Milwaukee and New Weezer Video

Milwaukee was awesome. It was a lot of fun to hang out with Abby and Mike.

p.s. the new Weezer music video is awesome.

An Apology and The Lakers

Yesterday Mike Piazza retired from pro baseball. Piazza is a future first ballot hall of famer who was taken by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 62 round of the draft. 62 round. that meant that a total of over 1700 other players were taken before Piazza. What makes the story even more mythical is that he was taken as a favor to then Dodgers manager (and Piazza's godfather) Tommy Lasorda. 

Piazza will probably be best known as one of the better hitters in baseball and arguably the greatest hitting catcher of all time. I want to take this opportunity to apologize to Mike Piazza. When he was traded from the Dodgers to the Marlins in early 1998 I blamed him. I blamed him for not taking the 6 or 7 year multi-million dollar deal he was rumored to have been offered by the ball club. As a fan I felt that he had decided to value money over loyalty and had slapped the face of the organization that gave him a chance. I was wrong. Piazza was just going after fair market value and I am sure that given time he would have resigned with the Dodgers. But he and the Dodgers were never given that chance. On May 15, 1998 a Dodgers executive went behind the back of then General Manager Fred Claire and traded Piazza away to the Florida Marlins. A week later the Marlins traded him to the Mets. Within two years Piazza would lead the Mets to the World Series.

In the subsequent years I, like a lot of fans booed Piazza when he returned to Dodger Stadium. I still blamed him. I was wrong. I should have been boing that Fox executive and the Fox ownership who took a once proud franchise and destroyed it in just a few short years. I'm sorry Mike. You never should have have been traded. You should have worn Dodger Blue. You never should have been booed. You deserved better.

As a last note (another sports related note), I have always believed that you cannot win a playoff series in game one - but you can lose it. The Spurs lost their series with the Lakers during game one of the Western Conference Final with the Lakers. The Spurs had control of the game and a chance to win on the Lakers home court. They had a chance to remind everyone that they are the defending champs and that they are still the team to beat. They didnt. They faded away and gave up a 20 point lead. If the Lakers are the team of the future in the Western Conference then the future arrive Wednesday night. The Lakers took the Spurs best shot and still beat them. Game Over. Series Over.

News and Notes...

So remember a few posts back when I said Apple should partner with Netflix so people could use their Apple TV to download or stream rented movies/TV shows? Well it turns out that the management of netflix are subscribers to my blog. They have created their own box top (which is much cheaper than Apple TV - 100 versus 300 dollars). And using their box top you can stream your Netflix. pretty sweet, and you netflix users have me to thank. :)

I will be spending June 13th with three of my heroes, my uncle, Vin Scully and John Wooden. I bought tickets to an event where Coach Wooden and Vinny (as us Dodger fans love to call him) will discuss their lives, careers and philosophies of success. I am super geeked to hear from these two people and learn from their experiences and advice. Should be awesome - and I get to take my uncle and I know he will appreciate it.

The Cure have decided to release a new single from their next album on the 13th of every month. This is to commemorate the release of their 13th studio album. Pretty cool that this band still manages to put out good music this late into their careers. The Only One single is still very classic Cure and yet doesnt fell or sound outdates. Kudos to Robert Smith and the rest of the Cure.

Dudes Sharing Thongs

What if I told you I was struggling at work? What if everyone noticed that I wasnt performing up to my capabilities? What should I do? Should I re-evaluate my work, try something new, take sometime off, maybe put in some extra work? Well maybe that is what I would do. But it is not what this guy would do.
Jason Giambi is a former MVP and All-star who plays for the New York Yankees and he, like the rest of his team is in a slump. So faced with this problem he did the only reasonable thing. He is now wearing a thong with flames on the waistband in order to break out of the slump. Yup - he has decided that the underwear is going to turn it all around. No extra time in the batting cage, no review of tape to see if there is something wrong with his mechanics - just a magical slump busting thong.
I should be surprised - but I am not. Anyone who has spent time around baseball players know that they are the MOST childish and juvenile characters in sports. They think the most ridiculous immature things are funny. Don't believe me hear are some pranks that occur regularly in baseball dugouts.

1. Gum on top of cap. Player A will blow a huge bubble and then become a mini James Bond. The player will stealthy place the giant bubble on top of Player B's hat. Thats it - thats the joke.

2. Lighting someone's shoes on fire. People will light the back of people shoes on fire. The easier thing is to simply tie the shoes together.
3. Shoving a tin full of shaving cream in someone's face. Just watch the fear and paranoia on J.J. Putz's face.

No none of that surprises me. What does surprise me is the Derek Jeter shares the thong with Jason when HE is in a slump. Are you kidding me who shares thongs. Who shares thongs because they think it is going to make them better at their job. Craziness. But honestly, this is normal for baseball players.

Office Thats What She Said Remix...

Church and Movies...

So I went to my cousin's first holy communion today and it was nice to be back in church; especially after all of the issues that have been going on in my family. Just this past week we learned that for all intents and purposes my grandfather's radiation therapy was a success and the cancer that was in his throat is gone. It was so moving to go through the rituals of mass. To be in a space where it was OK to take the time to reflect on things. Looking to my left I could see my aunt tear up as she watched her daughter take her first communion. All I could think about was all the emotions she had to be experiencing. The love for her daughter, the relief over her father, and her belief (my belief) that God has played a role in all of it. I don't got to church very often, but when I go I am reminded of why I haven't lost my faith. I feel something special when I am there. I feel good, I feel at peace, I feel like with all the things going on in my life someone (God and family) care. I dont know, I just feel in my heart of hearts that there is a God who loves me and cares about me and wants me to love and care for those around me.

Now on a completely different topic... movies. This Monday I will be stepping out to watch IRONMAN - which I am very excited about. This past Thursday I saw Forgetting Sarah Marshall and it was awesome. Here is the thing about the movies that Judd Apatow has decided to produce, they take the essential romantic comedy but do it in such a fun, out of the norm way that its just great to watch (Knocked Up, 40 Year Old Virgin...). For example, Forgetting Sarah Marshall is little more than a 'break-up/move on and find a new love' movie. However, the context of the film, the type of comedy, and the acting is just fresh and original. In no other romantic comedy will you see puppets, a rock opera about Dracula, and Jason Segel's penis.

In contrast you have nonsense like Made of Honor starring Patrick Dempsey. Ok, so the plot of this romantic comedy is that Patrick Dempsey is asked to be the Maid of Honor at his best friend's wedding. He has known the best friend his entire life but has never had feelings for her until he now realizes that she is going to marry someone else. So, Patrick Dempsey's character decides to sabotage the wedding. I liked this movie the first time I saw it ... when it was called MY BEST FRIENDS WEDDING!!! Are you people serious!?!?!? Its the same damn film. And don't give me any of this, but he is a guy and he is going to be the maid of honor nonsense. It's a stupid ridiculous premise.

Ugg, and if that is not bad enough we have What Happens In Vegas.... Really? You are going to use a tired expression about Las Vegas as the title of your movie. So you already have a movie with a bad title - maybe you can make up with it with the acting. Who are the lead actors you ask? Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz. Oh boy! How come it took Hollywood so long to get these two acting powerhouses together on the big screen (p.s. in case you cant tell I am being sarcastic). I have been seeing bus advertisements all over for this movie and they read "Cameron v Ashton". Listen, the only way you could get me to go see this turd is if you added the words "to the death" to that tag line. Thats right, only if you promised me that one of these two talentless hacks were going to kick the butt would I see this frickin' thing. Oh and before, people get upset about me calling Ashton Kutcher talentless lets take a look at his body of work. He was a semi-successful model, then he played a good looking idiot on That 70s Show, and then he created a hidden camera television show (real original - has anyone ever heard of Cadid Camera or TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes). All the man did was take an ID from the 80s and warm it over for a bunch of kids in the present who cant remember anything older than 15 minutes.

Promise to myself...

Sometime in the next 12 months I will have to be at Fenway during a game just so I can do this...

This Just In...

Prince is the f'ing man. that is all. 

Japan and Paying for School.

So last Thursday I had a very cool experience. One of my classes video conferenced with students at a top university in Japan. It was a very cool way to find out how colleges operate in another country and what life is like for people half way across the world. Here are something I learned.

1. College students in Japan are even more career oriented than in the U.S.

2. Social interaction on college campuses there is very hard to come by.

3. I want a phone that plays and records live TV.

Seriously, I learned a lot of cool things. I got to ask students about what they do for fun and how likely it is for kids who parents never went to college to get into a college in Japan. But all of that was trapped by one moment. At one point a students phone went off and the class wanted to see it. The phone looked like a real sleek blackberry. But the student then explained that you could watch live TV on the screen. even better you could put in a small memory card and record live TV and watch the show later. Take that apple - where is my live television. The entire class was impressed and overwhelmed with that kind of technology. Why do I need to download old shows and movies when this technology is out there. Why are we so behind? If we can watch and record TV on a phone we can do anything. Next stop - jet pack!

p.s. I need to make sure that I find a summer job. I am taking over 6000 dollars in classes this summer. How many classes am I taking you may ask? TWO! Whats worse is that of the over 6000 dollars I am spending 40% is being spent on a class where all I do is work for free. I have an unpaid summer internship with a department at USC and that constitutes two units of my fieldwork class. I am paying the people I work for so that I can work for them for free. The only other people who pay the people who they work for are prostitutes. It hurts my head to even think about it. I swear sometimes I think grad school is all just a hustle.