Best Buy x Vinyl
Posted by DJ Balance | Filed under Uncategorized
Here’s an interesting statistic. CD sales have plummeted about 20% within the last couple years while vinyl sales have increased from 15% in 2007, to an 89% increase in 2008! With that statistic, Best Buy has decided to dedicate floor space next to the CDs just for vinyl records. I guess I’ll be running into some other vinyl heads next time I’m shopping for a PS3 game. Imagine if they sold 12″ singles there…….you’d see like three or four DJs raiding the crates at Best Buy!
Paintball !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by DJ Balance | Filed under Activities
I’ve never been paintballing before so I brought up the idea to some of my coworkers. Within weeks, we had planned a Saturday in April where we can spend all day shooting each other. There were about 20 of us who showed up at the paintball field, (even Suzanne got down for the first few rounds). For those that have never been, let me tell you that it is a blast. There’s nothing like the adrenaline rush of running, crawling, and diving for cover while an opposing team attempts to light you up. At first I was scared of getting shot. I spent the entire first round trying to defend my post, but after I got shot from a few feet away, my fear was over. The pain lasted maybe 10 seconds. More than anything, getting shot just angered me. I kept thinking of who I was going to shoot in the next round, and the next round, and the next round…. Unfortunately, after about 3 hours of paintballing, I only managed to shoot one other person. We played a few scenario games, such as Capture The Flag, Blackjack VIP (attempting to assassinate the opposing team’s VIP, with only 21 paintballs loaded in your gun), and of course the standard Team vs. Team. My personal favorite was Zombie, and it works like this: One team starts off with a limited number of players, let’s say four. This team consisted of the best players on the field and they would be Zombies. Their mission is to infect the opposing team, who would be Humans. Infection would happen after they successfully shot a Human, where that Human would then be a part of the Zombie team. The game would end after all Humans killed the Zombies, or when the Zombies had infected all the Humans. I think we played three or four rounds of Zombie non-stop. After about 5 hours of play, we began to lose people because they had to leave and get ready for work (that’s the beauty of shift work). But it’s been a week since we played and already we’re starting to plan another paintball day. Hopefully we can get another one in before this Arizona summer hits us full force. I can’t wait to get back out there.
I want to look like BJ Penn!
Posted by DJ Balance | Filed under Uncategorized
At work, Ed and I talked about what bodies we’d like to have. Ed said he’d like to be as big as The Rock with the big chest and six pack. I personally would like to look like BJ Penn, mainly because we’re the same height, have a similar skin tone, he’s a Pacific Islander, and he has a shaved head. That’s 4 for me already! However in top training shape he has a visible six pack and great muscle definition. So my goal for the next two years is to train hard and have a body like BJ Penn!
Tags: BJ Penn, Future, MMA, Sports, Training, UFC, Weight Lifting
Cardinal 2009 schedule
Posted by DJ Balance | Filed under Uncategorized
1 Sun, Sept. 13 vs. San Francisco 49ers FOX 4:15 p.m.
2 Sun, Sept. 20 at Jacksonville Jaguars FOX 1 p.m.
3 Sun, Sept. 27 vs. Indianapolis Colts NBC 8:20 p.m.
4 Bye
5 Sun, Oct. 11 vs. Houston Texans CBS 4:15 p.m.
6 Sun, Oct. 18 at Seattle Seahawks FOX 4:05 p.m.
7 Sun, Oct. 25 at New York Giants NBC 8:20 p.m.
8 Sun, Nov. 1 vs. Carolina Panthers FOX 4:15 p.m.
9 Sun, Nov. 8 at Chicago Bears FOX 1 p.m.
10 Sun, Nov. 15 vs. Seattle Seahawks FOX 4:15 p.m.
11 Sun, Nov. 22 at St. Louis Rams FOX 4:05 p.m.
12 Sun, Nov. 29 at Tennessee Titans FOX 1 p.m.
13 Sun, Dec. 6 vs. Minnesota Vikings FOX 4:15 p.m.
14 Mon, Dec. 14 at San Francisco 49ers ESPN 8:30 p.m.
15 Sun, Dec. 20 at Detroit Lions FOX 1 p.m.
16 Sun, Dec. 27 vs. St. Louis Rams FOX 4:05 p.m.
17 Sun, Jan. 3 vs. Green Bay Packers FOX 4:15 p.m.
Cardinals managed to pull off 3 primetime slots including a Monday night game against the 49ers. Perhaps a comparable rematch of last season’s exciting Monday night game?
Tags: Arizona Cardinals, NFL, Schedule, Sports
Sammy’s: The 24oz edition
Posted by DJ Balance | Filed under Uncategorized
One of the best and well known Japanese raw selvedge denim companies, Samurai, is releasing a limited edition 24oz. pair of their S510XX cut. They are a mid to high rise fit and will be shipping between July and August 2009 at a cost of $365 retail. These will be limited to a production of 20 pairs a day since it’s hard to manufacture denim this thick. I thought my Iron Heart 1634’s were pushing the comfortable level at a hefty 21oz, I wonder how these would feel!
Click here to read about them on the Freshness blog
Click here to go to the Blue in Green Soho site to preorder
What I did on Easter Sunday
Posted by DJ Balance | Filed under Uncategorized
After eating some authentic home-made Chicago dogs, Sana and I spent the rest of Easter Sunday driving around taking pictures. Sana found out about the multi-shot option on her camera where it takes 16 pictures and combines them as one picture. Then I had to show her the Lawley mansion with its illegal palm trees in the front. We were driving fast so they wouldn’t notice us taking pics of their house. That’s why it’s not a very good shot. And I finally had the chance to take my “Photoshop yourself in a picture with me” picture. Imagine Lebron and I in the same picture sharing a laugh. Even Sana took a “Photoshop yourself in a picture with me” picture.
New Clipse single “Kinda like a big deal”
Posted by DJ Balance | Filed under Uncategorized
I’ve been a fan of the Clipse since day one. Lord Willin’ was a damn good album, but Hell Hath No Fury was a classic 2006 hip-hop album that a lot of heads slept on. The production and lyrics on the whole CD were fire. So I was really hyped to hear that they got a new single coming out called “Kinda like a big deal” featuring Yeezy and production by DJ Khalil. Can’t wait for the album to drop. Gotta support good music since it’s so rare nowadays.
Click here to listen to “Kinda like a big deal” on their blog
Tags: Hip-Hop, Hypebeast, Music
Biosphere 2
Posted by DJ Balance | Filed under Uncategorized
For Suzanne’s birthday this year I wanted to do something a little different, so I decided to take her to go see Biosphere 2. We’ve talked about going before but we never planned for it. For as long as we’ve lived in Arizona, we’ve never seen Biosphere 2. Biosphere 2 consists of man-made biomes that replicate ecological systems of the world and includes living quarters and research facilities for scientists. It’s located about 25 to 30 miles north of Tucson. The reasons why it was built are so scientists can determine if humans can survive in an enclosed ecological system for space exploration and to conduct experiments in different environments without affecting the Earth’s natural environment. There were two missions for Biosphere 2 where a crew of scientists, including a doctor, was sealed into the Biosphere for an extended time period so they could conduct research and sustain themselves on food entirely produced by the plants and species within the Biosphere. The biggest problem with the Biosphere was that they found out they had oxygen deficiency throughout the facility which caused sleep apnea, fatigue, and affected the logical thinking of the scientists. After the second mission, they determined that they wouldn’t seal any more crew members in the Biosphere, but would continue research through the University of Arizona.
The Biosphere was impressive to see. It was a massive structure made from mostly steel and glass which helped create the greenhouse environment within. There were five different biomes within which included a desert, savannah, ocean with coral reef, wetlands, and my personal favorite, the rainforest. Admission was $20 per adult, but I ended up paying for our tickets with a military discount of $18 each. The guided tour took about an hour to hour and a half which allowed us to see most of the facility. Sections were sealed off due to research projects in progress. The guide had some good stories about the place and was very knowledgeable. There were a few animals that were sealed into the Biosphere for the humans including pigs for meat, chickens for eggs, and monkeys for companionship. We thought the monkey idea was unnecessary but the crew members were fond of them and treated them like pets. However the monkeys became territorial when they started living in the rainforest and would try to run the humans out by tossing garbage at them whenever they were conducting research there. There was one story he shared about one of the scientists who cut the tip of her finger off by trying to unclog a rice grinding machine while it was clogged. The doctor within the facility managed to re-attach the finger but after a few days it became infected and turned black. At that point it became life threatening so for safety she had to go to a hospital. All the media turned their attention about one of the crew members leaving the Biosphere. Upon return to the Biosphere, the crew member had carried a brown bag of additional supplies with her, which newspapers quickly noted as a headline the next day “Biospherians starving. Make run to McDonalds.” Another one of my favorite parts of the Biosphere was the South Lung which is a pressurized air chamber made to compensate for the expanding air within the Biosphere. It looked like it came straight out of a science fiction movie. In fact, there was a movie that was filmed in that part of the Biosphere which starred William Shatner, but according to the guide, it must’ve been so bad because he still can’t find the movie on Amazon or Blockbuster. Overall, we were there for about two and a half hours exploring the different exhibits and taking pictures. We had so much fun there. The guide mentioned that he used to do night tours so I think we’ll try planning to see the Biosphere 2 at night in the future. If you ever have the chance, I recommend checking it out.
Tags: Biosphere 2, Weekend
The end of our Fantasy NBA season
Posted by DJ Balance | Filed under Uncategorized
It was a fun season but unfortunately we’ve come to the end as the playoffs started on the 18th. After the fantasy playoffs I ended up taking 3rd place, right after Quaid Jordan. I took Marcus in the second round of playoffs, after I lost to Thomas in the first round. I’m happy I took took 3rd overall over Marcus because I was the 2nd seed in our conference for almost the entire season until I left my fantasy team unattended for 2 weeks while Marcus moved ahead of me. I had a pretty solid team, with my first 3 picks in the draft ended up being my most efficient players (no surprise there). I had Steve Nash as my 1st pick, Chris Bosh as my 2nd pick, and Dwayne Wade as my 3rd pick. My team didn’t have any major injuries but I dropped and added players all season with over 50 transactions. I finished the season on top in 3 categories which were rebounds, assists, and steals. My weakest categories were free throw percentage and 3-pointers, which is why I kept adding and dropping players all season. I can’t wait to do this again next season. It was fun way of keeping up with the NBA during the season.
Tags: Fantasy Basketball, NBA, Sports
2- kaaaaayyyyyyyy.
Posted by DJ Balance | Filed under Uncategorized
So Sana got me NBA 2K9 for Valentine’s Day and I’ve been playing it pretty steady ever since. When you first start up the game, The Cool Kids “2K Pennies” comes on and it’s pretty much the theme song throughout the game. After listening to it for so long, it’s grown on me. Back when The Cool Kids first came out with “Black Mags”, I pretty much hated on them and never gave them a good listen. I just assumed they were a couple of Hypebeasts who happened to play with Reason and got famous overnight through MySpace. But after checking out The Bake Sale EP for a couple of weeks now, I’ve got to admit I was wrong. Their music is good. Listening the them is like a throwback to the late 80’s and early 90’s when Hip-Hop was all about having fun. In this day and age, it’s like a breath of fresh air to hear something different. I hope these guys stick around for awhile.
Tags: Hip-Hop, Hypebeast, Music, The Cool Kids, Videos
