The M's are still looking good. I'm not sure why Adam Jones or Wladimir Balentien hasn't taken Vidro's spot in the batting order yet, but I'm sure that day is coming. It is still relatively early, but I'm saving a week of vacation time... just in case.

Those of you from home will be happy to know that the animal thing is starting to catch on here.

Gonzalo:

is a badger. You can check out his song here

We got Monday off this week for the most important day of the year: Manu'a Flag Day. You got that one off too right? Naomi, Justin, Nikki, and I went to Castro Beach and hung out for the day. It was delightful and Nikki brought a wonderful lunch. Then we had a real dinner that evening which included real beef that I've been really missing for a while. It was very nice.

Movie reviews:

Smoking Aces:

Eh, it is ok. There are a ton of good actors and a somewhat interesting setup, but it drags on and they seemed to waste the good acting by having a plot that mostly lacks much to get too interested in and then has 4 twists right at the end. Well, right before the end, because they made sure to knock the movie down a point in the final scene for pointlessness and unrealisticness. 4.5

Ghost Rider:


Wow! I was blown away by this one. (prepare yourself Kevin)
Move over Ghosts of Mars,


there's a new champion in town. I think this gets the title of WORST MOVIE EVER!
I think you should see both movies and decide for yourself which is the WORST MOVIE EVER! Neither is actually the least enjoyable movie ever. That honor goes to either Remains of the Day or Like Water for Chocolate. Those movies, while containing very high levels of boring (VERY high) and depressing can't match Ghost Rider. It is soooo incredibly stupid and cheesey and just plain dumb all the way through that it would be hard to top. Maybe having the word ghost in the title is a bonus for crappiness.
Nick Cage is so terrible in this movie. He is as bad as early Keanu Reeves now. Horrible, horrendous....
The plot- hard work must have gone into this to ensure that it would be a candidate for dumbest plot ever. They also must have spent a ton on special effects, but the flaming skull looks like something that some kid did on his computer just after Terminator2 came out.
For just one example, Sam Elliot is the old ghost rider, that apparently the devil can't find (though he lives in the same town as N. Cage and he found him accidentially). Anyway, in one drawn out scene, Elliot rides his flaming horse all the way to the made up place with Cage like they are going to team up and fight the Devil's son or whatever. Then when they get halfway, Elliot says it is the end of the line for him. What??? why? Then why even ride with him at all. Dumb, dumb, dumb! 0.8 but only because I want to leave room in case I see an even more atrocious effort in the future (Ghost Rider 2?).

Barbie is a VW Cabrio. It doesn't smell like dog (yet). It is a funny car (not the dragracing kind). Yeah, I have gotten made fun of on the radio.

Janaya, is your kid stuck in there because of the horns?

Aiga Bus!

This Saturday, we rented an Aiga bus to take us around the island and mostly just be jackasses all day.

It was great. We were going to do it in a few weeks, but Samoa Steve


and Justin



are leaving the island soon, so we figured we better do it now.



We drove almost all the way to the west end of the island and then to Tisa's towards the eastern end- though really not close to the end.

We got pulled over at one point, but we weren't even breaking any laws except a couple people having their hands out the window, so nothing happened to us.
Don was able to mix in some light reading:



Afterwards we came back to my place for a bonfire.

Good times.

Parents in town

My parents were here for a week at the start of the month. They got to drive my car (Barbie) around the island for a couple days while I was working on Monday and Tuesday:






They went to Tisas:


and my Dad lost his passport there. Luckily, Candyman
found it and called me back to let me know he had it.
They got to meet my friends and Nikki's parents at their house, which is about 150 feet from my house.
(this is not at their house though)

I meant to take Thursday and Friday off to go to Western Samoa with them, but because I couldn't get a flight, they got to see some more of the island. We hiked around Aunu'u which is a small island off the east end of Tutuila.








Friday, I worked and they came down to check out my office:

Then they drove around and saw a couple more places they hadn't seen yet.



They got to see pretty much everywhere you can drive on Tutuila. On Saturday, we played sloshball. My dad played and that was cool. He even had a spectacular jump to avoid being thrown out one play. My mom has the pictures for this, so hopefully I can get some of those from her and get them up here.

Sunday, we went to Airport Beach for some snokelling and hanging out. The blowholes were pretty good and the beach and snorkelling there is always good.







You do have to do a little hiking to get there:



Afterwards we went to Maliamai for one last Vailima before they had to fly out.




Yummy Vailima!

It was great to see them and have them here. Now I don't get to see them til Christmas in New Zealand. I think and hope they had a good time. Next time though, they'll have to go to Western Samoa too.

So it has been a while again.

Last Friday we had just a great evening. The weather was perfect and there were quite a few poeple over. Jeff even fell a tree.






My parents came in on the 1st and stayed for a week, leaving last Sunday. I think they had a good time. They certainly got to see a good chunk of this island. I'd really hoped to take them to Western Samoa, but that didn't work out. There are 2 airlines flying between American and Western Samoa. One of them only has one plane to go back and forth. Well that one broke down so all the passengers got put on Polynesian so all the flights were booked.

Last Wednesday, my parents went to Fred and Nikki's house for a 4th of July BBQ and got to meet my friends here.

Thursday, we went to Aunu'u, a little island nearby and hiked around and then went to Hong Kong House.

Friday, I had to work, and my parents had the pleasure of witnessing that extreme excitement for a while.

Saturday, we played sloshball, and my dad played.

Sunday, we went to Airport Beach, which was great.

This week has been easy except for Monday.

I'll get more in depth updates and more pictures on here, but I'm too tired at the moment to wait for this slow internet to upload them. It takes FOREVER!

I'm warming up to the Ray Allen trade. The Sonics might be able to move Wally if he plays well, or he might be a good guy for the team for the next two years while the young guys get better. They're not going to be good anyway for the next couple years, but they should be building a good team and be more fun to watch. The Lewis deal is great. They got $9M free to work with for a trade exemption. Lewis is ok, but I think the Magic are incredibly stupid to give him the max. Maybe 1/2 the max would be fair. Have fun being mediocre Orlando.

I'm so relieved that Ichiro is going to resign. The M's look to be in great shape. I also expect Adam Jones to be called up, maybe tomorrow and that would help on offense and defense. I doubt they'll find any takers for Vidro, but he'll be a really good bat off the bench. The only possible thing they need is another starting pitcher, but there's no point in getting one unless it is a truly good one. That leaves what? Willis and...

OK I'll get more pictures on here.