sfaJack

I think we all see (and some, including me--to some degree--even agree with) your point Eric, but do you seriously think that building a massive public transportation infrastructure in this country is feasible from either a cost or a time standpoint? For instance, Houston: it took 3 1/2 years and $350 million--and a few years of litigation over right-of-ways before that--to get a SEVEN MILE stretch of light rail downtown in place. The result of all of that time and cost was a toy train that is pretty useless and a bunch of businesses that were forced to close because their parking was stolen and the streets in front of them were closed for months at a time due to construction. I guess the rail line nice if you live/work in the medical center but it ultimately does NOTHING to ease freeway congestion or commuter headaches because it doesn't go anywhere near where 98% of the population actually lives. 3 1/2 years and $350 million for THAT. It's a joke. Now consider the time and cost it would take to build the 20-30 mile commuter rail lines (in six different directions, by the way) that are actually needed around here. It will take DECADES and cost trillions. Multiply that by pretty much every city of even moderate size in this country and you've got quite a tab. Even if we started construction on these rail lines tomorrow, what the fuck do you suggest we do in the mean time?? (And don't say "ride a bike" because that isn't practical in this city.)

I think I read that all 11 of the Bennigans in the Houston area are closed. It's a bummer. On the rare occassions I go out to lunch with a coworker, it's a cheap, nearby option.

I guess the Astros' acquiring Randy Wolf could mean that Roy Oswalt isn't going to pitch again this year.

Where were you sitting? If you were the drunk asshole that was sitting behind me in 419 doing Tarzan yells the whole game, I'm gonna kick you in the nuts. As for whether other teams do that sort of stuff, all I can say is that when we went to a Phillies/Rangers game in Arlington back in June there were several stands on the concourse (and even a whole rack in the big gift shop in center field) that were selling Phillies gear. I asked one of the ladies working one of the stands about it and she said they were expecting a lot of Philly fans to be in the park over the weekend so they thought they would take advantage.

I hate it when your boss gives you a giant (and I mean GIANT) stack of expense reports from 2007 and an excel file with 349 questions from a client auditor about said expense reports and then asks you if you can have all of the questions answered by end of the day Thursday. Yeah, sure, dipshit. Sorting through this giant pile of paper in search of a receipt for a $45 lunch on May 13 of last year and then repeating that process 348 more times before Thursday won't be a problem at all... FUCK!

The Astros are going 'all in' for this season as they're said to be in serious negotiations to acquire Randy Wolf.

Well, I've won the division 3 of the 4 years I've been picking. Unfortunately, the playoffs have been another matter entirely...

10. I'm in. Sorry, Chriswok.

Contra 4 for the DS.

Weird. I wrote this post at least a month ago, but apparently forgot to actually publish it. ----------------------------------- Posting about pets is the latest craze to sweep the TSM blogosphere so I thought I'd blatantly steal the idea and post about our pets. Sassy I'm not really a cat person. I don't mind them, but, if given a choice, I would opt for a dog. That said, this is Sassy. Sassy is about 8 years old. sfaJill got her after seeing a posting on a campus bulletin board back in 2000, which means she's had Sassy about a year longer than she's had me. Sassy is a very 'talkative' cat and used to be pretty tolerant of other kitties/animals--until she became an 'only cat' after sfaJill and her sister stopped living together a few years back. I know this because when we were keeping her sister's cat a year and a half ago during their move, Sassy would spend all of her time keeping Cocoa (who isn't very well adjusted and thus terrified of just about everything) "trapped" in a particular corner of the kitchen. It was so bad that we ended up having to put another litter box in that corner because Cocoa--too afraid to leave the safety of her corner perch and risk getting attacked by Sassy--would just do her business on the kitchen floor. Stupid cat. Where was I? Oh yeah... Sassy's had a pretty charmed life: all the food she could want, constant attention from sfaJill, sleeping on the bed with us, etc. She's even managed to make some strides in getting my general household rule of "no animals on the furniture"--a rule that held firm for about 5 days after sfaJill moved in back in December 2006--relaxed by constantly testing my patience with it to the point where it's not worth the effort to fight it anymore. Sassy probably felt like she was the queen of the world. So imagine her dismay this past New Year's Eve when we brought home... Wrigley Yes, he is named after Wrigley Field. We got Wrigley when he was 8 weeks old from sfaJill's aunt, who breeds Huskies, Akitas, and Bernese Mountain Dogs. Wrigley was free to us because he supposedly has some joint defect in his leg and was thus unable to be sold (note: thus far, there is no sign of that defect). sfaJill, who has never had a dog before Wrigley, had been pushing to get a dog for a while (supposedly because I 'needed' a dog); I was against the idea because, as someone who's had dogs most of my life, I know how much work it can be to take care of one--especially a puppy--and our lifestyle (gone 12-13 hours a day for work) might not be a great fit for a dog. Certainly not one that requires a lot of attention like huskies do anyway. But because she was so insistent and I would have had to put up with an unprecedented level of whining if we passed on a 'free' dog, I went against my better judgment and agreed to get the dog. The results? Mixed, at best. Good: - He is fun to play with. - He is always thrilled to see anybody and is usually happy to just be in the same room with you. - Gives me an excuse to go to the dog park and semi-flirt with the MILFs that bring their dogs there. (I'm kidding. Sort of. I just like looking at the MILFs.) Bad: - The dog has seperation issues. We actually had to start leaving him outside during the day because he was either destroying the kitchen or climbing over the gate into the living room and destroying stuff there, in addition to pissing and shitting on the carpet. He's been better since he's been staying outside, but still...way too anxious about being by himself. - Nothing in life is free. What I mean is that, within three months of our getting him, he had to go in for surgery because he ate a piece of bark mulch out of the flower bed and it got lodged in his intestine, making him unable to digest anything and/or poop. Total cost? $2600. At least we were able to get him neutered at the same time. Since then, the 'tab' has kept on growing. For instance, just yesterday, sfaJill told me that after I had left work and while she was in the shower, he ate $4 worth of winning scratch-off lottery tickets. - He has dug a few holes in the back yard and absolutely destroyed the back door with his constant jumping and scratching at it. This has not made me very happy, for obvious reasons. - There are other things to list here, but I doubt anyone gives a shit and I'm going to have to get back to work here. Suffice it to say, I'm not totally impressed with the dog.

Not only that, but "Deal or No Deal" is a fucking game show. There's nothing "reality" about it.

When talking about Lidge and the Pujols home run, people often seem to forget that he gave up that home run to ALBERT PUJOLS. Sometimes great major league hitters are better than great major league pitchers. How about Podsednik hitting the game winning HR off him in game 2 of the Series that same year or giving up the Series-losing run to Jermaine Dye in game 4, al? Though they're not really the same thing though since the games were tied, would you consider that equal?

Yeah, seriously. Hate David Stern and Clay Bennett all you want but OKC itself didn't really have anything to do with the move of the Sonics, other than say "We welcome you. Oh, and here's a bunch of public money to help you turn a profit."

In case anyone was wondering, Hank Steinbrenner says the Yankees' offense needs to 'wake up'.

So the Rockets are chasing Brent Barry and are possibly looking into Sam Cassell and Robert Horry--all the while (apparently) not offering Corey Maggette anything. Yeah, that'll get them out of the first round. Fragile Yao, fragile McGrady...no solid 3rd scoring option. All hail mediocrity.

Further to that, who gives a shit about "what's best for baseball" or any other TV ratings garbage. Give me two good teams in a competitive World Series and I could give a shit if all of the new "die hard" Red Sox fans from central Mississippi (for instance) watch a single inning.

I pump gas like that, it's easier to balance everything out if it's a solid 40 or 50 than 43.31. But if it's going on your card, why does it matter? Unless you're one of those meticulous types who records every cent they spend during the week. I'm that type. Plus I've got a credit card that I only use for gas and, at the end of the month, it's just easier to write the check for $250 or whatever instead of $247.94. Of course, I'm also the guy that, when I pay bills each month, I round each bill up to the next dollar so that it's easier to keep track of in the check register. I hate cents.

Agreed 100%. My mother was an elementary and special ed teacher for 28 years and, while she still enjoyed working with the kids in her final years, all of those things you mention (particularly what I bolded above) were things that had sucked almost all of the fun out of her job. It was a really sad progression to watch because she used to really love her job. I think the thing she complained about the most was when the district put in a policy of "no grades lower than 50 on any assignment so." Even if the child didn't turn said assignment in, they STILL got a 50.

You all probably wouldn't believe the number of people defending Chacon and villifying Ed Wade in this town this morning. "Ed Wade had it coming to him for assembling this shitty team!" is the most common argument.

One argument would be that if the punishment is the same for killing the child as it is for leaving the child alive, then what is the incentive to NOT kill the child? Another one I've heard is that if you sentence them to life without parole and put them in the general pop in prison, the "problem" would just sort of work itself out.

I LOVE those "who's the daddy?" episodes of Maury. Let me know what day the niece-in-law is going to be on!

Nine, listed in order of visit: Minute Maid Park Wrigley Field Ballpark in Arlington Coors Field Safeco Field Tropicana Field (the worst stadium in the history of sports, btw) Kauffman Stadium Fenway Park Petco Park

Content with the Cubs' rally in the top of the 7th and Marmol on his way in, I flipped over to watch the Astros continue their three-week meltdown. Imagine my surprise when I flipped back over just in time to watch Crawford blast that ball out of the park.

I actually don't have a huge problem with Johnson trying a bunt in that situation, although it's not the way I would have played it. It wasn't a great bunt, but, still, if Longoria and Ayala don't combine to make a great defensive play, it likely works and the game is tied 3-3. The attempted steal of third base though? FAIL.