Felix hit a grand slam. Felix. GRAND SLAM. First pitch swinging, bases loaded, two outs, hit it over the opposite field fence. There is no other word for this than Ridiculous.
Now, I'm not the keenest statistician around, but I'm fairly confident that Felix is the first M's pitcher to do that. Ever.
Lookout Landing had a great post on it. Read on, if you like.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
New Levels of Kingliness
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Ciao Bella!
Alright, it's official: I signed up for Beginning Italian at the community college. I'm stepping outside my comfort zone and diving head first into a language I know absolutely zilch about.
The first class was last night. I learned the Italian alphabet (which only has 21 letters, btw), each letter's respective sound, how to count and how to introduce myself. We also did lots of listen and repeat exercises as well as reading out loud. For the verbal portions of class, I desperately wished I could have the teacher to myself - I wanted to listen and repeat every word or phrase until I had it just right, but of course that didn't happen. And yes, the teacher and most of the class already know my name ;)
After the first five minutes of class I remembered why I liked being a student: the excitement of learning something new and immediately being able to apply it; the satisfaction of praise for a correct answer; the intense embarrassment/humiliation that inevitably follows having no idea what the teacher is talking about when you're called upon (both of which I relived yesterday). It's fun and challenging and it gets me outside of my box. Now if I can only learn to communicate in Italian, I'll be all set!
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Revolver
So Guy Richie makes some cool movies. I'm sure most people have at least heard of Snatch (largely thanks to Brad Pitt I'm sure), if they haven't seen it themselves. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (its fraternal older brother, if you will) is equally as entertaining with just as many plot twists and huge cast o' characters as its successor. Jason Statham has a role in both movies and anyone who watches enough movies with me knows I love Handsome Rob*. So when I put Guy Richie's most recent film Revolver on my queue, I was expecting another quick paced, complicated plot, caper-type thing.
That was my bad. While a plot synopsis may have you believing it will round out your 3 DVD "trilogy" of Guy Richie films, it's really quite different. I'm not saying this because I'm about to rip the film a new one - just putting it out there to the viewing public to expect something different, good different. Instead of tagging along for another raucous adventure where everything is going blisteringly in the wrong direction, only to end surprisingly well, this movie is more of a mind-bender.
It's not that the plot is particularly outstanding or the the dialogue is necessarily profound, but the movie as a whole was both more psychological and artistic than I was expecting. When all the pieces came together, I was surprised and pleased with the result. I sat there on my couch and watched the entirety of the credits roll by before my 56k modem brain began rolling again. It was just really interesting.
In any case, I can't get over it. I'm dying to debrief with somebody. IMDB rates the movie a 6.2 out of 10 stars. Wikipedia says it's a film for a "narrow audience". I don't know, but I guess that must include me because I really liked it. Your mission blog readers (should you choose to accept it) is to review the movie for yourself and share your comments here**. I'm up for a discussion, are you?
*Jason Statham's character name in the Italian Job...you're gonna have to make an effort to keep up. ;)
**If you haven't seen the movie, I make no guarantee there won't be spoilers in the comment section...assuming anyone takes up my mission.
King Felix
Admittedly the Mariner's season this year has been awful. It's been more than awful, it's been abysmal. It's been absolutely demoralizing to watch as a fan. There have been times when, honestly, a bag of hammers to the face sounded more appealing.
And while the season is so far gone that even dreams of a 17 game comebacker like the Refuse to Lose season of '95 are ludicrous, there are still a few bright spots among the stretches of painstaking torture.
Felix Hernandez is one of those bright spots. Every 5th day when his name is on the lineup, it's like a little bit of that Mariner magic slips back into the atmosphere. It cracks in the air like a spark in dry heat and before you know it, you're excited to watch the game tonight. You get the feeling you are watching a small portion of history actually take place. Something amazing could happen. Pitch a no hitter? Break the strikeout record? 3 pitch inning? Perfect game? Why not? With Felix on the mound, it's anything is possible.
That's how I feel anyway and last night's game was certainly no disappointment. Despite giving up an early solo shot home run, Felix was dominating. He was a legitimate strike throwing machine. After the HR, he retired 14 straight, with six consecutive strikeouts - only one short of tying the ML record - and a total of 9 Ks on the night. In the 4th he delivered a 9 pitch, 3 strikeout inning. He joined the ranks of only 12 other men in the AL to accomplish the same feat. Ever. Ridiculous is the word I believe you are looking for. That was simply ridiculous. After 5 innings he had thrown 54 pitches and 44 of them were strikes. Let that sink in for a moment: in 5 innings, he faced 16 men and averaged just over 3 pitches per batter. Felix wasn't messing around. He went on to throw a total of 7 1/3 innings on 107 pitches (76 strikes) and sew up a win for the M's. It's almost enough to restore your hope in the M's again.
No, we didn't gain a game on the Angels. No, we didn't change the course of our season with this one game. We didn't cinch a playoff berth or complete a sweep. It was simply a win. Another chalk like in the W column. But this brief remission from what can only be described as the cancer of our season has been oh so sweet. And for that I'm thankful.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Not Gonna Do It.
Ya know, I heard the other day that gas prices are going to reach over $5/gal in July. And I thought to myself, this is truly getting ridiculous. I refuse. Nope, not gonna do it. I'd rather protest instead.
(...Wait for it...wait for it...)
Okay, so I'm not really protesting like with picket signs down at the federal building with bags of rotten tomatoes (who'd I throw them at anyway?) or nagging people to sign petitions or anything like that. But I am going to do myself a favor and make a change.
The whole thing really came about by accident. I had decided to ride my bike to work one day last week (despite the fact that I have to ride 4 miles out of my way to use a shower - 2 miles to the gym and 2 back...*sigh*) in an effort to a) not only get my flabby butt up and moving more than twice a week and b) to at least put a dent in the spending I've recently been doing on gas.
However, after I'd turned in my 9 mile "pre-work" workout, I arrived to discover that my co-worker (who is also a group fitness instructor at the same gym) was out sick. That meant I'd have to cover her cycle class. No wait - ride 2 miles back to the gym, cover her cycle class, then ride 7 miles home. That's 20 miles in a day! Certainly not impossible, but when you've only been cycling once a week....yikes.
This is when I replayed in my head a conversation I'd had with my beautiful best friend Andi used-to-be-Lopez in which she suggested I check out the bus schedule. Since the addition of the Go Lines all over town, there have been all kinds of new routes. Brilliant!
I immediately dove into the Whatcom Transit Authority's website and an hour later I realized, I can take the bus! (God bless public transit.) In fact, with all the new updates, I found that I could easily take the bus every day. Instead of biking to work (which was, despite a good workout, a huge pain) I just bike to the downtown station. Heck yeah man! No 20 miles for me!
So I promptly bought a bus pass ($20 per month - so cheap!) and I haven't driven my car to work since. With a fill-up costing me ~$50 every 3 weeks, at this point, you'd have to pay me to start my car Monday - Friday. So yeah, I'm not gonna do it.
(Seriously though, I'm really excited about my bus pass - it's pretty frickin' awesome.)
Monday, June 16, 2008
Genius. Pure Genius.
I think I'm in love with Netflix. I can't get over it; it's simply the best thing ever. Whoever came up with this crap deserves an award/prize/national recognition for being a genius. Or at least 51% controlling interest of the stock.
The thing about it is that it is not only compulsively addicting (ooo! What should I get next?), but it also makes going to the mailbox fun again. Say good-bye to the days when bills and junk mail were the only things waiting to greet me c/o the postman. Oh no, not anymore. My mailbox now holds the greatest thing imaginable: possibility. Every trip to the mailbox now gives me a childlike glee as I mentally peruse the options of what may lay in wait for me. The thought puts a smile on my face and a little skip in my step.
And I know what you must be thinking: Hey. Geek. It's just movies in the mail, get over it. But the thing is, renting movies this way has turned out to be surprisingly...liberating. I know, weird huh? But when you think about it, it makes total sense. When you make a conventional trip to rent a movie, a lot of mental energy goes into the effort. Not only do you have to agree on a selection with your movie watching companions - but after touring ALL the new releases and spending the length of a full length feature just making your choice, there is an implicit amount of pressure for the movie to be worth it. If it's not, you've not only wasted the $5+ it costs to rent a movie these days, but you've wasted your time on two fronts: picking the movie AND watching it. With Netflix though, that pressure is suddenly released. Since you pick your movies ahead of time online (whenever they pop into your head; so convenient) and since you can rent an unlimited amount for the same cost...it's suddenly not such a big deal. Therefore, you can afford to take bigger risks in your movie selections. Expand your horizons! Try something new! If the movie isn't great, no biggie - just mail it back and get something else. Easy as pie. (Well, easier actually...pie making is kind of hard.)
Plus you don't have to drive anywhere to return the movie. I'm not even going to go into this particular piece of geniusness as it's pretty self-explanatory. But still. I love that part.
And I know I'm gushing here - but the fact that you can rate any movie you've seen with one click and it remembers all of your ratings and makes educated suggestions of other movies you'll like based on the ratings....yeah, seriously. If you don't have this crap, you should get it. (I just wish I could look at a graphical representation of all the statistical movie rating information I'm generating......okay, so I might be spending a little too much time on Lookout Landing and USS Mariner. What? Saber-metrics are cool.)
Bottom-line: it's über-efficient and I'm never going back. (And it's completely wonderful.)
Thursday, June 12, 2008
First Buds
I may not have a green thumb, but the Lord has certainly answered my prayer to make my garden grow - the roses are beginning to bloom! I'm so excited!! Woo hoo!! Yay! Opa!!
Thursday, June 5, 2008
26 Helping Hands
A few weeks ago, I'd finally had enough of the mediocre, raggedy, embarrassment of a backyard and so I laid out a plan of attack. After a few landscaping quotes, I quickly decided I was better off to do the work myself. But it was such a big job - I hardly knew where to start. Thankfully with the trusty help of Round-Up and the assistance of a few co-workers and their roto-til, I was able to get the yard back to a manageable "blank slate." Next I was scheduled to have 8 yards of dirt delivered to my driveway for the renovation to truly begin. I don't know why, but the prospect of 8 yards of dirt really freaked me out. At night I would picture a pile of dirt stacked higher than the garage in front of my house and no means to distribute it. This, of course, was absurd. But nonetheless, I was a bit nervous about the whole thing.
Therefore, I emailed an "all hands on deck" call for help to my network of friends in Bellingham. I expected a few people would turn out and help me haul my dirt tonnage to the backyard, but I had never dreamed the EVERYONE would respond yes! That's right, 13 people responded to the call and committed to helping me out (I think it was the Boundary Bay beer and Rudy's Pizza that did it, to be honest...). I was truly shocked and humbled that my friends would rally together to help me out. So when I found out I had manpower in abundance, I made a "pit stop" at the local nursery and bought enough flowers and trees to round out the back yard. Two and a half hours later - my yard was a green, leafy masterpiece.
Thanks you guys - there's NO WAY I could have done it without you!!
Monday, June 2, 2008
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