A Sad Day in Fantasy...

So I officially dropped Gilbert Arenas from the keeper league that I run.  It was a very sad day for me.  I've held onto Gil' for years...stood by him during all his knee injuries and suspensions.  Year after year I kept him, only to see him start with a good first half and then fall apart the rest of the season.  This year he has been healthier (and more sane) than recent years, but the move to Orlando has been devastating to his minutes and fantasy value.

Fantasy basketball is all about stat accumulation and those who receive minutes will put up numbers.  You'll see in the picture below that I added two injured players (Tyreke and Millsap), but I can afford to since I'm on a playoff bye week and can take a risk that these two will be back next week.  If not, I'll just replace them with healthy players.
But yes, a sad day in fantasy basketball for me indeed.  Gilbert is still my guy and I'll likely re-add him at the end of the year to have the option of keeping him again next year in case his situation improves.  Until then, I'll be watching guys like Dwight, LBJ, and LaMarcus carry me to a fantasy title (I hope)!

So Many Birthdays...

There seem to be a lot of birthdays in February and March, but I guess that's not too surprising.  Summertime can be quite romantic and maybe the warm weather makes it easier to you-know-what. Anyway, here's a shout-out to all my friends with birthdays the last few months and how I celebrated or plan to celebrate with them:

Kevin (January 13) - I really need to go visit you in Texas before you graduate.  Let's make it happen this summer!
Jeff (January 15) - Can never go wrong with beer pong on your birthday!  Can definitely go wrong with discovering the crooked Stacker game however.
Nate (January 18) - Hanging out with you in Phoenix never gets old, it just gets far.
Ben (January 29) - I better see you in April when I come to Virginia buddy!
Chet (February 3) - Great food at Firebirds but man, hard to keep up with your drinking even for me!
Elsa (February 5) - Settlers and China Magic Noodle, can't complain!
Dad (February 9) - Wandering Horse at Talking Stick with the entire family.  We really need to get you off CRT TVs.
Kavita (February 24) - First time at Sapphire will always be a memorable one!  Now to just find time for an LA trip!
Brooke (February 25) - It had been so long since I'd been to Champs.  Oh and thanks for introducing me to Hub!
Valentina (March 2) - A gaming get-together sounds great!  Too bad there are like a million games I'd want to play with you.
Chris (March 3) - If only I could eat as much sushi as you!  Thanks for showing me Oishi.

...and upcoming...

Pamela (March 8) - Sorry I couldn't be there last weekend but according to your blog, it sounds like you had a blast! I hope to celebrate with you at the end of March when I'm in town!
Chuck (March 12) - Edward Fortyhands lol!  Man, I heard you had a nasty gash down the side of your arm when they carried you out of the house ducktaped to the chair.  Hope you're recovering well!
Matt (March 17) - You better be doing something the weekend I'm in town!
Teqas (March 22) - Vegas probably isn't happening, but we'll think of something.
Fenzel (March 22) - Party at your place?
Sam (March 24) - Too bad Black Forest Mill is closed now...but hello Black Forest Haus!
Hudson (March 26) - Although you live in the middle of nowhere now (j/k), I'd still be willing to make a trek out there.  Question is, are you gonna do anything?

Happy Birthday to everyone or anyone I missed!

Orlando Magic Baby!

Taking a page out of Hesselblogger's book here: not blogging about a vacation until a couple weeks after. Just playin', Hesselblogger is great! ;)

A couple weekends ago I went to visit my buddy Chris in Orlando who you might remember from my "Lindy's burger challenge" blog last year.  Chris is living in Orlando working for THE MAGIC (w00t w00t!), but he's also getting his MBA at UCF (University of Central Florida).  While I was there, Chris hooked me up with tickets to two Magic home games: vs New Orleans and vs Los Angeles.  The Orlando Magic is one of my favorite teams in the NBA.  I'm a huge Dwight Howard fan and you know my feelings towards Gilbert Arenas. :) Anyway, both games were awesome although they lost to the Hornets by 6 in a close one.  For the Lakers game, we had great seats in the lower level as you can see in the picture below.

The NBA games were the highlight of the trip, but of course when I'm in a new city, I try my best to check out a little of the culture in terms of food, lifestyle, and nightlife.  Since Chris goes to UCF, we hit up their recreation center one of the days and played some pickup basketball.  If you didn't already know, there's a much stronger population of African Americans in Orlando, far more than in Arizona.  The games we played were pretty competitive since the competition was naturally more athletic.  Coincidentally enough, I defended a player who reminded me a lot of Gilbert Arenas...similar physique and style of play, hah.

I didn't make it a trip to see any of the famous theme parks (I've done it before when I was a kid).  One of the places we checked out was the Mall at Millenia, which was really close to where Arian lives.  Arian is one of Nate's friends who just recently moved to Orlando.  She had literally been there for a week before I made it out there, lol.  Nonetheless, the Mall at Millenia was very nice and was very similar to that of Fashion Square in Scottsdale: huge, multiple levels, and very classy retail stores.  I didn't do any shopping, but we did check out Blue Martini and DAMN, those bartenders and servers are HOT! :D

The major area for nightlife in Orlando consists of a whole block of bars and restaurants/eateries. Wall St has about 8 bars all in the same plaza and each bar has a different theme and style.  Church St is a little more south and has more restaurants with bars in them.  We didn't stay in any bar for very long since there were so many to see and we were only going to be on Wall/Church St for one night.  This block is very similar to 4th ave in Tucson or Mill Ave in Tempe.  Although the going out crowd was slightly older...then again, I am use to the younger, college crowds around the bars I go to in Arizona.

Finally, the food in Orlando was pretty solid.  I wouldn't say there's anything overly special, but a few cool things I had were Mofungo at Gustave (Puerto Rican food) and Oxtail stew at Mark's Caribbean.  As for the trip, I'm definitely glad I was able to experience such great Magic games and I thank Chris for making it all happen for me  - a motto I in turn taught him. :) However, I probably won't be going back to Orlando for a while since it is a pretty normal city and Chris doesn't plan to be there past this coming December.

As for my next planned trip?  Well, there is a lot of talk about going to Vegas for March Madness and St. Patty's Day weekend, but flights and hotels are heavily booked and more expensive than usual.  I doubt that I'm gonna go, but I've made unreasonable/impromptu trips happen before so you never know.  The only sure trip I have coming up is Washington DC in April to visit Mike.  Something I'm really looking forward to since Chris, Nate, and Ben are both planning on being there at the same time, so we'll have a nice little entourage going when I'm there! :D

2011 IBM Basketball League!

I'm totally excited for the 2011 IBM Basketball League, which starts tonight!  This year I got drafted to a different team than last year, but one I'm familiar with.  I played on Adam's team the two years before playing with Jose last year and it's definitely a strong team.  I'll be looking to lock up a repeat title, which will be an impressive feat to have gone back-to-back in both the IBM Bowling and Basketball leagues.  Wish me luck this season!