It's So Hard to Say Goodbye

On Wednesday, May 13th, 2008 my 1993 Honda Accord was the victim of assault. Driving my normal route to work, I was sucked in by what seemed to be a normal sinkhole that is caused by the stripping of streets prior to paving. Little did I know, it would be one of the last rides in that car. As you can see, the city stripped the streets at multiple levels (this pic was after the incident - post mortum). Unexpectedly, i dipped lower than anticipated and the Honda suffered an ultimate blow.

The airbags deployed and the car was rendered helpless. Sidenote - If you have never spelled the odor released after an airbag, consider yourself lucky. That smells wreaks like a bad fart in a closed telephone booth and it sticks with you for hours, maybe even days. That smell alone I believe led to a mild concussion. After getting out to see if I was struck by the Loch Ness monster that lives in the sewer, I noticed that the passenger was also traumatized by the event. Upon arrival of the police (45 mins later), and the ambulance and fire department, the passenger was given breathing treatments for an apparent asthma attack and I was put in a neck brace for precautionary measures. After getting in touch with the city, the street department admitted fault in the resurfacing of the street.

What does that mean to me? The car I have had for 8 years and 150,000 miles, not to mention 5 sets of rims, 3 sets of speaker systems, numerous roadtrips, exponential amounts of memories (good and bad), will be subject to the insurance policies of the city. Cost of damages? Try $4,971.46. That's right, a whole hellava lot. If the city gives me that, that will be cool. But the likelihood of the city trying to make a right, slim.

True Market Value for 1993 Honda Accord 4 Dr SE Sedan (edmunds.com)
Dealer Trade-In $1,759
Private Party $2,626
Dealer Retail $4,072

Would I say my car is worth the dealer value? Hecks yea. How many people can make it on two tanks of gas a month nowadays? No car note, simply liability insurance (did I mention I got a ticket and my license taken because I didn't have my newest insurance card? cue Flavor Flav), and familiarity are thrown out of the window. I have to shop for a car, something that I wasn't prepared to do until I was ready. Now my hand and finances will be at the liberty of the city. Stay tuned.

Youtube of the Day

Go King Beef.

Youtube of the Day

Youtube of the day

Youtube of the Day

Grand Theft Auto: G.O.A.T

The famed Grand Theft Auto series has made headlines yet again! As newly-released sales figures show, Grand Theft Auto IV has crushed the competition by selling 3.6 million units and earning $310 million in its first day of release, earning Guinness World Records for the Highest Grossing Video Game in 24 Hours and the Highest Revenue Generated by an Entertainment Product in 24 Hours. These records establish GTA IV as the most profitable entertainment release of all-time, far surpassing other video game, film and book releases. According to Guinness World Records, this is how the game stacks up against the competition:

Fastest-selling video game in 24 hours: Halo 3 at $170 million

Fastest-selling theatrical movie in 24 hours: Spider-Man 3 at $60 million

Fastest-selling book in 24 hours: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows at $220 million

This game is deathly addictive. Six hours is like a walk in the park. I am glad I don't have a system because I might neglect my child to the point of no return. Either that, or he will be pulling missions with me, holding me down on the online Turf Wars.

Wake Up ... Tuesday May 13th, 2008

China death toll climbs over 12k
With the rise of recent earthquakes, how prepared are you for an earthquake? Hell, I slept right through the last one.

Lebron tops CeltsWhy can't the Celtics play on the road? Do they need to sleep in their own beds at night to come ready to play? Last five road games look like this:

Quarter by Quarter scoring and total.
BOS 32 18 32 18 100
ATL 20 29 30 24 103
Lose by 3, Dominated out of breaks, shut down in 2nd and 4th.

BOS 24 24 27 17 92
ATL 29 22 14 32 97
Lose by 5, Dominated out of halftime, blown out in 4th. Did I mention Joe Johnson scored everytime he touched the ball.

BOS 26 30 18 19 93
ATL 32 24 28 18 102
Never got it going. No chance with that crowd behind them. First time Celts didnt win the 3rd quarter on road.

BOS 13 22 28 21 84
CLE 32 20 27 29 108
13 points in 1st quarter? Enough said. Bright side, first time scored over 20 point in 4th quarter on road. Who cares if it was 2nd string.

BOS 21 22 22 12 77
CLE 23 22 23 20 88
Fairly close game, actually led in 4th. But only two points in the last 2:55 of the game.

This team has "veteran" leadership and 3 perennial all-stars and can't muster up enough 4th quarter points to beat someone out of the Bonner league. Has father time caught up to the Boston Three Party? I doubt it but they better not go seven games with King James. Might be a replay of this.

RKelly finally goes to trial
To see the alledged crime at hand, I have obtained exclusive footage that the grand jury will be shown as evidence of the heinous acts Mr. Kelly has done to wrong our youth. Part 1. Part 2. And the most gruesome of them all, Part 3.

In all seriousness about Kellz, his former publicist daughter? Check out Kellz taking jello shots.

Suge Knight - Welcome to Death RowAccording to TMZ, the former Death Row head honcho was laid out for three minutes. Cue Chris Tucker or Dae Dae. Now if he justs tells us the truth about Tupac, all will be fair and equal.

This is a sexy phone. This one too.

Parents
Please do not let your daughters wear this out the house, let alone prom.

Track your teams

Ever wonder how your team stacks up in dollars spent vs performance on the field? Check this out.

http://benfry.com/salaryper/

And yes the salary difference between the Yanks and Marlins is $188 million.

You know what grinds my gears???

There have been many recent 'scandals', especially at USC. Mayo, accused of receiving a possible 30k over the past 18 months dating back to high school and Bush, accused of receiving considerably more during his time at USC. But lets look at the underlying theme here: Should these athletes, mostly basketball and football stars, get paid or is the "scholarship of free education" compensation enough?

Here are the rules by the major sports:
NBA - Under the current rules, implemented in 2006, players must be 19 years old to be eligible for the NBA draft.

NFL - Rules state that a player cannot enter the draft until his high school graduating class is at least three years removed, which is after their junior year or after a redshirt sophomore season.

NHL - Players who turn 18 by September 15 and are not older than 20 by December 31 are eligible for selection. In addition, non-North American players over the age of 20 are eligible. A North American player who is not drafted by the age of 20 is an unrestricted free agent. All non-North Americans must be drafted before being signed, regardless of age.

MLB - All the ins and outs of transactions are covered, sometimes in excruciating detail, in a large loose-leaf binder titled, "The Official Professional Baseball Rules Book," something completely separate from the "Official Baseball Rules" (which cover only the game on the field). Unfortunately, Major League Baseball doesn't make that loose-leaf binder available to the public.

Tennis/Golf - No age limits but highly selective and equity barriers to entry.

The two areas with the most strict regulations are the two that covet the highest minority participation, and ironically the most room for error. Some college football teams carry up to 85 athletes, basketball another 15. Coincidence, probably not. But the problem lies with the flip side of the argument. Who benefits from the athlete or coaches that do the right thing? What happens to the coach that blows the whistle on the program for wrong-doings? Check here and see Bruce Pearl. What about the athlete that blows out there knee trying to improve their position in the draft? What about the athletes that are just trying to do the right thing for their country?

My thing is the regulation is not accessing the true problem. Colleges are benefiting from these players in more situations than not. It is a farm system with strict regulations and sanctions on players, but not on coaches whom can jump schools with only a monetary fine. Players in most cases aren't going to major in Biology as top tier prospects, especially in the case of basketball. There aren't any Manhood 101 classes taught either. Sure, the average athlete does not play professional sports, but the common sense classes are not their either. People are going to chase their dreams (or the dreams that others have forced upon them) no matter what the cost. How is that different from a young entrepreneur who bypasses college and creates the next Facebook/Myspace/Napster? The difference is that these people were already equipped with the skill sets that made them famous before they stepped foot on the college campus. GM's and CEO's are always looking for that next big thing. They are looking so hard and drafting and scouting on 'potential' that they may miss out on the true gem of the draft. Potential, as described in physics, is a field defined in space, from which many important physical properties may be derived. This sort of effort exists only in relevance to other matters in space. The one problem that usually derives from this, money changes all people. Like Deion Sanders said, it can change my car, my zip code, and my wardrobe. But can money change the hunger to reach potential? Only the individual can answer that.