what the hell has happened to....

this blog? john used to be good for one a week, but now it's like he just wants to sit and drink all the time...

I am delaying coming back...

mainly because I am scared of running into despondent Canadian hockey fans.

Be there in a few weeks, after all the furor has died down.

Njoku scam

Hello ....

With all due respect, my name is Mr. William Njoku. I am 52yrs old, I am the Director In charge of Wire Transfer through Key Tested Telex (K.T.T), and wire transfer bank to bank (swift system) of NATIONAL BANK FOR INDUSTRIES, LOME TOGO. My department is in charge of all the Foreign Remittance and operational software that is to be undertaken by our bank. On a routine inspection I discovered a dormant domiciliary account with a BAL. of US$4.5 (Four Million, Five Hundred Thousand dollars) belonging to late Mr. ........, from your country.

On further discreet investigation, I also discovered that the account holder and his family all lost their lives in plane crash in a village called Adjarra near Porto Novou after taken off from Cotonou in Benin Republic where they went for a Concert .

For more on the plane crash log on to

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3348109.stm

Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for some time now i seek your consent to present you as the next of kin of the deceased, so that the proceeds of this account valued at US$4,500,000.00 dollars can be paid to you and then you and me can share the money. I have all the necessary legal information / Documents that can be used to back up any claim we may make. And these I must do to make sure that this fund is not wasted or end up in the wrong hands.

All I require is your honest co-operation to enable us see this transaction through. I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. I am waiting your urgent reply. Please you can reach me through my private email address as indicated. And also be in mind that this transaction should be kept secret and confidential.

Thanks for understanding , waiting to hear from you urgently for more updates.

NB:YOU ARE ADVISED TO REPLY BACK USING MY PRIVATE EMAIL ADDRESS WHICH IS ( mrwilly_njoku@yahoo.fr ) FOR URGENT AND PROMPT ATTENTION.

Thanks and God bless you,

Mr.William Njoku.

International Remittance Unit,

National Bank For Industries,

Lome Togo.

Tel.+228-829-76-13

Private Email: mrwilly_njoku@yahoo.fr

Where do these freakin people come from.......

Tuesday, Wednesday .................

Drunkest Towns in America

1.) Fresno, CA F
2.) Reno, NV F
3.) Billings, MT F
4.) Riverside, CA F
5.) Austin, TX F
6.) St. Louis, MO F
7.) San Antonio, TX F
8.) Lubbock, TX F
9.) Tucson, AZ F
10.) Bakersfield, CA F

Not coincidentally, the drunkest town in Taiwan is

1. The Crossroads

North Korean Dwarf

No joke. I think I posted the photo of this guy "celebrating" his return to his motherland with arms in the air...I hope he and his family survived.

Hitchens on NK

"...a North Korean is on average six inches shorter than a South Korean."

A Nation of Racist Dwarfs

Some Concert Reviews, way post facto

Well here I am, firmly entrenched in bar studying. Phrases like "Holder in Due Course" and "Bona Fide Purchaser" dominate my existence, but not right now. Now I'm taking a brief moment to reflect on the shows I've seen in the past year.

Neil Young (Lethbridge, Alberta): Still can rock it out, though his voice has lost a bit. Hard to beat hearing Four Strong Winds when you're kicking it on the prairies. Unfortunately, this show was so overshadowed by the following night's performance by Leonard Cohen that I sometimes forget I was even there.

Leonard Cohen (Calgary, Alberta): I don't care whether you like his music or not. When a 76 year old man comes dancing onto stage, plays for over 3 hours, and captivates an entire theatre to the point where nobody wants to leave, it says something. Without question the best show I've ever seen. Who by Fire was probably the my favorite tune of the evening, but there really wasn't a bad one. There were probably ten standing ovations at various points. The fact it was a concert hall instead of an arena made it even better.

Laura Viers (Seattle, Washington): Laura puts on a decent enough show; the real problem was the venue (the Crocodile). Got there at 8, no chairs, stood around through a couple of opening acts until she finally appeared for a measly one hour. Most of the stuff she played was off of her July Flames album (new) and was decent, but man, I was just tired of standing. They did play Cohen's Songs album during the intermissions, so that was cool.

Lyle Lovett (Missoula, Montana): Lyle was performing as trio at a renovated opera house. GA seating, so my parents and I walked up ten minutes before the show and somehow managed to get into the third row. Lyle is comical as always, calls out pot smokers, and tells crying babies to act their age. Best song of the night was probably his version of Friend of the Devil, though North Dakota and Penguins were great, too.

Steve Earle (Missoula, Montana): If I wanted to see a Townes Van Zandt concert, I would rent a DVD. If you're adding something new to the song, fine. If you're just trying to introduce people to Townes, fine -- do it in one song. You're not Sarah McGlaughlin, I don't need to hear your voice that bad.

Taj Mahal (Missoula, Montana): Outstanding, but I don't reckon there a lot of fans on this sight, so I'll pass on any more detail.

Ladysmith Black Mambazo (Missoula, Montana): If you ever get a chance, just go. Trust me and thank me later.

3 weeks

Is that enough lead-time?

Get your shit ready.

Terminal 2 - CKS Airport.

Don't worry - I'll take the bus down.

yeah, the OG still call it CKS...Chiang Kai-Shek, bo-po MO-FO.

Manny Being Manny in Taiwan

The LA Dodgers are playing 2 exhibition games in Taiwan March 13-14. Playing against the Taiwan national team, location details being announced Friday.

Vegas anybody?

when is everyone coming back next and how do we schedule a company meeting in vegas?

How to get IJ to move back to America?

Maybe this show will tempt him?

Tip for the Guys

I bought an iRobot Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner for my wife for Christmas. It works pretty well, but I just realized I should not have given it as a gift.

See, its cool because it does the vacuuming for you while you are doing other shit, like writing useless blog posts, checking fantasy football stats, playing facebook poker, or doing that internet research on the porn industry your boss keeps wanting updated.

But once your wife knows this, she assumes she just freed you up for other chores instead of sweet, quality computer/TV/book time.

I think it would be wiser to buy the robot, then when the wife leaves the house, let it run. When she returns, offhandedly mentioned you vacuumed the house - you will get major brownie points. I am not sure how to hide the robot though.

Portage Glacier

Sunday, Monday ........

Sports Maladies

Way back in Week 2 of the NFL, D-Wayne, Red A and I were watching the Eagles and the Saints. Red A brought up the mandatory comment about McNabb's "sports" hernia. That got us to thinking up more "sports" injuries and maladies. As we were starting, I heard a comment from Dick Stockton - still alive, still broadcasting, still messin' things up - that leads to our first malady.

The Saints, who have never trailed in this game, are now ahead for the first time.

Way to go Di-ick, Way to go! Years ago when Frenchie was still in Taiwan we were at PJ's watching an NBA game that wasn't very exciting. So we did what any normal male would do, we created a drinking game. And, lo, it was called, Uh, Dick. The goal was simple: outlast your drinking opponent. We had to swig for every Uh that Dick uhhed and we had to chug our entire beer anytime he mentioned a story. Every aspect of basketball for Dick had to be framed within a story: the time out story; the jump ball story; the rebounding story; the officiating story. We started midway through the first quarter and by mutual agreement, called it a draw at halftime and quit. Congratulations Dick Stockton, creator of the sports hangover!

Here's a list of several other sports maladies from Red A and me. D-Wayne says we always do this and refused to participate, though he did offer one good one but I forgot what it was. Durn that sports amnesia.

• Sports gout
• Sports scurvy
• Sports aphasia - Risk group: Dick Stockton
• Sports male pattern baldness - Risk group: those with MPB who are in denial and blame it on constant hat/helmet wearing - Cause - male pattern baldness
• Sports cirrhosis - Risk group: Rams fans - Cause: the Rams
• Sports headache - Risk group: wives of male sports fans - Cause: male sports fans
• Sports Tourette's Syndrome - Risk group: CPBL (Taiwanese baseball league) and SBL (Taiwanese basketball league - the S is for Super!) fans - Cause: the CPBL and SBL
• Sports laryngitis - Risk group: usually a complication from sports tourette's syndrome - Cause: same as above
• The sports vapors - Risk group: Soccer players- "Oh, my heavens! I do believe that you brushed my personal space inappropriately and therefore shall have to wave my frail limbs dramatically and tumble, yes tumble, to the ground!" - Cause: soccer, of course
• Sports dysentery - What I wish upon those fans and or athletes who eat chili with beans, a marinated T-bone or "baby" back ribs thinking they are barbecued, while watching a sporting event.
• Sports catatonia - Risk group: Tech fans and recruits - Cause: God knows
• Sports hemorrhoids - Risk group: Adam James if Mike Leach continued to be his college football career at Tech - Cause: a small dark room?
• Sports leprosy - This was by far my favorite and Red A came up with it. I had to modify it a little to...
• Sports leper - Risk group:This one has been changed. At first I had Adam James at risk, then after hearing others speak, especially the players, I put Leach at risk. Then I thought about it and wondered if a sports star is ever truly a leper. There are some works in progress - Tiger - but many have been in as bad or worse situations and come back. Nominations?

Football

Anyone interested can join me to watch the Alamo Bowl at the Internet shop next to Holiday KTV on Mei-Tsun and Shang Shiang. It's a 9:00 ET kickoff, which would make it 11:00 in the morning, Sunday. Check for yourselves, but I will be there.

* Uh, sorry. Kickoff is 10:00am Taiwan time. I am already here. Come on down Mr. Bean and D-Wayne if you're in town.

A n c h o r a g e

Iditarod ....... Thanks:)


Alaska railroad


Ship creek


C street


4th avenue







mash, get smart, hogan's heroes ........... ?

K W L G u i l i n

Did You Know?

• KWL has 208 flights departing per week for short haul destinations.
• KWL connects with 32 cities nonstop.
• There are 30 flights per week flying on small aircraft from KWL.
• There are over 436 domestic flights per week from KWL.
• Over 64,995 passengers can travel out of KWL every week.
• There are 32 nonstop flights per week departing from KWL.
• There are over 43 long haul flights per week from KWL.
• The longest flight from KWL is 1,648 miles.

Pappa bear?

The Tonka XXIV issue, vol 22

Taiwan Tonka......




Hogan

Transporter 12

The livestock edition: chickens, pigs, water buffalo & a goat

And yes, that is a goat on the back of that scooter..........

Wonder where they are heading?






Klink

Top Ten Things I Say on a Scooter That Have No Cussing

1. You have no headlight.
2. You have no taillight.
3. You have no brake lights.
4. You have no lights.
5. Don't turn off my lights.
6. I said, don't turn off my lights.
7. You know, the full-face, dark visor you wear to protect you from the sun's rays may be okay during the daytime, but at night, you might want to rethink that.
8. That big bag of produce in front of your headlight...ooh, nice cabbage...is illuminated very well. However, your vehicle and the road in front of you are not.
9. Blithering idiot.
10. Incredible nincompoop.

下 一 項

College football - Of course you have the national championship game with UT and Alabama, but you also have a more locally (Taichung) interesting game going on. That being Texas Tech vs. Michigan State. I, of course, support the good guys, Tech. My friend, Sam, a Michigan native, went to State and at the moment sorta supports the Spartans.

If you want to watch the game live, let me know. D-Wayne proposed using his computer and FuBar's wireless to watch it outside on SoHo Street. I'm thinkin that might be a bit cold and windy. An Internet cafe sounds a bit more hospitable to me. D-Wayne, Mr. Bean,let me know, but let's watch it.