MLB Predctions…

It is that time of the year again, time to pick my selections for the MLB season…Here we go…

 

AL East

Boston Red Sox
Tampa Bay Rays
New York Yankees
Baltimore Orioles
Toronto Blue Jays

AL Central

Chicago White Sox
Minnesota Twins
Cleveland Indians
Detroit Tigers
Kansas City Royals

AL West
Oakland Athletics
Texas Rangers
Seattle Mariners
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

 

NL East

Florida Marlins
New York Mets
Philadelphia Phillies
Atlanta Braves
Washington Nationals

NL Central

Chicago Cubs
St. Louis Cardinals
Houston Astros
Cincinnati Reds
Pittsburgh Pirates
Milwaukee Brewers

NL West

Los Angeles Dodgers
San Francisco Giants
Arizona Diamondbacks
Colorado Rockies
San Diego Padres

 

Playoffs

Boston Red Sox over Chicago White Sox 3-1
Oakland A's over Tampa Bay Rays 3-0

Cubs over Mets 3-2
Dodgers over Marlins 3-1

Red Sox over A's 4-3
Cubs over Dodgers 4-2

WORLD SERIES

Cubs over Red Sox 4-2

 

AL MVP Evan Longoria-TB
NL MVP Hanley Ramirez-FLA
AL CY Zach Greinke-KC
NL CY Tim Lincecum-SF
AL ROY Matt Wieters-BAL
NL ROY Cameron Maybin-FLA
AL MANAGER Bob Geren-OAK
NL MANAGER Joe Torre-LA

It has been forever…

What's up. It's been forever. I finally synced my Microsoft Word to Blogger again. Which is cool. I am trying to be more tech savvy again. Me and Rach moved out. Sometimes I put pictures up. I may put them up on Facebook, so look there. The place is nice. It is about a thousand square feet which is more than enough. Basically, at first, I was going to move out by myself into a small apartment, but me and Rach did it together. It has been different but it was by far the right decision. In some regards, we are still getting used to it.

The four places I looked at were all different. The first was very small, probably 400 sq feet if that. It was literally two small rooms and a bathroom. The second place was a lot like the place we moved into just not as nice. This was the third place. It was the most but the nicest. It has a decent sized living room and kitchen on the main floor with a pantry, storage area and bathroom. Upstairs are two bedrooms, one small and one large.

I got a fishtank recently. A ladybug flew into the tank and now all the fish are like pre-dead. If they die I may just quit. I do not have the will to keep buying fish to replace the dead ones like I used to.

 

I will write more later but I want to see if this one will even publish.

 

-Jake

One of those weeks…

Yeah I know I ended my last blog mid-thought.

Here is my 2/3rds baseball awards…

AL MVP: Josh Hamilton-Texas. This guy has made Texas a team that matters (a little bit) again. He has put up monster numbers and if they only had some pitching, they would be a wild card contender.

AL Manager of the Year: Joe Maddon-Tampa Bay. Nobody gets more crap than Maddon. The guy is fantastic and done what even Pinella couldn't do. He has turned Tampa into a legit title contender. It is a shame every season an MLB game comes out, he is the lowest ranked manager. The guy is in the top third of managers in the league.

AL Rookie of the Year: Who cares? All the rookies suck in the AL.

AL Cy Young: Francisco Rodriguez-Anaheim. I have a hard time giving it to anyone else. The guy has put up fantastic numbers and deserves this award.

NL MVP: Chase Utley-Philadelphia. This award is the most likely to change. The problem is that nobody on Chicago has shown up enough to merit winning this award over each other. I give it to Utley because the guy is putting up a solid season in every category.

NL Cy Young: Carlos Zambrano-Chicago. Over the long haul, nobody has done more for this team than Zambrano. He barely beats out Dempster, Sheets, Sabathia, and Webb.

NL Rookie of the Year: Geovanny Soto-Chicago. I am surprised Geo hasn't gotten more of a buzz. The guy is the best positional rookie in baseball since Ichiro in 01. There aren't a ton of fantastic catchers out there but he is the best in baseball.

NL Manager of the Year: Lou Pinella-Chicago. If I had a vote last year, I would have closely voted for Bob Melvin over Lou but not this year. Pinella has given the Cubs one of their best seasons in history SO FAR and deserves this award for all he has done over the last two seasons.

 

So I finally got all the stuff I bid on on ebay which included…

1 Hdmi switch $13

1 laptop cable to replace the one it came with, the one that broke, the second one that broke and the one that got lost in the mail. $30

2 Hdmi cables $8

1 1gb microsd card $6

1 2gb sd card $11

1 wiimote charging dock $13

1 wii hd cable $5

1 copy of Mario Kart $50

So it only came out to $136 for a lot of stuff I have been wanting for a long time.

I sold my PSP and Xbox 360. The lady who got the PSP loved it and said it was in great condition and is nice. The guy who bought the 360 threw a fit and said it was an old 360 even though it isn't. He bitched about like ten different things…

He says the Xbox 360 is an older model that will have red ring trouble and he checked the back of the unit to see its creation date: I got the 360 in February and was mad that it wasn't my old unit. I thought it was new and if he wanted to check the date on the back, he could have gotten me to do it. Plus he said it didn't have an HDMI cable input and he can tell it is old because of that, but some xbox units still don't have that.

He said I shipped it cheaply: I bought a 5 dollar box, tape, packing wrap and paid 23 dollars for parcel post. I am not going to apologize for charging $45 bucks to ship something I charged $30 to ship.

He said I lied to get the price up: Yeah, I lied about the unit and that is why everyone bidding against him asked questions he was too lazy to ask and knew everything there was to know about the unit.

It is shit like this that keeps me from ever selling stuff again.

I absolutely can not wait for Madden. It is a shame I got Mario Kart so close to this time. Madden is an amazing game. I especially enjoy franchise mode.

I hope my interview goes well. I am losing all hope on Michigan City. I may be deleting my blog and changing the name so employers can not find it.

I really don't wanna work tomorrow and Monday. It sucks. Bob is coming over tonight (for Steph's bday) and tomorrow for Mario Kart. Should be amazing.

Jake's NFL Preview

NFC East

Dallas Cowboys 12-4

New York Giants 10-6

Washington Redskins 8-8

Philadelphia Eagles 7-9

NFC North

Minnesota Vikings 10-6

Detroit Tigers 8-8

Green Bay Packers 6-10

Chicago Bears 3-13

NFC South

New Orleans Saints 10-6

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 8-8

Carolina Panthers 7-9

Atlanta Falcons 3-13

NFC West

Seattle Seahawks 9-7

Arizona Cardinals 7-9

St. Louis Rams 6-10

San Francisco 49ers 6-10

 

AFC East

New England Patriots 11-5

New York Jets 9-7

Miami Dolphins 5-11

Buffalo Bills 4-12

AFC North

Pittsburgh Steelers 11-5

Cleveland Browns 10-6

Cincinnati Bengals 6-10

Baltimore Ravens 5-11

AFC South

Indianapolis Colts 12-4

Jacksonville Jaguars 12-4

Houston Texans 9-7

Tennessee Titans 5-11

AFC West

San Diego Chargers 14-2

Denver Broncos 6-10

Oakland Raiders 6-10

Kansas City Chiefs 4-12

 

NFL PLAYOFFS

Giants over Seahawks

Saints over Buccaneers

Jaguars over Steelers

Browns over Patriots

2^nd Round

Saints over Vikings

Cowboys over Giants

Jaguars over Colts

Chargers over Browns

Conference Championships

Cowboys over Saints

Chargers over Jaguars

SUPER BOWL XLIII

Cowboys over Chargers

 

There ya go

GC

I recently wrote a blog entry I lost titled "theatres" where I listed how my favorite theatres as a kid are now almost all gone and replaced with Kerasotes or Cinemark or Regal "big box" theatres. The main gist of the article was to revolve around the County Seat theatre in Valpo. It basically had three incarnations. The first was the General Cinema era from my childhood until like Freshman year in high school. The second was the AMC era from Freshman year until maybe Senior year. The last was the Village era from Freshman college to first Senior year. I miss that theatre so much. Unlike all other theatres, the County Seat had kind of a comfortable feel to it. I probably went to a hundred if not more movies there. I may list them. I'll miss some. I remember going there for the whole movie camp stuff and even in college. It kept its kind of ambiance up until Village took it over. I think that is when it lost its magic. I loved that place. You knew you weren't getting stadium seating or rocking seats, but it didn't matter. I also remember the old design to the place, it's dark lobby with the light draining in from the all windows front, the ticket counter outside. Inside, three large poster holders on each side. Usually, there was some big advertisement for some upcoming blockbuster that always looked amazing like Volcano or Super Mario Brothers. I guess, as an adult, I'd gladly trade comfort for the cramped feeling of the good old County Seat General Cinema…

 

Movies I am sure I saw at GC:

 

American Pie 2 (w/Bob and Joe)

American Wedding (w/Rachel)

Armageddon (w/Mom)

Big Daddy (w/Mom and Brother)

Bowfinger (w/Cody)

The Brady Bunch Movie (w/Mom)

Cast Away (w/Bob)

Cats and Dogs (w/ Rachel)

Collateral (w/Rachel)

Coyote Ugly (w/ Rachel H, Celina M. and Bob)

Dick Tracy (w/ Dad)

Dodgeball (w/Rachel)

Domestic Disturbance (w/ Rachel, Jenny and Jesus)

E.T. (w/ Casha, Lindsey, Melissa and Hannah)

Elf (w/Rachel)

The Exorcist (w/Bob and Tyler)

The Fast and the Furious (w/Rachel, Bob, and Casha)

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (w/Bob, Joe and Casha)

The Flintstones (w/Dad and Jordan)

Hannibal (w/ Bob and Tyler)

Hook (w/parents)

The Hulk (w/ Rachel)

I, Robot (w/Rachel)

Jerry McGuire (w/Mom and Aunt Patty)

Jurassic Park (w/Mom)

Jurassic Park 3 (w/Rachel)

Kill Bill 1 (w/Rachel)

Kill Bill 2 (w/Rachel)

K-PAX (w/Mom, Dad and Jordan)

The Lion King (w/Mom, Jordan and Mom's friend and her kids)

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (w/Rachel)

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (w/ Rachel)

Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (w/ Rachel)

The Matrix (w/Mom)

The Matrix Revolutions (w/Bob and Jordan)

Mean Girls (w/Rachel)

Meet the Parents (attempted (w/Bob))

Meet the Fockers (w/Rachel and Parents)

Men in Black (w/Ryan and Mom)

Michael (w/Mom and Aunt Patty)

Minority Report (w/Rachel)

Missions to Mars (w/ Dad and Jordan)

Monsters Inc. (w/Rachel)

Mr. And Mrs. Smith (w/Rachel and Jordan)

The Mummy 2 (w/ Rachel)

Not Another Teen Movie (w/ Joe and Bob)

Ocean's 11 (w/Rachel, Jessica and Bob)

Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? (w/Mom)

The Passion of the Christ (w/Mom, Dad, and Jordan)

Phenomenon (w/Mom)

Pirates of the Carribean: Curse of the Black Pearl (w/Rachel)

Planet of the Apes (w/Mom, Dad, Jordan and Bob)

The Ring 2 (w/Rachel)

Rock A Doodle (w/Mom and Brother)

Scooby Doo (w/ Rachel, Stef, Scareah, and Jessica)

Scream 3 (w/Mom)

Serendipity (w/ Rachel)

She's All That (twice) (w/Ellen once and Amber once)

Shrek 2 (w/ Rachel)

Sin City (w/Rachel)

The Sixth Sense (w/Mom)

Spider-Man (w/Rachel)

Spider-Man 2 (w/Rachel)

Star Trek: Generations (w/Dad)

Star Trek: First Contact (w/Mom)

Star Wars: Episode 1: The Phantom Menace (w/Parents and Jordan)

Star Wars: Episode 2: Attack of the Clones (twice) (once w/Bob , Joe and Jordan and once w/Mom and Jordan)

Star Wars: Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith (w/Bob and Rachel)

Super Mario Brothers (w/Dad)

Superstar (twice once with Ellen, Brent and others and once with Corey and Lexie)

Summer Catch (w/Rachel)

Talladega Nights (w/Rachel, Mom, Grandma and cousin)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 (w/ Mom and Dad)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3 (w/ Mom, Dad, Brother and Shawn)

Ten Things I Hate About You (w/Ellen)

Toy Story (w/Dad and Jordan)

Twister (w/ Dad)

Wedding Crashers (w/Rachel)

The Wedding Planner (w/some girl)

What Lies Beneath (w/ Rachel H., Celina M. and Bob)

What's the Worst that Could Happen? (w/Ellen)

The Village (w/Dad, Rachel, Jordan, and cousins)

Volcano (w/Aunt Patty and Jordan)

X-Men 3 (w/Dad)

 

Others: The movie where Danny Devito and Martin Lawrence keep stealing each other's stuff (w/Rachel)

 

 

 

If I have missed any, comment me them and I'll amend the list if necessary. I know I am missing tens of movies.

 

 

The other thing I miss about this theatre was the whole layout in general. Two sides to the theatre. Each side had a movie straight ahead and two on the side. Office in the back between the bathrooms.

Blog stuff

So here I am again. Haven't written in a few days. Me, Rach, Bob and Stef went to a Cubs game on Thursday. It was a lot of fun. We sat in the bleachers. I had a little too much to sip on and got sick. The fact is that the Gel's hot wings did some damage too as always.

 

I am starving. I won't have a lunch break time until 2:30 or so. I'd do anything to get out of here and have something to munch on. Bob is coming over at 7:30 tonight. That should be fun. We have the home run derby on. I am not a big fan of the participants. I am glad no Cubs are doing it because it messes up people's swings.

 

Tomorrow I am going to have a day to myself. I need to mail off a couple of items including a rebate. I am going to go to the gym and have a nice lunch. I have the house to myself. At night is the All Star Game. I can't wait to see it considering all of the Cubs involved.

 

Wednesday I work all day again. I am going to go home and sleep after work. It should be an easy day for me.

 

Thursday I have a half day and then go to Rach's. I plan on sleeping during the afternoon and going out to eat around 8 or so. We will then go up to the theatre and see the midnight showing of the Dark Knight. It should be awesome.

 

Friday I am having another Jake day. I think that at 3:30, I am going to go see Dark Knight again with my Dad.

 

I need to send my Cubs 8x10 off to Jim Hickman. He played for the Cubs in the latter part of the 60's and early 70's. He was an All-Star for the Cubs in 1970. He also played for the Mets.

 

After him is George Altman. He is a former negro leaguer who was a Cub in both the early and late 60's. He was also a Cardinal.

 

After him will probably be Ron Santo. He charges $10 per signature so I am a little iffy about getting him. I have several Ron Santo things I want to send out. I have an 8x10 of his number being retired and another of him during his playing days. I would also like to get him to sign my Cubs chair. I don't know if I will get him on that though.

 

I guess after those guys, I would like to get maybe Don Zimmer on it and maybe Mark Grace. Depends on who is signing. I am going to start requesting confirmation people will sign the item before I send it out.

 

After those guys, I will have Andre Dawson, Rick Reuschel, Andy Pafko, Phil Cavarretta, Glenn Beckert, Milt Pappas, Ron Santo, Jim Hickman and George Altman on my 8x10.

 

I am still banned from Sports Collectors. Jay is a thief. That is a shame. If I ever see him, I am robbing him but just for fifteen dollars. I am dead serious about that.

 

Here I am again

I realized a few days ago that I can no longer access my blog except for through Microsoft Word, which sucks but I guess it makes it more important to type what I feel and what is right the first time.

 

The thief Jay Grossman has officially stolen my money. I still can not get on Sportscollectors.net BUT he has my money. It is a shame he is a criminal.

 

Cubs got Rich Harden. I like the move. It allows Murton to flourish as a pro player in a smaller market. Harden is underrated and reminds me of Scott Kazmir when healthy. Tomorrow is a Cubs game for us to go to. I doubt Stef can get off and am bummed about it.

 

I got a lot done yesterday. I got my camera mailed off, got a new cell phone, put my old one on ebay (up to 12 bucks in just a few hours), worked out, unpacked some, went to Rach's, downloaded the big update to the PS3, and updated my Quicken. It was a busy day. So will be tomorrow, Friday and Saturday. Hopefully I will have some time to relax on Sunday, but I doubt it.

Trip

Ok, I am frustrated. I wrote a large amount of what I am about to write but my computer lost it. That sucks. But, I got a 10 hour day so I got time to type out this stuff. Anyways, the trip was fantastic. It really was well needed. Every day before the trip has seemed like a loop. The weeks and days were going by with little variation. I could go for weeks predicting exactly how things would go. The trip was really great at recharging me. Ok, so it really started Wednesday. I went to work til 8 and then me and Rach went to her house. We prepared to go and then went to Jewel for snacks for the trip. We got Ginger Ale, champagne, cookies, breathe right strips and lactaid. We then went to bed at her house.

 

We left at 9:15. I was impressed. My most optimistic goal was 9 and I was preparing for it to be 10 or later before we actually left. We stopped in Lafayette at about 1 their time and ate at Cracker Barrel. I remember that place as being a lot different as a kid. I hadn't been there since I was 10 or so in Nashville, IN and was never as big of a fan as some. I really liked it though and found the place to be really good. We then got to the hotel around 2:30. We stayed there until 4:30 and left for the concert.

 

The first concert was Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. We got their around 5:30 and the place was already packed. We waited in line to get into the concert until about 6:30 and then hung out until it started. The place was packed and a lot of people were toolish. Steve Winwood came up first. He was great. He was from the bands Spencer Davis Group, Traffic, and Blind Faith along with Eric Clapton. It was during this time that he had his biggest hit "Gimmie Some Lovin'". He also had some solo hits such as "Higher Love". He played both of those songs, some older stuff and some stuff off his new album. All of it was fantastic.

 

Next was Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. They were out of this world. They opened with "You Wreck Me" from Petty's solo album "Wildflowers". The first forth of the concert consisted of that song, "I Won't Back Down", "Even the Losers", "Listen to her Heart", "Free Fallin'", and the Traveling Willberries song "End of the Line". That song was unexpected and my favorite from the whole trip. The second forth of the set consisted of "Straight into Darkness", "Saving Grace" and another song I can not name right now. We went to the bathroom during "Saving Grace". I caught 90% of the song and only missed the guitar solo. The third forth of the set was songs like "Refugee", "Don't Come Around Here No More" and others. For the encore, they played "Gloria" a Kinks song, "Runnin' Down a Dream" and "American Girl." While in the bathroom, two people stole our seats and acted like nothing much was wrong with that. I got them back. The whole concert was amazing. Petty and the group seemed way into it and like it wasn't routine at all. They really all enjoyed themselves and had fun playing for the crowd. As a result, the crowd was into it also.

 

Once the concert was over, we made the long trek to the car. Upon getting there, I got the car stuck in the mud. This sucked but I got some help and eventually got the car on the road. It was stressful but we got back to the hotel at 1 in the morning. I, along with my car, were completely covered in mud. It was even on the top of the car. I took a long shower and washed my clothes. Me and Rach relaxed for about an hour and a half and went to sleep.

 

The next day, me and Rach woke up too early at like 8:30 (my fault) and went to the breakfast. Nobody was there. It was the forth of July. We went back to the room, got ready, and went to the Mall. Nobody was there much either. I got an 8x10 of Fergie Jenkins, some coasters and an expensive mystery ball from Field of Dreams. The mystery ball could be anyone from Francisco Liriano and Evan Longoria to Babe Ruth or Ty Cobb. Most of the balls were someone like Jim Edmonds though. I got George Kell. He is a hall of famer. The ball was fantastic. It is a Tri-Star ball. I think I may sell it though once he passes. I am not trying to be macabre, but, you know… Rach got some Bath and Body Works and some clothes. We went to eat and back to the room around 2 or so. I forgot my stuff at the Qudoba restaurant and had to walk all the way back alone. We relaxed and went out to a movie at 5:30. We saw Wanted. It was great. It was like a mixture of the Matrix and Fight Club. I thought it was the best summer movie so far. The theatre was not very nice and seemed to be a little more ghetto than I was expecting. Also, before the movie, I had several cups of Hampton Inn's robust coffee. It made my heart race and took most of the movie to calm. After the movie, we went back to the room and I found my camera was broke. This sucked and put me in a bad mood for a little while. Me and Rach went out, drank, and watched the Cubs game at Jillian's. We then watched the fireworks. By the time they were up, we went back to the breakfast area and hung out for a while. We went to bed around 1 or 2.

 

The next day we got up at 9. We had breakfast and went exploring Indy. We went to the top of the circle monument. It was scary but cool. We then went to see the RCA Dome and Lucas Oil Field. We walked some more and went back to the room. We relaxed and didn't get ready to go until like 3:30. We went to Old Spaghetti Factory until like 4:30. I got gas and we went to the concert. We got there around 6 and got right in. That concert was a lot more laid back crowd as a whole. First up was this guy named Brett Drennon. He was actually pretty good. Next was Colbie Calliat. She has a hit song called Bubbly now. She played that and some other really good stuff. I was surprised at her as well. Next was John Mayer. Mayer played "Good Love is on the way" "Vultures", "I don't trust myself with loving you", "Free Falling" (which was weird since I heard Petty play it two days earlier), "Stop this Train", "Bigger than my Body", "No Such Thing", and some other stuff. I loved all of it and now have a new appreciation for his new material. He ended his set with "Waiting for the World to Change" "No One" and "Gravity". Mayer also played "Covered in Rain" and "Say" at the end of the show. It was fantastic. I love how he cared so much about how the audience enjoyed the show and whatnot. I would go see him again next summer in a heartbeat, and with Rachel, I am sure I will.

 

We got out of the lot without as much trouble as last time and went back to the hotel. We cleaned up and watched TV for quite a while. We went to bed around 2. In the morning, I woke up at 7:30, got packed, cleaned up, and Rach got up at 9. We had a small breakfast and after seeing the mall was closed, we talked in the room until about 11. We then left to go home. We stopped again at Cracker Barrel at around 12:30 their time. We had another fantastic meal and got home around 2. We hung out, watched Old School and played bags until about 10. Then I went home and went to sleep.

 

I have this problem where towards the end of the trip, I become upset. I tried not to have that happen this time, but it was worse than ever. I don't know what my problem is. I get so upset when it seems like my fun time is running out. Rachel teases me, but it isn't really funny to me. I just get bummed as the last day, day and a half of a trip arrives. I will try to fix this problem.