Asian Pan-Fried Pork Tenderloin

I wanted to share this recipe with you guys. Hope you enjoy it!

Asian Pan-Fried Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients:
1 pork tenderloin
Enough canola/vegetable/whatever oil to pan-fry. The pork pieces will need to be at least halfway submerged. This is NOT a low-fat recipe.

SAUCE
1 TBSP Dijon mustard
1/4 c Soy sauce
1 tsp ground ginger
1 TBSP rice vinegar (regular vinegar is fine, or whatever you've got. I used rice vinegar)
1 tsp garlic salt

BREADING
Flour (However much you need to coat the pork)
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp garlic salt

DIPPING SAUCE (for each person; multiply by however many people you have)
1 TBSP mayo
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp hot oil or crushed peppers (omit if you don't like spicy food)
1 tsp dijon mustard

You can improvise the sauce all you want; this is just an idea. I don't think I even made a sauce with the pork; Laura loved it plain. Teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, Chinese mustard, Sriracha chili sauce, etc. would all work just fine.

Before you begin, I would like to let you know that the measurements I included here are NOT exact measurements. When I made this I was winging it. I tried to nail down how much I put, but they're just guesses. If you have tweaks you think would work better or feel like I'm using too much or too little of certain ingredients, don't hesitate to substitute your own measurements. Anyway, let's begin!

• The first thing you're going to do is marinate the pork. You'll need a flat pan/sheet/whatever you want, as the sauce isn't super-thick, so the pork won't be coated very well unless the pan/sheet/whatever is flat. I used a glass pyrex 13 x 9 dish. I'm sure a plastic bag would work just fine; you just want to make sure all the pieces get sauce on/in them.
  

• Combine the dijon mustard, soy sauce, ground ginger, rice vinegar, and garlic salt (I just did this in the dish; you can combine them first and then pour in if you want). Put the sauce into the dish/pan/sheet/etc.
  

• Slice the pork into about 1/2-inch thick slices. Tenderize each slice by smashing either with your palm, a pot, a meat tenderizer, or whatever you want. Place the tenderized slices in the sauce mixture, making sure to coat both sides of each piece (dip it, then flip it and lay it down). Cover, and let marinate for at least a half-hour. Obviously the longer the slices marinate for, the more juice they'll soak up, so if you can marinate for an hour or two, even better!

• Create the breading mixture. Combine the flour, ginger, and garlic salt, and set it aside. You will be dipping your pork in this, so make sure you have enough room and enough mixture to coat all the pieces.

• If you want to use the sauce I listed above, make it while the pork is marinating; the frying process is EXTREMELY fast, and you won't have time to do all this stuff then. If you want to use your sauce or no sauce at all, skip this step.
  

• Heat a skillet or pot with enough oil to pan-fry. You could just deep-fry if you have the equipment, but I didn't, so pan-fry it is! You can tell the oil is ready to go if you combine a little water with a little bit of your breading mixture and drop it in, and the mixture turns golden brown.

• Set aside a plate/pan/something big enough to hold the pork when it's done. You don't want to have to do this while you're cooking. Cover the plate/pan/etc. with paper towels so the pork doesn't sit in oil and get soggy.
  

• Take your pork out of the fridge. Take one piece, dip it in the breading mixture, and make sure to coat it evenly and completely. Place the piece of pork in the hot oil. Do this with enough pieces to fill the pan, but not crowd it.

• When the bottoms are golden brown, flip the slices. This is VERY FAST...it took my pieces about ONE MINUTE to brown on each side (YES, this completely cooks the pork!). When they are completely golden brown (once again, VERY FAST), remove them from the oil, place them on the plate with the paper towels, and bread and pan-fry more pork pieces. Repeat this until all the pork pieces are golden-brown and drying on the plate with the towels.
  

• When the pieces have sufficiently cooled, plate them up and eat them! Dip them in sauce if you want to.

Note...if you want to double this recipe, that's totally cool, and all the measurements should work just fine. Just make sure all your pork pieces get the marinade equally. Another note: DO NOT USE THE LEFTOVERS FROM YOUR PORK MARINADE FOR A SAUCE UNLESS YOU COMPLETELY COOK IT! You just had raw pork sitting in there; if you don't cook it, you're risking illness. I just threw the marinade out.

Anyway, hope you like it...if you try this and want to give me feedback, please feel free to send it to me; it's very difficult to improve without feedback. Thanks everyone!

Book Addiction

Have you ever been reading a book and thought it was pretty good, but nothing special? You maybe read a handful of pages each day, but had no problem putting it down to do something else? Have you ever gotten to a point, however, where that same book suddenly turned addicting, and putting it away was simply unacceptable?

The book above, "The Circle Trilogy" by Ted Dekker, became addicting to me. I ended up reading it for SEVEN hours yesterday; I was utterly unable to put it down. Even more crazy, when I finished the book I was mad! Not because the book ended in a cliffhanger, but rather because finishing the book meant I couldn't read it anymore!

If you enjoy reading, particularly fiction, I guarantee you will love this book. Whether you love it as much as I did remains to be seen. Ted Dekker is a genius. AMAZING book.

Week 4: Titans @ Jaguars

This week's analysis! Let me know what you think!

Jaguars' rushing offense vs. Titans' rushing defense - Maurice Jones-Drew busted out against Houston last week for over 100 yards and 3 TD. However, the Titans' rush defense has been outstanding this year, shutting down Steve Slaton, the Jets' pair, and the Steelers' running game. The Titans still have great run-stopping linebackers and active defensive linemen. The Jaguars should struggle to get something going on the ground...unless they can establish the pass. With Cortland Finnegan likely out and nickelback Vincent Fuller out this week, the Titans will likely not bring SS Chris Hope into the box to stop the run, leaving him back to help defend the pass. This should help open running lanes for Jones-Drew. With the Mike Thomas end-around option wrinkle thrown in, I expect the Jaguars to have more success than they usually would on the ground.

Advantage: Even

Jaguars' passing offense vs. Titans' passing defense - The Titans' pass defense has already been subpar this year, with Michael Griffin and Finnegan possibly showing signs of regression. With the aforementioned Finnegan and Fuller inactive this week, the Jaguars should be able to throw the ball fairly easily; that is, if they can keep the Titans' pass rush off of David Garrard. Though their pass defense has been mediocre, the Titans still get after the quarterback. If the Jaguars can protect like they did last week, Garrard, Holt, and Sims-Walker and company should have a field day. Expect Marcedes Lewis and Maurice Jones-Drew to do some chipping on the Titans' DEs to try to slow the rush and allow Garrard to look downfield. The Jaguars' pass offense hasn't been amazing, but it has shown signs of improvement both last week and in the second half against the Cardinals; it's hard not to give this matchup to the Jaguars. Still, the Titans have historically played tough defense against the Jaguars, and with Jeff Fisher managing the game plan I have to call it even.

Advantage: Even

Titans' rushing offense vs. Jaguars' rushing defense - The Jaguars have been decent against the run in all three games this year, but this will prove their toughest test yet. Chris Johnson is second in the NFL in rushing yards through three games, including a massacre against Houston two weeks ago. The Titans' line is one of the best run-blocking lines in the NFL, and the Jaguars may have to commit Gerald Alexander (likely replacing Considine in the lineup Sunday) to cheat toward the line of scrimmage to help contain Johnson. Expect Johnson to get the ball early and often, and hope the Jaguars' linebackers can beat him to the corner. This is a no-brainer.

Advantage: Titans

Titans' passing offense vs. Jaguars' passing defense - Tennessee receivers have been fairly pedestrian this season. New acquisition Nate Washington has scored in two straight, but missed time with an injury in the beginning of the season and is still catching up. Rookie Kenny Britt has also been slowed by injury, and Justin Gage has been targeted often but has dropped a handful of passes. Rookie TE Jared Cook has also struggled with injuries and has not yet made an impact. Chris Johnson is a weapon in the passing game, so expect the Jaguars to assign a linebacker (Durant or Ingram) to sort of shadow Johnson and try to prevent him from breaking a big one. Overall the Titans' passing options are limited, but the Jaguars just last week showed their very first signs of a pass rush. Rashean Mathis has been outstanding this year, but Derek Cox is still learning. Reggie Nelson played solidly as the nickel corner last week; expect that experiment to continue. Overall this is a very close matchup; neither of these units are particularly great, but if one of them steps up it could very well decide the game.

Advantage: Even

Jaguars' special teams vs. Titans' special teams - With punter Craig Hentrich on IR and new kick returner Mark Jones having been brought back due to Ryan Mouton's ineptitude at catching the ball, I can't see any reason to give this matchup to the Titans. The Jaguars have been pretty solid on special teams all season long.

Advantage: Jaguars

Overall this should be another hard-fought divisional matchup. Tennessee has historically had Jacksonville's number, and though they're 0-3 so far this year they'll be itching for a victory. Expect a lot of Chris Johnson in the Titans' game plan, and expect the Jaguars to game plan to stop Johnson. This game could be decided by field position and turnovers. Unfortunately, I think that points slightly in the Titans' favor due to their great running game and opportunistic defense. Still, the Jaguars DO have a chance to win this game; they need to be able to get off the field on third down, run the ball effectively, not turn the ball over, and convert third downs themselves. It should be a great football game this Sunday.

Titans 23, Jaguars 20

Laughter

I don't know why, but my friend told me something last night that just kind of stuck with me, but maybe not for the reason you'd think. "lol Jessica Simpson's dog was killed last night" is what he told me. At first I was horrified. "Why is that funny?" If one of my dogs was killed I'd be crushed, and I'm sure Miss Simpson was as well. I then realized that the "lol" was meant to be ironic, as in "she doesn't care what other people think of her, so why should we care about her feelings?" I am beginning to hate the "word" "lol". It's too hard to figure out what meaning it carries.

The "word" is literally an acronym, meaning "laughing out loud". If I'm chatting with you online, and I tell you a joke, you say "lol" as a way of expressing that on your computer, as you read my joke, you laughed. However, this doesn't say much about how you're laughing. Are you "giggling like a schoolgirl"? Did you smirk and go "heh"? Did you chuckle to yourself for a second, then stop? Are you laughing like a drunk person at Mardi Gras? I have no way of knowing. In fact, when chatting, if I literally laugh at something, I have started typing "HAHAHAHA" as a way of letting the person know I am actually laughing. People use "lol" to describe merely the tone of voice they're using to say what they're saying! That doesn't work for a conversation; I have no idea that that's how you're using it! "lol did you see Jessica Simpson's dog died?" Are you laughing at the fact that her dog died? Are you laughing at Jessica Simpson's reaction to her dog dying? Are you laughing at the dog itself? Did you even laugh? I think far less people sit cackling to themself at their computers as use the acronym "lol" on a consistent basis.

It's getting so bad that "lol" has made its way into real life! I've even done it myself sometimes! Your friend tells you something funny, and you just go "haha LOL!" That's not right! I have to physically restrain myself from saying "lol" to another human in person; it's a poor substitute for actual laughter. This country (maybe world; I only live here so I can only give this perspective) is turning into a nation of sarcastic non-laughers. Can we please can the "lol" and bring back physical laughter? We will all be better off without you, "lol". Now scram, see?

[Just as an even better view of how much this has infiltrated our culture, I just ended my blog post with a joke referring to the old-timey movie bad guys from the '20s who would say "yeah, see...ya gotta scram, see?" To illustrate that it was a joke, I don't have to do anything; if you know what I'm talking about, you already laughed. However, I actually typed "LOL" after the end of the joke to try to push the joke on you, when in reality I didn't laugh at the joke myself. Obviously I deleted the LOL, but the point remains: it IS possible to make a humorous statement without laughing yourself. Try to remember that the next time you're tempted to use "lol" within an online chat, a Facebook comment, or even worse, in real life.]

Brad

New music needed

When I first starting listening to Christian rock, I immediately picked up bands like Pillar, Thousand Foot Krutch, 12 Stones, and P.O.D. to listen to. They were hard-hitting, uptempo rock bands with solid vocals. Over the years, these bands have all done what almost every rock band does at some point: they've gotten softer. Each album seems to have more and more ballads, less uptempo songs, and less "loudness" in general.

I've been trying to find new bands to listen to, but my musical tastes have changed since I was 15. I've started listening to Demon Hunter, Bloodbound, and Killswitch Engage; harder music with more consistently uptempo beats. However, I'm finding a shortage of bands I really, truly like. I can't do music with the entire song being screamed, but I can do some screaming lyrics. I can't do the double-bass pedal drumbeat for an entire song, but I can do a little of that. I've tried Last.fm and Pandora, but they always seem to give me songs that aren't a good representation of what I'm trying to find. Anyway, if you have any band recommendations, please let me know!

New bands I've just found that are pretty cool:

The Ascendicate
Bloodbound
Hymns of Eden
Astral Doors

Thanks for reading!

Brad

Name change

I decided I didn't like the name I had given the blog; it was a poor play on words and didn't really reflect anything about myself. I decided to change the blog's name to "The Worse Half". This is a play on the popular phrase "my better half", used when a man talks about his wife. I refer to Laura as my "better half" all the time. If she is my "better half", what I have left can only be the "worse half". I don't know, I like it. Let me know what YOU think!

I'd love to have some of you guys follow me, especially since I'm planning to do more writing in the future. I like the new layout, but I don't LOVE it, so don't be surprised if the appearance changes again at some point. The name, however, should stay the same.

Until next time,

Brad...the Worse Half.

Slow walkers

Ever get stuck behind a wall of people moving SUPER slowly while you're trying to get by? Very annoying. I wish people would be more aware of their surroundings. If you're going to barely move, just go stand somewhere and talk to your friend or on the phone or whatever. I probably walk a little faster than I have to, but it's inconsiderate of people to slowly meander down a very crowded walkway at the pace of a toddler.

To not be completely negative, here is a picture for you.




This is my first blog post from my phone. Since I'm at school for so long each Tuesday and Thursday, I'll likely be posting more frequent, albeit shorter, blog updates. Thanks for reading!

Brad

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Week 3: Jaguars @ Texans

Well, I definitely overestimated our pass rush for last week. If you had told me we'd get LITERALLY zero pass rush on Warner, I'd have given the Cardinals' pass offense a HUGE edge. I'll make sure not to make the same mistake this week. Week three! We need a win badly!


Jaguars' rush offense vs. Texans' rush defense - What was supposed to be the Jaguars' strong suit, running the ball, has turned into a liability due to the inability of the offense to get the ball downfield. Teams are stacking the box with eight and daring Garrard and company to beat them. So far, the defense has won that battle. That said, Houston's rush defense has looked horrific in the season's first two weeks, giving up huge games to the Jets' pair of backs and Chris Johnson. I can't help but give the Jaguars the edge here, even though it is tempered somewhat by the likely extra man in the box. Expect the Jaguars to run the ball to the right, away from Mario Williams. In return, I expect the Texans to send their extra man to the right side of the Jaguars' formation to help offset the advantage gained by running away from Williams.

Advantage: JAGUARS

Jaguars' pass offense vs. Texans' pass defense - The Texans sport one of the best young DEs in the game in Mario Williams, who will spend the day making life difficult for Eugene Monroe and David Garrard. Expect Lewis and Drew to have to chip on Williams all day, meaning their impact in the passing game will be slightly lessened. With Williamson out and Hughes cut, this game will be the "coming-out party" for rookies Mike Thomas and Jarett Dillard. I don't expect Dillard to see the field much, but Thomas should provide a new dimension to the Jaguars' offense; he gives them a receiver with considerable run-after-the-catch potential. Sims-Walker stepped up in the fourth quarter against Arizona; now he will be forced to play a big role. With the Texans sporting a decent pass defense, including a fierce rush from Williams, Garrard may have to dump the ball off more than...well, most quarterbacks. This is a draw.

Advantage: EVEN

Texans rush offense vs. Jaguars' rush defense - The Jaguars' rush defense looked solid against Indianapolis, but got gashed for big gains against Arizona. The three-man front got manhandled by the Cardinals' line, and the linebackers were inconsistent engaging their man and tackling. The Texans have struggled running the ball to date, but should find some holes against the Jaguars' underwhelming 3-4 alignment. If the Jaguars can't get any push from the big guys up front, this game could get ugly real fast. The Texans' running game has looked pedestrian thus far, but Slaton is a talented back who excels in the Texans' one-cut zone blocking scheme. I have to think the Jaguars will be playing with extra defensive backs to try to stop Schaub, meaning Slaton should have room to run. This advantage belongs to the Texans.

Advantage: TEXANS

Texans' pass offense vs. Jaguars' pass defense - This is a no-brainer...Matt Schaub just lit up one of the league's better defenses in Tennessee, while the Jaguars generated literally no pressure and got their helmets handed to them by Kurt Warner, who put on a league record-setting performance for completion percentage. The Jaguars are either going to have to cover for longer or send the blitz, neither of which are a good strategy against a very good quarterback, one of the two best receivers in the NFL, one of the best receiving TEs in the league, and a great receiving back in Slaton. This isn't even close.

Advantage: TEXANS

Jaguars' special teams vs. Texans' special teams - The blocked field goal by Scobee was due to Scobee taking FOREVER to get the kick off, plus some shoddy interior blocking. Expect teams to try to bring more interior pressure against the Jaguars on field goal attempts. The Jaguars have been absolute zeroes in the return game this year, while the Texans have historically been outstanding on both kick and punt returns against the Jaguars. Even if Andre Davis misses this game, Jacoby Jones is an electric return man. Kris Brown is a solid field goal kicker. Neither punter should play a factor, but based on the play we've seen from the Jaguars' special teams unit thus far, I can't give them the advantage until the show they've earned it.

Advantage: TEXANS

The Texans are a team full of offensive playmakers and fast young defenders. Every time a Texan has the ball, they're a threat to take it to the end zone. The Jaguars, on the other hand, are not anywhere near the threat the Texans are. I expect the Jaguars to have a lot of trouble getting off the field on defense. If the line can give Garrard time to throw, and he can get the ball downfield, this could be a shootout. If the line can't give Garrard time and/or he can't get the ball downfield, the final score will likely look similar to last week's. I expect the team to put forth a better effort than last week and at least make the score closer in a divisional game, but overall this Texans team is better than the Jaguars.

Final score:

Texans 31, Jaguars 20

Week Two: Cardinals @ Jaguars

I've decided to repost my weekly in-depth preview of the Jaguars' game on the blog. Hope you enjoy!



It's time for week two...I, like most of you, was disappointed with the outcome on Sunday, but I was also encouraged. I saw a lot of good tackling, especially by the linebackers. I saw some nice plays by Sean Considine, and some good from Derek Cox (along with some bad, of course). The run-stuffers looked excellent inside. Anyway, on to week two!

Jaguars' rush offense vs. Cardinals' rush defense - Against San Francisco, the Cardinals held Frank Gore to 30 yards on 22 carries, which is, of course, outstanding. SF fans now think we are going to get "owned" by the awesome Cardinals rush defense. I think differently. Arizona boasts a very solid DT in Darnell Dockett, and a rising player at DE in Calais Campbell. However, their other DT and DE are mediocre players at best. The Jaguars' line is much better than San Francisco's, and Maurice Jones-Drew has the ability to run outside, whereas Gore is pretty much only useful between the tackles. Drew was impressive against Indianapolis, though he didn't break any long runs due to the shrunken field. If the Jaguars don't show the ability to throw the ball downfield, expect to see Adrian Wilson around the line of scrimmage doing his Bob Sanders impression all day long. Due to the fact that I expect the Cardinals to stack the box, along with their impressive showing last week, I'm calling this even. Advantage: Even

Jaguars' pass offense vs. Cardinals' pass defense - Against Indianapolis, Garrard looked good early, but with pressure in his face late he fell apart. Expect Arizona to try to bring the house on passing downs and try to rattle Garrard and make him throw short. This will likely open up some routes for Maurice Jones-Drew, routes that they had trouble covering against SF (see Gore's game-winning TD catch; WIDE open). Torry Holt was okay in his first game as a Jaguar, but the drop was disconcerting. Mike Sims-Walker was barely on the field, which seems strange given his great performance against Washington in the final preseason game. Williamson was a non-factor besides the slip, which cost the Jaguars a first down. The WR are going to have to not drop balls or fall down, but Garrard is also going to have to stretch the field. Arizona has a couple nice players in the secondary in Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Adrian Wilson, and a respectable FS in Antrel Rolle, a former CB. The other starting CB, Bryant McFadden, is a career Cover 2 corner from Pittsburgh. Expect Torry Holt to be doing a lot of sitting in the sweet spots of zones. I expect Garrard to look deep a couple times this game, and might hit on one. This should open up the defense a little bit and allow the Jaguars' receivers to do something with the ball. I'm hoping Mike Thomas is active; he would be a shot in the arm to a WR corps that has little run-after-catch ability. Advantage: Even

Jaguars' rush defense vs. Cardinals' rush offense - Arizona has had trouble running the ball since, well, Garrison Hearst. Hightower is a slow back with little to no "wiggle". Chris Wells has a little more suddenness, but neither of these guys are really a threat to bounce anything outside, meaning Henderson and Knighton will be holding down the fort inside. I expect Wells' carry load to increase this week, likely overtaking Hightower's, but I don't expect the Cardinals to be able to do much on the ground. They have a pass-blocking line, not a run-blocking line. Advantage: Jaguars

Jaguars' pass defense vs. Cardinals' pass offense - If the Jaguars don't get a pass rush this week, they will be in trouble. Though he suffered a stinger last week, the reason Warner was a non-factor was due to a fierce 49ers pass rush. Warner looked rattled and was all over the place in terms of accuracy. Fitzgerald was shadowed by Nate Clements, and Boldin wasn't able to get open due to his inability to play at full speed. Boldin should be a little better this week, but hamstrings are tricky. Steve Breaston was inactive with a PCL sprain. If the Jaguars can get pressure, they have the advantage, as Warner looked horrible with pressure in his face. They NEED to cover Tim Hightower in the flat if they blitz, though; Hightower had 121 yards receiving against San Francisco. I expect the Jaguars to bring some blitzes and use a linebacker to stay with Hightower, but I also expect the Cardinals to have some success through the air when they play straight-up. Call it even. Advantage: Even

Jaguars' special teams vs. Cardinals' special teams - The Cardinals use rookie LaRod Stephens-Howling on kickoff returns; having a rookie returning the kicks could be in the Jaguars' favor. The Jaguars' coverage looked solid against Indianapolis. Arizona did a very good job in coverage against SF, holding kickoff returner Allen Rossum to 20 yards per return. Ben Graham boomed punts on Sunday for Arizona, ending up with an average of 54.7 yards per kick. Podlesh was much worse; he had a good couple of kicks, but botched one punt that set the Colts up on a short field. Rackers and Scobee are both very good kickers. Call it even, with the Jaguars having a better chance to take one the distance. Advantage: Even

Overall I think this is a solid matchup with two teams who need to make a statement: Jacksonville that the Indianapolis game was not a fluke, and Arizona that the SF game was. Expect a lot of hard hitting, and a few big plays by each team. I don't expect this to be a defensive battle, but we all saw what happened last week. I'm tempering my expectations with the score. I do, however, expect the Cardinals to have difficulty running the ball, which will cause them to throw early and often. If the Jaguars get pressure without allowing the big play, I love their chances to win this game, and I expect the Jaguars to send enough guys to get in Kurt Warner's face and keep the ball out of the hands of Boldin and Fitzgerald. Once again, Derek Cox will play a huge part in this game. This could be another heart attack special, coming down to the final possession.

Prediction:

Jaguars 23, Cardinals 20

Homemade Pad Thai

I've been asked by my friend Halley for the recipe for this dish I created today. It's pretty basic; we were going to go out for Thai but Laura didn't want to go out, so I just made something up. These measurements are VERY approximate; I just threw everything together

1 box rice noodles
half a cucumber
some carrots
a few green onions
fresh basil; about ten leaves
1/4 c peanuts; dry roasted or plain
1/2 c soy sauce
1/4 c rice vinegar
1/4 c olive oil
1/4 c lime juice
crushed red pepper
3 eggs

Cook rice noodles; drain and put into clean bowl or back into pot.

Cut up veggies; set aside.

Grind up peanuts into very small chunks (NOT dust)

Mix soy sauce, rice vinegar, olive oil, lime juice, crushed red pepper, and peanut chunks together; this is the sauce. I heated my sauce in the microwave for one minute to make it hot. I also added a little corn starch to make it a little thicker, but it didn't really do anything.

Scramble eggs. We didn't have any thawed meat, so I went with eggs. Feel free to do this with strips of chicken, beef, pork, tofu, etc. Whatever you want.

Mix eggs and veggies in with cooked rice noodles. Pour sauce over mixture. If you don't have as much sauce as you'd like, make some more. Voila!

Let me know how you like it!

Brad

Why I dislike the San Francisco Giants

For as long as I can remember, I have disliked the San Francisco Giants. Why? There are many reasons.

When I meet a new baseball fan, I'm excited; could this person be my first A's fan friend? 90% of the time, no; they're a Giants fan. Sometimes I get Dodgers, White Sox, whatever, but almost every time it's "nope, Giants". How can I have 0 out of 100 friends be A's fans? Why is the balance so far off? I don't know, but that definitely contributes to my dislike for the Giants.

If you missed it in the earlier paragraph, I have literally ZERO friends who are A's fans. If I want to watch an A's game with someone, the A's better be playing a team they care about. I have no one to talk about A's news with. I have no one to talk about A's prospects with. I have no one to talk about A's transactions with. It's fairly depressing. The fact that everyone chose the Giants over the A's has led me to resent the Giants, even though it's not their fault. It seems like most people choose the same team as their parents, which I guess is why most people end up with the Giants, but even then, why did THEIR parents choose the Giants over the A's? It had to start somewhere. If it's a matter of success, the A's have the edge. Since moving to California, the A's have four World Series titles; the Giants have zero. The A's have six American League pennants; the Giants have three National League pennants. The A's and Giants matched up in the 1989 World Series, and the A's beat the Giants in a sweep, 4-0. I just don't understand.

The reason for this post is that I just watched Jonathan Sanchez throw a no-hitter for the Giants, and realized that if an A's pitcher did the same thing I'd have no one to celebrate it with. The thought of it just makes me sad. The dislike for the Giants has mostly grown from this, and it annoys me that even though I'd be open to supporting both Bay Area teams, the vast differential in Sacramento-area fanbases has led me to love the A's and hate the Giants. I don't have a hatred for the individuals that play baseball in San Francisco. I even like their home uniforms, their ballpark, and some of their young players. I just can't bring myself to do anything but dislike the team that has monopolized the Sacramento-area fanbase to the point where I am forced to enjoy my A's in solitude. Giants, it's not your fault. The rest of you...it's yours.

Toys

So two months ago Laura and I splurged on the iPhone 3G; I love my phone. It does everything I could ever imagine a phone doing. This week, Apple introduced their NEW phone, the iPhone 3GS. It's almost the same, only faster and with a better processor and battery. I've been looking for hoops I can jump through to try to get this thing; it's better! It has a couple features my current phone doesn't have! Holy crap! Then I started thinking about what I was doing, and went to find a Bible verse that fit it. The perfect verse:

"Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
'Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.'"

~ Hebrews 13:5

This fits perfectly. I have an expensive gadget that does WAY more than any phone I've ever had...I can either lust after the new gadget and go crazy trying to find a way to get it, OR I can be happy with what I have, realizing that there are a lot of people that don't get to have a phone at all, and there are even some people that don't get to have a house or a car! I am VERY fortunate to be in the situation I'm in. If a scenario presents itself where I can upgrade the phone for a minimal price, then I might be interested, but for now, I'm going to be happy with all God has blessed me with: a beautiful wife, a new home, four great pets, and great friends and family!

Brad Hill

Don't get the hype about Pandora

It seems like almost everyone I know now is using Pandora radio, whether on their home computer or their phone. I fail to see what's so special about Pandora. "Oh, Pandora plays songs you might not have heard before!" Well, so do Last.fm and Slacker Radio. I personally use Last.fm because it has a couple features Pandora and Slacker don't have. Last.fm allows you to connect with your friends and share music between profiles. My favorite thing about Last.fm is that there is NO SKIP LIMIT. I will never be able to use Pandora or Slacker as long as they keep their absurd six skipped songs per hour limit. If the program does a crappy job choosing a song for me, I'm doubly screwed by being stuck listening to something I don't want to listen to? No thanks; Last.fm for me. Another thing I really like about Last.fm is that there is a desktop app that "scrobbles" songs from your iPod. Here's how it works...when you sync your iPod, Last.fm's app will add the listening statistics of what you listened to since your last sync to Last.fm's system in your user profile. It keeps your "listening totals" updated. Last.fm uses the music you already listen to, in addition to the bands you ask it to emulate, to figure out which bands you might like. There is also a "neighborhood mode" where you can listen to a station made up of songs that people who listen to songs you listen to play on their Last.fm profiles. It's very intuititve. Pandora's "smart" system inevitably ended up giving me songs by bands I didn't like, and though Last.fm isn't perfect, there's no limit to the number of times I can skip a song I'm not a fan of.

If you still don't like Last.fm, then I still don't get why Pandora is so widely used as opposed to Slacker Radio. Slacker has FOUR TIMES the number of songs Pandora has, and allows you to determine how closely you want the music that is played for you to mirror what you've asked it to emulate; for example, if you pick Aerosmith, you can say you want it to pick bands JUST like Aerosmith, fairly similar to Aerosmith, or barely like Aerosmith. You can also tell it to replay songs you mark as favorites MORE often, LESS often, or barely ever.

Anyway, I just don't see the hype about Pandora. Want to defend it? Tell me why you use Pandora over these two. If you haven't tried Last.fm or Slacker Radio, I don't really want to hear why Pandora's better since you haven't given anything else a shot. Widen your horizons.



Yesterday was Derek's bachelor party at the A's game, and it was AWESOME. We left the house around 12:30, got some Taco Bell, and headed down to Oakland. When we got there we set up the grill and barbecued some burgers and hot dogs while everyone drank beer or soda and just hung out. We even gave a burger to the parking lot attendant, who said he'd never been offered tailgating food before. Derek busted out his heckling skills at Orioles left fielder Felix Pie ("pee-AY"), calling him about 30 different varieties of pies (blueberry pie, cherry pie, chicken pot pie, etc.) before Pie left the game after fouling a ball off his face. We also got to make fun of the most whipped person in the universe...no sitting on laps at the ballpark, and DEFINITELY no Jordin Sparks posters!!!!!



In case you can't read it, the poster says "Jordin Sparks, you're my Idol". Wow. Just wow. Yes, there was a stupid concert after the game, but it is a BALLPARK. Lame.

I've yet to receive a blog comment, so let's see who gets to be FIRST!

Brad

The Federal Housing Administration sucks.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAGH...

This is the most ridiculous crap ever. So apparently we have been waiting almost an extra week to get our home loan documents. I finally got an e-mail today saying that they need one form filled out by Laura and sent back. The thing is, though, that the form is a request form for SOMETHING THEY ALREADY HAVE!!!!! Nevertheless, they need it anyway. Seriously? I HATE the FHA. "Sure, we'll insure your loan, but you have to fill out mounds of useless paperwork for NO reason!" I'm surprised I didn't have to go to the doctor and get a verification of breathing. "Well, we can't take your word that you are alive and you breathe; maybe you're a vampire! We need a verification." This is ridiculous. Whatever.

On the plus side, Sammie (that's the new dog's name) is fitting in pretty well. The cats aren't fans of him, but they'll adjust; he doesn't attack them like as my parents' dog Kita used to. Scout is adjusting; we're still trying to make sure he gets loved on first, and Sammie second, but Sammie isn't trained yet and doesn't quite understand that he's second. He's a goofball; he likes to climb on the back of the couch. He can jump onto our bed, which means we're not going to be able to have him sleep in our room unless we want dog-in-the-face. Anyway, he's doing well.

All-in-all, it's been an interesting week. Saturday evening is Derek's bachelor party at the A's game, which should be awesome. The weekend always seems so far away on Wednesday.

I leave you with this...who is cuter? You decide.



Brad

Tired + Weird Suggestive Advertising

I couldn't sleep last night at all. Yeah, I played Baseball Superstars on my iPhone until 2:15, but I still couldn't fall asleep for another hour and a half. While trying to fall asleep, I kept feeling my leg tingle, and couldn't help thinking about those stupid commercials for "Restless Leg Syndrome". Did I have Restless Leg Syndrome? What the crap is that supposed to mean? My leg was "restless" because I had eaten a sugar-packed frozen yogurt before bedtime, not because I had some disease to be cured with some magical medication that no doctor has ever heard of before. It pisses me off when companies advertise products on TV that clearly no person needs, but dumb people keep buying the stuff. Some of the stuff is useful, like Aqua Globes, Green Bags, etc., but some of it is literally useless. Who needs a Ped Egg? Hasn't anyone ever heard of pumice? Do they ever wonder why if they go get a pedicure the Vietnamese lady isn't using a Ped Egg? How about the AWESOME AUGER! Drilling holes in the ground so you don't have to bend down, except when you have to...actually put the plants in the holes. You're going to be on the ground anyway! And how hard is it to dig up dirt? If your dirt is so hard you need this metal spork to do it, you probably don't have the soil for a garden to do very well. My favorite useless item, though, is the handle that you can put wherever you want. They say you can put it in the bathtub to help you pull yourself out! Now, it's not the concept of a handle wherever you want that's the problem; it's the reality of these As Seen On TV products. I bought my dad one of those spatulas with the top piece so you can hold onto sausages and hot dogs instead of them rolling off the spatula; the only problem is that it's made with the cheapest plastic ever. This stuff is NOT high-quality merchandise. If I put a handle in my bathtub to help me get out, I'm going to be pulling on this thing with all my weight behind it. If the handle *gasp* breaks? OUCH. And I assume they probably have some darn good lawyers ready to combat the possible lawsuits. "Yes, well, did you read the fine print? It does say the handle isn't guaranteed, and that you should only use in situations where it would still be safe without the handle". Lame. Anyway, that's enough about useless gadgets; for some reason I was thinking about this crap last night while trying to sleep, and trying to decide whether I should get up and start my blog last night or not. I went with sleep.

On much more exciting news, we are bringing home our new dog this evening! He still doesn't have a name, and now our name list is even longer! We are between around ten names, and that's if something better doesn't come to mind before he has a name.



We are between the following right now:

Kirby
Remy
Jamie
Elvis
Mojo
Blackjack
Gunner
Token
Ozzy
Izzy

...or something else if we think of it (or if YOU come up with it!). That's all for now, so until next time, that's my Stream of Consciousness. Literally. It's whatever the crap I was thinking about that's interesting enough to share but not dumb enough to make me sound like a moron. Late.

Brad