I’m going to summarize what’s been going on with me, like I used to do before I started to just post links 90% of the time.

Google Reader

What’s been happening is I’ve been using Google Reader to try and have the news come to me. So I try to read headlines and star the ones that seem interesting, hopefully to share them here with a few of my own thoughts. Seemed like a good idea. But I ran into the same problem that I ran into the last time I used an RSS reader. It’s crack.

I’ll star articles, and at the end of the day I’ll come back to write about them, but then it says I have new unread articles. And I’ll star them and come back to write about them, but then it says I have new unread articles. And I’m mild-OCD about reading everything. It was sophomore year in college when I last used a feed reader, and I went cold turkey because it made studying less appealing than it already was. If you check your e-mail all the time, it’s basically the same feeling except if the e-mails were longer, came in more frequently, and were actually interesting. You’d never stop reading your e-mail, and I can’t stop reading these feeds.

You could say I’m hungry, and they can’t “feed” me enough. HAAH

The countdown begins

My last day of work in San Jose is September 19. I know I barely talk about work here. And that probably won’t change. But the one-month-left countdown began this week. So I’ll be searching for a giant cardboard box to ship as much home as I can. I’ll also be trying to sell my desk and mattress.

IBM Watson Softball League B Division Championship

I’ve been playing in the company league for the past couple months. There’s the A division and the B division. The B division only has three teams, Blue (us), White, Red. White won every regular season game. By at least four runs each time. Red lost every regular season game. By at least four runs each time. Making our regular season was a split. (Not counting every third week when a B team plays an A team and takes the Greyhound for a ride through Beatdown Mountain.)

Last week we played Red for a chance to advance to the final. It was a close one, but we edged them out. So we made it to the best-of-three finals against White. And game 1 was right then, no rest for us. Oh that’s right, it’s softball, we burnt about 75 calories. But it was one of those muggy eighty-degree afternoons. Uncomfortable.

Game 1 was as bad as we expected. They were up 10-2 at one point, but then we decided no, we ain’t going down like that. And we rallied to 10-8 with two innings left, but it got too dark (read: the umps got too hungry for dinner). So the rally was put on hold for a week. Yesterday we were looking at the possibility of 16 total innings (2 to finish the first, then a couple of 7 inning games if the series went the distance). I’m not gonna lie, that didn’t excite me.

Somehow we managed to keep the momentum going and beat them by three. We ran to the dugout, then realized we were starting on defense for game 2 and ran back out. Deja vu. We got up 8-2, but they came back so it was 8-6 with three innings to go. Top of the 5th, three up, three down. Bottom of the 5th, we can’t score. Top of the 6th, they get two runners on base. Then Hollywood steps to the plate.

Let me tell you about Hollywood. He doesn’t belong in the IBM Watson Softball League B Division. Actually, here’s a picture I found of him. My theory is that the first week he got the wrong directions to his triple A game and didn’t realize it was the wrong field so he just kept coming back every week. He wears a baseball uniform and shades that he never takes off. Before, during, or after games. I think he sleeps in this uniform similar to The Little Giants before they play their big game. After our first game against White, he was the last one in his dugout, standing there waiting for post-game interviewers. And this combination of things is why he’s Hollywood.

And he also had 3 or 4 home runs against us in the span of three games. And there’s no back fence so they’re all infield bombs. But throughout the course of getting slaughtered three times, you learn a few things. So our outfielders basically back it up a few hundred yards and wait for him to bomb it. And he does, but it’s an easy play when you’re that far out. All he has to do is take a little something off it. But a big ego will keep anyone from doing that.

So he bombs it, and we get the out. Bottom of the 6th, we can’t score. Top of the last inning. Hold them off and we win. Grounder, easy play at first. One out. Single, runner on base. Grounder, easy play at second. Two outs. We can taste it. Pop fly. And it tastes so, so good.

I’m not gonna lie, I really didn’t expect to win. It was a giant upset similar to the Giants upset. Except instead of the NFL it’s a three-team company softball league. And I didn’t expect to be all the excited. But all I could do was smile when I saw my teammates tossing their mitts in the air mobbing each other.

They were missing their stocky Asian guy who I swear is Bolo Yeung. He can bomb it, but the best thing is he’s usually their third base coach. And his English is as good as Bolo’s. So if I’m switched out and sitting on defense, I mostly just watch him, especially when they get a hit with someone on base. He’ll do the arm rotation to signal a runner home and then he’ll shout instructions to the other runners which sound something like, “mumblemumble mumblemumblemumble THIRD!” Him not being there was the only sad part of the whole thing.

Fin (almost)

I got a dumb haircut today.

I’ve scoured the New York Times archive again, because I kept seeing mentions of Barkley elbowing an Angolan player while reading about today’s game. Here’s an article showcasing some of the Dream Team’s motivations, including Australia’s fear of AIDS and Michael & Scottie hearing too much about how good a Croatian fellow named Toni is.

The Dream Team apparently has moved to cut off the possibility of boredom by seizing upon natural rivalries and, in their absence, proceeding to make one up.

Barkley’s thoughts before the game?

“I don’t know anything about Angola but Angola’s in trouble.”

Here’s the recap. And hey, here’s a cut-up version of the 1992 broadcast. Some highlights: Barkley shoves at 1:05. Dime from Pippen, Barkley with the layup, Barkley with the elbow at 3:10. The score is 53-8 a few second after 5:15. Laettner dunk at 7:17.

Side note: I was in San Diego over the weekend with spotty internet access. Not that I would’ve been posting, but sometimes it’s good to pretend. Head to my Twitter for five things I sent during the weekend. I’m still trying to figure out how I want to get those to show up here.

Great two-sport athletes. I didn’t know about Charlie Ward being a Heisman Trophy winner. It seems like one of those facts that would get thrown around all the time. Anyway, it’s an interesting list, but I like to mention the most overlooked two-sport athlete any time I get the chance—a true hallmark of versatility:

“Ken Wu, San Francisco, California!” [at 4:34] and… Kenny Wu from San Francisco, California.

RJD2’s “A Beautiful Mine”. Better known as the theme song to Mad Men. When I was out buying oysters on Saturday, I also dropped by Frys and picked up the Mad Men season one DVDs. I kept hearing and reading things about it being really, really good, but I sort of shrugged it off.

Then Bill Simmons was on Dave Dameshek’s podcast last week (link goes straight to an mp3 file) and they praised it for five minutes. That put it over the top for me. I watched nine episodes on Saturday. On Sunday, I woke up at 7am and finished the last four episodes before taking a nap.

And today I spent a few hours reading various articles about it. I just keep finding out things that make me smile, like the theme song being by RJD2.

Apparently the second season just started last Sunday, which was good news to me. The first episode of the second season is on Hulu (along with zero other episodes), so I just need to try and catch a re-run of the second episode sometime this week and I’ll be caught up. Avoid the spoilers, ignore those articles and definitely don’t start the first episode of the second season on Hulu. Just find a way to start from the beginning. For comparison’s sake, the other shows that I’ve plowed through in marathon fashion are the first seasons of The Wire, Dexter, and Prison Break (the weakest of the three in making my point—but the cliffhangers hooked me!).

Bought a dozen oysters yesterday at Race Street Fish Market. Something like $12. Tried to shuck them myself. And I did alright with half of them. It’d probably be a good idea for me to put them back on ice for a little bit before shucking them and eating. And rinsing them off a little more wouldn’t hurt either.

Trying to open the other half was basically like grabbing a rock off the ground and someone telling you, hey it opens somewhere, give it a shot man! Somewhere. So i threw them in the oven for a few minutes and that did the trick, but they just don’t taste half as good, so I was disappointed. But the last one I opened had this little guy in it.

From Wikipedia:

Although researchers once thought that pea crabs were not harmful to their hosts, they have since found that their activities do cause some damage to the delicate gills of bivalves; and as such, these crabs are now considered parasites.

That grossed me out so I tossed the oyster. Apparently they’re harmless, but I just wasn’t too comfortable with the thought of a giant parasite sharing the apartment with my tasty buddy.