Looking Back on 2009 Part 6 - Cousins Can Hook It Up

NEW EXPERIENCES IN 2009 - AWESOME SEATS AT SPORTING EVENTS


Dugout seats at a Dodgers game, section 106 at a Lakers game...2009 was definitely the year of finally getting the chance to see LA teams as close as possible. A first for me this year and hopefully not the last! I have excellent cousins.

Looking Back on 2009 Part 4 - Best Movie

THE BEST MOVIE OF 2009 - THE HANGOVER


no brainer man. Is Caesar's Palace pager friendly? You bet.

honorable mention: UP. I was bawling.

Looking Back on 2009 Part 3 - Professional Athletes Making my Meals

THE BEST MOMENT OF 2009: HANGING OUT WITH RON ARTEST.


I still can't get over it! I won the opportunity to hang out with former Defensive Player of the Year Ron Artest! One of the best days of 2009, if not my life! Thank you Mitch Kupchak for bringing one of the coolest guys in the league to LA! How many people can say that they got to play Lakers Monopoly, two hand touch football, and ate grilled hot dogs and hamburgers on the beach with a starting forward for the Lakers? Not many. Coolest. Day. Ever.

Looking Back on 2009 Best New TV Show

We're quickly approaching 2010, so starting today I will blog daily about my opinions on the best (and maybe worst) of 2009 - in my life and elsewhere in the world. Let's get started.
Today: THE BEST NEW TV SHOW OF 2009 : MODERN FAMILY


Hands down Modern Family was the best new television show this year. Wednesdays just got really exciting because of it. There hasn't been a single boring episode yet and apparently others agree because it just got nominated for a Golden Globe today - for Best Comedy!! holllerrrr.

What Up

Yeah, LeBron's buzzer beater during the playoffs was pretty sweet, but that was a set play.

Kobe's buzzer beater was just glorious



yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhboy.

Part 2

shut up

shut up




whyyyyy!!!?


lady be crazy!


epic fail

It's Doesn't Get Any More American Than This

Overeating, football games, family time, and shopping for sweaters 50% off at 4am while trampling an 80 year old grandma in the process - it's Thanksgiving time y'all; one of MY FAVORITE holidays of the year. I'm thankful for my family, friends, cousin trips, the iPhone, Wikipedia, and the Los Angeles Lakers. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!



P.S. It's been almost a month since my last entry. my bad. I'm in my own little blog clog like the one going over at Sameer's page. I will resume my blogging ways some time soon. holla.

What an Outrage

I'm considering changing the title of my blog to This is an Outrage because all I seem to enjoy writing about are things outrageous in nature. What's ridiculous now? I'll tell you what:

LATISSE^® (bimatoprost ophthalmic solution) 0.03%. Brooke Shields promotes this thing like mad on television but in case you haven't seen it yet, it's a new prescription medicine that essentially extends your eyelashes. What the heck? Prescription medication for eyelashes? I don't care if your lashes are "too short" - get some fake ones if it is bothering you so much! Do eyelashes serve any other purpose besides protecting you from dust particles? No. I do not understand why anyone would want to take prescription strength medication for something so ridiculous..not worth the risk! What are the risks you ask? Discoloration and or/infection of your eyelids, conjunctivitis, corneal ulcers, eye or eyelid discharge, inflammation, irritation, pain, or swelling; severe or persistent burning, dryness, itching, or redness of the eye; severe or persistent eye fatigue; vision changes. It's not even a permanent thing - your eyelashes will be short again over time.

whoa there.

CORNEAL ULCERS? REDDISH-PURPLE SWOLLEN EYELIDS?

Well at least you'll have nice long lashes, right?

The World is Coming to an End

So this past Sunday I was celebrating Diwali with family and friends in Torrance. Serious Lakers discussions were taking place when all of a sudden I heard Bobby (who is 12) complaining about having to go to school the next day. Given he goes to the same middle school that I did, I started asking him which classes he was taking and who were his teachers. Surprisingly, my P.E. teacher (who appeared to be at least 64 years of age in 1998) is still a P.E. teacher. But, I digress. Anywho, this was the latter part of our conversation:

Me: So are you going to take marine bio as your elective next year?
Bobby: No I don't think I want to
Me: [shocked]What! Why not? You get to go on the coolest field trips to Catalina and Sea World and stuff.
Bobby:Really? I doubt that's the case any more.
Me:Why not?
Bobby:Since the economy is so bad, all of the schools are canceling field trips. We rarely go on them anymore. The only one I have been to was to the LA River and all we did was clean it. We got to pull a mattress out of there.
Me:
Dang this bloody economy! THE CHILDREN ARE SUFFERING!

Blog Action Day 2009: Climate Change

So today is Blog Action Day and this year's topic is climate change. While there are a lot of theories both in favor and against the belief that global warming is a legitimate environmental issue, I am a strong believer that this is something we should all be concerned about. The deadliest effects of climate change include economic downturn, the spread of various diseases, polar ice caps melting, warmer waters that can result in frequent hurricanes, and more frequent heat waves and droughts. You may be thinking isn't this already happening?? Yeah, I'm thinking that as well. It rained heavily for the last two days in California and today it was sunny and 93 degrees (and it's October?) If this isn't a result of global warming, then I don't know what is. Want more proof? There was a dang tornado in Moreno Valley not too long ago - how do you explain that? In all seriousness, climate change should be on everyone's minds. If you haven't already, I would strongly suggest reading Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth to get a better understanding of what is happening around the world in regards to climate change. It is disappointing that many people believe this is a political issue and that global warming is some sort of governmental conspiracy...it really isn't. The proof is in the pictures....the data is there. Neither aliens nor the Democratic Party caused this.

I had to calculate my carbon footprint in my Ecology and Evolution class in college a few years back using this site..check it out it's pretty insane:
http://www.climatecrisis.net/takeaction/carboncalculator/

Countries by Carbon Dioxide Emissions via Burning of Fossil Fuels:
source: Wikipedia

Basically, we all need to cool it...especially the industrialized nations.

http://www.blogactionday.org

Fall Television Overload

After a summer full of syndicated shows from the 90s and random Food Network and Bravo marathons, I was definitely looking forward to the return of my favorite shows during the fall season. With the exception of The Office and Jeopardy!, most of the shows I religiously follow are actually on cable networks. That being said, this all changed in recent weeks. With all these new shows in the fall lineup, network television has become awesome again and let me just say, it hasn't been awesome since ABC had T.G.I.F. - what up Steven Q. Urkel!

Community - NBC

Being a huge fan of The Soup, I had to make sure to watch Joel McHale's new show Community. I love the storyline and the characters are hilarious. So far the first three episodes have been great and I think the show is going to be a hit.

My Rating: ★★★★

Modern Family - ABC

If you haven't noticed, I love comedies. That being said, after seeing the previews, I also decided to check out Modern Family. Although stereotypical at times with the different families, this show is awesome. My favorite character is definitely Phil (Ty Burrell) - the lame dad who tries really hard to be cool and with it. Dancing to High School Musical songs and texting his homies - you go poser dad you go! I make it a point to catch it whenever it's on.

My Rating: ★★★★.5 yeah I don't know how to make a half star

Flash Forward - ABC

When I saw the commercials for this, I was seriously blown away and wanted to watch, but I told myself no because I simply cannot follow this many shows! I don't watch shows casually either so I knew I couldn't add another to my television schedule..too much dedication into something I shouldn't really be dedicated to at all. Sure enough, leave it to my trusty friend Bonni to watch it and tell me how good it is. Great. I knew I was going to get sucked in. I decided to watch the first episode online and the 2nd one when it aired on TV - holy heck this show is bomb! If I could recommend one show you should be watching, it should be this. There's a new episode on tonight!

My Rating: ★★★★★

I plan on only watching these three new shows and nothing else! Don't recommend I watch any more please, or else I may have to call up homegirl Jenny Craig to help me out.

Greeting Cards = More Frustrating Than You Think

The biggest question of our time: when I put in X amount of socks into the dryer, how come (X-7) socks come out of the dryer?

The second biggest question of our time: when I'm browsing through greeting cards and decide I don't like a particular one, how come I can never find where to put it back after I'm done?


The biggest question is universal, the second biggest - I'm not sure. Maybe I'm the only one with this issue who knows. Every time I go to the greeting card section of a store (like today), I pick a card, read it, and when I decide that I don't want it, I can never find where it goes!! How does this even happen? I even make an extra effort to remember where I got it from and I do not suffer from Alzheimer's. This is some sort of government conspiracy I swear.




Am I missing something? Where does it go? I picked it up from this section....

What a Week It Has Been

shut up.


shut up.


shut up.


........... (?!?!!?)


just leave.

Revelation in My Life: I Really Don't Dig Joes

Joe the Plumber, Joe Sixpack, Joe Stalin and now Joe Wilson. boooo on all of you.

The People Over at Jif Peanut Butter Live in a Utopian Society

Whenever I see this commercial on TV, I shake my head in displeasure. So, only one piece of bread left and there's two hungry children. What EVER will mom do? She does the smart thing: tell them to split it and little Cody makes it clear that he wants the bigger piece - thus implying that the larger half is in high demand. Mom decides to let the older kid cut it [as should be the case in any house!!] but then pulls a pretty slick fast one and lets the little tyke pick which piece he wants! Obviously he picks the bigger piece. The commercial ends with the little kid cheesin' real hard and rubs it in his brother's face by saying, "I got a pretty big half!" and the older brother agrees and SMILES.

Oh heck no.

In what normal household would a child who just got gypped by their mother be happy that their younger brother got the bigger half of a PB-smothered piece of bread? Here's the answer: that would never happen. It definitely would have never happened with my younger brother and me that's for sure. Get real Jif!

When looking for the commercial on YouTube, I was going through the comments and found this gem:

Glad to see someone else in this world realizes how idealistic this commercial is. Thank you random youtube commenter.

P.S. - I believe Godzilla enjoys pie as well.

Worse than Rside? great

Revelation in My Life: Midwesterners Dislike Me

I was looking at the visitor statistics of my blog and noticed something quite striking: part of the Midwest Region of America refuses to visit this site. I'm a little offended..I mean, not even one visitor! Nevadans would rather gamble than blog I am sure, Colorado kids have Nuggets games to watch and mountains to snowboard on, and Utah is Utah. I understand why people from these states may not be visiting; but the midwest? Oh come ON.

The white states indicate zero visitors:

Montana, Wyoming, North and South Dakota, Nebraska..what's up you guys? Are you not feelin' this? Is there even internet over there? I honestly don't know.

News Reporters are Being Abused Nationwide

How come when it's 95+ degrees outside ABC-7 News finds it necessary to send out Bob Banfield in a dress shirt and tie to give a report stating "Yes, it is extremely hot in Ontario right now.." ? Like we don't know that ourselves? When a large hurricane strikes in Florida, you can count on witnessing a reporter in the middle of it all wearing nothing but a t-shirt, weak poncho and a sorry hat on your nightly news confirming that why yes, there is a hurricane, just in case there was any doubt in your mind. Same thing with wildfires, tornadoes, and any other natural disaster. I have no problem with a news anchor sitting pretty INSIDE the station notifying me about disasters around the country, but I do not understand why there is a need to send out reporters to go out and talk about it. I'm currently sweating bullets inside my house..my phone says it is currently 97 degrees in Northridge and I believe it. Sure enough poor Amy Murphy of Fox 11 is standing in Sherman Oaks tomato red and quite possibly dehydrated right now as I watch her on TV telling me that it is "extremely hot right now."

STOP THE ABUSE!!

Indians: Making It Rain Since 1947

Rappers, professional athletes, and Mother Nature all love to make it rain these days. It also appears that many people believe this is something new. Here's what most of the general population fails to realize: Indians [Asian not Native American..yes, I know they can literally make it rain with their rain dance, but I'm going to talk about the Asian Indians right now..] have been making it rain for years now; definitely long before Young Jeezy, Lil Wayne, or Andrew Bynum have been doing it. Weddings, birthdays, graduation parties - you name it, and you can count on several Indian Aunties and Uncles throwing the cash around like money ain't a thang. I would have to say weddings are when they definitely go all out. From my own personal experiences, once everyone hits the dance floor, you begin to notice money flying all over the place. Not too long ago I attended a wedding reception in Bakersfield and at the end of the night, there was so much money that the maintenance crew at the party hall had to sweep all the bills up with brooms! Now that is what you call big pimpin! So why do they do it? Unlike in the U.S. where people usually make it rain on scantily clad women, Indians do it essentially as a form of well wishes for whoever the celebration is for. Now I know that many other cultures have their own money dances for various occasions, but I'm just spreading the word that my brown brothers and sisters have been making it rain forever man. Sorry T-Pain, Uncle Sanjiv is the true playa in this situation.

Check this video..they're making it rain on dem Punjabis!

Michael Jackson: The King of Pop 1958-2009

Truly a sad week in the world of entertainment: Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and as of this afternoon, Michael Jackson has passed away. This is a definitely a tragic event for his friends, family, and fans all over the world; with myself included. I grew up listening to MJ..I used to attempt to Moonwalk, lean forward like he did in the "Smooth Criminal" video, and was in love with almost every song he released. When I was a baby and was crying uncontrollably, my mom said the only way she could calm me down was by playing Michael Jackson tapes. She also recorded his music videos for me to watch whenever I was getting out of hand because she knew I'd love it. Sameer and I still let out a "hee hee" or a "shamon!" whenever possible to this day. "I Want To Love You PYT," "Bad," "Beat It", "Man in the Mirror," "Billie Jean.." my all-time faves. RIP MJ you were truly an icon.

Nike MVPuppets: Kobe Celebration

Did you hear the news? The Lakers are the 2009 NBA Champs! Yeahhh boy. So throughout the playoffs, Nike had a field day with their series of NBA "Most Valuable Puppets" commercials featuring Kobe and LeBron and I loved every single one of them! Every time they realeased a new one, I decided it was my favorite until the next one would be released lol...I'm pretty sure I have decided the following "Kobe Celebration" one is my all time favorite. It may also be the last one in the series given the season is over, but you never know!



lol so good!

I truly love all of them but since I can't post all of the commercials here are a few of my other favorites in case you haven't seen it on tv 1000 times already:
Lil Dez:


UNSTOPPABLE!


LeBron James: Chalk


Three Cookies

Word Mang

The New iPhone 3G S

Apple never ceases to amaze me so I figured the new iPhone 3G S that they were going to unveil yesterday was going to double as a hovercraft or something. Unfortunately, the 3G S does not double as a hovercraft but does have some cooler features than the OG iPhone I have, but nothing too extraordinary much to my surprise. Its claim to fame I guess is that it's a lot faster than previous models. It also now takes video, much longer battery life, the applications work 2X faster, it has a camera with auto focus [FINALLY], and has voice control which I think is pretty sweet. If you tell it to play a song by Coldplay for instance, it will. Very nice. The only thing I am not impressed with is that it comes with a compass? Really Apple? Who needs a compass in this century?? Especially considering the fact that all iPhones already have GPS capabilities. Nevertheless, I think it's pretty cool but not cool enough for me to want one ..my old skool iPhone is still good enough for me.

Cube Wars

Curse you Erno Rubik of Hungary and your wretched cube of frustration!

My fascination with Rubik's Cubes has been going on for years now. I knew a lot of people with them in elementary school but what a load of cheaters they were - rearranging the stickers and all! whaaaack. It was around my Junior year of college when I came across a woman selling them at the mall and I decided I had to have one. I had always wanted to have one of my own that I could work with whenever it was convenient for me. I was also glad the ones she had didn't have the stickers, but tiles instead - a Rubik's Cube that means business. So, I bought it, went back to Riverside Monday morning...

and so the saga began.

I was working on this thing like mad. I played with it every morning ,on the trolley, in my classes, at Starbucks..literally, everywhere. Great conversation piece that darned cube is - everywhere I went with it people would check up on my progress, suggest tips, ask if they could try, the works. The truth is I wasn't getting very far and I also had decided I will not ask a single person for any sort of help, tips, nor would I go online for any assistance either. I had created a mini Rubik phenomenon in the UCR region. All of my friends had wanted to try and I had decided to buy them cubes of their own. A Cube Cult if you will. Amandeep had many sleepless nights working on that thing to no avail. Here's the sad part:
It's May of 2009 and I still have not completed the thing

I had been dealing with this monstrosity on and off through my Junior AND Senior years. My stubborn self STILL refuses to get any tips or suggestions..I will finish it..one day..oh I hope. Why blog about this now? I recently found it in my backpack [which hasn't been opened since graduating lol]. Oh here we go again..

here's what it currently looks like:

Scary Mythical Creatures Haunt My Dreams

I had a fairly odd dream last night. I was in my house when all of a sudden I see this white bug crawling on the carpet from under a book. It was caterpillar-like and I had decided to wait for it to come out completely from the book so I could kill it. I've included a photo below for your viewing pleasure:


That blue line represents how big I ASSUMED the creature was, but boy was I wrong. This creepy crawler was gigantic and I had no idea how long it was going to take for it to come out entirely so I could see just how long it really was. Once it finally crawled out, it FLEW..yeah that's right this sucker had WINGS. At this point I screamed for help [just as I do in real life when faced with this sort of situation] as this crazy white winged thing was flying all around the house. Some male friend of mine [not really sure who it was] was coming to my rescue and then I woke up.

cuhhhhh-raaayyzeeeeeee

The T-Shirt I'm Beginning to Lose Faith In

A while back, I had been taking part in an NBA season-long sweepstakes which offered various prizes, including an all-expense paid trip to the finals, which I'm pretty sure I did not win. I did however, win a $25 NBA Store gift card. Upon winning, I immediately began looking for Laker t-shirts on nbastore.com, and was trying to decide which one I wanted. It was then brought to my attention that I should wait until June so I could buy a Lakers championship t-shirt..I thought the idea was brilliant!

3 months later...now I'm sitting here..wondering if I should still be waiting? Last night the infamously inconsistent Lakers got owned by the undermanned Rockets....for the third time in this series. These fools are really testing my allegiance right now! I had returned to nbastore.com today to buy my shirt, and then I left the site empty handed. I can't give up..I really just want my championship t-shirt...and a parade on Figueroa...so Amandeep and I can do our Mark Madsen dance that we have been anxiously waiting to do. Don't let us down Lakers!

A Mother's Love

A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.
- Washington Irving

These days, relationships of all kinds are fleeting. Friends come and go, breakups and divorces have become the norm, and human connections in general are quite ephemeral. The one and only bond that I feel is truly unbreakable is one between a mother and her child. Although I am responsible for the majority of my mom's gray hairs, I know that the bond can never break.

To: Mom/Mummy/ Mom-ay/ Mum Jeezy/Momsy/Mummyji/ Maaaa:
I am thankful for everything you have done for me and the relationship we have. Although we have hit some serious bumps in the road from time to time, I know that we have a very strong bond with each other and I am truly blessed for it. So to the best cook, supporter, friend, cheerleader, doctor/cure-all, healer, teacher, listener, and counselor I know : Happy Mother's Day. Love, Sarina

*A special thanks to Meesa for paying premium fees for cool sites

Ay Dios Mio..Hace Calor up in Here

Freaking Al Gore and his global warming. I feel like at this rate, summer will begin in January, or like, by 2015 we will begin to have 190+ degree weather. It was also really windy here today..I'm convinced it was some sort of hot tornado. Apocalypse forsure.



82 degrees at 8:04 PM. lame.

Treasures From My Bedroom: Photos Taken At The Mall

Treasure: Photo Makers pictures* (circa 1997-2000).
Location: bottom drawer next to the bed, hidden under fat stack of papers
What Qualifies it to be a Treasure: nostalgic value. significant blackmail value as well.

*At the Northridge Mall, the place was called Photo Makers - it may have been called something else in your area, but I am almost certain every mall in America had one of these.


This was an excellent discovery. I found about 100 or so of these pictures tucked away in a small plastic bag and it brought back great memories. It's amazing how ridiculously popular taking these pictures and then passing it out to all of your friends were at the time. At my middle school, which was literally two blocks from the mall [any valley boy and/or girl's dream], this was the biggest thing to hit the scene since Lemon Ice Gatorade. The typical photo was as follows:

Why did we think this was so cool? Remember when like 15 people would get together to take a photo together? Remember how much drama was involved in deciding who you wanted to take your picture with let alone who would give one of your pictures to? Was I into this fad? Guilty as charged. hahah man someone out there is laughing all the way to the bank while thinking about how many pre-teens he/she suckered into this phenomenon.

For safety/embarrassment purposes, I have blurred the photos to the best of my ability.

Update From the Bulls Bandwagon

Plain and simple: life on the Chicago Bulls Bandwagon is amazing! Whoever hasn't joined it yet - it's not too late! I am pretty sure though that by now most people have been sucked into this playoffs match up hardcore like myself. Consider the other Round 1 match ups and how many games I watched: Lakers vs. Jazz: all of them [obligatory], Magic vs 76ers: 1, Hawks vs. Heat [I think like 4 not sure], and everyone else: big fat zero. Why zero? They were all boring.

All except this Bulls/Celtics match up! Every single game so far has kept me on the edge of my seat. This is by far the best series I have ever watched in my life and last night's game six was just EPIC.

Game 1: Chicago wins 105-103 (OT)
2: Boston 118-115
3: Boston 107-86
4: Chicago 121-118 (double OT)
5: Boston 106-104 (OT and almost double OT had Miller made his free throws)
6: Chicago 128-127 (TRIPLE OT!!!!!!!!!)

Talk about OVERTIME MADNESS. This is amazing. Last night's game was 4+ hours and it was so intense you could not even turn away from the television for a second. I really thought this was going into more overtimes, and that in the end it would come down to a one on one match between Brian Scalabrine and Lindsey Hunter. With so many players fouling out, I also convinced myself that at one point Michael Jordan was just going to emerge from the sky or something and get on the court. Fights broke out, Rajon Rondo pretty much knocked Brad Miller's teeth out, Paul Pierce now runs after the ball at speeds in which you might believe he was once a sprinter, these games keep going on for hours with no end in sight; like I said...this bandwagon is a great experience. Go Bulls!!!

Game seven on Saturday should be just as intense. I can't wait. Don't bother trying to get in touch with me after 5pm.

Check this fight out from last night. Ohhhh man

Air Scare Force One Photoshoot = epic fail

Apparently some White House officials found the need to take updated photos of Air Force One around the Statue of Liberty. I'm not entirely sure who cares if the photos are updated or not but what do I care about is that someone thought it was a bright idea to fly a 747 and an F-16 Fighter Jet in a NO-FLY ZONE in NEW YORK..and then decide not to tell anyone about it? The Federal Aviation Administration definitely knew that flying a presidential jet so close to Ground Zero would stir up fear on the streets, but they went along with this boondoggle anyways. Of course, mass hysteria ensued amongst New Yorkers. I don't blame them. Low-flying jets around the Statue of Liberty and other important buildings? Tell me what American wouldn't suspect terrorist activity when seeing that. Way to go guys. The head buffoon that approved of this was director of the White House military office, Louis Caldera. You know what grinds my gears even more? The total cost of this photo shoot was $328,000. We are in a serious recession here, people are losing their homes, the national unemployment rate is at 11%, banks are going under, and some White House officials really felt the need to spend $328,000 of tax-payer money on a photo? A file photo of Air Force One? It's going in a file! Who cares! Louis Caldera has apologized, as has President Obama. Apology shamomolgy man; Mr. Caldera needs to be fired immediately. Like a boss.

How come nobody has heard of using Photoshop? What a load of morons.

The Swine Flu Epidemic (Possibly Soon To Be Pandemic)

Great. Infected Mexican pigs are spreading a virus around like mad. Last week I was watching CNN and heard something about a Swine Flu Virus going around in Mexico. I thought it was something minor and that maybe I'll lay off eating pork for a while.


Wrong.

As of today, April 29th, 2009, swine flu has spread across several American states as well as countries on several continents, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, and New Zealand. I read this in the Los Angeles Times today:

Arizona, Massachusetts, Michigan and Nevada joined the list of states with new cases. Texas said its total has now climbed to 16 cases; New York has 51, and California has 15.

This afternoon, the Marine Corps said that a Marine at the Twentynine Palms, Calif., base has been confirmed to have the virus. About 30 men at the base who have come into contact with him have been quarantined.

Riverside County Health Officer Eric Frykman also said that four probable cases have been identified in the county. Two of them, an 87-year-old woman and an unrelated 5-year-old girl, have been hospitalized. The other patients are teenage girls from Corona and Indio.

Living in LA with so many people who often visit Mexico on the weekends, let's face it: I'm scared. I just heard on the local news that a student at Cal State Long Beach who's exhibiting the symptoms is currently undergoing tests. This thing is moving closer and closer to home.

The World Health Organization had also announced in Geneva today that there is absolutely no sign that the spread of this Swine Flu/H1N1 Virus is slowing down. After hearing this, now I'm definitely scared. In addition, my don't eat pork theory has been proven irrelevant. There hasn't even been any proof yet that consuming tainted pork can cause one to develop the illness. I'm not sure if stocking up on masks is going to do much; it sounds pretty Y2K-let's-hoard-tons-of-food-and-water status to me.I guess all you can really do is keep washing your hands and stay away from any shady looking individuals. Trust me, I've been sanitizing like you would not believe lately. What can one really do? Go into hiding? Maybe I'll set up a bunker underneath my house.I hope the WHO and other researchers/scientists get this under control soon because this is clearly a force to be reckoned with.



Curse you, you wretched swine!

Alas, you can always count on my hero, Stephen T. Colbert, to make light of the situation:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Days of Swine and Doses
colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor First 100 Days

Cherimoya Makes Me Say, "Oh-Ya"

Is this seriously an entry about fruit?

Yes, yes it is. You see, I thought I was pretty "with it" when it comes to knowing about the uncommon fruits that are in existence (durian, loquat, jackfruit, etc..) but sure enough, there are plenty out there for me to discover. A while back, Sameer was telling me how cool it is that one of his suitemates has a cherimoya tree back home. I was majorly confused. What in the name of Sweet Jesus is a CHERIMOYA TREE? After he told me about it [and after it was confirmed that apparently everyone seems to know about this glorious fruit besides me], I was definitely interested in trying this thing. I consulted Wikipedia and learned that cherimoya is native to the Andean-valleys of Ecuador and Peru. I had forgotten about all of this until last week when I was out shopping in the valley. Outside the mall there was a farmer's market going on and much to my surprise there was a vendor selling a grip of cherimoya. Bought it, went home, tried it and oh my

THIS SHIZZ IS AMAZING.

Some of you might be reading this and are now shaking your head that it took me 22 years to discover this existed, and then some of you may also now be interested in trying this heavenly fruit. For the latter group, let me tell you..it pretty much tastes like the love child of a pineapple and a strawberry whose father is a banana. Does that analogy even make sense? hmmm oh well. Think of it as a really good mixed fruit smoothie. Conclusion: cherimoya is bomb!

Oh Desis

My cousin shared this video with me the other day. It's an Indian Microsoft commercial and it's pretty funny..and true

Put Me on the Chicago Bulls Bandwagon

Things that come to mind when I think about elementary school: Power Rangers, dodgeball, Zack Morris and Kelly Kapowski, ice cream men who actually sold ice cream and not cocaine, and The Chicago Bulls. You were clearly a fool if you were not a Bulls fan in the 90s. Jordan, Pippen, and even you Mr. Rodman = amazing. Once that era ended and Kobe came onto the scene, I was back to being strictly Lakers. Fast forward to the 2009 NBA Playoffs. This last Saturday I'm in my usual playoffs viewing spot on couch glued to the television. Game one: Celtics vs. Bulls. I was really expecting a blowout by the Celtics - it was brought to my attention that the Bulls had made some big trades towards the end of the season and I was not to take this series lightly. I didn't really believe it. Boy was that person right. Derrick Rose is a beast and these new era Bulls are a force to be reckoned with! Truth be told this is the only series I have any interest in now. Like I said, I'm jumping on the Chicago Bulls Bandwagon. Trust me, I never do this. The 2007 Golden State Warriors? Yeah I didn't care. Could it be because they're making fools out of a team I absolutely despise? Maybe, but it cannot be the only reason. Anywho, I'm officially rooting for the Bulls! Obviously not to win the whole thing, but to go further than I had anticipated. Go Chicago!!! and will someone please tell KG I prefer he stays inside the locker room from now on? It's better that way.