Iwritecode

FWIW, that child tax credit mentioned in the first story is awesome. It helped put new windows in our house.

I'll try to cover all the different points this thread has. First of all, I'm in the wrong business. Or at least the wrong company. You'd think a programmer would make more than a carpenter... Second, I never really fit into any specific category when in high school. I like computers (nerd), playings sports (jock), wearing black (goth), and have long hair (metal head). I owned a long black trench coat (long before the guys at Columbine did) but would also wear Guess clothes(prep). For the most part, I could get along with just about any group and wasn't really bothered by anyone. I never got into a fight at school which is probably a good thing considered I've accidentally hurt a number people just playing football. Lastly, I have no idea what happened to all the "popular" people from my HS. I guess I'll find out when I go to my 10-year reunion next year. All I know is that no matter what anyone thought of me back then, I have a house, a job and a family that I'm happy with and proud of.

Which is exactly why the Sox doctors should have been allowed to examine him. If he checked out as 100% and would be able to put up his usual numbers, then the Sox could have offered arbitration, he would have gotten somewhere between 11 - 14 million and everyone would be happy. Or he would have declined it and they would have at least been able to keep the draft picks they lost. The fact that they didn't even offer it makes me think they have doubts that he's 100%. Right now the only people that know that for sure are Maggs and Borass.

That's the point everyone seems to be missing/ignoring. I'm starting to believe that if the Sox offered arbitration, Maggs would have jumped on it. Then the Sox might be stuck with an $11 million+ contract for a player that may not be 100%.

I can't believe nobody has mentioned dark chocolate yet. Hershey's makes the best. The dark chocolate Milkey Way and Peppermint Patties are great too. Also: snowcaps (those little chocolate chips covered in little white balls of candy) chocolate-covered chocolate-chip cookie dough orange flavored chocolate

A great gift idea is that new D-skin. They even have a website. It's those things that you snap onto a DVD or CD that protects them from being stratched. The great thing is that you can leave them on while playing the DVD or CD. I picked up a package of 5 for 5.99 at Best Buy last week. I don't know how many times I've had to go to a used CD store to replace on old CD that wouldn't play anymore...

Same here except I would need a couple of days of snow between Christmas and New Year's to go sledding.

I'm at work (but not actually doing much of anything) today and then looking forward to my first 4-day weekend in a long time.

Bob & Doug McKenzie: “Twelve Days of Christmas” Four pounds of back bacon, three French toast, two turtlenecks, and a beer…in a tree. On a serious note, "Christmas Shoes" by Newsong is a pretty good. There's also a song that's done by the Trans-Siberian orchestra that I really like too. I don't know the name of the song but I hear it on the radio all the time.

The year I had to work on X-mas I was at a 24-hour Osco. I could not believe the number of people who were shopping there that day! I think it was the busiest day I'd ever seen while working there. The whole time I just wanted to stand up on the counter and yell "What the hell are you people doing here on Christmas Day?!? Go home!"

Crap, I may have to bust out my suburban with the 4-wheel drive to make that 1.5 mile trip down to my parents' house. Hopefully this will decrease the number of people that insist on going to the few stores that are actually open that day. I've worked retail on Thanksgiving and Christmas day both. It sucks... On a related note, how many people are planning to get up at the crack of dawn the day after to get all those early-bird sales? I did it one time in my life and haven't done it since. I might this year because I missed out on a couple of really good deals last year and my kids (and myself) have a couple big-ticket items on our list.

OK, maybe it's just the past 15-20 years that it's become "trendy" so that eveybody and their brother drinks it now. I don't remember hearing much about it when I was younger besides office water coolers...

How long has bottled water been around? Ten, fifteen years? I seem to remember growing up drinking nothing but tap water and I'm just fine. Well, I guess that depends on how you define "fine"... My parents tell me horror stories about when they grew up the water had "flavor" and would sometimes come out looking like iced tea. They'd have to let everything settle to the bottom before drinking it. These days, the only time I drink bottled water is if I'm going on a trip or something. I usually stick a few in a cooler to bring along. At home we have one of those Brita containers with the filter on it that we fill up and leave in the fridge. Here at work, I have one bottle that I fill up from the water cooler every day.

For some reason I've always thought that when I was a kid, my life was a lot like the "Wonder Years". The fact that Kevin always beats Paul in every basketball game they play (his record was like 2,000+ to nothing) fit perfectly with me and my best friend. The only thing he's ever beat me at was air hockey. Once...

Actually, I just looked it up and it's a sapphire. The weird thing is that the ring cost us the exact same amount as if we would have kept the diamond. They told us that the cost of changing the stones offset the difference in cost between the two stones...

I'm probably the oddball here but my wife picked out her engagement ring and actually had the diamond taken out and replaced with something else! I don't remember the name of it but it's purple. She likes it much better...

What're trying to imply? For whatever reason, I've never been drunk. Never even had a buzz. I just drink things that taste good.

Bleh... I think the pics with me in them looked better when I saw them on the display screen on the camera. They were a lot smaller...

Great post. BTW, Bagglio and HSC, I saw both of you ask your questions on Friday night and didn't realize who you were. Wish I would have cause I could have at least said 'Hi'. I was sitting just across the aisle from Steff.

Yea, they even have those cool silver markers to sign helmets and black bats and stuff... As far as the jerseys, I've seen them sign jerseys while people are wearing them. They are usually pretty accomidating.

If his name is Ian then that's right. To get even more off-topic, does Mario still post here? I thought he was one of the original creators of this site?

Are you going to be there all three days? I should be in the bar on Friday night. Just look for the guy with long hair in a ponytail that (according to Jerry Manuel from WSI - Mr. Showtime here?) looks like a truck driver...

Tell me about it. I just about get culture shock seeing the prices of things in Chicago compared to Rockford. I'm used to paying 75 cents for a bottle of pepsi... I've been hanging in there. Getting old and fat and complaining about the Sox. Same s***, different day...

I have no idea how much I can drink. I have never hit my "limit". Hell, I've never even been drunk. I always run out of money first...

For those of you that wil be attending Soxfest, we are planning on having a WSI vs. Soxtalk snowball fight sometime over the weekend to end the debate once and for all of which board is better. If that doesn't work, we will move inside for a double-elemination arm-wrestling tourney. If all else fails, we'll just say screw it and buy each other drinks until noone can stand up straight anymore. Kidding, of course...