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My sister’s been using Kiva for years, and she recently got me a gift certificate to get started, and so I’m finally involved it as well.

Kiva, as it describes itself, is “the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs around the globe.” “Kiva is a non-profit organization that allows you to make a small loan to low income entrepreneurs across the globe (microfinance). Individuals like you can help provide affordable working capital for the poor — money to buy a sewing machine, livestock, etc. – and help an entrepreneur escape poverty”

Basically this means you can take part in microfinancing various projects around the world, with Kiva as the agent (I wouldn’t quite say middleman because Kiva isn’t profiting from anyone). Kiva helps find ideal projects and gets the work done so a qualified individual can present himself on the website and ask for help. From there, people/lenders look at what projects they are interesting in funding, then do so. I took my sister’s original gift certificate and then added my own $25 contribution to join a couple of projects. I’ve also added a Wordpress plugin (see bottom right of this site) that lists what I’ve invested in. (oops, plugin not working for now)

The process is pretty simple:

1. Join the website, purchase an amount you’d like to invest (kind of like credits, depositing money into your Kiva acount) with PayPal.
2. Look for projects all over the world, and find one you’re interested in. Each project shows the picture of the actual person you’ll be loaning money to, as well as a description of what they want to do. I assume Kiva helps translate what they want to say, working with other groups that are on the ground. Each investment project has a total they need to reach; they can’t begin until they reach the target. They’ve also recently started projects in the US; these tend to need more money in fund raising (to be expected), but there are also videos of each applicant, so you can get a better feel of what the person is all about. I wonder if we can visit those people to say hello.
3. Pick a project and invest. Like any investment, there’s no guarantee. You also won’t profit from your loan, it’s a pure loan $X, get $X back. It’s helping people!

For my first two investments,

(On, and I know the accents are getting killed in my blog, I’ve never been able to support accents in the actual blog posts correctly)

Ti?n Nguy?n V?n (20206050011) is a 28 year-old male living in the town of Yên Phong – B?c Ninh. Ti?n is the group leader of a 5-member group loan offered by SEDA. While each member of the group receives an individual loan, they all are responsible for paying back the loans of their fellow group members, if someone is delinquent or defaults. The official name of this borrowing group is Yên V? 03 (3).
Ti?n is married and has 2 infant children. To make a living, Ti?n owns & operates a business raising chickens for sale. Ti?n has been engaged in this business for over 5 years and earns approximately 3,000,000 VND a month from these activities.
Ti?n joined SEDA to gain access to financial services to help improve his living situation and to engage in business activities. Ti?n is requesting a loan of 5,152,000 VND to purchase livestock feed & other supplies. This will be the 1st loan taken out by Ti?n from SEDA. He plans to use the additional revenue generated to improve and expand his business.

Bình Nguy?n Th? (254991509) is a 51 year-old female living in the town of Sóc S?n. She is married and has 3 adult-aged children. To making a living, Bình owns & operates a business venture in the agriculture sector raising livestock. While not the only means for generating revenue, the main source of income for the business comes primarily from raising fish for sale. Bình has been engaged in this business for over 10 years and earns approximately 5,500,000 VND a month from these activities.
In 1996, Bình joined TYM Fund to gain access to financial services to help improve her living situation and ability to engage in business activities. Bình has successfully repaid a previous loan of 20,000,000 VND from TYM Fund. This previous loan was used to renovate an existing shelter for the her livestock. Bình is now requesting a new loan of 20,000,000 VND which will be used to purchase baby livestock to raise & sell in future. The loan will be the 10th loan taken out by her from TYM Fund. Bình plans to use the additional revenue generated from the business to improve/expand her business.

I don’t really have deep reasons why I decided to invest in these two particular projects, I just felt like it. I wanted to invest in Vietnam just because… Nguyen Thi Binh is the name of a good friend, so that was one. The other was I just wanted to pick someone who hadn’t gotten a loan before; a lot of people had received multiple loans before.
The loan repayment period for both is slightly over a year, so I guess I’ll just be waiting around and seeing how these people do over time. Since I live in Vietnam, I wonder if I could somehow visit these people, not really to make myself known, but just to see the real use of the money.

©2009 I Spit Hot Fire. All Rights Reserved.

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You have to at least love the nickname! Vote ends Thursday, 4PM.

The Giants are good again, I kind of want to watch some baseball. But that is impossible from Vietnam.

©2009 I Spit Hot Fire. All Rights Reserved.

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Continuing from my previous thoughts on the draft, nothing much happened except for the Rubio craziness in Minnesota. I think it would have been a great draft for them if they had picked up Curry to play with Rubio, but now everyone is waiting to see what’s going to happen.

Somehow, though, the Warriors lucked out and got Stephen Curry. I wasn’t so into him for a long time, never even watched any footage, but now, I am SOLD. I still would like Rubio- I’d trade Ellis straight up for Rubio and some garbage to make the money work out and play them both together, but I have never heard the Warriors having any interest of him. As for Monta, I’m just down on him. My feeling is he is what Hai would call a “loser”. That’s a guy who will have great stats and look fantastic on paper and on video, but doesn’t really win games. That could be because of stuff that doesn’t show up in the stats, such as poor defense, ball hogging, being a poor teammate, etc. He classified Jason Richardson as one, and I have to agree, even though I LOVE JRich. These are the guys who could have the stats of a #1 star, but you cannot win with them as your best player, they probably have to be your 3rd best player.

And that’s how I feel about Monta right now. If you look at his DraftExpress scouting report back from his high school days, it could easily apply today:

He’s a 6-3 SG with absolutely no PG skills whatsoever. That will limit his potential to contribute minutes initially unless he ends up on a horrible team. In the long term, though, he might not have the instincts or mentality to even become sufficient in this area. When he does try, his passing skills are average to below average. He forces the issue constantly, freezing out his teammates and showing absolutely no interest in getting anyone else involved. Although he is very young, his basketball IQ appears to be limited at this point, running into brick walls time after time while his teammates wave their hands and shake their heads in disgust. He does not appear to be interested in making an assist unless it’s of the Sportscenter top 10 variety. He will often bring the ball up the court and immediately jack up a shot, before even looking in the direction of his teammates. The concept of running set plays is completely foreign to him, not being capable of doing anything in a half-court offense at this point except create his own shot off the dribble or drive and dish after drawing a crowd. He looks disinterested in what’s happening around him unless the ball is in his hands, as his off the ball movement is extremely poor.

…

Although most scouts I’ve talked to about high school basketball prospects don’t really seem to care about this, his defense is horrendous. Ellis puts absolutely no effort into playing on this side of the ball, and just doesn’t seem to understand the importance of stopping his man. He gambles on steals (he can be very quick to get out in the passing lanes), gets lost on rotations, gives up on plays completely once he gets beat, gets torched on the perimeter in man to man defense and refuses to rotate or play any type of off the ball defense. He did show some glimpses of potential in the all-star games when his back was against the ball and he had to perform well to have any shot at being able to declare for the draft, but nothing when he had the choice. He’s got all the tools to be an excellent defender if he puts his mind to it, but he has to put his mind to it first.

His intangibles are also somewhat questionable. Ellis has consistently shown a poor attitude and immaturity, pouting when things don’t go his way or when the ball isn’t in his hands for more than 5 seconds. He refused to shake anyone’s hand at the end of the McDonalds game, because he was mad at his coach for not giving him more minutes at the PG spot (see links). His body language on the court looks very poor at times, while his quotes in the media make him look like an extremely cocky and arrogant young man. If he’s already so full of himself at this point, when basically no one outside of NBA draft circles and Mississippi State fans knows his name, what’s he going to be like in 5 years?

Those were his weaknesses logged in 2005. In 2009, can we say anything has changed? Monta is a super exciting player, and he’s still young, but what I wonder most about him if he will ever want to go after it defensively and if he really cares about winning in terms of the effort you don’t see shown in stats. He’s already been complaining and it’s rumored he demanded a trade at season’s end and will want a trade if he’s not the starting PG. Maybe they can get him to relax and quiet down, but how long will that last?

But back to Curry and more optimism. The highlights below are fantastic. The main thing about what I see from him is that even though you hear complaints about his size and athleticism, he attacks relentlessly, even for dunks in traffic, driving, shooting. Some people don’t feel he’s a true point, but for the opinions I respect (DraftExpress, Bill Simmons, Dick Vitale, Don Nelson), they all believe he is a true point, so I believe as well.

And then we have the Amare the Warriors trade rumor.

Amare for :

• Andris Biedrins
• Brandan Wright
• Marco Belinelli
• (maybe Stephen Curry)
• (maybe Kelenna Azuibuike)

Two things that seem to be holding up the trade: 1) including Curry 2) signing Amare long term.

For me, 2), not as important. Sure, he can bail after one year, but I have my doubts about Amare (he may not be that much different from Monta), and if he bails, well at least you have a ton of money free for the cap. I like Andris, but the Warriors would suck with or without him, so I don’t mind taking the big risk and blowing things up.

1) Here, I’m not flexible. Don’t give up Curry. Giving up Kelenna is fine. I would even throw in a future lottery protected #1 if Amare signs long term. If the Suns refuse, The Warriors  need to find a way to deal with their glut in guards, but that comes later.

Here’s what the Warriors would look like ideally if this trade went through:

PG: Stephen Curry

SG: Monta Ellis

SF: Stephen Jackson

PF: Anthony Randolph

C: Amare Stoudemire

Bench: Maggette, Turiaf, Morrow, Watson

Maybe Turiaf starts at C to protect Amare and play D, while Randolph comes off the bench and plays extensive minutes. Either way, Turiaf would get a chance to play 30 minutes a game. Without Andris, a weak rebounding teams becomes weaker, unless Amare suddenly decides to become Barkley, but Randolph showed some energy late last year and potential as a double digit rebound guy. You really only have two defenders on the whole team in Jackson and Turiaf, but hopefully Curry will at least work hard, Randolph will continue to show the effort in rebounding and defending he did last year, and the team overall can hustle and create havoc in the passing lanes, and block a lot of shots (Amare, Randolph, and Turiaf could each potentially block close to 2 a game). Jackson is good in a point forward role to help Curry, and hopefully, Ellis would improve his ball handling skills in terms of passing and creating for others. Maggette off the bench is fantastic; I have no doubt he could be a 6th man of the year. Morrow is a dead eye shooter who can out up 10 points efficiently in 15 minutes, and Watson is a legit backup PG. What they realistically would need is another defender, a versatile perimeter one like free agent Shawn Marion. Unfortunately, Marion hates Amare, and the Warriors don’t have money, so that’s a no, but basically looking for a guy who doesn’t need the ball, can play D, finish or shoot open 3’s, and rebound.

And, I just noticed that Turiaf had a 2.3:1 Assist to Turnover ratio last year. He’s a Center!

To celebrate the Amare potential, here’s this classic matchup between Adonal Foyle and Amare a few years ago, in a game I actually went to.

©2009 I Spit Hot Fire. All Rights Reserved.

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(Yes, I scheduled this post to go up right before the draft)

I can accept the Warriors won’t find a way to get my new mancrush Ricky Rubio, so the only other person who I’m interested in is Terrence Williams. He’s athletic, can really pass (5 assists per game in college, most PGs can’t even do that), and can defend. He could be the next Iguodala (very similar skill set coming out of college) or maybe even Sprewell (people may say I’m crazy, but Sprewell was rated low in college) He can’t shoot or really score, but I think he can develop that, and when you’re on a Don Nelson team, if you can run, dunk, defend, and pass, you’ll be fine. The Warriors could use more passing and defense anyway even if its considered a reach to get him at #7. He played 4 years at a big basketball program (Louisville), so I think he can step in and contribute immediately.

And yeah, can he dunk……

In the last few drafts, here’s whom I wanted for the Warriors

• 2008: Kevin Love. Good!
• 2007: Don’t remember. Probably Yi or Corey Brewer. Oops.
• 2006: LaMarcus Aldridge and then Rudy Gay when I saw him slipping. Grizzlies got him so the Warriors ended up with Patrick O’Bryant. Enough said. 2006 was seriously a weak draft.

What the Warriors need to do this offseason:

• Trade Jamal Crawford or Corey Maggette. Either would be pretty good as an offense only 6th man. Unfortunately, the Warriors have both, and they both make a ton of $. No way Crawford opts out.
• Keep Brandan Wright. They can’t get good trade value out of him anyway, so might as well give him some more opportunities. He’s not like O’Bryant who was lazy and never could play, Wright’s been injured, but has shown promise.
• Warriors just need to get rid of swingmen. They have plenty of good ones, and they’re probably going to draft another one anyway. So try to burn through Kelenna Azubuike and Marco Belinelli if you have to, even if I do like both of them. There’s just only so much playing time to be had. I would guess Kelenna has the most value of the Warriors guards, considering talent, potential, and current salary. Morrow is worth holding on to over Kelenna to see how far he can improve.
• Here’s the list of shooting guards (including non-true points) and small forwards they have that are pretty decent and could probably play 20 minutes a game on a good team: Azubuike, Maggette, Crawford, Stephen Jackson, Anthony Morrow, Monta Ellis, Marco Belinelli and (maybe he’s a stretch at the moment). That’s 7 guys! You basically add two more guys, and that’s a normal NBA rotation. But out of all them, only Jackson defends, and none really can run the team. They need to find a way get rid of at least 2 of these guys (or maybe 3 if they draft another one)

Predictions! This is all just for fun, like I know anything.

• The Warriors will disappoint me, and do none of the above
• Blake Griffin will not be the best player to have come out of this draft
• There will be no crazy draft deals, though I want there to be. Shake it up! [Edit: I wrote this before the Jefferson and Miller/Foye deals. I guess I was wrong, those were some decent deals]
• At least 3 of the highly touted lottery PGs (Rubio, Brandon Jennings, Stephen Curry, JRue Holiday, Jonny Flynn, Tyreke Evans) will suck (never be starters on a decent team- Sebastian Telfair is an example) or not play that position (that only applies for Tyreke really).
• When I think of Stephen Curry, I think of BJ Armstrong. That’s based on nothing other that ill informed perceptions though. DraftExpress really likes him, so I’d be willing to believe in him as a Warrior
• Ty Lawson, the 7th of the 6 lottery PGs, will be a better player than at least two of the PGs who go in front of him
• Updated busts, these are the lottery guys who I guarantee (again, means nothing, but I say it like it does) will be full time starters in the NBA fo r a decent team:
• Jordan Hill -  people think he should go to the Warriors. I don’t know if he’s any good, but I do know he’s an athletic rebounding power forward who can’t shoot, pass, rely on a good low post game, or play good defense. Yeah, he maybe has a better body than Anthony Randolph and Brandan Wright, but is he really any more talented?
• Hasheem Thabeet – Hasheem will almost have to be a starter by default because he’s 7’3 and a Center, but will not live up to his top 3 draft ranking
• DeMar DeRozan – people should stop using the Vince comparison.
• Gerald Henderson – went to Duke. I’m just saying…..
• 3 of the PGs above

©2009 I Spit Hot Fire. All Rights Reserved.

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I agree with In-N-Out. For non burger joints, I’m a big fan of Chipotle, but I’m not sure I’ve been there (in my return trips home) since I left the US in 2006. I think Jin said he liked Wendy’s, but I haven’t been a fan theirs since I used to get their $.99 baked potato over on Capitol Road (I think it’s gone now) in San Jose when I was a kid- that was 15 years ago.

Back to In-N-Out though, I’ve been wanting to check out In-N-Out Burger: A Behind-the-Counter Look at the Fast-Food Chain That Breaks All the Rules, just newly released.

In-N-Out Wins Best Burger In Zagat’s Fast Food Survey

By Meg Marco, 3:22 PM on Thu Jun 11 2009, 11,128 views

The results of this year’s Zagat’s Fast Food Survey are in and Wendy’s is the top "Mega-Chain" (over 5,000 outlets) and In-N-Out burger the best large chain (up to 5,000). When asked which outlet had the best burger regardless of number of locations — In-N-Out came in first with Wendy’s at #2.

Here are a few more results:

Best Burger:

1. In-N-Out Burger
2. Wendy’s
3. Burger King
4. McDonald’s
5. Whataburger

Best Food (up to 5,000 locations):

1. In-N-Out Burger
2. Panera Bread
3. Papa Murphy’s
4. Chipotle
5. Chick-fil-A

Best Food (over 5,000 locations):

1. Wendy’s
2. Subway
3. KFC
4. Taco Bell
5. Pizza Hut

And finally, because this is Consumerist:

Best Value Meal:

1. McDonald’s
2. Wendy’s
3. Taco Bell
4. Burger King
5. Arby’s

Check out all the results at Zagat.com/fastfood.

Consumerist – In-N-Out Wins Best Burger In Zagat’s Fast Food Survey – In N Out

©2009 I Spit Hot Fire. All Rights Reserved.

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Stupid Warriors, make nice with his agent (Dan Fegan hates the Warriors) and find a way to get Rubio, and I will forgive the Chris Webber trade!

For more, see his DraftExpress Profile.

©2009 I Spit Hot Fire. All Rights Reserved.

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It’s hard to really describe how I feel. Like most people, I’ve read about suicides in the news, and what’s normal for friends and family is to say that they’re in a state of shock over what happened.

Now that it’s close to me, I am shocked. I am bewildered. There is something in my mind that just refuses to believe it. This is something you read about in the news or see in movies, to know that someone you knew was having such a difficult time in life, that death was the only option, for me, perhaps I have a certain immaturity that I just can’t grasp my mind around it. A friend told me he had been diagnosed with clinical depression, but it frustrates me just to imagine how difficult things must have been for him. What I fear the most, and think about almost every day, is something that was his only resort.

I had known Landon for a little over two and a half years- he was one of the first people I met upon my return to Vietnam, and he was the one who made the introduction to my current work place. I was certainly not a close friend, but I did consider him a friend.

He was, almost literally, fun. So outgoing, so social, yet such a good guy in the sense that when you talked to him you could tell he was listening, he was interested, even if you’re someone like me. There was always a depth to him as well, however, a seriousness about him that let you know he was serious about the world, he knew what it was. He was incredibly talented, he was someone on the path of a superstar; if you learned about his background, you couldn’t help but be impressed by all his accomplishments: superb athlete, incredible student, doing well in his career in Vietnam, you had no doubt that his prospects in life were bright. He’s one of those guys who intimidate you, someone you can’t help but feel inadequate to in comparison, yet he’s the one to reach out to you to welcome you in.

The last time I talked to him was last November, right around his birthday. I saw him in May when I went to see Star Trek, but didn’t say hi because of the crowd. He was just a couple of weeks older than me and his death strikes me with fear as I think if the world was too much for him to handle, for one so young, do I really have a chance over the long run? It seems so…ridiculous or just unfair, for lack of a better word, to me that there are conditions in life that can’t be stopped, cannot be overcome for many people and end in such sadness.

Landon, I do not know where you are now, but I hope that you have found the internal peace you deserve.

You were a friend.

I will remember you.

©2009 I Spit Hot Fire. All Rights Reserved.

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Nha Trang is a beach city about an hour flight away from TPHCM. When you’re getting there by plane, the trip into the city is quite pleasant as the roads are good and not crowded. It reminds me of getting to Kuala Lumpur from the airport by taxi, and it’s definitely much nicer than going into TPHCM or Hanoi. One thing to note is that it rains a lot in Nha Trang; both of my trips there have been filled by rain, despite being during two different times of the year.

I stayed at the Green Hotel for about $60 a night. That’s a bit expensive for me, but overall, the room was good. Their breakfast buffet (included with the room), however, is terrible.

Regarding food, as I write this, I can’t really remember where I ate or find my receipts to give recommendations. If I find the information later, I’ll just add it to the comments or edit the post, but if you ask a taxi driver where all the seafood restaurants are, they should take you along a long stretch of road near the beach. There’ll be a number of restaurants, and that’s where you’ll find Muoi Do (the name translates to “10 Dollars”), a great seafood joint where locals go (it’s the most crowded). Good pricing, and they can cook- it was the best of the four restaurants we went to for seafood, and no more expensive.

Here’s more about the various things you can do in Nha Trang:

1) Thap Ba Hot Springs:

The Thap Ba Hot Springs with its Mud Baths are one of the key attractions to the city, both for Vietnamese and foreigners. Brochures for the springs claim that it has been certified by the government for its health benefits and at about $13 USD per person for the basic mud bath, it’s interesting enough to try. You can lay in a warm mineralized mud solution (it’s definitely mud) that’s been soaked in the natural spring water of the area for about 30 minutes to let the minerals sink in, supposedly improving arthritis, skin, and a bunch of other things- basically, it’s supposed to do you some good. Whether it does or not, I won’t argue that, but it is nice and relaxing. If you’d like to spend more money (I did), you can get a spa treatment (getting both the spa and mud bath runs close to $30 USD per person) in which you get to lie in a spa tub filled with mineral water after the mud bath. You also get a foot massage as part of the deal. Overall, I liked it, but I wouldn’t come to Nha Trang just for that. It’s something unique, though, and is nice if you’re in Nha Trang already with the goal of relaxation.

2) Island Tours and Beaches:

Nha Trang, despite being a popular beach destination, does not have good beaches. Even going to separate island beaches, there’s nothing like what you will find in Thuan An or Lang Co near Hue. There are a number of companies offering one day tours, you’ll probably see brochures at your hotel.

3) Scuba Diving:

Scuba Diving, unlike the beaches, is a good reason to come to Nha Trang. There are number of PADI-certified services and you can get quality instruction and even become licensed yourself for relatively (compared to the US) cheap rates. This is the one thing I wanted to do on the trip but couldn’t, mainly because of the rain. There are a quite a few different companies offering their services there, and I suggest walking around downtown to find the right one for you, but here’s one website: Scuba Zone

4) Vinpearl:

Vinpearl is an island resort off of Nha Trang that combines amusement park, water park, and hotel resort in one. Unless you want to stay at the hotel (over $100+/night), you can get to the island by taking the world’s longest over ocean cable car for 300K VND ($17 USD). That may sound a bit expensive for Vietnam, but once you’re over there, you have access to everything for free, excluding the normal food and shopping.

That’s not too bad at all, but at $17 per person, you’re definitely touching upon the Vietnamese middle class.

Vinpearl is a great place for a families. It’s clean (the water park, anyway, if not the arcade) and reasonably safe. At the same time, I can’t recommend being there for more than 2 days, and I personally think one full day is more than plenty. Do be prepared for a lot of walking, however.

At Vinpearl you’ll have access to:

• Beach and Water Park: Waterslides! I love them. They are legit, not a ton, but a definite few worth going on, as well as kids/family slides. There’s also a small beach here, but it’s a bit rocky and uncomfortable to walk through.
• Rides: This is more county fair style, with carousels and generic spinners, nothing with tracks.
• Aquarium: I imagine that this aquarium is the best in Vietnam. It reminds me a lot of the one in Kuala Lumpur, Aquaria KLCC, which is quite nice. This along with the waterslides are the best parts of Vinpearl. Definitely cool for young kids, but wish people would stop tapping the glass.
• Restaurant: Thuy liked the food here as she’d been here before, but I did not end up eating here. There is a set dinner they have for less than $10 USD that sounded interesting, however.
• Arcades and 4D rides (3D + vibration): I like the arcades here, got to see a lot of newer and older games. There are a LOT of games, but there are a lot of people there playing as well. Part of the problem is that it’s completely free, which sounds good, but people have the tendency to hog machines as if free means "my personal machine as long as I want”. They also have 4D rides, which are small movie theaters that show various movies in 3D while you side in vibration enabled seats. If you’ve ever been on the Days of Thunder ride in Great America in Santa Clara (CA, USA), and imagine it with 3D that would be it. I didn’t go on the rides, but imagine it would have been cool.

See more pictures from my trip below or go straight to my gallery on Smugmug:

©2009 I Spit Hot Fire. All Rights Reserved.

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Ricky Rubio! (pictured)

Oh I wish.

Time to share my love of the NBA Draft again.

About 3 weeks left. The Warriors, as usual, are absolute trash, and as usual, did not get lucky and move up in the draft. They are also over the cap, have a coach who will bail anytime now, have a front office that is basically evil, and there is no hope for the fans.

So I am depressed.

But here’s a list of players I like, and to be balanced, players I simply don’t like, picking not just from the low ranked players, but also trying to predict busts from the top.

FTW! I mean, For the Warriors!

Legit:

• Ricky Rubio, PG (ranked in the top 2): 18 year old PG. Can legitimately defend, has good size and is a true PG. I would temporarily forgive the Warriors for their sins if they moved up and got him. I would almost move back to the US and buy an 8 game ticket package- that’s how excited I’d be. Of course, Rubio’s agent, Dan Fegan, hates the Warriors front office, and the front office, him, so Warriors fans are again f*cked.
• DeJuan Blair, PF PITT (top 15): He mauled Hasheem Thabeet head to head even though he’s about 8 inches shorter. He’s got a great wingspan and a motor. I really like guys who work it and bust ass.
• Ty Lawson, PG UNC (top 20): a part of me wonders if he is like Greg Anthony- looks better than he is because of his great teammates (Anthony played with Stacey Augmon and Larry Johnson), but I think he will be much better than the spot he’s picked at. I really wonder why he’s rated so low, and I don’t buy the argument of size because other players (Flynn, Jennings) are small as well but ranked much higher. Lawson has improved every year, played great in UNC’s championship run, and is a good leader.

To me everyone else is a crap shoot, and I don’t really care who the Warriors pick if these guys aren’t it. What I really hope for is they blow up the team. When you’re crap, the worse case that can happen is you’re still crap. And the Warriors have been crap so long, as long as they don’t trade or sign 30 year olds, I say just risk it. Go get Chris Bosh for one year if that’s somehow possible. Everyone can go as far as I’m concerned, but especially Monta, Corey Maggette, and Jamal Crawford. I’d take Baron back, no hesitation, even if he is showing alarming signs of slowing down. And I hope that Randolph, Brandan Wright, and Macro Belinelli (he plays defense now), can be given starting roles to show what they can really do. I love Andris as well, but he can go if necessary.

Busts:

• Hasheem Thabeet, C UCONN (ranked in the top 4): DraftExpress, which knows what it’s talking about, says this for Hasheem’s best case scenario: Samuel Dalembert. Also, I’ve learned my lesson from Emeka Okafor, another UCONN guy, and Okafor was much better in college than Thabeet was. I expect Okafor to be better than Thabeet in the pros as well. So I expect Thabeet to be something in the middle of Michael “Kandi Man” Olowokandi and Okafor. So, like DraftExpress said, Samuel Dalembert.
• DeMar Derozan, SG USC (top 15): Everyone compares him to Vince Carter. Sounds great, but Vince actually lit it up and stayed at UNC for three years. He could also dribble. Derozan cannot. In fact, no one says anything much about him other than he can dunk like Vince. What I really want to ask is, what’s the difference between Derozan and James White? Other than the fact Derozan hangs out with Master P and Lil Romeo, and because he’s only played 1 year, people still think he has potential.

I guess talking about just 5 players isn’t a real commitment, but this year’s draft class is just so bad. People feel it’s a bad draft, and I could easily say I think guys like Tyreke Evans, Brandon Jennings, and Jonny Flynn won’t pan out, but I don’t have a strong feeling either way, so I’ll stop here. I’m not even sure I’m high on Blake Griffin (can he be THAT much better than Carlos Boozer?) or Jordan Hill, either. James Harden should be a solid pro-I don’t think people think he will be a superstar, but he surely won’t be trash. (If you look at his good combine numbers, though, it looks like he’s a much better athlete than he’s given credit for) Austin Daye, I think he definitely has bust on him, as does BJ Mullens, but I don’t want to talk about people outside of the top 10 so much – just too easy to say those guys could be busts. Just to clarify, most of these guys I haven’t even watched play, but just using what I’ve seen in years past in terms of projections vs reality and trying to understand what’s most likely to happen here.

So those are my thoughts for this year, but let’s do a quick review of what I said last year just to show how dumb I am. The Warriors picked the player (Anthony Randolph) I hated most but he ended up being considered one of the best in terms of talent. Really came on strong at the end of last year. My thoughts last year were:

My hopeful Warriors-to-be:

• Kevin Love, 6?9 270 PF from UCLA
  • Love’s name is suggestive conditioning if you were to believe in Malcolm Gladwell. I haven’t seen him play, but to me, he’s a bruiser with skills. Won’t be a great athlete, but will work and isn’t afraid to kick some a**. Good passer, can do the dirty work. (2009 Update: GOOD CALL, after a slow start, he really showed what he can do)
• OJ Mayo, 6?4 PG from USC
  • Sure, my attitude on him essentially changed 360 degrees after I learned he was super smart. Nonetheless, when you watch him in highlights, he just seems like he’s super smooth. Would love to have him, would have to trade up big time for him, but maybe he could be Baron’s replacement. (2009 Update: GOOD CALL)
• Michael Beasley, 6?9 235 PF from Kansas State
  • He only had better numbers playing with lousier teammates in the same conference than Kevin Durant last year. He’s way out of reach for the Warriors, but he’d be insane as a Warrior. Of course, people have been mentioning Derrick Coleman with Beasley, so that’s a bit scary. (2009 Update: TOO EARLY TO TELL)
• Robin Lopez, 7?0 255 C from Stanford
  • Not a fan of his brother’s, but Robin is suppose to be more athletic, and very good defender. Just poor offensively. He’s definitely within range for the Warriors, they’d probably be stretching to get him, but I wouldn’t mind if they traded down to get him. (2009 Update: TOO EARLY TO TELL)

Who, please, DO NOT PICK:

• Anthony Randolph, 6?10 200 PF from LSU
  • When Tyrus Thomas came out a couple of years ago, I said another “Stromile Swift”. He’s from LSU, tall, thin, and athletic, and missing a ton of skills. Some people said that too, but most people said, “he’s gonna be great!” 2 years later, Stromile Swift ring a bell?
  • Anthony Randolph: Tall. Thin. Athletic. LSU. Missing a lot of skills. Like the other guys, bolting way early for the draft. Stromile Swift Part 3. Write it down. (2009 Update: WRONG or still too early to tell- I read Lamar Odom saying,”Hall of Fame” potential)
• Joe Alexander, 6?8 230 SF from WV
  • a white Jason Richardson who can’t shoot (2009 Update: GOOD CALL but still early)
• DeAndre Jordan, 7?0 250 C from Texas
  • The talent of a Jordan with the work ethic of (a dead) Andre the Giant. Laziness + Talent = Big Fat Ass.
• Every other center in the draft, including Brook Lopez, Roy Hibbert, JaVale McGee, Kosta Koufos. Every one of them sounds like bench warmer to me. At least Robin could be a quality 20-25 MPG backup defensive center. (2009 Update: Brook is legit, looks like I am flat out wrong on him. JaVale looks ok, but he did play on a terrible team. Roy and Kosta had their moments, and Robin was out of the loop mainly. Overall, TOO EARLY TO TELL)

©2009 I Spit Hot Fire. All Rights Reserved.

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Image by Keith Allison via Flickr

I’m no expert on anything, and like everyone I’m a genius in hindsight. But I’ll take any bet on the Finals this year (with Vegas odds) and go with the Magic. (Vegas Insider says “The Lakers come into the Finals as a -250 favorite to win the series (Bet $250 to win $100), while the Magic are +200 to win their first title (Bet $100 to win $200).”

I’ll keep my reasoning simple: People always talk about this or that as they key component to championships. It used to be a big time center, but since there are so few so good centers and also because of rule changes in how you guard on the perimeter, some say you start your team with a point guard.

I read an article (maybe John Hollinger on ESPN?) a few months ago though that suggests, in actuality, what NBA Champions all of have in common is a superior post defender.

Let’s review the last twenty years of champions from http://www.nba.com/history/finals/champions.html

• 1988-1989 Detroit Pistons:
  • Dennis Rodman was Defense Player of the Year twice with the Pistons, 8 times on the All-Defensive Team
• 1990-1992 Chicago Bulls
  • Horace Grant was Second Team All-Defensive four times. Of course Jordan and Pippen were supreme defenders, and Bill Cartwright was a big key for them defensively at Center as well.
• 1993-1994 Houston Rockets
  • Hakeem
• 1995-1997 Chicago Bulls
  • Dennis Rodman
• 1998 San Antonio Spurs
  • Tim Duncan, David Robinson
• 1999-2001 Los Angeles Lakers
  • Shaq (remember, he is a 3 Time All Defensive Team guy)
• 2002 San Antonio Spurs
  • Tim Duncan, David Robinson
• 2003 Detroit Pistons
  • Ben Wallace
• 2004 San Antonio Spurs
  • Tim Duncan
• 2005 Miami Heat
  • Shaq and Alonzo Mourning
• 2006 San Antonio Spurs
  • Tim Duncan
• 2007 Boston Celtics
  • Kevin Garnett
• 2008: Orlando Magic!!!!!!!

Every single one of these teams had a supreme post defender, at least an All-NBA second team post defender, with most of the teams having a first team All Defensive and even Defensive Player of the Year. In fact, only the Lakers and the Horace Grant Bulls did not feature a first team All Defensive post defender.

Introducing, then, Dwight Howard. 2008-2009 NBA Defensive Player of the Year.

The Lakers have Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum, but I’ve never heard them described as superior post defenders (certainly not All Defensive Team), even if their rebounding and shot blocking numbers look good.I read another article earlier this year (probably ESPN) that even Tex Winter, the Lakers’ assistant coach, believes the Lakers are overrated on defense- they can be good but are actually inconsistent.I heard an announcer mention this in the Nuggets series as well.

So, simple logic. Anyone out there want to take the bet?

©2009 I Spit Hot Fire. All Rights Reserved.

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I’ve covered some of the speed plugins that I like few posts ago, and I realize everyone already knows and uses All in One SEO Pack (SEO Optimization), Akismet (comment spam) and Google XML Sitemaps, so here are 10 great plugins that you may not know about:

(I’ve limited this to 10 so this post doesn’t get too out of hand, and in no particular order)

1. WPtouch iPhone Theme: This plug-in makes your site optimized (readability) for the Apple iPhone, Apple iPod Touch, Google Android and Blackberry Storm. I don’t have any of those phones, so I can’t testify on how good it is, but I think it’s always nice to be able to reach an extended audience.
2. MobilePress: Another useful plug-in to get your blog ready for mobile access.
3. WP-PageNavi: Wordpress blogs by default show next and previous to go backwards and forwards in the blog. Change this so it’s paginated as you would see in a forum, like the below at the bottom of my blog home page.

Page 1 of 94 1 2 3 4 5 » … Last »

4. WP Security Scan: “Perform security scan of WordPress installation.” Yeah.
5. Secure WordPress: Another good security-related plug-in to have. Remove common methods hackers use to analyze your Wordpress installation and find weaknesses that can be secured.
6. Twitter Tools: Let’s you set up your Blog with Twitter. I use it to update Twitter every time I write a new blog post, but you can also use it to add a widget to show your newest updates, update Twitter from your blog, and post daily/weekly compilation posts of your Tweets during that time. (This plug-in is not being used for Twitter update in the upper right of my blog, however, that one is part of the Imagination theme.)
7. Search Unleashed: You ever the search option (Ctrl-F) in Firefox 2 or 3, and you can highlight the search query on the page so you can find the text easier? Search Unleashed can do that for people who search directly on your blog automatically as well as for those who come to your blog after searching on Google.
8. Photo Sidebar Widget: There are plenty of Flickr plugins for Wordpress, but not many Smugmug ones. This is the one I use to preview new content from my Smugmug account.
9. Global Translator: As you can see below or in my right sidebar, you can translate my blog into different languages. Global Translator is a great plug-in in that it caches the translations so that when a user access them, they stay on your blog rather than be taken to a different website showing your site in a frame. This is also great for Search Engines because each new cached page in a different language is considered a real page and can be found by users searching in that language. To simplify what that means, imagine you write the blog post “More Wordpress Plugins to Live By” in English. That’s one page you’ve written now indexed. Now, you enable 10 (in the plug-in settings, you can pick exactly which/how many languages you want to support. I’ve picked the ten most common languages in the world in addition to SE Asian languages) translation languages in Global Translator. Through the plug-in, you will have effectively written 11 posts- the one in English, and the additional 10 in other languages. Users searching in their native language will find your post.

 

10. Comment Relish: This emails users who leave a comment for you automatically. Think of it as a follow-up “thank you” to those who comment. You can create a custom message to let users know how to subscribe to your blog or whatever else you’d like.

I’ve talked about this before, but I really recommend Windows Live Writer for composing your blogs.It’s like Microsoft Word for blogs- it’s easy to use, it’s free, and it has a lot of great features- spell check, drafts, image handling, blog preview within your theme, etc. I also recommend getting the Zemanta Plug-in for it- it will automatically find copyright-free photos for you to use in your new blog post, as well as suggest recent articles and links related to whatever you’re writing about in the post.

Download Links:

• Windows Live Writer: http://windowslivewriter.spaces.live.com/
• Zemanta for WLW: http://www.zemanta.com/download/livewriter/

Enjoy!

©2009 I Spit Hot Fire. All Rights Reserved.

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It’s a little like showing off your car in the US. Of course, the same traps that you find with car owners in the US exist here as well. The not-that-wealthy are the ones who often have the most expensive phones, while the truly wealthy just don’t really care. That’s similar to how in the US, it’s not uncommon to see someone who owns a car that’s half the value of his home.

Incidentally, showing off your phone is also a good way to lose it. I have a number of friends who’ve lost phones after taking them out and forgetting them somewhere.

With the LG Viewty (KU990), however, I get the feeling that you may come to the cafe and impress whomever you’re meeting, but by the time you’re done talking, the phone will be so worthless it won’t be even worth stealing.

Some background: LG phones in Vietnam have been quite notorious for their rapid depreciation in price. While more recent models are known for nice aesthetics and solid features, the actual phone (you know, for calling) quality is questionable, at least from the standpoint of reputation.

As an owner of a LG Viewty, I can understand the LG stereotype. I bought my Viewty new from the US last December. I got it for an outstanding price, it ended up being around $150 USD from a good deal of combined luck, patience, and smarts (I didn’t say it was my smarts, did I?).

At the time I got it, The Gioi Di Dong (can be translated to “Cellular World”), one of the premier big mobile phone sellers in Vietnam, was selling the phone for 7.2 million VND, or about $420 USD. Sounds like I did quite well for myself didn’t I?

Today, 5 months later, you can get it from a number of dealers for less than $175 USD. That’s nearly a 60% drop in price in five months!

And it’s not even a bad phone!

• Touch screen
• Good resolution screen
• 5 MP Camera
• Pretty decent looking

You might suggest that maybe there’s a new model coming out that’s affecting the price. That is true, the LG Viewty II is coming out soon, but not that soon to Vietnam- I would doubt anytime this year in fact. I am just astounded by this, but let me actually tell you more about the camera. Like I said, it’s really not a bad phone….

….It just isn’t a great one.

Review:

From a technical specs viewpoint, the Viewty is nice. Again, the 5MP Carl Zeiss-lens digital camera, external SD memory card support, very nice resolution screen, and touch screen. It’s not particularly thick or heavy (good things), and the phone is attractive at first sight. There’s even a qwerty touch keyboard you can use for SMS.

But:

• The touch screen is a little slower than you like. Navigating menus isn’t annoying I’d say, but you always know there’s a lag. In the end, it’s the touch is more about the cool factor than it is a great replacement for the key pad. No multi-touch as in the iPhone. The interface does crash as well. Not a lot, but perhaps once every 6 to 8 weeks.
• The qwerty touch keyboard only can be used for SMS. That may sound fine but remember when you need to edit or add new address books, add notes, or so anything with text. I have no idea why they did it this way, but it reduces the usability of the phone by at least half. The keyboard itself is pretty ok, but I get a good amount of typos if I’m not focused. I’m not sure if I can really blame the keyboard, or if it’s just me; I’ve never tried the touch keyboard on the iPhone so I can’t compare it.
• The PC software that comes with the phone is outdated, it definitely isn’t customized for the phone or for the modern PC and phone. Thankfully, however, you can find a new version of it (LG PC Suite 3) through http://www.mygreatphone.com/forum/software-discussion/13205-lg-pc-suite-3-a-4.html. I just found it yesterday myself, and it looks like this new version has added SMS backup, but you can’t even download the software through official means, so imagine how many people actually have the software.
• Limited SMS storage on phone. Not sure why phones don’t let your store as much as you have memory. I think some phones store on the SMS, which begs the question of why can’t you save it directly on the phone instead?
• Wish there was a better filter/search (or “a” way) SMS messages
• I wouldn’t say the phone is hard to use, but it’s slow enough and “dumb” enough in that it doesn’t encourage you to really explore all the parts of the phone and its features. Add to that my comment on the computer software that it comes with, and you’ll probably just be like me, using the phone mainly for calling and picture taking. I’m not a PC newbie by any means, but even I don’t want to put in the work to get media files working, cutting my own ringtones, etc.
• A lot of apps and features built-in, but see my comment above- just don’t have the urge to play around with the phone in detail because I don’t expect it to be easy
• Media files and music players aren’t just drag and drop into the phone, and then play on the phone. Expect trial and error, and tech support reading.
• Built-in 3G support, but not Wi-Fi. Built-in browsers and web apps. The problem for Vietnam is we don’t have 3G.
• The camera is considered one of the best 5MP camera phones available. I’ve read comments (on places like http://www.mygreatphone.com/forum/lg-ku990/) that people who don’t like the camera just don’t know how to use it properly. Perhaps that is true, but I never found any real “how to” guides on how take pictures properly with it. My overall impression of it is that it’s not bad. It’s still not as good as my 3MP Olympus Pocket Camera from 7 years ago, but it’s like a higher resolution version of the Sony Ericsson W800i camera (which were quite nice when they were released).
• Battery life is, ok? It can last maximum 2+ days on standby. The real problem for me is that I don’t think the battery indicator is accurate- it either shows full or it’s about to turn off on you.
• Call quality seems ok. I think I have more issues with MobiPhone than I do with the Viewty. I wish the phone were louder though. The strange thing is I have this issue with every phone I use, even if everyone else says the phone is quite loud. Am I deaf?
• The video camera has a 60 FPS recording option. It sounds fabulous, but I still haven’t tried it yet.
• This phone definitely belongs in a case. I would not expect it to last in your pocket battling it out with keys, but if you can find the right case (I like mine), it can add to the phone’s appeal. Incidentally, I got the case included for free with the phone, so it’s not like I live lavishly and indulge every fashionistic (not a real word) whim.

Overall, I do like the camera. I wouldn’t if I had paid $420 USD for it, but for $200, it’s a very good value, especially if you use like to use the camera.

©2009 I Spit Hot Fire. All Rights Reserved.

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Image via Wikipedia

I started writing this post way back in December. I noticed I had watched a good deal of movies from 2008 and I figured I’d summarize the best of what I’d seen. Then I thought, why not make an effort to see almost everything substantial from the year and post the article later.

It’s now basically June. Oops.

So that took a while, not because there were just so many movies, but so many movies that I didn’t feel particularly motivated to see, even if they were considered good. Slow going.

The basic guidelines for me to watch the movie were basically,

1. I wanted to see it (simple enough) OR
2. Considered “good”, by IMDB + minimum X thousand voters or received Academy Award consideration

Disclaimers:

• I am opinionated, but I’m also stupid, so I make no claims to what a good move actually is or should be, these are just things I liked better than others
• I have a terrible memory when it comes to watching movies- I can barely remember why I gave The Bank Job an 8, and am almost inclined to drop it to a 7- scores definitely depend on my state of mind and mood

So let’s revisit 2008, based from my IMDB vote history:

My top 5 movies:

1. The Dark Knight (ranked 10/10): Completely implausible in a real world sense, but absolutely plausible in a super hero world sense. Got snubbed in the Oscars because it was a super hero movie, but it’s much more than that- it’s the true nature of good and evil, there really is no “good” and there is no “evil”. It’s just relative to any given person or situation, in that moment of time.
2. Slumdog Millionaire (9/10): I thought Vietnam was poor. Not even close. A great soundtrack, story, and hero you want to root for. Even Mike, the anti-romantic, liked it a lot.
3. The Wrestler (9/10): Will convince you Mickey Rourke is not an absolute scumbag, and teach you everything you’ll ever want and need to know about pro wrestling. RIP Ultimate Warrior.
4. Revolutionary Road (9/10): Will someone give Leo an Oscar? I liked Kate Winslet more here than in The Reader.
5. Gran Torino (9/10): Let the racist in me like and appreciate the Hmong. Felt real.

Honorable Mentions (in no particular order, I mention these because they left a particular impression on me):

• Death Race: I really liked this. I ranked it a 7 on IMDB, yet gave Statham’s other movie The Bank Job, an 8, but would definitely rather see Death Race again before it. It’s just a well done action movie, I loved the spectator sport style (you’re the spectator), with ESPN and pay-per-view overlays.
• Definitely Maybe: I love Ryan Reynolds. Mancrush love.
• Kung Fu Panda: Surprised me how many Vietnamese people enjoyed this movie, clapping and going hysterical at the theatre. What jokes were lost in translation were somehow made up by hilarious reinterpretations along the way.
• Taken: Full bore action with a simple lot. Not a dumb plot, just simple. Liam Neeson is a bad ass.
• Get Smart: Really surprised me how much I enjoyed this. I really like Anne Hathaway.
• Iron Man: In my book, it earned an extra rating point on just how well it ended. Why can’t more movies do something like that? It ended when you didn’t want it to end, not when you knew it was coming.
• Redbelt: The last scene is just incredibly intense. And no dialogue!
• Rachel Getting Married (poster pictured above): Along with Penelope Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Anne Hathaway puts in the best female performance I saw last year. Had no idea of what the movie was like going in.

Here are my rankings for movies released in 2008 (73 in all):

©2009 I Spit Hot Fire. All Rights Reserved.

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In the end, after spending many hours reading and trying out different things, here are my suggestions. I won’t go into too much detail on everything, if you’re hard core, you’ll be able to read up by yourself, but let’s assume you just want to do some quick and easy things to noticeably help your blog site out.

That’s what this guide is for.

First, look into installing Firebug and YSlow (the screenshot above is YSlow running for my site) for Firefix: Firebug and YSlow (you need Firebug in order to run YSlow) are Firefox extensions from Yahoo that helps you understand how your site is slow. Oftentimes, it’s not just purely the max download size of your site that causes slowdown, it’s how the files are processed by your browser- the best comparison I can think of, though not entirely accurate, is traffic on a freeway. Let’s say you have 100 cars. If you have 5 lanes, 20 cars per lane may not be so bad. But if you put all 100 cars into just one lane, there will be major slowdown. Using tools like YSlow can help you see if you’re really using all 5 lanes for your web site. When running YSlow, remember to choose “Small Site or Blog” under “Rulesets" in the upper middle area of the interface. YSlow (Why Slow?) will give you a numeric grade based on how well optimized your site is (I got 100%!). Again, it doesn’t guarantee that your site is fast, it’s more about finding big issues that you may be able to fix and YSlow has great documentation to explain what each of their scores mean.

Of course, how to actually improve the scores is the hard part, so let’s identify some ways that can help with the common problems identified by YSlow.

1. PHP Speedy. PHP sites often use PHP Speedy in order to help quicken things, and guy who wrote it has done a Wordpress-specific version as well. I’ve compared it to other plugins or sets of plugins that do similar things, but PHP Speedy seems to to the best choice. Be wary of running multiple plugins that do the same thing, as that could could slower speeds. PHP Speedy by default loads JavaScript files at the top of your CSS, but you can hack it so it will load at the bottom (your site will feel like it’s loading faster). You can also let Speedy gzip and minimy (basically makes your files smaller) your site for smaller downloading size, though you should let your server handle that if possible, like in your .htacess file….
2. Your .htaccess is another big way to not only make your site more secure but also improve its speed. If you’re not sure what this is, basically look for this file in your root directory. Here are some optimizations in mine, which include Zlib compression, .htaccess file protection from outside access, some basic DOS-attack prevention, cache optimization, and ETags settings. If you get any errors, you may want to check with your Hosting Service to make sure they support all the settings below; it took me a long time to figure out which compression settings would work on Bluehost. Just paste this in your root .htaccess file:
   

   # php_flag zlib.output_compression On

   # protect the htaccess file
   <files .htaccess>
   order allow,deny
   deny from all
   </files>

   # disable the server signature
   ServerSignature Off

   # limit file uploads to 10mb
   LimitRequestBody 10240000

   #ETAGS/CACHE

   FileETag MTime Size
   <ifmodule mod_expires.c>
     <filesmatch "\.(jpg|gif|png|css|js)$">
          ExpiresActive on
          ExpiresDefault "access plus 1 year"
      </filesmatch>
   </ifmodule>

   # disable directory browsing
   Options All -Indexes

3. FastCGI: Ask your hosting service about it.
4. cSprites: cSprites uses a technique called CSS Sprites to eliminate multiple loading of images. Let’s say you have 10 different images on your post. Instead of making the browser download 10 images (browser has to ask the server 10 times, back and forth), you can combine all those images into 1 larger image. The user can’t tell the difference in terms of the images, but on the system, it’s usually faster overall this way. One problem I noticed, however, is that it may not work with caching plugins well…, which I discuss next.
5. Caching Plugins: Most people probably know about WP Super Cache. WP Super Cache is a super popular caching plugin, but I’ve been using DB Cache and Hyper Cache. Some people, including me, have tried using both together, and like the results. I have been using both for a couple of months and I like what I see so far. Like I said though, cSprites isn’t quite 100% compatible with caching plugins yet, but the author has said he’s working on a version that will be.

So there you go. If you don’t know how to install plugins or have a friend who can help, then I suggest not tampering with anything as if something goes wrong, you won’t know how to get the site back up.

As for I Spit Hot Fire, with these new changes you should hopefully feel that the site is fairly quick (especially if you’re from the US), but if you don’t let me know!

With the caching settings enabled in my .htaccess file, you should also notice that your browser downloads virtually nothing each time you come back to the site (see screenshot), really making things quick.

By the way, here are some sites that go into more detail about if your site code is validated (follows standards, is clean and causes no problems) and how fast your site really is:

• Techhive.Net / Xinu – Check your site’s PageRank, backlinks, feed subscribers, xhtml/css validation and more.
• Web Page Analyzer
• Is My Blog Working? – let you know the general loading speed of your site, if your site supports gzip and caching, etc.
• Web Page Performance Test
• Cache Testing – make sure your site lets your browser cache properly- critical for fast loading speeds on the second and following visits

Next: I’ll tackle some common plugins I like a lot, including security tools.

©2009 I Spit Hot Fire. All Rights Reserved.

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If there are two things I must have though (both are pictured- for some reason I always end up losing the chapstick wrapper), well there would only be one: chapstick. I don’t need high end chapstick, Walgreens-brand is just fine.

The other is Biore’s Pore Pack for Men, a little more optional for me, but I like it. I have a blackheads (on my nose) issue, though I am not sure why they’re not black. I guess they’re whiteheads? Why does this issue have to bring in race, I do not know.

In Vietnam, packs of 5 (use one a week) are sold for around 20K VND, about $1.20 USD. Worth it! In Hanoi, I’d get them from Citimart at Vincom. In Saigon, it’s been a bit harder for me to track down, but I did find them in District 2, at the drugstore on the second floor of the An Phu supermarket on the Thao Dien side.

The application is simple. Wet your nose. Apply sticker. Rub sticker to ensure adhesion. Keep for 20 minutes. Rip. Cry if painful (I never do though, because I am tough!). Repeat weekly.

To really ensure best results, though, I suggest applying one right after a shower. Don’t even wipe yourself dry- while wet, peel off the sticker and rub onto your nose. Dry yourself afterwards, hang out for 30 minutes to make sure the adhesive is as dry as possible.

Rip!

I would show you a picture of my results, but I think people are freaked out by stuff like that. I love looking at it though, it’s kind of amazing how more pores are suddenly clear. Each time I rip off the sticker, I want to see lots of clogged pores now cleared up.

The Pore Pack isn’t perfect by any means, however. Plenty of pores seem to be left clogged, especially on the front side of the nose, below the bridge. It’s much more effective with the sides of your nose, but overall, unless there’s a better product out there, I’m happy with the results.

Hey, Biore, do I get my free endorsement package now?

©2009 I Spit Hot Fire. All Rights Reserved.

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