bigruss

Without any facts open to the public that show it's worse to fly in nor any real statements from your dad I really can't believe anything about it being less safe to fly into.

Anybody else watch Portlandia? Ive been around hipsters the past 8 years or so and this show cracks me up in the way they portray them.

Happy birthday!! Especially to a fellow Illini student.

QUOTE (FlaSoxxJim @ Feb 21, 2011 -> 08:16 AM) Very cool information and sounds like a great tour. Yeah, the law that mandates that American bourbon casks all be single-use virgin casks is an absolute blessing to other spirits distillers around the world. Here's a pretty neat read about come of the differences between bourbon casks and sherry barrels from a Scotch site. Really cool to see you are taking ful advantage of all your European travels, taking in and drinking in some of the culture as you get the chance. I'm totally jealous. It's the reason I decided to go abroad, not just the drinks but the cultures, different perspectives, and architecture (I love just walking around and absorbing the different buildings in older cities). I could've easily stayed on campus and had a strong chance on being elected president of an organization I am in among other activities, but this has been something I have wanted to do since I went on a trip to Italy in high school. I am very excited to have my brother join me in April for more traveling, he brews his own beer and has ventured into making liquers (can't remember which ones) and is really into the finer drinks. I just feel fortunate that I have been able to afford this trip (through savings from being an RA) and having the timing work out perfectly (12 weeks of class in the trimester, then a month of travel in late March-April, and heading home with plenty of time for my internship).

I didn't have a chance to try it, I just had their 12 year and 5 year styles. From what I was told, all of their bottled whiskeys are a mix from barrels that are second hand, of which 60% were used for american bourbon and 40% for sherry wines, which gives the whiskey it's color and sweetness. I thought this pic was pretty cool, the first barrel is brand new whiskey with no aging. 2nd - minimal 3 years of aging to be considered whiskey by Irish law, Jameson wont sell this yet still 3rd - 5 years of aging, this is the first type that Jameson sells 4th - 12 years of aging, another popular type 5th - I believe it was 100 years of aging, but it is pretty rare comparatively

Ive been in Ireland this weekend and Irish Guiness is glorious, along with Murphys and another stout I had called Dark Arts. Also went to the Jameson distellery in Midleton (which is the oldest one of the company, but was shut down in 1975 for a modern facility next to it), really cool to see and of course the samples you got afterwards were delicious.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Feb 16, 2011 -> 12:23 AM) Y Wait, those are your projections? I'm confused. And some of those are pretty generous. Random.org is just a website that randomly picks numbers for you, so it looks like Kalapse just put in the ranges he sees the numbers could fall in and let the computer choose from there randomly.

QUOTE (2nd_city_saint787 @ Feb 15, 2011 -> 11:21 PM) why is everyone saying PKs gonna have a down year? I dont think he'll have as good a season as last year but thats not really saying much seeing as he had an mvp season. I see him putting up a .280/36/97/.360 line Dunn hits 44 bombs and hits the longest HR ever at the cell, sorry borchard(or does thome have that title now) Beckham hits .300+ Pierre leads the league in sb by a wide margin Rios bats 3rd all season long and reaps the benefits of batting in front of Dunn and steals close to 40 Lexi wins another silver slugger CQ regains his TCQ name here on soxtalk, not quite 08 carlos but he hits 35 bombs morel has a solid rookie campaign batting .270ish AJ bats .290+ SAle win ROY saving 30+ games with a sub 3 era Jackson is an all star, danks get snubbed Peavy makes 25 starts wins 13 of those and has a sub 4 era Buehrle has a sub 4 era and wins 15 Floyd puts up the only era above 4, below 4.20 Sox win 96, win the division by 6 games, lose to Roy Halladay in game 7 of the WS You are definitely Mr. Optimist. And most put Konerko at his career average for a reason, very few explode like he did at the age/injuries he has had. I don't expect him to repeat that, but his career numbers of around .280/.350/.500 seems reasonable to me. I also foresee him losing some time to injury, specifically his thumb since it's a chronic injury.

90 wins, division champs, ahead of the Twins and then the Tigers. Konerko reverts back to 2009 numbers, Dunn hits 40 hrs. Rios floats around a .740 OPS, Beckham turns in a .800 OPS season. Peavy comes back in late April, but isn't the same, he delivers around a 4.5 ERA, which is second worst on the staff to Beurhle's 4.75 ERA. Sale is put in to close, he struggles from time to time but delivers a good season, Santos is spectacular for the first few months and midseason he tires a bit and regresses. Pierre leads in Stolen bases, and caught stealing, is still pretty pathetic offensively. Quentin starts cold, than in June has a monster month only to regress again. Viciedo is called up to take his place after he is traded at the deadline for extra bullpen help or a prospect (Pena or the sort is replaced if need be). Flowers rebounds at AAA and is poised to be the catcher in 2012.

Ha sorry, recently saw the Family Guy episode where that title appeared.

To me the Tigers are a 85ish win team. They will battle for 2nd or 3rd in the Central, but they won't compete for the division, they dont have a good enough defense nor a good enough rotation.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Feb 12, 2011 -> 08:47 PM) BP is back to paying dividends. Nice. This makes me very happy. I am very happy I bought a bit of their stock during the summer, just wish I had more to invest at the time.

QUOTE (FlaSoxxJim @ Feb 14, 2011 -> 08:32 PM) Assablanca is one of my top 5 favorite all-time films, so no I would not say it is weird. One of only two films I could honestly describe as perfect.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Feb 14, 2011 -> 10:44 PM) I know it means nothing, but ESPN Fantasy Draft Kit predicts Adam Dunn for 45 bombs and 119 RBI. I am drooling like Homer does to a pink frosted donut.

That's the goal IMO, to be able to make mistakes like that and still have not only the depth, but players with the ability to have a high impact. Every team will make mistakes, it's baseball, but the best teams have the depth to overcome mistakes, and the ability to continuously replenish that depth. The Sox chose this path this offseason because they didn't have the depth to refill the roster with young players, and didn't have enough tools on the MLB roster to trade to help replenish and position themselves to succeed in a year or two. They really were forced to spend this offseason, and unless they get more talent in the minors and win this year they are looking at a very bleak future, they have very little room for error right now.

I first watch the UK version of Shameless and didn't get the attraction, it had a few laughs but was pretty hard to watch. The US version though has been great.

QUOTE (Brian @ Feb 13, 2011 -> 07:56 PM) All the Illini fans here went to the school and I understand their passion. I'm going through the same frustration with my alma mater. But it isn't the refs fault McCamey is mailing it in or that Tisdale is an unathletic black hole. All my friends who actually follow the team are saying they can't wait for this senior class to graduate, they are blaming the players, not the refs. And the Illini play in the Big Ten (obvi), and in that league there is going to be terrible refs, who will sometimes allow lots of physical play and then switch from that in a split second.

QUOTE (FlaSoxxJim @ Feb 13, 2011 -> 01:24 PM) The Bon Vouex could very easily take Dupont's place as my go to saison if outlets around here start to stock it regularly. Did you try any cafe-blended guezue while you were in Belgium? I'm dying to make that beer pilgrimage. I didn't but that will be on my list to try on my next trip. I can't wait to get back to the store where they have 780 Belgium beers for sale, many with their specialty glasses for purchase too. That's a lot of different beers for a small country lol.

Living near Detroit for 5 years really made it easy to see how bad Bonderman was/has become. He used to have a real live arm, and he was always working on a changeup and splitter that scouts and management raved about going into every season saying "this will be the season he breaks out." Then he started getting injured and his velocity has dropped.

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Feb 13, 2011 -> 04:33 PM) Here is a guy we should seriously consider: * Jeremy Bonderman- I know he isn't the 2006-07 Bonderman anymore- but as a 5th starter and some spring training tweaking- we may catch lightning in a bottle here. I liked the way he was throwing the ball late in the year as well. Unless you sign Bonderman to a Minor league contract, I would stay far away from him. His velocity has dipped big time, and his secondary stuff is very shaky, it'll be brilliant in bullpen sessions and spring training than get hammered in games. He has physical and mental problems.

Too many damn Cub fans are also Illini fans and they know how to complain all to well. But seriously, every team has annoying fans. Michigan fans are some of the worst I know, especially when it comes to football.

Agreed. Thankfully while in Europe I don't have many people to text and it's really expensive to so I dont feel compelled to at all. But in the states, it's bad news.

QUOTE (FlaSoxxJim @ Feb 13, 2011 -> 11:29 AM) Made it out to night 2 of a really good three-day Belgian beer fest last night with the wife and some friends. 35 taps rotating through 50 different Belgian and Belgian-styled beers during the three days. The beers that we sampled yesterday included: • LaRulles Cuvee Meilluers Vouex dark ale (7.3% abv) • Barbar Bock dark ale (8% abv) • Gouden Carolus Tripel — an outstanding, spicy and complex tripel (9% abv) • Avec Les Bons Voeux saison/farmhouse ale — another standout of the evening • De Glazen Toren Jan de Lichte strong witbier (7% abv) • Gulden Draak dark tripel (10.5% abv) • Gouden Carolus Cuvee Van De Keizer strong dark ale (11% abv) • Rodenbach Grand Cru Flemmish red sour ale — excellent! (6% abv) • Duchesse de Bourgogne Flemmish red sour ale (6.2% abv) • De Dolle Oerbier strong dark ale (10.5% abv) • St. Feuillien Noel holiday beer — oxidized and past its prime, the only off beer of the evening (9% abv) Trying to now figure out how to sneak back out this evening to Day 3 to stry some of the others, but I don't think I'll be able to pull it off. THe Bon Voeux was one of the best I had in my trip to Belgium, I believe I mentioned it in here or the drunk thread a while back. I absolutely adore Belgium beers, very high alcohol % but at the same time they are the tastiest beers I have ever had. Can't wait to be back there and in Germany in about a month and a half.

Shouldve asked in the Fall semester! I know alot of people that do this unpaid internship, it's usually part time, so like 3-4 days a week so that you can still have another paying job, and it's not the best experience but it has helped many people get internships or jobs down the road. Let me know if you are interested and I can ask those friends for the contact info.

So hard to gauge the talent level of that team and whether if he got cut because of talent or disability. I personally saw kids get cut that were more talented than others because of coach favors, so it's not a new thing in HS sports where politics are just ridiculous. I know this is a bit different but when you have humans making tough decisions like filling the roster of a HS baseball team of course they won't be perfect and some people will be hurt by the decision.