I feel like I am taking crazy pills....

When I was a young and I followed the Giants, it almost seemed pointless because the owner at the time either didn't have the money to field a good team, or simply didn't want to spend it. For years I rooted for teams that had mediocre pitching, poor hitting, and lousy fielding. It didn't matter to me though, I was a fan and I rooted for them anyway. But I always wished the Giants had an owner who would spend some money and bring me a winner...




Be careful of what you wish for.




A couple weeks ago the Giants signed Ryan Klesko, a first baseman with a bad shoulder who missed 150 games last year, for one year at an undisclosed amount of money (rumors state its at around 8 million dollars) He has never hit well at SBC park, but then again no left hander has for the exception of Barry Bonds.






About a month ago, without any other teams bidding on him, the Giants signed Barry Bonds for one year at 16 million dollars. Barry is 43 years old, can't run, never could throw, and his picture can be found in the dictionary under the heading "clubhouse cancer". But he will be the starting left fielder because he is going to break the home run record that noone will recognize because he was on steroids for the last 7 or 8 years, filling the park everyday in the process. I wonder if they could have signed a closer for 16 million.






And today the Giants signed Barry Zito to the 6th highest contract in professional sports history, 7 years at 126 million dollars, with an option for an 8th year which would make it 144 million. At this price you would think he was a 25 game winner with one or more no hitters to his credit. Zito was 16 - 10 last year with a 3.83 ERA, and that was with the A's who have a good closer, the Giants have Armando Benitez.




So if you do the math, it comes out like this:








PLUS








PLUS







EQUALS






I will be a very old man before the Giants win the World Series...


I don't know what is worse, having an owner who won't put the money out there to get a winning team, or one who spends it like a drunken sailor on a whore binge. It blows my mind that men with that much money would spend it so foolishly. How did they get rich in the first place if they didn't know how to handle thier own finances? Would it be too much to ask if the Giants owners were very wealthy and Jewish?

Up side the head

I am currently on this mission to get into the best shape of my life in preparation for the Boston Marathon in April. (interesting to see how long this lasts) So a day after my last boxing workout, I did a 7 mile run in the morning, then in the evening I went back into "Undisputed" to try out one of thier kickboxing classes. Not Cardio Kickboxing, but an actual Kickboxing workout. I learned that when you kick the heavybag you lean to one side which puts strain on the standing leg, and you lift your other leg up using your abs, and then you kick the bag which puts strain on the kicking leg. Our instructor was a nice enough guy, his name is Eddie and one of his eyes is permanently closed due to a prior fight we are left to assume. He was very informative and helpful. He saw that my kicks on the heavybag were a bit low so he came over and explained to me that "kicking him in the ass isn't very effective, try aiming higher and kick your opponent up side the head." It was an hour long and when it was over, I needed a minute on the floor just to regroup.

When I got up this morning my legs felt OK but my abs are sore as all hell. I need to get back to work, all this excerise is going to be the death of me.

Idle hands....

My company made us take two weeks off this year during the holidays. On the surface this sounds like a godsend, and in some ways it is but when you consider that we have to use our vacation time in order to get paid, and its the coldest time of the year to be off work, it's not all that great either. I plan on taking full advantage of it though. I'll run a little bit, do some errands like get tires for the Jeep and straighten up the pad. But, for the most part I plan on being a couch potato. In most cases, I wont do shit all day, and I wont start doing that until noon....

Crazy

Next time you are at the online dictionary and look up the word "crazy", this is what you might find:

cra·zy /ˈkreɪzi/ –adjective
1.
mentally deranged; demented; insane; Natasha Lyonne

Some of you may remember Natasha from the American Pie movies, but the NYPD remembers her for an argument she was involved in between her and her roommate back in 2004. It seems that at one point in the conversation, Natasha picked up her roommates dog and said "I am going to sexually molest your dog!"

Now I am sure we all have "unconventional" thoughts in our heads from time to time, and in the heat of an argument we have all thought of inflamatory things we would want to say. But to actually come right out and say them? Now that's just crazy....

What happens in Vegas....

Congratulations to all the new Marathoners!!!

With the Autumn wind comes a cruel fashion dilemma

Is it possible to revolt more people with one fashion choice than the split/dolphin shorts? The answer quite clearly is yes... What, did they run out of black at the superhero outfitters??? Come on!!!

Ding Ding

While most of you were sleeping, or those of you on the east coast were in your pajamas drinking coffee this morning, I was up at 4:15am to meet my friend Glenn Escudero at Undisputed Boxing for the 5:30am workout. An hour and a half of crunches, pushups, lunges, squats, and hitting the heavybag. Why, do you ask??? Cause I am out of my friggen mind, that's why... I am so tired right now that I almost fell asleep in the bathroom standing at the urinal. Niiiiiice... This is going to be one loooooooong day.

Thanks Glenn!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

It's finally here, my favorite holiday! I love Thanksgiving for three important reasons. The real meaning of Thanksgiving is to give thanks for how fortunate we are, and this is especially true for me. I have so much to be thankful for that It would take a separate blog to list them all. The symbolic image of Pilgrims sharing thier meals with the same Indians who helped them survive is sort of how I feel about my friends. Without them I dont know where I would be in this life and I am very thankful for all of them. Secondly, you get to eat an amazingly huge amount of food and noone can scorn you. You are simply celebrating the holiday. And lastly, there are three NFL games on this year, what more do you need to be thankful for?

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!!!

Farewell Leslie Griffith

The San Jose Mercury News announced today that Leslie Griffith has resigned from the Channel 2 newscast after 20 years of service. Over the years I grew to admire and respect Leslie's professionalism, integrity, and sense of fashion. Noone else could pull off reading the story of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster while wearing a silk muave kimono with her hair in a beehive. And that voice, oh that voice will be missed. Fluctuating her tone to emphasize importance was her trade mark. Sincerity be damned, Leslie was the queen of melodramatic newscasting. In her parting statement Leslie was quoted as saying ``It's been an extremely exciting and rewarding experience. But as many people can appreciate, my duties have been all-encompassing. After many successful years in the profession and at KTVU as an anchor and a reporter, I want the opportunity to continue growing and reaching out for as much knowledge as I can in this life.''
In other words: She's negotiated a deal with the station to leave that includes not saying why she's really taking off.

As the news hit the wire, reaction was swift. Here are just a few samplings of the people's sentiments:

I always wondered if she just had a really deep head cold or severe allergy problem
Posted by: Max, San Jose

Good. I could not stand her overly dramatic way of speaking. It just got worse and worse over the years. I watch this news because it's on at a good time for me. now I don't have to listen to that melodramatic voice any more!!! Yay!!!
Posted by: a viewer

It's a man
Posted by:

I would love it if Ms. Griffith got into adult entertainment. Mmmmmm.
Posted by: Nancy Plover

Whatever Leslie Griffith decides to do, her distinctive voice and wardrobe will be very hard to miss. Good Luck, Leslie!

Root Canals are overrated

Back in March I broke a molar eating pizza and ended up having it filled. It never quite felt right and the dentist warned me that I would need a crown at some point to truly fix it. The last few weeks it has become quite sensitive to hot and cold and I find myself taking Advil every morning and every night. I went in today to see the Endodontist (root canal specialist) for a consultation, and she decided that it needed a root canal vs. simply a new fitting. What I didnt expect was that it was going to happen right then and there. This is a hell of a way to start a Friday...

I am 39!!!!!!

Be nice to me today, it's my birthday, bitches!!!!

The Cat's Ass

I got the best birthday present ever on Sunday, an iPod Shuffle second generation. This thing is amazingly small and holds hours of music. I am sure you have heard of it, probably seen it, and you might even own one so this is hardly news to anyone who reads this. But what might be news to you is that I never run with music, until now. I went for my usual 6 mile run this morning and I ended up doing 8 with my kick ass tunes on, I couldn't stop! It's amazing how much ground you can cover when you are listening to Judas Priest, Metallica, and Public Enemy. Who knew 50 Cent and Lil Jon could make me run so effortlessly? If you run and you don't have an iPod, you need to go out and get one cause this thing is definitely the Cat's Ass!!!

Whats the point???

"OK, ladies. Move in tighter so I can get you in the shot. I don't to miss one feature... Poonam, you are squinting!"

Comcast can suck it...

Why is it that everytime I have issues with my cable (not an uncommon phenominon) I end up having to call Comcast several times and speak to several "customer service agents" until I find one that actually knows how to do thier job? This time the issue was the Speed Channel and our inability to view it. My roommate Kathy called and set up an appointment to have a repairman come out and fix the box which happened this morning. I get back from my long run and all I want to do is sit in my lazyboy and watch football. I turn on the TV and the closed captions are on the screen. I cannot for the life of me figure out how to turn them off so I end up calling Comcast. After spending an inordinate amount of time explaining to the "customer service agent" That the account is under my roommate's name and my name isn't Kathy, he insists on calling me maa'm. This brainiac points out that the cable box does not have a closed caption feature and it must be coming from the TV itself, so I get off the phone. I checked out the tv and the caption feature was off. So now I call back and get a woman this time who seemed to have a much easier time comprehending that a) I was not Kathy and that I was in fact a male, and b) the cable box did have a caption feature and I had to turn off the box in order to go to the off line menu and disable the captions. Why aren't these service reps on the same page? You would think they would go to the same training sessions and all have the same knowledge about the customer service. I mean, c'mon. How fricken hard is it to know if you are speaking to a man or a woman on the phone? I hate Comcast and as far as I am concerned, they can suck it!

Screw you, Comcast....

Life

When you think about all the things we do in our lives to ensure that we are successful, weather it be careers, health, love, family, there are never any guarantees. You can achieve degrees of education on the highest level, but there is no guarantee that you will land that dream job, or even be happy if you do. You can exercise, eat healthful foods, get plenty of sleep, but that is no guarantee of lasting health or that you won't fall ill and possibly die before your time. You might even think you found your soul mate, but there is still no guarantee that this love will last. It seems at times that all we can do is prepare for the worst and hope for the best. "The road to hell is paved with good intentions" or "If you ever want to make God laugh, make plans..." Are sayings that remind us of how uncertain life can be. It's because of this that when things do work out, I embrace those moments and try to appreciate them as much as I can. Once in a while things do come together and magnificent things do happen. It is my belief that this fact of life, that good things do happen to those who try, drives us to achieve them. I believe it is this realization that inspire us to be better, to reach out ahead and accomplish more. On Sunday I had the thrill of witnessing this firsthand.

Karen Dean ran the Silicon Valley Marathon on Sunday in San Jose with a purpose. Her goal was to qualify for the Boston Marathon, and to do that she needed to finish in under 4:05:59. Karen had run the Boston Marathon twice before, but this time she was running for her husband John. John had a goal to run Boston. He tried several times to qualify but never quite made it. Just when it seemed he would get his chance, John had a relapse of Cancer. He fought valiantly before losing his battle in March of this year. So when Karen started running again, it was clear what her focus would be. If you ever need to look for signs as to weather or not you should do something, they were abundant surrounding Karen's reasons for wanting to run Boston. 2007 is the 111th running of the Boston Marathon. John's birthday was 1/11. John and Karen met 11/11. Running Boston would be Karen's 11th marathon.

Karen trained long and hard. Long runs on the weekends, Tattersols on Wednesday nights. She went from being her husband's nursemaid for months with little or no exercise, to becoming a well conditioned athlete in a matter of a few months. With a week to go I could tell she was nervous, which is always a good sign. I so wanted to run with her, to support and help anyway I could, and I knew just where to meet her. I stood on the course that morning at mile 10.7 and waited till she got there. She was with Dom and had a big smile on her face. I ran with her from mile 11 to mile 12, she did a 9:00/min split for that mile, just as she had planned. I let her go and caught up with her again at mile 25.5, this time she had an entourage in tow. A dozen friendly faces offering words of encouragement and support, running along with her to the finish. There was no smile on her face this time, just a look of steel determination. I will never forget how great she looked, perfect form, strong and steady. She reached mile 26 with exactly 4:00 on the clock. Just as we crossed that mile marker, her pace picked up. Her group of admirers felt her energy and we all got louder. In a full sprint she crossed the finish line with a time of 4:01:19. She qualified. As she went through the chute we all just stood there smiling and laughing, looking at each other in celebratory amazement as we all enjoyed the moment. It was as if we all simultaneously understood that we had just witnessed something very special.

Good things do happen. Sometimes the best laid plans do work out. Sometimes when we want something bad enough, we can almost will them to fruition. And when our love for someone is so strong that it touches the people around you, it seems that nothing can stand in your way. Even if that person we love is very, very far away...

Karen Dean
bib number: 1111
location: San Jose, CA
Overall Place: 282 out of 1033
Division Place: 4 out of 16
Gender Place: 45 out of 270
Time: 4:01:19
Pace: 9:14

Mount Vernon

Last weekend I headed back to Washington DC and visit my good friend Lecia and her trusty feline, Babs. While the main reason for going to DC was to spend time with my old friend, I also wanted to see some historic sites. I took a tour of Arlington National Cemetary on Friday, witnessed the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier. On the Saturday of my trip, we chose to make the 40 minute drive to Mount Vernon, home of the first President of the United States, George Washington. The site was in word, beautiful. Imagine a massive estate with many buildings surrounded by 8,000 acres of rolling green meadows and forest areas, set against the Potomac River. In it's heyday this plantation held 5 farms, each with thier own workforce of slaves and livestock. Dignitaries and commonfolk alike would travel from miles around to stay at the house, hunt the lands, fish the river, and be fed like royalty all on General Washington's dime. After spending a few hours touring the mansion and surrounding areas, we ended up in the gift shop. I wanted to bring something home that would forever remind me of this historic site. Something of signifigance and reverence for the first president of our great land.

This is what I brought with me from Mount Vernon...

They are F@#%ing socks, lady....

Saturday at the Rev was interesting. The day before the inaugural San Jose Rock and Roll Half Marathon brought lots of nervous people making last minute purchases of GU and clothing, and the clueless fools who decided that they needed a new pair of shoes a day before the race. I didn't mind them that much, they were all new to a sport I love, and excited as I was for the first rock and roll event in my home town. But there was this one lady who needed running socks that really pissed me off. I see her staring at the sock wall, looking at the toe socks. Toe socks are just what you would imagine they would be, socks with individual toes at the end which for some are a God send as they tend to blister in between their toes when they run. I asked her if she needed some help and she says to me: "yes I need these toe socks in size small for running" as she points to a pair of white toe socks that are a size large and happen to have the word running on the package. This was last years packaging before the folks at Injinji decided to change the label to say "Performance". I pull a pair of white socks in size small with the "Performance" moniker and say plainly, "here you go..." In disgust with my apparent ignorance, she says "NO, those are "performance" socks and I need running socks." So I explain to her about the packaging change and these were in fact, running socks but she wouldn't have it. "Well cant you just go in the back and find a pair of running socks in small, that say running on the package." I then said, "well, these ARE running socks and they are size small..." Not giving up she says "what about those on the right, are they size small? I explain to her that we stock the wall in order by size and that they are all larges. The smalls were over on this side, and even though they are the exact same fabric, size, style, look, feel, and for the time being smell as the ones that say running, unfortunately for me they say performance. After all, why in the hell would you find "Performance" socks in a running store??? (I didn't really say that, but I imagined saying it as I shook her senselessly.)

Then it dawned on me, I was just brought to the brink of unbridled rage over a pair of socks. Maybe my blood pressure IS causing this. I really should consider cutting back my coffee intake. Maybe just have one cup a day. Then switching to half cab, weaning myself off the insidious caffeine completely until finally I am totally decaffeinate...

NAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Yearly Physical

I had my annual physical today and got a small piece of bad news. Nothing too serious or anything that cannot be reversed in the next month and a half or so, but apparently I have high blood pressure. 135/90 is what it came out to which is what my doctor termed "boarderline HBP" which he says is due to of all things, my weight. Apparently I am overweight at 174 lbs! (who makes up his clientelle, runway models?) Next time someone tells me that I am skinny, I'll refer them to Dr. Chiu. At any rate, he says if I drop 5 lbs I'll be fine again. Honestly, I think it's due in part to my lack of sleep caused by stress at work among other things. I plan on getting to bed earlier every night, cutting out sweets, red meat, and snacks. I'll also drink more water which is something I should be doing anyway. For those of you who think my coffee intake might be the culprit, to hell with you. They'll never take my coffee! NEVER!!!!!

FYI, I received flying colors for the rest of my physical, including a 151 Cholesterol level! Woo hoo!!!

Chicken Dance II

The day before the race in Portland, I found myself once again at the Expo. We came across what might possibly be the worst chicken suit (dare I say "cock" suit) that I have ever seen. The urge was too great and there was nobody around who I would embarrass so I decided to break out into GOB's chicken dance. Nobody around me seemed to have any clue as to what I was doing which made it even more fun. The Arrested Develpmentless crowd stopped to watch as the chicken him/herself seemed to freeze as if he/she went into victim mode which made it all the more funnier. A personal Thanks to Jerald Balgos for capturing this moment on camera.

Marathon #9 in the books...

Portland was fun. Once the race started you could hear drums in the distance. At about the half mile mark was a band of about 12 drummers, doing a rhythmic cadence that was so loud that it raised the hair on the back of your neck. I had heard that the race was very well organized and supported so I decided to try running this without my fuel belt. 19 aid stations along the way, each one having your choice of Ultima (yuk) Gleukos (not bad) and water. Many also had gummi bears and cliff shots, and a few others offered vaseline for the chaffed. I never felt as though I needed a thing. I felt fully hydrated the entire time.

There were also lots of bands in all shapes and sizes. Blues bands, rock bands, folk bands, and even a harp player. At mile 19, things turned a bit surreal. There was an actual RED BULL aid station where they handed out full ice cold cans of RED BULL! Just what you need at that point in the race, how brilliant!!! Then we came across some belly dancers, one of which was a man (I am really hoping that was the RED BULL kicking in) so there were plenty of laughs to be had on the way back into town. About 100 yards from the finish line there was a cartoon character of a female opera singer with an opera recording blaring across the course. As the saying goes, it aint over till the fat lady sings, so this clearly signified that the finish was near. Once across the finish line you enter a corral where only runners are allowed. There waiting for you is tons of food, drinks, foil wraps to keep you warm, and a large medical staff who walked up to each runner and checked on thier health. This was by far the best finish area of any marathon I have ever ran. From there you get a rose (complete with thorns) a medal of course, finisher's shirt, and a tree sapling that you can plant when you get home.


I didn't kill it, and it didn't kill me. I finished at 3:39:22 and felt great afterwards. So much so that the next day I actually was able to do about 30 minutes on the treadmill to loosen up my legs. That was a first... I highly recommend this marathon. It's a great time if you like to travel and make a short vacation out of your race, and it wont break the bank!

Unfortunately, Jerald did not make his goal of qualifying for Boston. At mile 20 his achilles flared up and he hobbled in the rest of the way. Undeterred, he already has his sights set for PF Chang's in Phoenix. What a warrior!

Portland Marathon

This Friday I will be flying to Portland, OR to run the Marathon on Sunday. It will be my 9th marathon and should be a good one as I love this town and have heard nothing but great things about this race. The best part is that I am going with my friend Jerald who is trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon. He needs to finish the race in under 3:15:59 in order to run Boston in April. Go to the Portland Marathon website this Sunday,
Link
(click the title "Portland Marathon")and you can follow our progress as the race unfolds. The weather calls for temps in the high 50's and low 60's with a chance of a few showers. Sounds like PR weather to me! I won't PR this time, I was lazy and ate too much. However, Jerald definitely will as he worked very hard and is faster than ever. So log in and check us out, and send some good vibes to the Pacific Northwest. Jerald is definitely going to need a spiritual pat on the ass!!!

Waaaaaaa!!!

My friend Shawn said he got drunk over the weekend and fractured a couple ribs playing volleyball with some friends and he has done nothing but bitch about it ever since. Personally, I think he broke them receiving a donkey punch, but that blog is for another time... Now normally I don't tease friends when they are in pain, but it was only a few weeks ago when I had an abcessed molar and he teased me, messed with me, and tried to feed me an overcooked steak that was tougher than a baseball mitt. So, this one goes out to Shawn Pagee. Call it Karma if you want, but this little cry baby had it comin. Payback's a bitch!!!!

John, this is Samuel L. Jackson

Some of you may have heard the story about me sending John Martin that joke voicemail from the "Snakes on a Plane" website. Basically what happened is on a Friday afternoon I went to the website, entered John's cellphone number and had the site send John a personalized voicemail about why he should go see Snakes on a plane, and the voiceover is actually the voice of Samuel L. Jackson. You also enter your own phone number so when the recipient gets the call, they look at the caller ID and see your name, prompting them to answer. Unfortunately for John, the call arrived at his cell phone at 5:30 the following morning. This not only woke John and his wife, but it worried him to get a call from me that early in the morning. Half asleep and concerned, John picked up the phone and the conversation went like this.

John: "Hey, Chris. What's going on???"

Voicemail: "JOHN! This is Samuel L. Jackson, and I am here to tell you about Snakes on a Plane...."

Later that morning at Los Gatos High School, John confronted me in an angry tone as only the husband of a scorned woman would, and wanted to know why I sent him a voicemail at 5:30am when in fact it was the day before that I sent it. Hilarity ensues, and here is the actual picture of John confronting me.

"hey Barber, WTF???"

Rear Main Seal

My Jeep started leaking oil last week so I took it back to Oil Changers thinking that maybe they didn't tighten the drain plug or the filter when I had the oil changed. They told me that everything was torqued to spec, and that the oil was coming from a leak in the Rear Main Seal. I had no idea what they were talking about, but since then I have been educated on the subject. Allow me to explain to you what the rear main seal is, does, and how much it costs to replace.

This is what the Rear Main Seal looks like. Located between the transmission and the engine block, this "O" ring if you will holds the oil in the engine and the transmission fluid in the transmission. This part costs $70.00

This is where the Rear Main Seal goes. To get to the part, one must remove the oil pan and sometimes the transmission as you can plainly see here. Here is the best part, you also have to replace the oil pan gasket ($68.00), the oil and filter must be changed ($30.00) And then there is the labor ($350.00). So, if you ever have a leak and its caused by a bad Rear Main Seal as is the case with my Jeep right now, you can expect to have it repaired to the tune of $518.00. Or else....

Believe me, the Raiders are the least of my worries right now.

RRRAAAAAAYYYYYYDDEERRRRRRRRSSS!!!!!!

7:15 PM TONIGHT, MCAFEE COLISEUM, RAIDERS VS. CHARGERS....

Nothing kills boredom like the Chicken Dance

I haven't had much to blog about recently, so I thought I would have a few laughs and post these... Cha, Che Cha, Che Chaaaaa!

The Steel City

After the Hall of Fame we took a byway to Pittsburgh, PA. We arrived at PNC Park at around 6pm, just in time to get some tickets and take in a Pirates game at the brand new ballpark there. The AllStar game was held there earlier this year and rightfully so. As with the other "retro" parks being built these days, this one had the quirky outfield shape, old park feel, and a phenomenal view from beyond the outfield bleachers. Not only do you get to see the skyline which is breathtaking, but you also have the Roberto Clemente Bridge which is painted yellow. I had a hard time taking my eyes off these views, they really are spectacular. Behind the right field wall is the Allegheny River which obviously was an idea taken from AT&T Park in SF. This was a fun park to visit.














There is an Outback Steakhouse behind the left field wall from which you can watch the game, and there are several foods in the normal concessions stands like Perogi that you probably wont find anywhere else. Hmmm, Wrigley Field, Hall of Fame, PNC Park... Isn't traveling awesome?!?!?!