I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity.
The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.
Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so
What I have been telling you, from alpha to omega, what is the one great thing the sigil taught me — that everything in life is miraculous. For the sigil taught me that it rests within the power of each of us to awaken at will from a dragging nightmare of life made up of unimportant tasks and tedious useless little habits, to see life as it really is, and to rejoice in its exquisite wonderfulness. If the sigil were proved to be the top of a tomato-can, it would not alter that big fact, nor my fixed faith. No Harrowby, the common names we call things by do not matter — except to show how very dull we are ...
April 05, 2015 - 1:27 p.m.
Whew. I just registered my copy of Office. I waited till the free subscription to run out. I of course had anxiety about it working. Would I know all my passwords? I somehow did. It's an academic account so I had to remember my school email password. I haven't been using that much and I recently changed it.
Now back to the exciting story of my life. It's a tale filled with intrigue, danger, sex, romance, and food. Well OK there's just food.
Last you heard I was dropped off at the South Norwalk train station and heading home. My plan was to start work on my fantasy baseball team. It was 9:40 PM. I had to leave for the draft at 7:40 or so the next morning. This was the worst I had procrastinated on this. That's all about anxiety.
I can't get internet on the train. Why don't they provide Wi-Fi on commuter trains? They do on Amtrak. It's in many subway stations. I'm sure someone would be willing to profile it for free as good PR and an ad when you log in I shouldn't say I'm sure. There might be problems I'm unaware of. I'll just say that it would be nice if they did and my why is a real question. If you know the answer tell me.
But I don’t need the internet to do a lot of what I needed to do. But I did need the proper data. Somehow when I reordered the spreadsheets I had previously downloaded I screwed up. So you know when I actually started to prepare for the draft? Around midnight, I knew I would not be getting a lot of sleep. I had already screwed up when I sent I my keep list. My favorite player on my team, Chris Davis, got deleted from the list.
I did not have time to do deep research. What I did was set up my draft spreadsheets. I had it set up so I had every player's stats, and every players predicted stats. Predicted stats have served me well. Then I checked player usage. I found out who was starting at every position for every team in the American League. I then color code that in the spreadsheets. I bold players I suspect will be undervalued so I know to not overbid on other players at the position. Of course sometimes I'm totally wrong about that. I actually have a way of calculating the dollar value of any player based on the predicted stats. I did not have time to set that up. Finally I have to get my minor league draft list made. We have a three player farm team but I already had two players in it. I picked ninth so I had to list my top 9 minor leaguers. Last year I could download a spreadsheet but this year I had to create it myself.
I finally got to sleep at 5 AM. My alarm was set for 7:05. I don't have time to make breakfast so I wanted to pick something up at Dunkin' Donuts. I know when the 
train is coming thanks to an app and realized that I didn't have time to stop at Dunkin' Donutes for something. If I took the second train coming I'd probably be fine but sometimes they are slow and couldn’t chance it. So I went for the first train and figured I'd get something once I was at Atlantic Terminal where Chris was picking me up. The doors closed when I was just getting off the stairs to the platform. I got the next train which almost gave me enough time to get food but once again I couldn't be sure I'd be ready when Chris got there. And of course more than food I needed coffee. I ended up waiting till we got to Jersey.
Of course when we got to the draft here were bagels and donuts and pretzels and more coffee. I had more coffee.
The league draft is my big male bonding day. It's a 12 team league though some teams have partnership owners. Some like me have been there since the beginning 26 years ago; Angelo, Ira who couldn't make it and sent in a sub, Joseph, Marc, Nick, and myself. That's a pretty good retention rate. Marc and I were originally partners on the same team. Two teams are owned by friends that I recruited, Chris, and the partnership of Larry and Diana. This is the longest established permanent floating crap game in New York. Well OK we now draft in New Jersey. I think Chris and I are the only ones that actually live in the City now.
In some ways the draft is like the Seder. It's controlled chaos. We somehow herd the cats and get things done with a nonstop stream of talking, putdowns, and wisecracks. Ok most of that is me. I'm a bad boy.
I had a lot of money available. The players I kept were cheap and well valued. I had two closers so I could avoid spending money on them. One key to my strategy is not spend money on closers. There are always some you can get cheap because they aren't closers to start the season. So right at the start of the draft. Greg Holland the KC closer was put up for auction. It was at $3.10. I thought that was too cheap. The imp of the perverse then took over my mouth and said, "$3.20" to drive the price up And of courses that put an end to the auction. Ugh. If he says healthy and keeps his job he'll be worth it and if the far more questionable closers, Feliz and Gregorson come though I will lead the league in saves. If I get a big lead in saves, I can trade one. That probably won't happen.
I was then chastened and didn't buy a player for the next five rounds. That's 60 players. But by then I still had a lot of many and others didn't and I started to buy up every player I thought was good that was available. The upshot is that every position player I own is scheduled to be the number one player at his position on his team. Some have to share the time but they all get more than half the at bats. That's a huge plus. I have good starting pitchers and a possible mid-season replacement closer. Given how unprepared I was I am pretty happy with my team. So here are your 2015 Nashional Batnoses.
C Flowers, Tyler CHA $0.20 S
C Suzuki, Kurt MIN $0.30 S
1B Hosmer, Eric KAN $2.10 F
2B Travis, Devon BOS $0.70 F
3B Headley, Chase NYY $2.30 F
SS Cabrera, Asdrubal TAM $1.90 F
CI Bogaerts, Xander BOS $0.50 R
MI Hardy, J.J. BAL $1.10 F
OF Cabrera, Melky CHA $1.10 S
OF Cruz, Nelson SEA $2.00 S
OF Kiermaier, Kevin TAM $1.80 F
OF Jennings, Desmond TAM $1.50 F
OF Saunders, Michael TOR $1.30 F
DH Fuld, Sam OAK $0.20 F
P Carrasco, Carlos CLE $0.70 S
P Dickey, R.A. T OR $0.90 S
P Feliz, Neftali TEX $0.20 S
P Gregerson, Luke HOU $0.70 S
P O'Day, Darren BAL $0.50 S
P Ventura, Yordano KAN $0.60 S
P Holland, Greg KAN $3.20 F
P Gallardo, Yovani TEX $1.50 F
P Volquez, Edinson KAN $0.80 FFarm Team
Alfaro, Jorge
Lindor, Francisco
Tim Anderson
Sorry I don’t have more Orioles Pat. I told you what happened to Davis and Tillman's contract expired and he went for too much money. One fun thing last season was Pat's reports on how my guys were doing. I had a Baltimore scout.
I didn't tell you the best thing about the draft. Know those pretzels I told you about There was a chocolate spread that went with them! God knows how many I had. It was the best thing ever.
There were a few tense moments. Somebody at the other end of the table so I'm not sure who said something to the effect that saying a friend of his did something stupid as he voted for Obama twice. It wasn't one of the guys I've known forever. The thing is that he didn't seem to realize that would be controversial. He must not socialize much with the majority of the people that supported Obama, Especially here in the Northeast. I didn't say that I supported Obama both times and that as I couldn't vote for him the first time as I had just moved I went down to Pennsylvania to campaign for him. Diana did the right thing and gently suggested that we not discuss politics. It's a good idea in that situation.
Chris had a party to go to so we had to make a quick exit after the draft and head home. The coffee and adrenaline finally wore off on the ride home. I fell sound asleep. It wasn't that long, maybe half an hour. When I got home I had to decide which was the greater need blogging or sleep. I asked on Facebook and Christine said she selfishly wanted me to write so I did.
I didn't even nap when I was done. I went out shopping The key thing to get was Breathe Right nasal strips. I have gone more than a week without them and woke up each night not being able to breathe. It goes beyond that; during the day my nose feels uncomfortable, it verges on pain at time. Last night I slept like a baby.
Now I'm rested up. I'm going to see the Amazing Amy Speace tonight. She has a New CD and has a release show at the Living Room. Tomorrow I'm seeing her at Rockwood Music Hall. I should be seeing you at one of those shows. Amy is not to be missed. Neither is breakfast so I better eat It's 1:28, late for brunch.
I signed the Pro-Truth Pledge:
please hold me accountable.
Memories: Not that Horrid Song - May 29, 2018
Wise Madness is Now In Session - May 28, 2018
The NFL and the First Amendment - May 27, 2018
On The Road Again - May 26, 2018
Oliver the Three-Eyed Crow - May 25, 2018
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Horvendile April 05, 2015
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