25 Years of Returning to Glory

I was a little surprised to read this today.

I know that many Michigan fans wanted to keep Notre Dame on the football schedule indefinitely. Now you have your wish, assuming that this article is true.

I wish we had agreed to schedule Notre Dame every other season so that we would also schedule other elite football teams like Texas and Oklahoma and not just play Notre Dame and three additional stooges outside of the conference each fall. Oh well. As long as we smack down ND as convincingly as we did last year, I will enjoy 25 more years of fighting the Irish in September.

Fun with Youtube

One of the best shows ever on PBS (along side Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego).

I never noticed the blatant Michigan bias of the show's producers when I was a child, but it makes the show that much better as an adult.

MATHMAN!

Minor Milestones

I've been trying to improve my eating habits all year. Starting sometime in April, I started to get a little more serious about my diet. At that time, I started eating oatmeal for breakfast almost every day and salad for dinner most nights during the week. I also removed peanut butter from my apartment and almost completely removed cheese from my diet. Going without peanut butter has proved extremely taxing at times. I still get huge cravings for a little peanut butter as part of an evening snack on occasion, but while I occasionally let my healthy diet slide for a few days at a time (i.e., the Vegas trip), I will not surrender to the temptation of peanut butter.

Today, I achieved a minor milestone. I stepped on a scale at the gym and it read 199.5 pounds! Woo hoo! I can't remember when I last weighed under 200 pounds! Granted, I have been in the 200-210 range for the past couple years, so I haven't really lost that much weight. I still consider it to be an accomplishment, even if I can't really notice any difference yet.

In all honesty, I think the loss of 5-10 pounds is more due to the fact that I have not been lifting weights at the gym the past month. I just started lifting weights at the gym again recently, so I'll probably be back over 200 shortly, but I decided to enjoy this for a day. My salad for dinner was extra tasty! (but I still have no peanut butter in the apartment)

The FIX is IN!

So I just wanted to start a post about officiating with that title. This post really is not about a fix, nor is it about the NBA ref that fell victim to mob influence and became corrupt (thought that is a fascinating story).

Rather, this post is about our company softball league. After all, it's been way too long since I posted anything about softball.

Our team improved to 9-1 today with a lucky 11-7 win over Son of a Pitch. We managed to sweep the season series despite an uncharacteristically large number of errors on defense by escaping several jams where the other team left 2+ runners on base. The seven runs against is the second most we have given up in a game this season. We are averaging 3.8 runs against per game this season. Think about that. 3.8 runs against in slow pitch softball. That's freakin' unbelievable! The next best team in the league allows around 6 runs per game. We are 1/2 game out of first (The Swarm is 10-1) and we will have a shot to win the regular season title outright and earn the #1 seed for the playoffs if we win our last four games, including a regular season ending showdown with The Swarm on 8/16!

However, my beef is about the officiating in our game and in the Swinging Bunts game this evening. I swear that slow pitch softball umps are terrible. The guy umpiring our game tonight makes up his own softball rules half the time, and I seriously question whether or not the umpire is high half the time he calls one of our game (and he sports a ZZ Top style beard). Today, there was a play where the batter fouled a ball off his foot. Since he was still standing in the batters' box, I think the play is ruled dead and it's a foul ball. However, the ump did not call the play dead until our third baseman touched the ball in foul territory. When I asked whether or not the ball was foul when it hit his foot, he said it was not immediately foul, but if the ball had been touched in fair territory, the batter would automatically have been out. Huh? He hit the ball off his foot. How is that an automatic out? That made no sense. This was not the only rule that I think the ump has made up, but the umpire that called FlyingV's game tonight bothers me much more.

The Swinging Bunts had the umpire that is clearly there to end the game as soon as possible. Almost every pitch thrown is called a strike, and every close play is given to the fielder. Not just "ties", but close plays. As their game stretched into extra innings tonight, the umpire decided to make even more egregious calls in favor of the defense. There was one play where the shortstop bobbled the ball. He eventually grabbed that ball and while sprawled out on the ground, he tried to lunge for second base to make the force out play. The problem was that the shortstop was about one foot away from the base when Hyphen-Lady made it to second. Since it was the ninth inning and the umpire wanted to go home, he decided that this was close enough to constitute an out. Who cares if he didn't touch the bag. A huge argument broke out, since it was obvious to everyone that the fielder never touched second base. Finally, the shortstop acknowledged that he never touched the base and that Hyphen-Lady was safe. It was a very nice and honest gesture at a critical juncture of the game. Seriously, if you are in a rush to go home, don't make a mockery out of one of our softball games. Just stay home and let us pay someone else $35 to call the game.

I think the best solution is that we should simply save the $35 cost of a umpire for each game and just ump our own games (or have each of the team captains umpire league games involving other teams). I think I could do a much better job calling one of these games honestly than the idiots we pay each week. We're all honest people and could do a competent job without being in a rush to get the game over with and go home.

Now That's Customer Service

I decided to stop at Subway for dinner on my way home from softball tonight since it was nearly 8PM and I was not going to cook tonight. As I pull into the parking lot, some random dude is standing out there talking on his cell phone in Spanish.

I walked into the Subway and no one was inside. A few seconds later, the dude on the phone walks behind the counter. I figured that he must have been bored and made a phone call since there were no customers. After standing there for a second, I realize that he is not going to end his call. He ends up completing my order while continuing his cell phone conversation!

While I found this horribly rude and it slowed down the making of my sandwich, I was quite impressed that the dude was able to make my sandwich without any mistakes and not drop his cell phone. Sadly, I think this guy has probably made many sandwiches during his employment at Subway while conducting a cell phone conversation.

RoopDoog, as a former Subway employee, can you tell me what is the Subway policy for employees talking on cell phones while waiting on customers?

Bright Wedding Part 3 - Bright says "I do", eh?

Here are some pictures/short stories. And yes Mpls Ju, I have included pictures of people you know this time.

The groom and his party watch the bride walk down the aisle.

Pre-first kiss.
One of the two best men wearing a red vest and bow tie. Part of a fantastic practical joke. He was not able to pick up his tux until the morning of the wedding. When this best man showed up for pictures a couple hours before the wedding, he was wearing the red outfit pictured above and told Bright that this is what the tuxedo place game him (as opposed to the blue outfit he was supposed to wear). Once Bright was effectively terrified and freaking out, he was informed that it was just a practical joke. Way to loosen up the groom before his wedding.

The best men passed out Tim Horton's cups to a select group of friends who would understand the joke (Bright has a "minor" obsession with Canada). We all raised them high in the air at the end of the toast for the groom. Mmm...Champagne in a Tim Horton's cup. A fellow PCMB trumpet holds up the cup in the picture above.

Me and the groom.

The bride and groom entered the reception hall to "Eye of the Tiger". Fantastic!!!

CableGirl and her boy.

Bright's parents.

Bright Wedding Part 2 - TAHOE!

Bright and I won money playing craps at the casino. Bright drank alcohol. Perhaps too much alcohol. Fun times were had by all. No pictures were taken and any other evidence of the event was destroyed.

You didn't really think I was going to post any of the bachelor party stories, did you? If you want to know what happened, you'll have to ask Bright.

Thursday was mostly spent recovering and returning to the Bay Area. I went golfing with some of Bright's roommates when we got back into town. I managed to golf a 50 over 9 holes (par 36). It was a personal best for 9 holes. By far. The course was pretty easy, though.

Friday was a day to myself in San Francisco. I went to Alcatraz, then walked around the bay from Fisherman's Wharf all the way down to the baseball stadium, where I watched the Giants lose to the Dodgers. I'll let some pictures tell the story...

I spent the morning touring the famous former U.S. military base/federal prison/Native American protest site at Alcatraz. First time, and hopefully last time, that I have set foot inside of a current or closed U.S. prison.

Shot of the San Francisco skyline while on the boat ride to Alcatraz. It was a beautiful morning!

Skipping ahead to Friday evening, a lonely kayaker sits in McCovey cove while the Giants take batting practice before their baseball game against the Dodgers.
Free view from outside the stadium in the left field wall. Don't worry though, I actually bought a ticket for the game.
My favorite part of a baseball game. The home team runs out to take the field at the top of the first inning.

A night game during the summer in San Francisco feels like a night game in October somewhere in Big Ten country. It was foggy and cold. I thought I was prepared by wearing a fleece and jeans, but I was still freezing. Regulars around me were wearing hooded sweatshirts and brought blankets. And they say Candlestick Park was worse...

For those who were wondering, Barry Bonds played a perfect game. He hit into two double plays and walked twice on four straight pitches. Just what I wanted to see.

Coming Soon - Part 3 - Bright says 'I do', eh!

Large Companies Suck!

I've been renting apartments for the last seven years. For the first time in those seven years, I am renting from a large reality company that owns several buildings. Today I learned first hand how cold-hearted these large real estate companies are.

This complex does not let me pay my rent by personal check. Although it's actually quite nice to pay by credit card, I prefer to personally deliver my rent check every month so that I know that it has been received on time. In my seven years of renting, I only forgot to pay my rent on one occasion, and the landlord contacted me on the 4th day of the month to remind me of the issue so that I could pay well before I would be charged with a late payment fee.

Unfortunately, there was a mix-up this month with the payment service I use to pay my rent and my credit card was not billed for my July. I discovered this today when I noticed that my credit card bill was unusually low. The reason my credit card was not billed was because my credit card on file had expired and I needed to update my credit card number with a new expiration date for a scheduled payment to go through. I have not yet received any notice from the apartment complex that my rent was late.

Upon realizing the issue, I ran over to the leasing office to clear this up and find out why I had not been given a late notice. I was hoping that I could talk them out of charging me the $75 late payment fee since I am bringing this issue to their attention before they ever notified me. However, I assumed that I would probably have to pay the late fee since that charge is assessed on the 10th day of the month.

The office accountant was out to lunch when I stopped by, so I asked the person at the office to have her call me ASAP so that I could stop by and resolve this issue. 4:30PM rolled around and I still had not heard back. I called the office and was able to reach the office accountant. She was an asshole.

I was told that it is my fault that the rent is late. I was not there to debate that issue, so she didn't need to bring this up repeatedly. I was informed that I had to get them a money order by the time they close today for the late funds or I would be issued an eviction notice, which was scheduled to go out at the close of business today. Given that my bank had closed for the day, this was impossible. However, if she had returned my message promptly this afternoon, I would have been able to pay today.

When I asked whether they have a policy to politely warn their tenants of late rent prior to issuing eviction notices, I was told that I am lucky that they don't issue eviction notices on the 10th, which is within their legal right.

When I asked why she didn't respond to my message regarding my late rent at a time when I could still have gone to my bank today to obtain a money order, I was basically reminded that it was my responsibility to pay rent on time. I asked to speak to the building manager at this point since the accountant clearly cannot see anything beyond black and white, but she said that all rent issue go through her and that no one else could help me.

I ultimately pleaded for mercy since I did not want an eviction notice on my credit record. I had given up on trying to negotiate my way out of the late payment charge. Apparently, she did not want to relent despite the fact that I discovered this problem on my own and have not had a single issue paying rent on time since I moved here. When I pointed out that I cannot get a payment to her until after the leasing office closes on Tuesday, she initially said I was S.O.L.. However, I was able to get her to make a one-time exception after asking again why she never responded to my urgent message from earlier in the day, but she would not put it in writing for me. Given my distrust of this asshole accountant, I am going to go into work 2 hours late tomorrow and get a money order from my bank and put this issue to rest before my credit is tarnished.

Here is what I think of my apartment complex.


Long story short, never rent from a large real estate company. They are so large that they are incapable for caring for their low maintenance tenants. I can't wait to move out of here.

And don't worry. It's not lost on me that my non-payment of rent this month is ultimately my fault.

Bright Wedding - Part 1 - Airport Woes

I had been looking forward to this trip for a long time. I was heading out to California on Tuesday night so that I could participate in the daylong bachelor party event on Wednesday. Unfortunately, the plans did not work out as intended.

My flight to San Francisco had a connection in Washington DC. Unfortunately, flights in and out of DC were delayed all evening due to bad weather on the east coast. As a result, my flight arrived to DC two hours late, which caused me to miss the last flight of the night to San Francisco, which managed to leave on time.

I spent the next two hours dealing with customer service. I think at least half of the people in line were trying to get to the San Francisco area, so my flight probably left behind a large number of passengers. Working with customer service was a grueling process, but I was able to get United to provide me with a meal voucher, a $150 travel voucher on a future United flight, and a complimentary business class upgrade on the first flight that left the next day for San Francisco (still not sure how I scored that last benefit). Unfortunately, they could not get me a voucher for a hotel room that night since all neighboring hotels were already completely booked. Given that United could have copped out and said I was SOL because my original delay was weather related, they did a wonderful job addressing my situation.

However, I was still stuck spending the night at the airport terminal. By the time I had worked out all the details, it was after 1AM. I’d rather sleep in the terminal than spend 1-2 hours finding a hotel room and only getting about 1-2 hours of sleep before traveling back to the airport. Amazingly, I was able to salvage 4 hours of sleep at my gate, despite the constant PA announcements/warnings about leaving my baggage unattended and calling police if I see anything specific. Yes, those announcements are still run throughout the overnight hours when no flights are actually coming in or out of the airport.

Flying business class across the country was amazing. It’s so easy to sleep through an entire flight when your seat reclines all the way back!! They even give you real pillows and normal sized blankets as opposed to the small pieces of cloth in coach.

Although I was able to eventually get to San Francisco, I did not arrive in time to make the whitewater rafting trip. I was really bummed out about this since I was looking forward to that part of the trip, but I was still able to enjoy the rest of the bachelor party extravaganza.

Coming soon – Part 2, What happens in Tahoe, stays in Tahoe

Go West

I'm leaving on Tuesday after work for Bright's wedding. I am really excited about the trip since I have a lot of fun things planned for the five days I'll be in San Francisco. I doubt I'll make another post before I leave, but I'm taking my camera on the trip and I'll post pictures when I return. Have a good week!

Randomness

I was listening to a local radio station today when 'My Prerogative', a song from the 1980s started playing. While I don't know all of the words to this song, I was reminded of what I thought the song was about back when I was a kid. I used to think that the artist was singing about his "cup of tea" instead of his "prerogative". I started laughing when I heard the song today because of how badly I used to mess up the words to the song. I guess it's a fairly common occurrence since I recently saw a commercial for "The Singing Bee" which makes fun of people that mess up words to popular songs.

I'm sure there are other lyrics for other popular songs that you all used to slaughter. Anyone care to volunteer an example?

Rank the Crimes

Rank the four crimes in terms of their severity (most-to-least):

1. Getting Caught driving twice with a suspended license. License was originally suspended due to a DUI driving violation.
2. Journalist refuses to name a source that provided information about an undercover CIA operative. Journalist never published an article with this information.
3. Journalist refuses to name a source that provided information about an undercover CIA agent. Journalist publishes article and 'outs' the CIA undercover agent.
4. Government source close to the president divulges name of CIA undercover agent to press and jeopardizes the safety of this individual.

If you are like me, you would rank them 4, 1, 3, then 2, though one would probably argue that "crimes" 3 and 2 are not really crimes and are protected by the first amendment.

Now rank the four crimes in the order of actual jail time served (most-to-least). Are you surprised that the only two crimes that resulted in jail time are crimes 1 and 2? Would you believe that crime #2 was committed by a New York Times reporter and resulted in the most jail time of the four listed above? Would you believe that "crime" #3 resulted in no jail time and was committed by a conservative journalist? Would you believe that crime #4 resulted in no jail time since our president believed that any punishment involving jail time was unnecessarily severe?

Moral of this post? President Bush is a hypocrite. His cronyism belongs in a third world country.

Independence Day

I was having a discussion with DrT about what I normally do on July 4th. I recalled what used to be an annual tradition of the boat party on the St. Clair River with some of my old South Quad friends and how I used to fly back to Michigan for this party at one time. However, it's been three years since I went back to MI for that party. So what did I do the last two years on July 4th? Well, I though long and hard about this when asked and I could not think of anything exciting. Then I realized that I worked on July 4th both years. Ah yes, the second quarter close does not warrant a real holiday. I guess I did go to Redneck's wedding on July 3rd last year in upstate NY, only to rush back to CT early the next morning so that I could work on the 4th.

I guess that the last couple celebrations of the signing of the Declaration of Independence have been so traumatic that I have blacked them out of my memory. Hopefully I will find something to do this year now that I am not longer in a role that requires me to work on July 4th.

On that note, I just wanted to wish my Canadian readers a Happy Canada Day.