The Lee Word Side

20Aug2008

The Word of the Day

Posted by Lee under: Blogs.

Ciao

17Aug2008

Nadal is Gold

Posted by Lee under: Blogs.

You can add Olympic Gold Medal to the list of trophies that Rafael Nadal has won. Nadal won the gold in the men’s singles with a 6-3, 7-6(2), 6-3 victory over Fernando Gonzalez of Chile at the Olympic Green Tennis Centre in Beijing. This win only supports the legitimacy of his rise to the number one ranked player in the world. Nadal will be replacing Roger Federer of Switzerland who held the number one position for an unprecedented 237 weeks.
Nadal’s win has given Spain her first ever Olympic Medal in Tennis.

Venus and Serena Williams took the Gold Medal in Women’s Doubles, adding one more to the Gold Medal they won in Sydney eight years ago. Their enthusiasm over their winning the Gold Medal was truly infectious.
Coming up next, beginning August 25th, the US Open begins in New York. I’m sure looking forward to seeing more top notch tennis (Go Andy). I only wish I could be there.

Ciao

10Aug2008

Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics

Posted by Lee under: Blogs.

Never intending to get hooked into watching the Beijing Summer Olympics I none the less succumbed to their promise of greatness and watched the Opening Ceremonies. If the games acquire any amount of the grandeur that the Opening Ceremonies gave us then this Olympics should be a tremendous success. Because there will be over 3,600 hours of televised coverage of the Olympics–NBC added two new cable channels that will be dedicated solely to the Olympics, I won’t be able to see it all, but I have set my TIVO to record all the Tennis matches, and the Marathon. That should be more than enough Olympics for me.

This is one of the many pictures that were taken during the Opening Ceremonies. I thought this picture was one of the exceptional ones. Don’t you agree? Who can tell me which country this beautiful man represents? Does anyone know?

Ciao

03Aug2008

The Temperature Today is HOT!

Posted by Lee under: Blogs.

Regardless of what the relative temperature is outside, as long as model/DJ Micky Friedmann is in the house it’s going to be HOT!

27Jul2008

Television Doldrums

Posted by Lee under: Blogs.

While summer has never been the best time for television, with all the reruns and such, this summer has seen it hit a new low. It’s the Television doldrums. The one program that I’ve looked forward to, and religiously watched is Big Brother. But it has managed to put out a program this season that is actually worse than last season’s. I managed to get through two episodes this time before I deleted it from my TIVO to-do-list. If the producers would get people on there that I could care about, someone that I wanted to watch, then I might consider watching it again. However, I seriously doubt that’s going to happen. They seem hellbent on having vapid, ignorant, emotionally immature, and mean spirited kids as house-guests. Season six was the last Big Brother that I liked. I think CBS needs to get Arnold Shapiro back as producer. Moving on to BRAVO and Project Runway. This is another program that I’ve loved and never fail to watch. However, since Project Runway’s announcement that it’s leaving BRAVO and moving to Lifetime TV next season, it seems that BRAVO is treating it like the ugly stepsister. They’re not promoting the show as much as they have in the past, and there is a feeling of “whatever, they’re gone anyway,” floating in the air. I had hoped that the program would get a proper send off from BRAVO, but there is too much bitterness and animosity for that to happen. I wish Project Runway well in their move to Lifetime. I haven’t decided if I’ll follow them. I’ve never cared for the kind of programing that Lifetime provides. Depressing and self-loathing shows that drive me batty and make me want to kill myself. Not a fun place.
So what does that leave to watch this summer. Not much, but I’m taking advantage of that and doing a lot of reading. “And that,” as Martha Stewart would say, “is a good thing.”

Ciao

22Jul2008

Summer - 2008

Posted by Lee under: Blogs.

Here it is, the third week in July, the summer is half over and my skin is still as white as a freshly laundered sheet. I’m afraid to wear shorts out of fear that my bare legs will blind people, not to mention the roar of laughter they would bring. For a million different reasons I just haven’t had the time to get outside and enjoy the sunshine. I may have to resort to using a tanning salon because I’ve been invited to go to Ocean City (Maryland) next weekend and I don’t think there’s enough time to get a little color naturally. If I don’t have some degree of a tan before I hit the beach I’m going to be in big trouble. Talk about a lobster, I’ll burn faster than you can say “SPF-50.” Besides, red isn’t a good color on me. I guess an alternative to the tanning salon and all that sun cancer mess would be to cover every inch of skin with clothing. A burka would do nicely, not a black one though, a bit too warm. Do they come in white? Better yet, a rainbow colored one would really stand out.

Ciao

16Jul2008

Yep, Still Gay

Posted by Lee under: Blogs.

Woke up this morning, forgot I was gay. That was until I found this picture in an email. I can’t tell you how glad I am that that’s all cleared up..phew!

Ciao

13Jul2008

So Far, So Good

Posted by Lee under: Blogs.

Day three and I’m still resisting the new iPhone. I’m doing quite well actually. I’m not twitching as much, and the headaches have almost stopped. I may be able to pull this off. What really helped was hearing about the meltdown that happened on Friday when AT&T ran out of phones, and both Apple and AT&T’s server couldn’t keep up with all the activations. I can just imagine Steve Jobs cursing the day he partnered with AT&T. So unlike Apple to have a product release event that goes so fucking bad. It will be interesting to see how they clean this mess up.
If I can make it through next week I think I’ll be okay.

Ciao

10Jul2008

The New iPhone Dilemma

Posted by Lee under: Blogs.

With the new iPhone coming out tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. I’ll be facing a tough question. Do I replace my first generation iPhone with the new 3G iPhone, or do I keep the old reliable one? Funny how I was in this same dilemma last year at this time when the iPhones were first introduced - do I get it, do I not? Not a lot has changed. If the reasons to get the new 3G iPhone were compelling enough I wouldn’t be having these doubts, but from everything I have read the big selling point is the upgrade from AT&T’s old Edge network to their 3G network. It’s faster, but is it $10.00 a month more faster? The old iPhones will get the 2.0 upgraded software and will also be able to load-up on all the new third-party applications that are now available. So why am I even entertaining the idea of getting a new iPhone? The old one is still good. Maybe it’s because its a new toy and I do love new toys.

What will tomorrow bring?

Ciao

07Jul2008

Wimbledon Belongs to Nadal

Posted by Lee under: Blogs.

Nadal did it. Not since 1980 has someone won the French Open Tennis Tournament and then followed it by winning Wimbledon. The last person to achieve this goal was Bjorn Borg from Sweden. Rafael Nadal won Wimbledon after a long (four plus hours), hard fought battle with Roger Federer. Federer, as well, was trying to beat another of Borg’s records by winning his sixth consecutive Wimbledon title. Borg’s record was five.
The match between Federer and Nadal was one of the best, if not the best, tennis matches I have ever seen. Both players came to win, and their play reflected that fact. Each game was fought for and none were give up easily. In the end Nadal was the winner, but Federer was in no way the looser. Federer played some excellent tennis and at several points during the match it looked like he was going to win, but Nadal always answered back with a winning ball.
The next big tournament is the U.S. Open which is held in New York (Queens) next month (August). My hopes are on Andy Roddick. He always does well with the “home-team” crowds.

Ciao

26Jun2008

Road Trip 2008, Plan B

Posted by Lee under: Blogs.

Even the best of plans can go afoul. What was to be a three thousand mile road trip has become a much shorter nine hundred mile road trip. When I arrived in Tulsa to pick up my mother, sister, and nephew, I found out that my mother was not feeling well. She claimed that she was well enough for the trip, but my sisters thought differently. After a lot of discussion we decided to plan a much shorter trip. One that would require far less driving, and one where we could spend more time in one place. So…we are driving from Tulsa, OK to Denver, CO where we will spend a couple of days visiting friends and relatives. This should give mom time to rest before the next leg of the trip. From Denver we will drive up to Grand Lake, high in the Colorado Rockies where we have rented a lakeside cabin for a week. Hopefully this will not be too taxing of a trip. As I write this we are in Denver at my sister’s house and later this morning we will leave for the lake. It should be a nice drive through the mountains.

More to come.

Ciao

19Jun2008

Road Trip 2008

Posted by Lee under: Blogs.

Maybe not the smartest thing that I’ve done in a while, but tomorrow morning I take off on a 3,000 mile road trip. Yeah, I know I’m crazy. There never was a doubt about that, but even I have to question the logic of voluntarily driving 3,000 miles with the price of gasoline being what it is. Be it as it may. When I was planning this trip the price of gas was hovering around $3.25 a gallon. Even that price is high, but not totally restrictive. Today in Baltimore the price of a gallon of regular gas is on average $4.10. That’s considerably more than I budgeted for, but I’m still going with the plan. Just because I had to take a second out on the house in order to pay for the gas, that’s not a good enough reason to call off the trip. Right?
Some of the highlights of the trip will be Crazy Horse Monument in the Black-Hills of South Dakota, Yellowstone National Park, and the Grand Teton National Park, both in Wyoming. Last stop of the trip is Denver, Colorado, arriving just in time to catch my sister’s 40th birthday.
I’m not too sure how much I’ll be able to update the blog, but I’m hopeful that I can find internet access somewhere along the road.
Road Trips Rock!

Ciao

14Jun2008

Roddick Out at Queen’s Club

Posted by Lee under: Blogs.

The title of this post isn’t as provocative as it appears. It’s actually in reference to Andy Roddick loosing his semifinal match at the Queen’s Club Tournament in London. I know, a lot of you wish that Andy would come out, but I don’t see that happening. But it’s not going to stop us from dreaming. Anyway, Andy lost the semifinals to Rafa Nadal, the number 2 player in the world. As some of you might remember Rafa just won the French Open, a clay court tournament, at Roland Garros in Paris, and just to prove that he is an “all surface” kind of player Rafa will now play Novak Djokovic for the mens’ finals at the Queen’s Club, a grass court tournament. If he wins this match it should make him the number one player in the world, ousting Roger Federer of Switzerland. It will also give him the momentum he’ll need to win Wimbledon in two weeks.
Because my loyalty lies with Andy Roddick, I will be pulling for him at Wimbledon, but if Rafa takes the title you may detect a small smile on my face. After all, the man does know his way around a tennis court.

Ciao

10Jun2008

Gas Rationing, On the Horizon?

Posted by Lee under: Blogs.

With the cost of gasoline exceeding $4.50 in some parts of the United States, I wonder how soon we will see gas rationing. The last time I remember gas being rationed was around 1978, or 1979. I was living in Sunnyvale, CA at the time and it was always a question of when you needed gas, would there would be any? In the beginning the gas stations would ration out the gas, no one got more than 5 gallons. Which meant that you really couldn’t go very far. Luckily I had an old VW bug that, back then, got good gas mileage so I didn’t suffer like those who had the big “Muscle Cars.” Some states tried “Odd/Even” days based on your license plates. I remember several times parking my car in line at the gas station over night just to make sure that I got gas before they ran out. Sometimes people’s cars would get vandalized during the night, or what little gas they still had left in their tank would get siphoned out, leaving them having to push their car to the pump. Some gas stations made a little extra money on the side by charging people to leave their car in line over night with the promise that nothing would happen to their car. Surprisingly very little changed after that gas drought. Detroit continued to make the big gas guzzling cars and people acted like what happened was just a fluke, nothing they needed to concern themselves with.
Well here we are in 2008 facing the same situation. Gasoline costs have risen over 40% in the last 5 years yet the big oil companies say it isn’t their fault, the oil-rich producing countries say that it isn’t their fault, and as could be expected, the Federal Government says it isn’t their fault. How odd. So, what’s next? Gas rationing. It wouldn’t surprise me at all. Wish I still had my old VW!

Ciao

08Jun2008

6-1, 6-3, 6-0, Nadal Wins

Posted by Lee under: Blogs.

Rafael Nadal once again proved that he knows how to play tennis. In straight sets, 6-1, 6-3, 6-0, he won the men’s title at the French Open Tennis Tournament. Throughout the entire tournament his level of play was outstanding. And he has the numbers to prove it. This was his fourth consecutive title at Roland Garros, he has a 28-0 lifetime record for this Grand Slam Event, an 83-7 record in sets won, and only losing 41 games. His win against Roger Federer today was very one sided. While Rafa did play outstanding tennis, clearly, Roger was not playing his best. But what impressed me most about Rafa was his humility in his win. He knew that Roger was having an off day so he was very reserved in his celebration. That showed a lot of respect for Federer.
Up next; The grass court tournaments. First there’s The Queens’ Club and then Wimbledon. Rafa is on fire and he should do well in both tournaments. Of course there are some very good players he’ll have to get through in order to win (Go Andy!).

Ciao