Take Me Out To The Ballgame
Posted by Steve | Filed under Phun, Sports
Saturday I had the chance to see my first minor league baseball game. It was the Lake Elsinore Storm versus the Stockton Ports. They’re A league teams. My roommate’s niece’s boyfriend plays Shortstop for Stockton, which is one of the Oakland A’s farm teams so I was looking forward to seeing him play. That didn’t quite pan out but it was still a fun time.
It took almost two hours to make the drive out to Lake Elsinore but I pretty much slept the entire way. We grabbed a quick bite at Subway then hit the stadium, Pete Lehr Field. It was a pretty cozy stadium, seated about 8,000 or so with an absolute monster wall in right field. It was like Fenway park, the right field fence was 3X as high as in field. You really felt close to the action. We had good seats behind the visitors dugout and you had to pay attention to make sure you didn’t get clocked by a foul ball. I did pretty much land on roomie’s niece while jumping for a t-shirt which I didn’t even come close to actually catching.
Justin didn’t play even though he’s normally a starter. I guess he missed a gym session earlier so the coach took him out of the lineup to teach him a lesson. He does need to gain some weight if he’s gonna make the majors anyway. Stockton ended up getting crushed 11-3 or something. They had two homers but that was pretty much all the offensive production. Baseball can be a very slow moving game and by the 5th inning I was really wishing I was drunk or at least buzzing pretty good.
I would really like to see a AAA game somewhere. I wonder what the crowds are like there. I need to figure out where the nearest team is.
My lil mutt
Posted by Steve | Filed under General
He loves to rub his nose into my bed sheets or any clothes I take off and drop on the floor. Either I smell really good or really bad. i can’t tell.
Fuck you, Don Imus!
Posted by Steve | Filed under Social Issues
No. That isn’t a fuck you for calling the Rutgers Women’s basketball team a bunch of “nappy headed ho’s”. I really could not care less about them. This country has taken political correctness to a whole new level now. It won’t be long before people have to take out advertisements in the local paper apologizing for calling themselves a bad word. By the way, did you know one of the entrances to the Rutgers Piscataway campus is on Hoes Lane?
No, my friends. That is a half caf triple shot grande non-fat double whip extra hot cup of Fuck You for breathing new life into the tired old carcasses of Jesse Jackson and the most Reverend Al Sharpton. When is the media going to realize those two ass nuggets don’t speak for the majority of black people any more than Jerry Falwell speaks for the majority of white people? And where the hell is this “black community” I keep hearing about? Is it like one of those tram rides at San Diego Wild Animal park where white folks go to to observe blacks in their native environment? hmmm. I can see it now.
White Mom: Look Johnny! See those black teenage boys over there?
Son: Yes, Mommy
White Mom: They’ve already given up on gettting an education because they already realize no matter what they do they’re going to be held back by “The Man”.
Son: “What man, Mommy”?
White Mom: That would be your father, because he won’t give them jobs when there’s somebody else more qualified.
Son: ohh, but they’re all Green Bay Packers fans like me! They have cheeseheads.
White Mom: haha…no, Johnny. Those are bricks of Gubment cheese in their hands. That’s what they eat since Daddy won’t give them a job.
Son: You always make me cheese sammiches, Mommy. Can I be black too?
White Mom: STFU…Can’t you see Dubbayoo is ready to move on?
The days of racial ambulance chasing must come to an end if we are to move forward as a country. Every time time Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpon show their faces White America collectively throws up it’s hands and groans “ohhh shit, not those two again!”. At that point they turn their interest off like a light switch and discount the situation completely irregardless of the actual merits. Those two have cried wolf so many times they’re not taken seriously anymore. It’s time for a new breed of Civil Rights Leader in this country. One that will continue to champion the cause in a non violent manner. Most importantly, one will not only speak out when injustices occur but also when they DON’T occur. One that will have the intestinal fortitude to tell Black America the truth and admit that just because things don’t go our way every time doesn’t necessarily mean racism is the reason. Martin Luther King once said “I have been to the mountaintop”. Jackson and Sharpton have been trying to lead us back up that mountaintop. The problem is the going has gotten so steep they’re both starting to slide back downhill and taking out black America with them. I believe Jesse and Al now cause more harm than good.
Anyone who has heard Bill Cosby speak out on the issues that divide America knows exactly what I’m talking about. Cosby talks about personal accountability and how we need to change the way we present ourselves before whites will change the way they treat us. Here’s something that would just make Cosby’s skin crawl as much as it does mine. It’s from the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN), which Russell Simmons is involved with.
It is important to re-emphasize that our internal discussions with industry leaders are not about censorship. Our discussions are about the corporate social responsibility of the industry to voluntarily show respect to African Americans and other people of color, African American women and to all women in lyrics and images.
HSAN reaffirms, therefore, that there should not be any government regulation or public policy that should ever violate the First Amendment. With freedom of expression, however, comes responsibility. With that said, HSAN is concerned about the growing public outrage concerning the use of the words “bitch,” “ho,” and “nigger.” We recommend that the recording and broadcast industries voluntarily remove/bleep/delete the misogynistic words “bitch” and “ho” and the racially offensive word “nigger.”
Notice they put the onus for cleaning up rap lyrics solely on industry executives (translation – white people). At no point….repeat AT NO POINT do they tell the rappers to clean up lyrics. We need “The Man” to do it for us. Russell, my brotha – how hard would it have been for someone of your industry stature to say “Hey 50, Snoop, DMX…..stop calling women bitches and hoes….K PLZ THNX”. What? They’re not gonna listen to you? Don Imus says ho ONE FREAKING TIME and he loses his job over. YOU had the chance to reduce if not eliminate the word from countless airings and you blew it. You passed the buck. You punked out. I like your clothes but I ain’t buyin shit with a Phat Pharm label until you man up.
So clearly Russell Simmons is not our guy. The problem with Bill Cosby is his age. He is roughly the same age as Sharpton and Jackson. We need a 40′something leader that can carry the torch for a generation or two. I haven’t heard Denzel Washington speak on these issues enough to have an opinion. Chris Rock seems to get it but he’s……well he’s Chris Rock. Who is gonna take him seriously. My best candidate amongst the Hollywood set is D.L. Hughley but i’m not sure that’s the direction we should go.
Speak up, people. Am I on the right track? More importantly….are WE on the right track?
Love
Posted by Steve | Filed under Amore & Vita
To want to be with someone all the time is infatuation.
To have to be with someone all the time is obsession.
To feel you are with someone all the time whether you are or not is love.
Posted by Steve | Filed under Technology, Work
I finally get a new PC at work and it’s gonna be a whopper. A Dell Optiplex 745 with:
- Intel® Core 2 Duo Processor E6600 (2.40GHz, 4M, 1066MHz FSB)
- 2GB DDR2 Non-ECC SDRAM,800MHz
- 250GB SATA 3.0Gb/s and 8MB DataBurst Cache
- 16X DVD+/-RW SATA
- Dell 13 in 1 USB Media Card Reader
I just stuck with onboard video since we have some extra video cards laying about. I am curious to see how fast this thing encodes video compared to my dual Xeon at home. If the difference is a lot I may upgrade at home too. I really want a nice and quiet Shuttle mini that will let me get some shuteye even if its on at night. The Xeon sounds like a freight train.
I need to upgrade all the office computers to Windows XP in preparation for outsourcing our Exchange services and upgrading our CRM software. They will both require it.
Best Advice You Will Probably Ever Hear:
Posted by Steve | Filed under Amore & Vita
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If he’s not calling you, it’s because you’re not on his mind.
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If he creates expectations for you, and then doesn’t follow through on little things, he will do the same for big things. Be aware of this and realize that he’s okay with disappointing you. Don’t be with someone who doesn’t do what they say they’re going to do.
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“Busy” is another word for “asshole.” “Asshole” is another word for the guy you’re dating.
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If at all possible, try to get to know someone as best you can before you get naked with them.
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If a man is really into you, nothing will stop him from being with you.
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Whatever problems you may have been having in your relationship, they didn’t merit him having sex with someone else.
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An excuse is a polite rejection. Men are not afraid of “ruining the friendship.”
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If you can find him, then he can find you. If he wants to find you, he will.
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Cheating is bad. Not knowing why you cheated is even worse. Don’t date any man who doesn’t know why he does things.
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100% of men polled they have never accidentally slept with anyone.
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100% of men polled said they’ve never been too busy to call a woman they were really into.
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Cheating is cheating. It doesn’t matter whom it was with or how many times it happened.
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Cheating gets easier every time it’s done. It’s only hard the first time, when one feels the sting of morality and the guilt of betraying someone’s trust.
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It doesn’t count unless he says it when he’s sober. An “I Love You” (or any semblance thereof) while under the influence of anything stronger than grape juice won’t hold up in court or in life.
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If he only wants to see you, talk to you, have sex with you, etc., when he’s inebriated, it ain’t love - it’s sport.
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Don’t spend your time on and give your heart to any guy who makes you wonder about anything related to his feelings for you.
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If you feel that’s he’s always holding something back, or that you’re spending a lot of energy trying to change yourself into something you think will make him happier, then divorce yourself from him and move on.
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100% of guys polled said they would have no problem marrying a woman who they were positive was the love of their life.
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It’s very tempting when you really want to be with someone to settle for much, much less – even a vague, pathetic facsimile of less – than you would have ever imagined. Remember always what you set out to get, and please don’t settle for less.
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Deciding to get back together with someone is a complicated and difficult decision. Just remember that the person that you are getting back together with is the same person who, not long before, looked you in your beautiful face, took full stock of you and all your qualities, and told you that he was no longer in need of your company.
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You can’t talk your way out of a breakup. It is not up for discussion. A breakup is a definitive action, not a democratic one.
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Break up sex still means you’re broken up. cut him off, let him miss you.
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Don’t give him the chance to reject you again.
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If the person you “love” cannot freely spend his days thinking about you and being with you, it’s not REAL love.
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Unless he’s all yours, he’s still hers.
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Try not to be 4 years into the relationship when it suddenly dawns on you that the guy you’re with is a big, selfish jerk.
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You deserve to be with someone who is nice to you all the time. (You have to be nice to them, too.)
You already have one asshole. You don’t need another.
I’m a cowboy….on a steel horse I ride
Posted by Steve | Filed under Cycling, General
okay, it’s really carbon fiber but you get the picture. Here she is. This is the new bike I will be riding on the AIDS/Lifecycle event coming up in June. A lot of the parts are carbon fiber so its much more comfortable than the steel and aluminum bikes I’ve ridden prior. It weighs 15.6 lbs even though I didn’t really build it to be light. I could easily knock another pound off but I’d rather have the extra durability at my size.
Choosing the correct size was difficult as always because I don’t have normal dimensions. For my height I have short legs and a long’ish torso. Because of that I went up a size to get an extra centimeter of top tube length, which is why I don’t seem to have much seatpost showing. If I could have gotten a custom frame I’d have spec’ed a 51cm seat tube and a 54.5cm top tube. I have a custom-made steel alloy frame in my closet but I retired that. Carbon fiber is too expensive to get customized. As it stands this frame has a 53cm seat tube and a 53.5 top tube. That means the reach from the saddle to the handlebars is less so I had to get a longer stem to compensate. Yes, 1 cm is definitely noticeable when you’re on a bike 2-4 hours a day.
100 of my closest friends and I negotiated a group buy rate of $500 for the frame. It is normally produced and sold under various brands. The previous revision of this frame marketed as the Litespeed Pavia sold for $1,200 so we got a great deal. I cherry picked all the parts and looked for deals wherever I could. The final cost was around $2,700 and thats with getting the frame well below retail cost. If I had walked into a shop and said “build me this bike” it would have run near $4,000.
I got in a few rides this weekend and it feels really good. The comfort of well-made carbon fiber will really be advantage when I’m on the bike for 4-5 hours a day. Aluminum tends to be very stiff and transfer all the rode vibration right up your arms and ass. You feel like you’ve been on a jackhammer after a while.
So, here it is. I’ll put more in the gallery later in the week. I’m pretty tired right now.
