Cup of Coffee

August 14, 2012: Memories that Won’t Leave

94 Comments

It's the birthday of the ex who absolutely broke my heart in 1999. I don't think of her a lot anymore, but I remember her birthday every year and suddenly the junk floods back. I hope she's easier on the dude she married.

94 thoughts on “August 14, 2012: Memories that Won’t Leave”

  1. So Philosofette and I started Battle Star Galactica over the weekend. We're through the miniseries and half of the first season. It's a solid show, but to be perfectly honest, at least a couple times an episode we're jolted out of our investment by something (overacting or obvious plot hole or inconsistent character motivation, etc.). Otherwise, I love it. And I'm already starting to plan a BSG-themed Werewolf.

    1. I want Netflix back prety much for the sole reason of finally finishing this show.

      ...and starting Breaking Bad, because I hear it's good, or something.

      1. We've been Netflix-free for about 2 years now (maybe more...). I'm relying on the library for those two shows. I'm part way through season 2 of Breaking Bad, and have been for a long time. It's still good, but season 1 was soooooo much better.

        1. That's the exact opposite of what most critics have said about the show. I actually might prefer season 1 to 2, but not by much. At any rate, 3 and 4 are miles ahead of what was already excellent.

          1. I think my biggest problem with Season 2 has been the family side of things. It's really just been a big irritation, that has detracted from the rest of the plot. And I definitely felt like Season 1 was way more intense.

            That's the impression I have of 3 and 4, having only heard about them obliquely. It's why I'm slowly pushing through Season 2... I want to make it to the really good stuff.

              1. I think I have the same gripe that I have about that B-plot in BSG: I don't feel like it's advancing at all. I'm about 2/3rds of the way through Season 2 and things are pretty much exactly where they were at shortly into Season 1. Maybe that'll pick up soon too?

                  1. i really liked the second season, with the exception of the lead-up and execution of the "twist".

                    1. This is probably how I feel about it, though at the time I hated the "twist" so badly I considered stopping the series. I continue to watch and find it to be entertaining, but I don't think I like it as much as a lot of people do.

                    2. i'm far enough behind that i knew lots of good was still coming so it didn't put my continued viewing in jeopardy, but yeah, i thought it was pretty lame.

                      Spoiler SelectShow

    2. A lot of what seem like inconsistent character motivations will be explained later and make perfect sense. As for the overacting, yeah, there are two actors I'd love to swap out for others, but what are ya gonna do?

      A BSG-themed Werewolf has been in the works for ages, though we'd need tons of people to do it justice, and it would be very hard for someone who's watched the entire thing to run it, knowing what they do by then. Spoilers would be very difficult to avoid.

      1. I figured some of it would be explained later, but it makes it pretty tough to watch now. Just a few hints that explanations exist would be helpful.

        Spoiler SelectShow

        1. Nah, I have to agree with you there. A single episode would have gotten the job done. I'm guessing the thinking was that they could have a built-in B story to give the viewer a breather from (as well as add suspense to) the episode's main storyline.

  2. i have an ex (that i mentioned recently, i believe) that has a birthday on halloween. it's fitting.

    3. On a happier note, my wife's birthday is April 2nd. I always wish her a happy birthday on the day before. She doesn't really like that much, but it amuses me.

  3. Maybe it was discussed here before, but what do people think of the Nats decision to shut down Strasburg, even for the playoffs? And who's behind it, management or Boras?

    I love this team and am actively rooting for them. I'm glad to see they're not treating Strasburg like Wood and Prior, but do they risk alienating a fan base in October? I tend to think making the playoffs annually will benefit the team financially more than winning a World Series and then falling off, but it's hard to predict what would happen.

    1. As a Nats fan, it drives me crazy. Limit his innings, protect your investment, sure. Of course, there's no certainty that limiting his innings will result in a longer career, it's just a probability. But it makes sense to protect him. They should have slowed him down in innings earlier in the season, and should be more flexible at the end of the year. I want them to win, and they can do it now, and he'd be a big piece of that.

        1. I lived in D.C. when they came to town, and didn't have any NL affiliations. It's a minor fandom.

                1. I'm with AMR on this one. There was a time I would have been with Zombieman, but that was a while ago now.

                  1. I almost asked "which Homer?" but then realized it didn't matter, you cited to appropriate authority either way.

        3. What the hell are you talking about? I've been a strong supporter of the KCRs from the beginning and the Sox ever since 2005.

      2. "Just a probability?" GMs are never dealing with certainties and are always playing the odds one way or another. I think this is a lot of long-term upside in this move with relatively little short-term downside.

        After all, there's no certainty that letting Strasburg pitch down the stretch would help the Nats, it's just a probability.

    2. I understand it, but I wouldn't do it. Three reasons, in ascending order of importance: 1) No one really knows whether it will help; 2) There's no guarantee that the Nationals will have this good a chance to win the championship again even if it does; 3) Even if it works, the future of Strasburg that the Nationals are protecting may not belong to them. In a few years, he may either become a free agent or become too expensive for them. In that case, all they'll have done is hurt their chances to win the championship this year so that Strasburg can help the Yankees win some more championships in a few years.

      1. Couldn't they have just skipped a few starts during the season? Or had a six-man rotation? Or rubbed some dirt on it?

    3. I'm not sure they would alienate that many fans. I only have second-hand knowledge of this, but have read that people were polled by a newspaper (Washington Post?) that showed the majority supported shutting down Strasburg. I haven't bothered to look up a source for that though.

      As for shutting him down, I think I support it. He is already at a career innings high, and that's counting his college career. He had 123 innings in 2010 when he was injured and that was also a career high. He has 133 now and is scheduled to throw another 50, meaning he will be beating his previous high by about 60 innings. The "Verducci Effect" is BS, but it's still not good to allow pitchers to throw many, many more innings than previously. Especially when they are coming off an injury that happens because of overuse.

    4. I'm cool with it and most of the people I talk to around DC trend toward being okay with it.

  4. Meat joked about me missing cuddii last night. I've very rarely missed a player that has moved on for whatever reason from the Twins. I guess the two guys that I can say, man I missed them a lot were Rod Carew and Kirby Puckett. Yeah, and Lyman Bostock was a heartbreak, but I'm not sure I would have felt the same way had he not been murdered so soon after he left. That's about as vanilla as it gets, I suppose, but I was wondering what players you missed when they left.

    1. Good question. Carew is tops for me, for sure.

      Some of the ones that come to mind are blunted by preceding injuries or whatnot. Exits by Slowey, Neshek, and probably Baker are less of a loss to me than they would have been. Oh, and Radke.

      1. My list would probably be Radke, Gomez (he was just tooooo fun to watch), Gaetti, and Hrbek.

    2. When I was eight I was really saddened by both Viola and Brunansky leaving. Now, if I recall, the media tried to paint a picture of Viola as greedy, so being eight I bought into that a bit (and didn't realize how well we made out in the trade). But I fell in love with the Twins in 1987 and hated seeing anybody go, not to mention a power hitter and the Cy Young winner.

    3. I guess I'm kind of the opposite of you in that I miss just about everyone who leaves. But the players that I miss the most are probably Santana, Neshek, and Jacque Jones. And ORLANDO BALLGAME, of course.

    4. Number one is probably Neshek. I loved watching that dude pitch, and he always seemed like a personable character.

      I was sad about Radke, since he was really the last one that had been through the ugly years. That was tempered by the fact that his arm was practically falling off, though, so he gave 'em hell right to the end.

      I'll miss Morneau. I'll miss Light Rail.

      1. I've told this story before, I wrote to Neshek when he first came up with the Twins asking him to trade me a print for a signed baseball. I got a note and a signed ball from him a couple of weeks later. The note said, "Thanks for the awesome print, it matches my basement". Around Christmas that year I sent him two more in exchange for baseballs to give my brothers. I'd say that this interaction qualifies as personable.

        1. I mentioned WGOM.org* to him back when he signed my Spring Training program, and yes he knew the site, and said "Write good things about me!" Which of course, I did.

          *might have been SBG's basement back then

          1. His father worked with one of my neighbors. When we got married, my neighbor gave us a signed baseball from him as part of our gift. I mailed him a thank-you letter, and he wrote back telling me how much he loved reading my blog and following the WPA charts. Last year, he chatted with Sheenie for about 5 minutes during BP of one of the Padres games after signing her jersey.

                    1. Yeah, I was pretty excited when I saw that he'd made it back to the big leagues.

                      He's given up a home run as his only hit in 4 and a third innings. He's struck out seven. In other words, it's Pat Neshek.

      1. I was really bumed about Johan leaving when it became obvious that he wouldn't sign, but by the time the whole trade circus was finished I was totally fine with his departure.

      1. Dido, meat. I liked Koskie more than any other Twin since Hrbek, Puckett, and Harper. (Since I was a catcher when I played, I had a pretty big soft spot for Brian Harper.) I felt even worse when he got hurt.

        I missed Everyday Eddie for a while, too.

    9. Radke for sure, Puckett, Neshek. I don't think I've had that reaction a whole lot over the years, though.

      1. I was pretty sad that Neshek departed, but also saw that he wasn't going to be effective any more. I'd still like to have the Mayor and Breslow, but I don't know if that means I miss them.

      2. When I was thinking about this, I thought I'd have a bigger list. Looking back over it, though, I'm initially sad about roughly half the players the week that they leave, but very few after a couple of months.

        1. For sure. What was holding on his pitching arm? Staples and wood glue? Or was it twist-ties and food-grade wax?

        1. *Throws low* booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooo ooooo o o o ooooo o o o o o ooo. O. /ftfy

    11. Oh, I forgot to say, I miss the hell out of Mike Redmond. And believe it or not, I miss Nick Punto. Those two really seemed to embody the team's personality in a way that nobody has really done since. 2006 was my favorite Twins season ever.

    12. I don't miss the contract, but I miss seeing Santana pitch for the Twins. His change-up has to be a top 5 pitch over the last couple of decades. I miss Radke, too. Anyone who works quickly and throws that many strikes is going to be pretty high in my book. But I completely understood why and when he hung it up.

    13. Santana, Brunansky, Koskie. I certainly missed Kirby, but I guess I was just so realistic about it that I accepted it. If he'd left for another team, I would have been devastated. Viola was one of my favorite pitchers, but I must have been listening to some radio personality that was crazy about the pieces we were getting, because I remember being okay with that, too.

    14. Knoblauch, A. J., and Torii.

      Just kidding, though I did and do like A. J. But making room for Mauer and getting a veritable bounty in return? Hell, yeah!

    16. The departure I was most upset about was Knoblauch. I hated seeing him go to the Yankees. I think that's part of why I hate the Yankees so much (that and 2003, 2004, 2009, 2010, and pretty much any season they won the WS).

      I certainly missed Gaetti, and was sad to see him go. Also missed Koskie. I kinda miss Punto too.

    17. I'd agree with the Johan, Radke, Kirby and Koskie talk. Also, I always liked Cristian Guzmán and was sad to see him go. I liked Knoblauch a ton when he was here, but in my mind - pushing for a trade and ending up with the Yankme's was tantamount to treason and probably one of the reason's I like Guzmán so much.

      1. I was saddened by the Brunansky trade, but remember being hurt by two injury/illness-related departure: Jim Eisenreich and John Castino.

        Eisenreich was incredibly toolsy. He had the look (to me, anyway) of a superstar. 303/378/424 in 111 PA in early 1982 as a homegrown, 23-year old rookie CFer on a very young team filled with promise. But Tourette's robbed him of most of 1982-84 and all of 1985 and 1986. I was thrilled for him that he finally was able to make it back to the bigs to have some good years with KC and Philly.

        The other is John Castino, who tied for AL ROY in 1979 as a slick-fielding, banjo-hitting 3b (285/331/397 as a rookie, for 93 OPS+). What did I know? I thought he was awesome and would solve the Twins' 3b problems for a decade or more, and help lead them back to contender status, along with other young talent like Ken Landreaux, Hosken Powell, Butch Wynegar and Rob Wilfong. (hey, a girl can dream, right?) But back problems tanked his career and he retired in 1984. Ominously, he played exactly 666 career games in the Majors.

  7. Looks like I'll be heading to Cleveland September 16th through the 19th. (I think, unless they make me fly back the evening of the 18th.) And hey, looks like the Twin are in town on the 18th. (which means they'll definitely fly me back that night). If any citizens will be in the area, let me know. Also, hj and bS, what's that bar you guys are already talking about?

    1. i believe it's the bier markt. bS really loves it for reasons i'm not sure of, but i thought it was pretty decent too. also, i think it's right around the corner from the great lakes brewpub.

      1. Ah yes, that's the one. On an awesome note, both places are within 2 miles of the hotel of the seminar.

  9. Going to tomorrow's game with work. There's always been extra tickets, but I haven't seen any announcements of such yet.
    If someone wants to be on standby, let me know.

  10. Keeping with the "Philosofer discusses TV" theme from earlier: I drove home over lunch to check the mail (still no rejection letter or phone call... we're over a month, and I've called twice. Huh.). I warmed up some leftovers and sat in front of the TV for a while. I got to catch an episode that I consider to be one of the best half-hours of TV ever: "My Old Lady" from Scrubs Season 1. I do love that episode.

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