True Blood: Almost the End

Last night's episode was pretty sweet. Unfortunately it is coming to an end, and I really have not had my fill of the show...

Bill meets with the vampire Queen (I wonder if she is just the queen of Area 5 or queen of all vampires?) She explains that Maryann was once human, but has evolved into something else. She cannot be killed because she only believes her death can only come from her god's return.

Elsewhere, Sam meets with Eric and asks for some help from Eric. Eric goes to the queen as well, pretty much to piss Bill off and impress Sookie.

The best part of the episode though, has to be Jason. He said some of the dumbest stuff I have ever heard one person utter, and it was absolutely hilarious. His confusion of bible stories is amusing, and his new sense of leadership cracks me up.

I look forward to the final episode, even if it will take a few weeks.

the door to the past

I really don't know what to do with myself. 

I'm sitting in the cafeteria at Pepperdine grabbing a quick bite before my first class at 6pm and I can feel the panic rising. I know that I have to give this an honest chance, and I will, but the doubts are plaguing me like mad right now. And yes, I know that I just got back down here but the truth, if you want to hear it, is that I have not felt truly happy since I got here. Not once. Every time I laugh out loud I feel like a cardboard cutout with a sound box attached (with the exception of when Brigette fell off the curb yesterday and Sean pointed out the vast amount of sidewalk she had at her disposal and her epic failure to do so). It feels completely false and I hate it. 

It's not fair to right this world in L.A. off so soon, but it's not as if I am in a new place and not giving it a fair chance. I already know this world, I've already lived in it and I got out of it.

I just want to go back to Portland. 

Teddy and Me. . . .

If you aren't my age, you probably can't understand my fascination with all things Kennedy. I think it happened when JFK was assassinated and I experienced it all as a 2nd grader. Sure, I had been a tourist at the Kennedy White House on a family trip several months before. But the Kennedy thing didn't begin for me until that watershed moment in cultural and political history when the TV provided non-stop coverage of the events in Dallas. It left a deep and enduring mark on me, most likely because my 2nd-grade mind was trying to process the murder of the President.

Since then, I've read all kinds of books on the family, the assassination, and how the Kennedy's have influenced culture and history. Part of my fascination has been invested in trying to figure out the fascination with the family. Ironic, isn't it? Lisa jokingly tells people that when I get to Heaven the first question I'll ask is, "Did Oswald act alone?" Several years ago I flew to Dallas a day early for a YS youth workers convention. I arrived late at night but managed to get up at the crack of dawn to spend the day at Dealey Plaza. I called home early in the morning and asked Lisa is she could guess where I was. "The grassy knoll," she answered without flinching. She was right. She knows me well.

You might have guessed that I spent a good chunk of time last Friday and Saturday watching the television coverage of Teddy Kennedy's funeral. My interest came from my fascination. I was never a fan. In fact, I grew up thinking Teddy Kennedy was an over-privileged and two-faced crook who was a living contradiction. Books, conversations, and my own observation of the man reinforced my opinion that he was most-likely getting into more trouble than any of us ever knew. When he did get caught, it was a combination of privilege, status, power, influence, and money that made for an easy out.

After processing Saturday's events, I'm not sure where I stand in my understanding of Teddy Kennedy. I never knew him. The knowledge I did accumulate and the opinion I had was mostly shaped by the words and opinions of others. Sure, much of his admitted misbehavior was sorry and sad. But on Saturday, for the first time, I think I realized just how human Kennedy was. The funeral was filled with comments from people who knew him well. Predictably, nobody said anything bad. There were, however, numerous references to his ability to make mistakes and poor choices in his personal life. At one point, the presiding priest talked about redemption.

Just when I was ready to oblige my biases and stereotypes by concluding that the world might be a better place without Ted Kennedy and his antics, I got a tap on the shoulder. It was brought to my mind - not coincidentally - that I am a sinful and fallen human being who has a tremendous ability to make mistakes and poor choices. . . . and I do. In the eyes of the One doing the tapping, my combination of shortcomings make me no better than anybody else. If I think I am, then I am actually worse. And, I was reminded that I am totally indebted to the One doing the tapping for the unearned and undeserved gift of grace and redemption that I've been given.

Thinking about that brought to mind a fact that I found a bit discouraging. Over the course of my life I have from time-to-time been critical of Teddy Kennedy. . . both in my own mind and in my words to others. But I don't think that I ever once prayed for the man. I realize there's no excuse for that. There's a much-needed lesson in there for me.

Silly Weekend Video

For those of you that saw the Avatar trailer, here is a funny little video making fun of it. If only the real Hitler could have been funny and entertaining...

Girlfriend of the Week

Does anyone even check out the GOTW anymore? Well if so, today is a lucky today. Last night I was catching up on some comics and I noticed that Emma Frost is wearing black now and instead of being the White Queen, is now the Black Queen? Apparently I missed that memo. So I have decided to post some pictures of Emma Frost, and hope that attractive girls will start dressing like her on a daily basis.


Obviously I could not put up a picture of Emma Frost and just ignore the great ones from Greg Horn. I remember when Wizard used to publish that covers magazine, and half of them would be Horn's Elektra and Frost...






And finally here she is in her black costume. Still hot, but I really wish I had some interest in what was going on with Marvel these days (aside from Daredevil, which continues to rock).

I'm Not Sure They'll Listen. . . .

I'll bet this has happened to you. It's already happened to me a few times. The other day I'm driving down the local interstate at a pretty good clip. I'm in the right lane. An on-ramp is coming up. I see a car gaining speed as the driver readies to merge. I move to the left lane and the car merges as we're right next to each other. I glance over at the driver. He's not paying attention to the road. He has one hand on the wheel, one hand on his cell phone, and both eyes focused on writing a text message as he looks in the direction of his lap. I don't know the guy's birth name, but I - alone in the car - refer to him out-loud as "you idiot." Sorry. I think he earned it.

Have you seen this? Have you done this?

There's been lot's of banter lately about people who text while driving. Our texting-addicted teens are perhaps most prone to this dangerous new practice, and I'm sure we're going to be hearing more and more stories from law-enforcement, the judicial system, and legislators about the potential dangers and horrifying results of texting while driving. Any of us who drive know that a car is a potential weapon whether intended to be or not. And, we know that momentary distractions can be dangerous and even deadly.

When I was 16 I was on the receiving end. There were no cell phones. But back in those days, papers and others things would blow off seats and onto the floor. I was newly licensed and recently hired by a lawn mower repair shop. The owner thought that I would do a good job driving his truck and trailer to deliver mowers to customers. Early one Saturday morning he taught me 1) how to drive his stick-shift pickup (can you say "neck brace?"), and 2)how to drive with a trailer hitched to the rear. Needless to say, I was very nervous. Only two miles into my first delivery, I pulled up to a stop sign at an intersection. Another driver made a wide turn at the intersection and hit me head-on. I saw it coming. I also saw him in the driver's seat. . . . looking at the floor instead of out of his windshield. He admitted his fault and blamed his inattention to the road on his preoccupation with a paper that had blown off his seat and onto the floor. I learned a lesson due to someone else's mistake.

When I was 25 I was on the giving end. I was driving with my new wife and lots of morning traffic through Boston's Callahan Tunnel. I looked into the left lane when it appeared that the guy next to me was drifting over. While looking at him, traffic in front of us came to a stop. I didn't. Enough said.

Perhaps you've seen the much-publicized new PSA video from a police department in Wales that's designed to scare kids into thinking twice about texting while driving. Give it a look. A texting teen causes an accident that leaves four people dead.



But will it work? How will teens respond? Realistically speaking, I don't think it's going to do much good. . . and it makes me sad to say that. Think about teenagers for a minute. They're risk-takers. They feel invulnerable. They are impulsive. And, while they know that these things do happen, they think that they will "never happen to me." Add to that the fact that the horror of this video is tempered by years of desensitizing media violence, and I'm sure many kids will see it as a mildly entertaining curiosity or even a lame attempt by adults to get the message across. Of course, that's not to say that it won't effect some kids. . . which is a good thing.

After watching the video for the first time, I thought back to the cinematic scare tactics I was forced to endure during my own high school Driver's Ed class. To be honest, me and most of my adolescent male friends actually looked forward to the days when the lights in the classroom would go down, the clackety-clack of the 16mm projector would begin, and we'd get to ooh and aah at some real-life blood and guts in films like the 1959 classic, "Signal 30." It was one of the most-looked-forward-to aspects of education at my high school. Our teacher, Mr. Vagner, would dramatically kick a metal trash can over near our female classmates for their use, just in case. As we watched, the unspoken assumptive response shared by us all was a simple, "That will never happen to me." We were teenagers.



So, what do we do with all this? The problem is only going to get worse. The combination of cars and technology can be deadly if not used in God-glorifying ways. There's nothing wrong with cars. There's nothing wrong with cellphones. But if we implement these neutral structures in dangerous and irresponsible directions we're only asking for trouble. Driver training - which we're doing with one of our kids now - has to include instructions on how to keep your eye on the road, how to eliminate distractions, and how to keep your hands off your phone.

I hope they get the message. What do you think?

Eureka 3.0

As many of you know, one of my guilty pleasures is the show Eureka. I recently picked up the third season, or what I thought was the third season, only to get home and find out that it was the first eight episodes and the rest of the season will be out on DVD later in the year.

So far the season has been pretty good, nothing spectacular, but what can you expect? Most of the episodes feel like they have been done before, but it is the unique cast and the drama within their lives that makes the show interesting.

On a sad note, I should have realized that Nathan Stark would die as soon as I saw him on True Blood. He died on his wedding day saving the town (and probably the universe), and still managed to be a dick most of the episode. He will be missed.

A nice edition to the show is Ever Carradine, who plays Carter's wacky sister. She believes in spiritual things, plays weird music, does yoga...and is pregnant with twins. She adds a nice touch to the show by annoying Carter with her antics.

I look forward to the second half coming out on DVD in order to find out what happens. I mean, will Carter be brought back as sheriff? Will Ever Carradine's twins turn out to be space aliens? Will Carter and Allison hook up? There are all important questions...

MVP Watch

I have decided to post a MVP Watch each week on Tuesday. This first post will show the stats from when I wrote this post (14 August) until 24 August. Each week I recap their week using these stats: Hits/HRs/SB/BA/OBP/SLG/R/K/BB/Team Record for Week.

Why would I use team record for the week? Well it seems like something that should be tossed in there. This will give us the chance to discuss who had the better week and maybe even rank who is leading the race. I chose five players from each league, based mainly on the comments. For the NL: Pujols, H-Ram, Fielder, Braun, Howard (I chose him because he seems to light up in September, but Victorino or Utley should probably be the Phillies representative for this discussion). In the AL: Mauer, Texeira, Morneau, Abreau, and Crawford.

NL
Pujols: 7/2/1/.200/.391/.400/418/10/8-2
H-Ram: 17/2/1/.459/.512/.703/4/8/3/4-5
Fielder: 8/4/0/.242/.350/.606/5/9/6/4-5
Braun: 11/3/3/.314/.429/.629/8/0/6/4-5
Howard: 10/5/0/.270/.341/.703/9/9/4/7-2

AL
Mauer: 18/4/2/.450/.542/.775/9/2/8/6-4
Texeira: 10/2/0/.286/.390/.514/6/5/5/6-3
Morneau: 4/0/0/.308/.400/.385/3/2/2/6-4 He only played in 4 games during that stretch.
Abreu: 12/2/2/.293/.356/.463/8/13/4/6-4
Crawford: 14/0/1/.378/.410/.568/5/6/2/6-3

Rank (I came up with by taking the categories you led in and assigning points (1-5, leader gets 5 points, etc...I then totaled up the scores, very scientific--Offord, you should come up with something better for me.)

NL
Braun: 37
H-Ram: 34
Howard: 31
Pujols: 26
Fielder: 23

AL
Mauer: 47
Crawford: 30
Texeira: 27
Abreu: 27
Morneau: 19

Wow, this post took me forever to write. Obviously at this point Morneau is at a huge disadvantage. Before anyone says anything, I did keep track of ABs as well (I made a spreadsheet for this process). Joe Mauer had the second most ABs in that time span behind Bobby Abreu, so his being a catcher/DH did not really come into play.

Anyways, let's argue some more in the comments.

**UPDATE**
I had to change a few guys OBP because I did not add in Hit By Pitch, it only changed a couple guys. I was using the spreadsheet I created for our softball league, but thanks to WHYGAVS, I now know to use baseball-reference game logs and just highlight the dates I want...much easier.

Wacky . . . .

So I'm sitting on the couch with my wife Lisa watching our local Lancaster, PA 6pm newscast. For some strange reason, I say. . . "Let's turn to the Channel 6 Philly news." I haven't watched this newscast in a long, long time. Because it's the newscast I watched while growing up in Philly I sometimes like to take a nostalgic trip down memory lane and tune into Channel 6 Action News.

We flip over and there's a story on Hurricane Bill and the massive beach erosion at our favorite Jersey shore place, Ocean City. About 1 minute into the report, my 9th grade gym teacher appears. Oh man. Am I old? Am I young? Do I really need to be transported back into 9th grade and all the garbage that came with freshman year of high school?

So, enjoy. His name's Barry Troster. You'll see him about a minute in. He was tan and bleached blond forty years ago. Look at him now. He's probably still driving a blue Corvette. How old was he then? How old is he now? Check it out here.

This is one of those weird media moments!

True Blood: Jason is Your God

So the main complaint I am reading on the internet is that the episode tonight was way too short. It was definitely short, especially when you consider the first few minutes was another Eric/Sookie sex dream. Fortunately, the half hour or so of actual material was pretty awesome.

Jason, Sookie, and Bill arrive back home to find the place in complete chaos. Meanwhile Sam and Andy are trapped at the bar, Lafayette and Tara's mom have Tara tied up while she says weird shit with the creepy black eyes.

Sookie and Bill head to the house and confront Maryann, who shows that she is more powerful than either of them. Bill tries to bite her and he starts puking up green shit. She comes for Sookie, but Sookie shows another talent (no, not standing there being a moron). She has some kind of light come from her hand zap Maryann's face.

They escape and head to Lafayette's place, where Sookie and Bill are able to get her out of the trance. Sookie informs Bill of the chant she heard, and he remembers something he read long ago. He then heads to see the Queen. When he gets there we see her leg and blood dripping off her. She is not dead, probably just feasting on a bunch of people or something.

The funniest part of the episode was Jason pretending to be the god they are waiting for. He does his best to be all bad ass sounding, but in typical Jason fashion, he says dumb stuff. "Thank you for your offering, your crops will be good and umm..." funny stuff.

Remember what Daphne told Sam? She said that Maryann has some power over other supernaturals (I really wish Sam and Dean would show up and start killing). Apparently she can force shifters to shift, and she cannot be harmed by a vampire. Fortunately, her power does not seem to affect them. I wonder if Lafayette can be turned all blackeyed since he has a lot of vamp blood in him.

Also, I wonder why Tara's mom did not turn? How will Jason fare against Maryann? So many questions, and only two episodes left.

Inglourious Basterds

Last night I went to see Inglourious Basterds, the new film from Quentin Tarantino. Unless you just came back from a mission to reignite the sun, then you have probably heard about this film. The movie was awesome, it has all the things that make a Tarantino film great (violence, comedy, great music, homage to older films, great dialogue...)

The film is about two separate attempted to kill the German high command at a movie theater in Paris. The movie is set in an alternate universe, so history folks do not need to worry about anything being incorrect.

The Basterds are led by Brad Pitt's character, Aldo Raine. These men are Jewish American soldiers sent to France to perform guerrilla tactics. Raine wants his men to collect Nazi scalps and to basically become the thing of nightmares to the Nazis.

Pitt is hilarious as Raine. As usual, he is one of the coolest actors out there, and this is just another film where he does a fantastic job. Eli Roth plays the Bear Jew, a guy from Brooklyn who likes to beat Nazis with a baseball bat.

On a side note, I forgot how much I hate seeing movie premieres in State College. When Mike Myers came on screen, people started doing Austin Powers lines. Also, in a full movie theater, pulling out your phone to check your text messages is quite annoying.

I also saw something kind of funny while standing in front of my apartment. A couple of older gentlemen were heading into the Rowland to see the movie (how they were able to get a movie opening weekend is beyond me). I wonder if those guys thought it was going to be a serious WWII film.

Everyone knows Dianne Kruger is pretty hot, but I must say I really enjoyed Melanie Laurent. I thought she did an awesome job as Shosanna. And in a sad twist, she dies before seeing her master plan come to fruition. Actually both ladies die before the plan can succeed.

I want to see this again before I decide where it ranks among the rest of Tarantino's films. If you saw it, let me know what you thought.

Online Money Making: Linkbucks 1st Payment - $15

I just cashed out today my first set of earnings at Linkbucks. Yeah, it's a set of earnings since I could withdraw already when I have at least $5 but then I decided to wait until it reached this much. Do you know that cashing out at linkbucks is like withdrawing from an ATM, it's automatic? Like in less than a second, the money was already on my Paypal. This has been the fastest cashing out I have done so far.

So, what is Linkbucks? How do we earn from it?

The name itself would somehow give you an idea. We make money with our link. We only have to convert this link to an earning link. The process of converting is also very fast and easy. Every click of that link earns us something. The catch is that we let the site advertise on the page where the link leads to. Actually there are 3 options:

*Intermission. Before the clicker could see the page, he has to view a page containing advertisements for 15 seconds. This can be skipped, though. This has the highest pay rate, $1 per 2000 clicks of your link. This also is the most annoying so I don't use it since I don't wanna lose my blog visitors in another blog I own.

*Pop-up. Everytime someone clicks on the link a pop-out advertisement comes out. This earns us $1/2500 clicks. I am also annoyed with pop-ups, I don't use this as well.

*Top Banner. I am more at ease on this one. It appears to be harmlesss to me. The clicker will be directed immediately on the page only that there is a Linkbucks banner on the top. Nothing on the page will be covered with the banner, though. I am using this. This only pays $1 per 4545 clicks.

The site has been paying for quite sometime now. And they pay fast. You'll be amazed, I tell you. If you wanna join the site, just click the banner below. I'll tell you my tips if you become my referral. So don't do anything else but click the banner below. :-)



-Noypi here

Online Money Making: High Yield Investment Program

It's been a while since I last wrote something about online money making in here. I got busy finding a new blog template and tried other money making sites which I could share to you in here.

Here's my newest find: High Yield Investment Program or HYIP. From the term itself, the program allows you to profit from your investment faster than banks offer. My readings say that this is very risky since many HYIP sites are actually turning into scams as time goes by. Paypal does not even allow HYIP sites to use them as a money processor. Most of HYIP sites use Alertpay, Strictpay, and/or Libertyreserve. When I tried to discuss it in Mylot forum, I received many negative views on the program. Although I also got a few good advices from the respondents. Here's what they say:

*Some are actually legit and paying only that they have a potential to become scams in the future. And so search for new ones and invest your money in just a short time and leave.

*Don't be greedy.

*If you want to stay longer, invest what you can afford to lose.

My Experience

Since I was able to see some payment proofs from the HYIP site whose banner is posted above, and since I have a couple of dollars in my Libery Reserve account and since they were new (a few days old) when I signed up, I invested $2 to the site. The site offers a daily 104% return of investment whose denomination is less than $50. There are also other plans ranging from 104%-127% with corresponding number of days.

What I did was I reinvested the profit and my initial investment until after exactly 17 days (should have been shorter if I realized earlier that I can invest more than a certain amount when I had an error which made me chose a lower amount...) , my $2 became $6+. I withdrew and they paid me.

I went back to Mylot and asked for more advices whether I should continue. The responses made me decide to just invest back half of the profit which is $2+. At the moment, I have $3 there. I am not really confident about the site since there are unrefined things in it. I just hope though that I could withdraw my money before they turn into scam.

Wish me luck.

-Noypi here

On August 2009 Philippine Geology, Mining Engineering, and Metallurgical Engineering Licensure (Board) Exam Results

Update (08/20/09) Geologist Exam Results Released! Click here!

Maybe the fact that not so many are taking up and graduating from these three courses namely Geology, Mining Engineering, and Metallurgical Engineering; Philippine Regulation Commission (PRC) had their Board Exams held simultaneously on August 18-20, 2009. Since it definitely saves time, effort and money, it is a good thing that this government agency is being practical about it (not every government agency is). But before this article becomes a political one, let me tell you about I promised you - to give you information on where the results of the said exams could be found first when they come.

I have been writing about the different board exams held in the Philippines and most of the results are being found first online in the Philippine Daily Inquirer Website called www.inquirer.net. However, with my experience on the previously released exam results of August 2009 Philippine Physicians Licensure Exam, I noticed that the website was late in posting it since I found it first in a blog. Maybe the blog owner has a contact with a PRC personnel and thus allowing him to post the results first. But most of the time they are posted first in the Inquirer website.

You may also want to know how long are the results usually released?

If it would be Nurses Board it usually takes months but for other board exams sometimes the results come out just for a week or two or even less.

August 2009 Philippine Geologist Board Exam Results

Twenty-three out of the 38 who took the August 2009 Philippine Geologist Board Exam passed. Below is the list of successful examinees:

1 AMORA, MELEZRA SOLARTA
2 AZARES, JANICE DELUYAS
3 BISCARO, JOHN RONALD DEOSO
4 CALUCIN, ZAYMON MENDOZA
5 CANTO, ANNA PAOLA BEATRICE CHIONGSON
6 DAWAT, GEORGE PETER TONOGBANUA
7 DELA CRUZ, MICHELLE ANNE SABIGAN
8 DELOS ANGELES, KATRINA CARLA SAGUN
9 ESCANLAR, RICARDO III EDQUILA
10 ESPALLARDO, ABIGAIL PEDRO
11 FROGOSO, STEPHANIE ANNE ENRIQUEZ
12 JOSHI, RANEE ENRIQUEZ
13 LASCONIA, JESSIE JAMES NIALA
14 LIBAO, JOSE BENIGNO BALSICAS
15 MONTES, MIKHAIL JETHRO LAZAGA
16 NAGRAMA, GEMSELLE ZOMIL
17 PASTORIZA, LORAINE ROSALES
18 PATRIMONIO, JEFFREY MAQUILING
19 RODRIGO, JERALI DELA CRUZ
20 ROSARIO, DONNA BELLE JAVIER
21 VIDAMO, JUSTIN EDWARD CAPANZANA
22 VILLAFLOR, EMMANUELLE LORETO
23 VILLAREAL, MARIA JHONNIE ZACARIAS

Congratulations!

Lady Gaga, a Copy Cat?

Let's play a 'spot-the-difference' game in here. Below are sets of two pics. Tell me if there's any difference you can find. Here's Stage 1...


Wow! You are so fast there.. How about Stage 2?

Good Job! Now try Solving Stage 3!

Unbelievable! Great Job! Here's the last Stage:

Congrats! Pretty easy, huh? Lol.. They are actually two different pics. The pics on the left are photos of an Irish electro-music artist, Roisin Murphy. The right pics on the other hand are Lady Gaga's who obviously copied her look from Murphy. I wonder if Murphy copied hers from someone else and that would make them both certified copy cats only of different generations... Lol...

-Noypi here

Photos take from: Idolator

Survivor Philippines Palau's Justine, a Transgender

As she bid farewell to the competition, Survivor Philippines Palau's Justine Ferrer confessed her true identity - that she used to be a he. Hmmmm... People are saying that this is actually the reason why she was voted off by her tribemates, that they are not that comfortable with her sexuality. But yeah, I'm one of those who thought that she's really a she. Lol.. No wonder why she got those perfect b**bs.. nyaheehe..

Justine is a 29-year-old businesswoman from Caloocan. She's the first to be sent home.

Axe 'Call Me' Promo

Let me start off my brand new addition to my blog, promos and freebies, with this rather naughty and mysterious promo Axe, the deo spray brand, is having. I have seen it advertised a couple of times in TV. I just noticed it now online when I checked on my Yahoo mail. The TV commercial is somewhat fast, you need to see it many times to memorize and note the number that you are to call. In the online version of the advertisement, you only have to look for the number on the girl model's picture using an 'online magnifying glass'.

Yeah, the only mechanics you have to follow is to call the number - 09088933333. I tried calling once but I cannot get through. I'll be trying it out in some other time, though.

-Noypi Here

stumptown

photos from the past couple months...

I'm back in Portland.

Only for a short time though. I'm sitting on the floor of Indy's apartment, he and Mike are both at work so I'm left to my own devices. When I woke up this morni

ng there was a skillet on the stove full of hashbrowns and diced chicken with an envelope next to it...(you'll have to read it backwards because my computer camera takes mirror image photos)

... Mike had made me breakfast! Love that boy. It's so wonderful to be back here, even though I was gone for less than two weeks. Last Friday when I got here I came "home" to the boys' empty apartment - Indy had worked out at the golf course until late that night and then had to go pick up Mike from work at Whole Foods so I beat them home by about 20minutes. So I waited for them in the recliner, my usual position in the living room, and read. Only not really because I was so anxious I found myself simply looking at the words on the page but never quite committing them to any long term memory. Finally the key turned in the lock and in flew Mike yelling "Oh no, we're being robbed, someone broke in, heeeeeelp!" followed by him lifting me into the air and twirling me around while Indy stood smiling in the doorway. Once I was released by the raving red head, I fell into Indy's arms and we stood there hugging while Mike taunted our reunion ("Ooh, look at us, we like each other, we're in love, wah wah wah...").

It was good to be home.

Meanwhile, this week has flown by faster than I'd hoped. While the guys are at work I've been working on my summer reading, gearing up for school in a little over a week. Brig, Blake, Jason, Mom and I got all my stuff moved in to my new "fort" in Calabasas, just about 10 minutes from Pepperdine. It was so surreal to be back there and back in that setting after living in Portland. This city has a personality, a charm and character all its own. The whole town is alive in itself and you can feel it breathing and moving. LA though is just like walking onto a movie set (appropriately so I suppose). It has no life to it. It's just there. To look pretty. That's it. I'm not downplaying Calabasas or Malibu, they're lovely places and I'm not about to discount the ocean views from campus but there is no personality (unless you're on the beach itself). 

It's going to be a hard transition, I true re-adjustment to a world I already know like the back of my hand because I spent four years of my life there. Four very pivotal years no less. And I will miss my life in Portland more than I can say but this is the next chapter, the next scene in my life and I know this is something I need to do. 

In the meantime though, I'm momentarily back in my life in the Pacific Northwest... I'll always come back here and know I'm home.

Girlfriend of the Week

This week's GOTW is Joanne Kelly, the hot chick from Warehouse 13. I was going to post this last week, but then Greg posted his reasons for not liking the show and I felt like I should defend it. Actually though, it is just an average show, but I enjoy it for it's simplicity.


















Anyways, Joanne Kelly is definitely hot and after a little research, I have decided I must check out this film:

District 9

As most of you know, I have been pretty excited to see District 9. Tonight I finally got the chance to see it, and let me just say that I was very impressed.

Without giving too much away about the movie, the thing that struck me the most was how at first you are frightened by these aliens. They are ugly and they seem quite dangerous. As the movie progresses though you begin to sympathize with them and even like them. You also start to see humans as the villain.

Sadly, it is not hard to imagine this being the way humans would react in a situation where aliens are stranded on our planet for a long period of time. Governments would want to do experiments and try to steal as much of their tech as possible, while people would fear and try to keep them contained.

I highly recommend seeing the film. In fact, I might try and see it again.

1,680 New Philippine Doctors Announced : August 2009 Physician (Medical) Board Exam Result

Philippine Regulation Commission announced earlier this day a total of 1,680 (71.28% of the 2357 exam takers) new Filipino Physicians who made it successful in the recently concluded August 2009 Philippine Physicians Licensure Examination.

The following are the Top 10 Examinees:

• 1. Melissa Paulita Villaflor Mariano – University of Santo Tomas (88.17%);
• 2. Erick Sta. Rosa Mendoza – University of Santo Tomas (88.00%);
• 3. Katrina Mae Salcedo Gamponia – University of Santo Tomas (87.67%);
• 4. Tom Edward Ngo Lo – University of the Philippines-Manila (87.58%);
• 5. Riavic Quiday Fuentes – Far Eastern University-Nicanor Reyes Medical Foundation (87.42%);
• 6. Joseph Borromeo Villanueva – University of Santo Tomas (87.17%);
• 7. Ricky Helmuth Hipolito – University of Santo Tomas (87.08%);
• 8. Jaime Alfonso Manalo Aherrera – De La Salle University-Dasmariñas Health Science Campus (87.00%);
• Vincent Bryan De Guia Salvador – University of the Philippines-Manila (87.00%);
• 9. Herbert Zulueta Manaois – University of Santo Tomas (86.92%);
• Ana Noelle Mingo Monisit – Cebu Institute of Medicine (86.92%);
• 10. Melanie Timboy Estolas – University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Mem. Medical Ctr. (86.83%)

Check out the link below for the list of successful examinees:

http://boardresultsph.blogspot.com/2009/08/roll-of-successful-examinees-in.html

Death of a God(ric)

Everyone has been asking me my thoughts on this week's episode of True Blood, and let me just say that it was fantastic, yet very sad.

Godric decided to end his own life (or death? whatever) by walking out into the sun. He naturally had a nice talk with Sookie before the sun came up, he even says how after 2000 years he can still be shocked by humans. It was a very touching moment, especially Eric's reaction...

What else happened during the episode? Well Sookie and Jason sit down and have a nice chat about what's been going in their lives. This has actually been the first time in this series where they act like brother and sister.

We also got to see Eric being the best character on the show. After the bomb went off, he shielded Sookie from the blast, then tricks her into sucking some of the shrapnel from his chest.

She swallows some of his blood, which links her with Eric now. Bill informs her that she will also develop sexual feelings for him. Which, in a dream sequence, we see her with Eric.

Does anyone else see Sookie getting upset that when she drank Bill's blood the first time, he failed to mention this side effect to her? Remember how she started having those dreams about him before they first hooked up? Is Bill every bit of a jerk as Eric (probably, but Eric is much cooler)?

Also, Godric made a comment about the sun not taking too long to kill him. I wonder if the older you are as a vampire, the more sensitive you are to sunlight? Remember, Bill ran around outside for awhile and just got minor burns. This is interesting because it is the exact opposite of Anne Rice's vampires, who get so powerful after awhile that sunlight gives them a mild tan.

Lafayette seems to be unaffected by Maryann (could it be the V-blood?). It was fun watching him beat up on Eggs. Screw you and your washboard abs.

Hung

I have written about my love for True Blood, but what about the other HBO series on Sunday (not Entourage). I am talking about Hung. Let me say that the show is pretty good, but not great.

Thomas Jane plays a dad/high school basketball coach, whose house burns down and he needs money to pay to get it fixed. He decides to become a male prostitute because, well he has a very large cock.

The show is pretty funny at times, yet it feels like it should be on CBS or NBC. There is nothing that makes it mind-blowing or anything else like the other HBO shows. The most interesting thing so far has been his relationship with client Jemma (Natalie Zea, who is very hot). She hires Ray to make her happy, but not just through sex. This is the only point in the show where there is a difference between what a woman would want from a prostitute and what a guy would want.

Hopefully as the series progresses they take more chances and show Ray doing things that might not be expected.

2010 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue Preview

It's getting hot in here!!!

I am not really a fan of Twitter. I signed up an account a couple of months ago just to check it out because many people are talking about it. I never came back since then after finding out that it's actually boring there. I came back the other day, though since a tv show told me that Sports Illustrated's (SI) Twitter account posted preview pics of the 2010 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. I'm a fan of the cover girl, Brooklyn Decker, so I immediately checked it out. She's just so hot!!! More photoshoot pics posted in SI's Twitter account are posted below (click on the pic to enlarge):