Lenovo Ideapad

The Lenovo Ideapad is the best looking ultraportable laptop by far. It's glossy black (or red) with an artistic texture and blows away any laptop Apple ever designed. The Ideapad features a 1.6 Ghz Core 2 Duo, 11.1 "frameless" LED backlit screen, 2 GB RAM, 120 GB HDD, touch-sensitive panel, ext DVD burner, webcam and 4/7 cell batteries. The base configuration is already maxxed out. The purchasing process on Lenovo's site just takes you through accessories. The price for all of this is $1,899. That seems pretty high at first, but remember that everything is already maxxed out, you get 2 batteries and an external optical drive. There are only a few items that make this choice imperfect in my book:

• No SSD option
• RAM is a bit low... could use another GB
• No option to choose a single 7-cell battery

Western/Eastern Finals Update

The defending champs are in deep trouble as they find themselves down 3-1 to the Lakers. They actually did OK in game 4, but lost 93-91 on a controversial final play as Brent Barry was fouled by Derek Fisher at the 3-point line. It was a non-call and didn't even go to instant replay. Barry is a great freethrow shooter and would've at least made 2 of the 3 to force overtime. What made it more interesting is the non-call was made by Joey Crawford, the guy that threw out Tim Duncan for no reason and challenged him to a fight. The NBA really needs to investigate this incident because it could cost the Spurs a championship.

On the other coast, the Celtics took a 3-2 lead last night in a game that came down to the wire. They won 106-102. The Celtics had a comfortable lead for most of the game (17 at one point), but the Pistons fought all the way back to make it close, but couldn't convert in the final seconds. The final play was in the hands of the Pistons rookie, Rodney Stuckey. Down 3 and at the stripe, the plan was to make the first freethrow and miss the second in hopes of a rebound. It sounds simple, but for a rookie, the added pressure can only lead to one outcome. Stuckey missed the first shot (he made his previous 2 shots on his last trip to the line) and then made the 2nd one... Pistons ran out of time.

Leader's Influence

Sometimes a workgroup is only as good as its leader. I've seen many cases around the office where the actions and ethics of a manager translates down to the team he or she is in charge of. We work closely with in an external IT department in our Coast City office. The previous manager, Trevor was a hard worker and kept in touch with me from time to time even if we had no joint tasks together. We had a pretty good relationship. Everyone under him was also great to work with. If we needed assistance, we would get immediate responses. Trevor eventually got promoted and transferred to a different department. The guy that took over his position was the exact opposite. Charles was lazy, but pretended to be on top of things. He would send out the most clueless emails in response to server problems just to make it look like he was concerned and working on it. Even though the department still had the same makeup, all of the guys that report to Charles started losing their edge. They're now impossible to reach. When we leave messages for them, it takes them days to respond and sometimes they don't even call back! This was the same hardworking team led by Trevor! I guess some employees have weak personalities and just adopt the style of their leader.

Printer Inefficiencies

In the office, I try not to print things carelessly for environmental reasons. There are people around here that just print everything out... emails, attachments, drafts, etc. So I occasionally print out documents that I need to take into a meeting, but am often delayed. I send the document to the printer only to find that the paper tray is empty. So I then go over to the copier location to grab a ream of letter paper and load the printer... a total of 15 seconds. After closing the tray, the printer resumes, but my 1-page document doesn't come out. Instead, a 50-page short story gets spit out. Some idiot sent a huge file off to the printer and was too lazy to load the paper. He/she probably sent that same file to a different printer when it didn't come out of the first one. Because of this careless and lazy act, 100 pieces of paper were wasted instead of 50. And my time was wasted waiting for the short story to print ahead of my 1-page document.

Tech Deals of the Week (5/25-5/31)

CompUSA.com has some great deals this week. I'm featuring them because they really came back and reinvented themselves with competitive prices.

Lenovo Dual Core System @ CompUSA.com for $279.99
This price is a steal for a 1.6 Ghz dual core, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB HDD, DVD+RW and Vista Home Premium. I'm pretty happy with Lenovo as I've been using 2 of them for about 6 years at work. This model on sale also has a nice looking silver & black case with matching keyboard & mouse. This price is after a $100 rebate. [click here]

Everex Green System @ CompUSA.com for $199.99
This system includes a 1.5 Ghz Via C7 processor, 1 GB RAM, 80 GB HDD, combo drive and Vista Basic. It also comes with matching keyboard, mouse and speakers. There's no rebate! [click here]

Hard Drives
- Western Digital 500 GB Int. for $89.99 [click here]
- Seagate 500 GB Ext. for $99.99 [click here]

Erasing

"You've just been erased."
- John Kruger (Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Eraser)

That was John Kruger's line after saving a valuable witness and protecting them by "erasing" their identity. In modern times, we live a good portion of our lives on the Internet. Many of our friendships and interaction take place through instant messaging, email, community sites and SMS. While it allows us to reach out to people we would otherwise have a hard time keeping in touch, it also creates a barrier of seclusion. If one wished to cut off ties with another, it's as simple as erasing records. All we have to do is setup an email filter, block screennames and clear out address books. Everything is efficient and a few clicks away... that's cyberdumping.

Favorabulls

I wanted to get this out before any player moves happen. The Bulls had a very disappointing season given what they had built up during the previous 3 years. It's almost definite that they will undergo a big change over the Summer. I might be a minority here, but here's who I feel they should definitely hold on to:

Kirk Hinrich
This was probably the worst year of his short career so far, but I still think he's got some gifts as a ball handler. I felt he was thinking too much this year and wasn't playing naturally. He didn't seem to take enough shots and was looking to pass a bit too much. He needs to go back to shooting. His passing ability will always be there, but he just needs to let it come naturally. Getting his shooting percentage back up will gain him some confidence in other parts of his game.

Ben Gordon
His name comes up all the time in trade rumors. That's because he's the best player on the team. He always leads in scoring, is an amazing spark and has the guts to take the big shot. Many people feel that Hughes should be kept onboard in place of Gordon. Hughes is the guard the Bulls have been looking for physically... he's big and he can shoot. I prefer to choose based on ethics and principles. No one works harder than Gordon. He's dedicated, has a lot of heart and his personality type keeps him out of trouble. I think that's worth more than someone physically better. And remember, Hughes plays for fun... not for a ring. Gordon plays for both.

Luol Deng
Deng still has all of the tools of an all-star player. This year was obviously a setback, but I would judge him based on his 4 years total rather than just look at this year. Deng needs to go back to last year's strategy of taking higher percentage shots and delay working on 3-point range. He's good at driving to the basket, hanging in the air and adjusting his layup. He should keep doing that because the team desperately needs those moves when they go into a drought.

Andres Nocioni
With the exception of his extended injury last year, Noc has been consistent ever since he entered the league. He was pretty good this year despite the team slump. He's the best defensive player on the team.

These are my fav 4 players. The role players all have talent and potential, but I wouldn't be blown away if they got traded for equivalents or packaged for someone more established. In a future post, I'll go over what the Bulls are missing. To be continued.

Repeated Survey ?'s for 2008-05-22

A repeat of 2008-02-26, but with new answers...

1. When was the last time you took a nap? this afternoon
2. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? Mike
3. To text you? Jean
4. What are you doing tonight? NBA Playoffs, Yankees
5. What are you listening to? Wai Khru
6. What did you do over the weekend? NBA Playoffs
7. What did you have for breakfast? granola bar
8. Last book you read? Batman
9. Last thing you bought? cellphone armband
10. Last movie you saw: Tom Yum Goong

#1 Pick!

The Celtics took Game of the Eastern Conference Finals from Detroit, but the more important news from my point of view was the Bulls securing the #1 pick in the draft. Where do they get luck like this!? They were suppose to fall somewhere from 8-10. They got #1... ahead of the Knicks... Heat & Wolves who had much worse records! The Bulls still have some research to do... what position do they go for? Who's the best player? Also, the coaching opening is starting to look nicer. I wonder if D'Antoni is regretting the early signing with the Knicks.

Following Through

Last night, the defending champs followed through and finally knocked off the Hornets in Game 7. Duncan had a double-double... surprise, surprise. Ginobili lit things up with a game high 26 and Parker added 17. The Hornets actually shot a higher percentage and had more shot attempts, but the Spurs thrived from 3-point range and the stripe. The game got close at certain points. The Hornets made a few runs, but the Spurs were able to take their best punch and roll with it. It's no surprise to me that the champs came through. Many people judge the Spurs based on their regular season record, but they know better than any other team how to win the tough games in the post-season.

I'm breathing a sigh of relief. I always liked watching the Spurs play, especially Parker & Ginobili. But the other reason is I think they're more equipped for LA than the Hornets. Go Spurs! Beat LA!

Dethroned

The exciting Cleveland/Boston series capped off Game 7 with a thriller as it was close throughout. LeBron James had a game high 45, but it was Paul Pierce with 41 that was the hero. I'm not a fan of Pierce, so that was the main thing that bothered me. I wish it was Garnett or Allen that lead the way for the Celtics if it had to be the Celtics winning! So homecourt is playing out well for Boston right now as they are undefeated in the playoffs so far. The odd thing is that they have not won a single road game yet. With the Cavs eliminated, I have no preference for the Eastern conference. Both teams are capable of beating the Lakers (should they get past the Spurs or Hornets), so I just want to see a good Eastern Conference Finals.

The Cavaliers, although had a better team after the trades probably didn't have enough time to really gel with each other. They made the NBA Finals last year with a considerably worse team, but probably better chemistry. If they remain intact next year, they're going to be very powerful. James did everything he could in Game 7, but almost nothing came from his teammates. Aside from Delonte West's 15, everyone else was in single digits.

Tech Deals of the Week (5/18-5/24)

Flash sales
- 8 GB SanDisk @ Best Buy for $49.99
- 8 GB SanDisk @ Staples for $49.98
- 4 GB SanDisk @ Staples for $27.98
- 4 GB PNY @ Circuit City for $22.99
- 8 GB SanDisk @ Circuit City for $47.99
- 4 GB Centon @ CompUSA.com for $19.74

Flash Card Sales
- 2 GB PNY SD @ Staples for $14.98
- 2 GB PNY MicroSD @ Staples for $18.74
- 2 GB SanDisk SD @ Circuit City for $14.99

Philips 1080p Upconverting DVD Player @ Circuit City for $59.99
It's time to upgrade those DVD players, especially with the movement to those HD flat screen TVs. You'll notice that standard definition players look terrible on these new TVs. Something else to look out for is that the upconverting player should be 1080p to be best prepared for the future.

500 GB Seagate Ext. HDD @ Best Buy for $99.99
The standard $.20/GB ratio.

Lucky 7s

Yesterday, the Spurs forced a Game 7 after faltering in Game 5. The big 3 came through as Duncan had his usual double-double. Ginobili was the point leader with 25 and Parker added 15 more. The difference maker in this game was the assist-to-turnover ratio. The Hornets had 13 assists to 40 turnovers. The Spurs 28 to 45. Spurs got their scoring from the 3-point line... 11/21 for 52.4%.

Earlier tonight, the Cavaliers also forced a Game 7 against the Celtics. James had a big 2nd half, scoring 19 of his 32. Other than that, the rest of the scoring was spread out evenly. I'm glad James woke up after the earlier games in the series. This is more like him. He still hasn't had that breakout game yet. 32 points is a normal night for him. Hopefully we'll see something spectacular in Game 7.

So both of my teams are still alive and enjoying the home cooking. In their respective Game 7s, they're going to have to step up a level and finally get a road win.

Tigers Kings Manager - Part 2

Note: This post is just for fun and is written as if predicting the future was humanly possible. In reality, it's not fair to make judgements in hindsight.

Last time, I left off with Soren taking out Yukay in Episode 5. In the real Episode 6, Dzhabar beat David in a very close match. I would've picked this matchup as well... no change there. In Episode 7, Zidov won against Zach because of a shoulder injury. So there's nothing I could do about that. Zidov and the Wild Boars got off with a very lucky win.

In Episode 8, Yukay took out Pitu. If things played out with my mixing and matching, the two remaining fighters would be Alain & Pitu. Based on the way these 2 fought, I would say that Pitu would win this one.

In round 2, Yodsaenklai would beat Narupol... no change. Soren would eliminate Sean (instead of Sean beating Yukay). JWP would still beat Zidov. Dzhabar would beat Pitu.

In the semi-finals, Yodsaenklai would beat Soren and JWP would still beat Dzhabar... leading to the same Finale.

Fight Girls Revisited

I had high hopes for Fight Girls because I originally thought it was going to be like Contender: Asia. It only went to 7 episodes though. The first five were the 10 contestants battling it out for 5 spots against Thai fighters. The last 2 were the Thailand bouts. It would've been nicer to see a tournament style and have one or 2 finalists go to Thailand to face a true Thai champ. The Americans ended up winning 4 of the 5 fights against the Thais. That says to me that the show was rigged to make American Muay Thai look good. They probably hand-picked the 5 worst Thai fighters. In reality, the Thais are extremely hard to beat... like on a superhuman level. I guess that's what you get from an American-centric series. Contender: Asia was very international... 16 fighters from 12 countries. The demographics reflected each country's interest level, with Thailand and Australia leading the way.

Some positives about the show...

Of all of the fighters, I thought Miriam Nakamoto was the toughest and will likely be the most successful. Muay Thai is more about conditioning than technique. All of the girls had the right moves, but I felt that Miriam was the only one who could take a heavy hit.

Master Toddy is the real deal. Being from Las Vegas, he looks like a master buffet eater, but he's one of the best Muay Thai teachers in the world. His students' records speak for themselves.

The trainers Gina Carano & Lisa "Black Widow" King are also great fighters. Gina is one of the toughest female fighters out there. Lisa is multi-talented and is involved with every aspect of the fight business as well as modeling and being a mother. Both are students of Master Toddy.

MSI Wind

Right now, the MSI wind might be the best bang-for-buck Eee PC clone. I updated my spreadsheet with the latest specs. Previously, I estimated that it would be $700+ based on conversion, but it got cheaper during the overseas travel. For the full specs, click here. The configurations for the MSI Wind make more sense than the Eee PC because the more powerful configuration is for Windows XP. Asus for some odd reason beefed up the Linux version more. The one minus about the MSI is there is currently no SSD option. Otherwise, it would be the perfect portable. I might consider this one depending on how accessible they make the hard drive bay. If I bought this, I'd want to drop my own SSD in there.

Subway Tales: Tuna Can

There were major delays on today's train, so I made a point to keep track of all of the characters packed into the car like a can of tuna:

Pvt. Jackson felt the need to speak out loud to anyone near him. He also moved his bag off the seat next to himself so that someone else could sit down... and expected a "thank you."

Whinny was chatting away with her friend in a loud and squeaky voice... more annoying than the usual business guy on a cellphone.

Mrs Williams kept trying to squeeze herself onto the crowded train, almost begging people to make space for her. "I've been waiting for 20 minutes," she said. Some how, she made it in.

At the next stop, more people tried to squeeze in on the other side of the train. Raja exclaimed, "There's no more room you moron! Can't you understand physics and mathematics!?" That was the best moment because it's what I always think when trains get overcrowded. It's also related to diffusion.

Coaching Musical Chairs

I've read a lot of articles and message boards and it seems like many Bulls fans' immediate reaction to the Knicks hiring of D'Antoni was panic & disappointment. I kind of know what John Paxson is thinking though. He likely hesitated on this deal because he's gambling on Avery Johnson. The D'Antoni system isn't guaranteed to work with the Bull and much less with the Knicks. With NBA coaching jobs, every team always ends up with someone good at the end because many are fired from top teams that fail to advance. The Bobcats hired Larry Brown. Carlisle ended up with the Mavs. And Skiles went to the Bucks. Johnson, Jackson and Thibodeau are still in the poole... all good coaches.

Catching Up w/ the Playoffs

Round 2 has been just as interesting as Round 1 so far. New Orleans continued their hot streak. Knocking off the Mavs wasn't just a fluke. They came out and won the first 2 against the defending champion Spurs. I was getting worried because I'm routing for teams that can beat the Lakers and I believe the Spurs can. Luckily, the champs woke up and evened up the series.

Detroit leads Orlando 3-1, but it was a lot closer than what the win-loss column shows. Detroit took the first 2 games. Orlando came back and won the 3 game convincingly. Game 4 was down to the final shot, and the more experienced Pistons got the W off the winner by Prince. Game 4 was a gift because Billups didn't play. I can't se Orlando turning this series around.

I didn't really watch the first 2 games of Lakers vs. Jazz because I figured that the Lakers would just sweep their way through. But the Jazz played great in games 3 & 4 and tied things up. Game 4 yesterday was almost squandered away as they let Kobe get into the game during the 4th quarter.

The Celtics vs. Cavs series has me worried too. LeBron James hasn't played well so far... probably his worst playoff performance so far. Game 1 was close despite King Jame's drought. Game 2 was a blowout. Game 3 gave me hope. LeBron wasn't great, but his teammates really stepped up. Ben Wallace who nearly collapsed in Game 2 due to an allergic infection made an amazing recovery and helped out a lot especially in the first half. The Cavs have to make good use of their bench and play matchups. They have a similar problem to what the Bulls had to deal with in Ben Wallace being all-D. It means LeBron will always be double-teamed. That's OK, but when they have Varejao & Wallace on the floor at the same time, the Celtics can triple-team James.

Tech Deals of the Week (5/11-5/17)

CompUSA Update
It's a slow week of sales, so I'll write a little about CompUSA. They DID start relaunching some stores, but oddly, mostly in the South. There were 15 reopenings and 1 new store. Of the 16 total, 13 were in Florida. That's a pretty strange location. I can't imagine tourists and retired people would be into tech stuff! Anyway, this is good for us up North. No physical presence means no tax... so far. CompUSA is sort of becoming like a NewEgg or Directron, with lower parts prices. They're not quite there yet, but have some items low enough to compete with the other Web stores. Also noteworthy... 17 former CompUSA stores will become Best Buy.

Flash Sales
- 4 GB SanDisk @ Best Buy for $27.99
- 8 GB SanDisk @ Best Buy for $49.99
- 4 GB SanDisk Gator @ Radio Shack for $29.99

Dynex 50-Pack DVD+R @ Best Buy for $8.99
A rare DVD media sale.

Tigers Kings Manager - Part 1

Note: This post is just for fun and is written as if predicting the future was humanly possible. In reality, it's not fair to make judgements in hindsight.

In this fantasy scenario, I'm going to pick up from day 1 after the 2 teams were formed. So I would have no control over the first 2 matches because the Tiger Kings lost the challenges. So Trevor and James would still get eliminated in the beginning as the Wild Boars wasted 2 of their top fighters (Narupol & Sean) on our scrubs.

In the real Episode 3, John Wayne Parr picked Rafik Bakkouri to fight. Through the first 3 episodes, Rafik proved to be a pain in the butt, not only for the Tiger Kings, but also for his own team. Both JWP and Dzhabar really wanted a piece of him. It was decided that JWP would take care of this, fulfilling his duty as captain. In hindsight, Yodsaenklai would be the best fighter to use. Though JWP and Dzhabar were both capable of defeating Rafik, they were both too emotionally charged at the time, as seen by Parr's sloppy fight. Yodsaenklai had beaten Rafik before and he fights with a little less emotion than his 2 teammates.

So theoretically, if I used up Yod to kick out Rafik, I would have John Wayne Parr available still. I would use him up in Episode 4 against Bruce "Preacher" Macfie. In contrast to what actually happened, JWP & Yod would be swapping opponents. Before The Contender: Asia, JWP had already beaten Bruce twice in convincing fashion. There's no doubt he would beat his countryman a third time.

In episode 5, Soren defeated Alain in an easy match. That only happened because Soren promised Alain a rematch after defeating him before the show. If I had decision-making control, I would have Soren eliminate Yukay instead. Soren is one of the better fighters and Yukay one of the older ones. Soren should be able to beat him.

Ten Random Chain Survey Questions for 2008-05-10

1. Have you ever shaved in the kitchen sink? No... gross... who wrote this?
2. Does anything hurt on your body? Every muscle
3. How much cash do you have on you? $31.04
4. What do you want to eat? Korean fried chicken
5. What do you want to buy? Lenovo IdeaPad (I'll review that one soon!)
6. What's the latest time you have come home this week? 9:30pm
7. Are you friends with any gay guys? Yes
8. Whose birthday is closest to today? Rockman
9. Have you ever seen a shooting star? Yes
10. Have you ever hung out with someone you can't stand?Yes... then it takes me a few years 'til I can hang with them again.

Saigon Grill

Location: 93 University Pl. (btw 11th & 12th)
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Hours: 11:30am-12am
Phone: (212) 982-3691, (212) 982-3185
Prices: About $12 per person (lunch)
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 8
Service: 8
Value: 8
Environment: 8

Visits: 1

I ordered la sa ga, which was a curry chicken soup with coconut milk, rice vermicelli bean sprouts & herbs. For $7.25, you get a huge bowl of soup with a lot of chicken slices inside. It wasn't just water, but full of ingredients and flavor. Usually lunch specials at Asian restaurants run around $5, but I still rated this place an 8 for value because of the portion sizes. The chicken felt tender even though it seems like they used white meat. The risk of ordering a chicken dish is that it's always unknown what chicken parts they'll use... tender dark meat or dry white. The curry was just right... spicy and not thick enough to make the dish heavy. I also had a Thai iced tea (I always get this or a Thai coffee whenever I eat Thai or Vietnamese) which is a strong, black tea with condensed milk. $3 seems expensive for this little drink, but it's worth every penny for the flavor.

The restaurant itself has a plain looking exterior and classy interior. The furniture is kept clean and new looking. Bathrooms are also clean. At the front of the restaurant, there's a large bar area with LCD TVs.

More Than Meets the Eye

I checked out Toys R Us on the way home from work one day to get a Birthday gift for my friend's son. I already knew what I was going to look for. Brian loves anything with wheels. So I thought of getting him some Transformers cars. They were fun to play with when I was a kid. They could be robots or cars... 2 gifts in one! I ended up getting him 4 of the All-Spark Battle cars. As soon as I picked those up, I hurried over to the cashier, paid and got out quickly. If I stayed any longer, I may have bought a couple for myself... and then wondered why about an hour later!

During Brian's Birthday party, he opened them up and was playing with them. He was having some trouble transforming them and asked me for help. To my surprise, they were actually very difficult to convert back and forth. These cars are the same size as the classic minis, but are much stiffer and have smaller parts that lock in. I guess they don't make 'em like they used to. It's all about making money these days. The quality & design are lost.

Someone Does That?

"Someone does that?" I say that to myself every time I run across a company-made product that looks as if it took a lot of time and effort. And best of all... an internal, non-public product. My company loves giving out companywide items. The publish quarterly reports, annual reports and even full-fledged books about themselves. What a waste of time! Whether these products are made from the best materials money can buy or just merely Word documents attached to an email, no one ever reads them! Yet so much work must go into them. There are likely whole departments that work on these. Those employees are committing career suicide... years of building products that never go public!

Playoff Update

Since last time, the Rockets were eliminated by the Jazz. I guess Yao wasn't missing out on anything... but then again... what if they had him? It'll probably be something that he'll look back on and think about. The Celtics went to a 7th game with the Hawks. A 7th game! It's actually not that surprising to me. We've seen Mike Bibby play with a lot of heart in the playoffs before. He gave the Lakers a run for their money when he carried the dormant Kings on his back years ago. But the Hawks team wasn't good enough and the Celtics blew them out in Game 7 to take their rightful position in Round 2. The Cavs finished off the Wizards in blowout fashion too. LeBron... overrated? I think DeShawn Stevenson needs a dictionary! So it'll be the Cavs & Celtics in a delayed Round 2 as James & Garnett, the 2 MVPs go at it. The Magic defeated the Raptors and have dropped 2 to the Pistons in the 2nd round despite putting up a good fight tonight. The Pistons gave their fans a scare by going to Game 6 with the 76ers, but like the Celtic, pulled through at the end to take their position.

DeShawn... the word you were looking for was "MVP"... not "overrated!"

Fight Girls

Fight Girls is sort of the female version of The Contender: Asia that aired on Oxygen. I found out about it because someone mentioned it on one of the The Contender: Asia message boards. I then started looking for it because The Contender: Asia got me addicted to watching Muay Thai fights and I have to wait 'til the end of the year for season 2. So I started catching a few episodes of Fight Girls on YouTube.

The format is quite different than The Contender: Asia although the fighting style is Muay Thai. There are no teams and challenges to determine who fights. Those are predetermined by the Master Toddy. The winners of each match will get shipped off to Thailand to have a match against a fighter there (and probably get their a--es kicked). The fight portion of each episode is short. The rounds are either 1 min each or the video is cut up a lot before airing. And there are just 3 rounds. But the matches are action packed. Similar to women's boxing, there's very little defense used. There's no chess match like in men's Muay Thai.

So maybe I'll probably a bit about this show as I await The Contender: Asia, season 2, if I come across an exciting fight... not much in the first 3 episodes.

Tech Deals of the Week (5/4-5/10)

Flash Sales
- 4 GB SanDisk @ Best Buy for $27.99
- 4 GB SanDisk Gator @ Office Depot for $27.99
- 8 GB SanDisk Gator @ Office Depot for $49.99

Logitech VX Nano for $39.99 @ Circuit City
This item hasn't been on sale since January, so if you want the best notebook mouse in the market, this is the week to buy. It's $39.99 after a $15 instant savings and $15 mail-in rebate.

Motorola H550 Bluetooth Headset @ Office Depot for $25
This is a buy 1, get 1 free offer. The price is $49.99 for 2 basically. This is great especially if you just signed up for a family phone plan.

2 GB Sansa MP3 Player @ Office Depot for $29.99
The in-store price is $79.99 and there's a $50 mail-in rebate. With a price like this, why would anyone go for the iPod Shuffle?

Acer 22" Widescreen LCD @ Office Depot for $229.99
A rare low for the Acer 22".

Seagate Ext. HDD @ Office Depot
This is like last week, but instead of Maxtor @ Staples, it's now Seagate @ Office Depot.
- 500 GB for $99.99
- 750 GB for $149.99

Targus Groove Backpack @ Staples for $9.98
Same as a few weeks ago.

Dell 24" Widescreen LCD @ Staples for $379.98
This is an even better price than the Samsung that was on sale in March. The quality is comparable too.

Targus Wireless Notebook Mouse @ Staples for $9.99
This offer is after a $20 instant savings and $10 mail-in rebate. What's great about this mouse is it's rechargeable. Many wireless mice use AAA batteries, which can be a hassle to replace all the time.

CSE Reversed

I reversed the update I did in February to my Tech Product Google Search (see left navigation). CompUSA has earned my respect again... at least with their Online presence. They have some pretty good prices, especially for system builders... great prices on barebones and parts. If you order Online, you'll notice that the tax has disappeared for NYers... it's because they no longer have a physical presence in NY. With the return of CompUSA to my CSE, I also removed Club IT. Their overall prices aren't that great. I only bought one item from them and they never fulfilled the full rebate amount.

Sword of Azrael: 200804

Death by Fire: Earlier in April, they were reevaluating if child rapists should have upgraded sentences to death. Azrael thinks this is a no-brainer. Any violent crime should be punishable by fire.

Slave Pit: This goes to Carmelo Anthony for his constant off the court problems. He should really get kicked off Team Jordan. He doesn't have the same spirit as the other athletes.

Excommunication: This goes to the overpaid, underperforming Blockade.

Jesse James Parr

Congratulations to John Wayne Parr and his wife, Angie Parr on the birth of their son, Jesse James Parr today. For those who have watched the Contender: Asia finale, we knew what JWP was going through while training for the final match. Angie was due to give birth soon and his father was in the hospital with terminal cancer. It was very touching footage before they aired the fight portion. Like the warrior he is, JWP fought with everything he had. And with that completed, he then headed back home to take care of his family. So I'm very happy for the Parr family and am glad that Jesse James Parr will get a chance to meet his grandfather.

Psystar Open Computer

This is a follow up post to the Mac Mini I just configured. Is it possible to get a cheaper, but more powerful Mac OSX system? That's where Psystar comes in. This company took some PC hardware and got it working with unmodified OSX operating system. The legality seems to be a little shady, but they've been selling these for a while now. In stock form, this system starts out with a 2.2 Ghz Core 2 Duo, 2 GB RAM, 250 GB HDD and a superdrive. The starting price is $554.99. That's already $245 lower and it beats the Mac Mini in every category. Even the HDD and superdrive speeds are faster. Sure, you can argue that the Mac Mini has a much smaller form factor, but I don't think that space economy is worth $245. I really don't need to go any further, but let's see how much more powerful this can get while staying below $949:

The processor is important, so let's start with that and upgrade it to 2.66 Ghz for $90.

The stock Intel integrated graphics card can be upgraded to a real one... a GeForce 8600GT 256 MB. With this, the system can perform at top resolution without slowdown. Add $110.

We'll need to add a firewire card just to be even with the Mini... $50.

Also to be equal to the Mini, a wireless card needs to be installed... $90.

That brings the total to $894.99. It's even possible to go with a 3rd party for the wireless & firewire for even lower. Get this one quickly... we know what happened last time there were Mac clones floating out there!

Playoff Update & Coaching Poole

The first round has gotten pretty exciting as many of the series are still going on. In the East, only the Magic have advanced so far. That's right... Boston didn't sweep! They were tied 2-2 by the Hawks until they took care of business last night. And the Cavs failed to close out the Wizards, losing in the final seconds of the game. The West is all set except for the Jazz/Rockets series where the Jazz lead 3-2, but the Rockets are still hanging in there. The Spurs will face the Hornets in round 2. That means the Suns & Mavs failed to make it in!

John Paxson made a wise decision not rushing into filling the coaching position. Along with the elimination of the Suns & Mavs, also came the firing of Avery Johnson & rumored stepping down of Mike D'Antoni... 2 great coaches. So far only Rick Carlisle and Mark Jackson have interviewed. I would very much like Avery Johnson because he's similar to Scott Skiles. Skiles was effective, but likely became hard to get along with over time and a losing season. So applying the same type of system, but a different person could get the Bulls back to where they were. Jeff Van Gundy has made it clear that he doesn't want to coach this season, and at this point I believe him or he would've changed his mind by now. NJ still hasn't done anything with Lawrence Frank (who would be my top choice). So at this point, I can't disagree with hiring Johnson now.