J. Parr vs. Z. Dominik

The Contender: Asia - Season 1, Episode 11

No matter what, Zidov can't beat John Wayne. Even if an angel came down to help him. A miracle can't help him. He won't be able to do anything to John Wayne. Zidov will get knocked out.
- Yodsaenklai Fairtex

Sure enough, that's exactly what happened. This match was the equivalent of Mike Tyson fighting some high school kid and was probably the most lopsided one since episode 1. John Wayne Parr pretty much did whatever he wanted to and hit with almost everything. Zidov was neither fast enough or strong enough to face his opponent. I think he only hit Parr with one shot that didn't do much. Parr attacked with everything including spinning back kicks and amazing counterattacks and landed everything! Zidov really advanced to this round because of an injury to Zach. He probably had no chance facing any of the guys that advanced, not that Zach could've done anything against JWP though.

Tech Deals of the Week (3/30-4/5)

Flash Sales
- 4 GB SanDisk @ Best Buy for $29.99
- 4 GB PNY @ Staples for $27.98
- 8 GB PNY @ Staples for $49.98
- 4 GB SanDisk @ Radio Shack for $29.99
- 8 GB SanDisk @ Radio Shack for $59.99

Western Digital 750 GB Ext. HDD @ Best Buy for $159.99
This is almost as low as the Black Friday 500 GB for $100.... just $10 over the same $/GB rate.

Acer 22" Widescreen LCD & Office Depot for $229.99
This is even lower than the last price I posted in February.

Western Digital 500 GB HDD @ Office Depot for $99.99
This internal drive hits my $.20/GB rate and it's one of those "green" drives.

Seagate 750 GB Ext. HDD @ Office Depot for $149
This is lower than the Western Digital above and hits my $.20/GB GB rate.

Clockwork Apple: The Chairsmith

This character is a little different than the other Clockwork Apple characters. The Chairsmith doesn't have a fixed daily pattern, but I wanted to give him an entry because this is someone I've run across on different occasions aboard 3 different train lines! On 3 different weekends, I've been on the same car as this hardworking chair repair specialist. The Chairsmith is a large, chubby black man and always carries a chair with him... a different one each time. He offers personal service and delivers the chairs himself across all of the boroughs.

Miss Video Game Top 10

I enjoy talking to Hanna because she starts some of the most interesting conversations that either open my mind to new things or confirm that my weird way of thinking is normal. We were talking about video games one day and she mentioned that she had "silly video game crushes" on some characters when she was a kid. Inspired by that, here's my list of top 10 favorite video game girls!

1. Anna Zirski from Phantasy Star II
2. Yuri Sakazaki from Art of Fighting
3. Mai Shiranui from Fatal Fury
4. Alys Bragwin from Phantasy Star IV
5. Tyrus Flare from Golden Axe
6. Blaze Fielding from Streets of Rage
7. Chun Li from Street Fighter II
8. Alys Landale from Phantasy Star
9. Yuko Ahso from Valis
10. Samus Aran from Metroid

Important Win

The Bulls pulled off an important win against the Hawks, who are leading them by a couple of games for the final playoff spot. Let's put it this way... it's a team that they should beat. If they blew the lead on this one, I would suspect "tanking!" I don't feel that the Bulls will get to the 8th seed, but I just want to see them play all the way through and be true to their hardworking culture. With that said, Gooden was the hero tonight with 31 points & 16 rebounds. For the first couple of minutes in the 1st quarter, he had all of the Bull's points and was totally in the zone. Hinich had 14 and dished out 10 assists. Deng and Gordon put up their usual double figures. Even Noah had 13! That was Bulls basketball. They took the lead and were able to maintain it, withstanding the Hawks' best punch. This of course also means that they'll lose the next two... hopefully not, but this season's a mess. Go Bulls!

Recruiters R Tools

Spring is the beginning of the life cycle in nature... and it also seems to be the beginning of the life cycle for those tools we know as recruiters in the corporate world. Salespeople tend to sugarcoat their products to fool customers into buying, but there's no bigger lying scumbag, crook than a recruiter. It's beyond me why companies hire them. They have to pay them a fee on top of the salary of the potential employee. The recruiter gets to sugarcoat both the job and the candidate, in turn lying to both parties. In the end, an unqualified worker could end up working at a nightmare job.

I had one of these call me the other day and he was totally sugarcoating the position. It was a job that looked interesting, but it was for less money, a less reputable company, less vacation time and worse products. Yet this tool was trying to make it sound great... how I could make the equivalent to my salary within a year. Now why would I do that? Why would I walk backwards only to be where I am now in a year. And he wanted a Word version of my resume (I gave him a PDF), so that he could edit it (and lie to the employer).

Tech Deals of the Week (3/23-3/29)

CompUSA Update
I passed by earlier this week and there was a cheap paper sign that said something along the lines of "We're closed and have sold everything in the store." That was very vague. There was no mention about a re-opening date at all. So there's either no time table for it or Systemax re-evaluating which locations they want to re-open. On their website, they list the stores that have re-opened, nationwide. For us NYers, we'll just have to wait, but should pay attention to Grand Opening dates listed on the website because some prices could carry over to the Web store. In their newsletter, prices are pretty good on flash drives, LCDs and some barebones kits.

Flash Sales
- 4 GB Sony @ Circuit City for $29.99
- 4 GB PNY @ Best Buy for $29.99
- 8 GB PNY @ Circuit City for $49.99
- 8 GB PNY @ CompUSA for $47.48*
- 8 GB Transcend @ CompUSA for $47.48*

Radio Shack Deals
Everything I listed last week is still valid this week.

* I added $7.49 for shipping. It's only worth it to buy the 8 GB models at this point unless you buy multiple items.

S. Wright vs. J. "Yukay" Karlsson

The Contender: Asia - Season 1, Episode 10

Another great 2nd round match, following the Fairtex battle in episode 9. Both fighters gave each other hard hits. The 1st round started out with Sean & Yukay just trading blows... mostly hard single hits. Sean appeared to be in trouble after a hard straight punch to the head, but he came back and hurt Yukay's leg and then knocked the wind out of him. The 2nd round started out with excitement as there was more of the same. Yukay landed some combos, but they just didn't do enough damage. Sean continued to hit hard anbd eventually took out Yukay's left leg.

This was an interesting match to see because both fighters really remained hidden during the first round. Sean quickly dispatched the American fighter and Yukay had that short knockout match against Pitu. This match allowed both fighters to show their skills.

Good Friday

The commute was nice today... streets less crowded... empty seats on subways... even some closed shops. It's because most of the Christians were observing Good Friday... the most solemn day in the calendar. It's beyond me why they take the day off though. If the day is about suffering and being solemn, why not just go to work? That way two things can be taken care of... observance of the suffering and getting something done! If Christians want to take a day off, why not do it on Easter Monday instead. That way they could spend the free time celebrating the Resurrection instead of being all sad and burning a vacation day to do it.

Related Links: Church Year, New Advent, Wikipedia

Building IDs

My office is so hardcore about security that there's a whole department for it. They run fire drills and give presentations about terrorist attacks. The problem is, our security is so bad. It's pretty easy to get into the building. It starts with our low quality building IDs that consist of terrible webcam photos of the employee. It's so lo-res that there are enough distortions to cause a negative identification. The other thing is the guards don't really look. I have my ID in a removable sleeve in my wallet. On the opposite side of that sleeve is my driver's license. One day, I accidentally placed it in my wallet the wrong way. I didn't notice it for about 3 weeks. So for that period of time, I was flashing my driver's license instead of my building ID and security was letting me in. The building ID is mostly black & gold while my driver's license is pink, white & light blue. They look nothing alike!

I did another test just for fun. Since the quality of my building ID is so poor, I wanted to use a more updated photo of myself. So I scanned the ID, pasted a better photo over the lo-res one and I also changed my name to "McLovin." I then inserted the fake ID over the real one in my wallet and have been using it for about 2 weeks now.

Related Links: Make Your Own McLovin ID, Subway Tales: "Random" Searches

Tanking

There's been a lot of talk about "tanking" lately, especially now since it's playoff race time. "Tanking" means to purposely lose games so that a team can get a higher draft pick. The Knicks have been accused of it recently and their actions were obvious. Two nights ago, they were in a close game with the Pacers... a tie at 83. With several minutes left in the 4th quarter, they benched Jamal Crawford, their leading scorer and best 4th quarter player. They also benched Zach Randolph, their second best player. They ended up losing by double-digits as Indiana made a big "4th quarter run."

The Bulls are also having a terrible season. It would be easy for them to "tank it" and fake some injuries. They don't have a real coach and they keep getting into team slumps. But they're preserving the integrity of the game by still playing hard. They play every minute... otherwise they wouldn't be squeezing out wins. Their young guys know that they need to build up a good reputation so they're giving it their best for the minutes they receive. Honestly, it's unlikely that they'll inch into the 8th seed. You can't do that by winning 1 game for every 2 losses. But I believe in fighting until the very end. The 8th seed doesn't even mean much other than a 1st round sweep by the Celtics.

Teams that get caught "tanking" should get penalized in the draft and those that play hard should get bonus points. I know it would be hard to regulate something like that, but that's the way it should be. Players get paid to play no matter how bad their record is. They make more money than the average person. So they should always play hard.

Chicago Celtics Rout NJ Nets

The green St. Patrick's Day uniforms might have failed to bring luck yesterday, but they did their job today as the Bulls played like the Celtics today. It was a rare win against their nemesis, NJ Nets. They took off in the 2nd quarter, leading by as much as 25 points. Like many of their recent games, the points were up. Rebounds and assists were there also. The difference tonight was the defense. There were 7 blocks and a lot of points off turnovers. That's the way Bull's basketball should be. They pestered the Nets into messing up. The Nets made runs during the 3rd quarter and beginning of the 4th, but the Bulls were able to keep composure and snuff them out. They did that by driving to the basket. Teams tend to review tapes after losses, but the Bulls should play this one over and over so that it gets programmed into their heads. This is how they should play every night.

Signs of Grimlock

A while back, I read a very early preview of Transformers 2 in Wizard. Well... that's what was advertised on the outer packaging. It was actually an interview with Michael Bay about which characters he was interested in that might make an appearance in the second movie. So he laid out his ideas, but nothing confirmed or guaranteed. It was well known that they were trying to get Soundwave into the first one as he was a fan favorite as a toy and in the cartoon. Bay also mentioned the Arcee, triplechangers, dinobots and constructacons.

Recently, there has also been this Verizon commercial playing with Michael Bay blowing stuff up. There were clips of Transformers on his TV and at the end of the commercial, there's a T-Rex skeleton out in the yard. Could this be a sign that Grimlock will be one of the characters in Transformers 2? I would love to see a modern, realistic construction of him as well as the other dinobots.

Stung

The Bulls played well again and even had a comfortable lead coming into the 4th quarter. Gordon had 31 off the bench. Gooden had a double double. Deng and Hughes were also in double digits. There wasn't much from the other players, but that's not why they lost tonight. The went through yet another 4th quarter shutdown. Chris Paul was unstoppable on the other end... or it was more like poor defense. The Hawks won their game tonight, moving another game ahead. The Bulls don't really deserve the 8th seed this time around. This is not typical of their game play when compared to their amazing 2nd half runs of the past 3 years. They're going in the opposite direction this year.

22 in a Row!

The Rockets were on a historic 21-game winning streak going into today. Many thought it would end against the Lakers, but they kept it going even with an off-game from McGrady (11 points). I guess when a team has won that many in a row, they just forget how to lose. Alston and Head came up big in this game. Scola and Motumbo made some great defensive plays, limiting Bryant to 24 and shutting down the rest of the team. At the beginning of the year, I thought Francis would be the missing piece to this team because he was supposed to fill a weak point guard position, but Alston really stepped up and improved this year. He deserves the starting role. So the streak stayed alive today at 22, the 2nd longest streak in NBA history. On top of that, they now have sole possession of the best record in the West. The most amazing thing about the streak is Yao was only available for the first half of it. The Lakers were left baffled and Bryant teary-eyed... beautiful! I love it! Go Rockets!

Tech Deals of the Week (3/16-3/22)

CompUSA Update
I haven't walked into the store since the last post, but based on the email newsletter I get, there are signs of hope. They have a few products with good prices now... flash drives, wireless networking and some computer systems.

Flash Sales
After the release of the popular iPhone, we experienced a brief period of hiked flash prices, but they've dropped again and we're seeing frequent sales. So I'm making a new rule. I'm going to post 4 GB or larger drives that are $7.50/GB or lower (without rebates). There are often drives from Online stores that are lower than my cutoff rate, but they have shipping charges and are usually made by less reputable companies.
- 8 GB SanDisk @ Best Buy or Circuit City for $59.99
- 4 GB Kingston @ Circuit City for $27.99
- 8 GB PNY @ Staples for $49.98
- 4 GB PNY @ Staples for $24.98
- 8 GB Ativa @ Office Depot for $59.99
- 4 GB SanDisk @ Office Depot or Radio Shack for $29.99

Targus Gravity Backpack @ Staples for $9.98
This is the gray version of the Targus Groove I featured a number of times last year. It's a steal at $9.98 (after $33 instant savings and $7 rebate). It's great both as an everyday bag or a laptop case.

Seagate 500 GB Ext. HDD @ Office Depot for $109.99
This is pretty rare low price a half-terabyte external drive. We saw this only once before since Black Friday.

Battery Charger w/ 2 AA @ Radio Shack for $19.99
This is great to have if you have wireless devices or digital cameras that use AA batteries.

Digital Concepts 51-in-1 Reader @ Radio Shack for $12.99
I didn't even know there were 51 flash card type! Anyway, it's pretty safe to say that this drive can read 'em all for just $12.99.

iPod Nano @ Radio Shack w/ $10 Gift Card
If you're in the market for a Nano, walk into Radio Shack and have them ring this up and give you the gift card. Then have them ring you up again with a Nano case so you can use your card. It doesn't sound like much, but you have to take whatever discount you can get when dealing with Apple products.

Y. Fairtex vs. N. Fairtex

The Contender: Asia - Season 1, Episode 9

The 2 Thai fighters went at it for the first episode of the 2nd round. In my opinion, these are the 2 best out of the 16 and should really be in the finals match. The 1st round was already action-packed. Both fighters got some good hits in. Yodsaenklai even got knocked down. Then he came back with a flurry at the end of the round. Naruepol was only saved by the bell, but he couldn't stop the inevitable and got knocked out early in the 2nd round. This match was exciting because only a Thai fighter could hurt another Thai fighter. Both Fairtex guys looked invincible in the elimination round, but were able to hurt each other in this match.

Truly a Coin Toss

The Sixers had a better record, but I still expected the Bulls to pull this one off. Deng, Gooden, Hughes, Hinrich and Sefolosha were all great in this game with double-digit points. Team rebounds and assists were also high and the Bulls had an 18-point lead at one point. Somehow they were unable to stop a late run by the Sixers. It's funny how they used to beat up on this team while it had Allen Iverson. And now they can't? This game can get filed away with any of the recent ones that involved random wins and losses. They beat Cleveland and Utah, but lose to the Pistons and Sixers? Maybe this means they can pull out a win against the Hornets on Monday. They're running out of time to get on the same page!

Subway Tales: Working Solo

The train was a little bit late this morning and everyone tried to squeeze on. Naturally, the doors tried to close as more people were trying to get in. The alert sounded several times as the doors opened and closed.

CONDUCTOR: There's another train DI-rectly behind this one. If you don't let the doors close, the train won't move and nobody goes to work... EXCEPT ME!

That was great! If more MTA employees made comments like that, they should make a new TV series called "NYCT Blues!"

Bulls and all that Jazz

The Bulls games are really toss-ups this year. They beat the Cavs, a team that they've always had trouble with. They didn't show up to the Celtics game and they lost to the Pistons... a team they owned this season. They were on fire tonight against a Jazz team they were supposed to lose against. Okur & Williams were still great as they put up double-doubles, but the Bulls were able to contain Boozer. Scoring was no problem as we had 6 players in double figures. This time the rebounds and assists were also there. Gooden led the way with 24. Gordon added 19 off the bench and surpassed Michael Jordan in 3-pointers made. It was great to have Thabo & Tyrus back as they combined for 21 points. The 76ers are next on Friday. I think I'll toss my coin now!

Gigaware Retractable USB 2.0 Hub

I've been using the USB hub that I bought last week on an older laptop... one that had only a single USB port. It's a low power hub because there's no port for a 5v adapter and there's only one source USB plug. So I decided to stress test it by plugging in 4 devices. To my surprise, it was able to take it. I had a mouse, 2 flash drives and a game controller connected. All devices worked fine and had full performance. The retractable cord is very convenient and neat. It's perfect for any laptop because it can be easily packed without fumbling around with cords. It's still available this week for $9.99 @ Radio Shack.

Sampras vs. Federer

Sampras vs. Federer at MSG was a nice treat in the middle of a bad basketball season. I watched that over the Nets/Rockets & Knicks/Mavs games. It was good to see Pete Sampras in action again and he was actually in great shape. His serve was still there and he's still very accurate. He just couldn't run around like he used to. It was no surprise that Federer won (3-6, 7-6, 6-7) but very much a surprise that the match was so close. It went to 3 sets with 2 tiebreaks. Sampras was able to keep up by gambling a lot. He played the net a lot, knowing he wouldn't be able to recover and get back in time. Most of those gambles paid off. What a great show by both champs!

Failed to Sweep

The Bulls took the previous 3 games this year, but with last night's loss, failed to complete the season sweep of the Pistons. That was extremely disappointing because the Pistons seemed to be the one team that we could beat this year. The offense was there as 6 players scored in double figures, led by Gordon's 27 (nearly perfect shooting) off the bench. Deng added 21. Rebounds were a bit low and so were assists. Failure to defend Detroit was the cause of the loss though. I felt like they shot 100% in the 4th quarter. It's a shame because Rasheed Wallace was out of the lineup and he was the guy that would consistently do well against us. Hinrich got into foul trouble, so he wasn't on the floor most of the time to defend against Hamilton. And of course there were injuries. Thabo was still out and we all know what a great job he does shutting down Hamilton. I would've played Hinrich some more if I were coaching. The guys on the floor weren't getting it done defensively. I would've played Hinrich until he fouled out. It would've been a closer game that way and maybe even a win. The Bulls were wearing the black pinstripe uniforms, but it failed to bring them luck this time around.

Weekend Savings

We just had our first early daylight savings today. While I think it does help a little with the energy savings, I wish the switchover time was different. With the official cutover at 2am Sunday morning, most people end up shortening their Saturday nights or losing an hour of sleep. Why can't the switchover be Monday afternoon at 4pm? That bonus hour off could raise employee morale. There are 5 weekdays and only 2 days in a weekend. It makes more sense to take an hour away from a weekday. Then in the Fall, an hour should be added to a weekend. I'm calling not only for daylight savings, but weekend savings. Anyone with me!?

Tech Deals of the Week (3/9-3/15)

There's a bit of a drought this week, but a few items from last week are carrying over. All of the prices I listed last week for Radio Shack are still valid for this week. The Samsung 245 BW is also still available @ Buy.com for $409.99. The shipping is still free (which is the deal breaker), but I don't know how long it will last.

SFII Casting: Alternates

The honorable mentions for my Street Fighter II casting call:

Jean-Claude Van Damme as Guile
I don't fault Van Damme for the 2004 movie. He didn't write or direct it. I think he played a great Guile and was able to do the somersault kick (aka jackknife).

William Fichtner as Guile
As I mentioned in my previous post, his character, Willie Sharpe in Armageddon looked a lot like Guile. He's got the military role down and has the right look.

Hakim Alston as Deejay
This guy has the kickboxing moves and the hair to be Deejay. It was pretty much a toss up between him and Snipes. I just went with Snipes because he's a little wider. Alston has more of a thin, cut body.

Paco Christian Prieto as Vega
This was the villain in Only the Strong. Prieto kind of looks like Vega, but he's a little too bulky and wouldn't be able to move the way David Belle does.

Ving Rhames as Balrog
He played a champion boxer in Undisputed and has the big body for it. Michael Jai White is just the better overall fighter.

Christopher Judge as Balrog
Judge has a big and powerful upper body like Balrog, but again, Jai White is a better fighter. Balrog in the later iterations of Street Fighter II has more than just punches. He does headbutts and low arm sweeps (which Jai White demonstrated in Undisputed II.

No Chance for Triple

Now that I'm back, I'm not going to boycott anymore... otherwise it would already be the end of the season because I don't think the Bulls are going to win 2 in a row again. It's just mind-boggling how the entire team can slump all at once. It's contagious. I think if there was a blockbuster trade and LeBron James became a Bull at the deadline, it wouldn't improve the team. James would just catch the disease and become a 30% shooter. Realistically, I didn't expect them to beat the Celtics, but I didn't think they'd lose by 20... not after the effort they showed last night against Cleveland. At least the Nets lost tonight also, so the Bulls remain 1 game out of the 8th seed.

J. "Yukay" Karlsson vs. J. "Pitu" Sans

The Contender: Asia - Season 1, Episode 8

Yukay and Pitu were the last 2 fighters in the 1st round. So there were no competitions in this episode because there was no one left to choose. John Wayne Parr had to leave the team because of the shingles. That's noteworthy because it meant that the red corner couldn't benefit from his coaching wisdom. It likely had an effect too because this was the shortest match of the competition... a 1st round knockout by Yukay. This wasn't really an exciting episode... just a closeout for the elimination round... finishing up leftover business.

Finally a Double!

I'm finally back to talking about the Bulls games as they just had their first 2-game winning streak of 2008! Though their first game was a win against the lowly Grizzlies, tonight's victory was against their division rival and nemesis Cavaliers. It was the vintage Bulls tonight as they had 6 players in double figures, led by Gordon and Deng with 23 each. Hinrich had 7 assists. Noah had 20 rebounds... better than any rebound total Ben Wallace had this year! On the Cavalier's side, LeBron James remained on fire after his 50-point performance against the Knicks. He had 39 tonight and was unstoppable in the first half, hitting a buzzer beater each quarter. The Bulls were able to contain him in the second half and none of the other Cavs picked up the slack. This is how the Bulls need to play every night. Gordon attacked with a variety of offensive skills, firing 3's and cutting to the basket. He needs to keep cutting and not worry about getting hacked because of his 90%+ free throws. Hinrich needs to jack up shots too. Deng looked a little clumsy tonight as he fumbled the ball a few times and was blocked a few times, but he managed to still get 23! Since Noah can't score, he has to have Rodman-like rebound numbers. Hughes and Gooden are great for keeping the team poised and filling in the blanks. Nocioni, who has been somewhat consistent continues to provide some spark off the bench.

Noteworthy: In the game against the Grizzlies, Captain Kirk had 4 blocks! All the guys were teasing him about that after the game. Gordon joked that they gave him "4 for 1." Gooden said that "it's bad when your point guard gets more blocks than your center." On King James' 50-point game, Charles Barkley said that it's really "37 because it was against the Knicks!"

Disturbing Voice

The gas pumping jock I mentioned last year has another odd habit that has developed over the past 2 years. When he goes over to talk to his boss, his tough guy, football player voice automatically switches over to this super feminine, soft, girly voice. It's so unbelievably opposite from his normal voice that it's really disturbing. He does that at least twice a day... first thing in the morning and then in the afternoon. He opens the conversation with the girliest possible "hi-iii" you can imagine. Thank God I never saw his face while he's done this... and I never want to. It's so creepy! The morning trip is usually about non-work related topics. The afternoon trip is somewhat work-related, but non-productive because it consists mostly of the jock apologizing for his multiple daily blunders... and his manager forgiving him each time. Maybe that soft voice he uses actually serves a purpose!

Maserati GTS

The Maserati website lets you configure the cars, but doesn't output a realtime price. Anyway, all of the options are either color or material, so they probably won't change the price much. The GranTurismo costs about $125,000. For that price, you get a 405 hp 4.2 L V8 engine and 6-speed semi-automatic transmission. The 32 valve V8 goes all the way up to 7,500 rpm and has a max torque of 339 lb/ft. It can go from 0-60 in 5.1 seconds and has a top speed of 177 mph.

The Maserati GranTurismo is on a different level than the other cars I've reviewed and configured and it's not something I would ever consider owning even if I had that kind of money. So what's it doing here? Well, the other day I actually saw one here in the city... the last place it should be. It was just parked on the street too! Who does that? If I had this car and I had to bring it into the city one day, I would put in in the best parking lot around.

Samsung 245BW for $409.99 @ Buy.com

This 24" widescreen monitor just dropped in price this week. If you need a large monitor, it's a great time to buy. Most places sell this for around $500. Buy.com has it for $459.99. There's a $50 mail-in rebate. It's been like that for a few weeks now, but here's the difference... there's free shipping right now if you selec the budget option. This is not always available and saves $29.99 that you would normally get charged. The reviews are generally pretty good for this model. It's not as good as the Dell Ultrasharp of the same size, but probably the best monitor @ 24" for its price. I have a Samsung LCD TV (2 years old) and a 17" monitor (4 years old) at work and am happy with both.

Related Links: Amazon (for comparison), Buy.com, Samsung

Sandwich or Meal

My order at McDonald's today:

Cashier: Can I help you?

Azrael: I'll have the Mushroom/Swiss Angus meal, please.

Cashier: Do you want the meal or just the sandwich?

Azrael: .......

9" Eee PC is Getting Real

Earlier today, Engadget posted photos of the next Eee PC... the previously rumored 9" model. Asus is still being vague about the release date... 1st half of 2008... so anytime between now and June. I'm hoping the competing models from Acer and Gigabyte beat Asus to the punch. Maybe it'll help lower the price. It's still not bad at the projected $600. It costs more than a Celeron laptop, but if you factor in the portability, it's a great price. Remember, this system is for a mobile user that needs to be able to do the basics... it's not a gaming machine like the Dell XPS 13" laptop. It's not as powerful as the Macbook Air, but it's also not $3,000+!

It's amazing when I look through the years and remember all of the different devices that came out that tried to be an ultraportable PC... there were the palmtops, tablets, super PDAs, OQO and UMPCs. None of these ever became a standard due to some missing feature or high price tag. That's how sensitive the market is. I think the Eee PC will be successful though. It has the right combination of features to attract the neeeds of most people. It's small enough to encourage carrying around. It comes standard with flash memory for quick startup and durability. Because it's a full-fledged computer, it's a lot more powerful than a PDA and doesn't cost much more than the top of the line ones. Price is the biggest factor with their entry-level Surf models starting at $299.

Related Links: 7-inch Eee PC vs 9-inch Eee PC, Asus Eee PC, Hands-on with the 9-inch Eee PC

An Even Worse SF Interpretation

I thought Chun Li being played by a half-Asian was bad. There was an even crappier Street Fighter movie made in Korea where all of the characters are Korean. That means Ken... Balrog... everyone. It's so bad that I don't even want to embed the clip because it would dirty my blog. If you wish, click here and view at your own risk. If movie makers can't make Street Fighter accurate, they should just stay away from the theme. Maybe Street Fighter is best suited to be an Anime. That way it's 100% accurate. The best interpretation so far was Street Fighter II The Movie, a Japanese animation. Everything that came out after that was a step down.

Tech Deals of the Week (3/2-3/8)

CompUSA Update
I dropped by CompUSA again just to check the progress and as of last Thursday, the only part of the store that's stocked with products is the hall before the cash registers. There are still no spectacular prices on anything. I'm also subscribed to their newsletter and they're now sending out emails with deals from "The New CompUSA." Again... nothing that great. So far, both the closeout sale and "The New CompUSA" are worse than the old CompUSA. If you want proof, just click on the "Technology" tab of this blog and looks at the prices I used to list for them each week. You'll find that nothing they're selling now comes close.

Flash Sales
- 4 GB SanDisk @ Staples for $29.99
- 8 GB SanDisk @ Staples for $59.99
- 4 GB SanDisk @ Radio Shack $29.99
- 8 GB SanDisk @ Radio Shack for $59.99
- 4 GB Geek Squad @ Best Buy for $29.99
- 4 GB Ativa @ Office Depot for $29.99

Rechargeable Batteries @ Radio Shack
- 2 AA for $4.99
- 4 AA for $9.99
- Charger w/ 4 AA & 4 AAA for $29.99

Logitech V400 Cordless Laser Mouse for $14.99 @ PC Richard
This is a great price for a cordless laser mouse that has a tilt wheel and extra buttons.

SanDisk Mobile Memory Card Reader for $9.99 @ Radio Shack
This portable card reader is the size of a flash drive, yet it has slots for all memory cards.

Gigaware 4-port Retractable USB Hub for $9.99 & Radio Shack
This is similar to last week's, but it's retractable and even more portable!

Sword of Azrael: 200802

"Know that men call you liar! Know that men call you betrayer! Know that men call you defiler! Therefore, it is the duty of the angel Azrael to bring you punishment... the punishment of death by fiery sword!"
-Azrael

Death by Fire: It's appropriate that I'm posting this now because today is also the funeral of the 3 children drowned by their mother last week. So the first fine goes to the mother, Leatrice Brewer who deserves death x3.

Slave Pit: Roger Clemens should get stripped of all titles and awards for cheating and get thrown in the slammer for his repeated lies. I wish Brian McNamee would also get locked up... what a tool! They should be cellmates!

Excommunication: This probably would've gone to a sales rep, but the cop I wrote about yesterday made an amazing last ditch effort to win this fine. This one goes out to Officer Nightstick.

Z. Dominik vs. K. Zaki

The Contender: Asia - Season 1, Episode 7

With another eliminated captain, the Wild Boars passed the duty onto to Zidov. The blue team won the competition this time around, so they went with their strategy of going for the weaker fighters. They sent Zidov against Zach. Based on what I saw of these two guys so far, I thought it would be a close match. Even though Zach was arguably the weakest Tiger King, I thought he was still better than many of the Wild Boars. When the bell rang, it was all Zach though. He hit, dodged and dominated Zidov for the entire 1st round and half of the second round until his left shoulder dislocated (an injury that was traced back to an episode 1 competition). Zidov ended up winning as Zach couldn't continue.