February 2005 Posts

AA This Evening

So, I went to play some AA as I was hoping Stephan would be there, but we didn’t hook up. At any rate, we were kicking butt when I got thrown out by a system error, so I am estimating what the last 3 games were (I know they were wins, but I don’t know what my stats were exactly)… but we went 16-1 (won the last 10) and I had 31 kills while dying 3 times.

The unbelievable thing was that right after we go 7-0 (and 13-1), one guy starts cursing and saying how he needs kills and him and another guy start arguing. I told them that it was dumb. Here we are, just crushing everyone and this guy is concerned with kills and fragrate. Bah.

Matsui the Great

Great and true article about Hideki Matsui.

“He stands for all you want to see in a player.”

Bingo.

I love the guy. Tough to think of a left fielder I’d rather have.

IE and Firefox

I don’t have to say very much… I am in a similar position to Jeremy.

While I have nothing against Firefox and my use of it has been generally positive… I have no reason to switch. There is nothing that jumps out at me and says “you need this!” All of the things people have suggested, in my experience, that Firefox has “better” of, just don’t interest me. Will that change? Maybe. I mean, I just switched from WMP to Winamp… anything is always possible.

Really, the subject as a whole bothers me because it is so unimportant and stupid, yet people can get so nasty. A group of web developers (that make the rest of us look bad) feel it is perfectly acceptable to insult IE users or to put down IE in a really inflammatory way. Of course, it exists on the IE side, but in my opinion – not as much, with a lot of it being magnified because of the people on the other (Firefox) side, originally. I’d just like it all to stop. I’d like people to respect each other and their choices. Will it happen? Yeah, right. And I’ll find a bag of money outside my door tomorrow.

So, to that end, these Firefox and IE discussions are bordering on the insanity of political and religious discussions – are they the next topic to be banned from discussion at professional run Internet communities? Maybe not. But, it is an idea.

House

Anyone watching House?

That and The Simpsons are the only 2 shows I watch regularly right now.

“Why is this site so dead?” or “We need more users!!!”

At various points of developing at some of my communities, there are users who start threads asking the question “Why is this site so dead?” Their exact words, no kidding. Either that, or “We need more users!!!” Things like that.

Now, don’t get me wrong. One of the goals of my communities is too grow. But, I don’t really rush growth. I tell users who ask these questions and say these things that they should enjoy what the community is now. Some people enjoy tight knit communities and almost all miss it (some more or less than others) when it is gone. I know I do. But, I also look excitedly towards growth and the challenges that it presents.

But, while we’re not big, you should enjoy it for what it is. Enjoy it while it lasts because once its gone, it probably isn’t going to come back. And, when we’re big, enjoy that, too. But, whatever moment you are in, take it in and enjoy it and make the most of it.

Winamp

Well, thanks to Jared, I am now using Winamp. I liked Windows Media Player and still do (I’ll probably still use it to rip CDs), but some of the playlist stuff was annoying me, so I decided to give Winamp a chance. Got my playlist imported and its working pretty well. Still more to learn about it, of course, but we’ll pick it up.

I really like the opacity setting that you can set to make it blend in. Awesome.

Lock Matsui Up. Now.

Like we should have locked Pettitte up in spring training, we should lock Matsui up in spring training.

He wants to come back. So, bring him back. For me, Matsui is pretty much everything you’d want. Dignified, intelligent, talented (he can hit and field), durable. I love the guy.

Via Pro Sports Daily.

Argh… getting sick!

I think I am getting sick. I have a sore throat and that “feeling” that I am getting sick, if you know what I mean.

So, I speak to Gavin (who is sick) one time last night on MSN for 5 minutes and I wake up with a sore throat, brilliant!

Or… I went to the green tag sale and all I got was a cold!

Bah.

Feng Shui on the Yankees

Feng Shui: The Chinese art or practice of positioning objects, especially graves, buildings, and furniture, based on a belief in patterns of yin and yang and the flow of chi that have positive and negative effects.

This applies to the Yankees, for me. When Posada is at catcher, Bernie is in center and, especially, Jeter is at short stop… something just feels right. Call it what you will, but I like it.

Wells Opens Mouth

Boomer sees Red on Yanks.

Let’s take a look here…

… “Brian told me, ‘We’d love to have you, but The Boss is looking in another direction and we’re going to go with youth.’ Then they turned around and signed Randy (Johnson). What part of that I didn’t get, I don’t know.

Cashman answered this well:

Cashman confirmed that he told Wells the Yanks wanted to get younger in their rotation, saying they backed that up by signing Carl Pavano and Jaret Wright as free agents. The Johnson deal was “a separate transaction,” Cashman said.

“He had a chance to be a Yankee last year and he chose to go to San Diego,” Cashman said of Wells.

“I’ve never had a good relationship with Joe, we’ve had a few run-ins, and Mel Stottlemyre, as well,” Wells added. “Mel’s probably the best pitching coach I’ve ever had, but when you have run-ins like that, it just leaves a sour taste. And who needs it? I can understand their point, and hopefully, they can understand mine.

Joe Torre is one of the most respected managers in baseball, I think most will agree. If you have a problem with Joe Torre, chances are you are the problem.

“He got thrown into a pretty good mix over there. He inherited a team just like I think Joe did when he became manager in ’96. They already had a good team there,” Wells said. “Joe’s a good manager, a great manager … and when you have that kind of atmosphere, winning becomes contagious.”

Speaking of that inherited team, Joe has been at it for 9 years. Wells was on the team for 4 of those years. Those teams? 1 WS win, 2 appearances. The other 5 years? 3 WS wins, 4 appearances. Coincidence? Probably, but I’m just saying…

Wells also said he’s “annoyed” that Rodriguez occasionally has referred to the Yankees as “we” when discussing their past championships.

“He was talking like he’d won three or four rings with them, when he hadn’t,” Wells said. “And that kind of disturbed me, because I would never put myself in that situation. … He shouldn’t put himself in that category. You gotta earn it.”

He can say we because he is part of the current “we”.

Wells also intimated he would have no emotional problem “protecting” his new teammates while pitching against his former ones this season, even if that might turn his longtime fans in New York against him.

“Last year, I probably had the best ovation I’ve ever had in my life,” Wells said of his return to New York with San Diego. “To get a two-three minute standing ovation, was awesome. … They don’t forget and that’s what’s so good about New York. They remember, and hopefully just because I’m putting on a Red Sox jersey, they don’t think I’m a traitor of any sort.”

I didn’t really like you when you were a Yankee, but … if you start hitting Yankees, those people who did like you may just start to turn…

Via Alex.