Site Change

Please visit:

http://blog.killervirgo.com

Thanks!

Gone Fishin'

I have decided to take a break from my blog for a while. Not feeling too inspired to write these days. Hopefully my inspiration will return and will be back.

Bye, for now.

Slacker

I know what it is but I can't seem to get motivated to write more on my blog. Am I over the whole blogging experience? I think I am too busy doing other things that I can't manage the time to blog anymore. I have a lot of things I would like to post, but never seem to manage to sit down, and type my thoughts.

So my goal for the end of January is to finish from loose ends from 2009, and I will start in February with more content ... hopefully.

Give To Help Haiti

Find out how: cnn.com/impact

Happy New Year

I am enjoying my last day of vacation before heading back to work for the time in 2010. I will be posting my last bits of entries from 2009 sometime this week.

Hope everyone had a good holiday, and 2010 should be the start of a great decade.

FIVE

Today marks the fifth anniversary of my blog. I started this blog as a bit of fun, and to also get out my frustrations. I think it has been very helpful to me in many respects. I have been slacking in recently but there is a reason ... a good one.

For the rest of the year I will be using the time to work on some unfinished blog entries. I have to finish my road trip entries and a tennis tournament I competed in this past November.

Thanks to all who have read my blog over the years!

KV

Movies: This Is It

I wasn't sure what to expect, but what I saw ... I loved. I really enjoy seeing the making of what would have been Michael Jackson's final tour. You see this brilliant perform who is only singing at a small percentage of what he is capable to conserve his voice, but still sound better than most people. Then you see a man who was 50 year old aided by LCD monitor with song lyrics because he was unable to remember all the words. I think the movie showed more of a complete depiction of the real Michael Jackson.

The only thing I would change about the movie is that it was too short. The two hours just flew by and I could have easily watched another two of the 80+ hours of recorded footage. I hope when the movie is released on DVD/Blu-ray that more footage would be included.

I think I will see it again on the big screen just experience it like I were a concert goer. I really recommend seeing this.

RIP, Michael

Tennis Tournament: 10/10-10/12

A couple weeks ago I participated in my club's tennis tournament and I did fairly well.

Singles

Match 1
Lost: 3-6, 4-6

I played really well but my opponent was much better. I served well, and made good shots, but the guy got every shot back. I should have played smarter but I was trying to muscle the ball over the net. I didn't hold my server once this match and all my points came from breaking my opponents serve. Learned from this match.

Match 2 - Consolation
Won: 8-4

I served well and managed to shake up my opponent.

Match 3 - Consolation
Lost: 6-8

My inability to hold my serve returned. I was up 4-2, then my opponent even things to 4-4 ... then I was up 6-4. I couldn't hold my serve so I ended up losing the next 4 games. It so frustrating to lose a match because you can't hold your serve.

Doubles

Match 1
Won: 6-2, 6-4

Our opponents had a 3 hour match before ours, and my partner and me had a first round bye so we were fresh as a daisy. We won the first set pretty easy, the we got a bit sloppy during second set. We were up 4-1 and allowed then they even the score at 4-4. We broke their serve and I held serve for the match.

Match 2
Won: Walkover

We were scheduled to play a team that is part of our tennis club, but they had to withdraw due to injury.

Match 3
Won: 6-4, 6-2

This match was delayed by 5 hours due to rain. We struggled in the beginning of the first set but managed to get back in to the game, thanks to some costly errors by our opponents. The second set we dominated and were up 5-0, we got a bit loose on the next 2 games before winning 6-2

Match 4
Won: 2-6, 6-4, 1-0

This was the finals and we were very nervous because we had to play against a team from our tennis club, and they are very good players. They like to play "slow and steady" and I just don't like that tactic. I get impatient and want to finish the point. We did that during the first set and lost 2-6. We decided to beat them at their own game. We didn't go for big shots during the the second set and wanted to put pressure on them to win the point. This tactic worked and they made a lot more errors and we won 6-4.

The third set was a tie-breaker, and the first team to 10 points (winning by 2 points) win the match. This were pretty even in the beginning. It wasn't until we were up 3-2 that we started to take control. We were up 9-5 and eventually won the match at 10-6.

[pic of trophy]

I really didn't think we were going to make it past the 1st round of our doubles division because my partner and I haven't been practicing much. Much to our surprised we played really well, despite the tough match in the final. Maybe my hot pink over-grip helped in some way?

[pic of grip]

It was my breast cancer awareness symbol. :)

My next tournament is in Houston in 2 weeks, but my partner is unable to play. I am trying to decide if I should just play singles or just be paired up with someone else for the tournament. It will be strange to play with someone else considering were have been playing together for 2 years, and have won 3 tournaments, 2 runner-ups and 1 semi-final. This is all out of 7 tournaments played together.

Not bad, eh?

Tennis Tournament: 10/2-10/3

This past week I participated in a USTA tournament, which was my first since April. I used it as a warm-up for my tennis groups annual tournament which starts this Saturday. I did pretty well and made it further than I thought.

Match 1
Won: 6-3, 6-1

This match I was down 0-3, and I finally got in a groove and won the next 6 games to take the first set. The second set I lost the first game, but won the next 6 games for the match. This guy was a lefty so it took me a bit of time to get use the lefty serve. I played a pretty clean match and only 2 double faults.

Match 2
Won: 7-5, 6-0

This was another iffy start to a match. I was down 1-4 at one point and fought back to get to 4-4. We both broke each others serve to get to 5-5, and I won the next 2 games for set ... then the next 6 games for the match. I finally realized that my opponent backhand was really weak and I began to attack it.

Match 3
Lost: 3-6, 4-6

I am not sure what happened in the match. There were a couple iffy line calls by my opponent, which ticked me off a bit so I wasn't focused on the first set. Another round of bad calls in the 2nd set ticked me off, I was down 0-2. I rallied to win the next 4 games. Other bad calls and bad play from me caused me to lose the next 4 games.

I am happy overall with how I played. I served well and I cut down the double faults I been typically committing over the past few weeks. I wanted to play against people with different types of games to prepare myself of unknown players. So I feel that I am ready to play in the tournament this weekend.

They Are All The Same

Me: Excuse, are these the avocados that are on sale?
Produce guy: Yes. They are $0.99 each.
Me: The ad states that jumbo Hass avocados are on sale, these are not the same.
PG: All avocados are the same.
Me: Actually, no. These are smaller, and they aren't grown in California.
PG: [silence]
Me: ...okay. Have a nice day.


I wasn't trying to be a pain, but the advertisement clearly said Hass avocados and not ones from Mexico. I felt bad, so decided to buy some anyways.