This isn’t quite Jack Black style from Hi Fidelity and it probably won’t be thrown across some long lost hole in the wall because it was too much energy for the self-suppressed because it’s not a high energy Monday mix. It isn’t lethargic either. It is what

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band “Thunder Road” from Born to Run
Sleep Station “After the War” from After the War
Johnny Cash “Man in Black”
Signal to Noise “Firework Sky” from Kodiak
Time in Malta “Against the Tide” from A Second Engine

The Baseball winter meeting is underway, although, you would never know it with the distinct lack of noise coming from it so far. GMs seem to be shying way from any call for the expansion of the replay rules to other parts of the game, despite the atrocious officiating during the post-season (is the red flag rule really that difficult to grasp?)

For the now defending champion Yankees the last decade saw their incomes grow, therefore their payrolls swell, their TV network take off, their new stadium get broken in, two titles, four pennants, eight AL-E championships and nine playoff appearances. Not too many teams can say they were nearly as productive, and yet, it probably will not slow them down any moving into the next decade both buying and developing players and building the most notorious of franchises into an even greater monolith.

Brian Cashman is once again front and center, guiding the Yankee on-field developments and the entire coaching staff, should they so choose, are all set to return after accomplishing the mission last month.

Taking stock of last years effort first, the revamped pinstripers put on the field a team first and foremost. The additions of Nick Swisher and AJ Burnett to the team brought a lot of personality to the clubhouse and helped manager Joe Girardi lighten up behind the bench. This dramatically changed the complexion of the team, allowing A-rod and Jeter, Cano and Cabera and the bullpen to all take back on seemingly more friendly relationships with one another rather than the all-work ethos that appeared to be settling in. The top of the Yankee rotation during spring training looked, on paper, anyway, nearly unstoppable with CC, AJ and Wang, while the backend of a developing Chamberlain and an aging Pettite seemed to provide substantial depth. It didn’t take long for it to come apart with Wang’s injury and Chamberlain’s ineffective learning curve to being a full-time starter. By the time the playoffs rolled around the rotation had dwindled to three, but those three were effectively huge. The bullpen, as with most team, was filled with more questions than answers, apart from, of course, the mo-bot, Mariano Rivera. Several guys, most specifically Bruney faltered, but Hughes came up huge as the season wore on and single-handedly carried games for the team along the way. Fielding was hardly an issue despite what many might consider a weak OF overall, but what they lacked in gold gloves they made up for in both depth and versatility overall. Then, there was the modern incarnation of murder’s row. Once the surgically repaired A-rod was inserted back into the lineup, there was no stopping the nine man run-producing machine. Doing it with the long ball was not the only way they could score as the circular lineup included speed at both the top and bottom of the order and the ability to manufacture runs off strings of hits.

Going into the off-season found Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, Andy Pettite, Jose Molina, Jerry Hairston Jr. and Eric Hinske are at the end of their contracts plus several other players are in movable positions which opens up potential holes for the 2010 season.

Most obviously there is a hole in the OF. The combination of Damon – Cabera – Swisher was good enough to get it done this year being backed up by the likes of Gartner and later Hinske, but overall is not the most effective defensively. With the strong likelihood that Damon is lost to free agency, it means that the Yanks will need to pick up either a left or center fielder to fill in the gap. There are several OF FAs available with the price tags and contract length expectations to go with them. Holliday would be the obvious choice, while Bay seems one of the least likely but the best fit might actually be someone like Cameron as an easy to insert short-term solution. My guess is they actually work out a trade using the depth of young pitching they have and leverage that to get someone under-30 who brings some combination of power and speed to the team over the course of several years.

Next big hole to fill is in the rotation. Even IF they were to lure Andy Pettite back for one more year of an incentive laden contract, they still have to fill in a hole in that rotation, which, for all intents and purposes should be in the #2/#3 position. CC easily fills the ace role, and depending on the type of pitcher picked up AJ falls easily in one of the next two spots with the bottom as Chamberlain or Hughes, and then Gaudin or Wang or Pettite. There could be experimentation using all of those guys to actually fill out a rotation, but after the struggles last season holding one together they should address the middle slots and take the pressure off whomever is at the back end to slide into a top-end role.

Middle relief is always a potential hole, no matter how many arms you have. The post-season trials for the team prove that even the most serviceable staff can come undone in a hurry. Relievers are a dime a dozen, and for good reason – their streaky nature is not to be trusted. When they are on, they can be devastating but getting them to stay on for an extended period of time, as a group, is never an easy task. Lefties who can get out everyone are always a necessity, in particular if they can really nail down lefty hitters with their command. There’s no reason to overpay on the FA market for this, but they should keep the options open to make some supporting pickups for the two Phils and Mo.

Finally, there is still the question of an multifaceted utility guy. It is hardly a hole that needs to be addressed in the winter meetings per se, but as the season wears on and they want that additional length on the bench and depth in the field (to give guys a day off) it would be a nice addition, especially if there’s some pop in their bat as a pinch hitter.

As for the lineup, again, the loss of Damon & Matusi as regulars opens up two holes to be addressed. As always, OBP is going to be a determining the potentials

Today was the first “real” snow we had this year. After so many days in the 60s lately, it was actually a little bit of a surprise to see those heavy, wet, white flakes falling from the sky and beginning to settle on everything. It was a pleasant one though, and one very worthy of a nice comfort food, such as tonight’s meal. The weather was by far not only one reason to pull out a soup like this. Cooking it, as well as enjoying it with a nice crusty piece of bread, some goat cheese and a nice pale ale was a good recovery from everything that’s been going on. Soup, especially thick, hearty ones like this, seem to always have that soothing effect that make you forget your pain, especially as the house warms up to the wonderful scents of it cooking and the rosemary and slowly cooked, ever sweetening garlic waft through the house.

There are a lot of variants of soups, stews, etc. requiring multiple dishes to make it but
I am a big fan of soups being one pot meals. This is a rustic version of the Portuguese potato and kale soup that really is a one big stock pot meal and if you have patience and the time to allow it to simmer it shouldn’t require being blended / puree’d to get the right consistency. The potatoes should thicken it as they break down during the cooking – The ratio of liquid to potato is about 4 cups to 1lb. of potato to get a good thickness, you can either peal or leave the skin on them (I usually keep the skin on) just pick starchy ones. You don’t need to use stock because the water will pick up all the depth of the other flavors. The flavor will come from a balance of the garlic, spices, the meats and the kale, which can easily be substituted with collard, spinach, chard or other dark leafy green.

Potato
Water or stock
Chicken thighs (with bones)
chorizo sausage
kale leaves
garlic
vadalia onion
celery salt
black pepper
coriander
paprika
fresh rosemary
large stock pot

Deskin and remove the excess fat off the chicken thigh and slice the charrise, reserve
Coarsely chop the onion, garlic and kale leaves
In a large stock pot place the chicken thigh and charise over medium heat and allow to begin to brown slightly
As the meats begin to brown add the onion and allow to cook until it begins to carmalize
Add the water and potato, bring up to a boil and back down to a simmer
Add the garlic and a couple of sprigs of the fresh rosemary, then season with black pepper, celery salt, paprika and coriander
Allow to simmer for a minimum of an hour and a half so the potato begins to break down and the chicken begins to fall off the bone, stirring occasionally
Re-season with black pepper, paprika and coriander, add additional garlic as necessary and remove the stems of the rosemary and skim any floating chicken fat if necessary. Use a potato masher or the back of a spoon to make sure the potatoes are broken down as much as you can, small chunks should remain, just make sure the big ones are broken up.
Simmer an additional 30 minutes before adding the kale a handful at a time
Simmer until the kale is tender, about 5 minutes.
Allow soup to set for a few minutes before serving.

Welcome back to SPAM FRIDAY! I hope all that real meat goodness last week is ready to be replaced with its pure fat substitute just like all that gory gruesome spam that’s been seeping out of your inbox the past few days… this one seemed like one of the more impressive version of typeos to pull together some of the more cliche’d themes of your typical spamalicious leftovers:

Having your Secret Stock 100% super-firm is important, you need a Rolex to ensure it measures up on time. Show her that you want her Coach and can’t wait to package her Crate and Barrel. Click Here to get the most of the investment. It’ll make your night and the rest of her days after you earn that Degree! So, tune in and check out the ultimate Herbal Solution to your Eternal Happiness. It’s more than an increase in the length it’ll make you bigger than the President. And, you know you want that… don’t you?

… by the way, bonus points if you can guess what they were REALLY pitching in this one!

So, at some point, I suppose everyone makes one of these types of “mixtapes” for themselves, for a friend… cathartic for oneself, helpful for someone else or even as revenge to some nondescript ideal. Well, for me, perhaps I’ve been carrying some of these songs all too long, perhaps some are fleeting ideas that I’ve always been drawn to, some are dedications to my friends circumstances, some are poignant jabs at my own past, some are wounds perhaps yet made but needs to pre-heal. All in all though, this is not your typical, love lost in a hail of gunfire mixtape of breakups and broken hearts and the toils and troubles of recovering from that which we all probably never had and will always be hoping we will, true love… and the realistic trouble of its concept without pulling out Whitesnake’s “It is Love” and the other gutwrenchers out there…

Alexisonfire “.44 Caliber Lover Letter…” from Alexisonfire – “just remember the first step in forgetting is destroying the evidence” – take a bullet through the heart in a situation you long for and you probably only imagined in the grander schemes of reality

From Autumn to Ashes “Take Her to the Music Store” from Too Bad Your Beautiful – “you break my heart into a thousand pieces and you say it’s because I deserve better” comes from the intro to the middle of the greatest broken heart record recorded…it’s the pain and anguish of loss at its rawest, purest form.

Bleeding Through “Love in Slow Motion” from the Truth ” I wish she was my enemy but I’m still waiting here for her to hold my hand for her to steal my breath for her to pick up the pieces of promises never kept” – what FATA captured in one record BT drew out over several, which each step of recovery is captured here

Most Precious Blood “Your Picture Hung Itself” from Our Lady of Annihilation – “The more time passes by, the more I realize, you and I were just a lie” – the arsenic kiss of loss, the anger of looking back, dominates this tribute to the past, it is pain in absolute blame

Stretch Arm Strong “the Sound of Names Dropping” from Free at Last – “I cant believe that you turn your back On everything you promised me” – overcoming from the perception of failure can be too big a hole to climb from, in a song that attempts to define that battle from an album that encompasses it.

Rise Against “Voices off Camera” from Revolutions Per Minute – “the heart is something you can’t control we either choose to follow or be left on our own” – fully captures the never ending struggle of when to pursue and when to relinquish and how the struggle of both affects us

As I Lay Dying “An Ocean Between Us” from An Ocean Between Us – “Is this all you can give? I will not stand in reflection of someone else’s dream” – When you need to comes to terms with your status in life there’s nothing better than having your heart ripped from your chest because of someone else’s draft perception of reality…

Megadeth “Trust” from Cryptic Writings – “betrayed by lust, we lied to each other so much, that in nothing we trust” – the lie of let’s just be friends takes on a whole new meaning from this painful recollection of disdain from the ailing grit of Mustaine’s delivery.

Alice in Chains “Over Now” from Aliceinchains – “When it’s all worn out, I’d rather go without … we pay our debt sometime” – When that midpoint of giving up and giving in comes to the reality of having to move on something as dreary as this would have to sum up that mopey first step forward. It’s not supposed to be pretty…

Sevendust “Bitch” from 7dust – “I can’t imagine to be like you, the pain and the suffering you put me through” – we all wanted to point the blame somewhere else, someone else’s ghosts, someone else’s faults, someone else’s shortcomings, it just took sevendust to articulate it in this way.

Dream Theatre “Lie” from Awake – “…but nothing breaks like a broken promise” if one line could say it all, that about wraps it up for a song that speaks in depth at the volume of disheartening lies centered around “Don’t tell me you wanted me, Don’t tell me you thought of me” which we’ve all heard one too many times.

Led Zeppelin “Heartbreaker” from II – “The best years of my life gone by, here I am alone and blue. Some people cry and some people die by the wicked ways of love; But I’ll just keep on rollin’ along with the grace of the Lord above” – the song references may be about that of a slut but there’s a shard of truth to the ruthless spike of love in this.

Every year the PNC Wealth Management group does a cost analysis of the items in the carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” This year the package, top-to-bottom as the song is sung would cost you $87,403 to win your love’s attention.

In looking over each shopping cart items individual cost, it turns out the nine ladies dancing, at $5,473 per performance, is the costliest item and the 12 drummers drumming, $2,475 per performance, is among the least expensive. This prompted me to respond (being a percussionist myself – yes, all puns intended):

“Well, now we know where the biggest bang for your buck lies at least.”

This time of year can always be tricky and challenging (such is noted here)… This is especially true for the unemployed and underemployed, so be sure to try and hold onto the positives you have and don’t lose focus on the goal. The forth quarter postings rise and ebb, so don’t get discouraged if there are less sometimes or replies to your inquirery take longer than normal to come through. The usual email jobs list includes a pretty interesting mix of opportunities that are on the fringe from the normal offerings, though, there’s quite a few in music, advertising and entertainment marketing.

Here’s five quick things to consider when getting through this time of year on the job hunt:

1 Adjust – Feel free to modify your short term goals while not losing sight of the overall re-employment plan objectives. If you are not able to make as many new contacts or send as many resumes as you set as benchmarks due to the time of year, than temporarily modify these benchmarks more realistically and then set new ones for other activities to maintain your plan.
2 Optimize – Use the extra time that you are not applying to continue optimizing your resume, cover letter, follow up communications, portfolio, etc. Just because you are not sending as many doesn’t mean you should forget about them. This is the perfect time to experiment with short tweaks.
3 Network – This is the traditional time of year to re-connect with old coworkers, acquaintances, etc. You can touch base and catch up, pick their brains on information about the fields you are interested in, what their past experiences were job searching and even if they have any leads going into the new year.
4 Take chances – This is the time to research possibilities outside of your comfort zone and investigate other industries and job titles. Think about what might interest you apart from your normal application patterns and investigate them, it might open your mind to all kinds of new opportunities. Perhaps you’re a gamer and never considered working at a game company, or you love a brand/type of clothes but never considered fashion, or adore advertising but never thought about working for a shop. Now’s the time to learn if these could be a potentially good, yet overlooked, fit.
5 Postive Attitude – negativity does show through and if you’re frustrated and upset with your situation it’ll come across in how you write your res & cl, how you handle screener interviews, your follow up communication, how you dress / what you say / your presentation at in-person ints, etc. Keep your sights set on being positive and it’ll show through one everything too.

Good luck on the holiday job hunt!

When two people meet one another for the first time they must begin to create their relationship. That tenuous first few moments between potential friends, lovers, employers, etc. is complex and occasionally chaotic.

I once envisioned, as a way to deal with my personality quirks, the concept of the Paper Theory. At the first encounter with any new person there is a piece of paper that represents our future relationship with them.

Now, if nothing were to come of the encounter the paper is relinquished to the circular file. Well, that’s the assumption anyhow. However, it’s not quite that cut and dry. Typically, the paper probably does end up in the trash if the encounter were enough in passing. However, experience has taught me over and over that rarely is an encounter chance enough. The page may remain “blank” but it still gets filed somewhere in the index of the binder we carry around as the storybook of our lives. I believe these “blank” pages are waiting, ostensively, exist in perpetuity, awaiting the opportunity to actually become defined by one of the next two.

The next thing that can happen with the paper, which is the anticipated response, is the paper gets written on. We would all like to think this is the neatest, cleanest, chronology of our existence with another person. We would like to assume that we are beginning something in the upper left corner and moving symmetrically, coherently and deliberately to the lower right hand side before appropriately flipping over the page and repeating the feat on the opposing side until time has passed and the page is filled with the acute subtleties of our time together and it ends when the page is completely full of structured notes. We would like to believe this is how all of our relationships worth documenting would be done.

I doubt that’s true though. First off, I doubt this is how we actually define the closest and most precious relationships around us in reality. Secondly, I doubt any of the writing on the page occurs anything like that which the assumption is of.

This image is our projection of the perfection we want, rather than the reality of the relationship. We want our most important relationships to make logical sense. We want them to follow a sensible pattern, fall among the stereotypes and guided lines of a page. But, that’s not the way it works.

Those pages we are writing on are probably not our closest relationships. They are people we need to keep the notes on, remember random things for and have a general recollection of. We start with a scrawl on the page like a kindergartner checkering a page with a crayon. Eventually the writing may establish itself on the page, but mostly, it’s not taking and fact keeping. More times than not, what ends up happening is the chaos of the notes becomes black on the page as layers and layers of the experiences build up an compete for space.

The final way we can use the page is to tear it.

Yes, that’s right. Rip it. Right in half.

This probably sounds so counter-intuitive, but really, this is what most of us do with most of our relationships. We split them into pieces like we would in tearing the paper and then end up creating something unique and new out of them as we put the paper back together, not unlike how we’re different after every time we have a special encounter or interaction with the person. It is easiest to see the analogy in the context of each disagreement or fight since the idea of ripping the paper probably sounds so destructive and the taping it back together would, in theory make it stronger and less prone to rip along that same line. However, it delves further into human relationships that just the forcefulness of a fight. If the paper is the relationship, and relationships are, in fact, no linear like what writing on the paper might be, than tearing it up and re-taping it back together in a more appropriate fashion meeting our interpretation of the person is more apt to be correct. We recreate the paper in the unique way we interact with this specific person. It is a statement to whom they are with us, not what we need to remember or know about them.

Why, then, are so many people afraid to tear that piece of paper? Is it that they can only see the tearing as some kind of termination, unable to envision it being retaped in a different way? Are they afraid that a piece might be lost in the process?

It is probably a function of both of those, along with the more traditional cliche of writing chapters in one’s life. Yet, again, writing the way most of us are taught is a sequential flow of thoughts transcribed to a page, which, is fine if you need a chronology of your life, but not always the dynamic analogy when discussing the finer points of subtle human emotion which waivers and wanes in no particular time-honored order.

I personally find myself tearing a lot of pages with people only to have them be unable to help tape them back together in a new way. In response, I stopped tearing pages except on more and more rare occasions until there was at least something written on them first, proposing that writing would let them into one part of the binder and then when it was time, tear the page and reconstruct it in a new fashion placing it in the other when they felt comfortable to. The success of this approach has not much worked either.

From a business perspective, I have found it much easier to tear and tape relationships because it feels more constructed and conducive to having to create successful situations, to help the product develop and the company grow. If it comes across as this is for the betterment of the end result people are more apt to buy into the Paper Theory and go beyond merely the collecting facts on the page step.

However, more in my personal life, the radical notion of tear and tape has only worked with limited success and almost never in a romantic setting. I lament this fact most because this is actually where tear and tape should work best. After all, it is supposed to be two people striving to create something unique and special between them and yet, this is where the most struggle with the Theory seems to occur. As if the collection of facts (or worse, the plain blank page) might suffice enough.

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20091116/ap_on_hi_te/us_nbc_past_and_future

The rhythmic clatter of the steel wheels rumbled along the tracks keeping an unsteady heartbeat of time as the landscape smeared past. Each click resonated through the air and along the beams of the cars, bellowing out a metallic tone in an asymmetric ideal. It vibrated through her body in an eerie comfort for any number of reasons.

Flipping her black hoodie up over her head it flirted with her feathery, black hair just enough to flick it across her brow and into her face. She bowed her head to allow the remaining strands to settle in front of her waterlogged eyes and the cap of the hood to come down below her eyebrows. Settling herself into the seat caddy corner, wedging herself between the worn vinyl back and the hardened plastic of the window and began to rummage through her backpack for a book. It was really anything to help block out the rest of the train and portray a person so self-absorbed she would not and could not attract any unneeded and unwanted attention. Her hands were clad in half-fingered, fading black, woolen gloves, well worn from the many times patting baby powder and the softening of use over time.

In her fingers was gripped the dusty binding of Kundera, her small clutch, and a half crumpled ticket for the train, but her glace was more upon the grayed window at her cheek as she glared at the steadily passing scenery and became reflective. The introspective nature of who she was completely shifted focus from the beauty of the landscape to the tumult that engaged her soul. The absorption into herself easily became inundated by the chatter of the wheels along the beams in a slantering banter turning her more internal with each rail pattern.

Slowly, the blurring landscape began to fade in her mind and she hear herself repeating in time with the clacks of the car along the tracks, “Let’s start, with just the basics, then, I’m sure that, we could fake it, when, It’s time to say, how much it meant…” *

As the reeds became trees became buildings became the next landscape she reflected upon herself. It was a dangerous concept to. Like the way the landscape she passed had gone from strong white birch forests to delicate salt marshes, from established urbanisms to near failing rural communities. It forced her to reflect on her own life and how life was changing before her eyes. A single tear streamed down her cheek from the outer corner of her eye and as it dropped to the binding with a silent plop.

She shifted slightly in her seat, and with an impulsive move placed her hand back over bag just to check if there was that awaited text message. There wasn’t, she was sure but she couldn’t help but make sure in case there was she’d feel the message as it came through. A second tear dropped, this time on her glove over the clutch.

Was she investing her emotions at the wrong time? On the wrong thing? Was she going to end up as the barren wasteland of the towns she was passing? The more she allowed her mind to wander among the sentiments seething inside of it the worse she began to feel. The remaining auburn hues of autumn flashed in the window next to her face as she struggled to press her head under her hood further while shuffling in her seat yet again. No distance was far enough from what she was feeling. No train ride could get her away fast enough. No hook could really hid the truth.

So she nervously checked her phone again before turning her attention to the text sitting in her lap. Carelessly, she placed the ticket among the yellowing pages while in her head hummed “How quickly lust can pretend it’s love” as she cracked the binding to the dog eared page as her eyes began scanning over the page. At first aimlessly, struggling to find focus and the pace she needed to reconvene the experience, but as she can, she begins to pull together words into phrases into sentences into authoritative thoughts. Brushing the strands of black from her view she turns her head slightly and shifts in the seat again as she turned the coarse paper of the page exposing the next thought.

Hiding behind the guise of reading is one thing, becoming so enveloped in it that the world then begins hiding from her is quite another. She became transfixed by the text enough to ward off even the passing glance of anyone getting on from stop to stop, thus keeping the seats near her free like a bug zapper warns off the evening moths. However it was only a guise, it could not deter her fully from herself and each glance up from the pages returned her eyes to the reality she was trying to escape from. Each passing mile only illusionally put her further from the pain of non-communication, for, she knew, such a thing was not a delusion of distance.

* from Emery “So Cold I Could…”