It’s time for Dodgers Baseball! Right now the Dodgers third spring training game is on 980 AM. It’s great to hear Charlie and play by play. La Roche just threw out a runner from third. The first broadcasted game is two weeks from today, and I think they’re only airing spring training games on the radio on Saturdays and Sundays.

Last night I was hot and I put on sandals. I also hooked the Xbox back up and played some MVP Baseball. All of the aforementioned activities have reminded me how much I love Spring and Summer.

My parents came over last night for dinner which was nice. It’s a very interesting life transition going from living at home to living elsewhere. Instead of seeing them everyday sometimes weeks go by. I have a feeling this will change a lot whenever we start making babies, but I have a much greater appreciation for them now that I’ve left the roost. When I saw them everyday and had never lived on my own, I think I took them for granted. But now that I’ve been out on my own and started our own family I appreciate more the role they’ve played in my life, and the role I want them to continue to play in our “new” family’s life.

Please don’t misconstrue all the sentimental talk as foreshadowing of an imminent baby birthing. Not quite yet.

I don’t think anyone will really care, but I’m working on a way to calculate dynamic sliders for the game MVP Baseball 2005. The game has "sliders" which let you tweak the difficulty and different aspects of the game. People post their sliders and everyone else can try them and see if they like them. I’m attempting to come up with a system that makes it based on individual skill, not some other person.

I know, poor excuse for a post, but I made a fancy spreadsheet and everything!

This is the first night I will spend alone at our place without my precious wife since we’ve been married. I went off to Palm Springs for a night a couple months ago, but this is the first time she has gone to do something while I stay home. She’s off to an all-nighter for Girl Scouts. The big question of course is not will I miss her, but what am I going to do with the next 20 hours of loneliness?

I could take up field hockey.
I could watch the entire season of Firefly.
I could play 10 games of MVP Baseball ’05.
I could lesson plan. (HA!)
I could finish buying presents on Amazon.
I could make posts about what I could be doing.

Or I could clean the house, be overcome by the smell of ammonia as I mop the kitchen, and take a break and come post on here.

I got a techie fix the last couple days.

Last night I convinced Stacie to let me buy a surround sound system. It’s a budget Sony, but it works really well. It only came with 22 gauge wire, so I want to upgrade it to 16 gauge, and get a couple speaker stands. The difference isn’t mind blowing, but it feels much more like a movie theatre. After watching a whole movie with it on, changing to just the TV speakers feels really flat and one-dimensional. The other cool thing is that most HD television shows are broadcast in 5.1 surround. When I told Stacie it feels like being at the movies she said "But I’m in my pajamas."

Other than that I tried a couple games on the PC. I downloaded the Call of Duty 2 demo. My graphics card is old and stinks, but it was still cool. It’s only single player though, so not sure how multi-player would be (and that’s the most important part). Then I tried MVP Baseball on the PC, and specifically a mod called Total Classics 3. Some modders went in and changed all the teams to classic ones, like the 1990 Oakland A’s and 1988 Dodgers. I tried that for a few minutes and it was fun, but I’ll stick with the gamecube version.

Now it’s back to doing homework and getting lesson plans ready.

The Xbox 360 was released today. Sadly I don’t care (sorry Mike). I’m afraid I’m getting old, and things like a new console launch aren’t as exciting as they used to be. Other possible explanations are that it costs $400, and the one ad I saw for the new Perfect Dark game wasn’t that impressive. The only game I play anymore is MVP Baseball from last year. Xbox 360 is in HD though, which is way cool. I’ll wait for Mike’s first post about it and see what he thinks.

Oh, and this is the fourth post in a row with a picture! Boy am I spoiling you guys. This picture was again taken from Foxnews. I couldn’t help but notice how very excited the man in this picture is. It looks like the Xbox 360 is actually his biological son whom he has just been reunited with after 18 years lost in the Alps. Definitly a kodak moment.

It’s been awhile since I updated you on my MVP Baseball 2005 dynasty. My Dodgers were able to defeat the Mets in the first round of the playoffs with a series victory of 3-1, winning the final game at home. Our next series for the National League crown is against the Padres!

In game 1 the Dodgers took a 4-1 lead into the final two frames, but the Pads gave us some trouble. They put up 2 runs in the 8th, and another 2 in the bottom of the 9th to come back and beat us. The Dodgers look to rebound in game 2 of this 7 game series.

Surprisingly, it’s a LOT of fun getting beat in this game. Knowing that your lead isn’t always safe, and that you WILL lose games, makes every win feel great.

UPDATE

Game 2 did not go so well either. The Dodgers fell behind early 5-2 against knuckleballer Steve Sparks, who went a strong 7 innings. The Dodgers’ scored early with a 2-run shot by Drew, but their bats were silenced until the 8th, when they put up another 2 spot. Unfortunately that was all the offense could muster as the Dodgers fell 5-4 to the Padres. This puts the Dodgers down 0-2 in this best of 7 series. The Dodgers head back to Los Angeles where they hope a change of scenery can turn things around.

I officially finished the regular season in my dynasty on MVP Baseball 2005. All 162 games are done, and the playoffs are here! I finished up the regular season 92-70, which was good enough for the wild card spot, 6 games behind the Padres in the West. I brought up a young pitcher (Chad Billingsly) to pitch the final game of the season. He did ok (lost 8-2), but he’s got some growing to do.

After the season is over the awards are handed out. J.D. Drew was robbed of the MVP by Beltran. Kent won the Gold Glove at 2nd, and Drew won the Silver Slugger in the outfield. We’re facing the Mets in the first round of the playoffs.

GAME 1
The first game did not go well at all. Maybe the guys were still shook up from the last lost, but we just couldn’t put it together. Odalis Perez gave up 4 runs, and the bullpen gave up another 4. The only bright side for the Dodgers offensively was a 2-run shot by Choi, but it wasn’t enough as we lost the opener 8-2.

GAME 2
The second game we turned to Jeff Weaver for some solid innings, and he came through. Weaver pitched 6 scoreless innings and the Dodger bats came up with 3 early runs. Sanchez and Carrara both pitched scoreless innings, but Gagne had everyone on pins and needles in the 9th. Having surrendered 2 runs so far in the inning and men on 1st and 2nd, Gagne got a strikeout to end the game.

With the 5 game series evened at 1-1 the Dodgers turn to Derek Lowe in game 3. The series heads back to Los Angeles for the next 2 games where the Dodgers hope to win the series on home turf.

My first MVP Baseball season on my dynasty is coming to a close. With only 7 games left in the regular season, my Los Angeles Dodgers are 5 games back of the Padres in the West, but they have clinched a playoff berth! Until recently there was hope of catching the Padres, but that was before the Pirates swept us (stop laughing, they’re much better on the videogame).

After I finish the regular season comes the playoffs, and after the postseason is the offseason. During this time people retire, I can draft new rookies, and I have to re-sign current players. The attributes of players even changes where some improve and some get older and lose a little something.

This is by far the best sports game I’ve ever played. There are so many ways to tweak the difficulty of the game for your specific skill level and keep it challenging. My team better turn things around and go into the playoffs on a high note! I’ll keep you posted.