TZ Marathon

One of the signs of New Year is the Twilight Zone marathon. It runs for the whole day on New Year's Eve and has been doing so for as a long as I can remember. Many of my friends are into it also. They watch every year. It's always the same episodes. It's like an event. Not one of them owns the DVD set either. There's just something about catching a show or series when it plays on cable. I think that once we own a show or movie on DVD, it's always there for us. Knowing that, we never actually pop it in and watch it. But if we're flipping through the channels, we're likely to notice one of our favorites as it's on the air. There's that element of randomness that's somehow appealing.

Conquering CA

The Bulls started out the season on a California road trip. This was essentially a shortened circus trip and for the second year in a row, they came out of it with a winning record... 3 out of 4 from the Western Conference. This year, they only face each of those teams once. They defeated the Lakers in the opener with exciting clutch plays. Truthfully, the game shouldn't have come to that though. But players were rusty still and it was a great confidence booster to test the team when the pressure is on. The Bulls were still rusty in the loss to Golden State, but they did manage to make a 4th quarter run. They came back with a 108-98 win over the Kings in a game of runs. Both teams went back and forth with 10-point runs, making for a very fast paced game. The win over the Clippers was similar, but more of a blowout ending... 114-101. Rose had his best game of the season so far with 29pts, 16asts and 8 rebs. All starters were in double figures with a lot of bench support as well.

It's too bad the Bulls were still rusty for the Golden State loss, otherwise they'd be 4-0 right now. It's one of those cases where they lose to the bad teams. Indiana heads the Central Division at an undefeated 3-0. The home opener is tomorrow against Memphis.

December in the Office

It's my favorite month to be in the office. Most people take this time off, especially the employees with kids who have to follow the school schedule. So it's been pretty peaceful. I had 4 real emails in the last 2 days, so I really had a chance to finish up a lot of small low priority tasks that I've let linger due to the main projects. Because of the mass absences, most meetings tend to get cancelled. I had 2 weeklys eliminated. So that's +2 hours of real work time. Sometimes it's hard to use up all of your vacation days by the end of the year, but I made an effort to do it. I also don't like being off for a long time while the company is officially open. While the emails are light, things always can happen. I would almost be in favor of having the company closed during holiday week like the entertainment industry does. If everyone is off, then there's absolutely zero activity. No one can break anything while all of the fixers are on vacation.

Today was the last day before the long weekend. Since New Years is on Sunday, the company generously gave us Friday and Monday as well. So I worked the full day and cleaned up my office so I can start 2012 fresh.

Street Fighter X Tekken

NBA Present

Bulls fans couldn't have asked for anything more for Christmas Day. The NBA season began and 5 games were televised nationally. It made me not want to do anything for Christmas! I did manage to watch all the games, even during a family dinner. Even though the Bulls looked sharp during their last preseason game, both teams were a bit sloppy in the opener. The Lakers were leading most of the game. Behind Luol Deng, the Bulls came back to get a 56-49 lead. That was important because Rose got the halftime interview over Bryant. The Bulls fell asleep in the 3rd again and let the Lakers catch up, but it was clutch play in the 4th that saved the game. The Lakers led by 11 with 4 minutes to go... by 6 with less than a minute left. The game was seemingly over, but so many guys stepped up and didn't buckle under pressure. Deng scored several straight with trips to the line. Then he made a steal off Bryant and passed to Rose for the game winner. With 4 seconds left, the ball went to Bryant, who was blocked by Deng, Noah and Gibson. I think Deng got the block, but all 3 touched the ball at almost the same time. Like many Bulls classics, this game had the game winner followed by a great defensive play. That's first place and an important win on the season opening road trip. Golden State next!

The Knicks beat the Celtics in an exciting opening game. Heat defeated the Mavs in the Final rematch. OKC defeated Orlando. The rebuilt Clippers beat the Warriors.

Transformer Suit Finally!

It took ASUS a second version of their Eee Pad Transformer for Hasbro to finally notice that they've been biting off the name! They're going after ASUS for the "Transformer Prime" name, which is the name of the race of robots and the Autobot leader, Optimus Prime. "Transformers Prime" is also the name of a new TV series too. I think the Transformer Prime tablet is by far the best on the market, but what was ASUS thinking, calling it after the robot line? Maybe they should have gone all the way and call the color Decepticon Amethyst and Cybertron Gold!

A cross branding/promotion would have been pretty cool. There could have been Decepticon and Autobot logos next to "ASUS." Maybe even a movie deal with a preinstalled digital copy of "Dark of the Moon." The device could even make a movie appearance as a minibot.

Preseason Playoffs

The NBA is back and it's  nice to cover games again. Last night, the Bulls ended their short preseason with a 2nd win over the division rival Pacers. They also won the Friday game although you could tell both teams were a little rusty. Last night's game was a lot better. Bulls won 93-85. Rose had 12pts/9asts. Boozer looked great with his 24pts. It's great to have a lot of scoring options now without sacrificing team defense. On any given night, Rose, Hamilton, Boozer and Deng can put up 30pts.

I  was also the debut of Rip Hamilton in the starting shooting guard position and I have to admit that he adjusted well, working his 19 off several fast break plays with Rose. Hamilton mentioned that he has never played with anyone faster than himself. So this should make for a very interesting backcourt if they can keep it up for the season. My gut feeling is that it will work out. The Bulls' culture is too strong for any one player to disrupt. I'm sure Hamilton is willing to start from scratch because the Pistons have been terrible for the past few years while the Bulls have been a playoff team consistently, even before Rose.

Under Fire

The Kindle Fire has been out for a few weeks now and we've seen nothing but good press. Amazon claimed a successful Black Friday and also kept saying that it was their most successful product. Some coworkers jumped on board despite already owning other tablets just because it was $200. They were pretty happy with it as well. Starting last week, there were several articles that were all of a sudden trashing the Kindle Fire, saying it lacked functionality, has unresponsive hardware and that Amazon was very vague about the sales numbers, suggesting that they were playing it up.

Sales numbers were probably true or close to it. The Kindle Fire looked good enough on paper and the price tag was a sweet spot even for current iOS/Droid tablet owners. I can understand the initial disappointment, but the truth is... the Fire IS NOT an iPad. You won't find a $600 device for $200!

Desperation - Web Ads

What's happening with headhunters can also be applied to the advertising field. Think about it a bit. Throughout the day, we all visit a lot of websites. As you click through your regular ones, did you notice any ads? They've become so common that we've mentally blocked them out. In desperation, advertisers are always trying to think of new ways to do it. They'll often come up with odd sizes or weird places to put them... to try to "trick"people into clicking. Going for dishonesty speaks to the way salespeople work. This is exactly the same as the recruiter situation.

Winter Energy Savings

Assuming it gets cold at some point here, I put together a list of energy saving tips for NYC apartment dwellers:

1) Make sure your furniture is not blocking the radiator.
2) Keep windows closed. Sometimes it's tempting to open them because the entire apartment can be set too high, with some units cooler than others.
3) Wear extra clothing. Building owners are not required to crank up the heat so you can walk around in your underwear!
4) Let in as much sunlight as possible. This means leaving the blinds open during the day and keeping the glass clean.
5) Remove your window AC... it lets in drafts even if you wrap it in plastic.

Desperation - Headhunters

This year, I've received more calls from recruiters than ever before... both calls looking to place someone and ones trying to hire me. The funny thing is, I haven't applied anywhere and don't even have my resume posted on any job boards. I've always hated recruiters because they're really just salespeople. They'll match employees and positions just so they get a commission. So I'm happy that they're in desperation now and their field is suffering. The company I work for goes mostly by word of mouth with our new hires these days. When a position opens up, employees are notified far in advance and there are interviews and often hirings that happen before it even goes public. We try to stay away from the salespeople as much as possible because we know they're in it for the money and we're looking for the best match in skills. There are enough skilled people unemployed because of the recession that there's no need for recruiters anymore.

Clipped

The Bulls have have gotten Hamilton as the missing piece to their starting 5, but it was the Clippers who made the headlines, beating out the Lakers in nabbing Chris Paul. The Lakers' master plan was to get Paul and use him to woo Dwight Howard. That all went down the toilet. Paul, coupled with Blake Griffin and Chauncey Billups makes the Clippers a mid-seed playoff team. This could also make them the best team in LA!

Rip

I never thought Rip Hamilton would be a Bull, but that's what looks like will happen later today. He was offered a 2 year/$10 million deal and is expected to take it after he cleared waivers with Detroit earlier today. His basketball skills fill the needed shooting guard position. He's from the Detroit championship team that touted defense. So these are all good. It's his personality that I didn't think would fit. He's a league leader in technical fouls and has a reputation for bitching all the time. This can only work if he changes himself to fit the personality of the Bulls' core... just shut up and work hard. If things work out, with Boozer healthy all year, the Bulls can be placed right up there with Miami and Boston.

Detroit is now depleted of championship players, and Ben Gordon must feel ripped off by moving there, but it's also his chance to get some minutes back. Hopefully he can get back on track to being an All-Star there. I wish we could deal Rip back for BG7 instead!

Clockwork Apple: Bus Driver Tanya

Tanya is the bus driver on days that I make it to the stop late. Fortunately, she's always rushing and it makes up for some of my lost minutes. When the last person on the stop boards the train, she's already taking off. There are usually about 3 people in front of the white line, one of them still in the stepwell! She drives the bbus like a sports car, making hard turns, beating lights and making sudden stops. Passengers, especially the standing ones often lose footing. I know to grip tighter when I'm riding Tanya's bus. 

Tanya's brain is also in fast forward as she burns through the streets of Manhattan. She automatically says "stand clear off the doors" as people step on and off. It's so automatic that she even keeps repeating it at the last stop when everyone gets off. The doors aren't even closing. There's nothing to stand clear of!

No Moves

The Bulls have no plans for making any significant moves. It seems like they're going to build on the team they have. While they made the Eastern Conference Finals last year and gave the Heat some close games, I think they needed a move to put them over the top. The Bulls last year were arguable equal to the Heat. With the addition of Shane Battier, the Heat got better. They now have someone solid beyond James and Wade. So if the Bulls go with last year's team, they'll still lose to the Heat at some point. Boozer had an off year with injuries, but if you apply his averages, it still won't add up if he's healthy all year.

The Knicks have also made significant steps as they acquired Tyson Chandler and Mike Bibby. And you have to figure Melo and A'mare will be more used to each other. They now have a complete team and have moved from an eliminated team to a middle playoff seed... on paper.

Power Shift

Albert Pujols was the biggest name this time around in MLB free agency. After 11 years with the St. Louis Cardinals, he signed a new contract with the LA Angels. Not many position players can impact a game, but he's one of them, right up there with Jeter and A-Rod. I really thought he would stay with his team, but I guess the money and big market team were too appealing. This puts a lot of power back into the Yankees main nemesis. They were starting to put together winning records against the Angels the past couple of years, but this move could change things back in favor of LA.

Pujol's resume is amazing for an 11th year guy:
- .328 batting average
- .420 on-base percentage
- .617 slugging percentage
- 445 HR's
- 1,329 RBI's
- 1,291 runs
- 3 MVP's
- 2008 Roberto Clemente
- 7 playoff berths
- 2 World Series rings

Even though this is bad news for the Yankees, I'm happy for Pujols. He's a great guy. He does things the right way and is great for the MLB. If the Yankees didn't already have Tex and the Sox Gonzalez, he definitely would've taken one of the two sides. Unfortunately, he's a 1st baseman.

Sword of Azrael: Micky D's Cast

Way back in October, 2 women went to pay for their McDonald's order with a $50 bill. As in standard procedure at any cash register, the employee checked to see if the bill was a counterfeit. Rachel Edwards and Denise Darbeau were offended by it and started to cause a scene. Things got loud and they climbed over the counter. One of the cooks, Rayon McIntosh then went up to defend his colleagues, striking the aggressors down with a metal cooking instrument. Later, the 2 women were rightly charged with trespassing. The cook was initially arrested, but charges were dropped after a jury agreed with his self-defense plea. He did lose his job though.


I think everyone got what they deserved. The whole incident wouldn't have happened if the women didn't make a big stink about their $50 bill. Who buys McDonald's with a $50 bill anyway? You can argue that Rayon McIntosh was excessive, but if a customer is crazy enough to jump the counter, they're in attack mode already.

December Rain

Rain in December isn't totally abnormal, but it is when the temperature is 60 degrees and humid. That's what it's been like for the past 2 days.  I'm not even sure what to call it. It's somewhat early Spring-like, but there are also a lot of leaves on the ground from a delayed Autumn. And it's dark in the mornings and evenings like it should be in Winter. December is  supposed to be snow and slush at 30 or 40 degrees. There is snow in the forecast, but naturally it will be too warm to stick in the city area. We'll probably have thundersnow sometime this month too if the temperatures keep up.

Rumors Begin

The official end to the NBA lockout will be December 9, but it's refreshing to see things get started. There's tons of basketball news and my Bulls text alerts are coming in. During the lockout, there would be one article every couple of days. Now there are several per day. The Berto Center opened last week, which was a good sign. Though teams can't make moves until Friday, the rumors are already coming out. Many will be based around Dwight Howard's free agency. There's a lot of news on both sides of the issue... whether he'll stay in Orlando or move on to a top team. I just read in the Chicago Tribune that some believe the Bulls could be a sleeper and trade Noah, Deng and Boozer. As someone who believes in building rather than buying a team, I'm totally against that. At the center position, Howard is the best in the league, but Noah is also considered a top center. Deng is one of the most consistent guys and the other clutch player besides Rose. Boozer is a consistent 20/10 guy. Dwight Howard's numbers don't add up to these 3 stars.

The Bulls are one player away from a championship, but it's not the center. They need a consistent shooting guard... it could be Carter, Butler... maybe even Iverson from retirement. They just need someone with offense.

Overrated Beats

It was always Apple products that were the in thing to carry when walking around the city.It all started with the first generation iPod... then various models after. Then it was the iPhone family and now the iPad as well. The one non-Apple item that has emerged over the past year is the Beats Audio headphones by Dr. Dre. The large over-the-ear models start at $300 and the buds are $100. Headphones can only sound so good because they're already right up to you ear. It's not like speakers where 3  or 5 or 7 make a difference.

Valentine's Day in Boston

Earlier in the week, there were talks of Bobby Valentine getting hired as the Red Sox  manager and it became official yesterday. After their end-of-season collapse, Boston fired Terry Francona, the man who helped them get 2 rings after the 86 year drought. I think things worked out pretty well here. Despite hating the Red Sox, I have always liked Francona and his Joe Torre-like management style. He obviously has a successful method. The same can't be said about any recent Sox manager in the past 8 decades. So as a Yankees fan, I'm glad hes not a Red Sox anymore. Hopefully a better club hires him. Bobby Valentine is sort of an annoying manager, so it's great that he's joining the Sox. They deserve each other!

Subway Tales: Priority Seating

The seats at the end of each subway car are for  elderly, disabled or pregnant people. If you take one of them, you should always be aware who is entering the train at stops after yours. The seats are designated by stickers and more recently, posters mentioning that it's the law. Your safest bet is not to use them at all unless the train is empty, especially if you're going to shut yourself down to the outside world by playing with your smartphone or reading a book. 

This morning, I was on a crowded train. The priority seating on my end was all taken up by 5 elderly and 1 teenager. An old guy with a cane entered the train, looking for a seat. The teenage girl pretended not to see him. He even asked her for a seat and she ignored him twice. She did end up giving him the seat, but it shouldn't have come to that. The seat is reserved for the elderly. They shouldn't have to ask. It's extra work for them and an embarrassment for the person occupying it.

Black Friday Actually

It turns out that Black Friday did very well this year. So maybe it just failed in the electronics department... or maybe I was just disappointed in it. I had a lot of friends find great deals on clothing, no one I knew went crazy with electronics like we used to. There were a few good deals on flash drives, memory andd mice, but nothing verly exciting. The Asus Eee Transformer was on sale for $250 @ Best Buy, but it's well known that the Transformer Prime is coming out soon and also, you can't expect Best Buy to have enough stock with their avenue long lines. Strangely enough, Amazon did well with it's Kindle Fire despite it not having a sale price. It was just it's standard $200. I guess people already had their eye on it and felt the $200 was already a steal.

Cyber Monday was more of the same with stores selling leftovers and some even continuing the sales all week long, futher diluting what used to be a one-time Black Friday event.

Clockwork Apple: Jill Chu

Jill looks just like a friend of mine, who she'snamed after with her long, curly brunette hair. I don't always see her because she's not as exact as some of  the other clockwork characters. She won't pick the same spot in the same car each day, but seems to have a range of 3 car, like myself. She gets on before  I do, probably at a very early stop because she's already settled in and doing makeup for almost the entire commute. She does it with precision and experience too, so she's used to the curves, fast and slow points of the ride. That says that she's been at the same job for a while. 

Something else noticeable about Jill is her iPhone 4 case. It's a silicone one with long rabbit ears sticking out of the top. And she has this in more than one color. I've seen her with pink and orange. That can't be an efficient case. The ears would just get in the way all the time as it takes up a lot more space than it needs to. It would also look silly when she uses it as a phone or takes pictures with it. Jill also carries a matching red and white backpack and duffle bag.

Game On!

The players and owners finally agreed to a deal earlier today, so it seems like there will be an NBA season after all. Training camps will begin on 12/9. They are able to get in enough games for it to matter... 66 instead of 82. In the 1998 lockout, the season was just 50 games. The season will push a little bit later into the Summer than usual and will begin on Christmas Day. The Bulls will face off with the Lakers as previously scheduled, which will be part of a nationally televised triple header. The other 2 games are the Final rematch between the Heat and Mavericks and New York/Boston rivalry. Those are going to be 3 great games.

This should be interesting for the Bulls because with the late start, the Bulls are passing by their annual Circus Trip. Hopefully they can take advantage and get off to a good start.

This isn't a done deal because the agreement still needs to be finalized. Either side can still reject it and we'd be back to square one, but this is the first time I actually feel positive about it. They're talking about the season layout in detail. Both sides just want to get some games played. We'll stay tuned and see.

Derrick Rose - Assassin

This is a fitting commercial for Derrick Rose because he shoots like an assassin with his clutch circus plays!

Black Friday Fail

This was the first Black Friday I skipped. I didn't see enough items or any single item that motivated me to wake up at the crack of dawn the day after Thanksgiving. I usually hit Radio Shack and Staples because they historically have carried enough stock to follow through with what they advertise. But I didn't see that many good deals this year. Staples had some good flash deals, but nothing that blew me away. Last year, I at least picked up some mid-range items like projectors and DVD players. Flash drives/memory aren't enough motivation. Many stores were advertising "Black Friday," but actually just offering regular sale prices. Could this be the death of Black Friday? I feel like the term has gotten corrupted. CompUSA throws around that term all the time on random Fridays. Some stores open their doors on Thursday night.

Subway Tales: Clark Kent Effect

On my way home today, a colleague of mine sat right across from me. I looked right at her to give him a "hello" nod, but he didn't notice. He looked away and then back. I waved and he still didn't notice. We couldn't have been more than a few feet apart! I finally called his name and he really didn't recognize me without the glasses I wear during the day. I also changed my shirt as usual. So I simple change really does a lot for appearances. This colleague is someone I'm very friendly with, so he wouldn't do the typpical NYC ignore. You might think that Superman's disguise as Clark Kent is silly, but people really do look different with/without glasses, expecially in a city used to looking the other way.

Subway Tales: Face-to-Back

Some people just can't stop talking. There are many situations during a commute where people need to move in single file, like on an escalatror, narrow path or revolving door. I notice a llloot that people who trvel in twoss will keep talking even when switched to single file formation. IIt makes no sense because the guy in the back won't be ablle to hear, especially with all of the city's ambient sounds. It's a step worse on an escalator because the 2 peoples' heads will be at different levels, allowing for more interference. And through a revolving door, it's even worse because all sound is cutoff anyway. 

Transformer Prime: Ultimate Tablet

ASUS is on a roll. Their U series is the best all around laptop in the market. I played with the U36 in the store and it really lives up to its specs. They also released a wave of tablets that were all interesting in their own way. The one that had my eye was the Eee Transformer as it tried to be a laptop and tablet at the same time. Less than a year later, the 2nd generation is already about to come out and it kills all tablets in specs. Check it out...

iPad 2
- 1 Ghz Dual Core Processor
- 512 MB RAM
- 16-64 GB Storage
- 1024x768
- .3 MP Front Camera
- .7 MP Rear Camera
- 10 hr Battery (really around 9)

Eee Transformer Prime
- 1.3 Ghz Quad Core Processor
- 1 GB RAM
- 32-64 GB Storage + Micro SD Slot
- 1280x800
- 1.2 MP Front Camera
- 8 MP Rear Camera
- 12 hr Battery

It beats he iPad 2 in every way and significantly.

Clockwork Apple: Mitu

Normally I don't write about people that are obviously there everyday... just people who by chance are. I'll make an exception for Mitu Busuioc though because he operates like clockwork. Mitu is the accordion player in the Bryant Park station. He's in the tunnel between 5th and 6th Avenues during the morning rush. He's playing with a smile all the time and proudly has a banner hung up next to him for self promotion... that's how I know his name. The thing I noticed is his precision. I go through there about the same time each day and he's playing the same song. If I'm a little late or a little early, it's a different song. So he follows a fixed schedule. It's actually possible to tell time when passing through the corridor!

Sword of Azrael: Guilty Forever

Since there's no NBA right now, I've been watching a lot of random TV shows. Last night, I caught an old episode of Law & Order: SVU. It was the one about a rape victim protecting her rapist because over the years, he became paralzed from the waist down from a bicycle accident. The victim became very spiritual after her atttack and had since forgiven the rapist. The main characters, Stabler and Benson made thhe arrest at the end which revealed the crippled attacker to the shock of the detectives. The episode was supposed to give sympathy to the criminal or at least make people think twice about it. But the guy in the wheelchair should be locked up, no questions asked and no second thoughts. He still raped 4 women and an unrelated bike injury should have nothing to do with it. Most of the episodes of SVU are good, but this one was kind of pointless.

Mike Tyson "Never Ducks Anyone"

The Pacquiao/Marquez fight would have been good for boxing if it wasn't their 3rd stalemate. It was a great fight between 2 evenly matched athletes. The problem is the fans wanted something decisive... a KO. While this may pave the way for a 4th match, it will likely be better than Pacquaio/Mayweather if that ever happened. Here's Tyson on the fight and the state of boxing:

Pacquaio vs. Marquez III

Round 1: There was no major damage this round, but Pacquaio landed more and countered more. Marquez missed with a lot of big ones, which left him open for a few hits. It was a good opening round that got the fans into. Both fighters swung and hit. Pacquaio

Round 2: Unlike the first round, the 2nd was a chess match. Marquez hit with a good combo halfway through. Pacquaio countered shortly after, but I think Marquez was slightly better this one. Marquez

Round 3: There wasn't anything notable in this round. Both guys threw combos and blocked each others. Pacquaio just got a good right hand towards the end. This one could go either way. Pacquaio

Round 4: Pacquaio went on attack mode fron the beginning of this round. There asa good variety of punches by both guys. Marquez did a good job of switching high and low punches. Marquez

Round 5: Marquez took this one as he hit with a lot of well-timed punches. He did a good job of matching Pacquiao's footwork, mirroring his movements and choosing when to fire. Pacquiao picked up the pace at the end, but Marquez finished with a nice combo. Marquez

Round 6: Both fighters hit with combos this round, but Pacquaio had the power shots, including a nice uppercut as Marquez dipped. He took the blow though. Pacquaio

Round 7: An aggressive round for both fighters, but this time Marquez got the more power shots. What's amazing is both guys have taken big shots and still look fresh. Marquez

Round 8: This was tough one to judge. Both guys landed good ones. If you listened to the announcers, it sounded like Marquez won. If you turn off the sound, it felt like a draw. Tie

Round 9: Both guys opened fire during the 2nd half. Pacquaio clearly landed more. Pacquaio

Round 10: Another fast-paced round with a lot of exchanges. Both guys hit with power punches. Draw

Round 11: Nothing heavy this round, but Pacquiao hit with a bunch of flurries in the beginning. Marquez looked a little bit tired here. Pacquaio

Round 12: Pacquaio had the stronger finish. Marquez threw a lot, but most were blocked or missed. Pacquaio

The decision went to Pacquaio. I came up with the same, but as you can see, there were 2 rounds I couldn't decide on. If you award those to Marquez, it's a draw. So this one really could have gone either way... it was THAT close.

Panini

My day started out really nice during my morning commute. I sat in my usual spot. Another guy sat 2 seats down because the train wasn't full yet. A couple  of stops later, another guy went between us. He was one of those guys who couldn't judge space. He was obviously too wide, but he sat down anyway. Then he tried to lean back and squeeze in. I didn't give an in inch and neither did the guy to his right. In fact, as he pushed more, I pushed more into his space. A stop later, he got up and went somewhere else. He was replaced by a woman who fit into the space correctly. One  extra flat panini served!

Locked Out

By now each of the NBA team should have played 2-3 games, but we're still in lockout mode with little hope. The 2 sides are meeting pretty often... 2-3 times a week. Each time a meeting is scheduled, the news around it so positive, saying that that there's progress and that there could be a season. There was talk about still getting all the games in... just extending the dates further into the Summer a bit. But all of the meetings have the same results... the 2 sides can't agree after hours of talking. The players want to retain their 57% income... owners want them to get 47% but will settle for 50%.

I lean slightly towards the players because they represent the NBA. They do all of the work on the court. Many of them promote the sport outside of the court because they love what they do. The NBA doesn't make any money if not for the stars. We don't go out to watch games because of the owners. Look at the fan base when LeBron James moved from Cleveland to Miami. That changed both franchises significantly. But in the end, no matter what percentage each side gets, both will be filthy rich. 47% or 57%, players will still have the same lifestyle.

Siri Sucks

One of the features of the new iPhone 4s is something called Siri. This is a voice recognition system that tries to answer questions you ask it. It uses other software on the phone like your calendar or maps. The commercials make it look good because they're scripted. An office worker asks how his day looks and Siri mentions that he has 2 meetings. Another guys asks if he can walk to a location and Siri pulls up a map.

A number of colleagues are super Apple fans, so they got the 4s when it came out. After one of our meetings, we were all playing with Siri and asking it some normal questions like "who won the xxx game last night" and "what is xxx." It could not give an answer that made sense. The idea was to see if it would look up sports news or connect to a dictionary. So Siri is very limited... maybe to the few questions in Apple's commercial. I don't see it as a daily practical thing, especially when it eats up an already short battery life.

DST

Over the weekend, we got an extra hour since it was that time of the year to turn our clocks back. Several years ago, the beginning and end of Daylight Savings Time was expanded in both directions. The objective was energy savings. The more daylight we have, the less electricity people will using turning on their house lights. But when I analyze this, I think it cancels itself out. I woke up this morning and it was bright outside. I didn't have to turn on my studio lights for the 30 min it took me to get ready. But now it's dark earlier. When I got home, my lights went on. That didn't happen last week... I turned them on a little after 6pm.

Bali Open

Ana Ivanovic won the Bali Open Championship over Anabel Medina Garrigues in straight sets, 6-3, 6-0. Maybe a tournament like this will get her off to a good start in the 2012 season. She ends the year on a positive note and in no time, she'll start her annual training for the Australian Open.


Congrats, Ana!

Sword of Azrael: Double Fail

Yesterday, an off duty copy noticed a robbery in progress and was able to call for backup to bust the thieves. A Midtown West store was getting robbed, but both the stealers and victims were criminals. It turns out the store was selling counterfeit Air Jordans. And the thieves were stealing the fakes! So that's 2 levels of robbery! The store owner should get tossed in jail for selling fakes and a double penalty to the guys trying to steal them. All that effort for fake shoes... they'll certainly feel stupid about their efforts when they're sitting in their jail cell.

Phone Size Trend

When cellphones first came out, the goal seemed to be to get their size down as they were larger than cordless landlines. They probably got as small as the Motorola Razr before they became too small for the average hands. I noticed now at business meetings, everyone has their phone on the table because phones have taken steps back to being large again. No one wears it on their belt or sticks it in their pocket anymore. This is due to the popularity and lowering costs of smartphones. Almost everyone on my team has a smartphone now. The iPhone made things popular with it's 4" screen and some Droids have gone larger than that... namely the ones with a slider keyboard. I think 4" is the comfort zone. Anything smaller means a tougher time browsing and using the keyboard. Anything larger makes it a media player and would look silly held to the ear like a phone... almost as silly as someone taking a picture with an iPad.

Screen Size Definition for Devices

A while ago, I did size definitions for laptops because there was a laptop for every size and some gray areas. The same goes for handheld devices.

1-4"
This is the most common size because it covers several small devices like phones, MP3 players, GPA and PDA's. We're seeing a trend towards the 4" size because of the iPhone and myriad of Android smartphones.

5-7"
At this size, I consider the device a media player... a portable item used to watch movies. I feel that it's too small to be considered a tablet. There's not enough room for interaction. The iPad at 9" feels just about right... a little smaller and it wouldn't be the same.

9-12"
These are the tablets, dominated by the 9" iPad and several widescreen 10" Androids. I think the tablet category should max out at 12", The ASUS 12" slate is as large as they should get and it's borderline. That device is almost as heavy as a laptop.

13"+
Handheld devices shouldn't be this large. At 13", we're starting to see low-end LCD's for desktops. It would be silly to carry around a tablet of that size. Thankfully, I don't think anyone makes one!

Fast Break

It was only in recent news that NJ Nets Forward Kris Humphries married Kim Kardashian and they're already getting a divorce. It was a rumor yesterday, but official as of today. I think everyone saw that coming, but it was the short length of marriage that was a bit of a surprise! It was 72 days actually. It takes longer to plan a wedding than that! Just a few days before, there was news circulating about how Kim was looking for an NBA player to date for publicity and how her first choice was former Knick, Danilo Gallinari. Gallinari smartly declined. The odd thing is that it was Kardashian that filed for divorce and not Humphries. I guess the young and rising star was looking for a boost of star power himself. Hopefully he'll be OK if the NBA season gets underway. He's one of the pieces I think the Nets should keep as part of their building process. It would eb a shame if something like this affects him.

White Halloweekend

The strange NY weather doesn't end with a monster hurricane or earthquake. Now we have snow in October! I saw the forecast earlier in the week.. around 30 degrees and rain mixed with snow on Saturday. It rained all week, so I just thought we would have rain today with a few flurries mixed in. But it turns out that it was a legitimate winter weather watch with some areas getting 4-6 inches of accumulation. This is 2 months early and hasn't happened this time of year since 1952!

Bad Plan

All office buildings have some kind of security on each floor. Usually, you can't enter the office area after the elevators without a key or some kind of ID card. This can make things tricky if you're arriving in the morning with your bag(s), some groceries and breakfast. We all adapt in some way though. The idea is to get one hand or a few fingers free to swipe your card and tip the door open. Some people can position their back pocket or purse so that they can swipe with no hands. Today, I was walking towards the elevator area and noticed one guy that was carefully carrying a coffee (without a lid) in one hand and a plate with breakfast in another. He was going slowly so he wouldn't spill the coffee. He stopped at the entrance and did nothing because he saw me behind him in the door's reflection. I was 20 feet away. Then, another guy came out the door and opened it for him. The guy with the breakfast was just going to wait until someone helped him. He made zero effort to help himself. I was 20 feet away. What if I turned down another hallway? What if no one came out of the doors? Bad plan!

Subway Tales: Trash War

Our subway system is probably the dirtiest in the world. Over the years, we've improved the train cars themselves and even added countdown timers to some stations. We have a non-coin payment system. So the MTA, while still behind in technology, isn't that bad. But one thing consistent is that NY will always be dirty. So what's the MTA's genius decision? They want to remove garbage cans from stations now because they think that if there are no cans, people will bring less garbage with them. That's about as dumb an idea as they come. We should expect an increase in garbage. With cans present now, there's already newspapers and food all over the place. Take them away, and everything in the cans will be on the floor. This won't save money either because what's going to the people maintaining the cans will have to go into more cleaners.

Bus Stopper

One of the problems with this city is that everyone thinks the world revolves around them. The Bus Stopper is a prime example. There's one of these on every bus. This is the guy that stands in the middle of the bus, blocking access to the rear. He stands in the middle because he wants to be the first out the side door when the final destination is reached. I was standing when I got on the bus and 3 stops later, it was nearly full... except for the rear of the bus, which was empty thanks to Bus Stopper. At the next stop, the driver stood up and told everyone to move to the back. After receiving many dirty looks, Bus Stopper finally moved back. That made room for 2 more stops with around 12 people. Imagine that... one man's ego prevented 12 people from getting on a bus that wasn't actually full. If he had just moved to the back from the beginning, there would be no need for delay.

Tech Deals of the Week (10/23-10/29)

Flash Sales
- 8 GB PNY @ ST for $9.99
- 16 GB PNY @ ST for $19.99
- 32 GB PNY @ ST for $39.99

Mouse Attack
- Logitech M305 @ TG for $15 ($19.99 @ ST)
- Logitech M310 @ TG for $15
- Logitech M525 @ BB for $29.99
- Logitech M510 @ BB for $29.99

iPod nano Accessory Combo @ BB for $14.98
This package for the Gen 6 Nano (the square watch one) includes a 5-pack screen protector and a USB wall charger by Dynex... must haves that would usually cost $15 each.

iPod touch Accessory Combo @ BB for $24.98
You get 2 cases and a space-saving USB wall charger by Belkin.

Store Key: BB = Best Buy, CC = Circuit City, CU = CompUSA.com, DI = Directron, NE = NewEgg.com, OD = Office Depot, RS = Radio Shack, ST = Staples, TG = Target

Blog Design

It looks like my file server, Fileave.com abruptly cutoff sometime this week. That's why you didn't see the usual header, footer and other graphics for the past few days. I originally thought I forgot to logon this month. It used to require that in order for accounts to stay active. I gave it a few days to see if their systems would come back online, but it looks like they just disappeared. I didn't even get any email notifications. So I just quickly customized one of the Blogger templates until I can work on it again.

The Tape

The yellow tape on a NYC bus is used to indicate a stop request to the driver. On the rear doors, it's also supposed to make them open automatically when the bus is stopped. However, I'd say the tape on the doors doesn't work like 90% of the time. Yet I see people pushing the tape all the time. They'll push the tape first and when it fails, push the door. Why not just go straight for pushing the doors? Given the short window you have to open the rear doors, it's best to cut your time and try one method instead of two. I've seen several times were a passenger tried pressing the tape more than once and then miss his/her stop... or have to yell to the driver to open the rear doors. It's simple... pushing the doors works 100% of the time. The tape works 10%. Just go for the 100% from the beginning!

The Bull: Behind the Scenes

With the NBA still in a lockout, all preseason games have been cancelled and my sports posts have been reduced. As you can see, my October posts are far from my one-a-day norm. The Yankees early elimination didn't help much either. Anyway, Derrick Rose's 2.0's are out now and here's a behind the scenes look at The Bull commercial.

Tech Deals of the Week (10/16-10/22)

Flash Sales
- 8 GB Sandisk @ BB for $9.99
- 16 GB Sandisk @ BB for $17.99
- 8 GB PNY @ ST for $10
- 16 GB PNY @ ST for $17.99

Mouse Attack
If you've been holding out on a new mouse, this is the week to upgrade. Check out the long list on sale and take your pick...
- Logitech M305 @ ST for $12.99
- Logitech M310 @ ST for $12.99
- Logitech M325 @ BB for $19.99
- HP Mobile @ ST for $14.99
- Logitech M505 @ ST for $19.99
- Logitech M510 @ ST for $19.99
- Logitech M705 @ ST for $24.99

Samsung HM1100 Headset @ ST for $10
This is a good above average Bluetooth headset. The normal price is $29.99. You get a $7.99 instant savings and then a $12 rebate.

Electronic Cigarattes

As I sat down int he train this morning, there was a suspicious looking guy across from me that looked like he was hiding something. He kept looking around to see if anyone was paying attention to him. Hiding behind his jacket, he was obviously smoking something. It looked just like a cigarette, but yet I saw no fumes coming out. I also didn't smell anything.


After asking a smoker colleague about it, I learned that it was an electronic cigarette. They're used to help people quit smoking by replicating the inhaling sensation of nicotine. The mist is nothing but water vapor.

Subway Tales: Intersection

There's traffic chaos whenever a train stops at a station with a connecting line and both arrive at the same time. You have people trying to cross over and at 90 degrees, there are people going parallel to the platform, trying to get to stairs or an exit at the end. While the platform can be seen as the main road, and the one that has the right of way, it's usually the people transferring trains that act as if they own the intersection. They're in more of a rush because conductors often like closing the doors on people during a transfer. So if you're going accross a platform and there are 2 trains stopped on either side, get ready to protect your sides or you'll get flanked!

Subway Tales: Back-to-Back

Most of the time subway cars will open up one side at a stop. In a few rare places, usually at the first/last stop it opens up both if there's a middle track. There's often no pattern as to which side will open first. If it's a major station during rush hour, there will be crowds on both sides of the train and a bunch of people on the inside trying to get out. What the people on the inside have to do is make sure one of them gets out before one of the outsiders gets in because a crowd always follows behind. If you're in a party of 2 or more, you can prepare for this strategically by going back-to-back. One person exits on the left side while the other stands at the right. That way if the left side opens first, it's covered and the other guy can turn around and follow behind... and vice versa. If you're both on one side and the opposite doors open, you'll be flooded by outsiders before you can turn around. Naturally, this works if the inside is crowded and people are readying themselves on both exits.

Culture by Floor

I had lunch with a bunch of colleagues and we were all talking about our office environments. We all used to work on the same floor years ago, which is how we know each other. We got shifted around over time with restructuring and department transfers. It's amazing how different the culture can be in the same company, but on different floors. For example, people tend to eat out more on my floor as there's always space in the refrigerator. On my old floor where Will works now, the fridge is packed to capacity from Monday morning. Some of the floors have really clean restrooms. Mine is a dump all day long, even with cleaners maintaining it constantly. One floor has quiet, hardworking people. All you can here is keyboards. Another floor has people socializing all the time. The floors of a large company are like different states in the US.

Real vs. Fake Chinese Food

There are so many Chinese restaurants in the city outside of Chinatown that it's so hard to tell which ones are the real ones. Most that are outside of a Chinatown area cater to Americans and aren't really Chinese food even though they taste good. 

It's real when:
- dishes are less colorful and more natural looking
- interior design has a middle class home look and feel
- large portions
- misspelled English translations
- employees with accents
- more than one tea option

It's fake when:
- there's a display of generic food photos above the order counter
- General Tso's chicken is on the menu
- portions are small (typical in the "gourmet," touristy ones)
- chopsticks aren't on the table by default
- the place is too clean

Fishing in NY

Detroit earned a win and a trip to the ALCS by defeating the Yankees last night. There can be no complaints about what the Yankees did on the pitching side. We had CC Sabathia in the most critical game. We ended with Soriano, Robertson and Rivera. CC Gave up 3 runs. It's a game that should have been won with that combination. The offense was terrible though as we went into that mode where we stranded runners in scoring position. We struggled in making a comeback as the Tigers won 3-2. It was 3-0 for most of the game. Cano hit a homer to put the Yankees on the board. Then we clawed our way to get another run as Tex worked a walk with the bases loaded. And that was it. The Yankees just failed to rally with several given chances. Detroit played a better series and they're the ones that deserve to move on. The Yankees have some figuring out to do, mostly in the layout of their offense. They'll have the whole offseason to do it. At least they kicked the Sox out first!

So that's it for the Yankees season and that's enough baseball posts in a row. I'll try to get some non sports ones in there now.

Cycle of Employment

Something I notice about most employees in an office environment is a certain cycle they follow. When someone is freshly hired, they work really hard. They're often the first ones in the office. They take shortened lunch breaks if any. They also like to work from home after hours and on weekends. They do what's asked of them and are very helpful. Many of these things drop off after some time. The first one that goes is getting in early. Our company hours are 9-5. The newbies get in around 8 or 8:30 for the first few months. They start getting in later little by little as they get more comfortable. By the end of the first year, they're in at 9am like everyone else.  Fast forward to several years later and you have employees who have moved up a level or 2 and start coming in around 10:30... seriously! So that's more money for less work hours. Lunch breaks get stretched to over an hour... 2 hours if there's a group. So very often, someone with many years under his/her belt becomes a useless employee sucking in money for free. This is when they're better off getting replaced, but are often comfortable and out of respect, the company doesn't let them go.

Naturally, I've been around long enough to see this cycle. I refuse to follow it myself though. I have the same pattern now as when I was first hired.

iPhone 4S

Apple had their own event today, the first without Steve Jobs hosting. These events get a lot of attention no matter what Apple releases. Truthfully, I wasn't that interested in this one because I knew it was going to be the iPhone. I was just hoping they quietly updated one of the computers.

iPhone
This was a significant upgrade for the phone despite it not being the iPhone 5. The 4 got a dual core processor, 8 MP camera and updated software/OS. So it's essentially a small iPad 2. I think it's worth upgrading only if your contract is up. I wouldn't go crazy and upgrade if I already had the 4 and was mid-contract.

iPod touch
There was really no change to this device except that it now comes in white. The price points and storage sizes are the same.

iPod nano
They dropped the price a bit on this and officially built-in the popular watch feature. Again... nothing significant.

ALDS So Far

After ending the regular season with no off days in the final month, the Yankees faced another tough schedule with Game 1 starting out with a delay. The much anticipated Sabathia/Verlander matchup only went 1 inning. The game was suspended and moved to Saturday. They resumed with each team using their #2 pitcher instead. Nova pitcheed pretty well and kept the runs low enough as the Yankee bats took care of this game 9-3. So they essentially won the Verlander game... one many expected them to lose.

They then lost the next game 3-5. The bats came a live in the 9th, but it was too little and too late. The Sabathia/Verlander makeup on Sunday was much like game 2. The Tigers jumped out in front and the Yankees threatened in the 9th, but couldn't get the job done.

So Game 4... the potential elimination game is in the hands of the most inconsistent pitcher on the team, A.J. Burnett. It's hard to tell in baseball what trend to go by. So we look as his last couple of games, his 2nd half or his postseason experience?

New Kindles

Last week, Amazon released the next generation of Kindles... 2 e-readers and one full blown tablet. The most attractive feature of all of them is the price points. At $79, $99 and $199 they should be able to sell a lot. The e-readers, both under $100 will get a lot of people who hesitated on previous Kindles because it's so much cheaper for the same thing. If you think about it, at $80, if you buy 10-20 books, you make that money back on savings over the paperback or hardcover version.

The $200 Kindle Fire (Android tablet) doesn't compare to the iPad or any other top Android tablet, but it will take some marketshare away from the main players because it's a legitimate tablet that fills a gap left by Apple. Most tablets start at $500 for a 1 GB model. The Kindle Fire is $200 for 8 GB... it's half the storage as Amazon is pushing their cloud service... but it's less than half the price. So if you hesitated on $500 for a basic tablet, the the Kindle Fire is just what you've been waiting for. Tablet storage gets used up mostly my movies. Since most people use it for web surfing and games, 8 GB is more than enough for the majority of users.

The e-readers are available now... unless they get sold out. The Fire comes out in November, but you can pre-order now. I'm predicting that one will get sold out, so definitely pre-order while you can!

The Bull by Derrick Rose

Fishing in Boston

As expected, the Yankees threw their series against the Rays, though last night's season closer was a little obvious. They opened with an early lead mostly thanks to a Mark Teixiera grand slam. They lead 7-0 for most of the game and pitching only gave up 2 hits through 7 innings. Then all of a sudden the Yankees stopped trying. Longoria had a 3-run homer to highlight a huge 8th inning rally. In the bottom of the 9th Johnson had a homer with 2 outs to tie the game and force extra innings. The Yankees threatened, but the Rays worked out of trouble, catching Golson on a base-running error from 3rd to home. Longoria then homered again in the 12th against the Yankees' white flag, Scott Proctor.

While the Rays mounted an "amazing" comeback, the Orioles were putting together their own walk off win to kick the Red Sox out of the playoffs and send them fishing. It was an improbable game to win... I mean how much can a great team like Boston lose? It's gotta stop sometime. Lester was pitching a good game too and went in with a 14-0 record against the O's. The Sox had a 3-2 lead in the 9th. They were about to tack on another, but bad base-running by Scutaro wasted a run. Andino then hit one to left field. The Red Sox money man, Carl Crawford charged and missed, giving up the season ending run. Papelbon, the man who thinks he's better than Mariano Rivera got the loss. Karma's a bitch!

Subway Tales: The Kids

Now that school's in session, the subways and buses are slightly more crowded during the morning rush. I get the same regulars every day, but there are too many of them to give individually Clockwork Apple entries to, but they all have similar characteristics anyway. The kids are often a nuisance during the morning commute and here's a few reasons why:

1) They're all blockers. They like to stand near the entrance and carry backpacks larger than themselves.

2) They're deaf because they're blasting music into headphones larger than their heads. So if they're blocking you, they won't hear you say "excuse me." You just have to shove them aside.

3) Stupidity is contagious. When there are packs of kids, they'll gather in a circle and often block the entire width of the subway so people can't move in. If they're seated, they'll all talk to each other even if it means yelling across the train.

4) More often than not, they'll be eating breakfast on the train with something spillable.

5) Parents never taught them not to litter.

6) When transferring, they'll be texting while walking and not looking where they're going.

The Rivalry

Over the weekend, the Yankees played their final series against the Red Sox and had a chance to really knock them out of the wildcard race. A sweep along with 3 Rays wins would put Tampa Bay ahead. Other than that, the series has no significance to the Yankees. They clinched a playoff berth, 1st place in the division and home field advantage in the ALCS. The only reason to try hard against the Sox is because they're rivals, we hate them and want them to miss the playoffs!

So the Yankees came out and blew them away 9-1 on Saturday. Garcia had his best outing of the year, going 6 innings, 6 hits and no runs. Boston had their hits, but pretty much stranded everyone. Jeter had a 3-run homer. The Yankees were definitely not relaxed in this game as they started most of their regulars.

With Friday's rainout, Sunday became a double header. Because of that, the Yankees had to split their normal starters fofr the 2 games. So there was a bit of relaxation there. The Red Sox had to play many of their guys twice because they needed desperately to win. Game 2 was another Yankees victory... 6-2. It was one of AJ Burnett's best performances... he went 7.2 inning deep, which setup for everyone to be available in the next game. It seems like his confidence built from a 1st inning pickoff. Then the Yankees quickly scored 2 as they played the running game in the bottom of the inning. This could have been a really sloippy game with Burnett's wild pitches combined with Wakefield's knuckleball. It was the Sox that won the sloppiness though as Saltalamacchia couldn't get a handle of Wakefield's pitches.

Game 3 was a 14 inning, 5-hour+ marathon... a typical Yankees/Red Sox game and fitting for the last game of the season. The Yankees could have easily won this in the 9th inning with the score tied, bases loaded and 2 outs. Pinch hitting Jeter, A-Rod or Martin would have won the game, but I think it got to the point where the game was more meaningful to the Red Sox. After all, they used Papelbon for 3 innings. The Yankees did empty their bullpen, but didn't overuse anyone. They ended the game with the useless Scott Proctor, who gave up a game winning 3-run homer by Ellsbury (3 HR in the doubleheader).

So the Red Sox managed to stay alive. Hopes of kicking them out now rely on a Boston loss and the Yankees getting swept by the Rays.

61 Video

Maris 61

It's truly amazing when a record holds up for 50 years. That time ago today, on 9/23, Roger Maris broke Babe Ruth's single season homerun record with his 61st to deep right field. No other player in Major Leagues has been able to match that record up to now without the help of performance enhancing drugs or cork bats.

"Here comes Roger Maris, they're standing up, waiting to see if Roger is going to hit number sixty-one, here's the windup, the pitch to Roger, WAY outside, ball one. The fans are starting to boo, low, ball two. That one was in the dirt and the boos get louder. Two balls, no strikes on Roger Maris, here's the windup, fastball, HIT DEEP TO RIGHT, THIS COULD BE IT, WAY BACK THERE, HOLY COW HE DID IT, SIXTY-ONE FOR MARIS!"--Phil Rizzuto

It's too bad today's game got rained out. I was looking forward to the 50th Anniversary ceremony commemorating #61. With the way this storybook season has been going, I would've expected Granderson to surpass Jose Bautista on this day. But it'll have to wait until tomorrow.

Kings of the East

The fairytale year continues for the Yankees as they clinched a playoff berth as well as the division on the same day in 2 different games. Both games ended in dramatic fashion too... and both with a final score of 4-2. In the day game, it was a Nunez homer in the 8th for a tie followed by a Cano double for the win. Rivera picked up another save as they used up everyone in their bullpen except Soriano. Phil Hughes was unable to start, so Ghirardi used a different pitcher each inning, starting with Noesi.

With a depleted pen, the Yankees looked to CC Sabathia for a strong outing in game 2 and he delivered. Though he was unable to get his 20th win of the year, he went though 7 innings and kept it tied at 2. In this game, it was Posada's pinch hit, bases clearing single that won the game in the 8th... a fitting storybook ending for the 3rd member of the Yankees core. Rafael Soriano came in as the closer to put away his former team.

That wasn't all. The night win only cut the magic number to 1, but the Yankees had a lot of help from their rival Red Sox who continue to lose. Just before the Yankees clinched the division, Boston dropped another to the lowly Orioles, which cut the Yankees magic number by the 1 they needed. But since the Rays lost 2 to the Yankees in one day, the Sox remain 2 1/2 games ahead in the wildcard race. The funny thing is if the Yankees go for the best record on the AL and keep winning, they actually help the Sox get in because they have 4 games left against the Rays, who are the biggest threat to the Sox. So the Yankees control the Red Sox's destiny. If they lose the rest of their games, they will still be the division leader and the Sox would go fishing!

602

The Yankees already had a storybook worthy adventure with Derek Jeter's fairytale game where he got his 3000th hit. So why not have another! Yesterday, everything setup perfectly for Mariano Rivera's record breaking 602nd save. It was a makeup game against the Twins and a rare Monday afternoon one. Still, over 40,000 people took the day off and filled the stadium. When chasing someone going for a saves record, it's not like hits or HRs where a batter has 4-5 chances per game. Many things need to be put in place. A save situation in itself is already particular. The Yankees need to have a lead by 2 runs at the end of a game where the tying run is on deck. It was even possible that Rivera may not have seen another save for the rest of the season if the remaining games were blowouts and losses. And it didn't look like it was going to happen yesterday as the Yankees had an early 5-0 lead, with the bats looking good. But then Burnett collapsed after a good start and the bats quieted down for a few innings. All of a sudden it was 5-4. A-Rod knocked in an insurance run in the 7th to make things a bit easier, but still a potential save situation. Soriano held the 7th and Robertson held the 8th for a perfect setup. Rivera got his typical 1-2-3 inning to add another historical feat to his resume.

So that's 602 regular season saves and 42 postseason ones. He has one more save than Trevor Hoffman now, but the postseason saves were long out of reach. If you figure he pitches 2 more years, that saves record will reach at least 680. It was an amazing game and story for a great guy. Congratulations, Mariano Rivera, greatest closer of all-time!

Weekend Sports Wrapup

Yankees
It wasn't a great weekend for the Yankees since they lost the Blue Jays series. But lately whatever they did bad, the Red Sox did worse. Over the weekend, they lost 3 of 4 games to the Rays, who are within striking distance in the wildcard race. The Red Sox have just collapsed in September to the point where they're in danger of getting eliminated from playoff contention. The Yankees are almost guaranteed to get in as the division leader or wildcard. With their one weekend win, Mariano Rivera got his 601st save, tying Trevor Hoffman for the most saves in all-time.

Boxing
The Mayweather-Ortiz match ended up being short with a weird ending. Ortiz had an accidental headbutt in the 4th. The ref paused the match and deducted a point. Ortiz apologized. When they were ready to continue, he moved forward to apologize again. That's when he lwet his guard down and was KOed by a Mayweather combo. There are a lot of opinions flying around. Some say it was a dirty move. Some say that fighters should never let their guard down. I've even heard rumors that the fight was fixed because it was such a weird and stupid ending. I don't think there was anything dirty about it. Obviously, Mayweather was awarded the win, so there was nothing against the rules with his KO. They were not in a break. In every martial arts class, you're taught to bow and show sportsmanship, but never let your guard down. Boxing is no different.

Hard Cutover

When I went to sleep on Thursday night, the thermometer read 82 degrees. For some comfort, I turned on the aiir conditooner to 78. Last night, the thermometer read 71! Suddenly we went from Summer to Fall in one day. today's teempwertures ranged from 59-61. everyone outside was wearing a jacket, so it seems that people at least pay attention to the weather and temperature. The official start of Fall is nex week, but I think last night's hard cutover is the actual eend oof Summer in NY.

600

With a 3-2 victory over the Mariners, not only did AJ Burnett finally get a win since mid-August, but Mariano Rivera quietly earned his 600th career save. That's 1 away from tying Trevor Hoffman and 2 away from standing alone and probably forever! I'm surprised it's not a bigger deal outside of Yankees fans. I mean right now, only 2 guys in baseball history have done it as opposed to many who have hit offensive milestones like 500/600 HRs or 3000 hits. Saves are certainly more rare.

This stat real puts Rivera up there as the best closer in the history of baseball and he can also be considered one of the greatest Yankees, right up there withe Derek Jeter. His regular season (2.22) and post-season (0.98) ERAs are amazing, considering that he's facing RISP with the heart of the lineup at bat for most of his outings.

Mariano Rivera's Resume
- 12x All-Star
- 5 Championships
- 1999 MVP
- 2003 ALCS MVP
- Most post-season saves in mLB history (42)
- 2nd most career saves (600... soon to be first)
- Best career ERA for pitchers with at least 1000 innings
- Highest save conversion in history (89.29%) ... at least 250 chances
- Most seasons with at least 25 saves
- 15 consecutive season with at least 25 saves
- Most saves for a single pitcher (68 for Pettiitte)
- Most inter league saves (68)

US Open: Men's Final

This was a tough one to catch as the rain delays forced it to Monday afternoon instead of Sunday morning. But Arthur Ashe was a full house at 4pm for the Novak Djokovic vs. Rafael Nadal final. Despite Nadal's great tournament (only dropped 1 set), this year was Djokovic's. No one could really find a way to beat him. Nadal lost the final in 4 sets, but at least he made things close, forcing and winning the tiebreak in the 3rd and making a good 4th set. Hopefully Nadal can try some new things in the offseason. He's got to figure out the new Djokovic so he can keep pace with Federer's winnings.

9/11: Bin Laden Animation

We'll never know what the Bin Laden mission of 5/2 actually looked like, but this is a great animated reenactment of what I'd like to think happened:

9/11: Death of Bin Laden

9/11 holds a lot of painful memories for NYers. At least this year, on the 10th anniversary, we have some relief knowing that Osama Bin Laden is dead. While there are many more like him, picking him off this year was a big blow to the terrorists. Perhaps we should make 5/2 a holiday to celebrate his death and a victory for the free world. There's a lot of attention going into 9/11, but it will mostly bring bad memories back. I think starting next year, we should place more attention on 5/2 and the positives. 5/2 could be like 7/4... BBQs, family, fireworks, etc.!

Farewell Bin Laden... hope you like the fiery pits of Hell! Give my regards to Saddam, asshole!

9/11: Security

Today is the 10th Anniversary of 9/11, so security is extremely beefed up in the city with all of the memorial events going on. But realistically, I don't think the terrorists would pick today for an attack despite what the media keeps saying. The real life terrorists we're dealing with aren't stupid. They're not the cliche bad guys that we see in movies. If they attack, they're not going to pick a day of significance. Those days are when security is at its highest. They're going to attack on some random day that has no meaning because there will be less preparation and light security. Look at the 9/11 attack... it's just some random day in the Summer, not significant to the US or the Arab calendar. An attack also will not happen on a weekend because it wouldn't have the same impact. We have to be prepared every day and not lighten up.

US Open: Women's Final

Serena Williams was having a great tournament with no one really in the way of a 4th US Open Championship. Last night, she easily got past the #1 seed, Caroline Wozniacki. I though Wozniacki was going to make things closer because she was having a great tournament as well and can match Serena in power. It was Serena's grand slam experience that won the match though. Today, it was Serena Williams and Samantha Stosur in the finals... another opponent with a chance to win. Surprisingly, Stosur has not won a major before, but in this tournament, she showed great fitness. She was able to chase down a lot of shots and hit with precision. She easily defeated Williams in straight sets for the championship. I think we'll see her move up the ranks fast next year.

US Open: Nadal vs. Murray (Part 2)

Murray woke up in the 3rd set and was playing great at the net. He seemed to get his emotions under control and Nadal couldn't figure out how to get past him. All of a sudden the match looked like it was going to go the way of the Federer/Djokovic one just before. But Murray's surge only lasted one set as Nadal would not be broken again after the 3rd set. The final box score was 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.

I wanted to see a Nadal vs. Federer US Open, but will settle for a Nadal vs. Djokovic one. It's an appropriate match looking at this year's events. Djokovic has beaten Nadal 5 times already and holds a 63-2 record for the year. Nadal beat Djokovic last year for the US Open championship, but it's a much improved Djokovic. It'll be a good challenge for Nadal and great story if he can pull it off.

US Open: Nadal vs. Murray (Part 1)

So far this one seems one-sided. Although Murray is very much improved and has given Nadal trouble in the past, Nadal has really concentrated on the US Open the past couple of years. Now he's one of the best in the tournament. There were points in the 1st and 2nd sets where Murray looked like he could gain momentum, but Nadal just got better with the pressure. He saved all potential breaks with some amazing moves. Emotions took control of a frustrated Murray who smashed a racket. Nadal took advantage by playing his usual game.

US Open: Federer vs. Djokovic

Super Saturday's lineup started out with Federer vs. Nadal. The match was shortly delayed by rain, but they got it on around 12pm. Coming into this tournament, Djokovic was the best in the world, only losing 2 matches all year. But Federer was having a great US Open and looked like the vintage, invincible Federer. I thought it was going to be a long day after the 6-7 (7) first set win by Federer. It was just back-and-forth the whole time and very close. More of the same came in the 2nd where Federer got a 2 sets to 1 lead. But it seemed like losing the first game of the 3rd set was the turning point. He just lost his edge in the middle of the match. Djokovic came back to win the 3rd and 4th 6-3 and 6-2. Federer woke up in the 5th to make it close. He even had 2 match points. But the momentum was in Djokovic's favor as he finished 7-5, earning a trip to the finals against either Nadal or Murray.

US Open: Nadal vs. Roddick

It finally happpened... two of my favorite players faced off at the US Open. Roddick was having a pretty good tournament despite having most of the Summer off, but Nadal made short work of him in straight sets 6-2, 6-1, 6-3. People were questioning Nadal's health just because he had a routine cramp in front of the public. Me looking invincible today against a Roddick that played well enough to make it deep into the tournament. It's been a tough schedule for both guys after the rain delays though. Roddick just faced of with Ferrer yesterday and Nadal also dispatched Muller. Nadal will move on to face Andy Murray, who defeated Isner today.

Subway Tales: A Walking Mess

This week has been almost all rain all the time and it has made the commute worse. Less trains were running, and just in time for the crowds returning from vacation. Many students also started school after Labor Day to add to the volume.

After my stop this morning, there were actually a few seats open, including the one next to me. The next stop had a crowded platform. As the train pulled in and came to a stop, people were adjusting themselves to the positions of the doors. This one tall and large woman pushed her way to the front in a panic. She insincerely said "sorry" to someone she shoved as she took the seat next to me. I knew she was going to be trouble already, so I adjusted myself to take up as much space as possible. Sure enough, she tried to push against me and the guy to her left to get more space. I held my ground and actually pushed her over about an inch. I kept my elbow out the whole time too. Even more classic, she pulled out breakfast and started eating on the rtain. Through all his, she was still breathing hard and in panic mode. I actually sat an extra stop to prolong her discomfort.

Sweep

The Yankees finally worked a sweep over the weekend against the Blue Jays. In Friday's game, Nova proved that he could be the #2 on the team after CC, earning his 15th win, the most of any rookie. He gave up 2 runs on 3 hits over a strong 7 innings. They closed the game with Soriano in the 8th and Rivera in the 9th... perfect road map. It was a pitcher's duel with only 4 hits for each team. Gardner tied the game in the 3rd with a 2-run homer. Cano won it in the 5th. So it wasn't offensively exciting, but a win is a win.

Saturday's game was an OK start for Bartolo Colon, who gave up 4 runs. It wasn't a strong start, but on this team, keeping it under 5 runs gives them a chance to win. But it probably sent Colon to the pen for the 5-man rotation. I'm not sure I agree with that one because it was based on their last performance (Burnett had a strong outing against the Sox) and not the 2nd half of the season.

The much needed sweep was completed on Sunday behind none other than CC Sabathia. The ace gave up 2 runs and struck out 10. He went 7.1 innings and once again, the pitching road map went into work. Soriano got the 8th and this time Wade closed. With a final score of 9-3, Jeter's 3rd inning 3-run homer was all they needed.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox lost their series against the Rangers 2-1, giving the Yankees sole possession of 1st place.

Tech Deals of the Week (9/4-9/10)

Flash Sales
- 8 GB PNY Ultracompact @ ST for $12.99
- 16 GB PNY @ ST for $19.99
- 32 GB PNY @ ST for $39.99
- 8 GB HP @ BB for $9.99
- 16 GB HP @ BB for $17.99
- 32 GB HP @ BB for $34.99
- 8 GB SanDisk @ ST for $10.99
- 16 GB SanDisk @ ST for $18.99

Mouse Attack
- MS 3500 @ ST for $14.99
- Logitech M505 @ ST for $19.99
- HP @ ST for $14.99
- Logitech M315 @ BB for $14.99

Logitech C210 Webcam @ ST for $9.99
A good basic webcam for that desktop that's still missing one. It's 1.3 MP and can clip onto an LCD too. This is on sale at RS also, but for $19.99. So the $10 pricing is a true steal.

Logitech C270 Webcam @ BB for $29.99
If you want a better webcam, this model upgrades to 3 MP and can do video at 1280x720.

Targus Notebook Fan @ ST for $9.99
This is half price for a nice large size cooling mat for more notebooks. The price only gets lower on Black Friday.

Targus Netbook Case @ BB for $19.99
This is a netbook case that has all the features of a full fledged 15" laptop case. Usually for netbooks, you see a lot of sleeves or cases with no additional pockets. This one is made of nice durable material and it's just like a laptop case except for its size. You also get a mouse with it.

Instinct by Maria Sharapova & Head

Finally

The Yankees finally won a series against the Red Sox this season and AJ Burnett finally had a strong start after the All-Star break. With the 2-1 victory last time, the Sox secured the season series. For some reason, this seems to be the team we can't get past this year. The season series was closer than it should have been last year as well. Some of this can be attributed to losing players who usually help beat the Sox, like Damon and Matsui. And then this year, we had extended injuries to Jeter and A-Rod. Their pitching is also better. Against the Sox, our only shot is CC. If he loses, we're in deep trouble.

I was actually considering not watching last night's game. The series was tied 1-1, with AJ pitching the last game. I thought it would be easily a Red Sox win, which would then make it an easy task to cut the rotation to 5 and send Burnett on his way. But I have to credit him with a strong start. He even recoevered after giving up back-to-back solo HRs in the 5th. It'll be interesting to see who gets cut now. Do you throw out AJ's good start as a fluke or do you bank on his veteran experience for the postseason?

US Open: Early Rounds

The US Open was delayed by Irene, but kicked off on Monday. On the men's side, it was the usual suspects going through their 1st round formalities. The women's side has a different story with all of this year's Grand Slam champions already eliminated. But the women's tournament was never consistent. They don't currently have a greatest of all-time like Nadal or Federer. In a way, it's more exciting because everyone has a chance to win and there's a different champ every tournament.

Andy Roddick
Andy Roddick came back after a long time off with a torn abdomen muscle. He had some trouble in his first round match against fellow American Michael Russell, but won 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5. His serve still looks good though. Because of the off time, there's less pressure on Roddick this tournament. As he said, this is all bonus for him as he tries to get back into the groove.

Maria Sharapova
Maria looked great last night as she dispatched Anastasiya Yakimova 6-1, 6-1 in a quick match. She did start out a little slow in the first couple of games, but then switched to the "good" Maria shortly after. She's got a good shot at this tournament if she can stay in this frame of mind. She's really one of the only top seeds left and there's more than a week left.

Katia and More

We're still feeling the after effects of Hurricane Irene as parts of Upstate NY, NJ, VT and CT are still recovering, but Mother Nature doesn't look like it'll be waiting as Hurricane Katia starts to stir up. Right now, it's in the middle of the Atlantic and has a possibility of reaching the East Coast as it picks up strength.

Ever wonder about the hurricane names? Well here's the list for 2011:

Arlene
Bret
Cindy
Don
Emily
Franklin
Gert
Harvey
Irene
Jose
Katia
Lee
Maria
Nate
Ophelia
Philippe
Rina
Sean
Tammy
Vince
Whitney

I always thought they came up with the names on the fly... never knew there was a predetermined list. They actually have it all the way out to 2016 too!

Aftermath

Yesterday, I worked from home. Some of the subways were up and running in time, but the MTA made their decision too late and I already set myself up to work from home. The office was open, but not many people made it in. Metro North and NJ Transit were still down or heavily delayed. There was still a lot of traffic coming into the city too. All in all, I think the city did a good job. They prepared for the worst and got NYC through this mess with minimal damage and injuries. The MTA even came up several hours earlier than predicted. Some areas are still without power though, that doesn't count as NYC. So they get an A from me. Some people complain that it was an overreaction. All I have to say if hindsight is 20/20. With something as dangerous as 100+ mph winds, you have to take the "what if" approach and prepare for the worst.

Today was much more of a normal day... the regular crowds returned to the trains. There were no delays on the subways and conditions of the stations looked good. With a perfect Friday before and Monday after, some parts of Manhattan never looked like they went through a major storm.

Tech Deals of the Week (8/28-9/3)

After another huge tech sale drought, many of the retailers finally came through at the beginning of the school year. I don't expect another good sale period until Black Friday, so enjoy this week!

Flash Sales
- 8 GB SanDisk @ ST or BB for $9.99
- 16 GB SanDisk @ ST or BB for $19.99
- 32 GB SanDisk @ ST or BB for $39.99
- 16 GB SanDisk @ RS for $18.99

Mouse Attack
- Logitech M305 @ ST for $14.99
- Logitech M310 @ ST for $14.99
- Gigaware Wireless @ RS for $17.99
- Logitech M325 @ BB for $19.99


Logitech Wireless Keyboard @ ST for $14.99
This is a good compliment to the mice on sale above. It's a compact, but full keyboard w/ numeric pad. The keys are chicklet style and it also has extra media buttons at the top. This is the lowest price I've seen for a keyboard with this many features.

Skull Candy Earbuds @ BB for $14.99
This is $5 off the usually pricey earphones. They come in a variety of colors to match up with your MP3 players.

Store Key: BB = Best Buy, CC = Circuit City, CU = CompUSA.com, DI = Directron, NE = NewEgg.com, OD = Office Depot, RS = Radio Shack, ST = Staples, TG = Target

Calm Before the Storm

Yesterday was a very quiet work day starting all the way from the morning commute. It looked as if people evacuated early because the commute that I thought went back to the normal crowd disappeared. It was pretty empty all the way to the office. The work day was normal, with some people out, but many left early. Some of my coworkers live in evacuation zones. The news is really urging evacuation and the city is overpreparing to be safe. With all the chaos in the media, it was surprisingly calm when I went out to get lunch. It was a bright sunny and perfect day. Very few people were on the street and in the restaurants.

Even as I write this it still has a calm feeling outside. Again, the streets were fairly empty today and we're just getting some light intermittent rain showers. But Hurricane Irene is still headed straight for NYC and it's still very powerful.

Good luck to everyone out there!

Grand Finale

When the A's took the first 2 games of the series, they handed the Yankees only their 2nd series loss since the All-Star break. They looked to be on their way to a sweep in Game 3 when they knocked out the starter Phil Hughes in the 3rd inning with an early 7-1 lead. They were able to bring a stop to Hughes' solid pitching performances. He credits Hideki Matsui to getting him rattled with a long at bat. Later in that game, the Yankees would hit an MLB record breaking 3 grand slams. Cano hit the first, which put the Yankees right back in the game trailing 7-6. Martin's in the xxth would give them the lead and Granderson's record breaking one in the 8th made it 21-8. If that wasn't enough, Jones knocked a solo shot after that!

That was one crazy day game. With a final score of 22-9, you'd think that there would have to be at least 2 errors per team, but all 31 runs were earned. The Yankees had 21 hits and the A's X... not a good day for the pitchers! One of the frustrating things about this series is the Yankees scored more than enough runs to sweep, but since all of it was in one game, they still lost the stat that counted... the series 1-2.

Back to Normal

Today is the first day of normal crowd levels on my commute since I started writing about how empty it was. The train wasn't totally packed, but all seats were taken and some people were already standing when I got in. The office was about the same... still a few people missing here and there as they try to squeeze out a vacation before their kids start school. By now, some colleges have opened and public schools usually begin after Labor Day.

The weather is still reflecting the Fall, going along with the back-to-school theme. Hurricane Irene has a good chance of hitting us later in the weekend. If that happens, we will have had a tornado, earthquake and hurricane within a week's time!

5.8

The highlight of the day was an earthquake in Virginia... 5.8 on the Richter Scale. It was an average size one, but we felt it all the way in NYC. I was at my desk working and felt the building shaking. My initial though was that someone around was moving something heavy, but when it lasted longer than a couple of seconds, I knew it was something else. Supposedly only people sitting down felt it because their whole body was in contact with the chair... and the floor. Some people standing up didn't feel a thing and were wondering about the reaction of the people sitting down.

Our building evacuated for a while. We heard sirens and alerts everywhere. Helicopters were flying around (not sure if that was normal or if it was due to the quake). NYC acted as if the quake hit here, but it was probably just an excuse for everyone to take a break. I can't blame them either... it was a perfect day weather wise.

Autumn in Summer

We're only in the middle of the Summer, but already had a couple of days with 60 degree mornings. It really should be the end of September when we start getting Summer days mixed with Fall ones. So it feels a little weird to have the regular Summer sunrise and sunset along with Fall temperatures and winds. Only the warm colored leaves are missing from the ground. The scent in the air even wreaks of Autumn and it reminds me of school days when I walk out to the subway station in the morning.

As Summer ends on October 20, the heatwaves are far from over. There are still plenty of days left for it to hit the century mark. The Summer storms are still present as NY was officially hit with a tornado yesterday (Wayne County).

Weekend Sports Wrapup

Muay Thai
John Wayne Parr defeated another Greek fighter in Giannis Sofokleous on Friday night. I think that was his retirement fight, although he was having second thoughts a few weeks back. I think JWP won all of his matches this year. Maybe he lost one... don't remember. But he's in the best shape of his life. I hope he stays in for another year or two. If he retires, I'm sure he'll get bored.

Yankees
The Yankees finally won a 4-games series 3 games to 1 against the Twins. The bats are alive on Thursday and Friday as they scored 8 runs in each game with a total of 28 hits! The poor sub-300 averages are starting to climb to more Yankees-like numbers. I keep mentioning that Jeter will hit .300 this year. He's at .291 now. CC was great in the first game and the All-Star Hughes showed up for Friday's game. Saturday's game was the only flaw in the series as Burnett got knocked out of the 2nd inning with 7 earned runs... worse outing of the season. Yankees lost 9-4. Sunday's game was a close one with a lot of stranded runners. The highlight that woke everyone up was Granderson's in-the-park homerun, which put him in a tie with Jose Bautista. Teixiera then hit a conventional HR for the back-to-back, put himself one behind Granderson and Bautista for the HR race.

Tennis
Maria Sharapova looked good in the US Open warmup in Cincinnati as she defeated Jelena Jankovic in a 3-set marathon. She had a slow start in the first set, went back and forth in the 2nd and picked up some momentum in the tiebreak. The 3rd set started out as a back and forth, but then Maria started hitting some nice shots along the line. It was a power match as both players were just smacking the ball hard. There weren't many drop shots or volleys... just all firepower! On the men's side, Djokovic retired against Murray... not really the way you want a final to end, but that's OK. It's just a warmup tournament.

Subway Tales: At Your Serivice

This happens more often than I can count:

People are sittng in a train, waiting for it to leave. It's usually at the first stop, so everyone is patiently waiting and doing something to kill time, like reading the paper or playing a game. Then all of a sudden, a panicked person walks in asking where the train is heading or some kind of subway directions. He turns to whoever is by the door first. Usually, the seated passenger is caught by surprise and unable to answer right away. The panicked customer will then turn to someone else. When he gets an answer, he'll just walk away without thanking anyone. Sometimes, the panicked customer will get an answer from a passenger and then ask an MTA employee if one walks by, pretty much insulting the integrity of the helpful customer.

Royal Screwup

The Yankees are still continuing their streak of winning series as they took 2 out of 3 from the Kansas City Royals. Against a 51-73 team, they really should have swept though. Pitching was pretty bad on both sides, with scores of 7-4, 9-7 and 4-5. These were typical games were the Yankees pitching would fall apart and not recover. But since the opposing team was the Royals, I never felt the Yankees were going to lose any of the game, including the last one (which was protest-worthy anyway).

AJ
You know the opponent is a bad team when AJ Burnett finally gets a win... his first in over 1 month. It was nothing pretty either as he lasted 5 2/3 innings, giving up 3 runs on 10 hits. The positive side of this is he needed any kind of win just to get his confidence up. If he can just grind it out another time, maybe he'll get back to being the AJ that helped win the 2009 Championship. But if we don't see that soon, I think the Yankees should put him in the pen. They have to look at skills and outcomes rather than contracts and salaries when they're choosing the Post-Season roster.

Replay FAIL
If the Royals were going to win the game fair and square without any complaints and asterisks, they would've had to have done it by 2 or more runs. They only won by due to a Yankees comeback attempt in the 9th. In the 3rd inning, Billy Butler hit what was called a HR off Colon. The replays, ground rules and all announcers said it should have been ruled a double. The ball hit the corner of the padded wall, well below the railing that marks a homer and bounced back in. It was called a HR. The Yankees argued, which lead to a replay. The slow-mo was clear in showing it didn't clear the fence. But the umpires convened, watched and still managed to make the wrong call. The reaction in the dugout by Billy Butler told the truth too. After looking at the replay, he was grabbing his helmet, ready to go back to 2nd.

Dennis Rodman HOF Speech

Congratulations to Dennis Rodman on the Hall of Fame... truly one of the greatest defenders in NBA history.

Make-Up Rain

We had a 2-week drought, but got poured on over the weekend to make up for things. It was non-stop thunderstorms on Sunday, canceling the Yankees-Rays game. The best thing is temperatures dropped to the 70's and it felt comfortable to go outside. Yesterday's showers were very nice and I even opted to commute both ways without an umbrella.

On a side note, the morning rush is starting to get back to the normal crowd level, but still noticeably less for now. Employee vacations are still about the same with various people missing on each day.

Tampa Split

It was another split series over the weekend... a short 2-game one because today's rubber game was rained out. The Yankees took a tough 5-1 loss on Friday in CC Sabathia's worse game of the season. He gave up 5 solo home runs. It was rare because he had only given up 8 or the season before that. It's not a good sign when the best guy in the rotation is starting to look vulnerable in the 2nd half. CC can potentially have a 25-win season, but maybe the law of averages will catch up. No one ever mentions that when a player is doing well. It's often brought up for slumps, but in reality it can happen both ways.

Saturday's 9-2 blowout was Jorge Posada's game... 6 RBIs including a grand slam after the news this week of the Yankees taking him out of the lineup and daily game play. I think that game spoke for itself. I don't like the way the Yankees are treating their veterans. Posada is much more reliable than bringing up Montero prematurely from the minors. You don't want to go into a postseason with a minor league catcher.

600 Ball

Dating back to when Joe Torre started managing the Yankees, only one team in the MLB has a winning record against them... the Angels. While thee fans play up the rivalry with the Red Sox, it's the Angels that present the greatest challenge. In the past couple of years, the Yankees have gotten over that hump. That continued yesterday as they wrapped up another series win 2-1. 

The Yankees should be in good shape if they keep taking 2 of 3 in 3-games series, playing 600 ball. It's a dominant percentage even though it doesn't get the attention of a sweep or a long winning streak. So far, they lost one series, won or tied the rest, swept one and never got swept after the All-Star break.