ESPN posted a bucket list for baseball fans today. They put together a list of the 50 things you should do before you die as a fan. Those in bold are the ones that the ESPN writers think are the most important. I think I am on my way to finishing them!

1. Spend a week at spring training. – this is on my list of things to do, will do it soon.

2. Learn to keep score. – I used to earn a cool $5 bucks per game at Granada Park, plus soda and nachos by keeping score….my first real job

3. Learn about Tommy John surgery by throwing out your arm at the stadium speed pitch station. – I have done this many times, topping out at a cool 78 mph…..and icing my elbow when I got home.

4. Watch "Field of Dreams," "Bull Durham," "A League of Their Own," "The Bad News Bears" (the original) and "The Natural." – seen them all, numerous times…..sniff.

5. Use a wood bat. – I was given a wooden bat in little league, I used it a few times, eventually breaking it at the batting cages

6. Enjoy a beer in the bleachers at Wrigley Field on a sunny summer day. – on my list, although I heard it’s hard to get bleacher tickets. I also heard the fans out there are odd (jumping in the urinal troughs.)

7. Listen to Vin Scully call an entire Dodgers game. – only about 2000 times! High fly ball into right field, she isssss gone! (20 seconds of silence) In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened. (and yes I got goose bumps just typing that)

8. Read "Ball Four," "The Boys of Summer," "Nine Innings," "The Glory of Their Times" and any (preferably all) of Roger Angell's collections. – I have read some baseball books but not these. I have a Ted Williams bio and Joe DiMaggio bios on my list.

9. Go to Japan's Koshien high school tournament (i.e., where Dice K threw his famous no-hitter). –hmm I guess this would require a passport.

10. Hit a home run. – in softball I have, and once in little league, so I guess that counts right?

11. Coach a Little League team. – this is my dream! I think it will be fun, I am debating if I can do it before I have a kids on the team or not. When I do have a kid its pretty much a given.

12. Ump a Little League game. – hmm this doesn’t seem nearly as exciting, I got kicked out of a little league game once for arguing and throwing my helmet, so I’m a little biased towards little league umps….but seriously I was safe.

13. Boo the Yankees in person. – Did this on numerous occasions. Multiple trips to Anaheim stadium, their one appearance at Dodger Stadium (on my birthday!), and 2 times in New York.

14. Play Strat-O-Matic, APBA, Dynasty League or a similar computer-simulation game. – I played with the Strat-O-Matic a little bit, never got really into it. The others I will look into

15. Attend a fantasy camp and have more fun than you can imagine feeling old and young at the same time. – I won a contest this past spring where I got to go to Dodger Stadium, take BP, throw a bullpen session, meet and greet some current, former and future Dodgers. I think this qualifies.

16. Tour the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. – Went there in 1992 with my family. It was awesome, I can’t wait to go back sometime.

17. Oil your glove and stuff it under your mattress for the winter, then play catch the first day of spring with your parent/child. – I had my glove oiled, and tied together with a ball to make the perfect pocket. Kenny Landreaux told me how to do it. Worked out great. We don’t have seasons in southern California.

18. Get to a game early enough to watch batting practice. – Done this a few times, never caught a bp homer though.

19. Go to College World Series- Perhaps when UCR makes it! we were so close….wait it’s in Iowa? Oh man that’s gonna be rough.

20. Play pepper. – I think if you played little league this is a given.

21. Go to a batting cage and see what it's like to hit a 90 mph fastball. Or, more likely, fail to hit a 90 mph fastball. – I have done this many times, I can hold my own, I’m not cranking them out, but I get a few decent hits. Then they throw a change-up and I’m frozen.

22. Attend a townball game in Minnesota (the smaller the town the better). – note to self, when going to Iowa, swing by Minnesota to kill two birds with one stone

23. Visit the "Field of Dreams" in Dyersville, Iowa and the old Durham Athletic Park (where "Bull Durham" takes place). – Iowa….again!?!? oh but people will come ray, they’ll come to Iowa for reasons they can’t explain. I’ll swing by Durham if I ever go to a college basketball game.

24. Take your kids to see The Chicken or The Phanatic. – I have no kids, but would take them to San Diego to watch the Dodgers play. The phanatic is a bit further.

25. Run around the bases after a big league game. – done this one or two times…90 feet….much further than you think.

26. See Derek Jeter, Albert Pujols and Ichiro play in person and chant their names with a stadium packed with fans. – Been to Yankee stadium to hear “Derek Jeter clap clap clap clap clap” and have been in attendance with huge Japanese crowds for Ichiro, but nothing for Pujols yet.

27. Buy a fitted cap to replace the cheap stadium giveaway you got with the plastic adjustable strap in the back and the Piggly Wiggly logo on the side. – I have been wanting to get a fitted Dodgers hat for the longest time. I really should get one

28. Sing "Sweet Caroline" at Fenway Park. – I do love Neil Diamond! So far I have only had the chance to sing “Don’t stop believing” during the 8^th inning at Dodger Stadium.

29. Recite "Casey at the Bat" and "Tinker to Evers to Chance." – I memorized Casey at Bat when I was younger for some reason.

30. Read the box scores religiously. – I still do, I’m really big into stats. When I was younger I used to get the sports section and look at all the box scores and stat leaders for each league, now I just do it online.

31. Join SABR. – I’m not sure if I want to join, but I have read up some on Bill James, moneyball, etc.

32. Get your favorite player's autograph. – My favorite player growing up was Darryl Strawberry, and I got him to autograph his new book…mission accomplished!

33. Learn to throw a curveball. – I can throw one, just not very well.

34. Take a week-long road trip through the minors, the lower the league the better, and make sure to include a team owned by Mike Veeck. – I have heard minor league games are fun, but alas I have yet to go.

35. Cheer the Rally Monkey. – Umm, can I cheer for him when he dies? Wait that’s harsh, okay I’ll say the Jurassic park rally monkey cut in at the stadium, is astonishingly stupid and makes me laugh.

36. Eat at Boog's barbecue pit at Camden Yards, enjoy a Primanti Brothers sandwich at Pittsburgh's ballpark, the fish tacos in San Diego, a Dodger Dog at Dodger Stadium and garlic fries while circling the concourse in Seattle. – On this list I have only had a Dodger Dog. I went to Camden yards, but I didn’t realize they had a specialty. I’ll have one next time I go back.

37. Attend a game in the Caribbean. – only if I get to see a player use a glove made out of a milk carton like Vin told me many Dominican players did as kids.

38. Buy a bleacher ticket and sneak into a box seat. – I have done this before, just go to a stadium where not a lot of people go (cough cough Nationals cough cough).

39. Passionately argue in a bar over who belongs in the Hall of Fame. – I’m not sure its passionately but I have said who I think is a sure thing guy to numerous people while discussing it. (Oh and everyone from this “loosey goosey era” should be let in….no one cares except pompous baseball writers who think they are helping steer the sport)

40. Collect baseball cards. Get your favorite player's rookie card and store it in a plastic sleeve. Treat all others the way God intended: by clothes-pinning them to the spokes of your bicycle in a pathetic attempt to make an engine noise. – I believe the 35,000 cards in my mom’s closet is s testament to me and my brother’s devotion. That’s our retirement…..wait they aren’t worth much!??!

41. Rub the Babe's nose in Monument Park. – Did they move monument park? If so I guess I’ll be going back to NY again sometime.

42. Camp out in front of the stadium for tickets to see your favorite team in the postseason. – They have this thing called the Internet now where you buy tickets….it’s neat, I login and get them.

43. Try to throw a knuckleball. – It goes about 50 feet, but it has no movement!

44. Try to catch a knuckleball. – people throw these in softball…..they are not fun to catch, not hit.

45. Catch a foul ball. And then hand it to the nearest kid. – I just want to catch one for myself at some point, then the next one I’ll give to a kid.

46. Disobey your parents by staying up late to listen to a game with your transistor radio/iPhone tucked under your pillow. – My yellow walkman was awesome. I listened to many games while falling asleep with it.

47. Go to the All-Star Game. – sadly the all star game, much like the superbowl is too corporate now and tickets are almost impossible to be had. Maybe I can find a nosebleed ticket next year.

48. Kayak in McCovey (yeah, Barry Bonds is gone, but San Francisco Bay is still there) – not sure about kayaking but I walked around the stadium….and I saw the dodgers win there…..numerous times………..giants suck

49. Eat a hot-fudge sundae in a mini batting helmet. – who hasn’t!?!! it’s messy, the helmet gets sticky, you end up forgetting it, but its totally worth it!

And finally …

50. See your team play in the World Series. (Sorry, this might not be applicable to Cubs, Mariners, Rangers and Nationals fans.) – I have seen the Dodgers win the world series on TV. Perhaps I’ll get to go to a game…..this year?!!?

Going to Staples

Me and Christie were curious to see what the big hoopla was about over at Staples Center for the anticipated Michael Jackson memorial service. Here are some pictures from the event:

There were 3 posters completely covered with autographs and they were setting up others when we left

Here I am signing my message to MJ.

Here is a piece of art painted by a fan in front of us in line. It took her more than 20 hours to complete. Very impressive

Large screens throughout the LA Live area flashed images of Michael throughout the evening

In the end, Michael led a very filled life, but at the same time a very sad one. His musical genius can not be denied, but his personal life is still to be questioned. Still I think that we all can remember the time when he was still considered "cool" and not the freak or punchline he was later in life. It really must be hard to be a King.

That was good food!

So yeah.....that food from the LA county fair was so good, that I decided that I should probably leave it up for about 9 months or so, in order for everyone who wanted to read about it do so....

Okay not really, my desktop computer just got pretty bad, to the point that it was taking me over 5 minutes to upload a single picture. it was beyond time consuming and left me filled with rage. I told myself that I would start this whole process again once I finally got a new computer, and thanks to my desktop deciding that it no longer liked to work anymore, I went out and bought myself a new laptop last week!! Whoot whoot! To try out how long it takes, lets put up some new random pictures.Casa Bonita in Denver! - I went in December! Would have been a great blog posting

John, Tim, Pierre Jean Pierre St Pierre, Me, Tyler - Once of us is French

Charles, John, Tyler, Tim, and Me at Elway's steakhouse. The man can throw a ball and grill a steak with the best of them!

Tyler explaining that anyone who orders a Zima at the Coors brewery needs to go over there

I finally made it for a game......the results of the game are not important...

I think its obvious that the Lakers won this year thanks to Me and Mac channeling the inner Vlade Divac (yes we both have Vlade jerseys on in the picture)

Here I am taking batting practice at Dodger Stadium. Although I'm not currently playing I can assure you I did not use any banned performance enhancers, nor any fertility drugs.

When you are driving home at 1:30 in the morning and you see the Oscar Mayer wiener dog car, you have to take a picture, its the law

It took many years, but I finally got to meet 1 of the sports stars I followed the most growing up.

Okay, well so far so good, I'm pleased with how the pictures uploaded. So I am announcing that the blog is being reborn! Hopefully I can update it more frequently, as well as perhaps finding time to change the layout. That may take a little more time though. Anyway, thanks to you how came back to read this blog. There will be more, perhaps even tomorrow! Also, I said I would do 2 things once I got a computer, update this blog and.....

Health Food?

Last weekend I was able to make my first trip to a fair. That's right, despite being pretty white, I've never been to a county or state fair. Some say this is sad, some say this is extremely sad. Anyway, from what I had been told you'd find a lot of slack jawed yokels, carnies, and fried food. After going there I can assure you that you'll find exactly those 3 things!

I didn't take any pictures of the mullet crowd, or the carnies trying to trick you into playing their fixed games. I did however take pictures of a few of the interesting food items i consumed.

The picture above is the lunch that Christie, Eric, Jenn and I indulged in. In case you are wondering we had, a slab of bbq ribs, a polish sausage, a bbq beef sandwich, 2 orders of beer battered cheese fries, and one order of regular fries (not shown the 3 beers we had to wash it down).

If you guessed the picture above is a corn dog with sugar on it, you'd be half right. It is sugar, but the friend thing on the stick is actually a snickers bar. Mmm deep fried snickers bars are quite tasty.

Have you ever had chocolate covered bacon before? Yeah, I didn't think so. I will say that despite thinking the two flavors could never go together, I, as well as the other three found it to be way better expected. The mixture of salty with sweet makes a good treat. I wouldn't attempt to make it part of my normal diet of course though....or should I?

I know I forgot to put random facts on my last 2 blogs, so here are 3 facts for you now!

1. One seven-letter word that contains ten other words without any of the letters being rearranged is therein. In includes the, there, he, in, rein, her, here, ere, therein, and herein.

2. A duffle bag is so called because the thick wool originally used to make the bags came from the Belgium town of Duffel.

3. President Kennedy's wife, Jacqueline, had the recipe for daiquiris pinned to the wall of the White house kitchen. It was the couple's favorite drink.

Any Clue?

So I woke up this morning with this bruise on my leg

I have no idea how I did this. You would assume that something this big would obviously be caused by something painful or memorable right? Well I guess not. It is a pretty cool purple/red/brown color though.

I got.....something!

So I was listening to the radio last week, where they were discussing the website Somethingstore.com. Basically you send the site 10 dollars and they send you back....well something. It could be something good....something bad, something for a girl, something for a boy, something cool...well you get the point. Naturally I was on board immediately.

I found that you could purchase up to 5 things at a time, which was tempting but I decided to go for just 2 things thinking that it shows that I was committed to the site, and not just there for 1 cheap thing! So after just 5 days (the site said 7, way to go usps!) I finally received my package of two items....here is what I got:

Here I am opening the packages, notice how thrilled my mom looks! She obviously senses that I'm going to get one of the big prizes the website has sent out, like an ipod, a gps, or electric razor!

Okay, so the first thing was not quite what I expected, its a pouch made of zippers. This was actually the same thing that the guy on the radio had gotten...I guess they have a surplus or something. I gave it to my sister, who I'm sure is excited to have it and move onto item #2!

Item #2 - The Solar Powered Rainbow Maker. Its this little gadget that you stick to a window. The sun powers the wheels inside to spin and shoot a rainbow into a crystal that will illuminate your room! In my case this will be put on my co-worker's window.

So yep...that's what I got. Awesome huh? I bet everyone is now heading over to the SomethingStore right now! My only question, is how long do I wait to buy again??!?

Yes I know I'm not good at this...

Thank you all for reminding me every so often that I need to blog more. I guess It lets me know that people actually check in every so often.

About 2 months ago I purchased a Western Digital portable 160 gb hard drive. The main reason for this purchase was that I was tired of having all my pictures take up space and slow down my desktop computer. Long term wise I hope to be able to scan all my old pictures that I took as a kid with film and put them on my new hard drive as well, but that is going to take a bit of time. I am also attempting to give a title to every photo...its a very tedious process. Here are 10 random pictures I came across while sorting for your enjoyment.

Me, Wally and John getting drunk at Pat O'Briens in New Orleans

Me (a lot thinner) Joe and John, who pretty much look the same

Wally singing to Lisa during a night of Karaoke, Joe and Christine laugh in the background

Me and Johnney being "extra cool" with our collars popped

Tim, Matt, Me and Luke during a hockey weekend in Vegas

Mac's 28th Birthday party, doing shots of Crown Royal

Me and Christie cheering some beer at Josh and Jenny's wedding in Seattle

Joe, Tom Arnold, Me, John and Mac at a Yankees/Angels game

Toby and Me at the 5th District farewell party

My old office, back when work was more fun.

So yeah, that's just a small sample of the random things I've been finding while going through years of pictures from a few different cameras. As always I will really try to blog more often. Sorry for the long delays.

Random piece of useless knowledge: Houdini actually trained his pet dog to escape from a miniature set of handcuffs.

Baseball 08

Yeah I know the season is a week old so a preview of the upcoming season might be a little late, but who cares, right? Rather than pick who is going to win each division I thought I'd make 20 predictions and then at the end of the year see how I did.

1. The AL Cy Young Winner will not win 20 games

2. Ryan Howard will hit 50 home runs

3. By the All-Star Break Evan Longoria, Clayton Kershaw and Jay Bruce will be in the majors.

4. Both BJ Upton and Justin Upton will be 25-25 players

5. Ichiro will not be the AL Batting Champion

6. The Marlins will have a game where less than 2500 "fans" show up

7. The Giants will not win 68 games this year

8. The Mets will not have to worry about a collapse this year as they won't be heading towards the playoffs.

9. The Cubs will not win the world series this year either (100 year anniversary of their last championship)

10. Kansas City will not finish last in the AL Central.

11. the Dodgers will not have anyone hit 30 home runs.

12. The Rays (formerly Devil) will win more than 70 games for only the 2nd time in team history.

13. The Red Sox pitching staff will lose another arm for the year.

14. The Yankees will not make Joba Chamberlain a starter this year.

15. Kosuke Fukudome will hit 25 homers and steal 15 bases.

16. Rick Ankiel will hit more than 35 home runs and make the All-Star team

17. The A's will win at least 7 more games after the All-Star break, than before

18. The Rangers will not have a pitcher win 12 games.

19. The best 1-2 combo in the NL will not be Webb-Haren

20. The Dodgers will trade one of their outfielders for pitching before the deadline.

Now for a random baseball story. Twenty years ago the Dodgers won the World Series and me and my brother were given a Commemorative Trashcan with the team roster. I remember us discussing who would get to keep it, and we decided when the Dodgers won their next title we'd get another trashcan and then we'd each have one. Needless to say we haven't gotten a new one, in fact I still use it:

Great condition, huh?

This used to be round! And that blotch of red near the top of this picture is from when I had my wisdom teeth pulled and I bled into the trashcan.

Anyway, I'm letting Paul know that should the Dodgers win, I will be more than happy to personally deliver this trashcan to his apartment when I get new one! I can't wait!

Random piece of useless knowledge: Armadillos can be housebroken

Striving for Perfection

When I strive for perfection it doesn't always have to do with bowling. Case in point my latest quest, to get a perfect 0 score on Microsoft Hearts. This was the closest I have come in a long time, 1 bad hand. I believe in the one hand I messed up on I was trying for the "Shooting the Moon" also known as collecting all the penalty cards. Will I get this perfect game first or my bowling perfect game?

Random fact: In the United States 40 people are sent to the hospital every minute for dog bites!

Happy Birthday LRH!

I'm not sure about you guys, but in order to celebrate the great leader's birthday I decided to go to one of his numerous centers. I even got my picture taken there!

Awesome huh!

I think my thetans are at an all time low right now which is great. And I am feeling more and more "in the state of clear" than ever before! Truly I am on the right path now!

Coolest Toy?

What's the coolest toy ever?

Mr. Potato Head of course!

For you keeping track at home I have Darth Tater and Original Mr. Potato Head Outside their box. The bottom row has Optimus Mash, Spud Trooper, Artoo-Potatoo, and Spider Spud. The middle row has Yam Solo, Princess Tater and Darth Mash. The top row has Luke Frywalker and Spuda Fett.

I was able to get the 5 in black boxes this past week at Disneyland. It totally made the trip worth it. I know there is an Indiana Jones Tater coming soon. I wonder what other ones PlaySkool will think up?

True Blue, True Dodger Blue...

So with the boring nfl season over, that means that we are all just a few weeks away from the start of major league baseball! whoooooo! I decided that I wanted to get ready for the season by taking a tour of Dodger Stadium. It's one of those things I've been meaning to do for a while, but never got around to it.

Being that today is a holiday (Lincoln's Birthday) I wasn't sure if the stadium would be open, given that everyone I know had the day off. Amazingly, I was in luck and the tours were still going. I woke up too late for the 10 am tour, but was right on time for the 11:30 one. Here is my trip report:

The firs thing our tour guide showed us was the unique position where you can look out and see 3 different parts of Los Angeles:

The City Skyline

The Hollywood Sign/Santa Monica Beach - when not smoggy

The Snow Capped Mountains

From here we got in the elevators. Did you know that Dodger Stadium has 9 levels? Level 8 is Dodger Jail and First Aid Center. So I guess that is where you go if you beat someone up, or if you got beat up. We went to a room on that floor where we watched a video on the history of the Dodgers.

Next up we went over to the Press Box/Suite Levels. The Suites I learned go for $4000-$7000 (per game) depending on where its located, the day of the game, and the opponent. So a suite at the far end on a Tuesday afternoon vs. the Nationals is cheaper than a Saturday night game vs. the Giants. At the press box we all sat down with a placard to show which media group usually sits in that location (ESPN, Fox Sports, KFWB, etc). I didn't get anything that exciting:

Next up we went down to the clubhouse level, where you can sit for just $465 per game. It is also where the players from both teams come in and out of so you have a chance of seeing them as well as sharing a drink at the martini bar (which many players do, usually only after a win though). When you get out of the elevator there is a wall of the more than 1600 players that have worn a Dodgers uniform at some point in the team's history.

Our tour guide was able to point out some of the more popular Dodgers like these:

Naturally, being the kind of Dodger fan that I am, I wanted to find those names that truly represent the team that pisses me off year after year. Ah yes, here they are:

Ah....crap. My tour guide saw that I was taking pictures of these players names and he thought I genuinely liked Carlos. Darryl I admit, but more when he was on the mets and not doing crack in the open. When he did it and no one knew he was cooler.

Next we proceeded into the Clubhouse area where they have a bar, tables and lots of memorabilia. Our tour guide tells us that we should be happy we came for a Dodger Stadium tour rather than one for the Giants, because this way we get to see Championship Trophies....see what he did there?

Here is the 1988 World Series Trophy. Look at this team and you'll be amazed they made the playoffs, let alone win a World Series.

Here is Home Plate taken from Ebbets Field when the Dodgers left Brooklyn for Los Angeles.

Vin Scully has been with the Dodgers for 58 years! Here are 2 of his many Emmy Awards.

In 1984, Dodger Stadium hosted events for the Olympics. Other events that the stadium has hosted include: Concert by the Rolling Stones, a visit from Pope John Paul II, and even an exhibition basketball game. They may have hosted some other concert too, not sure who though...

Back to the tour. In order to get to the stadium we pass through the Clubhouse walkway at the end is the locker room, and then a stairway to the field. In the walkway are all the retired Dodger Jerseys, followed by this:

Dodger president Jamie McCourt had this empty frame put up in order to motivate players to try to get their number up there. By last year's showing, it's totally working!

The field...up close.

The Dugout...up close!

Here are the only seats that have covers on them right now at the stadium. Hmm I wonder whose they are?

On the way back to the elevators we passed the Umpire's Dressing Room. Notice the bottom left part of the sign....oh those Dodgers! They bring the funny!

After that we went back to the Top of the Stadium, coincidentally where the big gift shop is, and it was open despite the of-fseason!

That concludes my tour around Dodger Stadium, it was a fun way to kill a couple of hours and get ready for the upcoming season. Our guide told us that this was the year, so I think I'll go to Las Vegas next weekend and put some money on them. I mean, who knows the team more than the tour guide?

Piece of random information: There are 1943 names listed in the closing credits to The Matrix Reloaded.