Robin and Vivian

SF2 Tourney... I aint THAI!!!!

2008-10-29T17:44:00.001-07:00

新金城

2008-08-31T22:59:00.000-07:00

回家

2008-08-31T22:48:00.001-07:00

今天回家了。心情很好。allen 的房子很舒服。老公與家人見面很
開心。去新金城吃正宗北方麵食。餃子好吃得不得了。老公也吃了好多。血糖
169。回家要做些whole wheat 的水餃看看如何。

--
Robin Phou
robinphou@gmail.com

Rancho 2008 Sunday

2008-08-31T14:59:00.000-07:00

Woke up at 9am. head out for foot massage for all of us except for robin. He refuse to do it. says its gay. very affordable price. $15 for 60 min. Cindy and Allen got foot and back massage which was $25. Keo got a whole body massage. $45. Will visit the asian massage parlor more often once i get back to SJ. they soaked my feet in hot water in a big bucket, with plastic bag (to keep it sanitory I guess). then this nice lady started massaging my lower legs and feet with lotion. almost fell asleep.

had lunch at maxim again. right across the parking lot. tasty and cheap. everyone was happy. came home and rest. had the pie we made last nite. pretty good. going to take a nap then start packing for home.

Rancho 2008. Saturday

2008-08-30T23:29:00.001-07:00

Allen was cool about the scratch. He had no choice anyway. :P I made him breakfast sandwich and he liked it. Headed out to Home Goods to get his painting and mirror. Ended up coming home with a huge painting on our heads driving home. no where else in our little cars will fit. I had to hold it with my hands so that it wouldn't hit robin when he drove.

Rush over to LAX to pick up Cindy and Keo around 4pm. Walked around Venice Beach afterwards. lots of people. fun to watch. nice weather. had pizza and chilly cheese fries. then walked to the water with Cindy for awhile. Allen took bunch of pictures.

Visited Connie at 7pm. Then had dinner at this New Golden City for northern chinese food. Dumplings and cold noodles were sooooo good. Robin ate a lot.

Head home afterwards. Allen dropped by Lowes to pick up hardware for hanging his painting. Made a Strawberry Cream Pie with Allen after we got home. Will see how it taste tomm.

Rancho 2008 cont. friday

2008-08-30T00:39:00.000-07:00

All of allen's furniture arrived. Couch, coffee table, dining table set, desk, bedroom set... Things look real good together. All dark brown furnitures. Cozy and comfortable, but not cluttering. Went to target, home goods to buy more stuff and Robin helped him put things together. Took a swim in the pool with robin in the morning while the delivery guys were putting together the bed. Had chinese bbq for lunch. Thai T for dinner. Robin was happy.

at nite before bed, the unthinkable happened. I scratched allen's new night stand... Its gonna stink for allen when he hears it in the morning...

Rancho Cucamonga, 2008.

2008-08-29T23:38:00.000-07:00

On our way to Rancho tuesday nite 9pm, we stopped by denny's to have dinner.

A must stop at Maxim everytime we visit L.A., for Robin's Spaghetti Bolongese.

In the evening, Allen took us to Jazzcat, where individual hotpot is served. Robin's waiting face, and Allen's satisflying look when the food arrived.

Weekend BBQ

2008-06-10T11:06:00.000-07:00

Cleaned up the house in preparation for a BBQ. Grilled some sausages and Korean ribs. Turned out pretty good. Ended up playing Nintendo Wii for a few hours, then switching to Karaoke until midnight. Lotsa laughs during the Wii Fit training exercises. Good times. Woke up early the next day and headed to Jen's place. Took their new car up to watch Kung Fu Panda in Dublin theatre. Great movie, very well made, will be the 2nd bluray i get after Ironman. Ate at Fuddrukkers afterwards, pretty cool environment, make your own burgers, and lotsa different condiments. Headed home and napped the rest of the afternoon, and watched the Lakers almost come back against the Celtics.

Who Knew Junoeau

2008-05-21T14:17:00.000-07:00

Decided to fly back to Seattle for the Alaska cruise at the last minute. Took Southwest, and was able to get good seats via early online check in. Flight was uneventful, had to pickup Aunt Josephine and Grandma from the airport later that nite. And then after dropping them off, went to pickup my brother. So good thing we didn't drive up. Woke up the next day, cruise ship didn't leave until 3pm. So we had time to eat some sticky rice and Laotian sausages. Tastes good, but pretty unhealthy. Packed up two cars to get to the boat at the port of seattle, typical cloudy seattle day. The loading process went pretty smoothly. Holland America's boat was pretty new, called the Oosterdam. Our room was pretty small, but fit a queen bed, and had a flat screen tv with cnn and espn. Met up with all the rest of the passengers (16 total) and had dinner at the buffet spot. No Free Coke! Bought some liquer that was split in half with baileys. Can't drink it until after the boat ride.

First stop was Junoeau, the capital city of Alaska. Boat was rocking all nite long, made half the ppl on the boat sick. Viv upchucked a few times and I had to call room service for cleanup. Luckily I didn't eat much so there was nothing to chuck for me. Spent most of the day lying at the pool since it was more calming and ate very little.

Made it to Junoeau, and went out to take a look. The whole place was raining, and pretty miserable. Bought a cheap 20$ jacket though, and took a tram up into the mountain. Ok view, although it was pretty cloudy. Watched a conservation movie about the natives, and bought some souvenirs. Free wifi, so was able to check email and do a little web surfing. Walked around town and got some Gelato which was pretty good. Town was small, but that's typical for Alaska.

Next stop was Sitka, which was a russian town that required ppl getting on a smaller boat in order to get to shore. We passed sinced we were still recovering from being seasick. It was raining like crazy outside, so everyone that went out, came back drenched. I think we made a good choice.

Cruised by the Glacier, not much to see, kinda lame. Lotsa food though, for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Plus 4 different ice cream flavors everyday.. And pizza and pasta available most times.

Next stop was Ketchikan, which was a pretty big shopping port. All the 4 cruise ships docked at the same time. Our ship was farthest cuz we were only staying for 5 hours, the other ships were staying like 10 hours. More $20 jackets available in shops, and decent scenery. Headed back to the boat for dinner and lunch.

Final stop was Vancouver, checked out the famous Empress Hotel. And walked to chinatown. Lively downtown, and great weather. Best port by far, need to go back later. Ate some overpriced chinese food, that was ok, and had gelato on the way back.

Once we got back to seattle, drove back to home, and turns out the van broke down. Had to make two trips to pick everyone up. Afterwards, had a quick taco time run and headed back to San Jose. Started driving at 11:30am and got back home by 1:30am. 12hours in one shot, not bad, and counted 13 cops. Much more comfortable when having AC and a decent car.

Point Lobos

2008-04-20T19:25:00.000-07:00

Point Lobos 4/20/08 7:06 PM

Went on a 3 hour hike at Point Lobos. Sunny and a bit chilly. Sun warms us up. But its always a bit too windy along the shoreline. Wind breaker is strongly recommended. At the least, wear something with a hood or your head will freeze. Arrived at 11am, parked along the side of highway 1 near the entrance. Took a short walk to the ranger station where Parking plus map will cost $9. No dogs allowed. Took the neareast trail, Carmelmeadow, and started our secnic walk.

Saw lots of wild life such as sea otters, divers, cool birds, seals. Also witnessed a crow like bird chasing and attacking a big vulture or something.
RP kept smack talking about how it is a fake hike. But he did 'suck wind' too, especially at the end at the South Plateau Trail.

Devoured couple of the spam and egg sandwiches I made. The salty meat and butter were very satisfying when hiking.

Took us 3 hours for leisurely paced hiking. Good exercise. A very good day after all.

Yard work weekend.

2008-04-07T21:44:00.000-07:00

A purple tulip came out of the flower bed. Nice surprise. (from previous owner)

Added a chopstick onto to keep the pine tree tip pointing straight up.

Mr.Phou trimming off the corrupted branches damanged by the aphids on the Pluoa tree. check out the name tag under his arm. :D Later he sprayed it with pesticides.
There's this tall and slim lady with long gray hair at the home depot garden center. She has become my angel. She would look at the dying branch I brought, and tell me its aphids, show me what to get, how to kill it.. Another week, she told me what I should do with a potted japanese maple tree, how to take care of it.. This week, I went straight to her, but another guy was hogging her and hogging her... arrghh. guess she's not only my angel. :p

Went to Halfmoon bay sunday. cloudy. Had an expensive breakfast on mainstreet grill. Linguica was disappointing. flame's is much better. Pancake was pricey. walked around the antique store. cloudy day. head back home. stopped by 2 nurseries on 92. first one of huge. got a very big rhododendrom tree with pink flowers putting at the door. flashy as hell. couldn't help to stop and look. there were also lots of purple, white wisteria, star jasmine... the second nursery is the one that i used to go a lot. more manageable pot flowers. robin wanted to get a tiny pot of lily of the valley. but changed his mind. now he regrets it. my nose wouldnt' stop running.. allergy really sucks.

Stile Ranch Trail

2008-03-30T21:10:00.000-07:00

Went hiking after Allen drove off. Took us 2 hours. Stile Ranch Trail is one of the south bay hiking trail for wild flower watching during spring. Right under the nose of IBM Almaden Research Center.

Partly cloudy. Pretty cool windy in some area. But when the sun is out and the wind stops, it gets warm. We were zipping up one minute and striping the other. Lots of mountain bikers going up and down on the rocky narrow little road. I don't understand why would anybody wants to torture their own butt/balls with this kind of rocky ride. But they do. RP bragged about his friendliness because he said HI to all the bikers that come his way.

As soon as we started, he asked for his brownies. Gobbled down the whole bag and 2 bottles of water by the time we got back to our car.

Crab Feed

2008-03-29T23:59:00.000-07:00

Robin, Allen and Vinh's first crab feed. We all loved it. They disappointed me though. only finished a little bit more then a bowl of crab. 3 big guys and that's all they can do. Although it wasn't alaskan king crab, everybody said it was huge and meaty. Vinh brought extra sauce from Banana leaf. Went really well with the garlic bread. Cocktail sauce was still the best for the crab. Drank 3 cups of coke myself. Wish I could have eaten more but about an hour into it, I felt like puking. Robin and Allen couldn't take it anymore either. We left around 6pm.

After wasting an evening at a SF Cigar Club, we came home and the brothers had their second dinner at 11pm. Unbelievable. Allen did clean up my frig though, which I really appreciated it. :D Good thing me and RP managed to put squeeze in about 5 min of salsa at the club before we left.

Our Trees

2008-03-28T23:59:00.000-07:00

The apple tree is blooming with big white flowers. Put fertilizer down last weekend. Hopefully it will give us more apples this summer.!

Peach tree was planted by the previous owner last summer. Might take a couple years for it to bear fruit. Planted the lemon tree a month ago upon mother in law's request. Its 'Our Tree' cuz its the first we planted together. :) Didn't make it in time for the crab feed to provide us free lemons though. Robin dug the hole. Complained and whined all the way through while working the shovel. He needs more practice. :-)

Persimmon tree. Got us plenty of sweet persimmons last summer. Can't wait for it. On its left is supposed to be an Orange tree. Gardener said it didn't make much oranges. Told me fertilizing helps. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Steven's Creek

2008-03-09T23:59:00.000-07:00

RP took me to Bombay Garden on El Camino the first time. It was ok. Afterwards, we picked a place from the GPS and went hiking. Ended up in Steven's Creek County Park. Took us a long time to get there cuz the first entrance we attempted was closed. Blocked by polices. Later we found out some bicyclists were killed by an oncoming sheriff patrol car driving on the wrong side of the road.
We went around to another side. The entrance was so small that we missed it. Drove 30 minutes of winy mountain road until we came to a one way dead end. Found our entrance at around 4pm. Started out our hike along steven's creek. (I assumed that's the name of it.) Nice place. Except everywhere we went, there are big warning sign with the drawing of a huge rattle snake. We gave up .4 mile into the hike and turned back. so, that day's total was workout was .8 mile of hiking. :D

Weekend in LA

2008-02-11T13:32:00.000-08:00

Started the weekend by trying out the new Papa Murphy's Chicken Artichoke pizza. Pretty good stuff, not bad for 10 bucks. Woke up early the next day and drove to LA. Met up with my Brother and had lunch at Red Ant, hong kong style restaurant in the Diamond Plaza. The baked spaghetti was good, instead of spaghetti, they used linguini. Vivo had the pork chop, mediocre. Brother had some curry thing, it was ok. The chicken wings were good. I was still hungry so we tried ordering the good ole chicken chow mein, but this place didn't have that. Go figure. Walked around after and tried out the green tea yogurt soft serve topped with fruit. It's all the rage in LA, first taste was sour, but eventually got used to it, pretty good. The chick that was serving it had a mustache, that was kinda weird. Brother wanted to get a new windbreaker, so we drove to REI.

(Can't believe I have grown this much... hehehe)

Afterwards, went to Aunt Philomina's for Hot Pot. Lotsa other cousins were there, lotsa food, and talking long into the night. Played some ping pong later on, and barely won, but still won. hehe. Vivo continued her yapping long into the night. Woke up the next day and headed to visit another cousin at Fort Irwin which is an army base. Talk about the middle of nowhere, our car didn't have the insurance card so we left the car at the visitor center. Also running low on gas, so Joe had to bring some in a gas can hehe. Visited with Joe and Tania while eating some pizza. Their kid is growing up quick, she's running around at only 17 months. Went out for a quick walk with Byron their dog. Took a quick tour of their place and headed back to San Jose. Took an alternate route and ended up filling up the gas tank at a small ass town with lotsa ghetto lookin folks. Since Vivo didn't sleep much the last day, I drove all 7 hours back home. Picked up some Green Burrito before making back home by 9pm. Another weekend, gone in a flash. NBTW (Now back to work).

Superbowl 2008

2008-02-07T15:57:00.000-08:00

Went to the Palace for Korean BBQ on friday night. The famous rolled up beef didn't taste as good as it used to. Made it to volleyball on Saturday morning, instructor didn't show up on time, so we ended up playing a pickup game. Went to Broadway Bistro afterwards. The porkchop aint worth 15 bucks, but the chow fun and chow mein looked pretty good. Drove to Castro Valley for dinner at Nimone's place. Checked out Yon's new toys. Had dinner with Uncle Peter and his wife. Headed back pretty late and woke up early the next day to do some quick cleanup for the superbowl party. Headed back to Broadway Bistro in cupertino for lunch. Tried the good ole chicken chow mein, vivo ordered the curry. Chow mein was good, place is still overpriced. Did a quick Costco run to pickup some chips and dip, couldn't find the tiramisu, so we had to settle for cheesecake. Vivo wanted a daybed, but luckily we didn't have a truck handy :-D. Had the volleyball gang over to watch the superbowl. Jennifer and Kenny also showed up, good game, lotsa yelling, and no history since the patriots lost in the last minute. Ordered ghetto chinese and ran out of rice. Edwin showed up later, along with Stacey and her Husband Roland, kept their kids entertained upstairs. Got to finally use the poker set in an actual game. Used the leftover cash for the prize. Lotsa interesting hands, I ended up losing out with two aces, Sang hit a straight on the river. Go figure. He also ended up winning, no surprise there. Another year, another superbowl.

Crab Feed Weekend

2008-01-28T01:44:00.000-08:00

I slept in while RP went to saturday morning volleyball. Got up around 10. Exercise plan went down the drain since I ended up staying in bed looking at our pictures from Europe all morning. Stomach started growling around 11. Was going to join them for Japanese curry after they were done with class. Disappointingly, they changed plans and had fresh choice instead. My famished tummy was in no mood for vegetables. So I headed out to Milpitas square around 12:30 and had some nice chinese anchovies and pork patty over rice. Couldn't remember when was the last time I had it. So good! Grabbed my milk tea after lunch and made it to Jen's right on time.

Got to the 'big gym' shortly after 3. Not many people were waiting. We got in line and waited until 4. Rows and rows of tables, from one end to the other. Filled up the entire gym. Total of 10 of us, sat down at one table. The experienced ones took out their lemons, the cocktail sauce, butter, and butter warmers... there was white and red wine on the table, comes free with refills. I went for the free soda. Thank goodness Jen told me to bring my own nutcracker. Kenny folded stacks of napkins from the roll of kitchen tower. Everyone put on the bib. there's a big crab right in the middle of it. After we were all set, helpers started to bring out garlic bread and salad. the bread was very good. but i was afraid to eat too much and fill up my stomach. pretty soon, the same guys marched out carrying bowls and bowls of crabs. We digged in right away. It was sooooooo good. The entire gym filled with people eating crabs. We didn't leave until 7pm. Kenny's mom was prolly the champion among the 5 of us. Didn't have any space to take the brownies... :( maybe next time.

Went to see 27 dresses in the evening. funny and sweet. a lot better then atonement. before the movie, we all had our coldstone - dessert after the big dinner. :D

Started sunday with lunch at curry house, the one we didn't go to on saturday. RP didn't like the curry. Head over to IKEA and got a coffee table. He built it all by himself. He's getting better and better at it.

Weekend in KRML

2008-01-24T18:09:00.000-08:00

Drove out friday night after work towards Carmel. Stopped by the vietnamese mall on story for Dinner. Decided to try out Hanoi's Corner since they had an ongoing 15% off special and the pictures looked decent. Turns out it was friday night karaoke. At the tail end we end up getting blasted by some serious vietnamese screeching/singing. I ordered the grilled pork and Viv got the Bun rieu. It was ok, would of prefered ghetto thai. After dinner Viv drove us down to Carmel near Monterey. Checked into your Hotel around 10 or so and did a short walk thru the town. Moon was pretty bright and weather was a tad chilly. Headed back to the hotel and slept till 10am the next day. Got breakfast at the Il Fornaio restaurant attached to the hotel. Pretty good food, walked around the town afterwards and looked at countless art gallerys and antique shops. After circumnavigating the entire town on foot, we decided to grab lunch at Porta Bello, since the thai place nearby looked deserted, we decided to go with the lemming theory. I had duck ravioli along with lobster bisque, viv tried some walnut salad. Pretty good. Headed to the beach loaded with chairs, umbrellas, and books. Napped for a few hours on the beach and watched a kennels worth of dogs running around on the beach. Clear blue sky, somewhat cool, but overall nice weather. Headed back around 5 to get ready for dinner. Headed down for dinner at Il Forniao again, cuz we had 40$ vouchers. I had the safe pasta which was pretty good, and viv had some bigass shrimp along with noodles. Had chocolate cake and a crepe for dessert. Overall pretty filling and the place was pretty packed. Not bad for a chain restaurant. Headed back to our room and watched a movie before fading off into lala land. Woke up the next day and had a quick breakfast at a corner cafe. Drove home and made a quick stop at ghetto thai, to pick up some food to eat while watching the divisional playoffs. Made it back just in time and spent the rest of the weekend doing the typical chores.

Pio in the house

2008-01-17T12:15:00.000-08:00

After tons of back and forth and constant research on avsforums, I decided on the 60" Pioneer 6010FD Plasma. I actually originally ordered a 58" Samsung from BHPhoto for a great price of 2799 which came out to around 3k with shipping. Turns out BHPhoto was out of stock, and it was at least a 3 month wait until units became available. Not only that, but they charge you as soon as you place an order. So basically i would have to wait 3 months after paying for my TV to actually see it. So i ended up canceling the order. Then after going to best buy a few times and looking at the 58, it just looked alot smaller then the 63" samsung. Monitoring the price on amazon i noticed the price is a few hundred cheaper then the pioneer. After reading tons of reviews and feedback i went with the Pioneer. Turns out a coworker has the Samsung 63 and loves it, but he failed to mention that he's had it replaced 5 times for various defects. I think I made the right choice in going Pioneer. After watching it for a week and going back to the Panasonic, the blacks on the panny look grey..hehe. Although it's true the amount of power this thing takes is huge. If i put my face close to the screen, i can feel the heat shooting out of the screen haha. Now I need to get my audio system setup right. Wires are still everywhere. to be continued...

Weekend at the Movies, xmas edition

2007-12-26T16:30:00.000-08:00

On Friday night, met up with Tinyi and her friends at Super Buffet, near Valley Fair. Food was ok,tinyi ends up being 30mins late. Went home afterwards and watched a bunch of chick flicks. Georgia Rules and Away from her. Viv got an allergic reaction to her bday flowers. Go figure :-p.

On Saturday, we went to watch National Treasure 2 at the new Theatre in Cupertino. Spent the morning shopping at Valley fair, and had lunch at the Thai place on story road. Free thai ice tea for the win. Vivian used up some of the gift cards during her shopping spree and I made some progress on the zelda ds game Phantom Hourglass. Finally returned the curtains at Linen N Things and ran across Nin. haha, go figure. Had a beestinger smoothie before the movie, good stuff, combination of blueberries, banana, and bee pollen. The original National treasure was alot better I think, but we had passes to burn. Swung by ghetto Chinese and ordered the regular stuff for dinner. Watched Eastern Promises and Pirates of the Carribean 3 when we got home, picked up some new plotlines for Pirates since it was subtitled. Eastern Promises was pretty good, but it ended pretty abruptly.

Cleaned up the house on Sunday, and watched Resident Evil: Extinction, pretty good film. Lotsa action and interesting ending.

Had the volleyball gang over on Monday, picked up some pizza and played some Nintendo Wii. Gordon and Joe stuck around to watch the simpsons movie. Movie was ok, only had a few really funny moments. After they took off, we watched The Last mimzy and I am Legend. Both movies were pretty good.

Tuesday, woke up in time for Dim Sum at ABC, met up with Yon and Nimone at their mom's new house in fremont. Checked it out, and headed to their place in Castro Valley. Headed home afterwards and chilled the rest of the day.

Xmas in Man Jose 2007

2007-12-17T11:01:00.000-08:00

Went to check out xmas in the park in San jose. Ended up getting there a little early, so lined up to see old st. nick. Of course we're the only two in line without kids. Go figure. Forgot to bring the camera so ended up using the iphone, the lady who took our picture was so amazed by the iphone, she had to take a few extra photos. Afterwards, we walked around some more waiting for Andrew to show up. The original plan was to meet up with Andrew and his classmate from dancing class. Ended up checking out the community stage where some asian christians were spreading the gospel thru dancing and stomping and acting. It was interesting, most of them were pretty mediocre dancers and wannabe american idols, I think it would of been more enjoyable if it wasn't so damn cold. Andrew showed up midway and made some comments, only problem is half the audience were parents and friends of performers. Afterwards, the rendezvous target finally calls cuz they found parking, we head over to meet, and the meeting lasts all of 2 minutes. The fact that she introduced her boyfriend was an amusing start. We end up heading our separate ways after a few minutes of awkwardness. We decide to head to Original Joe's for dinner, wait was like an hour and a half, so we bail and look for the thai place, turns out it was on another street. Eventually had overpriced thai, but it was pretty good. Headed back to the car after a long cold ass nite in Man jose.

Sunday we met up with Vinh and Wendy to go to a benefit concert in the same area. Lined up around 5pm, they didn't start letting ppl in until 6pm, and the show didn't start till 7ish. The place wasn't that full, and the teenyboppers were rampant. When the backstreet boys showed up the place went nutz. Those high pitched screams were really loud. No one clapped, it was all screaming. Vanessa Carlton was pretty good, she didn't play her main hit till the end, but her piano skills were very nice. Collective soul had good guitar improvs, not really hitting the right age demographics but you could tell they were pro's. And finally Elliot Yamin, the 3rd place guy at american idol. He was ok, until the end when he busted out his top40 hit. That was pretty good. Was starving during the show, so grabbed some nachos with all the works. Not as good as the Oakland A's nachos with the chicken, but it was good enuff due to hunger. Afterwards called it a nite and headed home.

We are awesome!

2007-11-29T23:44:00.001-08:00

Built our kitchen foldup workstation this evening. I the designer and assembler, he the assistant and wood cutter. Perfect ergonomic height for keyboard. Can be folded down when not used. doesn't take up any extra space. kekeke We are so impressed by ourselves. :D

My First Halloween

2007-10-31T20:18:00.000-07:00

Y my first you say. Well, I've been living in the US for almost 20 yrs, never really connected with this holiday. Didn't see the point and didn't understand. Instead, I was always wondering, it'd be a pain as parents cuz you'd have to get the kids ready for costumes. I've dressed up once or twice in the past and tried to be part of it. But it was never fun with bunch of adults. Walking around in the crowded, no, life threateningly dangerous castro crowd, was not so fun. Going to Halloween parties seeing young adults getting drunk was not fun either. But this year, I discovered the true spirit behind it. ITS THE KIDS! It is so enjoyable to watch little kids coming to your door in costumes. Some timid, some brave, some are just happy, some just focus on the candies... they look up to you and say 'Happy Halloween' in this tiny little voice. What they are really saying is, 'if you'll give me candies,...' The older kids are not so shy, and they scream when they see good candies. The girls are sweet and they pay compliments to your outfit since you give them nice candies. :)

The other thing I discovered is, Halloween brings all new culture in this area together. I live in a neighborhood mainly occupied by chinese and Indians. Mostly these new immigrants are still very in tune with their own culture and traditions. It was surprising for me to see these young indian and chinese parents, walking around at nite with their little kids trick or treating! I find myself saying time after time, "bye, and come back next year!" This young indian father looked at me and replied with a satisfying smile: "sure." And Y come back next year? Because I want a second chance to do this right! We are not well prepared since we are buried with the move. Next year, I will have plenty of nice candies to pass out. I will have our front porch decorated. I want to see those happy smiles at my door looking up at me! :D

Body Worlds 2

2007-10-28T11:39:00.000-07:00

Went to check out the pastinated bodies at the Tech Museum in San Jose. Real human bodies pastinated in different pose. There was the ballad dancer, skateboarder, ice skaters, yoga lady, and even a pregnant woman. All these bodies posed in action of what they are doing. We get to see the muscles in different part and some internals and bones. also saw lungs with tuberculosis, lung of a smoker (dark), and lung of a coal miner (even darker...). Enlarged heart due to high blood pressure and other problems... different cross sections of the brain... You are what you eat. also gotta work out and be healthy.

http://www.thetech.org/

I'm real smart.

2007-10-11T09:58:00.000-07:00

We misread the 68 to be 89 when measuring the slot size for the frig in our new home. Good thing he picked up the tape and remeasured the height last nite when we were there so that he can cancel the order in time this morning. I blame it on jet lag. :P

Last day being single

2007-08-25T22:20:00.000-07:00

Today is my last day being single. It has been a peaceful day. Everyone says we are going to be so busy. Not really. Got up at 8:30. visited the new costco in our neighborhood. got some babyback rib for camping next week, and sausages. Then headed over to After Hour to pick up our tux rentals. Childhood friend from HK called and congratulated me. Picked up hair pieces then went home. finished all that around 12pm. Organized and packed for the next day in the afternoon. Met up with family and friends... It is a nice easy day. Not nervous yet. And not super excited. Comfortable and happy. Hope to stay that way tommorrow. Can't wait for jen to come over and start the day. :)

Dance Class Inventory

2007-08-22T10:06:00.000-07:00

Tracking the classes i've taken at Starlite along with the moves I've supposedly learned. Question marks represent the ones i've forgotten.

Salsa (Beg-Adv1)

NC 2Step (Beg2, Int1a, Int1b)

Beg2
- Left Turning Basic
- Twist with Face Loops
- Right Turning Basic
- Shoulder Check
- Alternating Underarm Turns

Int1a
- Left Turning Basic with Under Arm Turn
- Cradle
- Right Turning Basic with Under Arm Turn
- Open Under Arm Turn Left
- Change of Places to Open UAT Left Loop (?)
- Back Track Right Turn (?)
- Cradle Roll (?)
- Arm Check/Simple Wrap (?)

Int1b
- Checked Left & Right Turning Basics (?)
- Arm Check to Turning Face Loops
- Around the World/with UAT/ Free Spin
- Progressive Right Turn (?)
- Half Nelson (?)
- Turkish Towel to Wrap Around Turn
- Right Turning Basic with Spin Whip (?)
- Sping Whip to Shadow Wrap (?)

EC Swing (Int1a)
- Promenade Turning Basic
- Backward Walks
- Kicks & Points
- Cradle
- Double Overhead/Hand Slide
- Tuck in - Handshake (?)
- Tuck in from Closed Position (?)
- Tuck in from Closed/Handshake with men's spin (?)

AVP Manhatten

2007-08-15T15:08:00.000-07:00

Spent the weekend in LA. Drove down with the volleyball gang on Friday morning. Stopped off at Red Robin for a burger, their water tasted like crap. Food was ok, Joe's deluxe gourmet cheeseburger was actually just called a cheeseburger, go figure. Made it to our Hotel in Manhatten beach, not bad, went to santa monica promenade and walked around. Decided to go to Buca Di Beppo, pretty good food, ate alot. Walked around some more and looked at some street shows, even donated a buck to one of the groups doing break dancing on the street. Decided to pass on the movie, went home and slept. Woke up late and went to IHOP for breakfast. By the time we made it to Manhatten beach, we had to park way far away. Ended up taking the cab to get to the beach, vivo browsed the shops and filled the parking meter for us. The environment is pretty cool, one stadium area where the main match is played and 3-4 side courts where other matches are going. Then they had a bunch of sponsored tents with stuff they're trying to sell. Really crowded for the womens' final, stuck around afterwards and got some great seats for men's semi's. Watched the whole match, pretty good experience overall, just get there earlier next time. Headed to the hotel and showered, afterwards went to Harbor Seafood restaurant in Arcadia, kinda high class chinese, didn't order too much, but food was good, and got out of there for only $19 per person. The next day had dim sum in arcadia also, met up with my brother, that dim sum was super cheap. We had a ton of stuff, and it turned out to be 9 bucks per person including tip. cheap ftw!. afterwards chit chatted with bro for an hour or so, then headed back home. Long drive with a few stop overs due to Gorden's miniscule bladder. Saw alot of dead cars on the side of the road, didn't get pulled over by any cops so alls wells that ends well. Once we got home, picked up Tom and dropped him off at his condo, and then picked up some ghetto chinese. That stuff is always good.

BMW AUX Installed

2007-08-15T15:05:00.000-07:00

Installed the AUX port for my BMW. Was supposed to take 30-60 minutes, ended up taking 5 hours over a 2 day span. Go figure, stupid radio plug in the back was stuck, took an hour to just unhook the damn thing. Then fiddled with the glove box for another 30mins, got it removed and realized i didn't have the correct drill bit size. To home depot I went and picked up an entire set. Ended up drilling the first hole 1 size too big, had to use some super glue on it haha. Slapped it all back together and it works great, even looks kinda professional. Ordered a ipod remote control that uses radio waves instead of IR. Also ordered a power adapter that plugs into the glovebox flashlight connector. In other words, i can stash the ipod in the glovebox with power and control it remotely. Pretty slick and works great. Pictures later...

Potter Arrives

2007-07-23T16:15:00.000-07:00

Got potter in the mail on Saturday, pretty good deal and quick shipment from Amazon. Cool cover too, pictures inline. So far the book is really fast paced, lotsa plot advancement. Hopefully all the plot lines are completed...

JK's Wedding

2007-07-23T16:08:00.000-07:00

Took friday off to head into the City for a Jen and Kenny's wedding rehearsal in Burlingame. Spent the day washing the cars, and waxing mine, also packed up some clothes for the weekend in the City. Headed to rehearsal which went pretty smoothly, afterwards went to a restaurant in Burlingame for the rehearsal dinner. They specialized in prime rib, i got the chicken, go figure :-p. Forgot my jacket, so we had to drive back to SJ to pick it up, took a quick nap and went to Kenny's place to pick up some stuff to bring up for the wedding. Made it to the Hyatt at around 11pm, Vivo had to wake up at 5am the next morning. Amazingly she did, goes to prove the impossible is possible some of the times... I woke up around 8, packed up, and drove the guys to the Wedding site, ran into traffic, so we had to skip lunch until the other group picked up some Wendy's. That was some good tasting cheap food, hunger the best sauce as always. Wedding went off without a hitch, Vivo didn't stumble on her heels, it's like lightning striking at the same spot twice, go figure ;-). Headed to Yank Sing after the pictures, and found a killer parking spot, ate lotsa food since we had like 3 ppl short at our table. Extra shark fin soup for all :-D. Most of the music was the hip hop variety, so we were spectators until the end of the night, got in some 2step and ecswing. Headed home around 11pm, dropped off some food at kenny's and crashed at home midnight. Long day, but pretty smooth as far as weddings goes ;-).

Taking care of business

2007-07-15T23:10:00.000-07:00

Started the weekend by meeting vivo's aunt at Starlite, didn't learn much from the lessons, but getting back on the dance floor was fun. Salsa skills still around, the other dances, not so much. heh. Tried to go to China palace for late night snack, but the place was packed, so ended up going to a malaysian restaurant, ordered a little much, but brought the rest home. Woke up early sat morning to drop off my car, warranty expiring, originally had problems with radio, but turns out the stupid cupholder i installed was causing the static. Was able to get the dealer to change out my nappy steering wheel with a new leather one, pretty nice, just before warranty expires. Went to Santana row while waiting for the car, much more relaxed in the morning, went to get tiramisu and croissant, not exactly a healthy breakfast, but better then skippin i suppose. Met up with Arthur for hist birthday lunch at a Tawainese place in Milpitas. Food was pretty good, lotsa a talking in chinese, so was busy with sf2. Picked up my car and checked out a few open houses, not bad, not great, the search continues... Dropped off vivo's car to circuit city to get the ipod enabled sony receiver installed. While installing we walked over to Chipotle and had some good grub. Stopped by borders and picked up the car with the ipod connector built in. Pretty slick, you can control and charge the ipod from the head unit. Ready for road trips :-p. Wanted to see potter that nite, but too tired. Postponed for sunday, woke up sunday and watched potter at mercado 20, finally used up the final 4 bucks from an old gift card, the morning shows are only 6 bucks, pretty cheap hehe. Movie was ok, just like the book, mostly boring till the end, the battle at the end was pretty sweet. I think the next movie should be the best, last book coming in a few weeks. Went to food tasting for wedding, probably will go with the champagne chicken, and spaghetti, still undecided on third dish, either salmon or more shrimp. Brought the rest home and had it for dinner. Cleaned up the garage and took a nap. Long weekend, but productive.

passport

2007-07-12T09:31:00.000-07:00

Thank goodness finally got my passport. Was stressed out worrying I'd have to cancel my honeymoon if the passport hasn't arrived by september. I sent in application early April. Didn't get it back until july. So it took 3 months. I'd advice any family and friends pay extra and have it expedited if they are to renew or apply for a passport.

New passport is pretty cool. it has nice background images. but first page has a big fat head on it. (me) can't believe my face has became so huge. no wonder I don't stop traffic anymore..... :P

Seattle Summer 2007

2007-07-09T23:50:00.000-07:00

Just made it back from seattle road trip. Took like 18 hours to drive each way. Good thing we had 4 ppl to rotate the driving duties. Sucked that we got pulled over by oinkers twice, ended up getting ticketed in cali, go figure. Seattle was nice, sunny, did the bbq thing with the relatives, got some red envelopes. Went to see transformers, nice special efx, recommended. Good thing the iphone was out of stock in oregon, that actually prevented me from picking one up hehe. Went to a bunch of different open houses and new developments in seattle, the one in lynnwood was not very impressive, good thing parent's decided against getting it. Went to a few in redmond, those were built with much higher quality, of course they were 200k more, so you get what you pay for. Also, took the water taxi from alki beach over to pike place, pretty fun, saw the original starbucks and had some ice cream before heading back. Ran into penny and her kid Nick when getting off the taxi, go figure. Went to dinner with Rob/Bob, tried out a new place next to Ho Ho, originally was supposed to be a light meal, but turned out ordering tons of food, pretty good quality, and cheap price, thumbs up. The thai place in oregon was hit and miss, some things were decent, others,mediocre. HIt up taco time a few times and stocked up on food. On the last day, Mom made some yellow chicken curry along with tomato/jalepeno laos salsa (jiao), eating that with sticky rice and laos sausage, now that's a pretty fat filling combo. We also stopped by green lake and walked around once, pretty far, but not bad. Woman had to hit up anthropologie to return a dress, and we ended up parking near my old work place downtown. I think i saw the old geezer at work too, taking a smoke outside hehe. some things never change. Looks like they also extended the monorail to westlake center, which was pretty neat. Ended up going to bellevue square for some cheap nordstrom cafe after greenlake. Got a 20% discount and the food was pretty good, alot better then cisco food. Brother's car ended up having problems getting fixed, luckily huor was able to find someone to drill the stripped bolt out. Went over to Huor's for july 4th, fixed his computer, and ended up chilling at his place instead of going to watch fireworks. Neighbors were blasting fireworks left and right. Went to visit my mom's sister who was in the hospital for kidney stones and bladder infection. Turned out Neng, Penny, Kin, and a bunch of others were in visiting the same time, go figure. Afterwards, went to check out neng's new house, pretty slick, lotsa room, and a few that are actually clean. Also, stopped by Chan's place, a little smaller then nengs.
Also had a chance to play some pickel ball with Dad at 24hour fitness, afterwards, went to eat dim sum, and sore as hell the next day, getting old methinks.

Pictures of the trip:

seattle 2007 July

Marriage License

2007-06-18T20:30:00.000-07:00

Early friday morning on June 15th, we've reached another milstone in our lives. I have gotten my license to rule, while he surrendered his freedom in pursue of greater happiness. Great risk comes great achievements. Naturally, any path to happiness takes wisdom, patience, endurance, flexibility, compromise, blah blah blah... With the difficult, complicated, and most of all, confusing (general characteristics of the female species perceived by men) journey ahead of him, I smelled struggle. Proof....

We got up so early in the morning (7 am is way too early for us) because we wanted to beat the crowd and get there by 8am. I thought I really rushed, until I realized he didn't even wash his face! The day we got our marriage license, he didn't even bother to wash his face!!!!

And me? A fresh big pimple right next to my nose, with deep dark circles under my eyes.

We got there around 8pm and 2 couples were already in front of us. We waited in line a bit. He wouldn't waste anytime and took out the gameboy...

There were 3 windows for marriage license - D, E, and F. We ended up in the middle window E. The whole process didn't take more then 20 minutes. By the time we left, there were at least 4 more couples waiting in line. Made it home before 9am. He played more WII before heading in to work. He showered AND washed his face. :P Just like that, another day for the worker bees slipped into its normal routine.

Weekend of June 9th.

2007-06-16T23:02:00.000-07:00

Everyone in San Jose.

RP bday 2007

Good thinking

2007-06-07T23:06:00.000-07:00

過了成了做了錯了都有它本身後續的意義和影響。
這是我們的生命，不必怨,不必悔,不必回頭。

Flunk? Don't sweat...

2007-06-06T14:42:00.001-07:00

To be able to study at the Swiss Polytechnic (the later ETH) in Zurich also without A-levels, Albert Einstein had to take a college entrance exam in October 1895. His performance in physics and mathematics was excellent. The performances in some of the other tested areas however were not sufficient. Albert Einstein did not pass the exam! Subsequently he followed the advice the director of the Zurich University gave him and went to a school in Aarau (canton of Aargau) in Switzerland in October 1895 to close the gap in his knowledge. In September 1896 he successfully passed his A-levels in written and oral from. In October 1896 he began to study at the Swiss Polytechnic. His ambition was to obtain the diploma of a subject teacher for mathematics and physics. In July 1900 he successfully finished his studies.

“The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education”

Albert Einstein, 14th March 1879 - April 18th 1955

Smoothies

2007-06-05T19:35:00.000-07:00

Our latest favorite is smoothies. Bought bunch of fruit from Costco, came home and went crazy with the blender. Robin made a banana, strawberrie ice smoothie. I made a 'throw everything in there' smoothies.

2 apples
5 strawberries
3 spoonful of non fat plain yogurt
2 spoonful of coconut milk
1 spoonful of sweet condensed milk. (should take it out next time cuz its fattening)
1 cup of low fat milk

Yum Yum Yum. Also got my calcium for today. Talk about Calcium, since he didn't put dairy product in his smoothie, time to make him take calcium supplements. hehehhe

Dinner tonite

2007-06-04T20:40:00.000-07:00

Pork chop with baby bak choi over rice.

Yank Sing

2007-06-04T20:32:00.000-07:00

Went to SF saturday nite for Jennifer's wedding banquet tasting. Table of 9, eating portion for 10. Started with standard 5 delights appetizer- jelly fish, bbq pork, ham...so yum. Followed by tons of other dishes including shark fin soup, a very nice steam black seabass, veggie, noodles, and ended with mango pudding with strawberry on top. All this for free. kekeke. but of course Jen and Kenny had to pay the service fee.

yanksing

Chicken Soup for the Fat and Happy

2007-06-01T18:15:00.000-07:00

Friday afterwork, out to the patio while the sun still lingers before darkness sets. A bowl of hot fresh homemade chicken soup strengthens my body and sooth my soul. That's what life is about. (Just have to ignore the droppings on the rail....) :D

Blue Moon

2007-05-31T11:11:00.000-07:00

Tonite is Blue Moon...Second full moon of the month.

Once in a Blue Moon ... is a common way of saying not very often, but what exactly is a Blue Moon?

According to the popular definition, it is the second Full Moon to occur in a single calendar month.

The average interval between Full Moons is about 29.5 days, whilst the length of an average month is roughly 30.5 days. This makes it very unlikely that any given month will contain two Full Moons, though it does sometimes happen.

On average, there will be 41 months that have two Full Moons in every century, so you could say that once in a Blue Moon actually means once every two-and-a-half years.

Pan's Labyrinth / El Laberinto del fauno

2007-05-28T22:48:00.000-07:00

A spanish film set in 1944. A little girl moved to the rural area of Spain following her pregnant mother whom remarried. The stepfather was a rutheless spanish army captain. Ofelia created her own fatasy world to escape the harsh reality of the fascist spain at the time. A pretty good movie that will make you cry. It was a bit dark though. The fairy tale special affect were not as I imagined. I was expecting something pretty and warm but the fairies were kinda ugly and the entire film was dark.
There's also some gruesome, violent scenes where I had to close my eyes and covered up my ears...:P

Official site
Critics

Before and After

2007-05-27T23:25:00.002-07:00

RP finishing up the leftover from yesterday's bbq after we came back from the movie... burbing in the picture...

芝麻醬火燒

2007-05-27T23:17:00.000-07:00

Aunt Josephine called last nite, telling me my cousin got me my favorite chinese pastry all the way from Beijing!!!! Me and RP went to castro valley to pick it up... My all time favorite... sesame bun...芝麻醬火燒. Oh My God! It is heaven when I chewed off the first bite. Haven't had it for a looooooong time. Thank goodness I was think skin enough to harass cousin wallace last time I saw him. Can't believe he actually brought it for me. Now I owe him... :P

旟袍

2007-05-27T23:05:00.000-07:00

Went to 龍子行 (Dragon Seed) to check out Chinese traditional dress - 旗袍. Sales lady Angel insisted that I must have red or gold for wedding. I managed to change her mind by telling her it is going to be an american wedding...hehehe Only then, she started showing me some 'darker' fabric... Her suggestion was Red with black floral pattern. To fool the eyes of the guests and make them think I'm skinny, added 'binding' on the side helps. She suggested green with gold floral pattern. At this point, the price and the fact that I can't really dance in it makes it an unlikely possibility.

Memorial day BBQ and Volleyball

2007-05-26T22:34:00.000-07:00

Full day today. RP clean up in the morning. Had early lunch, picked up hot dog buns and milk from walmart. Came home rested a little. People started arriving around 1:30. As usual, Joe is always the first one. Then Tom, Kevin. They had volleyball game for a few hours. I chatted with friends on the patio for awhile. Joined them for the last game. 3 on 3. did well for my own standard. Wish I would have played longer. Joe started grilling as soon as we got back. Everyone loved the Korean BBQ ribs. Hot links were popular too. Kevin's mother's chinese chicken salad was restuarant quality as Gorden put it. Sabrina's rice place was amazingly tasty. Other's brought ice-cream, brownies... we have lots of ice-creams in the freezer now. After dinner, we played a round of MJ, then moved on the texas holdem. Used the GO stones as chips. My mickey mouse card deck attracted some comments. Sang complained that it distracted him. After card game, we watched 'Stomp the yard'. Last few didn't leave until around 10:30. It had been a long fun day.

memorial day may252007

How to make friends, be friends...

2007-05-25T10:02:00.000-07:00

3. Be fun to be around. You don't have to be a superstar to be fun. You don't even have to do cartwheels. You do need to be positive and friendly, however, so that people feel good when they're around you. From the very first conversation you have with someone, you should use body language to convey that you are affable, non-threatening, and approachable. Smile frequently, laugh often, and make eye contact. In your words, be confident, but don't be cocky, condescending, or mean-spirited.
4. Be a good listener.. Many people think that in order to be seen as "friend material" they have to appear very interesting. Far more important than this, however, is the ability to show that you're interested in others. Listen carefully to what people say, remember important details about them (their names, their likes and dislikes), ask questions about their interests, and just take the time to learn more about them. People love to talk about themselves, and the easiest way to be likable is to listen. You don't want to be the guy or girl that always has a better story than anyone else or that changes the subject abruptly instead of continuing the flow of conversation. These people appear too wrapped up in themselves to be good friends.
5. Be reliable. The steps above are great for making acquaintances, but how do acquaintances become lifelong friends? One important trait of a good friend is reliability. When you say you'll do something, do it. Be someone that people know that they can count on.
6. Be trustworthy. One of the best things about having a friend is that you have someone to whom you can talk about anything, even secrets that you hide from the rest of the world. The key to being a good confidante is the ability to keep secrets, so it's no secret that you shouldn't tell other people things that were told to you in confidence. Before people even feel comfortable opening up to you, however, you need to build trust. Be honest about yourself and your beliefs, and don't gossip about others or spread rumors.
7. Be there. You've probably heard of fair-weather friends. They're the ones who are happy to be around you when things are going well, but are nowhere to be found when you really need them. Part of being a friend is being prepared to make sacrifices of your time and energy in order to help out your friends. If a friend needs help with an unpleasant chore, or if he or she just needs a shoulder to cry on, be there.
8. Be true to yourself. A good friend sometimes does things he or she doesn't want to do, such as helping a friend move or going to see a band that you don't really like, but you should never feel pressured to do something you think is wrong. Stay true to you convictions and beliefs, and if this causes you to lose some friends, you're better off without them. You'll also find that your integrity may help you win a lot of other friends, and if you just be yourself you'll make friends who like you for who you are.

Tips

* If you're around a new place, try to find people who are not attached to a group and strike up a conversation about anything—the weather, the environment that you're in, clothes, whatever. In school, for example, befriending new students can help you make new friends.
* Accept everyone for who they are and never bring anyone down or try to change someone (especially if they've done nothing to hurt or offend you). This communicates insecurity. If you don't get along with someone, try avoidance instead of creating a rivalry.
* Always trust your gut feelings about people. If you feel someone (as nice as they may seem) is not the right person to make friends with, then move along.
* Don't be clingy. Making new friends is a lot like dating new people. You never want to seem desperate. Don't chide acquaintances for failing to invite you to a party, for example; don't call someone over and over or stop by uninvited; and never overstay your welcome anywhere. In general, take friendship slowly, and don't try to become close to somebody right away. The move from acquaintance to friend can take a long time, and if you appear too clingy, potential friends may think you're too much work.
* Keep the lines of communication open. Lasting friendships don't just happen. They require work, especially if one friend moves away for an extended period or for good. Even if you don't get to see a friend, you should try to call or email him or her regularly just to check in and say "hi." With any luck, they'll do the same. It's easy to lose friends to distance, but it isn't necessary.

Warnings

* Remember, never leave old friends because you like someone else more. This is a mistake. It's great to have different groups of friends, but if you abandon one group for another, you may soon find yourself without any friends at all.
* Don't be afraid to stand up for what is right. If one of your friends is doing something that you know is wrong, confront them. If you're a friend, you won't let them do the wrong thing.

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Friends

Eating Healthy

2007-05-23T20:31:00.000-07:00

Guess who made which?
Apple cobbler under the taller pile of ice-cream.
Brownie in the smaller bowl.

oh. yum. mmm... armmm..

Wanted to eat healthy today. So visited Fresh Choice. Lots of veggie..and, LOTS of ice-cream...

Weekend in Sac Town

2007-05-21T17:06:00.000-07:00

Parents in town visiting relatives in Sacramento. Went to Dim Sum at Joy Luck place in cupertino, they liked the food, and we ordered a decent amount. Went to Los Gatos afterward, they had a farmers market wrapping up, ended up buying some really sweet strawberries and eating while wandering around. I was able to find my volleyball shoes at Sprockets, so mission accomplished hehe. Went around to a few open houses in sunnyvale and santa clara, all overpriced or old as hell. Went home for a nap, then drove to sacramento to visit ailing Dad's step mom. Drove back late and picked up some china palace. Long weekend complete.

Someone's busy stuffing strawberries in the back....

Girlfriends

2007-05-18T23:11:00.000-07:00

Had dinner with a long time girlfriend whom I haven't seen for a while. She's a mother of two and had been married for 10 years. She's excited that lots of her friends are finally getting hitched. Reason is because we are finally back on the same page and there are more we can share. We talked about how wonderful it is to have someone to share our lives with, and the frustrations of living with a man... (So far, I've been told several times, everybody goes through similar experience and face similar set of problems. We are not the only one. Almost like taking classes in college. :P ) Having someone that understands me and being able to feel and see things from my perspective is calming and comfortable. Meanwhile, Martians and Venusians will always be from different planets, therefore, fundamental differences is just fact.

As I get older (and wiser?), it has become clear that girlfriends play a very important role. They are like nutrition and vitamin for my sanity. :D Hope I get more and keep the ones I have for a looooong time to come.

Private Dancers

2007-05-11T16:45:00.000-07:00

Keeping track of the moves learned during our dance lessons at Starlite.

Viennese Waltz
- Left turning basic
- Half a box into Natural right turning basic
- Hesitation steps forwards and backwards and left to right
- Hesitation Left to open hesitation right, into a rotating cuddle, roll out into a lady's toe flip hesitation
- Hesitation Left into a back spot turn, into underhand turn back to basic
- Turn corners via Half box, into a rotating closed half box

Cake tasting

2007-05-10T20:11:00.000-07:00

Went to pick up our sample cakes for tasting from South San Jose last nite.
This is what's left by the time we got home. One chocolate with chocolate mousse, another is banana nuts with custard. We are going with the chocolate!

Remains of the birdy the next day...

2007-05-10T20:02:00.000-07:00

One flew into the cuckoo's window

2007-05-08T21:28:00.000-07:00

Heard a sudden 'boom' while staring into on my monitor this morning. Looked outside and found this poor birdy gasping for air on the gravel outside my window. Obviously he flew into the "reflection" of the sky. Yen and I were going to go out and pick him up, or turn him back onto his feet. Before we could leave the room, he stopped breathing and laid there lifeless. Agnes later told us there were wild turkey flying into our windows and cracked the glass. Find it a bit hard to imagine...

Basil Chicken

2007-05-07T23:30:00.000-07:00

Basil Chicken

RP cooking. Not bad. Click on photo to see more.

Youtube: Why doesn't this look like fish sauce?

Cleaning Rampage

2007-05-03T23:34:00.000-07:00

The woman decided to go on a cleaning rampage, lucky for my I was playin volleyball. I did show up with some yoshinoya and was able to move a few items to relieve some guilt :-p. Also committed to a weekday Ikea run. Go figure, barely had enuff room to park in the garage also. Hopefully have some time this weekend to clear out the junk :-p.

緣分是找到包容你的人

2007-05-01T21:19:00.000-07:00

這年頭婚姻越來越難維持了，以前是七年才有一癢，而現在婚姻能撐過二年就要感謝前輩子的修德，如果能五年不變，大概就算是有緣了。許多以離婚收場的怨偶，不是怪自己「遇人不淑、識人不清」，再不就是「個性不合」，或「這不是我要的婚姻」，而無法繼續生活。的確，相愛容易相處難，婚姻與戀愛最大的不同，就是「戀愛看的是對方的優點」，而「婚姻卻是要包容對方的缺點」。
所以，在沒看清楚對方的缺點之前就步上禮堂，到頭來才怪是「個性不合」，恐怕自己也得負很大的責任。所以在決定要不要嫁給(娶)他之前，應該先問自己：我愛的是他哪一個部份？這個部份是他的全部嗎？同樣地，在決定要不要離婚之前，也應該先問自己：我討厭的是他哪一個部份？而這個部份是他的全部嗎？

如果認為自己是因為「眼睛被牛屎黏到」，才嫁(娶)錯人的人，在選擇結束婚姻之前，更要加倍反省，自己會不會又看錯了？可惜的是，似乎人們很少能從經驗中學習，總認為自己當下都是對的，能自覺反思的人太少了。

其實沒有一個人是完美的，我相信也沒有一個人是故意不完美的。生長自不同環境的二個人，無論心靈如何契合，都難免會有衝突。與其說緣份是遇到一個能讓自己欣賞與被欣賞優點的人，倒不如說是緣份是找到一個，能讓自己願意包容與被包容缺點的人。

戀愛，或許是一個尋覓與配對的過程，但婚姻卻是一個學習與調適的過程。以戀愛的心來看婚姻，自然是怎麼看怎麼失望，我認為這樣的人是還不適合結婚的，否則必然會將自己的痛苦建築在別人痛苦之上。那麼怎樣才是正確的婚姻觀念呢？這沒有一套標準答案，每個人有每個人的見解，別人適用的，自己未必適用。不過我們也可以試著歸納幾個共通點，來讓自己對婚姻不致於有不切實際的期望： ☆婚姻不是你用來改變對方的工具。

許多人總認為結婚之後，他就會為我改掉壞習慣、更包容我，或是安定下來、不再三心二意。孰不知「江山易改，本性難移」，即使他會為你改變一下子，過不了多久又會回到本來面目。

所以別說：「為什麼他不再是當初為我改變的樣子，是不是他不再愛我了」，而要自問：「我是否還維持讓他改變的動力」？

婚姻是二人結緣的開始，也表示二人在許諾的那一刻是願意將心門之鑰交給對方的。但如果二人就此以為不必做任何努力，就可讓王子與公主過著幸福快樂的日子，那實在是在做夢。有這樣想法的人，恐怕下一個男（女）人也不會更好。(婚姻須要經營，任何事業可以失敗重來，婚姻卻沒有這種特質！)

所以當你說「他不適合我」的時候，請先問「我做了什麼努力讓他適合我？」

當你說「他不再愛我」的時候，請先問「我做了什麼努力讓他繼續愛我」

當你說「他讓我無法忍受」的時候，請先問「當他做出讓我無法忍受的事時，我是否曾讓他知道我的感受?」

結婚就像是到銀行開帳戶一樣，一開始會先存一筆款進去，表示對彼此的承諾。日後若遇到爭吵或抱怨，就像是從帳戶從提出款項；而如果有些感動或喜悅，就像是存款進去。一個好的婚姻，它的帳戶應該有提有存、而且餘額是越來越多，反之如果帳戶只提不存，一旦餘額低於開戶基數，就隨時有被結清的可能。大部份會走到離婚之路的人，都是因為缺乏危機意識，沒有時常去Check餘額與定期存款。

要維繫一個好的婚姻並不是不可能的，但關鍵不在於你是否夠幸運能遇到一個不會有問題的伴侶，而是你是否能在相處中學習溝通與成長，化危機為轉機。

所謂的「溝通」，不是要你說服對方要順從你的想法，而是要瞭解對方的想法,並找出異同之處，求同存異。

而「成長」，也不是要一味指出對方的缺點要求他改變，而是要接納對方所指出自己的缺點，從改變自己做起。

以下是將典型男人與女人對感情與婚姻的認知差別列舉一二，也許不能表示所有的男人或女人都是如此，但如果你或你的另一半是如此，你不必訝異，因為你和許多凡人是一樣的！

★愛情是女人的全部，卻只是男人的一小部份在男人的世界裡。

整天浸淫在浪漫愛情裡的人是沒出息的，因為男人的成就是來自於事業的發達與社會地位的提昇，而不是靠另一半的依賴！至於感情只是消除自己孤寂的。但女人生命的原動力則是來自她所的另一半全心的疼愛，為此女人會願意為他做出任何犧牲。（至於工作不過是賺取薪水不致與社會脫節的活動罷了）

所以女人常失望於男人無法將她擺在第一位。﹙次於事業，有時還次於朋友﹚

而男人則受不了女人一天到晚要他證明是愛她的。

★男人在乎關係、女人在乎感覺。

男人追求女人的目的在於『確定關係』，而通常在追求的過程中男人是將女人放在第一位，也會表現出自己最好的一面，以求芳心；但只要關係穩定，追求的活動就會減緩，甚至停止，頓時從高峰跌到谷底。（男人的浪漫始於一見鍾情，止於互訂終身。）

女人願意接受男人的追求，是因為「感覺」很好，而唯有持續好的感覺，女人才可能決定關係。一旦好的感覺不再，關係也就不再了。（女人的忠貞始於互訂終身，止於心灰意冷。）

男人的危機意識來自於「關係」動搖，這是為什麼男人的最忌諱的是女人的背叛「關係」，一旦他認為被戴上綠帽，嫉妒的怒火會讓他失去平日的理智，學歷高低者皆然。

女人的危機意識來自於「地位」降低，這是為什麼女人最在意的是自己不是另一半的「最愛」，一旦她認為有別人比她更值得老公的注意與關心，再文靜的小女人也會有驚人之舉的。(譬如說調製王水)

所以女人只要讓男人面子上掛得住，一切好談；男人只要讓女人感覺窩心，也會既往不咎的。

★男人視婚姻為接受義務、女人視婚姻為讓予權利。

男人決定結婚，意味著從今以後將照顧她一輩子。(但不一定一輩子只照顧她，偶爾也可能會『照顧』別人，因人而異）

女人決定結婚，則意味著將打開心門之鑰只交給那個男人，只接受他的感情。

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The Chef II

2007-05-01T19:48:00.000-07:00

Fresh Fly Lice and left over ghetto chinese for dinner. Yummy.

Invites

2007-05-01T19:44:00.000-07:00

Still struggling with our wedding invitations. Has been laying out there on the couch ever since we started a week ago. Putting together invitation is the most boring task I have ever done....

Morgan Hill in March

2007-04-28T22:45:00.000-07:00

Sunday after a fun filled weekend with our friends from LA and Japan, we resumed our wedding planning work. Checked out a golf course for possible saturday wedding. It was quite a disappointment because the place was very small, and no dance floor. A deal breaker for RP. Before we head back to my place and pack, I decided to take the 'Amigo stomach' to a famous local restaurant called Sinaloa at Morgan Hill. We were an hour early. Since it was supposed to be good, he was willing to wait until they open for lunch. We strolled down the dead main street and found a little cafe where I could get a cup of latte while he played with his gameboy. Read the sunday paper. Turned out to be a very nice little break among our busy schedule, followed by an authentic and delicious mexican meal.

Love and Marriage

2007-04-27T20:06:00.000-07:00

Copied this article from California Sunshine.

結婚是愛情的墳墓，但是不結婚，就死無葬身之地。 (清華大學BBS站上的愛情經典宣言)

每個女人都有兩個版本: 精裝本和平裝本。精裝本是給別人看的，平裝本事給家人和丈夫看的。
婚姻中的丈夫只看到妻子的平裝本和別的女人的精裝本 -- 這就是婚外戀的動機。

男人從不擔心他的未來，直到他找到一個妻子; 女人常常擔心她的未來，直到她找到一個丈夫。 (青年女作家南鶯看男女關係)

在真正幸福的婚姻中，友誼必須與愛情融合在一起。 (法國作家莫洛亞論幸福婚姻)

吃胃能消化的食物，娶自己能養活的女人。 (一個男人長壽的秘訣)

夫妻倆過日子要向一雙筷子: 一是誰也離不開誰; 二是什麼酸甜苦辣都能在一起嚐。
這種筷子只能是經久耐磨的象牙筷，而不是一次性的免洗筷。

男人掏錢是情人關係; 女人掏錢是夫妻關係; 男女搶著掏錢是朋友關係。 (餐廳服務員經驗實錄)

女人面對愛情時比較笨，喜歡被人哄; 而男人示愛則越不顧自尊，越動人。

婚姻不是 1+1=2，而是 0.5+0.5=1
即: 兩個人各削去自己的個性和缺點然後湊合在一起。 (青年作家張宏的婚姻公式)

愛情是一種腦力勞動; 婚姻是一種體力勞動。
愛情彷彿打橋牌，全靠算計; 婚姻彷彿打麻將，全靠運氣。 (愛情和婚姻有本質的不同)

最完美的產品在廣告裡; 最完美的人在悼詞裡;
最完美的愛情在小說裡; 最完美的婚姻在夢境裡。 (人人都希望完美，但這只能追求而不能指望)

令人不能自拔的，除了牙齒還有愛情。 (歌星齊秦愛情感言)

高難度的愛情，是月色、詩歌、三十六萬五千朵玫瑰，加上永恆。
高難度的婚姻，是帳簿、證書、三十六萬五千次爭吵，加上忍耐。
高難度的人生，是以上兩者皆無。 (朱德庸妙言愛情婚姻人生)

在愛情中有人「視死如歸」; 在婚姻中有人「視歸如死」。
相親是經銷; 戀愛是直銷; 徵婚事招標。
人的喜新最多最久只有30天，所以新婚燕爾就叫「蜜月」; 人的忍耐最多只有30天，所以工作已「月薪」為準 (青年作家蔚子如此詮釋婚姻)

過去，我總是要敖到半夜他才離去;
而現在，我總是要敖到半夜他才回家。

Physical

2007-04-27T18:27:00.000-07:00

Had my physical today. Dr. Donovan went through the normal checkup for me. Then she asked if there's anything else. I seriously considered writing everything down before I came. Luckily, I managed to rememeber them all. I told her I have this little problem here, that little problem there... and also...oh and I wonder....and then..., wait, almost forgot the other problem...Then I suddenly realized, the problem I have is generally being referred to as 'getting old'. :-)

Assembly Line workers...

2007-04-25T11:36:00.000-07:00

Got our invites. Our evening job is to assemble them. Outside envolope, inside envolope, response card, tissue on top of invite, registry card, stamps....Children's name should be on the inside envolope below the parents name... Couple living together but not married should be addressed this way... Never use the term "and family"... arrghhhh.

The Chef

2007-04-25T11:30:00.000-07:00

RP took monday off to relax and get over his migrane from saturday. Surprised me with his own cooking. Meatloaf. Took it to lunch next day and the smell attracted ladies compliments. My boss came right behind me sniffing from all the way down the hall, asked what was I eating that smelled so good.....

To top it off, there's green bell pepper, onion in the frig. I was told I will be having Basil chicken. His "Fly Lice" was exceptionally good too. In the meantime, my diet plan is experiencing major set back...

Cafe Cocomo

2007-04-24T01:16:00.000-07:00

Went to cafe cocomo at SF saturday. all salsa dancing. went to Osha Thai noodles afterwards. Parked 4 blocks away. bunch of homeless hanging right there where we parked. RP demanded that we take EVERYTHING with us out of the car. So my purse was extra FAT. We had to walk in the rain, against the chilling wind. thank god the birthday boy Tom made a comment during dinner and said that the walk was worth it. Didn't go to bed until 3am. Next 2 days, RP had a migraine, and my back has been hurting due to wierd sleeping position in the backseat of my civic. It is an obvious sign for him that he's gettin too old to party this late. Hope he learns cuz I ain't doing that anymore. Old folkie like me needs to be in bed by 12am.

tom bday 2007 at cafe cocomo sf

Ni Hao Ma?

2007-04-18T15:41:00.000-07:00

One night around bedtime, he gave me a hug and repeatedly whispered softly into my ear: "how are you", in chinese. After a few seconds of deep thinking, I replied: "Dude, that means 'how are you' , not 'I love you'".

Friends from afar

2007-04-16T22:06:00.000-07:00

John and Seiko visited the US. Allen and Marian drove up from LA to spend time together. We had India in SF friday nite. Saturday, they came to SJ. They played WII while me and RP went to SF again to get our tax done. Played grass volleyball after we got back. Went to China Palace for dinner. It was a fun filled weekend!

Work

2007-04-16T21:45:00.000-07:00

The things I do to myself in preparation for the wedding...

New Look

2007-04-16T20:55:00.000-07:00

Home New Look 2007

Click on picture to go to Album.

Finaly finished the move. Hired chinese movers. A lot cheaper. The two movers turned out to be from China and spoke mandarin. They were pleasant to work with. Spending time figuring out where the furniture goes ahead of time paid off. Had everything fit just right. The movers kept saying We had too much furniture to clutter into one condo. But hey, look at the result! :) Our bedroom is the next nice space but not presentable yet since there are still boxes piled up. Putting away all the little junks will be a challenge. Still has to figure out where to put all the rest of the clothing. Garage will probably be the last place to work on. But since the big move is over, we can sort things away slowly. A major burden off our shoulders.

Another weekend gone before it started

2007-04-09T13:39:00.000-07:00

Made it back to Starlite on friday nite, saw Nin there with his women. hehe. Some things never change. Uncle Dominic stopped by with his ghetto truck to pick up some extra big ass tv's and an old bike. Went to The Palace korean bbq afterwards. That's two weeks in a row for the folks following along at home :-p. Received my psp and spent 5 hours on sunday getting the latest hacked firmware along with some good homebrew running. Pretty slick, need to find some more stuff later. Ended up going to Capitola near santa cruz, ate some horrendously bad thai food in Capitola. You know it's a bad sign when they're basil chicken is in a soup form. Got some ghetto chinese to finish off the weekend, not as spicy as before, seems like we're jaded heh.

Click on picture to go to Album

Capitola

Facts

2007-03-23T08:39:00.001-07:00

Dear Tech Support:

Last year I upgraded from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0. I soon noticed that the new program began unexpected child processing that took up a lot of space and valuable resources.

In addition, Wife 1.0 installed itself into all other programs and now monitors all other system activity. Applications such as Poker Night 10.3, Football 5.0, Hunting and Fishing 7.5, and Racing 3.6.

I can't seem to keep Wife 1.0 in the background while attempting to run my favorite applications. I'm thinking about going back to Girlfriend 7.0, but the uninstall doesn't work on Wife 1.0. Please help!

Thanks,
Troubled User.....

_______________________________________________________________
REPLY:
Dear Troubled User:

This is a very common problem that men complain about.

Many people upgrade from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0, thinking that it is just a Utilities and Entertainment program. Wife 1.0 is an OPERATING SYSTEM and is designed by its Creator to run EVERYTHING!!! It is also impossible to delete Wife 1.0 and to return to Girlfriend 7.0. It is impossible to uninstall, or purge the program files from the system once installed.

You cannot go back to Girlfriend 7.0 because Wife 1.0 is designed to not allow this. Look in your Wife 1.0 manual under Warnings-Alimony/Child Support. I recommend that you keep situation. I suggest installing the background application "Yes Dear" to alleviate software augmentation.

The best course of action is to enter the command C:\APOLOGIZE! because ultimately you will have to give the APOLOGIZE command before the system will return to normal anyway.

Wife 1.0 is a great program, but it tends to be very high maintenance.

Wife 1.0 comes with several support programs, such as Clean and Sweep 3.0, CookIt 1.5 and Do Bills 4.2.

However, be very careful how you use these programs. Improper use will cause the system to launch the program Nag Nag 9.5. Once this happens, the only way to improve the performance of Wife 1.0 is to purchase additional software. I recommend Flowers 2.1 and Diamonds 5.0!

WARNING!!! DO NOT, under any circumstances, install Secretary With Short Skirt 3.3. This application is not supported by Wife 1.0 and will cause irreversible damage to the operating system!

Best of luck,

Tech Support

132.5

2007-03-08T23:28:00.000-08:00

Start going back to the gym today. 30 min steps and 20 min machine stuff. will eat healthy too. see if i can still lose 10 pounds in 2 weeks. :D

My goodness

2007-03-02T14:56:00.000-08:00

I get to be a Mrs. And finally, someone is willing to take Robbie Phou. hehehhehe

Day 5 - Return Home

2007-02-23T18:06:00.002-08:00

Woke up at 6am. No problem at all since we went to bed early the nite before. On the way to the airport, signs said "International Airport" instead of "Orlando International Airport". It caused us to second guess ourselves and feared that we might have been driving to the wrong airport. Thank god we were good. During checkin, realized the travel agent booked our seats next to each other, but on different flights. first flight I was in row 12 and he was in row 17. second flight i was in row 17 and he was in 12. And I was charged for agent fee of $37. :P Good thing we swapped in time. Ended up sitting at the emergency exit. Had extra leg rooms.

Boarded our second flight from Dallas. 2 minutes into the air, a loud noise went off from the engine. Everyone sensed that something was wrong. Then RP noticed the plane was turning back. Shortly after, captain announced one engine being shutdown due to malfunction. We were heading back to DFW. Later our captain explained this rarely happened. After about an hour of waiting, we boarded a different plane from the hanger. And now, we are safely in the air flying home. We can't wait for our ghetto chinese dinner tonite!

Day 5 - Return Home

2007-02-23T18:06:00.001-08:00

Day 4 - Animal Kingdom

2007-02-23T18:05:00.001-08:00

Nothing went wrong this morning, except we didn't wake up until 11am. So much for having a long day. Animal Kingdom is my favorite park out of the 4. My guess it's also RP's. There were animals to look at. First thing we entered was to find food though cuz it was lunch time. Lots of birds dropping surprises though. So we sat somewhere with covers. After lunch, we went right to the Safari. Line was long. No more fast pass available. Waited in line less than an hour. RP was happy b/c he had his gameboy, busy trying to beat his princess game. Safari was worth all the bucks and the wait. Saw lots of animals up close. Lions, Cheetahs, Antilopes, Elephants, Hippos, Giraffes, ... RP figured it would take hours of driving to see some animals if we were in the real safari. :)

Took a walking tour in the Pagani Forest next door where we saw Hippo closer, chimps, monkeys... Then more colorful birds.

Found the tigers in Asia. total 3 of them. After a while, 2 of them started pacing back and forth endlessly in front of their gate to the inside. We thought they were hungry. Someone asked the guide when's their feeding time and it wasn't until dark. But the real reason they were pacing was because they were annoyed by all the noises we made and they wanted to go inside. Their hearings are a lot more sensitive then ours, she explained.

Got my hot chocolate in the afternoon. I learned not to order coffee inside disney. They gave a very very small cup. With the fact that I mainly drink milk when I order my single shot latte, a small cup had too much caffine for me. Something also very strange with people there. The day before when I tried to order Latte, the girl asked me "what is latte?". At the airport, some new employee at seattle's best coffee seemed confused with my request of 'single shot' latte. She kept repeating 'single shot?' and gave both of her co-workers inquisitive looks on my order. hehehe.

In general, food in Disneyworld was pretty bad, and ridiculously expensive. RP told me Allen brought Subway with him when they went. I laughed about it. But after 4 days, I agreed that it was a good idea. Subway would have been better then most of the stuff I ate in the past 4 days in Disneyworld. Even burgers we ordered in Mcdonald's inside wasn't the same because we had to add our own pickles, tomatoes and veggie...The only thing that was more satisfying was the hotdog. But it was $5 each.

Another thing we noticed was that we were the true minority there in Florida. Hardly any asians around.

Watched 2 shows in Animal Kingdom. 'It's tough to be bug' and 'Finding Nemo'. Bug show was 3D and it was pretty interesting. It was a bit too exciting for some younger children. One kid came out crying. Nemo was good. But since it was the 4th day, I was jaded.

Got back to hotel shortly after 7pm. RP was tired of the fast food and he misses Ghetto Chinese desperately. So am I.
Home sweet home here we come....

Day 3 - MGM Studio

2007-02-23T18:04:00.000-08:00

First attraction we went to was Indiana Jones Stunt Show. Since we had some more time, we hit a short radio show recorded by Drew Carey called 'It sounds dangerous'. RP fell asleep in there. The surrounding and seatings seemed old. By the time we got out of there, the line for the Stunt show grew exponentially by the second. Unfortunately, nature call couldn't wait either. After I answered, we ended up in the very far end of the line. Out of bordom, I went up front to take a look, leaving RP being the place holder. A very nice gentleman guard saw me from inside, called me over and asked if I were trying to get in. I told him my honey was waiting in line already. He yelled: "go get him!". I turned and headback towards RP not knowing what he meant by that. But he followed me. hahaha. so I grabbed the confused RP out of the line. Two of us followed the gentleman and marched right into the theatre, passing by all the poor normal park goers. :D Guess that was the spirit for Disney's theme -- 'dreams come true, everything is possible'.

Went to an animation show and the musical Little mermaid. After that, both of us got hungry. RP wanted Lasagna but Mama Melrose Italian didn't have it. They didn't have Spaghetti with Meatballs either. What kind of Italian restuarant was that?! We found the sci-fi drive in. Turned out to be an interesting place. Designed like an outdoor drive-in theatre. Tables were convertibles in the 50s, 60s time frame. We sat at the last row (3 rows to a car). Some host/hostess wore rollerblades. Our waiter Steven happened to be a happy waiter. All cars were facing a big screen playing black and white comercials in the 50s. Lots of sci-fi movie trailers too. In between, they played Tom and Jerry cartoons. But the whole thing repeated itself in about an hour or so. Guess they didn't want people to get comfortable and not leaving. The entire restuarant was extremely quiet comparing to other restaurants, given the amount of children in there. Everyone was busy watching the big screen. I wanted to move up front after the party of 4 in front of us left our car. Steven checked with the hostess but we were turned down b/c they had bunch of 4s coming in. However, towards the end of our meal, they sat 2 seperate parties of 2 in front of us. We didn't complained though. Surprisingly, our waiter noticed and gave us dessert (hot fudge sundae) for free. :-) Nonetheless, that meal for 2 cost around $60.

Around 6pm, we had to gather in the amphitheatre for the show at night. We were adviced to get there early b/c seatings were limited. The entire day was cold. The aluminum bench made it even worse. Freezing my butt off. About 15 min before the show starts, audience started playing waves. Show started at 7pm. There were hologram, water, fire, firework (not enough), and all the disney charactors. The part I enjoyed the most was the fire part because it warmed me up. :P By the time it was over, everyone tried to squeeze out of that one exit. It was freezing. After we got out of the park, drove straight to target to get extra clothing for the next day. Weather man said saturday would be even colder....

Day 2 - Magic Kingdom

2007-02-23T18:03:00.000-08:00

Spent $400 total for entrance fee to Disneyworld. Each ticket per park per day. Total of 4 days. We planned on early start in the morning so that we can make our money worth it. Everyday, we woke up after 10, sometimes 11. Either I couldn't get up or he needed more zzzzz. But it's our vacation afterall. Why beat ourselves up for sleeping in.

The only day we managed to get out around 9am, our car ran out of battery due to ignition unit malfunction. The key wouldn't completely turn off. Had to wait for help. I ran to get breakfast takeout from IHOP right next door from the hotel. My nice breakfast plan was gone. We finished our food in the car. After our roadside rescuer started the battery, the engine wouldn't run because of some security lock feature from Cobalt. Our very nice mechanist 'hacked' it for us by disconnecting the battery completely (So much for the security) while RP tried to contact our rental guys. Some dumb operator connected him to the wrong rental company the first time. After about an hour or two, we finally drove to the nearest Budget for exchange to a different vehicle.

Nothing was easy about this trip. The nearest Budget our GPS told us was gone. We had to find another one. Thankfully, the next one was right outside of Disney. We got a brandnew Cobalt with new car smell. My thick skin also helped me asked for discount due to the inconvenience the cheapy car rental has cost us. She gave us free gas. By the time we got to MGM, it was after 1pm.

Lesson learned: NO Budget! (We weren't the only one though. At Tampa airport, the only line was Budget. Everyone else's counter was empty)

Entered the park in the early afternoon. Went for 'Pirates of the Carribeans', 'Peter Pan's flight...', 'haunted house' long line for everyone of them. Went through tunnels and caves to see special effects and scenaries. Then saw the parade while eating hotdog. Seagals were aggressive, tried to pick up my hotdog flying by while I had it in my hand. RP liked the parade in California better. In general, he liked everything in cali disneyland better. Our last ride was the river cruise. Our guide was funny and charming. Cute tall blonde. and young. kekeke. The funniest guide in Disney we had.

Last show was the firework. Very impressive. Best among the 3 parks that had fireworks shows. Went home after that. Exhausted day.

The Real Valentine

2007-02-23T18:02:00.001-08:00

Feb 13, tuesday evening, finally arrived Raddison at Orlando. After dinner at TGIF, came back to Radisson and settled in. Getting ready to start our disnelyworld vacation. We were watching TV, browsing internet after shower. Both got into our sleepwear - tshirt and underwear. RP spent lots of time trying to copy all his gameboy game into this new memory card he bought. That way, he could play free games. Laptop almost went out of power and it wouldn't charge. Took a while for us to realize the outlet was losen. After some fussing, we managed to get it back up and it was finally my turn to browse.

Passed 12, I vaguely heard RP mentioned "Its valentine's day!!" while I was busy reading Christina's blog. Then he took out a card. AH! my valentine's card. It said that he'd love me whether we were rich or poor. So sweet... Then he popped in this CD. There's a slide show of our pictures from the past year. We've been to lots of places and did lots of things. He had my favorite chinese singer Teresa's Teng's Tien Me Me in the background, it was cute. Later the music changed to Jackie Cheung's Love Letter. I had to tell him, that it was a sad song. hahahah. He had no idea but only knew it sounded good. A few of the pictures were blurry. I commented that he prepared my gift in a hurry. Didn't even check the pictures. He got up and walked away to the safe mumbling there's endless complaints coming from me. I thought he was upset so I demanded that he should come back and watch the slideshow with me. He returned with some socks in his hands. I asked what was he doing with socks at this hour. He didn't answer and told me to focus on the show so I did.

Music was ending and a picture of his messy desktop showed up. Oh my god! You messed up! Why did you have a picture of your desk? Wait a minute, there's another closer shot. There's a cardboard cube among the mess that he wanted me to see....hmmm... ahhhhhh... oooohhhhhh....can it be? can it be? hehehehe. As I turned to him, he revealed the box from underneath his socks. YAY! MY RING! :D

Games of 2007

2007-02-16T20:42:00.000-08:00

I'm tracking games I actually completed in 2006/2007 in this post.

Carcassone (xbox360): Board game converted into xbox live, after you get the hang of it, I can see why it's so popular. Very simple game mechanics, but endless variety. Need to play more to understand strategies involved. More of a relaxing type game. Good stuff, especially for the price (free).

Portal (xbox360): Pretty interesting concept, makes you do alot of thinking on how to solve specific puzzles. Currently on puzzle 15/19. The ending is supposed to be really good, so I'll try to finish it up soon and get back to Halflife 2.

Mass Effect (xbox360): Great graphics and dialogue system, this game will take a while, not sure if I'll have time to get back to it.

Halo 3 (xbox360): Epic campaign, graphics are pretty good, not great like the other stuff that's coming out at this time. Not sure if I'll have time for the multiplayer, but definately worth playing through the single player campaign. Finished on normal, might go back and do some co-op at a higher difficulty level. Some really fun levels.

Super Mario Galaxy (Wii): A good game to switch pace from all the FPS style. Lots of original levels and tons of stuff to find and unlock. 3 Megastars down, 2 to go.

Call of Duty 4 (xbox360): Amazing single player, kinda short, but the ending was awesome. Great gfx and hectic as hell firefights. Finished on easy, going thru again on Veteran. Highly recommended.

Bioshock (xbox360): Great story, graphics, and awesome environment. Ending was a little lame but overall a great game.

Everyday Shooter (ps3): Original dual stick shooter that has a unique feel. Great music and every level is played differently. Need to go back and finish.

Super Stardust HD (ps3): First game on the PS3 that I actually enjoyed and finished, of course it's a downloadable game that was only 10 bucks. Highly recommended, geometry wars meets asteroids with a bit of raiden thrown in.

Lost Planet (xbox360): This game looks great, plays pretty good, made it past the first couple of missions. So far so good.

Final Fantasy 12(ps2): Intro looked interesting, need to find time to play. haha.

Meteos/Disney version(ds): Pretty cool puzzle game, tons of stuff to unlock. More suited for playing at the airport or waiting in line.

God of War (ps2) : probably the best game i've played in a while, pre-ordered the next one due in March. Some frustrating spots, but tons of wow moments. The best ps2 game out there by far. It's basically ninja gaiden without being punishingly difficult. Highly Recommended.

God of War 2 (ps2): sweet follow up to the original, kind of tedious at the end with the puzzles, but it was worth it for the cinamatics and the setup for part 3. This game would make a sweet movie, highly recommended. Finished it on easy, not sure i'll go thru it on a harder mode since I have so much other stuff to play thru heheh.

Gears of War(xbox360) : finished on the easiest setting, hehe, looks great, plays great, kinda short but good stuff while it lasted. Recommended.

Super Princess Peach (DS Lite): Lotsa ppl said good things about it, now I know why, it plays like mario but with tons of different "powers", makes gameplay fun without being frustrating. Made it to the final level, only to find out that I had to rescue ALL of the mushroom dudes in each level. So I basically have to replay a bunch of levels and look for these annoying characters.. How annoying. Still Recommended.

Phoenix Wright (DS Lite): Lawyer game, pretty amusing storylines, finished the first 5 cases, one left, should finish it soon.

Elite Beat Agents (DS Lite): Rhythm game, pretty good, finished everything except the last song which is really annoying.

Legend of Zelda, Twilight Princess: Nice game, only 15hours into it, so this will take awhile to finish.

Puzzle Quest (DS Lite/PSP): Mix bejeweled with RPG elements and you have the most addictive game of the year. The DS lite version has touch controls, but the PSP has nice graphics/effects and way better music. Currently almost at the end with the dslite version using a mage, using a warrior on the psp version. The game is so good, i'll play thru it twice heh.
Highly recommended.

Superbowl Party 2007

2007-02-16T20:39:00.000-08:00

Watched the game, commercials were pretty lame, but nintendo wii kicked ass. Need to get a home since it got pretty loud. Will update with pictures later.

Links to Epcot

2007-02-14T21:30:00.000-08:00

Orlando 2007 Epcot

Photos

Epcot - tommorrow land

2007-02-14T20:36:00.000-08:00

Went to bed pretty late the night before, around 2:30 eastern time, which means we woke up late the next morning. The plan was to make it to Epcot center by 8am to get our moneys worth, we rolled outta our hotel by noon. Of course the shuttle was long gone, so we drove and parked. Got to ride the tram for like 2mins, shortest tram ride ever... The first attraction we hit was the globe thingy at Epcot, turns out it was pretty outdated. hehe. Grabbed a burger and chicken strips for lunch, checked out the test drive attraction, not bad, got a little headache from the car rolling around but made it out without regurgitating the goodz. Walked around the various worlds, including norway, a boat ride that ended with a 5minute film that was way too loud. The china area didn't have any seats inside, and one of the screens was blurry. By that time it was time to go back to "The Land" and go do soaring which is the same ride at California adventure where you fly around famous places in cali, they also shoot different smells at ya. Vivo loved it, it was my 4th time, so it was alrite :-p. She also asked to get pushed along a wheelchair alot, may happen sooner then she thinks :-p. Got really cold after dark, ended up going back to japan area to get food. The line in the fancy schmancy japanese restaurant was super long, so we went el cheapo next door, it was one step below yoshinoya. Took the boat across cuz we were hella tired, and looked for a sweater since we were one short. It was hot in the morning so WE decided to only bring one pullover. We end up getting a grumpy hoodie, by this time it's time to go watch the fireworks show. Stupid ppl wouldn't sit down, so we moved closer. The show was ok, not as cool as disneyland. They just had a globe spinning around in the middle of the lake with different tv images on it. Fireworks went off really close, but afterwards it was a mass exodus to the exits. Head back to our car and thankfully the battery wasn't dead yet. Stupid rental can't turn the key to the off position. what the hell. Originally going to do downtown disney, but our lazy asses called it a day.

Move

2007-01-30T22:58:00.000-08:00

Was watching rerun of Friends. Racheal and Joey went on a date. During dinner, they checked out each other's 'move'. Joey did his "oh i'm a popular movie star" thing to impress his date. Racheal started by asking "where did you grow up". Then moved onto "are you closed to your parents?" These simple questions quickly got the guy to open up. After their date, they showed each other their goodbye kiss move.

All these got me thinking what was our move. Then I realized, his move was to send an email and say: "hey, I was thinking, maybe we can carpool..."

Heros

2007-01-29T20:52:00.000-08:00

NBC show Heros is becoming really annoying. Keeps dragging on and on and on. Cliff hangers are exciting but when there are too many, story becomes complicated, long and boring. Eventually people lose interest waiting for things to happen. I'll give it one more chance tonite...:P

Free Counter

2007-01-29T20:49:00.000-08:00

Ever since I installed the free visitor counter on this site, I realized no one read my blog except for myself. :D

Saturday Nite

2007-01-27T22:39:00.000-08:00

Ever cry with someone? I did today. I hate watching this movie but he wouldn't change the channel.

Anyway, before Jack's body sinks into the deap ocean, Rose says to him: "I won't let go, I promise." (meaning she won't let go of life) ... Oh my god. My throat is tightening up. Eyes getting warm. Suddenly, I turn my head and surprise check on him. Yup. Teary eyes just like mine. We both point and laugh at each other with silly wet eyes. While wrestling to bury his face, he smears the remaining drops on my cheek!

After a while of pointing, laughing, and commercial, movie quickly resumes. Now its Rose with the silver hair. She is walking slowly towards the deck in her lovely white night gown, holding the big blue rock in her palms, ready to put it back into the ocean. Right at this moment, I pull another sudden head-turn. wa hahaha.... Another round of wet-eyed laughing follows. Just like that, saturday slips away quietly.

ps. Had ghetto chinese takeout for dinner. Weekend isn't complete without #39.

Under Construction

2007-01-21T17:04:00.000-08:00

Gloria called from Courtyard. Took a tour at 3. Our number 1 choice is the end unit facing the park, with lots of sunlight coming into the house. We had to wear white hard hat to get into the construction zone. Took a picture outside at the front door. 1900 sqft. But the inside isn't as big as we thought. However, with the location and the layout, we are happy with it. Now we have to wait for Gloria to call back nxt friday and see if we can get it.

2 car garage is spacious. Seems to have enough parking space outside. Crawl space is a little ridiculous. Opening is small, its about 2-3 feet tall. Can't imagine how to move anything around underneath this big of a space crawling... But, again, we are happy with the rest.

Click Here to take a look at floorplan...

Wii Success

2007-01-21T14:27:00.000-08:00

Woke up before the sun came up this morning (ie 7am) . Went to get in line at target to wait for the Wii, showed up around 7:15, 15 ppl in line and a few waiting in a car. After standing in line for around 15mins at target employee came out to hand out tickets, luckily he had 21 or so tickets left, so by the time i got my golden ticket, there were 6 left. Since the store didn't open for another 30mins, ran back to the car to warm back up. By the time 7:50 rolled around, they started letting ppl in early to get their wii's. There were also ppl showing up thinking they could get one, boy were they wrong haha. Picked up Zelda, and stopped by Landess store to see if they had extra controllers, no luck, so i bought the wrong color ink for the printer. 1/2 aint bad. Got back home and vivo was still sleeping, big surprise. Woke her up and filled her in on the details, she ended up making her mii's for 30mins. All in all a productive day.

Warrior vs. Heat

2007-01-15T22:03:00.000-08:00

Went to basketball game friday. Our team lost miserably. Shag didn't play but he was there, in brown suits. Seats were high up. $5 a bottle of pepsi, $6 for garlic frys. spent all the cash we had. cold nite. traffice was aweful around colissum. Rp did a good job explaining though. Something different to do. Had a good time.

Buffet

2006-12-29T16:23:00.000-08:00

We started with a buffet and ended with a buffet. It was one of the most looked forward attraction to us in Vegas. Like buffet because there was a variety of food to choose from. We hit 2. Bellagio and Mandalay Bay. Both of them added lots of asian food. Obviously, there are a lot more asians visiting Vegas nowadays. There was even a Hong Kong TV channel at Bellagio. There was also noodle houses in every hotel. All you can eat Dimsum at our hotel.

After RP took a quick shower, we dragged our exhausted bodies downstairs to once again, get in line, for the buffet...The gravy for the mash potatoes were superb at Bellagio. It surprised us. Ravioli were good at both buffet. I always get a good serving of shrimp cocktail. I had so much of the cocktail sauce that my teeth hurt... RP ate lots of crap legs at Bellagio because they were cut opened for you. Normally he doesn't eat crab because it's too much work... lazy.
The annoying thing with all the buffet in vegas is that there's always a long line. Hostess told us that they served 5000 people that day. They charged $40 per person for the holiday special... $200,000 revenue on 12/24 alone.

RP eating his dessert.

Hit Mandalay Bay buffet on the 27th for lunch. Had to restrict RP on his pepsi intake. The guy had 3 glasses in a row. With all that gas in his belly, wonder how he stored the rest of the food! Lamp chop was very tender and tasty. Mash potatoe not as impressive as the other one. Still lots of asian food. Chinese, Japanese, India, Italian...

I have enough buffet. The best is still the Korean BBQ palace buffet back home. :D

Las Vegas 2006 Pictures

2006-12-29T00:10:00.001-08:00

Click on following picture to go to Album.

LV 2006

things to do and shows to catch next visit...

2006-12-28T23:51:00.000-08:00

We've missed so much. First was the musical Mama Mia at Mandalay Bay, because of the stupid US Airway's cancellation. We lost a whole day, 1/3 of our trip.

Other things I would like to see:
shark reefs - $16
tiger - MGM grand
M&M factory
nabu restuarant. need better planning
jubilee at bally
O show in bellagio.
mama mia

coworker told me the china off to the stree next to TI has expended. A few more blocks away from the strip are all the cheap chinese food. good too.

no more exp. hotels so that we can stay longer and take it slow. :D

Phantom

2006-12-28T23:47:00.000-08:00

firework
fire shoot up we feel the heat.
falling chadelliare?
my favorite scene is the bedroom scene. nice pink and peach color.
conon obrian's brother.
rp thinks phantom old and ugly.
your favorite song.
i love the female singer christine and the fat lady goes into really high pits.
fat lady is probably a better singer in real life.
nice seats.
tall guy came sat infront. rp switched with me.
orchestra underneath the stage in front. pretty cool. we can see the composer? leading.. his is the only head that pops up to see a little of the stage so that he can tell when to start music. drummer is a woman. with tons of drums.

Hotel Room

2006-12-28T23:46:00.000-08:00

Stayed at Bellagio. RP wanted to see the music fountain. >$220 a nite is a bit too high for us. But gotta see the fountain at least once from the room. The budget has became the major factor we stayed only 2 nites for this trip. The fountain was not a let down at all. We sat at the window both nites, enjoying the music from the TV and the sight of the dancing water columns moving along with the music and the light. Filmed the show with my sony camcorder first nite there. Good thing we brought the tripod. (talk about tripod, this is the only time we used it. RP refused to use it at other times cuz no one else did. Peer pressure finds its way to the under-developed minds easily ;-) As usual, RP has totally forgotten about the video as soon as he's done shooting. Video editing is just something he SAYS he does.

My favorite song was in some foreign language. Forgot what it is by now.

Back to our room. Mini bar was extrememly high tech. There was laser. Touch and move anything, you pay. Curtain was controlled electroniclly by a set of buttons next to the bed, and at the entrance. I ran to the window first thing we arrived at nite and attempted to open the curtains. Found it very hard. But I managed to pull it opened by force. Amazing it didn't break.

Lighting was good too. A 400 some sqft room, tons of lights for you to play with. Pillows were enough for a family of 6.

Bathroom was marble. Large and beautiful. Inspired me to have my own marble bathroom in the future. Only thing was that the shower drain stinks. Aweful smell. hotel is still a hotel. Nothing compares to a home.

Xmas day at SJC - by RP

2006-12-28T23:39:00.000-08:00

Woke up bright and early on a xmas morning, woke up to lotsa fog and Joe showed up a few minutes late. I mentioned the fog is gonna cause delays, and he said no way!, i was right again...
Made it to the airport, lotsa lines, had to chuck my water and vivo's face cream cuz it was too big, stupid terrorists and their oversized face creme requirements. Had to wait to get the breathing machine checked for bombs. Made it thru to wait and wait and wait, stupid plane couldn't land so it was sent to Oakland, waited till the fog went away which it did by noon. Plane took off from oakland and was probably shot cuz it had mechanical problems, canceled flight, had to rebook. After 3 more hours, grabbed a shuttle to oakland. Ended up in a cab with some vietnamese couple, funny thing, their first time flying and the flight got canceled, definately their fault. After arriving in oakland, went thru the entire checkin process AGAIN, and breathing machine was checked AGAIN.
waiting in line for everything. Finally made it on the plane and flew to ve...nope, ONTARIO first, then to vegas, nothing easy on this trip. Finally made it to vegas in an hour and had to wait another 30mins for a stupid shuttle, next time we'll be going highclass and getting a cab. Shuttle ends up having tourists from everywhere, some were amazed at the "circular speed bump lane markers" go figure. Made it to the hotel, and waited in line to checkin. By now it was 9pm, had to rush to shower and get into the buffet line. Ate. Watched fountains. Slept.

Waiting in line at the checkin desk at Bellagio...

Xmas Weekend 2006 at Casa de Vivo

2006-12-24T23:02:00.000-08:00

The culmination of a long week came on Saturday. Started the vivo bday celebration on Thursday with Korean, had dinner with vivo's pop and new chick on Friday at Pacific buffet. They spoke chinese alot so didn't really understand what all the yapping was about. Food was alrite, it's pacific buffet, not pacific gourmet... Awoke the next day and ran to get takeout food at DoReMi, Vivo ordered 5 dishes, 2 of which were almost identical, go figure.. The original plan was for Christina and her mom to show up at 4pm, and cook some soup. Ohh, almost forgot, woke up for breakfast and had that nasty ass taiwanese breakfest, not all food is good food... Anyways, by the time we ate at 6pm, I was starving, and even though the two identical dishes were there, i had no choice.. y'know that they say, hunger is the best sauce... true dat. The true sign of not that great food is when the guests compliment your rice cooker... no comment, btw, it was my pick of a rice cooker. :-D. Lotsa chinese talk while i was playing my Nintendo DS, almost finished the lawyer game. After finishing dinner, watched The Banquet, chinese version of Hamlet with some good kung fu thrown in to keep it amusing. Lotsa incest though so viewers beware... So by the time the movie ended it was time to open gifts. Lotsa pictures, so feel free to watch. We opened all the PG-13 stuff while Christina and her mom were still around, saved the good stuff for later. ;-). Got some nice Cologne from Christina, vivo got a custom notebook, hand modified, took lotsa time, etc, etc... Christina got a notebook and a dress, her mom got some fancy schmancy creme and purse. Afterwards, Vivo opened her undies, and i got some titties, stress titties to be precise. Feels good, but kinda cold, not like the real thing ;-). I also got a book to improve the booty dance. Not sure if I have room to improve ;-). I also got a Braun razor, fancy one with a cleaner and stand. Looks really high tech, even cleans itself, and the blue light makes it double techy. Vivo also got yoga pants from me, though she'll only wear black ( i wonder why) and a scrapbook set with some neato tools like a corner maker thingy... And finally i opened a few boxes to get to the long awaited GPS! The Nuvi 360 with bluetooth, very sweeeeeet, although this means there be roadtrips in our future, i can sacrafice for that :-p.
We even went out for a walk to try out the GPS, worked like a charm, came fully charged too. So as the day wound down, vivo took advantage of my good mood and made me go to Santana row the next morning. We ate at Pizza Antica, pretty good food, but not truly buffet level filling, but maybe that's a good thing since vegas is coming up, need to keep the space clear for the real deal... Wandered around SR (Santana Row) for a few hours, and went to the Bookstore, she read some magazines while I tried to beat another game on my Nintendo DS. Afterwards we went home to pack for vegas, she spend like 5 hours trying on different outfits, this is a good thing, since it allowed me to play my xbox360. Need to plan more trips to vegas in the future... Too bad it's too expensive :-D.

Xmas party 2006