Finally, the Bulls catch a break!

The Chicago Bulls finally caught a break last month when they received the right combination of numbers to land them the #1 pick in the 2008 NBA Draft. They had a small 1.7% chance of actually getting this pick, but they got lucky that night like a leprachaun with a horse shoe up his arse. I was at Hooters with Jaz, Erick, Abby, and lil' Annie and I'm pretty sure Jaz, Abby, and possibly Annie were embarassed at the behavior of me and Erick during the lottery. Who cheers for a boring NBA Lottery...that's right, Bulls fans did that night! And so we did.

So a month went by with specualtion and rumors of what the Bulls would do with the #1 pick. Would they pick Derrick Rose, the Freshman point guard from Memphis who led his team to the NCAA title game only to lose to Kansas [shot out to Potter!] or Michael Beasley, the scoring beast from Kansas State who could turn an entire franchise around, OR trade the pick to a team for some proven NBA star like Dwyane Wade. I kept saying all month that I wish that I could sleep and wake up right before the season started so I don't have to sweat out the trades and picks and signings witht the rest of the fans of the Bulls. But obviously, unless I am hit by a bus and fall into a 4 month coma, that isn't possible. Well one of the answers was finally given on Thursday, June 26. Derrick Rose will be the new point guard for the Chicago Bulls. But now this creates a new question. Will he be the starting point guard of the Bulls? When this was asked of Paxson, he pretty much said that they wouldn't throw Rose in without any guidance and experience, which leads us to believe that he would keep a "veteran" [and I use that term LOOSELY] in Kirk Hinrich, which would mean Gordon is out the door. Of course, that's just speculation.

The potential trade packages the Bulls could give up can be quite attractive to a team looking to rebuild - Hinrich, Gordon, Tyrus, Joakim, Hughes, Gooden, Nocioni. Any combination of those players would be killer. Personally I would like to get someone like Al Jefferson. Too bad we couldn't have picked him up last year before he started playing well in Minnesota. I honestly didn't understand the hype behind him, but he's coming to play now. Of course a veteran like Elton Brand would be nice. You could get a consistent 20 points and 10 rebounds out of him per game, but who knows how his health is? I would love to see Rose and Tyrus play on the same team just for the entertainment factor. Tyrus could easily be how Chandler is in New Orleans now. Just get rebounds and an occasional alley-oop now and again.

So hopefully I haven't jinxed myself and won't get into a bus accident so I can see what develops over this off season. Plus the olympics are around the corner and hopefully the USA Basketball team doesn't screw this one up! The Bulls have so many options in making there team better. What are those options? I don't know, I don't run the Chicago Bulls. But as long as they are better than what they were last year...which shouldn't be too difficult.

High School Yearbooks

So today Jaz and I stopped by my mom's house after hanging out with the Vigans and watching "Get Smart" at Muvico [I'll get back to those topics a little later]. We decided to go back "old school" and order a pizza like we would used to when we still lived at my mom's, but we weren't hungry enough for an entire pizza, so we decided to just get the pasta [which I recommend!] and quepapas, and boneless wings from Pizza Hut. Of course that ended up being bigger than if we just got a normal pizza. Ah well! Anyways, as we were hanging out in the basement just watching "You've Got Mail" on TV, I started getting nostalgic. We were talking about how that movie came out around the same time we met on good ol' AsianAvenue.com. I can't believe it's been nearly 10 years since we started talking online. Anyways, I just started thinking about the good times that I had growing up in my parents' house, so then I found a couple of old yearbooks from high school and just looked through them. There was a lot of bad fashion back then, but I think I have remained somewhat consistent with my style - kind of "preppy", but also likes jerseys. I still like sweater vests [that's for you Ingrid] and collared shirts like polos or button-ups.

So anyways, here's the reason for this blog. I was reading some of the extremely huge and overly long entries by some people wrote in my yearbooks. One long one-pager stuck out and just got me thinking. It was from my sophomore year, and it was from a girl named Tracy. Now let me give you a little history about us. We had been friends since the 5th grade. We were what I considered at the time to be best friends, but of course I wouldn't have minded it to be more...but that was like with EVERY girl. Damned adolescent hormones haha. She wrote a huge page long entry in my yearbook just about how I was a good friend and some of the things that happened that year and how we'll always be friends. Now even then, I knew that finding good friends was hard to come by, but I genuinely thought we would stay friends for a long time. So then I look in my junior year yearbook...and she didn't even sign it. Checked my senior yearbook, and no Tracy to be found. I don't really remember the details of our "fallout" but I guess it was something that kinda just ended. High school was a time where people learn a lot about themselves and about other people. It's amazing how much can change in a year of high school. So Tracy, if you're out there SOMEHOW reading his...I hope you are doing well!

And now back to the present. Jaz and I met up with Mike, Tracy, and Haley at Golf Mill [another old school hangout!] ate and walked around. It's still pretty amazing to me that Mike and Tracy have almost an 8 month year old girl! She's growing up pretty quickly, and has two cute little teeth. I always want to see her being that she's my goddaughter and all. And when I pick her up she laughs, and it really melts my heart. It's because of her I will be bankrupt in like 5 years! ;)

Now onto "Get Smart". It's sometimes good to go into a movie not having too high of expectations. I figured this movie would get some cheap laughs and some missed jokes. And yes, that's what I got. It was one of those movies that you knew wasn't going to be incredible, but you still needed to see it. Jaz and I like Steve Carell because of "The Office". His physical comedy always gets me laughing but his humor can get old, especially during a 2 hour movie! I think Anne Hathaway is a good actress, but it was just kind of weird that she was the love interest since she is like 20 years younger than him...ew. Overall I thought "Get Smart" was a cheap laugh kind of movie but had its moments of hilarity. On Joe Kho's "deek scale", I'd probably give it a 5/10 deeks.

Changes

I've been going through a lot of changes the past couple of months. I left my beloved Compass team in the middle of March. I worked with them the past 6 years and felt that it was just time for a change. I didn't really see what more I could learn on that team after 6 years. I wanted to possibly get into management, but I just didn't feel like I could learn that on the team. So instead I moved over to the Network Support team where I pretty much know NOTHING! My new team are really awesome, willing to help out and very engaging. I could talk to any of them at any point. I am glad I made the change!

Another big change in my life is how I eat and exercise. I've been playing basketball at least once a week and also been working out a couple times a week. And I've been doing it since middle of March. Also around the same time I switched teams. I think my co-worker having heart surgery really scared me and I wanted to change my life so Jaz and my familt will never have to worry about me like that. So I started joeylosesweight.com so check it out when you get a chance!

There will always be change in life, so you have to take things as they come. The past couple months have been great for me so far, but it doesn't mean the next couple will be just as great. You just gotta be ready!

Yeah I'm still awake

Just been messing around on facebook in the dark living room of our condo. I normally stay up and do whatever online while Jaz sleeps for a little while, because apparently my snoring keeps her up. I just can't seem to go to sleep tonight. I always feel like I want to update one of the websites I run, either deekin.net, or jaosite.com, or hobbykings.com. But I never know what I want to do, so I end up doing nothing. And then sometimes I feel like starting a whole new site. Sooner or later I'll update on of those sites...just don't know when I will come up with something to update it with.

I've been thinking a lot about just growing up and being responsible over the past several months. When I look back at my years in high school and college, I always thought every little thing was like the end of the world. Man was I wrong back then. There is so much more to life than just partying and getting drunk and acting stupid with friends. I've come to realize the importance of a true friend. Someone who you KNOW will always be there in a split second if you need them. I look at some of the friends I have now. Sure we don't hang out as much as I would like, but I know I can depend on them with just a phone call. I miss a lot of them because we have all started our own paths in our lives with marriages and kids and careers and so on...but at the end of the day, I know I can give a call to any of them and just go chill and escape the reality of life even for an hour.

And of course the importance of family in my life has grown exponentially. I'm ashamed to say it, but I used to think of family as something we all just have...and I know I took it for granted. I look in the eyes of my nieces and nephews and I see such promise in what they can become. Sure none of them are over the age of 10, but their incredible and unique personalities are reflections of their environments, and right now their environment is family. I don't know when or how it happened, but they are growing up FAST! And I truly love being around them. My brothers and my mom too. I never enjoyed just being in the same house as them more than I do now. I don't see them as much as I used when I was Chloe's age obviously, so I try to have them come up to our place or hang out at mom's. It's real special to me...more special than it has ever been in the past.

So with that I will now try to get some sleep. I could've talked about how crappy the snow is or even how much crappier the Bulls are, but I wanted to have something nice in my mind before I fell asleep. I think I got it now...

Anxiety

Tonight Anxiety has kept me up. It was a pretty anxious day on Tuesday. I had to tell my boss and my boss' boss that I applied for another position in the company. I find out tomorrow [actually today] if the other team want me to join on officially, so that is what is on my mind tonight. I obviously hope I get it because it will be something completely new, but at the same time change is sometimes scary. But if I do get it I will dive in 100% and learn all I can from it. If not, then I will be sure to be happy in my current position as well. In the end it all comes down to happiness and getting what you want. I will make sure I will at least go for what I want because I can't ever complain about any situation if I don't even try to make it better for me. So however today ends, I know that I will have at least tried to make my life better.

Ever just feel...

Like you just want to get up and move away. I had that feeling today. Just want to get up and move some place new, start a new job, start a new life...it was weird. Nothing really bad happened to me today, but sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be someone else. That might be fun, or it might suck a whole bunch. Don't get me wrong, I am happy with what I have. Just last night I was talking with Rich about how things have been and how happy I am with life. My mind just likes to wonder sometimes how things could be different if different decisions were made. Obvously I have too much going on here to ever leave...especially my family, my friends, and my work. I still, to this day, don't know how Jaz was able to leave everything she was comfortable with to just pick up and move here. I'm glad she did...

So Abby was due yesterday and she's still not quite ready to have the baby. Maybe the doctor miscalculated the due date. I don't know anything about all that, but maybe? I know she must be uncomfortable, but Abby, if you're reading...I'm praying for you and your baby's safety! I, like I am sure you are, can't wait till you have the baby! Good luck!

Damn my speed...

On Sunday I was having a good game at the Postal league. Had about 11 points or so, FINALLY hitting my first free throw of the season, a bunch of rebounds, and a handful of steals. And then we were on defense and a guy drives to the hoop and I'm able to poke the ball out to our point guard, so then I just book. He tosses it to me and I realize that I probably won't be able to beat out the guy who was running back on D for the fast break. I saw Dennis streaking down the sideline so I was going to do my Magic Johnson one handed bounce pass from half court. When I wound up for the pass, I felt my leg pop. I was still able to make the pass, and Dennis scored, but then I hobbled off the court. I felt this pop before about two years ago and it was a pulled hamstring, so I knew what it was. As Abby would say "BALLS!"

I went to the doctor on Monday to find out that was indeed a pulled hamstring and there was no indication of any tear. So I was happy with that. Just need to lay off of it for the next two week which pretty much sucks because I've been pretty good about being active since the new year started trying to run at least once a week and playing ball on Wednesdays and Sundays. Guess I'll have to monitor my diet for now.

My new enemy

Black Ice...I totally ate it at Bakers Square by my mom's house and landed on my right elbow. I think it's just bruised, but it hurt pretty bad when I hit it. I told Jaz to wait in the car, good thing, she probably would've fallen too. When I went in I complained about the parking lot and they gave me the pies for free. They took down my information and said they would contact me tomorrow. We'll see what happens. My elbow feels a little better now after taking a couple of ibprofen. If there was a video it would probably be funny to watch. I can say that now since I'm not in as much pain as earlier. I hope I wil be okay by my PBA game on Sunday.

Almost done

We've been almost done with our Christmas shopping for like 3 weeks now. We knocked out pretty much all of our shopping the first weekend after Thanksgiving, but always had like 3 or 4 people left to shop for. Have we finished it yet? NOPE! Now with less than a week left it is CRUNCH TIME! In all honesty, I haven't even gotten Jaz's gift yet. She knows...and I know what I want to get her. I will hopefully will be get it tomorrow when I am off.

I've slowed down the collecting considerably over the past month or so and just looking to just pay of credit card debt for now. It's amazing how quickly it all adds up. I have been paying off twice a month for a little while so I am making some good headway. Hopefully when my increase kicks in [however much it is] I can pay it off quicker. Also I'm thinking it is almost time to give my car [Jerry] the retirement it deserves. I haven't looked at any cars, but we'll have to wait until my bills are paid off. I kind of went crazy at the last show. I was planning on going all out and just buying a case of Exquisite, and hope for a Jordan auto or something. Turns out there were two cards I needed for my collection - both of Tyrus. His rainbow SPGU /10 and his Topps Chrome Superfractor 1/1. Two great additions to the collection. I'm just looking for the rest of the SPGU rainbow /10s. Wish me luck!



One last thing...

At work we're doing this thing called the Holiday Trio. Basically you get into teams of three and try to lose or at least maintain your weight throughout the holiday season. I was dropping a pound or two over each of the past weekends, but then I got sick this past Tuesday, and then BAM! I lost like 6 lbs. It may not be the conventional way of losing weight, but it counts! We've got two more weigh-ins until after the New Year.

Ok one more last thing...

Bulls suck.

What would you rather have?

10 slaps to the face in a row, or 5 unexpected slaps from here to eternity?

This was from Jaz and my new favorite show: "How I Met your Mother". The show is absolutely the funniest show on television. Yes that's right, even funnier than "The Office". It's basically about a group of friends around our age and are at a transition period of their life. The main character Ted is a 28 year old bachelor who no longer wants to be a bachelor. He's pretty pathetic, but that is where the humor begins. The womanizing friend Barney [Neil Patrick Harris] is absolutely hilarious in it - LEGENDARY. I strongly advise you watch this show, it is awesome!

By the way, Barney picked 5 unexpected slaps from here to eternity.

I'm not worried

The Bulls are playing like a bunch of school girls right now. Skiles does not seem to know what he is doing with the lineup. When it looks like the team has some chemistry, he messes up the lineup. Tonight against the Suns the lineup of Duhon, Gordon, Deng, Nocioni, and Tyrus, they were doing some damage. Tyrus did his job and got Amare into foul trouble. At that point Tyrus has a much more open lane to do what he does. So what does Skiles do? Takes him out and puts in Joe Smith. Now I know Smith is a veteran, but Tyrus earned that. And when Smith was in, he played scared. Ridiculous. I'll go down the line now with everyone else.

Hinrich: BAD decision making as of late. If he is open for a 17-footer, he has to make it. No question.

Gordon: Still WAAAAY to streaky.

Deng: Absolutely ineffective in the 4th quarter.

Nocioni: Tons of heart. Leads by example.

Tyrus: Still raw. Needs to learn control, but when can control himself, VERY dangerous

Wallace: No passion, let him go

Thabo: Plays too timid

Duhon: Should be starting. Shows great composure when he is in.

Noah: NBA body, just needs to adjust to the speed of the NBA

Smith: Great open jumper, plays cool, almost TOO cool at times

Gray: BIG man, he'll be the next Brad Miller

Khryapa: His game is in his name

It's obvious there is no superstar or all-star on this team at the moment. This is how they start every year though. And if that's the case, it just means the off-season pickups did not obviously improve the team. Once they gel, they may be great, but right now it is status quo. When teams like Utah and Boston have clearly gotten better, it's going to be a looong season for the Bulls. What happens next? Skiles will mixup the lineup until ultimately Gordon will come off the bench and start scoring 25ppg. It has happened the past 3 years, and it will happen again this year. If Hinrich, Deng, or Tyrus can pick up their game a level, then they will be a successful team. But if this continues into December, we'll be saying goodbye to Coach Skiles.

Please no more Grossman!

Signs that your days as starting quarterback are numbered.
1.) You throw 3 interceptions in a game you have no touchdown passes
2.) Your home crowd chants for the backup quarterback
3.) Your most exciting play was not a pass play but when you scrambled for a first down
4.) When you have your kicker throwing passes

Sorry Rex...I think it may be time you pick up the clipboard and headset, and enjoy sitting and observing the game. You'll still make the money you were guaranteed, but we may have to say good-bye to you this off-season.

Oh yeah, and to all the Bears defensive team...please stretch out more before and during the games. I know it's probably because the offense couldn't stay on the field for more than 4 minutes, but expect that kind of abuse to your body as long as Grossman is behind center.

I would honestly rather get grizzly Orton back in the game. At least he was just lucky!

[/end rant]

Dancing at weddings

I like making an ass out of myself. I know I'm not all that great, but I know I'm entertaining, so I will put my body through hell to entertain...like so:

My wedding


Diana's wedding


Frank's wedding


Matt's wedding


If you have wedding pics of me dancing let me know! :)

9/11

It's hard to imagine that it was this day 6 years ago that the United States had one of its most tragic days in US history. It's one of those events that defines a generation. One of those moments where everyone remembers what they were doing when the planes hit the World Trade Center. And it is especially vivid in the minds of the families who lost a loved one that day. Luckily I am not one of those people, but it is for those people I will say a prayer for tonight. Although we do not want to live in the past, it is days like today that you should go and remember the feelings you had when you saw the buildings fall and sat in front of the TV waiting and hoping that someone would survive from the rubble. There is nothing dark about it. Those feelings that we had then may seem distant 6 years later, but they are still real. And for the people that lost their lives on September 11, 2001, close your eyes for a moment and just remember how you felt that day. Let them know that they won't be forgotten, not ever, and especially not today.

I'm here?

Yup...it was bound to happen sooner or later, that I would return, and talk about absolutely nothing. Well here goes...

The condo is pretty much done now. I mean, there will always be things I want to replace or something, but we're just not at the place where we can fork out some dough to get some new doors. Sure, it's only like 3 doors, but I'll deal with it for now. I definitely havn't used the basketball court to its full potential...and to think I could've maintained my wicked jumper. That went out the door.

I just recently started working out at the gym at my work. It's pretty much a crappy gym. I definitely miss the days at LifeTime and all the machines and weights and all. Here, there are 2 treadmills compared to the dozens at LT. Seems so long ago...

There are babies falling from the sky around us [not literally, because that would be very gross]. I can't wait till everyone has their babies so I can get my practice in. One day I'd like to have one those and I want to make sure I get all the practice I can get. Of course Jaz knows more on what to do than me because of her profession, that's why it's good that she's around when I'm "learning". Here are the two most recent babies:

Elias Fernandez [9.1.07]


Caden Chia [7.6.07]

..and before you ask, no Jaz isn't pregnant.

Happy Mother's Day!

Mom and me at my wedding

There's so much to say to all of the mothers around the world. Thank you just doesn't seem like enough...but thank you mom for being you. Sure, sometimes we don't see eye to eye because I am not understanding what you are saying, but it doesn't change the fact that I thank God everyday that you are my mom. I love you!

The realization

Being down 3-0 to the Pistons in the Eastern Conference Semifinals will probably be one of the biggest reality checks the Bulls organization will have gone through in the past couple years. I'm not saying that the ast few years have been a fluke for the Bulls, but in order to do some REAL damage in the NBA playoffs, they will need a little more than some end of game heroics from Ben Gordon. It's called, playing a FULL game of basketball. Even back in the Jamal Crawford years, the Bulls have been known to play only 3 quarters, sometimes even 2. And it's in those minutes where the Bulls basically collapse at the wayside and the opposing team can take advantage of them. We were lucky the past couple years with Ben Gordon coming off the bench and hitting game winners or scoring 14+ points in the final quarter. But is that what we want? Sure, it makes for a great highlight on Sportscenter, but I would much rather have won by 6-8 points consistently in each game. Games 1 and 2 vs. Detroit was disgusting. And in all honesty, I didn't even watch the 2nd half of either game, because there was no point. If the Bulls didn't show up to play, why should I wait and watch. The first half of Game 3 had some promise, the Bulls with a double digit lead at halftime. But apparently no one told them there was another 24 minutes of basketball after the Panda bowl flipping girl had finished her act. Now we are down 3-0, and as we heard in the Miami series, no team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win the series in the NBA playoffs. Could we be the first? Anything is possible, but not everything is probable. 49 wins and advancing to the 2nd round? I'll take it for now, but I'll want more later. Thanks, Bulls for another exciting season.

Back to an old hobby?

A couple of years back I was into golf. As horrible as I was, I loved going to the driving range and playing a course. It was a lot of fun. Sure I might a few dirty looks from the more experienced golfers in the next station at Golf Center or from the group behind us at Chick Evans, but it was fun. Today my boss and a couple of co-workers decided to hit the driving range that is almost behind our office. Now being that I haven't even set foot on a golf course let alone pick up a golf club for the past two years, I thought I would be absolutely terrible, which I was, at first! After I worked my way through my bucket of balls I was starting to remember little bits and pieces of how to swing - "keep your head down", "barely grip the club", "make your arms like a V", "keep your head down", "aim in front of the ball", "keep your head down!" And I connected a couple of ball real nicely. I may have to get back into this. I forgot how relaxing it is whack a white ball a couple hundred yards [more like 75 yards!].

Onto the 2nd round

I had all the confidence in the world in the Bulls to beat Miami in a 7 game series. But I thought for sure Miami would at least one game in this series, but I'm glad they proved me wrong. I think I have finally figured out how to watch these games without have an anyeurism. Just watch the first 3 quarters with almost no emotion, so then get into the game in the 4th quarter. That is when the Bulls really begin to play their game.

The next opponent will be the Pistons, who are the number one seed in the East. This series will definitely be a good one, and I actually hope that it will go seven games. I love to watch some good basketball in a win or loss. The Bulls need to stop the Pistons to have only two scorers, like Billups and Hamilton. Not Wallace or Prince though. If they get going, then it's going to be awfully hard to stop the Pistons. The series will probably start sometime at the end of this week or beginning of netx week. Mike and I will be going to Game 3 in Chicago. I love the playoffs.

Bulls up 3-0!!

Being a Chicago Bulls fan, I know the Bulls have their limitations. And in all honesty, I thought the Bulls Kryptonite was one of the only people the league they've called Superman - Shaq himself. But tonight, like many nights before, they have proved me wrong. The Bulls went from up 12 to down 12 to win by 8 points. They started out real strong and then let Miami come back and just hung around throughout the 2nd and 3rd quarter. And then Ben and Kirk took over, as well as the Bulls' defense. It was such a HUGE win! Just ONE MORE GAME!! Let's go Bulls!!