The SoapBoxers

“There you go, Mr. Casey,” I said, ripping the check out of the checkbook.

The car dealer glanced down at the check.

“It was good doing business with you again, Mr. Maxwell.  I’m sorry that we couldn’t work out a finance deal this time.”

“Maybe you’ll have that zero percent deal the next time I need to buy a car,” I replied.  I shook the man’s hand and walked out of the dealership.  Car dealers can get a bad reputation, but Casey was a straight shooter and didn’t put people through the ringer like some other dealers did.  He ran a small family dealership – he lived comfortably, but was not rich.  Perhaps he could have lived a bit higher on the hog if he was more heavy handed in his negotiations, but Casey seemed rather happy with his life.

Seventeen days later, I received my statement from the bank.  Oddly, the check for the car had not cleared.  I was concerned that Casey had somehow misplaced the check, so I gave him a call.

“There has been no problem, Mike,” he replied.  “We received the funds on the eighth.  There’s no problem on our end.  It sounds like this might be a bank error.”

I got off the phone with Bob Casey and immediately called the bank.

“I’m looking up your account, Mr. Maxwell,” replied Miranda Johnson, the teller.  “I’m not seeing any checks to Casey Auto.”

“How can that be?” I asked.

“Oh, it’s really not that unusual,” she said.  “The federal reserve acts as a clearinghouse for checks, and sometimes there is a lag.  It seems that the one half of the transaction has been completed, but the other half has not.  They typically fix the problem within a few weeks.  I’m certain that it will be straightened out soon.”

Miranda’s words allayed my fears, and I put the matter out of my mind.

A month later, when I received my next bank statement, the check to Casey Auto had still not cleared.  Even more puzzling, not a single check had cleared my account.  I immediately grabbed the phone and began calling the companies who had received the checks.  Like Bob Casey, all of them had received their money.

This time, even the unflappable Miranda Johnson was a bit flapped.

“This is definitely a bit unusual, Mr. Maxwell.  I have never seen it take this long for the fed to fix a problem – and the fact that none of your checks cleared is especially troubling.  I’ll give a call to my contact at the Fed and see what she can find out.”

Miranda’s colleague, unfortunately, was also not able to find the root cause of the problem.  From the perspective of the federal reserve bank, the checks had never existed – and yet, payments had been received.

Three days later, a gentleman from the FBI was at my door when I arrived home.

“Mike Maxwell?” asked the man in the suit.

“Yes, that’s me,” I replied.

“I’d like to ask you some questions about a grand larceny that was committed.  May I come in?”

“Grand larceny?” I asked, confused.  Agent Brisbane followed me into the house.

Once inside the house, Brisbane pulled several photocopies out of his briefcase.

“Do not recognize these?’ he asked.

“Of course,” I replied.  “Those are some checks that I wrote.”

“Indeed,” he replied.  47 checks for a total of $44,318.41, drawn on the account of a Ms. Rose Tinsdale.”

“What?” I replied.  “Rose Tisdale?  Clearly this check was drawn on my own account..  See, that’s my checking account number.”

Indeed, it was my account number.  However, the bank’s routing number was wrong.  Somehow, the printer has transposed two digits, and my checks were being drawn against the account of Ms. Tinsdale.  Ms. Tinsdale had been in ill health and had not kept her finance current.  It was only when she died that her children realized that someone was “stealing” money from her account and notified the FBI.

The foundation of my musical appreciation was built upon the country music cornerstones of Alabama, Reba McEntire, Kenny Rogers, and George Strait.  It was not until I was in my late 20s that I began to branch out into other musical genres.  Today, these are some of the non-country artists that I consider to be among my favorites:

• The Eagles
• .38 Special
• Jimmy Buffett
• Avril Lavigne
• U2
• The Beatles
• Bob Seger
• Eric Clapton
• Bob Dylan
• Tchaikovsky
• Bare Naked Ladies
• Lynyrd Skynyrd
• Styx

I could name a few more, but the point is that I have broadened my musical tastes considerably.

I really enjoy seeing artists – or their music – cross over.  My first exposure to The Eagles was via the “Common Threads” album – a compilation of Eagles songs that were song by country songs.  When Jon Bon Jovi did a duet with Sugarland singer Jennifer Nettles on “You Can’t Go Home Again”, the song went to #1 on the country charts – and I started listening to more Bon Jovi.

In 2008, Kid Rock released the song “All Summer Long”, which is based on Lynyrd Skynyrd’s uber-classic “Sweet Home Alabama” (as well as Warren Zevon’s “Werewolves of London”).  I love the song, and am hoping for similar songs from Kid Rock in the future.

A crossover artist that really has my attention these days is Darius Rucker, best known as Hootie of Hootie and the Blowfish.  Rucker has released a country album and has already had two number one hits – “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It” and “It Won’t Be Like This For Long.”  I love Rucker’s voice, and hope that he continues to produce country music – but I also plan to buy some Hootie and the Blowfish music to see if I like it – something that probably wouldn’t have entered my mind if not for Rucker’s foray into country.

What’s the one crossover I’m hoping to see in the future?  How about an album of duets with Taylor Swift and Avril Lavigne?

The big news story of last week was the death of pop icon Michael Jackson at age 50.  News accounts have indicated that Jackson left behind $400 million.  Jackson’s estate does, of course, contain some valuable assets.  Most notable is his music portfolio, which includes his own music, as well as a portion of royalties from The Beatles.  The day after his death, 9 of the 10 most downloaded iTunes albums were Jackon’s.  This also underscores the ability of digital content providers to be able to seamlessly adjust to spikes in demand.  If stores like Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and Sam Goody sold out of Jackson CDs, they would not be able to satisfy the demand until they were able to restock.  Since the demand will likely dissipate as time passes, they will likely lose some of the impulse sales.  Digital providers such as iTunes are immune from this.  iTunes can’t “sell out” of a CD.  They just throw more hardware into the iTunes Music Store to handle the spike in volume.

Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff was sentence to 150 years in prison.  If Madoff serves the entire sentence, he would be 221 years old when he is released.  Essentially, the judge gave Madoff a life sentence.  Madoff will likely spend his remaining years in a medium security prison (a prison with bars on the windows and a fence) rather than a country club of a minimum security prison, due to the length of the sentence and the corresponding flight risk.  The judge also ruled that Madoff must also forfeit $171 billion.  It seems impossible that such a large amount will be recovered.

Minnesota finally has a winner in their Senate race.  The state supreme court unanimously declared Al Franken to be the winner, and challenger Norm Coleman has given up his fight.  The win by Franken mkaes it easier for the Democrats to invoke cloture (a procedure to end a filibuster and force a vote on an issue; 60 votes are required for cloture).  I have a question, though – does Franken get paid the salary of a Senator for the last 8 months?  Or does the money that was allocated to his salary go somewhere else (Chrysler, perhaps?).  I wrote a humorous article about the Minnesota Senate situation a couple of months ago.

Another Airbus jet suffered a deadly ocean crash.  This time, a Yemeni jet plunged into the Indian Ocean with 153 people on board.  At the time this story was written, one child had been found alive, and authorities were hoping that other survivors would be found.  The Airbus jet involved is this crash is a different model that the Brazilian jet that crashed on June 1, leaving no survivors.

South Carolina governor Mark Sanford admitted having an affair with a woman in Argentina.  This came to light after Sanford recently was unreachable by his staff.  As it turned out, he was in Argentina at the time.  Many politicians include Lieutenant Governor Andre Bauer, have called for Sanford to step down.  If Sanford does step down, Bauer would stand to gain the most.  He would become governor, and this would greatly aid his 2010 run for the office, as he would be elevated to incumbent without being voted into the office.

Manny Ramirez will rejoin the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday, after a 50 game drug related suspension.  Ramirez has played 5 games in the minor leagues in an effort to get back into playing shape.  I disagree with this aspect of the suspension.  Some would argue that preventing a player from playing in the minors during the suspension would essentially turn a 50 games suspension into a 55-60 game suspension.  My opinion is that if the player can’t hitting the ground running on day 1 after the suspension, that’s his problem, not mine.  He should not be allowed to play any games during the suspension, whether it be in the minors or majors.

Last week, Connie Gates of Cedar Rapids (Iowa) went on trial for vehicular manslaughter regarding an incident that occurred in March of this year.  The case began on Monday, the prosecution and defense both rested on Tuesday, and the jury reached a guilty verdict on Wednesday, after less than three hours of deliberation.

Rarely have I seen a case that gave the prosecution such a strong chance to win.  When they told the story on the news, you kept thinking “this can’t get any worse” – but then it would.

On the night in question, Connie Gates was driving a vehicle that struck a taxi driven by 76 year old  Richard Dankert.  Dankert died from his injuries.  Gates was apprehended at the scene, quashing any doubt about who was behind the wheel.

At the time of the accident, Ms. Gates was attempting to elude police when she ran a red light and struck Mr. Dankert’s taxi.

Why, exactly, was she trying to elude the police?  Probably because the Dodge Neon she was driving was a stolen vehicle.  Or perhaps it was the fact that she was under the influence of crack cocaine at the time.

How do we know that Ms. Gates was under the influence of crack at the time?  Well, perhaps the most damning evidence to support the allegation is her videotaped admission of that fact.  Then, of course, were the results of the drug screen.  Although, to be fair, the drug screen was unable to determine the concentration of crack in Ms. Gates’ system.  They were only able to determine that it was beyond the maximum that could be measured by the machine.

How, exactly, did the defense attorney react to this evidence?  Well, after the prosecution rested its case on Tuesday, the defense also rested its case – without calling a single witness.

The defense hung its hopes on the allegation that the collision was an accident that was nobody’s fault.

Not surprising, the prosecution (as well as the jury and most reasonable people) disagreed.  To suggest that this was simply an unfortunate accident seemed ludicrous, considering that Gates was under the influence of drugs, was attempting to elude police, and also ran a red light immediately before the accident.  If you assign blame for Mr. Dankert’s death, clearly Ms. Gates is at fault.  If Dankert had been the one to run the red light, this argument would have held a bit more water – but with Gates making poor decisions at nearly every possible opportunity, the blame lands squarely on her shoulders.

The strength of the evidence, coupled with the  minimal defense, makes me wonder if Gates was forced to roll the dice with a trial because of the prosecutor’s unwillingness to offer a plea deal.  After all, the prosecution had very little to gain, and a plea deal in this case could have been unpopular with the citizens.  Perhaps Gates could have lessened her possible sentence by immediately taking blame, reaching out to Dankert’s family, and pleading guilty to the crime – throwing herself on the mercy of the court.

Gates will be sentenced on August 13.  She faces 25 years for the charge of vehicular homicide involving a controlled substance and 10 years for a charge of eluding police.  Gates also faces prison time for the lesser charges of operating a vehicle without consent and possession of a controlled substance.

I bought a board game at a local secondhand store last night.  The box was taped shut.  It seemed a bit thicker than it should have been, but I assumed that contents had just shifted.

Nope.

I just opened it.  Inside the box, on top of the actual game contents, were 17 sealed envelopes from student loan lenders (and the Department of Education).

In an age in which people go to great lengths to protect their indentity, someone handed a gold mine to potential indentity thieves.

Oops!

Today, I will channel my inner Rachel Ray.

How am I like Rachel Ray?  Let’s count the ways:

• Am I a perky brunette with her own TV show?  No, not exactly.
• Am I a savvy businesswoman with a profitable line of cooking equipment for sale in many fine stores?  No, not exactly.
• Do I feature a star studded lineup of guest stars?  Hey, that’s debatable, with my stellar columnists and guest writers.
• Do I have a recipe to share?  Ooh, ohh, definitely.

Today’s recipe is one that I utlilize a lot during lent.  As a Catholic who is allergic to shellfish and dislikes the taste of other oceanic creatures, I don’t have a lot of things to choose from.  I did learn at an early age what a friend we have in cheeses.

Biscuit Pizzas

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees
2. Take one can of Pillsbury buttermilk biscuits (blue can).  Flatten the biscuits on a cookie sheet (you should have 10 flat biscuits at this point, not one big one)
3. Cover the biscuits with pizza sauce.  My personal preference is Contadina in the squeeze bottle – a good balance of taste, economy, and convenience.
4. Top the biscuits with shredded cheese.  My pereference it to put mozzarella on half and sharp cheddar on the other half.
5. Put the biscuits in the oven for 10 minutes.  You may need to tweak this based on personal perference.  10 minutes should get the biscuits nicely browned on the bottom.

Enjoy!

It was 11:18 PM when the refrigerator door closed for the final time. The occupants of the fridge waited 15 more minutes, just to make sure. Then they finally started to unwind.

“Man,” said Leftover Pizza, “I really thought I was a goner. She was eating my slices pretty fast. At least there’s still a little chunk of me left in here.”

“Eh, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be,” replied Orange. “I’ve been in here for three months. It’s always too cold and the lights are always off. Plus, Limburger has horrible BO that fills the entire fridge.”

“Speak for yourself,” shot back Limburger. “I’m not so sure that you’re not the cause of a lot of the smell. You’ve got mold spots that are older than me.”

“Hey guys, cool it,” said Cucumber. Cucumber was unflappable and served as the referee for these battles. “Limburger, stay in the dairy section. Orange, stay in the produce drawer. No more trash talk, guys.”

“Yeah,” piped up Ketchup. “Some of us are trying to get to sleep.”

“Man,” piped up Eggs “you are no fun at all, Mr. Ketchup. Not even midnight yet and you’re already going to sleep. We have a short life span, we need to party as much as we can!”

“Oh Yeah!” said the Kool-Aid pitcher. “Time for a party. Who brought the tunes?”

“There are no tunes, you numbskull,” retorted Fresca. “Just the incessant sound of that stupid compressor. Day after day, night after night, year after year.”

“The rest of us should be as lucky as you, Fresca,” said Ranch Dressing. “The life span for my species in this habitat is less than a month. How long have you been living in these parts, Fresca?”

“Since 1992,” said the old geezer. “It was touch and go for a while, but then grandpa died, and grandma doesn’t like my flavor – but she hates to throw anything out, so I still sit here.”

“Yeah, good old grandma,” said the Container of Food with an Indeterminate Origin. “She has already forgotten what I am, so she’ll never want to throw me out until she remembers what I am.”

Milk sighed. “You guys are so lucky. She barely leaves me in here a week past my date. It would be so great to have the shelf life of Fresca.”

“The cold does get to you after a while, though,” replied Fresca. “Sometimes I long to be squirreled away in a closet somewhere, enjoying tropical climates all year.”

“It could be a lot worse, though,” piped up Butter. “Someone could have drunk you years ago!”

“You speak the truth, my fine yellow friend. You speak the truth. My life may not be a paradise, but it is a life nonetheless. Better to have lived than to have died, I always say.”

“Hey guys,” yelled Limburger. “Watch me light my farts!”

“Limburger, cut that out. Cheddar, grab that lighter from him. Let’s settle down, guys. Let’s play a quick game of twenty questions and then go nighty night. Carrot, it’s your turn to pick the object. Orange Juice, you can ask the first question.”

“Animal, vegetable, or mineral?” asked Orange Juice.

“Vegetable,” answered Carrot.

“Don’t tell me it’s a carrot” asked Celery.

“Yup,” replied Carrot.

“Aw, man, you suck at this game.”

“OK, that’s wrap. Time go grab some ZZZs,” said Cucumber, in her most authoritative voice.

Today, we interview Lazy Man from the personal finance blog Lazy Man and Money.

Kosmo: Lazy, come on in and take a seat. Hey, hey, take those shoes off. I apologize for the condition of the furniture. We’re on a tight budget and got most of this stuff at yard sales. Can I get you something to drink? We haven’t been able to afford a refrigerator yet, so we can’t offer you anything cold.

Lazy Man: It’s good to see I’m not the only one saving money at yard sales. A glass of tap water would be fine, save your drink money for a fridge.

Kosmo: You definitely have an interesting nickname. How did you acquire it? Were you a Lazy Boy when you were younger? Do you spend countless hours in your hammock in the summer? Have you found yourself watching hours of C-Span because you’re too Lazy to change the channel? Are there piles of dirty laundry in the middle of your bedroom? Spill the beans – America wants to know!

Lazy Man: So many questions in one question, here goes… As a child I certainly was Lazy. However, I wouldn’t call myself a Lazy Boy as that’s a registered trademark of another corporation. I actually don’t have a hammock. I’ve been in negotiations with the wife to get one for about 4 years now. She’s worse than Scott Boras! I go out of my way to avoid C-Span at all costs just to stay clear of that issue. I tend to put the pile of dirty laundry to the side. I have also have a pile of clean clothes.

I chose “Lazy” after a principle in Software Engineering, my career at the time. It’s generally considered smart programming to delay computation until a result is required. When I preach the “Lazy Way” of doing things, it’s more about the efficiency. I always say that if necessity is the mother of invention, laziness is the father of efficiency.

Kosmo: What made you take the plunge to become a personal finance blogger? Do you also disperse personal finance advice to your family and friends, or are your blog readers the sole privileged recipients of your vast knowledge?

Lazy Man: I was at the dentist and read a Business Week article about how anonymous bloggers are sharing their networth on the web. One person in particular caught my eye, Boston Gal’s Open Wallet. Having lived in Boston all my life at that point, I gravitated towards anything Boston-related. After reading her site for a couple of months, I figured that I should document my quest to acquire all the world’s wealth.I pretty much reserve my financial advice to readers. It turns out that people don’t often like to receive advice on how they should handle their money from me.

Kosmo: You have been blogging for 4 years now. You have a fairly large audience and are able to earn a decent amount of cash from blog related activities. Did you have a particular moment or event when you knew that you had crossed the threshold from novice blogger to successful blogger?

Lazy Man: Whoa, don’t make me old, I’m only at 3. You presume that I’ve crossed the threshold to successful blogger.  Success can be measured in a number of ways. I presume you mean financially successful. I think when I had my first $1000 month from blogging, I realized I was on to something.

Kosmo: What sort of advice do you have for bloggers who are just starting out? What are some pitfalls they can avoid or obstacles they will encounter along the way? What steps can they take to increase their likelihood of success?

Lazy Man: I have about 20 posts of blogging advice already written. I’m just afraid to publish it because I’m not sure I can maintain another blog. For now, I invite everyone to contact me about any specific questions they might have. I hope a lot of people do because it will kick my ass in gear to formalize and publish what I already have written. I aggregated some other bloggers blogging tips at Advice for New Personal Finance Bloggers.

Kosmo: Much of the subject matter in the personal finance blogosphere seems to center around good financial advice. On the other side of that coin, people should also make an effort to avoid really bad decisions. What are some of the worst personal finance decisions a person can make?

Lazy Man: I’ll give you a couple of bad ones:

• Reach into your wallet or purse. Pull out all money you have in there. Set it on fire.
• Buy as many depreciating investments as you can… especially expensive ones like boats and cars.
• Subscribe to as many services as you can. Never use them.
• Start smoking. Do I get bonus points for the bad health advice

Kosmo: OK, now that we’ve covered the serious stuff, let’s get the scoop on the man behind the blog. What’s on your iPod right now?

Lazy Man: It’s been about 3 months since I’ve seen my iPod. However, my Palm Pre has The Beatles, Portishead, The White Stripes, Radiohead, and System of a Down.

Kosmo: How do you unwind after a long day of blogging. What are your hobbies?

Lazy Man: There’s time to do stuff besides blogging? Here are a couple of hobbies

• I spend an hour or two each night acting as my dog’s chew toy.
• I’m big into wine tasting. My tastebuds are pretty poor and I have almost no sense of smell. That makes me really bad at wine tasting. I also break all the rules and have white wine with red meat and red wine with white meats.
• I have the world’s largest collection of sea shells. I keep it scattered on beaches all over the world. Maybe you’ve seen some of it…
• I like steal Steven Wright jokes and pretend they are my own.

Kosmo: If you were an animal, what animal would you be?

Lazy Man: I would be a cheetah. I’ve always thought they were cool.

Kosmo: Is there any truth to the rumor about Scarlett Johansson?

Lazy Man: You know, everyone always gives the no comment when situations like that arise. I’m not that kind of guy. I’m just going to say it straight out: It’s true.

Kosmo: You make no secret of the fact that you are a Boston Red Sox fan. Do you consider the Red Sox to be the true 2007 champions, considering that a bevy of bad calls handed them a tainted World Series victory?

Lazy Man: Look, the tuck rule was in the rule book the whole season. In fact it’s still in the rule book today. I don’t know why people can’t understand the basic rules of the game.  Oh wait, you said 2007 Boston Red Sox…

Kosmo: You are an anonymous blogger. You guard the secret of your identity so closely that not even your dog knows about your alter ego. It must be stressful living with such a big secret. It would be a big weight off your shoulders to reveal your identity today, on The Soap Boxers, in front of a crowd of readers …

Lazy Man: I’ve thought about not being anonymous any more. All the biggest personal finance bloggers are not anonymous. I also don’t go into my net worth any more like I used to.You are right it would be a big weight off my shoulders to reveal my identity on The Soap Boxers today.

Kosmo: Thank you for your time, Lazy Man. Reader: if you haven’t had a chance to visit Lazy Man and Money, hop on over – www.lazymanandmoney.com. Lazy Man blends insightful personal finance advice with some interesting stories from his personal life. Lazy Man and Money is definitely one of my favorite blogs.

If you visited The Soap Boxers just to see the interview with Lazy Man, look around a bit. Browse the archives, subscribe to the RSS feed, or simply come back again tomorrow. We offer a full money back guarantee. If you read us for a week and don’t like the content, we will refund 100% of the purchase price.

Today we introduce what I will call “Wednesday Wisps”. This is similar to the potpourri term I have used in the past, except that Wednesday Wisps uses alliteration to creep insidiously inside your brain. Wednesday Wisps will feature an assortment of very short news stories, opinions, or ideas – typically, not much more than 100 words.

How long until we can stop using the word “dial”? We don’t dial phone numbers any more – rotary dial phones are something that the younger generation isn’t even aware of (except for the popular toy for infants). I’m struggling to find a better term. “Enter the number” doesn’t seem to have the same panache.

PGA star John Daly sheared the roof off his RV and sent it flying into the path of an oncoming vehicle when he became confused by signs and hit a tunnel. The other driver suffered back and neck injuries, as well as damage to his vehicle. Just as Daly has started to get his life back to a semblance of normalcy, this happens.

Detroit city council member JoAnn Watson will be forced to pay a maximum of three years of back taxes after having the city correct its assessment of her house. Watson’s home had been re-classified as a vacant lot in 1999, and she had been pay $68 annually in property taxes since then. However, the law only allows the city to collect three years of taxes when a property has been incorrectly assessed. It has been pointed out that the absence of the $300 city trash fee should have been a red flag to Watson – since she had actively fought the fee. Watson believed that the property was reassessed after a tornado damaged the home, although no official records of the tornado can be found, and Watson did not file an insurance claim at the time of the tornado.

University of Georgia gymnast Courtney Kupets won the Honda-Broderick Cup, awarded annually to the top female college athlete in the US. Kupets, the winningest gymnast in NCAA history, won four individual titles at this year’s NCAA meet. More impressive is the fact that Kupets was able to bounce back from a torn Achilles tendon that cost her most of her junior season. Not only did Kupets recover from the injury, but she was able to compete at the very highest level.

Voting for Major League Baseball’s All Star Game, held in July, begins in April, when some roster slots are not even set. This is wrong. Delay the start of voting until June 1. With internet voting, anyone who wants to vote will still be allowed to vote. While you’re at it, change the limit from 25 votes per email address. Restrict the voting by IP address instead, to avoid having someone use multiple email address. I personally have more than a half dozen email addresses.

The smart phone war escalated, with Palm releasing their Pre model and Apple releasing their iPhone 3GS to legions of adoring fans. I personally am a “dumb phone” sort of guy, relying on a Samsung Slider – my data connection to the world consists solely of text messages from 4info.net.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has begun working by email as he bounces back from a battle with pancreatic cancer. The charismatic Jobs, 54, received a liver transplant in April.

Reality stars Jon and Kate Gosselin – from TLC’s Jon & Kate plus 8 – have filed for divorce. This had been widely rumored for months.

Ed McMahon, longtime Tonight Show sidekick to Johnny Carson, and also the longtime spokesman for Publisher’s Clearinghouse, died at age 86. McMahon had suffered several health problems in recent years.

My favorite baseball team, the Colorado Rockies, have been on tear lately.  The Rockies have won 17 of 18 games, dating back to June 4 against Houston.  Their only loss in this stretch was a June 16th game against the Tampa Bay Devils.  That game followed an off day, which is another great reason not to have any off days during the season.  The Rockies are 19-5 under interim manager Jim Tracy after starting the season 18-28 under fired manager Clint Hurdle.

Much maligned shortstop Troy Tulowitzki has played in 16 of those 18 games and has hits in 14 of the 16 games in which he played – good for a .400 batting average during that span.  Tulo has also smacked 5 of his 10 homers during the streak.  For those of you keeping track at home, his OPS (On-base-plus slugging) is nearly identical to the numbers he put up in 2007, when he was putting up numbers deserving of the Rookie of the Year award.  This fact is hidden a bit because injuries have cost him some at bats this year, and because his batting average is lower than it was in 2007.  However, his on base percentage is actually higher than it was in 2007, because of a marked uptick in the number of walks Tulo has drawn.  Keep in mind that the kid is still just 24 years old.

What other players are having good years for the Rockies?

• Todd Helton finally had back surgery after a sub-par and injury filled 2008 season.  The Toddfather might have a legitimate shot at 30 homers for the season, and he already has 49 RBI.  There is one small area of concern – Helton’s walk rate is the lowest it has been since 1999.  Helton’s walk rate is on the upswing, though, as he already has more walks in June than he did in all of May.  Helton surpassed 2000 career hits earlier in the season, to the surprise of many observers who were under the impression that he had already reached the mark years ago – but Helton’s relatively late start in his career (coming through the college ranks) as well as his propensity for taking walks, has served to limit his at bats a bit.
• Right fielder Brad Hawpe continues to be the best player that nobody has ever heard of, putting up a .335 batting average and an OPS above 1.000.  Hawpe has been a beast at home this year, with a .400+ batting average at Coors Field.  Over the course of his career, Hawpe has not been a “product of Coors Field”, however.  His career OPS differential is +45 points, compared to a typical hitter who enjoys a 30 point advantage at home.  Hawpe clearly gets some additional benefit from Coors, but not the typical Coors Field boost.
• 24 year old rookie Ian “Stewie” Stewart has displaced Garrett “I can’t hit no more” Atkins as the starting third baseman.  Stewart’s batting average is still hovering around .225, but he has 13 homers in just 180 at bats in the season, including 6 in 70 June at bats.  Stewart appears to be bouncing back from a dreadful May that saw him post a horrendous .595 OPS, largely as the result of an absurdly low .128 BABIP (batting average on balls in play, a number which is typically around  .300).  Oddly, Stewart has a “reverse split” this year, posting significantly better numbers away from Coors Field.
• Catcher Chris Iannetta has fought some injuries, but still has 10 homers in just 132 at bats this year, building upon the power he displayed last year (18 homers in 333 at bats, as he shared time with Yorvit Torrealba behind the plate).
• Off season acquisition Jason Marquis (9-4, 3.71 ERA, 97 innings pitched) leads the Rockies in all three of those categories.
• Aaron Cook had a horrendous April, posting a 7.11 ERA.  This was attributed to a mechanical problem with his delivery, and Cook has been money in the bank since that point, putting up an ERA below 3.00 since the beginning of May.  With a win last night, Cook became the all time franchise laeder in wins, with 59.  (Note that the Rockies have only been around since 1993 and haven’t had many pitcher hang around very long). 
• Closer Huston Street  posted a 6+ ERA in April before enjoying a dominant May (0.82 ERA) and a strong June (2.79) as has established himself firmly ahead of Manny Corpas in the closer slot.