Great Trip to Phoenix

Me @ Tempe Diablo stadium in the outfield grass bleacher area

Manny hanging out with Danny Ardoin during the first ever Dodger night game @ Camelback Ranch

The Marriot Buttes pool in one of the best hotels ever

I was called away to Arizona on business this past couple days. Our hotel happened to be a few hundred yards away from the Angels spring training home so we were able to get in plenty of baseball. As the old cliche goes, "we worked hard, we played hard" Before the event started, during the evenings, etc. I was able to see plenty of BB games, 3 to be exact. Myself and 4 other people went to the Dodger game at their new amazing facility at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, AZ. I also went to an Angel game with my Dad Tuesday afternoon, then another game the next day after meetings, I walked down the hill and got in the grass area free as the game was almost over with two other guys...just us kicking back on the grass enjoying the desert sun and a ball game.... I also spent time sunning myself at the fantastic pool area, reading my book on the iphone with the Kindle app of course. It was a great couple of days....we learned a lot and got motivated for the rest of the year, in a super neat setting!

"It is for your sake I drink the milk and eat the apples!"

I often quote Orwell when I exercise my power to flush things down the memory hole.  I am at my own personal "MiniTru" here and we have absolute rules......The most important rule is this....

All commenters are created equal (But some are more equal then others)

The ones who are not equal are those that do not identify themselves in their comments...Do you know what will happen if I let those people in Comrades?  JONES WILL COME BACK!!!    So relax and keep following your Ravens to Sugarcandy mountain...and if you are confused just think this, "I will work Harder"  

From now on all comments will be read and approved by Me!  The leader of the Manor!  

WAR IS PEACE!!

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY!!!

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH!!

"I was like the Special Olympics out there"

So President Obama was on Leno last night (I did not watch it but read the news reports) As an aside I was driving by on Alameda yesterday in Burbank and I saw my Aunt Susan out there with a picket sign (haha).  The appearance was a mixture of jokes and seriousness, Obama joked about  the fact that he doesn't know how to bowl, he told Jay that "It was like the Special Olympics out there"  Obama almost immediately realized he made a "mistake" and called up the Shrivers to apologize after the taping.  

And this is the world we live in, in 2009.  This was an innocent funny comment and I would be willing to bet that Obama harbors no ill will to retarted people.  Its just a fact, he did look like a special Olympian!  He was being self deprecating, what's next to go from our language "Blinded by love" "What are ya deaf?" "We were just being dumb"   Al Roker of the Today show made a careless comment about people with epilepsy 1 week after he wanted Imus fired for a throw away comment he made.  

I'm glad Obama made that joke to Leno, maybe now the rubber band will snap back to pre wardrobe malfunction days where people stop getting fired or punished because of verbal mistakes.  If the President is pressed by the media over this it could have negative consequences as him and other public figures will be afraid to be real people in public.   

The "Amazon Kindle" Iphone App

E-Readers are nothing new, in fact they have been around since they first popped up on Palm OS (remember when Iphones and Blackberrys were called "palm pilots"?). The problem with them has always been the interface, and availability (hurts your eyes and not enough books available). Amazon has solved both those problems with their Kindle 2 which is the best book reader in the world. It uses a revolutionary "true ink technology" and is easy to read. But the problem has always been the price tag. I aint gonna shell out $380 bucks on a book reader!! But hmm wait a second...what if Amazon released a version of their reader onto Iphone for free, and then I could buy and download books for less then what I pay for a physical copy of them? Can you imagine not having to lug the hardback of "The Gate House" by Nelson Demille around, if I happen to be at Staples or Dodger Stadium, I could read my book before games and during intermissions! That is exactly what has happened and I have already finished one book in a few days and have bought said Demille book and am reading it now....So far I have read my book while taking a break from skiing in Mammoth, late at night without having to worry about a book light, or my arms getting tired from propping up a hardback, and so on...do you guys get the idea? This is awesome!!! I can download a zillion books and the interface is great, you never lose your place, and turning the pages is simple intuitive and feels right. I have access to a catalog of 280K books and can download and read the first chapter for free. As soon as a book is released I click a button and start reading it. I like reading books on the Iphone better than reading a paper or hardback, this thing is the ultimate!

New releases are $9.99

Current Paperbacks are $6.39

Classics are mostly free or $.99 at the most

Remembering my Grandpa

Grabbaggar would be remiss if I didn't point out that today marks the 16 anniversary of my Grandpa's passing.  He was a great man and while he may be gone, his memory lives on in all who knew him and loved him.

Manny!!!!!!

Our beloved dreadlocked slugger will play for the Dodgers the entire 2009 season!  This makes the Dodgers the favorites not only in the NL West but serious contenders to win it all this year.  Manny is a force of nature in the batters box with seemingly no weaknesses and a history of dominating in the postseason.  He does all of this with a smile on his face, and he never gets psyched out like a certain other slugger that has a propensity for choking when it counts (A-Rod)  But Ramierez is a bona fide RBI machine, who effortlessly has produced his entire career. 

It has been 10.5 years since fox executive and major D-Bag Chase Carey traded Mike Piazza away to the Marlins, and since then we have not had anyone in the lineup to match him, until that is last August 2nd when Matt and I witnessed his first ever game for the Dodgers as he went 2-4 against the D'Backs.  Matt and I noticed the excitement in the stands was something that we hadn't seen since Piazza and were stoked.  Now we have our 1/3 season ticket package and will be there on April 13th and many more games to witness what should be the greatest Dodger season since 1988!!!!!

Oh BTW if Manny is sitting on 599 and the Dodgers are at home, one way or another, I am there.

 

U2 is Back!!!!!!!!!

For the first time in 5 years we have a new U2 album...It is called "No line on the Horizon" and I just finished listening to it 5 minutes ago. It is tough when you are the band that released two of the greatest albums ever made with "Joshua Tree" and "Achtung Baby" and I try not to compare all other subsequent work to those two, but I really can't help it. There was only one song on this new album that had magic in it the first time I listened to it "Magnificent" is the title, and coincidentally it is track 2 (U2's last album had track 2 as my favorite as well) Upon listening to that song I got flooded with chills and emotion, loving the familiar sound that I have lived with since 1988. About half of the songs on the album I would rate as average U2, and half are above average. In total I would rank this album near the bottom of the catalog, but again this is the first listen and that may improve, who knows? Here now ladies and gentleman are the best U2 albums in order

********Update! After listening to this album for about a day straight now I must say that it gets better upon each listen and is definitely growing on me, make no mistake this is a fantastic album! Compared to 99.9 % of what is out there it is in a league of it's own.

1. The Joshua Tree

2. Achtung Baby

3. The Unforgettable Fire

4. All that you Can't leave Behind

5. Zooropa

6. Rattle and Hum

7. War

8. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb

9. No line on the Horizon

10. Boy

11. Pop

11. October

Do you agree with the order Brett? And what did you think of the new album?