Dan Gould

Borrowing from Ken Davidoff of Newsday, here's how it works: Post your predicted place in the standings for every team, plus wild card entrant, LCS result and WS result. One point for each correct standings prediction. Two points for each correct Wild Card. Three points for each correct participant in the League Championship Series 4 points for each correct participant in the World Series 5 points for naming the World Champion. Unlike Newsday, however, there will be no prize awarded, only the thrill of predicting the future six months in advance. I'll just stick with my Newsday predictions: AL East: Red Sox Yankees Rays Jays Orioles AL Central: Twins Royals Indians White Sox Tigers AL West: Angels Rangers A's Mariners NL East: Braves Phils Mets Marlins Nationals NL Central Cubs Cardinals Astros Brewers Reds Pirates NL West: Dodgers Arizona Giants Rockies Padres AL Wildcard: Yankees NL Wildcard: Phillies ALCS: Red Sox over Angels NLCS: Cubs over Phillies World Series: Red Sox over Cubs

"It's a man, baby!"

Well, turns out there's yet another D'OH! moment - don't be confused by the fact that there is no track labeled 02-008. Disc 2 consists of 11 tracks, tracks 9 through 12 are actually 8, 9, 10 and 11.

Fine, I'll leave it to the connoisseurs to educate me. As well you should - after all, it was me who knew that the correct answer was Ginger Lynn.

Banned because the unanimous answer would be "the 70s" so there would be no further reason to discuss it. I don't think this is really true. Like "favorite era of SNL" - the answer is the era that you were first exposed to. So I think there'd be plenty of fans of the 80s and later.

It has seemed to stop again, and it happened very recently - when I started the signup thread for my BFT, I got email notifications for a time, and now, none.

Everyone figures Varitek to be cooked, offensively at least, but I am almost beginning to get a little optimistic that his simplification of his left-handed batting stance might actually lead to some positive results. He hit his fourth home run of the spring today, and all have come from the left side. If Varitek has a slight bounce-back year and isn't the black hole he was last year, the offense gets much better.

Buffy Angel Della Reese

Well there's always a "D'OH" moment, isn't there? (Sometimes a dull moment, but most of them are "D'OH!") Just discovered for you download folks that if you select them all and play them in Windows Media, some of the "former" file names get displayed, as the titles changed as the sequencing changed. This despite the fact that when you uncompress the file, they will display the correct name - 01-001, 01-002 etc. So if you listen on WM, make sure you select the files in the right order or else open each one separately and in the correct order. Sorry for any resulting confusion. Hey, at least this time I managed to keep the title and artist info out.

I got that so long ago, my copy is one of those OJC LP pressings from the mid-late 80s!

Its two years (at least) late on Sheffield. Granted he'd be cheap, since they'd only pay the major league minimum but how do you fit him on the roster as a second guy who can't play in the field? If Papi went down or just can't hit for power anymore, then I could see it, but there's no way to have him on the roster otherwise. I'd much rather wait, see what we have offensively and what certain teams like the Tigers do in this economic disaster. I'd give up some youngsters (and Lowell) if they put Miguel Cabrera on the block, or Magglio Ordonez, for that matter, though fitting an outfielder in might be tough. Hopefully they've got enough offense this season if the pitching is as good as it can be. But if its lacking or they think they need a bat for the long-term, I could see Cabrera in their sites. But no Sheffield!

Pedro is waiting for someone to call, still firm on his demand for 5 million a year. He's waiting for someone to call just like Gary Sheffield, who was released by the Tigers today. I doubt that has ever happened before - someone sitting one home run away from a milestone (500, in Sheffield's case) being released in March. I know Sheffield wasn't hitting much (under the Mendoza line this spring) but 5 of 8 hits were home runs, so he must be able to crush mistakes still. I have to say I am a little surprised at this move, since Detroit is still on the hook for his salary. They did trade for an outfielder from Atlanta - maybe this new guy is out of options and has to be on the major league roster?

Links have been sent to those who requested downloads; burns have been sent by Big Al.

I am unaware of techniques for minimizing wow and flutter, and most attempts to reduce background hum will inevitably hurt the music. Depending on the artists recorded, however, I might be willing to give it a shot - gratis.

:party:

I think that first one should be "New to the Forum? Watch for Chuck Nessa's Welcome Wagon"

I hadn't heard that one before, Patrick, but I am pretty sure Gobbs coined it.

Well that's that. As it turned out, its not just buyers who are liars - the others are too. Most of the deals I mentioned previously blew up (or went into Witness Protection ) and when the boss threatened to take my pending deals that I hadn't closed for failure to do so in three days, I walked. The risk in doing that is the fact that I have 4 1/2 deals that I am not paid on, because the client had to pay on an installment basis. If the boss is honest, I'll be OK and see $2200 between now and, say, the first week in May. There is one good sign - I sent him an email summarizing the status of my deals and he actually replied that I'd also be paid on one of the deals that he was threatening to take away. He certainly doesn't have to do that, but I'll be happy if he does. And in my back pocket is the knowledge that I can make trouble for him with state authorities as well as mess up the lawyers he is using by submitting an ethics complaint to the FL Bar (its not allowed to share a fee with a non-lawyer, yet their engagement letters would say that their fee is $1995 or $2500, but they were only keeping $750 or something and paying us the rest - what is that but sharing your fee with a non-lawyer?). But honestly, this was a screwy situation from the start. His sales process and process for collecting payments was bad, he refused to allow credit cards, he wanted clients to pay higher than most companies charge for Loan Mods, and he was under-capitalized since he couldn't front the money for any deals - I got paid when he got paid by the lawyer - and he never followed through on his promised 10 fresh leads per day. And the way I got lied to by some clients was unbelievable. If you can't say "no" to me, just disappear! I'll get the message. I had one guy whose name became the noun for all sadistic liars: Gobbs. Mr. Gobbs told me he was set, had the full amount ready, send FedEx to pick up his documents and check. FedEx goes there - no pickup. I speak to him, he says "Oh, I thought you were delivering documents to me." No - we're picking up. "OK, send FedEx tomorrow" - FedEx gets there and they call me - "we're at the house, we can hear the TV but no one is coming to the door". I call the guy. No answer. Another failed pickup, another $40 charge to our FedEx account. I get the guy on the phone that night - "yeah, I was feeling sick yesterday and spent the day in bed. That's why I didn't hear them. Can we do a pickup tomorrow?" And it was the next day that he finally took pity on me - "Sorry Dan but my neighbor has offered me more money than I owe on the property, I am going to sell it to him and move in with my son." WHAT A FUCKING GOBBS! And one of my final straws was the winner in the category of Best Female Impersonation of a Gobbs. This chick tells me her husband is in the Navy and out to sea. They need help, they are able to do the fee on a payment plan. On the day of the expected pickup, she doesn't answer the phone. Late in the afternoon she does, and tells me this: "My husband came home unexpectedly - but I am putting the stuff you need together, can I just drop it off at a FedEx box myself?" Now, in the back of my mind I am thinking "yeah, right your husband came home unexpectedly. As if they don't know ahead of time where the boat is going and when it will be back?" but when you're doing sales like this, you gotta go with what they tell you. So I say fine. Call me or email with the tracking number so I know it was sent. And today, I get an email - I am sorry Dan but we found someone willing to buy the house and won't need the Loan Mod after all. Thanks for your help, I am going to tell everyone I know who needs a loan mod to call you." Now I ask you, is that a Gobbs or what? Now that I've vented - thanks for listening - its time to go find a better Loan Mod company, one that is properly capitalized, follows the rules, pays its salesmen on time, etc. At least I can tell them that I was the top salesman at another Loan Mod company for 3 months. And I have done some searching in the past couple of weeks as sales didn't improve as hoped, and I know there are more than a few out there. In fact, I saw one that also included full benefits. So wish me luck.

Thanks Al. With Al sending out burns to Free, Mike Weil and thedwork, I will be sending download links via PM to everyone else on Tuesday, and I'll start discussion threads next weekend. Still time for any late participants!

I am going off of Bill Simmons' review on ESPN.com,

I don't get "impossibly creepy" either.

Anyone Else Have a Nigerian Business Partner?

"contact customer care" - I like that. Wonder if they have the lofty title of "Associate," too.

Yes including the family-murdering suicide, Chris Benoit.

Up for any final participants! Big Al is going to send out Mike Weil and thedwork's discs shortly and I have uploaded two rar files to megaupload, I'll send out links around April 1.