Sorry for the incredible delay in updates...I finally uploaded the last day of the San Diego Album though. Things have been pretty busy as I'm approaching another trip in December, this time to Japan/Taiwan. I'll try to make pictures available during that time as much as I can.
I stopped by Fry's on the way back home from Emily's Thanksgiving night. For the heck of it, I swung by Fry's. At 11PM, people were already lined up outside in the rain for the Black Friday sale. CRAZY!!! In the car, I checked out the newspaper ad online to see what the big fuss was about...didn't see anything that really hit me as being "WAIT HOURS IN THE COLD AND TEMPT A FREEZING DEATH BECAUSE THIS DEAL IS JUST TOO GOOD TO PASS UP" so I went home.
I had dim sum with Lih-Chern again at Asian Pearl...the place next to 99 Ranch in El Cerrito. This time we made it there early enough so we got to eat a ton of good stuff. Instead of showing football on the flat-panel tv inside, they had competition trick-shot pool instead. At first, I thought it was regular pool and was disappointed but then I saw them start placing racks on the felt and jumping cues through them...
Saw "Seven Swords" which is this hyped up HK movie...aargh...a lotta parts were a little lame but at least SOME of the fighting was good.
Showed Emily "Ping Pong" but she became bored...then showed her "Azumi" and she became more interested again...:-) Such a violent girl. lol
Happy Thanksgiving!!! Update tomorrow hopefully! :-P
As my San Diego trip winds down, I've been already putting stuff up using my photo album template. The album may be found here. Here's a peek at a pic from there...
I forgot to mention that last week, Emily and I went to see the Wallace and Gromit movie. It was very good and we loved the short that preceded it which featured the penguins from "Madagascar". Lots of laughs...highly recommended.
Oh yeah, I'm currently in San Diego for the American College of Rheumatology Conference. First time at a convention in San Diego which brings my city total to 4 (SF, SD, San Antonio, Miami Beach)...aargh...New Orleans!!! The San Diego Site may be up sometime...who knows...I wasn't terribly excited about coming to San Diego but this city has some things that SF doesn't have actually. Kinda neat.
Words to live by: If a child annoys you, quiet him by brushing his hair. If this doesn't work, use the other side of the brush on the other end of the child.
Gosh...I wrote up the new handbook for the new employees...here it is...
New Office Procedures Updated Employee Handbook -- Effective Immediately
DRESS CODE:
It is advised that you come to work dressed according to your salary. If we see you wearing $700 Prada sneakers & carrying a $1200 Gucci bag we assume you are doing well financially and therefore you do not need a raise. If you dress poorly, you need to learn to manage your money better, so that you may buy nicer clothes and therefore you do not need a raise. If you dress in- between, you are right where you need to be and therefore you do not need a raise.
SICK DAYS:
We will no longer accept a doctor statement as proof of sickness. If you are able to go to the doctor, you are able to come to work.
SURGERY:
Operations are now banned. As long as you are an employee here, you need all your organs. You should not consider removing anything. We hired you intact. To have something removed constitutes a breach of employment.
PERSONAL DAYS:
Each employee will receive 104 personal days a year. They are called Saturday & Sunday.
VACATION DAYS:
All employees will take their vacation at the same time every year. The vacation days are as follows: Dec. 25 & Jan 1st
BEREAVEMENT LEAVE:
This is no excuse for missing work. There is nothing you can do for dead friends, relatives or coworkers. Every effort should be made to have non-employees attend to the arrangements. In rare cases where employee involvement is necessary, the funeral should be scheduled in the late afternoon. We will be glad to allow you to work through your lunch hour and subsequently leave one hour early, provided your share of the work is done.
ABSENCE DUE TO YOUR OWN DEATH:
This will be accepted as an excuse. However, we require at least a two weeks notice, as it is your duty to train your own replacement.
RESTROOM USE:
Entirely too much time is being spent in the restroom. In the future, we will follow the practice of going in alphabetical Order. For instance, all employees whose names begin with 'A' will go from 8:00 to 8:20; employees whose names begin with 'B' will go from 8:20 to 8:40 and so on. If you're unable to go at your allotted time, it will be necessary to wait until the next day when your turn comes again. In extreme emergencies, employees may swap their time with a coworker. Both employees' supervisors must approve this exchange in writing. In addition, there is now a strict 3-minute time limit in the stalls. At the end of three minutes, an alarm will sound, the toilet paper roll will retract, the stall door will open and a picture will be taken. After your second offense, your picture will be posted on messanger under the "Chronic Offenders" category.
LUNCH BREAK:
Skinny people get 30 minutes for lunch as they need to eat more so that they can look healthy. Normal size people get 15 minutes for lunch to get a balanced meal to maintain their average figure. Fat people get 5 minutes for lunch, because that's all the time needed to drink a Slim Fast and take a diet pill.
Thank you for your loyalty to our company. We are here to provide a positive employment experience. Therefore, all questions, comments, concerns, complaints, frustrations, irritations, aggravations, insinuations, allegations, accusations , contemplations, consternation and input should be directed elsewhere.
Have a nice week,
Andy
So Emily had her first Ikea cuisine last week on Saturday (have to get it down for posterity sake...hehehehe jk). We shared the Marsala Chicken and 15 of their meatballs. They don't have the Manager's Special anymore! Consequently, I don't feel as special now that I don't get it everytime. Where's my free drink and soup? Grrr...the Marsala Chicken wasn't that great but the meatballs were as usual good. I believe it's mainly due to their cream sauce and the lingonberry sauce. Those delicious lingonberries had me at the first hello. :-P
One of the nights I got take out from the restaurant next to Lion Market in Milpitas. I guess it was Emily's first time eating Ginger Chicken cause she kept raving about...now I know. :-P They also have a good "fish fillet with vegetables" dish.
The elevator logic at work is a little weird...in the mornings, it won't go up until another elevator has arrived. Consequently, sometimes a bunch of us will be standing in the elevator waiting for the door to finally close. It can get pretty annoying.
Went to Louie's Bar and Grill for lunch sometime ago with William, Meg, and Priscilla for Meg's birthday. I had fish and chips which was quite excellent there. Good value.
Also went to "On The Border", a Mexican place in Milpitas...had the Margarita Chicken which was alright. A little dry but not too bad. Emily's dad got the salmon and the two sisters got some kind of enchilada/something/something. Pretty cheesy from what I remember.
Hey! Have you ever typed in the word "failure" in google...the first link you get is a biography of George Bush. To learn more about this application of trying to up pageranks...check out "googlebombing".
LC and I watched a movie called "Gen ni zai i chi" or "Together" on the AZN channel. I infrequently watch the network but it's always interesting to see what kind of things they play to get our attention. This movie (Chinese audio/English subs) was a really cool story about a kid and his father who travel to Beijing to further the kid's violin-playing skills. What's neat is that they had actual violinists play instead of getting actors to pretend to play. It's still "air-guitar" BUT asking a guitarist to air-guitar is much better than getting someone else to do it. Supposedly the kid who plays the musical prodigy is something of a prodigy himself although his performance in the movie was still "air-violin" although VERY GOOD "air-violin". It took LC (who plays the violin) and me (I play the cello), several scenes before realizing this. Usually, I can figure it out within a couple notes. It's all about the finger position, bow placement, and their bowing. Best example of bad "air-cello" would be Sophie Marceau in "Lost & Found"....oy, that was bad.
Angela alerted me to the availability of animal-style fries at In and Out. You know that you can order animal-style burgers right? Well, you can order animal-style fries as well. Basically they are grilled chopped onion covered fries with a slice of melted cheese on it. They cost more than the regular-style fries though.
Snapple Bottlecap "Real Fact" #123: Beavers were once the size of bears.
