Ten Vacations

[Posted By Jake]



As worries about the nation's economy mount and the threat of a double dip recession grows, President Obama remains steadfastly committed to the good life. Last Thursday, our fearless leader and his family headed to Martha's Vineyard for 10 days of fun in the sun at Blue Heron Farm, the $20 million estate where they spent their last two summer vacations.



Moving forward into the 2012 Presidential campaign, one of the mantras of the Democrat spin machine will be their singular concern for the common man. For context, let's review the Obama family's numerous extraordinary vacations, contrasted with a time of historic economic distress for millions of Americans:



**June 2009** Destination Paris

After one of his many trips on his world apology tour, the President rendezvoused with his daughters in Paris, touring the Notre Dame cathedral, the Pompideau Center and of course, the Eiffel Tower.



**July 2009** Destination Moscow

The first daughters accompanied their parents to the Soviet Union. The President even blew off Prime Minister Putin for a family night.



**August 2009** Destination Grand Canyon and Yellowstone Park

Sightseeing included Old Faithful and the spectacular view from Hopi Point.



**August 2009** Destination Martha's Vineyard

The first family rode bikes, played miniature golf and enjoyed beach time in their first visit to Blue Heron Farm.



**December 2009** Destination Hawaii

As is the Obama family custom, Christmas is spent in Hawaii, generally a week or so.



**July 2010** Destination Maine

A long weekend touring the nature trails of Acadia National Park was the vacation plan this time. Of special note was that first dog Bo accompanied the family on this trip and was even rumored to have his own separate airplane.



**August 2010** Destination Spain

Just mother and daughter Sasha took this controversial trip, along with a group of the first lady's best gal pals. This foreign boondoggle, where shopping, lavish meals and the shutdown of a public beach were high points, was estimated to have cost the American taxpayers $100 million, and the President wasn't even there.



**August 2010** Destination Florida

Sensitive to the criticism that the President appeared hypocritical by touting the cleanup of the Gulf of Mexico, but vacationing elsewhere, a quick weekend trip with Michelle and Sasha was arranged. Comically, Barack went swimming in what he thought was the Gulf, but really wasn't. So much for the public relations effort to reassure the American public.



**August 2010** Destination Martha's Vineyard

Big sister Malia rejoined the family for their annual 10-day beach vacation. There was another comical public relations hit when the President was photographed bike riding with his oversized helmet. Memories of Michael Dukakis in the tank and Pee Wee Herman riding his bike were famously recalled.



**December 2010 Destination Hawaii

Another Christmas in paradise, this time at a luxury beachfront property in Oahu. Lots of golf, snorkeling and fine dining marked this winter escape.





Whew... that's most of them. Don't have the record-breaking rounds of golf, the campaign trips to Chicago or the supposed diplomatic trips by the First Lady. But the ten vacations detailed here convey the Obama entitlement mindset pretty well.

If you think your family deserves this kind of extravagance while your fellow citizens are suffering, then it's hardly surprising that you oppose government spending cuts and dismiss calls for financial responsibility and austerity.



When the President and his re-election campaign start ratcheting up the class warfare, talking about shared sacrifice and disparity of incomes, it's going to be hard not to think of these ten vacations, the likes of which most of us would have been glad to have experienced just once.

Studded statement jewelry DIY

I am loving so much my new shoes that looking at them again and again I had the idea of making a statement jewel inspired by them.  For this jewel I used bias tape. I've studded it and then sewed it. What do you think of the result?
I hope you are all enjoying your holidays!

Le mie scarpe si sono trasformate in una fonte di inspirazione per un nuovo gioiello. Ho usato lo sbieghino, ho aggiunto le borchie e poi l'ho cucito. Che ne pensate?

Spero che vi stiate godendo qualche giorno di riposo, Buone Vacanze a tutti!

All About Monograms | Wedding Reception Inspiration

So today we are finishing up our monogram week with lovely wedding reception inspiration!
Check out the silverware, how cute is that?! And the chair covers are just too cute.

Details:
1. Floor Lighting via Visions Lighting & Sound
2. Floral Centerpiece via The Knot
3. Monogrammed Favors via Martha Stewart Weddings 
4. Candy Favors via Martha Stewart Weddings
5. Chair Covers via Say it With Stitches
6. Flower Monograms via Manolo Brides
7. Wine Bottle Candle via World Couture via Etsy
8. Monogrammed Silverware via White House Grey Barn via Etsy
Enjoy!

Guest Post from Donovan Moore: Is Matt Wieters Tired at the Plate?

Another guest post form Donovan and I thank him. I am also supposed to pass along that the August stats referenced in this post are through August 11th only. Enjoy!

This kind of seems like a funny question… what is being asked? Do we catch glimpses of the young catcher yawning in between pitches? Is he taking afternoon naps in the clubhouse? While those are certainly hilarious images—this is not what I mean.

More and more frequently I have been hearing conjectures and comments about how Matt Wieters’s offensive performance “could” or “would” be “better” if he wasn’t so tired out from catching so many games. On its face, this argument seems like it has the potential to be true. A young guy in only his second full Major League season at the most demanding position on the diamond must need some sort of grace period to get used to the wear and tear that catching puts on his body. The expectations put on Wieters’s expected offensive performance when coming through the ranks in the Minors were so extremely out-of-this-world that for him to have fallen so short of them must demand an explanation of sorts…right?

I decided that it could not hurt to attempt to investigate this subject statistically. To begin, I had to determine which stats I would investigate in order to see if the numbers would lend themselves to the argument that Wieters is in fact tired at the plate. The offensive numbers that I decided to take a look at were batting average (AVG) and slugging percentage (SLG). Batting average is the most basic statistic kept on hitters—what percentage of at bats does this guy get a base knock? However, I needed a statistic to qualify these base knocks--and that’s where SLG comes in. SLG is a measurement of how many total bases a batter gets per plate appearance, on average. The differences between a single, a double, a triple, and a home run are all given equal weight. A guy could have an AVG of .350, but if he only hits singles, it’s highly unlikely that he will be nearly as valuable as a guy who is batting .250, but hits a home run every hit.

When looking at SLG and AVG, it made perfect sense to me that if Wieters was in fact tired, he would get less hits (AVG) and they wouldn’t go as far (SLG). Having established which measures of offensive production will be used is one thing, but how does one measure how tired any given player is on any given day? I devised two ways to attempt to measure Wieters’s level of “tired” in any given game. In order to do this, I categorized every game that Matt has played in the 2011 season as either, “he didn’t have the previous day off,” “he had the previous day off,” or “he had the previous day and at least one more consecutive day before the previous day off”—including the first game of the season and the game immediately following the AS break. I took SLG and AVG numbers that he posted in games when he had the previous day off and compared them to his season base line.

This is what I came up with:

2011 season base line: .256 AVG .391 SLG

2011 “he had the previous day off”: .254 AVG .377 SLG

2011 “he had the previous day+ off”: .277 AVG .556 SLG

The only number among these that look anomalous is the .556 SLG when Matt has had more than one day off in a row. However, the other fishy number that goes along with having more than one day off for Wieters is his BABIP (batting average on balls in play). In these games, Wieters has a .357 BABIP. Given his LD% (line drive rate) in these games, his expected BABIP is .334. The couple of extra hits on these days have simply been a couple of extra line drives falling in for doubles. Wieters’s season LD% is 18.2 (for an expected BABIP of .302). His LD% in these games is 21.4%. He is outperforming his expected BABIP by .023 on during these games. During the season as a whole he is underperforming his expected BABIP of .302 by -0.016 with a .286 mark. Given the fact that these games where he’s been sufficiently rested have only amounted to 14 at bats for Wieters, I am pretty comfortable saying that the spike in SLG is due in part to small sample size, and in part to the fact that his BABIP (largely a “luck” statistic) is just simply higher on these days. Simply stated: Wieters have just been luckier in these 14AB than he has been during the rest of the season.

So, Matt is not performing phenomenally better on days after he has been rested or had a break. The other way to measure whether he is tired at the plate or not is to compare his season statistics per month. If he is tiring out over time, we should see a decline here. This is what I came up with after doing so:

April:  .260AVG /.493 SLG



May:    .278AVG /.344 SLG



June:   .247AVG /.383 SLG



July:   .235AVG /.376 SLG



August: .262AVG /.357 SLG

…or graphically:

Wieters AVG has more or less been stable monthly. The only number that really sticks out here is his .493 SLG in April. One could argue that after slugging the crap out of the ball in the first month of the season, Matt just got tired. However, I feel pretty safe saying that if Wieters truly was tired that the drop off in SLG would be steady instead of being drastic one month and then rebounding slightly again. I’m not comfortable saying that one outlier has any statistical significance.

The conjecture that Wieters is tired at the plate makes perfect sense on its face. However the stats just simply do not lend themselves to this argument whatsoever. Who knows whether this level of production will persist throughout his career, or if there is a big break out on the horizon for the Orioles’ young catcher? Either way, if he can maintain his current level of defense, he really doesn’t need to hit very much at all to be a valuable player.

Tempers Flare in Darby Borough

Here's the video from the Darby Borough meeting that got a little outta' hand. Here's the story. I think it's much ado about nothing. But it is kind of entertaining.

Kat Fight

Comedian Kathy Griffin proudly yammers about running into Rep. Michele Bachmann in a Washington elevator and asking her "Were you born a bigot or did you, like, grow into it?"



According to Griffin, Bachmann replied, "That's a good question. I'm going to have to get back to ya'."



Griffin apparently didn't catch the sarcasm and was shocked that someone would be so pleasant after being insulted.



Of course, Bachmann could have replied, "I don't know. What about you? Have you always been a rude liberal idiot or is it just something you do to make money?"



But then why would she want to lower herself to mud wrestling with a B-lister?

All About Monograms | Wedding Ceremony Inspiration

There are so many options for your ceremony to use your monogram. And for some of you it will be the first time you can use his last name and incorporate it in your three letter monogram. Here are just a few ideas...

Details:
1. Bouquet wrap via Exclusively Weddings
2. Garter Set via JFY Bride via Etsy
3. Hankerchief via Bumblebee Linens
4. Cufflinks via K Murphy Designs via Etsy
5. Unity Candle via Exclusively Weddings
6. Ring Bearer Pillow via JFY Bride via Etsy
7. Aisle Runner via The Original Runner Co.
8. Monogrammed Parasols via I Do Originals
xo