BLAME HALO 3! Last week, one of my friends showed me this music video that chronicled the tragic addiction some people get with the hit Xbox game. And by tragic, I mean friggin’ hilarious! I played Halo 3 once...and the online gaming is awesome. My favorite match is the one where you only have an energy blade (shown below) to use on opponents. I got 18 kills the first time around, but ended the night with less than half that much haha. Um, oh well... Energy blades still rule. The "juggernaut" matches were pretty hard. I’d explain what you’re suppose to do in that duel, but I’ll save my uber-nerdiness for them Space Blogs.




Here’s the video:

Blame Halo 3 - Watch more free videos

ALMOST THERE... Below is a montage of photos showing the progress being made as the International Space Station continues to grow in size each year (till 2010, that is...when construction on the outpost should be completed and the space shuttle fleet is retired). The first one depicts the ISS as it looked when the first two segments, the Russian-made Zarya module and the U.S.-made Unity node, were linked up almost 9 years ago. The second photo depicts the outpost as it looked for about 4 years while the shuttle was grounded following the February 2003 Columbia disaster (the last flight to the station before the tragedy occurred, STS-113, was launched in November of 2002, and the ISS started to change in appearance after the STS-115 flight in September of last year). The third photo was taken this morning...in the moments following Discovery's undocking from the space station after successfully completing all of its objectives for STS-120. The next addition to the ISS should be Europe’s Columbus science module...which will launch to the station onboard Atlantis in STS-122 next month.


NASA

TODAY is the big game between the NFL’s two remaining undefeated teams, the Indianapolis Colts (7-0) and the New England Patriots (8-0). So who am I rooting for, you ask? The Colts, of course! Boston has already enjoyed its fair share of sports success stories this year...with the Celtics getting former Minnesota Timberwolf Kevin Garnett to join Ray Allen and Paul Pierce in their quest to become NBA championship contenders (Meh... We all know that damn Texas team with Tim Duncan and the short French dude married to Eva Longoria is gonna prevail again next June), and of course, the Red Sox crushing the Colorado Rockies in last week’s Fall Classic. Thanks for blowing the lead, Indians... I would mention Boston College, but Florida State defeated them yesterday, 27-17, to remove the Eagles from the No. 2 spot in the BCS standings. Anyways, here’s hoping Peyton Manning bests Tom Brady in this afternoon's anticipated duel between the q-backs—and maybe then Manning will have his own cameo appearance on Family Guy...



UPDATE (4:25 PM, PST): Sigh. The Patriots scored 14 uncontested points in the second half to win, 24-20. Looks like I owe my co-worker a beer. Yea, right.

NASA

STS-120 MISSION UPDATE: I thought I’d just post the image above to commemorate today’s successful spacewalk that led to the repair of a solar array wing onboard the International Space Station (ISS). If the repair didn’t go as planned, that array would’ve suffered future structural damage due to its instability (since the wing wasn’t unfurled to its full 115-feet length during deployment last Tuesday...because of a torn panel), possibly leading to that array having to be removed and discarded, and leading to a loss of a very important power source that would've put remaining space station assembly on hold. With the solar array now fully unfurled and working properly, the ISS is receiving more-than-adequate electricity...and the next shuttle flight, STS-122 with Atlantis, remains on track for a December 6 launch. Atlantis was rolled over to the Vehicle Assembly Building at Florida's Kennedy Space Center today, in preparation for mating to its external fuel tank and twin solid rocket boosters.


NASA / George Shelton

I thought I’d also show this image below. The artist's concept is of Space Station Freedom (which evolved into the ISS during the early 90’s once Russia joined the project), and that NASA TV screenshot came from today’s spacewalk. Nice to know this neat little artwork is close to becoming a complete reality.



NASA

DAY 7 Trailer... Below is a sneak preview, which aired on television about a week ago in the United Kingdom, to the 7th season of the hit FOX TV show. The Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) has been disbanded (at least officially), Jack Bauer is now trying to save the day in Washington D.C. (as opposed to Los Angeles for the past six, um, 'Days'), a female President (Cherry Jones) runs the White House, and Tony Almeida—who was presumed dead after getting stabbed with a medical syringe by Christopher Henderson (Robocop’s Peter Weller) in season 5—is behind the terrorist plot that opens Day 7. Sounds promising. I enjoyed Day 6...but here’s hoping this latest season will blow me away (and win some Emmies next year) like Day 5 did in 2006. 24 will return on January 13 at 8 PM, Pacific Standard Time. Anyways, here’s the trailer...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN, EVERYONE! Since I'm too lazy to write a new, original Blog here... I thought I'd just re-post this list from two years ago. Of course, it's only interesting if you happen to live in SoCal:



"Some" Haunted Sites In Southern California:
Anaheim – House of Blues
Buena Park – Knott’s Berry Farm
Chino – Chino Hills
City of Industry – Puente Hills Mall, AMC 20 theater
City of Industry - The Sheraton Hotel (now known as the Pacific Palms Hotel)
Covina – "Zelda’s Legend" about an underground tunnel
Diamond Bar - Brea Canyon Road
Diamond Bar – Diamond Bar High School
Disneyland – The Christmas Shop
Disneyland – The Disney Gallery
Disneyland – Fire Station
Disneyland – Haunted Mansion
Disneyland – It’s a Small World
Disneyland – Matterhorn Mountain
Disneyland – Pirates of the Caribbean
Disneyland – Space Mountain
Disneyland – The Star Trader (4th floor stock room)
Disneyland – the old “People Mover Ride”
Disneyland – Tom Sawyer’s Island
Disneyland – Tomorrow Land
Fullerton – Cal State Fullerton dorm
Hollywood - El Capitan Theater
Hollywood – Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Hollywood – Mann’s Chinese Theatre
Hollywood – Hollywood Sign and Griffith Observatory
Hollywood - Roosevelt Hotel
Hollywood – Universal Studios
Huntington Beach – Bolsa Chica Wetlands
Irvine – University of California Irvine – Campus Dr.
La Puente – Hurley Elementary School – Tetherball courts
La Puente – Nogales burgers
La Puente – Nogales High School
Long Beach – The Queen Mary
Los Angeles - Dodger Stadium
Los Angeles - The Coliseum
Los Angeles – Loyola Marymount University
Pasadena – abandoned asylum
Pasadena – Angeles Crest – Old Hotel
Pasadena – the bridge of Fair Oaks exit
Pasadena – The Castle Green
Pasadena – Green Street Hotel
Pasadena – Haunted forest
Pasadena – The Haunted mansion
Pasadena – Rose Bowl parking lot
Pasadena – The Colorado St. and Scoville Bridges
Pasadena – The historic State Landmark Theater
Pasadena – The Pasadena Playhouse
Pasadena – The Ritz Carlton (this is where I had my high school senior prom in ‘98)
Pomona – Lanterman Developmental Center
Rowland Heights - Rowland High School
San Diego – Coronado Island - Hotel del Coronado
Walnut – Haunted Church (once abandoned) off Nogales and Amar Road
Walnut - Lemon Avenue
Walnut - St. Mary's Catholic School
West Covina – Galster Park
West Covina – South Hill Elementary
Whittier - Turnbull Canyon Road

For an UPDATED LIST, go to TheShadowlands.Net


The (supposedly) haunted church in Walnut, CA


The infamous Turnbull Canyon Road in Whittier, CA


Diamond Bar High School, CA


The Pacific Palms Hotel in City of Industry, CA... This particular pic obviously doesn't help give the notion that this resort is haunted. Though ironically, the part of this complex that is supposedly haunted happens to be the golf course in the foreground.

SEND A PERSONAL MESSAGE TO THE CREW OF SPACE SHUTTLE DISCOVERY! Courtesy of Space Center Houston and Lucasfilm, the film production company of Star Wars creator George Lucas, you can send a personal greeting to the 7 astronauts currently onboard space shuttle Discovery. Discovery launched from Florida on mission STS-120 a week ago...embarking on a 14-day flight that involved installing a new pressurized module (known as Harmony) to the International Space Station last Friday. Today, an old set of giant solar panel wings (known as the P6 truss...which was launched in November of 2000) will be relocated to the port-side of the orbital outpost. Here is where you can submit a greeting:

http://spacecenter.org/message.asp

This opportunity comes at the same time a lightsaber film prop used by Mark Hamill (as Luke Skywalker) in 1983’s Return of the Jedi is riding onboard Discovery. The prop will be put on exhibit once the orbiter safely returns to Earth on November 7. In terms of the personal messages, they will be imprinted onto a compact disc and presented to the shuttle astronauts during a de-briefing at Houston’s Johnson Space Center after the flight. Hurry before it’s too late!


Reuters - Scott Audette / Lucasfilm Ltd.

For those of you who sat through and watched Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace years ago, do you remember that one scene where Anakin Skywalker asks Padme if she’s "an angel"? Well... That line isn’t so lame if you think about it. Hmm, actually, it is— But Anakin’s young naiveté in thinking she’s a perfect, um heavenly creature isn’t so farfetched.

Back when I was in 6th grade (yup, here’s my life story. Sort of. Haha), I met this one girl named Jacquelyn who was one of my brother’s classmates in 8th grade. When I first got to know her, I thought she was perfect; really pretty, and a sweet personality (note to self: This entry can get REAL sissy-ish pretty fast). I had a major crush on her, which all of my classmates who teased me about her the next two school years could attest to.

Then in one afterschool moment, I was sitting next to Jackie on a brick wall near the school's basketball court, and she started to go off on a profanity-laced rant about her boyfriend. And then suddenly...the perfect, um angelic (note to self: This entry can get REAL sissy-ish pretty— Oh wait) point of view I had of her shattered.

Overlooking the fact Jackie was the first girl I ever hugged (Didn't think this life story could get any more pathetic, eh? Proved YOU wrong), I still became disillusioned...about Asian girls that is. Haha.

That’s probably why it’s a lot easier for me to talk to non-Asian ladies than ladies of my own ethnicity (even mentioned this in a previous blog). That disillusionment, which I know sounds pretty lame (along with the rest of this entry), lingers today...and somewhat made me acerbic (look that up on a thesaurus) towards females of the Asian persuasion.

When I first get to know an Asian girl, she’s really sweet and all that. And then she develops an attitude and starts to curse more than George Carlin.

Of course, be realistic: No one’s perfect (learned that in 6th grade!) and everyone cusses now and then...either vocally or in their thoughts. But some of that may also be my fault.

With some Asian gals I met recently, I would randomly cuss here and there in a conversation before I ever heard them use foul language. Basically, I went on a preemptive, profanity-laced rant before they did.

I mean, heck— Get them disillusioned about how I really am before they do the same to me, ya know? LOL.

But anyways... Just thought I’d get that out. Another reason why it’s hard to talk to most Asian girls is because I put them on such a high pedestal in my mind since I was young (like, um, 4th grade. Or did that start with Jackie as well? Or is this the very same theme as the one I’ve been talking about throughout this entire friggin' post? Whatever).

It’s like what someone told me recently: There are more than 3 billion females out there in the world... Why should one of them be treated so differently? ("‘CAUSE SHE’S F**KIN' HOT!!") That is all.

JAXA

KAGUYA Update... Seven days after the spacecraft settled into its primary science orbit on October 19, the Kaguya mission has now shifted out of its "critical phase" of operations...and the various science instruments onboard the probe are being checked out. Regular operations are scheduled to begin in December. Below are several photos taken as Kaguya approached and settled into lunar orbit on October 3. The first two images show the Earth as a small white speck to the upper left-hand part of the photos, above the Moon's horizon. Can’t wait till the HDTV camera onboard the spacecraft begins shooting video footage of this awesome sight!



JAXA

KAGUYA Blog Entries Archive:

April 11, 2007
September 5, 2007
September 13, 2007
October 4, 2007

ABOVE: This image marks the path traveled by the Phoenix spacecraft as of 11:37 PM, Pacific Daylight Time, on October 25, 2007. It has flown a distance of 147 million miles since launch...at a speed of 70,300 miles per hour. Click here to view the official webpage showing where Phoenix is in space.

PHOENIX Update... More than two months after launch, all seems to be running smooth as the Phoenix lander continues its voyage towards Mars. On September 12, a photo was released on the mission's website showing the Robotic Arm scoop as it laid encased inside a protective barrier shielding it from Earth-born microbes that may have hitched a ride onboard the spacecraft. What makes this image unique is that it is the first pic taken in-flight. Phoenix was 57 million miles away from Earth when this photo was taken a week before its release. The next time the camera that took this shot will be used is next May...after the lander hopefully touches down on the Red Planet successfully.



NASA JPL / University of Arizona

PHOENIX Blog Entries Archive:

May 8, 2007
July 28, 2007
August 3, 2007
August 4, 2007
August 8, 2007