Guard Dog

Ok I lied in the thread title. It's really the second best game after American football (College and Pro). But is is certainly worthy of a thread of it's own. So the 2009 season is half way over. The AL East is an absolute dog fight, as expected. However, we were expecting a three way race but a suprisingly resurgent Toronto Blue Jays club has made it a four way race. The Tigers found their mojo and are atop the AL central but the Sox have won seven in a row and nine of the last then and are gaining ground fast. The twins are in a slow fade that even Joe Mauer can't pull them out of (although he is in a position to hit .400 on the season). In the AL West Texas and the Angels are slugging it out with Seattle and Oakland just watching from afar. In the NL East the Mets, Marlins, Phillies, and Braves struggle to see how mediocre a division winner can be. In the NL Central, Pujols is powering the Cards run to the pennant with the Brewers (who finally have a real pitching staff) hard on their heels. The great choking sound you hear? Yep it's the Cubs. And in the NL west the Dogers have Manny back and more importantly they have a seven game lead over the Giants (who I though would be eliminated from the playoffs by now). Adrian Gonzalez is having a so so year, Peavy is wishing he was traded, and Kelverin is crying as the Padres struggle. However, all is not lost, The D-Backs are blocking the cellar door. And last but not least my nephew is now playing for the Greenville Astros! Go 'Stros! Love base baseball? Hate it? Got something to say one way or another? Discuss!

Which way are you heading Hurlshot? East or west? If you are heading west (into California) you should stop at Joshua Tree National Park, it's beautiful there plus it's where Jim Morrison used to get stoned and write all his songs (so it's inspirational too!)

The only way that dream could be improved upon was if said model were wealthy and her father owned a liquor store.

That was a great book. The other two in the series Gods and Generals and The Last Full Measure were not as good but I think that is mainly due to the author not the story. Jeff Shara who wrote Angels was a better writer than his son who wrote the other two.

RV stands for Ruins Vacations! Have fun!

Now reading Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why by Laurence Gonzalez, and Sea of Gray: The Around-the-World Odyssey of the Confederate Raider Shenandoah by Tom Chaffin. This one is really good. If you like Moby ****, or the Sea Wolf, or are a fan of true history check this one out. I can't believe it's never bee made into a movie.

I had "the talk" with my girlfriend. Ended up going seperate ways afterwards. It's really for the best. She wants to get remarried (in general not to me specifically) and I don't. My ex has utterly ruined me for normal relationships I guess. So anyway, I wasn't upset at all about this, hope she wasn't either. So anyway, I got a call from my brother today, his son (my nephew) was drafted by the Houston Astros last month. They just assigned him to the Greeneville Astros right here in Tennessee. Next weekend I'm driving over there to see him and catch a few games. How cool would that be if he makes the big leagues in a few years?

The only "celebrity" death that has had any impact on me the last few years was when Regan passed away. But he was someone I genuienly respected and admired. The rest I feel bad for their families and friends but I don't spend any time mourning them. As for the faceless deaths in Africa and far away places. Heck, I watch the news every morning and the first 10 minuites of every broadcast is about everyone who died the previous night usually due to crime (something Memphis has no shortage of). I feel worse about that than people killed by dictators and thugs half a world away. And to Lord of the Lies, to suggest that I should feel bad because I am somehow complicit in their situation, or somehow benefited from it just by being born and living where I do is absurd on it's face.

I sold the Frogger machine today. I made a little over $400 on it so I'm pretty happy about that.

Ditto what Di said. The best MJ joke I ever heard though was from Ron White. He commented on MJ having a lifesized doll of a cub scout in his house. "Well," Mr. White says "I'm not reading anything into that but if I had a life size doll of a woman in my house everyone would just assume that I was f*****g it. And they would probably be right."

Bummer. You need a big can of bee bopper (the sell it at Tru-Value, good stuff) and some bennadril. And a beer!

You'll like this one then Flies: By the way, you would not happen to be Pop under an alt would you?

Was going to cut the grass today, but it can wait. I spent yesterday replacing the check valve on my well. That was a much bigger job than I thought it would be. Marlins and Rays are playing today at noon, there is beer in the mini-fridge, I've got chili going in the crock pot and I turned off my cell phone so it sounds like my day is booked.

That seems to be the very point the OP wants to make - not funny, but terrible political cartoons. Although some of them are actually funny imo if you think what idiots the people drawing them or the people they are aimed at must be I used to, two or three hard drives ago. Let me look.

Interesting note: the mascots of the two main political parties in the US were actually first used in political cartoons long before the respective parties ever identified with them.

Ditto what Kelverin said.

Just got home from St Louis. I went up there to buy an old Coke machine (made in the 1960's) and an old Frogger machine. Neither work...yet. Morgan (the lady I've been seeing) came with. It was our first weekend trip together and the longest consecutive time we've spent together. It went ok, I think she had fun. But to tell the truth I think living alone for so long has ruined me for relationships. She was starting to get on my nerves a little. Anywho, when I got home all of my booze was gone. Either the dogs had a party or the 19 year old kid (a friends son) who baby sits the dogs did. I tend to think it was the latter since I found a tube of lipstick in the trash that I just know dosen't belong to me. I hope he got lucky and I hope it didn't take that entire bottle of Knob Creek to do it.

i'm gonna get me one of them thar donkey kong machines. oh yeah! in other news, today my ears are ringing to the point i'm going crazy. it is, of course, partly because i am already crazy (serotonin issues are the likely culprit), but i don't know why today it chose to come back with a vengeance after being mostly a non-issue for several months now. perhaps it is a sign from my brain that caffeine really is a no-no? i've been feeling well enough (no anxiety issues) that i started back on the coffee every morning recently, but alas, perhaps cessation of the black oil was reason for my remission in the first place! oh well... back to zombie-land for taks. no more morning go-go juice. i'll still partake whence camping, but my next trip ain't for a few weeks. taks You should try restoring old video games. It's pretty theraputic. I'm looking for another one now. I also saw an old 1970s jukebox on Craigslist. The kind that played 45's. I had an idea to buy it and try to restore it. This is fun and so far profitable.

I listed the Ms. Pac Man machine on craigs list. I got a call on it the next day and sold it for $750. Pretty cool!

I have a theory about why the death penalty has such high public support here in the US. Our justice system is weak, lenient, and indulgent to convicted felons. The prisons are too cushy, sentences too short and parole is too easy. Once they are on parole, too little is done to keep track of them and if they violate they are often as not, not returned to prison. I truly believe we should eliminate parole for violent offenders (stats show that violent offenders have the highest recidivism) and adopt truth in sentencing laws. In other words if you draw a 25 year sentence you will do 25 years. If you draw a life sentence you will leave prison in a body bag. Do that and I think support for capital punishment will fade. Prison sentences as they are now are not really a deterrent. We need to make them one. Just my $.02.

It's 1:40 AM here. I just finished a project I've been working on here. It's a Miss Pac Man machine! Yes indeed an honest to god Miss Pac Man stand up arcade game, circa 1985. I bought it from a bankruptcy sale up in Covington for $150. It was a little beat up and had a bad power supply. I repaired the power supply (it had a bad transformer, and needed re wiring), replaced the CRT with one from another old machine I found. I sanded and repainted it and found a place online that sells the decals and put new Plexiglas on the control panel. It looks nearly brand new and I only have about $400 in it. It took a week but I must say I thoroughly enjoyed working on it. In the ingural game on the finished maching I score 26590 and got to the fifth maze. Woo Hoo.

Heh, I'd hang out with Shryke if I wanted to meet women. But not when I've already found one. That dude has the Kavorka! Kudos if you get that reference!

I met someone this week. Nice lady, 34 professional (sort of), divorced no kids. I'm taking her to dinner tomorrow night. Not expecting a Shryke night but you never know...

I know this is a little OT but I'm curious what everyone thinks. Is there a real difference between an accredited degree (a law degree for the sake of argument) from some small no name school like Austin Peay University and a big name like Rutgers for example? I'm exempting Ivy League for obvious reasons. I've found that at least as far as engineering degrees go unless it came from Cal Tech, MIT, or Georgia Tech a degree from one school is treated much the same as another.