A Curse Broken!

Bulls vs. Nets is always exciting to watch, especially when it's an away game. The Bulls have not won in the Nets' homecourt since 2001. It's always a playoff feel on my end when I tune in. Going into tonight's game, the Bulls had a terrible away record and the Nets had a terrible home record, so the outcome would depend on which team is really into the game. Luckily it turned out for the best and the Bulls broke the 7-year curse!

The 1st quarter was a running of the Bulls. They did everything they were capable of. Gordon and Noc came out and nailed 3's. Rose broke some ankles. Thomas and Noah played some tough defense that we're hoping to see every game. The Nets made a good run in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. The 4th was close until the final 4 minutes when the Bulls went on a 14-0 run. Gordon was red hot with 24 points and 5/8 from 3. Rose had 21 with a lot of highlight reel plays. Hughes and Nocioni also added the the 3-point party off the bench with 17 points each. Something noteworthy is that the Bulls were able to get off to a quick start in the 1st quarter and still finish strong in the 4th... no something we're used to seeing. So hopefully this experience carries over to future games. Tonight, they broke a 5-game road losing streak and a 13-game NJ losing streak... good reasons for Bulls fans to be excited!

NYPD Physical Fitness Test

Part of the reason why we have so many bad cops roaming the streets is because of the low salaries they get. It doesn't attract quality applicants... just people looking for a cheap way to get power (gun & badge). Another indication of the lack of standards is the fitness level of many of the officers. I was waiting on the subway platform for the train to arrive. It came to a stop and this large cop, the width of the entire doorway walked out. Luckily the platform wasn't crowded and I always step aside to let passengers off first, otherwise bodies would be falling all over! So it made me think... how did this guy make it as a field officer? He couldn't possibly outrun a thief or reach for his gun fast enough. Some tips for the NYPD.

• raise cop salaries to attract better people
• some kind of physical fitness test
• personality screening
• ban jelly doughnuts
• redesign those movement-restrictive uniforms

Tech Deals of the Week (12/28-1/3)

New Store Abbreviations
I'm going to start abbreviating the store names since I use them a lot on these posts. Here's the key...
BB = Best Buy
CC = Circuit City
CU = CompUSA.com
DI = Directron
NE = NewEgg.com
OD = Office Depot
RS = Radio Shack
ST = Staples
TG = Target

Flash Drives
It seems like these drives have permanently gone down again in price since Black Friday. The 8 GB models have what used to be 4 GB prices. I'm also seeing more sales on the 16 GB ones that no one used to buy.
- 4 GB SanDisk @ BB for $12.99
- 8 GB SanDisk @ BB for $19.99
- 8 GB SanDisk @ RS for $24.99
- 8 GB Corsair @ CU for $16.98 ($10 rebate) [click here]
- 4 GB PNY @ ST for $14.99
16 GB SanDisk @ OD for $44.99

Acer LCDs @ OD
- 19" for $139.99
- 22" for $159.99
- 24" for $249.99

Logitech MX Revolution @ BB for $39.99
Many Black Friday prices are sticking, but I never thought it would for this item. It's actually $10 lower than Black Friday too! If you're still holding out on getting a wireless mouse, get this one now. It still retails for $100 or higher in many other stores. This is the best mouse in the world and is the only rechargeable wireless model. I'm guessing it will sell out on day 1.

Case Logic Portable HDD Case @ BB & OD for $9.99
Portable hard drives are more compact, but they're still hard dries with moving parts. That means they're breakable. So $9.99 is not too much to pay for some extra padding.

Logitech 2.1 Speakers @ CC for $29.99
This is a basic 2.1 system that comes with an iPod dock. Other stores have it on sale for $39.99, so you save an additional $10 from CC.

iPod Shuffle @ TG for FREE
...when you buy the 32 GB iPod Touch. With Apple products always staying firm in pricing, this is actually a great deal. It's basically like getting $50 back.

Burned by the Heat

With tonight's loss, it was another 2-game losing streak for the Bulls. This time, it was against the Miami Heat... another team they owned last year. Miami is a lot different though. They're not great, but much better than last year as they've already equaled their win total. Dwayne Wade has been healthy and consistent this year, which plays a large part into their winning edge. The Bulls actually played well tonight and kept the game close until the 4th quarter. It was very non-typical. They're supposed to fall behind in the 1st and then catchup. When the Bulls end the 1st with a lead, it actually worries me. I'm more confident when they're getting beat by 10 in the first half! For 3 quarters they did everything right though. Gordon & Noc were hitting their 3's. Rose was driving. Thomas and Noah even had some great moves on both ends. Then nothing was falling in the 4th. Overall, they had 5 guys in double digits, but there was no dominant scorer tonight putting up over 20. They needed either Rose or Gordon to get about 10 more for a win.

Could this be the end of the streak the Bulls have over the Pistons and Heat? It seems like the magic wore off this week.

Contender Asia Holidays

A funny Happy Holiday message from Dzhabar Askerov & Zidov Dominic:

Road Losses Continue

Last night's match against the Pistons was a very odd game and the loss was hard to swallow because AI had 5 points on zero field goals. He normally kills us. So on a very off night, I would expect the Bulls to pull off a big win. They've played Detroit well for about 2 years now, but the Pistons are a much different team this year. Perhaps that caught the Bulls by surprise. They had no answer for Rodney Stuckey, who had a career night scoring 40 points. The Bulls did OK with their scoring. They had 5 guys in double figures, but the key to Detroit's win was getting Rose in early foul trouble.

Going by their home record, one would think the Bulls are leading their division. But as usual, their road record is terrible... the exact opposite. They need to learn how to win on the road if they're going to get over the .500 hump.

Yankees Movement

Yesterday, the Yankees signed Chien Ming Wang to a one-year deal. I'll be happy to see him back in pinstripes nice and healthy. As good as he is though, he'll be the 3rd man this time, behind CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett. Now that's a rotation! I think Wang deserved a multi-year contract though. He's done nothing but win. With the exception of last year (because of injury), he's been their best pitcher since he came into the league. Not only that... he's one of the best in the league.

Just this afternoon, they signed up Mark Teixeira to another fat contract... $180 million over 8 years. That was a nice early Christmas gift for the fans. This fills 1st base with one of the best players in the league. As always, signing a top player doesn't only mean increasing the talent level. It also means bumping the Sox from signing up the same guy! The Red Sox have had the better moves over the past 2 years. So it was nice to see the Yankees front office make some big moves.

The signing of Tex reduces the chances of the Yankees making a move for Manny Ramirez. Many fans only look at the baseball stats when they hope Manny makes the team. I actually don't want him onboard. He's one of the biggest assholes in baseball and doesn't fit in with the Yankees' image of professionalism. He's the polar opposite of Derek Jeter and would be a bad influence on the young guys.

Bulls Over Jazz

"He's been doing it all season. He's a great player. He's not playing like a rookie. I don't think he's a rookie anymore. He's one of the best point guards in the league and he definitely took it over."
- Deron Williams (Utah Jazz)

That was All-Star guard, Deron Williams talking about Derrick Rose after last night's game. Rose had 24 points, 10 of which came in the 4th quarter when he took over the game. This of course took attention away from Gordon again, who had a quiet 26 to lead all scorers! Nocioni had another good game... 15 points & 8 rebounds. Sefolosha was good too, adding 10 and some great defense. Even Noah pulled down 9 rebounds! The key last night was point in the paint though. It wasn't a typical Bulls win where everyone was on fire from the 3-point line. We saw a lot of cutting, layups and dunks. It's amazing how contagious Rose's playmaking can be. When he cuts and slashes, the opponents defense gets so scrambled. What's important is that his teammates are in the right place.

So the Bulls improved to 13-14 after last night's game. They seem to be stuck at trying to get to .500 again, but the good news is they didn't have a big losing streak yet. As long as they don't dig themselves a hole again like last year, they have a good chance at making a playoff run. I think things will get even better when Hinrich returns since he can add relief to point guard and shooting guard duties.

Tech Deals of the Week (12/21-12/27)

Flash Drives
- 8 GB SanDisk @ Radio Shack for $19.99
- 4 GB SanDisk @ Office Depot and Staples for $14.99
- 8 GB SanDisk @ Office Depot and Staples for $24.99
- 16 GB SanDisk @ Staples for $44.99
- 4 GB SanDisk (2-pack) @ Staples for $24.99

Monitors
- 24" Acer @ Staples for $279.99
- 22" Acer @ Best Buy for $169.99
- 19" Samsung @ CompUSA.com for $141.98 [click here]

Gigaware Webcam @ Radio Shack for $9.99
This basic VGA camera comes with a built-in mic. Even though the resolution is low, it covers 2 devices in one for just $9.99.

Assassination Reenactment

This is a hilarious reenactment of the shoe throwing assassination attempt on President Bush:


The TNT guys are always entertaining. They always manage to be funny yet informative about the game. The ESPN guys could take a few pointers!

Best Bang for Buck... MSI Wind

Big surprise... I reevaluated my netbook opinion again! After turning my attention to the 10" HDD models last time, I never really factored in the cost and concentrated too much on design. While the Eee PC 1000H and Samsung NC10 are the best looking models, the MSI Wind is actually the best buy for its power. All of the other 10" models are roughly the same spec, but the one item that isn't listed that often is that they have a maximum RAM capacity of 2 GB... but there's only one slot. And there are no default configurations with the max RAM. In other words, you have to buy the system with 1 GB RAM. Chuck the default RAM and buy a 2 GB module. The MSI Wind also has a maximum capacity of 2 GB, but it has 2 slots and the default configurations only take up one slot. So if you buy the Wind, you don't have to throw anything out... just get an additional 1 GB module. The price difference is significant enough for me to live with the slightly worse design. So that's where I stand now.

Gordon for Four!

What an exciting game! This one sure made up for the last heartbreaker. Nocioni probably has his best game of the season so far posting 22 points and vintage 4th quarter hustle. Derrick Rose bounced back with 16 points and a key 3 point play in OT. Gordon also had 22 points and had a game tying 4-point play to send the game into OT. He's been playing great all year, but that 4-point play is what I think he needed to really get his confidence up. I expect Gordon to play at an all-star level now. Even Noah contributed 3 blocks and 6 boards!

The Clippers did some great things too. Randolph had 30 to lead all scorers. Camby added 19 and 27 rebounds... that's right... 27! The Bulls got outrebounded 55-39, so they were fortunate to win with their big time shots.

Paterson's Tax Proposal

Way to go... you're good for NYC!
- luxury cars, yachts, private planes
- jewelry & fur
- beer and wine
- cigars
- eliminate jobs (just make sure you fire the lazy ones)

You a-hole! I'm glad SNL made fun of you!
- non-diet soft drinks
- clothing under $110
- cut school aid
- increase college tuition
- driver's license renewal fees

Bull's Lose to Jordan's Team

It was a tough loss tonight since the Bobcats played without Gerald Wallace and even more so because we had a lead within the final seconds of the 4th quarter. Derrick Rose had one of his worst games as a pro, but I guess it is unrealistic to expect him to be on fire forever. Some good signs were that Gooden, Gordon & Deng were consistent. Thomas also had a great game... his second in a row. This one would've been a win if Rose hit his averages. With a 94-91 lead and 35 seconds left in the 4th, Rose fouled Augustin on a 3 point shot. The Bobcats tied and forced OT where they had the momentum and won 110-101.

A Quiet High
This whole season has been about how great Derrick Rose has performed. He's been showing signs of a great point guard. He can drive to the basket and create Jordanesque shots. He's a pretty good shooter too. But there's also another important hidden positive. He's driving media attention away from Ben Gordon. With all the focus on Rose, Gordon is quietly having a career year... 21 points, 4 assists & 3.5 rebounds per game. He was always good at scoring, but I can also see that his point guard skills are getting much better.

Assassination Attempt

Everyone knows that I'm anti-politics, but this was too funny not to post. A couple of days ago an Iraqi reporter threw his shoes at Pres. Bush, shouting, "this is a gift from the Iraqis, this is the farewell kiss, you dog!" Bush was able to dodge both shoes. Then the reporter was beaten down by guards and cried like a baby.

Protect Me from... Me

"I swore an oath, and I will protect you. Even if it means I must protect you from yourself."
- Jacopo (Luis Guzmán in Count of Monte Cristo)

There's a tool we have on the Intranet that automates the publication of some updates. Not that many people have access to it, so there was no need to put any security features on it... until the other day. For no reason at all, our business development guy just went to the page and clicked one of the links. It kicked off an huge update process. It didn't damage the portal or anything, but it took up a lot of resources an prevented several groups from development work for several hours. So after that happened, he asked our boss to have us add alerts to all of the links. Of course he never said it was his fault for wandering aimlessly and clicking on random links. So we basically put alerts in place to protect the application from employees who come across it in a drunken stupor. Note that this has not happened for 5 years since the creation of the tool!

Stargate Atlantis 518 (Identity)

Swapping bodies is typical of the sci-fi theme. Every series has to do it at least once. In last Friday's episode, they took a device that was first seen in Stargate SG-1 and repurposed it to swap the minds of Dr. Keller and a murderer, Neela Casol on a different planet. It was also similar to another Stargate SG-1 episode where a barber gets visions of Jack's adventures and vice versa. But in Identity the situation is more of an emergency because there was a murderer loose in Atlantis... stuck in the body of the most unsuspecting person.. Jennifer Keller. And Keller's mind was in great danger the whole time, being stuck in a murderer's body and about to get caught for her crimes.

This episode got confusing at times because of the way they worked the points of views. The whole time Casol was in Keller's body, they used the actress for Casol. That worked for story-telling purposes. It only got confusing when the 2 were actually together in the same scene.

Winding down to the end of the season, this was a weird episode to play. It had very little to do with the larger Wraith saga, but still a fun break.

Bulls Comeback!

We know the usual result of a Bulls-Nets game, but there was a chance of a different outcome last night since we have Derrick Rose now. And that's how it played out. As usual, the Bulls got off to a slow start. They were down by over 10 points in the 1st quarter, but I wasn't worried. They do that all the time and then go on a run. The entire first half was a alternation of runs and droughts for both teams. The 4th quarter was the difference though. Ben Gordon and Derrick Rose both hit huge shots to tie the game and secure a comfortable lead. The defense reminded me of the years before last year... it was actually good. They had 13 blocked shots... which translates to at least a -26 points for NJ! Thomas & Noah did a great job, responding to Del Negro's kick in the butt earlier in the week. The offense was red hot with 6 players in doubles, lead by Gordon (29) and Rose (22).

In the final seconds, the Nets were down by 8 and had no chance of coming back as time was against them, but they kept fouling and extending the game to setup plays. I respect that about Lawrence Frank's Nets. They play every second until the end... just like the Bulls. Also noteworthy is that Carter scored his season high of 39, bouncing back from a poor 3-point performance the previous night. He represented the only hole in the Bull's defense. We were able to keep Yi to just 2 points. I noticed that if Yi doesn't play well, the Nets usually lose.

Tech Deals of the Week (12/14-12/20)

Flash Sales
- 8 GB SanDisk @ Radio Shack for $24.99
- 4 GB SanDisk @ Radio Shack for $14.99
- 8 GB SanDisk @ Best Buy for $24.99
- 4 GB SanDisk @ Best Buy for $14.99
- 8 GB SanDisk @ Staples for $24.99
- 4 GB SanDisk @ Staples for $14.99
- 8 GB Lexar @ Circuit City for $24.99
- 4 GB Lexar @ Circuit City for $12.99

Acer Aspire One @ CompUSA.com for $349.99
The Acer model actually surpassed the original netbook... Asus Eee PC in sales recently... probably because of their prices. Now those prices were just reduced even further. I'm currently looking for a 10" model, but if I was going for a 9" one, this would be the best buy. [click here]

Acer 22" LCD @ CompUSA.com for $159.99
This is equivalent to the Black Friday price! A great price for a great monitor. The $1.99 shipping is still in effect too. [click here]

Acer 21" 16:9 LCD @ CompUSA.com for $199.99
This is more expensive than the one above because it has the HDMI input, which means you can use this as a TV. While monitors are not made to be TVs, this is still good enough and a great way to get 1080p resolution on a small TV. The actual TVs at 1080p won't reach sizes smaller than 28" until later in 2009. [click here]

Logitech V450 Laser Mouse @ Radio Shack for $14.99
This model is the little brother of the VX Nano. It's about the same size, has a tilt wheel and the small dongle. It's missing the gaming options... side buttons & fast scroller, but still pretty good for $15. There's an $8 mail-in rebate involved with this deal.

Eat the Head!

I'm a Verizon supporter, but the T-Mobile commercial series with Charles Barkley & Dwayne Wade is one of the best. In the latest one, they added Yao Ming to the cast as well.

CC, K and More!

CC & $$
A couple of big deals happened within the last day. First... CC Sabathia, one of the leagues best pitchers finally accepted the Yankees' gigantic offer. They agreed on $161 over 7 years. I have some mixed thoughts on this. First, I'm glad the organization is finally addressing their weak starting pitching and going out to get a big name for the rotation. Sabathia will likely take the #1 spot, bumping Wang to #2. The length and price of the contract is a bit too high though. The guy is overweight and 35 years old! Sabathia was always a big guy, but it all depends on the temptation of NY's many fine restaurants! Hopefully he brings us 20 wins per year or close to it. If he can do that and Wang can stay healthy, the we're easily in the playoffs.

K-Rod
The Crosstown Mets also signed a fat contract of their own, grabbing one of the best closers in the game... Francisco Rodriguez (K-Rod). This makes me happy for 2 reasons. First of all, K-Rod has always pitched well against the Yankees. So sending him off the the NL means we won't have to see his face as much! I had the same reaction when Santana went there. If they're not Yankees, shipping them to the other league is the next best thing. The second reason is it puts Billy Wagner in his place. The cocky closer who blows saves left and right will lose his job!

Got No Milk
There were a couple of complications that extended negotiations, but the Yankees and Brewers swapped center fielders about an hour ago. The veteran gold glover Mike Cameron will be in pinstripes for the talented, but inexperienced Melky Cabrera. This is a big gamble on both sides, so could be somewhat of an even trade. Cameron is getting old. He still has good defense and good homerun power, but his average is terrible. Cabrera has shown signs of becoming a rising star, but has just as many bone-headed moves to go along with it. He also went on a slump last year that got a ticket to the minors. I hope this works out. Mike Cameron is an all around good guy. I always liked him when he was on the Mets and think his personality is a good fit for the Yankees.

Duhon Does it All, but Bulls Win

I was pretty happy with last night's game against the Knicks in that Duhon played great, but the Bulls got the win. Going into the game, both teams were dead even at 9-11. The Bulls got off to an early lead, but the Knicks fought back in the 2nd quarter to cut it to a 2 point lead at half time. The game was close all the way through with terrible 3 pt shooting and turnovers on both sides. The Bulls ended up on top because they were the deeper team with more spread out scoring. They used 8 players, 7 of which scored in double figures. Gooden had a double-double with 22 pts & 10 rebs. Gordon was as solid as usual playing his hometown team. Derrick Rose drove to the basket a lot and broke a few Knicks ankles on the way. Duhon had a career night for the Knicks, just 1 rebound shy of a triple-double.

Some Points of Improvement
I want to see more slashing to the basket. The Bulls shoot over 80% from the free throw line which is awesome. They just need to get there more often. Gordon needs to drive every time if he's not one fire from 3. They guy shoots over 90% from the stripe. If he cuts, he can get 20 pts per night just from free throws. The big guys need to throw it down. Gray is 7ft with a heavy frame. He needs to dunk it in his opponent's face instead of going for a soft layup. When he plays soft, I would rather see more minutes for Nocioni. Noc plays tough. He's just 6'7", but he'll rip down some rebounds from bigger guys. Lastly, I want to see the tough defense from 2 seasons ago. If Thomas & Noah are on the floor, they should concentrate 100% on blocks and rebounds because they suck at scoring. They should go for the block even if it means getting 6 fouls per game. They just need to foul the right guy and avoid and1's.

Weekend Knockouts

There were a lot of fights going on last weekend, starting with Friday Night Fights in NYC, Evolution 15 in Australia and De La Hoya vs. Pacquiao in Las Vegas. I missed FNF this time around because I was stuck at work. I always seem to be extra busy in December. I'll go over the Evolution 15 results since they've ben posted all over, but won't get to watch it until it replays on Australian TV in a month. I saw a fairly complete replay of the boxing match, so I'll go over that as well.

Evolution 15
This event was straight to the point. We didn't see the usual 5 round marathons. Bodies were dropped left and right and matches were quick. Dzhabar Askerov KOed Bruce MacFie in the first round with his crazy right overhand/hook. Soren Monkongtong KOed Zig Zach in the first also, with a liver punch. John Wayne Parr gave Sean Wright a pretty good beat, landing everything including the kitchen sink. Sean failed to answer the bell in the 3rd. For the qualifier tournament, it will be Eli "Maddog" Madigan representing Australia in Contender Asia this season. Detail will come on this event when I get a chance to watch it.

De La Hoya vs. Pacquiao
The outcome of this one was pretty predictable. Pacquaio has 1 loss in what... 9-10 years? De La Hoya has been in and out of boxing for the past couple of years. I wanted De La Hoya to win because he represents my childhood era. He was the best and he was invincible. His downfall was the loss to Trinidad... a match I thought he clearly won. I always wanted him to bounce back, but the reality of Saturday's match was age. Pacquaio is the best pound for pound boxer in the game today. He's got all of the tools and no weaknesses. Any article written before the match that were talking about how De La Hoya could go for a hard punch KO was just hyping up the match. The outcome was just as the rational part of my brain thought... complete mismatch. Pacquiao won every round clearly and De La Hoya could not answer the bell at round 9. De La Hoya is not THAT old... he's 35. So can he make a comeback? The answer is yes... but he needs to be a boxer 100%. Pacquaio is a boxing machine. That's all he does.

On the other hand, this match, which is probably De La Hoya's worst loss could be symbolic of the end of a career. It's in some ways similar to the beating of Julio Cesar Chavez in 1996 and 1998. That was sort of a passing of the torch. Chavez was De La Hoya's idol just like De La Hoya is Pacquiao's. The future should be interesting. Will De La Hoya work his way up again? Who's next for Pacquaio?

Stargate Atlantis 517 (Infection)

They went back to the "Todd" saga with this episode. Complications with the gene therapy from Episode 11 gave Todd and his entire crew a disease. They put themselves in stasis in hopes that the Atlantis team could solve the problem. However, when some of the Wraith drones escaped from their pods, they were no longer under control of their masters and were missing the feeding element in their hand (due to the therapy). These very hungry Wraith had to feed the old fashioned way. Also, since the hive ships are part organic, plugging into the stasis pods infected the ship as well. In this Aliens-like episode, the team was stuck in a ship with a bunch of hungry, man-eating Wraith and had to figure a way out of a space that kept reconfiguring itself. At the end, the Atlantis team was able to get out with the help of Todd, but the story will continue in future episodes. The gene therapy has yet to be perfected. Todd is still ill and has lost everything, but still honored that Sheppard kept his part of the bargain and let him go at the end. Will Todd be a friend or foe next time?

Bulls Vets Come Through

Last night, the Bulls continued their ownership (this goes back to 2004, the year after being eliminated by them in the playoffs) of the Wizards by defeating them 117-110. The veterans shined in this game with Deng posting 26 points, Gordon 21, Hughes 24 and Nocioni 19. Gooden added 12 points & 10 rebounds. These are the guys we need to do this every night. The Bulls gave the hometown crowd everything they wanted to see. Gordon was all over the place. He hit a couple of 3's, drove to the basket, dunked and even had an emphatic blocked shot (remember, he's like 6ft tall). Deng played the value of the fat contract they signed at the beginning of the season. He's got to score 20+ per game! The starters were all solid. Gray didn't score points, but his 9 rebounds were very valuable. Hughes & Nocioni were excellent off the bench. Thomas was the only player that was ineffective. That could be a problem if the coach gives him too much floor time in hopes that he'll snap out of it. Of all players on the team, Thomas and Noah have the most work to do as far as consistency.

Next up is the Knicks on Tuesday. It should be an interesting matchup because Duhon is running the opposition now and doing a great job. So will it be the the Bull's advantage for being familiar with him or will it be the other way around? What will prevail, D'Antoni's all-offense Knicks or the historically defensive-minded Bulls?

Tech Deals of the Week (12/7-12/13)

Flash Sales
- 4 GB Sony @ Circuit City for $14.99
- 8 GB Sony @ Circuit City for $24.99
- 4 GB PNY @ Staples for $14.99
- 8 GB PNY @ Staples for $24.99
- 16 GB PNY @ Staples for $49.99
- 8 GB Ativa @ Office Depot for $24.99
- 16 GB Ativa @ Office Depot for $49.99

Acer LCD Sales @ Staples
These 2 deals are pretty close to Black Friday prices...
- 19" for $129.99
- 24" for $279.99

Memorex Upconverting DVD Player @ Radio Shack for $39.99
This is a pretty good price for a 1080p upconverting player. This model has some nice features like a card slot & USB port for music and photos.

Gigaware Wireless Laser Mouse @ Radio Shack for $24.99
This is one of the best notebook mice out there. It's almost like the Logitech VX Nano in shape and has the tiny dongle. It actually looks better too, but lacks the extra buttons and til wheel.

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.

Samsung 19" LCD @ CompUSA.com for $141.98
This is a little bit more than the Acer above, but Samsung's are better. The price includes CompUSA's reduced shipping cost... $1.99. [click here]

Repeated Survey ?'s for 2008-12-05

A repeat of 2008-09-18, but with new answers...

1. When was the last time you took a nap? 2 weeks ago
2. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? Mom
3. To text you?
4. What are you doing tonight? Stargate Atlantis & Sanctuary
5. What are you listening to? n/a
6. What did you do over the weekend? shopping
7. What did you have for breakfast? DD turkey eggwhite flatbread
8. Last book you read? Maximum Carnage
9. Last thing you bought? 22" Acer Monitor
10. Last movie you saw: Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Wasting Money in a Recession

2008's been a bad year for the economy, especially the last few months. Companies are going down and workers are getting laid off. Those that are still employed are sure to get low (or no) bonuses and pay increases. I know that's coming up for me and my colleagues. I can understand that though since the whole country is not doing well. What I don't understand is some areas my company spends money despite the recession. There's going to be a holiday party just before Christmas. They rented out a good sized space in Midtown Manhattan for the hundreds of employees in the NY office. The party is sure to cost tens of thousands. I was sure there wouldn't be one this year yet we just got the announcement today. Also, earlier in the week, I walked through the lobby in the morning and noticed a whole crew setting up Christmas decorations... 2 giant trees and pots of poinsettias lined up around the perimeter of the lobby. It's nice to get people in the holiday spirit, but they could cut down on the spending. Guess where this money is going to come from... our bonuses & raises for next year. Stuff the party... I'd rather have more $$$ in my pocket!

My company isn't the only one guilty of this either. I talked about this with several of my friends and many of their offices are also holding expensive holiday parties. This tells me that America is doomed because we have to party no matter what. No one has the sense and willpower for delayed gratification.

The Legend of Bruce Lee

I thought this was some cheap version of Bruce Lee's story, but after watching the trailer, it actually looks pretty good. They got an all-star martial arts cast including Michael Jai White & Ray Park. This isn't a movie though... it's a 50+ episode TV series. So that's 50 hours of Bruce Lee's story!


I'm not sure which of these scenes are meant to be movie shots and which are actual events, but it seems like they may have integrated some of his movie events into his life. So it may not be 100% true, but is sure to be entertaining.

End of the Road

...and back home! The Bulls didn't do great, but survived the Circus Trip and got 3 wins out of it to get up to 8-9 overall. This wouldn't have been possible without the late game heroics of Derrick Rose, the consistency of Ben Gordon and Luol Deng getting back on track.

In the finale, Rose really took over the game and did everything from assists, to scoring and blocking. He's been great throughout the year so far. What I like best about him is that he's doing spectacular things and the media is going nuts about it, but Rose downplays it every time. He's a perfect personality fit for the team. All of the Bulls are just about business and don't give out any dirt for the reporters to stir up... exact opposite of the Knicks!

Office Lingo: Launch

My latest bulls#$% office lingo pet peeve is "launch." There's a web producer that sits near me in the office and he completely overuses the word. Every single thing that makes it to a public web server is a "launch." We launched a new homepage photo... the new about page launched... etc... etc... etc! The word "launch" is another example of an attempt to make pathetic office life sound more exciting. Launching a spacecraft or missile is a big deal. "Launching" a web update just isn't! I can live with it if it's used to refer to larger scale projects like a full website or new application. I'm just extra sick of it when used to refer to tiny little edits.

Black Friday of Death

It's not worth going to one of the large chains... and not only because of the low stock, but because there are always a lot of crazy shoppers who think they can get to one of these limited quantity items by pushing and shoving. There was a Walmart worked that actually got killed this Black Friday because he was trampled by hundreds of mad shoppers. It's one thing to get trampled in a terrorist attack of natural disaster, but to have it happen during a shopping event is ridiculous. The victim was only 34 years old. Hopefully they'll be able to ID people with the surveillance cameras. The person who knocked him down as well as everyone who stepped over him should taste the edge of Azrael's fiery sword. To top it off, many shoppers became angered when Walmart announced a closing due to the death. This event shows the true character of people and of NYers when it comes to money.

Black Friday Conclusion

So... what did I end up doing on Black Friday? I didn't go to any of the larger chains. First, I did a lot of shopping Online a few days before and was able to get a bunch of gifts knocked off. I purchased mostly from NewEgg and Buy.com. On Black Friday itself, I just woke up at normal time and went to the smaller chains... Radio Shack, Staples and Office Depot. I went after smaller accessories like flash drives, mice and DVD players... high percentage items. Radio Shack did the best job with stock. Staples and Office Depot were almost like Best Buy and Circuit City... all of the items were sold out early in the morning. So my Black Friday was stress free. I went to the low traffic points and shopped as I normally would under everyday conditions... no crowds... no competition.

There's supposed to be a shopping event called Cyber Monday, but I looked around and there isn't really anything spectacular about it. Some stores just have free shipping that day. It also won't have the same shopper turnout as Black Friday because most people work on the Monday after Thanksgiving. Most of the items will likely be leftovers too.

Tech Deals of the Week (11/30-12/6)

There isn't much going on this week probably because many items went out of stock after Black Friday, but here are a few sale items I found...

Flash Sales
- 4 GB Sony @ Circuit City for $14.99
- 8 GB Lexar @ Circuit City for $24.99
- 8 GB Ativa @ Office Depot for $24.99
- 16 GB Verbatim @ Office Depot for $49.99

Acer 19" LCD @ Office Depot for $139.99
Not counting Black Friday, I haven't seen this price since September. This time it's instant... no rebate!

Acer 22" LCD @ Best Buy for $169.99
This is the lowest non-Black Friday price for the 22". Also, it's worth noting that the Acer models include the DVI cable... at least a $20 value.

Knicks Drama

I just wish the Knicks would get a deal done with Marbury already. I'm tired of the drama in the news every day. It rivals the Shaq-Kobe soap opera. I just roll my eyes when I a see a story in the papers about either one. So now, the Knicks and Coach D'antoni are claiming that Marbury was called on to take the court twice and refused to play. Marbury claims that he never said no and that on one night, his locker didn't even have a jersey in it. Marbury was suspended at least one game and fined for his supposed action. Neither Marbury or the Knicks organization have a solid reputation, so it's hard to tell who's telling the truth and who's lying.

There have been talks about Marbury going to the Spurs and now the Mavs. The Spurs talk died out after both Ginobili and Parker came back from injury. The Mavs could use some extra scoring. I think he's a better shooting guard than anyone on that team. It would also be interesting to see him play with Jason Kidd as they both had a local rivalry for a number of years.

Black Friday Overview

As you can see, there isn't anything spectacular this Black Friday due to the recession. There are a few good items, but many are just regular sale prices. It seems like they started the sales early this year because the items I listed for the weekly sale were pretty much Black Friday prices. The "door busters" are pretty lame. I don't see anything listed that would motivate me to wake up in the middle of the night to get on line for. I'll probably just swing by Staples, Office Depot & Radio Shack in the morning to what gifts I can get. Those are the 3 high percentage stores. Less people tend to go to these, so the chances of items being stocked are much higher.

The Bulls & All That Jazz

Without Deron Williams in the lineup, I would be happier with a blowout win, but buzzer-beaters are just as important for the confidence of this team, so I'll take a 101-100 win. Derrick Rose put on a Jordanesque 4th quarter to lift his team and Hughes nailed the winner. This is becoming a regular thing with Rose. He's even better than anything I expected. He's better than he was in college and in a much tougher league. He lead the team with 25 and 9 assists. Gooden had 18, Hughes 16 and Gordon 15.

So that's 2 on the circus trip! It's sad, but this is a good sign! San Antonio is next. Their record at 5-4 says that they're not as invincible as usual, but Ginobili was out for the beginning of the season. He returned tonight to help his team beat the Grizzlies. So this is bad news for the Bulls.

Black Friday Deals (Part 2)

Office Depot
TDK DVD+/-R 50 Pack for $7.99
Logitech Cordless Optical Mouse for $4.99
Targus 4 Port Ultra Mini USB Hub for $4.99
Memorex Upconverting DVD Player for $19.99
Acer 22" LCD for $129.99
16 GB SanDisk Flash Drive for $29.99
8 GB SanDisk Flash Drive for $14.99
8 GB SanDisk Flash Drive for $9.99
Microsoft Office Home & Student 2007 for $69.99

Staples
Logitech LX8 Wireless Laser Mouse for $14.99
Samsung 18.5" Widescreen LCD for $119.98
Netgear Wireless-N Router for $49.98
Netgear RangeMax Wireless-N Notebook Adapter for $49.99
Netgear RangeMax Wireless-N USB Adapter for $49.99
8 GB Sandisk Flash Drive for $12.99

Radio Shack
TDK DVD+/-R 50 Pack for $7.99
Motorola H375 Bluetooth Headset for $9.99
Plantronics Lightweight Explorer 320 Headset for $19.99
Gigaware 1.3MP Webcam for $14.99
Gigaware Fold-Up Notebook Cooling Pad for $9.99
Gigaware Wireless Laser Travel Mouse for $14.99
Memorex Upconverting DVD Player for $19.99
4 GB Sandisk Flash Drive for $12.99
8 GB Sandisk Flash Drive for $19.99

Black Friday Deals (Part 1)

There are tons of deals out there for the craziest shopping day of the year. I'm just going to list the realistic ones... the ones that are possible to get without waiting on line all night long.

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

Best Buy
Microsoft Bluetrack Explorer Mouse for $49.99
Targus Laptop Case & Optical Mouse for $27.99
Samsung 1080P Upconverting DVD Player for $49.99
Western Digital 1TB Ext. HDD for $149.99
Acer 19" Widescreen LCD for $99.99
Samsung 19" Widescreen LCD for $129.99
8 GB iPod Nano for $149.99
4 GB Sansa Fuze for $49.99
8 GB Sansa Fuze for $69.99
4 GB Sandisk Flash Drive for $12.99
8 GB Sandisk Flash Drive for $19.99
Microsoft Office Home & Student 2007 for $69.99

Circuit City
SanDisk MobileMate SD 5-in-1 Reader for $4.99
Verge 15.4" Laptop Sleeve for $7.99
Samsung 1080P Upconverting DVD Player for $49.99
D-Link Wireless-N Router w/ Free Adapter for $39.99
4 GB SanDisk Flash Drive for $9.99
8 GB SanDisk Flash Drive for $18.99
16 GB SanDisk Flash Drive for $39.99
Microsoft Office Home & Student 2007 for $69.99

Stargate Atlantis 516 (Brain Storm)

Last Friday's episode concentrated on Rodney McKay and Jennifer Keller, giving the rest of the cast the week off. Of all places, it was set at the physics convention of one of Rodney's former associates. They did a clever job of making this a self-contained "Earth" story with connections to Stargate technology. The whole thing took place on Earth, in an office building and there were no bad guys. Yet there were several interesting aspects. There's a problem that needed to be solved and the building full of geniuses had to suck it up and try to work together without their egos getting in the way.

The most intersting part to me was the way they handled the romance between Rodney & Jennifer. They actually acknowledged it upfront at the end. So it'll be interesting how they treat it in future episodes. I was glad they did that, otherwise it would be a remake of Jack & Sam from Stargate SG-1. I didn't want to see the Stargate Atlantis series follow the same exact stories.

Tech Deals of the Week (11/23-11/26)

I thought there would be nothing for this short week (w/ Black Friday coming up), but am surprised with what I found. All of these are pre-Black Friday deals. I doublechecked because some of these are very good ones.

Flash Sales
- 8 GB Sony @ Circuit City for $19.99
- 4 GB Lexar @ Circuit City for $12.99
- 4 GB PNY @ Best Buy for $14.99
- 32 GB Verbatim @ Office Depot for $79.99
- 8 GB Verbatim @ Office Depot for $19.99

Hard Drive Sales
- 500 GB Simpletech Ext. @ Circuit City for $79.99
- 1 TB Seagate Ext. @ Circuit City for $169.99

Logitech V450 Laser Mouse @ Circuit City for $19.99
This model is the little brother of the VX Nano. It's about the same size, has a tilt wheel and the small dongle. It's missing the gaming options... side buttons & fast scroller, but still pretty good for $20. There's a $15 mail-in rebate involved with this deal.

Belkin Mini Surge Protector @ Circuit City for $14.99
This useful travel device has 3 outlets and 2 USB charger plugs

Samsung Upconverting DVD Player @ Best Buy for $49.99
This is a nicely designed compact 1080p upconverting player. It has a rounded design and doesn't look like a DVD player at first glance.

Case Logic Portable HDD Case (Blue only) @ Best Buy for $9.99
Portable hard drives are more compact, but they're still hard dries with moving parts. That means they're breakable. So $9.99 is not too much to pay for some extra padding.

Samsung 24" LCD @ Best Buy for $329.99
This is an amazing price for something that used to be $500. The new model isn't THAT much better. If you've been holding out for a large LCD, now's the time to get one.

Logitech MX Revolution @ Best Buy for $59.99
This is the desktop counterpart for the VX Nano and is the lowest price I've seen.

Logitech V220 Optical Mouse @ Target for $9.99
That's $20 off the regular price for this mouse. $30 is too much to pay for this model, but you can't go wrong @ $10. While it's not laser, it's still a lot better than any basic mouse out there. It still has tilt-wheel functionality that many manufacturers fail to include. Logitech also has a practical design where the dongle snaps onto the mouse for storage.

NBA Friday

I watched a number of exciting games last night. It almost felt like the playoffs! Check it out:

Rockets vs. Wizards
The Wizards were leading for most of the game, but the Rockets stayed within striking distance as well. This one was a little reminiscent of Yao's first game against Shaq where he opened the first quarter with 3 back-to-back blocks and nailed several shots over the slower O'Neal. But it was Shaq who got his team the first win in the battle of the giants. Last night's game featured Yao vs. JaVale McGee, a promising rookie 7-footer in another battle of the giants. JaVale got the crowd into it by getting the opening tip and shooting one over Yao, but it was Yao's overall gameplay and 4th quarter burst that helped the Rockets comeback from a 9-point defecit. This was also a great game for the big 3... McGrady (20), Yao (18) and Artest (14).

Nets vs. Raptors
Nets. vs. Raptors always has a playoff atmosphere when they battle it out in Toronto. The fans there are still bitter about Carter leaving, so they're really into it. This also fuels Carter as he has consistently burns his former team. It didn't look like that was going to happen last night because Toronto looked like they secured the win in the 4th quarter with an 18-point lead. Something sparked in Carter as he kept hitting big shot after big shot. He eventually tied the game with .5 seconds left with a three. One would think that should be the play of the game, but OT was even more exciting with both team trading shots and changing leads. Down to the last second, they were trading what could've easily been game winners. The game was tied and heading to a second OT, but the Nets drew up a great play where the players cut all over the place and somehow Carter got free, not for a jumper, but an alley-oop reverse jam!

Bulls vs. Warriors
The circus trip continues for the Bulls, but yesterday's game was a sign of hope as they defeated the Warriors in another Friday night thriller. Derrick Rose was the hero as he went on a tear in the 2nd half. It was his impression of Gordon's rookie year! Scoring was very spread out with 6 players in double figures. Hughes had 5 3-pointers and Gooden pulled down 16 rebounds. It wasn't a typical gritty, defensive game as the Bulls won 115-110, but it's the West coast, so I'll let that go. If they could just get one or two more wins during this trip, I'd consider it a success.

A Break in Weather Pattern?

We've had some pretty unusual weather over the past couple of years. Winters have been warm with only a few large snow storms. Summers have been relatively cool. Last year, I only used my AC about 10 times. This year had more hot days, but only a handful of extreme ones. When I was a kid growing up in NY, I certainly remember weeks of 90 degree Summers and many snow days in school due to extreme Winter weather. This week was consistently about 30 degrees, which is unusual based on recent years, but I guess this is how November used to be a decade ago. Could this be a sign of a cold Winter coming? Last year, we didn't get into the 30's until the end of December. Well... we've been spoiled for the past couple of years, so we deserve to get slammed sooner or later! Hopefully the city is prepared to get things cleaned up efficiently.

Clockwork Apple: Moonwalker

Moonwalker always makes his appearance during the early part of the evening rush. I see him almost every day that I'm running a little bit early. He hangs out on the express platform at Penn Station and dances to the beat of his huge, hi-tech headphones. This guy is there purely for dancing. He's a well-dressed man and there's no coin bucket on the floor. And he's not waiting for a train. Several express cars passed by as I was waiting for my local. He was there the whole time, in his own 7.1 Dolby Digital surround sound world!

Circus Trip 2008

Here we are again... the annual Circus Trip. Last year, the Bulls headed out with 1 measly win. It's no wonder they never recovered. At least this year they're at .500. It starts tonight against the Lakers. Then they've got the Blazers, Warriors, Nuggets, Jazz, Spurs and 76ers. The Bulls have been pretty random this year, so I can't even come up with a prediction on which teams they should beat. Last year, all of these teams were better, but the Bulls have shown signs of their bread and butter this year. They just need to stay focused and block out the homesickness and fatigue, especially towards the end of the trip.

The Bulls go through this every year when the circus takes over the United Center. Every circus trip has been a losing one by far, even on years with a good team. They've only had 6 wins since the Jordan Era! Even Jordan's Bulls had their struggles during this long stretch. I think the city of Chicago needs to get its priorities straight. The Bulls are the city. The circus can go somewhere else. Bulls wins are much more important!

Office Lingo: Organic

The word "organic" has been somewhat of a fad during the past few years, especially in the city, with people getting into health food. The last place I expected to heard the word was in the office... at least when used to describe things other than food. "Organic" is not just a popular marketing term in the food industry. It's also the latest in bulls#$% office lingo. It's been used by my boss as well as many business people in the company to refer to technology related things like website traffic and network growth. I'm sure they think they're being cool by using these new terms, but deep down it's a weak attempt to make their boring jobs sound important. We work with computers and technology... machines and electronics. It's anything but ORGANIC!

Tech Deals of the Week (11/16-11/22)

Circuit City Update
The "New York, NY" branch I mentioned last week referred to an Upper East Side store I never heard of. So Union Sq. & Upper West Side are OK!

Flash Sales
- 4 GB Sony @ Circui City for $14.99
- 8 GB SanDisk @ Circuit City for $27.99
- 16 GB Kingston @ Circuit City for $59.99
- 4 GB Geek Squad @ Best Buy for $17.99
- 4 GB PNY @ Staples for $14.99

50-Pack Nexxtech DVD+R for Circuit City for $9.99
DVD media hasn't been on sale that often anymore. This price is actually higher than last year, but low for this year.

JVC Gumy Earbuds @ Circuit City 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.

There aren't that many sales this week, probably because stores know that people will be waiting for Black Friday.

Stargate Atlantis 515 (Remnants)

Last night's episode was a pretty clever one. At first, it looked like there were 3 story lines going on...

1. McKay investigating an alien artifact
2. Sheppard fighting the Genai
3. Woolsey building a relationship

...but all 3 started meshing together little by little. And it took all the way until the last minute for everything to come together. There was a lot of character building reserved for Woolsey, which was much needed. He's truly a different character from his first appearance on Stargate SG-1. It's really hard to believe when looking back. Sheppard's storyline was also shocking. If you saw the commercial... what they wanted us to think actually happened... or did it... really?

30pt Turnaround!

The Bulls continue to peak at random times. Fortunately they went up the rollercoaster last night against the Mavs. When they fell behind 24-3 in the first quarter, I was thinking, "here we go again." But I stuck by my team an watched the whole game. The team is like Jekyll and Hyde... you don't know who is going to show up. Gordon played like the hot shooting rookie Gordon we all missed last year. Rose continued to prove that he's going to be Rookie of the Year. Gordon finished with 35, a season high. It was very important that Gordon had a high scoring game early in the season. He has to quickly dispel last year's failure. Deng also put up a typical 20 pt performance. Rose actually started off cold, but had the poise to keep his head straight and come up with a near triple-double.

The guard position just got logjammed again. Hughes is back and they also picked up Linsday Hunter to replace the injured Hinrich. Sefolosha becomes the odd man out, which I of course disagree with. The Bulls should look at what Sefolosha did 2 years ago when we had him on Kobe and Wade. Hughes can't do that!

Look... an Elephant!

...and it's burning the crap out of that bus!

I always knew the city's buses were slow, but today's Metro confirmed it. They listed the M96 as the slowest bus in the fleet at 3.7 mph. They also went on to list a bunch of animal speeds:

• 9 mph = running chicken
• 8 mph = running mouse
• 4.5 mph = walking elephant

That's pretty bad... and the reason why I never take the bus. With the wait time and the sub-elephant speed, I'd rather walk!

Duhon

The Duhon trade is starting to bite the Bulls back right now with Kirk Hinrich's injury. Larry Hughes is still out too. So the surplus of guards doesn't look like a surplus anymore. I wish the Bulls kept their players based on skill rather than position. Like I mentioned before, if they play well with the small guys, then leave it be! Duhon is doing great for the Knicks. As a starter, he has one of the best assist/turnover ratio in the league. If it were up to me, the odd man out should've been Larry Hughes. They need BG for his offense and 4th quarter spark. They need Thabo for defense against the big guards in the league. Hinrich is there for defense and shooting. Rose is their slasher and passer and Duhon would've been a great backup for Rose & Hinrich. The Knicks are winning & the Bulls are struggling. At least I'm happy for Chris Duhon. He's a good guy and good player.

10+HDD Instead

My opinion on what's the best netbook almost changes as often as these things get released, but in general I now think that a 10" hard drive model is more practical than a 9" SSD one. That's a pretty big change. Previously, I though SSD's made total sense just for portability, power consumption and durability. But when I gave it more thought, hard drive space was more important because netbooks don't have built-in optical drives. With a large hard drive, the system can hold a lot more movies, which would come in handy during travel. The power consumption is a non-issue because SSDs don't save that much more. Durability seems to be a non-issue as well. I've been using an old laptop for about 10 years now. I carry it around all the time. I've traveled with it on pretty rugged terrain too and it hasn't broken yet.

Currently, I think the best models are the Eee PC 1000HD and Samsung NC10. The specs are identical... 1.6 Ghz Atom, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB HDD and 6-cell battery. These are also the 2 best looking systems.

Stargate Atlantis 514 (The Prodigal)

The Prodigal went right back to action after a slow flashback episode as Michael and his hybrids took control of Atlantis in search of Teyla's baby. This episode featured a lot of character building as the team was scrambled into different combinations. Woolsey also continued to proove himself worthy of leading the Atlantis expedition (although Col. Carter will always be irreplaceable). Ronon had a great fight sequence with Michael.

At the end, Sheppard and Teyla also had a good hand-to-hand scene against the villain. Though it seemed like Michael was killed at the end, you just never know with sci-fi! I think he'll be back because it would still make an interesting story especially since we don't know what he wanted with Teyla's baby.

Tech Deals of the Week (11/9-11/15)

Circuit City Update
The store closings were announced and "New York, NY" was listed as one of them. This is still unclear if they're going to close both stores or just one. The Union Sq. branch always seems to be packed and the UWS one not so full.

Flash Sales
- 4 GB Transcend @ CompUSA.com for $16.98 [click here]
- 16 GB Centon @ CompUSA.com for $46.98 [click here]
- 4 GB SanDisk @ Circuit City for $17.99
- 8 GB Sony @ Circuit City for $27.99
- 16 GB SanDisk @ Circuit City & Radio Shack for $59.99
- 4 GB PNY @ Best Buy for $17.99
- 8 GB PNY @ Best Buy for $27.99
- 8 GB SanDisk @ Radio Shack for $24.99

Philips DVP3982 @ CompUSA.com for $73.59
This is one of the best budget upconverting DVD players out there. It has everything you need to matchup with a modern TV. It upconverts to 1080p and plays DivX files. [click here]

22" Hanns G LCD @ NewEgg for $159.99
I haven't seen a 22" at this price for a long time. When I ran across this listing, I thought it was a used one, but clicking on the detail page revealed that it was really brand new! As we know, NewEgg doesn't charge tax for NYers and this deal also has FREE shipping! [click here]

FREE Shipping on Eee PCs @ Directron
The FREE shipping offer is on again! [click here]

OCZ 64 GB SSD @ Directron for $134.99
After a $70 mail-in rebate & FREE shipping offer, this is the lowest priced 64 GB SSD I've seen. [click here]

Stargate Atlantis 513 (Inquisition)

I missed 2 weeks of Stargate Atlantis because of Friday Night Fights and a Bulls game... or so I thought. There was no episode for one of the weeks, so I really only missed one. Luckily they've been playing the previous episode before the new one, which allowed me to catch up last night.

Inquisition was one of those cheap flashback episodes that recycled clips from the previous seasons, going all the way back to the beginning. In this episode, the team is captured by a group of humans called "the Coalition" and put on trial for crimes of indirectly causing death by waking the Wraith (season 1). Every show does flashback episodes. It's especially common in the sci-fi genre. The Stargate writers make it especially interesting through because they always add a layer on top of the main saga... a layer that you wouldn't think about as you watch through all of the seasons.

Friday Night Upsets

The ups and downs continued last night for the Bulls. This team is so impossible to predict that it must make a great subject in Las Vegas. Earlier in the week, they dropped one to the Cavs, a team they dominated last year. Last night, they blew out the Suns 100-83... one of the best in the NBA. It wasn't even close. The Bulls held a 15-20 lead for most of the game. Gordon lead the way off the bench as usual with 23 points off 8/13 shooting, including 4/8 3's. Rose had 18, highlighted by a 4th quarter in-the-face dunk on Barbosa. I'm liking this kid more and more! As a team, the Bulls shot 52% from the field and 38% from the 3-point line. That's more like it! This is the team that needs to show up every night if they're going to get back to being a playoff team.

Elsewhere in the league... the Knicks beat the Wizards 114-108. Their games have been pretty high-scoring this year so far as D'Antoni implements his Suns-like system. The Nets beat Detroit 103-96 and handed them their first loss of the season. That one will have people second guessing the Billups-Iverson trade! Billups' Nuggets won their game. The Heat beat the Spurs 99-83 as Parker had to leave the game in the 1st due to a twisted ankle. It looked really bad on camera, but luckily x-rays came out negative. He'll still be out 2-4 weeks, so San Antonio will be going through a tough stretch without their leader and the already injured best 6th man of the NBA, Ginobili.

The season's just kicking off, so it's not really that crazy. But based on last year's records, last night was filled with upsets. We still don't really have a feel for who's going to be a playoff team and who's going to bomb out.

Bulls vs. Cavs

The Cavs are one of the best teams in the East, yet the Bulls did take 3 out of 4 from them last year. So tonight's game wasn't written in stone as a loss yet. So I watched every minute of it. The Bulls did a good job and were in it for the entire 48 minutes. I like that I'm seeing that this season despite their record. Gordon (2X), Rose & Gooden came through, but we didn't get enough off the bench for a win. The other thing is LeBron continues to kill us. Overall defense was good on the other guys, but we couldn't stop the best player in the NBA.

If the Bull's best lineup consists of Gordon, Hinrich, Rose, Gooden and Nocioni... why not start with those guys. Sometimes I think the Bulls are trying to build the best traditional basketball team with a center, 2 forwards & 2 guards. That's not how they win though. They're much more effective with the quicker 3-guard set. I don't know what Del Negro is thinking, but it's not working so far!

Random Election Thoughts

History in the Making
OK... I wasn't supposed to write about politics again, but it was a historic election, so I have to. So Barack Obama is the President-elect after a landslide election last night. He'll be the 44th President and the first black man to have the position. I'm very happy with the win and the fact that it happend in my lifetime. The election was also historic because of the voter turnout. Everyone took part in this one. In a sense, it can be considered the most honest election because more people were accounted for.

The Right Guy
I've talked to many people about this year's election. Everyone was crazy about Obama, but most people didn't know a single thing about him or his campaign. It's very likely that most people voted for him just because he was black. While that's the wrong reason to vote, we're very fortunate that Obama is a strong and qualified candidate. I felt like he was the right guy for the position and race did not play a role in my vote. Obama has lived all around the world and experienced many different cultures in a positive way (McCain did so too, but he spent his time shooting at gooks). This open-minded personality will be important in international affairs and the reputation of the US.

Thanks, Sarah!
Supporters of Barack Obama should really thank Sarah Palin. She's partly responsible for at least the landslide, if not the victory! What was John McCain thinking by choosing her as his running mate? He could've had a close election if he didn't!

Not a Happy Ending
NYC was a madhouse last night after the results were in. There was cheering everywhere. People were on the street 'til 2 or 3am. It felt like it was New Year's Eve! That's understandable because of the historic moment. The thing is, this carried over to the next day. People were talking about it all day at work... ALL DAY... and not working. I even overheard one person say that we should have the day off.

Here's what I think...

Obama, the right guy won. That's a step in the right direction. He was the better man, but the truth is... he hasn't done anything yet. There's a lot of work to be done, a lot of things to fix with the current administration and there are high expectations. Yet people are celebrating as if Obama is the Messiah, that world peace has been achieved. Obama signed up for the toughest job in America and we got him there. We can help him by keeping this country running, by working hard during this tough financial time. A day off from work is the last thing this already lazy country needs.

The Rollercoaster Begins

I was afraid the Bulls would fall into the win-one-lose-one pattern at the beginning of the season. After they looked good against the Grizzlies, they looked like the Bulls of last year against the Magic last night. At least they stayed focused though. I'm happy about that. In the end, they even had the chance to tie it, but Gordon missed a tough shot. I really want him to make one of those like he did so many times during his rookie year. A move like that could catapult someone like BG into hitting more. After Jordan hit that famous game winner in NC, there was no turning back. I think Gordon needs a moment like that.

I guess it's harsh to compare this game to last year. I take that back. It actually reminds me more of the previous season when they would dig themselves a huge hole in the first half, fight back in the 2nd half and end up losing by 1 or 2. So that's a positive to take away from this. They didn't get blown out and they could've won.

We'll see how they fare this week. It's a tough one as they have the Cavs twice and also the Suns!

ThinkCenter A30 Mini Tower

The sales were lame this week, but I found one item that will make up for it. Kailey PC has an excellent off-lease system available now... a better bargain than the S50 I features back in June.

This one is a Mini Tower that comes standard with a Pentium 4 2.66 Ghz processor, 512 MB RAM, 40 GB hard drive, DVD-ROM and Windows XP Professional. All of this is just $99! The OEM version of Windows XP Professional still sells for $119.99. One way of looking at this is that you're really getting a free PC! OK... now that I've established it as a good buy, let's do some upgrades...

- DVD+RW for $25
- 1 GB RAM for $20
- Keyboard & mouse for $10

The shipping is $25, bringing the total to $179. So it's a better buy than the small form factor system and it has more potential because it's a tower. This is also great if you have spare parts from older computers that you can move over. You might now need to buy the 3 upgrades above. It's still a good system at $99.

So Far So Good

Bulls vs. Celtics
I know it's too early to tell, but based on previous starts, 2-and-1 is pretty good. In the first game, they looked against the Bucks. I was worried on Friday when they lost to the Celtics. The Celtics are the defending champions, but it wasn't the loss that bothered me. The Bulls played like they did last year... taking a lot of jump shots and missing them all. The higher scoring bench couldn't even cut the lead. I would've been satisfied if we lost by 10... it would've felt close. If there is any excuse, I guess it was too early in the season for a team still figuring things out to beat the best in the league.

Bulls vs. Grizzlies
The grizzlies aren't a good team, but this win was important for many reasons. First, it was a come-from-behind victory. The Bulls didn't have many of those last year. These kind of wins are great confidence builders. Second, it was a breakout game for rookie, Derrick Rose. It's important that he gets his confidence up early. It could be the difference between becoming a future star vs. a bust. After watching this game, I have more confidence in him as well. He's a good passer and cutter (much needed!). Hinrich's shooting was on target also. So far he's been pretty good. Hopefully he can erase last year's fluke and become one of the league's feared shooters again.

Planet Battle (Hong Kong)

November 25, 2008 @ 19:00


I almost missed this one. It happens before Evolution 15, so mark your calendars. The only Contender Asia star fighting in this one is Yodsaenklai. He'll face off with Vuyisile Colossa from South Africa. Colossa gave Naruepol a good fight earlier in the year, but lost the decision.

Halloween is for Kids?

This morning, I woke up and went to work. I took the usual path and got breakfast on the way. I started by reading email as usual, then dove into my tasks. It was a normal day. I totally forgot it was Halloween until a few employees came in dressed up. A few departments got together and had a lunch party too. It's amazing how much some people get into this non-holiday. I suppose it was just another excuse to not work (during the WORK day). When people came in during the morning, they wasted time socializing about the party. Then there was the 2-hour party. And afterwards, people spent time uploading digital photos... and then talking and emailing about those. What's really scary is the amount of man hours that went into this. Some of the people in the party had end-of-month deadlines too. Obviously, I don't work with very responsible people. To top it off, the office was a ghost town by 3:30! People had left early, treating Halloween like an early dismissal day.

In the city, Halloween doesn't seem to be a big thing. One would think that there would be flocks of trick-or-treaters with it falling on a Friday, but I didn't get any. My friends who live in the other boroughs also mentioned that they got none or a lot less than previous years.

Macbook Killers

Here are the Macbook specs with maxxed out RAM:

2.4 Ghz Core 2 Duo
4 GB RAM
250 GB / 5400 RPM Hard Drive
256 MB Shared VRAM
8x DVD+-RW DL
802.11n Wireless
...$1,740

The 2 PC examples below end up about $300 less! They have a less powerful video card, but at a 1280x800 resolution, even 128 MB is overkill. The extra money could be spent on a processor upgrade or 7200 RPM hard drive.

Dell XPS
2.4 Ghz Core 2 Duo
4 GB RAM
320 GB / 5400 RPM Hard Drive
8x DVD+-RW DL
128 MB Shared VRAM
802.11n Wireless
...$1,454

IBM ThinkPad SL
2.4 Ghz Core 2 Duo
4 GB RAM
320 GB / 5400 RPM Hard Drive
8x DVD+-RW DL
128 MB Shared VRAM
802.11n Wireless
9-cell battery
...$1,403

The IBM actually beats out the Dell too... and with a slightly better spec.

Scaling Up

Last week, during Friday Night Fights, Turan Hasanov was walking around ringside after his match and he walked right by us. I was thinking... this guy looks much smaller closeup. When he was fighting, he looked like a heavyweight. That night's card was made up of light-middle weight fighters or smaller, but when there are just 2 guys up on the canvas, in the spotlight, they don't look so small anymore. Contender Asia had middleweight competitors, but they also looked like heavyweights in the ring when they faced each other.

It's a similar, but opposite effect with basketball. The players look small on court, but when you see them close up, they're huge. We tend to think of people in reference to ourselves. So when we see a basketball player on court, we picture ourselves on the court.

Opening Night

The Bulls are in 1st place with an opening night win. Hopefully it's not their only time there! For the most part, things looked pretty promising. They faced Scott Skile's Milwaukee Bucks to pick up a win against a division rival. The way they played tonight reminded me of the Bulls from the previous 3 years. Deng lead the way with his old average of 21. Ben Gordon gave us some fire off the bench with 18. Hinrich was vintage with 50% shooting, 2 of 4 3's and 15 points. Thomas played as he should and got 15 points/10 rebounds. Rose & Hinrich combined for 16 assists. Overall, they played good D on the Bucks team. They let Redd go and defended everyone else... great strategy.

Now they have to keep up the good work. The first 10 games are very important because the Bulls have always gotten off to a slow start. Last year was the first year that they couldn't bounce back. I think this team feeds on confidence. One winning streak can get them into playoff level basketball.

New World Series Rule

"The World Series always should be decided by nine innings with somebody making the final out, not the weather or natural disasters or whatever," reliever Trever Miller said. "That's what fans pay to see. That's what we work hard for all year."
- Trever Miller (RP, Tampa Bay Rays)

For the first time in MLB history, the World Series was suspended due to weather. That's pretty surprising given all the years the sport has been around. I agree with Miller and think it was the right decision. No one wants to see a called game in what could've been the last game in the Fall Classic... except maybe the Phillies who had a lead after 5 innings of play! Both teams knew that there would be no called game, but the situation wasn't handled that well. The rain was pouring during the 4th & 5th innings. The Phillies were leading 2-1 at the end of 5. They should've called the game at that point with both teams completing 5 innings a piece. It would've been even. Instead, it was stopped in the middle of the 6th, which allowed the Rays to score a run and tie the game. Was MLB waiting for a tie just to justify the game being suspended? Based on the rainfall, the game could've been stopped anytime in the 4th or even 3rd.

How does the stoppage affect both teams? Gameplay won't resume until tomorrow. That's a full day off for both bullpens. If it comes down to it, the Rays may have every pitcher available towards the 8th or 9th innings. Though the Phillies were upset about the late pause, another way to look at it is... the Rays had to play their half of the 6th in bad weather. They'll get to play the bottom of the 6th under better conditions. On the other hand, the Rays faced a distracted pitcher and the Phillies will be facing a fresh, full-powered one.

Wednesday's half game will be very interesting. Can the Phillies finish it off or will the rain be a momentum changer for the Rays?

Evolution 15 (Australia)

Australian Qualifier
December 6, 2008 @ 19:30

The qualifier will be the same format as the Malaysian event with a 4-man mini-tournament. Eli Madagan seems to be the favorite since he defeated 2 contestants from last season already... Zidov & Soren. His opponents are no slouches though. WMC champ, Warren Elson will be coming out of retirement for a spot on the show. There's also Jason Scerri, a shootboxer and a 4th mystery figher to be named.


The superfights are going to be great. The Contenders from Evolution 14 will play musical chairs as JWP will fight Sean Wright and Preacher will take on Dzhabar Askerov. Soren Monkongtong and Carnage are also on the schedule.

Tech Deals of the Week (10/26-11/1)

Flash Sales
- 4 GB PNY @ Staples for $17.99
- 4 GB SanDisk @ Circuit City for $16.99
- 8 GB Sony @ Circuit City for $27.99
- 4 GB Geek Squad @ Best Buy for $17.99
- 8 GB Geek Squad @ Best Buy for $27.99

Case Logic Portable Cases
Flash drives often get lost because they're small. Having a case can reduce the risks. Portable hard drives can also use the extra protection of a case. Here are 2 good deals for the week:
- Flash Drive Case @ Staples for $2.99
- Portable Hard Drive Case @ Circuit City for $9.99

FREE Shipping on Eee PCs @ Directron
The Eee PCs seem to be the same price everywhere... which is already low, so the FREE shipping offer on Directron is a bonus. [click here]

OCZ 64 GB SSD @ Directron for $142.99
After a $70 mail-in rebate, this is the lowest priced 64 GB SSD I've seen. The 64 GB model is of significance because it's large enough to equal out with a hard drive one would replace on an older notebook. [click here]

Radio Shack Deals
All deals from last week are still valid this week.

Friday Night Fights

I kicked off another weekend at Friday Night Fights. This time it was downtown at the Broad Street Ballroom and it was all Muay Thai... no amatuer boxing! The night featured an 8-man elimination tournament and 2 superfights. Check out comments I made by clicking on photos in the slideshow below.


This was much more fun than the May event I went to. The only bad thing was I couldn't take any breaks! Last time, I was doing so during the boxing matches!

Related Links: Broad Street Ballroom, Friday Night Fights

Macbook Hands-On

After actually going to the Mac Store and playing around with the new Macbook, I guess it's not a total disappointment. I was just bummed last week because I really wanted Apple to get in on the netbook game with an $800 laptop. Anyway, here's a fairer review of the new Macbook & Macbook Pro:

Good
The unibody aluminum design is a great piece of engineering. It really feels strong and light at the same time. I also like the trackpad/button combo and am surprised no other manufacturer has thought of that idea 'til now. It makes things so much more efficient to have the entire trackpad as a large button. This isn't the phony tap-to-click you see on all other laptops. The whole trackpad does a physical click. As usual, the screen looks great. The use of glass really gives it a CRT quality.

Bad
Because the trackpad is huge, the laptops are a little larger than standard 13.3" and 15.4" systems. I thought the trend was to get smaller? My standing complaint with Apple is the price. Just take the sames specs and go build a Dell or IBM and you'll see what I mean. The new keyboard is also pretty bad. They used chiclet style keys... they're not even touching each other. I don't understand this change. A keyboard should be standard because we all learn to type a certain way. It sure looks nice, but isn't very functional.

Ugly
They went with a unibody shell, but why didn't they make it unicolor? The 2-tone laptop looks terrible. This is partly due to the fact that manufacturers discovered that a black frame adds to screen contrast... late! Artists know this from the moment they're born, yet we only started seeing black frames on TVs recently. So the frame has to be black... why not just make the whole system black.

Chelsea Gallery Diner

Location: 72 7th Ave. (@ 15th St.)
Cuisine: American
Phone: (212) 691-5005
Website: www.chelseagallerydiner.com
Prices: About $15-20 per person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 7
Service: 8
Value: 7
Environment: 7

Visits: 1

It's hard to truly review a diner. They have such a huge variety of food that one would have to eat there about once a week for an entire year to get a real idea! Well... that's why I have the "visits"counter so readers can take that into consideration. So my 7 for food applies to the pizza burger deluxe I ordered for lunch today. I felt it was just right as far as size. Some diners cheap out on the meat. It had a good amount of cheese as a pizza burger should have, but didn't have enough tomato sauce. The upside to that was that it wasn't as messy though.

Service was good in Chelsea Gallery Diner. Our water was always full and that staff seemed friendlier than the average diner. They were happy to tend to my cousin, Janet's special requests as she is a regular to this place. They also made conversation with us.

The space wasn't that large, but still felt cozy because it was clean, comfortable and had a fun atmosphere. There were seasonal decorations all over the place. Those were apparently setup by a friend of the owner who does that all the time in exchange for free meals. Well placed mirrors made the place look larger than it really was.