Jan 25
MattBranding, Nerdery
You know when you’re waiting at a red traffic light? Is it so much to ask for that if you’re in the first slot, that you pause the hair and makeup session and just focus on the task at hand?
Yesterday I was 3rd in line at the light. Light turns green…1 one-thousand, 2 one-thousand, 3 one-thousand…what is going on??? Why aren’t we moving? 4 one-thousand, 5 one-thousand, 6 one-thousand. I look at the first car and sure enough, the driver is doing her hair in the mirror. No movement. Now I’m getting frustrated with driver of car #2 also. There was a clear breakdown of responsibility here:
Car #1 – obvious. It is your job to watch the road. If you drop the ball, you are slowing the rest of us down.
Car #2 – You need to be watching and it is your job to “remind” car #1 of their responsibilities if they don’t act in the right amount of time.
Car #3 (me in this case) should never have to do anything. Turns out that we would have missed the entire green if I hadn’t “reminded” car #1 and car #2 of their responsibilities. The good news is that I made it through that green light but I would have been very upset had I not.
One more thing for the road…10 out of 10 times, when the driver of car #1 realizes their blunder, they will floor the gas as if they were in a drag race and this display will somehow make up for the irresponsibility. News flash: it doesn’t.
Pave attention.
Jan 18
MattBranding
I have some great news.
Tonight I did my laundry. No, that’s not the great news.
All the socks paired up. I have no extras. No phantom sock disappearance. 100% pair rate. This is fantastic news and the first time I can remember this happening. Congratulations to me.
Jan 14
MattBranding
So I was wrong about the Patriots making it to the Superbowl this year. That’s fine. They had a great season and as a fan of the team, its hard to complain about how they played this season given all the stuff they had to work through.
The game tonight proved once again that a team can’t make big mistakes and expect to win. The thing that annoyed me the most about this game was that after every tackle that the Broncos made, you could see Denver players helping the Patriot players up. It was pretty frustrating to watch how seemingly sportsman-like the Bronco players were. Whatever happened to kicking the other team when they were down and spitting in their faces? PLEASE! If I see Ian Gold help Corey Dillon up one more time I’m gonna puke.
Anyway, I’m over it. We as Patriot fans have been spoiled by all this winning so maybe its good to take a break from it…so we can truly appreciate the success we’ve gotten to enjoy. Whatever. See you in Miami next year.
Jan 08
MattBranding, Nerdery
I once wrote a little something about some of the issues I have with the English language and I was thinking about it again so I decided it was time for me to revisit it in what will probably be a very exciting multi-part saga. Everyone knows learning languages is a difficult thing to do. Every language has its nuances and challenges. I’d write about other languages but I don’t know them really. English is the only language I speak wicked good. Today’s theme…letters.
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
I’m not sure we need all of them.
x – why? Box…how about bocks. What’s wrong with that? Oh, I know…
bocs…no need for the k. It has the same sound as c.
q – don’t need it. Our least independent letter…can’t go anywhere without the u and even when it does go out, it sounds like a ‘k‘…or rather a ‘c‘. Quick…change it cwic.
So I propose that we get rid of ‘x‘, ‘k‘, and ‘q‘.
Put that in your zerocs machine and copy it. How cwaint.
Jan 06
MattBranding
Tomorrow begins what will hopefully be the playoff run that brings the Patriots and their 4th Superbowl win in the last 5 seasons. That would be pretty impressive considering the crazy amount of injuries and would-be distractions through this season. Let’s take a look at some of the goings-on this season so far:
The schedule the Pats had at the beginning of the season was clearly evidence of a conspiracy against the the reigning champs. Lots of away games against lots of very good teams.
Lots of injuries. Ridiculous amounts of injuries. I’m including Tedy Bruschi here…probably the biggest loss of all. Add to that…Rodney Harrison, Matt Light, Richard Seymour, Kevin Faulk, Corey Dillon, Dan Koppen, Tyrone Poole, Chad and Guss Scott, Duane Starks, and so on…some of them for the whole season, others early in the season who have since returned.
Just for fun, how would the Colts have done if they lost the equivalent players…let’s say Edgerrin James, Marvin Harrison, Dwight Freeney, Jeff Saturday, Corey Simon, and Mike Doss…best players at their respective positions?
The Patriots did have a much easier schedule in the second half of the season…
Combine that with the return of one of the most impressive professional athletes I can remember in my life, Tedy Bruschi.
Add the return of some of the other guys as well as the improved play of some of the rookies and you’ve got the recipe for another Superbowl run…
So tomorrow night, the Patriots will beat the Jaguars. Then they will beat Denver…in Denver. Then they will go to Indianapolis and beat the Colts and then head straight to Detroit to beat the Seahawks. Mark it in your blog.
FYI, Shawn Alexander won the MVP…fine. He was on my fantasy football team and was great. He had an awesome season. Kudos. Tom Brady should have won. Glenn Ordway on WEEI made a good point today on the radio…last year, Peyton Manning won because even though Tom Brady had more wins, Peyton had better numbers. That’s what people were saying. Fine. I can accept that reasoning. This year, Tom had better numbers and Peyton had more wins but Peyton still finished ahead of Tom in the voting. Hypocrits. Oh yeah, Shawn Alexander is a great running back on a great team with a great offensive line in a crappy conference. Take Alexander away from his team…they are most likely still just as successful. Take Brady or Manning away from their teams…no chance.
Tom Brady for MVP.
Recount.
Go Pats!
Jan 03
MattBranding
Now…I was thinking yesterday that there are probably certain things that I shouldn’t write about. This is definately one of them.
I’m not a big dancer. Never have been. Never will be. My girlfriend was in town last week for New Years and asked me about this thing called “Dance Dance Revolution”. Well, I’ve heard of it. I see people playing it when I walk past the mall arcades. I tell myself I would never do something like that. It looks ridiculous. Well, she tells me that I should get it because it would be fun for a group of us (specifically a friend of hers who will be joining us for New Years) to do together at home. Well, I have my old XBox (now replaced with an XBox 360 – nerd alert) and an unending need to please the masses. Turns out, for a small amount of money, you too can own your own copy of Dance Dance Revolution and a “DDR Pad”.
Well I hook it up. She’s gonna go first. I just about pass out laughing so hard. Unfortunately, its time for Mr. Coordination to go now. Fortunately, nobody else is home. After my first (and presumably last) attempt, I realize a few things:
- Where I thought it would be a miserable experience, I actually sort of enjoyed it.
- I’m a lot better at it then her…and she’s a good dancer.
Longer story shorter…not only did we have a great time with it…my roommate loved it so much, he went out and bought a 2nd “DDR Pad” so we could all compete head-to-head. Are you kidding me? We all loved it and practically had a professional competition as part of the New Years festivities.
I suppose there is a lesson to be learned here…but I can’t put my foot on it.
Jan 03
MattBranding
My roommate told me I should write about the offseason so far for the Red Sox. He believes that the moves the Red Sox have made thus far have been because the ownership is more interested in making money then in putting a winning team on the field. I disagree. So here are my offseason thoughts so far, as if there aren’t enough people with “thoughts” about the Red Sox.
Most people agree that in 2004, the Red Sox won the World Series because of their pitching. The White Sox won it this past season for the same reason.
Most people also agree that the big problem the Red Sox had this past year was pitching.
Not signing Theo was a mistake but I don’t think it was about money. According to newspapers and various reports, he wanted 1.5 million dollars a year and the team was willing to give him that. Clearly there were other issues. It seems pretty clear that Theo has been involved behind the scenes recently and I think he’ll be back “officially” before spring training.
We’ve been hearing about Hanley Ramirez for a long time. Had the team been so high on him, I don’t think they would have signed Edgar Renterria for 4 years before last season. Regardless, trading for Josh Beckett was a fantastic move. This guy is one of the top young arms in the game. Aside from that, the Sox gave up Anibel Sanchez and some other prospects. The package of young players was certainly very good but I believe it was a great trade. Although he had a down year, Mike Lowell is a gold-glove third baseman and I’m gonna predict that he hits somewhere between .285 and .295 this season…if the Sox don’t end up trading him. Guillermo Mota, the 3rd player the Sox got in the trade, is an above average bullpen guy when healthy. I’ll take it. Lowell makes 8 million a year, Beckett will probably make somewhere between 5-7 via arbitration and Mota made 2.6 million last year. The package of Sox players was probably less then 2 million a year. That means the Sox are taking probably around 15 million a year in this trade.
Trading Doug Mirabelli for Mark Loretta. Loretta is an above average 2nd baseman who can put up good numbers and play a good second base. I love Mirabelli but this one is a no-brainer. Loretta made 2.75 million last year…’Belli made 1.5 million.
Trading Renterria. This guy never seemed comfortable here and in exchange, the Sox got a player that is being called the top prospect in all of baseball in Andy Marte. I’ll take it. Unfortunately, the Sox threw in 11 million more dollars to the Braves. That means that they are spending a lot of money to have had E.R. for 1 season…plus, it wouldn’t surprise me if they traded Marte before spring training…although I’d love to see him at Fenway.
Kevin Millar…loved his commercials and his general attitude. I would have preferred if he had played baseball a little better this past season though. Not signing him back is not a big loss although I will miss having him around.
Bill Mueller…the perfect kind of player. He said he wanted to be on the West Coast to be closer to his family. It seems as though the Sox would be willing to give him a 1 year deal…he wanted more…he turned down money in Pittsburgh to go out West and got a multi-year deal. He’ll be missed here too but it seemed natural that he was ready to move on.
Resigning Mike Timlin…he was the best guy in the bullpen last year. Welcome back. He made 2.75 million last year so presumably he’s up closer to 3 this year.
Rudy Seanez! This guy stunk up the joint the last time he was here but he was great last season in the San Diego bullpen. Let’s hope this year is like last year.
Johnny Damon…well…would have been great to have him back but he took his 13 million a year, which even Yankee fans who I’ve spoken to think is overpaying. I’ll miss having him in centerfield but I don’t think the Sox can be blamed for not going that high. The good news is the Yankees have been given permission to have 10 people on the field in order to have an extra outfielder that can stand between centerfield and second base so Johnny can have an extra cut-off man.
Now clearly there are some holes to fill in centerfield and shortstop. Hopefully the Miguel Tejada thing gets done. The Sox also now have the best 7-man rotation in baseball will Schilling, Beckett, Wells, Wakefield, Arroyo, Clement, and Papelbon. Wells is likely to be traded as well as (if all goes well) Clement.
So assuming these holes get filled…but not counting that money yet…
People who became free agents or were traded so far (Billy Mueller ~4, Johnny Damon ~13, ‘Belli ~1.5, E.R. ~10, Millar ~1) add up to probably around 30 million dollars.
People who the Red Sox acquired via free agency or trade so far (Beckett ~6, Lowell ~8, Mota ~2.6, Seanez ~1.5, Loretta ~2.75, +11 million for E.R.) add up to probably around 32 million dollars.
So far, the Sox by my rough estimatations, have spent more money then last year.
Of course, it remains to be seen what will happen with Manny, Wells, and Clement…stay tuned…
Jan 02
MattBranding, Nerdery
For a while now, I’ve known about this whole “blogging” thing but never really got around to having my own. I’ve seen all sorts of blogs from other people and wondered if they really thought anyone would read them. Blogs about that and blogs about this and blogs about blogs.
Why should I write one of these…generally, the people who I’ve cared about caring about what I had to say are people who I talk to normally so I don’t really need this. So here it is…I’ve decided that there are two possible outcomes to attempting to keep this up:
- Nobody ever reads this and I have a journal for myself.
- Some people read this and are actually interested in my musings
Either works for me. I make no promises as to the quality or entertainment value of what I might say. I’m not entirely sure what I’ll write about. Perhaps I’ll write about the Red Sox. Perhaps I’ll write about movies that I see. Perhaps I’ll write about my professional life in the technology world (unlikely).
One of these days I’m gonna change the design of the blog so it isn’t the default boring look. Or maybe not. We’ll see. I’m already bored.
So…if you are reading this now, and you are me, then I’m writing to myself and no introductions are necessary. Otherwise, I hope you’re enjoying your time here and hopefully I can provide you with some interesting reading material for the duration of your visit.
See you soon.
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