Piss-poor TV

Why can't the networks put on any good TV on saturday nights or sundays?!
So I get home from snowboarding (which was fantastic, thanks for asking) around 8:30pm on saturday night. I'm too wiped out to do anything except settle in for some TV and a couple beers. What do I get? Crap. Where are the days of USA and TNT playing solid "Guy Movies" to entertain those of us that are home watching TV on a saturday night? I want to see something with car chases, explosions, guns, fist-fights.
I wound up flipping aimlessly for a couple hours while surfing the 'net until my roommate came home. Then I just gave her and her fiance the remote and let them struggle for awhile.
Man, onec college football ends, so does all the good weekend TV. The networks know they no longer have any real competition for your time, so they'll just make you watch whatever garbage they feel like showing. What are you going to do, watch Lifetime?!

Boring Friday

Well, today is sufficiently boring. So here I am.
Pretty psyched to be going out boarding tomorrow. Sure, it'll suck being there alone, but it's better than not going at all and sitting around doing nothing all day. And it's almost February and I haven't been out on a real boarding run yet. Damn you warm weather and busy weekends!!!

Our hockey team got spanked yet again by the Ducks. We were sans our captain Alex, which probably would have helped. He's really good about setting up the lines with people that have played together and work well together. No one else knows the team as well, so no one else is as good at it. We probably still would have lost, but we would have made it closer. I got my usual 1 goal off of Goalie Tim, on a rebound of a rebound. He robs me of all my good chances, but I can usually sneak an ugly one past him.

Man, even this is boring. Today sucks so far. I'm leaving early, that's all there is to it. Go home, get ready for boarding, watch some crappy TV til about 12, then sleep for 4 hours.
And.....done.

Random Stuuff

Well, the new year is going well. I've really held to my movement of going to the gime (gym) more, which is good. I mean, I'm paying for it, might as well use it as much as possible. So any night that doesn't involve hockey or volleyball will find me at the gime.

I've joined the Ebay revolution from the seller side as well. So far I've sold an old cell phone (still awaiting payment), and am currently selling my old stereo from my WRX. Those of you who know me are well aware of what happened to said WRX and why I'll never need that stereo again. Maybe in a couple years I'll sell off the Nissan stereo, but not til I officially own that thing.

The girls are doing well. I actually plan on having Victoria's home done this weekend. I just need to trim the slate, cut the plexiglass front, and screw it all together. The new thermostat is already in use and works flawlessly. I guess it all depends on whether or not I go snowboarding on both Saturday and Sunday, or just Sat. Probably just Sat, as it'd be a full day trip to Stowe and I'll be pretty whipped on sunday. And no football to distract me. Just sweet, sweet coffee and pizza.

The no-coffee mornings are getting better. They still suck, but not as much as at first. I no longer spend the entire day wishing I was drinking some. The fact as was to begin with is a good reason to back off a little bit. And now I appreciate any coffee I do have even more.

Okay, time to roll. Enjoy, jerks.

Hockey

This post is actually going to be just shameless bragging on my part. Seems I'm actually becoming a pretty solid hockey player now, with a knack for making goals. Either scoring myself or setting up others. Case in point, 3 goals and 4 assists in the last 2 games. And earlier I had a 3-game goal streak. And our team (Boston SharpShooters) is actually getting alot better. We're winning some games, and playing well even in the ones we lose. So lots of bright spots. I doubt we'll get all the way to Toronto, but you never can tell what happens once the play-offs begin.
Oh yeah, and a big thumbs-up to the Turnpike people for opening up the exit ramp to 90W again. Sure, it's all your fault it was closed in the first-place, but at least it's back open again.
Okay, all right.

Bears reactions...
Well, it's all over. Carolina's shock-and-awe victory has brought our first encouraging season since 2001 to an end. I'm a little numb right now. Partly from all the festivities from the weekend, partly due to the game. I'm just not ready to face it and deal with it yet. But I'll put some things down here to start the healing.
First, our cornerbacks did a pretty poor job of covering Steve Smith. He's a great receiver and a key to their passing offense. And we left him in single coverage all day. And then watched our corners fall down twice while trying to run with him.
Grossman did not look like the polished, poised QB that he's supposed to be. Not the QB we saw in the Atlanta game. Was it rust, or nerves, or Carolina's D, or just lack of ability? He looked like Peyton trying to play the Pats in the play-offs. All his passes were off. Just did not seem to have that swagger he normally had.
I give Carolina credit for making us play non-Bears football. Bears football is to go out and get some form of lead (usually 3-0), then play down hill. Run the ball to eat up the clock and let the defense play against a team that needs to throw the ball. Yesterday is was reversed. They jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead and we never were able to settle into our game. We couldn't commit to the run, as we needed to get quick points. And our defense was never able to stop Carolina when they had to.
Okay, time to stop.
So how about them Cubs?! It's going to be pretty sweet when they win the World Series this year. Our rotation look solid even without Wood. And now that we have a lead-off hitter our line-up because much more dangerous. Derek Lee at the plate with a runner or 2 on is much better than with no one on and 2 outs. But it's a bit early to jump into the Cubs just yet. I'll save that for February.
And.....done.

Hockey & etc

Well, our hockey team (Boston SharpShooters) finally looked good last night. We out-played and out-hustled the other team and won 5-0. I myself put up 2 goals, 1 assist, 2 penalties. Plus, 1 of the goals was my first one-timer. The other was more vintage me, using my speed and strength to fight off a goon for a pass, then snapping it off the post. The penalties were ticky-tack and shall speak of them no more.
Anyone looking to catch us in action, here's our schedule: http://www.alexchou.com/hockey/winter/sharpshooters/schedule.php

My best friend from back home is coming out here for the weekend with his lady friend. They will heretofore be referred to as Pat & Di. They fly in tomorrow at 5:15am (jerks) at which point we'll return home for nap time, then proceed onto the idiocy.
It's doubly sweet, as the Bears have their play-off on Sunday, which means I'll have another Bears fanatic out here to watch it will. What's the word I'm looking for....oh yeah, GIDDY UP!

Work is still on-going on the new enclosure for my gecko Victoria (Police Girl). Slow, but steady. All I have left is putting on the front door, installing the slate tiles, and installing the electricals. So really 1 day if I can find a whole day to work on it. I hope to get most done tonight before Pat & Di get here tomorrow morn.

Okay, enough of this. YAHTZEE!!

Rose Bowl!!

Game Opinion
Okay, for those that stayed up til 1am EST to watch that game, you witnessed a great offensive game. Both teams were evenly matches and really fought it out well. Well, almost. USC appeared to make no attempt in the 2nd half to contain Vince Young. I can understand if he's running all over like that in the 1st half. He's good, and you already have a game plan you're sticking to. But at halftime, you need to make that adjustment. Get a safety or fast linebacker and shadow him. Where ever he goes, they go. So many times on 3 and long, they'd let him run free for 15+ yards. They had absolutely no pass rush from the front-4, so that wasn't going to do anything. Blitzing was working well, but then they stopped doing that.
And finally people will shut up with all the 'USC is the greatest college team of all time' bullshit. They aren't. They are one of the better teams of all times, but their mediocre defense just does not permit them into that upper echelon. And too many marginal teams were able to take them to the wire the last 2 years. They are great, but not compared to the greats of all time.

Anyways...it was a fitting game to end my annual season of sloth. No more living on peanuts, salsa dip, beer, and other assorted garbage. Back to real food and exercise. I was in rough shape at hockey tuesday night, so this is a good time for it all to end.
Da Bears are preparing for their run to the SuperBowl. I keep telling my Patriot-fan-friends out here that if they're lucky, it'll be a repeat of January 1986. But in reality I'm not sure. I have my doubts as to whether or not Da Bears can put up 46 point in 1 game. And if the Pats could get 10 on us. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
PEACE!!

Happy New Year!

Okay, this year I'll get serious about this. I mean it. I'd make it a resolution, but I never do any of those, so that wouldn't help much.
Christmas was a success. My GF came to Chicago with me, marking the first time a non-family member was there for Christmas. Hmmm...maybe that means something should be happening soon...
Da Bears wrapped up the NFC North, even though the reserves lost the game against Minn. First round bye and #2 seed, baby!
New Years Eve was a nice, uneventful time. Had a nice dinner with the GF, then just chilled out and waited for the countdown. Champagne, bad movies, good times.
Bowl season is almost over, and I managed to keep my 'holiday weight' to only 4 or 5 pounds. Not too bad, considering what my diet consists over during the x-mas/NYE break. I need Penn St or Texas to win to get me back to .500 on my picks. I made some odd choices and paid for it. Good thing there is only pride on the line.
Okay, I need to bone up on my engineering skill/knowledge, as I may be pursuing a design job in the very near future. I'd struggle to get through an interview right now.
PEACE!

Sorry for the delay

Long delay, my bad. But more is coming. Yes, I realize no one was reading to begin with. Making this message completely unnecessary. But it makes me happy, so shut the hell up.

Long awaited peak-oil rant

Peak Oil
I have a long-standing argument with a buddy at work over peak oil. He claims peak oil is upon us and the whole world is about to collapse. The economy will be left in tatters, people will revert to wondering bands of nomads, and society will fold in on itself.
While he may be right, I doubt it. And he cannot answer the simple question of why we've hit peak oil. Is it because there isn't enough oil in the ground any more, or do we lack the ability to pump it out at a faster rate?
Think of it this way...you have a giant tub of MoutainDew and 1 straw. Even if the tub if full, you can only get so much out of that 1 straw. So when you need to drink faster, you cannot. Now, what happens if you add a 2nd straw? You can drink your MountainDew twice as fast! (I discovered this while working at a pizza place and getting all the MD I could drink for free).
Now then, the flip side is the case where your giant tub of Dew is almost empty. Nothing but ice cubes in the bottom. No matter how many straws you cram in there, you can't get it out any faster, cause there just isn't enough left in the tub.
So, back to oil. We can hit peak oil due to either of those causes. If our issue is getting it out of the ground faster, we just need more wells and/or better ways of extracting it. It's simply a technology hurdle. But if the problem is that there is no longer enough oil in the ground, we have a real problem.
I also readily admit that we do need to come up with the next fuel source, and we need to do it quickly. Trouble is, there aren’t enough people in this country that are interested in purchasing alternate fuel vehicles to make it profitable in the near future. Therefore, the large automakers (businesses that have profits to worry about) are not going to put much R&D work into it. They just aren't going to see a return on that money in the short term. No return on your money, no profits. No profits for an extended time period, no company.
As soon as the business forecasters see an alternate fuel that they will be able to turn a profit on, they will start making cars using that.
Granted, they are starting to incorporate alternate fuels into current cars, but instead of making them more efficient, per se, many of the hybrids are using it as a way to get more performance with the same economy. Good, but not really helping the oil problems.
The fact that we're waging wars we cannot win in order to secure consistent oil supplies pretty much says where we're at. The only reason we really care about the Middle East is money. There is alot of oil out there, and alot of money in selling weapons. While this would segue quite nicely into my discussion regarding why Muslims hate us so much, I shall save that for another day.