While I was gone there were some interesting developments in the world of St. Louis sports. Apparently the night after the Blues were eliminated from the playoffs by the San Jose Sharks, Blues forward Mike Danton (actual name Mike Jefferson) was arrested on conspiracy to murder charges. He supposedly contacted a young female acquaintance and asked her to set up a hit on his agent / mentor / gay lover at his apartment in Brentwood. Fucking crazy. Too bad also, I thought Danton played really well for the note this year and he was one of my favorite new additions. More than a competent replacement for fan favorite Tyson Nash. I could care less if he's gay or not. But I certainly wouldn't want him shaking things up on the team if the charges indeed turn out to be true.

In other news, Leonard Little is in some hot water again with his third D.U.I. since joining the Rams. Geez, you'd think after you killed someone while driving drunk that you'd be a little more careful about drinking and driving. For Christ sake dude, you make a couple of million dollars a year!! Rent a fucking Cadillac Escalade limo and ride in style next time you want to get sauced. If he's convicted, as much as I hate to say it because he's a damn good player, no more football for him. It seems that Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post Dispatch agrees with me.

Speaking of football, the Rams released Kurt "don't hate me cause I love Jesus" Warner. It was really the only option they had. He cost too much and the shenanigans recently were only bringing the rest of the team down. He's a good guy and a damn fine quarterback (the hall of fame will take at least two more years of 1999 caliber performance though) but the team lost faith in him, and so did quite a few of the fans. I wish him the best. Only two things could possibly happen next year for Kurt. He'll either bust out of the gate and throw for 400 yard and 4 touchdowns a game like in 1999, or he'll get hurt again and toss up more interceptions than Tony Banks. This year will make or break his career.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 2:59 PM

After living through a year packed with the suicides and untimely deaths of some of my fellow high school alumni in 1997-98, it looks as though the Parkway South curse has claimed two more. What a shame.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 9:59 AM

Man, I just saw one of the coolest things I've seen in a long time at Quiktrip. A vending machine that rents you DVD's. Pop in a dollar and select from one of 10 new releases. Then, I assume the machine grabs a DVD off one of the ten spindles of disks (I can only assume the movies are pre-burned and not burned on the spot when you select the movie) and pops it out at you in a tray. Plop it in one of the cheap plastic jewel cases and it's yours to watch for three days. When you bring it back, just put it right back in the tray you got it from and hit the 'return movie' button. Put the cheap plastic jewel case back, and you're on your way. Ain't technology cool?!?!

UPDATE: Look here it is!

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 11:31 PM

COMING SOON TO "A Quarter Life Crisis".........

A day by day account of my entire Florida vacation. Maybe even with pictures!!!

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 11:20 PM

Well.......I'm back......(sigh)

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 11:33 AM

OK boys (and girls) ........ we're coming to Key West together. Imagine Bourbon Street on the beach crossed with a kick ass outdoor mall with less boobies and there you have Duvall St. Key West's prime party location. Streching the entire width of the island from Mallory Square on the north (which is where everyone watches the sunset) to the beaches on the south side of the isle, it's 2 miles of bars and cafes and shops where you are allowed to drink on the street and do pretty much anything you want. For as many cops as I've seen on this island, I've seen none on Duvall St. There's even a rooftop bar called the "Garden of Eden" where nudity is encouraged. Shweeeeet!!!!

BTW.... Karyn and I took a two hour Jet Ski tour around the entire island today and got to watch the sunset from the western edge of the island where we got to see the infamous "green flash" where the sun hits the water at the last moment before it goes down and sparks a greenish blue flash which is a direct result of the sunlight shining through the miles of ocean as it hits the horizon. Pretty fucking cool. Oh, and there's nothing quite as cool as going 60 mph on a jet ski while dodging sailboats and yachts in the post sunset dusk.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 1:41 AM

In case anyone was wondering why the hell I haven't posted in the last few days, it's because I've been in Florida enjoying a well deserved 11 day vacation. I meant to let everyone know that I was going to be leaving and that I won't be back in the Lou until the 26th, but I guess now you know. Anyway, right now I'm in Key West after a long all day drive down from Orlando. I'd write some more, but I'll save all the gory details for later on when I get home. For now I'm going to go take a walk on the beach. Have fun at work tomorrow everyone........hehehe!

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 12:41 AM

While I'm on the subject of sports, I might as well give my thoughts on the Cardinals first week and a half.

So far, piss poor. We're a fantastic 1-6 at home, our average team ERA is 6.70, and our high powered offense was held to just 9 runs in the past 3 games. Oddly enough, I was present at our only home win this year (13th row behind home plate, thanks to Nicko for the tickets) which was indeed a good time. And we did play extremely well on the road in AZ. Morris has a nice outing and the bats were alive. But that's the only stretch of games so far where we actually looked like the Cardinals are supposed to look this year. Granted it's only 10 games into the season but at this rate we're not even going to finish third in our division like we're expected to.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 12:02 PM

I don't really have the time to spend on writing extensively about the Blues today, but I feel it necessary to post at least a bit of commentary before I leave town, or before their season ends.

This playoff series is one we should win. Being down 3 games to 1 makes that almost impossible at this point, but hey, it happened to us last year. All things considered the series has been very even. The Sharks have only scored one more goal than us in the 4 games we've played so far (they have 9 we have 8). It's just that their goals have been more timely. They are kicking our ass on the powerplay, but that may be due to the fact they've had almost twice as many as we have. Osgood for the most part has been more than steady, and sometimes pretty damn phenomenal. We're hitting hard and we're getting scoring from unexpected players on multiple lines (Sillinger, Danton, Cheyanek, etc.).

We've got two major problems though. First off, we're getting hemmed in our own zone too much and for way too long. It's really hard to score when you play a whole period in your own zone and can't even chip the puck out. We look like pee-wee hockey players dancing around in front of Osgood with the puck in our skates. Start getting to the puck faster on "D" boys. Second problem is discipline. I know the refs have a thing for us and that they have made some horrible calls against us, and some non-calls on San Jose. But most teams can say the same thing. Officiating is bad around the whole NHL, but you can't blame them for three losses (but I will blame them for game 2). A bit more veteran discipline and we could stay out of the box for a while. Oh and another thing..... you have to start banging in those open net rebounds. No more missing the net when the goalie is sprawled out on the ice or on the other side of the crease. We've had way to many missed chances there.

We should have one game one, that was anyone's game to win. They just got the good break. Game two we did play well below par, but what do you expect when your team only gets 4 minutes a period where no one is in the box. None of the Sharks goals that game were even strength so who knows what would have happened had the ref's just let the boys play like men. Game three we dominated all around, no surprise we won. Game four was again anyone's game to win. We only lost by a goal and we put so much pressure on in the last 3 minutes or so of the game I thought Nabakov's head was going to explode.

I still feel confident that the Blues can pull this one off although its not likely. If not, I'm not that worried. We made the playoffs again which is all I expected from a team that lost two of it's best players for the entire season. It's not like we ever make it past the first round anyway. So for what it's worth..........GO BLUES!!!

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 11:35 AM

Check out this blog where the author devotes himself to the philosophical relationships contained within the Matrix movie trilogy. Especially check out these two links where the author compares Reloaded to the biblical story of Genesis and Revolutions to the quest for the Holy Grail and the Ascension of Christ. Pretty neat concepts.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 11:15 AM

Following Liam's lead, I too shall play along:

"Vocal contoured response rises gently starting at 2 kHz to pull vocals in the front of the mix, while a smooth low end boost adds fullness and body."

Since I'm in my office at work, I don't really have to many books of any literary value around. That's out of the B & H Professional Audio Source Book which is essentially a big catalogue. The passage is describing an AKG 3700 series vocal microphone.

Here are your instructions:

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 23.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.

I'm not quite sure what the point of this exercise is though.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 11:04 AM

Take a look at this story about a local boy dying of brain cancer and what his final wish was (or watch the video story here). A pretty touching story that I saw on KSDK Channel 5 before I headed out for the evening last Friday night. It even had me a bit choked up (OK, so I'm a big wuss).

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 12:17 AM

So I guess I'll tell you all about my weekend. I got hit by a drunk driver on the highway.... and then he ran. Obviously I'm OK seeing as how I'm actually sitting here typing. But the story is pretty interesting actually....

Sitting home bored to tears on Saturday night, I finally decide to head down to the Majestic at 12:30 AM. After two beers there I head over to the Rocket Bar (with Seth and Joe from the Magi) for last call. I down two more there and decide to call it a night, but not before a quick stop in at Del Taco. After the 3 AM bars let out on a Saturday night, Del Taco is to say the least full of drunken assholes in the drive thru line. After waiting about a half an hour for food and then scarfing it down in the parking lot, I hit the highway for a night of peaceful sleep.

So I jump on the on ramp to highway 40 at McCausland to find an older model Dodge Caravan doing a brisk 5 miles an hour and swerving like mad while attempting to merge on to the highway. So I finally get on the interstate, jump to the middle lane, and pull up next to the driver of the van just long enough to take a look at how drunk he was and give him a dirty "What the fuck asshole?" kind of look, and then I continue on my way.

Apparently the macho juice kicked in on this dude who was previously doing 10 MPH on the highway, cause now he's doing about 70 MPH and he's right on my ass. As I was approaching the always crowded (well at least crowded for 4 AM) Brentwood overpass, I noticed some cars merging on the highway in front of me. One of them quickly jumped two lanes of traffic and was instantly right in front of me (remember I'm in the middle of three lanes). So I hit my brakes to give myself some room between myself and the car in front of me. I guess the drunk dude tailing me in the van wasn't such a fan of using brakes. Rather than slowing down along with me, he attempted to pass me on the left without braking.

"WHAP!!"

I felt the jolt and knew instantly that the van had hit me although I didn't have any clue as to what extent the damage was. The driver of the van however, must either not have known he hit me or not cared that he did considering he continued on his merry way without even breaking pace. Keeping my wits about me I instantly dialed 911 on my cell and begin to slowly (and carefully) creep back up to the van (which was now straddling the dotted white line as if he couldn't choose a lane). By the time I had given the dispatcher the 20 second version of what happened and he put me through to the Richmond Heights PD, I was close enough to read the van's Illinois license plate number. Once I was sure they had his info completely correct, I did the right thing and gave up chase, pulling over to wait for the cops so I could fill out a police report.

I inspected the damage and found that he had actually clipped my rear quarterpanel and not actually rear-ended me like I thought originally. But in the dark corridor of highway 40 between McKnight and Clayton Rd, it was hard to really see much. Before the police arrived, I quickly threw an unopened 6-pack of beer that I had bought earlier that evening into the trunk so I could all together avoid any questions about my own sobriety (by this time, after only 4 beers which I had finished several hours ago, a nice belly full of Del Taco, and the adrenaline jolt from the accident, I was sober as a judge anyway). When the police arrived, we did the whole license and insurance dance and I then detailed exactly what happened to the officer while he inspected the damage to the vehicle. About halfway thorough the report I heard a call come over his radio that the suspect had been pulled over just off the highway on Ballas Rd. He told me to lock up my car and jump in his cruiser so that he could take me to identify the suspects vehicle.

While we were in the car on the way there, he asked me if I got a good look at the driver and I told him that indeed I did (thanks to my slowing down to mock his drunkenness). He looked to be of Hispanic descent and around my age with short black hair. When we arrived on the scene the details of my story started fitting together with the facts like a well played game of Tetris. My description of the car was dead on, (make, model, color, and even approximate year) and the driver was indeed Hispanic. If fact he was so Hispanic, all he had was a Mexican drivers license (oh yeah, it's getting better). He spoke no English, and had no social security number. There was no record of him as a resident of the state of Illinois or Missouri. Of course he had no proof of insurance either. To say the least, INS was notified soon after he was pulled over. The cops were discussing how "lit" he was as one officer put it. I overheard someone say that he blew a .2 something on the portable breathalizer test although I'm not too sure how accurate those are.

Creve Couer police (who nabbed him) then transferred the guy to the custody of the Richmond Heights police (where the accident occurred) and they hauled him in. I waited around for the tow truck with the other Richmond Heights cop who then drove me back to my car, about an hour and a half after the accident happened. What a fun night.

Case closed I say. I'll probably never get any compensation for the damage to my car, which after further inspection in the daylight and a good powerwashing at the car wash turned out to be nothing more than a slight dent and a series of horizontal paint marks and scratches. At least I wasn't hurt, or anyone else for that matter. After all how often do get to say you were involved in a hit and run accident on the highway at 4 AM caused by a drunken illegal Mexican immigrant?

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 11:20 PM

Ever wondered what it would be like if a giant asteroid hit the earth. There are so many variables that go into attempting to determine what would actually happen. Size and density of the rock, speed and angle with which it hits, distance you are from the impact, etc. Well, if you really ever have wondered, go check this out. A pretty neat (damn I'm a dork) little table where you enter all those variables and it will basically describe what the world around you would be like in the event of an asteroid hitting the earth.

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

Ok, I know I haven't posted in a while, I've been slammed at work and caught up preparing for vacation and watching Blues and Cards games on the tube. Not to mention going out almost every night. So I'm gonna do my best to knock out about a dozen posts before I head out of town on Friday morning. Here goes.....

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 10:02 PM

There are some in the baseball world that think Tony LaRussa is a top notch, guaranteed hall of fame, genius of a baseball coach. There are others, especially here in St. Louis, that disagree whole heartedly. I'm personally split on the decision. But Tony seems to have something up his sleeve that will set his fate in stone one way or another if his plan ever comes to fruition. It's doubtful that you've heard about it yet, seeing as they are keeping it on the down low. It is "The Shadow Cardinals". A group of about 25 ex-ball players (mostly ex-Cards) now pushing their mid 40's and 50's that have been under an intense physical rehab and training program in the middle of Manhattan, Kansas for the past several months. Throw in some yoga and meditation exercises and a strict diet program and you've got the makings of something suspicious. And we should be. According the article from the St. Louis Riverfront Times that I linked above, it's Tony's plan to supplant our current Cardinals roster with "The Shadow Cardinals" if we are in the playoff race near mid-season but still well out of first place. Sounds crazy right? The article could be a hoax seeing as how it was published March 31st, the day before April Fools. Yet among the baseball community, the rumor is gaining in validity. And given Tony's affinity for older veteran players, I wouldn't doubt that this is may really happen. A Google search for "Shadow Cardinals" will yield multiple results. Check it out and see for yourself. Some of LaRussa's toughest critics think this ploy may actually work.

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

This past weekend marked the official beginning to my spring. Tons of little highlights that remind me of spring occurred this weekend. For example, the Blues secured a playoff spot for the 25th season in a row (we'll be playing the San Jose Sharks in the first round) and they played their last regular season game of the year. Pete & Takis birthday was on Saturday, an event that is usually marked with tons of beer drinking with the boys at either a Blues or Cardinals game or both for that matter (this year unfortunately there were no home games going on). Also, late Saturday night, well really Sunday morning, we got to bump our clocks up an hour for the beginning of daylight savings time. I've missed that extra hour or so of sunlight. My grass seemed to grow about 4 inches over the weekend and now all the sudden mowing for the first time it is going to be a true chore. But I can't forget the biggest sign that spring has hit St. Louis. Opening day for the Cardinals.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 10:00 AM

Ahhh the Osbourne's..... Like father......like daughter.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 9:26 AM

Ten minutes till the final Blues home game of the season vs. Detroit. A win tonight and we can clinch a spot in the playoffs for the 25th year in a row. Beating Detroit at home would also be a huge lift going into our last two games of the year that would hopefully carry over into the playoffs. As Liam already said, they are indeed starting their backup goalie. Since Cujo is hurt and Legacy is their number one right now, their backup is Marc Lamothe a 30 year old 'tender who's only played 3 NHL games his whole career and has only a .863 save percentage. The crowd should be electric. FOX Sports net just played a highlight reel of all the Blues overtime goal wins this year (we lead the NHL in that department). I've got chills. Go Blues!!!

UPDATE: BLUES WIN!! BLUES WIN!! Oh wait..... April Fucking FOOLS!!!

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 6:56 PM

My brother just rented one of the best video games I've seen in a long time. The new James Bond game for P2, Xbox, or Gamecube entitled "Everything or Nothing" from EA games. It's pretty damn good. They hired a full cast of actors to do motion capture and voice acting for the game including Pierce Brosnan, John Cleese, Judi Dench, Shannon Elizabeth, Mya, Heidi Klum, Willem Dafoe, and even Richard Kiel (the original Jaws). The graphics and sound are phenomenal, about as real as you can get these days, and the control and the gameplay is tight and realistic. The game has some great features like "Bond sense" (a Matrix bullet-time like slowdown which helps you find game secrets), awesome gadgets courtesy of "Q", every vehicle imaginable (So far we've done car, motorcycle, helicopter, and train. All decked out with missiles and cloaking devices, etc). For pulling off really cool moves (like rappelling down a cliff and shooting all the guys coming down behind you, or shooting a steam pipe that blows and burns several of your enemies) you get bonuses called "Bond Moments", which are essentially moves that Bond would actually pull off in the movies. The game has extrordinary details like an interactive environment, intelligent enemies, realistic character movements, hand-to-hand combat when you are to close for guns that actually has you blocking, counter-attacking, and slamming guys faces into the wall or tossing them off a cliff instead of just knocking them out. I would definitely give it a rent and check it out for a few days. I think my bro is considering buying it. If you're interested in seeing more, check out some of the game video, video previews, or screenshots from the website.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 10:51 AM

Here's a strange story about how some teenagers used a webcam and VPN to catch an intruder in their house while they were away on vacation. The version of the article on AOL goes into more detail about what they did and how they caught him, but unfortunately I can't link you to that.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 9:35 AM