Lately...August 2010 edition

Lately... August 2010 edition

What I've been listening to:
Silversun Pickups - Swoon
Mute Math - Armistice
Sirius XM - Lithium, Alt Nation, Opie & Anthony, Ron & Fez

What I've been watching:
True Blood
Minute to Win it
Entourage
Netflix streaming on Wii has been awesome

What I've been reading:
Just finished: haven't read a book in a while
Just started: Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson

Movies I want to see:
Inception
There is seriously nothing else good coming out

What I'm looking forward to:
My wedding & honeymoon
Front row tickets behind home plate at Fenway Park
Football starting up and picking against the spreads
Golfing Crystal Springs
Full series of Lost on DVD
No longer dealing with Windows
Brewing again (it's been a while)

I love Lucid Lynx

I've toyed around with Linux systems in the past, mostly dual-booting with Windows just for fun. However, a few recent hardware upgrades to my computer have caused my XP system to crash and require a re-install. Instead, I've decided to finally take the leap to a single Linux opsys. Ubuntu 10.04 - Lucid Lynx was my choice. So far everything I did previously in Windows, works just as well or better under Ubuntu. Here are some things I love:

1. Get this... 30 second boot time! As a long time Windows user, this makes me drool. From power on, it takes approx. 20 sec. to hit the login screen, then another 7-10 sec. after I punch in my password. The Desktop pops up and is ready to go. No more waiting around for 10 million programs to load up. With my XP system, it would take a minimum 2.5 minutes for a full boot, which was frustrating because my desktop would be up in 1 minute, but wasn't usable due to all the other programs that were loading in the background (mostly anti-virus and other microsoft junk). Ubuntu just feels so much faster and more powerful, and it's practically impenetrable to hackers. I absolutely love it.

2. 3D-cube desktop is freakin awesome. I can be doing something on one side, then spin the cube and I have 3 more desktops to play with. As long as you have a capable graphics card, Ubuntu has some really cool effects to play with.

3. Free software... and there is a ton of it. Just search using the Ubuntu software center and you can find just about anything. There is audio editing and video/graphical editing software that costs hundreds or even thousands of dollars for Windows, but it's free for Linux. It's not always the most intuitive programming, but a little effort and you've got yourself some amazing software at your fingertips.

I've only been using Ubuntu on it's own for a few days now. I've used it a lot in the past, but always had windows to fall back on if something went wrong. Now I'm diving in head first. There are a ton of other things that I love about Ubuntu that I haven't mentioned here. Also, I've grown to hate Microsoft so much over the years, that I couldn't be happier to be rid of them. I look forward to future releases of Ubuntu and the free upgrades... and fast boot times... and cool desktops... and non-evil software developers no longer forcing me to abide by their stupidness. Thank you Ubuntu.

I hate Bud Selig

Ok, yes this happened over a month ago. However, I still feel the need to vent.

How old is Bud Selig now? Well, he turns 76 this month. Currently the average life expectancy for American males is 75.6 years (from wikipedia). He's older than Nylon, canned beer, photocopiers, ballpoint pens and strobe lighting. Let's just agree that he's old. We all have old people in our lives. The majority of them I wouldn't want making any major decisions for me. I don't want them to drive me anywhere. I don't want them buying clothes for me. I don't want to stand behind them at the grocery store. You get the idea.

So why do I want them running Major League Baseball? Seriously. A sport that needs to hold on to as many young viewers as possible is being run by someone over 3 quarters of a century old. How can we expect him to rationally settle something like the Armando Galarraga "Perfect Game" situation?

Ok, now you know why I hate Bud Selig. I believe he dropped the ball on the Galarraga situation. The kid pitched a perfect game. A terrible call in the 9th wiped out this tremendous accomplishment. The ump agreed he made a bad call and has apologized profusely. The Detroit Tigers acknowledged it by giving Galarraga a car. It is 100% clear the call was wrong. Why not change it?

A lot of "experts" are claiming that by changing the call in favor of Galarraga would open Pandora's box. That people would start questioning every important call. However, I don't see how that is relevant in this situation. First of all, the call had no effect on the outcome of the game. Because nothing else in the game would have changed save for an out that was made by the next batter, they should be allowed to review this call and change it. It is in the best interest of the game. Selig still wouldn't need to interfere with other games. He could still keep his distance because this was a special situation. It was purely a record-keeping error and not a game changing event.

Another aspect is that EVERYBODY agreed that the call was wrong. Almost every time there is a bad call, you'll find someone arguing both sides. This time there was only one side. How could you argue with everybody?

Shame on you Bud Selig. This game is for the fans, it's not for you. You should have given us this one. Instead, you've made me hate you and despise the way my favorite sport is being run. Yes, you may keep the older generation of baseball fans happy. You've made it public that you consult with other hall-of-famers and baseball experts, but guess what... they are old too. They are the people who are afraid technology will ruin the game. The people who are fine with bad calls and no consequences. But if you want the game to live on, you need to have a younger audience. You need to stop acting like a senior citizen... oh wait, you have been one for 10 years!

Sorry for rambling. I just don't understand how Selig made this decision. Baseball exists because people watch it. People watch baseball because it makes them happy. Selig could have made people happy, but chose not to. Thanks a lot Bud.

Out of retirement

I think it's time to bring some life back to this blog. With the new blogging Google widget, it's much easier to update (including at work!). There is a bunch of stuff I'd love to comment on, but I'll save them for later posts. Glad to be back!

December ramblings

Who makes phone calls from a bathroom stall? I mean, what kind of person is sitting on a toilet, in a smelly office bathroom and thinks to them self "hey, now is the perfect time to make a phone call"? Someone in my office, that's who. I mean, couldn't the call wait 5 minutes? It's disgusting. Sometime I wish I could just unleash the most gawd awful sound from the adjacent stall while he's on the phone. Then maybe the person on the other end of the line would think to themselves "did this guy just crap himself?". That would make me happy.

Are the Sox getting Teixeira or not getting Teixeira? This offseason stuff kills me. I just want to know already. Who's taking over catching duties? I'm still surprised Veritek didn't accept arbitration. He would have gotten $10 mil for the season. Is anybody else going to give 'Tek that kind of cash? Way to screw him over Boras.

Friggin' salt truck drivers. I hate you. Don't you realize that if you drive too closely to another car, you will be in effect keying them? Keying people's cars is vandalism and illegal. I hate you salt truck drivers.

Is it possible to develop Alzheimer's at 28 years of age? I seriously cannot remember a thing. Is that normal? During a recent business trip, I checked my room about 297 times before leaving, yet still managed to leave behind my toothbrush and toothpaste. I often forget to feed my fish (yet they live forever somehow), I forget to watch my tv shows (thank god for DVDR) and I can't remember someone's birthday if my life depended on it. I can't imagine what I'll be like in 20-30 years.

I think I've developed a solid fantasy basketball game plan. No, it's nothing revolutionary or enlightening. It's more common sense, which I failed to use in previous fantasy seasons. Basically, you DON'T want to fill your bench with the "best available" guys available on the WW. Those are the guys who are not good enough to start on anybody else's team, which means they will most likely bring down your FG%, FT% and increase your turnovers. Instead, you want to fill your bench with backup players with high shooting percentages. You can play them anytime your starters have the day off and they won't hurt your team. They don't get as much playing time, which means they won't give you as many points/rebounds/assists, but you get that stuff from your starting lineup. Trust me, taking the top point getting from the WW is not always a good idea. Just remember Ben Wallace and you'll know what I mean.

More updates

As of last night (well, this morning actually) Obama is our new President. Honestly, I didn't hate McCain (like I hated dubya), but I just can't see myself ever voting Republican. Anybody who lets religion dictate most of their views, should not be running this country. Whatever happened to separation of church and state? Granted, McCain was less right-winged than most Republicans, but I still sided with Obama on most of the issues. I'm quite happy to see him win by such a landslide. I'd truly like to see an atheist (or agnostic) President some day, but the God fearing people of America would not let that happen. For now, I'm happy the country is turning blue.

New albums just coming out from Keane & Snow Patrol, but they don't seem to have quite the same feel as their previous albums. I enjoyed Coldplay's newest "Viva La Vida" that came out earlier this year, but honestly I think my favorite of the year has been Elbow's "Seldom Seen Kid".

The new Indiana Jones movie was a let down. Ironman was a semi-let down because it was hyped wayyyy too much. The Happening was a let down (but who didn't see that coming?). I think I've probably seen 3 movies that I've really liked all year. Let's see if I can name a few. "No Country for Old Men" was awesome. Surprisingly, I loved "There Will Be Blood" even though it was like 24 hours long. The newest Batman "The Dark Knight" was quite entertaining along with "Cloverfield" even though most people hated it. I think I just named 1 movie from 2008 and the others were 2007, but oh well. I guess I don't watch as many movies as I used to. I'm looking forward to seeing "Burn After Reading".

The State of Ryan's Nation 08

Well, I almost made it an entire year without posting. I'm not really sure what to post about because so much can happen in a year. I guess I'll try to do a brief overview of some stuff.

The WOW addiction is over. I miss playing it, but it got so boring and repetitive that it wasn't much fun any more. I started playing a new game (Warhammer), but it's nowhere near as addictive. I'm lucky if I play once a week.

The Brew Crew softball team had a tough season. We lost some players, but still managed to finish in the middle of the pack. Hopefully next year our experience will carry us a little further.

The Sox just lost to the Rays in the ALCS. Truthfully, the Sox had no business taking that series to 7 games. Papi, Beckett, Lowell, Lowery were all hurt and Veritek was so bad I prayed Cora would pitch hit for him every time. The 7 run comeback game was amazing and so much fun to watch, but this Rays team is really good. I'll root for them to beat Philly in the World Series.

New shows I'm watching:
1) True Blood - Strangely addictive show about Vampires mainstreaming into society. An interesting concept that has me completely hooked.
2) The Life and Times of Tim - The most hilarious show I've seen in a long time.
3) The Wire - A truly great show. It's actually no longer on the air, but I've bought the first 4 seasons and watched them all within a couple months. One more season to go.
4) Fringe - New show from J.J.Abrams. Very Sci-Fi and far fetched, but I keep watching.

Still watching: It's Always Sunny, Entourage, Heroes, The Office.

Reading: Nothing at the moment. Been watching lots of TV and almost done with Season 6 of 24.

I've been running like crazy lately. I'm really trying to get my 5k time down and I've lost about 25-30 lbs along the way. I'm currently running slightly above an 8 min mile pace and my goal is to get under that. Gonna be tough with winter on the way.

That's it for now. I'll post again with some other stuff from this last year.