GAME05

that scene with the horse racing and they go to measure the result and the professor says "no! you'll change the result by measuring it!" that was one of the funniest jokes ever. i've recently found South Park episodes online, and my opinion of that cartoon has been growing and growing.

i read somewhere there was some thought to making a Cleveland spinoff. Peter holding his knee for 35 seconds is great. not so much the joke itself, but that and a few other times that the show would be willing to hold a single joke for what is an incredible length of time. You still working on that novel? huh? character development? some obstacle to overcome? huh? are ya?.... it's the oddest thing that the Simpsons has become a cliche of itself. and since the characters are already cliches, that's cliche-cubed. none of the characters have really developed deeper personalities but keep making the jokes they've always made because it still gets ratings. i think the show stinks not entirely because it's gotten worse, just because i'm tired of seeing the same thing. i have the feeling i'll be saying the same thing about Family Guy in another 6 years, too. i'm still waiting for the episode when they finally decide Brian has gotten too old and they "take him to a nice Amish family in the country."

i'd really liked CBS Sportsline's gamecast, but now it constantly freezes up on me. might always just be my computer, though. like you, now i'm stuck with espn for the game at work. it's all i go to the site for. can't stand their gamecast, either.

spoken like Ned Yost. i'll never root for a guy, even a Cub (or former) getting injured, just sucking. not just Prior, i thought Wood was going to be something amazing, too.

i don't think the success of the Brewers hinges on Gagne being a successful closer at all, or at least to the degree that the Brewers would be toast. Though a closer by committee approach historically hasn't worked as well as a dedicated closer, we could get by ok with it, plus Gagne hasn't been the main reason the Brewers have underachieved. one of the scary things when teams replace the closer is whether the new guy will handle the pressure, and we at least know we have guys who have shown they can. it's partly a Yost thing, too. He loves to trot out guys four days in a row, and Surprise!, they don't pitch well. A committee approach could be somewhat successful in that Yost would be apt to send out whoever is most rested, and we have some pretty good arms when they're fresh. plus if you go with the theory that a poor closer is equal to a decent bullpen guy, then Torres weakening the closer role might be buoyed somewhat by Gagne being better than Torres at his role.

Peter v. Homer--has to be Homer. the tradition of Homer Simpson helps, too. Lois v. Marge--clearly Lois, plus Marge has gotten annoying. Lisa v. Meg--Lisa's schtick has gotten tired, but Meg really has no character unless uber-ordinary counts. Bart v. Chris--don't really like either character, but i guess Bart wins. Stewie v. Maggie--obvious, but then Maggie has never been the focus like Stewie is. Brian v. Simpsons pets--again, the simpson pets are more than minor characters. Extended Family--the cliche-ness of the Simpsons side-characters still gets laughs. Infrequent appearances--edge Family Guy because they push the racial stereotypes for jokes, which can be funny. the chicken fighting with Peter is awesome. but yeah the Simpsons have more-developed stories, however lame they've become.

you're right, shouldn't have dangled that and not given the answer:) it ran about 75% muscley guy with a gut over skinny-abs-guy.

for the bulking and trimming phases, eventually i'll have it timed out where i'm trimming for beach season and bulking in winter when a sweater hides it all. my friends who are girls have all had me ask them the question "what do you find more attractive, a dude with muscles but a bit of a gut; or a skinny guy with abs?" on your 3-day, full-body workouts, how long are you working out for? you'll want to keep your lifting to around an hour. there's some particular scientific reason, but the benefits start to decline after that. if you're going for losing weight, repeating a muscle exercise a few times in a weeks is fine, because you'll presumably not be trying to tear the muscle fibers but doing high-rep/low-weight exercises. however if you decide to go for bulk, you may indeed want to start a more-frequent but more-isolated program. if you're powerlifting (bulking), three days a week on the same muscle will prove to be a bit much, and won't allow for much recovery time. me, i usually don't hit the same muscle group until about six days later, but then i also hit the muscles pretty hard on those days. granted, just how much time you have available to exercise can effect that decision.

southpaw, you've got the same exact problem as me (probably every dude, too). I'm tall and (was?) generally skinny, except for the beer gut. once I hit size 40 pants i knew it was time for a change. But I don't/didn't have much upper-body muscle to begin with, either. When I first started working out, I wanted to do the same thing, build bulk in some areas but lose the gut. I went to a low-calorie/low-fat diet and did :45 of cardio with every workout. I did start losing the gut and gained a little muscle definition with what little muscle I had, but I wasn't building muscle. From everything I've read and my own experiences, you can either gain muscle or lose fat, but not both at the same time. So first thing is to pick what you'd like to get first--abs or muscle growth. Personally, I chose muscle growth because I don't want to be just another skinny guy, plus losing weight is easier when you've got some muscle, but go with what's most important to you. Skinny program: Exercises that would work well are pullups, dips and the like, that work a lot of muscles at the same time and burn some good calories throughout. But doing whatever exercises you like best is fine, too. They'll best define the muscle you have. Finding your Basal Metabolic Rate can help (find it easy online). Eat breakfast, a balanced diet, and just do your best to avoid the calories and fats. All cheese, fatty meats (stick with skinless chicken, turkey, venison and very lean ground beef) and fried foods must disappear. Cheating isn't a total sin so you don't go crazy (like have that lite beer on the nice spring day), but don't make it frequent. It's unfortunate that if you just want to lose the belly fat that you can't target just that area to lose, that you'll just be losing fat in general. But trust me, the benefits will show up in no time. Lifting weights helps, because the more muscle you have, the more calories your body burns per hour. But certainly cardio and burning calories is vital. Pick whatever cardio you enjoy doing the most or change it up. It's the calories that you burn that's important, not as much the exercise that you do. Granted, some exercises are more efficient than others (like if you use the treadmill, swing your arms instead of holding the grips). Stick to :30-:45 of cario at a time, though. Note that going on a low-calorie diet does not include skipping meals. Ideally, you'll want to eat 4-5 meals per day. Also, don't skip breakfast, especially. If you skip breakfast, that means you haven't eaten in maybe 12+ hours, so your body goes in starvation mode and starts storing everything as fat, and you won't have energy in the morning. If you don't have much time, even a bag of carrots in your car will do nicely. Otherwise oatmeal or healthy cereal, cream of wheat or fruit is good. Avoid saturated fats like the plague. Bulk Program: This is the phase I'm on now. To grow muscle, your body needs more calories per day than you burn up in everyday living (the Basal Metabolic Rate again). This involves pounding the proteins and calories. So yes, while your muscle grows, unfortunately so does the gut. Try to get about 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight and load up on the calories. Although you won't want to gain more than two pounds per week because amounts after that tend to be all fat. I've been gaining about 0.75 lbs. per week and fortunately haven't seen much of an increase in my gut or a sizeable rise in my bodyfat percentage. For exercises, I stick to the standards: biceps, triceps, incline and flat bench, definitely do squats, abs, obliques, traps, lats and two deltoid exercises--so I guess all the major muscles. Do no more or no less than 6-8 reps per set. There are a ton of bulking programs written out online that you'll be able to follow, as far as what to do which days and how often to be lifting. Change your lifting routine up every 4-6 weeks to avoid plateau (your muscles will get used to the routine eventually and will slow in growth and strength gains). These programs will help keep you from overworking your muscles, therefore losing grow-time and increasing the chance of injury. i think it's bodybuilding.com has a bunch of quick videos on proper technique (if you're new to weightlifting, start with low weights so you get the technique down first)--proper technique is all-important or you'll injure yourself right quick. Now even though I still have that gut somewhat, I still do ab exercises. What I've found is that stronger abs, though you can't see them on me, have helped to sorta round my gut off and not have quite that sag around the belly, sort of like the muscles are helping me to permanently suck the gut in. You can do some quick research into those protein and weight-gainer shakes. If you can afford them, they sure make it easier to get the needed protein. Creatine is an issue on it's own with a lot of different opinions. So yeah, I guess I am pushing joining a gym if you can, though it's not totally necessary. It's helped for me to have one place I go to exercise, that it's a part of my day now and part of a routine, which has really helped me keep it up and not make excuses for not going. There are a million and three great routines you can do with a few dumbbells and a bench at home if needs be. Oh, and it might also be helpful to know that 1 pound (whether muscle or fat)=3,500 calories. get a measuring tape to see your results, too. That can be pretty cool. hope any of that diatribe helps at least some.

don't really disagree with you DrWood, but with an offense as theoretically good as the Brewers', might the Crew be willing to accept his poor offense in the 8th slot for a little while, ala Pie? i'm probably thinking a lot that we might be able to get more in a trade of Weeks or Hardy at the end of this year vs. trying to trade them to a contender maybe mid-season next year. plus a trade in the off-season wouldn't throw our lineup out of whack the way a mid-season trade would. eh, or maybe i'm just anxious to trade one of the two.

i don't think a team is ever out of the development stage. certainly we have a growing budget to take more risks, but to resign everyone would have it balloon out of control (see: Yankees). In addition, trading players away at the deadline brings in additional talent to supplement the draft and strengthen the farm. Develop a young Braun and Hart and it frees up money to spend on problem areas. And sure, Lee and Cordero are playing well with their new teams, but for every player that has worked out, there's a Zito and a Giambi. The A's are full of great young players they got in those trades. Gagne and Suppan are both examples of what our growing budget gives us flexibility to do. They weren't exactly scrubs when we signed them.

we can't assume too much in comparisons of Gamel and Braun. we can't be sure one bit that even in a straight platoon situation that Gamel would be able to produce offensively like Braun did. despite mashing in AA, that's some pretty superhuman expectations to not only be ready for limited ML service, but to succeed as well. i understand the thought of having Hall as a defensive backup for Gamel, but that starts to limit what Yost is able to do with bench players, that for any close game, he'd have to hold Hall as long as possible to be that late-inning defensive replacement. to a smaller degree than Hall, you'd still have to be able to count on Gamel to not botch things late in the game, because necessity is going to put him into those situations even if Hall is behind him. "I would think at some point that Gamel or LaPorta become trade bait for more pitching prospects." i don't see these players as mix and match at all as far as a trade goes, though i agree with the statement (hopefully Gamel and not LaPorta). LaPorta seems just slightly more developed offensively (albeit a lesser BA), and from what i understand, defensively as well. but it seems like the Brewers are doing a lot to create space in the OF if and when LaPorta is deemed ready to come up. You can't say the same thing about Gamel, who is a project to say the least at 3rd and hasn't learned the OF (yet?).

i've always assumed it happens at most ever major university. too much money everywhere else to assume one sector of college sports is clean. heck, Aaron Gibson drove an Escalade for at least his senior year. you don't buy those with off-season part-time jobs.

yeah, i made far more money in Wisconsin playing poker basically full-time than I do at regular work now, plus it was way more fun. i like the regular paycheck, though, even if it is less. in my years gone, i've heard the cops have basically shut down all the fun now.

i support the closer by committee approach. it's the benefit of having a bunch of bullpen guys with a few career saves. another benefit is that we'll see the guys who are most rested and shouldn't have to see someone try for a save four days in a row. i do wonder if there's any motivation to moving Weeks down in the order and possibly letting Hart hit leadoff. he's had some success there, but at the same time we'd be losing some of the protection for Fielder, whatever that's worth. i'm interested in seeing how Weeks might perform hitting 3rd, 6th or 7th.

maybe it's considered a distraction for the pitcher. i'd suppose if coloured bats were allowed, we'd see people like Weeks and sheffield doing their little waggle with neon-green bats.

i'm convinced either Hardy or Weeks won't be around next year to make room for Escobar. i'm not against trading Weeks, but i just think he's got a low value right now. and moreso, who would hit leadoff for us next year? Hart?--he seems too valuable protecting Fielder to start moving him around. Hardy is the one who's replaceable. Cain is an interesting thought, and i'd almost like him over Lincecum, not as far as ability, but i think the Brewers could do just fine with a contingent of decent starters instead of just one or two top guys and filler for the rest. with our theoretically good offense, we don't necessarily need shutdown guys. Cain would be ideal. but i don't really see Hall being any future candidate for SS or 2B. if we ask him to move again he's gonna go ballistic. they'd trade him first and let another team try to move him. Hall and Gamel would be a good pickup for a lot of teams. i wonder if that'd be enough for someone like Lincecum, though. I'd be no giant loss for us--Hardy could move to 3rd which would fit him better for his limited range on D, and then Escobar could come up to play SS.

a friend of mine designs airplane seats. JMF, i was English/PolySci, so i didn't take too many history classes at Platteville. all the best in your journalism career, that's a tough field. keep building those clips, they're far more important to employers than the actual degree. my first job i got because "I seemed like a nice guy," but the second one was based entirely on my clips. my background is trade magazines, but i'm trying to leave the editorial industry. currently i'm proofreading, which i'm finding takes a special mindset, one I do not have.

there are so few guys on this team doing well, i just don't know about changing one of those guys' roles. i'd be more in favour of moving around a poor performer and hoping he succeeds in the new role.

i was there around 97/98, did a year of copy editing. my year there lasted a good long while as resume filler until i had enough jobs. when i was there it was Art (last name?) overseeing the whole thing. some pretty awesome professors in the History/English departments, lot of good stories with them i'm not at liberty to tell.

The Exponent! i put in a year there, too.

Travel Editor full-time currently applying to school for a Parks&Recreation Masters Degree also Comic Book Mogul (call it a bad investement)

Gamel+ is not even close to enough. i'd think Gamel/Jeffress/Gwynn + or maybe just straight-up for a guy like Hart.

you could very well just have been lacking Vitamin C for a while in your diet, which is why you're craving it now. i've had similar cravings when i hiked and could go a long time without getting a balanced diet. likely you'll keep up your cravings for a little while yet until your body catches up, then it will slowly go away.

lately: "The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with a voter."