Month: November 2011

(Not Those) Yankees Win the World’s Series

For the past eight years, I’ve participated in the Ohio Old Time Strat-O-Matic League, an all-time, online simulated baseball league. Because we use players from throughout baseball history (their abilities normalized to allow for an even playing field), The Civee refers to it as the “Dead Players Baseball League.”

The OOSL doesn’t take up that much of my time, but it is a year-round commitment, considering there’s games to be played during the season and trades to be made in the off-season.

Earlier today, we wrapped up the 2011 season with game 9 (it is an old-timey league after all) of the World’s Series. My team (the New York Yankees, naturally) won the series, beating the Montreal Expos.

I’ve made the post-season a few other times, but never made it further than the League Championship Series. But even in years when I finished with a losing record, I still enjoyed participating.

It’s nice to have won it all. Despite her commentary on the league, The Civee is proud of me for winning. I may just take it easy this offseason. But then again, I do have trades to make.

King Tom2 Comments

Getting My Wires Crossed

I was pretty tired last night after dinner. The Civee and I were having a discussion about movies and filmmaking, and I said:

Well, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi weren’t directed by George Steinbrenner.

Obviously. Although, I could totally see Steinbrenner as an overanxious filmmaker.

King Tom

Thanksgiving Without a Turkey

I hope everyone out there in Internet-land had a great Thanksgiving, because I know Hope, The Civee and I sure did. It was just the three of us and The Civee’s parents. And because we were hosting and I was cooking, I decided to fulfill one of my life-long dreams (that ended up not happening a few years ago): steak for Thanksgiving. Or more accurately, Prime Rib for Thanksgiving.

It’s not that I don’t like turkey. I enjoy turkey tacos or the occasional turkey burger. But I happen to like the idea of steak for Thanksgiving (or any other day). The plans were hatched early on after we invited The Civee’s parents. They were both on board with the change from tradition.

I’ve never cooked prime rib before, and was a little bit nervous. I got a 6.5 pound section and had the whole afternoon planned. Out of the fridge at 1:15, in the oven at 3:05, lower the heat at 3:25, baste/check every half-hour, out of the oven by 5:15 (as long as it reached 120 degrees) and let it rest 20 minutes. All I did to it before putting it in the oven was put some butter on the sides and a pepper-garlic powder mixture over the whole thing. But when the estimated removal time came, the temperature was still lower than 100 degrees, so I had to let it cook longer (another 40 minutes all together).

I also made a salad and asparagus. The Civee’s mom made some broccoli and The Civee made mashed potatoes. Despite the wait for the prime rib (which ended up being worth it), dinner was incredible. The Civee’s father made some pies, which provided a great end to an amazing meal.

It was nice to make a dinner (especially one which we all thought was really good) to people who have provided many meals for The Civee and I (and many others). And I think Hope really liked the idea of a day where you eat all day. I could definitely do a non-turkey Thanksgiving again.

Although, I do have to say, even not having had any turkey, right now I’m feeling pretty tired. Who knew there was tryptophan in beef?

King Tom

Rivers Cuomo Solo in Boston

With the impending release of the third volume in Rivers Cuomo’s Alone series, I’ve been listening to a lot of his solo stuff lately.

Rivers has written hundreds of songs, many of which have been released on Weezer’s nine-plus albums. Others have been released on solo CDs, or given directly to fans through the magic of filesharing. But there’s also a handful of songs that we don’t have official versions of, having been bootlegged from a small number of solo shows during late 1997 and early 1998.

In the fall of 1997, Rivers lived in Boston, intending to resume his studies at Harvard. However, he didn’t go back to school and returned to Los Angeles in early 1998, to focus on Weezer. While in Boston, he played five shows with a group of local musicians under the name of Homie. The setlists were made up of potential Weezer songs (Rosemary, Baby, The Prettiest Girl in the Whole Wide World, Little Sister, 1,000 Years, American Girls) and older material he would label as “goofy” and “country.”

Of the second group, the material ranged from songs written right after the release of the Blue Album (I’ll Think About You) to songs written in the midst of Pinkerton (Sheila Can Do It). The songs were received well, both by the audience during the shows (despite the one drunken woman crowing “I wanna hear the sweater song”) and by fans who heard the songs via tapes (remember those?) and later MP3s.

I actually heard these early on, as the fan who bootlegged them sent me a copy in January ’98 after the final Boston show. Even though the recording quality wasn’t great, I listened to the tape enough to wear it down. Other Weezer fans also hold these songs in high regard. Two members of the allthingsweezer fan community recorded a killer cover version of ten of the songs (despite not having access to the official lyrics or music), if you want to check it out, they (still) have a MySpace page.

Anyway, as I mentioned in the intro, I was listening to some of these songs today, and realized the MP3 tag said the show was held on November 21, 1997. Fourteen years later, and we still don’t have official versions of most of these songs. But at least we have the bootlegged versions. If you want to give it a listen, download the show on Mediafire at http://www.mediafire.com/?tnb6o35652vx365.

Here’s the show info, according to Weezerpedia:

Homie show #2, 11/21/97 at TT & the Bear’s, Boston, MA

The following is the second “Homie Tryout” show, which took place on November 21, 1997. In addition to Rivers, Kevin Stevenson of the Shods plays guitar. A bootleg tape exists.

  1. Autumn Jane
  2. Hey M’Darlin’
  3. Sheila Can Do (It)
  4. Think About (AKA’ sesame street’)
  5. The Good Life
  6. Stay There
  7. Wanda
  8. Sunshine O
  9. Fun Time
  10. American Girls
  11. Hot Tub — Encore
  12. No One Else

King Tom

The Failed Artichoke Farm

Earlier this year, I planted some artichoke saplings that I had started from seeds in the backyard, hoping that I could grow artichokes in the garden.

Well, growing season is over and my dreams of growing artichokes didn’t work out.  Of the five saplings I planted, only one made it through to November. A few weekends ago (before the first frost), I dug it up and brought it inside. It’s still alive, but I wouldn’t quite say it’s thriving.

I think there are a few reasons the artichokes didn’t work out. Actually, between the artichokes, beets and peppers I planted back in April, I only got one small pepper. The soil in the garden was really dry this summer. Also, when the contractors put in the fence I have a feeling they trampled everything, which didn’t help out the growing plants.

So I’ll try and get this little artichoke plant to grow throughout the winter. And if it lives or dies, I’ll be trying artichokes again next year.

King Tom2 Comments

What Wakes Me Up in the Morning

For the past year and a half, since The Civee and I moved into our house, I’ve been taking the same way in to work every morning. I drive down a one-way street and most mornings, I have to stop at a light. The light is located near a washer-dryer repair shop, with some equipment in the window.

A few weeks ago (back when I was driving in the dark), I stopped at the light and saw something new in the window.

There was a dude with really big hair behind the machines, probably fixing them or something. I go in around 7:10 in the morning, and while it was kind of early, I guess it’s never too early to repair a washer/dryer combo. That was the last morning that my commute was normal.

The next day, I was stopped at the light and looking over, noticed the dude was still there. Only, it wasn’t a dude- it was a mannequin. And I was stopped right where he was looking at me with his ominous mannequin eyes. Ever since, I’ve been majorly creeped out by the mannequin and the big hair. It’s not great, but here’s a closer look:

In the past, there have been mornings when I was still a little bit asleep when arriving at work. But since noticing the mannequin, I haven’t had to deal with that. This mannequin is better than ten cups of coffee.

King Tom

Tony La Russa Finally Has Time To Make a New Baseball Game

Earlier this week, St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa stole one of George Costanza’s plays. After winning the World’s Series, he’s leaving on a high note and retiring. As much as I hated La Russa’s A’s teams in the late 80s and early 90s, he had a real good run as a manager.

While I wish him a good, happy retirement, I selfishly hope he goes back to doing something he was even better at than managing a baseball team: making baseball video games (or more accurately, getting paid to pitch baseball video games).

Two decades ago, the Tony La Russa Baseball series led a strong pack of baseball-themed games. The series pinnacle was Tony La Russa Baseball 3 and its spinoff, Old Time Baseball. Sadly, the days of good (or even decent) well-rounded baseball video games could be categorized under “Old Time.”

While there are a few game franchises (Baseball Mogul, Out of the Park) that excel at the team-building area of the game, and others feature state-of-the-art gameplay, there is no modern game that combines both.

To be fair, today’s front office simulators are much better than the La Russa series of games in terms of building and managing a team. But the drawback is you can’t play the actual games.

Today’s popular games (such as the MLB 2K series) are based around gameplay, using modern video and audio capabilities. While the games look great, often, the gameplay is horrible and the front-office area leaves much to be desired. I’d rather play the games from the 90s (lackluster graphics and all) than the games of today, but sadly, they won’t work on modern computers.

Which is why Tony La Russa needs to go back to making (or lending his name to) video games. The La Russa series combined front office and gameplay in a way that in the mid-90s, was very entertaining. You could draft a whole league in under 20 minutes and then start playing games. Gameplay went by pretty quickly. The only thing missing (and this goes for most games from that era) was a free agency/salary component.

Back in high school (and college) I spent a lot of time playing baseball games, the La Russa series included. Another series that excelled at the time was Sierra’s Front Page Sports Baseball. The gameplay graphics were odd (all the players looked the same in an effort to play in a quasi 3D environment). Still, you could customize every facet of your team. What other game would give you the option of letting your team wear alternate jerseys on Bastille Day?

While the graphics is great, the gameplay and team management of today’s baseball video games fall far short of the standards set by their predecessors. I wish Tony La Russa the best in his retirement. But Tony, if you ever find yourself bored, why not take up making video games again?

King Tom2 Comments

You Won’t Find Ribs in the McRib

Recently, McDonalds re-introduced their McRib sandwich (available for a limited time only!). I can’t remember the last time I had one, although if I had to guess, I would say it was somewhere around six years ago.

I always wondered why the McRib would disappear and then come back a random number of years later. ChicagoMag.com recently published an article solving many of the mysteries surrounding the McRib. Turns out, it disappears because the sandwich’s availability eats up the supply of the nation’s pork trimmings.

In what should be a surprise to no one, there are no ribs in the McRib.  Rather, the McRib is more like a frankensandwich:

Restructured meat products are commonly manufactured by using lower-valued meat trimmings reduced in size by comminution (flaking, chunking, grinding, chopping or slicing). The comminuted meat mixture is mixed with salt and water to extract salt-soluble proteins. These extracted proteins are critical to produce a “glue” which binds muscle pieces together. These muscle pieces may then be reformed to produce a “meat log” of specific form or shape. The log is then cut into steaks or chops which, when cooked, are similar in appearance and texture to their intact muscle counterparts.

And those lower-valued meat trimmings aren’t always what one would think of as meat. Rather, they’re comprised of things like the heart, tounge and other internal trimming. This is also pretty much how McDonalds makes their Chicken McNuggets.

I agree with the author of the ChicagoMag article- knowing this doesn’t gross me out. In fact, I wish I weren’t so squeamish about eating the non-traditional (to us Americans, but traditional to everywhere else in the world) animal parts. But I think it’s the whole process involved in making the McRib that puts me off.

A few summers ago, inspired by a visit to the Ohio State Fair, I started making porkburgers. I use ground pork (and the guy at the store told me it was freshly ground from pork butt (which is actually the shoulder)), and grill it. And I have to say my version is better than the ones they sell at the fair. And if I ever get the hankering for a McRib, all I have to do is make one of my porkburgers and add some onions and pickles.

King Tom