jedikaos

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/the-babe-at-fenway-and-other-home-run-stories/

Wherein we learn about Ruth's difficulties hitting the long ball in Boston and Ott's easy time at the Polo Grounds, with some bonus material on The Splinter and The Clipper.

Click the title to read more.

Read more great baseball stuff at The Hardball Times.

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/book-excerpt-evaluating-baseballs-managers-1876-2008/

The first installment of a series of excerpts from Chris Jaffe's new book showcases its analytical heart: the Tendencies Database, and also provides some fascinating results it yields.

Click the title to read more.

Read more great baseball stuff at The Hardball Times.

http://www.metsgeek.com/articles/2009/11/16/link-dump-november-16th-2009/

Links to come.

I haven't updated in a while. We want to get a house. Probably in January is when we'll start looking. I want a yard, space, a place that really feels like our place.

My Panasonic Lumix Tz5 decided to just stop working a little over a year of owning it. That upset me since the camera cost 340 dollars.

Oh well.

Hotel front desk!
We have a certain band staying at our hotel that is wholesome and patriotic but apparently rejected by society.
Anyway they are here with all of their roadies.
( Cut for language )

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/blog_article/sabermetrics-101-at-tufts/

Since the beginning of September, Professor Andy Andres has been teaching the 2009 version of Sabermetrics 101 at Tufts University. The class, which is available through Tufts' Experimental College (which specializes in offering classes in somewhat esoteric areas) is described as follows:

This course will teach the fundamentals of the emerging science of Sabermetrics, the objective analysis of baseball. We will discuss baseball, not through conventional wisdom and consensus, but by searching for real knowledge concerning the game of baseball. Hitting, pitching, fielding performance, along with other areas of sabermetrics, will be analyzed and better understood with the current and historical baseball data. Students will design and implement their own sabermetric research study , learning the important concepts in statistics and statistical analysis needed to perform this research.

Being a student at Tufts, I've been privileged enough to take the class, and thus far it has been a blast. Some notes that readers may find interesting:

-The syllabus consists of reading such essentials as Moneyball and Baseball Between the Numbers, but we have also branched out into reading less mainstream works, such as Understanding Sabermetrics and readings from FC Lane.

-There are almost weekly written assignments, including students choosing and defending their choices for MVP, Cy Young, and a Gold Glove (I went Mauer, Greinke, and Brendan Ryan, respectively).

-Class discussions are great. I sometimes find myself stereotypically attacking traditional views and defending more post-modern saber thought, but that's definitely part of the fun.

-There's one Yankees fan in the entire class. This is a rarity for any class at Tufts, albeit one centered around baseball.

-As of now, it looks like guest lecturers coming up will include Steve Moyer and Joe Sheehan.

-Final projects are offered as a binary: you can contribute to a group project in which many students put together a lengthy piece on historical and analytical aspects of sabermetrics, or you can conduct (and eventually present) your own research project. As of now, it looks like my partner and I will be focusing on and researching linear weights for batted ball data.

Overall the class has been wonderful, and I genuinely look forward to it each week (although what college student doesn't look forward to class). I hope other colleges begin to explore opening up interesting classes such as these, and I want to thank Andy for a great job thus far.




Read more great baseball stuff at The Hardball Times.

ETA: As I said in my last post:
Now, we're polite and accommodating with our customers, but we are encouraged to NOT just blow over if they're being rude or abusive with us, that's right, I get to have a backbone, we're not subservient. Just thought I'd mention that so I don't get and "OMG BAD_SERVICE!" because I wasn't exactly being perky and happy towards the ends of these calls.



Harley dealership.

My dealership was having a "garage sale" on all the used bikes today, the ad on the radio also advertised discounts up to 60% off in Motorclothes and Parts.

Phone call:

Me: _______ Harley-Davidson, this is serindipitous, How can I help you?
Him: So, lemme get this straight, you're having a sale.
Me: Yes on all the used bikes.
Him: Well what's the percentage off?
Me: I don't know, actually, but-
Him: So you have an ad on the radio and you don't even know what the sale is?
Me: I'm in apparel, actually, I have nothing to do with bike deals, but I can get you in touch with sales.
Him: OH you're in apparel? And all you're stuff is 60% off?
Me: No, not all of our merchandise, SOME of our merchandise is up to 60% off.
Him: OOOOH Ohh I see. That's quite the fu**ing ploy, isn't it?
Me: Do you want me to put you in touch with sales or not?
Him: *CLICK*

Another phone call:
This was 30 minutes before open, but we were having an event so I picked up.

Him: Hi, do you know where Blackwater St. is?
Me: I'm actually not from the area and the only other person I have here is from Othertownfaraway, so I don't think I can help you, I'm sorry.
Him: Well do you have any numbers to the town offices? *it becomes clearer what's happening*
Me: This is a H-D dealership, I don't have any of those numbers, you can try going on the city website or calling 411.
Him:...Maybe you should just put me in touch with one of the (stressed) GUYS so that I can actually get the information I want.
Me: I'm sorry there are NO GUYS here right now, maybe you should try the other options I have suggested. Have a nice day.
*CLICK*

Seriously?! CALL 411! Just because I work in the town does not make me Mapquest or Information!

I have had a hell of a time with people calling for directions to the motel lately.

#1 - please, please please don't call in the middle of a fully booked night, tell me you need the address to put in your GPS, and then tell me to wait while you pull over and figure out how to put it in your stupid machine. You called me, remember? It'd be nice if, when I gave you the information you requested, you were actually ready to put it into that stupid thing. The crowd in the lobby was really not excited to watch me repeatedly tell you the address, the spelling, the address again because somehow you turned #1123 into #1569. How does it even sound alike? It doesn't. Truly.

#2 - I know Ohio is "right next to Pennsylvania," but I really can't give you directions to the motel from your house in Ohio to our motel. No, I really don't know where that highway you're on leads. Sorry, but I generally don't drive out to Ohio that often. I know my local roads, not yours. This is why there are things like Mapquest and GoogleMaps...why didn't you get some directions before you left for your trip? Oh, you thought it'd be cool to just call and ask me? Well, I'm not familiar with Cincinnati. Sorry, you're going to have to stop and ask for directions. Although I'm sure no gas station in your part of the state will know how to get you to my budget motel.

#3 - You need directions? You're coming from Nearby Town A? Ok, well you take Road X to Road Y, get off at Exit 1, make a left, another left onto Road Z - Oh, you need to know where DumbCompany is located because they told you they were located right next to my motel and you start a job there tomorrow? Are you staying here tonight?....No, you just figured I'd love to waste my time giving you directions? To someone who isn't even staying here? Have you heard of the internet or a map? Or better yet, why not ask your new job where it is located? Sorry, I don't know exactly which office building it is located in, because I am not here to give directions to DumbCompany. Thanks for wasting my time. Excuse me while I *headdesk* myself into oblivion.

#4 - I'm not sure where you got the impression that BudgetMotel offers Jacuzzi tubs, continental breakfasts, or plasma tvs, but no, I won't refund your $38.75 because the room was "unacceptable." It was clean, right? You were just disappointed it was a regular tub and tv? You probably should have spoken up before you spent the entire night then.

Seriously, no love today, guests. Other than my awesome couple of rooms from last night (including one group of women who left me a card at the desk thanking me for the directions/recommendations I gave them - they witnessed the first GPS guy conversation from the lobby) it has been like an episode of the Twilight Zone.

EDIT: And now I just got a crank call from Billy Mays. Awwwesome.

dear sir:
you are drunk.
highly drunk.
i understand this makes you a little less intelligent than you might normally be.
but the store policy of "purchase total must be over $5 to use a debit card" is not going to be changed because "dude, [you] really really need a beer and [you] don't have any cash right now."
please stop arguing with the cashier.
yes, if that's the policy, you probably are "gonna have to buy something fucking else just so [you] can get a goddamn beer!"
this policy does not make the cashier a "fucking faggot."
please GTFO the store, i want to buy my fucking rainbow goldfish and you are in the way.

I doodled.
A lot.

Drawn while watching the NLCS and WS:


It was made mostly in response to troyinwestvirginia's amusing "Matt Holliday Appreciation song", which treated this minor episode perfectly adequately.

But I was stung by the implication that Dodger fans cannot carry a tune.

So anyway. The episode turned out to be irrelevant, since the Dodgers discovered you can't get to the WS without a starting rotation. But hopefully good for a laugh or two.

Recap: I work at an All-You-Can-Eat Pizza buffet and arcade.

( Exit means...EXIT )


( I have to buy a buffet, at a buffet? )

( Random party of 30 anyone? )

Hello everyone! I have a suck from last night. Just as a recap, I work in a cinema and last night I was working as an usher.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=9770

The top of the winter crop of free agents, a pair of NL Central teams sort out their off-season plans, plus rumors.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=9769

The Blue Jays` 2005 first-round pick sits down to discuss his first year in the majors, self-confidence, and the Rookie of the Year Award.

So this happens disturbingly often at my call center. I think it's because we aren't allowed to disconnect a call, even when the caller is done. We have to wait for them to hang up, so sometimes we catch the start of what they do after the call. You can't imagine some of the weird shit I hear when they think they've hung up. o_O

This particular one almost always starts off the same. I'll be helping a member with their insurance question, the call goes well. They get the answer they need, they're happy, I'm happy, I do my little "thank you and please have a good day, sir/ma'am :D" ending bit. They reply just as politely, and I wait for them to hang up. Then I hear it..

... The flush of a toilet. Much, much too loud to be from another room.

I can't help it. My expression immediately turns to DDD:, and do a little grossed-out dance in my chair. All I can think of is "Oh god, so was THAT why they sounded so forced when I asked for their ID number? o_____O" *shudder!*

Short secondhand suck/wtf from a grocery store where the name fits.

Why, WHY for any reason would you go into the men's restroom,
do number two ON THE FLOOR, wipe with your underwear, and then throw the underwear ever so gently across the seat?

The was toilet paper! There was a toilet! There was a trash can! Why?!

Hey Sydney-siders...

I was jsut wondering.. does the meet and greet thing work in Aus like it seems to do for America and shit..? i'm sort of keen for it but im not sure if it's going to be a thing.. is anyone going to do the old waiting near the stage door thing..?

p.s. SO KEEEEEN FOR IT! it's gonna be all amazing and solo!

Hi, although this is a bad year for it, I created a community devoted to Winter Baseball, winterbaseball. I initially created it to mind-dump what was a growing obsession with me, to found a continental winter league that the Hall of Fame might one day regard as being at a major league level. I was thinking it could maybe achieve the same status as the Federal League.

Anyway, winter leagues based in Hawaii, Texas, and Florida all canceled this year, so there hasn't been much of anything exciting in the present to write about. There has been Stephen Strasburg in the Arizona Fall League, and a World Series that ran into November. I don't yet know much about the Mexican Pacific League, Venezuelan, or Caribbean winter leagues.

My older posts, where I muse about a continental winter league, can be verbose and rambling, but I think I've mostly worked that through my system, and if not, I'll use a cut tag and headline with a warning. The warning is crucial. Folks expecting usual sports talk under the cut might find rambling about tiny details of sports law, sports business, sports economics, and crazy schemes to gain television exposure.

I can obsess about Canada. How many baseball-friendly domes are in Canada? Why did so many teams at the minor league level leave Canada around the turn of the century? Is there still a market for the Montreal Expos? Is Olympic Stadium really as crappy as most opinions hold it to be? The country is just so ripe for the conquest of a new league, you know? I see the population statistics for their metropolitan areas, and there are no teams!

If anyone joins and gets tired of my antics, we can talk about community moderation. *Shrugs*

I found myself on this very hot and empty weekend feeling really let down.

She's brilliant. I'm only human. You gotta vent when you can.
Tags: disillusioned, satin-clad butt, set=list, tori amos


Current Mood: blah

Answering service wench.

We're not the office, I swear. We don't know why they left early. We don't know what their weekend plans are. We don't know anything that isn't sitting in the file in front of our faces, because we answer for 500 clients, and 90% of our calls are simple messages to be held for the office, or urgent medical or home-and-business disaster mitigation stuff that we dispatch ASAP. We have zero access to any stored info our clients might have, and the little bit of info we DO sometimes have is only available because the person who forwarded the lines was feeling particularly forthcoming that day.

In short, we're cheery voices responding to your phone call, and we'd rather not deal with rudenes, entitlement complexes, or offensive bullshit.

Obviously, I'm not allowed to say what I'm really thinking when I get callers who simply refuse to understand the situation, but I'm certainly tempted. That being said, we are NOT required to take abuse. People start swearing at us, or being really nasty, and we can drop the call.

( OH MY GOD WHY ARE YOU NOT HELPING MEEEEE??? WHY WON'T YOU DO WHAT I WANT??? )