I'm Back Typing Over And Out

I have been remiss in posting my blah-blah-blogs so far this year. It just seems that I have been super-busy and have not had much time to spring upon the world more semi-coherent thoughts from the TC perspective. Note that I typed TC not PC. TC is my nickname according to J. She wanted to give me a nickname that didn't contain any vowels because she knows of my intense dislike for AEIOU and sometimes Y. I'm kidding of course. TC stands for Tall Canadian. I kind of like that nick at least until I start shrinking in my old age where it will then become UTBTC as in "Used To Be TC". LOL. I amuse myself with my thought process sometimes. O:)

Anyways I just going to babble a bit online this morning. Been pretty darn productive so far. Went to bank and made my car payment and avoided a late charge. LOL. It would be so much easier if I would just enroll online to pay that loan off. Thing is, it is the only thing I do with the TD Bank so it would seem kind of odd to pay my loan online from another bank. Remember this is TC world we are talking a boot of Italy.

Saw B at Massage Envy for my monthly try to fix my rapidly expanding bod of mine. She asked me today if we are tall like me from Canada. LOL. This has something to do with my feet hanging off the massage table I think. Anyhow I feel much looser now though my right hammy still bugs me and it doesn't take long to "Tighten Up" as Archie Bells and the Drells once sang. Used to hear that song all the time on "The Electric Lunch Hour" back in the day when I had hair.

Went home after that. Emptied the dishwasher, lit some candles and chopped some veggies up for a spaghetti sauce I am making. Turns out I didn't have to drive the prodigal son to work as he has a ride. He's got a 9 and 1/2 hr. shift again at the store. He's a pretty good kid and I am quite proud of him!

So that's it for now. Time to check on the sauce and read up on euchre. J and I are invited to a card party tonite. I don't think I have ever played euchre before. I may be as bad at that game as the Habs are on most nights. LOL.

Yankees Pitching Staff

Okay I hate the Yankees. It's probably related to the fact that they have won lots of World Series and that they can afford to have a payroll of a gazillion dollars and not have to worry a beat about who they add to said payroll. I never thought I would write about them that's for sure but I was on MLB.com earlier today and it gave me some ideas to write about on here.

Yesterday they traded what many feel is their best prospect in Jesus Montero to Seattle for Michael Pineda who I guess they are slotting right behind C.C. Sabathia in their starting five. That trade in itself isn't a game changer money-wise as a couple of young guys making minimum were traded for each other.

Let's face it the Yankees have been real quiet this off-season. Besides re-signing Freddy Garcia in early November for $4,000,000 plus some bonus targets; they haven't really done anything else.

They let several of their veteran players elect free agency. Guys like Jorge Posada, Andruw Jones, Bartolo Colon, Eric Chavez. All of these guys were role players last year and can be considered replaceable.

Yesterday they also signed Hideki Kuroda (ex of the Dodgers) for what is being bandied about as a 1 yr. contract for $10,000,000. That's revenue neutral as well when you think of what Jorge Posada was pulling in last year $13,100,000. He was getting that for 387 ABs. Not too many teams can afford that kind of money for a part-time player.

Anyways getting back to the point. You figure that you have Sabathia ($23M), Pineda ($414K) and Kuroda($10M) as 1,2 and 3. I'm thinking that Garcia ($4M) slots as the 5th starter as you don't want to have back-to-back soft tossers in the rotation. These four combine to $37.4M in salaries.

So this means that there's one spot open. The 4th starter. This is where it gets complicated for the Yankees and where it gets to be a point of jealousy for fans of other teams.

At this time competing for that slot is A.J. Burnett at $16.5M for each of the next two years. Yes he of the 11-11 season record and 5.15 ERA. Also in the mix is Phil Hughes who in 2010 won 18 games. He had a dead arm last year and didn't pitch much but made $2.7M and is up for arbitration. Let's not forget last year's true number two starter on the team was Ivan Nova who was pretty much a rookie but ended the year with a 16-4 record. He's making Pineda money so he's a cheap option.

So if you look at the trade and look at the signing you kind of wonder what the Yankees are doing. Pineda is a great trade. Signing Kuroda I would thinks means dumping Burnett and his remaining $33M contract somewhere. It isn't like there too many teams that want A.J. and his fragile and know-it-all makeup I think.

That means the 4th slot is between Nova and Hughes. Given Nova's 2011 stats it looks like Hughes is going to be a mop-up pitcher unless the Yankees try to deal him as well. I think that Hughes is getting short shrift here. I think there are a few teams that would like to get their hands on him. He seems to be the forgotten man. Maybe he still has issues with his arm. Who knows? I know lots of teams would love to be in this predicament. The starters and those not making the cut add up to north of $60,000,000. That's more than some total team payrolls. Add A-Rod, Jeter, Granderson, Cano, Rivera, etc. etc. It's an obscene amount. No wonder prices are sky-high!

How Bizarre

Okay this is a really bizarro-world thing. I read yesterday that Bryan Ferry ex-lead singer of Roxy Music got married in the last couple of days. Mr. Ferry age 66 married the 29 yr. old Amanda Sheppard in a ceremony that took place in the Turks and Caicos on January 4th. This came from a straight news story on the Washington Post website. I was there reading a Thomas Boswell column on the only baseball team that matters. Yes that would be the Washington Nationals!

37 is the age difference between the two of them. 37! That's like the IQ of the average Rick Santorum follower. This in itself is really effing bizarre but there's a kicker to all of this. Bryan Ferry married one of his son's ex-girlfriends. Yes that's right. One of his four sons used to be involved with Ms. Sheppard. Gotta say that is one heck of a holy eff thing.

In my YouTube account I have several Roxy Music songs in my favorite songs on the site. Originals like "Avalon" and "More Than This" and phenomenal covers like "Jealous Guy" and "Like a Hurricane"; I'm kind of thinking that Bryan Ferry needs to do a cover version of the OMC one-hit wonder "How Bizarre".

Monday er...Tuesday Thoughts

This is going to be a short one. I am in the middle of writing a longer blog on a memory thing that came back to me yesterday but at this point I don't want to go back to that one just yet.

Weird. I went to work today after taking yesterday (the 2nd off) and it really felt like a Monday. I think I need another week or so to become acclimated to 2012 and being back in regular world mode. H is back in class next week so that will help get me back in the routine.

So this morning after getting my first coffee downstairs in the caf I had the great idea of weighing myself. That was not a brilliant move on my part. I was in shock seeing where I am at on the 3rd day of January 2012. It's absolutely no wonder why my sciatica is causing me issues for the last little while. Kind of explains why my knees hurt some at times. I kind of blame all of this on rapidly approaching 50 yrs. old when I should really be putting the onus on this weight that I have gained ever since I quit smoking in March 2010. I am breaking records on a monthly basis weight wise and this is not good. I am going to have to make some lifestyle choices. I am not comfy in my skin right now.

Anyways it was busy at work as it normally is at the beginning of the month. Day zipped right by. I dropped in at WallyWorld for a couple of household things and grabbed a really lame chicken sandwich while I was there. Lesson learned. LOL.

Got home at around 630 after dealing with the usual driving idiocy on the roads here. I wonder if they will ever ban or restrict cellphone usage here while driving. Maybe it it just makes too much sense. It's getting scarier by the day and I am hyper-vigilant on the roads here.

I had some leftovers from the pasta with a white cream sauce that I made yesterday and then watched some of the Iowa caucus coverage. Santorum is in the lead or right near the lead tied with Romney. Insanity prevails in Iowa.

Thank goodness for the 70s music channel. At least they are playing some good songs. I am singing along to the Carpenters. OMG yes the Carpenters. I better put down the glass of cabernet that I am having.

I spent some time doing laundry and cleaning up the kitchen somewhat. I took out the fixings for chicken marinara for tomorrow night. It should be a good supper I think. Bought a nice Italian red to go with it as well.

I ran my month-end numbers for work. I am not happy. I should have done better. I guess in a way it is good that I did this tonight. It will make tomorrow a better day. I think I managed to get rid of all the "crappy' things out of the way today. LOL.

Schlewing out. Time to listen to Lobo on the 70s station!

First Blog Of 2012

So this is my first blog of the new year and I am pretty darn sure that I will be meandering my way throughout the year on whatever catches my fancy and my ire. So here goes Schlewing's thoughts for today.

I'm listening to Judas Priest on YouTube. Maybe that's why all of sudden reading about Ron Paul, Rick Santorum and Rick Perry is annoying the heck out of me. Republicans and heavy metal do not blend well!

In an ironic turn of events before "Metal Gods" by the Priest came on; I had to listen to a 30 second commercial by Mitt Romney. Here's my take on political ads on YouTube. I'm Marc Schlewing and I don't approve of this ad!!! LOL.

Who the eff came up with this idea about running a Mitt Romney ad just before a Judas Priest video? I am pretty effing sure that Romney's people missed their voting bloc demographic on this call. I am damn sure they missed their call. I actually liked Romney at the outset of this campaign. Now I just think he is another repugnant Republican that will do anything to get a vote. Today he stands for this and yesterday he stood for that and frankly his negative advertising tactics are belittling his character and moral compass.

You can tell the character of a man by his thoughts and actions and how he will righteously call out or speak out against wrongful actions. The fact that much of his advertising is misleading and closer to lies than truth make me question the humanity of this man. Sorry Mitt, I way like Jon Huntsman more than I will ever like you. Not that it matters though because Jon's chances are slim and none in a contest where smarts aren't the key characteristic in the search for the leader of the party. Pandering to this interest group and to that interest group is the lay of the land it seems with the GOP.

When a potential candidate of a party is using as an important keystone of his campaign the concept that would make abortions illegal in all cases even in instances of rape and incest; this leadership contest is pretty effed up and broken.

When a potential candidate uses the slogan of "bombing Iran" as a cornerstone of his foreign policy; do you really want this "Einstein" leading one of the great countries of the free world? Serious thought is needed not some knee-jerk pandering to some small piece of the electorate.

When one of the potential candidates is a 76 yr. old human bobblehead whose political credo is pretty much "eff your neighbors and don't touch my stuff" were in deep doo-doo.

Ah sanity and calmness has descended back upon me as "Eminence Front" by The Who starts in the background. Must be that hypnotic keyboard line that starts the song.