juddling

Chicago Cubs players victims in burglary case Three Chicago Cubs players were victims of a burglary suspect who is accused of stealing from several Mesa businesses over almost a four month span, police said. Todd Robert Smith, 44, was arrested Saturday and accused of taking items from a number of locations including the Chicago Cubs training facility at 160 E. 6th Place, according to a police report. The Cub players were pitcher Jeff Samardzija, catcher Jake Fox and outfielder Tyler Colvin. Police said all three players had personal items stolen, which included checkbooks, cell phones and credit cards. The report also stated that Samardzija’s credit card was used at a Wal-Mart that was close by just minutes after it was stolen. Smith is accused of taking more than $10,000 worth of property and personal items from four different locations including the training facility between Oct. 19, 2007 and Feb. 8., according to the report. Witness John Legal told police that he noticed Smith in two locker rooms and an office inside of the training facility. He said neither location is open to the public. Smith was also accused of stealing from the Save the Family Foundation at 450 W. 4th Place in Mesa on Oct. 19, 2007, police said. A witness told police that the suspect smiled at her when he walked by. Three other employees discovered they were missing electronics, cash, checks and credit cards, the report stated. One victim later reported to police that her credit cards were used. The report said other items were taken from AT&T at 1355 W. University Drive on Dec. 26 and Jan. 31. The items stolen included two laptops, one valued at $4,000 and the other at $2,000. The building is secured and employees use electronic badges to get in the facility, police said. It is not known how Smith entered the building. The report said Smith also took a laptop and camcorder from Landmark Restaurant at 809 W. Main St. on Friday. Employees told police when they approached Smith, he told them he was looking for employment. One employee saw Smith run off through a back door with a laptop, the report stated. All witnesses described the suspect as a bald, white male who weighed about 150 to 160 pounds, and 5 feet 7 inches tall, according to the report. Smith later admitted to police that he has committed “hundreds” of burglaries because of his addiction to methamphetamine. The report stated Smith was arrested previously for criminal trespassing. Mesa police Det. Chris Arvayo described Smith as a transient burglar who is well-known to authorities. “This is an individual that wasn’t new to this,” Arvayo said. “We’re hoping this will put him away for awhile.”

QUOTE(sox4lifeinPA @ Feb 13, 2008 -> 03:58 PM) that's not funny at all......... yeah...you're right....who'd watch a show about nothing.....

How about a show about me and my quirky friends. It'll be a show about nothing. It'll be great. Noone has seen anything like it before.

Being a Sayid-centric episode this week and the ABC promos saying another Oceanic 6 member will be revealed i would think it's safe to assume that Sayid is it. another note i read online which would be one of the biggest surprises of the series IMO........

here's what i need for Valentine's Day... Mandles

Keith Foulke un-retires...... OAKLAND, Calif. - Keith Foulke ended his retirement and returned to the Oakland Athletics on Friday, agreeing to a $700,000, one-year contract that allows him to earn $2.5 million more in bonuses. The 35-year-old reliever was an All-Star for Oakland in 2003, then left to sign with the Red Sox and threw to first base for the final out of Boston's first World Series title since 1918. He had back and knee injuries in 2005 and 2006, then signed with Cleveland. "I decided I was not ready to leave baseball," Foulke said. "I started throwing again last November. It didn't take long to figure out I needed to give my knees a year. It was December before I could throw pain-free with my mechanics. On the day Indians' pitchers reported to spring training last year, Foulke retired. He said he felt elbow soreness. "I wasn't ready to go play for Cleveland," Foulke said. "I signed a great deal but I wasn't in shape. I could sit on the DL in Cleveland and get my elbow fixed or stay home and get ready for the 2008 season." Foulke auditioned for about 20 teams in Phoenix last month. He also considered offers from the Arizona Diamondbacks, San Diego Padres and New York Mets. "It came to who made the best offer, and would give me the best chance to succeed early in the season," he said. "Oakland has succeeded with, probably, less talent. That's their benchmark; it's how they do things. It's a great place to play." Foulke can earn an additional $500,000 in bonuses based on time on the active roster and $2 million in performance bonuses based on games and games finished. Foulke has a 41-34 record and 190 saves with a 3.30 ERA in his 11-year major league career, which also included stops with San Francisco and the Chicago White Sox. He was 9-1 with 43 saves and a 2.08 ERA in his first stint with the A's, finishing seventh in the Cy Young Award balloting. "I definitely think the bullpen will be one of our strengths," A's assistant general manager Dave Forst said. "He still has all his pitches, although his velocity isn't quite there. He got up to 85 (mph), but to be honest, he's the kind of pitcher who doesn't need much more." The right-handed Foulke, a changeup specialist, originally came to Oakland in a trade that sent Billy Koch to the White Sox. "I enjoyed my time with Oakland," Foulke said. Foulke is expected to complement Alan Embree as a setup man for closer Huston Street. "I've never considered myself a closer," Foulke said. "I consider myself a bullpen guy. There are times when pitching in the seventh inning is more viable."

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Feb 9, 2008 -> 08:27 PM) Interesting stuff about "Charlotte" From WSI I don't think there is much question time travel is going to start playing a much bigger role in the show. I just started getting into "Lost". I am almost all caught up on the last 3 seasons, but also watched the "Lost rewind" episode. They picked and choose what was important for people to know for season four and beyond, and they added in the scene with Hurley and Sayid or Desmond(I don't remember who it was) when they heard the 40's music on the radio, and Des said "It could be coming from anywhere", and Hurley added, "Or any time...just playing". They have hinted at time travela few times on the show. Take it all with a grain of salt as JJ and Damon have both said many times that they read the online message boards and have put things into scripts to 'acknowledge' the people and theories presented online

I hear next week will be a 'Sayid' episode, and in an interview 'Sayid' said his character will undergo some changes this season and some people will like it some won't. I think Sayid will go back to his torturing ways and get some info from one of the helicopter people. I think the flashes last night were flashbacks, not flashforwards. I was surprised a bit to see and hear Jeff Fahey say that HE was supposed to be the pilot for Flight 815. Someone else mentioned it already but I think the 'ghostbuster' guy will 'run into Jacob' at some point. Also...did anyone notice that it was Fisher Stevens voice coming over phone. He can be a creepy actor when need be and should be great (as usual) when he finalyy shows up on the Lost landascape

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Feb 8, 2008 -> 04:04 PM) I wonder if that is Dharma coming back for Ben after he murdered all of their guys? That's what i was thinking as well. Another thing to think about is the fact that Naomi was taking orders from the tall skinny black guy who showed up in Hurley's flash-forward asking "where are they"?? Maybe his team never gets hold of Ben and in the future are still looking for Ben and his people

QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Feb 7, 2008 -> 08:37 PM) I dont see how this is surprising really. Randy Quaid is what he is, and he has always been the same way. The crass characters he plays on tv arent too different from real life from what I have read That's just it....i'm not a huge Randy Quaid fan but I have never heard about any problems like this before from him. It was just a surprise to me.

Not cousin Eddie.....

I've enjoyed Nip/Tuck this season so far as well...but i think i could do without Sean's murdering Hollywood agent. Gee....another crazy person......what a shock

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Feb 6, 2008 -> 05:27 PM) Carbondale is weird as hell now. Tornado warnings all night last night and I guess one was in the area and at one point while I was walking into the basketball game the temperature literally dropped about 20 degrees, it was the strangest thing ever. It's been about 65 the last few days down here but supposedly we might be getting snow soon too. Weird weather indeed. Man...do I miss that Carbondale weather. It can get crazy but when you get that annual 10 days of 80 degree weather in mid to late March....it all seems ok!

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 6, 2008 -> 05:23 PM) Eh, its a primary, and no one knows who comes in and will vote for whom, so I fail to see how bias enters into it. Sounds more like laziness and stupidity to me. By the way the Illinois ballots were just as irritating as can be. Draw a line to connect two arrows with an ink pen? WTF? I never said bias entered into it..i was just wondering which side the 20 fell on because if the majority of them fell on either side...you know the local party would be throwing a fit. Then again...it was only 20 voters and not 200 or something like that.

Where else but here in Chicago..... When it comes to election shenanigans, Chicago has been accused of just about everything. But invisible ink? Twenty voters at a Far North Side precinct who found their ink pens not working were told by election judges not to worry. It's invisible ink, officials said. The scanner will count it. But their votes weren't recorded after all. "Part of me was thinking it does sound stupid enough to be true,'' said Amy Carlton, who had serious doubts but went ahead and voted anyway. As it turns out, Carlton was one of 20 voters at the precinct who were given the wrong pen to use. They were also then told, apparently by a misinformed judge, that the pens have invisible ink, elections officials said. As a result, the votes were not counted. But officials insisted there were no dirty tricks involved. "This one defies logic,'' said Jim Allen, a spokesman for the Chicago Board of Elections. "You try to anticipate everything. But certain things just ... they go beyond any kind of planning you can perform.'' By late afternoon, five voters had been contacted and told to come back to the polling place to vote again. And elections staff had left messages at the homes of the rest, Allen said. Carlton and Angela Burkhardt, another voter who was told the same invisible ink story, spent a good part of the day calling and e-mailing the Board of Elections to get answers. "I am furious and devastated and I just feel stupid,'' Carlton said. "I feel so angry.'' Both women agreed that this election meant a lot. They had spent a good deal of time researching candidates. "I have been voting since I was 18,'' said Carlton, 38. "This is the most important election of my life so far.'' Burkhardt planned to go back to vote late Tuesday. She worried about those who might not be able to return. "I worry about the other people who were there,'' she said. "Maybe [they] can't get off work. I am a person of privilege. I can go back. What if you couldn't?" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ OUt of those 20....i wonder how many were voting Dem and how many Rep. ?????? Honestly...I'm surprised the article didn't mention it either way.

I think it would be awesome if Flair became a 'old-school' manager to a young wrestler and taught him to be the next 'Dirtiest Player in the Game'.

As much as I hate to put two Kevin Costner movies on my list.....he does make a fine sports movie..... --Bull Durham --Tin Cup and my non-KC movie would have to be Slap Shot with Paul Newman. I always have to watch that movie when i see it on TBS.

Outtakes from Coach Knights golf Show.....

full story...... story another note i didn't mention was that the doctors said that in order to treat the cancer, she needed immediate chemotherapy and a hysterectomy, which meant termination of the babies. She waited till they were born and started treatment and now she's cancer free.

Like any thrilled mother to be, Michelle Stepney cherished the first kicks she could feel from her unborn babies. But her lively twin girls were doing more than simply making their presence felt. Each little kick was saving their mother's life. Unknown to her, Mrs Stepney, 35, had developed cervical cancer. Her unborn twins' constant kicking in the womb actually managed to dislodge the tumour. It was only when Mrs Stepney was taken to hospital with a suspected miscarriage that doctors realised she had cancer. They told her the babies had saved her life. Without them, the cancer may not have been discovered until it was too late. Mrs Stepney refused. "I couldn't believe it when the doctors told me that the babies had dislodged the tumour," she said. "I'd felt them kicking, but I didn't realise just how important their kicking would turn out to be.

QUOTE(Steff @ Feb 3, 2008 -> 06:47 AM) Minors, so that would never happen. Even if they are charged, it's off their record within the year. Hopefully the parents make their senior year miserable (no car, no prom, etc). That's the only punishment they'll understand. What's really sad is that if these girls already have that kind of attitude, then i doubt they were punished much when they were younger so i wouldn't expect the parents to crack down now...and even if they did i doubt it would do much good.

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. -- The State Attorney's Office will decide whether to charge two teens who admit they robbed a 9-year-old Girl Scout selling cookies outside of a Boynton Beach supermarket. "I thought that it was a really mean thing to do, and I was sad after," Girl Scout Gracie Smith told WPBF News 25. Authorities said that a 17-year-old girl in a hot-pink sweatshirt approached Smith outside of a Winn-Dixie supermarket at Hypoluxo and Jog roads in Boynton Beach Wednesday evening and asked the girl what her favorite cookies were. Police told WPBF that, while Smith was telling the teen about her favorite Cinna-Spins, the teen snatched an envelope containing about $167 off of Smith's table, hopped into another teen's car and drove away. Smith told WPBF that she turned to her mother in tears, saying, "Mommy! That girl took all my money!" Authorities said they caught up with the 17-year-old girl Thursday and pulled her out of class at Park Vista High School, where she allegedly confessed to the crime, WPBF reported. Investigators said the girl's female accomplice, another a Park Vista student, also confessed. The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said that the case has been handed over to the State Attorney's Office to determine if charges will be filed against the teens. Smith's mother, Charlene Rubenstrunk, told WPBF that the girls returned to the store Thursday to taunt her daughter. "They are within 10 feet of the same kid they just robbed last night and there is nothing anybody can do about it. I find that offensive," Rubenstrunk said. The girls, whose names are not being released because they are minors, told WPBF that they were not remorseful for the crime, and that they did it because they "needed money." "We went through all that effort to get it, we got all these charges and we had to give the money back. I'm kind of pissed," one of the girls told WPBF. The other girl told WPBF that she was upset because police found them. "I'm not sorry, I'm just pissed that I got caught," the girl said. Money collected from the cookie sales were supposed to go toward Smith's sleep-over trip with Troop 664 to the Miami Seaquarium. Police were unable to recover the stolen money, but a father of one of the teens accused in the crime paid the money back to Smith's mother, WPBF reported. Authorities said the teens were not charged because they did not use force to steal the money, nor did they take the money from the Girl Scout’s hands. The State Attorney's Office will decide if the teens will be charged. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm glad the parent of one of the girls paid the money back but i can't believe these girls attitudes. I guess nothing should surprise me anymore but i hope that parent takes it out of their hides though at this point i don't think it would do any good. Still trying to figure out why the girls weren't charged. They grabbed something that knowingly isn't theirs and run away. Last time i checked....that's stealing. Force or no force

QUOTE(iamshack @ Feb 1, 2008 -> 06:48 PM) I think had it been Hurley who was dead, Jack wouldn't have given the response to the question of "Family or Friend" (stated by the guy who is in the Levitra commercials, no less) of "neither." I think he would have considered Hurley to be a friend. I think it has to be Locke or Linus. Jack is clearly broken up that this person is dead, yet he did not consider this person to be a friend. Given that we know in that timeframe that Jack is desperately trying to get back to the island, and that it appears that Locke and Linus have a "special" connection to the island (and therefore might know how to return to it), and that Jack dislikes both of them, I believe it has to be one of the two. We also know that when Jack said to Kate "I thought you would have gone to the funeral," to which she responded "why would I?" that it was most likely not Sawyer, and it was probably someone who she disliked. At that point, she does not seem to want to admit that it was a mistake to leave the island, or is willing to admit she would like to return (although I believe she eventually will hope to), she would most likely not see any reason to go to either Linus or Locke's funeral. Also, we know no one attended the funeral...both Locke and Linus' parents' were both dead. Neither of them had very many friends (although Locke seemed to be liked by more people than Linus). It has to be one of the two....but which one? hadn't really thought about it until now but maybe it's Sawyer. I bet in the next few shows it will show that Kate is REALLY pissed that Sawyer went with Locke and didn't stay with her. So..maybe she held onto that anger and refused to go to his funeral. He also didn't have any family to speak of. Just my 2cents

not a huge Sarah Silverman fan..but this is pretty good...... Sarah's song and props to Matt as well......

QUOTE(Jimbo's Drinker @ Feb 1, 2008 -> 05:00 PM) and who are the Oceanic 6?? well...we know 3 already (Jack, Kate, and Hurley). As far as the other three go....i would guess Sun, Jin and Sayid. I think Desmond will get off the island too but since he wasn't on the plane he wouldn't be considered part of the 6.