Random Thoughts On A Sunday Morning Updated To 7-28

[Padres67]

Hopefully you have learned the art of looking at these women without your wife noticing. It takes practice, but can be done. Of course when they look at a great looking man it's OK-oh the double standard we must live under.

[redeck]

Well, that is true. But at the same time I don't plan on keeping up with current events while I am there. Even Derek Jeter and the Yankees can go to hell when I am under the warm, Hawaiian sun.

thanks for the cooperstown info Y4L, i am going to keep it a secret from here until maybe when we get there. She is so baseball nuts its scary. We are reading a kids book on Ray Chapman and carl Mays tonight, she wont let me put it down. read the book for an hour, then when i tuck her in, she says, "tell me a story""tell me about shoeless Joe again" killin me.

cant watch that video Y4L, gotta sleep tonight lol

my wife doesnt mind alot if i look around, she knows im not dumb enough to do nuthin else, and she knows girls like in that video aint lookin back at me neither lol

[Yankee4Life]

Well, that is true. But at the same time I don't plan on keeping up with current events while I am there. Even Derek Jeter and the Yankees can go to hell when I am under the warm, Hawaiian sun.

I have soured on that son of a bi*** ever since he showed his true colors during the contract negotiations.

thanks for the cooperstown info Y4L, i am going to keep it a secret from here until maybe when we get there. She is so baseball nuts its scary. We are reading a kids book on Ray Chapman and carl Mays tonight, she wont let me put it down. read the book for an hour, then when i tuck her in, she says, "tell me a story""tell me about shoeless Joe again" killin me.

You are one lucky father. It must be so nice to teach her about baseball. By the way, what is her favorite team?

cant watch that video Y4L, gotta sleep tonight lol

Yeah, me too. I'll be heading to bed soon too. Well, maybe I can watch it a few more times and then that's that.

my wife doesnt mind alot if i look around, she knows im not dumb enough to do nuthin else, and she knows girls like in that video aint lookin back at me neither lol

My wife knows the same thing but that's still not going to stop her from hitting me in the ribs. I even went as far as asking her to keep the slapping down to a five a day limit. :)

[Kccitystar]

Havent posted some thoughts in a while, but here goes.

- I've been a Sprint subscriber for the past 4/5 years now. My contract is set to end in June. I guess other cell phone providers snoop or something, because they've started to bombard me with flyers and all of these great offers thru the mail. I recently got one from Verizon and I figured, okay, I should just let my contract end in June and jump to big red, but I honestly don't know; I think Sprint is going to go above and beyond to keep me as a customer but they have ****-poor promotional sales compared to T-Mobile and Verizon. What I really want to do though is buy the Nexus S phone and just get a data plan and use google voice though, but we'll see what happens.

- I tried the MLB 11 demo for the PS3 the other night, and I absolutely LOVED IT. The implementation of analog pitching is perfect. I think this is the game that will kickstart my interest in baseball again. I lost interest a few years ago, mainly because I've felt like players don't give a **** about the teams they play in or the franchises that made them the stars that they are. Some players are blinded by money, and in the end the money organizations throw at these superstar players will pigeonhole their team from making any heavy transactions. It's hard to try and get back into following the sport, but so far so good, and for the past couple of seasons I've warmed up to Giants' starter Tim Lincecum. That boy can bring it when he needs to and I've caught myself going out of my way (from school, work, video game time) more than once just to see him pitch. No worries, I'm still a Yankee fan at heart until the end.

- I've been DJing house music to occupy my free time, and this hobby has expanded my taste in music and helped others discover new artists the same way I have. While I was really into Daft Punk (as some veterans remember), I've always had an ear for beats but I've been hooked on bands like Cut Copy, Midnight Juggernauts, and The Twelves. I've seen my music library expand over the span of several years from just 3GB to 18GB, a 6x increase. My Zune's been getting a lot of play, and my hobby has had me hearing a track and instantly going, "You know, this sounds REALLY good with X song", or "Man, I could sure cut that part out of this song and sample this...". Ultimately, DJing has taught me to enjoy music a whole lot more than just hearing what's on the radio.

- A lot of friends have accounts across multiple social networking sites, so I jumped onto that bandwagon and meddle with several, all which I can access on my phone. I now have, a Facebook account, solely to keep in contact with friends/family, Twitter to post little rumblings here and there and small thoughts, Tumblr account to post the abstract, like music/images/blog entries/videos, FourSquare to check in to places with friends/family, and a Yelp account to find places that are worth visiting in NYC. Almost all of these services are interconnected in a way that if I use FourSquare for example, I can log in, check in to wherever I am, and the application will post on my Facebook wall, and on my Twitter feed. While having all of these applications might be hard to wrap your head around, it's all about being accessible and keeping up with the social life XD

- I have not touched my MVP Baseball 2005 discs in such a long time, but I know it's a collector's item somewhat so I keep it in storage along with my other EA PC games, like MVP Baseball 2004/3, Triple Play Baseball, NBA Live 2004/3, etc.

- I don't get the obsession that some people have over having everything downloadable. I will personally continue to obtain my media in physical form until the infrastructure of US broadband is sufficient enough that I don't need to worry about executives meddling with my bandwidth with caps or throttling....or I could always move to South Korea...

- Losing weight is difficult but it's a challenge I'm not backing down from. I'm slowly changing my eating habits, being more active by walking to places and educating myself about all the crap I eat. While it makes me a picky eater (exception being my grandma's cooking, anything she touches turns to delicious gold), my cardiovascular system and my digestive system will thank me in the long run.

[Yankee4Life]

- Losing weight is difficult but it's a challenge I'm not backing down from. I'm slowly changing my eating habits, being more active by walking to places and educating myself about all the crap I eat. While it makes me a picky eater (exception being my grandma's cooking, anything she touches turns to delicious gold), my cardiovascular system and my digestive system will thank me in the long run.

First of all, it's always a pleasure to see KC on this site. When this site was at its peak, KC was here daily and he was (and still is) an important part of it. Nice to see you!

Now, on to this. I am having this same problem. I have always heard that it is easier for men to lose weight then it is for women but I don't really know about that. I have found a TV show that really educates you on proper steps for weight loss, what to avoid, what to have, tips for it, etc. Have you ever heard of the Dr. Oz show? If you haven't, this guy really knows what he is talking about. He also covers many other things besides the weight loss topic, but they are all interesting. And he even films his show down in New York where you are. Now that I am home now, I watch him daily and he has really helped me.

Above all KC, good luck.

[redeck]

yea, Y4L, I posted my daughters favorite team in the shout box, but I think you want me to do it here so its in the forums until the end of the site!

Well, it seems like she is torn between the Tigers and the Yankees:facepalm:. thats not so bad, she loves stories about Ruth, and I think she has a crush on Mantle. I ask her if she thinks hes cute, and she blushes several colors and hits me. She likes Gehrig too. We wrote a letter to Justin Verlander and sent it to Comerica park with a card to sign, will see where that goes. It was a pretty cute letter she wrote, she made it sound like they won the Series in 2006, and that Verlander was also part of the 84 team. I let her send it like that anyway, if he reads it, he will at least get a chuckle.

[Yankee4Life]

Updated to 3-4

...I know what I said on Sunday that I would not be doing another one of these until I got back from Hawaii, but I had some time today and I figured why not?

 

...I'm all packed up for the trip and I have double checked everything. But I know what's going to happen as soon as the plane first gets in the air. I'm going to turn to my wife and say "Guess what we forgot?"

 

...I even got two cortisone shots in both of my knees to help me walk around Oahu a little better. I'm telling you, for those of you who have had cortisone shots in your knees, they sure sting a little don't they? I was sore for a few hours yesterday after I got them but now I'm fine.

...Coco Crisp is the second ballplayer this year to be pulled over for a D.U.I. Just seven more to go and they can field their own starting nine.

...Of course Coco said he was sorry. What did you expect him to say, that he could use another drink?

 

...Last week at this time I never heard of some British designer named John Galliano and I was perfectly happy not knowing who he was since I don't roll that way if you get my drift, and the only reason why I now heard of him was because of a stupid tirade he made in Paris when he brought up Adolph Hitler's name.

 

...Can I play the devil's advocate here for a minute? Why so much backlash for Galliano because of what he said? Look, understand what I am saying. I'm not supporting him or anyone that thinks Hitler did anything good, but this guy ends up getting fired for a comment that he could have made when he was under the influence of something but yet in some circles people are praising Charlie Sheen for the things he is saying and doing right now. Sheen is the sole reason for the cancellation of his TV show for the rest of the year and all the other stuff he has done and said lately has made him look just as bad as Galliano to me with the only exception being that Sheen has not mentioned Hitler.

 

...Personally, I'd rather not hear anymore about the two of them and would rather hear about updates of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords as she continues on her road to recovery from a gun shot wound. Remember her? Oh that's right. That's January's news.

 

...Keith Richards daughter is facing drug charges. Hey Keith, where do you think she learned how to do drugs?

 

...I get spam mail just like everyone else and like everyone else I delete it as quickly as I can without even reading it. But one I got recently made me stop in my tracks. Seems that yours truly, Yankee4Life, has been elected to the Women's Hall of Fame. This bit of news immediately made my wife jealous since she has been a woman all her life and understandably felt a bit snubbed that she wasn't elected also or at least considered and that her husband, who has never been a women, has this honor before she did.

 

...Hey! The iPad2 is out. All I want to know now is what the hell Apple screwed up on this version?

 

...Only in America Dept: The Southeastern Virginia Arts Association is going to be honoring Michael Vick as a hero because Vick has been speaking out to kids ever since he got out of jail not to do the things he did and be like him. This is what a hero is about these days?

 

...A.J. Burnett had a good first outing for the Yankees a few days ago prompting jackass Michael Kay and the shill Kim Jones to proclaim that because of a change in his delivery "he could have a good year." Sorry Burnett, you got to do much more than that besides getting minor leaguers out in the beginning of Spring Training. I never wanted the Yankees to sign him but I would be very happy to be proved wrong this year and to watch him win twenty games.

 

...I am liking Mark Teixeira even more now since he doesn't have Scott Bora$ as an agent anymore.

 

...I forgot in last week's random thoughts to welcome back Super Cyberface Modder Jogar84. If you guys think think Homer can make good cyberfaces, this guy is just as good. Check the download section for his previous work. Chances are if you have any of the season mods you have already seen Jogar's work.

 

...The Cubs got into another fight a day or two ago as Carlos Silva and Aramis Ramirez got into it and the first thing that must have entered the Cubs fans mind was where the hell was Carlos Zambrano when all this was happening? Zambrano, I am happy to inform you was no way involved in the scuffle between Silva and Ramirez but as he told the Chicago Tribune "he was going to take on the winner of that fight since Derrek Lee is no longer on the team."

 

...And with that, I say goodbye to all of you as I leave for Oahu on Saturday morning!

[chrisgooverthere]

Good stuff dude, I especially think you're dead-on with respect to the Cubs and the Yankees: the Cubs are already in mid-season form, and Burnet is already pitching like the AAA ace that he has always been. It still amazes me that the Cubs would trade "Melt-down" Bradley for another head case in Carlos Silva. Seriously: why not Trade Zambrano and Silva to the Tigers for their best offer? They don't seem to mind taking on psychos . . .

~Chris

[emath2432]

Silva is a tool. He sucks, collects a big pay check for it. Expects to be a lock for a rotation spot and gets mad when he is told he isn't. And, then he starts a fight in the dug out.

Yup, the Cubs defense sucked behind him, but all those long balls he gave up during that inning didn't help.

As far as Ramirez goes, I am not to worried about his involvement. He was apparently standing up for a teammate. I am more worried about him staying relatively healthy for once. A lot of people are worried about his numbers from last year (his average and OBP were the only things that really fell), and I was too at first. Then I heard he had a bad thumb last year (especially in the first half), and it effected his ability to grip/swing the bat. I think he will be fine.

Zambrano... After undergoing anger management he came back, was the perfect citizen, and had the best numbers in baseball over that stretch. That, to me, has earned him one last chance. If he performs anywhere near his true ability (see his numbers from his early 20's, and the end of last year), then i am okay with things. If he sucks it up again, o has a MAJOR blowout (minor stuff happens to a lot of guys, so it has to be another major one for me), then it is time to cut ties with him.

Congrats on your induction to the WHOF. lol

The less Boras we have, the better.

I wouldn't call Vick a hero, but since he seems to have grown up, I actually like the guy now. Didn't before all the dog fighting stuff, and really didn't right after it all happened. He seems sincere now (others may disagree), and I appreciate that fact. As a dog lover myself, he has to be sincere or I want nothing to do with him.

Like you, I was just fine never having heard of that designer. Sheen is a douche, but he doesn't bother me.

[SeveredSoulX]

I'm not supporting Scott Boras at all, but he's just doing his job. He is an agent - an agent is suppose to get the best deal for his clients. If people want the talent, they'll shell out the money. Boras just keeps the money flowing for them - yet it's not his fault that the Yankees cram millions into players.

There is a word in the modern English language - called "no". And if the price tag is too high on one of his clients, the ball club can easily use that word. I know it's rare nowadays, but there is still an option :)

[chrisgooverthere]

Its rare for someone to back up Scott Boras, and I admire your insight. Nevertheless, I don't think there's anyone who wouldn't agree that the combination of Scott Boras' aggressive diplomacy and overly-wealthy teams like the Yankees are a severe impediment to the sport's effort to attain parity.

~Chris

[Yankee4Life]

Congrats on your induction to the WHOF. lol

Thank you very much. Kind of makes me wonder what they'd do if I responded to the e-mail and accepted the nomination to their Hall of Fame?

Its rare for someone to back up Scott Boras, and I admire your insight. Nevertheless, I don't think there's anyone who wouldn't agree that the combination of Scott Boras' aggressive diplomacy and overly-wealthy teams like the Yankees are a severe impediment to the sport's effort to attain parity.

~Chris

Well I don't think SSX is backing up Boras, but he does bring up a good point. Boras doesn't hold a gun to their head and demands that the teams sign his clients, but at the same time he is an unreasonable S.O.B. who tough to deal with. I know he's just doing his job but I'm no fan of his.

One more thing before I take off: everyone that is getting the Show 11 next week have a great time with it!

Take care.

[redeck]

I dont love Boras either, but as a tigers fan I thank him for Porcello. Porcello was teh top ranked pitcher coming out of the draft in 07, put just about every team passed on him because Boras was his agent, and Porcello fell to 20 something where teh Tigers were able to get him, the year after they made the Series, they were able to draft the top ranked pitcher. thanks Boras.

[emath2432]

Y4L, if you happen to see this before you head out, be safe, and have a TON of fun. Not that you need to me to tell you that with where you are going lol.

[Jim825]

With today's earthquake in Japan, and the resulting tsunami hitting Hawaii, let's hope that Y4L is OK. From what I've read, the waves that hit Hawaii have been pretty small, although there was a 7-foot wave that entered the harbor in Maui. I'm sure he'll give us a full report when he gets back.

[DylanBradbury]

From what I can gather, the city Y4L is in (Oahu) has been evacuated. Hopefully, he's safe and sound. :)

[krawhitham]

With today's earthquake in Japan, and the resulting tsunami hitting Hawaii, let's hope that Y4L is OK. From what I've read, the waves that hit Hawaii have been pretty small, although there was a 7-foot wave that entered the harbor in Maui. I'm sure he'll give us a full report when he gets back.

They have a Nuke Power Plant 2 miles from Tokyo about to blow up, they're evacuating around the plant and issued a State of Emergency. They can not get the rods to cool down and pressure is building. Basically it will be like a very huge dirty nuke if it blows up. Lets hope the wind is not blowing toward Hawaii.

[Yankee4Life]

With today's earthquake in Japan, and the resulting tsunami hitting Hawaii, let's hope that Y4L is OK. From what I've read, the waves that hit Hawaii have been pretty small, although there was a 7-foot wave that entered the harbor in Maui. I'm sure he'll give us a full report when he gets back.

I wanted to get back online yesterday but I am still on Hawaiian time over here and I slept most of the day after I got off the plane. It was a long flight!

Anyways, I will try to let you guys know how it was like to go through the tsunami while my wife and I were in Honolulu.

It was around midnight and my wife and I were asleep and all of a sudden we hear a voice from someone who works at the front desk at the Outrigger Waikiki. They reported that a very substantial earthquake had just hit Japan and that a tsunami warning was now issued for the Hawaiian Islands. They estimated that the tsunami would hit around 3 am.

The first three floors of the hotel were evacuated and the guests were moved up to the hospitality suites while the warning was going on. Since our room was on the tenth floor, we didn't have to leave.

Waikiki beach was completely evacuated except for an official who was riding up and down the beach on a dune buggy to make sure no one was on the beach. No one was, but the Honolulu Police Department had to tell some people to get off their boat because either they did not know or care that a tsunami warning was issued. The police also blocked off all major roads and highways on the island.

Finally, 3 am came and went and on our part of the island the tsunami did not hit. Some parts of Hawaii did get hit by it. In the Kona area of the Big Island of Hawaii there was a lot of damage. For example, the entire first floor of the King Kamehameha's Kona Beach hotel was flooded. A house located near Kealakekua Bay on the Big Island was swept away by the tsunami and was lost. Here is a photo of that house after divers located it:

North Shore residents on Oahu await for a signal to return to their homes. Many people had to spend the night in their cars because of the tsunami.

Waikiki beach was closed until 11 am that same day. Usually people were out on the beach as soon as sunup came but not this time. Even the beach side restaurants were closed.

A few days after the tsunami hit the newspaper in Hawaii said that tourism is going to be taking a major hit in the next few months because of this. Japan is a country that visits Hawaii a lot, due to the close proximity of it to Hawaii. (Japan is only 3,800 miles away from the Hawaiian Islands.) In 2010 for instance, Japan supplied about 17.3% of statewide visitor arrivals. Some 1.2 million visitors from Japan came to Hawaii last year and spent $1.9 billion. This will be considerably less this year because of what happened.

Any other questions about this please don't hesitate to ask me. It was quite an experience.

[Yankee4Life]

Updated to 3-20

...These two weeks in Hawaii were a blur. It's a recommended trip to anyone in here. You all will love it if you get the chance to see it for yourself.

...We had a view from our hotel window that overlooked Waikiki beach. I never got tired looking out that window in the morning just watching the waves come in.

...The International Marketplace was directly across the street from our hotel and it was a place that my wife surprisingly ended up not liking a lot. This was due to the sellers there, who were nothing but sharks who feasted on tourists.

...The girls around that place were not modest at all, thank God. It was not uncommon to see one walking down the street in nothing but a skimpy bikini. Trust me, I noticed. Again and again.

...Tried out some coffee at a place called "Seattle's Best Coffee." I'm telling you if this is Seattle's best I do not want to try its worst. This was some of the worst coffee I've ever had in my life and it really made me miss Dunkin Donuts' coffee.

...The stores on Kalakaua Avenue (the main street in Waikiki) were very high class stores and were basically all alike. Stores like Prada, Coach, Chanel and Louis Vuitton were all over the place. In case you don't know what they are, join the club. These are all expensive purse stores where you pay for the name of the purse and not the quality of it.

...Want an example? Ok. At that Louis Vuitton store they had a wallet that sold for $995. They had a purse there for $2,250. My wife walked out of the store faster than I did.

...I could not find one computer store there unless you want to count the Apple store and I don't count them as a computer store.

...The next time you see people on TV walk on sand like it is no problem at all, don't believe it. Walking on the sand in Waikiki was one of the toughest things I did there and I did it quite a few times and it never got easier.

...Some people on the beach would go out in the water about a half a mile. I never mustered up the courage to do that. I'm lucky I made it out fifteen feet.

...The pigeons in Waikiki were not afraid of people at all. They would stand at your feet while you had dinner just waiting for you to drop something.

...Going to the Honolulu Zoo sucked. I didn't care at all that I was there. "Hey look, there's a tiger." Wow. "And there's a elephant." Great. "And over there is a giraffe." How nice! "Hey look, there's the exit sign to leave the zoo!" Great, now we are talking!!

...Tell me how you can hear the person sitting next to you on a plane when it's in the air? With the engines going you can't hear anything.

...The bathrooms are so small on the planes that it made me wonder how anyone was able to join the Mile High Club?

...Each day the temperature there was 80 degrees or higher.

...You know what? I'm still glad I'm home.

[emath2432]

Glad to hear your vacation was not the least bit ruined by the stuff going on (earthquake, tsunami).

Also, glad to hear you got to enjoy all the views. I am referring to the island, as well as the woman.

I like zoo's, but only if you have kids young enough to be excited by it, but old enough to walk on their own, and not get tired and whiny.

[redeck]

Welcome back Y4L glad your safe bud.

[DylanBradbury]

Updated to 3-20

...These two weeks in Hawaii were a blur. It's a recommended trip to anyone in here. You all will love it if you get the chance to see it for yourself.

...We had a view from our hotel window that overlooked Waikiki beach. I never got tired looking out that window in the morning just watching the waves come in.

...The International Marketplace was directly across the street from our hotel and it was a place that my wife surprisingly ended up not liking a lot. This was due to the sellers there, who were nothing but sharks who feasted on tourists.

...The girls around that place were not modest at all, thank God. It was not uncommon to see one walking down the street in nothing but a skimpy bikini. Trust me, I noticed. Again and again.

...Tried out some coffee at a place called "Seattle's Best Coffee." I'm telling you if this is Seattle's best I do not want to try its worst. This was some of the worst coffee I've ever had in my life and it really made me miss Dunkin Donuts' coffee.

...The stores on Kalakaua Avenue (the main street in Waikiki) were very high class stores and were basically all alike. Stores like Prada, Coach, Chanel and Louis Vuitton were all over the place. In case you don't know what they are, join the club. These are all expensive purse stores where you pay for the name of the purse and not the quality of it.

...Want an example? Ok. At that Louis Vuitton store they had a wallet that sold for $995. They had a purse there for $2,250. My wife walked out of the store faster than I did.

...I could not find one computer store there unless you want to count the Apple store and I don't count them as a computer store.

...The next time you see people on TV walk on sand like it is no problem at all, don't believe it. Walking on the sand in Waikiki was one of the toughest things I did there and I did it quite a few times and it never got easier.

...Some people on the beach would go out in the water about a half a mile. I never mustered up the courage to do that. I'm lucky I made it out fifteen feet.

...The pigeons in Waikiki were not afraid of people at all. They would stand at your feet while you had dinner just waiting for you to drop something.

...Going to the Honolulu Zoo sucked. I didn't care at all that I was there. "Hey look, there's a tiger." Wow. "And there's a elephant." Great. "And over there is a giraffe." How nice! "Hey look, there's the exit sign to leave the zoo!" Great, now we are talking!!

...Tell me how you can hear the person sitting next to you on a plane when it's in the air? With the engines going you can't hear anything.

...The bathrooms are so small on the planes that it made me wonder how anyone was able to join the Mile High Club?

...Each day the temperature there was 80 degrees or higher.

...You know what? I'm still glad I'm home.

So glad you're back safe and sound!

Seattle's Best Coffee is actually owned and operated by Starbucks.

My random thought:

... Pneumonia sucks.

[dennisjames71]

Hey wow, I'm sorry I missed this yesterday; but I want to say "Welcome Back Y4L!" I'm glad you had a pretty good time and that you returned safely. I'm definitely jealous of your trip and I know what you mean about having courage with the waves. Back in 2006 my buddy got married on the North Shore beach in Oahu and he convinced me to surf it a few days prior. I never got my a#s kicked by waves so much in my life...it's nothing like the wimpy stuff out here in SoCal even on it's worst day. So yeah, it's never the same without you around here and it's great to see you back.

Dylan, I feel your pain with the pnenomia...I had that when I was 27 and it was absolutely horrible. My sincere wishes that you get better very soon.

[Padres67]

Where in SO CAL do you live Dennis?

[dennisjames71]

Where in SO CAL do you live Dennis?

I'm in the Burbank area. Do you live in SoCal too?