I Am Legend

Note: This post is safe to read if you haven't seen the movie. I wrote it in a way that doesn't spoil anything because I highly recommend this one.

I wasn't familiar with the original book, so it was the trailer that drove me in to watch I Am Legend. How did NYC get wiped out? What is Will Smith doing there by himself? What other creatures are lurking around? How can one guy possible save the world (that's mostly dead)? I was sold on it right away.

The movie was well-written and not a disappointment at all. It was a good mixture of sci-fi, drama and horror. Horror movies (and anything with a vampire in it) are usually the formula for a stupid story. I Am Legend was saved by the sci-fi element because the story was based on realistic conditions. Bringing out the details of NYC also put the audience into perspective because the scenes were made up of familiar present day imagery that we relate to.

The effects were great. CG elements were seamlessly integrated with live objects. The scenery is amazing. If anyone wants to watch this, they should go for the IMAX version. You'll be right there in the jungle of New York!

As always, Will Smith's acting was great. It must have been quite a challenge in this film because he was basically the only human character. The story and every little detail of his actions were well-depicted. The audience got to see what he does on a daily basis to survive and how he goes about life without going crazy. A large part of this was due to the help of his dog, Sam (played by canine actress Abby). Abby was the secondary star of the movie... not just a supporting actress. Her name deserves to be right after Smith's because it was such a big role. There were several touching scenes between the 2 actors and Abby does justice to the "man's best friend" cliché.

Related Links: Courtney Mroch on Abby, I Am Legend (Official Site), IMDB, Scientific American: The World Without Us

Out of Magic

No 3-game winning streak for the Bulls as they fall in Orlando 112-110 in OT. They certainly played well enough to win. 5 players had double digits including Gordon's 39 and Nocioni's 19 off the bench. Gordon was great off the bench once again. It's amazing that teams can't seem to stop him when he's the 6th man. I seriously think he's the best 4th quarter player since Michael Jordan. While I'm disappointed with the loss, I was satisfied with the fight in the players. I don't think the Bulls team of last week would've been able to push it to OT. Even in the loss, they had their swagger in this game. A couple more points out of Duhon and they would have won.

MSG Returns

I missed most of the Knicks vs. Bulls game because I didn't realize it was a matinee, so I had to catch Knicks in 60. So far, the plan is working. Madison Square Gordon has returned to NY! Ben Gordon, returned to the bench role that made him a star during his rookie season as he lit up the Knicks for 25 points in 30 min. Deng Smith and Hinrich all had double-digit points. Rebounds were pretty spread out, but led by Wallace with 10. Points off turnovers were great... just the way Bull's basketball should be. The Knicks actually looked good in the first 5 minute, trading shots with Chicago. Later, when both teams went to their benches, the Bulls pulled away a little. Gordon came in and made some big plays for the Bulls. Curry came in and fumbled for the Knicks. One play that cracked me up was when Curry (7 ft) went for a dunk and Gordon (6 ft) tried to block him. Gordon must've been inspired by Nocioni's 2 blocks from the last game against the Knicks!

During a postgame interview, Isaiah Thomas said that he benched Curry because he wanted some firepower off the bench. We all know Curry was benched because all of his shots were snuffed last time by Nocioni and other sub-7-foot defenders!

I probably sound more excited than I should be. The Bucks were an OK team and the Knicks suck, but at least it's a good start. I'm just a little overexcited because being a Bulls fan in NY, I'm part of a very small minority. So it's extra special when we beat up on the Knicks.

Tech Deals of the Week (12/30-1/5)

It's all flash this week...

Kingston 4 GB Flash Drive for $34.99 @ Circuit City
The standard 4 GB flash sale price.

Sony 8 GB Flash Drive for $69.99 @ Circuit City
A rare $10 off the 8 GB flash.

SanDisk 2 GB SD Card for $19.99 @ Circuit City
The SanDisk memory cards seem to be consistently at the $10/GB ratio now. It seems like this will be the normal price... which is lower than other brands still.

SanDisk 4 GB Flash Drive for $34.99 @ Staples & Best Buy
The standard 4 GB flash sale price.

PNY 4 GB SD Card for $34.99 @ Best Buy
A rare SD card for under the $10/GB ratio. Be careful... not all SD cameras support the high capacity cards.

SanDisk 8 GB Flash Drive for $69.99 @ Office Depot
Another rare $10 off the 8 GB flash... this time off the retractable SanDisk.

Boyle's Debut

The Bulls finally win one and on Jim Boylan's debut as interim head coach. With the coaching change came starting lineup changes. Duhon started instead of Gordon, so they're trying to go back to the strategy 3 years ago where Gordon was a spark off the bench. It worked out great. With Duhon on the floor, Hinrich fired more shots up. In many of the earlier games, I thought he wasn't shooting enough. When Gordon was on the floor, Hinrich can shifted over to point. Though Gordon was a bench guy, he lead his team with 31 points. So everyone should really forget about starting or coming off the bench. If he can play 35 min and get 31 points, who cares if he's not starting? Another positive about tonight's game was the comeback. The Bucks led by 10 and the Bulls came back. Gordon hit several clutch free throws in the 4th quarter... a sign of the Mr. 4th Quarter we need... we need Ben Jordan!

I kind of thought that Paxson gave up on the season with the firing of Skiles and no immediate hiring of one of the big names. A couple of things could happen now. One of them is the season going down the drain because of coaching experience. They could also turn the season around in a New Jersey-like Lawrence Frank effect. Frank was originally an interim coach for the Nets, but when he came aboard, the lowly Nets all of a sudden won 15 straight games! If something like that happens to the Bulls, it means there was some internal issue with the players and Skiles that wasn't reported. It's hard to tell at this point. Two nights ago, they lost to the Spurs as expected. Tonight's game was a win, but more of a struggle than it should've been. They have the Knicks on Sunday, so they'd better get fat on some W's now.

Holidays @ the Office

The office is usually empty during the week of Christmas and New Year's. Employees who choose not to go on vacation do so for one of two reasons. I like it nice and quiet so that I can work in peace with less people interrupting me. Less interruptions = increased productivity. Most other people do this so they can have free vacation time, yet get credit for work. These people know they can just fool around for the day because their boss is on vacation. They immediately look for their friends as soon as they come in (1-2 hours late) so they can socialize for an hour or so. Then after that, it's off to the personal phone calls. When employees do this, they show lack of respect towards the people actually doing the work and to their colleagues who took real vacation days.

China Gourmet

Location: 877 8th Ave, Btw 52nd & 53rd St
Cuisine: Chinese
Phone: 212-246-8181
Prices: About $6 per person
Credit Cards: n/a

Food: 8
Service: 7
Value: 10
Environment: 4

Visits: 10+

This place is a Chinese food gem in Midtown West. They have low prices, unlike almost every other restaurant on 8th Ave., especially if you go for one of the combo platters or house specials. Some of the combo platters are large enough for two. And the food tastes great! I usually go here when I need a quick meal and am hungry. My usual orders are as follows:

Chicken Wings & Pork Fried Rice - $3.70
This consists of 4 large fried chicken wings over pork fried rice. It's great for filling that junk food craving every once in a while.

Boneless Spare Rib Combo - $6.35
This is a huge order of boneless pork ribs over fried rice and an egg roll on the side. I've had this a number of times and have not been able to finish it in one meal. I eat a lot too! So it always gets split up for the next day's lunch. So in a way, this one actually costs $3.17 per serving!

Beef & Noodles in Curry Soup - $4.95
I usually go for this hot dish during the Winter. It tastes great and keeps me warm.

The service is pretty good, even for a take-out place. There's an systematic procedure for ordering and picking up stuff. The employees have nice, clear voices for calling out numbers and are very good at explaining the dishes.

There's not much to the environment, but it's primarily a takeout.

Related Links: Menu Pages

Skiles' Reaction

"I'm the one responsible for the performance on the floor. I'm the one who should be on the line and judged for that."
- Scott Skiles

So we have the reaction from Scott Skiles now. As expected from the strict, military-like leader, he was hard on himself and accepts the punishment. I guess there are just times when chemistry between a team and a coach run out. It doesn't mean that they didn't like each other or stopped playing for each other. If the Bulls somehow turn it around this year, Skiles will still be part of the success. He was largely responsible for restoring honor back to the organization during the post-Jordan era. We had 3 great years with winning records and playoff runs. We showed the NBA how to play defense.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a Jeff Van Gundy deal. I think he;s the only worthy replacement for Skiles. The worst thing about canning him is... he'll be back next year with a different team.

Related Links: Bulls.com, Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune

Coachless Bulls

Wow! I never expected Scott Skiles to get fired. I thought he was a perfect fit for the team. But I guess some sort of change had to be made. I'm interested to hear Skiles' reaction. I wonder if he was expecting and if he thinks he deserves it. Also, moving forward, I wonder who the next coach will be. There are a number of big names out there, but if Skiles can't coach the Bulls, then I prefer Jeff Van Gundy. His defensive-minded strategy can work well for this team. He doesn't really have any egos to deal with, so the Bulls are a good fit for him as well. Van Gundy lead the most successful recent Knicks team, but had a lot of egos contending for starting positions. On the Rockets, he dealt with a young, immature Steve Francis.

2008 Scion tC Supercharged

This isn't one of the cars I would consider if buying since it doesn't measure up to the Accord or Altima Coupe. It's just fun to configure because the manufacturer had aftermarket add-ons in mind when releasing the Scion line. The tC starts at $18,420 for the automatic transmission.

Performance: TRD Air Intake ($440), TRD Front Strut Bar ($245), TRD Struts & Shocks ($550), TRD Rear Sway Bar ($399), TRD Supercharger ($3,200)

Accessories: spoiler ($430), ground effects kit ($1,083), fog lights ($437)

That puts the final at $25,204. So that puts in the same price range as the Accord and Altima Coupe. The tC however already includes the performance add-ons. So it's a great price. I still prefer the other 2 cars just because the tC is a little small for my taste.

Stepping Back

The Bulls had the pattern right last time, but losing 2 in a row is taking a few steps back. I expected a loss against the Celtics, but thought they'd come back against the Rockets. In the Celtics game, they played pretty good defense, but just couldn't score enough. The Rockets game was odd though. Check out these point totals... Hinrich 22, Gordon 18, Deng 21 and Smith 16. That should add up to a win. The problem was they got almost zero from everyone else. It took until the 3rd quarter for someone other than those 4 guys to score. The Bulls losing is as perplexing as the Yankees 1st half record this year. I just hope they can pull an amazing 2nd half like the Bombers did.

Tech Deals of the Week (12/23-12/29)

Last weekend before Christmas! This is also the 2nd week in a row that CompUSA has not released a circular, so it's the beginning of the end for them. Hopefully they go back to the sales after the mass store closings (because the 2 NYC stores will stay open).

50-Pack Nexxtech DVD+R for $7.99 @ Circuit City
Maybe these DVD sales are not so rare anymore. This is $1 less than the November sale price.

15-Pack Nexxtech DVD+R DL for $14.99 @ Circuit City
Anytime the DLs are $1/disc, it's pretty low.

Sony 4 GB Flash Drive for $34.99 @ Circuit City
The standard 4 GB flash sale price.

Kingston 8 GB Flash Drive for $69.99 @ Circuit City
A rare sale for an 8 GB flash drive.

Targus Laptop Bundle for $39.99 @ Best Buy
This set includes a cooling fan, wireless mouse, keypad/2-port hub and a 4-port USB hub. So I figure each item is about $10. It's a good starter kit if you just purchased a laptop.

Logitech VX Revolution for $39.99 @ Best Buy
Not including Black Friday, this matches the October low price, but there's no rebate this time around for the best notebook mouse in the world.

Subway Tales: Sam-E

There was a teenager on the E train this morning that was doing almost the same exact thing as the crazy woman I wrote about in Ensemble Cast. He was just pacing back and forth between the two poles and sometimes the doors. He would stop momentarily to mumble something and was smiling the whole time.

I named this character Sam-E after a kid in junior high school, Sammy. This kid on the train looked just like Sammy... same type of clothing and same goofy look. The kid I knew from junior high was a stereotypical nerd right down to the voice and he was constantly bullied by sisters Devi & Sharon. The "E" part is just because I saw him on the E train.

Subway Tales: Law of Diffusion

Adolf Fick's 2nd Law of Diffusion is about how molecules move from areas of high concentration to areas of low concentration. In high concentration areas, they're more likely to bump into each other. Eventually things even out and the concentration within a given space is the same in all parts.

This law should also apply to train spaces. High concentration areas have more of a tendency for disorder because people can bump into each other and get in each other's way. So it's best to spread out evenly. If there are 8 people in a car and 5 are on one side, I will choose to sit on the opposite side with the 3 people. On a crowded train, I will look for that one area of low concentration. It sounds logical, doesn't it? Well... not to everyone. I'm always extra suspicious whenever a passenger doesn't obey this law... if I have a seat on an empty train and someone sits right next to me. I become more alert to that person's actions.

Related Links: Diffusion @ Wikipedia, Fick's Law of Diffusion @ Wikipedia

Back-to-Back Pattern

The Bulls are back to their usual pattern of winning the 2nd game of a back-to-back. Naturally, I would rather that they win both games, but the positive I can take out of this is that there's some fire in them. Losing a game they should have won against LA last night fired them up for the Wizard's game tonight. In tonight's game, Gordon & Deng were awesome, putting up 22 and 20 point respectively. They've both got to keep up those numbers if the Bulls are going to put together a winning streak. More importantly, Thomas and Gray made some big contributions off the bench, combining for 24 points and 16 rebounds in Wallace's absence.

It's hard to figure out what Bull's lineup works, so they should really play matchups against the opposing team. I've seen success and failure with both their offensive and defensive lineups. I would've liked to see more of Sefolosha during the Laker's game. The combination of him and Hinrich did a great job on Bryant last year. Of course I don't know what goes on during their practice games. I imagine playing time is somewhat based on that too.

Butt Whipped in FF

The Knicks got blown out by the Pacers tonight. It's pretty much the same story as always. The first half was close. Pacers took control in the 3rd quarter. Then the Knicks stopped trying and the Pacers pulled away. Mike Dunleavy Jr. put on a show with his reverse layups and acrobatic shots. So that was a fun game to watch. MSG also replays the highlights of all the Knicks games compressed into 30 minutes. They call it Knicks in 60. So after I watch the Knicks get beat up at regular speed, I also get to see them get their butts whipped in fast forward. AWESOME! Thanks, MSG!

Admitting to Incompetence

I sent out detailed, step-by-step instructions for one of our procedures at work yesterday. It was directed at the sales team, so it included the manager & 3 reps. Today, a day later, I get a reply from the manager. Apparently, she didn't have time (was too lazy) to read the email and wants to have a meeting about the procedure. So instead of spending 5 minutes reading it over, she wants a 30 minute meeting involving 5 people? 5 minutes vs. 2 hours & 30 min? I went to the manager's office to tell her that we probably don't need a meeting if everyone just reads the email. But she insisted that we have a short meeting because she wants to make sure everyone gets it. So basically, she knows that her staff is incompetent and probably didn't read over the procedure. Going by this principle, the sales staff should just never get emails. We should just verbally tell them everything. My company really needs to do a better job screening people before hiring!

Different Story for Pettitte

All of the news about the MLB in the past few days has been related to the Mitchell Report. The news is overusing Andy Pettitte's name just to get everyone's attention. I just want to stress that Pettitte is in a completely different ballpark than the other players mentioned. He DID NOT use HGH to cheat on baseball. He didn't use it to pitch faster. He used it to help speed the recovery of his elbow injury. He was not playing whiled "juiced up." He did it for what he thought was medical purposes at the time. Another key fact is HGH WAS NOT banned until 2005. Pettitte's usage was in 2002. So Pettitte DID NOT break any rules.

Tech Deals of the Week (12/16-12/22)

CompUSA has no circular for this week. I think it's a first for them and probably has to do with their store closings.

Logitech VX Nano for $29.99 @ Circuit City
$20 off of last week's already good price! Staples has this for $44.99 as their sale price.

SanDisk 4 GB Flash Drive for $34.99 @ Circuit City & Staples
The standard sale price for 4 GB drives.

Acer 19" Widescreen LCD for $129.98 @ Staples
Thisis the lowest price on the 19" since July. There's n $80 mail-in rebate for this deal.

SanDisk 2 GB SD Card for $17.98 @ Staples
The standard flash drive sale price on a memory card!

Targus Gravity Backpack for $19.98 @ Staples
This is the same as the Targus Groove I always list, but it's gray instead of black.

Offensive Rebound Assist

I'm proposing a new basketball stat called an "Offensive Rebound Assist." After watching a lot of Ben Wallace as a Bull, I see night in and night out all of the things he brings to the team that don't show up on the stat sheets. An "Offensive Rebound Assist" is when a missed shot is tapped back out to a teammate. This happened a lot in Last night's game against the Knicks. Wallace got no credit for the multiple tap outs, but I'm sure they would have lost the game without those. I also believe they would not have swept (would've still won it of course) the playoff series against the Heat without plays like that.

Redemption

The Bulls just beat the Knicks, making up for their previous loss. This was a game that they should've won anyway. They should've won by a larger margin too, but a win is still a win. This game had a lot of positives. Kirk Hinrich had a triple double... 2nd of his career. Deng had 29 points to lead the team. Nocioni had 17 off the bench. As a team, they had 15 blocked shots! Most of those were Curry blocks, to the delight of the Chicago fans. To top it off, the final score was 101-96... which meant... FREE Big Macs!

Costume's Power

The Bulls lost badly last night to a so-so Indiana Pacers team. We all know how superstitious athletes are, so it's worth noting that their 2 most recent impressive wins were done while wearing the traditional black w/ red pinstripe uniforms. These were the uniforms worn by one of the Jordan World Champion Bulls. They get repeatedly voted as the best NBA uniform of all time by magazines and fans. They were actually discontinued for a while after Jordan and his teammates complained that the pinstripes felt uncomfortable on the inside of the jersey. They made a comeback in the Seattle & Detroit games this year. I think the Bulls should keep wearing this jersey until they lose.

Mitchell Report

The 300+ page Mitchell Report was released this afternoon, concluding an 18-month investigation of steriod use in MLB. The document mentions Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Miguel Tejada, Paul LoDuca, Eric Gagne, among others. I downloaded the PDF and just searched for "Pettitte" since he's one of my favorites. From what I've read, Andy Pettitte was given human growth hormone to speed up the recovery of his elbow. He did not use steroids on a regular basis to make himself pitch at faster speeds. I hope that's taken into consideration when this report is fully analyzed by the commissioner. Without doing any reports or investigation, it's pretty easy to tell who's been using steriods regularly. Clemens, Tejada, LoDuca and Gagne are all wide, bulky guys. If you look at each of their photos over the years, you'll noteice that they got significantly larger over time. Pettitte is not overly bulky like these other guys.

The report also talks about Lenny Dykstra, one of my favorite pre-strike players. Again, without reading anything, just looking at his muscle mass increase tells the whole story. I didn't want to believe this one because he was one of favorite players, but also because Dykstra always hit for precision and not power. Even after he bulked up, he wasn't considered a power hitter. He hit for average and used his speed. Still, if this report is true, then it's disappointing to hear this about one of my sports heroes.

Related Links: List of Players, Report Download (mitchell_report.pdf)

Repeated Survey ?'s for 2007-12-12

1. When was the last time you took a nap? 7pm
2. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? Roger
3. To text you? SPAM
4. What are you doing tonight? 3 NBA games
5. What are you listening to? Beowulf Soundtrack
6. What did you do over the weekend? blog, Chinese buffet
7. What did you have for breakfast? peanut butter sandwich
8. Last book you read? Flash CS3 Bible
9. Last thing you bought? gift card
10. Last movie you saw: Initial D

Gillette Fusion

I used to make fun of razor manufacturers because it seemed like each year they would add one more blade to the device. It started with 2, then 3, then there was the Schick Quattro and the 5 bladed Gillette Fusion. The Fusion advertises "the comfort of five blade... the precision of one (because there's a single blade on the back side)." I would joke how there would be a 15-bladed razor in ten years! But I just received a free sample of the Fusion in the mail and gave it a shot. It truly IS the most comfortable blade I've ever used. It produced a clean shave with light gliding... barely any pressure. Even the handle with its rubberized grip is comfortable. I'm converted!

Much Needed Blowout

All of the hype was around Kevin Durant of the Sonics, but it was all Bulls tonight on the court for a much needed confidence-booster. The final score was 123-96. Hinrich had 15 points, 8 assists & 6 rebounds. Gordon had 27 points followed by Deng's 20 and Smith's 19 as the Bulls shot a lights-out 54%. So we're 7-12 now. 5 games to .500 is still a long way. I wish the Bulls could play more often just so there's a chance to catch up quickly! I'm sure the players must feel the same way, especially after a win like tonight's. So they had a comeback against the Bobcats, a good win against the Pistons, a well-played loss to the invincible Celtics and a blowout against the Sonics. That puts them in good shape to face the Pacers next.

Let's Not Get Carried Away

As I mentioned before, it's nice to see that the Yankees are at least attempting to build up their pitching. But they shouldn't deplete their offense too much. I'm referring to the Hideki Matsui trade rumors. To me, he's one of the core guys and should be untouchable. He's good for 30 HR and 100 RBIs each season. If it ends up coming to a trade, I hope he uses his no trade clause. He came to the US to play for the Yankees. It would be odd to see him in any other uniform. Here's my take on the position players...

C = J.Posada
1B = A.Phillips (he played the best overall of anyone last year)
2B = R.Cano
SS = D.Jeter
3B = A.Rodriguez
RF = B.Abreu
CF = J.Damon
LF = H.Matsui

They should keep all of these guys. Anyone else should be considered for trade if they can get a good pitcher out of it.

Tech Deals of the Week (12/9-12/15)

Logitech VX Nano for $49.99 @ Best Buy
This rare sale matches 10/28, but this time, it's an instant savings.

Palm TX for $199 @ Best Buy or Staples
This is the first major price reduction I've seen on the TX, not counting Black Friday. This might be the new normal price.

Philips 1080p Upconvert DVD Player for $59.99 @ Best Buy
These usually go on sale for $79.99 for the 1080p models. This is a must if you just got a 1080p LCD.

Sony 4 GB Flash Drive for $34.99 @ Circuit City
The standard sale price for 4 GB drives, this time on the Sony model.

PNY 8 GB Flash Drive for $69.99 @ Circuit City
The same $/GB as the Sony model, but twice the size.

SanDisk 4 GB Flash Drive for $34.99 @ Office Depot or CompUSA
The retractable USB drive @ the standard sale rate.

SanDisk 4 GB SD Card for $34.99 @ Office Depot
This is the standard flash drive sale price on a memory card!

Parallels Deskptop for $49.99 @ CompUSA
This is after a $20 mail-in rebate. I can't tell from the circular which version this is, so be sure to look closely at the box before you buy to make sure it's the latest one.

SanDisk 3 pk 2 GB Flash Drives for $49.99 @ CompUSA
Same as last week, but different store.

3-Game Streak on Hold

There won't be a 3-game winning streak for the Bulls as they fell to the invincible Celtic tonight. I'm not too disappointed in this one as the Bulls played well enough to win. Nocioni's hot streak from last night continued into this game as he lead the Bulls with 18 points. 5 players had double figures. Wallace had 14 rebounds. As usual, the Bulls were able to limit Pierce. They pretty much did everything right. It's just that the Celtics are as good on the court as they are on paper. They only lost twice so far. Bulls have had trouble guarding Allen & Garnett in the past, before they were Celtics. Now they just have to keep their heads up and play like they did this weekend when they face Seattle, Indiana & NY. These are all teams that they should beat.

Username = Name?

My work email consists of my first name for the username and company name for the domain. The other day, I had one client send me an email and in the body of the message, he totally mangled the spelling of my name. I'm not sure how he managed to type in the correct spelling for the email address, then type in something else completely different in the body. Some people should not be allowed to use a computer. Automation is made to help us in efficiency, but it's also making some people dumber.

Another Step

"Right now, we are more aggressive and we are playing much better than we had been. We're heading in the right direction."
-Andres Nocioni (12/7/2007)

What an impressive win over Detroit! The Bulls are now 2-0 against one of the best in the East, despite their poor record. They played Bull's basketball tonight. Hinrich finally had a normal game and didn't get into foul trouble early. Nocioni had a great game, especially in the 4th quarter. Scoring was spread out for the most part with 6 players in double figures. Wallace had 13 rebounds and Smith had 14. Wallace also had 4 blocks.

Remember what I wrote on 5/26... the Bulls so far have owned the teams that eliminated them from previous playoffs... Washington, then Miami. Could Detroit be next? Well, we're 2-0 against them so far!

Boston is next and they're even tougher than Detroit this year.

Staying Positive

A 2nd win against the Bobcats isn't anything to celebrate over. The Bulls of last year would have blown this team out. They actually played poorly in the first half, but luckily, so did Charlotte. The positive I took out of this was that it was a come-from-behind victory. The Bulls need to experience that type of scenario more often to gain some confidence. Now they need to step it up for a tough weekend against Detroit and Boston. These are 2 teams that they should go toe-to-toe with, but I consider them tough matchups now because of the Bull's confidence lowering start.

On a different note, Congratulations to Chris Duhon for his Community Assist Award in November. Chris continues to aid in the rebuilding of New Orleans. This time he made a personal donation of $100,000 to construct 21 basketball courts. Maybe some of his good deeds will get rewarded with W's on the court. It should work that way, shouldn't it?

Cyril Raffaelli Stunt Demo

Parkour + Martial Arts = Cyril Raffaelli

I watched Cyril Raffaelli first in Kiss of the Dragon where he combined some nice kicks with crazy acrobatics. Then I watched District B13 where he had a starring role along side David Belle. The movie was really a long stunt demo for both parkour specialists. I'd like to watch Die Hard 4 just because Raffaelli has a nice sequence in it.

The Band

With Andy Pettitte returning next year, the band will pretty much be back together next season... Rodriguez, Posada, Rivera and Pettitte will join Jeter for another championship attempt. Potential of an LA Yankees team won't go much beyond Torre's coaching staff. I was really worried at a potential breakup of the team. I just wouldn't believe my eyes if I ever saw Posada and Rivera in different uniforms. A-Rod's been on different teams, so I could see that happening. Pettitte had a great season last year, though his record doesn't show it. It would be senseless for him to retire at his current skill level.

The Yankees management also gave me some hope when they started pursuing Twin's ace, Johan Santana. The scenario would most likely include the unproven Phil Hughes and reliable CF Melky Cabrera. The Yankees need some serious pitching upgrades and it's nice to see that management is finally doing something about it. Even if they have to lose Cabrera's arm, it's worth it because Santana can give them 18-21 wins. Hopefully this goes through.

Two Straight... Finally!

The Bulls looked like themselves again during last night's game against the Bobcats. Gordon had a season high 34 points, including three 3-pointers in a row in the 3rd quarter run. Ben Jordan is back! Deng played like he was supposed to and added 29 points. Most importantly, Ben Wallace had 19 rebounds and 10 points... vintage Big Ben. Maybe he's 100% now! Hinrich is still slumping, but enough of the other guys woke up to put together a convincing victory. There's still a long way to go. This feels like the Yankees struggle in their first half... trying to get some wins, then climb to .500. Dallas is next though.

Tech Deals of the Week (12/2-12/8)

It's hard to do one of these posts after a Black Friday because nothing comes close to those prices. Anyway... here it goes...

Kingston 4 GB FLash Drive for $34.99 @ CompUSA
The 4 GB drive is back to its $35 sale price.

Razer Deathadder Mouse for $49.99 @ CompUSA
This is a pretty good price for the Deathadder. I never actually used it, but it looks cool, hasa a lot of features and feels good in the hand.

TrendNET 54 Mbps 802.11g Router & Adapters for $4.99 @ CompUSA
All items are $4.99 after 2 mail-in rebates.

Acer AL2216Wbd for $209.99 @ CompUSA
This is after a $40 mail-in rebate. It's not the best sale price for this item, but I haven't seen anything close to this since September... not counting Black Friday of course.

PNY 4 GB SD Card for $37.99 @ Circuit City
A rare hi-capacity camera memory card for less than $10/GB.

Nexxtech 25 pk DVD+R/-R for $6.99 @ Circuit City
DVD media sale are rarely this low, so stock up on this sale price if you need them.

SanDisk 3 pk 2 GB Flash Drives for $49.99 @ Staples
This is a pack of 3 retractable 2 GB flash drives... red, white & blue.

Subway Tales: Mr. Stumbling Non-Dextrous Eyes Glued to Newspaper Guy

You love the news so much that you must read the paper every morning as if the fate of the Earth depended on it. The train might be crowded, but you open up the full spread to maximum width. You're oblivious to people you're bumping into and personal space you're invading. Each time the train accelerates and decelerates, you stumble clumsily. Sometimes you come pretty close to falling on your ass, but you refuse to grab hold of the pole because you must protect your paper.

Here's to you, Mr. Stumbling Non-Dexterous Eyes Glued to Newspaper Guy. Your reckless disregard for your own safety has inspired me to apply passion to my interests. However, risk of injury to read about the latest tragedy has a lop-sided return.

Fines for Effort

The Knicks got rocked by the Celtics the other night... a loss by over 50 points. The reason why most of their losses are blow-outs are because the Knicks don't give any effort once they're losing. They take the 4th quarter, and sometimes the entire 2nd half off. I think the NBA should hand out fines for lack of effort. They have this in Tennis. Nikolay Davydenko was fined $2,000 for not trying. Obviously, it should be a steeper fine for NBA players.

This brings back memories of last year's "Big Mac" game with the Bulls when the Knicks weren't trying at all in the 2nd half and were getting mad at the Bulls for playing hard for every minute. This is the NBA. The fans pay big money to watch 2 teams give it 100%.

"By now most have you saw or read about our recent game against the Knicks where they accused us of running up the score. Truthfully, they were the first team I heard all year complain about the score. Last time I checked basketball was a competitive game, and if you have a chance to blow somebody out, you blow them out. I really don’t have any sympathy for whatever they were talking about."
-Ben Gordon (4/17/2007)

That was BG after the "Big Mac" game.

Much Needed Win

The Bulls finally get another W... against the Hawks this time. That was the first team they beat whichthey should have. That's the only positive I can take from it. Hinrich is still in a slump. Duhon really stepped up and took over point when Hinrich got into foul trouble, but can he be consistent off the bench? Deng and Gordon played like themselves. Wallace is getting there and Thomas also had a good game. The rebounds and points were there. More blocks and assists would've been nice. There's nothing to really celebrate until the Bulls go on a long winning streak.

Subway Tales: Inspector Gadget

This morning, there was a classic cellphone novice on the train. He had a wired earpiece (the type with the dangling mic) connected to his phone. So instead of speaking normally and standing in a natural pose, he held the phone straight out in front of him so that the mic would be in front of his mouth. It looked like the guy was on a walkie talkie radioing for backup! Even better... he was wearing Inspector Gadget's outfit... trench coat and hat. He also stayed on the phone for about 20 minutes... and his arm didn't get tired. It's too bad this guy isn't a Clockwork Apple character. I'd like to pick up more about him. Who knows... maybe I'll see him again and he'll get upgraded!

More is Less

At work, there's a certain set procedure for each recurring task. Certain emails should go to certain people because those are the people doing work on the tasks. Recently, we added another person to the sales team. At this point, that person is redundant. All she does is forward stuff. So when an advertiser has some creative to deliver, there's one extra level of forwarding before it actually gets to the developer or designer that's doing the work. Because there are about 3-4 forwards, several hours and sometimes days are lost. I don't get why this hierarchy is needed. Does it make people feel important (like they're actually doing something) when they "touch" an email? Hiring more people actually gets less done.

Worse Than the Knicks?

I'd say that it's time to start worrying about the Bulls now. They had their chance to end the losing streak against the Knicks who were also on a losing streak and failed to do so. Something's really wrong if they're worse than the Knicks. Maybe Hinrich's timing is off because he's not used to his "new body?" Could Ben Wallace be hiding an injury? Are Deng and Gordon subconsciously bothered by the non-contract?

Repeated Survey ?'s for 2007-11-25

A repeat of 2007-11-12, but with new answers...

1. When was the last time you took a nap? 2 hours ago
2. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? Jean
3. To text you? ND
4. What are you doing tonight? watch DVDs
5. What are you listening to? Stargate Atlantis soundtrack
6. What did you do over the weekend? video editing, Stargate Atlantis, NBA
7. What did you have for breakfast? garlic bread, sausages & soy milk
8. Last book you read? Flash CS3 Bible
9. Last thing you bought? flash drives
10. Last movie you saw: I, Robot

Clockwork Apple: Big Bertha

Bertha Johnson is a regular 7 train rider. I see her on weeknights taking the Queens-bound train from Times Square at about 5:45pm. She stays about 3-4 cars from the front. Coincidentally, I also see her on Saturdays taking the Queens-bound train from 74th St./Broadway at about 1pm. Bertha stands out because she's tall and big-boned... around 6'5". She's likely either a ball player or a security guard. She also wears a bright red fleece jacket with Native American patterns... hard to miss.

Beowulf

When I first saw the trailer to Beowulf, I thought it was a live action movie. This is the best modeled full 3-D animated movie I've ever seen! The characters were very realistic and detailed, right down to individual facial hairs. For the most part, the movement was realistic. They did get lazy on a few characters and some cloth textures though. The main thing I was curious about was how they would make a short epic poem into a 2 hour movie. The action sequences were pretty long and they also spent time developing the characters. On top of everything, they connected the characters a little more than the original. It's definitely a little weird because of the love triangle(s), but I suppose they did it for continuity. But if you subtract the sex from this movie, it's pretty faithful to the original... same characters, same events (even the little things), same basic messages, etc. The music was great as well. It felt like a modern version of the 8th century drum beats that would go along with the readings/performances.

My only complaint is the excessive nudity. There's just way too much and very unnecessary. Beowulf in the poem fights Grendel in hand-to-hand combat, but the movie takes it a bit further and has him strip down all the way. They probably did that so it could have the same statement as the Greek statues of idealism, but why would someone want to battle a dangerous monster with his jewels exposed. He could've at least left his underwear on or a coconut. The camera angles were very clever though... his privates were always hidden by some object or shadow. That must've been a challenge for the animators.

Related Links: Official Site; Wikipedia

Black Friday Deals (Part 3)

Office Depot
SanDisk 4 GB SD Card for $29.99
SanDisk 4 GB Memory Stick Duo for $34.99
SanDisk 8 GB Flash Drive for $49.99
SanDisk 8 GB MP3 Player for $99.99 ($30 Rebate)
Western Digital 160 GB HDD for $39.99 ($30 Rebate)

Palm.com
The last place I'd expect to have a sale is Palm because the TX has remained @ $299 for several years. But there's a big sale at the Online Palm store for Black Friday!
TX + Wireless Keyboard for $199
E2 + Hard Case for $149

Staples
Acer 19" LCD for $119.98 ($70 Rebate)
SanDisk 4 GB Flash Drive for $17.98 ($10 Rebate)
Maxtor 500 GB Ext. HDD for $79.98 ($40 Rebate)
Kodak 50pk DVD-r or DVD+R for $5.98 ($7 Rebate)
Logitech VX Revolution for $24.98 ($10 Rebate)
SanDisk 2 GB Memory Cards (all types) for $14.98

Toys R Us
Zune 30 GB (Brown) for $79.99
Nextar Digital Picture Frame for $49.99

That should be it. I was just waiting for the Office Depot & Staples circulars to arrive. Happy Shopping & Good luck!

Black Friday Deals (Part 2)

A few more stores...

CompUSA
Envision 22" LCD for $149.99 ($130 in 2 Rebates)
Acer 22" LCD for $169.99 ($40 Rebate)
Acer 24" LCD for $249.99 ($80 Rebate)
7" Digital Photo Frame for $44.99 ($30 Rebate)
Lacie 500 GB Ext HDD for $79.99 ($70 in 2 Rebates)
SanDisk 2 GB Flash Drive for $14.99
SanDisk 4 GB Flash Drive for $27.99
PNY 2 GB Flash Drive for $14.99
PNY 4 GB Flash Drive for $24.99
PNY 8 GB Flash Drive for $44.99
TrendNet Wireless N Router or Adapter for $19.99 ($50 in 2 Rebates)
Iomega 1 TB Ext HDD for $179.99 ($70 Rebate)

Note: Many of the CompUSA items are instant savings + rebates. So keep in mind that you're saving a lot more than the rebate amounts I listed. If you look back at some of my past Weekly Deal posts, you can tell.

Directron
GeForce 6200 AGP for $44.99 (click here)
Windows XP Pro OEM for $129.99 (click here)


Buy.com
Zune 30 GB (Brown) for $119.99 (click here)
Nintendo DS Lite (Black) for $129.99 (click here)

Black Friday Deals (Part 1)

There are tons of deals out there for the craziest shopping day of the year. I'm just going to list the realistic ones... the ones that are possible to get without waiting on line all night long. There's a great laptop for $400, but only if your one of the first 15 people!

Apple.com
This is the one day of the year that Apple.com has their products on sale. They're going to release the prices on Friday, so definitely check it out if you need a Mac or iPod.

Best Buy
SanDisk 2 GB MP3 Player for $34.99
Logitech MX Revolution for $49.99
Western Digital 500 GB Ext. HDD for $99.99
Dynex 100pk DVD-R for $6.99
PNY 4 GB Flash Drive for $27.99
PNY 4 GB SD Card for $27.99

Circuit City
Aiptek MPEG4 Camcorder for $49.99
Samsung 24" LCD for $329.99 ($120 rebate)
Logitech Quickcam Pro 5000 for $9.99 ($50 rebate)
Swiss Gear Rival Backpack for $12.99 ($35 rebate)
SanDisk 4 GB Flash Drive for $21.99
Western Digital 1 TB Ext HDD for $199.99 ($50 rebate)
Nexxtech 50pk DVD-R/DVD+R for $3.99
Seagate 500 GB Ext HDD for $79.99 ($50 rebate)

Radio Shack
Motorola Bluetooth Headset for $9.99 ($20 rebate)
SanDisk 4 GB Flash Drive for $24.99
Sony Superlight Earbuds for $4.99
SanDisk 4 GB MP3 Player for $79.99

That's what I've come across so far. And I want to get this post up ASAP, so if I come across more, I'll put them up in a separate post.

Good luck!

Eastern All-Stars (Part 1)

At this point in the season, here's who I'd go with...

Dwight Howard (C)
It hurts not to be able to choose Ben Wallace, but he hasn't been 100% healthy. And Dwight Howard is young and energetic.

LeBron James (F)
He's the chosen one. I don't think I need to say anything else.

Luol Deng (F)
His numbers might be down a little, but he's still doing OK as the Bulls slump. I'm still looking at the growth from leading the British National Team over the Summer. Deng's got lots of tools and he floats in the air!

Ben Gordon (G)
He's still a scoring machine. Even though the Bulls are losing, he keeps them in games.

Jason Kidd (G)
He's Jason Kidd, the type of point guard everyone tries to be.

Runners up who could get my vote later are Ben Wallace, Andres Nocioni and Kirk Hinrich, if the Bulls can turn their season around. Wallace needs to heal up so he can get his rebounds and blocks. Hinrich just needs to get in rhythm. Nocioni needs to play more minutes.

Congrats to A-Rod

As expected, Alex Rodriguez got the American League MVP award for the season. There wasn;t anyone really close to him this year as he made a legitimate run for Roger Maris' HR record. So Alex is a hero again. I think there would've been an opposite reaction is he didn't make up and re-sign with the Yankees. News of him being a traitor would've overshadowed the MVP honors. In a recent interview, he spoke of how a championship would mean more than the MVP award... just what people wanted to hear. So he's still striving to help get the Yankees another ring. But it's hard to tell when A-Rod's being sincere now. He'll just have to prove it on the field and in the playoffs.

Western All-Stars (Part 1)

At this point in the season, here's who I'd go with...

Yao Ming (C)
There's no other choice in the West these days. Yao had improved substantially and can contend for the MVP if he stays healthy.

Dirk Nowitzki (F)
He's the most versatile player at 7ft and he's last year's MVP.

Shawn Marion (F)
This was a tough choice because Carmelo Anthony is pretty good too. I just took rebounds over points. Many of the other positions can make up for points.

Steve Nash (G)
He's a back-to-back MVP winner and is getting better every year. So far he's leading in assists.

Tracy McGrady (G)
A long guard who can put up 26 ppg is a great compliment to assist-leading Nash.

Runners up who could get my vote later are Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony.

Another Piece to the Puzzle

Mariano Rivera is going to return to the Yankees! The 3-year, $45 million contract will make him the highest paid closer in baseball... well deserved. I can't believe Billy Wagner made more than him... that was ridiculous. So with Mo back as the closer, the Yankees should seriously consider making Joba Chamberlain the setup man. It's important for them to secure at least 2 innings per game. If they make Joba a starter, he might pitch great for 6-7 innings, but the middle relief would blow it. The Yankees are still waiting on Andy Pettitte for another solid starter to compliment Wang. Then they have to pick up at least one more reliable starter. So the band is almost back together. What a relief. I don't think the fans could take any more Yankees drama during the offseason.

LA Split

The Circus Road Trip has begun for the Chicago Bulls. So far, they split in LA, beating the Clippers on Saturday and losing to the Lakers on Sunday. As usual, they beat the good team and lose to the bad one. They really showed up for the Clipper game and looked like the playoff team from last year. For the Laker game, they played tough defense during the first half, then disappeared. They did a pretty good job on Bryant, but they let the scrubs beat them. So the Bulls uncharacteristically lose the 2nd game of a back-to-back. They really have to get them selves together mentally and turn around this annual Circus Trip curse or the season could really be disastrous.

It's worthy to note that Deng was out with a sore back for Sunday's game. I know that's only one player, but it makes an impact on the whole lineup. To match up against the Lakers, the Bulls needed to use a big lineup, which would require Deng to be the shooting guard and more minutes for Sefolosha. Without Deng, they had to go with their regular lineup, which is too short to defend the Lakers.

"Those Wonderful Toys"

"Where does he get those wonderful toys!?"
The Joker (Jack Nicholson)
Batman 1989

The final tournament of the tennis season, the Master's Cup is played in Shanghai, so there's a 23-hour time difference. They televised some of the live matches here, but they were in the middle of the night. Then the replays were in the late afternoon... while everyone's at work! I guess that because it conflicts with football season, it can't secure a prime time spot... so annoying.

At least I caught the final replay today, since it played on a Sunday afternoon. Federer won of course... in an easy match against David Ferrer. He closed out the season with another title, trophy and car. What does he do with all of his prizes!? I picture a summer BBQ at Roger's house where he's using his crystal bowls for punch and the silver trays for the chicken. And then every morning he asks himself, "which car should I take out. Let's see... this one matches my suit, but I want some more power today."

Pre-Thanksgiving Tech Deals

This week's deals are mostly from Sunday through Wednesday. After that, Black Friday will be upon us!

Magellan Maestro 3200 GPS for $169.99 @ Best Buy
This is a portable GPS device with a slim design and 3.5" screen

$20 Gift Card w/ 8 GB Nano Purchase @ Best Buy
As usual, any type of deal with an Apple product is good. This is like getting $20 back if you're a frequent Best Buy shopper.

Dynex CD-R for $5.99 @ Best Buy
I'm not sure if people still use these, but this is the lowest price I've seen in a long time if you need them.

SanDisk 4 GB Cruzer Micro Drive for $34.99 @ Best Buy
The retractable SanDisk flash drive hasn't been on sale since September, so this is a good time to buy it even though it's not the lowest sale price historically ($29.99).

Motorola H350 for $24.99 @ Best Buy
This is a Bluetooth headset for cellphones. $24.99 is the lowest price since last year's Black Friday ($15 after rebates). Since then, regular sales prices were around $30. This device works well, but may not fit right on everyone's ear.

Kingston 4 GB Flash Drive for $34.99 @ CompUSA
Same as the week of 11/4.

Stargate Atlantis 408 (The Seer)

Sigh... Teyla is in no danger! It turns out that she's pregnant. I think it's something they decided to work into the story because the actress, Rachel Luttrell is actually pregnant. But who's the father? That'll probably be answered in a future episode.

Back to the main plot of The Seer... this episode was another SG-1 concept recycled for Atlantis. The team comes across a man that can foresee glimpses of the future. So the Atlantis crew started to over-prepare for a wraith and replicator attack, in an attempt to change their fate. All of the events happen anyway, but the glimpses of the future ended up happening in different context. This idea was first seen in Prophesy, an episode in season 6 of Stargate SG-1 when Jonas Quinn gains the ability to see "clips" of the future, but not the events that lead to the visions.

Love and Basketball

"We call this a 'Brokeback Mountain' game because there's so much penetration and kickout."
- Phil Jackson

After saying that, Phil Jackson was fined by the NBA for making a sexual reference. Shouldn't the radio and TV announcers get fined every night then? Check out these basketball terms that mean something else in life:

behind the back: a no-look pass to a teammate to the back

kickout: drawing the defense in, then passing the ball to an outside shooter.

penetration: working around perimeter defense and cutting into the paint.

serving up a facial: dunking on someone's face.

stuffing it down the throat: same as "facial."

A-Rod's Out, A-Rod's In, WTF?

The A-Rod story is starting to look like the Baby Kobe Bryant drama. The latest is that A-Rod wants to play for the Yankees next year. He seems to flip flop on everything. I suspect that it's partly because he's listening too much to his agent, Scott Boras. One report said that the Yankees would only deal with him if he left Boras out of it. This was then denied by Steinbrenner. I don't think they should deal with the agent at all... he messed this whole thing up. At this point, I also don't feel they should take A-Rod back. Besides the principle, there's the price to think about. For A-Rod's salary, the Yankees could go out and get 2 15+ game winning pitchers. That's much more valuable than any position player even if it's the greatest of all time. 2 ace pitchers can put together 30-40 wins. A superstar batter can't match that in one season. I don't care how good he is.

Bench Reaction: Marbury vs. Gordon

OK... more details about Marbury. It's OK to jump to conclusions now! It turns out he left because he was pulled from the starting lineup for the night. And he thinks he should always be in the the lineup because he has "so much dirt" on Isaiah. I think it was a total overreaction. Coaches mix lineups all the time. It makes sense to do that based on opposing team matchups. The Knicks are such a mess! It sure makes great news stories though.

The Bulls have their early season issues too... enough for Scott Skiles to mix up their starting five. Here's Ben Gordon's reaction on possibly coming off the bench:

"If that's what I have to do, that's what I have to do. I don't have a choice right now. We're 1-5. We need some kind of change to get everybody going. If me coming off the bench will help, or somebody else coming off... I'm all about winning right now. Whatever it takes, I just want to win. I don't want to continue to lose. So whatever works, works."

See a difference? That's a reaction from a professional basketball player who trusts his teammates. None of the Bulls mind coming off the bench... a benefit of a zero ego team. I don't see why players are so sensitive about starting. When Gordon got the 6th man award during his rookie season, he came off the bench, played just as many minutes as many of the starters and won games for the team. If your a good bench player, you can get the same playing time and have a chance to hit game winners. So why so much emphasis on starting the 1st quarter? I always thought Gordon was better off the bench. It was said during his first year that he was "so great coming off the bench that he may never get a starting position!"

Marbury Mystery

There aren't a whole lot of details, but Stephon Marbury is not playing with the Knicks tonight and has left the team in Phoenix this morning. The reason is unknown, so I wouldn't jump to conclusions like the rest of the media. There are already reports that he has left the team for good and might become a free agent. We don't know why he left though. It could be a legitimate reason. It could be a private family matter. Here's what we DO know... Isaiah Thomas says that he wants Marbury back with the team, it's a private team matter and Marbury had permission to leave. So I think it's a non-issue until we get more info. It would be devastating for the Knicks to lose him though... just when they started putting together a good team. As always, I wish the Knicks the worst, but just because I don't like what Thomas has done with the team over the past few years. I enjoy watching Marbury though. I think he plays with heart every night and is a great all around player. I hope everything is OK with him.

PNY Flash Update

I just picked up a couple of the PNY drives that I posted on Sunday. They changed their hardware at some point because these newer ones, labeled "Optima Pro" do not have the U3 software installed on them. Instead, they are optimized for use on Windows Vista. They have intelligent caching functions for quicker OS startup and multitasking. I mentioned U3 in some of my recent posts, but don't exactly know when the cutoff point was. Be sure to look carefully at the box if U3 is a deal breaker.

Jorge to Stay!

Late last night Jorge was reported to have accepted a four-year, $52.4 million deal. I felt he would stay after Jeter expressed his opinion on his long-time teammate and friend. The Yankees would've gotten heavily criticized if they let a catcher who batted .338 last year go after letting the world's greatest manager go. So Jorge will rejoin Jeter and the Yankees will have at least 2 champs on the team. Pettitte will either be a Yankee or retire. The next Priority is Mariano Rivera. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Meanwhile, the LA Yankees have added Mattingly & Bowa to the coaching staff as expected. Signing up A-Rod and Mariano Rivera remain as possibilities. Though it hasn't been mentioned much in the media, I feel that Bernie Williams will come out of retirement to join the Dodgers... just a hunch.

This offseason will be very interesting!

Stargate Atlantis 407 (Missing)

Missing was a great character building episode for Teyla and Dr. Keller. Teyla, who's normally a calm leader of her people got a chance to show her dark side when she discovers that her entire Athosian community was attacked and killed(?). She kicks some serious butt in this one. Dr. Keller, normally a doctor with no combat experience was thrown into a dangerous hunt situation and had to quickly learn survival techniques. This was also a bit of a mid-season cliffhanger because it potentially sets up events for future episodes... what happened to Teyla's people? What about the thug Teyla & Keller rescued if he wasn't a Genii? And most mind-boggling of all... at the end of the episode, Dr. Keller was about to tell Teyla about an injury (or disease?)...

TEYLA: I told you... I feel fine. I do not have a concussion.

KELLER: You’re right. You don’t.... Teyla, I’ve looked over your test results. There’s something we need to talk about.

What a place to cutoff!

Repeated Survey ?'s for 2007-11-12

I pulled a bunch of old questions to repeat every once in a while. The 10 items below will likely have different answers every time I retake this survey.

1. When was the last time you took a nap? a few minutes ago
2. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? Dad
3. To text you? Charlene
4. What are you doing tonight? Nets vs. Hornets
5. What are you listening to? custom playlist on iPod
6. What did you do over the weekend? took care of some November birthdays
7. What did you have for breakfast? bagel w/ peanut butter
8. Last book you read? Nanotechnology for Dummies
9. Last thing you bought? groceries
10. Last movie you saw: Spiderman 3

Yao vs. Yi I

I never got a chance to write about the Rockets-Bucks game last Friday, so this is a little late. This game was obviously a big deal in China since it's the first time Yao and Yi squared off in the NBA. Both players had an impressive night. Yao was the first to attack with a great first half. He finished with 28 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 blocks to fill up the stat sheet as usual. Yi started out slow, but came alive in the 3rd quarter. He finished with 19 points and 9 rebounds. Both guys have unstoppable jump shots when they get hot because of their height alone. Yao can make a run for MVP if he keeps up these numbers and stays healthy. Being a rookie, Yi is supposed to be nervous and make mistakes, but he's playing like a veteran and will really elevate the disappointing Bucks team from last year.

From what I've seen so far, I now think that the Bulls should've picked up Yi instead of Noah. And I also take back that Tyrus Thomas is a better player. Yi has the same physical talents as Thomas, but is a better team player and has better fundamentals.

Bracing for the Circus Trip

The "circus trip" is an annual set of road games when the Bulls leave Chicago because the circus comes to town and uses the United Center. They head out for with only 1 win this time. So there's no avoiding a better start than last year at this point. Hopefully Bulls fans and management can stay patient. I would give them until the end of the year to shape up. The circus trip has not been kind to any Bulls team... including Jordan's. Fortunately, this year's 7-game road trip doesn't include the dangerous Texas triangle. They've got Phoenix who that had success against last year. The LA teams are both beatable. Denver might be tough. The Knicks are 50/50 depending on which Knicks team shows up. And Toronto is also beatable. The it's less so related to the difficulty level of the opponents than a long road trip in the beginning of the year filled with fatiguing plane trips.

Tech Deals of the Week (11/11-11/17)

PNY 4 GB Flash Drive for $34.99 @ Circuit City and CompUSA
Standard sale price, ReadyBoost... you know the drill.

Verge Neoprene Sleeve for $14.99 @ Circuit City
An easy way to build a laptop backpack is to get a normal backpack and add a padded neoprene sleeve to it. This one fits 15.4" widescreen laptops.

50-Pack Nexxtech DVD+R (or -R) for $8.99 @ Circuit City
This is a rare DVD media sale. Stock up if you're low on blanks.

Targus Laptop Bundle for $39.99 @ Best Buy
This set includes a cooling fan, wireless mouse, keypad/2-port hub and a 4-port USB hub. So I figure each item is about $10. It's a good starter kit if you just purchased a laptop.

Belkin Surge Protector for $14.99 @ CompUSA
This 6-outlet surge protector has rotating sockets to make additional room for all of your power bricks.

TrendNET 54 Mbps 802.11g Router for $9.99 @ CompUSA
It's just the router this time and it's $10 instead of $5 if you missed it last week.

Invasion of Crappy MP3 Players

Apple seems to have stunted the growth of MP3 players. They always release nice looking, but stripped down MP3 players that everyone buys. This then makes other companies panic and release crappy alternatives. When Apple has an 8 GB flash memory player, I just wonder why other companies like SanDisk, Sony and Samsung pump out so many crappy 2 GB & 4 GB models. These companies have the potential to build iPod Killers, but they waste time and money on lowend pieces of junk. This creates a cycle of technological stunting... Apple makes MP3 player with missing functions... competition makes a player with less memory... Apple counters with another scaled-down player... competition gets even worse! I see these every week in the circulars. There should be a law against 2 GB (or smaller) MP3 players!

Subway Tales: Hyper Launch

TEAL'C: O'Neill, prepare your self for...

The ship comes to an abrupt stop and Jack goes flying.

TEAL'C: ...extreme deceleration.

JACK: Yeah, thanks Teal'c.

When a Goa'uld mothership goes into and out of hyperspace, the passengers must brace themselves just like subway straphangers. It's always entertaining to watch people board a subway, find a seat, then take their sweet time sitting down. They always crouch down at the moment of acceleration and end up stumbling into a standing passenger or the person sitting next to them. I can see it coming every time.

A Sign of Life

After an 0-4 start against some bad/mid-level teams, the Bulls beat the best in the East last night in the Detroit Pistons. I wish they would just pretend every opponent is Detroit. They always seem to step it up a level against the elite teams. Tyrus Thomas lead in scoring, but I still feel nervous whenever he touches the ball. He either pads his highlight reel or does something completely idiotic. Fortunately it was more of the former last night. Here's my favorite highlight from last night:

The Bulls get a defensive rebound, but Ben Wallace has the ball stripped from him by Hamilton. Rip goes for a layup, but Tyrus Thomas comes out of nowhere, blocks the shot while jumping over an airborne Hamilton. I know that doesn't sound humanly possible, but check out the replays... it really happened! Hinrich was amazing with 14 assists. Gordon kicked butt in the 3rd quarter. Now they need to remember this feeling and keep it up for the next game.

A few shout outs to Detroit: Thanks Hayes... everytime you got the ball, the Bulls got it back from you. Thanks Rip, for being a whiney bitch. While you were complaining to the refs, the Bulls were scoring.

Subway Tales: 1 Train Report (3/3)

Vandalism used to be bad on this line, but it seems to have improved. Temperatures are comfortable. During the Summer, there's an occasional "hot car," but I've come across that less often on the 1 than others. Every station I've been to has at least one working vending machine. "Ease of use of turnstiles?" What kind of question is that? I guess I gave that an "excellent" because I've never come across one that didn't work. You slide the card and push forward... easy, right?

Something Right for a Change

Baseball trade talks have been all about Miguel Cabrera recently in the Yankees world. He's another position player with good stats. And the price... young Yankees pitching talent... Kennedy, Hughs and Chamberlain. The Yankees didn't go for it... the right move for a change! I'm so used to them building up offense and forgetting about pitching. Ever since they started getting the big bats in, they stopping winning World Series. They lost to Cleveland this year because the Indians' pitching was much better. Obviously, they need a 3rd baseman with A-Rod gone, but just an average guy will do. They've got to get some solid pitchers to rotate with Wang.

Subway Tales: 1 Train Report (2/3)

The 1 Train is pretty clean compared to other lines. There's less garbage on the floors, but some cars are infected with smelly homeless people. Announcements on both the trains and in stations are very clear compared to the other lines. They're also more informative because they announce which station the oncoming train is at so that riders can estimate the arrival time.

Stargate Atlantis 406 (Tabula Rasa)

Tabula Rasa is Latin for "clean slate." This is a very original episode of Atlantis where the entire colony is infected with a disease that causes memory loss. Throughout the episode, the Atlantis team has to find a cure as their memory fades. Instead of battling an enemy, the challenge was to somehow remember team members and goals. It's nice to have episodes like this every once in a while so that the series isn't just a laser firing sci-fi title. Tabula Rasa is full of suspense and the viewers' brains are constantly cranking, wondering how each obstacle will be solved.

Subway Tales: 1 Train Report (1/3)

I was handed a Rider Report Card today for the 1 Train. I split up the results into 3 parts so that it won't be one huge blog entry. Here's the first:


The wait times are generally good when you take into consideration that there's a short wait following a long wait (see Ones Come in Twos). For security, I do see a lot of MTA staff and cops in most of the stops. Also, since this line runs along Broadway, it's never deserted. Signs for the 1 line are generally informative.

Logitech VX Revolution

I bought this back in February because it was on sale at NewEgg. Before getting it, I was against wireless mice because of the hassle of charging (or replacing) the batteries. Now that I've used it for almost a year, I think it's the best notebook mouse out there.

Pros: There's no signal interference at all. It works right when it's dongle is plugged in. Logitech claims that it will work from 30 ft away. I tried it from this distance and sure enough, it still worked perfectly. It feel comfortable to hold... a little larger than most notebook mice. It's equipped with lots of buttons that can be assigned custom keystrokes. The scroll wheel is multi-directional and the vertical scrolling speed can be adjusted for gaming purposes. The laser tracking is extremely precise.

Cons: The only con to this device is the battery. It does last a long time... 2-3 months, but the problem is the battery drains without usage. If you let it sit for 3 months, even though it's turned off, it still depletes the power. The workaround is the remove the battery each time. I just with this model was rechargeable. That would make it perfect. The older brother, the MX Revolution desktop version of the mouse is rechargeable.

They Swept the Heat, Remember?

So far, every Bull's telecast has touched on the fact that they lost their last regular season game last year to the New Jersey Nets, costing them the 2nd seed in the East. I can't understand why everyone still thinks that was a bad thing. If they beat New Jersey and got the 2nd seed, they would have faced New Jersey and could have lost. They certainly wouldn't have swept the Nets. During last year's playoffs, It seemed like I was the only Bull's fan happy that they faced off with Miami. The fact that people are still dwelling on that NJ game really confuses me. It's over and they swept the Heat in 4 games! THEY SWEPT THE HEAT!

Tech Deals of the Week (11/4-11/10)

It's all at CompUSA this week...

TrendNET 54 Mbps 802.11g Router & Adapters for $4.99 @ CompUSA
Sale prices range from $2-10 for these items, so it falls in the middle this week. Any sale price for these is good though. As usual, it's a rebate offer. The router is $39.99 in-store minus $35 in 2 rebates. The adapters are $24.99 minus $20 in 2 rebates.

TrendNET Print Server for $14.99 @ CompUSA
This one is $44.99 minus $30 in 2 rebates if you want to convert an old parallel port printer into a shared one over your home network.


Kingston 4 GB Flash Drive for $34.99 @ CompUSA
This is a rare flash drive price for recent weeks. These don't have the U3 software like the PNYs and SanDisks, but still a cheap way to get ReadyBoost memory.

Asus Eee 4G

Could the Asus Eee finally be the PDA/Laptop mobile users are looking for? I'd say it's closer than the UMPC and any ultra-portable laptop out there. At $399, it's just $100 more than the best Palm OS PDA, the TX.

It's certainly tempting for me because I've been looking for a good PDA replacement and so far I've looked at a wide variety of products. The Palm TX seemed good, but overpriced (this has not reduced since the day of release). It's probably really worth around $150. I also considered the iPod Touch, but it just lacks the most important PDA features... calendar that syncs and software support (Vindigo in particular). There are rumors of a Newton comeback, which might be the reason why they're holding off on the PDA features.

So here's what the Asus Eee 4G has: 7" LCD (800x480), 512 MB RAM, 4 GB SSD, 900 Mhz Intel Processor, 802.11b/g Wireless, Card Reader. It's not powerful, but pretty good for a $399 laptop. There's going to be another model released soon with 1 GB RAM and an 8 GB SSD. So I'll wait and see how they price up that one.

Ten Random Chain Survey Questions for 2007-11-02

1. A random girl approaches you asking your name, you say: Azrael, Angel of Death
2. What's the last thing you put in your mouth? organic shepherd's pie
3. The last song you listened to? Battle Royale (Ong Bak soundtrack - French Version)
4. Have you ever talked on the phone while in the shower? How the heck does one do that? Next question...
5. Would you stop talking to your friends because of a new partner? no
6. What physical features do you find most attractive in the opposite sex? eyes
7. Favorite jeans? Lee double black
8. Are you a forgiving person? Uhh... Azrael, Angel of Death?
9. Where was your default picture taken? 4th grade class w/ Kenny & Kyle
10. If you could go back in time and change something, what would it be? I'd probably take care of a few people so that the future would be a better place.

Big Ben Likes It

"Of course, you'd love to see it (trade rumor) go away. Until somebody tells me anything different, these are the guys I'm going to go to war with every night. I like these guys. I like what we've got here. If (Bulls management) feels we need something different, then it's on them."
- Ben Wallace

Hopefully that statement is enough for Bull's management. The best defensive player in the league likes the team and it has similarities to the championship Detroit team he was part of. I don't think Ben Wallace would play well with Kobe Bryant. There's more to chemistry than just ultimate defense and ultimate offense. The Bulls are so good defensively that they can play 1-on-1 with any team. If the opponent gets past the defender, Wallace is there in the paint to block the shot. They are the most complete team because they usually lead the league in points off turnovers. That means they'll have a block or a steal, that leads to a pass and then a layup or 3-pointer. There's no sequence that sums up basketball more than that. To accomplish that, it take 5 moving parts. They just wouldn't have that with Bryant.

No Deal!

"There's not a deal done. There's not going to be a deal done. All the things that were out there were really unfair to all of us who were trying to do our jobs. The misinformation ... I think gets in the way of the process. It's just such a complicated thing and we kind of put it to rest now."
- John Paxson

I think I need that kind of address from Paxson every once in a while. It's a shame that he has to do it because of the way the media bloats things in their reports. This came at a good time because Gordon & Deng were not given new contracts this year... that will be on hold 'til next season. I guess they just want to see how things turn out this year.

From the public's point of view, Bryant on the Bulls is a guaranteed ring. But in reality, the Bull's status quo is better than Kobe & his Lakers, have been better for the past few years and are getting better each season. Gordon, Deng and Hinrich are increasing all of their stats each year. There's no bad press about any of the Bulls. They just workout all day and stay out of trouble. They will get a championship someday if they stay together. Adding Bryant will surely make them as bad as the Lakers. Also, Kobe in the East has to face real defense. His average will go down. Sending Gordon west will make him a 30-point player.

Opening Night

Just before the game, a 3-way deal between Chicago, Sacramento and LA fell through. Much to my delight, Wallace, Deng, Gordon & Hinrich started on the floor against the Nets. We dodged another Kobe bullet. As usual, we lost to the Nets on their homecourt, but was just glad to see the team out there, intact and deep. Out of all the offseason moves, we just lost PJ Brown & Malik Allen. In return, we got Joe Smith and Joakim Noah... some good improvements. The rest of the guys are still around.

For whatever reason, the Bulls continue to have trouble with Jason Kidd and the Nets. They were able to shutdown Carter, but everyone else stepped up. Gordon caught fire late in the game and forced an overtime, but the Nets were better in the clutch.

It's extremely important that the Bulls don't get off to a slow start this year especially because of the Bryant rumors. I'm afraid that a trade might go through if they're not doing well after the first 15 games or so. The Sixers are next on Friday.

Los Angeles Yankees

Former Red Sox Manager, Grady Little resigned as manager of the LA Dodgers. With an open position, it was only natural for the Dodgers to go after the best... Joe Torre. It's not a done deal yet as they're still interviewing (who else could possibly top Torre?), but imagine the possibilities if and when this goes through. Don Mattingly would become the bench coach. Larry Bowa would become the 3rd base coach. LA would make a bid for A-Rod. Who knows... maybe Posada, Rivera and Pettitte could follow. To stretch it even further, I'm sure Torre could even get Bernie Williams out of retirement.

The Dismantling Begins

There was a lot of Yankees activity in the past 2 days, taking away some of the spotlight from the Red Sox's World Series victory. A-Rod decided to opt-out of his contract and become a free agent. I get a sense that it's his agent, Scott Boras making all of the decisions and it's all about money. Teams are always likely to overpay, which means A-Rod is gone next year. This could certainly affect the decisions of the other players if they feel there's less of a chance to win a ring.

Today, Girardi was named as manager of the Yankees. I was really surprised that they didn't go with Mattingly. A disappointed Donnie Baseball mentioned that he would not be returning to the coaching staff next season. Mattingly was Torre's apprentice, so maybe choosing Girardi was another parting shot to Torre. Again, this could possible affect the other free agents. All the players got along with Girardi, but we don't know if they favored Mattingly for manager or not.

So far things aren't looking too good. If the Yanks don't have A-Rod, I actually think they still have a chance to do well. The negative I see is the possible affect on the guys that really matter. We need the core of Rivera, Posada and Pettitte... the champs.

Torre's Shoes

The interviews are over. Who will it be? Don Mattingly? Joe Girardi? or Tony Pena? The decision could come as early as tomorrow and an announcement on Tuesday. I'm betting that they'll go with Mattingly because he's by far the most popular of the 3 as a player. I think they should choose Girardi though. He has the most managerial experience and knows the game better than anybody. It's easy to pick that up if you listen to him as a YES Network broadcaster.

After this is over, the Yankees organization still has to deals with expiring contracts. Their season ended a while ago, but yet so much excitement this autumn!

Tech Deals of the Week (10/28-11/3)

D-Link Skype USB Phone Adapter for $24.99 @ Amazon
The DPH-50U is an adapter for your conventional phone for use with Skype. Amazon has the lowest price on this product ($49.99 - $25 mail-in rebate). It's a pretty economical way to go, especially if you have an existing cordless phone. The rebate offer lasts through 10/31, so there's just a few days left!

Logitech VX Revolution for $39.99 @ Office Depot
This is the lowest in-store price for the best notebook mouse ever created! I purchased one of these a while back for $35.99, but had to pay shipping. This offer has a $20 mail-in rebate.

Logitech VX Nano for $49.99 @ Office Depot
This is the successor to the VX Revolution. So far, this is the only wireless mouse that has a short dongle. It's an ambidextrous mouse, so it's a little less ergonomic that the Revolution. This is the same rebate offer as the above item.

500 GB Maxtor Hard Drive for $99.99 @ CompUSA
This price is pretty good if you need a huge hard drive. It's not quite the same rate as the $400 GB for $49.99 back in September, but that was extremely rare.

Unidentified Flying Chickens

Visits: 10+

We continue to get stuff here for family occasions. Usually it's the standard soy-garlic flavor, but tonight we tried out the sweet & spicy flavor. It's just OK... nothing special. We all still prefer the soy-garlic or hot & spicy described in my initial post. The sweet & spicy had the texture of sweet & sour Chinese chicken, but had a light spicy flavor to it. Next on the list... spicy mustard!