Basketball-less

No NBA.... no Fantasy basketball.... =(

I drop Bomb-lettes on your plate from the frying pan.

Bomb-lette

Somethin2Say (Feat. Imani and Pep Love) by luckylegends

3rd of July 2011!

The finale was really good. Best show I'd seen in a while.

Would Love A Pair of These Bad Boys

Shades mad from wood.

Check out the website, Shwood.

Venom

How awesome is Venom?

Gotta be my favorite Villain.

Cache Creek was Cool! Beastie Boys new Album

Went to Cache Creek with Josh, David, Mike and Danny. Had a good time with some drinks and as a unit I think we lost like $180 all together. I blame the cops that ID'ed us right before walking in, it ruined our flow.

Anyway we listened to everything on the way from MJ to Thrice to techno to hip hop. Hit up the Beastie Boys which made me wanna throw their album up here and this video which is crazy! Had a good time at Cache Creek but I think we all know better now and will not be returning. Enjoy!

Also check out this boombox by TDK. My friend and I checked out the 2 speaker one and it was amazingly loud, but pretty damn heavy, too.

StarBucks

I have been working at Starbucks for 3 months now. I gotta say it's a pretty good job, at least at my store. No drive-thru so it isn't so chaotic. I like my manager and my shift supervisors and co-workers. How often will that happen?

Taking a trip to Cache creek with them in about a week. Should be good times, unless I lose all my money haha.

Anyway work is work and for a part time job it is a pretty cool one to have. Can't complain too much during times like this with the job market down and what not.

It will be sad to see Josh and Danny leave but it's cool I have gotten to know them, hopefully this is just a "goodbye for now" moment.

Gotta get back to packing for possible camping on Friday. I will try to update this after that trip but this is all I have for you for now.

By the way: Do any of you who have been to Cache Creek have any tips or pointers or heads up kinda info; please, do share! Crazy stories, warnings, and criticisms are welcome as well. =P

Dallas Mavericks!

The Dallas Mavericks have taken the Chip!! I couldn't be happier for Jason Kidd and Dirk Nowitzki.

I don't think there will be too many Californians jumping on the Maverick's bandwagon, but I feel like you might see a lot less Laker fans next season. I didn't watch the last two games of the Mavs vs. Heat series very closely but from the earlier games I was worried that the Heat would take it with relative ease. Being on the West Coast I definitely watched the west division more and based on that I thought the Mavs were playing their very best basketball and maybe the best basketball in the league which turned out to be true. I thought they did a wonderful job composing themselves after loses and sticking together playing as a unit. This is not a team with many super stars. It is a team and good teams win team sports.

Some say the Heat will never win a championship. I think they will in due time. I am sick of all the Lebron bashing that has gone on. Yes he made a mistake with "The Decision" and televised it and left Cleveland in the dark until the last minute, but so what. Get over it. If the players continue to work hard in the off season with a looming lockout, this team will be scary.

But for now it is celebration time in Dallas. I am not so sure we will see a repeat by the Mavs next year, but the new moves by the Warriors have got me excited. The NooBA draft is next Thursday, hopefully we can get a piece we need.

NBA

OKC was knocked out of the playoffs last night by the Dallas Mavericks who are playing the best basketball of their careers ever. I seriously think they will take it. They are playing team basketball and they have heart and hustle.

The heat look to knock out the Bulls tonight. And the Bulls will be knocked out unless the MVP gets an MV-Teamate. Some of the other guys on the team need to step it up. You guys can't just ride D. Rose to the finals. You have to contribute. Boozer... what are you doing on the defensive end? Hardly anything. Thank you for the offense but you are playing for a defensive team and you gotta put more effort into that side of the game. The heat have a lot of weapons you can't possibly think you will beat them by outscoring them. You need to get stops.

Let's go Bulls.

Whichever way it goes these playoffs have been the best playoffs to watch that didn't have the Warriors in a long time. Lots of close exciting games, teams giving their all, hustle, heart. It's all out there on the floor and it is great!

Guy Steals Cop Car

Suspect Steals Cop Car Then Crashes It - Watch more Funny Videos

This got my adrenaline up, imagine his. Plus the drugs he was probably on, who does this?! Crazy Mo-Fo. SMH

Bad Habits for a Young Kitten

Cat Won't Give Up Cigarettes - Watch more Funny Videos

Figs in a Blanket

I met some of Samantha's friends this past Saturday, well this past weekend, but these friends from Saturday were her friends from Santa Cruz mostly. We were just hanging out at Doreen's, recapping the night as it just happened at A3 Atmosphere on Broadway in San Francisco, when the topic of the fig comes up. Don't ask me how it came about but it just did. Doreen, being the good sport she is, happily and loyally defended her fruit friend the fig. We all poked fun at her FIGsation with figs bringing up such phrases as; "figs in a blanket," "fig'd up," and many more. Upon further search of fig puns I found this FIGure to be quite funny.

Simple yet efFIGtive. These FIGures had me giggling.

Here is some more info on the fruit in case you want to be serious.

http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/fig.html

Dirty Bynum

What a dirty dirty elbow. Way to go out like a chump Bynum.

Lil B is not a god.

Baron Davis' Beard

I love this guy.

Mirch Indian Cuisine

This place is awesome! Their lunch special is $7.95 and it's an all-you-can-eat buffet! I love Indian food. The Na'an, the curry! Oh mama! If you have a hankering for Indian food and it is a weekday and it is around lunch time, you gotta go here, you just gotta!

Conveniently located in the same shopping center as my Starbucks (stop in and get a Frappuccino during happy hour too!)* is the newly opened Mirch Indian Cuisine restaurant. It is a quaint little space with authentic Indian food. I didn't get a great look at the menu but the prices seemed decent. I think they are slightly cheaper than Monsoon Masala, which is a pretty good Indian food place also but it is kind of pricey. I guess there is a premium to be paid since this is California not India. Anyway I hope to try this place for dinner sometime in the near future so if you want to go try it with me let's make it happen!

*(3-5pm everyday until the 15th of May)

The Boiling Crab

So Sam and I went to boiling crab about two weeks ago. It was good! We probably got the wrong proportion of items but it was fine. We tried to order similarly to what we get at Crawdaddy so we could compare item for item.

I am sorry to say this, to all you Boiling Crab fans out there, but Crawdaddy was much better. I thought the shrimp was much better and more flavorful at Crawdaddy. I will not be a one timer and I still think boiling crab is delicious but when it comes to jumbo shrimp Crawdaddy has my vote no doubts about it. However I will continue to return to both when the opportunities present themselves to try everything.

Anyway, I still had an amazing time with Samantha gettin' our grub on! Restaurants like these are great!

What do you guys think? And what should I order the next time I go to Boiling Crab? Or when can you go?! Let's eat!

Favorite fail of the day

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/81456173/

Tangled

Just saw this movie with the G-friend. I thought it was a good movie! Disney never seems to disappoint. It is a classic Disney tale with singing and adventure and I really recommend it.

We Need More of This

Chicago Bulls Win 2011 NBA Championship!

You heard it here first!

NBA Playoffs!
The Lakers and the Spurs have both lost their first games! WTH?

Derrick Rose is Amazing!

Thunder vs. Nuggets is going to be an amazing series and the first game was proof of that. If Nene didn't tweak his leg or whatever I think the Nuggets had that one.

Portland needs to step it up! I want to see them get further.

76ers are giving the Heat a good battle.

Looks to be a competitive Playoffs this year!

Friends!

Briones Hike || April 1st, 2011

Black Sheep - The Choice is Yours

Engine engine number 9, on the New York transit line, if my train falls off the track, pick it up pick it up pick it up!

At 2:03 theres a cat. haha

Skateboard Basketball

I saw this kid at the park about a week ago. He was making it most of the time. I thought maybe it was catching on. Maybe there is a league of skateboard/basketball players.

Then I found a bunch of trick shots by the DC skate team.

Rob Dyrdek is in this one. You may have seen him make some crazy shots on his show Fantasy Factory.

By the way, Season four starts on April 4th and Big Black is back!

Some Candy for your Ears

Here is some U-N-I stuff. They are ill. I believe they are out of Inglewood, CA. Independent, unsigned.
U-N-I - Hollywood Hiatus (Cool It Now) by 495designz
U-N-I - Donkey-Kong by JAQSHET
U-N-I - Beautiful Day by mikkelstonefire

Of course I gotta provide some Lupe for ya, too. As always, enjoy. =)

17 The Show Goes On by Blind I

DumbFounDead

Dumbfoundead - Up In The Air by ayeeitsbri

Kid Cudi!! Here is a few of my favorites.

She Came Along - Kid Cudi by breezydom
Kid Cudi - Man On The Moon by truant
Kid CuDi - Dat New New by RSRL
Kid Cudi - Super Boo by getrichdieyoung
KiD CuDi - The Sky Might Fall by --->tony<---

Pic of the Day || March 22nd, 2011

We saw this little turtle trying to catch some of the last rays of sunshine of the day at Heather Farm Park in Walnut Creek.

Slack Line

Japanese Magic Show

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/81360086/

I thought this was really cool and creative.

Do you know what a Looxcie is?

Do you know what a Looxcie is? Do you even know how to pronounce it? Well now I do. 

A Looxcie, pronounced Look-see, is a bluetooth/camera that wraps around your ear just like a regular bluetooth headset. The developers wanted to create something that would allow you to video record whatever you see so that you  never miss a moment. 

By working with your smartphone, the Looxcie continuously records 4 to 5 hours of footage and allows you to save 30 second clips if you experience something that just happened, say your child's first steps or a roller coaster ride.

About three and a half weeks ago I found this thing called a Looxcie on Facebook. I saw they were having a contest and I thought, "Heck, why not? What do I have to lose?" So I entered the contest not thinking much of it or that I would ever win in a million years. 

For the contest you were asked to write a short story about a moment you wished you had on video. I sat there and thought for a moment. I figured the first time I met Samantha would be something I would want to have on camera so I wrote about that. I would hate to rub this in your face with PDA galore but it's true!

We first met on the basketball court at UCSC. I thought it was a pretty cool moment but I never thought the judges for the contest would like it as well. So I gave the contest entry my information along with the story and forgot about it.

Well, about 10 days later I get an email from a lady named Kimberly. She tells me I have won a Looxcie and that I need to respond to confirm that I am not related to anyone at the company, so I responded half skeptical and half excited. After I respond she wrote back and asked me to confirm my address and tells me that the Looxcie will be sent out to me on Monday and that they will post my entry on their Facebook page.

Hecka crazy! But I was so excited.

So Today, March 19th, 2011, I received the Looxcie!

The package was like "HAY!"

Well that was awesome! First time I have won a no purchase neccessary contest. I don't really have a use for this thing though. It only works with iphones and Androids thus far, so..... anyone interested?

Pic of the Day || March 16th, 2011

I'm not sure if Matt was yawning or making a face for the picture.

Graffiti Canvas

This is sort of a ongoing Graffiti wall.
If you are ever at my house and want to tag this, by all means do it!

My friend Sean V. gave me this idea. I'm pretty sure I could point out where he tagged if you asked me to.... at least for now. When I can, I plan to get bigger canvases and perhaps some spray to try all that craziness. 

Some call graffiti a crime and some call it art. It really is both. Graffiti done right can be visually amazing or it can be a terrible eye-sore.  Such is life really. There is a whole lot of ugly out there, but many things can be beautiful. 

Try to focus on the good.

Salmon

People I'd like to meet.

Baron Davis: He seems like a genuinely good person. I can't say that I know this to be true but from watching him on the court to hearing about what he does off it. I will go as far to say he is someone I look up to. He tries to stay connected with his fans through social networks and has his own projects that he works on (Li Ning). He is all about the team and I feel that he has the right attitude and mentality out there no matter who he is playing for. He is competitive but at the same time he doesn't take life too seriously.

Adam Sandler: Another cat that doesn't take life too seriously. This man is hilarious and I know not everyone likes him but I do. I was raised with Adam Sandler though. My cousin and my brother would always listen to his comedy albums and naturally I loved them too. If you haven't listened to them you should.

Stan and Judy's Kid

They're all gonna laugh at you!

What's your name?

What the hell happened to me?

So who would you like to meet? 

The Windup Girl

In a future Thailand struggling against gened plagues and rising seas, the most important elements of life are the calories needed to stay alive. But as iron-fisted food corporations, flawed rulers, and an impure army of environmental defenders fight to impose their views on this world, an unlikely girl—who could be the next step in human evolution—fights for the right to simply live as she wants.

(Link below SFSignal)

I can't find a bad review of this book:
http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2009/09/review-the-windup-girl-by-paolo-bacigalupi/


EnergyBulletin.net:
http://www.energybulletin.net/stories/2011-01-17/book-review-paolo-bacigalupis-windup-girl

I liked this book as well. It had an interesting plot and got progressively more intense until the very last page. I recommend it. You can borrow it if you wish! Just let me know.

Pic of the Day || March 9th, 2011

Arcade time! (6.20.2010)

Jam Session

So sometimes Sam and I have impromptu jam sessions. Here is some of that magic.

I'd love to have more jam sessions with any of you guys. 

I know you play instruments because a lot of you were in band in high school.

Mount Diablo Hike

Let's do this again.

Part 2: Black Bear Diner

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKfE7aaThPU

Swim Team Cypher

Ill.

Briones Hike 2.4.2011

Met some stranger at the summit. 

He tried to be friendly but we weren't having it. 

It was pretty awkward but it shouldn't have been.

It was a pretty long hike. Yeah, I'm going to sleep well tonite. I earned this one =)

Light Art

Ever since the first time I discovered that this was possible I have been obsessed with making light art. I really wish I had a Digital SLR but they live outside the budget of an unemployed person (Me).

All you have to do is set your camera so that it opens the shutter for an extended period of time. Usually, for photos taken in daylight, the shutter is only open for about 1/60th of a second. My camera has a mode called starry night and it allows you to take long exposure pictures. The only intervals are 15, 30 and 60 seconds, but with a digital SLR you have a much better range of different times. You can even set it to "bulb" which will allow you to keep the shutter open as long as you press the shutter button.

 I took this in Tilden Park in the Berkeley hills. I took it with my camera and moved around flashing my friend's DSLR camera's flash to get the orbs shown above.

 This was taken a long time ago on a camera that had no mode for long exposures. All it had was a high sensitivity mode which kept the shutter open for no more than 1 second probably. It is all I had to work with at the time.

 Now after you understand how it works you can get real creative. There is no limit to the possibilities it just takes some practice. 

 And maybe a little luck sometimes.

I discovered you can "write on walls" with light. 

It was a pretty awesome discovery for me.

I do what I can with the resources I have and, for the most part, I get by. When I get the money saved up I will get a DSLR and hopefully I can provide some awesome light art.

127 Hours the story of Aron Ralston

I really enjoyed this film. I just saw it just now and had to write a little bit about it. I think it is a crazy story and it made me squirm at times and flinch a little. I was scared at points even though this is not a scary movie. I kinda knew the plot going in but that didn't really ruin anything for me. Maybe I am being biased because I like James Franco but I thought it was both entertaining and a pretty cool story.

I liked some of the soundtrack, too. I love soundtracks sometimes. Sometimes the soundtrack can make or break the movie. Yet, still other times the soundtrack doesn't help or harm the movie. I think that the soundtrack was complimentary to this film.

It's probably not the kind of theatrical music that one bus driver would listen to at UCSC though.

All in all I enjoyed this one. I like the fact that he does what I do. I go out sometimes and look for adventure and bring a few things along like a camera and my sketch book and a book and my hunting knife, maybe my harmonica and some water. Just go out and see what is out there. See other people like me maybe. I don't know what I will find but that is the whole idea of adventure. I hope the weather is fair tomorrow because after seeing this film I definitely want to go out and explore some more.

Anyway just thought that I would share my thoughts on this film.