A few random thoughts
Steroids in baseball
Are you surprised? Really? Ever since ESPN and other outlets brought forth the latest shocking revelations regarding America's sole government-sanctioned monopoly, the sports world has been abuzz about the "news" that several major league sluggers are not playing on a level playing field, so to speak, with real-life, honest athletes.
I think it goes without saying that this is not news at all. Since before the time of the much ballyhooed, thoroughly juiced McGuire-Sosa home run derby, we've seen baseball players go from relatively demure Gehrig/DiMaggio proportions to the neo-neanderthal norm of today's players. Although one could argue that advances in weight training, sports nutrition, and legal supplementation could explain some of it, one has to shake their head at people who are shocked at the news of the steroid use in MLB considering factors like the exponential growth in the size of particular players in recent years (look at pictures of Barry Bonds from the past decade and note how much bigger he's gotten, or look at Jason Giambi from about six years ago, compared to the juiced-up Giambi of three years ago, compared to the slim Giambi of the last season, most of which you'll need to find yourself because it's getting late and I'm having too much trouble locating them) and you'll see that it's been obvious for too long that America's pasttime has been changing for the worse.
Besides the shock that all of these people seem to be professing, the thing that shocks me the most is the way that Barry Bonds, the obvious juicer who has benefitted the most from cheating, is able to say with a straight face that he took steroids without knowing that what he was taking were steroids. The best analogy I've heard this week is the Formula One racer, who has a piece of fine-tuned machinery and isn't going to chance it with gas from the neighborhood pump. Given that I won't put anything in my mouth without having some idea what it is, regardless of who hands it to me, why would Bonds repeatedly use an item for whatever reason without knowing what it is and being sure of what he's using? I don't buy it. Bonds claimed that he used the "clear" and the "cream," two of the steroid items created by Balco labs and designed to pass MLB's weak testing protocols, to relieve pain in his body. He claimed that after awhile he decided they didn't work and discontinued use. However, he still gave the guy who supplied them rewards associated with Bonds' personal accomplishments throughout the season. Why pay a guy for a product that didn't work? It's just fishy to me.
Anyway, just another sport to be leary of. In the end, I'm insulted that these people have gotten over on America for so long, and if people are really surprised that this is going on, I'm sickened by how feeble-minded we've all become.
Christmas is coming
And, lo and behold, gift buying has begun in earnest.
I begin by referring you to Betsy, who seems to understand that Christmas is really about spending time with family and not so much a commercial excercise.
That said, despite my ambition to be able to survive Christmas on the cheap, it has become apparent that Christmas will, once again, strain all logic when it comes to how our money should be spent.
And I figured that out on Friday, when my wife came home telling me she wanted an iPod for Christmas. And not just any iPod. She wants an iPod mini.
This all grows from my wife's on-going commitment to work out more. I find that incredibly noble. My wife and I have had gym memberships for at least the last two years, since she stopped going to school and we no longer got to go to her school gym for free. For the first year and a half, my wife used her gym membership exactly thrice that I can recall, each time after realizing that, first, we were spending too much on her membership not to be using it, and second, she wouldn't have to feel like she was in such bad shape if she actually worked out. 0
Anyway, eventually we came into enough money to buy her some training sessions, and once there was someone there to hold her accountable and assist her in structuring her work-out (I was not appropriate for this, as I actually prefer to work out at the gym over telling my wife how to work out at the gym) she actually began regularly going. She still does. By regular, I mean twice a week, which is still not regular enough for her to get the results she's seeking.
She knows this, of course. We've discussed it several times in the past. She just forgets. She remembered again last week, surely while considering that we're going to Mexico in January and thinking how it would be nice to be able to wear a swimsuit without feeling self-conscious (I have to say, I think my wife looks just fine, but my opinion doesn't count in that regard).
Surely the iPod idea came up while she was talking about these things to JLowe's wife, who herself wants an iPod mini. Because, after shopping with Lady Lowe, my wife came home and discussed how she needed to work out more, and having a music device would certainly help her to do so, and that device had to be an iPod mini. Preferably pink or green.
I know when I'm beat. And so I did what any beat man does, which is compromise some of the sting away. I pointed out to my wife that there were other great MP3 players that aren't iPod minis. I pointed out that we have a Dell credit card that we could use to buy a Dell device. I found some devices on the net, including the new small Dell one, which you can buy colored coverings for. But, no. It has to be an iPod mini. Why? Because she likes their colors, and they are soooo cute!
Ugh. I'll spend the rest of my wife trying to understand how my wife thinks, and I'll surely die frustrated. But not before I fork over some of my hard-earned government payola to Apple. And you can take that to the bank.
Secret Santas
Last, but certainly not least, is the story of how I got over-gifted at my recent Secret Santa event. CW, one of the many great people who work at my office, invited The Missus and I, along with some other office chums, to her house for dinner this weekend. Part of the dinner was a Secret Santa exchange. Rules: 1) $10 limit; 2) If you're assigned one of the married workmates, you are buying for the couple and not just for him/her.
(Thankfully) my Secret Santa was either unaware of the rules, or didn't care. I opened my bag to find that Santa had bought me a sixer of Hamm's tall-boys and a brand-new copy of Halo 2 (assuming Halo 2 costs $50, my total gift cost about $50.06 plus deposit).
So, I guess I made out pretty well. The Missus isn't so sure, however, because she knows it'll be two weeks before we have another meaningful conversation about anything. Just in time for me to get a new game to play.
Well, it's quite late now, and I've bored you enough. So, off to bed I go.
Catch ya later.
Are you surprised? Really? Ever since ESPN and other outlets brought forth the latest shocking revelations regarding America's sole government-sanctioned monopoly, the sports world has been abuzz about the "news" that several major league sluggers are not playing on a level playing field, so to speak, with real-life, honest athletes.
I think it goes without saying that this is not news at all. Since before the time of the much ballyhooed, thoroughly juiced McGuire-Sosa home run derby, we've seen baseball players go from relatively demure Gehrig/DiMaggio proportions to the neo-neanderthal norm of today's players. Although one could argue that advances in weight training, sports nutrition, and legal supplementation could explain some of it, one has to shake their head at people who are shocked at the news of the steroid use in MLB considering factors like the exponential growth in the size of particular players in recent years (look at pictures of Barry Bonds from the past decade and note how much bigger he's gotten, or look at Jason Giambi from about six years ago, compared to the juiced-up Giambi of three years ago, compared to the slim Giambi of the last season, most of which you'll need to find yourself because it's getting late and I'm having too much trouble locating them) and you'll see that it's been obvious for too long that America's pasttime has been changing for the worse.
Besides the shock that all of these people seem to be professing, the thing that shocks me the most is the way that Barry Bonds, the obvious juicer who has benefitted the most from cheating, is able to say with a straight face that he took steroids without knowing that what he was taking were steroids. The best analogy I've heard this week is the Formula One racer, who has a piece of fine-tuned machinery and isn't going to chance it with gas from the neighborhood pump. Given that I won't put anything in my mouth without having some idea what it is, regardless of who hands it to me, why would Bonds repeatedly use an item for whatever reason without knowing what it is and being sure of what he's using? I don't buy it. Bonds claimed that he used the "clear" and the "cream," two of the steroid items created by Balco labs and designed to pass MLB's weak testing protocols, to relieve pain in his body. He claimed that after awhile he decided they didn't work and discontinued use. However, he still gave the guy who supplied them rewards associated with Bonds' personal accomplishments throughout the season. Why pay a guy for a product that didn't work? It's just fishy to me.
Anyway, just another sport to be leary of. In the end, I'm insulted that these people have gotten over on America for so long, and if people are really surprised that this is going on, I'm sickened by how feeble-minded we've all become.
Christmas is coming
And, lo and behold, gift buying has begun in earnest.
I begin by referring you to Betsy, who seems to understand that Christmas is really about spending time with family and not so much a commercial excercise.
That said, despite my ambition to be able to survive Christmas on the cheap, it has become apparent that Christmas will, once again, strain all logic when it comes to how our money should be spent.
And I figured that out on Friday, when my wife came home telling me she wanted an iPod for Christmas. And not just any iPod. She wants an iPod mini.
This all grows from my wife's on-going commitment to work out more. I find that incredibly noble. My wife and I have had gym memberships for at least the last two years, since she stopped going to school and we no longer got to go to her school gym for free. For the first year and a half, my wife used her gym membership exactly thrice that I can recall, each time after realizing that, first, we were spending too much on her membership not to be using it, and second, she wouldn't have to feel like she was in such bad shape if she actually worked out. 0
Anyway, eventually we came into enough money to buy her some training sessions, and once there was someone there to hold her accountable and assist her in structuring her work-out (I was not appropriate for this, as I actually prefer to work out at the gym over telling my wife how to work out at the gym) she actually began regularly going. She still does. By regular, I mean twice a week, which is still not regular enough for her to get the results she's seeking.
She knows this, of course. We've discussed it several times in the past. She just forgets. She remembered again last week, surely while considering that we're going to Mexico in January and thinking how it would be nice to be able to wear a swimsuit without feeling self-conscious (I have to say, I think my wife looks just fine, but my opinion doesn't count in that regard).
Surely the iPod idea came up while she was talking about these things to JLowe's wife, who herself wants an iPod mini. Because, after shopping with Lady Lowe, my wife came home and discussed how she needed to work out more, and having a music device would certainly help her to do so, and that device had to be an iPod mini. Preferably pink or green.
I know when I'm beat. And so I did what any beat man does, which is compromise some of the sting away. I pointed out to my wife that there were other great MP3 players that aren't iPod minis. I pointed out that we have a Dell credit card that we could use to buy a Dell device. I found some devices on the net, including the new small Dell one, which you can buy colored coverings for. But, no. It has to be an iPod mini. Why? Because she likes their colors, and they are soooo cute!
Ugh. I'll spend the rest of my wife trying to understand how my wife thinks, and I'll surely die frustrated. But not before I fork over some of my hard-earned government payola to Apple. And you can take that to the bank.
Secret Santas
Last, but certainly not least, is the story of how I got over-gifted at my recent Secret Santa event. CW, one of the many great people who work at my office, invited The Missus and I, along with some other office chums, to her house for dinner this weekend. Part of the dinner was a Secret Santa exchange. Rules: 1) $10 limit; 2) If you're assigned one of the married workmates, you are buying for the couple and not just for him/her.
(Thankfully) my Secret Santa was either unaware of the rules, or didn't care. I opened my bag to find that Santa had bought me a sixer of Hamm's tall-boys and a brand-new copy of Halo 2 (assuming Halo 2 costs $50, my total gift cost about $50.06 plus deposit).
So, I guess I made out pretty well. The Missus isn't so sure, however, because she knows it'll be two weeks before we have another meaningful conversation about anything. Just in time for me to get a new game to play.
Well, it's quite late now, and I've bored you enough. So, off to bed I go.
Catch ya later.
posted by Rusty at 1:25 AM
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