Today marks the last day for a lot of people in my store, displaced by the reorganization. I'm not working, so I won't have to see it happen.
52 thoughts on “April 4, 2014: Transition”
Nice to wake up to no thunder this morning. After two days (mostly) straight of thunderstorms and last night's tornado sirens and 1 hr power outage, we're going to get a chance to dry off. Good thing the Cardinals opened out of town.
Wild Playoff Watch
Minnesota forces overtime on a late goal for a point. That distances the Wild from everyone enough that only Dallas or Phoenix can catch them. Since the Hawks got 2, the Wild can't catch them and the 7 spot is the best they can do.
Dallas lost to grow the cushion for that 7 spot to 5 points.
Winnipeg is eliminated from playoff contention with their loss to Pittsburgh last night.
Los Angeles is guaranteed to finish third in the Pacific Division.
Games tonight:
Phoenix/Edmonton - The Coyotes have been most helpful to the Wild's playoff chances recently. Hope that continues.
Nashville/Anaheim - This game technically has something to do with the playoff races.
That Haula goal to tie it up was sweet, but I was even more pleased with Bryzgalov's play. Neither of the regulation goals by the Blackhawks were soft - he made great initial saves and folks weren't in position to clear the rebounds (or second or third rebound). Even without Toews and Kane, that Chicago team is no slouch.
I dont know what was funnier, the send up of the 80s cartoons or the mocking of the toy commercials that went along with the cartoons. I still have a grin of my face.
...I won't have to see it happen.
My last day with my first ship in the Navy was unplanned. I was due to transition to a new duty station and had been temporarily assigned to the base command. A hurricane was headed towards the Jacksonville area and, in that scenario, all the ships in port get underway to prevent damage pier-side. I'd lived, worked and played with that crew for 2 years, and I said good-bye to the two who remained on base with me. It was a weird transition to say the least.
Tomorrow morning is the "reset" meeting. It's going to be a strange thing where we celebrate those in new positions while sort of trying to ignore all those who had their last day just one day prior. As of yesterday we know which of the displaced ones were able to find spots and which of them are now gone, so it's all very fresh. In addition to how much the meeting is going to suck anyway, it also disallows me from seeing Skim's first-ever track meet. Sigh.
If you're interested, the New Britain Rock Cats game starts at 10:30 this morning.
Rock Cats win 4-3. Brandon Waring homered in the eighth to break a 3-3 tie. More on this and the other Twins minor league tomorrow in Minor Details.
Had a great time at the mini-caucus lunch, you guys.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a parent with social plans will be stymied by a sick baby. (Don't say I didn't warn you, DPWY.) I'm sad I missed it!
Missed you. You're one of the few locals I haven't met. (Well, I did meet you at the Lowbrow but I was at the opposite end of the table and I don't recall anything.)
I agree the Lowbrow doesn't count. At that point, I didn't know you from Adam.
Agreed - that lunch spot was a great suggestion too!
The next time I'm in town during one of these, I'll show up. This time, however I was out of state.
My vote is monthly. Easier to take long lunches errands then.
Got the Kubel banner for the first time- wonderfully subtle for something so simple. Well done!
That's a Runner creation.
"I'm Fielding Lucky"
still couldn't get the Capps banner retired, though
Maybe we don't get to retire that one until Ramos retires?
now that's just mean
Truly not intended that way. It's the only explanation I can offer for that banner's persistence given that Capps hasn't pitched anywhere since 2012.
I'm bothered more by the artery-clogging photos than the Capps photo, actually
I feel weird talking about these kind of things in general, but Capps has come into my store regularly during the last two preseasons and we're on a first-name basis now. He was in the best shape I've ever seen him in this last time, and I figured he was on his way back. I guess he didn't make a roster?
From Rotoworld
Matt Capps (shoulder) will resume playing catch on Monday.
If all goes well, he could be throwing off a mound in a week. Capps is nursing a shoulder strain and will not make the Opening Day roster, but he'll be an option for the Tribe's bullpen at some point if healthy. Mar 9 - 12:33 PM
I'm happy about that. He's not a special player and the trade was awful, but it turns out he's a really nice guy.
He always seemed to say the right things, particularly when he didn't perform. I appreciated the heck out of that.
It feels wrong to relate it here, but he had a great response to me about his time with the Twins. I liked him immediately after that.
Much like Batista, it was a bad move for the Twins, but I wanted it to work anyways.
He was a goof on Twitter (not Perk-level, but Twitterers are born, not made.)
Players are just guys. I've almost never hated a player (there are a few notable exceptions). Dudes like Capps were pretty much living the dream. More power to them. The argument was ALWAYS with the FO and the field manager.
Same goes for He Who Shall Not Be Named -- I'm not holding it against him, just the manager for putting him in all the time. 😉
Far as I know, he never beat his wife, kicked his dog, or ran a ponzi scheme; I hope he's living a good retirement.
I don't blame him, really. It was the FO's fault.
mildy political tweet of the day regarding a new postage stamp:
I was about to say something similar. I'm all for Milk being honored with his own stamp, but it really annoys me when people make throwaway remarks that are factually incorrect in an effort to play the superiority card against political enemies. Pettiness is not the way we move forward as a society.
It was a joke, and I read it as such. YMMV, obviously.
No ID the AU today, but I did get two more Perk AU cards in today's mail (#48 and #49)
My God Arcia. Why isn't Hicks in CF?
Gorgui is not the same player he was at the beginning of the year.
Wolves giving the Heat all they want tonight.
I'm not watching, just following on gamecast, so I'm just going to assume that Mario Chalmers being at the free throw line with three seconds left was bull shit.
And I'm assuming Barea is an idiot for fouling Bosh when the Wolves were up 107-106 with thirty seconds left.
That seems like a reasonable assumption to make. I'm truly excited for his contract to expire.
Well how about that?
And kept giving it until they couldn't take any more! That's pretty cool.
Is Martin injured?
Caught end of regulation and first overtime. Got angry at the non-call on Lebron, watched an episode of Parks and Rec, them caught the last play. Good stuff.
Sore ankle for Martin. Just a heckuva win for a seriously undermanned club.
Things at work today left me feeling furious (being discouraged from taking my FMLA leave because I "didn't put in enough hours last year" (I was still handily above the minimums)), so that's what I'm drinking tonight. It's been quite a while since I've had a Surly. This stuff is still really really good.
Oof, that sucks about the FMLA thing. Good about the surly though!
Trey responded to his worst game with a really good one Friday night. He started against the unbeaten Red Sox and shut them out over 2 1/3 innings. He had five strikeouts, including three in the first after a leadoff single when he was facing their best hitters (Farm Little League teams tend to put their best players at the top of the lineup because it is rare that the bottom half of the lineup gets two at-bats in a game because of the 90-minute time limit). The Mets won 4-0 against the team that had scored the most runs in the league up to this point. Trey also singled in his only at-bat. After starting 0-2 and looking clueless at the plate, the Mets have won 4 of 5 games and knocked off the top two teams in the league this week.
Nice to wake up to no thunder this morning. After two days (mostly) straight of thunderstorms and last night's tornado sirens and 1 hr power outage, we're going to get a chance to dry off. Good thing the Cardinals opened out of town.
Wild Playoff Watch
Minnesota forces overtime on a late goal for a point. That distances the Wild from everyone enough that only Dallas or Phoenix can catch them. Since the Hawks got 2, the Wild can't catch them and the 7 spot is the best they can do.
Dallas lost to grow the cushion for that 7 spot to 5 points.
Winnipeg is eliminated from playoff contention with their loss to Pittsburgh last night.
Los Angeles is guaranteed to finish third in the Pacific Division.
MIN - 90 pts
DAL - 85 pts (WMN = 8)
------------------
PHX - 85 pts (WMN = 6)
VAN - 79 pts (WMN = 0)
NSH - 77 pts (WMN = 0)
Games tonight:
Phoenix/Edmonton - The Coyotes have been most helpful to the Wild's playoff chances recently. Hope that continues.
Nashville/Anaheim - This game technically has something to do with the playoff races.
That Haula goal to tie it up was sweet, but I was even more pleased with Bryzgalov's play. Neither of the regulation goals by the Blackhawks were soft - he made great initial saves and folks weren't in position to clear the rebounds (or second or third rebound). Even without Toews and Kane, that Chicago team is no slouch.
Angry Claudes for Everyone!
https://twitter.com/bruinshockeynow/status/451821854244618241/photo/1
This was my expression after the Bollig hit on Parise.
For certain - I almost chucked my empty beer glass at the television!
Did anyone catch last nights episode of Community?
My last day with my first ship in the Navy was unplanned. I was due to transition to a new duty station and had been temporarily assigned to the base command. A hurricane was headed towards the Jacksonville area and, in that scenario, all the ships in port get underway to prevent damage pier-side. I'd lived, worked and played with that crew for 2 years, and I said good-bye to the two who remained on base with me. It was a weird transition to say the least.
Tomorrow morning is the "reset" meeting. It's going to be a strange thing where we celebrate those in new positions while sort of trying to ignore all those who had their last day just one day prior. As of yesterday we know which of the displaced ones were able to find spots and which of them are now gone, so it's all very fresh. In addition to how much the meeting is going to suck anyway, it also disallows me from seeing Skim's first-ever track meet. Sigh.
If you're interested, the New Britain Rock Cats game starts at 10:30 this morning.
Rock Cats win 4-3. Brandon Waring homered in the eighth to break a 3-3 tie. More on this and the other Twins minor league tomorrow in Minor Details.
Had a great time at the mini-caucus lunch, you guys.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a parent with social plans will be stymied by a sick baby. (Don't say I didn't warn you, DPWY.) I'm sad I missed it!
Missed you. You're one of the few locals I haven't met. (Well, I did meet you at the Lowbrow but I was at the opposite end of the table and I don't recall anything.)
I agree the Lowbrow doesn't count. At that point, I didn't know you from Adam.
Agreed - that lunch spot was a great suggestion too!
The next time I'm in town during one of these, I'll show up. This time, however I was out of state.
My vote is monthly. Easier to take long
luncheserrands then.Got the Kubel banner for the first time- wonderfully subtle for something so simple. Well done!
That's a Runner creation.
"I'm Fielding Lucky"
still couldn't get the Capps banner retired, though
Maybe we don't get to retire that one until Ramos retires?
now that's just mean
Truly not intended that way. It's the only explanation I can offer for that banner's persistence given that Capps hasn't pitched anywhere since 2012.
I'm bothered more by the artery-clogging photos than the Capps photo, actually
I feel weird talking about these kind of things in general, but Capps has come into my store regularly during the last two preseasons and we're on a first-name basis now. He was in the best shape I've ever seen him in this last time, and I figured he was on his way back. I guess he didn't make a roster?
From Rotoworld
I'm happy about that. He's not a special player and the trade was awful, but it turns out he's a really nice guy.
He always seemed to say the right things, particularly when he didn't perform. I appreciated the heck out of that.
It feels wrong to relate it here, but he had a great response to me about his time with the Twins. I liked him immediately after that.
Much like Batista, it was a bad move for the Twins, but I wanted it to work anyways.
He was a goof on Twitter (not Perk-level, but Twitterers are born, not made.)
Players are just guys. I've almost never hated a player (there are a few notable exceptions). Dudes like Capps were pretty much living the dream. More power to them. The argument was ALWAYS with the FO and the field manager.
Same goes for He Who Shall Not Be Named -- I'm not holding it against him, just the manager for putting him in all the time. 😉
Far as I know, he never beat his wife, kicked his dog, or ran a ponzi scheme; I hope he's living a good retirement.
I don't blame him, really. It was the FO's fault.
mildy political tweet of the day regarding a new postage stamp:
No ID the AU today, but I did get two more Perk AU cards in today's mail (#48 and #49)
My God Arcia. Why isn't Hicks in CF?
Gorgui is not the same player he was at the beginning of the year.
Wolves giving the Heat all they want tonight.
I'm not watching, just following on gamecast, so I'm just going to assume that Mario Chalmers being at the free throw line with three seconds left was bull shit.
And I'm assuming Barea is an idiot for fouling Bosh when the Wolves were up 107-106 with thirty seconds left.
That seems like a reasonable assumption to make. I'm truly excited for his contract to expire.
Well how about that?
And kept giving it until they couldn't take any more! That's pretty cool.
Is Martin injured?
Caught end of regulation and first overtime. Got angry at the non-call on Lebron, watched an episode of Parks and Rec, them caught the last play. Good stuff.
Sore ankle for Martin. Just a heckuva win for a seriously undermanned club.
Things at work today left me feeling furious (being discouraged from taking my FMLA leave because I "didn't put in enough hours last year" (I was still handily above the minimums)), so that's what I'm drinking tonight. It's been quite a while since I've had a Surly. This stuff is still really really good.
Oof, that sucks about the FMLA thing. Good about the surly though!
Trey responded to his worst game with a really good one Friday night. He started against the unbeaten Red Sox and shut them out over 2 1/3 innings. He had five strikeouts, including three in the first after a leadoff single when he was facing their best hitters (Farm Little League teams tend to put their best players at the top of the lineup because it is rare that the bottom half of the lineup gets two at-bats in a game because of the 90-minute time limit). The Mets won 4-0 against the team that had scored the most runs in the league up to this point. Trey also singled in his only at-bat. After starting 0-2 and looking clueless at the plate, the Mets have won 4 of 5 games and knocked off the top two teams in the league this week.
Good job, Trey!