Who is your daddy and what does he do?

by DougieWentDeep on Nov 9, 2009 2:25 PM EST Comment 52 comments

Alright, so I'm not really interested in your daddy, but after seeing the OTM book club idea and remembering that Talking Chop did this from time to time, I would like to know how the OTM members spend their time when not focused on baseball. I figure that the offseason would be as good of a time as any to do this since some, including myself, don't tend to follow the day to day stuff of baseball nearly as much as when the season is going on. So what exactly do we do during the offseason? I think this would give us a good chance to get to know our fellow OTMers, instead of just knowing things like Drugs is the guy that loves stats, or that NG is an undercover troll posing as a true fan.

So what do you do? I don't care what it is, if you like playing hopscotch in your free time or reading My Little Pony comics, good for you. The more variety the better. I'm always looking for new books, games or music to look into so if anybody felt like volunteering their current interests perhaps we can find more in common than just a love for the Sox and Peanut Butter.

Here is what I currently do to keep myself busy:

What am I playing: Currently I'm going between three games: Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, Borderlands and Dragon Age Origins (all for Xbox 360)

What am I reading: I've been on a fantasy binge because I'm trying to write a story of my own, I am currently finishing the book Redwall (read once growing up) and will move onto the trilogy Gotrek and Felix (part of the Warhammer series)

What am I listening to: I've been loving up this band The Format and the lead singers second project called fun.

What am I watching: Just finished the short-lived series Wonderfalls and first season of Cheers. Finishing the second season of Pushing Daisies. Not a big fan of movies now a days.

Don't feel like you need to elborate if you want to post, I just have a long lunch break to fill up and am interested in what the rest of this community does for fun.

Alright, well if anybody feels like sharing go for it. If there is anybody that is a big gamer and wants to get a game or something in through Xbox Live my gamertag is HookrsAndSpdrMn.

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Sounds like a fun idea.

A good deal of my time is taken up by college (University of Wisconsin – Madison), but other than that…

Playing: MLB The Show ‘09 (always…), Drake’s Uncharted, and waiting till I get home to my Desktop to play Dragon Age. The wait for the last one there is killing me, given that the Baldur’s Gate games were my favorite of all time.

Reading: Book 12 (ugh) of the Wheel of Time series. The guy HAD to drag it on till he died, didn’t he? Then I’ll either move on to the Malazan series or The Sicilian (By Mario Puzo of Godfather fame)

Listening to: I’ve been on a Decemberists kick of late. Also trying out the Weepies.

Watching: Far too much. Tonight alone there’s How I Met Your Mother, House, and Heroes (All beginning with H, oddly. I keep wanting to drop Heroes, but I’ve invested so much damn time into it already…). Then the Office, 30 Rock, and semi-guilty pleasures The Amazing Race and Top Chef.

I also just finished youtubing the entirety of Aaron Sorkin’s Sports Night, which was really great while it lasted.

by Ben Buchanan on Nov 9, 2009 5:32 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Heroes

I agree. I don’t want to watch it anymore, but I can’t…stop… Last season was awful.

Introducing the new 2008 Big 12 Football Champions: OU, UT*, TT*, and MU*!
Now Introducing the new 2009 Big 12 Baseball Tournament Champions: UT, KSU*, BU*, and MU*!

by mystman995 on Nov 9, 2009 6:48 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Playstation

…The Show, Uncharted, God of War, bluray…all make me eye that price drop a little more seriously than i used to. i still love my xbox though and think that will be my man go to for a while. Dragon Age, very nice more of like a nice interactive movie so far for me

I just wiki’d Wheel of Time and got the religion/philosophy…found the book series, i might have to pick up the first volume, sounds interesting

Decemberists awesome band

I stopped watching Heroes after Season 2, but netflixed season 3, i’ll probably the same with season 4, how is it so far?

Homer: Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try.

by DougieWentDeep on Nov 9, 2009 7:23 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

wow

that was riddled with typos

Homer: Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try.

by DougieWentDeep on Nov 9, 2009 8:05 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Fear the Wheel of Time

For as good as it can be, the 9th (10th?) book lasts 700 pages and covers the span of ONE F’ING DAY!

Still, good read.

by Ben Buchanan on Nov 10, 2009 12:01 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

bookness

I went to the WoT panel at last year’s Worldcon and I am not envying Brandon Sanderson his job in finishing that Book 12 (and 13, and 14, I take it? Sanderson said it would take as long as it would take to finish up, and he was going to write until the end, but I guess Tor needed the revenue NOW.)

I’m still making my way through the Malazan books. They’re impressive, but they’re long and heavy and a general pain to lug to work, which is why I’ve only read the first three.

So, UW-Madison? How many of the Brewer equivalent of pinkhats have you heard whining over JJ Hardy at this point? ^^;

by morineko on Nov 9, 2009 11:15 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I miss last year's dorm.

Lots of Brewers fans. One in particular would get in absolute fits of fury when they lost.

He hates nobody like he hates Rickie Weeks. It’s amazing.

“Can’t spell Weeks without 2 E’s and a K!”

by Ben Buchanan on Nov 10, 2009 12:03 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

ah, Rickie, the NL Jed Lowrie

I hope he comes back if only because another year of running Counsell out there is going to either damage Counsell or the fanbase, whatever breaks down first.

by morineko on Nov 10, 2009 12:27 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Hey, hey, leave Jed alone.

He did nothing to you.

@bs_uf15bosox9be 12 pieces of bacon, a Red Bull, and go get 'em; Learn to use SB Nation

by bs.uf15bosox9bears23 on Nov 13, 2009 9:34 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Getting ready for Modern Warfare 2.

You see, you spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball, and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time. ~Jim Bouton, Ball Four, 1970

by BoldandBrash on Nov 9, 2009 6:58 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

my roommate is going to be big on that

you getting it for xbox or PS?

Homer: Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try.

by DougieWentDeep on Nov 9, 2009 7:31 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

ps3

You see, you spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball, and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time. ~Jim Bouton, Ball Four, 1970

by BoldandBrash on Nov 10, 2009 8:50 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Agreed it sounds like fun.

Playing: No video games for me. I live in Wyoming so my playing goes on outdoors. Doing a bunch of rock climbing right now, desperately waiting to start skiing.

Reading: Whatever I find cheap at the used bookstore. Recently, Joan Didion’s “Play it as it Lays”, Tim O’Brien’s “Going After Gacciato” and just started Don Delillo’s “Underworld”

Listening to: kinda alt country/bluegrass: Wilco, Old Crow Medicene Show, Drew Emmit, Amos Lee, Ryan Adams

Watching: DVRing Always Sunny, Mad Men, Office, 30 Rock

"Ninety percent [of my salary] I'll spend on good times, women, and Irish whiskey. The other ten percent I'll probably waste."
-Tug McGraw

by BTLove on Nov 9, 2009 7:10 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

i dislike the cold...

so the winter, timed with the holiday rush on great games keeps me inside

I like the one Wilco album I’ve heard. Have you heard of the band Steel Train? I think they’re kind of labeled as a kind of folk country type band.

Seems like everybody is a big Office, and 30 Rock fan. I watched the wedding of Jim and Pam recently and that was about it. Is Tina Fey’s beautiful assistant still around in 30 Rock?

Homer: Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try.

by DougieWentDeep on Nov 9, 2009 7:30 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I'm sure the wedding episode would have been much funnier had I not been forced to watch it as it aired...

Considering what else was on at the time. :(

@bs_uf15bosox9be 12 pieces of bacon, a Red Bull, and go get 'em; Learn to use SB Nation

by bs.uf15bosox9bears23 on Nov 13, 2009 9:36 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Love Wilco, OCMS, and Ryan Adams

by upCHUCK on Nov 10, 2009 5:48 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Hookers and Spiderman? HA HA HA.

Playing : nothing. I have an old PSX in the closet…I’m not sure if it still works. I should look into hooking it up. I’m sure I’m too old to follow along with the SUPERGRAPHIX that is going on these days anyhow.

Reading: I’m currently re-reading Dennis Miller’s I Rant, Therefore I am, and laughing my @#$%ing ass off. But, in a way, it also makes me sad because he was always my favourite comedian and now he’s just a hollow neo-con. I’m almost done that and may either move on to Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth or maybe re-read Alistair MacLeod’s No Great Mischief, which is my favourite book and recently named Atlantic Canada’s greatest novel…it beat Anne of Green Gables!

Listening to: usually radio stations off iTunes. Radio Paradise in the Eclectic section is fantastic as is Ambient Popsicle in the Ambient section. I also like the Lush station off SomaFM.com…it used to be on iTunes, but I can’t find it anymore. Awesome groovy downtempo stuff with mostly female vocalists. When I’m at work, I often pop on CALMRADIO in the Classical section. It is aptly named. I should also mention, however, that I bought Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back the other day and blared it on the ride home. HELLS. YES.

Watching: Not much, really. I don’t have TV. I watched my games via the MLB.TV package and hooked my laptop up to a projector. It’s how I watch movies, too. I’m trying to get back into movie-watching mode. Watched the original Nosferatu the day after Halloween, which was cool. Have the original King Kong on deck as well. Also, picked up a NIN concert DVD same time I got the Public Enemy CD, and I’m trying to decide if I feel like watching that tonight or not.

Galactus does as he pleases. Because Galactus is drunk.

by Bloggy on Nov 9, 2009 9:07 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Dougie how is Borderlands? Does it have Co-op?

Strikeouts are boring- Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls - it's more democratic.

by CasanovaWong on Nov 9, 2009 10:20 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

yeah

Probably best on co-op, I haven’t even touched the single player. Pretty sure the game was built around the co-op looting mayhem and the story came second. I’ve been playing with two of my friends and it’s lots o’ fun. If you like leveling up characters and getting lots and lots of loot drops, i’d highly recc it.

Homer: Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try.

by DougieWentDeep on Nov 9, 2009 11:18 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Playing: NBA 2k10 and a lot of pickup basketball.

Reading: “The End of Faith” by Sam Harris and “Gang Leader for a Day” for Sudhir Venkatesh

Listening To: Man on the Moon by Kid Cudi, The Blueprint III by Jay Z, and I’m getting back into The College Dropout, which is easily Kanye’s best album.

Watching: The Office and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

by Gnick on Nov 9, 2009 11:03 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

right now for me

iowa state university takes most of my time. i spend the weekends watching football and the weeknights catching up on class work and trying to relax when i find the time. i also try to go out and do some biking when the weather cooperates, which is kind of tough to come by at this time of year in central iowa.

"Stats from the spring," he said when handed the numbers. "I can take those down to the spare bathroom in the house. We can put them to use down there."
- Paul Rhoads

by tseyb_06 on Nov 9, 2009 11:09 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Playing: Phantasy Star (via Wii online store) and soon Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Reflex (Wii).

Reading: Moneyball by Michael Lewis. I just finished Dan Brown’s the Lost Symbol which was preceded by both Juiced and Vindicated (as much as I hate Canseco and the books made me want to kill whoever told him he should chase down his dream of being an author he HAS been right about a lot of things.)

Listening to: A lot of stuff all the time, Rise Against, OAR, Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers, Dropkick Murphys, Less Than Jake. Right now though my iPod is stuck on Dierks Bentley.

Watching: The Office, House, Flash Forward and catching up on the last season of Scrubs. As well as my faves Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy.

"We are not normal, We are Legends. People will tell their kids about us." - Deon Butler before Ohio State Game 2008.

by Rogue Nine on Nov 10, 2009 1:15 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Did you see the Wheel last night?

Can’t believe that girl missed “Fruits of your labor” on the final puzzle….foolish

Homer: Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try.

by DougieWentDeep on Nov 10, 2009 8:22 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

My roomie and I were jumping up and down yelling it at our TV but apparently she never heard us.

"We are not normal, We are Legends. People will tell their kids about us." - Deon Butler before Ohio State Game 2008.

by Rogue Nine on Nov 10, 2009 8:39 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs

I love that I missed a conversation about Wheel of Fortune.

@bs_uf15bosox9be 12 pieces of bacon, a Red Bull, and go get 'em; Learn to use SB Nation

by bs.uf15bosox9bears23 on Nov 13, 2009 9:37 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Did you see the Wheel last night?

Can’t believe that girl missed “Fruits of your labor” on the final puzzle….foolish

Homer: Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try.

by DougieWentDeep on Nov 10, 2009 8:22 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Sure...

Playing: Was playing Borderlands, but got to level 50 on the second playthrough and now I’m just kinda bored. Still playing lots and lots of Left 4 Dead and eagerly anticipating Left 4 Dead 2. Will probably pick up Modern Warfare 2 and Assassin’s Creed 2 when they come out as well.

Reading: Been reading a lot of travel narratives and historical books lately. Right now it’s Learning to Bow by Bruce Fieler and next it’ll probably be Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell

Listening To: The Doves, Sufjan Stevens, Brendan Benson, WIlco, Elvis Costello, etc.

Watching: Going to watch Doubt and Frost/Nixon at some point this week (hopefully). Want to see Ninja Assassin and Where the Wild Things Are (loved the book as a kid). As for TV, Mad Men, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Top Chef, How I Met Your Mother, Jeopardy, reruns for Arrested Development, Simpsons, and Seinfeld. Those three never get old for me.

DFA Beckett

by South Coast Ghost on Nov 10, 2009 3:38 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Yo hook me up with Borderlands. I don’t want to spend the 60 bucks.

by Gnick on Nov 11, 2009 7:55 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

hmmm

Spend most of my time being in AmeriCorp and saving the world from H1N1.

Playing: Not playing, studying for the GREs so I can get into Grad School.

Reading: The Patrick O’Brien, Aubrey-Maturin series (what the movie Master and Commander was based on).

Listening to: The Strokes, Ratatat, TV on the Radio, Fleet Foxes

Watching: Mad Men, 30 Rock, Always Sunny, Deadwood, Rome

by upCHUCK on Nov 10, 2009 5:59 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

NCCC, Vista, or S+N?

Strikeouts are boring- Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls - it's more democratic.

by CasanovaWong on Nov 11, 2009 1:38 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Stupid High School, Stupid High School, Stupid High School

International Baccalaurette Program, College Applications (up around 7), new girlfriend, pissed off I don’t have an X-box 360 for the release of Modern Warfare 2, etc….your typical 17 kid too busy for life itself.

"Hating the New York Yankees is as American as apple pie, unwed mothers and cheating on your income tax." -- Mike Royko

by sox-inda-south on Nov 10, 2009 7:33 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Just wait until next year

1 mid-term Tuesday, another Thursday, and a research paper due next Monday.

by Gnick on Nov 11, 2009 7:56 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Oh, college is mellow.

You get a few weeks a year when you go into the library and disappear. But the rest of the time, you just drink 4 times a week.

"Ninety percent [of my salary] I'll spend on good times, women, and Irish whiskey. The other ten percent I'll probably waste."
-Tug McGraw

by BTLove on Nov 11, 2009 8:18 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

college

it keeps getting further and further away…

/sigh

Homer: Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try.

by DougieWentDeep on Nov 11, 2009 9:43 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I completely agree with BTLove

You live it up for two weeks in a row and then spend like 3 days in the library wallowing in your despair and poor time management. I’m just going through one of those right now.

by Gnick on Nov 12, 2009 1:51 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

aderol helps.

"Ninety percent [of my salary] I'll spend on good times, women, and Irish whiskey. The other ten percent I'll probably waste."
-Tug McGraw

by BTLove on Nov 12, 2009 2:31 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I'm only a day behind it appears, so:

Playing: Umm… I’m going to look into whether opening a PS3 to rid it of dust voids the warranty, or if I even have one. Yeah… But Madden 08, NCAA 09, and assorted other outdated sports games.

Reading: Assigned – Catcher In the Rye (need to get on that), then The Things They Carried. Want to read – Infinite Jest (damn Joy of Sox for introducing me to a book that I won’t be able to find time for till next summer).

Listening to: AC/DC, Alice In Chains, Blackline, Chemical Zoo, Chevelle, Chickenfoot, Coheed and Cambria (need to get more), Cage the Elephant (hoping they’re not a flash in the pan; see C+C), Disturbed, Foo Fighters, GNR (see C+C), Hinder, Jimi, Led Zeppelin (see C+C), Lynyrd Skynyrd (see C+C), Metallica, Mötley Crüe (see C+C), Nirvana (see C+C), The Offspring (see C+C), Plank 63, RHCP (see C+C), Rise Against (discography), Seether (discography), Shinedown (see C+C), Slayer (see C+C), Socialburn (discography, wishing for them to get back together), Soundgarden (see C+C), Stonehigh, Ted Nugent (see C+C), Theory of a Deadman (discography – the one thing Nickelback has done right is find these guys), The Used (see C+C), Van Halen (see C+C), Velvet Revolver (see C+C), The Who (see C+C)

Need a bigger mp3 player, since I’ve filled up my crappy 2GB one with 450 songs.

Watching: Lie to Me, How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang Theory (Anyone know where I can find it online? Stupid DVR), Office, CSI (Vegas only), Friday Night Lights (waiting for NBC to rerun the satellite-only new episodes), Desperate Housewives (Eva), any baseball I can find, whatever catches my attention when bored; I’ve missed almost every Bears game this season for assorted reasons :(

@bs_uf15bosox9be 12 pieces of bacon, a Red Bull, and go get 'em; Learn to use SB Nation

by bs.uf15bosox9bears23 on Nov 13, 2009 9:55 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

The Things They Carried is awesome. One of the best you’ll read in HS.

I know basically every song by most those bands, but have never even heard of all the rest. Wierd.

"Ninety percent [of my salary] I'll spend on good times, women, and Irish whiskey. The other ten percent I'll probably waste."
-Tug McGraw

by BTLove on Nov 13, 2009 11:39 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Some of the bands are not well known.

Blackline is a small band that started in Boston and recently moved to LA.
Chemical Zoo is just some random garage band I found that made several good songs (one was the theme song for an unofficial Ron Paul campaign).
Plank 63 is another random garage band. The actual site GarageBand.com is great for finding small bands that haven’t been picked up by the mainstream yet. I found Shinedown and Saving Abel a few months before they reached the radio, even though I don’t listen to the latter too often now.
Socialburn made two albums at the start of this decade, then split. They made several amazing songs: Cold Night, Love Hate, Leaving Song, Break Back… I could go on, but I’ll just say that I was content to limit my mp3 player to just playing their songs on a 2.5 hour flight.
Stonehigh is a band that my cousins on the east coast of Florida introduced me too – not a huge fan, but they’re decent.

And I actually want to read The Things They Carried – war stories interest me, esp. when a necklace of human tongues is involved (best thing my teacher has done this year is give us that sneak peak). I just have to start reading Catcher soon (probably this weekend) and block out my desire to read other books until I finish.

BTW, these threads seem like they’re going to become awesome. SB Nation wants us to think of sites like communities, and this seems like just the kind of thing that a section of season ticket seats at a stadium would do if they kept touch.

@bs_uf15bosox9be 12 pieces of bacon, a Red Bull, and go get 'em; Learn to use SB Nation

by bs.uf15bosox9bears23 on Nov 14, 2009 12:44 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

My high school english teacher claimed she was actually in The Things They Carried, kinda. At one point the author tells a story and talks about how some “dumb coon” reacts and says she’s a dumbass. My teacher was at an early reading of the novel and reacted like that “stupid coon.” So she thought she was the dumbass. (it’s when they kill the shit out of some animal because they’re pissed.)

So are you basically off OTM on weeknights?

"Ninety percent [of my salary] I'll spend on good times, women, and Irish whiskey. The other ten percent I'll probably waste."
-Tug McGraw

by BTLove on Nov 14, 2009 3:07 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Pretty much. I'll find ways to sneak on if I can finish homework early, so there might be random weekdays where a Filter is published.

Friday nights/Saturday mornings will probably become my catchup time though.

So she’s mentioned in some late addition to the novel? I’ll have to look for that, although I’m not sure how I’ll explain a random laugh if I come across it during downtime in class.

@bs_uf15bosox9be 12 pieces of bacon, a Red Bull, and go get 'em; Learn to use SB Nation

by bs.uf15bosox9bears23 on Nov 14, 2009 4:13 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

It’s the original version. My teacher was at a reading before it was published (he had some previous novels that were popular, including one listed in my post above, “Going After Gacciato”). Much of the book has to do with the way in which war stories are told. So at times O’Brien includes the reactions of people to whom he supposedly tells those stories.

Basically he read a short story about when his buddies were sad as shit that their buddy got killed so they found this animal (a water buffalo maybe?) and sadistically killed it with their big-ass knives. My teacher cried. And in the book he says something like, “I told this story once and this dumb bitch started crying. She asked how they could be so full of hate and I said this story is about love, not hate.” or something like that.

"Ninety percent [of my salary] I'll spend on good times, women, and Irish whiskey. The other ten percent I'll probably waste."
-Tug McGraw

by BTLove on Nov 14, 2009 5:08 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs