mike

Last night was my big fantasy draft. It was 12 rounds and only took a little over 2 hours. The smoothest draft I’ve ever done. It helped having 5 people show up for the draft, the most since the early days when we all lived in the same city. If you really want to see the draft, see it. Each team started with 13 players from last year, so Round 1 of our draft will look like Round 14 of a full draft. I think I won the award for angering people the most times with my picks. Seemed like every round I took someone somebody else wanted. Hopefully that’s a good thing. I need to get back on top of the league.

Tomorrow I’m headed to Six Flags. Its opening weekend and we have free tickets. Works for me. Hopefully it doesn’t rain.

Phanatic was on Preston & Steve on Wednesday. They referred to him as a fat, evil Elmo.

Links

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2390936
Is there no hope for anyone?

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2006-03-29-love-monkey-v…
A few episodes didn’t air on CBS. I doubt it will be brought back
after this.

http://www.tvsquad.com/2006/03/29/prison-break-to-change-name-next-se…
At least they are changing the name next season.

http://www.lostremote.com/archives/007978.html
Very cool deal for Comcast and NBC. CBS has had some shows on VOD for a few months. I’ve never ordered anything since using the DVR is free and in HD while VOD costs $.99. Still this is what was promised when On Demand started, and it only took 5 years or however long we’ve had On Demand. The coolest part of this deal is that Conan (Leno too but who cares) will be free everyday.

Hot Dogs

The Hot Dog Page
This guy is going around the country finding the best hot dogs. My new hero.

Daily News Story on this Guy

Top 5 Places in Philly

My favorite hot dogs of all time were at the Vet when they still used Dietz & Watson. It was a sad day when they switched to Hatfield. Also any street corner in Philly will not let you down. I could go for a hot dog right now.

Questions of the Day

What are your favorite hot dogs?

Do you put ketchup on your hot dog? For a while now I’ve been ketchup only. Apparently to some people this is an affront to the hot dog community.

With Opening Night on Sunday. Who is your World Series pick?

Enjoy the shortest weekend of the year.

(Atmosphere – Watch Out)

(Posting this one a day late, last night’s fantasy baseball draft got in the way)

Last night was the Daily Email Fantasy Baseball draft. I wasn’t able to attend most of it, I did make my last 2 picks. I’m not sure who all was in the draft, a few people had some firewall issues and couldn’t get in. Tonight is my big fantasy draft. This will be the 4th season of my keeper league. I ran my first league when I was in 8th grade. That first year everyone came over to draft and we had Evan on IM. The Flyers game was on while we were drafting and Eric Lindros was concussed, not that it narrows it down. One year Evan’s cousin joined the league. He was really slow at responding and from what I remember I threatened to kick him out of the league. Turns out he was only about 10 and he went crying to his Mom, who called Mrs. Crawford. Obviously I didn’t know he was so young, I wouldn’t have let him in the league.

Yesterday
Top Cable Channels in Primetime, 1st Quarter
1. USA
2. Disney Channel
3. TNT
4. Nick at Nite, TBS
6. ESPN, Lifetime, Cartoon Network
9. Fox News
10. Spike, FX, Hallmark

Really, what is on USA? I hear Monk is good but does anyone really ever watch the channel? We just got Hallmark a few months ago, it’s the only one on the list we only get on digital cable. Walker is on in Primetime so it should quickly shoot to the top.

I know you were concerned about my keyless entry remote yesterday. When I got home in the afternoon I tried it out and it worked. Odd.

Question of the Day
The vacuum was invented in 1907 (I’m reading a marketing book online and the vacuum was an example). How did people clean their carpets before the vacuum? I realize most people had wood floors but I looked up the history of carpet (oh I did). In Europe carpeting started to become popular in the 18th century. I guess everything back then was filthy and stunk so no one really noticed.

Links
New Family Feud Host
Prison Break 2nd Season?
Animaniacs on DVD
Pinky & the Brain on DVD

http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/home-entertainment/triton-luxury-body-…
This one is pretty cool. On the website there is a demonstration video. You may not want to watch it at work. Based on that I’m not so sure the dryer is what they are selling.

http://search.yahoo.com
If you like Yahoo! search but don’t like the clutter of yahoo.com. I hadn’t seen this before.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WASn6PRG1Fc
I saw this commercial last week and thought it was so incredibly weird. Preston & Steve talked about it yesterday and posted a link to it.

(The Academy Is … – Checkmarks)

On the way to work there is a house that is for sale. The sign out front says ‘Move In Today!’ Is that possible? I get it that it’s available right away but doesn’t it take a few days to get all the forms filled out. Even if you have a briefcase filled with cash I have to think you would at least have to wait until the next day.

Here’s something odd. I went to get in my car this morning and the doors wouldn’t unlock. Apparently my remote decided it’s not going to work anymore. I ran back in and got my other key and that one worked. Now I have to deal with this key. The key still works manually, but who wants to do that?

This red Phanatic, or as I now refer to him, the Red Menace, is showing up all over the city. Something just doesn’t look right about him. Logic says that he should have always been red, but Phanatics are green, that’s the way God made them. Now he is running around terrorizing the city, scaring small children. It really looks like he had some of off season accident that caused him to turn red. I’m not going to get into the details, but lets just say the Phanatic has some skeletons in his closet … or buried in his back yard. Has anyone seen his mom? I’m just saying.

The iPod is working out nicely. I still listen to Preston & Steve and my podcasts but I finally caught up this week and have needed something extra. Yesterday I enjoyed Teddy Geiger and the new Saves the Day. Today I’m planning on some Hawthorne Heights and Matchbook Romance. I had a little scare yesterday, having to reset it every time it went into sleep mode. I think that only happens when I listen to a podcast. I’ll have to be careful, usually I only listen to podcasts online, but I had some old ones that aren’t available anymore.

From Yesterday
Most Common College Nicknames
64 Eagles
46 Tigers
40 Bulldogs
37 Lions
33 Wildcats
32 Warriors
31 Cougars
31 Panthers
30 Crusaders
27 Pioneers

Links
http://www.startribune.com/462/story/335148.html
They cheated to get him out. Use the claw!

http://www.lssu.edu/banished/current.php

I was hoping this would be cooler. Any suggestions?
http://www.dillonworks.com/portfolio/starwarstheater/index.html
I need this.
http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/home-entertainment/flip-flap-coffee-ta…
Would this really work?
http://www.thefutoncritic.com/cgi/pr.cgi?id=20060327scifi01
I may have to watch this one.

Question of the Day
Sticking to Top 10s that have real answers. The 1st Quarter cable ratings are out. What do you think are the Top 12 (3 way tie in 10th) channels? I always find these ratings kind of odd since I never watch most of the channels. Remember, cable channels, primetime ratings.

Red Means Go.

(Kelly Clarkson – Since U Been Gone)

As I got to the on-ramp for 422 this morning a motorcycle gang was exiting the Harley dealership. There were about 15 of them pulling into the lane next to me. They lead guy pulled out and sat in front of a truck and let all his buddies onto the road. I wasn’t concerned for my safety, I’ve dealt with motorcycles gangs before. I was however curious as to how one merges with a gang of motorcycles. They are small and get very close together, not to mention that they aren’t going to be friendly and let anyone in. For the person a few cars in front of me the answer was you don’t merge with motorcycles, you just let them go.

Its always exciting to come in and see that you have a voicemail. Unfortunately the only voicemails I’ve gotten are informing me that my mortgage application has been received and that they have a great deal for me. Cool, I wonder where my house is.

Finally had a chance to listen to the Teddy Geiger CD. I like it a lot, I’m really impressed. Since I first saw him on Love Monkey he reminded me of John Mayer. The CD has that same feel, only I don’t hate him yet. I got some new music so my iPod has made its first trip in to work today. Its not happy though. Every time it falls asleep I have to reset it to get it to wake up. This could be a major problem. I’m not ready to buy a new one yet.

I’m jealous of Dave today. He is off to the career fair. If you want a job with Armstrong you better get to State College.

Question of the Day
What are the most common college mascots or nicknames? If you read it in ESPN the magazine, don’t cheat. They listed the Top 10. I’m not sure what they pulled from, this may include junior colleges and even Canadian ‘universities.’ Also, I’m assuming Nittany Lions are grouped into Lions. I know this is a departure from usual open ended questions since this one actually has an answer. Feel free to direct it in other mascot/college questions. Simple examples would be school nicknames that are singular and directional state schools that are decent at sports.

Links
http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=…
The Phanatic was ‘painted’ red yesterday. I couldn’t find any pictures this morning but this is a link to the story. How did I find out about this? Valerie saw it on the news. Some things that make it somewhat strange that she was the one to tell me about it: 1) She lives in Seattle 2) She only gets 2 channels on her TV. How I missed this yesterday I’ll never know. Within minutes I saw it all on CSN. Before you give her too much credit though she did refer to the Phanatic as that Phillies bird thing.
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/14201004.htm
If this were actually true I would have gotten no sleep in the last 10 years.
http://www.thephoenix.com/article_ektid7123.aspx
Top 20 Simpson guest voices.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4530312862416912346
Will Ferrell’s Apple commercial.
http://aaronkaro.com/issue.php?id=62
Pretty good Ruminations this week. A little weird because I thought of that Sal Fasano 1987 baseball card thing that I mentioned above this weekend and here is someone else mentioning those cards. Its not often you discuss that 1987 set, its one of my least favorites. Especially after such a solid 1986 design. I could go on.
ttp://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060327/…
Likely the best Spring Break anyone has ever had in Iowa.

(The New Radicals – You Get What You Give)

Some thoughts from the tourney and other sports
– Jay Bilas needs to be sent back to ESPN so I can continue to ignore their college basketball coverage.
– Billy Packer needs to be fired in what ever way will cause the greatest public humiliation.
– Verne Lunquist and Bill Raftery I’m sure were decent in their time, but its about time to retire.
– I’d have to put Gus Johnson on my A team.
– That studio team needs to go.
– Why don’t they show how each stadium was configured to host basketball? Some of these are football stadiums.
– Why do they have games in a half empty Metrodome when there is a basketball stadium in the same city?
– Could CBS please have stat updates like they do during football games. Tell me how many points the guy who scored now has. And PLEASE tell me how many fouls and team fouls there are after each one.
– The Gators know how to play D.
– From Ahad, cause he put it best: “I can’t stand that Noah character. He just got on my nerves. I don’t like the cut of his jib. I was hoping that someone would just lay him out.”

– I think everyone knew the Flyers were going to beat the Sens. I think everyone now knows the Sens will be defeating the Flyers in the playoffs in an awfully stressful 7 game series. I can’t wait.

– The Frozen Four is set. Wisconsin, Maine, Boston College, and North Dakota. The semis don’t take place until 4/6. I guess to let the dust settle from basketball. I think they should just pus the whole tourney back a bit. There are only 16 teams.

Links
http://prestonandsteve.com/blog.php
Now that Nova is done you can find the rest of the Jay Wright facts here.
http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/05/how-to-become-an-early-riser/
There were a bunch of sleep articles online on Friday or I was just so tired I was drawn to them.
http://www.positscience.com/programs/brainspeed.php
Not entirely sure what this proves. I got 103 milliseconds. I don’t know if that is good or bad. Its supposed to test brain speed. I took it on Friday, when my brain was moving very slowly.
http://www.smithappens.com/cryinggame.php
So Sad.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/03/27/india.religion.reut/index.html
Much more efficient. Read this one through, you will learn quite a bit.

(James Blunt – You’re Beautiful)