Happy New Year (Someplace)

Right about now (as my fingers do the typing) it's almost New Year's in China for the most part. Hope they all have a good one! As all of you do as well!

Nothing special in the House of SoulSlam for the ball-dropping...if I stay awake that is. Mr. and Mrs. SoulSlam will take their annual sojourn to NYC in the AM tomorrow and see what there is to see.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Holy Cow It's Raining Again!

Gotta be the wettest December on record. We (meaning the area) had some flooding the weekend before Christmas...now it's pouring rain and we're expecting more flooding around the area. Tough one. My sump pumps have been a-pumping all month!

Holiday Party at the House of SoulSlam on Saturday evening. Can't end soon enough.

Year in Review Laziness

That time again for the "Year in Review"...or "I'm too lazy to think up any original content so here's my take on what you already know!".

LOSERS.

Old Rock Stars

The plain and simple fact is some age more gracefully than others. Saw this article this weekend and what David Lee Roth has become. Wow. He's not the only one of course. At some point the long hair starts to get less healthy looking (and thin) but these guys still keep on livin' the dream.

SoulSlam wears his hair high and tight pretty much. A little creative combing. Whatever. Only so much I can do about the inevitable days of age. Figured that much out.

Shopping For The Holidays

Shopping in earnest began a week or so ago, with a day off yesterday for additional consumerism. In this day and age of Amazon and the like, on-line purchasing takes a commanding role. But with that also comes the inevitable "will it arrive in time" jitters. So far so good. We gonna be tight on an item or two but I think all will be swell.

Ghostly Business

So I'm not sure if it's ever come up in our impromptu conversations, but over the years there's been some activity of a ghostly type at Rose Manor, aka the House of SoulSlam. Weird things mostly.

Anyway, Friday, your amiable host arrived home a bit early and found a giant mirror on the couch. It usually hangs on the opposite wall. So I test the BWSS and ask. She responds that the YSSS heard a "thump", came into living room to see what's what and found this mirror "hanging" by one anchor (a screw). There's a small table underneath that supported it.

So I take a look at mirror, expecting to see clasps on back damaged. Nope. Check the anchors aka screws. Still in the wall. The one it came off of (jumped?) had a little play but seemed fine. So we re-mount mirror and all's good.

Now what I can't seem to figure out is how a clasp made it over the side of a fairly large machine screw that has a pretty big profile. Nobody in the LR at the time. It hadn't been taken down for well over a year (BWSS painted the wall a lovely plum color). So what happened?

Ghost?

Common Courtesy

If you're gonna send me an e-mail and I have zero idea who you are, please introduce yourself and state the reason you are contact me. When I inquire about additional information (since I have no idea who you are), don't, I repeat don't answer in a short way that tells me why it's important to you.

Right to the trash.

SpongeBob is Sad Today

So, Steven Hillenberg, the creator of SpongeBob Squarepants passed away from ALS yesterday at the age of 57.

When I saw the news this morning, I was, at first, kind of ambivalent. I did not know Mr. Hillenberg. But then I started thinking of all the SpongeBob episodes I watched with my two sons as they were growing up. We had a lot of laughs. Unlike other cartoons they watched, SpongeBob was actually one I enjoyed. So as I reflect on memories of times spent with my sons, I feel sad about Mr. Hillenberg. He left an indelible impression on millions. I'm sure everyone in Bikini Bottom is crying today.

RIP.

The Homestretch

As SoulSlam types, it is November 26...which means we have about 35 days left in 2018. Holy Cow! Time does fly.

Just a little obviousness on this Monday back from a long weekend.

Let The Brine Begin!

Tomorrow, being Thursday, is Thanksgiving. SoulSlam has already begun. Got up around 5:30AM to place my 20-22 lb FRESH TURKEY in a brine solution (salt, peppercorns, turmeric, bay leaves, hint of Old Bay). It is sitting snug in the fridge in the basement as we communicate.

This evening will maybe consist of me setting the kitchen in order. I'd like to hit the gym, then it's out for a few drinks with friends.

Tomorrow I will arise early (6AM or so) and begin. The turkey must be drained and dried. Let it rest at room temperature for a couple of hours. Cooking time will be about 5 hours (your actual time may vary) so it's on the grill (yes, I cook on the outdoor grill!) by 9:30AM.

In addition, SoulSlam is making Veal Osso Bucco for the first time. Got some nice veal shanks so I'll make that. Also on menu:

Mashed Potatoes

Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Carrots

Sauteed Mushrooms

Green Beans

Stuffing Galore! (BWSS makes iT!)

Brussel Sprouts (courtesy of Renee!)

Mashed Turnips (I think I'm the only one who eats them)

Assorted breads and rolls

Cranberry something

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

ACHY BREAKY BACK

So after the marathing to get home on Thursday night due to NJ Gov't blowing chunks, it was a Torquemada like existence.

So Friday.. awake around 5AM, out of bed at 5:45AM. Had to wait until 7AM or so (due to dark) to start clearing driveway. Got the Ariens Beast out of hibernation. Lots of heavy, packed snow and slush. Some shoveling as well (which YSSS helped greatly with) since SoulSlam needs a new driveway. This took about 75 minutes. Then get ready to go to work. Made it in by 9. Worked all day. Left at 5.

Decided to hit the gym since I didn't go Thursday (let's not make this a thing)...told myself, no squatting! Had a little lower back twinge. Got to gym, went to locker room, got out and went straight to the power rack. For squats. Kept it simple:

Barx5

135x5

135x5

135x5

185x6

185x5

225x5

135x5 Pause Reps

Then proceeded to finish legs and get in a bicep workout.

Saturday was a day to visit local university with BWSS and YSSS. That was AM duty. Hit gym at 1pm for an hour of chest. Then home. To build a new desk my wife bought. Un-boxed said desk. There was literally a million parts. Holy cow. I just kept taking stuff out of a box. So I spent the enxt 2.5 hours hunched, sprawled, kneeled and prone building the desk. Boom. Then a trip to mall (What was I thinking). Some dinner at local taphouse. Home. I'm beat.

Wake up Sunday AM at 6:15 and I feel like somebody literally dragged me behind a car. Everything Hurt. Go to gym? Stary home from gym? Sit in a chair all day?
Despite my desire to stay behind, I left for gym around 8:30AM. Figured I'd meander about of nothing else. After about 20 minutes of back workout I started feeling human again. Finished off an hour of working out back & shoulders. Now I feel good. Lesson learned.

Mother of All Traffic Jams

Took me three (3) hours to get home yesterday the back way. It's 8 miles basically. You can do the math...

ROY Consideration

Two evenings ago, MLB Channel announced the Rookie of the Year in both leagues. R. Acuna Jr from the Atlanta Braves won in the National League. In the American League, the Angels' Sho Ohtani won decisively.

Which made NY Yankee fans apoplectic. Seriously.

A couple of months ago a pal who's a Yankee fan said Miguel Andujar was ROY (before season was even over). To which I responded, "no, Ohtani will win it". He was incredulous. But he shouldn't have been. But he was. Because he's a Yankees fan, and they are the worst fans. Sorry, the truth hurts.

Listen, Andujar had a great rookie season on a great baseball team (you have no idea how hard that is to type). But Sho Ohtani pitched and hit. Well. Yes, his pitching was curtailed by an injury, but when he did, he was really, really good. And hitting? Let's start here:

He had 5 less HRs than MA, in 240 less ABs. He had a higher OPS due to higher slugging and on base percentages. He performed at a higher level with two outs and runners in scoring position (.240 vs .423 average). He was basically a stud, just with a smaller sample.

But NYY fans think because he played in NPB that he's technically not a "rookie". He is. He's young. He could've stayed in Japan another couple of years and cashed in due to their service time rules. He did not. You'll also hear things about Andujar being the most "consistent hitter" and on a team that won 100 games. Great, Neither makes you ROY.

Your Civic Responsibility

Did SoulSlam mention he was assigned jury duty? No?

OK, so the Big S was called for jury duty in early October for a Two Day/One Trial cattle call audition. Arrived at the courthouse as expected. Around 10:30AM they called approximately 60 potential jurors to a courtroom for possible seating on a civil trial. Looking for eight jurors apparently. Anyways, they had seven selected and they just couldn't seat the 8th from what I could tell. We were in there for about 2.5 hours (wrapped around a lunch break) and there was about 10-12 sad folks still waiting to be interviewed when I heard my name called. Uh-Oh.

So long story short I got picked. Juror #1.

Trial started a week later. Here's the breakdown of days:

October 16-19 aka week one: 3.5 days in court

October 22-25 aka week two: 3.25 days in court

October 30 and November 1: The completion of trial

Now, you may be saying to your inquisitive self "wow, that must have been a large corporate trial regarding millions of dollars in question". You'd be wrong. It was between two guys that own machine shops basically.

To say this got very ponderous would be an understatement. While I understand my civic responsibility to complete jury duty when called, the length of time on this trial was overwhelming for all. Anyways, on the last day, SoulSlam was named foreperson and I took it to completion in earnest. Held for plaintiff. He'll most likely never collect from defendant. That's the judicial system!

It's Grey. Or Gray?

Anyway it's a dreary day. That's all I got.

What Makes Baseball Great

So the best team in baseball in 2018 won the World Series in dominating fashion. Four games to one. World Champs. With 4 championships in 15 years you could call it a legit dynasty. They've had bumps in the road but they right to truck and away they go.

So is that what makes baseball great? If your a Boston fan, that may be enough. But for SoulSlam, it's journeyman Steve Pearce winning the WS MVP!

Steve Pearce is one of those guys. Not a star by any stretch. He's basically a platoon player. Never gets a ton of ABs since he only plays vs. lefties for the most part. But he got his chance. Remember the Sunday night game when he hit 3 HRs vs. the Yankees. That alone puts him in the Boston Red Sox "never have to pay for a drink in Beantown" category. But he had a tremendous playoff series. Both side of the ball. As one announcer said "nobody streteches farther than Pearce for a ball at 1B!". And they're right.

He's an FA now, so who knows where he lands. But he got his WS championship, the Willie Mays MVP trophy and a brand new Chevy truck last night! So a big salute to Steve Pearce!

Where You Been? (The Sequester Post)

Wow, I missed some baseball predictions. For the record I was thinking Brewers in seven so I missed that one. I wasn't to sure on Sox-Astros, figured Astros might be able to bust through the Boston 'pen but Price and Porcello came up huge and the Red Sox advanced.

As for WS...two games in and I think Red Sox might be way to good for anybody. I do think Dodgers will take 2 in LA. But I don't think they have the horses to compete with the Sox. And if Dave Roberts is gonna play the Lefty Righty strategy then he has to do it 100%. Can't leave Mr. Freese in there when Sale comes out of game...should've went right to Muncy or Bellinger.

In other doings, SoulSlam is aka "Juror #1" lately. That's right, I am on jury duty. A civil trial. Apparently the trial of the century if you were in the courtroom. But I can't discuss right now...

The Gods Have Spoken

The NY Yankees lose in terrific fashion at home in Division Series!!!! Happy Day!!!

Anyway, now we head to the ALCS and NLCS:

NLCS - gonna go 7 and I'm going to say Brewers, but I could go either way.

ALCS - also gonna go 7 but I really think the Astros will win...because of bullpen. Red Sox pen is average at best.

If you're keeping count I was 4-0 on Division Series predictions (well, the winners anyway).

DIVISION TITLES UP FOR GRABS!

Ok, SoulSlam was 1 for 2 on them Wild Card picks. Maybe the A's pitchers won't leave the ball on the tee next time. Bob Melvin screwed the pooch there.

So we got ALDS/NLDS up! Here's the skinny on my undoubtedly perfect picks:

National League:

Brewers over the Rockies in 5. Brew Crew is muy malo! But so are Rockies.

Dodgers over Braves in 4. Experience will win out here, Braves just a little too young.

American League:

Red Sox over Yankees in 5. Because it'll always be seven with these two teams.

Astros over Indians in 4. Bet that one.

Wild Card Predictions

Tuesday October 2nd on ESPN
ROCKIES OVER CUBS! YOU READ IT HERE FIRST!

Wednesday October 3rd on TBS
ATHLETICS BEAT YANKEES AT YANKEE STADIUM!
I'M SAYING ADDITIONAL PRAYERS ON THIS ONE.

Thank You, David

So with what SoulSlam is sure will be a tearful goodbye, David Wright will start his last MLB game tomorrow night at CitiField in front of a capacity crowd. YSSS and I will be in attendance. We had planned on going anyway, but the announcement earlier this month just made it more expensive than we had planned. But SoulSlam knows YSSS wants to be there. As an FYI, we were at the last game he played before his injury sidelined him in 2016.

What does David Wright mean to the fans? I'd argue he's either the #1 or #2 position player in people's hearts (Mike Piazza the other); he was our "star"; he has a rep for being the most genuine and generous guy off the field. Spinal Stenosis was the diagnosis a few years ago, and it robbed him of his playing time and what could've been. He is a Mets Hall of Famer no doubt and I'm sure they will retire #5 as they should sometime in the future.

I remember back in 2013 or so when my sons and I went to a late September day game vs. SF Giants and David took the time to autograph both boys caps...they were elated. For me he was a player that I could root for when the going got a little rough with the team. I'm sure I will mist up like all the other tough guys Saturday night.

Fantasy Football 2018

SoulSlam's team D Minus is 0-2.

Scored 135 pts in week 1. Lost.

Scored 172 pts in week 2. Lost.

So it's been that kind of start. On the positives, I rank high in power rankings and I'm the #1 owner in the league.

Here's my team:

QB - C. Newton, A. Luck

RB - M. Gordon, S. Barkley, J. White, J. Ajayi

WR - E. Sanders, B. Crooks, N. Agholor, C. Davis, S. Watkins

TE - OJ. Howard, J. Doyle

K - A. Vinatieri

DST - Bears, Steelers

PPR League with a flex (any position but QB). Need a W this week. Playing GTL. The team to beat.

The NFL Season has Begun!

Football began in earnest this weekend (except for the Thursday night game which generally sucks). My Las Vegas Oakland Raiders lost in the late Monday night game. Expect them to go 4-12 this season. Chucky!

My fantasy team (aka D Minus) scored 135 points...and lost. Rough. Couple of different offensive players from my bench inserted and I might've won. Oh, well...week one.

A Lesson In Hiking

SoulSlam likes to hike in the outdoors sometimes. It's nice to be outside, especially in the warm weather months. I will confess, I am a novice hiker I guess. I just hit the local trails sometimes.

So last Thursday, I decided to hike. It was a cardio day and I didn't really feel like being inside at the gym. So after work I headed to the High Mountain Preserve which is coincidentally near my gym. The goal was to hike the red to yellow to red (which I had never done.

So some particulars: it was about 87 degrees this night, and I started out about 6:15pm. I generally wear a homemade rucksack that is home to duct-taped bricks for additional weight (all the better to burn calories). For this hike I decided to err on the side of caution and remove two bricks and hike with only a couple, so I'm guessing I was wearing about 12-15 lbs. I also brought along two bottles of water. Away I go.

Red trail is pretty flat and easy, takes about a half mile I guess to cross yellow trail, which ascends to "summit". Now never hiking here, and only having small trail map, was probably my first mistake. Using the MapMyWalk app, I clocked the first mile at about 22 minutes. Better part of valor and I would have turned around since my goal was to hike for an hour. But noooooooo....

Anyway, I found the summit. It was a pretty steep, very rocky trail up to a meadow. Nice up there. But it's after 7:00pm so I gotta go. Well the backside of yellow was marked not so well IMO. I lost trail a couple of times and had to backtrack. Each time ramping up the panic in my head as I figured that darkness was getting closer and closer. Had to find red trail to get back...which became a problem when that became elusive. Told myself "don't panic" a couple of times, as well as "you're effed!".

At about 7:25pm I got my bearings and trails correct...but under the canopy of trees it's now pretty dark in the woods. Now High Mountain is a pretty rocky, ankle flipping place. So walking in dark takes patience and careful execution. the iPhone flashlight was a lifesaver here. Anyway with red trail located it was just a long walk out (about 2.5mi I assume). Problem now became cramping in the calves. Ouch! Last mile was pretty exciting. Walking like one of the soldiers in the March of the Wooden Soldiers...

So at about 8:20pm I emerged from the woods to the parking lot. A little shaky no doubt. Absolutely drenched. My goal of burning calories aided by the 6.5mi hike, 15 lbs on my back and sheer panic of being lost in woods. Drove home, showered, waddled around on creaky wheels the rest of the evening.

Lesson: HIKE IN THE DAYLIGHT STUPID.

All Over But The Shouting

Summer that is...though not technically. see, 'round these parts it's the day after Labor Day...and Labor Day is the end of traditional summer. We still have about three weeks of calendar summer though...and it's gonna be in the 90's here for a few days. So it's still kinda summer. And since SoulSlam doesn't have to attend school anymore, I rule. Funny thing is, woke up this morning with the "new school year" feeling.

OSSS is at TCNJ starting his junior year. Wow. YSSS is a senior in HS, and his HS allows him to attend the County College of Morris for senior year, killing some birds with one stone. He's got class (for now) on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday so that's pretty sweet. He also has to complete an internship for school, which he is in the midst of. Good boy.

September Blues.

Countdown to Vacation

Bound For Philly

Manana. Going to see the Red Sox @ Phillies at Citizen's Bank Park. Doing the math, the last time we was there was for OSSS's 9th birthday, which means 11 years ago. Mets lost to Phils that day. Mike Pelfrey pitched. Here's the Box Score. Victorino had a big day.

Anyways we head down in the afternoon for the game then right back. About 2 hours or so one way. Not bad. Certainly no Fenway up and back.

Then it's some MiLB baseball on vacation. Pensacola Blue Wahoos and Mobile BayBears. Labor Day Weekend gonna see Trenton Thunder. What I can't believe is summer 2018 is almost over. Wow.

When Your Teams Season Is Over

So we are smack dab in the beginning of August. According to the calendar we have 7+ weeks left of regular season MLB. SoulSlam's team, the NEW YORK METS are currently 18 games BELOW .500, with a tremendous record of 47-65. That means 50 games left to go. On the current pace, that puts the team at a finishing record of 68-94. I guess you could whistle in the dark that they wan't lose 100 games.

And so I say this to all the rose-colored Mets fans who, in April, were predicting a WS appearance: I TOLD YOU SO DOPES!

So with that in mind, what's a fan to do? Well, SoulSlam does watch other teams, so my baseball needs are provided a fix. Over the next two+ weeks we will attend a Red Sox-Phillies game in Philadelphia (been 10 years since we've been to Citizen's Bank Ballpark), and we will see at least one, maybe two MiLB games while on vacation. Definitely driving to Mobile for a BayBears game (Angels AA) and maybe checking out the Pensacola Blue Wahoos (Reds AA), though we've been there before. As for the rest of season, I'm sure at least I and YSSS will attend another game or two at Citifield. I'm also tempted to go see the Yankees at the New Yankee Stadium. Haven't been there yet, but my sons have. So I may cross that one off the list.

The August Post #1

Wow, I've not been here in a few weeks. You know what August means!?

VACATION!!!

But that's in 9 days. So all we have right now is work and heat, with daily trips to the gym mixed in.

And Now, So Much Rain It Hurts

But hopefully it doesn't hurt too much as in flooding.

Been raining quite a bit for last three days; here's what the Dark Sky tells me now:
Flash Flood Watch
74˚ Humid and Overcast
Feels Like: 76˚
Low: 73˚
High: 80˚
Heavy rain throughout the day

We've gotten a few inches in the last few days...filling my pool nicely.

Looks like a little reprieve after today though. Summer.

This

Welcome to LA

SoulSlam has a place in his heart for the LA Dodgers...when I was a kid growing up they ranked as my 2nd favorite team (I had an aunt who had been a big Brooklyn Dodger fan), I loved Steve Garvey, had the replica Dodgers batting helmet, yadda yadda yadda. And back then, the Dodgers would be on a lot of the NBC games of the week on Saturdays (with Joe Garagiola!). So I still like the Dodgers. I own three Dodgers fitted caps (traditional, blackout and a dark navy number).

Manny Machado to the Dodgers is a Dodgers move. It sends a clear message that the team from Chavez Ravine is determined to get to the WS. Good for them. They've gotta be the NL favorites now. Some days I wished I lived on that left coast and I could leave my poor baseball team behind.

Anyway, I'm sure that there will be plenty of live look-ins, if not the whole game shown when the Dodgers open up the second half in Milwaukee. Big day for baseball!

The People's Champ

So Bryce Harper beat Kyle Schwarber in the finals of the HR Derby. Not without some controversy.

In light of this, I have taken it upon myself to name KS THE PEOPLE'S CHAMP!

CAN YOU SMELL WHAT THE SCHWARB IS COOKIN'!

#ASG #HRDERBY

I'm going with the Cubs' Kyle Schwarber tonight.

See you there.

A Week Of Sorts

With Independence Day falling on a Wednesday, it takes creative thinking to really exploit a weekend holiday. My J-O-B was closed Wednesday and Thursday, basically because we had to work Good Friday this 2018. So LOTS (and I mean LOTS) of folks at work decided at the very least to take Friday off so they get a 5-day weekend. Making this place a GHOST TOWN today. Yours truly is here.

The Mighty Big Heat Wave

It's upon us. Like white on rice. Well starting Friday anyway.

Forecast for these parts, which is North J for all you new townsfolk, is HOT. Sizzling. Hot.

Friday, 90. Saturday, 93, Sunday 103! Then some mid-90's days for the foreseeable future.

I will be floating in my pool. Bet that.

YSSS at CWS!

He's only finished his junior year in HS, so he's attending game 1 tonight in Omaha. Arkansas Razorbacks vs. Oregon St. Beavers.

YSSS aka Ryan is playing in the Baseball Factory tournament wayyyyy out there. Left early (and I do mean early) Saturday AM (we were at EWR at 4:30AM). Flight to Omaha and staying with tournament in Council Bluffs Iowa. Never been there. Game stared yesterday, he went 1-2 with a sacrifice and 3 RBIs in game one. Walked a couple of times and scored a run in game 2.

Told him to send me some pics from TD Ameritrade Park tonight. Can't wait to see them. Also, I'm very proud of my youngest son. Hope he has a time to remember this week.

Bleak

Do you watch The Handmaid's Tale? You should. But be warned, it's Bleak. Capital B.

WC Soccer

There's a World Cup going on...USA, Italy and Ireland not included. So unless your a major soccer fan, it's under the radar round these parts. SoulSlam is not interested in the least.

The Recycling Dopes

So in my burg, we do curbside recycling. They gave each home two (2) barrels; a small blue barrel for co-mingled (plastic/aluminum/glass) and a bigger yellow can for cardboard and paper. Which the DPW dopes proceeded to break in short order (handles cracked off, split bottoms, etc). When this program was started 10 or so years ago it was ostensibly to keep our carting fees from garbage disposal company down. So recycle away!

I also remember the d-bag that actually started this (he's low on my list of humans) said you can recycle "any plastic". As a matter of fact, these cans are a treasure trove of recycling info, including the line that any plastic 1-7 can be inserted for recycling. Times change though.

Apparently, the town pays $10 a ton for recycling. Unless there's contaminents, then it's $175 a ton. Big jump. I have zero doubt that people are putting things in there they absolutely should not, so I get it. But now, they are basically capping the recyclables to plastics 1-2 (Plastic #1: Polyethylene Terephthalate PET ...Plastic #2: High Density Polyethylene HDPE). Wow. What the hell are we doing with numbers 3-7?

Apparently they want it thrown in garbage.

So the cartage fees will inevitably go up. Any schoolkid will tell you that.

What we have are people running things that have zero vision and clue.

THE NEW YORK METS

Awful. That's the best word to describe this mess.

Constructed wrong. Even Paul Loduca thinks so.

Worst situational hitting I've ever seen. Re: Adrian Gonzalez (bye bye) double in top of 7th inning on Saturday vs. NYY and the Asdrubel Cabrera "bunt" last Wednesday. Two exhibits in a massive shit museum.

Hurt. All the time. Cespedes? Really? This guy has the quads of a 90 year old man apparently. Syndergaard? The king of the finger injury. It is mind-boggling.

Who's to blame: Us, the fans. You, me, all of us.

This ownership (The Wilpons) and front office management (Sandy Alderson) think they can bamboozle loyal Mets fans with their bargain-bin signings and cheap-ass ways. Because enough of us show up time and time again to allow them to turn the dollars of profit. Everybody was positive giddy after 12 games of the season. But this is not the NFL. You play 162 in this man's game. Right now, the Mets stand at 28-34. Probably won't end up in last place because the Triple A Miami Marlins plan on that this season. But now they go on a 10 game road trip to Atlanta, Arizona and Colorado. Coming home 3-7 on that is probably optimistic, you'd do backflips if the could go 5-5. In any case, they have a long way to go before they are in the plus column after this roadtrip.

So what do you do? They waived Gonzalez. They will most likely jettison Reyes within two weeks. You can start looking to trade off players, but the problem is, "who wants them?" You could easily deal deGrom and Syndergaard, but at that point you should plan on a lot of empty ballpark games. Those guys aren't free agents for another couple of years so that's best done in off-season. Familia (who just went on DL) is an FA after this season and will bring you back a young A-level player, nothing more. Gsellman could probably net you something decent. Other than that, nothing is viable. Bruce has a 3 year deal (Thanks Sandy), so nobody is touching that the way he's hitting. Cabrera? Maybe a team that needs a veteran utility guy. You're not trading Nimmo, Rosario or Conforto. So you have what they always seem to have: a team nobody wants. Including me.

Mr. Fixit

SoulSlam has a lot of praise for youtube. If you have an issue with something mechanically, you can generally find a video so you can attempt a DIY fix. That happened this weekend with washing machine.

Before I left house Friday AM, I wanted to wash the bath mat from the downstairs bath (it's actually a shower). Open up front door and there's water sitting in tub. OK, maybe one of the Sons of SoulSlam grabbed something before we were ready. Happens. I guess. So I turn it on and away I go.

Come home in afternoon, dress for the gym and go downstairs. Notice that said item is still in washer. Open door and...can't open door. It's in locked mode. What? Turn on and I have an error code! I HATE ERROR CODES!!!

So, I unplug and plug in again, and washer at least now lets me open door. And I pull out a drenched bath mat...still lots of water in this machine. OK, must not be draining. So for the next two hours, I pull out hoses, run rinse cycles, try everything I can at time...but no. We try to call service dept. where we purchased but it's Friday and they are gone for weekend. Will have to wait for Monday.I ended up going to GYM at 6:30PM.

Now, as I'm aging, I get more and more ansty with broken shit. Add to that the fact that two teenage sons and four people who go to the gym every day are going to make some soiled clothes. So a few days without a washer could be an issue. So Saturday AM, while at the GYM (I was deadlifting), I decide to start looking at some youtube videos. Drain motor didn't seem to be making any strange noises. I watch one video in particular, and it inspires me to try. So I go home and start taking off the covers. Which is a task on a full-size washer. Anyway, with covers off I locate cointrap and bladder house by drain pump. I do some recon in this area...seemed like door to cointrap might be stuck? Not sure. Anyway, I replace the covers in reverse and cross my fingers.

Washer fixed! The rest of the day was a breeze.

Early Green

After giving blood yesterday (legally, at a blood center); SoulSlam returned home a little after 6:30PM. Figured I'd vacuum the pool (again). What did he find?

It was somewhat green on the bottom. Now, the water temp has risen quite a bit in a week. as we've had some sunshine and mild evenings. But I have never, and I mean never seen it get green in a couple of days this early in the season. So vacuum I did, then chemicalized the b-jesus out of the water. Added copious amounts of PH! Then some shock (not too much to start). Left filter running all night. Went outside at 6am, walked back to clear skimmer basket and...broke the skimmer door. To be fair, the little plastic pins were getting futzy anyway.

HOLIDAY WEEKEND DOINGS:

Replace thermostat on Tahoe. Time to sell or get rid of, depending on outcome of mechanical work

Pool maintenance

Sunday Memorial Day Parade past the House of SoulSlam...should take 10-15 minutes

Watch some baseball (all on TV, Mets out of town)

Maybe go see Deadpool 2

Have a great one!

Pool 2018

So this year, SoulSlam didn't open the P-O-O-L until a week or so ago. Traditionally I have the cover off in late April, but it was about 40 degrees here in late April.

Here's the pool timeline:

Cover came off after pumping water off it for the sixth time on Sunday 5/13

Filter assembled the evening of Monday 5/14, along with adding water to the necessary levels. BTW, I was attacked by mosquitoes the size of hummingbirds and had a puffy face for my efforts

The "thunderstorm to end all spring thunderstorms occurred in Tuesday 5/15. Power out for the next 30 hours. So other hings take precedence for a few

Filling pool recommences on Friday 5/18. During which one the guys working for my contractor shuts off water valve to my hose, so that kind of slowed things down

Saturday 5/19. Enough water in pool to start running filter. Water is pretty murky and green now. Added some PH

Sunday 5/20. 10AM. Water is sufficiently clear to see what's doing. Every whirlybird off the trees now resides in the bottom of my pool

Start cleaning off bottom of pool with trusty leaf rake. Fill a nice sized garbage can with leaves and whirlybirds. Vacuum begins, stopped 4x to clear basket in filter. All told I spent ~ 3 hours cleaning pool.

So now it looks pretty good. Still another vacuuming required. Gotta drop the ladder. But YSSS jumped in yesterday and said whhoooo!

SUMMER OFFICIALLY BEGINS!

Power Outage 2018

So we had a big thunderstorm yesterday afternoon. Lots of wind, rain, etc. The stuff that makes up a May thunderstorm...and we lost power. By all accounts it happened at 4:45 PM EDT. And right now, almost a full 23 hours later, we are still w/o power. You can imagine the happiness.

So what is going on? We had a massive power outage with Hurricane Sandy in October-November 2012. Afterwards, the promises of "we'll do what we can to upgrade the infrastructure and system" began. Which was absolute BS. In March 2018, a severe Nor'easter came through and lots and lots of people lost power (we did not). More of the same language from the power companies. Now, in mid-May, we get a storm and the power is gone again. And we are supposed to "be patient".

FYI - the estimate is it will be on by 11:30 PM on Thursday. That's 32 hours from now. Un-fucking-real.

It's Finally Nicer 'Round Here

Weather has been ok. Not the warmest start of May, but we'll take what we can get.

I'm lifting a lot of weight. It's basically what I do now. No coaching on horizon; I go to YSSS' HS games...and the gym. And lift. I have a bit of a shoulder thing going on so tonight we will hit legs (again). I like #LEGDAY.

Mets are becoming what I figured they are. a .500 team at best. No speed, defense is below par and since everybody's hopes and dreams were pinned to a pitching staff, the early excitement is now tempered with cold, hard truth. They are 18-17 (after a 14-2 start!) and playing the red hot Phillies (can't believe I just typed that) this weekend. It's getting late. Not too late, but late enough.

Deadpool 2 starts next week. Love Deadpool.

The Death of 32bit

Tried to post a "HEY, HOW YOU DOING!" kind of post yesterday from my iPhone 8. Clicked on my app for this corner of the internet and I was met with this:

So apparently if I'm not sitting at my computer screen I can no longer communicate with the masses on this here platform.

So my question is:"HEY, HOW YOU DOING!"

In other news, Fear The Walking Dead killed off a main character (Nick). Carrie Mathieson has gone bat-shit crazy after being in a Russian Gulag for seven months. There are only 12 Angels powering Heaven. And on and on.

Why Not This!?

Late Winter Blues

How is a post posted on April 5th have a name like that. Well SoulSlam will tell you: we don't really have spring in spring anymore.

So far this week we had almost 8" of snow in my neck of North J. And then torrential cold rain and a windstorm that knocked out some power. Now we have conflicting weather reports about snow this weekend. Brutal.

So basically we have winter, then late winter, then spring for about 4 days, then summer.

YSSS' HS Baseball team has already had two games this week postponed. Has a game Friday and Saturday, who knows if they get played. It's like that all over in this area.

#LGM!

Fantasy Baseball Begins!

Well in a couple of days...but we drafted last night.

My Keepers:

Giancarlo Stanton

Trea Turner In no particular order:
Position Players

Christain Yelich

AJ Pollock

Jay Bruce

Miguel Sano

Whit Merrifield

Michael Conforto

Lucas Duda

Chris Iannetta

Brandon Crawford

Yuli Gurriel

Logan Morrison

Adam Duvall

Joe Panik

Joc Pederson

Addison Russell

Pitchers

Noah Syndergaard

JA Happ

Patrick Corbin

Johnny Cueto

Jose Quintana

Matt Harvey

Felix Hernandez

Ken Giles

Jameson Taillon

Vince Velasquez

Joakim Soria

Adam Wainwright

SWAGBROS IS READY!!!

The Bleak

So last time was before Nor'easter #2...we ended up with about 2' of the snow. Good news is we didn't lose power, which I can't say for everyone else. Lots of trees and limbs down (we had a 40' limb crash into driveway behind la casa but it didn't hit anything). Approximately 2 hours of shoveling and snow throwing Wednesday evening and another 2 hours on Thursday morning to get the driveway and cars cleared. We were supposed to have another Nor'easter today but the track changed and we were spared.

As for HS baseball...with the weather what it was, they've (YSSS' team) has only had 4-5 practices. He was taking SAT on Saturday so he missed that one. They are working out as we speak (or as I type).

Spring training baseball is getting down to it. We'll see how my NY Mets are in pretty short order. I think the pitching will be ok (if healthy), though most of the pitchers (except deGrom and Vargas) will be limited to well below 200 innings. You have to have the horses to pitch a minimum of 1458 innings in MLB season, so this will begin to be an issue around August 1. Figure that 567 innings are a lock for relievers...that leaves around 891 for starters. If deGrom and Vargas can go 400 that leaves 491 for the rest. That's a lot to ask for guys who will be on a short leash. Expect a lot of spot starts. Right now rotation looks like:

deGrom

Syndergaard

Vargas

Harvey

Matz

Lugo and Wheeler in pen. Wheeler only has about 70-80 innings I think so his dream of starting is just that, a dream. You can add Gsellman and Montero in there as well. We'll see.

Hitting for NY Mets will be spotty. Bet that.

As for D...I'm not in love with it. Especially with Nimmo and then, Conforto on CF. The catchers are not going to light up anybody's fantasy draft. The IF is suspect. Rosario is fine. The rest (Gonzalez, Frazier, Reyes, Cabrera, Flores) are all a bit slowed, if you catch my drift.

Nor'Easter!

We had one on Friday...nothing much happened in my neck of the woods, but power is out for some folks, and if you lived a bit north of SoulSlam, you got some accumulation. Now we have a forecast for another one mid-week here. Saying a possible 6-8". AAAARRRRGGGHHH.

NJ HS Baseball was supposed to starts practices on Friday, which for most of state became a dream. Saturday in Morris County was a series of roadblocks and power outages so YSSS' team practice was cancelled. They start today indoors. He has SATs on Saturday AM so it'll be a short week no doubt.

March is a bitch man.

Free DVR Finished

A long time ago (over a year), Altice USA nee Optimum nee Cablevision sent me a letter saying the lost a class action lawsuit and I could get a free DVR service (or something else I can't remember) as part of settlement. Truth be told, I had no idea. So I filled out the form and voila! Free DVR. Had it about a year I guess. It was cool. Most shows are also on the On demand channel but that is slow sometimes.

Anyway, the time has come and gone and now I don't have my free DVR. They would like me to pay $12.95 a month for this. Nope. I pay this company enough moo-la-di every month. You have your cable service (I have HBO & Showtime so it's not cheap), your modem, the cable boxes (and remotes), the internet service and my landline phone service. All in all it's over $250 a month. If I could get live sports reliably I might cut said cord. But for now it is what it is. That's living in 2018 I guess. And before you ask, I also have Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu.

Assorted musings:

I am on a cut right now. 1600 calories yesterday, I'm on track for less today. I'll be getting very cranky very soon. Phase 1 is 20 lbs off. Should take 2+ months.

I wore a Mets cap 2x to gym this week. I'm making progress in liking my team again.

The weather has been odd.

The mancave got an upgrade last week. New Power Reclining Couch and Power Reclining Chair. Sweet.

NJ HS Baseball starts Friday. YSSS is looking for a good one this year.

Speaking of YSSS, he's playing baseball in Omaha in late June. More to come.

OSSS is away at college and doing great. Dean's List, steady girl. He's happy.

BWSS is taking piano lessons. She's pretty good.

I'm still me, SoulSlam. C-Ya!

Pitchers and Catchers

You know winter is waning when pitchers and catchers report to FLA and AZ in February. Today is 2/14 aka Valentine's Day and Ash Wednesday 2018. Sweet.

Anyway, I'm keeping a leery eye on the NYM. They've done what they can to break my heart. I'm not ready to commit. It's too early. Let's see what happens.

Eagles

So a team that has never been champs became champs last night. What a game!

SoulSlam was pretty ambivalent about the game leading up; though I have to admit, seeing NE in the game, again, was kind of off-putting. Living in the North J, lots of folks are NYG fans, so you hear a lot of Philly trashing. Whatever.

The Eagles came to play though. Nick Foles, backup QB and eventual SB MVP was superb. At times the game resembled a Pro Bowl game (no D), but it was a barn burner throughout and the Eagles landed victorious.

Making Your Problems My Problems

I don't think I like that, not one bit.

Got a guy here at work, a co-worker of sorts, that likes to take on everyone's problems, that, most likely, cannot be solved.

I tell him he needs to stop inviting this type of transaction, but listen, he does not.

That's not my problem either.

Tilted Kilt. The Investigation.

Anyways, my keyed up self was in no mood to go to gym on Friday night due to some new pre-owned car troubles, so my wife and I went out and decided to go to the Tilted Kilt. That one in Wayne NJ. It's huge. And SoulSlam can remember multiple conversations I've had with people about how do they stay in business and do they get crowded at night. Hence my investigation.

First, I would put the crowd at about 25 people or so when we got there around 6. It probably "swelled" to about 35 by 7:30 when we left. Giant bar. One bartender. Drink order time. They didn't have the wine my wife wanted. I could not see the taps from my vantage point and no list was provided so I ordered a Bud Light. When delivered, the nice lady said "that's the last of the Bud Light draft". Now I used to run bars. You can run out of a lot of things I guess. Bud Light is not one of them.

In looking around, I noticed that there were two other women at the TK. My wife was the 3rd. My wife said "this place needs a ladies night!" Which I replied "this is ladies night!".

The food was what it was. I had a really good burger, my wife really liked her sandwich. So food is not the reason nobody is in this place.

But then I figured it out.

When we got there, they had sone hardcore Toby Keith kind of country on. OK. I Guess. Then things really started rolling. Picture a restaurant bar that plays (at a loud volume) a mix of Disturbed, Metallica and Pantera! What do you get?

A Sausage Party. 100% grade A creep sausage.

Women (for the most part) don't want to hear Pantera at a bar. So they stay away. Which leaves guys that want to meet women away. Which leaves people like us looking for something close and decent, and the aforementioned creeps.

Case solved.

No Wagering

I decided to not put any $$$ in SuperBowl boxes, bet on fantasy cut-throat playoff pools, etc. this year. I actually won a few bucks last year. But parting with my $25 or $50 is not going to happen. So don't ask.

I would like to see Jaguars-Vikings but that's a longshot.

Speaking of a longshot, check out Long Shot on netflix. It's really cool.

Work From Home

First, SoulSlam is not a big fan. I've had to do it a few years ago when flooding in the area made it impossible to get to work (less than 5 miles away). Not for me.

Anyways we have a semi-secret policy of WFH for my team at work. Problem is we have people want to abuse the WFH perk. Case in point, we've got a guy (really an alien lifeform) that lives in PA. Commutes every day to North J for work. hats off to you sir, because that is something I could never do. Anyways, today it snowed. Started late around these parts. So his boss (who reports to SoulSlam) comes in and says "blank is gonna WFH today". To which I said, uh no. Because a snowflake fell doesn't mean you get to stay home and get paid. You can take a vacation day.

I was here at 8:10AM.

Lying Liars

I'm glad they passed the tax plan. My first check of 2018 actually has me taking home less. Awesome job.

Repeating Itself

History? Hello!?

Now with the re-signing after trading away a player they traded for, the NY Mets have once again shown themselves (IMO) of little imagination or fortitude. And you could think that the name of this post has something to do with the deal. It does. And it does not.

I have been feeling pretty ambivalent towards the Mets since the regular season ended. I would even say a might disappointed. They basically run a AAA team out on the field in September, then expect Mets fans to be excited for 2018. I (and I think we) am not. The hot stove is pretty cold around here. It's gotten to the point where I have not worn a piece of Mets gear since mid-October. Nothing. These items lay dormant (mostly caps). Waiting for me to come back. But I don't know if I will.

That's hard to say. But it's truthful.

So yesterday I thought back a few years...SoulSlam used to be a HUGE fan of the NY Knicks. Grew up a big fan. Clyde, Earl the Pearl, Bernard King, Willis the Big Man in my youth, Patrick Ewing, The Oak and Anthony Mason (RIP) when I got somewhat older. Then something happened. I don't blame Latrell Sprewell but it was around his time...and the strike of 1999. I just decided I didn't like this team anymore. So I became a basketball fan, not a Knicks fan. I rarely root for the Knicks at all. This season they have some excitement and young'uns that can turn that around, but 19 years later it's a no-go for me.

That's how I'm starting to feel about the NY Mets. The ownership of this team has done so little to renew my faith year after year that I think I'm at the point where I've given all I can give. Spring training will be the key. If that doesn't give my heart a kickstart, then it's "who's on tonight?" time. Stay tuned.

2018

Wow. Times flies. It's now 2018. We've got flying cars and transporters and holographic TVs and...

None of that. It's pretty much more of the same. Sure, tech moves on but guys are still wearing neckties (not modified Nehru jackets like old movies predicted), cars still have to make contact with the road (and use gasoline), and all that stuff.

But we get older. I know I have. I like to think I'm still 24 (dream) but I am not. The Sons of SoulSlam are 19 and 17 respectively. Not little boys anymore. Beasts. Gym-killers. It's kind of bittersweet. On one hand you are proud of how they turn out. On the other, sad, because you know that they will never be little again. That's life I guess.

Happy New Year.