vivalaultra

Why am I so damn good-looking? Also, do you agree with the argument that stolen bases are actually detrimental or, at most, barely even helpful to a team and that guys like Rickey Henderson and Tim Raines and modern players like Juan Pierre and Scott Podsednik would be better of staying put or at least not running unless it was a 'Dave Roberts 2004 ALCS Game 3' type steal?

Man, talk about an ensemble cast...how many people is that that they've added already for the season? And I'm sure there's going to be surprise guests. I think I'm going to be on the show sometime around Week 11. I'm going to have incredibly large hands. That's my superpower...big hands. Not super strength, just really, really big hands.

Jason Jennings is a very, very poor pitcher. Houston always draws well on homestands, but since Jennings is pitching tonite, the crowd is so sparse you can hear the catcalls as Jennings falls behind EVERY hitter 2-0 and then gives up a screamer that scores a run. Jason Jennings is a very, very, very poor pitcher.

Significantly less than at traditional schools. Like, about $10,000/yr. less. Next year they're going to a salary schedule, so it should even up a bit. But, yeah, it's a pretty sizeable chunk less than I could make working in say...Houston ISD ($43,000/yr.) or Deer Park ISD ($48,000/yr). But, I like all of the freedom I get setting up my curriculum, so I'm not going to complain too much.

ALMVP: Magglio ALROY: Pedroia ALCY: Beckett ALMOY: Mike Hargrove NLMVP: Hanley NLROY: Braun NLCY: Peavy NLMOY: Not Ned Yost no more...uh...Bob Melvin's a good choice.

I love Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Granted, it's a little heavyhanded and ponderous in places, but the 15 year old girl for me just weeps for poor Tess. Oh well, Jingus, I guess I'll meet you in a 6-sides of doom electrified cage match with sharks circling around the ring.

The movie's based on the book by Pulitzer Prize winning author Cormac McCarthy. The book is extremely awesome, as is the guy with the bolt gun. His name is Chigurh and he's the epitome of evil, seriously. The book is great because McCarthy is a masterful writer, but, from what I've seen of the trailers and in the script, the dialogue and mood of the film is very similar to the book, and, thus, it will be really, really good.

Me and my girlfriend are all about going to eat ice cream. Her favorite place is Picomollo's Italian Ice Cream; I'm not sure if that's local to Houston or if it's otherwise. I really like the Tipsy Sailor at Marble Slab Creamery (Amaretto ice cream w/ chocolate chips and almond slivers). My favorite is the Ben and Jerry's ice cream parlor...Cherry Garcia, yo.

I wonder if they intentionally tried to make Snape look like a young Harry or if it was only me who thought the two look similar. I don't wanna rehash the argument about what they took out or added, but I really, really think they should've added that scene. I thought one of the rules of storytelling in any medium was never waste an opportunity to develop a character, especially one who is so important to the plot, as Snap is.

Well, Robert Johnson DID sell his soul to the devil and all...

The Cubs...are...in...first...place? In August?!?!? Gwah? Zuh? Buh? Fuh? I can find no words to express my feelings over this, only utterances.

Yeah, my plan isn't all that great, but it's not terrible, and I'm not gonna complain about free health care, especially since this is the first job I've actually had that has a health care program. My plan does include vision, but the fact that I don't have dental does suck cuz I need some work done. And I was looking at my available options, and, with the money that's being paid for my health care, I could get the even better option, with no deductible and a better copay for about $85 a month. The good part is that I can add immediate family members to my plan for not too much money, and my Mom doesn't have insurance and doesn't really have the money to go to the doctor or get her eyes checked or anything and I wanna help her out with that if I can.

I forgot to mention Townes Van Zandt, despite wearing a TVZ shirt and having a complete obsession with the man, his myth, and his music. It's hard to say when his prime was, as he was sometimes brilliant in concert and sometimes complete crap (depending upon his level of sobriety), but I would've loved to see Townes in some small, smoke-filled bar in the mid 1970s. I also think seeing Sonic Youth back in the early 80s would've been a good time. And, of course, Elvis back in the 60s before he got all fat and sweaty. I'm not a big fan of Elvis's catalog of recordings, but from everything I've seen and heard, he was a Hell of a performer, similar to James Brown.

Daniel Johnston. If you've never seen 'The Devil and Daniel Johnston', I recommend it. It's at once absolutely heartwarming/beautiful and incredibly awkward/cringworthy, much like most of Daniel Johnston's recordings.

Hmmm.... possibly U2 (1984ish) or Pink Floyd (1976ish) or maybe James Brown (circa 1970).

Yeah, it had been a while since I looked at P&N before last nite. I had forgotten how uh...'dramatic' it is. If I do something from The Sandman, I'll probably either do 'Dream Country', 'Fables and Reflections', or 'World's End'. I'm not too worried about the content as far as religious content/imagery, but the violence is a factor a little bit. Although I could probably get anything approved (if just because I don't think any of the English higher-ups at the school are familiar with what's in the graphic novels), I definitely don't want a bunch of parent complaints. If all else fails, I'll just use the graphic adaptation of 'Neverwhere'.

So, this coming year, I'm going to be teaching 8th and 10th grade English at a charter school here in Houston. The teachers pretty much have free reign over what texts they'll use in their classes, so, I basically can teach any novel or such that I want (as long as it has 'literary merit'). For my 8th graders, I put in Neil Gaiman's Coraline. Then, I had an idea that I think would be interesting. All of the novels I'm doing in my 8th grade class are fantasy-based and I was thinking that, in the last grading period, instead of doing like, an actual novel, I would use 'The Sandman Vol.1: Preludes and Nocturnes' and teach the literary elements of the story and also look at the artwork and how that relates to the story and then, for a project, have the students break into groups and design and create a 'graphic novel' based on a scene or scenes in one of the books that we've already read that semester. I think kids would really enjoy something like that, with the whole 'reading comic books in school' deal. So, anyway, my question is...I'm pretty familiar with Gaiman's work and have sporadically read 'The Sandman' on and off for the last few years, but, I was wondering what the 'expert' opinion might be-Do ya'll think something like 'The Sandman' would go over the heads of 8th graders (14-15 yr. olds), or do you think that I should go with a diff. graphic novel, perhaps? I'm certain that if the students wouldn't comprehend Gaiman, I shouldn't even consider Frank Miller or Alan Moore. So, whatcha guys think?

Amontillado. I wouldn't say it's the most amazing short story in the history of forever, although I would've agreed when I first read it in 9th grade. It's my favorite Poe, probably. I really like Faulkner's short stories, moreso than his longer works. 'A Rose for Emily' is good. I think my favorite short story ever is 'A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings' by Garcia Marquez. Marquez.pdf_JSESSIONID_GzTy6vnTp04NzJHyNhF3nMnQ2fLqJcRGWlGQpShXQlGkQlGKrvFd_1202151094_sage2_b.webct.uh.edu_80_443__1928834_sage4_b.webct.uh.pdf And there it is. That might be illegal and it also might not work.

Yes...................................................I shall have to find some way to add it to my already excellent syllabus.

Jason Jennings sucks. Bad. Really bad. Really really bad. Please don't tell me that the Cardinals are going to sneak in and win the division with 81 wins or something. If my 'Stros aren't going to win it, I want the Brewers to do it, but their rookies are cracking under the pressure. And Prince Fielder's suspended for three games for gettin' up in the grill of an umpire a few days ago at Houston. If the Cardinals DO happen to back into a division win, I wonder if they're going to convince themselves that they don't need to make any dramatic overhauls to compete in 2008, much like they did this past offseason.

So, I got a job teaching 8th and 10th grade English/Language Arts at a charter school here in Houston. I had the first of my many pre-school faculty meetings today, and I was happy to find out that I get free health care. The company that funds my charter school pays $300/month for employee health care and the state of Texas pays $75 a month for employee health care. The best health care package that I can get (being single with no children) costs $354/month. Ergo, I don't have to pay for it. And it's a pretty good plan, $500 deductible and an 80%/20% copay. $10 prescriptions. However, it's only medical. I'm on my own for dental. Still, it's good to know that I can go to the doctor if I need to; it's been a long time since I've had a physical...and this thing on the back of my neck isn't getting any smaller...

Spell it right, dumbass. I can't take it any longer. It's good to know that alternate spellings can cause you to go wonky. So, Mark Sweeny didn't endear himself to Dodgers' fans last NITE; with no outs in the bottom of the 9th, 7-4 'Stros, he was at first base and...somebody else was on second. Anyway, Furcal struck out swinging, and then Juan Pierre popped up to the catcher. Either Sweeny forgot how many outs there were or he forgot the fundamental rules of baseball, because after Brad Ausmus caught the infield popup behind the plate, Sweeny, for some reason, was halfway to second base. He got doubled off and lost the game. All in all, it was an interesting NITE, but TONITE it's Jason Jennings vs. Brad Penny so I don't know if I like the chances of my favourite team this NITE TONITE.

Hamilton's back? How long has he been back? So, presuming the Brewers lose tonite, that means that they've lost the last 15 starts made by Chris Capuano. Granted, he hasn't pitched that well, but he hasn't been terrible. I know that's not the record, but I'm blanking on what it is, so...quick...what's the record for most consecutive games lost by a team in a starting pitcher's starts?

I still enjoy 'Trapped in the Closet', especially since in the last two chapters, it appears that R. Kelly has completely stopped giving a shit and is just purposely trying to be as ridiculous as he possibly can; I mean, it as always ridiculous, but if you thought the midget was bad, the 13th chapter has R. Kelly dressed up like an old man talking about how he hopes a pigeon takes a shit on his wife's face. And, anyway, at least the whole thing has spawned a couple slightly amusing parodies, such as-'Romeo and Juliet: Trapped in the Closet':

Personally, I prefer NL ball sans DH if only because that's where my allegiance has lain since I was a kid. I just prefer the strategy and all the 'chess match' situations that happen late in ballgames with double switches and pinch-hitting and all of that. However, I don't have anything against the DH, and I think the DH has helped to make the AL hitters better and the AL pitchers slightly better than those in the NL. An AL pitcher that has to face tough hitters 1-9 as opposed to just 1-8 is invariably going to have to 'learn' how to pitch at a higher level than an NL pitcher; that's why 9 times out of 10, when a pitcher comes over to the NL from the AL, he usually shaves about a point to a point and a half off of his ERA, Barry Zito notwithstanding. Also, the DH allows older players who can still hit but can't play defense or players who are extraodrinary hitters and subpar defenders (Mike Piazza, Frank Thomas, David Ortiz, Jason Giambi) to still play. I think a big misconception about the DH is that that spot is usually taken by a big slugger, but I personally like it when a manager uses the DH spot down at the bottom of the order as a '2nd leadoff' type slot. In that same vein, I really like the approach that TLR has been using and has used before, batting his pitcher 8th and putting a speedy or OBP guy in the 9 slot. I think if more NL teams did that, they'd score more runs (in fact, I know that they'd score more runs that way, as I've read several articles on the subject). And I think it would behoove pitchers and the NL teams that they play for if pitchers took a little more time and put a little more effort into their hitting. They don't have to hit 40 homeruns, but I don't think it would hurt their mechanics that much if they worked a little harder on plate discipline and making contact as well as bunting.