UngsungBlog: A (Fantasy) Sports Blog

My sister’s computer build has gone from a horrible time to a full-fledged disaster (and it’s still going on).  Brett Favre is really ticking me off.  The pet peeve I referenced last time still beckons to be talked about.  The Elton Brand-Los Angeles Clippers saga is getting interesting.

All that being said, I am a lazy bastard after all, so I will blog about one single topic:  this weekend’s July B-Days BBQ.

Quick-hitters:

- Oh dear.  It appears that that stupid KFC commercial where the blonde ditz declaring that “anything is possible” in this “whole new wing world” is airing again.

So apparently the brass at KFC not only thought the commercial was good enough to air it once…but they thought it was good enough to air it AGAIN???

Yikes.

- Speaking of stupid commercials, have you seen the T-Mobile one where Brett Favre makes a cameo?

Absolutely disgusting.  Seriously.

- Current rebate-o-meter:  $1,199.  I can’t wait for the 2009 software to come out!

- (The following story is about *a* computer build, but not *the* build referenced at the beginning of this blog entry.)

So six months ago, I got a CPU/mobo combo (some junky ECS board + a Pentium Dual Core 915 @ 2.8GHz) from Krunk in exchange for a super-duper pricey, 23K gold-painted 6′ HDMI cable (no, not really).  Three months later, with the parts still sitting in their original boxes, I acquired a 500GB SATA hard drive (for reasons which are not important *whistles*).

This past weekend, I finally got around to hooking up the parts, though I did have to buy a new motherboard; Krunk warned me that the mobo’s onboard LAN port was busted, and I feared that that was going to be the beginning of a disastrous build.

I bought a cheapy ECS board (GF7050VT-M) on eBay for ~ $35 shipped, thinking that I was going to get 25% back via M$’ Live Search cashback (and for the record, I have not yet been able to claim my cash back, but that’s a story for another day).  The seller shipped my purchase almost immediately, and because he was located in SoCal, I got my package in two days.

(insert rant)

The motherboard was shipped, IN ITS ORIGINAL BOX, with nothing more than a USPS Priority Mail Tyvek envelope wrapped around it!!!  Who the hell thinks that the original box that a mobo is shipped in is sufficient packaging for something as delicate as a motherboard???

(end rant)

Fortunately, the board is working fine, and my system build went without a hitch.  I know have 300GB of free space to use for, um, data backup.

If only my sister’s computer build went that well…

- On Saturday, my aunt decided that she wanted to BBQ to celebrate the birthday of her sister (my other aunt on my mom’s side) and another individual who shall remain nameless.

We decided to go to Almansor Park for the festivities, and even though it was really warm that afternoon, it got chilly quickly, so much so that it became a chore to keep the charcoal hot enough to thoroughly cook all the food.  We had to go through two bags of charcoal and tons of lighter fluid, but eventually everything got cooked.

Food, you say?  Kebabs (New York steak, mushrooms, and bell peppers), chicken wings, ribs, potato salad, salad, celery and carrot sticks, some other stuff that I don’t remember, and of course, a birthday cake.

(In fact, when the birthday cake was ready to go and Happy Birthday was sung, I found out that a third person had a mid-July birthday:  “cousin” Darren :P.  Three birthdays, one BBQ…talk about saving money!)

EDIT:  I forgot to mention…during the day, I was forced into several hours of touch football and my best James Loney impersonation as a first baseman.  Boy am I sore today!

Until next time!

Tags: 500gb, annoying, bad shipping, bbq, birthday, combo, commercial, cpu, Food, kfc, motherboard, sata, seagate, steak by Peter
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My head hurts.

And I hate stupid people.

Quick-hitters:

- Office fans, rejoice! According to Office creator Ricky Gervais, Carell has signed a three-year contract extension to continue making episodes of The Office.

W00h00!!!

- (Thanks, or maybe no thanks, Krunk) Do women REALLY like douche-y a-holes like this clown?

There are guys that think they’re the greatest, and then there’s this guy.

My head is still reeling from listening to the clip…ONCE!

(BTW, if you want to talk “douchebag,” look no further than Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo.)

- I’m surprised that Chase, Citibank, and Discover haven’t called me up lately, inquiring as to why I haven’t bought anything lately.

How will these companies ever stay in business?

- Have you seen a commercial for the “Guitar Idol?”

(Warning: an obnoxious, insipid, and possibly traumatizing commercial, the same one that is shown on TV, appears on that site. You have been warned.)

Basically, these devices are oversized, rubberized (I think) guitar pick-shaped devices with a built-in speaker. Each pick is programmed to play two songs, and apparently you’re supposed to “strum” the pick up and down along with the music, adding your own guitar riffs.

This would be an awesome idea…if Guitar Hero and Rock Band never existed. Well, that, and if air guitar players didn’t look ridiculous.

The best thing about these picks? $19.95 + $8.95 processing and handling!!! I think I would be happier with the money.

- So here are some super-late, and probably already oft-repeated thoughts regarding Thursday’s NBA Draft:

1) It didn’t surprise me that Miami went with Michael Beasley. How he will fit with Wade + Marion, though, is another story. If they click, and Mario Chalmers (great pickup, BTW) relegates Jason Williams to the bench, will Riley mosey (sp?) his way down to the Heat bench next season?

2) I hate the Memphis-Minny swap for both sides. Minny picked up an undersized PF in Kevin Love (don’t they already have one in Al Jefferson?) and traded away a potential superstar in O.J. Mayo in the process. And doesn’t Memphis have enough guards already? And they had to throw in Mike Miller in the deal as well?

What’s next? Is Minny going to trade Al Jefferson back to Boston for cash considerations? Is Memphis going to trade O.J. Mayo to the Lakers for D.J. Mbenga?

3) I am not a fan of the Sonics pick of Russell Westbrook at #4. They could probably have traded down (say, to #7) and still picked up Westbrook. Now, if he learns how to play the point, and develops a reliable jumper, then this is a great pick. As it stands, I thought this was a serious reach (but nothing compared to the Kings’ pick of Jason Thompson at #12.)

If I think of something else to say, I’ll add it later. For now, though, here are my draft winners/losers:

4) Winners: Miami (especially if Chalmers works out), New Jersey (Brook Lopez at #10 was great value, but I don’t particularly like the Ryan Anderson pick), and Portland (Bayless fits the team perfectly, and they now have something like 200 future picks stockpiled). The Clippers are winners if DeAndre Jordan doesn’t flop. And can I put the Lakers in this list for acquiring Pau Gasol for the 28th overall pick, a sack of potatoes, Gasol’s brother, and Javaris Crittendon?

Losers: Sacramento (Jason Thompson? Patrick Ewing, Jr.?), Milwaukee (they love SFs, and sorry, but Joe Alexander has bust written all over him), and honorable mention to Knicks’ pick Danilo Gallinari (was that a brutal crowd or what?).

Final thought: I love the T.J. Ford for Jermaine O’Neal trade for Toronto. They got rid of a redundant player for a high-risk, high-reward player in O’Neal, and the 17th pick (Roy Hibbert) isn’t going to be a game-changer. IF (and that’s a huge IF) O’Neal plays sixty games, and is healthy for the playoffs, look out for Toronto!

As for Indiana, I like T.J. Ford, and Brandon Rush will be a solid pro. But, they had Jerryd Bayless fall to their laps at #11. Why not keep him as an insurance policy for T.J Ford, as well as a guy who can play some shooting guard?

That’s all for tonight.

Tags: commercial, douchebag, guitar idol, indiana pacers, jermaine o'neal, jerryd bayless, kevin love, los angeles clippers, mario chalmers, miami heat, michael beasley, milwaukee bucks, office, oj mayo, portland trail blazers, ricky gervais, russell westbrook, sacramento kings, steve carell, t.j. ford, toronto raptors, voicemail by Peter
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Argh!  This was supposed to be posted two nights ago!

Quick-hitters:

- You know you watch way too much TV when you can nearly recite that entire Taco Bell burrito rap.

(Speaking of commercials, I’m getting sick and tired of that song in the latest Zune commercial that goes “I’m here, and I ain’t going nowhere!” Please, go.)

- So I’m about ready to get a new cell phone (more on that another day; thanks Sprint). What should I get? A Palm Centro? A Moto Q (not the 9c, as that is $100 too expensive for my liking)? Or should I just keep my Sanyo Katana?

Decisions, decisions.

- They say one should not go grocery shopping while hungry. I should avoid online shopping while hungry as well.

I’m this close to ordering about $50 worth of Oberto beef jerky from Amazon. Thank goodness for free GCs through my Amazon Visa card + a $15/39 coupon (OBERSAVE).

- Every time I go to a supermarket that happens to have Gatorade, Powerade, or a similar bottled drink on sale, I cannot resist the temptation to buy several bottles. I do this for two reasons: one, I love sports drinks; and two, I re-use the bottles for drinking water.

(Let’s not get into the potential health hazards of re-using drink bottles.)

Anyway, I’ve now developed an even more ridiculous habit of not finishing a bottle before I start on a new bottle, typically of a different flavor. It has gotten to the point where I could walk from my living room computer to my bedroom, and pass anywhere from two to six unfinished bottles of Gatorade.

(Case in point: one day, there was a bottle of Gatorade on my computer desk, a bottle of water and a bottle of Crystal Light on my coffee table, and two bottles of Sobe Life Water on my kitchen counter. None of the five bottles were empty, and none of them were more than half full.)

Naturally, I’ve begun to take advantage of this. Every time I get up to go to the bathroom, the office, or my bedroom, I pretend to be an endurance runner, quickly taking a swig out of one of the bottles as I pass by.

Simple things like this amuse me, if you people haven’t already figured that out.

- Last night’s Pens-Wings 3OT game (that’s hockey…you remember that sport, right?) was one of the greatest sporting events I’ve seen in some time.

Too bad hockey has fallen so far off the map that not many people give a damn anymore.

But seriously, what else could you have asked for? Two plus bonus periods of hockey? A young goalie stopping 50+ shots in over 100 minutes of game time? A young team 30 seconds from losing, scrapping a game-tying goal to force the extra periods? A guy allegedly calling his shot, saying that he was going to score the game-winner, and actually doing so (Petr Sykora)? Close calls, big saves, and stupid penalties throughout the OTs (the Wings got hosed on the second goalie interference call, btw)?

If only my LA Kings didn’t suck…

and if only I could find hockey games on a network (Versus) that doesn’t require me to shell out $15 for that and a few other channels that I will never watch…

and if only the latest strike/lockout didn’t occur, causing me to not give a damn about hockey…

then maybe I’d still be a hockey fan.

(BTW, hockey in Hi-Def is incredible.)

- Here are some quick thoughts I have regarding the Celtics-Lakers NBA finals:

1) People have been saying that the key in the series is whether or not the Lakers can stop Paul Pierce.

Am I the only one that thinks that stopping Kevin Garnett is as important? And am I the only one that doesn’t see anyone on the Lakers guarding his well? Gasol’s too slow, and Odom’s not long enough. Yeah, we know that KG is not clutch, but if the Lakers are forced to double-team him, you don’t think that Posey, Pierce, or even Allen is going to hit a wide-open shot?

2) I fear that Gasol is going to play like a “weenie” again. I fear that Odom will do too much, and will be shut down by KG. And I fear that Pierce will do enough to slow down Kobe. All that spells disaster for the Lakers.

Laker fans should breath a huge sigh of relief, though, knowing that Doc “I’ll blame anyone buy myself, even God” Rivers is Boston’s coach.

(I’m not being facetious when I say that Rivers will blame God if something happens; I recall, during one of those coach’s interviews, Rivers blaming God for the Celtics’ shots not falling!)

Talk about a coaching mismatch!

3) Despite the coaching advantage and (I’d argue) the bench advantage, I think the Celts are just too strong. I don’t expect to see the same Celts team that took seven games to oust Atlanta to show up in the Finals. For now, I expect Boston to take the first two in Boston, and then win either Game Four or Five, and close out the Lakers in six.

I’m so confident of that prediction that I will bet $20 on Boston winning the NBA Finals.

(Boston fans, you may begin to send me hate mail :P)

Tags: 3 OT, amazon.com, beef jerky, boston celtics, commercial, detroit red wings, hockey, los angeles lakers, moto q, oberto, palm centro, pittsburgh penguins, rap, sprint, taco bell, water bottles by Peter
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