Swan

Ok so my whole life, whenever I went to Rio to watch a movie, I just
assumed that the white geese were swans. I think when I was really
little I even thought the white ducks were swans even though they were
much smaller than the geese. Well today after my interview, I finally
saw a real life swan. No mistake about it. These things are huge.
Those smaller birds in the picture are regular sized pigeons. Like if
that swan stood up his head would prolly come up to my belt buckle.
Anyways, the interview went really well, and it looks like I'll be
spending at least a year in Norway. Pretty excited about the
opportunity, but at the same time, butt scared about living abroad by
myself.

Why nintendo?

This is the monster stack of wii's that I saw at an electronics store.
I don't know what nintendo is doing. They definitely need better
analysts determining the demand of their products. I guess these
things are a little pricey. That 2495 Nok is about 500 bucks. Then
again everything is more expensive here.

$$$

I know what you guys are thinking. Men, what's the big deal about
stores in airports. Well check this bad boy out. That's right, you are
not seeing things, that's a casino in the airport. Fine, I guess some
of you are still not impressed since we all know that LAS has some
slots. This place had a roullette table too. Haha, sweetass.

AmsterDAYAM

So you know how I just pumped up Dulles airport like 3 posts ago? Well
compared to the airport in Amsterdam, Dulles is some shack. Seriously,
this is a shot of the holiday decorations, but the most impressive
part of this place was the shops. They had real shops in there, and
people were actually buying stuff like digital cameras and stuff. I
took a look around, but the prices didn't look all that good to me.
Plus I can no longer justify buying a good number of gadgets because I
have the iPhone. Can't buy a digicam, mp3 player, PDA, phone, voice
recorder, and even like small portable laptops. By the way, I totally
unlocked my phone to work with a Norwegian sim card. Pretty excited
about this.

Breakfast

This was my breakfast meal on the flight. It was pretty good. Banana
muffin, yogurt with berries, and a juice box. Pretty healthy if you
ask me. At this point, I was really starting to get worn down by the
cramped space, and screaming babies, so this was a great pick me up.

Trip to Norway Pt 3

About the last photo. That was actually a picture of the bidness class
seats. Unfortunately I flew economy because business class was
ridiculously expensive (because I booked my flight on Monday). This is
a picture of my dinner. It was pretty bad. It looks really good, but
tasted like a TV dinner made from better ingredients. The dish in the
top right is some curry rice. It was cold, but not bad. As I ate it I
thought that this type of thing would never be served on a domestic
flight. I think Europeans are more open with what kind foods they will
eat.

It's bidness, IT'S BIDNESS TIME!!

Flew via Northwest Airlines operated by KLM to Amsterdam. Worst flight
ever. For my friends that are new parents, please don't ever bring
your kids on overnight flights. I was just bragging to my coworker how
I could sleep upright because of two years commuting on the Metro. I
would have been able to do that if the 3!!! babies on the plane would
shut the hell up. One baby screamed at the top of its lungs the whole
way. I'm talking 9 hours. I thought IT would fatigue but I was wrong.
Haha, to be cont'd...

Norway Part 1

Started my trip at good ole Dulles airport. They've really improved
the airport quite a bit over the years. One thing that cracked me up
was I got this yellow card when I got in the line for security. It was
to measure how long it took to get through the line. Well it took me
12 minutes. It didn't feel like 12 minutes. It felt alot longer. But
when the security dude heard it was 12 minutes, he was SUPER pleased
with himself. He was like, "that's less than Disneyland, and people
love that place. They hate this place." To be cont'd.

Rice Rockets and Things to Look Forward To

Watched this the other day. haha, that was a fun time.




Made a list of things to look forward to in the upcoming months:

1. Bag snatching
2. An extra 15 lbs and getting hated on by the relatives
3. Getting no sleep and buying some junk because its cheap
4. Buying crappy gifts or nothing at all for people
5. Watching the ball drop alone
6. Breaking resolutions you just made the night before

BLAH

Conspiracy Theories & the movie Jim

Conspiracy Theories

1. All Casinos track all players that go through their doors. There are several gigantic databases with peoples faces, games they like, betting patterns, and ways to maximize profit from these players. This one is pretty easy to do. They have cameras all over the place. They can easily store a picture of someone. And those player cards make it even easier to track people.
2. Blood banks were created as a pact between the government and vampires. A percentage of all blood taken is given to the vamps in exchange for maintaining peace. This one is a little far fetched, I guess.
   
3. The Bermuda triangle was created to cover up pirate activity in the carribean. Boats that entered pirate territory would be taken for everything they had and then sunken to the ocean floor.
   

If there was a movie about your life, who would play your closest friends?

Me: I have gotten alot of Val Kilmer, and David Boreanz, however, I think Val Kilmer is not only cooler, but more of an asshole, so it wouldn't be a stretch for him to play me.

Wilson: Hmm, for some reason I keep thinking that Wilson should be played by Jackie Chan. Val and Jackie probably wouldn't get along on set though, so maybe someone like Joe Pantoliano.

Kel: This one is tough, but I think it would have to be Anthony Edwards.

Hostar: If Chris Farley were still alive, maybe him.

Mokyi: Maybe like Jet Li minus the Kung Fu ability. More just for the broken English.

Ray: Vin Diesel Baby!

Aus: I think someone like Christian Bale. OR that guy from Pearl Harbor that takes Ben Aflecks girl.

Leonard: Himself

Albert: Maybe Brad Pitt. I mean, someone who gets alot of ass.

On the DL

Do you know in sports when someone gets hurt, but there isn't a really good descriptive term for what the injury is? Thats how I feel right now. I hurt my hamstring (AKA upper leg/lower ass muscle) again on Friday. I dont know what I did really. I do know what I didnt do, and that was stretch properly. Anyways, now I have a lingering injury that started around this time last year, and it is really getting pretty serious. I think I need to go see a doctor. Hopefully I can fully recover in time to be able to play in SF. Otherwise, I may be out for the season. In the meantime, I guess I am day to day, haha.

NY mini

I know the big question is "Was this the best tournament ever?". The big answer is no, however, it was a pretty good tourney still. My team, the Alumni, did really well on the first day, however we did not do so well on the second day.

I wish I was able to contribute more to the team. For the most part, I just came in to serve for Austin in the right back. I think I did an OK job serving. Maybe if I work really hard over the next couple of weeks, I can get back into to form.

Congrats to our A team (MVP Sixpack A) as well as the DC Slackers for winning the tournament. The A team looked unstoppable at times. I think they have a good shot to make a run at the title this year. As I was watching them play, it really looked like they had a chip on their shoulder. They looked like they were there to prove something. I think they did do that by winning in such a dominating fashion. I mean, looking at the teams that they were playing against, it seemed as though they knew they were done. The other teams didnt have any fight in them, except for a few players here and there. Things are obviously going to be different as we go to the Defending Champions home city for the NACIVT for the second straight year. Hopefully we can stay healthy.

I think we should all take a couple of weeks off before coming back to train up for the nationals, but maybe we will just have lighter practices.

Anyways, thanks to the NY crew (Bert, Dlu, Rose, Sen) for hanging out and partying. It was good to see you guys.

OOPS: I totally botched the whole Defending champs city thing. We were in our town last year. My bad.

What time is it? GAME TIME!

So. This is it.

Quick side note:
Have you ever had the feeling that you could predict the future? Well it happens to me all the time. The other day, I was watching some poker on ESPN and there was a hand where AK was up against jacks. Well the guy with AK was down to his last card to try to improve. The board was like 10 9 4 3, and we were waiting for the last card. Well, the guy with Jacks was like, keep it low. And I was like, its prolly going to be another 3. And BAM, it was. Now sure, it could have been coincidence, however, this happens to me all the time.

In March, I predicted that my trip to Vegas was going to the best trip of my life, ever. Well. It was totally awesome. Not only did Dave Matthews play two of the greatest shows that I have ever witnessed, I tore the casinos for like a G.
End Side note:

This brings me back to this weekend. For some reason, I have been totally pumped about this weekend. I mean, I have been excited for 9 man tournaments before, but this one is different. I am on edge. I think this is really going to be the best tournament ever. Maybe I need to stop watching this video to get pumped up:

Confidence Low

Well. This is it. This coming weekend is the mini. The moment we have all trained for. I don't know why I don't feel confident in our chances. Maybe it was the game where we almost lost to guys who are older than our dads. Maybe it was the lack of concentration. I was zoning in an out of the game. Some points, I prayed the ball not come in my direction. I couldn't judge the court, couldn't judge the ball. Other points, I was noticeably sharper. I felt like I knew what was coming. It was so surreal.

Whatever it was on Sunday, somehow I have to snap out of it. Whether it was the extreme heat, or the foot long sub that I ate right before practice, or the lack of peppering/serve receive before the matches. I think it was all of that. Stole.

Who Knew?

I went to the dentist today. Apparently I have been brushing "too hard". I didn't know you could brush too hard, but she said that my gums are receding because I am scrubbing too hard. And that is why I have sensitivity to hot/cold/sweet stuff, because my roots are getting exposed. So now I need to work on a gentler motion. The other note about my dentist visit today was that my dentist has DVD goggles that you can wear while they are cleaning your teeth. Its pretty cool. I watched like 30 minutes of You Got Served.

Horror Movies and Steel Chopsticks

Horror Movies

I HATE horror movies. I don't understand why people like them? You go to a movie just to be scared? And then its hard to sleep the next couple of nights because you can see the images in your head. I would definitely rather see some action, comedy, or even ... thats right, a romantic comedy. Here are my top 5 movie genres:

1. Spy Movies
2. Medieval Movies
3. Sci Fi Movies
4. Comedies
5. Romantic Comedies

Steel Chopsticks

So my Aunt bought me some steel chopsticks for my place when they were visiting. She said they were much more hygenic and easier to clean. Overall, I am pretty pleased with them. One thing that sucks about them big time is that they get so hot when you eat like noodle soups. It actually makes eating more difficult. Maybe I should get some bamboo joints just for noodles.

Thats all for now.

Day Two

So I am on day two of my week long journey. Ngl, its pretty painful. It didnt help that I went to Wilsons house today, and they were BBQing. One thing that I noticed about the diet is that it is a little easier to handle since I am only committed to it for a week. I feel that if I had to eat like this for the rest of my life, it would be really hard. Anyways, today I had some veggy congee that I made (tastes like mush), some corn at Wilson's, and a salad from the mall. Pretty hungry still.

Transformers and other stuff...

Transformers

3.5 stars out of 5. I thought the movie was OK. Here were the goods and the bads:

Good:

• Megan Fox was hot
• Some of the transformers looked awesome (Starscream, the helicopter)
• The scene where Bumblebee helps that nerd mack was classic

Bad:

• Optimus Prime got his ass beat and was overall a pansy
• The story was whack. Why must there be some magical cube that can create life? Couldnt they just go with the standard, Decepticons trying to steal natural resources from Earth, and get torn by the Autobots?
• The scene where the Autobots were hiding around the house was totally unnecessary.

Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest

I caught this on ESPN yesterday. I already knew who had won, but you still have to watch these guys eat. Its pretty sick. I do not know how those guys force themselves to swallow food like that. Also, am I the only person who thought Kobiyahsi got robbed? I mean, the retarded hot dogs counters behind the guys showed even numbers up until the end. And they only showed 62 dogs, and then all of a sudden that Joey Chestnut guy has 66? And Kobiyahsi has 63? I dont understand. I mean, if they are going to have a live count of dogs, shouldnt that number be accurate? Either way, this segways well into my next topic.

Vegetarian/Vegan

Ive decided to try to go vegetarian for the next week. I have never not eaten meat for longer than like 24 hours, so this is going to be tough for me. Plus I have very little will power. I remember the one time that I tried to fast for the people in Taiwan who were suffering from an earthquake. I lasted exactly 24 hours. Even Hostar went for like 2 or 3 days. So yeah, I have trouble saying no to things for myself. I will try though. Here is a short list of rules:

1. No meat of any kind other than eggs. I figure I still need some protein in my diet, so I'll just eat eggs. Hopefully I dont have real bad gas from this.
2. No sodas or candy. Gatorade is acceptable, as well as vitamin water. Arizona Green tea and Redbull are not.

Hmmm, I guess thats it. Have I contacted my physician to see if this diet is acceptable? No. Will I last the whole week? Probably not. Is this going to tear up my digestive system? I dont know.

NBA Draft Recap(late) and Comment about RT

NBA Draft
The NBA Draft was last week. Here are my winners and losers:

Winners: Portland, Seattle, Charlotte

Portland - Pretty much just winners for doing the right thing and picking Greg Oden. Oden is the real deal. He will win at least 3 championships over the next 15 years. All of those people who say Kevin Durant is the next MJ. You guys can't be serious right? I mean KD is going to be pretty sick, but he cannot guard like Mike, and his frail body is primed for major injuries.

Seattle - I know I just bashed Kevin Durant, but come on, he is still going to be pretty sweet. Plus they just robbed Boston by shipping Ray "I can only shoot from the perimeter" Allen for Delonte West (Solid PG), Jeff Green (Not who I would have picked, but whatever, still a good pick), and Wally Szerbiack(scrub). All in all, a good day for Seattle. Now if only they could keep some talent there, they might be good in like 5 years.

Charlotte - I know that Stephen A and the other ESPN bozos called MJ out for making the trade of Brandan Wright for Jason Richardson. Here is the deal in my eyes. Brandan Wright is an undersized PF with no offensive moves, and a big head too. (Did you hear what he said on draft night? Stew Scott said that he MIGHT be the only player that couldn't take his boss 1 on 1. Brandan then costed himself by saying that MJ didn't want any.) I think MJ could smoke him. I mean, he is the greatest ever. And its not like Wright is alot bigger or anything. Jason Richardson is a proven NBA scoring machine. Big win for the Bobcats.

Rant about RottenTomatoes
I went to the site to check out the Fresh rating for Transformers, and saw a list of the top 100 Sci Fi movies of all time. Looked through the list a little, but then jumped to the top 10. On my way there, I determined that the list was garbage and now question anything that those guys post. Here is the deal:

When I was working for WonderClick.com, Bryan Lee's bro was the guy in charge of RT. Since then he sold the site, made a ton, and now I think News Corp owns it. We used to get free gear from RT, and it was pretty cool. So the reviews on the site were always pretty solid, and I pretty much agreed with them.

BUT... as I was jumping from 100 to 10 in that top 100 Sci Fi list, I happened to come across number 32.... The MATRIX!!! WTF. How can this movie not be in the top 10 or even the greatest of all time? I mean seriously. This movie changed the industry back in the late 90s. Instead of it, there were 2 movies that were pretty good, but not great like the Matrix was. Children of Men was like 5. This movie was OK. I sat through it, and somewhat enjoyed it, mostly because I like Clive Owen, but seriously, this movie is garbage next to the Matrix. And then the biggest shocker. Number 4 was the Minority Report. OMG. This movie had sooooo much hype, and yet was the biggest waste of 3 hours of my life. The story was whack. Tom Cruise is a psycho. The effects were cool, but then again, not as cool as the Matrix's effects. So now, I am left to question RT forever. I mean, I guess the reviews are still good. But the top 100 lists are crap. CRAP I SAY!

Ok, Im done.

iPhone

Man. I want the iPhone real bad. Went to check it out on Saturday night at the Apple store. It works pretty much like the videos that they show of it. I wish I didn't have my contract with Sprint. The good thing about my contract is that its pretty cheap, much cheaper than the iPhone contracts. Bah, oh well, maybe a Xmas present for myself when my plan ends in december.

Tourney Results and the rest of the Weekend

Well.

Aus and I got T-3rd in the doubles tournament this weekend. It was somewhat bitburgersweet(reference to the beer that Aus brought), haha. I think for Aus and I, this is the highest doubles finish we have ever had. We played ok. Aus played like a champ. And we had a great shot at winning the whole thing, however, Aus cramped in the last match of pool play. So, even though he cramped, we still went on to beat this team that was vying for the playoffs, and then after that we beat a team in the playoffs. We beat that team and Aus didn't jump once, haha. That is pretty sad. Then we played Felix and Paul (total sandbaggers) in the semis, but they were just too much for us. To be honest, it would be a good match even if Aus was 100%, but I think we would have the slight edge.

It's weird because Aus and I used to play doubles tourneys back in the day at the BB level, and we used to get torn. I think the competition just got alot worse, because I am pretty sure we were better like 4 years ago. Plus, Aus was buzzed the whole tourney, haha, which might have contributed to his cramping. Eh, its possible. Either way, I had a blast. It's a ton of fun playing with Aus, and we did pretty well considering the circumstances.

I went to practice today mostly to see how my body would hold up after a full day of volleyball yesterday. I wanted to play a couple of games to replicate the 2nd or 3rd day of a tourney. I dont really know how much it is going to help me. I mean, I was pretty tired today, so I just sat around, haha, and watched the other guys do drills and play. I did get to fast against the rebels, and play 1 match in the right back. I also go some reps in a drill at middle back. Overall, I guess I did ok.

Anyways, Mini in 3 weeks. Pretty excited.

Tournament Weekend

This weekend, Aus and I are going to play in the MAV doubles tourney. We signed up for the BB level. Hopefully we can do some damage, but if not, I'm sure it will still be a blast. Because of this, I am thinking about skipping practice tonight. Don't think I can handle 3 grueling days of vball in a row. Hmm, maybe I'll just go and try to take it easy.

In other news, I watched the NBA draft last night. Unfortunately, the Wizards picked two guys that I didn't know existed before yesterday. Oh well, maybe they will turn out to be studs, you never know.

The steal of the draft had to be the trade between Seattle and Boston. Danny Ainge is a true retard. He traded Delonte West(Solid backup PG), Wally Szerbiak(Backup SG), and the rights to Jeff Green for Ray Allen(Soon to be over the hill 32 year old shooter). Now the Sonics are stacked with tons of young talent. Kevin Durant and Jeff Green could be the next coming of MJ and Pippen. Not really, but still. With Chris Wilcox, and another big man, they are competing in the West.

Question: Am I retarded for wanting a pair of Heely's? I see kids jetting around in those things all the time, and I think they would such a blast to have. Hmm, contemplating.

What's Happenin

Hey Everybody

Here is what has been going on in my life:

1. I bought a condo in June. Now I am in debt for the next 30 years, haha. Seriously though, it was time I moved out of 4209 Norbeck Road. A couple of things that I have noticed about living alone:
• You have to do ALOT of cleaning. My mom(and cleaning lady) used to do the majority of my cleaning for me. Now I have to do it all by myself. We are talking about laundry, the bathroom, trash, dishes, sweeping, mopping, counters, etc... It is pretty painful.
• It is pretty lonely living by yourself. At first, it is not so bad. It is quiet, and you can just hang out by yourself if you want to. Soon though, you kind of crave human interaction. So come visit me if you get the chance.
• Owning a place is expensive. I have spent so much money just buying stuff that I "need". Sure I spent money on stuff that I didn't really need as well, but mostly you need one of everything that you used to have at your old house, and now do not have.
2. Nine man is cranking up:
• I am getting pretty pumped up. I am playing for the MVP Alumni again this year. I was asked to play for the B team (I guess because I'm in town), but I turned it down because I just wanted to play with my friends again. Also, our squad is looking real good this year.
• I need to get in better shape badly. A couple of things holding me back is that I have close to no motivation to work out. I now have access to 3, count em, 3 gyms(home, work, Ballys), and I don't use any of them, haha.

There is bunch of other things going on, and I'll post some pics of my place soon.