We now have a recycling tax on electronics equipment here so you fork out an extra $45. on a new TV.

And here I was bitching about the $6-$12 (??) e-waste fee that went into effect mid January for a crt. Our fee's not bad at all, considering it normally costs $20-$30 to dispose of a tv at the garbage dump. Hopefully this means authorized stations will take a tv for free and **** heads will stop leaving theirs on the sidewalk.

Anyway, I have a vintage, 19" MGA, circa mid-1980s, complete with faux woodgrain finish. 

I've been meaning to get a 27". Nothing special; just something I can actually see what's happening from beyond 7 feet.

Well, looks line one line I won't be spending money on.

Anyone been to Yuma and know of an attraction that I shouldn't miss? 

Yeah... San Diego, 2-1/2 hours away. 

Just kidding, folks. No nasty pm, please.

Seriously, if you're there around March 20th, are into baseball, or wonder why some of us Yanks take pleasure in this game, there'll be a spring training game between the SD Padres and Az Diamondbacks at Desert Sun Stadium.

I think that count is off, my son is almost 3 and is already a healthy 37 lbs...

  Is that Canadian pounds?

You're right. I saw something on the web saying the average 5-yo weighs between 35-45 pounds. I know a few perfectly healthy kids below and above that range.

While I feel 100 is suspect, I think we can all agree that an adult can take out at least a dozen... except for Michael Jackson... but it's rumored he won't resist.

Despite beating the Giants in the WS, the Angels were lacking that "something" that could rile me up. But now... Now I have two Los Angeles baseball teams to boo.

Vlaaaad-meer. Vlaaaad-meer.

Pitchers and catchers report in 6 weeks, Johnson out of the NL, the Dodgers falling faster than Skylab... I'm getting all goose pimply.

I regret buying basically anything not SW and animated Batman/Superman figures.

-The first four McFarlane monsters (Dracula, Frankenstein, Hunchback, Wolfman). Cool looking but lost interest quick. A dozen+ Spawn figures. After the detail's ooohhh factor wore off, they were just brittle toys of characters I knew little about.

-Everything ToyBiz, especially the female characters when it was the fun thing to chase down. It didn't matter how crappy they looked, the hunt was on.

-Three figures from Trendmasters Tarzen line. What the heck was I thinking?

- A couple of figures from "Congo".

-Four Aliens and Predator figs. Just got caught up in the collecting craze.

-The larger ship from Titan AE just to get the figure for customizing. Thankfully I got it on clearance for $10.

-About 4 basketball players from the old Kenner sports figures line (can't remember what it's called). Yeah, as if the Warriors' 1st round pick, Joe Smith, would have an impact in Oakland.  Jason Kidd was an alright decision because of his Bay Area connection. All in all, the figures suck because of the generic bodies and crap-lame detail.

-Dozens of of Star Trek. It just got out of hand and I was buying just to buy instead of restricting myself to only the figures I truly wanted.

-And yes, LEGO. I jumped into that feet first -- SW, trains, archeology adventure sets, witch castle, lots of packs of mini-figs, even picked up a couple of smaller older pirate sets. A month later, I was sick of it all.

Found the 3 sets at Walmart today.

The Gam guard is unusually monster-sized, but unlike Vader and Chewie, lacks articulation. Solid one-piece design for  the Tusken raider, too. Lack of a moving body part on the other aliens is tolerable, but on these two, just doesn't seem right, possibly because of the pose.

The initial offering was awesome: simple design, magnetic "force" feature. I hope Hasbro doesn't screw the line by cutting too many corners or moving away from the basic arms-to-the-side signature pose.

Moving the two pitchers was a calculated risk brought about partly because of escalating salary/limited budget and fears they're breaking down -- drop 'em now while they still have trade value. The first reason was widely speculated and the second is an interpretation of what Beane said in a radio interview following the trades.

Here's an article with Schott from today's SF Chronicle. In it he explains why of the three, Zito was kept. "He's been healthy the whole time."