Patrick425

At the risk of repeating myself, it's clearly evident based on the pictures in post 34,36, & 37 that the board is being put up in pieces. Are we absolutely certain the the video board portion is complete?

I'm not sure that is complete. They are putting it up in pieces.

About a year ago we purchased a new set of drinking glasses. They are a bit thicker than our old glasses. I still use the few old glasses we still have, especially when drinking milk. My wife thinks I'm crazy but I just think the milk seems colder and tastes better out of the old glasses. I'm also this way when it comes to soda. I like Mt. Dew out of a can or plastic bottle, but not as much in a glass with ice. Just the opposite with Pepsi. I like Pepsi best in a glass with ice, but not so much out of a can. When I was a kid, my favorite was Pepsi in the 12oz returnable glass bottles. Soda out of a glass bottle is always the best.

I always thought the main cause of homlessness was not having a job.

I see a lot of posts stating this really hurts the chance of WC team coming from the Central. This is one player and I think the impact is a little overstated. The Brewers play the the Cubs 16 times over 5 series. They could see Garza as many as 5 times, but it will probably more like 3 or4. Let's say it's 4 times and they lose all 4 times that they face him. That doesn't necessarily mean that they have 4 less wins than they would have had the Cubs not obtained Garza. They many have lost those games anyways or they may have lost 2 of those games anyways. I really don't think this makes more than a 2 game impact on the Brewers totals wins at most. I realize two games can be the difference between WC and no WC, but I'm not writing the Central division out of WC contention yet. I also don't think that Garza is enough to make the Cubs division or WC contenders unless they can somehow hang close until mid-season and then swing a big impact trade. I don't believe their roster, as it currently stands, has the horses to contend through the entire season.

This one became clear to me as I was posting in the "Must reads" thread. If there was a competition for most books started but not finished, I would be world champion.

I really envy you readers. Some of the books mentioned in this thread I have purchased, read 40-50% of it, and then never finished ("The Big Short", "From Beirut to Jerusalem" - I have actually read the first 100 pages or so of "The Big Short" twice.). This is not because I didn't think they were good books, it's because I have a hard time focusing when reading. Usually I'll buy a book before I go on vacation to read on the plane or by the pool, then once I get back from vacation, I never pick it up again. A lot of people I know seem to be able to pound out a 300-400 page book in less than a week, no problem (my wife is one of those people). I'm lucky if I can read 20 pages a night. I just get too distracted and can't focus...or I find myself falling asleep. I'm not necessarily distracted by noise or other things going on around me, but also by other thoughts that are coming and going in my head while I'm reading that have nothing to do with what I'm reading. I just have a hard time losing myself in a book, no matter how good it might be. I'm one of those readers that finds my self reading the same sentence or paragraph 2 or 3 times because I wasn't really focused the first one or two times I read it. If I had better reading skills I would read all the time. I have always wondered if any of those "speed reading" courses really worked. I think the last book I read cover to cover was "Into Thin Air".

Sorry, this is not about books - I heart the Brewers, that's a great brewerfan name. I wish I would have used it, but it would be much better if heart was spelled "Hart".

I'm guessing you are talking about the regular season and not spring training...correct? I'm kind of a glass is half empty, pessimistic type of person. So, I'm going to reserve my negative predictions about ST. Let's just say they involve injuries.

I'm not sure about that Insomniac. If you're champion then I would have to be runner up. My son has developed a habit of blowing his straw wrapper at me when ever we go through the drive thru (then I also throw my wrapper on the car floor). I think if there was a competition for shake/malt speed drinking, my son would be world champion. I think I would also be in the running for empty plastic water and Gatorade bottles on my car floor (again, thanks to my son). This is a fun topic. I got to think about this a little more.

I think I know who you are talking about.

Yeah, but just because you have good starting pitching doesn't mean you can gut your offense and expect to contend. Braun is not going to produce the same as he usually does without protection behind him. Also, a good offense makes for better pitching. If you surround Braun, Hart, and McGehee with a bunch of guys that would be utility players on most other clubs, then the starters will feel like they have to be perfect every time they pitch. This can often lead to mistake pitches that get hammered. Why is everyone so concerned about Week's injury history, but not so much about Marcums? If it's true that we can't afford all three, I like the idea of trying to LT Weeks and Greinke rather than Greinke and Marcum. I can handle loosing Fielder or Weeks. I would have a hard time loosing both.

That is a great story. Kind of along the lines of "The Pursuit of Happiness", except it sounds like this guy had a previous career in his profession. I'm guessing there are lots of homeless people that were former "professionals", but have fallen upon hard times and now find it hard for anyone to give them a second chance.

Like I stated, I think this is a great promotion. However, I always thought the Brewers should do something to acknowledge LT season ticket holders. Perhaps have some "aniversary" gifts or rewards (i.e. 10th straight year as season ticket holder, 15th, 20th, etc). Or perhaps a rewards points program that adds points each year you renew and the point values increase every year. These points could be used in the team store or at concessions. If you have been a 15 or 20 (or even 10) year continuous season ticket holder, you have sat through some pretty rough seasons and yet you have continued to renew year after year. It would be nice to see the Brewers reward that loyalty. One thought I had was to give Season ticket holder extra "entries" in this prize give away based on the number of years they have been season ticket holders. However, I realize that this would kind of defeat the main goal of this promotion, which appears to be to get new season ticket holders.

Graffanino-type, really? Is this what we want? Graffanino-type at 2B, Greg Brock type at 1B, Betencourt type at SS. I remember the days when the Brewers put this type of lineup out there on a daily basis. It wasn't a lot of fun to watch as a fan. I think the Brewers have the ability to sign Marcum, Greinke, AND Weeks to LT contracts. If your going to go in, go all in. Don't try to patch holes with journeymen type utility players. That seldom works.

I have always liked Weeks. I'd love to see them sign him to an extension. I understand the injury concerns. I'm not sure if that makes him "less valuable" than Uggla, but my bigger concern is what are the Brewer's options if they don't sign him and he goes to the FA market? Now the Brewers would be looking at potentially 2 big spots to fill on the right side of the infield. It would be hard to replace the production of both Fielder and Weeks in one off season.

Our Furnace went out last year about this time. It was actually on New Years Day. They came out that day to take a look at it. The next day they were back with a new furnace. We used One-Hour heating (they get pretty good reviews on Angie's list). It stinks, but one of those things you have to be prepared for as a home owner. We used a home equity line of credit to partially help pay for it.

I think this is a fantastic idea. Most of these prizes will not really cost the Brewers to much, if anything, but they are still very nice prizes. Hawing, I'm with you regarding the picture on season tickets prize. I don't want my picture on every ticket...and I don't think anyone else wants my picture on their ticket.

Ha! Yeah...that's not going to be a problem at all. Thanks for the advice owb. Someone else that I know that is a runner kind of mentions something similar about not landing on your heal. That would be a really rough transition for me. I'm not tall, but I just feel much more comfortable and loose when I take longer strides. I'm guessing the Sports Medicine place is going to tell me the same thing. I'm having a hard enough time just getting back into running after 25+ years...now I have to think about and change the way I naturally run? Yuck...it's enough to make me just stick to elliptical devices.

Wow, Drick! You just took up running in early December and ran your first 5K less than a month later?! Congrats. All I have say is A) you must be younger and B) you must not mind cold weather. I would never run in that kind of weather. I absolutely hate Winter. I joined a health club a little over 2 months ago. I have been going 4 times a week and I have begun running on a treadmill about a month ago. I'm 44 and this is the first time I have worked out since high school when I was in track. I have run occasionally with my son around the neighborhood, but never much more than a mile (and that killed me!). I would like to run some 5Ks this summer. However, just like what always happened to me in HS, I'm experiencing shin splints. When I was in HS, I just ran through them and they eventually went away. I usually just got them when we were doing our warm up jog before practice. Same thing at the gym. My shins really bother me for the first 1/3 or 1/2 mile, but then they go away. It seems the slower I run, the more they bother me (I generally start my runs with a light jog and then do intervals of 70-80% sprinting). I think when I jog slow I tend to be more heavy footed. Everything I have read states that if you experience shin splints you should not run for a while.However, I know this would not matter for me. I know I could not run for 6 months and I would still get shin splints on my first run after that. It's just something I have always battled when trying to run. I have an appointment for a free injury evaluation at Aurora Sports Medicine in a couple weeks. So, we'll see what they say. I would be intersted in hearing if anyone else has had experiences with shin splints. edit: By the way, I don't think I could ever run bare foot. I don't even like walking bare foot.

We have gone down there the last 7 (8?) years. This year we have decided to go to Florida. Other than our first year, we have always stayed at the Legacy Resort. I have always found it to be reasonably priced and includes ammenities such as a nice pool, golf course, full kitchen, washer/dryer. It also has a lot of green space which I like as my son and I always play catch in the mornings before we head out to games. It's near the south mountain area, which is about a 20 minute drive to Maryvale. However, I have found that most of the parks in the area are not that far of a drive. Also, I really don't mind a 30-60 minute drive. I'm on vacation. I'm really not in a hurry! You may not need or want all the ammenities listed above. If not, you could probably find cheaper lodging. I have always found tripadvisor.com to be a helpful place for lodging reviews.

Thanks for all the feedback. I think I'm going with the Kindle. I have read good things about it and Consumer Reports rates it pretty high.

My wife mentioned to me that she would like to get a Kindle (sure..now that Christmas and her B-Day have passed!). I would like to surprise her with one as a "no occasion - just cuz I love you" gift. I found this thread from a while back and I'm looking for any updated advice regarding e-book readers. Is Kindle the way to go? Can I get better value from a different device? Should I just get her an IPad (I'm assuming IPad's have an e-book reader app - although, I'm hoping to keep it under $200)? The review of the Kindle that I read on Amazon says that people do a "double take" because the screen has the look of paper and there is no glare. This sound's nice. Can anyone attest to this? Thanks for any advice you can provide.

The Brewers are number one as winter season? I'm not sure what this means. Yeah, I was a bit confused by this as well. And who is "he"? Can you provide a link? Edit: Ok, I think this is what ilovebeer was referring to: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/jon_heyman/12/29/winter.winners/index.html

Actually I think this makes sense. If we had the worst system in baseball, then it would be logical that we could not have given up too much to get Greinke.