- Work has been about as close to "nonstop" as I can imagine since early last week. I'm so happy that next week is Thanksgiving, I could really use a couple days off. I'm also jealous of my sis and all the other U of I kids that get a whole week off, but that's another story.

- Happy birthday to the Goods. Glad to see you and all the whiteys, plus Rod at B-corn on Saturday.

- I am up by 1 pt against Chras going into Monday Night Football. Terrell Owens goes for me, Thai Streets goes for him. I will definitely be watching the game closely tonight, while occasionally checking "Average Joe".

- Over the weekend I finally saw Finding Nemo. It was pretty good, but I still think "Little Mermaid" is the best movie that takes place "under the sea". Even so, I liked a lot of things about this movie. For some reason, the seagulls in this movie were my favorite part. I guess I just thought it was hilarious the way they kept making annoying noises. Also, should I be worried that Olivia kept raving about how awesome Ellen Degeneres was, as the voice of that fish who had no short-term memory? Hmmm.....

Misc

- FINALLY, my fantasy football team got a win against Dave Chan. Even though I was up by 18 with Ahman and Bubba going in MNF against no one on his team, I wanted to wait until it was official before celebrating. I have to admit, I was a tiny bit scared when Ahman kept coughing the ball up in the 1st quarter last night, but good thing my whole team stepped up this week. Not even Steve Bartman could mess this one up.

- My sister has informed me that my screen name on her buddy list has a weird icon next to it when she signs on using AOL.com. She sent me a screenshot to show me, and it looks like this little puddle with a drop of water falling in it. Neither of us have seen that icon before, and we can't figure out what it's supposed to mean. Anyone out there with any ideas about what it is, why it only shows up next to my name and only my name, and why it never showed up until now?

- I helped Olivia move into a new condo over the weekend, and something about seeing her empty place and setting up all her stuff really made me want to buy my own house sometime soon. I think I will write more about this in the near future, my thoughts on eventually becoming a homeowner.

- The show "Average Joe" on NBC intrigues me. So far I have watched the first 2 episodes, and I don't know how to feel about it. The guys are all such tools, which makes for lots of funny situations, but then it gets a little uncomfortable at times too, cause you have to kind of feel sorry for them at some point. Then the girl, I feel bad for her too, but then I don't, because she is full of that "beauty is from within" and "looks don't matter" crap that all girls like to say but very few truly believe. I guess now is her chance to finally prove that she means what she says. Well, even though the show isn't that great, I think I will continue watching as long as it doesn't get canceled, at least to the point where they introduce the "new twist" that will supposedly change the entire game.

Top 10 Girls

I've made a bunch of lists in the past on my blog, covering a wide range of topics, but one major list I haven't posted is my top 10 hottest chicks. The main reason is, the list fluctuates a lot, and also, there's so many pretty ladies it's hard to narrow it down to just 10, without leaving someone out or forgetting someone. I probably sound like Ross in that one episode of Friends when he meets that one European celebrity after booting her off his list. But anyways, the comments in my last blog inspired me to finally buckle down, commit to a current list and post it for reference.

* Disclaimer: It might make me look superficial to be doing this, but please do not take this list too seriously and bash me for objectifying women.

10. Jennifer Aniston - I think I might be weird in this way, but there's a special place in my heart for nice female arms, and she has nice arms. Oh, her face and the rest of her body aren't too shabby either.

9. Heidi Klum - I like rosy cheeks too. Maybe it's just how she does her makeup, but in my view, that is the main characteristic that sets her apart from the others on this list.

8. Beyonce - Recently moved into the top 10. Before, I didn't think I was ready for that jelly, her body was so bootylicious.

7. Jennifer Lopez - Annoying as hell, but you gotta admit that she's top 10 worthy.

6. Aaliyah - Wasn't sure if I should include her, considering she's not even alive anymore, but I was always a huge admirer. Perhaps if she didn't die in the plane crash, she would be top 5. I don't know how the rules of my own list work.

5. Leann Tweeden - I don't know where she came from, but mostly I just see her hosting this one show on Fox Sports for extreme sports or something. I'm surprised she isn't on more guys' lists, cause she is definitely good.

4. Kristin Kreuk - She makes me want to watch Smallville and buy Neutrogena. However, I still don't do either. Sorry Kristin.

3. Posh Spice - Two words: SPICE-AY

2. Jessica Alba - Hmmm... looking at my top 10, I notice that 3 are married and one is dead. Yet, this has zero impact on the odds of me ever getting to date any of them.

1. Macy Gray - She's tasty and smokin fine!! Just kidding, again. That joke will get old eventually. Anyways, I'm sure you all knew all along the real #1 was gonna be...

1. Britney Spears - No doubt about this one. She has been #1 unofficially for the past 5 years or so. She's got that something, what can I do? By the way, check out the following site, it is intriguing and somewhat unsettling at the same time: http://mirrored.flabber.nl/britney.lookalike

*****

One thing about the list, there are noticably no Asians included, even though I have seen more than a few good looking yellow celebrities from my time spent across the Pacific that would have easily made my list. The reason I didn't list them is because 1) I don't know their names and 2) Nobody would know who I was talking about anyways.

It makes me sad that there are basically no truly good looking Asian chicks in American culture, because I have an Asian fetish. har har. Seriously though, the only one everyone always says is Lucy Liu, is that the best you can do? I guess she's not entirely horrible, especially compared to the other poor showings like Suchin Pak, Kristi Yamaguchi, and Lisa Ling (ruff ruff!), but I don't see how you could consider her to be pretty. Eyes way too chinky for my taste, among other things. She does salvage some points for being a fellow freckled Asian like me, but that is relatively minor.

So come on, Asia, where you at? I know you got more talent than what we're seeing over here. For starters, it's common knowledge that Taiwan alone is stocked to the core with the most beautiful people in the world, but we're just talking a tiny island here, out of an entire continent. What about Korea, I know there's more good old fashioned hotness like Hyori from Fin.K.L or Kim Hee Sun out there. Sung Hi Lee is a start, but a little too slutty. For whatever reason, Asia's just not representing all of its best over here, what can you do?

*****

At least Illinois and Arizona college basketball fans have one thing in common: we all hate Duke. The latest reason being high school recruit Shaun Livingston's decision to choose Duke over Illinois and Arizona. I've been requested by a certain Wildcats fan to relay the following message in my blog: "Livingston is a turd".

*****

Triumph the Insult Dog has an album now, called "Come Poop With Me". His first single is "I Keed" and it is pretty funny. I think I will have to pick up a copy of the CD sometime soon. For more, see http://www.triumphtheinsultcomicdog.com

Thoughts of a Old Home Video Watcher, and more

- Over the weekend when I was home in Darien, my family was watching some old home videos from the year we lived in Taiwan (1995). It really is amazing to see how much has changed in the past 8 or 9 years of my life. Physically, I was a 5 foot tall boy with a high voice and these huge nerdy glasses. It was my freshman year of high school at Taipei American School (TAS), and I was taking classes like Japanese 1 and Introduction to Computer Programming with Quick BASIC 4.5, taught by Mr. Paulson. In my free time, I would take the bus to the area in Taipei where all the pirated computer stuff was being sold at the time and hang out there, or go to the arcade and play Daytona USA for hours. I lived in this tiny room with no more than a desk, closet, bed, and computer, with my only source of entertainment being a mini basketball hoop. Now that I think about it, I still live in a tiny room with just a desk, closet, bed, and computer. The only thing is, I have no mini-basketball hoop, but I do have a TV.

Meanwhile, my sister was this bratty but interesting little kid, who liked to sing the jingle from the Taiwanese commercial for Juicy Fruit gum (OK I'll admit, I liked to sing it too). She was always getting yelled at by my mom for everything from not studying enough to eating too much junk food. I remember she even used to get yelled at because my mom didn't like her wasting time twirling her pen. Also, she was obsessed with Mariah Carey and had a crush on a guy named Mark at school.

Anyways, enough about that, I'm sure nobody cares to read about more of my old experiences. But I do wish that I had kept a blog or journal from back then, that I could go back and read about life through the eyes of 15-year old Joe. Hopefully, this blog I'm writing in right now will last for a long time, and I'll be able to someday come back and read about life through the eyes of 23-year old Joe.

- Another thought that struck me after watching the old videos was, how long time seemed to drag on back then. It was only about one year I lived in Taiwan, but I remember it as feeling like forever. Now, I've been at this company for over a year, and it honestly feels like the year passed in no more than the blink of an eye. When we first moved back, we had to stay at the house of our family friends for one semester school until we bought a place of our own. That also felt like a really long time, but semesters seemed to just fly by in college. Then I see the people here at work who are celebrating like 40 years of service, and I wonder if those 40 years felt like 40 years. Like, can they go back and identify any individual year and talk about what was so special about each year? Or does it all run together like one big blurry chunk of life experience?

I mean, most of us at this age can look back and pretty clearly define the different stages throughout their lives in 2-3 year blocks of time. Such as going through puberty, being a high school underclassman, when you wore braces, the rebellious stage, the awkward stage, etc. I know I could probably pretty easily tell you about each stage of my life in pretty good detail. But, how are we going to define the next 40 years of our lives? Will our 2-3 year long stages be stretched out to 5-10 year divisions? Is it simply going to be "twenty-something", then "thirty-something", and so on? And other than scattered big events that happen only once every few years, like getting married and having kids, changing jobs and moving, or retirement, what is actually going to distinguish one year from the next, during the rest of our lives?

- This morning while eating my daily cereal, I watched some of Star Wars Episode 2 which was showing on HBO. It reminded me of how terrible that kid is who plays Anakin Skywalker. Not that the acting in the originals was that great ("But I wanted to go to Tashi Station to pick up some power converters!!"), but how do you pair up the glorious Natalie Portman with that chump? It's just wrong...

- We should play football sometime soon. I probably can't this Saturday, but hopefully we'll be able to figure out a time that works for people in the near future, because I'm getting out of shape and I feel like playing. If anyone wants to get people together, feel free to do so, otherwise, you can all just let me know when would be a good day and I can try to set up a game. It should be easier than organizing softball, because we don't need as many people and equipment. So let's do it.

Fantasy Football Talk

It has now been about 2 months since my most recent loss (in a long string of losses) to Dave Chan in fantasy football. My all-time record against him stands at 0-8. Nevertheless, as our next matchup approaches this coming Sunday, I remain hopeful that maybe, just maybe, this will finally be the week that I break the curse. Also, not that beating Dave isn't important enough in itself, but the fantasy implications are big for me too. A win would put my team in a tie for 3rd and keep my season's hopes alive. A loss, probably put me in 7th and out of any realistic shot at contending for this year. Not to mention, I gotta wait until next season for another shot at breaking the curse. GO DUDALISKS! DON'T SEND ME HOME CRYING YET AGAIN!

Decision time (need to pick 4 of the following):

Santana Moss (@Oak)
Andre Johnson (@Cin)
T.J. Duckett (@NYG)
Olandis Gary (Chi)
Moe Williams (@SD)
Darrell Jackson (@Was)
Rod Gardner (Sea)
Justin Gage (@Det)

My thoughts on the situation:

I'm pretty sure I'll start Santana Moss, based on his performance and the BET factor. The Moe Williams story is a little bit spicy because Michael Bennett is being phased back from his injury, and Dave happens to be starting him against me. So, I could either start Moe and hope for some "kick in the balls" factor if he steals goal-line TDs from Bennett, or just avoid gambling on the situation and start someone else. Considering all the bad luck I've had in the past matchups, I'm leaning towards the latter.

Olandis and Gage are probably the weakest starts of that list, but I'm tempted to start them so I can watch my players on the local Bears game broadcast. I figure, if my players are gonna suck, I might as well watch them suck and be able throw stuff at the TV in anger. Also, I like Justin Gage's name. "Enemy approaching... what are your orders, General?" "Just In-Gage!!" harharhar

Other than that, I think Andre's Johnsons, T.J. Suckett, D-Jax, and Prod Gardner are pretty much a toss up. I'll probably end up making my decision by picking 4 names out of a hat. Seriously.

I might have to make a decision on my 3 defense guys too:

Brian Urlacher (@Det)
Roy Williams (Buf)
Ken Hamlin (@Was)
Derrick Brooks (Car)
Simeon Rice (Car)

I used to think Urlacher was a must-start, but he hasn't done jack for me this year. Too busy making crappy commercials, wearing his orange shoes, and dating Paris Hilton, I guess. How do you sleep at night, Brian, knowing that you are letting me down? "On top of a pile of money with many beautiful ladies"

Realistically, I will probably still start Urlacher, even with his mediocre play this season and knowing that he always gets owned by Cory Schlesinger. Roy will also probably start, and Hamlin is pretty much a non-factor at this point. So that leaves Derrick and Simeon Rice for the last spot. Derrick should get more tackles and would add another "kick in the balls" factor against Dave, with the McNown league history and all. But then again, Simeon Rice went to Playa University. The guy is averaging about a sack per game, and might be ready to bust out with some more big plays this week.