New Year's (Season's) Resolutions

I read an article on the top ten most popular New Year's resolutions for the coming year. (Based on who, I have no idea) But here they are:

1. Spend more time with family & friends.
2. Spend more time working out.
3. Lose weight.
4. Quit smoking.
5. Enjoy life more.
6. Quit drinking.
7. Get out of debt.
8. Learn something new.
9. Help others.
10. Get organized.

I started to wonder about what some of the Twins players might be making New Year's resolutions about, or maybe New Season's resolutions. I know a lot of the time many sports websites, blogs, and newspapers spend time criticizing players on their play on or off the field. But after thinking about it, no one's perfect, and the best professionals are the ones who aren't content with where they're at, and are always striving to be better. I remember stories of Ken Griffey Jr. never content with his swing, and 611 HR's later, "The Kid" is now "The Natural".

C Joe Mauer: New Year's Resolution-Increase power numbers without decreasing plate discipline. Although there are few obvious flaws in Mauer's offensive and defensive game, one would hope that eventually the 25 year-old with the 6-5 230 frame might produce more than 10 HR, 80 RBI seasons.

1B Justin Morneau: New Year's Resolution-Be more consistent. No one's complaining after a 2nd MVP-type season, but after his stellar 2006 campaign, his offensive numbers dropped across the board, most noticiably in his AVG (.321 to .271) and OPS (.934 to .834).

2B Alexi Casilla: Improve OBP, maintain power numbers. To everyone's suprise, Casilla knocked out 7 HR's in under 100 games last year, contradicting all of his minor league numbers. the Twins need a 2-spot hitter who is able to get on base consistently and get in scoring position for #3 man Mauer.

SS Nick Punto: Show he is a capable starting shortstop...offensively. We know Punto loves to play good, hard-nosed, Twins defense in the field. He's the scrappy little sparkplug that keeps a team going through tough stretches. But if he returns to his dismal 2007 form (.210 AVG, .291 OBP), it may be tough to keep him in the lineup, espeically if Rochester SS Trevor Plouffe is heating up.

3B: Brian Buscher: Show he is a capable starting third baseman...offensively. With either Brendan Harris or Buscher staring the 3B spot in the face, I believe that Buscher showed by the end of last season that he was a viable candidate with slightly better offensive numbers in AVG, OBP, OPS, K%, and BB/K ratio.

Next edition will include those competing for outfield and DH positions.

So long everbody...see you in '09.

Weekend Wonders

This weekend, Jenni and Adam came to visit and we spent Saturday afternoon braving the wind and rain to enjoy some time downtown. After the visit to the Bean and Millennium Park, we headed over to the Art Institute to "culturalize" ourselves. There were some great times by all, and you can see it in our faces while trying to imitate one of our highlights of the trip here...



We then stocked up on drinks at Caribou Coffee and headed off to Daley Plaza to see the Christmas tree. After battling the crowds and a rowdy bunch of Santas, we arrived and made the best of another photo op...



With the Christmas season in full swing and the big day only 11 days away, we have now begun the "12 days of Christmas". Have you ever wondered who came up with the 12 days of Christmas, or what it originated from, or who in the world thought that the song would catch like it did (especially with my extended family year after year) If you're interested, here's the Wikipedia link.

But since I'm more about the how and why (being a Science teacher) and not the history of the song, have you ever wondered how much all 12 days of Christmas would cost someone in order to win over their "true love"?

Well wonder no longer, because the numbers are in....







drum roll please....






For the small price of $86,609, you can make your true love happy this holiday season. However, by leaving out the 7 swans a swimming for each of the 6 days you give them, you can save yourself some pocket change ($33,600).

Just don't let the true love know that you're holding out on those swans...


So long everybody...

Between holidays

This feels like the first actual free time in a long time, but then again, the whole Thanksgiving weekend was free time...so other than that I guess.

• School is still going great, we're working through the periodic table and elements right now and will be until Christmas break and maybe a bit after that, then its to chemical bonds and reactions.
• It has snowed a couple times now, maybe 3-4 inches each time. Glad we don't live in the city of Chicago though. They found out that it cost the city $500,000 each time it snows to pay workers, gas, trucks, salt, etc. So they decided that they wouldn't clear the streets throughout the night, but only if/when it stopped snowing.
• Basketball has been going pretty good, its definitely a different mentality out here with kids having more opportunities to play on travel teams throughout the entire year (yes, even during the season). I took some pictures from one of the kids' facebook pages, so here you go...

• We're 5-2 right now, and just won Friday night by 3 over the team that won their summer league tournament.
• Well...less than two weeks before its back to Minnesota for the wedding, Christmas parties, and hopefully some ice fishing!

So long everybody...