ANtics Episode 2.29: It Hurts So Good

Deep into the September stretch run, something very big is different about this year's A's team. Something about 275 pounds big... with 38 homers and 105 RBIs big... which is why as the team and its fans get fired up in plans for October... "It Hurts So Good."


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Is It Time to Upgrade our TV Experience?

For as much time as we sit behind the boob tube, whether it be watching A's baseball, laughing along with Conan O'Brien and Jon Stewart, or enjoying the drama of House, CSI and 24, we sure have made do with substandard equipment for some time - and with technology advances over the last few years being what they are - I can't help but think it's time to review where we sit and what the options are.

Currently, in our home, we have two televisions - nothing fancy. One is a 25 or 27-inch (can't remember) in the living room, connected to a series 1 TiVo DVR and an ancient DVD player. The DVD player was purchased for about $79 or so more than five years ago, and the TV is similarly old, made worse because it has a scratch on the front of it that impairs the clarity of every single show we watch. It'd be incredibly annoying had I not grown used to it in the years after it was first damaged (when it fell over on its face in a U-Haul truck as I moved from Belmont to Palo Alto).

The TV itself is fine (aside from the scratch), but the DVD player is trying to kill us. Every single DVD we watch from NetFlix or other sources tends to skip and then stop, necessitating the disk be taken out, cleaned, and started over at its point of interruption. Meanwhile, our cable box doesn't always cooperate with the TiVo, sometimes false-start channel changing, which makes the TiVo record a channel it hadn't been asked to. This means we run significant risk of missing show premieres every time we expect the TiVo to do its job. And the TiVo, though very reliable, doesn't have all the whiz-bang features introduced in subsequent releases of the TiVo series 2 and new series 3.

The second television is a smaller 17-19 inch in the bedroom, which for some odd reason doesn't get anything on cable past say channel 13. We've never resolved it, and hadn't made it a high priority. Now, with a new television season upon us, we're seriously investigating a full "rip and replace" of both sets - provided we have the available funds and time to make sure all goes well.

In my head, both televisions absolutely need to be flat-panel, and ideally would be placed on the walls of both the living room and bedroom. Ideally, the living room set would meet or exceed 42 inches, while the bedroom set would exceed 27 inches. The thought is we could move our Series 1 TiVo to the bedroom TV, and get a second DVR and new DVD unit for the living room. But while we've prepared to stomach a jump in cost to the new sets, the fact that TiVo is now asking $799 for its Series 3 unit, in addition to unprecedented monthly service fees, is a big punch to the gut. We've also seen online reports that TiVo is having issues meeting customer demand.

Beyond this, we have additional options to further gouge our wallets, should we decide TV is a worthwhile investment. We don't have an HD set, but understand that's the way to go looking forward. We would also have to ensure our cable was transmitting HD content. From what I understand, HD content, especially for sports, is one of those things you never want to walk away from. Once you've made the move, you don't go back. And while we haven't looked into DirecTV or adding Comcast's OnDemand, we can see their occasionally being interesting. While staying at a friend's place a few weeks back, we had the chance to experiment with OnCommand, and found the ease of ordering movies for $4.99 quite simple. The ability to pause, and rewind the films also was very handy.

I'm ready to make the move, and will be scouring everything from Shopzilla to Best Buy and Amazon to make sure we've got the best deal out there. If we do join the rest of couch potato America in embracing our inner sloth, we will be sure to let you know the outcome.

Listening to ''I'm Getting Closer'', by M83 (Play Count: 5)

iTunes In Trouble? I Don't Think So...

As popular as it is or once was to trash Microsoft and all things related to the Redmond software monolith, Apple has recently received its share of potshots from people eager to see the company's leadership in online music sales and MP3 players erode. A recent doomsday-like article out of the BBC says that the iPod has lost its cool, now that they are as ubiquitous as MySpace pages, "Digg This" buttons and Google AdSense. The article goes even further saying that the average iTunes user is avoiding the iTunes store, and that the average iPod user has only purchased a few dozen songs.

This is derived from the overly simplistic math that with 1 billion-plus songs sold on the iTunes store, and 60 million iPods floating about returns a iTunes/iPod ratio of about 20.

Now, while I may be on the lunatic fringe, my own iTunes spending habits have been fairly regular, ever since the store opened in early 2003 (around the time I got married). In fact, the major impacts on any lulls in purchasing can usually be tied to:

* New music or lack thereof from tracked artists
* Willingness to spend money (especially when funds are tight)
* Available time to look at new artists or music

My iTunes library reports that I currently have 3,495 songs, of which I purchased 1,179 songs from the iTunes store, a 34% rate. The overwhelming majority of other tracks were ripped from CDs I already owned, or from DJs who make their music available online for download.

From April 28, 2003 to June 30, 2003, I purchased:  114 songs
From July 1, 2003 to December 31, 2003, I purchased: 69 songs
From January 1, 2004 to June 30, 2004, I purchased: 136 songs
From July 1, 2004 to December 31, 2004, I purchased: 285 songs
From January 1, 2005 to June 30, 2005, I purchased: 129 songs
From July 1, 2005 to December 31, 2005, I purchased: 181 songs
From January 1, 2006 to June 30, 2006, I purchased: 236 songs

And since July 1 of this year, I've purchased an additional 29 songs. Okay, maybe I'm nuts. But if you look at my buying history, you see consistent purchases since the introduction of the store, and I know I'm not alone. Even if I may be in the higher echelon of iTunes customers, it would take a million people just like me to bring the store to a billion tracks purchased.

It's a lot of fun to target the leader - and expect Apple will be brought down by music-playing cell phones, by Microsoft or Sony, or even Google, but nobody has yet found an integrated inexpensive, simple way to enjoy your music the way that Apple has. And honestly, it's not a Mac vs. PC thing. It's simply a better way to do things altogether. That's why nobody else is taking away Apple's throne.

Listening to ''Reach Out (Technikal Remix)'', by Elemental (Play Count: 6)

A Tale of Two Games In Two Cities

Today was the first time our owning season tickets for both the California Golden Bears and the Oakland A's were in conflict. The A's, battling for a playoff berth, took on the Chicago White Sox at 1:05, and a scant two hours later, the Bears were set to kick off play against the Portland State Vikings, in what was sure to be a laugher of a contest. To give both contests their due, we opted to stay through the first six or so innings of the A's game, through 3 p.m., and then leave to take BART and head north to Berkeley, hopefully before the game got too far out of hand.

I can say we had a great deal of fun, but not having seen 100% of both contests definitely had its drawbacks.

The A's game started off auspiciously, as supposed-ace Barry Zito couldn't find the strike zone, walking a career-high seven, and being hit by a two-run home run off the bat of potential league MVP and former A Jermaine Dye. The White Sox extended their lead to a 4-1 margin, and by the sixth inning, as we made plans to take off, it seemed the A's were not going to be victorious. But in our final frame, Frank Thomas put a "Big Hurt" on his former team, with a 2-run homer himself, which closed the gap to 4-3. After that, we really, truly, had to go, but were feeling better about the team's chances, as we changed allegiances in mid-stride.

We dashed out of the Coliseum, and to the parking lot, where I exchanged my A's hat for a Cal alumni cap, and traded an A's sweatshirt for a Cal sweatshirt. We also tossed our A's ticket stubs and picked up our Cal tickets. The transformation was complete. Then we grabbed our BART tickets and set off North toward Berkeley.

On the BART train, I tried to follow along with the A's game we had just left, and saw them challenging back. With 2 outs in the bottom of the 7th, Mark Ellis tied the contest 4-4 with a single. Then the wheels fell off for the White Sox, as walks started to pile up, giving the A's two free passes with the bases loaded, including one to the aforementioned Thomas, making the game 6-4. Then, as an exultant colleague called from her seat in the Coliseum, Jay Payton made the crowd roar with another single, making the game 7-4, its final margin. As she put it, we "missed all the fun". But we knew the team was in good shape, even if they played better without us. (AN Recap by Baseballgirl)

After arriving at Berkeley and making the traditional uphill walk to Memorial Stadium, we found the Bears up 21-3 against their overmatched foes. As we approached our seats, leading rusher Marshawn Lynch, a supposed Heisman Trophy candidate, busted out a 71-yard scamper, making the game 28-3. By halftime, the Bears had tacked on two more touchdowns, and the Vikings tried to stay close with two scores of their own, making it 42-16.

While we had visions of continued offensive mayhem, and pretty scores in the 80s, it was not to be. Surprisingly, as Cal had put in their second string players and swapped quarterbacks, there was no scoring the rest of the way by either team, making the halftime score the eventual final score. All told, we had seen the Bears only outscore Portland State 14-13 while in our seats, though we stayed for the final three quarters. Tack that on to the 4-3 deficit the A's had when we left the game, and our heroes only matched their opponents 17-all while we watched, while both won handily. Makes me think we weren't exactly a luck charm.

With that said, we enjoyed the two-sport, two-city march to victory, and hope to await similar challenges in the future, as the A's look increasingly likely to challenge in the playoffs, and those tickets should be here any day now. It's a tough life being an East Bay sports family.

Go A's and Go Bears!

Listening to ''Kyru vs. Albert - Velvet Morning'', by Armin Van Buuren (Play Count: 4)