June 26nd, 2006 - 1:30AM - Dave and Busters, Thu/Thai's BBQ
A few nights ago, I went to Dave and Busters with Emily. We had the "free" gamecards from the dinner we had with Ted and Ellen a few weekends ago and decided to use them then before the cover charge started. Who would pay to get in? I find the concept of cover charges more and more abhorrent each time I see a freakin line outside any place. And by the time we left DB, there was a line of about 40-50 people outside waiting to get in and pay a $10 cover charge. Granted, it's definitely not the most expensive cover charge to get in (...White Lotus...shudder) but still... Anyways, after 4 rounds of the water rafting game...pretty much back to back causing much tiredness, we finally beat it after finding the easiest path and getting a little help from anonymous strangers. After wandering around, we saw that the Trivia game had almost the whole board (6 people) playing so I decided to play. I won that round through good guessing and fast reflexes and got around 160 tickets. 5 of the players were buddies and 1 of them afterwards came up to me and was like,"Dude, you're really good." Not so much because of getting the answers but because my total time to respond was like 1 sec for all 5 questions combined. Unfortunately, they decided not to play again. Later, another group formed so I went in again. This time I won due to getting answers right but my combined total time was under 1 second again. I went up 1 on 1 versus some woman but it was just painful since the final score was like 5 to 1. She didn't know that the closest star to the Earth was the Sun. Towards the end, Emily was holding a bunch of tickets in 1 hand and had this gleam in her eye. Almost felt like she was pimping me out since she kept slapping the tickets in her hand and saying,"Wanna go try it again? I want more tickets!" hehehehe I sat out a few rounds which was good since some rounds had 5 questions that would have been all guessing (not a good sign). I also don't like it too much when a bunch of buddies play together (you want at least 1 of the buddies to win right? sucks when none of them do and some stranger takes you to the cleaner) or when it's just a boyfriend and girlfriend situation (I gotta look out for a brotha you know? :-P)...when it's a bunch of strangers though, I'm all in it. The last round I played was just wrong. 3 people playing, and all of us were only able to pull up 2 correct answers. The last question was about the 1994 Olympics and where they were held...due to my quickdraw I put in Beijing (of course it's Nagano). The guy next to me was like "You're thinking 2008 buddy!!!" but he didn't say anything after he found that he still lost due to his total time being much more than me. Calling it a night, Emily and I "shared" a Hefeweizen. I say "shared" because I think I had 95% of it. All in all, it was a pretty fun night...good thing I won or else Emily might have cut me. lol hahahhahahahahaha
This is a dish that I make that Emily says that she likes. I got these gourmet sausages from Costco...don't remember the brand. I got the one with sun dried tomatoes inside. Anyways, it's pretty easy to make. I use black sesame oil and some soy sauce with the veggies. At the very end, I drizzle a little of the sesame shabu shabu sauce. The flavors come together quite well.
Neat clouds
Emily's co-worker Thu had a baby girl recently. They had a BBQ so we went and visited them. We brought mangos. Thu's baby is pretty darn cute.
:-) I've had this image as my wallpaper for awhile now. People see it and if they know me, they're like "Anything happen that I don't know about?!!!" and if they don't know me, they're like "Ohhhh, cute kid!!!"
hehehehehe
awwwwwww....soo cute!
Grillmasters
Hehehe, she's spewing!!!
Thu must have been reading some Martha Stewart type magazines...notice the orange tablecloth over the middle of the table? Emily says that Thu chose orange as her kitchen color and Emily wants a kitchen color too. God help me if it's pink.
Lots of excellent vietnamese food. They even had quail!
Great shrimp kabobs
Some kind of sweet dessert
This was my favorite dish of all...anything with shrimp is good but this had really good flavor and everything.
Hmmmm...kinda like Dum Sum you know...I like the addition of scallions...very tasty.
Didn't get any of oysters as we were left early...
Thu/Thai's baby is quite photogenic.
Deer in headlights...ah babies...so fun when they're not screaming their lights out
So Emily has been telling me about how only certain plastics are safe to reuse as plastic containers due to the whole leeching dioxin thing...I decided to make a little investigation into this phenomenon and have uncovered the following links. This one goes into extraordinary detail about the symbols and what each of them mean. These are related to the dioxin leeching. Link 1 and Link 2 and Link 3. Bottom line, if the recycle symbol is 5 (PP), it's safe to reuse it as a container because it has a high melting point and as far as anyone can tell, doesn't pose any health risks.
I've brought up the issue of people hoarding shopping bags before in an earlier post. I saw another girl on BART carrying a Victoria Secret bag and her lunch inside it. Then on Ebay, apparently people are selling their E3 bags. During E3, almost all of the vendors have bags for you to carry stuff in. I wonder if guys would go out of their way to get their hands on it. I consider myself a gamer but I don't think that I'd ever cross over the line and actually pay for a bag. Girls on the other hand MIGHT be persuaded to purchase a Fendi, Prada, Louis Vuitton shopping bag I think. Wonder if those are online...
Before any major purchases now, I usually think about long-term benefits, cost, any ROI, stuff like that. I've setup certain criteria that I believe have to be met before I purchase them. Here they are:
Video Ipod - yeah I've been wanting one of these suckers for a long time now. The concept of watching video podcasts or putting my own videos to go is a very appealing one. My criteria at this point is that it has to be that much rumored touchscreen version with the screen pretty much stretched out to the size of the Ipod. It's been on Thinksecret and the thought that such a device could possibly exist by the end of the year makes me stop every time I see an Apple store.
The next item is a new laptop. I haven't purchased a desktop in years and I don't plan on doing so anytime soon. I do all of my personal stuff on a laptop and I haven't looked back since. The problem is that a 10.6" screen can only go so far when it comes to programming, photo editing, video editing. There just isn't enough workspace to work properly in. Now that the Apple laptops have Windows capability built in...they are looking more attractive than ever. Coupled with that is the demise of my laptop's onboard web camera. I looked it up online and apparently other people have experienced the same thing with the CMOS camera. Apparently the fix would be ~$200 but seriously, it'd not worth it anymore. Here are the criteria for it...I'll only get it after the new OS comes out....and when wireless companies start to offer EV-DO (high speed cellular connection) cards in the ExpressCard format.
Nintendo DS Lite/Wii...I coudlnt' believe my eyes that a DS is only $129.99 That's an incredible price point. I'm researching how the whole ROM/Passkey/Flashcart works before making any kind of decision. The DS just simply has a ton of games that would be perfect for Emily and I. There isn't much on the PSP that I think Emily would be interested in. The Wii is just a thought and it's definitly about price. I can't justify a Xbox 360 or even that new PS3 but if the price is right... (Edit: I wrote this a while ago...I got both Emily and I DS's...the add-ons are in the mail...true to geek form, I only got puzzle games like Brain Age and Brain Academy)
This girl's scary butterfly knife technique. Hate to be the boyfriend of this gal...always thinking,"Where is she hiding that knife? Did she bring it with her? Is she going to cut me today?".
I wanna be a ninja!!!
We tried out the Malaysian restaurant in the Ranch 99 Milpitas Square area, Penang Garden Restaurant...food there was pretty uneven as far as pricing went. This dish was pretty good. Flavoring was just right.
This shrimp was wayyyy overpriced...costing almost as much as the fish below.
Of course, the fish was my selection.
The soup was better than Thai House's which Emily and Angela incredibly disliked.
I like eating Fish Heads...esp when they have big ones as carp do...I'm going through my carp phase right now.
Angela's dessert presentation
June 10h, 2006 - 11:01AM - Laurel St. Cafe, Tu Lan
On a blog that I read...Joon comments on how it's weird starting a new job, after being an IT consultant, and not having to setup his own computer or worry about IT stuff. hehehe, that's funny...I'd feel weird having someone setup my own computer. That's like me going to the Geek Squad to do something for me. hahaha "Can you install my mouse?"
Current countries that I've been too...pretty much only added Peru.
We went to visit Lana and Dima and had lunch at the snooty Laurel St. Cafe. It's a distinctly French place with a very French waitress.
Laurel Street Café
741 Laurel Street
San Carlos, California 94070
phone: 650.598.7613
fax: 650.592.1956
Emily had a buckwheat Hawaiian crêpe (merde) and I had their crab bisque special (pseudo-merde).
Lana had a Smoked Duck Tartine with prunes. Tartines are open faced sandwiches.
Hehe...Emily's first escargot. "This green thing is supposed to be good?"
Hmmm...this crepe was quite tasty...and I usually don't eat crepes.
What the heck does Wolverine have to do with Slurpees? I dare say Wolvie wouldn't be caught dead with a Slurpee.
Emily's Oyster Thin Noodle Soup. She puts all sorts of healthy things in it.
Tu Lan is this "hole-in-the-wall" Vietnamese restaurant on 6th street in San Francisco. I think I've mentioned it before...their Imperial Rolls are very tasty...I think it's because of the crispy skin.
June 6th, 2006 - 7:22PM - E3 Day 3/4 - Rodeo Drive, Dinner and Lunch in Orange County
I can totally see the light at the end of the tunnel...I'm still a month behind but since I haven't been taking TOO many pictures, I'm really almost caught up. Still almost a month behind though...sigh.
The day after Yamashiro, we went to Rodeo Drive to walk around there. Here's Emily totally fitting in compared to all the other tourists around.
Flowery
Such a weird store...HUGE staircase and these underground tunnels that had dummies inside them.
Same picture as last year...different outfit!
Afterwards, we headed down to OC and had dinner with my family. Platter O' Sushi!!! Looking at these pics make me so hungry...
Shrimp Rolls + Taro Rolls...I like the shrimp rolls but pass on the taro.
Pork with Green Onion
Shark Fin Soup!!! Cathy boycotted which meant more for the rest of us!
Sea Cucumber with Pea Sprouts and Embedded Taro
Crab stuffed with glutinous rice...I love rice when its been cooked inside something...kinda like pineapple rice!
The fish was folded over onto itself...
Scallops and Asparagus
Noodles with Squash and bits of Pork.
It was Mother's Day weekend so we took a family picture. It's been awhile since we've had a group picture like this.
The day afterwards, we all had lunch at the Shabu Shabu place in Irvine. There were lollipops which my cousin Raymond and my grandmother both enjoyed. My grandmother has great sense in style.
Hehehe, so cute!
Little kids get all the attention...
June 3rd, 2006 - 12:05PM - E3 Day 2 - Yamashiro
After E3, we went to a restaurant called Yamashiro, in the hills above LA.
Yamashiro 1999 N Sycamore Ave Los Angeles, 90068 (323) 466-5125
Hot gal across from me...what could be better? Not only that, she matches the tableware!
We asked for a seat in the garden area instead of the window...I think the view is slightly overrated. The garden is soooo beautiful though. The movie "Memoirs of a Geisha" used this garden and the exterior to portray a Kyoto teahouse.
Sunkist Martini...yum yum yum! Too little of it though...
Too bad you can't take a walk in the garden...
I've got my personal assistant to help with light metering!
Spicy Seafood Soup...I found it to be quite flavorful. Drinking reminded me of the streets of Bangkok. The colorful composition of leeks, carrots, and mushrooms echoes the nightlife of the bustling street markets exactly.
Good ingredients...
Shiitake Dynamite...now I have had various Dynamites all over...this one had an incredible sauce. I liked how they served it over a whole mushroom too. Man, it's been so long since I've had a Lobster Boat at Taiko. That used to be the ultimate splurg back when I was a kid.
Sushi Box - Adventurous...the had different sushi boxes. No Uni so I'd say not even close to being adventurous. The sushi was good but for the price...usually I don't mention prices but this one thing was $36. I kept thinking about Sushi House at this point.
Shoyu Glazed Black Cod...now THIS was tasty.
Garden at night...pretty romantic huh?
Front of Yamashiro...they did a shot like this in the movie.
The view from the restaurant...see what I mean? I mean, I've seen much better vistas (Orange Hill, Twin Peaks, Equinox, Lawrence Livermore Museum)
Ready to scale the wall...however, I left my ninja costume at home
Actually this garden wasn't as cool as the one inside the restaurant. This photo could easily make it in some fashion mag, I think. We had a great time at Yamashiro. Oh yeah, valet parking is mandatory and you can easily miss the access road to the restaurant. If you order right, the prices aren't too bad. I know that some people just end up going there for drinks which is definitely an option.
June 1st, 2006 - 7:05AM - E3 Day 2 - Electronic Entertainment Expo 2006
This Scion is very cool...love the side bars...a projector sits next to the driver and displays an image on a screen behind the hood. For the hard core gamer who just needs to game all the freakin time. Nice how the steering wheel is linked in.
One of those sidewalk perspective chalk drawings...this was done "by numbers" though from what I can tell...not freeform.
Just odd from the side...
OMG....G4 is turning their viewers into monitor-heads!
Awesome cabling skills...
Morgan!!! Smokin in her cocktail dress.
The EA 360 Theatre...I swear that the they put subwoofers under the floor.
Spore is a new game from E3...kinda like a Sim City but with aliens and what seems to be evolution (Sim Life?) thrown in the mix.
Medal of Honor has always been one of my favorite games...the movie they played was awe-inspiring as usual. It's for their new game.
Optimus Prime for the upcoming Transformers Movie/Game. I used to idolize Optimus when I was a kid. He could do anything. Recently, I saw one of the newest incarnations of Transformers and found out that Optimus can now....get this...FLY. That's right...not contect to being landlocked and being unable to fight against the likes of Starscream, Optimus can now turn into a huge jet!
These girls have nothing to do with the upcoming movie, Cars. Fanboys don't care though.
Scary WoW character...Blood Elf?
Microsoft's booth was better organized and less crowded that previous years...guess the 360 is old news now. I noticed that there were less freebies this year than usual. Used to be, it'd be no problem at all to fill a couple bags with stuff. This year I didn't even fill 1.
The throne from the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean movie.
Cathy likes Sora
Skinny Person...she seriously looked like a stick.
The upcoming Playstation 3...Emily said looks like an oven fan. I'd have to agree.
Press Person playing with the Wii...this was as close as I got to it. Watching someone wave it around is quite funny.
PS3 server stack...They haven't finalized the hardware I guess so it's still running on devkits. The graphic quality is definitely better but gameplay is still the same. I'm thinking the Wii will be the must have console...as long as you have enough friends/kids who want to play it.
Tecmo girls...definitely toned down this year yet they still manage to look great. Wonder if I could get Emily to wear a skirt like that...hehehe
The PS3 section...Sonic is coming to the PS3!
Fred get's a shot...of me.
The wireless controller of the Wii lends itself naturally to games like this where you operate on patients.
Getting friendly with the Booth Babes.
Fog Screens...neat!
The N-Gage lounge was pretty neat...
Naruto Fan I am
Fred got in and Pearl (who works at Konami) gave him her Winx bracelet. I even played a bit of the Winx game...I soiled myself, it was so good. hahaha jk...I guess it's geared to girl PSP'ers...I wonder what Emily would do with a PSP...hmm...
There's even a Desperate Housewives game coming out.
What do you get to do in it? Make Spaghetti and Meatballs!!!
Cathy loves WoW so she had no problem hanging around the Blizzard booth. No "Starcraft: Ghost" there though...I played it last year but it seems to have turned into vaporware.
The Blood Elf feels his ass during his dance sequence...
In youth and beauty, wisdom is rare. Keep true to the dreams of your youth. You have a natural poise and potential for fame. Diamonds are as cold as ice unless they are given with a warm heart. Reasonable people endure; passionate people live. Soft words can carry much power. The only normal people are the ones you don't know very well. Others appreciate your good sense of humor. You are next in line for promotion in your firm. Treat others as you would treat yourself. Wisdom is only found in truth. There is a prospect of a thrilling time ahead for you. Opportunities surround you if you know where to look. Listen attentively. You will come out ahead in the coming week. A gathering of friends brings you lots of luck this evening. The only way to have a friend is to be one. Your dream will come true when you least expect it.
