This just in: Money talks more than Chris Tucker

Which makes perfect sense because in 1997, a post Friday and pre Rush Hour Chris Tucker starred in movie of said name (Money Talks). It's hard to believe that something could actually talk faster, longer, and make you understand the words that are coming out of its mouth more than Chris Tucker, but money talks baby. So what does this have to do with anything? I'll tell you. I love dollars. I like looking at dollars. I love songs about dollars. I love collecting dollars and using those dollars to buy sweet things. I envy people who have baller status and have more dollars than I do (damn you Lil' Bow Wow!). But I hate (I know it's a strong word) but I HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE TRIPLE HATE the process of getting dollars (for ex., working). There's nothing more that I hate then showing up at my place of business and dealing with stupid customers. To steal a line from Randall Graves in Clerks, "This job would be great if it wasn't for the fucking customers." I couldn't agree more.

I'm starting to get to the point where I wake up every morning depressed because I know that I have to go into work. "Stop whining, you're giving me a headache!" is what you and Arnold are saying right now. "Get a (new) job Grouch" is what you and Dave Chapelle are saying right now. I know, I should do both. But I've had so many jobs in my short life (I've been working since I got my first paper route at 15) and I know that regardless of where I work (with the exception of Miller Park) that I'll hate my job because it will always pale in comparison to that gig. The problem is that I can only work at Miller Park when the Brewers are playing a game, so that limits me to working only approximately 81 games a year. What the hell am I supposed to do with the other 284 days? I personally, can think of plenty of things to do, like drink myself retarded, go on trips, play Guitar Hero, watch movies, etc. but none of those get me the elusive dollars that I crave so much. I guess my only way out is to find a Sugar Mama (or Sugar Daddy - hey, it might be worth it if I get enough dollars so that I can swim in them like Uncle Scrooge) to ease my dollar woes. Since that is very unlikely (I'm an ugly mfer) I guess I'll just have to work for the man so that I can get some dollars.

I guess it really isn't all that bad. I could have worse things to worry about, like disease, the absence of a limb, poor living conditions, unclean water, insufficient food, and other basic living essentials that people in 3rd world countries go without. I guess I'm just a bitch for whining about stupid stuff. Oh well.

Dollars still rule the world, but I still believe that I rule a little bit too. I guess I'll try and be happy with the things that I have and stop getting upset about the things that I don't have. I'm lucky enough to have some kind of monetary possession in this world.

Until I strike it rich, I'll be sitting here making some dollars. As of yet, I haven't been able to figure out another way to resolve my unquenchable thirst for the almighty dollar. Until I figure that out - you know where to find me.

-pookon-

http://www.pookon.com/

I've been a real asshole lately

So far, I'm starting of this new year with one hell of a bang. I've been really cynical and standoffish since my return from Las Vegas. To sum it all up, I just really don't give a shit about some things anymore. I tried giving up drinking, but I found that it made me even more of an asshole because I was angry that I wasn't drinking. My current attitude has started to affect my life because I am not talking to my best friend (Joey Kanz), won't give my Mom a call even though she's been sick in bed all of last week, and am not getting along with my friends and co-workers. Sooner rather than later I'm going to alienate myself and lose all of my friends. The worst part about it is that I really don't f-ing care, nor do I give a shit about it. My upside right now (career, relationships, life, etc.) is at its all-time highest potential and I'm so close to being genuinely happy. I don't understand why I would jeopardize my life by treating other people like shit. None of this really makes sense anymore. Well, maybe this will grow out like a bad haircut. I remember once when I went to SuperCuts and they cut my hair into a flattop like Drew Carey. If I would've been wearing black thick framed glasses, I could have yelled out Cleveland Rocks! and hosted the Price is Right. It was that bad. My siblings and my parents laughed at me, and all my 14-year-old self could do was yell back "shut up!" Those were some rough times.

Well, I guess I aired it out there for a second. Hopefully that helped me get over this little snafu. I guess I'll find out tomorrow when I get on the phones at work and the customers start belittling me and treating me like dirt because I work in a call center. I'll just tell them to deal with it then probably get in trouble because I'm not providing good customer service. Time will tell on that one. Well, I gots to go be mean somewhere.

Raer!

-pookon-

http://www.pookon.com/

My 2 Pennies on Mike Cameron

I've got to put out my copper Lincoln's on the free agent aquistion of center fielder Mike Cameron. As a precurser to my opinion, I must first state that I am perhaps the biggest Bill Hall fan (besides his mother). I have loved Bill Hall since he first appeared with the big league club in 2002. I immediatly appreciated his versatility and charasmatic attitude. He always looked like a genuinly nice guy in the clubhouse and took everything in stride. After all, (aside from 2007 and may-september of 2006) when he showed up at the ballpark, he didn't know what position he was playing that day (2B, 3B, SS). I don't claim to know everything that's going on in the Brewers universe and clubhouse, but it looks to me like Bill Hall has done everything the Brewers have asked of him. After all, until late, Bill Hall wins games.

My man-crush on Bill Hall puts me on the fence of the aqusition of Mike Cameron, who is a damn fine center fielder. The man has won 3 gold gloves, and a Brewer hasn't even won 1 since Robin Yount did in 1982!! We absolutley need a player of that defensive calibur! I love Ryan Braun, but his errors in 2007 hurt the team in so many ways. We only have 1 dominating strikeout pitcher (Ben Sheets) and the rest (especially Suppan and Capuano) put the ball in play and depend on the defense to back them up. That's why Suppan was so good in St. Louis and why everyone was up in arms that we paid so much money for him and we basically got an average year from him. Given a better defense, we can expect his ERA to drop from its 2007 mark of 4.62 to something more around the 4.00 mark. I can't stress enough that pitching and defense go hand in hand and pitching and defense also win ball games.

Some argue that we gave Rickie Weeks time to develop defensivly, why can't we let Ryan Braun improve at 3rd? It's cause we don't have time to wait anymore. The NL Central is at it's weakest point and we need to take advantage of that before the kids (Prince, Rickie, JJ, Corey, Ryan) all become elegible for free agency and we can't afford them anymore. We have a 3 year window in which to win a World Series, so there's no time to goof around anymore. We have to put the best team out on the field every year and every day, which means that we needed to upgrade our defense, hence the Cameron signing. Cameron in CF > Bill Hall in CF, Bill Hall at 3B > Ryan Braun 3B, and Ryan Braun = to or less than Kapler / Gross / Gywnn / Dillon so that solves our defensive deficiencies right there. I like whatever Melvin/Yost does to improve the team.

I can see Bill Hall getting traded for an established 3rd baseman who bats lefty and has a high on base percentage (something Melvin and Yost have been stressing for the entire off season), and I'll be extremely disappointed if it does. Bill Hall is awesome, and last year he struggled just a bit, but that's no reason to trade him. But at the same time, i was just 1 year old the last time the Brewers made the postseason, and I would like to see that before I die. That is why I have no reason but to back Melvin 100% and agree with his decisions. I need to see a championship team.

Is the Cameron signing a precursor to a Bill Hall trade? It might be, although it also might not be. Time will tell on that one, but it may happen just because we have too many pitchers and not enough roster space to keep them all. If some team offered a good player for a combination of Vargas/Bush/Capuano/Hall/Gwynn/Gross , I'd pull the trigger on the trade if I were Melvin and it put the finishing touches on a championship caliber team.

Bottom line - I like the Cameron signing because it makes our team better. There's no way in hell I can stomach another year of placing 2nd behind the Cubs and hear those FIBs boast about their accomplishments again. I will not stand for that kind of shit. We have to win now, and more importantly, we have to beat the Cubs because my hatred for them is more than I can bear to love with. Plus, it would be a dream come true for me to see my Brewers hoisting a World Series trophy up in the air. It's coming soon, and it's only a matter of when...

- pookon -

http://www.pookon.com/

chiggity checkin' in b

it's morning, i'm tired, and i'm at work. i can't think of 3 worse things that could be working against me right now. come to think about it, there are some - like cancer, an extreme hangover, and midget clowns terrorizing my town. so i guess the moral of the story is that things can always be worse. but then the question comes up - what's worse than midget clowns?

sorry for that opening tirade. i just blacked out and started typing. since you are alive and reading this i'm going to go ahead and assume that you know that it is currently 2008. that means that it is a brand new year and i can start off fresh. in my efforts to try and have a semi normal life, i have abandoned writing in this blog as of late (my last post before this was like june of 2007). now that the new year is upon us, i think i'm gonna gold old school on this s and start posting again. i'll make it my new year's resolution to make at lease 1 post a week.

basically i just wanted to say that i'm back and you f-ers better watch out because i'm bringing the noise, the pain and the thunder baby! if i fail on my promise, then you have the right to hit yourself repeatedly. since i most likely will fail on the promise to post at least once a week (i'm no mathematician, but that's like 90 posts a year) just start hitting yourself right now. make sure you apologize to yourself afterwards, because we all know you really didn't want to do it, you were just being a good little pookondotcommie and listening to authority figures (me) and doing what they tell you to do without questioning.

well, that's all that i really got for now. keep checkin' in or else!!!
best regards - your loving friend and dictator -

- pookon -

http://www.pookon.com/