As I'm sure everyone reading this knows, I'm far too obsessed with baseball (also, as I'm sure you can tell now, I'm semi back. I'm working on random crap at work, but I have a down moment here)
And I figured I'd be slightly light-hearted here and just post the following, feel free to throw your own in the comments.
SIGNS YOU ARE TOO OBSESSED WITH BASEBALL
You spell Maze "M-A-Y-S" in your class's spelling bee.
You know the whole 40 man roster....
....of every team in your league....
....from the last ten years
You own jerseys or jersey shirts of the bullpen catchers.
You have visited the birthplaces of several different baseball players on vacation.
You read the sentence "Ahh. Yes, he’d be a good choice. Provided you don’t fear a post SB decline/Madden curse." in a football discussion about QBs and wonder why Drew Brees is stealing bases for the Tampa Bay rays (actually happened!)
You hear specific player names and immediately start laughing (Bob Wickman! Bill Ripken!)
There are no photos of you without a baseball cap on.
You know not just the real stats for your team, but the sabermetric ones too (Aramis's BABIP is far too low, he's at .179!)
You have gone to those sabermetric stats as reasons for why your favorite players are better than they seem.
You hear the name Castro and think of Starlin, not Fidel.
You start or stop doing simple things like sitting, standing, leaning on things, or eating based around how the team is doing at that moment (they scored a run when I was eating that corn, I better eat more (actually happened (didnt need this last parenthesis)))
You initially start a blog about your life and move it towards a baseball one within 6 months of starting it.
Add yours in the comments
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
A Short Piece
So I'm not sure if you noticed, but I haven't written anything in the last few days. This is because I've been taking a break. Not because I'm lazy, honestly no. If I wanted to, I could be churning out posts every day like the last few weeks. But you know what? I didn't major in English or writing or something along those lines. I majored in Math, Physics, and (currently) Mechanical Engineering. And because I'm currently working in grad school, I'm trying to finish a thesis in ME.
After hearing about a friend (and I'm being charitable with this description) flush her life down the toilet this past weekend, I realized that I need to finish this thesis. So the blog focus is going to change from here on out. First, no more daily posts. Too much time when I should be working. Second, more of a focus on how my thesis and research is going, though I will have occasional posts about other aspects of my life. Basically, this blog will be an outlet for ranting and raving about the thesis and baseball, the two main focuses of my life. So if you want to read about those, and maybe a few posts about the weight loss plan, or a few about TV occasionally, keep reading. But the asinine posts from Mondays, the Music posts, and the That Guy Sucks posts are leaving. Baseball posts (after I finish the division previews which I know you all CARE SO MUCH ABOUT) will be generally limited to how the teams I like are doing, ie, Cubs and Twins news. Deal.
So sorry the blog is changing, I just have more important things right now.
After hearing about a friend (and I'm being charitable with this description) flush her life down the toilet this past weekend, I realized that I need to finish this thesis. So the blog focus is going to change from here on out. First, no more daily posts. Too much time when I should be working. Second, more of a focus on how my thesis and research is going, though I will have occasional posts about other aspects of my life. Basically, this blog will be an outlet for ranting and raving about the thesis and baseball, the two main focuses of my life. So if you want to read about those, and maybe a few posts about the weight loss plan, or a few about TV occasionally, keep reading. But the asinine posts from Mondays, the Music posts, and the That Guy Sucks posts are leaving. Baseball posts (after I finish the division previews which I know you all CARE SO MUCH ABOUT) will be generally limited to how the teams I like are doing, ie, Cubs and Twins news. Deal.
So sorry the blog is changing, I just have more important things right now.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Friday That Guy Sucks
So I tried to wait on insulting players that technically haven't played any games for the White Sox. I TRIED. But when I realized that I needed to hate on a sox player this week, one guy jumped to mind. And yes, he's new, and yes, you didn't pay for him, and yes, the production you could feasibly get from him with regards to how much you paid....But you know what? Screw him, he sucks.
Andruw Jones (yes, with a u because his parents are awful) was once good. Then he turned 30, steroid testing was increased, and he went downhill faster than I did before I learned how to brake on skis. Now, I'm not saying his stats were steroid related, but a history of injuries suddenly appearing, and the fact that right after his FIRST worst season ever he showed up 20 pounds overweight and had an even worse season, well, that doesn't speak well of him.
He had several productive years, yes, back when he was Atlanta, and he earned several Gold Gloves playing there. I'm not going to deny that he used to be good, as is a common theme in these posts (not in two weeks though! i'm gonna hate the crap out of Juan Pierre) but the last 3 years he has been awful. In a contract year, 2007, he put up terrible numbers combined with a .222 batting average. He was never a great swinger, but .222? I could probably get a .222! The next year, after the Dodgers still gave him a contract, he showed up, as previously mentioned 20 pounds overweight. Now, if you were playing professional sports for a living, wouldn't you think that you'd want to show up healthy? (Geovany Soto, I'm looking right at you, here) That year he somehow hit a .158 and then ended the season on the DL again, for being too fat or some other crappy reason. Too much pie, that's his problem.
Last year, he somehow got playing time with the Rangers, for about half the season. He hit 17 home runs and had a .214 batting average. The Mendoza line is still at .200 people. He hit only 14 points better than the standard "crappy player" argument. And if we look at his monthly splits? April .344, May .245, June .170, July .209, August .167, September .179. Gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. 3 of the 6 months out of the year he was abysmal. The Rangers probably had a better option if they had their pitchers bat for them. Those 17 home runs also stopped in July, too. Let's also add in the 72 strikeouts in 82 games, and only 3 sacrifice hits. Weeeeee. And if we want to play "Fun with split stats," which you know I do, let's consider his career against the Twins, the White Sox's main rival for the division crown. Do you want, career, or last year? Career, .143, and last year, .154. Hmm, how do I make that plane crash sound again? But hey, he hit .375 against the Tigers last year! Why, I'll bet he crushes.....what's that you say? .205 lifetime? Greaaaaaaaaat.
All I can say about him is that thank goodness you signed him to play DH. I'd be afraid of more Illinois earthquakes if he was running to catch a ball. Enjoy your 25 home runs and your DH's inability to do anything else. Heck, even 37 year old Jim Thome was able to hit .245 last year. But let the Twins sign him, it's not like they can do anything with another dangerous member in their lineup, noooooooooo.
At least I got to use all my fat joke tags for this.
Andruw Jones (yes, with a u because his parents are awful) was once good. Then he turned 30, steroid testing was increased, and he went downhill faster than I did before I learned how to brake on skis. Now, I'm not saying his stats were steroid related, but a history of injuries suddenly appearing, and the fact that right after his FIRST worst season ever he showed up 20 pounds overweight and had an even worse season, well, that doesn't speak well of him.
He had several productive years, yes, back when he was Atlanta, and he earned several Gold Gloves playing there. I'm not going to deny that he used to be good, as is a common theme in these posts (not in two weeks though! i'm gonna hate the crap out of Juan Pierre) but the last 3 years he has been awful. In a contract year, 2007, he put up terrible numbers combined with a .222 batting average. He was never a great swinger, but .222? I could probably get a .222! The next year, after the Dodgers still gave him a contract, he showed up, as previously mentioned 20 pounds overweight. Now, if you were playing professional sports for a living, wouldn't you think that you'd want to show up healthy? (Geovany Soto, I'm looking right at you, here) That year he somehow hit a .158 and then ended the season on the DL again, for being too fat or some other crappy reason. Too much pie, that's his problem.
Last year, he somehow got playing time with the Rangers, for about half the season. He hit 17 home runs and had a .214 batting average. The Mendoza line is still at .200 people. He hit only 14 points better than the standard "crappy player" argument. And if we look at his monthly splits? April .344, May .245, June .170, July .209, August .167, September .179. Gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. 3 of the 6 months out of the year he was abysmal. The Rangers probably had a better option if they had their pitchers bat for them. Those 17 home runs also stopped in July, too. Let's also add in the 72 strikeouts in 82 games, and only 3 sacrifice hits. Weeeeee. And if we want to play "Fun with split stats," which you know I do, let's consider his career against the Twins, the White Sox's main rival for the division crown. Do you want, career, or last year? Career, .143, and last year, .154. Hmm, how do I make that plane crash sound again? But hey, he hit .375 against the Tigers last year! Why, I'll bet he crushes.....what's that you say? .205 lifetime? Greaaaaaaaaat.
All I can say about him is that thank goodness you signed him to play DH. I'd be afraid of more Illinois earthquakes if he was running to catch a ball. Enjoy your 25 home runs and your DH's inability to do anything else. Heck, even 37 year old Jim Thome was able to hit .245 last year. But let the Twins sign him, it's not like they can do anything with another dangerous member in their lineup, noooooooooo.
At least I got to use all my fat joke tags for this.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Style Preview
Article coming tomorrow about style and such. Hopefully it won't be too sexist. See you then.
TV Amuses Me
So for some weird reason, I'm not getting internet access in my apartment. I blame Indianblah, because I can and I hate it and it sucks forever and everything. Yes. Anyways, I need a little break at work from writing a script about nanotechnology (when it gets filmed, I'll post it, trust me) and I figured I'd throw up something here about some of the TV I watch and why I like some of the new shows I've started watching and what have you. Pretend I was waving my hands during that last sentence.
Anyways, I got season 3 of Doctor Who (the new one, with David Tennant) yesterday and I watched the first episode. I remembered why I liked the show, and it wasn't because of the crazy sci-fi (though that helps) or the sheer Britishness of it all (that also helps). The reason I like it is because it's got that "Spark of Crazy" I like. The spark of crazy is what I'm terming a character or situation that if it happened in real life to me, I would find it insane and scary. But because it's on TV, happening to someone else, it's awesome. It's why I enjoy Burn Notice, How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang Theory, all that. All the shows I've really enjoyed have had one character that is just insane and that makes them awesome. Even the ones you don't think have it really do. For example, let's take a relatively mundane show like The West Wing. If our government actually worked where John Larroquete or a John Larroquete stand-in fired two people for leaving dead flowers on the desk of someone else? That would be nuts. Especially if it was John Larroquete. But because it's on TV? Awesome!
And so let's go back to Doctor Who. If I was accompanying the Doctor all around the galaxy stopping alien civilizations from destroying Earth, I'm relatively sure I'd go nuts pretty fast. But because it's TV? Awesome! Blow those Daleks up! Wooo!
How I Met Your Mother has also been good this season, as has Community and The Office. Unfortunately, those are more sitcommy, so it's hard to find that spark of crazy. However, Barney and Marshall, Troy and Abed, and most of the non-Jim-and-Pam cast help make it a lot easier to find. But I've been enjoying those shows for what seems like forever (technically not with Community, but meh, sitcommy. It gets lumped in because I say so.)
I've also been watching a lot of Supernatural lately, and I just got into that relatively recently. That's a show about two brothers who go around killing monsters and (recently) trying to stop the Apocalypse. Nothing cooler than killing vampires or shapeshifters or genies or demons. So much killing of demons. Plus, it has classic rock, which according to law makes everything better (btw, totally writing that post sometime this weekend. John's laws of awesomeness. I'm looking forward to that, expect it maybe this weekend or worst case by the end of the month)
But my newest favorite TV show is Leverage. It's a show about a group of con men conning evil people out of money to help others. It's Robin Hood with trickery instead of robbery! I want to be in on a con helping people someday! (Let's not form a list of all the things I want to do in the future at some point, that'll be far too insane of a post even for me, and I don't want to ruin Future John's life too much) Heck, I'd settle for even being in on a con just to make me richer a la Ocean's 11! Or 13, for that matter. 12 was pretty meh, I don't want to be in on that con. But what makes Leverage so great? Well, it's got a fighter who beats people up, a chick with a hot British accent (specifically, the crazy girl from Coupling, the brunette), and a crazy girl thief who hits that right level of spark of crazy and adorable that's just freaking awesome and makes me wish she had more parts in things. Plus, cons! Every episode! People get hit, others get things stolen from them, craziness abounds, I love it. Oh, Leverage, keep making more of you.
So basically I want to have a crazy life at some point, provided I live through the experience. That would be great. Later today, maybe something about nanotechnology. And by later today, assuming my internet is still not working at the apartment, probably actually means tomorrow. We'll see what happens.
Anyways, I got season 3 of Doctor Who (the new one, with David Tennant) yesterday and I watched the first episode. I remembered why I liked the show, and it wasn't because of the crazy sci-fi (though that helps) or the sheer Britishness of it all (that also helps). The reason I like it is because it's got that "Spark of Crazy" I like. The spark of crazy is what I'm terming a character or situation that if it happened in real life to me, I would find it insane and scary. But because it's on TV, happening to someone else, it's awesome. It's why I enjoy Burn Notice, How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang Theory, all that. All the shows I've really enjoyed have had one character that is just insane and that makes them awesome. Even the ones you don't think have it really do. For example, let's take a relatively mundane show like The West Wing. If our government actually worked where John Larroquete or a John Larroquete stand-in fired two people for leaving dead flowers on the desk of someone else? That would be nuts. Especially if it was John Larroquete. But because it's on TV? Awesome!
And so let's go back to Doctor Who. If I was accompanying the Doctor all around the galaxy stopping alien civilizations from destroying Earth, I'm relatively sure I'd go nuts pretty fast. But because it's TV? Awesome! Blow those Daleks up! Wooo!
How I Met Your Mother has also been good this season, as has Community and The Office. Unfortunately, those are more sitcommy, so it's hard to find that spark of crazy. However, Barney and Marshall, Troy and Abed, and most of the non-Jim-and-Pam cast help make it a lot easier to find. But I've been enjoying those shows for what seems like forever (technically not with Community, but meh, sitcommy. It gets lumped in because I say so.)
I've also been watching a lot of Supernatural lately, and I just got into that relatively recently. That's a show about two brothers who go around killing monsters and (recently) trying to stop the Apocalypse. Nothing cooler than killing vampires or shapeshifters or genies or demons. So much killing of demons. Plus, it has classic rock, which according to law makes everything better (btw, totally writing that post sometime this weekend. John's laws of awesomeness. I'm looking forward to that, expect it maybe this weekend or worst case by the end of the month)
But my newest favorite TV show is Leverage. It's a show about a group of con men conning evil people out of money to help others. It's Robin Hood with trickery instead of robbery! I want to be in on a con helping people someday! (Let's not form a list of all the things I want to do in the future at some point, that'll be far too insane of a post even for me, and I don't want to ruin Future John's life too much) Heck, I'd settle for even being in on a con just to make me richer a la Ocean's 11! Or 13, for that matter. 12 was pretty meh, I don't want to be in on that con. But what makes Leverage so great? Well, it's got a fighter who beats people up, a chick with a hot British accent (specifically, the crazy girl from Coupling, the brunette), and a crazy girl thief who hits that right level of spark of crazy and adorable that's just freaking awesome and makes me wish she had more parts in things. Plus, cons! Every episode! People get hit, others get things stolen from them, craziness abounds, I love it. Oh, Leverage, keep making more of you.
So basically I want to have a crazy life at some point, provided I live through the experience. That would be great. Later today, maybe something about nanotechnology. And by later today, assuming my internet is still not working at the apartment, probably actually means tomorrow. We'll see what happens.
I'm late, I'm late!
Sorry I didn't get this written Wednesday, but you did have two posts to enjoy there, one about family, the other about....whatever I wrote before that. Yeesh, my memory is going. But I figured I'd talk about what I'm planning on doing for Lent, as that is nice and simple. I'm giving up swearing and alcohol. Yes, I'm almost going Mormon, but I enjoy coffee too much to fully go the whole hock. Why am I doing this? Good question. I've been meaning to give up cursing, or curse less for a little while now, but I base that on the fact that a lot of my cursing has lost some meaning to it. That is, I'll throw a swear out there not only when it's appropriate, but at other moments that don't really call for cursing. So not only am I trying to clean up my mouth a little, but I also want to be able to mean it when I curse loudly.
As for why I'm giving up alcohol and beer? Well, we all need to make sacrifices in Lent, and I figure that I should sacrifice something I actually do like and enjoy (that is, beer) in that whole "getting closer to God" thing. Yay Catholicism!
As for giving up meat or something that I love more than beer, first off I don't want to become a vegetarian by accident. Second, I can barely cook for myself as it is, why would I give up the few things I can? And really, it's a lot more chicken and turkey sandwiches than red meat, so I don't have a problem or anything. As they all say...
As for weight loss, I'm down to 193.2 pounds, or I was earlier today. So yay me! Just gotta keep at it and soon 190, then 180 after that, and then eventually onwards to 175. Who knows, I may even be able to get down to 150 or something, assuming I at some point start like crazy dieting and then go running like 4 hours a day or something. 170 or 160 might be more doable, but I promise nothing. Sorry this isn't as awesome of a post as you were expecting, but tomorrow I'll throw something up here while I'm working on anodizations, either about my new favorite TV show or what I actually do here at work.
As for why I'm giving up alcohol and beer? Well, we all need to make sacrifices in Lent, and I figure that I should sacrifice something I actually do like and enjoy (that is, beer) in that whole "getting closer to God" thing. Yay Catholicism!
As for giving up meat or something that I love more than beer, first off I don't want to become a vegetarian by accident. Second, I can barely cook for myself as it is, why would I give up the few things I can? And really, it's a lot more chicken and turkey sandwiches than red meat, so I don't have a problem or anything. As they all say...
As for weight loss, I'm down to 193.2 pounds, or I was earlier today. So yay me! Just gotta keep at it and soon 190, then 180 after that, and then eventually onwards to 175. Who knows, I may even be able to get down to 150 or something, assuming I at some point start like crazy dieting and then go running like 4 hours a day or something. 170 or 160 might be more doable, but I promise nothing. Sorry this isn't as awesome of a post as you were expecting, but tomorrow I'll throw something up here while I'm working on anodizations, either about my new favorite TV show or what I actually do here at work.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Family Ties
So I was talking to my sister Mary the other day about the blog, and she suggested I write about my family. Now, as she never said what to write about or what I could or could not say.....No, wait, I'm not evil. I figured I'd talk a little bit about who she is, what our wacky relationship is like, and maybe a few more things. We'll see what happens with this, and as I only have 3 immediate family members (Mary being the only one who to my knowledge reads this), I may eventually start talking about any of you who actually wants to. I'll try to spare the punches (ie, I won't talk about your crippling gambling addiction or that time you sent a busload of kids over a cliff...wait, that was Veronica Mars) but if any of you actually want me to analyze you, feel free to either comment on the post with a name or send me an email. I can't promise WHEN my analysis will come, but I'll let you know in an email. I will of course be writing about family first, so there's another two posts after this one before I even think to talking about you.
But anyway, Mary. Basic description is that she's my sister. She's the one who loves pandas, acting, singing, Spanish, reading, and music, not necessarily in that order. She's the one who's either helping me start my latest scheme or coming up with a new one for me to implement. Let's start with the reminiscing!
We used to fight a lot, for some reason. She just wouldn't admit that I was right (side note: I was) and that I deserved more of the couch, food, TV programming, and movie choices (another side note: I did). So we fought, I hit, she wouldn't, I "won," she cried to Mom, I got yelled at, we both ended up unhappy. This cycle repeated itself until we got into high school for some reason. I blame her, because I was clearly cooler (side note: I wasn't) and knew more about the world (side note: I still don't, but that's because she went to Europe)
We stopped fighting when I got to high school, mainly because we were both busier and had our own friends. We became good friends whose humor plays well with each other. I understand her style and how to make it work. My Mom and I were picking her up from college a year or two ago and we stopped at a Perkins for lunch, because Perkins is delicious. And so Mary and I started fake fighting about something stupid, and our mother started laughing while trying to tell us to stop. I said "You can't be mad if you're laughing," Mary instantly repeated it, and then we both started chanting it at the same time. We also have mastered a good summary/version of the chicken cluck from Arrested Development. Like I said, we know how to make comedy work. As some of you may know, my sister is in a comedy group over the summers when she is back in Chicago. She is criminally underused, but always hilarious when she gets up there. I and her have written several skits that are based around our childhood, and if I can ever find video of them, I'll upload them here. My sister plays me because she knows what I am like, while Mary's best friend plays Mary because she knows what Mary is like. Mary also factors into some other skits, but she doesn't receive as much show time as she should have (ideally, it would be two hours of Mary up there entertaining me, with a few other people thrown in every now and then, but I'm not in charge of the show)
Mary loves pandas. I mean loves them. As previously mentioned, she's the one with the pandas covering her room, pictures of which I will take when I go home this weekend. It's easy to see anything that isn't panda-colored in that room, but if it is black and white, you're outta luck. I don't think I've ever mentioned that she's a Spanish major. Technically, she's now a Spanish grad student, which I'm not sure what exactly that entails. I imagine teaching whiny undergrads Spanish 1, but that's only a guess.
She's also a good singer, in that she pulled our collective butts out of the fire whenever we played rock band at home. She did choir back in grade school, so I imagine all that artsy-fartsy helped. She also is really good at painting and such. Basically, she somehow tapped into the heretofore undeveloped Zuidema artistic talent gene. I haven't touched mine, but I have to think that before my life is up I'll try to harness it, fail badly, and then give up to go look at fantasy baseball scores (I know my limits, and hey, baseball).
As for when she gets out of grad school, I think she's going to go into teaching kids, either in high school or college. She'll end up in a panda wedding dress someday with panda tuxes and panda bridesmaid dresses (don't ask me WHERE she'll get them, she'll find a place). Actually, I kinda want to see that. Because I know it will keep me entertained, which, as far as I can figure out, is what family is for.
Mary, since I know you're reading this, thanks for being my sister. Also, this was your birthday present. I hope you enjoyed it, read it again in like 2 months and pretend it's new.
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