The Holtonian

Halloween Memories

Its our first Halloween with a child, pretty exciting. Our little AK has a costume picked out, I'll post pictures tonight, and leave it as a surprise as to what she is, though I believe I told everyone and probably blogged about it earlier. Nevertheless its going to be a lot of fun.

We're going to our friends down the street, they have a better neighborhood than we do, we have a fine neighborhood just not for trick or treating.

I remember Halloween so fondly. I remember my favorite costume was always the BLACK NINJA! My mom would always fret when I picked the BLACK NINJA because wearing all black at night isn't always the safest thing. If you've seen that old Dan Ackroid skit on SNL when he's justifying his unsafe halloween costumes, "Invisible Boy" which was just a black body suit, that was pretty much me. Mom always tried to get me to tape reflective strips onto the arms, legs, and back, but I properly informed her that BLACK NINJAS do not wear reflective tape. So we ended up making a compromise, I got to carry the GLOWING SWORD OF THE BLACK NINJA! Which was pretty much a light up sword. It was killer! Now my mom and dad were always with me, or some other adult when I was dressed up as THE BLACK NINJA! So don't worry I wasn't running around on the highway dressed up as the BLACK NINJA!
Other costumes I recall, a pirate, skeleton was a popular one, HEMAN one year, myself another year--never picked a costume out. One of my more popular costumes was GORBACHEV! I got a Gorbi mask that was really life like and very rubbery. I wore it with a business suit for about three houses then got so sweaty I took the mask off and just said I was a business man. But the Gorbi mask was awesome.

During College I went to a costume party with wifey as Mario and Luigi, I was Luigi. I didn't have a pair of overalls though so I had to borrow one of her housemates and basically couldn't breath all night. We had a halloween party a few years ago and went as Mr. and Mrs Pirate, that was fun, though wifey unfortunately bought me a samurai sword instead of a pirate sword and it sort of just killed the whole motif, the sword after all is very important.

So should be fun tonight.

Movie night: Xmen 3

So the wife and I finally got a movie for ourselves, can't remember the last time we watched a movie. We rented Xmen 3 and it was ok, I can see why people were disappointed.

Don't read if you don't want to know what happens....

I must say that the story was a bit of a let down. For starters killing Cyclops was lame as he is the leader of the Xmen and they sort in every movie down played his leadership and in this one killed him off.

Also I never really liked what they did with Rogue. In the comics she was this amazing force that could steal your powers but had some good ones of her own, flying and pretty strong as I recall.

The thing with Xmen is its a picture of race relations and how we view ourselves. It doesn't have to even be race, it could be class or culture warfare as well. And basically the "cure" to me gives mutants a cop out and allows you to change who you are, which to me is not what the comic book goes for. Its not a matter of choosing to be a mutant or a human its a matter of what are you going to do with your powers, seek peace and healing or domination. Rogue shouldn't have the choice to be a mutant or not, its who she is and the story of Xmen is the struggle to reconcile that in a world hostile to mutants.

SO that's one part I didn't like.

Another part that was annoying was the story didn't go the way the comic books go. Basically in the comics the humans are more fearful of the mutants and basically the world is embroiled in war and chaos, the giant robots attacking the mutants, humans fear the mutants and you have Magneto working to crush the humans, and xavier and his crew trying to heal the rift between mutants and humans with humans fearing and hating them. So,

Plus Xmen is a story, like most comic books, that doesn't end, so trying to put an ending point that brings conclusion and closure seems off to me.

But the part that annoyed me most, well not really, was Colossus... he is supposed to be Russian! He's my favorite character so to see him screwed up was annoying. Also Gambit never made an appearance though I was never a huge fan of his.

The next movie on our docket is the Sentinel with Keifer, Michael Douglas, looks pretty good. We also got a rain check for the break up so I'll hope to pick that up tomorrow or so. It really pays to find the movie they don't have in stock that's guaranteed in stock to get a free rental. "Yeah you guys are out of Leperchaun 7... I really want that one..." The trick is they always keep a spare behind the desk just in case, but the lady in front of us got it so we knew they were out. BOOOM, workin the system.

Lets Repeat Cardinals!

Look at Anna-Kate's reaction to the Cards winning the WS...

Now the fun part begins, the off season, oddly enough the stove is my favorite part of baseball. It kind of reminds me when i used to play with toys growing up, my favorite part was setting up this epic battle between GI Joe and Cobra, or the Ninja Turtles and the Foot clan, or the Lego cops and the towns folk, or the Union army soldiers vs my gerble. But I loved setting up the battle, or the situation, but then I just wanted to leave it alone, I liked the setup but didn't really want to "play out" the rest. Same way with the stove, I like seeing how the teams line up, who goes after who and all the bargaining and positioning. OK, let me rephrase, the WS was the best part, but now I'm interested to see in what direction the cards go.

Because, frankly they have a bit of a interesting situation. Suppan, Weaver??, Mulder, Marquis, Edmonds, what do they do with these guys. I'm hoping in some ways Edmonds gets healthy in the off season and the cards do right and give him a contract that will allow him to retire a red bird. Suppan has a few good years left in him and was great down the stretch and frankly is always a good double digit win pitcher. Mulder... if he'll take a deal like Morris did a few years ago and stay for less money and work on rehabing himself then that'd be great. The thing is people know his potential and the fact that he's a lefty might give him the chance to go some where else and make more even though he probably won't start the season. Marquis, I think the cards are done, the post season sort of seemed to seal his fate. He's too unpredictable and the two best pitching coaches in the MLB couldn't do anything with him so he's gotta go and probably will. I'm not sure what kind of deal weaver has, if he's on contract or how many years are left, but he actually is the highest paid pitcher on the cardinals, which is kind of funny.

But man, the starting 5 could be pretty impressive next year, Carp, Weaver, Sup (hopefully), Reyes, and Wainright/maybe Mulder. That'd be pretty cool. The outfield needs work, and I'd let Belliard go, he makes too much for too little.

I want Soriano, we need a second basemen and a power hitter, he wants to play second, match made in heaven. Plus he's fast, that'd work perfect for Larussa's small ball action. Or an outfielder who can hit for power. I'd say Shefield but he's a punk and obnoxious. Andruw Jones is on the table but the price is too high. Frankly the cards need to sign a few free agents to long term deals, like they did with Rolen and Ecstein, guys they know will be good for a while and that we'll have to pay for but will be worth it, like those two have been.

But I think this person will be the next Cardinal outfielder....

I'm not thinking a repeat, no team has done that in quite sometime, but hey they won my WS and so now I can be content with just a competitve team year in year out. Granted a few more WS would be nice.

2006 A Year of Victory... Go Cards

So I fell asleep last night... what happened? Just joking I watched every minuto of that beautiful game... well it was ugly but Weaver was fantastic.

Such a great series, for the cardinals. Sure it would have been good if the Cardinals just dominated on all sides of the game, but I feel like their pitching was great, fielding besides Duncan was good, and their hitting was somewhat to be expected. The Tigers just did them a few favors that we'll have to send them some fruit baskets in the offseason.

The whole game, actually the past few games, I've been fretting Duncan in the outfield, the guy is flat footed! He can't run, he looks like an oaf and his chaw makes him look like he's drooling motor oil. Sure enough he blew it twice, but thankfully, thankfully, so did Detroit.

Like I said earlier, Detroit was the cardinals of 2004, they were a deer in the headlights. Granted the Cardinals in 2004 were just outplayed and didn't have their ace. Detroit this WS played ok, but frankly it was their lack of fundamentals, lack of pitching experience, and their hitting was off. The fundamentals they have no excuse for, they make it this far, routine grounders and pick offs should be cake. Same goes for Duncan, routine popups man, you've been doing that since you were 5.

The pitching was just so young for Detroit:
Bonderman 24, Verlander 23, Zumaya 22, Robertson was older but still only 29 with little post season experience. The only one with lots of experience was the cheater, gambler, mucker baller, Rogers. Their pitching should improve, Verlander has good stuff just needs to buckledown. So if Leyland continues to run that ship well they'll be back with the same stuff, and now that they've tasted the WS they'll want to get the whole thing, like the cardinals of 2004.

That's the thing, there was so much desire on the cardinals part, Edmonds, Rolen, Eckstein, Pujols, Carp, Sup, Weaver... i mean these guys wanted this bad. Especially the big three of Pujols, Rolen and Edmonds. It was disappointing Pujols didn't play better, but he's got a lot of pressure on him to hit homeruns everytime.

Weaver, I told you people, he has good stuff, he just needs a good catcher and a good pitching coach to keep him in line.

So it was a great series, amazing, still hasn't sunk in. I'm disappointed I couldn't see a game this year, but that's ok, the baby will maybe get to go with me next year. Go see the bravos take on the WORLD CHAMPIONS!!!

This is not the worst world series ever.... a long rant

Worst world series ever? Definitely not for a St. Louis fan, and if the tigers come back they'll say it was the best ever as well. This whole, "Ooooh, the ratings are so bad, we need better ratings, why is it so bad? It must be because the teams are bad..."

No!!!! Look you can't have the redsox, mets, yanks, or dodgers in every WS. I'd include the cubs in that list... but please. In sports occasionally a city that's not so big or a team that's not so dominate or flashy, wins. Look at the Spurs, the NBA can't stand when the Spurs are in the finals because they're a small market team, but hey they're good and good at the fundamentals and that's why they get there. They're also one of the best teams in the past 10 years and have some of the best fans... Like my red birds.

Secondly, the record of the cardinals is not indicative of their, "goodness." In reality they'd be the second best team in the NL if not for injuries all year. Izzy, Mulder, Edmonds, Rolen, Eckstein, Pujols, Molina, all of these guys went down sometime this year. Plus they didn't have a solid number 4 pitcher. Started off with Ponson, he stunk, went to Reyes, he was inconsistent, then finally stuck with Weaver. So it was a team that struggled with injuries all year but in the end its pretty much the same team from last year, a 100 win team, minus Gruz and Sanders.

Thirdly, this is a team that has realized its not the regular season that matters, its the post season. That's why Larussa rested Carpenter at the end of the season, and trusted his team to get them into the playoffs. He knew he had to have Carp ready for the post season and that the rest of the team could take care of the rest.

So, therefore I've proven that this is not the worst team to make it to the WS, record wise yes, but talent wise no.

So why are the ratings so bad, should we penalize teams from small markets? Or let NY teams have automatically make it to the second round of the playoffs? Listening to Mike and Mike this morning they were talking as if the team with the better record should have even more homefield advantage... The better team should be able to win regardless of where they're playing so that's stupid.

The ratings are bad in my mind because of what baseball has done to itself. Steroids, dirty balls, and high priced players. They did a survey (yes 'they' did, I'm not sure who 'they' is but 'they' did it) and people's number one complaint about baseball was the high priced players, second was high priced tickets something Kyle alluded to, third was steroids, and fourth was something lame.

All these reasons for people not liking baseball have some validity to them. I think steroids and the cheating aspect has hurt baseball the most, people just don't trust it that much anymore. When a pitcher in the WS gets away with cheating and the umps don't do a thing then its hard to take the game seriously.

As far as the money goes, unless the MLB does what the NFL does then salaries aren't going to change. (And I don't think the cap has really kept NFL salaries down all that much) But in the end people shouldn't care what they make, because frankly sometimes the best player is the rookie who's making 200k and proving himself. The high priced players aren't always the best... see Arod's postseason stats. Also I think the NFL's system is weak as frankly I like the capitalism baseball has. If the Yanks, Mets, and Red Sox want to try and buy WS go ahead, its proven it doesn't work. The NFL's parity is kind of lame because there is no way a team can hold together for more than a few years. The patriots did it, but frankly I don't think any team will do it like they did for quite sometime. The Steelers definitely aren't going to be back.

Ticket prices are high, but its capitalism. Its disappointing to see the trend in stadiums being smaller so that more can be charged for ticket prices, but what the market will pay is what the tickets should cost. Plus that is the fun of going to the Lookouts game for 5 bucks, you see baseball at a price you can afford. People always talk about down here seeing Adam Dunn nail homers out of Bellsouth Park. Take Josh Kinney, I'm sure St. Louis fans recall with fondness him playing for the River City Mud cats or dogs or whatever. I think its great to see these minor and independent leagues doing so well. The games are fun to go to and cheap.

So that's a bit of a rant, but I'm tired of all this Worst WS ever crap. The past two ones were pretty boring for me, sweeps aren't that fun to watch. These games have been great, close and so much strategy on the NL games that its been fun to watch the head games between Leyland and Larussa.

Go Cards

An Ugly Win is still a win--Go Cards!

Could you feel my nervousness? I was an unhappy fellow for most of the night. Suppan wasn't making his pitches and missed Molina's glove a lot. Pujols made a few bad moves at the plate that really made me want to hit the big lug. But even though it was an ugly game, it was a win.

Now its all down to my boy weaver. I'm a believer Weaver, bring it home. Verlander didn't show much to the cards in game 1 so hopefully the cards can jump all over him again.

What would've happened had Kenny been tossed out of game two? Would we have had a sweep? Interesting to think about.

Tonights game though was really about weird luck and bad miscues on the Tigers. Granderson's trip up in the outfield can't be really blamed on him, the outfield was probably rough to play in. Then the left fielder's missed catch was one of those luck/fate moments. Two inches was all he needed but couldn't get it fully extended. And Rodney's error was just pretty bad, up there with Zumaya's the other night.

If I'm Larussa I do everything in my power to keep this thing from getting to Detroit. Game 5 might be cancelled tomorrow so that will help I think the cardinals. But start weaver and then if he gets into trouble or isn't making the pitches put in Reyes to see if he can over power the tigers. The cards are such a finesse style of pitching with weaver, carp, and suppan that Reyes is a good change of pace because he can get the ball up in the mid 90s more.

Man Weaver has a shot at redemption... dropped by the angels and he has a chance to put away the WS. That would be a story. Actually Suppan and Weaver are showing to the world what they're worth come this off season. I think Sup's punched his ticket for a contract for next year, weaver possibly too unless he wants to go try open waters again.

I was glad to see Chris Duncan get replaced by Taguchi, Duncan's fielding was making me way to nervous. He looks like a big lunk head out there and frankly his hitting is pretty bad. He stand way too back away from the plate so anything on the outside corner he has no shot of because of his stance and his height, he's easy pickins for any pitcher who can put it in the corner away.

Also one more note, Cards fans... please show more intensity at the game, you guys look like statues and like your'e bored at the game. St. Louis fans have really let me down, get on your feet stand the entire game, this is the freaking world series and to see you sitting on your hands is pathetic.

man, tomorrow is huge. So nervous. I'm on pins and needles. I can't sleep tonight. What makes me nervous is 85 world series, 87 world series, and more in my life time 96 NLCS.... Intense. Go Cards, I believe, you can do it.

Pine Tar article

Here's a pretty interesting article about pine tar from a pitching coach.

Great World Series so far

So if you listen to ESPN or anyone out of New York (Which everyone in New York is lame so I don't know why you would listen to anyone there) this has been the worst world series ever. Two teams from the Midwest... Two teams from small markets, whatever are we to do? St. Louis is apparently not even supposed to be there according to most sports writers... Funny if they weren't supposed to be there, then wouldn't they not be there?

So many people wanted a subway series... So many people in New York and the media. But the most boring series for me was the subway series in 2000.

If ESPN and the north east had their way every post season would have Yanks and Boston in the ALCS and probably the Mets or Dodgers in the NLCS. But thank goodness baseball is decided on the field and not by the sports writers.

Last nights game was a great game. True, Zumaya really did his team in but the cardinals had a 2-0 lead at the time and the way they were pitching it probably didn't matter. I was watching Zumaya pitch and sure he can throw 103, but he can't throw it near home. I thought his best pitch was the change that completely fooled Taguchi.

I really think the cardinals are playing with a lot of confidence right now. The confidence started when they realized they could take the Mets out, and then winning game 1 with Reyes they realized an AL team is beatable. Even in Game 2 they had a chance to win it and I think they know that. I mean they let Looper close out the game last night, that's ballsy. Larrussa is changing the lineup a bit, playing some numbers, but for the most part he's having confidence in his guys and they're hanging in there and shaking off slumps and getting a few runs every night.

Watching the Tigers I'm reminded of the Cardinals in 2004, sort of shocked in a way. I think the cards in 2004 were just so happy to get into the WS that they weren't ready to play, I think Detroit is ready to play but they almost look like a deer in the headlights.

The cardinals realized I think last year that the regular season is only so important. Really you have to play good enough to get into the playoffs and then the playoffs is when the real season starts. Whats funny is people wrote this team off, me included, but its really the same core of guys from 2004. Edmonds, Rolen, Pujols, Suppan. I mean the bullpen is completely new, especially with Izzy down as well as 2nd and short, but in some ways eck is better than renteria. I just wonder what would happen if we had Mulder too, I mean the cardinals don't have a left handed starter, which is kind of crazy. Its also crazy that the cardinals have had to exercise their demons by facing Detroit's two big Lefties consider they are terrible against lefties

There is still a lot of baseball to play though. Tonight's game, if it doesn't get rained out, is probably the most important one. Suppan needs to be on like he was in the NLCS and the cards need to not pass opportunities that they have in the past few games. You get a guy on third with no or one out you get him home. So we'll see, I'm hoping it doesn't get rained out.

Rogers Cheated... but who hasn't in baseball

So it was obvious Rogers was cheating last night, prior to the 3rd inning. That was obviously pine tar. I noticed it before Fox noticed it though. I was watching him pitch and noticed he was really rubbing the ball in an odd way, and thought to myself, "Why is rubbing the ball so much..." Well then Joe Buck got the shot of his hand up and the rest was history. And its obviously pine tar, because dirt and chocolate cake is a joke, Todd Jones said it might be chocolate cake.

And photos from the ALCS show the Gambler with tar on his palm as well. So that explains how he's gotten his demons off his back. And even if you 'wash' it off the residue can still be on there, you'd pretty much need goo be gone to get it off. Which would then make your hands slipperly and you'd throw a good spit ball.

So he cheated, doesn't matter all that much, the cards got pitches to hit and didn't. Rolen did he's been amazing, like a pheonix rising out of arizona, he's proving his worth despite his fielding woes.

The reason Larussa didn't make a stink about Rogers? Two reasons, Leyland and Taveraz. He's probably cutting his buddy a break to be honest. The Larussa of last year would have had a heart attack if garner had tried this. The second reason is Taveraz did it in 2003, people wondered what was on his cap and why he grabbed the bill of his cap before every pitch... he was a sticky ball pitcher. And as soon as his trick was figured out, or at least as soon as someone finally complained he threw his hat into the stands at busch (to hide the evidence) and has since been an awful pitcher. So Larussa knowing his sinful past probably didn't want to punish his friend for something he allowed himself.

All in all its sad, but in a lot of ways a part of the game. Roids, growth hormones, sticky balls, scuffing, and spit balls have been part of the game since its beginning... well not the roids and hormones that's a new addition. I was impressed how the cards almost pulled it out in the 9th, granted i had fallen asleep by then. I just hope the cards ride the wave of home crowd and come back and win three in a row.

What a game

Man, what a game. It started off a little painful and I was worrying a ton over Reyes, I mean rookies are worriesome. But man the Cards seemed to know what to do.

Though the tigers lost game one to the Yanks then never looked back so who knows what can happen.

In a lot of ways I'm just glad A. they made this far. B. they played well C. they ended the sweeping of the NL teams.

Hopefully Weaver will still be awesome like he has been, ARE YOU A WEAVER BELIEVER? And maybe Kenny Rogers will eat some chicken and punch someone out before the game.

Man, I'm so nervous.

AK Update

So the past few weeks have been a bit of a blur. I've been pretty busy at work, two weeks ago the baby and wife were sick with a head cold. I was fine, so I did my best to pitch in. Then this past sunday I got sick. Still super busy at work I had to take a half day on Monday because my quality at work was next to zero. Then took tuesday off as well but was feeling better. Then went back to work and busted it all the rest of the week. Funny thing was I would get to work and feel kind of lite headed and out of it. I'm better now but now I got a nagging cough and still get sinus head aches from time to time. So with all this chaos in the house the past few weeks we just haven't had much time to just relax.

AK also had been waking up a ton at night and it was driving us bonkers. After a few different failed attempts at finding out the problem, we think we stumbled on it last night. We fed her cereal right before bed time and that helped her get through the night. She had just been hungry. That's where some times the Babywise scheduled feedings can let you down, sometimes the kid's hungry when in theory they shouldn't be. The Demand feeders can remedy that by always having a kid on the boob, but that's not our style.

Wifey also tried to introduce a banana to the wee one's diet... wifey and I are both big banana folks. I'm a super picky fruit eater and the yellow banana is one that I allow into my diet. AK must be pickier than me because she was just not a fan. We also gave her a taste of avacado (we made quacamole last night) but I don't think she knew what to do with it. Avacado has practically no flavor for the most part.

So we just sort of had a casual night last night, got in bed at 9:30... yeah that's right 9:30... we're not losers dangit! I was so tired I was falling asleep playing gameboy, so I was glad to get in bed. We stayed up till 10;30 watching tv but wifey felt embarrased.... her response, "Holton you've brought me down..."
To which I replied, "Embrace the 9:30 bed time...."

I'm a loser, I know it, and I'm proud of it. Sure I'd like to go out to a party once and a while, sure I'd like to go to a bar and hang out... but that requires spending money and leaving my house... two things I don't like doing.

Today is the first Sunny day we've had in a good long week. I'm going to give the wife a bit of a day off... about 3 hours, that's all I'm qualified for... so she'll get out and I'll teach Anna-Kate the finer points of video games or college football. Other than that, not much planned.

Here's a great picture of little AK dressed for church last week...

and here's a picture of the Holcrabb weekend. That's what Crabb and I call it when we get together. They came up for homecoming a few weeks ago

GO CRAZY FOLKS GO CRAZY!!!

Come on and beat the mets, beat the mets, everybody come on and beat the mets!!!!!

EAT IT NEW YORK!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA. OK, now that gloating aside I definately told the Utes today I thought the mets would win, what can I say i have no faith.

Man Suppan... that guy can win game 7s... granted he didn't win tonight but for all intensive purposes he did.

That chavez rob... dagger in my heart.

Now I said this last time when the cards made it the WS, I'm just happy they got there. But truthfully I wanted them to win.... at least one game. This year I'm even more excited that they just got there, I mean lets face it they were the long shots, they were for all intensive purposes the wild card team of the NL in everyone's minds, mine included.

Now do I think they'll beat the tigers? Not likely, would any NL team... probably not. I just want them to win a game, at least one. That way we can end this sweeping of the NL teams in the WS trend.

I'm just so glad that this win came over the Mets, probably the second most hated baseball team behind the Yanks.

I can't watch another series with Roe though, he was so obnoxious during the Red Sox one... and now that the red sox suck and the tigers are good he'll be just as equally as annoying.... next year he'll probably find a new team, he's a nomadic baseball fan.

I have no clue how the cardinals can beat the tigers. The only way will be if for some reason Carpenter, Suppan, and Weaver can pitch a few no hitters maybe.

So here we go, another weak of nerve racking late nights. Plus since both teams are midwestern the games will probably all start at 9PM here and thus end at 1PM or so. I sound like an old man.

Oh well, eat it mets. Learn from the yankees mistakes and realize you can't buy the best team. It takes old cantakerous coaches like Leyland and Larussa.

Great, now if (and most likely when) the tigers win does that mean everybody will start wearing tigers hats? Will Mesh start sporting a Tigers hat? Bill Colrus? Will Scott start wearing one? All I know is when the Red Sox won, it was like everyone became a fan... guys i'm kidding... but I never did see you sporting red sox hats before that year.

Though frankly we should sport tigers hats, I mean look what it did for Magnum PI.... what a stud... and wasn't he Mr. Baseball too?

Go Cardinals.

Home Sick or sick at home

Yeah, so I wimped out and went home today. Oddly enough I ended up taking care of Anna-Kate so wifey wouldn't have to go out in the rain with her. I've been drinkin a ton of water too. I might stay home tomorrow as well, though oddly enough I have a dr's appt already set up. I can't recall the last time I went to the dr. and my last dr was a bit of a weirdo.

I set up the appt weeks ago after wifey badgered me (rightfully so) to go see a dr. My wrists had been hurting something fierce, mostly due to a bad keyboard set up at work, I've since fixed it and been more careful not to bend my wrists too much while typing. The pain has subsided mostly so that's good. But i'll still go to the doc. Hopefully I won't have some crazy disease which requires them to cut off a limb or too.

I hear the cards game should be postponed due to rain, which will greatly help the mets this time around. I'm more excited about MNF cards vs bears, should be a great game... for the bears.

I'm a wimp

So some how I got sick this afternoon. I'd been doing a good job of staying healthy for a good year, no real colds to speak of. But something hit me today and its all in my sinus's. AK and wifey had it two weeks ago and maybe I finally just got it, not sure. But I had some serious allergy stuff going on Friday and some yesterday, and during church my eyes were hurting pretty bad. I went for a run this afternoon and got home and it was like instantaneous sick. Now I say this and wifey will make fun of me for being a pansy, which she's right.

I might take a vacation day this week, not sure. I could use one, i've been non stop at work for a good three to four weeks. I'll just have to see how the work piles up.

The Red Birds

Here's my take on the cards, I'm just happy they've made it this far. Frankly with the way they played this year I'm just pleasantly surprised that San Diego didn't sweep them. Now that being said, this year they have vastly underachieved, so it feels like now they're playing the way they should have. Granted tonight they're losing, but hey they've been in every game they've played.

I worry a lot about Reyes who is supposed to be a starter next year, he sure hasn't looked like one. Iv'e said it before and I'll say it again, Make Wainright the starter, that kid seems to be more of a steady dependable guy.

Last night's game was great, Trachsel is pretty much the same pitcher he's always been, not very good. Oliver Perez on the other hand... I bet the Mets were wishing they'd have started him instead.

It would have been nice to see what Mulder could have added to the table this year. I'm not convinced he's that good but he definately could have helped in this series.

Cardinals Mets Tonight

OK, so whats up with all the teams that I grew up watching in baseball lose every year going to the World Series and winning it the past few years? In the 90s the Red Sox were pretty awful, so were the White Sox with a few fluke year in there, and now Detroit who used to be the LA Clippers of baseball (wait the clippers are good now, so maybe the Knicks of baseball). Detroit looks to be on a mission and frankly out of all four teams they seem to have the best package. We'll see what the birds do tonight.

I think they could seriously surprise the mets. As the cardinals know its not how good of a hitter you are in the regular season, its the post season that matters. And frankly its pitching that seems to come on better in the post season. Pitchers seem to be able to rise to the occasion more than hitters. And the cardinals oddly enough have better pitching than the Mets. The Mets have Glavine, cards have Carpenter, Mets have Trachsal, we have Marquis/Weaver, Mets have Maine, we have Wainwright. The cardinals just seem to have more depth in their pitching, granted its not good depth.

And I read some where that the Mets are today's Murder's Row, man that analogy has been over used and is now trite. The cardinals had Murder's Row when they went to the WS--Edmonds, Pujols, and Rolen... and those bats fell silent. So in a lot of ways I can see things going the cardinals way if the pitching steps up for them. Now if the Mets win 15 to 0 tonight I won't be too surprised, but we'll see if the birds got some magic in them.

I Like Dumb Action Movies

What can I say, I like them. I grew up in the Hay Day of dumb action movies with heroes such as Van Damme, Segal, Arnold, Stalone, Dolf Lundren, Mel Gibson to some extent, I mean the 80s and 90s had amazing awesome action movies.

Now adays its all about thought, and character development, and gay cowboys... I mean where are the Total Recall's, Timecop's, Demolition Men, and Under Sieges? When america needs a hero where do they turn???

Do you smell what the Rock is cooking? So much to the dismay of everyone I told I bought Walking Tall at Mckays for 4 bucks. I watched it tonight... and do you know what the Rock was cooking???? A knuckle sandwich with the bad guy's name on it. I've said it before, but the Rock could be the next Arnold if he wants to be.

The movie was good, I'm glad I bought it, though I might return it. Really I would have rented it if our Blockbuster had any decent movies... they only carry the quote un quote blockbusters.

SO now I've seen all three of Rock's action movies Walking Tall, Rundown, and Doom. I must say Walking Tall was the best one. I mean you got some good comic relief with the Johnny Knoxville, and then theres.... well the Rock... and then... well that's about it. OK so it wasn't the best movie ever, and pretty much John Cena's Marine looks to be about the same movie with a different WWF star.

I'm just so starved for good action movies that I gotta take what I can get. This whole indie phase that hollywood is in is just plain boring.

We need new action films like Lost In the Translator! Where Arnold plays a rogue Translator that goes to Japan and kills the people that killed his best friend's translator...

Or I'll Break Your Back Mountain about a rogue Mountain Climber who seeks out the greatest Mountain and climbs it... starring Sly Stalone.

Or Billion Dollar Grownup about a man who is a rogue boxer who goes to fight in the illegal world tournament of kick boxers to avenge his family who was killed by evil kick boxers... starring Jean Claude Van Damme..

Or Sideway's Kick about a rogue ninja forced to hunt down the killer robot samurai that killed his family starring Steven Segal.

Man, I should write for hollywood. Anyway, it was an entertaining dumb action movie, and I stand by that assesment.

I also bought meteos for the DS and though it is fun and kind of like tetris i'll probably return it due to its high price. Its also kind of too hard, I like puzzle games but I want time to figure it out, I mean I'm getting old here folks, the old thumbs don't move as fast as they used to.

Cardinals Update

I just want to let people know that I actually said, and I can get witnesses, "I think Weaver will have a good game today." When I've seen him pitch he's had some good stuff, and really I think Tony tell's him, "Give me 5 innings and thats it." And he seems to give him those 5 generally.

That's all I got.

Two Types of Musicians

Listening to these David Gray cds as well as reading his little bio on his own website you get a real sense of his musical artistry. And while reflecting on that, I realized there seems to be two type of musicians--two poles if you will: artists and entertainers. Now of course I'm simplifying things, as that's how we make life simpler to understand.

But think about it. Would you call AC/DC artists? No, they're definately out to entertain. Britney Spears, definately not an artist, artistry requires an inherent intelligence.

I started to think about all the musicians who might be considered great artists, Gray would be one in my mind, Dylan is possibly the Michealangelo of musical artists, Sufjan is definately an amazing artist (However he does a good job of making his music entertaining from a visual standpoint, from what I heard and saw at the Atlanta concert). These three come to mind when I think of artists who finely craft their lyrics, and the music that delivers the words. They may not be the three you think of, but they're fresh in my mind right now.

I think every musician starts off with that key decision: artist or entertainer? That sort of motivates their music in a way. Bands who just want to entertain seem to just want the fame and money. You don't see too many rappers out there who are in it for the artwork of rap, they want money. Which if I could ryme sometime I'd make some sweet dough, don't you know.

You gotta have respect for the guys who are more concerned with the craft than with the cash. The guys who still play the small venues and don't go for the big stadium tours.

No More Video Games for Myself

Well... not exactly. But I took one big giant leap for adult hood, I sold my last console. I sold the gamecube along with three games (Metroid Prime 1&2 and Madden 2002) along with all the paraphenial. Though they wouldn't take the controller copper chewed up, cheap skates.

For a whole host of reasons I decided to ditch the cube. Money is tight is the big one, didn't play it anymore was another big one, and I figure with it being decomissioned and replaced with the WII their won't be too many good games out for it anytime soon.

I also sold my beatles greatest hits 1 and 2, I like the beatles, think they're all that people say they are, but I just was never in the mood for them. Plus greatest hits albums in general are good, but in a lot of ways the songs are taken out of context of their specific albums. I still have Sgt Peppers as that's the best Beatles cd ever and worth keeping. Sold a few other cds, friends dvds we had, Hotel Rwanda (too depressing to keep). Also all our VHS which we got 5 bucks in store credit.

I did take some of the money I had and got two cds that I couldn't pass up. Two david gray cds A Century Ends and Life In Slow Motion. I'm a pretty big David Gray fan and have gotten into his old stuff finally. It amazes me this guy was making this amazing music back in 93 when I was listening to crap like green day and Nirvana. I mean those two bands are good in their own respects but they have more style than David Gray, the man has pretty much no style. He's been compared to Dylan so many times that its a bit old but he's just himself and his music definately conveys that. Nirvana and Greenday seem to convey their generations more or perhaps a specific world view, which is not a bad thing, but it can be if you don't feel like you fit into their world view.

So anyway, I've listened to Century Ends a bit on the way home and its pretty good old simple stuff. A guy on my hall back in college heard me listeing to White Ladder and told me if to get into his older stuff, here I am 6 years later finally taking his advise. This CD is pretty amazing considering it being made in 93 and putting that into the context of what else was classified as music back then. And its his first CD, that I know of, and is really strong. Flesh was great too, a little short, but a good sophmore album. I got Century ends for only 6 bucks, good deal.

Life In Slow Motion I've only heard a few of the singles off of it. I've read about it a lot and listened to the 30 second previews on itunes and it was on my list of cds to buy and since I got it for 9 bucks I'm pretty happy. I'll definately be listening to these tomorrow at work as I try to pass the time by.

I was going to get a game for the DS, my only means of video gaming now. I picked up Metoes but for 25 bucks it seemed a bit steep so i put it back down. Its like tetris only different. But Crabbman is coming up this weekend and he's getting a DS and we're going to swap games. He'll take Final Fantasy 4 and Metroid Hunters (which are technically his anyway) and I'll borrow Castlevania. So I'll still have a game to play.

That was another thing I sold Street Fighter and Metroid so technically I don't own a game for my DS. I'll have to remedy that sometime. I want to get some of the brain teaser games.

Lost time....

***an hour passes***

man lost was good.

Da Bears

So I tend to redicule people who are fans of teams and they never resided close to that team. For instance Roe claims to be a Red Sox fan and has no substantial connection with Boston... oh and btw he's a tigers fan this year. The Uthlauts claim the Yankees which I always tease them about. People who grew up in Chattanooga and went to UTC are Auburn fans?? It doesn't make too much sense to me, you're a fan of the team that's closest to you, that's my rule. My kids will be Braves fans, even though I'm a cardinals fan, they'll be Braves fans, it'll make watching the two teams play all that much more fun.

But you see my rule has a flaw, the NBA and NFL for the majority of my St. Louis life didn't have a team in St. Louis.

The NFL Cardinals moved out of town when I was a wee lad and it felt wrong cheering for them in Pheonix where their evil owner took the team so he could retire in the dry heat. The Atlanta Hawks used to be in St. Louis but left due to lack of interest way before I was born.

So, growing up watching the NBA I rooted for who else, Jordan. I have a lot of relatives in Chicago, went to a game and sat court side and watched jordan torch the celtics, he was the best, and closest NBA team around. Seemed resonable, and I still want them to do well, I'm pretty excited they got Big Bad Ben Wallace now. Though marrying wifey has shifted me to a Spurs fan too as she grew up in San Antonio and was/is a HUGE Spurs fan. Our honey moon nights were spent watching the Spurs take down the Nets in six games as I recall. We did other stuff too....

But the NFL was a trickier situation. Like I said the cards left, I was done with them. However there was another Missouri team, the Chiefs and I must admit when they had Shottenheimer, Allen, and Montana going it was pretty exciting team, but they didn't give me that gut response that made me want to cheer till I was blue in the face. The packers, eh, they had the history and the field but they were so far away and I'd only been to Wisconsin a few times.

But the bears.... the bears have always been so amazing to me. I mean they just have the history and gravitas that makes you want to root for them.

Ditka, Butkus, Urlacher, the Fridge, Walter Payton, Super Bowl Shuffle, Bill Swerski, Jim McMahon, I mean so much classic history.

DA BEARS, you say that people know what you're talking about. So I'm a bears fan, don't have a good reason, I just like them.

So Roes, Utes, people I work with that like Auburn, I'll give you your teams for now. Because I'm a fan of the bears. Also I'm a big lovie smith fan from his Rams coaching days. he was the best coach on that team... after Vermeil left.

So here's a recap of my teams

Baseball: Cardinals, Closet Braves fan due to living in the south
Football: Bears, fair weather Rams fan
NBA: Spurs, fair weather Bulls fan
Hockey: Blues, maybe someday be a Thrashers fan but only been to a few games and they're never on TV so I can't watch them plus Wifey wouldn't ever let me buy another hockey jersey, she already gives me crap for the one I have.
College Football: Notre Dame
College Basketball: Don't have one yet. Can't seem to find a team I like.
Soccer: Ambush (St. Louis Indoor team of the 90s)
College Soccer: Go Scots.

I feel the only not justifiable one is the bears, but hey Ditka man, dit stinkin ka.

not much

This weekend has been a little slow. We didn't do anything on Friday but I had not got much sleep the night before so I was fine with that.

Then saturday we just worked around the house all day. We touched up some paint on the walls, painted the ceiling in areas, caulked things, and cleaned/organized the entire basement throwing a lot of stuff out. This was all in a hope that we'll sell our house soon. We're looking around but haven't found much to spark our interest. We want to move but Chattanooga is just a hard place to find a decent house. We'd love to live close to church but North Chatt is just a rip off, New York prices with a Chattanooga feel. You can only get in there if you want a fixer upper that will eat you alive.

So we'll probably just stick it out here till we can get some sort of RV that we can tour the country in.... that's a joke.

But it was nice to get the basement cleaned up, makes it look reputable.

Tried to get the mower running by training the carbarator but that didn't work so I went to Home Depot and got a spark plug and spark plug wrench. Why is it that every stinkin thing on an engine has its own wrench? O2 sensor, oil filter, spark plug, johnson rod... they all have their own special wrench. And they make it so you can't cheat and just use plyers by placing the thing so far up in the engine that nothing can reach it. But anyway I might try and tinker with that today and if it doesn't fix the problem then I'm gonna be furious becuase I'll have to take it to HD to have them look at it, they'll charge me 70 bucks to fix whatever's wrong with it which then I'll be like, "well for 30 more bucks I can just get a new mower and get a better work out when i mow...." but i complain too much.

This just better fix it or I'm shipping the thing back to Japan. Wonder how much that would cost to ship a mower to japan???

In other news I'm thinking of selling my gamecube. I haven't played it much and what with those new fangled machines comin out I figure its time has come to an end. I won't get a WII, or PS3 or anything but I figure maybe sell the thing and pump the money into games for the DS or something. I'm not sure if I'll sell it to MCKAYs or Rhino or Ebgames. Rhino's given me good credit before they bought my super nintendo for like 50 bucks in store credit and they sell new games so they have a nice selection. Other things I'm selling: Beatles Greatest Hits 1 and 2... just don't listen to them enough to warrant owning them. A few other CDS i never listen to. All our VHS (VCR broke so no reason to keep them--we'll get 2 nickels for the lot of them probably). Street Fighter 2 for the GBA, it doesn't play well on the DS because the DS has extra buttons that don't register with the game so you're pushing buttons instinctively and nothing happens, that and I'm bored of it.