I wonder which member of the 1980s Blue Jays had a son that is now friends with Furcal. I'm going with Josh Barfield.

Complicating matters further, Rafael Furcal is a graduate of Cabrera High School, according to wikipedia.

Go Jon, go! Another one of these Raffy Posts ™ by tonight, I expect.

Would hate to see you start popping up in Google for typos. You have a standard to uphold with Hochevarian.

That was before sources told ESPN The Magazine that the Dodgers' negotiations with Furcal were gaining momentum later in the day Tuesday. The two sides had talked as recently as 7 p.m. ET.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3772806

Which has me thinking that an organized team could save itself some real draft pick compensation value by signing all its big type A FAs in a single year rather then stretching them out over several offseasons.

No doubt, that's just what Hank is thinking about down in Tampa.

The UI, for me and most people I talk to, is easier to use--with neat tricks like Exposé that lets you quickly switch windows and Spotlight search acting as a way to quickly launch any app.

From my experience, Apples do a much better job with third party equipment--external hard drives, cameras, etc.

The majority of the reasons I use Apple are due to my main hobby/line of work (web development), however. For a casual-ish user, the best thing you can probably do is find an Apple store or a friend with a computer with Leopard and have someone show you around all the neat tricks and see if they're enough to win you over.

Interesting way to look at it. So many times, it's choosing the lesser of two evils.

As the awful Arizona announcers would holler, "Let's get some RUNSSSSSSSSSSSS!"

27 When I say "travel", I don't mean that I will be moving from place to place often. Size is pretty irrelevant.

26 28 Thanks. Is there anything I do now on my PC that I can't do on a Mac?

Not if you run Parallels. There are Mac Office versions (of varying quality), but you can always use NeoOffice to edit Word docs or go into Parallels to run the Windows version of Word.

Genske...CC here... is it too late to renegotiate...

I'm kind of mad, actually! Don't penalize us healthy folks who drink pop in moderation!

As DZ said, if there is any specific software you absolutely must have (as opposed to the service it provides you--most tasks you'd want to do that you happen to use a windows-only App for, there is a [often better] Apple solution) then you're best to look into what Apple alternatives there are. I can answer most questions regarding this, as can any Apple store employee.

What's the alternative? Laying people like me off?

Me?

Also, I have new, updated information: apparently the new tax on soda is 18 cents a pop, not 10. BUT, only on sugary, non-diet beverages.

Since I really only drink Diet Coke once a month or so it looks like I'm in the clear!

Are there any issues with the Safari browser? Does it work with all sites equally as well as Firefox or IE? Also, do all the common chat programs, MSN, Yahoo, etc. work with the Mac OK?

But Firefox on OSX is fine and dandy, and getting better. I have both on my dock.

I believe all major flavors of chat programs have OSX ports, but I use iChat if I need to audio/voice chat or AdiumX (http://www.adiumx.com) for anything else. The Duck is the greatest experience in chatting I've ever had.

Spectacular pun. That is all.

Bigger Universities should also have student stores with computers on display, and students being one of Apple's key demographics, they do what they can to make sure they're displayed proudly.

In other news, my stomach has not gone crazy yet. Maybe I'm okay.

http://tinyurl.com/6eezwb

So tax the heck out of that.

I just want to help balance the state budget.

Whew!

Yankees' Chamberlain Has Had Off-Season of Life

Lessons

This probably won't end in a good way from my perspective.

Professor: "The problem with the political parties is they want you to give your tax dollars to the less fortunate."
Fry: "The less fortunate get all the breaks!"

I've given up on Teo.

--

That's just insane.

The Yankees must hate Hughes/Kennedy.

Seriously though, I expect the Lakers to come back and win this game.

Josh Powell should play more.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/93835-is-it-just-me-or-is-andy-macphail-having-an-incredible-offseason

I am shocked.

If you were Rafael Furcal, where would you sign?

o  Atlanta

o  Oakland

True or False?

Chris Paul and Allen Iverson are both listed at 6'0", which are liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiies.

http://www.abc6.com/sports/36277274.html

Why so much disdain for Lamar round these parts? Whassamatter, 17 pts, 12 rebounds, 4 assists ain't good enough for ya?

Good foul by Fisher.
Robinson made 3 after the foul.

Whew.

--

Heh. New from Jon Heyman:

>>So to recap, Furcal rejected a four-year deal for about $40 million with the A's to talk to the Braves about a three year deal for $30 million with a vesting option (and according to the Braves, agree to that deal). And after allegedly wrapping things up with the Braves, he's believed to be talking to the Dodgers, mostly likely about a two-year deal with an option.

If he takes a two-year deal with the Dodgers, he will be the first player ever to reject a four-year deal to take a three-year deal for a similar annual salary only to reject that for a two-year deal for a similar salary. If this keeps up, the next stop would be a one-year deal.<<

http://www.fannation.com/si_blogs/hot_stove/posts/33082

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-dodgers17-2008dec17,0,2092409.story

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08352/935647-63.stm?cmpid=pirates.xml

Even Dejan Kovacevic can't keep on pushing his Jack Wilson to the Dodgers spew.

The Woody Paige generator. You too can make Woody Paige's chalkboard say silly things.

Also, it is not true that apple hardware and peripherals are more expensive...as long as you don't buy the extras from apple and are able to install them or know someone who can.

You might want to wait to buy one until after the expo in January just in case new products are introduced...plus you can always buy the previous generation at a cheaper rate.

Also, Best Buy would be on my obelisk if I had one.

Don't know what to believe at this point but I definitely think that Ned did guarantee a third year. I can't see Furcal's agent going back to the Dodgers if he didn't think it was possible to get a third year guaranteed. And what could Ned really offer in new "improved" negotiations, besides the third year. Wonder if Torre was on the phone to Ned and Frank pushing for the third year?

And the Oklahoma City Thunder's 2-24 record has to be the worst start.

Isn't it a little irritating to know that you're paying all that extra money because Steve Jobs wants to Think Different about OS distribution? Software companies should make software.

Could this be the year a team breaks the Bulls 72-10 record?

1966-67 76ers
1969-70 Knicks
1995-96 Bulls

http://tinyurl.com/5qf7oz

Hard to predict that, but this might be as good a year as any for it to happen.

More likely, I'm looking to this obscure stat:

The highest number of wins achieved by three different teams in one NBA season is 61 (three teams in 1997, and four in 1998). There's a good chance Boston, Cleveland, and the Lakers could all top that and possibly even hit 65 wins each.

In the same time period, the Celtics are 53-10.

Cards are looking at Saito as a backup plan.

I now have MLB Network. How cool is that? Anyone else getting MLB network right now?

---

Far as the Lakers tonight, I knew the Knicks would play the Lakers close. Even though they were up by 15, I had a feeling the Lakers would make a comeback. Honestly I thought both teams played pretty well.

The Knicks aren't as bad as they used to be. I like what I see with Duhon and now Nate Robinson. If they didn't trade Zach Randolph for cap space, that team could be even better.

Obviously the Knicks are thinking farther ahead...

http://mlb.mlb.com/network/

There are a lot of great things about the mac -- it is simple to set up and use, it seems to lack all the fussy pc stuff when it comes to things like connecting to wireless networks, it has tons of really cool and fun features -- for example, the touchpad lets you scroll down by brushing two fingers over it -- and this thing weighs much less than my previous pc laptops. It also just seems to run quickly and smoothly - none of the frozen screens and grindingly slow patches that seem to happen so often with my pc and can be so frustrating.

However, I would not underestimate the cost of the switch -- not only is the machine itself an extra $500 or so, but you need to buy new Mac software as well, plus, if you are over a certain age, like myself, help in moving your files and setting up any custom features from your old computer. Plus books to figure out what you are doing.

It has not been an entirely smooth road learning to use the Mac, and there are some annoying differences -- for example deleting forward requires two keys (option + delete), and I had to relearn a lot of other keystrokes. I have also missed the taskbar at the bottom of Windows that tells you all the windows that you have open - with a Mac there are a lot of ways to figure out what windows are open but none of then are as simple as looking at the taskbar in Windows. Or at least, that's been my experience so far, and perhaps Mac vets will enlighten me.

But overall I am very pleased -- perhaps not a full fledged Mac cult member, but certainly happy with my switch. I plan to replace my work desktop shortly, and make the full switch.

I do have a question for you mac guys -- on Safari, how do I block that annoying ad that is always part of Jon's post? I know how to do it with Firefox, but not Safari.