Today is my birthday. After having lunch and playing some pool I've just hanging out at my apartment sipping some drinking yogurt and enjoying the warm weather.
I'm getting the sense that my computer has begun the slow process of dying but I'm determined to make sure it survives another two years. At this point it is 3 years and 3 months old and it actually still runs really well. The problem is that if I leave my computer on for a long time without restarting applications start to hang and crash. The crash error code seems to indicate a problem with the RAM which isn't that big of a deal. If the RAM fails I can put the original RAM back in.
Yesterday when I was watching an HD video the video was stuttering badly and it seemed to be caused by the hard drive not reading data fast enough. Hopefully my hard drive doesn't fail. Everything is backed up but hard drive failure is always a pain. So in a worst case scenario I will replace the RAM ($50?) and the Hard Drive ($200?) and be back in business. Everything else is running great and aside from the filthy keyboard and strange discoloration I have no complaints about my laptop.
In the past two seasons I have really gotten back into NBA basketball. Listening to Bill Simmons' podcast revived my interest about a year and a half ago and now I'm following the season, and now the playoffs pretty closely. When the Sonics left Seattle my interest was at an all time low, but since then I have gone through the stages of grief and this season arrived at acceptance.
My family has always routed for the Phoenix Suns. I was born in Phoenix and my parents both lived and met there. Growing up we would always watch the Suns games on TV and the only NBA games I've been to in person were all at Key Arena in Phoenix. The peak of my interest in the Suns was in 1992 when they made it to the Finals against the Chicago Bulls. They were bamboozled by Jordan and lost the Championship and I felt cheated and really let down by them. Then there was a big lull in my interest. After Barkely left they didn't have any Super Stars and I started watching more college basketball and less NBA. I really liked Kobe Bryant when he entered the league so I began to watch lots of Laker games. I really didn't like Shaq though, more because of his terrible movies, video games, and hip hop videos featuring RZA and Method Man, than because of his playing. So I was glad when he left the Lakers and began to watch more of their games. But then Shaq got traded to Phoenix and I stopped watching Suns games altogether.
And for some reason I don't like LeBron either. Maybe it's the same thing as Shaq where it seems like he's just trying too hard to create a brand like Jordan. And I don't like watching him play either. I'm haven't really figured it out. I think maybe it's just because he's too big to be shooting threes. Not that he can't make them, but he someone his size looks weird shooting from out there. I get the same feeling watching him shoot a three that I get watching Pau Gasol shoot a three; 'oh no, what is he doing, get closer to the basket!'. I'm convinced LeBron's outside shooting is 90% luck. He should have played Football.
So this season has been perfect for me. I can watch LA and Phoenix play with all the good teams in the West and I can skip watching the players I don't like, Shaq and LeBron, play together on the Cavaliers against all the terrible teams in the East. The only team in the East I like this season is Chicago and after their playoff performance I'm adding the Milwaukee Bucks to the list. I also don't like any of the Texas teams. And how did Texas get three NBA teams? Plus one in Oklahoma? That is ridiculous. I know the state is big but Alaska is much bigger and they don't have a single professional sports team!
To continue with my birthday celebrations I'm going to watch game one of the Phoenix Suns and San Antonio Spurs series. I'm obviously rooting for Phoenix as they are my home team and, as I just said, I don't like any of the Texas teams. Among the Texas teams, San Antonio is the worst (probably because they are the most successful), Houston is slightly better (I like Yao Ming), and Dallas is approaching neutral. If the Mavericks moved to a different city I might even root for them on occasion.
