Subway Tales: MTA Joe

I have no idea what Joe's job is, but he's there all the time at one of the MTA's major stations. All he does is stand in the middle of the platform and hang out with conductors that are either leaving or arriving. He doesn't seem to do anything though... not helping customers, announcing anything or even sweeping the floor. Yet he's there all the time and works long hours. He's there before my morning commute and I often see him when I return in the evening. Maybe the MTA hired him to raise the morals of the conductors and other MTA employees. MTA Joe... a real transit hero!

Another added bonus... he dresses like a cop so he can look cooler than what his actual duties are.

ASUS U31JG

It's really hard to keep up with ASUS's models. Just recently, I wrote about the U36JC. That's not even available yet and they already have another one with better specs... the U31JG. This one has almost the same specs... 2.53 Ghz Core i3 or 2.8 Ghz Core i5, 13.3" screen with NVidia Optimus and 10-hour battery life. The 2 main differences are... the NVidia card in the U31JG is a big upgrade... The GeForce GT 415M (rather than 310M) and the max RAM is 8 GB (instead of 4 GB). The odd thing is the U36JC has a USB 3 port and the U31JG does not.

Both models trump any other laptop at 13.3", but have one very weird weakness... .3 MP webcam. Isn't that odd? All the power they poured into it and ASUS loaded the worst possible webcam. Their EEE PC line has 1.3 MP.

Green Hornet

I wonder what happened to the Green Hornet remake. Years ago, it was rumored, but seemed like a done deal that Jet Li was going to play Kato. It was perfect because he's probably the only actor right now that could step into Bruce Lee's shoes. Then I just saw the trailer for this movie... no Jet Li! They also turned it into a comedy. Kato is played by Jay Chou (Initial D) and Green Hornet by Seth Rogen (Superbad, Knocked Up and 40-year Old Virgin). Jay Chou was great in Initial D, but he doesn't know enough martial arts to play Kato. And Seth Rogen has had all comedy roles.


I'm sure the movie will be funny and entertaining, but I'll pass on it. I would rather see Green Hornet as a serious action movie with cool stunts and fight scenes.

Christmas Games

It's somewhat of an honor to be playing on Christmas Day in the NBA. The media will pick high market teams usually. This year had all good matchups... Bulls/Knicks, Heat/Lakers, Celtics/Magic and Nuggets/Thunder. If you get picked to play on Christmas, it means you're on a good team basically. However, a lot of players have voiced their opinions about playing on such an important family holiday. We've heard from LeBron James and Kyle Korver on this. It's understandable because people want to be with their families for the holiday. But I think that's the price of being an NBA player. YYou're paid millions of dollars to entertain. So they should play on holidays because that's what they make the big bucks for.

The Bulls have had it tough though. They played on Thanksgiving, Christmas and will also play on New Year's.

Tough Win

I didn't think last night's game against the Wizards would end up being a win after Kirk Hinrich made the Bulls pay for trading him. Once again, he showed that he's the league's best defensive guard as he was tasked with holding down Rose. The first half was basically the Hinrich show as he shutdown his former student and was on fire at the offensive end. The Bulls turned the ball over and went into their droughts. Rose somehow scored 25 with the crappy start and bad 4th. If you look at the numbers on the Bulls side, you'd think that there was no way they won this game. Boozer had 30 and Deng had 14. No one else had more than 6. But as bad as they played, they really shutdown the Wizards at the end with tough defense. Hinrich had 19 pts/9 asts/5 rebs.

The positive note is that the Bulls can grind out tough wins. This was again, with Noah out and Gibson with limited time. If we look back at things, the Bulls should have never traded Hinrich. Even if there was a logjam at the guard position, Hinrich and Rose can easily swap point and shooting and do a much better job than the current Rose/Bogans starting combo.

Fare Hike Coming

I just read and was reminded that the next MTA fare hike is just around the corner. It actually caught me by surprise because it's been in and out of the news throughout the year, but disappeared recently. I think most people forgot it was coming and there has been no announcement by the MTA.

So the monthly card is going up to $104! It's hard to imagine that back when the MetroCard came out, it was nearly half that price. They're also getting rid of the useless 14-day card. People can just buy 2 weeklys. I'm surprised they kept it around that long. It's about as practical as a $2 bill. There's a grace period for old cards that ends January 10, so I thought I'd check my current one out. It expires January 9! I happened to luck out. I can buy a new one under the current price still!

No Problem

After a tough 1-point loss over the weekend, the Bulls had a nice blowout victory last night against the .500, but red hot Philadelphia 76ers. Both Noah and Gibson were out, but they somehow held the Sixers to just 76 points and never gave up the lead since going down 0-2 at the start of the game. Rose and Deng each lead with 22 points. Boozer had a double-double. The team had 6 players in double figures and I believe every player scored except Keith Bogans... who started.

So far this year, the Bulls haven't been falling into their usual bad habits. I'm talking about getting big leads and then losing them. And also going on winning streaks and then dropping down to .500. I think the core is hungry for a championship this year. Injuries aren't stopping them either. No Noah.... no Gibson.. no problem. There's more depth than I ever imagined in this team.

Tech Deals of the Week (12/19-12/25)

FINALLY... I found a week with enough sales worthy of a post! Hopefully this keeps up.

iPod Deals
- 8 GB iPod touch @ TG for $225 + $40 gift card
- 8 GB iPod nano @ TG for $145 + $15 gift card
- Memorex iPod travel dock @ TG for $45
- 8 GB iPod nano @ BB for $169.99 + arm band, wall charger & Gumy earbuds
- 16 GB iPod nano @ BB for $199.99 + arm band, wall charger & Gumy earbuds
- 8 GB iPod touch @ BB for $229.99 + $40 gift card

Flash Sales
- 8 GB HP @ ST for $14.99
- 8 GB PNY Compact @ ST for $19.99
- 8 GB SanDisk @ BB for $16.99
- 16 GB SanDisk @ BB for $34.99

Hard Drive Sales
- 1 TB HP Ext. @ ST for $89.99
- 2 TB WD Ext. @ ST for $119.99
- 2 TB WD Ext. @ BB for $109.99
- 3 TB WD Ext. @ BB for $179.99 (best bang/GB)

Logitech M305 @ BB for $12.99
This is the lowest price I've seen on one of the best basic notebook mice out there. It has a compact dongle and is very responsive for a non-laser mouse... works on more surfaces than competing models.

Store 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

Weekend NBA Wrapup

Bulls
The Bulls winning streak finally ended last night against an unlikely LA Clippers. But it could just be a sign of a Noah-less Bulls lineup. It was an uphill battle despite a 34 pt/8 ast effort by Rose, 25 pts from Boozer and 17 from Deng. They just didn't get anything from anyone else. In fact, no one else got higher than 6! The Bulls made an amazing run during the last few seconds and had a chance tie the game with Rose at the freethrow line with no time left. He missed the second shot. But the Clippers deserved to win that one. They outplayed the Bulls in every way and stole one.

Heat
The most hyped up game was Friday night's Knicks/Heat matchup, with LeBron visiting NY for the first time since FA 2010. Naturally, the fans booed him everytime, but as with the Cleveland fans, he quickly shut them up with a big game. The Knicks fans have the least to be bitter about. There was no chance of LeBron signing with NY. The media was just building up the hype.

Knicks
After an 8-game winning streak, the Knicks cooled down with a loss to Boston just before entering the Miami game. Then they faced off with LeBron's former team on Saturday and lost! That's a 3-game losing streak now. While the Boston and Miami games are acceptable, Cleveland is not!

Lucky 7

It's been 4 years since the Bulls had a 7-game winning streak, but they did it last night with a 110-93 win over the Toronto Raptors. It was a close game in the 1st quarter, with the Bulls only leading by 5, but they really pulled away in the 2nd and never looked back. Rose and Noah played injured, but Boozer really picked up the team with 34 pts and 12 rebs. He was also still on limited minutes. And none of the starters played in the 4th. This is the way it should be against teams like Toronto, instead of playing down to their level. Rose was obviously in pain as he only scored 6 pts, but moved the ball around well with 11 asts.

The bad news is Noah announced that he will undergo surgery to repair tendons in his hand today. He will likely miss 10 weeks. Fortunately, Boozer came back just in time. The starting lineup still looks OK as Gibson can take his place, but the overall depth will suffer a bit. I would like to see more minutes for Scalabrine as well. He's one of those guys that the Bulls should put in if someone's struggling. He moves and shoots well for a big guy.

Lee

While the Cliff Lee free agency wasn't as exciting as James/Wade/Bosh, he was the guy all baseball fans were keeping an eye on. All the talk was around the Yankees and Rangers, but he pulled a surprise decision to go with his former team, the Phillies... the team that shouldn't have let him go in the first place! My gut feeling was that he would stay with Texas. They did so well once they got him and it seemed like he was very comfortable there. The Yankees would have offered the most money, but personality-wise, I didn't see him enjoying playing in the city.

Although I would've liked to see Cliff Lee as a Yankee, the Phillies are the next best thing. the Yankees won't have to face him until the World Series. It's also nice to see players out there pick the best environment for themselves and their families, putting money aside as the primary reason.

6 Straight

The Bulls made it 6 in a row last night with a win over their Central Division rival, Pacers. While the Pacers aren't a good team, the Bulls need to constantly be tested with teams of various levels so they can learn not to play down to a worse team's skill level. They've been doing a good job of that lately, beating both good teams and taking care of business. Last night, the starters came through with their usual numbers and the bench really helped out. Every player scored except Asik. I should also note that Keith Bogans player 18 minutes and scored only 3 points. The game was close until the Bulls pulled away in the 4th quarter, as they kept playing hard for every minute. As in other recent games, the team defense was as good as the offense as they held teams to under 90 points.

The main concern about last night's game was the physical play. Rose took a hard fall and everyone feared that something was broken. Fortunately, x-rays were negative and he just has a sprained wrist. That could put him out for a game or two though. The next couple of games are against sub-500 teams, but they have the Knicks on Christmas Day. The Knicks have been just as hot as the Bulls lately and there hasn't been a Christmas Day game between the two since the Jordan Era. I wonder how they NBA planned this one. There was no indication that either team would be playing this well at the time they did the schedules.

ASUS U36JC Review

Here's a hands-on review of the ASUS U36JC by Netbooknews.com:

MVP!

That was the chant whenever Derek Rose went to the freethrow line in the 4th. For the first time in 5 years, the Bulls finally defeated the Lakers. They were able to limit Bryant like they usually do. But this time, they didn't give up a big game to Gasol, the guy that usually beats them. Rose ended with a big 29pt/9ast night with 3 three pointers. Korver added 3 more off the bench. Boozer ha da double-double and Deng did a good job on Bryant. The only bad point in the game was the 1st quarter as usual. The Bulls only scored 12 points, a season low for the opening quarter. Yet they managed to cut it to a 9 point deficit by the half and then by the 3rd had a 17 point turn-around.

So that was the 4th game in a row. Rose truly is the MVP right now. He's playing better than James or Wade. Some are saying he's the 2nd best player in franchise history. I'm going to go with 3rd... he's not better than Pippen quite yet.

Jeter Press Conference

Jeter was his usual self in his resigning press conference. He expressed his opinions about the negotiation process and how he was angry that the details went public. He fielded the questions diplomatically. Only Jeter can get his feelings out there without really burning anyone. He's such a master at it. I see a big year coming up in 2011 for the captain.

Sword of Azrael: One Crazy Monk

A NYC monk went mad in a downtown Buddhist temple. He decided to squat at the temple and among the things he's done are pissing into a wash basin and putting cat crap on a prayer book. He would save his piss overnight just so he could pour it into the basin. The monk, Xiao Dan Wu should be excommunicated from the temple and from the religion for that matter! I wonder why this went on for more than one incident. The other monks should have gone Shaolin on this guy. Sometimes being passive isn't the best road to take!

Sticking With the Plan

The Bulls racked up another win against another legitimate team to bring the season series against the Thunder to 2-2. Rose had an off night, but this one played out the way the Bulls planned things over the Summer. Boozer is definitely 100% now as he got 21 pts and 12 rebs, including several nice looking and-ones. He took contact and followed through. He's the inside presence the Bulls have been looking for all these years. Rose's "off night" consisted of 11 pts and 9 asts... still very good point guard numbers. Deng had 19 pts & 8 rebs. Korver had 13 off the bench. With Boozer back, Rose is not going to be #2 in scoring... he'll probably drop to below #10, but the Bulls are going to win more games with teamwork. I'm looking forward to it!

Weekend Sports Wrapup

Bulls
In their 2-game losing streak, it appeared that the Bulls were having a hard time adjusting to Boozer in the lineup. He also looked very rusty and slow. I think Boozer got it back in his 3rd game on Saturday night though. He put up his typical numbers at 25 pts and 9 rebs. Rose had another great game with 30 pts, 11 asts, 7 rebs and a career high 5 steals. Rose's 3 pointer sent the game into overtime, where they sealed the deal against the Rockets 119-116. Something I don't get about the Bulls lineup is... why is Keith Bogans starting every game? He's in the shooting guard spot, but can't score. So Rose has to pick up the slack. Get Korver in there! His 50% 3-point shooting is useful in droughts!

Yankees
Finally, the Yankees and Jeter agreed to a 3-year, $17m/per deal. The 4th year is an option based on his performance for the first 3 years... a typical Yankees front office deal. So I'm glad that's over. Jeter's back to being the captain for 3 more years at least. On Saturday, the Yankees also agreed to a 2-year deal with Mariano Rivera. Just before that, the Red Sox made an offer as well. Rivera turned it down since he's one of those players that will always be a Yankee. So Jeter, Rivera and Posada will all be back next year. Pettitte will likely return if the Yankees can get Cliff Lee. If they can't, then Pettitte is a maybe.

U36

As if the U35JC wasn't good enough, Asus quickly released an updated model, the U36. The main attraction is the thinner body. It's pretty close to the Macbook air + it has a Core i5! It also features USB3. So the tech specs are close to the Bamboo version of the U35, just in an improved body. So this is the new ultimate laptop!

Return of the King

All the news was around the Heat/Cavs game last night as it was LeBron's first visit to Cleveland as a Heat player. The Cleveland fans showed their stupidity and James responded with class. One woman held up a sign that said "What should I do? Beg for mercy." It was meant to poke fun at James' most recent Nike commercial. I think the last thing James is going to do is "beg for mercy," especially when he punished his former team with 38pts, 8 rebs and 5 asts. The 28-point blowout allowed James and Wade to sit out the 4th quarter. A couple of times, the crowd was cheering "Akron hates you." But Akron made it clear that they support James. And locally, there's a distinct difference between Cleveland fans and Akron fans. At other times, they would shout "Scottie Pippen," implying that James is accepting a secondary role to Wade. I consider Pippen second only to Jordan, so any active player who gets compared to Pippen should take it as a compliment. Scottie Pippen? Sure... why not! So the fans couldn't come up with anything intelligent or effective to stop the greatest player in the NBA. James responded in interviews with how he still loves the Cleveland fans. He was obviously unaffected by the boos as he played one of his best games of this season.

Subway Tales: Fatman Irony

Sometimes it's a good thing to sit next to a fat guy. How is that!? It can work under certain conditions. You have to be boarding an almost empty train and you have to be there before the fat guy. It happened to me today. I went in and quickly got a corner seat. A huge guy sat next to me. He was large enough to spill into the seat next to him. So no one was able to sit next to him... not even a supermodel! So he had extra wiggle room, which resulted in more space for me as well. It's rare, goes against logic, but can happen!

NBA Update

Bulls
The Bulls ended up losing last night's game. There was no late run to close within single digits. It seems like Orlando is the team to beat in the East. They just posed too many problems for the Bulls. They also got blown out in preseason when they also had Boozer in the lineup.

Nets
The Nets look better than last year, but still aren't really that good. Last night's game was very exciting though as they went to triple OT with the Denver Nuggets. There was buzzer beater after buzzer beater and a lot of clutch defensive plays on both sides. Brook Lopez played one of his best games. In the end, the Nets lost, but I'd say that was a good game to sway Anthony over to their side next year.

Heat
Tonight's game is going to be interesting because it will be LeBron's return to Cleveland. He'll most likely be greeted with boos, but hopefully there are some real fans out there.

Bulls vs. Magic (At the Half)

The Bulls started a home stand that actually looks much harder than the circus trip they just got back from. It started against the Orlando Magic. Carlos Boozer returned and looks very rusty so far. The chemistry isn't there yet as the Bulls trail 61-37. With 37 points, no player is in double figures yet. Rose was keeping them in the game in the first quarter, but they really dug a hole with an 18 pt 2nd. For Orlando, Carter is leading with 20... traditionally a player the Bulls have had trouble stopping in the past. It's a tough game for Boozer to come back in. He walking right into the line of fire. But I'm still watching this one because the Bulls often make a 2nd half run.

Subway Tales: Today's Cast

Switching Lanes
Starting with the down escalator on my morning commute, there was the normal condition of people walking on the left and scattered people standing on the right. One guy walking down would go right every time there was an open space. He was right in front of me and switched to the right. I passed just as he was trying to go left again just to make it clear that it wasn't worth it to switch. If you're going to commit to walking, don't switch lanes too much, you might lose your spot.

Paper Fumbler
On my first train, there was a woman standing up, trying to hold her bag and umbrella while reading a newspaper. Each time she turned the page, she would almost drop the paper and then catch it on the way down. This went on until she finished the entire thing and drew a lot of attention. The sound of rustling paper alerted surrounding passengers each time. Is it really that important to read the paper on a crowded train and on a rainy day where you need to carry and extra item?

Blind Runner
On my way home, I was running across a large public space. Another person was going the opposite direction. He was looking right at me yet he kept veering into my line of sight. He was iPod headphones on, so he was paying attention to his music and not to the path ahead. I blew past him, just missing. He didn't even notice. It's amazing how blind people can get when they're not concentrating on something. I mean, this guy was looking straight ahead and didn't see a thing. He probably wouldn't have noticed even if I knocked him down!