hogan873

I started 11/22/63 the other day. I can't put put it down. The writing is very much old school King, but there's not a lot of supernatural stuff going on...well except for the time travel thing.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Jan 13, 2012 -> 06:35 PM) Anyone else going to check out Alcatraz Monday? Definitely.

QUOTE (JPN366 @ Jan 13, 2012 -> 12:02 AM) E-Reader proliferation maybe? Good point. I held off from buying a Kindle for a long time. I didn't think I'd like it. I like the feeling of a real book in my hands. But once I decided to buy one I wondered why it took me so long to do it. Convenient and immediate. Plus, I've found quite a few authors with books for less than $3 or even free. Now even libraries are starting to lend e-books.

Is this year's book thread already longer than last year's? If so, bravo. I just finished The Hunger Games. Good read. I'm hoping they do a good job with the movie. Now I have to figure out which of the multitude of books on my Kindle I want to read next.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 12, 2012 -> 03:02 PM) Darn you, Pennington!!! I think that was the game...A's? There were too many in that 4-18 stretch to count. At any rate, WHY WHY WHY haven't the Marlins signed Juan Pierre yet? What gives? Rowand was bad enough, but...just saying. I am waiting for the "Rowand Watch" when his career is rejuvenated and he single-handedly wins the NL East with his mythical "staring death in the face and not blinking" defensive abilities. As Rowand is lying twitching on the field after crashing head-first into the wall, Ozzie will be saying, "I like this kid. He always try his best."

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 12, 2012 -> 02:02 PM) Let the open bullpen competition begin. Last couple of ST's with Ozzie were so boring and non-productive. For once, can we play well and take winning a bit more seriously so that we "hit the ground" running right out of the gate? (I know, I know, if Pierre/Thornton don't conspire to blow Game 8, the entire season would have ended up differently...don't blame OZZIE!!!) That game was definitely a conspiracy to make Ozzie look bad and begin pushing him towards Miami. Pierre and Thornton were seen talking to each other the day before where it was reported Pierre said the words "ball" and "drop". Although no one could confirm the two words were uttered in the same sentence or even within the same few minutes, there's no doubt that it was the beginning of the end for Ozzie. The former manager was reportedly so upset by the happenings that he quit several months later and went to Miami.

Very encouraging news. Sounds like the Sox are serious about building up the farm.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Jan 10, 2012 -> 12:45 AM) Found any good ones? I'm a bargain hunter when it comes to buying stuff for my Kindle. If a book is $10 or so on Kindle, I'll go old school and get it from the library. For the most part, every book I've downloaded has been less than $5, and many have been $2.99 or less. A few standouts were Wet Desert by Gary Hansen ($2.99), No Good Deed by M. P. McDonald ($2.99), Brainrush by Richard Bard ($.99), and Suckers by Jack Kilborn and Jeff Strand ($2.99).

QUOTE (kjshoe04 @ Jan 9, 2012 -> 10:47 AM) Does anyone have any reading goals for the year? Last year I set a goal to read 60 books and finished with 64. This year I'm just going to read without a goal and see how many I tally up. I never really set goals, and to be honest, I'm not sure how many books I read in a typical year. I'm almost always reading one book and listening to another on CD in my car. Now that I have a Kindle, I love being able to click on a book and have it ready to read a minute later. I've downloaded a lot of books for $2.99 or less and found some really good authors I'd never heard of. As far as how many books I might read in a year, including the ones I listen to, I'd say about 40. I'd like to be able to read more, but the times I have to read are lunch and before bed. Lunch gives me a good 20-30 minutes a day, but I usually fall asleep pretty quickly at night.

QUOTE (FlaSoxxJim @ Jan 7, 2012 -> 01:28 PM) Wanting to do some fairly low impact reading over the holidays I got around to reading the Hunger Games trilogy. Very enjoyable. I'm about halfway through the first book. Very easy to read, and it's quite enjoyable. I'll probably have my kids read it and then take them to see the movie in March.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jan 9, 2012 -> 07:52 AM) Read Joseph Finder...he writes stuff that could be described as "corporate espionage." Pick up "Paranoia"...one of my favorites... Paranoia was the first of his books I read. I was hooked. I've read about 6 or so since.

QUOTE (Tex @ Jan 7, 2012 -> 10:51 AM) His writing matched the setting better than any book I can remember reading. I did struggle to sleep last night. Weird dreams and waking up disoriented. It was simultaneously a very easy read and a difficult one. Lots of layers. I am planning on reading No Country for Old Men after Lonesome Dove. I am also filling in some books I should have read, but somehow avoided. Lord of the Flies is in the que as well. I kind of took a break from any real literature and read a couple C.J. Box books (very good vacation reads) and a couple Clive Cussler Dirk Pitt books. Love the C. J. Box books. I'm in the middle of Cold Wind right now. As far as The Road, very disturbing read, but wonderfully written.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 5, 2012 -> 06:32 PM) Maybe Lawrence Market Survey? Lawrence Surveying...? Lawrence Market Analysis/Customer Feedback? Polling almost makes it sounds like the name of some cricket player from Australia or New Zealand. What's that thing they do on CNN right after the primary and presidential debates...? There's a specific term for it that eludes me at the moment. Exit Poll?

So far this thread is great. Of course I see the title, and I was surprised to see the conversation start with giving birth and quickly dissolve into a discussion about taking a s***. Speaking of, how about all the different euphemisms for taking a dump? Maybe that should be a separate thread?

I've never played poker at a casino. I've played in a few "home" tournaments but never faired too well. Once I was one of six remaining from a pool of 20. I enjoy playing, especially Hold 'Em. Playing friendly games with a group is preferable to me. We'll usually play dealer's choice, and some of the games we come up with are pretty fun. One fo my favorites in Night Baseball with threes and nines wild. With a group of 6 or 7 guys the bets can get up there. I haven't played in a while. Now after seeing this thread I got the itch.

You'd think there would be at least a bit of truth to this. At least maybe talks have taken place and a few names were tossed around. But, I'm now thinking that the story is false. I'm hoping I'm wrong, though.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 5, 2012 -> 03:45 PM) Between Castro, Stewart, and Drabek, we'd be putting a whole lot of faith in Cooper's fixems for this rotation. Imagine they pan out and Molina does as well...the rotation would be nasty. Unless they're traded for a 37 year old bat at the deadline some year.

This Deck McGuire seems to have a lot of potential...

QUOTE (DirtySox @ Jan 5, 2012 -> 03:35 PM) Could be a fleecing. Drabek's stock has certainly dropped. Will have to see. I'm certainly a fan. Stupid question...related to Doug Drabek?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 5, 2012 -> 02:42 PM) Balta-ing? Was that word/phrase recently added to the SoxTalk lexicon? Can I second "Lawrence, Kansas-ing" the conversation? You can make it even shorter and call it "Lawrence Polling" or "Lawrence Polled". Lawrence Polling shows the Quentin to Padres deal to be a head-scratcher.

QUOTE (He_Gawn @ Jan 5, 2012 -> 03:21 PM) I have no idea, just saw it on twitter. He proceeds to say... "I should know, Gavin married my cousin..." Interesting...

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jan 5, 2012 -> 03:00 PM) Now I'm dreaming up this huge scenario where a team is publicly owned like the Packers, but they make all the roster decisions by popular vote. Anyone in the city could vote, but in order to vote, you'd have to show up to a voting event where team officials presented their cases for what they wanted to do, so you wouldn't have a bunch of casual fans screaming to sign everyone and never trade veterans, both because they wouldn't bother to sit through the rpesentations and because if they did, they'd at least have to hear a rational argument. It would be a disaster on many levels -- strategic confidentiality, cost of operation, slow administration, to name a few -- but it was fun to think about. Sounds like a good idea for a "near future" novel. Tie in a murder or missing person, and you could have a pretty good story. Background could be half of the MLB teams went bankrupt due to some major world financial event. Now teams are publilcly owned, and as you said...

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 5, 2012 -> 07:49 AM) I still lean towards moving Dunn the second he becomes moveable without eating his deal. By the deadline this year, he'll be nearly 2 years older than he was when he signed his deal, and he'll no longer be on a team that was built to compete this season. If you can move him at that point without eating the $35 million he has remaining, maybe to Torotno or Seattle or someone who needs a LH bat/DH, you have to do it. Even if it makes anyone unhappy about getting rid of a big name, producing player as a salary dump. Clear that $14 million and the next offseason becomes quite a bit easier. The AL Central, being what it is, makes a decision like keeping Dunn more difficult. The Sox can still compete in their division as the team is constructed right now. Especially if Rios, Dunn, and Beckham have decent years. By the trade deadline, the Sox could be right at or just above .500 and be near the top of the division. Knowing the way KW does business, Dunn wouldn't be going anywhere if he was performing well. I just have a feeling that 2012 is going to frustrating for this alone.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jan 5, 2012 -> 06:18 AM) <!--quoteo(post=2530926:date=Jan 5, 2012 -> 01:04 AM:name=Jordan4life)-->QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 5, 2012 -> 01:04 AM) <!--quotec-->They're much, much, much smarter and cheaper ways of acquiring OF depth. I can appreciate everybody wants Rios, Dunn and Peavy gone. But coming up with these ridiculous scenarios (not just you hi8is) that make no sense at all for the non-White Sox side is not going to make the impossible possible. Yup, people need to accept the fact that we are stuck with Peavy, Rios, and Dunn until the trade deadline bare minimum. If Peavy is both healthy and performing well, then he should be fairly easy to move by then. However, no one is going to take on Rios or Dunn until they've proven last year was anomalies for them. That may be 4 months of strong performance for some GMs and maybe a full season for others. There's no way of really knowing for sure and until they actually produce like quality players the point is moot. So Peavy will definitely be gone after next season and everyone would move Rios at a drop of a hat no matter how well he was producing at the time, but what about Dunn? If he comes out strong in 2012 and looks like the player he was prior to last year do we keep him? I think that's a tougher question to answer. IMO, his consistencely prior to 2011 would proably convince me that 2011 was an outlier and that we should keep, especially with the void of left-handed hitting in the organization. I agree about Dunn. If he comes out and plays like he did prior to the 2011 season, you keep him. The Sox need that left-handed power bat, and aside from 2011, Dunn fits that description perfectly. However, if 2012 is a mirror image of 2011, the Sox are in trouble. They won't be able to move him if he's hitting .190 with a handful of HRs by July. Last season was abyssmal for the big guy, but he can make us all forget about 2011 by being the guy we hoped for.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Jan 5, 2012 -> 12:47 AM) If the Cubs can dump Zambrano on someone, surely we can find a taker for Rios......right? Right? RIGHT!?!?!?!??! Yeah, but it was the spend thrift Marlins with Ozzie Guillen as the circus ringleader who took Zambrano. And...the Cubs had to give the Marlins $15 million. However, using that logic, the Sox shouldn't have to chip in as much percentage-wise for someone to take Rios. I thought no one would even consider taking Zambrano, so maybe there's hope. I'm willing to ride it out, though. Maybe the guy can bounce back...maybe, hopefully...