Murphy is at it again

I suppose I should have expected this a few months ago when my car radio decided to display the inncorrect band of radio stations (ie – KLOVE is 94.3, but my radio displays it as 95.3), but this morning my radio when completely dead.  It flickered off and on a couple times as I left my driveway and then just stopped.  Maybe it’s just a loose cable, but I doubt it considering all the other electrical weirdness in this car.

Aftermarket radio receivers aren’t terribly expensive and I had considered getting a new one that could play MP3s from a USB key, but I was thinking that would be more like a Christmas or birthday gift some time in the future.

So now I have my 30 minute commute in silence.  It’s not good.  Here’s the temporary solution I have in mind.  I have a power inverter that can plug into the cigarette lighter and accept normal power cords.  Then I’ll just plug in a regular radio – probably tuned to ESPN.  It’ll force me to listen to the commercials, instead of flipping around stations like I love to do.  Hmm… maybe this is a conspiracy by the advertisers.

What the crap?

The Cubs play their first game of the playoffs in Phoenix, AZ Wednesday night. The start time is 9:30pm Central Time! They also play at that time Thursday night, too. Seriously, who are these Major League Baseball schedulers? Gimmie their names, addresses and phone numbers. I want to sign them up for every piece of spam mail and phone solicitor on the planet. There’s going to be a lot of tired Chicagoans Thursday and Friday morning. And if they loose, a lot of tired and cranky Chicagoans.

I was baffled by the really late start time. Phoenix is in the Mountain time zone, right? Why is the game starting at 8:30? I looked it up and well, actually, Phoenix just decided they didn’t need to follow Daylight Savings Time this year. Um, what? So MST, the time zone right next to CST, is actually 2 hours behind and the start time is 7:30pm local time. Ah crap.

What needs to happen is the Cubs eliminate the D-Backs in 3 quick games, the Phillies eliminate the Rockies in 3 games, and the Red Sox eliminate the Angels in 3 games (sorry, Jen). That way we don’t have to kill ourselves staying up late watching games on the West coast. Cuirously, Denver is following DST.  So it’s just those rebel Phoenixites that are causing problems.

Grumpy

I was pretty grumpy yesterday.  It’s been incredibly hot and we still don’t have any air-conditioning.  Yes, I know that’s my fault for not getting it done, but really I need to burn some vacation days to get it done.  It’s going to be messy cutting holes in my ceiling to put the ducts and I don’t want Sara and Alex around when I do that.  But I’m too busy at work to take several days off right now (yes, despite me blogging a lot this morning).

I got called over to church to fix the AV projector system…again.  I’m getting real tired of having to go fix problems of people unplugging cables and pressing buttons they shouldn’t.  The problem last night was someone unplugged the cable leading from the sound-booth input to the projector and didn’t put it back.  Why?  What was so hard about putting it back the way they found it once done doing whatever it was they weren’t supposed to be doing in the first place?  The real problem is the connection point where they unplugged it is not operating at 100% and it took me a good half hour and half a roll of gaff tape to secure the cable just right so that the picture on the screen was clear and not out of focus.

Our new church building is scheduled to open in 13 months now.  I can’t wait.  Plus there will be a full time staff person to handle all these technical issues, so I won’t get the call.  Although I’ve had several people suggest I take the job, but that’s a discussion for another time.

Because I spent so much time fixing the problems at church, the hair salon was closed by the time I got there, so I couldn’t get my head shaved like I wanted to.  Did I mention it’s real hot here?  Ok, not shaved, but at least cut.  On the way to the salon there was a traffic light out at a major intersection on Roosevelt, so traffic was backed up worse than rush hour.  And then to top off the evening, the Cubs gave away a game.

Thank goodness Alex was still awake when I finally got home.  Watching him at the end of a rough day always helps.  That and a nice cold Mike’s Hard Lemonade.

Great job I-Pass

I can’t order another I-Pass online for our minivan because of “system upgrades.”  Haven’t been able to do it online for several weeks.  Alternate payment method?  Go pick one up at the nearest oasis during the scheduled times the Mobile I-Pass team is there.  Sure thing.

Stopped by one on my lunch break.  “Sorry, our computer is down.”

So… you don’t want my money?  Can I have my 80 cents back for you making me waste a trip down the tollway to the oasis?

Big week in sports

For those looking for more Alex posts or life posts, stop reading. This one is about the sports scene in Chicago. I need to vent a little. The reason I’m putting this in a blog is because Todd is on his honeymooon. Blame him. I don’t have any other outlet right now. Sorry mom – but you’ll see Alex tomorrow night.  Anyone else who doesn’t care about baseball in Chicago, then move on.  This is a long one.  Sorry.

First off, lets point out my favorite sports to watch: MLB Baseball, NFL Football, March Madness Basketball and College Football Bowl Games (don’t really care for any college regular season games, basketball or football), golf. Then it tails off from there. NBA doesn’t even crack my top 20. I’ll put bowling, billiards, darts, poker, world’s strongest man, the outdoor games, the x-games, tour de france, heck even Nascar and NHL before watching NBA games. Basically anything except gymnastics and ice skating come before NBA in my mind. The reason I point this out is because the NBA draft is tonight and the only thing being discussed on sports talk radio and sports tv is this draft. Which I find ridiculous because of my lack of interest in it.

I also find the whole pre-draft talk in general absurd, too. Who is going to take who with their pick? Who will make trades with their picks. And it’s not just the NBA draft. The NFL draft talk gets beyond ridiculous. Talk more baseball! But I’m just biased.

Despite the NBA getting in the way, there is still a ton of fun baseball talk going on around town. The trade deadline is still a month away, but the Chicago teams are making waves. There is the ongoing circus that is the White Sox. Every day is Buerhle is being traded, no now he is getting an extension, no now talks have broken off. It’s good stuff. But let’s get a deal done already!

Speaking of the Sox, they finally won and 3 in a row, too. Against Tampa Bay, but still – wins help boost confidence, right? One more tonight, then they get 3 games against Kansas City and 4 games against Baltimore. Wow, have the baseball schedulers been generous. They just might win another 8 in a row before playing teams that are less than 10 games under .500.

I’ve admitted to Todd that I probably wouldn’t be so anti-Sox if it weren’t for both their radio and tv announcers. All 4 guys are idiots. What does, “It’s a can-of-corn for Erstad.” mean, anyway? “He gone” is moronic. And Hawk’s amazing psychic ability to say: “You can put it on the board? Yes!” AFTER the ball has left the park is incredible. Plus it’s just fun to root against Todd’s team, especially in the cross-town rivalries.

Cubs aren’t immune either. Ron Santo, our beloved Cub, needs to retire from the radio broadcasts. He doesn’t make sense at all and makes no contribution to the program. But Len and Bob are an awesome team. Bob Brenly was a major league catcher and then managed the Diamondbacks to a World Series. He brings a mountain of baseball information and perspective that is a joy to listen too. And neither of them are so biased for the Cubs that they are blinded when calls don’t go the Cubs way. They usually point out that things don’t always go a teams way, but in baseball things tend to balance out and later in the season, those same things will favor the Cubs. Unlike those on the other side of town who will rip into umpires and then not apologize for it when they’re wrong.

I wish I could watch their broadcasts without sound, but being a Cubs fan, I’m a masochist anyway. Ok, end rant.

The Cubs are a team on the rise, and it’s an exciting year…now. We didn’t start out so well, but there are a lot of new players in the dugout and a new manager. I’m chalking it up to lack of chemistry. This month has been outstanding (16-10) and especially this past week of 6 wins in a row. Unfortunately for us, the first place Brewers have had an easy schedule playing a bunch of really bad teams during our same stretch. We’re 7-3 in the last 10, they’ve gone 8-2. Hopefully, this weekend we can put the hurt on them in our 3 game series, continue our win streak and move up a few games before the All Star Break.

I really like the moves we’ve been making with our roster, lately. We traded Barrett for a box of chocolates. He could hit, but he couldn’t catch, throw out runners, or call a good game. Look at the stats. I do disagree with one radio talk show host who evaluated a couple plays of our new starter catcher, Hill and said Barrett wouldn’t have made those great stops. You don’t know that. Barrett is mediocre, but don’t make him out to be even worse than that.

I would have really been flying high if the trade that nearly happened Tuesday went through. Jacque Jones was nearly traded to Florida for a case of beer. Oh that would have been a happy day. Jones can’t play outfield (2 bounce throws to the wrong cutoff man) nor can he hit. Throw him a pitch low and inside (out of the strike zone) three times in a row and he’ll strike out. Not sure why pitchers don’t do that to him more.

But the deal was nixed and there are plenty of rumors as to why. Most notably, the Cubs are on the hook for his way overvalued salary for the rest of this year and next. No teams are going to want him with that much salary, so the Cubs were going to pay the rest of it, even though he’s on another team. Fine! Do it! But the rumor is someone up in the Tribune Company didn’t like the principle of paying a salary for someone on another team. Well, you’re going to pay him no matter what. If you release him, you still have to pay. If he stays on the bench, you still have to pay. It makes no sense. We don’t need him. Bite the bullet and get rid of him.

The problem is the pending sale of the Cubs. No one wants to make a big move like that at this time for fear it will affect the sale. I say that’s ridiculous and it will help the sale. But who am I? There was another rumor floating around that since Bud Selig had to approve this transaction, he nixed it because he’s mad at the Cubs for their wild spending spree this past offseason. Mad because we threw a ton of money at players and thus drove up the salaries across the board. That’s just crazy talk.

Whew, that felt good to get that all out. If anyone is still reading all this, I’m sorry. You can’t say I didn’t warn you at the beginning.

I hate February

With all due respect going to Todd and his birthday, this month sucks.  First we go for two weeks of below zero weather.  Then we get hit with a blizzard.  Now we go back to below zero weather.  I’ve shoveled my sidewalks 3 times in the last 24 hours.  I think the official reading is about 8 inches.  But with the wind, certain spots have drifts much deeper than that. Then there was my lovely weekend spent sleeping off the flu.

Today is Valentines Day.  The Hallmark Holiday where you’re supposed to buy overpriced flowers and cards.  I’d say something sappy to my wife, but her stupid company has implemented a no blog reading policy and her firewall now blocks my site.

Yea, I woke up on the wrong side of the bed.  Had a rough night with this cold.  But I feel a little better now.   The coffee is starting to kick in.  That and I know that pitchers and catchers report to camp today.  Opening day is right around the corner.

I’m already working hard on making “Play Ball” Alex’s first words.