I was approached by a homeless guy at the corner of 6th and Callowhill which is a prime spot for beggars. I see a few guys I recognize who work this spot and this one in particular walks with a crooked foot and isn’t a nice guy. He scowls if you don’t acknowledge his existence which I hate from beggars. It’s not my obligation as a human being to give you the money I work hard for.
As he approached on this particular day I was the 2nd car in line and there was no one behind me so I was going to draw his full attention. I looked in my cup holder and had a $5 SugarHouse chip. I seem to acquire small chips from Sugarhouse when I go busto and leave in disgust. I figured the chip was stained with coffee and relatively sticky so why the heck not give it to him.
I handed him the chip, he looked at it and said, “what the fuck is this?”.
I said, “it’s 5 dollars.”
“Oh? Where can I use it?”
“Sugarhouse.”
With that transaction I guarantee I didn’t do this man any favors. Now I don’t know how long it takes him to collect $5 but I’d guess around half an hour. So lets say he travels over to the Sugarhouse which is probably an hour walk for him with his limp. He trades it in for $5 and is now in the home of the degenerates. I doubt on his day to day he has much need to go to the Sugarhouse (I may be wrong as this may have put him here) but I guarantee that $5 doesn’t leave. In some freak of nature incident, maybe he turns that $5 into a thousand with the pull of a lever. More likely he enters a pit of despair, loses the 5, and reverts back to a depressed mindset that cripples his life. Ok. That wasn’t a funny pun.
I had to go to Sam’s blog and hit f5 before posting this to ascertain that I’m not plagiarizing from the King of Original Content. If you were unaware, and most likely you would be, Sam and I posted about Russell Westbrook within 45 minutes of each other. This is on top of him writing “Thank you South Bowl” at the end of his post and I wrote “Thank you Museum Deli” to end mine. This was both unintentional and coincidental.
Even still, it’s pretty bizarre to be on the same wave length like that. We spend some time together but it’s not like we see each other every day. I can’t even explain the Thank You to close a post. It must mean that we always say our pleases and thank you’s. The Russ post I sort of understand how it happened.
When you maintain a blog you are always looking for topics. Topics that are polarizing usually make the best posts. Russell Westbrook falls into this category because you either love him or hate him. I’m surprised these posts didn’t generate more comments but I killed Sam’s post with my link which pretty much scares off any individual to post further. Plus aside from Rob, I don’t know how many educated sports fans Sam has to warrant a strong stance. It goes to show though that we are on the same page as to what may generate reasonably good content.
I was pretty proud of my Silicon Valley post. People who don’t blog have no idea the amount of effort that’s involved in a post that gets read by a dozen people. Embedding videos. Writing text. Adding pictures. It’s all time consuming. Just finding the right content to display is the real hard part. I’ll give any blogger a pro tip and that’s to use the Reddit page of whatever it is you are blogging about and sort by Top posts. This always leads to the first class material on the web. Why am I writing about this? Because I feel like it and don’t want to create a separate post as to why I was pleased with that post. The chances of people read this paragraph down here are much slimmer and it hides my self gratification.
So with Sam and I posting, and widely disagreeing for that matter, he’s been using that since he’s been the first to display the content (as confirmed by the twats), I’m copying him. I’m making it known that this is not the case and any other instances of aping Sam are completely unintentional. Let it be known.
My time spent analyzing the Thunder this season boils down to about 20 minutes of interspersed watching throughout the last 5 games, mostly the 4th quarter. During these minutes I found myself rooting particularly hard for Russel Westbrook to put his team on his back and pull out the W. It brought me back to 2001 when it was AI against the world. Being a super star on a team of role players has its perks, but also some major flaws which were apparent in this playoff series against the Rockets. Here’s what I witnessed:
Goddamnit. Why’d they have to intentionally foul me. This is humiliating.
Russ gets paid 26 million a year and is worth every penny. He makes the best of a bad situation.
Oladipo averaged 15.9 PPG in the regular season and only 10.8 in the playoffs. This is noticeable when the opposing team knows your team is limited on offense and strategically makes the weaker offensively players beat them which doesn’t occur as pronounced in the regular season.
Enes Kanter averaged 9 minutes and 4.8PPG in the post-season vs 21 and 14 in the regular season. He is a huge defensive liability with his lead feet and was useless in the this key stretch of the season.
Andre Roberson who was a 42% FT shooter from the line this year went 3-21 in the post season. I felt bad for the man as he shouldn’t be on the floor in the 4th quarter. He’s another Hack a Shaq or DeAndre Jordan.
Russ averaged a triple double in the playoffs with a ridiculous line of 37.4/11.6/10.8/ 2.4 steals. This is other worldly.
I tend to put a decent amount of blame on Billy Donovon as he didn’t grasp that his team couldn’t play without Russ on the floor. Last nights game had Russ with a +12 when playing. They also finished the 3rd quarter up 5, let Russ rest, and when he came back in they were down 5 points in the 4th. No doubt Russ was tired in the 4th, and petered out like he’d done in past games, but if I was the coach I’d play the guy 48 minutes. His team stunk that bad without him.
No one thought that the Thunder were going to win this year and they got beat by a superior team. Harden is stealth-like in his ability to score buckets and shoots foul shots better than almost anyone in the league. Lou Williams added timely scoring. Beverly played strong D on Russ. Nene gave some added boost inside. The Rockets were simply a more balanced team and Harden’s numbers are superstar enough to carry this team past the Thunder. The Rockets don’t have enough experience to beat the Spurs or fire power to hold off the Warriors, but they no doubt will fight.
This team may have done some damage.
All of that being said, my vote for MVP has to be Russell Westbrook. MVP stands for Most Valuable Player. If you put any other playing in the NBA on the Thunder to replace Westbrook would that team have won 47 games? My answer is no. Kawhi Leonard is too fundamental to be a ball hog. Steph can’t do it all and is more of a pure shooter. Harden would be the closest pick but his lack of defense has been noted (I have no clue if Russ plays D). If you make the argument that the MVP should help his team win the title, which is valid towards winning the championship being paramount, Kawhi Leonard would be my pick. But if you are looking for a player that if removed would be worse than the Sixers, it would be Russell Westbrook.
Silicon Valley is a wonderful show which I re-watched leading up to the premiere. Each character has their own unique personality that they all strongly abide to. The interactions are also strongly consistent which is what makes the show. Here’s how I rank the main characters in order of my personal favorites.
Silicon Valley Characters (Ranked by Worst to First)
The ugly beige sweater.
Monica – I’m love / hate on Monica. They make her intelligent and supportive of Richard which is needed. The two of them have awkward romantic chemistry which could also be labeled as none. She seems to act in the best interest of Richard which gives her character loyalty. Yet for some reason I don’t feel she plays a necessary role through it all. She’s not funny enough but it’s not like she tries to be. She was a good compliment to Peter Gregory, but they made Lori too weird for it to work with Monica.
Tara is fucking hot.
Gilfoyle – I’m so-so on Gilfoyle. He plays the part of an engineer well and never breaks character as a satanist or anarchist or whatever it is. His girlfriend Tara (played by AT&T Milyana Vayntrub is super hot) made a few appearances but was never central to the plot. Gilfoyle’s constant ragging on Dinesh starts to get tired, but it feels necessary because it’s how he is depicted. He has no tact and tends to use the same “gargling of my balls” too often. I like Martin Starr as a human being, and don’t necessarily dislike Gilfoyle, but I don’t think he delivers enough with the dead pan, dry humor.
Pakistani Denzel
Dinesh – He falls into a more blending into the story line role but not in a bad way. He never gets girls in typical fashion of a computer geek and the show does a good job of portraying this. When he was talking about “his boys” in Tahoe and how they don’t want some “nerd” calling them, I was dying laughing. He doesn’t steal the show but it also wouldn’t be the same without him. They are moving him into the CEO role in season 4 which will lead to more Dinesh airtime. If you’ve seen the gold chain episode, this was Jared’s joke:
Nice chain, do you choke your mom with it when you put your penis in her butthole?
Is it cold in here?
Jared – “This guy fucks” as so appropriately said by Russ Hanneman. Jared’s over affectionate for Richard should be noted in every scene. He is the only one of the group with any business sense so seeing his corporate personality mesh poorly with the group is realistic. Plus the nickname OJ as “Other Jared”, which he turns to “Original Jared” as a compliment, is A+. We can’t forget is boat trip to Peter Gregory’s island when he was hoping from help from “Mr. Car.” He also speaks German in his sleep and this scene with pivoting is perfection.
Erlich: Jared, clear this. Get all the smoke out of it. Otherwise, it damages the device. Jared: Umm… Erlich: Don’t be a pussy.
Richard – I wildly underestimated Richard on the first watch through. He was dorky and even though the show used him as their protagonist, he only moved the plot…or so I thought. When I watched it again it became apparent to me that he was the genius and deserved to be CEO. The show plays up a bit too much on his ineptitude with such examples as hitting his head on Barker’s desk. I particularly like when he balls up in the bath tub at the end of season 3 as his company was failing because no one got his platforms genius. Once you watch with this understanding that Richard is the next “Elon Musk”, his character starts becoming more fascinating because he isn’t as inept as he initially seems. His entire personality is summed up with the Tabs vs Spaces below. The climax of this scene when he tries to go down the stairs 8 steps at a time” to prove a point works brilliantly. Off tangent, this is the scene I was talking about last night in bowling.
Jian Yang – It doesn’t seem right going through the characters without including Jian Yang. Aside from his hilarious delivery (Taco Bell, Old Man, Mike Hunt) and the way he incenses Erlich, he delivers time and time again. Only smoking on “special occasions” and then doing it in Monica’s office and in his room shows his lack of comprehension of just about everything American. E-R-I-C-H for Erlich’s name was spot on. For having such a minor role, Jian Yang plays a major part. You Little Cantonese Bastard.
Erlich – I’d be remiss if I didn’t say Erlich is great. Sure he’s overboard in almost every scene but it fits the personality. When he sold Aviato it gave him a house, money, fancy clothes, and universal respect of all the ladies. His dislike of Jared (if you don’t laugh at 4:00 – 4:30, you aren’t human) in season 1 is one of the funniest parts of the show that no one remembers. Russ not giving him any attention breaks his heart. His Luau party on Alcatraz, which cost a million dollars was a highlight of his spending of Big Head’s money. His business sense can also be noted when he purchased a tech blog which blogs about the demise of his own career. When he puts on his gloves and starts coding at the end of Season 2, it almost makes me feel good. Plus he’s high all the time and literally has 15 different pieces. It’s Magical
The Famed “Dick Theory”
Big Head – Useless by his own accord, I’m a Big Head fan. He doesn’t do too much and his stupidity consistently gets rewarded. His confusion in all his scenes, specifically highlighted in the scene below, makes his character fun to watch. He also should be attributed as the creator of “Nip Alert” and the man who has been promoted countless times. In last night’s episode when they were suggesting a man who “has held multiple prominent positions at one of the biggest tech firms and is on the cover of the most prestigious tech magazine” and he says, “this guy sounds great.”
I Don’t Think So…Well Have You?
Nice shoes
Gavin Belson – Easily the best character in the show. I don’t even think it’s up to vote. If you don’t think Gavin has the most to offer as a character, you don’t watch close enough. The final season with the animals at every conference was hysterical. His questionable intelligence, combined with his no-nonsense arrogance, is the finest performance from a minor character since Mike Ehrmantraut. Every time he greets the board he says, “gentlemen…and lady”. This line from the scene below works exactly right, “…it is my fault I trusted them to get the job done.” What he did to Jack Barker last night should also be a testament to his genius.
There is a major difference between internet comments and real life comments. Here are two real life examples that have happened to me in the past 2 days.
After shooting a 53 front yesterday, I wasn’t having the round of my life. I wasn’t 100% from drinking on Saturday night and my good shots were far and few between. On hole 16, yes Shee I figured I’d blog it, I had an 8 iron from about 165 yards into the green. It was a slow round at Valleybrook and the people in front of us were clearing the green. The guys were at least 10 yards off the green and had parked their car about 10 yards short of where they should have been. I figured I could go but this proved to be problematic. I hit a well struck shot that was veering right. With the ball in the air it was like time was standing still as the ball floated closer and closer to their cart. I meekly yelled fore but these guys were a decent amount away and didn’t hear it. I yelled it again but it still wasn’t loud enough. As I watched it descend, I knew I was in trouble. They started driving away and the ball must have landed in their cart, bounced up to the roof from the inside, and finished in their cart. Amazingly no one was hurt. Here is where the guy’s comment came in. He put his hands up like he was mad and then meekly through my ball to the ground out of his cart. I was expecting him to launch the ball back at me. That would have been a much better comment. I ended up driving up and apologizing which is appropriate and he said, “next time yell Fore.” It’s one of those spots where it’s better to wait the extra 10 seconds for the guys to go.
Sam’s running socks
Sam’s blog made mention about a $17 dollar pair of socks that he’s scared to wear and I was writing a comment. After I started writing I thought to myself that this is a waste of time. My opinion on Sam’s post was that he wasn’t being very smart and should wear the more expensive socks more often if they are that much better. I was going to go into the value aspect of higher priced items and why I’m almost always for spending more. Obviously every case varies but most of the time it works that you enjoy the premium item more than the lower priced item and it more often lasts longer to offset the cost difference. This is my general feeling. So when Sam is saying he feels $17 is a lot of money for socks, my comment is…then wear them. So as I wrote that comment, I started thinking, why do I want Sam to know that I don’t exactly see his point in his post. Who really cares? I imagine this is why most people don’t comment on posts.
I’ve been splicing the Museum Deli into my Dunkin Donut’s morning breakfast routine and I’ve been quite pleased. Museum Deli is owned by an Asian family who keep a neat store but don’t do a great job with advertising. The Dunkin I go to routinely has between 2-15 people in line and is that way from 7am to 9am. The Museum Deli routinely has between 0-1 people waiting in line from 6am to 6pm. This is good for now unless it becomes too popular.
At Dunkin I always get a medium coffee with cream and sugar, and a bagel with cream cheese. The total is $4.23 which is a bit of a rip off but the process of ordering and getting my items is less than 3 minutes makes it worth it to me. It’s 2 minutes from my house which is the real reason why I go there often. Jay never toasts the bagel properly as he throws it towards the back of the machine so it doesn’t get full heat. His spread of the cream cheese is embarrassing as well. I’ve complained about this before but there is no real change being made. Because of these details, I decided to swap to Museum for at least 2 days a week.
Museum Deli costs exactly $5.00. I get the sausage, egg and cheese and the apple juice Nantucket Nectar. I prefer the Half and Half but the apple is still good. I like this because it keeps me away from drinking coffee every day. The sausage egg and cheese is a way better sandwich and the guy who makes it always repeats, “salt, pepper, ketchup” like it’s the only English words he knows. I refused the first day but now I get it just so I don’t disappoint him.
All in all this has been a positive life change. Even though it is a bit slower even with Dunkin having a line, I’m helping out a small business and I enjoy the meal more. Thank you Museum Deli.
Everyone who games at casinos knows that if you put a few bucks in a video poker machine at a bar and play for a few minutes, you can get free drinks. However in Vegas, this is coming to an end. There’s a new red/green light system that lights up when you are deserving of a free drink. This new system defeats “the Vegas Hustle” where you put a $20 in a machine and sit there while you drink for free. The new system “green light” lights up if you max bet 4 times in a row which you’d know is reasonable for a free drink. The only people who should be whining about this are cheapskates who shouldn’t be gambling, or drinking, anyway.
I bring this up because the easy way out is never the best way out. The news has brought us the apparent suicide of the Facebook murderer who live streamed and Aaron Hernandez who hung himself in his cell. There are a few points of interest that I found about both stories.
The FBI received 400 tips about the whereabouts of Steve Stephens. 400! I saw a dude who I thought looked like this guy but I wasn’t going to call it in and get an innocent man arrested. How on Earth are people so sure that it’s him when they call in a tip? I imagine that the calls mostly go like, “I’m here at McDonalds and there is a man who looks like the Facebook killer, you should probably check it out.” This is probably a waste of an officer’s time but they caught the guy so it must work. With regard to the Facebook stream and Facebook saying, “we are working on these issues”, it is disturbing that sick individuals are using this medium to share these horrific acts. It has me watching my back 24/7 when I’m out in public.
Next we’ll travel to Aaron Hernandez who was acquitted of a double murder but was still serving a life sentence for the death of Odin Lloyd. He hung himself with a bed sheet in his cell. I don’t know about you but I don’t think I would succeed in hanging myself with a bed sheet. I could see an hour passing by and me being like, “is it working?” This is obviously a morbid thought but it seems challenging. With Aaron perished, I’m of the mindset that there is one less gang banger off the street. From every bit of info I’ve read, he sounded like a true jerk who held himself above the law and wasn’t a nice person.
Sam would write a better post than me on this topic but since I’m pure like the Garden of Eden, and not tainted the Nike Oregon Project, I should be able to give a clean perspective.
Yesterday was the Boston Marathon and 2 members of the Nike Oregon Project put on dominating performances for Americans. Jordan Hasay finished her first marathon ever in 2:23 which was good for 3rd place. It was the fastest debut by an American female ever. The fastest time ever by a woman in a marathon is Paula Radcliffe with a 2:15.25. The fastest time by an American is 2:19.36 by Deena Kastor. The 2.23 flat time posted by Hasay is good for the 180th fastest marathon by a woman ever (I heard that Boston isn’t a legal course for whatever that is worth).
As I was watching the coverage yesterday, I was really impressed with Hasay. I remember watching her a bit in college for Oregon and she was top talent, but not finishing 3rd in Boston so whatever she’s been up to is either intense work or PED’s. Considering Rupp got 2nd and is partaking in the same training, they are up to shenanigans.
Why shenanigans? Once again, I’m not an expert on this subject but here’s what I’ve read. Nike’s Oregon Project is a group created by Nike to promote American Long Distance Running. They are using elite coaching, revolutionary training and the use of air thinning technology. The group of athletes on the squad is no joke. Centrowitz, Farah, and Rupp, are all Olympic medalists. Suguru Osako just got 3rd in Boston yesterday. It’s pretty clear that whatever these athletes are doing is working.
Now here is where the questions start building around head coach Alberto Salazar. “In June 2015, Salazar was named in a joint BBC Panorama and ProPublica investigation into doping allegations. This involved testimonies from various athletes and people associated with Salazar about alleged microdosing of testosterone and prednisone at the Nike Oregon Project. Salazar declined to be interviewed for the programme, but denied any wrongdoing, saying in a statement that the “allegations your sources are making are based upon false assumptions and half-truths in an attempt to further their personal agendas”
So when you see an American hottie like Jordan Hasay competing with women from countries like Kenya and Ethiopia, who are renowned for their past efforts, there is a bit of suspicion. It’s sad that we have to draw these conclusions when people of our country perform feats of this nature, but out of the ordinary circumstances cause out of the ordinary questions like, “how did this happen?”
I visited the Let’s Run Forums and found some great comments regarding her race:
On the course
How is Boston a major marathon? How many of the world’s best marathoners were in that race? Boston is a hobby jogger’s race with some overpaid Americans thrown in so the hobby jogger set don’t complain too much about all the Africans winning everything.
On the probability of doping
Probably about 7% (Rupp), and 2% (Hasay). Seems like NOP bends the rules all day long, but maybe doesn’t break them severely. Also, Nike has the money to dope and not get caught (e.g., Lance Armstrong)
On why people like Hasay and not Rupp She is relatively outgoing and articulate and seems comfortable expressing her relationship to the outside world. Rupp is probably a bit introverted, maybe a bit on the autistic spectrum. He seems mostly comfortable expressing support for those closest to him, his family and Salazar. He doesn’t seem collegial with fellow competitors. One could just call that arrogant I suppose, but it could also just be an introverted personality. He isn’t easy to root for compared with Hasay, and certainly Meb or Abdi or Ritzenhein.
So there you have it. Jordan Hasay is probably legit and will hopefully represent USA without any implications. All that being said, why are the hot ones always the most talented? I think it’s great for the sport to have a role model like Hasay compete in these world class settings. Maybe she’s not the cream of the crop yet, but I enjoyed watching the race and was happy to support her. It’s hard not to like her style and running. Sam, anything to add?
This is a picture my dad posted today on Facebook. I added the grass and question mark for entertainment purposes.
The current picture has exactly 0 likes on Facebook. It’s pretty rare when you take a picture and receive 0 response. Total strike out. This goes hand in hand with my dad calling me this morning and asking me where his message went when it turned all blue. He told me, “I hit enter, nothing happened, and I hit enter again and it went blue.” It took me a bit to figure out what it went blue meant but it’s what happens in Facebook messenger when you send a message.
This picture was him uploading a photo to Facebook with no caption. Not to mention the picture is a bottle of soldering flux. What’s soldering flux you ask? It’s a bottle that no one on Facebook would ever care about. Talk about knowing your audience. I think he must be on to something posting content of objects that most people have no idea what they are.
I’ve pretty much turned into a hermit who bowls and golfs. These are actually much more constructive exercises than getting shitfaced and blacking out so it’s not all bad but I do feel like I’m not doing a whole lot.
On Friday I woke up at 5:30am, picked up Jeff, met the Shee, and golfed at the Links in Marlton. It was a speed round and we were back to work by 11am. Worked like a charm. I played pretty well with loads of par putts but they certainly weren’t tap ins. I finished with a 91 and Shee and Jeff were battling with other numbers.
I worked out and went bowling after work where I rolled 7 or 8 games. I managed a 240+ and almost finished with a 200 avg aside from a few crappy games at the end. I went to sleep early because…
I woke up at 5:30am the next day and met up with 2 friends and played golf at Hickory Valley. I once again played well except for 2 8’s on par 5’s and not getting off the tee on 1. I finished with a 92 with the same issues of loads of putts for pars that weren’t converting.
I then met up with Sam and the Weens for some bowling at South and we rolled 7 games. Aside from one barn burner where the Weens ousted me 250 to 240, we had our ups and downs. I manged a 114 which had to be my lowest score in quite some time. Fun time.
This took me to my bed where I had to nap to recover from the Turkey shot. I got up at 7pm and was see sawing whether I was going to meet up with Sam and Jordan but it wasn’t to be. I went to sleep and that takes me to right now where I just finished a 7 mile run and am going to get some drinks. I may golf in the afternoon just because. Enjoy the Easter.
I was approached by a homeless guy at the corner of 6th and Callowhill which is a prime spot for beggars. I see a few guys I recognize who work this spot and this one in particular walks with a crooked foot and isn’t a nice guy. He scowls if you don’t acknowledge his existence which I hate from beggars. It’s not my obligation as a human being to give you the money I work hard for.
With that transaction I guarantee I didn’t do this man any favors. Now I don’t know how long it takes him to collect $5 but I’d guess around half an hour. So lets say he travels over to the Sugarhouse which is probably an hour walk for him with his limp. He trades it in for $5 and is now in the home of the degenerates. I doubt on his day to day he has much need to go to the Sugarhouse (I may be wrong as this may have put him here) but I guarantee that $5 doesn’t leave. In some freak of nature incident, maybe he turns that $5 into a thousand with the pull of a lever. More likely he enters a pit of despair, loses the 5, and reverts back to a depressed mindset that cripples his life. Ok. That wasn’t a funny pun.
