Phase

For whatever reason, I'm in a mood to get some new clothes! I had best strike while the iron's hot.

Basketball Hero

Not Kobe... but Jason McElwain. Here is a link to footage of his game on YouTube.

GMAIL

The chat feature actually works. Wow. This is dangerous...

Fun Facts

It took me an hour to write two paragraphs and I still don't know what I'm writing!

Also, Victor and I had our revenge on Luong and Jason today. It was quite satisfying.

Thank You Presidents

This morning, I dreamt that I didn't have enough time to turn in my take home midterm exam, which is due Wednesday. Thank goodness I have the day off from work.

Left Turn

LA Observed on new and improved LA traffic signals, including the blinking yellow lights we all see in Pasadena.

Geek Talk

Strange but true - I've been avoiding the second season of Battlestar Galactica because it is just too good. Well that ended this week as I had some extra time and watched two episodes that Matt recorded on Tivo. I'm speechless.

I also noticed the X3 billboard ad campaign all over LA. I'm not too impressed. I've read spoilers and I'm not to happy about what's to come. This post from a geek messageboard said it best. [Spoilers below]

I've never read an X-men Comic. The closest I came was being a fan of the early 90s cartoon. Look, I'm not a big X-men Fanboy, but I am a movie fan, and here's my take: I didn't like X Men 1. I had problems. I hated the "Mutant wave" plot device. I loved Magneto, Prof X, basically all the characters. But the actual story kinda sucked. However, you know what X Men 1 did? It set up X Men 2. Which was really good. Great action, great dialouge, great character moments. Magneto was a god. Wolverine was badass. It was dark and creepy and sad and funny all at the same time. And you know why I loved X Men 2? Because it was (or so I thought) setting up X Men 3. I thought this to be a Bryan Singer trilogy. After 3, I figured he'd bail. But I thought he would get his third film to complete the arc. Here's what I wanted in 3: Dark Phoenix. Cyclops-Wolverine-Jean Grey resolution. Magneto-Prof X resolution. And what I was most looking forward to: Iceman vs. Pyro. Pyro was the Anakin Skywalker of the series, and its amazing how they got him right in one movie as opposed to sort of right with three. But come on, X2 was basically screaming Pyro vs. Iceman in X3! As it stands, if they get rid of Mystique, Cyclops (both expendable) Professor X and Magneto (I read 4 casualties, two deaths, two demutantizings) they'll have a franchise limping. While I'm looking forward to it, I think that X3 could be served better by the writers watching the previous two films again and trying to create a compelling and truthful third act.

Whimpster

Many thanks to Architect cousin, who sent me a link to the famed whimpster article from Bust magazine back in 2004. Apparently, everyone she sends it to gets rather paranoid about whether they are whimpsters themselves.

...

Nah.

Fun with Flickr

I posted more Panama pictures - this time on my own Flickr account. You'll find pictures from my Savannah trip too.

In other news, I ate too much tonight. I feel like throwing up.

Panama

OK! I posted a few pictures that Matt and I took while in Panama. Check them out here.

Monie monie

From Drudge: Study shows that money doesn't make you happy, at least if you are Australian.

Money doesn't buy happiness, and now there's a study to prove it. Australian researchers found that people in well-off Sydney are among the most miserable in the country, while those in some of the poorest areas are much more satisfied with their lives.

No wonder I'm so damn happy.

Wally World

Haloheaven has been listing the all time top 100 Angels list. Wally Joyner, my childhood hero, is listed at #20. The blog references a July 20th game in 1989 where Wally won the game in the bottom of the ninth. I was there.

No Kwan

Michelle Kwan has pulled out of the Olympics, due to injury.

Panama Pictures

My brother has some pictures up at his Flickr. I'll be adding mine soon.

Moderates

Ever since I voted for Dubya in 2000, I've wanted to call myself a political moderate - it just seemed like a more credible place to be. Sometimes, I even believe that I sit in that wonderful middle ground, but once I'm objective again, it's clear that I'm center right at the very least.

Anyway, here is a post of a self described political moderate and her experience with the right and left. The blog and comments that follow are the best discussion I've read in a while. Admittedly, lots of it is favorable to conservatives so reader beware...

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

So it's settled. The Angel name change remains. Based on City of Anaheim comments, it looks like an appeal is unlikely - even though it wouldn't cost that much when compared to what the city has already spent.

Look for Mr. Moreno to opt out of the stadium lease in 2016 (if not earlier) in order to renegotiate a new deal in Anaheim or move to a different location.

More Blogs

My Cousin-in-law JoJo and Urban Planning/Basketball buddy Clement have started their own respective blogs.

Catching Up

I'm finally catching up with my email. Not quite the running start I wanted for post vacation life but those are the breaks.

Wilshire Subway Costs

USA Today picks up on the momentum to extend the Red Line subway under Wilshire Boulevard, from downtown to the west side. The intial discussion on cost will bear close attention.

Home

Time to grab a few hours of sleep to get ready for work tomorrow...

More

Matthew, my cousin Justin, and I are at an Internet cafe after a successful trip to the market and an uninspiring walk through a mall.

The festivities will begin in earnest tonight. There´s the big dinner and joint bachelor and bachelorette party (we´re apparently all jumping in a bus that will tour Panama City while we drink ourselves silly). There have been a steady flow of arrivals as people fly in from all parts of the world. All of the family is here now and we´re finally settled. While Panama isn´t really like the Van Halen video, catching up with relatives that I haven´t seen in about a decade is better.

I should get some studying in while I can but we may stop by one of the many many casinos and also scope out the sports bar, where i´ll likely watch the Superbowl.

Modern travelling makes the world seem so small. I blog at cafes, watch the SOTU speech, see Kobe highlights on Sportscenter, and even catch bits of Gilmore Girls episodes.