Cocoa

Cocoa - My favorite cat. That's what I told Jessica this morning upon getting confirmation about the sad news.
Honestly, of all the cats I have ever come into contact with, Cocoa had the nicest personality. Yes, a strange word to use for a cat, but this cool cat had a personality.

Unfortunately, I know personally that there are no words that anyone can say to ease the pain.
The news made me think of and miss Shasta very much. The wounds are still relatively fresh...

So, to the Chan Family, this is the best I can do as a memorial to Cocoa...

I think all of these pictures were taken Thanksgiving 2006. I wish I had taken more pictures of her last year.

New game

For those of you who live in Singapore, I just thought of a new game/challenge for you.

Game: My bicycle collection

Objective: To collect as many bicycles as possible

How to play: Run down as many f**kers as possible and take their bicycles from them OR crush them and their bicycles under your vehicle (extra points for that!!)

The bicyclists in Singapore are a very interesting breed. They want and have the best of both worlds, the pedestrian world and the automobile/driver world. And they take advantage of that. A few postings ago, I brought up the fact that they use their cellphones while riding on the road. So, I take it they are not treated as drivers of automobiles. However, they ride across the roads on pedestrian crossing and crosswalks. And they ride along sidewalks. But when it suits them, they weave in and out of traffic.

They are just plain annoying... oh yes, and most of them are the foreign talent Singapore has imported... so, like the rest of their fellow foreign talent, most of them have no regard for the law of the land, they are rude and loud... they are just... WTF?????

Who's making all the money?

Crude oil prices have fallen 57% from it's high. If my math is correct, crude oil has dropped by more than half. 

WHY HAS OUR GAS PRICES AT THE PUMP NOT HALVED????

When crude oil prices were rising, the gas companies did not hesitate to raise prices at the pump? Sometimes, in the same week, your would see 3-4 jumps in prices.

Well, it's time to make it work in the other direction.

STOP f**king cheating the consumers.

Active Tuesday morning here...

Great Monday Night game!!
Chris Johnson is Offensive Rookie of the Year!

Go Titans!
Best offensive line in the NFL this year.

And I know all this, how?
I love justin... justin.tv, that is. Google it. Live streaming of almost all NFL games and many college games. Not great quality at times, a little laggy at times, but hey, beggars can't be choosers!

Tuesday is a rather free day for me at work (well, right now it is), so, watched almost the entire game on justin.tv.

Anyway, besides that, I wanted to comment on a few things.

UW's Willingham to step down at end of season

It's not his fault he coaches a f**ked up Husky team. Well, maybe. He just picks the wrong teams to coach... Irish? Huskies? Look for a WAC team.

Barkley to run for Governer

I would move to Alabama just to vote for Charles. I would vote for him everyday and twice on Sunday... lol!


Oh HELL YEAH!!
The monday night game is over but the person streaming it is letting the stream continue on to Sportscenter... da da de de de, dn dn dn!!!


Bailout for carmakers

What next? I tell you... bailout for airlines too.
I didn't agree with the original $700-800B bailout for financial institutions and definitely don't agree with this new bailout talk for carmakers.
Where are the principles of a free economy? Why the government intervention?
The financial institutions dug their own graves. Not enough risk governance, very loose credit policies, etc, etc. Let those who f**ked up fall by the side. Just like in the animal kingdom, I think it is comparable to genetic selection.
The car companies have been doing very badly for the last 7-10 years. They have made no effort to keep up with the times, and definitely no effort to keep up with the Japanese carmakers. And then there are those damn f**king unions. Well, let them fail and let the unions find jobs for their members. Unions wanted to play hardball. This is what you get for playing hardball and to the carmakers, hire non-union employees!

and lastly...

Fortune.com article on Mark to Market accounting

I have said this many times to people I have spoken with regarding the current economic crisis. If you understand the dynamics, there is really no crisis. However, because of the accounting standards that are mentioned in the article, the financial institutions had no choice in the accounting world. They had to value the real estate and it's derivatives that had little to no value at that moment. It DOESN'T mean that the real estate is worth nothing. Real estate is something that will always be worth something, if not now, eventually. So, those values are not realistic because, in 3, 5, 10 years, when the economy recovers, they will all be worth something again. The crisis is caused by humans. People started panicking and either started selling their investments, thus putting a stress on liquidity for financial institutions and/or starting withdrawing funds from the bank, setting up runs on banks.

Everything we saw, initially, on this economic crisis were all paper based, not real life. The panic and irrationality of peoples' reaction has now caused a much bigger crisis that is much harder to reign back in.

But the good news is...

I got to watch the USC/Arizona game live. I actually got to watch a few games this weekend. Some of them over the internet. But the USC game was live on Singapore TV. That was pretty cool and definitely made my weekend.

I hear there's gonna be an NFL game tonight at 1am and since tomorrow is a public holiday, I will definitely try to catch that. I'm excited!!!

Got killed again this weekend...

When 1 for 5 with one more game to be played tomorrow. Pretty bad.

Should have played the ones I didn't dare to play. For those, I went 4 for 6.

(My calls in Blue, correct calls in Green and incorrect calls in Red.)


Games I would (and probably have) put money on (my picks in GREEN):

New Mexico St 48 Idaho 24 (NMSt -13)

NM St 14 Idaho 20

Duke 13 Vanderbilt 30 (Vandy -10.5)

Duke 10 Vandy  7

Baylor 20 Nebraska 38 (Nebraska -13)
Baylor 20 Nebraska 32

Notre Dame 35 Washington 13 (ND -11) Totally against my principles... but...

ND 33 Washington  7

Central Florida 17 Tulsa 52 (Tulsa -24)

to be played on Sunday

Utah St 17 Fresno St 45 (Fresno St -14.5)
Utah St 28 Fresno St 30

Games I would love to put money on, but have no guts:

Colorado @ Missouri (Missouri -24.5)
The high powered offense of Missouri has lost 2 games in a row. They are not going to lose this one. However, Colorado is not that bad of a team and I am not sure if they are going to cover the spread.

Missouri 58 Colorado 0

Troy @ North Texas (Troy -24)
I don't know much about these teams except that North Texas is BAD. The only reason they don't get mentioned like the Washington schools are that they don't come from a BCS conference. But they are just terrible. However, because I don't know too much about Troy, I wouldn't really bet on them either. Troy to win, but by how much? Your guess is as good as mine.

Troy 44 N Texas 17

Minnesota @ Purdue (pick em)
My call is on Minnesota (sorry to my wife and all her friends). Purdue is not playing very good football these days. Last weeks loss to Northwestern was just... bad. Minnesota is not that much better, but I think they have a slight edge. Only thing going for Purdue in this game is that they are playing in West Lafayette. Minnesota by 3.

Minn 17 Purdue 6

Kentucky @ Florida (Florida -26)
Florida is going to win this game. Just not by 26 points. So, I am picking Kentucky (but not to win, just Florida not covering the spread) Kentucky is a decent team. I am not sure the Gators are going to be able to run up that many points against them. Plus, it's a bias call... Go Rich Brooks!!

Kentucky 5 Florida 63

USC @ Arizona (USC -15)
I don't know why I am scared to make this bet. USC is going to do what they do best... trample over their opponents. There is no team in the PAC 10 that is going to stop them. They may run into some problems at Cal but other than that, they should be running the table. Arizona is erratic, maybe that's why I am not willing to pick USC by that point spread. USC is going to win, just by how much.

USC 17 Arizona 10

Michigan St @ Michigan (MSU -4.5)
Michigan is so bad this year, this should be a no brainer. But... I just don't know. The Spartans are not showing any consistency. This might just be the game that RR turns the Wolverine program around.

Michigan St 35 Michigan 21

CFB Predictions (Week 9)

This is done for the hell of it. If you decide you want to use what I am posting, you are doing so at your own risk.
(ATS w/ $ 9-13 (69%). ATS no $ 10-19 (53%). SU 28-33 (85%).

Games I would (and probably have) put money on (my picks in GREEN):

New Mexico St 48 Idaho 24 (NMSt -13)

Duke 13 Vanderbilt 30 (Vandy -10.5)

Baylor 20 Nebraska 38 (Nebraska -13)

Notre Dame 35 Washington 13 (ND -11) Totally against my principles... but...

Central Florida 17 Tulsa 52 (Tulsa -24)

Utah St 17 Fresno St 45 (Fresno St -14.5)

Games I would love to put money on, but have no guts:

Colorado @ Missouri (Missouri -24.5)

The high powered offense of Missouri has lost 2 games in a row. They are not going to lose this one. However, Colorado is not that bad of a team and I am not sure if they are going to cover the spread.

Troy @ North Texas (Troy -24)

I don't know much about these teams except that North Texas is BAD. The only reason they don't get mentioned like the Washington schools are that they don't come from a BCS conference. But they are just terrible. However, because I don't know too much about Troy, I wouldn't really bet on them either. Troy to win, but by how much? Your guess is as good as mine.

Minnesota @ Purdue (pick em)

My call is on Minnesota (sorry to my wife and all her friends). Purdue is not playing very good football these days. Last weeks loss to Northwestern was just... bad. Minnesota is not that much better, but I think they have a slight edge. Only thing going for Purdue in this game is that they are playing in West Lafayette. Minnesota by 3.

Kentucky @ Florida (Florida -26)

Florida is going to win this game. Just not by 26 points. So, I am picking Kentucky (but not to win, just Florida not covering the spread) Kentucky is a decent team. I am not sure the Gators are going to be able to run up that many points against them. Plus, it's a bias call... Go Rich Brooks!!

USC @ Arizona (USC -15)

I don't know why I am scared to make this bet. USC is going to do what they do best... trample over their opponents. There is no team in the PAC 10 that is going to stop them. They may run into some problems at Cal but other than that, they should be running the table. Arizona is erratic, maybe that's why I am not willing to pick USC by that point spread. USC is going to win, just by how much.

Michigan St @ Michigan (MSU -4.5)

Michigan is so bad this year, this should be a no brainer. But... I just don't know. The Spartans are not showing any consistency. This might just be the game that RR turns the Wolverine program around. 

Huge games this week:

7 Oklahoma St @ 1 Texas

Would love to see the Longhorns lose this one and once again open up the BCS. However, Texas has been looking extremely good (never thought those words would ever come out of my mouth). They have been efficiently destroying their opponents. And, I doubt they are going to trip up this week.

9 Georgia @ 11 LSU

Crazy game. No idea who will win. Will be an excellent game to watch even though it is probably going to be low scoring.

3 Penn St @ 10 Ohio St

Penn St should give JoePa a win here and (my wish) a national championship this year. And then JoePa can go rest cos he should be doing that and not stressing out on the sidelines (or in the booth). This will be Penn St's statement game if they win. A win with a Texas loss will most likely vault them over Bama.

Interesting story of the week

Read this article. It's one of the most interesting stories I have read in a long time.

Jamaica maaan!

How can you lose FIVE HUNDRED loads of sand and (1) not see a thing and (2) not know where it is gone. Well, possibly only in Jamaica...

Policeman 1: aye mahn, someone's stealing the sarnd from deh beech.

Policeman 2: it's ok mahn, let's just finish dis reefer mahn.

Policeman 1: ok mahn
takes a deep inhale, coughs, inhales again and coughs some more...

Policeman 2: aye mahn, who's stealing what sarnd from deh beach?

Policeman 1: they all gone mahn... but dis is good shiiit mahn... is it da pineapple express stuff mahn?

Policeman 2: yeah mahn... da sand looks fine mahn.

Policeman 1: ok mahn, let's harve another reefer dan mahn...

AND 500 truck loads of sand disappear.

Congratulations

A big congratulations to Jon and Yeon Su on the birth of Na-Yeh.

She's a big girl. 9 lbs 11 ounces... wow!

Double Standards 2

Why is it that everyone in a car has to buckle up (seatbelt, that is) while a truck (aka as lorry over here) can carry a sh*t load of people in the flatbed, obviously none of them with a seat belt?? Remember that the truck is usually open air (no roof), barely any protection on it's sides (no such thing as side airbags and had but a tailgate. Trucks were not meant to ferry people around. But it's ok to do so, but no ok to sit in a car without putting on a seatbelt. I wonder...

Double Standards

Why is it that it is illegal for automobile drivers to use cellphones while driving BUT there is no rule/law against bicyclists from using cellphones while riding their bikes?

For my American friends who read this blog and have never been to Singapore, just take any picture of China or India and that's what Singapore looks like these days. Actually, to the Bay Area residents, just imagine Critical Mass but with Chinese and Indians instead of hippie looking messenger boys and girls. Tons of bicyclists and many of them on cellphones, some of them losing their balance. It is just f**king irritating.

Cheyenne's 1st Birthday

Jessica complains that there is too much nonsense on this blog. So, here's a dose of not so much nonsense.
Cheyenne is Jessica's niece. These are some pictures from her 1st birthday party.




The birthday girl fixing her hat.





It is still not quite right, so, let me adjust it again.






Birthday girl with Grandma (Jessica's Mom)









And I have got to keep cutting these things for how long??

Singapore F1 Night Race

This is our experience at the Singapore F1.
The video clip is not of the best quality with peoples' heads popping in and out... but for a home video, I think it'll do.



This is my first experience ever at a F1 race. And it'll probably be my last.
Personally, I have no interest in this event.
Don't get me wrong, it was a great experience.
But, I just have no interest.
And if you don't believe I have no interest, ask Jessica. I had to ask her about the results of a race that I had just personally witnessed.

In addition, think about it, if you have to wait 2 mins to see a car for 3 seconds. That amounts to the equivalent of waiting ONE HOUR to see something for NINETY SECONDS. I don't get it.
Like I said, it was fun while it lasted. It was a great first experience (you know, being a virgin...) but I will most likely not be back.
Watching it on TV actually made slightly more sense.
I can say I was part of history... and that's good enough for me.

DuckVision 2.0

This is what I have been trying to download for the longest time.
The $2million scoreboard that will put some of the pro football teams to shame.

This week had much better results...

(My calls in Blue, correct calls in Green and incorrect calls in Red.)

Games I would (and probably have) put money on (my picks in GREEN):

Yippee! Went 4 for 5!! I'm back...

Purdue 17 Northwestern 24 (NWestern -4)

Purdue 26 Northwestern 48

Indiana 20 Illinois 42 (Illinois -15.5)

Indiana 13 Illinois 55

Idaho 17 Louisiana Tech 45 (LA Tech -20.5)

Idaho 14 LA Tech 46

Arkansas 13 Kentucky 27 (Kentucky -7.5)

Arkansas 20 Kentucky 21

Oregon St 42 Washington 16 (OR St -16)

Oregon St 34 Washington 13



Games I would love to put money on, but have no guts:

And I went 2 for 6 on these calls. That's why I wouldn't put money on them...

UConn @ Rutgers (UConn -1.5)
Rutgers is not the Rutgers it has been the last 2 years. UConn is not that good either but will pull a win off.

UConn 10 Rutgers 12

Utah St @ Nevada (Nevada -22.5)
See last week's take on Utah St. In fact, see last week's take on Nevada too. Nevada should walk all over Utah St... everyone does. But Nevada is Nevada and when they were supposed to walk all over NM St, they not only did not, they lost!!

Utah St 17 Nevada 44

USC @ Washington St (USC -42.5)
Yes, Wazzu is the Pac 10 doormat, but, surely Pete Carroll has some kindness in him and won't run up the score on this Wazzu team that has been depleted by injuries???

USC 69 WSU 0 (OMG!! Pete, Pete, Pete, how could you?)

Texas Tech @ Texas A&M (TT -21)
Texas Tech is a good team. I'm just not certain they can cover the spread. They have the ability to, I don't know if they will.

TT 43 T A&M 25

Wisconsin @ Iowa (Iowa -3.5)
This seems like a no-brainer wager. However, the odd-makers probably know something we don't.

Wisconsin 16 Iowa 38

Michigan @ Penn St (Penn St -24.5)
Yes, Penn St is that good. And yes, Michigan is that bad. They lost to Toledo last week. Lost to who? Yes, Toledo. RR, in his first year, is rebuilding. But, they are really that bad.

Michigan 17 Penn St 46

CFB Predictions (Week 8)

This is done for the hell of it. If you decide you want to use what I am posting, you are doing so at your own risk.
(ATS w/ $ 5-8 (63%). ATS no $ 8-13 (62%). SU 19-22 (86%).

Games I would (and probably have) put money on (my picks in GREEN):

Purdue 17 Northwestern 24 (NWestern -4)

Indiana 20 Illinois 42 (Illinois -15.5)

Idaho 17 Louisiana Tech 45 (LA Tech -20.5)

Arkansas 13 Kentucky 27 (Kentucky -7.5)

Oregon St 42 Washington 16 (OR St -16)

Games I would love to put money on, but have no guts:

UConn @ Rutgers (UConn -1.5)

Rutgers is not the Rutgers it has been the last 2 years. UConn is not that good either but will pull a win off.

Utah St @ Nevada (Nevada -22.5)

See last week's take on Utah St. In fact, see last week's take on Nevada too. Nevada should walk all over Utah St... everyone does. But Nevada is Nevada and when they were supposed to walk all over NM St, they not only did not, they lost!!

USC @ Washington St (USC -42.5)

Yes, Wazzu is the Pac 10 doormat, but, surely Pete Carroll has some kindness in him and won't run up the score on this Wazzu team that has been depleted by injuries???

Texas Tech @ Texas A&M (TT -21)

Texas Tech is a good team. I'm just not certain they can cover the spread. They have the ability to, I don't know if they will.

Wisconsin @ Iowa (Iowa -3.5)

This seems like a no-brainer wager. However, the odd-makers probably know something we don't. 

Michigan @ Penn St (Penn St -24.5)

Yes, Penn St is that good. And yes, Michigan is that bad. They lost to Toledo last week. Lost to who? Yes, Toledo. RR, in his first year, is rebuilding. But, they are really that bad. 

Amazing!

What's amazing?

It's just f**king blows my mind how many people want to talk about the "subprime crisis" and then the follow up "credit crisis" and everything related to how all these gigantic financial institutions are falling, when they don't know ANY-F**KING-THING about it.

That's whats amazing...

I would assume that before one talks about something, they would attempt to know a little about it. Or find out enough to sound like one knows a little about it. So, first, find out what the meaning of "subprime" is... it is the basis of how this whole thing got started anyway. 

However, since we are on that topic. "subprime" borrowers have existed for tens of years. They are NOT the only cause of the "subprime crisis". "Subprime Lending" is extremely lucrative to banks/lenders and, I repeat, is NOT the entire reason for this financial crisis. 

I could explain it all to you, but what that would that do for you if you don't learn it yourself, right? WRONG! I could explain it to you, but believe me, someday (it may already be happening), this will be the subject of someone's MBA or PhD thesis... meaning, it is just way to long to explain and requires a lot more research than I care to do at the moment.

Is my education valid?

As some of you know, I recently started a new job. I am not going to elaborate on that any further on this blog, so, don't ask.

However, I am going to share some thoughts and discoveries.

First the positives.

1) I have had and will get more training in my current job in the first year than I ever got in my 5 plus years in my previous job.

2) That the emphasis on catering to the LEARNING NEEDS of the students are a focus is a HUGE advance in the education system in Singapore that I never expected.

and lastly

3) Understanding that knowledge (book or paper smart) without skill doesn't improve employability, even though late, is GREAT.

I am not going to state the negatives. Well, I am going to try not to. But I have one major point to bring up and it has to deal with the title of this post.

In my 2 and a half weeks (13 days) of hire, I have had to attend almost 10 days of classes. Some of the classes repeat different theories (kind of a reinforcement tool, I think). 3 of the classes have portions (or the entire class) dedicated to assessment theories, methods and tools. 

And the thing I keep hearing is:

When you are using a test (like a quiz or exam that contains multiple choice questions or short answer questions or even essays) as an assessment tool, you have to always check for the "validity of the assessment against the learning". 

It keeps being stressed upon as if it is a new idea... which leads me to wonder if previously, tests were set and had no validity to the learning.

I can't imagine otherwise. If not, why would this topic be brought up so many times. 

As far as I can remember, in my previous profession as a corporate trainer, the only way you could ask a test question, is if you had mentioned it in the material. Or, in the case of some trainers who did not help set the test questions, they taught the material toward the answers to the test questions. The test questions ALWAYS remained valid to the material and that's the only way I can see it. Why the revelation? And the stress on "validity"?

Did our tests, when I was in school, not have "validity", therefore, it is invalid, therefore, my education was invalid?

Ikea Singapore. OMG!!!! WHERE TF is your customer service???

I wanted to go to bed. I need to go to bed. BUT, this nagging feeling inside me has made me blog.

We went to Ikea this evening.

To it's credit. It probably has Singapore's best return policy. 100 day return policy, HOWEVER, you are to return the product "with the original packaging...". I am not too clear if I am supposed to bring the OPENED original packaging back or am I supposed to bring the item back unopened. Whatever the case, it still probably has the best return policy in Singapore.

That's the good news.

Now the bad news.

Where the f**k is your customer service in the word customer service????

Ikea charges you 10 cents per plastic bag if you want you stuff bagged. Ok, so, you don't want your stuff bagged,  but the shopping cart can't go into the parking lot. Do you know how inconvenient it is, if you are shopping by yourself, to carry 20 small items and 2 large items??? Obviously you don't, otherwise, you wouldn't have such policies...

Then you have to bag the shit yourself, while pulling credit cards or cash out for YOU to collect your money... and while the cashier smiles at you with an outstretched hand.

Now, at the beginning of the cashier line, there is a sign that says "Please turn the label towards the cashier". So, this human being (supposedly) you hire can't turn the label to the scanner themselves... hmmm, one wonders what you are paying for. You pay peanuts, you get monkeys.

And if you buy glass items, you have to wrap them up yourselves, about 40-50m away from the cashiers.

So, what exactly does your cashier do? Just ring up the item. Do you know that if you are cutting costs, I can actually do that myself too????? Don't believe me, go take a trip to grocery stores in the US (Safeway and Albertsons/Lucky) or to Home Depot. 

If you don't want to do anything for me... don't do it. But don't f**king expect me to do everything myself while your cashier just stands there and stares at me.

You charge 10 cents a plastic bag... and what exactly is that for. I am sure your cost for the plastic bag is not 10 cents and therefore, logically, you are making a profit of of it too... 

WTF?????????

You sell overpriced cheap shit, because you are a EUROPEAN (woooooo!!) company in a country where foreign stuff is looked up upon (that's our stupid fault). 

You don't provide any customer service... 

AND you charge me to check out while doing most of the checking out myself EXCEPT COLLECT YOUR F**KING MONEY... 

Give me ONE (JUST ONE is enough, 'cos you might have to crack your brains to go beyond that) good reason why I should continue shopping with you. 

I know losing just me as a customer won't matter to you. 

But, me blogging will... 

Good f**king night!!

So much for my new profession

I got totally smacked silly this weekend... my calls in blue, correct calls in green, incorrect calls in red.

1 for 4 after going 4 for 4 last week...

Tulsa 62 SMU 17 (Tulsa -25)

Tulsa 37 SMU 31

Texas 20 Oklahoma 30 (Oklahoma -7)

Texas 45 Oklahoma 35

New Mexico 13 BYU 44 (BYU -23.5)

New Mexico 3, BYU 21

San Jose St 36 Utah St 13 (SJSU -14.5)

SJSU 30 Utah St 7


Games I would love to put money on, but have no guts:

AND I WENT 3 OUT OF 7 FOR THIS... 

Toledo @ Michigan (Michigan -16)
Michigan has not done really well this season, but this is a home game against a lowly Toledo. I don't see the score being under a 30 point win. But then, it's Michigan....

Toledo 13 Michigan 10... should have known better to make this call. Thank God I knew better and didn't put money.

Washington St @ Oregon St (OSU -30)
WSU is the doormat of the Pac 10. I would pick against them 9 out of 10 times. This is the one time I won't do it. I am not sure if the Beavers can make the spread. But if I played, I would pick the Beavers.

WSU 13 OSU 66... Go Beavs. I didn't really mean that. But, they helped me save some face this weekend...

Idaho @ Fresno St (FSU -34)
Again, the spread. Idaho is the the WAC's version of Washington St. And by that, I meant.. doormat. Well, the WAC has 2 doormats Idaho and Utah St. I think Fresno is going to be able to cover the spread and run all over Idaho, but that's exactly what I thought would happen last week against Hawaii and guess what, Fresno lost. So, I would like to call Fresno in this one, but just have no guts to put mulah on it.

Idaho 32 Fresno St 45... 

Tennessee @ Georgia (Georgia -13)
I think the loss to Alabama last week was a good wake up call and at the same time, it has taken the pressure off of them. I think they rebound this week against a really not so good Tennessee team. Georgia by 2 touchdowns.

Tenn 14 Georgia 26... missed by 1? does that count as a win? sigh...

Purdue @ Ohio St (OSU -18.5)
I would take Purdue on this one. I think Ohio St is going to win but just not by a 18.5 point spread. Ohio St 34 Purdue 20.

Purdue 3 Ohio St 16

Arizona St @ USC (USC -28)
I am not comfortable with a 28 point spread. But then, it's USC and they had to score that one last touchdown against the Ducks last week. So, I would make the call ASU, but not with 100% confidence.

ASU 0 USC 27

New Mexico St @ Nevada (Nevada -19)
Nevada. Except... no guts.

NM St 48 Nevada 45

CFB Predictions (Week 7)

This is done for the hell of it. If you decide you want to use what I am posting, you are doing so at your own risk.

(ATS w/ $ 4-4 (100%). ATS no $ 5-6 (83%). SU 10-11 (91%).

Games I would (and probably have) put money on (my picks in GREEN):

Tulsa 62 SMU 17 (Tulsa -25)

Texas 20 Oklahoma 30 (Oklahoma -7)

New Mexico 13 BYU 44 (BYU -23.5)

San Jose St 36 Utah St 13 (SJSU -14.5)

Games I would love to put money on, but have no guts:

Toledo @ Michigan (Michigan -16)

Michigan has not done really well this season, but this is a home game against a lowly Toledo. I don't see the score being under a 30 point win. But then, it's Michigan....

Washington St @ Oregon St (OSU -30)

WSU is the doormat of the Pac 10. I would pick against them 9 out of 10 times. This is the one time I won't do it. I am not sure if the Beavers can make the spread. But if I played, I would pick the Beavers.

Idaho @ Fresno St (FSU -34)

Again, the spread. Idaho is the the WAC's version of Washington St. And by that, I meant.. doormat. Well, the WAC has 2 doormats Idaho and Utah St. I think Fresno is going to be able to cover the spread and run all over Idaho, but that's exactly what I thought would happen last week against Hawaii and guess what, Fresno lost. So, I would like to call Fresno in this one, but just have no guts to put mulah on it.

Tennessee @ Georgia (Georgia -13)

I think the lost to Alabama last week was a good wake up call and at the same time, it has taken the pressure off of them. I think they rebound this week against a really not so good Tennessee team.  Georgia by 2 touchdowns.

Purdue @ Ohio St (OSU -18.5)

I would take Purdue on this one. I think Ohio St is going to win but just not by a 18.5 point spread. Ohio St 34 Purdue 20.

Arizona St @ USC (USC -28)

I am not comfortable with a 28 point spread. But then, it's USC and they had to score that one last touchdown against the Ducks last week. So, I would make the call ASU, but not with 100% confidence.

New Mexico St @ Nevada (Nevada -19)

Nevada. Except... no guts.

Games of interest but no interest to call:

UCLA @ Oregon (Oregon -18)

For obvious reasons, you know how I would make this call. However, with Oregon's QB situation, there is no reasonable reason I would make a call on an 18 point spread. A "W" is satisfactory.

Notre Dame @ North Carolina (NC -8.5)

For those of you who know me, you definitely know how I would make this call. I just want ND to lose their remaining games so that no one can say they should go to a bowl.

Penn St @ Wisconsin (Penn St -6)

Great game. Would love to have been able to watch it. I think it might be much closer than the spread.

GAME OF THE WEEK:

LSU @ Florida St (FSU -6.5)

If I had to make a call, I would take LSU. I personally do not believe FSU will cover the spread, in fact, I do not believe they will win. 

What am I teaching?

I am tired of answering all your questions... 

cos I still f**king do not know...

but some suggestions, and I would really like to share these suggestions that my so called friends thought I should be teaching....

the harmless ones:

- football 101 (the American kind, not the kind we call soccer)

- gavin-ism (whatever the hell that is)

- how to plan a camping trip (like we really need a class for that... just invite Kit Wah and Bernard, it should solve ALL your problems!!!)

the rude ones:

- mofo 101 (you know who you are... I don't even know if this means anything)

- sex ed (thanks Chuck)

- ladies 101 (and I am not even a mack.... wtf????)

- sign language (here's one for you)

- cutting class

- do what I say, not what I do (thanks!)

- cheating (but don't get caught)

- gambling 101... I like this one... (and I think I might actually be good at this... this post to be followed by my college football predictions for this weekend)...

That's as much as I can remember, but F**K YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR RUDE SUGGESTIONS!!!

And, let me repeat, I still have no clue what I am teaching... 2 weeks into the job... and I really don't give a f**k. Thanks for you concern. I am just glad I have a job. You who have should be too.

Ben & Henry

Lending that insurance company another $30B more?

Lending them $70B in the first place??

$700B bailout/rescue package, whatever the hell it is called?

And now... buying stock in financial institutions...

And I thought it was a free economy that America prescribed...

In my limited understanding of economics, a "free economy" is...

WHEN A BUSINESS RUNS OUT OF MONEY, IT F**KING SHUTS DOWN...

What the hell are Ben and Henry smoking? It must be the real good stuff... 'cos, they are beginning to act as if Harold and Kumar are running the Fed and Treasury!!! After they have smoked a whole bowl of that good stuff... maybe from the Pineapple Express strain... 

Why let Lehman fall and not AIG?

Why help ML and Wachovia? But not IndyMac?

Is there something we are not being told??????

I will leave it as that....

But seriously, new profession?

My calls in BLUE 

Correct calls in GREEN

Wrong calls in RED

Florida Gators 45 Arkansas Razorbacks 17 (Gators -25.5)

Gators 38 Razorbacks 7

Nevada Wolfpack 52 Idaho Vandals 16 (Wolfpack -24)

Wolfpack 49 Vandals 14

TCU Horned Frogs 48 San Diego St Aztecs 12 (Horned Frogs -24.5)

Frogs 41 Aztecs 7

Arizona Wildcats 47 Washington Huskies 17 (Wildcats -22.5)

Wildcats 48 Huskies 14

I went 4 for 4 for games I would put money on.

Now on to games I made calls but didn't fell comfortable putting money on.

Oklahoma @ Baylor (Okla - 24.5)

Sooners 49 Bears 17

Stanford @ ND (ND -6.5) Stanford sucks real bad, but I hate ND. And ND is at home...

Cardinal 21 Irish 28

Illinois @ Michigan (Michigan -2.5) One of the more interesting games of the week. I don't think Michigan is going to win. They are really not that good. But they are at home and that makes a big difference. But, I still think Illini by 4.

Illini 45 Wolverines 20

Auburn @ Vanderbilt (Auburn -3.5) Going out on a limb. Vanderbilt has a slightly more effective offense than Auburn. They both play very effective defense. Vandy at home. I pick Vandy to win (not just cover the spread). Vandy by 3. Extremely low scoring game. Under on the O/U 37.

Tigers 13 Commodores 14

Most interesting game of the week:
Ohio St @ Wisconsin (OSU -1, fallen from -2.5) I'm still not buying. I think Badgers win this one 27-24.

Buckeyes 20 Badgers 17

And lastly, this game should be a slam dunk...
Washington St @ UCLA (UCLA -17) EXCEPT that it is UCLA. Everyone has covered their spread against WSU this year. WSU is the doormat for the Pac-10 and possibly everyone else that plays them. But we are talking UCLA, the team that laid a goose egg @BYU and then ALMOST beat Fresno St last week. I would like to pick UCLA but... not with confidence.

Cougars 3 Bruins 28

And from the department of I was too scared to wager on these games...

I was 5 of 6...

I am going to keep track of this till the end of the season... maybe this was just a lucky week.

My new profession?

This week college football calls (games I would put money on)

Florida Gators 45 Arkansas Razorbacks 17 (Gators -25.5)

Nevada Wolfpack 52 Idaho Vandals 16 (Wolfpack -24)

TCU Horned Frogs 48 San Diego St Aztecs 12 (Horned Frogs -24.5)

Arizona Wildcats 47 Washington Huskies 17 (Wildcats -22.5)

And then there are calls (teams in Green) I would like to make but will not necessarily put money on... 'cos I have no guts...

Oklahoma @ Baylor (Okla - 24.5)

Stanford @ ND (ND -6.5) Stanford sucks real bad, but I hate ND. And ND is at home...

Illinois @ Michigan (Michigan -2.5) One of the more interesting games of the week. I don't think Michigan is going to win. They are really not that good. But they are at home and that makes a big difference. But, I still think Illini by 4.

Auburn @ Vanderbilt (Auburn -3.5) Going out on a limb. Vanderbilt has a slightly more effective offense than Auburn. They both play very effective defense. Vandy at home. I pick Vandy to win (not just cover the spread). Vandy by 3. Extremely low scoring game. Under on the O/U 37.

Most interesting game of the week:

Ohio St @ Wisconsin (OSU -1, fallen from -2.5) I'm still not buying. I think Badgers win this one 27-24.

And lastly, this game should be a slam dunk...

Washington St @ UCLA (UCLA -17) EXCEPT that it is UCLA. Everyone has covered their spread against WSU this year. WSU is the doormat for the Pac-10 and possibly everyone else that plays them. But we are talking UCLA, the team that laid a goose egg @BYU and then ALMOST beat Fresno St last week. I would like to pick UCLA but... not with confidence.

My Prediction

This Saturday's game at Memorial Colisuem. Possibly (just possibly, so, all you Cal fans... chill), the game that may decide the Pac-10 Champion for 2008.

For my prediction, see below.

@

1) Ducks are going to attempt running the ball like the Beavers did last week in their upset of the Trojans.
- USC majorly f**ked up last week and the WON'T BE doing so again. Their run defense, with or without Rey Maualuga, is going to be much better than it was against Oregon St. The lightning doesn't strike twice. At least not for this school where All-Americans back up All Americans.

2) Ducks are going to attempt throwing the ball because they are going to assume that USC is going to pay more attention to the run.
- Ducks do not have a proven QB if Roper doesn't play and even if Roper does play with 2 weeks off with a new injury and the beginning of this week off with a virus, he is going to be just as rusty if not more than either Masoli or Thomas. Harper is completely no threat in the passing game.

My thoughts:

Probably the biggest game of the year for any Duck fan.
It will be a battle of turnovers.
It will not be as far off as the pointspread indicates (USC -16.5).
Ducks are NOT going to be able to run the ball like the Beavers did, even if the Ducks have 2 better RBs than OSU's freshman.

As a realist, my prediction is Ducks 33, Trojans 38

As a fan, my prediction is Ducks 35, Trojans 30.

We will see.

GO DUCKS!!!

Al Davis and the Oakland Raiders

My thoughts on this.
Al Davis is an idiot. You have to be a total idiot if you have had 5 coaches in 6 years. I don't have to be a professional athelete to figure that one out. All I need to do is think about having 5 managers in 6 years...
Either, you don't know how to hire
OR, even worse...
YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT EXACTLY YOU ARE HIRING FOR...

I think Al Davis is a little of both, more the latter...

I have been reading comments from various new sources and surprisingly, many loyal Raider fans hope he will "dry up and blow away". I think he should sell the team and then fade quietly into a long overdue retirement... Raider Nation doesn't deserve anymore suffering from the senile old man and this comment is made from a non Raider fan. Go already, go enjoy your money already.

I couldn't resist...

I am sitting at work right now. For some reason, it is extremely quiet here and I'm not quite sure if I wanna leave as it is not exactly "time" yet to leave. I'm actually not quite sure where everyone is as I had a training session this morning and when I got back, it was lunch time and I thought that everyone had just gone out to lunch... I guess not... 'cos no one's around...
But, I had to write this...
I am just looking forward to going home in about an hour or so to take a big a$$ dump!!!
LOL!!!

I am going to write about 2 other things in 2 separate pieces... so read on.

2nd game of season

UTAH STATE AGGIES 24, OREGON DUCKS 66

Second game of the season. It was a 12:30pm game and it was f**king hot!!
It was a blow out by half time and we left the stadium.
This with the Ducks losing their QB. Justin Roper is already a second stringer. Ducks first string QB, Nate Costa was injured and officially out of action a week before the season began. On this day, the Ducks beat the Aggies with their 3rd and 4th string QB.







Roper falling back to pass





Evensen attempting a field goal





The Duck macking on the cheerleaders

One more event

And I completely left out why we had gone back to the US... DUH!

8-8-8, Friday

We attended Johnny and Narisa's wedding. These are my shots from the wedding, not the official wedding pictures and therefore, my disclaimer, they are not that good... sorry!

1st Duck Game of 2008 season

Washington Huskies 10, Oregon Ducks 44

This was the first game of the season. It was the first time in I-have-no-idea-how-many years that the Ducks opened with a conference game. And it was a night game. 7:15pm kick off time. That meant... there was just way too much time to tailgate and I had to pace myself. I did. I made it to the game!!



This is the $2M scoreboard that I have been trying to download the video of. Somehow, blogger.com keeps giving me an error message.




Don't ask me what Roper and Johnson are doing, but I believe that was a hand off, even though it doesn't quite look like it.






This was the score before I left the stadium. The Ducks scored a garbage time touchdown after I had left. 

btw, that was a new record attendance for Autzen.

5th Annual Lake/Mt Shasta Camping Trip

Derek on the Chans' new toy



(L to R) Elaine, Karen and Jessica on the inner tube




In the boat, baby, dogs and humans... what a party!




Kamal having a beverage on our island





Kamal, after the beverage, on the inner tube with Stephanie and Meagan. Go Team Stoli!!


Our camping trip had way less people this year than we previously had. Especially compared to last year.
5 nights in Lake Shasta. As the photos depicted, we had a baby, 3 dogs, teenagers and adults (and adults that acted like teenagers). Our (as described by a friend of mine) Drunk Fest was quite a bit mellower than previous years.

Usually, the campground is packed. Well, at least for the last 4 years we have been there, it has been packed. However, due to the low water level (lake is down over 140ft), the forest fires in the early part of summer and most likely the downturn in the economy, when we arrived on a Friday afternoon, there were only 10 of 110 campsites occupied. On Sat, there were only 5 occupied and on Monday, it was just us and another family of campers. The ranger told us that Labor Day weekend (the weekend after we left) had only 22 out of the 110 reserved. Labor Day is usually impossible to book.

Oh well, it was our gain. We had a great time and hopefully, we can be back for more next year.

For more photos, try this link...

Shasta Camping trip photos