End of Year Wrap Up

Lousy year of blogging as I only managed 157 posts.  Need to improve that in 2012 although next year I hope to really send something in to be published and thus if I am writing there, I won't be bloggin here! Will do comic reviews more consistently and will try to haiku but without a weekly contest that will be tough to remember. Overall beyond the baseball, haikus, and occasional book review it was a pretty pathetic year. So this is 2011 in a nutshell:


- 31 books read (favorite, Non-Fiction (5 books) - "Eiffel's Tower" / Fiction (21) - "Point Omega" and "A Visit From The Goon Squad" / TPB (5) - "Sandman: A Game of One")

- Best Comics this Year - Spider-Man (2nd year in a row)

- Best Movie seen was "Super 8" and "Sherlock Holmes 2"

- Favorite Album - Coldplay although Katy Perry's was the funnest ;)

- Best Comic Cover was Amazing Spider-Man #671

- 51 Haiku's Written

- My Favorites Haiku's


Ski
Majestic Mountain

Skis Sing Softly in the Snow

Wind Whistles Wildly

Baseball
Bust out those Jerseys
Dust off that mitt, grab a ball
Just say it's so Joe!

The Amazing Spider-Man #660
Yeah clobberin' time!
Not really a spidey thing
But Carlie's tattoo ;)

Windmill
There's something soothing
Watching the sweep of her arms
Invisible force


The Amazing Spider-Man #668
Juxtaposition
Who is amazing this time?
How about Carlie



Fall Colors
Season's ebb and flow
Tree's clocks sway with a rhythm
Time's up on Summer

My space shuttle tribute haiku

Top Posts
New York Times Metrics
1000 Posts
2011 Ski Season
Happy Yuri Day
360 Tour 2011
Google Doodle - Les Paul
Future of Comics
US Space Program RIP
Future of College Football
R.E.M - Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight

Top Baseball Posts

World According to WAR
Pujols Effect
More Important to Score Runs or Prevent Runs?
Relievers' Game Score
Errors and Winning Percentage
Winning Series
2011 in Review
Coors Field Effect?

Beautiful

Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS from Michael König on Vimeo.

Neil Gaiman - Sandman: A Game of You

Volume 5 of the Sandman series and probably the most concise story in the bunch so far.  Also the one set of stories that I seemed to tell a good complete story.  Very touching and kind story as well.  He touches on a lot of "taboo" topics in this one especially if you consider the time these stories were originally published 1991 and 1992.   Gaiman continues to amaze and be creepy.   

Haiku Beer #4

Haiku #4 was a recipe from beertools.com for a Light Hybrid Beer.  My desire was to brew something light.  Called Azorean Brewer's Kolsch (5.0% ABV, not verified) it was made with the following ingredients (this recipe really just served as a basis as I had some left over hops I needed to use and of course all of the ingredients weren't available):

1) 1.20 lbs Germen Pilsen

2) 0.60 lbs German Vienna

3) 0.20 lbs Belgium Pilsner (change)

4) 0.05 lbs White Wheat (change)

5) 0.4 oz Willamette Pellet Hops (4.5%AA) [change]

6) White Labs WLP029 German Ale Kolsch Yeast (Liquid) [change]

Used StarSan sanitizer.

The Mash

Heated 2.5 quarts (10 cups) of water (refrigerator water which is carbon filtered) to 130 deg F.  Add grain and mixed.  Cooked for 20 minutes at 132 deg F and stirred fairly frequently and then cooked additional 45 minutes at 154-160 deg F.  

The Sparge

Heated additional 4 quarts of water (refrigerator water) to boiling then transferred to gallon fermentation jug.  Set up the strainer over the second pot and added the hot grain mash.  Then poured the heated water from the jug over the grains and into the second pot.  Once done recirculated the wort back through the grain once more into the original pot.

The Boil

Heated the wort until it began to boil at approximately 210 deg F.  This was done with just the middle heat on the inside burner on my stove.  Boil lasted 60 minutes with 0.2 oz of Willamette Hops at the start of the boil then added 0.1 oz at 15 minutes and then 0.1 oz with 1 minutes to go.  Tasted the wort and it was very sweet.

The Fermentation

Placed the brew pot into the sink with ice allowing the temperature to decrease to 70 deg F.  Allowed the mix to settle this time.  When pouring into the fermentor it was strained into a larger pot then transferred to the fermentor.  After the fermentor is full, the yeast was added and throughly mixed to aerate the liquid.  Note:  Liquid yeast is designed for 5 gallon batches.  This time did not shake the yeast but opened slowly and mixed with a tooth pick.  Still difficult to determine exact amount of yeast was added.

The yeast began fermentation and a fairly consistent burp began.  Primary fermentation lasted for about 36 hours.  Transferred beer to the basement and put in the airlock.  Allowed to sit for 3 weeks.

The Bottling

Used bottling sugar and dissolved this in 1/4 cup of water, I siphoned the beer into a pot and then bottled into 4 x bomber bottles (~650 mL).  Allowed to sit for another 2 weeks.

The Tasting

Opened and tried on 2/1/12. Great big bubble carbonation.  See photo.  Good light beer flavor with some backbone.  First time I used the bottle caps and based on the secondary fermentation this is the way to go.  

A light hybrid beer

Brew again in the Summer 

Refreshing cool taste

Jonathan Lethem - The Fortress of Solitude

I had thought this was my first Lethem book but I had forgotten that years ago I had read his first book, "Gun, with Occasional Music" years ago.  Few years back (2009) I went to a book signing for his latest book which I haven't gotten to read yet.  He is very much a New Yorker and his writing bleeds it.  Interesting that this book takes the superhero meme, much like what Chabon did with Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.  Overall great book.  Little raw in places and uncomfortable but I think that was the 70s and early 80s in New York City.  Not a fun place to grow up!

Page 54. Lethem makes a comment about his characters reading the following comics: Daredevil 77, Black Panther #4, Doctor Strange #12, and Incredible Hulk #115.  Looks like they came out in 1977ish although certainly not all at once...details, details...

Page 176.  "Parsecs measure space not time, some claim it's a mistake but I'm sure it's intentional, Han solo's pretending..."  Classic Star Wars line, first time I heard someone try to make sense of the comment, surprised Lucas didn't edit it in one of his many versions!

Page 274.  "Oh I don't know, I remember you always said you were going to buy x-men forever, unless Chris Claremont quit writing..."  Ooh that one hurts...hate to say it but Claremont was the X-men only Morrison had a slight bit of success since.

Page 368. "Well, Michael stipe was sucking from an oxygen tank after the show."  And I thought this was only a Denver thing...saw him a few years back and yup after every song Stipe was sucking on oxygen tank!

Haiku Wednesday

Solstice

Sun's vacation day
At least up North, but down South
Working overtime

Haiku Wednesday

Yukon Cornelius
Gadzooks wears yellow ear muffs
Misfit toys and all!

Winter Poem

Winter Poem

Snow blankets the land with delicate white sheets
Wind whispers and nudges the trees with gentle force
Creek ripples with swift crispness as ice takes over
The crunching snow under my feet violates the evening chill
Moon radiates stark, brilliant light down upon the world
Stars twinkle for recognition as I gaze upon the sky

Her cool fingers pull me back from my reverence
A cold hearted mistress walks with me tonight
Pushing on, I deceive her with my dreams of warmth
A flickering fire beckons me with sinful promises
My footfalls sink deeper, I am within her grasp
But chimney smoke whisks the chill from these thoughts
At the door, warmth welcomes...

To Spend a Week Off Planet....

Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS from Michael König on Vimeo.

Larry Niven - All the Myriad Ways

Always been a big fan of Larry Niven.  His Tales from Known Space have been a fun go.  Right up their with Heinlein, Niven is one of my all time favorites.  

This book, a collection of fiction and non-fiction, was published in 1971...gee I feel old.  Found the book at a used book store and for some reason this edition matches with ones that are on my shelf (if you must know only the best books make it to my shelf...).  

Anyway the first story is a fascinating look at an extension of Schrodinger's Cat thought that cat lives in parallel universes until the box is open (but Niven goes one step further because before the decision is made the Cat is both alive and dead).  So free choice is dead because you make all the choices.  The other notable story is an essay on why Superman can never have kids...think Super Sperm!

Haiku Wednesday

Winter

A month of extremes
Both in weather and checkbook
No wonder Sun sleeps...

Jeff Eugenisles - The Marriage Plot

As the second book I have received in the Powell's Indiespensable subscription book service that I started a few months back, this one marks the first book that I wouldn't read if it hadn't been sent to me.  It's a hefty, lofty book by a Pulitzer Prize winner that just screams to me, "Don't read me"

So pushing through I gave it a try.  A mandated desire to get through with it before I traveled (hey can't bring hardbacks on planes), I gave myself 9 days and 50 pages a night.  I finished it in 7 days so either it was good or I was reading machine.

To be honest it was actually pretty good.  I enjoyed more than the first Powell's book I got and it just goes to show that you can't judge a book by its cover (ha!).  Good characters (OK maybe just one of them was really good and the other two just frustrating) and a decent plot.  I always seem to fall for books that have a triangle love affair.  Parts of it made laugh, some made me cringe, and others just took me back to the 80s.  

In the end the mark of any good author is once you've done you are then interested in his previous books.  So there you have it

Haiku Wednesday

Birthdays

Special day for you
Magical for Mom and Dad
Happy Birthday Son!

Rox Talk

Coors Field has existed for 17 years. Born in the age of steroids Coors Field has never shaken it's past, even with the advent of the humidor. According to ESPN's ball park factors, Coors Field ranked third in runs scored in 2007 with a 1.16 factor or 16% more runs scored then at an average park (behind Fenway and Wrigley); 2008 Coors was third with a 1.126 factor (behind Chase and Ballpark in Arlington); 2009 Coors was first with a 1.247 factor; again in 2010 Coors was first with a 1.364 factor; and in 2011 Coors was second with a 1.347 factor (behind Ballpark in Arlington). Clearly Coors Field is still a place where runs are not a premium!  In the end, humidor or not, you can't add air and thus batted balls tend to travel 9% farther then at sea level (according to the Rox official website).

In addition to the ball traveling farther, giving the offense a boost, the pitchers have their own trouble because balls tend not to move as much in the thinner air.  So ultimately a perfect storm arrives when the ball and bat meet at home plate.  In the past, the Rox seemed to have the advantage when playing at Coors Field, where they have won more than 57% of their games from 1995 - 2010 versus 40% away.  In 2011 the opposite seemed true as opponents took advantage and Rox only finished 38-43 at home versus 35-46 on the road.  Over the years the effects of Coors Field has been debated especially in regards to a "hangover" effect that might exist when Rox return after a road trip.  My question then -- is there such a thing?

In this specific installment, I am looking at the games played from 2007 - 2011 (recent).  In future installments I will look at 2002 - 2006 (Gen R) and the 1995 - 2001 (pre-humidor).  To begin, is there a break in period for the offense when they return?  I have sorted through the Rox schedule and annotated games played since returning from a road trip.  First game back is Game 1 followed by Game 2 etc.  I then compiled each of the stats for "Game 1" and so forth.  Comparing these compiled stats should reveal the differences between the Rox offense when they first get home and after they adjust to the intricacies of Coors Field.  The graph below shows the average number of hits, walks, and strikeouts for all Game 1's (i.e. all Game 1 data during the season following a road trip) through Game 10.  Averages are used due to the fact that there were 59 Game 1's versus only 8 Game 10's.

Average number of hits, walks, and strikeouts for games after returning from a road trip

While both hits and strikeouts show a very small upward trend, the differences aren't overly dramatic. What is interesting is how Game 4 and Game 8 show a decrease.  Have to wonder if this isn't related to a new team coming into town and showing a different pitching philosophy (?).  Besides these average values what about percentages?  The graph below shows on base, slugging, and BABIP.

Percentages for games after returning from a road trip

Again nothing dramatic except for a Game 4 downturn in which slugging percentage seems to dive (this is a relative nose dive as the slugging percentage for Game 3s is 0.474 and Game 4s is 0.428 which over 50 games is about 3 bases!).  One has to wonder (and perhaps conclude) that not only do the Rox have to adjust but the team coming in does as well and whatever hangover might exist it is neither advantageous to the Rox or the opposition.  Although looking at the Win Loss column below it does appear Rox settle in and teams coming in later during a home stand are at a disadvantage.  Do note that Games 7 - 10 only amount to 69 total games of the 399 home games played after a road trip (Home games starting the season were not counted).

Winning percentage when returning from a road trip

To further coincide with my comment about both teams having a disadvantage when coming to Denver, the graph below includes not only the offense hits, walks, strikeouts (shown in the first graph above) but also now includes what the opposition is doing in sequential games.  It should be noted that the opposition's numbers are only for our pitching staff and not broken down by different team game numbers.  Eerily, hits and strikeouts are fairly consistent but Rox do show some advantage in the walk department.

Rox offense versus pitching when returning from a road trip

Overall the numbers don't appear to show a "hangover" effect when Rox return from a road trip.  Whatever effect exists seems to show up in both teams as they cope with the altitude.  While the raw numbers don't show that the Rox get comfortable, their winning percentage, the longer the home stand lasts seems to favor some sort of positive effect.

Part II will see if the length of the road trip plays a role in the Rox offense and pitching and whether flying east or west matters...

Kira Salek - The Cruelest Journey

No idea where this book came about although I am sure Outside Magazine had something to do with it.  Also have to figure it was about Timbuktu as well.  Who wouldn't want to read about of the more famous cities in the world?

Fascinating journey and pretty crazy to ride an inflatable kayak down a river in the middle of Africa.  Also didn't realize that this far west and south that the primary religion was Muslim.  Even more crazy for a woman to do this trip.  

All in all a good read but have to wonder if she wasn't having Snickers air dropped to her while she was at!

Rox Talk

Hot Stove Update

Winter meetings have come and gone and all Rox did was sign a Los Angeles Angel cast off in Brandon Wood.  A former first rounder who has the ability to play 3B, SS, and 1B and has a 0.186 batting average in 272 major league games.  Hard to imagine that Wiggington will be playing for the Rox next year with Wood in the pocket and Pacheco in the fold (minor update:  Wiggy got sent to Philadelphia for a PTBNL).

Players continue to flirt with the Rox but in the end I think they are just using us to get what they really want.  Sizemore appears ready to re-up with the Indians.  Prado still seems an option but it really makes no sense in why the Braves would let a multi-utility player go when you have an aging 3B in Chipper Jones.  It seems they want a center fielder and while Rox have dangled Seth Smith, again which doesn't make sense for the Braves has they have a right fielder in Heyward.  Guess it will come down to how much Rox think they need either a 2B/3B versus Dexter Fowler.  Has Fowler turned a corner?  Couple of stints in the minors over the last few years kind of indicates that perhaps he still doesn't get it.  With him becoming arbitration eligible in 2012 and having Scott Boras as his agent maybe letting him return to his hometown for a infielder wouldn't be such a bad idea?  Time will tell...

Finally while it is nice that Oswalt has shown some interest in coming to Coors, I think ultimately the Rox chance of signing him is slim and none!  Again the lack of any real arms in the league and the need out there among all kinds of teams would lead me to believe that once again he will show interest but in the end sign elsewhere.  Humidor baseball still hasn't connected with free agent pitchers...

Finally it seems that baseball is safe for another 5 years without interruption due to players and management coming to an agreement.  Hard to believe with all the labor strife in professional athletics that MLB is suddenly the Rock of Gibraltar!  Included in this was the sale of the Astros and their moving to the AL West in 2013.  Each league will now have 15 teams which then forces inter league to occur every week.  Also an added Wild Card will be added to each league forcing both Wild Card teams to play a one game sudden death with the winner then going on to play one the three Division Leaders.

Cy Young Results
With Clayton Kershaw winning a Cy Young that makes it the 7th time in the last 10 years that a pitcher in the NL West claimed the prize.  Only Roy Halladay, Chris Carpenter, and Rogers Clemens have broken the mold.  It should also be noted that 6 NL West pitchers have finished second.  Some numbers over the last 10 years:

Maybe the fact that 3 of the better pitching parks in baseball reside in the NL West?  Either way Rox offense day in and day out do face some monsters.  Lucky us we get to play our oppenents 18 times a year!

Ernest Hemingway - The Sun Also Rises

In a nutshell this is how Hemingway wrote, "She was built with curves like the hull of a racing yacht, and you missed none of it with that wool jersey." and "The cab stopped in front of the hotel and we all got out and went in. It was a nice hotel, and the people at the desk were very cheerful, and we each had a good small room."

Haven't read Hemingway in ages.  I look at Hemingway as a fine wine.  It sits on my shelf for ages and when I need something different I turn to him.  Something about Hemingway's writing as always stuck with me.  First book I ever read that shocked the hell out of me was "A Farewell to Arms"  Important read in High School and I even did a paper on the "Hemingway Hero"  Nothing like scanning a college library stacks to find something to try and write a high school paper.

At one point I even wrote a Hemingway like story...see below.  In the end though, "Brett laments that she and Jake could have had a wonderful time together.  Jake responds, 'Yes, isn't it pretty to think so?'"


The clouds crept over the mountains and moved slowly into the valley.  The earth opened her arms to the coming rain.  The man with the black hat stood under the trees watching the scene unfold.  His journey had just begun and he felt refreshed.  The rain would feel good.  He just hoped it wouldn't rain all night.  He hated being cold in the morning.  His horse did too.  Aspen hated the cold and his muscles were always stiff.  He was a good horse and a good companion.  The rain began to fall and the hand with the black hat started moving into the rocks hoping for an overhand and a little dryness.  All around the rain fell sounding like mother's natures music.  He was to meet someone in this valley.  He hoped the rain wasn't an ominous sign.  The man soon found a place and unloaded his horse.  Aspen whinnied and was happy.  The man made fire and soon felt warm and tired.  He trapped some grub out of his sack and after some water he fell asleep.

Haiku Wednesday

Wind

Invisible force
Trees shudder, the windows groan
With coat, you still bite!

Haiku Beer#3

Haiku #3 was a recipe from beertools.com for a stout.  My desire was to brew something for the Holidays.  Called Oaty Malty Madness (5.9% ABV, not verified) it was made with the following ingredients (didn't follow the recipe exactly):

1) 1.75 lbs Maris Otter
2) 0.13 lbs Crystal 60L
3) 0.04 lbs Black Roasted Barley
4) 0.04 lbs English Chocolate (change)
5) 0.04 lbs Torrified Wheat
6) 0.13 lbs Oaks Flaked

7) 0.3 oz Cascade (5.5%AA)

8) White Labs WLP028 Edinburgh Scottish (Liquid) [change]
9) 2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice (change)

Used StarSan sanitizer.

The Mash

Heated 2.5 quarts (10 cups) of water (refrigerator water which is carbon filtered) to 154-160 deg F.  Add grain and mixed.  Cooked for 90 minutes at 144-160 deg F and stirred fairly frequently.  Once heated, heat can be removed and then added again around 30 - 40 minutes. 

The Sparge

Heated additional 4 quarts of water (refrigerator water) to boiling then transferred to gallon fermentation jug.  Set up the strainer over the second pot and added the hot grain mash.  Then poured the heated water from the jug over the grains and into the second pot.  Once done recirculated the wort back through the grain once more into the original pot.

The Boil

Heated the wort until it began to boil at approximately 210 deg F.  This was done with just the middle heat on the inside burner on my stove.  Boil lasted 90 minutes with 0.3 oz of Cascade Hops at the start of the boil then added 1 tsp of Pumpkin Pie Spice and then with 10 minutes to go added final 1 tsp of Pumpkin Pie Spice.  Tasted the wort and it was very sweet.

The Fermentation

Placed the brew pot into the sink with ice allowing the temperature to decrease to 70 deg F.  Allowed the mix to settle this time.  When pouring into the fermentor it was strained into a larger pot then transferred to the fermentor.  After the fermentor is full, the yeast was added and throughly mixed to aerate the liquid.  Note:  Liquid yeast is designed for 5 gallon batches.  This time did not shake the yeast but opened slowly and mixed with a tooth pick.  Still difficult to determine exact amount of yeast was added.

The yeast began fermentation and a fairly consistent burp began.  Primary fermentation lasted for about 36 hours.  Transferred beer to the basement and put in the airlock.  Allowed to sit for 2 weeks.

The Bottling

Used bottling sugar and dissolved this in 1/4 cup of water, I siphoned the beer into a pot and then bottled into 6 x 500 mL bottles.  Allowed to sit for another 3 weeks.

The Tasting

Opened and tried on 12/21/11. Slight carbonation.  See photo.  Good basic flavor.  Two of the bottles once again did not have secondary carbonation which causes this beer to taste awful.  Two of the bottles were really good and one just didn't taste right (too spicy).  Probably need to use a bottle cap type system.

A dark Christmas Ale

Hint  of pumpkin spice, maybe

Warming, fire place beer

Neil Gaiman - Fragile Things

Nice collection of short stuff from Gaiman.  Reading through some blog posts and came across someone saying that Gaiman was England's Stephen King...hmmm have to think about that one.  Funny thing is the connection makes sense for me.  I have read bits and pieces of King and mostly his work doesn't do a whole lot for me but some stories do stick with me like The Stand and The Girl Who Love Tom Gordon but there is a bunch of other stuff I can't even remember.

Gaiman is a a lot like that to me.  Loved American Gods (one of my Top 10) but some of the other stuff not so much which also showed up in this collection.  Loved the Sherlock Holmes homage and the Shadow story and the Day the Saucers Came poem but that is about it. 

Interesting...

11/11/11

It's binary day!
Last one for a Century...
Will I live that long?

...I'll be 129 on 1/1/00 (Year 2100)

Rox Talk

My month long hiatus is over.  Time to get back to the blog.  My official endpoint for the season is when the Rocky Mountain SABR has had their end of the year banquet.  SABR is a fantastic baseball group bringing together a lot of different baseball takes.  Last night was the 14th annual version of the end of the year gathering.  This year's guest speakers were Rob Neyer, SBNation, and John Thorn, MLB Historian.

Rob Neyer talked about his meandering journey to becoming a baseball writer.  From a diehard Royal fan, to discovering SABR, and then finally interning with Bill James.  This then launched his career into book writing and a stint at ESPN.com and finally the National Baseball Editor for SBNation.  A fascinating point that Rob made that I had forgotten before the age of internet was when teams played late night games on the West Coast the morning papers normally didn't have box scores for that game and you had to wait for the night edition of the town's competing paper.  Wow how times have changed with instantaneous box scores!  We are spoiled by the information at our fingertips...of course this could be a curse too...

The evening's final speaker was John Thorn who was appointed the MLB official game historian.  Plugging his new book, Baseball in the Garden Eden: The Secret History of the Early Game, Thorn gave a nice presentation on the misleading origin of baseball from the early 20th Century Mill Commission to the recent Commission put together by Selig this year.  Fascinating talk and he even had some early Denver baseball stories recalling that the probable first profession game in Denver was in October 1888 when the Spalding All Star team arrived in town and played at the old Riverfront Park.  The All Stars won 16-12 with Cap Anson having two triples.  Couple of good quotes by Thorn and I paraphrase (I'm not that fast of a writer), "Cooperstown is the wrong place but a swell place" and a general quote on why baseball is the American Pastime because it "connects boys and girls with their parents"  Also Thorn used the word sagacity (or acuteness of mental discernment and soundness of judgement)!  As aside, to me baseball is in our DNA.  It isn't the most popular or talked about sport but it flows along quietly as the unseen current in the river that is American History!

A nice night by all and now that 2011 is officially closed what can we learn from 2,429 games that were played?

1.  First and foremost...if you can stay within striking distance by September you can still get to the Playoffs...Tampa and St Louis proved this.
2.  If you can get into the playoffs the second season starts and all bets are off.  Your 162 game record means nothing!
3.  You can lose you second best pitcher and still win the World Series (no excuses Rox...)
4.  Baseball is confounding!  Numbers in short series really don't matter...thanks for playing Phillies, your three headed pitching monster meant nothing.
5.  Good managers can make teams better (LaRussa and Gibson)

And now what can I say about our team?  I have remarked about this once or twice before but this has to be the most disappointing team in Rox history.  For a team that was marked to win its first division title it got nowhere.  Some thoughts:

1.  Rox were unlucky!  Looking at their pythagorean W-L record it suggested that they were a 77-85  team...not a whole lot better but something...
2.  Rox were 38-43 at home!  In their history they have averaged 44-45 wins at home.  Last two seasons they won 51 and 52 respectively.  This season they outscored their opponents at home 439-427.  Thus they were 4 wins short of what they were expected to win.  Still accounting for this they were still 2-3 wins off their average.
3.  Rox played well on the road winning 35 games which was their 4th highest in history and three games better than their average
4.  May was just brutal.  Looking at the pythagorean W-L they were pretty unlucky.  September was also cruel as Rox have always had a good end of the year performance

Rox Historical vs 2011 Winning Percentage

5.  Rox starting pitching took 68 losses which is about 9 losses more than historical average.  Bullpen was 20-21.  Historical average is about 24-24.  Guess this just meant Rox starters were behind early and didn't have a lot of comebacks.  Only had 5 walk off wins and 41 comeback wins.

6.  Gave up 176 home runs with 101 of those coming at home.  

7.  Rox scored the least amount of runs in their history at 735.  The inability to score runs and the lack of offense was an eye opener especially with a team of Tulo and CarGo.  Kind of shows you that to win requires 9 guys!  Simple graph but always good to see...you score more runs than your opponents and you tend to make the playoffs...duh

Runs Scored vs Runs Agains (2000-2011).  Playoff teams in Red and Rox historical in Purple (excluding 94-95 seasons)

8.  No excuses but injuries did hurt the Rox this year.  Inconsistent lineups and players finding their roles not to mention no production at second and third bases.

9.  Great year by Helton, Iannetta, Tulo, CarGo, and Giambi.  Average years by Smith, Wiggington, and Ellis.  Not so good by Fowler, Stewart, and Spilly.  Rox really need some more raw power at the plate.  Need to find their home mojo...teams aren't afraid of Coors and Rox really seem hesitant at home.

10.  Starting pitching was just a struggle especially with U-Ball starting slow and de la Rosa injury.  Chacin and Hammel showed that they are consistently inconsistent.  Cook farewell tour was painful.  Rogers isn't a starter.   Nicasio looks to be something if he can come back.  Bullpen was adequate.

11.  Role and bench players are not good.  Seems like the Rox have a lot of AAAA players especially in the minors and they just can't reach the conclusion that they aren't going to be everyday MLB players...

Overall Rox have something to build on.  Granted they were bad but I don't think as bad as the final record showed.  Of course bottom line they didn't take the next step.  Next year they will have a lot of new faces and some leadership has to step up to suggest that losing 89 games isn't acceptable.  Big mountain to climb is where are they going to find 17 wins next year?

Natasha Paremski - Dvorak

 

This is show number four (although now I have seen her five total times) for me.  First seen here, then here, and then here.  Tremendous performance as always.  Thankfully she must enjoy Denver because she keeps coming back.

This year she was sort of promoting her new CD.  After her piece she signed.  When it was my time for her to sign I asked her about her red shoes.  She smiled and said not this time around.  This goes back to the first time I saw her and she wore these eye grabbing shoes.

This time she wore a beautiful dress.  Very striking.  She played Dvorak this time around (Piano Concerto in G minor, Op. 33).  As always she plays a wonderful show.  Simply crazy the way she can play.  I would love to see her play a piece a know.  Maybe next year!

Haiku Wednesday

November

Its winter's door mat
Earth hibernates, sun checks out
Thanks to the harvest

Jennifer Egan - A Visit From the Goon Squad

A female D. Coupland?  Perhaps, I mean who would write a chapter using power point?  Nice book, bit convoluted as the characters are thrown around a lot in different time and space.  One of those books that probably would get more out of it if you have the time to read it twice.

Found this nice website of discussion points.  Website quotes Egan when she indicated that the book  "wanted to structure the book like a record album, with an "A" side and a "B" side."  Later on the website discusses how the book is about redemption and how everyone has an "A" side followed by a pause and then the "B" side.  That is kind of cool and when I think about the book you definitely see it in the characters.  

Gee what is my A and B side?  Good thoughtful book.

Murakami's New Book

Just a couple of links...can't wait....

NY Times Magazine

NY Times Book Review

Linda Buckley-Archer - The Time Travelers

Some kid's books work for me and others are just kid's books.  This one caught my eye frankly because I love James Jean art and he does the covers for this trilogy.  So call me shallow but I only read this because of the cover art.

Don't get me wrong the story was good and interesting and all but the kid in me didn't go oooohhhh.

Just another time traveling set up.  

Colorado Symphony - Show II

Second show of the season.  Three pieces:  Bernstein - Overture to Candide, Glass - Violin Concerto No. 2, "The American Four Seasons", and Beethoven - Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92.  Desire to see "The American Four Seasons" and special guest violinist,  Robert McDuffie, played this piece.  Did not realize Glass actually wrote the piece for McDuffie.  Fascinating to see someone play a piece created for him.  Nice piece although didn't think it had a whole lot in common with the real "Four Seasons".  OK show.

Erin Mortensen - The Night Circus

There is an email in the book and I just can't leave an email without saying something.. So this is what I said, "I loved the night out at the circus....when will you return? I wrote a little poem:

Mystery big top
It is not all black and white

Magic or dreaming?"

This is the response...

Thank you for your interest in Le Cirque des Rêves! If you are inquiring as to the itinerary of the circus, we apologize, but it is against our policy to disclose information about current or upcoming locations. Other inquiries will be responded to in as timely a manner as possible. Cheers, Erin Erin Morgenstern assistant to Mr. Clarke erin@nightcircus.com

Darn I was hoping to get tickets ;)  And frankly the circus would have been better than the book.  I thought the book was beautifully descriptive and imaginative but in the end there were too many unanswered plot points, mysteries, and in the end I really didn't care about the two main magicians in the story.  The love story didn't grab me and when the book was over I was least concern about the characters and more sad not to have more circus room reveals.  My favorite would be the room of jars...

OK read but nothing special...

Haiku Wednesday

Line of Poetry

Drinker distinction?
"Wine is bottled poetry"
Beer's box score haiku

Haiku Beer #2

Haiku #2 was a recipe from my local beer store in which I desired to make an amber ale.  Called DYB Bronco Amber Extract (5.3% ABV, not verified) it was made with the following ingredients:

1) 0.05 lbs Belgian Caramel
2) 0.05 lbs Golden Naked Oats
3) 0.06 lbs Crystal 150L
4) 1.45 lbs Briess Golden Light Liquid (Malt Extract)

5) 0.1 oz Warrior (16%AA)
6) 0.1 oz Willamette Type 90 (4.8%AA)

7) White Labs WLP001 California Ale (Liquid)

Used StarSan sanitizer which is a lot more friendly than the C-Brite.  

The Mash

Heated 2.5 quarts (10 cups) of water (refrigerator water which is carbon filtered) to 154-160 deg F.  Add grain and mixed.  Cooked for 60 minutes at 144-152 deg F and stirred fairly frequently (not a lot of grain on this recipe).  Once heated, heat can be removed and then added again around 30 - 40 minutes.  After the mash, I then added the liquid malt.  Straight sugar!  Wow that is an easy way to add sugar.

The Sparge

Heated additional 4 quarts of water (refrigerator water) to boiling then transferred to gallon fermentation jug.  Set up the strainer over the second pot and added the hot grain mash.  Then poured the heated water from the jug over the grains and into the second pot.  Once done recirculated the wort back through the grain once more into the original pot.

The Boil

Heated the wort until it began to boil at approximately 210 deg F.  This was done with just the middle heat on the inside burner on my stove.  Boil lasted 60 minutes with 0.1 oz of Warrior Hops at the start of the boil then added 0.1 oz of the Willamette Hops with 15 minutes to go then the final 0.1 oz of Willamette with 1 minute to go.  

The Fermentation

Placed the brew pot into the sink with ice allowing the temperature to decrease to 70 deg F.  Allowed the mix to settle this time although not a lot of sediment on this one as the grain was pretty light.  When pouring into the fermentor it should be strained into a larger pot then transferred to the fermentor has it is tough to filter and pour through the funnel.  After the fermentor is full, the yeast was added and throughly mixed to aerate the liquid.  Note:  Liquid yeast is designed for 5 gallon batches.  It is suppose to warm to room temperature before adding and then to correctly mix I shook which was a disaster!  Foamed up and was impossible to tell how much yeast was added.  I estimated maybe I added twice as much?  

The yeast began fermentation and a fairly inconsistent burp began as compared to my first batch.  Excessive bubbling later in the fermentation and filled into the tubing.  Primary fermentation lasted for about 36 hours.  Transferred beer to the basement and put in the airlock which was a bit too early has additional CO2 filled the airlock.  Wonder if the added yeast was cause of this?  Allowed to sit for 2 weeks.

The Bottling

Used bottling sugar this time and dissolved this in 1/4 cup of water, I siphoned the beer into a pot and then bottled into 7 x 500 mL bottles.  Smelled and looks good.  Allowed to sit for another 2 weeks.

The Tasting

Opened and tried on 11/16/11. Some slight carbonation probably needed an extra week (?).  See photo.  After additional week carbonation was a bit more.   Good basic flavor.  First bottled tasted like a amber.  With each additional opening the amber shifted into a more fruity flavor?

Your basic red ale

It's tasty full well balanced

Will brew more of this

Colorado Symphony - Show II

First show of the season.  Three pieces:  Beethoven - Overture to The Creatures of Prometheus, Op. 43, Beethoven - Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, Op 15, and Holst - The Planets, Op 32.  Obviously the reason for this show was The Planets.  Always good to hear especially Mars and Jupiter.  This go around they played to a video showing the planets.  I thought the video could have been a bit more dynamic especially with the missions to Jupiter and Saturn but hey they aren't astronomers and heck Holst when he did the symphony was supposedly more into the astrology aspects of planets.  

Haiku Wednesday

Fall Colors

Season's ebb and flow
Tree's clocks sway with a rhythm
Time's up on Summer

R.E.M - Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight

Not quite my favorite band, not quite really anything.  R.E.M is one of those bands that just plays in the background of my life, not really as an active participant but something that is meaningful.  My musical history start around 7th grade when I got some music as a birthday present (Quiet Riot and Def Leppard). Thankfully I didn't go down that road of head banging and what not.  When I hit 9th grade I would take road trips with the track team and the older kids had certain musical interests.  At the time, U2's Joshua Tree had just come out and R.E.M just happened to be a band from Athens, GA where most of the seniors on the track team were going to college.  R.E.M at the time represented that "I can't wait to get to college" feel that most seniors have.  Plus throw in the Inside/Out movie and R.E.M was one of those "bands"that every high school kid wanted to know about because it was a college "cool" thing.  Once I got over calling them  rem instead of R...E...M I got to know the band.

Didn't hurt that Lifes Rich Pageant (1986) and Document (1987) came out in my music formative years either.  Either way Lifes Rich Pageant has become one of my top 5 albums.  Just a simple album that when played takes me back to age 15-16 when the world was new and full of something to find.  R.E.M was prolific in their albums and they kept me company through 8 years of school (HS and college) by releasing five albums in that time.  Their last great album for me was New Adventures in Hi-Fi (1996).  Not for sure but at the time I was spending a lot of time in the car due to my work being far away and so I got to listen to a lot of music.  This one kept me company and the album cover reminded me of where I lived!

So all in all a great band.  Not a "must see" but solid.  I did see them a few years ago in a small concert hall in Denver.  Great to hear the music, not so good to see Stipe having to suck on oxygen for almost the whole second half of the show.  Glad the band could go out on its own terms.  I do think that when their drummer, Bill Berry, left; R.E.M lost a step or two.  As another famous drummer, Larry Mullen, Jr said it best, "People say, 'Why don't you do interviews? What do you think about this? What do you think about that?' My job in the band is to play drums, to get up on stage and hold the band together. That's what I do. At the end of the day that's all that's important. Everything else is irrelevant."  Drummers hold bands together, drummers are the spine of the band...and I think R.E.M lost something back in 1997.  

Anyway top favorite albums:
1. Lifes Rich Pageant
2. New Adventures in Hi-Fi
3. Document
4. Green
5.  Fables of Reconstruction

Favorite Songs:
1.  Cuyahoga
2.  Superman
3.  So Fast, So Numb
4.  E-Bow the Letter
5.  Finest Worksong
6.  Driver 8
7.  The One I Love
8.  Half a World Away
9.  Let Me In
10.  Crush with Eyeliner
11.  Sweetness Follows

And finally one of the better websites ever on R.E.M and can be found here....

Haiku Wednesday

Beer Making

All about the yeast
Bubbles! Does its happy dance
Magic in bottle

Rox Talk

The Week That Was

A 1-5 week against the Brewers and Giants. The Rox currently stand at 70-82.  Seventeen and half games behind the D-Backs for the division lead in fourth place. Currently 38-40 at home and 32-42 on the road, the Rox have been outscored by its opponents 722-694 (expected wins is 73 versus historical wins at 70). On pace for 75 wins with 740 runs scored and 770 runs against. Playoff indicator (Runs scored/Runs Against ratio) is 0.96 (1.16 indicates high playoff potential).

Is this the most disappointing team in Rox history?  To me there are eerily similarities between this team and the 2008 team.  In 2008, Rox were coming off their World Series run and besides having the same team intact went out and finished with 74 wins.  This year, with even greater expectations based on the Tulo, CarGo, de la Rosa signings, this team was certain to compete with Giants (4-11 head to head so far) and maybe win their first division title.  In both years expectations shackled the team and obviously this year's team has dealt with injuries.

Going into the season the expectations were that the offense would be OK.  This turned out to be wrong.  Team never seemed to get on track.  CarGo struggled out of the gate, Dex again spent time in the minors, Stewart was a complete bust, second base a black hole, and Smith, a very average player, did OK but Rox need more power from their outfield.  Tulo had his moments and frighteningly still had a monster year, imagine some consistency and some consistency around him in the batting order (?). In the end only Helton had a year worth remembering.

Pitching was to be the mainstay with U-Ball, de la Rosa, Chacin, Hammel, and Rogers/Cook.  And for the most part pitching was the reason for the monster start with some timely hitting.  But U-Ball never got on track, de la Rosa got hurt, Chacin still too young to be anchoring a staff, and well Hammel is Hammel.  He will get you 10-12 wins and lose 10-12.  Rogers/Cook never really settled in due to injuries.  In the end this year will be blamed on the Staff and injuries due to this Staff.

Bullpen was OK.  Had a rough patch middle of the season and of course the roller coaster ride that is Huston Street but at least in the off season management doesn't have to worry too much about the relief corp. As a fan this season hurt the most.  2008 we were still feeding off the World Series.  It has been a long 4 years now and this season was supposed to be different...problem is will 2012 truly be any different?

Haiku Beer #1

Haiku #1 was from a beer kit from Brooklyn Beer Shop.  An Everyday IPA (6.8% ABV?, not verified) loaded citrus hops made with the following ingredients:

1) Malted Barley Blend

2) Columbus Hops

3) Cascade Hops

4) Safale US-05 Yeast (dry)

Used C-Brite sanitizer which isn't very user friendly.  

The Mash

Heated 2.5 quarts of water (refrigerator water which is carbon filtered) to 160 deg F.  Add grain and mixed.  Cooked for 60 minutes at 144-152 deg F and stirred fairly frequently.  Once heated, heat can be removed and then added again around 30 - 40 minutes.  I love the smell at this stage of the process.  It smells earthy.

The Sparge

Heated additional 4 quarts of water (refrigerator water) to boiling then transferred to gallon fermentation jug.  Set up the strainer over the second pot and added the hot grain mash.  Then poured the heated water from the jug over the grains and into the second pot.  Once done recirculated the wort back through the grain once more into the original pot.

The Boil

Heated the wort until it began to boil at approximately 210 deg F.  This was done with just the middle heat on the inside burner on my stove.  Boil lasted 60 minutes with Columbus Hops at the start of the boil then added 1/5 of the Cascade Hops every 15 minutes after with the second to last batch going in 55 minutes into the boil.  At the end of the boil added final fifth of hops.  

The Fermentation

Placed the brew pot into the sink with ice allowing the temperature to decrease to 70 deg F.  While it is quicker to cool with stirring this causes the sediment to resuspend.  It is probably best to just let it settle and thus not allow a whole lot of this to transfer into your fermentor.  When pouring into the fermentor it should be strained into a larger pot then transferred to the fermentor has it is tough to filter and pour through the funnel.  After the fermentor is full, the yeast should be added and throughly mixed to aerate the liquid.  Note:  After transfer I had more than a gallon of liquid, so perhaps I did not have a big enough rolling boil?  

After about 7 hours, the yeast began fermentation and a fairly consistent burp began.  Upon settling there was approximately an inch of sediment.  Primary fermentation lasted for about 36 hours.  Transferred beer to the basement and put in the airlock.  Allowed to sit for 2 weeks.

The Bottling

Using honey and dissolving this in 1/4 cup of water, I siphoned the beer into a pot and then bottled into 6.5 500 mL bottles.  Lot of sediment.  Allowed to sit for another 2 weeks.

The Tasting

Looked like an IPA, tastes more citrusy then hoppy.  Minimal carbonation.  Turned out of the 7 bottles half had no carbonation while the other half did.  She photo.  I image the honey wasn't sufficient.

First beer adventure

Went IPA, Kind of flat

More citrus, then hop!

Please Ignore - Personal Rant

Sometimes when I read various things, I just get bummed.  For instance, one article was about  a job offer for an investment manager whose potential salary was $150,000.  It just struck me that was a crazy sum of money for someone who is basically a gambler.  No difference in trying to determine what the stock market might do in comparison to whether the Broncos are going to cover the spread this weekend.  It is disheartening that so much value is placed on someone who really does nothing of value.  Then of course this leads to the entitlement society we live in where people expect to make this type of salary without doing anything useful.  Which then got me thinking about the Republican debate the other night when one of the candidates was asked about how an uninsured 30 year old should pay for an unexpected hospital stay and the audience at the debate starting laughing and then cheering when one candidate indicated government shouldn't have to pay for it.

Again it is a sad indictment of our society when we can't care for all.  I understand it is about choices but when did we just become so wrapped up in our own lives that we can't care for one another.  Really do some of these people need another car, gun, 4-wheeler at the expense of making sure everyone has a cushion when it comes to medical care?

Dan Brown - The Lost Symbol

Really?  Call me a book snob but this book was just plain silly.  I mean it feels good to read a no brainer once in a while but after going through this it just makes me believe that anyone can write or if you do throw a thousand monkeys in a room that eventually they could produce something of coherence!

Too bad because his previous books were good this one was just a bastardization of his previous works...sometimes you have to wonder if he actually wrote it or someone just through American heresy into the his previous works...

Haiku Wednesday

Branes

Planes of existence
Strings with rolled up dimensions...
Sci-Fi or Physics?

Rox Talk

The Week That Was

A 3-3 week against the D-Backs and Reds. The Rox currently stand at 69-77.  Fifteen and half games behind the D-Backs for the division lead in fourth place. Currently 38-36 at home and 31-41 on the road, the Rox have been outscored by its opponents 683-671 (expected wins is 72 versus historical wins at 69). On pace for 77 wins with 745 runs scored and 758 runs against. Playoff indicator (Runs scored/Runs Against ratio) is 0.98 (1.16 indicates high playoff potential).

With the white flag officially raised, late 2011 (or really early 2012) Spring Training is in full swing.  Newcomers Pacheco, Rosario, and Pomeranz will see significant playing time in preparation for next year.  With the Tulsa Drillers (Rox AA affiliate) in full review, is this a positive or negative?  The biggest negative is this year's squad, as constructed, couldn't get it done.  A Fowler, CarGo, Smith, Helton, Lopez, Tulo, Stewart, Iannetta lineup with Jimenez, de la Rosa, Hammel, Rogers, and Cook staff did not have sufficient talent to get to the playoffs (I still question where did that April team go?).  Hard to believe, with the loss of one pitcher, the Rox season was derailed.  So essentially the loss of de la Rosa started to expose the core that led to the dismal output of what is projected to be a 77 win season (10 games off what was expected as a minimum).  So if 2011 lineup and staff couldn't get those extra 10 wins does Pomeranz, White, Pacheco, and Rosario going to provide that something extra?

So the 2012 lineup at this point is probably Fowler, CarGo, Mr. X, Helton, Ellis, Tulo, Pacheco (?), and Rosario with a staff consisting of Chacin, Pomeranz, White, Millwood (?), and Mr. Y (or Hammel or Rogers) with de la Rosa and possibly Nicasio coming in late in the Summer.  Pitching would seem to be stocked although can Rox really rely on an inconsistent number one, two rookies, a cagey veteran, and some makeshift fifth starter? With such inexperience I could see the Rox sinking into no man's land until the cavalry comes in.

Which brings me to CarGo's announcement about "needing help"  He succinctly put it that him and Tulo have had a statistically wonderful year and yet the team find themselves 8 games under 0.500. What sort of help might that be and what could the Rox legimately go after in the Fall?  Look at the Brewers...they surrounded their two monster bats with mostly pitching.  Problem is the Rox have never been overly successful at luring decent pitching to Coors.  Free agent pitchers for next year include C.J. Wilson, Mark Buehrle, Edwin Jackson, Hiroki Kuroda, Roy Oswalt (options remaining), Ryan Dempster (options remaining), Aaron Harany, Jeff Francis (!), Javier Vazques, and Paul Maholm.  Nothing jumps out to me as a possibly Mr. Y.  Of course Rox have some trade bait and some money so we shall see.

As far as Mr. X -- the early prediction appears to be Michael Cuddyer but with the Pujols and Fielder sweepstakes who knows what the Rox can steal?  Anyhoo they have six months to figure it out before next season starts.

Remembering 10 Years

Hard to believe 10 years has passed.  When I was 8 years old (?), my grandmother took me into New York City.  For a young boy the enormity of the city sticks with you.  Part of that enormity centered around the towers that anchored the south part of the city.  Sometimes I wondered how such two large buildings could raise out of the tip of the island like they did.  With my disc camera (!), I shot the following image on the ferry ride to the Statue of Liberty.

Remembering the Towers

As I have mentioned in past,  the New York skyline is just empty to me.  To me they defined the City and I won't ever forget that.  Sometimes I wished the City had just rebuilt them but as with anything we need to move on so says Longfellow,

"Nor deem the irrevocable Past,

As wholly wasted, wholly vain,

If, rising on its wrecks, at last

To something nobler we attain."

Haiku Wednesday

September

Slight chill in the air
Football starts and Baseball ends
Next break? Months away....

Comic Splat

Captain America and Bucky #621
Stories from the past
Old school tales, the early years
Just not dynamic

Flashpoint #5
It all starts/ends here?
Flash launches fifty two books
Creates a new world

Justice League #1
New character looks
Some banter, some mystery
What does the Bat know?

The Amazing Spider-Man #668
Juxtaposition
Who is amazing this time?
How about Carlie

Rox Talk

The Week That Was

A 2-4 week against the D-Backs and Padres. The Rox currently stand at 66-74.  Fourteen games behind the D-Backs for the division lead in fourth place. Currently 35-33 at home and 31-41 on the road, the Rox have been outscored by its opponents 636-653 (expected wins is 68 versus historical wins at 66). On pace for 76 wins with 736 runs scored and 756 runs against. Playoff indicator (Runs scored/Runs Against ratio) is 0.97 (1.16 indicates high playoff potential).

And that is the end of the 2011 season.  Not that the Rox really had a chance but being swept in Arizona ended any remote possibilities that the Rox could sneak in.  With 22 games remaining, the 2012 campaign gets a looksee.  September call ups sweep in and hopefully add some bright spots to an otherwise forgettable 2011 season.  As a fan this season more than any other one since at least 2007 was the worse ever.  It also eerily parallels the 2008 season.  This one is probably worse because of the off season signings, the April dominance, and finally just the complete collapse of the starting pitching.  Without going too far into an end of season posting, I guess the Rox really need to look at what it is that they are missing.  Tulo and CarGo are both going to walk away with fine seasons.  Two potent weapons make the Rox at least competitive on paper but I think management needs to take away from this season is that two players can't elevate a team to win.  Young position players can't make a leap and contribute and that team needs to start truly evaluating what it has.  I think we saw that with U-Ball trade.  Let's hope they continue this Fall.

Lisa Randall - Warped Passages

My latest attempt to try and keep up with the crazy world of physicist.  Fascinating account of where physics has gone.  I always found it fascinating right up to the duality of light with it being a particle and wave. After that it got kind of weird and Randall's account is just wacky.  String Theory and Multiple Dimension, oh my, and now it has taken us to a situation where we can't even test what we have dreamed up.  

Things seemed pretty crazy way back when and it took years to become common place.  Could so many physicist have taken a wrong turn?  How many physicist are just praying that a Higgs Boson could be found?  Please...