Special Birthday

Happy Birthday Mom!! She turns 21 today, which makes me 3 years old or something.... Best wishes for a great birthday!!

It's April 1 in Taiwan in a few hours... not sure if it has the "April Fools" significance here or not. We shall see.

It is a big weekend though as it is Tomb Sweeping Day (Qingming Festival) or 清明節 for the Chinese Culture. It's basically a Memorial Day with a better cooler name. It's a time to remember those who have already passed and tend to the graves of family. Some people use it as a Spring Cleaning Day as well - although it doesn't really feel like Spring when I don't remember Winter ever arriving here. It's officially Saturday, so no day off here. Those come in May!! Still haven't figured out why from my Taiwanese peers, but there were people burning things in the street last Friday (a sign of some significant holiday) and some festival floats going up and down the streets. And of course the lovely firecrackers in the streets - luckily these were during the day only.

We went to go see The Watchmen this past weekend (yes, with Mandarin subtitles even though it's brand new). A pretty good movie for those who enjoy the superhero/comic book movies of popularity the past few years. The opening scene is extremely loud - maybe I'm just getting old.

Let's see.... What else to talk about today:

• American Idol is down to 9 (8 contenders and 1 wanna-be)...
  
• Celebrity Apprentice is down to 7 girls and 4 guys with the departure of Mr. Rodman. That guy is still fun to follow!
  
• Final 4 includes the much hated Michigan State Spartans who cheated in 2000 thanks to referees wearing green and white stripes for that "home" game for MSU. No, I don't forgive them either.
  
• ISU women made the elite 8, but that's it for them. Who lets one player on the opposite team score 47 points in Women's College BBall?
• Watched the movie Bolt... cute movie and the graphics are getting better and better with these things.....

Have a good Tuesday - new month tomorrow!

Motown Week

First - interesting action being done by our old Larry Eustachy (The Natty Light drinking former ISU coach who was making way too much money to be drinking Natty Light): http://www.cnbc.com/id/29860334

Interesting week for American Idol - still proving it's a good year for this group. I like this part of the competition where they take 120 minute show for 10 contestants. That's average of 12 minutes, more like 6 after commercials and babbling, but still enough time to do a full 3-4 minute song and get feedback.

Top Guns with Maverick and IceMan
Non-Twilight Adam - That was pretty freakin' sweet. As was hearing Smokey tell us what he was writing about.
"Not Just the Piano Guy" Matt - Well played sir... well played
Allison - Only girl to show up and made a believer out of me this week.

Hangin' Around Like Week After Christmas Candy
Guitar Kris - Pretty Good, enjoyable and shows he has potential
Danny - An off week for him but still one of the better performances tonight.

Stock Dropping like it's AIG
Scott - no doubt that he's talented musically.... but not keeping up with everyone else.
Lil - Watch out... she's not standing out like she originally did at the beginning.
Anoop - zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......

Packing up the Skates for the Season (take your pick - hopefully both)
Megan - the last of the "amateur hour" that needs to go home finally. How did she beat out Alexis?? Her voice now annoys me.
Michael - Was thinking "Vegas" the whole time.... anybody else want to meet at NYNY for the weekend???

Observation: Anyone else think Belly Itcher looks kind of like Danny???
Annoying: Randy wearing aqua blue like he's going to a Tar Heel rally.
Very Annoying: Simon bantering of Paula for every single performance
Funny: When Paula has to comment first and she's the only judge that liked the performance.
Overused Expression of 2009 Season:"Singing the Phonebook".... how about trying "could sing the John Deere 6030 User Manual" or "could sing the Chinese Translation of Twilight"???
Ironic: Anyone else notice that BOTH Simon and Ryan wear the same outfit every week? Maybe it's just the Slingplayer reception, but looks like the same every week from Ryan.
Scary: Ozzy and Family with a new show???? Seriously???
Proof for an 80s One Hit Wonder Night:Do we get a "When Smokey Sings" performance tomorrow? That's actually a great song!! 1987 hit from the artist ABC!!

All Is Well

So far so good for Sarah's Dad. He is eating normal and already walking around with the joys of his new heart. Thanks to all for their prayers over the weekend for an amazing marvel of modern medicine.

Steve thanks everyone for the prayers, but asks us to also remember that our joy is unfortunately also some other family's loss out there. Please keep that family and their grieving in your prayers.

Also, prayers going out to my uncle Milan in another farming accident. I thought farming was supposed to be "safe" in comparison to other jobs in the world yet I know many people with farming accidents now.... PTO... augers.... damn them all. I do know kind of what a PTO is now after some weekend research.

Speaking of farming - I was watching a special on the GPS tractors from John Deere that make the work so much easier for farmers. The only thing they have to do in the combine is turn it around when it gets to the end of the rows. The GPS tracks the speed, position (within 2 inches), and dictates how much energy has to come from the engine to maintain that speed.... pretty easy, even I could do it!

It was over 90 degrees yesterday here in Taipei... and humid:( Back into the 60s today for a few days with light rain.

In case you were wondering, I'm still in it for a chance to win my basketball pools. I was 14/16 in picking the Sweet 16. I have all 8 of my elite 8 still playing and obviously all the teams after that. I picked Louisville to beat UNC in the final... see how I come out;)

Enjoy your Monday!

Got The Call

Please pray for Sarah's dad.... he is getting a new heart and will be in surgery Thursday night US time. Hoping all goes well and a successful surgery.

For Sarah

Today's video is dedicated to my one and only Sarah....

lyrics pretty much sum up my thoughts lately:



except for the last part:(

American O'Idol Week

Been a bad day at work - if that wasn't bad enough, I find out American Idol is "Hillbilly Night"???? Day just got worse. Why couldn't they do this with the final 3 or something so I only have to listen to 3 performances. It's St. Patty's Day, why not do U2 night? Or "non-Country" night??

Worth Winning If Decided Only By Tonight's Performance
Adam - LOVED IT! I'd buy that recording - sure, it was messed up, but was worth tuning in for. Kind of like Jim Morrison mid-acid trip.
Anoop - proof that doing a ballad can be gutsy and still GOOD! Not sure he can win it overall.

Middle Crew (in ranking order)
Matt the Piano Guy - Compare him to Scott, Matt played like he's a Billy Joel, Scott was the one hiding behind piano tonight. Well done Matt.
Danny - Pretty good... he'll continue to improve week to week. And I agreed with Simon - Polar Expedition is exactly what I was thinking!
Allison - Actually wasn't painful. Still not sure what to think of her.
Lil Rounds - I thought it was good, not sure why the judges hated it so much. Not her genre, but that's the risk you take with having theme nights.
Kris - had some pitch problems that bothered me and I didn't think it was as good as the judges let on. Yes, I actually do like that song.
Scott - blah.... falsetto part was horrible and honestly, Paula was right for once - nothing "rock star" about him yet, especially tonight.
Michael - Country Night was for him, the harmonica player was pretty good and he was just ok.
Alexis - the middle part was the reason it sucked. Still see her next week though.

See You on Tour... or maybe not (oops)
Megan Joy - nope... goin' home this week

I will say that once they ditch Megan this week, maybe Michael next week... this thing gets really interesting!!

In another note - sorry in advance for any Catholics, but the Pope continues sending the wrong message proving my issue of having a figure head like him speak on current events... when you visit Africa, a continent plagued by AIDS, to suggest that condoms won't help the war on AIDS is ignorant. Yes, I think we should put more emphasis on the abstinence option and making sure everyone understands the only 100% risk free option... but realistically we need to complete the education and encourage them to use modern methods of protecting themselves. Condemning condoms is not cool. I haven't liked him anyways up till now, this one continues to show irrelevant with the times he makes the Catholic Church unfortunately. Not a way to attract people to the Church.

St. Patty's '09

First off: To the SOBs at AIG if you're reading this.... get your head out of your ass and do what's right, not what's best for your personal wealth. Seriously - this whole thing really pisses me off. I'll ask the questions that everyone is asking, how can a contract be structured to allow someone who leads a company through such a collapse be allowed to get paid to do it? This is further example of how the rich get richer, the rest of us have to get by as best we can.

And while you do hear about the NBA taking out temporary loans, you do NOT hear about professional athletes taking pay cuts, or unemployment rising in the big leagues. It's all very sad actually.

Anyway - my soapbox of the day.

Today is St. Patty's day. I was wearing my green shirt (green dress shirt, couldn't wear my "Kiss Me I'm A Cyclone" shirt from my loving mother) at work, even pulled out the "Kiss Me I'm Irish" button that Sarah sent me. Come to find out, St. Patty's Day is NOT a Taiwan wide holiday. I took some time to explain the history as best I know (patron saint of Ireland was about it) and how on the 17th of March, most of us in the US brag about being 5% Irish or knowing someone who can speak with an irish accent. To celebrate this commonality, we drink green beer and wear as much green clothing as possible. When you explain it to the Taiwanese, it really does sound dumb....

Basketball bracket is set... I'll sleep on it tonight and see if I can pull home a 4th trophy (in 6 years) for a pool at work. Not expecting to win this year since I've barely been able to follow from here and seems that the tournament is wide open this year.

The weather is beautiful here - 70s and no moisture in the air. Gets in the 60s at night so I sleep very well:) Should be like this all week.

Enjoy your St. Patrick's Day!

Why My iPod Needs A Fix

I have a rubber protection thing for my iPod classic that I bought off ebay for $3 (including shipping). Further proof that man should be able to live off of ebay alone. It does the trick of protecting the iPod from scratches and dumb stuff while in my pockets or traveling. I get a lot of usage from my iPod while commuting in Taiwan. The catch is that the rubber extends over the click wheel. It's thinner there, but it reduces the effectiveness of the touch required to maneuver through the menus. So when I want to go quickly through the alphabet, it doesn't work. Now I could disconnect my earphones, slide the rubber off, then do it, but when I'm walking - that's a lot of work and risk. So I suffer through it. One of the "tricks" around this is to select one of the functions by pressing the wheel (this works 100% of the time with the rubber on), then backing out and trying again. Enter my problem that needs to be fixed. By pushing the "Play" button while in the main menu, it automatically starts at the first song by the alphabetically first artist. On my iPod collection, the first artist alphabetically isn't AC/DC.... not ABBA.... but A-Ha (the dash is a lower ascii number than any of the alphabettic letters.... here's an ascii table in case you don't beleive me. My nerd friends will have already known this). It's the same reason that 10.xyz comes before 7.xyz when you are putting files in order.

Anyway - so if you know anything about music, you know what song is playing on my iPod when I accidentally hit the "play" button when trying to find something good. Take On Me was cool in 1988. It was funny in the Family Guy. Hearing it at 7:15 as I walk to the bus stop is NOT funny, nor is it COOL. So I must fix this problem after having it happen maybe once every 2 weeks over the past year. Just hearing the introduction is enough to start the day out on a bad note. Literally....

American Idol - no surprises other than Jorge went home maybe a week or two early. I did think the Kanye performance kicked some major ass! That was awesome! Kelly Clarkson was cute and did a nice job, but hard to follow up after Kanye. Sarah's comment was "he needs to pull his pants up" which may be true, but that's the in thing now! New judge rule? I'm ok with it. I still think they should change the format to the "Wheeler Rule" where you vote for the person you want to go home. Makes a bigger difference in these early rounds....

One more thought - I still want to change my English name since they get more time to do that here in Taiwan. Some of the cooler names here are Piano, Eagle, Zoey (girl), Chili, Hawaii, and today I had someone apply who is named Elvis. I'm tempted to give him the job as long as he shows up with a guitar and performs all day. There's a story of a marketing guy who changed his name to Billboard. I could change my name to Godzilla since that's what I'm thought of around here.

Cyclones are done for the season.... no miracle run. Onto next season which will be our 10th "rebuilding" season in a row.

American Idol Top 13

First off - prayers go out to those affected by the school shooting in Germany. Never an easy thing to hear about, no matter where in the world it may happen.

As for American Idol Top 13... back to the part of the show that actually matters. And a MICHAEL JACKSON night..... Could it get any more exciting for week 1??? I could pull out the Thriller dance at this one:) And thanks to Paula who brought our her stumbling random thought process that we've missed!!!

The talent this year is some of the better stuff I remember. I also love the fact that they couldn't use 1-888-IDOLS-13 since I'm guessing it's a "special" number reserved for people who have their credit cards handy. Hopefully doesn't hurt Alexis's votes this week. Back to 11 next week.

Top 3
Danny - song was strange/unfamiliar but the performance was pretty awesome.
Adam - another awesome performance on a song I've never really liked
Alexis - probably one of my favorite MJ songs and she did it very well...

Next 3
Scott - he's growing on me, I actually enjoyed the performance.
Michael - I was surprised, keeping up with the competition
Lil Rounds - she has a lot more to come, this one wasn't worth a highlight reel

Indifferent
Allison - can't figure out how good she is yet, not sure how "popular" she'll be for the AI crowd though
Matt - looks good behind the piano, but he'll hide there all season
Kris - good but the guitar thing was awkward since he only played the one chord
Jorge - Missed the mark tonight but worth keeping around since he's probably one of the more passionate about being here.

Bottom 3
Jasmine - tone was horrible, she can't compete. She did look hot though.
Anoop - my first pick to go home this week... I call it the "frat boy at a wedding reception" performance
Megan - What the hell was that? The song was bad, then the crow sound at the end? This is an actual Michael Jackson song? My pick to go home for sure.

Random Stuff:

I'm starting to do my research for the NCAA tournament for this weekend - a little more challenging from here since I don't have the 24x7 analysis going on ESPN, but maybe that's a bonus. GO CYCLONES!!!

New legislation to sell liquor in Minnesota on Sundays?!??! YEAH!!! Seriously, what better day to go buy alcohol than on Sunday? Football games are on, Race is on, Monday morning is only 12 hours away, can't think of a better day to drink!!!

Have a good HumpDay!!

Insomnia and Warhol

I finally finished Stephen King's book Insomnia. It's listed by many official and unofficial lists as one of his "top 10" novels. I'm not so sure on that one. You may recall from blogs of a couple years back how I've started this book at least 5 times. Seriously! For some reason, I think this is one of the slower starting books I've read of his. Also Tommyknockers which I don't think I ever finished either. But Insomnia is 704 pages of what I call a mediocre plot. I will admit that Ralph Roberts is one of the more likable heros in most of the books I've read, but the plot takes about 400 pages to develop. And in the end, the results of the outcome don't really make sense unless you've read the entire Dark Tower series (all 7 novels each running 600+ pages). So I didn't appreciate what Ralph did since I am not able to see how his action saved a book I've never read..... make sense? I did recognize the character "Crimson King" from what I know of the Dark Tower series. Maybe I will have to go back and try reading those again someday. For some reason I just don't do as well with Fantasy as I do with the "horror" genre. This book was far from horror though.

All in all, it was finally good to finish the book. Up next? Cujo which is much shorter and about the rabid dog. Then I only have Bag of Bones left to read here in Taiwan. Reload on Stephen King novels when I go home next month. I did enjoy getting a chance to be reaquainted with Derry, Maine which I have seen mentioned in other books, but not since my first King novel It which unloads the dark secret of Derry.

If you have never read a King novel, about 95% of his stories take place in imaginary cities in Maine. Never has the state gotten so much attention or interest as it has from Stephen King.

As for stuff happening in Taiwan.... we finally made it to the Andy Warhol exhibit (not Xzibit), that is going on through the end of March here in Taipei. LOTS of artwork borrowed from Italy which surprised me that the leader of American Pop Art is owned by Italian galleries, etc.

His famous "Marilyn" was on display and some of the variations/offshoots from that original were also there. Not much on the Campbells soup works. They had a small Elvis original, not nearly as cool as the original life size Elvis at the MOMA in NYC. I enjoyed the exhibit, but it was isolated at the Chiang Kai Sheck Memorial, not near other works of art to also enjoy. Oh well, still neat to say I saw so much of his work. No, it doesn't really inspire me to draw since that's not really what he's known for;)

Have a good Tuesday - weather here today was 65 and sunny in the morning, cloudy by the afternoon but still nice by my standards for March!

Time Switch Monday

Thanks for all the "Get Well" wishes and the unique "it hurts when I pee" eCards.... I actually was able to pass the stone and sure enough it came out the following morning. No pain since then though so I think I'm safe now. I do not wish that much pain on anyone though - thought I was giving birth!

Speaking of giving birth - another girl for Matt and Jen!! Congrats and welcome Baby Julia!!

Only 10 more wins till Iowa State claims the National Title in Men's Basketball for 2009!! That's right - 4 straight wins takes the Big 12 Title, then as probably a 16 seed, they need 6 wins in the big dance to bring the crown home!!! Hey - a man can dream right? So after starting 11-4 this season, we finish 14-17? In a weak year for the Big 12??? yuck..

Big week for American Idol - the final 13?!?!?!? I guess I can go for that as long as we're done listening and watching Tatiana who has to be the most annoying AI contestant EVER! GOOD RIDDANCE!!! So far - I'm thinking the strongest group is definitely the guys - expect long life from Adam (the Twilight guy that has a killer 80s hair band voice and will get the 13-18 year old female votes), Danny (the sentimental and all around nice guy), Jorge (who gets better every week... the hard worker... like Elliot Yamin), and Lil Rounds who has the R&B votes and is a stellar performer entering the competition. Megan or Jasmin goes home this week;)

An interesting start to Celebrity Apprentice. Was hoping that Tom Green would go this week since he's as annoying as he was in the 90s with his own show.

Things have been busy, but now that Daylight savings is here (or did it just end??? I can't remember) - I get to go to bed an hour earlier after my nightly phone calls for work! Hopefully a little more "normal" schedule around here.

Have a good week! The future looks good!

A Pissy Morning

Nothing like waking up on a Wednesday and going to the ER. I have all the symptoms of a Kidney stone - one of the main symptoms being PAIN. Holy shit did it hurt. Went to the ER, they had me pee in a cup (which about killed me) then did an xray. Ever since peeing in that cup, i've felt ok. The xray didn't show anything, but they gave me some meds and a painkiller shot anyway. I couldn't sit, stand, walk, or do anything for about 4 hours this morning. So stay tuned, not convinced I'm in the clear yet....

At the hospital, I was describing my symptoms which I stated as "unable to pee" (I though the word "piss" was a little too crude even for me and the large amount of pain I was in). She looked confused so I demonstrated through charades, and she said "oh - urinate". Guess I need to take my medical dictionary with me for future appointments to make sure I avoid the slang terms. Is "pee" a naughty word for the parents of 3 or 4 year olds????

Anyway - 8 hours later I seem to still be ok.... for now.

No, I haven't watched the new Celebrity Apprentice season yet.

No, I didn't watch the "controversial" final episode of The Bachelor Whore.... don't care.

I did however watch the 3rd week of finalists for American Idol - much better than week 2. Should be an interesting season of AI. Send through Jorge, L'il Rounds ( seriously STILL hate that song even 4 years later), and Ju'Not. Easily the best three. How does this Wild Card Week thing work?? Von Smith and Scott were pretty good too.

As for the U2 album - it actually grows on you the more you listen to it. It also helps to have good headphones to appreciate the bass action that makes the songs even more unique. You won't hear a lot of the album on the radio - but that's not usually why they record music. They don't need the money, they don't need a new identity, they just want to record music and tour.

No Line On The Horizon

As I write this, I'm listening to the NEW U2 album!! Yeah that's right - No Line On The Horizon comes out on Tuesday in stores everywhere in the US.... but CDs are SOOOOOO 2003 folks! And for those of you who have to wait, let me give you a real time review. If you don't like U2, I'll see you tomorrow....

Track 1 - "No Line On The Horizon"
Good Guitar Intro - not necessarily their usual track 1 intro that is off the beaten path (think Achtung, Zooropa, ATYCLB).... Bono doesn't count incorrectly in some random language on this one either. Sorry to disappoint those fans of Spanish. I like the guitar riffs, but Bono's singing a little too high. Chorus is definitely good, but the verse is kind of boring, nothing to the melody. Definitely

Track 2 - "Magnificent" (dedicated to Adam T. Dickinson)
I swear that's what my CD liner says!!! This is more typical of a random start to a song that builds up to the guitar explosion that we're used to from these 4. Takes Bono 1:16 before he sings something. Catchy tune and much better fitting of Bono's voice.

Track 3 - "Moment of Surrender"
Strange.... not sure how else to describe this one. You knew it was going to be a ballad (every 3rd track on U2 albums are ballads).... write this one up with "God Will Send His Angels" as songs I could pass on them performing live. Again it's 1:17 before Bono sings, and he's back to singing way too high in his register. Note to Bono, you can't hit the 1986 high notes anymore.

Track 4 - "Unknown Caller"
A little space age type song that is just ok. Good chorus though. In the words of Simon... "forgettable"

Track 5 - "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight"
Now we're talking - this one is worth listening to. Bono stays under control despite a title that plays to the multi-personality Bono... go figure, the one time we expect randomness, it comes out kind of predictable.

Track 6 - "Get On Your Boots"
The song already on the radio, which to me sounds like it was written for an iPod commercial. Seriously, can you see the green background with the shadow of someone holding a white ipod and headphones bouncing around????? Try again.... It's just an ok song.

Track 7 - "Stand Up Comedy"
I enjoyed this one best so far - good "U2" type guitar and straight forward rhythm part. Bono uses his voice well in this one. Good song all around, may have to come back and enjoy this one again... and again.... and again...

Track 8 - "Fez - Being Born"
I swear we're playing back in the days from Passengers circa 1995. Strange... I guess if you go with the "Being Born" concept, I can hear it... maybe??? Again, we wait 2 min to hear something actually being sung to resemble a "song". Next....

Track 9 - "White As Snow"
This one sounds like it's from a soundtrack, not a studio album! I'm picturing the moment when Clint Eastwood comes home to see his mountain ranch burned to the ground, his wife and son have been kidnapped by the bad guy - so after contemplating what happened (sees it in blurry slow motion), he gets on his horse and starts riding through the mountain snow with only a shotgun at his side. That's the only thing he needs for "justice". It's a slow song that is ok.

Track 10 - "Breathe" (not a Faith Hill remake)
Again, what's with the weird long guitar intros? There are too many syllables to squeeze in onto the melody, but I think that's the point. I actually dig this one though. Well written and catchy. I don't care for the computerized "String Quartet" that sounds nothing like an actual string quartet. This will be one of their encores while on tour! My prediction!

Track 11 - "Cedars of Lebanon"
The Political Track of the CD... you knew they had to have one. And as a lot of the last tracks go, it's strange and very different from the rest of the album. Not sure how they would do this one live. Very very strange....

Overall, a decent album. Not sure it's worth the wait, but then again it's U2. They can do whatever they want and people like me are going to buy it... or download it...

Go get it - you know you want to.