The Luney Bin: H. Wade Minter

I went 2-1 this week, which isn’t bad. The team that lost was actually leading going into the Sunday night game, so it wasn’t as bad as it looked.

Fuquay Farmhands (1-3) – CWX League (L 75-101)

This is the one I was leading going into Sunday night. I had great games from Steve McNair (21), Stephen Davis (15), and the Kansas City defense (15). McNair was a last-minute replacement for Marc Bulger, who ended up scoring in the 20’s on my bench. My opponent had great games from Rich Gannon (23), the Tennessee defense (20), and in the move that killed my chances, Marvin Harrison (26).

My wide receivers continue to suck – scoring a grand total of 9 points among the three of them. I really need to work a trade soon.

Virginia Generals (1-3) – NCWise League – (W 129-99)

The Generals finally get in the win column this week, knocking off a 3-0 team in the process. Deuce McAllister (21) and TJ Duckett (12) helped out at RB, and I had a WR in double-digits with waiver pickup Johnnie Morton (10). 3/4 of my defense scored over 7 points, and my opponent had RB Edgerin James (0) in his lineup out with injury. I had the game won by Monday night, so I didn’t even need Brett Favre (27).

Kenbridge Comets (2-1) – SkilTech League – (W 88-62)

The Comets become the first team with a winning record this year. An inhuman game by Peyton Manning (42) provided about half of my points. In a shocker, WRs Torry Holt (12) and Tai Streets (10) scored in double digits, as did RB Stephen Davis (14).

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Had an automotive adventure last night. On my way home from work, I stopped at a local gas station to fill up. Filled the car up with gas, no problems. Got back into the car, turned the key . . . nothing. The electrical system died. If the key was in the “off” position, the clock, dome light, etc. would work, but as soon as the key was turned to “on,” everything just cut off.

So I called Holly, and she and Hayley came up to the station to give me a jump. Hooked up the jumper cables, turned the key . . . nothing. Same as before.

We pushed the car out of the way of the pumps, and called the Saturn dealership. The guy in service said “Well, I’ve never seen a car that new lose a starter or alternator, so it’s probably your battery. Check to see if it’s corroded.”

Sure enough, there was a trail of yellow acid leaking from the red terminal. So we go back home, eat a quick dinner, grab the tools, and head back. I was going to just bring the ratchet set, but decided to grab the whole toolbox, just in case.

We go to the Wal-Mart next door, buy a new battery, and go back to the car. By this time it’s 7pm and dark, so we have to use Holly’s headlights and a flashlight to see. The battery in the Saturn was bracketed in with three bolts, two of which were in hard-to-reach places. Y’know, a battery is a “user-replacable part,” you’d think they’d make it easier to remove.

So I finally wrestle the bracket out of place, and go to unbolt the battery leads. The first one I tried (red), the entire terminal came out of the battery – it was corroded so badly that it just broke. The second lead unscrewed fine. I ended up having to use a pair of vice grip pliers to remove the screw from the corroded terminal – good thing I brought the toolbox.

I put the new battery in, reattached the leads, and managed to get the bracket bolted back down. I ended up making it home around 8:30. Add to that the fact that I feel like I’m getting a cold, and it wasn’t what I’d call a fun evening.

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I voiced the show Friday night at ComedyWorx – the first one I’d done in about a month, due to a weird weekend schedule in September.

It was a fun show – a smallish crowd, but they were really into the show. The games were fun, too. I measure whether or not I had a good show voicing by whether or not I helped the players and ref with what they’re doing, and I think I did last night. Good support both on the mic and with sound effects.

Shows like that are why I keep doing the improv thing.

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I went to my first hockey game of the season – the 4-2 Canes preseason loss to Tampa Bay.

It was a fun game – I went by myself, and waiting in line for tickets, a guy came up and offered me a $70 ticket for $20. So I jumped on that offer, and ended up in Section 105, row K. Which put me about two rows above the tunnel that the Canes enter and leave from. Awesome seats. So awesome that I turned down the chance to sit with the fine folks in 328 – I won’t get seats that good again for a while.

As for the game, the Canes were not very impressive. They couldn’t maintain much offensive pressure, and gave up a couple of weak goals early. Tampa’s third goal came on an absurd play where Kevin Weekes was knocked down, but no penalty was called. Grr.

Ron Francis, Bret Hedican, Glen Wesley, and Jaroslav Svoboda all sat out, but it was Eric Staal who stole the show, scoring twice in three minutes to bring the score to 3-2 Tampa. Staal looks about eight years old out on the ice, especially standing next to someone like Sean Hill, who looks like he hasn’t quite found the time to get around to finishing evolving. But Staal’s got a nose for the goal, and I’m betting he’ll make the NHL roster instead of going back down to Juniors.

Hockey season is the best season of the year.

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Some assclown posted porn spam (safe for work) to the BabyBlog today. A big hearty “fuck you” to the fine folks at srv05.primodownline.com.

“If you find this entry inappropriate please remove it from your database.” Gee, who could find that inappropriate? And thanks for recommending that I remove your shit from the BabyBlog. That’s real fucking considerate of you.

I hate people.

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Here’s your link of the day: The Helmet Project. This site is great – a guy is tracing the history of football helmets worn by college and pro teams from the 1960s through today. It’s incredibly thorough.

Ain’t the internet great?

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Gaaah! A new OpenSSH exploit was released today, a mere four hours after I finished patching all the work systems to fix the LAST OpenSSH exploit, which was released a few hours after I fixed the first exploit last week.

Good Lord. This is getting to be as bad as Windows. Looks like I’ve got tomorrow’s agenda planned out. Sigh.

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I’ve been seeing this design on the front license plates of cars around here recently – what does it mean?

Mystery Solved

Thanks to the folks at ISCABBS, I’ve found out that the design is “The Thin Blue Line”, used to identify police officers and/or family members. Kinda like a membership badge in the Police Officers Club.

Another example can be found here.

Thank goodness – I can sleep easy tonight.

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Two of my teams get their first wins this week, one of them in convincing fashion.

Fuquay Farmhands (1-2) – CWX League (W 101-41)

Woo hoo! Not only did I win this week, I was the top point-getter in the league, and defeated 2-0 team to do it! Priest Holmes (19) continued his monster season, but Patrick Ramsey (19) of the Redskins was right up there. My defense tandem of San Fransico (11) and Kansas City (16) stepped up, too. My WRs are still very suspect, with Terrell Owens (4) leading Plaxico Burress (2) and Tim Brown (0), so I need to do something there. Who would have thought TO would be such a bust so far this year?

Virginia Generals (0-3) – NCWise League – (L 91-126)

A respectable week points-wise in this lost cause of a season, but I once again went up against a team having a monster week. Brett Favre (20) and Mike Alstott (16) were the big contributors this week, along with defensive players Warren Sapp (10) (who caught an offensive touchdown) and Anthony Henry (10). Jevon Kearse (0), TJ Duckett (1), Deuce McAllister (2), and Troy Brown (1) dragged me down, though.

On the bench, Jake Plummer (35) had a monster game, though the 15 points he had vs. Favre wouldn’t have won me the game. He bears keeping an eye on, though, in case this is a trend.

Kenbridge Comets (1-1) – SkilTech League – (W 40-32)

A win! A win! I squeaked by on strong performances from Peyton Manning (14) and Seattle’s defense (12). After that, my next-best player was Jason Hanson (7), a kicker. Oops. The rest of my roster reads like a laundry list of suck – Marshall Faulk (1), Garrison Hearst (0), Torry Holt (3), Tai Streets (2), and Freddie Jones (1). I’m not real confident of this team’s ability to last the season, though the benched Michael Pittman (14) has promise.

I dropped to my usual middle-of-the-pack location in both pick’em leagues. No surprise there.

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The ComedyWorx fantasy hockey league had its draft this afternoon. Once again, I got the last pick in the draft, but I think I came out with a decent team.

1. Thornton, Joe (C-Bos)
2. Hossa, Marian (RW-Ott)
3. Heatley, Dany (RW-Atl)
4. Kolzig, Olaf (G-Was)
5. Bonk, Radek (LW-Ott)
6. Hill, Sean (D-Car)
7. Theodore, Jose (G-Mon)
8. Elias, Patrik (C-NJ)
9. St. Louis, Martin (RW-TB)
10. Jovanovski, Ed (D-Van)
11. Redden, Wade (D-Ott)
12. Francis, Ron (C-Car)
13. Brunette, Andrew (LW-Min)
14. Vrbata, Radim (RW-Car)
15. Potvin, Felix (G-Bos)
16. Whitney, Ray (LW-Det)
17. McCabe, Bryan (D-Tor)

With a couple of extra slots added after the draft, I grabbed

1. Smolinski, Bryan (C-Ott)
2. Dupuis, Pascal (LW-Min)

(The players in bold were members of the 2002-2003 CWX Hockey League Champion Richmond Rifles)

So not an amazing team, but it should be pretty solid. I think I grabbed Hill too high, but other than that, I don’t see any glaring errors in the drafting. I can’t wait for hockey season!

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