So in the middle of all the excitement of getting settled we missed the World Wife Carrying Championship which took place (as it has for the past 14 years) in Sonkajärvi, Finland – about 500km north of Helsinki.

Photo from Herald Sun, click to see full gallery

Eager to see what it would take to participate next year, I came across the official site which had a bit on How to Become a Master in Wife Carrying. In typical Finnish deadpan humor, they went into all the details just so you believed they were serious until you came across lines like,

The core of the race is made of a woman, a man and their relationship. The wife carrying and eroticism have a lot in common. Intuitive understanding of the signals sent by the partner and becoming one with the partner are essential in both of them – sometimes also whipping.

Maybe we’ll go next year.

Related crazy Finnish events include:

• World Air Guitar Championships in Oulu – where, by freak coincidence, a fellow Alamedan took home the title last year as Hot Lixx Hulalan.
• World Cell Phone Throwing Championship (pdf) in Savonlinna.

and more.

In 2005, the helipad of the Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai was converted into a tennis court for a promotion featuring Agassi and Federer.

My sporting alter-ego is taking time off from pitching for the Yankees after recently getting surgery for numbness in the arm.

I’m even prouder of my son’s namesake who won the Stanley Cup after just one season with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Careful Hayden, you don't know where it's been

After last night’s loss to Anaheim, the San Jose Sharks are out of the running.  Might as well post some highlights from the checkered past of the world’s most famous trophy.

• In 1905, the Ottawa Silver Seven tried to drop-kick it over the Rideau Canal on the Ottawa River. (They failed.)
• In 1906, it went missing after a photography session. It turned out the photographer’s mother had adopted it as a planter for geraniums.
• In 1924, the Montreal Canadiens left it by the side of the road while changing a tire.
• In 1940, managers burned the mortgage of Madison Square Garden in the cup, which the Rangers won that year. (This occasioned a “curse” that kept the Rangers from the cup for 54 years.)
• In 1980, New York Islander Clark Gillies fed his dog from it.
• In 1991, Pittsburgh Penguin Mario Lemieux tried to float it in his swimming pool. It sank. (Colorado Avalanche goalkeeper Patrick Roy later did the same thing.)
• In 1994, Ranger Ed Olczyk filled it with oats to feed Kentucky Derby winner Go for Gin.
• In 1996, Avalanche defenseman Sylvain Lefebvre had his daughter baptized in it.

via Futility Closet.

NBC is milking their investment in broadcasting rights for the Beijing Olympics by making anyone that wants to view their videos jump through a few hoops.

Hoop Number One: Install Silverlight 2.0.

This limits installation to only Windows machines or Intel-based Macs. Oh, and you have to restart your browser so you if you don’t save the URL of the video you wanted to watch – your left to the mercy of NBC’s navigation.

Hoop Number Two: Reveal your local NBC affiliate & zip code info.

This gives NBC data to see just how much traffic they are taking away from their local affilates with online video. When it comes time for re-negotiation, they can hold this data in their hand to show how they don’t really need the affiliates to reach their audience which is why they need to pay more for the rights to re-broadcast NBC programming.

Despite these two hoops, the desire to see a quick reply of something like the incredible 4×100 meter Men’s relay is so strong that people will jump through these hoops. Not enough to jump out of the current habit of hitting up Yahoo’s Olympic coverage (which is doing a stellar job), but still respectable.

Badi hated installing Silverlight and may never use it again but he did install it and I doubt he took the time to remove it after he saw the video. As far as Microsoft is concerned, mission accomplished.

Despite the hassles, I actually like some of the features of Silverlight as it’s featured on the NBC site. It’s really smart is that you’re able to fast forward (or reverse) in low resolution but once the video starts playing, it gradually sharpens the image to higher resolution. The video clips on the NBC site are of exceptional quality to those used to YouTube clips. As with NBC’s other site, Hulu, NBC is leading the way, showing us how a television company can reinvent itself for the internet.

I had a windfall a couple weeks ago when our neighbor ended up with extra tickets to a sky suite at the Oakland Colesium. We went with Tyler and the neighborhood boys to see the Yankees play the A’s. On the way back from getting cotton candy, a photo service vendor took a photo where I found the picture above. More photos from the game on my flickr set.

While on vacation in Hawaii, I had the chance to head up to the North Shore a few times and get a peak at the surfing scene during the winter months. The winter storms churn up some good surf and the Triple Crown was underway. Those same storms gathered strength and slammed into California bringing record rains and an opportunity to ride some epic waves off Dana Point hitting speeds of 45 miles/hour.

From The New York Times

With a second major storm bearing down, four of the most experienced big-wave surfers in the world launched a boat and two Jet Skis toward Cortes Bank, an underwater mountain range whose tallest peak rises 4,000 feet from the ocean floor to within about four feet of the surface. The perilous spot, about 100 miles off the coast of Southern California, had been surfed only a handful of times in the past decade. With just the right conditions, its shallow waters turn huge ocean swells into giant, perfect breaking waves.

- via kottke.org

“He’s an extraordinary player who makes every team a lot better. This guy is hecka nice. . .”

High school coach for Jimmy Rollins who has just been named Baseball’s National League’s Most Valuable Player. Jimmy Rollins is from Alameda, CA where I live. Encinal High School, where Jimmy played, is in Alameda. We’re all really proud and every time the Phillys come to town to play the Oakland A’s at the coliseum, the stands are packed mostly to see Jimmy play.

What really cracked me up about this article in the local paper where I saw this quote is the phrase “hecka” which is a uniquely Bay Area term. My kids have started to use it now so I guess we’re settling in.

Check out this insane video of nutbags jumping off cliffs and flying down with nothing but a modified bat suit (they call them “wingsuits”) to slow them down. Favorite quote, “At first we used to try and jump as far away from the cliff as possible but that got boring. . . ” Watch when three of them bunch up and do somersaults in mid air!

Whatever you’re doing this weekend, it pales in comparison to this.

credit to Doc Serls for this gem

UPDATE : More craziness (this time with skis) surfaced on this video of wingsuit base jumping

So I’ve been following my doppelganger’s budding baseball career ever since he first blipped up on my Technorati feed as a hot prospect for the Yankee’s draft last Summer. I’m super-pleased to see that the young Ian pretty much aced his debut as a pitcher against the Devil Rays and has earned himself another start in the next five days or so. Out here in California we don’t get the Yankee’s games on TV so I unfortunately couldn’t see him perform but according the the write-up in the NY Post;

Kennedy allowed three runs – one earned – and five hits in seven innings and earned himself another start, Joe Torre said. Kennedy struck out six – after one, the scoreboard flashed, “Ian-Kredible” – and walked two, throwing 66 of his 96 pitches for strikes.

Not bad at all – way to uphold the name!

UPDATE: Further coverage:

This Guy Ian Kennedy was Born Ready – 23 family members and friends made the trip to NYC to see him play.

Joe Torre post-game interview – “the kid has real poise”