@BtB: Power Rankings Updated

Back from vacation for a few days now, and I think I've already lost the little bit of tan I gained. In typical basement-dweller fashion, I don't much like the sun. Much prefer to be under the umbrella with a good book or binoculars/bird book. But the kids did get some time, and mighty sand-castles were built in Ocean City.

Anyway, I updated the power rankings today. The Reds are basically just sucking these days, but nothing prepared me for this:

I also wanted to take a moment to mourn what's happening with my Reds, who have slipped to second-to-last in the rankings behind the...Nationals. At least Jim Bowden isn't employed over there anymore, though I'm sure that a) he reads this and b) he's gloating. Bastard.

I feel sad about the Reds right now. Fortunately, I have some historical Reds stuff planned in the very near future to get my mind off of this 2009 team. Stay tuned...

Using statistics in personal relationships

I love this:

Mortgage calculator

This is off topic, but we just got agreement from a seller on the house we're buying. And we locked in a 4.375% interest rate on a 30 year fixed mortage today, which is unreal. Given the fed cuts yesterday, I suppose the going rates might drop even lower. But these are historic numbers and so I feel pretty good about locking them in.

Anyway, in playing with numbers over the past few weeks, I've made heavy use of Karl's Mortgage Calculator. There are more options, which might mean it seems less user-friendly than some of the others. But for our purposes, it's been terrific. Thought I'd pass it on.

Random Awesomeness

With a hat tip to Shinsano, Bruce Lee playing ping pong with nunchucks...


I honestly don't care if it's real or not. It's awesome.

Election

This is not a political blog--hence, no comments. But I just want to say this:

I feel incredibly proud to be part of this country tonight. And I haven't felt that way in a long, long time.

State Farm Call Your Shot promotion

In case you're still saddened to learn that you can't win the Toyota Tundra at GABP via a long fly this season, here's another chance:

State Farm Call Your Shot Contest
The grand prize winner will also get the chance to pick a spot to which two of the Home Run Derby players must compete to try to hit a ball. If the first player hits the ball to the called spot, the promotion ends. If either player succeeds, the fan receives a 2008 Chevrolet Tahoe hybrid vehicle and a 2009 season-ticket package for any team.

You can get some pretty decent swag too, even if your players don't hit your "spot":

* All-expense paid trip for four to the All-Star Game and State Farm Home Run Derby
* First class hotel accommodations in New York
* Tickets to a Broadway show
* $1,000 MasterCard gift card

Click here to enter.

No idea how big the "spot" will be, but if you've got a left-hander coming up, I know the general location I'd mark off (courtsey of hittrackeronline.com):

Passed

Small personal note...

Today I successfully defended my dissertation. This means that in a few days, after I've addressed a few minor corrections and changes to the document, I'll submit the thing to the graduate college and will "officially" have earned my degree.

It's been a long seven years out here in Arizona, but this chapter is finally closing, and I'll be heading back east to begin a new life. It think Joel once said to me "you can take the boy out of the midwest, but you can't take the midwest out of the boy." It's true, and while I loved my time here in Arizona, I'm very excited to be heading back to the part of the country that I'll always call my home (does Altoona count as midwest? Not sure. I don't care, it's close enough).

Things will still be hit and miss here at the blog for a while, as we'll be moving at the end of this month with all the chaos that brings. But life's soon going to return to normal, whatever the heck that is. Thanks in advance for continuing to visit despite my always-irregular blogging schedule.

Employment

No, I'm not talking about this job with the Pirates, though if I could program worth a lick I might have been tempted to apply. It's exactly the kind of thing I'm excited about in baseball research right now--the integration of scouting and more traditional sabermetrics.

Anyway, today I received an offer for a position that's pretty damn close to my dream job. It was the interview I went on last week, and referenced here and here. I'm very excited about it. I don't really want to get into details here, but I can assure you that it has absolutely nothing to do with baseball. :)

What this means for the blog is that I am likely to be very busy until June/Julyish or so, because I need to finish this here de-gree before I can start the new position in August. And while I was going to be busy over that stretch anyway, this thing serves as a big time motivator to get my stuff done.

I will continue to try to keep this blog active. But I do anticipate that my postings might become more intermittent, and perhaps a bit more like this kind of thing (which was pretty quick to put together), and less like this kind of thing (which was a major investment of time and thought). It probably also means that my historical Reds project will have to wait for now...just can't devote the neural pathways to it.

But we'll see--you never know how it will go, and I might get a few nights off here and there to work on this stuff. Hopefully the site will continue to be a place worth visiting. But if the quality declines a bit, you'll know why. :)

Oh, and I received my copy of the Hardball Times Season Preview today. It's much improved over last year's version, and I hope that you folks will check it out. It was a lot of fun being involved in putting it together again this year.

Anybody ever been to Altoona?

I'm interviewing for a job that would involve living in a town that is relatively close to the Pirates' AA franchise in Altoona, PA. Just curious if anyone out there has been to that ballpark. :)

Google Mapped Me

So yesterday, Google Maps debuted their Street View feature for certain cities, including Phoenix. So, tonight, my wife looked up the main street near our house. Here's a transcript:

"Oh, neat--they have our street!"
"Hehe, there's a person there."
[beat]
"O-MY-GOD! It's you!!"

Yes, that's right. Google maps photographed me walking back from the bus stop. And since it's available to anyone else who might happen to look up my street, I thought I might as well post it here.

At least now I have justification whenever I claim that They are watching me!

Sicko

Tonight, rather than watch the Reds send one batter over the minimum to the plate, my wife and I went out and had our first dinner & movie date since before our daughter was born well over a year ago.

We saw Sicko. This is the third Michael Moore film I've seen, and it was the best of the three.

I'm going to be brief about this: I feel disappointed in and embarrassed for my country right now. Yes, like all Moore films that I've seen, it is one-sided, and prone to oversimplification and hyperbole. But also like all of his films that I've seen, there is enough substance to his argument to be both compelling and impossible to ignore.

I can't pretend to know the best solution for health care in this country. I'm going to wager that it will probably not be exactly the same as what works for other countries. But I am certain of two things. One, there is a very real and very serious problem here, and it is completely unacceptable. And two, we as a country have a moral obligation to fix it.

...I won't let my politics become a regular intrusion on my postings here, as I know that's not why you folks come here. But at the same time, part of the reason I keep this blog independent, despite a variety of offers to leave and join some larger network or group, is so I can do what I want with this space. So I'm going to go ahead and be off topic this time. Future posts will be back to focusing on what's wrong with the Reds. Mostly.