Book thoughts

I couldn't resist picking up The Yankee Years, by Tom Verducci with Joe Torre.

This is a thoroughly enjoyable read, chock full of detail about Torre's 12 years as Yankee manager. An important point: it was, as I suspected, not at all sensationalistic, as the initial reports from the NY tabloids would have had us believe.

I've always enjoyed Verducci's writing with SI, and he doesn't disappoint here. It took a few chapters to get used to the time-jumping, but he ties the jumps together so well that you never ask "what the hell is going on here?"

Highly recommended. I had issues with some of Torre's management style, primarily the "trust" card in the bullpen that led him to overusing certain guys every year to the point that they were useless by October (remember QuanGorMo?), but hey: job security in pro sports, especially with the Yankees, is pretty much nil. He did things his way, was highly successful at it, and went with his convictions, repercussions from the higher-ups be damned. This book makes it crystal clear how fucking difficult that job is.

Next, it's time for my annual re-reading of Ball Four to get geared up for the baseball season. Not only the best baseball book ever written, one of the best books period. In my all-time top 10 for sure, maybe even top 5. I don't think about book lists as much as music lists.

Ooh ooh ooh!

Oh yeah, baby.

Note to self: go to Barnes and Noble on Tuesday.

Draft!

Well, we had our fantasy baseball draft tonight. Slower than it should have been, but at least no technical hiccups. I think I did pretty well.

And in the spirit of fantasy drafts, I present to you KSK's Book Draft.

Funny stuff.

Meme!

Toast has another one, that Bill actually had up a few weeks ago, but I forgot to propagate.

1. Grab the nearest book (that is at least 123 pages long).
2. Open to p. 123.
3. Go down to the 5th sentence.
4. Type in the following 3 sentences.
5. Tag five people.

At work:
¡Fantástico! Me gustaría tomarme un minuto para contarle sobre la Promoción Póquer de Productos. (Explique la promoción). ¿Le gustaría agregar algún artículo adicional para poder aprovechar la oferta?

From the Spanish version of Business Fundamentals for Salon & Spa Professionals (Teacher's Guide).


At Home:
Weishaupt's "illumination" & Voltaire's "enlightenment": from the Latin "lux" meaning light.
Christianity all in 3s (Trinity, etc.), Buddhism in 4s. Illuminatism in 5s.

From The Illuminatus Trilogy.