GAME05

i hear ya. even if i get 9 hours of sleep in a night, it's still awful to get up in the morning, and no matter what i'm always wound up at midnight. there was a period i used to get up a half hour earlier than i had to. i'd use the time to actually eat breakfast, but often just to go outside, sit on the porch and have a smoke before work, just enjoy the morning. it was still hard to get up, but i wasn't in a rush to get ready for work, and it gave me the opportunity to slowly work my energy up slowly. i'm glad to hear about working out in the morning, though. i've just started on that schedule, actually, so that's good to hear. but in the end, i agree, that you're either a morning person or you're not. people always say Daylight Saving Time adds daylight to the day, but that's really just for the early morning people--who put them in charge?

i don't think Villy is necessarily our best reliever, and he's definitely tabbed for a far different role this year as opposed to his long-relief roles previously. the comments by Macha puts some more pressure on Villy that he's going to need to handle to hold up in the 8th if that's where he's still slated to be. I'd be fine if McClung were in the 8th, and who knows about Riske, either. and saying this sort of stuff to the media adds a bit of pressure to Villy where he wouldn't have normally had it in Spring. Villy really hasn't had to deal with a lot of high-pressure situations before for the most part.

if you're traveling with a tour group you can be a little less concerned with minor security/political issues in countries because you're in that group and you tend to be segregated off from the bad problems--Kilamanjaro is a good example, the rest of the country is terrible, but hiking the mountain and the safaris afterward is safe. Kilamanjaro, specifically, will run a pretty decent amount of money, but it has its whole separate ecosystem and you can combine that hike with a safari afterward. There and other areas you can find low-altitude balloon rides that I think you'll find very memorable. what you'll get with safaris generally are rides in Jeeps and then you stay in super-fancy tent areas with beds and they make dinner for you and everything. but make use of your hotel safe and carry around a photocopy of your passport instead of carrying around the actual one in case it gets stolen. One tip I heard once that was a great idea is to carry around a second wallet with expired/cancelled credit cards and just a little bit of cash, that if you get held up, you give them that, they don't know any better, and you're not out anything. but with a place as big and as relatively unknown as Africa (at least to us), signing up with a tour group wouldn't be a bad idea. Safety will be fine and you won't have to deal with a lot of the unknowns. That's assuming you want to go beyond the well-developed tourist countries of Morocco, Egypt and South Africa--those three places you won't have any problem managing things on your own. Not long ago I used to work for a tourist publishing company, where we published updated tourist information for countries and cities around the world, including Africa (it includes safety and political information). you can find it at http://www.professionaltravelguide.com. There's a lot of information that the site gets complicated, but there's no registration or any fees to use it. I also quit the job, so there's no bias anymore, but it's still a way better site than tripadvisor or the like. It's got bigger cities like Cape Town and Johannesburg (I edited that one) and Cairo and the like, but otherwise search for the country. It should get you at least an idea of the places you'd like to visit based on any particular interests you had in mind (such as Botswana for photography).

North Carolina Winter Weather Post: the Winston-Salem area got 5" of snow last night, the most I've ever seen in the three years I've lived here. Really pretty outside, plus school was shut down today.

So long, Stinktown! some of you already know my great disdain for the city of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Well, tonight is my last night living here. It's only a half-hour away, but I'm moving to Greensboro tomorrow.

what a body! what a face! and he went to kiss her, but changed his mind once he saw the blister. I am thy roots in the ground, and thou art my flower in the sky, but ah, that flower like bloodroot, you make people die. you're kind and sweet, you're my beautiful flower, but you also kinda stink. please go take a shower. The world would be better if there were only more of you, in the way that crops get greener when you add more cow poo. every man in here wants you to be more near, except me, sweetheart, i haven't had as much beer. Of my times with you I often think, and times like those is why I drink. I've missed you when it's raining, when it's foggy, when it's snowed, but if I miss you now that it's sunny, I'll be sure to reload.

ugh, a former Cubs guy? when i hear him on the radio and he starts cheering for the Brewers, i'm gonna start wondering if deep-down, he doesn't really mean it. but i'm going to try to give him the benefit of the doubt and presume he's the the VERY rare breed of people who come out of Chicago and actually know something about baseball.

go figure. he was always supposed to be one of those guys whom nobody really suspected of juicing. at this point, there's probably no name that would surprise me anymore. of course we've got a fan culture that is so anxious to pin anyone to drugs that you get even the smallest accusation and you're guilty for life.

the then-girlfriend saw this and wanted to watch it. I add "Well, since you've never seen First Blood, we'll of course have to watch that first so you can understand this one." Yeah, she didn't go for it. but for what it's worth, you don't need to see Rambo to understand this. And yeah, it's delightful.

i agree about just sending one since the internships will start on the same big pile. and definitely nothing wrong with mentioning you have interest in multiple positions (which, specifically). you can just say something to the effect that you have an interest and background in both and you'd enjoy the opportunity to talk with the person further about which one might end up being the best for both you and the company.

i remember there was some talk about having a couple day games, but Selig said it was odd that the later a game went into the night, the better ratings it got.although i'm an East-coaster and i always choose sleep. but to be fair, i don't finish watching a Packers game when those are on Monday night, either. The Superbowl is the only sport going right now (hockey barely counts), so all the playoff buildup isn't interrupted by people jumping to other sports. plus the football season is relatively short, so there's still some fan energy remaining when the Superbowl comes. The baseball season lasts way too long and i think people get tired of it--probably also doesn't help that the summer sport finishes up when it's nearing winter.

awesome idea. makes me wonder how a person could somehow incorporate Wrigley Field into the drain.

I helped!!! up by 2% now. I'll have to get my beer mailed to me.

i'd think that if anything, the contract would stay right where it is. the Yankees are still going to get their guys, but right now we have some mid-range FAs who wouldn't be all that pricey to a team like Pittsburgh or Tampa Bay. it'll be curious what attendance figures end up being this season, if people can still afford to go to games like they did last year. although both sides have to be very fearful of a strike that i'd guess there won't be any major changes to the way things are now. thing is, this plan assumes that the highest-payroll teams are the ones winning the WS rings, but so far that hasn't played out. I think if I were to do something this radical, I wouldn't do even-numbered divisions. The lowest division would be 15 teams, and out of that would come only two playoff teams. Then a league of 10 with three playoff teams, then a league of 7 with another three playoff teams. if the divisions were even, there'd be zero incentive to spend any money.

i thought they cost a second-round pick. if there were a couple guys out there who you'd really wonder why they haven't signed, maybe there'd be an argument. but there's really nobody left that doesn't carry some sort of negative. i think there's also a ton of teams that are starting to put a greater value on draft picks, recognizing that they can't compete with Boston or New York, and that giving up a first-round pick is too detrimental. Really, would you trade Brett Lawrie for Adam Dunn, plus pay Dunn's asking price?

and just like that, the Braves became my second-favourite team.

weighing everything in, i'm not sure Abreu is that big a step over Hart at this point, plus Melvin said a while ago that he was only ever offered a #5-type starter for him. and maybe Hart did forget how to hit the second half of last year, but he's still got a lot of potential to improve.

wouldn't somehow letting the Bucks leave Milwaukee be a bad political move for Kohl?

I was laid off after September 11th, when the economy took that nosedive, so it was a long while before I found anything else then. what stinks is everyone is saying that now is the best time to be in school, which i am. when i first started, my savings was going to get me through without debt, but I just learned this morning that I'm broke, and I have about another year of school left. sure hope student loans get you enough to live on.

guess i don't see it quite as strongly as alcoholism, but that it's a chick in a bar getting drunk because of the jerk guys in her life, and in comes Elliott Smith, pretending not to be one of those jerk guys, but really is. I agree the next to last girl was really cool. although i thought blondie had a decent voice, though it's hard to mix Good Will Hunting shoutouts with serious songs.

but if we sign him for this year, we can always just offer him arbitration again after the season and get that first-round pick.

all i've heard is that Washington has a renewed interest in him, and all things considered, he would certainly have a better chance to close games in Washington than Milwaukee. guess i don't put too much consideration into any team watching a demonstration throw, just because it doesn't take a whole lot to send a local scout to do a report on it. that Milwaukee was represented i see mostly as due diligence than for a strong interest in signing him.

i kinda feel bad for Sheets now, just because $9M is less then he deserves, considering what lesser pitchers are making these days. sure, the injuries are a problem, but when he's healthy he's as good as anybody. i'm thinking the Mets end up preferring him over Perez. otherwise he'd be a great addition to the Giants rotation. i really wonder if Melvin has a one-year offer on the table for him and how much Sheets is committed to leaving Milwaukee, that maybe he'd end up choosing to stay with us just to try to prove to other teams that he can have a full season of health.

half the reason i moved out of Wisconsin was because i was just so tired of the constant cold. i'm thinking of moving to even warmer climbs, although i still haven't really gotten used to the heat. it's kinda gross that in the summers that by the time i just get to work, my clothes are already drenched in sweat. but then when i think about complaining about the heat, i just remember all the frozen fuel lines i've had and i don't complain anymore. it pretty much never gets below 20 in North Carolina, so locals always seem shocked that all i use for winter is a light flanel jacket. you people would be amazed at what they consider "snow" here.

give up a first-round pick to sign a guy to a one-year contract?