archive

what i'm saving money to buy (incomplete, rough list):
1. a skateboard, guestimated price: ~$100
2. an rca audio/video switchbox, guestimated price: ~$20
3. bluetooth headphones, guestimated price: ~$80
4. digital video recorder, guestimated price: ~$300
5. dvd recorder, guestimated price: ~$300
6. lift tickets for kaela and me for this season, guestimated price: ~$1000
7. 3-year membership at 24-hour fitness, guestimated price: ~$650

now, why do i detest shows like e.r.?   you would think that e.r. appeals to men as well as women, whereas the other three shows i named obviously target a female audience.   i'm very sure e.r. does appeal to many men, just not me.   sure, sometimes the plots are mildy interesting.   however, one thing i hate about hospital shows is that they perpetuate the attitude amongst young people that they should aim to be healthcare providers solely to earn the right to have an attitude of "[singingly] i am so smart, much smarter than you" as their main goal as opposed to actually helping and caring for people.   i've seen many college students puruse medical professions for the wrong reasons.   too often, it's just for status.   t.v. shows like e.r. encourage society to worship doctors like gods>   i think some of these misguided kids that end up becoming doctors believe that they are gods, thinking, "i have the power to give and take away life.... furthermore, i get to see boobies all day.   boobies, boobies, boobies."   okay, you say that's ridiculous.   sure, it's an exaggeration; but can we have shows about professions other than doctor, lawyer, cop, firefighter, soldier, businessman, politician, and actor?   "beno, i know you want a show about engineers.   dream on, you geek!"   the closest thing we engineers get to a t.v. series about our profession is probably the various star trek series.

i know i've. . . [later] i forgot what i was going to say.

so often, i borrow or steal or whatever from superdave kim of starkdavingmad.com.   here's a link to a cool usa today article that he put in his "vault": "New digital camera? Know how, where you can use it" by andrew kantor.   while i'm stealing from other guys' blogs, let me point you towards another cool article that i got to from tim fong's unleashing fong: "let the good times roll: the top ten lies of entrepreneurs" by guy kawasaki.   actually, this one's a blog entry.

[later] 저녁: last night, kaela also said she wants us to go on her school's snowtrip to heavenly, in south lake tahoe.   in case you don't know, heavenly's one of my least favorite resorts because it is too tailored to skiers instead of snowboaders and is very expensive unless you can get ahold of those elusive albertsons discount tickets.   as i have said in previous entris, kaela's school friends are good people, but i obviously lack and common bond with them, which leads to a bit of awkwardness.   however, i then realized that, if i were to be arrogant, i could say to myself that i can pretty much kick anybody's butt in snowboarding, so i shouldn't care whether i fit in or not.   of course, not being an arrogant guy, i wouldn't so much put it like that than like "since i'm decent at snowboarding, i at least can talk about snowboarding with these people that i otherwise don't have anything to talk about with" or something like that.   if you read that guy kawasaki article i linked to above, then you might have seen some line like "wayne gretzky doesn't need to say, 'i'm a good hockey player.'"   beno hwang doesn't need to say, "i'm a good snowboarder."   nah, to put it into perspective though, honestly, when i compare myself to the young snowboard bums that actually live in tahoe and snowboard every single day, i'm not that great.   although there have been times that i earned respect of people who otherwise weren't necessarily nice to me via my snowboarding skills, isn't that all kind of childish in a school playground way?   anyway, more than because i think i put people in their places with my snowboarding skills, i guess i should go on this trip just because, as the "hardcore snowboarder" i am, i should board every chance i can get.   let me tell you, i think some people have stopped asking to go snowboarding with me because i'm so arrogant about my snowboarding.   yes, i realize well that i really need to shut up.   didn't i read some quote on starkdavingmad like keep your words sweet in case you need to eat them?

*sigh* i need to reiterate my disdain over how i accidentally deleted my 2005 journal archive.   wow, reconstruction will be a very unpleasant and unsatisfying experience!

수요일 아침: i guess i've started the reconstruction process for my 2005 beno journal archive.   *sigh* i'm afraid i've lost some entries.   it's a good thing that i usually write my entries in windows notepad and then cut and paste that text into .html file in unix.   if i didn't do that, i might have lost everything.   it's quite devastating already.   what's just a little bit funny is that a little bit before i discovered that i had deleted my 2005 beno journal archive, i had thought, "since some people might think writing in my journal is a waste of time, i wonder if it would be good for me if something happened and i lost my entire journal.   that would actually discourage me from writing in it."   why is the rapper pharrell known as "skateboard p"? [later] i tried to look that up on wikipedia, but the page that popped up depicted the rapper along with a topless female friend, so i had to close the page since i was at work.

i get vistors from my page from all over the world.   i obviously get visitors from the bay area and the rest of california especially socal.   i also get visitors from all over the rest of the united states of america like my most recent vistor at this time from oklahoma city or visitors from houston, texas; kansas city, missouri; minneapolis, missouri; columbus, georgia; roselle, new jersey; cleveland, ohio; lynn, massachusetts; alexandria, virginia; shaw air force base, south carolina; miami, florida; milwaukee, wisconsin, etc.   i get vistors from the rest of north america like from canada and mexico; from south america like from buenos aires, argentina; from africa like from nigeria; from new south wales, mullengandra, australia...   as you might expect, i get visitors from asia.   within the last 100 clicks, i have visitors from korea and the philippines.   now what you may or may not have expected is that i get many, many, many visitors from europe.   did you know that? the united kingdom, france, netherlands, denmark, germany, romania...   i'm a little bit surprised.   well, most people still come to benomix.com for beno's pager code site.   wow, i hate to talk about business (in a way), but i should revamp the advertising on that page; not that i want to flood the page with ads but that i should pick better ads.

[later] mail order beno: my repaired or refurbished pa1mone tungsten t5 is supposed to be delivered to me tomorrow.   i wonder which they are sending me: repaired or refurbished.   in a way, i'd prefer to have my old unit back, repaired.   however, i fear they'll more likely send me a refurbished one, which belonged to someone else before.   it doesn't feel as good to get something like that, but oh well.   on a separate note, as you may have read, i have been slightly considering joining bmg music club again.   however, i'm not considering it that much because i know they're sleazy.   there's another company called yourmusic.com that sends you a cd each month for $5.99 (including shipping).   maybe i should do that instead.   i can get 500 mypoints for joining.   otherwise, if i can get an affiliate link going with them, then i can get $18 if anyone clicks my link and joins.   that would be cool.

어제 밤 태권도 연슴후에 태권도장 옆에 있는 되지 나라 호프에 갔어요, 우리들.   응 저기의 음식이 맛있지만 북잡하고 서비스가 좀 천천히 했어요.   삼겹살은요?   응 맛있죠.   손님이 삼겹살을 좋아하세요?   저는 삼겹살을 벼로 좋아하지 않지만 그걸 먹어요.   삼겹살과 김치와 반찬과 상추와 마늘과 고추와 맥주를 먹었어요.   잼이있어요.   밤 9:00 부터 11:00 까지 머고 있었어요.   태권도 연습은요?   괜찮았어요.

[later] 오후: yesterday and today, i worked out in the company gym during lunch and ate lunch in my cubicle.   yesterday's lunch was a veggie wrap with a diet pepsi.   today's lunch was a chicken burrito.

list of federal holidays for 2006 (my list of holidays from work is much shorter) (from http://www.opm.gov/fedhol/2006.asp):
• new year's day: monday, january 2
• birthday of martin luther king, jr.: monday, january 16
• washngton's birthday: monday, february 20
• memorial day: monday, may 29
• independence day: tuesday, july 4
• labor day: monday, september 4
• columbus day: monday, october 9
• veterans day: friday, november 10
• thanksgiving day: thursday, november 23
• christmas day: monday, december 25

in previous academic quarters, the beautiful kaela hwang attended her "gonstead" club every wednesday evening.   this quarter, the weekly club meeting has been moved from wednesday night to thursday night.   in a way, i don't like that because then kaela can't go to taekwondo practice on thursday nights.   at the same time, that doesn't make too much of a difference because she has been skipping thursday night sparring practice very consistently anyway.   i'd like for her to go, but she doesn't want to spar other people.   even when we just spar each other, though, it's a good workout.   [later] i was thinking yesterday about how i should try to leave work earlier on tuesday and thursday evenings for taekwondo.   i can consider staying later on monday and wednesday nights if necessary.   finally, i should try to leave "on time" on fridays for our t3s couples bible study small group.   i read in an article, which was probably about reducing stress, that one should try to limit him/herself to either working late or going in early and not do both.   i can believe that.   that could mean that one should say, "i'll stay really late if i need to or come in really early if i need to.   however, i refuse to work a little late and come in a little early."

금요일 아침: i've been very busy at work this week.   it's been almost scary.

[later] one of the lamest rap rhymes i've heard lately: "i eat filet mignon, and i'm nice and young.   best believe i'm number one." - missy elliot in ciara's "1, 2 step."   it's not that missy elliot's a bad rapper, but that "filet mignon" line just sounds weird to me.

this morning, on my commute in to work, i saw a trite bumper sticker that read, "one nation under god."   i thought, "forget one nation!   how about one world under god?"

월요일 오후: hey there!   how's it going?   i'd like to say that it's been a long time since i wrote a journal entry, but i know that i wrote one on 2005년01월13일.   that was an unfinished entry though.   i haven't had a chance to give you a thorough update on my life and to document my life in a long time.   i hope i don't "lose" last week from my life.   perhaps knowing that i lost some of my 2005 beno journal has indeed discouraged me a bit from writing more journal entries right now.   well, hey; more than anything, i've just been so busy with work that i haven't had time to write journal entries.   i worked a rigorous 12-hour day on thursday, hoping that i wouldn't work too late on friday, so that the beautiful kaela hwang n' i could take off to tahoe.   as expected, i missed taekwondo sparring practice on thursday evening.   last week, i started the week out well, getting a decent amount of exercise.   as the week progressed, i ended up not getting as much exercise.   well, i don't think i got any exercise on thursday or friday.   work's been getting busier, and i'm committed to taking my career more seriously this year, right?   right.   i had some unpleasant evenings last week, like that one night that kaela kept watching t.v. programs that i hated.   i don't know what that was all about.   on thursday night, kaela and i watched king kong   it was a long movie.   it was a decent movie.   in a way, i think between the two big winter blockbusters, i preferred king kong over memoirs of a geisha.   kaela and i surprisingly still have not watched the chronicles of narnia: the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe.   the week before last, we kept saying we would go watch it but instead sat on the couch, watching random t.v. programs.   i don't like t.v. that much.   "kill your television."

kaela and i drove up to tahoe on friday night, south lake tahoe.   we fought rush hour traffic, leaving the bay area.   in a way, we might as well have just left later.   we at in-n-out in pleasanton on our way up.   the burger joint was full of loud teenagers from foothill high school.   i discussed with kaela how i could sense that these kids' worst fear was of "not fitting in."   it's so true, isn't it?   i could sense the awkwardness of late adolescence and teenagedom.   these kids looked rich though.   i don't know if that makes matters worse or better.   honestly, i grew up amongst relatively wealthy kids.   was it harder?   well, i have nothing to compare it to... except that when i went to berkeley for college, i think the average wealthiness of my social circle did honestly drop.   i make absolutely no judgement from that, i.e. i don't believe you can assign value to a person based upon his/her parents' wealth.   anyway, was it harder to grow up amongst wealthy kids (or at least kids of wealthy parents)?   well, yeah, you feel the pressure to wear nice clothes and maybe might wish that you had a nicer car or could go on nice vacations like your classmates.   for the most part, i had nice clothes.   i got to drive a decent, hand-me-down car.   yes, my parents provided well for me; but i hope i wasn't spoiled.

anyway, i digress!   the road was clear on the way to south lake tahoe.   at a roadside gas mart, kaela and i ran into michelle kim whom we know from the ucmap / berkeley taekwondo.   i run into her in random places.   it's interesting.   as i was browsing through an aisle of the store, i hear her asking, "beno?"   i was surprised.   kaela and i rolled into the embassy suites parking lot around midnight and checked in.   the national brotherhood of skiers (nbs) was there for a big event.   the nbs is a very interesting group.   you should check out their website: http://www.nbs.org/.   it is a group that encourages wintersports amongst minorities.   as they seem to have been founded by african-americans, they seem to be focused mostly on african-americans.   that's really cool.   i've always enjoyed seeing more racial diversity on the slopes.   i keep saying that skateboarding is one of the sports with the most asian-american professionals, yet snowboarding (as it is today) has so few.   most asian pro snowboarders are japanese people in japan.   i did see an ad in a snowboarding magazine once featuring a female pro snowboarder named yulin.   anyway, when kaela and i got to the embassy suites, music was booming from the nbs party.   kaela and i went up to our suite and got settled in for our short, short stay.   (we only rented the room for one night.)   i find it interesting that since we have a nice house with a nice shower, a nice tempurpedic bed, and dish network t.v.; i'm much less excited by hotel rooms.   usually, they only have cable with a few channels, a decent bed (hopefully even king size), and a decent, clean shower.   who would've thought my life would turned out this way? "can i have it like that?   you got it like that.   can i have it like that?   you got it like that."   well, a suite in the middle of the city of south lake tahoe on martin luther king jr. weekend is not cheap.   thus, i only wanted to stay one night.   it wasn't the best planned snowtrip.   it was for kaela's school, in case you didn't know.   [later] at the embassy suites, we ate a huge buffet breakfast with eggs, potatoes, fruit, and very fattening breakfast meats!   i believe the bacon might have been less fattening than the sausage.   i managed to squeeze quite a bit of fat out of the sausage.   kaela and i ate breakfast relatively fast.   then we checked out of our suite, put some things in my subaru forester, and went in search of a shuttle bus to bring us from the heavenly gondola to the heavenly california base.   that was a litttle bit more confusing than anticipated.   you see, one can easily jump onto the gondola in the middle of the city and ride up to heavenly's mid-mountain.   however, we needed to meet up with kaela's classmates to buy our college group discount tickets.   eventually, we got on the right shuttle.

we got a slightly late start to the day on the slopes.   we rode a little with kaela's classmates.   one couple was a norwegian couple with decades of skiing experience.   they rode telemark skis and were two of the few people that i've eer witness ride them well.   in my opinion, telemark skiing is like backcountry snowboarding in that many people love the image of doing these things, while few are actually good at them.   thus, i often see backcountry snowboarders and telemarkers sitting frustrated, stuck in powder with their full backpacks.   when i see them, i wonder how they could possibly be having fun.   anyway, these two were good at it, so i looked forward to riding alongside them.   we also rode with these two other guys: one of kaela's classmates and his childhood friend who grew up with him in monterey.   i was surprised to find out that these two asian-american guys grew up in monterey.   well, after our first real run, we lost these two.   kaela and i ended up not riding too long before the snow got so heavy that kaela convinced me that we should head to the front side.   to do that, we rode down heavenly's famous "face" run.   i've done this supposedly "double black diamond" run several times before.   it's a good workout.   the face was crowded on saturday, full of people struggling to get down.   you might think i say that with resent, mocking them; but no... it is a tough run.   i got quite a workout weaving around those moguls.   honestly, i don't fall much but i did fall a couple of times on the face.   well, we got down to the bottom, and kaela wanted to break for lunch in the overpopulated cafeteria.   after waiting a while to find a table and even waiting to enter the cafeteria area (to buy food), i decided with kaela that i would go up and ride for the rest of the afternoon, while kaela would call it a day.   at that point, i headed straight for the baby terrain park (off of groove and patsy's, if you know heavenly geography).   i had a few good runs, riding plenty of rails and boxes.   i now feel decently comfortable riding all sorts of bent, crooked, sloped, and rainbow rails and boxes; but i gotta confess that i still only ride them 50/50 and don't yet do frontside or backside slides.   anyway,it was fun.   the snow came and went, came and went.   just before 3:30 pm i called it a day and headed back down the face to find kaela.   this time, it took me only about eight minutes to get down, but i ended up unknowingly veering off to the blue square (intermediate) world cup run at the bottom instead of completing the mogul run.   well, it's much more pleasant to ride world cup than the moguls; but the moguls are a good workout.   i have seen very few skiers ride moguls well and almost no snowboarders.   it was actually nice to see some skiers on saturday ride the moguls well. [unfinished entry]

well, after a decent day on the slopes (decent for me, so-so for the beautiful kaela hwang, i.e. she didn't appreciate the blizzard), we started to exit heavenly.   the line for the shuttle back to the gondola (near the hotels; we parked at the embassy suites) was very, very long; at least 0.25 mile long, i'd say.   we waited and waited.   luckily, yes, we made progress in the line.   [later] however, the line was still too slow.   eventually, we decided to hike back to the car.   we discovered that we could snowboard down the cabin-lined streets.   we hopped on our boards.   wow, it was quite the experience of a lifetime!   it was like skateboarding.   i was snowboarding past cars and houses!   this was very cool.   however, in the end, i looked at my base (of my snowboard).   ugh! i'll be doing some base repair.   i was so sad to see how much i had scratched up my board!

수요일 밤, still at work:
• "8 o'clock is the new 5 o'clock."
• "working 5 to 9, what a way to make a living!"

wow, where do i resume with updating you?   it's pretty much impossible to stay on track with updating.   marginal benefits... i don't think i'm getting a satisfactory return on investment with my journal entries!

[later] on monday night, the beautiful kaela hwang n' i went to grace and steve's house to give a belated first birthday present to nolan.   originally, i thought i'd bring kaela to dinner and a movie afterwards; but she got a call on her cell phone about some private chiropractic lessons.   instead; we drove home; picked up my laptop and sooni; drove through the jack in the box drive-thru to get some greasy, fattening dinner; and then drove to fremont for kaela's private class.   i worked on my company work as i waited, then was used as a prop for the lessons.   well, even though it hardly the night i planned, i guess i came out okay.

tuesday night, i went to taekwondo practice by myself.   originally, i was supposed to rush down to oakridge mall to meet up with some old high school friends for dinner at p.f. chang's there; but when i called after practice, they deemed that i was too late to join them in any effective manner.   instead, i dined with duk at 옛날 짜장 yeitnal jjajang, where i ate the 짜장면과 짬뽕 국물 jjajangmyuhngwa jjambbong googmool (jjajangmyuhn/jiajiangmine with jjambong/chamamien soup on the side).   it was quite a bit of food, so i took home leftover 짜장면.   duk suggested that i join him, yuna, sara, and other friends for snowboarding on saturday.   well, since kaela will be at yet another chiropractic seminar; maybe if i finish my housechores by saturday, then i'll join them.   i also need to do base repair to my snowboard.

목요일 점심: today is the beautiful kaela hwang's and my 30th wedding monthversary.   that's a good thing.   i'm very happy to be married to her.

this year is progressingly fast as expected.   as i typed today's date as 2006년01월19일, i imagined what it will be like to type 2006년12월19일 or something like that.   well, soon enough, that's what i'll be doing.

tahoe snow report
for 2006년01월19일
thanks to yahoo!

resort	new	base
alpine meadows	12	48~111
boreal	12	80~120
dodge ridge	7	31~95
heavenly	8	101~125
northstar	16	45~107
sierra	0	63~135
squaw valley	10	42~126
sugar bowl	12	66~100
kirkwood	6	106~200
homewood	16	60~136

last night, i was supposed to clean the bathrooms, and tonight i was supposed to do base repair on my snowboard and kaela's and give them hot waxes.   last night, kaela said she's free tonight, so i should take her out for our monthversary. thus, instead, last night, i did base repair on our snowboards and hot waxed them.   tonight, i'll take kaela out to dinner.   the housechores? they'll have to wait till sunday.   i guess i'll go snowboarding with duk's gang on saturday while kaelas off at yet another of her neverending chiropractic seminars.   last nite, after killing my back doing all that snowboard maintenance, i marinated some 매운 닭고기 maeoon dalkgogi (spicy chicken meat) for tomorrow's grx t3 south couples bible study small group potluck.

[later] 오후: don't forget to check out the santa clara farmers market sometime.   it's every saturday from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm. (http://www.ci.santa-clara.ca.us/events/farmers_market.html)

duk says that we're probably going to boreal on saturday.   i know he said that a little apologetically, but i actually don't mind boreal.   it's underrated and relatively cheap, as i told him.   also, it's relatively close and accessible.   as we're going to boreal, i hope to have more of a freestyle day.   kaela won't be as disappointed about missing a day on the slopes once she hears that we're going to boreal and not somewhere that she really likes, like alpine meadows.   let's see; this saturday will bring my total days on the slopes this year to... five?   the day at kirkwood by myself; the day at snow swummit with kaela; the day at kirkwood with kaela; duk, walter, and his friends; the day at heavenly with kaela and her classmates; and then now boreal with duk and his gang... yes, five.   well, although this season started late, perhaps it's not too unrealistic of me to hope to achieve a double digit number of days on the slopes.   the lowest number in recent years was eight.   it's strange that i don't snowboard with my coworkers anymore.   i wonder why i don't get to hang out with them anymore.   well, sometimes i wonder if i get ostracized because i act like such an old fart and also probably talk too big about myself and snowboarding.   yeah, i realize i should shut up about that.

the city of santa clara has a slogan or motto: "ht²: high tech, human touch."   i like that slogan.   uh, i'm confused by this page: http://www.ci.santa-clara.ca.us/city_gov/city_gov_aac_script.html.   what is meant by the line "4 people in costume behind the mayor - father serra, farmer, 50s housewife, high tech 'bunny'"???   is father serra a catholic priest?   who's the "high tech 'bunny'"???   okay, maybe i added that exponent format there; i.e, maybe the slogan is actually "ht2" not "ht²."   "santa clara is an all america city."   oh, i always that that the line was "santa clara is an all american city," but i was wrong.   actually, it's an "all-america city."   you can buy a tee shirt at the city store that says so.

while i was in the gym during my lunchbreak (i've gone every day this week during lunch), i received numerous text message alerts from yahoo! regarding new snowfall in tahoe.   i should update my table!

northern californian
snow report
for 2006년01월19일
thanks to yahoo!

resort	new	base
alpine meadows	22	74~160
boreal	0	74~160
dodge ridge	16	36~100
heavenly	12	107~137
northstar	21	50~113
sierra	16	63~143
squaw valley	24	54~142
sugar bowl	20	70~106
kirkwood	18	106~216
homewood	18	71~155

i changed "tahoe" to "northern californian" because dodge ridge is not in tahoe and kirkwood really isn't either.   i barely understand why i have homewood included in my yahoo! snow report since we're so unlikely to go to this so-called "hidden gem," since it's so inaccessible and dinky.   one of kaela's old high school friends said it's her favorite tahoe resort; but well... i don't think she's a tahoe area expert.

each day this week, i worked out in the company gym during lunch and then bought cafeteria food to eat for lunch, right?   i think so.   i'm getting very sick of the cafeteria's food.

[later] 저녁: did i mention that i'm thinking of buying the lg gsa 5163d external dvd writer?   check ou the cnet.com page for it: http://reviews.cnet.com/LG_GSA_5163D_Super_Multi_DVD_RW_R_double_layer_DVD_RAM_drive_Hi_Speed_USB_IEEE_1394_FireWire/4014-3212_7-31296883.html?tag=ob_210&orderby=210&sort=asc.   the best price cnet has for me is $94.11 (including tax and shipping) from pchardware4u.com.   yeah, the merchant worries me a little.   the name sure sounds cheesy.   anyway, this external dvd writer has usb 2.0 as well as ieee-1394 firewire.   that's cool.   what else?   it can uses a wide variety of formats/media.

[later] 밤: just an ad: valentines day 5% off coupon at buy.com for the music, music downloads, and dvds stores - valid feb 1 thru feb 14   actually, that's a very useful coupon.

금요일 오후: from ernest kuo's xanga: "A man left for work one Friday afternoon.   But it was payday, so instead of going home, he stayed out the entire weekend partying with the boys and spending his entire paycheck!   When he finally appeared at home on Sunday night, he was confronted by his angry wife and was barraged for nearly two hours with a tirade befitting his actions.   Finally his wife stopped the nagging and said to him, 'How would you like it if you didn't see me for two or three days?'   He replied, 'That would be fine with me.   Monday went by and he didn't see his wife.   Tuesday and Wednesday came and went with the same results.   But on Thursday, the swelling went down just enough where he could see her a little out of the corner of his left eye."

yesterday was kaela hwang's and my 2.5 wedding anniversary, as i mentioned yesterday.   earlier in the week, i had assumed she'd be studying or off at one of her numerous chiropractic club meetings as usual, but on wednesday night, as i mentioned, she said i could take her out to dinner.   thus, i modified my plans for the week.   on thursday, i made reservations at tarragon, a nice "mediterranian" restaurant on downtown sunnyvale's historic murphy ave.   i had heard my sister say something nice about this restaurant before.   i made the reservation for 8:00 pm because kaela said she would go to the gym in the early evening, and i had tons of work as usual anyway.   well, as 8:00 pm approached, kaela said she was going to go make photocopies for her school stuff.   *sigh* i quickly tried to push the reservation back to 9:00 pm.   why was it easier years ago to take kaela out for a dinner date on a weeknight?   back in berkeley, we did it all the time.   sure, in a way, i miss those days.   anyway, i was very glad that such a nice restaurant as tarragon is so close to our house.   when we arrived, there was a cool jazz band playing.   the hostess said something like "where have you been?   we've been waiting for you!"   both kaela and i apologized profusely.   then the woman handed us a microphone and asked, "you want to sing?"   ha ha ha! i had been a bit suspicious!   it turned out that that woman was not the real hostess but the singer for the jazz band.   she continued into singing "route 66," which i like because of the famous depeche mode cover.   the real hostess arrived and did gently tease us about being late and then seated us.

it was a bit stressful getting us to this dinner, especially with this one stoplight in sunnyvale that just refused to turn green for me; so i tried to escape reality and enjoy the dinner and music.   kaela asked me if she should order the fettucine with chicken or the prawns risotto.   from my knowing her so well, i recommended that she go with the prawns.   i just figured she might find the chicken too dry for her taste.   me, i chose the braised american kobe beef pot roast with soft polenta and winter vegetables.   what is "american kobe beef"???   well, i don't know, but i sure didn't mind not paying a fortune to have a slice of cow labeled "kobe beef." &bsp; honestly, the food was very reasonably priced for such a nice restaurant!   kaela said we should split a salad and chose the winter spinach salad which had a good vinaigrette, some kind of bleu cheese, some sliced almonds, and some dried cranberries.   sure, it wasn't the most original salad i've seen but still good.   then i tried to pick a wine.   wow, what a situation!   the tarragon wine list is very interesting, as i noticed some wines were quite expensive, while others were relatively cheap.   i concluded that the restaurant chooses split its wines into expensive ones and cheap ones and not leave much of a middle ground.   i saw a 1997 italian pinot grigio for $18!   wow, i had to jump on that, just to try a more vintage wine, as we usually get pretty young ones.   well, after we finished our salad without wine, the waiter came back to report that the restaurant had no more of that wine.   i could understand at that price.   thus, i picked this so-so sounding 1998 mirassou riesling for $26, not as good of a deal; but hey,w e like rieslings.   well, later, when our entrées arrived, the waiter said, "you're going to hate me, but we didn't have that wine, so i brought you another one.   it's a much better wine, and i'll give it to you for the same price."   it was a 1999 french white bordeaux.   wow, it was really sweet in the style of some of the gewurztraminers we often drink.   we didn't know that white bordeaux could be so gewurztraminerish.   *shrug* yeah, i totally accepted the wine.   later, i saw on the dessert wine menu that that wine sold for $49 at dessert time.   however, i also noticed that the mirrasou riesling price jumped to something like $36 on the dessert wine menu; so i don't know what to make of that.   anyway, we ate our delicious dinner with our delicious wine.   i drank too much.   i kept telling kaela that i must have drank 3/4 of the bottle.   we learned years ago that it's better to leave leftover wine that to force ourselves to drink all of it.   after all, somebody's got to drive home eventually, right?   that person would not be me that night.   sometime around dessert time, i placed the keys on the table by kaela.   anyway, for dessert we had this vanilla crême brulée.   i told kaela that before i got together with her, i hadn't ever eaten crême brulée.   this one was good but tasted so fattening, so we chose not to finish it.   we drank lots of decaf coffee though.   i think i looked drunk, so the waiters kept wanting to give me more coffee.   anyway, i wasn't driving.

well, this morning, duk text messaged me that yuna had hurt her back, so tomorrow's daytrip to tahoe is off.   *sigh* some of my coworkers invited me to a cabin trip to northstar this weekend, but they had asked me too late.   i received a voicemail last night.   i don't know.   i could try to join them for saturday at northstar; but, at this point, i'm leaning towards just staying at home tomorrow and doing housechores.   if you remember, kaela has "yet another of her many" chiropractic seminars tomorrow all day, "from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm," as she put it.   *sigh* well, hey! hearing that, it made perfect sense for me to head to the slopes tomorrow.   however... *shrug* i don't know if maybe by tomorrow's daytrip's being cancelled, god's telling me that "two wrongs don't make a right."   you know how it is with me: i realize that in today's "post sex & the city" america, women have been brainwashed to believe that career is the ultimate god and things like home and family are totally worthless.   it's true that women believe that, and supermike knows this as well.   anyway, i know that my attempt to escape the house and take off to tahoe, in a way, was revenge for kaela's committing to this 14-hour seminar; and i know revenge is just absolutely wrong.   i don't know.   was it really revenge or just love for snowboarding?   *shrug*

well, yesterday evening, sometime around when kaela told me she'd be late because of her photocopying session for school, she said she signed up to go to washington, d.c. for spring break for her school.   of course, she said i "could" go; but really!   first off, i, as a working guy, don't get spring break; and secondly, *sigh* i hate feeling like the only time i travel is to tag along to kaela's school events.   why don't i just take off to do something else during that time?!   my vacation days are precious and few.   however, she did point out that i could see fahad if i go to washington, d.c.; and yeah, he is a good friend and has been one for so many years; so i guess i'll think about going to d.c.   we have these southwest vouchers to use anyway.   actually, for years, i've been wanting to see new york city.   well, it's not that we'll get to do that, but well... i suppose i mention that only because that's finally an example of my wanting to travel.   as i've said many times before, compared to other people my age, i don't really have much desire to travel.

a few days ago, kaela and i watched trekkies on t.v., a documentary about those infamous star trek fanatics.   me, i like star trek plenty but am hardly a trekkie.   well, when i was in third grade, i was on a recreational youth soccer team called "the trekkies," but i had no clue what the name meant until my dad told me and then i later saw our banner which had a felt u.s.s. enterprise nc-1701 on it, the widely recognized profile view.   i suppose if i were a trekkie, i might travel around the country or world to attend star trek conventions; but no, i am not and do not.   yes, i would travel for snowboarding, taekwondo, or djing.

in my most recent yesasia order, i received a cool compilation album that has the awesome mc몽 (mc mong) and 옥주현 (ok juhyun) track "홈런" ("home run").   it's actually "mc몽 (mc mong) featuring 옥주현 (ok juhyun)."   this song, in its chorus, features 옥주현 ok juhyun's borrowing of the melody from the 1980s when in rome hit "the promise."   dude, i love it!   that is so cool, so relevant, so appropriate for today's scene!   you do know who 옥주현 ok juhyun is, right?   if not, you obviously need to hang out at bronx's junkyard more!   옥주현 ok juhyun was and is one of the four members of the famous, korean pop princess quatro 핑클 fin.k.l.   the name "fin.k.l." is an acronym for "fine killing liberty."   what that means, no one will ever know.   anyway, back when the group started in the late 1990s when the pop princesses were all in the late teens, 옥주현 ok juhyun was always known as "the chubby one."   by american standards she was very "normal"; but yes, by korean standards, she was a little "chubby."   later, she had her late blossoming and became a blue jeans model, like a new millennium, korean version of the 1980s brooke shields, right?   right.   (i suppose she was the only fin.k.l. "princess" tall enough to be a real "model," right?   aren't supermodles supposed to be really tall like tyra banks?)   then she more recently gained a reputation as a fit yoga afficianado.   anyway, "홈런" ("home run") is a super-awesome track.   you must check it out.   i like it in the same way that i like the 에픽하이 epik high featuring 박혜경 park hyeikyung track "함께 해요" ("hamkkei haeyo").   these are both awesome tracks that feature smooth rapping by guys and beautiful melodies by girls.   i've noticed, in both american and korean pop music, many more credits for so-and-so "featuring" so-and-so.   yes, the american hip-hop scene really drove this; but i believe this has become a more popular arrangement due to the death of the album, which arose from the popularity of online delivery of single digital tracks.

"home run" is also an important trail at northstar.   it helps you get to your car at the end of a full day of snowboarding.

[later] by the way, last night, as we approached the restaurant, which has a pretty nice exterior, kaela said, "oh, we have a coupon for this place."   oh, i hadn't realized that.   i guess i wish we had that coupon with us last night.   oh yeah, as i was signing my credit card receipt for the restaurant, i was too tipsy to add right and forgot to carry the one.   well, i saw my bill this morning, and the restaurant gladly made the correction.

[later] 밤 10:35 pm: well, we're home now from the potluck.   yeah, we ended the night early.   we could've gone to watch a movie tonight; but kaela says she has to wake up earlier for her seminar.   me? originally i would've wanted to wake up early for snowboarding, but now? now, i don't know what to do tomorrow.   housechores?   it's one of those days that i wish i had a skateboard to do something like snowboarding while not leaving the silicon valley.

툐오일 아침, 9:45 am: well, "frickin' a," as kids seem to still say these days unless i'm wrong; this morning, i went ahead and did what i've said for a long time now that i'd do: i went ahead and purchased a skateboard online.   i bought it from boardtactics.com.

here are the specs:
deck:	minilogo 146 ki11 7.75x31.475 navy blue
truck:	bullet silver 127
wheels:	bullet 54mm
risers:	independent 1/8"
grip:	jessup
hardware:	ironhorse wonder 1"

i'll look totally foolish as a 30 year-old on a skateboard, but whatever.   here's to being a "free spirit"!

it's awful, but i might be spending a bit of money today.   sometime today, i'll go to fry's to check out a sony external dvd writer.   if it's as good as the lg, i might have to buy it.   the price is just ok and requires a crappy rebate.   fry's is very dishonest with their rebates, so i'd basically be throwing money away on that, right?

[later] 오후 2:39 pm: this morning, i opened the front door and saw the drizzle and mist.   i was expecting a sunnier day.   in any case, i put sooni's raincoat on her and drove us out to the santa clara farmers market.   there, i bought $4 of grapes at $1.50 a pound.   however, first, i bought this gift checks coupon book from this woman selling them supposedly to benefit some missing children's fund.   the book cost $10.   oh yeah, before i walked to the farmers market from the car, i went to the post office to buy some 1¢ stamps.   the u.s. post office is one place where a penny can still buy you something.   well, i couldn't find any pennies in my coin wallet for once; so i inserted a nickel into the machine and purchased five 1¢ stamps, which makes no sense since the recent postage increase was 2cent;.  (i really needed to buy an even number of 1¢ stamps.)

after the farmers market, i took "the scenic route" through much of western central san josé to get sooni and me to my mom's house, where i picked up my old uc berkeley diploma, an extra pair of land's end slippers, the old wool overcoat that i "inherited" from my dad (whether he knows it or not), two or three bananas, and a bottle of water.   i then hurried back to our house to eat lunch with the beautiful kaela hwang during her break from that seminar.

since, then, i've been home, just ripping cds and stuff.   you see, i received quite a bit of new music lately from yesasia and buy.com.   (please use my links!)

recently purchased cd albums:
• from yesasia:
• no. 1 club 가요 리믹스
• no. 1 drama best - 韓流 history
• 메로 드라마 - 드라마 주제곡 모음집
• 에픽하이 - 3집 swan songs
• 채연 - 3집
• from buy.com:
• delirious? - the mission bell
• tobymac - renovating diverse city

on a side note, do you know who is the "in" thing right now?   without doubt it's daniel dae kim of abc's hit television series lost.   wow, this korean actor has made it quite far in the american scene (for what it's worth)!   i heard he made some lame magazine's list of most beautiful people or sexiest men or whatever and won a golden globe.   is that right?   if so; wow, that's cool.

of course, people have been saying for the past few years, in years since peter park's bronx's junkyard opened its online doors, that korean pop culture is the "in" thing.   thus, for years, i personally have been warning whowever would care to listen to me or read my words in the korean community not to let korean pop culture necessarily be the "in" thing.   you understand why, right?   just think how japanese culture pretty much became the "in" thing amongst the asian-american and asian-asian crowd for a decade or two.   do koreans really want their culture exploited and milked for a couple of decades at most and then tossed aside for the next "big thing"?   i would think not.   at the same time, fortunately, korea has always been "the hermit kingdom," unlike japan; so there is hope that koreans won't necessarily sell out their pop culture the way, i hate to say, the japanese did.   heh, yeah, those are some rather harsh but only brutally honest words.

being of taiwanese heritage, i can say that the taiwanese people have a special bond with japanese culture that goes beyond pop culture of the past two decades.   it goes beyond japanime, d.d.r., sushi bars, and import rally cars.   often, people have said the taiwanese culture shares more with japanese culture than chinese culture.   as mandarin's the official language of the country (i guess), that's a hard sell; but it shouldn't be.

now let's get back for a second to discussing korean pop culture.   for the next few minutes i want to discuss the phenomenon of 장윤정 jang yoonjung that has pervaded for the past year or so.   in case you don't know, 장윤정 jang yoonjung is a young singer who sings "트로즈 trot" music.   it's a bit comical to me.   basically, this is the korean pop music industry's biggest practical joke yet.   basically, a bunch of "record" company execs (executives) sat around a plush boardroom and said, "hey, let's find a girl, a girl to sing.   if she's cute enough, we can make boys listen to whatever kind of crappy music we want to sell!   this is great!"   in case you don't know, "트로트 trot" music is a type of outdated, outmoded korean pop music.   i wouldn't shy from calling it "korean mariachi."   it uses lots of accordian timbres and has lots of "cha cha cha."   if you ever want to hear someone go off on 트로트 trot music, just ask kaela what she thinks of it.   this is grandmother music!   oh, i'm sorry... 할머니 halmuhni music!   for once, korean grandparents and korean or korean-american grandkids are listening to the same music.   장윤정 jang yoonjung appears on oldies live music shows in a lineup of singers thrice her age as well as modern pop music shows mixed in with buffed out guys in ripped jeans and vixen gals in bikini tops.   it's quite a riot.   yeah, 장윤정 herself is in her early twenties.   i admit, she's a decent looking girl, and her music can be somewhat catchy, especially since it's played so much and promoted so much.   her first hit was "어머나 uhmuhna" translated as "oh my!" or "oh me, oh my!" or something to that effect.   her next hit was "짱자라 jjangjara," where the name is more of an onomatopoeia.   i said 트로트 trot music has lots of "cha cha cha," but it actually has more "짱짱짱 jjang jjang jjang."   now, she currently has a hit called "꽃 (ggot)" (the title means "flower").   this song is a ballad, a form that has always been more of a middle ground, i.e. a wider variety of people with dissimilar musical tastes can together tolerate ballads.   you can learn more about 장윤정 jang yoon at her official website: www.jangyoonjeong.com.   of course, you'll need to be able to read and understand korean.   whether you can do those things or not, a couple of good links to follow to learn about these kinds of things would be this yesasia link directly to 장윤정 jang yoonjung's works as well as the perennial www.bunkyard.com.   i don't think bronx's junkyard has as much coverage of her because she isn't a "finklses" girl nor does she typically prance around stage in a bikini.   heh, just kidding... i don't want my fellow bjunkies to take offense by that remark.   i think the reason people don't talk much about 장윤정 jang yoonjung on bronx's is simply because people there don't tend to listen to 할머니 halmuni music!

ok, it's now 4:32 pm, and i believe that i should go check out fry's.   tonight, i should do some work work and some housework.

밤, still in my cubicle: it's late.   i should go home.   anyway, today i managed to squeeze a couple of things into my busy day, two very disparate things: 1) i researched mutual funds, and 2) i assembled a skateboard.

목요일 오후: i actually wanted to share this yahoo! news article with you yesterday but didn't get around to it: "intel makes first chip at tiny new scale."   this news i pretty important for my industry.   i've been hearing about 45 nanometer this, 45 nanometer that for a long time; and now it's apparently all set to go as a reality.   cool.   i really want to see electronics shrink down again.   i hate how cell phones have grown in physical size over the past couple of years.   oh, wow!   check out this other yahoo! news article i found just now: "dell boss says open to using amd chips."   wow, lots of news in the semiconductor industry, eh?   exciting?   i personally think it's relatively exciting.

일요일 아침, 9:39 am: wow, the month is ending, and i can soon revert to benospelling, if i choose, (and not violate my new year's resolution).   actually, come to think of it, i have now fulfilled many of my new year's resolutions!   1) i bought a skateboard (and rode it).   2) i bought a mutual fund.   3) i've been writing beno journal entries in normal, american english.   anything else?   i believe i have been taking better care of my career, but that's subjective and not measurable.   i suppose if i get a nice raise or (less likely) a promotion of any sort; that would be a metric.   i have yet to fix my desktop computer's soundcard, and i should.

well, it's almost a month since the solar new year, but i suppose today is the lunar new year.   that's cool.   as asians, we should take note of that.   it's the year of the dog!   that brings me to my recount of an exciting little adventure in the hwang household this weekend.

frankie and sooni

no, we didn't acquire a second doggy, no.   that would be crazy.   ok, we did however have a second dog for less than 24 hours.   on friday, i came home for lunch in order to clean up the house a little during my lunchbreak for the night's grx t3 south couples bible study.   yes, we had about 16 people at our house for the "small group" event.   our house honestly isn't as luxurious or as big as some of the other couples' houses, but we wanted to have people over at least once.   the house was probably cleaner back during thanksgiving last year, but it thankfully wasn't at its messiest.   the beautiful kaela hwang n' i tried our best to clean the house and keep it clean despite the fact that we both have been very busy lately.   kaela has been very busy with school, and i have been very busy with work.   anyway, on my way home, i almost hit a runaway beagle!   i slowed down to a stop and opened my door.   the beagle approached me.   when i asked it to hop in, it ran off.   later, when i got to our garage, it came into our garage, which meant it ran fast and decently far from where i saw it earlier.   i closed the garage door to trap the loose doggy.   it ran out thus triggering the optical safety switch that shuts down the garage door motor.   i took out a piece of jamaican beef jerky.   it ran back.   then it smelled sooni through the crack at the bottom of the kitchen door.   i closed the garage door, and it was now safely off the streets.   well, at lunch, i put the beagle with sooni in the backyard.   of course, they had their fair share of posturing.   the real doggy experts knows that real doggies aren't just about panting with stupid, brainless smiles on their faces; but rather things get politically right away.   the beagle wasn't the most submissive doggy, and we know sooni wants to be dominant.   well, the eventually settled down.   i ate some lefotver whole foods food that kaela ditched in our fridge for lunch.   i cleaned.   i left them back there in the yard when i returned to work.   later, i sent kaela a text message about the lost doggy.   when she came home, she saw it.   honestly, the sight of the two of them together was very cute.   they would both sit with wagging tails in front of our french doors, eagerly waiting for us to open the door.   eventually, they would realize that we weren't going to let them in, and then they'd go lie down nearby.   it was very cute.   really, sooni's not an aggressive doggy.   froo-froo, kick-me dog owners simply freak out when she acts... well... like a dog.   she's all into doggy politics.   to see her sit side by side with another dog really touched our hearts!

well, in the evening, we had the bible study group over.   i suppose i'll talk about that later.   we kept the doggies outside.   if it were just sooni, we would have gladly let her hang out with the humans.   however, we knew having sooni and the beagle in the house would be hectic.   actually, at the end of the night, we let them in; and yes, it was a riot!   the two dogs ran around the house.   this beagles was not well mannered, as kaela pointed out.   it kept wanting to jump on the couch, not just because it was obviously used to lying on the couch but it knew it needed elevation to rival sooni's size in the whole political scene!   keep in mind that froo-froo, kick me doggies relish being picked up and held up high so that they can exercise undue political dominance over other doggies.   humans should not mess with doggy politics in that way.   by the way, the beagle was an unaltered male, which means it had its "twig and berries" or "beans and frank" intact.   unaltered doggies are generally not as well behaved.   i'm often sad about altering sooni because i wish she could have babies, but the benefits don't seem to outweigh the price.   i wish we could simply clone her.   (황우석 교수님... professor hwang woosuk...)

after our friends all left, we considered letting both the beagle and sooni sleep inside.   sooni does sleep inside every night because that's what good dog owners let their doggies do.   modern doggy experts know that the doggy should be "part of the family," obviously not the leader of the family, but simply part of it; i guess its lowest rung.   in the end i put both doggies outside because the beagle was just too untrained, and we had no basis to trust him.   feeling bad for him, i put sooni outside to keep him company.   as kaela and i tried to sleep, the beagle bayed and howled.   ugh!   i sandwiched my head between the pillow and the (pillow) sham!   i worried the neighbors would think it was sooni and complain.   however, sooni's quiet.   in fact, she only spoke up to shut the beagle up.   when the beagle would howl, she would emit a short, annoyed "gruff!" to tell her yardmate to shut up.   it was so funny.   oh yeah, because it's winter, we left the back garage door open for the doggies to access a covered room.   the beagle looked cold without a double coat like that which sooni sports.   eventually, the howling moved from our yard to the garage, and it got quiet.

in the morning, i discovered that the beagle and sooni both entered the garage and the beagle somehow managed to trap them in their by accidentally shutting the door.   i realize that beagles are not smart and much less intelligent than jindo dogs.   wow!   it was such a contrast.   sooni can open doors when she wants to, and this dog ends up accdientally trapping the both of them in the garage.   it was cute to find them both in the garage in the morning.   sooni really kept the beagle in check.   on its own, it probably would have chewed up our shoes, but sooni regulated.

well, in the early morning before heading off to habitat for humanity, i wanted to post more "dog found" posters.   i had posted some the night before but didn't finish since i had to come home to help host the bible study.   as i approached a lightpost to post my first sign of the morning, i saw it occupied by a "lost dog" poster.   i found the situation a bit ridiculous: why was it that every lightpost that i hadn't posted a "dog found" sign on had the "lost dog" poster?!   anyway, as i was already walking both the beagle and sooni, i brought them over the house and knocked.   no answer.   i knocked more, but still no answer.   i tried to leave the beagle in its backyard, but it refused to stay.   i had left my cell phone in the bedroom so i returned home with the two dogs.   it was quite a joy to walk both dogs at once!   i felt like cesar milan! heh heh...   well, i called the first of three phone numbers on the poster and an adolescent girl answered.   i returned "frankie" to the little girl.   she said there was a reward, but i told her that sooni used to escape all the time, that i understood their situation, and the reward wasn't necessary.   then i left and walked sooni around, taking back the leash and collar i had put on frankie.   i started walking one way but turned around to start collecting "dog found" posters.   as i walked past the house, i saw frankie in the window, watching us.

i went to habitat for humanity yesterday.   we didn't get a whole lot done, but it's always great to work there.

in the evening, kaela and i went to grace and steve's house for a lunar new year dinner with my dad.   we stopped by five paw bakery first to get some free treats.   after dinner, kaela and i watched fun with dick and jane.

화요일 오후, tuesday afternoon: i neglected to mention in previous entries that on thursday night (last week), the beautiful kaela hwang n' i took duk and his girlfriend yuna out to dinner at cascal the great latin-american tapas restaurant on mountain view's castro st.   we enjoyed a variety of tapas, their seafood paella (with black squid ink), a pitcher of sangria, and a plate of asado (grilled meat).   wow, what an excellent dinner.   i wanted to treat duk and yuna to dinner for all the times they dogsitted sooni.   they're great.   that was my third time at cascal.   each time has been great.

last week, i spent much of my time cleaning up the house.   despite that, last week was a relatively exciting week.   otherwise, my life is always decently exciting... at least to me.   i don't know if i need to mention that work has been busy, but it has been very busy.   last week, i tried to get some exercise during lunchbreaks at my company gym but i didn't get to go as often as i had the week before.   so far this week, i haven't gotten any real exercise.   last week was exciting because i got my skateboard.   i got to ride it a few times.   i got to ride with my brother-in-law steve and my nephew mason.   well, mason doesn't ride a skateboard yet but a three-wheel scooter.   still it was fun to ride with them on the sidewalk outside my mom's house.   i hadn't ridden those sidewalks in many years, so that evening brought me back some fifteen years!   last week was exciting, as i mentioned, because we found a beagle on friday but returned him on saturday morning.   last week was exciting because we hosted our bible study group on friday night.   other couples in our group have bigger, more luxurious, and cleaner homes.   however, kaela and i wanted to share our space with them for at least one evening.   we actually wanted to do this back at the end of autumn, like soon after thanksgiving; but the opportunity held out until now, giving us ample time to mess the house back up after thanksgiving.   our house was cleaner at thanksgiving.   well, as i put it to kaela, i'm glad no one made fun of our humble dwelling.   we love our house.   we thank god for it.

i can't believe how little i've gone snowboarding this year.   i'm glad i made the most of my day at heavenly that last time we went with kaela's classmates.   i'm glad i spent a decent amount of time riding rails and the like.   i'm a bit upset that all sorts of random activities keep popping up that prevent me from going snowboarding more.   already, i make a rule not to go snowboarding on sunday in order to go to church.   however, now, lots of church activities are popping up on saturdays.   i'm afraid my next day on the slopes won't be until presidents day!   perhaps at that point i can go on monday and then again on the following saturday.   we'll see.   i'm supposed to plan a weekend trip for our bible study group.   i guess i'd better jump on that.   i shouldn't let myself get so depressed over not being able to go right now that i forget to plan this end of march / beginning of april trip.   yeah, since i plan to help out with the church pack-up on saturday of this week, i hope i can go snowboarding on the saturday after presidents day as well as on presidents day.   that would be cool.   well, at least i have my skateboard now.   i can participate in some boardsport while stuck in the bay area.   (it is funny to say that i'm "stuck" in the bay area because the bay area is a wonderful paradise.)

of course, i still feel a little self-conscious about being a 30 year-old man on a skateboard, while most other skateboarders are in their teens.   last week, i saw webpages that talked about recent activities of all the famous pro skateboarders from my youth.   many of them are still skateboarding and doing it well!   i saw a webpage that had many pictures from a recent "masters" competition at a southern californian skatepark.   all these 30-something veteran pro skateboarders ripped it up!   i read about christian hosoi.   my first skateboard was a christian hosoi pro model.   i read about spencer fujimoto.   okay, he's not an old guy; rather, he's younger than me.   he probably doesn't remember, but i skateboarded with him on a few occasions in the almaden valley, sometimes at our high school leland high school.   he hung out with salman agah, another pro skateboarder at our school.   i remember running into the two of them at showgi, a korean sushi/teppan restaurant in almaden that had a good lunch buffet back in the days.   anyway, it's crazy how he turned into a bigtime pro skateboarder.   i'm glad he seems to have managed to avoid getting into some kind of really drug-filled life.   at least, it seems that way.   i read about other pro skateboarders that ended up being total druggies.   that's a bit sad.   it's like being a rockstar, of course.   yeah, unfortunately, tony hawk's been divorced twice.   san josé's steve caballero's been divorced and has a daughter named kayla.   well, why is it that pro skateboarders are treated more like rockstars than like pro athletes even though they are pro athletes?   in my opinion, they should get n.f.l. treatment.

n.h.s., inc.: my dad likes to joke that when i was a kid i always bought n.h.s. skateboard products like my christian hosoi deck, independent trucks, and santa cruz wheels.   he likes to joke that i always bought n.h.s. skateboards as a kid and then now buy n.h.s. snowboards.   that's true: the two decks that i have owned have both been santa cruz decks.   now, on my new skateboard, i put on bullet trucks and wheels and independent risers.   bullet is the cheap line of n.h.s. / santa cruz products.   actually, bullet was originally just a line of santa cruz wheels; but now it seems to be more of a spin-off brand.   thus i'm still buying n.h.s. products.   that is funny.   however, for my deck, i opted to save a few bucks and bought a mini-logo deck.   i researched the company and felt they make a good product and sell it for a decent price.   later, this week, i discovered that mini-logo is made by powell peralta; it's their cheap brand.   powell peralta is probably n.h.s.'s biggest rival in the skateboard industry.   in the snowboard industry you have burton as the big name.   i think powell is like the burton of skateboarding.   back in the 1980s, both tony hawk and steve caballero were on powell peralta's pro team, which was then called the bones brigade.   this is the first time i owned a powell peralta skateboard product.   the deck seems to be fine.   i like my skateboard and hope to ride it more.

[later] 저녁: you have heard read me say mention in previous recent journal entries that, as the month is now ending, i'll soon have the option of reverting to my benospelling habit as opposed to writing in plain american english.   i mentioned before that i wondered if my current use of plain american english would trigger more hits from search engines.   i also wondered if my use of plain american english would affect the google ads on the archive page.   well, so far, the google ads i get all relate to southern california and the film industry because my first entry of the year talked all about being in southern california and also referenced an interesting article about asian-american cinematography.   *sigh* i wish the ads would change.

today for lunch, i picked up kaela from home, and we ate at thai chili on halford and el camino real.   the food was too spicy for kaela, so she ordered a thai ice tea.   later, since the food was still too spicy, we ordered a cocounut ice cream with sticky rice dessert.   we used this "buy one get one free" coupon from the gift checks book i bought at the santa clara farmers market a couple of weeks ago.   did i mention going to the farmers market a couple of saturdays ago while kaela was at her chiropractic seminar?   that day, i went to the farmers market and then to almaden valley to pick up my uc berkeley diploma from my mom's house just because i noticed that kaela put up her uc berkeley diplomas on the wall of our computer room.

수요일 아침: ahhh, i can write all the benospelling i want now.   woohoo!   what will be my first benospelling wurd?   heh heh... :-) 1 month w/o benospelling down n' 1 new yr's resolution completed.   2day's big silly valley tech/biz news's that google's stock (goog) finally took a tumble.   i have many friends that werk @ google, so i don't rejoice in this; but it is interesting news.   i do wish that 17 months 'go, i had bought ~$100 goog stock n' also wish i could've dumped tons'f goog stock yesterday.   it's funny cos i was looking @ goog stock yesterday just cos i've been researching the stock market a li'l more these days w/ renewed interest in investing.   i don't think i'll be investing in individual stocks netime 2 soon.   more likely, i'll just be buying mutual funds 4 a while.   neway, i was indeed looking @ goog stock yetserday n' imagining how i could've quadrupled my investment.   imagine if i had invested $10,000 n' gotten back $40,000.   even after taxes, wouldn't that buy me a new car? *shrug* maybe u can read this forbes.com article about google: "reading google's tea leaves."   google still has 1 kick@$$ cafeteria!   according to this article, google's 2 secretive 'bout its future.   yah, maybe so.   it cms that everything's sooo top sekret there.   however, all 'round this greater tech industry, that's sort'f the case.   would now be a good time to buy goog stock?   *shrug* i don't have that kind'f $$$.   right???   it takes $$$ to make $$$.

[later] fun with dick and jane was a fun movie.   jim carrey is still a funny guy even if i find that his humour has had the tendency to border on annoying in the past.   while watching the trailers, i observed a trend 2wards movies 'bout young families, ppl like my sista grace n' her husband steve.   wow, the industry cms to c a market in the maturing gen.x, eh?

[later] last nite dubyah had some big speech, n' i guess that's also big news 2day.   well, i guess it was some beginning'f the yr speech, but i don't think he sed nething 2 important, just ur typikal rhetoric.

on the kntv nbc 11 morning news, this 1 funny guy mike inouye has been giving traffik reports each morning 4 the past few months.   he's a really funny guy n' cmed to be gaining a good deal'f popularity as he got his own segment on show or sumpthin' called sumpthin' like "where in the bay area is mike inouye."   neway, he disappeared 4 the last month or so, n' i worried that he left, but i heard the news team mention his name now n' then.   apparently, he n' his wife gave birth to a baby son named mason.   he returned this morn, n' the news team chatted it up 'bout his new son.

[later] 오후: a while 'go, i stumbled upon this kewl site that tells u nutritional information about many restaurants: "dotti's weight loss zone" (http://www.dwlz.com/index.html).   can u believe that the rubio's carnitas street taco is so much healthier than their fish taco?   in fact, the carnitas street taco appears to be healthier than the chicken street taco!

rubio's baja grill - nutritional info

menu item	kcals	fat (g)	fibre (g)	carbs (g)
3 fish tacos	1130	29	10	90
3 carnitas street tacos	640	25	6	59
3 chicken street tacos	640	22	6	57
3 carne asada street tacos	600	29	6	58

thus it appears that carne asada street tacos trumps the others.

ooh, let's now check out in.n.out!

in.n.out - nutritional info

menu item	kcals	fat (g)	fibre (g)	carbs (g)
hamburger w/ onion	390	19	3	39
hamburger w/ onion w/ mustard n' ketchup instead'f spread	310	10	3	41
hamburger w/ onion protein style	240	17	3	11
ch.burger w/ onion	480	27	3	39
ch.burger w/ onion w/ mustard n' ketchup instead'f spread	400	18	3	41
ch.burger w/ onion protein style	330	25	3	11
2x2 w/ onion	670	41	3	39
2x2 w/ onion w/ mustard n' ketchup instead'f spread	590	32	3	41
2x2 w/ onion protein style	520	39	3	11
french fries	400	18	2	54

so apparently, protein style's a good idea... however, it's messy, n' the bun tastes 2 good. *sigh*   notice that the special sauce's quite the culprit!

valentines day 5% off coupon at buy.com for the music, music downloads, and dvds atores - valid feb 1 thru feb 14

목요일 아침: when i looked up "groundhog day" on a korean.english diktionary, i end up w/ "성촉절 suhngchokjuhl."   it's groundhog's day, i guess.   happy groundhog's day.   i need an extension on the snowboarding season; so, yes, i want "winter" to last as long as possible.   man, it's crazy that i spent so much time base reparing n' waxing our boards after our last day on the slopes, n' now we haven't returned to the slopes since.

[later] 오후: check out this article on nbc11.com: "CHP Busts Man Riding With Dummy."   pretty funny, huh?

yesterday, i felt i was coming down w/ a cold.   i was so exhausted after a long werkday.   when i got home, man... i just went straight to bed.   i didn't care that i was going to be @ ~800p.   i slept until the beautiful kaela hwang finally came home.   she woke me up momentarily n' made me eat some kind'f "holistik" medicine n' drink some lemon tea.   then i took a shower n' went rt back to sleep, skipping dinner.   this morn, i aktually did feel better.   whereas yesterday, i had a sore throat; i didn't so much.   i hope i've successfuly defeated this cold, but i've been wrong b4.   it's funny cos on sun, steve n' grace thought mason was gettin' sick, n' i was reminded'f how all'f us were sick earlier in this winter.   i wondered @ that pt if we were all done being sick or not.

[later] 밤, 958p: how r u?   i werked late, then came home n' cooked some 우동 oodong 4 dinner.   the beautiful kaela hwang came home w/ a headache, so she was on the couch watching tv.   i cooked.   we watched this nbc olympic preview thing the whole evening.   yah, it's sort'f getting me pumped a li'l to watch the olympiks.   well, the only events i really care 'bout r the snowboarding 1s, i guess.   i dunno... others r ok.   i guess figure skating's really popular, but i don't care that much 'bout it.   i 'member 1 nite prob'ly a decade 'go now when toby n' i were @ my mom's house in san jo, n' wwe watched this campbell soup figure skating championship where michelle kwan became really famous.   rt off, we both thought she was kind'f cocky; but whatever.   while watching all these clips'f olympik athletes i get sad, thinking 'bout how i'll never be an olympian.   sure, i have hobbies etc., n' i guess i'm ok @ some'f them; i'll never have an olympik medal.   maybe the prob's that i was so unathletik as a kid, n' pretty much all'f these olympians became superstar athletes when they were kids.   it does just go to show what a shame it is that asian parents always just push their kids to study, totally neglekting things like sports.   sucks... but oh well... i hope i don't try to live out my unfulfilled dream thru my own future kids n' push'em 2 hard.

on the slopes, i ride a santa cruz gian simmen pro model.   gian simmen is a swiss snowboarder who won a gold medal in 1998.   he's riding 4 switzerland 'gain in torina this month.   he's only 29, a yr younger than me.

[later] 1041p: in an e.mail to roland, i told him 'bout how these days, i do things on a snowboard that i only dreamed'f doing on a skateboard as a kid, like riding various rails n' catching decent air.   however, now that i'm picking back up skateboarding, i don't expect to do those things on a skateboard.   there just isn't the safety'f decently soft snow underneath.

[later] 1110p: dude, 4 a good laff, go to video.google.com n' type in "curry-n-rice girl."   it's a desi (south asian) parody'f gwen stefani's "hollaback girl."   it's pretty funny.   of course, every1 knows 'bout the "asian backstreet boys" or "asian backdorm boys" from china.   yah, they're pretty funny.   [later] 1127p: cr@p, i just typed in "berkeley" n' saw a berkeley taekwondo demo team video clip!   *sigh* wow... *sigh*

금요일 아침: "tgif"?   this wk flew by.   it's now feb; it's been feb 4 a few days now.   i tried to wake up earlier this morn but didn't really.   i told myself last nite that there'd be no advantage to waking up late 2day.   i don't have 2 much'f a nitelife these days, so i might as well wake up earlier.   in this day n' age, sadly, most young ppl who stay up late prob'ly do so just to be online or to play video games.   this is the digital age, man.   as much as i am indeed a hi.tech guy, i like to do active things: i wanna get out, get exercise, snowboard, skateboard, whatever.   i don't wanna just be online all day, all nite.   un4tunately, i didn't do much aktive last nite, just watched tv n' "surfed" the web.   why do they call it "web surfing" neway?   how is it nething like real surfing?   i guess it's like how a surfer needs to wait in the water n' decide when to take a wave n' when not to.   a web surfer browses the web n' decides when to stick w/ a website n' when not to.   is that rt? *shrug* neway, last nite i told myself that 2nite, i don't have much to stay up late 4.   do i?   i figure 2nite we'll go to our couples bible study n' then just come home n' sleep, rt?   otherwise, we could go watch a movie afterward; i dunno.   in ne case, i don't c ne benefit these days in shifting my sleep pattern ne later.   it's better if i wake up early n' go to bed early than wake up late n' go to bed late.   oh yah, i s'ppose since our dish netwerk is off rt now, while ken renegotiates our contrakt, there's really no reason to stay up late to watch good, korean tv or nething.   there's nuthin' to stay up late 4.

this morn, while i was walking sooni, a couple'f skateboarding teenage boys passed us on the street, n' sooni got all riled up 'bout them.   in the past she didn't like harley.type motorcycles or skateboards.   i assume it's cos'f the noise.   when i got my new skateboard n' rode it 4 the 1st time, i was reminded how noisy skateboards r.   however, on sun, on our way to my mom's house, i kept pace w/ a harleyish cycle on (highway) 85 n' let sooni stick her head out'f the window.   she didn't mind it.   later, that evening, i took her w/ me as i skateboarded w/ steve n' mason.   she didn't mind it.   i've gotta take her skateboarding more often; that's 4 sure.

here's an (mildly) interesting article: "Quiet hybrids pose an 'invisible' risk."   i 'member when i 1st started werkin' 4 the ol' start.up back in sf, my hiring manager had just had (his wife had just given birth to) twin gurls.   he was worried 'bout how the nice sf marina neighbourhood that he lived in had elektric buses which r rather quiet n' that kids might not hear them in then get run over.   how's my car? *shrug* i know b4 i got my current car, i'd read in consumer reports that 1 drawback was its cabin noise.   i don't think that means so much that the engine is loud but that the wind noise is loud when we're driving on the highway.   the beautiful kaela hwang n' i noticed this 1 day; i guess 'twas on our way home from tahoe on our last trip.

here's 'nother mercurynews.com article: "Woman eats 26 grilled cheese sandwiches."   the "100-pound woman" was sonya thomas.   isn't that the asian.am woman who wins eating contests?   i'm guessing she's like a korean adoptee or sumpthin' from the name.   here's her website: http://sonyatheblackwidow.com/.   oh, i c, she's a hapa daughter'f a caucasian.amerikan air force sergeant stationed in korea n' a korean woman.   i c.   what's interesting is that after this grilled cheese contest, she had to rush back by train to andrew air force base in maryland to make her shift as manager @ burger king.   really?   u'd think as a semi.celebrity, she could quit that job, rt? *shrug*

[later] n' that topik sort'f brings me back to my discussion'f the (winter) olympiks from yesterday.   i was pting out to kaela last nite that most winter olympik games/events r not team, point sports.   the only 1 i can think'f is hockey.   they're mostly either racing, individual, or style events.   i dunno how curling is evaluated, but i think it's by distance, rt? *shrug*   yah, boardercross is now in the olympiks, n' that's kewl.   i wish there were more boardercross runs to ride in tahoe.   the 1 i've ridden the most is on smokey @ sierra@tahoe, n' it's not that demanding.   i'd like more competition.style boardercross runs in tahoe!   u know?   i really wanna push myself, to c how i'd do on whatever the real competitors race on.   would i rather be an olympik snowboarder or an olympik taekwondoist?   well, shoot... i think it'd be less dangerous 4 me to be an olympik snowboarder.   sure, i prob'ly wouldn't win, but i'd have less'f a chance'f gettin' knocked da #@¢% out, u know?   in the past there'd been debate over whether to bring skateboarding 2wards the olympiks.   i definitely think that's the direktion it ought to go, while others wanna keep it a renegade hobby.   imho, that attitude would make it more'f a loser aktivity.   u know tho' that olympik snowboarding isn't like x.games snowboarding, rt?   x.games snowboarding is much flashier.   i guess i have more respekt 4 x.games snowboarding than olympik snowboarding.   in a similar fashion, many taekwondoists have more respekt 4 the takewondo world championships than 4 the olympik taekwondo championships; didju know that?   the olympiks differ from worlds in that the weight classes r kind'f skewed, n' some ppl'd say that kind'f puts asian countries @ a disadvantage. *shrug* i dunno.   the did that to get more countries involved, i guess; but still korea n' taiwan dominate, w/ the u.s. winning 1nce in a while as well.   never 4get the issue tho' 'f how there r so few asian.ams on the u.s. nat'l taekwondo n' olympik taekwondo teams, which makes li'l sense as taekwondo originates from korea.   it just goes to show 'gain what a shame it is that asian parents only push their kids to study n' don't care 'nuff 'bout things like sports.

so... now that the olympik winter games r back, we've got the issue'f apolo anton ohno v. korean 김동성 kim dongsung 'gain (in the speedskating sport).   i think some militant asian.ams might totally side w/ the korean competitor out'f "asian pride"; but that aktually doesn't make 2 much sense cos they'd be neglekting the fakt that apolo's also asian.   he's japanese; his last name just looks a li'l not japanese cos'f the chosen romanisation.   i know his dad yuki ohno's japanese, n' he was raised only by his dad in washington; but i'm not sure if his mom jerrie lee's asian or caucasian as that's an ambiguous name, rt?   i wonder why his dad's name is yuki, as that cms like a woman's name.   i'm guessing it's short 4 sumpthin' longer.   back in 2002, when the ohno incident was big news, i wondered if the age ol' korean.japanese disrespekt 4 each other thingy made matters worse. *shrug*   sure, discussions'f ethnic background r often taboo in amerikan society; but last nite the nbc olympik feature pted out that this 1 word.record holding speedskater's afrikan.amerikan.   it's rather paradoxical, rt? that asian.ams r expekted to shut up 'bout their racial heritage while afrikan.amerikans r expekted to be proud'f theirs?   well, it's black history month, n' that's kewl.   dude, if ne'f our future kids were to grow up to be the 1st asian.am olympik snowboarder, i'd be heck'a proud; but i guess it ought to happen sooner than that.

[later] 오후: earlier this wk, some1 @ my office sent out an e.mail w/ a link to an article 'bout some1 who used to werk here who passed 'way.   i clicked on the link n' read the article.   wow! this guy had lived a really full life n' accomplished sooo much.   dude, u've gotta check this out: k, 1st, this guy was a decorated oficer in the u.s. army n' fought courageously in panama n' operation desert storm.   then we went to stanfurd to get a master's degree in some kind'f ieor (industrial engineering operations research) type program.   then, he werked as a manager @ my company.   then he retired n' moved to florida.   then, he joined the key west police dept.   get this: he died @ the age'f 41 while jogging.   while talkin' to my cowerker, we guessed he passed 'way'f a heart attack, but i don't think the article sez what he died'f.   neway, dude... he was only 41!   however, he was able to accomplish sooo much!   i can't believe he'd already retired!   i guess he werked @ our company during the big tech boom'f the turn'f the millennium as he retired in 2001.   i dunno; he werked @ my company 4 @ most 6 yrs, as he got out'f the army in 1995; n' that's assuming he went to stanfurd while werkin' @ my company.   as he was born in 1964, he was ~37 when he retired.   he had a 12.yr.old son.   thus, i guess he had his son when he was 29.   wow, this guy did 'lot.   as we used to say int he late 1990s, "mad props."   here's the article: "In Memoriam: Detective John Piskator" (http://www.keywestcity.com/police/news/news/news_item.asp?NewsID=%20595).

u know... sumpthin' else i realised last nite is this: if i were to google up ne'f my cowerkers, i'd find all these akademic papers, awards, patents...   if i google up myself? *sigh* well, i get all sorts'f goofy stuff like my own webpage.   the only somewhat admirable thing that comes up is a reference on my masters program advising prof's website.   her page mentions my masters project.   i did notice a couple'f nites 'go that kaela had taken my berkeley diploma n' put it on the wall'f our 'puter room.   it's in a frame that s.mike gave me a long time 'go; but the glass frame's chipped.   i was hesitant to put the diploma up since bringing it over from my mom's house cos'f that ugly chip.   well, it's up; up on the wall.   [later] yah, i guess i have a bsme (bachelor's degree) n' an msme (master's degree).   however, i don't have a ph.d or an mba.   if i had a ph.d., i'd really have a "published werk."   i aktually do have a published werk on taekwondo folklore in the uc martial arts program monograph.   [a li'l later] however, i can't even cm to google that up. :-/

do u also ever feel unaccomplished?   1'f my good friends in our couples bible study group tried to reassure me that he thinks i've done so much in my life.   i told him how i have low self esteem 'bout my career that i guess arose from the hard time i had in my early days in berkeley engrng.

토요일 아침, 758a: this morn, i went out skateboarding w/ sooni, n' it felt really good.   i'm very happy i bought this skateboard.   sure, maybe it sounds so frickin' foolish 4 a 30.yr.old to be out on a skateboard, but it makes me happy, takes my mind off'f stress, n' lets me be happier 4 other ppl.   i think skateboarding's a realy blessing from god, i tell u.   if u ask me, it's a posi+ive outlet 4 my energy.   it's just 2 bad that i don't i can't ride 4 as long as i could as a kid.   it's not that i had more endurance back then; i'm much more fit now.   i think there was just a young ambition that i had that, that many kids have.   also, my back gets sore now. heh... old man probs...   neway, it's fun.   i just wish i hads friends to ride w/. :-(.

[later] 939a: i've now rebuilt my beno journal, 2006 edition archive.   check it out.   i know i've lost some entries due to the accidental deletion, but most'f it is there, so i'm happy.   now, i'm going to our church grx to help pack the church to move.   we're "going mobile" as we're leaving our current rented location.   we want to buy a place but haven't found 1 yet.

oh! b4 i take off, here's a cute pic'f sooni n' frankie from our 2 dog nite:

일요일 아침, 915a: 4 the past few yrs, i've been used to waking up early on wknds to go snowboarding.   recently, i've been waking up early 4 skateboarding.   why?   i don't need to drive to tahoe to go skateboarding, whereas 4 snowboarding i do.   so what's up?   well, i don't want ppl to watch me skateboarding cos i'm a 30.yr.old man on a skateboard, n' i'm not daewon song!   usually, if u c an ol' man like me on a skateboard, it's cos he's a pro, rt?   well, i'm not a pro.   i want to skate where no1 can c me.   it's a li'l pathetic, huh?   the cynical benocritic'd insult me w/ such filth as, "man, beno u'r pathetic.   u want to skateboard in private like it's m@sturb@tion or sumpthin'.   u suck!"   man, why do u have to say such raunchy things, eh?   well, u know what?   it's not just that i want to skate in private, but also i want safe streets.   i wake up early n' ride on the streets when there're no cars.   2day as well as a wk 'go, i drove out to an industrial neighbourhood'f the silly valley n' rode on the streets 'round silly valley companies like my own.   there r no li'l punk kids to tease me @ 700a on a sunday outside'f amd, intel, n' applied materials; n' there r also only a few cars.   i don't skate in the parking lots'f these companies cos i don't want security guards or cops confronting me.   instead i stay on the sidwalk n' street.   it'd aktually be safer to be in the parking lots, but oh well.   since i stay on the streets n' sidewalks, i stay mobile.   i just keep on moving.   that gets a li'l tiring, so it's like some kind'f endurance werkout.   it's strange that i ride my streetstyle board instead'f a more com4table longboard since i'm not doing tricks or nething; but longboards r more expen$ive neway.   2day, i tried ollieing.   it's shameful to say, but i can't even ollie up a curb yet.   i can ollie n' get off the ground like an inch, so that's a start.   man, when i was 15, i used to ollie up curbs all the time.   it's crazy, the things i could do when i was 15 but can't do now; yet it's so much more overwhelming the things i can do now that i couldn't do then... n' i'm talkin' 'bout physikal things as well, not just like engineering things!   as i was saying, i'm doing stuff on a snowboard that i only dreamed'f doing on a skateboard.   i get so much more air on a snowboard n' ride rails n' stuff.   well, i used to ride small, small rails on a skateboard.   i dunno, man.   i'm not invincible tho'.   2day, when i was tired, i somehow fell off my board, n' i guess that was my 1st real spill.   i wasn't hurt or nething (as i rolled out'f the fall the way i'd learned in martial arts training), but it was a reality check.   as wheels r smaller these days, it's easier to get stuck on a pebble or in a sidewalk crack.   neway... i still want to keep skateboarding, man.

it's funny cos 2day's the 5th.   it's the b.day'f my childhood best friend jeff picard who used to skateboard w/ me.   yah, u don't 4get dates like that.   yah, i dunno where he is, n' i wonder if he's still skateboarding.   he e.mailed me a few yrs 'go.   he told me he was studying graphic arts or sumpthin' @ san josé state university.   back then, me?   i wasn't skateboarding but was 'least snowboaridng hard.   other than that, i was doing taekwondo full.on n' maybe getting 2 much into the young, asian yuppie scene.   it was, in a way, an un4tunate continuation from when i had started drifting 'way from him in hi.skool when i left the skateboarding crowd to hang more w/ the hard.studying, asian church crowd.   i mean, it's hard 4 me to regret things in life cos god makes everything happen 4 a reason.   if it wasn't 4 my hangin' out w/ the hard.studying, asian church crowd, maybe i wouldn't have been "saved."   then 'gain, back in hi.skool, i had this 1 skateboardin' friend that also played guitar w/ me; n' he was a caucasian dude that went to a korean church.   neway back when my childhood best friend last e.mailed me, i was living in berkeley.   that was kewl, i guess.   it's funny tho' how these 2 crowds've been sort'f on opposite sides'f my life, huh?   neway, i wonder where he is.   if i found him 2day, i'd say happy 31st b.day, i guess.

aktually, yesterday, i killed some time @ the sunnyvale borders n' was reading giant robot.   this magazine's kind'f dedicated to asian n' asian.am pop culture, but this issue had 2 articles 'bout asian skateboarders: 1) daewon song, n' 2) some 1980s asian.am skateboarder named tim hugh.   i really liked what daewon song had to say in his interview.   i'm glad he's an asian.am semi.celeb that doesn't "sell.out" his culture but addresses it.   it's not like he's some militant "azn" gangsta type or nething; but i'm just saying that he didn't say sumpthin' like that cheesy thing kristi yamaguchi sed when she was asked 'bout how it felt to be an asian.am olympik figure skater or whatever.   she totally denounced her heritage.   that was pretty shafeul, if u ask me.   dude, as i sed, i hate how asian.ams r expekted to denounce their culture, while like afrikan.ams or chicano.ams r allowed to embrace n' celebrate theirs.   it's very messed up.   neway, daewon song sed that like skateboarding's 1 sport where asians have a chance to dominate n' that's true.   he mentioned skateboarding, figure skating, n' tennis.   yah, that's true.   daewon song's like my age.

hey, didju ever c that "awful weatherman" video?   u can find it on ebaumsworld.   is that real?   i saw 1st saw it like 1~2 yrs 'go.   it's 'pparently from an ohio university tv broadcast.   it's really funny.   i wonder if my sista's cn it.   i'll e.mail it to her sometime n' ask her if she thinks it's real.

dude, even tho' i got to skateboard early in the morn yesterday n' 2day, i still really miss snowboarding this season.   i must go snowboarding asap!   some'f my cowerkers went 2day, i think.   they purposely went on super bowl sun to avoid crowds.   dude, i personally couldn't care less 'bout the super bowl.

neway, dude, i've gotta bust outta here n' go to church now.   the beautiful kaela hwang?   she's @ yet 'nother'f her chiropraktic seminars.   frick, every wknd, rt?   i need to go off snowboarding on my own more this season. [later] 저녁:

2day
• went to church, grx's 2nd service (1030a, not 1015a as i thought)
• pastor dave chae addressed how 2 many ppl say they're to bizzy to help their fellow ppl etc.
• a great line: no one's impressed w/ ur busyness except u!   that's so true.
• we have a new "couples" pastor: ali hassan.   his wife's karen.   i'm happy our church isn't trying to be exclusively asian.
• went to lunch w/ my mom @ 청기와 chunggiwa: 제육 떡보쌈 과 은대구 양념 구이
• went home to pick up sooni d' flip thru the dog lover's companion to the bay area
• brought sooni to los gatos creek park n' walked 4 a while.
• skateboarded w/ sooni in an industrial neighbourhood near the park
• now, i'm @ kaela's office watching internet videos w/ her.   she's s'pposed to be studying.   that's why she ditched us.   however, she was watching internet videos when i got here.

as u know, i'm so not into ballsports n' am thus fine w/ missing the super bowl rt now.   somehow, i'm instinktively attrakted only to boardsports n' martial arts.   unlike other neo.yuppies, i'm not so into "outdoor" sports.   my snowboarding roots r in skateboarding.   many other bay area neo.yuppies' snowboarding roots come from mtn biking or hiking.   i've never cared as much 4 those but would surely participate if given the chance.   same w/ golf.   while other bay area neo.yuppies r into rock.climbing, i'm not.   last wk, my private skateboarding brought me to the parking lot'f a rock.climbing gym.   rt now, kaela's watching parkour (free.running) videos.   my guess is that the term "parkour"'s a british misspelling'f "par couer" (by heart), is it?   neway, these parkour videos make me look @ rock climbing diff'ly.   man, parkour looks kewl.   it's sort'f combines skateboarding n' martial arts then takes 'way the board n' contakt w/ the opponent.   others'd liken it to gymnastiks.

[later] 732p: this morning, while trying to ride up onto curbs a couple'f times, i scratched the bottom of my new board.   on our last trip to heavenly, when kaela n' i snowboarded down those residential streets, i scratched up the base'f my snowboard n' was a bit sad 'bout that but did some ptex base repair the next wk (back.breaking werk!).   on the drive home from tahoe, i was telling kaela how most skateboard tricks mess up the skateboard in the process, 1 way or 'nother.   think 'bout it: most skateboard tricks involve sliding on some part'f the skateboard, thus wearing it down n' scratching it.   well, cos i know that; i knew not to worry 'bout scratching my new skateboard deck this morn.   after all, that's 1 reason i chose a mini.logo deck, 1 w/o graphics.   i was happy tho' to get a blue deck, as i like the colour blue.   [later] 751p: neway, i realise that i can keep my deck scratchless n' new.   in a way, it's like us humans.   it's impossible 4 us to be sinless.   thus salvation n' admission to heaven only comes thru acceptance'f the sinless jesus christ's death on the cross as atonement.   'nother thing i realise is this: a pro skateboarder creates a werk'f beauty w/ his skateboarding, but in the process his skateboard gets scratched.   yah, we r god's skateboard.   god creates beauty, n' we can be part'f that.   however, in the process; yah, we'll get scratched up... but that's ok.

801p: our house's getting messy 'gain, man.   this really sucks.

2006년01월25일: sooni, rt after my skateboard parts arrived

oh yah, i guess the cat's out'f the bag that kaela's li'l sista's getting married.   u can't n' shouldn't keep that kind'f stuff sekretive 2 long; it's just not healthy.   neway, i kept telling kaela that the next time her parents call, it'd be cos they found out.   well, she finally got that call.

last nite, we were @ our friend's b.day party.

월요일 오후: "it's just another manic monday.   i wish it were sunday cause that's my fun day, my 'i don't have to run' day.   it's just another manic monday." ~ the bangles, "manic monday"   have i mentioned dean gray's american edit?   roland told me 'bout this awesome internet.based album a few wks 'go.   it's an album that remixes green day's american idiot album, inserting samples from various pop n' rock songs as well as from politicians and movies etc.   it's really kewl.   i wish i had the time n' talent to do that, man.   yah, i guess i just haven't really applied myself 2wards finding 15 mins'f fame via djing.   could i do nething that kewl, achieve nething that kewl? *shrug*   neway, 1 song, "whatername," uses the vocals from the bangles song "manic monday."   it's an awesome track.   u know what i just thought'f that's barely interesting?   when the bangles got popular w/ hits like "manic monday," "eternal flame," "walk like an egyptian," and "hazy shade of winter"; skateboarding was going thru its 1980s popularity phase.   that's a li'l interesting to me just cos i've picked back up skateboarding, as u all know by now.   dude, that all happened when i was in middle skool!   *sigh* crazy.   all this 1980s nostalgia's quite crazy, eh?   i haven't been to the mall in a few wks, but i know i've cn more 1980s retro fashion in the past yr, all that lacoste n' le tigré stuff.   dude, when r gotcha, t&c surf co., n' z. cavaricci gonna make their comebacks?   the cyclical nature'f it all, isn't it crazy?   in the 1980s, we had a retro 1950s trend n' a retro 1960s trend, rt?   movies like back to the future got us into the 1950s trend n' all those vietnam war shows n' movies got us into the 1960s trend.   it's all crazy, ain't it?   neway, man; i don't have time to discuss fashion n' pop culture rt now.   what am i thinking?!   i think i've just been feeling a bit isolated since i haven't gotten 2 much personal e.mail in recent wks.

[later] 저녁, 아직도 회사에서: well, i listened to the dean gray album all the way thru yet 'gain this afternoon while werkin'.   i really like it.   that "whatsername" song, if u don't know, turns into a duet btwn billie joe armstrong n' susanna hoffs.   it's great; it's like a musical.   it's like the buffy the vampire slayer musical, rt?   since spike's kind'f a billie joe type, rt?   well, i just wikied up green day.   don't 4get, i was @ a green day / raggedy anns (the donnas) concert w/ phil rt up in the front row back in 1993.   the show was almost empty, n' i had my foot on the stage, while i listened.   that was just like a wk b4 they "broke," man.   i'll keep repeating that like al bundy boasts having played hi skool futbol, n' u know it!   neway, i was reading the wikipedia entry 'bout them.   so "green day" literally means a day spent smoking mariju@na, eh?   gee, i have less respekt 4 them already, i'm sorry to say.   (keep in mind how i prefer to call myself a political progressive rather than a "liberal" cos i believe that the gov't should take care'f its ppl, yet i don't believe in some other so.called "liberal' causes like legalisation'f mariju@na, etc.)   neway, the album's pretty kewl n' hopefully u've heard 'bout it n' can dl it b4 it's gone.

so obviously, v.day's coming up.   how do u like that?   some ppl like v.day, some ppl hate it, n' some r indiff to it.   in genl, i'm ok w/ v.day.   i guess it's a bit'f an effort to go out n' buy a v.day present so soon after christmas.   true, that's a li'l ridiculous.

밤, 1136p: 2nite, after werk, i went to valley fair to look 4 gifts.   i hadn't been to the mall in a few wks.   it felt great to walk 'round in the mall.   i've sed b4 that i like going to the mall.   i stopped by safeway b4 going home.   i bought some salsa, some wheat thins (3 diff healthier types: 100% whole wheat, 5.grain, n' reduced fat), 2 things'f blueberry lite yogurt, some post great grains cereal, some clorox toilet bowl cleaner, some apple juice, ... what else? i 4get.   then i came home n' ate some sausages that the beautiful kaela hwang bought from whole fuds a while 'go.   i grilled 2 louisiana hot links w/ some royal trumpet shrooms n' some red peppers.   i'm worried that the sausages were rotten cos they were so old.   i'm not sure; my stomach might feel funny.

화요일, 1228a: dude, i'm stoked.   i just found out that pro skateboarder christian hosoi's now a christian.   kewl! [later] 아침, 회사에서: dude, i'd like to try to find christian hosoi's e.mail or mailing address n' let him know that i think it's kewl he's following jesus now.   yah, i'd read he'd gone to chino prison 4 drug possession charges a few yrs 'go.   however, dude... that's all in the past, n' the lord 4gives thru jesus.   [later] dude... i didn't find his e.mail or mailing address, but i found his freakin' fon nombre!!!   dude, he's a pastor @ "the sanctuary" church in huntington beach!   awesome.   shoot, well, it's always hard 4 me to call up some1 i don't really know, but i guess i do have the church's mailing address: the sanctuary church h.b., p.o. box 344; huntington beach, ca 92648.   dude, their head pastor was also a pro skater b4.   man, that's awesome.   u know, over the past couple'f wks, i've wondered more why our church doesn't have a boardsports ministry while it has a basketball ministry n' softball team.   dude, i'm gonna contakt our church's staff n' let'em know that if they're up 4 having a boardsports ministry, i'm totally in.

[later] 오후: during my lunchbrk 2day, i went to the werk.com gym n' did some precor n' stretching.   then i ate a veggie burger n' fruit salad @ the werk.com cafeteria.   i sat w/ a cowerker, n' we talked 'bout various things.   it was good to have social interaktion in the werkplace, man.   2 often, i don't converse much w/ cowerkers.

수요일 아침: last nite, i skipped taekwondo praktice to meet up w/ ken, grace, gordon, meredith, billy, n' alan @ the oakridge mall bj's brewery.   i ate a roast beef dip sandwich, which is really a french dip sandiwch, but i know all these "conservative" warmongers in our country have stirred up so much anti.français sentiment that we don't use proper terms like french dip n' french fries nemore but have these lame b@st@rdised terms.   it's stoopid, but what're we to do?   viva la france!   the table also shared some chicken strips n' bruschetta appetizer, a chocochip pizookie dessert, n' 1 pitcher'f stout n' 1 pitcher'f blonde.   dude, i had only like 1.75 glasses'f bier; but in the end, i had to have ken drive my car to his house where i sat 'round 4 a while b4 i drove home.   better safe than sorry neway.   maybe 'twas a bad idea to have 2 diff kinds'f bier?   i would'a thought it was a good idea that we had the stout 1st n' then the blonde later cos i would think the stout'd have more alkohol than the blonde. *shrug*   neway, they were both decently tasty biers.   i have tho' honestly had better stouts.   it wasn't gross or nething; but i've had better... where?   hrm... i 4get... maybe i even like guiness better than this stout. *shrug* where else have i had a stout recently?   was it maybe that i had a stout the last time we went to gordon biersch in downton san jo b4 christmas?   was that aktually t.giving wknd or sumpthin'?   i 'member that the beautiful kaela hwang n' i went to view christmas in the park that nite.   ah... san joséana!!!

2nite, i'm mtg up w/ tim fong.   he's a guy that sort'f likes to discuss san joséana w/ me since he also grew up in the area.   er, or 'least i'm assuming he doesn't mind my discussing san joséana w/ him.   *shrug*   we're mtg up @ the cherry orchard borders.

[later] last nite, i was thinkin' 'bout how i sed that i really like the dean gray "whatsername" track cos it's a beautiful duet btwn billie joe armstrong n' susanna hoffs.   i'm sure many ppl disagree w/ me, saying that the combination'f lyrics don't make sense.   how do the lyrics from "manic monday" fit into "whatsername"?   well, plz allow me to answer that. :-)   yeah, honestly, i believe it's an absolutely beautiful combination: u have billie joe armstrong's pouring his heart out 'bout a lost love, while susanna hoffs whines 'bout waking up 4 werk.   imagine a guy who's been totally crushed n' demolished by a gurl, while the gurl's off w/o a single care 'bout what she's done to the guy... she's totally moved on, n' she's not thinkin' @ all 'bout the guy's feelings, she's only concerned 'bout getting to werk n' if her bed's made etc.   to him, it's the end'f the world; to her, "it's just another manic monday."   if u ask me, it's such beautiful werk'f art that it almost brought tears to my eyes as i listened to it in my car on the way down to blossom valley!   it's just cos guys r 2 sensitive, while gurls r 2 insensitive.   that may sound like a misogynistik statement; but no, i'm not a misogynist.   rather, my view on women's more'f a "can't live w/ 'em, can't live w/o 'em" kind'f view.   i guess i've often been a sucker 4 duets.   after all, the other song i'm totally diggin' these days is definitely the mc 몽 / 옥주현 (mc mong / ok juhyun) track "home run" (the song that uses the melody from when in rome's 1980s hit "the promise).   dude, that song rocks.   also, 'nother song that i've liked in recent months's that honey family track w/ 박혜경 (park hyekyung) "함께 해요 (hamkkei haeyo)."   it's 1'f my ringtones on my fon.   in decades past, i've enjoyed the jesus and mary chain duet w/ mazzy star's hope sandoval "sometimes always."   augh, that's a cute song.   4 ur info, 'nother memorable track from the jesus and mary chain is "head on," n' 'nother memorable track from mazzy star is "fade into you."   another duet that sort'f comes from that era ('least from that era'f my life) is kicking giant's "she's real."   i think u can hear kicking giant's musik in the asian.am film "yellow," rt?

since i ate so much last nite, i'm glad that i went jogging yesterday morn n' this morn w/ sooni.   i also werked out in the gym yesterday n' mon during my lunchbrk.   [slightly later] aktually, i think tues morn was the 1st time i went jogging this whole yr!   i told kaela this morn that it was as if i had made a new yr's resolution not to go jogging or not to get fit or to get unfit. *shrug*   neway, she was unamused, saying that i should've woken her up 4 her class.   (as u c, to her; it was "just another manic wednesday.")   however, she had her alarm set 4 a later time, so i figured that she wanted to sleep in just a li'l; n' also i just kept waking up thru.out the nite cos 1) alkohol does that to u, n' 2) sooni kept waking me up by either tapping the bed by my face or by tapping on the boombox nearby on the floor.   i later found out she was trying to wake me up cos she had absolutely no h₂o to drink.   she had taken this makeshift tupperware h₂o bowl (that we had put in her kennel (cage/crate) while her normal porcelain 1's in the dishwasher) out'f her kennel n' put it on the floor to show us that she had no h₂o.   that was very cute.   however, pet hydration is a serious issue!   stay hydrated n' keep ur pet hydrated!   oh, i just realised that i didn't eat brkfast 2day.   originally, i was planning to eat the leftover 0.5'f my french dip sandiwch 4 brkfast, but i ended up deciding not to.   i didn't wanna just stuff my face cos my stomach had expanded from eating so much the nite b4.   i guess i ate a few wheat thins, while packing some to go.

free shipping on everything at the official sony online store tuesday - thursday only.   valid 2/7 through 3/30.

[later] 오후: 점심에 회사의 체육관에서 운동했어요.   그때 회사의 카페테리아에서 샀는 샐러드 와 어제밤의 남은 샌드위치를 먹었어요.   배 불렸어요.   during my lunch brk, i werked out @ the werk.com gym.   then i ate a salad that i bought from the werk.com cafeteria n' last nite's leftover sandwich.   i'm full.   @ the gym 2day, i didn't do ne precor or stairmaster.   instead, i lifted weights, stretched n' did sort'f plyometric n' agility exercises; i.e. i did squat jumps n' then 360° turn jumps (both frontside n' backside).   yah, these days i'm telling myself to be less shy 'bout doing "less than normal" or "not quite normal" exercises in the werk.com gym.   i don't care if ppl think i'm weird that i'm jumping all over the place n' doing side stretch kicks or side kick stretches.   whatever, man... @ least i can!   it's good 4 my health n' fitness, n' i feel better doing stuff that i like n' feel better knowing i can do stuff that i like.   frick, not every1 loves basketball.   i don't love basketball.   i'm a boardsports athlete n' a martial artist.

someday, i'd like to get more into surfing to complete the snow, skate, surf triad.   yesterday, in the morn, i saw on nbc 11 news that the mavericks surf competition was going on in 0.5 moon bay.   kewl.   check ou the sj mercury news article: "Surprise winner at Mavericks: FIRST TIME INTERNATIONAL OUTSIDER WINS" by kim vo n' ken mclaughlin.   i 1st heard 'bout mavericks from that dokumentary 'bout "big wave riders" that talked 'bout mark foo's death there.   oh, from the article, i've learned now that the famous surfer named "flea" isn't flea from the 1980s~1990s~2000s pop funk rock grp the red hot chili peppers.   oh, ok.   oh, man... the article sez that there were no major injuries but that "a 39-year-old Redwood City woman and her 9-year-old son were taken to Stanford Hospital after some rocks on the cliff dislodged and crashed down on them as they watched the contest. . .   The woman, who was transported to the hospital by helicopter, suffered a severe back injury, O'Keefe said. The boy was treated for minor head injuries. Their names were not immediately released."   thus it's safer to surf in the surf contest than to watch it?

[later]

• i've always thought i value friends n' friendships.
• i wonder if i'm less social than i used to be or if i'm more anti.social than i used to be.   (perhaps the 2 differ.)

universalgear.com

[later] last nite, i skipped taekwondo praktice to go out w/ my ol' friends.   kaela called it a much needed night out 4 me, n' she's rt.   u know, i just don't get 'nuff human interaktion these days.   yeah, i do talk to cowerkers a li'l, n' i need to more.   however, sometimes i also just think engineering can be a more social career than it seems to be.   in the past, i'd been shy 'bout conversing w/ cowerkers, but i've been trying to shake that.   part'f it had been due to how i always cm to be so much younger than my cowerkers, but *shrug*... 1) the age gap is slowly closing as i get older, n' 2) i just shouldn't care.   i don't think it's that i'd been 2 "stuck.up" to socialise w/ older cowerkers but that i'd just been shy.   however, i know that ppl who r shy r often perceived by others as being stuck.up.   me, i really haven't ever considered myself shy @ all; but *shrug* have i been?   that's a question.   neway, yah... i went out last nite w/ my ol' hi skool friends, ditching taekwondo praktice.   u know, in a way i chose 1 social setting over 'nother; but in 'nother way, i chose the more social'f the 2.   ever since the establishment'f the cal taekwondo party crew, i'd always considered taekwondo to be an extremely social aktivity 4 me.   4 so long, it was where i found most'f my friends n' where i maintained most'f my friendships.   however, i'm sort'f embarrassed to admit that in my current taekwondo environment, i sometimes feel a bit awkward cos i'm so old.   that's quite a contrast from the imediately previous discussion, eh?   well, i share the common bond'f taekwondo but sometimes get lost in the conversation when it switches to college life or worse yet high school life.   this surprises me cos i've always considered myself very immature, not just youthful but flat out immature.   who knew i could feel lost in a discussion via feeling 2 old?

피터 팬의 비애 (the sorrow'f peter pan): imagine being like peter pan n' thus 4ever young.   does peter pan ever feel like he doesn't fit in w/ all the kids he hangs out w/?   even tho' the kids perceive him on the outside as just 1'f them; inside, peter knows he's much older.   thus, does that make him feel awkward?   no, he doesn't want to grow up; and thus he should be happy that he never does.   however, does he ever feel weird that he can't help not wanting to grow up?   does he feel weird that he just knows so much more than the kids he hangs out w/?   they're discovering new things every day; but so many'f those things r such old news to peter.   he could be a total know.it.all to the kids he hangs out w/, but then he wouldn't fit in w/ them.   what does he think'f the people who were 1nce kids w/ him but have since grown up?   those kids grew up, got nice jobs, n' bought lexii (plural'f lexus).   no, he doesn't want a lexus; but does he feel weird that he doesn't?   un4tunately, i'm not literate 'nuff to have read peter pan, but i did watch robin williams's hook.

would i want to be a kid 'gain?   in addition watching to hook, i have watched movies like big, in which an adult takes on the form'f a youth.   last nite, @ ken's house, i saw our ol' hi skool senior class picture, leland hi skool class'f 1993.   funny, 4 that pic, i stood next to my ol' best friend jeff that i mentioned in sunday's entry "waking up early 4 skateboarding", 2006년02월05일.   in those days, i hadn't been hangin' out w/ him so much, un4tunately, prob'ly due to the "track" system (ap n' honours classes) as well as all my fast track extra.curricular aktivities like musik, cultural clubs, akademic clubs, n' church.   however, since he had been my best friend 4 most'f my childhoold; i'm glad i was fotographed next to him 4 that class pic.   it's funny cos i had crazy, dyed, deep red hair, n' he had dyed black hair.   neway, cing that pic was quite sumpthin'.   i saw all these faces that i barely recognised, ppl whose names sometimes escaped me.   i couldn't believe how much fashion has changed, especially 4 the ladies.   i could barely pick out ne females that didn't look dated, i.e. outmoded.   u know what tho'?   in a way i hope none'f them regret that 2day.   after all, u should look a li'l dated in ur hi skool pic cos that was a time'f life when u should've gone w/ the hippest trends @ the time, rt?   well, shoot... honestly, when i saw myself in the pic, i didn't look dated or outmoded.   i obviously didn't look like myself 2day, being that i was much heavier/fatter then.   however, i didn't look trendy; i just looked like some alternaculture misfit/punk.   do i regret that? heck no!   maybe i'm even immature 'nuf 2day to say i'm proud'f that.   if i could run 'round 2day w/ long, dyed purple hair but not be all fat like i was back then; would i?   heh, good question.   however, most likely not.   kaela sed b4 that she's very happy that i used to be like that in the past but is also happy that, in a way, i got it out'f my system.

[later] 저녁, 아직도 회사에서: i'm embarrassed to say this, but i'm still infatuated w/ the dean gray american edit internet album.   maybe roland'll be proud to hear that, since he was the 1 that pted me in its gen'l direktion.   no, more than that, i think he just plain sent me a link to dl it.   (ppl r just obsessed w/ jokes 'bout "in [such and such's] general direction" these days cos'f some unknown interest in role playing games, which apparently sometimes use that term.)   here's a comparison'f the track listings 4 the green day album versus the dean gray album.

trk#	green day american idiot enhanced	green day american idiot	dean gray american edit
01	american idiot	american idiot	american jesus
02	jesus of suburbia	jesus of suburbia: jesus of suburbia / city of the damned / idon't care/ dearly beloved	dr. who on holiday
03	city of the damned	holiday	boulevard of broken songs
04	i don't care	boulevard of broken dreams	the bad homecoming waiting
05	dearly beloved	are we the waiting	st. jimmy the prankster
06	tales of another broken home	st. jimmy	novocaine rhapsody
07	holiday	give me novacaine	impossible rebel
08	boulevard of broken dreams	she's a rebel	ashanti's letterbomb
09	are we waiting	extraordinary girl	greenday massacre
10	st. jimmy	letterbomb	whatsername (susanna hoffs)
11	give me novacaine	wake me up when september ends	boulevard of broken songs (dance mix 05)
12	she's a rebel	homecoming: the death of st. jimmy / east 12th st. / nobody likes you / rock and roll girlfriend
13	extraordinary girl	whatsername
14	letterbomb
15	wake me up when september ends
16	the death of st. jimmy
17	east 12th st.
18	nobody likes you
19	rock and roll girlfriend
20	we're coming home again
21	whatsername

[later] sometime last wk or so, when i wasted an evening watching stoopid google videos, i saw this 1 produktion by an asian college kid.   it was this artsy slideshowish piece 'bout (i can only guess) a gurlfriend who dumped him.   it just had repeated, flashing images'f him n' his gurlfriend w/ like broken lines separating them.   it also had pictures'f what i can only guess r prob'ly memorable places 4 the couple.   i couldn't tell which country this all took place.   i saw english signs, but it certainly didn't look like the usa.   neway, the film was set to "boulevard of broken dreams," n' was titled "i walk alone."   it's not the absolute kewlest thing i've ever cn, but it's slightly interesting.

[later] 밤, 아직도 회사에서: ah, i knew it!   the male vocals that get matched up w/ those from "boulevard of broken dreams" to make the duet in "boulevard of broken songs" r those'f oasis!   i knew it.   they're from oasis's "wonderwall."   uhm, do i have that album (cd)?

man, i'm not look 4 pity or nething, but it's sad how many times a day i check my inbox n' don't find ne personal e.mail.   even sadder is when i'm disapopinted in not even finding spam.

밤, 1126p: so i just got back from hangin' w/ tim fong @ borders.   kaela also came cos she sed she'd study.   we talked 'bout martial arts, n' they got me more inspired to do more martial arts.   i had some flashbacks to a time when i spent more time practicing taekwondo.   i also wonder, tho', how i can apply some'f the martial arts priniciples we discussed to snowboarding.

목요일 아침: 저의 손가락 끝들이 아파요.   my fingertips hurt.   they're dried n' cracked open.   yes, i've been using lotion; but somehow this morn, i found them split open.   this is not unusual 4 me, un4tunately.   this happens all 2 often.   however, 2day, it's even a bit painful to type.   this morn, i didn't go jogging.   instead, i sort'f slept in n' sort'f watched katie couric n' matt lauer banter in torino 'bout the winter olympik games.   c, yesterday morn, the beautiful kaela hwang got upset @ me 4 waking up early to jog but not waking her up.   2day, in a way, i played it safe by not getting out'f bed b4 her. *shrug* neway, while lying in bed, i pondered going to taekwondo sparring praktice 2nite n' thus skipping out on both jogging n' my lunchtime werkout.   (i have had days where i jogged in the morn, werked out @ the werk.com gym @ lunch, n' then went to taekwondo praktice in the evening.)   i thought maybe my ol' college roommate friend vince would have lunch w/ me 2day; but when i got into my office 2day, i got his e.mail that he'd like to skedule 4 2morrow instead.   ok.   well, i went to the werk.com gym to werkout during lunch.   after doing some leg lifts (lying on my back on the sit.up bench, holding the sit.up leg support thingy n' lowering n' raising my legs 2gether to the middle, left, n' rt) n' some biceps curls; i hopped on an open stairmaster.   instead'f puttint it on a fast setting.   i left it on a modest setting, @ which i could exercise w/o holding the rails.   while exercising, i concentrated on proper breathing.   it was a decent werkout.   neway, i resolved to go to the gym on next monday, n' just go out onto the shaded patio n' full.on praktice taekwondo... maybe i'll just do basic kicks, maybe i'll do 품새 poomsae.   i was inspired by talkin' 'bout martial arts w/ tim last nite, u know?   i've prevented myself from prakticing taekwondo 4 2 long now.   since moving back down to the sobay, i haven't praktice taekwondo nearly as much as i used to.   instead, i do more gym werkouts.   however, i realised 2day, "man, what i really like to do as far as physical aktivities r boardsports n' taekwondo!   when the heck did i get sucked into the whole gym fitness thing?   i'm not richard simmons.   i should just do the things i like.   @ the root'f it all, i should be the man god intended me to be.   last wk, a guy told me i should go play basketball w/ his grp.   i sed, 'yah, i'm horrible @ ballsports.'   he responded, 'no, don't worry; we just mess around n' play.   no 1's that great.'   well, what i was really trying to say n' what i should've sed is, 'i don't like ballsports.'   they just don't interest me."   every day, guys play basketball outside'f the werk.com gym.   why shouldn't i just find my shady spot on the patio n' do what i like.

30 going on 13: the other day, when i was skateboarding w/ sooni in the industrial neighbourhood outside'f the los gatos creek park, i came upon an intersektion where a middle.aged husband n' wife were getting out'f their silver beamer.   the wife had just put on rollerblades.   @ that instant, i thought, "wpw, isn't this funny?   maybe some ppl think that it's immature'f me, a 30.yr.old engr, to be out on a skateboard; but i'm really no more immature than this late 30s woman on her rollerblades.   we're both being a li'l bit youthful, i guess.   after all, i 'member being 12 yrs old in the late 1980s when i would ride a skateboard n' other kids would ride rollerblades."

last nite, out'f curiosity, i looked up on friendster ppl in the area over age 25 that skateboard.   urg, the results were pretty bleak.   i found plenty'f ppl; but these ppl listed like 20 hobbies each, so i knew like maybe only 1 or 2'f them really skateboard.   most'f them just put "skateboarding" on there 4 some unknown reason.   on my friendster profile, i just have "taekwondo, snowboarding, n' djing" as my hobbies.   yah, those r my core hobbies, my core competencies as far as extra.curricular aktivities.   also, online last nite, i wikied up "parkour."   yah, parkour's pretty kewl; but i don't think i'll ever add it to my list'f aktivities.   others have noted its relations to both skateboarding n' martial arts as well as gymnastiks.

go skate or go home: in the recent giant robot interview w/ daewon song that i read, daewon mentions that so many ppl 2day like skateboarding fashion but don't skate.   that's sooo true.   just think'f all the ppl who wear element t.shirts or dc skate shoes, etc.   it's pretty crazy.   back when i was a skateboardin' kid in the 1980s, the meanies in the grp would've got all'f these ppl poseurs.   however, wow! it's so accepted 2day.

[later] 1048p: dude, i'm watching the funniest video on video.google.com!!!   i got to it from bronx's junkyard.   search 4 "yellow fever."   dont worry, it's not as offensive in ne way as u might think.   ah, it is filmed @ ucsd!  i thought saw.   when i saw the library, that was a giveaway.   oh, if typing "yellow fever" into the search box cms to weird, try "wang fu productions" or aktually "wong fu productions."   again, it's really not as offensive as u might think; rather, it's a lighthearted look @ race.gender issues; very lighthearted.

금요일 아침: i wikied up some protestant denominations such as "evangelical covenant church" and "methodism,"   1 interesting fakt i learned is "The United Methodist Church allows for a wide range of theological and political beliefs.   For example, Republican President George W. Bush is a member.   Vice President Dick Cheney attends the United Methodist Church (though he is not a member).   Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Edwards are both members of the United Methodist Church."   i'd known 4 a li'l while that our church grx's evangelical covenant denomination was aktually established by swedish immigrants. *shrug* semi.interesting fakt...   altho' our church doesn't have female pastors, the denomination'll ordain female pastors.   i agree w/ that.   i've been somewhat curious 'bout the diffs btwn diff denominations 4 a while now.

last nite, i went to taekwondo sparring praktice n' got a bit banged up.   i need to spar more in order not to feel so banged up.   lemme tell u: the more u spar, the less those incidental knee clashes n' bashed arms hurt.   it's good to tuffen up!   after praktice, i came home n' ate a leftover quizno's sandwich that the beautiful kaela hwang had left in the fridge a few days 'go.   after i finished that small sandwich, i ate 2 many tortilla chips w/ salsa.

[later] 오후: yet more salsa - i met up w/ vince @ sunnyvale's cherry orchard strip mall.   we ate @ chipotle.   we each ate a barbacoa (braised, pulled beef) w/ black beans n' s'pposedly hot salsa; but we also shared an order'f 4 crispy chicken tacos.   mmmm... 'twas a pretty good meal, eatin' so much.   honestly, i was a li'l disappointed w/ some'f the fud @ chipotle, but the shear quantity that we ordered still satisfied me.   that was only my 2nd time @ chipotle.   the 1st time was in washington, d.c. when kaela n' i were there as part'f the martial arts demonstration team at the smithsonian institute's silk roads folklife festival in the summer'f 2002.   that time, i was so disappointed that a joint called "chipotle" served surprisingly mild n' somewhat bland fud.   as much as i want to like chipotle 4 its spicy name, i experienced the same feeling 2day.   don't get me wrong; the fud was fresh n' 'f decent quality; but it just didn't have the spiciness or spice i need.   i was happy to lunch w/ vince.   it's great to have just a casual lunch w/ a friend now n' then.

i found a link on tim fong's xanga to this interesting piece'f prose: "The Theory of Counterinsurgency in Six Easy Paragraphs" By William Christie; January 31, 2006.   that's great prose.

[later] 저녁, 아직도 직장에서: here's the wikipedia entry 4 chocolate: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate.

[later] 밤, 831p: it's fri nite, n' i'm home typing on my laptop while sooni n' kaela both sleep.   it's only 831p!   kaela's tired, i know.   she studied late last nite n' went to skool early this morn.   i have absolutely [i]no[/i] clue what time she got home last nite.   however, since i skipped jogging this morning, i got to c her in the morn as she rushed to class.   neway...

discussion'f wong fu productions' obviously kick@$$ movie yellow fever: i'd like to share an excerpt from my recent post on bronx's junkyard forums:

Originally Posted by K-1:
Great video! Funny as f$#k! but I gotta say, that dilemma only applies to west coast asians.

yah, west coast asian.am culture certainly differs from east coast asian.am culture, no doubt!   well, as far as this "dilemma," i've gotta say that i notice so much more'f the 1980s~200s pacific rim phenomenon on the west coast than on the east coast.   the east coast is stilil more influenced by europe than asia.   here, on the west coast, yah, most ppl (asian or not) r influenced by asian culture, if not 4 ne other reason, 'least 4 bizness.   over here, so much bizness is btwn the u.s. n' asia.... take silicon valley's semiconduktor industry 4 example!   so many'f these employees either travel to asia or deal w/ asian customers who come over here.   thus, these ppl ('gain whether asian or not) pick up 'least a li'l asian culture, whether they like it or not... 4 example, yah... u get the white dudes that sure know how to say "ni hao ma."   heh, but it's more than that... like, u know, u get lots'f non.asians who r into asian pop culture (movies, music, anime, drama, fashion) n' definitely asian fud.   like, in cali, u definitely notice not just the caucasians pickin' up on asian culture but also the latino.chicano community.   dude, in gen'l, they're really into 1) pho w/ sri racha sauce, 2) kimchi ramyuhn, 3) japanime.based culture.   oh... n' martial arts of course!

furthermore, i know east coast asian.ams tend to stay w/in their ethnic community more so than west coast asian.ams... west coast asian.ams believe much more in the idea'f pan.asian.am ethnic identity, etc.   well... that's even more so in norcal than in socal.   the way my wife (benogurl) put it, in socal, u have more recent immigrants.   the language barrier keeps them w/in their ethnicity.   however, up in norcal, u have more asian immigrants that came here after college etc. (to a great extent to find jobs in the hi tech industries here), n' thus they n' their children end up mingling w/ ppl'f other asian ethnicities more.

...

also, there's sumpthin' else i wanna say 'bout this film.   well, maybe 2 things:

1) it's a great example'f filmakers' using the internet 4 distribution.

2) it's a great example'f how asian.am cinema has moved from an alternaculture realm to a more "mainstream" world.   what do i mean by that? well, have u been to asian.am film festivals?!   well, consider this: the recent hit better luck tomorrow, yah, that movie portrays well very typical cali asian.am kids.   however, that movie differs much from most asian.am movies in asian.am film fests in earlier yrs.   u c, in earlier yrs, most asian.am films were always made by the alternaculture types.   they weren't just asian.am films, they were distinktively indie films.   the films had indie rock tunes 4 soundtracks.   the charakters were more often rockers, bikers, punks, skaters, goths, hippies, intellekts/intellektuals, beatniks.   otherwise, consider this even more extreme example... that such a great percentage'f asian.am films in those asian.am film fests in the old days were gay films!   i was always annoyed by that... not cos i'm that homophobic or that i don't respekt gays... rather it's cos honestly, so few (in the big pikture) asians r gays, so why were so many asian.am films 'bout gay asians?!   it's cos gay asians were the asians who were out making movies while the heteros 'mongst us were going to engring n' bizness n' med skool!   however, times have changed.   sure, maybe it's to the chagrin'f some gay asians, but i feel modern asian.am cinema better portrays the lives'f well... "average" asian.ams.

[later] 952p: an ad - alibris

a li'l earlier, i went out to $hop 4 kaela's v.day present.   i discovered that what i want to get her is much more expen$ive in stores than it is online.   i don't htink it's worth buying it in a store just to have it by 2morrow.   after all, we're going to a really nice re$taurant 2morrow nite 4 dinner.   i've already told her it's a restaurant français n' that it's very nice.   since she doesn't read my journal nemore, i'm just gonna go 'head n' blab out where it is: it's chez tj in mtn view.   hopefully, that nice dinner'll make up 4 the tardiness'f the present. :-?   neway, after i gave up on buying the gift 2nite, i wanted to skateboard, so i gave myself the excuse'f needing to go to the bank n' skateboarded to the bank n' back to my car.   2nite, i was worried that i'm getting a cold cos my throat felt a li'l funny.   4 dinner... man... 4 dinner i ate trail mix, a slice'f white chedder cheese, n' then a slice'f whole fuds bread w/ some laffin' cow cheese (la vache qui rit fromage) n' a microwaved turkey ball park frank.   dude, that sounds like seriously bachelor fud, eh?   well, aktually, it tasted rather français to me... uh, ou peut.être il est juste mon imagination!   (or maybe it's just my imagination.)   in my mind, i pretended it was more'f a hot brie n' ham sandwich, u know?   sandwich au brie chaud et jambon!!!

i'm not a balla. - even tho' i'm not into basketball, i'm very happy that my alma mater cal berkeley beat stanfurd in men's basketball last nite.   kewl!

월요일 아침: "it's just another manic monday."   last nite, i stayed up 2late watching the 2006 winter olympik games on nbc 11.   i guess shaun white's the big winner, the only 1'f the hi profile u.s. athletes to have a success story.   i mean, michelle kwan dropped out due to an injury (n' i'm aktually really sad 'bout that even tho' i sed in an earlier entry that toby n' i thought she was really cocky the 1st time we saw her on tv), bode miller didn't place, neither did daron rahlves.   apollo anton ohno?   wipeout.   man, i feel bad 4 him 2.   like, sure i knew korea totally owns that sport, n' i'm all 4 that; but i would've like to c him 'least get to go to the finals.   i guess ... [interrupted]

plz use my link when u buy wedding presents etc.: link to macy's wedding n' gift registry

[later] 오후: 2day@werk.com, i moved cubicles.   now i'm farther from the entrance/exit n' rt next to my manager.   [later] cos'f the move, i didn't go to the gym 2day, so i didn't boldy praktice taekwondo like i sed i would.   yah, to be honest, i was already rethinking that.   after all, ppl from the main office bldg would be able to c me out there.   u know, yah, i'd be a li'l embarrased 'bout prakticing taekwondo w/ ppl watching me; but i've gotta remind myself that there's a diff btwn me n' ppl who really do make fools'f themselves prakticing martial arts in publik, n' that is that i aktually know what the heck i'm doing.   i mean, heck! i was a demo team leader; i specialise in doing taekwondo in publik!   what the heck, u know?   [later] 저녁: during my lunchbrk, i went downstairs to the werk.com cafeteria n' ate w/ a cowerker, maybe an effort to be more social, u know?   i had this mahi.mahi burger w/ fruit salad.

this past wknd was valentines wknd:

• 02월10일, 금
• i had lunch w/ vince @ sunnyvale's cherry orchard chipotle.
• we each ate a barbacoa braised, pulled beef burrito w/ the "not as hot as it was s'pposed to be" salsa n' split an order'f 4 chicken crispy tacos.
• oh, i already toldju 'bout all this.
• i came home n' the beautiful kaela hwang was asleep...
• i already toldju all this.
• 02��11일, 토
• woke up early n' skateboarded w/ sooni 'round the neighbourhood.
• i think parents n' kids @ the hi skool thought i was weird or maybe even a loser to be a 30.yr.old guy on a skateboard.   whatever.
• brought a tired sooni home.
• drove off to habitat 4 humanity but pulled over in the middle'f silicon valley (silly valley) to skateboard some more on my own.
• gettin' my ollie back: i realised what i needed to do diff'ly in orer to ollie.   u c, i'd read on a web page that, when u ollie, u've gotta jump 4ward.   yah, i guess so.   i guess when i was a kid, it came naturally, but i'd 4gotten what it felt like to jump 4ward in order to catch up w/ my board n' then go 4wards just a li'l more in order to push the board down in the middle'f the ollie.   ah; it all made sense.
• i went to habitat 4 humanity n' werked hard 4 a full day.
• we ate lunch @ baja fresh.   thus i had 2 corporate taqueria lunches in a row.
• man, that day @ habitat 4 humanity exhausted me!   our grp hammered n' hammered n' hammered.
• i showered, kaela came home from her chiropraktice board review in hayward, n' we went out to dinner @ chez tj, an extravagant, contemporary restaurant français on villa st. off'f castro st. in mtn view.
• kaela's order:
• baby octopus: fresh hearts'f palm, perserved lemon, berbere
• bay scallops n' sweet shrimp: vanilla.butter, wood ear shrooms, chard
• slow poached beef tenderloin: local shrooms, pearl barley, oxtail consomme
• bay leaf crême brulée: pear sorbet, hazelnuts
• decaf french roast café
• beno's order:
• chilled carrot soup: dungeness crab, sea urchin roe, lime
• spanish mackerel: poulpe "linguine," red lentil, cumin
• declinasion'f duck: huckleberries, red cabbage, roibus
• warm chocolate soup: roasted bananas, chestnut ice cream
• decaf french roast café
• wine: 2004 kabinett riesling, dr. loosen villa woolf, germany
• amuse bouche: avocado custard w/ salmon roe (ikura)
• sherbet: sweet apple gelatin
• we had a 630p reservation n' were thus in the 1st'f 2 seatings 4 the nite.   we finished early n' went home.   we were 2 dressed up to go watch a movie.
• as a v.day present, kaela gave me the latest depeche mode cd (the enhanced version w/ dvd) n' tix to go watch depeche mode live @ the shoreline amphitheatre on april 27!   wow!   i told her w/ my picking back up skateboarding n' then going to a depeche mode concert, it's really like i'm in hi skool 'gain!   this is kewl tho'.
• 02월12일, 일
• kaela went to her chiropraktic board review in hayward.
• i went to church, the 900a (earliest'f 3) services @ grx; met up w/ my mom there.
• after church, my mom n' i went to duk kyung's restaurant: sushi boat town in south san jo (south san josé).   i had a ¢oupon book ¢oupon, n' duk gave us the hookups as well.   'twas awesome!   i had a good lunch w/ my mom.
• 'twas a beautifully sunny day.   i'd told my mom that i'd go home n' clean; but i really wanted to stay out to enjoy the weather.   i discovered a song that was very appropriate 4 the day.   u should call it the theme song 4 yesterday.   epik high's "ride."
• i behaved n' went home n' did chores: laundry, vacuuming the house n' my car...
• then i took sooni out to buy some much needed gas @ costco.
• then i took her skateboarding 'round some silly valley office bldgs.   yah, it was a bizzier street so ppl so a 30.yr.old man riding a skateboard w/ a silly doggy.   whate'er, man!   let'em say what they wanna say.
• then i took sooni to pet fud express to buy her some yummy chummies.   she's better 'round other doggies now.   kaela n' i believe it's all cos'f her 1 day n' 1 nite w/ frankie.
• i went home.   kaela had some leftover enchiladas from chevy's.   we ate that n' some soggy salad.

"ride" by 에픽하이 epik high feat. l.wan

[song] baby~ baby baby baby~
너를 타는게 참 좋아 baby
baby~ baby baby baby~
너와 달리는게 좋아 baby~

[tablo]
일과도 끝나고 떠나 보고파도
그 좁은 차도위로 where you gonna go?
tablo skateboard타고
brake도 없다고 거리위로 큰파도
가슴은 두근두근 주변 사람은 수근수근
내 발밑에 뜬 근두운
작은 꿈을 꾸는 나 맘이 편해져 when i'm with ya
같은 곳을 향해 사랑의 평행선을 그리자
rail slidin' kick flipin' grindin'
난 상관없어 저 규칙의 사이렌
내 멋대로 살아요 내 천사는 그의 날개를 발목에 달았죠

[song]
baby~ baby baby baby~
너를 타는게 참 좋아 baby
baby~ baby baby baby~
너와 달리는게 좋아 baby~

[bridge]
i wanna ride with you my baby~
(on ma skateboard, on ma scooter, in ma car)
epik high mithra, tukutz, tablo!

[mithra 진]
오늘도 달려 나의 스쿠터는 바람속을 갈라
속도는 좀 느리다해도 외관은 달라
마치 탱크와도 같은 강인함속에
나와는 착 달라붙는 호흡 만족해
꽉 막힌 이 도시를 누비며 달려 어느 곳이든
부르릉 엔진 소리는 불빛의 눈이 모이는
도로의 흐름을 타고 외쳐 날 보라고
타 보라고 이 뒷자리의 주인을 찾노라고
난 원해 이 도시 새벽 공기를 가르며
두 팔로 날 안으며 바람 속에 둘만 남는 것
남은 건 남들의 쓴 시선을 다 받는 것
모두 웃어 넘길 그녀란 보석을 찾는 것

[song]
baby~ baby baby baby~
너를 타는게 참 좋아 baby
baby~ baby baby baby~
너와 달리는게 좋아 baby~

[bridge]
i wanna ride with you my baby~
(on ma skateboard, on ma scooter, in ma car)
epik high mithra, tukutz, tablo!

dude, that was the theme song 4 sunday.   i took sooni 4 a "ride" on my skateboard n' a ride in my car!

키노황@cheztj.com, kenohwang@cheztj.com

수요일 아침: in the end, last nite, i skipped taekwondo praktice.   i rushed home n' was gonna change (clothes) n' pick up sooni 4 taekwondo praktice; but then the beautiful kaela hwang came home.   that surprised me.   i thought she was just gonna study all nite as usual.   well, she sed she wanted to go out 4 a v.day dinner.   of course, i'd already taken her out to (mtn view's / mountain view's) chez tj (on villa st. off'f castro st.) on sat nite 4 an opulent meal.   however, she sed this 1'd be her treat.   we tried to find a restaurant in my gift checks ¢oupon book that didn't have a "no holidays" restriktion, since most merchants'd prob'ly be sneaky n' call v.day a holiday even tho' it obviously really isn't.   we 1st headed back out to mtn view, thinking we'd hit up some place called asian fusion café.   however, they were, to our surprise, closed on v.day evening.   whah?   r they just plain not very smart???   what kind'f restaurant closes on v.day evening?!   neway, we gave up on the gift checks book n' ended up @ a li'l, unpretentious joint called "pasta?".   btw, check out this online article 'bout the "gift checks, inc." company: "No discounting the success of this coupon book business".   until recently, i kept getting "gift checks" n' "entertainment book" mixed up.   when i was a kid, my mom'd sometimes buy these ¢oupon books.   i think the 1s she'd buy were "gift checks" books.

neway, after all this delay, we decided to visit "pasta?".   we 4tunately found a decent parking spot in a publik lot 'cross castro st. from the restaurant's hi profile location.   we walked in the cool, brisk, chilly february nite air.   in the past couple'f wks, the bay area has experienced abnormally warm weather in feb.   can u believe that they monterey area had 84 °f weather some day in the past couple'f wks?   that's amazing!   4 some reason, monterey was warmer than the bay area proper.   i dunno why, but there must be a logical, meteorological explanation.   as we approached the restaurant's entrance, i recognised a distant cowerker'f mine, n' she recognised me, so we waved hi.   it's funny cos kaela n' i'd also cn her @ santana row 1nce, which makes her 1'f very few cowerkers that i've cn out in publik.   i always wonder where my cowerkers hang out cos it's an absolutely huge company but i rarely c ne cowerkers in places where i frequent. *shrug* i wonder if many'f them just stay @ home n' don't go out.   neway, kaela n' i got seated @ 1'f the tightly spaced couple's tables.   kaela n' i figured they must've broken up dual tables originally set 4 4 into numerous 2.person tables 4 v.day, which in turn greatly reduced the space btwn tables.   having been sf area local in the past; i.e. since we used to hang out in sf all the time when we lived in berkeley; we were used to this tight table arrangement.   in sf, where land is obviously extremely precious, many successful n' critically acclaimed restaurants occupy small properties n' thus have tight space btwn tables.   also, i guess in sf, restaurants usually hardly "family establishments" but better fit 4 raomantik "couple's dinners," so having many "couple's tables" tightly spaced makes more sense. *shrug* neway, we sat down @ our table.   u know, i'm glad that encyclopedia brown books taught me as a kid how to properly sit @ at table as a lady n' gentleman couple, i.e. i, as a gentleman, know where to let my lady sit relative to the architecture'f the restaurant.   dude, i realise that so many guys these days don't know how to be gentlemen, but whatever, man.

@ "pasta?", we shared a insalata spinacci, which had plenty'f bacon.   kaela ordered some kind'f spaghetti tutti di mare.   i had this overpri¢ed (n' not worth it) fusilli con salciccia.   kaela had a glass'f pinot grigio w/ her meal, n' i had a glass'f "house" chianti.   'twas great to be out on v.day evening.   we decided not to have coffee or dessert @ the restaurant but instead head over to ne'f the numerous nearby boba cafés.   'twas very cold outside, so we hurried over to the nearby tapioca express that we spotted earlier from the parking lot.   we wanted hot drinks.   kaela tried out the hot barley milk tea w/ taro balls (which were cubes), n' i tried out their hot peanut soup.   we found it interesting what kind'f grps we saw out n' 'bout on v.day nite: couples, dates, friends...   kaela sed that it's ok 4 2 single gurls to go out sort'f to console each other on v.day nite but asked if it's ok 4 2 guys to do the same.   *shrug* i guess so.   i tried to think back to v.days past, when i was single. *shrug* i recalled 1 v.day in berkeley; i guess v.day 1999, when i went out w/ a grp'f guys from the cal taekwondo p. crew (party crew) but ended up mtg up w/ a co.ed group also from our taekwondo grp.   i recalled that was the nite i met several'f our friends like romy, young, n' tiffany.   after we finished our drinks, we went home.

[later] 저녁: during my lunchbrk, i went to the werk.com gym.   i lifted some weights n' then did my jumping plyometrik exercises.   i guess i'm gettin' ready 4 snowboarding this wknd.   i also did crunches n' reverse situps or back situps.   my back's felt pretty ok lately; but i worry that snowboarding n' (more so) driving'll strain my back this wknd.

화요일 오후: recently, i had a thought re: my journal - is it more important 4 me to dokument n' record my thoughts or my aktions???   is it more important 4 me to have plenty'f these weekend updates n' "what i ate 4 lunch" details, or is it more important 4 me to have long schpiels n' monologues re: asian.am culture, etc.?   *sigh* i guess diff ppl have diff kinds'f blogs: some talk 'bout all the fun things they do w/ their friends over the wknd.   others talk 'bout religion n' politiks n' don't mention much 'bout their personal lives.   what kind'f online journal should the beno journal be?   *shrug*

this was a pretty packed presidents day wknd.   i'm happy i aktually got mon off.   my company doesn't give out many holidays.   i guess i miss how the 1st company i werked 4 (ebmud had a 9.80 werk skedule, paid overtime, n' plenty'f holidays.   neway, i've been saying lately how on wknds, i hafta decide whether to be a skateboarder or a snowboarder.   on sat, i snowboarded.   on sun, i skateboarded.   on mon, i snowboarded.   pretty crazy, eh?

• 02월16일, 목 (thrus)
• werk as usual
• werk.com gym werkout @ lunch as usual
• cooked some refrigerator pack 짜장면 jjajangmyuhn in the morn to bring 4 lunch instead'f buying werk.com cafeteria fud.
• rushed home a li'l early (not early but simply "on time") to go watch cirque du soleil w/ the beautiful kaela hwang.
• met up w/ her classmate friend sna n' his gf ponya, went to dinner @ minato sushi in sj j.town.   (kaela ordered tempura udon, i ordered oyako donburi, n' we shared a minato roll.)
• we watched cirque.   i liked the bed trampoline akt, the chickens, n' the general silliness'f it all.
• 02월17일, 금 (fri)
• werk as usual
• during my lunchbrk, instead'f werkin' out @ the gym as usual, i took my car in 4 an oil change @ the santa clara precision tune auto care on east el camino real.
• ate a burger king salad while waitin' 4 my car.
• the shop sez i need to change out my timing belts n' radiator hoses.
• in the evening, (i wondered if we were gonna help judge the us taekwondo akademy 심사 belt tests but didn't) i took kaela out to dinner @ dusita, a surprisingly nice thai restaurant on el camino near san tomas.   we had a bogo (buy 1 get 1 free) entré ¢oupon from my gift checks ¢oupon book.
• potak soup
• shrimp pad see ew
• lemon basa (they were out'f seabass but offered a "white fish" called "basa.")
• 음료 beverages: thai ice tea 4 kaela n' a 11.5 oz bottle'f singha thai bier 4 me.
• we went home n' finally watched the 동감 donggam ("ditto") dvd that kaela's li'l bro jay gave us 4 christmas 2004.
• 02월18일, 토 (sat)
• woke up early 4 snowboarding: i was s'pposed to meet up w/ mark, grace, n' kaz @ kaz's house @ 530a; n' kaz was s'pposed to drive us up to sugar bowl in his pathfinder.   however, his pathfinder started to make a funny noise, so we switched to my car.   that would've been the 1st time in yrs where i went to tahoe 4 snowboarding but wasn't the driver!
• on the way up, we stopped by the burger king in cordelia to get brkfast.   u c, i received some burger king ¢oupon book in the mail a while 'go; so that's why i ate so much burger king .   i had the enormous brkfast sandwich.   i blotted much grease out'f that thing.
• chain control on the 80, but i have subaru all wheel drive on my 1999 forester s.
• well, on the slopes, i met up w/ matt (the kid that always beats me up @ taekwondo these days) n' snowboarded w/ him the whole day w/o ne fud, h₂o, or pee breaks!!!   dude, i'msure the last time i did that was w/ s.mike in the real s.mike days, rt?   crazy, dehydration made my muscles cramp up.   matt sed i needed to 1) put his friends in their places by showing them my snowboarding skillz, n' 2) teach him some things.   since he was so eager to ride w/ me, i couldn't refuse n' went w/o those breaks.   i finished the day by regrouping w/ my passengers @ the terrain park.   we had lots'f fun, n' every1 caught air.   however, i was more into riding rails than jumps cos the powder was slowing me down 2 much to get good air.   i think i ride rails better now; i hope so.   the sun shone thru 1nce in a while; but it snowed 4 a good while, n' mostly it was just plain cold.
• on our drive back, we stopped in sakramento to eat @ chili's.   i had the classic fajitas (steak n' chicken), a side salad w/ hunny moutarde dressing, n' blackberry ice tea.
• oh yah, kaela went to yet 'nother'f her chiropraktic seminars, n' that's why i went w/o her.   when i got home, she still wasn't home.
• 02월19일, 일 (sun)
• i woke up early n' skateboarded in the heart'f silicon valley, 'round my company n' other semiconduktor industry companies.
• to my surprise, kaela n' i made it to the 900a service @ our church grx.   i guess she was motivated cos we were set to meet her classmate friends rachel n' ken 4 lunch.
• b4 lunch but after service; rachel, ken, my mom, kaela, n' i went to costco.   we bought our kirkwood 2pac (2.pack) tix.
• then rachel, ken, kaela, n' i went to lunch @ 청기와 chunggiwa (blue stones), 1'f our favourite local korean joints.   we ordered 버섯 불고기 buhsuht boolgogi, 해물 전골 haemool juhngol, n' 해물 파전 haemool pajuhn.
• after lunch, kaela n' i went to sports basement to buy some hand/toe warmers then set out w/ sooni to look 4 snow.   'twas a bunch'f fruitless driving.   we tried to drive up to mt. hamilton; but 1) a sign sed the rd was closed, n' 2) i took a wrong turn n' got spit back 'way from the mtn neway.   (we drove thru 1'f san jo's few remaining "scary" neighbourhoods.   however, this area has really cleaned up,)   then, i took hwy 17 to look 4 snow in the santa cruz mtns.   crazy; i must've looked crazy w/ my snowboard still atop my car.   we found no snow, n' i turned 'round @ scotts valley.   i then drove us to whole fuds.   i let kaela go in n' gro¢ery $hop, while i took sooni 4 a walk, then skateboarded w/ her 'round the block.   i thought kaela'd be done by then; but i tied sooni outside n' went in.   she talked 4 a very, very, very long time w/ some 4mer classmate'f hers, this dude that talked 'bout how he was getting divorced n' all.
• we went home, n' i washed a ton'f dishes while kaela cooked pasta.
• my college program cowerkers called me, n' we made plans 4 snowboarding @ kirkwood; i was stoked that they were finally gonna snowboard w/ me this season.   in case u haven't noticed, i feel really unpopular these days.
• as usual these days, i went to sleep early.
• 02월20일, 월 (mon) - 대통령의 날
• we woke up 4 snowboarding.   kaela still woke up late, but i'm just glad she woke up.
• we picked up my cowerkers n' headed up to kirkwood, stopping by the downtown stockton mcyukyuk's 4 a sausage mcmuffin brkfast.   many homeless ppl n' daywerkers hang out there.   kaela sadly lost 1'f her wool mittens there. :-(
• chain control on the 88, but my forester was waved thru as usual.   plenty'f traffik tho'.   i'm sure the local yokels out there just get on the rd n' clog up traffik to pi$$ off bay area visitors.   kirkwood wants to expand (n' they definitely should), but locals r protesting it.
• we snowboarded a full day.   kaela n' i started out heading 2wards the side w/ sunrise.   we boarded there 4 a while n' ate a really cr@ppy lunch on that side.   then we made our way back to the original side (timber creek).   we boarded the terrain park @ the end.   yah, i had plenty'f fun riding rails n' catching air.   kaela caught lots'f air 2 n' had fun.   we didn't get to board w/ my cowerkers tho'.   i think they figure they can't keep up w/ us.   it was a sunshiney day.
• on the drive back, we stopped 'gain @ that mcyukyuk's to look 4 kaela's mitten, but it was lost 4 good.   kaela n' i ate some junk fud there: a spicy chicken sandwich meal n' a double ch.burger.
• i dropped kaela off 4 her chiropraktic tutoring lesson in fremont then drove my cowerkers back to santa clara.
• when i got home, i was exhausted.   i showered.   sooni barked 'bout noises outside, n' i saw a group'f teens on the sidewalk, hangin' out in the dark.   it looked like they were up to no good.   i heard them shaking spray paint cans.   i recognised them as a bunch'f white bmx biker kids that i'd cn @ a house down the street.   were they up to no good?   well, my having been a skateboard kid, i didn't wanna be quick to judge.   i went outside n' brought the garbage can in from the street, letting them know that i knew that they were there but nuthin' else.   i realised tho' that ppl might mistake me 4 a teenager myself maybe... i mean, i'm sure i don't look that young, but if u c m riding down the street on a skateboard, "30 yr.old engr" prob'ly isn't ur 1st thought.
• later, i dozed off, n' kaela woke me up, telling me to pick her up from her classmate's place in north park.

sometime last yr or so, i told duk to join mypoints.com to earn free stuff just 4 reading e.mail ads.   he joined it, n' i think he likes it.   i've earned 'lot'f free stuff from them over the yrs.   i get pts if i refer u, so lemme know if i can send u an invitation.

수요일 아침: w/ presidents day on mon, this wk's flying by.   even crazier; feb, as a short month, 's almost over.   it's still cold n' 'specially briskly chilly n' frosty in the morn.   (@ wendy's hamburgers, u can get a frosty n' chili.   it wouldn't be a really healthy meal, but u can do that.)   the cold weather, both here in the bay area n' up in tahoe, has cracked my fingertips open.   it hurts my rt pinky finger to type as the crack on that finger is right on the tip or pad.   i s'ppose i ought to bandage that tip up.

smartbargains: cuisinart smartpower premier blender cbt-500fr - $ale pri¢e $39.98 (retail $54.99)

[later] 오후: yesterday afternoon, the beautiful kaela hwang called me from 한국 마켓 hangook market.   she was gro¢ery $hopping.   i commented that our house had no fud.   that's strange tho' cos i did go to the rivermark $afeway last wk, didn't i?   was that not on wed nite a wk 'go? *shrug*   neway, she bought lots'f gro¢erie$ n' then went home.   after my long werkday, i went home to grab my stuff n' rush to taekwondo praktice.   of course, i would've liked kaela to join me: but instead, she stayed home to study (no surprise).   well, she also cooked dinner, so that was very nice.   i went to praktice, had a really relaxed/chill praktice, n' then came home.   i didn't get 2 much'f a werkout.   however, i wasted much time just chatting w/ guys.   matt sed he wants to get a freebord.   he sed that when he noticed my skateboard in my trunk.   a freebord's a skateboard that s'pposed to ride very much like a snowboard.   yah, that'd be fun; but... *shrug* hrm, do u think i should get 1? heh... it's ok.   they're s'pposed to be good 4 downhill riding.   s'pposedly u can carve n' stuff.   matt sed there's lots'f videos online.   i'll hafta check'em out.

neway, when i got home, i was happy to c that kaela had cooked us dinner. :-) i was very eager to eat.   this made me very happy.   kaela doesn't do this much, 'specially not nemore; but she not only cooked dinner but told me she vacuumed the house earlier.   well, as expekted, i found kaela in our bedrm watching the winter olympiks in there cos our living room tv doesn't get ne reception rt now cos we rn't getting dish netwerk @ the moment.   well, kaela loaded up a tray full'f fud to bring over to the bedrm, so we could sit on the floor n' watch the olympiks.   she made some mapo tofu kind'f dish that looked so delicious as well as some kind'f 찌개 jjigae... sumpthin' w/ lots'f 해물 haemool.   she loaded the tray w/ a big bowl'f the tofu n' then put 2 bowls'f healthy rice on there.   then she put a pot'f tea n' the whole pot'f 찌개 jjigae (stew/soup).   she walked off w/ the tray 2wards the bedrm n' asked me to bring some cups.   oh yah, she also put a couple'f plastik containers'f 반찬 banchan on there.   as i reached into the cabinet 4 the cups, i heard a loud, loud, loud crash n' breaking porcelain. <:-o :'(   oh no!!!! she had run into the vacuum cleaner that she left out in the hallway from earlier n' everything fell!!!   there was red 찌개 all over our beautiful walls, on our beautiful vettriano painting, n' even on the ceiling!!!   it was awful!!!   we were both very sad.   kaela had werked so hard to cook us a nice dinner, n' now it was pretty much all gone.   i spent a long time cleaning up the mess.   i ate the li'l bit'f remaining tofu w/ a li'l bit'f the remaining healthy rice.

we watched some olympik women's figure skating.   i was impressed w/ what i saw.   it was very easy 4 me to fall asleep after the olympiks show was over.   i could barely stay 'wake 4 the news n' the beginning'f leno.   these days, i sleep early n' wake up early.   however, i've developed a bad habit'f waking up @ 600a only to sit in the bed 4 1~1.5 hrs watching the nbc 11 news n' the today show.   sure, it's nice to keep up on current events, but i ought to get my @$$ to werk even earlier, despite the fakt that i'm pretty much the 1st 1 in my grp to get there each day.   luckily, i have an easy commute.

last nite, sooni barked cos our neighbours' kid had some loud friends over or sumpthin'.   it was like on mon nite when i heard those loud, white bmx kids out on the sidewalk, sounding like they were up to no good n' ready to graffiti w/ spray paint.   i let sooni out into the backyard cos @ 1st, i wondered if there were kids breaking into our backyard.   then i realised that the sound was coming from outside our neighbours' house, n' that it was their kid n' his friends.   dude, when did the kids in my neighbourhood become so rowdy?   this morn, i saw cigarette packs on the street in fron of my house.   annoyed, i kicked them 2wards our neighbours' house.   i talk to the dad now n' then.   he's a really nice guy, a house painter.   the mom's talked to me 1nce.   i guess she's shy; so she only talked to me 1nce to confirm that the power was out on the whole street 1 day a long while 'go.   the son?   he's like 1~2 yrs out'f hi skool.   i've never talked to him; but i'd be willing to.   the neighbourhood hi skool cms to have some kind' f "ski week" this wk cos i don't c cars parked out on the street by the skool.   i feel so awkward that i can sometimes be mistaken 4 a teenage punk on my skateboard, yet @ nite i must resemble a grouchy, cranky senior, old man.   i s'ppose some ppl'd say i ought to mature n' akt like the 30.sumpthin' neo.yuppie i'm s'pposed to be.   however, *sigh* that's just not me, man.

[later] "see the stars.   they're shining bright.   everything's alright tonight." - from depeche mode's "never let me down again"   while listening to "nothing's impossible" from depeche mode's current playing the angel album, i'm reminded'f those lines from their ol', monumental music for the masses album.   however, i'd always been mistaken, under the impression that the line was "see thes stars.   they're shining bright, shining bright for me tonight."   *shrug* of course, the smashing pumpkins had an awesome cover'f that tune in the 1990s.   isn't their an album'f depeche mode covers on which the cure does a depeche mode cover???   depeche mode (n' maybe also smashing pumpkins) fanatiks sometimes acronymise "never let me down again" as "nlmda," similar to how trekkies acronymise "the next generation" as "tng."   this new "playing the angel" album leaves us in awe w/ how it blends sounds from d.mod's past w/ new sounds.   wow!   @ times, i feel like i could be listening to b.sides from music for the masses or else from songs of faith and devotion.   of course, i've yet to hear a new depeche mode song that is 2 reminiscent'f speak n' spell, which's their 1st album.   wow, imagine if they had a song similar to "boys say go" or "pretty boy" in this post black celebration era.   yah, i think if u take d.mod pre.1986 n' juxtapose it w/ d.mod post.1986, u'll find plenty'f contrast.   aktually, i guess few ppl know what d.mod was like pre. catching up 'cept 4 "just can't get enough."   wow.   u ppl don't know what d.mod was like under the influence'f erasure's vincent clarke, eh?   ooh, man... u guys have 'lot to learn.   i wish i could teach a berkeley de.cal musik appreciation class re: d.mod.   uhm, in case u didn't figure it out, "d.mod" was an appreviation 4 "depeche mode," that some ppl used in the late 1980s.   back then, alt rock (alternative rock) was called modern rock n' usually abbreviated as "mod."   in a way, the poppiest that d.mod's been since the black celebration era is their violator album.   some'f those songs were quite poppy.   of course, "but not tonight," which is 1'f my all time favourite songs, from black celebration, 's an obvious exception.   it was featured on the soundtrack to some kind'f teenybopper movie.   i think 'twas a british movie.   later, scott weiland from the stone temple pilots covered it 4 not another teenage movie's soundtrack.   that cover, however, took it from it's parodoxically chipper form into a more somber mode, sumpthin' ppl've come to expekt more'f d.mod themselves, rt?

"Americans work more, seem to accomplish less: study" - y! news article by ellen wulfhorst.

월요일 아침: do u guys know the christian author max lucado?   a long time 'go, our ol' church gave me a copy of his book when god whispers your name as a graduation present from grad skool.   honestly, i hadn't gotten 'round to reading it.   however, yesterday, while i was waiting 4 nelson @ valley fair, i went into borders express n' decided to check out their limited selektion'f religious books, their christian books in particular.   max lucado's li'l book it's not about me caught my eye because the li'l hardcover book looked invitingly short, not some verbose beast that'd throw me into slumber.   i flipped thru it's not about me n' found it interesting.   however, yah, i guess i already have max lucado's when god whispers your name, so i'll try to read it now.   neway, cos i saw max's book, i went to his website http://www.maxlucado.com.   i read his piece 'bout god n' war, which he apparently wrote in 2003 when dubyah's ridiculous war on iraq began.   well, altho' i was disappointed to find his writing to be all 2 much in the typikal "i'm a christian conservative n' thus must support the republikan president (altho' i never supported demokratik clinton)" style, i'm open.minded n' objektive 'nuff to find wisdom in it nonetheless.   in this piece, max quotes c.s. lewis:

"does loving your enemy mean not punishing him?   no, for loving myself does not mean that i ought not to subject myself to punishment - even death.   if you had committed a murder, the right christian thing to do would be to give yourself up to the police and be hanged.   it is, therefore, in my opinion, perfectly right for a christian judge to sentence a man to death or a christian soldier to kill an enemy.   i always have thought so, ever since i became a christian, and long before the war, and i still think so now that we are at peace.   it is no good quoting 'thou shalt not kill.'   there are two greek words: the ordinary word to kill and the word to murder.   and when christ quotes that commandment he uses the murder one in all three accounts, matthew, mark, and luke.   and i am told there is the same distinction in hebrew.   all killing is not murder any more than all sexual intercourse is adultery.   when soldiers came to st. john the baptist asking what to do, he never remotely suggested that they ought to leave the army: nor did christ when he met a roman sergeant-major - what they called a centurion.   the idea of the knight - the christian in arms for the defence of a good cause - is one of the great christian ideas.   war is a dreadful thing, and i can respect an honest pacifist, thought i think he is entirely mistaken."

[later] dude, i'm on such a trip reading the website 4 the evangelical covenant church's magazine the covenant companion.   dude, the articles r so wise n' talk 'bout important, "relevant" issues!

[later] 오후: i went out in the rain to meet the beautiful kaela hwang in milpitas @ some strange chinese restaurant called zhao's hot pot that has "i love you little sheep" and "i'm hungry little sheep" writtn on the windows.   when she invited me onver the fon to join her there, she called the restaurant "i love you little sheep."   neway, she ordered the neuromien (beef stewe noodles) w/ wide noodles 4 herself n' the spicy hot pot noodles 4 me.   i got there just b4 the fud arrived.   my dish was a li'l weird w/ tons'f healthy animal parts/organs.   it only weirded me out a li'l cos i'm asian 'nuff to eat organs n' parts, no biggie.   i enjoyed the intestines n' tripe fine.   the liver pieces were a li'l strong in flavour n' the blood (선지) was more solid than what i was used to eating in 해장국 haejanggook.   i had had such a frustrating morning @ werk that i was very glad to drive thru the rain to eat animal parts.   kaela doesn't know how much i appreciated having lunch w/ her just now.   these r the kind'f mon morns that can really crush a man!   i refuse to gripe 'bout werk on my journal cos i value my job.

[later] "stupid, sexy flanders": sometimes i wonder if i'm 2 much'f a ned flanders.   sure i'm all wrapped up in church aktivities like ned flanders, but let's not consider that 2 much'f a bad thing.   however, sometimes, if u ask me, fladers has a hard time accepting his salvation thru jesus christ's crucifixion and worries 2 much 'bout legalistiks or buying his salvation thru deeds or aktions or behaviour.   i shouldn't be like that.   am i sometimes 2 much'f a goody.goody?   well, that's not my main concern 'bout being 2 much like ned flanders, tho'.   ned flanders bottles up his anger n' is just all grins n' chuckles n' "hi diddly ho there, neighborino" all the time, rt?   do i just bottle up my anger all the time?   seriously, i'm trying not to be a passive aggressive.   i'm also trying not to be a doormat.   in some episdoes, u c that ned's aktually very fit, very buff, n' very athletik.   yah, i wouldn't mind being those things.

now, where did i leave off updating u on my life?   i guess i left off w/ last wed.   lessee, on last tues nite, kaela tried so hard to cook us a wonderful dinner but ended up spilling it all on the hallway floor.   *sigh* that was sad. :-( wed nite, i think i cooked us dinner, didn't i?   or no?   hrm, maybe i'm thinkin' 'bout fri nite.   hrm, wed nite... i think i just ate leftovers by myself.   i ate leftovers from the wk's b4's dinner @ minato sushi as well as the previous sun's lunch @ 청기와 chunggiwa.   1 day last wk, i don't 'member which, i ate a sandwich 4 lunch from the werk.com cafeteria n' 'nother day i ate a salad from the werk.com cafeteria.   on thurs nite, after taekwondo sparring praktice, a bunch'f us went to eat @ 옛날 짜장 yeitnal jjajang.   'twas a fun nite, n' i enjoyed socialising w/ the taekwondo guys.   kaela also came out w/ us.   i ate 쇠고기 볶음빱, which comes w/ a side'f 짜장 jjajang n' a side'f 짬뽕 국물 jjambbong gookmool.   'twas a great dinner, but i really should cut back on my eating!   lately, i've just let loose, let go; but i shouldn't.   on fri, i had free werk.com pizza (not very good) 4 lunch during some lunchtime seminar.   in the evening, after werk n' b4 going to grx t3 south couples small group by myself, i cooked some 우동 oodong @ home 4 kaela n' me.   that was decently tasty.   on my way home from small group, i stopped by the homestead, santa clara safeway to buy some gro¢eries such as organik 오렌지 쥬스 oreinji jyooseu, black olive hummus, honey ham, honey turkey, n' bananas.   @ safeway, there was this grp'f somewhat rowdy hi skool kids.   the guys were trying to look all the gangstaish, n' the gurls were basikally wearing nuthin' more than l!ngerie, walkin' 'round the store (like, some kind'f silk nightgownish, short dresses w/ garter belts... seriously/honestly, i didn't get a good look).   sure, it's all got this "shock value," n' the gurls were attrakting attention by dressing like that.   however, i heard these 2 safeway employee guys talkin'.   i'm sure the 1st guy sed sumpthin' like, "dude, look @ that."   i heard the other guy reply, "dude, i'm not gonna look @ that.   they're just kids.   what am i gonna do?"   i know what he means.   i knew what he meant.   like, sure these gurls r attrakting attention by showing flesh; but really, 'f what interest is that to me?   sure, i'm a guy, a hetero guy; but like... still, that's not'f interest to me, so i'm not gonna stop n' stare n' encourage that kind'f nonsense.   that brings me to a somewhat related topik: as i'm a guy, yah, if a pretty gurl walks by, in all honesty, yah, i might notice that the gurl is pretty.   however, there's no reason 4 me to dwell on it.   i'm a married man; n' in fakt, i've married a woman that u all know i believe is the most beautiful woman in the world.   i know other beauty exists in this world; but well... so it does.   what more would i say 'bout that, u know?   it's good that beauty exists in this world; n' if u ask me, we should all try to make this world a more beautiful place. "there he goes 'gain, that ned flanders!"

on sat morn after kaela left 4 her weekend chiropraktic class (she basikally has been going to chiropraktic classes 7 days a week these days), i took sooni 4 a jog 'round the neighbourhood.   then i drove to church (grx) n' skateboarded 'round that area 4 a while.   on sat, i started noticing sunnyvale police watching me so closely when i'm on my skateboard.   wow, this is such a life lesson 4 me: if ppl view me as a 30 yr.old asian.am engr, the cops won't watch me like this.   however, when ppl view me as some punk, counterculture skateboarder, the cops r watching my every move.   i noticed this - if i just roll by n' skateboard as if i'm doing it 4 transportation, it's not as bad as if i cm to be lingering in 1 spot trying to do tricks etc.   in dog.training, we have a phrase "four on the floor," which means that a well.behaved doggy has all 4 paws on the floor, thus he's not jumpin' all over the place or humpin' legs or nething.   well, it cms that "four on the floor" applies to skateboarders 2.   cops'll tolerate skateboarders better if we're just rolling on all 4.   if they c wheels leave the ground, then they'll suspekt that we're out to grind up precious architecture.   "skate and destroy" used to be a motto.   i'm slowly getting my ollie back, but i noticed on sat that i'm now wearing an ollie hole in my vintage style reebok sneakers.   altho' kaela cms to detest those shoes, i like'em; so i guess i'll go to designer shoe warehouse (dsw) n' buy a ¢heap pair'f skateboarding shoes sometime soon.   on sat morn, i werked @ grx, packing up stuff n' moving stuff out to p.o.d.s. (portable on demand storage).   it was good exercise.   'twas a dangerously sunny day.   i don't want skin cancer.   after moving stuff, i thought i'd go to cityteam ministries to help out w/ the bbq there to help feed hungry ppl.   well... i got lost on the way n' never made it.   instead, i went to the great mall to look 4 b.day persents.   i didn't find ne presents but ate a somewhat unhealthy lunch there @ some chinese or vietnamese owned japanese fast fud stand in the fud ct.   the fud was mediocre n' overpri¢ed.   i bought some huge combo meal cos it came w/ a free soda; but that was cos i didn't realise how big the combo meal was.   had i known, i would've bought sumpthin' smaller n' ¢heaper.   i had a yakitori skewer, some beef teriyaki, some steamed white rice, 2 만두 mandoo (gyoza), some chow mein, n' some steamed veggies .   i ate my lunch, trying to eat slowly 4 better health.   then i strolled 'round the mall but found no good gifts.   i noticed that abercrummy n' b!t¢h has decided to make a strong presence @ the great mall to funnel loose change out'f kids while pushing their racist, white suprema¢i$t agenda.   i also noticed lots'f asian.owned n' operated novelty stores that reminded me'f taiwanese nite markets.   not finding nething, i left the mall but walked into home depot to look 4 a ¢heap, small adjustable wrench to keep in my car 4 snowboard n' skateboard maintenance.   eh, they were out, so i wasted my time but $aved $$$.   the 6" adjustable wrench was $9.99.   dude, @ that pri¢ i might as well buy a specialised skateboard maintenance tool, sumpthin' like what used to be called a "skate key."   eventually, i'll need to clean n' lubricate my bearings.

well, kaela n' i were s'pposed to take grace n' ken out 4 their b.days on sat nite, but they cancelled on us n' reskeduled 4 sun nite.   after i came home from the great mall (it was hot outside!) i rested on the couch n' felt like i was really "taking a sabbath" 4 1nce.   god wants us to take a sabbath 1nce in a while.   i surfed the web 4 clips'f olympik snowboarding n' also 4 skateboarding videos.   wow, daewon song's amazing.   @ nite, i took kaela to dinner @ khanh's the contemporary vietnamese restaurant by valley fair.   then we went to amc mercado 20 to watch the pink panther.

[later] wow, i just found some lost journal entries from last dec: 2005년12월14일~16일.

화요일 아침: i had a very frustrating day @ werk yesterday.   @ the start of the day, in the morn, i had to interakt w/ this particuluar person who has absolutely no ppl skills or tact.   i, of course, won't say who it is or whether he even is a co.werker or or just some1 i hafta interakt w/.   interakting w/ this guy reminds me'f interakting w/ a certain dysfunktional roommate i used to have, some1 who also completely lacked ppl skills or tact.   ppl like these do n' say mean things just cos they can.   sure, they're totally entitled to; it's a free world, there's freedom'f speech; n' their harsh wurds r s'pposedly even helpful cos they're s'pposedly so honest n' candid n' such good feedback or whatnot.   however, in the end these r just lame excuses 4 lack'f charakter, excuses to be mean just cos perhaps ppl've been mean to these ppl in their pasts, so they want to lash out @ whomever they can n' @ whomever cms to be a nice 'nuff guy to take their verbal n' emotional abuse.   r these viktims just nice ppl?   they obviously r trying to be nice ppl but these awful charakters try their patience, i'll say.   these nasty ppl r obsessed w/ legalistiks but ignore justice.   it's a mad world, i tell ya.   all this passive aggression in various forms n' the awful thought that u've either gotta be passive aggressive or else a total outrt, explict @$$hole.   yah, u could put it that way: if u call the ppl who rn't like these guys "pushovers," then obviously, these ppl r flat out @$$holes.

neway... just dealing w/ the cr@p i had to put up w/ yesterday morn seriously "ruined" my day.   it was a stormily, dreary day.   however, altho' my day was "quote/unquote ruined," lemme tell u: 'twas just what i needed.   god does everything 4 a purpose.   the hilites'f my day yesterday were when i drove out to milpitas to have lunch w/ the beautiful kaela hwang n' when i drove out to her skool @ nite to pick her up to get boba @ fantasia@rivermark.   the dung i had to smell all day helped me cherish n' savour the happy time i had w/ kaela.   uhm... did that come out bad/poorly?   well, don't take it the wrong way.   let's instead say, it "put things into perspektive."   u won't find ulitmate glory in werk; n', yah, u won't find ultimate glory in ne person either.   however, yesterday, i knew kaela was such a blessing to me from god.

[a few mins later] i just read an e.mail from philip huang that he concluded w/ "My dad once told me it's not good to date something on 2/28, so I'll send this right off."   really?!   well, i've already dated this journal entry as "2006.02.28."   would this have nething to do w/ the 228 massacre'f taiwanese ppl by r.o.c. chinese? *shrug*

[later] the great divide: yesterday, i was talkin' 'bout christian author max lucado n' his maxlucado.com website.   yah, i realise that, altho' i share religious beliefs w/ many'f these prominent christian authors, i don't share their politikal views.   heck, max lucado even has a short composition on his page that is titled "8/30/04: prayer from the republican national convention"!   a few wks 'go, i was @ costco, n' i spotted a book w/ some cute laborador retrievers on the cover.   it turned out to be a book by max lucado, a new book titled the cure for the common life: living in your sweet spot.   i started to browse thru the book n' found it mostly pleasant 'cept 4 a passage that sed sumpthin' like: 'if there were no sin in the world, certain professions would cease to exist such as pro$tituion, casino and nightclub management...'   as a dj who wouldn't mind djing @ a niteclub just cos i love musik, i hate to read stuff like that, sumpthin' that equates niteclubs n' clubbing w/ evil.   that's awful.   neway, i still find wisdom in the max lucado's writing even tho' i don't share politiks or social interests w/ him.

this reminds me'f how i know many asian.am churchgoers that would describe themselves as "conservative christians" n' who vote striktly republikan yet also enjoy being "cool" asians n' thus r into nba basketball n' the mtv hip hop scene or else into altrock n' hollywood.   now, these ppl consider certain aktors, athletes, musicians, or celebrities as their heroes, ppl they look up to.   however, do they really think 50 cent, kanye west, n' kobe bryant voted 4 the repbulikan administration that consciously allowed the demolition'f new orleans?   *shrug* maybe these celebs all feared senator kerry's $200k/yr schpiel as they obviously find themselves in a hi income bracket now.   however, nah, i'm sure not all rich celebs've sold out.   i c 1s that stick to their priniciples.   neway, so i've wondered how some'f these "cool" asian, "christian conservative" republikans reconciles the gap btwn their hip.hop, rock n' roll, hollywoodland n' their politiks?   lemme emphasize that this isn't just a "christian conservative" thing, i also know non.christian, "cool" asians n' non.asians that r fans'f obviously politkally progressive musicians n' celebs yet cling to conservative politiks.   it's just that i'm talkin' 'bout what i've cn in my subculture.   i wonder if these ppl think "oh, bono's a musikal mastermind, but he's a li'l wobbly in the head when it comes to politiks."   is that what they say?   *shrug* that makes me wonder if there exists politikal conservatives who love michael moore as a filmmaker. *shrug* yah, i bet these ppl exist.   well, if u look up to some1 or respekt some1 4 his/her talent, it doesn't mean u hafta absorb all his/her beliefs n' lifestyle.   after all, i think erasure's andy bell's a talented singer, but i don't share his s3xual orientation.   on the flipside, i can listen to my pastor quote dr. james dobson from focus on the family as a great christian man w/ good things to say, but i don't like the kind'f bigotry that his approach to varied s3xual orientations cms to inspire.

the cover story'f last wk's silicon valley metro was "does god love gays?", an article 'bout a christian, lesbian filmmaker.   it's a somewhat interesting article.

[later] use ¢oupon ¢ode CCAAFF @ ccs (boardsports gear) to get free shipping on orders over $90.

4 lunch, i paid $12 to join in the division potluck.   sure, the fud wasn't quite worth the exorbitant $12 price, n' i wished i had volunteered to bring a dish instead'f paying $12, but i was happy to have a chance finally to socialise in a relaxed atmosphere w/ some'f my cowerkers.

apple 'puters ads:
- ipod hi.fi home stereo system w/ free $hipping
- mac mini w/ intel core

[later] 밤, 1052p: 2day, i ate plenty @ the werk.com potluck.   there was lots'f pilipino/pinoy n' indian fud.   after werk, kaela n' i went to taekwondo praktice.   that made me happy.   then we got boba from the cupertino fantasia.   then we came home n' ate some 찐만두 jjinmandoo.

수요일 저녁: i found this on my cousin naomi's xanga: "A higher power: U.S. snowboarder Clark finds her victory elsewhere" by yi.wyn yen.   (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/olympics/2006/writers/02/13/clark.pipe/)   wow, so olympik snowboarder kelly clark's a christian.   that inspires me more to start some kind'f boardsports ministry @ our church.   "Though she was unable to capitalize on another Olympic medal, Clark takes comfort in her new identity as a Christian."

목요일 아침: check out this web page: http://www.urbanonramps.com/rc/nbc_profile.html.   here's a snippet: "Carlos Santana is one person for whom NBC's strategy made the difference.   A warm greeting, hot coffee and soothing music before church began, and a relevant sermon arrested Santana on his first visit.   'I had a feeling that this was my home,' Santana says.   Feelings aren't everything, but they are a great start.   Santana not only committed hismelf and his family to NBC, he brought cousins and in-laws, too.   He drew them with a simple yet compelling reason: 'NBC is good soil.'"   it's funny that lately i cm to be listing off names'f famous n' semi.famous ppl who share my religion/faith.   it's as if i'm providing references or showing off endorsements or sumpthin'.   i hope i'm not giving the wrong impression, etc.   i've talked 'bout christian hosoi, kelly clark, n' now carlos santana, rt?   i still wanna send a letter to pastor hosoi someday to let him know that what he's doing's so awesome.

i still haven't had a chance to buy some skateboarding shoes.   in case i haven't mentioned it, the reason i want skateboarding shoes to wear instead'f just my ol' sneakers is cos i'm starting to wear an ollie hole in my left shoe.   when u ollie, u drag the outside'f ur left foot up, across the deck's griptape.   that's like sandpapering down ur shoe.   i'm trying to find time to go out to designer shoe warehouse (dsw) on stevens crk blvd to $hop 4 a pair'f skateboarding shoes, but i just never have time cos my werk sucks up so much'f my time.   i don't have free time nemore.   this is such the typical silicon valley (engr) story, huh?   i get into werk b4 the sun fully rises n' leave way after it has set.   i don't have time to visit stores, run errands, do gro¢ery $hopping, yarwerk, nuthin'!   is this ne way to live life?!   the semiconduktor manu equipment industry's vicious, so we werk hard.   competing 'gainst engrs from india n' china, i guess, is vicious; so we werk hard.   i don't wanna be such a werker bee or werker ant tho'.   i wanna feel that my ability to innovate gives me an advantage.   i have opposable thumbs.

neway, back to the issue'f the skateboarding shoes: i know costco sells a pair'f very plain, prob'ly rather outdated dc brand skateboarding shoes 4 like $39.95 or so.   i've pondered buying those since costco's nearby n' accessible.   it's such a tragedy that i can't even make it out to the shoe store tho'.   the costco dc shoes r white, n' i typically don't wear white shoes or socks.   when'll i ever find time to break 'way from the worn out werk routine to visit a shoe store only to throw 'way my $$$?

[later] about.com article: top 10 skateboard shoes

b4 i write nething else, i need to thank the beautiful kaela hwang 4 stopping by my gbook n' filling it out.   'tis 'bout time i answered the questions myself n' changed them 'gain 4 my guests.

[later] she werks hard 4 her $$$, so hard 4 it, bunny: a few entries 'go, i mentioned a y! news article: "Americans work more, seem to accomplish less: study" (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060222/hl_nm/life_work_dc).   i knew that article'd be a hit w/ the blogger crowd. :-) check out the google results 4 "americans work more, seem to accomplish less": http://www.google.co.kr/search?hl=ko&q=americans+work+more%2C+seem+to+accomplish+less&lr=.   of course, web searches r dynamik (they change over time); but as'f 2day, i get lots'f blog hits w/ that search.   personally, i like the article n' find the statements found w/in to hold very true:

• "Most U.S. workers say they feel rushed on the job, but they are getting less accomplished than a decade ago. . ."
• lessee, what was i doing a decade 'go?   1996?   well, i didn't have a job a decade 'go, did i?   i was simply a full time student, rt?   however, including my 1st engineering co.op job, i have almost been in the amerikan werkforce as an engr 4 almost a decade!   back then, we had e.mail n' some internet access.   however, it wasn't 2 uncommon not to have internet access, n' we had much less to view n' visit on the internet.   of course, i was already writing my online journal, yah.   a decade 'go, cellfons were much less prominent, but pagers abounded.
• "The biggest culprit is the technology that was supposed to make work quicker and easier. . ."
• i am pro.teknology, n' i don't think i agree w/ that statement.   well, i think it's a li'l true but not 100%.
• "'We never concentrate on one task anymore.   You take a little chip out of it, and then you're on to the next thing,' Challenger said on Wednesday.   'It's harder to feel like you're accomplishing something.'"
• ok, yah; i totally agree w/ that.   i think that it isn't so much that we use multi.tasking 'puters to goof off while werking as that multi.tasking werk.related tasks is slowing is down a bunch.
• "The average time spent on a computer at work was almost 16 hours a week last year, compared with 9.5 hours a decade ago. . ."
• dude, as an engr; i spent much more than 16 hrs/wk on the 'puter... more like 16 hrs/day!   almost, but not quite...
• "Sixty percent of workers say they always or frequently feel rushed, but those who feel extremely or very productive dropped to 51 percent from 83 percent in 1994. . ."
• heck yah, i feel rushed.
• "[new technology] just increases the expectations that people have for your production. . .   Even if productivity increases, it's constantly outpaced by those expectations. . ."
• yah, maybe... ppl tell u to get their tasks done rt 'way more often now cos they know u can multi.task w/ windows (or whatever other oses ppl r using).
• "Companies that are flexible with workers' time and give workers the most control over their tasks tend to fare better against the sea of rising expectations. . ."
• hrm, really?   well, that's a very useful fakt!
• "Businesses that have moved to 24-hour operations, bosses who micro-manage and longer commutes all add to the problem, they said, while downsizing leaves fewer workers doing the work of those who left."
• that's the most important statement in the article.   let's repeat it in bold!
• "Businesses that have moved to 24-hour operations, bosses who micro-manage and longer commutes all add to the problem, they said, while downsizing leaves fewer workers doing the work of those who left."
• dude, i'm so blessed w/ a short commute.
• "Finally, there's a trend among companies to measure job performance like never before. . .   There's a sense that no matter how much I do, it's never enough. . ."
• that's the last sentence.

[later] thurs nite's fight club: i think 2nite i'll go to taekwondo sparring praktice.   when i started out this wk, i believed i'd skip this thurs's taekwondo sparring praktice to do base repair on my santa cruz gian simmen pro model x152 snowboard.   on our last trip out to kirkwood on presidents day, i made 1 decent scratch on my board's base.   i'm not 2 sure how it happened, but i have a theory: @ 1 pt, i wanted to take a jump off a li'l tree stump, so i did.   i think maybe that tree stump was aktually a rock.   upes.   since that day, i bought some ptex candles from a seller on ebay.   i've received my 10 ptex candles.   i could do base repair, but i figure this: base repair would require a base clean n' rewax.   i'd be up 4 doing base repair, but i'm not so sure i'm up 4 spending like 3 hrs doing a hot wax.   that's how long it cms to take me.   i just did a hot wax n' base repair 2 days 'go, i.e. 2 days on the slopes 'go, i.e. i did base repair n' a hot wax after our heavenly trip, where we snowboarded the streets.   then i rode 1 day @ sugar bowl n' 1 day @ kirkwood.   i dunno if i'm ready 4 'nother hot wax so soon.   sure, they say the pros start each day w/ a freshly waxed board, but i don't have that kind'f time or $$$.   btw, i saw snow on the east side (east san jo / east san jose / east san josé) hills this morn while walking sooni.   she's a cute, well.behaved doggy!   well, 2nite, i think i'll just go to taekwondo sparring praktice (altho' my lower back's a li'l sore from sleeping wrong).   u c, it's 큰 사범님 keun sabuhmnim / 검도 사범님 guhmdo sabuhmnim's last chance to c us b4 he moves back to korea.   it's so sad n' so sudden.   u know who'll miss him sooo much?   sooni!   큰 사범 keun sabuhm so often took sooni 4 walks while we prakticed taekwondo.   the 2'f them share a special bond.   if only sooni understood that 2nite'll be the last time she'll c him.   we taekwondo students plan to take 큰 사범님 keun sabuhmnim out to dinner after praktice 2nite.   now, i'd pondered skippin praktice to do base repair on my snowboard n' then joining 4 dinner; but then i realised that i'd miss the whole pt.   i've gotta give sooni n' 큰 사범님 keun sabuhmnim 1 last evening to spend 2gether on a nice walk.   *sigh* it's very sad.   however, yah; i'll go n' let li'l kids beat (up) on me 4 sooni's sake. heh heh.   duk kyung suggested that we take him out to dinner @ 고향산천 gohyangsanchun, the deliteful, homestyle joint on homestead near kiely in the strip mall that has safeway, longs drugs, armadillo willy's, stan's donuts, jei learning center, dasaprakash, quizno's n' either a ross or marshalls (i 4get which).   they make good 전골 juhngol type dishes.

i'm gonna need to buy some snowboard base cleaner sometime soon.   aktually, i think i'm out.   i'll need to $hop 'round.

금요일 아침: tgif?   "하느님, 감사합니다.   오늘은 금요일이군요."   i guess so.   i paid my car insurance yesterday, 자동차 보험.   2morrow, while the beautiful kaela hwang goes to (yet 'nother) chiropraktic board exam review class all day, i'll take some cowerkers up to tahoe 4 snowboarding.   we'll probl'y go to sugar bowl cos i've been politicking 4 it, campaigning 4 it.   originally, they planned to go to squaw, but i think i've convinced them to go to sugar bowl instead.   my ¢heape$t pri¢ on a sugar bowl tic's $37, while my ¢heape$t pri¢ on a squaw tic's $56.   expen$ive stuff, eh?   yah, snowboarding's not ¢heap.   i have expen$ive hobbies.   however, lemme say 1nce 'gain that i don't make snowboarding a luxurious aktivity: it's just drive up, get some mcyukyuk's drive.thru on the way up, snowboard all day, drive home, get some in.n.out on the way home.   sure, sometimes i splurge, n' we go to like chili's or a sactown (aktually rancho cordova) korean restaurant on the way back.   however, dude, it's totally not 'bout après ski soirées, tahoe luxury hotel casinos, spa massages, or horse.dran sleigh rides 4 me, no.   it's just like how other guys go n' play basketball on wknds.   i don't play basketball.   instead, i go snowboarding.

beno's 2005~06 snowboarding season lift tix di$counts

resort	regular	holiday	werk	tahoe card	costco	safeway	lowest
alpine meadows	$41.00	$49.00	-	$39.00	-	-	$39.00
bear mountain	$62.00	$62.00	-	-	-	-	$62.00
bear valley	$46.00	$46.00	$42.23	$39.00	-	-	$39.00
boreal	$38.00	$38.00	-	$34.00	-	-	$34.00
diamond peak	$46.00	$46.00	$39.14	$37.00	$63.99	-	$37.00
homewood	$45.00	$48.00	$37.08	$33.00	-	-	$33.00
kirkwood	$62.00	$65.00	$54.59	$53.00	$48.00	-	$48.00
mountain high	$53.00	$53.00	-	-	-	-	$53.00
northstar	$63.00	$66.00	$56.58	-	-	$52.00	$52.00
sierra@tahoe	$59.00	$62.00	$56.58	-	-	$39.00	$39.00
snow summit	$62.00	$62.00	-	-	-	-	$62.00
squaw valley	$65.00	$65.00	$58.71	$56.00	-	-	$56.00
sugar bowl	$46.00	$59.00	$41.64	$37.00	-	-	$37.00

i need to reduce/minimise ¢o$t$ on lift tix cos i do try to spend 'least 10 days on the slopes each sesaon.   10 × $37~56 = $370~560.   crazy, huh?   furthermore, some seasons, i go upwards'f 20 times, so 20   $37~$56 = $740~1120!!!   worse, that's per person, while i also pay 4 kaela when she comes, rt?   well, obviously, 4 the season where i hit the slopes 21 days, the ~$300 double whammy pass was quite a good deal.   *sigh* maybe next yr, i'll consider the sugarwood pass, but if i can get my hands on 'least 1 tahoe 6pac (like 2pac shakur; 6.pack), then maybe that/those'd be the best deal. *shrug* after all, i try not to limit myself to just 1 or 2 snow resorts.   i hate that term "snow resort" or "ski resort."   they rn't resorts, just parks.   the best term'd be "스노우보드장 snowboardjang," but sadly that'll never catch on.

[later] 오후: i went to werk w/ some cowerkers from a grp i werked w/ back when i was a co.op (intern).   we went to garcia's taqueria in sunnyvale on fair oaks @ el camino real.   i ate a "regular" (no guac, no sour cream, no cheese) barbacoa (bbq beef) burrito.   dude, that thing was so stuffed w/ meat!

[later] radio free europe: i found out yesterday from the santa clara weekly that the whole city of santa clara has free wi.fi from metrofi.   crazy, huh?   should i cancel our stoopid y! dsl acct?   well, the catch's that u got banner ads on all ur sites.   it's not the end'f the world tho'. *shrug*

[later] i need to buy some snowboard base cleaner.   i realise that a long time 'go, when i 1st started to do my own hot waxes, i used goo gone to clean our snowboard bases b4 hot waxing.   now i've learnd that maybe goo gone's 2 harsh'f a chemical 4 use as a snowboard base cleaner.   recently, i've been using some base cleaner that kaela picked up 4 me 1tym @ the copeland sports in valley fair mall.   oh, coincidentally, i think she's @ valley fair mall rt now.   i wish i were.   from wikipedia, i've learned that copeland sports is based in cali: 775 fiero lane, suite 200; san luis obispo, ca 93401.   they have branches in cali, oregon, utah, n' nevada.   "with athletics, golf, boardshop, outdoor, fitness, women's, and cycle departments, it tought iteslf as 'seven performance shops in one.'"   the copleand in valley fair is big, but the ol' 1 in berkeley (replaced by some holistik pharmacy) was dinky.

i realised that on a freebord, u can't really grind (like do a 50.50 grind) cos'f the center pair'f wheels.   i saw some european video where these guys built a special rail w/ a gap in the middle, so they could grind, while the center wheels poked thru the gap.   they didn't do 2 well but kept falling.   1 can railslide/boardslide on a freebord but not really grind.

[later] 1142p: went to t3s bible study mtg.   now i'd best go to sleep to wake up early to drive to tahoe.

월요일 아침: 즐거운 월요일 happy monday.   i had a bit'f a snowboarding "accident" on the slopes'f sugar bowl on saturday, so my back's really sore.   i'll hopefully get 'round to telling u the whole macho story later.   this morn, i found a kewl link to a kewl story on tim fong's xanga: "Forget the white-bread '80s MTV. Now MTV Chi and other outlets cater to Asian Americans" by jeff chang of can't stop, won't stop (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/02/24/DDGA2HCOD818.DTL).   this article mentions an mtv.asia show called d.tour.   have u ever heard'f that?   i hadn't.   here's a link: mtv.asia d.tour (http://www.mtvasia.com/Onair/Shows/D-Tour/index.html).   it's apparently a reality show that takes a bunch'f latin.american n' asian "supermodels" n' puts them on a roadtrip.   hrm, i can't imagine that not being a big hit w/ the bronx's junkyard crowd.   dude, have u ever heard'f the rock grp putnam hall?!   here's their website: http://www.putnamhallmusic.com/(http://www.putnamhallmusic.com/)   dude, we should check out their stuff, man.   frickin' a; the lead guitarist / vocalist lillard's bio(graphy) sez he's from "university frickin high."   dude, that's the irvine skool that gave hi skool diplomas to a whole mess'f my friends, perhaps most notably philip huang, esq.   so s'pposedly mtv's taking note'f the young asian.am market.   well, we'll c.   here's a question to ponder: is it rt that mtv's asian.am pursuits segregate by ethnicity, or should they take a more pan.asian.am approach?   that's a great question, if i don't say so myself. ha ha ha.   i've always been more'f a proponent'f the pan.asian.am ethnic identity, but i face quite a bit'f opposition n' have learned that u can't necessarily force sumpthin' to go, u know?   [later] i think it's great that "jin da mc" has become such an asian.am hero.   2 bad "mainstream" amerika didn't receive him as well.   if u ask me, it just goes to show how racist amerika still is, in gen'l.   oh well.

[later] on fi nite, i went to our grx t3s mtg.   1'f the wives in our group mentioned that she found my journal from a google of our church's name (or nickname / abbreviation) "grx".   she sed she sometimes reads my journal when she's bored.   i s'ppose it's sometimes funny when ppl i know "confess" that they read my journal cos sometimes they sound like they're worried that i'll be mad or sumpthin'.   otherwise, maybe they think i'll be embarassed.   well, honestly, sometimes i might be a li'l embarassed or maybe flattered... *shrug* i'm not sure.   however, i've always sed that my journal is an open letter to my friends n' family.   consider it more like a mass e.mail w/o the spam faktor.   don't consider it a secret diary!   it's not.   does it cm like i'm 2 "candid" or "frank" here?   :-/ *shrug* perhaps sometimes i am; i'm not sure.   i s'ppose i 2 often simply "think aloud" here.   neway, the friend who sed she read my journal also mentioned that she found mostly xangas, blogs, etc. when she googled up "grx," n' i replied that it's great to c such proof that the church has touched so many lives so intimately.   i really meant that.

well, on sat morn, i woke up early to take my cowerkers up the 80 to sugar bowl.   the morning commute was just a li'l rough but has been worse on other days.   we stopped by the fairfield mcyukyuk's to get some brkfast.   we didn't really hit traffik till the mtns where there was some holdup cos'f chain check 4 the big rigs.   it had dumped (snowed) earlier, but the roads were clear 4 us.   we fit 5 ppl into my subaru forester.   un4tunately, i had to use the bathrm so badly, while i was stuck in traffik.   i tried to use a gas station's bathrm, 1 stop 'way from norden (where sugar bowl is), but the line was waaay 2 long.   i held it n' stopped @ gas station @ the norden exit.   that bathrm was occupied 4 a long time, so both i n' 1'f my passengers chose to do the natural thing instead.   when we arrived @ sugar bowl, i hstily took a parkign spot on the mt. disney / village lodge / gondola side, which later turned out to be a bit'f a mistake.   on my last trip to sugar bowl, i'd parked on the mt. judah side, which would've been better.   neway, sugar bowl was superpowdery.   sure, that's s'pposed to be a good thing; but i prefer groomed black diamond runs.   neway, i rode plenty'f powder n' moguls the whole day.   the beautiful kaela hwang would be glad she wasn't riding w/ me.   on my last run'f the day... whoo!   i made a bad decision!   going "off.piste" as i had done on an earlier run, into dangerous, cliff territory, as i had done on an earlier run, i 1st got stuck in deep, deep powder 4 'least 10 mins.   my board's totally not a powder board but really more'f a park/pipe board.   when i finally swam my way out'f the powder, i boarded a while thru moguls only to find myself in front of sugar bowl's most beautiful n' probably most dangerous, rocky cliff , this narrow, ice squeeze btwn 2 rocks on the "two sisters" double black diamond area.   whoa!   i saw all the "skull n' crossbones" danger n' liability signs.   i sat 4 a few minutes n' honestly just prayed to god.   lemme tell u: i knew i was gonna get hurt but that it was just a matter'f minimising the damage.   eventually, i started down the dangerous but short descent.   getting nervous, i turned onto my back edge.   yah, i know i should never use edges on ice, but it's un4tunately still my instinkt to try to use my edge to slow myself down when i'm in danger.... it's like braking in ur car on an icy road.   don't do it.   well, my edge wasn't doing ne good n' i was building up speed.   luckily, i slid in btwn the 2 dangerous rocks ok.   then, all'f the sudden i was free.falling.   shoot! cos'f the steep, steep slope, i didn't know that the ice, snow, n' land all disappeared.   i fell like 4~5 feet off this cliff n' landed on my butt, luckily on powder.   my torso folded 4ward, n' i heard some loud cracks from my spine.   i the impakt had knocked my goggles down from my helmet, n' i found them 'round my neck, filled w/ snow.   well, i was thankful to be alive.   honestly, i was also thankful that barely ne1 had cn me fall.   i mean, if i was incapcitated, i would've been glad that ppl could've called 4 help.   however, being as vain as i un4tunately am, i guess i was glad no 1 saw me fall.   neway, i still had to get down the mtn, so i got back on my board n' weaved thru moguls n' finished the run n' made it back to the bottom to meet up w/ my cowerkers.   i was exhausted.   on our way home, we stopped @ the auburn marie callendar's 4 dinner.   my coweker shark helped drive.

on sun, i woke up early but not as early as usual.   i walked sooni n' did laundry b4 church.   .. . [interrupted]

some plumbing tips i found online:
• Good morning Nate, I've never seen a shower drain that had a screen that was located under the chrome strainer so I don't think that's your problem.   Every blockage that I have cleared in a shower has been caused by a buildup of hair mixed with grease from the soap.   I'm going to give you several options. One easy and the other "surefire".   I don't use nor do I recomend using harsh chemicals to clear a drain.   Having said that, tonight pour 1/2 gallon of bleach down the drain and let it set overnight.   Next morning flush it out with 2 large pans of boiling water.   The bleach will loosen the clog up and make it slippery.   The boiling water, (and this is important) will melt the grease and allow the clog to flush out into the main.
  If that don't do it, you can do it the way I clear all my clogs.   Purchase a plumbers snake and run it down the drain, past the trap and out untill the clog clears.   TIP: To know when I've cleared the clog and if it's plugged solid I run some water in the shower pan just enough to bring it to the top of the drain.   Then when the clog clears the water goes "whoosh" and you know you've got it.   Hope this helps and thank you for rating my reply.   Tom
• http://experts.about.com/q/Plumbing-Home-1735/clogged-shower-drain.htm
• Good morning Gail, I take it the toilet's flushing OK.   What's happened here is that the plunger acted like a piston pump and pulled water out of your toilet bowl.
  Most clogs in bathrooms are a combination hair mixed with grease.   Your shower branch (drain pipe) has to be snaked out from the shower drain to clear the clog.   Let me show you how.   First remove the strainer, (TIP: put the screws in the soap dish.   They will be hard to replace if they go down the drain.)   Now work your snake past the trap and 6 or 7 feet beyond.   When you pull the snake back it should have the hair that was clogging your shower on the auger tip.   Now pour 1/4 gallon of bleach down in the trap and let it set over night.   Next morning pour a few pans of boiling down the shower to flush out what's left and make your drain smell nice.   Hope this helps and thank you for rating my reply. Tom
  • http://experts.about.com/q/Plumbing-Home-1735/CLogged-Shower-toilet.htm

수요일 아침: i never got to finish talkin' 'bout this past wknd.   this wk so far has had its ups n' downs, no doubt.   yesterday was yet 'nother 'xtremely frustrating day, yet i had the blessing'f having lunch w/ a good, ol' friend.   recently, it cms that bad situations have forced or else allowed me to savour the precious moments in life.   n'est.ce pas?

wow, the stock market cms to have taken a tumble this morn. *shrug*

well, on sun, i went to church @ grx (of course).   in case i didn't mention it, grx congregated @ the santa clara marriott instead'f our ol' kifer location, from which we've now moved.   'twas a very chilly sunday, n' when i arrived @ the hotel, i found duk, yuna, n' my mom werking the parking crew in the lot.   i was happy to be @ service pretty much on time.   i sat next to pastor ali's family, but i don't think he saw me.   i met his son tho'.   after service, i went w/ my mom to the milpitas 99 (ranch) strip mall ("for 100, we try harder") to eat lunch.   originally, we were gonna go to ay chung, but then my mom remember that she wanted to try maruichi ramen house.   we went to eat there, but it wasn't open yet, so we browsed thru the incense.stenched m.v. trading co. restaurant supply store.   @ 1130a, we returned to the restaurant to find it filling up fast.   my mom told me to order the maruichi special ramen (apparently the king arthur's supreme combo pizza'f maruichi ramen, u know?).   it was good, but i had to spend a bit'f time pulling the fat off the 삼겹살 samgyuhbsal / baconish meat.   i enjoyed the wood ear shrooms n' the cod roe.   after lunch, my mom n' i strolled 'round the strip mall.   the beautiful kaela hwang called me while my mom n' i were @ shengkee bakery.   she was coming over from her skool.   she told me to feed her.   well, when kaela arrived, my mom left.   i took kaela to pepper lunch, a japanese steak.oriented, grilled fuds restaurant.   it's quite interesting, n' my mom n' i noticed earlier that it's aktually not 2 expen$ive or nething.   she ate this grilled beef noodle dish.   it was really tasty.   just to be a decent patron'f the restaurant, i ordered some kind'f shrimp tempura salad handroll that had a generous 'mount'f mayo.   (it's spelt "mayonnaise.")   after kaela's lunch, we thought 'bout getting some boba drinks @ fantasia there, but i didn't have my frequent drinker card cos i removed it from my coin wallet 4 snowboarding.   (u c, i use my coin wallet as my primary wallet when i snowboard.)   thus, we went home 1st.   then we set out 4 the cupertino fantasia, 1st stopping @ the bizzy sunnyvale costco 4 gas in kaela's kia sportage.   then i took us on a detour, requesting to $hop 4 skateboarding shoes @ designer shoe warehouse (dsw) on stevens creek.   after that, we swung by the bank 4 me to depo$it some $$$ then went to the santana row fantasia.   we got some boba drinks there, but the café was full, so kaela couldn't study there.   we went to check out borders, which was also full.   kaela suggested we go to her private study spot in valley fair; but then, as we walked back to her car, we saw that spaces were opening up @ fantasia, so we sat there.   while sittin' in fantasia, i got a distress call from duk, who'd gotten into a bad car accident.   i took kaela's kia to pick him up from the body shop near willow glen.   then, i picked up kaela from fantasia n' brought every1 home.   i wasn't very hungry, but kaela n' i ate some frozen dinner stuffed green peppers 4 dinner as we watched the 2nd to last episode'f kbs's 웨딩 (wedding), starring 장나라 jang nara, 류시원 ryu shiwon, n' 명세빈 myung seibin.   (the last'f the 4 major chars is played by 이현우 lee hyunwoo, but i don't think he's as popular as the others.)   we have 1 more episode to watch.   i realise i haven't been talkin' 'bout k.dramas (korean dramas) lately, but i still really like'em!

mon was a very rainy day.   during my lunchbrk, i 1st tried to buy a plumber's snake from the local osh, but they didn't have the optimal diameter/length combo.   wow, these things r long... 25~50 ft.   then i went home to eat a ham n' hummus sandwich n' vacuum.   it felt good to get housewerk done during my lunchbrk.   i haven't done that in a long time as i've been using my lunchbrks to get exercise.   4 dinner, i cooked some 칼국수 kalgooksoo from a refrigerated pack.   i added lots'f 오댕 odaeng, 버섯 buhsuht (shrooms), n' various other things.   it was delicious.

social lunch:yesterday, i was s'pposed to have lunch w/ vince, but he cancelled.   thus, instead, i had lunch w/ ken @ st. john's.   honestly, i thought he'd tell me that grace n' he r having a baby; but no.   they're still gonna be like kaela n' i n' not have a kid 4 a while.   altho' i always detested the idea'f not having kids till later in life, i now understand all 2 well how this happens.   dude, as much as i'd like to blame it all just on kaela's skool; seriously, i'm not ready as far as my career, etc.   it is all just 2 scary, man.   neway, ken n' i each had a tri.tip sandwich n' shared some bier.battered onion rings over talk'f career situations n' vakation plans, etc.   ken werks 4 himself, n' i werk 4 a giant corporation, so we have much to compare n' contrast.

last ntie, 4 dinner, i cooked some beanie.weenie, using some sausages that kaela n' i bought @ costco a long time 'go.   it was decently tasty.   i had a loooong werkday n' sadly missed taekwondo praktice.

never forget #40: pat tillman was a leland hi skool alum like myself.   we all now know that he was killed by u.s. friendly fire in afghanistan, n' this fakt was covered up by the u.s. gov't.   there's gonna be a 4.2 mile "pat's run" in almaden valley (my ol "home" neighbourhood), over by leland hi skool on sunday, april 30, 2006 @ 800a.   the ¢0$t to enter's $25.   hrm, i'll consider doing this just to stay healthy, but i'd hafta hurry to make it to church, huh?   well, shoot; if i were to do this run, i'd hafta go to the 1100a service instead'f the 915a service.   eh, we'll c.   i'm really not that much'f a runner, but i always wanna do sumpthin' good 4 my health, n' i figure maybe it'd be fun 4 sooni.

[later] so like others, i'm trying to break the code on ernest's xanga to figure out what's going on in his life.   sumpthin's happening, but i can't tell if it's re: relationship, taekwondo, werk, religion, gov't conspiracy, space aliens... *shrug*   yah, i got a semi.cryptik e.mail from some1 who must be somehow tied in to ernest.   it was written in misspelled pager code, so being the owner'f the world's #1 pager code site, i was able to figure it out fast.   however, that msg only deepened the mystery.   the repeated phrase "together as one" may have sumpthin' do do w/ the sender'f that e.mail.   hrm...   what 'bout the all this "unity" n' "breath" stuff?!   i worried 4 a sec that he'd gotten addikted to inhalant narcotics n' joked that he's werkin' 4 the north korean gov't.

i want to erase all the mp3s off my 'puter n' put on new 1s.   i've been backing up data onto dvd thanks to my sony external dvd burner.

체리 필터 아니면 자우림 cherry filter or jaurim: btwn this 2 grrl.fronted power rock / altrock / quasi.punk korean bands, which is better?   plz compare n' contrast!   also, 4 extra credit, plz compare these bands to both similar j.pop/j.rock bands n' amerikan bands.   [later] (uhm, does this sound like sumpthin' antonia'd write 'bout?)

shoot, every time i put a table into my journal, my avantgo version'f my journal on my pa1mone pda gets skrewed up... the 4matting, that is.   (i dunno how to punctuate properly that last sentence.)   do u prefer fries or onion rings?   kaela sez that onion rings r healthier cos'f the onions.   [later] i brought leftover beanie.weenie 4 lunch n' also packed some 4 kaela.   when i opened my lunch, i wondered why there were bug eggs in my beanie.weenie but realised soon that they were flax seeds that kaela'd added.

[later] 밤, 901p: 'twas a_long_day@werk.com.   i had many mtgs in the pm, from 200~700p.   *sigh* 5 hrs'f mtgs.   how r u?   be sure to sign my gbook!   i sed i'd answer the questions, but i still haven't; i know.   i'm watching this no. 1 발라드 3집 dvd that comes w/ the compilation cd album.   ah, i miss watching kpop videos more often.   rt now, it's 이승철의 "긴 하루" lee seungchuhl's "gin haru" (long day).   *sigh* what a pretty song; sure sappy in that 1970s ballad way; but very pretty, if u ask me.

"긴 하루" - 이승철

뒤척이며 잠에서 깨면
문득 그대가 없다는 생각에
내 머리 맡에 걸어놓은 그대의 사진보며
이렇게 또 하루 시작되네요

끝인가요 후회만 남은 사랑
처음으로 돌아 갈 순 없나요
뒤돌아 봐요 휘청거리는 내 인생을
가눌 수 없는 내 마음 도
모두 가져 갈 순 없나요
편안하길 바란다군요
나의 편안함은 바로 그대죠

끝인가요 후회만 남은 사랑
처음으로 돌아 갈 순 없나요
뒤돌아 봐요 휘청거리는 내 인생을
가눌 수 없는 내 마음 도
모두 가져 갈 순 없나요
편안하길 바란다군요
나의 편안함은 바로 그대죠

다 받기만을 바래왔었던 난
그대 소중함을 이제야 알죠

끝인가요 후회만 남은 사랑
처음으로 돌아 갈 순 없나요
뒤돌아 봐요 휘청거리는 내 인생을
가눌 수 없는 내 마음 도
모두 가져 갈 순 없나요
긴 하룰 보내 야겠죠
끝도 없는 외로움을 숨기며
끝도 없는 외로움을 숨기며
긴 하루를 보내요

"long day" - lee seungchul
tossing in my sleep, i wake up.
suddenly, realising you're not there,
i put up and look at your picture
as another day surely begins.

is this the end?   can't i turn around
this love that is now only regret?
try to turn around.
my heart can't control my messed up life.
can i not bring back everything?
i really wish for peace.
my heartache is really you.

(repeat)

now i know that you're the most precious thing
to me who gets everything i want.

is this the end?   can't i turn around
this love that is now only regret?
try to turn around.
my heart can't control my messed up life.
can i not bring back everything?
it has to be a long day.
hiding the endless loneliness,
hiding the endless loneliness,
i spend a long day.

name: 황명록 beno hwang
e.mail: beno at ocf dot berkeley dot edu
homepage: http://www.benomix.com
can u read benospelling? (yes, no, i sometimes get confused.) yes
new yr's resolutions? 1. buy a skateboard (more importantly, ride 1). [done]   2) buy mutual funds. [done]   3) take better care'f my career. [in progress]   oh yah, 4) write the beno journal 4 1 month in "plain" english (no benospelling). [done]   5) make more friends to fill the time spent w/o kaela. [*shrug* dunno the status'f this...]   6) fix my desktop 'puter 4 djing. [uh oh! better jump on this!]   7) eliminate detrimental confucian sentiments. [sort'f going]   8. write less text per entry. [uh, not going that great, i guess.]
new yr's preditkions? a li'l 2late 4 that, now that it's march!   i predikt dubya's ratings will fall lower.   i predikt the semiconduktor industry'll have a good yr.   i predikt steve westly'll win the 2006 cali gubernatorial elektion.   i could be wrong 'bout that, but arnold's definitely out.
will u do sumpthin' 4 valentine's day? yah, we did.   we went to chez tj.
what's sumpthin' u eat/drink that other ppl don't like to? intestines n' tripe
what do u say when u can't remember some1's name? "hey, how's it goin'?"

ok, now it's ur turn, if u haven't done it yet.

[later] 밤, 1039p: so when i finally came home from werk 2nite, i cooked spam pasta sauce n' ravioli.   it was rather tasty.   *sigh* i eat 2 much n' exercise 2 li'l.   i did dishes b4 i cooked.   i've gotta do what i can to clean up this dump, man.

oh yah, here's a bad graphic'f the cliff i fell off'f @ sugar bowl on sat.   yah, that area's double black diamond.

here's a pic from last thurs nite @ 고향산천 gohyangsanchun (hometown mountain stream):

목요일 아침: just trying not to burn out, man...   employers should understand the benefits'f letting their employees maintain a good werk.life balance, as they call it.   *sigh* hey, have u ever cn the live person re.enactment of the simpsons opening credits???   check out the clip on youtube or else try this link: http://www.tvsquad.com/2006/03/04/simpsons-opening-sequence-done-with-live-actors/.   it's pretty awesome.

*sigh* in a way, i just can't wait to get start w/ the wknd.   how's my back?   well, i iced it 4 a long time last nite.   i guess i pretty much fell asleep on an ice pack.   i feel much better this morn cos'f that, i guess.   yah, i think i feel much better.   i'm not like dying or nething.   it was never that bad, but the injury was significant from a chiropractic standpt, i guess.   i think it has been a great case study 4 the beautiful kaela hwang.   i knew she'd like it.   hot cold hot cold... that's my treatment; give it cold pack @ nite n' use the seat warmer in the car whenever i'm driving.   w/ many injuries, i hear it's good to do hot cold hot cold.   the cold reduces swelling n' the hot promotes healing.   nest.ce pas?   *shrug*   this wknd, what do i wanna do?   i've told myself that i'll stay off the slopes this wknd.   i ought to get a li'l skateboarding in, but we'll c.   oh yah... on sun, when i bought my skateboarding shoes, i bought a pair'f world industries shoes on super clearance sale @ dsw 4 $22.   that was quite a deal.   ideally, i wanted dc shoes, but eh! it's not like i'm that serious 'bout skateboarding!   i just want sumpthin' that won't get ollie holes.   last nite, i spent a long time on the fon w/ phil, n' he emphasized that hobbies shouldn't require so much investment in gear.   yah, i know... but when u want to be good, u want to be properly equipped.   [later] my werk.com laptop's been having lots'f probs.   i'd better clear off all my personal files n' submit it to the i.t. crew.   this morn, i packed my lunch n' then accidentally left it @ home.

[later] 오후: continuing this wk's horrible, awful trend'f unfitness, i didn't werkout in the werk.com gym @ lunch 2day but instead made a trip to the very nearby costco.   i saw a cowerker there n' sed hi.   i bought a flat'f kirkland unenvironmental bottled h₂o 4 the beautiful kaela hwang; some not.2.healthy jerky treats 4 sooni; thankfully some healthy, organik oatmeal; n' some marginally healthy odwalla 오렌지 쥬스 oreinji jyooseu.   odwalla juice is a de¢ent deal @ ¢0$+¢0.   we're having rather dry, windy yet sunny weather rt now.   i guess 'twas like this yesterday as well, but it's been getting a li'l chillier.   they say we might get snow in the valley on sat.   i hope so.

on my way 2 the ¢a$h register @ costco, i saw that the dc skateboarding shoes r now $20.33, but i saw only big n' small sizes.   i might've been able to find my avg size buried in the back. *shrug* neway, i usually don't wear white shoes or socks.   [later] 저녁: i still haven't worn my world industries shoes n' haven't gone skateboarding since i bought them.   if u 'member, i sed i didn't really like world industries much as a boardsports company these days, but eh... i just wanted some ¢heap shoes.

here's a buy.com coupon: 5% off your buy.com purchase: valid in our music, music downloads, and dvds stores.* - exp 3/31

[later] 밤, 1120p: after a long_day@werk.com, i went to this chinese restaurant called cheff lee on tasman n' lawrence in sunnyvale to meet kaela.   we only chose that restaurant cos i had a coupon 4 it.   also, it was a good location btwn my werk n' her skool.   i got there n' waited 4 almost an hr.   then kaela finally showed up.   it cmed to us that we so rarely eat chinese fud these days.   we ordered orange chicken n' string beans w/ beef.   it's not the most authentic or greatest chinese restaurant 'round, but it was fud.   in some ways, the restaurant cmed not to get 2 much asian clientele even tho' a big grp'f korean gentlemen were leaving as we entered.   they set the table w/ forks n' no chopsticks.   i felt that the restaurant tried harder to impress us cos we're asian. *shrug* [later] *sigh* i did more werk @ home 2nite.   i need to do well @ werk.

금요일 아침: this morn, as i walked sooni, i saw snow on the east n' west mountains!   awesome!   as i drove north on lawrence expwy to werk, while on the overpass by costco, i got a good view'f the decently thick snow on the eastern mtns, not just mt. ham, but also the foothills n' those hills over by milpitas n' fremont.   ugh, i must drive up to the snow!!!   i hope ppl r taking good pix'f this snow.   it's amazing, sumpthin' really amazing!   i tried to google up some pix'f "san jose snow" but didn't find nething good.   i did find this odd page: san jose's oldest snowball (http://www.oldestsnowball.com/).   hrm, this page cms to have decent san jose snow pix: "snow in san jose" (http://homepage.mac.com/rbarline/PhotoAlbum9.html).   snow's great, i tell u.   snow snow snow!   *sigh* what if i ran 'way from this silicon valley engineer's life n' became a total snowboard bum.   *sigh* yah, i wish i could be a pro.snowboarder.   *sigh* what a far.fetched, kiddie dream, eh?   that sure sounds like sumpthin' a stoopid, li'l kid'd say; yet i'm a 30 yr.old man saying that. :-/ obviously, sometimes, i just wanna "bust out'f my life."   it's that "despite all my rage, i'm still just a rat in a cage"^* thing.

ad: so i hear march's dummies month @ amazon: for dummies books @ amazon   buy 2 for dummies books, get 1 free n' get a $5 rebate on each'f the 2 books u pay 4.   not a bad deal, huh?

konsumerisme in amerika: (i figured the extraneous "e" @ the end'f "konsumerisme"'d make it look a li'l more euro in the 1980s red flag "russian radio" fashion.)   i hear ppl talkin' 'bout giant external hard drive's, n' that makes me want 1 a li'l.   sure, i recently bought an external dvd burner.   thankfully, i aktually made $$$ on that pur¢ha$e cos i used my ¢redit ¢ard rewards pts to buy it n' then also got a rebate.   however, that's konsumerisme nonetheless, rt?

[later] wow, singer/aktor 임창정 lim changjung n' aktress 김현두 kim hyunjoo got married?   u can c a short article n' some pix on y!: http://kr.news.yahoo.com/bestclick/shellview2.html?articleid=2006031018523431670.

^* "bullet with butterfly wings" - the smashing pumpkins... wow, what a kewl song title!   wow, what a kewl band name! "dude, someone's still living in the nineties!""

토요일 오후, 143p: lemme just cut n' paste the e.mail i just sent out to sum up what's going on... 제목:   east bay bound
보낸 사람:   비노 황 beno hwang
날짜:   2006-3-11, Sat, 1:42 pm
받는 사람:   toby, roland, n' phil (e.mails hidden 4 sekurity)
우선순위:   보통
환경 설정:   전체 헤더 보기 | 인쇄용 보기 | Bounce

hi toby, roland, n' philip:

wow, i did so much already 2day: i jogged w/ sooni.   then i took sooni to the saratoga mountains to play in the snow. then i bathed sooni.   then i took sooni to get kaela [the beautiful kaela hwang] 4 her lunchbrk, n' we ate @ a diner burger joint.   now, i'm headed to the east bay?!   wow!

kaela's seminar goes till 1000p 2nite, so i won't feel as bad staying out late.   oh yah, ken cancelled his korean bar trip 2nite, so... yah, i can stay out later, as i'm saying.   i'll save my werk stuff 4 2morrow.   procrastination? *shrug*

uh oh, i left my fon in the car as i ran in to type out this e.mail... oh, n' go pee... n' drop off sooni.   i hear it beeping in the car, so i must've missed a call.   i didn't shower last nite n' still haven't showered.   oh well. i'm grungeman 2day!

~beno

pix from our snow excursion to follow soon!   check back often! :-)

http://www.shortText.com/xw81

월요일 아침: monday, monday...   the weekend's over, n' most'f the snow on the san joseacute; mountains has melted or washed 'way (cos'f rain).   4 1 wknd, the sobay mtns were a winter wonderland.   this past wknd was magical.   i still haven't posted up pix'f sooni n' me in the snow; but i shall soon.   it's just that i'm in the process'f clearing all my personal files off my werk.com laptop in case i gotta get a new 1 or whatever.   it's a bit'f a messy task.   man, 'twas a fun wknd, i've gotta say, n' 'twas also surprisingly produktive n' relaxing/refreshing.   can u believe that?!   yes, 'twas!

• 03.10, 금
• werk... lots'f werk... in fakt, a bit'f a stressful_day@werk.com; had a big mtg, which had some nice snacks...
• grx t3s couples bible study small group movie nite
• 1 couple was in charge'f pickin' up a big, family.size togo's #9 pastrami sandwich.   the rest'f us were to bring some drinks or other snacks.
• since i was stuck_late@werk.com, i drove from werk to the movie nite w/o stopping by home.   however, i went to albertsons to pick up some drinks 4 the movie nite n' then some other gro¢eries.   i overshot the host couples' home's freeway exit on 101 on purpose to exit @ blossom hill rd / monterey rd by my mom's office to go to albertsn's.   aktually, i wasn't sure if i was gonna go to evil wal*mart or albertsons but ended up @ albertsons.   i bought some "simply orange" 오렌지 쥬스 oreinji jyooseu, some 8th continent fat.free soy milk, some cholesterol.free (i think) egg substitute, some albertsons brand grape.nuts... nething else?   i 4get.
• then i returned up (north) on 101 just an exit or so to the host couple's house.   they have a beautiful house on a hill.   personally, tho' i prefer living in a more cnetral location like where the beautiful kaela hwang n' i currently live.   the turnout 4 the movie nite was surprisingly small as many ppl cancelled @ the last min.   as i didn't have access to my e.mail all afternoon, i didn't know.
• we watched timeline.   we picked that over lost in translation cos i'd cn last in translation.   honestly, i was a li'l disappointed w/ lost in translation but maybe only cos it was so hyped up as an oscar winner.   i snacked on microwaved popcorn.   i've been eating 2 much lately.   i was pleasantly surprised by timeline.   i think the casting'f paul walker in the lead role worried me b4, making me think it'd be an mtvish the fast n' the furious on horses or sumpthin'.   i didn't realise 'twas a michael chricton book, but as i watched the movie i totally sensed 'twas based on a book cos the movie just so obviously ached to tell details that were left out in the movie.   the host husband made some chocolate.dipped mangoes, strawberries , n' bananas !
• after the movie n' after eating some choco.dipped fruit, i carefully drove home in the rain.
• 03.11, 토
• woke up early but not as early as i wished.
• jogged w/ sooni 'round the neighbourhood, waving hi to some woman in this old.ladies' hair salon.   she always waves hi.
• kaela had some chiropraktic seminar.
• i quickly drove sooni n' me up big basin way in saratoga to visit the snow.   we had plenty'f fun.   the park ranger kindly kicked us out but also took a pic 4 us, which i'll soon post.   he was very nice 'bout it.   dogs rn't allowed in the park up there.   sooni got very dirty.   it was cold but the sun came out now n' then.
• i drove back down into the valley n' took sooni to pet fud express 4 a wash.   the nice ¢a$hier woman there let me wash sooni 4 free, telling me to give her a token next time.   usually, i have rubber gloves, a rubber brush, n' stuff w/ me but not this time.   i took off much'f her shedding fur.   the whole time, i had to go pee so badly, so rt after the wash, i used the bathrm, leaving sooni's leash hanging out the bathrm door.   it was an odd situation cos this mobile pet vaccination clinic was setup rt outside the bathrm, so well... like... yah, that's weird.   sooni's so well.behaved tho'. :-) then i bought sooni some ymmmy chummies, n' we left.   she loves yummy chummies.
• after that, i picked kaela up 4 her lunchbrk, n' we ate @ taxi's diner in the mercado.   the restaurant's better than i'd remembered.   i chose it cos it has outdoor seating n' a buy 1 get 1 free ¢oupon in the gift checks book.   in the end, cos'f the cold weather, we ate inside, n' left sooni tied to a chair outside.   she was very well.behaved!   i ate a mushroom swiss burger, n' kaela had a grilled chicken baked potato.   we shared a large order'f onion rings.   un4tunately, i've taken a liking 'gain to red meat, 2 much'f a likng.   i've gotta cut back on my intake'f red meat, if u ask me! *sigh* the meal was great.   an employee came 'round n' distributed sweepstakes cards.   i won a buy 1 get 1 free ¢oupon, n' kaela won a medium pepsi.   i guess we're going back sometime.   next time, i'll order 1'f their nice vegetaian or grilled fish sandwiches.   i recalled that the 1st time i visited taxi's i had a grilled fish sandwich.   that was in early 2000, @ the ol' oakridge mall location.   @ the restaurant, kaela saw her classmate w/ her husband.
• i dropped off kaela @ the techmart bldg 4 her seminar, then dropped off sooni @ home.
• then, i drove up to the east bay.   @ 1st, i 4got roland's n' toby n' betty's christmas presents, so i had to return from fremont, pick 'em up, n' go back up!   crazy, huh?   neway, i saw that 880 was a parking lot, so on my 2nd trip up, i used 680 to 580 to 13.
• i drove thru the city'f berkeley to get to roland's condo.   i parked n' used the restroom @ his place.   roland was watching cal (mens) basketball on tv when i got to his place.   dude, cal bears rock!   shoot, i just read online that they lost that game to ucla. :-(
• i drove roland n' me up to the lawrence hall'f science's parking lot to get a good view'f the beautiful bay area on such a beautiful day.   ah, 'twas magnificsent!   i took some pix.
• i was curious 'bout bay st. emeryville, so i drove us down to that.   wow, i drove up, down, up, dwon on sat!   lots'f elevation change! :-)   well, bay st. emeryville's nice, not as ritzy as santana row n' w/o as much nice "hanging out" spots.   it's really crowded, n' they charge 4 parking ($1 4 0~4 hrs).   it's still kewl n' hip tho'.
• after that, roland n' i ate @ some chinese fud joint in the emeryville publik market.   the fud was just ok, but i was glad to get an affordable meal, u know?
• then we picked up toby from beckett's (a pub in berkeley) n' found phil w/ his ol' friend mike @ the oasis (an afghani restaurant).   the bunch'f us guys went to what used to be mel's diner but is now "the original burger" owned by some asian dude w/ short hair named mike.   that's how the waiter described him, so that's all i know.   i had green tea aisukuriimu n' decaf coffee.   oh yah, it's funny that the desi/indian aisukuriimu joint near our house has a sign written in bad korean that seys they have green tea aisukuriimu.
.   'twas most excellent (to use a 1980s keanu term) to hang w/ these guys in berkeley.
• after i dropped roland off, i drove home in the rain, stopping by a shell station in union city to use the bathrm n' buy a li'l bit'f overpri¢ed gas.
• 03.12, 일
• to my utmost, pleasant surprise, kaela came w/ me to church, so we went to the early service.
• afterwards, we tried to get a quick lunch, so i could go to the church town hall mtg, but a series'f wrong turns n' not.so.good traffik led us to a prolonged lunch @ the cheesecake faktory in valley fair mall.   'twas so great to spend time w/ kaela tho'.   i had this "incredible eggplant sandiwch," n' kaela had this frençch country salad.   the waitress kind'f pressured us to order drinks, so kaela got a iced mango smoothie, n' i got a tropical fruit smoothie.   i hate when servers pressure u to order more, but i knew the restaurant was crowded, n' thus we were occupying valuable seats.
• after lunch, we strolled thru valley fair.   luckily, i didn't buy nething.   phew.
• then we went home.   'twas hard not to fall asleep; but i guess i succeeded.   i pulled weeds out in front'f the house w/ sooni tied.out in front.   i figured i'd best do some yardwerk while it wasn't raining.
• later, i made a 2nd strip out 4 the day:
• santa clara costco to buy gas... from afar, saw mike yee there w/ his family.
• milpitas mccarthy ranch's evil wal*mart to buy some men's nivea facial cleanser 4 myself n' some aveeno calamine creame 4 kaela
• sunnyvale's orchard supply to buy a plumbers snake 4 our shower drain n' a made.in.china 4" adjustable wrench to keep in my car 4 snowboard/skateboard stuff.   man, amerikan tools r 2 much more expen$ive than chinese 1s. *sigh* hand tools were 20% off n' the weekend was a no sales tax wknd.
• trader joe's: i'd parked in the trader joe's lot n' walked over to osh.   @ tj's, i bought some blueberries, some flax seed tortilla chips, some tiger's milk bars, some anti.oxidant trail mix, some frozen burritos, n' this pack'f frozen naan that i was embarrassed to buy in front'f desis.
• upon my return home, i used the plumber's snake to unclog the shower drain.
• then i did dishes n' cooked some 칼국수 kalgooksoo 4 dinner.
• kaela n' i watched the final episode'f kbs's drama 웨딩 wedding, n' i then fell asleep soon after a shower.   i'm glad i went to bed early last nite.

this morn, i woke up early to take out the trash n' burn pix from my laptop to dvd.

ad: $10 off $75 @ footlocker march ~ april 2006 - use promotion code: LKS163M7

[later] 오후: a return to fitness? - i hope so.   during my lunchbrk 2day, i werked out in the werk.com gym.   ah, doesn't that feel good?   yes, it does.   i lifted just a li'l, then did precor (elliptical trainer) 4 20 mins, then stretched n' did abwerk 4 a while.   i've had back probs lately, so it felt good to do some core area stretching exercises.   this is my self.prognosed, self.diagnosed, self.prescribed physical therapy.   diy.   *sigh* ppl've sed that's how healthcare n' dental care has become, rt?   self.medication, etc.   well, heh... that's not a topik 4 me to discuss.   kaela'll talk 'bout it w/ u, but i won't.   after my werkout n' shower, i microwaved leftover chinese fud from chef lee's on thurs nite.   the leftover orange chicken sure tasted unhealthy: all that fried breading.   oh well...   i've gotta watch my fat n' sodium intake, u know.   i feel out'f shape from my wk'f inaktivity last wk.

on sat, while driving, i aimed my camerafon @ myself n' recorded a video diary'f sorts.   maybe someday i'll share it w/ u, maybe i won't.   however, i basical just gave a narrative rundown'f what i'd done on sat up until that pt in the afternoon.   that's what i do here in text.   i watched myself in the video.   how do i sound?   do i really talk like a calisurferboy?   back in hi skool, i 1nce had a substitute princeton review instruktor from harvard.   as soon as we started conversing, he was literally taken aback, n' he sed i had such a strong cali4nian accent.   that comment surprised me so much.   he then explained that he was so used to boston n' bostonian accents.   i asked him what a cali4nian accent is, n' he sed it was like surferish n' all.   oh, ok.   well, i guess i have a thick cali4nian accent.   do u think i do?

no hip hip hip hip hip, no hippie chick: over a decade 'go, a eurodance femme duo called soho made a r&bish, grooveish, club dance track called "hippie chick."   the song used a sample'f the beginning of the smiths' popular hit "how soon is now?" as its essential substrate.   i later learned that the widely recognised sound in that smiths clip was generated by smiths guitarist johnny marr's rhythymically oscillating the volume knob'f his guitar.   "got no flowers for your gun, no hippie chick.   won't make love to change your mind, no hippie chick." - some lyrics from soho's song "hippie chick"   i always figured the song was 'bout a situation where a casting direktor or musik producer is rejekting a female applicant cos she's 2 much'f a "hippie."   *shrug*   i'm not sure.   neway, when i was doing my 1st engineering co.op, @ ebmud, during my undergrad college yrs; a cowerker/mentor/friend'f mine there explained the diff btwn beatniks n' hippies.   he sed altho' beatniks n' hippies r both kind'f political n' "liberal," beatniks r smart whereas hippies rn't.   lately, as i find myself feeling @ home @ whole fuds, trader joe's, n' in berkeley, i worry that i'm 2 much hippie n' not 'nuff beatnik, under those definitions.   am i this free spirit that's a rebel w/o a cause or brain?!   i hope not.   i'd rather 'least be an eco.hunk! ha ha ha.   (simpsons joke/reference...)   when i told kaela last nite that i enjoy being @ places like @ whole fuds n' trader joe's cos they're environments that make me feel like i can be who i am; she laffed.   'pparently, i'm already 2 ordinary n' can fit in in ne middle.class, suburban supermarket.   it's like when ned flanders tries to freak out maude by not trimming his moustache, but maude just sez he's "ol "silly.billy" ned:

Maude:   Where have you been, Neddy?
Ned:   In the bathroom ... not trimming my moustache!   What do you think?   Do I remind you of troubled troubadour David Crosby?
Maude:   No. You remind me of silly-billy Ned Flanders!
[Maude and the kids laugh]
Ned   Would a "silly-billy" sit like this?
[pulls up a chair and sits in it backward, causing his back to emit a cracking noise]
Maude:   Rod, call Dr. Stein.
plz visit http://www.snpp.com/episodes/AABF06 4 the full transcript.

밤, 1058p: i need to eat less red meat!!!   2nite, i went to the burger pit... the original burger pit on blossom hill rd. near the split @ kooser.   u know, the burger pit that used to be on camden ave @ almaden expwy was 1'f the 1st places i ate in san josé when i was a li'l kid.   when my parents bought the house in which i grew up, they bought it from some realtor @ van vleck realty, which was rt by that burger pit.   [later] 1121p: shoot, my 'puter keeps crashing n' locking up.   argh, neway... b4 i run out'f time, plz lemme share w/ u 2 youtube videos:

• daewon song - skateboarding front kick board break (http://youtube.com/watch?v=cDjM7PxXNZw)
• almost - round 3: mullen vs. daewon (http://youtube.com/watch?v=UWbgrGS2lzk)

수요일 아침: what a bizzy wk! *sigh* i'm getting thrashed, man.   hey, u wanna check out sumpthin' kewl?   check out dilbert comics in korean n' english: http://www.ecomix.co.kr/comic/detail.php?uid=5564.   딜버트! 딜버트 만화... 한국어, 영어도... what an kewl way to learn korean!   i have a grx t3s couples small group core group meeting tonight at 비원 biwon (secret garden).   last nite, i was @ the burger pit.   2morrow, i have a li'l get 2gether w/ ol' friends from community connektions this past summer, which includes 1 friend who's also a cowerker.   all these social meals @ restaurants, man; i've gotta watch what i eat!   bizness lunch type meals can be really dangerous!   *sigh* i'm so freakin' bizzy this wk that it's harder than usual to get exercise, but i must!   i must stay healthy.   dude, i've gotta lay off the red meat!   2day, i packed a turkey n' spinacci bagel sandwich w/ hummus 4 lunch.   i also made 1 4 the beautiful kaela hwang's lunch.   she laffed that i made such "amerikan" fud 4 lunch.   is it really?   sure it's not like i've packed us som 김치 찌개 kimchi jjigae 4 lunch, but 'least it's not burgers n' hot dogs.   neway, dude, society needs to update its definition'f "amerikan fud."   hot dogs n' burgers?   that's not the extent'f amerikan fud!   amerikan fud is what amerikans eat, n' what do amerikans eat?   they eat menudo (on sabado n' domingo), lumpia, naan, 빔밥 kimbap, chow fun, falafels, mousaka, lau lau, piroshkis...   dude, subvert the dominant paradigm!   ha ha ha ha...   *sigh* what's w/ this wannabe "hippie engr" stuff?!   just cos i graduated from cal?   btw, 4 a while now, i've been wanting to start a "keep santa clara weird" campaign.   in case u don't know, that'd be a variant'f the popular "keep santa cruz weird" campaign, a movement to maintain support for street musicians in santa cruz.   would ppl laff 2 hard?   really, it's not as bad as having a "keep saratoga weird" or "keep almaden valley weird" campaign!   imagine "keep mill valley weird," "keep naperville weird," "keep fountain valley weird," etc.   a long time 'go, i heard'f sociopolitical concern in sf (san francisco) 'bout how housing has gotten so inaffordable that the artists n' musicians that create san franciscan culture can't live there nemore, only lawyers n' doktors, n' biznessppl.   also, citizens voiced concerns that service werkers couldn't afford to live there.

[later] 오후: ok, i went to the werk.com gym during lunch.   phew.   i've gotta get back into a good fitness routine n' eventually, i've gotta get back in shape in gen'l.   yah, if i ever get fat 'gain, i'll wish i were in the shape i am now, but... *sigh* i still wish i were in better shape than i am now.   it's bad that i've been 2 scare to weight myself or take a body fat measurement.   i'm eating my bag lunch.   it's healthier than a cafeteria lunch but prob'ly 2 big in portions.

[later] march madness: so rt now, every1's excited 'bout the ncaa mens basketball tourney.   me, i don't really care 'bout it 'cept 4 cal's participation or whatever.   i'll be happy if cal wins; but, other than that, i don't care. jocks n' cheerleaders: a couple'f wks 'go there was this video clip that was all over the news, a clip'f this southern illinois university cheerleader that was on the top'f a human pyramid during a basketball game but wasn't caught upon her dismount.   her team totally messed up n' she fell on her head or sumpthin'... from really high.   the video was particularly interesting cos she kept cheering even as she was carried 'way in a stretcher w/ her neck restrained.   from her last name, it looksl ike this gurl is some part 'least japanese.   her last name was like yamaoka or sumpthin'.   'nother cheerleader who made the news in the past couple'f wks was teri hatcher.   'pparently, she grew up not 2 far from where we live, in sunnyvale.   she helped convikt a child molester by sharing that that uncle had molested her as a kid as well.   dude, last nite, @ the branham lane safeway (near 85), i saw toby dawson on a frosted sugar flakes box w/ tony the tiger.   dude! that should be a collektor's item!   check out this link: http://www.torino2006.org/ENG/IDF/ATH/606722.html.   "He has been given the unique honour of being featured on the box of Frosted Flakes Cereal, along with the box he is also to be racing Tony the Tiger down a hill on a nationally screened advertisement.   'I've done the yogurt lids before, but this will be my first cereal box.   It's the ultimate (exposure) and everything, but at the same time, you get all of your buddies giving you a hard time on Email.   I haven't seen (the commercial) yet, but I'm sure Tony the Tiger gets put in there somewhere.' (vaildaily.com 17/11/05)"

[later] 저녁... 하지만 아직도 퇴근하지 않았어요: yesterday, i mentioned the almost skatebaording video.   u can buy it from via my amazon link - almost round three dvd (2004).   neway... lemme tell u, a few wks 'go, i was watching this vans shoe company skateboarding dvd that came free w/ the order in which i got all my skateboard parts back in uh... feb? jan? *shrug*   (i think 'twas feb.)   in the video, a bunch'f young, pro skateboarders get flown to china to skate 'round cities there n' get filmed 4 the video.   it bothered me, tho', how these kids akted like such punks n' showed such disrespekt.   it bothers me that this kind'f attitude pervades skateboarding n' skateboard culture.   i think things can be better.   i hate how so much'f extreme sports culture revolves 'round mtv's jack@$$ show.   skateboarding kids need better role models.   u know that?   i mean, shoot, of course skateboarding's always had this bad boy image, but some1 ought to teach these young men that they can have their bad boy image n' yet not be so unintelligent.   san josé has an artistik culture that developed w/ strong influence from skateboarding.   just check out the metro article.   i found the almost< round three video to be unlike the vans video cos it was artistik n' well.produced.   it just cmed more mature... in a good way.

[later] 밤, 1057p: i went to 비원 w/ the core group.   i ate 회덮밥 hweduhpbap.

목요일 아팀: 2morrow's st. patrick's day.   hrm, does st. patrick = san pedro?   peter = pedro, rt?   does patrick = peter?   *shrug*   petrified... peter = rock.   patrick?   *shrug* last sat, when i was @ bay st. emeryville w/ our good friend roland, we went into old navy.   old navy was selling all this st. patrick's day clothing.   they made such a big deal'f it.   the blue n' green colour scheme aktually looked very nice.   i've thought 4 a while that that's gonna be the next big thing, which'll replace the now almost cliché n' trite brown n' blue colour scheme.   yah, that was last christmas season's colour scheme.   yah, it's almost out the door, but i'm aktually sportin' that colour scheme 2day, wearing my brown cardigan, blue jeans, n' a blue shirt.   oh, n' my belt's both brown n' blue!   my shoes n' overcoat r both black, so i'm not completely matching.   when i saw all that st. patrick's day clothing, i reminded roland'f how a few yrs 'go, old navy sold a bunch'f 4'f july clothing in a similar fashion: the t.shirts r just $5.   dude, i'm sure next wk, the t.shirts'll be like $2.50, rt?

i s'ppose it's good that i fell asleep relatively early last nite.   i couldn't stay 'wake thru the 1100p news on nbc 11.   did i?   i feel like i did c some'f leno last nite, did i? *shrug*   i had a dream this morn 'bout going to some state or ant'l park, where i drove my subaru forester thru some deep h₂o n' then was lifted out'f the h₂o onto some bridge.   like that was how ppl routinely visited the park.   d'ya wanna analyse my dream?   a couple'f nites 'go, i didn't sleep well @ all cos the beautiful kaela hwang was studying in bed n' then later sooni kept waking me up.   i figured that she wanted to be let out into the backyard to relieve herself, so i eventually got out'f bed n' let her out.   cos'f all that, i woke up kind'f late yesterday.   however, 2day, i woke up early n' brought sooni out 4 a nice jog.   i need to jog more as i just plain need to exercise more.

[later] 오후: i wonder if this web page is ne good: "bible spiritual gifts tests (60 questions)".   maybe u should take the test... if u'r a christian, like me.   i dunno how good or accurate the test is, but... *shrug*

@ lunch, kaela came to pick me up n' then we met w/ some grxers @ athena grill on space park @ scott.   it was a fun lunch gathering'f christian, asian.am young professionals in the area.   i think there was like 8'f us.   i'd been to athena grill 'least 1nce in the past n' knew it'd be crowded n' crowded mostly w/ ppl from my company.   i was rt.   i sed i didn't want beef cos i've been eating so much red meat lately; but, when put on the spot @ the order counter, i ordered the arnáki pita, which is a lamb sandwich.   upes.   kaela had the grilled eggplant standwich.   the fud was good.   personally, i prefer yiasoo over athena grill; but athena ain't bad, i guess.   wow, it was sooo crowded w/ ppl from my company!

[later] yesterday (i think 'twas yesterday), i started to discuss the almost round three video n' how i found it such a better werk than the vans video.   i gotta say, that kinda hurts to say cos the vans video does have steve caballero 4 a very short while, n' steve caballero rocks.   however, it's just these new, young kids that r such jerks that make the whole thing cm kind'f lame n' immature.   as i was saying yesterday, i like the almost video much better.   u know, 1 thing that makes the almost video rock's that it has kewl musik.   it has that "my favourite game" song.   whose song is that, sheryl crowe?   oh, no... i didn't think so; it's the cadrigans.   yah, i thought 'twas some1 more 'long those lines.   4 a sec, i was gonna guess garbage, but it just doesn't sound dark 'nuff.   neway, get this the almost video has the cure's "why can't i be you?"   dude, that's a song i prob'ly put into my own lame skateboarding videos i made in 9th grade.   awesome!   dude, watching rodney mullen, i just kept thinking how kewl it is that he's still doing the same "freestyle skateboarding" tricks he did in the 1980s but adpated 4 streetstyle.   dude, that's so kewl.   [aterl] neway, the use'f the cardigans n' the cure makes that video so classy, man!   also, the video has cute animation.   i 'member now the cardigans' "favourite game" video: it's the 1 where the gurl's driving fast down the highway w/o stering, 4cing every1 to swerve off the road to miss her.   s'pposedly, that video stirred up some contreversy 4 inspiring kids to try that out.   it's an artistik video.   this afternoon, i'm listening to a live "bootleg" cure cd.   i bet this "bootleg" import cd's worth a good amount now, but i dunno.   it's prob'ly some kind'f collektors item.

2nite, i might do some korean gro¢ery $hopping @ either 갤러리아 플라자 galleria plaza in santa clara or 한국 마켓 hangook market in sunnyvale.   [later] 저녁: after that, i'll go home, maybe eat dinner 1st, n' then do some base cleaning, base repair, n' hot wax.   it's "beno's snowboard shop" in the garage 'gain 2nite.   [later] yah, un4tunately, it looks like i'm skipping taekwondo sparring praktice 2nite.   i guess i'm glad i 'least jogged this morn.

[later] keep in mind that i have coined 3 important phrases here:
- "keep santa clara weird."
- "san joséana"
- "silicon valley: america's real heartland."
if i owned either a café or a cable company in santa clara, the slogan could be "keep santa clara wired."   perhaps, that'd be funnier n/or more clever in the original city'f santa cruz: "keep santa cruz wired."   man, if only i could run my own radio station...   heh heh, that thought just came from my thinking just now 'bout making a list'f my favourite songs @ the moment.   i used to do stuff like that when i was a kid, make lists'f my favourite songs, etc.   aktually, when i was a kid, i was really into reading the musik charts, like what the top 100 singles were, what the top 100 albums were, etc.   [later] so which korean gro¢eryshould i patronise 2nite?

[later] 밤, 907p: after getting out'f werk much later than desired, i went to big! lots to buy sooni some dingo brand chews.   then i went to the bank to depo$it a ¢he¢k, then to 한국 마켓 hangook market to gro¢ery $hop.   then, i came home n' cooked packaged 짬뽕 jjambbong.   now, it's raining really hard outside, which is crazy cos it didn't rain all day!   i haven't started werking on my snowboard, which is bad.   i need to.   i do love the sound'f rain.

[later] 1129p: so when did the term "manual" develop???   a manual is what we called a "wheelie" as kids.   i heard "manual" 1st as a skateboard kid almost 2 decades 'go, but i discovered recently that mountain bikers also use it.

2day, 4 lunch, the beautiful kaela hwang picked me up from my office n' we met some'f my cowerkers from the division/dept i werked w/ during my co.op @ kabab n' curry off'f el camino real: halal indian buffet, $8/person.

토요일 오후, 314p: i feel like i'm wasting the day 'way.   this morn, i took sooni n' went skateboarding 'round my neighbourhood.   i always feel self.conscious 'bout that: like, if the neighbours c me skateboarding, what'll they think?   however, after thinkin' 'bout it 2day; i told myself i really can't worry 'bout what ppl say 'bout me, cos well, heck, they'll always find sumpthin' to rag on me 4: unkept yard, messy house, 2 asian... whatever, man.   it's ironik, but i'll say this, "i'm not in middle skool nemore, so i don't need to worry 'bout fitting in n' all that cr@p."   i had fun skateboarding w/ sooni, but it's just cruising.   it cms like i might as well have a long board 4 this kind'f riding.   it's not like i get to try tricks or nething w/ sooni.   the most fun i have is dropping off curbs, so well... that's pretty pathetik.   [a li'l later] 336p: well, i came back from skateboarding n' then woke the beautiful kaela hwang up 4 her nat'l chiropraktic board exam (2day n' 2morrow).   a 누나 noona (older sista figure) in our couples small grp instrukted me to give kaela a massage b4 her exam, so when kaela asked me last nite n' this morn, i complied.   then kaela asked me to take her to hobees 4 brkfast, so i did.   i was so worried that we'd be so late to hobees that we'd hafta wait 4 a table.   i frantically searched 4 my wedding band but couldn't find it.   i'd taken it off last nite when i got home cos i wanted to praktice some ollieing in the garage, as i've been doing thru.out the wk.   i took off the ring cos 1tym, a while 'go, i fell 1nce while skating out on the sidewalk n' scratched the ring a li'l.   well, we took off to hobees, n' i didn't have my ring.   we had a nice brkfast.   kaela had chicken apple sausage scrambled eggs, n' i had uh... this "shamrock" scramble.   the shamrock scramble had chicken, green onions, black olives, salsa fresca, n' other things.   i had hash browns w/ it instead'f their famous coffee cake, which's also very good.   kaela n' i enjoyed their decaf coffee.   after brkfast, i dropped kaela off @ her skool 4 her test n' then parked nearby to skateboard a li'l.   i skated thru north park, this new urbanist apartment neighbourhood, n' then past some silicon valley companies, including my company's suppliers, customers, n' competitors.   i saw sekurity guards eyeing me.   after just skatin' 'round 4 a good while, i came home.   since then, yah, i feel like i've been wasting 'way... or 'least wasting time.   i cleaned the house a li'l n' quickly found my ring inside a small, wicker basket.   it must've fallen out'f my jeans pocket as i folded them up to hang.   un4tunately, that happens more often than it should.   i cleaned up some more n' took some junk items out'f the backyard n' side yard to put on the curb 4 santa clara's annual dump day.   what i really need to do is go get a haircut!

practical unigraphics nx3: modeling, drafting, and assemblies
machinery's handbook, 27th edition

일요일 저녁, 524p: 2day's the beautiful kaela hwang's n' my 32nd wedding monthversary.   march... then april'll be 33rd, may'll be 34th, june'll be 35th, n' july'll be 3rd anniversary.   since kaela's taking her finals this wk, after 2day completing her 2.day nat'l board exams; i assumed she wouldn't wanna do nething 2nite, but when she came home from her test she told me to take her out 4 our monthversary, so i guess we shall.   we'll c.   now, she fell asleep.

2day, i went to church.   afterwards, i met w/ a couple 'bout djing their wedding in sept.   it looks like i'll be djing 3 weddings this yr... 'least 3 weddings.   i don't mind doing more.   in fakt, i think i'll buy my own sound gear this yr.   it's well 'bout time that i bought my own gear.   i realised a while 'go that the recent i hadn't bought ne yet's cos i didn't have a house.   now i have a house (to store the stuff), so i might as well buy the stuff.   neway, after that, i met up w/ my mom, n' we went to lunch @ darda in the milpitas 99 ranch mall on barber ln.   darda's the muslim chinese restaurant out there.   yah, i'm definitely not muslim but ate lunch @ muslim restaurants on fri n' sun.   funny, huh?   neway, it's good fud.   well, after that, after strolling n' browsing thru stores w/ my mom; i went to bed, bath, & beyond to $hop 'round 4 home stuff... mostly accessories... since i realise that i do pretty much all the housewerk 'round here... i mean, since i do pretty much all'f the housewerk 'round here, i figured i might as well go buy some junk to help me do the housewerk.   i mean, i wondered if i should've waited 4 a time to go to b,b, & b w/ kaela; but eh! i figured since i'm the 1 using this junk; i might as well just go.   it's a li'l odd to be a guy by himself @ b,b, & b.   it's mostly married couples 2gether or else 'least wives by themselves.   it's rarely husbands by themselves... 4 that, u'd hafta go to orchards (orchard supply hardware) or the home depot.   neway, i've found myself in that situation many times b4 neway... no biggie; whatever.   i had a bunch'f b,b, & b ¢oupons.   i learned 2day that u can use as many ¢oupons as u want @ 1tym n' that the ¢oupons never expire.   that's kewl.   i used to $5 off $15 ¢oupons, buying $29.96 worth'f stuff n' getting $10 off.   kewl.   i bought a laundry hamper (just a plain, ol' white, molded plastik 1 cos it was the only 1 made in the u.s.a. n' not china), a dryer lint cleaning brush, an egg thermal timer (u drop the platik egg into the boiling h₂o w/ the eggs n' watch it change colours), n' 1 boo.boo buddy.   what's a boo.boo buddy?   dude, it's very cute, so u gotta check it out.   it's an ice pack.   however, this 1 that i bought is in the shape'f the face'f a pet doggy.   check out www.mybooboobuddy.com   it's very cute.   when i got home, i saw that it's made in the republik'f korea.   yah, that figures.   it's very cute.   if u want to buy boo.boo buddies, u can click on my amazon link here: boo boo buddy 12.pac (but not the pet animal shaped 1s).   kaela's always telling me to ice my injuries.   i figure this'll make that easier.   @ b,b, & b; i saw a painting that i'd cn a yr or 2 'go that i like.   sure, it's a only a canvas reproduktion'f some art deco cliché (in the eyes'f some real art person), but i like it.   i dunno the name'f the painting or the painter; but, yah, it's this "art deco" (i guess) piece w/ a man n' a woman driving a convertible car... well, it's up close, so all u c's the man, the woman, n' a steering wheel.   i like it.   to me, it's very romantik.

that's funny... cos i was thinkin' 2day sometime 'bout how, in hi skool, i had certain ideals... i believed that having a car n' a gurlfriend really made u a man, u know?   i guess i was thinkin' 'bout how i lent my elektric guitar to al liu n' he never gave it back.   yah, while watching the worship band play @ grx, i thought 'bout my guitar.   al sed he'd buy me a new guitar; but i told him a while 'go to wait until i had a house.   well, i now i have had a house 4 a couple'f yrs.   i haven't cn him since... or have i?   yah, i must've... cos i 'member telling him that kaela n' i go to grx now.   yah, i think so.   neway... i was thinkin' 'bout how al liu took a long time to get his driver license.   he didn't get it until we were both in college @ cal.   yah, 2 me, having a car n' a gurlfriend made me a man.   however, well, shoot... we all know that's not necessarily true.   *sigh* when i got to college, i met lots'f guys who hadn't yet had their 1st gf.   man, me? i totally emphasized that in hi skool; i really wanted a gf, n' eventually i did.   well, whatever, man.

i'm gonna do a google image search to c if i can find that painting or info on it; but i doubt i shall.   i haven't found nething yet.   however, thinkin' bout the vettriano canvas repro that we have (dance me to the end of love) n' how i also like his singing butler etc. i googled up "vettriano" n' @ the portland gallery's website (http://www.portlandgallery.com).   i hadn't realised that vettrian has painted some racy (s3xy) stuff.   oh, ok.

the mutt: how to skateboard and not kill yourself by rodney mullen

oh yah, so that painting was $79.99, but w/ the 20% off ¢oupon, it would've been lik $70.   *sigh* maybe someday.   it was the last 1 left n' was sort'f hidden.

dude, i'm reading some'f rodney mullen's autobiography in the link above.   man, he's a really interesting guy!   wow, how come some'f the pro skateboarders from the 1980s r now such good role modles yet some'f the young twits that r pros now r just such jerks?   i'll prob'ly buy a used copy'f his book.   u know, whenever i buy a book n' start it, i so rarely finish it... uh, lemme rephrase that: i so rarely finish the books that i buy n' start reading.   it sucks; but heck, i still think this book's worth buying... 'least buying a used copy 4 goodness sake.   heck, i'd buy a new copy, but i'm just not loaded.   dude, kaela should find it interesting that steve caballero has some extreme scoliosis that permanently tilts his head to the left n' that rodney mullen was born w/ extremely pigeon.toed feet.   his acct'f wearing "torture" boots reminds me'f the beginning'f forrest gump.   dude, i've gotta read this book.   [later] 643p: dude, have checked out the site www.skatelegends.com?   well, considering u'r prob'ly not a skateboarder or as into skateboarding as i am, prob'ly not, huh? *sigh* well, u should check it out!

well, it's 644p, n' kaela's still asleep.   i dunno if we're going out 2nite or not.

월요일 점심: it's mon n' back to the stress n' hekticness.   last nite, i took the beautiful kaela hwang to hawg's seafud bar in downtown san josé for our 32nd monthversary dinner.   downtown san jo continues to get nicer n' make san jo more'f a cosmopolitan city.   in ne case, we had a nice dinner, n' i got use a restaurant.com dining certificate to pay 4 a good chunk'f our bill.   [later] 오후: kaela swung by my office to pick me up, n' i got us lunch @ 명동 순두부집 myungdong soondubujip: 버섯 순두부 (찌개) buhsuht soondubu (jjigae) 4 kaela n' 섞어 순두부 sukkuh soondubu 4 me.   it was great as usual.   this morn, when i woke up it wasn't raining, but i'd heard that it'd rain later.   i woke up early, took out the trash, took sooni 4 a nice walk, etc.   later, while i was in the office, kaela called me n' mentioned that it'd been raining a good amt.   wow, sooni should be very glad that she got a walk while she could.

[later] so last nite, what did we eat?   well, we started off w/ a 0.5 dzn raw oysters on the 0.5 shell.   we had some martinis: the french martini 4 kaela n' the hypnotini 4 me.   then kaela had the cioppino, n' i had the paella.   when our entrées arrived, we were done w/ our martinis, n' the waitress asked if we wanted nething else to drink.   i asked 4 a hefeweizen, n' so did kaela.   i wished we'd just shared 1.   i drank mine, but kaela didn't really drink hers, so i pretty much drank it 4 her.   i was really full, n' when i drink more alchool, it induces me to eat more, attempting to keep sober.   it's bad.   i was so stuffed, but i figured we could share a blueberry cheesecake n' have some decaf.   it was all good.   in the end, i still gave the car keys to kaela.   when we got home, i was so itchy.   i hate having this alcohol allergy.   i get red n' itchy. *sigh*   on fri nite, i skipped dinner.   on sat, i skipped lunch.   on sun, i ate 3 full meals.   i ate 'lot on sun.

my right leg's sore from my skateboard crusiin' on saturday.   my gastrocnemius's sore.   also, the inside'f my thigh...   this weekend was beautifully sunny but not hot.   i can hardly believe that i wasn't in taheo, snowboarding!   >:-(   i spent a good 'mount'f time this wknd doing housechores.   i cleaned up the house a li'l, still barely making a dent.   i mowed the backyard lawn yesterday.   i moved some junk onto the curb 4 santa clara's annual dump day (which's more like dump week).   i sold off a dresser to a lucky craig's list buyer, just $10.   i'm glad i sold it off tho'.   it's like trading sumpthin' i can't use 4 a free lunch, u know?   i've gotta do this more often!   [later] i just realised sumpthin' interesting: i tend to buy on ebay stores but sell on craig's list.   funny, huh?

[later] 밤, 1149p: i stayed_late@werk.com.   i drove home in the rain n' ate leftover 짬뽕 jjambbong.   i need to get some exercise. *sigh*

화요일 아침: 봄이 시작했어요.   spring started.   however, the eastern hills r capped w/ snow this morn.   "my frickin' goodness, it's alpine meadows up there," i sed to myself during my morning commute as i rolled over the portion of lawrence expressway that passes over the train tracks by costco.   wow, that's like ned flanders's diddly iddly talk, huh?

[later] 오후: during my lunchbrk, i had a decent werkout in the werk.com gym.   ah, i hadn't exercised in so long, so it felt very good.   4 lunch, i ate 2 trader joe's chicken, rice, n' bean burritos.   maybe that wasn't the healthiest lunch.   s'pposedly, 'twas low in fat; but i felt it had 2 much na⁺.

the sf international asian amerikan film festival is going on rt now.   check out their website: http://www.asianamericanfilmfestival.org/.   the movie i think i most want to c from the festival is only the brave, a movie 'bout japanese.amerikan soldiers in ww2.   it has big stars: jason scott lee of the famous bruce lee biography dragon n' tamlyn tomita, who of course a long time 'go was the cute japanese gurl that ralph machio had the hots 4 in the karate kid, part ii.   ha ha ha, those descriptions prob'ly sound rather silly; but *sigh* u know how it is in the asian.am film world: those credits make them pretty big stars...   well, no... it makes them "legends".   u know, asian.am film's much better now than it was in the 1980s.   i like it so much better now.   it's funny how some things get bettwr w/ time.   movies like better luck tomorrow n' harold n' kumar go to white castle r so much better than 1980s movies like double happiness n' my beautiful laundrette^*.   no doubt.

[later] oh, 2day's 1'f those 60% off restaurant.com days enter code "87539".   u can get a $25 dining certificate 4 $4.

[later] u know, i think i have some very valuable cds in my collektion.   however, i wrote my name on most'f my cds w/ a black permanent marker.   if i ever wanted to ¢:a$h out, i'd hafta somehow remove my name from all those cds, rt?   i have some rare stuff: limited editions, imports, box sets, promo only stuff...   just think, my depeche mode black celebration cd's a uk import, while my cure wish cd's a japanese import.   i think i have some german imports in there as well, but i 4get.   yah, it's crazy.   *sigh* someday, i'd love to dig thru my ol' cds n' relive memories fromt he 1990s.   just now, i ripped my new order in order cd into my 'puter.   had u even heard'f that album?   it's not common.   wtf?   i just froogled it up n' found 1 place selling it 4 $60.18, n' 'nother guy ebay storesing it 4 $3.95!   dude, i could make ~$55 just like that!   "i've got the brains.   you've got the looks.   let's make lots of money."^**

[later] 밤, 1118p: after werk 2nite, i went to taekwondo praktice.   dennis led a good werkout.   afterwards, i hung 'round n' chitchatted w/ the guys n' then took sooni to fantasia, where i got myself a almond milk tea w/ boba.   some ppl came up to pet sooni, etc.; n' this couple was training their bulldog mix to behave well 'round other doggies w/ sooni.   sooni growled n' lunged a li'l, n' that dog barked n' lunged a lot.   i'm glad sooni's better than she used to be, but maybe i should've disciplined her a li'l more when she lunged n' growled.   however, it was only cos the other dog was doing the same.   that couple were new dog owners, n' i 'member well the feeling.   after that, i came home n' cooked some well... some kind'f 만두국 mandoogook w/ these shark's fin 만두 mandoo n' some 오댕 odaeng n' lots'f 야채 yachae (veggies).   i'm glad 'twas a lower na⁺ meal than those packaged noodles.

한류 hanryu: selling out the hermit kingdom?: 2nite, @ the cupertino 99 mall (where the cupertino fantasia is), i noticed that silver wing chinese restaurant's being replaced by 한국 두부 hangook dubu.   that corner'f the mall now has 2 korean biznesses: that 순두부집 soondubujip n' that pinky winky women's clothing store, which has nice things but is waaay overpri¢ed.   *sigh* u c, sobay korean.amerikan merchants know that the lokal taiwanese n' chinese amerikans r sooo into korean culture just like their counterparts in the muthaland (asia).   i know it's snobby'f me to say this, but i've sed it b4 n' still think that what's big in taiwan is then big in hk n' china n' then the rest'f continental asia.   (japan, they're just sort'f on their own.)   neway, these korean.amerikanmerchants r capitalising off'f the whole "한류 hanryu/halryu/hanliu" trend that has grown so more huger than when it was just a few ppl on bronx's junkyard forums, etc.   what do i make'f this?   personally, i embrace pan.asian.amerikan ethnicity n' love to c fellowship 'mongst the asian ethnicities.   i hate how certain asian communities, mostly on the east coast n' to a lesser extent down in socal, refuse to coalesce to support a united asian.amerikan community, which is what we asian.ams need in order to achieve the level'f respekt (equality) we deserve in this nation.   u don't c this kind'f intraracial bickering amongst afrikan.ams or latino.chicano.ams.   @ the same time, i still as always warn korean n' korean.ams not to resort to selling out their culture 4 short.term gain, whether financial or social or whatever.   it's a delicate balance, man.   i hate cing punk@$$, 이세 2세 isei korean.ams go 'round being all exclusive n' shunning asian.am peers'f other ethnicities, shouting korea pride this n' that.   dude, i'm so sick'f that.   i've cn way 2 much'f that in my time, u kidding me?   neway, i still just say, "be careful."   hey, u should check out the rather decent article on wikipedia 'bout 한류 hanryu/halryu/hanliu: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanryu.   yah, that article also mentions the backlash 'gainst 한류 halryu.   by "backlash," they're talkin' 'bout the chinese, vietnamese, etc. parents who hate that their kids watch k.dramas, n' cmingly 4go their own ethnic identity to idolise specifically korean pop culture.   well, hey... u know what?   that's pretty silly but @ the same time not totally silly.   i'll tell u this, just as the article sez, asians n' asian.ams love korean pop culture cos it is well developed but is more relevant than "western" pop culture.   that's totally true, n' i've been saying it 4 ages.   i related so much better to k.dramas n' than stoopid amerikan tv shows.   sure, i'm an amerikan, yes; but amerikan media is so racist n' only focuses on black n' white culture n' ignores asian culture etc.; so, yah, asian.ams like me can't relate to the stuff they put on tv here.   we sure can't.   neway, i was sort'f surprised that the "criticism" sektion'f the article that talks 'bout vietnam threatening to ban k.dramas to protekt its own culture doesn't talk 'bout backlash by koreans who oppose it, like those certain punk@$$ 이세 isei korean.ams that i mentioned earlier.   i read in the article that "some chinese brides have even chosen to wear korean hanbok in their wedding pictures."   whah? really?!   wow, if so, that's pretty extreme.   i gotta admit that w/ this whole 한류 halryu thing; yah, my having a korean wife n' korean doggy n' doing taekwondo n' being able to communicate in korean n' all must cm pretty darn hip n' trendy.   :-/ eh, i dunno, man; i tell u; i don't wanna ¢heapen the korean culture.   frick, it's a country, n' they have a rt to have an identity.   well, *shrug* maybe sumpthin' good'll come out'f all this neway.   maybe this is the thing that'll promote asian pan.ethnicity. *shrug* could it be?   u know, i think 1 thing to watch out 4 is if amerikan media tries to capitalise off'f all this.   yah, in a way, i think that's where the japanese went wrong.   in a way, well... heh, i'll surely offend many in saying this; but yah... i think the japanese were 2 quick to sell off their culture to amerikan media, huh?   i s'ppose 한류 halryu is still primarily an asian/asian.am thing, eh?   neway, dude... it's now 1155p.   i s'ppose it's gettin' late, n' that's the 1 thing that'll stop me b4 i offend even more ppl. ha ha ha!   dude, this is 1 offensive entry!

^* that's british, not amerikan!   ok, then we'll compare it to bend it like beckham, which is still 1'f those "why can't my parents accept my white bf?" stories.   i'm sorry, but there r many more asian.am issues than that!   however, so many'f those stories end up on the screen just like how a disproportionate 'mount'f g@y asian.am films end up on the screen.   in a way, as i sed, it might just be a reflektion 'pon the type'f ppl who end up making movies, which isn't a good x.sektion'f society.

^** "opportunities" by the pet shop boys

수요일 아침: 2nite'll be my last nite in the bay area 4 a while.   the beautiful kaela hwang n' i'll be in dc this wknd, while duk n' sooni protekt our house from ne weirdos who might aktually read my journal just to figure out when they can break into our house.   yah'll 1 n/or the other'll rip u to shreds.   i want to keep going to be early n' sleeping early this wk in order to get my sleep skedule ready 4 the back n' forth time zone changes.   however, un4tunately, last nite, i found myself staying up late. *sigh* oh yah, cos i stayed up late, i had the chance to shrink some digipix to share w/ u! :-) i'll be uploading a whole mess'f pix that i can finally share w/ u!   just wait a sec.   by the end'f this entry, i'll hopefully have those pix up on my journal.

some ads: audiovox 12.1" portable dvd playa w/ tv tuner - $349.99 (retail value $500.00)   |   movado women's and men's stainless steel museum watch - $199.99 (retail value $350.00)

[later] 밤, 948p: what a long day @ werk. *sigh* really... it was crazy n' so exhausting.   4 lunch, i ate this turkey n' laffing cow cheese w/ spinacci sandwich on naan that i made 4 lunch.   it was delicious, but i ate an identical sandwich 4 brkfast.   i should've just given 1 to kaela.   what was i thinking?   well, if i had done that, what would i've eaten 4 lunch? *shrug* what a hektic day.   when i finally left werk, i tried to go to $1.75 ¢leaners to pick up some overdue dry cleaning, but it had just closed.   that pi$$ed me off so much, the fakt that i was trapped @ werk so late that i couldn't pick up my dry ¢leaning.   i was so mad.   why is it that i always hafta werk such long hrs that i can't enjoy my life.   i can't even get necessary stuff done!   i was so mad.   i went to pepboys n' bought some new windshield wiper blade refills in order to take out my anger.   *sigh* it's sad, but that's what i did cos i was mad.   then i went to albertsons n' bought some salsa, some granola bar thingies, n' some fat.free egg substitute.   *sigh* that's rage 4 u, eh?   i came home.   i ate some strange noodle leftovers that kaela left on the counter n' then the remnants'f last nite's 만두국 mandoogook that kaela had eaten most'f.   i watched an episode'f kbs's 드라마 시티, a sad story.   last nite, i watched an episode'f kbs's 부부 크리닉: 사랑과 전쟁

[later] 1052p: is it not 'bout time 4 pix?

• 2006년03월10일, 금: beno, after walking sooni on a wet fri morn
• 2006년03월10일, 토
• beno in the south bay snow:
• sooni n' beno in the south bay snow, take 1:
• sooni n' beno in the south bay snow, take 1:
• while kindly asking us to leave, the park ranger offered to take this pic 4 us
• kaela@taxishamburgers.com:
• keno n' sooni outside'f taxi's hamburgers:
• rolo n' beno in front of a great view of berkeley:
• 2006년03월10일, 금: beno on dia de san patricio

i really ought to be packing my big green backpack!

목요일 아침: it's thurs but feels like fri cos i'm flying out this evening.   i 1st fly out from sjc to lax, then take a redeye from lax to iad (dulles).   2morrow morn, hopefully, fahad'll pick me up from dulles @ ~630a.   he sed he had fud poisoning yesterday, so he's warned me that he might not be able to pick me up but sez he prob'ly still can.   wow, i feel like i'm just ditching werk (i'm taking a vakation day 2morrow) n' hangin' out in the city, 'cept "the city" means washington, dc n' not sf or san jo in this case.   it's funny: 1tym, a long time 'go, this hr cowerker @ my company told our batch'f new recruits, "nobody calls it frisco or san francisco.   they call it 'the city.'"   whah?   no, i don't call it "the city"!   i call it "sf" most'f the time.   neway, she was an austin transplant, whereas i've grown up in the silly valley / bay area.   neway... i hope this wknd'll be fun in washington, dc.   my main goal's to hang out w/ my ol' buddy fahad, n' that's all.   the beautiful kaela hwang finishes her last final 4 the 0.25 in a few mins.   then it's the start'f her 1.wk spring brk.   it's aktually quite messed up that she's using her 1.wk spring brk to do more chiropraktic stuff.   this 0.25, she's totally buried herself in chiropraktic stuff n' hasn't spent time w/ me, n' now she's still not spending time w/ me over her spring brk.   yah, it's really messed up.   however, i'll just make the best'f this bad situation n' make it a good thing by making it a chance to hang out w/ fahad.   seriously, that's a good thing.

i didn't get 'round to packing till this morn.   however, the brevity'f this trip (fri, sat, san) made it an easier task.   i was pretty tired last nite, yet i still didn't go to sleep all that early, which is awful.   i guess i stayed up, uploading pix to my website n' to flickr, etc.   i watched some korean musik videos on youtube.com after watching 드라맘 시티 on kbs.co.kr.   in a way, i guess, i was just wasting time.   however, watching korean musik videos n' k.dramas should also be considered a culturally edifying aktivity.   it's good to learn langauges, rt?   i don't have subtitles when i watch these k.dramas on kbs.co.kr.   however, 1 can only learn so much by watching since u don't praktice speaking while watching.   that's why musik was always such a good tool 4 my korean language edukation cos i end up trying to sing the songs, n' that's better praktice than just listening to dialogue.   last nite, i fell asleep b4 kaela came home.   that has become very common.   i stayed up late 2.   whatever...

2nite, i fly out'f sjc mineta aeroprot @ 700p.   i've gotta 4ce myself to leave my office @ ~400p n' not let msyelf get imprisoned late as usual.   the fakt that i was prevented from picking up my dry cleaning last nite was unacceptable.

[a li'l bit later] 오후: i'll have a couple'f hrs to kill in lax, which is much better than trying to run from gate to gate there.   dude, lax... well, sucks.   i've missed a flight 1nce cos'f how the int'l gates r so far from the domestik gates.   'member?   on my travel back from taiwan last spring, i missed my southwest aerolines flight from lax to sjc mineta.   while i'm in lax, i should try to find that pet accessories store that sells "i (hreat) squirrels" doggy bandanas.   it'll be overpri¢ed, but it's cute.

[later] logitech wireless headphones for mp3?   dude, i wish!   otherwise, bluelake technologies bt450rx bluetooth headphones?   yeah, rt...   the greens cookbook by deborah madison?   hey, that's kewl.   greens in sf's fort mason's an awesome vegetarian restaurant!   ...altho' a bit expen$ive.

ad: EXTRA krups espremio cappuccino/latte/espresso maker $49.98

free shipping coupon code @ ae.com: 78999192

[later] 저녁: well, i'm home now, n' i've gotta get ready to go to the aeroport soon.   4 lunch 2day, i ate a salad from the salad bar @ the werk.com cafeteria.

일요일 오후, 448p est / 148p pst: i'm aboard american aerolines flight 4225, service from iad dullles to ord o'hare.   the plane's an small embraer jet like the 1 i rode on thurs evening from sjc mineta to lax bradley aeroport.   i'm returning to the bay area.   what a fun time it has been in dc, hangin' w/ fahad n' wendy.   dc's a beautiful, urban, cosmopolitan city.   [later] 507p est / 207p pst: i was interrupted by the take off.   i'm enjoying the nice view'f lush virginia.   upes, now we're above the clouds.   well, how was the wknd?   'twas a lot'f good fud, which's sort'f funny cos dc isn't necessarily famous 4 great fud altho' most ppl'd assume some level'f competency in the restaurants n' chefs in the u.s. national capital, eh?   well, the places we went didn't disappoint.   lessee, where did i eat?

places @ which i ate:
• 금요일 점심: some li'l korean sushi joint near fahad's office, near the nat'l mall...   i had the tuna lover's special, while fahad had the salmon lover's special: each had a 0.5 dzn roll (maki) pcs, 2 pcs'f nigiri, n' 1 extra delicious hand roll (temaki).   the fish etc. was good, but the nori (김 kim or gim) was a bit soggy.
• 금요일 저녁: così...   i had the chicken pesto melt n' some fahad's tomato/basil pizza (1 slice).   i told fahad n' wendy how i enoyed my 1 n' only visit to valley fair's ephemeral così this past christmas $hopping $eason rt b4 it closed down.   così's very commonplace 4 east coast residents but a rare treat 4 a visitor like me from cali4nia's bay area.   their flat bread rocks!
• 토요일 점심: chef geoff's...   a decently luxurious meal...   'least 4 a lower middle class bloke like me, scraping by on my measly in¢come...   the beautiful kaela hwang had this chicken satay salad w/ coconut vinaigrette, while i had the southern fish fry: deep fried tilapia w/ hush puppies n' s'pposedly spicy but not spicy dipping mayo.
• 토요일 오후 간식: i had a nf chai latte @ $tarbuck$ n' a couple'f bites'f some kind'f mint brownie.
• 토요일 저녁: pizza paradiso near georgetown...   wow, this local favourite amazed kaela n' me w/ its bier selektion!   kaela had a lite wheat bier, while i had some kind'f north coast imperial russian stout.   man, that was an excellent stout!   the table shared 1 large (12") funghi pizza n' 1 uh... bartolli? ... it had 2 (chicken) eggs (계란) on it as well as some tobiko/caviar.   kaela n' i also shared btwn us some kind salad w/ a li'l bit'f anchovies n' olives.   no room 4 dessert...
• 일요일 점심: the american grill @ l'enfant plaza hotel...   some successful chiropraktor n/or prof bought lunch 4 the group.   feeling a li'l undeserving, i opted 4 the ¢heape$t item: a honey.roasted turkey sandwich w/ kitchen.made potato chips ("chips" in the amerikkkan sense, otherwise "crisps" in the true, proper british sense).   kaela ordered the rather pri¢y crab cake sandwich on baked brioche, which she misread as "brie" n' later likened to a hamburger bun.   in a smart move, she traded her french fries 4 a caesar salad.
• 일요일 오후 간식: a nf mocha @ bread n' chocolate as well as some'f a chai latte mousse that i split w/ kaela, ultra unhealthy but cute.   @ this unbelievably inefficient but friendly café, i pur¢hased a chicken caesar wrap ($5.95) to go 4 the homebound commute.   all the workers l there spoke in a non.english language.   were they ethiopian? jamaican? *shrug*

603p est / 503p cst/ 303p pst: on the flights this wknd, i rediscovered the lycopene filled goodness n' na⁺ filled badness'f tomato juice.   maybe it's cos i saw a korean 아저씨 ajuhssi w/ a lycomato $hopping bag w/ some familiar, comely faces, which i later realised belonged to the members'f baby v.o.x.; subliminal mkting?

places i visited:
• 금요일 아침: nat'l art gallery: dada n' cézanne exhibits (amongst others)
• 금요일 오후: natural n' amerikan history museums...   the natural history never fails to amuse, especially w/ its displays n' dioramas'f cute fuzzies.
• 토요일 오후: cherry blossom trees n' ww2 memorial...   we watched a cute squirrel feast on cherry buds.

reading that list, i realise that i didn't hit up 2 many significant spots, but this trip was 'bout ppl not places.   i'm so happy that kaela n' i got to spend time w/ wendy n' fahad.

on this trip as well my previous dc trip, i observed how asian.pacific culture matters so much less on the east coast.   european culture's more emphasized.

628p est / 528p cst / 338p pst: did i get sunburn on the rt side'f my neck, or did i accidentally scratch myself w/ some s#arp piece'f dry skin?   i'm now flying over some kind'f refineries.   where r we?

[later] 801p est / 701p cst / 501 pst, @ o'hare: sloane tanen, going for bronze...

[later] 828p cst / 628p pst, on board an amerikan aerolines md80 bound 4 sjc from ord.   i can't believe this plane has no musik or movies!   i'll hafta run down my pa1mone tungsten t5 battery by playing mp3s.   i have a great seat: on the aisle w/ a empty gap next to me, near the bathrm.

[later] 1026p cst / 826p pst: i'm in the air, but my flight was signifikantly delayed cos'f a safety issue.

월요일 아침: i come back from taking 1 friday off from werk n' find 22 e.mails in my inbox.   perhaps, i should say, "good grief."   man...   wow, well, here's monday.   mundane monday? *shrug* manic monday?   it was a li'l hard to wake up this morn, which u might find interesting since i should have jet lead n' not jet lag.   i should've found it easier to wake up this morn, rt?   well, my plane came in really late, n' the flight was already a late flight.   as always, 'twas a li'l strange gettin' back into the groove, gettin' back into my normal routine.   after not driving 4 only 3 days, it felt a li'l weird to be driving to werk this morn.   last nite, duk picked me up from the aeroport w/ sooni.   i've gotta admit that sooni wasn't as happy to c me as she was when the beautiful kaela hwang picked me up from the aeroport after my short taiwan trip in the spring'f 2005 4 my grandfather's funeral.   wow, that time sooni was sooo happy to c me.   this time, she was like, "eh! *shrug*"   i think she has 'lot'f fun w/ duk.   i won't get jealous.   duk took her running @ de anza w/ ben n' tired her out so much that he took her leash off, n' she was 2 tired to keep running!   wow, duk must've shown sooni a really good time!   well, duk picked me up from sjc mineta aeroport in my subaru forester.   then, he drove himself to the lawrence / el caminio real $tarbu¢k$, where he met up w/ his gf yuna, n' then i drove sooni n' myself back home.   'twas pretty late.   i pretty much just showered n' went to bed.   in the early morn, sooni woke me up w/ an arf.   i later discovered she had arfed cos some1 had stolen bottles out'f our recycling bin.   ah, oh yah, last nite, after coming home, i had to take out the recycling n' the trash.   neway, i don't really care 2 much that our bottles were stolen from our bin.   it's lost revenue 4 our city, which sucks.   however, i'm glad they're getting recycled 1 way or 'nother.

u gotta check out 2day's fox trot comic.   keep in mind that i read only 2 comics on a daily basis: fox trot n' the boondocks.   http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/uclickcomics/20060327/cx_ft_uc/ft20060327   dude, squaw valley s'pposedly has 329 inches'f snow rt now.   *sigh* i wish i were on the slopes.   "i'd rather be snowboarding."   (that's what my fron license plate holder sez.)   [later] i wanna share w/ u an e.mail conversation i had w/ my cowerker friend:

to: beno hwang
subject: disappointed

beno,

really disappointed man.. wanted to go to sierra this weekend.. but havent
got a single positive response.. i had sent ti to like 25 ppl.. hmmm..
i'll find someone and just go i guess. haha.. oh well..

cheers
[cowerker friend]

to: [cowerker friend]
subject: re: disappointed

wow, people aren't snowboarders this season, eh?   you know, i blame it all
on the late start to the season.   people like you and me are just trying
to make up for lost time, but others can't keep up with that kind of
schedule and have also been demotivated by not starting earlier this
season, you know?   i wanted to hit the slopes this saturday, but i have
this referee seminar to attend for the taekwondo tournament in berkeley
that i'm helping out with on saturday, april 15.   i'm going up to sierra
with a group from my church on april 7.   i guess i'll aim for april 22 as
well, but i have some baby shower to attend on april 29.   *sigh* yah,
don't say the snow season's over cos it's not.   it's now time to use those
late season deals n' buy cheap tix off'f craig's list!   it's weird.   this
season has turned out to be quite awful despite mother nature trying to
make it up to us with these late winter / early spring storms.   it's as if
we're just telling her, "too little, too late, lady!"

~beno

[later] 오후: during my lunchbrk, i werked out in the werk.com gym.   then, i returned to my office/cube n' microwaved some scrambled eggs w/ spinacci, shrooms, garlic, 파 pa (green onions), n' salsa that i cooked up this morn.   aktually, they rn't real eggs but "better than eggs" or sumpthin' like that, some generik albertsons egg substitute.   i bought a carton'f that stuff the last time i went to albertsons last wk.   when was that? *shrug* wednesday evening?   'twas that nite when i was upset 'bout being so trapped @ my office that i couldn't even pick up our dry cleaning in time.   neway, i cooked those eggs.   i started out cookin' 'em 4 brkfast but then decided to have some healthy, organik oatmeal 4 brkfast n' save the egss 4 lunch.   i packed them in an ol' tupperware.   i hope 'twas healthy 'nuff'f a lunch.   i've gotta remind myself not to overeat.   i ate 2 much this past wknd.

yeah, i am disappointed re: not going up to tahoe 'nuff this season.   during this season, i was sure, this season'd be better than the 2003~2004 season, in which i only spent 8 days on the slopes.   wow, this season may turn out worse.   the 2003~2004 season ended early cos'f sooni.   this season started late cos'f weather.

[later] i'm still not a balla: this wknd i watched more "college hoops" than i have in a very long time.   march madness is strong this yr.   i'm very surprised that i watched non.cal games: george mason v. wichita state, washington huskies v. u conn huskies, georgetown v. florida, ... the big news's how underdog george mason has made it into the final 4.   @ this pt, who would i want to win?   either ucla cos'f west coast, cali4nian, uc spirit or george mason just cos most ppl r prob'ly cheering 4 this underdog.   i guess i'm basically saying i don't care 'bout florida or lsu, which's true.

[later] since kaela's still in dc, last wk, i planned a grx t3 south men's nite out 4 myself.   i made a (if i don't say so myself) clever evite; but only 1 guy can make it.   i'd like to show u the evite, but i don't think it's possible.

[later] i received my rebecca st. james if i had one chance to tell you something used cd in the mail yesterday (or on saturday, i guess).   check out the wikipedia article on her: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_St._James.   not knowing nething 'bout this australian.born tennesee resident, i assumed she was older; but she was born in 1977.

밤 1034p: so i went out to dinner w/ just 1'f my t3 south bruthas.   we went to giovanni's pizza on lawrence expwy.   wow, the spaghetti n' pizza were pretty darn good.   we shared a small rustica pizza n' an order'f spaghetti w/ meatballs.   i overate.

화요일 점심: so lemme tell u; the biggest issue/prob during my recent (washington) dc trip was battery life!   1st off, i'd accidentally 4gotten the charger 4 my motorola v710 cellfon.   altho' i did pack the charger 4 my pa1mone tungsten t5, i didn't bring it with me to the museums etc. n' couldn't find an outlet aboard the planes.   the fakt that the planes didn't have outlets really sucked.   747s have outlets in the bathrms.... 'least the 1s i've been on.   dude, the md80 i flew from ord (o.hare) to sjc mineta was so outdated!   i can hardly believe it didn't have a music system or movies!   even the 737 i rode from lax to iad (dulles) had that stuff.   furthermore, the 737 let me plug in my own headfons instead'f requiring proprietary plugs.   'twas strange tho' to ride such a small plane such a a long distance.   neway, battery life'f portable elektroniks is a very hot issue these days!   i've cn handcrack generator cellfon chargers 4 sale.   that's a great idea.   i've also cn universal, modular chargers.   that's 'nother great idea.   u know, they ought to combine the 2!   i s'ppose i ought to add that to the list'f proudkts i ought to invent.   how 'bout a bicycle fon charger?   like, in the car, u have a car fon charger; so i ought to invent a bicycle fon charger that runs off a generator hooked up to ur wheel or whatever.   heh... or regenerative braking on a bike?   ha ha ha.

[later] an issue that hasn't been discussed much lately: cellfon radiation... check out: http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6602_7-5020355.html.   it appears that motorola fons r quite bad on the sar chart.   also, it appears there r no strong correlations by signal (multiplexing) standard; such as cdma, tdma, gsm, etc.   altho' i do like the idea'f smartfons, i can't get 1 until they come out w/ 1 that can do korean 한글 hangeul input.   i'm worried the treo 700w sort'f signals the end'f palm os.

[later] 저녁: wait, does daylite saving time start this wknd?!

ad: timelife.com: "LKAC43" 4 15% off $60+ or "LKDD22" 4 free shippping on $50+ (expires 2006.04.30)

슈요일 아침: i know all 2 well now 'bout truya sushi's all u can eat sushi dinner 4 $19.95.   man, 'twas delicious, but i overate.   last nite, after taekwondo praktice, a bunch'f us went out to truya sushi w/ our friend paul n' his friends from uc irvine.   well, the all.u.can.eat dinner comes w/ whatever "creative" rolls u request or else whatever chef scott wants to give u, if u have no preference.   i gotta say that it was a li'l sneaky to make the 1st plates heaping piles'f cali rolls w/ some cucumber rolls (kappa maki).   that was a bit sneaky since it's a ¢heap way to fill us up.   however, 1nce paul's friend ray started requesting fancy rolls... wow, we got good stuff!   wow, the macadamia roll?   unh, i wish we hadn't saved that 4 last!

[later]the beautiful kaela hwang returns 2nite @ 1014p @ sjc mineta instead'f oak (oakland aeroport).   it has been raining here in the bay area.   last nite, late @ nite, when i was in bed; i heard rain pouring down upon our house.   most'f yesterday, i think it just sprinkled or lightly rained.   this morn, i took sooni 4 a walk in the rain.   originally, i'd planned ro jog w/ her.   u c, last nite, @ truya sushi, i left her makeshift h₂o dish n' a refilled bottle'f filtered h₂o on the ground outside'f the sushi joint.   i considered jogging back out n' picking them up, if they're still there.   u c, the makeshift h₂o dish was a nice takeout container from ay chung noodle house.   kaela got it some time ago.   it's just a disposable, plastic container but nicer than ur usual takeout container, almost like tupperware.   un4tunately, @ this pt, i believe it's prob'ly lost. *sigh*   neway, dude, during my lunchbrk, i should go get a haircut @ the closest vietnamese hair cutting shop (dude, all the hair cutting shops 'round here r vietnamese 'cept 4 the supercuts kind'f places) n' then get some fud.   hrm, originally, i thought i'd go hit up our friend julie's subway sandwiches cos it's close to that hair cutting shop (it's not really a barber shop, but "hair salon" sounds frickin' gurly!) but then realised that it's close but might require me to walk in the rain unless the rain subsides.   i dunno if it's raining rt now or not.

[lat]er] 점심: i thought it'd be a good idea to go get a haircut during my lunchbrk.   uhm, the lady @ the ahir place misunderstood me.   she gave me a total buzz cut!   i look like i'm going into the military!!!!   when u next c me, don't be 2 suprrised.   i'm warning u now.   [later] i haven't had a haircut this short since the summer'f 1998 when toby cut my hair n' sent me off to taiwan n' hk, lookin' like a fresh army recruit.

[later] 4 my dj bizness, i'm currently needing to juggle a few diff "accounts."   it's good to have bizness this yr, as 'twas good to have bizness last yr.   i've gotta ramp up the effort n' also $hop 4 speakers n' amp.

[later] shoot, we might be in 'nother finan¢ial ¢ri$i$. :-( i just "ran the calculations."   it appears that we'll come out short this month cos'f property tax.   we need to file our in¢ome taxe$ asap to get our refund.   otherwise, i'll need to borrow $$$ from someone.

[later] 져녁: here's a napoleon dynamite passage to in honour'f my new do (courtesy'f imdb.com

Napoleon Dynamite: Why do you got your hood on like that?
Pedro: Well, when I came home from school my head started to get really hot.   So I drank some cold water, but it didn't do nothing.   So I laid in the bathtub for a while, but then I realized that it was my hair that was making my head hot.   So I went into my kitchen and I shaved it all off.   I don't want anyone to see.
Napoleon Dynamite: I know what you mean.

[later] 밤, 834p; still@werk.com: i wonder if i should go werkout in the werk.com gym.   kaela's plane gets in ~1015p.   duk, his bro chan, julie, n' others r gonna go to 노래방 noraebang 2nite.   i wanna go.

목요일 오후: recently, wks fly by.   my taking last fri off contributes to that.   since coming home, i've just been catching up.   i hate how i can't really take a vakation 'round here.   rather, when i get back n' b4 i leave, i totally make up 4 the time i take off... n' then some!   it's so not fair!   neway.... :-/

[a li'l later] late last nite, the beautiful kaela hwang returned from washington, dc.   i werked really late then went to werkout @ the werk.com gym 4 a short while.   then, i went home, picked up sooni, n' drove thru the taco bell drive.thru on my way to sjc mineta aeroport to pick kaela up from her 1014p arrival.   as i was so bizzy w/ werk, i aktually didn't get to the aeroport till after 1030p or so.   neway, i gave her classmate ian a ride home.   then kaela n' i met up w/ duk, his bro chan, duk's gf yuna, n' julie @ 장모집 jangmojip 4 a late dinner.   oh yah, the taco bell?   i ate 1 "spicy" chicken soft taco then saved the "spicy" chicken burrito 4 later.   while eating the taco, i realised sumpthin': 1nce 'gain, i'd lost my sense'f taste cos'f my wasabi binge @ truya sushi on tues nite!   yah, yesterday morn, i made fresh coffee @ my office, but it tasted so weak to me, like h₂o.   then, i ate a subway sandwich from julie's ol' korean subway by the ella hair salaon that sent me off looking like a fresh military recruit.   it's all by st. john's, the place where s3xually frustrated, male engrs gather in the silly valley to watch sports n' drink bier over burgers.   also near that area's the korean.ownded/operated mission city deli, which i've visited only 1nce.   neway, after my werkout, i ate some candied almonds, which didn't taste sweet to me @ all.   then i ate some keebler p'nut butter n' choco cookie, n' it also taste so not sweet.   as i ate the taco, it totally dawned 'pon me.   uhm, does this passage sound a li'l 2 "valley gurlish" or 'least 2 "californian"? *shrug*

neway, @ 장모집, i exercised my taste buds by trying to eat spicier stuff.   well, we ate 양념 통닭 yangnyuhm tongdalk, 감자탕 gamjatang, n' 골뱅이 무침 golbaengi moochim (@ <- 달뱅이... 골뱅이?).   oh yah, we tied sooni outside, n' she looked fine; but no... she chewed thru her ol' blue leash n' ran off to sniff n' stuff.   i called her back, n' she came over rt 'way, which was good.   then we let her sit inside the restaurant by the door n' eat 되지뼈 dwaeji bbyuh (pork bones).   after eating, kaela n' i rushed back w/ duk to our house to sort out some snowboarding tix.   we gave him 2 free northstar tix n' helped him firgure out the tahoe card tic situation.   then, kaela n' sooni stayed home, but the rest'f us went to 노래방 noraebang @ el camino ktv.   wow, i felt so aktive @ nite, as if it were back in 2000년 'gain or sumpthin'.

[later] 밤, 1125p: man, it's fun to go 노래방 noraebang w/ koreans, not to play favourites or nething; but i loved being able to sing all sorts'f korean songs w/o boring others, etc., u know?   neway, 2nite, after coming home from werk very late, i brought kaela out to dinner @ the blue mango, which is rapidly catching up to krung thai's popularity 'mongst san joséans.   it's become quite the hip contemporary thai joint.   we had the ripe mango salad, which tasted more like green mango to me, but kaela sed it wasn't sour like green mango.   then we had this special pad thai that was like a pad thai paella.   it had all sorts'f fancy seafuds.   we also had this chili basil lamb n' some brown rice.   kaela had thai ice tea, n' i had thai ice coffee.   u know, we were stuffed but went to fantasia 4 hot boba drinks afterwards just to fill up our frequent drinkers club card.   now, we have a free drink to use up by saturday.

월요일 아침: on the 1st werkday of daylite saving time, i'm having not the best day but trying to make it better.   this wknd, we had a short respite from the rain on saturday, n' i milked it 4 what it was worth.   on fri, oh... shoot, man, i haven't toldju 'bout this???   augh, ok; i guess, in a way, 'lot has happened this wknd. *sigh*

poop doggy dogg: sooni's housetrained, very housetrained.   under normal circumstances, she would absolutely never go poop in the house.   on wed nite, if u 'member, the beautiful kaela hwang took sooni w/ us to meet up w/ duk, his bro chan, duk's gf yuna, n' julie @ 장모집 jangmojip 4 a late dinner after i picked kaela up from the sjc mineta aeroport.   neway, the nice 누나 noona waitress there gave sooni some 돼지 벼 dwaeji byuh pork bones.   she even gave us some to go.   well, over the next day, we fed her 2 many 돼지 벼 dwaeji byuh.   on fri, my mom dropped sumpthin' off @ our house, so i pondered going home to fetch it.   however, i was so bizzy w/ werk.   i was very bizzy w/ werk, as usual.   well, when kaela came home from spending the day in sonoma, "shadowing" a chiropractor there; she discovered that sooni had chewed up our beautiful french doors that open to our backyard.   she had done that in the past but has been good over the past year.   kaela was on the phone with me when she arrived at home.   she said, "i hope she didn't poop in the house."   then she gasped.   u c, sooni had had a very, very, very severe stomachache apparently!   she considers it such a bad sin to poop in the house, that she'd rather get in trouble 4 chewing on the door, in an attempt to chew her way out, than poop in the house.   well, she had tried chewing on the door but eventually couldn't hold in her diarrhea.   she ended up letting it out, most likely very unhappily.   well, when i heard 'bout this, i aborted my trip to safeway on my evening commute n' instead came home n' cleaned up the mess.   kaela had gone to our room 4 a nap.   i cleaned everything up n' woke her up to rush to our grx t3s couples bible study.   i couldn't skip cos i was leading the guys.   i was very happy that kaela could join us 4 1nce.   the host couple was so nice; they warmed up some chicken n' rice 4 us to eat since we didn't get dinner or even much lunch.   4 my lunch that fri, i ate a li'l bit'f leftovers from blue mango thai restaurant from thurs nite.   well, we had a pretty good bible study.   then, kaela n' i, on our way home, still a bit hungry, pulled into 고향산천 gohyang sanchun to eat some 알찌개 aljjigae (fish egg stew).   we happily watched some korean tv as we ate.   we saw the end'f an episode'f 천국의 계단 chungookuy gyeidan ("stairway to heavean") n' then an episode'f a show called 진실 게임 jinshil game, where celebrity judges tried to guess which gurls were real n' which were hi skool boys dressed in drag.   yah, honestly, stuff like this isn't very typical 4 korean tv.   after our late nite dinner, we tried to gro¢ery $hop @ the nearby safeway, but 'twas closed.

on sat, i woke up much later. . . [later] ...much later than i wanted to.   i wanted to wake up early n' exercise, etc.   maybe i would've jogged w/ sooni.   maybe i would've taken her out on skateboard.   in ne case, i didn't do either.   instead, i slept in.   kaela went off to yet 'nother'f her chiropraktic seminars.   then, eventually, i got my butt out the door n' on the road to berkeley.   i must've eaten some oatmeal 4 breakfast b4 i left.   'twas a clear day in the sobay / silly valley.   'twas also a beautifully clear day up in berkeley.   however, 4 some strange reason, the southeast bay (fremont, san leandro, san lorenzo, hayward, union city, newark, etc.) was a bit rainy.   in case u don't know, it's been very rainy in the bay area these past couple'f months.   i feel like this is how it must be in oregon or washington, i.e. the pacific northwest.   i drove swiftly up 880 but luckily spotted a chp on the lefthand shoulder n' slowed down.   phew.   i was late to the ref seminar.   i thought i'd be early if nething; but i'd woken up so late.   i swung by the bank in berkeley, which also slowed me down.   i parked in a city.run pay lot btwn durant n' channing by unit 3.   i rode my skatebaord over to the rsf.   it felt nice to ride my skateboard in berkeley cos i felt so free to do so!   i felt like a free.spirited grad student not confined by yuppie standards.   i saw norman n' sally n' the norman n' susan's kids on my way to the martial arts room in the rsf.   i couldn't believe how big carolanne (carol ann?)n' tj have gotten!   i really wished i'd gotten to berkeley early n' participated in the sat morn class.   the ref seminar was very informative, n' chuck tweedy's always a great ref instructor.   he's really experienced.   as expekted, i got to talk to ol' friends n' meet some'f the new kids.   i got really hungry during the seminar.   after the seminar, i couldn't find friends to eat w/ but i got on my board n' rode 2wards telly (telegraph ave).   on my way, i ran into some'f our friends that were @ the seminar; so i went to lunch w/ them @ blake's.   i had a portabello club sandwich n' ice tea.   'twas very fun.   i skateboarded 'round a couple'f blocks b4 returning to the pay lot to drive off.   i saw other guys crusiing on skateboards, n' i thought that was kewl.   later, after i paid my $9 4 parking n' started heading home but then turned 'round to go meet up w/ phil; i realised that if i had skated just a couple'f blocks further, i would've been near the ol' 510 skateboard shop, where a bunch'f real hardcore skaters were hangin' out.   they would've thought i was such a poseur.   whatever, man.

well, phil was out @ the 4th street $hopping area @ some special book event of some sort.   i ended up meeting up w/ him @ cody's books out there, which is much "cleaner" than the 1 on telly.   we talked in cody's then walked to a nearby art studio, then to the hear music store (which existed b4 the $tarbu¢ks deal), n' then to some gourmet gro¢ery store.   i told phil that i had to get home to mow the lawn, so we only hung out 4 'bout an hr.   then i did just as i sed i would do: i drove home n' mowed the lawn.

this 1.day break from rain was my 1 chance to mow the lawn.   [later] kaela went gro¢ery $hopping @ the rivermark safeway after her seminar.   when she came home, she cooked some vegetarian pasta n' made some caesar salad lite from a bag.   i recommended putting black grapes in the salad, so we did.   we ate 'lot n' then ate dessert: some uh... leftover cheesecake from t.giving.   gross, eh?   during dinner we watched an episode'f kbs's 드라맘 시티 drama city.   then, all'f the sudden, i exclaimed sumpthin' n' that kind'f started kaela.   i realised that we needed to use our free boba drink card @ fantasia that nite.   well, we brought sooni w/ us over to the wolfe rd, cupertino fantasia.   we got 1 almost free taro milk w/ boba n' sat outside in the cold n' ate/drank it.   i was really cold, but kaela had her down jacket on.   'specially cos'f the old, old cheesecake we ate; i was already full'f sugar n' didn't need this drink; but well... i had to use up the card.   we'd werked so hard to earn that drink.

on sun morn, 'gain, i woke up later than i'd wanted to.   kaela went to her. . . [later, 저녁, still@werk.com] kaela went to the 2nd part'f her chiropraktic seminar.   i went to church.   a visiting pastor david choi from chicago gave a sermon on transformation.   i notice that asian.am visiting pastors r often really revved up to speak to a large, 2nd gen asian.am crowd.   our church isn't s'pposed to be an asian or asian.am church; it just happens to have mostly asian.ams in the congregation; but we're diversifying; believe it or not.   after church, my mom n' i ate @ ramen halu on saratoga ave near stevens creek.   wow, that was good ramen.   maybe w/ pizza n' ramen, i'm not a harsh 'nuff critic, u think?   well, personally, i liked ramen halu better than maruichi... i think.   i like ryowa better than maruichi as well... i think.   back in the day, i used to like katana.ya.   [unfinished entry]

화요일 아침: here's an interesting link - "multitudes" @ spikesworld (http://spikesworld.spike-jamie.com/ana/multitudes.html).   a flock of seagulls, a string of ponies, a sounder of swine, a knot of toads, etc.   another important, funny link (u've prob'ly cn this 1 by now) - http://www.chucknorrisfacts.com/.   i didn't finish yesterday's wknd update.   where did i leave off?   i think i left off w/ lunch on sunday.

well, when my mom n' i got to ramen halu, 'twasn't yet open; so we browsed thru the indian gro¢ery market next door.   i noticed that they have frozen naan n' roti that looks very similar to the frozen naan @ trader joe's.   oh, ok; then maybe i don't feel sooo lame 4 buying the trader joe's frozen naan.   if u 'member, i felt quite silly buying the trader joe's frozen naan in front'f many desi $hoppers, u know?   however, i bet the trader joe's stuff is made by 1'f the companies that also sells @ the indian gro¢ery market, but the trader joe's stuff is just repackaged, u know?   is it ¢heaper or more expen$ive @ trader joe's?   now that's the question.   when i flew amerikan aerolines last wk, the in.flight magazine had a cover article on some famous indian aktress that is breaking into mainstream, english films.   neway, ramen halu opened @ 1130a, n' as my mom was paying 4 some ginger n' an avocado (i 4get if she bought nething else); we saw a decently long line start outside'f the ramen shop.   thus, my mom sent me out to stand in line.   the doors opened after a few mins; n' a older, japanese woman told us all to come in.   on our way in, my mom noticed the "cash only" sign.   upes, we were in trouble cos neither'f us had much ¢a$h.   the japanese woman seated us @ a table along w/ this young, asian couple.   we had to share a table cos the restaurant was that crowded.   crazy, huh?   the hostess was so casual 'bout it 2, as if it was sooo typical there to share tables.   well, it prob'ly is.   ramen is the latest craze in japanese fud, i guess.   like, in the 1980s, it was sushi; now, it's ramen; i guess.   aktually, in the 1980s sushi bars as well as teppanyaki joints were hot, huh?   how 'bout robata grills?   :-/ they'll have their day someday.   back in the 1980s, didn't sizzler feature some kind'f hibachi chicken?   well, i know they had their malibu chicken.   do u 'member that?   dude, neway... i had my mom order me the ramen special set a while i took off to the bank to get us some ¢a$h.   i hurried there n' back.   just when i returned, our fud came.   the ramen came w/ some kind'f mayonaisse.rich crab salad thingy n' a bowl'f white rice.   sure, the white rice was just excess carb/starch; but i enjoyed mixing it w/ the crab salad thingy n' in the ramen soup.   the ramen broth's known to be a bit salty, n' i think i heard the guy in the couple @ our table ask 4 low salt.   my mom sed she ordered ours as lo.na⁺.   it tasted plenty salty.   the ramen was pretty good, as i sed.   yah, i liked it.   in fakt, it was really good; just a li'l salty; i guess.

well, after lunch, i hurried back 2wards our neighbourhood n' went to costco to buy a flat'f kirkland h₂o, some freshies doggy dental chews, n' some dried blueberries.   i should've also bought some glucosamine but 4got.   'twas pretty crowded of course.   as i loaded up my car, this funny li'l desi gurl in the back'f her mom's car talked to me thru her opened window.   she must've been like 3 or 4.   she was riding in a child seat.   she was very vocal n' friendly 4 such a young kid.
li'l gurl: hi!!!!
beno: [loading up the trunk'f my subaru] hi! :-)
li'l gurl: you've got a lot of stuff.
beno: oh, yah.   i have some water, something for my dog, and some blueberries.
li'l gurl: [a little confused, looking at the gym bag n' taekwondo bag in my trunk] are you going somewhere?
beno: [misunderstanding question n' pushing cart over to the cart repository] yah, i guess i gotta go now. [i return to my car.]
li'l gurl: are you moving?
beno: [again, misunderstanding the question] yah, i guess i've gotta go... [noticing that the li'l gurl's mom's car is blocking my car] but i guess i can't go.
li'l gurl: yah, my mom's on the phone right now.
eventually, the mom moves her car to pull into a parking space, n' i leave.

i brought the gro¢eries home, then looked up direktions online 4 the bible study small group "core" team mtg @ our friends' new house in west san josé on campbell ave, near westgate.   i waited 4 the beautiful kaela hwang from her seminar so we could drive 2gether, but she didn't come home; so i took off.   i got to our friends' house n' hung out there.   later, kaela called me n' joined us.   she'd picked up some sushi from mitsuwa market 4 her lunch on the way.   i'm soon going to be taking on more n' more responsibilities over our bible study small group.   honestly, it could be a bit daunting; but i have faith in god.   i feel inadequate, but his grace is enough.   i feel unworthy, but god uses the weak to lead the strong.

after the small group "core" mtg, kaela n' i went to the nearby trader joe's.   aktually, kaela got in my car, n' i drove us over in the rain.   we bought various gro¢eries n' a tiramisu torte to bring over to phil's place in the oakland hills 4 dinner.   yah, on sat afternoon/evening, as i left berkeley's ultra.yuppie 4th steet area, phil invited us to dinner @ his place.   well, i'd been wanting to shop @ tj's 4 a while now, hoping to get some blueberry juice n' some antioxidant trail mix.   ... [later] @ tj's, we bought those things n' more.   i do like blueberries.   perhaps, blueberries'll be the trendy fud this yr, yah? *shrug*   r white teas n' beets still hot? *shrug* u tell me.   well, (after i drove kaela back to her car) kaela n' i drove home to drop off gro¢eries.   we wanted to bring sooni w/ us to phil's place; but he's renting a room in a shared house, n' he sez the landlord has some animal allergies.   phil really likes that kind'f living arrangement, sharing a rented house w/ others.   personally, i prefer to have my own place or else 'least know my roommates b4 moving in.   well, then 'gain, i didn't know my last berkeley roommate all that well b4 i asked him to move in w/ me.   @ 1st i thought he was ok; but, as u know, we later had probs.   *sigh*

it was raining a quite steadily as we departed the silly valley 4 berkeley.   i enjoyed taking the carpool interchange from 237 to 880.   aw, man! i just realised that i missed the chance on sun nite to take the new carpool interchange from 880 to 237 (on our way back).   well, 880 was a parking lot cos'f an accident, so i exited on dixon landing rd, heading 4 680.   i got onto 680, but 'twas also a parking lot.   accidents cos'f the rain, u know?   well, luckily, the 680 accident was rt after the pt where i got on.   however, i decided 680 was 2 much'f a detour in the rain; so i got off on 238 mission blvd, n' took that all the way up to hayward, where 238 turns into foothill blvd.   neway, i took 238, 580 to 13.   4 phil's place, i got off @ joaquin miller n' drove into the hills.   it reminded me a li'l'f when we used to go to brandie's ol' place.   wow, phil lives in a very interesting house!

upon toby's direktions over the fon, i drove my subaru into a mud driveway (great use of subaru all.wheel drive).   then kaela walked in the not.so.cold rain up a bunch'f windy stairs.   the not quite tropical yet not.2.cold but humid feel reminded us both'f our honeymoon trip in the korean countryside.   we enjoyed that.   well, we got to the top'f the stairs n' entered a really quaint house w/ plenty'f artistik paintings on its wall.   we sat down @ the dinner table w/ toby, betty, phil's hi skool classmate mike, mike's gf margaret, n' phil's law skool classmate michelle.   phil cooked up a storm.   i opened up a boony amber ale to be like toby.   ...

resort closing dates (from snowbomb.com)
• diamond peak - april 16
• boreal - april 16
• homewood - april 23
• northstar - april 23
• bear valley - april 23
• mt. rose - april 23
• sierra - april 24
• kirkwood - april 30
• sugar bowl - april 30
• heavenly - tbd
• alpine meadows - tbd
• squaw valley - may 29

[later] 1006p: ugh, when am i gonna finish this dagnabbed, darn, diddly wknd update?!   hey, is march madness over yet?   who's the winner?   george mason maybe? *shrug* well, on sun evening, we went to phil's house.   'tis a nice house.   phil cooked all sorts'f nice things.   'twas a really classy affair, i tell u.   well, i drove us home in the rain.

receive free shipping on your on-line order, plus reabtes up to $60 off at 1.800.contacts

on mon, 'twas raining.   i put sooni's raincoat n' her in the morn n' took her 4 a quick walk.   i wish i could've jogged w/ her.   i came home 4 lunch n' cooked some refrigerator.pack 잠뽕 jjambbong.   @ dinnertime, after i came home from werk late as usual, i made some quesadillas 4 kaela n' me.   we ate them n' ate leftover soup noodles.   u c, kaela also had soup noodles 4 lunch.   she went to that taiwanese or chinese ramen / 칼국수 kalgooksoo place.   she had bought that unagi kalgooksoo.   then we went out to the mercado amc 20 to watch a movie.   we ended up watching failure to launch.   it was ok.   dude, kathy bates was definitely the star!   her per4mance was the hi.lite'f the movie!

2day, 'twas raining hard in the morn, so i couldn't even take sooni 4 a walk.   sure, i would've loved to jog. *sigh* neway, i went to werk.   @ lunch, i had a quick werkout in the werk.com gym n' then went home to eat this southwest salad from a bag.   after werk, i went to taekwondo praktice.   i had a good werkout.   i'm glad sooni got to get out'f the house 4 a li'l.   afterwards, sooni n' i came home, n' kaela steamed some 만두 mandoo.

cold.blooded killers: oh yah, on my way home, i ran over a rat!   i didn't think i'd hit it; but then i heard a squeek!   i made a couple'f u.turns, pulled over.   i got sooni out'f the car to investigate.   she sniffed @ the lifeless body n' then quickly snatched it up in her mouth!   i had her bbringt to the sidewalk.   then we just left it there.   when i got home, i discovered rat blood on sooni's legs n' my pant legs.S

화요일 아침:   lemme share w/ u an excerpt from somebody else's blog:

Meanwhile, I'm having a lot of fun listening to Air America (AM 1150).   Yeah...   it is the liberal version of conservative talk radio, but at least they broach subjects that conventional media won't cover.   An ooh, it totally gets my goat that Tom DeLay compared himself to Jesus Christ in his resignation speech.   I don't think money laundering, fraud, and accepting bribes compares to...   oh, I don't know, dying for the sins of the world.   All I can say is, I'm a Christian and I am ashamed that so many Christians are blind and think that the Republicans follow Christian morals and Democrats are Satan-worshippers.   All I can say is, sure they may ban abortion and gay marriage, but they'll also tax you out of the middle-class, ship your jobs to China, take away your health insurance and tell you to just get a savings account, play with the lives of millions of soldiers and lie about the reasons to send them to war, etc, etc.   So yeah, while you're living in your cardboard box dying of preventable disease and your sons are getting killed abroad, you can comfort yourself with the notion that hey, at least poor people in the South can't abort their unwanted pregnancies and gay people can't legally get married.   All is right in the world.

these days, i stay up 2late reading rodney mullen's autobiography: the mutt: how to skateboard and not kill yourself.   i find it very interseting.   rodney mullen's 1'f the inventors'f modern street skateboarding.   however, he's not ur stereotypical rockstar punk slacker.   rather, he grew up being a total nerd n' geek.   he started as freestyle skateboarder n' was on the forefront'f that from almost its beginning till its very end.   (u c, freestyle skateboarding is diff from modern streetstyle skateboarding.)   he cms to be a really good guy, pretty humble, considering all that he's accomplished.   he's also apparently a total christian, n' that's kewl.   he's the kind'f guy 'bout which i'd say, "man, i wish there were more guys like him as role models 4 young skateboarders these days instead'f those mtv jack@$$ guys."   not cos i'm pointing fingers; but just in case u didn't know, some'f the jack@$$ show stars r bam margera (brandon cole margera) n' "raab himself" (chris raab).

[later] 저녁, 아직도 직장에서: i didn't werkout in the gym @ lunch but bought a chef salad n' ate it in my cube while werking hard.   the sky cleared up this afternoon.   i brought an umbrella w/ me this morn.. i mean, i used an umbrella to walk from my car to my office.   however, it looks like i won't need it when i walk back to my car.