SimplySi's Xanga

Thursday, January 08, 2009

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:08:24 GMT

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 02:01:24 GMT

Gotta love The Office Spirit! (gchat status)

Josh: "May your hats fly as high as your dreams"

Amy: "Fool me once, strike one. Fool me twice... strike three"

Chan: "364 days... 'til the next pretzel day"

me: "May God guide you in your Quest" OR "Yeast infections…there are a huge number of yeast infections in this county. Probably…because we’re downriver…from that old bread factory… "

For those of you who haven't been crossing off the days on your official The Office calendar waiting for this season's premiere, it starts this Thursday at 9 sharp!! A full hour! Here's a recap of where we left off, and a preview of what The Office guys did this past summer!

(you may not want to watch if you have not finished season 3)

Quick, who said the above quotes??

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 04:51:46 GMT

As I write this, I actually don't yet have it, but most likely as you read it, I will!

Summer Vacation

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 07:01:29 GMT

Swell Season

Friday, July 13, 2007

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 06:40:46 GMT

Dwight: A hero is part human and part supernatural. A hero is born out of a childhood trauma, or out of a disaster, that must be avenged.
Mr. Brown: Uh, you're thinking of a superhero.
Dwight: We all have a hero in our heart.

-- The Office Season 1 Diversity Day

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 06:41:02 GMT

Padres: Spring Training and Opening Day

This year I took being a fan to a whole new level with a trip out to Phoenix for MLB's Spring Training. The lovely Chan Park and family hosted, and I have to say it was a very relaxing nice little trip.

I kept telling Gilbert and Chan... "I can't wait for baseball season!!!"

We got to see Cubs tie the Rockies, the Padres beat the Mariners in a split-squad game, and the Dbacks outscore the Padres in a slugfest.

Anyways, today (Tuesday) marks the beginning of the Padre season. Let me say that I am still stinkin' exciting. It's been an entire decade since the Padres have had a team this good. The naysayers will say that we don't have enough offense, but I say that our offense has only improved this season, and our NL leading pitching has improved, so why can't we be better this season? I'm gonna love watching Peavy strikeout 15 Giants.

Now that March Madness* is over, I will give my picks for the postseason in Baseball.

AL West - Angels, why not? everyone else is picking them!
AL Central - Tigers, the only team with legitimate pitching 1 through 5
AL East - Yankees, just too many bats
AL Wildcard - Red Sox, hoping Clemens comes back and we see a true trifecta: Clemens, Schilling, Dice-K

AL Champion - Tigers

NL West - Your San Diego Padres, improved everywhere
NL Central - Brewers, Ben Sheets is back and the central is really weak
NL East - Phillies, they have the pitching, and some guys named Howard, Utley and Rollins
NL Wildcard - Mets, Pedro comes back and they sneak it out in the end

NL Champion - Padres

World Series Champion - Padres! Hey I can dream can't I?

* I finished 2nd overall in Arnold's NCAA Bracket Pool!!

Friday, March 23, 2007

Fri, 23 Mar 2007 00:44:53 GMT

Padres Rookie Thirdbaseman Kevin Kouzmanoff

During the offseason the San Diego Padres were looking to improve an offense that ranked near the bottom of the league in almost every category. This weakness was most apparent during the National League Division Series when the Padres scored a combined 6 runs in 4 games and lost to the eventual World Series Champions the St. Louis Cardinals. Rumor had it that the Padres were interested in landing a power hitting free agent outfielder, but the Padres were quickly outpriced. And while free agency was still an option, it became evident that an addition to the roster would most likely come in the form of a trade.

Relief pitcher extraordinaire Scott Linebrink became a target for many teams that held a reserve thirdbaseman. However General Manager Kevin Towers wasn't quite sure he wanted to part with baseball leader in Holds. And so when faced with a deal, Towers made the difficult choice and traded away San Diego's budding second baseman Josh Barfield. Barfield had done all the right things and put up great numbers in a rookie campaign. However, when sizing up the market, the Padres felt they had no choice but to snatch up a blue chip 3B prospect.

And so the Padres find themselves entering the 2007 season with a rookie thirdbaseman and a lot riding on his shoulders. With how badly Padres' collective thirdbaseman played last season Kouzmanoff won't have to do much to impress. Still there are a lot of fans who are expecting big power numbers from a position that has been virtually nonexistent since the days of Ken Caminiti. Personally I expect .300 BA 80R 25HR 90 RBI ... is that too much to ask?

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Tue, 20 Mar 2007 17:30:42 GMT

The Vernal Equinox

I had read somewhere that today was actually the first day of spring, but after reading a little more the general concensus is that tomorrow, the 21st of March is the Vernal Equinox. Now, I have no idea what that means, nor do I care much to find out, but it sounds like some sort of druish holdover from days of yore. Humor me...

Setting: Stonehenge, 500 B.C.

Druid 1: [shaky, slightly british dungeon voice] Master! The days of Winter will soon rest and yield to the new season of rebirth.

Druid 2: [confident, still british ominous voice] If what you say is true, the Vernal Equinox approacheth!

Druid 1: We must make a sacrifice to the gods!

Druid 2: By daybreak, the beasts of the field will awaken and the winds will raise the banner of the Vernal Equinox!

I mean seriously, can't we update the terminology or something?!?!

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Wed, 14 Mar 2007 06:52:11 GMT

Baseball Season Approacheth

It just all hit me like a ton of bricks. Or should I say like a bag of baseballs. Baseball season's first pitch is less than three weeks away. That is pure nuts. Every year around this time you get the feeling, the itch for the 6+ month campaign known as Major League Baseball. Football season is long over, the NBA season is notoriously unbearably long, and that leaves the perfection of a professional sports season: Baseball. Spring Training, Opening Day, Rookies and Veterans, Streaks and Records, the All Star Game, Injuries, Breakout players, The Pennant Races and October! Dang I am pee-in-my-pants excited. I can just see my mom roll her eyes at the mere mention of baseball season knowing full well how insanely obsessed I am.

[Might as well skip this paragraph if you don't know anything about fantasy baseball]
I am playing in two fantasy leagues this season, one keeper roto league and another head-to-head. Now I'm definitely more excited for the keeper league because this is the first year we're actually "keeping". The keeper league is designed so that year-to-year you can retain those players from last year that you really don't want to lose in a potential redraft. So many inception draft decisions from last year were done just for the purpose of the subsequent keeper years! Still from the 5 keepers we get, there are inevitably players left out on the bubble, to borrow an apt bracket term. I spent a good couple hours reading draft rankings from various sources ascertaining where and when I can snatch up those peak performing bubblers I couldn't keep. I would list them here, but I know some of the other players in my league read this... As for the head-to-head league, it'll have an entirely different feel because we draft from scratch and instead of scoring season long as in Rotisserie, we'll amass points/wins week to week as is the case in head-to-head.

Still more than playing fantasy, I'm excited for the Padres. Yes, to be a San Diego sports fan is to know postseason suffering. Of all major cities with at least 2 major sports teams San Diego is the only one without a Championship... EVER!!!! That is quite sad, yet I know that until my dying breath I will root for the Padres and the Chargers. Maybe this year we'll get TWO! (That's right sports fans I am definitely a deluded Homer). It is getting quite obsessive because come April 1 I will be able to tell you backstory on every player on the entire 25 man roster, if not already. I have very high hopes this season to say the least. The most notable change occurring in the offseason was a coaching change in the form of longtime Padre Bruch Bochy bolting for the Giants, for San Diego resident and former Angels pitching coach Bud Black. The change up top will be the most unpredictable of all the offseason changes. Still he has a winning pedigree. Other changes include 2nd Base, Left Field and our rotation. Dave Roberts was let go by the Pads in hopes that we'd reel in a big bopper. Well, that didn't happen so we looked in-house and the job appears to be falling to Terrmel Sledge. The biggest shocker came in the form of rookie standout Josh Barfield being shipped to the Indians for prospects. Sure, one of those prospects was Minor League Player of the Year Kevin Kouzmanoff, but with the Padres trading a budding cornerstone away for potential was a shock. Lastly we signed future Hall-of-Famer Greg Maddux. Now if all goes as planned he'll be the middle man in the starting rotation and net 15 wins and log around 200 innings, a considerable upgrade from Chan Ho or Woody Williams. It really is the first time in years where we've had a set 5 man rotation going into the season, and by my estimation the best Padres rotation ever. The bullpen looks to lead the way from the back again with the combination of Cla Meredith, Linebrink and All-time Saves leader Trevor Hoffman. As for the anemic offense, I can't with confidence expound on them as I did pitching. Still I'm hopefull. Numbers should be more up than down. I feel like Marcus Giles should step in well for Barfield, Bard equally well at Catcher, and Sledge to provide more production that the swift-of-foot Roberts. There are still some glaring weaknesses and concerns going into the 2007 season. Outside of Mike Cameron do the Padres have any speed at all? Can Brian Giles ever regain any semblance of his power stroke? Will Marcus Giles get on base at leadoff? Can Khalil Greene stay healthy for more than 140 games? Will Kouzmanoff hit for power at Petco and play glove at third? And finally can the rotation step up and perform like we all hope they can, ie Peavy, Maddux, Wells? Simply put, I can't wait for baseball.

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Wed, 07 Mar 2007 08:24:19 GMT

Glory Days?

"It's the old days. The bad days. The all-or-nothing days." - Sin City

I wonder how many of us will look back on these days of singleness and refer to them as the Glory Days. My guess is not many. I look back on the college days and the few years thereafter as maybe the good ol' days. Why so? Well, maybe because life gets infinitely more complex, we take on more responsibilities, and start working tirelessly towards the goals that we have set. The pressures that we find ourselves under as full-functioning adults are yet still far off in the horizon for our future selves to wrestle with. For those reasons I can understand why they can be referred to as the Good Ol' Days.

After church on Sunday I had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine. He mentioned that he had recently gathered with some young adults for some study and sharing. Among the conversations they shared, one of the 30-somethings mentioned how he and his small group guys referred to these years as the Glory Days. The time in their lives when they were young, successful, single and free to do whatever they wanted... without a ball-and-chain, free to go out to Denny's at 2am. When I heard this I was taken aback. The Glory Days??!?!?! What about these days is so Glorious? Is a "ball-and-chain" the first thing you think about when you think of not being single? Well, then why am I not surprised you are single, and have Singles Retreats to go to for the next 15+ years! Are you filled with happiness at the thought of another Grand Slam breakfast served in a sparsly packed restaurant, so tired you can't even hold a coherent conversation, all because you don't really want to go home because you have no one waiting for you when you get there and don't have anything in your fridge other than a couple of beers and left over sandwich meat! If these are the Glory Days, then I seriously have nothing to look forward to for the rest of my life. I went on to bash the collective thinking of these people for the next 10 minutes. I know it's bad, but part of me (the majority part) feels that some people try to play off the delusions in their lives as an excess of blessings.

I will enjoy the good ol' days while they last. And the real Glory Days when I get to heaven.

[For context, and the name of my friend, ask me in person]