michaeldthomas

Last night's City of DeKalb Advisory Commission on Disabilities meeting depressed me a bit. We talked about future initiatives and came to the conclusion that the recession killed our agenda. Most our mission involves helping the city become more accessible to people with disabilities. Almost everything we could suggest takes money and time. With probable looming city government lay-offs, we decided that now was not the time to press for improvements.

*sigh*

Other than prepping for Odd Con, things are pretty dull around here. I'm almost done with a draft of a new short story. My brain should also be in a good enough place that I can start revising the last story next week. I also finished a draft of a section of some new nonfiction work (my sekrit project). I hope that my collaborators like it.

I'm watching the Cubs/Brewers game. This is not going to be a pretty season.

On a happier note, today is the 11th anniversary of the first time rarelylynne and I kissed.:-)

So far, the season has not been great. The Cubs had some devastating news last night. It looks like Aramis Rameriz is going to be out 4-6 weeks with a dislocated shoulder. Considering that we have no good "Plan B" for third base, this is a very bad thing. Here's my panic list:

1- Carlos Zambrano is still on the DL.
2- Derek Lee is done. He just can't hit anymore. All of those nagging injuries caught up to him, leaving him with only warning-track power.
3- Our bullpen blows. Heilman is reminding us why they booed him at Shea Stadium, Cotts can't find the strike zone, Marmol has been bumpy, and Gregg scares the crap out of me every time he comes in to "save" a game.
4- Milton Bradley can't hit. I think he'll snap out of this, but it's only a matter of time before he gets hurt or blows up from the Chicago pressure. As my friend Drew pointed out, Bradley couldn't handle the fan and media pressure in Cleveland.
5- Soto is also in a bad slump.
6- Our defense is abysmal. We might have the worst range in baseball.

Breathe....

On the plus side, we're still over .500 and only 2 1/2 games out of first in the NL Central. Our rotation has been solid. Soriano, Theriot, and Fukudome are off to great starts, and we don't play in the AL East.

It's going to be a long summer.

The weather sucks, and I have a hangover. In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have mixed mixed port, sherry, madeira, wine, and beer. I also probably shouldn't do that while ingesting large amounts of cream-based foods and sauces. As it turns out, I'm still lactose intolerant.

Still, it was worth it. We had an excellent time at the Pride and Prejudice Party. eeknight and chats_noir know how to throw a party. We watched the Firth/Ehle version in glorious HD while Eric served us period food and drinks. We really needed that kind of day.

Caitlin was watched by our friends Sarah and David. They have first dibs on our organs.

I'm spending the day reading my brand new Baseball Prospectus. Baseball statistics soothe me.

:)

There you go, mirrorthaw. Lou did everything for you but have Mike Fontenot pitch.

I can't say that feel bad having both New York teams out of it this year. I think the baseball gods have spoken about tearing down two perfectly good, landmark stadiums for publicly-financed country clubs for the wealthy.

It's almost 8 Central, and we're just now getting started. I am so glad that I don't live on the East Coast anymore. It's not fair that kids there need to stay up until midnight to watch their favorite players.

Soto just stepped on a bat and almost went down. I think my heart stopped for a moment.

Ugh.

It's been an ugly couple of games. The only thing worse than losing is losing to the White Sox. Oh well, at least it wasn't the against the Cardinals.

Theriot and Eyre are also banged up. I hope this means that we're getting all of our injuries out of the way before the All-Star Game.

I’m watching the first Cubs’ broadcast of the season. That is a good thing. There’s nothing like the gentle rhythms of baseball on a Saturday afternoon. I can half watch the game while taking care of conference and writing tasks.

The Cubs look nicely above average this year. There aren’t any major holes on the roster. Assuming that everybody stays healthy and none of our key players have a major decline, we should be in the playoffs. I would say this is a 90-win team. That’s plenty of wins in the laughable National League.

The only team in the NL Central that scares me is the Milwaukee Brewers. Their line-up is awesome. However, I’m not sold on their defense and their rotation isn’t exactly the mid-90s Braves. Not the Cubs are all aces behind Zambrano, but we have a few more dependable arms. The Brewers’ dependence on Ben Sheets is unfortunately eerily similar to the Cubs’ Prior and Wood situation of the last few years. I just don’t see him staying healthy for a full season.

Here are my season predictions. Please feel free to laugh at me in November.

AL Winners-
West- Anaheim Angels
Central- Detroit Tigers
East- Boston Red Sox
Wild Card- Cleveland Indians

MVP- Alex Rodriguez
Cy Young- Jared Weaver

NL Winners-
West- Arizona Diamondbacks
Central- Chicago Cubs
East- New York Mets
Wild Card- Milwaukee Brewers

MVP- Prince Fielder
Cy Young- Johan Santana

World Series-
Detroit Tigers vs. Chicago Cubs

World Champions-
Detroit Tigers