Since my last entry, I have been to Riverside and back a couple of times. In between trips, I've also taken my sister to Ontario Mills, Galleria at Tyler, MoVal Mall, and Cabazon. Crazy I know, but at least I was driving the RX300. During that time, my sister also got behind the wheel to get some practice hours. Meh, still needs work before driving on her own.
Craziest day of the week was yesterday. I had an interview at 2pm that lasted half an hour. At 2:30 I went to buy some paint from Super Autobacs for the front lip and from 3 to 5 my sister was behind the wheel again for extra practice. From 5 to almost 8 I was in line at the new "The City" in Monrovia. I got a autographed ball signed by James Worthy and a photo with the Laker girls. Definitely worth the wait. The day before, I had stopped by for a few minutes during their soft opening. The staff is much more informed and more willing to help than your typical Circuit City. The vibe they give is much better, so hopefully they can keep it up. The space inside is nice and open and each area is set up like a Best Buy kiosk. Anyway, I digress. After The City, I went to my cousin's place in H.Hts. to check out her apartment. I need to move out of Riverside in a month so it's time to start looking again. During this time I also need to help my sister look for places to stay out in Long Beach. After a quick tour of the place, I was finding myself on the familiar 60E once again back to Riverside to do some packing.

I know the title says "the Right Way" and you can easily argue that there are many ways to go portable with electronics, but after my experience with some of these products, I'd have to say at least it isn't wrong. Based on my preferences, let's start off with the portable of all portables. (Excluding the almighty cellular phone, which is either bought for cool points or features/ personal preferences).
1. Laptop: MacBook Pro (Available at Apple)
With laptop in hand, next you'll want to protect the expensive investment and hope it lasts you a good couple years.
2/3/4. Track Pad film (Available at PowerSupport), Keyboard Cover (Available at iSkin), and Full body protection (Available at Invisible Shield)
Now that the laptop itself is fully protected from the wear and tear of daily usage, you'll want to go ahead and make sure it's also protected during transportation.
5/6. Protective Sleeve; either Zeroshock (Available at Shinza) or incase (Available at incase), and a laptop backpack (Available from OGIO).
For the laptop, now you're all set. But wait! Although laptop hard drives have gotten much larger in the past few years, they still aren't anywhere close to having the capacity desktop HDDs have. For extra storage of your stuff and for backup you'll want a portable drive.
7. My Passport (Available from Western Digital).
Moving on to music, the mainstream would be the iPod. Don't get it for that reason, but because it integrates nicely with iTunes. If you're always on the road you might want one with a bigger screen.
8. iPod Touch (Available at Apple).
With a music player at hand or in your pocket, you may find yourself in situations where you'll have to keep the noise to yourself.
9. SteelSeries Siberia headset for laptop gaming or listening to tunes (Available from SteelSeries).
With that taken care of, we can move on to digi cams. A camcorder would be nice too, but nowadays point and shoots have basic video recording features that'll get you by. For the non-professionals that want something that can be pulled out to capture a perfect moment or just today's lunch:
10. Sony Cyber-shot T300 (Available from Sony).
To transfer those photos, you can use the supplied USB connector or get a high speed card reader.
11. Cardette (Available from Moshi).

Next are the non-productive portables that you don't need but make life more fun.
12/13. Nintendo DS (Available from Nintendo) and/or PSP (Available from Sony).

Other investments for your portables:
A laptop cooler if you're always using it. Screen cleaner and a microfiber cloth for all your dirty screens. A USB flash drive for quick transfers. And Outlets To Go if you need to charge all your gear (Available from Monster Cable).

Obviously these products can be substituted with others based on price range, preferences, types of usage, etc. Just make sure you read reviews prior to purchase and you'll be happily up and mobile.

Are the Lakers too dominant of a team that the league wanted them to lose this year? I think it's possible. Sasha Vujacic emerged from his shell this year to become "the machine" yet at times it seemed like he needed to be oiled still. Next year, if he carries that confidence, then what will he be? He has an undeniable swagger that has developed near the end of the season, so I don't think this loss is the last of him. Vujacic's 3 point shooting has shown the entire nation just a taste of Lakers' offensive capabilities. Phil, if still around after that performance in game 4, will probably run more plays for him next year.

And surely nobody's forgotten about Andrew Bynum. If the Lakers won this year without Bynum, imagine what everyone would be thinking. How unfair would it seem to other teams, when the champions reincorporate a key role player back into their lineup. That's like winning the Finals without Kobe isn't it? It's hard to believe that one guy can make such a huge difference on how a team will be, but just look at how different LA plays with the addition of Gasol or Fisher or the absence of Kobe or Odom. Bynum is another one of those big name players that'll impact the team a great deal and change the way Lakers play offense and defense.

On another note: Firefox 3? I tried to join in on the download day to get Firefox into the Guinness Book of World Records. Out of curiosity, I installed it. Argh! I knew better too. Overall, not bad. I got almost all my add-ons back. A couple of them like FireFTP and Adblock Plus say they don't have compatible versions but if you go to the firefox website and search for them, they do have updated versions for FF3 available. My biggest downer for upgrading too fast is the themes. I like my browsers to all look the same and for my PCs and Macs I'm using iFox Graphite which isn't compatible. For now I'm just using grapple.

The Lakers are done for this season. What a beautiful game to watch today huh? If you're a Celtics fan it was smooth sailing all the way. As a Laker fan though, my eyes were bleeding and my mind was falling asleep. Boston played brilliant basketball, so the Laker team has to bow down, take a step back, and give them the trophy this year and maybe even learn a couple of their defensive plays. Lakers came out with another good start in the first quarter, but as before, shortly fell apart. What did I say in my last blog entry? What did I say? The Lakers needed their big men to play well inside the paint for a win today. That means defending pts in the paint against the Celtics and getting their own buckets inside on the other end. LA didn't do that, so of course we lost. I'm quite upset that it had to end in game 6. I'll have to wait a whole other year to watch them play this Finals game again, and hopefully the results will be in the Laker's favor. Overall, Celtics were a championship team and as a basketball fan in general, you have to applaud their efforts (on defense especially) for closing out Kobe and the squad in a game that most people thought was a given "Lakers must win" type of victory. Gasol will need to bulk up for next year and integrate himself into the front court, along with Bynum, to provide a stronger inside presence. As for Odom and Mihm...who knows if they'll still be on the team.

Yesterday's game certainly looked a lot like it was going in the same direction as game 4. The only difference to me was that Kobe was able to have his burst of scoring early. He needs to run the offense for the Lakers but also keep himself in a rhythm. When Lamar took over the 1st quarter of game 4, Kobe took a facilitating role instead of a "key" role. I felt that by getting off his shots, in the 4th quarter, around 3 minutes of a close game, we would be able to win. That was exactly the case. I'm not sure if he scored 4 pts. or just 3, but the Lakers came away with a father's day win. Now they'll have to head to Boston to get 2 more. Can they? It's possible. Although I have faith in the team, I don't think this is our year yet and if we win it'll be by LA's luck along with mistakes made by the Celtics.  A lot of people seem to think the NBA just wants drama and the Lakers will extend it to 7; winning games away for the ultimate fairy tale ending. That's what I want, but we don't always get what we want...right?

Speaking of Father's day, yesterday I went to Corner Bakery Cafe to eat with my family. My sister was practicing her driving and on the way there we all had a near death experience. Haha, well driving is all by experience and nobody said they can all be good ones. Just have to hope they're kept to a minimum.

Tomorrow's game 6. I'm not a betting man so I won't say Lakers will win it. But if they want to win, it'll be in the paint with the Laker big men.

My tassel moved from right to left last night signifying that I'm now officially a UCR alumnus. The process was unnecessarily long and a good portion of it was listening to one last lecture on life from the keynote speaker. It was "fun" I guess, but some part of me does feel a little empty inside. I was at UCR for quite some time as a full time resident, and now going back I would be just a visitor. It's like selling your childhood house then driving by it one day and remembering the place you grew up in or selling your car then seeing it in the lane next to you while you're cruising on the freeway. I'm happy though, for myself and my friends who have graduated with me. I appreciate everyone's support throughout the years and the little support of those that came out yesterday. The drive to Riverside is excruciatingly long and the wait time for the commencement to start isn't much better. I did hear my name being yelled and the clapping so nobody's efforts were in vain. Sitting in the first row gave me the best seat on the lawn, unfortunately I didn't hold onto my camera. It would have been pretty cool to get a few close up shots of people on stage, but it'd make me look like I have a bulge on the side of my leg under the gown.

It's Friday the 13th and Freddy Kruger isn't the only one in the spotlight. My commencement is tonight at UCR. I wasn't anxious before, but I am just a tad bit now. Graduating from UCR means I won't be on campus anymore unless I need a transcript. I won't be bending over to buy books anymore from the bookstore. I won't get to abuse my student discount on Apple software or accessories. I won't be walking in 106 degree heat from Lot 30 to some far end of campus. I won't be eating commons food or be buying Cranberry juice after a 7am class. (Best of all:I won't be transfered from department to department to get a simple problem resolved due to a lack of competency on the administration's end). Who knows though, I may miss the good and the bad. Life will definitely move on fine, but it almost sucks to have to hang up my "student" title. When you identify yourself, it usually starts with your occupation and for the longest time and the earliest I can remember of owning a self-identity, that's who I was in society. Before that I'm just my parent's son. Well, it'll be hung in my closet for now. I won't give it to the next generation of kids just yet until I can figure out whether or not to go to grad school in a couple years.

The first 2 quarters of Game 4 were played out perfectly. Lamar was aggressive, foul trouble wasn't a big issue for any of the players, and the Lakers had great momentum on their side. In response to a friend's comment about the Lakers having a possible blowout after a great 1st quarter, I text'd the message "Sure hope so. By 20 if good 3rd quarter." Was it wrong to assume? The Lakers haven't had a good 3rd quarter during the finals yet, and it seems like after Game 2's turnaround, anything goes. A picture perfect half followed suit with sloppy defense and complacent offense. Nobody had a scoring mentality. Kobe wasn't really looking for his shot today because things seemed to go "ok" but when they needed him to turn it on, the switch was malfunctioning. This loss is a real disappointment to me and to many other Laker fans. Bad calls to sway games is one thing, but not finishing the game like they started is another. They have to hold the burden of this loss going into the next one, and frankly speaking down 3 isn't looking too good. I want to believe, I really do. Is impossible nothing? Maybe Adidas' slogan will work for LA. I'll hold my breath for now.

I've updated photos the last couple days in the Nekos, Other Shots, Glendale Galleria, Driven, Edibles, Figures, Apple Notebooks, and Stuff albums.

Lakers won what I would say is a must win game. Although they wouldn't have lost the finals today, going down 3 would make losing inevitable. The ending for the game was rather sloppy for both teams. Kobe and Sasha played well overall, as did Ray Allen, but nobody else came to play. The foul situation for these finals have been weird. Did they sway it Lakers way? Nah, I didn't think so but they should have let the players have more room to play. Lamar was in foul trouble, Vlad was in foul trouble, and to be fair, Pierce was in foul trouble too that kept them all out of the game and out of flow. Maybe game 4 will better. Kobe will need to shoulder the team again no doubt. Bench needs to play like they did today and the other starters need to stay in the game. As for the refs, watch for KG's illegal screens! Thanks for sending Kobe to the line today though. Where were those calls in game 1 and 2?

These commercials are pre-Love campaign. The new campaign is pretty good. I like their approach towards our emotions. The older ones are more "fun" but I can see where they're trying to go with this and it's working. They've captured the right target market with the new campaign by trying to appeal to existing customers yet making enough of a statement to stir emotions of  non-owners. I like the "Wash Me", "Subaru Heaven", and "Parking Meter" commercials. You can find those on YouTube posted and uploaded by Subaru.    

    

    

    

Another update to the Figure album. Other albums will be updated as soon as I'm back on a PC. Just as before, for the new figures, I've uploaded a complete gallery at bluA32.photoshop.com. The new galleries there are Chouun Shiryuu, Griffon Sonsaku Hakufu w/ Wet Hair, Kotobukiya Sonsaku Hakufu, GoodSmile Rider (Fate/Stay Night), Palm Characters Disgaea 2 Chaos at the Colosseum, PKST, and SolidWorks Cat Ear and Red Hair Versions of Shana with her coat. Some of these albums are better suited for mature viewers and appreciated by mature collectors.

Down. Game 2 started ok. The Lakers were matching the Celtics intensity in the first half and Mr. Drama queen seemed to play perfectly fine. There were 2 fouls on Kobe early on that I felt were "questionable" although to me they'd both be non-calls. The 3rd quarter really did belong to the Celtics and if they played like they did for the rest of the game, I'd admit that the Lakers were completely outplayed, but the 4th quarter was all Lakers. Lakers turned the game completely around, cutting their deficit to 2 points. What can I say, bad F'n calls. Poor officiating made this whole game seem like the Celtics were favored. Have you heard me knock on officiating too much lately? No. It's because this game really did bug me with the calls and non-calls made against the Lakers; touch fouls galore!!? o_O...Lopsided home court officiating indeed.

Game 3: Lakers vs. Fakers Tuesday

As I was expecting, but hoping otherwise, the Boston Celtics come out and take game 1. The Lakers didn't play bad though. The first half was a good game and even in the 3rd quarter when Fisher threw up the ally oop to Bryant I thought there was a slight chance of a pull away victory. It was right after that play though that the momentum changed in the Celtics favor. Pierce came back and hit 2 threes in a row to close out the 3rd and the 4th quarter was just about maintaining their lead. The Lakers came out with piss poor shooting, but I'm sure it's also partly due to Celtics' D. The team and the crowd in Boston just wanted it more today. Kobe needs to find his shot for the next game and Luke needs to actually play like he's in the NBA. If they can do that, we can steal game 2 from the east and ride the mo' back to the west coast.

Dancing and rockin' it sexy hurts your abs. After 2 days, I definitely feel more loosened up but my sides and my knees feel like they are on fire. Overall, I must say that shaking it is better than running.