Misadventures of an American in the Middle East

Relocating the blog!

In order to start a new journey, although i'm a bit late cause I got married a little over a year ago, i'm moving my blog to an undisclosed location.  If you still read this and want the new link, please leave me a comment with your email address and i'll send you the link.  Keep in mind that I have every intention of keeping my new blog anonymous, so not I ask that any comments in the new blog refrain from containing any information about my name, location or job. 

Ready for the weekend

I guess you can say it's been a long and eventfull week.  We spent an entire 3 day weekend hanging out with friends.  Had Valentines dinner with a group of people, then celebrated our first anniversary at a great restaurant.  Thursday's now here and we've pretty much booked every day this weekend once again.  I'm trying to figure out when i'll actually have time to catch up on some much needed sleep.  I've been waking up in the middle of the night to walk my dog.  He seems to cry around 2-3am and i'm a light sleeper so i'm forced to get up and take him out.  I'm seriously hoping house training him is going to get easier because it's definitely been harder than when we trained our other dog.  This one seems to pee inside the house at least once a day and it's starting to get on my nerves.  We'll keep plugging along though and see how it all turns out.  It did take us nearly a year with our other dog, although with a lot less accidents. 

The 15th of Feb was the 1 year anniversary of my cousin's death.  The day after my anniversary.  She past away in a car accident after our wedding.  We went from a high to a devastating low.  It really affected our entire family and continues to affect me due to the fact she was a part of our wedding.  I was real close to her.  More than most of my other cousins.  She was always the one that helped me with everything I needed when I was in the Philippines.  I tried to update my status on the 15th regarding missing her and struggled to fight away the tears.  I miss her dearly.  Today, my niece posted a video presentation she made for her 1 year anniversary.  It had a collection of songs and pictures she's taken over the years.  It brought a smile to my face but also a hint of sadness.  Knowing she's no longer a phone call away makes it difficult.  I can only imagine what my aunt, her mom feels.  She still lived at home, keeping my aunt company.  Anyway, time to try and turn things around and get to smiling again.  The weekend is here and we've got a lot of things planned.  I'll be sure to celebrate her life with a few beers.  She wouldn't have wanted it any other way.  Rest in Piece Angel.  I love and miss you.

Brief Recap

Since it's been a while since I last posted, let's run through the brief recap to catch everyone up.  I'll start with the most recent items and work my way back.  Heeeeere we go!

I'm celebrating my 1st wedding anniversary today and my wife and I are going out to dinner.

My new puppy who just recovered from an intestinal problem last week just spent the better part of the wee early morning hours puking up his food, and crapping blood (you hungry yet?)

My psychotic next door neighbor went ballistic on my maid this morning because she takes him out to pee and poop despite his young age and "sickly condition".  Something I told her to do because of the vet's recommendation by the way.

Instead of sleeping last night, I spent around an hour cleaning up dog puke, dog poop, dog poop with blood, and blood instead of poop.  Then I spent another 2 hours worrying about what else is wrong with the dog this time.

We celebrated Valentine's Day with a few of our friends and did a group dinner despite getting 3 or 4 hours of sleep the night before.  We've actually gone out a lot in the past couple of weeks and tonight will make our 6th straight night of eating out/hanging out/drinking with friends.  We need a break before I pass out from exhaustion.

We finally decided to move to Amwaj Islands which is the nicer, newer part of the island.  We found a big place within our budget and just hope the owner doesn't croak before I sign the lease.  He's been in and out of the hospital the past month and the real estate agent was a bit worried.

Our command finally won a softball tournament, beating the best team on base for the first time in at least 3 and a half years.  Of course they attribute it to the umpire throwing out 2 of their guys and making bad calls on our behalf because they wanted us to win and finish the game early.

The wife and I went to California for Christmas vacation and had a blast.  Got to see my family and even spent 4 days in Vegas which was way to short and way too long at the same time. 

Pai Gow Poker continues to have my number.  And at least $800 of my money from this last trip. 

VIP from a casino host is the only way to go in Vegas.  Thanks Tim!

Seriously, my neighbor might be crazy.  She's this old lady with an old dog who I thought was real friendly.  I was terrified to come out of my room when I heard berating my maid at the door.  She scares me.

"Our Doug is a white" - Just because I love the Hangover and Vegas.

I still can't get over how crazy my neighbor is.  She was screaming at my maid and kept talking about how if this was the U.K., she'd call the SPCA on her.  Because walking your dog is considered cruel and unusual punishment in the U.K. and not anywhere else.   

It's My Anniversary!

I guess my Anniversary is as good a time as any to ressurect my blog.  A year ago today, I married my best friend.  Well, technically it was a year and a half ago, but that's just being nitpicky.  We actually had a civil wedding in August, but we chose to celebrate our "big wedding" anniversary instead, which was the 15th of Feb 2009.  Like I keep telling my wife, I choose to celebrate the Feb wedding because that's the one I spent an obscene amount of money on.  Worth every cent I might add.  Anyway, fitting it would be today because the 15th of Feb is when I proposed.  It only makes it more meaningful.

With all the rage being microblogging and twitter and everything else, i'm not really sure all the blogs I used to read are even updated nowadays.  I still prefer the long winded posts as opposed to an update on what i'm doing at that moment.  I can do that on Facebook.  Why waste it on a blog.  I tried the whole Tumblr thing, and deleted it an hour after I created my account.  It's just plain confusing.  Maybe i'm retarded, but I didn't get it.  Either way, here I am.  Back on Typepad, after finally updating my billing info.  I'm surprised my old posts are still here.  I haven't paid for this account in at least a year, maybe even two.  I guess I got lucky.  I don't have to start from scratch on another site i'm not familiar with.  I'll have to dig around for more blogs to read as work has become quite boring lately.  I suppose I could use this time studying for certs as opposed to reading blogs, but I guess I can find a decent balance.  After all, all studying and no playing will make me miserable.

Do people still blog???

Has it really been over a year since I last posted?  That's just crazy.  I've actually had the urge to blog lately.  Maybe it's the movies and t.v. shows i've been watching.  Maybe it's just me being bored half out of my mind at work.  I'm probably just trying to come up with an excuse to avoid studying for a certification.  Yup, that's probably it.  Does anyone still read this blog?  I had to clean out the blogs I read section because almost all of them stopped posting and/or discontinued their blogging service.  And now here I am. 

I thought about getting everyone updated on what's happened the past year, but my memory is sketchy at best so no sense in doing that.  Here's one thing that I may not have mentioned.  I got married this past Feb.  I've mentioned her before on this blog so people are familiar with our past.  She is officially the mrs. now.  Life's been good.  Still stuck in the middle east since I can't seem to get a job in Europe.  Talk about high demand.  I just got wind of a job open in Germany.  After I sent my resume, I got a response back later that day telling me the position was filled.  Freaking crazy.  It was the perfect job for me though.  I guess it just wasn't meant to be.  Anyway, now that i'm finally posting again, i'm about to get offline.  Time to grab something quick to eat before my teleconference then bowling.  Hopefully I still have the urge to blog in the near future. 

Welcome to the night shift

Where boring happens.   I swear they need to make a tv show about an IT company with a night shift.  This is ridiculous.  Don't get me wrong.  We're busy.  But busy doing stupid shit.  Maintenance.  Why don't they just call it rebooting servers?  Okay, okay.  If you're an IT person you know maintenance is a key component in preventing crashes and preparing yourself for any type of disaster.  It's just so boring.  There are only a handful of people here at night.  3 of us are doing the maintenance and we have like 2 people manning the phones.  There's just not a whole lot of social interaction going on.  It's quite boring.  I don't mind the shift though.  As it turns out, I end up getting a 3 day weekend which is nice.  And I get to stay up most of the night and sleep all day.  Although that's a tougher task than it sounds.  Staying up is easy.  It's going to sleep in the middle of the day that is difficult. 

I finally finished watching Jericho last night.  Or should I say this morning.  We watched around 9 episodes last night, from the ending of season 1 to the series finale.  I put off watching that show because it didn't really seem that interesting when I first heard about it.  It looked stupid.  And Skeet Ulrich's face just gets on my nerves.  So I never bothered.  I copied season 1 and 2 from my friend and I decided to watch it last week.  I got hooked.  It's a pretty gripping show.  Lots of twists and turns.  The writing was good.  I don't remember what day it was playing, but I suspect it was against some power shows if it was originally cancelled due to ratings.  After watching season 2 last night, I figured out why it was outright cancelled the 2nd season with no hope of returning.  While season 1 was written and paced well, season 2 just seemed to be filler.  7 episodes to tie up all the loose ends, but didn't feel like it had a real ending.  I know because of the writers strike there wasn't much room for a proper sendoff, but it was just extremely rushed.  And the writing wasn't anywhere near as good as the first season.  Like the writers lost their magic for making the show interesting.  It almost became predictable, which almost always kills a show.  At least for a show like 24, the predictability of the season isn't as crucial because there are so many side stories. 

Jericho made you think though.  Is a scenario like that even possible?  I mean with corrupt governments and big companies actually present in our world, could something like that even happen?  And then a dough-eyed senator like that ever become president?  Texas being an independant state.  Half the U.S. sides with one and changes the flag?  I mean with all the measures in place and all the laws in place, you'd think the government would never allow for it go be seperated.  It just got me thinking.  Trying to picture what like would be like if something like that ever happend.  The lawlessness.  The chaos.  The instability.  It's like going back to the stoneages all of a sudden. 

George Lucas is crazy

I mean that in the most sincerest way possible.  Somewhere between Star Wars Episode III and sometime this year, George Lucas must have lost his mind.  I mean seriously.  Have you seen Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull yet?  I'm a huge Indiana Jones fan.  I have the first 3 and still watch it occassionally.  But this one was just bad.  No wonder it took over a year to produce the film.  I've read that they all couldn't agree on a story line.  George Lucas wanted to do a UFO and alien based film, whereas Speilberg and the other guy wanted something else.  Well, the compromise was less than stellar.  Don't get me wrong.  It was okay.  Maybe that's just the big Indy fan in me that I couldn't fault it too much.  It did pay good homage to some of the old characters from the series though and some scenes to reference the old movies.  But that's about as good as it got.  The story line just failed miserably.  (warning:  spoiler alert).  The whole alien thing was just ridiculous to add to the franchise.  What happened to good old history?  It was on again off again for the first half of the movie, but then in the second half, things just got ridiculous.  The whole thing going sci-fi just ruined that movie.  Why couldn't it be a story about another artifact, or even some kind of treasure hunt.  The old movies in the franchise were fun.  Good, witty dialog.  This one felt like they were just going through the motions.  Harrison Ford does an admirable job trying to resurrect Indy but he got absolutely no help from the writers.  I'm surprised he didn't throw a fit when he read the script and it called for a temple actually being a flying saucer and taking off in the middle of the amazon.  I was really looking forward to the movie too.  It was enjoyable for some of the movie and i'm enough of a fan that I can't completely bash it.  Although I have to voice a less than glowing opinion on their  story line.  That was just ridiculous.  I'm shocked that I would ever criticize Lucas and Speilberg, so this isn't an easy opinion for me. 

Ironman on the other hand.... Fabulous.  That was just a flat out good movie.  I'd write more about it, but i've actually got work to do.  Just go out and watch it.  Stay until the end of the credits though.  They may be a bit long, but comic book fans will surely be glad they stayed for the extra scene.

MLB 08 The Show..... The review.... Part 2

Now that i've had ample time to play the game....  And by ample time I mean hours and hours on end sitting on the couch glued to the controller.... I can better serve a review of this game.  I can pretty much sum it up in one statement.  "MLB 08 The Show is without a doubt the best baseball game ever created".  And I mean this even grading on a scale in which you take the available technology of any given year and licensing features.  There have been some great baseball games in the past.  RBI Baseball.  MVP Baseball 02/03.  This one just blows all of them out of the water. 

The one thing that no game can ever come close to replicating is the gameplay.  I cannot explain the difference coming from the MLB 07 in the 2K series to The Show.  Worlds apart for next gen gaming.  It's very smooth with absolutely no frame freezes.  The camera angles do great at transitioning and makes it seem like you're watching a real baseball game.  It also does a great job at portraying an actual baseball field and it's sheer size.  The player movement is crisp and has no hints of robotic movement at all.  Even on the road to the show the gameplay is superb with my only complaint being minor.  The movement to the bases do seem a bit "scripted" if you know what I mean.  Not much deviation or freedom to move around as i'd like although that may be related to the difficulty setting I have on (Veteran).  On a scale of 1-10, gameplay easily tops off at 9. 

The presentation definitely takes the cake in this game.  The cut scenes, animations and commentary are second to none.  If you choose to have all the presentations turned on in the settings section, you'll be treated to a much richer game experience albeit a slightly longer game.  The animations after a homerun are fantastic and make it seem like you're watching Sportscenter.  Replays of good plays are also realistic.  On a scale of 1-10, presentation would soar above a 20 if I allowed it but i'll just leave it at 10 to be realistic. 

Graphics are nice and crisp and player faces occassionally look like their human counterparts.  The music is okay, but could use more variety in selection.  I like the inclusion of game audio being replayed as it adds a nice touch of nostalgia, although they could have included plays from previous seasons also.  Currently it's limited to last season's highlights.  The learning curve is a bit steep and would be the only thing i'd change on the controls of the game.  It's a bit difficult to get all the button combinations memorized and some aren't finger friendly if you ask me.  My biggest gripe on this is when you advance runners.  Moving the joystick to where the runner is supposed to be and then pressing a corresponding button to which base you want him to go to is an imperfect science to put it mildly.  There is even a different combination for advancing a runner 2, or even 3 bases.  Something I don't even want to try and learn.  Sometimes they runners are non responsive because they have yet to reach an area where they can be considered the guy on that base for you to advance.  There have been many times i've been caught in a rundown due to this confusing setup.  The pitching meter could also be fine tuned a bit.  There is an option to go to a "classic" setup, but it's neither fun nor challenging.  The default is definitely a bit harder but isn't necessarily enjoyable.  It's much too difficult to perfect.  The one thing i'd take from the MLB 2K series is their pitching meter with the realism of The Show.  Although it's frustrating to call for a pitch low and outside only to find it right down the middle that's crushed, it does add a bit of realism to it considering it factors in the pitching meter and where you hit it, and the pitcher's actual attributes.  I would like to see a happy medium when it comes to that though.  I do believe a lot of pitchers will miss their mark, but when you hit the meter dead on, as I have on more than a few occassions, it shouldn't be a 50/50 chance you hit where you aimed.  It should be dead on.  That's the reward you get for being good.  That's a good indicator of using human skill to improve a less than quality player.  Perhaps incorporate that to the game's AI where the pitcher improves with good human gameplay. 

Despite my misgivings on the controls, this game is still superb.  By far the best baseball game i've ever played.  If I had the time, I might even play this game more than Madden, which would be quite a feat.  It's very addictive, extremely fun and highly entertaining.  Pretty Girl thought I was crazy when I started jumping up and down after winning my first ever game on a walk off homerun in the bottom of the ninth.  Overall, this game gets a 9.5 out of 10 and is a must buy for any baseball fan.  Provided you have a PS3.  Hell, if you don't own a PS3 and like baseball, go out and buy the console.  I did, and don't regret it one bit. 

Spring cleaning

I know i'm a little late, but you know the saying.  Better late than never.  I'm not literally cleaning, although I should considering the maid did a piss poor job of cleaning up after the barbecue we had this past weekend.  I'm cleaning up by getting rid of some old stuff.  Expensive stuff at that.  I don't know what prompted me to do it, but all of a sudden while sitting at my desk this morning I got the urge to send an email out with listings of things I am selling.  I mean for the longest time i've been collecting a lot of things that I either don't use anymore, or haven't used at all.  I'm a weird spender.  I'll find what I think is a good deal and buy it, only to find out i'm not really interested in using the product.  Take for instance a wireless N router I bought.  I bought it when wireless N was still being tested.  Now more and more people are using it.  Well, the router has been sitting in my closet for nearly 2 years still sealed in the original packaging.  It cost me nearly $100 and now i'm selling it for half price.  I can't very well sell it for the same price I bought it, so I guess I have to take a loss.  Better a 50% loss than having it sit in my closet for 2 more years not doing anything.  Plus, i've got some possible big expenses coming in the future so I need to start preparing.  I see a vacation in the works and the extra cash would be pretty beneficial. 

Virtual Friday

This week has been unreal.  I've been working my ass off.  I've literally been swamped with task after task after task.  Everytime I finish something off, someone drops something else off on me.  Hell, i've come close to even choking this guy at work.  He's been bugging the hell out of me for 2 weeks about things I don't have control over.  Worst part about it, he's tasking me when I don't even work for him.  I had to exercise some serious retraint to keep myself from reaching my arm out and choking him when he decided to take it upon himself to TELL me what to do a couple of days ago.  I literally went ballistic and had to take a walk to calm myself down.  I hate people who act like they run the entire freaking world.

Anyway, the 2nd round of the softball playoffs are tonight.  We had a very good showing the first game and beat a team handedly to advance.  Tonight we face the 2nd seeded team and plan on laying everything on the line.  We've played some good softball lately.  I think a change in strategy worked.  We went through the season trying to have fun and not get down on each other.  It helped make it easier as the losses piled up.  I told them come playoff time, it's time to forget all that.  It's time to get serious and play some ball.  Flip the switch and accept nothing less than a victory.  And that's exactly how everyone played.  It was a magnificent site.  We didn't let up.  We kept coming at them.  It was one of those nights that makes you think the guidance you put out is actually working. 

We have a BBQ tomorrow at our place.  It should be a good time.  Not sure how many people are going to show up, but I expect a pretty good turnout.  I always liked entertaining so it kinda works out that softball is picking up, and work is going fairly well.  Moving desks has turned out fairly well.  The folks over here started opening up to me and made me feel like a team.  It's been nice.  People buy lunch for each other.  It's kinda cool.  It makes having to come in to work a lot easier I tell you that much.

Anyway, I got half an hour to wrap things up here at work.  Hopefully i'll have some more time at work next week to squeeze in a blog post.  Hope everyone has a safe and fun weekend.  I know I will.

MLB 08 The Show..... The review

That's right folks, I got the game.  Let me give you a little background on the interesting story behind this whole PS3, MLB 08 The Show thing.  First, let me tell you that I originally had no intention of buying a PS3.  I've been a fan of the Xbox 360 and I didn't need another gaming system to take up more hours of my life.  Then baseball happened.  For those that know me, you know that 95% of the games I play are sports games.  Break it down even further and you know that Madden and NCAA football take up about 85% of that time and the rest is devoted to baseball games.  Unfortunately the Xbox is severely lacking in the baseball category.  I mean severely.  I think I wrote a fairly bad review of MLB 2K7 on my blog last year.  I read even worse reviews of the 08 version so I passed on it.  The reviews were so bad that I didn't buy a baseball game and just kept playing Madden.  Even when I saw it stocked on the shelves at the store on base, I still passed.  It was a miracle.  But the baseball itch started coming around.  I didn't know how much longer I could hold out.  I heard about MLB The Show 07 and how much better it was than MLB 2K7.  Then the 08 version came out and I read even greater reviews.  So there was my dilemma.  A good baseball game on another gaming system.  What was I to do?  Drop $400 on a new system for a game?  I've done that in the past, but now that i'm getting older and wiser, I just can't spend that kind of cash for a gamin console.  I decided it would take a miracle of sorts for me to buy a PS3.  Then it happened. 

I have a Blu-Ray player at home.  It's the very first one ever made.  I mean the very first original model.  It's kinda like having the first ever Betamax player ever made.  It was cool.  It played all my Blu-Ray movies, albeit with more delays and more freaking updates than I care to endure.  The worst part about it was the manual update since the player didn't have an ethernet connection.  Occassionally I ran into a movie that wouldn't play.  Most eventually played after an update was put out.  Then things went south.  I bought a few newer movies and they wouldn't play.  Then movies that worked before stopped playing as well.  Eventually it got to the point where I had a $750 paper weight.  WTF?  The icing on the cake was the eventual win by Blu-Ray over HD.  Now I was really stuck.  I could no longer continue just buying HD movies and not Blu-Ray.  There was only one alternative.  Kill two birds with one stone by buying a PS3 to solve my baseball craving and my Blu-Ray issues.

So there they were.  Stacks up stacks of PS3's at the store.  Everyday I would walk in there and stare at them.  Was today going to be the day I broke down and bought one?  I really needed it for the movies but the baseball game was an added bonus.  I decided that I would buy one when I got that baseball game.  The release date came and went and the game never showed up at the store.  They never got it in stock.  A week went by, then 2.  3 weeks later and nothing.  I held off on the movie watching.  It was getting to the point where I was just fed up with waiting.  Yesterday I went online and finally clicked "submit order" on ebgames.  Off it went, along with Mario Kart for the Wii.  I was relieved.  Finally.  So I figured I had at least a week before the game got here before I had to actually break down and buy the PS3.  For shits and giggles, I went to the store after I ordered it.  I think the only reason I did that was because I had this funny feeling.  I waited all this time for it to come in to the store and nothing.  I finally had enough and ordered it online.  I walked in, went directly to the electronics section and there it was.  Around 20 copies.  I couldn't believe it.  What kind of dumb luck is that.  Needless to say I broke down.  After work I ran back there, bought a PS3 and the game and drove like a mad man home.  Now here we are.  I only wasted 20 minutes of your life with the backstory instead of getting right down to it and giving you the review.  Without further delay, off we go. 

The first thing you notice is the presentation.  Wow.  Blows away the MLB 2K series.  It's just worlds apart.  The graphics are okay, but better than then 2K.  I'm sure it would be better if I was running 720P on my tv as opposed to 1080i which to my knowledge isn't as good a picture.  Unfortunately I haven't yet mastered changing the PS3 display settings and since my TV is only 720p, i'm stuck with the auto configuration.  Overall, i'd give the presentation an A and the graphics a B+ (subject to change when I fix the settings)

The gameplay is just unreal.  You don't know how happy I was to play a game and see how smooth a baseball game is supposed to be.  If you've ever played MLB 2K7, you'll know exactly what i'm talking about.  No choppiness whatsoever.  Just smooth gameplay and no lag.  It's fantastic.  The mechanics of the players are off the chart.  Different animations and movements.  It's not robotic.  There is also more room for mistakes like in real life.  Not every throw is dead on.  People get pulled off the bag quite often and unless you time it right, pitching and throwing is difficult.  Much like in real life.  Of course there is quite a learning curve for us Xbox users.  I haven't touched a Sony game console since the way before the original xbox was released.  Even on the veteran setting, it's a bit difficult.  I was almost heartbroken because it doesnt have the "pick up and play" feel to it.  If you've never played it before, it's going to take some getting used to.  After a few games of striking out and losing games, I finally had to try Road to the show. 

Now that feature is just flat out cool.  It's basically like the Superstar mode in Madden where you create a player and have them play out a career.  But this is different.  This is more realistic.  You don't start off on a major league roster (although you are an invited guest to spring training to start your career).  Once you get through spring training, you are then assigned to either AAA or your AA affiliate.  I haven't gotten that far yet though so I can't really comment on it.  Although the realism is great.  So far in 3 games i'm 1 for 13 with only a single.  I can't seem to get a hit which is probably like real life.  Although defense i'm almost there.  There is a cool option to skip through the other parts of the game and only play when you are actually involved.  I selected that option in order to avoid a 30 minute game.  I knew when I was on defense, the ball was coming to me.  Nothing got by me and I got a few good calls on double plays to at least not get too beat up by my coach because of my hitting.  Although I did miss a chance to pull a double play and also didn't cover the bag during a steal attempt.  My bad.  Overall the gameplay is smooth as well with the players looking like real people when they make a play.  No catching the ball without looking and all sorts of backwards looking things. 

I haven't really played enough of it to enjoy it so I can't give it a 5 out of 5 rating yet.  It's awefully close though.  I'd say at least 4 maybe 4.5 right now based on what I saw.  Once I play it more this weekend i'm sure i'll have more to say.  Including more of an opinion on the interface during the season, which happens to be plentiful and confusing.  And it's damn near impossible to trade in that game.  It kinda sucks because it's too realistic in that aspect.  I want to make unfair trades and stick the Yankees with high cost, low quality players for some of their young guns.  Ah, I guess i'll have to try playing a realistic season and see how it goes.  I can't wait to get to the offseason already. 

Disgusted

I don't even want to talk about the draft.  At least with last years, we picked up an impact player.  This year, I don't even know what strategy they were using.  It just seemed all over the place.  I can't even remember any other name outside of Kentwan Balmer, our first round pick.  Why not pick up Mario Manningham who would be a great fit in Mike Martz's system?  Why not take a chance on Chad Henne or John David Booty who despite not playing an NFL game looks more polished than Alex Smith.  Okay, enough talk about the draft.  I'm so disappointed in it that i'm finally going to break down and get a PS3 this week and play a baseball game all weekend.  Something to take my mind away from football until Madden comes out.  Which could be another royal disappointment.  Man i'm hoping it improves just a little bit.  There is so much potential in that game but EA keeps short changing people with little gimmicks and not giving us what we want.

Okay, i'm just in one of those moods today.  Maybe it's because i'm freaking sleepy as shit, or work is beginning to get on my nerves again.  I've got a "to do" list a mile long and everytime I finish a task, another 3 pop up.  How the hell am I supposed to get anything accomplished?  I'm done blogging for today.  Going to try and knock out another task before another 3 pop up. 

No time post

I don't have much time.  It's been busy at work today so I haven't had time to actually study the Niners' draft so i'm offering a beleaguered fan's opinion instead.  I am so so on the first pick but there is hope.  The 2nd round I wasn't too fond off and think that it was a bit of a reach.  Overall grade... B minus.  Yeah, i'm a bit pessimistic.  We needed some help on the defensive line so I can understand the pic, but there were quite a few good linebackers and defensive ends available.  Taking a defensive tackle instead would make sense if that guy was a solid NT in the 3-4 scheme.  Unfortunately he's not.  He's a project.  Why waste the pick on a project when you can get a pure DE to offset the Justin Smith signing.  Now you have 2 pass rushers and stick an average guy at the NT position.  Anyway, i'll dissect it more when I actually have some time.  I've got 15 minutes left at work and i've got to start wrapping things up.  I don't even want to bother with the 2nd rounder so don't expect any comments from me. 

On another note, we have our 2nd to last softball game today.  It's been a good season despite our record.  Like I predicted, we shocked some people and we aren't the worst in the league.  Actually, we're going to be pretty good during the next league which limits people to play for the commands they actually work for.  I think with good coaching we'll be able to compete with the top teams.  Needless to say i'm not coaching this season.  I just want to play.  At least I took the lead and started the team off.  No one else was going to take the initiative to start the team and play so I might as well do it.  It gives us a better chance at the important games because we've had the benefit of playing together.  A few other teams did the same so they are also a force to be reckoned with.  Anyway, enough talk.  Gotta run.  Hopefully the 2nd day of the draft produces sexier picks.  Can you say John David Booty or Mario Manningham?  Work with me here Mike Nolan.  Work with me. 

The upcoming weekend

Finally.  Virtual Friday!  I've got an hour left before heading home.  Perhaps a haircut is in the cards before heading home.  I'm getting a little bushy.  This weekend promises to be eventful.  We have a softball party tomorrow so that should be fun.  We get to all hang out together and just do some team things and have fun outside of the softball field.  We've been taking such a beating on the field that we need something to bring us all together.  I gotta give credit though.  Despite the losses mounting up, the team has been upbeat and tries very hard to support each other.  It definitely makes it easier to head home after getting run out of the field by 20 runs. 

Saturday is the NFL draft.  Time for my Niners to make a move.  Although i'm not liking the fact they traded away their early pick this year which I think came back to bite them in the ass, we still have a chance to pick up a good player at the end of the first round.  There are a lot of possible stars early in the round, but sometimes it's just a gamble.  I'd rather take my chances on a low 1st rounder who isn't going to command a ginormous salary despite not ever playing a down in the NFL.  Don't get me wrong.  If I could have my choice, i'd love the 7th pick this year and be able to pick up a playmaker.  But losing that spot to pick up Joe Staley last year is going to pay off in the long run.  I just think Nolan gambled by trading it away, expecting a solid season and a mid to low pick in this years draft.  That my friends is what I like to call Karma.  It's a sonofa....  Of course with Nolan at the helm, I don't count much on predictions of finishing above .500.  It's scary that i'm going to say this, but I think Martz running the offense is actually going to help us win some games.  I never thought i'd ever praise the man, but you can't deny his offensive skills.  Although we might take a beating in the running game.  Hopefully Nolan's chicken shit playcalling will offset the pass heavy system with our two viable running backs.  Well, in any case, be prepared for some ranting and raving on the draft come Sunday and Monday.

Saturday should be a down day, but may end up being more busy than I anticipate.  I know I have to bring Pretty Girl's car to get serviced, so that's on the "to do" list.  I also want to go to the dentist and have them check on my recent tooth extraction.  It still bleeds slightly and has affected my overall bite so i'm not at all happy.  I don't think i'm going to learn my lesson and just hold off on the dentist until I get back to the states.  It just sucks that I don't have an upcoming trip there anytime soon.  I can't really plan one until I get a visa for PG.  I'm not going without her, that's for sure.  Then I still have to clean up around the house and rebuild my other computer.  One of the hard drives crapped out so i've got to do some work at home.  Outside of that, I hope to be doing some swimming this weekend.  Get some much needed sun and just relax.  Hopefully I get some sleep too.  I'm freaking exhausted.  I can't stay awake at work despite downing red bulls like water. 

Well, gotta cut this short.  I need to tie up some loose ends at work before leaving.  Hopefully my next post isn't spent bashing the Niners' draft.  Hope everyone has a fun weekend. 

Trying to be too clever

Before reading further down my post, read this movie review by this guy from CNN.com.  Here is the link.  http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movies/04/18/ew.forgetting/index.html

I haven't seen the movie yet, so I can't offer my own opinion, but after reading his, I have a freaking headache.  I mean.  I have this fascination of being a movie reviewer as well so I understand sometimes trying to sound too clever for my own good but for pete's sake.  It's a movie review.  I had to re-read every fucking sentence this guy wrote.  Look, i'm all for comparing actors, directors, producers to others in the same genre but this guy just went overboard.  I mean every fucking sentence he wrote he was "cleverly" comparing someone to someone else in the comedy genre.  Get the fuck over it.  What editor signed off on his piece?  Seriously.  If you read that movie review only once the whole way through and understood it, pat yourself on the back.  You probably like to write things and throw in a million comparisons to show how "informed" you are of the situation and it's players and want to sound really smart so people will respect your writing.  If you read it once, understood it and praised his writing then congratulations.  You're on your way to becoming a certified douchebag.