Infamous Pali Lookout

Infamous Pali Lookout
Originally uploaded by russdogg.
I finally made it to California. My homie Travis turned out to be on my same flight, but the punk sitting next to me didnt want to move to Travis' spot. As soon as I got home I found out my parents' new house is going to be finished in 5 weeks instead of 3 months like originally quoted. That means I've been hauling stuff back and forth to their storage unit for the last couple days, and trying to convince my dad to throw away old junk he's been hangin onto for years. Its been nice to be home again, but also more of a confirmation that when I do finish school I'm not gonna be living at home!

Hell week status: finally over

finally graduated... heres the proof!
Originally uploaded by me, Me, fool!.

Well, all week I've been trying to get all my finals done, and I finished my last math homework assignment at 8 on Friday night. Talk about cutting it close! My parents made it to the ceremony which was pretty cool. I still have 2 classes to take next semester, so I'm not officially done, but atleast the hard classes are done with!

My "final" finals

More fun than math, 10 sec. exposure
Taken by me, fool. Russdogg. Believe dat.

Been studying for finals and bored as hell. My new camera's given me new ways to cure that boredom. My parents came in today, and they're staying at Laie Inn. It soo ghetto, the blankets even have huge holes in em. I graduate in 4 days... hard to believe, huh? I don't feel any different, but I don't think that's the point. Someday I'll figure out just what the point was. Tommorrow is my class' art show, but true-to-form I didn't make the posters till yesterday, so we'll see if anyone even comes! Did I mention Steelers won again on Sunday? Barely beat Jacksonville with a kick in the last minute. Haha. eleven and "Oh", baby. Peace.

Pain can be for a good cause, right?

with finals this week and next week, my graduation ceremony, and my parents flying in soon for it, I've been super busy trying to finish all of my late assignments and homework I was to lazy to do months ago. In the midst of my hectic schedule, my roomates convinced me to join 24 Hour Fitness, a gym/health club. The way I figured, I'd be more likely to do stick to exercising if I'm paying for it. Its really really nice. Highly recommend it. I'm super sore though. I can barely lift my arms. but its all for a good cause, right? the best part by far is the fact that nobody bothers you, and you can dress however you want. (unlike my school's gym, where the dresscode is strictly enforced by some nazi employees) Oh yeah, the hot tub and sauna are nice touches. And I can go to any one in Hawaii, (and the rest of the US too) where they have olympic swimming pools and basketball courts and stuff. Who knows, maybe I'll actually get in shape for once in my life.

Vans Triple Crown 2004

pink shirt guy
Originally uploaded by russdogg.

Had to take my new camera, the Canon 20D, for a spin at the surf contest this weekend. Finally the waves are back. It's been flat ocean for a while then, boom, waves. It seems like the girls come out when there are waves, too. I borrowed the 300 mm lens from my work and took action shots of the surfers from the beach. the good thing about an 8 megapixel camera, is even if it looks tiny, you can crop it and it will still be great quality.

Basket-brawl in Detroit

Artest beats down a Detroit fan
found by russdogg.

So I'm at work, watching basketball. I know, I know, I wasn't really working in a literal sense, but I digress. Pacers were playing the Piston in Detroit. Now I happen to be anti-Detroit, since they won the championship last year, so I was cheering for Indiana's Pacers the whole time. In the last 45 seconds of the game, all hell breaks loose. I'm talkin players fighting players, players fighting fans, kids crying, fans rioting, objects thrown at players including beer bottles, ice, popcorn, and even a freakin chair! This went on for like five minutes. The game was called, - whens the last time that happened? - and people were left in a daze having witnessed the craziest scene ever in NBA history, I'd bet. Basically, it went down like this: Artest fouls Ben Wallace hard, intentionally, but not too hard. Wallace gets crazy and slams both hands in Artest's face, throwing him backwards hard. Artest, who is always somehow in the thick of this stuff, realizes its a no win, and backs off. To prove he's doin nothing, he lays down and chills on the scorer's table. Everyone else is holding back ben wallace who is still goin crazy. Then, a fan nails Artest in the face with a cup full of beer. Artest jumps up, runs 5 rows up to this lil punk, and starts beating him down. Then it went crazy. Detroit fans are insane. Crazier than Fresno State fans, even.The coolest was Jermaine O'Neil, who punched this one crazy dude so hard in the face that the guy went sailing. Did I mention some fan threw a chair??? This is up there with, if not the, all time craziest NBA scenes ever. If i had my DVR set up I would have clips, but for now go to ESPN.com.

Steelers beat Browns like a red-headed step child

Steelers stomp
found by russdogg.

Dang. Pittsburgh wins again! Getting sick of hearing that? Because I'm not. They're now 8 and 1. This game was a great win because of the huge rivalry between the two teams. There was even a fight before the game even started! And once again, our defense kept the others from scoring, while rookie QB Ben Roethlisberger cleaned house, all while lookin like he barely broke a sweat. Even with lead rusher Duce Staley out on injury ( I'd be hurting too if I rushed over 100 yards 4 games in a row) Last year, the Steelers weren't even considered as contenders for the playoffs. This year, one could easily argue they have the best record of the season. I'm predicting a superbowl win at this point. Mark my words. It'll be interesting to see who jumps on the fan bandwagon when they get to the playoffs.

ODB, R.I.P.

ODB, R.I.P.
Originally uploaded by russdogg.

ODB, The Wu-Tang Rapper (Ol Dirty Bastard for those not into berevity) died a few hours ago. What a trip. He was in the studio had chest pains and died. This dude had been in trouble with the law and in and out of jail for some time now. I remember when he tried to change his name to Big Baby Jesus. That one didn't last. RIP, homie. I'll be sure to pour one out on the curb for ya. P.S. can I have those gold teeth with the diamonds in em?

New camera. It's sooooo sweet.

BYUH dominated Tahiti
by russdogg.

Well, I got my new digital SLR. Its a Canon 20D. I've been savin cash forever for this badboy. Took it for a test run at my school basketball game. One disappointment about BYU-H; There isn't much student body support for the teams. I had a good time takin pictures all night. Our team played the Tahiti national team, and stomped them by 70 points! Tommorrow they play Fiji's team for the final game of this kinda weak tournament. Saw my ex girlfriend AND my stalker. Yay! I didnt talk to either of them. Wasn't in the mood. Lovin my 8 megapixel camera. Now I gotta do some work to make ll that money back.

my new pc, baby.

my new pc
Originally uploaded by russdogg.

I've been building this mini pc (using this case) to serve as a dvd burner. Its turned into a project to build the ultimate media center pc. I'm using it to host all my iTunes music and burn dvds, when I get a little more cash I'm gonna put in a video card that can pause and rewind live tv, TiVo style, and record it to burn to dvd. Its pretty pimp... for a computer that is.

Bush is an idiot but I'm voting for him anyway...

Man, Bush looks pathetic on T.V. He stammers, gives people the runaround when they ask him sensitive questions, and sometimes has that gulity kid look like he just got busted for eating cookies before dinnertime. All that aside, I'm still voting for him tommorrow. Kerry's even worse though. He's got that smug I'm-guilty-but-you're-too-dumb-to-notice look. Like that OJ Simpson guilty look. I don't know if OJ did it or not, but damn, he looked guilty! That whole mean stare down look Kerry gets sometimes is enough to swing my Democratic butt towards Dubya. MTV is making me sick. It's so partisan, and so pointedly democratic, but they try n act like they are giving a balanced view of the election. They interviewed Kerry but couldnt get Bush to come on so they kept repeating that after every point Kerry made. Gideon Yago's like "Kerry thinks this should be so-and so. But when we tried to ask BUSH how he felt on this, we couldn't get an appointment with him! So, we'll play some audio clip of what he said 4 years ago as his rebuttal." SO lame. And they always hype up Moore's "Farenheit" movie, which was so boring and seriously stretching to make any semblance of a point. Gideon Yago looked like a dog about to pee with excitement when he interviewed Kerry. If he was a dog he'd be sniffing Kerry's butt right now, or humping his leg. Oh, and Kerry keeps sayin how if he's elected he'll save our job economy, but our economy is finally on the upswing before him and if Kerry's elected he'll totally take credit. Both Kerry ans Bush just need to step aside let Schwartzanegger run for office. He'll crush those girliemen.

Steelers showed Patriots their "O" face. O, O, O....

steelers stomp patriots
Originally uploaded by russdogg.

Could it get any better? Not only did the Steelers STOMP the New England Patriots, but in doing so Pittsburgh broke the Patriots 16 game winning streak (including last year's superbowl) AND rookie QB Ben Roethlisburger is now 5 and 0. What a perfect way to end a great Sunday.

Ashlee Simpson, Mili Vanilli; seperated at birth?

I got home last night, in time for a little Saturday Night Live. You know, its not as funny as it used to be. The funniest part however was unintentional. Ashlee Simpson was the musical guest, definately the ugliest least talented of the two sisters. On her second song, she came out, swayed around and... started singing the SAME SONG. BUT, the mic was at her waist, and her lips weren't even moving! Either this was a B kung-fu movie, or she was fakin it. Her recorded voice faded out in an echo, and her band just kept jamming. So what did she do? She did a jig. Thats right, she broke out in a good ol' fashioned hoe-down before she stumbled off stage embarressed. Good for her. You know, in the old days, rockers had to slave away in smokey hole in the wall clubs for years before they got the recognition. Rappers sold crack (well, maybe not Ja-Rule, but he sucks) till they got onto BET. Ashlee Simpson's daddy got her a deal. At the end of SNL she tried to blame it on her band playing the wrong song. Oh well. Only time will tell if this was the end of her 15 minutes of fame.

Steelers baby, we get ours!

Pittsburgh baby, what!!!!! We back in this. 5 and 1. I'll admit I was skeptical about Ben Roethlisberger, the Steeler's new QB. Of course, thats cause I'm a huge Kordell Stewart fan (still!!) and still bitter about coach Cower's makin him be strictly QB. Anyways, ancient history. So I was hopin, but not expectin much from Ben, but he came through. 5 and 1 so far for my team. They even slammed the cowboys in their own house. Be expectin big things baby!

In the army now (minus Paulie Shore)

my golf cart
Originally uploaded by russdogg.

The golf cart is alive! I hadn't driven my golf cart since the batteries went bad a few months ago. Since they're so expensive, I almost gave up on it. However, I decided to chance it and take the batteries back to Costco where I bought them. Costco seriously rocks. They didnt even look at them. They just gave me store credit and I got new ones! With my cart excitement renewed, I decided to "pimp" my golf cart (I'm using that term loosely) by painting it army green, to match the camo seat cover I made. I also bought some speakers and hooked em up to an old car amp. Now I roll to class with my iPod blasting, hehe. Tons of people want to buy my cart of me now, especially since its so perfect for a small community like Laie.

Engadget & my 2 seconds of web fame

engadget.com
Originally uploaded by Me.

Well, my humble blog felt what it was like to be a real website for a few days. My previous post on Snoop dogg's iPod got linked to Engadget.com. usually my blog gets 10 to 20 hits a day from friends, family, and randoms. After the Engadget post on Monday, I got 700 hits! Crazy, huh? Around noon here in Hawaii i couldn't even log on to my own blog. Now I need to step up my game and write some stuff actually worth reading, or at least funny. Or maybe vica versa.

Snoop's iPod

snoops iPod
Originally uploaded by russdogg.

Caught this in Snoop Dogg's latest video, "Drop It Like It's Hot". A little advice: Don't drop it, even though it probably is hot. I doubt Snoop got Applecare on it. Sure 50 Cent did the iPod video already. And P Diddy iced it out first, but come on. P-diddy aint got nothin on Snoop. the Snoopy D-Oh-Double. My question: why's it gotta always be the HP iPod that gets the bling treatment? Haven't these gangsta rappers ever heard of Macs? The name's even fitting! He's even doing his "C-walk" around with it in one part of the video. Next thing you know theres gonna be gang-colored iPods and if you're on the wrong side of town with the wrong color headphones, game over man. Maybe Apple was even wiser than we all thought by choosing a gang-neutral color for their mp3 player.

I can't believe we still have that car!

me as a baby
Originally uploaded by russdogg.

Yeah, that blue station wagon is one year older than me, makin it 25 now. The sad thing is I learned to drive in that same car, and its still at my parents house! My parents are moving next summer so hopefully they leave the junked cars behind.

Three years later and its still a trip...

russ @ WTC Marriot
Originally uploaded by russdogg.

Man, I still have a hard time believing the World Trade Center is gone. I stayed the marriot between the two towers in july 2001. The Picture is from our room, and you can see the Ground Zero plaza before it was demolished. you can kinda see the edge of the big ball fountain. Right after that trip I moved to Hawaii and I've been here ever since, so I havent had a chance to visit New York Post 9/11. Its just so sobering...

How does this always happen to me?

Tyrone A.K.A. "Roni Poni"
Originally uploaded by russdogg.

The only good side of my terrible luck lately is the fact that its all gotta even out soon and my luck will get better...right?

Island Football returns from the grave

Island Football Magazine
Originally uploaded by russdogg.

Well, consecutive nights of working till 4 AM have finally paid off; Our first issue of Island Football magazine This year finally got finished and came back from the print house. Its a magazine that covers all aspects of football in hawaii. High school football is HUGE in hawaii, since their high school players are often the size of NFL players. Hopefully I'll be able to put up the website soon... at any rate, we're back in business after a year hiatus. And yeah, thats a foosball table behind the magazine. We have mad tournaments in our house amongst the roomates.

damn, stuck in my room again...

my fiji flag
Originally uploaded by russdogg.

New semester started, and it's been crazy up in hurr. I just finished the layout for next month's issue of island Football magazine. I've been doin so much work lately that I've been stuck in my little room all day workin! That sucks. The only break I get is to go to class or my other job at the newspaper! Check out my Fiji flag, fools. Holler!

Go robot, go robot, go robot...

Robot-7
Originally uploaded by robotgirl.

Theres nothing better than going to a late showing movie with a friend who is as obnoxious as yourself! Case in point, I, Robot. The movie "loosely" (see: not at all) based on the Isaac Asimov novel. I got to admit, it was better than expected. Given this summer's cinematic crap-fest, for e.g. King Arthur, Harold & Kumar, and (shudder!) AVP, I didnt expect much from Will "big willy-style" Smith. But the movie was okay! It made it alot better that whenever I made robot noises to spice up as boring part, everyone else in the theater laughed. To achieve the full effect, after watching I, Robot, watch the episode of Sealab 2021 called "I, robot". It is so funny, you'll cry laughing. Go pirate that cartoon off Kazaa today!

A return to super chill

roomates suck
Originally uploaded by russdogg.

Its weird coming back to the islands after being in California. I went from doing stuff almost every day with one of my siblings or parents,constantly driving places at top speed, to absolutely nothing. Not that its a bad thing, its just how life is in Laie. my friends and I had to force a trip to the mall in an attempt to achieve self-entertainment. On the way home we were behind some fool driving 35 mph, and I wanted to take off my shoe and throw it in his face as I passed him. But then I remembered that the speed limit is 35 through alot of Oahu, and figured some of my family's road rage had rubbed off on me during my visit. I felt a million times better after a nap. Really, all adults should have a naptime, especially at work. can you imagine how much less stress would be in the workplace if everyone took an hour nap after lunch? It seems that somewhere in the middle of precious pre-teen youth "the nap" loses its coolness, and its only after years out of practice we realize we shouldve been napping all along! I think I'm on to something. Let me brainstorm on it after another nap.

Gotta love "Hawaiian Time"

accidentes
Originally uploaded by russdogg.

I'm finally back on the island. Its good to be home but I already miss Cali. It was nice to be home with the fam. I had to wait 2 hours at the honolulu airport for my friend to pick me up, but i finally made it home. On the way home we say the movie "Collateral". Tom Cruise is a crazy mutha. Jamie Foxx (see "I might need security") didn't disappoint, either. The movie looked like it was filmed of a digital camera or something. "Manchurian Candidate" was way better though. Damn, that movie was crazy! That same night I had some crazy dreams that I was in the movie. I thought i might be some brainwashed "Al Qaida" or something, but I figured if I was, I'd probably drive a better car.

its El Capitan, fool!

This mountain is insane. Honestly. This picture really doesn't do it any justice. Crazy fools rock climb El Capitan all the time and it literally takes days! They sleep in little tents or in hammocks that they bolt to the side of the vertical face! Think about that for a second. Yosemite's a trip!

El Capitan Originally uploaded by russdogg.

yo yosemite

Well, I'm still in Cali. My damn family convinced me to get my flight changed to 2 weeks later. So I'm still here in Fresno. Why the hell would I stay 2 more weeks in 105 degree weather? Dont ask me. I'm tryin to make up for it by hittin up all the places I havent been to forever, like Yosemite. That place rocks.

russ_yo_small Originally uploaded by russdogg.

-Haha! That guy wrecked!

-Dude, isnt that your brother? yeah.Thats basically the coversation between my brother Carl and his buddy. Wait, rewind... First of all, this weekend at Pismo Beach rocked! Camping on the beach, riding quads on huge sand dunes all day, shootong illegal fireworks, watching two of my brothers drink ther asses off, and watching hippies burn a giant effigy made entirely out of junkmail. Could it get any better? no, but it sure could get worse. I flipped my brothers Honda 450cc quad, which to him was no biggie cause he also has a new yamaha yfz 450cc quad, and flipping it did nothing to it except break off a 5 dollar flag. It was a big deal to me though  cause it rolled over me and it was damn heavy! As a result I bruised a bunch of ribs and also can't move my left arm more than a few inches due to (presumably) some torn tendons in my shoulder. Of course my lack of insurance does nothing to help the matter! Thanks to up above I was born a half caste! Since I'm Indian I got a free check up at the good ol' Indian Health Clinic. They just gave me a perscription for beefed up Motrin since its an anti-inflammitory, and I'm getting an x-ray tommorrow. When I figure out how to post some of my pics on here you can see the quads and hopefully my x-ray. Oh, and I'm for sure buying a quad now. Being a dumass and hurting myself aside, it was bitchin!

Every indian wants to be the Chief...

Its my native duty... well not really but you gotta be wondering, why else would I drive 5 hours each way through the Mojave desert just to sit in a hot room and listen to a bunch of people swear at each other? I'd like to say that my sole motivation is "responsibility and duty" since I am related to them, and it kinda is, but its also got alot to do with money. Why else would I waste time with a bunch of people who don't like me solely because of my last name? I hate to sound shallow, but my cousins can be really mean, especially when they are arguing over something they really don't know much about. My brother, the Chairman of our tribe, is working hard to to make our tribe a lil cashflow, but he's receiving alot of opposition from other tribal members that hate my family because we don't live on the reservation anymore. It doesn't matter if my brother has excellent ideas; some haters down there hate the idea if they didn't think of it first. There are so many opportunities for a "sovereign nation" in the state of California to make some serious bank, but you gotta work hard at it. I went down to the reservation to vote on some of these issues, and to check up on the status of my 1 acre parcel of land just chillin down there waitin for me to build my mansion and retire at 35. So hopefully "the gods" are smiling down on me. Maybe it's in my blood, but I really have no desire to have a 9-5 job and the sooner I make my bankroll the better, ya heard me?

Goin, goin, back, back, to Cali...

Hell yeah, I'm goin home! My sister Alisa convinced me that I need to come home for a couple weeks during my summer break. I really didn't want to, but now I'm stoked. I managed to weasel the school's digital camera for the trip, so theres gonna be some quality photos after the trip, for sure! My mom is picking me up from Oakland, so I'm gonna try n see if we can swing by San Francisco and hit up the Apple store. For sure gonna hit up the local Indian Casino when I get to home and get my gamble on (and hella cheap steak dinner). Oh yeah, thats the main reason I'm going home. Our tribe, Fort Independence Indian Reservation, has a big meeting where they are going to vote on a workman's comp plan that alot of state officials in California are gettin worked up in a frenzy over. The article is in the archives here at indiancountry.com Hopefully the end result is I make some bank off of this! Cha-ching! All of you reading this that I owe money will be paid ASAP, I swear! This workmans comp deal has potential to make me rich. Also, the new deal that Governor Arnie has set up letting more gaming compact deals in Cali can make me cold cash, if it all works out. Holla!

My car breathes once more...

My Prelude has been reborn. Way back in February, my little car died out of the blue and wouldnt start up again. Talk about a bad way to end a date. A week later my girlfriend broke up with me; one of my friends said its cause i didn't have a car anymore. I like to think its cause I'm a huge Lakers fan and she's all about the Kings (see Shaq's comment re: the Queens) Anywayz, I had the car towed back to my place because my landlord said he would fix it. He is an amazing mechanic, but he's always super busy. Well, I reminded him alot about it but I didnt want to be bugging him all the time. Finally, four months later, on Tuesday, I was talkin with him in his garage and he was like, "lets check out your car really quick." So I popped the hood, and seriously in less than five seconds, he was like "Heres your problem." What the hell! After waiting four months, it took him five seconds to diagnose it. At any rate... he got the parts and now I'm rollin again!!! It feels so good to be able to go somewhere whenever I want to; or at least go further than my golf cart can go with the batteries charged up.

SpiderMan II: Oh HELL nah!

Endless rehashing of the same mix of frustrated puppy love, survivor guilt, and identity crisis as the first one. Is that a good enough description of Spidey 2 for ya? I can't believe how much this movie sucked!! I mean, don't get me wrong, I didn't really have high hopes for it since I hated the first one, but still... I was desperate enough for something to do tonight that I went to the sequel of a movie I hated, and got exactly what I deserved. I would've had more fun if I stayed home by myself and watched the Queer Eye Marathon on Bravo. This movie so boring, and is rife with cheesey scenes: from the little kids who thank Spiderman in unison, to the infant that helps spiderman climb up a ledge in a burning building, to the chinese lady singing the off-key Spiderman song, to the bad acting, to the... need I go on? I hated the first one, but a year later I had forgotten just HOW much I hated it, and now it all came flooding back like a repressed childhood beating. The best part is how all week MTV has been touting Toby Mcgwire as this awesome hunk, and they kept replaying the same two-second scene over and over of him taking his shirt off. Face it, he's a scrawny geek, picked to fit the part of Peter Parker who is supposed to be a scrawny geek. Just cause he's the star of a "mega summer blockbuster" doesnt make him Hansel (who, by the way, is so hot right now). Basically, if you liked the first one then you'll probably like the second one. Of course if you liked the first one you probably need to be punched in the face for being such an idiot. The best part of the movie was making fun of it the whole time and purposely pissing of the couple in front of us ;)

having no internet sucks...

Once again, Oceanic Cable decided to turn off my internet. I don't know why, sure we havent paid the bill for three months, but isn't there some kind of grace period? I mean come on... Luckily my neighbors have a wireless router so I'm mooching off them. I would just as easily say forget about it and use theirs since they wouldnt know, but its just barely coming in. I have to go stand out on my balcony sometimes and wave my laptop around in the air to get a signal...