Dave's Thoughts of the Day: August 19th

Wendy's... they switched from the foil wrappers to the regular paper ones about two years ago.  Now their hamburgers can't stay hot.  My 'net colleagues and I arrived at this conclusion after I brought in some lunch from there on Saturday.  A ha!!!  

I can sense a lot of baseball traditionalists resent Puig because he's got a little punk attitude in him.   Well, I'm not a fan of punks either but the kid is still so young.  We'll see if he can shake it off, but in the meanwhile his talent is incredible.  He makes dumb decisions, but the kid can really hit a baseball.  He can also really throw a baseball and really catch a baseball.  Usually if you can hit a baseball, throw a baseball, and catch a baseball, you can play baseball.

So it turns out they *do* have an open mic night at the Hollywood Improv.  Observe: http://hollywood.improv.com/show.cfm?id=260644

You don't even have to register, you go into the building, put your name on paper into a hat, and sit there to see if you get called up.  Then you can riff for 3 minutes.  You don't even need to pay for a ticket or buy any drinks.  Imagine that??

I had a very low action weekend.  All I did was stay at home for the most part, except for my brief trip to WeHo to get the tickets for the Taylor Williamson concert in about two weeks.  I also tried to go to the Original Tommy's on Beverly/Rampart, but the jokers who designed streets here didn't connect Melrose to Rampart Blvd. at all!

Lesson learned, get down to Beverly Blvd. sooner.  Sunday was just laundry and a 2.5 hour nap, even though I got in a full 8 last night.   I'm happy to be caught up in sleep, but it was a bore of a weekend.  No news is good news though.

Here's another thumbs up to Vons/Safeway/Pavilions fried chicken!  Had it again yesterday and it was tremendous!   Way to go!

That's all from here.  Enjoy your Monday!

Dave's Thoughts of the Day: June 16th

Short entry today (and way late).

Junk Man, if you're out there reading this, talk to me, fella.   Once your phone dropped out on the switchboard, I was at a loss.  I felt bad about not having a chance to do our Random Questions spot last week on the podcast.

I don't have a huge itinerary next week, but let's catch up.

***

Long blog entries are too long.   I was a little perturbed about the length of some of these entries too.  Didn't mean to go so long w/ some of the blog posts.  I get really fed up with long movies, long baseball games, long football games, long bloated rock albums, long doesn't do it for me either.

Short is better.  Short stack, short stop, Martin Short, hey!  It all works.

SWEEP!  SWEEP! SWEEP!!!!  #sctvreference

He's still funny.  I'm serious.

Happy Trails Charlie Manuel, you head hunting, snake of an oaf.  One Ric Flair reference wasn't enough to win me over.   You and Brett Myers can eat it.  Onward to you both.

Phillies have some good fans.   This isn't really so much about them.  It's more about the arrogance of their team during their salad years.  And that joke of a short porch at Citizens Bank Park.   I also like the cheesesteak sandwiches.  And *yes* most of my resentment stems from how the Phils dominated the Dodgers in the 08-09 League Championship Series.   Thankfully it's all in the past.

The Phillies though, douchiness aside, were one of the great MLB teams of all time.  It may have just been jealousy on my part all those years.  For a couple of years the lineup they had was a lineup I'd put up against anybody.  Even the 70's Reds or the 90's Indians.   Kojak good.

One of my friends told me he was in town and he found a Yum Yum Donuts as he was driving around.  I am *pumped.*

I was thinking of doing one of those Open Mic nights.   I gotta go out and close the mic, we don't want a spillage.

That's all today.  Have a great weekend everyone!

Edit:  OI!!!!!!!!!!!  *JUNE* 16th?   Holy mackerel, I meant August.

Dave's Thoughts of the Day: August 15th

Taylor Williamson for the win!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

...one more thing though.  A Happy Birthday to my buddy Ron in NJ, who we call "Benson" or "Beebs."   Funny poster, really good with College Football and the NHL.   Hope it's a good one Beebs!  


We'll see you tomorrow night!

Dave's Thoughts of the Day: August 14th

Would you believe that going "All-In" on something or "All-Out" on something means the same thing?

I like steaks of any geometry:  strip steak, cubed steak, steak balls, round steak, you name it.

I did not have a good night of eating for my health.  Father's Office Burger w/ a lady friend in their second location over near Culver.   Fries with that.  An apple cider, alcoholic this time.  Then I came home and Coach in very uncharacteristic fashion broke out the cookies.  He never eats cookies but he needed to get rid of them after one of his lady friends brought some over.  So we finished the remaining cookies -- there weren't very many.   Some ice cream in the mix.  Then I added in a Cactus Cooler.

I was baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad.  I really need to calm down and eat healthier.  Oy vey, I ate like a mongo last night.

The internet last night was worthless to 'em.   I'm paying to use this????  THIS IS HIGH SPEED INTERNET?!  --channeling Franceser.

The Big Ten is notorious these days for having no offense.  The Big 12 is notorious for no defense.  Imagine if you combined them?

Forget the brooms, Capuano is pitching.  We'll settle for the dustbuster.

What a ride for the Dodgers though, huh?   Can you imagine they're playing this well?   I'm thrilled to be watching it!

Any time I watch a good comic performance, such as one I saw last night on America's Got Talent, I'm suddenly driven to go on the computer and write a bunch of inane one line sentences.  Know what I mean?

Remember when Charlie Sheen thought he was winning?

My computer is not winning.  If it poops on me like this during tonight's College Football podcast I'm going to be *very* upset.   Computer, Internet, get with the program.   'til then, enjoy your Wednesday!

and make sure to eat your cookies.

The Preview: NFC North

We covered the East last week, now to the North.

This is not a difficult preview to write.  It's the Packers and the Packers' division alone to lose.  Here's the problem, Green Bay is suffering injury after injury.  They lost their left tackle already, they lost Jordy Nelson for multiple weeks (possibly into the regular season), THEN we saw this on Wednesday:

@packers59m
McCarthy-RB Eddie Lacy was held out of practice because of his hamstring, not been given indication it's going to be long-term.

UH OH.  The Packers were really going to put many of their chips onto Lacy's stock.  Poor kid is injured *already.*   The Packers hope for him to be healthy by opening night.

Now then, for the team overall, I think this is, even with all the injuries, going to be very competitive.   The bottom line is *RODGERS* is healthy and motivated.  As long as QB Aaron Rodgers is in the offense, the Packers are going to be a pretty good team.

There were definite problems with their defense last year, especially with DB's, but there might be some action at DB this year.  Sam Shields is a big candidate to take one of the spots.  Tramon Williams is in the thick of things as well.  D-line is good not great... Coach and I agreed that BJ Raji is overrated.   LB is pretty good with Matthews the most notable name.

The Pack have lost a lot at receiver... Jennings also left to go to Minnesota.  You can almost count on Jermichael Finely getting hurt again, but I'm told TE depth is better this year.  All of this is trivial compared to Rodgers.  If Rodgers is healthy, he'll elevate *any* receivers he has around him to good production.

So despite the defensive question marks and the many losses offensively I like GB to take the division.  May not be by a whole lot this year, but 11 wins is quite probable.

On to the rest of the division.

Bears:  I don't get the hype with these guys.   They're just miserable at finishing a 3rd down conversion or a big passing play.   Most of this occurred after Cutler's injury, and up until then he was playing great.  I'm going to presume a full season from Jay Cutler... if he gets enough help from the O-line I like his chances.   However, the Bears haven't had a good O-line in ages.   Skill positions are set with Brandon Marshall (WR), Matt Forte (RB), and Marcellus Bennett (TE).  Now the principal issue I have with Chicago is the defense.  Urlacher retired.. the rest of that defense looks thin to me... injuries left and right.  It's going to take some time to rebuild it to *me.*  The Bears also have a new coach after Lovie Smith was (finally?) fired last season.  Marc Trestman is now their head coach.  Jury's out on him for his rookie season, we'll see.

Lions:   The Lions made some pretty tangible improvements this year.  We knew that Jason Hanson was already so old and unreliable...  after last year he called it quits.  His replacement is a pretty good gamble: David Akers.   Also new on the team is RB Reggie Bush, some role players, and two safeties:  Chris Hope and Glover Quinn.  Lions' DB was by far the worst unit of the entire NFC last year, and change of any kind is great, but Quinn might be a sneaky good move for Detroit.   The Lions knew they had major issues and give 'em credit -- they assessed their liabilities head on.

Vikes:  Oi.   I know they got Greg Jennings.  I know they *have* Adrian Peterson.   Ponder is awful.  Whatever skill players you get -- it all goes to pot if Ponder and his wimpy 8 yard throws is going to turn the ball over.  Defensively, they might be all right, but the Vikings are  BRUTAL team to watch, even still.  They made the 'offs last year, remarkably.   I'm not convinced they go over .500 this time.

So, with the North I have these rankings for 2013:

1. Packers -- They need to do a way better job covering passes downfield and running the ball, but at least there are signs they can improve both.

2. Lions -- tangible improvement at DB plus Reggie Bush for the "change of pace" back are going to pay off for Detroit.  It's still an overrated, tough to root for, club, but they have plenty and I mean PLENTY of talent to compete for a wild card.

3. Bears -- I still don't get it.  An already old defense gets even weaker and Cutler's going to be a "?" for health.  They'll get schooled every time against the Packers too, as so happened last few years.

4. Vikes -- No way.   Even with last year's playoff run to commemorate, I see very little from Minnesota unless Peterson runs for 2000 yards.

Coming up later on.. the NFC South preview!

Dave's Thoughts of the Day: August 13th

I'm sorry to report that I will be unable to deliver the story of the one swimmer at last weekend's Meet and how she did a big theatrical warm up routine, pounding her chest, jumping up and down, REALLY bouncing up and down to the music on her mobile device, and then when she was about to race her 800m free she took the block and when I cheered her on she didnt even look because she was so focused. AND how she came from 8th place, paced herself and then kicked it into gear to go all the way to 3rd place in her heat and hang onto it. 

Would have been a good story, ah well!  My bad, folks.

Fellas... PLEASE listen to John and Mike from last night's Dave podcast.  We not only broke down the PGA Championship but Mike and John both let loose some *hilarious* rants about the Golf Media.   You gotta hear it!  Here's the link: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/daveinthecity/2013/08/13/pga-championship-golf-recap-w-john-and-mike-08-12-13

I was pumped enough after last night's show to drink a second Cactus Cooler, and I know how bad those are for my health.  Ah well, it was worth it.

I temporarily switched to Pop Tarts for breakfast.  This week it's the unfrosted strawberry Pop Tarts.   I can dig it... I don't feel like I'll do this permanently but so far so good.

Much easier to prepare two Pop Tarts than two peanuts butter sandwiches.  Takes a load of guesswork out doesn't it?

I'm beat... back to the coffee for me.  Have a good morning everyone.

The VID Nickname System

Let me get this out of the way, forgive the #allaboutme scenario:

A guy once asked why I don't do all the nicknames with the -ies at the name.  Basically the nickname scenario is a system.  It all is predicated on how I would say it out loud, so it would have to roll off the tongue in actual conversation.

Thus, a fella like Gamble17 is just Gamble.   Which is the first category of Vid nicknames:  One Name Scenario.

There's a bunch in this category:  Unclever, IDEAR, Mistress, etc.  "Gambs" doesn't really click so I abandoned it.

Then there's the -s scenario.  Checks, Ooms, Jabes, Beebs, etc.  You add in an "s" in there somewhere.

Then there's a few where I take it a step further and do -sies.  Capsies, Yotsies, Popesies.  It's a feel thing w/ the Vid Nickname system.

Then there's that occasional fourth category of names that have nothing to do with the rules whatsoever:  Scooter, Clueless (Dupp developed this one), Mortsies, P-Tone, and so on.