LOLdog of the day

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Talking to the team

Welcome to Friday Photo, a new feature where I share photos that I've taken with the world.

Dug up an old hockey shot of the coach doing his job during a playoff game for this week.

Looking for racism in all the wrong places, looking for racism in too many faces

	Free photos for websites - FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Apparently someone things that this, posted outside a loval realtor's office, is racist:

A TAXPAYER VOTING BARACK OBAMA IS LIKE A CHICKEN VOTING FOR COLONEL SANDERS

Apparently it's because of the chicken:

"Pretty much everyone I know eats chicken. It's a stereotype, a known fact, that with racist jokes and slurs it goes with blacks," says (Kandice) Kennedy.

Kennedy says she did her homework asking everyone she knew how they felt about the sign, and she says they found it offensive.

Of course, the sign has nothing to do with race according to the realtor:

But (realtor Bob) Costilow says that's not the case. He says his message is about Barack Obama's stance on changing the Capital Gains Tax.

"If that we're McCain's views on tax changes, his name would be up there just as quick as Obama's. Nothing to do with skin color," says Costilow.

All that message does for me is make me want some KFC.

And it reminds me of a Filthy Lie I did a couple years back, but I digress.

Anyway, since I'm no expert on race relations I asked a friend of mine who happens to be black if she thought it was. Her response: "No. It's just a simile."

Which, ironically, is the same thing I thought about it.

Just another case of people looking for racism in places where it isn't. I'm not saying he was right, but with things like this I can see why Phil Gramm thinks we've become "a nation of whiners."

And my apologies to Waylon Jennings for butchering his song for my title.

Technorati Tags: election,racism,Barack Obama,Colonel Sanders,KFC

Wall Street gets shit-faced?

	Free photos for websites - FreeDigitalPhotos.net

If you haven't heard Bush's comments about how Wall Street "got drunk" and is now "hung over," then here they are:

"There's no question about it. Wall Street got drunk — that's one of the reasons I asked you to turn off the TV cameras — it got drunk and now it's got a hangover," Bush said at a private fundraiser for Republican congressional candidate Pete Olson. "The question is: How long will it sober up and not try to do all these fancy financial instruments?"

Well that was blunt, wasn't it?

And, I'm no economist, but from what I read it sounds like a fairly accurate comparison.

So what's the big deal here? Why the hell is this even news?

Sometimes I just wonder...

Technorati Tags: George W. Bush,Wall Street,economy,politics

Fail of the day

I know, I know. I'm doing too many of these "of the day" posts, but I couldn't pass this one up!

Fail of the day

You (well, at least I) seem to see these kind of ads on the web, which makes this even funnier:

see more pwn and owned pictures

Uh, no thanks to that first one... doesn't really look my type.

Well, I like the idea...

Welcome to Stupid Quiz Sunday, in which I'll take an online quiz that may or may not be stupid and post the results.

You Should Spend Your Summer on a Road Trip

For you, the summer is all about possibilities. And you're not going to be tied down. This is the time for you to embark on an epic road trip, with no ultimate destination in mind. You know you'll have a ton of crazy adventures... at least until you run out of cash!

Where Should You Spend Your Summer?

Like I could afford to with these gas prices!

Have you taken this quiz? Have a quiz you want me to take? Leave a link in the comments.

Like I really could afford a road trip with how gas prices are now!

(I should probably point out that this post was scheduled over a month ago, so there's no telling what gas prices are like now as compared to early June when I wrote this post.

Yes, that's right, I schedule these posts out far ahead of time.

Deal with it.

Technorati Tags: online quiz,summer vacation

It's the 4th, y'all!

Welcome to Friday Photo, a new feature where I share photos that I've taken with the world.

This week I've got some pictures from my church's 4th of July celebration a couple of weeks ago.

Kids riding the "train" around the block. I'm not sure why the little kids love this so much, but they do.

Above: The church's seniors group helps a kid make a patriotic visor.

Right: Kids play on the big inflatable slide set up in the church's courtyard.

I didn't stick around long enough to get pictures of the fireworks. Not that it would have mattered since I didn't bring the Rebel, just my little point and shoot digital.

Technorati Tags: 4th of July

LOLdog of the day

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So, can we please put this thing about how the All-Star Game decides home field for the World Series to rest?

Probably not, but I can hope right?

After watching that insanity last night (the AL winning 4-3 in the 15th), I'm more convinced than ever that it's the biggest crock of bullshit in all of sports.

Every other major professional sport decides who gets home field/court/ice by who has the best record. Why the hell can't baseball do that?

Sure, you could argue that you want the game to mean something. But a 15-inning war of attrition with the way rosters are handled in an All-Star game played two teams in which the vast majority of players involved will not be playing in October shouldn't decide anything.

Neither should any game that's played in that style.

Is it really too much to want the two teams that make the World Series decide who gets home field based on what they did over 162 games?

I guess so.

Either way, it sure was a hell of a game, wasn't it?

And, no, I couldn't resist breaking out the old Lit Up Lidge avatar I'd made while he was still an Astro, seeing as how he struck again. :)

Technorati Tags: All-Star game,MLB,home field advantage

More from Jesse Jackson

Turns out that Conan "uncovered" more from Jesse Jackson's talking about Obama.

You can see it here.

The outrage!

(I tried embedding it, but it didn't work right)

Not sure how to describe this one...

Welcome to Stupid Quiz Sunday, in which I'll take an online quiz that may or may not be stupid and post the results.

All this one required was for you to pick a picture out of a set of nine:

Your Personality Profile

You are elegant, withdrawn, and brilliant. Your mind is a weapon, able to solve any puzzle. You are also great at poking holes in arguments and common beliefs. For you, comfort and calm are very important. You tend to thrive on your own and shrug off most affection. You prefer to protect your emotions and stay strong.

The World's Shortest Personality Test

Have you taken this quiz? Have a quiz you want me to take? Leave a link in the comments.

Technorati Tags: online quiz

Fail of the day

see more pwn and owned pictures

There's a big bear in the backyard!

Welcome to Friday Photo, a new feature where I share photos that I've taken with the world.

See, the big Bear:

I was planning to use this picture last week, but since it was the 4th I decided to have it wait a week.

It's still an awesome picture of the boy.

Technorati Tags: Sheltie,dog,dogblogging

I had to go and make this a lot harder than it could have been, didn't I?

Wednesday afternoon I woke my computer from sleep mode and it made this awful noise. I knew from the start that the problem was a fan, so I shut it down and cleaned them.

Well, that didn't fix it.

So I started testing fans to see which it was, and quickly figured out that it was coming from the power supply.

I took it out and dusted it out good. Still no dice.

Most techs at this point would replace that power supply, and that's what I was leaning towards.

Except I didn't feel like buying a new one.

Because I'm cheap and replacing the fan is hella cheaper.

So yesterday after lunch I bought a fan to replace the one that was bad. I had to more or less take the power supply completely apart to get the old one to remove it. Two of the screws were in places I couldn't get my screwdriver so I had to get creative.

Then I slapped the new one in and tested it on the power supply's internal fan plug. No dice. Oh well, I said to myself, I'll just hook it up like any other case fan.

Put it all back together and now here I am.

Even with as much of a pain as that was, taking at least an hour and a half, the $40 or so I saved by just buying a new fan was worth the effort.

Technorati Tags: power supply

Done with jury duty

Not much to say about it, really.

Monday: Wasn't assigned to anything, though I was deathly afraid when they started calling out names for people that were assigned to the grand jury pool. I have no desire to serve on that!

Tueaday: Was assigned to the Drug Impact court, but was told we weren't needed. I'm assuming whoever was up plead out since the court has a program where first-time offenders can avoid jail time if they go to rehab and stay clean for an amount of time.

Wednesday: Wasn't assigned to anything and was released.

I would have blogged about this earlier, but I started having computer problems yesterday. More about that later.

Technorati Tags: jury duty

Heaven forbid you hurt their feelings!

An Ohio town has canceled it's little league all-star game.

Why? Because some kids might have their feelings hurt:

The City of Beachwood has decided to break tradition and cancel a Little League All-Star game for children ages 9-12.
In March, Beachwood Mayor Merle Gordon sent a letter to parents of children involved in the Little League program stating the city was canceling the All-Star game based on information provided in an article written by the founder of the National Alliance for Youth Sports, Fred Engh.

The article suggested that All-Star games take away from sportsmanship and hurts the self esteem of players, especially younger players.

In the article Engh states, "There's nothing like sticking a dagger into a youngster's self-esteem the first season he plays the sport by letting him know that he's not good enough or considered worthy to be part of this elite group of teammates. That's not the message we want to send to children who are already less active and more obese than any previous generation in history."

What a crock of shit! Then again, that's what parenting's turned into these days. Nothing but being concerned that you might hurt your kids feelings and doing everything possible to avoid doing so.

I know I'm gonna sound like a cold-hearted bastard for saying this, but sometimes kids need to have their feelings hurt. The fact is that the world isn't always a happy place where everything goes right. Kids need a taste of that before they get out on their own or they're going to end up shooting up a post office when they get out in the real world and see that not everybody is, in fact, worried about stomping on their feelings.

Hm, maybe I should have kids after all. It's not like I could do worse than these folks in preparing my kids for the harsh realities of this world.

(H/T Deadspin)

Technorati Tags: little league,feelings

LOLdog of the day

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Reminds me of Bruiser.

By the way, you can click on the image to see a larger version.

You know it's summer in Southeast Texas when ...

... you walk outside a building and break a sweat on the way to your car in the parking lot ...

... at 9:15 AM.

True story, it really happened to me this morning leaving the courthouse.

Blogging will be light today

Blogging will be light today.

Remember how I got summoned from on high a few weeks ago?

Yea, well, the summons said to show up at the courthouse at the same time this is scheduled to publish.

So, unless something happened, I'm at the courthouse right now. Probably in line to get into the impaneling room.

Who knows what I'm in for this week.

Regular blogging will resume... uh... well it should resume sometime. Probably when I'm done with jury duty.

Technorati Tags: jury duty

LOLcat of the day

more cat pictures

Well, I could be like England, so...

Welcome to Stupid Quiz Sunday, in which I'll take an online quiz that may or may not be stupid and post the results.

You Belong in the USA

Sweet! People either love you or hate you And you really don't care what anyone thinks Big and bold, you do things your way

What English Speaking Country Are You?

Have you taken this quiz? Have a quiz you want me to take? Leave a link in the comments.

Technorati Tags: online quiz

Well I think that sums it up nicely

I went up to my church's 4th of July celebration for a little while yesterday and took the camera that my mom gave me last week.

While I was up there, I saw this on the back of a little BMW convertible:

That pretty much says it all, doesn't it?

Technorati Tags: oil,crude oil,gas,gasoline,gas prices,oil drilling,domestic oil drilling

A couple to mark the occasion

Welcome to Friday Photo, a new feature where I share photos that I've taken with the world.

This week I've got a couple to mark today's date, both from the Astros' 2006 Opening Day. You can click each image to be taken to it's page in the photo gallery.

You'll want to see Wanted

Yesterday I went and saw Wanted. It's the story of seemingly normal guy Wes Gibson (James McAvoy) who's recruited to be an assassin for an ancient group called The Fraternity.

I won't reveal too much of the plot but I'll drop some comments random thoughts style:

• Morgan Freeman's character Sloan is bad-ass, especially when he tells you to "shoot that motherfucker!"
• Watch the letters that fly off the keyboard when someone gets whacked upside the head with it.
• Fox (Angelina Jolie) is hot (in a somewhat freaky way). And Jolie's performance in this flick is pretty good.
• The special effects were awesome. Like The Matrix on crack awesome. I've never seen anything like them before.
• The plot was pretty strong for an action movie. Had a good story that had plenty of turns you weren't expecting to see happen.

All in all, this is an awesome flick. It's just as good as The Bucket List was to me, but for totally different reasons.

I'm giving it an 8 and telling y'all that it's worth every penny you'll spend to see it at the theater, as well as the gas you put in your car, the meal you eat, and anything else related to the experience you can think of, assuming you like action flicks.

So, yea, go see it. Like now.

Technorati Tags: Wanted,James McAvoy,Morgan Freeman,Angelina Jolie

And that's it for the spring season

Finished up softball tonight.

Had a lot of fun.

We lost the first game, one in which I was more than content to not play in. It was pretty ugly.

I walked, scored a run, and struck out in the second game, which we won 11-6.

The fall season can't get here soon enough.

Here are the final numbers:

BA: .308 (4-13) OBP: .438 (7-16) 1B: 4 BB: 3 K: 3 RBI: 3

Technorati Tags: softball

My experience with Windows Update error code 80071a90

(Note to my regular readers: The only reason I wrote this post is because there's not much help for this situation to be found on Google. Don't worry, I won't be blogging about weird error codes from now on.)

Today I wiped out my system and did a clean install of Vista.

While it was downloading updates I kept getting the above error code for two updates. I googled it and found nothing but a bunch of posts that more or less said "what does code 80071a90 mean?"

Well, I can't tell you what it means, but I can tell you how I got around it.

On a shot-in-the-dark guess, I set Windows Update to just install one of the two updates. As the updates were most of a year apart, I set the older one to go first.

It installed fine.

I restarted and installed the other one.

It installed fine.

So I guess the code means "these updates don't play well together, install them separately."

(if anybody wants to know I was installing Ultimate x64 on a homebrew machine)

Technorati Tags: Windows update,error 80071a90

UPDATE 8/17/12: Amazingly, this is by far the most-visited post on the blog and still gets comments every once in a while. Because of time constraints I have now, I've disabled comments on this post since I don't really have time to moderate them anymore.

Figures I get the fat, bald guy

Welcome to Stupid Quiz Sunday, in which I'll take an online quiz that may or may not be stupid and post the results.

You Are Homer Simpson

You're just an ordinary, all-American working Joe... With a special fondness for pork rinds and donuts. You will be remembered for: your little "isms" and philosophies on life Your life philosophy: "Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It's what separates us from the animals ... except the weasel."

The Simpsons Personality Test

Have you taken this quiz? Have a quiz you want me to take? Leave a link in the comments.

Technorati Tags: online quiz,The Simpsons

Sitting on a log

Welcome to Friday Photo, a new feature where I share photos that I've taken with the world.

That's the tree that Rita blew over while we had a contractor here taking the tree apart to haul it off.

We'd taken some pics of it to send to my grandmother's brother so he could see what kind of progress we were making to get things cleaned up. I got the idea to do this picture just to give the whole thing some scale and I think it came out looking pretty cool.

Technorati Tags: Hurricane Rita,tree

Chacon grabs his problem by the neck and slams it to the ground

	Shawn Chacon at a Pittsburgh bar doing who knows what. Picture from Free Tank Carter. Click the image to see the post it came from.

It's just not the kinda problem he shouldn't be doing that kind of stuff to:

Already upset about being demoted from the starting rotation to the bullpen, Astros pitcher Shawn Chacon was suspended indefinitely Wednesday night after a heated exchange with general manager Ed Wade turned violent an hour before the Astros played the Texas Rangers at Minute Maid Park.

Chacon, who realizes he might not play again this season, admitted he lost his cool and threw Wade to the ground after Wade insisted he go to manager Cecil Cooper's office. The argument took place in the team's dining room, which Chacon refused to leave when asked to report to Cooper.

Chacon said he lost his temper after Wade cursed at him and told him to "(expletive) look in the mirror." Wade declined comment on the specifics.

"Insubordination to the club," Wade said. "I'm not getting into the details. It's an internal matter."

I don't think Chacon will be playing in the majors again. I mean, who in their right mind would sign someone who did that.

But seriously, what the hell is Wade doing yelling at his players? I mean, that's extremely unprofessional.

I hope Uncle Drayton has a talk with him about that.

Technorati Tags: Shawn Chacon,Houston Astros,Ed Wade

Wow that brings back memories

I've been wanting a digital P&S for a while because SLR cameras, like the Rebel XT I normally use, just aren't suitable for everything.

Sometimes you just want something simple and easy to carry around, ya know? Not to mention that a lot of sports venues don't allow long-lensed cameras.

Yesterday my mom gave me a point and shoot digital camera that she'd bought a replacement for.

It's a Gateway DC-M42. Nothing impressive at 4 megapixels (half of what my Rebel has), but the price was certainly right!

That's not the interesting part.

I found the camera case I knew I had from years back and I stumbled upon something more interesting: my old Kodak Advantix C650 APS camera, still in the case, along with a roll of unexposed APS film and a battery for it.

The camera looks like it's been to hell and back. It's got what look like teeth marks from a dog chewing through the case (although said case has no teeth marls that I can see) and there's something loose on the innards of the camera. It probably doesn't work anyway.

Seeing it brought back some good memories. I used this camera as my main one from either 1999 or 2000 when we bought it until 2001 when I got my first SLR, a 35mm Rebel 2000, but still using it for a while as a P&S for those times I didn't feel like lugging around all my gear.

This makes me wonder, do they still even sell or develop APS film?

Technorati Tags: camera,digital camera,Gateway,Gateway DC-M42,APS,Advanced Photo System,Kodak Advantix C650

Not much to say about this week

I wasn't in much for softball this week. We had something like 4 extra men, and with only one game I volunteered to come out early.

We got our asses handed to us 17-4 and I went 0-1. Not much else to say.

We finish up the season with a doubleheader next week.

Here's the numbers:

BA: .333 (4-12) OBP: .429 (6-14) 1B: 4 BB: 2 K: 2 RBI: 3

Technorati Tags: softball

Updated: Blogging will be light

Blogging will be light today as I head back to Houston for a follow-up eye appointment then go to the Downtown Aquarium.

Some Italian guy who called himself Little Vinnie called me the other day and offered me some free passes and a special chance to "sleep with the fishes."

Since I like sleep and fishes, I figured I might enjoy sleeping with the fishes.

And Little Vinnie seemed like a nice guy, so what bad could happen?

Regular blogging will resume tomorrow.

(This wasn't supposed to publish last night... oops)

UPDATE: Ended up going to the Museum of Natural Science instead of the aquarium. Did the free Tuesday thing and we decided to do the DaVinci exhibit too.

Technorati Tags: Houston Downtown Aquarium,sleeping with the fishes

Readers, we have a photo gallery!

Oooooooh! New technology-like stuff!

I shut down the poll on whether or not I should do a photo gallery because, well, I decided to go ahead and set up a gallery.

It's still very much a work in progress (takes time to upload thousands of pictures, ya know) but I'll go ahead and unveil it.

The address is http://photos.jrtblog.com/ It'll allow you to rate the pictures, leave comments, all sorts of stuff. You'll have to register for some of the features to work, but that's just to keep the spam down.

Enjoy!

Who said anything about Jelly Beans?

Welcome to Stupid Quiz Sunday, in which I'll take an online quiz that may or may not be stupid and post the results.

You Are a Pineapple Jelly Bean

Easy going and undemanding, you have good taste but aren't a show off about it.

What Flavor Jelly Bean Are You?

Have you taken this quiz? Have a quiz you want me to take? Leave a link in the comments.

Technorati Tags: online quiz,jelly beans

loldog of the day

see more dog pictures

Reminds me of Bruiser when he was humping one of my mom's (boy) dogs that was visiting. That's what got him fixed.

Thinking about it...

I'm considering setting up a gallery of pictures I've taken. Would y'all be interested in that?

UPDATE: I put a poll up top of the right sidebar. Polls are open until July 4th at 11:59 PM

Sitting on the porch

Welcome to Friday Photo, a new feature where I share photos that I've taken with the world.

The reason I never want to leave the lake when I'm up there is probably the view from the back porch:

Gotta love it, huh?

Technorati Tags: Toledo Bend,lakehouse

I have been summoned from on high

No, God didn't summon me to do something amazing. It's just a jury summons.

Hopefully it'll go as smoothly as it did two years ago.

I'm due to show up July 7th at 8:30 AM.

Don't I seem excited?

Technorati Tags: jury duty

In which what kind of music I listen to is analyzed

Welcome to Stupid Quiz Sunday, in which I'll take an online quiz that may or may not be stupid and post the results.

What Your Taste in Music Says About You

Your musical tastes are reflective and complex. You are intellectual to the point of being cerebral. You are very open to new experiences, and even more open to new ideas and theories. Wisdom and personal accomplishment are important to you. You are naturally sophisticated. You are drawn to art, especially art by independent artists. You are likely to be financially well off... and not because you were born that way.

What Does Your Taste in Music Say About You?

Have you taken this quiz? Have a quiz you want me to take? Leave a link in the comments.

Technorati Tags: online quiz,music

Harsh much?

I was quoted in an article in today's paper about the clusterfuck the Drillers have turned into.

Was I too harsh?

On the fence

Welcome to Friday Photo, a new feature where I share photos that I've taken with the world.

From this week's trip to the lake:

This shot is from the observation deck on the Texas side of the Toledo Bend Reservoir. We were up at the deck talking and taking pictures when this bluebird flew over and perched itself on the fence. I got about three pictures of it, but this was the best one.

He flew off right after this picture.

Technorati Tags: bluebird

Everybody needs to unplug once in a while

Blogging will be light for the next few days, as I'm heading up to my aunt's lake house on Toledo Bend with my grandmother to unplug for a few days.

And, since I'm there anyway, do some fishing.

I plan on coming back from the trip relaxed, rejuvenated, and with a whole bunch of pretty pictures for all of y'all to see in upcoming Friday Photos.

What I don't plan on coming back with is a sunburn, though it's probably going to happen since I'm going to be fishing on a boat in the middle of a lake.

Note to self: bring a hat.

Regular blogging will resume Thursday.

Technorati Tags: fishing,Toledo Bend,unplug

In which I LOL K T Cat's photo

K T Cat's latest post inspired me:

moar funny pictures

You can vote and stuff here.

I know, this caption's probably a FAIL but who knows...

For those that don't know, it's a reference to the "fresh fish" thing in The Shawshank Redemption.

Technorati Tags: LOLCats,The Shawshank Redemption

So. uh, is this good or bad?

Welcome to Stupid Quiz Sunday, in which I'll take an online quiz that may or may not be stupid and post the results.

Your Mood is a 6

You're mood is so-so... but you're feeling more up than down.

How Does Your Mood Rate?

Have you taken this quiz? Have a quiz you want me to take? Leave a link in the comments.

Technorati Tags: online quiz,mood

Hillary and government class

Hillary's speech (or what I've read about it, to be more precise, reminded me of a political cartoon that was in our Government books back in high school.

The caption was something like "I endorse my former opponent, please forget all the nasty things I said about him in the primary."

Hopefully people won't.

Technorati Tags: Hillary Clinton,Presidential election

Yea, thanks doc, you obviously want to see me so much

I go to an eye doctor in Houston.

I've been going there for probably about 20 years now. Seeing as I'm just 23 now, that should say something.

Well, lately they've been pissing me off.

You know how you get those little cards in the mail that remind you that you need to schedule an appointment soon?

Yea, well, I haven't been getting those lately.

I've got an appointment scheduled for next Monday since I realized my eyedrop prescriptions, which were written to be good for a year, expire this month.

Seeing as I was supposed to be back to see the doc in six months, that's great.

Just. Fucking. Peachy.

I'm starting to wonder if they really want my business or not, seeing as this happened last year too.

I'm planning on a conversation with my doc about it. If they fail to get me a card again I'm seriously going to consider dumping him for a doc here in Beaumont.

Technorati Tags: eye doctor

Going down

Welcome to Friday Photo, a new feature where I share photos that I've taken with the world.

A Drillers defender wraps up the Florida Scorpions' quarterback for a sack in their game May 31 at Ford Arena. The Drillers went on to win the game 74-46 

Technorati Tags: Beaumont Drillers,Florida Scorpions,APFL

One long national nightmare ends, another begins

Last night Obama clinched the nomination, ending that long national nightmare. Now we enter the next one with who his running mate should be...

He wouldn't dare pick Hillary, would he?

If he does, I would advise him to watch his back, as he could very easily get stabbed in it at any moment.

Technorati Tags: Barack Obama,Hillary Clinton,Vice President,back-stabbing

An ugly game, but I did something...

Softball picked up again this week after taking a week off for the holiday.

The Slackers lost 22-3.

I played third base for the first three innings, but played in left for the fourth. I didn't do much defensively, except for a little thing that saved my ankle. An extremely hard hit grounder was rocketed right at me. I didn't have the time to get my glove down, just enough to set my feet and start to... Thank goodness I got my feet set, as the ball would have hit me square in my right ankle. As it was, I felt the ball brush my jeans as it went between the wickets.

I may love my Slackers (our team's name) but I really don't want a nice, huge welt (or worse) on my ankle. Yay for self-preservation!

Anyway, I had two at-bats. Worked the first one to a 3-2 count then lined one to the shortstop, who nabbed me at first by a couple of strides.

The second at bat I took strike one and then swung at the next one, hitting it to about the same place. I beat out the throw to first this time but was thrown out at second for the final out of the game.

Here's my updated numbers:

BA: .363 (4-11) OBP: .461 (6-13) 1B: 4 BB: 2 K: 2 RBI: 3

Next weeks a doubleheader, with games at 8:30 and 9:30, our only 9:30 game this season.

Technorati Tags: softball

Not like I'd want to work for him anyway!

Welcome to Stupid Quiz Sunday, in which I'll take an online quiz that may or may not be stupid and post the results.

This week it's a "Would House Hire You?" quiz I stumbled across on Facebook

Sorry...no...House probably didn't even think of taking you at all...

Unless you were unfortunately eliminated by the 'eliminate a random row' technique House uses, you're probably not really interesting to House. You may be a briliiant doctor, but we all know House doesn't only want brilliant..he wants interesting..

Have you taken this quiz? Have a quiz you want me to take? Leave a link in the comments.

Technorati Tags: online quiz,House

Jesus reaches out and... um... well I'm really not sure what He's doing here

Maybe y'all can help me with this:

more funny fail pictures at FAIL Blog

The extra point

Welcome to Friday Photo, a new feature where I share photos that I've taken with the world.

The Drillers kicker attempts an extra point in the second quarter of their game on May 24 against the Conroe Storm. Conroe went on to win the game 30-22.

Yes, folks. That's light from the sunset you see in the background there. Conroe plays an an open-air (albeit roofed) rodeo arena. It was brutally hot in there.

Technorati Tags: Beaumont Drillers,Conroe Storm

These little shitheads got no respect for us old fogeys!

You all may have heard about Jay Bruce, the kid (and I mean it when I say kid) in Cincinnati that made a hella impressive MLB debut on Tuesday night.

I'm happy for him and all, but there's one problem: he makes me feel old.

For those that don't know, Jay's from Beaumont.

What most of y'all might not know is that I watched him playing little league alongside my little brother.

You see, up until now, I was used to seeing ballplayers in the majors that were older than me. This is the first time I know of that I've been put in my place, so to speak, and watched a player that's younger than me out there on the field.

Nevermind the fact that the person who does it to me is someone I watched play in little league.

It's quite humbling.

In all seriousness, I wish all the best to Jay (whenever he's not playing the Astros of course)

RANDOM FACTOID: The Astros are 75-41 against the Reds since 2001, and have won the season series in every year of that span except 2006.

Technorati Tags: Jay Bruce,Cincinnati Reds

I wish I'd thought of this

TechCrunch's take on Twitter.

Heh. Indeed.

In which my temper is analyzed

Welcome to Stupid Quiz Sunday, in which I'll take an online quiz that may or may not be stupid and post the results.

Your Wrath Quotient: 57%

Ouch! You've got a bit of a temper going on there, don't you? Just make sure to keep your revenge fantasies just that... fantasies only!

How Much Wrath Do You Have?

I DO NOT HAVE A TEMPER YOU IDIOT! TAKE THAT BACK NOW BEFORE I SLASH YOUR TIRES!!!

Oh dear, I don't know what got ahold of me there.

Have you taken this quiz? Have a quiz you want me to take? Leave a link in the comments.

Technorati Tags: online quiz,temper

Saying hey to the fans

Welcome to Friday Saturday Photo, a new feature where I share photos that I've taken with the world.

One of the Drillers players interacts with some fans during their game May 17th. The Drillers went on to defeat the replacement Port Arthur Hurricanes 75-0

The Drillers were playing an outdoor semi-pro team, the Port Arthur Hurricanes, after the team they were scheduled to play failed to make the trip.

Technorati Tags: Beaumont Drillers,Port Arthur Hurricanes

An open letter to Twitter

Dear Twitter,

Your service sucks ass. Three days in a row it breaks. That's just pathetically sad.

I wish I could quit you...

Sincerely,
Justin

Technorati Tags: Twitter,downtime

The night in which I'm reminded I am, in fact, not a great hitter

Tonight I got sent back to earth.

Due to having just enough guys, I was in for all of both games.

First game didn't do much, 2 K's and a groundout.

Second game, well, that one's a story.

We let in three runs in the top half of the inning, but put it together in the top half to bat around and get seven across the plate. I did my part late in the lineup by getting a two-out walk with the bases juiced, waling in two runs. Remember, in co-ed a man gets to go to second on a walk and, with two outs, the woman batting behind him can take first automatically if she chooses. She did.

After a pitching change, my brother came up to the plate and hit me and whoever was on third in.

My next AB I grounded into a fielder's choice and advanced to second on a single by the next batter before an inning-ending grounder.

There was about 5 minutes left on the clock and we were up 11-3. All of us are thinking "just get three outs." We'd already sat the other team down

Uh, yea, well that didn't happen. They mounted a furious comeback and ended their half of the inning up 12-11.

I was leading off the bottom half. I hit a fly to right-center that dropped in for a single. The batter after me grounded out and I was forced out at second on a grounder my brother hit.

That turned into a good thing.

My brother ended up scoring from first on a hit by the next batter, something he wouldn't have done if he'd had my slow ass in front of him, for the tying run. The next hitter hit a deep fly that dropped, practically allowing the winning run to walk in from second.

We won it 13-12! What a game!

I decided to do my stats for the season:

BA: .333 (3-9) OBP: .455 (5-11) 1B: 3 BB: 2 K: 2 RBI: 3

Nothing spectacular, but it's better than I've done in the past.

We're off next week for Memorial Day, then we've got three more weeks in the season.

Technorati Tags: softball

Those folks that say I talk too much are so wrong and here's the proof

Welcome to Stupid Quiz Sunday, in which I'll take an online quiz that may or may not be stupid and post the results.

OnePlusYou Quizzes and Widgets

Can't say I'm really all that surprised by the results...

Have you taken this quiz? Have a quiz you want me to take? Leave a link in the comments.

Technorati Tags: online quiz,verbosity

I felt sick just watching this

Sure I hadn't eaten at Beaumont's Baytown Seafood since November after they got a bad grade from the health inspector, but this just convinced me to never go there again:

A Beaumont restaurant owner is denying allegations that he re-served food that had already been on other customers' plates.

However, a former manager of Baytown Seafood on College Street says she's seen it happen with her own eyes, and that's not the only thing she's concerned about.

You can watch the video here.

Technorati Tags: baytown seafood

Proof that my readers aren't the only people who think I'm crazy

Welcome to Friday Photo, a new feature where I share photos that I've taken with the world.

Me down at Petey's level:

What the HELL are you doing? 

I really don't know Petey, I really don't know.

I feel somewhat humiliated posting this photo, seeing as there's something from whatever I had for lunch that day on my chin. Oh well.

Technorati Tags: sheltie,dog,dogblogging

Someday, ants will rule the world

"Crazy" ants are in Houston:

In what sounds like a really low-budget horror film, voracious swarming ants that apparently arrived in Texas aboard a cargo ship are invading homes and yards across the Houston area, shorting out electrical boxes and messing up computers.

The hairy, reddish-brown creatures are known as "crazy rasberry ants" — crazy, because they wander erratically instead of marching in regimented lines, and "rasberry" after Tom Rasberry, an exterminator who did battle against them early on.

Well, at least they do something that I don't mind much:

The good news? They eat fire ants, the stinging red terrors of Texas summers.

I can't say that it's really a good thing considering the rest of the stuff I'm reading about these pesky little buggers.

Seriously, ants like these will rule the world someday.

Technorati Tags: crazy ants

My hot bat shows me just how out of shape I am

Well, softball picked back up on Monday after a week got rained out.

We lost both games by fairly wide margins, but I think I had an OK night.

I came in about halfway through the first game but never got an at bat. There was a throw to me that I "let pass by me" because I "knew it would bounce off the fence and go to the catcher."

Hey, it sounds good, right?

Anyway, I started the second game and was put in the leadoff spot. As I said, "Y'all got too much faith in me." We were batting first so I started out at the plate. I hit a grounder towards the second basemen that I should have been out on, but the first sacker had her foot on the orange base instead of the white one, meaning I was safe.

In slow pitch, there's the normal white base and an orange one right next to it in foul territory. It's set up that way to avoid having collisions on close plays like that, as the first basemen takes the white bag as the baserunner runs for the orange one.

That's the first call I've ever seen argued in my years playing softball, and I can understand why as I was sure I was out.

I got moved up to second by the next batter but was tagged out as the front end of a double play ball hit right at the third basemen.

An inning or two later, I got another at bat, being told that after the AB they'd take me out for someone else. Since I don't really care about how much playing time I get as long as I get some, I was happy.

I hit the ball to about the same place as the first time, but not as hard. This time I legitimately beat out the throw. Again I was moved up to second by the next hitter. The next batter I took off running to third. I swear the guy we had in as first base coach was telling me to go at first and then said something to the tune of "NO, NO, STOP!"

It was too late for that. I rounded third, figuring as hard as I was running I would have been halfway home before I could have slowed down my momentum enough anyway. The throw was in time to the catcher, but the catcher dropped it, allowing me to cross the plate safely for a run.

It's about the time I used the backstop to stop myself that I realized just how out of shape I was. I walked over to the bleachers and just laid down for a few minutes to catch my breath.

Thank goodness I didn't have to go back into the field.

Wonder if they'll have me bat leadoff next week...

Technorati Tags: softball

What happened over the weekend

Do you want to read about my trip to Dallas on Saturday to see the Drillers play?

If you do, click here.

MySpace makes me want to blow chunks all over Tom

Welcome to Stupid Quiz Sunday, in which I'll take an online quiz that may or may not be stupid and post the results.

Created by OnePlusYou

For the record, the number it gave me is 66% filled with hate for MySpace.

Have you taken this quiz? Have a quiz you want me to take? Leave a link in the comments.

Technorati Tags: online quiz,myspace

Whoring out my links

Welcome to Friday Photo, a new feature where I share photos that I've taken with the world totally botch the whole idea behind this feature for the sake of shameless promotion.

This week I'm not posting a photo here.

Why, you ask?

Because a good chunk of the photos I took while at the last Drillers game are posted in a gallery on that little website I've been working on.

Normal Friday Photo content shall return next week.

Updated: Rule number one of online surveys

If you leave a goofy answer as an option, a good chunk of participants are going to pick said goofy answer.

I said they should "fill it with water and stock it with fish."

Update: When I'd scheduled this post, half of the people responding had selected the last option. Seems to have leveled out a little now.

Technorati Tags: online survey

That's quite a big hole ya got there, son

Daisetta: getting a hole to China?

DAISETTA — The nervous vigil at a huge sinkhole that mysteriously opened in this Liberty County town on Wednesday -- and grew rapidly throughout the day -- is continuing early today as county officials hand off oversight of the emergency to the Texas Railroad Commission.

The sinkhole, which appeared near the center of Daisetta on Wednesday morning and grew to four football fields in diameter and 200 feet deep by nightfall, did not grow severely during the night and no evacuations have yet been ordered, a Liberty County sheriff's official said today.

I must say, the pictures of this are quite impressive. The size alone is just baffling.

Technorati Tags: Daisetta,sinkhole

John McCain don't need no pansy-assed Secret Service

As always, gotta love The Onion:

McCain Declines Secret Service, Dares Assassins To Try Something

Updated: I now know what Purgatory is like

Purgatory is like the Stars game I'm watching right now.

They've just begun the 4th OT period and there's no sign of either side giving up anything.

Yep, this is what it's like.

UPDATE: Apparently I got heaven. Stars win 3-2!

Technorati Tags: Dallas Stars,NHL,overtime,purgatory

Good eatin'

Welcome to Stupid Quiz Sunday, in which I'll take an online quiz that may or may not be stupid and post the results.

Created by OnePlusYou

Have you taken this quiz? Have a quiz you want me to take? Leave a link in the comments.

Technorati Tags: online quiz,cannibals

Blogging may be light

Blogging may be light for a while as I'm putting a lot of effort into getting a new Drillers fan site up and running.

Sorry for the incontinence.

The grill man

Welcome to Friday Photo, a new feature where I share photos that I've taken with the world.

This shot's from the pre-game tailgate before the last Drillers game:

Technorati Tags: tailgating

I really ought to wear a chest protector

So I finally remembered to write about softball this week.

I really didn't do that much.

We won the first game, but I can't remember the score. It was a game where it looked like we were going to get clobbered then we wound up batting around and then some one inning, giving us the lead.

After that inning I got put in at third base and got some action, though not the kind I'd prefer. Fighting the setting sun right in my face, it wasn't a friendly place to be playing. The other team had folks on first and second. Their batter hit a grounder and the 2B threw it to me.

I didn't see it coming and the ball hit me squarely in the chest. Before you ask, I'm fine.

Thankfully I redeemed myself a little by grabbing the ball once it hit the ground on one knee and touching the bag with my other hand to get the force. Embarrassing, but I got the out. Had another throw to me later that I saw coming but didn't get a glove on.

Second game was interesting. I got put in the field on a temporary basis after one of our teammates had a ball one-hop her in the mouth. Her boyfriend (I think he is anyway) helped her get cleaned up and stuff so the ump let us put in someone to fill in while that was getting taken care of. I was in the field for about two at bats then came out.

Don't worry, she'll be fine.

Last inning of this game I get put in to hit. Two outs with us down pretty big. I worked the count to 3-2 then got pretty solid contact on one, but I got too much air under it.

It was really solid contact. I mean, I've gotten hits out of much weaker-hit balls. I remember one where the ball never got more than a couple feet away from home plate that I somehow beat out.

Fun times.

One game next week against the other church team in our league.

Technorati Tags: softball

Scheduling posts is now out of beta

Blogger Buzz informs us all that Blogger has rolled out scheduled posts to everybody.

It even works with Windows Live Writer, just change the date in the box to the right of the categories box to set the desired time and date and click publish.

(Image found in a TinyPic search for clock)

Technorati Tags: blogger,scheduled posts

Something that just boggles my mind

Safe sex is a good thing. I think we'd all agree on that, right?

I think we'd also agree that we should do things to encourage people to have safe sex if they're going to have it, right?

With that being said, why do places like Walgreens keep the condoms in a locked glass case? Seriously, you really think people want to go find someone to unlock the case so they can get their freak on?

I know I don't, I'm too shy. I'd be red as a tomato the whole time.

Maybe it's an extension of Bush's abstinence-only sex ed program, discouraging sex through embarrassment.

Technorati Tags: condoms,Walgreens,safe sex