Sports Cliches and Lingo
With spring break approaching quickly, I began to think about where we are in the school year. This portion of the year is definitely a grind. The time between Christmas and spring break definitely creeps along, but the school year is a game of inches. After spring break is definitely the home stretch of the school year, it's time to show your mental toughness and buckle down on defense. Wait...what? Point being, I'm going to have to take the rest of the school year one day at a time and rely on my teammates to get us into the playoffs. Hold on a second...playoffs? As I thought about how far we've all come this school year I came to another realization: Sports metaphors, cliches, and lingo are everywhere. I can't shake 'em and damnit I don't want to. What would our analysis of everyday occurences consist of without them? I don't want to know. These cliches and sayings are so common that it is much more effective to use them then it is to take the time and actually explain something. For example, if my mother, who I love dearly, screws up her beef stroganoff, I can simply say "Dropped the ball Mom," or, "Below par." These simple words drastically cut down on unnecessary babbling about how "It's ok, just a little bland," or "No...really...it's good." Shake it off Mom, maybe next time. Instances like these are perfect for sports sayings.
There are many other places where sports lingo is acceptable, scratch that, its mandatory. I'm going to pull out the drawing board and give you the x's and o's on situations where sports talk comes into play. Say your friend is desperately attempting to pickup some chick at a bar/club/wherever chicks reside outside of the home, and after the awkward hello and handshake, she turns away...strike 1. In order to break this tension, your friend offers to buy this chick a drink or some celery (what do you buy someone if you aren't around a bar, clearly I've never picked up chicks before). She would then chug down whatever is in front of her, and give the cold shoulder...swing and a miss, strike 2. At this point he might as well throw in the towel, but sports lingo dictates these kinds of things. He has to go in for another try. After desperately looking for any sort of conversation with no progress being made, she turns and starts chatting with another guy. Strike 3, ring him up. This is one of the more depressing examples of sports lingo, but also the funniest.
Overtime you realize that the basic sports sayings just aren't quite as satisfying as they used to be. For example, when someone drops something, you say they "fumbled." When one of your friends finally gets a tug, you say he got to "second base." When someone does a job well, he or she "hit it out of the park," and so on and so forth. Those aren't getting the job done for me anymore. I needed variety. I needed to spice things up. I needed a deadline deal in order to beef up my roster (vocabulary in this case) for the stretch run (meaning the remainder of my life). What I decided on is to start making up my own. Whenever somebody falls, whether it is from a punch, slip, trip, narcolepsy, or anything, I just start screaming at them, "DOWN GOES FRASIER, DOWN GOES FRASIER," and stand over them in a Muhammad Ali pose. In cases where something so unexpected happens, something that makes you really get out of your seat surprised, it requires one to yell "THE BAND IS OUT ON THE FIELD!!!," or in super extreme cases in which something good happens, "Do you believe in miracles? YES!!!" These sayings never seem to fail me, however, given the fact that these aren't the basic cliches, I've gotten some strange looks. Hopefully these sayings catch on like the mobile quarterback (which is totally a fad, but I'd love to be responsible for a fad).
My last note on this topic for now is this: Dick Vitale is the king of cliches and sports lingo, he always has been, and he always will be. No question about it. Anybody who inserts Dickie V quotes into their conversation is definitely a friend of mine. I don't want to live in a world without Dick Vitale.
There are many other places where sports lingo is acceptable, scratch that, its mandatory. I'm going to pull out the drawing board and give you the x's and o's on situations where sports talk comes into play. Say your friend is desperately attempting to pickup some chick at a bar/club/wherever chicks reside outside of the home, and after the awkward hello and handshake, she turns away...strike 1. In order to break this tension, your friend offers to buy this chick a drink or some celery (what do you buy someone if you aren't around a bar, clearly I've never picked up chicks before). She would then chug down whatever is in front of her, and give the cold shoulder...swing and a miss, strike 2. At this point he might as well throw in the towel, but sports lingo dictates these kinds of things. He has to go in for another try. After desperately looking for any sort of conversation with no progress being made, she turns and starts chatting with another guy. Strike 3, ring him up. This is one of the more depressing examples of sports lingo, but also the funniest.
Overtime you realize that the basic sports sayings just aren't quite as satisfying as they used to be. For example, when someone drops something, you say they "fumbled." When one of your friends finally gets a tug, you say he got to "second base." When someone does a job well, he or she "hit it out of the park," and so on and so forth. Those aren't getting the job done for me anymore. I needed variety. I needed to spice things up. I needed a deadline deal in order to beef up my roster (vocabulary in this case) for the stretch run (meaning the remainder of my life). What I decided on is to start making up my own. Whenever somebody falls, whether it is from a punch, slip, trip, narcolepsy, or anything, I just start screaming at them, "DOWN GOES FRASIER, DOWN GOES FRASIER," and stand over them in a Muhammad Ali pose. In cases where something so unexpected happens, something that makes you really get out of your seat surprised, it requires one to yell "THE BAND IS OUT ON THE FIELD!!!," or in super extreme cases in which something good happens, "Do you believe in miracles? YES!!!" These sayings never seem to fail me, however, given the fact that these aren't the basic cliches, I've gotten some strange looks. Hopefully these sayings catch on like the mobile quarterback (which is totally a fad, but I'd love to be responsible for a fad).
My last note on this topic for now is this: Dick Vitale is the king of cliches and sports lingo, he always has been, and he always will be. No question about it. Anybody who inserts Dickie V quotes into their conversation is definitely a friend of mine. I don't want to live in a world without Dick Vitale.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Thoughts on NASCAR
Make cars convertibles...Advertise advertising space...No safety netting... Parallel parking portion of each race...For god's sake somebody turn right
Thoughts on the last school week
I feel there was some collusion between my professors and instructors this week. Throughout the entire semester the only work has been reading assignments and class participation. However, I believe it was decided to screw me over last week. Essays due in all 4 classes, to go along with the rest of my usual work load. Son of a bitch. Hands down the worst week of the semester. Seriously, why? For an encore this week, midterms!!!
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