They say that you can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose... and you can also pick football games!

NFL:
Packers over Indigenous Persons
St L'ams over SeeHacks
Horsies over Pitt
Philly over Tampa
N'awlins over 'Cisco

PAC-10
Quackers over Sun Devils
Wild kitties over Trees
Berkeley over L.A
Condoms over the Snarlin' Puppies of Montlake

(and if you have no idea what teams I'm referring too... too bad, figure it out!)

How's 'bout a "Random Thoughts" posting?

-- Now that the Lou Piniella Era is officially over for the Mariners, a lot of people are reminiscing. My favorite moment? Easy. Its the Jay Buhner "Hero, Goat, Hero" game, aka Game 3 of the 1995 ALCS against the Indians.

A clearly worn out Randy Johnson started the game, and just wasn't the same after pitching hs ass off in the tiebreaker vs. the Angels, the Game 3 "tide-turner" vs. the Yankees, and his "won't his arm fall off" relief appearance in Game 5. He managed to make it through, I believe, somewhere into the 8th. Buhner was the goat, despite having put the Mariners ahead early with a homer (the hero) a costly, and atypical, error had allowed the Indians to get back into it.

So, when Johnson left the game, the Indians were celebrating as though victory was surely their's, even though the score was tied. Who can blame them, frankly. Well, in 10th inning, Buhner hit a redemption shot (the hero again) to put the Mariners back out front, and Charlton saved it in the bottom of the inning.

The win put the Mariners up 2-1 in the ALCS, which represented the high-water mark for the franchise's first 24 years, essentially. They've never been closer to the World Series, actually. In the 2000 ALCS vs. the Yankees, they won game 1 and lost the next three. In 2001, they dropped the first 2.

-- Is October the most underrated month of the year? Most people around here are feeling too gloomy about the end of another glorious Seattle Summer, and the inevitable deluge coming in the Rainiest Month of the Year, November. Granted, this year it's particularly nice, but I can remember plenty of great October days in the past.

-- After reading the Sports Guy's latest column, I want to reaffirm one simple rule about Vegas. Don't head down there with money burning a hole in your pocket and feeling a desrie to start betting just to bet. That is the attitude that Vegas will chew up and spit out. Unless you have a couple thousand to blow, have a plan, think about what you're doing, show restraint, and don't believe you'll hit a jackpot. Sure, it happens, just often enough to have everyone believe it can happen to them. Everyone has a story about some guy they know, or guy that some guy they know knows, who turned his last $20 into $2000. Fine. But if you expect to survive, you have to understand that it just isn't going to happen to you. If you think that's negative thinking that will keep you from winning, fine, go ahead and lose all your money.

And if you DO hit the jackpot, walk out of that casino with every dime (save for the tips to cocktail waitresses and perhaps the dealer). Avoid the tempation to act like a big shot and blow some of your winnings right there in that hotel, with a fancy dinner or whatnot. You're not fooling anyone. You're still Joe Punchclock, and the casino owners absolutely WANT you to turn around and spend your money right there. They have designed these places to make you feel special to get back as much of your winnings as possible. That is the REAL scam in Vegas. Don't be a sucker!

-- The pole is to the stripper/strip club as the folding metal chair is to the wrestler/wrestling match... and vice-versa

-- Want more damning evidence against the 'Hawks for their Monday Night loss and fall to NFL "loser-dom" at 1-4. They failed to take advantage of "lightning in a bottle."

Let me explain. To me, "lightning in a bottle" in NFL terms is scoring Special Teams and Defensive TD's. It's that simple. They are generally improbable plays that turn games around. Many teams have used these big plays to succeed, but it is worth noting that no team has EVER suceeded in the long haul by "relying" on special teams and defensive scores. I am thinking of last year's New England Patriots (who, I am fond of pointing out, scored three offensive TD's in last years three playoff games to win the Super Bowl, and one of them was a Drew Bledsoe pass against Pittsburgh), the UW Huskies from the previous couple years, and that 'Hawks team from '98 that set an NFL record for INT, fumble, and kick return TD's.

So, when you score an impropable punt return TD like Bobby Engram did Monday night, and fail to take advantage of it and win the game, you have squandered a special gift from the football gods, and it is no damn wonder you are 1-4!

Next Week's "Pick 'Em: games:

NFL:
(Sunday night) Washington @ Green Bay
(Monday night) Indianapolis @ Pittsburgh
Seattle @ St Louis
Tampa Bay @ Philadelphia
San Francisco @ New Orleans

PAC-10
(WSU and Oregon State have a bye week)
Washington @ USC
Arizona State @ Oregon
Arizon @ Stanford
UCLA @ Cal-Berkeley (yes, its UC Los Angeles against UC Berkeley)
scoring will be 8-7-6-5 this week with only 4 games

"Pick 'Em" from last weekend. participation is dwindling... sedn in your freakin picks!

Jake (that's me!)
NFL: 20 (39)
PAC-10: 26 (62)

Tyler
NFL: 8 (35)
PAC-10 26 (81)

DanG
NFL: 17 (32)
PAC-10: 17 (65)

Can you believe this weather?!

You might reasonably assume that since I am unemployed, It would allow me to further enjoy this great weather. Sadly, this isn't really the case, and exposes the problem with unemployment.

Mainly this is lack of money. "Doing things" costs money. Also, there is a "why the fuck should I be out having fun when I need a fucking job" complex. The power of this is not to be underestimated. I Could be out hiking or whatever, but it is really difficult to enjoy youself.

So, I have just become lazy, depressed, unmotivated to do anything recreational, yet at the same time incredibly anxious.

And I hate to admit it, but I kinda wish it would just start raining...

Quick quiz:
How do you tell if You're NFL team is a bunch of losers?

they (referring to fans, media and players) sit around the next day and complain about how an opponent celebrated a touchdown

Well, the 49ers just defeated the beloved Seattle SeeHacks 28-21 on Monday Night Football. At least the city and stadium got to show off a bit on a great day/evening for a national audience.

So, next week, we get to play Toilet Bowl II against the 1-5 Rams. You may recall Toilet Bowl I against the Vikings a couple of weeks ago on Sunday night. Well, let's hope for a similar result, and the SeeHacks don't fall into the toilet bowl this time around.

I have just gone back and read my blog for the last month, and it occurs to me I have done a terrible job with it. As far as a "journaling" of my life I have failed miserably... in fact there is very little content in this about my day-to-day life. Take away the football-related stuff, and since mid-September I have said virtually Nothing aside from a couple long rants, one of which I posted today.

And I have been doing stuff, I just haven't been writing about it. I go back to a hike I did in early September, to Green Mountain. I had planned to give a nice little write-up, but all I did was post a couple pictures in POD (and I never did finish the one where I named all the noteworthy peaks visible in the panorama shot). That seems to have started a downward trend in my accounting, and I want to reverse that starting now.

Last weekend was Andy's bachelor party in Portland, and I posted some pictures in POD, but never wrote a word about it. It was a fun time, taking the train down, doing some drinking, going to a comdey club (very funny). There was a bit of a problem with lodgings, but it all worked out. Also, a week ago Friday, the 4th, I drove out to Wenatchee, making stops in Leavenworth and Chelan, just for grins to buy fruit (fresh off the tree!) and didn't say shit about it... except I posted a couple pictures from That. That evening I also saw "Red Dragon" which was pretty damn good. It had me squirming at times!

The last week wasn't all that eventfull, but I kept myself occupied doing stuff, and had a prety good indoor game Wednesday night, although we lost to a tough team. I thought I had a good lead on a job, but I am vastly underqualified for it, and probably won't hear a peep from it... but I don't really want to get into that dperessing shit.

so, that's about it...

what was the point of this entry...?

It is days like this, and the kind of mood I have been in since late last night, that gave rise to the �Malcontent� tag and the whole �Ambiguously Disgruntled� concept. I have been in a sour, just-slightly-off-my-game kind of mind set all day, and there is no real good reason for it. I can just be a joyless, dour son of a bitch sometimes, and often my foul mood is somewhat inexplicable.

But I should say something nice, and positive, and generally comment on the big Event of yesterday, which saw Cousin Andy get married to the lovely and charming Jody. But it turns out this may be the seed of my discontent. This story starts Friday night.

Greg, Rich and I, after hefty workouts, decided to head out for some beer at the Elysian brewery. I ended up driving, and decided this was worth a free beer. Greg and Rich agreed, since neither of them wanted to drive. My parallel parking prowess won me another free beer (thanks to Rich�s big mouth) and with my planned two beers comped, things were good in Jake Land.

The Elysian has some of the best beer around, and Greg and I were pleased to see they had the Valkyrie Strong Ale, one of our favorites. I also had their Pumpkin Spice beer, which was pretty damn good as well. So things were Really good in Jake Land.

Once back at the house, I decided to watch �Robbery Homicide Division,� which I had taped earlier, and had not yet caught an episode of. It was okay�. I guess. During this, I had a couple more beers, so I went to bed at about 2 am feeling pretty buzzed.

Greg woke up at about 8 the next morning, and when he turned on the TV right outside my room it woke me up. I didn�t really think it was that big a deal, assuming I�d fall right back asleep, but that wasn�t forthcoming. Then Greg started playing his computer game, with his sub-woofer reverberating the blasting sounds through the wall. I sort of dozed on and off for a while, but my effective sleep was over, and I finally got out of bed not feeling very well rested.

Rich and Greg started tidying up the house for Jason�s bachelor party later in the day, which I was going to miss, and I just generally tried to stay out of the way while slowly getting ready to leave at about 11:30 to head to the �rents house.

Sister Jill (the pregnant Sister Jill) had flown in Friday, and the �rents, Jill and I were going to head down to Aunt Jan�s house in Gig Harbor for lunch for a belated b-day celebration for her and my dad. After that, we were going to head straight for Centralia and the Andy-Jody wedding.

The problem was that I just felt sluggish, tired, and generally uninspired. It was almost surely the result of having a lot of beer and waking up prematurely, but I have pushed through that plenty of times with coffee. That wasn�t working this time.

After hanging out at Jan�s for a bit, we headed for Centralia, and were running a bit early, so I made a push to stop for some coffee. The �rents and Jill assented, and we got espresso drinks at a weird Dutch-themed coffee house and headed over to the Lewis and Clark Hotel, in old-town Centralia, for the ceremony/reception.

Of course, I still felt sluggish and generally off my game, but now I was getting perturbed. This was Andy�s wedding, for fuck�s sake, and promised to be a great party, and I just Couldn�t get into it.

So, I should say some positive things here, because it Was a good ceremony and reception, and my disgruntled, pissy outlook doesn�t change that. It was quite non-traditional, particularly in the musical selection, and I can�t help but wonder what some of the more �conservative� family members thought about the Unitarian delivery. There were no attendants, and it was a great change of pace from the usual lavish, over-the-top shows most weddings end up being.

The reception featured lots of beer, which is very important, and a buffet with vegetarian lasagna and salmon. The Dunkelweizen I made went over pretty well, which made me happy. A bunch of us got up to make some comments after eating, and I made a general jackass out myself, which is great. My immense ability to get up and say something stupid has not diminished one bit. In another great twist, they had pie instead of cake, and we all know pie is superior in all ways. Who doesn�t like pie?!

But, again, I didn�t feel like I was into the swing of things yet. I kept drinking beer, and mingled a bit, chatting it up with various relatives, but still felt a bit like I�d rather go and hide.

Most receptions reach a point where, after all the �traditional� crap (toasts, bouquet/garter toss, first dance, yada yada) and most of the �lame� people start going home, that the party really begins. I was starting to get into it. The beer was working, the crowd was thinning out, and I sensed the �party� was getting going. Then I was informed that we (the �rents, Sister Jill) were leaving soon.

Damn.

Damn!

Shit!!!!

I can hardly blame them. The �rents are old (and lame� but I mean that in the best possible way, they just aren�t into the party thing) and Jill is pregnant. I mean, like, sure, she�s gonna party it up, ya know.

So I delayed them as much as possible. I Really didn�t want to go, things were Just Getting Good.

But, after saying my goodbyes, and assuring Andy and Jody that it just killed me I had to leave, we left. I rode back to the �rents house, hung out there and had a snack and bullshat for a bit, then headed home� to an empty house� because Greg and Rich were out for Jason�s bachelor party�

And I forgot to grab/didn�t know about the CD�s Andy/Jody were giving out at the reception, and for whatever reason that really just stuck in my craw really good. It was like the icing on the cake.

So I sat around and got depressed at home, drank another beer, and passed out� feeling depressed.

I am just a dour and pissy SOB, what can I say.

So I got up this morning in a mood, watched some football, and headed off to my soccer game. I just joined up with a team that was looking to fill out there roster, and was feeling pretty positive about it. But we had only 8 guys show up.

So that didn�t make me feel any better.

But Tyler and Angie were around, and we went out to Green Lake and tossed the aerobie around a bit, so that was good. And it was a really nice day.

I should just pull my head out of my ass.