Blackened Sun

A Collection of Thoughts.

Well. I purchased my first home on Friday. A nice two bedroom townhouse in North Tampa. Man, do I feel overwhelmed though, now that I’ve spent a couple days wandering around the place. I’m looking at what needs to be done, what needs to be fixed, where I need to paint (uhh… EVERYWHERE, almost?). I’m just realizing how big of a job I have ahead of me. I really have no motivation to do it, and that’s my problem so far, lol. I should just take the next month off of work (wouldn’t that be nice) and start taking care of everything.

I noticed that one of the toilets doesn’t work (the stopper when the toilet is refilling isn’t cutting off the water flow when it should be.)… and that I have a ceiling fan in the living room that is running for the foreseeable future until I get a step ladder so I can actually stop it…

Walking through the community on Sunday, however, I’m definitely very happy with my purchase, though. It’s very nice! I think I’ll get along well with my community, but we’ll see I’ll need to socialize! *gasp* I spent some time around the community pool with my cousin, he was my first “guest” to the house, even though it’s still empty. Hanging around the pool was great.

My trip to Canada and Massachusetts was absolutely awesome, and relaxing. Canada was so much fun, and so beautiful (I really do love Magog, just a small quaint town that’s still large enough for my tastes). My time in Massachusetts was basically read my books all morning, then go out during the afternoon/night. It was definitely relaxing, and much needed, especially since as soon as I got back into Florida it was running around while I closed on the condo and went to work. All over the damn place!

I really did have to go Cold Turkey when it came to technology while I was up in Canada. There was no way I wanted to accrue international charges. At first I was going to turn off my phone for the entire 3 days. But then turned my phone onto Airplane mode so I could at least play with the games on it, lol…

Of course, the running around is only getting worse as I realize everything that I have before me. I still have to make sure multiple places have my new address, not to mention some of those places I don’t even think have my new phone number (changed that like a month ago)… My old job in MA never contacted me back about my 401k, which is annoying, so I’m not too sure what to do there. But I guess it’s something I don’t need to fidget with right away.

I’m very relieved to finally have this blog back up and running, and I don’t believe any of the styling is out of place anymore. We’ll see how it goes. I HAVE noticed that the images from the previous blog posts are missing, so I know I need to figure out how I want to upload those again to make sure everything is back to normal.

So… How about them Red Sox? I am absolutely appalled by the sudden disastrous loss to the Yankees (we were SWEPT in a 4 game series???? WTF!)… What went wrong? What is Francona doing to remedy the situation? We need a turn around, and SOON. I could not believe the Sox went from 8-0 vs the Yankees this year, to 8-4, so quickly… JEEZ.

Guess that’s all I have in my mind for now.

Fashion, Politics, and Absurdity

Wow… honestly? How does Fashion fit into politics? I always figured that the changes Obama was doing with the country, with his recent attempts at health reform, energy reform, the closing of Guantanamo Bay, Iran, etc etc, would be far more important than what he wore to dinner with Michelle the other night.

Don’t they have anything better to do with their time than bitch and moan when they see Obama wearing “mom jeans” while throwing the first pitch at the 2009 All Star game? [source]

The president also offered some insights into his self-admitted lack of sartorial expertise.

“Up until a few years ago, I only had four suits,” the commander-in-chief said.

“I hate to shop. Those jeans are comfortable. And for those of you who want your president to look great in his tight jeans, I’m sorry. I’m not the guy,” Obama added.

Obama’s jeans choice for his all-start game appearance were widely panned by fashion critics and even dubbed “mom jeans.”

I’m glad he can make fun of himself for it though, or at least defend himself and say “I don’t give a shit about what people think when it comes to what I wear”… but in much nicer verbiage. He SHOULD wear what’s comfortable. He is in THE toughest job in the nation, and should be capable of the small things that relieve him in the slightest of the stress that is the Presidency.

I can’t believe that people actually complain about what the President of the United States is wearing. I’m actually rather curious, does this happen elsewhere in the world as badly as it does in America? I’ll have to bug some of my international friends to answer this for me.

I don’t tend to notice the fashion police in politics, usually, as I just don’t follow politics enough. However, I was very into the last election, and I’m anxious to see how Obama does his first term in office. I really don’t want him to fail because that would mean devastation to the United States. But when I try to load the news to find out about his latest actions, and I see articles left and right bashing (or praising) the clothes that Obama and the First Lady wear, or the fact that he bowed for the Saudi king was “bad” (unlike respectful as I perceived him as being)… that is just absurd.

I must add this – out of everything PETA may have to complain about, and try to fight for, they decide to call Obama out on killing a FLY?? [source] I know that little bit is old news, but I still find myself shaking my head and going “wtf?” when I think about it or talk about it. I mean, PETA goes to extraordinary lengths ALL the time.

Slightly off topic, I honestly think that PETA should give up their extreme stance to a point. Take “everyone should be a vegetarian,” for an example. Sure, I can understand them arguing for it, but obviously it’s not going to be an easy thing to change. So why not try eliminating the treatment of cows that is currently happening for those massive caged farms for milk and beef? Why not advocate “if you can’t stop eating meat, at the LEAST treat the animals right, and only buy organic, grass fed [etc etc]“… I mean, that would appeal to a larger audience, and they would be able to make (a certain percentage of) their goal (of achieving global vegetarianism) a bit easier to accomplish.

So… Fashion: Stay the hell out of politics and start paying attention to what matters when it comes to politics, alright? What the President or First Lady (or anyone really) wear has NOTHING to do with how they perform their job!

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.