Comments

My thanks to those of you who leave comments on my rantings and ramblings. I hate to make it tougher for everyone, but due to the comment spam I've been receiving lately, I've been forced to turn on word verification for the blog. From now on, when you post a comment, you'll be required to type a nonsensical phrase into a box before the comment will be shown, in order to prove that you're a human and not an automated program spewing shit into my space. Sorry about that, but that's the way it has to be until we're legally allowed to hunt spammers for sport.

Overdue

Well, I think I've left this blog alone long enough. Almost a whole month? I'm afraid so--but I don't suppose any of my six readers are surprised.

What have I been doing with myself during all that time? Funny you should ask...

-I watched every pitch of the World Series--the first time in years I've done that when the Yankees haven't been in it. That was perhaps the closest swept series ever. Every game could have gone either way--especially the 14-inning extravaganza (after about the 10th inning, I'd have given the edge to Houston given their performance in the 18-inning NLDS game). I was dog-ass tired at work the day after that one, but I wouldn't have traded seeing it for the extra couple hours of sleep.

-In some sort of new record, I haven't missed a New York Football Giants game yet this season, and that streak will continue through Week 9. They started out winning some close ones, losing a blowout to the Chargers and one to the Cowboys that wasn't a blowout only because they tried almost as hard as the Giants to blow it, and looking particulary weak on defense through most of the early games--then came last week against the Redskins. Somehow, some way, it all clicked for them. The offense looked great, the defense shut down the previously hot Mark Brunell, and the G-men dominated for sixty solid minutes. I don't know if this was just a one-shot performance for their recently departed owner against a team that had previously overachieved and thus achieved an overrated status, but if they can keep up this momentum, they'll go far this season and postseason. (I'm not going to jinx them by speculating just how far.)

-I've played lots of WoW. This game manages to keep me sucked in for two reasons: number one, I've got it installed on my iBook so I can play it at work, and number two, this is the one that my gaming friends are playing. I've got a character at level 60 (currently the highest attainable level) that can do the ultra-challenging runs with "the crew", and two lower-levels for that ever-important sense of accomplishment. (Please, no comments on how pathetic the life of a person who gets a sense of accomplishment from a computer game must be.) This game eats up my evenings, and with the news of an upcoming expansion pack, I think that trend is going to continue for a while longer yet.

-I've read a couple of very interesting books, which I'm trying to keep up with over in my Recent Events section over on the right. I've got to recommend the one that's over there right now, Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential. This book is the basis for a sitcom currently on Fox (which I haven't watched), and it's a mix of darkly comical stories of life in the restaurant business and tips for would-be cooks (like yours truly) and for restaurant-goers everywhere. (My favorite: avoid the seafood specials on a Monday.) Bourdain really finds his voice in print, and it reads like he's telling you these stories over a couple of pints. Highly recommended reading.

My thanks for reading if you made it all the way through this--imagine how much more readable it could have been if I'd done small regular posts throughout the month. I'll try to do better next time.

Thuuuuh Yankees Lose

Yee-freakin'-haw--at least another week and a half of that idiotic Rally Monkey I was bitching about last week. As far as I'm concerned, the Yankees' elimination last night at the hands of the Angels just caps off one of the worst sports long weekends in recent memory. There was no Giants game, three out of my four fantasy football teams lost, and I finished second-to-last for the week in my NFL pick-em pool, further securing my stranglehold on last place. Even my hated Eagles losing couldn't redeem, since they lost to the even-more-hated Dallas Cowboys, who may very well end up challenging my Giants for a wild card spot if the Eagles end up winning the division.

What happened? How did baseball's best team on paper end up losing this series? Last night's game really summed up the series quite well. The Yankees didn't hit like they were capable of, leaving 11 men on base (5 in scoring position) against a young kid with no playoff experience who no one's ever heard of. And their fielding sucked--last night's microcosm of that fact was the collision between Bubba Crosby and Gary Sheffield.

The Blowhard has an interesting, if somewhat optimistic, postmortem of the season up. As for me, I'll still be watching some of the playoffs, but not with the enthusiasm I had during the first round.

Oh well--I can always cheer myself with the knowledge that there's another microbrew fest this weekend.

Why Anaheim Must Lose

We need to get the Angels out of the playoffs as quickly as possible.

And here's why.

A capuchin monkey jumping up and down to House of Pain's Jump Around...c'mon guys. 1995 called, and they want their gimmick back.

Photo manipulation

Still think there's no liberal bias in the media?

Think again.

This is a great article that depicts how lies of omission can be some of the biggest lies of all.

Hat tip to Nuts McCracken over at the August Knights Forums.

Separated at birth?

This was pointed out to me by my friend Mike B. while watching the Giants-Cardinals on Sunday.

Giants TE

AND

Your humble correspondent

Football time

Well, I got to see the Giants play on Sunday after all. I got a free weekend of DirecTV's Sunday Ticket package with a code from a Burger King Angus Burger. And what a treat that package is--combined with the stat tracker from my fantasy football leagues, I was able to see most of the scoring during the 1:00 games and the entire Giants victory at 4:00. Yep, my boys are in first place in their division--well, tied for it, at any rate. It's a bit early for Super Bowl dreams, but the line protected Eli pretty well, the defense made some plays, special teams finally looked more special and less special, and Brandon Jacobs is playing like Ron Dayne with talent.

Unfortunately, I only won one of my four fantasy games (largely because I forgot to pull the injured Jerome Bettis from two lineups) and finished near the bottom of my pick-em pool. Fortunately, the season is young for me as well as for the Browns.

Update: Spam blogs

Looks like Blogger.com (host of this useless site) is cracking down on spamblogs as per my complaining post from a couple of months ago. All the spamblogs I highlighted in that post are now four-oh-four'd, and Blogger's put up a new button in the toolbar that everyone can use to flag those spamblogs and get them ripped down as fast as they're put up. Kudos!

Update: For T.O.

Lil' Jeremy wrote a new letter to Terrell Owens. Not as long or as funny as the first, but still worth checking out. I just love watching Owens implode...now if it can just affect the team enough that the wheels come off on the field, I'll be happy.

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

I got five hours of sleep last night, despite drinking five beers from 9:00 at night till nearly 2:00 in the morning. And yet I feel great this morning, because the reason for both is that I was watching the NFL season opener. I love football, and I love gambling on football--I'm in four fantasy leagues this year, one of which had an entry fee, as well as a pick 'em pool with some rather nice prizes--5th place gets their money back, and it goes up from there. The only bummer (for me) is that the Giants opener isn't going to be on TV in my area--they're showing the Cowboys-Chargers at 4:00. Oh well--I guess there's always the sports bar.

I've also picked up the PC version of Madden 06, and I'm fairly unimpressed. It's not a bad game, but the whole "vision" thing (you need to direct your QB's eyes to the receiver you're trying to hit before passing the ball) takes a lot of getting used to (fortunately, you can turn this "feature" off), and the new "Superstar" mode (create an NFL rookie and guide him through his career) adds very little excitement to the game for me. It feels like an attempt to put a stripped-down version of The Sims into the Madden series, and it just doesn't work, as far as I'm concerned. Other than that, Madden 06 features the same great graphics, gameplay, and useability (it runs terrific on my Athlon 2700 with all the details maxed out) as previous games in the series, and features the least repetitive commentary in any sports game from Al Michaels and the big guy himself. Recommended for purchase if you don't have last year's version--otherwise, save your money and go find yourself a user-created roster for this season. You won't be missing much.

For T.O.

The Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver and multimillionaire Terrell Owens needs help to feed his family.

Fortunately, Lil' Jeremy has a plan to help him out.

Beast's Cookbook: Yogurt Pie

Once again, I'm back from the dead to update the ol' blog. It's hard to believe I've put this off yet again for two whole weeks. I went to another microbrewfest at Stoudt's Brewery in Adamstown, PA--the pictures from that are up on my Flickr photo site--and helped three friends in Virginia (Mike R., Pat, and Zeb, from my Flickr photos) move from three individual apartments into the young political hack version of an Animal House apartment.

I made a yogurt pie for dessert tonight--it's one of my favorites. It's tasty, it's pretty good for you compared to most other desserts, and it's the definition of simplicity itself to make.



1 tub of Cool Whip (8 ounces)
2 - 8 ounce containers of fruit-flavored yogurt (I usually use strawberry or raspberry--either pre-blended or fruit-on-the-bottom will do)
1 premade graham cracker crust

In a large mixing bowl, combine the Cool Whip and yogurt. Mix together until completely blended and pour into crust. Cover and freeze until solid, about 4 hours. Lick mixing bowl clean (or allow nearby children to do so for you). Before serving, let stand at room temperature for about 5 minutes to soften slightly. Serves 8.