iamshack

I'm having so much fun teaching these idiots trying to buy my house about negotiating, contracts, and real estate law... This has made my day, in the middle of a really s***ty week overall.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Apr 24, 2013 -> 10:33 AM) The video is probably compressed more than the audio, causing it [the audio stream] to process faster. You can solve this by using your receiver as the A/V hub, which is especially easy with HDMI cables. Connect all of your devices to the receiver, and connect the receiver to the TV, this way all the audio/video streams run through the receiver, and the receiver controls not only audio output, but video output, too. That is how I have it set up. For whatever reason, and I set it to HDMI Control, which is supposed to sync up all that stuff, and it still wasn't working. The only thing that did work initially was bypassing the receiver and hooking up the ps3 directly to the tv, but I didn't want to not have my sound system for all the blu rays, so that doesn't really work for me. However, now it seems to have corrected itself somehow.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Apr 24, 2013 -> 09:40 AM) Maybe it's the disc? Have you tried re-watching early episodes that had the problem? I tried putting in other discs in season 1 and 2, and it seemed to have the same problem. Then I put in a disc from True Blood, and it seemed fine. So I assumed it was something with the way the Mad Men discs were formatted or whatever...however, about 3 episodes into the first disc, the problem seemed to be much less noticeable. Maybe the system is gradually syncing up everything better as it plays or something. I have no idea...

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Apr 24, 2013 -> 08:41 AM) Just use two different cables - one to the receiver and one to the TV. And then change your ps3 settings accordingly (e.g., video is HDMI, audio is optical or vise versa). Not really a true fix, but that should solve the problem. Ahh, I hadn't thought of that...thanks! The interesting thing is the problem seems to have corrected itself as we have gotten further along in season 1...who knows...

QUOTE (Cali @ Apr 23, 2013 -> 12:18 PM) Except, they should have just let him walk the next yeah instead of signing him to a (as of right now) AWFUL contract. Again, this is really easy to say now...

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Apr 23, 2013 -> 12:17 PM) Oh I think that article captures it: Over three times as many people died in West than were killed by the two brothers, but one is a story about terrorism and police manhunts and foreign trips and the other is about safety regulations and inadequate OSHA inspections. That doesn't mean the West story isn't even more important and more relevant to everyday Americans' lives, though. No it does not...

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Apr 23, 2013 -> 12:12 PM) Play chicken. You aren't going to get top 10 prospects for Konerko or Floyd, and if the current pace continues, you absolutely want to get rid of them for the best offer you can get, but you certainly can get top 10 prospects for Peavy and Rios (hell, you can get the #4 prospect in the game for a pitcher of Peavy's quality - the Royals certainly had no problem giving him up plus 3 others). Leverage teams against each other, get the best offer you can, and stay patient. They can't wait until the All-Star break to start shopping players because that won't be enough time. And when teams start making the offers, you can't be picky, but you can't act too quickly - it has to be just right. If you don't get the offer you want, are you really that upset that you've kept Peavy and Rios for next season? In this horses*** division, it takes 3 guys having break out years to win. The rotation can still be really good next year, some solid, cheap, short-term signings could result in the team hitting better, and they could compete. I think this is what happened with John Danks...

I smell what they're stepping in (no pun intended), but do we really need to question the media's motives on this decision?

QUOTE (Cali @ Apr 23, 2013 -> 12:06 PM) I also hope that Hahn doesn't have the "illusion of contention" issues that playing in the AL Central gave KW. Where they were close to .500 and less than 10 games out in July and Kenny didn't sell when clearly the talent level wasn't enough to have them actually push for a title. Hopefully the hole this team buries itself in before the eventually run to that classic 82-80 finish will be so deep Hahn has no other choice and plenty of teams are calling. I think our FO is always going to be a bit sensitive to this because of the White Flag trade.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Apr 23, 2013 -> 11:58 AM) I would hope that he'd hold out for elite talent. You ask for #1 and #2 on their top 10 list, and if you can get 3-6, you take it, regardless of what position it is. Guys can be moved - literally around the diamond or in trades - to increase their utility to the team. Just need to bring in talent. The problem is teams don't want to give up anything in the top 8-10 anymore...the real conundrum is, what do you do then?

QUOTE (hammerhead johnson @ Apr 23, 2013 -> 10:55 AM) This is the K-Dub plan. You people need to embrace it. Jared Mitchell > Mike Trout Courtney Hawkins has 34 strikeouts in 57 plate appearances on the Single A level. EMBRACE IT And it is very simple to sit here and second guess all the picks that didn't work out, without offering any of your own opinions when the decisions had to be made.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Apr 23, 2013 -> 08:43 AM) Looked at that unit yesterday, very nice but not with a lot of "living room" space. However a very large unit. The part that I liked is the agent told me he isnt paying attention to the comps as the owner wants list price. I can respect someone who is honest like that and I will probably walk away even though I like it. The comps are about 30k less than his list. I agree...I have no problem with someone being ridiculous about their asking price as long as they are just truthful about what they will accept up-front. Everyone has a right to demand what they want for their own real property.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 23, 2013 -> 07:06 AM) Would only apply if they explained how they'll deal with the radiation problem. Have not done so. Otherwise, you would sign up, eh?

I must admit, I can't stand Ventura's tactical decisions.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 22, 2013 -> 04:38 PM) Like the Sergio Santos deal? It's almost like they knew he was going to get injured and figured out their extension was a huge mistake (almost too late). That was one of the weirdest signings/trades in recent Sox history, and confused the heck out of nearly everyone because they were giving John Danks his long-term extension at the same time. It sort of worked out, financially...and Reed was pretty good last year, but we don't have anything to show for Santos, either. I would be pretty shocked if a team was willing to buy "sky high" on Addison Reed unless he was this good for 3-4 consecutive months. He doesn't have a dominant fastball (at least not in 2012) and his slider was very spotty. I view it as a failure thus far, because honestly, had we wanted to trade him elsewhere, he had enough value to actually bring back someone highly regarded. Maybe not a home run kind of prospect, but definitely someone with a little bit more backing than Nestor Molina.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Apr 22, 2013 -> 04:17 PM) The offense is in desperate need of help. Peavy and Rios should get them a couple of solid young everyday options. Guys like Reed, Floyd, Crain and Thornton should bring something decent back too. No it won't. What it will get you is a bunch of young players that no one has any clue about whether they will pan out or not. And yes, I admit, that sometimes, these deals are wise and work out. I'm not advocating NOT trading for prospects. However, professional scouting is an extremely inaccurate art (not a science), and guarantees nothing. However, if there are players, such as Peavy and Rios, that, due to age and the current composition of the Club, make it clear within a reasonable level of certainty that they will not be able to be a part of a successful club that is years down the road, by all means, yes, trade them. However, that is going to be based on where we are in June and July and what the outlook is for next year and the year after. And we need to move the few valuable assets we have for prospects which our scouts have identified as having some traits and skills that we need...not just a numbers game of acquiring as many of them as possible and hoping one or more stick.

Happy Birthday, Jason! Enjoy your day!

QUOTE (Jake @ Apr 22, 2013 -> 03:39 PM) There is an underlying assumption here that being bad gains you something. It doesn't. There is no reason to give up good players for the sake of doing it. If, in July, we're out of contention, you deal the people that certainly won't be a part of your squad when you expect to be peaking. Paulie, sayonara if that is the case. If Dunn plays well enough to become movable, he'd be gone. Gavin, goodbye. Peavy is signed affordably for the next 2-3 years. You want to be in the playoffs again before that contract ends. Same with Rios. We have money coming off the books with PK and Gavin leaving, a good core of pitching under contract for a while, and a 5-tool OF under contract to build around. Viciedo looks like he should be part of future clubs for years. Alexei is here to stay and appears to be in the midst of a bounceback year. Flowers is probably the C of the next few years and has a decently high ceiling. ADA should be a mainstay, it seems. We have some OF prospects that may come into the fold in the next couple years. Like I said earlier in this thread, it only takes some clever moves to turn you into a contender. We were rebuilding on the fly in '05. We made some savvy moves and won a World Series. A full rebuild that year, which would not have seemed entirely unwarranted, would have made those value pickups moot. IMO, you don't give up good players just for s***s and giggles. "oooo, we could have a top 10 draft pick!" Keep your team as good as you can get it. The key differences are where you big expenditures of money are. You won't sign a Dunn if you don't think you're on the verge of competing; you won't let PK play out this contract if you're not on the verge of competing. However, Rios should be one that stays in the fold regardless. That is, unless you are absolutely blown away in young MLB talent in trade. Then, of course, anyone is fair game. This and your first post in this thread, Jake, have been the two best posts in the thread, in my humble opinion. Everyone needs to stop believing that improving = dump everyone good for prospects. If it were that simple, we'd see a lot more of the Royals and Pirates in the playoffs. The key is, as Jake so wisely put it earlier, is to stop spending money poorly. We need to find inefficiencies in the marketplace and capitalize upon them. We need to invest in good developmental coaching. We need to continue to have outstanding medical staffs and training staffs. We need to put money we allocate for the draft into selecting the positions or types of players that are the most difficult or expensive to acquire otherwise. Trading anything of value to throw as many prospects against the wall and hoping they stick is not the answer. Especially now that most of the League is obsessed with the value of prospects...in fact, the League is so obsessed with them, that I'd argue (and I have argued for a few years now) it's not even worthwhile to trade for prospects in most instances, but rather for mlb players with track records in areas of need.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Apr 22, 2013 -> 09:07 AM) I dont understand the need to lie when negotiating. We both want a desirable outcome and agents generally will work behind the scenes to get something done. In this case they lied and are ignoring my agent for days at a time. Its stupid IMO. There is no substitute for being completely honest, and if it doesnt work at least we all know sooner rather than later. The buyers of my home are now trying to negotiate after the fact. We have a signed contract which does not require me to pay any money for any repairs, and it also allows me, at my option, to rent back from them for up to 3 weeks at $500/wk beyond closing. They did the inspection on Thursday. My listing agent heard the inspector telling them my home was in beautiful condition. Now they are asking me to repair a bunch of ticky tack things, and even asked me to replace the entire dishwasher! Additionally, they proposed a rental agreement to me which does not allow any animals on the property! That was the entire purpose of renting back from them, was so that we had a place to keep the dogs between the sale of my home and the purchase of another. We asked them about this immediately upon them telling us they were planning on submitting an offer. Now, I was planning on being good to them. We were going to have the house professionally cleaned and the yard cleaned up again after we moved out, so that they walked into a property that was devoid of any evidence of the dogs having been there. Not anymore. I'll probably leave them as many piles of dog s*** in the yard as possible, so that there is a swarm of flies hovering near the house. I will also refuse to repair anything, or agree to their rental agreement whatsoever, because I really don't care if they walk at this point.

Rock...take a deep breath....and another... Now think about how badly you want this house...you may be angry, but are you really going to care in a week about this? If you really want this house, give them your original offer and get this deal done. I know your instinct is to try and make them pay for getting cute with you, but is it worth not getting the home over making yourself feel good for like 12 minutes? I'd give them the same terms and tell them they have 24 hours to agree, or else you are walking.

So I've got my PS3 player running through a Sony receiver (recent model) and then the receiver running to the TV, which has something which is called Audio Return Channel...this essentially allows audio to be sent back to the receiver from the tv. Anyways, everything has been fine up until this point, when I threw in Mad Men season 1 blu ray on the PS3 last night. The audio was slightly ahead of the video and it was driving me nuts. For whatever reason, the audio is being processed by the receiver faster than the video is being processed. I fixed the problem by running the PS3 right to the tv, but that of course ruins the whole point of the sound system if I can't watch Blu Rays using it. Anyone have any fixes for this? I tried turning on the sync features of the receiver, via HDMI control on, as well as A/V sync, and neither eliminated the problem. I also tried playing with the audio settings on the PS3, but could not seem to make a difference either.

QUOTE (hammerhead johnson @ Apr 20, 2013 -> 08:35 AM) Good god. You're still smarter than Hawk, though. Yeah, and this is why some of the old guard is hesitant to accept a lot of the sabre movement...because of this kind of elitism.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 19, 2013 -> 04:23 PM) NO chance of that really. Fox is claiming he is alive and surrounded.

I love that CNN's headline is "Bomb suspect #2 may have explosives." Really?

QUOTE (buhbuhburrrrlz @ Apr 19, 2013 -> 11:45 AM) Originally from Chechnya, but living in the United States since five years, Tamerlan says: "I don't have a single American friend, I don't understand them." Tamerlan fled Chechnya with his family because of the conflict in the early 90s, and lived for years in Kazakhstan before getting to the United States as a refugee. Tamerlan says he doesn't usually take his shirt off so girls don't get bad ideas: "I'm very religious." Tamerlan says he doesn't drink or smoke anymore: "God said no alcohol." A muslim, he says: "There are no values anymore," and worries that "people can't control themselves." He also had a section of his youtube titled "Terrorists" But he loved Borat!