So I’ve decided to compile a list of teams/players I’m a fan of that currently aren’t doing so well so in the future when they arise, I will have unequivocal proof that I’m not just “jumping on the bandwagon”.

New York Knicks
Scuderia Ferrari (F1)
Kimi Raikkonen
Matt Leinart
JaMarcus Russell
San Diego Chargers
UCLA – UW is #1, but IF, and I mean a BIG IF, I had to pick another Pac-10 team to root for it’d be UCLA.
Terrell Owens (He’s definitely on the decline, but his entertainment value gives him a mention here.)
Sasha Vujajic (no, I don’t believe he’ll ever be great in basketball, but he’s dating Maria. I’m a fan of that.)

Bonus: 2 teams that aren’t terribly good right now that will be real good soon but I will definitely not be rooting for…
Clippers & Thunder

Coming off a record setting career year with most of the offense returning, I used a late first round pick on non-other than Tom Brady. That worked out for about 5 mins into the ’08 season. If I recall correctly, my #1 pick earned me exactly 1 point the entire season.

It’s okay, cuz I have one of the best possible backups that start for many other teams, Carson Palmer! Oh wait… his arm was hurt and called it quits after like 4 games in the season.

I traded to get Brett Favre who was red hot early but unfortunately was barely a fizzle when I finally got him and stuck him into the starter slot.

I was fortunate enough to be able to grab Matt Schuab who was a legit starting quarterback putting up great numbers… until the week when I stuck him into the starter slot and he gets a season ending injury.

My first RB pick Lawerence Maroney also screwed me. Luckily I was smart enough to pick up Steve Slaton from free agency early in the season.

After all that I somehow get into the playoffs and made it to the championship game, which I later found I lost by like 4 points. Sad thing is tho I had Matt Cassel on the bench cuz he was playing in a blizzard and somehow still racked up beaucoup points that woulda won me the championship. Sadder thing is that this wasn’t what caused me the game. I couldn’t have known Cassel would do so well in a blizzard and it wouldn’t have made sense to start him before the game. What got me was me being too lazy to wake up early and check my roster Sunday morning before the games. Had I done so, I woulda seen that T.J. Housh decided not to play and score 0 points. Any of my other receivers would have gotten more than enough for me to win the championship. That’s a FML.

SPOILER ALERT!!! DON’T READ UNLESS YOU COMPLETED THE GAME…

So where did the new FOXDIE come from? Did Drebin get him with it near the begining? We know he worked for the Patriots(AI) and Big Boss said the new FOXDIE is what kills him, Ocelot, and EVA… But how?

Ocelot fought hand to hand with Snake at the end of Act 3 in Europe. If Snake had the new FOXDIE, and it only took moments to kill EVA and Big Boss, wouldn’t Ocelot have died sometime during Shadow Moses at least?

Also, if the Patriots had used Snake to kill Big Boss, how does that make sense? The plot was that Ocelot and EVA tricked the Patriots into thinking the corpse that was burnt (which later we find is Solidus), WAS Big Boss. Why would they need to infect Snake with a newly engineered FOXDIE to kill Big Boss? And why did the Patriots make such a big fuss over Big Boss’s body while they didn’t care much that Solidus’s body was taken by EVA? They persumably knew she had it.

Still a great game tho, I’d just like an explaination cuz it’s buggin me.

It seemed like at least a 15 min hike up the hill with a bad knee in snowboarding boots but I made it…

The result:
20ish seconds of “fun”.  I put fun in quotes cuz after coming down the hill I realized a fatal flaw in my logic in doing this. There is a reason why we all pay $50 or whatever for ski lift tickets. Any hill that’s steep enough to allow you to board down, probably isn’t worth the hike up. By the time I got up this hill I was tired as hell and sweating like a mofo. And it was barely steep enough for my to board down. Barely. I didn’t get good speed and had to really work to keep myself going :p

So after just one run, I went straight home, took a shower cuz I was sweating like I just played 2 basketball games,  made a bowl a ramen, and sat down to watch football.

It would’ve been almost full but I accidentally knocked it over when I was almost done sorting it and lost like 20%…

As some of you may know, I have a pretty large DVD collection but now with blu-ray technology, I’ve come to the point where there are a lot of movies which I would like to switch to blu-ray format. So if you see anything on this list you like, feel free to contact me! All of these are in the original box and in great condition because I really do take good care of my DVDs. I think the prices are pretty fair as they are in like-new condition, but if you don’t think so, let me know maybe we can work something out (I’m most likely willing to exchange lunch for a bunch of these

So here are the DVDs I own that I would eventually like to have in blu-ray (prices on top)… *Disclaimer- All transactions are pending that I find that these movies exist in blu-ray format AND that I can actually purchase them.

$19-
Pirates of the Carr. 1-3
Matrix Trilogy set including Animatrix + Bonus Material

$15-
Mummy1+2+The Scorpion King set
Resident Evil 1-3
X-Men Trilogy set

$10-
Transformer 2-disc edition (with the “Optimus Prime robot DVD case)
Troy directors cut special edition (The one with the nice shiny box)
I Am Legend 2-disc edition
Red Cliff (Chinese)
Three Kingdoms- Resurrection of the Dragon (Chinese)

$8-
300
Gladiator
Fantastic 4- Silver Surfer
I Robot
Happy Feet
Moulin Rouge (don’t hate)

$5-
Last Samurai
Bravehart
Alexander (but only if I sell off the rest of my “epic” movies so I complete my blu-ray “epic” collection: Last Samurai, Gladiator, Bravehart, Troy, 300)
Crash
Ocean’s 13
Fast and Furious 1
Transporter
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
Speed 1
Minority Report
Lord of War

If you know of any movies that you know I have that are not on this list, I probably don’t really have a desire for them in blu-ray, but you can still try to ask me about them, I might cave.

I’ll Be Home For Christmas performed by 98 Degrees

http://us.share.geocities.com/gfo2003mt/IllBeHomeForChristmas.mp3

I’ll be home for Christmas
You can plan on me
Please have snow and mistletoe
And presents on the tree

Christmas Eve will find me
Where the lovelight gleams
I’ll be home for Christmas
If only in my dreams

Today, I was literally overjoyed when I pulled into Chinatown on my weekly visits to find that our beloved Green Village has reopened. In fact, I had really been going every Monday for many many months to check on the status of the restaurant. Many of its patrons, including Ray Lee, Heing, Kevin, and many other have waited patiently, or impatiently, for like a year for this lil shop to reopen. They musta put crack in their fried rice cuz without it, we were all like zombies blindly waiting for the next fix. People have actually left messages on their front door to ask when they would reopen. Blog threads have been made in various places on the internet, asking, conjecturing, and just blindly demanding to know when Green Village would reopen. Finally, today, I’ve discovered that it is. Oh what a glorious day.

When I got to the stop sign in front of Uwajimya, I immediately glanced toward the Green Village front door as part of my regular Monday routine. I had done this for a while, and man, it was frustrating. Every time I seem to almost give up hope and stop going to check, they would post up a new sign from inside. First it was a hand written note saying thanks to its patrons for their concerns and that they will one day reopen. Then months go by and after I again start to lose hope, I noticed that someone must’ve swept the floor and arranged the tables. People say I was just imagining that shit and it had always been like that. But it was enough to keep me going. Then about a month ago, they put up a legit looking typed out message that they will be reopening soon. But again, no date, and no real change. People were excited for a moment, but seeing as how nothing happened for months when the last sign got put up, people were skeptical that they will taste that bomb ass fried rice anytime soon. But today was different. Today, I got me some Green Village greasy ass fried rice!

I could hardly believe my eyes at the stop sign, that I saw the blue and red neon “Open” sign was lit. I said to myself. It’s still kinda far, I’m at a steep angle, maybe it’s the shop next to it, and I’m just seeing things. But as I navigate around the lots of people walking around that intersection during my lunch hour, my heart began to beat faster. Trying to keep my cool and trying not to hit anyone while I got one eye fixated on what I thought was Green Village’s “Open” sign, a big ass smile began to creep along my face as I realized that the day has come. The wait is over! Green Village is back in business!

And to top it off as I’m yelling YES! in my car like an idiot, I see that there is a single parking spot open on that block, and it’s the one right in the freakin front of the restaurant. I could hardly believe that the day has come, as I take out my iPhone and snap a picture from inside my car, only to realize while I’m doing it that I didn’t have Ray of Heing’s email in my iPhone and cuz there’s no picture messaging, I can’t send it to them right away. So I pay for the parking real quick as I emailed the image to myself, I slap my parking sticker on my window and dove into the restaurant.

Inside, I had the weirdest feeling. I really wasn’t sure if this was real. It was like if you accidentally walked into a secret VIP area in Vegas, not really suppose to be in there, but yet somehow you are (except this time there was actually something good inside). I don’t know how to describe it, I was ordering and I had all kinds of feelings. When I sat down to wait for my to go order, I began to see what I was feeling. I was honest to God, whole heartedly grateful that they were open again. I was genuinelyappreciative, that they would let me order their fried rice. And at the same time I felt a bit of fear. Fear that the lady might change her mind all of a sudden and close down the place before I could get my rice. You think I’m kidding but I really am not. The lady sounded like her former perky self but you could tell it was sorta weird for the poor lady. I really don’t know what happened to them that caused them to close for so long, and I’m truly sorry for whatever tragedy they may have gone through, but PLEASE just let me get the fried rice!

It was a surreal experience because it was also sorta empty at the lunch hour. Before their hiatus that place was jam packed with people and the line to order would be like 10-15 people long at any point during lunch hour. Yet there wasn’t a line today, and there were actually empty seats. There is not a doubt in my mind that it wasn’t that people didn’t like their food anymore, but just that no one knew that they were open once again. I bet by Wednesday at the very latest, the line would be out the door.

And then I heard the lady call me, “Your fried rice is ready.” I like jumped out of my chair and quickly went over to the counter to get it. As I was walking out of the restaurant, I noticed something odd about the way I was carrying the to go fried rice with hot and sour soup. I had no hands to open the door with. I saw that I was holding it like a running back would hold a football when he dives past the defensive line, one hand on the bottom, one hand on top to protect it. It was like I was scared that someone might jack me for the rice, and the restaurant would close down shop behind me. I manage to open the door with my elbow awkwardly and get in my car. Then I realized, I had been so caught up in getting the rice that I totally forgot to lock my doors at Chinatown. Granted I was like 10 feet away in broad daylight but still, it was Chinatown.

I rush back to the office and tear into the hot and sour soup. YUM! Delicious and just like the way I remember it. Those of you that know me know that I hate sour stuff, and me giving praise to anything sour is probably something amazing. This is that. But I guess you can say that their hot and sour soup is more like hot and salty soup and not so much sour and that’s why I like it. But whatever, it’s grrrrreat!

Then the rice, OOOOHHH the rice. At first when I opened the box, I was a tiny bit taken back. It wasn’t quite as shiny and greasy as I remembered it, but this may be good to some of you. Then I took a bite, and my, it was just the same. Maybe I just hadn’t seen it in so long that my mind thinks it was a lot greasier than it was to trick myself into not wanting it. Or maybe I had just over-hyped it too much. But I think the reason why is based on what I’ve heard from many Chinese people who make fried rice. You’re suppose to use rice that you cooked the day before. Something about it absorbing the oil and sauce better or something. I dunno, but I’ll chalk it up to that cuz it tastes the same. It would make sense if today was in fact the first day they reopened and haven’t cooked rice the day before. I dunno, but frankly, I don’t care. It’s back!

I was gonna take a picture with my iPhone and share the image with you all here, but I had the classic case of “can’t talk”. Back in the day, it was “can’t talk, Mario Kart.” Then “can’t talk, Gran Turismo.” But when Heing heard the news from this blog and called me on my office phone, I was basically, “Can’t talk, Green Village.” I had fully intended to only take a few bites before I take a picture, but then a few bites became half. Half became three quarters. Before I know it, there was nothing to take a picture of but an empty, greasy box. I was thoroughly happy with eating the whole thing before I realized I had forgotten to take the picture. Man that’s some bomb fried rice. Maybe I’ll go back tomorrow. We’ll see.

*Update- I wasn’t able to go back Tuesday and I barely managed to go today (Wednesday) due to a couple of weird work days (I doubt you care but you can ask me and I’ll tell you if you like), but I did go again today for the 2nd time in 3 days. This time, Heing, Ray Lee, and Anna Leung all went too. And yes, as I predicted there was a huge ass line today. Word got out quick. This time, I just managed to slow down for one second about 3/4 way through to snap this photo.

If a picture is worth 1,000 words. The experience is probably worth like 10billion.

The day started out with a bit of a disappointment. Seems like everyone and their moms were too busy to go to Endless Shrimp. And with today being the last day for this year’s Endless Shrimp, it looks like I will be missing it this year. However, I am elated and ecstatic to report that I am eating something that makes me go, ” endless shrimp what?”. We’ve been waiting like a year for this folks. And to top it off, I had the best possible parking spot on this most wonderful of Mondays (Picture taken from inside my car where I parked).

It’s open.

(Check back later for a more in-depth review of my experience)

So if I don’t got time to get the costume that I was thinking about, what should I be? These are the 4 easy choices since I have the outfit to pull it off already in my closet: Andy Roddick, Kobe Bryant, Tom Brady, or David Beckham. (I had already been David Beckham one year but that was long ago) There are pics of everyone of those people except Roddick in the last post below.