Looks Like I Can Be Pressured

I have heard the calls. I am going to be blogging again. I hear it from friends and family, "you haven't blogged in 2 months, you need to blog again, it is the only way I know what is going on in your life since you won't talk to me or call me on the phone." Well, I respond with, "It is not 2 month's until the 26th of July. I will blog before then."

I will have to start my return by letting you know everything that has happened in the last almost two-months. I don't want to type it all so stay tuned for some photo blogs with limited text explanations.

Yes, I Have Ads

Hello all,

This is a friendly message to say that it is OK to click on the ads on the right-hand side of the blog. No children, ducks, grandparents, fish, babies, llamas, or elephants will be hurt. Occasionally you might even find some good information. Go ahead and do it - or the terrorists win!

NBA Playoffs Round 2

Because I am a great guy I thought I would let you know how my first round NBA predictions went to let you know how I did, plus you get a free set of predictions for round 2! Here is how I did in round 1:

Cavs in 6 - Right winner, but the Cavs SWEPT the Pistsons
Hawks in 6 - Right winner, but in took the Hawks 7 games
Celtics in 7 - Called it right on!
Magic in 5 - Right winner, but the Magic took 6 games
Lakers in 5 - Called it right on, again!
Blazers in 7 - Missed the team and the games. Houston dominated.
Hornets in 6 - Missed the team and the games. Denver crushed these guys. I didn't think Billups could make this team so good, but he did.
Spurs in 6 - Missed the team and the games. The Mavs took these guys out. The Spurs just did not have what it takes. They are going to have to reload and come back next year.

Got 5 of 8 series right, 2 of those right on. Missed in the West where 2 lower seeds won their matchups and Denver, the team everyone wanted to play, was dominant.

On to round 2:

1 Cavs vs. 4 Hawks

The Hawks played some pretty good defense against the Heat in round one. They were able to put the clamps on Wade pretty good (he didn't go for 40 each game). LeBron is better than Wade. The 11 other players on the Cavs are better than the other 11 players on the Heat. I think this series will be harder on the Cavs than round 1, but they will still win.

Cleveland in 6

2 Celtics vs. 3 Magic

Boston could barely get past the Bulls and the Magic are much better than the Bulls. I don't think that the Celtics have a chance in this one, but they could surprise me. I still do not have faith in the Celtics to win. Round one was the Finals for Boston.

Magic in 6

1 Lakers vs. 5 Rockets

The Rockets have some good weapons, but nobody has the team the Lakers do. The Lakers have 4 starters that could start for any other team in the league. The Rockets do play good defense and can slow down the Lakers, but the Lakers play good defense and the Rockets do not have a great offense. Plus, the Lakers can put both Pau or Bynum on Yao. The Lakers will be fine.

Lakers in 5

2 Nuggets vs. 7 Mavs

I do not see how the Nuggets are winning like this. I just do not think the Nuggets are that good, but they are cruising in the playoffs. Chauncey is awesome. Melo is the man. JR Smith just knows how to make big shots. Chris Anderson and Nene know their place and just help the team win. Kenyon Martin plays tough defense and well, that is about it. The Mavs just will not be able to keep up with Denver.

Nuggets in 6

Yogurt

I was having a cup of yogurt for dinner (Peach flavored if you must know, also, it was Yoplait Light - only 100 calories!, last item, if you are going to buy yogurt you really should just get Yoplait, I don't understand the whole "fruit on the bottom" thing, why do I have to do all the work here?). That was a lot of text inside a parenthesis (spelling? I am typing this on my BlackBerry so I do not have a spell check). Back to the story: I was having a cup of yogurt for dinner and Chloe came in. She asked me if I knew that yogurt was a fungi. I said I sure did and that it is bacteria. I told her that fungi's eat yogurt too. She became confused and I said, "Am I not a fun guy?" Then came the groan and Diana just shook her head. At least I am trying to entertain!

09 NBA Playoffs

This is the post where I pick all the winners of the NBA playoffs and then you guys post comments about how stupid I am, but I don't see any of you putting yourself out there with any predictions. You can see last year's post here, but I only did an OK job with my picks. This year I hope to get everything right, including how many games. Let's start in the East:

Cleveland (1) vs. Detroit (8)

Everyone thinks that the Cavs will cruise in this series, and it is true that the Pistons are broken and need to be rebuilt for next year. The one good thing for the Pistons is that they know how to flip the switch and I think they can do that for a couple games. I am not going to pick the Pistons, but this will be more hard fought than anyone else is predicting now. The one thing the Cavs have that no one else does is LeBron and he will be the difference, like he is every game.

Cavs in 6

Atlanta (4) vs. Miami (5)

DeWayne Wade is the second best player in the NBA right now. He is a monster. The rest of his team sucks so hard they blow. If Beasley can get 20 and 10 for a couple games the Heat will win a couple games, if he does not show up in the playoffs the Heat will be dead quick. I know that Wade can get 1 or 2 wins all by himself, but the Hawks have a team that is long and athletic and they can switch defenders on Wade and have quick double-teams. The Heat's best chance is that the refs think this is the Finals against the Mavs and Wade gets a whistle every time he drives the lane.

Hawks in 6

Boston (2) vs. Chicago (7)

If KG is really out for the Celtics they are in trouble. Chicago is a new team with Brad Miller and John Salmons on the floor and the Bulls are not afraid of anyone in the East. Boston will be a tough out but they should be able to slide past the Bulls with Allen and Pierce. Pierce can still take a team on his back for a series, plus if things get real bad the Celtics would probably bring out KG for the emotional lift for one game. If KG is actually healthy and plays don't count this prediction against me.

Celtics in 7

Orlando (3) vs. Philly (6)

Philly is the team that everyone wants in the playoffs, they are just not that good. I don't know how they make it to the playoffs every year. Philly is a team that if they played in the West they would get between 10 and 20 wins a year (mostly against Eastern teams). Philly has a style of play (running and gunning) that works well in the regular season, but in the playoffs Orlando will take their time, slow down the game and should have an easy time with this series.

Magic in 5

Now for the West:

Los Angeles Lakers (1) vs. Utah (8)

The Jazz have no defense and give up over 120 points a game the past few games. The Jazz do not have a good enough offense to score over 120 points a game. This is bad. The Lakers have a great offense and have four players that are better than anyone on the Jazz right now (Bryant, Gasol, Odom, and Bynum). The Jazz have no answer for the Lakers, but they have a great home court and will be able to pull one out when the refs get behind the Jazz for a game in SLC.

Lakers in 5

Portland (4) vs. Houston (5)

The Blazers have a good young team but they have not been to the playoffs. Does that matter? I don't think it does in the first round. The Rockets are good, but not great. The best thing that happened to them all year was McGrady going out and hence losing someone that dominates the ball for 15 of the 24 seconds. Yao cannot lead a team by himself out of the first round of the playoffs. The Blazers have enough weapons that they can frustrate the Rockets defense. This will be a good series and very competitive. I just don't think the Rockets have what it takes to win this.

Blazers in 7

Denver (2) vs. New Orleans (7)

This is a great match up for New Orleans. Every team in the West wanted to get Denver in the first round. Denver winning is a mirage. The Nuggets beat the teams they should and lose to all the better teams in the league. New Orleans knows what it takes to win in the playoffs and their team is rounding into shape right in time. I am going out on a limb with this pick.

Hornets in 6

San Antonio (3) vs. Dallas (6)

This series comes down to the fact that Dallas has no one that can check Tony Parker and he will go off in every game this series goes. Dirk and Duncan will match each other with some good games and other not good games, but either way they fight to a draw and Parker makes the difference. The Spurs will not win the title this year (they have won the last 3 odd numbered years) but they will put up a fight in this series and the next.

Spurs in 6

Fantasy Sports Update

I had a lot of problems with fantasy basketball this year. In all reality, my team just sucked. I took 7th out of 10th place in the regular season. We are now in the playoffs and last week I beat the team ahead of me (6th place). I am now going against the 5th place team to become the champion of the losers bracket. It is a very close week so far (we go until the end of the season). I plan on winning to make the season worth it. I say if you can't win the real thing, win the losers bracket I say.

I start baseball at the end of this week and I hope I can do a better job in the draft. I am not much of a fantasy baseball player (I have never won baseball). One day I will, hopefully it starts now.

Saturday Morning Wake Up Call

I wasn't going to post this (I already look like a big enough idiot on most days on this blog). I decided that in fairness to my "brutal honesty" mantra I had to let you know. On Saturday morning I was woken up by a cop. No, he was not in my house, he was ringing my doorbell. I grumbled awake at the sound of the bell and thought, "Who is ringing my doorbell, what a jerk. It is 6:00 am!" I got to the door and saw the officer. He asked if the white car over there was mine. I was expecting a busted window or something, but noticed that the trunk was ajar. Then I thought, "They broke into my trunk, good things my golf clubs are in the basement!" I walked out and looked at the car, nothing to show a break-in. Nothing gone. Then I am thinking, "What is going on here?"

The cop asks me to go get my keys so we could look inside. I go in to the house and notice that there is things on my keychain pressing the trunk button. I am an idiot. I was not careful with my stuff and it bit me in the butt. As soon as the cop was happy and left I climbed back into bed for a little more shut eye. I told Diana that it was all a misunderstanding and closed my eyes.

I suck.

Reading Level

LD sent me a link to determine the reading level of my blog. Well, kiddies, you can all relax. My reading level indicator is elementary school. I thought my humor was more junior high, but I guess not. I suck.

If you want to rate your blog, click the link here: http://www.criticsrant.com/bb/reading_level.aspx

By the way, LD, thanks for ruining my day with this.

Fantasy Football Wrap Up

It was a bad week for fantasy football. I was not very happy. Let me tell you the story. After Sunday, all of my guys had played. I was up by 92 points. It was a good, no...great lead. I could not imagine losing. I was a little boastful. My opponent had 5 guys that were playing on Monday Night Football. 3 were on defense. The other 2 were the Saints number 3 receiver and Reggie Bush. I am sure you have seen the highlights. They were pretty impressive. He ran the ball, he caught the ball, he returned kicks - and ran two back for touchdowns. When you think of the ways you might lose a 92 point lead they usually do not include the other guy running back 2 punts for TDs (it has only happened 7 times in the history of the NFL). I ended up losing by 3 points.
I suck.
Next week I play one of the not good teams. I am predicted to win handily. I hate it when the computer picks me. Too much pressure.

Public Apology

I am writing this to make an apology to anyone that was affected or offended by my staying up late blogging last night. If you could not get to sleep because of me, I am deeply sorry. If I woke you up with my clickety clacking on the keyboard, I really did not mean to. The thing you have to remember is that I suck.

I Suck

For all of you that think I do not make mistakes, I made a whopper last week. We just found out about it yesterday. Diana has a good rundown of what happened here. Since then I have emailed Blockbuster and finally got a response. Here is what Manuel in customer service told me:

Do not worry any more, because I made a report on you behalf.

Well, as long as there is a report on my behalf, I am not worried. Manuel also said that they would send back my disc as soon as they found it.
The good news is that the family has finished watching the disc that I sent away.
I suck.

I Run A G-Rated Blog...I Mean PG

I thought I had a G-rated blog until LD sent me this link: http://www.oneplusyou.com/bb/blog_rating. Then I found out that I have a PG-rated blog. Hope I don't lose any readers over this. Sorry I misled you.

The worst part is how the rating system tells me that I have a PG rating because of my use of the word "suck." My mom always said she did not like that word. I wonder if she is the one that wrote this rating program. Well, anyways, this really sucks. I wanted a G-rated blog, but if I can't have G, I am going for PG-13! Nobody likes PG.

I Missed A Couple Songs

On m top 10 songs post I messed up. I should have taken more time with the post, but it was just a spur of the moment thing. Right now I am really liking some songs I have from A Fine Frenzy. They are haunting and also very well written. She has a great voice. Whenever I hear one of her songs I sit up and take notice. I think my favorite is "Come On, Come Out." But I love the three that I have from her on my iPod.

The other song I feel stupid for omitting is "So Long, So Long" by Dashboard Confessional. I am not much of a DC fan, but this song is great. Adam Duritz of the Counting Crows sings on this song and I can tell the song is greatly influenced by Adam. It is just an excellent song all around. I feel bad for the DC dude, that he gets trumped by Adam so soundly on the DC record.

There are probably more songs that I missed, these are just a couple that came across the iPod today that I felt embarrassed that I did not list Monday night.

One Brown, One Black

If you made it out of your house with matching shoes, you did better than me today!

I left the house (a little bit later than usual) this morning and got in the car. I had to stop to get gas. I get out of the car at Costco and start pumping the gas. While the car is filling up I walk around to the front of the car and think, "My shoes feel weird." I look down and see that I am wearing one brown shoe and one black shoe. I couldn't believe it. Now I was wondering what I needed to do. Do I go home and change? Do I go to work with shoes that do not match? What would you do? I was already running late, and I had stopped to get gas. I had a meeting at 9am, so I could not be late. I didn't think I had time to get back home (Costco is more than half way to my work). I was stumped. I guess I could wear unmatching shoes, but then I would be wondering all day, "Is she laughing at my joke, or the fact that I am wearing unmatching shoes? I will never know." I spend some time wondering if people will even notice, I mean, your shoes are under your desk for a lot of the day. This might not even be a big deal. I am sure people have been to work with shoes that don't match and everything worked out. Maybe.

I do not want to belabor the point any further. I have made a choice. I decided to stop at the WalMart by my work and pick up some shoes. I was thinking DSW (there is one by my work) but there is no way it is open before 9am. I get to the WalMart and get my shoes. My stupidity has now cost me $21. I do like the new shoes.

I suck.

Fantasy Baseball Update

I haven't let you know about my fantasy baseball team lately. Probably because of how much I suck. I hit a rough patch of injuries and then an even rougher patch where none of my guys could hit. I have started to come back a little the past couple weeks, and I have beaten some of the leading teams, only to get crushed by the loser teams. I guess I am one of those loser teams. Hopefully the team can pick things up and I can get a winning streak going.

Below is this weeks match, I am beating the best team (once again). Hopefully it sticks.

Number 91

91st post of the month. That is all I have. Sorry. The good news is: If this is not enough for you I have a money back guarantee.

Not getting to 100

Not only do I give you shaky camera work to look at, I just noticed that I am at only 59 posts for the month. There is no way that I am going to get to 100. Sorry I got your hopes up.