Statistics 101

Hilary: *Some statistic about some conversation we were having*
Me: You know, 52.6% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
Kim: Really?

Time Crunch

Man, I don't think I've been this busy in a very long time -- can't even spare some minutes to post an update! Well, one of my favorite quotes when the "I don't have time" excuse is given: "Make time."

♦ Got to see David Pauley pitch a pretty good game against the Cleveland Indians last last Saturday. The M's lost 4-2, but the more importantly about this game was that 1) I got a Mariner's fleece blanket out of it and 2) I accompanied my friend Trevor (along with Brian and G) to a pre-game U.S.S. Mariner hosted Q&A session with M's GM Jack Zduriencik. Interesting to hear a GM field and defend (or acknowledge) fan generated questions about such a dismal season. Ex: "I know you can't mention any names *cough Chone Figgins*, but are there players on this team that you brought in and felt that, 'whoops, we just flat missed the evaluation on that guy?'" Jack: ... [few seconds of silence] "Yes."



I also took the time see if I could make some nice hand held panoramic photos of the field. The one above is during the Q&A, with the following being from the three hundred level during the game.





♦ My baseball playing season is over, having lost our first and only playoff game. It was a heartbreaker, as we were up 2 runs going into the bottom of the ninth inning. I'll formulate a more detailed end of season report in the near future, but baseball for 2010 is officially over.

♦ 1.5 weeks until I leave for Hawaii, and beach ready body is in dire straits. The flurry of closely scheduled baseball games prevented me from going to the gym as much as I would have liked, but I've gotten back on the horse. Tonight might have signified the hardest leg workout I've ever done, resulting in difficulty walking back to my car for the first time ever. Abs might be out of the question now, but we'll see how much definition can be chiseled in between now and next weekend.

♦ Have you seen the A&E show Hoarders? That stuff is intense. It's amazing to see what some people can live with in their homes -- especially when they don't acknowledge any sort of problem. I actually had a little bit of a hoarding tendency myself (unable to let go of some useless things), but I think I've grown a bit out of it. We'll see what happens after I get my own place! Which...

♦ If all works out according to plan, I will receive the keys to my new home the night right before I leave for Hawaii. Kinda of ill-timed as I won't be able to see it or spend time in it for a week, but man, one step closer to becoming a full fledged adult.

♦ Go see Machete.

Moving Along...

♦ My second baseball game was the complete opposite of the first, with our pitchers issuing thirteen walks on the way to the opposing Blue Rocks scoring 17 off of us in an eight inning game. We mustered eight runs, which really should be enough to win. I got to a 3-0 count in my first at bat and ended up striking out swinging. I think I got too complacent and expected a walk... oh well, lessons learned for next time: always be ready to hit. My second AB resulted in a ground out, and my third was a walk which allowed me to score on a wild pitch three batters later. With a cold and damp Saturday morning loss we were ready to turn it around during out next game on Thursday, but...

Give them nothing, but take from them EVERYTHING!

-King Leonidas, Spartan

♦ We had a late 8PM game scheduled for Thursday night, which had turned into a beautifully sunny day after questionable summer weather earlier in the week. Unfortunately at 4:30PM I received an phone call from our league's president; he had just received an e-mail saying the field (Marymoor Park in Redmond) was damaged and would be unable to host our game that evening. After furiously calling people to make sure they wouldn't show up at Redmond (a very far drive for some), I received a call from the opposing team's manager, Jason. He told me that he had guys at the field, and that it wasn't damaged at all -- there was another team playing there! Our working theory now is that King County parks double booked the field and we got the ass end of it. Our president is investigating further, but another bump in the road for an already troubled season. Luckily we don't have long to wait, as we have two back to back games coming up:
Next game: Sun. June 27th, 4PM @ Lower Woodland (Green Lake-ish!)
&
Mon. June 28th, 6PM @ Petrovitsky (Renton)

♦ But before my game tomorrow, I'll be experiencing something I never thought I would -- the Seattle Gay Pride parade! I will be decked out with gear supporting Mike Heavey (D) as he tries to get himself elected for the state's 34th Legislative District (West Seattle). Kind of a bizarre turn for me, as I am highly non-political, hate large gatherings of people and certainly love the ladies. My aversions notwithstanding, my friend needed help and if I'm going to go to one of these things I might as well go big -- that is to say, if I'm going to a parade, why not be in the parade?

Freedom is the right of all sentient beings.

-Optimus Prime, Autobot

♦ You know what else I'm not interested in at all? Soccer. And today definitely reaffirmed it. After getting back home from the bank, I turned on the TV while I made myself some lunch and just happened to tune in as overtime began in the U.S.A./Ghana match-up. Any sport where faking injuries and playing keep-away are legitimate and widely used strategies... well, it's just asinine. The beauty of baseball over other sports (football and basketball included) is that you have to beat the other team. You can't just build up a quick lead and then run clock off for the remainder of the game. Bottom of the ninth, up twelve runs, you still have to get those three outs -- no coasting allowed. But soccer is in a whole other level. One guy did a bicycle kick, landed on his back, got up, saw the ball had floated out of bounds, and then fell over. He wouldn't get up under his own power and a stretcher had to be brought out. He was subbed out for one minute later, running (sauntering) across the entire field while time elapsed. I got so frustrated watching for twenty minutes, I don't see how anyone could enjoy this sport for hours.

If you can't say something nice... don't say nothing at all.

-Thumper, Animated Rabbit

Back to Work!

"Chuck Norris beats the odds... with his fists."

                     -Thomas, friend

I was able to go to the gym today for the first time in nearly two months. One could say that this trip cost me about $60. While I was happy to be able to move some weight plates around, I was unhappy to see that L.A. Fitness [Renton] had replaced the scale in the locker room with a common bathroom scale. They used to have a nice big one, the kind that you see at doctor offices with the physical weights that you have to manipulate and balance to get your number. Now, they have this crappy one that firstly barely accommodates me with my size ten.5 shoes (meaning it is completely inaccurate), and secondly maxes out at about 225. This is a gym -- half the guys walking around are more than 225 lbs! I was tempted to go into the women's locker room to see if I could use theirs, but I couldn't be sure that they would have a different type of scale in there.

To get the full benefit from my workout, I went home to immediately fix myself a protien shake. Usually I put the protien powder into a blender and make a smoothie with it, but today I went with the suggested serving size of two scoops. Anything more than a near-full scoop into the smoothie would make it all bubbly and nasty, so I went with the recommended instructions of mixing the two scoops of powder with sixteen ounces of cold water, made easier by my fancy twenty ounce blender bottle (a plastic cup with an enclosed top that contains a metal ball shaped whisk that you shake). It tasted like feet. But, I manned up and quickly downed it pinching my nose, making a mental note to get another flavor of protein powder next time.

The gist of the story is that I'm back at the gym, and glad to be back. Despite being half way through summer, I still may be able to mold a beach-ready body before the the autumn leaves start to fall. My baseball game definitely seems to be helped by the time I put into the gym pre-season, and I can feel what seem like legitimate abs under a flab of fat.

Err on a side note, there's a vicious rumor going around my work that I have washboard abs. I'm not going to prove anyone wrong by completely disgusting them after lifting up my shirt, so my only recourse is to get the washboard abs and fulfill the prophesy as told [read: spread] by my HR person.

And His Mama Cries...

'Cause if there's one thing that she don't need it's another hungry mouth to feed,
In the ghetto...

-Elvis Presley

Busy Busy!

Either nothing has been happening in my life, or I've been too busy recently to sit down and pump out a post. I assure you it's the latter, so I'll leave you with a inspirational quote to tide us over until I can get a chunk of time.

Never look down on anybody unless you're helping him up.

-Jesse Jackson, Civil Rights Activist

Quotable Quotes

Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.

-Les Brown, motivational speaker