Fantasy Football - week 4

Playing my hunches today. With Hillis weakened by illness I'll play Benson in his place, and w/ Sanchez playing Baltimore I'll start Cutler. After Knox was announced as the #2 WR for Chicago just an hour ago, I decided he'll sub in for the 'probable' Manningham. *Fingers crossed*

update: Dang it, I lost my fantasy game by *point six five* points. My decision to start Cutler looked like crud when he earned 1.85 pts (!) but in fact it was the right move; Sanchez earned *negative 9.98*. Benson outscored Hillis, ditto Knox over Manningham. So far so good - except I played Arizona's D over NE. There wasn't much of a scoring difference, just four points, but it was enough. Losing sucks, but I'm confident I'd make the same decisions again, and I was right 3 out of 4x - and the 4th was by a hair. Slapjacks now 2-2.

Whoo-hoo!

Whoo-hoo! Netflix has added additional seasons of The Office, 30 Rock and Parks & Recreation to streaming! G'd bless 'tis a good night!

Stick to the Story

If I were asked to name the . . . writer who I think has stuck most closely to that idea—STICK TO THE STORY, STICK TO THE GODDAMN STORY—it probably would be James M. Cain. There’s not a word in Cain that does not apply to the story he’s telling you - Rex Stout

Quote

"Speak to the organ grinder, not the monkey".

The Tenth Anniversary of 9/11

I know nearly a month has gone by, but I want to be sure to mention that the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks did not go unrecognized here in the Slapinions household.

Discouraged by the lack of *any* apparent teaching about 9/11 in their school we took care to explain, albeit in age appropriate terms, what happened on that horrible day. On the anniversary itself Lisa and I sat down with Lulu and YaYa and watched the DVD of "9/11", the Naudet brothers eyewitness footage taken while embedded with a fire engine company that morning.



It is a powerful film, almost suffocatingly so, and we first watched it on the 6 month anniversary of the attacks. Although we had the girls exit the room for some (brutal) parts, we felt it was important they be sucked into the moment and know the fear, shock and horror that washed over every American that day. As a bonus, the structure of the film - it was conceived as an effort to follow a single probationary fire fighter during his rookie year - sucked the girls in. By the end they were frantic with concern for 'Tony', and thus were all the more immersed in the emotions of that day.

I am also proud to say that a column I wrote ran in the Pulitzer Prize winning Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel the morning of the anniversary, my first Sunday appearance and an emotional one for me, given the subject matter.

Early on the anniversary, while I was at work, Lisa's Mom took LuLu to a Brownie field trip to a local Air Force reserve base. While Lulu looks like a typical fun-loving eight year old in some of the pictures, rest assured there was some solemnity to the visit.


































To the victims of that horrible day - We Remember, and we will Never Forget.

McCartney II

Writing with "McCartney II" playing in the background ("Waterfalls" at the moment). My current job may bankrupt me and drive me to the Rescue Mission, but I'll say this for it - it's given me a great appreciation for the catalog and talent of Paul McCartney.

Roger Maris - 50 years since 61

Before I forget, today marks the 50th Anniversary of the day Roger Maris set the MLB record with his 61st home run of the season. I'm not an anti-steroid nut, barking at the moon and asking for records to be wiped, but when it comes to Maris and Aaron, my gut and my heart still think of them as the *true* home run record holders. RIP Mr. Maris, 61 is still the number to beat.

Today's Doings

worked a concessions shift @ the school, then stayed late when 1 of my replacements failed to show. Now grateful to settle in & watch WI-Neb.

Congrats Badgers! What an impressive wupping of Nebraska - 48 to 17 @ Camp Randall! Great game, great team, great state.

Volleyball

Junie and Her Art

AT&T Sucks

AT&T sent me 3 statements for the same account, all dated Sept 27th, all w/ different totals. I called & was transferred 2x then was accidentally disconnected. Time wasted 12:44. 2nd call, transferred 2x, ended up on the phone with an Indian woman w/ no English comprehension beyond her script. I was not kind, and was tx'd to a woman in Chicago who did a decent job but had to transfer me again, waited five minutes on hold, hung up. Total time wasted: approx 47 minutes. WORST COMPANY EVER.

Some Sports Tidbits

It's Saturday morning and our fantasy commish has finally! acknowledged my awesomeness in Week 3. I won the weekly cash prize (deducted from dues) by whupping on my opponent 115.30 to 67.9, a league best difference of 47.40 points. Quoteth commish: "Thumbs up to Slapjacks for winning ass kicker bonus - thumbs down to Slapjacks for whining about the lateness of this post."

* * * 

Unless MLB has failed to update stats in the last few days, Pujols finished shy of 100 RBI, thereby ensuring Arod's consecutive streak of 100RBI/30HR years is safe for another decade. Booyah. And all this talk about how Terry Francona should be held accountable (but not to blame) for the Red Sox collapse ignores one issue: where was their so-called "Captain" Varitek? He bragged about that 'C' on his uniform enough in the past, but where was his leadership when someone needed to yank those guys out of the weeds?

Facebook - August 20th - 31st

August 30th

"I just finished reading "Dark Side of the Sun" by Andrew Dymond, a Farscape novel. I thought at first that it was a lousy Farscape product that would have been a decent to middling stand-alone novel. But in the end, w/ no grasp of the characters, a habit of favoring description over action and dialogue, and a viscous tendency to fill pages with endless one line paragraphs, I say poo. A waste of my time."

"Never ignore the insticts of a coward"

9:19 am "‎@ job fair"

"‎2 comments: One, job fairs bring out a boatload of desperate people, myself included. Waited in line an hour & they said it would be the same or worse all day. You're doing swell Mr. President. Two: Not the greatest interview of my life, which is sad since the bar is set rather low. I had to prompt him to bring up anything other than my current gig, which is least impressive part of the resume by far. What a lousy way to kick off the 1st day of freedom (aka school year)."

"Any damn fool can predict the past. - Larry Niven"

August 28th

‎@ diner w/ family celebrating the last day of summer vacation"

FANTASY DRAFT

Sad Sack Slapjacks
1. (8) Michael Turner
(Atl - RB)
2. (14) Peyton Hillis
(Cle - RB)
3. (26) DeSean Jackson
(Phi - WR)
4. (38) Mario Manningham
(NYG - WR)
5. (62) Sam Bradford
(StL - QB)
6. (74) Cedric Benson
(Cin - RB)
7. (86) Lance Moore
(NO - WR)
8. (98) New England
(NE - DEF)
9. (110) Jay Cutler
(Chi - QB)
10. (114) Brandon Jacobs
(NYG - RB)
11. (122) Johnny Knox
(Chi - WR)
12. (134) Rob Gronkowski
(NE - TE)
13. (146) Rob Bironas
(Ten - K)
14. (158) Marcedes Lewis
(Jac - TE)
15. (170) Derrick Mason
(NYJ - WR)
16. (182) Arizona
(Ari - DEF)

Walter Reed Army Medical Center closes its doors :(



August 26th

"On my lunch yesterday I finished reading "Dune Messiah" by Frank Herbert. Once again, I walked away stunned by how effective Herbert was at creating the universe of Dune, right down to the different language and speech patterns. I greatly enjoyed it."

"I just saw a radar pic of hurricane Irene. Whoa. To anyone on the East coast, take care. Our prayers are w/ u"

"‎22 to 9? Holy 27 rings Batman. The Yanks set a MLB record with 3 grand slams in a single game Thursday."

August 25th

"BTW, RIP Aaliyah, ten years on . . ."

The Journal-Sentinel is going to publish a column I wrote about the 10th anniversary of 9/11. It'll be published in the Sunday edition of 9-11-11, the first time my writing will appear in the hallowed Sunday 'Crossroads' section."

August 24th

"Need went deeper than proscription - Frank Herbert, Dune Messiah"

"kids and lisa are @ a local bookstore enjoying a back to school storytime"





YaYa got a new haircut today:







August 23rd

"While the world seems all giddy-goo over the likely fall of Gadhafi, I call B.S. You're ditching a known but neutered bad guy in exchange for a bunch of hoodlums who will - I'm sure {giggle} - install a fair, democratic gov't that is pro-US & believes in equality of the sexes, the right of Israel to exist, &freedom of speech. OR they'll install a Sharia (Islamic) gov't that'll serve as the Iraq for the next generation of American soldiers. Either/or. What a crock."

"A few nights ago we finished up season 1 of "Better Off Ted". It was a very funny, very well written show that deserved more than the chance it received."

"I watched the Mexican horror film 'Cronos' last night, the 1993 directorial debut of Guillermo del Toro. I liked it, and actually thought it was very sweet at times."

August 20th

"‎"Haters are confused admirers who can't understand why everybody likes you" Paul Coelho"

"Watched the '76 horror flick "Audrey Rose" starring Anthony Hopkins. Awful, boring, and lame."

A Recitation of My Day in Progress

Spending the morning on the job hunt (just finished a predictive index test) before heading off to work

Pausing to search for Halloween costumes for the kids online. Playing Bleach at @ full volume. Life, if not good, is moderately acceptable.

Listening to Bush's new CD "Sea of Memories".not bad. certainly a good background CD, but my ears didn't pick out anything really 'radio friendly', although "Baby Come Home" might fit the bill.

<-- not used to a quiet house/lack of chaos. Where are the whiny, bratty kids? Why isn't Lisa pestering me? I am alone for all of 4 hours today and I feel like I've been in solitary for a month. Twitchy/lonely/bored. Geez, nut up.

The New Piggly Wiggly

just toured the invitation only open house for the new bay view Piggly Wiggly. Quite impressive, and i hope they give Pick n Save a run for their money

I Think We're Alone Now

After seeing it on Matt K's FB page, Lisa & I streamed "I Think We're Alone Now", a doc that follows 2 people obsessed w/ pop singer Tiffany. One is a hermaphrodite w/ a brain injury who believes Tiffany appeared to her during her coma. The other is an autistic man who has stalked her since her heyday. Both believe Tiffany is their 'friend' & soulmate. It's a depressing film, full of sadness & pain, & despite their obsession and the danger it conceivably poses your heart goes out to them. Available to stream via Netflix.

Wild Card Baseball

"Nobody can ever claim again with a straight face that the wild card has taken all the excitement out of baseball. Incredible barely begins to describe last night."- comment on BaseballThinkFactory.org

A Political Quote

"When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns, as it were instinctively, to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish squirting out ink." -- George Orwell, "Politics and the English language". Just something to keep in mind when listening to our Prez.

The First Day of School 2011

This year the big day arrived on August 29th. YaYa is now in 5th grade, LuLu in 3rd, Smiley in 1st (and officially in uniform attire!) and precious Ginger is in K4.

At 7:12 a.m. I posted the following on Facebook: "In a before school weigh/measure here at home, Smiley came in at 3# later than he did at the start of summer, and gained an INCH in height. He is now 55# and 48 1/2" tall."

The morning itself went pretty smoothly. In an effort to reign in the chaos of previous years we'd had the kids get their clothes ready the night before and require them to get dressed before heading downstairs. The theory - which so far as held up - is that when they know they can't get bathroom time, check the comp or watch a morning cartoon until they're dressed, they'll come down lickety split and ready to go. So far, three weeks in, so good.

Soon it was time for the mandatory 1st day of school shots!









I then drove them to school and walked Ginger to her spot on the playground. She was very nervous, twirling her hair rapidly as we walked. She went to school last year at a local montessori school, but this was her first day joining the rest of the family at this campus, and her first ever full day of school. Oh boy.







As was required I walked her in with the rest of her class, but this wasn't my first rodeo. I knew she'd be ok, so after a quick goodbye and "good luck" I left her to aquatint herself with the rest of her classmates. A month in, she continues to love school and sincerely adores her teacher Mrs. DiM-.



Here's to another safe and successful school year!

LuLu's Stitches

There's a running tradition among my children: they must, before reaching maturity, acquire stitches above their eye.

For the 3 year old YaYa it was a fall on my Mother's steps on Easter Sunday. For Smiley it was an accidental dog bite at a neighbor's BBQ when he was ~4. This August 26th, LuLu assumed her place with a trampoline accident in our backyard.

She'd come inside to ask me if she could go to a softball game with a friend. I agreed and she left, but unbeknownst to me she took a few minutes to play on the trampoline with her friend before she left. That's a big no-no, in no small part because no one but my kids are allowed on the trampoline without parental approval.

Cut ahead a few minutes in the film and LuLu runs up to me crying, with blood streaming down her face. She'd gotten a gash above her right eye after accidentally headbutting her friend.

In what I felt was a great Daddy moment, I kept cool and calm, and talked her out of her panic. Alas, it did need stitches. She wanted the whole family along for support, and gathered up not only her own White Bear but YaYa's Brown Bear.



A two bear trip - you know she was upset.



Here are the Facebook updates from that night:

6:32 PM "‎@ St Francis ER w/ the family. LuLu got hurt playing w/ a friend and got a decent slash above her right eye."

6:44 PM "the admission's lady mistakenly gave Lu the ID band of a lovely 92 yr old, and vice versa. The woman tripped on a new couch and cut her mouth. She is a very lively, friendly woman who looks 10 yrs younger."

6:58PM "Some nut is screaming and banging his head on the wall in the ER. Security is responding. Long wait, screaming nuts - it reminds me of riding the bus"

7:07 PM "playing rock/paper/scissors to pass the time"



We also watched Shark Tank and Smiley found a green Power Ranger action figure in the waiting room. He turned it in to the Lost and Found but a nurse sterilized it and gave it to him to pass the time. Score!



(he's not happy that she's hurt; at this point he was over-tired and goofy)



In the end, after all that fuss, I still wasn't 'there' for her when she got the stitches, as I walked her siblings out to stretch their legs right before the doc decided to get it over with. Figures.





Anyhow, the stitches are out, the scar is barely recognizable as one, and all is well. More importantly, a tradition has been continued! (j/k)

X-Factor

Drew, the 14 yr old who aced Beiber's ''Baby" on X-Factor, pretty much made the hour. and Simon was right on w/ his 'dead on arrival' spiel. The female judges had nothing but spite for female contestants. 

Nevermind and School Pictures

Listening to the 'Boombox Rehearsals' from Nevermind's 20th anniversary deluxe edition. Simultaneously pre-ordering my kids' school pictures online. The two seem so incongruous. 20 years ago, listening to this for the 1st x,  could I have pictured myself with 4 rugrats? Well, yeah. Who am I kidding? I always knew I'd have kids, provided I found a woman foolish enough to repeatedly have them with me. BTW, track 38, the rehearsal take of "On a Plain" made me break into a wide grin. I love that song.

Today in Baseball

So Jose Reyes bunts in his first at bat, then takes a seat rather than risk his lead in the race for the NL batting title. Not exactly the Ted Williams ethic there, eh, Jose? With that move, Braun now needs 3 hits tonight to take the title.

Damnit. Cardinals won and Atlanta fell in extra innings. LaRussa's in the playoffs and we face the Diamondbacks on Saturday. Ugh. I wanted a post-season free of Boston and St. Louis fans. I can still get the former, since my Yanks - just to spite Boston, no doubt - let Tampa rally. That decisive game is now in the 12th inning.

Whoo-hoo! The Red Sox choked in the 9th and lost to Baltimore, and Tampa rallied to win 8-7 which means Tampa takes the Wild Card! Congrats Boston, that month long choke - capped off by yet *another* Boston choke - makes the '69 Cubs look like studs. Enjoy your postseason from your living room you second class wannabee Yanks.

Quote

"Very often education is geared to what it calls extending the frontiers of truth, and sometimes this ideal is prized and used to excuse men from acting on old truths already discovered. The discovery of the size of a distant star creates no moral obligation; but the old truths about the nature and destiny of man can be a reproach to the way one lives." Archbishop Fulton Sheen

A Target Ad

Have you seen those commercials that follow a little girl's academic path? She's shown to be crazy for science & chemistry, is elected high school class president, wins on Jeopardy, graduates from college babbling medical-speak - and winds up as a pharmacist at Target. 

I know Target's trying to say "we've got the best and brightest" but to me it screams "Recession. Couldn't afford med school, so I got a job where I could. Sorry Ma." 

Geez, how depressing. Absolutely nothing against that profession - I'd be proud to have a kid take it up - but the emphasis on the commercial is on the girl's excellence and it certainly implies she was destined for the stars. I haven't seen that much wasted potential since I looked in the mirror this morning.