Tip

Friendly tip: Don’t start watching The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King at 11pm unless you don’t have to wake up the next morning….

Back in Austin

After 2+ weeks of vacation, we are back in Austin. We ate so much awesome food, and had a great time visiting family and opening presents. Bay and Koa had fun playing with their cousins Taylor, Danielle, and Kai, and we even broke out the super-8 movie projector to watch a couple old Fujimoto classics circa 1979. Here’s some of the culinary highlights of our trip:

– Jamaican Curry Crab
– amazing Japanese food at Takao
– Bagels with Lox, Pastrami, Corned Beed, Roast Beef, etc.
– Ramen!
– L&L
– Crab Cooker
– our annual Hawaiian Xmas feast
– Turkey and all the trimmings
– lots of beer and wine

Amazingly enough, I didn’t gain any weight!

Dodgers ’05 Season = Over

Last year, they let LoDuca go. They let Mota go. This offseason they let Finley go. The let Beltre go. Soon it looks like Green is gone. And they pick up Jeff Kent? The Dodgers are done. Frank McCourt & Co. need to be driven off the Santa Monica Pier. I can’t believe they even let Ross Porter (longtime Dodger announcer) go. I wouldn’t be surprised if Vin Scully throws his arms up in disgust and quits. My new prediction is Dodgers: 4th place (hoping they can still beat the Rockies)

Check out my favorite site, DodgerBlues.com, for details. Also, here’s a nice story about the Dodgers at MSNBC, and an even better commentary by Bill Plaschke at L.A. Times.com.

Car Names

I was thinking about car names (numbers like 325i are disqualified), and so, another list for my five loyal readers:

Car names I like:
Element
Z
Scion
Jetta
Scirocco (loved the early models)
Xterra
Echo
Impreza

Car names I am not fond of:
Escape
Vitara
Nubira
Leganza

Baseball predictions

My prediction for the NL West of ’05

First place: SF Giants. With the addition of Benitez as closer, Vizquel and Matheny for defense, the Giants should be able to eek out a few more wins.
Second place: AZ D’backs. If they manage to keep the Big Unit, they should do good. Glaus and Ortiz should be great additions for them.
Third place: LA Dodgers. They haven’t done much to improve the team in the off-season, and the loss of Finley can only hurt them. They will barely be above the Padres.
Fourth place: SD Padres. They lost Wells, and the Pad’s are never any good.
Fifth place: CO Rockies. Someone has to reside in the cellar.