This is pretty much the best email I’ve ever received in my life.
Dear Sir:
Thank you for your email. Ms. ****** ****** does not have to be interviewed again. The visa has been issued for her on May 27, 2008.
Regards,
Correspondence Unit
Now I don’t suppose anyone is in the market for a really powerful laptop. Airfares really suck right now.
For some reason, a lot of people are charmed by the “human element” of sports officiating. I think it’s pretty retarded. Umpires play too large a roll in baseball. Strike zones are inconsistent from ump to ump. Strike zones magically expand during a blowout. It’s pretty dumb. A pitch that’s a ball in the second inning should still be a ball in the ninth.
Basketball is just as bad. I’m still struggling with the concept of a “playoff foul”. If it’s a foul in the regular season then it should be a foul in the playoffs. The ball is the same. The court size is the same. The players are the same. The rules that govern the game should be the same. During tonight’s game, the commentators were discussing whether a play was a flagrant foul or not. Jeff Van Gundy — a former coach that I really like — claimed that it would have been a flagrant during the regular season, but it shouldn’t have been a flagrant in the post-season. That’s just crap.
Last night’s non-call could have decided the game. Brent Barry was clearly fouled, but it wasn’t called — presumably because it was a “playoff non-call”. That’s just garbage. The league is taking the easy way out by admitting the referees made a mistake. It’s just perplexing that fans, players, and coaches accept this magical transformation of rules. Imagine if laws were like that?
Not only is Albert Pujols one of the best players in baseball, he is now one of the most fearsome. In one inning he took out the pitcher (line drive to the face) and the catcher (slid into his ankle, spraining it). Check out this video for all the baseball carnage. I’ve seen one player beat a team by himself, but I’ve never seen one player decimate a roster with such efficiency.
Chelski used all its Russian mob money to lose the UEFA championship to Manchester United. I still think that it’s total crap that a game — especially such an important one — can be decided by a penalty shootout. You don’t see the NBA championship being decided by a three-point contest or the World Series being decided by a homerun derby. Yes, football is a taxing sport, but I could care less about the players’ fatigue. They’re professional athletes that are paid exorbitant money. They should play until they pass out. Plus, it’s just sad that Chelsea could have won if John Terry didn’t slip during his penalty kick. Having said that, a big “ha ha” to you Mr. Terry.
So the embassy has Noot’s new papers and her passport. I’m not exactly sure what happens next due to translation issues, but I believe they should be attaching a visa to her passport within a week. I’m not going to get too excited just yet because we’ve had setbacks before, but I’m hoping this is the last bit of waiting we have to do. I sent an email to the embassy to get some clarification and peace of mind.
The Pistons, Celtics, and Lakers are in the conference finals. That’s so 20 years ago! Too bad the Mavs sucked it up this year. They could have made it the exact same final four as 1988. That would have been cool.
Journey (accompanied by Heart and Cheap Trick) finishes their summer tour in California. I’m kind of interested in going. Rannie and I saw them in Oakland when they had the Justin Guarini lookalike as the lead singer. I wasn’t too high on that guy, but the new singer is this Filipino guy Neal Schon found on YouTube. That’s pretty cool. Nobody could ever replace Steve Perry (his nose gives him magical singing powers), but a Filipino dude is as good as it’ll get for me. It’s pretty crazy how close his voice is to Perry’s. Check him out!
After the break are some older clips from the Filipino cover band that got him the job. It’s more Journey plus Cheap Trick and Survivor!
Edit: Some of those vids are being pulled. Check out this search though. The band might as well be playing Raymond’s Greatest Hits.
The Yankees are in last place. That’s pretty embarrassing considering how large the team’s payroll is. Yes, A-Rod and Posada are on the DL, but the team should not be in last. I don’t remember the last time the Yanks were in last this far into the season. It was probably the early ’90s or something. I’m sure they’ll pick it up, but there’s a chance they’ll miss the playoffs this year.
I know some of you don’t like Chris Matthews, but most of you probably like Kevin James less. This video of Matthews shutting down James is pretty hilarious. It’s pretty funny watching him flounder and talk out of his ass on a topic he knows nothing about. He’s just blabbing and pushing the party line. He just should have admitted his ignorance straight away. If you lack patience, skip to 03:54. That’s when it starts getting good.
The Pistons made it to the Eastern Conference Finals for the sixth year in a row. Tayshaun had a wicked block in Q4. It reminded everyone of that block he had on Reggie Miller, though it wasn’t quite as cool or dramatic.
The Magic are acting like a bunch of ingrates. “They didn’t do anything that beat us, we just made too many mistakes,” said Hedo Turkoglu. You got beat Eurotrash. Detroit’s defense was a big reason you were making too many mistakes. If your team is going to guarantee a win then it probably shouldn’t make too many mistakes.
Anyway, it’s cool that they’re in the Conference Finals. That’s probably as far as they’ll go. I don’t see how they can beat the Celtics. Though if the Cavs can pull it off, I like their chances against them.
Noot’s papers from Brunei finally arrived. The American embassy said it would take about two weeks. The Brunei embassy said it would take a month. It took one month and 10 days. I suppose it could have been worse, but I think the Sultan of Brunei should give me a million dollars (USD) for having such a crap embassy.
Now I have to figure out how I’m going to pick her up. This delay was costly since it’s peak travel time in America. It doesn’t matter that it’s low season in Thailand. It’s just more expensive to go there in the summer. It’s kind of retarded.
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