Friday, May 30, 2008

Best of the best

Clearly I've been neglecting my blog over the last three weeks so (and this doesn't really count) but I just noticed it so I have to share this or I may just burst. As of last night, and even more so after their massive come-from-behind victory this afternoon, the Cubbies are not only in first place in the NL Central, but have the best record in all of baseball.
Get some (everyone else).
34-21 (.618) with the best current winning streak in MLB at five games.
Add that to the fact the M's just won two of three, both one-run victories, against the Red Sox and I'm in fantastic state of baseball bliss.

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Sports frenzy

First off and most important, the Mariner's can't seem to win when I attend games in person at Safeco Field...then again they can't seem to win much at all so I'm not blaming myself. I went last night and they only managed TWO FREAKING HITS. You've got to be kidding me. It's Texas. They hit home runs and pitch terrible, not two hit the M's...**expletive**

In other sports news...

Kobe finally won his first MVP award and was a very deserving recipient this year. He is having his best season, he's getting his teammates involved and they're winning...convincingly. I said this before, and I'm sticking to it...I don't think anyone can stop the Lakers this year. Nobody.

After a nasty slip and fall, the Pistons lost their starting PG Chauncey Billups for game three of the Eastern Conference Semifinals...and as a result lost the game to the Magic. Glad to see Orlando finally beat Detroit in the playoffs. I thought they could win the series before, but if Chauncey can't come back, or comes back at less than 100% I think Orlando's chances of winning the series are even better.

Speaking of the Detroit/Orlando series...that clock malfunction play at the end of the third quarter during game two should now bring about changes to where officials can do more to "estimate" when clock malfunctions occur. I mean seriously. Granted the Pistons won by more than three, but it was a critical turning point in the game. This is me shaking my finger (Mutombo style) at David Stern and the NBA.

Who the hell does Tony Romo think he is? I absolutely hate when professional athletes try to pursue other sports careers. He's dating the equivalent of a blow up doll with a better rack and getting all this praise for being such a great QB when in reality he's mediocre at best and actually plays worse when his brainy blonde is in attendance. Clearly he has other things he needs to focus on, but instead he was at some Texas, regional, local, community, satellite golf tournament qualifier trying to qualify for the US Open. WTH!? Did he shoot better than I would've? Yes, but he's not a golfer, he's barely a QB, and of course he didn't make the cut. Next time you might as well just go ride a motorcycle with no helmet and see what happens then. Stupid freaking professional athletes. Focus on your sport. Or your family. Or charity work. Things that matter or things that you're getting paid too much to do. UGH.

Carlos Gomez of the Twins was only the 8th player in team history to hit for the cycle. He did so in reverse order, starting with a home run, a triple, double and ending with an infield single...speed baby! First Twin to hit for the cycle since Kirby Puckett in 1986. Kudos to you Carlos and a big thanks for the boost to my fantasy baseball team :)

Cliff Lee of the Indians pitched another gem, this team blanking the Evil Empire over seven strong innings, and lowering his MLB leading ERA to 0.86. He's won his first six starts and appears to have found whatever it was that was missing last year when he was sent down to the minor leagues. The other four men in MLB history who started a season 6-0 with an ERA less than 1.00 all won the Cy Young that year. Should we just give it to him now? My hat's off to the man with two first names and also gets special thanks for rocking my fantasy baseball team :D

In the NHL the Conference Finals are upon us, with Detroit taking on Dallas out west and the Pittsburgh taking on Phillly in the east. I don't follow much hockey but it looks like Detroit and Pittsburgh will move on to the Stanley Cup Finals, with Detroit getting the edge there or maybe not. I like watching hockey, well, at least in person, but I could really care less about the NHL playoffs. Go Silvertips!!

In the NFL, future Hall of Fame WR Marvin Harrison appears to have gotten himself into quite the snafu in his hometown of Philly. Apparently he bought a car wash and a bar in one of the more run down, dangerous parts of the city and was involved in a fight or scuffle that resulted in gun shots being fired. Police later matched the bullet casings to a special Belgian made gun that Harrison owns. WTH Marvin? Stay in Indy. Continue catching TD passes from Manning and stay out of trouble. Of all the trouble and legal problems in the NFL, I never though Marvin Harrison's name would surface and certainly not like this. It's unclear what will happen, but nothing good can come of this.

And lastly I'm pretty damn sick and tired of hearing about Eight Belles, the horse who finished second in the Kentucky Derby then broke both of her ankles and was then euthanized on the track. PETA needs to do some serious apologizing to the jockey (who they publicly declared should be suspended from riding bc they felt he should've known better and pulled up before the horse broke her ankles) who did nothing wrong nor did he fail to do anything that another jockey would've done. The issue here is not this jockey, or even this horse, its that this was a philly (only two or three years old) racing against much older, stronger horses, and how nowhere else in the world do horses so young race professionally. There's also the issue of drugging the horses, either with steroids or anti-inflammatory drugs, which is causing so many horses to get hurt, or run through the pain bc they can't feel that its there. I'm no expert on this, but if PETA wants to be taken seriously, and actually wants to make a difference and see change...they need to really think before speak and go after the real issues.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Banks, Boeing & Spanish holidays

So it's mid afternoon on the Tuesday after Cinco de Mayo, and technically I'm still employed by WaMu...even though they're paying me not to come in to the office. Yep. My last day in the office was April 30th, and yet they're paying me my regular 40 hours/week through May 15th...and then they're paying out my vacation and giving me 7.5 weeks of severance pay. So while getting laid off sucks, its actually working out pretty well for me. What makes it even better is that I already have another job I'll be starting on May 16th, working for/with the same two guys I was working for/with at WaMu...only now it'll be at Wells Fargo. Still downtown, still doing more or less the same job and I'll even be getting a little raise in my salary. w00t! And if that weren't enough, I interviewed at Boeing last Friday for a position in the Finance department there (which is where I want to go with my career right now) and should be hearing back on that some time this week! That would be (more than likely) a substantial raise in the paycheck, and would give me more chances to see what else is out there for me to do beyond banking/mortgages...and I'd be working up at the Everett plant where my roommate also works, so we'd be hooking up Chang's on a weekly basis....AWESOME!

So all in all, things are going pretty well for me right now, which is a big change from a week (maybe 10 days0 ago when I was stressing out big time over being laid off and if I'd be able to follow my team to the new office...wherever that was going to be.

I also had a pretty fantastic Cinco de Mayo yesterday. Met my buddy at Azteca in the late afternoon for some cervezas and patron. Delicious. Throw in some taquitos and some chips & salsa and it was the perfect way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo in a low key, but still fun kind of way. We had planned to forgo the big celebration idea, and opt for trivia night at our favorite little German pub later in the evening, but that unfortunately didn't happen. Instead we chilled at my place for awhile, and I ended up taking a nice little nap. When I woke up, another friend of mine called me and told me about a party going on in Magnolia with some beer pong action. Sweet!! It had been awhile since I'd seen him, and even longer since I'd played beer pong so I was stoked. Funny thing about this party was it was being hosted at the exact same house where a friend of mine (the guy who joined me at Azteca actually) lived during college. So random. So I ate some nachos, played some beer pong, some hockey (fun drinking game I'd never heard of before) and had a really fun time just kicking it with a bunch of people I mostly didn't know, a few I'd met once or twice, and then one guy I used to work with. It was great.

So that's what's going on with me lately. I've been effectively laid off and yet I'll get a normal paycheck on Friday, all the while I'm staying up late, partying some, sleeping in daily and enjoying these two weeks of job freedom. I can only hope that my new job path at Wells or Boeing will keep the good times coming.