So much for that 365 posts thing...

Sorry about the uber-delay. Possibly the longest ever. Things have been fairly hectic (especially over the weekends when I usually mine the interwebz and Earth-in-general for exciting blog posts) what with work, and three trips out of town. Grandma is doing fine by the way...

In my delay I have decided a few things:

1.) Entourage is good. Really really good. I have been catching up on them from the library and Netflix (for the later seasons) and should be well into Season four by this weekend or so. Absolutely stellar script writing to keep what is essentially a repeated macro-storyline (guy gets movie, movie sells mass, guy celebrates with friends). Definitely recommend this one.

2.) This guy is hilarious. Basically, Chi City Mane is the realest dude from Chi town now livin' in the burbs. He chronicles his adventures with his personal Handycam (meaning you never really see his face). Yet another recommendation. As a matter of fact, I'll save you the trip:





And finally, if you don't watch any of the other one's cause they look stupid and you don't need any more ghetto slang in your life, please at least just watch this one. It'll warm your heart. A little Christmas love for the less fortunate:


3.) I'm out of shape. Trying to start working out is probably four times harder than trying to continue working out. I'm realizing this the hard way. Oh well.... onward.

4.) One of my cats now does not eat unless other people are in the room with her. I swear, this cat is quickly getting the nickname "Kevin McAlister" because I think she is afraid of the furnace, near which her main food bowl currently rests. Now we have another secondary food bowl in the living room, but that is just darn inconvenient when the Iams is down in the basement by said Main Food Bowl. The things we do for our pets...

5.) Speaking of pets, I'll be making friends (hopefully....) with three more this weekend. I'll be sure to take massive embarrassing and revealing photos chronic-(WHAT!?)-cling their living arrangements (jk doe....)

First day of work today!

Seems like it'll be a good time. First day I walk into my plant and who do I see? the brother of the guy who I had been living with for the past 5 months. Pretty crazy if ya ask me.

But yea, that was the highlight of the day pretty much. A lot of paperwork and "getting me into the system." That's a lot of what this week is going to be.

Oh, and I'll have a daily starting time of 6 AM. That won't be fun. Oh well, that's what ya get for being the n00b. As a final thought, today made me think of this. And yes, having true life events make one recall an xkcd does make one a major nerdburger.

So does using the word "one" instead of "me".

I'm On a Roll Tonight

Can you tell it's the first weekend with just me and the 'rents? Not that there's anything wrong with that....

If you follow the blog you know that I have a way out of character fondness for Brand New. I say out of character because usually I don't harp on a single band this much (Exhibit A: they have their own tag, with multiple entries). I was going through their website checking for when they planned on putting out some new music ('09 looks good) and looking at some of the old news posts they had.

This entry caught my eye. While every band harps on the "it isn't for the money" line, I think this may be one of the most poignant forms of saying that I have seen yet:

We would like to express our gratitude to anyone of you who has ever spent a nickel on this band, whether it was getting into a show, or buying a sticker, or a t shirt, or a record. It takes money to tour, and feed a band and its crew, or to record an album (after the label has spent all of yours). You all make these things possible, and in turn keep Brand New a band. But the bottom line is that we would rather this band didn't become something we felt like we were constantly selling to you guys. The only thing we as a band will ever claim authenticity on is our music. Just because all that other stuff comes from us, just because you bought a shirt on our website, or at a show, or got a lyric book in the mail, it doesn't mean it's any more unique or authentic then something you could do yourself. In fact it is less. It's just merchandise. The only "official" part of the band is what you hear on our records or at a show, the sounds we make. Write BRAND NEW on your knuckles or on a wall and it's just a good as some sticker that has an "interscope" logo on it. If you're feeling up to it, save the twenty bucks you were gonna spend on our merch site and write "The Devil and God are Raging Inside me" in marker on your dad's old t shirt. It will scare your parents, cost you nothing, and be about the most limited edition thing anyone will ever own... unless you make two.


What we are trying to say is that the important thing is that you are listening, and not so much buying. Spread it around. Share us with your friends. We thank you for supporting our band, and appreciate that you continue to do so, especially by playing our albums and coming to shows to watch us play. We hope everyone has a good holiday and a joyful new year. We're brushing up on our German and Gaelic.

This is why I don't mind waiting two years for them to release a new album. They do it for the right reasons, and if it doesn't sound right, throw it away and do it again. The candor - or honesty, or whatever you want to call it - is nice.

And now for something you have all seen before

Two posts today, mainly so I don't fall further behind on my "365-post" rule this early in the game:

Five Things I'm Interested in Right Now that I Will Probably Burn Out On in a Month
(A derivative of my "Top 5")

1.) Cooking - Thanks to watching Top Chef marathons pretty much all of finals week, some Pavlovian shit has made this a major curiosity/hobby/interest of mine lately. To add to it, I got Alton Brown's I'm Just Here for the Food for Christmas, and I've realized I like reading about cooking when it's not in the form of a cookbook. It's like a chem lab that you get to eat at the end, which totally revs me up.

...Long distance...

2.) Converting vinyl to digital - It was a Christmas present/project to mom and dad and (like all good hobbies of mine) is turning out to be a lot more work than I had originally imagined. It helps feed into my visions of being Rick Ruben/Scott Storch. I've realized grown-ups still play pretend, it's usually just a lot more expensive than when "we" (I'm not a grown up.) were younger.
3.) Rock Band 2 - I've gotten up to being able to play aboutttt half the songs on Hard. It's those half-beat kick drum patterns that are causing me trouble right now, but I'm working through them, all the while giving myself more false hope of being musically talented. Nothing like this guy though:



3.) Meh, can't think of anything here. Put this as another long distance in between

4.) Reading good books - Finally having a shitload of time after a semester of not having much has its benefits. No more information to be divulged in this sector right now because it will make for good blog-fodder later.

5.) Dashboard Confessional - This one is taking the "right now" qualifier pretty literally. Haven't listened to Chris Carrabba in a while (like, since A Mark A Mission A Brand A Scar was released), and I must say I don't mind him.

A good family picture:

In case you were curious, this would be a solid general description of my family:

Prior to watching Step Brothers (but obviously after dinner, which mainly consisted of a random collection of whatever sounded good at the time with no culinary rhyme or reason: nachos, mac and cheese, chili maybe, chili dip, or in my case just some dry noodles) my sister and I decide it is high time for a Funfetti cake. In my family, Funfetti is the sacred cake-mix of all cake-mixes. Like a top shelf liquor, it can't be drank on just any Saturday movie-night. To give sufficient reason for this 13x9 pan of glory we ran to the cabinet with the food coloring. Since the sister teaches elementary school kids she always has a solid grasp on those holidays that I, being a college student at a school that doesn't really let us out for anything, have since forgotten about.

We mixed red, then blue, then some green, then a little more red, heck throw some yellow in while were at it, and finally a little more red and that... right... there... maybe... yes!

Our very own Martin Luther King Jr. day African-American Funfetti cake. Off color? Probably. Should I have posted this on the interwebz for (potentially) all to see? Probably not. Either way, good, fun times for all. And the Funfetti was glorious.

Disclaimer: In reality, once the mix got baked, the color didn't really stick around much. It was more of an Italian-in-the-summer tan. Oh, and this was meant in no way to be derogatory to African Americans or Italians in the summer. Thank you and have a nice day.

How many roads must a man walk down?

This week I finally got around to reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a book I've been interested in for years and avoided seeing the movie for reason of avoiding it ruining the book for me (both because of spoilers and the quality).

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe is already on hold. Douglas Adams is probably one of the best character builders I have experienced. Whether it's Arthur Dent, your average Joe, Ford Prefect, the automobile-named alien who intended to be on Earth for a week only to be forgotten about for 15 years to finally have to escape to leave, or Marvin, the manic-depressive robot. They all have a sense of depth, personality, and even a unique voice of sorts (and sense of humor).

Writing a book based around a veritable encyclopedia of the universe can't be an easy task. Small pieces of the guide are mentioned throughout the novel, helping to build the reader's understanding of the history of the universe and provide more lighthearted comic relief.

Which is the reason I'm planning on reading the whole series now. Sure, the characters are wonderful and the ability any sci-fi writer worth his salt has to create a whole universe (and it's unique machines) astounds me, but Adams does all of it with a sort of lightheartedness that I really can't get enough of. I'm not a huge reader by any means. So when I actively want to read a book rather than turn on the PS3, it's a huge compliment to the abilities of the writer. This writer has me hooked.

Attempting to not sound like a prick here....

Work with me here. The LA Times posted this picture of Steve Jobs today and a year ago, to show how his pretty highly publicized hormonal imbalance has affected him.

To me, all his picture shows is that 1) he is balding and 2) he shaved on Sept. 8th, 2008, but not on Sept. 16-18th 2007.



It's been rumored that he has been dealing with a rare treatable form of pancreatic "cancer," so maybe a type of chemo has to do with the hair-loss and discoloration. Either way, I hope the best for him. A world without Steve Jobs (or Bill Gates) would be like the Galactic Empire not having Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader. Just kind of empty and "what are we really doing here"-esque. Mainly I don't think the time lapse picture was the best choice for the article, it just invites needless speculation (see: this blog post).

Ahhh

Vacations are nice. Now a week from today I will be enjoying (I hope) my first day of real work. What real entails I still have no idea, other than that it is at the aircraft engine portion of GE. So that'll be interesting....

Until then, a however-many-part-I-feel-like-making-this part series on what I have been doing. However, in an effort to make this not seem LiveJournal/Xanga-y, I will throw in completely meaningless and absurd pictures, like the one to the right >>>

Part 1
Apparently, rocking my exams. I won't go into specifics because then some smarty-mcfee will jump in the comments and rain on the parade, but it was all A's and B's. If I have a solid mix of those the rest of school I can't complain.

Part 2
Pretty much after Part 1 there was a long lull of complete randomness and non-newsworthy happenings. Costume party, to which I busted out my Elf costume famous from tacky Christmas sweater day from senior year of high school.

I'm pretty much a carbon copy

Part 3
Part 3, which could realistically be exchanged with Part 2, and could be placed either BC (Before Christmas) or AC (After Christmas) consists of a large amount of Fallout 3 (Happy Bird-day to me!) and Rock Band 2 (thanks, Santa).

Fallout 3 is pretty much the shiz-nizzle. Not recommended if, like me, you are a big weenie when it comes to post-Apocalyptic radiated zombies that look eeriely similar to the things from I Am Legend. They lurk everywhere; dark places, the middle of the block, behind you, or in abandoned buildings.

While not the same (at all really), visual similarities are there.

Overall, I have to say its a very good game. Maybe the best I have played so far on PS3. The biggest flaw is that for a console game it is still surprisingly buggy (a trend in nearly all "next-gen" multiplatform games it seems). Nothing major, just the occasional freeze.

I really don't think I could say anything about Rock Band 2 that hasn't already been said/heard by any of you. It's sweet, and basically exactly the same as Guitar Hero World Tour. Only difference is the song selection. I'm impressed with Rock Band's and have already spent too much money downloading everything from No Doubt ("Don't Speak," if you were curious) to Boston ("Peace of Mind").

Part 3 has been the largest part of my vacation, for sure.

Part 4
That is of course unless you count Part 4 (ohhh, twist!!). Part 4 can be the coverall consisting of spending time with that one girl that lives down the street (also referred to as Stinky, because she is really really white like the uncle of the friendly ghost and has poor hygene habits). Yea, I saw her occasionally.

We went and saw the Nutcracker, with the highlight being the kid behind us telling mom, "I wanna go hoooooommmmeeeeee," about midway through Act 2. I grinned and couldn't really disagree with him. At least someone had the kahunas to say it. Don't get it twisted though, still an enjoyable time.


Overall, good break. Definitely needed to some extent. Now comes 2009, which I can already say with confidence will be nothing like 2008.... or 2007, or 06, or 05, or... you get the idea. My resolution-to-be-broken this year is to learn to cook more than eggs, mac and cheese, and cheeseburgers and to have 365 posts by the end of the year. I'm already behind, so clearly not off to a good start. Maybe this one can count as two....

Happy (end of) Holidays and New Year to all!

Taking some time out of my procrastination....

I understand that pretty much everyone here also frequents a couple other blogs ("couple" being used in a very broad way...). There are only maybe one or two readers that I can think of that may just give sole homage to me. Those people are pretty stupid because honestly, this this is pretty boring on the scale of blogdom.

This is one that is not: http://my42cents.blogspot.com/.

No, its not the weird political 42 cents blog, though the author does address this.

The premise is simple. Taken from the website:

"The Correspondent writes a real letter and posts it each weekday. Bookmark the page and subscribe to the RSS feed to receive daily content. Please share the page with friends and family, so that they, too, may come to expect correspondence. If you have any comments or suggestions, both are welcome via the comment links below each letter."

My personal favorites, the letter to the first grade, Val Kilmer, and the Ice Mountain Water one (mainly good because, sometimes, the companies will reply back).

Lessons learned from this blog: write letters to companies, they usually give away free stuff. Also, a lot more people than I had imagined enjoy a personal letter from someone completely anonymous.

Fun stuff, check it out.

Two classes (all but) done

Both were classes where we essentially had a semester long project, and everything in each was dedicated to said project.

One (Intro to flight) ended up being a 71 page report of sorts, the other (my last CAD class) fills a binder full of schematics. I don't even know what schematics are but I have a binder full of them.

Donezo. Also, both I turned in a little early for some honestly pretty redic. extra credit (considering the grade for each is all but my final semester grade).

I have drank three times more cans of energy drinks and cups of coffee than I have had hours of sleep this week. I think I deserve some Chipotle.

Fun gross fact of the day

Taurine, the stuff they cram in energy drinks that I consume way too much, is also a major constituent of bile.

Just ask wikipedia (actually cited by seemingly academic sources too!)

Finals Week Eve [slash] Finals Week

You guys know the drill, I suck. This week and next will be sporadic with school really picking up, then with the holidays I will probably take some R&R.

I'll post some shorties here and there, but as always, this is fairly high on the list of things to go (don't worry, Mom, PS3 is too) when the going gets rough.

The good news (that I'm not sure if I have mentioned here yet; if I have, ignore me) is that I will be home next semester working at GE (the "Aviation" portion) getting some much needed on-the-job training and making some serious dough stacks in the process. Well, compared to my current job of unemployed. I get to use my favorite division problem here: my pay rate increase will be x/0. Undefined ftw!

Anywho, back to finishing up these end of semester projects. Hollaaaaa

Happy Birthday To Me

And in honor of my consistently sporadic and late posting, this is a day late!!!

HURRAH!!!

Why I love my major 1.0

Intro: This is going to be a running theme. I'll try not to get too nerdy because, let's be honest, I do actually have a rep to try to live up to. I'm not sure where it is going to go, but that's what's fun about life. Onward:

1.0 - Whenever I make fun connections to non-engineering stuff. Well, in the traditional sense of the word. We in the major (like any major) like to think that everything is engineering. People hate us for this.

You know that weirdness about how when you breathe out with your mouth open hot air comes out, but when you breathe out with wittle itty bitty kissy wips, cold air comes out? No, there is not a mini thermostat in there, though that would be friggin awesome. Nor are you cold hearted (well, maybe you are, but cold kissy breathe is not related to the relative warmth of your heart).

This is a phenomenon that is called I-don't-know-what. I'm sure it does have a name, but I don't know it because only the really complicated things get names.

Essentially, this has to do with mass flow (your breath) through a nozzle (your kissy wips) or a diffuser (the "she must be unlisted" type of breathing). Basically, as you lower the exit area for a gas while raising the velocity, through some boring thermodynamic properties that we can ignore, the temperature of said gas will decrease. Sure, in theory it is possible to "she must be unlisted" breathe out hot air, but it would have to be really friggin fast. To the tune of 50 times faster than your kissy-wips breathing. Given the limited capacity of our lungs, it's pretty much impossible. Don't go collapsing anything trying to do this.

This is just something that has always seemed a little curious to me and I never would have thought that I would figure out the why while studying mechanical engineering. Truth is, we are machines ladies and gentlemen.

Now that's some hot breath.

Every Time I think you couldn't get any dumber....

Ok, the title really has nothing to do with the body, but I just wanted to quote some Dumb and Dumber, Jim Carrey's best motion picture.

Anywho, to the point. Just when I thought Google couldn't get any cooler (really, I thought their method of predicting the flu impressed me to the max), they one up me. Google is now hosting every image from Life magazine from 1860-1970s. We're not talking shit 300x300px "here is the idea" size. No, no. More like full-ish res 1000(or so)x1000(or so).

Really impressed. If only I had to write history papers still. Either way, a very nice selection of desktop backgrounds here with some easy cropping in your favorite photo editor.

Thanks, Google. You can contact me in regards to my ad check.

XKCD gets even cooler

The creator of famed web comic XKCD may just win the entire internetz one day. Not only does he have the nerdiest web comic ever, he struck pure gold with his comparison websites.

Learn what the best, funniest, fairest, and cutest thing ever is by venturing to their respective websites, giving a few votes of your own, then reading the respective top lists to learn what really is the Best Thing Ever.

For the record, the current best thing ever: being outside at night in the perfect temperature. Can't argue with that much...

Proof I am going to Hell

Just figured I would keep with my trend today....

Funniest blooper of all time:

Sesame Street from Hell

Yes, this is a blatant ripoff from a Digg comment stream, but damn is it funny. First, it seems everyone's favorite cookie monster is suffering a relapse.

If you think that is really unsettling (it is) but mildly creative and funny, wait until you see Tickle Me Elmo (on of my favorite toys ever by the way) on fire!!!

You Suck At Photoshop

Really, you do. Don't worry, Donnie Hoyle (Dane Cook) is here to help.

Comedic genius, right up my alley. It really is pretty informative too. I wish I woulda known about this during Odin's, I definitely would have just made people watch these.



There's more than this, but you got the idea...

1 Picture = 1,000 words

It must be an exponential growth rate on (dPicture/dWords), because these four say at least a billion. Maybe even a million. [/subtle Austin Powers reference]




Not trying to get all sappy or anything, but this will probably stick in my memory the most out of all the pictures and shit.

That and CNN breaking the "Obama Elected President" headline the second the California polls closed. That was pretty cool too....

Obama wins

You heard it here first. I will bet my left nut, then raise you my right. On a more serious note though, it really is shaping up to be a huge election night for the idealists. I'm excited/nervous to see what will happen. I wish I could say more about it, but I really don't know.

Then I remember we have Joe Biden, and all is well. Even T.I. wants him.

Begin rant here

I'm not sure where to begin. Apparently, black students at the University of Illinois went about creating a separate homecoming event geared towards African-Americans. RTA first.

Excuse me while I go Achilles. (I needed some type of disclaimer).

First off, I find it disturbing that race differences in a University setting are so cataclysmic that two completely different events must be held (one white, one black) for "school spirit" to be shown. That ceases to be support for one's SCHOOL (on both sides of the equation) and becomes a race rally. White people do it by painting their bodies, getting trashed, and maybe dancing a little. According to the article, black people do it by "step shows," as the article describes as if it's some tribal ritual (way to perpetuate the stereotype there).

I find it even more disturbing that this already happens at both OSU and Minnesota also. Three major public institutions. Public being the keyword.

I think it shows a lot about the state of the nation, on this, the eve of election day. A day in which from the sounds of things, the nation's first black man will be elected president (he is not African-American, if he were he could not be elected president).

Is this racism in the traditional sense? No. Is it against any laws? From the sounds of things, no, the program still welcomes all. Would I attend the black homecoming? Hell yes, if only for the music. But that's neither here nor there.

The point is, what are we as a generation really trying to accomplish here? From stories like this, I truly believe that no one really wants unity. People just want to do whatever the fuck they want. That's cool I guess. No harm no foul. You don't want your black homecoming king and queen to be constantly outvoted by the 93% whites or to have to listen to Savage Garden and Tom Petty all night. I understand, I've been there and I hate Tom Petty, too.

But at the same time, I don't want to hear this bullshit about racism still being alive, when it is perpetuated through a complete and utter unwillingness by both sides to come together as one even in aspects of social life when race plays no part. Do you, sophomore Ashley Williams of U of I, really think that through organizing an African American Homecoming, you are really truly helping the cause of blacks being more socially welcome. If I want to make friends, I don't lock my door, I leave it open. You can say you are leaving it open by inviting all, but why create the divide in the first place?

Bullshit like this is far more destructive to race relations than any radio personality saying "nappy headed hoes." This is the youngest voting generation. To the vast majority of people I see on campuses around Ohio (my sample size) I have to say this: electing Obama will not do shit to make this nation a better, more unified place. You, your friends, and that girl who stinks and sits by herself at lunch everyday will. Start showing some responsibility and stop taking the lazy way out. You want a separate homecoming? Fine. But never say you want change you can believe in ever again.

Hallelujah! Holy shit! Where's the tylenol?

Lemme hear your thoughts, maybe I'm way off.

Gas prices sub $2.00

I'll be making the short trip to Huber Heights today or tomorrow to bask in the glory of gas prices being as low as they have been nearly since I have had my license.

Adventures of a poor college kid

In the latest search for the almighty dollar, I am seriously considering going the blood-plasma donation route. By seriously considering, I mean I have an appointment for 1:00 tomorrow. It seems a little too good to be true.

I go in at one and sign in. They then give me a physical (for the first appointment) to make sure I'm in good health (if I'm not, news to me) and don't have AIDs (if I do, news to me). Then they do what is essentially a blood donation which is then spun in a centrifuge so all the blood cells fall out, leaving the liquid plasma (with the clotting factors included, with a big shout out going to a special someone since I actually understand how this could be useful).

A lot of the blood plasma is used for people with blood clotting issues (hemophiliacs for instance) when a moderate-severe blood loss occurs. Sometimes people with liver disease need it to. Also, correct me if I'm wrong here, but I believe by removing the actual cells, blood plasma is universal for all blood types (again, correct me if I'm wrong).

Basically, the way I see it, I'm doing a good deed, have no fear of needles or blood, and I'm getting paid $40 a pop for it. Sounds pretty unbeatable to me.

Ya know what's really hard?

Eating grapefruit without a grapefruit spoon.

Ah,the joys of college.

Observe:

The greatest grapefruit-spooner ever.


Yours truly.

In other news, interviews for co-ops are done, just writing the thank you letters (maybe I will use the ones I bought for graduation and never filled out, woops) and waiting for a call to go. And I also finally got my camera back from the sister unit. So I got that goin for me....

LittleBigPlanet Delayed

Wonderful. The game that Sony was hoping would be the major "console pusher" of holiday season '08 is being delayed from an expected release on Tuesday, to mid-November.

Apparently, one of the background songs in the game contains two phrases from the Qur'an which Muslim types don't like. From what I learned in basically my religion 101 class, a fairly fundamental Islamic belief is that the Qur'an is literally the word of Allah. This is why it is RARELY translated. Allah (in keeping with the "no translation rule," the Arabic term for God, which, regardless of what your old aunt from Tennessee wants to tell you - and if I remember correctly - is actually the exact same God Christians worship. Fun fact.).

So, some song, the artist of which is actually Muslim (Sunni no doubt), had a few Arabic phrases in it and one of the beta testers noticed it. Rather than mentioning this, oh I dunno, BEFORE MILLIONS OF COPIES WERE MADE AND DISTRIBUTED, he decided to wait until a day or so ago.

Now, tens of millions of dollars in investment later, everything is being recalled, Blue Ray disks (not the less expensive DVDs, mind you) are being burned with the same version of the game, sans song, and shipped all over the world again.

Personally I see this from three sides:

1.) Gamer side - Shit shit shit, this sucks. As a beta tester for the game and college kid with seriously no money, I was considering giving some plasma for money to buy this game. It's that good. The creativity it allows as well as the ability to play others created levels from around the world was really exciting, even in a limited beta version. I can't imagine how this will be in a full release.

2.) Moral side - I understand the problem, and to be fair to the person who mentioned it, he suggested releasing a patch deleting the song (I assume this would be possible) and from here on out printing the new copies sans song. Problem is, he is not the voice of the entire Muslim community, so drastic steps needed to be taken to please everyone. to be honest I feel like if this was released in America only it would not be a major issue, admittedly because American-Muslim relations are so far in the shitter that 95% of the country would give two shits, with maybe 40% actually celebrating pissing Muslims off. The game was initially delayed for Europe only by the company that created it, but Sony stepped in and gave the word to hold it for the world.

3.) Business side - Someone will be getting fired over this. If there has ever been an example of a company putting their eggs in one basket, LittleBigPlanet may be it. Since it was publicly announced in March 2007, they have not skirted around the fact that it is anticipated to be a "console pusher" to get them back competing with the 360 in software sales. Since Sony is still losing money for every system sold, having blockbuster software titles is that much more important. Make no mistake, the fact that they are hoping to have it completely reprinted, shipped, and released in about three weeks time shows how important this is for the company. If I were to explain it in an analogy, it would be like Carson Palmer getting hurt for the Beng--- oh wait. Yea, it's like that.


P.S. the past two blog posts being horribly long will not turn into a trend, I promise

UPDATE: ah the joys of blog posting on developing events... apparently media molecule (the publishing/design company responsible for the game) is going with the patch/change future discs route. This makes a lot more sense, and further shows what I was saying about this being a huge product for Sony. The patch was made and ready for release about 12 hours after it came to their knowledge. For some perspective on that: NCAA 09 finished a gameplay patch about a week following the release, but Sony did not approve it and put it up for download until two months later. This speed of turnover is rare to say the least (unprecedented is more like it)

Em's Back

Given that I kind of consider myself a bit of a student of rap, I can't let this go un-commented on. Before you make the snarky "student of rap comment," I've heard it before. Har har.

Sometime last night Eminem announced on his radio station (didn't realize he had his own station, it probably sucks) that he is releasing his sixth studio album, R3lapse. There has been talk for about a year now that he has been in the studio working on an album known as "King Mathers," I'm assuming that is what this is. With it he released his first bit of music from the album, appropriately called, "I'm Having a Relapse," embedded below. Take two minutes and listen.




I admit, sometimes I'm a little too quick to anoint an album. When Carter III came out I was convinced Lil Wayne was the best rapper alive. Then Nas came out with The Ni-ahem, Untitled and I was floored. Surely that would be the best rap album of the year. To prove me wrong again, Game came out with LAX. Most recently, T.I.'s Paper Trail is on my list of "album of the year" with seriously four or five Top 10 singles. I'm a bit of a lemming, I understand.

For the record, my revisionist rankings go somewhat like this:
1. Untitled - Nas
2. Paper Trail - T.I.
3(t). Carter III - Lil Wayne, LAX - Game


With that being said, I really really really truly honestly think this could be the return of the real Eminem. In this two minute freestyle he touched on prescription pain killer abuse, anal sex with inanimate objects, self-abuse, and finding the body parts of a cheerleader. Gruesome? Absolutely. Offensive? Without a doubt. Catchy as hell? Yes, again.

It looks like, from this extremely small but promising sample, that Eminem has found his way out of the fake-gangsta G-Unit mentality and back into rapping about HIS life as a white trash kid from the Detroit trailer park with his signature over-the-top-ness and black comedy.

Call me a bit of an optimist, but for now I'm considering (hoping) the "3" in the album title being Em's own recognition that this will be the third time that Marshall Mathers comes out to play (previously in the Slim Shady EP and self-titled LP), not Hollywood-Em (Eminem Show, which was good but clearly different, and Encore, meh) or G-Unot (post Encore, hurl city).

Please please please please don't screw this up...

the bengals are terrible

they can win out from now until 2010 and I will still hold that fact to be true. At best they will be 2-14.

Yes, at best.

The Browns will finish off about a .500 team, as will the Patriots.

Stone.

Bringin it to the States

A while back I posted an extremely well done Nike commercial that was only released in Europe, no doubt because of it's focus on soccer. It seems that they have brought the idea over here for OUR version of football. While this one loses a little in going with the majestic, epic music - one thing I really liked about the European version was the peppier mood - it is still very good.

Kudos to a marketing group that really doesn't need any more:





EDIT:
For some reason I can't figure out if I really did post the soccer video before. Either way, here it is. Far and away my favorite Nike commercial, and that's saying a lot.

Woes of fantasy football

I am cursed:

No kidding, this was my fantasy team at the beginning of the year:

Yes it's a weird roster set up, I know.

QB: Tom Brady - shit.
RB: Julius Jones - considering he was going to be the go-to guy with Morrice injured, he has been very unimpressive.
RB: Chris Johnson - the rookie on the Titans, the one player I'm not totally disappointed in.
RB/WR: Reggie Bush - Don't get it twisted, he's a wide reciever/utility player; not a running back.
WR: Braylon Edwards - Finally got his head out of his ass on Monday, we'll he where he goes.
TE/WR: Roy Williams - Just traded after a highly unproductive year.
TE: Kellen Winslow - Just was released from the hospital for a pretty serious non-football illness.
DP: Patrick Willis - OK I lied, he hasn't been bad either. Still, a defensive player isn't winning any games.
D: Giants - Injuries and no Strahan has left a mark.


I kid you not.
Cursed I tell ya.

New favorite e-comic

Ok maybe not FAVORITE, but Luke Surl Comics is pretty entertaining - rarely LOL funny, but not all comics need to be - with very few duds. Something not even XKCD can say. I'm not sure if the title is the dude's actual name, or if it's a witty way of writing Luke's URL, as in Luke's website. It's a mystery for the ages...

Some favs:

Fall Break

Finally. Three tests today, one last Friday. It's been a long past 7 days.

In other news, new South Park tonight at 10. Check out the link of you are a fan of Cartman, Kyle, Stan, dead-Kenny, and Butters. Every episode free streaming. Boners!

This is Surreal...

Never did I in my wildest dreams ever think I would hear the words "Belmont University" come out of Obama or McCain's mouth.

Here's to a really really friggin' cool school being in the national spotlight for 90 minutes.

The Ultimate Tailgate List

Ok, not complete because I don't want everyone's browser to crash from the massive songs. This will give you a solid idea.

And yes, the USSR anthem is a must have. Don't question my tactics.


SeeqPod - Playable Search

And for you nerds out there who bring a TV with you:

If I never hear of Wall St./Main St. again

I will die a happy man. God I hate news cliches of the day.

Not Who Dey, but What are Dey Thinking?

Marvin Lewis needs an anatomy class. He obviously doesn't realize that every human body has a spine. He needs to show he has one, and once, just once live up to his word.

I'm tired of signing players other teams don't want to take a chance on (or in Benson's case, players that have also showed an inability to play a full season uninjured, OR live up to their potential). I thought the Bengals were cleaning house, getting rid of players that don't earn their paycheck. So far there has been one whole player that has been dealt with in Rudi Johnson (about two seasons too late, now you can't even get a late-round draft pick out of him, way to go).

Instead, the Bengals just keep 'em coming. I don't completely blame Lewis though. Fun fact: the Bengals have the smallest scouting department in the NFL. It's pretty tough to field a competitive team when you can't even scout the same number of players as any other team. Thanks, Mike Brown.

I'm done, from here on out the only mention of the Bengals you will get from me will be celebration when Chad is finally able to go play for a competitive team. At this point in the season though, he looks like he is fitting in the 'nati all too well.

EDIT: HEY MIKE! How about Travis Henry! He needs a job too!

Read. Because its free.

I like reading, when I have the time. Swer to god, mane. I like not paying for stuff too. Not in the illegal way (necessarily...) but in the poor-unemployed-college-student way.

If you like to read at all, this site should be in your bookmarks, now. Free books, multiple file types (.pdf is my flavor of choice, but you can pick what you want. Choices. The American way), multiple genres.

Banned books category, here I come!


Now for that free time thing...

Suggestions on how to refuse a breathalyzer politely.

Because I care, and, well, let's be honest, THEY know the law, THEY just assume you don't.

1) Ask if they have a warrant to perform this search (if they do, you pretty much have to. they won't have one).
2) Let them know that you would like to cooperate with them, but are concerned that you may need to speak with your attorney before proceeding in the absence of a warrant.
3) Ask what the legal penalty is for refusing (they may lie here, and this would be only goodness, especially if this is filmed).
4) Nothing else. Be sure to be respectful and polite the entire time. If they get bellicose with you, do not respond.

Dear Self,

Look on the bright side. At least you don't have any money to lose right now.

Well, minus that whole financial aid thing.

Career Fair

Where every company that you want to work for comes in and, instead of you learning more about them, things turn into a semi-informal interview.

Sweet.

Make that about 50% less stressed than college apps.... Probably how it should be.

In other news, Happy 10th Birthday Google!!

It's really sad

...and a sick commentary on this system when I feel about 200% less stressed (note: that doesn't mean relaxed...) in applying for Co-Op interviews than I did about college applications.

Need a little pick-me-up

School sucks, co-op applications suck, the work never ends.

Took a little timeout to venture over to Youtube, started at watching football highlights, then came across this Lou Holtz speech compilation (with weirdly, the first one repeated..)



From there on, took a little break to venture onward in the motivational speech realm.


Greatest sports-movie speech, IMO:



A little piece from Hoosiers, much better movie than Any Given Sunday:


I've linked it numerous times, but if this doesn't wake you up, nothing will. It gets me every time:


For this clip alone, "New Noise" by Refused will forever be a staple on my workout playlist. Every time it reaches that point I feel like I'm walking out into the Astrodome:


I know why this never made it over the pond, but damned if it isn't a great commercial. Nike's marketing department is grade A:


I think I just ran through a wall....

Psychological Warfare

I'll be honest, there have been a few times where I will go to a website or something with with a lot of flashing lights to try to scare a fly away, but this technique is just downright genius:

OBAMA'S EMAIL ACCOUNT!?!!?!?

For those of you who don't know, apparently a few day's ago the hacker group known as Anonymous (most famous for their crusade against stupidity) successfully hacked into Sarah Palin's email account. Nothing is private anymore, literally.

The blog-worthiness of all of this lies in the fact that while it took a world-renowned hacker group to break into Palin's gmail account, it only took The Onion to get to Obama's.

Hey Barry, I'm diggin the icon, mayne.

;-)

Math is fun

One thing that as been surprising to me is that in my engineering specific classes, a lot of the time there is very little focus on getting the right answer. A lot of times it is like math-light. Constants are rounded to the point to where, as one of my professors puts it, "You aren't right, but neither is thermodynamics, and at least you are in the game."

In doing math-light a lot this year (though when you are dealing with something like a Benedict-Webb-Rubin equation, not much can be considered "light" about it...) it's surprised me how easy even complex math can become but just knowing "this number gonna be really big, so screw this number, its only gonna change the final answer by like .2, oh but this number matters," and so on and so on.

This morning I saw that one of the supplies of the New York Times had not been emptied (they usually are by about 10 minutes after 8 AM, when classes start) and switched to the Science section because I'm a huge nerd and Wall Street confuses the shit out of me, only to find this article.

Basically, that sense of approximation is starting to be linked to one's mathematical ability. This seems kind of stupid and common sense-ish to me, but the WAY that they were able to test for it is really kind of cool. Basically, the test flashes a random number of circles on a screen for .2 seconds, some blue some yellow. It is your job to determine, basically off of a gut instinct, which color circles there were more of.

Sort of a why didn't I think of that type of thing...

Anywho, I like to think I have a mildly varied readership, so I'm curious how some people test. Clink the link above, go for maybe 20 or so tries, and lemme know what you get.

For the record, I went 50 times, got 76%. I'm sure at least one person will try to beat the system and play like seven times to get 100%, so ahead of time.... I win.

It's getting to be that time of year....

The crisp fall breeze is starting to show in the evenings and (sometimes) that downright cold winter chill wakes me up in the mornings. Kids are throwing footballs to their dads (and occasionally, hip moms) in backyards everywhere. Football (and with that, tailgating) season has arrived.

Just in time with that comes the homework. The papers. The projects. The tests.

Hurl.

Bare with me for a little while I spend most of my time on school work (sorry... priorities and such...), a little less time (for now) on this new thing called "co-op interviews," and a little less on my favorite season of the year (footbaw season).

No, this isn't a goodbye. It is not a "it's not me it's you..." type thing.

It's an "expect shorties like I have already been doing for a little while anyways," type of thing. I like those better anyways; I ramble too much on long posts.

Leaving on a bright note:

Ninja cat (its like an LOLcat, but a real, live, video...):

Best College Football Weekend Ever.

You know why.

That is all, for now.

YAYYYY WE SURVIVED!!!

Happy LHC Day! Were not dead

Or we are and we don't know it.

o.O

AHH!!

Holy crap...

Mythbusters is awesome and hilarious. In this I learned how helium-voice works, and why it never works for me (I exhale...)

Now, what happens if you inhale sulfur hexafluoride? (Science types, is this unhealthy??)



[EDIT]:

Chemguy, if you can sweet-talk the higher-ups, this would be a freakin sweet before-winter-break lab:

Thermodynamics is hard.

Rainy Fridays suck.

These two facts consist of my day. These made me chuckle:








^^the lulz are mild, but on topic

Irregular Webcomic! is actually pretty funny....

Death Magnetic

Metallica is about to release a new CD. Out of spite (fuck you, Lars) I have acquired it already.

They are good again.

I'm not saying they are my favorite, but Rick Rubin has definitely turned around the club. St. Anger is a thing of the past, finally.

Maybe they did nearly carbon-copy the formulas from some of their more popular songs (That Was Just Your Life : Master of Puppets :: The Day That Never Comes : One), but if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

5 Straight Days of college football

and not one game i truly care about.

this is like getting a brand new car only to discover that the last person to give it a test drive let out a really good shart before giving up the keys

My not so professional opinion:

- Pitt lost to Bowling Green. Hopefully that just means they suck and not that they lost their focus already and will be perfect the rest of the season. LeSean McCoy scares me. He is good...

- Michigan sucks. No really, it's not some fun slogan anymore... from what I saw Saturday... they really really suck. Threet/Sheridan are not good throwing quarterbacks, let alone spread option running QBs. McGuffie is a freshman. If their defense lays a turd like they did in the first half, they are in big trouble.... im talking 3-9 trouble...

- I'm tired of these warmup games. Maybe Chris Wells getting hurt is karma.

- USC is going to be very, very, very good this year. Their quarterback, Sanchez, should have started all year last year. Ruh roh.

I'll Bite

100 Foods - bold i've eaten, crossed out I would never try. ill take it a step further and link the ones i needed to investigate

1. Venison - like any other meat, as good as its cooked
2. Nettle tea - wtf?
3. Huevos rancheros - i make a mean one...
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile - alligator, close enough
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush - god thats a sweet phrase. not a big fan of eggplant, but usually like middle eastern food.
11. Calamari - at Disney World one time i had calimari at every resturant. different every place we ate. and yea, i have been to Disney World way too much
12. Pho - sounds good though
13. Peanut butter and jelly sandwich
14. Aloo gobi - apparently i just didnt know the love. i heart curry
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle - amazing.
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes - does mead count?
19. Steamed pork buns - im intrigued though...
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras - minus the health problems, liver doesnt bother me (aka taste-wise)
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda - of the things i havent known to this point, this sounds the tastiest
31. Wasabi peas - Dad loves them
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi - sounds yummy, may have to try it out
34. Sauerkraut - like the smell (its the german in me...), hate the taste (its the intelligence in me...)
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar - its gonna happen...
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat - love me some curry. im down.
42. Whole insects - cant think of any...
43. Phaal - ok this is a curry-heavy list
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu - i remember this on food network once. if i were at a high-class japanese place, i just may
47. Chicken tikka masala - again with the curry!!
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut - hurl.
50. Sea urchin - eh.
51. Prickly pear - Jungle Book (the disney one i grew up on) makes me want one every time
52. Umeboshi - there are so many foods out there i have never even HEARD of that i want to try now... this list is depressing...
53. Abalone - sea food in genereal doesnt scare me...
54. Paneer - i would try it because ill try any cheese, the chances of me liking it are slim to none. non-melting cheese just doesnt do it for me outside of parmesean
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV - going out on a limb on this one. my family loves beer tasting but doesnt really pay attention to ABV... im guessing yes, but not often prob
59. Poutine - that doesnt sound bad at all....
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin - wtf?
64. Currywurst - BRILLIANT!!!!!
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs - i have always said i would, but when the time comes i wimp out. damn you kermit the frog!
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake - all.
68. Haggis - subject to change...
69. Fried plantain - very good actually
70. Chitterlings or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini - once in a blue moon maybe
73. Louche absinthe - Mom really wants to try some...
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill - wtf?
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie - too much processed sugar
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong - love tea.
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum - if i get over the look, i bet its good
82. Eggs Benedict - if i had a stomach able to handle this that early in the morning, i would have it everyday
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant
85. Kobe Beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor - sounds yummy
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee - dont get me started....
100. Snake

Don't talk to cops.

I'm probably on the terrorist watch list already for the title of this, but it needs to be said.

Watch these. Roughly an hour long, but really, really, really informative. James Duane, a professor at Regency Law School talking about why not to talk to police. This isn't me saying cops suck, far from.

Just know your rights



Part 1:


After that, click in the related videos for part 2

Moe Mashed Us Again

Went to the nati and watched the Vikes lose a heartbreaker to longtime rival Moeller, 27-17. I came away with these observatiosn:

* Nippert Stadium (and UC in general) really is a very nice venue. I may have to try to get down there for a UC football game sometime, I feel like when the place is packed it really makes some noise.

* Spencer Ware is good, but really not a thrower. Granted there were a few off throws that were more of a play miscommunication than anything, but he was constantly putting the ball at the knees. Not to say there weren't flashes of D-1 passing, but I feel like he would be much better off as a runningback or wide reciever in college (I would be surprised if any college coaches disagreed with me).

* Princeton will definitely have a good year this year. They more than doubled Moeller in offensive production, and were it not for two interceptions, probably would have walked away with a win. Both the offensive and defensive line still have a ways to go, but nothing to keep them from having a fun season.

* If the football team was even half as fun to watch as this when I were in school, I would have been very satisfied.

* The student section is really going downhill. A big Whiskey Tango Foxtrot to that one....

Duel Day Pt. 3

18 or 21?

It's been coming up in the news a bit lately, so I figure why not throw it out there.

The 21 age limit is a broken system (trust me) but it makes Uncle Sam a ton of money in fines and what not, and I'm sure it probably does cut down on DUI deaths quite a bit. The problem I have with that arguement though is the belief that this is an unalterable consequence of an 18 year age limit.

If I remember correctly, Sweden (the person, a foreign exchange student from high school) told me Sweden's (the country) laws on the subject and it almost made too much sense. Why not lower the age to drink out (as in at bars and resturants) to 18, but keep the age to buy it from a store at 20 (in the case of Sweden) or 21 even? At even the dingiest of hole in the wall bars, there is a bartender there to cut you off and a bouncer to throw you out the door for wearing a hat like the gays do.

It is just enough of a level of control to keep Uncle Sam happy, while at the same time teaching teens their limits so they don't have to learn it from everyones friends over at the Delta house. And shit, the money some people will blow at the bar in one night, let alone two or three years when that is the only possiblity, far far exceeds that of an underage fine. Talk about an economic stimulus package! If anything, it's a hell of a lot of a better idea than the "lite beer" bullshiat law that my parents always use as their disclaimer for "back in the day." I highly doubt that really worked as planned. At least here there is a definite line drawn in the sand. Empty the top shelf if you want, but drink it here, don't take it with you.



Lemme hear em'

Consider this my formal goodbye...

No not from the blogosphere you willy-nillies (not sure if that is even applicable there...).



Consider this my formal goodbye world if the entire planet goes caput from a man-made black hole, as some are fearing upon the completion and first run of the LHC.

Personally, I'm not even going to fake like I know enough to really understand why people would jump to this apocolyptic conclusion, or why physisicts are so damn excited to play with their new toy. I don't really care about the former, and if any of the more scientific types could explain the latter a little bit for me (or ask everyone's favorite Ghanaian) it would be greatly appreciated.

Even with my relative lack of background on the subject, the Popular Science nerd in me can't help but be a little excited. As the comic explains, usually if science makes someone fear for all of humanity, science is on the right track.

I'm BaaaaaAAAAAAaaaaccccckKKKkkkkKKkkk

Moved in 8 AM this morning after finishing packing about 1 AM last night. But, all is well and the one night of fun begins before classes come and ruin my life.

Rubber Ducky out... promising to report much more consistently

It Tickles the Throat

Ginger Beer is not Root Beer.

Mom grabbed some A.J. Stephan's "Jamacian Style" Ginger Beer from Jungle Jims a few weeks ago for me because I'm a big weirdo and like drinking different things. Like chugging straight club soda... then having it come back up all over my biology teacher's floor.... or flavoring said club soda.... but I digress...

Think Ginger Ale cubed, and you have a solid idea of what this "Ginger Beer" is like. Probably a more accurate description would be to think of the taste of straight ginger that is a side in most sushi and carbonate it. I know if you aren't a sushi freak such as I that doesn't help much, but it works. So suck it.

The after taste is straight ginger with a heaping load of burning. Yes, burning. Something with the method of carbonation or something really makes this rough on even a healthy throat. It's a mild burn that lasts a solid 15-20 seconds. Usually the only time a man has to utter that sentence is to a proctologist after a night of B-dubs blazin' wings. Mmmmm buffalo sauceeeeee.

Ginger Beer however, has no wonderous buffalo sauce, yet still the burn (though admittedly, not in the anus.... which is courteous...)

2/5 on the J-Ged ruff ryder taste test scale

Read the Watchmen

I picked it up as I was about halfway done, took out my bookmark (a Dark Knight movie ticket, if you are curious), and now have no need for it.



Holy shit.



Definitely one where the ending isn't the best (or even most memorable) moment. Not to say that it's a shitty Chappelle-esque wrap it up type ending. It's actually a pretty solid closing.

Just... there are so many other parts that make you stop and think. Or just sit there in awe at how two completely non-related aspects of the story tie in later at a much more elaborate level than simply through the plot.

It's all kind of hard to explain with IB English being nearly two years in my past now.......

But yea.... just wow.....

---

Parts that jump out now after just reading it:

1.) The whole of chapter/issue 9. Basically, while trying to not spoil it, it revolves around a normal human being essentially trying to get the only true superhero in the novel to actually give two shits about Earth. In it is a whole "uniqueness of human life" shpiel that really gets to me.
2.) Two chapters before that, Moore has a little non-graphic piece of one of Nite Owl's acedemic pieces that is a masterful suppliment to the whole chapter/issue 9 shpiel. It's really hard to explain without giving stuff away, but if you have read it before and just read those two parts back-to-back it'll jump right out. Pretty neat.
3.) The whole Nostalgia motif, and the irony of it all (in terms of the businessman behind it and what not
4.) How most of the time I didn't give two shits about the Black Freighter storyline, then once the last page of chapter/issue 11 came (again, if you read it you should have an idea of what I'm talking about) I had to hold back from getting emotional.

---

The only thing that has me really worried about a movie adaptation is that you can't really take much out of it without really losing a solid chunk what makes this book great. The fact that it all fits together so well, almost like a good 1500 piece puzzle, is partly what is so rewarding. It's almost like Lord of the Rings in that a whole world was created. Who knows though. There's a reason they always say, "the book was better."

---

Just watching the trailer for the movie again, this time actually knowing what happens, and i think this will blow the dark knight movies out of the water, at least for the comic book reader demographic. just watch the dude at the end of this... he has to hold back TEARS for god's sake! over a trailer!!!!




and now... with the only time I will probably EVER use the comic tag

I are back.

I go to work in one hour (fitting...)

School starts a week from today (good for this blog)

I am reading Watchmen, not very far into it so if you ruin it I will hunt you down and castrate you and your male children from here to the end of your days.

Other than that, have a nice day :)

On Vacation

I don't suck as bad as you may think I do. Back to the beach.

The crap stolen-wireless I have to make this post isn't allowing me to upload anything in the way of pictures like I planned.... so I'll get back to it sometime... stay tuned

Apparently Whtie is the new White....

and yes, I was correct in my assumption. The Reds screwed this one up. However, at the time of my assuming this, I didn't know the whole Griffey vs. the guys in the booth hurrah , so I guess it was more of a knee jerk get-this-guy out of town thing on ole' Bobby's part.

And that sucks. Griffey was the only sure fire trade option at this point, given Arroyo's recent sucking (thus ruining is trade value) and Dunn's hot streak (giving him a 57th chance to become the consistent deep threat the Red's need). And for him we got a mediocre at best relief pitcher and a AAA 2nd basemen with a bum back and average-on-a-good-day hitting.

Way to go for what we need, doushebags. I understand Griffey doesn't have the value he once did, but color me unimpressed.

I'd love to hear everyone else's opinion