Only in America

We have a long weekend coming up. Since Independance Day falls on a Saturday this year, my company is closing offices on Friday the 3rd. On top of that, they're also giving us a half day on Thursday. So it's a short week, but we still have a project with a due date creeping up. It also involves the intranet developers as well as some freelancers we hired. Today, I went over to the programmers to get an estimate... about a day for their part. That's fine. We always run this process and it always takes them the same amount of time. That would put us at the end of the day tomorrow. The freelancers make their own hours and would have the full day on Thursday. However, a decision from higher up mentioned that we should delay the freelancers' task because it was a short week. They also decided to delay the programmers' tasks because they didn't want to risk something going wrong at the end of a short week. I was thinking... "only in America!" Something like this would never happen in Japan. This was a regular process we were running... no risks. And it was on the intranet... not one of the public sites! Just because we have a half day and day off doesn't mean we should stop working! Because of the pause, we're also making inefficient use of freelancers who are charging us by the hour. Little things like this add up to a lot of lost productivity... (.5 days x number of temps) + (1.5 days x number of programmers) = a lot of money!

Weekend Sports Wrap Up

Subway Series
The Subway Series was the best part of my weekend... a sweep! The Mets are currently on their way down while the Yankees are starting to mesh. In Game 1 on Friday, CC Sabathia was so dominating as he only allowed 1 run. The Yankees poured it on, scoring 9 on 14 hits. Even CC knocked one in with a single! A-Rod hit his 564th homer to pass Reggie Jackson on the all-time list. Brett Gardner had a 5-hit night... the first of his budding career. This guys is amazingly fast. If he can learn to bunt, he'll have a solid .300+ batting average and could be the next Ricky Henderson. In Game 2, AJ Burnett topped CC's performance the day before, pitching a 1-hitter. He had 10 K's. The Yankees won 5-0. The offense mellowed down a little, but pitching was strong enough for a shutout win. Game 3 was closer, but the Yankees stayed poised for a 4-2 win. Wang looked good as he served up a lot of grounders, got out of jams and earned his first win. This could be the road to recovery, but he still has a long way to go from getting back to his usual 19-win seasons. Mariano Rivera had a solid at bat, drawing a walk with the bases loaded which earned him his first career RBI. He also got his 500th save.

Wimbledon
This whole tournament almost seems like a formality for Federer. He's just playing through the matches casually, unchecked... unchallenged. No matter how exciting the media tries to make it, there really is no competition. The only player that can beat Federer this time is himself... if he lets his guard down. The media tried to play up the rematch with Robin Soderling... the guy that went on an amazing hot streak in Roland Garros and gave Federer some competition. He was taken out in straight sets on Roder's grass. The Williams sister are still in it. Venus defeated IVanovic, who left with injury. Serena took out Hantuchova. The Ace of the weekend was Andy Roddick. His serve never looked better as he blew 33 by Jurgen Melzer. Today, he torched Tomas Berdych for 24 more!

Basketball
There wasn't much going on with basketball. I pretty much ignored last week's draft because there were no LaMarcus Aldridges, Derrick Roses or LeBrons this time around. I'm just nervous about July 1 and Ben Gordon's contract. There has been some interesting player movement though. Vince Carter went to Orlando for Courtney Lee & Tony Battie... Nets loss all the way. Carter's numbers are better than both guys combined. Shaq went to Cleveland for Wallace and Pavlovic. I think the Suns got the better end of this. The Cavs didn't really use Wallace properly last year. He's a better defensive center than Shaq and will certainly thrive on the West Coast stage. They gave up scoring trading Pavlovic away. Unless Shaq gets in great shape over the Summer, he's just going to make the team slower. As a Bulls fan, I love this trade. We've mopped the floor with any Shaq-powered team! I'd love to own Cleveland!

Maria @ Wimbledon

Champion of Champions (Results)

I was about to get the streaming webcast of this event, but saw a technical difficulty notice as well as some fans complaining on message boards about the quality. I also missed the 1st hour, so didn't think I should go for it. But here are the results:

- Andrei Kubelin def. Mosab Amrani (Unanimous Decision)
- Buakaw Por. Pramuk def. John Wayne Parr (Unanimous Decision)
- Clifton Brown def. Kaoklai Kaennorsing (Unanimous Decision)
- Nathan "Carnage" Corbett vs Tyrone Spong (Ruled a No Contest)
- Eugene Ekkelboom def. Rayen Simson (TKO in 4th - Broken Arm)
- Anuwat Kaewsamrit def. Liam Harrison (TKO in 3rd)
- Yodsaenklai Fairtex def. Cosmo Alexandre (KO in 4th - Leg)
- Julie Kitchen def. Angie Parr (Unanimous Decision)
- Marco Picque def. Sean Wright (TKO in 1st - Overhand Right)
- Paul Slowinski def. Patrice Quarteron (KO in 2nd)

So the Parr family didn't far well, but at least they went the distance. From reading the message boards, it seemed like JWP had another close one against Buakaw... one that could've gone either way. So he's now gone the distance 3x against the world's best. It's funny that many of JWP's most impressive fights are ones that he lost the decision in. Angie was probably not 100% against the well-conditioned Julie Kitchen. She just made a comeback from giving birth to Jesse James. So she'll be in better shape for the next one.

Clifton Brown won his rematch against Kaoklai. I think the judges would've had to award him the victory on any close match to make up for last year's poor decision. The Carnage fight, I read was a no decision because there was a KO after the fight had been called. Corbett should've been awarded the win, but was still a class act afterwards and mentioned he would like to have a rematch. Yod won... of course. His original opponent, Artem Levin was replaced by Cosmo Alexandre. Maybe the last min. switch made the match last to the 4th round. Dzhabar didn't end up fighting his rematch. Instead, Sean Wright took his spot against Marco Pique. It's funny how they always get a Contender Asia guy as an alternate to one that can't make it... as if they're a team!

More to come if I'm able to catch these fights on the Web...

Understanding a Command

"The best way to understand a command is to do everything yourself at least once."
Col. Jack O'Neill (Stargate SG-1)

That was Col. Jack O'Neill as he went undercover to infiltrate a rogue Stargate team headed by Col. Maybourne. O'Neill was given command of a team of mercenaries, but volunteered to do the grunt work on the first mission. In any profession, this is how leaders gain respect. A true leader should be able to do everything his underlings are assigned. That way, he understands every task 100% and can make the best decisions involving his men. This is something I try to stick to in the office. I never hand anyone a task that I haven't done myself in the past. This is good for me because I know exactly how long something should take. And it's also good for the person I'm giving it to because they can always come back to me with questions.

Wimbledon Catchup

Obviously the big news about this tournament is that Rafael Nadal is not competing as he nurses his knees. That news took a lot of excitement out of it as most people watch hoping for a Federer/Nadal final. So this should be another gift for Federer if he doesn't drop to the level of his competition. This is the reason why I think these 2 players should be placed into a tournament of their own.

What's Going on So Far...
Maria Sharapova was still rusty and lost a second round match to Gisela Dulko 6-2, 3-6, 6-4. Federer on his home surface and coming off a Roland Garros title is cruising along as expected. The Williams, Ivanovic and Roddick are still alive. Serena easily defeated Jarmila Groth 6-2, 6-1. Venus easily defeated Kateryna Bondarenko 6-3, 6-2. She seemed just at home on grass as Federer. Ivanovic defeated Sara Errani 7-5, 6-1. Roddick defeated Igor Kunitsyn 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.

Cutting Weight?

I always thought cutting weight for a boxing match was a little weird and hypocritical. They have weight classes that fighters enter, so everyone tries to get down to a certain weight. Here's the part I think is weird. The official weigh-in is often a couple of days before the actual fight. So fighters starve themselves before the weigh-in. They run for miles and fast... losing 10-20 lbs. They make their weight and then immediately after start eating to gain it all back! So the actual weights you see on the TV graphics aren't their real, natural weights! So then... what was the point of the fasting for weigh-in?

Colored Emails

I never thought I'd be using all of the font enhancements in Outlook at work. Years ago I used to discourage it when colleagues would send out fancy emails with multiple colored fonts. This was nothing but a waste of time. I have actually found the multi-colored text blocks to be useful for some purposes though. It's great for giving our programmers feedback and code corrections. Large blocks of black-on-white text can be easily missed. I usually bold the headers if I break the email up into sections. After that, I'll follow the color coding system in Homesite for code and us other colors to note changes. It's great that many of the Web-based email clients also support this. When I mail out to Yahoo! Mail, GMail and Hotmail, all of the formatting is retained.

I still discourage fancy emails that are colored for no functional purpose. Some people still do this and it's still a waste of time!

Asus Eee PC 1000 HE on Sale

I didn't find any good sales this week in the circulars. In fact, only Best Buy distributed one with the Sunday paper. I did come across a great price for the Asus Eee PC 1000 HE though. This is the new model I mentioned last month. This system retails for $399, which is already a good price considering other older N270 models are higher. ZipZoomFly.com lists this at $379.99. On top of that, there's a $30 mail-in rebate! That's a good $50 lower than regular price for the best netbook in the market. If you've hesitated on buying one before or weren't sure what to go with in the vast sea of netbooks, this is a good week to buy. You won't see a better deal for a while. The rebate offer expires on 6/30.

Hallmark Holidays

I was buying some pastries earlier today from a place I frequent and am friendly with the staff there. I was talking to one of them as I checked out and asked if he had any Father's Day plans tomorrow. I got the common response, "...not really doing anything. Every day should be Father's day." I've always hated that answer. Yes... you should love your parents every day of the year and treat them special every day of the year. But what's wrong with assigning one day to elevate that? Just because we celebrate Father's Day (Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, etc.) doesn't mean we ignore our fathers every other day. I see Father's Day as a real holiday like Christmas or Thanksgiving. Family and friends get together, party and eat. This holiday has all of that and in addition, pays special tribute to all of the fathers out there. So I encourage everyone to celebrate this. True... it has become commercialized, but that doesn't mean we can't observe its original intent. So get lots of people together and have a Summer BBQ with Dad. Watch the game with him or work on a home improvement project together. Spend some extra quality time. Have a Happy Father's Day!

Ben Gordon

"You see those kids? That's why I came -- to coach my camp. Whatever happens in the future shouldn't affect what I'm doing today. So I'm just carrying on as if I'm still here. There's no reason for me not to do the camp. Any other way of handling it would be wrong to the kids."
- Ben Gordon

That was Ben Gordon answering a reporter about why he was hosting a basketball camp in Chicago. The reporter was trying to get a hint if he planned on being a Bull next year as rumors of a Piston deal started floating around. They're always trying to get some information. It's something Gordon is not allowed to answer. He gave the right, professional response. Basically, he's still a Bull now and he's going to carry on as a Bull until traded. The way he handles himself is even more reason for the Bulls to hold on to him. His playoff performance speaks for itself. There's no Game 7 without BG... heck... there may not have been a Game 5 without him!

Bulls... please do the right thing. We need Derrick Rose AND we need Ben Gordon.

Tuesday Night Fights?

Last night was Tuesday, but it felt like Friday as I attended Muay Thai Mayhem at BB King. Like FNF, it was a WKA event and featured Fight Girls star, Felice Herrig in the main event. I reviewed each match in the photo album below, so be sure to click on the slideshow to go to Picasa for the complete story. The only match I didn't cover was the first one between Wendy Lau and Kim Flynn. The reason being... it was over before I could get my camera out. Lau had a first round KO!


There were 11 matches in total, but the event was fast. They started right away and took minimal breaks. It started at 6:30pm and ended just before 10pm. Friday Night Fights usually starts at 7pm, but the first bell rings late. The last match often ends at 12am.

Related Links: BB King, World Kickboxing Association (WKA)

Weekend Sports Wrap Up

Baseball
It was an up-and-down weekend for me as the Yankees alternated wins and losses. Overall, they won the series though. After a weird opening win against the Mets, the Mets bounced back with a great pitching performance by Nieve. The Yankees only had 5 hits. On the other hand, the Mets had a whopping 16 hits, but only 6 runs to show for it. It was enough though. The Yankees then came back on Sunday with a blowout 15-0 win on Sunday. This was against the Mets' ace Johan Santana too! He was knocked out of the game during the 4th inning. He gave up a career high 9 earned runs.

Basketball
I didn't really watch this series a whole lot and pretty much took the last game off. I didn't think Orlando had it in them to beat the Lakers. They just weren't good enough. They matched up well against Cleveland, which was a much better team. I think Cleveland could really have given the Lakers some competition. Kobe basically got a free ticket to the Finals when Yao Ming got injured. And when the Magic defeated the Cavs, the ring was guaranteed.

Tech Deals of the Week (6/14-6/20)

Flash Sales
- 16 GB PNY @ ST for $44.99
- 16 GB SanDisk @ OD for $39.99
- 32 GB SanDisk @ OD for $79.99
- 8 GB Ativa @ OD for $14.99

26" Samsung LCD TV @ CU for $397.20
This is a pretty good LCD TV that could double as a computer monitor. It's 2" larger than the usual 24" monitors and a little cheaper. It has a full 1080p resolution too. Because it's a TV, it has multiple inputs and a remote... items you wouldn't have if you rigged up a 1080p monitor with HDMI to act as a DTV. [click here]

Gigabyte Notebook Fan @ RS for $12.99
The hot Summer days are just around the corner. This USB fan could be a useful tool if you're used to working on your laptop for long hours. Keeping it cool will improve performance noticeably.

Logitech Wireless KB & Mouse @ RS for $29.99
This is a nice cheap set if you're setting up a HTPC or if you just want to get rid of the wires on your desktop.

Another Walk-off

In the first game of the first Subway Series, the Yankees took an amazin' victory over their crosstown rivals. The game was an exciting one because there was a lot of scoring and the lead kept changing hands. Of course the other way of looking at it was... terrible pitching! The Mets had the upper hand at the end of the game though. It was an 8-7 lead with 2 outs. Jeter was on 2nd (base hit & steal) and Texiera on 1st (walk). A-Rod was up and had worked a 3-1 count. The next swing would be a scripted walk-off homer, right? Instead, it was a popup to end the game. Only thing is, the high popup was dropped by 2nd baseman Luis Castillo. Jeter easily scored from 2nd to tie the game and the hustling Texiera scored all the way from 1st for the walk-off win. I've never seen anything like this since the 1986 World Series with Bill Buckner. Thanks Luis!

Weeds

There are ads everywhere for this TV show called Weeds. Since I don't watch a lot of TV, I had no idea it was a popular Showtime series that just began its 5th season. The posters and ads reminded me of the Batman character, Poison Ivy. The woman was a redhead in green costume and surrounded by plants. I just looked it up because I thought it was a Batman related series. It's actually about a soccer mom turned marijuana dealer named Nancy Botwin.

Related Links: Official Site on Sho, Online Episodes, IMDB, Wikipedia

Project Management

I was talking to Hank at lunch and we both came to a conclusion that project management is a BS position. If companies did a good job of screening people during their hiring process, there would be no need for project managers. Everyone should keep track of what they're doing and the manager should have an overview of what's going on. The only reason the the PM position exists is because people generally don't like to work and need to be pushed. The manager is also guilty. Generally, he/she doesn't want to do anything... just sit up at the top and collect checks. The manager hires a project manager because he/she is too lazy. Hank and I feel this way because we're both very dedicated and put in a lot of extra effort.
I'm not trashing all PMs though. Throughout my career, I've worked with more good ones than bad ones. The good ones are the ones that step up and do other things. They work closely with each team member and protect everyone's interests equally. Unfortunately, we currently have a bad one in the office now. Here are some of the things he does:

- Emails a lot after hours... to show that he's working a lot. He does this because he's trying to make his position look important. And when he does work after hours, he advertises it heavily. I think that when someone truly works after hours, he/she doesn't need to rub it in everyone's face. The boss, if on-the-money will notice.

- Tries to push projects, but adds a ton of scope creep. I don't know what his aim is with this, but he has a tendancy to push low priority projects. And when there's a deadline, instead of concentrating on getting things done, he throws in new (and stupid) ideas that would lengthen the project.

- Sends out stupid emails and demands followup. If I ignored it the first time, I'm going to ignore your second one too!

I'm sure I'll feature this guy in more future posts!

History Made

After Robin Soderling's great run at this year's French Open, many of my friends thought he would take the championship, even against Roger Federer. I called it though... Federer in straight sets! I think a lot of the media was talking about Soderling because he took down the 4-time champion, Nadal and Federer has struggled in the quarters and semi-final. But other things came into play as well. Soderling has never beat Federer in 9 tries. Federer has been in the Roland Garros finals 4 times, making his way up easily and losing to Nadal. Because of Nadal's dominance in this tournament, people often forget that Federer is great on clay as well.

The first set was easily Federer's. He looked his best in this set and won 6-2. In the 2nd set, it seemed like he eased up a bit. Many said that Federer was lucky to win this one, but from my point of view, the set was his whenever he wanted. In the end, he hit several shots on or close to the line for winners. He easily won the tiebreak that was forced. Both players did well in the 3rd set. Federer pretty much smelled blood as he continued his aces and strong winners. Soderling fought back and Federer seemed distracted by the moment a few times. You could see that he could feel it coming. But he stayed poised and finished his opponent.

Terminator: Salvation

I thought Terminator: Salvation was pretty good and entertaining, but it just wasn't as good as I expected. I already knew the story was going to be a little weird because only half of the movie is from John Conner's point of view. The other half concentrates on a human/Terminator hybrid named Marcus Wright. I thought is was odd to introduce a new main character when the whole epic is supposed to be about the Connors. The storyline does go along with the previous 3 movies for the most part. John Connor is older, but not the leader of the resistance yet. Kyle Reese was a teenager surviving on his own against the machines. Connor is married to Kate Brewster... from Terminator 3. The special fx were OK. I thought the animation and detail of the robots were great, but the overall picture just looked old... like a movie made back in the 80's.

This movie could've been improved with the following:
- Extend the time period covered. Terminator: Salvation felt more like a TV episode because the main mission was so small.
- Show an epic battle sequence with a lot of endoskeletons. Theses robots are what make the Terminator franchise cool.
- Show more events that connect to the previous movies... sending Kyle Reese back... sending the T-800 back. Where was the T-1000?

I did appreciate some things they brought back from the previous movies. I don't consider these spoilers because they're either expected or have been in the news before release:
- Arnold Schwarzenegger cameo - What would a Terminator movie be without him?
- Linda Hamilton voiceovers, including some lines from Terminator
- You Could be Mine by Guns 'n Roses
- "I'll be back..." which got a round of applause from the audience
- "Come with me if you want to live."

Related Links: Terminator: Salvation, IMDB, Wikipedia

True Hero

This year's French Open has been a very strange one. There were no surprises in the early rounds, but things just went out-of-wack after Nadal was eliminated. Other upsets followed and Federer struggled through his matches. He's still alive and made it into the Finals today with a true hero's victory over Del Potro. Many of my friends had already written off Federer because of the struggles and because other players such as Del Potro and Soderling were on a roll. Today's match looked like the end of Federer's only chance to win the Roland Garros Championship. Del Potro looked like he was having an easy time with the #2 seed, taking the first set.

Broken Sleep

It's said that the best sleep is when it's interrupter. That certainly makes sense for the physical body, but I actually like it when I wake up in the middle of the night and see that I still have hours left before the alarm clock goes off for the work day. I feel much more relaxed that way and have even been able to continue my dream from the previous session. Of course it's the opposite effect when I wake up and find only minutes left on the clock! Psychologically, I feel great in the morning when I wake up 1-2 times before it hits 5am. I actually feel refreshed even though my sleep was interrupted.

Sword of Azrael: Extreme Animal Rights

Last week, Dalu Mncube, a South African zookeeper was mauled to death by a white tiger in New Zealand. He had no chance as the tiger wouldn't let go. The tiger was shot and killed, but it was too late. Because the tiger was an endangered species, it became an issue that it was killed. So if something's an endangered species, it's OK for it to go around killing people? Some animal rights people are too much. There was a poll for NYer given by NY Metro and 75% of the participants said that the tiger shouldn't have been killed. That's ridiculous! What if Mncube was an American? What if he was your relative? Would you answer the same? I love animals and all, but they need to follow the rules too.

Another thing to keep in mind is that wild animals are wild animals. We don't know what's going through their heads all the time and they have the natural weapons to cause a lot of damage. Animals might look cute, but we mustn't forget that they are self-aware and can make decisions on their own.

Champion of Champions 2

The fight card for Champion of Champions 2 is complete. John Wayne Parr vs. Buakaw Por Pramuk is already good enough to sell me a ticket (if I could go to Jamaica), but the rest of the lineup is amazing too. Here are the matches...

Julie Kitchen (GBR) vs Angela Parr (AUS)
The Parr family is going to busy that night. With JWP in the main event and his wife Angie in a title bout!

Marco Pique (SUR) vs Dzhabar Askerov (UAE)
This is a rematch from last year's Contender Asia 2 qualifier. It had a controversial ending because the ref stopped it due to a cut on Dzhabar. Other than that, Dzhabar was winning. Pique went on to make it into the next season (what happened to this BTW?).

Tyrone Spong (SUR) vs Nathan Corbett (AUS)
I'm not familiar with Tyrone Spong, but I hear he's pretty good. The catch with this one is... no elbows! This takes away Carnage's best weapon... and he was the challenger too.

Yodsaenklai Fairtex (THA) vs Artem Levin (RUS)
This is also a rematch from last year. Yodsaenklai KOed Levin easily in the 2nd round. Levin couldn't really hurt Yod, but was very annoying in the first round. He's an awkward fighter to face because he's so tall. Personally, I don't think Yod can lose to anyone but perhaps Buakaw, but maybe Levin picked up something new.

Kaoklai Kaennorsing (THA) vs Clifton Brown (CAN/JAM)
Yet another rematch! This one also had a controversial ending. The judges awarded the win to Kaoklai, but it was obvious Brown scored more points and even looked less damaged. The decision likely had to do with size advantage. Kaoklai is the much smaller fighter. Brown has to go for the KO in this one.

Others
- Eugene Ekkelboom (AUS) vs Rayen Simson (NED)
- Mosab Amrani (NED) vs Andrei Kulebin (BLR)
- Anuwat Kaewsamrit (THA) vs Liam Harrison (GBR)
- Paul Slowinski (AUS/POL) vs Patrice Quarteron (FRA)

Upset

The Cavaliers getting eliminated by the Magic wasn't the biggest upset of the weekend. Nadal was eliminated in the 4th round of the French Open on Sunday... no joke! This ended a streak that was as old as his career. He had never lost at Roland Garros and before Sunday, only lost 1 set! To top it off, he was beaten by an almost unknown Robin Soderling... not Roger Federer in the Finals. As I watched this match, I kept thinking that Nadal was going to come back. I've watched many matches in the past where one player has a terrible first set and just comes back a totally different player later on. Nadal did show spurts of hope, but for the most part looked slow and uncomfortable on the clay. I think there was more to it than met the eye. Something was wrong with Nadal... maybe not illness, but something was making him feel uncomfortable... maybe the shoes. He kept slipping and didn't have enough traction to generate the speed he normally plays with.

In other matches, Azaranka defeated Ivanovic, Monfils defeated Roddick, Federer defeated Haas and Serena defeated Wozniak. On the men's side, it seems like Roddick will have a clear path. Although he's lost this tournament many times, it was always to Nadal. He's not far from Nadal's skill on clay, so I think he'll finally be able to add this one to his resume.