Early morning post

It is twenty minutes past the two o'clock hour....in the morning.  This is early.  Too early.  Bars are just closing down.  For those of you who have never seen it soberly, yes, two o'clock in the morning exists.  

There are some days that I hate my job, for example, today.  Because it is two in the morning.  I work at four, but couldn't fall back asleep after I woke up close to one thirty.  I suppose I could have gone back to sleep, but that makes it harder to wake back up.  

I find that happens quite a bit.  If I wake up close to an hour before my alarm goes off and I turn over and go back to sleep, it is harder to get back up.  So the coffee pot is on and it is making that which gets me through days like today.  Mmmmmm.....tasty addictions.  

All I know is that right around noon today, I will be coming home and taking a nice big fat long nap on the couch.  

rant and rave and rant and rave...

Listening to Painter's Song by Nora Jones.  One would think that I would be calmed by the voice of Nora Jones, but not so much.  

Hank Steinbrenner, co-owner of the New York Yankees, wants major league baseball to change the format of the playoffs.  Pointing to the multiple divisions as the main culprit.  The L.A. Dodgers are going to be in the playoffs because they won their division.  The record of the Dodgers is worse than the Yankees, but because the Dodgers play in a weaker division, they are going to the post season and the Yankees aren't (they play in a strong division with Tampa Bay and Boston ahead of them).  You don't hear the other owners wanting the playoff system changed because they miss the playoffs.  Why not get rid of the playoffs all together and just play an extra three weeks and whoever has the best record wins the championship.  The baseball world does not revolve around New York City.  So..........

Shut the fuck up already.  Okay?  Just stop it.  Not every organization has twenty six championships.  so shut the fuck up.  No one wants to hear you cry over missing the playoffs for the first time in thirteen years.  so shut the fuck up.  Don't blame the format of the league because your team couldn't play better than the Rays or Red Sox.  so shut the fuck up.  Why did you fire the manager who got your organization to all those playoffs?  Shut the fuck up.  So take your egotistic, childish ways and shut the fuck up.  Break in your new golf shoes, start working on your short game, and shut. the. fuck. up.    

I cannot stand Hank Steinbrenner, or his dad George, they both need to take a note from their brother/son and not say anything.  Once again Hank.....

shut the fuck up.  (sorry if you don't like all the f-bombs mom.)

numero two hundred

Listening to Sublime, Pawn Shop.  It makes me wonder how big the band could have been if brad nowell didn't die with a needle sticking out of his arm.  Selfish asshole.  DRUGS ARE BAD!

This is the two hundredth post in this blog.  I would think that this should be some milestone post with great revelations about why I do this, or what relief it gives me to have people read this.  But no, not so much.  I just started writing this just because.  It was and continues to be something to do.  I enjoy it.  Writing is a great release for me.  I just can't do it for tons of pages.  I look at writing and taking pictures as the same thing.  You don't need something elaborate to be yourself.  KISS (as my dad use to say), Keep It Simple, Stupid.  When we were at the fair with the parents, we looked through the picture submissions.    A bunch of them were altered through various programs.  You could just tell.  That just really bugs the hell out of me.  That is why I don't use a digital camera for anything other than quick point and shoot pictures.  Take, for example this picture down below.  I just liked the way the trees looked in the coffee cup.  Is it the best picture in the world?  Absolutely not.  But that is the beauty of pictures taken on film.  The imperfections.  

So, sorry kids if you were expecting some 

great post, this is it.  Nothing special, kind of like the rest of them.  This is just....here.  

Onward towards the next two hundred posts and blah blah blah.  There, there is your goddamned cliche for some milestone thing.  

Now get bent.  

irritating Tigers

just a quick post...

I just checked the score of the Tigers game.  They are winning sixteen to one.  SIXTEEN(!) to one.  Seriously.  And I had two thoughts when I saw that.  

1.)  I have seen them put this kind of score on the board before and lose.  It was against Texas about three/four years ago.  We were up in Houghton for my brother's college graduation.  They were up about fourteen to four and ended up losing the game.  And that led me to the second thought.

2.)  Why couldn't they do this consistently throughout the year?  Inconsistency does not lead to the playoffs people.  After being in the world series two years ago, they aren't even going to play five hundred ball.  Unless they go about eleven and two the rest of the year.  

Get your fucking heads together this winter while you are watching a good Detroit team in the Red Wings and take some notes.  I don't care what the hell you all do, move in with each other, hang out, go to each others' churches.  Get your acts together.  Your manager is probably going to lose his job because you couldn't put together a decent enough of a season to get into the post season.  

god i need a drink!

intellectual reading

The White Stripes are playing on itunes right, I'm Lonely (But I Ain't That Lonely Yet). 

I'm taking a few moments out of my lazy, football induced couch sitting to write a little bit about reading.  Dorky, yes.  But important.   On Art of Manliness, there was a list of the one hundred essential books for guys.  Some excellent choices, but

 some questionable ones (is it really necessary to have three biographies of Teddy Roosevelt?).  One thing that bugs me is that they list The Federalist Papers but not the Anti-Federalist Papers.  Two very separate thoughts for establishing a government, they go hand in hand.  It encompasses great minds and where they stood on the issue of their new country.  

These kind of books should be read in high

 schools and colleges throughout the country, and maybe they are, I just never had the opportunity.  The government class I took in high school was a joke.  If I had to read these books, maybe I would have had a better experience.  Even my political science class in college wasn't worth while.  So if you get the chance, support your local library and go get these two books and learn a little bit.  Not exactly the most exciting or light reading, but give it a try.  You might find something out about yourself.

As part of my boredom on my day off, I took these two pictures.  I don't know which one I like more, the black and white or the sepia.  

VMAs, hurricanes and rain

MY NAME IS SUE!  HOW DO YOU!  NOW YOU GONNA DIE!  Those could possibly be the best lines ever written in music history.  (I don't think I need to post the title to that song, if you don't know it, get fucked my friend).

A is watching the mtv music awards that she tivo'ed.  Two things wrong with that sentence.  The fact that she used the tivo to record an mtv program and the music.  Honestly, I didn't recognized the majority of the bands or performers that were on there.  I knew Kanye West, Kid Rock, (and unfortunately Britney Spears), etc.  And at what point is it considered music when all you do is play the same guitar and piano parts to Sweet Home Alabama and just write new words?  Thanks Kid Rock, way to kill a classic song.  Asshole.  

If I don't know it, I don't care.  I would love to see a band like the White Stripes on there again.  They played when Fell in Love With A Girl was popular, but that was nowhere near their best music.  They were just getting started when that album came out.  

There was an article on msn about people not wanting to leave their Texas homes with an oncoming hurricane.  I am as stubborn a German as you will find, but that is just idiotic.  As my dad says, 'I'm sorry, but...'  Who's fault is it that you are stuck on your roof with twelve feet of water surrounding you?  Not me, not the government.  You, dumbass.  I did feel bad for the people of New Orleans a few years back, but...why blame the government for your decision to stay in your home when you were told to evacuate?  If I sit in my home with a tornado bearing down on me and I get sucked out and my house gets destroyed after I was told that I should go to a shelter, who do you blame?  Me right?  Yes.  If I came out yelling at the government for my decision to stick it out, I would be no better than the people complaining from the top of their houses waiting to get picked up.  And who wants to live in a city that is below sea level anyways?  

With that said, we are getting a shit ton of rain right now.  Flash flooding is going on in the surrounding areas of Wichita.  Many people that I work with were worried about not being able to get home because of the flooding.  I am not sure what I would do in a situation like that.  Not being able to get home after work.  I would more that likely crawl into a bar for a few hours and wait for the water levels to lower.  That would make the most sense to me.  

about work

Black Mountain Side is playing right now.  It is by Zeppelin.

The main thing that I can't stand about work is that it is on the same level as high school.  Rumors, cliques, etc.  You are either in or you are out, I guess.  Which is fine with me.  I will continue to punch in, work, and punch out.  As long as the pay checks keep coming I suppose.  At the store right now it is ridiculously juvenile.  It comes to situations where if you here one thing about a person, you think 'I can see that person saying that or acting that way.'.  And you don't think much of it after that.  

Lo and behold it can come back to bite you in the ass.  It makes me want to work in a cubicle at times, but then I think about what that would be like and shudder at the thought.  And then I think about going back to school.  But that would be a bit of a hassle.  The income flow would be disrupted, and I don't really want that.  In the long run, I am happy with my job, it is just getting past all the bullshit that comes with it.  

*on a complete side note*  'How Many More Times' (by zeppelin) just started.  I love this song.  It is hard rock and bluesy at the same time.  Eight and a half minutes of greatness.  

Tearing out my heart

Listening to The Clash (Spanish Bombs).  

As the baseball season winds down (twentyish games left I believe), I look back to the beginning of the year with tears in my eyes.  The Tigers were suppose to dominate the A.L. central and go to the world series.  But alas, they have done what they have done for years and years to me.  Torn my heart out and thrown it to the ground (and kicked some dirt on it for good measure).  I'm Indiana Jones and they are the creepy guy from Temple of Doom.  Unfortunately, I didn't have that little asian kid telling me to protect my heart.  Oh well.  

Talking with dad while they were here last weekend, we discussed what they need to do.  I think our plan would work.  

*If you have no idea about the Tigers lineup, I suggest skimming through to the end, it gets kind of boring for none baseball people right about now*  

Get rid of Sheffield, although it is a year too late, and put Thames in the DH spot.  The guy can't field but can really jack the ball.  There are a couple of young kids that can flat out play.  Joyce can play the outfield like no one's business.  For the love of god, get rid of Renteria and get Inge back in the infield.  He isn't the biggest bat, but an excellent glove man.  Larish, Raburn are good young utility men who could play anywhere.  The only thing that the team really needs is a catcher.  Inge isn't the answer for that.  His average plummets when he catches.  

And now the pitching (and this could be an entire entry altogether).  Middle relief, middle relief, middle relief.  Zumaya and his shoulder can't be trusted.  And as much as a I love Robertson, he needs to get out of the rotation.  Too inconsistent.  Maybe throw him into the bullpen for long relief.  Rodney may be an answer for a closer for a year (two at the most), but that is another big issue is the closing situation.  Jones is done.  If he comes back, he is going to be one of those guys that can't let go.  Kind of like Brett Favre

*Sports talk is over*

They seem to do this year after year, and it drives me to drink.  I'll use it for an excuse anyway.

football and the wife

A said the funniest thing in connection with football.  

'It hasn't been a week and I am already sick of football.'

She makes me smile all the time.  I had only turned on the football game last night for ten minutes and she said that.  Funny funny stuff.

around Wichita

The parents and I took a trip to Old Cowtown museum today.  It was nice for them to see what it was that I did for several months a few years back.  It reminded me of why I liked working there and why I really didn't like working there.  

I really enjoyed the buildings, most of which are still original with the exception of repairs and the what not.  But I really didn't like the fact that the people didn't mesh well.  When I worked on the Island, the fact that we were all the same age really helped with the outside of work aspect.  We hung out together, got drunk together.  At Cowtown, we went to work and then went home.  And that was it.  There was not a ton of hanging out with each other outside of work.  I went out with a few people (roughly my age) a couple of times, but that was it.  It was just...there.  It was a job, it wasn't much of an experience.  

So it doesn't hurt my feelings at all when I go down there and have no remorse about not going back there the next year.  Granted, I had my full time job by the following spring, but still, if I had enjoyed the work experience, I may have been enticed to go back there for off weekends and random days.  

This is a story of love...and hate

Currently listening to Cheap Whiskey by the DeWayn Brothers.  A local (kind of, just up the road from Wichita) bluegrass/rock/country group.  Great mixture of song writing and strumming.  

I came across, in my own mind, thoughts of things I love and things I hate.  Somewhat inspired by Matthew Berry, a columnist for espn.com.  He writes great articles entitled 'Guys I love, Guys I hate'.  I kind of stole this idea from him.  

So:  Things I Love, Things I Hate

• I love the website The Art of Manliness (http://artofmanliness.com)  It has tons of great articles and some funny articles, such as when it is okay for a guy to cry and ten worst products for men ever.
• I hate the price of books today.  I went out and bought two books and it cost damn near thirty dollars.  Second hand book stores are great, but I like the smell of new books and the fact that the spine isn't all shitty.  
• I hate politics.  I have been trying to get into it more and more these days.  But it is hard to watch cnn or fox news because they are so slanted that they are almost horizontal.  BBC news is great and touches on worldly issues and is very objective.  It covers tons of stories, many of which I would probably never hear of if it weren't for that organization.
• I love hockey.  And lacrosse.  And rugby (although I don't quite understand all the rules for it.
• I hate basketball.  It is an overrated sport by our country.  I think that the point system should be changed so that every time someone slam dunks the ball, they only get one point as opposed to two points.  
• I love scotch and whiskey.  Yes there is a difference, no I can't tell you what it is.  It has to do with how it is made.  I just bought a fifteen year old bottle of scotch today (much to A's dismay I'm sure).  It was a bit pricey, but not as expensive as the fifty year old bottle at the store that costs nine hundred and fifty dollars (yes, you read that correctly).  
• I hate Starbucks.  Is is really necessary to put a coffee shop on every freakin' corner or empty lot?  And what options do you need other than regular or decaf?
• I love that the new CEO of Starbucks is closing thousands of shops throughout the country.  
• I hate how different some bands sound live as opposed to the studio recordings.  Case in point:  Fall Out Boy.  Watched a live performance a few years ago at an award show and they sounded awful.  
• I love the Beatles
• And Zeppelin
• And Rage Against the Machine
• I hate radio stations today.  They play crap music and commercial way too often.  When the last independent radio station in Wichita shut down, the radio died for me in this state.  
• I love records versus compact discs.  It just sounds cooler.  
• I hate people rolling through red lights.