A few random notes

- I thought about it, and realized that since I moved back to Israel from the US, bay area sports suddenly decided they're respectable. The Giants won the World Series last year, and have played at least reasonably well most years. The 49ers finally play like a real football team (even after yesterday's though loss in tha Har-bowl), the Sharks made the conference series a few times (from what I remember). Even the Warriors seem to be in the right direction, after being bought by a seemingly far more serious group of owners than before. And of course, there's Stanford football - if they hadn't forgot how to play defense against Oregon (for two years running), might be next in line for an ass-whooping by LSU (it wouldn't even be close). Maybe I should've moved back sooner?

- As the above bullet probably hints, I still really enjoy watching American sports. Some are broadcast here on TV, but that gets you incredibly annoying commercials (thank you Fox Sports Europe and ESPN Europe, and especially METV). The two better options are to go out somewhere (usually, Mike's Place) to watch the games, or stream them online. If you're looking for online streams, I'm a big fan of http://www.firstrowsports.tv/. Pretty much never disappointed me.

- Although most of their songs sound pretty much the same to me, I'm really digging Coldplay's Paradise (I feel somewhat ashamed admitting this. Oh well). Not really sure why - but it probably helps that the video is pretty neat.

- My cousin, who is a month older than I am, was honorably discharged (השתחרר) from the army today. I still have two months of mandatory service, and then at least a year and a half as a salaried officer. Feels kinda weird for me. Mazal tov, Tom!

- I've started to think about upgrading to a new laptop - my current one is three and a half years old, and while it's holding up pretty well, it feels like it's going to be about time soon. I have my eye on this 17" ASUS from Newegg. My current one is an ASUS, and they have terrific performance for the price. It also helps that it's currently $400 off. Any thoughts? Should I wait for anything before upgrading? Or just generally hold out as long as I can, as things will get better and cheaper?

That's it for tonight - hopefully something more Ultimate related tomorrow.

-Guy