Learning Something New: Boxscores
Well, the first half of my morning has been a learning experience for me. A little frustrating at that.
I actually kept reading about the Red Sox’s horrible loss versus the Orioles on Tuesday (June 30th), where they ended up losing 11-10, after having a 9 run lead (worse comeback against the Red Sox in 20 years). John Papelbon was credited with his second blown save of the season, and I didn’t quite understand why Papelbon was given the blown save.
At first I was confused simply because I was being blind to the fact that they didn’t play in the bottom of the 9th, but I was wondering why Papelbon was credited with the blown save when he didn’t even allow a run in the 9th (again, before I realized they didn’t play the bottom of 9th)… So I jumped to look at the Boxscore. Once I realize that Papelbon WAS involved in the 8th inning (when Sox gave up another 5 runs that gave Orioles the lead), I was still a bit confused.
If we’re looking at Papelbon’s line, it simply shows that he gave up 1 hit, 1 walk, and dealt 1 strikeout. Now, in my mind, reading Papelbon’s line of statistics, and ignoring the rest, I see that Papelbon didn’t give up any runs or any home runs. So I was really quite confused as to how he “blew” the save. So I consulted my coworker.
Of course (for the veteran boxscore reader), it is revealed that Takashi Saito allowed 1 player on base, and Hideki Okajima already had a player on base when he was pulled, and it was John Papelbon’s allowed hit that got those two runners to score, I now understood why Papelbon got the blown save. But again, I looked at the statistics.
I understand (now) where Baseball statistics were going by accrediting Takashi and Hideki with the runs that were accumulated by the runners that THEY put on base. I was under the impression that because Papelbon was the reason they scored (by giving up that 2 RBI double) that the Runs would show up in Papelbon’s stats. I failed to realize that baseball keeps track of what pitcher allowed what player on the bases, and tracks each of them as the responsibility of that pitcher, regardless of how many new pitchers enter the game after them. Knowing that, I can finally understand the statistics, and we can move on.
Upon a second look after the hour long discussion ended, I realized that the ERA actually reveals that Papelbon gave up the runs. I failed to look at the ERA initially, which might’ve been able to help my understanding prior to consulting my coworker.
All the same, glad I finally understand the Boxscore Statistics a bit better 
I’m starting to think I should do a post like this more frequently… showing something new I learned recently. Sure this one made me seem like a bit of an idiot (what doesn’t, right?), but it’s a decent idea.
Celebrity Deaths and News
We are really far too obsessed with celebrities. They are just another person, and they shouldn’t be treated any differently than any other human.
I’ve seen more than enough news over the past 5 years of celebrities being involved in cases where they’re sent to court, and yet somehow get away with miniscule sentences. They’re given second chances too easily in comparison to those who don’t have the money, or the popularity. It shows a flaw in our court system. Michael Jackson is an example of this. As is Michael Vick, and even in part Martha Stewart, and Paris Hilton.
Well, this whole post is due to the recent burst of sudden celebrity deaths we’ve had across the board. I think that yes, it is sad. But again, people die all the time, and these celebrities are not and have never been close to 90% of the population that idolizes them and is mourning over their deaths (Michael Jackson in particular, of course).
I’m sick and tired of hearing all of these news reports, montages, radio stations playing his songs nonstop… They’re getting on my nerves because what makes HIS death any more special than the thousands that die a day? Hell, allegedly the guy even abused little kids (see: bought his way out of it). He shouldn’t be treated as such an “amazing person.”
I just feel that celebrities shouldn’t be getting such massive headline topic takeovers on major news sites, and elsewhere, when there are more important things to be concerned about.
The perfect example would be back when Britney Spears broke up with Kevin Federline. I was sent a link from my friend Patrick, leading me simply to the CNN home page. On the page was, in the bright red “emergency must know this” Breaking News bar up on the top of the page, in a large font, was “Britney and K-Fed Break Up”… Why, for the love of God, was that “breaking news” and considered more important than anything else happening (like Darfur, the War in Iraq, etc etc)?? At the MOST, I think, that article should’ve possibly made it on the front page of the site and a top article placement on the Entertainment page (definitely, since that’s a celebrity section, basically). I couldn’t believe my eyes, and I /facepalm’d immediately.
This obsession with Celebrities has GOT to stop.
USA at the FIFA Confederations Cup
So, let’s start with this: I feel really uninformed about this topic, and yet, I want to talk about it… so don’t mind the flaws. In fact, please correct me!
I am of the opinion that the United States does not have a good soccer team. We have a poorly organized Major League Soccer division, with horrendous attendance levels (compared to other sports in the United States). A quick search shows the United States’ MLS attendance level of 2005-06 was roughly half of that of the English Premiership and the Spanish La Liga [source]. I even feel that our players are no where near on par with the rest of the world’s national teams.
It is just surprising at how much the rest of the world loves FOOTBALL, and yet, the United States trails so far behind. What caused this in the first place? I remember playing in Youth Soccer in the early 90’s, and it was very popular, or so it seemed to me.j
Anyways, back on topic. I am always surprised to see the United States qualify so easily for different tournaments (like the World Cup). I just feel that the team is so mediocre that I don’t see how they actually make it to these competitions. And even when they make it to the tournaments, I’m even more surprised if they manage to make it past the Group Stage…
A perfect example of this is the FIFA Confederations Cup, which is happening right now. I checked up on the wiki entry to make sure I understood how teams are chosen. For those that don’t know, 6 teams are chosen by being the respective winner in their regional divisions, followed by the most recent World Cup Champion (Italy) and the Host Team (South Africa).
United States, South Africa, Spain, and Brazil made it past the Group Stage. The first Semi final game was played yesterday (United States vs Spain), and the second one will be today at 2:30 EST.
However, yesterday, United States shocked me (like always), by beating Spain, 2-0. We’re talking about a couple of the greatest teams out there (Spain and Brazil), both of which have a very impressive player list for the competition. What in the world happened to Spain to let them lose to the United States out of all teams? A friend of mine suggests that Spain wasn’t focused on this game as they were more concerned with a future opponent (Brazil) if they face each other in the final.
Really, just answer me this: Am I wrong about my impression of the United States National Football Team? Are they actually capable of truly being a good team on the World Stage, even though MLS is far from the spotlight in American minds?
Short of David Beckham, you never hear of players actually interested in playing for MLS (atleast, in major news, I guess?). Meanwhile, overseas, teams are constantly trading players from all across the world. Players from La Liga and Spain playing in the Premiership, and vice versa. Meanwhile MLS sits there, stagnating from not having any real competition.
A Brief History of Twitter
So, Twitter is 3 years old this month (went Beta on March 31st 2006, and Live on June 13th 2006 so depends on what date you use)… I actually have been a member since February 7th 2007 (thanks to this api for that information). I joined a little bit later than it began, but I actually joined prior to @replies became an actual part of Twitter (prior, people used it for communication, but posts were not intricately connected when they were used).
I feel like I’m trying to say “I used them before they were popular” to not sound like a bandwagon fan of the service? Perhaps.
This is a great drawing shows, briefly, how Twitter has expanded over the past 3 years. I’m glad I have been part of it since near the beginning.
Thanks to Tech Crunch for reporting it, which is where I first saw it, I think. I’ve been seeing multiple mentions of it across the web today, and thought that my audience (do I even have one?) would enjoy it as well.
I find it particularly amusing that it includes the Twitpocalypse, which threatened to cause many 3rd party Twitter apps to crash.
History Lesson from Monolith
Purchasing a Home
Honestly, does purchasing any home always have to be so complicated?
This is 5 months now since I first started searching, and about 4 months since I put an offer down on a condominium that was accepted.
I went to one bank, who had already pre-approved me for a certain amount of money prior to even picking the condo I wanted to go forward with. Going with the obvious option (an FHA loan) we start the process, and it requires changes to the condo documents (which we go forward with, but the bank says that the change wasn’t made everywhere, which isn’t true…)… so we decide that this bank just isn’t going to let it by. It was [in my opinion] a STUPID change in the condo that they said needed removed to “protect” me, as well as the bank… But it involved what happens after I die (and if my will [I'm 24...] said the place went to someone OTHER than Family)… so how does that protect ME… I’ll be dead, so how does that protect ME?
Anyways, I end up attempting to go through a different mortgage company. I go to a mortgage company that has access to a lot of other companies (I have no problem with the company that I’m going through). The new company we decide to go with requires specific things changed with the Appraisal that we had carried over from the previous bank… Things the appraiser refuses to change (for whatever reason)…
Basically the companies involved so far have been very anal about how “to the book” their work is, ever since the housing crash, and while it’s a Buyers Market these days, the banks are so picky that it’s making buying a condo/home really annoying for me… *sigh*
I’m beyond frustrated… and I just don’t know what to do next…
Business Cards
Blackened Sun Business Card (June 2009)
Back in September, I had a concept for my website that I was planning to follow through on, so I designed a business card to go with it. I ordered 250 of them and handed out the majority of those business cards at SxSW Interactive. I actually didn’t make them for the event at all, but it turned out to be a blessing to have (though I wish I knew Twitter was going to be such a massive part of the event, or else I would’ve put my Twitter name on there as well). I certainly don’t need that many cards typically, but going to an event like that, you certainly hand out a lot of them. I was throwing 30-40 cards into my backpack every day and probably going back to the hotel with only 5.
Actually, prior to attending SxSW, I didn’t even know Twitter had truly made it to such a large audience. I was still “ignorant” to the force that Twitter had become. That’s probably another post, though.
Meanwhile, my website continued to say “coming soon,” and I never did get around to designing a website to match the card. I couldn’t get past what I want the site to function as, and I kept changing my mind on how the design would end up. I finally decided (as you can see with the site) to go with a complete change around, and got away from the dark and gloomy aspect of “Blackened Sun,” as that mindset and what the name originally represented, is far from who I am today.
Of course, with a new website, a new business card should follow. It certainly helps that I decided to finally move the last of my remaining “chains” to Massachusetts to Florida (my phone number). I needed a new card to display the new number, regardless.
I’ll probably make another post showing the cards when they come in. The card design shown with this post, however, does not have rounded corners. The actual business card will.
Testing New Feature
This is a test of my Wordpress publishing to send a blog update to Twitter. Just to see if it works.
Keeping this short and sweet!
UPDATE 10:20 – Damn. Didn’t work. It appears that the bit.ly conversion didn’t work for some odd reason. My Twitter shows the post, but not the link…
UPDATE 10:32 – Did a second test, verifying the bit.ly login, and it worked. However, I deleted the Twitter posts for both blog entries and deleted the other blog entry as it was pointless to have redundancy like that for testing purposes clutter either site.
Styling Complete!
I always suck with titles for blog entries, so I don’t know how well that’ll work. I never know how to word it, and I also tend to use the same title for multiple posts.
However, regardless… I am quite positive that I am done styling the website. The menu might still be tweaked a bit, but I’m very happy with the colors.
All that’s left now is content. I have nothing to show for any kind of Portfolio right now, I don’t think. Atleast, nothing that I feel is worthwhile to show, or I’m not allowed to show (contract at work prohibits me saying any association I have with what I’ve done). My about page will come in time as well, as I never know what to say about myself. Contact information will probably end up on the About page. What else can I really show on here besides those two things?
I am trying to figure out this Twitter plugin for Wordpress so I can use it… I’m checking out Shorten2Ping right now. Does anyone know about how that one works? I don’t even see any reference anywhere on HOW to tell it to use Twitter (instead of Ping.fm) and Bit.ly (instead of tr.im). It’s actually getting rather annoying. If you can help, please do. Or atleast point me in the direction of a better Wordpress plugin for it. I want my blog to update my Twitter when I make a new post…
I may eventually put my Twitter up on here (latest twitter posts to show up on the site), but as my account is currently private, it’s rather pointless to even attempt it.
…I’m just glad I finally got around to redesigning my website… New business cards will come soon to match it.
Site is under production
Hey everyone, this is the newest version of my website. There will be multiple sections.
However, the site is FAR from complete. The template will change drastically, and other things will change as well.