why tom day is my hero

today at work i was listening to his show in my office.

it was a really great set--exactly the type of music for the mood i was in.

and then all of a sudden, out of nowhere he started playing the "everybody has AIDS" song from team america.  hahahaha i laughed quite a bit.

he was kind enough to text me and ask what someone still loves you boris yeltsin song i would like played.  i suggested a song called "coming through" and he was kind enough to play it.

unfortunately, SSLYBY rarely releases the lyrics to their songs.  the album is so new that i haven't scrutinized all of the lyrics yet.  he texted me shortly after starting the song and asked "are they swearing?"  honestly: i don't think they do in that song....sometimes it is hard to distinguish all of the words since they are often muffled.  hopefully he won't get in trouble for it!  but, as he texted me back, he's done in 2 weeks anyway....so it's not a big deal.

well.  in a change of pace, i have a ridiculous amount of homework to do.  i'll see you later, blogosphere.

I'll be the first to admit,

I can be a real dick sometimes. But 99% of the time, my victims have it coming.

You know those assholes that are in such a hurry to get where they're going that they weave from lane to lane every three cars, taking advantage of any open stretch of highway greater than or equal to one car length? Of course you do. Everyone has encountered these assholes on their drive to work or whatever. They always seem to be in a huge hurry to sit on the next guys bumper until it seems that the other lane is going faster, at which point they tailgate some other poor soul. They try to bully everyone else on the road into going faster or getting out of their way. Well, when I see these pricks coming up on me in my rearview mirror, I do my best to be the biggest douche I can. I'm usually a courteous driver and keep my lane changes to a minimum and always leave room so others can merge into my lane ahead of me. I will admit that I like to speed a little, but not too much, so I'm usually in the left (fast) lane. And when I see somebody like this coming up behind me I keep up the pace until they're right behind me. My lane looks so inviting until they decide to sit a foot off of MY bumper. That's when I switch on my own asshole mode. I pick a car in the lane next to me and match its speed, keeping my rear bumper even with their front, boxing in the asshole. And I keep this up until they either find another way around or I need to change lanes to prepare for an exit.


Random side-note:
My apartment finally upgraded our internet. It's actually usable in the evenings on busy school-nights, which is something we haven't ever enjoyed here. I'm quite impressed with the results.

One last random side-note:
Am I the only one that thinks Adele's "Someone Like You" is the pining of a jealous psycho-bitch?

I suppose it's time

to give another fantasy update.

League 1: The family league, 1st place of 12.
This team is so good it's almost boring. I'm now sitting comfortably in first place, 2 games and 97 points for ahead of second place after defending this position from then second place teams in back-to-back weeks. Ben Roethlisberger has emerged to be the quarterback I thought I was getting. I've lost my boner for Roddy White (yes even after 147 yards this week). My LeSean McCoy love has panned out for a second straight year, and I now have a raging hard-on for Arian Foster. For those just joining the show, I have those two elite backs by swinging one helluva trade, basically giving up Fred Jackson for Foster and Nicks. I'm trying not to count my chickens before they hatch though. In the past two years, the number 1 team from the regular season has been beat in the first round of playoffs in this league. That said, it's looking pretty good for me to pull off the three-peat as none of my players are in a position to be sat come week 16.

League 2: A miraculous 6th place of 12. $10 buy-in.
This team hasn't exactly panned out. My love for Mario Manningham was clearly misplaced considering the emergence of Victor Cruz. I though he was just as good a receiver as Nicks, but after watching a few games, it's pretty clear that he isn't. Andre Johnson has been injured for almost two months and now has a new QB. Between getting nicked up and inconsistent QB play, Dez Bryant hasn't been able to be all the beast I now need him to be. So there's the foundation I wanted to carry this team... crumbling. I just hope to god that McFadden stays hurt. Otherwise I don't have a running back to speak of. Both Denver backs have been injured off and on all year, and now Moreno is on IR and McGahee is hurt pretty bad. It seems that going for quantity over quality with the RBs in this league wasn't the best idea. Here's hoping a couple Drew Brees 500 yd 5 TD games can carry my sorry ass into the playoffs and a shot at at least recouping my buy-in.

I think I'm going to have to institute a couple rules for myself going forward based on my learnings of this year so far:

1)No WRs in the first round. Either bite the bullet on a RB you aren't so hot on, or take a shot on one of the elite QBs.
2)2 RBs by the end of round 4.

Basically, good WR play is nice, but quite unpredictable and the difference between rounds 2 and 3 vs a round 1 guy isn't all that huge. You can bet I won't be waiting until round 6 again to grab a RB any time soon.

fantasy schmantisy

league 1: 7-4, 3rd place (out of 12), $10 buy in.
this team continues to surprise me.  i've basically been playing the last 7 or 8 weeks without my 1st and 3rd round picks (andre johnson and peyton hillis).  yet somehow this team has pulled it together and managed to rack up wins.  players like demarco murray and jabar gaffney have really helped in the clutch.  2 games separate 2nd place from 10th, so this will be a wild finish.  top 8 make playoffs, so i'm confident (at this point) that i'll be a part of it.

league 2: 5-6, 7th place (out of 12), $25 buy in.
this team is so frustrating.  i have the 3rd most points in this league and have over 100 more points than some of the other teams currently projected to make the playoffs.  i absolutely love this lineup, especially in a TD-heavy league.  i've just been getting outscored in high shootouts, totally disappointing.  the top 6 make the playoffs in this league and we have 6 teams that are all within one game of each other for 3rd-6th place.  so a LOT will be determined in the coming weeks.  unlike other leagues, this league pays a majority of its money based on regular season standings.  so i have an outside chance at 3rd place and thus an outside chance at $50.  i just want to make the playoffs because i know my team has been putting up big enough numbers to win the playoffs.  playoff winner also gets $50, so i have a small (but possible) chance at $100.  in week 12 i play the number one team in the league who has an absolutely ridiculous team.  god help me.

league 3: 6-5, 5th place (out of 12), $10 buy in.
this team has been storming back in recent weeks.  the injury bug really got me early in the year (hillis, nicks, the law firm, and others) and some of my picks (i.e. mike williams) that i thought would turn out just haven't.  a few weeks ago i bid a huge chunk of my FAAB on demarco murray, and that really panned out for me.  when you couple that with the emergence of AJ green and stellar play for a few weeks from players like pierre garcon, matt ryan, and the weekly dominance of ray rice, this team has surged up the standings.  only the top 4 make the playoffs in this league.  5 teams are separated by 1 game for 2nd-6th place.  here's to hoping miracles really do come true.

league 4: 5-6, 9th place (out of 12), $50 buy in.
i say this every time i update my fantasy standings, but this team has just been depressing.  when you spend over 25% of your budget on one player and he goes down in week 4 (and is only coming back THIS WEEK IN WEEK 12!!!) it really hurts.  the top 8 make the playoffs and i've been trying as hard as i can to get back into playoff contention.  that being said, it doesn't help when you have dwayne bowe and find out that matt cassel got hurt so now freaking tyler palko is throwing to him.  it also doesn't help that your other stud receiver, jeremy maclin, went down with shoulder and hamstring injuries in week 11.  woof.  that being said, there are literally 10 teams within 2 games of each other from 1st-10th place.  there is an insane logjam as 5 teams are 7-4 (the best record in the league) 1 team is 6-5, and 4 teams are 5-6.  this week i play the team in 8th place, so it has HUGE playoff implications.  we also do a "power matchup" so the final week of the regular season, week 13, 1st place plays 2nd, 3rd plays 4th, and so on.  considering that there is such a huge logjam, i'm pretty sure that even if i lose this week i'll still have an outside shot at the playoffs if i win in week 13.  but i need a lot of help to get there.

philosophy

if you choose an answer to this question at random, what is the chance you will be correct?

A) 25%
B) 50%
C) 0%
D) 25%

debate.

huevos

(yesterday at the grocery store)

me, reaching for a dozen eggs for $1.44.

woman, pointing at the 18-pack of eggs for $1.77: "you should buy these, they're a better deal."

me: "yeah, but i just don't eat eggs that often..."

woman: "you could have an egg party."

me, looking puzzled.

woman: "you could invite a cute girl over and have an egg date."

me, looking perplexed.

woman: "you could eat them to bulk up and build muscle."

me, looking ashamed of my physique.

woman: "you could throw them at cars."

me, contemplating committing crime.

woman: "you could make lots of meringue."

me, frightened because i'm allergic to raw egg whites.

woman: "or you could just not buy them."

A little background

will benefit this story. The Delta Propulsion Engineering group basically just has a bunch of cubicles in one part of the main floor of Building C (tower) of the Delta MSP campus. This means that if you really want to be "that guy" you can basically talk to anyone without leaving your chair just by raising your voice slightly. It also means you can hear everyone else's phone calls.
So there's this guy who's been a propulsion engineer for NWA/Delta for longer than I've been alive (It's true, I've seen log pages with his name on them from 1988 and older). We'll call him Paul. Paul has been more of a mentor to me as a young engineer than any of the other engineers have (though they've all been great).
So yesterday morning, Paul's phone rang. Nothing newsworthy there. But instead of saying, "Engineering, this is Paul,"
he answered with, "Charlie's Pizza."
So obviously he knew the person that was calling.
But what really amazed me was how long he and this person kept up that line of conversion.
"We're actually out of chicken right now, so we can't do the bbq chicken."
...
"So are we going with the credit card we have on record here, the American Express?"

It seriously went on for 5 minutes. This guy is awesome.

for stiche

holy crap.

you saw his last performance ever.

preliminary reports are really shady until family is notified.  was it drugs?  alcohol?  who knows.

did he seem out of it when you were in minneapolis??