Madden 12: In a few days, my life will be turned upside down

Huge fan and my copy is coming in soon. I bought this off Amazon for $60 (free S&H). Plus, it comes with a $20 Amazon gift card and downloadable code for the Rookie and Sophomore teams. So basically, it’s $40 for me. Huzzah!!!

Game’s new album ‘The R.E.D. Album’ is sloppy, uninspired (Yes, I am reviewing a rap album)

Could have been better.

I don’t think I have ever written an album review and this won’t be a full one, but it’ll be close to one. I have always been a fan of The Game (now known as Game) since he debuted when I was a freshman in college.

He brought a smooth West Coast flavor and his following two albums were solid. Last week, I was in Target and saw his new CD for sale. I didn’t even realize that he had this new album out, but I got it anyway. I later would learn that he intentionally delayed the release of this album to coincide with the releases of Jay-Z/Kanye West’s new album and the release of Lil Wayne’s new album.

I met one of my favorite sports writers last night and he was so nice to me

Good writer, but even greater person.

You want a feel good story from last night’s 30-7 pounding at Candlestick Park? How about a story of a 49ers writer (me) making friends with a Texans writer (John McClain).

First, let me tell you why John McClain of the Houston Chronicle is one of my favorite writers.

I first heard about McClain a few years ago when watching the NFL Network and seeing him on several “Top 10” programs. Having been part of the Houston football community, he knew so much about the Houston Oilers. I really enjoyed his insight about Bum Phillips, “White Shoes” Johnson and all the great history of the Oilers.

What if Michael Vick was a white person…

If Michael Vick was a white person, he could look like this.

What if Michael Vick was a white person? Would we have the same perception of him as we do with him now? Then again, if Michael Vick was white, he probably wouldn’t have become the man that he is now.

I only post this because there was a stir with the above image when the story ran. The writer said that he never told the editor to use that title or that image with his piece.

The piece itself isn’t too groundbreaking, but when you mix black and white, it always stirs something up. CLICK HERE TO READ THE PIECE.

Trailer: GEORGE HARRISON: Living In The Material Word (Martin Scorsese)

Growing up as a kid, The Beatles were the first rock band I ever listened to and to this very day, they are my favorite. During that time, George Harrison became my favorite. He was quiet, but I knew that he was so intelligent.

Now we have this awesome movie about him coming out. I don’t know if I can wait so long for this. He simply was an amazing musician and a person to this world. This is going to be awesome!!!

Forever my favorite.

Taking off your shoes in an Asian household goes wrong and how the emergency box saved me

Thanks to my emergency box, my foot is OK!

Most of you know the unwritten rule that when you enter an Asian household, you need to take off your shoes. Well, since a kid, that has been embedded in me and I have gone with it. It makes sense (to keep carpet clean) and it’s practical. In all my years of doing it, nothing has ever gone wrong… until tonight.

I live in a house full of Asian people and naturally, I take off my shoes inside. And since I live here, I am barefoot. But while walking, I stepped on something sharp. I didn’t notice it at first until the bottom of my foot started to feel funny. I looked at it and there was this deep cut. Very nasty. I ran immediately up the stairs to the bathroom to try to run my foot under cold water.

And in the process, my bloody foot got blood on the carpet. Totally not cool. And once after I ran my foot in cold water, I realized I had no bandages. What was I going to do?

49ers vs. Raiders preseason game: Let the excitement begin!

Football is back! Go 49ers!

In about 30 minutes, the 49er and Raiders will begin their annual preseason matchup and I am both excited and whatever the opposite of excited is.

See, I love covering football and I love watching the 49ers from the press box. It’s my first game of the season and this will get me into the flow of things. But I still feel that since it’s a preseason game, it’s a lot of paying attention to details I am not really going to care much about.

The drive here was OK and the parking wasn’t too bad. I guess I haven’t fully gotten into football mode yet. Maybe after the game it’ll change. But right now, I am just happy that I am back at The ‘Stick covering a game. It’s the best part of my job.

I gotta be careful not to tan too hard

Just a random thought in my head. I have been out in the sun for four hours a day doing my 49ers work. And I am getting burned. It’s crazy how dark my skin has turned. And what’s worse is that I have sock tan, farmer’s tan and all other kinds of tans. It’s not good looking on me.

I add sun block on my arms, legs, neck back of ears and face. But still, it could only protect so much before I turn dark. Extra crispy dark.

Fortunately tomorrow is the last day of media availability in training camp so maybe I can return back to my normal skin color.

Moving back to San Jose is kind of like that summer I lived in New York

I just settled into my new room in San Jose. I’ll be living here for several months as I have decided to focus on my 49ers writing for the entire season. I’m living with friends which is cool. But I get the room (the basement) all to myself.

It reminds me of when I lived in New York for two months back in 2007. There in New York, I had my own room and I essentially had to live by myself, make my own money and so forth. Sure this time I am living with people I know, but now I am kind of like a nomad. Or something like that.

I have my own room, I’m working most of the day and at night, I am off on my own. This is the kind of independence that I haven’t really had since I last lived in San Jose. But this is more like New York because I am starting from scratch and I know that my stay here probably won’t be long.

Anyway, enjoy the video!

San Jose, I’m coming back for ya!

I could never leave San Jose.

Yeah, you think I couldn’t stay away couldn’t ya? I’m coming back to San Jose.

This was a move that I never thought would happen. And quite frankly, I didn’t want it to happen. But with the situation as it is right now, the best thing for me to do is to come back… at least for several months.

During this past summer, I had been looking for a more full-time job. I wanted something that was stable with good pay and benefits (who doesn’t want that?) And with the NFL lockout then in place, I was ready to quit writing my stuff about the 49ers and start a new chapter.

I had some leads to potential gigs. I had a chance to move to LA to work for the NFL (didn’t happen) and another chance to at least write more about the 49ers on a bigger platform.

But neither of those worked out. I was ready to quit in April, but I had no other choice but to hold on. Now the NFL is back and I had to start writing again. Since the desire for football was at an all-time high, I was getting paid more. I was getting more recognition on Twitter. I started to be on more radio shows and even made an appearance on TV.