Wednesday, May 31, 2006

For whom the toll bills

I had to do something that was sort of privately embarrassing today, which was make out a piece of paper with car, date and time information, and mail a dollar to the Illinois Tollway (ATTN: Cash Handling Division!) for missing a toll on Sunday.

I knew I was fairly low on change when I got onto 94 figuring, rightly, that it was the quickest way for Alma and me to get to Twin Links. However, I had thought - clearly remembering something entirely different - that there was a full toll plaza somewhere along the way, when in fact there was not. I turned out to have even less change than I thought (a robust 13 cents), so I stopped, drew out my trusty notepad (doesn't seem so silly to have one at all times now, does it?), hastily copied down the "No change?" number, and drove off.

As it turns out, I'm not even sure why they bother having a phone number there, because the number just instructs you to visit www.illinoistollway.com. Apparently they're setting up a missed toll online payment thing, but it's not ready yet. So I had to fill out the aforementioned paper, stick a dollar into an envelope (kind of silly to mail a one-dollar check, and anyway there were no instructions regarding to whom you'd make the check out), and mail it off (which I'll do in the morning). Hopefully it gets there in time - but with five business days to do it - in other words, it only needs to be there by what, Monday? - and only Downers Grove to reach, it should be fine.

All this made me wonder briefly about getting I-Pass, but I'm pretty sure that's aimed at people who use the Tollway more than twice a year. I suppose it would be an excuse to take 94 up to Alma's instead of 41, but what does that save me, five minutes? Ten, tops? I don't think that's even worth the $50 outlay.

Mr. Hammond, I think we're back in business

For the two or three people who might have noticed, the main BigFlax.com site is back up and running. As expected, it was a billing issue. Verio, I guess, used to have a billing system where it didn't matter if all your information was totally out of date, and then they changed to one where it did matter because no shit. But by that point we had moved and my mom had stopped using AOL, and so the few e-mails they did try to send went by the wayside.

At any rate, that's all worked out, and BigFlax.com is up and running for the foreseeable future. I believe the current lease, or whatever you'd call it, expires in 2008, so you're not getting rid of me for at least that long.

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Feel it hot, hot, hot

Memorial Day generally starts the summer movie season, but in Chicago it also usually seems to start the summer weather season. Case in point: this year. We had what, three 80-degree days all year, and then on Sunday it hit 90. It's also the time of year when I go from complaining about how unseasonably cold it is to complaining about how disgustingly hot it is.

It's not the heat so much as the humidity, I guess. But I came home today to an apartment that was at nearly 90 degrees, which is preposterous, since it barely got that hot outside and that was yesterday. Gross. I've got the fan pointing at me full blast right now but until Drew deigns it necessary to turn the A/C on (the latest that thing is going on is Thursday, because if it stays like this in the apartment I'm turning it on as soon as he leaves, and when he gets back Karen will either be with him or arriving shortly, and I know he's never turning it off when she's here) it's going to be pretty nasty in here, I suspect. Opening the windows just doesn't seem to cut it.

Speaking of the summer movie season (and also speaking of too-hot things), Alma and I saw The Da Vinci Code today at what has to be considered the Worst Theater Ever. Obsoive:

Cons:
1. No air conditioning.
2. No lights in hallway, making the whole place creepily dark.
3. Almost no toilet paper in women's room, according to Alma.
4. No stadium seating.
5. Floor beneath seats so covered in what was apparently butter that it was too slippery to walk on without steadying yourself on the chairs.
6. Sound bled over from next theater for part of the movie.
7. Just looked like a dump, which is funny because I'm fairly certain it hasn't been there that long.

Pros:
1. Ticket was four dollars.

Not worth it by a long shot, I have to say. If you're ever in Waukegan, do not see a movie at the Lakehurst 12 General Cinema. I wouldn't name the theater but I don't want anyone making the same mistake I did (which I think was "assuming that any movie theater with 12 screens must not be a complete craphole"). Drive the extra few miles to the Marcus at Gurnee Mills, which is hardly the acme of the modern theater-going experience but is plenty decent, especially in comparison.

And speaking of not exactly the acme of anything, Da Vinci Code? Kinda not good. Review ahoy. You can also check out my belated review of my DVD viewing of Grizzly Man.

Sunday, May 28, 2006

?

BigFlax.com has been down for several days now (perhaps you've noticed), and I'm not sure why. In the past, when the account has gone unpaid, a message displayed saying as much. This is more like the domain does not exist, which does not make any particular sense to me. I kept expecting it to come back up, but it has not. I guess I should investigate the problem.

The Cubs suck enough that talk of a July fire sale has begun, which depresses me to no end. Hendry insists that Baker will get a chance to right the ship, apparently not realizing that the team is missing ONE PLAYER it didn't have when it started the season in much better shape than it currently is. If you don't read the Cubs blog, then I'll say it here: I think he's lost this team and I think the Baker era should be on its last legs. I'd love to have him prove me wrong, but time is running out on that mattering.

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Everything old is new again

The season finales of House (Tuesday) and Lost (Wednesday) were both kind of disappointing. Both had their cool moments, but ultimately neither revealed all that much. House gave us a little insight into House's inner thoughts, but when you invest time in an episode only to get "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge"... well, that's kind of aggravating. Also, the ending was really sudden!

Maybe the show is just a much better watch on DVD - in fact, I know it is, because you have better picture quality, widescreen, and no fucking thunderstorm warnings beeping in every five minutes - but Lost's season finale last year had a much more palpable sense of tension and unease. The scene with the black smoke on the far side of the island, for instance. Nothing like that in this one. Also, way more questions left unanswered than were answered, but then that's not a shock, really. Plenty more comment in the Lost blog, if you so desire.

All right, I'll ask: what is the point of even having a "Go Lane" on CTA buses when someone paying at the regular machine with cash or a farecard means my Plus card isn't going to register properly? They had to have thought of this during testing, right? How does standing behind someone who's paying cash hold you up any more than having to be called back by the bus driver to swipe your card again? (That's an underratedly embarrassing moment, by the way, especially because most drivers have this exasperated tone, like you're the 500th person to do that today and they can't believe you didn't know better. "Sir... sir!" As bus embarrassments go, that's right up there with accidentally stepping in front of the one person in the entire city who cares about the order in which people board the bus.)

Sunday, May 21, 2006

In brief defense of the self-named jersey

Bill Simmons is, as we all know, one of my favorite sportswriters because he writes from a fan's perspective. Sportswriters always wrote with opinion, but many of them seemed to do so from this oddly lofty perch above the casual fan; Simmons is, by and large, down there in the trenches. (In fact, this metaphor is literal; a good portion of sportswriters sit in the sanctity of the press box, where Simmons will sit in the stands.)

In Friday's mailbag, he said the following:

You only have eight responsibilities during a baseball game: Take your hat off for the National Anthem; don't take your shirt off; don't bring your baseball glove if you're over 13; don't wear a jersey with your own name on it; don't run onto the field; don't reach into the field of play to grab a pop-up or ground ball if it could adversely affect your team; don't boo one of your own players unless it's absolutely warranted; and don't throw up. That's it. Everything else is up to you.

By and large, I agree with seven of those; for that matter, I agree with #6 but I don't really think that fans should be reaching onto the field for balls whether the effect on the team is adverse or not (see: Maier, Jeffrey). (And for the record, this does not include poor Steve Bartman, who was fully within the stands.)

But #4 bugs me. As many of you may know, I own an authentic Cubs jersey with the number 29 and the name "Flaxman" squarely on the back of it. And frankly, I don't see the big deal. So here's a quick three-reason list why there's nothing wrong with your own name on a jersey.

1. Better than having the name of a guy who gets traded or flames out. Simmons himself owns a Patriots jersey with the name "Simmons" on the back from when they had a wide receiver named Tony Simmons. Pretty gray area, if you ask me - you can't tell me he bought that for any other reason than it was his name, so what's the real difference between just putting his name on it? Except that since Tony Simmons did nothing with the Patriots, he just has to feel silly. The other day I saw a guy wearing a Garciaparra #5 Cubs jersey. You're going to tell me that a jersey with my name is worse than continuing to wear a jersey of a guy who played for the Cubs for barely over a year and was injured for most of that? At least my jersey won't ever become obsolete.

2. No worries about jinxing anyone. I contemplated shelling out for a Maddux 31 jersey, since the guy has had a great enough career that I shouldn't have to worry about it becoming a total footnote within a year or two, even if he does finish his career elsewhere. But what if I get that and he suddenly goes into the tank?

3. The "tenth man." Fan support plays a role in the fortunes of a team, like it or not. A jersey with my name is just another way of identifying myself with the Cubs as a fan of theirs. Again, what is really so wrong with that?

There are probably counter-arguments here - I could get a retired player's jersey like Grace to counteract 1 and 2, and some would presumably argue that a replica jersey with no name at all is just as good for showing support. But I don't think these totally negate the idea that having one's name on a jersey could have some merit. Certainly it keeps me from having to buy multiple jerseys of whoever my current favorite player is - if I'd had to do that over the years, I'd be stuck with a half-dozen Cubs jerseys right now, the bulk of which there'd be no point in wearing.

So that's what I think. If you agree with Simmons, see if you can give me a good reason why; I'm not sure he's ever adequately explained what's so horrible about it for him.

Friday, May 12, 2006

Like rain on your every day

It started raining Wednesday night. I didn't think much of it at the time; it rains often enough here. But then it rained all day yesterday. And it's raining right now. The forecast calls for rain all day today, rain tomorrow, rain Sunday, rain Monday, and then some rain on Tuesday, just to change it up. And guess what? After a single nice day on Wednesday, it is then supposed to rain next Thursday, next Friday, and next Saturday.

If I wanted to live in Seattle, I would have fucking moved there. At least none of this rain is what you'd call torrential, but I daresay I would rather have one day of torrential rain than a full week of any other kind. Of course, rain in Chicago is always horrendous no matter what kind it is, because it's combined with that delightful omnidirectional wind that renders umbrellas pretty much useless.

Also, as Drew just reminded me, it's barely in the 40s. In mid-May. So combine that with the rain and you've got some really fucking awesome conditions.

I have kind of a long-standing animosity toward the rain. I really don't like it. It has to be my least favorite weather phenomenon among those that are even remotely common in places I've lived. For example, I kind of like wind by itself, unless it's absolutely freezing. Snow is nice if you don't have to drive in it. Fog is awesome. I like mist, too, and technically that's rain, but I don't think that should really count. It's not rain unless you can hear it hit your coat.

It really comes down to this: I don't like to get wet while I'm wearing clothes, and I don't like the irregularity of the way the drops hit. It was said to me at least once, "How can you not like the rain when you spend so much time in the shower?" But in the shower it's a uniform, fast-moving stream of water, plus I'm not covered in fabric which will proceed to cling to me if I get too wet, plus the water is warm. If rain were 100 degrees Fahrenheit, especially when it's cold out, maybe I would feel differently. But that's not how it works.

The only non-disaster weather phenomenon I would like being out in less than rain is hail, but that doesn't really count because nobody wants to stand out in a hailstorm getting pelted. The advantage to hail is I've never seen a hail shower that lasted more than about ten minutes, although the last one here did manage to leave a small dent on the hood of my car.

Sunday, May 07, 2006

This post brought to you by the letter L

The latest blog meme going around is "I give you a letter, and you write ten things relating to you that start with that letter." Alma gave me L. Ten things starting with any one letter that relate in non-non-sequitur fashion seems like a lot, but I'll give it a try.

Lame. These blog memes really are kind of lame, aren't they? But I'm kind of lame myself in many ways, and have certainly indulged in many past gimmicks, none of which had the potential to be as illuminating as this one unless you think finding out the names of 25 songs from my MP3 player passes for a fascinating examination of my thoughts.

Lost. Currently far and away my #1 "must watch" show on television. Today I was looking at the TiVo's to-do list and saw that no Losts were scheduled to be recorded, which made no sense since I know there are new episodes coming this and next week. I checked the settings, and it turned out I had it set to only save five episodes at once, but since I also have it set to "save until I delete" on all of them, it couldn't record more. Thank God I checked, because Drew and I usually don't start watching until 8:30 to skip the ads, and if it wasn't there I think he would have killed me.

Lift and Lemons. My favorite soda ever, and the fruit that makes it great. Of course you can only get Lift in Australia and New Zealand, and at this import store in Little Rock if you feel like paying like, a buck-fifty per can (I'll live, thanks!). Club Lemon is an acceptable but slightly subpar substitute that you can at least find at most Jewels. But I drank Lift near-constantly for three weeks in 2000. I can't believe there's no major market for a lemon soda in the US. Why orange and not lemon?

Left-handed. I'm really ambidextrous, as I write with my right hand and do certain other things with it (fork and knife, scissors), but a lot of that was forced in by pre-school and my lazy left eye - I am naturally left-handed. I throw lefty, swing a golf club lefty, and kick a ball left-footed. Many of my favorite baseball players over the years were left-handed; Mark Grace was my favorite Cub growing up, I'm a big Todd Walker fan, and I'm now a fan of Sean Marshall (who is just one day older than I am!).

Laziness. I'm easing out of this as I get a bit more into, how you say, "adulthood." But I still find that a large portion of non-work time is spent just kind of sitting (or lying) around, doing not a whole lot of anything. But to be honest, that's the way I like it.

Landed. Probably my favorite Ben Folds song right now (solo, at least). I can't say I've ever done anything of which the lyrics would remind me, but I love the music.

Lord Palmerston. England's greatest prime minister. Durr.

Languages. I find languages intensely interesting, to the point where I wish I was one of those people who just had the ability to pick up other languages like it was nothing. I still harbor desires to be fluent in at least a second language, but I put off the Tagalog tapes for a long time and now it's hard to find time to get back to them. Maybe someday...

Love. The woman who gave me this letter is, truly, the love of my life. I think a lot of people are probably like I was for a long time, wondering about the idea of a "soulmate" and worrying that they'd never find anyone quite right for them - and somehow I found mine on just the third try. She makes me happier than anything ever has. May you all be so lucky.

Uninteresting!

I had originally conceived this post as something of a "I finally broke par at Par King!" post, but then I thought about it - and went back and counted the rounds. Would you believe this is only the sixth time I've ever played at Par King? It's now three rounds each on the red and black courses. On the other hand, every round was between one and three shots over par, and certainly I had a couple rounds where I was almost there but just had a bad break or two that kept it from happening.

This round was nearly the same deal - as with my previous two Black Course experiences, the stupid 12th hole screwed with me. I did the exact same thing as last time - clang one, too-short two, clang three. This time I at least got the fourth to roll out the right way, and I drained a putt for five. (I putted great all day, which was the big factor.)

The real key to breaking par, it seems, is consistency. My card featured fourteen scores of 2, with the only counterexamples being a tough 3 at the sixth, an ace at the tenth (I have now aced this hole all three times I've played the course, but then it is pretty easy to do so, I think), the aforementioned 5, and a 3 on the roulette wheel at 18. Going into 18 I was just one-under, and was desperate not to take a 5, 6, or 7 so I could at least make par. (You may recall, or probably not, that I was on pace to break par last time out on the Red until taking a 6 at the last.) 3 is par, so no complaints there.

Boring! But I wanted to tell someone.

Thursday, May 04, 2006

The fallout.

To quote Happy Gilmore, "Holy shit! Talk about your all-time backfires." Alma and I did not air our complaints with the questions because we wanted the top of the TRASH pyramid to collapse. And I know, based on their posts, that James and James did not decide to vacate their posts because of that one individual thing, but we were mentioned in both of the posts. The thing is that, while I was troubled by certain of the questions, ultimately my enjoyment of the tournament as a whole was not hugely diminished. And I really like both of the Jameses as people. I feel like Frank Wills if he'd voted for Nixon in 1972.

Obviously I understand that there is always a time to move on, and based on their posts it seems like any number of things - most notably, "real life," which is certainly understandable - converged all at once. But I do have to wonder, what happens to TRASH now? Do two other people step in seamlessly? Does the whole thing collapse? I sure hope it's the former. I have no idea who those two people would be, of course. It's kind of ironic, though - JD and JQ were both very "we want to make sure this never happens again." So they decided to step down, thus all but ensuring that neither will have much of any say in whether or not this sort of thing happens again. And depending on who takes over the reins, and who was responsible for those sorts of questions in the first place... well, there's a chance that this sort of thing could happen more, isn't there?

This isn't a eulogy for TRASH (yet, anyway). It is a Happy Trails to the Jameses, who I think combined to give TRASH the consistently best public face of any of the four formats. I wish them well in their future endeavors, and I hope that my comments were, at worst, a drop in a very full bucket, because that's really all I think they should have been. This was an unfortunate episode, but certainly no one's head needed to roll because of it. And again - James and James are the good guys. We need more people like them involved with the game, not less.

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Austin space

TRASHionals this past weekend in Austin. We did all right - 9th of 26 teams, I believe, and we won our last seven after limping to a 3-4 start. I put up 35 even per game, which, along with Colby's nearly 40 and ample support from Alma and Charlie on both tossups and bonuses, led a very balanced overall attack. I like our team.

What I don't like so much... well, you can read about that in the recap. Once you've read mine, it's worth reading Alma's (or for that matter, you could read hers first), which makes similar points but even more so.