i would like to take the time to wish everyone a safe and relaxing thanksgiving weekend.
it’s going to be a lonely holiday again this year. the family is on the other side of the world, and the girlfriend is working, as the koreans already celebrated chusok.
just another day in the life.
to all my brethren deployed to iraq and afghanistan, you’re in our prayers. come home alive.
yesterday ilmook, miwa, and i went to gyungbuk palace in seoul. it was the first time i had seen ilmook in a long time. the palace was beautiful.
many pictures to follow soon…
sincheon, sinchon, & h*town, 6-7-09
sincheon:
sinchon & h*town:
click to view the gallery (30 photos)
it was a long night. partly because jeff cho gave us the wrong directions and directed us to sincheon instead of sinchon! for those of you who aren’t in the know, that’s about an hour-and-a-half diversion. grrrrr! but that wasn’t my biggest gripe of the night… fucking zordan. but i’ll save that for another post.
ana is cute 
in & around dogok & sinsa, 5-23-09, plus a stop in itaewon and yongsan
on saturday i met up with ilmook at his place in dogok, and i met his friends, jamie, jon, jason, and lisa. all of us are from chicago, all but lisa are from u of i, and all but myself are korean. all i can say about ilmook’s $5 million tower plaza penthouse: wow. afterwards we took the train to sinsa for some coffee and patbingsu, then ilmook and i headed back to dogok for some shabu shabu:
shabu shabu
click on the photos to view the gallery (20 photos)
after dinner, i met miwa and her friend gabriela in itaewon, then miwa and i went to yongsan, and then finally i rode the train back to dongduchon.
so in celebration of viegas leaving korea, the battery threw a little hail & farewell at ono’s. afterwards, we went on a little thunder run of the camp casey ville, consuming copious amounts of cass, tequila, and jaeger at such fine establishments as ma deuce’s and aaa. then i finally managed to slip out to bosan station, to catch a train to seoul to celebrate my birthday. i stopped in itaewon, before spending the night in yongsan.
james smoking a cigar in emulation of patton
alas, it was a pretty shitty birthday all said (not a single person in the battery even remembered it was my birthday or wished me happy birthday!), but at least i got some calls from home, which really meant a lot to me.
one of the places i’ve been spending some time since arriving in korea is a bbq/biker bar called beavers. it’s a few miles outside the gate, so it’s a lot quieter than the bars in the ville. i would prefer a place not frequented by joes, but it’s alright. besides, for something so close to post, it’s the most you can really hope for.
anyways, i’ve been getting to know the girls a bit, and i have a lot of fun talking/dancing/and just hanging out with them. ms yun, who runs the place with her husband, seems to really respect me. i guess i try to carry myself in a different manner from the rest of the soldiers, partly because more is expected of me as an officer, partly because i don’t want to act a fool in front of them, and partly because it’s kind of disgusting sometimes the way soldiers behave. i think that one of the girls, eileen, kind of has a thing for me. rica, on the other hand, kind of confuses me. some pics:
beavers bbq & tavern:
click on the pictures to view the gallery (17 photos)
his number doesn’t lie. damn i need to get a larry english jersey!
i know i’ve read a lot of criticism about larry in the press lately, about what were the chargers thinking for drafting him so high? but let me tell you, okay it’s true i haven’t known larry since we graduated so i have no idea what kind of person he changed into in college, but if he is anything like he was in high school (and with a mother like his, you best believe he stay grounded and stick to the straight and narrow) the man is a football player. i lifted with him, i ran track with him, and i went to school with him, and the only way i know how to describe larry is that he is freakishly athletic, absolutely huge, passionate, driven, works harder than anybody, has a good head on his shoulders, and plays to win. and we was suprisingly soft-spoken. on the field he’s a maniac, but off of it, he was always down to earth. though to be honest i was always a little scared of him. but how could i not be?! his biceps were as thick as my waist!
oh, and did i mention he scored a 34 of 50 on his wonderlic test, a full 15 points higher than average for his position and higher than the expected average for a chemist, computer programmer, or journalist! (he did go to marmion academy, after all).
larry english is a potential pro-bowl linebacker, and san diego is getting an amazing football player. there, i said it.
link to his press conference in san diego: www.chargers.com/media-vault/videos/larry-english-presser/8a4e9726-5656-4960-a1b4-3871b20f0171
that larry english was just made the 16th overall pick in the 2009 nfl draft by the san diego chargers does not at all surprise me. the man is a fucking beast! back in high school, long after the football team had finished lifting, i remember watching in awe as larry put up ridiculous amounts of weight. the man’s biceps were as thick as my waist! often it would be just the two of us, or perhaps jesse smith would be there as well, and seeing the intensity in larry’s eyes, i knew for sure he would one day be playing in the nfl. well, five years have passed, and now larry is living his dream. as for me, i was skinny back then, and i’m still skinny now! i guess some dreams just aren’t meant to come true…
In-Depth Analysis: Larry English
by obviousman on Apr 26, 2009 5:27 AM PDT
0 comments
Why Was He Picked?: After a night of sleep and a lot of research, I have some theories. The first one involves a three-headed monster of pass rushing LBs. Shawne Merriman is coming off of a devastating knee injury and Shaun Phillips showed last year that while he’s still talented he needs Merriman on the other side to take the pressure off of him. Shaun Phillips also showed that while he’s talented as the LOLB (going against the RT), he is too small to be effective going against a LT.
If you look at the elite pass-rushers around the league, they’re lined up against the Left Tackle position. Merriman, Freeney, Suggs, etc. An elite pass-rusher has to show that he has the skills to keep his level of play high when battling an elite offensive lineman. Phillips did not show that. In this theory, English was drafted to give some rest to Merriman’s knee and to provide depth for both OLB positions. This was a move to prevent 2008 from happening again. What was plainly obvious was that the defense died when Merriman left with his knee injury. If that happens again, or if Phillips gets hurt, we now have a backup plan that keeps our defense at a high level.
Leverage is also part of this. If we were going to the negotiating table with Merriman after 2008 and he could say “You don’t have anybody else. You need me.” then we’d have to give him whatever dollar amount he wanted. Now we can work with him to come to a more reasonable figure.
Another theory, and an interesting one, is that New England was in love with Larry English. There are rumors floating around that they were even trying to move up a few picks to ensure that they got him (so English was moving up the boards secretly). Once the Chargers took him off the board, the Patriots felt there was no other player worthy of a first-round pick and traded out of it. After the first day they still have a gaping hole at OLB that could end up hurting their pass rush in 2009. Supposedly, Belichek viewed English as his own version of Merriman. Now don’t you feel a little better that English is a Charger?
Fan’s View: Courtesy of Mad.Mike from Red And Black Attack, SB Nation’s blog for fans of the Northern Illinois Huskies:
Larry English Scouting Report:
Larry English didn’t just win Defensive POY in the MAC last year, he won the MAC MVP overall for the past two years, the first ever defensive player to accomplish that. The best part is that the Vern Smith Trophy is voted by the coaches, so they have that much respect for Larry English and had to plan accordingly for him in every single game. This past year, he even won the award with a cast on his hand because he played with a few pins in his broken right thumb the entire year. In high school, English played all 4 years at the linebacker position, so dropping back is something he is used to.
Strengths
Larry English has an absolute motor. He is not going to take a single play off during a game. Great overall strength. He is not only good rushing the passer, but I believe he is extremely underrated in stopping the run. Look in the dictionary and he is under the definition of a FOOTBAL PLAYER. Larry has extremely long arms and maintains good leverage on his opponents. Provides great leadership on the field and was team captain the last two years. Was extremely productive even when getting double and triple teamed these past couple years.
Weaknesses
A little on the shorter side at just over 6’2″. Will have to go to a team that will be able to find the right fit for English on their defense. Needs to work on agility and played minimal time away from the defensive line in pass coverage. I think Larry is a lot quicker than he is fast. Improved his 40 time since the combine from the 4.8 range to around 4.6 at his pro day to solidify his 1st round status.
Video Clips:
congratulations larry! i’m proud of my fellow marmion cadet!
JLSDC Cultural Awareness Training, 4-13-09
first we had a briefing on korean culture, followed by a class on basic korean words and phrases, and finally a trip to a korean restaurant and the DMZ
pictures from the briefing/restaurant:
ummm… well i guess that just about sums it up…
microsoft paint illustration to go here! (gives me something to do on the flight to tokyo!)
update: okay, well i lied. i intended to do another illustration, a la deer murderer, larissa barrido and the inflatable play pit of doom, or that time i nearly hooked up with a fourteen-year-old… but i ended up watching three movies and listening to the new john legend and taylor swift albums instead.
speaking of which, I LOVE ASIA!!! (and by “asia,” i mean extremely extremely fine asian girls. and by love, i mean an action verb of the sexiest and kinkiest kind!)
god i’m gonna have like ten accidental kids by the time i get out of here!
the group. the girls were all pretty and fun enough. except for the fat, ugly one. yeah, you know which one i’m talking about. ughhhhh! ::james shudders:: i considered harpooning her like an overbloated whale, but i didn’t think that would go over too well with her friends…
static.nfl.com
