Wednesdays have been a bit of a challenge for me the last 4 months or so. I've been training for a new job at work on Wednesdays. This has entailed going to a different office at working with a different group for a few hours and then returning to my regular job. This has been a challenge in a number of ways. The chief one is staying engaged with my regular job. The job I'm training for suits me really well. It's a lot of research, it's always different and there's a lot of entry to be done. It stimulates me brain a lot.
I first interviewed for this job last fall. The managers really liked me but circumstances prevented them from hiring me then. The job came up again this spring and the circumstances hadn't really changed. So they offered me a road into the job. Train with them for several months and I can replace a person that will be leaving the group this fall. So that's what I've been doing. I really enjoy the work for the reasons stated earlier and I've been looking forward to the move. It's starting to get close too. I'm not sure when I'll move but I think it will be sooner rather than later at this point.
That's what my work situation looks like. A good dose of limbo as I'm waiting for some gears to finally start grinding.
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
NFC East Preview
Back again for some more football previewing for the year. This time I'm looking at the NFC East. I think this division has fewer questions than the AFC East does. You're looking at a horse race between Washington and New York. Dallas will be pretty mediocre and Philadelphia will be fairly bad.
The NY Giants imploded after looking amazing in the early part of last year. The Giants were 6-2 at one point in the season and Eli Manning just fell apart. They finished 9-7. I don't know what happened with the team last year. But they haven't changed over the roster too much and I imagine they won't have the same struggles this year. The Giants typically aren't a good regular season team. Go back and look at their recent Super Bowl seasons. They were marginal regular season teams that caught fire in the playoffs. I don't think the Giants can do that this year. I could easily see a 10-6 team not making it into the playoffs this year. The NFC is just packed with good teams. Like I said, I don't really know what to say about the Giants. They're such a hit and miss team.
The Washington Redskins won the East last year with a 10-6 record. RG3 and Alfred Morris were huge for the offense. Morris ran for 1613 yards and 13 TDs while RG3 had a remarkable year for a rookie QB. I think the really remarkable thing about the offense is RG3 threw for 3200 yards and the top receiver on the team only had 633 yards receiving. RG3 likes to spread it around and it makes the offense really unpredictable. The defense was pretty iffy. They made plays when they had to but this team needs the offense to win. I think the question you're looking at here is the health of RG3 coming into this season. He suffered a fairly serious injury last year and you wonder how that will affect him on the field. I think there are also some health questions about him in general. He's not very big and you wonder if the big hits are going to take a toll on him. I think if he stays healthy, you're looking at the favorites to win the East right here.
Dallas is a small wildcard. They always have some talent and could potentially be a threat. Then you realize Jason Garrett is the head coach, Tony Romo is the QB, Dez Bryant is their biggest threat at receiver, they have a mediocre offensive line and a pretty average defense. The running game is hopeless if DeMarco Murray isn't on the field. Jason Garrett is a terrible terrible coach. He has no creativity in his play calling and he gets out coached on a weekly basis. Go back and look at their week 17 loss to the Redskins. The Redskins threw the same blitz at them the entire game. The same blitz and Dallas never adjusted one bit. That's what you're dealing with here. Dallas could go into the last bit of the season at 8-2 and they would somehow find a way to end up at 8-8 or 9-7. My stance is Dallas isn't a threat until they can prove that they can win when it matters.
Philadelphia was lucky to be 4-12 last year. They could have easily been 1-15 or 2-14 if they didn't pull a couple of early wins out of their collective butts. Plain and simple, Michael Vick isn't an NFL calibur starting QB anymore. He was a disaster and a turnover machine last season. I think the Eagles need to just bench Vick now and see what they have with Matt Barkley. Is there really any difference in going 6-10 with Vick at QB or going 3-13 with Barkley learning the ropes? Barkley could always surprise you and make some noise. Other things to note, the Eagles were 29th on points allowed per game. They got rid of some dead weight like Asomugha but didn't add any really impact free agents. This is going to be a feeling out season for Chip Kelly. I think you're looking at a 5-11 team here.
The NY Giants imploded after looking amazing in the early part of last year. The Giants were 6-2 at one point in the season and Eli Manning just fell apart. They finished 9-7. I don't know what happened with the team last year. But they haven't changed over the roster too much and I imagine they won't have the same struggles this year. The Giants typically aren't a good regular season team. Go back and look at their recent Super Bowl seasons. They were marginal regular season teams that caught fire in the playoffs. I don't think the Giants can do that this year. I could easily see a 10-6 team not making it into the playoffs this year. The NFC is just packed with good teams. Like I said, I don't really know what to say about the Giants. They're such a hit and miss team.
The Washington Redskins won the East last year with a 10-6 record. RG3 and Alfred Morris were huge for the offense. Morris ran for 1613 yards and 13 TDs while RG3 had a remarkable year for a rookie QB. I think the really remarkable thing about the offense is RG3 threw for 3200 yards and the top receiver on the team only had 633 yards receiving. RG3 likes to spread it around and it makes the offense really unpredictable. The defense was pretty iffy. They made plays when they had to but this team needs the offense to win. I think the question you're looking at here is the health of RG3 coming into this season. He suffered a fairly serious injury last year and you wonder how that will affect him on the field. I think there are also some health questions about him in general. He's not very big and you wonder if the big hits are going to take a toll on him. I think if he stays healthy, you're looking at the favorites to win the East right here.
Dallas is a small wildcard. They always have some talent and could potentially be a threat. Then you realize Jason Garrett is the head coach, Tony Romo is the QB, Dez Bryant is their biggest threat at receiver, they have a mediocre offensive line and a pretty average defense. The running game is hopeless if DeMarco Murray isn't on the field. Jason Garrett is a terrible terrible coach. He has no creativity in his play calling and he gets out coached on a weekly basis. Go back and look at their week 17 loss to the Redskins. The Redskins threw the same blitz at them the entire game. The same blitz and Dallas never adjusted one bit. That's what you're dealing with here. Dallas could go into the last bit of the season at 8-2 and they would somehow find a way to end up at 8-8 or 9-7. My stance is Dallas isn't a threat until they can prove that they can win when it matters.
Philadelphia was lucky to be 4-12 last year. They could have easily been 1-15 or 2-14 if they didn't pull a couple of early wins out of their collective butts. Plain and simple, Michael Vick isn't an NFL calibur starting QB anymore. He was a disaster and a turnover machine last season. I think the Eagles need to just bench Vick now and see what they have with Matt Barkley. Is there really any difference in going 6-10 with Vick at QB or going 3-13 with Barkley learning the ropes? Barkley could always surprise you and make some noise. Other things to note, the Eagles were 29th on points allowed per game. They got rid of some dead weight like Asomugha but didn't add any really impact free agents. This is going to be a feeling out season for Chip Kelly. I think you're looking at a 5-11 team here.
Monday, August 5, 2013
TTM Monday's: The Beginnings
Another new feature here on my blog. TTM stands for Through the Mail. What this entails is you send mail to a celebrity, athlete, etc. with a self addressed stamped envelope and ask for an autograph. A lot of people will gladly sign a picture, trading card, baseball, etc. for you and send it back. It's always something that's been of interest to me. I decided to pick up this hobby when I found a ton of old trading cards in my parents basement this spring. I've been doing it since the end of April and I have 81 successes from doing this to date. I've stuck to just sports.
What this Monday post will be is just be posting a couple of pictures of my successes and showing how long it took to get. I may even talk about the person in question, why I sent to them, why I like them, etc. I plan to post this every Monday as a sort of feature. I usually send out at the minimum a handful of letters a week and at worst I seem to get 2-3 back in a week. So I should have a constant stream of pictures to share on here.
Chris Iannetta was the catcher for the Colorado Rockies the year they made it to the World Series. Super memorable season as the Rockies had low expectations and just caught fire in the second half of the season and rode that momentum through the playoffs, just destroying everyone in their path until the Red Sox swept them out of the World Series. I have a real fondness for this Rockies team as they were just such an unlikely World Series team. I sent this out on April 27th and got it back on May 6th for a total of 9 days. Speaking of that Rockies team...
Jeff Francis was also on that team. He had a 4.22 ERA and a 17-9 record for the Rockies that year. Francis had an interesting career. He's a good what if pitcher. He spent the majority of his career in Colorado which had a huge impact on his ERA. If he spent his career elsewhere would he have been more remembered? I sent this one out on July 16th and got it back August 1st for a total of 16 days.
Jed Lowrie is the current shortstop for the Oakland A's. His stats of right now are .292/.357/.418 with 8 HRs and 44 RBI. He's about the higher end of average offensively which is really good from the SS position. He's been a huge upgrade over what Cliff Pennington gave them last year. He's also a good defensive SS. He's been part of the reason the A's are 64-46 and in first place right now. I sent this one out on May 13th and got it back on May 31st for a total of 18 days.
That's it for this week. Check out this blog next week if you want to see some more of my recent autograph successes. My guess is I will share 3-5 of them a week.
What this Monday post will be is just be posting a couple of pictures of my successes and showing how long it took to get. I may even talk about the person in question, why I sent to them, why I like them, etc. I plan to post this every Monday as a sort of feature. I usually send out at the minimum a handful of letters a week and at worst I seem to get 2-3 back in a week. So I should have a constant stream of pictures to share on here.
Chris Iannetta was the catcher for the Colorado Rockies the year they made it to the World Series. Super memorable season as the Rockies had low expectations and just caught fire in the second half of the season and rode that momentum through the playoffs, just destroying everyone in their path until the Red Sox swept them out of the World Series. I have a real fondness for this Rockies team as they were just such an unlikely World Series team. I sent this out on April 27th and got it back on May 6th for a total of 9 days. Speaking of that Rockies team...
Jeff Francis was also on that team. He had a 4.22 ERA and a 17-9 record for the Rockies that year. Francis had an interesting career. He's a good what if pitcher. He spent the majority of his career in Colorado which had a huge impact on his ERA. If he spent his career elsewhere would he have been more remembered? I sent this one out on July 16th and got it back August 1st for a total of 16 days.
Jed Lowrie is the current shortstop for the Oakland A's. His stats of right now are .292/.357/.418 with 8 HRs and 44 RBI. He's about the higher end of average offensively which is really good from the SS position. He's been a huge upgrade over what Cliff Pennington gave them last year. He's also a good defensive SS. He's been part of the reason the A's are 64-46 and in first place right now. I sent this one out on May 13th and got it back on May 31st for a total of 18 days.
That's it for this week. Check out this blog next week if you want to see some more of my recent autograph successes. My guess is I will share 3-5 of them a week.
Sunday, August 4, 2013
Shin Megami Tensei 4
I got a 3DS for Christmas and it's been my system of choice for all of 2013. It's probably logged 100 hours of gameplay since I came into possession of it. Animal Crossing New Leaf has had almost 80 hours logged between Kelly and myself playing that one.
Last weekend, I purchased a copy of Shin Megami Tensei 4 for the system. This is the series that the Persona games were born out of. It's a very old school dungeon crawler and it's very difficult. I've probably died 5-6 times in the first couple of hours. This has gotten better as I filled my party out and managed to gain a few levels. It's still tough but I have enough firepower to outlast most of the enemies in battle. My first mini-boss fight was really tough but I managed to come out of that with no deaths though my party was totally drained of resources.
The cool aspect of this game is that you fill your party out with monsters you encounter in the dungeon. You have a talk option and you open negotiations with the monsters. If you're successful they will agree to join you. This is challenging as you can make missteps during this process. But it seems to be a consistent process so you can learn from your mistakes with the same monster. This adds some nice variety to the battle system.
The story hasn't progressed much. I've essentially gotten through the tutorial and have just started the early goings of the real game. So I don't really have a lot to say about that aspect of the game. The graphics are nice and the voice acting is acceptable.
The only real issue I'm having is money is really hard to come by at times. I just added the ability to ask monsters for it in combat, otherwise it just seems to be awarded for completing quests. I'm a little worried about that as I could be under geared the entire game and constantly struggling because of it. I'm hoping that will get better now that I'm into the actual game.
So far I'd give the game a solid B. Really fun if you like old school punishing dungeon crawlers.
Last weekend, I purchased a copy of Shin Megami Tensei 4 for the system. This is the series that the Persona games were born out of. It's a very old school dungeon crawler and it's very difficult. I've probably died 5-6 times in the first couple of hours. This has gotten better as I filled my party out and managed to gain a few levels. It's still tough but I have enough firepower to outlast most of the enemies in battle. My first mini-boss fight was really tough but I managed to come out of that with no deaths though my party was totally drained of resources.
The cool aspect of this game is that you fill your party out with monsters you encounter in the dungeon. You have a talk option and you open negotiations with the monsters. If you're successful they will agree to join you. This is challenging as you can make missteps during this process. But it seems to be a consistent process so you can learn from your mistakes with the same monster. This adds some nice variety to the battle system.
The story hasn't progressed much. I've essentially gotten through the tutorial and have just started the early goings of the real game. So I don't really have a lot to say about that aspect of the game. The graphics are nice and the voice acting is acceptable.
The only real issue I'm having is money is really hard to come by at times. I just added the ability to ask monsters for it in combat, otherwise it just seems to be awarded for completing quests. I'm a little worried about that as I could be under geared the entire game and constantly struggling because of it. I'm hoping that will get better now that I'm into the actual game.
So far I'd give the game a solid B. Really fun if you like old school punishing dungeon crawlers.
Saturday, August 3, 2013
Old Comics I'm Reading: Summer Edition
One of my New Year's Resolutions for this year was to read more older comics. I've been modestly successful at that thus far. You can read about my Silver Age reading here if you're interested. On top of my Marvel Silver Age reading, I've also delved into the Defenders and West Coast Avengers as titles that I've been reading.
A comic shop in my area marked all their Marvel Essentials down to $5 to clear out the stock. Needless to say, I bought a ton of these and the first 4 volumes of the Defenders came into my possession. If you've never seen the Essentials collections, they are awesome for reading old material. They're black and white reprints and you get 24 or so issues of content in a book for $20. It's a really affordable way to check out old comics.
These had been sitting on my shelf until my wife and I went on vacation in February. I took the first volume of the Defenders and started to read those issues. The concept of the Defenders is interesting. It's a team that isn't a team, they often call it a non-team. What that means is you usually have a core cast and anyone and everyone can show up for an adventure and then just fade off into the sunset again. Currently, the team consists of Doctor Strange, Hulk, Namor, Silver Surfer and Valkyrie. The members come and go as they please so you never quite know who's going to be in a given issue. The Black Knight, Namorita and Hawkeye have also shown up for adventures.
The first volume contains a lot of the issues that lead to the eventual setup of the team so while I've only read 9 issues of the actual Defenders title, I'm about 20 issues into reading about this particular group. It's been a really fun and enjoyable ride. It's a cast of characters that I haven't read a ton about and most of the plots revolve around magic which isn't in my usual titles. So it feels like I've found this new little corner of the Marvel Universe to wander around in. I'm eager to read all 7 volumes that are out and to get the eventual 8th volume that will finish the series up.
I would highly recommend this book if you want an odd ball cast of characters and you like stories that revolve around magic.
The other title is the West Coast Avengers. I'm only a few issues into this series as I just dove into these issues about a week ago. This series sees the Avengers open up a West Coast branch to make the team more effective. The original team becomes Hawkeye, Wonder Man, Mockingbird, Iron Man (James Rhodes) and Tigra. Kind of a mishmash of former Avengers characters here but there's some really strong character work going on in the early issues. Tigra doubts her place, Rhodey has to deal with the fact that most people assume he's Tony and Hawkeye us Hawkeye.
I have fond memories of this book. When I was just getting into comics the regular Avengers were in their leather jacket phase of operations. Needless to say, to an 11 year old brain, the regular Avengers were boring. But right next to it, you had Hawkeye, Iron Man and the Human Torch on the covers. Needless to say, the more colorful West Coast team always captured my imagination more than the boring looking Avengers.
While, I'm excited for this book, I know it has it's problems. After the first 20-30 issues it does become more of a second rate book. My plan is to read it all the way through but I'm not expecting a lot out of the second half of this series.
That's what I'm reading old comics wise right now, I'll probably write another update on this in the fall.
A comic shop in my area marked all their Marvel Essentials down to $5 to clear out the stock. Needless to say, I bought a ton of these and the first 4 volumes of the Defenders came into my possession. If you've never seen the Essentials collections, they are awesome for reading old material. They're black and white reprints and you get 24 or so issues of content in a book for $20. It's a really affordable way to check out old comics.
These had been sitting on my shelf until my wife and I went on vacation in February. I took the first volume of the Defenders and started to read those issues. The concept of the Defenders is interesting. It's a team that isn't a team, they often call it a non-team. What that means is you usually have a core cast and anyone and everyone can show up for an adventure and then just fade off into the sunset again. Currently, the team consists of Doctor Strange, Hulk, Namor, Silver Surfer and Valkyrie. The members come and go as they please so you never quite know who's going to be in a given issue. The Black Knight, Namorita and Hawkeye have also shown up for adventures.
The first volume contains a lot of the issues that lead to the eventual setup of the team so while I've only read 9 issues of the actual Defenders title, I'm about 20 issues into reading about this particular group. It's been a really fun and enjoyable ride. It's a cast of characters that I haven't read a ton about and most of the plots revolve around magic which isn't in my usual titles. So it feels like I've found this new little corner of the Marvel Universe to wander around in. I'm eager to read all 7 volumes that are out and to get the eventual 8th volume that will finish the series up.
I would highly recommend this book if you want an odd ball cast of characters and you like stories that revolve around magic.
The other title is the West Coast Avengers. I'm only a few issues into this series as I just dove into these issues about a week ago. This series sees the Avengers open up a West Coast branch to make the team more effective. The original team becomes Hawkeye, Wonder Man, Mockingbird, Iron Man (James Rhodes) and Tigra. Kind of a mishmash of former Avengers characters here but there's some really strong character work going on in the early issues. Tigra doubts her place, Rhodey has to deal with the fact that most people assume he's Tony and Hawkeye us Hawkeye.
I have fond memories of this book. When I was just getting into comics the regular Avengers were in their leather jacket phase of operations. Needless to say, to an 11 year old brain, the regular Avengers were boring. But right next to it, you had Hawkeye, Iron Man and the Human Torch on the covers. Needless to say, the more colorful West Coast team always captured my imagination more than the boring looking Avengers.
While, I'm excited for this book, I know it has it's problems. After the first 20-30 issues it does become more of a second rate book. My plan is to read it all the way through but I'm not expecting a lot out of the second half of this series.
That's what I'm reading old comics wise right now, I'll probably write another update on this in the fall.
Friday, August 2, 2013
AFC East Preview
I think the headlines of this division have been grabbed by the Aaron Hernandez case. He's a giant loss to the Patriots, who rely heavily on tight ends, and will really weaken their team. The Fins went out and spent a lot of money in free agency. The Bills overhauled in the draft and the Jets are the Jets.
The bottom line to the East this year is the Patriots are going to take a step back because Gronk and Hernandez are gone. This is going to make life difficult for Brady. The defense has also had issues as time has moved on. With that said, who in the North is going to take the title away from them? The Patriots still have Stevan Ridley who ran for 1200 yards last year. Amendola and Tebow are unknowns but Amendola was good when healthy and I think Tebow could excel as a tight end. I think the Patriots are going to struggle but I think they're going to struggle to a 10-6 or 11-5 record. I don't see any of the other teams really getting anywhere near that.
The Buffalo Bills brought in a new corp of receivers, new QBs and look to be overhauling the system. Look, this team is just bad. I see some real potential with EJ Manual but he's just a rookie. This is a team that's building for a couple of years down the road. I think you're looking at another throwaway season here Bills fans.
NY Jets... what really needs to be said here. This team is a total disaster. Mark Sanchez is the worst starter in the league no ands, ifs or buts. The butt fumble from last season is going to be what we remember him for. The rest of the offense is a complete disaster. This team is going to struggle to score 17 pts. a week. The defense is still pretty decent but they're undisciplined and they'll once again be a poorly coached team.
Miami went out and spent some money in the offseason. Mike Wallace and Dannell Ellerbe were notable additions to the roster. I think the Wallace deal can be summed up when you look at the reaction of Steeler fans. They were sad to see him go but they weren't THAT sad. Wallace has always struck me as a fairly limited receiver. He's really great at running straight routes but not so great at anything else. Tannehill can throw some bombs and that will surely benefit him. There's some good pieces on the offense but I'm not sure the defense is going to be that good. I don't think Ellerbe was that great of a pickup. I think the team will be improved this year but I don't think they'll be playoff bound at all.
Playoff Picture:
New England Patriots win the division. No wildcard teams from this division in 2013.
The bottom line to the East this year is the Patriots are going to take a step back because Gronk and Hernandez are gone. This is going to make life difficult for Brady. The defense has also had issues as time has moved on. With that said, who in the North is going to take the title away from them? The Patriots still have Stevan Ridley who ran for 1200 yards last year. Amendola and Tebow are unknowns but Amendola was good when healthy and I think Tebow could excel as a tight end. I think the Patriots are going to struggle but I think they're going to struggle to a 10-6 or 11-5 record. I don't see any of the other teams really getting anywhere near that.
The Buffalo Bills brought in a new corp of receivers, new QBs and look to be overhauling the system. Look, this team is just bad. I see some real potential with EJ Manual but he's just a rookie. This is a team that's building for a couple of years down the road. I think you're looking at another throwaway season here Bills fans.
NY Jets... what really needs to be said here. This team is a total disaster. Mark Sanchez is the worst starter in the league no ands, ifs or buts. The butt fumble from last season is going to be what we remember him for. The rest of the offense is a complete disaster. This team is going to struggle to score 17 pts. a week. The defense is still pretty decent but they're undisciplined and they'll once again be a poorly coached team.
Miami went out and spent some money in the offseason. Mike Wallace and Dannell Ellerbe were notable additions to the roster. I think the Wallace deal can be summed up when you look at the reaction of Steeler fans. They were sad to see him go but they weren't THAT sad. Wallace has always struck me as a fairly limited receiver. He's really great at running straight routes but not so great at anything else. Tannehill can throw some bombs and that will surely benefit him. There's some good pieces on the offense but I'm not sure the defense is going to be that good. I don't think Ellerbe was that great of a pickup. I think the team will be improved this year but I don't think they'll be playoff bound at all.
Playoff Picture:
New England Patriots win the division. No wildcard teams from this division in 2013.
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Han Shot First!
Bill Whittle does some really great Youtube videos with a conservative slant to them. I came across this one a few weeks ago and really enjoyed the overall message to it. I think he's ultimately right in his assertions about how Hollywood has pussified male characters over the course of my lifetime.
And he's dead on when he points out that Greedo missing stretches the realms of disbelief.
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