The Kid is coming back home...

Welcome Home Jr.!!!! The Kid is back and for all Seattle Mariner fans this is a great day, as Ken Griffey Jr. will be able to finish his career right where it all began. Finish strong in Sea-Town Jr. as the HOF awaits!

Good to be a pro athlete...

These are a couple of the PS3 consoles that the NBA All-Stars received during All-Star weekend. Sony had a players lounge where all of the All-Star weekend participants could come and customize a PS3 with anything they wanted. I love that Brandon Roy went with the UW theme! LeBron's PS3 is pretty sick too. Must be nice to be a filthy rich athlete and still get dope stuff for free!

30oz of LOVE...

So we went and celebrated V-day over at our favorite restaurant (Daniel's Broiler - Bellevue) and this is the delight that I hammered down! 30oz prime rib with a cracked peppercorn crust cooked to a perfect medium-rare color and a healthy side of garlic mash! This bad boy was no joke, about 2+ inches thick and half the plate!

May I mention that I started the night off with crispy artichoke hearts in garlic-hollandaise and a caesar salad (extra crushed pepper!) and complimented the main plate with some broiled mushrooms. Yes, the night was quite fabulous...oh yea, I also had half a Granny Smith fruit tart and vanilla ice cream to end the night!

Take witness to the several thousand calories that were consumed!

Brought a smile to my face :)

The aftermath, nothing but the bone...and a bite of garlic mash that was properly polished off right after I snapped this pic!

DUBS is here...

Welcome the Huskies' new Mascot, Dubs! Dubs was born Nov 15th, 2008 and is currently in some super training to get in shape for his debut Sep 5th, 2008 when LSU comes to town. He will make a cameo at the spring football game in April, so if you want to sneak a peak, make sure you're there! I am assuming the stud Mascot, Spirit, who has lead our Dawgs out for the last 10 years or so will be retired either then or at the LSU game. Thanks Spirit for always leading us out with some adrenaline! Dubs signifies a new beginning for Husky football, lets all get pumped and welcome Dubs with some WOOFS!

Go Dawgs!

Creative children...

So I have been a little M.I.A. lately and haven't posted anything since I got sick, but I'm back and with some humor to entertain your day! My wife got this e-mail forward from her sister and it's hilarious! Apparently, some little kid drew this picture at school and this is the letter her mom had to send to the teacher to explain, read and laugh...

Dear Mrs. Jones,

I wish to clarify that I am not now, nor have I ever been, an exotic dancer. I work at Home Depot and I told Sarah how hectic it was last week before the blizzard hit. I told her we sold out every single shovel we had. Then I found one more in the back room, and several people were fighting over who would get it. Sarah's picture does NOT show me dancing around a pole. It's supposed to depict me selling the last snow shovel we had at Home Depot. From now on I will remember to check her homework more thoroughly before she turns it in.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Smith

Hahahahaha, how funny is that!?!?! Kids can be so freakin' creative these days. What the e-mail doesn't tell you though is that the mom's full name is Lexus A. Smith....Hmmmm, Home Depot? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

A day in history...

As I spend today recovering from the flu that has knocked me on my butt, I had to take some time to log on and post a quick note about the day's historical event. Today, Barack Hussein Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America. More importantly, he became the first Black President in U.S. history, giving minorities across the land a true piece of pride and representing change, hope, and strength for all.

No matter what your political background is, no matter what side you voted for, no matter what part of the States you live in, today is a time to join as one and truly celebrate our Country and how far we have come. Dr. Martin Luther King's dream became a reality today, and with it, let us all join hands and step forward to bring this Country back to the strength upon which it was built.

Willis McGahee vs. Ryan Clark...

For those of you who didn't catch the Steelers vs. Ravens game last night, here is the video of the menacing hit Ryan Clark put on Willis McGahee. It was pretty scary to watch at first as Willis McGahee was not moving at all and looked to be out cold. He is expected to make a full recovery however and all his medical tests checked out. So with that said, enjoy the video!

Reason to be happy about this football season in Seattle...

THE #4 PICK IN THE 2009 NFL DRAFT!!!!

Hopefully taking this guy with it!

GO SEAHAWKS!!!!

UW Hoops...

So after a somewhat disappointing start to the season, the Huskies have ripped off 9 straight wins and gotten the label from ESPN as a "sleeper" to win the Pac-10 Title. I do not disagree at all, this team has been dominating on the glass (leads the nation in rebounding), gotten a lot better play from their guards, and overall plays solid team ball. I love Isaiah Thomas Jr., the kid is a flat out scorer and where he lacks in height, he more than makes up for with heart and grit.

Don't get me wrong, there is still plenty to improve on and at times the team looks like they are lost out on the court. Consistency is key and something the Dawgs will need to improve on as early on in the season they have often played down or played up to their competition. I am pretty excited though for getting into the thick of Pac-10 play. A lot of analysts around the country are saying that the Pac-10 is not looking as good as they were sold to be, but you know it's going to be tough and the Pac-10 is going to rise in strength as the season wears on.

Big game tonight against a hot Cal team, Huskies are favored by 5, which shows they are starting to get some real respect. Cal shoots well though and have gotten off to a great start this season at 14-2, it's going to be a battle.

Get pumped though Dawg fans, our team is coming alive and I think we've only seen the tip of the iceberg!

GO DAWGS!

Weather...

So it's been quite some time since I checked in with the good old blog. Lets just say I've been busy and have not had a chance to give the blog some love. I plan on changing that for the New Year however and aim to post at least once a week!

So what else is there to talk about lately other than the crazy a$$ weather we've had in WA. First it started out with the mid-December snow storms that pounded all of Washington, dumping massive amounts of snow all over the State. We had over 16" out front of our place at one point making it the most snow I've seen in the city in my lifetime! Crazy how the city just shuts down when more than 4" of snow falls! It was nothing compared to some of the cities East of the Cascades. Places like Walla Walla and Spokane got hammered with dumpings measured in feet vs. inches.!!!!

It was great for the mountains though, as there was plenty of POW to be had for all! Alpental back country was some of the best early season pow I've shredded in quite some time. Shredding was pretty much money for about 3 straight weeks until it all came to a screeching halt with the recent 50 degree garden hose that ripped through WA. Yea, a storm that brought torrential downpours and temps that felt more like Spring than Winter.

The warm storms pretty much shut down all of the passes, as the heavy rains brought avalanches crashing down onto the major highways. Snoqualmie lost almost 50% of its base over 2 and a half days as the rains ripped thorough. This picture shows Hyak after pretty much the entire face of the hill came rumbling down. It took out one of the houses built on the right of the first chair, ripping the home completely off its foundation!

Here is a pic of Snoqualmie falls taken today, showing the massive amounts of water that is melting off the hills and coming down to flood all of Western Washington. All of the rivers are projected to reach record levels and many people have had to abandon their homes to head for higher ground. Last night there was pretty much no way out of Western Washington unless you flew out or went far north with all three major passes closed down due to avalanches and I-5 south been flooded and closed south of Chehalis! In other words, there is a lot of H2O collecting across the State!

All in all, it's been a crazy start to the Winter in WA!

Hopefully the snow level comes back down and we start getting some dumps up on the hill again. I also wouldn't mind getting a week or so of dry weather to try and stabilize the roads and hills around here and keep them from sliding and settling.

Rain, rain, GO AWAY!

New Posts...

Stay tuned for the return of Samo's Update with bigger and better posts!!!!

Black Friday...

Happy Thanksgiving Holiday to all! 

So this morning, my bro-in-law, future bro-in-law, and I all jumped in the truck at 3:30am and headed down to join the masses for some Black Friday madness! Black Friday is always more bust than boom with deals that are way over-hyped and not worth the loss of sleep. However, we seem to go back year, after year, after year...mostly to people watch and witness how crazy and irate people can get over a flat-screen, or digital camera!

We started out at Circuit City and posted up in the line at 4 something am. When the doors opened, there were a bunch of chuds that decided to try and bum rush the door. We didn't care so much, but there were definitely some fools that were upset about these poachers. Once in, it became pretty apparent why Circuit City has gone bankrupt, the deals sucked and everything that was on sale was either older stuff or made by companies I had never heard of! The ads didn't even match the prices on the shelves, everything seemed to be actually priced more than what the ads displayed. Circuit City = BUNK

We then moved on to Best Buy where we found a few better deals, but still nothing to jump up and down about. The main highlight was Falko going to the restroom where the man who ate 12 bean burritos the night before was unloading. Falko described it as "grunts" and "farting noises" and was "throwing up in my mouth." It was pretty awesome. Best Buy = Slightly OK...but still BUNK

Our final main Black Friday destination was the Target. Target started out nice, as a guy in the bathroom decided to ignore the one urinal spacing rule and start peeing directly next to me with his hands rested on his head while yelling out the most obnoxious sigh of relief. Homeboy must have been holding this one since 3:30am when his WT wife dragged him out of bed to roll down to Target! Target sucked for the sheer fact that there a million and one people there, half of them in a line for checkout that snaked through the entire store to the back. Target = Overloaded BUNK

From today's scenes, you would never suspect that we are going through the great depression II. However, I'm sure the bottom lines of these stores will be way below average years. All in all, another Black Friday, another night of lost sleep, another year of disappointing deals.

I did pick up a ski-mask though at the local sporting goods store, just in case times get really tough, and I need to boost a 7-11, ha! Just kidding.

73 year old man playing college hoop...

Here is a story that shows you age can't stop sheer will and determination! Ken Mink is a 73 year old player on the Roane State Community College's basketball team. This photo shows him about to drop 1 of 2 free throws he made in the game.

Man, I can only hope that I am able to hoop it up at the age of 73, but with the run-rate I've had up to this point, I'll be lucky to just be walking around at that age!

007...

So we went and saw the new 007 flick, 'Quantum of Solace' and I have to say that I liked the movie a lot. If you haven't seen it yet, don't read on, cause I'm going to give away some bits and pieces of the plot. If you don't care, do read!

Basically, my take on the new James Bond movie was that the producers decided they were going to make a film with a very ambiguous story line, but packed to the gills with action scenes. I would like to see what the final expenses came out to be on the movie, cause destroying brand new Aston Martins and Alfa Romeos, shooting all over the World, and setting off 12,000,000 pounds of explosives can't be cheap.

It looks like they are more setting up a long chain of movies with QoS's storyline. The latest movie answers a lot of the questions people had from Casino Royale and makes more sense of the last Bond movie, but reveals only slightly what 'Quantum' really is. Here is a quick summary of the movie:

1) High speed car chase with Bond driving like a maniac trying to escape from machine gun wielding crazies. (Aston Martin scene, man that car is ill!)
2) Bond kicks some a$$
3) Bond kicks some more a$$
4) Bond finds a person of interest and proceeds to pursue him all over the world for the remainder of the movie...all while kicking a$$.
5) Bond picks up chick with cheesy Bond line.
6) Bond kicks more a$$es
7) Bond flies a cargo plane and somehow manages to outmaneuver a small fighter plane.
8) Bond pulls parachute cord 18 feet from the ground.
9) Bond kicks some serious a$$ in an exploding hotel in the middle of nowhere.
10) Bond finds closure to Vespyr

I probably left out a few details here and there, but you get the idea, this movie is out to prove one thing...how much a$$ James Bond can kick in a movie with a running time of under 2 hours. The scenes are shot beautifully, the locations are choice, and Daniel Craig proves once again that he was born to play Bond!

Overall, even with the weaker storyline, I still give it 5/5 stars and recommend everyone go see it in a theater with good picture and sound. It's entertainment worth the crazy price of a movie ticket!

I am excited to see what the next Bond film will bring!

Football in the State of WA...WTF?...

Awesome, Hawks are 2-8, Dawgs are 0-10, and the Cougs are 1-10. What in the heck has happened this season for football in the State of WA?!?!?!

I must admit though, it's rather entertaining the Cougs are 1-10. As bad as the Dawgs are this season, the Cougs could possibly be the worst team in all of Division I-A. They are giving up almost 50.0 ppg, and have been shut out in 3 of their last 4.

What to expect in the Apple Cup? I want to say a smashing by UW, but with the way both these teams have been playing, that could mean a final of 14-0, UW over WSU. If anything, it will be an entertaining game to watch, as the two Washington teams battle it out for the Pac-10 basement!

Seattle Sports...

Man, what can I say? Recession, depression, challenged...the state of Seattle sports is flat out awful right now!

Lets start with this city's gem, the Seattle Seahawks. Season after season, we've shown that we are the powerhouse to beat in the NFC West, the model of consistency when it comes to winning your division. Not so this year as we currently sit at 1-5 and are dead last in the NFC West. Only Cincy and Detroit have worse records as both teams are still winless, and we share the uno win title with KC, who's defense looks like it couldn't stop a Division II team.

Yes, the Seahawks have been unfortunate with injuries, but overall this team is not playing well and often times looks out of sorts on the field. Maybe it's time for this town to have a bad year so that the fair weather fans can learn to love this team no matter what. Maybe it's time to start "rebuilding" and plugging some of the holes we have on both sides of the ball, especially the O-Line, D-Line, and Cornerback spots. Possibly even bring in a QB draft pick, an heir-apparent to big Matt, to learn and study under Matt as he closes out his career over the next several seasons. Shoot, I'm not throwing the towel in, but damn a top 10 draft pick ain't looking so bad at this point!! Win or lose though, they are still my squad and you'll find me cheering them on Sunday after Sunday. I still believe this team can be 10-6, an uphill battle from here on out, but not impossible if the team starts to play like they are able to.

Next up, the Huskies......WOW! Coach Willingham, you gave it a good run, but now it's time for you to hit the door. 0-6 and showing no progress is a sure sign that the program needs an overhaul. UW needs a coach that can work with the AD to bring new life to this proud program, that in recent years has forgotten where it came from. I attended the Oklahoma game this season, and that smashing really showed me how far we've fallen from the level this program once stood as a Pac-10 powerhouse and top-tier place for athletes to come play. National titles, and Rose Bowl victories, it's hard to feel any of that these days. The only solace a Dawg has is the fact that the Cougs are quite possibly the worst team in all of Division I, giving up 60+ spots almost on a weekly basis! Apple Cup is going to be a battle of straight pride, as it looks like it will be the two bottom dwellers of the Pac-10 duking it out for bragging rights. Lane Kiffin, Chip Kelly, Jim Mora?? Who knows what we will see happen at the end of the season, but for now lets cheer on Ty as he tries to bring some pride back to this season. GO DAWGS!

Mariners: So bad that I don't even want to spend the time writing about them. A team that basically has stated it will rebuild and not even attempt to be competitive, BS!!!! 116 wins, Sodo Mojo, Refuse to Lose, all currently lost and put in a box somewhere, waiting for the next run.

Sonics...F%&K Clay Bennett and his minions for taking away our team!!!!!!!!! Oklahoma City Thunder sounds lame and more like a rec league team name. Not even GP wants his jersey retired in Oklahoma City, props to him for helping push the movement for Seattle to get another team where his jersey can be retired proper like! Oh, and the answer to the question people have been asking me, HECK NO will I become a Blazers fan now, screw Portland...but Brandon Roy is the man! WOOF WOOF WOOF!

Seattle Sounders FC: I'm hoping they are money!

On top of all the sports misery we are going through, Seattle loses Safeco and WaMu, will the bleeding stop?!?!?! PLEASE!!!!

L.T. and Polamalu, "FATE," I love this ad...

Anberlin and T.I.

Two CDs to scoop this week, 'Paper Trail' from T.I., which is stacked with bangers and the new CD from my homie Christian's band, Anberlin.

'Paper Trail' is filled with great beats, classic T.I. lines, and a slew of guests. He has a track with Rihanna that is dope, and also another track with Justin Timberlake that is pretty good. Of course there is the hit, 'Swagga Like Us' with Jay-Z, Kanye, and Lil' Wayne. He's obviously marketing more towards the masses with this CD, but I am sure that most true T.I. fans won't be too disappointed with this. Instant classic is 'Paper Trail' so go buy it!

Anberlin's new CD is called 'New Surrender' and I can't stop listening to it today, it's awesome. They were on Jimmy Kimmel a few nights ago and killed it. If you haven't heard them yet, go out and buy the CD now, guarantee you will like it! Plus you'll be able to say you liked them before they blew up like they are about to do!

Happy October 1st with new music!

What's in my headphones...

This new Kanye joint is HOT! As full of himself as he is, Kanye is still tops when it comes to taking music in new directions. Listen and enjoy!

NCAA 5950...

About darn time New Era started making NCAA 5950s! Been waiting a grip for these to come out. If you like the 5950, go out and grab your favorite school and rock it with pride!

Austin and Stack Footy...

On a lighter note, Think Thank's new film, "Stack Footy" premiered this past weekend in Seattle. Go out to your local shred shop today and grab a copy and watch Austin kill it!

Also, go out and grab the new issue of Snowboarder and flip open to Austin's "On Deck" article. Mad props homie! Mad props!

Don't even want to talk about it...

Overtime loss to the 49ers, another receiver out for the season, and even Seneca Wallace getting hurt after pre-game warm ups at the receiver spot...what can I say??!!? Painful!

Football...

Went to the UW vs. Oklahoma game tonight and what can I say, absolutely painful to watch. It was an all out drubbing by the Sooners and showed that we still have a long ways to go before our team gets back online. One thing I liked though was that they got a lot of looks to D'Andre Goodwin and it looks like he is starting to build some confidence. That and David Freeman looked explosive at times coming out of the backfield. What I didn't like....where do I begin??!?!? D-line can't get any pressure on the QB, secondary can't cover worth a lick, and worst of all, nobody seems to know how to tackle on our defense! I am frustrated with the offensive play calling, skill players can't hold on to the damn ball, and I really am starting to get on board with the idea of Fouch playing QB and Jake moving to RB. Too early to commit though, I think Jake can show us he can toss the ball and deserves a few more games slinging it to get into a groove. That is if he isn't hurt too bad as it looked like he got banged around a lot tonight. Here's my take away, the team is young, needs to gel and mature, AND NEEDS TO FIRE WILLINGHAM!!!!! Sorry coach, much respect, but it's time for a fresh start to inject some life into this program, maybe an injection of Chip Kelly??!?!? Come on UW, go after him!

Side note, my 'Noles looked damn good in their 2 warm up games and has me reeling with some confidence for this young team. They still have a few steps to go before getting back to the standard, but with the talent this team has right now and how young they are, they are going to surprise some folks this season and build to be back in the top 25 in no time! Ponder is the man and Richardson is a hyper duel threat that can come in at any time to spell Ponder. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if FSU runs a duel QB offense going forward with these two. Stacked on receivers, finally a running game that looks strong, and a defense that has several potential first rounders, I LIKE!!!! I know they had push overs for the first two and it's early to say how strong this team really is, but with Parker coming back next week and the rest of the normal starters coming off suspension in two weeks, sky is the limit for my guys. Wake this upcoming week should be a good indicator of how the season will play out for the 'Noles. If they score at will against that defense like they have the first 2 games, it's going to be a good season :).

On to NFL, Hawks tomorrow and I am PUMPED! I think that we are going to come out blazing and handle the Niners at Qwest. We need to prove that this team is much better than what the country saw last week in Buffalo. I am nervous about our receiving corps, our O-line (Big Walt looked like the only guy that could block anybody last week), and our defense, mainly our run-stopping ability. But I am confident they will all get the job done tomorrow and get us a W. Injuries are killing us, I am starting to think our team is cursed this season with the injury bug. As long as we get them all out of the system up front and our players are healthy when it counts down the road, that's good with me!

GO HAWKS!!!!

iPod Nano...

Here is a post for all you Gadget lovers out there. Apple recently announced a few updated products in its iPod line with the coolest update being the new iPod nano. At 3.6 inches tall and 1.5 inches wide, the size is impressive for how much power the little guy packs. Oh yea, it's 6.2mm thick too, not much thicker than your credit card! The new nano plays video now and can be turned sideways to watch them in portrait view. The nano also has a new "shake" function, where you can shake the iPod to shuffle to a new song in your library. It comes in 9 different colors with my favorite being the purple. 8GB and 16GB versions available, time to upgrade those old iPods out there to the new generation! Get on it!

IRONMAN INIGO...

A lot of you who saw the post a couple months ago of Inigo finishing the Half Ironman asked that I post a pic of Inigo finishing a FULL Ironman because the expression and pain his face displayed from the Half Ironman finish was priceless!

Well this past weekend, Inigo traveled to Louisville Kentucky to put himself through pain once again in his first full Ironman event. That's 140.6 miles covered in less than a day for those that don't know!!!! It was 95 degrees and the course was brutal, taking many victims over the span of the day.

Inigo crossed the finish line with the time at just over 17 hours (his official time was just over 16 hours) and displayed a gritty look as he came across to become an official Ironman! Man, what a feat, just to finish an Ironman is an accomplishment in itself! Peep out the chick in the background checking out Inigo's studliness! Ha!

Congrats Inigo, you are a true man!