My 2011 Major League Baseball Predictions
American League
AL East - Boston Red Sox's
AL Central - Chicago White Sox's
AL West - Oakland Athletics
Wild Card - Minnesota Twins
National League
NL East - Atlanta Braves
NL Central - Chicago Cubs
NL West - Colorado Rockies
Wild Card - Philadelphia Phillies
World Series
Boston Red Sox's over the Philadelphia Phillies
AL MVP - Adrian Gonzalez (Bos)
NL MVP - Troy Tulowitzki (Col)
AL Cy Young - Jon Lester (Bos)
NL Cy Young - Cliff Lee (Phi)
AL Rookie of the Year - Jeremy Hellickson (TB)
NL Rookie of the Year - Freddie Freeman (ATL)
Baltimore Orioles Awards
MVP - Nick Markakis
Best Pitcher - Brian Matusz
Most HR - Mark Reynolds
Highest BA - Nick Markakis
Most Wins - Brian Matusz
Final Record - 78 Wins and 84 Losses
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Fantasy Baseball
Here we go!!!!!!!! Baseball season starts today!!!
Football will always be my favorite sport, but if I could go back in time and be good at a sport I would chose baseball. I always thought I was an okay football player but one of the things I hated about football was practice.
Not with baseball.
I felt like I could have been out practicing baseball all day long. And to play the games was that much more fun.
Baseball starting today with two games at 1:05pm (eastern time) Atlanta Braves at the Washington Nationals and the Detroit Tigers at New York Yankees (Orioles play Friday at 7:10pm). But with the regular season baseball starting that means so does the Fantasy baseball season.
The first year I ever played fantasy baseball was 1992. Back then it was called rotisserie baseball. The rules were simple; you had 5 hitting categories and 5 pitching categories. If you came in first place in a category you received the most points, if you came in last place in a category you received the least amount of points. The amount of points you had would be added up and that was your score. Highest score was the winner. Now I don’t remember a whole lot of details about that season, but we only had 4 teams in the league, my best friend Matt, my dad, my dads coworker and friend Scott, and of course myself. We each selected three teams we could draft players from plus the Baltimore Orioles. I had the first pick of the draft and I took my favorite baseball player (mistake #1 in drafting fantasy sports) from the home town team (mistake #2 in drafting fantasy sports) Cal Ripken Jr. It was not a bad 1st round pick considering this was the season after his MVP season of 1991. But knowing now how his season turned out .251 avg, 14 HR’s, and 72 RBIs it was not the best decision for a first round pick. To be fair this was not one of my better executed drafts. I did proudly take Jeff Tackett because in my mind he beat out Rick Dempsey for the catcher roll… did I mention it was the backup catcher role. I still hold on to this day the fact that Jeff Tackett hit a Home Run in his first MLB at bat that season…. He only hit 4 more after that.
In 1993 we expanded the league to either 8 or 10 teams. That season I executed the trade of the century when I received Carlos Baerga, Jack Morris, and another nice player for Rich Monteleone and a couple of scrubs. That may be the best I have made out in a trade….ever. It also ruined any chance I had with making a trade for a few years after that.
So we fast forward to today. I am in two separate fantasy baseball leagues. The first one I joined the league the year before. It is a twelve team keeper league. At the time I thought I had some great keepers… I was wrong. By mid way through the season I figured that my team really had no shot of making the playoffs. So I did what I could to get myself better keepers for next season. I didn’t tank the season but the trades I made basically assured me I was going to lose every week.
So this season comes around and we get 6 keeper players and I have the first pick of the draft. My keeper players were Hanley Ramirez, Jason Heyward, Josh Johnson, Cole Hammils, Aaron Hill, and Mike Stanton. I had the first, twenty-fourth, and Twenty-fifth pick of the draft. With the 1st pick I drafted Justin Upton, followed by Billy Butler, and Matt Wieters. I like my team in this league and I like the potential I have for future keepers/trade bait. My team official looks like. When looking at my team I have the round I drafted them in K= Keeper and the round number is the actually round of the live draft, officially pick #1 = round #7.
C. Matt Wieters (3rd round)
1B. Billy Butler (2nd round)
1B. Adam Lind (9th round)
1B. Gabby Sanchez (18th round)
2B. Aaron Hill (K)
3B. Casey McGeee (4th round)
SS. Hanley Ramirez (K)
SS. J.J. Hardy (20th round)
OF. Jason Heyward (K)
OF. Mike Stanton (K)
OF. Justin Upton (1st round)
OF. Denard Span (11th round)
OF. Manny Ramirez (16th round)
OF. Jason Kubel (17th round)
P. Josh Johnson (K)
P. Cole Hammils (K)
P. Phil Hughes (5th round)
P. John Denks (6th round)
P. Jonathon Broxton (7th round)
P. Ted Lilly (8th round)
P. Matt Thorton (10th round)
P. John Lackey (12th round)
P. Kevin Gregg (13th round)
P. Bronson Arroyo (14th round)
P. Wade Davis (15th round)
P. A.J. Burnett (19th round)
P. Stephen Strasburg (21st round)
I really like the team but I expect this team to fall in the middle of the pack somewhere. I think it is really well balanced but not the Homerun I was looking for. Plus there are a few guys who I am concerned about with injuries. Stephen Strasburg is on the disabled list until at least the All-Star game if not the whole season.
This past Monday, is the other league I am in. The funny thing about this other league is I am the commissioner and really I run the league just for a few friends. It’s always tough to fill out the league, and people lose interest if they aren’t winning. This season I decided to do something a bit different. I went back to the old school of thinking and I am doing a rotisserie league. I figured this way I didn’t have to worry about having an even number of teams. This draft was also different because it was an auction draft.
C. Matt Wieters $9 (101)
1B. Adrian Gonzalez $41 (22)
2B. Kelly Johnson $3 (110)
2B. Aaron Hill $3 (120)
2B. Neil Walker $2 (146)
3B. Alex Rodriguez $40 (13)
3B. Pablo Sandoval $2 (128)
SS. Hanley Ramirez $51 (2)
SS. Stephen Drew $3 (108)
OF. Carlos Gonzalez $41 (18)
OF. Justin Upton $29 (40)
OF. Ben Zobrist $4 (116)
OF. Adam Jones $3 (121)
OF. Curtis Granderson $3 (122)
P. Wade Davis $1 (21)
P. Roy Oswalt $5 (109)
P. Max Scherzer $4 (118)
P. Brett Anderson $2 (129)
P. Matt Thorton $1 (131)
P. Chad Billingsley $2 (132)
P. Craig Kimbrel $1 (141)
P. Josh Beckett $2 (147)
P. Jonathan Broxton $2 (150)
P. Brian Matusz $1 (151)
P. Jeremy Hellickson $2 (157)
P. Ricky Nolasco $1 (161)
Overall I am really happy with this team. My pitching is a bit weak but I spent really big early and then waited patiently and at pick 101 I could not be out bid for anyone anymore. Sorry Josh I know I took a bunch of guys away from you.
Here hoping to have two fantasy baseball teams in the playoff race.
Football will always be my favorite sport, but if I could go back in time and be good at a sport I would chose baseball. I always thought I was an okay football player but one of the things I hated about football was practice.
Not with baseball.
I felt like I could have been out practicing baseball all day long. And to play the games was that much more fun.
Baseball starting today with two games at 1:05pm (eastern time) Atlanta Braves at the Washington Nationals and the Detroit Tigers at New York Yankees (Orioles play Friday at 7:10pm). But with the regular season baseball starting that means so does the Fantasy baseball season.
The first year I ever played fantasy baseball was 1992. Back then it was called rotisserie baseball. The rules were simple; you had 5 hitting categories and 5 pitching categories. If you came in first place in a category you received the most points, if you came in last place in a category you received the least amount of points. The amount of points you had would be added up and that was your score. Highest score was the winner. Now I don’t remember a whole lot of details about that season, but we only had 4 teams in the league, my best friend Matt, my dad, my dads coworker and friend Scott, and of course myself. We each selected three teams we could draft players from plus the Baltimore Orioles. I had the first pick of the draft and I took my favorite baseball player (mistake #1 in drafting fantasy sports) from the home town team (mistake #2 in drafting fantasy sports) Cal Ripken Jr. It was not a bad 1st round pick considering this was the season after his MVP season of 1991. But knowing now how his season turned out .251 avg, 14 HR’s, and 72 RBIs it was not the best decision for a first round pick. To be fair this was not one of my better executed drafts. I did proudly take Jeff Tackett because in my mind he beat out Rick Dempsey for the catcher roll… did I mention it was the backup catcher role. I still hold on to this day the fact that Jeff Tackett hit a Home Run in his first MLB at bat that season…. He only hit 4 more after that.
In 1993 we expanded the league to either 8 or 10 teams. That season I executed the trade of the century when I received Carlos Baerga, Jack Morris, and another nice player for Rich Monteleone and a couple of scrubs. That may be the best I have made out in a trade….ever. It also ruined any chance I had with making a trade for a few years after that.
So we fast forward to today. I am in two separate fantasy baseball leagues. The first one I joined the league the year before. It is a twelve team keeper league. At the time I thought I had some great keepers… I was wrong. By mid way through the season I figured that my team really had no shot of making the playoffs. So I did what I could to get myself better keepers for next season. I didn’t tank the season but the trades I made basically assured me I was going to lose every week.
So this season comes around and we get 6 keeper players and I have the first pick of the draft. My keeper players were Hanley Ramirez, Jason Heyward, Josh Johnson, Cole Hammils, Aaron Hill, and Mike Stanton. I had the first, twenty-fourth, and Twenty-fifth pick of the draft. With the 1st pick I drafted Justin Upton, followed by Billy Butler, and Matt Wieters. I like my team in this league and I like the potential I have for future keepers/trade bait. My team official looks like. When looking at my team I have the round I drafted them in K= Keeper and the round number is the actually round of the live draft, officially pick #1 = round #7.
C. Matt Wieters (3rd round)
1B. Billy Butler (2nd round)
1B. Adam Lind (9th round)
1B. Gabby Sanchez (18th round)
2B. Aaron Hill (K)
3B. Casey McGeee (4th round)
SS. Hanley Ramirez (K)
SS. J.J. Hardy (20th round)
OF. Jason Heyward (K)
OF. Mike Stanton (K)
OF. Justin Upton (1st round)
OF. Denard Span (11th round)
OF. Manny Ramirez (16th round)
OF. Jason Kubel (17th round)
P. Josh Johnson (K)
P. Cole Hammils (K)
P. Phil Hughes (5th round)
P. John Denks (6th round)
P. Jonathon Broxton (7th round)
P. Ted Lilly (8th round)
P. Matt Thorton (10th round)
P. John Lackey (12th round)
P. Kevin Gregg (13th round)
P. Bronson Arroyo (14th round)
P. Wade Davis (15th round)
P. A.J. Burnett (19th round)
P. Stephen Strasburg (21st round)
I really like the team but I expect this team to fall in the middle of the pack somewhere. I think it is really well balanced but not the Homerun I was looking for. Plus there are a few guys who I am concerned about with injuries. Stephen Strasburg is on the disabled list until at least the All-Star game if not the whole season.
This past Monday, is the other league I am in. The funny thing about this other league is I am the commissioner and really I run the league just for a few friends. It’s always tough to fill out the league, and people lose interest if they aren’t winning. This season I decided to do something a bit different. I went back to the old school of thinking and I am doing a rotisserie league. I figured this way I didn’t have to worry about having an even number of teams. This draft was also different because it was an auction draft.
C. Matt Wieters $9 (101)
1B. Adrian Gonzalez $41 (22)
2B. Kelly Johnson $3 (110)
2B. Aaron Hill $3 (120)
2B. Neil Walker $2 (146)
3B. Alex Rodriguez $40 (13)
3B. Pablo Sandoval $2 (128)
SS. Hanley Ramirez $51 (2)
SS. Stephen Drew $3 (108)
OF. Carlos Gonzalez $41 (18)
OF. Justin Upton $29 (40)
OF. Ben Zobrist $4 (116)
OF. Adam Jones $3 (121)
OF. Curtis Granderson $3 (122)
P. Wade Davis $1 (21)
P. Roy Oswalt $5 (109)
P. Max Scherzer $4 (118)
P. Brett Anderson $2 (129)
P. Matt Thorton $1 (131)
P. Chad Billingsley $2 (132)
P. Craig Kimbrel $1 (141)
P. Josh Beckett $2 (147)
P. Jonathan Broxton $2 (150)
P. Brian Matusz $1 (151)
P. Jeremy Hellickson $2 (157)
P. Ricky Nolasco $1 (161)
Overall I am really happy with this team. My pitching is a bit weak but I spent really big early and then waited patiently and at pick 101 I could not be out bid for anyone anymore. Sorry Josh I know I took a bunch of guys away from you.
Here hoping to have two fantasy baseball teams in the playoff race.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Creepy
So on Wednesday of this past week I received a really creepy e-mail. Mitt Romney who is most likely a candidate for the President of the United States in 2012 sent me the below e-mail.
Now the e-mail it self is not surprising. I actually sign up for all major candidates including those I don't necessary agree with politically. What was creepy about this e-mail was I have no idea how Mitt knows who Lex and Jack are. The other one that surprised me was he knew my employer (not to mention work e-mail address). It probably has something to do with the census or witchcraft.
Now the e-mail it self is not surprising. I actually sign up for all major candidates including those I don't necessary agree with politically. What was creepy about this e-mail was I have no idea how Mitt knows who Lex and Jack are. The other one that surprised me was he knew my employer (not to mention work e-mail address). It probably has something to do with the census or witchcraft.
Knocked Out
I like to think I do not get sick very often. I have days where I may not feel well, but where I would actually call myself sick seem few and far between. I had lymes disease when I was 13 which beat me up pretty bad. On December 23, 2008, I was hit with a virus while at work, Lisa has that story in her blog that you can read “HERE.”
So everything started on Friday March 4, 2011. There is not much to the story this night except when Lisa was trying to put Jack to bed I heard her scream for me. So Lex and I ran upstairs to see Jack had vomited everywhere. The next day was a pajama day for Lex and Jack as we tried to pump Jack with juice and make sure he was okay, which he was fine. So on Sunday we assumed Jack was feeling better and we went about business as normal. We took the boys over to my parent’s house for a bit on Sunday and had a really good time. However, Sunday night was not so kind for Lex. That evening Lex started crying in his room and we discovered that he had vomited on his floor as he was trying to get into the bathroom. The next day he was really drained but he was acting like there was nothing wrong. On Tuesday we took him to his day care and they called us about an hour into the day and told us that Lex was running a fever and he needed to be picked up. That excites me because that means I basically got a day off from work as I went to Our Lady of Hope to pick Lex up. That night he was acting a lot better but the poor kid looked pale as a ghost. Wednesday night he was fine but as he was playing a video game I remember getting really cold and just not feeling right.
So Thursday morning we made the decision to send both boys to my mother-in-law who was watching them. I woke up that morning dripping in sweat, I was cold, and just felt miserable. I went to work and by 9am I knew I was not making it. I did some clean up work and e-mailed out to people things letting them know I was going home. I even e-mailed the un-named hotel I work for telling them I may need someone to have in case I need to call out. I was home by 10am and in bed by 10:05am. I thought it would be a good idea and I grabbed a movie just to play in the background as I tried to sleep… I was so annoyed with the sound of the movie everything went off and I laid there in darkness. I’ll spare you the details because even I don’t want to re live it, but what happened next wasn’t pretty. I apparently once again passed out while I was sick, which in case I haven’t mentioned it… awesomeness. The boys spent the night at my in laws house so it was a very peaceful night in the Williams house.
On Friday I woke up and even though my head was throbbing I told Lisa I was going to try to go to work. I believe the words were, “Don’t be an idiot” but I stood up and decided she was right and I needed to take the day off to recover. I made the decision at that point that I was not making it to the hotel over the weekend. I was basically quarantined inside my house until Monday. I still did not feel 100% on Monday and part of me felt like I could have called out but I was well enough to head to work.
Of course almost a week later Lisa gets hit with the same flu bug I had. The poor girl is still not doing well two weeks later. We took her to patient first and they did nothing for her… Yes Patient first continues their track record of doing nothing but charging people a ton of money.
Hopefully this pool of germs that we apparently are living in will be gone by Monday. I know I am ready for everyone to be feeling good and healthy again.
So everything started on Friday March 4, 2011. There is not much to the story this night except when Lisa was trying to put Jack to bed I heard her scream for me. So Lex and I ran upstairs to see Jack had vomited everywhere. The next day was a pajama day for Lex and Jack as we tried to pump Jack with juice and make sure he was okay, which he was fine. So on Sunday we assumed Jack was feeling better and we went about business as normal. We took the boys over to my parent’s house for a bit on Sunday and had a really good time. However, Sunday night was not so kind for Lex. That evening Lex started crying in his room and we discovered that he had vomited on his floor as he was trying to get into the bathroom. The next day he was really drained but he was acting like there was nothing wrong. On Tuesday we took him to his day care and they called us about an hour into the day and told us that Lex was running a fever and he needed to be picked up. That excites me because that means I basically got a day off from work as I went to Our Lady of Hope to pick Lex up. That night he was acting a lot better but the poor kid looked pale as a ghost. Wednesday night he was fine but as he was playing a video game I remember getting really cold and just not feeling right.
So Thursday morning we made the decision to send both boys to my mother-in-law who was watching them. I woke up that morning dripping in sweat, I was cold, and just felt miserable. I went to work and by 9am I knew I was not making it. I did some clean up work and e-mailed out to people things letting them know I was going home. I even e-mailed the un-named hotel I work for telling them I may need someone to have in case I need to call out. I was home by 10am and in bed by 10:05am. I thought it would be a good idea and I grabbed a movie just to play in the background as I tried to sleep… I was so annoyed with the sound of the movie everything went off and I laid there in darkness. I’ll spare you the details because even I don’t want to re live it, but what happened next wasn’t pretty. I apparently once again passed out while I was sick, which in case I haven’t mentioned it… awesomeness. The boys spent the night at my in laws house so it was a very peaceful night in the Williams house.
On Friday I woke up and even though my head was throbbing I told Lisa I was going to try to go to work. I believe the words were, “Don’t be an idiot” but I stood up and decided she was right and I needed to take the day off to recover. I made the decision at that point that I was not making it to the hotel over the weekend. I was basically quarantined inside my house until Monday. I still did not feel 100% on Monday and part of me felt like I could have called out but I was well enough to head to work.
Of course almost a week later Lisa gets hit with the same flu bug I had. The poor girl is still not doing well two weeks later. We took her to patient first and they did nothing for her… Yes Patient first continues their track record of doing nothing but charging people a ton of money.
Hopefully this pool of germs that we apparently are living in will be gone by Monday. I know I am ready for everyone to be feeling good and healthy again.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
JUDAS
Most people who read this blog probably already know I have a part time job working for a local hotel that I have been employed with for almost 10 years. It will remain nameless FOR NOW.
So last Sunday, my Assistant General Manager, who I have known since I started, gave me my yearly review. The review was a pretty good review which is what I expected Out of a possible 100 I received an 83, and one of the categories we are judged on management tell us no one can get the highest score which knocks you down 10 points no matter what. So really out of a possible 90 points I had only 7 points taken off for my review. Ultimately I was pleased with the review, but I did not expect anything different.
Towards the end of my review my AGM told me that she had to talk to me about something. At this point I got the impression I was about to be written up for something. My AGM then proceeds to tell me that, “It was very obvious that you were having a really bad day”. My AGM then hands me “evidence” being used against me;
On February 13, 2011 @ 11:25am I wrote “MY GOD!!!!!!!! GO to Denny or someplace and have your family reunion. You are all being way to loud and your giving me a headache.”
Now clearly that offended someone, because they decided to make a big deal about it. So I took my punishment, which was only a note in my file, which I did not read or sign.
But curiosity got the better of me and I just needed to find out who was so offended by me writing that. I thought back and remember seeing that I had 19 mutual friends with this person, and one of them was one of my executive housekeepers. Now I know this person is not like me, where I have become facebook friends with everyone in the hotel corporation, she has not.
So I clicked on her page and saw I had ten mutual friends. I was able to eliminate three right away because they no longer work for the same company as I do and have nothing to gain by tattling. I was able to eliminate three more people because I know their loyalty is to me and would not try to get me in trouble. That left me with four names all managers inside the company. My old General Manager was suspect #1. I could never see him out to intentional try to get me in trouble but if it meant making himself look good then he would do it. His AGM was suspect #2. She is someone I like but have had issue with in the past. I would not have been surprised if it was her, and I had convinced myself it was her. Suspect #3 was the GM of another hotel in the company who started a month after I started. I have known her for almost 10 years and I could not imagine she would have sold me out. And finally suspect #4 my old AGM who happens to be the President of the corporation’s son. I am pretty tight with suspect #4 and I pretty much eliminated him in my mind. And Suspect #3 I have known for 10 years. How could she be the one?
Doing a bit more research I remembered I have 19 mutual friends with this person and when I looked at all ten of the original suspect pages I discovered suspect #3 was the guilty party.
To say I was shocked is putting it lightly. Suspect #3 is someone I have known for 10 years. She started a month after I did at the hotel. We have had out ups and downs but that was years ago. I was shocked that this person I thought was my friend and she would do something that could have gotten me fired. Everyone keeps telling me to let it go, but truthfully I just want to know why she felt she could not have sent me a message privately and told me to take that down.
I want to confront her.
I e-mailed my AGM giving her advance warning that I am going to confront her, but she responded with,
“Scott,
Trust me when I say this, you do not want to pursue this any further. You do not know who it was and you could be in fact confronting the wrong person. All hotel Managers have been reamed out by Mr. (delete) on more than one occasion about Facebook, Myspace and Twitter and he is serious about (Company name) Social Media Policy.
Again, it would not be wise for you to send such an e-mail as you could be confronting the wrong person and it could possibly be your termination.
Please think long and hard about doing so.
Thank you!"
I have decided to not confront this person, right now. Out of respect for my AGM and the fact that I do like my job. But I am also not going to shy away from the issue either. I will tell anyone who wants to know the story, and if suspect #3 asks I won’t hesitate to tell her what I think.
So last Sunday, my Assistant General Manager, who I have known since I started, gave me my yearly review. The review was a pretty good review which is what I expected Out of a possible 100 I received an 83, and one of the categories we are judged on management tell us no one can get the highest score which knocks you down 10 points no matter what. So really out of a possible 90 points I had only 7 points taken off for my review. Ultimately I was pleased with the review, but I did not expect anything different.
Towards the end of my review my AGM told me that she had to talk to me about something. At this point I got the impression I was about to be written up for something. My AGM then proceeds to tell me that, “It was very obvious that you were having a really bad day”. My AGM then hands me “evidence” being used against me;
On February 13, 2011 @ 11:25am I wrote “MY GOD!!!!!!!! GO to Denny or someplace and have your family reunion. You are all being way to loud and your giving me a headache.”
Now clearly that offended someone, because they decided to make a big deal about it. So I took my punishment, which was only a note in my file, which I did not read or sign.
But curiosity got the better of me and I just needed to find out who was so offended by me writing that. I thought back and remember seeing that I had 19 mutual friends with this person, and one of them was one of my executive housekeepers. Now I know this person is not like me, where I have become facebook friends with everyone in the hotel corporation, she has not.
So I clicked on her page and saw I had ten mutual friends. I was able to eliminate three right away because they no longer work for the same company as I do and have nothing to gain by tattling. I was able to eliminate three more people because I know their loyalty is to me and would not try to get me in trouble. That left me with four names all managers inside the company. My old General Manager was suspect #1. I could never see him out to intentional try to get me in trouble but if it meant making himself look good then he would do it. His AGM was suspect #2. She is someone I like but have had issue with in the past. I would not have been surprised if it was her, and I had convinced myself it was her. Suspect #3 was the GM of another hotel in the company who started a month after I started. I have known her for almost 10 years and I could not imagine she would have sold me out. And finally suspect #4 my old AGM who happens to be the President of the corporation’s son. I am pretty tight with suspect #4 and I pretty much eliminated him in my mind. And Suspect #3 I have known for 10 years. How could she be the one?
Doing a bit more research I remembered I have 19 mutual friends with this person and when I looked at all ten of the original suspect pages I discovered suspect #3 was the guilty party.
To say I was shocked is putting it lightly. Suspect #3 is someone I have known for 10 years. She started a month after I did at the hotel. We have had out ups and downs but that was years ago. I was shocked that this person I thought was my friend and she would do something that could have gotten me fired. Everyone keeps telling me to let it go, but truthfully I just want to know why she felt she could not have sent me a message privately and told me to take that down.
I want to confront her.
I e-mailed my AGM giving her advance warning that I am going to confront her, but she responded with,
“Scott,
Trust me when I say this, you do not want to pursue this any further. You do not know who it was and you could be in fact confronting the wrong person. All hotel Managers have been reamed out by Mr. (delete) on more than one occasion about Facebook, Myspace and Twitter and he is serious about (Company name) Social Media Policy.
Again, it would not be wise for you to send such an e-mail as you could be confronting the wrong person and it could possibly be your termination.
Please think long and hard about doing so.
Thank you!"
I have decided to not confront this person, right now. Out of respect for my AGM and the fact that I do like my job. But I am also not going to shy away from the issue either. I will tell anyone who wants to know the story, and if suspect #3 asks I won’t hesitate to tell her what I think.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
The New Light Heavyweight UFC Champion
Jon “Bones” Jones
WOW!!!!!! And Amazing…. Those are the words that come to mind after watching Jon Jones dominate an MMA legend in Mauricio Shogun Rua.
Jon Jones now has an MMA record of 13 wins and 1 loss. His first fight in the UFC was August of 2008, where he fought on the same card as Brock Lesnar. I may have seen him fight on this show or UFC 100 (I have watched all the Lesnar UFC fights) but the first time I actually remember watching Jon Jones fight was on Spike TV. It was the very heavily hyped Ultimate Fighter Heavyweight Finale. The card was headlined by Big Country Roy Nelson, knocking out Brendan Schaub, and also featured a much hyped but very disappoint fight between Kimbo Slice and Houston Alexander. At the end of this card the one person everyone was talking about was Jon Jones.
To be simple about it he dominated Matt Hamill. For four minutes and fourteen seconds, I thought Matt Hamill was about to have a near death experience. Jon Jones was disqualified at that point when he used an illegal elbow during the fight. I became an instant fan. Then the UFC did me a huge favor by putting his next two fights a TKO win against Brandon Vera and Vladimir Matyushenko on VS. On February 5, 2011 Jon Jones made Ryan Bader submit to the guillotine choke and after that fight they announced he would get the fight against Shogun Rua at UFC 128 for the Light Heavyweight Title.
I felt like Jon Jones was getting to much hype going into the fight. I was really worried that this new star in the making was getting too much too soon. A little after midnight, there were no longer any doubts that Jon Jones was the next big thing. A legend in MMA and only 29 years old Shogun has been a dominate fighter for a very long period of time. But he looked like he was moving in slow motion. Jon Jones finally had Mercy on Shogun in the 3rd round and ended it with a punch to the gut.
They announced his next fight is going to be against Rashid Evans (Here is hoping it’s at UFC 133 in Philadelphia cause I believe I am going)
WOW!!!!!! And Amazing…. Those are the words that come to mind after watching Jon Jones dominate an MMA legend in Mauricio Shogun Rua.
Jon Jones now has an MMA record of 13 wins and 1 loss. His first fight in the UFC was August of 2008, where he fought on the same card as Brock Lesnar. I may have seen him fight on this show or UFC 100 (I have watched all the Lesnar UFC fights) but the first time I actually remember watching Jon Jones fight was on Spike TV. It was the very heavily hyped Ultimate Fighter Heavyweight Finale. The card was headlined by Big Country Roy Nelson, knocking out Brendan Schaub, and also featured a much hyped but very disappoint fight between Kimbo Slice and Houston Alexander. At the end of this card the one person everyone was talking about was Jon Jones.
To be simple about it he dominated Matt Hamill. For four minutes and fourteen seconds, I thought Matt Hamill was about to have a near death experience. Jon Jones was disqualified at that point when he used an illegal elbow during the fight. I became an instant fan. Then the UFC did me a huge favor by putting his next two fights a TKO win against Brandon Vera and Vladimir Matyushenko on VS. On February 5, 2011 Jon Jones made Ryan Bader submit to the guillotine choke and after that fight they announced he would get the fight against Shogun Rua at UFC 128 for the Light Heavyweight Title.
I felt like Jon Jones was getting to much hype going into the fight. I was really worried that this new star in the making was getting too much too soon. A little after midnight, there were no longer any doubts that Jon Jones was the next big thing. A legend in MMA and only 29 years old Shogun has been a dominate fighter for a very long period of time. But he looked like he was moving in slow motion. Jon Jones finally had Mercy on Shogun in the 3rd round and ended it with a punch to the gut.
They announced his next fight is going to be against Rashid Evans (Here is hoping it’s at UFC 133 in Philadelphia cause I believe I am going)
Saturday, March 19, 2011
So this has been March…
Wow!!!!!
Can March be any crazier then it already has been. Since there is no better place to start then the beginning than that is where I shall begin.
So on Tuesday March 1st, Lisa, my parents, and I had the good fortune to get tickets to see Les Misérables at the Hippodrome theater in downtown Baltimore. Despite the criticism I received about driving (looking at you mom) it was such an amazing time.
Les Misérables has been my absolute favorite play since I was 16 years old. I was hooked when my dad was watching PBS and their 10th anniversary concert from the Royal Albert Hall in London England. I remember I really enjoyed the song “Do you hear the people Sing?” Well enjoying that song led to me watching the show whenever it was on PBS. That Christmas I went out and bought the performance as a gift my father on the good old VHS tape that I know I put more miles on then he did. I ended up buying the two disc CD when I found it and can recite the entire show for you if you ask nicely. I have read Victor Hugo’s book for Les Misérables, and saw the movie staring Liam Nielson on opening night when it was released in 1998. In 2000, I went to see the play the performance in downtown Baltimore (I can not find a date or what venue but I did see the show). I just downloaded the book for my Kindle to read it again at some point in the future and just yesterday I recorded on my DVR the 25th Anniversary of the show that PBS has been airing recently.
(Deen van Meer, Handout photo/November 23, 2010)
As you can imagine I am not very critical of the performance. The Baltimore Sun did a review of the show, “HERE”, that I thought was a pretty accurate account of what I saw. I also thought Andrew Varela (Javert), and Betsy Morgan (Fantine) gave the best performance of the night. Andrew Varela nailed “Javert Suicide” and there were some really cool special effects that went with it. As I knew walking into the show I was going to enjoy it and I was not disappointed.
So if that wasn’t enough on Wednesday March 2nd, Lisa and I went to Philadelphia to see Bon Jovi…. again.
Actually I was not looking forward to this show as much as I normally do. Part of the problem is we have seen him in concert a lot in the last few years. But to no surprise at all Bon Jovi put on an amazing show. They went on stage around 8:30pm and finished up around 11:30pm.
The Playlist for March 2, 2011 JUST OLDER
BAD NAME
BORN TO BE MY BABY
WE WEREN’T BORN TO FOLLOW
LOST HIGHWAY
WHEN WE WERE BEAUTIFUL
IT’S MY LIFE
RUNAWAY
THE MORE THINGS CHANGE
WE GOT IT GOING ON
BAD MEDICINE W/ HOT LEGS (ROD STEWART COVER)
LAY YOUR HANDS ON ME
WHAT DO YOU GOT?
DIAMOND RING
I’LL BE THERE FOR YOU
LOVE FOR SALE
SQUEEZEBOX
WHO SAYS YOU CAN'T GO HOME
SLEEP WHEN I'M DEAD
NO APOLOGIES
HAVE NICE DAY
KEEP THE FAITH
--encore performance #1--
IN THESE ARMS
WANTED
I LOVE THIS TOWN
SATURDAY NIGHT
PRAYER
--encore performance #2--
BLOOD ON BLOOD
Due to running out of time and my shift being over be prepared for more tomorrow.
Can March be any crazier then it already has been. Since there is no better place to start then the beginning than that is where I shall begin.
So on Tuesday March 1st, Lisa, my parents, and I had the good fortune to get tickets to see Les Misérables at the Hippodrome theater in downtown Baltimore. Despite the criticism I received about driving (looking at you mom) it was such an amazing time.
Les Misérables has been my absolute favorite play since I was 16 years old. I was hooked when my dad was watching PBS and their 10th anniversary concert from the Royal Albert Hall in London England. I remember I really enjoyed the song “Do you hear the people Sing?” Well enjoying that song led to me watching the show whenever it was on PBS. That Christmas I went out and bought the performance as a gift my father on the good old VHS tape that I know I put more miles on then he did. I ended up buying the two disc CD when I found it and can recite the entire show for you if you ask nicely. I have read Victor Hugo’s book for Les Misérables, and saw the movie staring Liam Nielson on opening night when it was released in 1998. In 2000, I went to see the play the performance in downtown Baltimore (I can not find a date or what venue but I did see the show). I just downloaded the book for my Kindle to read it again at some point in the future and just yesterday I recorded on my DVR the 25th Anniversary of the show that PBS has been airing recently.
As you can imagine I am not very critical of the performance. The Baltimore Sun did a review of the show, “HERE”, that I thought was a pretty accurate account of what I saw. I also thought Andrew Varela (Javert), and Betsy Morgan (Fantine) gave the best performance of the night. Andrew Varela nailed “Javert Suicide” and there were some really cool special effects that went with it. As I knew walking into the show I was going to enjoy it and I was not disappointed.
So if that wasn’t enough on Wednesday March 2nd, Lisa and I went to Philadelphia to see Bon Jovi…. again.
Actually I was not looking forward to this show as much as I normally do. Part of the problem is we have seen him in concert a lot in the last few years. But to no surprise at all Bon Jovi put on an amazing show. They went on stage around 8:30pm and finished up around 11:30pm.
BAD NAME
BORN TO BE MY BABY
WE WEREN’T BORN TO FOLLOW
LOST HIGHWAY
WHEN WE WERE BEAUTIFUL
IT’S MY LIFE
RUNAWAY
THE MORE THINGS CHANGE
WE GOT IT GOING ON
BAD MEDICINE W/ HOT LEGS (ROD STEWART COVER)
LAY YOUR HANDS ON ME
WHAT DO YOU GOT?
DIAMOND RING
I’LL BE THERE FOR YOU
LOVE FOR SALE
SQUEEZEBOX
WHO SAYS YOU CAN'T GO HOME
SLEEP WHEN I'M DEAD
NO APOLOGIES
HAVE NICE DAY
KEEP THE FAITH
--encore performance #1--
IN THESE ARMS
WANTED
I LOVE THIS TOWN
SATURDAY NIGHT
PRAYER
--encore performance #2--
BLOOD ON BLOOD
Due to running out of time and my shift being over be prepared for more tomorrow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)