Is Easter sacred?

I'd like to pose a question to my readers, whether you are a believer in Christ or not.

Let me just start by saying that I'm desperate for a vacation. I need time off and so does my wife. We haven't been on vacation in months, not since Christmas time and even then it was family time; not "us" time.

We both work for the government so we get Good Friday and Easter Monday off. This means a 4 day weekend -- the first long weekend we've had since Christmas/Boxing Day weekend, last year. 4 months ago. In 2008.

Now as Christians, Good Friday and Easter signifies the time when Jesus was crucified, dying for and washing away all of the sins we (and you) ever commit.

So is Easter a sacred day then? Should it be? Should we be planning for a vacation or a getaway during this very rare 4-day weekend?

And for non-Christians, how do you view Christians if they're willing to spend the holiest of holy days shopping, or lying on a beach? Do you have friends who are always talking to you about the real meaning of Christmas and Easter, and yet they go on vacation during these times of the year and that puzzles you? Would you respect Christians and their religion any less if you knew this was happening, and you use this as ammunition towards proof that Christians are all hypocrites?

NCAA Bracket

So here's the deal. I accidentally screwed up in my spreadsheet for calculating who will win this thing by taking the average of the wrong two columns, which adversely affected my bracket where it mattered the most. Unfortunately I discovered this about 15 minutes ago, too late to do anything about it. Since I'll likely lose because of this, I've decided to blog it here so I have a record of me being 100% right on the bracket this year.

So here are my picks!

MIDWEST

1st round winners:
Louisville
Ohio State
Arizona
Wake Forest
West Virginia
Kansas
USC
Michigan State

2nd round winners:
Louisville
Wake Forest
Kansas
USC

Reg. Semis winners:
Wake Forest
Kansas

WEST

1st round winners:
Connecticut
BYU
Purdue
Mississippi State
Marquette
Missouri
Maryland
Memphis

2nd round winners:
Connecticut
Mississippi State
Marquette
Memphis

Reg. Semis winners:
Connecticut
Memphis

EAST

1st round winners:
Pittsburgh
Tennessee
Florida State
Xavier
UCLA
Villanova
Texas
Duke

2nd round winners:
Pittsburgh
Xavier
UCLA
Duke

Reg. Semis winners:
Pittsburgh
Duke

SOUTH

1st round winners:
North Carolina
LSU
Illinois
Gonzaga
Arizona State
Syracuse
Michigan
Oklahoma

2nd round winners:
North Carolina
Gonzaga
Arizona State
Oklahoma

Reg. Semis winners:
North Carolina
Oklahoma

--

Reg. Finals winners:
Wake Forest
Connecticut
Duke
Oklahoma

Nat. Semis winners:
Wake Forest
Oklahoma

Champion:

Hard to say, these teams both have strengths and weaknesses, but I'd give it to Oklahoma though. I'd change my stance on this one as the tournament goes on, but I'm positive it's these two in the finals.

Books I've read in the past month

I'm not sure that I've read more than 5 novels over the past 10 years up to this past month. I've always focused more on the non-fiction side, hoping more to learn rather than entertain myself through books. So I guess the fact that I've read nearly 4 books in the past month means I'm on a tear.

This all came about because I had just finished reading "Dune". It took me nearly 2 months to read, either because I found the english to be difficult and kept having to turn to the glossary to look up things like "Kwisatz Haderach" and "Bene Gesserit", or maybe it was because I just wasn't used to reading.

Anyway, I thought the book was amazing, so I borrowed the movie from a friend. Boy did it ever suck. It was unbearable to watch, I couldn't even get through the first 20 minutes, and that led me to post about it on a forum. Someone on the forum recommended I read the Ender series. Then later while talking about Dune with my brother and Ina, they also recommended that I give the Ender series a try.

So we went to Chapters and I bought the first book, "Ender's Game", along with book two of the Dune series, "Dune Messiah".

Ender's Game was amazing. Just amazing. I was blown away. It was just so cool and fast paced, I loved it. I decided then that I had to read them all. In the forums, one of the guys recommended that I read book five "Ender's Shadow" first because it kinda worked together with Ender's Game. So we went to the library and got it. Within a week I finished it and I was really impressed. After that I reserved "Speaker For The Dead" which I'm reading now, and in the meantime I read Dune Messiah.

Dune Messiah was okay. It followed the story of the original book but it wasn't nearly the rush that Dune was. I think I'd probably read the rest of the books eventually but I'm not in any big rush anymore.

In the news: Loblaws finding new ways to rip people off

I recently noticed that Loblaws became a major player in the garbage bag industry. I used to live above a Loblaws and shopped there all the time but since I got married we've been going to Longo's because it's closer. Actually, that's inaccurate -- it's just better. The produce is better, the products are better, and everything is cheaper.

Anyway, I just thought that it was interesting that Loblaws decided to start charging for a previously free service -- they've started charging 5 cents for their garbage bags. I wonder which bonehead came up with that one. Isn't it bad enough that they are already one of the most expensive grocers in Canada?

Where are their loyal customers expected to get their garbage bags from now on? There really is no alternative besides going to another store to shop. Other than No Frill's (which essentially sells Loblaws food that are about to go bad), every other grocer is giving away free garbage bags. What reason could you possibly have to keep shopping at Loblaws?

And I get that they want to help the environment and encourage people not to use plastic bags. I get that. But how will people bag up their garbage? Where will they put it? In my condo, we're required to double-bag all our garbage. That's 10 cents in Loblaws' land.

I propose a solution to all this. Rather than alienate your own customers, you boycott Glad. Stop selling their products altogether. And you band together with other grocers to do the same. Demand that companies like Glad lower their prices for their products, especially their garbage bags. The only reason everyone insists on using plastic grocery bags is because companies like Glad are charging an arm and a leg for their garbage bags. Of course people will continue to choose plastic garbage bags if they have no other alternative.

In the news: Watchmen, Obama=BC,

I saw this trailer for a movie that looks extremely cheesy, called The Watchmen. It was just one of those trailers than you watch and you turn to the guy beside you and say "Does that look stupid or what?".

I've heard since then that apparently it's based on the best comic book ever made. I don't know anything about comic books so I can't really comment on this. I do know that there are a ton of GREAT books out there that have been called the best book ever, but have not been made into movies because nothing on screen could ever do them any justice, and I've seen some movies based on some amazing books that really sucked bad. So just because it's a great comic book, doesn't mean it'll be a good movie.

--
I had this dream about Obama and how he could do no wrong. No matter what he did, people cheered him for it. In my dream, he had decided to make George Bush Sr his top advisor and people were still cheering like he was the greatest leader ever. Later in the dream he was making a speech, and Laura Bush came up and was yelling at Barbara Bush. And outside the plane (the speeches were made inside Air Force One), there were bombs going off and terrorists were attacking the US. Luckily we took off and flew away from all that.

Obama detractors are interested in seeing him fail at fixing the economy, while supporters say he'll be successful and then when he isn't, they'll say he inherited this horrible Republican economy and it's not his fault if he's unable to save it.

I just find this interesting because it's very similar to Bryan Colangelo and his ascent as the GM of the Toronto Raptors this time last year. He inherited a flawed team with a bad coach and he made some moves and everyone (including me) thought he was taking the right steps towards turning the team around. Instead, it just kept going downhill. Now it's hit rock bottom, and I have no idea what he's doing, he's assembled a horrible team, and not only that, the players he's acquired over the years don't even fit into his philosophy. He wants a running team but Bosh, Calderon, Bargnani, even O'Neal -- none of these players will (ever) thrive in a run-and-gun offense.

A year from now, we will see how popular Obama really is.

Superbowl, Dune, Cake

The Superbowl was great. It was the second best Superbowl I've ever seen, with last year's game being number one. The Cardinals didn't win, but I can't deny that the game wasn't great, and honestly, I might have called it the best game ever if I'd been cheering for Pittsburgh.

But if you had to compare the two, it really comes down to which team made a huge comeback and which one won the game. This year's game couldn't be #1 because the team who made the huge comeback didn't win the game. The best football game I've ever seen was last year's Superbowl, where comeback was made by the winning team.

Our party turned out pretty good, because in addition to the excitement of the game itself, my wife and I lost out in a bidding war for a house we were trying to buy. I thought it was quite thrilling, the whole process of making offers, then trying to beat your own offer and trying to guess if it would be enough to throw off the other bidder. In fact come to think of it, it was not unlike the Superbowl itself. Like the Cardinals, we came in as an underdog because we were a late entry to the bids. But we very nearly tied it up with our offer, and then took the lead, but in the end, we lost.

Yesterday I called in sick due to the previous day I had been coughing quite a bit at work, and then followed by that I got almost no sleep and thought it was definitely going to catch up with me. So I stayed home and between my Nutella lunch and one of my naps, I decided to watch the movie "Dune". I had read the book a few months ago and I really enjoyed it.

After watching the 30-40 minutes, I really must say -- this book.. this movie, it needs to be re-done. It needs it. For one thing, the characters, the costumes, the machines.. they were nothing.. NOTHING like what I had imagined. I certainly didn't think an ornithopter was going to be this triangular disc-like ship! Where was it's wings?! Further, it being a fairly old movie, one thing that totally threw me off was the special effects. I really truly, TRULY believe this movie has to be re-done. It just has to.

How to have a Superbowl party

I've been hosting Superbowl parties for the last 4-5 years and they've always been a blast. This year Ina and I are going much smaller because our place isn't nearly as large as my old place, so we've reduced our party size significantly.

I read this blog entry about how to have the perfect Superbowl party. Just a warning, it's a little vulgar, but hilarious nonetheless. They've got a pretty good looking chili recipe somewhere near the middle too. I've included some of my favorites below, and tried to clean it up a little.

If there are people at your party who don’t know (crap) about football, they better (effing) be all be women.
People who come to watch the game are here to watch the game, not explain what's going on for every play!

You must have a high definition television.
Check. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't watch the game from home if we didn't have high definition!

You must have enough seating for all guests, and clear sightlines to the screen.
Ina and I debated for awhile because she wanted to invite more people and I just didn't think there would be enough space. We estimated the seating and in the end we both agreed that 6 people (plus us 2) was the absolute max that our place and setup could handle.

Do not mix partisan guests and nonpartisan guests.
Last year we had the perfect setup with an entire room full of people cheering for the Giants and quite a few of us who hated those cheating Patriots. When David Tyree made that catch off his helmet, my living room absolutely exploded. This year, I'm not sure who will be cheering for whom. I personally don't mind seeing the Steelers win (it's not like it would be unexpected) but I think most people who don't know who to cheer tend to cheer for the (heavy) underdogs. Go Cardinals!

Make the volume of the TV loud enough to shut down any potential conversation.
This one is huge for me. I hate it when people talk during anything I'm watching, even if it's about the show we're watching. Wait until a commercial break or something. I need to here *everything*. Plus I just love listening to John Madden's cliche commentary.

Mandatory food items: Wings, Nacho Cheese Doritos, Nachos, chips and salsa, guacamole, pizza, popcorn, jar of Nutella with spoon in it (for me only).

Have weed handy in case the game goes to (crap).
No weed, but we do have Wii, PS3, XBOX360 and board games just in case.

In the news: Batman, Blow outs, and TAs

Apparently people are upset that The Dark Knight didn't get nominated for Best Picture. I don't know about that one... I saw Dark Knight and I enjoyed it and thought it was a good movie. But did I think it deserved to be nominated for Best Picture? Did I think it was a special film? I think getting a nomination for Heath Ledger, that was deserved. Dark Knight was a very good action film, easily the best Batman film to date, and thoroughly entertaining. But Best Picture? C'mon.

About the only argument I can give for Dark Knight, is that since getting hitched I haven't really been too active in trying to catch all the nominated films like in previous years (sorry KL). So maybe it's been a weak year for films and therefore, maybe it DID deserve to be nominated. But if I were to put it up with previous years where I did watch most of the nominated films, there is no way Dark Knight gets nominated.

I have however, found time to watch Slumdog Millionaire and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I enjoyed both movies. In terms of the Button film, I wonder if I could have had a little more respect for the film if I hadn't already seen Forrest Gump (and considered it to be one of my all-time favorite movies). It's hard not to compare movies like that. I would imagine that being an Academy Award judge could be very difficult after you've seen as many movies as they have, and being that so many films are similar, how do you make an objective opinion? As much as I enjoy watching movies, that doesn't sound like a very easy job to me. Btw, I loved Slumdog Millionaire.

I read this article last week about a girl's highschool basketball game, where one team absolutely destroyed another team 100-0. Even if you ignore the fact that the losing team was comprised of students from a school of students with learning disabilities, you can't not wonder how it came to that score. I mean, if you're up 30-0, wouldn't you let up at that point? Scoring 100 points in no easy task, even most college basketball games end up with teams scoring somewhere between 60-80 points. What made this story worse was that the winning school was a Christian academy. Apparently the coach refused to apologize for allowing the game to get out of hand the way it did, and he was fired as a result. The school said this in a statement: "It is shameful and an embarrassment that this happened. This clearly does not reflect a Christ-like and honorable approach to competition."

I'm guessing that statement would fall on deaf ears in the CCSA.

Another bit of news I found interesting was the York TA Strike. And by interesting, what I really mean is "stupid". Keep in mind that I have very little understanding of this situation so take whatever I say here with a grain of salt. I read this article about how this guy was making just $14,000 per year and the author made it a point that this is well below the poverty line. As well, the person talks about how he is supported by his parents, and that they own a store and are struggling too, so that makes it difficult for the family.

Don't get me wrong.. I get that this is a tough economy. But aren't we talking about a part-time job here? Can you really be complaining about being under the poverty line when you're not making a full effort to make money? I mean I can totally feel for a person working 60-70 hours per week doing various jobs to feed their family. But aren't we talking about a bunch of grad students who are basically working part time to pay for their tuition? At the end of the day, staying in school is a choice. If you can't afford it, why not quit your job and join the workforce like the rest of us?

And how is it that we're always hearing about strikes at York University and not at other schools? Are they being paid significantly less than TAs from other schools? What is the average salary of a unionized TA? Google says approximately $20-24 per hour. What is that, like 15 hours per week? Below the poverty line my ass. No one is forcing you to get another degree.

Second post about broccoli

I posted about broccoli a couple of years ago and here I am doing it again. Broccoli is one of my all time favorite vegetables. I like them raw or cooked, however, I do not like them mushy.

I could never figure out why grocery stores would sell broccoli for the same price as broccoli crowns. Now I know why. Found this on the web.

Question:

Does the stem of broccoli have the same nutritient content as the florets for those people who prefer to eat only the stems?

Answer:

Thanks for your question. The stems of broccoli are a good source of insoluble fiber, but do not have the same beta-carotene, potassium or vitamin C content of the florets.

So basically the stems are junk and worthless to farmers, otherwise why charge the same price?

Another weekend of football

I just noticed in the news that Tony Dungy retired from coaching the Indianapolis Colts. That's sad news coming from a Colts fan. The NFL needs more guys like him -- great role models, guys with integrity and strong character. It's unfortunate but probably for the better. He's young enough that he can still work on the many ministries he's involved with, and of course spend more time with his family.

Ina and I watched approximately 14-16 hours of football over the past two days and to be honest, as much I enjoyed watching these games, my eyes were getting pretty tired from staring at the television last night.. especially since there was an additional 2 hours of 24 tacked on after the Steelers/Chargers game.

In the first game, I thought Tennessee would be able to hold off the Baltimore Ravens in a matchup of two of the most unforgiving defenses in the league. These two teams had played before and I guess the matchup had ended in not-so-friendly terms. The two teams appeared to hate eachother.

I told my brother before the game that I thought the Titans would win it because the Titans possessed the only play-maker on the field -- Chris Johnson. There was never any doubt that both teams had strengths and weaknesses, but overall they were pretty evenly matched. What it came down, at least for me, was the presence of one Chris Johnson, the rookie runningback for the Tennessee Titans.

So for the first half, I was proven right. Chris Johnson led the way, moving the chains and pretty much making the Ravens defense look human. But then he hurts his ankle and he's out for the second half, and the Ravens claw back and win it. Titans were completely useless on offense without Chris, which is not surprising since he was pretty much all they had going for them in the first half.

The second game I expected to be a blowout. I was telling my friend from the States (who was cheering for Kurt Warner) that Carolina had Arizona dominated in pretty much every statistical category there was. I told him that the only chance Arizona had was if they were to run the ball effectively; and their run offense was the worst in the league. The chances of Arizona winning this game was close to nothing.

Arizona did everything that I thought they couldn't pull off. The stars aligned and Warner used Edgerrin James like during his glory days with Marshall Faulk and got the offense running on all cylinders. Further, they took an early lead preventing Carolina from using their dominant running game.

Throughout the 3rd and 4th quarters I felt that Carolina should have just run the ball down Arizona's throats. Forget the conventional wisdom of airing it out when you're down and just run like hell. If they had started doing this earlier in the game, there would be no reason to force the ball to Steve Smith or worry about running the clock down. Instead, Jake Delhomme throws 5 interceptions on his way to quite easily one of the worst performances of his life.

The Saturday games were more exciting than the Sunday games, even though I thought Sunday's games were more important.

Next up were the Giants against the surging Eagles. I told my brother that this game was going to go either way, McNabb had been playing well and the Eagles' defense had been very, very good over their last few games. But the game was being played in the Meadowlands and I just didn't think Philly would be able to stop all 3 of Bradshaw, Jacobs and Ward -- the Giant's 3-headed running force.

I was proven wrong though as the Eagles were able to stop them from running and then it came down to Eli trying to beat Eagles' secondary. Eli just was not on his game, at all, throwing inaccurate passes on his way to an unimpressive day. I thought the Giants did a good job of limiting Brian Westbrook and had a fair shot to win this game if it weren't for Eli's uninspiring performance. Any time your defense plays great and you still can't win the game, it's easy to point fingers. They lost this game because of Eli and that hurts, especially after his back-to-the-wall performances in the playoffs last year.

In the final game was Chargers vs Pittsburgh, and I have to admit at this point I was pretty football'ed out. Ina was cheering for Pittsburgh and I cheered for the Chargers which in all honesty came down to me just wanting to see an offense-heavy team win over a superb defense. I saw no reason they could win except through some freakish luck or tragedy from the Steelers' side. I thought even if they had to go with their backup Byron Leftwich, the Steelers should still win this game handily.

Vincent Jackson has had a great year, which surprises me because I never expected that he would be. In previous years, the #1 WR in SD was always the 3rd option on offense after Tomlinson and Gates, and even so I thought Chris Chambers was their best WR. Philip Rivers has had a fantastic year, and has really grown into a good leader of the team even if he's got a bit of a chip on his shoulder. Looking back I'm not even sure Vincent Jackson was even drafted in either of my leagues. I guess the minute we heard Tomlinson was iffy I should have went out and grabbed him.

Somehow I can never get fantasy football out of my head. Okay, back to the game. The Steelers dominated this game because the Chargers had no running game. I hope that all the talk about Darren Sproles being good enough to be a starter, or that he is anywhere nearly as good as Michael Turner can finally stop. The guy is fast and quick, but he's too small and outside of a couple of big meaningless saving-face plays towards the end of the game, when Pittsburgh was just going through the motions and looking towards next week, he was a non-factor in the game.

Next week is Pittsburgh against Baltimore, which I think Pittsburgh should take because they have an offense, and then the more interesting matchup between the Philadelphia Eagles and the upstart Arizona Cardinals.

I'm going to be cheering for the Cards next week, but looking at the way the Eagles contained the Giant's runners, I don't really see how the Cards can run. I would be just as happy to see the Eagles make it.

Wildcard Weekend

A friend showed me this site, AdvancedNFLStats.com, which I've spent quite a bit of time reading over the past few days. The author takes a lot of misconceptions in football and clarifies them with statistical analysis. Being a numbers guy I'm fascinated with the stuff he's got here, everything from debunking things like "establishing the run", to whether or not defenses truly win championships, or his take on Spygate.

A lot went on last weekend and I just wanted to weigh in on the weekend of exciting football.

The first game we watched was Atlanta in Arizona. Right off the bat Matt Ryan threw an interception and I thought oh boy, this rookie needs to settle down, which he did. What shocked me early on about the Cards was how much they were running the football in the first quarter, and then why they abandoned the run thereafter. It's a wonder to me how such a potent aerial assault remained successful with no running game whatsoever, unless you count goal-line plunges/dives by Tim Hightower.

Even though Atlanta lost, you'd have to be pretty satisfied and if anything, vindicated, if you're a Falcons fan after the Michael Vick fiasco. This team is headed back in the right direction. Matt Ryan easily had one of the best rookie seasons for a QB since, well, this season's MVP Peyton Manning. And his team certainly had a far better record to show for.

Arizona faces Carolina next week in Carolina, where they face very steep odds of upsetting a team that pretty much dominates them in every facet of the sport. My advice for the Cards is to run, run, and then run some more. Edgerrin James is a fresh after having done almost nothing this year! USE HIM! If there is one thing Carolina isn't so great at, it's stopping the run.

The second game we watched was a heartbreaker. My brother says he hates being a Colts fan in January, and I can see exactly what he means. They break your heart.

I'm not going to say much about this game because it was too close to my heart. Neither of these teams were headed to the Superbowl anyway. Anyone who watched it knows why the Colts lost. Bad defense, terrible tackling and an ineffective running game. Why the Chargers won? Darren Sproles. Their offense sputtered and their backup runningback stepped up against one of the worst run defenses in the playoffs to win it. The Chargers are gonna get demolished by the Steelers.

What I do want to talk about is two things. How in world does an 8-8 team have home field advantage over a 12-4 team? Where is Mark Cuban when you need him most? Mr. Goodell, I propose that you change the rules: Divisional Champs can still make the playoffs, but the seeding needs to change. Home field goes to teams with better records.

Second thing is the overtime. The coin toss that has decided 60% of all overtime games in the past 8 years. Did you know that 99% of all team who won the coin toss in overtime have elected to receive? And 60% of those teams who got the ball first won the game? 30% of all overtime games ended in the coin-toss loser having never touched the ball on offense.

My proposal is this: Have a 5th period that is not sudden death, teams just play another 15 minutes to decide the game. If the game is still tied by the end of the 5th quarter, then play college style where one team tries to equal or better the other as they take turns on offense. Loser of a coin toss tries first. It's a shoot-out of sorts, football style.

I missed the Baltimore Ravens against the Miami Dolphins because I was watching the Raptors beat the Magic at the ACC. Joe Flacco won that game Trent Dilfer style, by doing nothing and relying on blistering defense. The NFL's Most Improved Player Chad Pennington decided to kick it "old school" and reminded the league of why the Jets gave up on him in the first place, throwing 4 interceptions in a 35-9 drubbing.

The Ravens will have to show a lot more on offense against the Titans in Tennessee. I believe in Joe Flacco more than Kerry Collins, but I think the Titans can take this simply by shoving the ball down the Ravens' throats with Chris Johnson and Lendale White. I am hoping Jeff Fisher has dissected every second of the Giants' win over the Ravens back in November. In that game, the Giants attacked Ravens' formidable run defense and found a way to get through. Lendale White is built like a tank, similar to Brandon Jacobs and Derrick Ward. And between you and me, there is no comparison between Chris Johnson and Ahmad Bradshaw. The Titans have what it takes to win this one.

The final matchup was between the Eagles and the Vikings. I've never been a huge fan of the Eagles, or Donovan McNabb but I thought this game was the Eagles to lose. Even though they squeaked into the playoffs having had pretty much every impossible scenario fall into place, I honestly thought they were the better team even coming into it. Tavaris Jackson was replaced for a reason. He's young and raw and given that he didn't have the entire season to develop confidence, the minute he started to thwart, it was all downhill and you could feel it happening right before your eyes. There was no way this team was going to go deep into the playoffs with an inexperienced quarterback. McNabb is the QB that Tavaris Jackson hopes to become in 5-6 years.

The Eagles at the Giants game this week is the one to look out for. I think it is the most evenly matched.

Yes We Can!

If you think about how bad the Raptors have been this past week, then multiply by 20.. that is how bad the Detroit Lions have been this season. Actually, it's really more like multiplying by 500, considering that they've been bad for over a decade. Still, let's just stick to the 2008-2009 season. They are currently 0-14, having lost all of their games up to this point with 2 games remaining.

To me, the only way to salvage their season is by losing all their games. Yes, I said salvage.

They'll make it into the history books, get their names bronzed and be remembered for something significant, the only team ever to lose all their games in the NFL, to go winless for an entire season. Famous for mediocrity is better than not being famous at all. 1-15 is for losers.. 0-16 is an artform.

Yes We Can!

Heart Like Yours

I haven't done this in a long time, but I felt like my readers would be missing out if I didn't.. and given the fact that it was released 4 months ago and I didn't even know it existed says this album needs some free advertising. I'm not much into reviews these days, but I'd like to say that this is a great album and encourage anyone to buy it. So here's my "Heart Like Yours" (SonicFLood) mini-review/plug.

I picked up this album at a Family Christian Bookstore down in the states during our trip down to Lebanon, Ohio. I honestly didn't know SonicFlood was still around and upon checking, found they aren't.. at least not the original Grammy-winning group. Rick Heil does deserve some credit though, as I felt the sound was similar to the original group. You can read up on it at Wikipedia if you're interested. I think of this album as old SonicFlood meets Chris Tomlin (but with a little more originality).

Lyrically the album is not particular strong, but the music itself seems catchy and original. I think it's fair to say this is the second best SonicFlood album ever made.

Best speech

Can I go 5 rounds without drafting RB?

I'm just gonna put this here on record so I can look back someday.

In my keeper league, my top 3 keepers are going to be:
RB Brian Westbrook
RB Frank Gore
RB Steven Jackson

3 studs. Don't ask me how I got them.. suffice to say there is no one else of any kind of value left on my team. But 3 studs may mean nothing if I go into the draft next year and go crazy and draft more RBs that I don't need.

I predict I need to draft at least 3 receivers and a quarterback in the next 5 rounds, possibly 2 QBs if I waited until the 7th round to draft the first.
Can I go 5 rounds without draft a runningback?

Time will tell..

Alive and kicking

A little bird told me that I should make a post so that everyone knew I was still alive and kicking. So, here is what's been on my mind lately:

On life in general:

Life has been good. Ina and I are a week away from 6 months of married life it's felt like a lot longer. Not to say that it's boring, we've just gotten so used to eachother and our daily routines that the time has just literally flown by. No house yet, still looking. Might wait til next spring as the market continues to bottom out. A couple of houses we really liked ended up selling $100k less than they originally listed for, so we'll continue to play the waiting game.

On serving:

Ina and I have been looking for areas for us to serve together. After weighing several options, including joining a couples' small group, continuing on with where we are currently, or helping out with youth fellowships, we've decided to start our own small group together, focusing on new Christians and seekers.

As for worship team, I took the summer and fall off, and now I'm considering giving it up altogether. I've completely lost interest in it.

On missions:

It's possible that I'm being led astray, but lately I've felt no urgency or excitement towards going to Longlac. In fact, I've had a weary attitude towards it. I think it has something to do with the church deciding to start ministering to #77 entirely, even though we invested the last 5 years ministering and building relationships with #58 (3 years for me). It just seems to me like not finishing something you started. I still chat with some of these kids on MSN. What am I supposed to say to them when they ask me if I'm coming to visit this summer? No. Actually, I'm not. I'm visiting your neighbors but not you?

Anyway, I'm currently exploring an opportunity to go to China for a short term mission trip. I contacted the pastor about it but after 2 weeks he still hasn't gotten back to me about it.

On politics:

Obama won, the first black president so it's big deal -- for those who see color.

He promises "Change" but what is he planning to change? The political climate? Bush is gone so that would have changed regardless. Racial prejudice change? Economical change? Change in attitude towards warmongering Americans?

I think he's a great speaker and a great leader. He's a great motivator and speaks with conviction. He says what everyone wants to hear, and sometimes, what everyone needs to hear.

It's a great time for the young people, because they voted and it finally made a difference. It's a great time for the soldiers who've spent the last half decade risking their lives in Iraq searching for the weapons of mass destruction that never existed. It's even a great time for Christian Americans. No more sitting on your hands, people. Time to get a move on. Your leader (of ambiguous religion) will make sure of this. However, it's not so great a time for unborn babies with reluctant mothers. Better hope your mom changes her mind before she murders you... because Obama supports that.

On basketball:

I'm beginning to notice why all the doubters believe the Raptors are going in the wrong direction. Same problems as last year, only now we have a $22M contract staring us in the face. He will go away in 2 years, but wouldn't it have been better to trade for guys who actually address our problems?

We're 4-2 right now, and we will probably make the playoffs, and we might even win a series. But I honestly don't think we're any closer to being contenders than we were last year. We added a former all-star, but we also still have 2 starters who are better suited as role players. And our bench, don't get me started on our bench. Half these guys shouldn't be playing in the NBA.

Priority swing

It's been awhile since I missed an entire month of posting on my blog. It seems like a lot of things have become a lower priority for me since getting married.

As a single guy I immediately noticed how guys would change once they got into a serious relationship, and then even moreso when they got married. Things they once appeared to hold dear to them fell away from them. Priorities change and I understood that, but what I couldn't understand is how they so quickly lost interest in things that I thought they were interested in.

I always thought that when I got married, things would be different. That could never happened to me.. I am set in my ways and I'm stubborn. It's a scary thought from a single guys' point of view, seeing someone change. But once you're in those shoes you realize there's nothing scary about it.

For those of you who haven't tried it yet, married life is fantastic. Nothing compares to it -- it's just the greatest thing in the world. I'm often puzzled when married people ask me, "So, how's married life?", as if they didn't already know how awesome it is.

One thing I noticed immediately pretty much since Ina and I started dating was my lack of interest in music. If you've been following this blog for along time, you'll know I used to buy a lot of music CDs, and I'd even review them here. I don't think I've bought a CD in since we got married. I just stopped caring and realized I had better uses for my money, and better things to do. All of a sudden, radio is good enough for me.

Another thing I've noticed is my interest in movies has drastically diminished. I go less overboard about movies, I'm no longer excited about a movie coming out, or go out of my way to watch one. I no longer feel the need to be the first guy to see a movie when it comes out. To me it's become just another form of entertainment. I can be entertained at home just as well as in a theatre and at home I can go pee when I need to, and leave my cellphone on.

I've also lost interest in what is happening in Hollywood. I used to know all the ins and outs, who was cheating, the feuds and the embarassing photos online. I used to know who deserved an Oscar, not because they were nominated for one but because I'd seen every worthwhile film that year and could make a fair assessment. What I've come to realize is that it was pointless to fill up my head with all that useless nonsense.

I've also seemed to lose interest in the Toronto Raptors. Usually I would be super excited for the season to start, especially at this time of year. This year -- I feel nothing. I know it's coming, and I just picked up my Raptor tickets. But for some reason I feel nothing. I'm not excited or anxious for the season to start. I tried reading up on the team to whet my appetite, but I get nothing. I just don't care that much any more.

Once you're married, all those "fun" things you did as single person no longer seem fun. Everything you used to do appears boring and mundane. I've found that you truly begin to realize what's important in life and your priorities change for the better.

My popo

About a year ago Ina and I went down to San Francisco, but before that we stopped in Hayward to visit my grandparents, who were being looked after by my aunt. At the time my parents thought it'd be a great chance for us to see them because they were likely too old to travel up to Toronto to attend our wedding the following May.

My Popo and I have had some epic battles back in the day. She would come up to Toronto to visit during the summers from Taiwan and look after me during my summer holidays, and stay until it got cold. We had a lot of fights because Popo was super stubborn and refused to ever let me win at anything, and I hated that because I hate losing. She never let me win, and on top of that often would gloat after beating me, relishing in my defeats. I remember vividly once we were playing Chinese Chess, and once again she creamed me and so I picked up a playing piece and threw it at her in frustration. She threw one back at me and the next thing I knew were we throwing them at eachother. Come to think of it, those things were pretty heavy, I'm surprised we didn't break anything. She got me on the shoulder and I started to cry. She just laughed.

Popo was also way too smart for her own good. I had heard that various pastors and ministers had come to try to share the gospel with her and she refused to believe. She was too clever, Christianity was too "easy" for her, it was silly to her. Even when my mom shared her personal testimony and invited her to church to hear it, she came but she was too stubborn to acknowledge whether or not she was touched by my mom's story.

My Popo never really worked, she painted beautiful paintings using the Chinese watercolor method. I remember back in our old house in Unionville, my dad picked up an old drafting table and set it up in the dinning room, and Popo set up her painting scrolls and paints and brushes and would sit there and practice. She taught me to how to paint too, how to hold the brush (mao bi) properly and how to write. She had these special practice papers which you could paint on over and over with water and the water would just evaporate quickly. She taught me how to paint the flowers, leaves and branches. Our house was filled with many of her painting scrolls. I used to spend about 30 minutes after getting home from school, and practice my writing skills and painting skills while I ate those pineapple filled biscuits (fong li su).

When I was little I loved to eat (and still do) these little banana cakes, (shiang giao gao), and my Popo figured out how to make it. I mean this was before the internet when you could just look it up and find a recipe. She made it by tasting it and feeling its texture. She'd never made it before and she just figured it out, somehow.

When I was 11, my mom, my brother and I went to Taiwan and stayed there for 6 weeks. This was during the school year so I missed all that time from school, though I took lots of homework and textbooks to keep up. I remember going shopping with my grandma, just the two of us. We'd go into the grocery store and they had this conveyor belt just for your shopping cart to take it upstairs because there was no other way to take it up there. I guess it was to save space. Then when you bought stuff you stick it back on there and it brings it back down for you. She used to buy me all kinds of yummy goodies and little toys with wound up rubber bands as engines. At the apartment she always made me this pork that I loved.. I still remember it. It had just enough meat and fat on it.. I think we ate it almost every other day. It was so good.

I have so many fond memories of Popo.

Anyway, while we were visiting in Hayward, my aunt told me that Popo hadn't really spoken in some time. She did most of her communication by pointing to things. But while I was there I got to talking to her and she spoke to me. It was a touching moment for me, one that I will remember for the rest of my life. I introduced her to my future wife, and we talked a bit about the old times, memories and silly things I used to do to make her laugh. I found out that she had accepted Christ, which was really great news.

Popo passed away on August 21, 2008. She will be missed.

Liukin vs Kexin

Before I get into the matchup, just wanted to give a shout out the Jamaican girl who won the 100m. That had to be one of the funniest and silliest celebrations we've seen in the Olympics, she looked so happy running around with the flag, and confusing the cameramen by changing directions and falling over herself with pure joy.

Yesterday we watched and listened to the entire sequence for both CBC and NBC's coverage of the women's individual gymnastics on the uneven bars. There was some hoopla over the scoring for the event, mostly coming from the US, which ended in a tiebreaker that awarded the gold to Chinese He Kexin over American Nastia Liukin. Since none of the American commentators new the rules for tiebreakers, they ended making a huge fuss over it.

I actually thought Liukin's routine should have scored higher. Having watched both the US and Canadian coverage of it (each channel has a camera from opposite sides of the apparatus) it seemed to me Liukin made 1 or 2 less mistakes. "He" had a pretty awesome double release move, but at the end of the day they both had the same start value and difficulty, so you would assume the person who made less mistakes gets a higher score. But then again what do I know -- my experience as a spectator of gymnastics spans approximately 8 days.

I found it interesting that the CBC coverage simply explained the tiebreak, whereas the US coverage went on and on first about not understanding the logistics of the tiebreak, (at which point they were blaming the computer, which I take exception to). Then upon being enlightened of the rules, they thought the rules were stupid. Which is pretty much what anyone would say if they lost on a technicality, which Liukin did. But it still seemed pretty comical coming from the commentators point of view.. reminded me a little of a Pro-Line commercial and the US being on the losing side of one.

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Eczema and other annoyances

Over the past few years I've noticed that I get a rash in the summer time on my elbows and knees, but this year in particular it's been pretty crazy. I used to just wash it thinking it was just sweat, but recently I found out it was eczema. I remember a few years ago scolding AT over and over again for scratching her scars, and now I understand why she wouldn't stop. Boy is it ever itchy!

Now I'm the one with scabs all over my arms, elbows and knees. I'm the one rubbing steroids into my skin and trying not to scratch. What a pain in the butt this is. Maybe I shouldn't be using the word "butt". I'd hate for this thing to spread over there..

Ina and I have discovered while watching Olympics that we need to pick and choose the station based on the sport, which can have varying degrees of annoyances amongst the commentators. Either you choose the American commentators of NBC who are extremely biased towards the USA, or the Canadian commentators of CBC, many of whom have no experience commenting on the sport they've been assigned to so they often sound like complete morons.

So it comes down to US Patriots versus Canadian Idiots. I am one of those Canadians that absolutely *loathe* American pride. And yet in this case, I choose the bias because outside of swimming the US hasn't really been doing all that great. China seems to be winning everything else except for track and field where the Jamaicans are cleaning up. Besides, other than media types and journalists the NBC commentators have been pretty gracious.

CBC commentators are the absolute worst, particularly because they hired a bunch of former athletes who have no business doing commentary. This becomes apparent particularly in diving, where Anne Montminy seems to be reading from a script which contains these two lines:

1) That was a miss for him/her/them!
2) That was terrific!

She's got a 50% chance of being right, and it seems like she gets it right half the time so my guess is she's using a random number generator to decide which line to read. My favorite comment in diving so far came from her partner, who we heard say "Looks like the judges don't agree with you" after she had commented that one of the pairs of synchronized divers had missed badly.

Anne also believes these two women look exactly the same:
The second annoying commentator is Paul Romanuk, commentating for Olympic basketball. I can't think of too many guys who could screw this up more. Perhaps Rod Black, who thankfully works for CTV. There is nothing worse than a hockey play-by-play guy doing basketball.

Finally, if you have spent any time in the subways, or watching CBC, or driven by the billboards you should have seen Bell's latest ad-campaign. The annoying little beavers are finally gone, ill-advised if you ask me, and they've got this new "er" thing. Which makes very little sense, I have no idea where they are going with it, but I'm having a lot of fun.