The Garage Sale Blog Network

Gambling and Gaming Update - Transistor Radio

First, sorry for the lack of posts.  True to my nature, although I wasn’t posting my predictions and results, I was still making numerous bets on UFC and beyond.  The betting has stretched into the NFL and NBA respectively.  The roll currently sits at $300.00.  Of all the sports I have action on, I feel the most comfortable in the world of Mixed Martial Arts.  It seems to me that there are fewer variables.  I know I know, there are fluky punches just like fluky touchdowns, but this sport makes sense to me.

Let’s recap some of the bets I made, what I was thinking, and what happened.  Here we go:

UFC 90

I only saw one intriguing bet on this card.  For the most part, I avoid super heavy favorites as I find there way too much risk.  The match-up I keyed on was Fabricio Verdum vs. Junior Dos Santos.  Verdum had last beaten up on Brandon Vera, but I saw that he was coming in much heavier than normal.  Dos Santos was an unknown to me, but I read about his camp training with Noguiera and Anderson Silva.  That’s a crew that will have you ready.  Add to this that Dos Santos was a +450 dog, I had to make a play and did.  Dos Santos proved me right with a huge knockout in the first round.

WEC 36

This card will be known for Urijah Faber getting KO’ed by Mike Brown, but I saw a much more attractive bet on the undercard.  Rani Yahya vs. Yoshiro Maeda.  Yahya is a sub expert who I last saw taking Chase Beebe to a 5 round decision.  This is not to  be ignored and as I thought, Yahya subbed Maeda in the first.

UFC 91

I had a series of bets in this one.   I’ll start with the last and most shocking.  I bet that the Randy Couture Brock Lesnar fight would go past the halfway mark of round 3.  I was incorrect as you may now know.  Couture got caught with a giant punch just behind his ear in the second round and went down like a sack of potatoes.   This is that fluky shot I was talking about.  Now this is not to say that I thought Couture would win, but I was pretty certain that this fight would go deeper as Lesnar would be much more patient and Randy is Randy and just wouldn’t give up unless KO’ed.  Unfortunately for me and Randy, he was just that.

Kenny Florian vs. Joe Stephenson was a very easy fight to call.  Florian is just way too smart, too well trained, and gives it his all.  Easy decision for my betting purposes and he proved me right with a submission in the first.

The next two picks for me were straight up submission specialist calls:  Dustin Hazelett and Demian Maia.  Both excel on the ground and both won via submission in the first.  Hazelett by a crazy arm bar out of an omoplata.  The kid is sick.  Maia via rear naked.  Can’t be stopped.  With these two, I don’t think it matters who they face.  It wouldn’t have to be a very elite level fighter or some crazy odds against to consider not betting on them.

I’ll be sure to post up the predictions on the next event UFC:  Fight for the Troops before December 10, 2008.

The $800 question: to buy the Sony Xperia X1a or not??? - Transistor Radio

I have a sick fascination with gadgets, but maybe not quite the budget to afford or fully demonstrate this.  The latest item to catch my eye:  The Sony Xperia X1a.

This smartphone has been pimped and pumped before my eyes on the intarwebs for nearly a year now.  I almost can’t take it, but just last week it showed up on www.sonystyle.com for pre-order priced at $799.99.  I guess it was available before, but this was the international not quite guaranteed to work in the US spectrum version. 

So the question bugging me now is:  do I pull the trigger, pull out the plastic and ring it up?  Is this phone worth $800+?  Is any phone for that matter?  If I think of it as a computer, maybe it’s not so pricey.  But then again, more powerful computers don’t cost this much. 

Considerations:   it’s sexy, but is it as sexy as a iphone 3g?  Well, I need winmo for work, so that’s shuts out the iphone and also I have an unhealthy aversion to buying things that I think the “masses” have.   I’ve always liked Sony Ericsson phones.  4 out of my 6 cell phones have been SE phones.  The interface is great, but again this is a pretty Windows Mobile interface.  I do expect it will play nice with multimedia.  Hmmm….

The only way to really know is to get one I suppose.  If anyone’s got any opinions, post up some comments so I can weigh my options. In the meanwhile, check out these vids:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBjV2fYWlik

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8ZL2-QEFoM

and a sick voice command vid:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLAbwT521Fs

It was just HALLOWEEN TIME, did you dress up as Palin? - Goldfish in a Bowl

Goodness I hope not, that was one of the more hyped-up outfits of the year, and thankfully I didn’t see ANY Palin’s running around Vegas.

Did someone say Vegas? I heard Vegas and Halloween within the same paragraph-ish.

Alas, it’s true. I, as well as fellow blogtastic Nintendo Power Glover Matt were there (separately, although we did cross paths at Dan Marino’s Wing Hut at the Hooters around 2am) celebrating the holiday with excitement, crazy costumes, and drinks. Lots and lots of drinks. So instead of talking about relevant and important issues, like the recent election, the UK’s slash in interest rates by 3%, or that crazy rabid fox that attached itself to a runner in Arizona this past week, I’ll be giving my thoughts on Halloween, Vegas, and on whatever randomness I feel like.

Best Halloween Costumes I Saw:

1. Rubik’s Cube: Now, I’m all about constructing your own costume and whatnot, but I’m pretty anti costumes that get in my way when walking around, hence my dislike of ever wearing wings. But the Rubik’s Cube…SHEER GENIUS. I mean, it was perfect. The guy seemed relatively agile in it (clearly he had been practicing walking around in costume at his local mall), it was well built (IT MOVED!), and the guy was never without a drink in his hand. Bravo!

2. Green Man: OMFG GREEN MAN?! Seriously, I had to take a picture with him I was so excited. “Always Sunny In Philadelphia” is one of my favorite shows, and this ode to Charlie’s “Green Man” was just…wow. Not sure what Green Man is? Seriously, click HERE, be amazed.

3. OLD GREGG: Words do me no justice. Just WATCH

What I Wish I Had Seen: 3 hole-punch Jim from “The Office”. I don’t know why hat cracks me up, it just does.

Vegas Clubs: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

1. Rain (The Good): Paul Oakenfold spins there. To make it better, he brought DAVID GUETTA up on stage with him. Now, I’m by NO MEANS a club rat, but even I know who he is. Does it get any better than this? Hell no. Ok, maybe the falling possibly toxic foam was a little…umm…scary, but it was Halloween, right? I should prolly get checked out by a doctor, some of that definitely fell into my drinks.

2. Tabu (The Bad): Now, Tabu isn’t THAT bad, I mean, it’s kinda trasher as far as Vegas clubs go. It’s like the Jersey of nightclubs; you know it’s there, you don’t really want to go, but sometimes you get bullied into it. So naturally, upon entering the bar, we did Jager Bombs. I mean, come on, how can you not?

3. Studio 54 (The Ugly): On Halloween night, we waited in line. Mind you, this is a mediocre club to begin with, but NOT worth waiting in line for that long. So, we split to find bigger, better things, like seeing fat chicks in rainbow-brite costumes and blackjack tables. So take THAT 54. Pffffffffff.

Gratuitous Shout Out To Best Mash Artist Alive:

Girl Talk. BOUNCE THAT.

Halloween Traditions I Wish Would Die:

1. Giving out toothbrushes to trick-or-treaters. This was the worst thing that could happen to you on Halloween, next to being Silly-Stringed by the older, popular kids or having to be chaperoned by your mother at the ripe old age of 13. Who the hell is gonna even USE your crappy Crest toothbrush anyways Mr. Dentist? I’ve got a pretty sick Oral-B waiting for me at home thankyouverymuch. Now where’s my damn Kit-Kat bar?

2. People who decorate their front lawns with fake spider webs. Unless you’re a professional set designer or work as a window display bitch at the Macy’s, chances are you are going to DO IT WRONG. When was the last time you ever saw a spider web that was clumpy and looked like someone’s cat destroyed a throw pillow. Never you say? Shocking.

3. Scary Movie Marathons: Hey, TV networks! Halloween stopped being scary over the age of 6 a lonnnnng time ago. I do not care to watch “Pet Cemetery II” on repeat tonight, nor do I want to see “Saw 32” at the local Cineplex. NEXT.

Totally Necessary Information For You, The Reader:

In case you haven’t heard, the GSBN will be having a totally bitchin’ garage sale/drinking party on Saturday, November 15^th in the Mission on 19^th St. (message the network for details). Sale starts at 9am, bring your junk, bring your PBR, and most importantly, bring your smiles, because that’s what really sells random crap.

That’s all from me folks, be sure to tune in next week when I’ll be discussing the pitfalls of finding roommates on Craigslist.org, and how their recent crackdown on their prostitution ads has affected it. Good day.

Stumble It!

California Prop 8 and Religion Just Might Send You to Hell - Nintendo Power Glove

Here in California, Proposition 8, which is the ban on gay marriage, has just passed 52.2% “Yes” to 47.8% “No”. I can’t help to attribute a great deal of the “yes” votes to ideals stemming from religious beliefs. In fact, according to this demographic, the highest groups that voted “yes” were McCain voters (84%), voters over 65 (62%), identify as conservative (87%), live in inland counties (57%), high school education (62%), and protestants (60%). Some articles say that Obama’s stance against gay marriage may have swung the votes in Prop 8’s favor due to the 70% “yes” black vote, but 73% of Obama voters voted “no”. Also, Obama said that even though he was against gay marriage, he was also against Prop 8.

To those who voted “yes” for religious purposes I say, did any of you stop to think that your blind following of a man-made religion might end up sending you to Hell, if such a place exists? Stop to think about it for a minute. Were the enslavement, rape, murder, and tortures during the Crusades, the Muslim Conquests, or the Reconquista justified because they were backed by religion? Maybe our “test” on this planet isn’t how faithful we are, but if we can tell the difference between right and wrong. Doesn’t that make more sense?

We don’t know if there’s a Heaven or Hell or if God exists, but one thing that we do know is that our fellow humans exist. How can we place worshiping a God that we’ve never met over the happiness and well being of our neighbors, relatives, friends, and co-workers with whom we have formed intimate relationships?

Religion has been wrong so many times in the past that it’s astonishing how people can still think that maybe “they” are right this time. Religious beliefs and practices only stand up as long as society will tolerate. Abortion is legal in all states. Premarital sex is everywhere. Nobody above the age of 13 feels guilty for masturbating. Everyone tells white lies. Tolerance, instead of forced conversion, of other religions brings us peace. And, soon, gay relationships and marriages will be as sinful as being born.

All we’re doing now is waiting for the old ideals to die out so that we can right the wrongs of our past.

Stumble It!