I don't think I've ever laughed and smiled so much that my cheeks hurt... so that every time I ^o^ it hurt, but I just couldn't help ^o^-ing
(and w/o the influence of alcohol either! ^o^)
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Sunday, April 16, 2006
warriors
Friday - first time I watched a [non-junior-high] basketball game from beginning to end... and in person, too!
K and I fell upon a pair of free tickets to see the Warriors vs. Suns game. Good seats, too! First level... Row 21. We weren't right up against the players to get accidentally squashed nor were we all the way up where the players are the size of pinheads. Our would-be ticket cost for season ticket holders... $83 each; for regular peeps... over $100 each. Thank goodness for generous cousins and workmates!
I cheered for the home team (didn't want any mishaps at my 1st game!) and paid attention for most of the first half. And then, at half-time I realized "ah, my camera" and was quite snap-happy the second half... though it's at times like these that I wish I was a better picture-taker and that my camera had more than a measly 3x optical zoom -_-
The Warriors started out doing well, but then down down down... until the 3rd quarter. (The animated guys sitting next to us were amusing to listen to, especially during the horrible 2nd quarter.) This was the [blurry] shot that got the Warriors back in the lead again...
The best moving pic I took...
So... what happens during commercial breaks at games?
Aside from all the booty shaking, lots of random people get picked for free things... like free pizza, airline tickets, chance to win crappy $20 / awesome $2000 seat at future game... antivirus software parachuting from the ceiling...
and fun dunks...
I managed to restrain myself from the overpriced artery-clogging yummy junk foods. And I *really* do mean overpriced... bottled water = $4. (They, of course, wouldn't let us bring in our own water bottles >_<) We did all get free Big Macs for the Warriors scoring 100 pts tho...
I'm saving one of the Big Mac coupons as a "souvenir", but still deciding on the other one... aside from the 1.5g of trans fat, one Big Mac = 560 calories, 30g total fat (47% of RDA), 10g saturated fat (52% of RDA). And those RDA values are for a 2000-calorie diet... *if* I were to exercise *intensely* *every* day or *more*, I should take in approximately 2000 calories. Yea... so... yea.
The weirdest part of the whole night was watching the game with no running commentary! All in all, a fun night. I probably wouldn't ever pay for tickets (cheap seats = -_-, good seats = too $$$ for me), but I certainly wouldn't turn away free ones if they ever came along again ^o^
Oh, and most-misplaced comment of the night...
"hmmm... they look suckier in person". O_O
The end (for us, leave early = less traffic)...
K and I fell upon a pair of free tickets to see the Warriors vs. Suns game. Good seats, too! First level... Row 21. We weren't right up against the players to get accidentally squashed nor were we all the way up where the players are the size of pinheads. Our would-be ticket cost for season ticket holders... $83 each; for regular peeps... over $100 each. Thank goodness for generous cousins and workmates!
I cheered for the home team (didn't want any mishaps at my 1st game!) and paid attention for most of the first half. And then, at half-time I realized "ah, my camera" and was quite snap-happy the second half... though it's at times like these that I wish I was a better picture-taker and that my camera had more than a measly 3x optical zoom -_-
The Warriors started out doing well, but then down down down... until the 3rd quarter. (The animated guys sitting next to us were amusing to listen to, especially during the horrible 2nd quarter.) This was the [blurry] shot that got the Warriors back in the lead again...
The best moving pic I took...
So... what happens during commercial breaks at games?
Aside from all the booty shaking, lots of random people get picked for free things... like free pizza, airline tickets, chance to win crappy $20 / awesome $2000 seat at future game... antivirus software parachuting from the ceiling...
and fun dunks...
I managed to restrain myself from the overpriced artery-clogging yummy junk foods. And I *really* do mean overpriced... bottled water = $4. (They, of course, wouldn't let us bring in our own water bottles >_<) We did all get free Big Macs for the Warriors scoring 100 pts tho...
I'm saving one of the Big Mac coupons as a "souvenir", but still deciding on the other one... aside from the 1.5g of trans fat, one Big Mac = 560 calories, 30g total fat (47% of RDA), 10g saturated fat (52% of RDA). And those RDA values are for a 2000-calorie diet... *if* I were to exercise *intensely* *every* day or *more*, I should take in approximately 2000 calories. Yea... so... yea.
The weirdest part of the whole night was watching the game with no running commentary! All in all, a fun night. I probably wouldn't ever pay for tickets (cheap seats = -_-, good seats = too $$$ for me), but I certainly wouldn't turn away free ones if they ever came along again ^o^
Oh, and most-misplaced comment of the night...
"hmmm... they look suckier in person". O_O
The end (for us, leave early = less traffic)...
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
store wars
This cracked me up...
http://www.storewars.org/flash/index.html
Incidentally, we finally watched 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' (odd, but thumbs up) and Serenity (thumbs up up up). If you haven't watched Firefly yet... what are you waiting for?!?
Watching Serenity without Firefly would be treason, for sure... so if anyone needs a copy of Firefly, I will be glad to supply ^o^
Recent reads...
Eldest by Christopher Paolini
Definitely didn't disappoint... and now, it's a waiting game until the third and last comes out, whenever that will be.
Prey by Michael Critchton
In high school, I read almost every one of Critchton's books up to Airframe. When my coworker brought Prey in to work for me, I knew what to expect... some research behind the plot and a good deal of suspense; it's one of those quick airplane reads. My coworker thought some parts of the book were too long-winded in describing the "technical" aspects... but I found them quite interesting... like...
"...it was difficult to believe that extremely stupid creatures with brains smaller than pinheads were capable of construction projects more complicated than any human project.... African termites were a classic example. These insects made earthen castlelike mounds a hundred feet in diameter and thrusting spires twenty feet into the air. To appreciate their accomplishment, you had to imagine that if termites were the size of people, these mounds would be skyscrapers one mile high and five miles in diameter. And like a skyscraper, the termite mound had an intricate internal architecture to provide fresh air, remove excess CO2 and heat, and so on. Inside the structure were gardens to grow food, residences for royalty, and living space for as many as two million termites. No two mounds were exactly the same; each was individually constructed to suit the requirements and advantages of a particular site.
All this was accomplished with no architect, no foreman, no central authority. Nor was a blueprint for construction encoded in the termite genes. Instead these huge creations were the result of relatively simple rules that the individual termites followed in relation to one another. (Rules like, "If you smell that another termite has been here, put a dirt pellet on this spot.")"
I respect the termite.
http://www.storewars.org/flash/index.html
Incidentally, we finally watched 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' (odd, but thumbs up) and Serenity (thumbs up up up). If you haven't watched Firefly yet... what are you waiting for?!?
Watching Serenity without Firefly would be treason, for sure... so if anyone needs a copy of Firefly, I will be glad to supply ^o^
Recent reads...
Eldest by Christopher Paolini
Definitely didn't disappoint... and now, it's a waiting game until the third and last comes out, whenever that will be.
Prey by Michael Critchton
In high school, I read almost every one of Critchton's books up to Airframe. When my coworker brought Prey in to work for me, I knew what to expect... some research behind the plot and a good deal of suspense; it's one of those quick airplane reads. My coworker thought some parts of the book were too long-winded in describing the "technical" aspects... but I found them quite interesting... like...
"...it was difficult to believe that extremely stupid creatures with brains smaller than pinheads were capable of construction projects more complicated than any human project.... African termites were a classic example. These insects made earthen castlelike mounds a hundred feet in diameter and thrusting spires twenty feet into the air. To appreciate their accomplishment, you had to imagine that if termites were the size of people, these mounds would be skyscrapers one mile high and five miles in diameter. And like a skyscraper, the termite mound had an intricate internal architecture to provide fresh air, remove excess CO2 and heat, and so on. Inside the structure were gardens to grow food, residences for royalty, and living space for as many as two million termites. No two mounds were exactly the same; each was individually constructed to suit the requirements and advantages of a particular site.
All this was accomplished with no architect, no foreman, no central authority. Nor was a blueprint for construction encoded in the termite genes. Instead these huge creations were the result of relatively simple rules that the individual termites followed in relation to one another. (Rules like, "If you smell that another termite has been here, put a dirt pellet on this spot.")"
I respect the termite.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
welcome to the world, my semi-niece
Felicity,6 lbs 1.2 oz,
19 inches,
born April 8th 4:38am after 27 hours of labor...
My cousin's baby daughter who will be very beautiful when she grows up, and though by the American definition she's probably my "second cousin" or something, she's like a niece to me...
Monday, March 13, 2006
visiting friends => ^o^
This entry has sat in the draft drawer forever... life has been busy busy busy and now I'm finally back-posting it ^o^
Highlight of the weekend: J visiting.
It's tough to beat good times with friends.
Trip summary...
Thursday...
I took the day off work to drive down and meet J in Carmel. Our expected meeting time was 11:30-ish (she left SoCal at 5am!!). Of course, schedules and meeting times rarely work out to what is "planned", especially when it involves both parties driving a distance. At somewhat last minute, she decided to take a detour to drive up highway 1 through Big Sur rather than highway 101. According to J, there was nothing in Big Sur other than the very scenic views and driving through there is something you do once in a lifetime. (Not sure about doing that drive, but definitely will do the Big Sur half marathon if I ever get back to running.)
I arrived at Carmel after noon and had an hour to myself to drive along Scenic Drive and do some "sightseeing" of quaint houses (each with their own quaint name), get my fill of the windy surf, smile at the dogs walking along the beach, and peek at lovers making out in their cars. Brought my camera, of course...
After J arrived at 1:30, we went out to lunch at a nearby "bistro" and then toured the streets of Carmel, on and off Ocean Avenue. The mini shops and art galleries lost their appeal after a while though. I want to say I understand and appreciate art, but a lot of it eludes me, especially the "modern" variety. There were only really two galleries that I liked... the Thomas Kinkade one (of course) and one that had paintings by Michael Wheeler and Robert Richert. The feeling I got while looking at any one of Richert's full-size paintings was just amazing (J can attest to it, too.).
Carmel has a decent-sized dog population... the dressed fluffy ones are too cute...
The day ended with dinner in the evening followed by watching Raising Helen (definite chick flick) and part of a Veggie Tales movie in the hotel/inn.
Friday (Yay for off-Friday's)...
Breakfast at the inn... a drive back up... lunch and tour of the G-office... hanging out at our apartment... dinner with EJ, RC at a Malaysian restaurant... and more hanging out at our apartment.
Saturday...
Shadows over Camelot at EJ's... dinner at Korea House... the bean game and another round of Shadows over Camelot at Rob's.
Sunday...
Dim sum... Arkham Horror (6 hrs!)... watched Home on the Range... Indian takeout for dinner... and then dropped J off at the hotel her parents' were staying at.
Apart from Carmel on Thursday, there wasn't much other "sightseeing". Actually, no other traditional sightseeing (J said seeing the G-office, EJ's place, and RC's place were sightseeing). I really had a hard time believing that it was ok to not do any of the touristy things around here and SF, but I guess it was better that we didn't force her to do those things she wasn't particularly excited about. She was, however, [to my surprise] excited about playing K's games... so much so that I gave in to Arkham Horror. It's too bad for K she doesn't live up here...
Well, good times with friends are ^o^, however it's spent.
Highlight of the weekend: J visiting.
It's tough to beat good times with friends.
Trip summary...
Thursday...
I took the day off work to drive down and meet J in Carmel. Our expected meeting time was 11:30-ish (she left SoCal at 5am!!). Of course, schedules and meeting times rarely work out to what is "planned", especially when it involves both parties driving a distance. At somewhat last minute, she decided to take a detour to drive up highway 1 through Big Sur rather than highway 101. According to J, there was nothing in Big Sur other than the very scenic views and driving through there is something you do once in a lifetime. (Not sure about doing that drive, but definitely will do the Big Sur half marathon if I ever get back to running.)
I arrived at Carmel after noon and had an hour to myself to drive along Scenic Drive and do some "sightseeing" of quaint houses (each with their own quaint name), get my fill of the windy surf, smile at the dogs walking along the beach, and peek at lovers making out in their cars. Brought my camera, of course...
After J arrived at 1:30, we went out to lunch at a nearby "bistro" and then toured the streets of Carmel, on and off Ocean Avenue. The mini shops and art galleries lost their appeal after a while though. I want to say I understand and appreciate art, but a lot of it eludes me, especially the "modern" variety. There were only really two galleries that I liked... the Thomas Kinkade one (of course) and one that had paintings by Michael Wheeler and Robert Richert. The feeling I got while looking at any one of Richert's full-size paintings was just amazing (J can attest to it, too.).
Carmel has a decent-sized dog population... the dressed fluffy ones are too cute...
The day ended with dinner in the evening followed by watching Raising Helen (definite chick flick) and part of a Veggie Tales movie in the hotel/inn.
Friday (Yay for off-Friday's)...
Breakfast at the inn... a drive back up... lunch and tour of the G-office... hanging out at our apartment... dinner with EJ, RC at a Malaysian restaurant... and more hanging out at our apartment.
Saturday...
Shadows over Camelot at EJ's... dinner at Korea House... the bean game and another round of Shadows over Camelot at Rob's.
Sunday...
Dim sum... Arkham Horror (6 hrs!)... watched Home on the Range... Indian takeout for dinner... and then dropped J off at the hotel her parents' were staying at.
Apart from Carmel on Thursday, there wasn't much other "sightseeing". Actually, no other traditional sightseeing (J said seeing the G-office, EJ's place, and RC's place were sightseeing). I really had a hard time believing that it was ok to not do any of the touristy things around here and SF, but I guess it was better that we didn't force her to do those things she wasn't particularly excited about. She was, however, [to my surprise] excited about playing K's games... so much so that I gave in to Arkham Horror. It's too bad for K she doesn't live up here...
Well, good times with friends are ^o^, however it's spent.
Sunday, February 26, 2006
babies love ice and snow
ice
The last few weeks have pretty much been... wake up at 9am, work, get home at 10 or 11pm, watch our recording of the winter olympics until 2am, sleep, repeat. Watching the winter olympics re-surfaced feelings of "I want to skate/play hockey/etc" in K. And right after he mentioned it, I found out there was a special olympics-related 'event' at Logitech Ice. What could be better than a few free hours of skating and hockey?
So... last weekend was our first time out at an ice rink since Cambridge! The rink had free lessons & demos in figure skating, hockey, speed skating, and curling. We had signed up for all but the curling... but by the time we got to the rink, we had already missed the intro to skating and figure skating demo... but we did get to free skate for an hour ^o^ And it was on the *much* less crowded back rink; the front one was just crazy-filled with people, which made no sense to me because they could have just signed up for the free event to skate in the back one :-/
The ice felt shaky at first but most of the skating motor memory came back after a while. I would say that it's like riding a bike, except I still don't know how to ride a bike :-/ Oh, and apparently they teach kids by having them skate with buckets...
The hockey lesson came up next... and that was awesome (and tiring!)! It was basically a full intro to skating plus some hockey... drills to learn to skate forwards, turn, stop, skate backwards, forward crossovers... and then skating with a hockey stick, skating with a stick & puck, passing the puck, skating while passing the puck, shooting drills off the rink sides, shooting into the net. Lots stuffed into a short period of time! Though it was all review to K, he seemed to have fun, too ^o^
I had very cold feet (literally) after nearly three hours on the ice.
snow
And this Friday (off-Fridays are so nice!), I headed up to Bear Valley near Tahoe for my first snowboarding experience. It was sort of a get together for my group at work... of course, there's just too many old old people who are afraid of breaking this or that... so it ended up being only four people from my group of 60+, two wives, and me. I got a ride from one of them (yay!), so sleeping less than 4 hours Thursday night didn't kill me.
We started out a little past 7am... stopped for breakfast along the way... got there around 12 noon... finally got my equipment by 1pm... hung out at the very bottom of the slopes (where the incline was like 5 degrees or less =P) with the only other coworker new to snowboarding... lesson at 2pm... started heading back at 4:30-ish...
It was a blast (to say the least)! (And tiring, again!) The lesson was ^o^; they taught all the basics you needed and the guy teaching it had this really cool accent.
Windmills on the drive up (just like SimCity!)...
On the ski lift (taken with camera strap securely fastened around my wrist, of course!)...
I expected snow-covered trees and below freezing weather... it was 40 degrees! Still plenty of beautiful scenery tho...
babies
Yesterday I went to my first baby shower... I've never really had many girl friends, so spending a whole afternoon with a group of girls celebrating the upcoming arrival of a new baby was... interesting (especially when it came to girls talking about their husbands/boyfriends helping (or trying to help) with housework/etc... despite K's [few] weaknesses in the area, I was definitely the luckiest one in the group ^o^).
Most of the shower was spent eating, chatting, opening presents, and playing silly games. Silly games like baby word searches, making baby sculptures out of bubblegum (very sticky!), estimating the mother-to-be's waist size in bathroom tissue, and baby name games. It was a different fun from my usual socializing.
... And Saturday night was yummy food and watching "The Last Samurai" with EJ and R.
Recent reads...
The Giver by Lois Lowry
I can understand how it won the Newbery Medal... a short, quick, and recommended read. It was almost frightening in parts (poor youngsters reading it) and I think I'll just stick with my [good] interpretation of the ending.
Straken by Terry Brooks (last book in the trilogy)
One thing I love about reading a fantasy series is that it's practically guaranteed the ending will be satisfying... how could it not after all the long journeys, hardships, and heartaches?
The last few weeks have pretty much been... wake up at 9am, work, get home at 10 or 11pm, watch our recording of the winter olympics until 2am, sleep, repeat. Watching the winter olympics re-surfaced feelings of "I want to skate/play hockey/etc" in K. And right after he mentioned it, I found out there was a special olympics-related 'event' at Logitech Ice. What could be better than a few free hours of skating and hockey?
So... last weekend was our first time out at an ice rink since Cambridge! The rink had free lessons & demos in figure skating, hockey, speed skating, and curling. We had signed up for all but the curling... but by the time we got to the rink, we had already missed the intro to skating and figure skating demo... but we did get to free skate for an hour ^o^ And it was on the *much* less crowded back rink; the front one was just crazy-filled with people, which made no sense to me because they could have just signed up for the free event to skate in the back one :-/
The ice felt shaky at first but most of the skating motor memory came back after a while. I would say that it's like riding a bike, except I still don't know how to ride a bike :-/ Oh, and apparently they teach kids by having them skate with buckets...
The hockey lesson came up next... and that was awesome (and tiring!)! It was basically a full intro to skating plus some hockey... drills to learn to skate forwards, turn, stop, skate backwards, forward crossovers... and then skating with a hockey stick, skating with a stick & puck, passing the puck, skating while passing the puck, shooting drills off the rink sides, shooting into the net. Lots stuffed into a short period of time! Though it was all review to K, he seemed to have fun, too ^o^
I had very cold feet (literally) after nearly three hours on the ice.
snow
And this Friday (off-Fridays are so nice!), I headed up to Bear Valley near Tahoe for my first snowboarding experience. It was sort of a get together for my group at work... of course, there's just too many old old people who are afraid of breaking this or that... so it ended up being only four people from my group of 60+, two wives, and me. I got a ride from one of them (yay!), so sleeping less than 4 hours Thursday night didn't kill me.
We started out a little past 7am... stopped for breakfast along the way... got there around 12 noon... finally got my equipment by 1pm... hung out at the very bottom of the slopes (where the incline was like 5 degrees or less =P) with the only other coworker new to snowboarding... lesson at 2pm... started heading back at 4:30-ish...
It was a blast (to say the least)! (And tiring, again!) The lesson was ^o^; they taught all the basics you needed and the guy teaching it had this really cool accent.
Windmills on the drive up (just like SimCity!)...
On the ski lift (taken with camera strap securely fastened around my wrist, of course!)...
I expected snow-covered trees and below freezing weather... it was 40 degrees! Still plenty of beautiful scenery tho...
babies
Yesterday I went to my first baby shower... I've never really had many girl friends, so spending a whole afternoon with a group of girls celebrating the upcoming arrival of a new baby was... interesting (especially when it came to girls talking about their husbands/boyfriends helping (or trying to help) with housework/etc... despite K's [few] weaknesses in the area, I was definitely the luckiest one in the group ^o^).Most of the shower was spent eating, chatting, opening presents, and playing silly games. Silly games like baby word searches, making baby sculptures out of bubblegum (very sticky!), estimating the mother-to-be's waist size in bathroom tissue, and baby name games. It was a different fun from my usual socializing.
... And Saturday night was yummy food and watching "The Last Samurai" with EJ and R.
Recent reads...
The Giver by Lois Lowry
I can understand how it won the Newbery Medal... a short, quick, and recommended read. It was almost frightening in parts (poor youngsters reading it) and I think I'll just stick with my [good] interpretation of the ending.
Straken by Terry Brooks (last book in the trilogy)
One thing I love about reading a fantasy series is that it's practically guaranteed the ending will be satisfying... how could it not after all the long journeys, hardships, and heartaches?
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