Cell-phone plans
I'd like to know what kind of plans both Cab Drivers and Mail Carriers have with their cell-phone providers.

Seriously, they talk, like, all the time.

Dead Man featuring Johnny Depp
If, like me, you are a big Johnny Depp fan, and, also, like me, you want to be able to say you've seen every Depp movie ever made, you have to, unfortunately, watch Dead Man (1996).

I just saw it last night, it's a western, black and white, and I rather have Roger Ebert tell you what it's like, since it's pretty much what I thought too:

``Dead Man'' is a strange, slow, unrewarding movie that provides us withmore time to think about its meaning than with meaning.

A mood might have developed here, had it not been for the unfortunatescore by Neil Young, which for the film's final 30 minutes sounds like nothingso much as a man repeatedly dropping his guitar.

Jim Jarmusch is trying to get at something here, and I don't have aclue what it is.

Next up: Broken Flowers and The Constant Gardner

Hide and Seek
For those of you that haven't heard of this movie, don't worry, you ain't missing much.

It's a scary movie featuring DeNiro in a very unfamiliar role: He's a boring man. This should've been a tip off that something was going on, along with the fact that almost all scary movies have some sort of plot twist at the end.

Plus there was one thing that bothered me from the time I saw the thing on the shelf at Blockbuster: it boasted 4 alternative endings.

Any movie that decides to include 4 alternative endings means that the creators aren't very committed to the one they've chosen. Which means the ending in the movie will pobably be flimsy. Which is was, and so were the other ones.

DeNiro, whatever happened to that guy?

US Cellular Field (Comiskey)
Went to see the Sox for the first time ever and I was very impressed by their facilities. Everything is so much bigger and spacier. Having been used to Wrigley and Fenway for the past 6 or so years, this was a welcome surprise. The seats were great and the atmosphere was pretty good, especially since there were so many Detroit fans in the house. I wore a Detroit hat and therefore made many a friend.

Not a big fan?
So the AVP tour is in town this weekend over on North Beach (beach volleyball) and I was asking myself if I was going to go.

I wanted to answer with, "Well, I'm not a big fan, so I won't go."

Do you see the problem with this? I don't dislike beach volleyball, I just don't follow it that much - at all really. But I don't hate it.

The phrase "I'm not a big fan" has turned into a slang way to say "I don't really like that."

So how do we say that we aren't a big fan of something? That is, we aren't up-to-date on the latest news and events regarding, in this instance, beach volleyball?

I move to reinstate the phrase to it's original meaning because, to be honest, I'm just not a big fan of the way it's being used now.

The Cubs of Old
Turned on the TV the other day and the Cubs were down 0-7 in the 5th inning. For all intents and purposes, the game was over. You could tell there was no way they were going to come back. It's a feel thing.

They ended up getting one hit.

And it hit me: that's how it used to be, back when the Cubs were considered one of the worst teams in the bigs, year after year.

Then came 1998 and it kind of surprised everyone, then '99 took everything back to normal. Then the farm system took the spotlight: Bobby Hill, Choi, Wood, Prior, Zambrano, Cruz, Kelton, etc. We were primed for long-term success.

2002 came along and established the team as a pitching powerhouse. 2003 was a disappointment. 2004 feels like the Cubs of old - with no chance to win, no matter who's on the field.

Teaching and the Major Leagues
A nice article on Old School vs. today.

Baker speaks

Detroit
Detroit has a certain presence to it here in Chicago; there are a lot of people that come over from Detroit and it's surrounding areas searching for better jobs, taller buildings, and the bustling metropolis that is Chicago. So I've heard a lot about Detroit and after actually going down there I've reached two conclusions:

1. Some people haven't been to downtown Detroit in a long time. They have the impression of Detroit as a run-down city. Some of it, maybe even most of it, might still be that way. I'm not sure. But what I got to see of downtown Detroit was very Chicago-like. There was also a sense of racial harmony one just doesn't get here in Chicago. Even Mindy was surprised to see what she saw in the downtown area. Yeah I saw some of the bad stuff, but was surprised to see that the city was nowhere near as bad as I had once been told.

2. Some people have never been to downtown Detroit. They have made assumptions based on what once was, not on what is now.

Overall, I liked Detroit for it's atmosphere of laid back togetherness. Kind of like a mini-Chicago that doesn't take itself too seriously. This was my impression of the place.

Golf
Went to Detroit this past weekend for the very first time and got to do some Golfing. Golf is a sport that I consider very difficult, and so I see it as a challenge to my vast athletic skills to become good at.

If old, fat guys can make millions off it, I should be able to hit the damn ball straight.

Only went to the driving range, but still, it was awesome. I got some instruction into what makes a good swing and what doesn't, something I never got the other time I tried it. So that made it better. I got the feel for the right kind of swing, using my hips, going really slow, and not trying to hit the ball too hard. My favorite club? The three wood and this two-iron that was lent to me. Felt good with those. I also liked the pitching wedge, seeing the ball go straight up and then landing on a dime without much movement gives me great pleasure. Something bomb-like about it, precision too.

Putting, on the other hand, damn that's the hardest thing of all! I had the most trouble with distance, reading the greens was OK. The distance fooled me every time though.

I hope to get better at this sport, it's a real test to a person's patience and determination.

Pollo Campero
The Tribune's review of the Pollo Campero experience in GUatemala.