GAME05

i whistled for four straight hours last night.

i don't have a problem with the article, either. a few Braun quotes mixed in with obvious speculation. nothing wrong with a sportswriter speculating out loud. of course Reyes is going to get more than he's worth. i can't think of too many FAs that got any less. and Reyes has a lot longer history of awesomeness than someone like Werth or Soriano. even accepting that his speed would/could decline, he still has a lot of great skills to offer to make him worth a solid paycheck. Fielder is off the books next year and it's entirely possible that Wolf is, as well. i don't think it's necessarily a pipe dream for MA to come up with the money to make a big splash and sign Reyes. the tremendous upgrade at SS would certainly overcompensate for the downgrade at 1B. we'd have a ton of team speed and i'd sure enjoy watching the OBP/SLG abilities of a Braun/Reyes/Weeks 3-4-5. i'm not expecting Reyes here or anything, but i don't think it's downright impossible. i would have thought getting Greinke and Marcum was a pipedream last year, too.

cutting out half of the fast food (and replacing what fast stuff you do eat with relatively healthy options) alone could be what's helping you the most. depending on what you ate, i wouldn't be surprised if you were cutting out a pound of calories (3500) and a heck of a lot of saturated fat per week. well done.

sorry that i can't offer any specific advice, but it isn't surprising that you haven't found a law job in this long of a time. my boss' daughter graduated with a legal degree from a school in DC. two years ago 98% of the class got a job after graduation, and this year 98% couldn't find anything. i hate to throw that "volunteer" word out there because it's easier said than done, but even one day per week filing papers at a law office could be enough where you could put your work at the firm on the top of your resume as a '2011 to Present' position and give off a better impression that you're currently doing legal work to duck some of that "unemployed need not apply" garbage. obviously i'm sure you'll say something better than "nobody's wanted to hire me," but if that question comes up, just have something to show how you're still in the field somehow, whether it's that volunteer stuff or continuing education or just something where you can say you're a lawyer and a laborer on the side and haven't only been laboring in the meantime. are there conferences you can go to in order to network? i went to one when i was unemployed and at every seminar everyone had to stand up and introduce themselves. i was the only one there who said he was unemployed, and i have to think that's a good benefit if someone there happened to know of an opening. ---------- (unrelated) it looks like there may be an opening for a Park Ranger at my job in southern Texas if anyone happens to be interested. there is also a huge need for CDL drivers down here. also many other jobs in Oil if anyone likes very hard labor, long hours and a $2,500 paycheck per week (i have no ins, however).

if you're already at a YMCA, swimming is one of the best cardio exercises you can do, and about as low-impact as you can get. this thread will be fun. i used to bug the personal trainers at my gym all the time for free advice. unfortunately i don't exercise regularly anymore. pretty good diet (low carbs, no trans oils, lean meats, vitamin E supplement), but i've found that diet or exercise alone does nothing unless i do both.

i looked like i was watching a tennis match while at the bar last night as i moved back and forth between all the games. even the Brewers game, which i didn't watch, had a lot of meaning.

darn, just had to decline a free playoff ticket for Sunday.

the black guy with his little catchphrase didn't seem fitting to his character at all. i sure hope they don't intend that to be the next "That's what she said" catchphrase. i'll keep watching, but i just don't care about the secondary characters that much. it was always about Michael finding a girl.

didn't see it, but i feel bad for Bartman. made a catch that 90% of any fan would have made. and by all accounts, he's a pretty big Cubs fan. read an article some time ago from a reporter that tracked him down in a parking lot. i guess he still lives in works in Chicago. it stinks that he really has to live his live almost undercover now and probably can't say his real name to too many people. does what any fan would do but now he's a pariah.

i like Betancourt because everybody else hates him. he does all those unquantifiable things well.

Betancourt is gonna be the guy to have monster Playoff production, and that will be both awesome and hilarious.

we haven't had a "Google Won't Save You" in a good while, either.

i understand the whole idea behind Gamel at First, but it's just so hard to figure the Brewers keeping him at AAA for so long, bringing him up for only a short while, having him play poorly, and then keeping him at AAA (without even a September callup) suddenly being given the significant portion of playing time next year. i'd be all for Cuddyer. not the greatest but seems better than the other options out there. plus it's a lot of experience against the other side of the diamond if you can assume Green gets the starting job there next year. both Gamel and Green at the corners seems a bit much considering RR and Melvin's general dislike of young players (experience-wise).

i refuse to pay $20 for clothing that will only be relevant for two weeks.

i talk to a college girl and suddenly i'm only 29 years old. Oviedo meets a scout and suddenly he's teenage pitcher Leo Nunez. same difference, right?

looks like we've got about 10 minutes to post any #1 pics up.

it's not the stats that can bug me sometimes, it's the sabrmetrician. it's become a jargon and language unto its own, and sometimes particular people (not referring to anyone on this board) will throw it in your face to highlight your ignorance or try to show themselves as the 'real' expert. it's just frustrating to have the person throw out hard numbers at you when you're countering with "but they just SEEM like..." but then it's the same with anything, and not specifically Sabrmetrics. the Joe Morgan's of the world do it by waiving a hand at any number presented to them without any thought. or the coffee snobs do it by telling you that taking cream and sugar means you just don't appreciate coffee the way they do. speaking a select language can have a way of turning people into snobs. but i like basic sabrmetrics and think it's added to my knowledge of players. it's fun to be a lot more accurate on how a player is probably going to progress through his career. the statheads on here calmed a lot of us down in May by telling us that Greinke's peripherals were still good and that he was probably going to be a lot better than what his ERA at the time was showing. it's great when stats can be an addition to a discussion, but frustrating when you make an observation not based on numbers and get scoffed at as if you're an idiot.

i can attest to the good advice of a dark room. it isn't a blackout curtain, but somewhat recently i bought a black bedsheet and have been using that, and my daytime sleep has improved quit a bit. still debating about taking all night shift. it's recently "cooled down" to 96 during the day, but that's still pretty rough. but that's kind of also admitting that i can't hack the rotating shifts, which isn't a great thing to say to a boss and coworkers when you're only six months into the job. up and quitting in six months to take a low-paying, unrelated job in a better city is a little scary, too. just found out my best friend at work (and with his wife, the only two people i have to hang out with after work) will probably get a transfer to a different city, so that sucks. though to balance out my whining, i have a good boss. i disagree with the status quo, but the way he manages it is excellent.

sorry, Hoser, i remembered from some of your answer that i think i asked this question before. i'm debating volunteering for all overnight shifts. the other rangers don't like them, so i could do it, but i'll miss a lot of the daytime once it gets to be winter and the weather here is so nice. i may see what i can do about getting some kind of prescription. over-the-counter pills can get me to sleep, but the sleep is so light that i'll wake up in the middle of the night and stay awake. but in the end, i probably just have to put up with all of this until about March. it's hard to be an out-of-state job applicant, especially now, but i'm dissatisfied with my current job enough that i'll probably move to Denver or Asheville then and suffer through low-paying work (if i can even find that) as i try to look for something career-oriented. would look bad on the resume is the problem, though.

anyone ever work a rotating shift schedule before? if so, how did you manage to get to sleep? this isn't a one-time thing for me, as i have trouble sleeping every time i go from the night shift to the day shift. (the other way around isn't too bad.) as it is, i'm entering my fourth day off work after doing the night shift, and i'm still not asleep at 4 am, which is right about the time i'll have to wake up monday morning. i'll probably try to stay awake at this point, though i've tried this before and i still never slept the next night. the only thing that i've found that remotely works are two sleeping pills and a bottle of wine, which is a recipe for a deeper sleep than i'm looking for. rotating shifts, working holidays, cleaning bathrooms, draining septic tanks, working in 100+ heat, emptying stinky trash all morning, low pay....i love my job! kids, this is what a good education will get you.

feeding the appetite of people who want to read negative press about players.

Milton Bradley isn't even playing baseball anymore. when was this poll even sent out?

when i watch the team congratulating each other after a game, Fielder always seems to be the one jumping up and down the highest and giving the most high-fives. i can only assume a lot of that extends into the clubhouse. it doesn't really matter much to me if he is or isn't a jerk when it comes to conversations at 1b with an opposing player.

one can presume he's a leader on that team of younger players. if he did something aggregious, maybe it really was the right message to send to those younger players to let him go instead of just shaking a finger at him and pretending it didn't happen.

how far we've come:)