Did anyone catch the epic battle between two warriors on center court at Wimbledon today?  What a match!  Too bad there had to be a loser, and I feel for Andy’s loss; I so wanted him to win, as he deserves it for sure.  Hopefully in the next few years, as his window of opportunity will surely be closing soon.  Oh well, he still has Brooklyn Decker.

Picture from: http://tennisplanet.wordpress.com/

Like the title says, after 16 years of inactivity, foreign residents in Pyongyang noted that Egypt’s Orascom Group started refurbishing the top floors of the hotel in April 2008. Though the effect on the architecture has yet to be determined, windows and telecommunications antennas were observed being installed.  The Orascom Telecom subsidiary of the group confirmed involvement in the structure to begin developing GSM infrastructure in North Korea for up to 100,000 initial subscribers.  Only government officials are currently permitted to use mobile phones and the service has been banned from use by ordinary citizens and foreigners since 2002.  In September 2008, a senior North Korean official said the refurbishing of the Ryugyong Hotel will be done by 2012 – the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung. At the same time, an Orascom company official said the goal of the project was to at least give the structure’s facade a facelift and make it more attractive.  On December 22, 2008, photos of ongoing construction at the hotel appeared on the Internet.   The exterior construction has included the installation of windows and a covering of the top (circular) floors.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryugyong_Hotel

Tomorrow I am the best man in my friend’s mega-wedding. It’s actually more of a Hollywood production than a wedding, really. Plans are for something like 400 people to be at the reception and of course I’m giving a speech. My ultimate hope is that this special day for my two friends is the best that it possibly can be and that my small part contributes to that. As far as one of my closest high school friends getting hitched goes, going back well over 10 years, I’m just stoked for him (as long as he’s happy). All I know is that I’m no where close to feeling ready to make a commitment like that and we’re both the same age, being in our late 20’s. Hey, to each his own; whatever one thinks (legally) makes life better, then I say go for it. Obviously my friend thinks marrying his girlfriend will enrich his. If I had to guess though, this won’t change him that much…well, maybe it will a little bit.

P.S. If the speech goes well, and it will, then I’ll post it sometime after the wedding.

….has to be one of the most frustrating endeavors I have ever undertaken. Being President’s Day, school was not open and I had the opportunity to go the La Jolla Country Club (where I’m currently employed) and play the private golf course there. Well let me tell you, it was 18 holes of hell; actually 17, because I played the 1st hole very well, go figure. Before the round started, like most people I hit up the driving range and received a couple pointers from my playing partners about how my swing looked. Man was that a bad idea, well the timing up it anyway. I had a million swing thoughts going through my head after that and this continued throughout the day. The problem was the fact that once your in the middle of game your mind needs to be as clear as possible in order to relax and have even a remote chance of playing well. Of course that didn’t happen for me, as I played horribly and was thoroughly frustrated. They say a bad day of golf is better than a good day at the office….not true! First of all, I hate office environments and in turn don’t work in one and second, golf has to be considered of a form of torture in some countries, or at least sadomasochism. One positive I can take away from this humbling experience is strong motivation to learn the real fundamentals of the swing and begin to build a foundation the right way. There’s a website online which one might find useful in this regard:

www.videojug.com/film/how-to-perform-the-perfect-golf-swing

Good luck with your own game.

As some of you saw on yahoo! yesterday, in downtown Pyongyang, the capital of communist North Korea, there rises a building of true distinction; it was hard for me to take my eyes off the picture. It looks ominous in the background, towering over and dwarfing the other buildings, totally abandoned and hallow inside. How can anyone construct such an eyesore without completion and then simply let it remain? I bet it sucks a lot of positive energy out of the city. Pity the people of this country.

The Ryugyong Hotel, or so says Esquire’s Eva Hagberg:

Even by Communist standards, the 3,000-room hotel is hideously ugly, a series of three gray 328-foot long concrete wings shaped into a steep pyramid. With 75 degree sides that rise to an apex of 1,083 feet, the Hotel of Doom (also known as the Phantom Hotel and the Phantom Pyramid) isn’t the just the worst designed building in the world — it’s the worst-built building, too. In 1987, Baikdoosan Architects and Engineers put its first shovel into the ground and more than twenty years later, after North Korea poured more than two percent of its gross domestic product to building this monster, the hotel remains unoccupied, unopened, and unfinished. Construction was halted in 1992.

As some of you may realize, this is fairly old news. The reason I am posting about it here though is because the band was currently on tour with Escape the Fate and were slated to play in San Diego earlier this month. Needless to say, the show at House of Blues on December 12th, of which I had plans to attend, was canceled. Being that he was only 26 years young, Casey Calvert’s sudden death was indeed a tragedy and loss to his family, friends, fellow band mates as well as the music community who follows emo, screamo, and post-hardcore genres. Wikipedia.org had this posted:

Hawthorne Heights guitarist Casey Calvert died due to the “acute combined effects of opiate, citalopram and clonazepam intoxication,” according to the just-released results of an autopsy performed by the office of the chief medical examiner in Washington, D.C. The autopsy listed Calvert’s death as accidental, though it added that it was brought on due to “substance abuse.” Both citalopram (also known by the brand name Celexa) and clonazepam (also known by the brand names Klonopin and Rivotril) are prescription drugs, the former an antidepressant and the latter used to treat seizure disorders and panic attacks.

Drummer Eron Bucciarelli issued the following statement:

From the time of the incident we suspected a possible drug interaction as the cause. Casey wrestled with depression for as long as we knew him. He saw numerous doctors and took an ever-changing array of medicines to get better. He finally had his depression under control. According to the toxicology report, the cause of death was due to a fatal interaction between depression meds, anxiety meds and an opiate. Opiates being mentioned along with the term “substance abuse”, coupled with “rockstar” stereotypes immediately conjure up images of hard drug use and addiction, which simply couldn’t be further from the truth in Casey’s instance. What the toxicology report doesn’t show is that prior to us leaving for tour, Casey had a root canal, and was prescribed Vicodin (an opiate) for the pain. Once again, Casey was not involved in anything illegal nor was he a substance abuser.

Calvert was an avowed vegetarian and lent his support to PETA’s anti-KFC campaign.

There’s this band from Vegas called Escape the Fate and let me tell you, they are like so rad.  I found them through this cool website called pandora.com, which organically finds music you are interested in, based on a particular band or song, that you create as a ‘radio station’.  Regarding the band, here’s a little bio of them from allmusic.com:

Appearing amid the fertile screamo scene of the 2000s, the Las Vegas quintet Escape the Fate prided itself, above all else, on an energetic and visceral live show. The band came randomly together through MySpace.  Debuting live barely a month later, the guys found early success on local radio and quickly amassed a devoted hometown following. By September 2005, they had won a local radio contest judged by My Chemical Romance that awarded them the opportunity to open a show on the band’s current headlining tour.

I highly recommend this band to anyone who likes Screamo or Post-Hardcore.  Check them out if they come to a venue near you!

I started a job and it’s hard but good.  The company, culture, and people are all great.  Like lifting weights, at first you’re really sore and right now I’m still in shock from all the work involved, but as the old addage goes, hard work pays off.  The way the system is set up there you have to definitely put in your dues before you can reap the rewards.  Fair enough.  More to follow…

I love music, specifically punk rock.  The genre has callen out to me ever since I started skateboarding in 8th grade.  See, like every good skater, I started buying the videos and watching my heros on the boob tube.  It just so happened that the music these pros edited their runs to was more often than not punk.  Punk rock has many roots in San Diego, as does skateboarding, so it made sense for me to immerse myself in both.  Bands like Bad Religion, NOFX, and Pennywise dominated my musical spectrum back than…and not a whole lot has change since.  My inclination has evolved just like my life has, but nevertheless I am still passionite about my punk rock.  One of the bands I’ve been listening to lately is call Saosin:

Southern-California quintet Saosin have been tearing up stages around the world since the September 26th release of their debut self-titled album on Capitol Records. In support of the release, Saosin has performed to ecstatic crowds along the Taste of Chaos Tour, both international and North America, and also alongside Senses Fail and Bleeding Through. Saosin will be joining this summer’s highly anticipated Projekt Revolution tour beginning July 25th and culminating on September 3. (punkrockvids.com).

If you get the opportunity, definitely check these guys out!