Your Typical Blog
Unfortunately I don’t have the time to do a short fight analysis. I’ll just post up my picks.
Randy Couture beats Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Thiago Silva beats Keith Jardin
Nate Marquardt beats Demian Maia
Brandon Vera beats Krzysztof Soszynski
Chris Leben beats Jake Rosholt
This is one of the few and rare occasion of two female fighters headlining a major MMA event. Gina Carano is the former undefeated Women’s 140lbs Champion that use to be part of EliteXC. And the challenger is Christiane ‘Cyborg’ Santos, the Muay Thai specialist that heralds from the famous Chute Boxe Academy. The two will fight for Strikeforce’s vacant women’s 145lbs title.
These two fighters are Muay Thai specialist so expect to see a stand-up fight that can go all five rounds. The edge in the stand-up will go to Cyborg because of her extensive Muay Thai competition background, but Carano is very well-rounded and she can take the fight to the ground if she needs to. This will be a very competitive fight with two very talented fighters and it truly deserves to headline in any MMA promotion.
As many of you know I’m a Blackberry addict. I could be seen clicking away on my phone at all times of the day. For the past couple of months I’ve been contemplating on getting the Siedio extended battery for my Blackberry Bold. With my current usage my battery would be drained by afternoon without charging. At work I travel a bit through out the day so I don’t get a chance to charge my phone much, but there have been some days were my Blackberry completely died before I got off work.
So I decided to pick up the Seidio extended battery. I ordered it on Amazon and it came within 3 days. Many people complain about the extra bulge the battery gave the Bold, but it doesn’t bother me at all. The extra width actually makes typing on my Bold a little bit easier. This extended battery gives it some extra weight that makes the phone feels more solid. The battery also comes with a rubberized back door to fit the battery. The new door looks good and provides a better grip compared to the faux leather OEM back cover.
The battery life is excellent. The OEM battery is 1500mAh whereas the Seidio is 3500mAh. That’s more than double the capacity. I don’t have any objective data on the difference of battery life but I know it lasts much longer than my old one. I can go a full day of heavy use and it would barely hit 55% on my battery meter.
One of the negatives of this battery is that Seidio or any other companies don’t have cases or skins that would fit the Bold with this battery. I ended buying a Seidio holster that allows me to hold my phone without the interference of the extended battery. My Bold clips into the holster with the battery sticking out away from you. This is a must-have item if you’re looking to holster your Bold.
If you’re looking to add more battery power to your Blackberry Bold you need to look no further than the Seidio 3500mAh extended battery. It gives you double the usage and it comes with a nice back cover.
Pros:
– Double battery capacity
– Better grip
Cons:
– No skins or covers available
– Expensive ($55+ depending on where you buy)
As you can see the new WordPress blog is up and running. There are still some work I have to do, but so far it looks good.
I ran into a few problems getting WordPress switched over. Initially, I was prepping WordPress on a virtual server and once I was finished with it I would just move the VM over to my main machine. But the problem started out with hardware problems. It was having problems running Windows 2008. The drivers caused several BSOD, so I installed Windows 7 RTM instead, and now it works like a charm.
I’m running VMware Server, so I transferred my VM over easily. The big problem was when I had to change my staging domain to my real domain. Things fell apart from there. The site didn’t load up because the URI was not set before I moved my website. After correcting the URI none of the images loaded up. It turns out that the link to all my images in my posts have been hard-coded with my staging URL. After several hours scouring the internet I found the simplest solution. I had to export my database and use wordpad to replace my old URL with the new one then import the database back. In the end it all worked out.
BJ Penn vs Kenny Florian
With the return of BJ Penn the lightweight title will be on the line as he will be defending it from Kenny Florian. On paper Penn is considered the heavy favorite, but for the last two years Florian has shown tremendous growth and improvement in his standup and ground game.
This will be Florian’s toughest fight to date. Penn is one of the most well-rounded fighters in MMA, but Florian is almost just as dangerous. When it comes to his striking, Florian’s Muay Thai is solid and will surprise Penn if he keeps the fight standing. Kenny will be utilizing his kicks to slow down his opponent, so expect Penn to shoot in for takedowns. It’s on the ground where Penn will have a big advantage. Penn’s slick BJJ is world-class and he is just as dangerous being on his back as he is on the top position. The odds are against Florian, but with the right strategy he can pull off an upset.
What does Florian need to do? Florian needs to keep the fight standing and use his menacing elbows during the clinches. A Machida tactic of hit and run would be best against Penn. Penn has the propensity of engaging his opponents and pushing the action. With good lateral movement it would set plenty of opportunities for countering. With all that said Will Kenny Florian win? I guess we’ll have to wait an find out. I like rooting for the underdog, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Florian grabs the decision or even get a KO.
Anderson Silva vs Forrest Griffin
There is really no worthy opponent for Anderson Silva in the middleweight division so moving up to 205 for competitive fights is very balsy. This is why he’s considered to be the number 1 pound for pound fighter in the world. This bout with Forrest will push Silva to his limit. Forrest is a huge 205-er. What makes Forrest Griffin different from Silva’s previous opponents is that Griffin feeds off the challenge. As the fight goes into the later rounds Griffin seems to get stronger.
Anderson Silva will have his hands full and don’t expect him to engage full force at the beginning. It’s common knowledged that the first half of the round you will see Silva running around throwing some jabs and a few kicks until he finds his range. From there you’ll see Silva picking apart is opponent. Once his opponent is hurt, Silva pounces for the kill. Looking back at at Silva’s previous fights he has trouble being on his back, but that doesn’t necessarily means it’s his weakness. It can mean that his ground game is not as strong as his standup. So Forrest should take the fight to the ground as often as he can but still remain cautious. Forrest needs to put Silva up against the fence and drag him down and get into side control or full mount that way he can avoid Silva’s long legs.
This fight has a ton of potential to be FOTY, I just hope it delivers. If Silva wins it’ll solidify him as an all time greatest fighter of all time. And if Griffin pulls the win he gets to be the first to prove that Silva needs to stay in his own weight class.
My Picks:
BJ Penn beats Kenny Florian
Anderson Silva beats Forrest Griffin
Kendall Grove beats Ricardo Almeida
Kurt Pellegrino beats Josh Neer
Johny Hendricks beats Amir Soddollah
For the past 11 years I’ve been driving my trusty old 1995 Toyota Camry. It was my first car. I’ve driven it since high school all the way through and beyond college. Over the past few years the car began falling apart. The radio stopped working. The air conditioner refuse to blow any cool air, and the upholstery started to rot (maybe it wasn’t rot, but it had a weird distinct smell to it). And the final straw that broke the camel’s back was when my car spun out on the freeway. Luckily for me nothing serious came of it besides being shook up. Getting new tires and getting my suspensions check was too expensive. I didn’t want to throw money into this old car so I finally got rid of it.
At the beginning of May I purchased a brand new 2009 Subaru WRX at Capitol Subaru in San Jose. The car is fantastic. Anything compared to my old Camry probably is. With a 265 horsepower engine and race tuned suspension it is ridiculously fast and nimble like driving a go-kart. I usually ride my motorcycle during the summer, but I’ve been driving my new car almost every day leaving my Harley lonely and dusty under its covers. But there are a few things that I think that Subaru can improve on their WRX. First off, the ride is noisy. Some of the noise can be attributed to the performance summer tires, but you can hear the road and wind blowing loudly from inside the car. For me, it was no louder than when I drove my old Camry but I didn’t expect it to be as loud coming from a newer car. Second, I wish the car had a standard outlet port to plug your electric gadgets. My girlfriend’s 2004 Pontiac Vibe has one, and I was disappointed to find my WRX didn’t have one. But other than that my WRX rocks. I can’t wait to take it up to Tahoe this year and see how it tears through the snow.
It’s unfortunate that Afflication “Trilogy” event was cancelled I was looking forward to the Barnett and Emelianenko’s showdown, and now Afflication leaving the MMA promotion scene and sticking to what they do best, making t-shirts. The situation is kind of bitter sweet. With Afflication around it gave UFC some viable competition where fans gets to see more fights and fighters get better pay. UFC is probably licking its chops waiting to scoop of fighters left hanging from the fall of Afflication. UFC has just recently picked up Vitor Belfort and Tito Ortiz. There may be other fighter still left to be signed, but the one that is eluding the number one promotion is Fedor Emelianenko. Known as the world’s number one best heavyweight fighter, Fedor has resisted to UFC efforts in getting him under contract. Dana White, UFC’s President, has stated he has offered lucrative deals for the world champion, but his management has refused and wants to co-promote with the UFC if they want Fedor’s services.
The question is who needs who more? UFC doesn’t need Fedor and can still prosper as the leading MMA promotion in the world. Whereas Fedor is stuck in no-man’s land. He has no promotion to fight for except his own, M-1, which no one outside of Siberia ever heard of. I’m a huge fan of Fedor and his management team is ruining his chances of establishing a legacy in MMA. If Fedor wants to fight the best fighters in the world then he better get into the UFC and if this co-promotion demand is standing in his way then he should fire his manager. If you look at the MMA timeline it proves that UFC is doing something right. Elite XC came out strong, but ended up going under due to bad decisions and poor management. Affliction was up and coming and had two great shows with top named fighters, but eventually went defunct. UFC on the other hand is still thriving and sells out almost every event. So if Fedor’s management and M1 doesn’t get their head out of their asses their opportunity to showcase their champion to the world will pass them by. The one thing I fear the most about Fedor is that if he doesn’t get into the UFC he’ll become the next Frank Shamrock.
I just recently got back from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. It was my first real getaway vacation, and it was my first time being out of the country. The hot and humid weather there will make you sweat like Al Sharpton at a clan rally. The tourism in Mexico dropped dramatically in the past few months due to the swine flu, but I don’t think it’s as bad as people make it out to be. There’s a better chance of drowning at one of the beaches than getting the swine flu.
I went to Cabo with my girlfriend and her family. We at a buffet breakfast almost every morning and feasted on large Mexican dinners each night. I think I gained about 15 pounds during the entire trip, but I guess vacations will do that to you. I always thought Mexico was one giant dessert with homes built with mud and bricks and people walked around in ponchos and sombreros. But it’s nothing like that, at least in Cabo. There were resorts everywhere all along the Baja California coastline and the streets were filled with Mexican selling odd ball ornaments, candy, and clothing. It’s almost like one big flea market. It seems like there’s only three kinds of jobs in Mexico. You’re either working at a resort, driving a cab, or selling home-made jewelry and toys at the beach. Those who say Mexicans are lazy are just plain wrong. During my trip I didn’t see one homeless person begging for money. The all worked. Even if they have to stand in the 100+ degree wearing pottery and plates draped over their shoulders or bicycling in old beaten down rickshaws. You have to give it to them for working in that kind of heat.
Overall, my Mexico trip was great. For those who are interested make sure you take advantage of the low fares and cheap resort stays. As the swine flu incident dies down I’m sure prices will go back up and Cabo and other hotspots in Mexico will be crowded.
(Pictures will be added soon)
CNN has a very interesting article about how some people believe,and believes strongly, that the moon landing was fake.
It was over a year ago when I was planning to move away from Simple PHP Blog to a more robust blogging engine. Many suggest that I just switch over to one of the many free-hosted blogging sites. I like having my blog hosted on my own server. The fact that I have full control over it gives me piece of mind. I’ve been playing around with Flatpress, a variant of WordPress that uses a flat-file database to store its contents. Flatpress worked well but I felt the development for it was slow and the online community was small. I was adamant about staying away from a blogging engine that required a separate database such as MS or Mysql. I thought it would be too much of a hassle to setup and maintain. The past few weeks I’ve been testing out the latest version of WordPress and I must say it is much easier to manage than I had expected. So I have now dropped Flatpress for testing and now focused WordPress.
What really sold me on WordPress is the vast amount of plugins that are available. I was worried about transferring my movie reviews over and keeping its rating system. With the WordPress Widgets customizing and arranging your content couldn’t be any easier. So for the next few weeks as I upgrade my server from Windows 2003 to 2008 WordPress will be replacing my old blogging platform.