The WARRIORS cannot lose.

Yes, you heard me. The 8th seed Warriors, in the post season for the first time in 12 years, up against the number 1 seed Dallas Mavericks with the best regular season record. They played last night, at Dallas mind you, and you know what happened....the Warriors KICKED THEIR ASSESS. Beat them by 12, hehe,...and the Mavericks fans Boo'd their team off the floor...great fans you got over there Cuban. It's a best of seven and I think the Warriors got Dallas' and the rest of the league's attention.

Speaking of sports, here are some thoughts that I'd like to share with all of you.

1. Barry Bonds cannot be stopped! He's on pace to hit 60 homers this season! Yes, yes, he's an old man on steroids, will probably sit out a portion of the year for health reasons, tire out, sit out, eventually pass Aaron and end the season with sub-30 homers, and finally retire and live life in utter obscurity except during Hall of Fame voting season where journalist will reminisce about how badly he treated them, but allow a man to dream.

2. Mirko Cro-cop, my 2nd favorite MMA fighter, got his ASS handed to him by some no-name Brazilian. You have to understand the gravity of this lose. In 25 fights, not counting his K1 brawls, he's lost to Kevin Randleman, who he later destroyed, Mark Hunt, by decision (and that was close,...Mark has one HELL of a chin), and lastly to Darth Fedor Emelianenko, my favorite fighter BTW, by decision. Mirko is known for his strikes, and you have to Youtube some of his knock-outs...they're gruesome. The tables were turned on him last Saturday when this no-name fool kicked Mirko upside the head and dropped him. I'm disappointed...can't watch MMA for a while.

3. Alex Rodriguez; I hate the guy. He's on pace to hit 100 homers and 200+ RBI....his April numbers are rediculous. WHY are pitchers pitching to him!?

4. The Raiders have the number 1 pick in the NFL draft, and I don't care.

Later all....

THE WARRIORS WIN!!!

Yes, I am a Warriors fan….and for 20 years now. I got hooked when I saw my
first Warrior game on TV. It was game 4 of the Western Semifinals against
the “Showtime” Lakers. Eric “Sleepy” Floyd, Warrior guard from Georgetown,
scored a miraculous 29 straight points in just the 3rd quarter, a playoff
record. I was quivering and screaming throughout that game,…a game they won.
Unfortunately, the warriors lost the series to the eventual world champ
Lakers.

I’ve followed them through thick and thin….and it’s been mostly thin the
past 12 years. I’ve seen them draft players like Todd Fuller, Joe Smith, and
Mike Dunleavy passing over superstars like Kevin Garnett, Vince Carter, and
Kobe Bryant. I’ve seen them trade or release players like Chris Webber,
Jerry Stackhouse, Gilbert Arenas, and Antwan Jamison only to keep players
like Mookie Blaylock, Mark Jackson, and Eric Dampier.

The last time they went to the playoffs was 12 years ago and I was at the
Arena. They had Nellie at the helm and 55 wins under their belt.. The year
they had Webber, Spreewell, Mullin, Owens, and Hardaway. And for 12 years,
it’s been utter failure. I can’t even remember how many coaches, how many
busted players, how many failed #1 picks, ridiculous trades, and countless
blowout defeats. And last night, in a game they had to win to get into the
playoffs, they totally dominated…blowing out the Trailblazers.

And if you’ve been watching this year, you’ve seen how they’ve turned it all
around. Nellie is back, they got rid of half their players, pretty much
keeping only Baron and J.R., and picked up a bunch of young stars in the
making….kids who don’t give a shit about the Warriors’ history of
failure,…kids who actually think they can take on the best and beat them.
Ex. they’re number 8 seed matches them up with the best in the league, the
Mavericks who they’ve SWEPT this year,…totally wiping the floor with them.
They’ve gone 9 out of 10 in the last 10, gone 16 and 5 over the last 21, and
they’ve totally dominated throughout. These kids simply don’t believe that
they should loose.

I don’t even care if they don’t make it out of the first round. Everything
is Gravy at this point. But with the Warriors peaking like they are, I see
them winning in 6 against the Mavs, and beating the Suns in 7 and probably
losing to the Spurs in 5 in the Western Finals. Think I’m crazy?!?! You
watch my friends.

Double Edged Culture Shock

So I’ve returned from my trip to LA-LA land and Mexico. My wife and my mum drove down last week and made terrific time….how’s about 385 miles in 305 minutes!!!..in my wife’s Civic mind you….and that includes one pit-stop in Buttonwillow. And I only got flipped off ONCE. Hehe

Anywayz, about culture shock, I have to say, international travel, especially to a completely foreign country is, without a doubt, Life Changing. One’s imagination simply does not do it justice. We packed our little family into my brother-in-laws Sequoia and headed across the border to Rosarito and Puerto Nuevo, small Mexican villages south of Tijuana. I’ve been to 7 countries outside of the US and been to extremely poor nations: the Phillipines and Nicaragua…and every time I witness first-hand day to day life in a 3rd world country, it blows my mind, completely assaulting my political sensibilities.

Mind you, as in all 3rd world countries, there are areas which, for one reason or another, are 1st world; top-notch, clean, safe, at times palatial, and most of the time walled in. It truly speaks to the huge gulf between the rich and the poor and the nearly non-existent middle. But I’m not going to rant about socio-economic inequality. What I will say is that I completely understand why any disenfranchised Mexican national born into poverty, of which there are millions, would want to immigrate (legally and illegally) into the US. For f***’s sake, spend one day walking through a couple towns and you GET IT. Of course, the conservative in me thinks about strengthening the border and the solution lying in uplifting the Mexican masses by uplifting the Mexican economy. But to that individual born into poverty…for example the young couple who sold us knick-knacks in some shanty town?…they don’t give a rat’s ass about our politics. They simply want something better for their family.

Enough of that rant. All along the coast south of Rosarito extending to the tip of the Baja peninsula, you’ll find huge and gorgeous beach-front condo developments. In just 30 miles, we encountered 12 massive complexes in different stages of development. In fact, Donald Trump is building a massive skyscraper/condo just north of Ensenada. Some of these developments are absolutely stunning. What was equally stunning was the small towns and villages, cramped, dusty and dirty, built shabbily with cinder and tin, shoved one on top of another……no power, limited sewage infrastructure, no paved streets, and a disaster waiting to happen if an earthquake were to hit…all interspersed between these soon to be completed palaces.

When you see the stores in the villages, the endless pharmacies selling name-brand drugs at cut-throat prices without a prescription, the bars that allow 18 and up alcohol consumption, the red-light districts, and the stores selling cheap name brand clothing knock-offs,…it occurred to me…the Mexican economy relies on the American dollar. Sure I read it somewhere that it did,…but this is what I’m talking about how our imaginations fail to capture the depth of reality.

We spoke with several folks who told us of how the American tourist, party-goer, young spring-breaker, etc. are THE demographic they cater to. Not to mention the thousands of Trump tower units being sold as summer homes to US vacationers, it becomes obvious that the Mexican economy just south of the border rely on US, and cater to US….I wouldn’t blame Mexican nationals for hating us for that subservient economic position.

Anywayz, I gotta run. I spoke of double-edged culture shock and I’ll have to get to that tomorrow when I blog about Hollywood and Beverly Hills.

Berserker of DOOM

Hello fellow goobs. Now for some updates. The GoG met at the Discourser's this Saturday. I had to leave early given my schedule and was unable to fullfill my destiny. I was to unleash Nezumi Hell onto my Nemesis, Iori Matanabe, the Maho-Tsukai enhanced Ronin Duelist Bandit. I was poised to rain down Motchichikkan Rank 3 Rake manuevers, full attacking mind you, onto his face and eyes....yes, L5R can be bloody. I had a +20 initiative on him and given my ludicrous stealthing/climbing ability, was simply waiting for him to declare and/or commit to any action at all....at which point I would savagely claw his bandit-ass with 2 10K3 +8 attacks....it would have been OVER buddy...complete dismemberment. How's that for complete and utter Gooberness!!Anywayz, in other news: The Casa Vieja fan is up! Looks fantastic, I have to say. The light kit is a little too bright in my opinion and certainly does not lend itself to ambience, but we can actually read in the living room now. My dad and I took down the rediculous scaffold and I'll have to find a place in the garage to store all the wood. My wife hinted at building a planter box. I'm not sure I have the ability to pull that off but it's worth a try.Started reading a new book. Again my wife had to twist my arm to read it and after 3 chapters, I'm really not at all interested yet. The book is "The Space Between Us" by Trity Umringer about modern day India, the remnants of it's caste system and it's poverty. The characters and their situations moves me in only one direction, at least so far,...and that's to be pissed off. I hope it gets better.And in other news, the wife and I will be heading down to L.A. tomorrow to see my sister, her hubby, and the kids. We're off to Mexico the day after. We'll be doing some heavy duty shopping in some podunk towns south of Ensenada. It should be fun.I'll let you know how it goes. Soo, for at least next weekend, no gaming for me. Talk to you later.

Down with the Sickness...

Sorry I haven't blogged in over a week. Last Tuesday, sometime around midnight, I came down with a 103 degree fever. My temperature lingered for an additional 5 days and subsequently began suffering from Whooping cough, headaches, and congestion. I began to think I came down with meningitis given my lower back pain and recalcitrant low-grade fever temp. Despite my best efforts at sequestering myself, I've unfortunately infected my wife with a slightly less virulent strain of my disease. She came down with it Friday morning and came out of it only last night.

Given the propensity in human psychology to assign blame to someone for their bad fortune, I've decided to blame "Timmae", the guy who had the dead Supra parked in my driveway for a week, for my woes. Sorry buddy.

So my dad and I have been putting up new light fixtures all over the place. My wife and I have decided to go with a general theme with all of our new fixtures, a sort of Southwestern Casa Veija look. Replacing our old ceiling fan has been a huge ordeal, BTW. Given the fan comes out of our ceiling 16 feet up and at a 30 degree angle, we've had to build a 12 foot scaffold in our living room. Whats even more rediculous is that the scaffold wasn't tall enough...so we've had to perch/balance a six foot ladder on top of it to get to the wiring. My wife actually likes the scaffold and is recommending we keep it as a center piece over the coffee table. And she says it smells good too. In the end, I think it'll all look really cool (the fan I mean, not the scaffold mind you). Next time you guys come by, you'll see everything in place.

An addendum to the Raccoon issue: they have not returned, as least I think they haven't. The coyote piss sure works.

Talk to you later....