Traffic

I looked at my traffic stats for the first time in years and some of it is pretty interesting:

Browsers
I make a lot of tech posts, so it's not too surprising that Firefox is the top browser, actually outnumbering IE. Firefox has 46% while IE scores 37%.

Countries
This is weird. In recent months, there have been more views from Russia than the US! Overall, the US has twice the traffic. I also get a fair amount from Germany and UK, but Russia and US are the top 2 by far.

OS
Windows rules, but surprisingly, there's 16% from Linux.

2-0

The Bulls are now 2-0 against the new and improved Super Knicks. In the first game, it was pretty much bench against bench with all of the injuries. Last night's game had Carmelo Anthony back while the Bulls were still crippled. Once again, teamwork went a long way. Bulls had 5 guys in double figures led as usual by Luol Deng (29). Belinelli continued his consistency since the Hamilton injury, adding 22. Hinrich lit up the Knicks in the first half and finished with 16 pts and 8 asts... one of his best games this year. Noah had as double-double also as usual. The the Knicks, Melo lead the way with 29. Smith and Felton also scored over 20, but they didn't get much from the rest of the team. Everyone on the Bulls showed up to play. That's how a team not expected to make the playoffs can beat the best team in the league. We've done this for over a decade. Still think we're not getting into the postseason this year?

Triple Threat

It's official... the Yankees signed Ichiro to a 2-year, ~$12 million deal. His age doesn't matter. He's still one of the best hitters in baseball and hasn't lost his speed. He's also one of the best outfielders in the league, so it was a no brainer. The only fluke was last year on Seattle. He was vintage for the Yankees after the trade.

With Jeter, Ichiro and Gardner in the lineup, the Yankees have the most dangerous and fastest top of the order assembled. It's going to make any starting pitcher a nervous wreck, especially if one of those guys gets  hit or a walk. There's going to be havoc on the bases. The outfield also has amazing coverage with Gardner and Ichiro covering ground.

With a 2-year contract, it also gives Ichiro to get his 3000th hit in pinstripes if he hits his usual numbers.

Youk

With Alex Rodriguez scheduled to have hip surgery, the topic of conversation was a replacement 3rd baseman. My friends and I joked that we'd be sticking it to the Sox of we picked up Youkilis. I was hoping the Yankees would make a move for Marco Scutaro just because he kicks our butts when he faces us. One by one, the free agent 3rd basement signed with teams and sure enough, we ended up with Youkilis!

Youk has been a key part of the Red Sox core, but I think fans will be OK with him in a Yankees uniform. Of the Sox-to-Yankees players, the one I never liked was Roger Clemens. Youk plays hard and isn't a jerk, so I think I can get used to him in uniform. The good thing is because of last year's falling out with Bobby Valentine, he has beef with the Red Sox. So the Yankees are a perfect fit if he wants to get back at his old team.

It was all official today after Kevin Youkilis passed his physical... 1 year, $12 million.

Holiday Party

We had our company holiday party today. Weird, right? It's only the 2nd week of December! It's like this every year for us though. They plan it this way because they want a higher turnout. Almost everyone takes that last week off and many people take the week before that. So the holidays really get stretched out because of this.

The thing that's different this year is the venue. The company typically rented some high end place... like a ballroom of a fancy hotel. This never made sense to me mainly because of the money spent. The economy is not doing that well and it's just throwing money away for what the company thinks is raising morale. I'd rather have that money somewhere else like staffing. That would raise morale. It has long term value whereas a party lasts a few hours. This year, it's like upper management grew a brain. The holiday party is in the office itself... in our 2 large board rooms. Think of the thousands of dollars of savings if we had done this every year.

Spammers Suck

Every once in a while I still get spam comments on this blog. Don't people realize that I have my security settings up... as many other bloggers do. Their comments never make it up, but yet they keep posting. Sometimes I wonder what it's like to be a low life spammer. They must spend the whole day pasting the same stuff all over the Net. Any good site won't automatically post comments. So there's a lot of wasted effort.

Pacquaio-Marquez 4

The 4th and very likely the final meeting between these 2 great boxers ended in a bang and it needed to! The 4th meeting was by far the most exciting. I think both guys wanted it to be decisive, so they came out firing. No more technical matches going the distance! Marquez knocked down Pacquaio for the first time ever in the 3rd (that's 3.5 matches... 39 rounds)! Pacquaio then returned the favor, sending Marquez to the ground in the 5th. The match ended in the 6th with an overhand right by Marquez. 

This is the way boxing matches should end. Fighters really need to step into the ring assuming there's no win if there's no knockout. If they've watched enough matches, they should know that the judges are not reliable at all. Either there's money on it or they don't have good score-keeping experience. I can't tell you how many matches I've watched where 1 guy clearly won, but the opponent was awarded the win.

Bull's Weekend

The Bulls finally have their first 3-game streak going with victories over the Pistons on Friday and Knicks on Saturday. Friday night's game featured a strong 1st half by the Pistons... exactly the type of thing that gets the Bulls going. They dominated the 3rd quarter which decided the game. The Bulls overcame a lead as large as 17. All players scored that night. Here's the weird thing... Noah led the way with a career high 30 pts... and 23 rebs!

No matter how hard the refs tried to give this game to the Knicks, the Bulls wouldn't have it. The game was plagued with bad calls including a strange ejection of Taj Gibson. Hinrich got injured early in the game. The Bulls still stayed with the Knicks all the way though. They actually had the lead for most of the game, but it was close... never a double digit lead until the final minute. The Bulls ended with 5 guys in doubles. Belinelli lead with 22. His 15 first quarter points kept the Bulls in the game. Deng tied with a solid 22, taking care of the 2nd half. Noah had a double-double, but not quite the super human 30-23 from Friday! They also played grittier than the Knicks, winning the hustle plays and forcing bad shots. They got JR Smith to shoot 4 of 14. Felton with 27 was really the only guy that got off. Knicks were held to 37% shooting.

Sword of Azrael Annihilation

Naeem Davis: wins the Death by Fiery Sword Penalty for pushing Ki-Suck Han to his death on a subway platform. Davis is a useless homeless man with no life... scum of the Earth consuming precious air. And he took the life of a family man.

Umar Abassi: wins the Excommunication Penalty. He's the photographer that decided to take pictures of Ki-Suck Han's death instead of spending the energy to try to help. He chose to document rather than attempt to save. He continues to try to convince himself that he tried to warn the conductor with a flash and that he was too far away to help. Whatever gets him to sleep at night.

Lucius Crawford: Another taker for the Fiery Sword, Lucius Crawford was a cold case that heated back up this week. Cops figured him out for 3 murders dating all the way back to 1993. When they caught up with him, he had just murdered a 4th. Who knows how many more in between.

Lindsay Lohan: I'm tired of weekly crime news about this former celeb. Fame has certainly gotten into her head and made her believe she's above the law. She deserves the Slave Pit, but I'm giving her Excommunication. She needs time away so she could feel like a nobody.

Bounce Back

One thing about the Bulls, no matter how bad they are is they have a tendency to bounce back after a loss. They lost a game they should have won Tuesday night against the Pacers, an important division rival. There wasn't enough offense and the defense was even worse. The Pacers weren't particularly good, but the Bulls allowed George to score 34 and look like a superstar.

Last night, the Bulls came in and took care of business against the Cavs. Just like any other win, 5 guys scored in doubles. Deng had his usual 22, but it was Belinelli that shined with a career high 23. I was worried about him because he usually has a DNP in the box. In order to be semi-successful this season, he's one guy the Bulls need to play his best ever. Boozer & Noah had double-doubles. Hinrich added 11 and dished out 8 asts. All players with minutes scored.

Subway Wi-Fi

Even though I'm all into technology, I don't think yesterday's news that subway wi-fi being on schedule is good news. 30 stations in the system were scheduled to have it by the end of 2012. Sandy only pushed it back to Feb. 2013. By the end of 2013, the number will be 40 stations across Manhattan and Queens.

Here's the list of the first phase:

- A,C - 96th, 86th, 81st, 72nd, Columbus Circle, 50th & 42nd

- E - 50th, 7th Ave., 53rd

- 1,2,3 - 86th, 79th, 72nd, Columbus Circle, 50th, Times Sq., 28th, 23rd

- N,Q,R - 59th, 57th, 49th, Times Sq., 28th, 23rd

- B,D - 96th, 86th, 81st, 72nd, Columbus Circle, 7th Ave.

- F - 63rd, 57th

- M - 53rd

All-Star Deng

The Bulls won again on Sunday behind Luol Deng's 25 pts and double-doubles by both Noah and Boozer. Deng is once again putting up All-Star numbers every night. He's leading the league in minutes played and averaging 18 ppg, 7 rpg and almost 3 apg. And again, he flies under the radar, quietly leading his team. Because people don't know him, it's going to cost him an  All-Star starter position, but he always has a shot for the bench with the more valuable coaches pick.

Sunday's win was a typical one with 5 players in doubles and all players with minutes had at least 2 points. Hinrich and Butler didn't have great numbers, but did a lot of clutch dirty work in the 4th to seal the deal. The team combined for 59 rebs and 28 asts! This is what the Bulls are all about, but they need to do this every night.