I join the ranks of those suffering from the "Lost Effect"...

The "Lost Effect"... Originally uploaded by russdogg.

I got home from work just in time to religiously watch ABC's "Lost" in HD last night. After another excellent hour, they followed it up with "Invasion", a terrible aliens-among-us show replete with sub-par acting and cheesy special effects. The main character is pretty boy Eddie Cibrian, you may remember him from ESPN's lame duck poker drama Tilt. Half way through it, I realized I knew ALL the characters and storylines. How was this possible? It then dawned on me that I had watched EVERY episode, since it comes on right after the best show this season. Lost is just that good; so good it puts me in a drooling trance for another hour. It could have been test patterns or re-runs of that "Steve Urkle" show, and I would watch still it with a zombie expression, mouth agape. I dub this the "Lost Effect". I can't be the only one afflicted by this, can I? Are there millions suffering out there?

my parents riot their way through France

Gordon and Aileen love to smash things
Originally uploaded by russdogg.

The riots in France started the same day my parents went there on vacation. Coincidence? I think not! Yahoo news confirmed as much, as well as provided a more detailed map of my parents site seeing/ car burning trip. Reuters reports that my dad prefers to keep destruction close to the capital city of Paris, while my mom enjoys razing southern costal towns.

french Officer supresses riots with bladder

Riots are no match for my excess of body fluids!
Originally uploaded by russdogg.

Riots turned out to be no match for one Parisian police officer - or " Les Flic" as urban youth in France have so eloquently nicknamed them - as he used only his power of urine and excellent bladder control to douse the flames of a burning car; no-handed no less.

5 reasons why I'm broke...

... Or maybe just four 17 inch reasons. I just ordered my new 17" Motegi rimz, the DP-12's. I'd been checking them out online for a while, but they were expensive to get 'em shipped to my house. Well, My brother is in town for the week, and he has the proverbial hookups in Fresno, so he took me to the ghetto tire shop way down in the hood, which is good because I probably wouldn't go by myself. Ordered the motegis and the low profile tires, all installed, for only a grand. Way cheaper than anywhere on the internet, and with the hood seal of approval.

Nike Campus, my pilgrimage to the holy land

Nike Campus, my pilgrimage to the holy land
Originally uploaded by russdogg.

Another one of my buddies from college flew me out to work on their websites. This weekend i hit up Portland, Oregon. I gotta say I was impressed. Super fun town, lots of night life, always things to do. Highlights included: Going to (and getting kicked out of) the Nike campus in Beaverton; Eating Stanich's monster hamburger; finally getting my video iPod, blowing insane amounts of cash at the Nike outlet and then again at Nike town, and watching "wedding crashers" at the Kennedy School.

Ridin the rails... in Las Vegas

Me & Todd on the Vegas monorail
Originally uploaded by russdogg.

A quick trip down to Vegas turned out to be pretty fun. I love how cheap airflights are now from Fresno. Round trip 120 bucks, and it would've been 50 bucks cheaper if I bought 2 weeks in advance. Hit up the fiji Day 2005 celebration, at Sams Town Casino. Leave it to the Fijians to get the gig at some ghetto casino, haha. But it was awesome. The musician Fiji Veikoso rocked the house, with fiji celebs like the US ambassador to Fiji, retired WWF wrestler Jimmy Snooker, and that huge fijian she-male that just got his boobs done. My friend's wife made it especially fun by winning 4500 bucks at the craps table in about an hour. She kicked me down a hundred chip which i turned into 180 on another table, so we had money all weekend. Nice.

Steelers rock Monday Night Football

Oh baby, this was a nail biter. I got off work early and made it home just in time for the kick off. Probably one of the most nerve wracking football games I've watched in quite some time. And let me tell you, after watching 3 straight hours in high definition, I can't imagine ever watching it any other way. Seriously, it's that good. Pittsburgh scored first, in the 2nd quarter, Big Ben roethlisberger actually ran in for the TD. This kid really rocks. However, after terrible calls and obscure rules pulled out of nowhere, Steelers lose the lead. At the end of the game, right at crunch time when Pittsburgh is trying to come back for the win, Ben gets injured! I was almost sick at this point, but they were close enough for the kick and they pulled it off. Thats how Monday Night Football should be. Oh yeah, and despite Arnold Schwarzenegger's lame vote-pandering prediction of San Diego victory, Chargers didn't jingle all the way.

pretty mean for a civic

pretty mean for a civic
Originally uploaded by russdogg.

Heres my new car. Stoked. I went to every Honda dealership in the Fresno area, trying to find the best deal. Everyone kept giving me the run around. Nobody had a black civic, and they kept trying to get me to get someone to co-sign. I saw on Honda's website they have a special loan for new graduates, but one place said the deal they were giving me was "so good" that they couldn't offer the graduate loan. So much B.S. Finally I went through Western Fleet. I told them exactly the car i wanted, down to interior color, and they got it for me. So easy, and pretty quick. A few days later, my civic showed up at their on a flat bed truck. Theres something about a brand new car that rocks. The seats still had the plastic covers on them, and there was only 12 miles on the odometer, haha.

yahoo racists?

yahoo racists
Originally uploaded by russdogg.

Hmmm... check out some images from the yahoo slideshow about the hurricane Katrina. Note the difference between the descriptions, the black guy "looted" food from a grocery store while the white people "found food" at a grocery store...

Home is where the heat is...

It feels good to be back in California, even if it is ghetto Fresno. I really don't miss Hawaii that much, since all my friends already left anyway. The major downside? It's hella hot! I'm talkin 110 degrees and more. My brother and I went to Arizona and it was 119 degrees. too much. My brother-in-law observed i was like Dustin Hoffman's character in the Graduate, you know, swimming in the parent's pool every day... not the "hooking up with the older lady" thing, haha. At least not yet. i just got here. Web design, going good, finally making some cash. Recent works: My buddy's band site,Upstandingyouth.com.

The good times are killing me

So I got back from a month in China of just travelling and having the coolest experiences... I get home to Hawaii to find out I'm getting evicted at the end of this month! I'm officially graduated from college now, but that's left me with kind of a dilemma... Since I quit my job before the China trip, I now have no job and no money. And I HATE living in crappy student housing, living with a bunch of idiots who have no clue as to even wash a dish. I can move back to California, and work with my brother doing web design, which would be cool, but damn, it just aint Hawaii, you know? and its like I have to grow up now, haha. I can't just screw around and travel to different countries when ever I want like before. That whole "getting a real, 9-5 job" thing just doesn't appeal to me. I want to leave Hawaii because most of my friends have also graduated and left or got married or something like that, and I feel like I'm dragging behind... I don't know. Just spouting randomness, stoked to be finally done with college yet depressed at what that actually means for my life.

Trip to China is confirmed!

postcard peddler
Originally uploaded by dingadingdang.

Hahahahaha... I finally got my trip to China confirmed, and tickets bought! May 1st to the 31st, I'm going to be cruising Asia with my buddy Jeremy. I have no clue what to expect, I know nothing about China. Plan on getting tons of bootleg DVDs though, be certain bout that! unless the feds are reading this, in which case, I'm not... haha

Free G-mail accounts here

Well it turns out G-mail gave me another 50 invites. It seems like I can't go through these things fast enough. If there is anyone out there that wants one be sure to leave a comment on this post with your email address. It won't hurt if you clicked on those google ad things on the right too, but I really don't care. Its a wonder they haven't gone ahead and made it public yet. Well, until then I'll be giving em out here. Holler! Oh yeah, for more google beta fun, check out Video.google.com. you can search the closed captioning of tv shows, and see screen shots of the episode.

dont diddy on my shaq shoe phone!

dont diddy on my shaq shoe phone!
Originally uploaded by russdogg.

Leave it to P-diddy to show off crazy but useless technology.(remember his diamond iPod in the Snoop video?) It was entertaining, but couldn't wipe from my memory that terrible half-time show blasting... country music?!? They only added insult to injury when this huge black cowboy broke out into a terrible rap reminiscent of the chicago Bears rap in the '80s. It wasn't my favorite all-star game, but Vince Carter did show he still had a shadow of some of the moves that helped him win the slam dunk contest in 2000. The alley-oop to himself was awesome. Luckily no Kobe/Shaq conflicts this time. Kobe is my boy, no doubt about that, but I gotta be realistic; Shaq would knock Kobe into the cheap seats.

Lil' Jon says"HWWWHHAAATT???!!"... Lakers win!

Kobe works Utah, drops 40
Originally uploaded by russdogg.

If Kobe Bryant's recovery wasn't good enough news, the Lakers won today's game! It was a damn fine moment to witness Kobe back in action, and playing well. Did I mention the 40 points he dropped? holler. I'm officially not sick anymore, which only someone without health care (such as myself) can truly savor, and I aced my test scoring 100 percent, without studying. Word. Now I just need to start skateboarding again and my life will be complete. For this week, at least.

Life speeds past you when you are lazy

self-portraits of being sick at work
Originally uploaded by russdogg.

I've been so lazy this semester and its due totally to the fact that I only have one class left till I graduate. Super fast update: Pittsburgh lost to the Patriots thus ending any Super bowl hopes this year, we watched the game on my projector so it was a huge 80 inches of footbally goodness. I've been sick with something since last saturday, so I've been miserable all week, The power was out in my entire town yesterday for hours, and to pass the time we threw fireworks at passing cars. Honestly, I'm 25, still in college, throwing firecrackers at people driving by. Something is seriously wrong with me. Just when it dawned on us that we could probably go loot the town unnoticed, the power immediately came back. Not like we seriously would,you belive me right??? Nobody better report me to the honorcode gestapo! uhmmm.... anyways... word to the wise: dont go to the gym sick. Lifting weights while light headed is listed under the category of "dumb-ass ideas". I slept for 6 hours in a nyquil-induced haze this afternoon, and as such I'm now blogging at 3:00 am. It seems like the last few weeks past by in a blurry haze.

Hosoi is back!

hosoi is back!
Originally uploaded by russdogg.

In the midst of all the bad stuff going on lately,its good to remember the best news of last summer: Christian Hosoi is back!! For those who don't know, Hosoi was one of the biggest skateboarders back in the day. After the skate bubble burst at the end of the 80's, Hosoi and several other top pros fell on hard times. He actually was in prison for the last 5 years for shipping drugs to Hawaii, but he's been outsince last june, and reborn, literally. He's now a Christian (church-wise, no pun intended) and has hit up the stunt wood once again. I just found these pictures and had to put em up. He was spotted in hawaii last summer skating the Hickam Air Force base skate bowl right after his release, and if this picture is any indication, he's back in the game. Its awesome to see guys still ripping it up and skating because it's what they love. To get some perspective on how long he's been around, I remember going to the public library in 6th grade, n looking at books on skating. Hosoi was literally on every other page.

Will Smith does good with Hitch

Back in Hawaii, and things have actually been good. It was totally random, but my buddy Rich and I got free tickets to a sneak preview of the latest film starring Will "big willy style" Smith. I didn't expect much since it didn't seem like a movie fit for the Fresh Prince. They were grilling everyone at the entrance for camera phones or video cameras, any kind of recording device. They told us a million times during our hour wait in line, yet we saw about 20 or 30 idiots get turned away for having camera phones! dumbass!. The movie turned out to be pretty funny, with Will as this date doctor that is able to get you into your dream relationship in 3 dates. Of course when it comes to himself, he screws it up at every turn. Yada yada yada, Will and Eva Mendez hook up in the end. A very pg-13 film, but you don't really notice since it is so funny. Those are the best kind of movies. I would rather have a movie be rated R, to keep it interesting, rather than water it down with a lower rating, but this is one of those few that can appeal to all crowds. Good to see Will back in the game. Highly recommend it to those who actually go to movies instead of downloading them. This is one of those suprise films that are actually good in january.

Christmas was good; New Years was blah

Its been nice to be back in Cali for a few weeks, what with all the nieces and nephews now. Its hard to keep track. I ended out spending 200 bucks at friggin Toys'R'Us. Overall, I even made out pretty good on the presents angle. Heres my haul of gifts:
1. Poker Chip Set
2. Taschen's 1000 Favorite Websites book
3. Mr. T in your pocket --------->
4. White church shirt
5. Wienerschnitzel skateboard
The web book is pretty good, its all photos of tight websites. The best though, is the Mr. T in your Pocket. Its a keychain thing that plays all of Mr. T's best saying. You know, I pity the fool, and Don't gimme no jibbajabba. Its classic. My sister saw it on Leno's worst christmas gifts, and knew I had to have it. New Years we all sat around and played cheesy board games, pretty uneventful. I'm gearin up to go back home to Hawaii, but first I got the General Council Meeting with my Indian Tribe on wednesday. That always adds color to my month.