Recession & Moonwalker

I saw the Moonwalker today, but he looked a little different. He wasn't wearing his huge wireless headphones anymore. At first I thought he was just dancing to imaginary music, but he downgraded to tiny earbuds. He also wasn't as well-dressed as before... much more casual. His footwork was the only thing that didn't change... still got the moves! So it looks ike the recession is hitting everyone. The large headphones probably broke and he couldn't afford to fix it. It's good to know that he's improvising and carrying on. It's something we all have to do... make adjustments and move on.

Friday Night Fights Preview

The May 14th event could be one of the best Friday Night Fights ever. The long awaited Hinds-Romulo fight is on. Both guys are looking good. Romulo launched his school earlier in the year and has put together a winning streak against some legitimate contenders. I've already talked about this matchup, but the whole fight card is looking good as well. Liam Tarrant has a rematch against Kyle Hillman. They had a close fight in one of the FNFs I missed. It's great that they're going to replay it! I'm going to give the edge to Tarrant on this one. I have to believe he was a little rusty in the previous match. He hadn't fought for almost a year until their last meeting. Either way, it should be good. Eddie Martinez, who just went pro will take on Church St. Gym's star, Chris Kwiatkowski. Kwiatkowski has the edge in experience, but both guys have displayed great fundamental Muay Thai. As usual, Justin Greskiewicz is on the card too. It's an all-star cast already and that's not the full card yet!

Fishing

As expected, the Bulls got eliminated last night, but they should hold their heads up high. They were hardly on pace to make the playoffs, but made a great effort in the last week of the season to slip past the Raptors. Rose and Noah truly looked like All-Stars in the 1st round. They played the best team in the NBA, took one game and played 3 close ones. Only one of the losses was a blowout. Everyone was a expecting a sweep with 4 blowouts. Scoring was not bad, rebounds were up and defense was as good as it could've been against the unguardable James. If you think of it this way... take last year's team and subtract Gordon & Salmons, the 2 leading scorers, it shouldn't even add up to a winning record. But we finished at 500 and got the Cavs to Game 5.

Winning the series would've been the greatest upset in NBA history and a dream. But the Cavs are destined to move on. Let's face it, if the East is going to win, it's going to be with LeBron's Cavs and not a lucky Bulls team with no depth. So I'm throwing my full support behind LeBron. I have to hope Miami loses though because I want Wade to be unhappy on that team. He belongs in Chicago!

Enjoy it this year, King James. You'll have to deal with Wade & Rose simultaneously next season!

Thanks for Nothing

"Does it say 'colonel' anywhere on my uniform?"
-Jack O'Neill (Stargate SG-1)

Today, one of our servers was down. It actually went down the night before at about 11pm and we continued to have problems early in the morning. So I sent out a notification mentioning that we're looking into it and will send a followup message when we resolve the problem. Immediately after sending that, one guy replied that it was OK at 7pm. Uhh.... right... it was OK at 7pm. It went down at 11pm, idiot! That message was nothing but an advertisement saying... "I was still working at 7pm." Otherwise, what was the point? He was stating a fact that had nothing to do with the downtime issue and it wasn't helping me by telling me something unrelated that I already knew. After that, another guy wrote in stating that the server was down. He pasted in the error message too. Again, I'm thinking, "as if I didn't know." I was the one that sent out the message with details... why would someone need to reply stating the same thing... and nothing extra that was useful?

It reminded me of when Col. Jack O'Neill said the above quote on several occasions when other team members disagreed with him. Does it say "IT" anywhere on my uniform?

Weekend Sports Wrapup

Yankees
The Yankees lost their first series of the year, with the highlight on the rubber game yesterday. It was Javier Vasquez's chance at redemption. He came from a pretty good start last time and had a 3-0 lead yesterday through 2 innings. But he gave it all back by the 4th. His record dropped to 1-3 and his ERA inflated to 9.00! So the road trip didn't help him from escaping NY pressure. As I've said from the beginning, the Yankees got worse this year and it's mostly their pitching. They picked up unproven guys and picked them over a potential 20-game winner in Chien Ming Wang. I think an injured Chien Ming Wang is still better than Vasquez or Park. On the offensive side, we did a good job with Granderson, but Nick Johnson is hardly an upgrade from Damon or Matsui.

NBA
The Bulls got routed by LeBron in Game 4, dropping the series to 1-3. Dropping that home game pretty much sealed the deal for the Cavs. The Bulls played with effort in every game and I felt they did everything right. James was just too good. The Bulls have never really had an answer for him. In Game 2, I think they put James Johnson on him a little too long. They should've used Hinrich, who is more effective. I was happy about one game this weekend though... Durant's Thunder blew out Kobe's Lakers to tie the series at 2-2. So there's a chance for an 8th seed upset yet!

Evolution XX Results

It was a KO fest in Australia... a change from the NY fights I'm used to. Elbows make a big difference! JWP and Boom Boom fought to a draw. Preacher got a big win against Maddog, in what I heard was an exciting match. Zidov continues to lose.

- Kevin NTG def Chris Kearney (TKO)
- Robbie Filiponi def Superboi by (KO)
- Michael "Tomahawk" Thompson def Sing Siri (TKO)
- Danny "DDD" Derdowski def Chad "the Stalker" Walker (dec)
- Adrian Pang def Zidov "Akuma" Dominik (TKO)
- Dane "Daddy Cool" Beauchamp def Adam Smith (TKO)
- Bruce "Preacher" MacFie def Eli Madigan by (TKO)
- John Wayne Parr vs. Eugene "Boom Boom" Ekkelboom (Draw)

Knicks Blow

I found this today at a local parking lot. It's just NYC showing appreciation for it's home team!

Still a Series

After dropping the first 2 games in Cleveland, the Bulls did their job and protected their home floor in Game 3. They lead for most of the game, by as much as 17 in the first half. They survived every Cavs run... including and 11-0 run in the 4th and a near comeback in the final minutes where James & Williams hit clutch 3's. Rose, Hinrich and Deng all missed clutch free throws, but the defense was there. They stopped James from getting the final shot... settled for a Parker half court heave.

Both Hinrich & Rose were on fire for this one. Rose lead with 31 pts & 7 asts. Hinrich had 27 pts on a sharp 9/12 shooting. Deng had a solid 20 pts. Noah had a double-double. It was a typical Bulls win with 4 guys sitting out and a lot of team work. As I've said before, when the starting 5 is on, we have a chance to beat the best team in the NBA. The Bulls have to do the same thing in Game 4... play small, play fast, sit a few guys, etc. We could use a bit more from Gibson though.

Game is guaranteed!

Macbook Pro

If you're looking for a Macbook Pro, now is a good time to buy. Before last week's upgrade, there was practically no difference between the 13" Macbook and 13" Macbook Pro except the materials and a $200 difference. They had exactly the same specs after a quiet Macbook upgrade a few months back. The latest update was another quiet one where Apple increased the Core 2 Duo speeds on the 13" model and moved the 15" and 17" up to Core i5 and Core i7. If I was buying a few months ago, I would've gone for the $200 cheaper regular Macbook. The white plastic looks more uniform than the two-tone aluminum model. It uses the same unibody mold, has the multitouch clickpad and a glass screen.

The processor upgrade also changes the perspective of what size to buy. Previously, I would've leaned towards the 13" heavily because I felt the power for its portable size was much better than the bulky 15" model. The 17" is just too large for my laptop tastes and is by far the most overpriced laptop in the market. But I would have a tough time deciding now that the 15" model has Core i5-i7... a significant upgrade over the 13" model's Core 2.

Evolution XX Reminder

Just a reminder that Evolution XX is this Saturday!

Take-On New York Showdown

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Weekend Sports Wrap Up

Yankees
The Yankees are off to a pretty good start as they've now won every series they played. This weekend, they swept the Rangers with Andy Pettitte closing it out on Sunday. The series was defined by Yankees offense and Rangers terrible defense. CC, AJ and Pettitte looked great as a 1-2-3 punch... very intimidating for an opposing batter. The weakness of the Yankees is still the middle relief though. That's where the Rangers made a dent. It often forces Ghirardi to use up Chamberlain and/or Rivera. Teixiera had a homer on Sunday and might be out of his usual slow start. The starters and reserves looked good. Gardner continued to create havoc for the sloppy defense... initiating a double steal on Saturday. Pettitte, the oldest pitcher looks like the ace right now as he's undefeated.

Bulls
The Bulls lost their game against the Cavs and went 0-1 in the opening round of the NBA playoffs. I was one of those games where they struggled. Rose was trying to carry the team, but had to work too hard to get his points. Cleveland was just too deep. I'll give them credit for the game though. The Bulls played every minute and never gave up. They've closed within single digits, but couldn't get anyone to catch fire and put them away. It's OK though... the Bulls seriously shouldn't even be here, but they made it in by playing with heart. I don't mind them getting swept out as long as I feel they tried their best. I felt they did that in game 1.

Take-On New York Showdown Results

Last night's TKO event was very exciting. If there was a fight of the night award, it would be very difficult to pick one. Despite there being no KO's, a lot of them were exciting and action packed.

- Danny Rangel def Carlos Madariaga (dec. 3rd)
- Joey Tedesco def Amr Ibrahim (unanimous dec. 3rd)
- Greg Rowe def Aaron Hauck (unanimous dec. 3rd)
- Joey Dubeu def Jesus Matias (unanimous dec. 3rd)
- Conrad Martinez def Nick Hainea (dec. 3rd)
- Greg Lachaga def Youyung Cho (unanimous dec. 3rd)
- Marcus Fisher def Osvaldo Dominguez (dec. 5th)
- Pascal Jean-Michel def Hiro Perera (dec. 5th)
- Mohammed Lemjerdine def Tim Amorim (dec. 5th)
- Gaius Ebratt def. Sterling Thompson (unanimous dec. 5th)
- Brian Collette def. Eric Rivera (unanimous dec. 5th)
- Ben Yelle vs. Eddie Martinez (draw 5th)
- Rami Ibrahim def Mansour Yaquidi (dec. 5th)

Please let me know if any of these are wrong. It was dark, I had a dying marker and I was making chicken scratches on a black flyer. I'm not sure if the guy Collette defeated was Eric Rivera... that was what was on the program, but there may have been a lineup change. 2 Fights on the card were cancelled as well.

Pictures coming soon.

Clinched!

The Bulls are in! So the season ended again in dramatic fashion as the Bulls got their act together late in the 2nd half. This time, it came as close as it could... the final game. The difference make ended up being the 1-game playoff against the Raptors. The Raptors took care of their business, as they should have. The beat the Pistons and then the Knicks. The schedule favored Toronto in every way. The Bulls had to get past the Celtics and Pistons... 2 top teams. They just looked amazing in these last 2 games. Rose and Noah have that x-factor where they play better with the pressure on. Last night's game against the Bobcats was close though the Bulls had the lead the entire time. Charlotte made several runs and closed the gap to within a couple of possessions. But the Bulls took their best punch and survived it.

Chicago proved that they were worthy of that 8th spot over the Raptors who basically choked after a good run after the All-Star break. They played against the odds and beat good teams to get in. They did their job and didn't depend on any Raptor losses to get in. The Knicks actually played a close one against Toronto in the 1st quarter... but it was the Knicks. They weren't going to win!

So... how will they fare? They get matched up against the best team in the NBA with the best player in the NBA... LeBron James' Cavs. I think the Bulls have a shot if their starting five is on target. When they're in a rhythm, I think they're one of the best teams as far as chemistry. But big minus is the Bulls don't have the depth they had last year. If one guy has on off night, they're not going to win. Last year, they had Gordon who could keep them in the game by shooting it out with an opposing superstar. They're going to miss that when someone like Ray Allen catches fire.

"Bill Gates" 11 Rules

This is from a chain email hoax and wasn't actually written by Bill Gates, but I think it's pretty cool still...

RULE 1......Life is not fair; get used to it.

RULE 2......The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

RULE 3......You will NOT make 40 thousand dollars a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice president with a car phone, until you earn both.

RULE 4......If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure.

RULE 5......Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping; they called it opportunity.

RULE 6......If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

RULE 7......Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you are. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parents' generation, try "delousing" the closet in your own room.

RULE 8......Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools they have abolished failing grades; they'll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

RULE 9......Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summer off and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time.

RULE 10.....Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

RULE 11.....Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

It's still applicable and does sound like something Bill Gates would write.

One Down

Against all odds, the Bulls got the job done tonight. They beat the Boston Celtics in another playoff-like game at the end of the season. They're still fighting for that 8th spot while the Celtics were going for 3rd. The 101-93 victory bumped Boston down to 4. The Hawks locked up 3. The Bulls need one more win or a Raptors loss to get in. They just need to get the job done against Charlotte tomorrow to put fate in their own hands. Bulls lead for most of tonight's game, but it was never a comfortable one. Rose had a career high 39 and Hinrich had a season high 30 to lead the way. Noah and Deng were off offensively, but pulled down a lot of boards. There wasn't much from anyone else. This win can mostly be credited to contesting the Celtics effectively. Rose added a couple of moves to his highlight reel... a fast break reverse dunk and a failed dunk turned into a layup at last second. His hangtime is amazing for his height. Hinrich shot 4 of 7 from 3 and was just sharp in the 4th quarter. We also got help from Rasheed Wallace as he tapped in a basket at the wrong hoop. Fortunately for him, it wasn't a 2-point victory for the Bulls!

Charlotte is a good team, so the Bulls can't let their guard down just because they beat the Celtics. They need the win because Toronto will be playing the Knicks... pretty much a free win.

Weekend Sports Wrap Up

Yankees
After taking 2 of 3 against their rival Red Sox in the season opener, they did the same to their nemesis Rays over the weekend. Vasquez blew Friday's game, pretty much picking up where he left off the last time he was a Yankee. It's just odd how a talented pitcher can just go cold when playing for the Yankees. The Yankees have one of the best offensive lineups, but giving up 9 runs is really digging a hole. Saturday's game featured CC Sabathia on short rest and he nearly had a no-hitter. He took his position as the ace and made up for the bad start in Boston. Behind gold glove defense, he only gave up one hit in the middle of the 8th. Sunday's game a great overall performance by pitching and offense as the Yankees won 7-3. AJ Burnett had one of his better starts. Hopefully he really settles in this year. He was OK last year, but not quite the one-two punch with CC everyone expected.

Tiger
Tiger made his return to the Masters tournament after his long absence with sex addiction therapy. He ended up finishing 4th. The green jacket went to Phil Mickelson, who was playing with a touching story with his wife's battle for cancer. Tiger tried to downplay all of the attention and for the most part, I think he succeeded. He needs to get people talking about his game again, but it will be difficult as his mistresses continue to surface.

8th Seed for Now

Lately, the Bulls have been up and down, fortunately matched by the Raptors. Going into tonight's game, both had equal records after losing their previous games. The Raptors own the tiebreak with the season series, but the Bulls took care of business by blowing them out. It was the one game in the season that could let the Bulls into the 8th spot and they got in! Everyone stepped up in this game, with 6 guys in double figures. Rose proved yet again that he's an All-Star player by leading the way with 26 pts & 7 asts. Noah had a whopping double-double... 18 pts/9 rebs! Toronto actually played a solid game, but got killed on the FT line and just weren't as hot with their shooting. This was a big hump, but it's not over yet. The Bulls still have to face two tough teams in Boston & Charlotte. Boston is going to throw everything at the Bulls on Tuesday. After last year, they want no part of the Bulls in the playoffs. On the other hand, the Raptors have a much lighter schedule... Detroit & NY... pretty much guaranteed wins.

Interesting Indeed

The Raptors lost, but the Bulls failed to capitalize on te opportunity. They lost in double OT to the Nets of all teams. That means they split the season series with the worst team in the league. NJ still has that weird power over the Bulls for some reason. I thought for sure this would be a Bulls win. They pretty much had the game with a nice 4th quarter comeback and had a good lead in the first OT. But in the 4th quarter, Rose missed a critical freethrow that allowed Harris to tie the game. In the first OT, they had a 7 point lead and let the Nets get back into it. They were just cold in the 2nd OT. It was a big game for Rose (25), Miller (27), Deng (19) and Noah (16). 3pt shooting was great, but freethrows are what lost this game. The Bulls remain at the 9th seed with identical record as the Raptors. They're still even for the one-game playoff tomorrow.

TNT Tiger Woods Spoof

The TNT guys are always hilarious. Earlier in the week, during the Bulls/Cavs game, they made a spoof (or tried to) of the Tiger Woods commercial:

Nike, Tiger & Father

Nike and Tiger Woods released a new commercial recently with a voiceover of his late father. Mr. Woods is heard lecturing his son, asking if he learned anything. Tiger is silent, in B&W and has a look as if being scolded by a disappointed father. It's probably the right move by Nike to do this though it has stirred up controversy.


Will fans take this as sincere or is it merely a rich athlete's dollars at work to repair his image?

Still Alive

The Bulls are certainly keeping things interesting as the season winds down. They beat the best team in the league last night with a 109-108 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. James didn't play, but the Cavs are still a deep team without him. They're capable of beating any team in the league still, but the Bulls brought their A game. Noah was his usual double-double self again. Rose, Hinrich and Deng all scored over 20... a formula for a Bulls win. It was a well played game. Each team had only 11 TO's. The Bulls displayed their trademark defense with 9 blocks! They now have the same record as the Raptors, but lose the tiebreak, so they remain at #9. They play the Raptors on Sunday in what will be like a 1-game playoff, so that game will likely determine the Bull's postseason chances.

Bite Back

It was a tough loss last night against the Bucks because the Bulls failed to capitalize on the Raptor's loss and tie them in the standings. The good news is the Raptors didn't gain on them. After a quick start, the Bulls went dead cold in the 2nd quarter, scoring only 9 points. They then came out of the half cold as well, putting up 15 in the 3rd. Despite a good 4th quarter, there was no way that was going to add up to a win. They only had 3 guys in double figures and no in the 20's. What hurt most is John Salmons had a big game for the Bucks. So the Bucks clinched a spot and the Bulls are still in limbo. Salmons was traded at the deadline and the Bucks went on a great 2nd half stretch. Now Salmons wasn't that great on the Bulls, but he did add depth to the team. And it appears to have made a difference in this playoff run. I can only be forgiving of this if we truly get DWayne Wade next year.

Easter Monday

I always see Easter Monday on my calendar, but we don't get that as a holiday in the US. I think Australia and Canada get it though. What's odd is Easter isn't considered that big in this country even though it's supposed to be a more important holiday than Christmas on the Christian calendar. Since it's always on a Sunday, we don't get any days off for it. Many devout Christians take Friday off, but as you know I like to work on Good Friday because there's no better way to observe Jesus' agony on the cross! At least the athletes got Easter Monday off. Though the Yankees had their opener at Fenway last night, they have today off and continue the series on Tuesday. There are no NBA games at all today, so the whole league gets a holiday.

Muay Thai in America Results

- Jorge Perez def Glenn Spencer (unanimous dec. - 3rd rd.)
- Kenny Finister def Joe Davidson (KO - 2nd rd.)
- Andy Kapel def Danny "Demon" Davis (TKO - 3rd rd.)
- Ben Yelle def Raymond Cole (KO - 3rd rd.)
- Neungsiam Samphusri def Nat McIntyre (unanimous dec. - 5th rd.)
- Miriam Nakamoto def Angela Parr (unanimous dec. - 5th rd.)
- Romie Adanza def Andy Howson (dec. - 5th rd.)
- Christophe Pruvost def Malaipet Team Diamond (dec. - 5th rd.)

From what I read, the Parr/Nakamoto fight was close. It shows that Angie is still in great shape as she was able to go the distance with risinf star, Nakamoto who is at her prime. Malaipet is getting old. Although he's in great shape, he had trouble going to distance. Ben Yelle, who is a FNF regular won his fight by KO. So that sort of elevates the NY events. Yelle was tossed around by Joe Sampieri in May 2009 and lost by unanimous dec. to Justin Greskiewicz in July 2009.

Bulls Weekend

The Bulls appear to be back to normal as they won their 2nd game of the weekend last night. On Friday, they defeated the Wizards 95-87. Last night, they defeated the Bobcats 96-88. They're supposed to beat the Wizards, but the Bobcats are a better team than them this year. Both games were close. The Wizards game was a come-from-behind victory. Last night's game showed that they could survive a 4th quarter run by the opposition. All of the starters did their part, scoring double figures in both games. Rose is back to his usual 25+. Noah's minutes are increasing and he's back to getting his double-doubles. Hinrich is doing well too. Will this be enough to catch up to Toronto? The Raptors after a slide appear to be back on track also. So the the race for 8th has gotten interesting. Personally, I don't think the Bulls can do it. Depth is going to be a factor. Of the 12 guys on the Bulls, I'd say only 7 of them are consistent. Last year's team had all 12 guys.

The Next Action Hero

Clash of the Titans opens this weekend... a remake of the classic 80's film. Gues who's starring in it? Sam Worthington plays the hero, Perseus. Not only is this his 3rd blockbuster film in a row... it's the 3rd in a one year period! I never heard of him before and then he broke into the scene with a starring role in Terminator Salvation. The movie was about John Connor in the future, but they devoted nearly half of the running time to Sam's character, Marcus Wright, the good Terminator. A couple of months later, he was in Avatar, the largest grossing film. And now, Clash of the Titans, which I expect to be big since it's a remake of something decades ago.

"I like doing movies that I would go and see. If I'm going to invest 6 months in something, then it better be worthwhile. Hopefully we'll give the audience their 16 bucks worth."
- Sam Worthington

There hasn't been an actor like this since the days of Schwarzenegger & Stallone. I'm talking about a guy that is doing enjoyable movies, not playing to the critic's columns. Movies like Terminator, Avatar and Clash of the Titans will have cult followings and will be remembered for generations.

Office Lingo: Happy Friday

"Happy Friday" doesn't really have a meaning to it. It's just a stupid greeting that salespeople use all the time like Friday is always a holiday. Every time I hear someone say that, I just want to go up to them, bitch slap them and tell them to get back to work. I'm not sure why it bothers me... maybe it's just because salespeople are always full of sh** and it just sounds ultra-happy when it comes from them. Today, I actually heard one of them say it on the phone. Of all Fridays in the year... on Good Friday! Even if you're not Christian, you should be respectful. You don't say "Happy Friday" on the most solemn day of the Christian calendar.

Census Day

It's not just April Fool's Day today. It's also Census Day, meaning the forms everyone received over the past few weeks are due. I keep hearing in the news about the low response rate in New York. Each of the boroughs hovered around 30% while the state was about 40-something. I filled out mine, but can't blame others for not doing the same. Many people don't trust the government even if they claim that no one's information will be used for deporting illegals. The form requires a phone number. That's the one thing that will will prevent people from responding. They're better off not requiring it. Sure there will be people who fill out fake information, but at least there will also be more total submissions.

I also got a second form in the mail today. So did some of my friends. Then I heard the same on NY1 from a reporter. So this whole process is disorganized. I could easily fill out a second for just to increase the stats for my demographic.