After a slow start.....

I'm back and more excited than before. Life gets hectic when you finally decide to start your own blog. I've agreed to coach a girl's basketball team from St. Michael's Catholic school here in Memphis and it's lots of fun. But enough of the personal stuff, let's talk some newsworthy happenings, so on with the show....
Well seems like a couple of my earlier predictions came true. The Miami Dolphins rewarded Dave Wannstedt's departure with a win against the equally bad 49'ers. In my opinion if my team's season is over I would prefer that they start looking towards the future than try and eke out a rare win. Granted they'll still get a high draft pick, but the team is in such a shambles right now we need more. Another prediction that I managed to hit that day (seems a while ago, time can truly fly....) was the Lakers being toppled here in Memphis by the Grizzles. Since then? Hubie decided to pull an Elvis and leave the building. Personally I'm very sorry to see him go and I would have loved him to finish out the year with the team, but for whatever reason that is now not possible. My bet is with Paterno taking over as soon as everything is sorted out with TNT, but a serious concern for any Grizzlie fan out there is that following Hubie out of town will be Jerry West. Without his guidance we would not have come leaps and bounds since leaving Vancouver and moving into the Pyramid. I almost wish we were still playing there considering everything that has happened since then, but we must move on. I'm predicting a 30-35 win season this year and I'll be dissapointed if we don't hit it after getting 50 last year.
Now onto some links. Firstly, a great site to get some very interesting tv shows, if you have or use bit torrent, check out:
http://www2.digitaldistractions.org:8080/torrents.php
I especially reccomend the show Long Way Round, with Obi-Wan Kenobi himself on a BMW motorbike going on a trip of a lifetime, a semi-round the world motorbike trek starting off in London, across Europe and Russia, then a small plane jump to Alaska and across Canada and the US till they get to New York. I've seen 2 episodes so far and I'm hooked, they have more episodes available, but I haven't had the time yet, I sure will though.
I have to give props to one of the only decent print media outlets here in Memphis that I've come across and doesn't cost a cent, the Memphis Flyer. Some great articles, but more of a Memphi-centric link:
http://www.memphisflyer.com/default.asp
Recently a new player came onto the gaming scene, the Nintendo DS. It's on my wishlist, so if anyone out there was thinking of buying a poor Aussie something for under the tree this comes right up there on my list. It looks like it came away with a great start:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=569&e=6&u=/nm/tech_nintendo_handheld_dc
After Europe's heatwaves last year and the hurricanes devastating Florida this year we get more and more signs that the end of the world is approaching. Seriously, the way we consume and devastate the environment is unbeleivable. I have sworn that the next car I buy will be a hybrid, unlikely that it'll be new, but if it's not a hybrid then I don't want to consider it. If only my employer could be as environmentally conscious as the one in the 3rd link. Well ok, if I'm faced with walking to work my tune might change, but I'm going through an environmental phase at the moment. I always try to keep abreast of things and today especially several stories really stood out to me:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1535&e=17&u=/afp/india_bhopal_pollution
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=541&e=9&u=/ap/perchlorate_contamination
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=677&e=3&u=/usatoday/californiacompanyoffersworkershotdealforpurchasingahybrid
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=570&e=1&u=/nm/environment_climate_heatwave_dc
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=624&e=3&u=/ap/rare_bird_dies
Just a few of the stories I read today that keep me convinced a large majority of humans have their priorities set askew.
I've watched some documentaries on HBO in the last few weeks, Pandemic: AIDS. Actually produced by Bill Gates' foundation, which up until this point I had heard about but never seen anything positive result from it. My opinion has slightly changed now, he's not completely hoarding his billions, he does give a small amount of spare change to a good cause. If you haven't seen the documentary it is reccomended, some powerful footage about a devastating disease that I don't wish upon anyone.:
http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/pandemic/
And with today also being World Aids day please spare a thought or prayer for the now millions around the world who are HIV positive:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=541&e=12&u=/ap/un_world_aids_day
The number of HIV positive people in the US is also on the rise:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1896&e=1&u=/nm/aids_cases_dc
Lastly I'll leave with this, Disney has the idea to put ESPN phones out there, look out for ESPN Wireless!!! It better have the best damn sports coverage available to your cell phone, or what's the point? Having bragging rights so you can turn to your mate and say "yeah Jimbob, I got me a ESPN phone", "What does it do", "It let's you talk to people", "And you pay more for that?", "Yeah, it's ESPN", "Oh!". I can just see that conversation already.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=562&e=3&u=/ap/espn_phones