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.