iamshack

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Apr 15, 2013 -> 10:31 AM) On my house search, I am anxiously awaiting if anyone dumb enough offered more on the townhouse I want. I went and saw a few yesterday in Wicker/bucktown and I like it, however the area is a little too busy for me. I really like the relative serenity of this area. Is this the one you were talking about before with the delusional seller, or a different one? Yeah, I am anxiously awaiting a response on our offer... It's hard for me to do anything on days like this...

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Apr 15, 2013 -> 07:46 AM) I don't think the Redskins regret trading up last year! I think the Falcons are pretty happy with Julio Jones, too.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Apr 13, 2013 -> 09:01 AM) Good luck shack. Don't have experience with this...it's got to be tough to try to sell your place and buy a new one and time it perfectly. Do people generally try to secure a sale, then figure out where they are going to live and purchase? Or do they buy something and then figure out how to sell? Obviously you try to keep people in the dark on your situation so you still have leverage either way. That's great that they'll let you rent for a bit. Well, a lot of times, a purchase of a home will be contingent on the buyers' selling their own home...which can be kind of a headache, but the reality is, most buyers don't have the funds to buy the home they want without the proceeds from their own home they intend to sell...or they cannot afford a loan for the home they want to buy without unloading the other property first. However, in our market (and in yours as well, from what Rock is saying) inventory is so low due to the banks holding their properties off the market, that most sellers do not need to accept an offer contingent upon the sale of another home. If you make that offer, many sellers won't even seriously consider it. What happened in our case is that we had saved funds for the downpayment on a home, and we actually made an offer on this home previously. They sellers went a different direction. After looking around a bit, we decided to just live in my house. We put a lot of the money earmarked for our downpayment into renovating my home. We also bought new furniture and redid some of the landscaping. Then all the sudden the sellers from the home we offered on came back to us because their other buyer fell through. Normally, I think we both would have been happy to stay here in my house, but we want this other property badly. It is almost the perfect property for our needs/wants. However, since we had spent a significant portion of the funds earmarked for the downpayment previously to renovate and relandscape this house, the only way to really make another offer on the house was to try and sell mine. My house is really unique...I live in an older neighborhood where almost all the other homes are 50-60 years old. However, my home was rebuilt from the studs up about 15 years ago...so it doesn't bring with it a lot of the deteriorating electric, plumbing, foundation issues that almost all of the other homes in my neighborhood do. It also has some finishes that are almost entirely unique in this neighborhood, such as stained concrete flooring, tongue and groove vaulted redwood ceilings, spray foam insulation, etc. So it is a bit of the "most expensive home on the block" syndrome...which can be problematic. It was tough to find comps (there are literally 0) and therefore tough to find a valuation and determine what to list it at. Bottom line, the home is still just 1800 sq ft, so there are limits to what we could list it for. We listed it at $199,900 and got a cash offer from the first people that walked through it. When I bought it less than 2 years ago, it only appraised for $133,000, so my guess is it would not appraise for $199,900 today...it may not even appraise for $175k today, just because of the relative prices of homes in the immediate vicinity. But getting a cash offer saved us from having to get an appraisal and deal with a lender who would not loan more than the appraised value of the home.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Apr 12, 2013 -> 02:27 PM) Going to see some open houses this weekend. Ironically the place I really want is having an open house and then they are "going to counter". I bet people say the exact same s*** I've been saying to them for weeks. Let us know how it goes... I'm about ready to accept the offer on my house...just working out the details...they are going to allow me to rent the house back for a few weeks after closing so we can try and get this deal done on the other house. Put it an offer on that one last night...now we wait...and look for backups.

QUOTE (Sockin @ Apr 12, 2013 -> 02:45 PM) Konerko defends Quentin. http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...0,6386586.story That was awesome.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Apr 12, 2013 -> 02:39 PM) So far, I'm only a few episodes into Season 2, which I find infinitely better than S1. But in Season 1, I think the moment that made me want to see more unfold was when he shaved his head and began to display more of a, "I'm done giving a s***" attitude, and walked in the drug lords den, solo, and walked out with everything he demanded. Just his change in look/demeanor grabbed me. Yeah, I liked that attitude change too...the first season, i wanted to rip my hair out a lot.

Got a cash offer for full listing price on day 2... Trying to get somewhere with the folks at the home we want to buy now...

QUOTE (chw42 @ Apr 12, 2013 -> 11:23 AM) That's a total b**** move. lmao Oh come on now...that turned into a total melee in like 3 seconds...at that point you are just grabbing and clutching at anything you can...

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 12, 2013 -> 11:11 AM) What exactly should he have done? Run? Duck and get slammed into the ground? Not as though he had a whole lot of time to think about it, but almost anything other than lowering his shoulder...probably should have stepped aside and tried to throw him to the ground as he was running by...all I know is if some dude that big was running at me, I hope I would try just about anything other than what Greinke actually did...

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Apr 10, 2013 -> 08:43 PM) If you are serious get fitted. I bought a trek 1.1 last summer and put on a few hundred miles. Make sure you like the saddle,and get padded shorts. I bought a new saddle...really like it...need to get those shorts though...the main thing that kept me off it was the pain in my ass (literally) and almost getting run over by Las Vegas cabs on the Strip...

Quentin needs anger management, but I can't say I didn't love him jacking Greinke...I'm sure AJ placed a call to Q after the game And I am sorry Matt Kemp, but CQ would destroy you...

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Apr 11, 2013 -> 03:28 PM) I love it when you analyze./ Yooouuuu doooooo?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 11, 2013 -> 03:10 PM) The other problem there is numbers. If you had coaches of singular ability that could not be replicated, that's worth a high salary, but if a guy can be replaced readily with many people with similar levels of experience (for example, if many of those spots were filled by ex-players who wish to continue involvement with the game), that will drive wages down. Right, but if you can identify the ones that are truly "elite" at what they do, you can pay them above market wages to work in your organization rather than in others....and really, those wages would be a pittance compared to some of the wages you're paying your players.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Apr 11, 2013 -> 01:57 PM) This is exactly it. Moneyball != sabermetrics. Sabermetrics is an in-depth and advanced look at numbers in baseball. Moneyball is finding factors in the market that help your team win ball games or at least improve over the long haul. In the early 90s, it was OBP and just getting fat dudes who could hit homers or walk. Beane found another market inefficiency he could take advantage of - trading players with arbitration eligible years remaining and flipping them. Teams don't want rent-a-players anymore and won't give up much for them. They will for players with years left. Hence, Dan Haren, Trevor Cahill, and Gio Gonzalez all get traded, and the A's load up on prospects. Regarding the previous Moneyball thought, there are similarities today - the A's were 5th in walks last year as a team - but there are clear differences too - the A's had the 8th most stolen bases in the majors last year. The other thing that gets lost in the shuffle is this 75% steal rate. That number has become the rule of thumb, but it actually changes from year to year and all depends upon run expectancy. How likely is that run to score from first vs second? Right now, because offense is down across the majors, it actually makes a lot more sense to take risks stealing bases simply because offense is so depressed around baseball. Now, if you have Adam Dunn up, stealing is probably the stupidest thing you can do, but if Jeff Keppinger is up? If I even have a 60% chance of that runner getting there, I'd probably take it. Russillo had Schilling on yesterday (because Van Pelt was doing the Masters) and they pointed out how little most coaches make, which is ridiculous, considering that even a fringe MLB veteran costs $2-3 million annually. Many good field coaches or minor league coaches are making less than a few hundred thousand a year, sometimes even $50k or so... What a HUGE market inefficiency! These guys are critical in developing your young players...they may be some of the most important employees in your entire organization, and many are making the same as you and I...or less... Seems like a wise thing to do would be to stack your minor league teams with some of the best developmental coaches in baseball by paying them above market rate...and this can go all the way up to the big league club's field coaches...Hell, even guys like your GM and your assistant GM's are having incredibly disproportionate affects on your organization in relation to their paycheck...

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Apr 11, 2013 -> 02:50 PM) If he did, he's an idiot, even if he has a perfect read and plenty of time. Dunn is going to walk or hit a home run in about approxmately 1/4 of his plate appearances, making any sort of stolen base entirely ineffective. He's going to strike out in 1/3. You are seriously looking at more than half of his plate appearances ending in a situation where a stolen base does absolutely nothing. He's also rarely going to GIDP too. He is absolutely the worst player in the entire game to steal a base when up to bat. I think Alex thought he could get a jump more than anything...he took off waaaayyy early (Lance Johnson jump!) and Zimmerman saw him and turned and wheeled and threw to second for an easy out.

House went on the market today...already had a few showings...sounds like we will have an offer this afternoon.... Maybe I should delist it and jack up the price

QUOTE (lostfan @ Apr 11, 2013 -> 01:10 PM) To me, that sounds like people saying Louisville just "wanted it more" than Michigan the other day. That sounds ridiculous. Michigan didn't want to win the championship that bad and that's why they lost? I thought it was because they were getting outrebounded and couldn't defend in the second half but eh. Having said that, intagibles DO exist and you have to "play the game" and that's not just a cliche. I think sometimes some "sabermetrics people" (for lack of a better phrase to describe them) get carried away trying to get away from dumb Joe Morgan type analysis and head in the extreme opposite direction. Yep, both the scouts and the quants use the extreme examples.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Apr 11, 2013 -> 11:54 AM) "sabermetrics" tends to mean whatever people who don't like it want it to mean to make whatever point they're trying to make at that given moment. Baseball has always been a game of numbers and all sabermetrics do is go deeper into those numbers and what they might mean. While there are people who hang onto numbers a little too much, dismissing them outright is just nonsense. When you find out a fast player you think of as a base stealer is only stealing at a 50% rate and that hurts more than it helps, you don't keep having him attempt steals do you? Unless your name rhymes with Rozzie Duillen. I love how Hawk was like "what I need is some guys who want to win baseball games..." That is where the problem lies here...the real answer is something in between the numbers and the unquantifiable...but both sides seem to want to outright dismiss the other...

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Apr 11, 2013 -> 09:38 AM) Like I said, fake respect. Basically, you're saying unless you know for sure he's going to say yes, to not bother asking. That, once again, goes back to my original point. Are you going to break up with this girl because you know the father doesn't approve? No, you aren't. IMO, it's "respect" in the lightest, shallowest meaning of the word. You only asked because you knew the answer was yes. This is a dog and pony show of respect as far as I'm concerned. Had his answer been no, are you telling me you wouldn't have married her anyway? If you claim you would have broken things off right there, I don't believe you for a second. It's not about "asking." It's more a matter of telling her father you care enough about his daughter that you want to marry her and basically replace him as her chief male caretaker...I believe it is respectful to do so, even if he doesn't particularly care for you. Many fathers begrudgingly respect their son-in-laws because of the way the son-in-laws care for and treat their daughter. I think that is what it is about, more so than a permission concept.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Apr 11, 2013 -> 09:24 AM) I'm with Sqwert on this one. I didn't ask anyone but my wife to marry me. This is our life. I find the whole asking the father somewhat silly anyway. To me, it's completely shallow/fake "respect", and I say this as a father of two daughters. What are you going to do if he says no? Walk away? Doubtful. Odds are you're going to marry her anyway, showing this to be nothing more than a fake respect thing in the first place. I dislike fake. Let's revisit this in about 20 years...

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 10, 2013 -> 01:09 PM) Is lostfan gonna have to choke as b****? No really, did you see what beer costs at a baseball game now? They were advertising a $5 beer and peanuts deal last night

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Apr 10, 2013 -> 01:52 PM) From what I saw in the first episode, it is garbage. I haven't watched anymore. That was enough for me. I'm not saying all episodes are garbage, but that was the cheesiest garbage I've seen on FX ever. There definitely is a bit of cheesy '80's stuff in the show, there is no denying that...but it's inescapable...a lot of the '80's was cheesy... I think Sqwert and I and others who grew up during that time probably appreciate it a little bit more than others because of the nostalgia...

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 10, 2013 -> 12:17 PM) Sounds like a typical Wednesday for lostfan... Actually, Wednesday's for Lostfan are typically spent down on the corner pimping out hoes and talking buiness with Stringer Bell...

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Apr 10, 2013 -> 12:16 PM) Nothing. NOTHING. Can be as bad as the make-out scene to "In the Air Tonight" in the pilot of "The Americans". I will never give that show a chance after sitting through that. Ahh, you are just too young to appreciate the brilliance of Phil Collins, my friend...Even Mike Tyson jams out to that song...

QUOTE (lostfan @ Apr 10, 2013 -> 12:03 PM) Orioles fans are jaded, Baltimore is (or used to be) a strong baseball town, but they were pretty irritated with their management and ownership and just said f*** it. Until last year, they hadn't finished above .500 since I think 1997, and they had a couple of tease years where they'd lead the division at the All-Star break and then fall apart. Eventually, if they maintain this, they'll stop being dormant and start coming to games again, now that they have a team actually worth watching. The Sox, on the other hand, they draw what they draw. But I would wait until at least Memorial Day to make any meaningful conclusions. We're one week into April, April baseball doesn't mean s*** by summer. I'll wait for the Bud Billiken Day Parade...