Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End

I realized I haven't really written about the movies I've seen in the past month or so. Being married to Pretty Bird obviously meant we were going to see Pirates when it was released. I really don't remember much about the movie, at least to separate it from the second Pirate movie. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed both movies I just think neither one of them are even close to the first Pirate movie. We'll own it and I'm sure I'll see it again, maybe it be more memorable the second time.

Home!

From last Friday until last night I've been from NY to NC to IL to WI to IL to MI to IN to MI to IN to KY to NC, needless to say I'm a little tired of traveling. Last night was only the third night I've spent in my own bed, I'm so happy to be back. The work trip while being exhausting was incredibly productive. The personal trip while again being exhausting was incredible. Now that I'm back for a few weeks I should be able to fill all the fun details I haven't written about in the past few weeks.

A win!

It seems the Braves do remember how to score runs and get a win. We'll see if they can win two in a row now.

Back from NYC

After a long travel day we're back in Charlotte after a few days in the Big Apple. We had a great time and I will post more about it later.

Beauty and the Beast

Tonight, while we're in NYC, we're going to see our first broadway show. With Pretty Bird and The Little One's love of Disney of course it was going to be a Disney show. Pretty Bird has heard incredible things about Beauty and the Beast and it is both of their favorite Disney cartoons so it should be a great time. See you on Monday.

Too much airtime

From last Thursday to next Friday I will have been on 12 different airplanes. I like to travel and I enjoy flying but this might be too much for me in two weeks.

Tomorrow we're off to NYC for a nice family trip though. My mom is actually able to join us so we're incredibly excited.

Over Yet?

Is interleague play over yet. Man the Braves interleague schedule this year has been brutal.

No Day Games

Crash says that Congress should outlaw the DH and astroturf, I don't like either of those things but eh. I do think there should be a law requiring at least one day game every weekday. How am I supposed to waste time at work with no baseball game. Bastards.

Faster than the truth

I've long had a belief that once Fox started showing baseball games they also started jacking up the pitch speeds. Faster pitch speeds apparently makes for better ratings. I also believe that a few years after that ESPN followed suit and starting jacking up their pitch speeds. Being a Braves fan I am fortunate enough to watch a bunch of games on TBS, Turner South, Sports South, and various other local-ish channels. None of those pump up the radar guns like Fox or ESPN, Smoltz would pitch on TBS and clock in around 93 or 94 mph, on Fox or ESPN he'd be 97 mph. They were different games and I never had the truth.

Today I checked out the difference though. The Braves/Red Sox game is on ESPN and I had the MLB.com feed. Tyler Yates was pitching and ESPN had his speed at 97mph on every fastball, then I looked up the MLB.com feed, 93 and 94mph. Hmm, I wonder which one was correct.

My job is great sometimes

Good times.

[Edit, I made this post in the future so Beal wouldn't complain too much. I'll probably change that in a few days though. This is my ranting, not your underage fantasies, yes I'm talking to you. So read down if you want to see my latest ramblings.]

[Edit again. I changed the date back, sorry Beal]

Metrodome

If we don't go back to the Metrodome for another 16 years it will be too soon. At least the Twins are one of the AL teams I root for, only two every three decades do I have to worry about playing against them.

Mmm...cheesesteaks

Off to Philadelphia and Wizard World Philadelphia. I might have time to blog about it, I might not. If I don't I'll see you on Monday.

Kansas City, MO

"Press Pass, this is Trevor, thanks for holding."
"Yes this is Michael from UPS."
"What can I help you with?"
"Yes I have your big black case with display wall in it."
"Huh, that should have been delivered on Thursday."
"Yeah it here at our distribution center in Kansas City, Missouri."
First off, why the hell is Kansas City not in Kansas, that is for another time.
"I'm assuming you mean actual Missouri and not the name of a building next the Philadelphia Convention Center."
"Yes sir, we're in Kansas City."
"Well, um, that booth needs to be in Philadelphia for a convention, well now."

Then we spent time with them getting information to my trade show display from KC to Philadelphia by tomorrow. How it got in Kansas City, who knows.

Events occur in real time

One thing is for sure, events occur much quicker than I would like, at least it seems that way. Anyway the official 24 TCG website is up. Take some time and go look. There isn't much content right now but that is coming soon. As soon as we have an approved picture I will make sure to post it here.

Family Endings

Tonight is the ending to the Sopranos, which I'm sure every media outlet in the world has told you. I have really loved the show over its 8+ year run. I expect Tony to live tonight but more than that I expect there to be no real resolution. David Chase is big on leaving things dangling. We'll see in a few hours.

About this time last year

Is about the time when the wheels fell off the wagon for the Braves. It seems they are doing that again this year. Hopefully they can right the ship but with the inconsistent play and injuries it might be a long few weeks. I guess it was a fun first few months.

Two and Half Day Weekend

Hit me sometimes on Monday through Thursday and I probably don't like our summer hours. The convention schedule also messes up my enjoyment. But man days like today I love leaving work at 11:30, good times.

No sympathy

I have a lot of sympathy for balancing work and a family. I have it for firemen, policemen, nurses, any other emergency worker, etc. who works all hours. I have sympathy for people who can't make ends meet quite yet and have to work extra hours/jobs to do so. I have it for the small business owner who puts in 90 hours a week because he can't afford to pay someone else. I really have it for the servicemen who are deployed for months or years at a time.

I do not have any sympathy for a professional coach (or even athlete for that matter) who can't make time for his family. None of the people listed above have anymore time then a coach does. The difference is the coach is incredibly well compensated and in many circles incredibly famous. A serviceman who spend 15 years in the Army isn't going to be able to take a few years off for quality family time, he didn't make a few million a year. To be an NFL coach seems to require some 60+ hours a week, 50 or so weeks a year. At an average salary of $2,000,000 a year that ends up being about $640 an hour, not a bad hourly wage if you can find it. Stop whining and go do something else if you want a family life.

June 6, 1944

Thousands upon thousands of people lost their lives liberating mainland Europe. It isn't a day to celebrate, war sucks ass, but it is a day to remember. They say World War 2 was the last good war and I counter with there hasn't been a single good war. There have been many wars that are necessary, World War 2 being one of them, but none of them have been good. What an absolute waste of lives they all are, just absurd. That being said I would still like to remember the ultimate sacrifice thousands gave so that many others could be free from tyranny.

Stupid Marlins

Man I hate the Marlins. How do they play the Braves so well every single year. They turn over their roster every year, I guess they just teach them in the minors to beat the team in Atlanta. Stupid Marlins.

Race in Sports

What a shocker, someone wants to talk about race in American sports. I would actually be shocked when someone doesn't want to talk about race in American sports. I'm not some naive white guy who wants to sit at home on Sunday and dismiss any minority when they want to talk about racism in sports. Well I'm probably naive but not about this, well maybe but not that much. In American sports the majority, that is white men, control most of the money, make most the decisions, and hold almost all of the management jobs. Yet the talent, the people actually playing the games are minorities, either black, latinos, asian, whatever. Anything hierarchy with that dynamic is going to cause racism and probably a lot more than average American sports fan will ever begin to understand. That being said, there is real racism, real problems to fix, and then the useless, sugarcoated stuff.

The current topic with baseball and it has been all year is black players or rather the lack of black players. This is the made up stuff, the useless topics that shouldn't get any bandwidth. Let's spend time talking about the lack of minority GMs, managers, scouts, coaches in baseball or the lack of minority coaches in college football. Spend time fixing those problems. This is just a made up problem. Outside of being openly gay (which is a completely different topic) I have no doubt that professional sports teams look for talent far and above everything else. It isn't about white or black or yellow or purple. If you can throw a ball 95 mph or hit a 12 to 6 curveball, you can get a job in the MLB if you're bright pink.

The lack of black players and the rise of latino players is due to two things in my opinion. Of course these two things are exactly what Ozzie Gullien said in response to Gary Sheffield's latest foot in mouth comments. I told my comments to JDub today at lunch, I will summarize my version.

One is popularity. Hold baseball tryouts in a large US population center for blacks the same time as basketball tryouts, I'd be surprised if you got enough baseball players to field one team. Do the same in white community against football or soccer, again you're lucky to get enough players. Even things like golf and NASCAR take potential players away from baseball. In addition baseball is a very expensive sport on parents, much more expensive than some of the other choices. So the children who'd make good baseball players are just playing other sports.

The other one is the draft set up. Countries outside of US and Canada are not subject to the MLB draft, if I find a player he is mine. I spend a bunch of money scouting JD Drew it doesn't matter, he goes to the draft. I spend a bunch of money scouting Andruw Jones and he is mine, no draft. In addition to 'finders keepers' the draft is subject to tremendous contracts. Many teams do not draft a player because they are afraid they wouldn't be able to sign him, that doesn't apply in countries outside the US and Canada (and now Japan and Cuba). Albert Pujols is one of the best players in baseball, probably top 2 or 3, and the Cardinals signed him for not a lot of money. Johan Santana is easily the best pitcher in baseball and the Twins signed him without a huge signing bonus. Players like Jason Varitek, Travis Lee, and JD Drew were passed over by teams because of the 8 figure plus signing bonuses they would require. Todd Van Poppel in almost any other draft would be picked first but he wanted a huge signing bonus and Ted Turner wouldn't pay it (of course that did work out well for the Braves).

It isn't always about race, sometimes it is but not always. The silly crap just turns the American public off and makes them ignore you when it actually is about race.

Congratulations Michael and Emily

I've (finally) returned from our trip to Atlanta for my youngest brother's wedding. It was a LONG Thursday and Friday since some of the help for the wedding fell through so it was up to others of us to step up. The ceremony was great, the party was even better and the bride and groom are in on some island somewhere so all is well. Now I'm back to the grind, good times.