Major League Baseball's trade deadline is only 24 minutes away. Will the Cards be the same team tomorrow as they are today?

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 2:36 PM

Ok I'll join in the quiz fun:

1. WHAT COLOR ARE YOUR BEDROOM WALLS? They used to be a "Mountain Mist" a light grey color, but when I moved out and then came back home I returned to find them a dark blueish color.
2. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? I haven't read a book in a while. I'm thinking about getting back into reading philosophy though. Might pick up The DaVinci Code soon as well.
3. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? At work it's a blue Best Buy pad. At home, a black and gray Dell pad.
4. FAVORITE BOARD GAME? I'm pretty damn good at Trivial Pursuit, although I like Risk and those crazy word shouting games that the womenfolk always like to play as well.
5. FAVORITE MAGAZINE? Hmm... Maxim is pretty entertaining, but I'll have to say Rolling Stone (eventhough they've been heading downhill lately, and I'll never forgive them for the 100 Greatest Guitarists issue.)
6. FAVORITE SMELL? Spring, Fall, coffee brewing, the distant smell of barbeque, women.
7. FAVORITE COLOR? Blue (unless you count Black as an actual color).
8. LEAST FAVORITE COLOR? Orange.
9. HOW MANY RINGS BEFORE YOUR ANSWERING MACHINE PICKS UP? 4
10. MOST IMPORTANT MATERIAL THING IN MY LIFE? My computer & my guitar.
11. FAVORITE FLAVOR OF ICE CREAM? I agree Chris, Ben and Jerry's Phish Food
12. DO YOU BREAK THE SPEED LIMIT DAILY? Only on highways, but often and extreme.
13. DO YOU HAVE A STUFFED ANIMAL IN YOUR ROOM SOMEWHERE? Not readily visible, but theres one or two in there somewhere.
14. STORMS - COOL OR SCARY? Very cool.
15. FAVORITE DRINK? Fransaskaner(sp?) Hefewiesen, one of the world's finest beers. Other than that, Cherry Kool-Aid, Red Bull (don't ask why), and QuikTrip (or Starbucks) French Vanilla Cappucinos.
16. WHEN IS YOUR BIRTHDAY? October 7
17. FAVORITE VEGETABLES? Lettuce, green beans, corn.
18. IF YOU COULD HAVE ANY JOB, WHAT WOULD IT BE? Rock Star, duh.
19. IF YOU COULD HAVE ANY COLOR HAIR, WHAT WOULD IT BE? Jet Black (but only if I had green eyes)
20. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN LOVE? Yes
21. TOP THREE FAVORITE MOVIES (IN ORDER)? These are constantly changing. Off the top of my melon I'd have to say.. Indian Jones and the Last Crusade, Lord of the Rings:The Return of the King, and Almost Famous. They'll all be different on any given day though.
22. DO YOU TYPE WITH YOUR FINGERS ON THE RIGHT KEYS? Always, unless one of my hands is busy doing something else.....(AWT!!!)
23. WHAT'S UNDER YOUR BED? Three guitars and my guitar amp, all my winter clothes in rolling storage bins, a box of books, my dumbells, and I can't remember the rest. I'm not at home right now.
24. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE NUMBER? 7
25. FAVORITE SPORT TO WATCH ON TV & IN PERSON? Can't decide between baseball and hockey.
26. WHAT IS YOUR SINGLE BIGGEST FEAR? Dying alone and unloved.
27. FAVORITE CD OF ALL TIME & RIGHT NOW? HA!! You're kidding right. That's almost impossible for me to answer, but I'll take a stab. ALL TIME: Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd. RIGHT NOW: Now Here is Nowhere - The Secret Machines.
28. FAVORITE TV SHOW OF ALL TIME & RIGHT NOW? Uhhh.... ALL TIME: I suppose Friends. RIGHT NOW: South Park or The Daily Show or Family Guy.
29. HAMBURGERS OR HOT DOGS? Hamburgers
30. THE COOLEST PLACES YOU'VE EVER BEEN? Watching the sunset from a Jetski on the ocean in Key West. Sleeping out under the stars at about 14,000 ft above sea level in the mountains of New Mexico.
31. WHAT WALLPAPER AND/OR SCREENSAVER IS ON YOUR COMPUTER RIGHT NOW? Both at work and at home I have some cool computer graphics wallpapers from Digital Blasphemey. Home I have mushrooms and work I have sea anemones.
32. DOES MCDONALD'S SKIMP ON YOUR FRIES & DO YOU CARE? Don't notice.
33. FAVORITE CHAIN RESTAURANT(s)? Right now it's Chevy's and the Macaroni Grill
34. IF YOU HAVE A BOY (OR HAVE ANOTHER BOY) WHAT WOULD YOU NAME HIM? Haven't really thought that far ahead. I kinda like Colin, Logan, Gabriel, Jayden, Aidan, and Sebastian. None of which really go that well with my last name because they all end in "N" (except Gabriel).
35. IF YOU COULD LEARN TO PLAY ONE INSTRUMENT OVERNIGHT, WHAT WOULD IT BE? Piano

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 5:11 PM

Speaking of fast food... I've been eating the hell out of it lately. I probably went for a stretch of two solid years where I only ate fast food once a month or so. Of course oddly enough that was the two year stretch where I was eating so healthy I gained 30 pounds. As of late though, I've been hitting the drive-thru at least 5 times a week. I keep telling myself I'm going to start some sort of a diet soon and start hitting the gym as well. I've had too busy a schedule to really get anything going though. Maybe I'm just subconsciously getting my fast food fix now before it's too late.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 9:20 PM

I've been addicted to jalepeno poppers lately. Fair warning to everyone out there; do not eat them after drinking serious amounts of beer and then hit the hay. Makes for a seriously uncomfortable morning.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 8:47 PM

New rule:  Chicks aren't allowed to be cold in July.  68 degrees and breezy in July is not cold, it's what I'd call perfect weather, and a true Godsend amidst this blazing heat and humidity we've been having.  If we call 68 degrees in November warm and run around in shorts and T-shirts,  then in July we certainly can't be calling that same weather cold.  Sorry girls, not trying to offend, but I'd give anything to have days like this all summer.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 12:46 PM

I missed it by a whole day, but following Liam's lead, here's my Friday questions answered:

1) What moment from what movie still makes you laugh out loud - no matter how many times you see it?

The scene in Half Baked where Kenny (Harland Williams) is petting the police officer's horse outside the convieneince store.  He says to the horse while holding a large bag snack of foods in his arms "Are you hungry girl?".  Less than a half second later, a previously unnoticed and very obese black woman turns around and replies "Fuck you nigga!".  I laughed so hard I couldn't breath the first time I saw that. 

2) What moment from what movie still makes you cry like a baby - no matter how many times you see it?

I'm kind of a little bitch (for an adult male) when it comes to really touching and emotional stories, so there's probably quite a few.  But the one that's guaranteed to get me choked up every time is Rudy.  I've probably seen it well over 10 times in my life and I just can't help myself during the last 15 minutes or so of that movie.  That one kind of hits home for me.

3) What moment from what movie made you actually turn your head from the screen - either in fear, revulsion, or contempt for the fact that you actually paid money to see the film?
 
I'm easily entertained by movies and thus not very critical of them.  So there's only a handful of movies that I've ever been so disappointed in I felt like it was a waste of money and I can't remember any of them right now.  But there was a scene in Saving Private Ryan, the Normandy Beach sequence specifically, that was so realistically violent I had to leave the theater.  I'm not easily grossed out by slasher flick type gore or people getting their heads bitten off by Aliens, but truly realistic violence is a tough pill for me to swallow.  Especially since this stuff truly happened and we were sitting in the front row of the theater.  I had to leave for a few minutes and go splash some water on my face. 

BONUS) What is one single moment from a film that is indelibly etched in your brain? Not a scene or a sequence exactly, but three or four seconds from a movie that contain an image or phrase or concept that transcends normal movies?

I know there are several of these types of moments for me, but since I just mentioned this movie, I would have to say a line delivered by Tom Hanks character to (Capt. John Miller) as he is about to die in Saving Private Ryan.  He says to Private Jack Ryan two simple words..... "Earn this."  Powerful stuff right there. 

Five Movies I Not Only Own, But Watch Regularly, Which I Shouldn't Admit To But I'm Braver Than You So I Will
 
Like Liam I too own and watch The Princess Bride but am not at all ashamed of it.  I have a couple of Disney flicks that I certainly won't brag about owning.  I've watched a bunch of movies on cable that I really enjoyed and I'll admit are a bit embarrassing to reveal.  One that sticks out is called Where the Heart Is.  Another that I rented on video a while back is a chick flick called Sliding Doors, but is probably one of the best romantic "watch it with your girlfriend" type of movies out there.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 11:14 AM

Now this is some crazy shit!!  Is that for real??

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 7:42 PM

Stephen Hawking announced that he is reversing his theory on Black Holes today.  He stated that Black Holes actually do emit some particles back into space as they slowly disintegrate, rather than his previous theory which held that Black Holes never die and do not allow any matter (including light) to escape.  This is an important day for physics, as it allows scientists to draw more conclusions about the relationship of Black Holes,.... and Pete's anus.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 7:20 PM

How sweet it is!!!

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 6:06 PM

I've got three words for Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano..... "F@CK YOU PU$$Y!"

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 3:21 AM

In case anyone is interested, Cardinals centerfielder Jim Edmonds made what some people in baseball are calling "the greatest catch they have ever seen".  For those of you who missed it or saw it and would like to see it again.... here it is (scroll down to middle of page and click one of the video links that say "Edmonds steals a homer").

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 12:10 PM

Well, my first Ebay experiment was a failure. After 800 page views and over 20 people putting the item on their "watch list", I ended up with no bids over the course of the 10 day auction. I've decided to relist the item after revising the item description a bit, added a shipping calculator feature, and lowered the price a few hundred bucks. This of course is going to pretty much all but eliminate my profit margin, but hopefully it will spur some bidding. I'm guessing this particular item may be just a bit too expensive to purchase online unless you know you are familiar with all the terminology (like myself). But I'm willing to give this particular one more try and if this doesn't work out, I'll move to an item that is less expensive.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 7:07 PM

After an unusually mild May and June, the sweltering St. Louis summertime weather finally arrived this weekend. Temps in the mid 90's and humidity hovering between 80% - 100% caused the heat index to top out around 109 and made for one sweaty weekend, especially since I was wearing a suit most of the time. Note to self: Purchase light colored linen suit for summertime weddings. I may come off looking like Puff Daddy but at least I won't smell like a barnyard animal by the time the reception rolls around. And the old "bag o' baby makers" will thank me too.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 4:48 PM

So apparently there's at least three kids in the USA named "Espn". As in the Entertainment and Sports Programing Network. I suppose it's pronounced "S-pen" kind of like "Aspen" but with an "e" instead of a "a". As part of ESPN's "season of the fan" they'll be doing a special on the kids later this summer.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 9:47 AM

Randy Johnson may be wearing pinstripes sooner than we thought.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 9:40 AM

Sports Illustrated ran a really nice article on Scott Rolen this week. Pick up a copy if you are at the news stand. It's worth a read.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 9:24 PM

Trading places? I'm talking about Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. Christina, who recently went through a crazy spell that converted her from a cute teenager into a trashy, "dirrty", skank-ho that was dressing pretty ghetto, only dated men with "flava" and was hanging out with Lil' Kim, has cleaned up her act a bit. Check out these photos for proof (click on the picture to scroll to the next photo). Looking a bit classier (although still kind of weird).

Britney on the other hand continues her downhill slide into the pool of "former child star waste" as is evident by her recent shotgun Vegas weddings, obsessive drinking and smoking, and a broken leg on a video shoot that forced her to cancel her massively overbudget tour. Add to this her recent weight gain, psychological and emotional problems, and now the announcement of a new engagement to one of her backup dancers (JLo part dux?) and she's racing down that path even quicker now. She's starting to look somewhat "crack-whoreish". Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out Brit.

Thanks to A Twenty Something Life for the scoop.

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

On another Hoosier music related note... Anyone hear about how Kenny Rodgers has been booked to play Fair St. Louis twice in the past three years and both nights have been rained out. He got to take home a million bucks a pop just to show up. Not bad for a nights work (or lack thereof).

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

As much as I love Anheuser-Busch products and even their advertising campaigns (see: "Real Men of Genius, Whazzaaup, Frogs, etc.), I hate them for one reason. They have completely ruined the song "Simple Man" by Lynyrd Skynyrd for me for the rest of my life. I used to like that song, especially when I was just a wee lad starting out my passion for Rock & Roll. But anyone who watches (or listens to) sports is bombarded every other commercial break by a Busch beer add containing that song. Certainly here in St. Louis at least. Now, once or twice a game I could understand. But every inning is pretty ridiculous. Come on guys, I know your target Busch beer market are Skynyrd fans but please, how bout some Alabama or Charlie Daniels Band?

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 7:50 PM

Prongs, Backman, and several other of the big name Blues have been given qualifying offers, retaining their free agent rights which basically says they're going to be on the team. The Blues have already signed Khavanov and Drake among others and today resigned one of last years late additions, Eric Weinrich.

Already on the outs as I mentioned earlier is Demitra. Now unfortunately close behind is Scott Mellanby. Fox Sports reported that after private discussions with Blues GM Larry Pleau, Mellanby has begun talks with his old team the Florida Panthers.

Two other hockey notes....

Senators sign "The Dominator"

&

Quenville to Coach the Av's

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 10:37 PM

What can you expect from the people that brought you Girls Gone Wild? Wasn't this the next logical step (unfortunately)? They swear it's marketed towards women (I read the "blurb" about it in Entertainment Weekly). I'm not buying it. To steal an anecdote from The Simpsons, "Gaytown, population this video."

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 10:16 PM

A big congrats to the Cardinals for again having the most starters named to the National League All-Star team. Scott Rolen at third base, Albert Pujols at first base, and Edgar Renteria as shortstop. Too bad we won't get to see the likes of Chris Carpenter and Jimmy Edmonds as bench players who were not selected by the National League managerial representative Jack McKeon. Carpenter got listed as ESPN's biggest all star snub for a pitcher in the NL this year.

A second congrats to Scotty Rolen for becoming the first third baseman in 24 years to hit 80 RBI's in 80 games. The last to do it was George Brett of the Kansas City Royals.

Also in other sports news, Liam had already said that the Blues acquired goalie Patrick Lalime in a draft day trade, and now "the Note" looks like it may be cutting some serious payroll. Demitria is already gone, and now looks like Pronger or some other big name (maybe Doug Weight) could be on his way out as well. Rumors are abound that the "Golden One" could be coming back to the Blues to finish his career here (look near the bottom of the article), but that certainly would be sending some mixed signals. Either keep the team together and make one last push for the cup with the current/improved team, or cut salary and rebuild. You can't do both.

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

Well last night sucked. Storms galore smashed their way into St. Louis last night, and for once at my house we took the brunt of it. In fact the news reports were continuously mentioning the intersection near my house as a point of some of the severest weather. Massive hail, flooding rains, 70 mph winds, and some of the worst lighting I've seen coupled with our loss of power at about 8:30 pm made for an interesting evening. I know for a fact there's about 5 large branches down in my back yard right now. I'm sure the gutters are a mess too. At least I made it to Karyn's during a break in the action so I could at least take a shower and get some relatively peaceful sleep. Of course on the way there I had my closest encounter with lighting ever driving past "Tower Tee" golf course which is named for the three massive radio towers that surround the course. I had a feeling that driving anywhere near them in a lighting storm was gonna be a bad idea, and I was right. A massive bolt hit the tower second farthest from me, jolting my car, temporarily blinding me, and causing an air disturbance so loud, it sounded like someone just shot my head out of a cannon. My vision was still blurry for several minutes after the initial strike and I had a nice ringing in my ears for a little while, but now all is well. There's still around 200,000 people in the metro area without power which doesn't surprise me after seeing how many homes and businesses were dark last night. Almost every stoplight I hit was dead. What a fun night.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 9:49 AM

Went to the batting cages with Karyn this week on Thursday. It was the first time I'd swung a baseball bat at something that was actually being pitched at me in about a decade. I had 6 tokens, each token getting me 14 pitches. I started off in the softball cages (of which they had 3: high arc, medium arc, and low arc) and tried each cage once. I hit almost every ball in each cage as a perfect solid line drive. Great contact, each would have been a perfectly placed basehit. So I knew my mechanics were still there, otherwise I would have been hitting tons of ground balls and popups. Then I decided to try the baseball cages with my remaining three tokens. They had 6 baseball cages (35 mph, 40, 50, 60, 75, and 80 mph). Since all the slowest were full of young'uns , I stepped into the 60 mph cage which I was sure I could hit. At first I looked a fool whiffing at the first several, but I soon found my timing and started hitting them. The last few may have even gone for home run distance in a small ballpark (had they been allowed to travel that far). So I confidently stepped into the 75 mph cage. Big mistake. I think I might have made contact with 4 of the balls and only one of those traveled forward. Pretty embarrassing, especially since the 14 year old kid behind me stepped in and hit at least 5. Oh well, I had a good excuse not having swung a bat for so long. My hands are now blistered as hell, and my whole body hurts like a mo-fo (ask the L-Train about his similar experiences). Hopefully with a couple more trips, my soreness will start to subside and my blisters will callus up. By then I should be smacking liners in the 80 mph cages. Next step.... spring training 2005!!

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 10:42 PM

I couldn't wait to get home after camping last weekend and post about how badass the Cardinals were looking after sweeping the Royals and going for something like 12 wins in their last 14 games. I'm glad I didn't though after the pitiful three game sweep the next week by the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates. A truly horrible series. Our pitching was fine for the most part (we only allowed 9 runs in 3 games) and Jeff Suppan was 7 outs from throwing a no hitter in game 1. But our offense and defense was the worst I've seen it since the first series of the year against the Brewers.

Hopefully we're getting back on track now after taking the first 2 of 3 so far this weekend against the Mariners. We've knocked in 19 runs already yet have only allowed 3. Not too shabby. Sure would be nice to go into the all star break 20 games above the .500 mark.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 10:33 PM

OK, so my 'puter at home is just about back the way I had it (with the exception that now it kicks more ass) and I guess I'll try to get back on the blogger trail.

The float trip was awesome as always this year (although delaying it until late June proved not to matter much) and we all had great drunken fun for 36 hours or so. The weather was perfect (not really for swimming but just for being outdoors) and with the exception of a spot of rain early Saturday morning, it was bright and sunny all weekend. Friday night was complete debauchery with Keith, Laura, and a certain other fellow camper all drinking a bit too much thusly loosing their liquid dinner. Not to mention Lindsay picking up Mr. Black/Jew (no racial offense there, just a strange combination) Universe, the man they call Zebulon. For the most part he was an allright dude, except for his extreme vanity and narcissism. I swore if he said one more word about how he had 0% body fat (which is impossible) I would have taken my whiffle ball bat to his 'superiorly lean' melon. Big props to Cassandra for breaking out the Mahi-Mahi later in the evening and letting me grill some of those fishies up. Tasty stuff.

The actual float itself was much nicer than past years since it wasn't raining and the sun was shining nice and bright. I thought the river wouldn't be so crowded since it wasn't a holiday weekend like in past years, but boy was I wrong. The first two hours or so of the float were like a scene from party cove at the Lake of the Ozarks (to an extent). It was even tough to navigate the raft through some of the areas where tons of people were docking their boats and partying on the beach. But after lunchtime it was nice and relaxing. I took what seemed like a pretty harmless fall out of the back of the raft and into the water while attempting to save a jello shot, but I ended up swallowing about a pint of river water and getting half of my body trapped under the boat. Not to mention that when I popped back up the raft was less than two feet from slamming into a tree along the shore. But hey, I saved the shot (although no one ever did drink that one). I took another pretty mean spill trying to pull the weight of two rafts, three coolers, and eight people through a low part of the river. Right on to my ass. Smashed some fingers with my paddle in the process as well (they still hurt).

After the float, got to relax in the hammock for a bit and then slapped some meat on the grill and started drinking again. Made the best fire I've made since probably Boy Scouts, as it was roaring hot and gave off plenty of light. Saturday nights are always rough after a float cause everyone wants to sleep at different times. Some people nap for a few hours right after the float, others stay up and just pass out early that evening. I of course, did neither (with the exception of my 20 min hammock nap).

Everyone busted out pretty early on Sunday morning which was unfortunate and very unlike years past. I would have much liked to have tossed around the 'bee or smacked some softballs. But at least the drive back was nice. And I made it back in time for the Cards game.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 4:12 PM