Thoughts for Thursday

Almost time for midterms. Then again, I could be taking 4 classes…

• BMW’s hydrogen car is clean actually cleans (the air)!
• Microsoft finally gets the idea that Vista sucks, XP SP3 update soon to be released.
• So I don’t need to pay $300 to have my HDTV calibrated?
• Miguel Tejada loses two years of his life.
• NBA Playoff seeds are set. Flop City to come out with analysis soon…

Anybody familiar with MATLAB? A poorly conducted 50 minute tutorial was definitely not enough to make me understand its workings.

-Jack

Not that anybody cares, but…

There’s been a lot of confusion about my nick, “XsteR” (which I use for everything…including the address of this blog). Such as what the hell it really means. So I’m here to give it to you straight.

Waaaaay back in the day, my AIM sn used to be “jackster” or something like that. But I thought that was lame (and it is). So, seeing as how my Chinese name starts with an X, I decided to combine the X (which sounds way cooler, by the way) and “ster”. And to top it off, sometimes when I write it I capitalize the first AND last letters. So it is written on the back of my May House IM Basketball shirt.

Boring, right?

-Jack

Holy crap…

Both ginormous and ridonkulous are words.

Does this mean I can use these in my SOSC papers from now on?

Bad News

So I went to my physical therapist yesterday and got some rough news. It’s either I rest for 3 weeks or risk my knee problems worsening to the point of having to have surgery on them. Of course, I have no choice but to rest, so my IM season is over. I am on schedule to return sometime in the playoffs, however, so the news is not all bad. However, I don’t think I’ll warrant any PT with the condition I’m going to be in after not practicing for 3 weeks. We’ll see.

Taotao just walked in and is starting to bother me about playing Smash. I will go play a couple rounds to appease him…for fear of the consequences otherwise. Later.

-Jack

Hooray 2008

Three things I’d like to see happen in 2008:

1. Barack Obama gets elected president. Talks of addition over division increase. 3rd and 4th graders around the nation rejoice.

2. The White Sox win an unprecedented 162 games, leaving their starters in for every single one of those games and humiliating their opponents by trying to HIT instead of lay down bunts with leads of 10 or more runs.

3. The Olympics in Beijing feature a new event: Smog Diving. No athletes make it through the competition alive.

Have a great new year everybody!

-Jack Li

Sports & Youtube

Since I’ve been too lazy to post real posts, here are some Youtube videos for you guys to enjoy (and oh, they all deal with sports, obviously):

Jags fan gets bored, decides to be inappropriate:

This is what happens to Packers fans:

Chad Johnson is NOT tearing the Bengals apart:

And of course:

-Jack

It’s been awhile…

sorry for the extended break. classes start tomorrow and it’s about to get busy around here. don’t worry though, I’ll try to keep up with this blog as much as possible. so, until i post next time, watch the beginning of the first episode of Heroes Season 2…premiering tomorrow!

Hello from Urbana-Champaign!

Hi all of Jack’s loyal readers! I’ll be guest blogging for Jack today. I was supposed to have done this much sooner but packing and moving back to school took up a lot of my time. I’m really no good at blogging and I’m bad at finding slickdealz so please don’t blame Jack if this is a terrible excuse for a post.

Now that that’s over with, have you guys ever had to call a friend or family member for MapQuest or GoogleMaps? Maybe you’re a Cubs fan and you want to check the score for a game that you missed earlier that day. In the past, you’d probably call someone up and ask em to help you look that stuff up online right? Well say goodbye to those days and say hello to the wave of the future! It’s called texting Google. And it’s as simple as it sounds. All you have to do is text message your inquiry to 46645 (GOOGL). For instance, to find out the Cubs score, just text Cubs score to the aforementioned number. To find directions, type 211 S. Laflin St, Chicago, IL to 600 N. Michigan, Chicago, IL. Google will text you back the box score and the directions, respectively. It’ll cost you as much as a text will cost you. However, if you don’t have a text plan, this might run up your bill a little bit. The directions usually take 3-5 text messages because Google sends back only 3 steps per message. If you’re going some place far away, the old phone a friend might be a better idea. If you have unlimited texts, you have nothing to worry about. There are a ton of other things you can do with this. “Movies 60608″ will return the movie times for the theaters around the 60608 zip code. Enjoy!

Classes start for me in a few hours and I’m not sure what to expect. It’s been a little different being back at school so far with me living in an apartment now and whatnot. Mike, Cuauh, Sha, Vickie, and Shelagh came down for a night to break in our apartment, which was awful kind of them. If any of you guys see this, thanks so much for all the help and all the fun! Emphasis on the thanks to Cuauh and Shelagh because I know they’re the ones who appreciate gratefulness the most. For the most part, I think I’m beginning to get used to living in an apartment and being on my own (if you want to stretch that term). It’s a lot nicer when you have your own room and when you have the freedom of putting holes in your walls.

Today I bought a speed bag set from Dick’s Sporting Goods. It came unassembled. I didn’t realize that putting the screws directly into the drywall was stupid until the set nearly collapsed on me. Also, knocking on the walls to look for the wall studs is a lot harder than one would think. The good news is, though, that 5 hours and 28 screw sized holes later, the speed bag is up and as stable as I can get it. The screws are all tilted and angled into the wall but hey, at least it’ll stay up on the wall. I don’t really know why I bought the speed bag, I just remember watching a YouTube video of a guy giving a tutorial and decided that being able to work a speed bag is really cool. What’s not cool is having to deal with those holes. Maybe I’ll take some pictures and put em up on this blog. I’m still not too familiar with the options on WordPress but I’ll try if I have some time later.

That’s about all I have.

Good night FTW!

-JM

Pokemon (The Takeover)

Flashback: It’s sixth grade. Pokemon surrounds my life. The card game, the TV show, but most of all the Red & Blue (OG) versions. Yes, I did get both of them. Yes, I beat them both…and then some. I even remember finding the level 255 glitch pokemon. And when I got tired of looking at my gameboy (no color back then), I inserted the cartridge onto my Super Gameboy adapter for the SNES and kept going.

Present Day: I’m looking for a new video game fix, having just beaten RE4 thoroughly (though I’ll still complete Pro someday). I look for good PC games out (none I’m interested in), then I move on to the DS. One title stands out at me: Pokemon. The instant I start playing it, Pokemon has gotten me hooked again. I don’t know what it is really, but something about training those cute, cuddly little things into big gigantic killing battling machines. Now I understand why there have been TEN MILLION copies of Diamond and Pearl sold worldwide. Pokemon has become relevant in my life again, and the little kid in me has never been happier.

Oh, here’s a funny Penny arcade series about Gabe’s adventure to a Pokemon (card game) tournament.

-Jack

Rainy Day (Sports) Thoughts

It seems these days, the Bears are not so much about defense as they are about offense. After a season in which our offense was sometimes potent and sometimes awful (and then some), John Clayton reports on the Bears offense in training camp. We have quite a number of weapons this year, from Devin Hester to Bernard Berrian to rookies Garrett Wolfe and Greg Olsen (two very good picks), the Bears offense is nothing to scoff at. And with Grossman a year older and a year more mature, the offense can only improve.

Looking to the NBA, with a lot of Eastern Conference teams making a big splash this offseason, ESPN gathers some experts and asks if the balance of power has shifted to the East. In short, no. But, the experts do agree that this year will be a lot more interesting in the East. And that, if nothing else, will make the NBA all the more fun to watch come next season. Just a note: the Bulls are winning the East. That’s my prediction and I’m locking it in, barring a ridiculous string of injuries.

-Jack