December 30th, 2004 - 7:29AM

At the Live 105 NSSN show this year, we saw Lyrics Born come on as a surprise appearance with his buddy Dan the Automator. After hearing him live, I'd really like to go to one of his shows. I'll have to keep watch. Here's a clip of one of my favorite songs of his. Callin out to all area crew!

Here's the pic that I took at Cafe Bastille. I LOVE the cream that they used as well as how the chicken breast was juicy instead of being bland. Good stuff. Nancy had something similar except they wrapped it in a pita like thing.

Went to Ikea to pick up the Ikea "Norden" Bench for our table since we've determined that bench seating will work best for us. Looked at some new plates (these are super big...perfect for steaks) and had dinner at the Ikea cafe. We were hoping that the bench would be on sale (Ikea is having one) but no such luck. It's also not on Craigslist anywhere. Anyways, we ended up getting one and I think we're picking up another one tonight before everyone (Dan's friends) gets here. We're going to have a pretty full apartment for New Year's it seems. :-D

Sheepskin "Rens" $19.99...so soft...

Went to Costco afterwards and got some Chandon (either a Brut Classic/Blanc de Noirs...we had a Blanc de Noir at the CMR Party)/some smoked Salmon and the Simpsons Season 5 DVD Boxset!!! I'll have a pic of that up later. All that food at Costco was so overwhelming...have you seen the HUGE ribeye roasts they have there? Good grief. The guy at the checkout stand was like "Wine and Salmon...sounds good!" Hehehehe

Beautiful Clouds before the storm. This was yesterday from my office window.

Hooked up the LCD Monitor so that we have some entertainment during dinner (Moose Monkey just wasn't cutting it). I'm still finishing watching The Simpsons Season 4 DVD Boxset so that's what's on the LCD Monitor. Steaks and mushrooms and rice...hmmmm...

Sara Lee Cheesecake that I picked up at Pak N Save. hmmm....yummy goodness.

Today it's raining much harder than ever. As usual though, the rain comes in spurts trying to lull people into a sense of false security.

Trying to get out of the rain

So it's official...I'm going back to San Antonio in February. Riverwalk here I come! Gotta go to Paesano's again...:-P

I've been thinking about New Year's Resolutions and I think that this year I need to do at least one extreme thing (extreme for me being riverrafting...jumping out of a plane...or bungee jumping). Good thing all those things are available around the Bay Area. I found out that I really am a hedonist. Hedonism doesn't necessarily mean sex all the time but actually is just the pursuit of sensual pleasure (and that doesn't necessarily have to mean sex...other things can stimulate our senses you know). Wiki has this entry on it. Epicureanism (so that's the origin of epicurious.com!!!) is a branch of Hedonism which emphasizes being patient, peaceful and slow about it. Cyreanicism is where you want to get your pleasures in the fastest amount of time. I'm an Epicurean for sure since I can wait hours just for good food. Hehehe Anyone else a "bon vivant"?



December 28th, 2004 - 5:30PM

It's been a while since the last update so I'll try to make it clear which things happened on which days.

25th

Went to Ban Mu Yuan in the morning for Chinese breakfast. I don't know....I like this place's Beef Noodle Soup but everyone I've encountered doesn't like it. Nanny told me once that one of her relatives got sick from this place once though.

Here's the one pic I took of the Day After Xmas Party that we had. It didn't feel like I should be camera happy around a bunch of people I don't know so this is it. I met a lot of interesting people that day and had a lot of fun. Played some Mario Party as well as some multiplayer Halo 2.

After dinner, Jimmy, Olive, Olive's friend (not very good with names), Jack, and I went to the White Lotus club in LA which was really popular that night. There was a HUGE crowd behind those gates (I took these when we got in). Most people got tired of waiting and left though. When Jimmy told me earlier about what time he usually gets to the club, I couldn't understand why people would go to a club at 9. We got there at around 10 and ended up waiting for about an hour and a half to get in (the gals got in after about 30 min). Totally different from SF clubs... I've never had to wait much. Didn't see any celebrities there although there were tons of good-looking people around. Music was good although the place was a bit cramped which I think some people really relished. I actually saw Annie and Jennie from HS there too.

Jack and I. I didn't get back until 3 in the morning. It was the first time my parents actually told me to go clubbing. Hahahahaha

26th

Irvine Tofu House...this is a new one for me. The rice that comes with the tofu soup is the crispy kind!

My sister is quite the pool shark.

Christine works at the Funnel Factory as well as a bunch of other places, so we visited and got a 50% discount. Sweet!

Water Fountain at the Irvine Spectrum. Everytime I come back something has changed.

Skating Rink and Ferris Wheel

Thanh Restaurant...Cary used to work at Irvine Company which designed this place. Good stuff.

Very modern-pricey feel but the prices are just like your neighborhood pho place.

Good Shrimp Rolls

Pretty good pho...no ho fun though.

Pomeranian at Ken's house

Isn't that such an awesome dog? I like big dogs too but small dogs are cool too. This pomeranian is not the yippy kind. Very quiet. It can do tricks too for treats.

Later, I went to see "Sideways" with Eric, Fred, and a few other people at the ol movie theatre close to Crown Valley Rd. Pretty funny movie with good character acting. There were some disturbing scenes but all in all, good stuff. Afterwards, Eric, Fred, and I went to Del Taco and brought food back home to eat while playing Halo 2 on the big screen. Played some Soul Calibur 2 as well.

27th

Went to Din Tai Fung Dumpling House for lunch before leaving for SF. I've been to the one in Taiwan. I told Fred that if we go to Japan, we need to eat there to complete the Dumpling Triangle.

Busy in the Steam Room

Shao Mai with Lih-Chern's chopsticks poised to strike

Famous Juicy Pork Dumplings...we got 4 orders of these. I don't think Dan quite got why Fred would drive all the way for dumplings or why we had these expressions of ecstasy while eating them. Of course, he lives only 4 miles from this place so....

Excellent buns too although my "splitting buns using chopsticks" skills need work.

All "Dumpling"ed out. LC fell into a food coma afterwards. Spinach was good too.

Driving up was suchhhhhhhhhhh a pain. So much traffic. Hours of delays due to the numerous accidents we saw along the way. Big rigs, cars, everything. It was pretty crazy. The rain was pretty tough too. At Grapevine, I was being pushed around by the wind. Had a Strawberry milkshake at the Jack in the Box in Grapevine.

Ninja game in a town near Grapevine

Sword was bolted down so parrying was nigh impossible. Used hands instead.

Famous Pea Soup Anderson's at Santa Nella

Gawd...I hate split-pea soup...but I tried my best to drink it. It tasted alright but I just couldn't get over the green color.

I think I could have grilled a juicier salmon.

While we were driving, we saw an entire town's lights turn off and then 30 seconds later, turn back on. It was the coolest thing. Imagine a town suddenly without lights....and then...all of a sudden, all the lights come back on at once. It was really cool. Listened to a lot of old songs (encompassing whole genres) while driving up and down. Good thing I brought all my MP3 cds. We didn't get back home until midnight even though we left Din Tai Fung at 2:30PM.

Had lunch with Nancy today though I forgot to bring her present. Oh well. Went to this place called "Cafe Bastille" in that alley near the underground (called Belden Place). Very good Chicken. Highly recommended...I like their frites too.



December 25th, 2004 - 2:10PM

Xmas/Holiday Tree setup. Usually we don't put it up but this year we did. Actually my dad/my mom/my sister did...I had no part in it.

My parent's wreath. It's store bought though.

Went and visited my really early schools (Crown Valley Elementary and Niguel Hills Middle) before lunch yesterday. At Crown Valley, the painted whale is gone now and the lunch area has moved. Not much else has changed besides fresh coats of paint.

Mr Earl still has the same portable as he did like 13 years ago. Crazy. He STILL has the same PI poster on the wall along with his old ass projector.

I remember sitting on these numbers for PE

The old lunch tree. Look the lunch area is COVERED!!! Spoiled kids.

Went to lunch at Chilis with Cathy, Chrissie, Julia, and Annie (who I seriously hadn't seen since graduation from high school). Salmon and a strawberry margarita for lunch...nice! When Annie saw me, she said that I looked "bigger"! Hahahaha...better than smaller I suppose.

Went to this Boba place in Irvine afterwards. Hoo's "beef stew"

Did Annie ever play Big 2/13 cards/Pusoy with us? In any case, this pic reminds me of early Senior year. Hehehe...Julia just got back from China and had a blast it seems.

For some reason Balazs pulled off the front position quite well. He's just really skinny I think.

Strawberry Snow Bubbles. Their version of the Old Teahouse Frost. I like the Frost better.

Scarf with a tanktop...legwarmers with high heels. A fashion season mystery...my sis took this one. Sorry for the incorrect white balance.

Mission Viejo Mall...went here with Cathy, Chrissie, and Annie afterwards for some last minute shopping. My sister told me about some guy who jumped off a floor at South Coast after an argument with this girlfriend. That's some scary stuff. He just climbed a railing and jumped from the 2nd to the 1st. Apparently, there was blood though so he didn't jump unscathed.

Christmas Eve Dinner setup

Flurry of activity

Cathy making noodles

My noodles....gosh I love making this stuff.

Some Yu-Gi-Oh action on the side

Cathy performs for her present. It's kinda tradition within our family to perform a feat for a present. This year I copied little Raymond and did a tumble and played the cello to my utter horror.

Even Raymond gets into it. He's very John Cage-y. I liked his tumbles though. It's cool. He'd stand at attention. We'd say "Raise your hands"..."Touch your toes"..."GO!!!". And he'd follow through with a tumble. Hehehehe

Eric performs. Pretty darn good for only 3 years.

Some more images of my dad's setup. I can't get over it.

Image is incredibly bright and vivid. Not much motion blurring either which a lot of projectors have. This is one high quality piece of machinery.

I brought a lot of stuff over as you can see here. All 3 systems but not all the games.

I got an awesome coffee maker from Uncle Peter, a nice business portfolio from Aunt Judy/Uncle Ching-I, a really cool suede jacket from Aunt Jackie/Uncle Fang, a leather jacket from my Dad too. Thanks everyone!!! I got Raymond Legos, Eric the Donkey Konga game, my Dad and Uncle Peter BR scarfs, and my mom BR Cashmere Slippers. Thanks Banana Republic!!!



December 24th, 2004 - 10:13AM

Merry Christmas!

So after work on Wednesday, I went back home and super-fast packed. It's something that I'm pretty good at considering I've been traveling quite a bit this year. Lih-Chern and I got on our way and ate at Todai in Pleasanton (pics wayyy down below). I haven't been to Todai since forever so this shouldn't mean that I'm addicted to it or anything. It was on the way and I couldn't think of anything else to eat there. Hehehe On the way down, we pretty much listened to a lot of old-school rap including Bone-Thugs-N-Harmony. Hehehe good stuff. I even did the trip song (well at least for me and Adam), "Time to Say Goodbye" by Brightman and Bocelli. We freaked Chris out that one time and I think this time I freaked out Lih-Chern. Hahahaha. It didn't take long to get from San Gabriel to Laguna Niguel cause I went super fast (it was already 2AM) AND took the toll-road. When all was said and done, I didn't go to sleep till 3AM. Apparently, my family thought I was coming a day later cause they locked ALL the freakin locks so that was a pain. My dad was like "Why's that huge bag downstairs?". Then he found me sleeping in Cathy's old room. Weird. No wonder they didn't call me once during the trip down. :-P

Cathy's Pumas

We ate at the "Original Pancake House" on Moulton with a bunch of Cathy's friends. That omelette was huge!!!

Riding shotgun in the Beetle 1

Riding shotgun in the Beetle 2

Chirashi at Yoshino. Dollar Handrolls!

Camouflaged Cellphone Tower on the way to South Coast Plaza. This was on the 5.

My dad's system is just crazy. The Xbox is hooked up via component signals and the sound system is just kickin. Multiplayer is great side-by-side. Sigh. I love how the projector screen goes up and down.

My sister's favorite game.

DOA:XBV and Soul Calibur 2 are some of the most beautiful games on the Xbox. It's really amazing to watch a volleyball game on a screen this size.

My Aunt Jackie and cousin Raymond. He's pretty amusing and rambunctious.

Smile for the camera Ray! That's Uncle Fang in the back plus my mom.

This crab soup was really incredible. Very filling by itself.

Hmmmm....I loved the vegetables...and then with the fish collars, Cathy would squeeze lemons on it for me. Actually she did that with the vegetables as well! Good stuff, lemons!

At Uncle Peter's condo. Darn, I'd like to have a place too!

You can see Cathy with Meatball. My dad, Raymond, Uncle Peter, and Uncle Fang in the kitchen. The whole layout is pretty neat. The balcony is huge and perfect for BBQs. Plus it has high ceilings along with a loft where his office is.

30-something inch LCD with 5.1 stereo.

Having his own garage is nice too!!!

The next few were taken the day LC and I went down to Southern California.

Union Square on Wednesday. I met up with Margaret and Co. here (Hi Dave!) before we had lunch.

I'm using this for my wallpaper right now actually.

These guys have TV's strapped to their backs! They're promoting TV shows and stuff like "Committed".

At Segafredo Zanetti's

I had the frutti de mare and Margaret had a sandwich while the others had pizza and alfredo pasta. It was ok. Good ingredients but I thought they should have served it in a bowl rather than a plate.

Macy's Xmas window this year had small dioramas with SFSPCA-adoptable cats and dogs in them. So cute! On the way back, Margaret opened her presents. She seemed to like them a lot so I'm very pleased. We passed by the vietnamese place that's around there too. Margaret doesn't usually come down this way so we probably need to do a food tour or something. Hahaha

I requested an action shot from Lih-Chern and I got one! This was on the way to LA. We stopped by Todai in Pleasanton for a "bite" to eat.

Overflowing Uni!!! My dad said that he totally salivated over the Sushi House pics from last weekend. Heheheh.

New style of jumbo shrimp at Todai. Now filled with panko, scallops, small mussels, and imitation crab. Very tasty.



December 22th, 2004 - 5:00AM

Happy Birthday Margaret!!!

Today is actually Margaret's birthday but we celebrated it last night at Kabana since me and LC are going down to LA/OC today. Had tons of dishes that I usually don't go for like the eggplant and the cauliflower, but those were really good! Of course, my favorite was still the Tandoori Fish. Great meal.

Afterwards, we went to this bar that Margaret kept talking about called Albatross. It's such a cool bar! You can borrow boardgames to play. Here we are playing Taboo. I think one of the high-lights of the game was when Salah was trying to get people to guess "Luck" and he said "What rhymes with Duck?" (rhyming and gesturing and pointing were Salah's favorites...things I thought were supposed to be banned hehehehe). Both Yen and Lih-Chern shouted out a word that first popped in their dirty minds. Hahahahahaha that was awesome. I had my first Red Stripe (Jamaican Beer) yesterday. Light and smooth, the way I like it.

Margaret's flash actually lit up the picture for me. Interesting effect. Margaret took some neat pictures which is why she should have her own website. Someday she says...

The Puma Group...man, I haven't worn my Puma stuff in a looooooong time. Everytime I wore that sweater, I thought I needed to go jogging or something. Much more than even my Adidas stuff. Something about Puma. hehehe

Lih-Chern moved the table around to another orientation. After we saw how it worked when Gilbert and Francine were visiting, this configuration would probably work better for people to get in and out.



December 20th, 2004 - 7:00AM

Here's my Holiday 2004 Flash Greeting Card. Click the image to see the full flash card...Enjoy! I used the similar design for the company greeting card and by the time I was done developing this card, I was really really tired of the "Let it Snow" song. Believe me, it went from "Wow...I wish I could do stuff like this for a living!" to "Omigosh, please kill me. Why won't this work...what the heck is wrong with Flash...let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!!". Hehehehe, enjoy. Many hours of blood and sweat went into it. I sent out 12 custom cards this year!!!

We had carolers yesterday in the lobby. They sounded pretty good because of the high roof

Here's our new huge table!

Good soup with a dirty martini. I don't like it as much as other drinks unfortunately...it's like seawater! Just like the time I went with Simon and had a martini.

The cranberry vodka would have been good...if the cranberry had been tasty. Still I finished this drink but just couldn't finish the martini.

Yesterday, our neighbors Gilbert and Francine came over (which is why the drinks were out). They brought this really interesting Christmas Special cake from Baker's Square. It was pretty good but a little too sweet for me. Anyways, we had an interesting conversation and picked up on a few places to eat in SF. Alright!!! Their rabbits are very cool too.



December 20th, 2004 - 7:00AM

Spent a lot of the weekend looking for a good dining table. Me and LC went to Ikea twice to figure out what we needed/wanted. Had lunch there once. Got the Manager's Special $5.99. It has 15 meatballs and includes a drink and soup. I WAS about to get the 20 meatball plate (no sides) for $6.99 but the addition of sides on the manager's special made it a better deal. I love the gravy and lingon berry sauce. My plate has 14 on it because I couldn't help but eat 1 while I was in line. I was soooooo hungry.

Ice Cold Coke...

Of course, everything in the Ikea Cafe is Ikea stuff.

Finally got around to making the Clam and Chicken Soup again. Perfect timing too cause I've just started to feel a little sick. Nothing serious yet so I hope it'll be gone before I head down to OC/LA.

It's Done! (Martin Yan-style) Here are pages discussing whether or not his accent is fake.

Since office chairs don't make good dining chairs, we're giving them away on Criaglist! On the left is Lih- Chern's old one I think, the middle one is Adam's, and the one on the right is mine. Goodbye! We're replacing them with benchseating since that way we can easily sit as many people as necessary. Of course, I think we should pad them. We'll see...

So I looked up Craigslist for the table and a guy in San Jose was selling it for 50% off (from $200 to $100). He's a compliance auditor for DT so he travels A LOT and almost all the stuff he was selling was practically brand new. He's moving to Belgium on Thursday so he needed to offload this stuff ASAP. On the way there, we saw San Jose's Chrismas in the Park. Need to check it out sometime. The table just made it into my backseat. Awfully cramped up front though! :-)

At Darda Seafood on the way back...look its Jellyfish or Sea Sting Skin (海蜇皮)...yummy! Actually we forgot what it was called so the waitress had to remind us.

Margaret came over last night and tried out my soup! It's gotten rave reviews from everyone so far and Margaret seemed to like it so I think it's really my signature dish! God, I could use some of it right now. Clams...chicken just falling off the bone. Even the beef bones I threw in were pretty good. LC likes marrow too! LC found one of my missing quarters (Florida) after I mentioned it to both her and Margaret. Right now, all I'm missing is Iowa. IOWA!!! WHERE ARE YOU?!!! hahahaha

Man, I hope the presents get here in time. Could the Xmas season get any more hectic?!!!

For some reason, I forgot to take pictures of the new table!!! I have pictures of a similar table (different top) in Ikea but not one of it in the apartment. I'll put it up tomorrow I guess.



December 18th, 2004 - 2:32AM

Margaret and Lih-Chern in front of the Moriawase at Sushi House. Love the Moriawase. Just enough of a lot of different varieties. I think we waited an hour in order to get seated. Still, even the wait was fun!

Uni/Herring Roe and Island Roll in the back. This Uni was some really good stuff. Lih-Chern apparently would only really eat it on Fear Factor but me and Margaret just love the stuff. I think I'm a bigger fan though.

Island Roll - "Crispy prawn tempura, real crab meat and cucumber layered with fresh Salmon, avocado & lemon slices, then topped with our special house sauce." Margaret and Lih-Chern are totally ready to dig in.

Lion King Roll - "Our famous CA Roll dressed up in a filet of Salmon then baked to perfection." This was sooooooooooooo amazing. Actually both rolls were really really good.

Afterwards, we all went to see "Closer" at Bay St (well we waiting around at Barnes and Noble for 30 minutes), which was a pretty agonizing movie to watch. A lot of hair pulling and just overall distress. I think next time its SpongeBob Squarepants for sure!!! "Closer" is a good movie just difficult to stomach.

My cards/gifts havent come in yet...getting kinda worried. Well, at least the Xmas cards are almost done.

With Nancy at the underground earlier this week. Don't get the Pad Thai at the Thai place. It's really bad, the only thing good were the vegetables.

The Royal Globe Insurance Building in the Financial District. I've walked by so many times but have never taken a picture of it. It reminds me of buildings in London.

Ice Skating at Hallidie Plaza. Margaret and I had food at this Falafel place (I actually got a Beef/Lamb Gyro...pronounced YEE-row)

On the way back, we stopped by the Bechtel Museum. They built projects such as the Hoover Dam and the Bay Bridge.

One of our clients is E3 so Maxine is in close contact with all the exhibitors. This is the Blizzard North Christmas Card. Look at Rudolph!!!

At the CMR party, we had Chandon which is related to Moet & Chandon. Really liked it a lot and coincidentally, Lih-Chern likes it too!

Eric and Fred were in the area so we all had Korean meat teppanyaki along with Jeremy. Now my room smells like beef marinade!!! I'm burning candles so hopefully it'll be gone soon. Spent most of the time watching "The Apprentice".

Chu manning the utensils...

As promised, my wreath in front of our apartment.



December 15th, 2004 - 7:00AM

I took my wreath home and put it on the apartment door though cause all that cinnamon smell from the pine cones was making me go crazy.

Had lunch with Nancy a few days ago since KPMG relocated to the office directly in front of my windows. I actually thought it was further down until I looked outside and noticed the KPMG sign down below. I had Duck Noodle Soup Ho Fun (better than Sun Hong Kong) and Nancy had the crispy noodle stuff (sound familiar? it's weird). Went over to See's afterwards where Nancy had a lollipop and I got 1 Strawberry Creme Chocolate. Yummm...

Went with Lih-Chern to Eve's Hunan the other night. Had their $5 specials, Beef with String Beans and Shrimp with Black Bean Sauce. Both were pretty good stuff, we cleaned the plates pretty darn well. Hehehe

Our projector's lamp went out the other day so we had to setup an alternative. 1 VNC server, 3 VNC clients. Hehehe...actually it turned out pretty well. Since everyone was able to get a pretty good view.

Watched the first 2 episodes of Book 2 of North and South last night. Good stuff!

At Church's Chicken last night, when we got there we were 12th in line. Crazy! Tuesday Special - 2 pieces for 99 cents. We got 5 orders!!! :-D Then went to McDonalds where I got a Strawberry Shake.

Lih-Chern let me install Half-Life 2 on her computer so I played for a bit on it last night. Damn, I want a fast computer again. I've been out of the game for so long. I've been looking at the Fragbox especially. That is a sweet computer. Gameplay on Half- Life 2 is sweet. I love the rag-doll physics and everything else in it.



December 13th, 2004 - 7:50AM

Went to the Thai temple for noodles yesterday. Hmmm...Lih-Chern got the same and we took Mango/Marinated Chicken home. Stopped by Target for some supplies as well. Lih-Chern got to play the DS and I looked around for PS2 Ace Combat 4 (but 5 is already out!!!). Watched Episode 4 of North and South. At times, watching North and South can be soooo frustrating due to some stupid characters. Still it makes for good tv.

What can be better than hot noodle soup on a cold day? Well...hot jook or soon doo bu of course but that's beside the point.

Went wreath shopping with Margaret at Michael's (where I spent a lot of time picking out the stuff that I wanted to put in it...Margaret was incredibly helpful with all sorts of suggestions...we probably could have designed like 15 different wreaths). After picking out everything, we went to Sun Hong Kong in Oakland (where I went once with Della/Simon/Nancy wayyyyy back when). Had Roast Duck With Won Ton Soup with Hu Fun Noodles while Margaret had the Crispy Egg Noodle dish. As you can see, Margaret tends to be a little camera shy. She's providing a background for her noodles apparently. We split a Preserved Egg and Shredded Pork jook which was quite alright although it could have done with more flavor.

I had to "fluff" the wreath to make it look better since wreaths are usually compacted after shipping.

This is Margaret's wreath from last year. As you can tell, she's color coordinated.

My wreath closeup

My completed wreath. It was a so much fun to make and I'm really pleased with the results. I'm thinking about making another one actually. I'll just have to get Margaret to make another bow. :-D The warm Apple Cider that Margaret made was awesome too. Never thought to do stuff like that. Margaret's just like Martha Stewart! Well except for the whole jail thing.



December 12th, 2004 - 11:50AM

Lih-Chern went to a fashion show thing at Macy's (where a hot male model was...hehehehe) and afterwards, we went to "Can't Fail Cafe" in Emeryville. This was my first time actually although I've passed by dozens of times before.

Here's my early morning Mimosa on top of our Monkey table. Some of the tables had special tops that had objects embedded in resin. The table next to us had cards and LC said that some of the other tables had dolls in them. Whoever designed this place definitely had an artistic flair.

Just look at those Strawberries! Honestly, this is one of the best pictures I've taken (you'd have to see the original to see what I mean). Really clear and the colors are amazing.

My Tri-Tip and eggs. The Tri-Tip was pretty good. The hashbrowns had meat juice (au jus). Nice!

My piece of strawberry goodness. Thanks LC! It was an awesome way to start off my birthday. After I got home, I started getting a lot of phone calls...I even got separate phone calls from my parents and my sister. It was like one would end, and then another call would come in. Thanks everyone who wished me well either by phone or by web (which includes the online scratcher and my TSA friends!)

After an hour or so of Halo 2 Live (which me and Chris did pretty well), Chris and I went to the driving range. Here Chris takes a swing at it.

Lining up the shot

What did I see when we got back from golf? Lih-Chern and Eric playing Halo 2! That game has taken over lives I swear. I found out later that Keith also has Xbox Live and Halo 2!!! When Chris figures out whatever is plaguing his connection, we could start a team/group (I eschew the word clan).

Went to a Hofbrau place in San Leandro. That is one big roast

Prime Rib Goodness...plus they had my favorite Beaver's Horseradish.

Went bowling at Mason Bowl in San Leandro. This place has a Late Night Sat special too!!! Sat 11PM-2AM is $15 including shoes. Damn, no need to go all the way to San Jose for that. We all got stylin bowling shoes. Hehehe

The Group

My worst bowling ever...I did get strikes but so many many multiple empty frames. Pretty sad my performance. Oh well!

Chris and Lori were pretty consistant. Keith got a Turkey too!

Thanks for the presents everyone! I've already gotten Half-Life 2 on my laptop and it actually runs!!! Not too bad either. The pot-holders will totally come in handy and I love the clothes I got! I feel so lucky having you all as friends! Although, I'm 25 (yes...quarter century), I feel like I could take this 20s thing to the limit you know? I'm not one to waste time.



December 11th, 2004 - 1:44PM

It's my 25th birthday!!! Happy Birthday to me!

Last night's Live 105 Not So Silent Night show was pretty awesome. Margaret and I had to totally rush to get there. Both of us went on Transbay back to the East Bay first and then I drove us into the city. Didn't get in till around 7 (door opened at 6) but found a parking spot only a block from the Bill Graham Auditorium (where it was held). Lucky lucky. When we got there, Eric, Mandeep, Ankur, Dalbir, Cynthia, Sarah hadn't gotten there yet, so Margaret and I went around the Sony PS2 booths. We tried playing multi GT4 but that didn't work so we played ATV Offroad 3. Hehehehe, that was pretty fun...I just hope Margaret didn't really mind me running her over. :-P Actually Margaret started pulling off tricks and stuff like a pro in the end. Anyways, once everyone got together, we headed in.

We missed the opening acts but got to hear Muse, Interpol, Killers, Franz Ferdinand, and Modest Mouse. This is Muse. Muse had some awesome songs. I just love it when they introduce some real instrumental sections where they don't concentrate on screaming something. At one point, the keyboardist was linked up to a lightbox so whatever he played was displayed as lights on the box. You could see the chords and stuff. Very neat. I'm actually trying to find that song.

Interpol didn't disappoint. Although I had already heard them before, their stage presence was definitely there.

Interpol's Carlos D. is awesome. He actually writes the keyboard parts too. He has the most stage presence. He just lights up on stage and the smoke blows around.

Dan "The Automator" Nakamura. Part of the Gorillaz team. It was really sick when he started spinning "Clint Eastwood"...hehehe

The Killers, a band from Las Vegas, who I had heard on radio before but not live. Really sweet. Their most popular song out right now is "Somebody Told Me".

Franz Ferdinand...in the end I liked Killers and Franz Ferdinand the best although Muse was really good too.

Franz Ferdinand had the best lighting design. A lot more audience participation too. As you can see, there was a lot of people. I was down there up front with Eric and Margaret for Interpol and Muse. The crowd would get pushed around and since everyone was squished together, the crowd would just flow around like the tide.

Modest Mouse was alright but underwhelming after Franz Ferdinand.

After the show we all went to Mel's on Geary for dinner. Had the pork chop with eggs. Hmmmmm...in the end the Mel's people came and sang "Happy Birthday" to me. On a dare from Chu, I tried eating the slice in one bite. Unfortunately, it was not to be. Hahahaha...I need to get the video of this from Eric.



December 10th, 2004 - 7:00AM

Yesterday was Clam Chowder and Calamari at Fisherman's Wharf. Nancy has tendonitis (inflammation of her wrist tendons...she kept on moving it last Sunday to see it it hurt) and Margaret was slightly under the weather (coincidentally Christina is also sick but she works with sick children's spit so....) and Eric can't eat Ice Cream anymore sooooooo in the end Chris and Lori joined us for ice cream at Ghirardelli's! He had to pull himself away from the Halo 2. Shoulda rented it to him instead hahahahaha. Before all that though, me and Lih-Chern got my favorites ate Nick's and went and ate at Pier 39. And oh yeah, we had a pitstop at In-N -Out cause Chris and Lori hadn't eaten either.

Fresh Calamari...the guy actually made us some old ones and then decided against it and gave us a fresh batch. So nice!

On the way back, we passed by Yao Ming at the Wax Museum Entrance.

Ghirardelli Chocalate...mmmm....I like Milk Chocolate.

Chris is sucking it in...hehehehe

Omigod it's the Earthquake!!! 8 scoops and 8 toppings.

Slowly devouring it all...

Almost done...

Done! We had...
Scoops

Toppings

People really liked my toppings of Sliced Strawberries and Raspberry so that's really recommended. Bananas/ little nuts also come with it.

Fog was especially thick last night

I want a Christmas/Holiday tree like this...white trees looks sweet at night. We saw this in a window on the way to the bridge.



December 8th, 2004 - 7:00AM

The top of one of the buildings outside my office window has green and red lights. Doesn't compare to Embarcadero or the plaza next to Golden Gate University but its nice to see the effort. That building is actually the new home of KPMG but Nancy isn't there often.

William had this setup in the conference room AKA my old office. Working in the dark is cool.

The Powell St. Overpass in Emeryville has these statues now. There are like 6-7 of them arranged on both sides of the street. Nancy says they are scary...I just think they're somewhat grotesque but kinda neat. Lot better than having nothing there.

Went to Korean last night. Mmmmm...free Pajun.

Surveying the yummy food.

Short Ribs...they add a little extra something that mine don't have. I bet it's some sweet glaze. Need to find out.

The Soft Tofu Stew was excellent. They have a combo here. Short Ribs and Soft Tofu Stew for $15.

Margaret made these really good Madeleines from a recipe she got from a friend's mother. Luckily (for me and Christina) Margaret's second batch didn't come out exactly perfect so we got to eat quite a few of them. Totally can see/taste why Madeleines are Margaret's signature dish. They're really good with a crisp outside which I like a lot.

She even has a Madeleine mold pan from France! Actually I think she has 2 from France...one is from Williams -Sonoma but it's MADE in France but she actually also brought one back when she was in Bordeaux.

Here's the batter. Don't think she's as paranoid as the "Crustacean" people. William tells me that they pass their signature dish (garlic crab and garlic noodles) through a hole in the wall to the waiter/waitresses. Only family members are allowed into the crab room or "secret kitchen". Hahahaha it's so scary.

These are a few of the ones we got to eat.

Look at this!!!

Hmmmm...sooo good. Going to have to run extra to work off these!

Tastingmenu.com is an awesome site. Love the food photography.

Ok so I've been listening to a lot of the Jay-Z/Linkin Park collaboration project esp the single "Numb/ Encore" where Jay-Z's "Encore" is mixed together with Linkin Park's "Numb". It's an awesome song and definitely better than the other two by themselves. I think "Encore" really had horrible background music ( soooo hard to listen to after you've heard "Numb/Encore") and "Numb" needed better rap lyrics. When you combined the musical strengths of Linkin Park and the lyrics of Jay-Z, you got a track that rocks. Go to the sites below and select the clips to see what I mean...

Encore from Jay-Z's Black Album
Numb from Linkin Park's Meteora
Numb/Encore from Collision Course



December 8th, 2004 - 7:00AM

Everytime I listen to the song "My Creole Belle", I'm still hearing "My Creole Bear". hehehehe.

Went to Chipotle on San Pablo Ave. with Lih-Chern, Lih-Han, their dad, and Della on Monday. Sunday night was bbq steak with asparagus. Good stuff. Pretty impressed with Chipotle. Got their Steak Fajita Burrito (no beans in that) which was pretty good. Next time though, I'll probably get it sans tortilla wrap.

That's Della and Lih-Chern plus you can see Lih-Han in the background.

***************POTENTIAL "The Incredibles" SPOILER BELOW********************

I don't know if you've seen the Incredibles yet but since it was made by Pixar in Emeryville (the city that I live in), they put in a couple tie-ins to Emeryville.

******************************End Spoiler***********************************

So last night me and Lih-Chern started watching the "North and the South" DVD boxset. It's 1392 total minutes (well it has a featurette too) or about 24 hrs of television. Watched 3 hrs of it and it's pretty good. I can't say I remember all of it (I only read Book 1) but the names are familiar.

Saw the free "The Terminal" showing at the clubhouse last night too. Pretty good still even though I had already seen it.

Xmas time is upon us again so all the decorations are coming up/already up. Our lobby has a lot more stuff this year than last year.

I like the snowflakes.



December 6th, 2004 - 4:47PM

So I've been trying ever since I got back from the Taj Mahal show, to find out the name of one of the songs that I totally fell in love with. I posted on Craigslist and a day later I had my answer! All I said was pretty much "Taj played it at Yoshi's on Thursday...and he goes Bah-Biiiiii quite a few times in the song." Totally awesome...thanks louisleek!!! It's called "My Creole Belle" and was originally written by Mississippi Hurt. Here's an mp3 sound clip. Just love that intro. I can totally imagine myself just sitting on some porch somewhere watching the sun go down. Preferably in Hawaii...hehehe

My haircut is definitely getting attention. Hehehe...shoulda done this sooner. The last time I suggested it to my barber, he said I should rethink it cause of various things. This time when I went in, I was like "I WANT A COMPLETELY NEW HAIRCUT!!! NOW!!!" Otherwise, he might have tried to change my mind or something. He's cool though...nice guy.

Ahhh....yesterday, me and Lih-Chern and her dad watched "LOTR: The Return of the King" until 2 in the morning. Normally that's no problem but omigod, this morning getting to work was hell. Plus with my shaved head, it's extra cold now. Good thing I didn't do this before Alaska.



December 5th, 2004 - 4:05PM

Lih-Chern's dad is here for a few days for a conference. Went to CPK and had some good Jambalaya :-)

Got new sheets/bed skirt/comforter cover set from Bed Bath...looks much better now.

I got Chris Halo 2 for his bday. He's playing it now. We played a lot of Xbox Live beforehand. He'll need some practice. Hehehehehe jk

Oh and I got a new haircut at the suggestion of Eric and Lih-Chern. The salon Lih-Chern recommended gave me an appointment but then the stylist had to cancel on me due to a family emergency. So I went to Great Clips instead and got a much cheaper haircut. You can see Chris playing Halo 2 in the background.

Nancy and I went to Dim Sum yesterday and then went to Target afterwards for some Xmas shopping. There was a parade in Oakland. Here are the police motorcycles we saw.

Yummmy Dim-Sum...the curry fish balls were ok but not great.

This Target is a super target with an escalator especially for your cart. Just like the Bed Bath and Beyond in SF. I got myself the "North and South" boxset. Hehehehe...that and dark socks/a bowl/toothpaste/classic coke. I also got frames (1 for my diploma...finally).

Awesome clouds on the way back



December 4th, 2004 - 10:38AM

Wallpapers!!!

Ok...same drill as last time.
Either click the images to go the Imagestation account or click here.
Once there, use the jookguest/guest account to download the wallpapers. Remember to click the images until eventually it says "View Original Image". That final click will pull up the fullsize image.



December 4th, 2004 - 12:09AM

1. This was the sky that I saw from Lih-Chern's car on the way to SFO. This was a great omen of what was to come.
2. Had a Supreme Personal Pan Pizza (the last time I had one of these was in high school) and Ivar's Clam Chowder which is easily one of the best chowders I've had. There's something about Washington State which produces excellent chowders.
3. Hoorah!....arrived at Fairbanks Airport safe and sound. At 1AM!!! Even though I got the rental car, I still ended up sleeping in the airport the first night waiting for my dad (who was sleeping in Anchorage) because the car was just too cold. 20-30 degrees inside the car.
4. Go Wolverines! Wolverines are the mascot of my high school, Aliso Niguel High.

5. Awesome snowmobile. I totally would get one of these if I lived in a cold enough place. I love the look of the tread in the back, ripping away at the snow. You could be like James Bond on one of these.
6. My bed the first night. Actually, it wasn't as bad as it looks. The imporant thing was that it was warm. TSA people (not the Taiwanese Student Association...the airport security people) would come over and chat with me during my wait.
7. My first meal in Alaska was at the most far north Denny's in the world.
8. Cool trees on the way to Chena Hot Springs, where I spent my second night.

9. Eyes are frosting over from the extreme chills.
10. Dogsled Dogs. These fellas kept whining and barking cause they just wanted to run. Seriously, these dogs live for running and they totally enjoy it.
11. Liquids freeze over in the car just by leaving it out as you can see by my levitating cranberry slushie.
12. Thanksgiving dinner buffet at the lodge. They had all the traditional stuff as well as roast beef. I took a picture of the first plate and then had a second plate. However, I noticed that I had an error with the first one thereby forcing me to have a third plate. The first plate was much bigger I assure you.

13. Chena Hot Springs at night...Nancy at work said it looked like something out of "Hero".
14. Another View of the surroundings
15. Dad using his camera, the Predator+ (Sony 717)
16. Me using mine, the Predator (Sony 707). I used both the Canon S60 and the SOny 707 (Mini-Predator and Predator). The Canon S60 qualifies as a Predator because it shoots out a red circle to measure distance. I used the Canon for almost all the shots except for the ones that required greater manual control. All the aurora pictures were taken with the 707.

17. 30 sec exposure of the aurora. Very first shot...later went to 5 second exposures.
18. Taken while doing the 360 you can see in the wallpapers (coming soon)...one of my favorite images of Chena...you can see the steam rising in the background.
19. Lots of fir trees
20. Stealthy like a Ninja...hehehe...a little 4th floor-Cunningham Hall-Unit 2-UC Berkeley inside joke.

21. Ice ferns on the river edge...kinda like snowflakes.
22. Trail directly next to the dog kennels...man, this was totally out of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe".
23. Aurora at Healy, 15 miles from Denali.
24. Saw so many stuffed animals...everywhere we went...heads...skins...full animals. This one was at Totem Inn at Healy. They said that they had internet but for some reason they used 802.11a!!! Aaargh...

25. Dry Ice-like roads. With all the wind and the fresh snow, they ground looked like it was moving. The movie of this is amazing to watch. My movies are now like 20MB though so I'll have to look into compression to make it available for people to see.
26. First trail in Denali...The Main Road
27. Trail was awesome due to the big views of the mountain range but I liked the second one the best.
28. Sign in front of Denali

29. Beginning of the Horseshoe Lake Trail
30. Tall trees along the trail
31. Interesting layers in the ice
32. Standing on the frozen over Horseshoe Lake. That's my dad on the left.

33. Trying to get the right shot
34. The shot that I got
35. Getting dark on the way back
36. Escargot at Pike's Landing. Good stuff but I think I like the Taiwanese stuff better.

37. Blackened Prime Rib at Pike's Landing...nice and spicy like that Chipotle One in San Antonio...ate all the asparagus too (a rare occasion)
38. Lobby of Pike's Waterfront Lodge where we stayed 3 nights...more dead animals. Highly Highly recommended. In winter, the AAA rate is $81 ($88 for regular). The summer rates are like $250.
39. Trans-Alaska Pipeline
40. The Turkey Leg that saved my life on the way to the Arctic Circle.

41. Yummy Turkey Leg...I had the Safeway guy cut it up a bit so I could eat it with one hand.
42. Dangerous Dalton Highway...fishtailing galore. Felt like Initial D going around tough curves.
43. Made it to the Arctic Circle!
44. Left my little mark on the back of the sign...didn't carve in it...just wrote on one of the stickers all ready there.

45. Scary road...those trees look like hands. Kinda Harry Potter-ish.
46. The gas station that saved our trip. Never go from Fairbanks to Arctic Circle without either continuing on to Coldfoot.
47. Dad in front of a very irritated reindeer. It would grunt and stuff.
48. Plane at Pioneer Park. Pioneer Park is very much like Knott's Berry Farm. During the summer they have this thing called the Salmon Bake where people eat all-you-can-eat salmon and prime rib and crab. Awesome!

49. Love how the light lights up the trees like that.
50. The Pump House...so we went to the top restaurants recommended by Citysearch. Pike's Landing and The Pump House.
51. Inside the Pump House
52. Best Seafood Chowder I've had

53. Scallops...yummy
54. Lobster/Clams, Oysters, Shrimp, Salmon, Reindeer Sausage at the Pump House
55. Reindeer Sausage...Lih-Chern said it looked like something else...no comment.
56. Posed shot. Food was excellent.

57. Good eats! And they had internet!
58. Ferocious Polar Bear at Anchorage Airport.
59. An even bigger Grizzly Bear...poor fox...he's screwed
60. The Anchorage airport is pretty sweet...you can see mountains on all most all sides.

61. Snow blowing off one of the mountains

Remember...the aurora pictures were posted earlier...so look at the bottom of the page for the aurora pictures until I decide to push that post back to where it belongs in November's archive.

(Edit: Aurora Pics are now found on the November 26th, 2004 post)

Right after I got off the plane, Lih-Chern and I went to Shabu Shabu at Shabuway where we actually got to use the meat slicer to slice the meat!!! I left the camera in the car!!! Aargh...maybe we'll be lucky enough to do it next time. Remember, Tuesday nights at 9PM are slow.

Went to Boston Market...afterwards Eric came over and we all played Halo 2 on Legendary co-op. Incredibly difficult. Snipers everywhere with one-hit kills and great accuracy. But we all managed.

I found one of the secret skulls on the Metropolis level! Well not so secret but I had to grenade jump to get up to this place.

Did you know that Matthew Perry's middle finger is missing the tip? He had an accident with a door or something when he was a kid.




Saw 2-time Grammy winning folk-funk artist Taj Mahal at Yoshi's on Thursday with Margaret and her co-worker. Awesome show. Loved how he performed and really got down into it. Had a Raspberry Illusion which was Absolut with Raspberry Ice Tea. Not bad.



December 2nd, 2004 - 7:50AM

Sorry about the total lack of updates but I've been somewhat busy with just uploading the massive amount of photos and trying to figure out how best to show them. This Alaska trip was really amazing for my first time there. No broken bones, bear maulings, starvation/ cannibalism this time around although there was plenty of cold, fishtailing and tense moments. I learned a lot about getting around Alaska so I know my way around Fairbanks fairly well and the area is somewhat familier enough that if anyone out there wants hints on how to plan an Alaskan winter adventure, I've got tons of tips. One valuable tip is "Don't go on a roundtrip drive from Fairbanks to the Arctic Circle if you aren't bringing an extra couple of gallons of gas along". Shudder...hahahaha. So this trip, the highlights were seeing the Aurora Borealis, snow-shoeing in Denali (one of the coolest parks around...in many ways cooler than Yosemite), and reaching the Arctic Circle. Plus still being alive to talk about it. That's a huge plus.

I've also got more wallpapers!!! I'm making the final touches on them though so they won't be up for a couple days.

Once I finish deciding which pictures are going to go up in the blog, it shouldn't take much longer after that...promise!