Our Zenmaster, maybe he'll get Ariza and Odom to return for less.

However, I think the biggest significance above all to me is the fact this time around, the championship was built not over night but over 7 years.  Phil’s return and patience to teach and mentor this young group to become eventual champions.  Kobe’s personal growth to teach and mentor and trust his teammates.  The comradery now seen evident amongst the entire roster starting with Kobe and ending with Sun Yue and Adam Morrison.

Lakers celebrating becoming 2008-2009 NBA champions!

It is beautiful in every way and Phil must be feeling the Zen of it all.  After years of not making the playoffs and being eliminated by the Phoenix, these young Lakers grew up.  Kudos to Mitch Kupchak for keeping these Lakers together and bringing in the necessary parts such as stealing Pau Gasol for Kwame Brown.  The audacity to a player named Trevor Ariza whom no one even had a clue what he was capable of.  I personally loved the Radmanovic trade for Morrison and Brown; just because Shannon Brown killed us when we played against them in the regular season.  That was a savvy move, we might as well bring back Von Wafer.  Joke aside, I want to state that I love our current team and roster and I know the potential to be even better is there.  We are set up to win multiple rings and host multiple parades.

Number 24, Black Mamba, Unstoppable...

As the celebration undertook at Amway Arena in Orlando after the final buzzer sounded, I couldn’t help but feel two things.  For one, I was relieved that we finally accomplished the journey to be champions again.  At the same time, I also felt a bit saddened by the fact that this beautiful sunset may be gone.  With the season over, there will not be any more relevant basketball to watch.  With the season over, this roster can potentially be separated if we do not re-sign Lamar “Candyman” Odom AND Trevor “Silent Assasin” Ariza.

Lakers celebrating with their new championship hardware.

So goes the business aspect of the game where the bottom line will determine the outcome of what the future will hold.  I hope it will not be ruined.  I hope I’ll have the opportunity to see this beautiful sunset once again next year.  That beautiful shade of forum blue and gold.

For the time being, I’m going to enjoy it like the rest of the fans.  Perhaps even safely participate in the Lakers day parade from the comforts of the television.  Lakers have shown true character on the way up to winning and becoming NBA champions.  Now its time to show us some character off the basket parquet floor.

Ariza, Odom?  Will you settle for multiple rings for lesser money?

Commuter trains for Souther California.

Welcome to Los Angeles!  It used to be that Los Angeles had one of the most robust network of public transportation systems in the United States filled with electric trolley routes.  These routes have all since been abandoned or effectively made inactive because GM sought to eliminate public transportation in favor of selling automobiles when they bought up public transportation companies.  Albeit there are plans to put forth tax payer dollars and using Federal funding to improve the infrastructure, we are starting slowly and any of these plans may not be realized until the end of the first quarter of this century.  For now, we get the Metrolink and the Metro for all commuting purposes which really does not have many stations to make this any convenient.

Hmm, our equivalent to the BART in San Francisco. A bit bare to be honest.

One things certain, I do not feel bad for GM.  They pumped out crappy cars for the past three decades enabling foreign automakers to dominate the U.S. automobile market.  I seriously hope they get on the right track, restructures itself and start introducing vehicles that would make all American’s proud.

There will also be rumors of a high speed rail to be introduced between Los Angeles and San Francisco with Sacramento and San Diego implemented later.  Another suggested line or rumor is a high speed rail from Los Angeles to Las Vegas.  In my opinion, I would welcome both as it would definitely ease traffic along with the time and headache dealt with traveling to both places.  If I had an option to travel by train, I would prefer it over plane or automobile.  Automobile requires me to try my hardest to avoid freeway syndrome and there is always the potential traffic disaster that comes with leaving Las Vegas on a Sunday afternoon.  Flying is always the quickest route, but it is also much more expensive and going through airport security is not the most inviting aspect to start or end a vacation trip.  So I’ll go on a limb and belch out a given, “HELL YES!” for a high speed rail that will connect top destinations as well as a public train transportation on the local level that can get me to the “grand station” to connect to all those other cities.

I can look forward to the future where a high speed rail can take my lazy ass from LA to Vegas in a little over 1 hour and a trip from LA to San Francisco in just under 3 hours.  Even if I’ll be 50 by that time, it’ll still be the “green” thing to do.

I would welcome unemployment if it meant that there was a severance package plus weekly unemployment checks.  What a golden opportunity it would be.  Time off to evaluate myself.  Decide a befitting career in front me.  Pursue something I actually have passion for.  Forced time off, extended vacation due to economic circumstance yet still be paid to live.  Why would any professionals with no obligations that have been laid off since last year be in a rush to re-enter the job market?

This unemployment period should be considered funemployment for those lucky enough to have obtained the criteria of severance plus steady unemployment checks.  This scenario may even be better than any summer break or after one graduates undergrad studies because at that time period, you didn’t have a steady job, didn’t have any work experience and most likely still be under your parent’s roof.  It wasn’t like after you graduated you found your calling right away or had the resources and time to figure out whom you were.  If anything, you just looked for a job for experience-sake.

This time, your mid-career, understand the under workings of society and corporate business economics and know exactly what you want out of life.  During my undergrad studies and even after graduating, I still had no clue on what I wanted to do for a career.  After graduating undergrad, it was more like find  job, pay my dues and figure things out along the way.  Then half a decade passes by, I am in a job or industry I dislike and become numb to accept the role I am in, in society.  Again, I am envious for those that can actually benefit from being unemployed and call it funemployment.

I know of many people that were laid off now pursuing an MBA now because finding a job was too difficult.  Their outlooks already look brighter because when they receive their MBA and once the economy rebounds combined with previous corporate work experience; they’ll probably end up in a better position than before.  Besides doing graduate studies, others are becoming entrepreneurs by starting a business.  People are a resilient species especially when put in stress situations that force us to survive.

Life experience.  How can one actually enjoy life when they cannot enjoy what they do?  Its a recurring sentiment with many unemployed people that they re-evaluate their position and figure out that they have been living with sole purpose to work.  Forget that, life’s short. I want to live!

So lets not be too down if you are unemployed and can actually gain some productivity from this extended unemployment.  See it as a golden opportunity and are actually the exception to the rule.  Find yourself and I look for you lucky folks to help us out in the near future as we are the ones still keeping this economy going.  But again, if I were laid off and can go through funemployment, I’d welcome it.

The web today is much more complex with so many different languages from programming to databases.  With introduction of HTML 5 on the horizon, CSS3 being supported by multiple browsers, and jQuery/AJAX for online applications; things are definitely getting very interesting.  Too many things to learn  and the constantly evolving internet standards makes it difficult to be a complete master of this art or relegate one to the status of guru.

I miss the simplistic days when it was a feat to just embed a couple midi sound files and have a pop up player able to navigate different songs.  Another one was to realize frames so navigation was quicker rather than constantly loading the navigation menu over and over again.  Perhaps I was much younger and had the patience and diligence to trudge through lines and lines of arbitrary code.

I can’t help but think it was simpler back then. (Is there a cache some where on the internet that exists my old homepages I built?)

Here are a couple things to look forward to with HTML 5:

• Ability to offer a more organized structure with tags such as <article>, <section>, <footer>,<nav>, etc.
• Rather than embed audio or video sources there is a new tag appropriately like the image tag.  The <video> or <audio> tags will be used similar to the <img> tag we have become accustom to for images.  Does this doom Flash?  They explain it much better than I do but here is a demo using HTMl 5.
• Much better support for database connections so many tasks can be cached locally by the browser, similar to Gears by Google.
• Formatting elements such as frames may be removed because CSS may be better suited to support it.

Just to name a few of the direction HTML development is moving towards.  This will be a slow process because as always, new code, new tags, will also need browser support.  Glad to see Mozilla’s Firefox browser supporting the <video> tags in action though.

At the end of last year, I was in the market for a new PC as my laptop died and my other PC was just out of date to run any programs.  I had seriously debated of heading to the Apple store and picking up a MacBook Pro or an iMac.  I still had my reservations because even though friends that switched over the Mac couldn’t stop praising it, I could not drop $2,000 on a system I am unsure about.  I had no prior experience with the Mac OS X and the only thing Apple I owned was the iPhone and previously an iPod mini.  No matter how much time you spend at the Apple store, I really need a more intimate, quiet setting to fully realize and be comfortable with a new OS.

Unfortunately, there really wasn’t an Mac for me as I felt more comfortable in a PC environment knowing that I can upgrade my system, swap out hardware at any time made me more secure.  I guess for all the people that were looking for a new computer during the Vista-era, Linux probably gained most consumer attention.  Add in the the cost factor – I couldn’t say it better but “for desktop users, our current choices are the underpowered, yet still overpriced Mac mini, the limited expandability of the iMac line, and the powerful but appropriately pricey Mac Pro.” (Michael Scalisi, PC World)  That quote right there hit the spot and is exactly what I felt when searching for options for my next computer.

Too bad for Apple because it really was a great opportunity to gain market share.  The iPhone allowed you to market to all mobile phone users and no doubt when these users were looking for their next computer, Apple was definitely an option.  But at a hefty price tag for the Mac Pro or lower price tag for under-whelming Mac mini and almost un-upgradeable iMac, you sure lost many consumers like myself.

I guess too bad I won’t have a matching desktop Mac to match my iPhone.

Now I wonder how many aspiring artists are going out and asking their friends to use a bat and hit them over their heads to cause some new innate ability that has been dormant.  Perhaps.

Like other Disney-Pixar films, the short film in the beginning like always was entertaining.  This film short was centered around the nursery story of storks delivering babies.  These storks fly into the heaven where Cloud entities create baby puppies, kittens, etc. and hand them over to the storks to deliver.  I thoroughly enjoyed the film primarily because it was funny and like classic cartoons relied on sounds rather than speech to deliver a story.

As for UP itself, it took me on a journey back to my childhood where your  imagination ruled.  In many aspects the underlying theme is more adult than catered to children because it is a love story based around not being able to carry out your planned dreams until it was too late.  Only through final desperation is Carl able to set out to complete his wife’s living dreams, although she had passed already.  Introducing Russell, the nerdy plump kind-hearted boyscout, who desperately sought out approval from his absent father through merit badges, they both go on an amazing adventure in Paradise Falls.  In the end, the grumpy old Carl is able to realize his hardheaded ways to complete his wife’s childhood dream and adventure will not bring satisfaction or change the fact his wife is not their to share with him.  Only after this fact is Carl able to accept his own new adventure and re-engage with what really matters; helping Russell out.

On a side note, it appears that many AMC theaters have branded many of its theaters as IMAX, which clearly is not.  When the screen is less than 90 feet, it is not IMAX.  I had to deal with this disappoint fact when I went to watch the new Star Trek movie a couple weeks ago.  I was so excited because I had thought a true IMAX screen had arrived at a local theater.  Unfortunately, I was met with disappointment and out an extra couple bucks to pay for a supposed premium experience.  What a sham and crock of shit!

Boycott all LieMax’s!

Here are several examples:

• Boston Celtics versus Chicago Bulls
  • Rajon Rondo nearly takes off Brad Miller’s head yet its not called a flagrant foul.
  • Rajon Rondo throws an elbow at Kirk Hinrich yet no punishment is taken from the league.
• Los Angeles Lakers versus Denver Nuggets
  • Dahntay Jones purposely trips Kobe Bryant; flagrant is assessed after the game yet the outcome is Lakers lost that game.
  • Andrew Bynum gives hard foul on Chris Andersen and is given flagrant foul.
• Orlando Magic versus Cleveland Cavs
  • Dwight Howard cleanly blocks Lebron James yet a foul is given sending King James to the foul line.

These are just several notable ones I mention because I don’t have time to watch every game.  However, when I did, these are the ones I saw.  Now NBA referees have been prone to make bad calls here and there and given the nature of professional basketball, its a fast paced game.  But there are times when referees get to review a play and still get it wrong.  Either that or they just do not have the balls to make the right call.

Phil Jackson called out the referees last week and was fined $25,000.  What a bunch of crock of shit!  By my estimate, these referees should be fired already.

So yes, this has been a great post season because of the intensity of the games and match ups seen so far in each round.  But then, I came to the conclusion that I may just stop watching NBA altogether because at times, the game feels so dictated by the way referees call the game.  Instead of seeing a smooth flowing game, I game long I see players going to the foul line to shoot free throws.  That is boring!

There was an article on ESPN that mentioned that the referees have called the number of fouls fairly because at the end of the night, both teams would shoot roughly the same amount of free throws.  That is ludicrous!  It is all about the timing of the fouls, not amount of fouls given when it does not count.  Say, Lakers are down 20 at the end of the third quarter and make a 10 point run and then suddenly assessed a technical and then a flagrant, that kills the flow and momentum.  They could have potentially gone on 20 point run.

Regardless, I sincerely hope the league can get their act together and re-evaluate how these referees should be held accountable for their calls… PUBLICLY.  In other words, may be they should go on the podium for a post game interview because after all, it seems like they play such a huge role in outcomes of games.