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Went to Red Lobster with Emily on Friday. Had the Lobster Special....oh yeah, Maine lobster is supposedly more palatable than rock lobster

Yummy mushrooms...I love using mushrooms whenever I cook.

Curry base...this month is Curry Month...I've already made it 3 times...

Went to Saigon in El Cerrito last week and had some Hainan Chicken <% with Margaret %>. Hmmm...that stuff was pretty good. Thanks to Margaret for the 411...she always has good food ideas.

Spent Sunday with Emily's family...went to the Milpitas Farmer's Market to get some ingredients.

Shopping for vegetables...got so many nectarines and TONS of strawberries...towards the end, they started selling everything cheap.

Durians...I don't think I've ever had one but they look so interesting.

All-vegetable curry base with added shrimp...and actually it was pretty darn good...potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, breen beans, tomatoes, onions. Remember, potatoes and carrots need a lot of seperate preparation to get nice and soft for the curry.

Posed shot

Vegetables and curry...an awesome combination. Emily's mom made some really good vegetables (actually all of the dishes happened to be my favorite vegetable dishes). I almost got Emily in the shot (she was making the vegetables) but she nimbly jumped out of the way.

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I finally finished creating the site for Chris and Lori's wedding. Whew...dang it was tough...I ended up refining the templates though so I think future albums will definitely benefit. I ended up adding pics of Chris and Lori that I had from before and also a bunch of pics of Chris while we were in college. Hehehe good memories. Not much in the way of captions and pictures in the Chris album are out of order but it shouldn't detract much from the site. I'll get the captions sometime...

My scratcher defense system is working incredibly well. It's so neat to see all the poker/diet pill/casino comment bots try to add their crap to the database. To see them ruthlessly turned away is a joy that probably only I can understand.

One of the marketing people started asking me about PMS numbers in response to some ad banner...she said that she'd get me the PMS number for a banner...I was like PMS number? WTF? I thought it was some poorly designed joke. Didn't really investigate further because I had a bunch of other things to worry about this week. Turns out PMS is the color code scheme otherwise known as Pantone. I'd heard of Pantone before but since I never used it or even seen PMS numbers come up in any of my Photoshop adventures, I hadn't really cared. Basically it seems like Pantone (as the world leader of color ) prints up huge books with swatches of color printed on different material so people can know what it'll look like printed. They have 1,114 colors total now in the books. My initial reaction was that's stupid...it specifies far less colors than any of the other systems like RGB/CMYK...but apparently Pantone has a system where printers can mix their own colors to almost any specification which gives it a greater gamut (range of colors) than even RGB. The gamut for Pantone's premixed colors though (which is what the numbers mean)...is smaller than RGB but bigger than CMYK. As a way for people to talk about specific colors in digital graphics, RGB or Hex (Hex being the hexadecimal representation of RGB) is going to stay. You should only talk about PMS colors when you're talking about printing stuff. Interesting that there's so much to learn just about colors...

And that's my experience with PMS...

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Last Friday, we went to Sushi Boat in Saratoga.

Hmm rolls...

Sushi chefs hard at work...pretty good at cutting actually

We split one of those combos so I'd be able to get full...hehehe

Boats docked

Vince's party hat courtesy of Emily...Vince is one of Emily's coworkers...it was his birthday. He had a very interesting book collection...a few Latin books that I recognized from long long ago.

2 of Emily's coworkers...they had trivia night and I missed out!!! aargh...the guy on the right is really into trivia

The Claw

Here's what 60 some-odd dollars looks like quarters...stacks of 4...I just felt the urge to stack them on Sunday. Saturday was Angela's graduation but I took so many pictures, it really deserves it's own place too...so for now, no pics.

Emily came up on Sunday and we went to Kim Son on Balboa near Shanghai Dumpling House

Basil Leaves/Bean Sprouts and Shrimp/Pork Rolls...along with the sauce that Emily loves so much. There were these pictures on the wall that we had a lot of fun discussing the origin of them.

The Numba One...Beef Noodle Soup

The Crab/Fish Sauce Noodle Soup...pretty much tastes like the innards of crab. It had pieces of tomato and pork blood. Emily ordered this actually but after one whiff, just couldn't bring herself to eat more than a little of it.

Lettuce jus say dat I wud not let my "sun" to come to this there skool.

Couldn't help but go and get a "couple" hehehe...had 19 that day. I had Emily take 1 but even she could tell the difference between Shanghai and Din Tai Fong

Yummmmmmm

Afterwards, we walked around Golden Gate Park...here's the top of Stow Lake (Golden Gate Park) waterfall...

I took some RAW images as well and got my first taste and fiddling with the exposure afterwards...kinda like a digital dark room...very cool stuff.

We saw this gopher on the way down...

I'm on a fruit-a-day plan now thanks to Emily...although I think I'm going to need to eat 2 a day in order to finish them all before they rot.

Very posed....I almost never buy alcohol in the store.

Hmmm...bananas

Chris and Lori's wedding site is almost done (sans captions). The pics I took afterwards when Emily and I left didn't fit in the site so I'm putting them out here. Here's a pic I took while crossing Golden Gate Bridge...

Palace of Fine Arts

A swan and some ugly ducklings

Here's where my Sony camera would have come in handy to deal with the glare...still the focus really isn't the background...hehehe :-P

Went to Harris'...a place I've wanted to try out for a LOOOOOONG time. House of Prime Rib was booked solid so here was my chance...ended up being pretty disappointed though...Andrew and Sarah later told me that I should have just had the New York which is apparently good there...I ate this prime rib over the course of 3 days...it just wasn't that great.

Lamb chops...to be honest I wasn't impressed with it...presentation was really plain...the shrimp bisque was alright.

Huge table...apparently they have this special if you eat at the bar though...maybe I would try it again for that.

Different cuts of meat

Racks of beef

Went with Eric, Fred, Andrew, and Sarah to Empire Buffet last week...afterwards, we went to see Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Good movie. Last Saturday, after Angela's graduation, Emily and I went to SCU to check out where she's taking her grad school classes, and then went to watch Batman Begins and Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Smith was still good the second time around and Batman Begins was alright.

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Newsflash
Godzilla seen traveling west on Howard St. Smoke Alert and Congestion reported on Bay Bridge.
Be Advised.

On Sunday, Emily came over and we studied at Emeryville Marina. I got a tarp from Home Depot so I'll be ready in the future for all picnic-like activities. Emily looks like she's about to do battle using my blanket as some kind of weapon...hehehe. Afterwards, we made some pasta and watched the first part of Star Wars: Episode 3

Adam came over to visit me at work...William joined us for lunch at the Ferry Building. We went to the Meat Co. and got Skirt Meat Sandwiches upon my recommendation (I got them before with Margaret but I don't think I got a picture)

Adam and William

Yes, that is a Ferrari...so many people stopped to take a look at it...

After work, we went down to Fry's and then to Darda Seafood where we got our orders mixed up (Beef Noodle Soup and Lamb Noodle Soup...both homemade knife cut noodles). Gah.....there's just something about that soup that just isn't duplicated anywhere else. Afterwards, I picked up Emily and we went to study at Borders. The Borders in Milpitas actually has long library-type tables for people to use, it's great!

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On Friday, I went to Naan and Curry in San Francisco with some of my coworkers.

Chicken Biryani

Different curries...mmmm

Here's my new phone...Razr...I've already gotten some mp3s on there, some video and a few pictures. :-P

Grrrr...I went to Chris's wedding on Saturday (I'll have a seperate section up for that later...the wedding was very beautiful.) and it seems someone may have gone around and stole stuff. Really lame...I'm wondering if my missing Shuffle is a part of the loot. Since we changed in the restroom, Chris left his wallet in the bathroom along with his casual clothes. Someone took money from his wallet...ach nien. Anyways, more on the weekend soon.

Here's a sneak peek! No, Chris didn't wear that to his wedding...this was taken after he had changed back to his casual clothes. Isn't Emily just gorgeous in that dress? :-P

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Still haven't found my headphones...I started using the headphones that came with the PSP instead but they are definitely of lower quality. Not much bass in those.

A few days ago, I took casual carpool in so I needed to use the Emery Go Around to get back home. I was using my laptop on the bus when the old chinese man next to me starts asking me how much the laptop cost. Only someone chinese would come right out and ask. Anyways, when he found out that I also lived in Watergate he asked me to take a look at his laptop since he was having internet problems. I ended up going over to see if I could help but in the end concluded that it was an ISP problem similar to what we had experienced countless times at our own apartment. When I left, his wife handed me a bag of peaches. I refused but she insisted so now I have a bag of them at home.

I need to remember to water my plants...the gardener that comes around doesn't seem to include my office in his tour of ducy.

I have a bottle of DayQuil on my desk as a relic from when I had that cough that wouldn't go away. For some reason, people are noticing the bottle now so I usually get an inquiry about my health a few times a week.

Salad for lunch...hiding a steak underneath! hehehe jk

On Choy with the squashs that Emily and her mom picked out for me.

Wendesday was Chris' bachelor party. Had steaks and salmon...

Chris had a little too much to drink that night...I think it was that mug of Screwdriver 50/50 that got him. I had some Bailey's that night...hmm mmm good.

Both of them look a little drunk to me...the bowl is meant for Chris though...he used it a few times that night.

We went looking for pet stores later that night...lol

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Can't find my iPod headphones...sigh...I know they're somewhere at home but don't know where...at least I still have my Shuffle which I hear Apple is soon to release 2/4 GB versions of.

Ridemax is a piece of software that attempts to maximize the amount of rides you can get on during a visit to Disneyland. A lot of what it uses sounds pretty similar to something you'd find in Berkeley CS. I wonder what kind of algorithm it uses to find the best path. Of course it supposedly takes hours to run so it might be some brute force method. Wonder how complex the wait time date for rides is...does it take into account for fireworks/shows/dinner/lunch events?

Wai-Lin sent me this link. It's sad for a number of reasons. Her co-worker was there and witnessed it firsthand.

I'm moving from Verizon to Cingular since "someone" happens to be on it. This way I can stop worrying about the minutes. Some Asian places have been offering the Razr for $30. A good deal I think...

Espetus Churrascaria is a Brazilian BBQ place that Eric suggested that a bunch of us go try. We went on Sunday.

Stuff from the salad bar

Emily's much loved pork loin...Emily LOVED the pork...although one cut was a little salty.

Beef Rib...probably the best part although many of the other meats would have been great any other day. But when you have a choice....that's why we passed on the roast beef so many times.

Bread with Fried Bananas

Sirloin

Yummy Spinach and Avocados with Prime Rib

Andrew likes his meat raw...so does Sarah but we established that already at Cafe Mums

Red light means no more meat please!

Green light means bring it on!

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Hmm...there's nothing worse than having your mom call you up early Sunday morning to tell you that you need to lose weight. Sigh...anyways, I'm going to try to eat healthy for as long as I can...I already have a buncha vegetables at home and stuff that I'm going to try to spice up a bit. Some planned exercise (instead of just here and there) will definitely have to be part of the regimen. Hopefully, being somewhat psuedo vegetarian won't cramp my style. Hehehehe jk. Since the shift in diet starts today, the Brazilian BBQ that I went to yesterday won't count. :-P I'll put up pics either today or tomorrow.

Lori and Chris had their wedding rehearsal at the Emeryville Marina where LC and I live. Here we are waiting for the wedding coordinator.

Everyone's pretty excited about the wedding...

Chris's niece is the flower girl

A walk is a walk but this one will be an especially special one on Saturday

Yummy pizza at Oakland Pizzeria SFO Bar & Grill...the crust was amazingly soft and tender.

Since Lori/her bridesmaids/LC went off to the city for their bachelorette party, I needed to keep Chris and Adam (who had just arrived from Japan that day) busy. We had a couple aborted attempts at catching a movie so we eventually made our way to Albatross. Started off with a couple shots of Grey Goose Orange vodka. Adam and Chris then got Newcastles and I got a Pear Cider. We followed that up with shots of Patrone Anego Tequila. For some reason, Adam and Chris wanted to try a Scotch even though I told them that if they didn't like Tequila, they would also not like Scotch. Got an Oban Scotch. They thought it was so bad that we ended up turning it into a card game where the penalty was to take a sip of Scotch. Unfortunately, Adam had good luck for quite a few hands (and my flush only got me 6 pieces of popcorn which we were using as chips), so me and Chris took the brunt of the Scotch.

Afterwards, we went to Koryo to try and balance the system. Chris kinda looks the worse for wear. They crashed at my place that night.

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Pretty much finished up with the Disneyland Trip pictures. I'm still waiting for a few pics from my sister but it's up including 2 videos! Check it out here. Here's a peek...

Went down to Fremont to see Emily and meet some of her old friends from Berkeley. Had the Miso Yaki Sea Bass that I missed out on last time even though both me and Emily got the same thing. Very tasty. Next time, I'll remember to take pictures. Emily says that they didn't plan the whole pink thing but...

Outside of Cafe Ophelia

Went to Banana House on Kearny for my coworker Matt's birthday

Appetizer at Banana House...something called a Tad Mun? Basically a fish cake.

Pad Thai

Pork Basil

Beef

Chicken Green Curry...overall the portions were kinda small you know? It's not as good as Thai House though...there they have free rice and it comes in the big tin

Roast Beef with Vegetable...went to this deli near the Ferry Building that Margaret suggested. It was ok..nothing to write home about. Next time I'll try a sandwhich

Margaret's Reuben Sandwich looked pretty darn good.

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Pictures from the trip down to Socal will be up shortly...just a few things left...I think this one will have video too.

Went to Emily's sister's last high school orchestra concert last week. Unfortunately, they have a pretty small orchestra and not many good players. I heard some interesting music that night. Interesting as in "gripping Emily's hands so I don't run up there and tear instruments from people's hands so they would stop playing" interesting. Any conductor who decides that an cheap electric keyboard is an appropriate substitute for a harp needs to be re-evaluated. Aargh...it was painful to watch and hear. I'd say 80% of the orchestra (incl ALL the cellos) played long open strings without any vibrato (vibrating the string by moving your hand back and forth slightly while playing). It was like vibrato was a lost art in Milpitas. The Jazz band was pretty good though but still...comparing it with orchestras back home...it really felt middle-school-ish.

Angela is concertmistress. That word still sounds weird when you say it out loud. Too bad they didn't have Angela clones or have her and a few others mic'ed. Since they were playing with the band (most conductors wrestle with the band overpowering the orchestra in symphony situations...in this case, it was a blessing lol), the orchestra frequently got lost in the remote wastelands of the soundscape. That and the annoying electronic harp piercing the night with its cacophonous racket. *shudder*

Who is taller?

Emily and Angela's much loved crepe at Q-Cup. It was good although I think Emily hyped it up a bit :-P

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