What the FuCKKKKKKKK!!!!

Is it just me or does anyone else find it rather unfortunate that we live in a society that is dominated by the accumulation of wealth at whatever the cost. Are we a society that promotes and thrives on the misconception and manipulation of others? Over the past few days I've been bombarded with the realization that what you may think is true and real isn't always what it seems. Okay I should know this already, that you shouldn't believe everything you hear or say, yes, yes I get that, but I guess I just never realized how much corruption and mis-conception there is in our world. I never imagined that what you may think is true isn't, and I'm finding that most of it is all in the name of money. All of my recent frustrations are centered upon that theme, "money", the bottom line or whatever you want to interpret. Take for instance a couple things I've learned not to be true this past week

- Most bottled water is merely tap water
- the term "made in Canada" doesn't mean made in Canada, but merely processed in Canada
- Organic doesn't mean Organic unless it says "Certified Organic"
- Michael Jordan's first retirement wasn't about him being tired or un-motivated, he was
forced out by the NBA due to gambling.

Okay so that last one might not be that big a deal to most of you, but take this into account, in the NBA, much like other professional sports, gambling is a big no no. If you are a highly paid professional athlete, you are not allowed in any form to gamble. I won't elaborate too much as to why, but in simplicity it is for maintaining the shear credibility of games, and well in the past anyone who has done so (think Pete Rose, Tim Donaghy) saw that their lives and careers were thrown right down the toilet. So when Michael Jordan in a 3 year span gambles up a bill to the tune of 1.2 million to various people in personal betting, it's a very BIG DEAL. However, for the NBA at the time this was Michael Jordan, their man, their cash cow, he was it, so suspending him or expelling him from the league was well hard to swallow. It would happen eventually, David Stern would soon have to drop the guantlet on his prized man, which resulted in Michael's eventual first retirement. But like all other business' who have "the bottom line" in mind, the NBA and David Stern soon realized that once Michael was gone, so were the big profits. Which ultimately led to Stern having to realize that he needed Michael back more than initially thought, even if it meant overlooking one of the NBA's sacred rules. Crazy huh!!! Maybe not, doesn't surprise me in the slightist, I just found this to be interesting. Shouldn't Michael be viewed in the same light as Pete Rose? Just a thought.

Am I spewing rhetoric that most leftist bastards like myself already know? yes. I don't know, I guess it just baffles me sometimes at what lengths we humans go to for money. Sorry I'm just bitching today. later.

ps. check this article if you want to read more on the Michael Jordan stuff



http://www.disinfo.com/archive/pages/article/id1635/pg1/index.html

I share my Love...

...of waking up early in the morning, the city is still dark, your home quiet, you alone in the bathroom trying to take a piss, lights off, too lazy to find the switch, standing over your bowl, peeing away, aiming slightly forward not knowing what your hitting, feeling better, still dreaming. You finish, tuck your member away, wipe pee on the towel in front of you and head to bed. Your girlfriend wakes up an hour later to pee. You are now single.

...of being alone in your home, knowing full well that the next few hours are yours before someone comes and disturbs you. You take full advantage of this situation. You go to your computer, open up Itunes and pick your song, No Doubt's "Simple Kind Of Life", then with much excitement you crank your speakers full blast and proceed to dance and sing with the enthusiasm of a child beating up their little brother/sister. You jump, you swing, you pretend your hand is the microphone. Then the song ends. You do it again and again until sweat starts to trikkle down your brow. Forty minutes later, your girlfriend and her mom open the door to your little shenanigans, you don't notice, they stare, they stare, you finally notice, you run to the computer, turn the song off and proceed to act accordingly. "Hey your home, how was shopping and lunch, hi Mrs. Jonsson, etc"... , all of this while you continue to sweat and turn beet red. You are now embaressed.

...being out with your girlfriend, you're at her parents for thanksgiving dinner, you and her many family members are eating dinner, you are having fun, being merry and drinking wine and being sociable. You then notice that particular feeling in your gut, you have to go number 2, really bad, you then notice that the only toilet in the house is right next to the dinner table, you begin to sweat, your heart begins to palpate feverishly, you try to think of a solution, all of sudden a bubble of gas escapes from your bottom, you feel it leave, the tension it brings in your eyes as you hope it doesn't stink, you begin to smile and laugh for no reason, your girlfriend looks at you with a look of "What the fuck is wrong with you", you continue to smile, then her uncle from across the table looks towards you, he smells something fowl, he gives you that look of disgust, you look towards him, disgust written all over you face, you no longer smile. You ask to excused, you leave towards the toilet, close the door and turn on the lights, the pain is excrutiating, you sit, but you still hold it in, slowly you let go. Then it comes, the sounds and smells of what you ate the night before. You stop mid drop, hold you cheeks as hard as you can, your face smothered in a towel, the stench is so powerful, your crying. Twenty minutes later you come out of the toilet, hot and bothered, fully embaressed. You open the door, everyone is staring at you. You want to die.

The Ides of May and many more....

The middle of May is finally upon us and not a moment too late, it sure is good to have a warm breeze flowing in the air, two minorities fighting for the Democratic Nomination, aid finally arriving to those unfortunate souls in Burma, the possibility of a Celtics/Lakers Finals and so much more.

My thoughts on the playoffs so far are:

1. To be perfectly honest, I haven't much to say, this years regular season was truly one to remember, however, other than a few moments, the playoffs have been quite predictable, un-inspiring and well just regular games. I understand that last years frenetics with the Mavericks collapse, Derek Fisher's heroics and LeBron's great run we had much to be eeked about, but seriously can you give me more than one standout performance in this years playoffs. All I can think of is the Spurs/Suns game one thriller in which Duncan showed us the world why he's the best power forward of all time. That's about it. I mean there's been some hoopla, but nothing to go ga ga about. The Hornets run so far hasn't been anything I didn't expect, anybody who thought they were a one and done team weren't truly watching all season long, this team is for real, so no real surprise there. Same goes for my Lakers, from their sweep of the Nuggets, to the somewhat battle with the Jazz hasn't gotten me drooling. The Celtics have been up and down, the Pistons have been boring as usual, LeBron has been average (for him at least), and so on and so on. What I'm getting at is I miss the drama, I feel that it's missing, the on your seat I can't watch drama. The games have been good, the matchups even better, but that's it, I'm missing something. Other than my fanatical love for Kobe and the Lakers, I'm having trouble even watching any other series. To be honest as I'm writing this the Spurs/Hornets game 6 has been blaring away in front of me with me caring very little. Maybe I'm wrong and maybe all has been splendid. Maybe I just need a good dose of Red Bull, a hot pizza and a few friends to get me amped up, or maybe....I'll leave it at that.

2. Hilary you bitch, you've cost me 40 push ups. I hate you!!!!

3. I want to start writing about wine. I love the stuff and well I want to add my 2 cents. I've decided to start a side blog/report here on don't get goofy about one bottle a week. Drink, learn, report, what's better than that. I hope to entertain.

more later....

Uhhh...Finally!!!!

I've been waiting for this day to come for sometime now, and well now that it's here I sure can say without a doubt it has been fucking worth the wait. Ladies and gentlemen your 2008 MVP is: Kobe Bryant. As the title of this entry states, my feelings on this subject are of some of my most irritated ever. Those two words above, the Uhhhhhhh and then Finally don't truly capture how much it has pained me to see the German and the Canuck steal the top of the mountain award the past few seasons. No disrespect to either one of them, they both have mad game, but giving Nash and Nowitzki the MVP's because their teams were great is quite moronic and insulting. Anyways, I've already written a post on that subject, so I'll try not to repeat myself.

What I will get to however, is that after watching the Lakers clearly dismantle the Nuggets in 4 and Utah today I am finally starting to see a championship caliber team come together. Kobe has truly found himself with this team, you can see his confidence in the guys throughout the entire team. His leadership is quite astounding, very much Jordanesque. The guys believe in him, like him and want to follow him, all qualities that every championship team needs to battle their way through 4 gruelling series. They may not win the title this season (getting by the Spurs and Celtics will be tall orders) but I guarantee the 2009 title will be theirs. A team with these players, coupled with the returns of Ariza, Mihm and Bynum will undoubtedly give Kobe and his Lakers a solid team 10+ deep and close nit. Winning championships takes years of commitment, luck and solid team chemistry, all of which I have seen so far from this LA team.

I just can't wait to see Kobe standing at mid court before tip off on Wednesday as David Stern hands him his trophy. To finally have justification and backing to so many haters who want to bring him down, many of whom have biasis of Kobe from many year ago, and of which may have only watched him play once or twice this season. Stats don't tell the story, impact does.

Congrats Kobe.

Yes, at last I can see!!!!

Okay so computer broke, eyes got infected, but at last I'm back.

A couple of things to mention quickly...gotta go to work.

1. Kobe rules, 49 and 10 dimes....Yeah!!!
2. Nash isn't as good as he's led people to believe, he will go down as the only MVP to never reach the finals, shame on you voters.
3. CP3 is the real deal
4. Bron Bron is one scary mofo, I feel sorry for you celtics, round 2 is gonna be bad ass.
5. Tim Duncan hits a 3....to win a game....WHAT!!!!

later

I'm so irritated...

So I'm a waste of space server for a sushi restaurant (okay maybe not a waste of space, but it seems that way to most people who come in lately). Anyways, I love where I work, my boss' rock and it's the best job I've ever had. So what's got me lately is how RUDE and annoying people can be. Where I work the food is world class, and I'm not kidding, it is, I've worked at high end places all over Canada, and well to be honest, this little Sushi joint I work at can rival any major Sushi restaurant in Vancouver and abroad; and yes I do realize that I live in Saskatoon. So how can that be possible? Easy, it's called having well trained sushi chefs who care and work hard to make the best. Anyways, what's gotten me so irritated lately is how customers can come into Sushiro and demand HIGH QUALITY food in minutes, and if it doesn't come out in record time, we're considered a slow and bad restaurant.

For example, I had a number of tables a couple days back complain that "we're in a hurry, how long with it be" when in actuality, EVERY single table that complained had only been waiting 10 - 20 minutes. How is this acceptable!!!
If you head to any great restaurant that has high quality food, do you expect to be in and out in 20 minutes? Does this happen at Carvers? John's? Calories? NO, I highly doubt it. So then why does this happen to Sushiro? Our food is just as high quality, if not better, just different.
This is very frustrating. I hate sushi restaurants that pre-make their sushi, it creates a stigma that sushi is fast food, which it can be if it is done that way. But here's the thing, PRE-MADE SUSHI SUCKS!!! Try it if you don't believe me, it's garbage and not worth paying for. So then, if you're a sushi fan, why can't you take pleasure in the fact that Sushiro sushi is made to order, fresh and with care. Patience people, it's not slow, it just takes a little longer than pre-made garbage.

Oh and to top it off, these two assholes came in two days ago, and boy could they not shut the fuck up. First, they walked in and grabbed whatever table they wanted, blatantly ignoring the "Please wait to be seated" sign that was openly displayed for them to see. This isn't your home guys, treat us with respect and so will we. Second, they interrupted me while I taking an order from another table, then once I'd taken their order, they proceeded to demand their food and soups immediately. Every 2 seconds"where's my soup?", "is my soup coming soon?" and so forth. Take me on this, I WANTED TO KILL THEM, THEY NEEDED A GOOD PUNCH IN THE TEETH, I've never had rude customers like that, ever. Anyways, as my boss was frantically trying to meet their speedy demands, which by the time I took the order to the time they received it, took a total of 18 minutes, soups before this mind you, I was excited to getting them the fuck out. But that wasn't all they had to offer me in the realm of irritation. As they were paying their bill, one of them had the audacity to proclaim to me that they would come here more often if the sushi didn't take so long...I ALMOST LOST IT, BLOOD BOILING, FIST CLENCHED AND TEETH GRINDING ANGER. They said they go to the Samurai more often because it comes out quicker. I told them the Samurai is shit, which it is, their Japanese food is good, but their sushi blows, so if you want to get quick shit sushi, heading to the Samurai is fine by me. Then I said bye with a nice evil stare.

Okay so I pussied out, I should have punched them, whatever though, blogging about it was way more fun.

later

1997, The year it all changed for the worse.

Just read a very interesting article by my boy Ric Bucher at Espn (y'know for the longest time I hated how they always proclaimed themselves to being the leader in sports news and entertainment, I found it to be so arrogant and pompous. However, as time has passed and as my feelings have loosened a bit, I now feel that in a way they are right, Espn does kick ass. I guess I just hate when I'm proved wrong, whatever though) his article brought light to a topic I have pondered and fought over in my head and with many others over the years. How do you rank/rate or pick the league MVP? You see for me it has always been a simple calculation where you pick the BEST player in the league and give that guy the award. Up until 1997 this way of thinking actually took place amongst the league. The guy that was clear head and shoulders above everyone else usually won the award, even if his team/himself lacked sometimes in other areas (ie, most wins, best stats, etc...), the award most often went to the best player. Now I'm not saying that this always happened but for the most part, if you look back in the history books
http://www.nba.com/history/awards_mvp.html
you will see that it did happen. For me the league has always been easy to follow and if you watch a good amount of games it is usually quite evident as to who is the best player in the league. If you go back and think of a time and era and try to pick who was said best player of that era, you can usually come down to one or two guys who clearly stood above everyone else. For example, the 60's were dominated by two men, Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain, plain and simple. And well guess how many awards they won. Russell 5, Chamberlain 4, and well we all know that Chamberlain should have more, he was robbed quite often by a huge number of voters because of his overall dominance that quite frankly was taken for granted, very similar to Shaq, who should be appalled at how he's only received ONE, count it ONE mvp. Anyways, look towards the 70's and clearly one man dominated that decade, Kareem Abdul Jabbar was by far the most dominating force; he won 6 by the way. The 80's were dominated by who? You guessed it, Magic and Larry, and well they each have 3 a piece, which could have been more had Jordan not developed so prominently and quickly. The 90's is a obvious, Jordan 5, but for some reason in 97' things started to change, that was the year that Karl Malone won over Michael Jordan is what many call the biggest farce in league MVP history (for me it's second to Nash winning the award, twice too many, but that's another story all together).


1997 was the year that changed it all, (well 93' also, but hey I didn't want to go that far), it was the year that voters decided that "hey I'm sick of Jordan winning this thing every year; so what if his team won 69 games and had the best record again, Utah is our Cinderella team to upset them, we need to vote for the underdog". I mean how can you not give it to Jordan that year, he led the league in scoring, his team almost won 70 again, he led and made his teammates better, etc... whatever you get my point. Anyways, after that all hell broke loose. Okay so they've done it right here and there, 98 was good (Jordan), 2000 (O'Neal), 2003 (Duncan) and 2004 (Garnett) and that's about it. Every other year it has gone to either, the Cinderella team's best player (Iverson in 01', Nash 05', 06' and Nowitski last year) or "well he's due" (Malone again in 99' and Duncan in 02'), which to me is a shame. This award has now become the most hotly debated and criticized award ever, I mean it's almost comical, for instance, how can Dirk win the award when his team gets clobbered by and 8th seed in the FIRST ROUND, no MVP I can remember has ever let that happen. Anyways, you can see my point by now, things need to change. Which brings me to the question of , How?


Easy. Let the coach's and players vote, they play the games and know who's the king more than stupid writers and sports analysts who tend to weigh in criteria and biases that can overshadow who's most deserving. But hey that's just me, this thing will always come with some criticism and I guess that's maybe the point, it's fun writing stories like this and it sure is fun blabbering away while drunk to someone who opposes your choice. Maybe I'm bitter, maybe I'm just being fanatical, but I sure hope I'm being clear, that things need to change. If Chris Paul wins the damn award this year, I'm going to kill someone.
Anyways, below are my picks of who should have won since 97'.



97' - Jordan
98' - Jordan
99' - Shaq
00' - Shaq
01' - Shaq
02' - Shaq
03' - Duncan
04' - Garnett
05' - Duncan
06' - Kobe
07' - Kobe
08' - Kobe


later