Vegetarian Dim Sum House

Location: 24 Pell St. (Chinatown)
Cuisine: Vegetarian, Chinese
Phone: (212) 577-7176
Prices: About $15 per person
Credit Cards: n/a

Food: 7
Service: 7
Value: 7
Environment: 7

Visits: 1

I took the day off and met up with Paul for lunch. He works on 23rd, but suggested heading down to Chinatown for lunch! I asked him if he was sure... in my mind, there was no way we were going to get down there and back within an hour. Still, we went for it. The downtown train came very late. We fought through crowds in Chinatown and had to wait a little bit at the restaurant for a seat. Just about everything went wrong! But somehow, we spent close to an hour eating dim sum. We made it back much faster, but he was gone from the office for close to 2 hours. Somehow, no one noticed!

Anyway, on to the food! Like Happy Buddha, this place makes "fake" meat dishes out of vegetarian ingredients. The theme is more interesting though because they concentrate on dim sum. We ordered a variety of small dishes including shark fin, half moon and monk dumplings. We also had sesame buns, yams, rice in lotus leaves & mango pudding. The taste was pretty good, but I think this is a good example of how vegetarian food might not be that much healthier. Many of the dishes were deep fried and loaded with wheat gluten. Going by the speed they brought the food out and the high temperature, it was obviously nuked.

The service was good. The staff was friendly and was happy to customize the experience. They normally bring everything out at once, but held off on the mango pudding so it would stay cool. The place was surprisingly clean... surprisingly because it's in Chinatown. These 2 things got high ratings, but the time of day should be considered too. Paul & I went on a weekday for a relatively late lunch.

Exodus to Europe

The NBA isn't expanding fast enough. With 30 teams and only 12 active guys per night, there are a lot more good players than available positions. Teams have to be extra careful which guys they keep on their team. If a bad player is kept on, it could end up bumping a good player out of the league! Josh Childress went to play for Greece and Bostjan Nachbar to Russia because both European teams were able to pay them more. These guys aren't great players, but they're also not the bottom of the barrel. They could've easily helped out any team they ended up on in the NBA. Many players are now considering leaving the NBA if their contracts don't get settled. It's not a bad idea and they're just watching their own backs. The advantage to playing overseas is they get to be THE man. Also, international ball has been getting stronger rapidly.

The Bulls & Luol Deng agreed to a 6-year contract today. That was a big sigh of relief for me as half of the problem has been solved. Ben Gordon is up next and I really hope they resign him. He's the hardest working player on their team and is their best scorer. He should get paid at least the same amount as Deng. The Bulls shouldn't worry too much about the luxury tax. They consistently sell out games... more than any other team. It's time to give a little something back. We need Gordon on the team to be successful. Gordon mentioned that he was considering London as an option as well. If Deng's contract wasn't resolved and he went to London along with BG, I think I might have to switch allegiances! I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Repeated Survey ?'s for 2008-07-29

A repeat of 2008-05-22, but with new answers...

1. When was the last time you took a nap? must've been weeks ago
2. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? Dad
3. To text you? Jean
4. What are you doing tonight? Blogging
5. What are you listening to? Tom Yum Goong Soundtrack
6. What did you do over the weekend? build computers
7. What did you have for breakfast? blueberry yogurt & granola bar
8. Last book you read? Unix
9. Last thing you bought? hard drive enclosure
10. Last movie you saw: Ironman

Amanda Tapping Updates

Back on July 19, I mentioned that Amanda Tapping (Carter) would have a reduced presence in Stargate Atlantis. While I'm going to miss Samantha Carter on the show, There will be more screen time for Amanda on Sci-Fi as Helen Magnus of Sanctuary. That's right! The HD web series is being cleaned up and televised on Sci-Fi as a full-fledged series! So it was by her own choice that Carter stepped down from Command of Atlantis, which makes me feel a little better. Sanctuary is a personal project of hers, so it means more to Amanda to beef up that series. I can't wait to see it!

On a side note, there's a pretender on Facebook pretending to be Amanda Tapping and even answering questions. This is NOT the real Amanda. Amanda doesn't have a Facebook account right now. She mentioned this on her official site (see my right nav), but I wanted to reprint that to help get the word out.

Related Links: Sanctuary, SciFi Announcement

Tech Deals of the Week (7/27-8/2)

Flash Sales
- 4 GB Sony @ Best Buy for $24.99
- 8 GB Kingston @ Best Buy for $37.99
- 4 GB Centon @ CompUSA.com for $22.98[click here]
- 2 4 GB PNYs @ Staples for $34.98
- 4 GB SanDisk Gator @ Staples for $24.98
- 4 GB SabDisk Titanium @ Staples for $34.99

Targus Groove Backpack @ Best Buy for $9.99
The Groove is back on sale... no rebate at all. This one will probably get sold out on 7/27. I see a lot of these on the street, which means people are taking advantage of the sales and putting them to use. For my full review of this product, click here.

4 GB Sansa Fuze @ Best Buy for $89.99
This is SanDisk's answer to the iPod Nano and it's a rare $10 off the regular price.

JVC Gumy Earbuds @ Best Buy for $9.99
If you own a colored iPod Nano or Sansa MP3 player, you can pick up one of these colored earbuds to match your player's color.

1 TB Maxtor Ext. HDD @ CompUSA.com for $193.59
This is a little bit lower than my $200 benchmark, but it's an external and it has both USB 2 & Firewire interfaces. It also has a 16 MB buffer. [click here]

Dell 24" LCD @ Staples for $399.98
This is one of the best LCDs at 24" and it's $100 lower than it used to be.

Stargate Atlantis 503 (Broken Ties)

Broken Ties was based around Ronon Dex. It also guest stars Mark Dacascos as Tyre, another Satedan warrior. These type of episodes (where Ronon or Teyla are the main characters) remind me of the Stargate SG-1 shows that were about Teal'c and the Jaffa culture. Those were always my favorites... a break from the usual Earth subject matters. Because Mark Dacascos was in this one, the fight scenes were a real treat. We got to see his martial arts skill and some great sword fights. The theme of brainwashing is also used here... similar to when Apophis controlled Teal'c. So the Atlantis arc continues to redo SG-1 stories, but with a different setting. It might seem boring to do that, but it's been successful so far. I don't feel it's an exact remake... it's different enough to keep a long-time fan interested still.

I hope to see more of Mark Dacascos in the future. Stargate Atlantis could use some more martial arts. We get to see it once in a while with Teyla, but Ronan's style is more about power than skill... and he can't kick.

Lucky 8

The Yankees kept the streak going, with 8 straight after today's game. More importantly, this weekend's series is against the Red Sox and they now have the first 2 games, cutting the lead to 1 game back from Boston and 2.5 from Tampa Bay.

With the Posada, Matsui and Posada injuries, the Yankees were also very active with trades, quickly patching up their weaknesses. They got Xavier Nady and left-handed reliever Damaso Marte from the Pirates this morning and immediately inserted them into the game. In the trade, they gave up propect, Jose Tabata, Ross Ohlendorf, Jeff Karstens and Dan McCutchen... basically not much. Nady is a .330 hitter with 13 homers... solid. Marte is an OK reliever... 4-0 with a 3.47 ERA and 5/7 saves. These 2 guys fill a lot of holes. So the Yankees are geared to make a run. It's going to be a tough one this year, but I'm glad they're fighting for it.

FileAve.com

As you know, this blog is using a custom template with graphics I created. So I had to host them on some external server. Up until now, I was using Hotlinkfiles.com. At least 3 times, they removed my account without notice and they periodically ran into bandwidth problems. For a long period yesterday, all of my graphics were broken. Attempting to go to their site returned an error that there were too many connections. I was up and running today, but then the graphics disappeared again. And this time, their site was up. So I tried to logon and couldn't. Apparently, they ran into a bandwidth limit and just decided to delete users.

Luckily I found a competitor called FileAve.com and moved everything over there. I wonder why I didn't run across these guys earlier. Their upload interface is much easier and they also output much friendlier URLs (view source to se what I mean). So I'm back up again with my new image host. Sorry if the site looked a little plain for the past 2 days. All the blame goes to Hotlinkfiles.com. We'll see how things go with FileAve.com.

Enjoy!

Triple-clap Pushups

Everyone knows the clapping push ups. We see it all the time and it's fairly easy to do for anyone in average shape. Well here's John Wayne Parr doing 3 claps per push up. He claps once in the front, then in the back and again in the front. The strength, speed and timing is amazing!

Psystar While You Can!

Psystar is finally getting sued by Apple. Who didn't see that coming? Anyway, this could be your last chance to snatch one up and have yourself an affordable OSX system. I configured one in their Online store just to se if the price was the same as when I first reviewed it in May. It actually came out $60 more because the price increased on the 2.66 Ghz Core 2 Duo. It's still much cheaper than a Mac Mini of the same spec.

Apple will likely win the lawsuit, so there's probably going to be a period towards the end when these systems sell for even lower prices. This happened in the late 90's with clones from PowerComputing, Umax & DayStar. I don't really need one of these systems, but will see what prices are like the moment before shutdown.

Clockwork Apple: Multitasking Battery Salesman

Aside from Amy, I ran across another PA system replacement. There's a battery salesman on the B/D/F/V line that walks across each car. As he passes through, he sells batteries. At each stop, he stands by the door and announces the name of the stop and the trains to transfer to. He's very detailed, even mentioning the PATH / NJ Transit! His voice is perfectly clear. Some cars along this line don't even have speakers, so the battery man is a big help! Thumbs up to this guy... thumbs down to the MTA!

Straight A's

After a weak end to the first half of the season, the Yankees took care of business this weekend to start off the second half on the right foot. They swept the Oakland A's! In Friday night's game, their bats came alive in a 7-1 rout. Mussina also pitched a great game to continue his amazing comeback. It was also the debut of 1st baseman Richie Sexson. It wasn't a bad night for the new guy as he had a hit and his first RBI in pinstripes.

Saturday's game was a 5-hour marathon. I had a feeling that the offense would be weak after the outburst on Friday... a typical Yankees pattern. The pitching was great behind Joba Chamberlain. Rivera actually blew the tie in the 9th inning, but was bailed out because Betemit had an RBI single in the bottom of the inning to force extra innings. Of all things, the Yankees won the game in the 12th on a beanball to Molina with the bases loaded! That was a heartbreaker for the A's. If I was going to lose a game, I'd want to lose it on a hit or homer.

Today's game was a pitcher's duel with Andy Pettitte facing off against the A's best, Duchscherer. So in contrast to yesterday's marathon, this was a short game. There was one circus play at the end of the 9th inning with 1 out. The A's had a guy on 1st. A fly ball was hit to right field. Abreu lost it in the sun and dropped it. The guy on first was retreating, but ran to 2nd when the ball was dropped. Abreu in haste threw the ball over Jeter's head, but it was caught by A-Rod and then went back to Jeter and they got the force at 2nd! I would prefer to see a blow out, but winning games like this are important too. It prepares the team for pressure situations.

Tech Deals of the Week (7/20-7/26)

Init Laptop Backpack @ Best Buy for $29.99
This is a nice durable laptop backpack for 15.4" systems. The sale price is much higher than the Targus Groove I keep featuring, but it has a lot more padding.

Logitech V220 @ Circuit City for $9.99
This is the lowest I've seen a cordless laptop mouse by Logitech. It's after 2 $10 mail-in rebates.

iPod Deals
- 8 GB Nano @ Circuit City w/ FREE Speakers (Same deal as the week of 7/6)
- 8 GB Nano @ Target w/ FREE $20 Gift Card
- 8 GB Touch @ Target w/ FREE $30 Gift Card

Stargate Atlantis 502 (The Seed)

In this episode, Woolsey of the IOA took Col. Carter's place as Commander of Atlantis. So first off, a big BOOOOOOOOOOOOO for not having Amanda Tapping in this episode. It's a bad decision to replace Carter with a non-military personel and someone much less intelligent... and not as good looking!

So now that's out of the way, this episode was pretty much a remake of several old SG-1 episodes of an alien organism taking over the base. It took over Dr. Keller first and the organism grew rapidly, consuming any resource it touched. Even though this type of story is old, it was adapted to the Atlantis/Wraith storyline. The idea was that wraith ships were not built, but grown. And the growth of this organism was supposed to be a similar process where the organic material eventually hardens. So with Atlantis' main doctor out of commission, it was Dr. Beckett who saved the day. This was actually the clone of Dr. Beckett (since the real Beckett died last year) created by the Wraith, Michael (I missed posting about that episode last season). So the immediate problem in this episode was resolved, but the story of Beckett was left open ended. The clone was put in stasis because all of his organs were failing. Dr. Keller was able to stop that at the beginning of this episode, but Beckett still isn't 100%. At the end, he was heading off to the SGC to get checked out. Hopefully we'll see more of him.

Related Links: Kindred, The Seed

Subway Tales: Police "Investigation"

There was a bit of a train delay today and they announced that it was a police investigation. I used to think these were situations where the cops were looking for someone who was traced to a certain train at a certain time. But Jim, who is our contact in the police department was telling me a few days ago that many of these "investigations" are actually police cleaning up the mess of someone who fell onto the tracks or was hit by a train. That was surprising to me because these accidents never make the news most of the time. So there are a couple of things to keep in mind. The delay might be annoying, but someone might have died... which is even more annoying for that person. Also, be careful on the platform... especially if you're standing at the rear. Jim said that a lot of these accidents happen when someone standing towards the rear takes a peak as the train enters out of no where (rounding a corner).

2008 All-Star Game

This year's All-Star game was very special as it was held in the classic Yankees Stadium for the last time, before the new one opens next year. The opening ceremony was great as it consisted of Hall of Famers from the past taking their positions on the field, followed by the current All-Stars, first pitch(es) by some of history's greatest Yankees to current Yankees, boos for the Red Sox, a US Air Force fly by and the national anthem by Sheryl Crow.

Since they made the All-Star games count for homefield advantage in the World Series a few years back, it started to be a real competition. Last night's game really showed that as it was close throughout and tied all the way 'til the 15th inning! The Yankees did OK, but didn't impact the game a whole lot. Jeter had a single and stolen base right from the start. I really wanted him to do something big... that would've been special in Yankee Stadium. Mariano Rivera pitched 2 scoreless innings. Some other things I appreciated were:

1) Red Sox, Jonathan Papelbon blew the tie after telling the press that he should be the closer and not Rivera. The fans really gave him a hard time with boos and chants of "OVER-RATED!"

2) Mets, Billy Wagner topped Papelbon by blowing the lead (like he always does). That wasn't a surprise at all. How did this guy make it on the All-Star team?

3) The American League won the game on a 15th inning sac fly by Michael Young.

Chocolate

From the makers of Ong Bak - The Muay Thai Warrior and Tom Yum Goong comes a new movie of the same style called Chocolate. It's about an autistic girl named Zen who doesn't speak much, but has extrasensory ability. She quickly picked up Muay Thai by watching Thai fighters practice in the gym and of course... Tony Jaa movies! She goes on a quest to collect money from gangsters that owe her mother so that she could pay for her mother's medical bills. Like Ong Bak - The Muay Thai Warrior and Tom Yum Goong, Chocolate is shot without wires and stunt doubles. There were parts of it where the film looked like it was sped up though. The action is just as good as the Tony Jaa movies, but the story is just as bad. Just treat this one as a stunt demo. Chocolate stars Yanin Vismitananda who is primarily a Tae Kwan Do fighter, but also does gymnastics and Muay Thai.

Zen sort of reminds me of the new Batgirl (Cassandra Cain), who wasn't able to speak, but made up for it with fighting ability. Both characters used martial arts to express themselves. I feel that all humans are truly equal in ability. When someone lacks in one category, he/she will have that made up somewhere else. Zen and Batgirl display this philosophy in the extreme.

Related Links: BK Magazine, Chocolate Official Site, IMDB

Tech Deals of the Week (7/13-7/19)

Flash Sales
- 4 GB SanDisk @ Best Buy for $27.99
- 4 GB SanDisk @ Circuit City for $24.99
- 8 GB Kingston @ Circuit City for $34.99
- 4 GB SanDisk@ Radio Shack for $24.99
- 4 GB Kingston @ Office Depot for $22.99
- 8 GB Kingston @ Office Depot for $44.99

Hard Drive Sales
- 750 GB Seagate Int. @ CompUSA.com for $126.98 [click here]
- 1 TB WD Int. Green @ Best Buy for $179.99
- 500 GB WD Int. Green @ Best Buy for $89.99
- 1 TB WD Ext. @ Best Buy for $189.99
- 1 TB Maxtor Int. @ Office Depot for $189.99
- 750 GB Iomega Ext. @ CompUSA.com for $143.13 [click here]

Digital Universal Memory Card Reader @ Radio Shack for $12.99
This all-in-one reader can even load phone SIM cards!

Stargate Atlantis 501 (Search & Rescue)

The season finale made it look like the team died in a collapsing building while attempting to rescue Teyla from Michael. I thought the season premiere was going to have something to do with time reversal or alternate reality, but they kept it more real. The building really collapsed and the team was trapped under rubble with some of them injured. Col. Carter led a rescue team to save them. Then the next part dealt with rescuing Teyla, who was pregnant when we left off last season. When they located her, Sheppard & Ronan fought off the Wraith hybrids and McKay was left to deliver the baby. Who didn't see that coming? That set up a some good comic relief as a panicky McKay had to be calmed by Teyla, who was in the middle of giving birth. The birth of the baby was sort of a cliffhanger because the audience wasn't sure what to expect... will it be normal? or will it be some hybrid due to Wraith tampering? I won't answer that one yet because it's too early and many of you may not have seen this yet! I'm just glad the 5th season has started up again. Finally, something to watch on TV.

I also want to take a moment to send my condolenses to the family of Don. S. Davis (General George Hammond) who passed away on June 29th from a heart attack at the age of 65. This came as a shock because he always looked strong and healthy on screen. Aside from Stargate SG-1, he's also been in X-Files and MacGyver. For his full bio and filmography, please visit www.donsdavis.com.

Thanks, Chris!

It's official... Chris Duhon is now on the Knicks. It was totally expected, though I was hoping he would pick the Magic. I would've loved to see him team up with Dwight Howard and help make the Magic better. From Duhon's point of view, I could see how the Knicks are more appealing though. They pay more and he gets to work for a point guard's coach in Mike D'Antoni. He'll also likely get a much deserved starting position and have a chance to save the franchise from the gutter. I will miss him from the Bulls team, but the move is understandable with the logjam. Duhon has the skills of a starter, but it doesn't work out well on a team that has Ben Gordon, Kirk Hinrich, Thabo Sefolosha and the recent addition of Derrick Rose. A couple of tardiness issues probably puts him behind JamesOn Curry as well.

Anyway, thanks, Chris for your years in Chicago. You were great for the Bulls and played a big role in that awesome 2006-2007 season. You also did a lot for the city of Chicago. Welcome to NY. I wish you the best, but I can't say the same about your team!

Eee 900-905

Did Asus jump the gun on the release of the 9"Eee PC? It hasn't been out that long yet and there have alread been several updates to it. Because they wanted to get the system out, they missed the Intel Atom processor by a few days. They had to release an updated system immediately called the Eee PC 901. Now they're going to release 3 more... the 903, 904 and 905. I'm not sure what the differences are between these 3, but all 3 are using the Eee PC 1000's case. They just have a 9" screen and full sized keyboard. It doesn't really make sense to me. If someone wants the larger keyboard, why would they not just buy the 1000? The 9" screen in a 10" laptop makes as much sense as a 7" screen in 9" laptop.

Weekend Sports Wrapup

The weekend was full of action. There was a 4-game Yankees/Red Sox series, the Wimbledon Finals and the WMC Muay Thai Superfights in Malaysia. The results were just OK.

Baseball
The Yankees needed to sweep the Sox because they're so far behind. Instead, they split and didn't gain any ground. They lost the first 2 games, which put them in a position to lose the series or get swept. I am grateful that they bounced back and fought it to a split though. A sweep probably would've been a turning point in the season. Game 1 was very unusual. They lost 7-0 and Pettitte took the loss. He's been lights out for the past several games. Game 2 was a bit better as we lost 4-2. At least it was close and it wasn't a shutout! The worst part was an injury to Johnny Damon as he ran into the wall going for a deep fly ball. Game 3 was pitcher's duel as the Yankees won 2-1 behind the reborn Mussina. Game 4 was a 10th inning thriller won on a base hit by rookie and Johnny Damon stand-in, Brett Gardner. A-Rod also tied Mickey Mantle on the all-time HR list that game.

Muay Thai
Overall, the Contender: Asia boys didn't fare too well in this tournament. Zach, who faced off with South American champ, Leonardo Monteiro lost because his shoulder popped out again. The first 2 rounds were pretty exciting until that happened. Both fighters connected with each other on some pretty good hits. It's really bad to lose on an injury though. I hope Zach recovers quickly on this one. After a fight like that, he must be anxious to get back in the ring and redeem himself. Zidov lost to Abbas Ahmadi on points. At least Sean Wright won his fight against Sirichai Siri. That ended in a last round TKO as Siri's corner couldn't stop the bleeding. Originally, Dzhabar Askerov was scheduled to fight Siri, so I'm not sure why the schedule was changed.

Tennis
Tennis was the best part of the weekend. I don't think we could've asked for anything better that a Williams vs. Williams Ladies Final and we'll never get tired of Nadal vs. Federer.

Wimbledon: The Finals

Ladies
Venus vs. Serena always makes for a great match. This weekend, I based my schedule around Wimbledon. I got up extra early to have a morning workout, breakfast and a trip to the supermarket. I made it just in time for the first serve. Lunch with family would depend on the length of the Women's Final. Serena took an early lead in the first set. She seemed much faster and in better shape than her older sister, but it was really just warmup speed. Venus woke up a little late, but in enough time to make a nice comeback to take the set 7-5. Neither sister let up in the 2nd set. Venus eventually won 6-4, but the final score doesn't depict how close the match was. What's even more amazing about this was, both sisters played and won the doubles tournament later in the day!

Gentlemen
The men's final was the greatest tennis match I've ever seen. The excitement started right off the bat on the 1st set. The volleys between these 2 were amazing. They returned several shots that would've been winners against any other player. In one game, Federer hit one wide, but just inside the line. Nadal returned it. Federer then hit it in the opposite direction, again, just inside and Nadal ran all the way back and returned that one too. The first 2 sets were pretty close with Nadal gaining the slight edge, 6-4, 6-4. They were toe-to-toe in the 3rd set. Federer came out strong and looked like the King of Grass we usually see on this court. He had the early lead, but Nadal came back and momentum was going in his direction until rain forced a delay. That seemed to be in Federer's favor because the end of the match was close and went to a tiebreak... 6-7 (5-7). He was able to make a mental adjustment to keep the game going. The 4th set was another close one with a tiebreak. Nadal had 2 championship points, but Federer fought them off and won 6-7 (8-10). The final set was another marathon with rain delay included. It was close the whole time and felt like it was going to go on forever. Nadal eventually won 9-7, finally breaking the clay/grass routine. I started watching this match at 9am in the morning, right after breakfast and was still watching after I finished my late lunch!

Tech Deals of the Week (7/6-7/12)

Flash Sales
- 4 GB Sony (new design) @ Circuit City for $24.99
- 8 GB Sony (new design) @ Circuit City for $39.99
- 4 GB HP @ CompUSA.com for $26.98 [click here]
- 4 GB PNY @ Best Buy for $22.99
- 4 GB SanDisk Gator @ Radio Shack for $24.99

Hard Drive Sales
- 1 TB Maxtor Ext. @ CompUSA.com for $183.59 [click here]
- 750 GB Maxtor Ext. @ Best Buy for $144.99

iPod Nano @ Circuit City for $199.99 + FREE Speakers
As usual, Apple prices never change, so whenever there's a FREE add-on to a purchase, I consider it a deal. The FREE speakers are worth about $20 andd they come with removable faceplates so you can configure them to match whatever color Nano you buy.

JVC Gumy Earbuds @ Best Buy for $9.99
If you own a colored iPod Nano or Sansa MP3 player, you can pick up one of these colored earbuds to match your player's color.

Stage is Set

Big surprise... both Federer and Nadal won their semifinal matches today and will meet each other again for the Wimbledon Final. Today's matches were like a formality. It had to be done even though everyone knew what the outcome was going to be. Roger faced a vintage Marat Safin, who made a surprise comeback, knocking off Novak Djokovic early in the tournament. Rafa went up against Rainer Schüttler, who had a great marathon win yesterday over Arnaud Clement. In their interviews before the semis began, both Safin and Schüttler talked as if they knew they were going to lose and were "just happy to make it this far."

Both semifinals were very similar. Federer dominated the first set. Safin showed signs of life in the 2nd, taking it to a tiebreak. Then Federer woke up and finished it in the 3rd. The Nadal/Schüttler match was the same story.

I mentioned last year that Federer & Nadal should be taken out of the rankings and just have their own final. I still believe this. Tournaments should be configured like K-1 Grand Prix events where there's the main elimination tournament and separate "super fights." So seeds 3 and lower would have their tournament and champion at the end. And no matter how that turns out, Federer & Nadal would just face each other in a super match.

All-American on Independence Weekend

Both Venus & Serena Williams are in the Wimbledon Final. It's only fitting on the weekend of July 4th that it's an All-American final. Both had tough matches in the semifinals. Even though they were completed in straight sets, the 2nd sets went to tiebreaks. Serena vs. Jie Zheng had a very exciting and long 2nd set. Since the women only play for 2 out of 3 sets, winning in straight sets isn't really as dominating as it sounds. Zheng was pretty close to giving us an upset even though she lost in straight sets.

With both sisters in the final, they actually gave us a double treat because they both entered the doubles semifinal as well. Usually when only one of them is in the race, they drop out of the doubles competition so that they could have full energy for the singles. They just won the their doubles semi and will have the final tomorrow along with their singles final.

The Federer/Safin semi is going on as I write this and Nadal/Schüttler will be later today.

Muay Thai Classic: JWP vs Soren

I've been looking for this match on YouTube for a while and it was finally posted by John Wayne Parr himself yesterday. So here it is in it's entirety:


For John Wayne Parr's fight log on this match, click here.

Save Those Runs!

The Yankees just routed the Twins 18-7. They lost the previous 2 games by 1 run a piece. I've seen this happen all too often. When the Yankees offense is on, they just pile on the runs and seem unbeatable. But when it's off... IT'S OFF. I wish they could spread out some of these runs to other games. They'd probably be close to undefeated! I'm just hoping a game like tonight's jumpstarts their offense going forward. They need a nice long winning streak. They didn't do their job during Interleague play, dropping 2 to the Reds, 1 to the Pirates & 2 to the Mets. The Red Sox did their job and so did the Devil Rays. So the Yankees have their work cut out for themselves as they try to chase these 2 hot teams. The All-Star break is coming up , so they need to build some momentum.

It's been up and down during the past couple of weeks. The one positive I'm looking at is ironically, the bullpen. Since Joba moved to a starting position, the bullpen has done a better job than I thought they would. Jose Veras has been fairly consistent. Kyle Farnsworth has improved his 8th inning a lot. Mo is still Mo.

Rocketfish Optical Mouse

I forgot to mention this one on Sunday, but Rocketfish's optical laptop mouse is on sale at Best Buy this week for $14.99. There's actually nothing technically special about this device. It only has 2 buttons and a standard scroll wheel. I wanted to post this for aesthetic reasons. Last year, I wrote about how Apple's peripherals didn't match the design of their systems. Well, this mouse is a great match for the clear & white Apple keyboard. Unlike the Mighty Mouse, it looks like it's part of the same system. What's also cool about the Rocketfish model is the clear pieces glow red when the system is on. If only Apple followed this design... the perfect Mac mouse would be this one, but with the Mighty Mouse's rollerball & side buttons.

Related Links: Best Buy, Rocketfish Product Page

Sword of Azrael: 200806

Death by Fire: There were a couple of incidents this month that involved shootings during graduation parties. One was in Newark, NJ and the other in Las Vegas, NV. The shooters get the sword for June.

Slave Pit: I couldn't find anyone to lock away for June, so instead I'll post 2 excommunications.

Excommunication: Omar Minaya gets this for firing Willie Randolph on a midnight of an away game. I thought Omar made some great changes to a team in the dumps, but he lost all of my respect for his actions this season.

The second one goes to Shaq for his freestyle rap. It's not in defense of Kobe though. Besides that, he also used a lot of racist terms. Rightfully so, he had his deputy badge taken away.