"Ratings Guy"
I'm pretty sure every sitcom has done a "We're a Nielsen Family" episode at one point or another. I can think of three off the top of my head. Back in the day, all television shows were beholden to the Nielsen Ratings. You can totally understand why a show would want to play with that power dynamic, turn it on its head. The hunter becomes the hunted. Etc.
Demoing to kids with your Shetland Sheepdog
Shetland Sheepdogs can be active little dogs, who enjoy doing sports such as agility, disc (Frisbee) or Obedience. If you enjoy these sports also, and you enjoy volunteering in your community, you might find that demoing to kids with your Sheltie gives you a fun way to combine these interests.
The past few years, my local humane society has contacted a dog sport related club that I’m involved with about demoing for their kids education program. The demos are informal; the teams of handlers and dogs show a few freestyle disc dog moves, and then we let the kids meet the dogs, and throw discs for them.
Shelties are usually a big hit with the kids. Their smaller size and fluffy cuteness make them very appealing to smaller children. They are not as intimidating as larger dogs might be.
The kids love the demos, and according to the program director, talk about the dogs and the demos for months.
The demos for kids groups is a great way to get a new generation of pet lovers interested in dog training and sports. A dog that is trained, and has an active owner, is much less likely to be surrendered to a shelter and rescue. Participating in dog sports also opens up opportunities for new friendships for the handler.
If you’re interested in demoing with your Sheltie, you’ll need to evaluate whether your dog would actually enjoy doing this. A well-socialized Shetland Sheepdog who likes children may be a good choice; however, if your dog is shy and skittish, this is probably not the activity for her. If you feel your dog would enjoy demoing, also determine what level of participation is appropriate for her. For example, my Sheltie loves to play disc with her people, and she loves to be petted, but she would not enjoy playing disc with people she didn’t know, so we don’t participate in that segment.
Treehouse of Horror XXIII
As a rule, I am positively predisposed toward the Treehouse of Horror episodes. For one thing, Halloween is my favorite holiday. And for another thing, the Treehouse episodes let the writers cut loose and take bizarre flights of fancy, which is always fun. Plus the structure means that no single story is going to drag out for very long and risk outwearing its welcome.
Carlos Triunfel, top o' th innin'
.
Didn't watch that much TV this September. Don't even remember which game it was when we flicked it on and there it was, four years on. Carlos Triunfel at shortstop in Safeco Field.
Dr. D is a mammal like most of those reading this, and sadly enough, classical conditioning overmatches his higher brain functions like Felix Hernandez vs. Elvis Andrus. He therefore expected, on a visceral level, to see a train wreck defensively. Intellectually he had no reason to have any expectations in either direction. Instinctively, though? He pinched his eyebrows painfully and hoped he wouldn't see something embarrassing.
Years of scouting reports had closed the books on this one. Carlos Triunfel had been a minor league SS only in the sense that Garry Sheffield once was a minor league SS. Dr. D reminds himself again and again and again to trust only his own eyes (and, admittedly, Gordon Gross' eyes), but his self-reprimands only go so far. You come back to your instinctive reactions. The world can't be crazy.
................
A ground ball went to second base. The second baseman - who even remembers or cares whether it was Ackley - flipped over to Carlos Triunfel for the DP relay.
Triunfel's hands moved like Sugar Ray Leonard's, impossible even to follow except through slo-mo, and then the throw! The ball took Justin Smoak backwards over the railing at first base. He lost his cleats flipping over the rail. Dr. D's eyes did one of those cartoon-character sproingy things.
...............
An inning or two later, a leisurely three-hop groundball went deep into the hole at short, the Brendan Ryan play. All shortstops make 50% of the plays to their lefts; some shortstops make 15% of the plays to their rights and some, like Ryan, make 50%. The 3-hop grounder in the hole is the ball that separates NOT major league SS's from minor league ones. It is the ball that separates great major league SS's from okay ones.
Triunfel glided over effortlessly, picked the ball with Infield Practice body language, and ZZZZZZIIINNNNNNGED the ball over to Smoak, head-high, beating the runner by two steps.
We could add that as a 2B, Triunfel scampered around the infield like Pokey Reese, charging slow rollers and using that blurry-fast transfer to make close plays, um, not close. We could add that on tag plays, and around the bag, Triunfel looked quite natural, fluid, and instinctive. But that's anticlimactic. This is a shortstop who can make the play in the hole.
.................
Two plays. And four years' worth of bloggy scouting on Carlos Triunfel went up in a low roar and a flowering mushroom cloud. Does anybody want to google the last four years' worth of blogging about this guy?
I s'pose that Triunfel had a jiggly midsection at age 19. That would be our best guess here. Where is Billy Beane when you need him ... oh yeah. In the playoffs with seven rookies.
If you want to know why Dr. D battles so doggedly about who-cares issues like Jesus Montero's catching, why he doesn't let bloggers slide when they glibly inform us that Nick Franklin will or won't play shortstop, well, it's not because he's trying to be pugnacious.
For nine hundred years has Jack Zduriencik watched fielding. His own counsel will he keep as to who can glove. Note well that Montero is catching and Triunfel is shortst'ing -- and that Carlos Triunfel has just been moved up in the org line. Let that fact stand at the top of your list, and us 'net rats' opinions, behind it.
.
Carlos Triunfel: bottom o' th innin'
.
Carlos Triunfel has a long swing, meaning that he wrist-hinges the bat head way around so that it aims back at the pitcher. This of course means that the bat has farther to travel to get into the hitting area. It also means, in theory, that he hits the ball harder than average.
He sinks his weight gracefully down onto the incoming energy and locks his eyes onto it decisively.
His bat launch and throughswing, as well as his arc-y one hand swing plane, are solidly in key with the Alex Rodriguez school of music. His torque, balance, and power are all pretty to watch.
The problem is that, after he winds that bat so menacingly, he then decelerates the bat into the hitting zone. This results in a flat, static, lifeless swing. I mean, you can see it in the "thonk" of the base hit shown in the video, but the Mainframe was left with this impression on every Triunfel swing.
......................
And why might a 21-year-old* shortstop be indecisive about attacking ML pitches? If you can't connect the dots on that one, we'll refer you to ... well, the Barclays Premier League. While you're trying new sports, you might as well try the most popular one!
Triunfel missed the 2009 season, was effectively 21 in AAA this year, and hit a presentable .260. His EYE was mediocre to crummy, not tragic, but evidencing a heavy rearguard action on Triunfel's part. He did swat 10 homers and 30+ doubles in a huge park.
The reason that fans have wandered off and lost interest in Triunfel is because he's never flashed any upside. It looks to me like, his whole career, he's been doing what Montero did in 2012: he's made blamed sure that he got a lot of contact. On pitches that he doesn't understand.
We don't have any guess when the day will arrive that Carlos Triunfel will start seeing pitches early, and will start accelerating the bat through the strike zone with gusto. It could be when he's 24. It could be when he's 26. It could be next April.
But the kid hit pretty well in AAA at age 21*, and he looks like a shortstop. Jack Zduriencik, as so often, had his own opinion as to which player deserved airtime in late 2012. Don't overlook Zduriencik's own statement on Carlos Triunfel.
...................
It doesn't look logical to me that his career spike would be imminent. But who knows? Right now the Mariners have Ryan at SS next year, and they have Franklin and Miller both in baseball's top 100 prospects and in the UPPER minors. It's going to be tough to invest three years' worth of AB's in Carlos Triunfel.
Supposing that Triunfel was going to have a Jose Valentin or Rich Aurilia career, starting not in 2013 but in 2014. You can't just crinkle that up and toss it in the wastepaper basket. But how do you shoehorn that into the M's plans?
M's fans have never been exposed to this problem before. There are going to be a lot more legitimate major leaguers come down this pipeline than Jack Zduriencik has time or room for. And it's one of the reasons that you trade quantity Scrub prospects for quality Stars.
ABC's got a hit with 'Nashville'
Before anyone starts squawking at me for using the term 'redneck' in that subheading, I can, because I'm Southern y'all. And I meant it: ABC's new musical drama Nashville really is like a redneck/country version of Revenge, complete with all the back-biting nastiness, greed, lying and of course, sex. In other words, it's a hit!
I watched the Nashville season premiere tonight with very few expectations. I didn't read reviews ahead of time, because I think sometimes they influence my watching experience. So here's the deal: I loved it! If you want a brand new nighttime soap to fill your Wednesday nights, Nashville is it.One of the many reasons I loved tonight's season premiere of Nashville is Connie Britton. She plays country music superstar Rayna James, a woman who is starting to see her celebrity slip a bit. Her tours aren't selling out anymore and her records are stiffing. What can be done? Well, Rayna's record company decides she should pair up with up-and-coming singer Juliette Barnes (Hayden Panettiere) on a tour -- and open for her. That doesn't sit well with Rayna, so she walks.
It's a simple premise, really, but it's beautifully done in Nashville. The script is solid, the acting is great (especially Britton, who I simply adored in Friday Night Lights and American Horror Story) and there's enough cat fighting drama to keep us coming back for more each week. I'm talking the kind of nastiness that we see with Victoria Grayson on Revenge -- yeah, *that* kind of nasty. Rayna's dad, Lamar Wyatt (played by Powers Boothe) is the male, Nashville version of Victoria (for now).
I've watched many of the new shows this season and so far, Nashville is far and away my favorite. So yee haw, y'all! Did anyone else see the Nashville premiere this week? If so, what did you think? To me, it totally delivered on the promise of a soapy, drama with tons of great music!
Becoming less of a head case
When most people think of living to do, and trying to achieve new things, they have tangible goals, I believe a large part of the equation is becoming a full person. For me, this involves looking introspectively at who I am, and what growths and changes I want to make to be the person I’m proud to be. Introspection in itself is a task, but when one masters this, the real fun begins.
One personal trait I posses and would like to work on is that I’m a complete head case. I tend to be in my head more often than I am in the real world, and this translates to not always speaking up, having trouble staying in the moment and a plethora of other issues.
While it is hard to be a head case, I do believe every issue has a solution. For me, I think the real key is working on concentration. I find that much of my head casey-ness comes from my mind wandering. As soon as I let it slip, I feel as if I’m gone for days…or at least long enough to miss out on the current moment.
For me, I believe the answer is meditation. Doing this on a daily basis, starting with a small amount of time will help me gain focus, stay in the moment, and be in control of my thoughts. So far I’ve spent three days at a meditation clinic and am currently reading up on best practices toward mindfulness. Here’s to staying in the present!
Yes, in fact, your Tuk Tuk driver is drunk
When I made it to Luang Prabang, I was suffering from Paradise hangover. I know, I know, my life is very tough. I had just spent an amazing week with a beautiful Swiss girl in a mountain oasis, and I wasn’t ready for the shock of an incredibly touristy town. I had heard good things, but on initial encounter, I was quite disappointed.
After settling in, and having spent my first night doing nothing, I decided to walk around the town. I had heard about great waterfalls to visit, but I felt that I had to try and seek the out what my traveling friends had felt when they said they loved LP.
After walking from one end to the other, and seeing the riverside attractions for both rivers (the Namou and Mekong) I decided to take refuge at a small stand selling cold drinks. This is where my day got interesting.
Before I could sit down, a few off-duty Tuk Tuk drivers invited me to their table for a glass of beer. There were five drivers and two spoke English decently. They asked typical questions of travelers and offered me tours for the next day. After they got over the sales pitch, the beer started to flow. One glass turned into multiple, and before I knew it, I was eating a meal with them.
After getting a hardy buzz, and buying a round to keep the conversation going, I found myself in transit to one of the driver’s friend’s places. Apparently, his Tuk Tuk was acting up, and here we could get it fixed and continue to eat good food and drink beer. This sounded like a great plan to me!
The place itself was interesting and far of the beaten path. The father of the friend had built a hamster ball type contraption for training his prized fighting cock, and there was a line of Tuk Tuks down the block. My new friend and I parked his ride, and then sat at the table inside the home/garage.
As the night began to fall, I found myself quite hammered, and quite tired. My friend was also quite drunk, so his friend offered to drive me back to my hostel. Before I left, though, I was extended an invitation to eat breakfast with my new friend and his family the next day. I agreed and said goodbye.
The next morning, much to my surprise, I found my friend waiting outside my place, chipper as ever. I hopped in his Tuk Tuk, and headed to his home. As I arrived to his house, barely able to stand from my hangover, I was greeted with a humble home and a beautiful view of the mountains. I was also handed a cold Beer Lao. Apparently, this is normal practice for the Tuk Tuk driver and his family. I nearly vomited as I took an appreciative sip of Laotian hospitality.
Bo Ten kind of sucks…
In the north of Laos, there is a border town known as Bo Ten. It is the gatekeeper to entering China, and according to an older copy of Lonely Planet Laos I saw in a hostel, gives an interesting glimpse into a Chinese city. It supposedly had tall buildings and markets, and seemed more like China than northern Laos. It was supposed to be worth a day trip, or heaven forbid, a full night’s stay. This, though, was not entirely factual.
Having been traveling by motorcycle, my trip to Bo Ten only took about 40 minutes from Luang Namtha. It wasn’t too far out of the way from Odomxay, and the scenery to the actual town was beautiful. As I came sweeping around the mountain curves, seeing signs for the Chinese border only 5 km away, I was shocked; Bo Ten isn’t a big city.
Much to my dismay, Bo Ten barely looks any different than most villages in Laos. There were small restaurants, beautiful mountains and Laotian people. The only small difference was one large, pink hotel. It didn’t look too much bigger than those found in Luang Namtha, and in fact, the whole town looked like a smaller version of the former city.
For those looking to find China in Laos, Bo Ten is not the place. Besides taking pictures of road signs and at the Chinese border, there isn’t much to see in the town. Unless you have a motorcycle or bike, I would suggest skipping the town all together.