jaybird2001wi

I have not been to the doctor in a little over a year and I have had a history of thyroid issues (my doctor requests a blood test once a year during my physical to check the levels) which may have something to do with my low energy at times. But recently, my energy level has been sapped to the point where I can barely stay awake during the day and need two or three Rockstar energy drinks just to keep going or actually be functional. What is more weird is that despite the fact that I can't function during the day, I somehow feel much better late at night even when staying awake for the full day. Anything unusual about this?

Well, I am just saying that from a "National news" perspective.... this does not bode well for the Madison Police Department. Its been a tough few years for Chief Noble Wray to try to keep the Madison Police respectable and helpful in any way necessary to citizen needs. I would think some National media may point the finger squarely at Madison Police, as with all cases, to increase the "sensationalism" (see: Nancy Grace).

If things were getting back normal and respectability to the Madison Police Department after the Audrey Seiler fiasco a few years ago, they were dealt with another blow today following reports that a 911 dispatcher did not send a Police car to the scene of a recent homicide involving UW-Madison student Brittany Zimmermann. Madison Police surely has their hands full right now. They have three unsolved homicides within the last year (although it may be a Dane County Sheriff's case in Kelly Nolan's now) and they just can never seem to get a good edge on anything. What is going on with the Madison Police Dept? Lack of communication or are they not used to these type of cases? Will they ever seek out FBI assistance in solving these crimes?

My brother and I will be making the drive to the Twin Cities at the end of June to check out the Metrodome as the Twins host the Brewers. Anyone else going to any of the games? We will be catching the Saturday and Sunday games before heading back after the Sunday game. My brother has been to the 'dome before, but I haven't. It will mark only the second time I have ever been west of the Mississippi in my life (the first being in Dallas a few years ago). We haven't ordered our tickets yet, but my brother will likely do the ordering since he knows the place better than I do. If anyone else on here is going, maybe we oughta meet up at a specific inning just to say hello?

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z317/jaybird2422/NightDay.jpg Difference between Night and Day from my seat http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z317/jaybird2422/1stBase.jpg 1st Base side http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z317/jaybird2422/Allegheny.jpg Allegheny River from just outside left field stands http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z317/jaybird2422/HomeEntrance.jpg I am in the white shirt and blue jean shorts from a distance http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z317/jaybird2422/HomeStatue.jpg I forgot whose statue this is, but it might be Rogers Hornsby? http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z317/jaybird2422/Stargell.jpg Willie Stargell http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z317/jaybird2422/ClementeBridge.jpg Roberto Clemente Bridge over the Allegheny River as we walk towards the stadium from downtown http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z317/jaybird2422/PNC1.jpg Across the Allegheny River http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z317/jaybird2422/ClementePlaque.jpg

Brian, if I do decide to join... I may pitch the idea to actually make the Chapter website more aesthetically pleasing. I never really took any major online publishing courses in college, but did learn a few tricks from my Public Relations courses on how to design online newsletters and also from my Copy Editing and Layout courses on how to utilize Microsoft Publisher. All I need is some cheap software to make the website happen and an idea on how to lay it out (I used to lay out the Royal Purple sports section with Quark Xpress). I would be more than happy to provide this website with some nice information on any topic if needed. I might join sometime in June or July. But I may contact SABR before I join if the Milwaukee Chapter is actually still running. If it isn't, I may have to resort to the Chicago Chapter (yuck).

Here is Corey Hart with a little facial hair.... http://image.fishpond.com.au/094633090521.jpg Oh wait... you meant OUR Corey Hart.... http://graphics.jsonline.com/graphics/photographer/20/20351_large.jpg

I have thought of joining SABR (Society for American Baseball Research) for the last couple years and have gone to their website a few times to get information on the local Milwaukee chapter (The Ken Keltner Chapter), but the web site looks terribly outdated. It made me wonder if it is even worth joining if the last update on it was four years ago. But from a member who promoted the organization at Miller Park a few years ago, he mentioned former Milwaukee Sentinel Brewers' beat writer Tom Flaherty is a member. I would love to join the organization to exchange ideas and receive some cool historical documents. The membership fee seems reasonable at $45 per year (if you are over 30, it costs $65) and as said above, one of the perks is you get to look at actual documents of historical baseball stuff and do fun research wherever.

Invader, there also was an idea that Whitewater Student Government was floating around for awhile, but never really got passed the idea phase. The idea was to put a walkway bridge viaduct over Main St. near Prairie St. due to students darting across the street and getting hit by cars. There was a story my Royal Purple did of a female student getting hit by a car and the victim got mad when we reported it and she personally came into our office and said it was an accident and that we shouldn't have "berated" the driver of the vehicle because the driver apologized to her, etc. I utilized Google Street View to see if they updated the pics of the construction and demolition of Sayles, Baker and Salisbury. It looked weird from the street view. I can honestly say that the campus has had some type of construction ever since I was a freshman there. Freshman year - Starin Road construction Sophomore year - Upham Hall renovation Junior year - Upham Hall renovation cont'd/Winther Hall remodeling (they filled the ramp area so that the first floor is now "technically" the basement) Senior year - Groundbreaking of UC project I got kind of annoyed by all of the campus projects and road projects surrounding the campus. Now everything doesn't seem to make any sense.

Dang it all, you all beat me to it. I was just about to post this. Then again, this kind of surprises me since it is so early in the season. I would have thought they would give him more time.

Howdy all, I am considering a return to UW-Whitewater in September to get my degree and was wondering if any of the State Highways and other things surrounding Whitewater have changed since I last was there in 2005. I was there during the bypass introduction on Highway 89 and Highway 12 and have often heard it was quite a mess due to fatal accidents at the intersection. Have they changed the speed limits around the intersection to decrease the likelihood of further accidents? I seem to recall that once you pass the lights going south on Highway, the speed limit was instantly 55 mph and the same could be said about the approach to the traffic lights was also 55 mph going west on Highway 12. I was in Whitewater a few months ago for a short training session for my work but was not driving and saw they created a roundabout as you head into Whitewater. It seems to me they are making things more and more confusing since I was last there as a student. When I return to Whitewater, I will likely use I-43 to Hwy 20 to US-12 to get to Whitewater if I am going there from work in Milwaukee, but if I am leaving from Racine, I will use Hwy 20 to US-12. I also sometimes use US-12 to Hwy 50 if I want to visit my grandpa in Kenosha right after a class or something. There are times when I prefer Hwy 50 over Hwy 20 because it is a two-lane highway in Kenosha County and I won't have to suffer through a slow moving tractor or a stereotypical old driver that prevents me from passing them. Anything I should know about? When I lived in Whitewater and was a student, there were times when I got bored and decided to take random drives all through Walworth, Jefferson and Rock Counties so I am familiar with pretty much every Highway surrounding the campus. I also heard something about Milton Ave (Hwy 26) towards Janesville is under construction. Is this true?

By the way, here is the anatomy of the Sexson trade, with asterisks of how others were acquired: Brewers get: 2B Junior Spivey (traded to Washington for Tomo Ohka) IF Craig Counsell 1B Lyle Overbay (traded to Toronto with P Ty Taubenheim for OF Gabe Gross, P Dave Bush and P Zach Jackson*) C Chad Moeller P Chris Capuano P Jorge de la Rosa (traded to Kansas City for IF Tony Graffanino) DBacks get: 1B Richie Sexson (acquired from Cleveland#) P Shane Nance (acquired from Los Angeles@) OF Noochie Varner (acquired from Detroit in Alex Sanchez deal) * - Gabe Gross traded to Tampa Bay for minor league pitcher Josh Butler # - July 28, 2000: Sexson traded by the Cleveland Indians with a player to be named later, Kane Davis, and Paul Rigdon to the Milwaukee Brewers for Bob Wickman, Steve Woodard, and Jason Bere. The Cleveland Indians sent Marco Scutaro (August 30, 2000) to the Milwaukee Brewers to complete the trade. ^ @ - July 23, 2002: Nance traded by the Los Angeles Dodgers with Ben Diggins to the Milwaukee Brewers for a player to be named later and Tyler Houston. The Milwaukee Brewers sent Brian Mallette (October 16, 2002) to the Los Angeles Dodgers to complete the trade. ^ - August 23, 1996: Traded by the New York Yankees with Gerald Williams to the Milwaukee Brewers for a player to be named later, Pat Listach, and Graeme Lloyd. The Milwaukee Brewers sent Ricky Bones (August 29, 1996) to the New York Yankees to complete the trade. Pat Listach returned to original teams on October 2, 1996. %+ % - March 26, 1992: Bones traded by the San Diego Padres with Matt Mieske and Jose Valentin to the Milwaukee Brewers for Gary Sheffield and Geoff Kellogg (minors). + - December 8, 1992: Traded by the Philadelphia Phillies to the Milwaukee Brewers for John Trisler (minors).

Apparently, the Rays were talking with Melvin even during Spring Training about getting Gross. This is what the Rays' GM said after the acquisition, per the link above: "He's somebody we've actually talked to them about since Spring Training," said Rays executive vice president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman. "We feel like he's going to help us defensively. And we like his bat against right-handed pitching. We feel like he has a good mixture at the plate between patience and power from the left side. And feel like he'll fit us and help us win games." Gross will likely be platooning with Jonny Gomes in right field, but the article states otherwise. I wonder who we will add to the 40-man now that Gross has been shipped off? Tampa Bay already had a spot waiting for him there with the DFA of Mike DiFelice.

I went to PNC Park about seven years ago just after my senior year of high school, and I whole-heartedly agree with BoneDaddy about Monroeville. My brother and I drove down there and we didn't even reserve a hotel, we just went down there with just two tickets and since we were on our way to Virginia for a wedding, we were only staying for a night. Monroeville is a decent town and we were able to easily get a hotel in the city. It is right off of an I-76 bypass called 376. It is easily accessible to Pittsburgh, we were able to get to the park within 15 minutes from our hotel, the Holiday Inn. As for restaurants, I don't really have any tips on that, we spent maybe 18 hours at most in Pittsburgh just to see the game and have a place to crash before heading to Virginia the next day. But there is tons to do around the stadium and a lot of pickings as far as restaurants. The people were nice where we parked our car. What is really cool about PNC is ALL the seats are contoured directly to home plate and the sightlines overlooking the Allegheny River makes it such an immaculate game experience. The stadium is kind of unique and cozy and isn't as big as most stadiums are. I would highly recommend PNC to anyone. If I had the time, I would scan some of the pics I took of PNC from the trip, but maybe I will post them on Tuesday when I will be more free. PNC is by the far the best stadium I have been to when I factored in the friendliness, sightlines, accessibility to restaurants and customer service.

I believe Ila Borders is the last female to compete in professional baseball, mind you it was the Independent Leagues and she pitched for the St. Paul Saints. Borders actually pitched for a Northern League team in Madison called the Black Wolf, according to the link above where she probably had her most success. But she was an interesting story on ESPN for quite some time during her run as a pitcher in the Indy Leagues. When I played baseball prior to high school, I played for Racine Youth Sports, and I saw a few girls playing. But females in baseball won't happen for quite some time, if at all. Ever since Title IX occurred in the NCAA, there is now a lot more funding for women's softball, more funding than the obvious pre-title IX days when women fought just to compete in any college sport. But women are honored in baseball, the last time I was at the Baseball Hall of Fame (during Molitor's induction in 2004), they actually have a special area honoring women who worked hard to save some aspects of the game, but it was obviously for their business approach to the game as front office personnel.

Not sure if this has been mentioned or if there is a running article thread somewhere, but Ken Rosenthal did a feature on Gabe Kapler today and it appeared as the top sports story after I logged off my hotmail account just now. This is the most emotional of the article: Gabe Kapler loved managing the Red Sox's Class A affiliate in Greenville, S.C., last season. But wives are always the first to know. "I saw something lackluster in him," Kapler's wife, Lisa, recalls. "He looked very sad. He was quieter than normal." Gabe, 32, had ended his playing career too abruptly. He hadn't gained closure, hadn't said goodbye. Neither Gabe nor Lisa could have predicted it then, but their soul-searching led to one of the new season's biggest surprises - the re-emergence of Kapler as a force with the Milwaukee Brewers. Kapler, substituting in center field for the suspended Mike Cameron and injured Tony Gwynn Jr., has been the Brewers' hottest hitter, going 11-for-26 with four home runs and 11 RBIs. "We never expected this in 1,000 years," Lisa says. "My heart is soaring for this man." Makes me wonder if Kapler wanted something to prove before leaving the game for good.

I can see the DRays getting the "character issue" guys (ie: Toe Nash, Elijah Dukes and early Josh Hamilton).

Habitat for Humanity? If I were to join, would they send me across the country for free or do I have to pay my own way?

I have often thought of doing volunteer work this summer with at-risk youth like maybe teach them to play baseball. I know MLB has an RBI program and am wondering if MLB needs some volunteers to help with the RBI program. I may not exactly fit their "demographic" but grew up in a diverse city (Racine) so I know how to interact with all types of people. Does anyone know of any programs where I can participate?

As I have read Moneyball by Michael Lewis and also as I glanced on some of the excerpts from the Mitchell Report (Gagne, LoDuca, etc.), I have come to the realization that Scouts not only look at the physical makeup of a player, but also the personality makeup of a player to assess their risk to a team. It makes me wonder what has been said out there about any or all ballplayers who are the subject of trade inquiries or free agent pickups. From what I learned in Moneyball is they basically threw out any player who had an "inkling" of doubt based on their mental makeup to minimize their risk for the Athletics organization. But has anyone ever heard or seen any documentation on any players who were deemed a "risky" pick or deemed a "non-threatening" pick only to go to the other extreme once they began their professional careers or once they changed teams via trade or free agency? I have often wondered if some scouting reports have indicated that "Player A" has an alcohol problem or "multiple personality" problem or a "headcase" problem which has caused "Player A" to slip to the 10th to 20th round only to prove the scouts wrong. Does anyone know of a website where I can take a look at these "scouting reports?" Does anyone know if any current Brewers had this problem?

I am under the weather as I type this. My sickness could be one of three things right now, 1) I am a caregiver and pretty much half my residents have gotten sick, including a resident I have to do personal cares on and he coughed on me all weekend as I was getting him ready for the day, 2) I get seasonal allergies, however I know when I get them based on my eyes (I get mucus or something stuck to my eyes and I wake up with them "glued" shut and then have my eyes reddened throughout the day) or 3) My lack of proper sleep based on my insane work schedule. I would go with my first choice as of right now. So far nothing has worked since I have woken up with collosal headaches and nasal congestion. I have taken Sudafed Severe Cold twice this week and it hasn't worked and also have taken Excedrin once in the morning. But I have found that the Sudafed hasn't worked for me because it contains Benadryl and for some reason Benadryl makes me sleep worse than if I didn't take it.

For those of who know already, I am in Racine and may be moving closer to Miller Park (closer than Racine obviously) within the next couple months. My coworker has a spot on his lease and I may be moving to Oak Creek sometime in June or July near 13th St. Are there any decent places to hang out around the area? Any good sports bars where any of you folks hang out during Brewer games? I know the Milwaukee area and surrounding communities very well since I have worked up there for almost three years now, but have never actually spent a good portion of my time aside from work and stuff, so I just know some landmarks and a few fast food places in certain areas.

This link comes from SportsIllustrated.com's HotClicks today. It shows the odds of the next athlete to date a celebrity and Ryan Braun's odds are 4-to-1 in dating a celebrity. Rumors and Rants believe he could be in line to date Mila Kunis of "That 70's Show" fame. Here are the positives from this link: Positives: Good-looking guy, another Alpha Male-type, like David Wright he's a guy we should all hate. Went to college at Miami, so we're sure he knows his way around the ladies. With the kind of money he's in line to make, he'll likely buy a beach house back home and be neck deep in strange during the offseason. These positives are so true because when he was interviewed on FSN's "In my Own Words," Braun stated he only went to Miami "for the girls."

Tom Haudricourt of the MJS reported about an hour ago that Prince Fielder will be on Good Morning America tomorrow. So if any of you are early risers, tune into WISN Channel 12. He will be discussing his vegetarianism and talk about his new diet. If this is too similar to another topic, feel free to merge it.

In the same blog as the Gwynn/Iribarren move, Haudricourt showed three options that could happen once Gallardo is activated from the 15-Day DL, some are interesting, some are not very surprising: *Send Dave Bush, Carlos Villanueva or Manny Parra to Nashville. Bush has been the worst starter by far but would have to clear waivers to go down because he has three years in the minors. *Send Bush to the bullpen and put Seth McClung on waivers. McClung didn't help himself by pitching horribly last night. *Make some kind of move with Derrick Turnbow, who has become the odd man out in the bullpen. The Brewers could see if Turnbow has any trade value. I'd say the most logical choice would be to put McClung on waivers and move Bush to the pen. What is Bush's ERA against hitters the first go-around in the order? Any better? Any worse? Welcome to Milwaukee, Hurricane! http://www.brewerfan.net/images/playerpix/hernan_iribarren.jpg