Tuesday, August 31, 2004Vespa Gran TurismoIf I were a rich man, which I'm not but if I were I am sure I would own one of these. The Vespa Gran Turismo is awesome. All vespa scooters are classic in design and quite quick by scooter standards. The Gran Turismo has a 200 cc engine and gets up to 75mph which is very respectable in the scooter realm. Im not sure if you can ride one on the freeway or not but imagine you could as long as you could maintain highway speeds. Anyways check them out they are pretty sweet. posted @ 10:03 PM PST [link] [Karma: -15 (+/-)] Sunday, August 29, 2004Extreme Engineering and The Discovery ChannelOnce again I have found another reasoin why my DirecTV Tivo is just so damn worth while. I have rediscovered the damn Discovery Channel today. I was watching extreme engineering and the show is just awesome. The shows today covered the Bay Bridge in Oakland, The Turning Torso Building in Sweden, a show on Super Container ships, and one on Tokyo's Sky City. All of the shows were awesome. The show on the super-container ships was really close to home as part of the show followed a local Hanjin Ship and its trip into the Port of Long Beach where they showed the time the ship spends in Port getting uloaded to the point at which the cans are put on the trains. The show on the Turning torso was awesome as it showed how in one week they build one floor of a skyscraper residential building in Sweden. The episode on Sky City was awesome because it researched the building of a city in the sky 2/3 of a mile tall and it went through the engineering dificulties that encompass such a huge project. They even did research on safety issues that might come up in such a huge building especially earthquakes, high winds, and fires. I was hooked watching Discovery all afternoon. Its like watching a popular mechanics magazine but on TV! posted @ 07:56 PM PST [link] [Karma: -2 (+/-)] Wednesday, August 25, 2004Catalina IslandSpent Monday with the family at Catalina Island. All in all it was a fun day. We took a golf cart tour of the island, which I had never done before. The island is really beautiful especially from some of the vantage points on the tour. We also did a glass bottom boat tour which was awesome. There is a protected area for fish just outside of the harbor and there was really an abundance of species. I would really reccomend taking this tour if you ever go over. The Boat rides on Catalina Express are really pleasant as they take about 70 minutes one way, which is much better than the old cattle boats which now just run on the weekends. Not sure how much longer they can stay in business. The Island itself is quaint and I really enjoyed myself and hope to spend the night there sometime this year. posted @ 05:46 PM PST [link] [Karma: 1 (+/-)] Sunday, August 22, 2004Pride Final ConflctIn an amazing weekend of MMA action Pride Final Conflict was aired the day after UFC 49. This was actually a little disappointing as the ending was a letdown but I'll get to that. This was the final of the Pride Heavyweight grandprix. Kazuhiro Nakamura defeated Murilo Bustamante by Decision. In the first semi final bout of the Grand Prix was Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira versus Sergei Kharitonov. Nogueira got the nod in a really tough match. In the second semi final Fedor Emelianenko defeated Naoya Ogawa by Armbar in a mere 54 seconds. This figured to give him a huge advantage in the final since he made quick work of his opponent and Nog went 15 minutes against a bad ass. In the alternat match to see who would replace a fighter if they couldn't fight in the final Ron Waterman defeated Kevin Randleman by Keylock in the first round. In a match I really looked forward to Mirko Filipovic defeated Fedor's lil bro Aleksander by knockout with a thuderous high kick which nobody believed he could hit. In the final non Grand Prix bout before the final Wanderlei Silva ko'd Yuki Kondoin decisive fashion before the hype up for the middleweight championship which will take place on Halloween. The final was really disappointing as Fedor Emelianenko and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira had a No Contest when Fedor had a huge cut open up on his forehead after an unintentional headbutt. posted @ 06:34 PM PST [link] [Karma: -1 (+/-)] UFC 49 Unfinished Business UFC 49 was one of the better events the UFC has put on in some time. Each match was very exciting. In the first matchup Yves Edwards defeated Josh Thomson by KO (Kick) in 4:32 of round 1. Many including Yves thought that this should have been for the lightweight belt that has been vacant since Pulver vacated. In the second match Karo Parisyan defeated Nick Diaz by Split Decision in what was a controversial decision that could have gone either way. These two fighters fought to the end. In the third match Chris Lytle defeated Ronald Jhun by Guillotine Choke in 1:17 of the 2nd round. Justin Eilers defeated Mike Kyle by KO in 1:14 of the first round. I was really pleased as Eilers is a likeable guy and I really dislike Mike Kyle after his previous match. In asurprise ending David Terrell ko'd Matt Lindland 24 seconds into the first round. Lindland has been pretty much unstoppable at 185 and was considered the top dog even though many people dislike him for his "boring" style of fighting. In another match he should have never taken but did anyway Chuck Liddell ko'd Vernon White in 4:05 of the first round. Liddell gets next shot of the belt, actually he had it prior to this bout but hey. In the final match before the main event Joseph Riggs submitted Joe Doerksen with Strikes in 2:39 of the second round. Riggs is an exciting fighter and is also at the now interesting middleweight division. In the main event Randy Couture did to Vitor Belfort what he does to almost everyone getting the TKO by Doctor Stoppage at the end of the third round. posted @ 05:29 PM PST [link] [Karma: -4 (+/-)] Thursday, August 19, 2004Customer Service:crazy: Well once again I've experienced both extremes of customer service. First I need to commend my web host as I sent them an email yesterday asking them if they would upgrade my website to a newer version of greymatter. They sent me a reply email less than 2 hours later asking for the passwords to install. I sent them back last night and first thing this morning I started receiving comments pages from tests they were running on the newly installed greymatter upgrade. Now that is service. :D Now on the other side of the pendulum is tmobile. I have been trying like crazy to find a camera attachment for my new sidekick and today I drove to their Harbor City store to see if they had gotten any in yet. The girl there said that they were out of them but she offered to call the other local stores to see if they had any. The Belmont Shore store said they had one so I drove off immediately to get it. Now Belmont Shores is a crazy busy part of Long Beach where you need to park a few blocks away from wherever you want to go and then walk which is what I did. The store is busy so I wait 20 minutes for a clerk to get free and then the guy goes and checks for the camera and comes back to tell me they dont have any. What the F***!!!! :crazy: posted @ 05:08 PM PST [link] [Karma: 6 (+/-)] Monday, August 16, 2004Scion TCPosted by I was at the Toyota dealer this morning getting my Xb worked on and I was actually excited because I was finally going to be able to see the Tc in person. Of course my luck they didn't have any in stock. Then my luck one of the big wigs from the dealership pulls up in one. The car looks awesome. I don't regret getting the Xb mind you but the Tc is really nice. It has a sporty stance and nice wheels. The only thing I wonder is what did Scion expect Tc buyers to customise since it is already pretty much tricked out? I still think it is the best value at under 17k around. posted @ 06:25 AM PST [link] [Karma: -6 (+/-)] Sunday, August 15, 2004Help keep California beautiful, adopt a bum!Now I am sure everyone has seen homeless people on freeway offramps holding various signs looking for handouts, but today I saw the cream of the crop. A bum had a sign that said Help keep California beautiful, Adopt a bum!. I thought it was classic marketing for a guy who was standing on an offramp. posted @ 07:09 PM PST [link] [Karma: -11 (+/-)] Saturday, August 14, 2004Pocket BikesPocket Bikes are everywhere it seems. They look like a ton of fun. Essentially they are a 50cc minibike / motorcycle designed for racing. They have a superbike form factor and depending on the model can reach upwards of 40 miles per hour. I like the one going for 299.95 as it is not only the cheapest but also the fastest. Oh the trouble I could get myself in to with one of these! posted @ 06:53 AM PST [link] [Karma: 7 (+/-)] Thursday, August 12, 2004Tmobile SidekickI just got the tmobile sidekick phone and can I emphasize how awesome this thing is. The internet and AOL AIM make the device stand out versus other devices. The sidekick is not going to be doing battle with the treo600 any time soon though. It's geared to be a much more of an entertainment device and doesn't sync with outlook. posted @ 04:29 AM PST [link] [Karma: -11 (+/-)] Friday, August 6, 2004Awesome Muay Thai site with information on the sport and Thailand itselfI found an awesome site this morning on Muay Thai and Thailand itself. The detail in the information is awesome. If you have ever wanted to learn more about Thailand or Muay Thai itself check it out. I found the site after having checked out the Fairtex website which is looking to build a team of American Muay Thai fighters and one of the requirements was that the fighter could perform Ram Muay / Wai Kru. Curious as to what Ram Muay / Wai Jru was I found this site. posted @ 02:51 AM PST [link] [Karma: 1 (+/-)] Alex Gong Its been a year since Alex Gong was tragically killed leaving his gym. I checked out his company website and oddly couldn't find any info on him. posted @ 01:52 AM PST [link] [Karma: -6 (+/-)] Pride Final Conflict The card is shaping up to be one of the best in a long time. The card is: FIGHT CARD (Bouts shown in order) Murilo Bustamante vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura - should be interesting as Nakamura has a 3-2 record with both losses coming to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira also from Bustamante's Brazilian Top Team. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Sergei Kharitonov (semis) - This matchup was a surprise to me as the president of Pride had said he didn't want two Russians in the finals leading to the obvious conclusion the fedor and Sergei would fight each other in the semifinals. Anyway I cant discount sergei but Nog is Nog and I expect to see him in the finals. Fedor Emelianenko vs. Naoya Ogawa (semis) - See the above note about this being a surprise. I just cant see fedor losing to Ogawa and I believe this sets him up for an easier path to being Grand Prix Champion. However since this is MMA I wouldn't be surprised by anything. Kevin Randleman vs. Ron Waterman (reserve match) - Randleman has won a lot of suuport since he destroyed Cro-Cop and almost destroyed Fedor. He deserves as much as anyone to be an alternate for the tournament. I'm pretty sure Pride is rewarding him for not ducking out of the tournament right after his father died. Waterman like Randleman is a solid fighter but I'm not sure anyone supports his having a shot at the Grand Prix if someone gets hurt. I like Waterman but there are other fighters who are probably more deserving of the opportunity. Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic vs. Aleksander Emelianenko - Talk about an awesome fight. Cro-Cop is trying to reestablish himself, as if anyone should need to after losses to Nog and Randleman. Aleksander is the younger but bigger brother of Fedor and is undefeated going into this fight. This will be really interesting to see how it pans out. Wanderlei Silva vs. Yuki Kondo - Almost any opportunity to see Wandy is exciting. This matchup is awesome. Even though Kondo has lossed to most of the upper echelon light heavyweights he should keep things interesting. As I was looking through his record I noticed that Kondo has never lost by knockout so we will see how he holds up against Silva. As for Silva I'm sure this is another bump on the road to his highly anticipated rematch with Rampage for the Middleweight title which is rumored to be in October. Tournament Finals: (Same Night) Winner Nogueira/Kharitonov vs. Winner Emelianenko/Ogawa - I expect to see Nog versus Fedor but cant count anyone out including an injury which would mean potentially Randleman or Waterman in the final. It is scheduled to debut on North American pay per view for customers of iNDEMAND, DIRECTV, and TVN on Sunday, August 22nd, 2004 at 9:00pm EST, 6:00pm PST. posted @ 01:34 AM PST [link] [Karma: -7 (+/-)] |
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