Shane Battier is a Rocket

Ok, so all that late night analysis proved even more worthless than it already was.

The Rockets didn't even make a 1st round pick. Instead, we drafted Rudy Gay and shipped him off with Stromile Swift (included to make the deal work monetarily) to Memphis for Shane "The Sharpei" Battier.

The move resulted in outrage and mutiny on ClutchFans forums, so serious that the site was rendered useless for most of the night after the draft. Hilarity ensued. Psycho fans screamed "Murder Carroll Dawson". Fair weather fans nullified their vows of marriage to the organization.

When the deal was announced my initial thoughts were "What the fuck?? There ain't no way its true". We gave up a player with potential to become a superstar for unexciting, albeit solid-typical-JVG type player? Then to add insult to injury the Chronicle reports we lost Stro in deal too? Didn't we need more depth? Why are we giving up two players for one? I'm now thinking "fuck the management of the Houston Rockets".

After the emotion from my initial reaction subsided reason began to kick in. They pulled the trigger because of future GM Daryl Morey's Moneyball philosophy. Basically, we wanted Brandon Roy, Adam Morrison, Sheldon Williams, or Randy Foye. Since none of the four remained when it was our turn we had a choices to make --draft the next best available player in the eyes of scouts, Rudy Gay even if we weren't particularly high on him. Draft the next player on our draft board no matter who it was (Ronnie Brewer). Or we could trade the pick to a team which highly covets Gay (Memphis) for a player who can fill holes for us and "pays his own way" (Battier).

We chose the last option.

Although, deep down I think the trade was a mistake (I'm a gambler who woud've rolled the dice), but I'm cool with it. I like Battier. We get a dude who's on-court value exceeds his salary's value (double in fact). He gives us a guy who can play 3 positions, hustle, and play with heart. Most importantly he fills the key quality this team lacks severely: leadership.

By no means is this a cop out. I am not just trying to cover all angles if I'm wrong. Honesly, this is not the case here. Simply put, I disagree with the trade but approve of who we received in return.

All #8 Pick Team

I can't sleep due to overwhelming curiosity of who the hell has been drafted at the 8 spot in previous NBA drafts (1976 and later). Yeah, I'm a fuckin' nerd.

Here's my squad:

PG tj ford
SG larry hughes
SF bernard king
PF detlef shrempf
C robert parish

Bench
andre miller
ron harper
larry hughes
channing frye
tom chambers
adonal foyle
brian grant

Rockets Draft Wish List

Ahh the eve of the 2006 NBA draft. As a lifelong Rockets fan praying for a resurgence next year I can hardly contain my excitement.

Chaotic and highly unpredictable as any draft ever, this one has everyone baffled --Experts and homers alike. Here's my little Rockets wishlist:

1) Adam Morrison - He'd allow TMac to move over to the 2 and provide us with a crafty wing who can score from anywhere. No more doubling TMac or Yao when this dude is camping out behind the arc.

2) Brandon Roy - Disciplined. Mature. Versatile. High Basketball IQ. All qualities we lack severely. I believe the guy could be groomed into a leadership role.

3) Andrea Bargnani - There are rumors the guy might slip to us at 8. I haven't seen his play outside of a few clips but what I've read looks appealing. He might blossom into a Dirk or Peja or bomb like Darko or Tskitihsomething. Drafting him is worth the gamble.

4) Rudy Gay - I don't like the Pippen comparisons because frankly Pippen sucked during his employment with the Rockets. I have, however, seen his highlights --the dood can fly. Plus, he's only 19 and raw.

5) Shelden Williams - Again, another highly disciplined Dukie. He probably won't become an All-Star but who needs another All-Star. We need someone to take the pressure off Yao and bang ala' Antonio Davis.

6) Ronnie Brewer - I like the reputation as a defensive juggernaut. I like the NBA pedigree (father played in the NBA). Probably too early at 8 but hey I wouldn't be pissed if we reached for him at that spot.

Oh yeah, we better not draft that faggot Redick.

My mock draft can be found here

Spots I need to check out

Orginally written back in March. Adding to it again.

Pagolac, 655 Larkin (at Ellis) - New Cheap Vietnamese spot in the TL.

Lucca Ravioli Co., 1100 Valencia St. - Italian delicatessen

Lone Palm, 3394 22nd St. - Classy dive bar (been there but this is a note to visit again)

Super 7, 1630 Post St. - Amazing collection of rare and collectible toys, art books, prints, and gear

Tartine Bakery, 600 Guerrero St. - Breakfast and sandwich place

Chin Sushi, 4406 California St. - "Best sushi on the planet"

Blue Plate, 3218 Mission St. - Embodiment of the the term comfort food

Bimbo's 365 Club, 1025 Columbus Ave. - Best venue for music in SF. Catch talent here before they perform at the Fillmore or Warfield.

Neverending Pain

Upper back pain, neck stiffness, groin soreness: three of the bodily problems currently torturing me. I perform certain exercises to combat one and another pops up, just like a cruel game of whack-a-mole.

What he hell is is going on? In the past when I've hit the gym consistenly and vary my training from weights to cardio to yoga I've had much success in avoiding these types of ailments. But now, regardless of how much I work out the hurt continues. And if I neglect to train for a few days the pain is magnified. If i sit in a chair and write code for a few hours I get sore.

There's gotta be a solution to this. Don't tell me age is finally catching up to me.

Never Trust Anyone Who Doesn't Drink

From my favorite message board:

People who don't drink are not to be trusted. Alcohol brings out the basest, most primal version of ourselves. It's like truth serum for the personality. And if a person is too uncomfortable to reveal that part of themselves, if they don't trust themselves with their innermost being, why should you trust them?

I couldn't agree more. However, I guess the exception to the rule would include people who truly loathe the taste of alcholic beverages or people who have some sort of allergic reaction to alcohol. For those individuals I just feel pity.

Paul Wall's Girl

Oh yeah the underlying hook consists of an accelerated Oh Girl from the Chi-Lites. It's somewhat cheesy and cliche (hasn't it been done hundreds of times before?). Forget all that shit. Forget the fact they're playing it too much on that damn radio. Forget the topic of a player trying to convince a woman that he ain't really a player. There's more to it than that.

I'm tryin to tell you 'bout your friends hatin
While they be over there complainin I'm just on my grind paper chasin
You got them insecure thoughts in your mind
But instead of chasin hoes I be overtime on my grind
You steady listenin to the gossip in the beauty shop
But all them jealous single females want what you got
They would do anythang to take yo' place
Cause everytime I come around they be givin me that sex face
You ridin shot gun in the James Bond Benz
With the frog-eyed lens on them 20 inch do rims
So why you worried about your jealous so-called friends
I'm just on my grind tryin to stack me up some ends baby
I used to make you laugh, I used to make you smile
And all the while your jealous friends been in denial
I ain't askin much, lil' momma just keep it real
Either you're down with me or not, baby what's the deal

It's strictly about the lyrics and flow. It's almost like Paul improves as the song progresses like he really realizes what's at stake by the 2nd verse and lets the voice of his soul shine from there on out. "Ridin shotgun in the James Bond Benz..." How's a sensible woman gonna turn my boy down after that line?

Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow

I know I complain about what sucks about SF all the time, the overpriced homes, the fanatical political correctness, the high number of fudge packers. Regretfully, my complaints are valid most of the time. But this pic (taken a couple days ago) reminds me that underneath all the gay still exists a mystical underground society known as the Tongs in SF's Chinatown. Shown in the pic is Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow, who claims to have controlled all Asian gangs in the Bay Area in the 90's. Even though the Chinese Suge Knight supposedly ratted out his homie it appears that he still gets much love at a Chinatown funeral.

More about the recent mob-style killing. Here.

Funny UNIX commands

[suntzu@gambino ~]$ man: Why did you get a divorce?
man:: Too many arguments.

[suntzu@gambino ~]$ make fire
make: *** No rule to make target `fire'. Stop.
[suntzu@gambino ~]$ why not?
why: No match.

[suntzu@gambio ~]$ !:say, what is saccharine?
Bad substitute.

[suntzu@gambino ~]$ %blow
%blow: No such job.

Nerd Jokes

Tonight after work I've got plans to watch some UCLA vs Gonzaga, drink some drank, and chase some skirts. Once again... It's raining game in Northern California... Until then I'm forced to sit in on some lame conference calls in which technology buzzwords are being thrown around so effortlessly by a bunch of nerds.

To kill time and entertain myself I've found some really 31337 geek jokes:

- A CS student in his first semester may think a kilobyte contains 1000 bytes. In his last semester he will think that a kilometer contains 1024 meters.

- 1 + 1 = 10

- An engineer is walking down the street, and sees another guy from his lab walking along with a new bright red motorcycle. He's impressed, especially since his friend doesn't know how to ride a motorcycle, so he goes up and asks, "Wow, where'd you get that?"

His friend explains, "Well, I walk walking along, and this gorgeous blond drives up on the motorcycle, stops in front of me, strips her clothes off and tells me, 'Take what you want!'"

The engineer nods in understanding. "Good choice. Her clothes probably wouldn't have fit you."

- A Mathematician, a Biologist and a Physicist are sitting in a street cafe watching people going in and coming out of the house on the other side of the street. First they see two people going into the house. Time passes. After a while they notice three persons coming out of the house. The Physicist: "The measurement wasn't accurate.". The Biologist: "They have reproduced". The Mathematician: "If now exactly one person enters the house then it will be empty again."

- Q- Who was the first computer technician?

A- Eve. She had an Apple in one hand and a Wang in the other.

- There are only 10 kinds of people in the world:
Those who know binary
And those who don't

- An engineer told me his favorite engineer joke:

One day, and engineer comes up to the gates of hell. The Devil takes a look at him and says, "Well, we've never had an engineer in hell before, but I guess we can take you in." So the engineer goes in.

After a few days, he comes up to the Devil and says, "I'm sure you've noticed, but it's really hot down here! What do you think of setting up a couple of refrigeration coils, getting an icebox set up so we could have iced drinks down here?" Now, the Devil hears this and says, "Why not? If you can set it up, go for it!"

So the engineer gets some tools together, works for a little bit, and sets up his little icecube maker, and soon the engineer, the Devil, and everyone else is enjoying ice cubes in their drinks, and everyone thinks it's a great improvement.

Couple of days later, the engineer comes back to the Devil and says, "Well, I'm impressed by how big Hell is - there are so many people here! But it takes so long to get from place to place - how about I install some people-movers? I can put in escalaters, elevators, moving ramps, the works!" The Devil takes a sip of his ice marguarita, and says, "Sure, give it a shot."

As the engineer works, the souls in Hell start getting around easier - there are elevators, escalators, all sorts of people-movers! It gets to be quite convenient to get around Hell.

After that project, the engineer comes up to the Devil and says, "I've been thinking about tackling the heat down here - ice drinks are all well and good, but it's still bloody hot! How about it?" The Devil at this point returns, "Anything you need, you got it!"

Two weeks later, the first stage of the cooling system goes on-line, and all the damned souls breath a sigh of relief as the heat wave finally breaks. At this point, God comes down to talk to the Devil, and tells him there's been a mistake: "That engineer you've got doesn't belong in Hell - he was meant for Heaven!"

Now, the Devil wasn't about to let his first engineer go! He returns, "Oh, come on - once he's in those gates, he's Mine! That's the way it works, and you know it!"

God tells him, "Well, you're just gonna have to return him! If you don't, I'll, I'll - I'll sue you, is what I'll do!"

The Devil knows he's won - he leans back, cocky as all hell, and asks, "Now, where you gonna find a Lawyer in Heaven?"

co /dev/pub/pint > /dev/girl
mv /dev/girl /dev/house
mount /dev/girl
touch
unzip
finger
fsck
yes
yes
y es
umount girl
zip
sleep