Finally, a real owner instead of an MLB goat-rope

I, for one, welcome our new property development overlords. The bad news is that Jim Bowden will apparently continue as GM under the new owners, but on the other side it looks like Comcast is going to get talked into carrying Nationals games soon, which will be a big change from the status quo.

Closer to home, my fantasy team continues to sink in the standings despite a solid win by Brad Radke and another three-ribbie night from Lance Berkman. The Curtis Granderson, he does nothing! Off he goes to the waiver wire, to be replaced in tomorrow's lineup by O's centerfielder Corey Patterson, who is perhaps not as good a player between the lines as Granderson in real life, but steals a lot more bases and scores a lot more runs, and dammit, that's what I need right now. The horrible ERA and WHIP will decrease in time (especially if Kazmir and Blanton have a good duel tomorrow night in Oaktown) but the runs and steals need to be fixed now, and the Orioles' new leadoff hitter looks like just the man to do it.

I need to find a baseball-specific icon.

Finally, a real owner instead of an MLB goat-rope

I, for one, welcome our new property development overlords. The bad news is that Jim Bowden will apparently continue as GM under the new owners, but on the other side it looks like Comcast is going to get talked into carrying Nationals games soon, which will be a big change from the status quo.

Closer to home, my fantasy team continues to sink in the standings despite a solid win by Brad Radke and another three-ribbie night from Lance Berkman. The Curtis Granderson, he does nothing! Off he goes to the waiver wire, to be replaced in tomorrow's lineup by O's centerfielder Corey Patterson, who is perhaps not as good a player between the lines as Granderson in real life, but steals a lot more bases and scores a lot more runs, and dammit, that's what I need right now. The horrible ERA and WHIP will decrease in time (especially if Kazmir and Blanton have a good duel tomorrow night in Oaktown) but the runs and steals need to be fixed now, and the Orioles' new leadoff hitter looks like just the man to do it.

I need to find a baseball-specific icon.

The Last Full Measure

Wow. I've read a fair amount of Civil War books in my time, but very few of them have had the impact of Richard Moe's The Last Full Measure: The Life and Death of the First Minnesota Volunteers. This book deserves to be the basic text on the war for all high school history classes covering the topic of the War Between the States, at least in Minnesota; while focusing on the men who came from all corners of the new state to fight for the Union, it also touches on virtually all of the war's causes, significant events, and social upheavals. As if that weren't enough right there, it also does a fine job of depicting the first three frustrating years of the Army of the Potomac. The book makes liberal use of the diaries and letters of the First Minnesota's soldiers; it settles you down by their campfires and brings you along on the long marches to one lost battle after another until finally the regiment finds its Golgotha in a valley south of an otherwise unremarkable Pennsylvania town called Gettysburg. To say more about the book and the achievements of this regiment would spoil it; suffice it to say that there is a reason the regiment's Colonel Colvill is immortalized with a statue beneath the state capitol's dome, and a reason the regimental flag of the 28th Virginia will never go home to Richmond.

The Last Full Measure

Wow. I've read a fair amount of Civil War books in my time, but very few of them have had the impact of Richard Moe's The Last Full Measure: The Life and Death of the First Minnesota Volunteers. This book deserves to be the basic text on the war for all high school history classes covering the topic of the War Between the States, at least in Minnesota; while focusing on the men who came from all corners of the new state to fight for the Union, it also touches on virtually all of the war's causes, significant events, and social upheavals. As if that weren't enough right there, it also does a fine job of depicting the first three frustrating years of the Army of the Potomac. The book makes liberal use of the diaries and letters of the First Minnesota's soldiers; it settles you down by their campfires and brings you along on the long marches to one lost battle after another until finally the regiment finds its Golgotha in a valley south of an otherwise unremarkable Pennsylvania town called Gettysburg. To say more about the book and the achievements of this regiment would spoil it; suffice it to say that there is a reason the regiment's Colonel Colvill is immortalized with a statue beneath the state capitol's dome, and a reason the regimental flag of the 28th Virginia will never go home to Richmond.

This week's post on gluttony

Other people have posts about health, but since most of my health concerns revolve around eating, I figured I ought to be a little more accurate. Moving right along...

So far I've kept up with the food diary and the support stockings every day, which is good, even if I haven't been 100% punctilious about noting everything down in the Palm right away. I think that's been having a good effect on the diet, since I'm less prone to nibble between meals and a little more careful about what I eat, and that's all good. Glucose levels have been acting weird, though - low in the morning (good) high at lunch (not so good), low in the evening (better). Seems to me that it should be declining throughout the day or at least steady, but it hasn't been working out that way. Clearly, this is all Bush's fault due to eating a split breakfast in the morning, and that needs to change. What I need to do is get back into the habit of doing eggs in the morning at home instead of doing an English muffin with my drugs when I get up and then stopping at McDonald's on the way to the P&R in the morning. That potato cake is killing me, I do believe.

PSA: For those of you working in the DT Minneapolis area, the Farmer's Market on Nicollet Mall has started its season. I'll be taking advantage of this later in the year since it's both cheaper (I think) and more convenient than picking up fruits & veggies at the supermarket.
Also, that "garlic bread" at Subway? It's just their regular Italian bread with garlic schmeer. It's okay, I guess, but it's not really garlic bread.

This week's post on gluttony

Other people have posts about health, but since most of my health concerns revolve around eating, I figured I ought to be a little more accurate. Moving right along...

So far I've kept up with the food diary and the support stockings every day, which is good, even if I haven't been 100% punctilious about noting everything down in the Palm right away. I think that's been having a good effect on the diet, since I'm less prone to nibble between meals and a little more careful about what I eat, and that's all good. Glucose levels have been acting weird, though - low in the morning (good) high at lunch (not so good), low in the evening (better). Seems to me that it should be declining throughout the day or at least steady, but it hasn't been working out that way. Clearly, this is all Bush's fault due to eating a split breakfast in the morning, and that needs to change. What I need to do is get back into the habit of doing eggs in the morning at home instead of doing an English muffin with my drugs when I get up and then stopping at McDonald's on the way to the P&R in the morning. That potato cake is killing me, I do believe.

PSA: For those of you working in the DT Minneapolis area, the Farmer's Market on Nicollet Mall has started its season. I'll be taking advantage of this later in the year since it's both cheaper (I think) and more convenient than picking up fruits & veggies at the supermarket.
Also, that "garlic bread" at Subway? It's just their regular Italian bread with garlic schmeer. It's okay, I guess, but it's not really garlic bread.

Wombat 1, MPD 0

BWAHAHAHA!

A few weeks back I got busted for not having the annual registration tabs on my plates, even though the Minneapolis cop who pulled me over (on 35W during rush hour, no less) discovered once he ran my license past DVS that I had in fact paid my annual fee to the State and that this was a case of some jerk ripping off my tabs. So I made a date to see a hearing officer, replaced the tabs, and stewed about it occasionally for a few weeks. Today I got my day in court, which lasted about five minutes - the hearing offficer dismissed the ticket, and that was that.

So I went off to the SuperAmerica, flushed with victory, and cashed in some of my Speedy Rewards points to get my tank filled for cheap - 12 cents off the $2.75 at the pump. I tell you, this SR card is paying for itself. Free pop, discount gas, and cheap (in both senses) eats. w00t!

Unfortunately, all is not sweetness and light in the life of the Chief Wombat. Tomorrow I bid farewell to the other inhabitant of my particular island of cubes. My friend the Eastside Controller's secretary is leaving for a position with Rural Community Insurance up in Anoka, which makes her the third person to leave this past week. Predictably, the managers are dragging their feet looking for replacements. They must have interviewed half a company's worth of applicants in the last week without hiring any, probably since no accounting or business major worth hiring is willing to settle for what they think is a reasonable salary, i.e. less than 30K. Shit, you can't even hire a temp to mangle spreadsheets for that kind of money any more...but that's probably what they'll wind up doing, and then hiring the temp because at that point they'll already have learned all the asinine, pettifogging details some of these clowns insist on. Bad attitude? Me? Hey, it's better than no attitude at all, eh bossman?

Wombat 1, MPD 0

BWAHAHAHA!

A few weeks back I got busted for not having the annual registration tabs on my plates, even though the Minneapolis cop who pulled me over (on 35W during rush hour, no less) discovered once he ran my license past DVS that I had in fact paid my annual fee to the State and that this was a case of some jerk ripping off my tabs. So I made a date to see a hearing officer, replaced the tabs, and stewed about it occasionally for a few weeks. Today I got my day in court, which lasted about five minutes - the hearing offficer dismissed the ticket, and that was that.

So I went off to the SuperAmerica, flushed with victory, and cashed in some of my Speedy Rewards points to get my tank filled for cheap - 12 cents off the $2.75 at the pump. I tell you, this SR card is paying for itself. Free pop, discount gas, and cheap (in both senses) eats. w00t!

Unfortunately, all is not sweetness and light in the life of the Chief Wombat. Tomorrow I bid farewell to the other inhabitant of my particular island of cubes. My friend the Eastside Controller's secretary is leaving for a position with Rural Community Insurance up in Anoka, which makes her the third person to leave this past week. Predictably, the managers are dragging their feet looking for replacements. They must have interviewed half a company's worth of applicants in the last week without hiring any, probably since no accounting or business major worth hiring is willing to settle for what they think is a reasonable salary, i.e. less than 30K. Shit, you can't even hire a temp to mangle spreadsheets for that kind of money any more...but that's probably what they'll wind up doing, and then hiring the temp because at that point they'll already have learned all the asinine, pettifogging details some of these clowns insist on. Bad attitude? Me? Hey, it's better than no attitude at all, eh bossman?

All your culture are belong to us

This rap video is actually kind of cool, maybe because I don't understand Mongolian (yeah, you read that right, MONGOLIAN) but this remake by Yat-Kha of Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart" (complete with throat-singing) is just gut-busting hilarious. Forget Sushi K, it's obviously the Ulan Bator ombwas who are keeping it real.

Via The Marmot's Hole, which also links to everything you need to know about Grace Park (check the links on the side), the hilariously cynical first draft of Ambassador Vershbow's column in the Seattle P-I, and the Battle of Pyongtaek.
All this and photos of Shin Mina 2006, too. Mmm, tasty. :)

All your culture are belong to us

This rap video is actually kind of cool, maybe because I don't understand Mongolian (yeah, you read that right, MONGOLIAN) but this remake by Yat-Kha of Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart" (complete with throat-singing) is just gut-busting hilarious. Forget Sushi K, it's obviously the Ulan Bator ombwas who are keeping it real.

Via The Marmot's Hole, which also links to everything you need to know about Grace Park (check the links on the side), the hilariously cynical first draft of Ambassador Vershbow's column in the Seattle P-I, and the Battle of Pyongtaek.
All this and photos of Shin Mina 2006, too. Mmm, tasty. :)