AZCardinals!

How about them Arizona Cardinals? They had an awesome game Monday Night against the San Francisco 49ers. Let me first tell everyone that I'm originally from San Francisco. I was a huge 49ers fan in the 90s when we had Joe Montana, Steve Young, Jerry Rice, John Taylor, J.J. Stokes, Brent Jones, and all those other really good guys. They were the dream team, and ever since they went their own ways, the 49ers have not been the same. Unfortunately, it's come to the point where I've given up hope on them. They made it to the playoffs a few years ago, but nothing better than that. I will start liking them again when they can prove to me they can play as a team, and overcome any obstacles.

But those Cardinals! Wow! Now THAT'S a team right there! I say they're a team because they have all their players working together to win. Let's start off with the offense. Under center, they have Kurt Warner (who is an unbelievably great player). He has so many weapons he can utilize on the offense, especially with Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald. These two guys are the main offensive threats. They can manage to lose the defenders covering them, causing them to be open and picking up huge reception gains. Now, they have a newcomer, Steve Breaston. He's quickly making a name for himself as a new threat on the Cardinals offense! Edgerrin James, the main threat in the backfield, has unfortunately had a bad season so far. He hasn't been able to do much with his carries, so they decided to give his backup the starting role: Tim Hightower. What I can tell you is Hightower is one explosive back. Probably sooner than later, he's going to have a breakout game, and people will then realize the Cardinals are a force to be reckoned with.

The Cardinals defense is pretty solid, especially when time comes to stopping the run. Take a look at how badly the 49ers ran against the Cardinals defense. Their secondary needs a little bit of improvement, but I think their biggest flaw is penalties. They had 10 penalties in the second half against the 49ers, giving San Francisco loads of free yards! They also had 2 interception TDs nullified due to penalties.

Let's see how well they can do against Seattle on Sunday. If they can overcome these issues, and dominate Seattle (which I'm sure they will with the lack of a defense the Seahawks have), the Cardinals will be on their way to the NFC West Division title!

The Weather Channel (and all other weather reports)

Before I go on, I'd like to make clear that I'm no meteorology expert, so if someone who has an expertise in the field can fill me in, that would be greatly appreciated.

I was watching The Weather Channel yesterday to get an idea of what the forecast was going to be for this weekend. Then I saw something which I couldn't really understand why they show it. They said the weather is going to be sunny during the day (but with a 20% chance of precipation), and clear at night (with a 10% chance of precipitation). Why is there a chance of precipitation when they know the weather is going to be sunny and/or clear? Doesn't it make more sense of having a chance of precipitation when it's partly/mostly cloudy, since clouds are the objects which carry moisture which drops down to Earth's surface?

From what past experience I have of watching weather reports, they are never 100% accurate, so them saying "it's going to be sunny" as well as "there is a 20% chance of precipitation", is that just so they can be right either way? I mean, come on. We all know that having completely clear skies can't cause any sort of precipitation (and it doesn't take a meteorologist to come up with that conclusion).

Like I said, if you are a meteorology expert, and can help me understand why they do this, please do!

Chicago!

I'm new to this city. I moved here just last week for school, and am already loving it out here. There's so much to do; there's a lot of people to meet; I don't think I'll ever get bored.

I met with Amol on Wednesday, and we had dinner at Duke of Perth, over on Clark St. We also had a couple glasses of scotch, since it's super known for it's selection of scotches and whiskies. We went on Wednesday especially for the fact they have all-you-can-eat fish and chips. If you're reading this, and you are in the Chicago area, I would highly recommend that place (if you've never been there before).

Since I'm still new to the area, I'm thinking about doing something fun this weekend! I got one of those 30-day CTA passes. It's basically a pass I paid $75 for, and I can use any CTA mode of transportation unlimited times until 30 days are up (from September 24). I'm going to use this pass, and get on a few buses and trains this weekend, and figure out where they all go. That way, if someone wants me to meet them somewhere, or I have a few errands to run, I'll know how to get there, and what are my best options.

Even though I'm liking it here in Chicago, I do miss all my friends and family from back in California. I've lived there all my life, and coming to Chicago was a huge shift. I've basically started a new life here. Luckily, my sister is coming next weekend to visit me, which I'm really looking forward to. She's never been to Chicago, so I'm thinking of taking her to see campus (University of Chicago), downtown (including the Sears Tower), and some other fun stuff. If you guys have any other recommendations, do tell!

Anyways, I'm at orientation now, and another activity is about to begin. I'll be back later for an update. Take care, all!