Song of the week XXXI and XXXII

Week 31: We have another hit from the band with likely the best timing, Augustana. This week, they bring in their song Feel Fine, an up-tempo but relaxing song. It comes from their first album, around the middle of the track listing. The theme is to relax and enjoy a good time. It is decent lyrically and an all-around good song.

Week 32: Classic rock band Queen provides the hit for this week. The song featured is One Vision. This song is in the same vein as a handful of other 80s World Peace themed songs. The idea in this tune is to have everyone come together and see eye to eye about the world. The song's intro has a warped kind of sound to it, but it evens out to a catchy guitar rift throughout the song, and a consistent rhythm.

Also, as a plug I'd like to make here, there is a game called Audiosurf that you can get online, and it is an absolutely fabulous game. The graphics are very crisp, but not high energy so it can function on older computers as well as new. The game's soundtrack is the music you own (DRM-free files only), which makes it fully customizable. There is a variety of different ways to play, depending on which character you choose, and three general difficulty levels. I've had it for two days and it's already been very addicting. Check it out.

Sandwich Showdown 29 and 30

Week 29: Subway Club on Wheat vs. Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki on Italian. The Club had a very good variety of tastes throughout the sandwich. It utilized the Subway and KC Masterpiece BBQ sauce combination. The SOCT was also a strong taste, albeit minus sweet onion sauce. Peco's and the Subway BBQ sauces neutralized the sweet/spicy reading very handily. The SOCT edged out a narrow win.

Week 30: Spicy Italian on Garlic vs. Oven Roasted Chicken on Herbs and Cheese. The Spicy Italian came out well, holding on with just KC Masterpiece in the sauce. The bread was very good and complimented the sandwich well. At the ballpark, the Chicken didn't appear to have much of a chance. It featured Subway BBQ alone, and was a victim of a long gap from acquisition and consumption. Easy win for the Spicy Italian.

Fantasy Baseball All-Stars week 18

I'd take a guess that some of the best teams in an average league are clinching their playoff spots. For the rest of us in the battle still, here's who looked good last week.

Catcher: Alex Avila, 5 runs, 8 hits, 3 HR, 6 RBI, 0 SB, .471 average, .526 on base
First Base: Prince Fielder, 9 runs, 10 hits, 2 HR, 9 RBI, 0 SB, .455 average, .552 on base
Second Base: Jason Kipnis, 7 runs, 9 hits, 4 HR, 6 RBI, 2 SB, .321 average, .406 on base
Third Base: Casey McGehee, 6 runs, 8 hits, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 0 SB, .348 average, .375 on base
Shortstop: Starlin Castro, 10 runs, 17 hits, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 1 SB, .515 average, .543 on base
Outfield: Matt Holliday, 8 runs, 10 hits, 4 HR, 10 RBI, 1 SB, .400 average, .545 on base
Utility: Dan Uggla, 7 runs, 11 hits, 4 HR, 8 RBI, 0 SB, .423 average, .423 on base
Starter1: Ricky Romero, 16 IP, 2 wins, 12 K, 1.69 ERA, 0.56 WHIP
Starter2: Ervin Santana, 17.1 IP, 2 wins, 14 K, 1.04 ERA, 1.04 WHIP
Reliever: Carlos Marmol, 4 IP, 4 saves, 5 K, 0 holds, 0.00 ERA, 0.25 WHIP

Fantasy Baseball All-Stars Week 17

The playoff races are heating up in both fantasy and real baseball, and the Major League non-waiver trade deadline has passed. Here's the players who had a good week.

Catcher: Mike Napoli, 7 runs, 11 hits, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 0 SB, .524 average, .545 on base
First Base: Billy Butler, 6 runs, 13 hits, 5 HR, 12 RBI, 0 SB, .406 average, .412 on base
Second Base: Ben Zobrist, 5 runs, 12 hits, 3 HR, 9 RBI, 1 SB, .429 average, .500 on base
Third Base: NULL, replace with First Base: Joey Votto, 7 runs, 10 hits, 4 HR, 9 RBI, 0 SB, .385 average, .467 on base
Shortstop: Troy Tulowitzki, 4 runs, 11 hits, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 2 SB, .458 average, .519 on base
Outfield: Justin Upton, 6 runs, 8 hits, 4 HR, 8 RBI, 1 SB, .348 average, .429 on base
Utility: Dustin Pedroia, 7 runs, 12 hits, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 1 SB, .433 average, .457 on base
Starter: Derek Holland, 15 IP, 2 wins, 9 K, 0.00 ERA, 0.67 WHIP
Reliever: John Axford, 4 IP, 4 saves, 5 K, 0 holds, 0.00 ERA, 0.25 WHIP

Song of the Week XXX

This week, we debut a new theme, going down alphabetically as sorted by the computer. First up is the quotation marked song "From Now On We Are Enemies" by Fall Out Boy. The song is about a boy who is born into royalty, and is resented for the easy life. Many people do not know the boy, but despise him anyway. The child has a crown on his head before the age of 10, sparking even more outrage from the people. However, the kid knows that he is just one in a royal line, and repeats throughout the song that he will be forgotten eventually. This leaves a twist of pity in the song, but not enough to pity the royalty. This feature will run again next week.

Sandwich Showdown 27 & 28

This should be a pretty well packed showdown from the last two weeks of time. The first week pitted an Italian BMT on Italian against an Oven Roasted Chicken on Herbs and Cheese. The BMT was very strong throughout, doing the standard double BBQ Sauce, from both Subway and KC Masterpiece. The next day, the Chicken came out strong as well, utilizing both sauces even more persuasively. The advantage in taste just goes to the Chicken for that week. This week, we had three sandwiches up for the glory, as a Subway Melt on Herbs and Cheese led off, followed by a Turkey and Ham on Wheat, and rounded out by a Steak and Cheese on Herbs and Cheese. The Melt had the two sauce combo going for it, and was toasted for added effect. The flavors were good, but the bread seemed to slip a bit from par. The Turkey and Ham cashed in on the two-sauce, two-meat idea and exceeded very well on wheat bread. The Steak and Cheese made a valiant effort, replacing KC Masterpiece with Peco's, but fell short of the precedent set by the Turkey and Ham. This should return next week.

Song of the Week XXIX

This week our song comes from across the pond. The band Mumford and Sons gives us their tune Awake My Soul. Typical to their genre, it is a soft and melodic song at the start and builds as it goes. The song revolves a bit around trusting another person. It also features a group singing of the phrase Awake My Soul as the chorus. The song is very easy listening. This feature will run again next week.