Month: August 2013

Really?

P1010152

Geocaching.com has been running a promotion something or other event all month, that if you find a cache or attend an event on any day in August you will be “awarded” a unique 31 Days of Geocaching souvenir. Just to be contrary, we have avoided going caching all month, but could put it off no longer, so we went out this morning and did a little searching for hidden ammo cans using satellite signals.

After caching we changed from our sweaty T-shirts and went out for lunch at a Ruby Tuesday in nearby North Augusta. They open at 11:00 AM and we were there about 11:30, so there were hardly any people in the place. Just three tables were occupied and all threes were right next to each other and right next the hostess station. Sure enough when she showed us to our table it was right next to everyone else. We asked her nicely if we could move a little further away from all the other diners, so she led us a couple more steps along, skipping just one table.

There were like 40 empty tables to choose from, but here we were all grouped together. It is not like we are totally anti-social, but we would have liked to dine and have a conversation without having to talk over, or listen to, other conversations.

As we sat looking over our menus, before our server even arrived, the hostess came in with another group and sat them right behind us, filling in the one spot that we had skipped over. Donna looked at me, I shook my head, we stood up, walked right around her and folks she was seating and exited the restaurant.

We drove back to Aiken and stopped at the Applebee’s near our house. There were maybe 6 groups of people eating there already and they were all spread out evenly through out the restaurant. When the hostess seated us we were led to an empty table 20′ from the next closest diners. There, was that so hard?

Started down, went up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1251

The Holy Grail of Watching a Televised Red Sox Game Realized

After trying all kinds of shenanigans over the years to get it so I could watch the Red Sox on television and listen to the radio crew call the game, turns out it was available all along. No audio and or video delaying software required, all I had to do was subscribe to MLB.TV, install their NextDef add-in and that combination is right there for the selecting.

I don’t see it tonight, but last night I could select no audio and just have the stadium crowd noise while viewing the game. Tried it for a bit, and while interesting, I couldn’t do it. Maybe if I just watched the game instead of my usual internet surfing multitasking…

Settling The Tie

Nine days ago I whined here about my Fellow Fantasy Footballers not voting in my League Manager polls. The one that got the most participation was the first. It was about whether we should have a tie breaker or should ties be ties and fittingly it ended in a tie. I was supposed to break that tie by tossing a coin at draft day, but I forgot to do it. This morning I was in the office of the League Originator and another owner, so we decided to do the coin toss then. After finishing I emailed the rest of the owners:

From: The Commish
Sent: Wednesday, August 28, 2013 9:38 AM
To: The Owners Group
Subject: With apologies to Gertrude Stein

Because yours truly got so wrapped up in drafting players for his team last Friday I forgot to do the promised coin toss to settle the tie/tie breaker poll that ended in a tie.

This morning at League HQ, in the office of the EZEFFL’s CFO, monitored by a representative of the accounting firm of Price Waterhouse the matter was put to bed.

Thinking that this was too important to be decided by just a single toss, it was agreed to toss the coin 12 times, one for each team in the league. Heads would be a vote for ties counting as a tie and tails would be a vote for using a tie breaker. If the coin toss finished in a 6 to 6 tie, the tie would go to the ties, meaning, for the 2013 season, a tie would count as a tie.

With the first four tosses coming up tails it looked like the tie breaker would be carried forth from last year, but a late surge in heads towards the end made the count end up in a six to six tie.

So: A Tie is a Tie is a Tie is a Tie

—

Brian Bogardus
Commissioner
End Zone Entourage FFL
Owner/Director of Player & Personnel
Purple Whales

That final poll I put up 9 days ago – nobody has voted in it yet…

Unintentionally Unpleasant Acronym

Remember those clear Lucite document holders that started to appear in the Valve Store’s(TM) restrooms a couple weeks back? Turned out they were more of the same as the others that had blanketed the cafeteria tables earlier, recruitment posters for the plant’s Emergency First Responders.

I never really paid much attention to the text of the message because rushing to the scene of an accident is not my cup of tea. It took my summer college student helper to point out to me today that what I have always called, or thought they were called, First Responders, the Plant Nurse has taken to calling First Aid Responder Team in her promotional material. I wonder if she is going to have t-shirts made up for them?

F.A.R.T.

Better Than Being There

img_mlbtv_smWhen I went to check out the start time for last night Red Sox game on their home page I noticed a news item that said get the rest of the season of MLB.TV Premium for $19.95. I’m in, no more watching badly pixelated streams off of European servers…. The HD picture is awesome. Why bother paying all that money to actually go to a game?

Watched part of last night’s loss, but today and tomorrow I will not be able to use it the watch the FRS, seems that when the game is selected to be carried by FOX on Saturday it is unavailable for watching on MLB.TV. Even if the game you want is not being shown by your local FOX station. Sunday’s night game belongs of ESPN and the same deal applies. Luckily today’s Red Sox/Dodgers game was on my local FOX channel so I could watch it.

It seems like this thing is really geared for the fan of a team who he lives nowhere near, because there blackout restrictions to protect sports cable networks monetary interests. Fortunately I’m a fan of of a team that is a thousand miles away, because if I was an Atlanta Braves fan I’d be blacked out.