Dodgers Update

Well, the Dodgers won last night! They are now alone in first place since April 4. This looks to be a reverse of last year, where the Dodgers were in first for most of the season, but when it came to fall games, the Dodgers fell.

A bit of advice: don't teach your bird how to cry for help!

TRENTON, N.J. - Cries for help inside a Trenton, N.J., home turned out to be for the birds. Neighbors called police Wednesday morning after hearing a woman's persistent cry of "Help me! Help me!" coming from a house. Officers arrived and when no one answered the door, they kicked it in to make a rescue.
--AP

Baseball Starts Soon!

Opening Day
9 days 6 hr 21 min 26 sec

 

Am I looking forward to it?

That would be an "affirmative!"  The long wait (October - April*) is about over and baseball can begin again. 

* Regular season; not counting Spring Training.

Galaxy

The L.A. Galaxy, that is.  Not that I expected them to do anything, since they stayed in the basement all year, but the Galaxy are officially eliminated from the MLS playoffs.

I just have two things to say:  wait until next year... and we still have David Beckham!

October Baseball

October is here and with that comes pumpkin pies, apple cobblers, fiery leaves, and of course - post season baseball.

This year my NL team did not finish strong.  After quite a while in first place, the Dodgers ran out of gas; they barely finished above 500.  But there is always next year...

In the meantime I get to enjoy the events leading up to the fall classic.  October baseball is a great time, followed closely by April baseball.  As a close out on the 2007 Baseball, I would like to see the Cubs and Indians in the World Series. 

Runners -- Let thirst be your guide

Here's a study that will be of some interest to the runners out there. 

Link to Runners -- Let thirst be your guide

Goalie Scores a Goal!

PAUL ROBINSON GOAL : Spurs v Watford 90 Mtr GOAL

California out of the Fall Classic

Ok, I concede. All three of the California teams will not be playing in the World Series. Now I have a hard time to decide which team to cheer for. Will it be the Tigers or whoever wins in the National League? I don't know. I've always defaulted to the National League because I don't like the designated hitter rule. But I don't really like either the Mets or the Cardinals. So I might just go with the Tigers... we'll see who wins the NLCS first.
Which team do YOU want to LOSE? Let me know... so I can cheer for them! (Then they'll lose)

Rant - I'm in the Minority

Tonight I would like to be watching the Dodger game -- it's at Dodger Stadium and it's a playoff game. But I'm in the minority - more people want to watch football. Two channels running college football, but none showing the NLDS.

If I had a faster internet connection I could be watching it on my computer -- but thanks to where I'm at, I can't.

And the internet at Starbucks blocks it.

At least I can hear it on the internet. And listening to Vin Scully on KFWB, while not a replacement for seeing the game, is the next best thing.

Unfortunately the Dodgers are down 3-0 already in the 1st inning.

We'll see if this is the last game for the Dodgers this year. If not, I can wait until March and Vero Beach.

Nope. We Lost.

Cool Fireworks from Pittsburgh. But the National League lost... again. Next year. Oh well. The game counts, but only to see who gets home field advantage for the World Series. I still think the Dodgers can win without it. Did you see how well we've been doing?

All Star Game

Since I'm a Dodgers fan, and I don't like the DH, I'm cheering for the National League. For most of the game we've been leading. Then in the top of the 9th the American League took it. 2 outs left. We'll See.

Zidane's career tarnished.

Today's World Cup Final was being watched by millions of people. Many who, like myself, did not particularly support either team (Italy or France) but wanted to see the stars shine for the last time in 2006 Cup play. Furthermore, this was the last game for the exceptional French player, Zinedine Zidane. In fact, that is how I decided on which team I was going to cheer for. I was going to cheer for Zidane to get a wonderful finale to his great career.

Watching his tarnished, early exit from the game was frustrating. I was then happy to see Italy win -- for Zidane should not have had the right to be excited about his performance. For someone of his stature in the sport to have acted so childishly was horrible. I was also embarassed because I had just finished explaining to one of my friends, who wasn't a soccer fan, how professional most soccer players are -- especially those at this level of play.

Thank you Zidane for proving me wrong. I wonder what your team thinks of you -- how would have this game turned out if you played the last 10 minutes -- if you could have participated in the shoot-out. Well, you won't ever know. Nor will you say that you can prove yourself again in 2010. I wanted to see a great exit, not a greatly regretable exit.

USA def. Ghana in 2010.

Bad and Good News

Bad News:

The U.S. is out of the World Cup. I think that it is time to re-evaluate who is on the team and the style of play used. For as a large as a country as we are, we should be able to field a better team. That being said, congrats to Italy and Ghana for advancing.

Good?? News:

Weapons of Mass Destruction Found in Iraq At least something has been found in Iraq.

However, I think they should have eliminated the fax numbers before releasing this report.

Softball Update

Yesterday was the first game of the Summer Softball Season. We lost, 18-9. I went 0 for 3; pop-out, ground-out, strike-out.

Next game is next week. Hopefully we'll do better. But at least it was fun to be playing again.

Western Baseball, Northern Heat, Southern Immigration, & Eastern... something eastern.

NL West Over 500
I intended to add this four days ago... but it's only changed a little. To all those who say the NL West is weak... on June 2nd all of the teams were over .500 Right now all but 1 are over .500 So this year the division is a lot stronger. In fact, it has the best record of the MLB. Now if only the Dodgers were to make up the 2.5 game deficit...

Tropical North Pole
In response to the global warming and melting poles, recent evidence suggests that the North Pole used to be tropical. Most news articles still think that global warming is a coming disaster. I do not find this to be that extreme of a situation. Studies have suggested that before the Flood, the entire planet was tropical. More details on that some other time. For now, just note that it is possible that the melting of the ice caps is not a global disaster. It might affect some things, but it does not appear to be unprecedented.

Illegal Immigration
Immigration is necessary to maintain the high standards of living in developed countries. This is primarily due to the low birth rates of most developed countries. Additionally, immigrants tend to be more enterprising, so they generate more money for the economy. Immigration is good. Legal Immigration.

Illegal Immigration is bad for a few reasons. Firstly, most illegal immigration involves exploitation of people. Transportation of illegals (by sea or land) involves risk... the people arranging the transporation are interested in money alone and because they aren't subject to safety laws and regulations or to lawsuits for breach of contract, they can get away with not safely delivering their human cargo. Secondly, the employers who hire illegals can pay very little for hard, dangerous work (or easy, safe work for that matter). This might temporarily reduce the cost of goods and services, but society has decided to have minimum wages, health insurance, safety requirements and other "expensive" items. They may cost more dollars but cost less on the human price. In the long run, the price is more than what consumer wants to pay. Thirdly, it creates a mockery of those who struggle to follow the rules and immigrate legally. Fourthly, it creates second class citizens. People who illegally immigrate always know they broke the law and are afraid of being deported, so they will put up with more abuse and suffer more hardships. Fifthly, illegal immigration inhibits innovation and development. Children of illegal immigrants typically do not have the financial freedom and education of those who are native born. This keeps them in lower end jobs and away from the universities. This is bad for society as a whole. Look at China and India -- the more students in college and higher learning, the better job growth and development is -- regardless of the wages. (Education reform is for another time as well). And Finally, it allows for terrorists and drug runners to infiltrate easier (greater numbers of people sneaking in makes it harder to catch the bad guys).

Walls, more money, troops on the border, better equipment -- none of these will stop illegal immigration. As long as someplace is viewed as being worth the risk, people will come. What needs to be done is a greater enforcement on the companies and individuals that hire illegals as well as those who help them across the border. It also needs to be easier for people to come legally. Being born in one part of the world does not make one better or worse than any other person. Those who happen to be born in a good area should not lord it over those who are born elsewhere. The U.S. (since that is the place of most illegal immigration) has plenty of room and could have plenty of jobs. To allow people to come legally would be best measure to stop illegal immigration.

Ants are invading my room

No. This is not a joke.
No. There is no food or trash or remains or dust or anything else for them to want to get at.

For the second night in a row, ants are coming, unbeckoned, undesired, undeserved into my room. They are entering through the cracks around the window.

Last night I fought them off and thought I got rid of all of them. I erased their trail, sprayed it with chemicals and checked it this morning... no more ants. I thought I was safe.

BUT NO. After coming back from watching (at a friend's house) the Mavs/Spurs game (which my only regret regarding the grame is that I won't get free coffee from Valero tomorrow), putting on the Dodger game (MLB TV), and climbing into bed, I started to feel like I was getting bit. I was. The bed was full of ants. The ants were marching in (but with no hurrah's and certainly more than 100 by 100, let alone 1 by 1).

I wouldn't mind as much if they were going after food I left out -- my "reward" for leaving things out. Or if they were going to another part of my room (ie corner, dvds, computer, you name it --- anything but where they are headed) instead of my bed.

As a single guy, I look forward to someday sharing my bed with someone-my future wife. I don't know who she is right now, but I assure anyone reading this that, regardless of any other redeeming qualities (including millions of dollars) that six-legged beings need not apply. Certainly not those who come unbidden and biting.

I have spent the last hour or so trying to rid my room yet again from the ants. Windex, Lysol with bleach, squishing them with paper towels, squishing them with my bare hands, and even burning them with a BIC cigarrette lighter. {No I don't smoke--the lighter is useful for cleaning up uniforms that have stray strings}

After maintaining watch for the last 30 minutes to see if no others invade the bed (they can have the floor tonight... I'm buying Raid tomorrow... I just want to sleep without being crawled on and bit) I decided to rant and rave about the situation in this post and then check to see if any have returned.

Hopefully they have learned the lesson by seeing the other ants nearby who were burnt to a crisp and decide to leave the area. Otherwise this will be a very long night.

At least the Dodgers won and are now tied for first place in the NL West.