Club Snatch

Hey Everyone! I've officially recovered from that Vegas Trip. If that's even where I went. I'll be attending the grand opening of a new club here in Shanghai call Snatch. We have a table for 10 (limited space it seems). Mike Tyson is going to be there (the real reason I am going). I'll post some stories or comments tomorrow or Saturday. Also planning on attending according to their flyer, Shaq (no way), Eddie Murphy, Janet Jackson and Mariah. I think I might see some even more impressive people, than that time I went to the MLS Championship party at The Hollywood Museum.

How To Beat Drunk Driving

No, this isn't any advice on how to beat getting a DUI, sorry. I just read THIS article from Yahoo about Texas spending money on undercover cops arresting "drunks" in bars and pubs. I guess that is Texas's way of combating the Drive-Thru Liquor stores they have. But really, you can find those even in Tucson (heavy sarcasm). But the point of this, is this quote.

"We feel that the only way we're going to get at the drunk
driving problem and the problem of people hurting each other
while drunk is by crackdowns like this,"

Actually, Carol Beck of San Antonio, there are far better ways to prevent Drunk Driving. Take for example here in Shanghai. I can honestly say that I have never gotten behind the wheel after having even a single drink. Why? Because there is actually a Public Transportation system in this large Metropolitan Area, unlike the State of California, who leads all states in Alcohol Related Deaths, that works. I can take a Taxi (actually find one too) home, and it not cost me more than $10. I can take a Metro, and it actually have a stop within walking distance of my home. Whereas CA has none of that with the exception of maybe SF.

I think Texas should invest money in subsidizing a taxi and bus system that would allow people to go to bars and get home from bars, without having to drive themselves. San Francisco, New York, Boston and "parts" of LA have figured it out. Southbay has it down, as does Hollywood if you can get a Taxi home, and aren't leaving Hollywood.

What I think they should do is lower the fare fees, so more people would consider using a taxi. Then, they should consolidate all the taxi companies into 4 large organizations, that can lower the costs of driving a cab (maintenance, gas, license, wait times, etc.). I would think we need to find a system that would allow a passenger to travel from Southbay to Hollywood for $20. Who wouldn't hop in a Taxi with 3 other people, pay $10 each (round trip) to party in Hollywood? That's how you curb the drunk driving. Give alternatives to driving!

These people in San Antonio are retarded! They are trying to find a solution to a completely different problem. How does this make any sense? Say for example, I am at the same bar as one of these Undercover Officers. I have 6-7 drinks over 3 hours, nothing suspicious, and nothing too loud. Then I casually walk out of the bar, get into my car, I am technically Drunk Driving. But this undercover bust didn't do anything, AND HE WAS IN MY BAR! This is like trying to fight the war on Crack/Coke by making Pot illegal.

Spring Practice Now In Session

The USC Trojans started Spring practice today. Question people think we have, but really don't:

• Who will Play QB? Easy, JDB will be the starter, even thought there is "competition" from Sanchez. But not only will John David be the starter, he will be invited to NYC for the Heisman at the end of the season. Mark it!
• Who will replace Reggie Bush? I'll answer in the form of a Question. Who was the starter over LenDale and Reggie Bush before he was hurt (and had that "incident")? Hershel Dennis, that's who. He's not going to make us forget Reggie, no way. But on NCAA 2004 for PS2, when Reggie and LenDale are Freshman, and we still had BMW on the roster, I won 3 straight Heismans with Hershal.
  
• (This one is just for me) Do you believe in God? No. But if I did, he'd probably look like this:

Pete Carroll For President

My Dopod 585

As some of you may know, I recently (December 15th) bought a new cell-phone to replace my Samsung e715, which I loved very much. I wanted to get something that I could syn with Microsoft Oulook, and was using the new Windows Mobile OS (which the US didn't have at the time). What I decided on was the Dopod 585. T-mobile is supposed to launch this phone in the US calling it the SDA Music phone. I love this phone, more than any other phone I have had. That's saying a lot since I absolutely loved the e715. Had it not been so old (and out of style, and the screen going white) I would still be using it. The Dopod 585 has been great. I can sync it to remind me which appointments I have tomorrow. The texting features are easy to use. The camera and video are nice. Although, having a flash/flashlight with the Samsung was nice. Anyways, long short, I love my new phone. Until today that is, when the "thinkpad-like" pointer device decided to not work. It is DRIVING ME FUCKING BONKERS! Had it not been the fact that I just bought it 4 months ago, and spent $350 on it, I would have shattered it already. I'm sitting here POUNDING on it, so I can use it. I can't dial out, I can't text, nothing...Fucking sucks.




So I decide to see if there is some customer service person to call, or email. So I go to Dopod.com. Arguably the most worthless piece of shit site for a major brand, ever invented. I think DrummerBoyMusic.com V1.0 was better than this. Holy shit fuck, is this pissing me off. Nothing to help me! I can't text people, because you need to use the "stick" to select the correct word, to add spaces and periods. I can't call out, because you need the "worthless-stick-thing" to select a contact to dial. I feel like when Dimes lost his computer mouse for an entire semester, and learned to use shortcuts instead. Only, there are no fucking shortcuts.

No real point to this, other than I am going nuts right now. More than likely I will roof-test this thing in about 5 seconds.

What If Sports Stress

I'm about 15 minutes away from learning the outcome of the second round conference tournament game for my What If Sports Hoops Dynasty, Washburn team. Currently I am considered a "bubble" team to make the National Tournament. That's pretty sad considering just 2 weeks ago I was ranked #5 in the country. But going 6-4 in your last 10 games will do that to you. Basically, if I lose, then I won't get a bid to the Tournament. No bid means no dance in the last 2 seasons. That will significantly hurt my chances of taking over a decent D1 School next season. A Win, while not getting me in for sure, does put me in a better position to win the conference tournament, which would give me an automatic bid. Either way, I'm a 10 point favorite at home against the last team to beat me (by 1 on the road). I NEED to win.

Yes this isn't even Fantasy Basketball, as these players are fake, just the schools are real. When you don't have ESPN, you have to get your sports-fix somehow.

Beijing Last Trip

Two weeks ago I finally made it up to Beijing to visit my buddy's lady Cat and my boy Darrell. I'd never been to Beijing before, so I did a few of the tourist things. But I was also up for Cat's b-day, so a hefty amount of partying was in order. Just a quick re-cap of the trip:
Took the Friday 6 pm flight out of Hongqiao. Definitely was bombed when I got on the plane. I most certainly grabbed a few FREE beers from the plane to help with our 1 hour drive into town, once we landed. Beijing is like LA where you have to drive everywhere. No public transportation. The other thing is the city is built in rings. So people will ask where you live, and you would say, "I live just outside the 3rd ring". Sound f-ing lame to me.

We spent Friday night at this club called The Mix. Before ever going there, this reminded me of 2 things. First, "The Mix at Six", that contemporary worship service that LCPC used to have on Friday or Saturday nights. Back in my high school/college christian days I would attend, and then go out and get bombed. The second thign it reminded me of was The Mix in Montrose. Needless to say (but I'll say it), this place was in an uphill battle to begin with. Add to that, Darrell said that this was the Beijing Guandi. The Mix is considered the best, or first hip-hop club in Bejing. We were set up with the VIP room above the bar, which was cool. But if I told you that Guandi was the Beaches of Shanghai, you would have certain expectations. And if Guandi didn't meet those expectations, you would be disapointed. However, if I had just said, "we're going to a cool bar called Guandi" and you had a kick-ass time. You'd be impressed. That's basically how this was, but The Mix kinda sucked. Bejing night life can't hold Shanghai's jock, in my opinion.

The GF and I stayed both nights, at The Prime Hotel: Beijing. When I go back, I would love to stay at this joint again. 4 star hotel, awesome room, at around $100 a night. I was very impressed. good times all around.

We spent Saturday mid-morning/early afternoon doing the required tourist stuff. Basically checked out Tiananmen Square*, Forbidden City, stuff like that. I'm not really sure how to express or describe the feelings or the sites. Something you have to see, probably wouldn't go back, glad that I did it.

After the Touristy stuff, we met back up with our friends. We went Bowling at this cool place (Gongti YiBai) that had over 100 lanes, in which my GF decided to beat all of us one round by tossing up a 142. It was insane to watch her take advantage of our self-destruction. Classic moment. After about 4 tall beers, we headed for dinner. I'll end it here, because A) I'm probably boring you and 2) dinner was good, but some people had food poisoning and we didn't even go out that night. Basically, the trip ended at bowling.






*If you clicked on the link, by Hostess I hope they don't mean KTV girls. At first glance, they look well dressed. But check out what's underneath those long red jackets. Skirts and boots...gotta love it

Performancing

I just downloaded this tool Performancing for firefox. Awesome Awesome tool to use for blogging. It allows you to blog within your browser. Yes, yes, I'm sure most bloggers already use something like this, but anyway.

Try it out, it's great!

Tag Firefox