NorthSideSox72

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Dec 30, 2008 -> 09:21 AM) I'm on the "you pissed off a friend" train myself. However, did you sign up for something newish online recently? It's possible that they are selling your information to these things. Nothing comes to mind, but I am sure I have given my name and address online at times in recent months. But its usually something specific and relatively secure, like say ordering something from Amazon. Nothing like quote engines or the like. But heck, who knows.

QUOTE (chwhtsox @ Dec 30, 2008 -> 09:12 AM) haha I actually did this to one of my friends a few months ago. The reason I did it was so he would get really annoyed at all the solicitors calling his house. The funniest part about that is it's 3 months later and he still gets calls everyday... You do this to your friends? What do you do to your enemies? I actually don't get many solicitor calls normally, I'm on the do-not-call list, and that mostly works (except non-profit, surveys and the like).

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 30, 2008 -> 09:09 AM) I wonder if someone phished info off of your computer? Could be. I run up-to-date virus protection (One Care) as well as running the SpyBot sniffer in the background, and I download all the MS updates. I'm as safe as I can reasonably be. But its possible. The method of getting my info doesn't puzzle me much - you can get name/address/phone combinations from all sorts of places. Its the odd choices of where to use my info that I can't figure out - none of it would get this person any money. I feel like there is another shoe still to drop, I just don't know what it is.

QUOTE (shipps @ Dec 30, 2008 -> 08:23 AM) Wow that would make me feel really uneasy. The only thing I could think of is someone is trying to phuck with you and have you thinking something crazy is going on but have no intentions of actually getting things with your identity. You have any recent enemies your fueding with? No one I can think of. I don't have many recent enemies, really. I used to work in law enforcement, but that was now 10 years ago, in a different state. Also, I should note, the car loan inquiries were phone or online too, so no one actually went in person as me.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 30, 2008 -> 08:10 AM) If we signed Pettitte or Mussina (less likely) for something like $10-12 million per season, I think we'd immediately jump to co front-runners in the AL Central. Along with bringing in Manny Ramirez and moving Dye for pitching...there's almost no market for Manny right now, only the Dodgers (and they still have the almost impossible task of moving Pierre and A. Jones) and the Red Sox (that's going to happen, not!) being the teams in the best position to bring him into the fold. KW would be in a great position to make a 1-2 year offer. The only problem, and it's huge, is the last time the White Sox tried this, his name was Albert Belle, and he put together one of the most statistically misleading seasons in the history of baseball. Manny will cost a lot more than Dye does, but put up only slightly better numbers (I realize that "slightly" is subjective and predictive, there is not knowing for sure). Doesn't seem like a good idea to trade Dye and sign Ramirez, at least to me anyway.

So, something very odd has been happening to me the last few days. I just can't get my head around it. So, what the heck - I'll see if any of you bored Sox fans have any interesting theories... On Sunday, I got phone calls from 3 or 4 auto dealerships, trying to get more information from my about my inquiry for an auto loan. Problem is, I didn't apply for an auto loan or anything of the sort. In a panic, I thought someone may have stolen my identity, so I call all these auto dealers back (reverse lookups on the phone numbers first - they were legit dealers). Oddly, whomever was trying to get an auto loan, had my correct name/address/phone, but the SS and DOB he gave was completely off, or in some cases he didn't give it at all. So apparently, he just has my address and phone number, which are public info anyway. Then, I got calls from insurance companies. Someone had submitted my info on some insurance quote engine website, asking for info on insurance and annuities. I had to tell all them, that wasn't me. Then yesterday, I get calls from a couple local colleges, responding to my supposed online inquiry about degree programs. Again, not me. So... WTF? This isn't a true identity theft - they don't have any of the crucial info. They aren't going to get any money out of giving my name, address and number to insurance sites or universities - in fact those COST money. Besides, they'd contact me at that number anyway, not theirs. And they can't get any kind of credit with bogus SS and DOB info (oh, also, the employment info they provided was bogus too). So this gets them nothing as far as I can tell. What is the motivation of this person? What are they trying to accomplish? So weird. Oh BTW, I am a member of one of the credit reporting agencies, and get alerts anytime anything happens on my credit, even inquiries. Nothing has come up, at all.

QUOTE (kyyle23 @ Dec 30, 2008 -> 07:50 AM) You better be careful with the finger trick. You might get shot doing something like that This was a woman in her 40's with big jewelry and too much perfume, as I recall. I'm pretty sure she wasn't packing heat.

QUOTE (kyyle23 @ Dec 30, 2008 -> 07:30 AM) Was the last finger remaining your middle finger? Or your index finger? I'd like to say it was the middle finger, but I honestly don't recall. I was just so livid.

Again, the Sox are not being left behind here. Other than the Yankees, NO ONE is making huge moves. This is the nature of the market this offseason - it will be late and cheap. January should be very interesting.

QUOTE (Swingandalongonetoleft @ Dec 29, 2008 -> 09:41 PM) I'd rather our team gain publicity via winning and success, but I guess this doesn't hurt anything. How about also adding a link to the team photo with G.W.Bush? *edit* Snap, I forgot GWB is responsible for cancer and malaria. Might not want to associate our brand with him! I love it how all the kids (and I'm 22 myself) hold some personal vendetta against Bush. They act like he rang their doorbell, slapped them in the face, and ran away... 100% of the nation's problems cannot be attributed to Bush. He's a good man, and I would love to drink with him one day. So says Swingandalongonetoleft who voted for Obama... Try to keep the politics out of PHT. If you want to delve into all that, go to the Buster.

Worst one I've experienced... I had a woman next to me get a call on her cell, and take the call and start talking. This was during a screening of Saving Private Ryan. You know the scene in that movie, near the end, where one of the US troops gets slowly stabbed to death? Yeah, that was when she decided to take the phone call. I stared at her for a few seconds in disbelief. Then, I put up a hand in front of her face, with three fingers up. Then with two fingers up. Then one. She hung up. If I had gotten to zero, I literally was going to take her phone, hang up on the other party, and hand it back to her.

--O-Line needs at least 2 more solid bodies than it has. --Defensive backfield needs some healthy talent influx. --Lovie's coaching team is just not good at their jobs. Fix those things and this is a playoff competitive team. --As an added bonus... maybe, for once in their history, the Bears could go out and get a top half QB. That would push them over the top.

QUOTE (Hawkfan @ Dec 29, 2008 -> 09:28 AM) good stuff. it reminds me of another funny story that I heard where a guy was watching 300 and he yells at some girls down the isle to quit talking. One of the girls then comes walking up the isle yelling at him but he meets her half way and kicks her down the isle and yells I AM SPARTA! Was this in the Caribbean or something?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 29, 2008 -> 08:05 AM) So much for no connection between the two... Who ever said there was no connection? The real estate deal was always one where we knew (or at least I thought we all knew) had connections with Rezko. The reason it wasn't a big deal is that it appeared that the deal itself was legit, and there was no other evidence of connection to Rezko other than this one legitimate business deal. Not sure about this article showing Rezko's attorney owns the Obama house though - very strange. Is this attorney someone who still represents Obama in some fashion? Is there some sort of power-of-attorney thing going on now that Obama is the prez-elect? Seems very strange to me.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Dec 28, 2008 -> 08:32 PM) Dye plays a very good RF and Fields couldn't cut the mustard in LF so why would it be different at 1B? He isn't a good fielder as it is Fields isn't a very good defensive 3B yet, but all indications are that he has improved quite a bit. And he wasn't exactly a butcher over there to begin with. If he can do that at 3B, there is a very good chance he could be more than decent at 1B. Certainly its not a guarantee, but, I think the chances are quite good. Also, while Dye is still playing a decent RF, i don't think he qualifies as "very good" anymore. Too much loss of range (though he still reads the ball well and has a plus arm).

QUOTE (dasox24 @ Dec 28, 2008 -> 01:06 AM) Reading all this stuff about the horrible winter weather the past few weeks in Chicago and other northern areas has made me finally realize I don't want to move back north when I graduate. Ever since I moved to Tennessee 10 years ago, I've always wanted to move north when I was done with college. I love snow and miss seeing it. However, I like warm weather. I don't want to have to deal with bad weather conditions for a few months out of the year. It was awesome stepping outside yesterday and having it be 73 degrees with a slight breeze. I was in shorts and a t-shirt and felt like I could stand outside forever. It was a beautiful Texas day and it made me dread the end of Christmas break and having to head back to Knoxville, where it will undoubtedly be cold (for my standards) the next 2 months. So, you want warm weather, but the ability to go be in snow during the winter? Try someplace like CA, AZ or NM - still warm in winter, but you can get to snow in the mountains easily enough.

I read about it. How miserable. Yet another reason to get away from fossil fuels - solar panels and wind turbines don't have anything like this kind of disaster potential.

Infamous Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is getting his own Reality TV Show.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Dec 27, 2008 -> 02:35 PM) It's pretty obvious KW is going with what we got. Are we rumored to be heavily after anybody? Not complaining just wondering. There are entire threads in PHT devoted to this topic.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Dec 27, 2008 -> 05:58 PM) http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123033501646236333.html how sweet would that be. Harry Reid could lose his Senate seat. He has 2 years of bumbling left ahead of him before the election. those numbers could go much lower. I'd be ecstatic to get rid of Reid. He was a horrible choice for Senate Majority Leader.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 27, 2008 -> 05:36 PM) I believe I pointed out a few months ago that after the whooping the Republicans were going to take in November, their first chance to set their direction for the future was going to be the RNC chair election, just as the DNC Chair election in 04 helped re-orient the Dems by putting Dean in that role and bringing more resources to the forgotten areas. That this race might be a good window in to what the Republicans might try to do to recover from the pounding they were going to get. As far as I can tell, the 2 candidates for that spot that I actually know about other than Michael Steele are this guy and This guy, a member of a Whites only country club until September. At least from my perspective, I'm moderately unimpressed thus far. About the SC guy... his membership to that club, its possible, he wasn't aware of the restriction. Not likely, but, possible. What concerns me more is that he was in charge of the campaigns in recent years in SC, where the Republicans have been particularly nasty.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 23, 2008 -> 12:35 PM) Hearing about it, is the key phrase. Stuff like this has happened forever, there just weren't 24 hour news networks to hang on every detail about. Yes, exactly. Violent crime rates have been falling for a couple decades now, though it looks like 2008 may be a tick back up for the first time in a while (that thanks to the tanking economy).

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Dec 27, 2008 -> 03:26 PM) So it was just as ok for Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton to make the comments they did? And it's ok for a DEMOCRAT journalist to use the phrase? From there, it's called a parody. I just said, I don't care who said it originally. Sort of funny that Rush and RNC folks are defending their use of this, by pointing to some other scumbags (Jackson, Sharpton) as a defense for it. Lots of people say offensive things, that doesn't make it OK to propagate them. If the RNC wants to be morons, and let their racism show through, hey, they can go ahead. Good luck getting back into power with that. And yes, Jackson and Sharpton are also racist, as well as bitter and classless.

QUOTE (kyyle23 @ Dec 27, 2008 -> 01:29 PM) It seems like tornado weather outside right now. Its calm, then my windows are rattling, back and forth. Hard rain, lots of melting snow. Its really ugly outside right now Yeah, its really strange. December has been the coldest on record, and now today it feels like May.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 27, 2008 -> 12:03 PM) So besides Owens, who is left as a potential leadoff hitting Centerfield target for the White Sox? Among free agents? I've suggested that Mark Kotsay profiles like a KW acquisition. In the trade market? Chone Figgins.