Finally got my case + 4 after only 10 days of cross-country travel. 

This line is bittersweet. Nice detail and paint job; gonna be a bitch to polish off the missing 12 rare/very rare. 

Time to hit the shops and test the midichlorian count. 

But Idej, are there really no Bay Area folks that are fans of both the Giants and the A's?

Oh, there are. And I'm not singling you out. Fans of the As/Giants, Cubs/White Sox, Yankees/Mets, Angels/Dodgers... you're all equally confused. 

For the record, the 1988 WS proved quite the dilemma for me -- As or Dodgers, which team was I going to boo more?

McGwire really started to dislike the media after '98, and who could blame him?  He was hounded by them everyday and each day it was the same set of questions.  Personally, I think I'd get tired of the media as well.  You see SO many pro athletes just get so sick and tired of the bs that is the sports media. 

McGwire started to act like that to reporters early in his career, maybe around his 3rd or 4th year, and continued until part way through his run for the record in '98 when he took notice of how Sosa was relishing the attention.  He reverted when injuries took a toll on his numbers.

Bonds attitude, however, extends to both fans, media, teammates and everyone in general.  The guy is a prick.

I've listened to enough talk radio since Bonds has been a Giant -- can't comment on his Pirates days -- to classify a majority of the gripes as being some 20+ y.o. bitching because Bonds blew off his request for an autograph or hearsay of the way Bonds blew off that same 20+ year old's request. I've heard way more callers relaying how nicely Bonds treated their 10-y.o., or of Bonds going to his car, getting out a ball and beaning the father in the head signing it for the caller's son. My then-12-y.o. niece and her friends bumped into Bonds, his wife, and their toddler at TRU. He was nice enough to snap pictures with them. (They had a camera because they just came from a birthday party from across the parking lot.)

Moral: if you're over 17, stay out of his face.

As far as teammates... like who? Van Slyke? Jeff Kent? Why don't the national media ask Shawon Dunstan, JT Snow, Nen, Aurilia, Grissom? In a short period, Bonds and Dustin Mohr have become real close. Ricky Ledee came from the Phillies thinking the worst of Bonds, met him, and says he was wrong. Rick Reilly's hitpiece using Kent got a lot of attention. Nothing was made of Dan Patrick's interview with Matt Williams prior to that year's WS with the D-backs. To all of the talk of Bonds' being disingenuous, Williams countered that not many people knew the real Bonds like he did... that they are good friends.

******* ******* is more like it. Back when the Red Sox played the Giants in interleague play (in SF, no less) he went off on how much he hates Boston, it's racist, blah, blah, blah. When the reporter asked him where he got his info, figuring it was based on first hand experience, Bonds told him he heard "stories". Turns out the dickhead has never actually been to Boston.

His comment was stupid and he was rightly skewered for it. He has a good knowledge of baseball history but he ignorantly projected those conditions of racism in the Boston Redsox organization then to the Boston of today.

About 10 years ago I picked up a pair of $9 rubber sandals from Target. I was going camping and wanted open footwear that was durable enough for the trip and inexpensive enough that I wouldn't feel like an idiot for having to throw it away after a 3-day trashing. Lo and behold, the sandals survived not only the weekend, but  another surprising 8 years. (The last trip I used them in was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back).

I finally got around to getting another pair this summer; figured I'd dip into the well again and go to Target. Can't lose with $10.

The new ones have a soft rubber liner glued onto the sandals, I suppose, for added comfort. The problem is, it's more porous than the rubber used for the main part of the sandal and lets in stinky-feet germs more readily. After a few days of sweaty use, I'm stepping around in toxic material. And because the liner is softer, it won't  last as long. And the more frequent washings will only shorten the sandals' lifespan.

D*** them for their innovation and styling.

Over the past 4 years I've gotten rid of maybe 80%-90% of the non-SW toys I had. (The percentage depends on my recollection.) The only regrets I have are: 1) buying them in the first place.  2) getting rid of half of those before my nephews were old enough to rummage through and pick out what they wanted.

I also got rid of most of the micromachine and action fleet playsets (I kept the ships and figurines, though). There was initial separation anxiety and bouts of longing, but the meds have helped ease me out of the funk.  

The 3-3/4" are another matter. Even though I'm not spasmatic about the line anymore, I don't foresee letting go even the most dog-ugly figures. Most are in ziplock baggies in boxes, anyway, so space isn't an issue.

For me it comes down to the "cost" of storing these -- minimal space in a closet -- versus the effort of scratching out minimal sales. Even if I gave away the unchosen to save myself from the hassle of selling them, there's always the spectre of nostalgia hitting me between the eyes a few years from now.

Saw this bit of irony on the local news but couldn't find an article to link.

A brand new, $63,000 car (Lexus?) was stolen while parked in front of the owner's house. The owner? The police chief of a sizeable city around here.

Rumor has it that Johnson asked "acquaintances" about playing in SF and for the Giants. The likelihood of landing him is virtually zip, but oh, I can dream.

The Boondocks has been a pretty good read the past year. Foxtrot is endearing. Get Fuzzy is a decent read. Dilbert is a regular for me.

The local paper picked up Pearls before Swine about a month ago. Though the latest arc has been fluffy, there was a stretch where it made fun of some other strips.

Garfield is being done by an automaton, but I gotta give Davis his due for a recent strip that took a veiled knock at the current events... or more precisely, what lead to it.