Some baseball stuff...........

As Liam already mentioned, the Cards traded Kerry Robinson to the Padres yesterday for essentially.... an older version of Kerry Robinson, Brian Hunter. He led the AL in stolen bases two years ago and had something like 74 SB's in 1997. A sub par hitter, but has a steady glove which means he'll be reliable in the field if he's put on base to pinch run.

Ken Griffey Jr. is hurt again. No surprise there.

And lo and behold, Mr Tino "No Production" Martinez who was traded to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays during the offseason hits a home run, sacks three RBI's, and goes 3-3 in the first Major League baseball game of the year against his former team, the Yankees. If he had that much production over the course of 4 games here in St. Louis I would have been happy. I guess he's just not ready for the National League.

Oh, and Mark Prior's bitch ass could be out until May for the Cubbies. Awww what a shame.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 3:16 PM

Yesterday I paid just under $20 to fill the tiny 12 gallon gas tank of my Honda Civic. That's falkin' ridiculous. I've heard that by the end of summer places like California may reach $3 a gallon.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 1:22 PM

I love hockey. And fighting is part of the game. But in this sport, it is the game.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 10:57 AM

I haven't posted in a few days so here's a quick one just to get back into the swing of things......

In case any one actually cares, Sammy Hagar is back in Van Halen. And they're coming our way this summer. To the fabulous Savvis Center rather than the cheesy Riverport Amphitheater too!

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 10:21 AM

Today I performed the first half of the most difficult computer related troubleshooting I've ever attempted. It seems that sometime over the weekend my dad's computer at work acquired a virus which destroyed or corrupted his windows registry file. The 'puter would start loading the bios and boot up fine but once it started trying to load Windows, I'd get the "blue screen of death" and a "uh-oh, you're fucked" type error message. I tried booting in safe mode, booting from disk, running all the little startup config programs and got nothing. I finally went to the Microsoft Knowledge Base and ran a search on the error reference number I was getting. I ran a Scandisk on the HD like it told me and recovered over 100 orphaned files and rebooted, but still got the old blue screen. I was hoping that it was just the registry file that was bad and not everything else (because most of the important company doc's are there until we get the server) so I installed a second version of the operating system so that I could at least check out the other files to see if they were ok. It seemed that they were. I then attempted to copy all the boot and registry files from the new version of the OS to the old version but couldn't since they were obviously in use. I think I probably could have done it from DOS had I known more about it, but when I tried running the Microsoft Recovery Console, it wouldn't even recognize the old OS due to the lack of startup files. Eventually I just bit the bullet and went back to the new version of the OS, reconnected the 'puter to the network and the workgroup and transferred every important document and database I could find over to my office computer for temporary storage. It took me hours to find the god damn Microsoft Outlook .pst file because it was hidden for one, and also for some reason under another usernames Documents and Settings folder. Once I got everything transferred I ran a virus scan on the folder on my PC and then left for the day. Tomorrow is part two, where I reformat the hard drive and reinstall the new OS once again. Then I guess I'll have to reinstall each program as well, and reconfigure the network and user settings once again. After that's all finally done, I can transfer all the important stuff back to where it used to be located. Hopefully making that machine even better than it was before. Then I'll have to schedule some utilities to run each week on that PC since apparently I'm the only one at work that knows dick about computers.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 7:36 PM

Wow!! If you're a Pink Floyd fan, and a Reggae fan, you've got to check out this album. "Dub Side of the Moon" by the Easy Star All Stars is essentially a complete cover of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" but done entirely in Reggae music. I must say it was quite a surprise on how well it actually worked. Check out these links here, here, or here and listen to some of the samples. Instead of using a cash register at the beginning of "Money" they actually use a lighter click, a bubbling bong, and a coughing stoner. Fucking hilarious.

On a related note, Monday at the Fox Theater there is a performance by the Australian Pink Floyd tribute band. Apparently it's David Gilmour approved. I'm guessing they're pretty good if they are coming close to selling out the Fox. I wonder how they will compare to El Monstero that I go see every year around the holidays. Judging from the samples they have on the website, they're damn fucking good. Maybe I'll have to go check them out and see.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 1:03 PM

Here a strange idea. I wonder how that production will turn out. Hopefully better than this one.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 11:21 AM

Did everyone hear about this yet? Astronomers may have finally nailed down the "10th Planet" mystery. For years on and off we've been hearing about the possibility of there being another object out beyond Pluto in our solar system (actually they estimate around 900 similar objects out there), and now it's almost confirmed. Sedna, as they are calling it right now, is just a bit larger than Pluto but much farther away from the sun. It's average distance from the sun is almost 3 times farther away than Pluto is, 17 kilometers to be more precise. It's 8 billion miles away at it's closest pass and 84 billion away when it is on the long ellipse of it's orbit. That means it takes 10,500 earth years to complete one full trip around it's orbit. They say that Sedna is so far away that if you were standing on the surface of the planet today (it's close right now only 8 billion miles away), you could hold up a pin at arm's length and cover the sun with it. And it's so cold the temperature never reaches above -400 degrees Fahrenheit. That's a warm summer day there. It's about 3 - 4 degrees above absolute zero during the winter months. Ouch. The classification of Sedna as an actual planet will take a while considering that 74 years after its discovery, people still argue about if Pluto is really a planet or not.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 11:17 AM

The other day, I broke my rule of no fast food cause my bro was going to Taco Bell and I was in the mood for it. I had him pick me up two tacos with tasty Baja sauce on them, two chili cheese burritos and one Mexican pizza. Just for fun, and to actually see how bad this shit really is for you, I decided to visit Taco Bell's interactive nutrition calculator that will break down all the fat, carb, calorie, etc, contents of the items you select from the menu and then it totals them all up. My results were fucking scary. If you value your fast food addictions, I suggest not actually looking at how much crap you are actually putting into your body. Man 1670 calories, 175mg of cholesterol, 3890mg of sodium, 82 grams of fat, and 152 grams of carbs!!! That's ridiculous! The tacos aren't so bad for you, but that Mexican Pizza sure did me in. For those brave souls that actually care, I suggest checking that site out.

Check out Yum! Brands homepage for other nutrition calculators for the rest of the former "PepsiCo" restaurants.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 4:06 PM

As I was flipping through my newest Stuff magazine that came in the mail the other day, I stumbled upon a picture of this hottie and was struck by the notion that this was a face I recognized from the past (Click here for the full interview). Her name is Nikki Boyer and for those of us St. Louisans who watched after-school cartoons on KPLR Channel 11 during the early nineties, you may recognize her as the host of "Channel 11 Kids!" that ran little spots during commercial breaks and in between shows. I think she may have even had a stint here singing for Superfunk Fantasy while they were still here in St. Louis, but that's unconfirmed. I also saw her quite a few times around the campus at Webster my first year there if I remember correctly.

Anyway, it's good to know she's doing well for herself and is now living in LA and working for The Learning Channel as the host of Perfect Proposal, a show that helps guys plan and follow through with their uber-romantic and covert engagement plans. She also now sings for a pop rock band called The Spirit Theory that sounds a bit like a toned down female coffeehouse version of Dishwalla or Third Eye Blind. Nikki also has her own solo act and has performed on several female oriented tribute albums to bands like Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, AC/DC, and The Rolling Stones (Click the links to see the discs and listen to samples). Maybe someday soon we'll even be hearing about bigger things from her. Best of luck!

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 2:34 PM

I'm a monkey.........


Which monkey are you?
Another pointless diversion from Bijouriel

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 3:02 PM

Grant Wistrom offers up a classy goodbye letter to St. Louis sports fans in Sundays Post Dispatch.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 1:03 PM

Man, I need to get out and hit the movies. I haven't been since the last time I saw ROTK and there is a ton of stuff out right now that I need to see before it leaves theaters. Miracle, Starsky and Hutch, The Passion of the Christ, 50 First Dates, and Secret Window are all flicks I haven't seen that look interesting. I'd also like to catch Mystic River and ROTK in the theaters one more time before the post-Oscar hoopla wears off. I'm going to have to look like a badass and wear my new team USA hockey jersey to see "Miracle" though. I wonder if I should follow suit and dress up like Jesus when I go see "The Passion..." as well.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 9:50 AM

Yet another quiz....


obsessive compulsive


Which Personality Disorder Do You Have?
brought to you by Quizilla

This one actually makes a bit of sense. I do have some obsessive compulsive traits, not enough that I would consider myself even remotely mentally ill. Just enough to make me a bit of an anal retentive perfectionist type though.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 9:39 AM

I'm a White Russian, discover your ALcoHoLiC personality!

Oddly enough, the first drink I ever got drunk enough to puke from. Thanks to Liam and Little Caesar's Pizza that is.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 11:44 AM

I just got done finalizing all the reservations for my vacation coming up in mid-April. Starting on the 16th we do three nights in Daytona, three nights in Orlando, and three nights in Key West, then one more recovery night in Orlando before we fly back home on the 26th. I get a free rental car for a week while I am down there too as well as two free day passes to Universal Studios in Orlando.

I think while we're in Daytona we may hit the Kennedy Space Center, spend at least one day at the beach, and maybe do a sailboat / fishing excursion on our third day. Then its back to Orlando for Universal Studios, maybe a day at the Disney complexes, or possibly a day atDiscovery Cove where we might do some swimming with dolphins. Then the 8 hour drive down to Key West during which I'm sure we'll stop at some points of interest along the way. While in Key West I'm sure we'll do at least one full day at the beach, maybe do some parasailing, and I definitely want to do some snorkeling and rent some jet skis. I've heard the water averages only about 12 feet deep throughout the keys, even several miles out into the ocean. You can take a jet ski or a boat into the ocean miles away from land, drop anchor near a sandbar, and wade in water only 3 feet deep or do some diving near a reef. Pretty cool if you ask me.

I also found out we'll be in Daytona during National Black College Reunion weekend. Over 100,000 black college students on spring break all on Daytona beach. National recording artists such as Jay-Z, Nelly, Eminem, and Lil Kim will be performing nightly. This should be interesting. I hope that doesn't sound racist but I just have a feeling it will be a huge culture shock.

Anyway, it should be a good time all around and I'm sure I'll have plenty to post about when I get back.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 11:41 AM

Last night right before I hit the sack, I happened to catch some Championship Table Tennis (Ping Pong) on ESPN2 and I'll have to admit, it's pretty neat to watch. Its amazing to see how fast the ball is moving and that usually the players are standing several feet (sometimes 15' or so) from the back of the table at each side. I suppose all it takes is practice, a good eye, and excellent hand eye coordination, but I don't see how they can smash that ball as hard as they can and still get it to drop in right on the back edge of the table from that far away. In addition the competitors were adding all sorts of drop and spin shots so that sometimes when the ball would hit the table it would it would bounce off on a strange angle due to the rotation. Pretty cool though, check it out if you get a chance. Reminded me of that scene in Forrest Gump in a way, except he wasn't playing against a commie.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 10:10 AM

I always had a feeling Todd Bertuzzi was a pansy after taking so many cheap shots at other players over the years, specifically two of our best defensemen, Al MacInnis and Barrett Jackman knocking them both out of our lineup with season ending injuries. Now it's confirmed....Todd Bertuzzi is the biggest pussy in all of sports.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 4:26 PM

What's up with that? America's new crackdown on supposed indecency in the media. Howard Stern has already been yanked from the air in six major markets by that "oh so lovable" corporate giant Clear Channel and is now facing major fines. Infinity Broadcasting, who produces the Stern show, is in jeopardy of losing their radio license.

Instead of usually pushing the envelope, MTV has banned 7 videos from it's regular rotation within the past two weeks. Videos that were already playing before the Superbowl. Most of the videos got a quick re-edit to remove any "offensive" material and were thrown back in to late night rotation. Incubus' video for Megalomaniac was banned cause it contains images of Hitler and images that can be misconstrued as anti-American. Blink 182's new video Miss You was banned for some lesbian kissing scenes, something which the girl group TAtu nearly perfected on the MTV Video Music Awards two years ago when they brought 100 teenage girls on stage in Catholic Schoolgirl outfits, stripped down to their undies and then had a big lesbo group kiss. No outrage over that though.

Major networks have been editing regular programming left and right as well as pulling special programming off the air in light of the recent self imposed FCC crackdown. In an election year where the incumbent president is facing losing voters on some of the major issues right now, this doesn't really surprise me. Especially when the largest segment of the voting populous and Bush's "bread and butter", the Christian right, is the group promoting this unnecessary crackdown. Looks like were taking another step back down the social ladder. Cause you know, that whole freedom of speech thing only applies when "we" want it to. Leave it to us to get so flipped out over a titty that we start shaking the very foundations of our society.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 11:36 AM

Four hours from the NHL trade deadline.........what are our Blues going to do?

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 9:53 AM

I don't remember if I was blogging the first time I ran across this little flash animation but here it is anyway. The bastard child of Teddy Ruxpin, prepare to be offended by Teddy Guy. I know it takes a while to load, and the flash program itself is quite long, but trust me it's worth it.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 9:22 AM

TACOS! TACOS! TACOS!......

Two in a row for the Blues in back to back nights and it was on the road!! Dare I say we're starting to look like our old selves again. Our big vets were scoring (Pronger, Drake, Demeitra), Peter Cheyanek got a goal and two assists (as well as a goal last night) and he's starting to turn it on again, and our newest Blue Mike Sillinger got his second goal in his second game with the Blues, we also took 8 penalties but only allowed 7 power play shots on goal. And we scored 5 goals!! That's 9 goals in two games for the Blues. We hadn't scored 9 goals in the whole two weeks before these two games. Now we come home for a few games. The games Thursday against Nashville and Sunday against Calgary are especially important. Maybe by then there'll be a new player or two on the team. But hey, until then we're back in the playoff picture sitting on the edge in 8th place.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 7:54 PM

Blues get a big win tonight in NY. Welcome to St. Louis Mike Sillinger; a goal and two assists, not a bad first day on the job. A great night for Osgood too (stopped 39 of 41 shots).

Oh and by the way, about those trades.....NHL Tonight on ESPN says look to the Rangers for the next new St. Louis Blue. Either Lindros or our old pal Marty Ruchinski.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 9:52 PM

Oh and by the way, Grant Wistrom is no longer a St. Louis Ram.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 10:53 AM

Just minutes before I was about to post on how the Blues needed to pick up some players before the trade deadline, I found out that we did. Brent Johnson is no longer a Blue. He's been traded to Phoenix for center Mike Sillinger. While I know Johnny wasn't always the most consistent 'tender, I hate to see him leave the team. He does have the potential to be a great goaltender in the right system with the right coaching, but he just wasn't a good fit here. While I'm sure we could have gotten more out of a Johnson trade, Sillinger brings a few things to the table that the Blues are lacking right now. The ability to win faceoffs (he's ranked 12th in the league), he's a nine year veteran forward (most of the Blues forwards have played only two or three years), and he can score (though not very often). I doubt this trade is the one that puts us into the playoffs, but according to what my homeboy Takis tells me, KFNS 590 AM is reporting that the Blues are preparing to make a major acquisition before the trade deadline on Tuesday. I wonder what Pleau has up his sleeve.

As far as our recent gameplay is concerned I have mixed feelings. Games against Calgary and Edmonton are games that are a must win, and we didn't. Two teams hovering right around us in the standings and both searching for the playoffs. We should be taking 4 points out of those two games yet we only get one. On the other hand, since Mike Kitchen took over as coach, our defense has improved drastically, we've been playing with more emotion, we're finishing our checks, and our scoring chances are improving. Now we need to actually put the puck in the back of the net. It was also nice to see Khavanov get his first goal of the season last night on his first game back after injury.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 10:49 AM

For those of you who haven't heard about the newest controversy in the music business, you should take a look at this article. Then go visit this site for more info and to download the album if you wish. What I'm talking about here is the now infamous "Grey Album". Basically an experiment by DJ Dangermouse that was done simply as an "art project". He fused lyrics from the recent Jay-Z release, "The Black Album" with music loops and samples taken directly from the Beatles classic "The White Album". Hence the name. The album was completed and given out to several of Dangermouse's close friends and colleagues and within weeks was popping up on the net and gaining attention from music journalism outlets. As the media attention snowballed, EMI publishing (who owns the rights to The White Album) gained notice and served Dangermouse, as well as bootleg record stores and internet sites with "cease and desist" letters. But it was too late. Due to high critical praise and media coverage, the album spread like wildfire across the net and on file sharing networks and resulted in "Grey Tuesday" on February 24th where hundreds of websites posted the album for download in protest to EMI's bullish tactics and threats. There were over a million copies of the album downloaded in one day making Dangermouse technically the artist to "move" more records than anyone else that week. The problem here is that EMI isn't even after money, they just want to inhibit artist innovation, and that blows. This is just another prime example of the music industry taking aim with a shotgun at consumers but ending up shooting themselves in the toe. And they are running out of fucking toes.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 11:38 AM

Yesterday during the daytime hours, pretty much every cable station was running former Oscar winning movies to keep up with the theme of the day. I caught most of a pretty decent movie that I hadn't seen since I was a kid, Cocoon. I remembered it pretty well mostly because it was the first movie I saw as a kid with a bare ass in it. Whoo Hoo!! For those of you who have never seen the movie, it's basically about a group of aliens who come back to earth to rescue 20 of their friends now hibernating in cocoons off the coast of Florida. They store the Cocoons in an abandoned swimming pool which is discovered by members of a retirement community. The "life-force" given off by the Cocoons in the water turn the pool into a sort of "fountain of youth" and all the old people in the community start acting like young whipper-snappers again. It's pawned off as a heart-warming story about the human spirit, but if you ask me...... It's really about old people doin' it.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 11:11 AM

I was watching an episode of Bill Maher's new show "Real Time" this evening after the Oscars were over and they were discussing the topic of gay marriage. I know I've already shared my thoughts on this topic, but Sir Ian McKellen (who played Gandalf in the LOTR trilogy and is openly gay) referenced a quote from Thomas Jefferson that suited the topic well. I think it is a concept that can also be applied to many of the uber-conservative and traditionalist ideals that are currently holding our country back from any sort of real social progress. It is as follows:

"I am certainly not an advocate for frequent and untried changes in laws and constitutions. I think moderate imperfections had better be borne with; because, when once known, we accommodate ourselves to them, and find practical means of correcting their ill effects. But I know also, that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also, and keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy, as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors."

I'm sure without a doubt that you can see how this notion can be applied to many of the problems facing our country today. Specifically those views held by the extreme Christian Fundamentalist right wing. As a country we cannot, I repeat, CANNOT let moral concepts that were applied to a civilization thousands of years ago (or even decades for that matter) govern the laws of our contemporary society.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 2:06 AM

Why does it always have to rain the day after wash my damn car?

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 1:37 AM