New Years Resolutions 2014

Another year is coming to an end (yeah), to be replaced by a year that is the same or worse (Contrary to what Howard Jones might say, things can get worse).  Same "stuff" different year.  So what are my resolutions for the new year?

* Cable Box: 1080i
* Computer: 720P (roughly)
* Camera: 4,608 x 3,072
* Video Game Console: 720P +
* Surface RT:1,366 x 768

What, those aren't the resolutions you wanted.  Ok...
* Win the lottery (net $7 million +)
* To get less error messages from Blogger (compatibility with IE 11)
* Add 5,000 GamerScore
* - Redacted -

Xmas 2013: The Loot

I would like to say that Santa Claus came and got me everything on my list, but I don't think that exactly happened (though i'll give him credit if I won/win the lottery). 

This Place... Now .004 Griswold

So what exactly does this mean? 

Xmas Candy: Life Savers Sweet Story Book

How times have changed... A few years ago when I was a younger kid than I am now, I would occasionally get Lifesavers Sweet Storybooks for Xmas.  This maybe a slightly fuzzy recollection, but I remember them different than the one I have sitting in front of me today.  The one I have sitting in front of me is a mere shadow of the awesomeness of the one I grew up with. 

First of all, I vaguely remember there being more rolls than the 6 there are now. I thought there used to be 8, it might have been 10. 

I remember there being:
* 5 Flavor
* (Wild or was it) Black Cherry
* Butter Rum - my favorite, I miss Butter Rum Life Savers.  I haven't seen these anywhere in years.  These are getting really, really hard to find - is it time to be evil???

Ok, maybe I was evil, or maybe I was just feeling oddly nostalgic, or maybe I did nothing. 
 I'm not sure if they had Pep-o-mint or Wint-o-green back then, I think they did.  Yeah, I seem to remember that Wint-o-Green Life Savers spark in the dark. 

Xmas 2013

I'm dreaming of a Green Xmas (or maybe just an Xmas with a decent number of zeroes after the decimal point, not leading zeroes either). 

So how does my bigger space this year look... see for yourself.  I am curious why the "Merry Christmas lights always appear blurry.  All kinds of weird flash stuff too.  I would have really liked to have a 3'+ tall electric fireplace heater thing in the second picture, rather than the Santa Claus, but that would probably have been $500+.  That would have been awesome.

If you are wondering... I added one little thing outside too (though it might work inside to the left of Santa tree topper too).  It was a LED Philips 6 icicle cascading lights thing.  If I had the money, the Griswold house might look dim. 

Bonus Picture: A real, surprisingly non-aromatic Xmas tree for someone I am acquainted with

i Finally Finished This (Puzzle)

Well, it took a couple (more like a few days to finish this), but I finally did it - and it may even be mostly correct.  This could have been easier - double sided pieces (but that means that if you find the match for one, it is not hard to find it for the other one) and very similar image.  See what I'm talking aboot.

Seattle Mariners: What to Do With Nick Franklin

Allegedly, the Seattle Mariners will sign Robinson Cano (still a SP, at least one outfielder and DH issue to address).  This move appears to have displaced Nick Franklin (one of my favorite current Mariners - despite his stupid elbow spider web tattoo). 

So what is next for the 22 year old?  That remains to be seen, but this is how I believe it to be

Didn't See This One Coming

The Seattle Mariners (apparently) shocked the baseball world with their massive deal with 2B Robinson Cano.  I guess the deal could fall apart... and allegedly it almost did with Jay-Z doing his Jerry Maguire "show me the money" imitation.  The reported deal is 10 years $240 million with a full no trade clause. 

Let's see what other notable free agent deals have the Seattle Marines made in their history....  Aside from Ichiro Suzuki (kind of a free agent, sort of), I'm drawing a blank.  I guess they also had Adrian Beltre and John Olerud (I liked one not the other, guess which is which).  They did sign Kevin Mitchell once.  Recently, the Mariners have been spurned by the top tier free agents (a good thing since most of them have had a few bad seasons). 

I'm not really a fan of this move - I would have preferred Nick Franklin (maybe more on that later)start the year at 2B.  Oh well, I guess i'll have to deal with Robinson Cano instead, too bad.  That is a lot of money for a lot of years. 

However, with contracts like these... it should not be viewed as a sunk cost.  There is always a surrender value to these deals (ability to offload player onto some other team, picking up portions of the salary).

Seattle Mariners Random Offseason Post

Spring Training begins in about two months.  So what are the Mariners next season - I guess that remains to be seen.

Thanksgiving Coincidence

I was watching Miracle on 34th Street and noticed that the date on the door said something like Closed for Thanksgiving November, 28th.

This year Thanksgiving fell on November 28th too.  So, I guess i'll take my house now - or I'd just settle for a winning lottery ticket. 

I guess the last time that happened was 2002 (apparently it falls on that date semi-frequently, it just hasn't happened for a while) - a rather forgettable year.

Unfun fact: Abraham Lincoln set Thanksgiving as the final Thursday in November, however the evil FDR set Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday in November (Roosevelt allegedly wanted the next to the last Thursday in November to be the "holiday")-  why (allegedly)...

An earlier Thanksgiving would give retailers a longer period of time to sell goods before Xmas.