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June 25, 2017

Iceland, Part 2

As I mentioned, I was unprepared for Iceland.  But, if you can get over the sticker shock, it really is a wonderfully gorgeous place.

Strokkur geyser erupting.

Malta has 520,000 people on an island that is 326 times smaller than Iceland.  And Malta didn't feel crowded.  So, with that perspective, Iceland, with a population of 331,000 is definitely very remote and bereft of people.  We never went more than an hour without seeing other cars (as opposed to some of our very rural road trip time in the northern middle of the U.S.), but we had gorgeous breathtaking views of unspoiled nature in every direction almost every moment of every day while driving (even if the views were hard to see through the rain).

Öxarárfoss waterfall in Thingvellir national park.
Like Maltese, Icelandic is an island nation language that is only spoken by very few people.  Thankfully, again, we basked in the privilege of being native speakers of the world's second language and got around in English.

I would definitely recommend Iceland as a destination for people who love road trips and large vistas of unspoiled wilderness.  It's also 100% renewable energy supported (primarily geothermal and hydroelectric), so if you are an energy infrastructure nerd, there's plenty to see and do related to that as well.

When it's sunny, Iceland is breathtaking.
Unfortunately, while we were here, outdoor activities were much more difficult to accomplish than I expected.  Our Iceland Air in-flight entertainment informed us that Iceland is the 3rd windiest place in the world, but that humans don't live in the first 2.  The wind is no joke, my friends.  If parked in the wrong direction, it could be almost impossible to close the car door.  While driving, at times, I had to slightly angle the car tires into the wind to drive straight, which results in a very scary course change when you are passing large oncoming vehicles that block the wind.  Yesterday AM, it wasn't raining, so E and I headed out to try to go for a run.  After 0.2 miles, I asked to turn back.  The wind hurt my eyes (even behind my glasses!) and I felt like I was spending more effort to stay upright than actually running.

Cairn in the snowfields between some of the West Fjords.
Due to rain and wind, we didn't get in any great hikes in Iceland.  Just a few walks of less than a mile to and from various breathtaking natural sights (geothermal features, fjords, waterfalls, and more).

One of the west fjords.

Finally, today, our last day here, it was sunny when we woke and I got out for my first actual run in 16 days!  2 easy miles, but on beautiful trails and in the perfect sun and air.  I ran to Laugardalslaug, the largest public pool facility in Reykjavik, so we could enjoy the local hot water culture.  E met me there and we popped around between fresh water hot-tubs at 38C, 40C, 42C, 44C, and the hot geothermal salt water pool.  It was a popular day for it (sunny and brisk at 13C), and we enjoyed the people-watching.  This was our consolation prize since we didn't get around to trying to book a visit to the Blue Lagoon 'til the day before and it was super sold out.  The only availability was for 10 PM (1 hour) for over 100USD each, which in addition to being much too expensive for our blood, was also at the time when we are typically snuggling into our beds.

Dedicated running and bike trail in Reykjavik.
We closed out the trip with a visit to the bridge between the continents (the North American tectonic plate and the Eurasian plate meet in Iceland) and a visit to a boiling mud pot before checking in to our hotel on the old US navy base next to KEF.

Eurasia on the left, North America on the right.
Tomorrow, we get on an early flight to head back to the U.S. and we're both very excited to get back to the huge food selection that the U.S. melting pot offers, as well as the people, customs, culture and language that are our own.

June 24, 2017

Sabbatical Data, Part 1

We're getting ready to fly back to the US in a couple of days, ending our international travel for the Sabbatical year.  In all honesty we are *both* ready to go back home and live a non-nomadic lifestyle.  E's been ready pretty much all year, but I've been getting there slowly over the last few weeks, and Iceland really broke me.  Looking at the numbers makes me feel a bit better about being ready to call it -- it was an ambitious project, for sure.

Total Countries (including the US): 25

Nights that will have been spent in each country, in descending order:

USA - 149 (40.8%)
Italy - 19 (5%) -- a bit of a surprise since we were only planning to attend a weekend wedding.
Canada - 18 (5%) -- as planned.
France - 18 (5%) -- longer than expected due to re-routing Europe.
Japan - 18 (5%) -- roughly as planned.
Argentina - 16 (4%) -- roughly as planned.
Thailand - 16 (4%) -- surprisingly longer than expected, we really enjoyed it there.
Peru - 14 (4%) -- roughly as planned.
Colombia - 11 (3%) -- surprisingly longer than expected, we really enjoyed it there.
Ecuador - 11 (3%) -- longer than expected due to opting into an 8 day Galapogos cruise
Spain - 10 (3%) -- a surprise country after the European re-route.  Delightful.
Chile - 8 (2%) -- longer than expected, but a great place to finish South America.
Mexico - 8 (2%) -- a surprise visit to friends, not remotely in the plans when we set out.
Iceland - 7 (2%) -- roughly as planned, although, in hindsight, perhaps too long.
Vietnam - 6 (2%) -- roughly as planned, although a visit to rural south Vietnam to see friends was a big surprise.
Malta - 5 (1% and less, below) -- roughly as planned, after we were advised to go in Thailand.  One of the best surprise countries of the trip.
Portugal - 5  -- totally unplanned, a wonderfully enjoyable side trip.
Taiwan - 5 -- roughly as planned.
Korea - 4 -- roughly as planned, too short.
Switzerland - 3 -- roughly as planned to see friends.
Denmark - 3 -- opportunistic stop from Malta to manage airfare.  Walking and riding bikes in Copenhagen was gorgeous in the Summer.
Malaysia - 3 -- unplanned but enjoyable overland train transit between Singapore and Thailand.
Philippines - 3 -- weather did not cooperate so we moved on.  Much shorter than we'd hoped.
Panama - 3 -- roughly as planned.
Singapore - 2 -- unplanned but wonderful quick visit to see the city and visit with a friend's parents for dinner at their home.

June 21, 2017

Iceland, Part 1

A good friend sent me the Oh, you went to Iceland? Amazing link.  It sent me into hysterical laughter.  You should read it if you have friends, family, or social media acquaintances who've gone to Iceland recently, you'll probably relate.  I did.

See, I already had a love-hate relationship with Iceland by the time we got here.

View of the Blue Lagoon from the approach to KEF.

[Full disclosure, this post is going to have some serious first-world spoiled rotten whine in it, because you can't really complain (even honestly) about being able to travel to amazing places without sounding like a bit of an asshole.]

Typical gorgeous road trip view
if you are unlucky enough to be in Iceland when it's storming.
So, we were doing Europe on our standard seat-of-the-pants "dirt-bag planning" that more-or-less worked this Sabbatical year throughout South America, most of Asia (but not Japan), and all of Europe right up until Iceland.  This approach means we don't usually have lodging or rental cars more than a week in advance (sometimes booking the day before), and typically, we buy tickets for trains, planes, ferries, etc. a week before we need them (or 2 weeks if we really have our shit together, or, on the other extreme, we just buy them the day of if we're convinced we don't need to purchase in advance).  Essentially, we're cheap, lazy, and late, and we tend to take the best of the dregs of the cheapest of what's available wherever we are headed with a dedicated bathroom ('cause we're old now), which generally tends to work out fine and occasionally results in some very funny stories.

Road trip views of the ocean and shoreline in Iceland before the weather turned.

We hadn't booked our flights back to the US from Europe, but I knew that Icelandair had free stopovers for up to 7 days in Iceland, and I knew that Chase Ultimate Rewards points could book on Iceland Air, so I figured we'd just go with this option and do some time in Iceland on our route back just like so many of our friends and family who've shown us their awesome photos.  First mistake -- I waited 'til about 2 weeks before we needed to fly to Iceland and called Chase Ultimate Rewards because I couldn't figure out how to book the free stopover on points online.  Turns out, they couldn't either.  Apparently, it's a benefit that's only available for people actually paying real cash to Icelandair.  I could have called and researched and tried to solve the problem but I decided that was too much trouble, so we just booked one leg to Reykjavik on the Chase Ultimate Rewards points on Icelandair.  And then, I built in a week stay for us to enjoy Iceland (without doing any research on hotels, mind you) and booked our flight from KEF to the US on airline miles after that week.

Stereotypical $110+USD a room night, in-room sink,
but down the hall for shared toilet and shower
Iceland special.
So, now we had flights in and out of Iceland right around the Summer Solstice.  In hindsight, I probably should have guessed that a place with that much Summer sun might be a popular destination around the longest day of the year...

But, I didn't.  So when I went to start reserving hotels, my jaw dropped at the prices, and I quickly downgraded to guesthouses and hostels with shared bathrooms, which, in most cases were still some of the most expensive lodging per night we'd purchased for the entire sabbatical year (including amazing suites and glorious ocean views and what not in places off the beaten track in Asia and South America).  In fairness, we did cheat a bit and used hotel points and Chase points in big expensive cities this year, so it's not a true apples to apples comparison, but even so, I was super shocked to learn that rural Iceland is *much* more expensive than rural Japan when booked late on our seat-of-the-pants-travel-plan (like 2X for a basic room for 2 in Iceland sharing a bathroom with multiple guests vs. enjoying a very private en-suite bathroom for half the price in a rural Japanese business hotel).

Waiting for the Geyser to erupt...
You know what none of my friends or family who'd been there before told me?  Iceland is CRAZY EXPENSIVE.  Like $10 pint draft beer special expensive.  Like $25 hamburger expensive.  Like $40-$60+ per person to get in the popular hot springs expensive (and that probably doesn't include towel rental, etc.).  Like now that we've seen our options, we actually plan to go to Taco Bell (secret guilty road-trip pleasure in the US normally) and see how much we can save with a run to the border for a road-trip meal before we leave.  All of a sudden, my cousins who brought their camping gear and MREs and did a road trip in a rental car and tent-camped around the Ring Road in May even though there was still snow on the ground don't look so crazy to me.

Beautiful Icelandic horses in the wind...

Oh, did I mention the weather?  Yeah.  Turns out, Iceland is green and beautiful for a reason.  Our day of arrival was gorgeous, but we'd come from Malta so we figured this was normal and didn't take too many pictures.  Since then... well, it looks like we're here for a week of serious wind and rain and cold.  Did you know Iceland is the windiest place in the world where people actually live?  Yeah.  It's true.  Thankfully, we have rain gear and hats and wool socks and gloves from some of our other travels, because it had not occurred to me that 21 hours of sun a day in Iceland would be anything other than glorious Summer.  I mean it was almost 25C in Copenhagen when we were there!  But the high today was 8C (46F), and it rained *all* day.

The face of the Eurasian tectonic plate from the rift walkway...
Anyways, Iceland is gorgeous, but the rain, wind, and cold has cut back on our planned enjoyment of the views, the running, and the hiking.  And, unfortunately, the food in Iceland is actually pretty terrible.  There.  I said it.  I'm from California, I've been traveling the world for a year (primarily to eat good food, if I'm honest), and today, I was excited to go to a diner where I could order mozzarella sticks with iceberg lettuce and a cucumber on the side with a large soda water for lunch -- this was a *great* option by local standards (in fairness, it's actually a pretty great little kid guilty pleasure lunch, just super unhealthy).  Not to be outdone, E had one of the famous Icelandic hot dogs and jalapeno poppers along with some fries (to the restaurant's credit, they gave us the fries for free and we both enjoyed them -- the fryer had more than they needed for the lunch service and we arrived on the late side of the lunch rush).  This gastronomic experience set us back $30, which is by far the cheapest meal we've had in Iceland thus far.

Posing, with the famous Icelandic hot dog... (just fine, not mind-altering).
Make no mistake, Iceland is *not* a culinary destination.  Which is, of course, fine.  Its landscapes are obviously the reason to come.  But it's more fine if you happen to be here when the weather is good and the free views and hikes help balance out the value of the otherwise egregiously expensive trip with bland expensive food, or, it's fine if you're prepared with MREs like my genius cousins, or at least if you're pre-prepared for the amount of money you'll be paying for something that doesn't really qualify as a proper meal in many of the places you regularly spend time (I wasn't and it's still smarting, every day, to see the totals on our bills after mediocre meals -- oh, the 4 EU full-size amazing margarita pizzas in Naples, they do that one aspect of life better than just about anyone, and it really hurts to experience how badly Iceland missed the good food value boat).

June 19, 2017

Malta and Diving

On the advice of our awesome dive instructor in Thailand, we built in some time for a visit to Malta on the European leg of the sabbatical.  Shore diving?  (No need to get on a boat, just go straight in and start your dive.)  Sign us up!

The cliffs just drop into the sea creating great walls and dive sites.
Maltese is a living language.  Spoken by 520,000 people. Related to Sicilian, Arabic, Italian, English, and more.  With its own alphabet.  I mean, how can you not fall in love with these linguistic survivors of all of the various conquering invaders?

Maltese sampler (with chicken fingers for E): delicious bread,
pickled cheese, sausage, dried tomatoes in oil, olives,
capers, and bigilla.
Listening and watching our Maltese native dive team leaders interact with the local world was fascinating.  Easily 50% of the people we saw and interacted with in Mellieha were not Maltese.  But, this place has such an easy-going inclusive vibe that it didn't seem weird at all that the locals all preferred to speak to one another in Maltese, and did so while switching into and back from English at will.

View from the restaurant across the street from the dive shop.

Essentially, Malta was one of the best parts of our European leg of travel.  We came to dive, and we did.  6 dives in 3 days over a variety of sites.  We also fit in a couple of lazy beach/pool days.  It was amazing, and a nice slow easy luxurious stop after some of the more adventurous travel in Southern Italy and Sicily.

Sunset view at dinner one night.
I struggled with air management for the first dive because I thought I needed 8Kg of weight.  When we let the air out on our descent, I dropped like a rock.  This seriously freaked me out.  I had obviously gotten the weight wrong, but I felt obligated to tough it out, which I did, but I was kicking quite a bit to avoid sinking and sucking air like a runner on land who isn't remotely concerned about saving air plus I was inflating my BCD and letting out air for buoyancy control way too much -- in other words, I was a scuba mess.  I let our instructor know about my air consumption rate as soon as I could, signaling 150 on the way out to the wreck after just a few minutes because I knew I was struggling and I was not going to be able to make a full dive, and I wanted her to have as much time as possible to plan.  Thankfully, she was awesome.  She turned the dive when I hit 100bars, did a safety stop, let me ascend, did a buoyancy check and told me to remove 4 Kg, and then sent me and the poor master diver trainee to supervise me on our way to the shore while the rest of the crew went out for another 15 minutes to another site.  The dive master trainee asked why she turned the dive and she said, "She hit 100."  He made a face and she later told me that I'd gone through the tank faster than anyone she'd ever seen (she's done 700+ dives).  Apparently, most people bail when things are uncomfortable (like way too much weight) instead of belligerently staying below and poorly managing their oxygen.

The next dive with 4Kg was perfect.  What a difference proper weighting makes!

Hike in to the blue hole shore entry:
Sometimes shore diving requires a bit of a scramble in full diving kit to get down to the water.
The next day, at the end of the most amazing but long and deep dive with a different instructor I'd bled a tank down to 30Bar, which meant the tank was super buoyant and I was severely *under* weighted and my dive buddy (E) plus the instructor had to physically hold me down at 5m for my safety stop, because otherwise I would float up.  In fairness, everyone else in the group had 15L tanks and they'd given me a 12L tank (let's just call a spade a spade and say they gave me a girl tank).  The buoyancy of the almost empty tank meant that I couldn't stay down, but I'm guessing if I had a proper dude tank on the same dive, there wouldn't have been a problem.

Views from the diveshop van, on our way to the dive site.
The next dive, with all of us on 12L tanks, and me back on 8Kg of weight at the advice of the instructor who'd held me down, I struggled with the sinking and BCD management, so, like the first dive, I ripped through my air, but not quite as badly, and no safety stop issues arose.  We still had to turn the dive due to my air consumption (you never want to be the person who turns the dive!) and I exited with 15Bar, which is *way* too low.  After chatting about it, the instructor and I agreed that I'd go out the next day with 6Kg on my belt, but he'd carry a spare 1Kg to give me at the end to counteract a low tank at the safety stop.

Thankfully, 6Kg on the belt with this kit worked perfectly ('cause my instructor gave away my spare 1Kg he promised to hold to another diver before we even got in the water...).

The inland sea entry pool on Gozo:
swim through the tunnel (deep below the boats) and out to sea.
The last day, we took the ferry to Gozo (the middle-sized island of Malta).  First, we dived the inland sea, which is a pool of seawater that reaches the sea via a tunnel through a cliff.  Looking up to see boat propellers making lots of bubbles and listening to the buzz of their engines while 10-25 meters below them was quite the experience.

The blue hole with the former azure window in the back
(the left column and top are now on the bottom of the sea)
The second dive was down the blue hole, and around the site of the former famous arch, which, unfortunately, fell into the sea last winter -- we just missed it!  Actually, the boulders on the seafloor from the fallen arch make for a very interesting dive site, it's just not as beautiful of a view from land anymore.  This dive was definitely the most technically demanding dive I'd ever done, with the tunnel descent down the hole, an upward swim through a small vertical chimney from 18m up to 4m or so, and a cave exploration with torches.

The peaceful sound of nothing but your own breathing and the bubbles you exhale coupled with buoyant weightlessness is definitely addicting.  Plus fish and other sea life are so cool!

Bragioli (aka Beef Olives) -- delicious maltese specialty of
thin beef wrapped around sausage in a tomato caper sauce.
Diving in Malta was wonderful.  We very much enjoyed the relaxed international vibe and spending three consecutive days doing such physical work (between getting kitted up, getting in and out of the water, the heat loss in the water, the actual dives, and getting out of the kit, we went to bed pleasantly exhausted each day).

I'm still learning, but I'm definitely over the initial scuba hump, and I'm so glad I pushed through.  I've got 15 open water dives in my dive log, and I can't wait to add more.  Also, the scuba community is full of the friendliest and most fascinating people.  Almost all of the dive instructors we've met have completely rebooted their lives to enable themselves to dive full time.  They come from all over the world and all types of previous careers and situations and the only thing they have in common is they love to dive and they are happy and grateful to get to do it for a living.  It's very inspiring to be surrounded by such positive, happy, and self-actualized people.

June 12, 2017

Italy and the return to Italian

E and I were talking about it, and it's agreed.  My Spanish, is, finally, after 3 months of immersion, miraculously, better than my Italian.

Classic salcicia e friarelli pizza.  (And a saltimbocca sandwich in the background).
But...  A little bit of Italian goes a long way in Italy.  Like way more than quite a bit of Spanish in Spain or French in France.

Plastercasts of people buried alive by the ash of Mt. Vesuvius in Pompeii.
Also, every day we were in Italy, my Italian got much better.  E told me about a week in that he was happy to see that service people stopped cringing when I insisted on struggling through in Italian when clearly their English is much better than my butchering of their language (conveniently, my face-blindness extends to a lack of awareness of people's frustration with my insisting on speaking a language I think I should be able to communicate in).

I was unprepared for how large the Pompeii ruins are.  It's an entire city.
(That's been under constant excavation for more time than the US has been a country!)
And, somehow, along the way, I happily unlocked stuff that was 15 years deep in the recesses.  About halfway through our visit, a server counted the number of pieces of uneaten pasta on E's plate and motioned that he was not doing his job.  We all laughed and I said, "Vergogna?"  And then, certain I must have gotten it wrong, I proceeded to try about 12 different Spanishized/Fracophied/Latin-based modifications until the server stopped me and said, "Si. Vergogna. Shame!"  It's always very bizarre when your brain re-activates a long dead pathway.  I knew "Che pecatto" but for some reason at that moment, my neurons grabbed another word, one I had no recollection of actually knowing, but somehow did.

Running in Italy did not happen much, but aggressive hiking on sketchy trails to historically fascinating
sites was a regular activity.  (View from the hike to Tiberius Ruins on Capri.)
In the 15 years since I was last in this country, Italy has become much more English-speaking.  If you are a tourist, it's now hard to even do anything in Italian if you speak English unless you are in a non-touristy place, which, since so much of the economy of Italy runs on tourism, is kind of hard to find...

Sea Urchin Spaghetti -- Amazing
After 11 days of minimal Italian study and using it every day in the country, E commented at dinner, "It's probably true that your Spanish is better than your Italian right now.  But you are just so much more comfortable in this language.  Watching you talk to people in Italy after a week is like watching you talk in France.  You just expect that things they say will make sense to you and that they will obviously understand what you are saying. You visibly try much harder in Spanish."

Lemon ricotta, cream, basil, preserved lemon ravioli
(Very traditional Amalfi meal -- no new world ingredients)
And there it is.  Despite years away, Italy and Italian is like a homeland to me.  I may love France and French, now, but I worked so, so very hard for it, whereas I definitely didn't do the same level of effort for Italian.  In fact, I think I probably have also done more total work on Spanish than Italian, and definitely much more recently, and yet, I'm just more comfortable in Italian (and they, in fairness, tend to be more comfortable in English as well).

2 kinds of tartare and 2 kinds of carpaccio with a side of beef sushi
(Appetizer before arguably the best beef meal of the year in Reggio Calabria)
I mean, I get their jokes.  That's really what it comes down to.  They are close enough to my people that I understand what they think is funny even if I don't totally understand all of the words.  And they see me laughing.  And they reach out, physically, because they are a loving, demonstrative, joyful, and full-of-life people that I'm so very happy to visit yet again.

On the trail of the Gods hike in Amalfi
Also, it doesn't hurt that E looks like half of the men in Napoli and 1/4 of the men in Sicilia.  We've seen so many people who've reminded us of his uncle Vinnie (no joke) and his grandma on this trip.  And I have dark hair, and I may or may not come from people of this region (or its many invaders), but they often assume that it is true.  They are so accepting and loving and feeding you too much food (today at the airport the food service guy refused to take money for bread and breadsticks when I returned to buy them after realizing we hadn't bought enough).

The average Naples intersection -- we hadn't seen traffic on this level since Vietnam.
After 20 days of Italian chaos and joy, we left for Malta.  Despite the inefficiency and unpredictability, I was so thrilled and happy to be listening to and singing the song of Italy, enjoying its gorgeous countryside, talking with its people and eating its delicious food at every turn. It has been wonderful to return after 15+ years of absence.  And, I can only hope to return much sooner next time.

June 1, 2017

Portugal -- Already Planning a Return

Portugal was a surprise visit to a new country for both of us.  We knew very little about it.

But, the few times I'd had Portuguese food it had been delicious, and I'd heard from a few folks that the beaches were nice, so we went ahead and built in 5 days on our road trip.

Views of the Castle from O Arado, Montemor-o-novo.

Our first meal in Portugal was yet another entry in E's ninja restaurant-picking log.  We left Merida, Spain and drove over the border into a tiny town of Montemor-o-novo where E directed me up a mountain to a restaurant with a beautiful view.  We enjoyed bread, mixed goat/cow cheese and açorda de mariscos, which was a delicious stew unlike anything either of us had ever had (turns out: açorda does not mean assortment).  Next door to the restaurant was an open church with classic Portuguese tile decoration., and we were the only visitors, which was absolutely lovely.

Cable cars in Alfama
After driving a couple of hours, we arrived in Lisbon, and it was a bit of a shock.  We were staying in Alfama, and even though we were smart enough to park 1 Km away, the narrow streets and chaos of construction plus hordes of pedestrians were still harrowing.  On our walk to the AirBnb, at one point, the streets were just narrow enough for the cable car to fit between the buildings (as in, if we had been on the "sidewalk" we would have been squished by the cable car).

There's a mini golden gate bridge on the way into Lisbon from Spain.

It was hot while we were in town, and a cruise ship came into port on our first full day, so everywhere we went we were sweaty and the shady bits were flooded with tourists.  After all of our backroads travel in Spain, this was very different.  It's one thing to be in a consistently foreign place -- where the language and the people may not be your own, but they have patterns and consistencies that can, over time, make you feel more comfortable because you start to adapt and begin to know what to expect.  An international horde of tourists is just the opposite -- the only common language is English, but, of course, much like Southeast Asia, the tourist English spoken in Europe is also not anything close to the language that I know as my own.
View over the bay and the roofs of Alfama.
The biggest mistake we made was deciding to walk to the car and then drive to the AirBnB to pick up the bags on our way out.  After multiple Google maps failures due to construction or streets that were one way in the wrong direction, we agreed that I would just park behind a service truck, put on my hazards like them, and E would run to get the bags.  I got honked at.  A LOT.

Very stereotypical Portuguese lunch:
salad, mackerel, potatoes, and some sort of root vegetable.  Delicious.

And then, after about 10 minutes, the police rolled up behind me and flashed their blues.  With no cell service, I reluctantly turned off the hazards and prepared to pull away from the curb and just drive around until I found E, when out of nowhere, the trunk opened.  E threw in our bags, waving an apology to the cops and then jumped into the passenger seat, breathing in gasps from his 500 meter dash uphill with 2 10Kg backpacks.

Gorgeous trail system available for hiking or adventurous trail running on the coast in Lagos.
Lagos, thankfully, was the opposite of Lisbon.  Relaxed.  Easy.  No traffic.  No crowds. Great running.   Gorgeous beaches.  Great local restaurants and easy access to groceries and ATMs with reliable parking and no real traffic or chaos.  We drove out to the end of Western Europe, where the Med meets the Atlantic: Cabo de São Vicente.

Cabo San Vicente
We parked our very dirty and bug-covered 4 door Spanish plated rental car and viewed the lighthouse and cliffs.  And on our return, we were approached by Italian hikers who figured the Spaniards with the dirty car were their best bet for a free ride for slightly smelly hikers and their packs into the local town of Sagres

Their analysis wasn't wrong, just funny in why it was right. We were probably their best bet for a ride, we had a 4 door car and a trunk, we were a couple, and we could bumble along in Italian (which they expected from Spaniards, but were shocked when they learned we were Americans).  We also did them one better and took them all the way to Lagos, saving them at least a day of difficult bus travel from Sagres to Lagos, and in the meantime, we learned all about their hike down the Rota Vicentina.  There are villages along the way, and you can totally just do day pack hikes between prepared meals, lodging and hot water -- It's now very high on our list of travels we'd like to do in the future...


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Go Back   New Orleans Saints - blackandgold.com > Main > Saints

Bizarre, cruel ending befitting of 2003 Saints

this is a discussion within the Saints Community Forum; Didn\'t I post this Monday? :P...

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Old 12-24-2003, 10:03 AM   #1
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Bizarre, cruel ending befitting of 2003 Saints

Didn\'t I post this Monday? :P
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Old 12-24-2003, 04:32 PM   #2
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Bizarre, cruel ending befitting of 2003 Saints

I think John DeShazier used to post here. He\'s the most negative anti-Saint I\'ve ever read. The next good thing he writes about the Saints will be the 1st good thing he ever writes.
The Saints could cure cancer and this idiot would point out something negative about the procedure.
He could truly be the most negative writer on the planet, and of course its quite fitting he writes for the Saints.

All the negative vibes he eminates are absorbed quite gleefully by a multitude of like-minded Saints fans whose sole purpose is to find a negative about anything Saint related and hammer it until their feeble little insecurities are consoled by other Saint fans wallowing in the same egocentric self pity.

OK, maybe a little over the top, but you get my point.

[Edited on 25/12/2003 by Danno]

Can you hear us now?
Who Freakin' Dat!!!
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New Orleans Saints -

New Orleans Saints - (
-   Saints (
-   -   News on "Payton"! (

SapperSaint 03-15-2012 10:59 AM

News on "Payton"!
Payton Reese Lampton that is.

Well brothers and sisters. Monday will be the day my wife will bring our 3rd daughter; Payton Reese, into the world. So that means I will be outta pocket for a few days. I think I am going to go into "fits" not being on here those days.

You guys and gals are family, so I wanted to keep y'all in the loop. I will post pics as soon as I can.

Love all y'all,

CharityMike 03-15-2012 11:02 AM

Congrats Bro!!

alleycat_126 03-15-2012 11:04 AM

Congrats, and GL, you and Drew running that same race huh!!!!

Srgt. Hulka 03-15-2012 11:10 AM

Congratulations Sapper! Tell Mrs. Sapper congratulations too. We wish her a easy speedy delivery and a healthy happy baby.

alexonfyre 03-15-2012 11:14 AM

Grats Sapper! Best of luck to you and yours!

lee909 03-15-2012 11:16 AM

Congratulations,all the best to you and your family.

Beastmode 03-15-2012 11:21 AM

Best wishes and congrats SS.

MistaBigXXL 03-15-2012 11:54 AM

Grats on the baby!

papz 03-15-2012 11:56 AM

Congrats Sapper!

Halo 03-15-2012 12:04 PM

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What kind of reward is this?

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Old 06-15-2004, 12:33 AM   #11
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What kind of reward is this?

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Old 06-15-2004, 07:48 AM   #12
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What kind of reward is this?

Thanks, BnB, I was beginning to think the wife was right about the ol\' sense of humor.

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Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Skippy comes to Penang

On top of Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic's street art in Penang (some of which is sadly fading already), another street art project titled ""101 Lost Kittens" initiated by A.S.A. (Artists for Stray Animals) aims to inspire people to help more strays be adopted and loved. It is also a fun way to discover the back lanes of George Town.

Lovely UNESCO Heritage Site of George Town.
Baby lions wanting to be part of the art installation as well... ...
Skippy, a stray kitten with a deformed leg, was the inspiration for the whole
campaign. She now resides happily at Bon Ton Resort Langkawi,
welcoming guests every day. Read all about her in a pictorial storybook
titled "Skippy comes to Penang" retailing at cafes like China House.
Support a good cause!
Spot the rat.
Love me like your fortune cat.
The real Bruce Lee would never do this.
Cats and humans co-existing in harmony.
No animal discrimination please.
I help catch rats.
Care for me.
Cats walking for stray awareness.

Street Art by other Unknown Artists:

Kitten searching ... ...
... ... for a guitar playing mouse.
Forest Gump and his pearls of wisdom.
The baby lions joining in the
traditional lion dance.
Even the controversial JB mural was spotted here.

Have fun hunting!

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Fantasy Baseball 2012: Midseason Awards for Starting Pitchers and Relievers

Jay ClemonsContributor IJune 19, 2016

Fantasy Baseball 2012: Midseason Awards for Starting Pitchers and Relievers

0 of 11

    The following countdown touts 11 midseason awards involving MLB starting pitchers and relievers.

    To clarify, this listing stays true to the stats from April 4-July 4 and doesn't really focus on projections for July, August and September.

    (Lord knows we've already covered the from-this-point-forward angle in great detail; so, for once, we'll worry about the future later.)

    Enjoy the show!

AL Fantasy Cy Young: Chris Sale, Chicago White Sox

1 of 11

    2012 Stats: 10-2, 2.19 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 98-25 K-BB

    As great as Chris Sale has been in his second MLB season, the kid deserves a little extra credit for the journey that proffered this lofty ranking.

    From April 9-May 1, Sale was happily cruising along as a starting pitcher, holding the opposition to three or less runs in all five starts. One week later, Sale abruptly debuted as the White Sox closer, blowing a save in his only relief appearance of the year (to date).

    On May 12, Sale resumed his role as a fixture in the Chicago rotation. What happened after that is the stuff of legend—or Screenwriting 101 in Hollywood:

    From May 12-June 9 (six starts and 62.1 innings), Sale had a 5-0 mark, 0.98 ERA, 0.71 WHIP and 43-7 K-BB ratio. In that span, he also ranked second in wins, third in ERA, fourth in K-BB ratio, second in opponents' batting average (.150) and second in WHIP among starting pitchers.

    2. Justin Verlander, Tigers
    3. Jered Weaver, Angels
    4. David Price, Rays
    5. Matt Harrison, Rangers

NL Fantasy Cy Young: R.A. Dickey, New York Mets

2 of 11

    2012 Stats: 12-1, 2.15 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, 116-25 K-BB

    From May 22-June 18 (covering six starts and 45.2 innings), R.A. Dickey had a 5-0 mark, 0.79 ERA, 0.64 WHIP and otherworldly ratio with walks and strikeouts (58-4).

    In that span, Dickey also cruised through five straight starts without surrendering one earned run.

    Since May 30, Dickey ranks third in wins, first in ERA, second in K-BB ratio, first in opponents' batting average (.134) and first in WHIP among top-30 starting pitchers.

    And in his last 11 starts, Dickey has yielded two or less runs nine times, with just 12 total runs in that span (1.20 ERA).

    The only thing missing from Dickey's 2012 resume? A no-hitter.

    2. Matt Cain, Giants
    3. Stephen Strasburg, Nationals
    4. Gio Gonzalez, Nationals
    5. Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers

AL Reliever of the Year: Fernando Rodney, Tampa Bay Rays

3 of 11

    2012 Stats: 2-1, 0.96 ERA, 0.72 WHIP, 38-5 K-BB, 24 SV

    Fernando Rodney has been a top-three reliever since Opening Day, but check out this stretch from May 1-July 4.

    In that span, covering 27 appearances and 27. 1 innings, Rodney has surrendered only 15 hits and four runs, while converting on 15 of 16 save chances.

    Throw in a pair of sub-1.00 ERA and WHIP marks for the season, along with a 7.75-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and it's easy to see how Rodney earned the greatest honor of this highly competitive cluster of relievers.

    2. Jim Johnson, Orioles
    3. Chris Perez, Indians
    4. Joe Nathan, Rangers
    5. Rafael Soriano, Yankees
    6. Ernesto Frieri, Angels
    7. Jonathan Broxton, Royals

NL Reliever of the Year: Craig Kimbrel, Atlanta Braves

4 of 11

    2012 Stats: 0-1, 1.50 ERA, 0.77 WHIP, 50-10 K-BB, 23 SV

    As you can clearly see from the list below, an oversized cluster of elite closers have assumed control of the senior circuit.

    But the preseason pick for top reliever (Kimbrel) has cruised to a midseason crown as well, based on his prolific numbers in ERA, WHIP, strikeouts and saves.

    Bottom line: While I would seldom move heaven and earth to land a closer in a blockbuster trade, Kimbrel is the closest thing to perfection in that realm.

    As a bonus, he'll probably log more seasonal strikeouts than your No. 6 and 7 starting pitchers.

    2. Joel Hanrahan, Pirates
    3. Aroldis Chapman, Reds
    4. Jonathan Papelbon, Phillies
    5. Santiago Casilla, Giants
    6. Kenley Jansen, Dodgers
    7. Jason Motte, Cardinals
    8. Tyler Clippard, Nationals

Rookie Pitcher of the Year: Yu Darvish, Texas Rangers

5 of 11

    2012 Stats: 10-5, 3.59 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, 117-53 K-BB

    OK, so Darvish isn't your classic American rookie who logged time in the bush leagues before getting his big break with the Rangers in 2012.

    He had been a superstar in the Japanese League for five seasons (76-28, 1.72 ERA, 1,083 strikeouts from 2007-11), prompting one of the largest foreign-player payouts in baseball history.

    That aside, Darvish has been a fantasy stalwart in his debut season, racking up double-digit wins, allowing three runs or less seven times since May 11 and ranking fourth in strikeouts (117) among all MLB pitchers.

    For good measure, Darvish has also posted double-digit strikeouts in three of his last four outings.

    2. Wade Miley, Diamondbacks (qualifies as a rookie in most leagues)
    3. Jarrod Parker, Athletics
    4. Tommy Milone, Athletics
    5. Matt Moore, Rays

Fantasy Comeback Pitcher of the Year: Jake Peavy, Chicago White Sox

6 of 11

    2012 Stats: 6-5, 2.96 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 101-24 K-BB

    In his last four outings—all losses—Peavy has surrendered only nine runs.

    Think about that for a second. You have to be extremely unlucky to allow four walks and nine runs over 30 innings and still come away with the dreaded "L" each time.

    Anomalies aside, Peavy has been magical for the White Sox, racking up 13 outings of three runs or less, 15 appearances of three walks or less and seven games of seven-plus strikeouts—including 11 against the Yankees on June 30.

    Wow, that's a lot of stats culled together in one paragraph. The point is, Peavy remains an elite fantasy pitcher—even during his down time.

    And he's well ahead of the paces of last year's subpar output: seven wins, 4.92 ERA, 1.26 WHIP and 95 strikeouts.

    2. Fernando Rodney, Rays
    3. A.J. Burnett, Pirates
    4. James McDonald, Pirates
    5. Jason Hammel, Orioles
    6. Mat Latos, Reds

Setup Reliever of the Year: Jake McGee, Tampa Bay Rays

7 of 11

    2012 Stats: 2-2, 1.61 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, 32-7 K-BB, 10.3 K-9

    This is such a vague category since studs like Tyler Clippard (1-2, 1.83 ERA, 0.90 WHIP, 13-of-14 save chances) and Ernesto Frieri (0.00 ERA, 0.90 WHIP, 10-of-10 save chances with the Angels) began the season as setup relievers.

    So, this is where the line was drawn: To be eligible here, the relievers must have at least 35 appearances to date (through July 4), but cannot boast 10 or more saves.

    With that arbitrary (and convenient) line of demarcation, Clippard and Frieri got bumped from the limelight.

    2. Matt Belisle, Rockies
    3. Vinnie Pestano, Indians
    4. Jose Mijares, Royals
    5. Sean Burnett, Nationals

Best Single Outing Among Pitchers: Matt Cain, San Francisco Giants

8 of 11

    2012 Stats: 9-3, 2.53 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 114-23 K-BB

    Of all the awards in this quirky countdown, Matt Cain's June 13 triumph against the respectable Astros was the biggest no-brainer:

    Zero runs allowed, zero walks, 14 strikeouts—and, oh yeah, the 22nd perfect game in MLB history.

    That memory of a lifetime against Houston was the culmination of a four-start run where Cain allowed only two runs and collected 34 strikeouts and four victories.

Worst Single Outing Among Pitchers: A.J. Burnett, Pittsburgh Pirates

9 of 11

    2012 Stats: 9-2, 3.74 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 74-31 K-BB

    It's easy to laugh about A.J. Burnett's implosion against the Cardinals on May 2—surrendering 12 runs and 12 hits in just 2.2 innings—two months later.

    From May 8-June 28, Burnett subsequently allowed only 18 runs in 66 innings (2.18 ERA).

    In that span, Burnett also collected 52 strikeouts and eight victories (in eight games).

Most Disappointing Fantasy Pitcher: Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants

10 of 11

    2012 Stats: 3-9, 6.08 ERA, 1.55 WHIP, 101-49 K-BB

    Lincecum's foibles have been well-documented on this site—and I'm one of his biggest supporters in the fantasy biz.

    Seven games of five or more runs allowed. Three games of four runs allowed, and just five superb outings, from a fantasy perspective.

    Yes, it's been a rough year for Lincecum, but he's still worth the battered price on the trade market.

    He's simply too talented to replicate this level of head-scratching wretchedness for July, August and September.

    2. Dan Haren, Angels
    3. Ubaldo Jimenez, Indians
    4. Jon Lester, Red Sox
    5. John Axford, Brewers
    6. Adam Wainwright, Cardinals
    7. Daniel Bard, Red Sox
    8. Ervin Santana, Angels
    9. Francisco Liriano, Twins
    10. Chad Billingsley, Dodgers

Draft Steal of the Year: SP Matt Harrison, Texas Rangers

11 of 11

    2012 Stats: 11-4, 3.10 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 70-27 K-BB

    Obviously, there was no greater draft-time coup than the Mets' R.A. Dickey—let's not pretend that anyone can touch his value/production in the realm of late-round picks or unwashed undraftables.

    But as a means of diversifying this countdown, Matt Harrison qualifies as the next-best pitching gem to essentially go undrafted in 12-team leagues (back in March).

    Since May 17, Harrison is 10-for-10 in allowing three runs or less; he also has seven victories and 43 strikeouts in that time frame.

    2. Chris Sale, White Sox
    3. Ryan Vogelsong, Giants
    4. James McDonald, Pirates
    5. Chris Capuano, Dodgers
    6. Kyle Lohse, Cardinals
    7. Wade Miley, Diamondbacks
    8. Lance Lynn, Cardinals
    9. Phil Hughes, Yankees
    10. Clay Buchholz, Red Sox


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New Jersey Nets: 30 Team Previews in 30 Days

John FrielAnalyst IAugust 19, 2010

BOSTON - FEBRUARY 27:  Devin Harris #34 of the New Jersey Nets heads for the net as Rajon Rondo #9 of the Boston Celtics defends at the TD Garden on February 27, 2010 in Boston, Massachusetts. The Nets defeated the Celtics 104-96.  NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement.  (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
Elsa/Getty Images

2009-'10 Statistics

Finished 12-70, fifth in Atlantic Division, 15th in Eastern Conference

Missed Postseason

Additions and Re-Signings

Derrick Favors via draft, Jordan Crawford via draft, Jordan Farmar via free agency, Anthony Morrow via trade, Damion James via trade, Sean May via free agency, Troy Murphy via trade, Travis Outlaw via free agency, Johan Petro via free agency, Quinton Ross via trade, Ben Uzoh via free agency, and Brian Zoubek via free agency.

Yi Jianlian via trade, Keyon Dooling via free agency, Courtney Lee via trade, and Tony Battie via free agency.

The 2009-'10 season was one to forget for the New Jersey Nets and anyone relating to the team. For most of the season, they flirted with the possibility of having the fewest wins in a season before having a late-season surge and finishing with 12 games.

If you want to judge the Nets season on their record alone, you would assume this team is on the road to nowhere and has a couple more seasons of obscurity before they can even work their way to a decent season. Winning 12 out of 82 games doesn't exactly spell success for any team.

If you judge the Nets on their roster however, you would clearly see that New Jersey actually does have a team and does have a roster filled with quality people. Combine that with an above average off season and the Nets are somehow playoff contenders for the 2010-'11 season as a possible seven or eighth seed.

How does a team that just flirted with the worst record in NBA history become a playoff team over a mere three months?

A young team gains experience and players like Devin Harris and Brook Lopez now know what it feels like to be a miserable team. They don't want to get used to the feeling and they don't want to waste their youth and talent winning less than 20 games per season.

Harris is beginning to develop into an elite point guard even though he had a large drop off last season averaging only 17 points per game on 40%, but still averaged nearly seven assists in the process.

Lopez, who will now be entering his third season, saw a significant increase in production with a rise in points, rebounds, and assists at 19, nine, and two respectively.

Brook has developed a mid-range game to go along with an already strong post game, and to be seven feet to go along with it turns Lopez into a premiere center.

A seven footer with footwork and a mid-range game is a strong advantage to any team and is a necessity in the Eastern Conference when Dwight Howard, Andrew Bogut, and Kendrick Perkins is the main competition.

Lopez should be averaging a few more rebounds than only nine per game, but he has transitioned very well from college and is beginning to establish himself as an elite center in the making.

Lopez will get significant help in the paint when it comes to rebounding thanks to the acquisition of former Indiana Pacers forward Troy Murphy.

The Nets dealt Courtney Lee to obtain Murphy and gained a quality player who can do a little bit of everything on the court. Troy had another stable season last year when he averaged 14 points and 10 rebounds while hitting nearly two three-pointers per game.

Two seasons ago, Murphy was hitting over two three-pointers per game on an absurd 45% from the field. The even larger upside of obtaining Murphy is that they no longer need to deal with Yi Jianlian as their starting power forward. Despite averaging a career high 12 points and seven rebounds, his 40% field goal shooting and his softness on defense made him a liability.

While Murphy isn't exactly the greatest defender either, it is still a major improvement from Yi.

The Nets also gained their power forward of the future in Derrick Favors with the third pick. Favors was an athletic oddity in his time at Georgia Tech averaging 12 points on 61% shooting, eight rebounds, with three of them being offensive, and two blocks.

Favors showed off an uncanny ability to defend and has the versatility to guard nearly anyone on the court.

His post-up game is an offensive upside, but he lacks a consistent jump shot and could see himself playing limited minutes until he gains one. At 19 years old though, Favors will have plenty of time in his long future to create many new aspects to his already impressive game.

New Jersey might have also made the steal of the off season by trading for Golden State Warriors swing man Anthony Morrow. As a 46% career three-point shooter over the past two seasons, Morrow will replace Lee as the starting shooting guard and will contribute a lot more than what Lee could have ever put up.

Anthony's three-point shooting is deadly as he possesses one of the smoothest strokes in the NBA and will improve with age and experience.

The Nets strengthened their bench as well as their starting lineup with a number of signings that include former Clipper Travis Outlaw and two-time champion Jordan Farmar.

Outlaw will be entering his eighth season and while his statistics don't account for much, he is a valuable role player who can defend and contribute a three-point shot that he has exhibited over the past few seasons.

Farmar was the back-up point guard on the Los Angeles Lakers, and will be entering his fifth year. Jordan shows off a decent jump-shot to go along with substantial range. His assist to turnover ratio will need to drastically improve as the second point guard option.

The Nets have a bright future ahead of them even with a 12 win season looming over their shoulder, but they must remember that it is the past and it needs to be forgotten if they want to improve. A postseason could be within reach for the Nets now that they have an official NBA team joined together, not to mention a few All-Star appearances for some of their up and coming stars.

Projected Starting Lineup

PG—Devin Harris

SG—Anthony Morrow

SF—Terrence Williams

PF—Derrick Favors

C—Brook Lopez

This is part 18 in a 30-day series of previews for each NBA team for the upcoming 2010-2011 season. My profile contains the other teams that I have already previewed.


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Friday, March 29, 2013

What’s Good About It?

The night before, He was betrayed. Judas sold Him for thirty pieces of silver:

And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. (Matthew 26:15 KJV)

Peter betrayed Him out of fear for his own life:

Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly. (Matthew 26:74-75 KJV)

Judas regretted his actions, too:

Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself. (Matthew 27:3-5 KJV)

Knowing Christ was innocent, Judas went to the religious leaders for absolution -- their response? “What is that to us?” His next actions display his lack of understanding of God’s love mercy, just as the chief priests’ actions displayed theirs:

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. (Matthew 23:23 KJV)

What Judas left undone was confessing that his sin was against God. All sin is. Judas never reached that understanding.

So, here we are on Friday, their teacher on the cross, and two men have reacted with vast differences. So, what’s good about it? Jesus followed God’s will:

And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. (Matthew 26:39 KJV)

For most of us, our lives are not a forfeit for following God’s will. Usually, two commandments will get us started:

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matthew 22:37-40 KJV)

We love Him because He showed us how:

We love him, because he first loved us. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? (1 John 4:19-20 KJV)

Because we love Him, we learn His commandments and keep them:

If ye love me, keep my commandments. (John 14:15 KJV)

That’s the good part of this Friday. God remains love.

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Thursday, October 9, 2008

Drink Up - The Black Velvet

Black Velvet Cocktail is one of the most unique cocktails I've ever seen. It's very simple and easy to make. You'll need - Guinness Stout and champagne, and a champagne flute.

The classic recipe for a Black Velvet is to half fill the glass with Guinness or another stout beer, and tilt the glass to the side to add the champagne. You'll want to pour the champagne in gently, trying to create as little foaming as possible. If the 50/50 blend is a more beer than you'd like, feel free to do more of a 40/60 split with the Guinness and champagne. Also, depending on who you ask, it's also okay to pour the champagne first then add the stout.

I was surprised when I learned of this drink that it has such a history. The Black Velvet is nearly 150 years old. It was ‘invented’ at the Brook's Club, London in 1861 and was served as the nation mourned the death of Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's Prince Consort.

Interesting stuff! I personall have not tried this drink but would love to hear if you have.

Bottoms up!

Green Orchid Events said...

I HAVE to try that! I love Guinness!

rich j. said...

If you need a deejay let me know...

Amy C. said...

The black velvet is my drinnk of choice at Fado! Although they make it with hard cider - but I can see how champagne would be perfect too! It's the best blend of smooth and sparkling sweet. Yum!

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Slimming Down Sunday -- Week 20

Week 20

Weight Change: -0.6

Total Difference: - 6.4 lbs.

Notes: I reevaluated My Fitness Pal goals and changed them.  I was going over by just a little bit every day to be on track to loose 1.5-2.0 lbs. per week.  I wasn't going over by much, but always being over stressed me out and I felt defeated.  Remember part of this is a mental exercise too, so that is what I am reminding myself.  My new goal is to lose 1 lb. per week and that gave me an extra allowance in calories per day which I find more manageable and have been able to stay under..  I also managed to accomplish 7 days without pop!!! This is huge for me!!!  I hope to keep the streak alive this week too.

Goal Date: 10/15/12 - my 7 year wedding anniversary

Goal Weight:  19 pounds from where I am now, aka the weight I was when I said "I Do"

Wish me luck!

Created by MyFitnessPal - Nutrition Facts For Foods

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original source:

This would've been perfect for Alex's 4th Birthday Pirate Party where we played "Pin the Hook on Captain Hook".


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Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Disability in Breaking Bad

Don't forget to sign up for Blogging Against Disablism Day

It's a very rare thing where a television show or film handles disability in a way I cannot fault. It's also much easier to blog about what's wrong with something, than what's right, but here, I have to do it.

There are very many things to recommend Breaking Bad (at least in its first two seasons), an American television series charting the moral downfall of a indebted high school chemistry teacher, Walt, who is diagnosed with lung cancer. Wishing to leave his family something after his death, he decides to team up with a former student in the manufacture of Crystal Meth.

Walt's teenage son, Walter Junior, has Cerebral Palsy. The character is played by a gorgeous young man called R J Mitte who is not just cute, but proper teenage heart-throb material who has apparently been romantically linked with Miley Cyrus. And guess what? The guy actually has CP. He crips it up a wee bit, but his performance completely outshines attempts by the likes of Daniel Day-Lewis or those young men from Inside I'm Dancing to portray the condition. It's so realistic! It's almost as good as S. Robert Morgan's impression of being both blind and black as Butchie in The Wire. .

Walter Junior's CP is not entirely incidental to plot. When the senior Walt describes the dire situation his family is in, he does mention his son with Cerebral Palsy. When Walter Junior is mocked by young men in a clothes shop, Walt's response demonstrates his hidden capacity for aggression in protection of his family. But otherwise, his family attempt to ignore or even downplay his condition. At one point, his uncle explains the boy's crutches as being for a football injury. During a driving lesson, Walt senior pressures him into using one foot for the clutch and brake pedals, leading an exasperated Walter Junior to explain, "My legs just don't work that way."

However, the CP is incidental to character. Walter Junior is a loving but gently rebellious teenager. In fact, regardless of disability, this is an unusually realistic portrayal of the kind of teenage boys I grew up around - neither the non-communicative, sexually-frustrated creature, teetering on the edge of criminal aggression, nor the sweet, responsible and ever reliable young man of parents' dreams. Walter Junior tries to buy alcohol under age and rejects his father's name in preference for the handle Flynn, but he loves his parents, eventually setting up a website to raise money for his father's cancer treatment.

As I mentioned before, Walt (played by Bryan Cranston - the dad from Malcolm in the Middle) has lung cancer. I have no idea how realistically the cancer itself is portrayed - knowing the wide variety of ways and severity cancer manifests itself, I'm guessing it would fit someone's experience, although so far, he just coughs a lot when he gets upset. What I do know is the reactions of family and friends to his cancer are powerfully realistic - the way that a person who had received a diagnosis can be several steps of reasoning ahead of those who love him, with a completely different gauge of what might be worth gambling or sacrificing in the hope of more time or an improvement in health. The way that, depending on what decisions someone makes about treatment, they may be hailed as a hero or condemned as a coward - and often in the space of the same conversation.

Walt is not a sympathetic character. His family will be poorer once he dies, but you're not sure that they're going to be worse off in any other respects. Walt's motives for cooking meth are changeable and inconsistent and he allows his wife to worry about his absences and suspicious behaviour. Most of all, I think, Walt's response to his illness is one of cold constructive anger and that's something you rarely see in drama. You see sick people having a tantrum about it, but that's not really them, and it's entirely forgivable. You see sick people becoming bitter about their illness and pushing everyone away. But you don't often see sick people sustaining anger about their illness and using that anger constructively.

I'm not especially pleased with this post. I've hardly told you a thing about Breaking Bad, which is a fantastic show and one which I partly regret having begun to watch before I could access every season right up to the end. However, it's so rare that a show handles disability so well, on top of everything else, that it is worth singing its praises.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Blogging Against Disablism Day will be on 1st May, 2012

Blogging Against Disablism 2012 is now underway. Please click here for this year's event.

Blogging Against Disablism Day, May 1st 2012
The seventh annual Blogging Against Disablism day will be on Tuesday, 1st May. This is the day where all around the world, disabled and non-disabled people blog about their experiences, observations and thoughts about disability discrimination. In this way, we hope to raise awareness of inequality, promote equality and celebrate the progress we've made.

How to take part.

1. Post a comment below to say you intend to join in. I will then add you to the list of participants on the sidebar of this blog. Everyone is welcome.

2. Spread the word by linking to this site, displaying our banner and/ or telling everyone about it on blogs, newsgroups, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and so on. The entire success of Blogging Against Disablism Day depends entirely on bloggers and readers telling other bloggers and readers in advance.

3. Write a post on the subject of disability discrimination, disablism or ableism and publish it on May 1st - or as close as you are able. Podcasts, videocasts and on-line art are also welcome. You can cover any subject, specific or general, personal, social or political. In the previous six BADD, folks have written about all manner of subjects, from discrimination in education and employment, through health care, parenting, family life and relationships, as well as the interaction of disablism with racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination. Every year I have been asked, so it's worth saying; the discrimination experienced by people with mental ill health is disablism, so naturally posts about that are welcome too.

You can see the archives for previous years here: 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Blogging Against Disablism Day is not a carnival of previously published material. The point about doing this around one day (or there abouts) is that it is a communal effort and all the posts connect to one another. You can of course use your own post to promote other things you've written in the past as you wish.

4. Come back here to Diary of a Goldfish on the day to let everyone know that you've posted and to check out what other people have written. I shall post links to everyone's posts (slowly) throughout the day, creating an archive. However, I do need you to comment and leave the URL of your post or else I shan't find your post and won't be able to link to it.

This year, we have a Twitter account @BADDtweets, where there will be tweets about posts and updates to the archive during the day.

Naturally, Blogging Against Disablism Day invites contributions from people with all variety of impairments and none at all. You are welcome to contribute with podcasts, video-blogging or anything else that allows you to take part. And whilst May 1st is when this all takes place, nobody who happens to have a bad day that Tuesday is going to be left out of the archive.

If anyone has any questions about web accessibility, I recommend the Accessify Forum. I am not an expert on web accessibility myself, so if there are any suggestions about how I can make this day more accessible, please e-mail me at diaryofagoldfish at

The Linguistic Amnesty

Whilst discussions about language and the way it can be used to oppress or empower us are more than welcome, please respect the language that people use, particularly to describe themselves in their own contributions. We all have personal preferences, there are cultural variations and different political positions which affect the language we use. Meanwhile, non-disabled contributors can become nervous about using the most appropriate language to use, so please cut everyone as much slack as possible on the day.

At the same time, do not feel you have to use the same language that I do, even to talk about "disablism". If you prefer to blog against disability discrimination, ableism or blog for disability equality, then feel free to do so.

In 2008 I wrote a basic guide to the Language of Disability which I hope might explain some of the thinking behind the different language disabled people prefer to use about themselves.

Links & Banners

To link back to this post, simply copy and paste the following code:

These banners have seemed popular over the last couple of years and I am yet to think of anything better. If anyone fancies editing these images or coming up with something new, then please do so. You are free to use and mess with these as you like, so long as you use them in support of Blogging Against Disablism Day. If you already have the banner, you just need to change the URL that it links to from last year's BADD. Otherwise, you simply need to copy the contents of one of these boxes and paste it on your blog, in a post or on the sidebar as you like. The banners come in two colour combinations and two sizes. The sizes are a 206 pixels square or 150 x 200 pixels.

Blogging Against Disablism Day, May 1st 2012This is the black and white banner which reads "Blogging Against Disablism". Here's the code for the square one:

And here's the code for the narrower one (which can be seen here):

Blogging Against Disablism Day, May 1st 2012This is the colourful banner which reads "Blogging Against Disablism". This is the code for the square one:

And here's the code for the narrower one (which can be seen here):

Please leave a (comment including the URL of your blog) to let everyone know you are joining in and I shall add a link to you on the sidebar. Also, if you have any questions, please ask.


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Samsung MLT-D101S Compatible Toner Cartridge & Samsung ML-2165W printer

According to,you will be able to order MLT-D101S toner cartridge online with the cheapest price as possible.We offer you $49.99 only,plus free shipping.$49.Using our best Samsung MLT-D101S will give you the ability to lower the cost of your printer,without need to worry about it will not match your printer,because all our  toner cartridges are tested for print quality and durability before shipping them to you.if you have any problem with our ink cartridges you can report the issue and get a full refund for it or a replacement, we will pay for the cost of the return. Please feel free to try it.So why not just view our web site to find out more during the promotion day?It’s an excellent place to fulfil your needs.

Samsung MLT-D101S New Compatible Black Toner Cartridge

While Samsung MLT-D101S compatible printer Samsung ML-2165W  is supported by a 300MHz Processor to produce 21ppm of precise, black prints with up to a 1200 x 1200dpi resolution. Using your wireless network, this laser printer can connect easily with several PCs and mobile devices with Wi-Fi Direct connectivity and provide service without any time-consuming setup processes. According to CNET review of Samsung ML-2165w,it has great features for the money in view of its very inexpensive price.

Samsung ML-2165w

Our Samsung MLT-D101Sor other ink cartridges & Samsung ML-2165W printer are always covered by one year warranty, plus free return.Click here to buy from us.

Andrew Lu - Marketing Manager - Shopper+ Networks Canada

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Angel Beats! Insert Song – Thousand Enemies – Review

Album Title: Thousand Enemies
Anime Title: Angel Beats!
Artist: Jun Maeda; Girls Dead Monster: LiSA, Hikarisyuyo,
Catalog Number: KSLA-0052
Release Type: Insert Song
Release Date: May 12, 2010
Purchase at: CDJapan, Play-Asia

Track Title Artist Time
1. Thousand Enemies Girls Dead Monster 4:49
2. Rain Song Girls Dead Monster 5:01
3. Highest Life Girls Dead Monster 6:26

Review: LiSA’s entry into Angel Beats! comes with above average expectations. Having heard her performance of “My Soul, Your Beats!” as Yui-nyan’s singing voice, I knew she’d bring more to the table than marina by sheer virtue of singings with emotion to engage listeners. Even with that positive step, Thousand Enemies still lacks polish; you can find plenty of areas in which LiSA could improve upon. I’ll take it though. Anything that can erase Crow Song’s bland singing from my memory is worthy of some attention.

“Thousand Enemies” has the generic rock sound that has become a staple of the anime high school band scenes, at least, if K-ON’s Houkago Tea Time’s music is of any indication. The introduction is promising enough through its effort at grabbing the audience’s attention with its energy, but once LiSA’s voice makes its entrance, it doesn’t take long to see where the performance falls short.

Not unexpectedly, one problem is that she sings oh so slightly out of tune. This isn’t something too noticeable in the lower registers, but once she aims high, she comes out of it sounding rather flat. Furthermore, those registers aren’t a range that she sounds too comfortable with, especially during the chorus, which feels rushed. It’s as though she’s doing her best to keep up with the music and while doing so she’s barely hanging on. LiSA is straining to nail it perfectly and unfortunately, we can hear her work at expressing the song’s sentiments through her intonation. And we shouldn’t hear her efforts; good singers make it even the most difficult parts of a song sound easy. That she’s unable to smoothly deliver means she’s got a ways to go even if I can commend her for making an attempt at being expressive.

Thousand Enemies »

Thousand Enemies

“Rain Song” seemingly confirms the lower registers as an area in which she’s more comfortable. It also helps that the song isn’t a difficult one to perform because the tempo is a lot slower and its relaxing tones propelled through the acoustic guitars is much easier for her to navigate. But beyond the few sections where her voice undulates, it’s a generic, unremarkable piece that lacks any real “oomph” to compel listeners to stand up and take notice.

Rain Song »

Rain Song

Rounding out the album is “Highest Life,” a song that starts out on a comparatively melancholy note that is thick with regret, though she does express some hope at being able to rise up despite the circumstances. There really isn’t much more to say here that hasn’t already been said before except for maybe the ending section, which repeats the lines,

LaLaLaLaLaLaLa Happy life! Go!
LaLaLaLaLaLaLa Take me with you!
LaLaLaLaLaLaLa Highest life! Go!
LaLaLaLaLaLaLa Go with me!

for over two minutes straight as they add a chorus to the mix. It’s not so bad if you were doing other things while listening to this song since you can easily tune it out since it works well enough as filler music, but it does become just a bit annoying if you’re listening carefully and was expecting some diversity.

Highest Life »

Highest Life

Knowing where LiSA is in her singing career, many of the faults I highlighted above are understandable and I do hope that she manages to iron out the wrinkles. That she is not afraid to convey her emotions already gives her a leg up amongst other singers, and with patience and a bit more practice (or some studio editing), her performances will improve. She might not evolve to the point of hitting the upper echelons of J-pop/rock, but at least her singing will be more polished and enjoyable down the road.

Rating: So-so

Anime Instrumentality's Founder and Editor-in-Chief. As you can probably guess, I'm a big anime music junkie with a special love for composers who've put out some beautiful melodies to accompany some of my favorite anime series. I tend to gravitate towards music in the classical style with Joe Hisaishi and Yoko Kanno being a few of my favorite composers, but I've come to appreciate jazz and rock as anime music has widened my tastes.

17 thoughts on “Angel Beats! Insert Song – Thousand Enemies – Review

  • May 15, 2010 at 8:47 am

    So far, both of the insert song albums were pretty meh with the first being the worst… Let’s hope the OP/ED won’t disappoint us.

  • May 15, 2010 at 12:28 pm

    Fuwa Fuwa Time and Go Go Maniac are much better songs than these IMO. The only thing any of Angel Beats insert album’s had going for them was the intro to Alchemy. That was like 5 seconds of material…

  • May 15, 2010 at 2:51 pm

    Same issues as with the Alchemy release prevail. The songs lack direction; there is no building of emotion, and as such, they’re generic. A good piece of music lends itself to being sung, but as the music is flat, Lisa is already at a disadvantage. She is obviously not yet an experienced singer, so injecting emotion into these pieces is twice as difficult for her. For artists of her skill, variance of emotion consists of getting softer and louder, and not that much more.

  • May 16, 2010 at 2:42 am

    I was more or less okay with the first two songs, but something snapped after listening to 2 minutes (what felt like half an hour >_<) of "LaLaLaLaLaLa"…

    Anyway, most of it was okay, though not memorable by any stretch of the word.

  • May 16, 2010 at 12:28 pm

    Well, the OP/ED is a known quantity and we’ve heard it at least once. Given Lia’s ability, I think that one will turn out rather well. As for the Inserts…. BLEARGHHHH.

    I definitely agree with Fuwa^2 but not GO!^2 Maniac because a large part of a song’s appeal comes from the vocals which Aki Toyosaki completely squeals and which I still find annoying. And yeah, Alchemy’s intro was one of the few bright spots from Crow Song.

    I suppose that’s to be expected when they put indie artists in charge of vocals. Personally, I would have liked to see KitaEri sing it since she’s done well in the past.

    If I knew more about music composition and whatnot, I’d probably try to dissect this song to see why it’s so generic. Maybe Maeda is going with generic music to befit a high schooler’s aptitude for music. I’ll leave that to lelangir to do.

    Neither of these songs are bound to stand out, that’s for sure.

    The stuff works great if you’re looking for filler music. That is, something you don’t want to pay too much attention to otherwise the flaws will really stick out and that’s when it gets annoying =P

  • May 17, 2010 at 6:03 am

    Was not impressed by Thousand Enemies, at all. I don’t think it’s lyrics were very good to begin with, and the ‘oh so slightly out of tune’ part mixed in with it and just completely ruined both tune and the song beat. >.<

    and yeah, that part of Rain Song gets instantly annoying after the first play =_=

  • May 17, 2010 at 8:53 am

    Sounds again like another generic j-pop with little interesting things to offer. 🙁
    Better than Crow Song though and I do like Yui-nyan~

  • May 17, 2010 at 7:08 pm

    It’s those niggling details that do these songs in. The genericness, the bad singing, let’s hope the worst is behind us though I do hear there’s one last GiDeMO album left to go. Sigh……

    Yes! Yui-nyan’s hilarious. I wish most characters were that endearing in the comedic way that Yui’s manage to weave for herself. Her singer might not be top notch, but I say Yui-nyan works as a gag rather nicely.

  • May 21, 2010 at 8:49 am

    I find it alright.
    The beat sound good but a bit ”off key” at some bits.
    mhmm cant really say much =/

  • May 21, 2010 at 7:58 pm

    All right means it’s about average… and that’s where I put it!

  • June 7, 2010 at 6:44 pm

    Kimaguresan had come up with an interesting comment on my review of the latest single from GDM. He said:

    “These songs deserve better singers, not just random singers that can’t sing properly… that is not good talent… ” What you said here is very important. My wife has been working to make the opera industry for years, and she is continually ignored for people that are less talented. We’ve thought about why this is for some time, and can’t figure out this exact problem.

    Coming from a recording background the whole GirlDeMo thing just is a disappointment.

    The quality of the OP/ED compared to the GDM songs seems to be very disturbing. I liked the OP/ED but not the GDM songs… It just proved that they screwed up with GDM big time…

  • June 8, 2010 at 1:14 am

    Yeah, he’s got a good point. Keep in mind with the OP/ED though is sung by people who’ve been tried and tested. Aoi Tada is certainly solid and Lia’s no slouch either (an understatement to say the least!). Not looking forward to listening to the latest GDM, so I’ll be sharpening my knives.

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Whee! Doing a stunt!

Hello, I blog!

I write with no particular theme in mind, because I am random like that.

25 2008

Freshly baked goodies!

Well, it’s no secret by now that I’m crazy over cupcakes.

Been baking them since five months ago, and slowly perfecting them – first working on the taste, then the texture and finally, the shape. I guess I’ve more or less mastered the art of ‘removing the cupcakes from the oven at the correct time so that they don’t collapse‘ since I obtain cupcakes with nicely rounded surfaces almost 100% of the time these days.

Decided to bake a batch of cupcakes for my close friends who are still in the midst of their exams, as a way to cheer them on. Because this batch was special, I decided to go one step further and attempted making some frosting.

A nice fluffy mixture of dark chocolate and melted butter did the trick just fine. Heck to all those elaborate frosting recipes I’ve seen lurking around the internet. Mine tastes just as good, if not better. Rich and creamy. Mmmmm.

And … TA-DAAH!

These are Oreo cookies and cream cupcakes topped with dark chocolate butter frosting and rainbow sprinkles, less then five minutes after they were completed.

I’ve placed them in the refrigerator, and the frosting has hardened to form a crisp chocolate shell. Now, that is what I call yummy!

Leave a Comment

Hello, you're looking at a pretty old post. Comments are already closed for this one. How about checking out something more recent?

  • 26 Apr 2008
    5:35 AM

    Yum :9. Any chance you could send some to the UK, preferably not squished? They look delicious. :)

  • 26 Apr 2008
    7:25 AM

    Mmm I love ’em too. XD But I usually make them the “cheating” way … with cupcake mix!! XD

  • 26 Apr 2008
    10:52 AM

    !!! Brenda! You’re going to be rich! Selling them! I’ll buy! All! All of them! Cupcake cravings urrrghghghh!

  • 26 Apr 2008
    12:23 PM

    what is the recipe? do you need a proper oven to bake these?

  • 26 Apr 2008
    11:01 PM

    Chien Yee

    Can I have some? *bites the computer screen*

  • 27 Apr 2008
    2:10 AM

    Mmmmm… the cupcakes looks soo beautiful and wonderful. I want to eat it but at the same time I just want to keep it!! You’re such a wonderful friend!

  • 27 Apr 2008
    2:08 PM

    Wow!! It’s really nice of you to bake some goodies for your friends who are still having exams!! They look too yummy! It’s making me all hungry now.

  • 28 Apr 2008
    2:48 AM

    What is it with cupcakes these days, I see people posting about them everywhere on the Internet lately. Not that it’s a problem, I love cupcakes too, it’s just that I don’t have any in the house at the moment and I don’t have anything to make batter either to bake my own. So instead I have to drool over cupcake photos online while others are enjoying them.

    Life is so unfair …. ;)

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Whee! Doing a stunt!

Hello, I blog!

I write with no particular theme in mind, because I am random like that.

Oops, it's a 404!

Oh noes, it's that dreaded number again. Sorry about that. Either I screwed up somewhere, or the page purely does not exist. The big black hole of the internet must have swallowed that link up.

You might want to inform me about the error, or go back to the blog.

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Tribute Pictures and Fan Signs

I haven’t posted any of the Tribute pictures that I’ve posed with, or the various Fan Signs I’ve done recently. Since it’s a slow day today, I thought I would share some with you all.

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Church, state, school: Texas charters with religious ties

The Dallas Morning News found that 20 percent of Texas charter schools have religious ties.

From the story:

Church-charter partnerships are springing up across the country as private institutions lose funding and nontraditional education models grow in popularity. Their emergence prompts questions about the role religious groups should play in the development of publicly funded schools.

“The church-state line is beginning to blur,” said Bruce Cooper, a professor at Fordham University’s Graduate School of Education, who has studied religious charter schools. “We may be coming to a midpoint between the best of what is private and the best of what is public.”

Critics fear the fuzzy division means taxpayers are footing the bill for religious instruction.

“You have to wonder what the impetus is,” said Dan Quinn, a spokesman for Texas Freedom Network, an Austin watchdog group focused on church-state issues. “What is the catalyst for becoming a charter because at that point they’ve abandoned the mission of being a religious institution?”

Charter schools are public schools run by private groups and approved by the State Board of Education. They are freed of many state rules. But they must adhere to the state’s accountability tests and maintain a separation of church and state. Religious groups may apply to open a charter school if they establish a separate nonprofit to receive state funds.

Even with a middleman, heavy overlap exists between the school and the religious group that supports it. Dozens of Texas charter school leaders or board members hold prominent positions in the church, where the schooling sometimes takes place. Parochial schools reinvent themselves as charters, often with little guidance on running a public school. And the mission of the school itself typically stems from the values of the religious group.

The article mentions Houston’s Harmony Public Schools, run by Turkish Muslims, as a non-Christian example of the religious schools. Harmony ranks among KIPP and YES Prep as one of the best high school programs in the city.

The schools, and about 100 others, are loosely inspired by the teachings of Fethullah Gulen, an imam who advocates for peace through interfaith and intercultural dialogue, USA Today wrote earlier this year.

Kate Shellnutt


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Posts filtered on Category

Category: Spring training

Astros pitcher Will Harris rebounds in search of long relief role

Will Harris, a 30-year-old righty reliever, was claimed off waivers from the Diamondbacks during the offseason. He pitched a scoreless eighth inning Tuesday, lowering his spring ERA to 3.38 in a

Roberto Hernandez, Dan Straily battle for final spot in Astros’ rotation

KISSIMMEE, Fla. — For two Astros righthanders, this weekend’s outing was something of a warm up to the big showdown next weekend. For Roberto Hernandez, who is the most experienced candidate the

Gattis hopes to hit Monday against Braves, Foltynewicz

KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Evan Gattis took regular batting practice Sunday, his first time facing live pitching since March 14, and hopes to be the designated hitter in the Astros’ Grapefruit League game on

Oberholtzer on track for regular season

KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Lefty Brett Oberholtzer tossed a 35-pitch bullpen Sunday morning and his next test is set to be a minor league game Wednesday as he comes back from a left lat injury. All signs point

Yankees walk off on Astros 3-2, but lineup is solidifying

TAMPA, Fla. — Bits and pieces of the Astros lineup are becoming clearer as camp moves on. In a 3-2 road loss to the Yankees on Saturday, manager A.J. Hinch had all the right buttons pushed for eight

Astros manager A.J. Hinch remembers days playing with A-Rod

TAMPA, Fla. — Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez and Astros manager A.J. Hinch caught up before the Astros’ 3-2 loss Saturday at the Yankees’ Steinbrenner Field, chatting for a few minutes while the

Astros pitcher Collin McHugh has better outing against the Mets

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. – Although Astros righthander Collin McHugh gave up a pair of solo home runs Thursday afternoon against the Mets, he showed tremendous improvement from his previous outing. One

Fifth spot in Astros’ pitching rotation still up for grabs

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. – The race for the fifth spot in the Astros’ starting rotation will be back on Friday when Sam Deduno and Asher Wojciechowski face the Nationals at Osceola County Stadium. Deduno,

Astros pitcher Scott Feldman will start the second regular season game

KISSIMMEE, Fla.  – A day after announcing that Dallas Keuchel will start Opening Day, Astros manager A.J. Hinch revealed that veteran righthander Scott Feldman will start the second game against the

Astros slug their way past Pirates in exhibition

BRADENTON, Fla. – Jason Castro, George Springer and Chris Carter showed off the Astros’ vaunted power Tuesday while beating the Pirates 13-7 at McKechnie Field. Springer was 2-for-4 with two doubles


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Friday, October 30, 2009

New Britney Spears' video: 3

In which Jive harness the computing technology of ILM to automatically generate a Britney Spears video without any need for user input or creative thought.

So, we get the bit where Britney plays with her hair, the bit where Britney shows a bit of side-boob, and the bit where Britney looks coyly up at the camera with those big brown puppy dog eyes.

It's entirely possible they have a similar programme for writing the song, too.

(If the embedded video doesn't work, you can see the whole thing on Britters' official webthing)

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