Family Trip Winter 2008: Prologue

It's been a long while since I last wrote... that's because I've been away on vacation! Where did we go, you ask? Well, we had a couple of choices presented to us last month: A) a cruise to Mexico, South America, and the Western Caribbean, and B) a road trip to the Capital of our country, Washington DC. Actually, I came up with choice B, which was the choice we ultimately took. While it might not seem quite as glamorous as a cruise, loyal readers such as yourself will remember that we recently took a cruise in winter of 2006. The fact is, we hadn't taken a long family road trip since Cherrie first moved here in 2005, and I haven't been to Washington DC since I was probably not even a teenager!

Over the next few weeks (starting after today, since I'm dead tired), I'll be updating Grant's Pad with our travelogue of the last 10 days or so. By then, we'll have photos available to chronicle, including a very special "Nintendo DS on Location" series!

Stay tuned!

Awesome Football Education Blog

Last week, while browsing the awesome football blog Every Day Should Be Saturday, I clicked on a link that eventually lead me to Smart Football - Analysis and Strategy by Chris. This incredible archive of football knowledge goes into great detail about many of the popular offenses that are scorching defenses today, as well as some tips on how to defend said offenses. I learned more about football in the few hours of flipping through that blog than I probably ever knew. The intricacies of how to maneuver your blocking ends and offensive lineman in order to outnumber your defense really make football seem more like a chess match than ever before - there's a real science to it! It also goes into the history of Urban Meyer's spread offense that he uses at Florida, as well as why some schools, such as Auburn and Michigan, have not successfully implemented similar spread offenses. It's also much better written than this particular post - you can see my obvious noviceness in football philosophy showing in this post - there will be none of that at SmartFootball.blogspot.com! It's made such an impact that I've added it to my links in the sidebar! Check it out!

Finally, as an additional bonus, a video I found on Smart Football featuring all 51 of Tim Tebow's regular season touchdowns last year:

End of the Semester! Yay!

Had an interesting episode today on the drive back to Melbourne. I was driving about 72 MPH or so in a 65 MPH zone (which happened to be very close behind a 70 MPH zone) when I was surprisingly pulled over. I thought to myself, "7 MPH? Really?" Turns out the officer saw me slightly speeding, then looked up my license plate number which was associated with a "red Toyota". Apparently, the officer thought I was riding hot. In case you don't remember or weren't here when I first started showing off my car, here's what it looks like:


More like a purple Scion, right? To his credit though, the "official" name of the color of my car is in fact Sizzling Crimson Mica, which would certainly indicate that it is red, and Scion is, after all, an offspring brand of Toyota. Plus, he didn't give me a ticket or anything, so I'm not a grand theft felon just yet...

Anyhow, on with the usual material. Suddenly, I'm a bit at a lost as to what I should be doing. This past Saturday was my last true, sit-in class with UF's OEM Class of 2009. Usually, the Sunday immediately after marks the beginning of the next semester, but since I'm signed up to do the MBA program, I'm actually off until the end of January, so, for more than a month, I have no more assignments to worry about!

In addition to not having any class, there's also not going to be any Gator Football for one month either. Seeing as today is December 8th, and we won't play again till January 8th, anyone who follows college football knows what that means - the Gators are in the National Championship Game! Right after class on Saturday, Cherrie and I headed over to the hotel where my end-of-semester reception was being held in hopes of being able to catch the 2008 SEC Championship Game against Alabama, the first conference championship game to feature teams ranked number 2 and 1, respectively, in the AP poll. When we finally got our TV, we watched the hard fought game and Tebow and company's spectacular 4th quarter comeback (incidentally, Tebow's only 4th quarter comeback in his starting career - he had lost the previous 4 games in which we were behind in the final period). The 31-20 win by the Gators was just enough to propel UF over Texas in the BCS rankings, matching us with Oklahoma and their record breaking offense for the National Championship in Miami! And, we did it all with Percy Harvin standing on the sideline!


However, with no Gator Football for the month, what should I be watching? Guess I'll be playing some more Wii and DS for the next few weeks!

Live Action Mario Kart!!!

Wow. Just... wow.

Thanksgiving Weekend 2008

Nothing particularly special this weekend - just headed back to Boca for some time with the family... we hadn't gotten together since returning from China in the summer, believe it or not!

Ed and Cherrie got to our house on Wednesday evening, and we proceeded to my parents house that same night, getting in at about 10 PM, much too late to do anything besides eat a bit. The next day, Dad brought home a shiny new, Cobalt Blue two-tone DS Lite, in preparation for any future road trips we might have so we can get 4-player DS action anytime, anywhere! It's sooper sexy, featuring mica sparkles, much like my car paint... just Cobalt Blue instead of, what was it? Sizzling Crimson Mica.

After ogling the new member of our DS family (for those keeping count, there are 4 of them now, all different colors. Ed has the most unique one, the midnight Blue straight from Asia!), we headed out for our Thanksgiving meal at Super Buffet! They actually did have turkey there, and it wasn't half bad at that, so stop your sniggering!

After lunch, we stopped by the beach for about an hour before heading to Super Wal-Mart to try to get some screen protectors for the new DS Lite. We weren't able to find the coveted Hori brand screen protectors, so we postponed that effort and instead got a NERF case to protect its sexy exterior. On the way out, we stopped at one of those DVD vending machines and picked up Tropic Thunder to watch that evening.

At first, I wasn't overly excited about Tropic Thunder. But then, I found out that the black dude on the cover was actually Robert Downy Jr. of recent Iron Man fame, and that piqued my curiosity. If you haven't seen it, Downy Jr.'s performance as the "Dude playing another dude disguised as another dude" is unbelievable, and Tom Cruise's cameos are also something that you shouldn't miss if you get the chance. Basically, the movie is about a couple of high profile actors (mixed in with a hip-hop star and a comedy star) attempting to make the best Vietnam War movie ever, I won't ruin it for everyone, but go see this movie!
Black Friday is usually a day reserved for shopping to try to get kickass deals on big ticket items, but we usually sleep in too late to do anything of the sort. Instead, we took a small trip to Jungle Island in Miami, a zoo park featuring mostly parrots. I think the park used to be called Parrot Jungle, but it has since collected a variety of other more exotic animals, such as all kinds of different tigers, a 20-foot, 3000 pound "Crocasaurus", and a rare Liger, which is the hybrid offspring of a lion and a tiger. Ligers are the real kings of big cats, as they are usually about the size of their lion fathers and tiger mothers combined - a stark opposite compared with dwarf Tigons, which have tiger fathers and lion mothers. Unfortunately, we could only see the head of the Liger, which spent most of the day hiding in the shade.

That evening, we went to an awesome Chinese restaurant (one where you can actually order complete multi-dish meals to share with everyone), and then went home to see Iron Man with the rest of the family.

Saturday was a typical, slow, weekend day, with the exception of the massacre of the FSU Seminoles at the hands of Tebow and the mighty Gators in torrential rain. The Gators won 45-15, the largest point production by UF ever in Tallahassee, but Percy Harvin was injured in the rout and now considered "questionable" for this Saturday's showdown with Alabama in Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game. I'm hoping Harvin will be able to at least be out there as a decoy - he draws at least two defenders no matter what!

We closed Saturday night with yet another movie - this time, we watched Cold Mountain, with Nicole Kidman, Jude Law, and Renee Zellwegger. I've always been a fan of Civil War movies, and this one didn't disappoint. I'm not a big fan of any of the lead actors, but they did a good job with their roles, especially Zellwegger. In all, it was a great look at the South during the waning years of the American Civil War.

Some last great news before signing off this time - I got my acceptance call from the University of Florida's MBA program today! W00t!

Mythbusters, Grant's Pad Edition

You'll never guess what I saw on the highway this weekend... gasoline for just 1.79 per gallon! It's like traveling back in time or something. The 90's called; they want their gas prices back kind of stuff. Incredible, isn't it?


With the decline in the gas prices, it became economically feasible to try a little experiment. I filled up my Scion tC with real, premium, 93 octane rating gasoline from the Chevron station on the way back from Gainesville. Driving to and from work, and back to the station, I managed to get about 27 miles per gallon, pretty respectable city mileage considering I usually get around the 24-25 MPG range with the regular old stuff. But, was the stellar gas mileage real, or was it skewed by me driving extra careful and coasting a lot? We could only find out if we did it again.

I filled up again, this time on the way to Gainesville, so we could try the same test, but for highway mileage. After about 310 highway miles (to and back from Gainesville), I logged an impressive 32.4 MPG. For reference, on my last trip to Gainesville this past weekend, I managed to secure a 30.7 MPG on the highway on the regular grade stuff.

So, is it worth it to put premium gas in your regular gasoline vehicle? Not really. Yes, I did manage to squeeze out almost two more miles per gallon, but in order for it to be economically worthwhile, we estimated that we would actually need closer to five MPG more than the baseline. So, you're still really just giving the evil gas companies more money.


In other news, the Gators had a bye week this Saturday. Oh wait, actually they played somebody! They played the Citadel in the last home game of the season, and we were actually there for the whole thing (can't miss the last game of the season, right?). Not only was it the last of the season, it was the last home game in which Mr. 2 Bits would lead his famous 2 Bits cheer, which he has done nearly without interruption for the last sixty years. That's 6-0. As in, 1940s. The Gators gave him and the seniors on the team (it was also Senior Day at UF) a grand farewell, racking up 705 yards of offense and 70 points on their hapless FCS (that's Division I-AA for those of you who haven't figured it out yet) victim. Tim Tebow and the vast majority of the first team was done playing by halftime, having accumulated nearly 500 yards of offense at that point already, and John Brantley and the backups scored a few more times after the half. Many seniors got a lot of love - Louis Murphy reeled in a TD pass, Kestahn Moore racked up 50 yards and two TDs, and, in an interesting "Elephant" formation, oft-injured defensive tackle Javier Estopinan scored on a one-yard touchdown run!


While we played Tecmo bowl with the Citadel, Oklahoma was laying the lumber on formerly-undefeated-and-riding-high-at-number-2 Texas Tech, blowing Graham Harrell and Michael Crabtree out to the tune of 65-21. That rout propelled them all the way up to number 3 in the BCS rankings, ahead of Florida (number 4) but behind number 1 Alabama and number 2 Texas, who had beaten Oklahoma in their head-to-head confrontation about one month ago. It would suck monumentally if the BCS championship was a re-match between UT and OU, so the Gators need to get their act together and string together blowouts of both FSU and Alabama in the coming weeks!

Danny's Visit

My friend Danny from school came to visit this past week. I met Danny through Karn, a name that has popped up a few times on Grant's Pad. During college, I mostly hung out with a different crowd than the one that Danny and Karn did - they were all about getting together at people's houses to play cards and video games, while I mostly ran about town going clubbing several nights a week with the likes of CASA and the Tri-fectorate. However, since graduating and getting married and settled down, the partying has cooled down and most of my free time is spent working, working out, and playing video games or browser games, such as the oft-mentioned Conquer Club rendition of Risk, often with Danny and Karn.

So, with that out of the way, Danny came to visit on Thursday, as he had a job interview near my home on Friday and wasn't able to find any good hotel deals. To make his visit entertaining, I took him out to the parking lot and gave him a beginner kung fu class before it got pitch black at, like, 5:45 or so. Off-topic rant alert: this whole daylight savings time thing is a little backwards to me. Why wouldn't you try to "save more daylight" in the winter when there's less daylight to begin with? I know that daylight savings first came about to help out the farmers during the summer and fall harvests, but these days, I'd like it to be light out for most of my waking hours all year round! Ben Franklin should have been smart enough to realize that, you'd think...

Anyway, after kung fu practice, we washed up and had dinner at the Island Pasta Company, and then headed home and played a lot of Mario Kart, in a big effort on my part to add to my group of Karters. We actually did manage to get a few races going with Nick and Chris, who must have been happy to have some fresh meat to not lose to, since I usually dominate them so bad that they don't even want to play any more! After they signed off, we kept playing a few games online to try to up my online rankings, but finally went to sleep at around midnight so that he could get to his interview the next day.

Hopefully, playing Mario Kart all night relieved some of the pressures for Danny's interview and helped him do well!

Amazing Woman

The woman in this video has an extreme handicap, but has moved on with her life and adapted in amazing ways!

Woah.

The Gators took care of business last night, waxing Vanderbilt 42-14, as Tebow stiff-armed his way to another five TD effort. More importantly, however, was the fall of previously unbeaten Penn State to Iowa in a last second field goal. That loss dropped Penn State to number 7 in the AP poll and virtually eliminated any chance of Penn State playing for this year's National Championship Game in Miami. Replacing them at number three is the Gators, who have three more games left before facing current number 1 Alabama! If we take care of all our business, we could very well see ourselves back in the National Championship for the second time in just three years!

I was supposed to still be in class today, but with the late game last night, I couldn't get enough sleep so I am skipping my first class ever in the OEM program. I'll have to call Stephanie later on to catch up on all that I missed. The time I wasn't in class hasn't gone completely to waste, however, as I used some of it to work on my marketing project, and perhaps more importantly, my MBA application. The application date really kind of crept up on me - I didn't realize that many people have already applied!

Part of the problem might have been how much time I've been spending playing Animal Crossing: Wild World on DS. Animal Crossing is a really unusual game. It is one of Nintendo's first "non-game" offerings, as there is no real point to the game. You just walk around in your village, finding bugs, fishing, digging up fossils, planting and cutting down flowers and trees, and buying and selling furniture and clothing to your heart's content. What makes the game really cool for me, however, is your interaction with your animal neighbors. Each and every one of your neighbors has their own personality and tastes in furniture and clothing, and they have a real, live relationship with you, remembering previous conversations with you. You can even visit friends' villages over the wi-fi connection, and see and visit their neighbors as well. Visiting their neighbors in turn causes them to remember you and talk to your friend about you when you're not around. To cap all that off, your own neighbors move in and out of your village, and sometimes even show up in your friend's villages, complete with their memories of you! It's awesome... if a just a little bit creepy!


Keen regular readers might have noticed the new photo format. No longer will I mess around with alternating photos from the left side of the column to the right. Nope. Just straight shooting from here on out. Right down the middle. Just like that. Two reasons for this - one, Blogger's photo application seems to have changed and made it subsequently quite difficult to work with, and two, the photos actually look pretty nice all big and stuff. It might take a little while to get used to, but I'm sure we will get along just fine!

Hamster On a Piano (Eating Popcorn)

No further explanation necessary... just watch!

Vote!

A little late, but I was busy this morning doing it, so you should too!

Smaaaack down!

What a glorious day Saturday was for the Gators. Not only did we exact revenge on Georgia for last year's "Gator Stomp", we did it in style. First things first, we let Knowshon Moreno know early and often that he would not be rumbling for 188 yards again this year, and held him to a net 60 yards and a costly fumble that was converted into an easy touchdown. Next, we punished Matthew Stafford just about every time he dropped back to pass, inflicting a sprained ankle, numb throwing arm, and cuts under his arms, while picking off three passes, two of which were converted into yet more easy touchdowns. Third, we scored. A lot. 49 points a lot - three Tebow rushing touchdowns, one Percy Harvin rushing touchdown, one Percy Harvin touchdown reception, one Louis Murphy touchdown reception, and one Deonte Thompson touchdown reception, courtesy of John Brantley. Lastly, we limited Georgia to a measly 10 points.

Several Gator players took it upon themselves to make the game particularly painful for the Bulldogs. Linebacker Brandon Spikes put on a hilarious show of drama by rolling around in faux pain after Knowshon Moreno pushed him at the end of a play. "Retard" Chris Rainey fielded a kickoff late in the fourth quarter, strolled a few steps, and proceeded to take a knee as Georgia's gunners approached, only to launch into a furious return for nearly 30 yards! Even Coach Urban Meyer got into the action, calling two time outs with just 40 seconds left on the clock while leading 49-10 to "let Emmanuel Moody get some more carries". Yeah, ok!

However, another game, far away in another state, was far closer and yet meant a lot to the future of the Gators. Texas Tech, perennial destroyer of mid-major teams that has never had the stuff to play "real" ball in the Big 12, upset Number 1 Texas in Lubbock, Texas. The Red Raiders stormed out to a large lead early in the game, only to let Colt McCoy claw back into the game and take a one-point lead with just 90 seconds left in the game. At this point in the game, Texas Tech quarterback Graham Harrell and mad scientist head coach executed the ballsiest and most efficient two-minute offense I have ever seen, as they marched over 60 yards with quick passes and scored the go-ahead touchdown on a fade route leaving just one second on the clock - without using a time out!!! Simply amazing.

Texas's loss dropped them to fourth in the BCS rankings. Alabama replaced them, with Texas Tech and Penn State following them. Florida climbed to number 5, but many analysts have us winning out against number 1 Alabama and playing against Penn State because of Texas Tech's difficult Big 12 slate. Let's hope the Gators don't let the beat-down of Georgia get to their heads, because they've still got a lot of football left to go if they want to go to the Big Show!

I got my Mug! Now I just need a Shot!

At my office, we're handed out ESD-safe mugs to drink out of without being a risk for blowing up radios when we're first hired. We can then fill these mugs with coffee or other fine beverages for just 50 cents, which is great considering the vending machines charge upwards of $1.25 for less of the same thing. However, a few months ago, I noticed that my mug was smaller than most of the other employee's mugs! It seems that, before my time, they were giving out 22 oz. mugs, and then they started using 18 oz. mugs when I was hired, and switched back to 22 oz. mugs after I was hired! So, I was pretty upset that I wasn't getting as much vintage Coca-Cola Classic for my 50 cents as my colleagues were.

That all changed yesterday, as I finally got my Man-sized mug, pictured below:

I celebrated immediately by filling up a satisfying 22 ounces of orange Fanta. Thirst is now a thing of the past!

You may carry on with your normal daily activities now.

Said Musings

As promised, blog musings, and a brand new playlist in the sidebar featuring songs from Lilo and Stitch, the greatest Disney movie of this century!

As it is still college football season, it's only appropriate to reference the beat down Florida put on Kentucky this past Saturday. The weather was beautiful, a crisp 68 degree cloudy day, and our seats kicked ass, to the tune of 35 yard line, 55th row, where the stadium's stadium seating allowed us to watch the destruction to the fullest.

The ass kicking was fast and furious. We didn't score on our first drive, but on Kentucky's first and second drives, the Gator defense stopped them deep in their own territory and forced them to punt. On both occasions, the punt was blocked, giving the Gators the ball at 3 yards out and 1 yard out. After those two four-second drives, the Gators had nearly as many points (14) as they did yards (17)! In retrospect, it might not have been better if they actually had gotten those punts off, since, the way things went all day for Kentucky, it's very likely one Brandon James would have made both of those punts into zero-second touchdown drives!

The mayhem continued for most of the first half as the score at the half was 42-3. Things didn't get much better for the Wildcats in the second half - their first play from scrimmage was a pass intercepted and returned for a touchdown by Ahmad Black. Tebow stepped down in the fourth quarter and John Brantley fired a 35-yard touchdown on his second pass of the afternoon. The Gators finished the game 63-5, apparently messing up a punt in the last 5 minutes or so of the game to give Kentucky another 2 points to finish.

That win moved the Gators up to 8th in the BCS rankings... still somewhat of a long shot to the BCS National Championship, especially since the SEC's pinata (to use an awesome quote from a sportswriter I read earlier this year but can't remember who), Ohio State, couldn't muster up enough offense to beat Penn State, who will likely cruise through its remaining schedule and then get sliced and diced in the National Championship Game after nearly two months off after their last game in November...

Moving right along to musing number 2, I've been super busy at work - obviously busy enough to not be able to blog much! But I've been making up for my busy work days and homework sessions by playing a LOT of DS. I love my DS. I only wish I had toys like this when I was little. Then again, that probably would have resulted in me doing a lot less of just about everything else. My latest project game has been Trauma Center, one of the earliest releases on Nintendo's two-screened handheld. You play as Dr. Derek Stiles, an up-and-coming surgeon who is gifted with the "Healing Touch". Unfortunately, with great power comes great responsibility, and it is Dr. Stiles' responsibility to curb a medical terrorist attack epidemic called GUILT. The game is fast-paced, with great music, and tough as nails. Diamond ones. I seriously feel my tennis elbow acting up as I furiously remove tumors and stitch up lacerations in my patients!

Final musing for the day - couple of days ago, I came across the latest Consumer Reports reliability rankings for cars. To my delight, and a bit of surprise, the number one brand for reliability was Scion! Scion's xD came in as the most reliable vehicle in the country, with the xB following closely behind. Behind Scion was Acura, Honda, then Toyota and Lexus, with Lincoln coming in at 11th as the highest ranked American manufacturer. I guess there's another good reason to love Scions - they'll last forever!

Obama - McCain Dance Off!

Another cop-out today. I was going to put in a real post, with real musings, but this was too awesome to pass up - the real elections should be based on the results of such an event. Keep an eye out for real musings soon though!

Awesomeness

Nothing to say today, just thought that was really, really cool looking. And accurate too!

Poster Child for Inconsistency

People take their shots on McDonald's when they can, but that's what happens when you're at the top of your game. The secret to McDonald's success? In my humble opinion, it's a lil' something called consistency. Sure, McDonald's customizes its menu for different markets all over the world, but you'll find certain items at every McDonald's restaurant in the world - Big Mac (except for India's restaurants, I'm told), and French Fries. The best part? No matter where you order your Number 1 Combo Meal, it will always taste the same. Even Coca-Cola doesn't have that kind of consistency in its main product - those of you who have traveled abroad know that Coke is quite a bit sweeter outside of the U.S. This remarkable consistency is a big reason for why McDonald's has been able to be successful in just about every market it has entered in its 51 years or so of existence.

So, what's up with the McSkillet Burrito? I discovered this delectable breakfast item a few weeks ago when I was driving back to Melbourne from Gainesville. I've never been a big breakfast kind of guy - most breakfasts that don't consist of milk and cereal seem to be too, what's the word, not lunch and dinner-like. I know, that doesn't really make any sense, but the bottom line is, I don't like breakfast food. But the McSkillet Burrito - now that is some good breakfast food. Scrambled eggs, onions, green peppers, potatoes, a spicy red sauce, and real steak wrapped in a flour tortilla - doesn't get much better than that! But then it starts getting weird. I've had the McSkillet three times now, and each time it has tasted slightly different. The first time, there was so much red sauce that I got some all over myself... and a little on the car too (heartbreaking reference to the King of Queens). The second time, it seemed like there wasn't any sauce at all! Turns out, most of it was just concentrated at one end of the burrito. The last time I had a McSkillet, someone must have dropped the steak in the seasoning rub, because it was very, very seasoned. Don't get me wrong, though, all three times, the MckSkillet Burrito tasted great, but it was different. It might not be a bad thing, kind of like a surprise waiting for you every time you order it!

So, I'm somewhat okay with that kind of inconsistency. But the kind of inconsistency the Gators are showing this year is less easy to be okay with. Again, don't get me wrong, I am very, very, very happy that we found some kind of way to finally use the speed that we've been recruiting over the last four years or so. My only question is, where was this speed and "clicking on all cylinders" look three weeks ago? In the Gator's 51-21 shellacking of LSU, we seemed to finally make all the right calls, executing beautifully our spread option look, spreading the opposing defense wide with a passing look and then gashing them for a long run. We also looked pretty stout on defense, except for the end of the second quarter and the beginning of the third. In fact, we held LSU to zero - that's right, a big goose egg - yards in the first quarter. That's yards, folks, not points. We scored on runs, passes, and interception returns - even Kestahn Moore got a little action at the end of the game, scoring his first TD run of his senior season, though scatbacks Chris Rainey (who, interestingly, had an article done on him this week in the Alligator where several teammates agreed with my assessment of Rainey as, well, retarded) stole the show with several long runs and TDs.

Around the country, Number 1 Oklahoma fell to number 5 Texas in the Red River Shootout, previously unbeaten Missouri and their Heisman frontrunner quarterback was upset by Oklahoma State, Wisconsin was KTFO'd by Penn State, and surprise of the season Vanderbilt lost to Mississippi State - hopefully, the Gators can get some consistency and momentum off of this week's game and finish the rest of the season unscathed, but in this age of college football parity, anyone can beat anyone on any given Saturday. Or Thursday, Friday, Wednesday, and sometimes Tuesday! I would say that it's just way too much excitement for my simple brain, but I'd be lying - it makes every game a must watch!

Childhood Friends

Last few days have seemed extraordinarily long - even the weekend! I suppose the long weekend wasn't really a surprise because I was at class for most of it. Granted, I spent a lot of my time in class playing Picross, but 16 hours of class over two days is still a lot to get through!

The Gators managed to rebound after our upset to Ole' Miss last week... sort of. I didn't get a chance to actually watch the game - instead, I was following it using internet updates during class - but I did manage to see that we were absolutely killing ourselves with stupid penalties and getting gashed by Arkansas' not-so-famous offense. They were only able to score once in the whole game, but they got to the red zone with ease several times only to turn the ball over or have a field goal blocked. Florida didn't really pull away until the two long runs by Chris Rainey and Jeff Demps in the fourth quarter - but I still don't know that we can count on them against a good defense, say, LSU's this week. We're really going to have to bring our A+ game this Saturday!

On Sunday, I had lunch with a childhood friend. I first met Todd in 1988, when my family first moved to Spoonbill Lane. I was just six years old, and he was probably five, but I'm not sure these days. Todd also had a little brother named Zach, and, along with Mike and Dave next door, the three sets of brothers (Ed, in my case) were best friends for the six years that we lived there. I can't really say much about other people's childhoods, but my experiences with those five kids are still clear to this day.

At some point, we formed the STB (Squirrel, Turtle, and Bird) club to somewhat formalize our friendship. Todd and Zach were the Squirrels, Mike and Dave were the Birds, and Ed and I were the Turtles. Together, we had several events, often dreamed up by Todd. Such events included an Olympics type event, various neighborhood sales, declarations of war on other kids in the neighborhood (although Todd is actually probably one of the most peaceful kids I know), STB Radio, STB theme parks, and so on. I don't remember who it was now, but someone came up with another clever definition for the acronym, "Salute To Boys". Todd always had a penchant for Disney, so it didn't surprise me that he was now in the hospitality industry and had at one point worked at one of the hotels in the Disney resort.

Summertime seemed like straight out of a Calvin and Hobbes summer series back in those days, complete with our version of Calvinball (which, if you know what Calvinball is, is not much different from actual Calvinball). Living in Florida, we didn't have the national park-like backyard that Calvin and Hobbes often rode their wagon through, but we did have a wagon - several, in fact. On the other hand, Calvin and Hobbes didn't have a pool - pool parties were a staple of our summers. For several years, we would also attend a church camp (I actually attended Sunday School back in those days and was part of the Kids Choir) over the summer.

Todd also introduced me to several of my passions today. Both he and Mike were among the first kids to get Nintendo at their house, and I vividly remember hours after hours of playing the original Super Mario Bros., Tecmo Super Bowl, and the Tiny Toons game. Although my parents had Atari right around when I was born, Nintendo was my first real video game love. Todd and his parents were also very big Seminoles (in fact, he ended up going to school at FSU), so my first real college football watching experience was 1992's National Championship between FSU and Nebraska. It's a little odd these days since I eventually became the die-hard Gator I am today!

I've met up with Todd two, maybe three times since moving from Spoonbill Lane. It had actually been close to ten years since our last meeting in 1999, when he was still in high school! It's a shame we didn't get to spend more time this weekend, but he lives pretty close by, so I'm sure we'll have the opportunity to hang out again someday.

Catch Up Time

Wow, it's been a long time since I've had such a long hiatus from writing! I guess the end of the fiscal year might have something to do with it, although in the past, it was never this hot. Or, maybe it was, but I never noticed because I was just a small fry. I'm still a small fry, but now I'm a seasoned small fry - kind of like the ones at Checkers!

The last couple weeks have been characterized by rhythm. Although I have been getting into work shamefully late day after day, I've also been staying late most days. Not super late, but later than usual. And it's not because I'm just dragging my feet to make it look like I'm working hard so I get a good review at the end of the year - I've actually had quite a bit of legitimate work. Really!

I managed to put on quite a few pounds in 2008 - by design at that. The goal was to bulk up on protein and carbs and then hit the gym to convert the additional 15 pounds into muscle. About 2 weeks ago, I weighed in at about 160 pounds, which is about 20 pounds heavier than my typical weight in college. I could lift about 225 pounds for a three-rep set on bench press. Unfortunately, after that, I was pretty much done, and couldn't really do much more exercise after that. Clearly, my plan wasn't really working, so I began a different plan - full body workouts on Monday, Wednesday, and once over the weekend, and kung fu on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and possibly once on the weekend as well. I've also shifted my diet to a lot of fruit juice and salad, and since then, I've dropped down to about 155 pounds, and I feel like I've made some gains in stamina and athleticism!

I've also finally gotten back into a little bit of rhythm when it comes to doing homework. This semester, our classes are quite a bit easier than last semester, and for a while, I got a bit lazy and wasn't really keeping up with schoolwork. However, I've finally gotten off my butt and completed my take-home Quality Management exam and the two Marketing Management assignments due this weekend. I even started my Marketing Management project, which is due in late November! Unprecedented!

Unfortunately, the Florida Gators didn't share my good rhythm last weekend, as we dropped a heartbreaker to Ole' Miss. Granted, Ole' Miss is a rising team with former Arkansas coach Houston Nutt and former Florida QB recruit Jevan Snead at the helm, but the Gators really killed themselves this time. Three fumbles lost, after not having turned the ball over once all season, plus atrociously poor playcalling (fourth and 3 in the first quarter? Run Chris Rainey up the middle??), and the unthinkable - a blocked extra point attempt - all contributed to the final 31-30 loss.

On the plus side, the Tri-Fectorate, that's Chris, Kaveh, and myself for those of you who haven't read Grant's Pad in its early months, met for the first time as a group since 2006 after the game. Kind of funny - looks like I wasn't the only one to put on weight these last few years! Of course, going to Red Lobster for their annual Endless Shrimp event didn't do much to help halt the problem of our growing bellies...

A couple of my friends have finally jumped on the Nintendo Wii bandwagon. First, my good friend Pablo picked one up - shortly after he went on a big shopping spree picking up first-person shooters and splurging on Virtual Console games like the original Super Mario Bros. Next, my colleague Shawn (been a while since I've blogged about him!) recently picked up a Wii "for his wife and kid". Riiiight. He must have practiced a lot of Mario Kart, because he's pretty damn good. In our first gaming session, I was able to smoke him most of the time after dropping the first few races, but on the very next day, I dropped all three sets to him! Playing Mario Kart with him has somewhat revived my Wii playing time, which has been suffering a bit lately (due to aforementioned rhythm and also largely due to spending a lot of time on my DS). After racing Shawn, Nick, and Chris several times this week, I managed to unlock my latest character - Birdo, who I thought was the last remaining racer to unlock. To my shock, however, unlocking him/her opened up four more question mark blocks, indicating that there were at least four more racers to unlock! Guess I better get to work unlocking them!

Brandon James is Teh AwesomeneZz

Florida played at Tennessee in Neyland Stadium this weekend, so we had to watch the game on TV again, although this time, it was by choice rather than by necessity-due-to-being-screwed-by-the-IIE. However, watching the game this time on TV proved to be very nice indeed.

Cherrie has been living in her apartment for almost a whole year, and only this Saturday, when we turned the TV on to watch the Gators roll over Tennessee for the fourth straight year did we realize that we actually get HD programming in her apartment! I haven't watched a full game in HD since I think the 2004 season, and finding out that we can see the games in HD almost makes me want to sell the rest of my season tickets! Then again, this year (and maybe next year) are probably our only chances to ever get season tickets again (unless I'm willing to donate thousands of dollars to UF in the future), so we'll probably at least use up our tickets this year.

Anyway, the beautiful hi-def programming allowed us to see Gator running back Brandon James put on some of his best moves yet, as he scampered 54 yards on a kickoff return (where he initially dropped the ball - imagine if he hadn't!), and, as if that weren't enough, spun move, juked, and cut with both legs on his way to a 78-yard punt return for a TD against the Volunteers! The punt return for a TD was the fourth of his career, tying him with Jacquez Green for most career returns for a TD by a Gator. To think we are just a quarter into this season!

James wasn't the only Gator to assert himself in the 30-6 rout of Tennessee. Although Tim Tebow completed just 8 passes for a mere 96 yards, he did connect on two touchdown passes, including yet another of his famous "jump passes" to emerging tight end Aaron Hernandez. Tebow's stats have thus far been underwhelming this year, as he still has yet to find the end zone on a QB rush, but he is winning games, and by substantial margins, at that!

The Florida offense as a whole didn't make many gains at all in terms of yardage, but a big part of that is probably because of the several short fields that Brandon James provided on his big punt and kick returns. Percy Harvin hauled in a couple of passes, including the other touchdown pass from Tebow, and Louis Murphy also made a clutch catch. The biggest breakout performance on offense, however, was probably the emergence of USC transfer Emmanuel Moody, who showed some good, old-fashioned downhill running ability as well as some shake and bake on his way to 55 yards on nine attempts. Let's hope we see more of him in the future!

The defense was dominating, once again holding Tennessee to under 100 yards rushing and only allowing one touchdown. To make things even better, they forced three turnovers - two of them at the 1-yard line, stopping to potential Tennessee scoring drives. The Gators now hold the leading turnover margin in the country at +9, having not turned the ball over once in three games. Tim Tebow, despite pedestrian stats, has not thrown an interception in a growing school-record 144 attempts, which has helped pad that turnover margin.

Well, that about does it for my review of the game. We'll be at the Ole' Miss game next week, back in the blistering sun again, rather than watching it on crystal clear HD, but it'll still be a good time!

China 2008, Part XIII: Finale

In the interest of expediting the grand finale of my China 2008 series, I will be skipping the MacGuffin today and instead, jump right into the travelogue. Enjoy!

After leaving Dali, we headed back to Yunnan's capital city of Kunming, but not before stopping at a few more obligatory shopping traps! Our first stop was a wholesale jade market. This one was different from the one we visited earlier in that it featured jades from all different manufacturers, not just the upscale manufacturer that ran the last one. Of particular interest to me was the booth they had set up where you could have any jades you owned already looked at. For fun, we took my dad's jade pendant to get assessed, only to find out that they would really only tell you if it is fake or a certain grade of real jade. Dad's was Grade A, but that was the highest grade, which encompassed jade pieces in the store ranging from about $100 USD to the order of several thousand dollars.

See, the thing about jade (and many other precious stones) is that no one really knows how much it's worth. As our tourguide said, it's pretty much worth whatever some poor sap out there is willing to pay for it. But, in true eastern philosophic fashion, if you are willing to pay for it, then you and that piece of stone are meant for each other and it is thus worth what you paid for it. Jade is actually pretty nice. The best ones have a bit of translucency to them, and are generally free from certain types of blemishes - however, other types of blemishes are highly valued. Wearing a chunk of jade on your body is said to protect your body - which might not be totally unreasonable since it is a mineral of sorts and it is known that minerals do good things for your body. In addition, the oils from your body also tend to contribute to your jade's sheen, and thus it is said that your jade raises you, and you raise your jade. Or maybe that's only if you're jaded?

Anyway, Ed and Melinda picked up a few small pendants (I didn't, but I have a probably fake pendant that I got in Shanghai along with a real pendant that Cherrie got for me for my 22nd birthday), and then we made off for our next stop - an herbal medicine wholesale warehouse of some sort. Herbal medicine is currently a pretty hot fad these days, and Chinese herbal medicine is about as famous as herbal medicine gets. I'm always a bit wary of these kinds of treatments, but a lot of people swear they work wonderfully for all kinds of things like joint pain, weight loss, acne, and all kinds of other things, plus they're all natural and all that. Good enough to merit mention in my travelogue!

Next was the Floral Whisper flower oil essence distributor. Yunnan is also famous for its abundance of flowers, thanks once again to its year-round spring-like climate. As such, our tour guide explained, the usually expensive business of harvesting millions of flowers to produce a few fluid ounces of flower oil is drastically reduced in Yunnan. The question that begs to be asked, of course, is what do we need flower oils for? Apparently, a lot of the things that Chinese herbs are for as well - pretty much anything from simple perfumes and moisturizers (admittedly, many of them do smell pretty good), to treating sweat pores and body odor to acne treatment and even breast firming for the ladies! Sorry, there was no demonstration of this last of the 10,000 uses of flower oil essence.

Continuing with the theme of flowers, our last stop in our Yunnan trip was to an actual flower depot. Interestingly, the depot also sold substantial amounts of coffee - Yunnan is also one of the only places in China that produces its own coffee, as the caffeinated hot drink of choice in China is its many varieties of tea. While there were thousands upon thousands of fresh flowers up for purchase, it would not have been particularly practical for us to buy them only to bring them back to the states, although they were very attractive. Instead, we bought several items made with dried flowers to spruce up the fragrances in our cars and closets and what have you.

After leaving the flower depot, our group dispersed and we all headed to our own individual destinations. My family headed to a hotel in Wuxi while Cherrie and I went back to her house for one last night before we headed back to the States. After cleaning everything up, we slept briefly before waking up early to pick up my family from the hotel and be driven back to Shanghai Pudong Airport, where Cherrie and I would be leaving the rest of the family. My parents and Ed and Melinda would stay behind for a few days in Shanghai, my grandparents and my aunt headed back to Taiwan, and Cherrie's parents stayed with us for a few hours before we went into the abyss that was airport security.

Actually, airport security in China isn't really that bad - in fact, I would argue that it is quite a bit quicker than security in the States. Fortunately, Cherrie's passport issues had been taken care of, thanks to her parents' relations with the local Public Security Bureau, so we were able to get into the waiting area without much issue. The biggest pain was actually during boarding, when, for some reason, all the passengers on our Boeing 777 had to get their carry-on luggage inspected again, one by one. That took an abominable amount of time and actually delayed the flight a bit, but the good ol' triple seven can go fast enough to easily make up the lost time across the Pacific.

One last point of interest, while we were the waiting area, much to my surprise, I ran into my friend Karn! Apparently, Karn and his wife were on the last legs of their trip to Thailand when they were delayed overnight at Shanghai Pudong Airport. As luck would have it, their flight was rescheduled and they ended up on the same flight Cherrie and I were taking back to Atlanta! Unfortunately, we were all pretty burned out and we didn't really get to talk a lot during the 14 hour flight back to the States. Even so, I thought it was yet another interesting example of how small our world has become!

And that, my friends, finally concludes my very lengthy travelogue of China 2008!

SCHOOL - 1957 vs. 2007

Courtesy of Kaveh. Read and enjoy!

Scenario: Jack goes quail hunting before school, pulls into school parking lot with shotgun in gun rack.
1957 - Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack's shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack.
2007 - School goes into lock down, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.

Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.
1957 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.
2007 - Police called, SWAT team arrives, arrests Johnny and Mark. Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it.

Scenario: Jeffrey won't be still in class, disrupts other students.
1957 - Jeffrey sent to office and given a good paddling by the Principal. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.
2007 - Jeffrey given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADD. School gets extra money from state because Jeffrey has a disability.

Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his neighbor's car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.
1957 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.
2007 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy removed to foster care and joins a gang. State psychologist tells Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison. Billy's mom has affair with psychologist.

Scenario: Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.
1957 - Mark shares aspirin with Principal out on the smoking dock.
2007 - Police called, Mark expelled from school for drug violations. Car searched for drugs and weapons.

Scenario: Pedro fails high school English.
1957 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English, goes to college.
2007 - Pedro's cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against state school system and Pedro's English teacher. English banned from core curriculum. Pedro given diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.

Scenario: Johnny take s apart leftover firecrackers from 4th of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, blows up a red ant bed.
1957 - Ants die.
2007 - BATF, Homeland Security, FBI called. Johnny charged with domestic terrorism, FBI investigates parents, siblings removed from home, computers confiscated, Johnny's Dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

Scenario: Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary. Mary hugs him to comfort him.
1957 - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.
2007 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in State Prison. Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy.

Forward this post on to show everyone how stupid we've become!

Getting Screwed by the IIE

A few weeks ago, I was thrilled to find out that Cherrie, Ed, and myself all managed to get season tickets for the Gators 2008 home games. Being in UF's Outreach Engineering Program, we were put into the seating block for the Institute of Industrial Engineers, which I thought was pretty convenient so we wouldn't have to pick up our tickets until the day of the game. Boy did that not turn out well at all.

As you already know, last week, the three of us showed up nearly an hour before the game in hopes of picking up our tickets early and participating in some of the pre-game partying before kickoff, only to wait until less than 10 minutes before kickoff to finally get our tickets from Jessica, who was delegated to distribute our tickets last Saturday. I figured that, since Jessica was not the regular person who was supposed to handle our tickets, that I would give the IIE a chance to redeem themselves. That proved to be a mistake.

This week, it was much, much worse. On Thursday, I called Dan, the coordinator, to confirm that I would be picking up our three tickets from Gate 3 (illogically the furthest gate from the football stadium) 15 minutes prior to kickoff. I left Orlando after class at 5 PM and hauled ass to get to Gainesville on time, parked about a mile away from the stadium, and Ed and I showed up at the gate at 7:40 (kickoff was at 8), but no one we talked to admitted to being Dan. We waited, calling his phone (which was off or something) probably 30 times and left several messages (none of which he returned) until 15 minutes after kickoff before finally giving up and heading back to Cherrie's apartment to catch the second half of a very hard fought game, despite the seemingly blowout score of 26-3.

I found out the next day from my classmate Karen who actually plans on flying in from out of state to see the games that Dan left at around 7:15, and that she had a hard time finding him as well. Karen had showed up much earlier, leaving before class ended, and managed to find Dan by calling him, not because he picked up and told her where he was, but rather because he didn't pick up but she saw his phone ringing and recognized him. Talk about flaky.

I'm pretty pissed because I didn't drive over 250 miles and pay for three season tickets to not see the game outside of the stadium - and I'm sure Karen would have had it a lot worse since she flies in to see the games. I can't imagine how much more pissed I would be if I lost plane ticket expenses as well!

Anyhow, in light of our very unpleasant experiences with the IIE block, we will now be picking up our own damn tickets.

China 2008, Part XII: Old Cities

I came down with a bit of a nasty cold this week - that, compounded with a fairly busy week at work, resulted in the obvious lack of posts at Grant's Pad. This weekend looks to be pretty similar, as I have class on Saturday and Sunday and very important football game between the Gators and Miami, whom we haven't beaten in about eleventy-billion years...

That said, let's move on before I run out of time to continue my China 2008 series again!

Despite my grandfather's awesome efforts at Guanyin Xia, our next stop was a trip that he could not make - a trip to a 4500 meter snow-capped peak of the Jade Dragon Mountain. It didn't matter that much to Grandfather though, since he had been there about 15 or so years earlier, and probably got a better view of it too, since this time, the clouds were so thick that we couldn't even see the peaks next to the one we were on! Still, the peak was so high that I had trouble getting enough oxygen to my brain, and after just over an hour, we came back down to about 2500 meters, where we could breathe easy again. I was actually quite shocked at how much of an effect the altitude had on me - I guess the "altitude training" that pro fighters use really does have some merit after all!

After coming back down to more breathable heights, the tour bus took us to a place where we not only could breathe without making ourselves dizzy, but we could also see a substantial distance in front of us! Plus, we saw Yak! In case you were wondering, that's what those black and white animals in the right hand side of the photo are.

After stopping by a few more places in the mountains, we came back to the city of Lijiang, another very well preserved old city, as you can see in the photo to the right. Just being there made me want to fly to the rooftops, using my qing gong, and start kicking someone's ass just for the hell of it! Ed, Melinda, Cherrie, and my in-laws went to a local restaurant that looked just like the busy, noisy restaurants you see in Chinese kung fu movies. Unfortunately, we couldn't get a photo of that because my parents borrowed Ed's camera to go see a cultural dance show that night.

The next day would be our last full day in Yunnan. We started off in the old city of Dali. We had passed through Dali a few days earlier, when we went to experience the Bai nationality marriage, but we did not have a chance to visit it's Old City. Though a bit smaller than that of Lijiang's, Dali's Old City was quite nice as well, featuring very impressive city walls. I've always liked city walls - I think probably because they remind me of the good old days in Xi'an...

In Dali, we also got to try one of Yunnan's few culinary specialties - and also one of Yunnan's 18 Oddities - goats milk curdled then roasted or steamed into a sort of wrap. More or less it was a very mild cheese, that, much like other Yunnan culinary specialties, didn't really do much to please my palate. However, it's one of my personal policies to try local snacks whenever I travel to faraway places!

Well, we're almost done... tune in next time for the finale of the China 2008 series!

FOOTBAW IZ BACK!!!1!!1one!

I don't really have that much to say in this post, actually, but an even that I've been waiting for since, oh, January 7th or so certainly merits a post of its own, I think!

First, the set-up. I got to Gainesville on Friday night, looking forward to an awesome three day weekend. Cherrie and I met up with Ed at Gator Nights, where we ran into Ray and Jenn, and we all went to make some leis in preparation for the season opener against Hawaii. After my failed attempt at making a lei (Cherrie's was much better), we waited in the ridiculously long line to see the very awesome Iron Man film. I'll probably catch a lot of flak for this, but I actually enjoyed this film more than I did Dark Knight. I think it was Tony Stark's personality that really made it awesome for me. I don't want to spoil anything though, so I'll leave it up to you to see what I mean yourself!

The plan for Saturday morning was to get up early so we would be able to park near the library before the game, then walk to the stadium from there about an hour or so before the game. However, since we were up till almost 3AM watching Iron Man, that didn't really happen. We headed out to campus at about 9:30 instead, and already, traffic was packed on University Avenue. After considerable circling, I decided to do what I always did back in the days when I went to school here - park on the lawn behind the Engineering building. Ed met up with us there, and we walked over to the Reitz union to grab some food before heading to the stadium to pick up our tickets from the Engineering block representative.

Unfortunately, we were supposed to go to Gate 3 of the O'Connell Center (UF's basketball dome), not Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, to pick up our tickets. Gate 3 is also arguably the most inaccessible gate of the O'Connell Center. After circling the entire dome, we finally arrived at Gate 3... but no one was there! After about 30 minutes, it started raining! Finally, with only about 10 minutes left before kickoff, the Engineering block representative showed up and gave us our tickets, and we rushed back to the stadium only to find that our seats were just one row from the top! Fortunately, the seats were relatively centered in the field - plus, if you've ever been to a football game, the players always look huge on the field, regardless of how far you are sitting.

After the disheartening loss to Michigan in January's Capital One bowl, it feels pretty good to come back and beat the snot out of last year's loser in the Sugar Bowl, the Hawaii Warriors. Without their run-and-shoot guru of a coach in June Jones and NCAA record smashing gunslinger Colt Brennan, Hawaii was reduced to little better than your typical directional school as the Gators routed them 56-10, scoring 8 touchdowns in about 30 minutes of game time, in every way imaginable, before the second and third string teams went in and allowed Hawaii some dignity.

After a slow (and swelteringly hot) first quarter, despite not having Percy Harvin, who was out with a heel injury, Brandon Spikes, Cornelius Ingram (out for the season with an ACL injury), and other tight end Aaron Hernandez, Tim Tebow commanded a formidable spread attack throwing for one touchdown, and letting his team do the rest. UF scored two touchdowns on interception returns, one by hard-hitting Major Wright and another that went 80 yards by Ahmad Black. Brandon James scored on a 1-yard run and on a 74-yard punt return that bounced some 15 yards in front of him before he fielded it. Chris Rainey struck from 33 yards out, Jeff Demps, the fastest high school athlete in U.S. history, scored on a 60+ yard run, and backup Cameron Newton punched one in as well. Tebow's single passing touchdown came on a 40+ yard pass to Louis Murphy, and didn't have to do much more after that.

With Miami on the horizon next week, it would be awesome to see a similar performance - with the shellacking we took in 2004s Peach bowl and the horrific waste of a 20+ point lead in 2003, not to mention that we haven't won against Miami since 1985, I'm really looking forward to a great game and season!

China 2008, Part XI: Bai Nationality and Guanyin Xia

After seventeen days, the 29th Olympiad in Beijing has finally come to a close. I haven't yet seen the closing ceremony, but having seen the sheer awesomeness of the opening ceremony, which can be viewed nearly in full on NBCOlympics.com, I am very much looking forward to seeing it once it's broadcasted!

As you can see in the medal count in the sidebar, the United States closed out strong, earning gold in Basketball with the Redeem Team, consisting of stars such as Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony, Dwayne Wade, Jason Kidd, and LeBron James, as well as in Beach Volleyball and earning several medals in Track and Field, as expected. The U.S. finished their Olympics leading in the overall medal count with 110, beating out China's 100, but trailed China's 51 Gold medals with 36, the same number of gold medals as we got in Athens, largely thanks to mer-man Michael Phelp's record breaking 8 gold medals.

While I have tons to say about this year's incredible Olympics, there are droves of professional journalists out there who are covering them, so I won't dwell much more on the subject. However, for a laugh, I do recommend Rob Riggle's coverage on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, which you can view at their website dailyshow.com. Once your there, search the tag "Chasing the Dragon". You won't regret it!

The conclusion of the Olympics allows me to finally change my What I'm Listening To playlist, which has been updated to feature pop from all over Asia, which I though would fit well with the continuation of my China 2008 series!

On Wednesday, after a long bus ride, we arrived near Dali, a city where the Bai nationality has a strong presence. The Bai nationality is characterized by their relatively more Han Chinese culture, when compared with many other minorities in China, but they still have unique culture of their own as well, such building houses with Dali Marble, which would be considered quite a luxury in most other places of the world.

In addition to their marble-clad homes, the Bai people have an interesting marriage tradition. In Bai weddings, it is common for the bride to cry - not because of joy, but rather due to pain. This pain is a result of her bridesmaids and the groomsmen, as well as many of the other wedding guests, to pinch the bride's cheeks! There was a reason for this bizarre practice, but I have to admit that I've since forgotten what that reason was.

After lunch, we headed over to a nearby lake, whose name I no longer recall (I think it had something to do with ears, though!), for a boat trip. Each boat was pushed by a boatsman (or in our case, a boatswoman), but we were also equipped with oars, so when we weren't looking at the traditional homes with no electricity or running water along and within the lake, we raced other tourists from our tour group!

Tired from rowing, our group next rode over to Guanyin Xia, or Guanyin Valley, a very scenic spot that pays tribute to the Bodhisattva Guan Yin. Guanyin Valley, besides being a beautiful sightseeing spot, is inhabited by another minority that uses one of the world's only heiroglyphic languages today.

Heiroglyphics or not, the main draw for me at Guanyin Xia was the hiking trail, which started after a short train ride through a tunnel. The hike was actually quite strenuous, though it was nothing the likes of Cherrie and I couldn't handle, after having climbed several sections of the Great Wall and up and down mountains like Huang Shan and Hua Shan several years back. But what was impressive was my 85-year-old grandfather, who's eyesight has sharply deteriorated over the last several years, was able to make the climb as well, though not nearly as quickly as he used to. I remember as recently as 2004 that he used to kick all of our butts when hiking! Still, that he was able to make this climb without any assistance was something that impressed more than a few of our fellow tourists!

Come back next week for the next installment of the China 2008 series!