Notes

- Last Friday night I burned my tongue on some ramen. I don't think I've eaten any of that stuff since college, and the first time I give it another chance, it burns my tongue? That pissed me off so much. Anyone want 23 packs of original flavor Ichiban ramen? Cause I bought a whole box and now I don't know if I will be eating the rest. My tongue feels like sandpaper right now and it hurts like hell.

- A fact you may not know is that the typical human taste bud has a lifespan of 7-10 days. So I think instead of healing when they get burned or damaged or whatever, you just have to wait until the new ones take the place of the old. I guess that means that if my current taste buds happened to be "born" on Friday, I still might have another 3 or 4 days of sandpaper-tongue.

- One more sign that my body is getting older is that I can't handle as much second-hand smoke as I used to. I think in college, I breathed in enough smoke from the people I hung out with to account for about the equivalent of a pack of light cigarettes per day, and it never bothered me. But last night, I went to RAM to watch part of the Cubs game with some old friends, and in less than a couple hours of being exposed to their smoke I was sneezing, eyes sore, maybe even a little light headed.

- Speaking of the Cubs game, man, that is why playoff baseball is so awesome. Even though I'm kind of rooting for the Cubs, I'm still watching these games more as an overall "baseball fan", looking for exciting and well-played games. So even though they lost, I enjoyed watching a good battle. Some observations from that game:

1. That Sammy Sosa hop has gotten so ridiculous. I don't know if he does it because fans expect it, or if he just thinks it's fun or what, but it needs to stop.

2. Ugueth Urbina blows. I knew he was gonna give up that game-tying home run as soon as Sosa came up to bat with a man on base. Some pitchers have decent stuff, but they are just way too unclutch to be closers, and especially even more so in the playoffs. This list definitely includes Urbina, as well as people like Billy Koch, Byung-Hyun Kim, Armando Benitez, and Keith Foulke.

3. I don't think I've ever seen an outfield play worse defense than the Marlins in the early innings last night. And then, I saw Alex Gonzalez (of the Marlins) make two of the best defensive plays that might have saved the game in the late innings.

4. I don't think the Cubs have a lot to worry about, with Wood and Prior scheduled to pitch at least 4 games in this series.

5. Those 3 home runs in one inning, I couldn't believe it as it was happening.

- Red Sox vs. Yankees, I think I'm gonna root for the Yankees to win in 7. I kind of wanted to see a Cubs vs. Red Sox World Series, but when they kept showing those Boston fans in that bar during Game 5 of the Oakland series, I just started to really hate them for some reason. It's like a whole bunch of Ben Afflecks there, and I hate Ben Affleck.

- Although I must admit, Boston did produce my favorite Real World Paris character. Unfortunately, I missed last night's episode, but I'm looking forward to catching a rerun sometime soon so I can see drunk CT trying to fight everyone, and Adam looking scared.