Hell has definitely frozen over! Princesses have taken over our fantasy baseball league!
I'm sure that paints a nice visual in your head right about now (ok some of you, maybe not so nice!). But let me explain. I participate with some co-workers in a fantasy baseball league. For the past few years, we've had seven teams in our league, but this year, we expanded our league to 8 teams as we introduced a new owner - let's call her "S". Now "S" has been in our fantasy football leagues for many years, and she's done surprisingly well, but she never wanted to get into the baseball league - when we asked her to play in the past, she always came up with an excuse, like "I don't follow baseball enough" or "I can't make it on draft night - I have to paint my nails." But we persisted, and she decided to join this year, and everybody was happy (as we just got some easy money flushed into the league). She named her team "The Pineapple Princesses" (I know, i think it's ridiculous too, but what do you do!)
In the first few months of the season, "S" was always in the middle of the pack - nowhere near the top, but still ahead of a few teams. I, on the other hand, streaked into first place in April, and have been at the top ever since. But the baseball gods are a cruel lot! For the past month or so, every player on the Princess' squad has far and away exceeded expectations. She would pick up some pitcher who hadn't won a game in a month, and he'd pitch a shutout. On the day where her first string players had the day off, she'd plug in her backup and that player would hit 2 home runs that day. In other words, she's been living in it!
And, of course, the inevitable finally happened last night. The Princesses had another career night and she overtook the top spot in our league. I tried to avoid her as long as I could this morning, but she was at my desk first thing, gloating away. I guess if I was in her situation, I'd have gloated too, but there's no way I'd ever be in that situation - you think I'd ever name by team "The Pineapple Princesses"? Please!
So "S", if you're reading this, there's still 6 weeks left in the season and, as you've proven, anything can happen! I do wish you luck for the rest of the way, but I think you've already used more than your share!! :)
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Poker vs tacos - a race against the clock!!
Every Tuesday night, I play in a poker league. It begins at 7:00 (or shortly thereafter - we're hardly ever on time) and is a tournament style game, meaning that when it begins, you're given a certain number of chips. When your chips are gone, you're out. The game is played until somebody has all the chips on the table. Typically, the game lasts until around 11:30, but on any given night, it may finish earlier or later, depending on how many players we have, when we start, etc.
Now normally, my Tuesday night pre-poker schedule is pretty much the same every week. I get home from work and take a nap (since I know I'm going to be out late, it's good to catch a few z's before i play). Then I'll wake up, grab a bite to eat and make it to the poker game, rested, fed and ready to amass my fortunes on the poker table. My Tuesday night staple food is Taco John's tacos - they are the best tacos in the area, and on Tuesdays, a hardshell taco is 59 cents (they're 99 cents every other day of the week, so that's a pretty good value). However, my routine hit a snag last night, when I overslept from my nap. I hurried to get myself ready to go, but once I got into my car, I realized that I wasn't going to have time to eat and make it to poker on time. So I decided to scrap dinner and made it to the game right at 7:00, albeit it with an empty stomach.
Our game started on time - there were six of us playing - and right away, I won a couple of pots. As the evening went on, my chip count was slowly but steadily increasing - but so was my hunger. I was definitely feeling the effects of my missed dinner. By 9:00 or so, nobody had been knocked out yet, and I had about twice as many chips as when i had started. It was looking like I was going to be there till the end. Now it was just a question of how long it would take to finish - because even though Taco John's is open until the wee hours of the morning, if I don't make it there before midnight, Tuesday will turn to Wednesday and my tacos are going to be 40 cents more a piece. And with as many tacos as I eat, that's a few extra dollars out of my pocket!
Well, one by one, players started gettng eliminated from the tournament, until at about 10:30, there were just two players left, myself and "T", who is a really good, solid poker player. Usually, once our poker game gets down to two people, it's a matter of a few minutes before somebody wins and we all go on our merry way. But not last night. "T" won a few hands early on, and by 10:45, we were about even in chips, with neither of us close to being knocked out. My stomach was starting to serenade me, so I asked him if he wanted to split the pot. He politely declined, so we continued playing, and my stomach continued to yell . I'm sure this time though, it was yelling at "T", as it knew my intentions were good!
Anyway, the ending to this story is that, at about 11:10, I ended up losing the poker game to "T". But don't be sad for me, my loyal readers, because at around 11:40, I pulled up to the Taco John's drive-thru window and ordered my discounted tacos with a smile on my face.
Don't you just love happy endings!!
Now normally, my Tuesday night pre-poker schedule is pretty much the same every week. I get home from work and take a nap (since I know I'm going to be out late, it's good to catch a few z's before i play). Then I'll wake up, grab a bite to eat and make it to the poker game, rested, fed and ready to amass my fortunes on the poker table. My Tuesday night staple food is Taco John's tacos - they are the best tacos in the area, and on Tuesdays, a hardshell taco is 59 cents (they're 99 cents every other day of the week, so that's a pretty good value). However, my routine hit a snag last night, when I overslept from my nap. I hurried to get myself ready to go, but once I got into my car, I realized that I wasn't going to have time to eat and make it to poker on time. So I decided to scrap dinner and made it to the game right at 7:00, albeit it with an empty stomach.
Our game started on time - there were six of us playing - and right away, I won a couple of pots. As the evening went on, my chip count was slowly but steadily increasing - but so was my hunger. I was definitely feeling the effects of my missed dinner. By 9:00 or so, nobody had been knocked out yet, and I had about twice as many chips as when i had started. It was looking like I was going to be there till the end. Now it was just a question of how long it would take to finish - because even though Taco John's is open until the wee hours of the morning, if I don't make it there before midnight, Tuesday will turn to Wednesday and my tacos are going to be 40 cents more a piece. And with as many tacos as I eat, that's a few extra dollars out of my pocket!
Well, one by one, players started gettng eliminated from the tournament, until at about 10:30, there were just two players left, myself and "T", who is a really good, solid poker player. Usually, once our poker game gets down to two people, it's a matter of a few minutes before somebody wins and we all go on our merry way. But not last night. "T" won a few hands early on, and by 10:45, we were about even in chips, with neither of us close to being knocked out. My stomach was starting to serenade me, so I asked him if he wanted to split the pot. He politely declined, so we continued playing, and my stomach continued to yell . I'm sure this time though, it was yelling at "T", as it knew my intentions were good!
Anyway, the ending to this story is that, at about 11:10, I ended up losing the poker game to "T". But don't be sad for me, my loyal readers, because at around 11:40, I pulled up to the Taco John's drive-thru window and ordered my discounted tacos with a smile on my face.
Don't you just love happy endings!!
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Let me get out my soapbox!
Here's a question for you - let's say there's a person "A" that works with me. "A" wants to come in to work some Monday morning wearing an outfit consisting of a collared polo shirt, khaki pants and a pair of loafers. Would you consider this outfit "casual attire"? Or more specifically, once "A" steps foot into the office, will this employee be reprimanded for dressing too casually for the workplace?
The answer to this question is one of my biggest pet peeves in the world - it depends. If "A" is a female, the outfit is considered business formal and perfectly acceptable for the workplace. But if "A" is a man, it's considered casual, and this employee will promptly be sent home to change into something more "business appropriate". The SAME EXACT OUTFIT!! What a load of crap!!
Our company handbook requires that male employees must wear a shirt and tie at all times (except casual Fridays), whereas women are just required to wear... well, whatever they want, i guess. Every day, I see women at our office wearing a beautiful assortment of "professional" clothing, such as a gray hooded sweatshirt with black sweat pants, or a Race for the Cure T-shirt, black denim jeans and a pair of flip-flops. But heaven forbid if I want to wear a golf shirt - no way, Jose!
And this week is even a bigger joke! Each year, our company works in conjunction with a local charity, to help raise some dollars and awareness for said charity. One way they try to get employees invloved is their "Casual for Cash" program - employees can donate $5 and they will be allowed to wear business casual clothing all week! What? Are you kidding me? Let's think about this for a minute... they're offering a "Casual for Cash" program at an office where maybe 65 to 75% of the employees are female, and they can wear whatever they want all the time anyway!! Hello?!!! I'm not a brain surgeon, but I bet there's not many ladies here paying that 5 bucks.
And I'm not either - screw that! I work for a company who tells me that a collared shirt is not "business appropriate", but if I want to pay for the privilege to wear one, well then that's OK. No, I don't think it is!! It's either "business appropriate" or it's not. If it is, then I should be able to wear it every day. If it's not, then I shouldn't ever be allowed to wear it at the office, as it's not "appropriate" attire to be worn at a business. There's no gray area here!!
So what do you think? You know what I think? I think I should step down from the soapbox for today, I'm getting all riled up (this topic will do it to me every time!)
The answer to this question is one of my biggest pet peeves in the world - it depends. If "A" is a female, the outfit is considered business formal and perfectly acceptable for the workplace. But if "A" is a man, it's considered casual, and this employee will promptly be sent home to change into something more "business appropriate". The SAME EXACT OUTFIT!! What a load of crap!!Our company handbook requires that male employees must wear a shirt and tie at all times (except casual Fridays), whereas women are just required to wear... well, whatever they want, i guess. Every day, I see women at our office wearing a beautiful assortment of "professional" clothing, such as a gray hooded sweatshirt with black sweat pants, or a Race for the Cure T-shirt, black denim jeans and a pair of flip-flops. But heaven forbid if I want to wear a golf shirt - no way, Jose!
And this week is even a bigger joke! Each year, our company works in conjunction with a local charity, to help raise some dollars and awareness for said charity. One way they try to get employees invloved is their "Casual for Cash" program - employees can donate $5 and they will be allowed to wear business casual clothing all week! What? Are you kidding me? Let's think about this for a minute... they're offering a "Casual for Cash" program at an office where maybe 65 to 75% of the employees are female, and they can wear whatever they want all the time anyway!! Hello?!!! I'm not a brain surgeon, but I bet there's not many ladies here paying that 5 bucks.
And I'm not either - screw that! I work for a company who tells me that a collared shirt is not "business appropriate", but if I want to pay for the privilege to wear one, well then that's OK. No, I don't think it is!! It's either "business appropriate" or it's not. If it is, then I should be able to wear it every day. If it's not, then I shouldn't ever be allowed to wear it at the office, as it's not "appropriate" attire to be worn at a business. There's no gray area here!!
So what do you think? You know what I think? I think I should step down from the soapbox for today, I'm getting all riled up (this topic will do it to me every time!)
Monday, August 13, 2007
Just like old times...
I went golfing yesterday afternoon for the first time in a few weeks. It really wasn't a great day to golf, as temperatures got into the upper 90s. There were a handful of other people on the course, but for the most part, it was just our group, which consisted of my longtime friend "R", his father in law "F" and "F"s buddy "B", whom I met for the first time.
"R" and I hadn't golfed together recently, but we golfed a lot together in the past. In fact, I was golfing with "R" in our teenage years, when his errant shot smashed out the windshield of a passing-by car. The old lady driving the car froze in the middle of the street (apparently in shock), but "R" owned up to his misfiring and ended up having to pay for her brand spanking new windshield. I don't know how much it cost, but I do remember "R" grumbling about having to pay for it. Back in the day, I'm sure it was enough money to affect his lifestyle for a while.
I was also golfing with him about 10 years ago, when somebody in our group (can't remember exactly who, but probably "R") hit a brand spanking new truck and put a huge ding in the front quarter panel. The driver got out of the truck and screamed at us "Who did this to my truck!!" . We told him it wasn't us - must have been the group behind us - so he took off toward their group, looking to kill somebody - and we took off looking to not be killed! I don't know whatever happened to that guy or the group behind us, but I do know we survived unscathed.
So it really shouldn't have surprised me yesterday when, while "R" and I were searching for my golf ball near the old folks home, we heard an earth-shattering "BANG!!" It sounded like a big metal hammer smashing through a stack of china dishes! Right away, we knew that somebody in our group just hit a wayward shot, and that the retirement home was not in the same condition as it was just minutes earlier. We also knew that there wasn't going to be anybody else to blame this one on, as we were the only fools willing to play on such a blistering hot day. Luckily, the only person to witness this was a resident of the home, who was sputtering at a snail's pace across the parking lot with the aid of a walker. He yelled at "R" and I "Hey, what the hell was that? What did you guys do!", to which we replied "What do you mean? We didn't hear anything - what are you talking about?" He grumbled something underneath his breath and began to make his way inside (supposedly to report us). But we weren't worried - we knew we had about twenty minutes before he'd make it inside and by then, we'd be long gone. We finished the hole and took off, never to hear from the guy again. Turns out, "B" tried to make a miraculous shot through some trees. It obviously didn't go as planned, and it ricocheted off of a pine tree and probably through the nursing home. Hopefully it didn't cause too much damage - aside from the damage on "B"s scorecard.
At the end of the round, "R" said, "Hey, we'll be playing again next week if you're interested." I don't know where we're going to end up playing, but for your guys' sake, i hope you're not going to find yourself near any golf courses that day!!
"R" and I hadn't golfed together recently, but we golfed a lot together in the past. In fact, I was golfing with "R" in our teenage years, when his errant shot smashed out the windshield of a passing-by car. The old lady driving the car froze in the middle of the street (apparently in shock), but "R" owned up to his misfiring and ended up having to pay for her brand spanking new windshield. I don't know how much it cost, but I do remember "R" grumbling about having to pay for it. Back in the day, I'm sure it was enough money to affect his lifestyle for a while.
I was also golfing with him about 10 years ago, when somebody in our group (can't remember exactly who, but probably "R") hit a brand spanking new truck and put a huge ding in the front quarter panel. The driver got out of the truck and screamed at us "Who did this to my truck!!" . We told him it wasn't us - must have been the group behind us - so he took off toward their group, looking to kill somebody - and we took off looking to not be killed! I don't know whatever happened to that guy or the group behind us, but I do know we survived unscathed.
So it really shouldn't have surprised me yesterday when, while "R" and I were searching for my golf ball near the old folks home, we heard an earth-shattering "BANG!!" It sounded like a big metal hammer smashing through a stack of china dishes! Right away, we knew that somebody in our group just hit a wayward shot, and that the retirement home was not in the same condition as it was just minutes earlier. We also knew that there wasn't going to be anybody else to blame this one on, as we were the only fools willing to play on such a blistering hot day. Luckily, the only person to witness this was a resident of the home, who was sputtering at a snail's pace across the parking lot with the aid of a walker. He yelled at "R" and I "Hey, what the hell was that? What did you guys do!", to which we replied "What do you mean? We didn't hear anything - what are you talking about?" He grumbled something underneath his breath and began to make his way inside (supposedly to report us). But we weren't worried - we knew we had about twenty minutes before he'd make it inside and by then, we'd be long gone. We finished the hole and took off, never to hear from the guy again. Turns out, "B" tried to make a miraculous shot through some trees. It obviously didn't go as planned, and it ricocheted off of a pine tree and probably through the nursing home. Hopefully it didn't cause too much damage - aside from the damage on "B"s scorecard.
At the end of the round, "R" said, "Hey, we'll be playing again next week if you're interested." I don't know where we're going to end up playing, but for your guys' sake, i hope you're not going to find yourself near any golf courses that day!!
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Rats!!
As you know, I'm pretty new to this blog stuff. So I'm checking out this site and seeing what it has to offer - I think "Hey, if I'm going to blog here, I need to know all of the bells and whistles!" I'm looking around and I find a place to enter some information about myself to be shown in my personal profile. "Sure, why not!" So I start answering questions about myself - what my line of work is, my birthday, my address - all the typical questions I've answered a million times before. No big deal. I finish entering the info, click submit, and voila! It worked! Success! I now have a personal profile. I'm so proud of myself!
And now a link shows up on my page which reads "View my complete profile". Well heck yeah I'm clicking it - hey, when the world clicks on my profile, I want to experience what t
hey'll be seeing. And what I experienced made me cringe! Along with all of typical personal info I entered, it also broadcasts to the whole world that I am a rat!! You see, I was born in 1972, and for all of you chinese zodiac fans out there, that happens to be the "Year of the Rat". Great! I'm a frickin rat! Why couldn't I have been something cool, like a tiger or a dragon? Now my life will forever be associated with the animal on the poison box, the animal who's synonomous with the word "liar", the 80's band who had bad hair and sang some pretty awful songs! Hopefully over time I'll be able to get over this, but I don't know - that might be asking a lot from a rat!!
And now a link shows up on my page which reads "View my complete profile". Well heck yeah I'm clicking it - hey, when the world clicks on my profile, I want to experience what t
hey'll be seeing. And what I experienced made me cringe! Along with all of typical personal info I entered, it also broadcasts to the whole world that I am a rat!! You see, I was born in 1972, and for all of you chinese zodiac fans out there, that happens to be the "Year of the Rat". Great! I'm a frickin rat! Why couldn't I have been something cool, like a tiger or a dragon? Now my life will forever be associated with the animal on the poison box, the animal who's synonomous with the word "liar", the 80's band who had bad hair and sang some pretty awful songs! Hopefully over time I'll be able to get over this, but I don't know - that might be asking a lot from a rat!!
Me? A Blogger?
Yup it's true! I've started my own blog (of course you know that - you're here reading this!) If you're looking for any ground breaking information, you're not going to find it here. What you will find is my little corner of the internet - a place where I plan to write about all of the unimportant things that come to my mind. Feel free to take a look around, reply to any posts that I write - heck you can even bookmark this site if you'd like. I'll update this as often as I can, and I'll always respond to any comments or questions that you may have. Hopefully you'll have as much fun reading my blog as I'll have writing it!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)