112 thoughts on “Today We Replace Your French Press With An Aeropress”

    1. I no longer particularly care whether they do or not. I just wish both leagues had the same rules. Watching AL pitchers have to hit is kind of a travesty.

      1. This is how I've felt about it for some time. It should be the same, no matter what that means.

        I prefer the DH to watching pitchers bat, but that's easy for me to say, growing up with no alternative.

      2. I disagree. I enjoy having different rules, but I'm also crazy like that.

          1. I was going to explain why I felt differently, but then I noticed that JoePos pretty much already nailed what I was going to say. And yes, I like to oppose you.

        1. I think teams should all have their own unique rules. Like, some teams should play softball rules. You know... You can't leave first until you chug a beer. And then scoring, you have to chug a beer. You have to chug a beer after all odd-numbered innings. Oh, and the 4th inning is the beer inning.

          I think this would be especially appropriate for the Brewers.

        2. I'm with Pirate (and Pos and Verducci). Here's Verducci's paragraph on it:

          Me? I would hate to see the original version of baseball disappear. Baseball with a DH is inferior, but I respect its upside and actually see two leagues under different rules as a net positive. But then, I saw no reason to "fix" the asymmetry of the number of teams in each league. People keep trying for the "perfect" schedule, as if the game is played in a lab or a vacuum. The season is too long and the variables too numerous. In fact, the tension and debate created by idiosyncrasies are healthy for the sport.

          Life is an unbalanced schedule.

      3. My favorite rule is to make it home team decides whether the game will have a DH or not.

    2. My issue at this point is that practically speaking, the only leagues of any note without a DH are half of MLB and half of NPB. The way the game has evolved, you can get pitchers coming to the plate in a World Series game--the biggest and most important games of their life--and they haven't hit in a game since they were a sophomore in high school. How does that make any sense? I'd be open to getting rid of the DH rule in MLB if, say, the NCAA got rid of the DH rule and/or high schools got rid of the DH rule, but I don't see that ever happening.

        1. Well, that's essentially guaranteed since basically the only US leagues that don't have a DH are the NL and when two NL minor league affiliates play one another--but even then, in the PCL both teams have to agree to DH even if they are both NL affiliated. At that point, it's really just a matter of whether they keep the DH in NPB.

  1. Gleeman has a nice article about how he lost 150 pounds in a year. It's pretty good, although I was shocked to find out he had gotten up to 355 pounds.

    I've been meaning to drop a post about how I've dropped 50 pounds and have kept it off for 3 years but I can't seem to stay past the 50 pound threshold. I suppose I could write it about losing 45 pounds and keeping it off. Anyway my strategy, as is Gleeman's, is pretty simple: East less, exercise more.

    1. Extremely impressive work for him as he's now ten pounds lighter than I.

        1. Best Shape Of His Life. It's a meme on HBT by Craig. Every spring there are numerous articles about how some player is in the best shape of his life now and expects good things.

    2. I was surprised for a long time that I didn't gain any weight when I went to college, because I certainly didn't stop eating a bunch, and I was no longer training for cross country or track. Then I realized that the University of Minnesota's campus was so large that I was easily walking 2-4 miles a day, and generally pretty briskly because it was either cold outside or I was impatient. When I got to grad school, I probably walked less, but I was still taking the bus to/from school and always had some walking to do to/from the bus stop, and I stayed a little active, playing some rec soccer and softball, so I didn't really gain any weight then, either.

      What finally got me out of shape--although admittedly I didn't gain much weight--was buying a car. Big mistake. I move around so much less now as part of my daily life, but there's not really a better way for me to commute at the moment--the bus routes between home and work are just too unreliable. Last fall, even though I was still pretty much a skinny bastard at 5'11" and 145 pounds, roughly speaking, in the worst shape of my life--no strength to speak of, not fast, and my endurance base was gone. I've since been working out, doing a mix of lifting and cardio (mostly high intensity as opposed to long slow distance workouts), which has me up to about 160 pounds and feeling a lot better than I did last fall. I'm stronger than I've ever been, and while I have a ways to go before I have the kind of cardio endurance I used to have, I think I'm in better shape to do some of the fun stuff I do these days, particularly hiking and skiing. And I'm looking forward to softball, too, maybe I won't be quite such a banjoj hitter.

          1. I lost nearly 12 pounds while in Belfast despite drinking way too may oysters. I walked 2.2 miles each way to the shop, worked my ass off while at the shop, and had to walk to the grocery store. I've started walking to the gym, but have been far less active in my daily life after working out.

  2. Well, eight houses into the search, it looks like we might have found a very good match. It's on a double lot with a number of mature oaks, with a partially finished basement and newer internals - boiler, water heater, etc. We're hoping the price has become more flexible since it has been on the market for a while now.

    A friend of ours who is a contractor has agreed to look it over for us on Thursday, so we'll know then whether or not we're going to make an offer.

      1. It's still on the east side, but even a bit further east than where we are now, up on a hilly portion of the Lake Edge neighborhood.

    1. I wish that we'd have know a contractor in W. Texas. Good luck storming the castle negotiating.

    2. I loved all of the mature oaks on our lot when we bought our house. Now, after 17 years of powerwashing the pollen off the deck and house every spring, and picking up a bushel and a peck of twigs every time the wind blows in the summer, and raking leaves every spare minute in the fall, not so much.

  3. Kevin Love for MVP? Probably not, but at least he has this:

    Even the Sea Life Minnesota Aquarium at Mall of America has recognized Love's multiple talents, naming a new octopus after the fourth-year forward. Love will help unveil the multi-limbed creature, named "K-Love," on Thursday.

    1. What Lebron is doing right now is pretty nuts so I don't know about Love. A 2nd team All-NBA is likely though. The most likely hardware to come to Minnesota this off season. How about Coach of the Year?

      1. He's second in rebounding and fourth in scoring and second-team all-NBA is all he'll get? That would be a huge insult.

        1. I think Lebron and Durant will be the first team forwards. Do you disagree?

              1. Hey, that's like me! I couldn't dunk over a smart car either! Of course, I couldn't dunk over a matchbox car, so there might still be some room for him to distinguish himself.

      2. so, you are saying Blake Griffin will be the first team All-NBA power forward???

      3. Yea, but is anyone wearing a Lebron or Durant jersey in a SNL skit?

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      1. K-Love is a contemporary Christian radio network with stations all over the country. I've thought for some time Kevin Love should do an endorsement deal with them. Not that I know anything about his religious faith, or if he even has any. It just seemed like kind of a natural deal.

    1. I always loved talking to my grandfather about baseball. "Well... Ruth was good, but I always thought Hack Wilson was the best I ever saw."

  4. So it's getting to be really likely that a bunch of my friends and family will be renting the Pedal Pub and riding around Minneapolis in May. Of course, Sheenie had the ridiculously great idea which has since been adopted that all of us dress as Mario Kart characters.

    1. you better be dropping banana peels and papier-mâché turtle shells along the way.

          1. At least the motorcycles were an ok idea. Those stupid blue shells make no damn sense.

            1. I think the idea of the blue shells was ok too - level the playing field, bring first place back, etc. They just blow in practice. Like the motorcycles.

              1. I don't know, I thought the bullet did a fair enough job of leveling the playing field without completely effing over first place. All the blue shells ever do, even in theory, is make it easier for someone in second or third to get to first, while leaving the people who suck in the bottom half where they already were.

                1. It really all depends on how close 2nd and 3rd are. If blue shells were restricted to when 1st place was a significant time ahead, then they'd be more ok. The fact that they aren't always fair doesn't mean that they never work like they're supposed to. I can still credit the idea, I just question the execution.

                    1. Yeah, the lightning bolt is good too. That at least allows leaders to keep moving forward. In my opinion there shouldn't be something that super-punishes first place for getting way ahead. If I'm good enough to get way out in front of 2nd and 3rd place, good for me, dammit.

                    2. The worst part about blue shell to me is when I'm trying to play single player crap, because of the rubber band AI. Nothing drives me more crazy in racing games (or any game really) than rubber band AI.

                    3. agreed. NBA Jam was excruciating with this. A lead of more than 8 points was virtually impossible

                    4. Yeah, that's the exact game I was thinking about. The AI couldn't miss a shot, and you couldn't make a dunk. Annoying. NFL Blitz was the same way, and I think that one even had it in Player vs. Player matches. You'd start dropping passes, fumbling, etc. once you got up by too many points. You could turn it off on the N64 version, I know. I beat my friend by over 150 points after turning it off. We never played Blitz again after that.

    1. Didn't the Wild have a better chance of making the NBA playoffs than the Wolves last year?

  5. Over at CdL, a new Survivor game will be starting in a few weeks. This will be a new format, where there's more emphasis on ideas than brute writing skill. Challenges will be very short, and will probably average around 100 words. You get short windows of time (e.g. an hour) to write, but you get to pick the time slot, so if you want to write at noon or at two in the morning, you can.

    Would like to see some new blood. I think some of you have shied away because you don't see yourself as good writers. I hope this contest would be less intimidating and would encourage creativity. Head on over if interested and want to sign up.

    1. The one blending Carcetti with Uncle Jack ("to the nuts!") is my favorite.

  6. This video doesn't do it justice, but the effect of using Cinderella's Castle as a backdrop for projections had some pretty awesome results:
    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0K9HkE9zYY

    If you ignore the smarmy theme, some of the better points I remember watching are at:
    1) 2:00 - wall morphing/projecting (video barely captures it)
    2) 2:50 - balloons / single balloon
    3) 5:20 - main spire becomes a rocket
    4) 5:54 - fire, to the Pirates theme
    5) 6:38 - color by numbers
    6) 9:40 - fireworks which start as projections and continue into the air

  7. The Human Pez Dispenser had little problem dispensing his way through the obligatory two innings against the Twins today. Meanwhile Pavano is pitching like it's early Spring Training normal.

  8. Anybody interested in booing the Red Sox, er cheering on the Twins on Monday, April 23rd?

    I just bought 4 tickets in row 4 of section 121 for 80 total. If 3 people are willing to pay 20 each, we could figure something out.

      1. Face is 53 for that game. Cost for season tix is 40 each. I got two for free and paid for 2 at his cost.

  9. @JoeCStrib: Willingham might be a fine replacement for Cuddyer overall, but this loafing-to-first-on-grounders stuff is annoying for $21 million.

    Cuddy, Cuddy, why have you forsaken us?

    1. Oh for the love of... why does the mainstream media for the Twins have to suck on so many levels?

      1. It's pretty brutal.

        Can you imagine the histronics there'd be if he blew out a knee running out a worthless ST grounder?

    2. Sounds like someone with access to the WGOM twitters might need to fire a response through the internets.

    3. If he doesn't fall in love with breaking balls in the dirt, I couldn't care less how hard Consensual Pork runs out a grounder.

  10. So I finally saw Moneyball the other night. I liked the happy ending, where the Twins win.

    1. Wow. Someone get her over at CdL and do a season entirely comprised of satire. As long as we don't tell her it's supposed to be satire, she'll walk away with it (unless Shecky plays too...).

    2. I found something else that would also fit in perfectly over at the Casa, too. I haven't even watched the video yet- the description was enough that I knew I needed to share it.

  11. I managed to insult Drew Butera on my Income Tax quiz today. Good times.

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