* Costco had a three pound bag of New Guinea coffee and it's phenomenal. I'm a HUGE fan of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, but the quality has gone steadily downhill over the last decade. I'm not sure why, but at the same time, New Guinea has gone up. It's already similar - New Guinea's coffee stock came from Blue Mountain seeds - but the consistency and the variety have both been raised (which seems odd, that pair.) Peet's New Guinea is the class of the field, but any is darn good and a third or less of the cost of JBM.

* MLB.com's Mosaic is just a sick piece of technology. At some points, it gets a bit slow, but even on my Air with craptastic Comcast service, the thing just works. I'd love to see the player alerts -- does anyone use those? -- but don't due to some complex behind-the-scenes issues. I'm excited about the Baseball Network, but I still think the future is going to be the online, near-on-demand video. If Apple really wants to get AppleTV into living rooms, they should quit worrying about movies and figure out how to stream MLB.com and other online content to my big TV.

* I'm surprised at the lack of mainstream coverage of the Costas Now incident. One writer I spoke to about it said that the reaction isn't going to be at the writer level, but the editor level. One other writer made an interesting point in that the online medium might be relying too much on links. I love Deadspin and they do original content, but most of their content is actually comment. Funny, well written comment, but it's the exception. I have no doubt that Will Leitch or the FJM guys or hundreds of others could do their own content and build an audience. I just don't think it would be as big. Honestly, the same could be said about most blogs or even sites like Drudge Report, so this isn't a sports thing.

* Do you know how cool it is to pick up the phone and the voice on the other end is Bob Costas? It's cool. Almost as cool as hearing Harry Kalas.

* One MLB team is trying to put together an ISO-style "player instruction system." I'm curious to see how this comes out. More than a "Dodger Way", I'm not sure this will work. Coaching is somewhere between a mystical personality cult and trial-and-error tweaking when it comes to both hitting and pitching. It's worse for infield -- Ron Washington made his reputation on his infield coaching and yet I have no idea whatsoever what his reputation was made on, aside from Eric Chavez being very good. I'm not saying he's not, just that no one -- for any coach -- seems to have any replicable way of extending the advantage beyond keeping the guy on the payroll.

* I'm growing more and more convinced that online video doesn't work because most people do their surfing at work. I have no idea how to overcome that currently, though my guess is that as the iPhone and other phone-style connected devices get more powerful, we'll use those more than the company PC. At that point, bandwidth becomes an issue again.

* Letterman is doing Magician Week on his show. I still completely geek out for magic. Close up magic remains my favorite though I will admit that I really want to see the Criss Angel/Cirque du Soleil show in Vegas as well as seeing Hans Klok, who's show is supposed to open at Planet Hollywood.

* Hearing that the food in the new Palazzo is a disappointment. Charlie Trotter's place just doesn't seem to translate to Vegas, Emeril's running out of ideas, and while Mario Batali's steakhouse is solid, it's expensive. (Yes, everything's expensive in Vegas, but I mean it in a value sense. Craftsteak is expensive, but you won't bat an eye after the quality and service you get.) I'm still very curious what food will go in City Center, but haven't heard any news.

* An absolute flood of great music out right now ... Elvis Costello's new record - yes, record, since it's only on vinyl - is perhaps his best work since Blood & Chocolate. New bands like Helio Sequence and M83's John Hughes homage give me some hope while REM , Roots, and Raconteurs prove that there's more life in existing acts. Hammock releases tomorrow, Coldplay's single is out with an album on the horizon, so 08 is shaping up to be a much better music year than 07 was.

* While a Barack Obama candidacy held the promise of a post-racial, post-Atwater politics, I'm not sure that an Obama loss won't be a bigger setback. The gulf between black and white, men and women, young and old is just massive right now and no one seems able to bridge it. I'm not panicked about the process yet, but I'll maintain my near-nihilistic cynicism. While I want to be an Obama supporter, the fact that he keeps taking punches without throwing them really confuses me. He can't be what he wants to be if he does it, which makes for an interesting dynamic. A ruthless attack dog as VP is the perfect fit, but I can't imagine Hillary Clinton wanting that role. Obama has the reverse McCain VP problem -- he needs a Cheney (minus the evil, we hope.)

* If Clayton Kershaw is available in your league, grab him. Scouts that have seen him are near-orgasmic in a way I haven't heard for anyone.

* Lost is getting more and more complex. The writers are boxing themselves in with things I only hope won't take a Tommy Westphall to save them.

* What bizarre circumstances led to the Brewers being short of pitching and the Cardinals having a "surplus?"