Labour Day Weekend

I can't believe the last weekend of summer is already approaching! I had a busy summer this year, which resulted in almost no blogging. Back in May, I had already planned almost every summer weekend until September. Surprisingly, not too many conflicts occurred this year, which was probably helped by joining just one softball league this year instead of the two I played in last year.

This weekend I wanted to go down to NYC to watch a Yankees game because the Blue Jays were visiting and this is the last year before they tear down Yankee Stadium. I also considered attending PAX this year as well, but I would have convince some people to go with me (It's in Seattle). Penny Arcade is going to organize an East Coast one in the future and I would love to attend that one. But the trump card was being invited to a wedding. I'm excited to go since a lot of people from out of town are flying in and it'll be good to see them all again.

So instead of going to NYC this weekend, I'm going in the middle of September to try to catch a game. Any advice on getting tickets for a Yankee game? I really hope we will be able to get in. Otherwise, anyone interested in going to PAX with me next year?

Olympics

Even though I don't have TV in Waterloo, I've been watching as much as I can when I'm in Toronto (HD signal from the air is sweet). It's been an exciting games. I managed to catch some of Phelps destroying his competition in the pool and the electrifying run by Usain Bolt. I think the most exciting medal for Canada was Simon Whitfield's triathlon run, coming from behind to capture the silver. What an exciting race!

Also, I couldn't help to notice the cheerleaders. I didn't even know they had cheerleaders in the Olympics, and the most surprising thing is that there are Chinese cheerleaders! That's unheard of - especially in China - I think it's a new concept. And then the girls in the opening/closing ceremonies, the girls carrying the medals, leading the athletes in and out are all attractive. I never expected to see so many! Too bad the camera always shows them in passing and in the background :(

One last thing that's really cool for me personally. Remember during the opening ceremonies when the Chinese gymnast ran around the perimeter in the air before lighting the torch? The projected image was done with projectors made by my company on a projector I worked on. How awesome is that? My company provided all the projectors used in the Bird's Nest stadium - almost 150 projectors! Sweet.

Basketball Playoffs

Almost every year, I go to watch some Raptor games. This year, I haven't attended any yet, but my plan is to save my money so I can attend a playoff game. My cousin Eric went last year (or the year before) and said it was worth it.

Last year would have been good, because Vince Carter was in the house. This year, he apparantly is taking on more of a leadership role now that Kidd got traded to Dallas. Really? Seriously? Check out the leader Carter:



LMAO! Leader? Really? Are you sure?

But the Raptors can't say much, since the Nets beat killed the Raptors in the 1st round last year. Hopefully they'll be more experienced this year and do better. Now if only Bargnani would stop sucking. At the very least, the fans gave something back to Carter:



So if I'm fortunate enough to get some tickets this year, I'll be embarassingly cheering myself hoarse.

Network Neutrality

Please I want some now.

Recently Bell decided to shape our traffic. This means that during "prime time" my torrent speed is reduced to a mere 30 KB/sec. Normally without shaping I get sustained peak of bandwidth in the 700 KB/sec range. I can download an hour TV show (eg Heroes) in 25 minutes at that rate. Now I have to leave my computer on overnight just to download one show.

But what really pisses me off is that it completely kills watching live basketball on the internet via p2p. I don't have cable, and the number one thing I miss is live sports. I even went to Chris/Keith's just to watch some ball (especially during playoffs - the Golden State/Dallas series last year was orgasmic for any true basketball fan). If you follow the links, you can have virtually league pass at your fingertips....if only Bell didn't shape traffic.

(The NBA should just provide Internet League Pass for free since it includes all the advertising anyway and they can only stand to gain revenue. There is a small issues with localalized advertising, but I'm sure something can be worked out. Really, they are just milking League Pass and blocking access to fans. But I digress, it's a rant for another time).

Then Bell decided to charge us more last month because they suddenly instituted a 60 GB download/upload limit and we went over. WTF!!! It really makes me want to change to something highly recommended like www.teksavvy.com.

Also, if politicians were to start talking seriously about network neutrality, I would actually pay attention to local politics and it would definitely sway my vote.

Speaking of voting, check out this hilarious video of Chris Bosh:

RFD edition

I went out and bought all the things Jerry suggested. For some reason, HMV had Mario Strikers Charged for $10 less than the typical price of $60. So I went to my local HMV, which is the one by the school and got the last copy they had. It's kinda strange buying from HMV as they just started selling games a few months ago. I picked it up on Tuesday, which is one day before the official release date, but I haven't had the chance to try it out yet. Maybe I'll get some time next week.

Then I went to National Sports and looked for cheap bats. They had one bat that was $10, but it seemed really really bad. I kept looking and eventually found a Worth bat (W2SB, Powercell) that had the price tag ripped off. I had asked for help and when they came back they said it was only $12. So I bought that instead. Edmond tells me that it's a worthless bat, that's good for nothing, but I figure at $12 you can't go wrong. Unless it breaks my hands. I haven't had a chance to use it yet, so I don't know if it was worth it or not.

Even though I have family coming up this weekend, I joined the Formosa Cup. It's a 2 day softball tournament. That means I have something like 7 games this weekend! Good times!

Tale of Two (softball) Cities

Last summer, I had a great time playing organized softball. I was on the same team as four of my high school friends, which made it even more fun. After being unable to convince any of my friends to join again this year, I decided to make up for it by joining two different leagues!

I joined a CCSA team with Joanne and a MCBCSL team with my sister and Andrea.

The problem is that one league is in Mississauga and the other is in Scarborough. So far, the schedule seems to work out in my favour in that there are very few (zero?) conflicts. CCSA starts much earlier (mid May), while MCBCSL starts late June. MCBCSL games are usually Saturdays, while my CCSA games in July are usually on Sundays. Looks like I'll be in Toronto every weekend and doing a lot of driving!

Another big difference between the leagues is the level of competition. MCBCSL is open to people of all ages, so I'll be playing against high school students. Our "no practice" team with older players will likely have some advantage. Our "no practice" team last year did well, but came up short in the championship game. That's a whole other blog entry for another time. In CCSA, the players are older and all hardcore...even the girls. As a result, the defence is generally better and also means fewer at -bats. At my first CCSA game last weekend, I only batted twice in an 8 inning game! We also have a large team, so this could have an effect.

The only negative besides the travel is that I won't have as much time for other summer activities. Oh well. Regardless, I'm really, really looking forward to playing softball this summer!

Smells like Spring

And by spring I really mean Shit.

If you've ever been in Waterloo during the summer months you'll know what I'm talking about. Apparently, the KW area has some of the worse air in Ontario, because we are in a slight depression where the air doesn't move. Add that to the fact the farmers all around like to spread shit on their fields right around this time (when students come in for the summer term).

But now, after about a week, I can't smell the shit anymore, and I don't know whether it's because I'm desensitized or the smell has gone away. Regardless, I'm happy that warmer weather is here. Anyone want to find a Dragonboat team to join? I already have my first softball practice this week!

Basketball Playoffs

I watched the Dallas - Golden State game last night and wow. What an amazing game. When I first starting watching the Suns with Steve Nash, it was a revelation in how much fun watching basketball could be. I got that same feeling last night.

Golden State runs and runs all the time. All five players run, are athletic and can shoot the ball. They push the ball as fast as possible, quite often making a half court pass to the lead man even if outnumbered. Everyone has a green light to shoot, and their offense is dependent on movement and quick passing. It makes for fun basketball to watch. Dallas looks scared and unprepared to play this way. I fully expect Golden State to close out Dallas at home, which would be a huge upset (8th vs 1st seed).

I have a feeling Dirk will be voted the MVP this year, an award he doesn't deserve. If he hadn't of shown up in the last 3 minutes last night, he would be the one to blame. Bill Simmon's really sums it up quite nicely.

One of the best parts of the series is the coaching matchup - the protege vs the mentor. The two have completely different styles as well. Nelson is laid back and Avery is not. Nelson looks like he's enjoying himself watching the game, while Avery looks like he's about to have a heart attack. Even the owner vs the ex-coach angle is interesting and like Steve Kerr says, they need to show more of Mark Cuban (and it'd be nice if he started blogging about basketball again).

TNT didn't put their best broadcasting team on the series. Reggie Miller and Dick Stockton were calling the game, and the best line was Reggie saying GS was "going to throw the whole kitchen book at Dirk".

Oh yeah, Raptors played last night too. Vince Carter has thin skin, and had a largely forgettable game, even though he scored 30 points. The Raptor's offense is based around PG penetration and posting up Bosh. With injured PGs and NJ defense on Bosh, we'll have nothing left for offense. If they can somehow miraculously win in NJ (1% chance), they should be able to win game 7. Also a short note about the announcers...apparently TNT has Marv Albert and Steve Kerr on the Raptor/Nets series, which is their #1 team, but we are stuck with fucking Leo Rautins and Swirsky, whom I hate. Sucks.

Last year's playoffs were amazing and hopefully this year's will be just as good. Next GS-Mavs game is Thursday, don't miss it!

Rage Against the Machine

Rage Against the Machine is getting back together and playing live tonight at Coachella. That would be something worth seeing. I went over to their website to see if they had any streaming video/audio, which would be really cool. They have streaming audio/video and after installing stuipid DRM Windows Media Player 11, I could get a stream. But it turns out they aren't streaming anything on RATM. Actually I just checked, they are on at 11PM PST, so no chance I'll catch them tonight. Oh well...I guess I should just be happy they are back together.

Something not worth seeing is the fucking Raptor's game. Down by over 30 in the 3rd quarter is just inexcusable. Bosh is really sucking in this series, like most of the other Raptors (except TJ). But I suppose that can be expected since the Raps have no playoff experience whatsoever. Bosh needs to get use to how physical the playoffs are, and hopefully he'll come back next year better prepared. Also, anyone notice how the crowd is affecting Vince? He can't play in Toronto because the booing is so loud. I think he's the type that wants other people to like him and he is obviously not liked in Toronto. The booing and chanting of "VC sucks" (as my coworker and cousins tell me from being there firsthand) definitely gets to him, even if he won't admit it. I thought Raps had a chance in the series, but looks like I'll have to look forward to next year.

Anyway, I'll end with a quote from Tom Morello, from RATM: Is it coincidence that in the seven years that RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE has been away that the country has slid into right-wing purgatory? I think not," he said. "It occurred to all of us that the times were right to see if we can knock the Bush administration out in one fell swoop, and we hope to do that job well. This administration has done enough damage that it may take generations to undo. This is an administration that believes it's beyond the laws of the land, which is fine for emperors, but not so great for presidents. One thing this president isn't above is the laws of physics, and there is no action without reaction. And we're part of that reaction."

Boring Diary Post

Haven't updated in a while. Lot's of people clicked on my link for the "My Toronto is" voting, so hopefully many votes were submitted. I wonder how much Matt's one comment skewed the voting. I was hoping more people would comment, since so many of you clicked through!

Even though it's boring, what have I been up to lately?

My parents are off in China/Korea/Taiwan for work/vacation and my sister is back in Queens so no one is in the Toronto home and therefore, there's no one to cook my weekend and Monday/Tuesday meals. I bought a four pack of steaks for $18, so I've been happily eating that this week. So far one's gone in the oven, the other on the foreman grill and tonight's will be pan fried. Any suggestions for the last one? Unfortunately, Steaks don't make for great pictures for BiteMe, since it's just brown. Bacon looks so much more appetizing.

I've caught a little bug so I have a slight sore throat and cough, but nothing serious. I'm finding I need a lot of rest this week though. Yeah, that's my excuse for not posting. It's also my excuse for not working out this week.

My computer started working again spontaneously, and since ATI is all out of stock of discounted cards, I'll try to hold out on making a new purchase until they have some more in stock. I keep my computer turned on all the time now for fear of it not working again.

Been playing a lot of Civilization IV recently. I only started playing because I read an article in Wikipedia about the Mongols and then hours later, had proceeded to read several (dozen) more articles. Then I felt like taking over the world myself. Since that's not practical in real life, I'll do it virtually and hence the Civ IV playing. Civ IV supports multiplayer, so this could be an idea for our next LAN party. Although it could potentially suck for someone that died early or if someone got ganged up on. Still, any supporters?

Started to read Joy Luck Club, which should be required reading for all CBC/ABC, especially first generation emigrants. Perhaps not as relevant to HKers though.

I had no idea you could get season tickets for the Blue Jays for only $95! Sweet deal, and could be fun if you go with fun people (because the game itself isn't that exciting). Too bad I live in the wrong city.

Played some Charades with Taboo cards in Reety's really sweet condo. How do you do "Billy the Kid" in charades?

Played some Settlers of Catan, which was fun, but not the greatest in the world. I still want to try Carcassonne, the other classic tile game. Apparently they've made these games for Xbox Live so it could be fun online as well, but you'd miss out on the social interaction (read: arguing) with your friends.

Haven't heard from a lot you recently, so what have you been up to?

Toronto FC

Any soccer fans out there? If you're a fan, then you probably already know that we're getting a soccer team, Toronto FC!

This brand new team, starting this year is part of the MLS league, which is based in North America. Well, North America now that Toronto has a team, otherwise it would just be the US. Also, the biggest news this year is the addition of David Beckham to the LA based team, but I suppose mostly girls would be interested in this fact.

Personally, I'm not much of a soccer fan, but I think it'd be fun to go to a game sometime this summer, especially since this is Toronto's inaugural season. Season tickets are already sold out, but single ticket games will go on sale soon. I already signed up to be an insider member to get earlier access to single game tickets. Tickets go on sale Monday, so either remind me or sign up for yourself!