JUGGERNAUT

I've decided to be completely fair about this so I'm compiling a list. I'm taking the top 30 in NPERA amongst starters & assigning reverse pt values. If you ranked #1 = 30 pts, & ranked #30 = 1 pt. Then it's simply a matter of totaling the pts for each player over the past 4 yrs. That will give you an ACE ranking so to speak.

There's no question it's a sink or swim team. They'll either be a 90+ win team or they'll be an 80- win team. I agree with him wholeheartedly with the Lee trade. Lee got it done at home & on the road. One of the few players who did. When you compare his #'s over 162 gms to Koney he was clearly the White Sox MVP last year. When you trade your most consistent hitter you're hurting. We are banking on Pods+Dye > LF(04)+RF(04). Not since 2001 has Dye performed at a level to believe in that. Most likely we will suffer a drop-off in that combined production. We are banking on Iggy > Harris. I think that's a legitimate assumption. There are several quality LH starters in the ALC now. Those will be momentum games. Everett should hold the fort at DH until Thomas returns but it's still a drop off. Especially in OBP. That drop-off could impact Koney. If you look at the years Frank's been on the DL Koney's production drops significantly. Especially on the road. It's even at best. AJP's a major upgrade & he did make reference to that. What he failed to mention is the pen. This is where the swim vs sink comes into play the most. The Sox have the potential to have the best 6 man pen in the ALC. The additions of Herm, & Vizc represent a major improvement over what was there. That should make both Marte & Shingo even better because of the change in styles between the 4 & because of less pressure. It's rounded out with Politte & Cotts (my guess). Politte much improved as the season wore holding the 7th inning. Cotts showed improvement as well. I agree his failure to mention anything about the pen was moronic.

I just want to remind everyone Walker last did any real work for the SD padres 4 yrs ago (66IP). Since then he's pitched < than 10 in every yr after.

I'll try to respond to all in the thread. Take a look at the division of Oak's & Minn payroll betw arms & bats over the past 5 yrs. That's on par with the Sox this year. The ace list. You missed the point. The point is to reach the status of an ace you have to be CONSISTENT year after year in the SAME LEAGUE. I think we all can agree that to be considered an ACE you had to have made the top 20 list in either the NL & AL 4 straight years in a row. To even be considered a potential ace you have to be on either list 2 straight yrs in a row. The only exception being Cy Young winners but even a one time showing is a stretch. So here's the complete list in order of their rankings. 2004 NL: Johnson, Schmidt, Clemens, Wright, Perez, Zambrano, Pavano, Carpenter, Glavine, Davis, D Wells, Oswalt, Clement, L Hernandez, Leiter, Perez, Benson, Weaver 2004 AL: Santana, Schilling, Radke, Harden, Garcia, Hudson, Martinez, Westbrook, Escobar, Lopez, Arroyo, Lilly, Bonderman, Buerhle, Sabathia, Leiber, Vazquez, Mussina, Drese, Zito 2003 NL: Schmidt, K Brown, Webb, Schilling, Prior, Vazquez, Zambrano, Redman, Ortiz, Wood, Nomo, Clement, Millwood, L Hernandez, K Wells, Ponson, W Williams, M Morris, Maddux, Hampton 2003 AL: Martinez, Hudson, Zito, Loaiza, Mussina, Halladay, Pineiro, Moyer, Mulder, Clemens, Colon, Pettite, Wakefield, Sabathia, May, Lilly, Franklin, Lohse, Wells, Buehrle 2002 NL: Schilling, O Perez, Johnson, Burnett, Millwood, Schmidt, Clement, Wolf, Maddux, Oswalt, Padilla, Morris, M Batista, Wood, R Ortiz, B Colon, C Finley, K Rueter, W Miller, Leiter 2002 AL: Martinez, Lowe, Wakefield, Halladay, Zito, Moyer, Mulder, Washburn, Lopez, Lidle, Weaver, Hudson, Mussina, Wells, Clemens, Buehrle, Milton, Redman, Sabathia, Pineiro 2001 NL: Johnson, Maddux, Burkett, Wood, Vazquez, R Ortiz, B Penny, C Schilling, Park, Lieber, Leiter, Morris, Appier, Adams, Wolf, W Miller, Burnett, Ritchie, Kile, Bere 2001 AL: Mussina, Garcia, Mulder, Hudson, Buehrle, Mays, Zito, Moyer, Clemens, Lidle, Petitte, Nomo, Sele, Wakefield, Sabathia, Radke, Reed, Weaver, Sparks, Washburn

The main purpose of the thread was simply to prepare fans of Jon like myself for another mediocre year & to stop thinking the glass is 1/2 full with him. You can't deny his numbers when you see what he's doing this spring. Falling behind the hitters & then living or dying on great pitches to get outs. He's had over 5 yrs to develop the mindset to get ahead of the hitters in the counts. AJP went out to talk to him twice in Fri's game. He was smiling. He just doesn't take the game seriously enough to have a breakout year. On the other side of the coin you've got a kid with awesome potential. Despite being behind in the counts more often than not Jon makes great pitches to get the outs. So that's a formula for a cheap player with breakout potential any year. If he can just show dramatic improvement in getting ahead of hitters this year I'm willing to keep him thru his arbit yrs. We know for certain that AJP takes the game much more seriously than Jon. I think that's got to have an impact in the regular season. I won't be surprised if AJ goes out to ream his arse the first inning he falls behind 2 hitters in a row.

I simply do not understand why the 12th arm continues to surface in discussion. This pen is loaded with experience top to bottom. An experienced pen is suppose to afford you an extra bat on the bench. Just look at the IP totals: Shingo (62IP), Marte (74IP), Politte(52IP), Herm(131IP), Vizc(72IP). Final spot: Cotts(65IP) vs Walker(66IP in 2000, 3IP in 2004) I'm fine with Cotts in the final spot. Walker would have to far exceed Cotts in ST to push him out. With that much experience there is no reason to carry a 12th man.

1- Frank ties Mark. Frank generates more excitement than Mark at games. The crowd always gets into Frank's ABs. But over the course of a long season Mark is the best read. 2 - Shingo ties Marte. Shingo again is an adrenalin pump but so was Marte in 2003. I would love for them both to dominate in 2005. 3 - Rowand. With Lee gone Rowand is the man in the OF. But if the cards fall right he'll be tied with Pods by season end.

I'd like to throw a wildcard out there. Borchy. http://baseball.espn.go.com/mlb/springStat...m=chw&year=2005 C Everett .345A 11G 29AB 8R 10H 22TB 3D 0 3HR 13RBI J Borchard .241A 12G 29AB 7R 7H 21TB 2D 0 4HR 11RBI T Perez .250A 07G 20AB 3R 5H 7TB 2D 0 0 2RBI I don't think Timo is a lock.

The never-ending thread. I must add to it. I feel compelled to. Jose is wrong & the stance by the Olympic comm is proof of that. He may have written the book before then so I give him the benefit of that doubt. But when you consider all of the sports that are part of the Olympics today it's going to trickle down. It's inevitable. I see the Olympics as the front-line in testing for doping. It's where all the R&D is going to come from. Those methods will become mass-produced & integrated in first college athletics & then high school athletics. The simple reason being that roids & doping in general threaten the integrity of scholarships & Title IX. They won't allow that to happen. Because the Olympic comm has taken such a hard-line stance the issue is not going to die. When Frank is inducted into the HOF there will still be athletes disqualified from Olympic play because they were doping. By then roids will have probably faded away in favor of HGH or something new. As for Fehr's biggest worry (genetic manipulation) as long as MLB does everything the Olympic comm does he can say they've done everything possible to insure the integrity of the game. If Fehr didn't get the message on Thursday hopefully someone should tell him: FOLLOW THE IOC when it comes to this issue. Pretty simple. Manfred can just copy their documentation

It's not over yet. http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/a...oman_congress_8 This is expected to pass the Senate & the House & be signed into law by Bush. That will give Terri more time. Is it better or worse for the nation to let Terri live? I think it's better. There might not be any logic to it but sometimes the human condition needs to trump logic. I think this is one of those times. People are willing to shoulder the cost & work hard to try & improve Terri's life. That's a rare thing in itself.

This has sort of become a team direction thread as opposed to Koney alone so I'd like to comment on that as well. If I'm not mistaken the starting rotation is earning about 30M which represents a little less than 1/2 the payroll. This is a reflection of Ozzie's mgmt style: Spend on the arms & save on the gloves & bats. That's very similar to the Twins & Oak styles as well. I think we can expect the Sox to continue in that direction.

I'm really looking forward to the skills area in the LF concourse. As far as the area goes the White Sox still don't have the college campus advantage that Wrigley has so I don't see it having much of an impact on attendance. The bulk of the fans will continue to draw from the surrounding burbs. IIT's enrollment remains amongst the lowest in the Chicago area so that doesn't help much. In contrast the surrounding universities for Wrigley have the highest enrollment #'s. You're talking about an 7-8 to 1 advantage there. I'm not sure what Boyer is planning but I would hope he is thinking about charter bus service for the campuses of UofIC & UoC. That would certainly help the most. Give those students a reason to attend the games & make it easier for them to do so. It would likewise be a good idea to hit all the downtown campuses as well. Setup a BO in the schools themselves to increase the teams presence. Before & after events in Daytona they have a band that plays in the park to go along with the numerous food & merchandize kiosks there. I would hope the White Sox adopts something like that because I think it would help. Weather permitting of course. Attendance aside I think you'll really enjoy the park this summer. The changing of the green will really make you feel more at home in a ball park than a stadium. The shorter roof already makes it feel more cozy. As for the team itself, well it's pretty much the same story since you left. It's not a deep team so it can't absorb too many injuries. Certainly none in the rotation. If it can stay healthy it should contend for the division crown. If it can't well the team could finish as low as 4th in the division.

I buy what you're saying & that's why a define Mark as an ACE-. Looking at your list of names it's easy to see who the aces are. The guys who are usally in the top 20 in NPERA for their league year after year. 2004: Santana, Schilling, Radke, Harden, Garcia, Hudson, Martinez, Westbrook, Escobar, Lopez, Arroyo, Lilly, Bonderman, Buerhle, Sabathia, Leiber, Vazquez, Mussina, Drese, Zito 2003: Martinez, Hudson, Zito, Loaiza, Mussina, Halladay, Pineiro, Moyer, Mulder, Clemens, Colon, Pettite, Wakefield, Sabathia, May, Lilly, Franklin, Lohse, Wells, Buehrle 2002: Martinez, Lowe, Wakefield, Halladay, Zito, Moyer, Mulder, Washburn, Lopez, Lidle, Weaver, Hudson, Mussina, Wells, Clemens, Buehrle, Milton, Redman, Sabathia, Pineiro 2001: Mussina, Garcia, Mulder, Hudson, Buehrle, Mays, Zito, Moyer, Clemens, Lidle, Petitte, Nomo, Sele, Wakefield, Sabathia, Radke, Reed, Weaver, Sparks, Washburn Most consistent in the top 20 AL lists (01-04): Martinez, Mussina, Hudson, Buehrle, Sabathia, Zito

Ok, so are we saying he's a viable #2 behind Crede at 3B? If so then the bench is pass FULL. 5 starters 6 pen guys 9 fielders 5 bench (Burke, Ozuna, Harris, Davis, Perez, Gload) Davis needs to go.

Crede at every position? That would make us the worst team in MLB! Please say it ain't so! Mark is definitely a regular season ace. Over th e past 5 yrs he is in the top 3 in winnable starts, & stop 5 in quality starts. His durability is a part of that but to be top 5 in quality starts is pretty impressive. We have no idea of how he'll perform as a post season ace. To be a true ace you have to get it done in the post season. All we have to go on that is how well he's performed vs post season teams: ERA, W, L vs BOS 3.64 3 1 vs. MIN 3.89 11 6 vs. NYY 4.13 1 2 vs. OAK 4.01 2 5 vs. SEA 3.99 4 2 vs. ANA 2.74 0 2 record vs post-season teams: 21W 18L. Not good enough. At best we can say Mark's an ace-. Not good enough to be a true ace, but better than most #1's.

For comparison Contreras' #'s: JC 2003 Ahead 38% 138A/366OPS, Behind 34% 250A/747OPS, Even 28% 197A/539OPS JC 2004 Ahead 35% 219A/590OPS, Behind 36% 253A/848OPS, Even 29% 241A/698OPS JG 2004 ahead 37% 238A/628OPS, behind 34% 263A/830OPS, even 30% 246A/716OPS Contreras really digressed in 04 after the league got a good look at him. His 2003 #'s are so good though that there is greater reason to hope. I don't think it's out of the question for him to get 15 wins. Much better chance than Garland. Jose Contreras 2004: AB BA OPS Count 0-0 72 0.306 0.849 Count 0-1 48 0.417 1.088 After 0-1 308 0.25 0.695 Count 0-2 54 0.185 0.481 After 0-2 116 0.164 0.409 Count 1-1' 65 0.323 0.908 After 1-1' 283 0.237 0.754 Count 1-2' 96 0.146 0.405 After 1-2' 164 0.152 0.461 Count 1-0' 56 0.321 1.007 After 1-0' 277 0.242 0.861 Count 2-0' 24 0.208 0.542 After 2-0' 82 0.244 0.967 Count 2-1' 56 0.286 0.912 After 2-1' 156 0.263 0.896 Count 2-2' 86 0.174 0.437 After 2-2' 135 0.163 0.54 Count 3-2' 70 0.229 0.799 After 3-2' 70 0.229 0.799 Jose Conteras 2003: 0-0 24 0.167 0.431 0-1 23 0.261 0.565 0-1 118 0.186 0.487 0-2 21 0.048 0.178 0-2 44 0.091 0.28 1-1' 20 0.25 0.6 1-1' 101 0.198 0.596 1-2' 46 0.087 0.237 1-2' 78 0.154 0.448 1-0' 23 0.304 0.87 1-0' 115 0.226 0.738 2-0' 16 0.375 0.75 2-0' 42 0.262 0.846 2-1' 14 0.214 0.5 2-1' 45 0.2 0.73 2-2' 42 0.19 0.5 2-2' 55 0.182 0.57 3-2' 19 0.211 0.769 3-2' 19 0.211 0.769

Below lists the %'s of AB's he was ahead in the count, & the avg's of the batting average & ops for those counts. It does the same for when he was behind in the counts, & even in the counts. The numbers show Jon not only digressed in 04 but 03 as well. His best year was 02. I would not expect much more out of him in 2004. When Kenny says Jon is capable of winning 15 games he must be assuming Jon will get an avg of 6RPG in support. That's not going to happen. 2004 ahead 37% 238A/628OPS, behind 34% 263A/830OPS, even 30% 246A/716OPS 2003 ahead 38% 241A/638OPS, behind 30% 249A/827OPS, even 32% 236A/680OPS 2002 ahead 39% 204A/564OPS, behind 33% 255A/821OPS, even 28% 275A/763OPS 2001 ahead 31% 242A/655OPS, behind 37% 290A/877OPS, even 32% 238A/643OPS 2000 ahead 31% 289A/808OPS, behind 39% 273A/838OPS, even 30% 252A/740OPS

For those of you who watched Garland yesterday it was reminiscent of years past. Always falling behind the hitters, giving up runs, & yet smiling thru it all. Two runs were not his fault. When a ball drops on the warning track you blame the OFers failure to make a play. Especially when they look clueless standing 5-10 ft from where the ball drops. But Jon was failling behind hitters & grinning. WTF is that? At the same time he threw some beautiful pitches for strikes. He's Cybil-Jon. This kid has more talent then I've seen from most ML pitchers. He throws effortlessly which means he's not just packed with potential but he's more durable than most. Why does he have to delight in frustrating us all? For what it's worth here are Jon's splits across the counts: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/spli...ching&year=2004 http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/spli...ching&year=2003 http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/spli...ching&year=2002 http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/spli...ching&year=2001 http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/spli...ching&year=2000 2004: AB, BA/OPS Count 0-0 120 .350/.969 Count 0-1 87 .356/.838 After 0-1 378 .254/.708 Count 0-2 57 .175/.421 After 0-2 140 .193/.535 Count 1-1 83 .241/.645 After 1-1 313 .249/.752 Count 1-2 109 .239/.640 After 1-2 212 .208/ .628 Count 1-0 73 .260/ .692 After 1-0 331 .257/ .796 Count 2-0 27 .259/ .704 After 2-0 96 .271/ .984 Count 2-1 64 .313/ .859 After 2-1 151 .298/ .937 Count 2-2 107 .196/ .566 After 2-2 166 .193/ .651 Count 3-2 77 .221/ .831 After 3-2 77 .221/ .831 2003: AB, BA/OPS Count 0-0 104 .269/ .789 Count 0-1 73 .288/ .715 After 0-1 360 .264/ .733 Count 0-2 49 .265/ .709 After 0-2 128 .242/ .688 Count 1-1 86 .302/ .767 After 1-1 289 .247/ .709 Count 1-2 90 .200/ .456 After 1-2 183 .186/ .527 Count 1-0 62 .355/ .973 After 1-0 259 .252/ .787 Count 2-0 13 .308/ .846 After 2-0 67 .224/ .897 Count 2-1 49 .327/ .959 After 2-1 138 .255/ .865 Count 2-2 109 .183/ .514 After 2-2 150 .180/ .619 Count 3-2 59 .136/ .645 After 3-2 59 .136/ .645 2002: AB, BA/OPS Count 0-0 104 .375/ .896 Count 0-1 66 .333/ .828 After 0-1 335 .224/ .667 Count 0-2 71 .141/ .338 After 0-2 145 .179/ .520 Count 1-1 72 .319/ .883 After 1-1 272 .235/ .740 Count 1-2 110 .164/ .462 After 1-2 189 .185/ .569 Count 1-0 67 .269/ .806 After 1-0 289 .256/ .797 Count 2-0 19 .316/ .824 After 2-0 74 .257/ .860 Count 2-1 56 .250/ .732 After 2-1 125 .264/ .888 Count 2-2 78 .218/ .571 After 2-2 123 .228/ .722 Count 3-2 65 .215/ .829 After 3-2 65 .215/ .829 2001: AB, BA/OPS Count 0-0 50 .400/ .880 Count 0-1 35 .286/ .749 After 0-1 187 .230/ .660 Count 0-2 20 .300/ .814 After 0-2 59 .237/ .585 Count 1-1 52 .231/ .591 After 1-1 190 .221/ .741 Count 1-2 51 .216/ .569 After 1-2 115 .183/ .551 Count 1-0 45 .356/ .822 After 1-0 207 .290/ .872 Count 2-0 18 .278/ .778 After 2-0 65 .323/ .972 Count 2-1 36 .389/ 1.056 After 2-1 95 .274/ .920 Count 2-2 75 .160/ .413 After 2-2 111 .180/ .590 Count 3-2 49 .204/ .798 After 3-2 49 .204/ .798 2000: AB, BA/OPS Count 0-0 37 .432/ 1.378 Count 0-1 22 .364/ .937 After 0-1 107 .243/ .703 Count 0-2 15 .333/ .733 After 0-2 39 .282/ .769 Count 1-1 27 .407/ .948 After 1-1 113 .221/ .679 Count 1-2 34 .294/ .971 After 1-2 69 .217/ .733 Count 1-0 24 .417/ .958 After 1-0 137 .292/ .869 Count 2-0 23 .304/ .696 After 2-0 46 .261/ .912 Count 2-1 20 .200/ .550 After 2-1 58 .138/ .579 Count 2-2 42 .071/ .190 After 2-2 54 .130/ .504 Count 3-2 28 .286/ 1.071 After 3-2 28 .286/ 1.071 There's a lot of data there & I'll summarize it later but I wanted to post it so others could take a look at comment as well. I hoping something in the grouping of this data will show Jon's improving & the best is yet to come.

I do not recall Frank being a whinner since he signed his last contract. The whinning came into play when Frank's 10M/yr paled in comparison to what other athletes were making with less numbers. I can't think of one player who would not have grown moody, or whined at the threat of the diminished skills clause. But through it all Frank has remained loyal to the White Sox to a degree greater than that of any other player during his time with the team. That speaks more to me than his need to wear his emotions on his sleeves. I've always respected his openness as well.

I'm ok now. I have a very resilient nature. I'm prepared now for when the rest find out. I'm keeping it quiet til then. I want to thank Steff for creating the thread so I could face this news before them. It's weird. I logged in today with a mission. I was going to check how often Garland falls behind hitters & comment about it in lieu of his performance yesterday. From the moment I saw the thread until now I had forgotten that. For any would be or present parents or guardians please heed this advice: It's natural as they get older for you to want to allow them to grow responsibly. Three years ago we had colored rubbebands threaded into a chain so that every kid was linked to us. Including some that weren't ours. But as they got older we didn't want to do that any more. We felt education & discipline would replace that need. I gave them all the talk of what to do in case of separation. I'm very thankful to her & God that she followed it to the letter. But my talk was not the best. I learned that it would have been better for her to ask a kiosk attendant or a security person the location of the care center & to report that she was lost. Under those circumstances they would have used the bullhorn to announce her name. That's what they did when I went to the care center. I can say this much. The colored bands worked in the past. Don't be afraid to use them. But when a child reaches a certain age where they can take on more responsibility it's more important they know what to do then to chain them to you. I'll go to that Garland thing now. Thanks for listening.

QUOTE(JUGGERNAUT @ Mar 18, 2005 -> 02:24 PM) I'd like to offer another scenario if I may. Oakland won a WS with the bash-brothers. They were never brothers but there was a kinship felt between them. They are now tainted. Frank & Koney could be the new bash-brothers the next 3 yrs. Koney has said everything right this year towards that endeavor. What would commercial spots of Frank & Koney together be worth to the ChiSox & MLB in general? * Jabloni: I can't believe nobody else thought of that IN THE FIRST 6 YEARS they played with each other. Being clean didn't mean much in those years. It means a heck of a lot more today.

Please excuse my need to pour out in this thread. No one in the family knows about this yet & I'm in no state to tell them. So this is my only outlet right now. I'm not being the first to break this news. I can't explain in words what I'm feeling right now. I'm trying to rationalize how this can be affecting me so much having never even driven that far south on I-75. These people are complete strangers to me. & yet my God I can't hold back the water. I feel so pathetically weak right now. Honestly we were clinging on to hope for her. Our greatest hope came from the announcement the Teamsters offered an award less than 3 days after she had been missing. We felt whoever was with her would fear the Teamster's enough to give her back. We just never felt it would end like this. So close to her home. I hope the state of FL & the nation has learned something. When a child is missing search around the homes of those charged with molestation first. When you are searching for a missing child innocent until proven guilty is meaningless to me. Someone doesn't get charged with molestation unless there is probable cause. That is enough for me to warrant searching their homes first. As logic & reason return to me now that's the first thing that comes to mind. They spent 9 long days searching for Jessica & it took 3 weeks to start searching the grounds of listed sex offenders near her home. That seems pretty whacked.

I'm very angry right now. It's not enough for me that this pc of trash & his drugged out kin suffer severe consquences. The law needs to change. There is a major difference between someone who pisses on a tree after a ball game because he's drunk or can't hold it & someone who molests children. One is a slob, the other is a molester. Molesters should be tagged. Period. They should never be allowed back into society without a GPS tag for life. No exceptions. When they have a need for extended leave from the home they must alert authorities & receive permission first. If they do not alert authorities for extended leave beyond that & are not detected in their home grounds when they expected to return they will be in violation of the law & subject to house arrest for some months. That's the only way to deal with these people. First Carly Brucia during last yr's 500 & now Jessica. I can't go to the 500 any more w/out having to deal with grief. Reason & logic has left the bldg for me right now. I picture myself in a padded room with this garbage beating the living s*** out of it. Beating him to the point of my own exhaustion. There's a voice in my mind yelling mercy & compassion but my rage is beating the s*** of that to. I was ill-prepared for this news today.

http://jessicamarielunsford.com/ That was a very emotional week for me. I had lost a kid during the 500. She had left her cell phone behind at a merchandise stand & just took off into a sea of humanity. I ran as fast as I can to catch her leaving the rest behind. I made it to the stand but when I questioned them they said she never came back. I went out of my mind. I alerted the cops there & the care center. One cop told me to keep walking the crowd, another told me to go check the stands, & finally another said it's been an hour you should go back to the lot & see if she's there. I told the family that's what I was doing. They waited in line to board the bus while keeping watch for her. I ran about 2 miles around the airport to the lot. Nearly fell in a ditch several times. I finally made my way back to the van & she was there waiting. I broke to pieces. Couldn't break away from the hug. Heart seemed to beat forever. Scared out of my mind the whole time. I radioed the rest & we had to wait for them about 45 minutes. It took that long on the buses & such. I asked her how long she had been waiting. She said maybe 30 minutes. I asked her why didn't you go back to the merch desk? She said it was too crowded & she gave up. She just waited on the side to see if it would die down. I asked if she had seen me? She said no. I swear based on her description she couldn't have been more than 100-200ft away! I was going insane upon hearing this! In the end I thanked her repeatedly for being smart enough to get in line for a bus to get back to the lot. But I reminded her never to do that again. Phones are replaceable. You are not. There is no possession you own that is worth more than you. During the process of finding my little girl there was reports of a 9 yr old missing as well. When the Jessica story broke 3 days later I nearly cried again. But when I found out it wasn't related to the 500 I felt better. We watched & prayed for Jessica every night. I just read it on Yahoo. http://www.yahoo.com/_ylh=X3oDMTEwdnZjMjFh...us/missing_girl Words can not describe what I'm feeling. This girl feels like one of my own because of what I went through. I feel blessed.

Fish, fish, & more fish. It helps that I love seafood. Shrimp is the best food God ever gave us. I love it to death. But I enjoy crab, squid, perch, catfish, sushi, cod, salmon, & tuna. There are so many different varieties to choose from today that I don't really consider it a sacrifice. Instead I try to cut down on ice cream