Went to Tilden one more time since the last post. Did the driving range thing but also did some putting. I went to Sportmart to look at the stuff they had to offer there. Got me a Nike Golf Glove, a set of balls, and a Golf for Dummies DVD cause the books don't help me much. I think I'll pick up the putting trainer/swing trainer when I go back home. No need to buy things that the family already has. The DVD was really great, helped me out with the key things to look for in the swing as well as how to correct it.
Oh yeah, Margaret asked me last night about the golf school that I'll probably be attending. It's the Nike Golf School at Tilden Park. The corporate site is http://www.nikegolflearning.com
So Julia only got to the Bay Area at around 10:30PM so I had already had dinner beforehand. Fred came over and then we headed over to bowling at Serra Bowl. Serra Bowl is this 24hr place in Daly City. Unfortunately, Jane broke a nail on the first frame, I was right next to her on the other lane and I let out this sound like, "Eekugno....". Afterwards, Jane still bowled!!! And smiled!!! Crazy courage.
We were able to play one game and a third of the other game before we called it a night. Bowled over a hundred, had 4 strikes total, but I still managed to squander some frames. I need to get more consistant.
This morning I went to Milpitas with Leah and Fred and had Knife Cut Beef Noodle Soup. Fred got the same and Leah got this Lamb thing that was prety good. We talked about milk tea and our particular tastes about boba. While leaving, we met my Uncle and Aunt as well as little Raymond who were getting groceries at 99 Ranch. They had gone to Great America in the morning apparently. Went to the Great Mall to get shoes at Finish Line but they ran out of the Adidas A3 shoe that I wanted to get, all of the right size anyway. Fred got it and had some pretty good reviews of it.
I got a set of golf clubs at Costco too since I'm planning on taking it up. I had researched all the places around where I can go practice and learn. Tilden Park seems to be the best place cause they have a Nike Learning Center as well as being pretty close by.
Went to Cafe Mum again tonight. Didn't eat as much as I used to but that has to be understandable since I had that noodle soup earlier. It was a lot of fun having dinner with all these people. Wish it happened more. Chris and Lori went wedding site hunting today. Pretty interesting seeing these two get ready for their wedding.
Here's some pics that I picked out...
Citysearch's Best Public Golf Courses in San Francisco. Link
KTVU did a whole insider's look at the Tilden Golf Course. Link
KTVU also did a lot of reivews of other places. Link
I want to see this. It's like Cirque de Soleil meets horses. Their setting up the tents near Golden Gate Fields and they're starting August 2nd. Link
This is the golf set that I got. It's super sweet. Can't wait to try it out. Link
So my sister's comments about the conch led me to do a little research on what the body is actually made up. When I actually ate it a few days ago, I bit into the really swirly part but just spat it out cause it didn't taste all that good. I now know why. That back part consists of the stomach, the ovary, as well as the digestive gland. No wonder it didn't taste all that great. The best part is just the muscle area as well as the head area. Great stuff. Lightly salted/sweet due to the soup. Yummy! hahahaha
Actually I found out that 99 Ranch mislabeled it. It's not a conch, its actually a whelk snail. The species is Busycon carica. More info on dissection are to be found here. Here are some images and this link talks a little bit about the difference between conches and whelks as well as how people like them as food. The Italians use them to make something called Scungilli Marinara.
I have CASSHERN!!! That's right. It's on my computer. I can't watch it yet cause its so late. So excited though. It's about time. In the meantime, here's a few more pictures...btw, Julia/Hoo is coming up again this weekend. We're all getting together at guess where? Cafe Mum! This time it wasn't even my suggestion. Julia's friend Jane lives in the Bay Area and had independently of me had suggested it. Crazy stuff. In any case, I'll definitely have more photos to come later. It's gonna be tight.
How does it feel when you sit on a bus and the bus gets crowded but people would rather stand than sit next to you? On one hand, you don't have to sit next to someone but on the other hand you must be wondering, what about you makes them want to stand during the entire trip? I've seen this multiple times on the bus.
This guy I found online does some pretty cool pixel art. I used to do pixel art on my HP 48GX but really left that realm after high school. Here's an example of his work. If you don't check it out, you'll be sorry. I swear, it's the perfect marriage between flash and pixel art. There are a few glitches but it's so cool anyways. Pixelfreak, my hats off to you. You can try saving it to your desktop, here. Remember to right-click the link.
I updated my logo thing to incorporate a pixel logo of a take out box. I think it looks pretty cool. I can't seem to make a good bowl though using the pixelart perspective. It took me a long time to make this take out box look anything like a take out box but I'm pretty happy with the results.
So on Friday, I was pretty social. I had lunch with Margaret at the underground international place on Bush St. That night was Cafe Mum with Eric, Fred, Minh, Monica, Andrew, Sarah, Andrew's cousin, and Andrew's cousin's friends. All told it was 13 people. Our side had 5 guys/2 girls and the other side was like 3 guys/3 girls so we EASILY outate them meat plate wise. We were already on our 4-5th plate before they had finished 1 plate. I ended up eating from both side's vegetable plates so I didn't contribute much to our side there. It was pretty fun and everyone seemed to have a great time so I guess it's another bingo for me, the perennial food planner. Hahaha. Afterwards, we went to Union St., where we went to a few bars, had jello shots (Thanks Chu!) and ended up near a pizza place called Pizza Orgasmica. The smells coming out of that place were awesome but having just gorged at Mums, I wasn't in the mood. Two of the girls and Leah as well were though. Something about small stomachs. Apparently, they all had to trek back to one of the girl's place which was somewhere in Pacific Heights. That hill looked painful. Went down Lombard St. cause it's so much fun to go up and down that street. It's funny how prior to coming to Berkeley, I had gone on that street maybe twice in my life, but now that I'm living here, I've been on it like 10 times. It's still loads of fun though.
I think I've officially gone to every Korean restaurant on Telegraph Ave. EVERY SINGLE ONE. All the way from Berkel Berkel near UC Berkeley to the place really close to the Korean Market (almost to Downtown Oakland). Off the top of my head, that's probably 10-11 different restaurants.
I mistakenly used the simplified character for noodle in my graphic, a mistake I quickly rectified. I knew something was wrong.
Anyways, here are the pictures I took from last night. There were actually 13 people there, but I only got pics of the half that I knew. That's the disadvantage of having to sit in the middle. Andrew's girlfriend Sarah got left out of the pics accidentally too. I should have gotten a group picture.
On Thursday, I went to this place called Lee's BBQ. It had a lot of different small dishes, gave us free pa jun, and I got an extra egg for Soon Doo Bu just like Orange County. Soon Doo Bu wasn't as great as the Gol one though.
Went to this place in Oakland on Tuesday called Everett and Jones . Its a bbq place. Here's a sample. We got the 4 way combo (ribs/chicken/sausage/brisket). I liked the ribs the best.
I was wondering when I actually did those 17 mile rides...
1st ride - 06/08/2000 - By Myself 2nd ride - 08/26/2001 - With Scott Duncan 3rd ride - 09/08/2001 - With Peggy, Nancy, Ananda (Only to Sausalito) 4th ride - 07/05/2004 - With Eric, Fred
Cafe Mum tomorrow night with around 15 people. It's going to be CRAZY.
I came up with this image for my signature on the forums that I go to...
The chinese stands literally for "Knife Slash Cow Meat Noodle"...the Knife Slash is to describe the noodle though, not the beef. Also that second character means slash not slice which was a distinction I was not aware of.
Oh yeah, I purchased a new 200GB hard drive. Almost to a Terabyte now.
1 x 200GB = 200GB (circa. 2004)
3 x 160GB = 480GB (circa. 2004)
2 x 60GB = 120GB (circa. 2001)
2 x 15GB = 30GB (circa. 1998-1999)
TOTAL = 830GB
The main problem is my old computer at home doesn't recognize above 128GB for my mobo's IDE port. The only way I've been getting it to work is using the USB 2.0 connection for the hard disk drive enclosures. I don't want to keep on buying more of those though but I may end up with a huge USB 2.0 hard drive array. My 1GB microdrive is going strong too.
I don't know why I feel compelled to write down what meals I had during the day. Food is important to me but I think it's cause I think it's worthy to note it.
I've been getting behind on my updates mainly because I've been reading on the Clie during my spare time instead of writng these journal entries. It's bad cause then I have to catch up a lot.
Last last Monday, apparently the only thing I put down was that I went to Shanghai Gourmet and ordered Pig Intestine Pig Blood Mustard Green, Sauteed String Bean, and Steamed Sole.
Last last Tuesday, I went to see the opera La Boheme with Lih-Chern at the SF Opera House. Liked it a lot. I already knew the story beforehand though so it wasn't surprising or anything like that. Still, I like one of the arias in it. Performed quite well.
On last last Wednesday, went to Seoul Gom Tang II, which actually had a SFGate mention. Their SoonDooBuu is top notch.
I saw a billboard for auto insurance that said it could save new customers around $300. Then it said 12 tanks of gas, which was crossed out to say 10 tanks, which was then crossed out to say 8 tanks. Such is gasoline prices these days. Cheapest I've seen is $2.17
On last last Friday, I got off early at 3.30 for the 4th of July weekend. My uncle Peter had come up to visit a friend so we had dinner in Danville at this new restaurant. instead of being a $18 dollar place, it's a $17.50 place. Tried Naan and Curry too. That was pretty good.
On last last Saturday, went to Public Market and got pho. Yum. We went to Best Buy cause the VCR had crapped out. Got me a Sony DVD/VCR combo with progressive scan. Just so I'll be ready for the new TV. I looked into getting a system selector box. The sweetest one (Pelican System Selector Pro) there was one that allowed you to connect many component video inputs. It costs $100 though!!! Got me Hunter the Reckoning, a $15 Xbox game that I wanted from way back. Had dinner with Peter and his friend Ken at Spenger's Fish Grotto. Had Atlantic salmon stuffed with crab bay shrimp and brie cheese. Good but kinda small.
On last last Sunday (July 4th), went to a BBQ at Chris's parent's house in Roseville. Man, it was such a scorcher. Got a headache from the heat I think. Adam had just come over from Japan in preparation for Jackson's wedding. Got me a Full Metal Alchemist puzzle and a Neji Clip (which I've attached to my Clie), both sweet gifts. Thanks Adam! We feasted on bbq chicken, pork chops, and potato salad. Played bocce ball and ping pong. On the drive back, I saw the fireworks from the freeway. Lots of traffic because they closed of both Gilman and University. Which reminds me, I forgot to add that when Eric and Co. were coming back from watching Mitch in San Jose, Eric's WRX died in the middle of the Caldecott Tunnel. It apparently just slowed to a stop. They had to push the car (Eric guiding) out of the tunnel, where they got a towtruck to take it to Walnut Creek. They didn't get home till 6AM. Seems it was just a hose that had just fallen off. Peter says that it's about time I got my hoses and belts replaced. I'll look into it since my oil change is coming up again.
On the day after July 4th, Chu called me up to hang out. I suggested Tin's Tea House in Walnut Creek. I'd never gone before, but I've been to the sister restaurant in Oakland so I knew what to expect. Good stuff, yet again. That makes 2 in a row for the "GOOD FOR CHU" SEAL OF APPROVAL. I must say that the "GOOD FOR JOOKWARRIOR" SEAL OF APPROVAL is more readily given. That Chu is a picky eater. Hahahaha. Good dim sum all around. I ended up treating the two of them cause I'm all magnanimous like that. Not! No, it's just great that I get to hang out with my ol buddies. Gonna be sad when they're not around anymore, which shouldn't be for some time but still. Afterwards, we went to Blazing Saddles to rent bikes to do the 17 mile Fisherman's Wharf - Tiburon Trip. It's the 4th time I've done it but the last time was SOOOOO long ago. The map isn't exactly the route we took, since we went through Sausalito and the marsh areas but it's pretty close. I say its 17 miles cause the first time I went, the odometer on the bike said 17. This time out, they didn't have the odometer or the free bottle of water. Freakin cheapskates. The Golden Gate was windy as usual. On the way down to Sausalito, there is this really long downhill that feels great after doing the uphills before Golden Gate bridge. Fred stuck out his right hand to grab some flowers while using his left hand to hold onto the bike. The girl in front of him braked so Fred braked too. Unfortunately for Fred, the left hand brake happens to be the front wheel brake. So the bike flipped forward with Fred skidding along using his bare hands as brake pads. Except for his hands, he didn't seem to be hurt at all which was pretty surprising. The bike frame's top tube hit him in the head though. Miraculously, my backpack, which Fred had graciously offered to tie down to his bike, was unharmed including the stuff inside (Clie, the Sony F707 Camera). Hooray for Timbuk2. Maybe it was the BR vneck I had stuffed inside that helped. Who knows. Anyways, we eventually made it across to Tiburon (after a short stop at that neighborhood market in Sausalito for drinks). People kept on asking us where we were from. A woman outside the market asked me and I said, "Emeryville". She looked pretty disappointed so I was pretty sure she would have liked it more if I had said somewhere exotic like "Mongolia". Then she would have been able to tell her friends that she had seen someone from Mongolia that day. Oh well. Hahaha. Since the next ferry wasn't until 7:30PM (it was still running on weekend schedule), we walked around Tiburon, looking at all the closed shops. Chu realized that a bird had pooped on him. Hehe. It was pretty cold on the top deck of the ferry back to the wharf. Fred had just a t-shirt. I had a thin vneck over my shirt. Eric had the freakin toasty-lookin fleece. Drove around looking for places to eat at (not one met the "GOOD FOR CHU" SEAL OF APPROVAL), so we all ate at CPK in Emeryville. Actually I picked up Leah first and then had dinner at CPK. Had the usual Jambalaya but next time I'm getting a pizza.
I saw these guys on the Razor Pocket Rockets the other day in the city. For some odd reason, I laughed at them, yet wanted one of my own. Then again, they aren't as cool as the real Pocket Rockets. They use gas and can go much faster.
Seen at the Walnut Creek Shopping Center - You can be refused entry for "Failing to be cfully clothed or wearing apparel which is likely to provoke a disturbance or embroil other groups or the general public in open conflict". I'm guessing that means no white wizard hoods.
Got me a measuring cup and breakdown-able scissors at Macy's. The measuring cup was one of those cool ones that have the ticks inside so you don't have to raise the cup to see how much is in it. Got the super duper 4 cup model. I always wanted the breakdown-able scissors ever since I watched Alton Brown from the Food Network curse about 1 piece scissors due to bacteria buildup. Since these nifty scissors break down into 2 pieces, they can be cleaned easily with little fuss. Cost me $20 though but I'm sure it's worth it for the piece of mind. Didn't see a meat slicer at this Macy's. But I did see some nice spatulas and an inflatable queen size aero bed. I'm holding out for a real bed though.
Lemme insert a few random pics...
Leah excercised her cooking skills and made food last Thursday. Salad and Cajun Rice. Good stuff. Hardly eat salad on my own. If only it had avocado....hehehe
Finished the anime "Last Exile" and watched all these movies. It was crazy. Fahrenheit 9/11, Stepford Wives, Dodgeball, Last Samurai.
The Cha-Shu-Don at Ryowa is great. It's really good. Can't say enough about it. The pork slices, the way the rice tastes, the ending hot seaweed soup. Hmmm...
Saturday was nuts. Had Jackson and Janelle's wedding in Walnut Creek and then Heidi and Jesse's wedding in Santa Maria (near San Luis Obispo). Went to the wedding of one, and then the reception of the other. Actually we only made it to half of Heidi's reception so missed out on the food. Went to Baker's Square instead where I consoled myself with a steak. Both weddings were really pretty so it gave me tons of ideas for my own wedding whenever that may be. Congratulations to the newlyweds! Wished I could have split myself in two and attended both events in their entirity. Leah actually cried while listening to Jackson's vows, they were very touching.
Watched late night KCET in Santa Maria, where they showed this film student's film. It's pretty good and kinda imspired me to try my hand at movie making. KCET played one of Polyphonic Spree's songs which was really cool. Liked it lots. "Follow the day and reach for the sky..."
I'll be adding pics tonight...later! (Edit...Done!)
