World Cup Why I love FOOTBALL. Quarterfinal game started at 8am. I woke up at 830am. Current score 0-0. I missed nothing!

Same thing for the Switzerland / Ukraine game. Midway through the first half, I fell asleep and didn't wake up until 20 minutes to go. First thing I hear from the announcers is that this is the most boring game ever (para-phrasing). The game had a total of ONE offsides. Thierry Henry gets one offsides call per minute.

On the flip side, I watched Brazil/Ghana and France/Spain pretty much all the way through. Brazil is crazy talented, I'm sure every member of their team can do the 'Elastico' in their sleep. Even Dida. Plus the World Cup is the best international event. Nothing like seeing a team down one goal with time dwindling away, desperately seeking the equalizer.

As I'm writing this, Germany just equalized with a header. As expected the crowd went nuts. Imagine if the offsides flag went up late (like in the NBA where the ref blows the whistle waaaay late after the player misses the shot). Count on numerous death threats from hooligans. Argentina is playing with a backup goalie. If this goes to PK, that goalie has some serious pressure on him. He can count on death threats if he doesn't come through.

The fact that ESPN360 is webcasting all of these games means that I can easily multitask during long stretches of "nothing." Although when Brazil plays I tend to just fullscreen it and watch the whole thing. I like the fact that the games are fairly exacting in their timing. 45 minute halves, short break for halftime, and stoppage time is usually around 2-5 minutes each. Usually it won't take more than 2 hrs and that's a good round number for a sporting event.

If all else fails I turn the game off and play some Winning Eleven.

EDIT: Italy is smoking Ukraine. Apparently Ukraine thought they could play the same soporific game, score zero goals, and luck out in penalty kicks. Ha! No I'm not bitter about Thursday's boring game.  ¶ 8:49 AM 0 comments

  Sports Guy
For the past month I'd been selling all the things deemed unnecessary. Books, electronic crap, video games. I even sold my Bill Simmons book. My brother had given it to me as a gift for Christmas. One of those "Here's your present, let me read it when you're done!" type of deals (I do this too). I flipped through it back then but never taken the time to read the whole thing.

Anyways I decided to read the whole shebang before shipping it the next day. After about three pages I decided there was no way I was parting with the book. If you've never read a Sports Guy column, now is the time to start. This guy is one of the funniest and smartest writers around. Not merely sports but tangential material as well. The whole "Pujols = Poo Holes" had me going. Sheesh.

Refund was initiated, life was put on hold.  ¶ 3:26 AM 0 comments

  education is overrated Today I helped my dad jump his car. Jumping a car isn't rocket science, but my dad was still impressed - "Yeah yeah! Berkeley EE major!" (something to that effect). This after I'd just looked up instructions on how to do it 2 minutes earlier. Reminds me of when my mom asks for my help - "Hey Electrical Engineer, come fix my light bulb for me" or "Help CS guy, my Microsoft Word doesn't show the language bar." I'd like to think they are joking but you never know.

In reality they should be correctly saying "Hoover Elementary School Grad" since that's where I learned to read. Everything follows from there.  ¶ 5:59 PM 0 comments

  denver

Had everything planned out but hit road construction on the way to the sushi joint. Putting undue stress on myself seems to be a habit. Watching Tokyo Drift yesterday didn't help. Subconsciously my hand kept drifting towards the e-brake...

Finally made it with 20 minutes to spare. If I hit a sushi joint two days in a row, the first day I opt for the common stuff. Sashimi platter, rolls, just to get some baseline comparison.

Sushi Den was a huge place, very multi-cultural staff. For a second I was afraid my sushi chef was going to be Bobby Joe or Ramon, but thankfully got a Japanese chef (Aki). Fish was very fresh. There definitely is a distinction between West / East coast fish. West coast seems to be more moist, washed out in color. Very good nonetheless. Presentation was decent but Oga's is better. Pictured is their version of "new style sashimi", my first trying sashimi with hot olive oil / sesame oil. Beginning to be more adventurous with my selections, rather than ordering the same rolls and sushi all the time.  ¶ 10:59 PM 0 comments

  CG

It just dawned on me that Industrial Light + Magic hasn't won the oscar for best visual effects in over ten years. Pretty stunning considering that this was the preeminant vfx house for decades. Not even the new Star Wars films could bring them out of their losing streak. Their sterling reputation has worked against them, with the Academy becoming more apt to recognize the "little guys" for lesser work. They were robbed on more than one occasion, Twister, The Perfect Storm, ROTS (not even nominated!).

Commercial tools (3d studio, maya) as well as the proliferation of cheap workstations have homogenized the entire industry to a certain extent. Nowadays invisible effects are an effective way to save money on production. It's more about finding the right project to work on, helmed by a visionary director who demands ambitious effects that capture the imagination. Less Michael Bay (exploding cars) and more Spielberg/Cameron.

The mystique isn't completely gone but the wow factor is definitely diminished. I think it's time to unleash the 3D films.

EDIT: Typical. A few days after writing this, I stumble upon the trailer for the upcoming Pirates 2. The film looks absolutely stunning with the highlight being the completely synthetic Davy Jones. I'm almost positive this will take the Oscar.

1) Big wow factor with eye-popping photo-realistic CG characters.
2) Film is sure to do great business, Hollywood loves this.
3) Competition is light this year, no big Weta shows. Superman Returns, X-men 3, Harry Potter are nice but nothing revolutionary.
4) John Knoll is DUE! The man deserves an Oscar after toiling for years on the prequels with nothing to show for it. On top of that he co-authored Photoshop. He's gotta win.

My stone-cold LOCK OF THE YEAR. Other than "the Warriors will probably miss the playoffs again while finishing with a decent record for a non-playoff team. This gives them the 7-10th pick where they won't be able to get any impact player to reverse the trend."  ¶ 11:22 AM 0 comments

  best sushi consumed! Saturday I was tapped for emergency duty. Spent all night in a Oklahoma datacenter, not the greatest of fun. My hotel suite was HUGE but I didn't even get to sleep in the bed. The sudden change of plans wreaked havoc on my travel plans, resulted in multiple stops. Nothing was going to stop me from attending my VMware class.

Sunday I spent all morning in the air, checked into my suite, then waited until dinner for Oga's. I know I've expounded on sushi previously but today's meal was just so good.

About 1 1/2 years ago my co-workers and I found Oga's by accident. We were driving past Legal Seafood on the 9 looking for a sushi place. After driving past a myriad of car dealerships we were just about to turn around when we spotted the restaurant on the side of the road. Luckily for us it was arguably THE best sushi restaurant in the US.

I ordered the sashimi deluxe, the gyoza, and a caterpiller roll. The sashimi deluxe was so artfully presented I should have brought a 8gpx DSLR to take a photo. The fish was so fresh it was glistening. In comparison, Shimogamo (best in AZ?) was "blurrier". What I mean by that was the fish wasn't as marblized, not as translucent. Oga's fish was in perfect focus (my descriptions are meaningless w/o pics, unfortunately). I could see every detail on the octopus tentacle. I was lucky enough to get three slices of yellowtail belly. The caterpiller roll was crazy detailed. They cut off a couple octopus rings for the eyes, and thin slices of carrots for the tentacles, a tiny piece of fish for the tongue.

Traditional sushi restaurants are a refreshing change to the loud music and hooters-esque girls of Scottsdale. The absence of tip jars at the sushi bar indicated a higher level of sophistication. They also don't charge for tea like some other shady places.
If you are ever in the area you MUST make the trip to Oga's. On friday I will order omakase and see what the chef comes up with.  ¶ 6:33 PM 0 comments

  Eboo About a month after I laughed at my lil bro for copping fake Jordans off Ebay, I did the same thing (fake Air Max 360). However my fake buy was more understandable, given the insidious nature of the seller. Here's how I was duped.

1. Listing price wasn't drastically lower than the authentic shoes (~$20 less than normal). The warning bell in my head didn't go off.

2. Seller had IMMACULATE feedback. 680 positives and zero negatives. It was so good that I didn't go by my own rule of thumb - Never buy any item if they don't guarantee its authenticity.

This seller had cleverly managed to build his feedback record through his quick refund policy. If for any reason you were not satisfied with the product, he would refund your money ASAP. Then you would be required to leave a positive feedback for him. This way the unwitting would be happy with their (fake) shoes, and those who caught him would still contribute to his feedback record.

For some unknown reason, my scam alert went off today. I decided to closely examine the seller's feedback ratings. Though 100% positive, a few users clued me in with their comments. Concluding that the shoes were fake, I immediately fired off an email threatening negative feedback. Within five minutes I had my money refunded with a plea not to "bring down his business (with a negative)." I got my money back, AND the shoes are still shipping to me from China. I'm almost positive they are a $10 knockoff but now I get free fakes out of the deal.

With the internet so far-reaching, fakes of popular items have infiltrated Ebay. Buyer beware.  ¶ 7:32 PM 0 comments

  hrmph I'm reading this book on time management and getting things done. The Art of Stress-Free Productivity.

Just read about 3 pages in 4 hours. F#!@#$%^&!!

UPDATE: Finished the book this morning. My takeaways.

The idea of closing all "open loops" on your mind. Taking inventory of everything that you think about and categorize it into "bins" (next actions, waiting, future). Things you can control, things you can't. Once everything in your mind has been mapped out, you can go ahead and act on most of them. This way you don't have to constantly think about unfinished tasks, emptying your mind.

Empty mind = "mind like water", better state of readiness (Bruce Lee). Improved focus on projects, etc.

My progress to date: So far I've thrown away a ton of stuff, starting making better lists, sold some stuff on Amazon.  ¶ 11:30 PM 0 comments