The Tigers took over first place in the American League Central division today behind another extremely strong outing by Justin Verlander. They are now sixty seven games into the season with the majority of it still ahead of them, so I am nowhere near calling the season a success.
If there is one thing that I have learned watching the Tigers in recent years, it's that they need to play all one hundred sixty two games. The past few years, they have come out of the gate strong, leading the division for a good portion of the early summer months only to collapse near some time after the All Star break. If there was only a way to play the season without the dastardly All Star game that has it in for the Tigers and will stop at nothing but disrupt a strong start to their season.
As long as they keep up the strong consistent play and the divisional foes play horribly.
14 June 2011
11 June 2011
Urban bug out bag
With the weather in Kansas prime for tornadoes and severe storms, it is necessary to be prepared for the possibility of not being able to be back in your house for quite some time. When being forced to leave your dwelling, the thoughts start running through your head of what is important and what can be left behind.
Just the other night there was a nasty storm that kicked up north/north west of Wichita which developed the 'tornado hook' on the radar. It was in the county so the sirens went off and the coverage was all about the speed of the storm, the wind, the wall clouds, and possible tornado that these types of storms can create. In anticipation of needing to go to the storm shelter (which was not needed), we gathered up what we thought was needed. I like to think of it as an urban bug out bag. It's just a backpack full of stuff that we find important.
A traditional bug out bag has stuff for about three days including food, water, first aid, and fire starting equipment. Because we're in a city, we packed stuff like our laptop and charger, the phones and phone chargers, some food. Minor things. We have important documents like passports, car titles, birth certificates, marriage certificate in a small lock box that we can grab if absolutely necessary (the keys for it are easily accessible as well). And for those of you who are concerned about it, the cat's carrying cage is out and we found out it's not as difficult to get her in it as it once was. During the first major storm I half joked and was half serious about filling both of my flasks with scotch to throw in the bag. I think I may keep them out and easy to find to fill up. At the very least, it can be passed around to calm nerves. Plus, you can clean out wounds with it, I've seen it done in the movies (so it must be true!).
You can never be too prepared if you have to leave your house or apartment, but you don't want to be lugging around a suitcase full of shit. The major items that I think you need are the follow:
Just the other night there was a nasty storm that kicked up north/north west of Wichita which developed the 'tornado hook' on the radar. It was in the county so the sirens went off and the coverage was all about the speed of the storm, the wind, the wall clouds, and possible tornado that these types of storms can create. In anticipation of needing to go to the storm shelter (which was not needed), we gathered up what we thought was needed. I like to think of it as an urban bug out bag. It's just a backpack full of stuff that we find important.
A traditional bug out bag has stuff for about three days including food, water, first aid, and fire starting equipment. Because we're in a city, we packed stuff like our laptop and charger, the phones and phone chargers, some food. Minor things. We have important documents like passports, car titles, birth certificates, marriage certificate in a small lock box that we can grab if absolutely necessary (the keys for it are easily accessible as well). And for those of you who are concerned about it, the cat's carrying cage is out and we found out it's not as difficult to get her in it as it once was. During the first major storm I half joked and was half serious about filling both of my flasks with scotch to throw in the bag. I think I may keep them out and easy to find to fill up. At the very least, it can be passed around to calm nerves. Plus, you can clean out wounds with it, I've seen it done in the movies (so it must be true!).
You can never be too prepared if you have to leave your house or apartment, but you don't want to be lugging around a suitcase full of shit. The major items that I think you need are the follow:
- First aid kit
- Water
- food that requires no cooking
- ways to communicate (phone and charger)
- important papers
10 June 2011
Field of Dreams
I'm a big fan of the show 'How I Met Your Mother' and in it, they make reference to the movie 'Field of Dreams' in several different episodes which is one of the best sports movies of all time. All. Time. I will even go out on a limb to call it the best sports movie. I got into a discussion with some people at work about sports movies and started talking about which was the best. One person spouted out that 'Brian's Song' was the best sports movie, but I disagree on the sole fact that it involves the Chicago Bears. Yeah, I'm that petty. And I'm just going to put this out there, but 'Field of Dreams' is one of an extremely short list of movies in which it is okay for men to cry during. Encompassing all sports, baseball has the best movies. They top all of the basketball, football, soccer, boxing, or whatever sports movies.
So, the list. The list of the greatest sports movies of all time. At least the top five.
So, the list. The list of the greatest sports movies of all time. At least the top five.
- Field of Dreams
- Bull Durham
- Slap Shot
- Raging Bull
- Hoosiers
09 June 2011
Important writings
I have always wanted to write about things that are important to me. Things like sports, history, a little bit of politics here and there, but there are times when I get half way through writing something and think 'who am I pissing off?' I giggle a little bit and publish it anyway. There are so many things that are going on in the world right now that anyone can pick and choose a certain topic and focus mainly on that, but that's not really my thing. I like to find a topic, write on it once maybe twice, and move on. Is that bad? If someone reads something, is there ever any hope for a follow up? So, here is a quick rundown on some important issues that I would like to explore a little bit more.
Unions
Love em or hate em, unions have their historic place not only in our country, but throughout the world. Do you enjoy your eight hour work day? Thank a union. Do you enjoy working in a safe environment? Thank a union. Unions in the late 1800s and early 1900s paved the way for the working world we have today. However, unions today carry a stigma in this country today because they have a quick trigger finger to call for a strike when negotiating for a new contract and working terms for those that they represent.
Nationalism
'Merica! That's why!' Something that the right wing of the political world isstanding hiding behind is the flag. Well, they stand behind that and scare the shit out of everyone with the thoughts of terrorism. The one bad thing that has come out of the extreme nationalism that we have seen in the past decade is the Patriot Act. It's an all inclusive scary act that gives government agencies rights to spy on us. It is Orwellian, but you all knew that already. Maybe not as bad as spying on us, but there is more wiggle room for them to do nasty stuff.
Sports
It seems recently that there are just scandal after scandal in the sports world. I always want to write about it, but the overkill and over analysis from sportswriters to sportscasters just want me to stay away from the stories. I really wanted to write about the downfall of The Ohio State University football program (snicker snicker), but I just got so sick of reading and hearing about it that I gave up on writing about it.
Unions
Love em or hate em, unions have their historic place not only in our country, but throughout the world. Do you enjoy your eight hour work day? Thank a union. Do you enjoy working in a safe environment? Thank a union. Unions in the late 1800s and early 1900s paved the way for the working world we have today. However, unions today carry a stigma in this country today because they have a quick trigger finger to call for a strike when negotiating for a new contract and working terms for those that they represent.
Nationalism
'Merica! That's why!' Something that the right wing of the political world is
Sports
It seems recently that there are just scandal after scandal in the sports world. I always want to write about it, but the overkill and over analysis from sportswriters to sportscasters just want me to stay away from the stories. I really wanted to write about the downfall of The Ohio State University football program (snicker snicker), but I just got so sick of reading and hearing about it that I gave up on writing about it.
04 June 2011
A thing or two about facebook
When I was in college, I vaguely remember hearing something about Facebook. It was something about sharing information with other people and didn't think much on it, because I was more focused on things like graduating as opposed to something on the internet.
That was seven years ago (yeah, that long ago) and now Facebook is all over the place. I enjoy hoping on there once or twice a day to see what is going on with people I am 'friends' with. It's a great way to keep in touch with extended family members I do not get to see very often. The biggest thing I have against Facebook is how people just add and add and add 'friends' until they have hundreds if not thousands of people that they are connected with. Now, I understand people that run a business or are in social groups that use Facebook for ways to get information out, but just people like me, I don't think having tons of 'friends' is all that important. It's fun to see people that type up a status along the lines of 'if you are reading this, you survived the friends purge.'. I've given up on that. I just delete people from my list because there is little interaction. Right now, I sit at right around one hundred and sixty friends on Facebook. And every time I look at my list, I try to find someone here or there that I don't interact with or that aren't very active and unfriend them. Do I care? Not really. I still think I have too many friends, but what can you do?
What is the main idea of Facebook? Many people play games on it, some people just try to get as many friends as possible. Personally, I use it to keep tabs on family. It's great to see what family members that I only see maybe two or three times a year are up to. It is really difficult to live as far away as we do at times, but Facebook does allow us to at least keep up on the biggest news, so that is good, despite the coldness and distance the internet provides.
So, congratulations Facebook. At least you allow me to snoop in on what my extended family is doing. Even if you are something that I could live without.
That was seven years ago (yeah, that long ago) and now Facebook is all over the place. I enjoy hoping on there once or twice a day to see what is going on with people I am 'friends' with. It's a great way to keep in touch with extended family members I do not get to see very often. The biggest thing I have against Facebook is how people just add and add and add 'friends' until they have hundreds if not thousands of people that they are connected with. Now, I understand people that run a business or are in social groups that use Facebook for ways to get information out, but just people like me, I don't think having tons of 'friends' is all that important. It's fun to see people that type up a status along the lines of 'if you are reading this, you survived the friends purge.'. I've given up on that. I just delete people from my list because there is little interaction. Right now, I sit at right around one hundred and sixty friends on Facebook. And every time I look at my list, I try to find someone here or there that I don't interact with or that aren't very active and unfriend them. Do I care? Not really. I still think I have too many friends, but what can you do?
What is the main idea of Facebook? Many people play games on it, some people just try to get as many friends as possible. Personally, I use it to keep tabs on family. It's great to see what family members that I only see maybe two or three times a year are up to. It is really difficult to live as far away as we do at times, but Facebook does allow us to at least keep up on the biggest news, so that is good, despite the coldness and distance the internet provides.
So, congratulations Facebook. At least you allow me to snoop in on what my extended family is doing. Even if you are something that I could live without.
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