And it's not me. Besides, it's not really my shade of lipstick.

Posted by tien mao in NYC, Photos, Sports at 6:03 PM

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The Mowabb Edition (top) and the Air Max '95 Edition (bottom).

Posted by tien mao in Photos, Sports at 6:28 PM

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After Jonas finished (what could have been his first cotton candy ever), he was a sticky mess. Just brushing against me left a sugar stain! Longtime readers will know that I too love cotton candy at baseball games!

And it should be pointed out that I was using a wide angle lens. Really, really wide angle.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Friends/Family, NYC, Photos, Sports at 6:34 PM

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I think the only way Mr. Met can show sadness is by dropping his head, slumping his shoulders and looking at the ground. I guess that's what happens when you have a permanent smile on your face.

Posted by tien mao in NYC, Photos, Sports at 8:02 AM

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Apprently, soccer stars + NBA stars = big crowds. At least that's my assumption based on yesterday's Showdown in Chinatown. NBA players included Jason Kidd and Baron Davis, while soccer stars included Thierry Henry (with freetime after that Euro 2008 showing by France), Jozy Altidore, Juan Pablo Ángel and Claudio Reyna.

I couldn't see any action, but people were excited!

Posted by tien mao in NYC, Photos, Sports at 7:29 PM

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The outcome of last night's game took a while, but at least they won in extra innings after a blown save by Billy Wagner. This afternoon, Wagner blew yet another two-run lead, but the Mets lost when Aaron Heilman decided he had enough of this extra inning stuff and gave up a run in the top of the 10th.

Posted by tien mao in NYC, Photos, Sports at 5:12 PM

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Horse racing will go at least one more year without a Triple Crown winner. Saturday, I went out to Belmont with a bunch of people in Adam's annual trip. Big Brown was the heavy favorite (1-4 with almost $7 million bet on him to win), but he finished dead last. Winning the race was Da' Tara, the biggest longshot, who went off at 38-1 (you would win $38 if you placed a $1 bet).

While I would have loved to witness history, I'm kind of happy Big Brown didn't win.

Posted by tien mao in Photos, Sports at 8:41 AM

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But his mom tried, at least. He did come in 3rd though, but that's not going to break that Andretti luck.

Posted by tien mao in Photos, Sports at 7:03 PM

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Posted by tien mao in NYC, Photos, Sports at 8:02 AM

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If I ever tried to pull the things the competitors do at the Union Square Street Sessions, I would break a few bones.

Posted by tien mao in NYC, Photos, Sports at 9:00 AM

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Did someone say ticker tape parade? Oh yeah! The last ticker tape parade I witnessed was way back in 1994 when the Rangers won the Stanley Cup. While there have been parades since, I'm not a fan of the team that was feted.

And even though the Giants have won Super Bowls before, this was their first parade in New York City. As you can probably imagine, it was a pretty awesome experience.

Maybe in late October or November, I'll be at another parade. This time for the Mets!

Posted by tien mao in NYC, Photos, Sports at 11:57 AM

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In the long-standing tienmao.com tradition of putting things up way after I take the pictures, here are some pictures from The Gutter - a new bar/bowling alley in Greenpoint/Williamsburg (it's really right on the border). Almost the entire bowling alley is made of old lanes, which gives the place a nice look. The best part about The Gutter? It's conveniently located to my apartment.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, NYC, Photos, Sports at 12:28 PM

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The harvest moon from last night that rose over Citi Field didn't do much to help the Mets make their way towards the post-season. In fact, they seem to be doing everything they can to miss it entirely. Sigh.

Posted by tien mao in NYC, Sports at 1:29 PM

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This weekend, we made our annual trip back to Michigan for a football game. Like 2 years ago, it was against Penn State. And like the previous 8 games spanning 10 years, Michigan beat Penn State 14-9, making it 9 straight games and 11 straight years.

While the season certainly has lost some luster because of a loss to Appalachian State and Oregon, the season seems to be picking up for Michigan.

Posted by tien mao in Sports at 9:05 AM

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I didn't get to these last week, but they are from after Calvin's 4 in 3 hot dog moment. We actually missed the first three goals of the game because of crazy traffic, but it turned out fine because there were an astronomical 9 goals scored.

And it was obviously the David Beckham show. There were a ton of "Galaxy fans" that had Beckham shirts and there was even a group of girls that painted his name across their bellies. Those girls must have been happy when he took his shirt off after the game.

Posted by tien mao in Photos, Sports at 8:57 AM

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Calvin has always been a fast eater and drinker. And he's always loved hot dogs. So one drunken night, he told Adam that he could eat 10 hot dogs in 5 minutes and really thought he could do it. We had our doubts, but on Saturday we did an abbreviated version of that bet - 4 dogs in 4 minutes. Miraculously, he finished in 3 minutes, but not without the shakes from eating so fast. AND he didn't have a reversal of fortune.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Photos, Sports at 9:09 AM

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I keep forgetting to put these pictures up from last Saturday's Wiimbledon at Barcade. Shockingly, I did not play.

Posted by tien mao in NYC, Sports, Tech at 3:17 PM

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Neil and I were on hand last night for the 4th game of this year's Subway Series. It was a great game, and that's not just because the Mets won 2-0. Oliver Perez pitched a phenomenal game, shutting out the Yankees for 7 1/3 innings. Since they didn't welcome Billy Wagner with Enter Sandman, I had to improvise a little. It was just like Shea Stadium. Well, kind of.

Because of my travel earlier this year, I missed two games at Shea that I had tickets for.

Posted by tien mao in NYC, Photos, Sports at 3:07 PM

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Those that went to this year's Belmont Stakes witnessed history. Rags to Rices, a filly won the race for the first time since 1905 and for only the 3rd time in the race's history. That's her leading down the stretch in the 1st photo. I went again with Adam's Helmont trip (not as many wild photos taken as last year), which was great. While there were many great outfits - Adam and his brother dressed as jockeys - I think the best outfit has to go to Henry. Anybody willing to go all out with an ascot wins in my book.

Posted by tien mao in Photos, Sports at 9:08 AM

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Unfortunately, it's on the Wii. Also sad is that in real life I didn't manage to break 100 in three games this week. I'm so bad at real bowling. No photographic evidence of that, but why would I make something like that up?

But 10 strikes in a game and 9 in a row is pretty good, no? Of course I said I was going to go for 300 in the next game but fell short of the score pictured here.

And there's no way I can do this ridiculous feat (via Kottke).

Posted by tien mao in Sports, Tech at 7:48 AM

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Last Thursday, some top snowboarders came here for New York City's first snowboard competition - Union Square Street Sessions. There was no need for a mountain as the riders were just doing tricks on the rail and they were coming down a manmade "hill." I tried to catch the actual competition in the evening, but it was just too crowded. These pictures are from the early morning preview. It looked as if the competition would be much better if it were on an actual mountain.

More pictures in my flickr photoset.

Posted by tien mao in NYC, Photos, Sports at 8:54 AM

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When Calvin was telling people that he ran in Saturday's Idiotarod, the explanation that I would tell people is that it's like the Iditarod in Alaska, except with idiots replacing dogs. That and they're using shopping carts instead of sleds and dressed in ridiculous outfits. Conveniently for me, the race started in Greenpoint. I decided not to follow it to Long Island City (it was too far to run) or risk getting pelted with any projectiles from the participants.

And if you're wondering, it was cold on Saturday.

There are a couple of more photos in my flickr set.

Posted by tien mao in NYC, Photos, Sports at 8:37 AM

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If there's one thing that's more amusing than actually playing the Nintendo Wii, it's watching people play the Nintendo Wii. It's like any other video game (facial expressions, sounds of joy/frustration) except amplified and exaggerated due to the nature of the motion sensitive controller design. In the Wii Sports title, boxing is pretty amusing to watch. Shannan defeated most challengers in the ring, except for one match where she lost to her brother. She even managed to K.O. someone on their first knockdown. The key to Shannan's success seemed to be punching as frantically as humanly possible without breathing until knocking someone down, being knocked down, or the end of a round.

Posted by tien mao in Friends/Family, Sports, Tech at 7:53 AM

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Last night at the Knicks game, New York could only dress 8 players because of the suspension of 5 of their players. Matty and I had tickets to last night's Knicks prior to Saturday's little rumble at The Garden, but I was curious to see how the Knicks would perform under adverse conditions. While the Knicks trailed by double digets at times, they managed to get an overtime victory. In a truly Knickerbocker fashion though, they almost gave the game away and needed last second heroics by Stephon Marbury in the overtime to win.

Posted by tien mao in Photos, Sports at 8:15 AM

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Michigan vs. Ohio State. Saturday. And if you don't understand the rivalry, you can watch three games from the storied rivalry on iTunes.

And it's hard to believe, but this guy is very close to becoming a lawyer now. Crazy, right?

Posted by tien mao in Sports at 7:56 AM

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Yesterday was the running of the 37th edition of the New York City Marathon. We watched from a couple of places (4th Ave in Park Slope and in Greenpoint), mainly looking for Christina who was running her first (of many, I'm sure) marathon. There were some crazy outfits people wore. At least two male fairies, two rhinos, a Smurf, and plenty more that I missed or that aren't pictured here. There was also a guy who was juggling (5th picture) when we saw him on 4th Ave. and still when we saw him in Greenpoint. Perhaps the strangest thing was the German man in the 8th photo who was puffing away on a cigarette as he ran.

Congratulations to Christina and all the people who ran in the 2006 Marathon.

Posted by tien mao in Photos, Sports at 8:07 AM

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You gotta love baseball in October. Especially when Mets win! Woo hoo! Let's go Mets!

Posted by tien mao in Photos, Sports at 7:59 AM

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Wow. Last night's game at Shea Stadium was amazin'. Simply amazin'. It was the loudest crowd I've ever been in at Shea, including regular season Subway Series games. And the seats I had via lottery were awesome. I can't believe I got Section 10 in the Loge. Oh yeah, the Mets won 6-5.

The 3rd photo is Carlos Delgado hitting his home run in the 4th inning, the 4th is him celebrating as he enters the dugout and the 5th photo is after Cliff Floyd's home run in the same inning.

Some additional photos on flickr.

Posted by tien mao in Photos, Sports at 8:14 AM

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While I've witnessed the Cubs play the Mets (and defeat them) at Shea Stadium, I've never seen the Cubs play at Wrigley Field. There's certainly a lot of charm to the stadium, with its manual scoreboard, ivy covered brick outfield walls, and what's probably the best rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," but there are a couple other stadiums I've been to that I liked better. That said, Wrigley is a gem compared to the dump that is Shea. I loved the wide concourses and the views of the field as I walked up the ramps to the upper deck. Perhaps my biggest regret is that I didn't get a hot dog at the game. Not a total loss as I had two chardogs the night before. And for my beverage selection, I had to have Old Style.

The Cubs won the game, 4-0 and it was Chicago's first complete game this season.

Posted by tien mao in Photos, Sports, Travel at 8:00 AM

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I'm traveling to Oregon for about 10 days, so posting will be light or non-existant. But I leave you with one of my newest sneaker purchases - the Air Max 360 Rejuvenation Pack Edition. Perhaps the coolest aspect of the shoe is that the whole thing is covered in reflective material. I wasn't able to reproduce the image that was on PickYourShoes.com though.

And if you want to see travel pictures, I'm sure I'll be flickring.

Posted by tien mao in Sports at 6:38 AM

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From Saturday's Cyclones game against the Tri-City ValleyCats.

Posted by tien mao in Photos, Sports at 7:58 AM

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The beautiful sunset from Friday night's Mets game against the Phillies.

Posted by tien mao in Photos, Sports at 8:08 AM

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Because going once to watch the Gotham Girls Roller Derby just isn't enough fun, Shannan and I went again this past weekend. The match this time was between the Brooklyn Bombshells, who won the last match we watched, against the Bronx Gridlock. Surely the Bombshells would win, right? After all, the Gridlock was a brand new team. Nope. The Gridlock only led by 5 at the half, but ran away with it by the end of the match.

- A lot more photos in my Flickr photo set of the match

Posted by tien mao in Photos, Sports at 8:17 AM

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Last night, the Mets lost 8-7 to the lowly Chicago Cubs at Shea Stadium, something that made all those annoying Cubs fans very happy. But when you're a Cubs fan, there's really not all that much to live for this season anyway. Including last night's win, the hapless Cubbies are 38-60 (that's a .388 winning percentage). The Mets are a nice 59-40 (that's a .596 winning percentage). Life is good for the Mets, not so much for the Cubs. At least they have next year to look forward to when they'll promptly lose any chance of winning their first World Series since...1908. Next year though, they will be celebrating the 100th anniversary of their 1907 World Series.

Posted by tien mao in Sports at 7:53 AM

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Immediately after hearing about Nike+, I knew that I would have to get it and try it out. The only problem is that I absolutely hate running. But, I also knew that if anything would get me to try and run, this would be it. After pre-ordering the shoes and kit you need, I finally got them yesterday. The biggest problem with getting them yesterday though was the insane heat and humidity. Nevertheless, I braved the weather and stepped outside after 9 p.m. when it was still 90°. While that might not have been the best idea, my goals were set pretty low. After all, I hate running and try to avoid distance running at all times.

So I ran one mile. Just one mile. While I wasn't dying or anything, I can't say that it was a pleasant experience. I think the heat and humidity played a big role in that as well as my obvious lack of fitness (though, that's improved a lot with kickball). My best mile pace was at the very end when I was on pace for a 8'45" mile. My worst was about 3/4 of a mile into the run when I had a pace of 9'42"/mile. Click on the image above for a very compact graph of my run.

I finished my mile in about 12'11" After further examination, it seems like I finished in 9'19" (with the nice voice telling me that I was half way done, had 400m left, 300m, 200m, and 100m left. If I only ended my workout before I stopped running, I might have had a more accurate idea of my time.

I also found that I need to refine my playlist for running. The same songs for walking around doesn't quite work for running.

Posted by tien mao in Sports, Tech at 7:36 AM

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Over the weekend, I competed in the Brooklyn Kickball's North American Invitational. Unfortunately, the team I was on didn't make the playoffs after a last minute change in the number of teams that made the playoffs and being shortchanged one run in our first victory. It's unfortunate that we didn't advance because of that recording error. Providence Kickball came to play and they had the most unique uniforms - not just t-shirts - but whole outfits. And when you're in Brooklyn, you definitely want to write "Fuck You Brooklyn" on you belly.

And for some even more disturbing imagery, I recommend you click here and here.

It should be noted that I took none of these pictures. I'm not sure I would want to get that close.

Posted by tien mao in NYC, Sports at 7:49 AM

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That's what the big foam finger is telling us.

Posted by tien mao in Photos, Sports at 7:59 AM

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Last Saturday, I went on a little trip out to Belmont Park to catch the third leg of horse racing's Triple Crown. With no possibility of a Triple Crown and none of the horses that won the previous two legs (Barbaro was injured and Bernardini was resting), so there wasn't too big a crowd on hand. In 2004, the last time I went, there were about 120,000 people on hand. This year, the crowd was a little more than 60,000. After boarding a bus of 56 people at 10 in the morning and being suffeciently drunk by noon, I threw away less than $30 on the ponies (a number I'm kind of proud of) coming close to winning bets a couple of times.

For a much better summary of the day, be sure to read Arash Markazi's account on SI.com (he was on the same bus I was).

Also, some more photos in my Belmont photoset on Flickr.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Photos, Sports at 7:56 AM

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Last Friday, I went to my first roller derby bout ever. The Gotham Girls Roller Derby match was between the Queens of Pain and the Brooklyn Bombshells (their other two teams are the Bronx Gridlock and the Manhattan Mayhem - clearly no love for Staten Island). It was really a lot of fun. I sat rinkside, which got me insanely close to the action, which proved to be a bad idea (or good, depending on how you look at it) when Raggedy Animal got shoved into me. Picture 7 of 8 happened right before I was flattened. My camera and I didn't seem to be damaged either, which is probably the most important thing. In the end, the Bombshells won the close match making their home Brooklyn crowd quite happy.

- More photos from Bombshells vs Pain in my Gotham Girls Roller Derby set on Flickr

2006 Food Diary, Day 2
12:26 a.m. - Home, one glass water. Really needed that glass of water after 64 oz of Bud Light.
9:04 - Work, 32 oz of water. Finished at 12:02.
12:46 p.m. - McDonald's medium #1 meal (that's a BigMac and fries) with a Coke. For some ungodly reason, they were selling an extra Big Mac for only $1 more. Of course, I had to buy and eat it.
3:07 - 30 oz of water. Finished at 5:54.
8:02 - Home, pasta with clams and garlic, one glass white wine.
8:20 - Water, one pint.

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Photos, Sports at 7:48 AM

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I've been playing kickball in McCarren Park for a little bit now with some friends. Our team is the Bacon Bits. These are our shirts which will be worn for the first time this Sunday. A lot of work went into them and most of them turned out really well. There's also a front to the shirt, which most on the team will see Sunday, but the fat is on the back.

Posted by tien mao in Sports at 2:17 PM

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Today in Red Hook was the 2nd Annual Schnack Stahl-Meyer Hot Dog Eating Contest at Schnack. I've always considered myself a pretty good eater, after all, I did win a small cheesecake eating competition. But this was insane. "Gentleman" Joe Menchetti finished a custom made 30" Stahl-Meyer hot dog in under two minutes. 1:53 to be precise. He just blew away the competition. A man amongst boys in this competition. He won't be in the Nathan's competition though as he's an independent eater and that's an IFOCE event.

- More photos from the Schnack Stahl-Meyer Hot Dog Eating Contest in my set on flickr
- Jesse has more photos in his flickr photoset as well

Posted by tien mao in Food/Drink, Photos, Sports at 4:15 PM

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Yesterday Nike and Apple unveiled a new product which they're calling Nike+iPod. It allows you track your running via a chip in your shoe as well as help use your iPod Nano to track your progress with a push of a button. The demo had a voice come on and say something to the effect of "you've run 6.2 miles in the last 49 minutes." Pretty neat device. Unfortunately, it only works with the Nano because apparently that's what people use when they run. Not those big clunky regular iPods. One of the best features of this new Nike+ project is the website that goes along with it. Maybe I'll have to start running.

Also, they came up with a nice little sneaker/iPod image for the product.

Posted by tien mao in Sports at 7:53 AM

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Last night's Subway Series game at Shea was freezing - with all the wind, garbage was blowing everywhere and people were signing up for credit cards just to get the free blankets. Someone said that they actually ran out of hot water by the 6th inning. Most importantly tough, the Mets won.

- A few more photos in my Flickr set (which I should add more to)

Posted by tien mao in Photos, Sports at 8:07 AM

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Last night, I went to the Mets game (by myself) and witnessed Pedro Martinez's 200th career victory. As it was my first game of the season, I had to have my first hot dog of the season. I resisted having my second hot dog. The number of people there was insane for an April game. Besides opening day, I can't remember the last time there were so many people at a Mets game in April. Seems like these Mets have a lot of new fans.

Posted by tien mao in Sports at 7:40 AM

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Yesterday, I headed over to Shea Stadium for the the Mets Workout Day. I was surprised by the turnout - especially since the 7 train wasn't running into Manhattan. It was the first ever "Workout Day" that the Mets had at Shea. With tickets given to select ticketholders, those on hand essentially witnessed a pre-game workout with stretching, jogging, fielding and batting-practice. Nothing too exciting, but the concession stands were open, providing more revenue for these new and even more expensive Mets.

Posted by tien mao in Photos, Sports at 7:52 AM

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Fittingly during last night's NIT finals, the Michigan pep-band played "Respect," as both Michigan and South Carolina were looking for some after being left out of the NCAA Tournament. I think to make it all the way to New York to play in the finals garners respect for both teams, but only the Gamecocks emerged victorious. USC jumped out to an early lead, never trailed, and only occasionally let Michigan gain a glimmer of hope. Each time the Wolverines had a shot to come back, they would allow easy lay ups, take some bad shots, or get shut down by USC's defense.

Not quite the same result as 2004 when I also went to Madison Square Garden. And I tell you, if there's any arena that can kill the emotion of a college basketball game, it's Madison Square Garden.

Posted by tien mao in Sports at 7:17 AM

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I bought these shoes back in December (I think) but I still haven't worn them at all. Or even re-laced them for that matter. Then again, I haven't worn the Waffle Racers or the Air Zoom FCs that I bought last year. I think I'll be breaking these out once the weather becomes nice though.

Posted by tien mao in Sports at 7:54 AM

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Yesterday I headed over to NYC Paintball in LIC for some awesome paintball fun. With 14 of my more courageous friends, we enjoyed three really fun hours. And we all left covered in oily paint and at least a couple of bruises or welts. Luckily I only escaped with a few bruises, but I did get hit in the same hand several times.

And how can you not love the fine quality photos from my old Canon S200 which was plenty damaged before I brought with me to paintball. Now it's covered with a nice layer of paint, giving the photos a nice haze to them.

Next time, Skirmish, perhaps? But tonight, I'll be numbing the pain at Barcade!

Posted by tien mao in Birthdays, Sports at 8:09 AM

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Saturday night, in the midst of the blizzard of '06, Shannan and I went to Chelsea to watch Nike's exhibition of Joga Bonito, what they are calling the movement play 3 on 3 Futsal - an indoor version of soccer. The game emphasizes ball control, skill and passion, not the power that you sometimes see in traditional soccer.

Posted by tien mao in Sports at 8:01 AM

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Posted by tien mao in Photos, Sports at 7:43 AM

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Going into last night's Lakers/Knicks game, I was hoping that Kobe Bryant would drop 101 on the Knicks. Then I would be a witness to sports history. Obviously it was unlikely, but with the way the Knicks are playing, anything was possible. Alas, Kobe only had 40 points, including a ridiculous 23 of 26 from the charity stripe.

And don't you hate it when you get good seats to a game, but all you have is a 50mm lens?

Posted by tien mao in Photos, Sports at 7:56 AM

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There's nothing quite like finding a game made in 1982 because you get a cover image that is just too funny looking. Madcap Marathon comes with a family of four that all seem to have red hair (I guess that was the cool thing in 1982) and a father and son combo that both have obscenely dated frames.

Besides the box, you also get an awesome game that is so much fun and that I still play really well. There's Bumpin' Basketball, Maniac Maize, High Hurdles, and Wavy Waters, each testing a different finger skill while being timed. My favorites have to be Maniac Maize and Wavy Waters. Clearly I need to break out this game and maybe Uno at the next sock party.

Posted by tien mao in Sports at 7:54 AM

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Last night, much to the surprise of some people I know, I went over to Niketown for a sneaker contest hosted by Nike & Sole Collector. I'm not sure if the sneaker part was surprising, or if it was the fact that it was a sneaker contest that was surprising. Essentially, it was 20 people showing off their sneaker collections to win a pair of sneakers. Niketown was packed with people, some who waited in lines since Monday morning to get a chance to purchase one of three limited edition Nike Dunks (first three pictures).

It was a totally different event than the Sneaker Pimps show that I went to (photos here and here) in the shoes last night weren't custom designed and "pimped" but just collections of sneaker enthusiasts. Some had shoes that were really small, others had shoes that were really large. In a way, that's just too easy. I want to see shoes that are hard to come by and in a popular size. I'm not sure if that was something that was taken into account by people voting.

Perhaps the coolest shoes on display were Marty McFly's Nike Air Mags from Back to the Future 2 though. Not necessarily the prettiest shoes, but definitely the coolest.

- A few more photos on flickr

Posted by tien mao in Sports at 7:16 AM

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When you're racing with 36,000 people, it's probably good to stand out in the crowd. While most people just went with comfortable looking athletic gear, some went over the top.

Funny story about the first photo. The runner continued to look at me as he ran and eventually ran into someone else. So if you are running in the marathon, it might be a good idea to at least have a view of those in front of you.

All my marathon photos that were even semi-decent are now in a gigantic flickr set.

Posted by tien mao in NYC,