Dave's Thoughts of the Day: June 10th

I just learned how to make optimal use of the "jump" feature on the blog.  That way, when you go to the main page, you can see the gist of every post over the last week or so, rather than reading the entire entry for one day and then have to flip over to some other page to see the next entry.

For those new to websites, the "jump" is a "to be continued" link that lets you read the rest of the blog entry via the article itself.  Once you click the "Read More" link below, you'll get to read the rest of the entry.  Let me know what you think of it!

Big weekend in sports:  Heat dominate Game 2, Nadal wins an 8th French Open, Puig continues his greatness at the plate and more...

Onward... *after* the jump:


Did it work??  Did you make it to the this second section of the entry today?  Great!  Let's get into all this.

Kings, well I've spoken about them.  I wanted to quickly get into how the game watching experience went.  On Saturday, I went to Chilis with Coach.   I'll tell ya, Chili's is where it's at for a cozy intimate atmosphere.   You ever go to those sports bars with 100 TVs and nearly a thousand people?  Great crowd, but a situation that can get unwieldy.   Service is sparse, sometimes the food isn't as good, and it takes longer to get to and from the bathrooms.

Where Chili's sets itself apart is that each of their locations has a special small bar with a good amount of TV's inside.   I like it!  There are some nights you want the intimate atmosphere and some fajitas... and there are other nights, like Thursday, where you want the EVENT crowd, the mass of people rooting one team or another, such as Tony P's.  When there are a lot of games going on, Tony P's is IT... --OR-- when there's just one game going on that's a big deal, it's all about Tony P's.

When you get a game that's not as much a big deal and you want something more casual and relaxed, I love Chili's.  Coach and I checked out Kings/Blackhawks Game 5.  All the servers and bartenders we remembered from last time, when we went for the Final Four, were still there.

I'm glad the Kings made that game interesting... but even up until then I was doing all right because we were talking about football and other things.  Thought about getting a sundae but punted on it, but I *need* to get an ice cream sundae soon!

Here's the reason.  On Friday night, after already seeing 3 homers from Yasiel Puig of the Dodgers, I told my buddy Chris in Syracuse that if Puig hits one tonight, I'm getting a Sundae.  So, later in the game, he smokes one!   My buddy IM's me "Sundae!"  I was like "do the dance!!"

Yet, I'm still waiting for the right moment to get one.  I've not been that hungry of late, and I could stand to lose a couple pounds.   I'll get to it soon, though!   Be still my scoop.

Speaking of food I had a major bonehead moment yesterday.   On Sundays I normally get in my grocery shopping.  I got some fruit at the kosher market (I'm going to miss that place when I move to SM).   Then I went to the Ralphs about a mile away.   I was going to just get a loaf of bread and go my merry way... then I saw the fried chicken.  It looked so good and so fresh.  Even so, I left it behind and went to Staples to get some packing tape.

I got the packing tape, then got in the car with full intentions to get a cookie and coffee.  Then I thought of the chicken.  "I really gotta get that chicken.  I can save some for the week."

So, I went *back* to Ralphs and ordered 8 pieces of fried chicken.    I also got some baked beans to go with it.   I also got some English muffins since I craved those.  Took it all home with my original loaf of bread and the tape.

That chicken was great!  I ate a couple of pieces, but here's where it went nuts.  I ate three pieces for lunch (granted, I had no breakfast).  Then, at 5, I ate three more pieces.  I ate six of the eight pieces of chicken in ONE DAY.  Oiiiiiiiiiiii... that was supposed to last a week!  Haha, oh boy.

The baked beans were great too!  They were refrigerated when I got them, so I decided to roll with it and eat it akin to a deli salad.  Now, I'm not sure if you're supposed to warm them up or not, but I just took 'em straight up.  Very very good, and low in fat too as it turns out.  Normally I go after potato salad, but we're talking an extra ten grams of fat for a 65 gram diet.  I was in the soup as it was, so I went with beans instead.  Glad I did, they were enjoyable!

As for the fruit I got, it was oranges, peaches, apricots, and green grapes.  Tremendous selection today at the Kosher Market.  The bananas were a close call... split decision but I punted on them.

I gotta remind myself to get a flat of strawberries when I return to Oxnard next weekend. 

On Saturday afternoon, I packed and packed.      Five straight hours of packing.  I found a youtube of Easy Listening, Elevator "Muzak" music and played it as I started my packing.   That only ran 90 minutes so I put it on 100.3 FM the Sound the rest of the way.  I also got rid of an audio stand I didn't like.  I only paid 20 bones for it so I was happy to donate it to Goodwill.

The stand was so sloppy looking... dirty, stains everywhere, wobbly.  It was about as drunk as the owner who sold it to me.  I still remember that dark night in Redondo Beach, treading tight streets and narrow driveways.   That was a scene.  Guy was nice and all but he was a bit of a slob... and the stand seemed to show some characteristics of its owner.  When I got the used stand, it had this odd smell.   I was never that pleased with it.  You get what you pay for, right?

That stand was a pain in the rear to get into my back seat!  Geez!!   Just won't cooperate with you at all, but it finally did after a while.

I got rid of my tiny TV set as well.  It was as good as a doorstop by now.  Without a digital tuner, it cant tune into any stations and I never had cable anyway.  I also didn't want a TV in my bedroom... that's a personal policy.  Once I go to bed I just want to either sleep or listen to some music.  I always found a TV distracting... that glow of the light... hard to get to bed that way.

The funny thing about cathode ray tubes?  They last *FOREVER*.   There's no way anyone can wait on a glass tube TV to conk out... it doesn't happen.  I have seen some TVs 20, even 30 years old which just keep on going with no signs of stopping.    That's incredible technology, so durable!

--and it's gone.   Great contrast levels, excellent color, and steady reliable picture.   CRT TV production stopped quite a while ago.   They're heavy, though.   The best ones were the ones between 13" and 27".  Those were reasonable to move around.  Anything larger was impossible.  You may as well be moving an anchor!

So, ultimately I'm pleased to be in the new age of flat screen TV's... the caveat is that they won't last as long.  I'm about 6 years in with my plasma TV, and it's in good shape, but within 4 years it'll be dying.  Plasma is not designed to last more than ten years.


What took the recording industry so long to get music to sound good?   What I mean is, from the 20's through the 60's, recordings always sounded "old."  Like there was some filter on it, or that it was coming from a radio at low volume.   Even with stereo, many recordings were uneven.  A lot of them were pretty good, but they still had that "it sounds like it's coming out of a radio" feel to them.   RCA's Living Stereo series of novelty records and other good recordings were great, however.   Classical recordings were also solid.

Anyway, popular music didn't start to sound life like for real until about 1969.   Then suddenly, any song you heard from the early 70s (depending on the artist, record label, and studio) would sound as current as any rock concert today.   It was a marked jump in sonic fidelity, quality, and consistency.   Some groups would have songs so timeless that you couldn't identify what year it was from.  George Thorogood... you hear some of his classic riffs and you'd be thinking "1968!  1974!"  and then noooooo... it'd be 1982!  That's magic, man.

Pablo Sandoval is going to get the stuffing booed out of him when he takes the field at Citi for the All Star Game.  Ohhh boy!  "I'm going to show them what a *real* third baseman is like."

That's right, real Third Basemen are fat and have ongoing injury issues.  Ho ho!

Hey Chris Russo!  Are the Heat great *now*?   How can anyone OTHER than a great team make a 33-5 run on the best team in the Western Conference in a Finals game?  The Spurs schooled every team in the West and made them look silly, but it was THEY who were on their heels in Game 2 of the Finals.  So much so that Popovich took his starters out with 7 minutes left in regulation!   "Oh, but they're just pretty good."  Get lost, Russo...  geez... 

I'm in the midst of what normally would be quickies, but they're like "extended play quickies."   They're like quickies but they go for about a paragraph each.

Nothing's more awkward than a bathroom at a big movie theater that's on the SECOND FLOOR.  You ever see that?  Nice movie house, about 300-400 packed, no entrances up top nor a balcony, but if you want to take a leak, you gotta go up some cramped stairway to a tiny restroom upstairs.  So weird.

There's a handful of such places out there. I remember one of them in Santa Barbara... so awkward.  The Aero in Santa Monica is another one.  It's a scene.

The Cardinals are the best team in the NL.   That's amazing, huh?

All right, folks... that's all from here.  Have a great Monday!