Classmates.com is huge but if you are too cheap to pay like I imagine most of us are, you don't find out much about your old classmates except that they're alive, married (or not), their pets, country they live in and political views. But alas, there is always a free, though not quite as popular, alternative. Might I suggest http://graduates.com/ and I was going to suggest kitnetwork.com but dammit it got bought out by reunion.com. Bastards.
On an unrelated note, I have finally found dozens of people with the same sensitivity as I have to red wine. http://www.nobody-knows-anything.com/mtarchives/2003/10/wine_allergies.html
With most reds, my nose gets stuffy, I get abnormally red, my head throbs, and then the asthma hits and if my inhaler is not in my purse I get pretty damn uncomfortable. I get this (namely the asthma symptoms) once in a while with other alcohol especially if I drink on an empty stomach but not the way it hits me with red wine. What works for me is a Reactine (non drowsy allergy med I get in Canada because it's not available here without prescription) an hour before drinking. I've been assured by a doctor acquaintance that that is OK and typically it keeps the symptoms tolerable. Anyone else have weird alcohol allergies? I have friends who either pass out (literally) or black out (ie conscious, standing, talking, but can't see while their eyes are open) from drinking.
4.11.2005
4.09.2005
living vicariously
Simon called twice tonite from LV where he's whooping it up for his friend Dan's stag. First call, he shared that they were invited to come watch the taping of Celebrity Poker in their hotel, the Palms (one of the guys has lost a lot of money on several occasions, hence the free room). That sounded pretty cool. I can't begin to explain how many hours of that show I've had to sit through. I didn't recognize the names of the celebs he listed except one, Wendy Pepper. The middle aged lady whom everyone hated on the reality show Project Runway. Apparently she's lost weight but still looks awful in real life. Phil Gordon and the other host whose name escapes me were also there but their commentary is taped in a back room by the loser's lounge. I'll let Simon share the details when he gets back. His second call was a more exciting one. "I just shook Tony Almeida's hand!!" he exclaimed. Apparently Tony from24 (does anyone really know the guy's real name?) was hanging around the hotel, probably next in line for another taping of Celebrity Poker. Simon said to him, "hey you're Tony from 24!" Despite the popularity of his character, I guess the guy doesn't get much attention on the street. He was apparently visibly excited to be recognized and shook Simon's hand. Simon says he looks a lot younger in real life. He's my favourite character on the show next to Jack and Chloe. I wish I were there. Instead I'm at home doing homework, blogging and watching the Lifetime network.
4.08.2005
APAs aren't notable?
For non-liberal arts/media scholars, cultural hegemony is defined as "the concept that a diverse culture can be ruled or dominated by one group or class, that everyday practices and shared beliefs provide the foundation for complex systems of domination." It's a theory rooted in Marxism and coined by Gramsci. According to Gramsci, the dominance of ruling class values is so engrained in the very institutions of a society that these values, no matter how contorted, become normalized and the dominated peoples are effectively complicit in their own subjugation. The most modern day example for me still is Asian Americans thinking there's nothing wrong with wearing Abercrombie after they put out that line of racist t-shirts and lost a class action suit for not hiring minorities or keeping them safely hidden in back storerooms. Sorry I cant stop blogging about that but I go to a college and every day I see that, it pisses me off to no end. How stupid can you be really?
But I have another example. I was tutoring one of my charming 13 year old students and was reading over his list of important Americans in history. He had to pick one to do a research report on. It was a two page single-spaced freakin list. Mostly white men. There were maybe 5-6 women listed in the "feminist" category and a couple token African Americans (MLK and Malcolm X of course) and Cesar Chavez, the only other non-white guy.
And of course, there was not a single Asian American. How about Fred Korematsu? How about the Asian Americans who dared to take a stand during the many decades of institutionalized and unjustified anti-Asian American racism around the turn of the 20th century? Or some APA scientists?
What does it say to youngsters when our list of "heroes" or "notable people" doesn't include people of their own color when there are numerous untold stories of heroism and bravery? And the fact that this list looks a lot like the lists of notable historical figures I had to choose from in jr. high 15 years ago (ie all white guys) means no one's spoken up to make a change. We've accepted lists like this as "normal." Just like it was normal that there were no Asian characters in the piles upon piles of Sweet Valley High books I read in elementary school. Just like it was normal that all the dolls in the store had white skin, no black, no yellow, no brown. Unless you want to contribute to this ongoing silent subjugation, you as an individual need to do something. The first step is to see that this is not normal or natural or right.
But I have another example. I was tutoring one of my charming 13 year old students and was reading over his list of important Americans in history. He had to pick one to do a research report on. It was a two page single-spaced freakin list. Mostly white men. There were maybe 5-6 women listed in the "feminist" category and a couple token African Americans (MLK and Malcolm X of course) and Cesar Chavez, the only other non-white guy.
And of course, there was not a single Asian American. How about Fred Korematsu? How about the Asian Americans who dared to take a stand during the many decades of institutionalized and unjustified anti-Asian American racism around the turn of the 20th century? Or some APA scientists?
What does it say to youngsters when our list of "heroes" or "notable people" doesn't include people of their own color when there are numerous untold stories of heroism and bravery? And the fact that this list looks a lot like the lists of notable historical figures I had to choose from in jr. high 15 years ago (ie all white guys) means no one's spoken up to make a change. We've accepted lists like this as "normal." Just like it was normal that there were no Asian characters in the piles upon piles of Sweet Valley High books I read in elementary school. Just like it was normal that all the dolls in the store had white skin, no black, no yellow, no brown. Unless you want to contribute to this ongoing silent subjugation, you as an individual need to do something. The first step is to see that this is not normal or natural or right.
4.06.2005
stags and stuff
SF International Film Fest is coming soon, thanks to GuppieLuv for the reminder http://sfiff.org/fest05/ Who wants to catch a film or two? I had some bad luck at the SF Asian American fest because tickets sold out before we could get there because we missed the cut off for online purchases. But I did get to at least catch Cutie Honey when it ran last month. I wish there were a (free) indie film channel. I'd never leave the house.
This weekend Simon is off to Vegas for Dan's stag. (is that a Canadian word cuz apparently Americans don't know what a stagette, aka bachelorette, is?) I'm thinking I'm going to use the time to hibernate at home and catch up on my thesis proposal which so desperately needs my attention. Also got 2 hours and 50 min worth of lecture notes due for my pedagogy class. Crap I have a lot of thinking and writing to do. Need to go out drinking less and do more homework and exercise. Oh and do taxes. Dammit. I need another spring break really badly.
This weekend Simon is off to Vegas for Dan's stag. (is that a Canadian word cuz apparently Americans don't know what a stagette, aka bachelorette, is?) I'm thinking I'm going to use the time to hibernate at home and catch up on my thesis proposal which so desperately needs my attention. Also got 2 hours and 50 min worth of lecture notes due for my pedagogy class. Crap I have a lot of thinking and writing to do. Need to go out drinking less and do more homework and exercise. Oh and do taxes. Dammit. I need another spring break really badly.
4.05.2005
taxes
Just need to vent. I HATE filing taxes. I typically get a refund but it's not incentive enough to want to do them. Just seeing the jargon and grids and questions (yes even in Turbo Tax) makes my head hurt. Honestly, I'd rather do 3 hours of academic research or write a paper than do my taxes. HATE it. I can't believe I know a woman who just completed her Masters in Tax. I'd rather chew off a limb than do that degree.
BTW a tip from my friend Randolph (haven't tried this yet)
BTW a tip from my friend Randolph (haven't tried this yet)
If you go to the IRS site, you can link to turbotax and file for free. It's only free for federal taxes and it only works if you link from the IRS site.To file state taxes for free, go to the California Franchise Board website.You basically take the info you got from the Turbo Tax site and it'll automatically calculate how much you owe
really dumb
Simon says he'll give me $5 to link to his blog again now that he's been blogging regularly and posted Google Ad words on his site, so here it is again --> http://simonma168.blogspot.com
So I did something profoundly stupid tonight. I get really annoyed when there's food stuck on dishes and utensils that go in the dishwasher, especially rice because it sticks to everything and hardens. So before I put the rice scooper thing in the washer I like to eat the rice clean off the scoop before I put it in the wash. Well, not sure if you knew but poor kids in Asia sometimes use a grain of cooked rice as glue to stick paper together. You just smoosh it together, let it dry and voila, cheap glue. It works I tried it when I was little. So anyways, I stuck the whole rice scooper thing in my mouth (I really like rice and really hate wasting food). The rice had kinda half dried and the effect was much like licking a really frozen popsicle. It stuck to my lower lip and stupid me, I pulled it out of my mouth and took some skin with it. Dammit. Last week I got a deep cut in my thumb from eating crab, in Cabo I broke off a disturbingly large chunk of my toenail when I had had a few too many Dos Equis and tripped on a stair on my way to the bathroom in some karaoke bar. Kinda reminds me of my gymnastics days when I'd nail a beam routine and then turn around and trip on a crashmat or walk into a door. It only takes a small lapse in concentration (or a couple drinks) before disaster strikes.
So I did something profoundly stupid tonight. I get really annoyed when there's food stuck on dishes and utensils that go in the dishwasher, especially rice because it sticks to everything and hardens. So before I put the rice scooper thing in the washer I like to eat the rice clean off the scoop before I put it in the wash. Well, not sure if you knew but poor kids in Asia sometimes use a grain of cooked rice as glue to stick paper together. You just smoosh it together, let it dry and voila, cheap glue. It works I tried it when I was little. So anyways, I stuck the whole rice scooper thing in my mouth (I really like rice and really hate wasting food). The rice had kinda half dried and the effect was much like licking a really frozen popsicle. It stuck to my lower lip and stupid me, I pulled it out of my mouth and took some skin with it. Dammit. Last week I got a deep cut in my thumb from eating crab, in Cabo I broke off a disturbingly large chunk of my toenail when I had had a few too many Dos Equis and tripped on a stair on my way to the bathroom in some karaoke bar. Kinda reminds me of my gymnastics days when I'd nail a beam routine and then turn around and trip on a crashmat or walk into a door. It only takes a small lapse in concentration (or a couple drinks) before disaster strikes.
4.04.2005
San Jose
We made a rare trip south to go for drinks on Saturday, all the way down to downtown San Jose. The Sofa Lounge to be exact. The place itself was kinda nice, lots of seating, hardwood floors, some art on the walls and a couple plasmas showing Austin Powers, and later JackAss. Drinks are cheaper than in the city too. But the DJ was trainwrecking left and right and when more people filled the lounge, he made the switch from downtempo to hip hop. blech. We left early to meet up with some late comers but apparently last call happens at quarter past one and you can't get in anyplace. I ended up ducking into a biker bar to use the bathroom. We ended up at La Victoria for some late night Mexican food. The place sells their hot sauce for $6 a bottle so they have a guard at the door making sure no one makes off with the hot sauce provided at the tables. When you walk out to your car, the streets are lined with cops, 5 or more of them standing with hands on their hips, side-by-side. I dunno. It's just weird. I think I'd rather be out for drinks close to home at Stinger. I just wish the place were a bit bigger and in a more happening neighbourhood like downtown Palo Alto or something.
3.31.2005
gym deal $8.25/mo or $14.50/mo!
Finally found a deal worth taking for a gym membership. 24 hour fitness was my old gym but it was DIRTY, overpriced, crowded and some of the aerobics instructors were horrible. Went to Gold's on the weekend because the radio ad claimed that they were having a deal - $29/mo, no enrollment fee. Sounds good. Went in there, the REAL deal is $29 a month for 1st 3 months, $49/mo thereafter, PLUS $49 processing fee. Thanks but no thanks. It was also packed on a sunny Saturday afternoon, I couldn't imagine how many are in there on evenings. Got a direct mail from Foster City Athletic club, $98 per year. I'm thinking this must be bullshit. So I called. The catch is you can't come in Mon/Tues (the busiest days) and you have to buy 2 years in advance (not uncommon).
But c'mon, this works out to $8.25 a month. No extra hidden fees. That's less than a 1-day drop in at the Y or Jewish Community Center. So I went in today to check out the facilities and signed up Simon for the 5 day (no Mon Tues) $98/year deal and got myself the 7 day for $173/year which works out to be $14.50 per month and again no fees, that was the actual cost. So I'm happy. They have pilates, yoga, karate and even samurai classes. They have an aerobics studio, racquetball, basketball, spinning, jacuzzi, sauna and all the regular gym stuff and unlike 24, they have someone cleaning for 3 hours every night plus a fulltime person just for cleaning. They even have lotions and cotton balls and stuff in the locker room. Oh and the average number of people per class is 15. Hooray for not packing up the studio like sardines. Those of you in south bay, they have a sister club in Mountain View, but don't all of you sign up at once or it'll get all busy and I won't like it.
But c'mon, this works out to $8.25 a month. No extra hidden fees. That's less than a 1-day drop in at the Y or Jewish Community Center. So I went in today to check out the facilities and signed up Simon for the 5 day (no Mon Tues) $98/year deal and got myself the 7 day for $173/year which works out to be $14.50 per month and again no fees, that was the actual cost. So I'm happy. They have pilates, yoga, karate and even samurai classes. They have an aerobics studio, racquetball, basketball, spinning, jacuzzi, sauna and all the regular gym stuff and unlike 24, they have someone cleaning for 3 hours every night plus a fulltime person just for cleaning. They even have lotions and cotton balls and stuff in the locker room. Oh and the average number of people per class is 15. Hooray for not packing up the studio like sardines. Those of you in south bay, they have a sister club in Mountain View, but don't all of you sign up at once or it'll get all busy and I won't like it.
3.30.2005
more library drama
Simon moved his stop-and-start blog again. Now it's here http://simonma168.blogspot.com/
So I spent 3 hours in the library today somehow. The one at school this time. I decided it was time to watch a couple old but well known indie docs on Asian American women in the media - Slaying the Dragon by Deborah Gee and Picturing Oriental Girls by Valerie Soe. Did you know the song "I love being a girl" was sung by Nancy Kwan in Flower Drum Song (the first full length film with an all Asian American cast)? Yeah the same one that that god-awful Sarah Jessica Parker sings in the Gap commercial. Anyways, I was sitting there in the Media Access Center watching my films with my headset on when I heard some old lady in a nearby booth exclaim, "did you hear him? He called me a bitch for asking him to be quiet!". Unfortunately we're all sitting in little study carrels so I couldn't just stand up to see what all the racket was all about. I was just writhing with curiosity but poking my head up would totally get me busted for being nosy so I put my headset back on and kept watching my films. I heard the lady get up and leave. A few minutes later some asshole gets on his cell phone and has a loud conversation. Let's keep in mind we're in a fucking library. You know the place where people are quietly reading. I guess I know who the old lady was talking about. My film was almost finished and I wasn't in the mood to throw any shit at the fan today so I just packed up and left. Besides, yelling at someone to create drama is only fun when you have a supportive audience and you don't become equally as disruptive and rude as the person you hope to yell at.
So I spent 3 hours in the library today somehow. The one at school this time. I decided it was time to watch a couple old but well known indie docs on Asian American women in the media - Slaying the Dragon by Deborah Gee and Picturing Oriental Girls by Valerie Soe. Did you know the song "I love being a girl" was sung by Nancy Kwan in Flower Drum Song (the first full length film with an all Asian American cast)? Yeah the same one that that god-awful Sarah Jessica Parker sings in the Gap commercial. Anyways, I was sitting there in the Media Access Center watching my films with my headset on when I heard some old lady in a nearby booth exclaim, "did you hear him? He called me a bitch for asking him to be quiet!". Unfortunately we're all sitting in little study carrels so I couldn't just stand up to see what all the racket was all about. I was just writhing with curiosity but poking my head up would totally get me busted for being nosy so I put my headset back on and kept watching my films. I heard the lady get up and leave. A few minutes later some asshole gets on his cell phone and has a loud conversation. Let's keep in mind we're in a fucking library. You know the place where people are quietly reading. I guess I know who the old lady was talking about. My film was almost finished and I wasn't in the mood to throw any shit at the fan today so I just packed up and left. Besides, yelling at someone to create drama is only fun when you have a supportive audience and you don't become equally as disruptive and rude as the person you hope to yell at.
3.29.2005
Red Rose
Red Rose Tea is a Canadian tea I used to buy at Albertson's here but it's not there anymore and I can't find it anywhere, not Safeway, not Ranch 99, not Longs Drugs. I started my day with this stuff for 15 years. The only reasonably priced alternative is Lipton but it just doesn't measure up. It's light and flavorless. Has anyone seen this stuff anywhere? I've gone about 3 months without it, started drinking coffee and those instant Chinese milk teas more but I can't stand to do this much longer.
3.25.2005
why I'm here etc.
This is in answer to Syndromes's question about why I'm here since Canada sounds really cool, which it is.
- came down here during the .com boom to get rich and advance my career (I did not get rich, but I did further my experience by leaps and bounds but in a career I ultimately abandoned last year)
- thought it would be enriching to get a higher education in a different country and since I study media and western media are largely produced here, it seemed logical to study closer to the source
- I hate extreme weather. I am a weather wimp. All it does is rain in Vancouver and I hate it more than words can describe. Shoveling snow out of driveways also sucks balls. SF peninsula weather cannot be beat and it makes me very happy
- I get bored easily and Vancouver just did not provide the stimulation I needed. Whether it be nightlife, arts, social activism, you name it, it's bigger and more exciting here. San Franciscans have a certain energy that I love. Vancouver is more laid back and smaller in population, perhaps too much so for my liking.
- you can get stuff shipped from online purchases easily here. You have no idea what a pleasure that is
Now I'm going to repost something from Syndromes's blog again
- came down here during the .com boom to get rich and advance my career (I did not get rich, but I did further my experience by leaps and bounds but in a career I ultimately abandoned last year)
- thought it would be enriching to get a higher education in a different country and since I study media and western media are largely produced here, it seemed logical to study closer to the source
- I hate extreme weather. I am a weather wimp. All it does is rain in Vancouver and I hate it more than words can describe. Shoveling snow out of driveways also sucks balls. SF peninsula weather cannot be beat and it makes me very happy
- I get bored easily and Vancouver just did not provide the stimulation I needed. Whether it be nightlife, arts, social activism, you name it, it's bigger and more exciting here. San Franciscans have a certain energy that I love. Vancouver is more laid back and smaller in population, perhaps too much so for my liking.
- you can get stuff shipped from online purchases easily here. You have no idea what a pleasure that is
Now I'm going to repost something from Syndromes's blog again
Click to my comments and
A. First, recommend to me:
1. A movie:
2. A book:
3. A musical artist, song, or album:B. Ask me three questions, no more, no less.
You may ask me anything you want, but I can decline to answer anything which makes me uncomfortable.C. Copy and paste this in your blog.
3.24.2005
spend $$ or get fat
The more I think about it, the more I've come to realize that you can only get the good stuff in this country if you can afford it. State universities are run down, the programs are constantly being cut and the profs all complain about their pathetic wages, while private universities have gorgeous campuses, tonnes of $$ for research, and shopping areas built around them. For your basic HMO medical coverage you get idiot doctors who don't even care to know your name but if you have thousands of dollars burning a hole in your wallet you can get the country's best specialists.
My beef right now is with something much less important, or maybe not. Public recreation facilities. America has an obvious problem with obesity but you can't go anywhere to work out without paying upwards of $40 a month for a gym membership. I cancelled mine because I just don't have that money to spare even for crappy old 24 Hour Fitness. I figured maybe I'd check out the Y or go to a community center gym. Well turns out that the Y costs more than 24 Hour Fitness and there is no such thing as community center gym around here (except for the pricey and private Jewish Community Center). The public community rec centers have some meeting rooms and tennis courts but that's all. My campus gym sucks and is only available for general use certain hours on certain days.There are just no public facilities to work out in. You can really only get a free work out if you live in an apartment with a gym or work someplace with an office gym. Again, all private. You have to be privileged somehow to get access.
Back home nearly every public community rec center had a pool and a decent weight room and charged only about $2-$4 drop in fee. There were probably 5 or 6 such centers within a 10 minute drive of my home in suburbia. Here you can't even get fit unless you can front the money (or go hardcore and run outside a lot). Something is very very wrong with that.
I've checked the parks and rec sites for all the cities up and down the peninsula and found nothin. Anyone got any suggestions?
My beef right now is with something much less important, or maybe not. Public recreation facilities. America has an obvious problem with obesity but you can't go anywhere to work out without paying upwards of $40 a month for a gym membership. I cancelled mine because I just don't have that money to spare even for crappy old 24 Hour Fitness. I figured maybe I'd check out the Y or go to a community center gym. Well turns out that the Y costs more than 24 Hour Fitness and there is no such thing as community center gym around here (except for the pricey and private Jewish Community Center). The public community rec centers have some meeting rooms and tennis courts but that's all. My campus gym sucks and is only available for general use certain hours on certain days.There are just no public facilities to work out in. You can really only get a free work out if you live in an apartment with a gym or work someplace with an office gym. Again, all private. You have to be privileged somehow to get access.
Back home nearly every public community rec center had a pool and a decent weight room and charged only about $2-$4 drop in fee. There were probably 5 or 6 such centers within a 10 minute drive of my home in suburbia. Here you can't even get fit unless you can front the money (or go hardcore and run outside a lot). Something is very very wrong with that.
I've checked the parks and rec sites for all the cities up and down the peninsula and found nothin. Anyone got any suggestions?
3.23.2005
Cabo - Day 4 (scroll for 1-3)
There wasn't really a day 4. Just breakfast and bus out to the airport. One of my last photos was this one of the monitor displaying departing flight times. Unfortunately, it was continuously rebooting and we had to rely on a woman speaking really broken English to announce the flights.
Cabo - Day 3 (scroll for 1-2)
Monday was beach day. We decided to walk to Medano beach along the main strip so we could hit Mi Casa Restaurant for lunch en route. The place was closed so we ate at a tiny local place called Cabo Taco instead. The walk seemed to take forever especially when the sidewalks became dusty dirt roads. But we got there in one piece. There were loads of beach chairs and umbrellas and even 3 beach police toting machine guns. That was odd. There were also vendors, some as young as about 5 years old trying to sell you everything from flutes, to silver jewellry to Chiclets.
beach police with machine guns
determined to take a dip in the water (never made it past my knees until after I was soaked from jet skiing)
We rented a jet ski for a half hour which was fun because it was my first time. We took turns driving but being a passenger scared the hell out of me. I was trying to squeeze the seat with my legs so I wouldn't go flying off and now I'm so sore I can barely walk.
After dinner at Squid Roe we headed to Gigglin Marlin to meet up for drinks with a group of Asian girls from CSU Northridge we met on the snorkeling tour. We found out they were also playing count the Asians but they were up to something like 54.
Gigglin Marlin had some audience participation show that was pretty hilarious. They had guys in a contest being the best Chippendale's dancer. This old guy did a great job. He was pretty eager to take off his clothes.
beach police with machine guns
determined to take a dip in the water (never made it past my knees until after I was soaked from jet skiing)
We rented a jet ski for a half hour which was fun because it was my first time. We took turns driving but being a passenger scared the hell out of me. I was trying to squeeze the seat with my legs so I wouldn't go flying off and now I'm so sore I can barely walk.
After dinner at Squid Roe we headed to Gigglin Marlin to meet up for drinks with a group of Asian girls from CSU Northridge we met on the snorkeling tour. We found out they were also playing count the Asians but they were up to something like 54.
Gigglin Marlin had some audience participation show that was pretty hilarious. They had guys in a contest being the best Chippendale's dancer. This old guy did a great job. He was pretty eager to take off his clothes.
Cabo - Day 2 (scroll down for day 1)
Sunday morning we got up early to head out for our snorkeling cruise which was supposed to be lunch, all you can drink liquor, snorkeling 2 reefs and a mambo lesson. We got the lunch and drinks and snorkeled at one reef (brrrr) where there wasn't much to see in the murky water and no mambo lesson. I'm not sure if it's because the wind slowed us down too much or if most of the people on the cruise were too wasted to do a second reef and dance lesson anyways. Or perhaps it was just another classic rip-off ala Mexico.
getting ready for snorkeling (in what we'd find out were really cold waters)
After we got back we hung out at the hotel pool until the spring break pool party just got too loud and out of hand. It was like trying to take a nap and do some reading in the middle of a freakin' frat party. So we grabbed a shower and headed out for an early lobster dinner at Lorenzillo's where you get to pick your live lobster from a tank.
selecting our lobsters from the tank
my lobster from Lorenzillo Restaurant
We spent the rest of the evening, drinking heavily at various bars. Squid Roe is a hugely popular one. We didn't stay long at any one place because everywhere we went people were getting out of control drunk. We spent the end of the night at Blue Jungle which is a bar outside with some chairs and a couch. $3 for 2 beers or $4 for 2 daquieries or margaritas. Dos Equis was my drink of choice. At that bar something clicked in and I went from sober to smashed in an instant. I was rushing into some karoake bar to use the bathroom when I tripped on a step and damn near fell on my face. I managed to stay on my feet but have a gross cracked toe nail now. I hate drinking injuries.
inside the roofless Squid Roe restaurant/club
getting ready for snorkeling (in what we'd find out were really cold waters)
After we got back we hung out at the hotel pool until the spring break pool party just got too loud and out of hand. It was like trying to take a nap and do some reading in the middle of a freakin' frat party. So we grabbed a shower and headed out for an early lobster dinner at Lorenzillo's where you get to pick your live lobster from a tank.
selecting our lobsters from the tank
my lobster from Lorenzillo Restaurant
We spent the rest of the evening, drinking heavily at various bars. Squid Roe is a hugely popular one. We didn't stay long at any one place because everywhere we went people were getting out of control drunk. We spent the end of the night at Blue Jungle which is a bar outside with some chairs and a couch. $3 for 2 beers or $4 for 2 daquieries or margaritas. Dos Equis was my drink of choice. At that bar something clicked in and I went from sober to smashed in an instant. I was rushing into some karoake bar to use the bathroom when I tripped on a step and damn near fell on my face. I managed to stay on my feet but have a gross cracked toe nail now. I hate drinking injuries.
inside the roofless Squid Roe restaurant/club
3.22.2005
recap of Cabo San Lucas
Day 1 Saturday
We arrived at the airport at San Jose Del Cabo sometime in the early afternoon. United Vacations included a free transfer to the hotel via tour bus but that involved a long ride to a number of different hotels to drop everyone off between San Jose Del Cabo (the "historic" smaller town in Los Cabos) and Cabo San Lucas (the party town where we went). Checked into the Costa Real Los Cabos.
our room at Costa Real
view from our room (that construction back there got really loud in the mornings)
Not nearly as glamourous as the Riu we stayed at in Puerto Vallarta a couple years ago but it was a solid 2 and 1/2 star I guess. The hotel is right in the marina, walking distance to all restaurants and clubs and a short water taxi ride away from the main swimming beach, Medano beach. After setting down our bags and getting into some shorts for the 28 degree C weather we ran (literally like Frogger) across the street to the Shrimp Factory. Got a big shrimp ceviche and avocado stuffed with crab.
avocado stuffed with crab at Shrimp Factory
writing my name on the wall at Shrimp Factory
Then I wrote my name on the wall like all the other customers do. After we finished our lovely seafood snack, Simon and I went for a walk down the main street. The streets were crowded with Spring breakers, ie drunk 18-22 year old white American college kids who all look like they stole their clothes right off an Abercrombie manequin. They were a frighteningly homogenous group. All the girls in cut off denim skirts or short Paris Hilton type skirt and a tank top that showed cleavage, mid-driff or both. Guys in some sort of logo T, shorts and flip flops. And my, was there ever a lot of drunken hootin' and hollerin'. Anyways, we bought tix for a snorkeling tour for $35, marked down from $45 (never take the asking price for anything in Mexico). That was for the next day. Then we headed to a sports book or something to place a bet on a boxing match - Morelos vs. Pacqiao. We decided it'd be cool to go somewhere to watch the match. Simon forgot that the main fight wouldn't come until after we watched the 3 fights before it. Long story short we ended up watching 3 hours of boxing in a run down bar with the locals. Simon's guy, Morelos from Mexico, won by a narrow margin after much blood spewing and we went and collected his $15 winnings. By then it was 10:30pm and we hadn't had dinner. Many kitchens were closed so we ended up eating on a patio at the Roxx. The food wasn't bad and we had a view of all the drunk college kids on the street and the girls enjoying free drinks in the club part of Roxx. After dinner, we decided to make up a game called count the Asians. Apparently Cabo is a hotspot for sorority girls and frat boys from San Diego, Cal Poly and a few from the east coast but it's not a big hit with the Asian kids. That night we counted 5. I was beginning to have flashbacks of my high school days. After a few drinks at various bars, we turned in early to get some rest for the next day's snorkeling tour.
We arrived at the airport at San Jose Del Cabo sometime in the early afternoon. United Vacations included a free transfer to the hotel via tour bus but that involved a long ride to a number of different hotels to drop everyone off between San Jose Del Cabo (the "historic" smaller town in Los Cabos) and Cabo San Lucas (the party town where we went). Checked into the Costa Real Los Cabos.
our room at Costa Real
view from our room (that construction back there got really loud in the mornings)
Not nearly as glamourous as the Riu we stayed at in Puerto Vallarta a couple years ago but it was a solid 2 and 1/2 star I guess. The hotel is right in the marina, walking distance to all restaurants and clubs and a short water taxi ride away from the main swimming beach, Medano beach. After setting down our bags and getting into some shorts for the 28 degree C weather we ran (literally like Frogger) across the street to the Shrimp Factory. Got a big shrimp ceviche and avocado stuffed with crab.
avocado stuffed with crab at Shrimp Factory
writing my name on the wall at Shrimp Factory
Then I wrote my name on the wall like all the other customers do. After we finished our lovely seafood snack, Simon and I went for a walk down the main street. The streets were crowded with Spring breakers, ie drunk 18-22 year old white American college kids who all look like they stole their clothes right off an Abercrombie manequin. They were a frighteningly homogenous group. All the girls in cut off denim skirts or short Paris Hilton type skirt and a tank top that showed cleavage, mid-driff or both. Guys in some sort of logo T, shorts and flip flops. And my, was there ever a lot of drunken hootin' and hollerin'. Anyways, we bought tix for a snorkeling tour for $35, marked down from $45 (never take the asking price for anything in Mexico). That was for the next day. Then we headed to a sports book or something to place a bet on a boxing match - Morelos vs. Pacqiao. We decided it'd be cool to go somewhere to watch the match. Simon forgot that the main fight wouldn't come until after we watched the 3 fights before it. Long story short we ended up watching 3 hours of boxing in a run down bar with the locals. Simon's guy, Morelos from Mexico, won by a narrow margin after much blood spewing and we went and collected his $15 winnings. By then it was 10:30pm and we hadn't had dinner. Many kitchens were closed so we ended up eating on a patio at the Roxx. The food wasn't bad and we had a view of all the drunk college kids on the street and the girls enjoying free drinks in the club part of Roxx. After dinner, we decided to make up a game called count the Asians. Apparently Cabo is a hotspot for sorority girls and frat boys from San Diego, Cal Poly and a few from the east coast but it's not a big hit with the Asian kids. That night we counted 5. I was beginning to have flashbacks of my high school days. After a few drinks at various bars, we turned in early to get some rest for the next day's snorkeling tour.
3.18.2005
my new favourite restaurant
MOCHICA a Peruvian restaurant on Harrison between 5th and 6th where that awful 24 hour restaurant Farralon used to be. Went there for Simon's bday last week. It was a bit of a gamble because I had never been there and there were only 2 reviews on citysearch (I've since added my own). I clicked on the link to go to their website which had some nice Flash thing and some music but the menu was not listed in English (although the icons signifying the type of animal you were ordering was cute), nor did they list their address or phone number.
In my head I was thinking, these people must not have their shit together if they dont post contact info on a web site. But now I'm thinking maybe it was because what they know how to do well is run a restaurant, but I mean REALLY well. We had ceviche, paella and bouillabase. The ceviches were all $15 or under and they are HUGE. My paella which usually runs $25-30 at places like Thirsty Bear was only $17 and it was delicious (though not served in a hot pan). Simon's bouillabase was basically a big bowl of soup and chunks of seafood. Candice's ahi tuna plate was also huge and she said it was really good. We were all so stuffed and happy. When all was said and done we decided to just split the bill evenly. With Simon's portion split up among all of us, appetizers, entrees, many drinks, cake, taxes and 15% tip (table >6), it came to $34 per person. Oh yeah and the service was attentive and everything was just perfect. Can't wait to go back. Be sure to order the Ceviche Mixto to share.
In my head I was thinking, these people must not have their shit together if they dont post contact info on a web site. But now I'm thinking maybe it was because what they know how to do well is run a restaurant, but I mean REALLY well. We had ceviche, paella and bouillabase. The ceviches were all $15 or under and they are HUGE. My paella which usually runs $25-30 at places like Thirsty Bear was only $17 and it was delicious (though not served in a hot pan). Simon's bouillabase was basically a big bowl of soup and chunks of seafood. Candice's ahi tuna plate was also huge and she said it was really good. We were all so stuffed and happy. When all was said and done we decided to just split the bill evenly. With Simon's portion split up among all of us, appetizers, entrees, many drinks, cake, taxes and 15% tip (table >6), it came to $34 per person. Oh yeah and the service was attentive and everything was just perfect. Can't wait to go back. Be sure to order the Ceviche Mixto to share.
3.12.2005
sirens
Man I haven't blogged in a while. Got slammed with a lot of homework and trying to rescue my Toastmasters club from an all time low membership. On top of that planning a stagette, a birthday and our trip to Cabo San Lucas ($443 pp on United.com covers 3 nights hotel, flight and all taxes, deal huh??). Not sure how I always end up with so much on my plate. I can't wait to go to Cabo.
So the weirdest thing happened this week. I was taking my 5 block walk to school from my car when I heard a voice coming from the sky. "This is a test of the public outdoor warning system". I had no idea there were speakers mounted all over the place. I actually couldn't see them but they must be on some lamp posts or something. I guess leftover from the cold war era when the threat of nuclear attack was what kids in school practiced for. After that muffled announcement, these sirens went off. I guess that's what air raid sirens sound like?? I imagined myself standing there in the 1950s hearing the sirens and fearing an attack from the evil communists. What exactly were people supposed to do back then? And if they're testing the system they must still be in use for some future incident. What for exactly? I started thinking about the nuclear meltdown on the show 24. I guess they'd use it to tell people to evacuate or something. But for what other purpose? For the record the system is not very good. I really had to strain to make out what the announcer said. The sirens came through loud and clear though. It was really all kinda eerie.
So the weirdest thing happened this week. I was taking my 5 block walk to school from my car when I heard a voice coming from the sky. "This is a test of the public outdoor warning system". I had no idea there were speakers mounted all over the place. I actually couldn't see them but they must be on some lamp posts or something. I guess leftover from the cold war era when the threat of nuclear attack was what kids in school practiced for. After that muffled announcement, these sirens went off. I guess that's what air raid sirens sound like?? I imagined myself standing there in the 1950s hearing the sirens and fearing an attack from the evil communists. What exactly were people supposed to do back then? And if they're testing the system they must still be in use for some future incident. What for exactly? I started thinking about the nuclear meltdown on the show 24. I guess they'd use it to tell people to evacuate or something. But for what other purpose? For the record the system is not very good. I really had to strain to make out what the announcer said. The sirens came through loud and clear though. It was really all kinda eerie.
3.06.2005
end of the weekend
Sunday nights make me sad. No activities today but we did go for a loooong walk all over Foster City...ie to Albertsons, then to the plaza on Shell, the dog park and back.
Oh yeah, Simon has a blog now even though he used to make fun of me for blogging and reading the blogs of about a million people I don't know. Bandwagon jumper. :)
Let's see how long you keep this up.
Oh yeah, Simon has a blog now even though he used to make fun of me for blogging and reading the blogs of about a million people I don't know. Bandwagon jumper. :)
Let's see how long you keep this up.
no pain no (weight) gain
Simon's new baby (no it was not hot yet)
Turkey before frying
Just no fried food for hamsters
One badass turkey
=====================================
I confirmed my hypothesis. My body does not produce enough bile to digest a meal comprised entirely of fried food. We christened the turkey fryer I got Simon as an early bday gift today. We had deep fried turkey, oysters, fries, and cheesesticks (recipe below). After 2 cheesesticks, 4 oysters and a bit of turkey and fries I was about ready to curl up on the floor in a fetal position. My stomach was killing me. 3 Tums and 1 Prevacid later, I was able to stand up nearly straight and play a couple rounds of poker (3rd place out of 5 on round 1, winner on round 2). I don't know how people in the south eat so much fried food. Quantity-wise I really didn't eat that much but I think I just OD'd on batter and oil and my body said NO. I actually felt a slight bit nauseaus for a while but some hot brown rice green tea really helped that (or maybe it was the Prevacid kicking in). I can see how a diet like this causes people to get fat and die of heart disease. Experiencing pain from eating should be a sign that something isn't right. I definitely prefer my mostly Asian diet of rice, fish, veggies, homemade soup, and small quantities of chicken and beef. People wonder why Asians age well. I am pretty sure it's our diet that makes the difference. Lots of tofu, fish, dark green veggies, soup and tea.
Here's the cheesestick recipe that turned out really well:
- vegetable oil
- 1/2 lb. Gruyère or mozzarella cheese, cut into 21/2 x 1/2 sticks
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
3.04.2005
spring break
Thinking to get out of town this spring break. Cancun has some great deals but that would mean having share the town with a bunch of rowdy, drunk, sex-starved undergrads. In fact I fear all of Mexico's resorts will be overrun by college kids so I'm thinking maybe Hawaii or Costa Rica?
But I'm poor and looking to get away 4-7 days for $500 or less. Yes I know that is pushing it. Does anyone have any links to good cheap travel agencies? I went with www.suntrips.com couple years ago and that was a good deal. Flood me with suggestions!!
But I'm poor and looking to get away 4-7 days for $500 or less. Yes I know that is pushing it. Does anyone have any links to good cheap travel agencies? I went with www.suntrips.com couple years ago and that was a good deal. Flood me with suggestions!!
library drama
How absurd is that huh? But I speak the truth. One night a couple months ago an older lady maybe in her early 60s was at one of the Internet terminals at the Foster City library. Minding her own business, surfing happily away when along came this tall cougar woman (late 40s, wearing tight athletic wear, carrying an animal print handbag that screams LOOK AT ME). Cougar woman marched around the library like it was a night club with fresh young meat, speaking very loudly and drawing much attention to herself. She leaned over the shoulder of each person at the Internet terminals and asked in her loud cougar voice "how long have you been on this? There's a half hour (or whatever the time limit was) limit, you know". When she got to the older lady, the older lady said, "I've only been here 10 minutes, do you mind" (read: stop looking over my shoulder you bitch). There was also something I missed in the conversation because later that evening Couger was at that terminal and older lady was sitting nearby waiting to get on that computer. So that was months ago.
Tonight, the older lady was there again, surfing the net when the cougar lady walked in. Again in her signature skin-tight-look-at-me-I-just-did-pilates athletic wear and animal print bag. This time she also accessorized with a black scarf. Cougar made her rounds again, asking in a very loud voice how long each person had been at his/her terminal. All of a sudden the stars aligned for Cougar and the gentleman next to the older lady got up and left. I could just smell trouble brewin' at this point. They immediately recognized each other. Cougar tossed the chair back to allow for a dramatic entry into her cubicle, but in doing so slammed the chair into the fingers of the older lady who was gripping the armrest of her own chair. Cougar let out what I thought was some sort of giggle and "oops." Older lady stood up and said, "you just slammed that chair into my fingers!". No audible response from Cougar. And then came the tirade from older lady, "you walk around here and do nothing but attract attention to yourself. You are rude and self-important and have a problem and THIS needs to stop now!" Response from Cougar, "no YOU have a problem" and weak response from older lady "No, YOU have a problem." It was an odd scene because you could have taken that script from an elementary school scuffle. The ending was very anti-climatic. Older lady pushed her chair back, grabbed her jacket in a huff and walked away. Everyone in the area stared. If I hadn't been tutoring I think I would've jumped in there to start a brawl just to say I got into my first fist fight at a public library.
I see that Cougar from time to time, walking around in her tight clothes with this disgusting wiggle that suggests to me she believes that there are people checking her (long sagging ass) out constantly. More often than not I hear her loud-piercing-wannabe-New-York-socialite voice long before I actually see her. I think next time I'll chuck an encyclopedia at her head.
Tonight, the older lady was there again, surfing the net when the cougar lady walked in. Again in her signature skin-tight-look-at-me-I-just-did-pilates athletic wear and animal print bag. This time she also accessorized with a black scarf. Cougar made her rounds again, asking in a very loud voice how long each person had been at his/her terminal. All of a sudden the stars aligned for Cougar and the gentleman next to the older lady got up and left. I could just smell trouble brewin' at this point. They immediately recognized each other. Cougar tossed the chair back to allow for a dramatic entry into her cubicle, but in doing so slammed the chair into the fingers of the older lady who was gripping the armrest of her own chair. Cougar let out what I thought was some sort of giggle and "oops." Older lady stood up and said, "you just slammed that chair into my fingers!". No audible response from Cougar. And then came the tirade from older lady, "you walk around here and do nothing but attract attention to yourself. You are rude and self-important and have a problem and THIS needs to stop now!" Response from Cougar, "no YOU have a problem" and weak response from older lady "No, YOU have a problem." It was an odd scene because you could have taken that script from an elementary school scuffle. The ending was very anti-climatic. Older lady pushed her chair back, grabbed her jacket in a huff and walked away. Everyone in the area stared. If I hadn't been tutoring I think I would've jumped in there to start a brawl just to say I got into my first fist fight at a public library.
I see that Cougar from time to time, walking around in her tight clothes with this disgusting wiggle that suggests to me she believes that there are people checking her (long sagging ass) out constantly. More often than not I hear her loud-piercing-wannabe-New-York-socialite voice long before I actually see her. I think next time I'll chuck an encyclopedia at her head.
3.03.2005
more on missile defence
It's past my bedtime and I just finished my homework due tomorrow. I need to catch some zzzs but first have to post this quote from another article about PM Martin's rejection of this missile defence program because it's just so damn funny.
...many Canadians believe the defense shield will never work and applaud their government for not being bullied into joining it.
"The U.S. administration is trying to peddle a system that doesn't work," said Robert Bothwell, a professor at the University of Toronto who specializes in U.S.-Canadian relations. "If Bush and Condoleezza Rice want to stamp their little hoofies, well that's tough."
Little hoofies hahahaha.
3.02.2005
neck breaker
Simon just decided to build this because our last configuration encouraged the hamsters to pee and poo in the tubes. This way there is almost no horizontal tubing on which to go to the bathroom. I don't think he realized he built it to read 18. In any case, you can see that one of the our hams Fatty is making her way down the straight tube and about to break her neck. Snowy is there in the middle of the figure 8. Somehow this doesn't look very safe. A little slip in footing and you plunge to the bottom. I wonder if they make little hamster wheel chairs.
I'm going to have a parapalegic hamster
I'm going to have a parapalegic hamster
3.01.2005
worrying
If there's one major thing I cannot stand about myself is that I cannot focus on today/the present without simultaneously worrying about tomorrow/the future. Even if I'm in a good situation where I should be relatively worry-free and able to focus on the present, I can't help but look into the future for the next thing to worry about and obsess over that. I think these things (combined with my Type A personality) will ultimately add up and cut my life short. Great, another thing to worry about is the consequence of my worrying. I can see now why some people just choose to chonically smoke pot. Maybe some of these potheads, when not baked off their asses, are constantly agitated, stressed out and on the brink of falling apart. Hmm that would make a funny sitcom.
2.28.2005
Bday photos
Some photos from my bday. Willy, Denny, Tine and Eva all have blogs (--> check out the links on the right cuz I'm too lazy to link them for you). Eva, I'm trying to help balance out that crazy photo you posted of yourself with this pretty one :P.
Broadway Prime Peninsula Cut
Denny and Tine matching
Candice, Eva and Tine
Broadway Prime Peninsula Cut
Denny and Tine matching
Candice, Eva and Tine
2.24.2005
Hooray PM Martin
Too busy to update this blog much this week. Piles of homework and assumed the role of President at my Toastmasters club as ours has to prepare to move to the east coast. I kinda knew it'd involve a buttload of work but it's just not making a good combination with all my schoolwork especially now that students are actually coming during my office hours for writing lab. I used to use that time (5 hours a week) to do my own homework but no more. Damn I haven't even uploaded my bday pics yet. This is a record. I usually do it within 24 hours. OK time to make dinner. One thing that brightened my day today is that Canada's PM is not joining in Bush's Missile Defence Program. In this article the author writes:
"U.S. Ambassador Paul Cellucci told reporters he was perplexed over Canada's decision, which he said effectively allows Washington to decide what to do if a missile was headed toward Canada."
Gee, I dunno, but somehow I'm not worried about a missile heading toward Canada. In fact, the idea is freakin' hilarious. Good job PM Martin. I thought he was going to try to remedy Chretien's broken relationship with the US by kissing Bush's ass but I guess not.
"U.S. Ambassador Paul Cellucci told reporters he was perplexed over Canada's decision, which he said effectively allows Washington to decide what to do if a missile was headed toward Canada."
Gee, I dunno, but somehow I'm not worried about a missile heading toward Canada. In fact, the idea is freakin' hilarious. Good job PM Martin. I thought he was going to try to remedy Chretien's broken relationship with the US by kissing Bush's ass but I guess not.
2.20.2005
BPR vs. HPR
So Saturday was my bday dinner at Broadway Prime Rib. This place was supposedly started by a couple of ex-staff/chefs from the famous House of Prime Rib (HPR) in San Francisco. Not sure if this is an urban legend but apparently many years ago HPR sued Broadway Prime for copying them. I did a Google search and could find no such info on this but it's not hard to believe. The menu is almost identical down to the names of the cuts of meats. The smallest cut at BPH is the City Cut, which is called the Peninsula Cut at Broadway Prime (the restaurant is located in the Bay Area's Peninsula in Burlingame). Both offer seconds if you can finish the Select or larger cut. At HPR you can also get thirds but not at Broadway Prime. Other points of comparison:
Size of cut: HPR wins hands down. Broadway Prime has smaller servings but both I found equally tasty and both offer seconds with the medium or large cut.
Salad: I liked Broadway's better because they didn't dump a bottle of MSG into it.
Yorkshire Pudding: Much tastier at Broadway Prime. The HPR one was a bit bland.
Bread: HPR served their sourdough nice and warm and soft. Broadway's was OK but not warm
Cream spinach: HPR wins on this too. The Broadway Prime spinach tasted weird and was not hot enough.
Mashed potatoes: Tie.
Overall, the meat was about the same but you trade good yorkshire pudding for mediocre bread and spinach at Broadway Prime. But you also trade decor(HPR) for convenience (Broadway). In the future, I'd still prefer Broadway Prime because it's close to home, plenty of parking (vs 1/2 hour haul plus 15min+ parking or valet and typically additional 45 min wait with reservations at HPR) and comparable food. In future I'd skip the creamed spinach in favour of the cream corn, get extra yorkshire pudding (that's free) and order the larger select cut (or eat some of Simon's second cut like I did).
To everyone who made it out. Thanks so much for coming, I had a great time. Sorry it was tough to get me hammered after all the food.
Size of cut: HPR wins hands down. Broadway Prime has smaller servings but both I found equally tasty and both offer seconds with the medium or large cut.
Salad: I liked Broadway's better because they didn't dump a bottle of MSG into it.
Yorkshire Pudding: Much tastier at Broadway Prime. The HPR one was a bit bland.
Bread: HPR served their sourdough nice and warm and soft. Broadway's was OK but not warm
Cream spinach: HPR wins on this too. The Broadway Prime spinach tasted weird and was not hot enough.
Mashed potatoes: Tie.
Overall, the meat was about the same but you trade good yorkshire pudding for mediocre bread and spinach at Broadway Prime. But you also trade decor(HPR) for convenience (Broadway). In the future, I'd still prefer Broadway Prime because it's close to home, plenty of parking (vs 1/2 hour haul plus 15min+ parking or valet and typically additional 45 min wait with reservations at HPR) and comparable food. In future I'd skip the creamed spinach in favour of the cream corn, get extra yorkshire pudding (that's free) and order the larger select cut (or eat some of Simon's second cut like I did).
To everyone who made it out. Thanks so much for coming, I had a great time. Sorry it was tough to get me hammered after all the food.
2.19.2005
29 dammit
Birthdays suck after 24 (when you can look forward to renting a car by yourself). Mine came and went and now there's nothing to show for each passing year but a couple pounds gained and some fine lines around the eyes. I am definitely not looking forward to next year's bday that's for sure. I think 23-25 was prime. Young, optimistic, energetic, had some solid work experience and could've really done anything and gone anywhere without feeling like I should focus more on settling down. But with 30 now in the foreseeable distance, my desire to conquer the world has wained. Looking back I wish I had traveled more, particularly after my first lay off in 2001. I really should've picked up at that point and gone somewhere far away for grad school. I wasted too much time only to land a similar job that added plenty to my resume but nothing to my sense of personal satisfaction. But, hey, hindsight is always 20/20. The question now is what to do next. Graduation is not too far off.
2.16.2005
jr. high segregation
This is something I posted on a collaborative site we use for our pedagogy class. It's a memory that resurfaced after another student mentioned that his math teacher had physically separated the "good" math students from the "bad" ones in his high school class:
Something happened in grade 8 that didn't strike me as strange at the time (I wasn't too observant or socially aware). Back then I was one of very very few ethnic minority students in my school (and in my hometown of Coquitlam in general). On the first day of Social Studies, our teacher moved the non-white students such that we sat in a row next to the window and all the white kids occupied the other seats (they didnt get moved around except to move them away from the window). She never explained why she did that and it wasn't until someone noticed and told me that I realized she moved all the ethnic minority kids to that row, including me. Maybe it was so the coloured kids took all the injury from glass breaking in the event of an earthquake. I still can't believe that I was so oblivious to what she was doing. I wish I could go back in time and grill her now.
Is that messed up or what? Does anyone else have any messed up stories like this? I think this among other bad memories really contributed to my current interest in youth and ethnicity.
Something happened in grade 8 that didn't strike me as strange at the time (I wasn't too observant or socially aware). Back then I was one of very very few ethnic minority students in my school (and in my hometown of Coquitlam in general). On the first day of Social Studies, our teacher moved the non-white students such that we sat in a row next to the window and all the white kids occupied the other seats (they didnt get moved around except to move them away from the window). She never explained why she did that and it wasn't until someone noticed and told me that I realized she moved all the ethnic minority kids to that row, including me. Maybe it was so the coloured kids took all the injury from glass breaking in the event of an earthquake. I still can't believe that I was so oblivious to what she was doing. I wish I could go back in time and grill her now.
Is that messed up or what? Does anyone else have any messed up stories like this? I think this among other bad memories really contributed to my current interest in youth and ethnicity.
2.14.2005
bday party ideas
My birthday is coming up this week and Simon's a month from now. Typically I like to plan stuff that's a little more interesting than dinner followed by getting wasted at some club. Last year I did Laser Tag which was fun. I'm not sure what to do next for my own bday but I'll be at a convention in the day so that kills any plans for a daytime activity. For Simon I'm thinking indoor gokarting ($45 for 20 minutes though eeeek), paintballing (also runs about $50)....not sure what else. Fun stuff always costs so damn much. Any ideas? (The only other idea so far is to eat at Hooters and then go to the Lusty Lady peep show and that's just a little nasty. Oh and Great America wont be open yet).
2.13.2005
beading and such
My Saturday was spent first at a Toastmasters officer training session which started at 9am. I realized that I'm am embarrassingly anti social at that hour, particularly on a Saturday. I spent the first half hour avoiding eye contact and not speaking as my voice doesn't find me until I've been up at least an hour and a half or so. Real great way to behave at a meeting for people who like communicating and public speaking. Man I felt like such a loser.
Anyways, the rest of the day I went to a couple beading stores in San Mateo and then one near Stanford with Gigi to see how we can hand make some jewellry to go with the bridesmaid dresses. I have an entirely new respect for people who make jewelry and give them as gifts. First, threading beads and twisting really tiny wires is really tedious difficult work. Secondly, this shit is soooo expensive. Little crystal beads smaller than a pea cost $2.75 EACH! They were selling strands of them treaded on a string for $30 - $300! And if you get help from one of the employees to crimp a wire or something, that's a fee of $6. When fads like jewelry making come into vogue, Americans really know how to cash in by opening fancy schmancy stores in affluent neighbourhoods and charging an arm and a leg for things that should costs pennies. I remember the Trading Post, a store on Granville street next to the theatre near the Underground. They sell anything and everything craft-related dirt cheap, even semi-precious stones and jade. The place is a bit of a mess and the owners speak to each other real loud in Cantonese but I can bet they dont charge $1.50+USD for cheap little things like earring posts and clasps.
Speaking of things being way the hell overpriced here, I went to pick up my Singulair, prescription allergy/asthma medicine (I sucked an entire inhaler dry in a few months with the change in weather and a couple attempts at running outdoors) . They don't make a generic version of it so my copayment was $85 for a pack. I said thanks but no thanks. I think I'd prefer to deal with the closing in of my airways with mind over matter and a puff of my inhaler only when it gets too uncomfortable. Anyone have any alternative/homeopathic medicine suggestions?
BTW, something to keep in mind when looking for a mate. Apparently, opposites might attract but they won't stay happy.
Anyways, the rest of the day I went to a couple beading stores in San Mateo and then one near Stanford with Gigi to see how we can hand make some jewellry to go with the bridesmaid dresses. I have an entirely new respect for people who make jewelry and give them as gifts. First, threading beads and twisting really tiny wires is really tedious difficult work. Secondly, this shit is soooo expensive. Little crystal beads smaller than a pea cost $2.75 EACH! They were selling strands of them treaded on a string for $30 - $300! And if you get help from one of the employees to crimp a wire or something, that's a fee of $6. When fads like jewelry making come into vogue, Americans really know how to cash in by opening fancy schmancy stores in affluent neighbourhoods and charging an arm and a leg for things that should costs pennies. I remember the Trading Post, a store on Granville street next to the theatre near the Underground. They sell anything and everything craft-related dirt cheap, even semi-precious stones and jade. The place is a bit of a mess and the owners speak to each other real loud in Cantonese but I can bet they dont charge $1.50+USD for cheap little things like earring posts and clasps.
Speaking of things being way the hell overpriced here, I went to pick up my Singulair, prescription allergy/asthma medicine (I sucked an entire inhaler dry in a few months with the change in weather and a couple attempts at running outdoors) . They don't make a generic version of it so my copayment was $85 for a pack. I said thanks but no thanks. I think I'd prefer to deal with the closing in of my airways with mind over matter and a puff of my inhaler only when it gets too uncomfortable. Anyone have any alternative/homeopathic medicine suggestions?
BTW, something to keep in mind when looking for a mate. Apparently, opposites might attract but they won't stay happy.
2.11.2005
hemifacial spasms and stuff
Thanks to Shel for the suggestion that some eyelid twitches can be attributed to hemifacial spasms. What are those you ask?
In less disturbing news, Simon's floating head photo was actually used for his passport, it came in the mail today. He actually sent another set of photos where he is not wearing white in case the passport people rejected his bodiless (is that a word?) one. I guess the folks at Canada's passport office thought it'd be funny to make all the airport security people see the floating head pic instead.
What is Hemifacial Spasm?I hope to hell that my eyelid twitch is due to caffeine (though I don't drink much) or something less scary.
Hemifacial spasm is a neuromuscular disorder characterized by frequent involuntary contractions of the muscles on one side of the face. The disorder occurs in both men and women, although it more frequently affects middle-aged or elderly women. The first symptom is usually an intermittent twitching of the eyelid muscle that can lead to forced closure of the eye. The spasm may then gradually spread to involve the muscles of the lower face, which may cause the mouth to be pulled to one side. Eventually the spasms involve all of the muscles on one side of the face almost continuously. The condition may be caused by a facial nerve injury or a tumor, or it may have no apparent cause. Very commonly, hemifacial spasm is caused by a blood vessel pressing on the facial nerve.
In less disturbing news, Simon's floating head photo was actually used for his passport, it came in the mail today. He actually sent another set of photos where he is not wearing white in case the passport people rejected his bodiless (is that a word?) one. I guess the folks at Canada's passport office thought it'd be funny to make all the airport security people see the floating head pic instead.
2.09.2005
twitch
My left eyelid has been twitching and having little uncontrollable spasms since Friday. Some people think that means someone is talking about me. If that is the case that person should've run out of things to say by now. It's been 6 days and it's driving me insane. What is the real cause of muscle spasms? I get them all the time, sometimes in my arm, my leg, my shoulder and on my face. I can actually see my muscle moving involuntarily.
2.08.2005
Testing Hello
Just posting a couple more pics from the Clos Pegase Winery to test the posting of multiple pics using Picasa Hello. Here's the instructions from Christine, who gives awesome instructions:
After you choose to send a picture using Bloggerbot, it prompts you to add a caption to the picture. Add a caption and then add "||" (without the quotes) after the caption and the click on 'Publish'. Keep repeating that until you're done choosing all the pictures. Then, add the last picture and click on publish and it'll send all the queued pictures to that one post.
Thumb Sculpture at Clos Pegase
Make a wish when the thing forms a diamond
After you choose to send a picture using Bloggerbot, it prompts you to add a caption to the picture. Add a caption and then add "||" (without the quotes) after the caption and the click on 'Publish'. Keep repeating that until you're done choosing all the pictures. Then, add the last picture and click on publish and it'll send all the queued pictures to that one post.
Thumb Sculpture at Clos Pegase
Make a wish when the thing forms a diamond
2.07.2005
best and worst college profs
I'm taking a course in college teaching and one of our online discussions involves sharing stories about our best and worst teachers. Here are mine. Let's hear yours!
Best - Dr. Gary Poole, Psych 100, Simon Fraser University
The best and most memorable prof I ever had was Dr. Poole. http://www.batesandpoole.ubc.ca/garyBiography.html
He was my Psych 100 prof back in Fall 1994 at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, BC, Canada. From what I heard, he appointed himself teacher of this 1st year psych course to inspire new students to love learning. His class was held in a huge theatre with a few hundred students, larger than Knuth Hall. The text for the course was heavy and dense but he broke down every principle and theory into simple terms and used humour and personal examples to demonstrate each. To this day, I remember a great deal of what I learned in that course.
He was funny without being offensive, cheesy or over the top. He took examples from situations with his own family and friends. He actively moved around the stage and employed his whole body in his lecture. And he had a full house for every lecture. In fact, I think some students brought friends. The theatre was silent (except for laughs) and every student sat on the edge of his/her seat through the whole 2 hour lecture. On the last day of class, the entire theatre thanked him with a huge standing ovation. It was as if he had said something, or maybe many things, that touched each and every one of us and cast away any doubts we may have had about attending that school. I found out later he is nationally known for being an outstanding instructor, but remains humble and even almost embarrassed with every standing ovation, semester after semester.
Worst - Can't remember his name. Some cranky old bearded asshole who wore cheap tweed suits. Taught CMNS 375 Magazine Publishing, 1999, Simon Fraser University
I don't remember his name but the instructor for my Communications 375 class Magazine Publishing taken around 1999 was by far the worst teacher I've ever encountered.
He was not a faculty member but rather someone who works in the publishing business. My school did this sometimes to get people from "the real world" to teach some of the upper level courses.
He took no interest in the students and used every class to boast about his success in the publishing business. He went on and on about how his business (some small publishing company that focussed on something rather obscure like Canadian Native art) ran its operations. He answered questions with a condescending tone and tended to brush off questions he didnt have an answer to. Everything he talked about related to his own personal success and wisdom. We essentially listened to this grouchy man brag about himself 2 hours at a time for 12 weeks. He made no attempt to do research to broaden the content of the course to stuff he was unfamiliar with and never asked for input on what we wanted to learn.He also reminded us each class not to bother trying to get a job in magazine publishing but it would just lead to an unrewarding life of poverty. He was so ridiculously negative and egotistical I spent more time fantasizing about strangling him than I spent paying attention. Attending the class was torturous and a good many students just didn't show up.
There were only about 50 people in the class but he made no effort to learn anyone's names. Our biggest project was a group proposal and production of the premiere issue of a magazine. He randomly assigned us to groups of 7-10 people (way too large). I had the group from hell. Half of the people were hoping to get away with doing the minimum work possible to pass, a few of us were working full-time, one girl lived 3 hours away and one very incompetent woman with the worst ideas ever wanted to run the whole project. He refused to mediate group problems and conflicts and offered no one-on-one guidance with the project.
I hated him, his lectures, and his assignments so much it stressed me out to attend class. At the end of it all, I learned nothing about magazine publishing.
Best - Dr. Gary Poole, Psych 100, Simon Fraser University
The best and most memorable prof I ever had was Dr. Poole. http://www.batesandpoole.ubc.ca/garyBiography.html
He was my Psych 100 prof back in Fall 1994 at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, BC, Canada. From what I heard, he appointed himself teacher of this 1st year psych course to inspire new students to love learning. His class was held in a huge theatre with a few hundred students, larger than Knuth Hall. The text for the course was heavy and dense but he broke down every principle and theory into simple terms and used humour and personal examples to demonstrate each. To this day, I remember a great deal of what I learned in that course.
He was funny without being offensive, cheesy or over the top. He took examples from situations with his own family and friends. He actively moved around the stage and employed his whole body in his lecture. And he had a full house for every lecture. In fact, I think some students brought friends. The theatre was silent (except for laughs) and every student sat on the edge of his/her seat through the whole 2 hour lecture. On the last day of class, the entire theatre thanked him with a huge standing ovation. It was as if he had said something, or maybe many things, that touched each and every one of us and cast away any doubts we may have had about attending that school. I found out later he is nationally known for being an outstanding instructor, but remains humble and even almost embarrassed with every standing ovation, semester after semester.
Worst - Can't remember his name. Some cranky old bearded asshole who wore cheap tweed suits. Taught CMNS 375 Magazine Publishing, 1999, Simon Fraser University
I don't remember his name but the instructor for my Communications 375 class Magazine Publishing taken around 1999 was by far the worst teacher I've ever encountered.
He was not a faculty member but rather someone who works in the publishing business. My school did this sometimes to get people from "the real world" to teach some of the upper level courses.
He took no interest in the students and used every class to boast about his success in the publishing business. He went on and on about how his business (some small publishing company that focussed on something rather obscure like Canadian Native art) ran its operations. He answered questions with a condescending tone and tended to brush off questions he didnt have an answer to. Everything he talked about related to his own personal success and wisdom. We essentially listened to this grouchy man brag about himself 2 hours at a time for 12 weeks. He made no attempt to do research to broaden the content of the course to stuff he was unfamiliar with and never asked for input on what we wanted to learn.He also reminded us each class not to bother trying to get a job in magazine publishing but it would just lead to an unrewarding life of poverty. He was so ridiculously negative and egotistical I spent more time fantasizing about strangling him than I spent paying attention. Attending the class was torturous and a good many students just didn't show up.
There were only about 50 people in the class but he made no effort to learn anyone's names. Our biggest project was a group proposal and production of the premiere issue of a magazine. He randomly assigned us to groups of 7-10 people (way too large). I had the group from hell. Half of the people were hoping to get away with doing the minimum work possible to pass, a few of us were working full-time, one girl lived 3 hours away and one very incompetent woman with the worst ideas ever wanted to run the whole project. He refused to mediate group problems and conflicts and offered no one-on-one guidance with the project.
I hated him, his lectures, and his assignments so much it stressed me out to attend class. At the end of it all, I learned nothing about magazine publishing.
2.06.2005
wine, geyser, mud
So Saturday we did an early Valentines and went on a daytrip to Calistoga which I planned as a surprise. (Calistoga is the town just north of Napa and east of Sonoma) Here's one of the pics.
Old Faithful
We left home at about 10:45am and got up there in a couple hours. We went first to Clos Pegases which was a really interesting winery because the owner collects a lot of art, both modern and ancient (even stuff from the 1st century). The tour took about half an hour and it was as much a museum and art gallery tour as it was a winery tour. Totally recommend visiting that winery.
After that we headed into Calistoga's downtown for some lunch. The downtown is tiny but really cute. Not quite as nice the St. Helena downtown just south of it. That was much larger and had more upscale shops. Anyways, after stuffing ourselves with fries with truffle oil, carnitas, fish tacos and mushrooms, we headed up to see California's Old Faithful Geyser. I had never seen a geyser before so it was pretty interesting but the attraction is a bit of a dump. The information about the geysers was printed out on plain paper and slipped into one of those plastic title page covers and stapled to a piece of wood. Oh well. I patted myself on the back for having printed out a dollar off coupon from the Internet for a total of $7 admission per person. The coolest part about the attraction was an area where they kept these special goats that faint when they're scared. There's only 500 in the US. They were super cute but I felt bad for them because they had a pretty tiny enclosed area.
baby fainting goat
After hanging out with the goats we headed out to Silver Rose for a rather unimpressive wine tasting and then went back into town for some tea and to kill time. At 5:45pm we headed over to Golden Haven for our mud bath appointment, the surprise I had been saving up all day. I didn't have high expectations because the reviews were rather mixed. Some complained about the noise level, others about the somewhat sketchy neighbourhood, and one fat lady complained that no one was there to help pull her out of the mud. But that was OK because I was armed with another Internet coupon. Instead of paying $74 per person, we were doing the nightowl special (6pm) with coupon for $49. Basically we got a private mud room with a shower, mud trough and jacuzzi. You do 10 minutes suspended in a huge tub of mud, shower off with mineral water, 10 minutes in the mineral water jacuzzi and then 20 minutes wrapped up in a blanket in another room to rest and listen to music. The mud part was a little gross. It's not some nice white clay like the stuff that goes on your face. It's lumpy stinky mud that feels, as Simon describes, like wet lint. But at the end of it all, the mud and hot spring water makes you feel like jello and your skin smooth like a baby's. I think I liked soaking in the spring water more than sitting in the mud but at least I can say I did it.
Old Faithful
We left home at about 10:45am and got up there in a couple hours. We went first to Clos Pegases which was a really interesting winery because the owner collects a lot of art, both modern and ancient (even stuff from the 1st century). The tour took about half an hour and it was as much a museum and art gallery tour as it was a winery tour. Totally recommend visiting that winery.
After that we headed into Calistoga's downtown for some lunch. The downtown is tiny but really cute. Not quite as nice the St. Helena downtown just south of it. That was much larger and had more upscale shops. Anyways, after stuffing ourselves with fries with truffle oil, carnitas, fish tacos and mushrooms, we headed up to see California's Old Faithful Geyser. I had never seen a geyser before so it was pretty interesting but the attraction is a bit of a dump. The information about the geysers was printed out on plain paper and slipped into one of those plastic title page covers and stapled to a piece of wood. Oh well. I patted myself on the back for having printed out a dollar off coupon from the Internet for a total of $7 admission per person. The coolest part about the attraction was an area where they kept these special goats that faint when they're scared. There's only 500 in the US. They were super cute but I felt bad for them because they had a pretty tiny enclosed area.
baby fainting goat
After hanging out with the goats we headed out to Silver Rose for a rather unimpressive wine tasting and then went back into town for some tea and to kill time. At 5:45pm we headed over to Golden Haven for our mud bath appointment, the surprise I had been saving up all day. I didn't have high expectations because the reviews were rather mixed. Some complained about the noise level, others about the somewhat sketchy neighbourhood, and one fat lady complained that no one was there to help pull her out of the mud. But that was OK because I was armed with another Internet coupon. Instead of paying $74 per person, we were doing the nightowl special (6pm) with coupon for $49. Basically we got a private mud room with a shower, mud trough and jacuzzi. You do 10 minutes suspended in a huge tub of mud, shower off with mineral water, 10 minutes in the mineral water jacuzzi and then 20 minutes wrapped up in a blanket in another room to rest and listen to music. The mud part was a little gross. It's not some nice white clay like the stuff that goes on your face. It's lumpy stinky mud that feels, as Simon describes, like wet lint. But at the end of it all, the mud and hot spring water makes you feel like jello and your skin smooth like a baby's. I think I liked soaking in the spring water more than sitting in the mud but at least I can say I did it.
2.01.2005
messy day
The only thing that could've made my day worse would be breaking a body part and going to the hospital. I messed up my school class schedule like no one else can. When I checked the semester class schedule online in December it told me two of my classes were on Wednesdays so I registered. I checked my schedule again 3 weeks ago and worked my tutoring schedule around it. So I go to school today expecting to do some paper work and meet with another student about a conference we're prepping for. While sitting around in the lounge, one of my peers walks in and asks why I missed this morning's class. Apparently I got the day and time mixed up (even though I swear I checked it twice online). I got home and found an email in my inbox from a prof for another class I expected to attend tomorrow that asks why I didn't show up today. So due to some online mess, or possibly my own senility/insanity, I missed the first class for two of my courses. But wait that's not all. I just checked the real schedule and indeed those classes are on Tuesdays but that messes up my tutoring schedule and when I move one kid I have to move 3 so I'm waiting for responses to my requests for schedule changes. %$@#
OK gotta end with some sort of good news. I sold my old Palm IIIxe for $25, my autographed US Gymnastics team print for $26 and the laptop battery I bought actually holds a charge. Hooray for eBay.
OK gotta end with some sort of good news. I sold my old Palm IIIxe for $25, my autographed US Gymnastics team print for $26 and the laptop battery I bought actually holds a charge. Hooray for eBay.
1.31.2005
ready, set, go
So last week I false started and thought classes started on the 26th. Duh. They actually start this week. I did almost everything I wanted to do on my break: go boarding, file stuff, get renter's insurance, reformat my computer, change out the lighting in our room, do scholarship research, read, clean out the storage room, major house cleaning, dump stuff at goodwill and edit some video. Sounds really lame but getting that long list of stuff done was a huge relief. Now I'm almost ready for the next wave of school hell - my last semester of course work which includes Pedagogy, Research Methods and Thesis Proposal. On top of that, instructing the department's writing lab and doing Toastmasters. I have a feeling all the other fun volunteer stuff like the SF Int'l Asian American Film Fest are going to have to rest this year. I think I might've bitten off more than I can chew but I don't have a choice as my visa requires I register for a certain number of courses. I'm poor and busy - my life for many years yet to come.
1.26.2005
buy this please
Not sure if you can view this link or what but I need to sell this and I hope to hell for more than $5. It's a print autographed by most of the US Olympic women's gymnastics team including Carly Patterson and Courtney Kupets. Jason also signed it.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=5158916473&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=5158916473&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT
Hot 97 Miss Jones show suspended!
Yup Tedman is right. The details are at http://www.hiphopmusic.com/. Show is suspended indefinitely. Sprint and McDonalds pulled advertising though the official statement of the former was a little weak. Jackson Hewitt Tax Service also pulled their ads and probably had the strongest statement. Scroll to the second post on that site to see it. What pisses me off still is that, according to the web site, those who called in to support the show were allowed to speak while those who called to denounce it were screened out. Of course that is to be expected and it's not hard to get around that but thousands of listeners I'm sure are getting the false impression that most people still want the show back. It'll be really really interesting to see what happens next. I just hope Miss Info isn't out of a job for putting up a fight with that bitch Miss Jones who verbally attacked her and accused her of thinking she's superior becase she's Asian. That exchange of words was in itself something to protest. I'm also disappointed to see the FCC taking such a long time to come up with a response to all this. Janet flashes a nipple and they're all over that. These imbeciles blast out racial epithets and ridicule the victims of a tragedy 150x the scale of 9/11 in terms of body count and they're still sitting around shuffling paper and asking each other what they should do. Just pathetic.
Jin vs. Miss Jones
Check out rapper Jin's response to Hot 97/Miss Jones's "Tsunami Song". Damn this guy thinks fast huh?
http://www.alljin.com/forum/showthread.php?p=12422
I typically can't listen to hip hop, I guess mainstream hip hop to be more specific. I don't know if it's the cussing, misogyny, violence, all the talk about money and material things or a combination of the above. But I have to admit there are artists out there, like Jin, who really do use hip hop to convey a message and a positive and meaningful one at that. It's kinda refreshing to hear stuff like that. But when I turn on the radio and get to a hip hop station, that's just not what I tend to hear. I guess once artists hit the big time, important messages get lost and all that matters is appealing to rebellious teenagers (with an allowance to spend) in order to get more airtime.
http://www.alljin.com/forum/showthread.php?p=12422
I typically can't listen to hip hop, I guess mainstream hip hop to be more specific. I don't know if it's the cussing, misogyny, violence, all the talk about money and material things or a combination of the above. But I have to admit there are artists out there, like Jin, who really do use hip hop to convey a message and a positive and meaningful one at that. It's kinda refreshing to hear stuff like that. But when I turn on the radio and get to a hip hop station, that's just not what I tend to hear. I guess once artists hit the big time, important messages get lost and all that matters is appealing to rebellious teenagers (with an allowance to spend) in order to get more airtime.
1.25.2005
Spas
Did some spa research in preparation for a friend's stagette in SF. Just pasting to share the info and see if I can paste a table and make it look decent.
| Nob Hill | Intl Orange | Refresh | Spa Radiance | |
| Location | 1075 California | 2044 Fillmore | 1130 Post | 3061 Fillmore |
| Tel | 345-2888 | 563-5000 | 563-2316 | 346-6281 |
| massage 25min | $60-65 | |||
| massage 45min | $75 | $95 | ||
| massage 50min | $110-$120 | $80-115 | $85 | |
| massage 60min | $95 | $100/105/110 | ||
| massage 75min | $135 | |||
| massage 80min | $155-$165 | $110-115 | ||
| massage 90 min | $130-145 | |||
| wraps | none | $90-95 | none | |
| scrub 25min | $65 | |||
| scrub 50min | $110 | |||
| scrub 60min | $135 | |||
| scrub 75min | $135 | |||
| facials | $115-165 | $85-110 | $80-110 | $100/125/135+ |
| manicures | $33 | $35 | $25 | |
| pedicures | $45 | $60 | $45 | |
| facilities and deals | pool, deck, steamroom, sauna, jacuzzi, | shower, steam and enjoy our redwood sundeck, fireplace lounge and some gourmet food and tea | sauna and steam rooms, or relax with a special blend of tea; wet room wraps | customized services, 3rd generation estheticians |
| Pros | pool, deck, steamroom, sauna, jacuzzi, good reviews | good reviews; free yoga 4:30-6 w/ 2 treatments | clean, looks good, can bring own food and refreshments ** facial, massage, manicure $160 - 2hrs gratuities included in pkgs | Good reviews |
| Cons | sometimes busy esp saturdays by the pool, expensive, unpersonal indifferent service, tough parking $20/hr | rushed, disinterested staff, lounge is tiny; no pool | customer service issues, cookie cutter?; no pool | nowhere private to rest between sessions; no pool or steam |
| CALL | Max 7 massages and 2 facials at once, ~10 services per hour; Sat is busiest | >5 people best book private $2K for 7 treatments. 2hours private time. Else book individually for <5;> | 6 massages, 4 facials and 3 nail techs at once, 10 rooms total, relax area in locker room and by water bar, no private booking | 2-3 massages and 5 facials @once, book 1-2 months ahead, no pool or steam |
1.24.2005
disgusting
So there are something like 150,000 people dead, thousands of children orphaned and even more people left homeless as a result of the tsunami. Whole towns have been swept away, people are injured, diseased and starving and aid workers can hardly keep up with the need for help.
And one morning radio show in NYC, Hot 97 hosted by Miss Jones, decided to "make light of the situation" by airing a song with lyrics like:
"And all at once, you can hear the screaming chinks.
And no one was saved from the wave.
There were Africans drowning, little Chinamen swept away.
You can hear God laughing, 'Swim you bitches swim.'"
[Chorus]
"So now you're screwed. It's the tsunami,
You better run and kiss your ass away. Go find your mommy.
I just saw her float by, a tree went through her head.
And now your children will be sold. Child slavery."
Listen to it now
When an Asian American co-host, Miss Info, said on the air that she couldn't support or get involved in the production of that piece, Miss Jones who is African American went off on a tirade about how she (Miss Info) is always separating herself from the rest of the crew because she is Asian and thinks she is superior. Miss Info couldn't even get a word in edgewise. Listen to the clip of the argument. In it, you might hear another host, Todd Lynn say "I'm going to start shooting Asians."
More info at http://www.asianmediawatch.net/missjones/update2.html
The station issued an apology on its website, but not on the air. The hosts donated a week's pay to tsunami relief (probably their slap on the wrist at the advice of their PR manager) but have not made on-air apologies.
If this pisses you off (and frankly I'd be pissed off if it didn't piss you off) write directly to the station and to the FCC.
Hot 97 WQHT-FM
395 Hudson Street, 7th Floor
New York, NY 10014
Phone: 212-229-9797
Fax: 212-929-8559
E-mail: hot97@hot97.com
E-mail: morningshow@hot97.com
Barry Mayo, General Manager, Hot 97 WQHT-FM
John Dimick, Program Director, Hot 97 WQHT-FM
Emmis Communications
One Emmis Plaza
40 Monument Circle, Suite 700
Indianapolis, IN 46204
Phone: 317-266-0100
Fax: 317-631-3750
E-mail: IR@emmis.com
Jeffrey H Smulyan, Chairman and CEO, Emmis Communications
Federal Communications Commission
Enforcement Bureau, Investigations and Hearings Division
445 12th Street, SW
Washington, D.C. 20554
Phone: 1-888-CALL-FCC
E-mail: fccinfo@fcc.gov
Web: www.fcc.gov/parents/content.html
And one morning radio show in NYC, Hot 97 hosted by Miss Jones, decided to "make light of the situation" by airing a song with lyrics like:
"And all at once, you can hear the screaming chinks.
And no one was saved from the wave.
There were Africans drowning, little Chinamen swept away.
You can hear God laughing, 'Swim you bitches swim.'"
[Chorus]
"So now you're screwed. It's the tsunami,
You better run and kiss your ass away. Go find your mommy.
I just saw her float by, a tree went through her head.
And now your children will be sold. Child slavery."
Listen to it now
When an Asian American co-host, Miss Info, said on the air that she couldn't support or get involved in the production of that piece, Miss Jones who is African American went off on a tirade about how she (Miss Info) is always separating herself from the rest of the crew because she is Asian and thinks she is superior. Miss Info couldn't even get a word in edgewise. Listen to the clip of the argument. In it, you might hear another host, Todd Lynn say "I'm going to start shooting Asians."
More info at http://www.asianmediawatch.net/missjones/update2.html
The station issued an apology on its website, but not on the air. The hosts donated a week's pay to tsunami relief (probably their slap on the wrist at the advice of their PR manager) but have not made on-air apologies.
If this pisses you off (and frankly I'd be pissed off if it didn't piss you off) write directly to the station and to the FCC.
Hot 97 WQHT-FM
395 Hudson Street, 7th Floor
New York, NY 10014
Phone: 212-229-9797
Fax: 212-929-8559
E-mail: hot97@hot97.com
E-mail: morningshow@hot97.com
Barry Mayo, General Manager, Hot 97 WQHT-FM
John Dimick, Program Director, Hot 97 WQHT-FM
Emmis Communications
One Emmis Plaza
40 Monument Circle, Suite 700
Indianapolis, IN 46204
Phone: 317-266-0100
Fax: 317-631-3750
E-mail: IR@emmis.com
Jeffrey H Smulyan, Chairman and CEO, Emmis Communications
Federal Communications Commission
Enforcement Bureau, Investigations and Hearings Division
445 12th Street, SW
Washington, D.C. 20554
Phone: 1-888-CALL-FCC
E-mail: fccinfo@fcc.gov
Web: www.fcc.gov/parents/content.html
1.20.2005
launchcast
A while back Yahoo upgraded its instant messenger to include what they call LaunchCast radio. I found it really cool. You could customize the "my radio station" with your preferences and as it played songs, you could rank them or rank the artist or album so that it knows next time whether play it again. So I put in some preferences - house, progressive, 80s, pop, some folksy and alternative stuff. If something comes on that you don't like you can rank the song "never play again" and then hit the skip button. Here's the thing though. You get a limited number of song skips unless you pay for LaunchCast PLUS. Ah, always a catch. For a while I found the thing pretty much played stuff I liked. But recently it's been pumping out everything I hate - rap, really horrible recent hip hop garbage and, for the love of whatever god is out there, country. Guess their goal for the new year was to increase sales of LaunchCast PLUS. Those bastards.
1.19.2005
media, ethnicity and poker?
Here's an interesting topic and written about by a Canadian Poker player Daniel Negreanu whom I only sorta like. He's a bit cocky. But I gotta give it to him for bringing the issue of media coverage of Asian poker players to light even though I think he meant to say Canada is a mosaic rather than a melting pot as the latter infers that people forego their culture to blend in. Also to say racism was a non-issue would be overly dismissive. Anyways, it is a good read.
Thanks to Blue Hoodie for this link originally posted on his blog.
http://www.cardplayer.com/poker_magazine/archives/showarticle.php?a_id=14465&m_id=65553
hmm this would've made for a nice thesis topic.
Thanks to Blue Hoodie for this link originally posted on his blog.
http://www.cardplayer.com/poker_magazine/archives/showarticle.php?a_id=14465&m_id=65553
hmm this would've made for a nice thesis topic.
1.18.2005
deadly weapon?
Sorry it's been a while since my last post. I got all caught up with stuff like getting an oil change, tire rotation, buying texts, getting my car jumpstarted after the battery died, and doing bridesmaid duties. So Friday night we had a chance to go out. I was the DD so I have a pretty clear memory of an interesting turn of events that took place before we even stepped into the club. We headed to Mixed Elements at Element Lounge on Geary @ Polk. Typically my favorite Bay Area party with good house and progressive music and friendly mixed crowd in the late 20s to 30s range. But that night we had quite an anomoly. As we got to the cashier I saw that she was having an argument with some drunk lady which went like this:
cashier: You have to pay $10 cover
drunk lady: I'm invited. I know people here.
cashier: If you know people, you'd be on the list. You are holding a drink. You can't just walk in here and have a drink and not pay cover. (someone by the bar I assume had bought and handed her a drink)
(dirty looks are exchanged)
What came next completely caught me off guard. The drunk lady wound up and threw her drink, which was contained in a REALLY heavy bottomed Maker's Mark glass, at the cashier's face from about 3' away. And damn she had good aim. It smacked her right on the cheek and the drink splashed all over her, and all over me. Then somehow the drunk lady landed in a heap at my feet. It happened so fast I didn't know what to do. I figured the bouncer at the door would just grab her. The thought also crossed my mind that if I hung onto her hair or swung a punch at her myself (just for the hell of it) she might just reach up and deck me one too (and she's already proven her strength and aim). Since we hadn't even started our night and the boys were thirsty I made the split second decision to do absolutely nothing. Next thing you know, the lady gets up and bolts out the door with the bouncer running after her.
I went to chat with the girls who took her place at the end of the night. They claim the bouncer intentionally made a half assed effort at chasing her down because she really did know some of the club staff. So effectively he was allowing her to get away. So that was our Friday night adventure. The rest of the night was great save for James' breathalyzer breaking down. Excellent music great crowd.
cashier: You have to pay $10 cover
drunk lady: I'm invited. I know people here.
cashier: If you know people, you'd be on the list. You are holding a drink. You can't just walk in here and have a drink and not pay cover. (someone by the bar I assume had bought and handed her a drink)
(dirty looks are exchanged)
What came next completely caught me off guard. The drunk lady wound up and threw her drink, which was contained in a REALLY heavy bottomed Maker's Mark glass, at the cashier's face from about 3' away. And damn she had good aim. It smacked her right on the cheek and the drink splashed all over her, and all over me. Then somehow the drunk lady landed in a heap at my feet. It happened so fast I didn't know what to do. I figured the bouncer at the door would just grab her. The thought also crossed my mind that if I hung onto her hair or swung a punch at her myself (just for the hell of it) she might just reach up and deck me one too (and she's already proven her strength and aim). Since we hadn't even started our night and the boys were thirsty I made the split second decision to do absolutely nothing. Next thing you know, the lady gets up and bolts out the door with the bouncer running after her.
I went to chat with the girls who took her place at the end of the night. They claim the bouncer intentionally made a half assed effort at chasing her down because she really did know some of the club staff. So effectively he was allowing her to get away. So that was our Friday night adventure. The rest of the night was great save for James' breathalyzer breaking down. Excellent music great crowd.
1.13.2005
wearing white
2 days ago, Simon learned why it's important not to wear white when you go to get your passport photos taken. I laughed until I started wheezing when I saw this. And then so did Eva when she had to sign it. Other tips: let them know if you're getting it done for a Canadian passport as the photo has to be cut to size; don't smile (or the photo might get rejected); don't forget to have a doctor friend endorse one of them.
passport photo
passport photo
lost disk
I recently inherited a Sony Clie SJ30. Unfortunately the software that came with it is missing. No big deal I said to myself. You can always find this kinda stuff online just like drivers and what not. I was so wrong. You have to pay if you want any of the Intellisync software that originally came with the device.
With my IT ego larger than usual after just having installed W2K on a mean old computer I think to myself, I'll just search those geek forums. There is a workaround for everything. The solution I discover seems to be to just install the basic Palm Desktop. So I do that. Reboot, restart Outlook and look for that little hotsynch logo but it's not there. Back to the PalmOne web site. It reads:
With my IT ego larger than usual after just having installed W2K on a mean old computer I think to myself, I'll just search those geek forums. There is a workaround for everything. The solution I discover seems to be to just install the basic Palm Desktop. So I do that. Reboot, restart Outlook and look for that little hotsynch logo but it's not there. Back to the PalmOne web site. It reads:
The version of Palm Desktop that you can download from our website may not include conduits for synchronizing with Microsoft Outlook. These conduits are available on the CD that came with your handheld.You bastards, why isn't it on the version you can download? If I'm downloading I obviously dont have the f*cking CD that came with my handheld.
1.12.2005
finally some Apple jokes
I was starting to believe that everyone on my campus, including students and faculty, has an iPod and ibook. I can't go a day without someone in my department singing the praises of Apple products. Despite the fact that I was an iPod billboard for Halloween, I've never owned anything made by Apple and probably will never be able to afford such a product (or just have the sense not to be ripped off). In fact I'm completely Mac illiterate as my peers in the grad lounge can attest. But I have to give it to these Apple folks for digging themselves out of a marketing hole to suddenly become the arbiters of all that is cool. They really hired some stellar product marketing people, coughed up some big bucks and teamed up with some clever advertising folks. Take for instance the iPod. It is big, heavy and very expensive compared to similar products (but their ads are brilliant). Now the iPod Shuffle? Isn't that basically one of those little jump drives with a play button and a plug for headphones? It's marketed as some sort of iPod lite, but really it's so stripped of features it's barely an mp3 player anymore. They named it Shuffle because (I couldn't believe my eyes), it has no screen. And those geniuses built their marketing of the product entirely around something it lacks.
That said, I still want this free iPod Mini because I'm Chinese and I like getting things free.
Here's some sarcastic commentary on the whole Apple craze. (you'll have to mouse around til you get the expand to original size button to read the gifs).
http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/images/iProduct.gif
http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/portable-media/ipod/index.php#howto-hack-ipod-into-ipod-shuffle-029509
That said, I still want this free iPod Mini because I'm Chinese and I like getting things free.
Here's some sarcastic commentary on the whole Apple craze. (you'll have to mouse around til you get the expand to original size button to read the gifs).
http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/images/iProduct.gif
http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/portable-media/ipod/index.php#howto-hack-ipod-into-ipod-shuffle-029509
1.11.2005
stuff for sale
I cannot believe I discovered 2 microwave ovens in our storage closet. Obviously it was in need of a thorough re-organization. Got some stuff for sale now. Hopefully the sale of these things covers the cost of my textbooks:
So ugly it hurts Alcatel ADSL Modem - free
http://www.craigslist.org/pen/zip/55267389.html
office chair - $30
http://www.craigslist.org/pen/fur/55262853.html
microwave - $30
http://www.craigslist.org/pen/hsh/55168628.html
hamster ball with docking station, wheel and playpen - $5/free/$15
http://www.craigslist.org/pen/for/55145060.html
So ugly it hurts Alcatel ADSL Modem - free
http://www.craigslist.org/pen/zip/55267389.html
office chair - $30
http://www.craigslist.org/pen/fur/55262853.html
microwave - $30
http://www.craigslist.org/pen/hsh/55168628.html
hamster ball with docking station, wheel and playpen - $5/free/$15
http://www.craigslist.org/pen/for/55145060.html
1.10.2005
I'm back
My last 3 or 4 days in Vancouver were relatively uneventful. Mother Nature decided that, rather than give me the gift of snow before my arrival so I could hit the slopes, the snow would come down in heaps a few days before my departure. And it came down not just on the mountain, but on my street and in my driveway leaving me stranded at home like I was for NYE last year. The suburb I live in has a whopping 9 snowplows/salt trucks which means that the hilly side streets I need to maneuver typically don't get cleared and I have to wait for it to melt away on its own.
But hey that's OK, because I ended up spending a total of 19 hours reformatting my parent's computer. I would liken the whole experience to running a marathon while suffering from asthma, inner ear infection, diarrhea and two broken ankles. Everything that could go wrong did. The ancient computer wouldnt boot up from the disc (yes I reset it to start from my CD drive in the bios) which meant making floppies, one of which ended up not working so I had to make the boot discs twice. After the OS install, my video card, sound card and NIC were not recognized. Luckily, per Tiger's advice, I had already downloaded the NIC driver before reformatting. It would have been game over for me if I hadn't done that. Next came the windows updates. Keep in mind that since my video card wasn't working everything on my screen looked like some abstract artwork. I had 44 updates (ie patches, service packs and what not) to download and install. For whatever reason, I could do only about 2 -3 at a time else the download or install would time out and I'd have to start over. That took up the bulk of my time. Meanwhile I discovered that dragging and dropping and moving windows around wasn't possible. But I kept at it. Download, install, reboot, repeat. On day two some small miracle happened. Everything looked normal again and there was sound. After I completed almost all of the updates, drag and drop began to work too. And then it was over. I went ahead and did all the easy stuff (re-installing the software) and then spent a few hours re-organizing the mess of files all stashed in one directory. I think I deserve some sort of trophy for all that.
Now it's time to reformat my own computer. But first I must tackle cleaning out our storage closet.
But hey that's OK, because I ended up spending a total of 19 hours reformatting my parent's computer. I would liken the whole experience to running a marathon while suffering from asthma, inner ear infection, diarrhea and two broken ankles. Everything that could go wrong did. The ancient computer wouldnt boot up from the disc (yes I reset it to start from my CD drive in the bios) which meant making floppies, one of which ended up not working so I had to make the boot discs twice. After the OS install, my video card, sound card and NIC were not recognized. Luckily, per Tiger's advice, I had already downloaded the NIC driver before reformatting. It would have been game over for me if I hadn't done that. Next came the windows updates. Keep in mind that since my video card wasn't working everything on my screen looked like some abstract artwork. I had 44 updates (ie patches, service packs and what not) to download and install. For whatever reason, I could do only about 2 -3 at a time else the download or install would time out and I'd have to start over. That took up the bulk of my time. Meanwhile I discovered that dragging and dropping and moving windows around wasn't possible. But I kept at it. Download, install, reboot, repeat. On day two some small miracle happened. Everything looked normal again and there was sound. After I completed almost all of the updates, drag and drop began to work too. And then it was over. I went ahead and did all the easy stuff (re-installing the software) and then spent a few hours re-organizing the mess of files all stashed in one directory. I think I deserve some sort of trophy for all that.
Now it's time to reformat my own computer. But first I must tackle cleaning out our storage closet.
1.06.2005
computers suck
I have no idea what my parents did to fuck up their computer the way it is. Pop ups galore, clicking, dragging and resizing windows is not doable, highlighting items is impossible and everything else is slow as hell. So I decide to lose my computer formatting virginity. I would consider myself somewhat technical, short of programming in anything beyond (really shoddy) HTML, though in a former life I had learned VB. So I decided to first go ahead and back up everything. Low and behold I realized that the freak who worked on my parents computer previously shoved everything into directories called "back up", instead of putting them back into My Documents and Favorites and such, and didn't tell my dad this and he, of course, had too big of an ego to ask how to find these files without using the painfully slow search function that the freak recommended. I was kinda wondering why the My Documents folder was so bare. And there in the "back up" directory this fellow made was a gigantic mish mash of files including family photos, spreadsheets, word docs and mp3s. Yes, turns out my dad didn't know how to organize things into folders and, again, had too much pride to ask. So it took me damn near two hours to sort this stuff out partially so I could burn the stuff onto CDs. I still have half of it in a directory called "unfiled shit" because I just can't deal with it right now.
Now I've got my Win 2K Cd in hand and ready to go but need to make some boot disks just in case. If things go well I'll have to go on a scavenger hunt for all the software my parents have lost and install all that, then all the bits and pieces like winzip and Acrobat. If things go not so well ie. I just screw up the whole shebang or the computer doesn't find my NIC and I can't get online... well I guess that means this could be my last blog for a little while. I really really hate doing IT stuff. I derive no satisfaction whatsoever from making computers work better, installing stuff or setting stuff up. I can't believe people do this for a living. Be nice to your IT and desktop support team at work, I'm beginning realize how frustrating their job is taming both computers and uncooperative people.
Now I've got my Win 2K Cd in hand and ready to go but need to make some boot disks just in case. If things go well I'll have to go on a scavenger hunt for all the software my parents have lost and install all that, then all the bits and pieces like winzip and Acrobat. If things go not so well ie. I just screw up the whole shebang or the computer doesn't find my NIC and I can't get online... well I guess that means this could be my last blog for a little while. I really really hate doing IT stuff. I derive no satisfaction whatsoever from making computers work better, installing stuff or setting stuff up. I can't believe people do this for a living. Be nice to your IT and desktop support team at work, I'm beginning realize how frustrating their job is taming both computers and uncooperative people.
1.04.2005
homemade hockey signs
I gotta make this fast because it's second intermission but I just had to record some of the home made signs I've seen so far in this Jr. Hockey final:
"Da da Canada, nyet nyet Soviet"
"I missed math to be on TSN"
"Team Canada fueled by Canadian beef"
"Take Silver, No"
It's interesting how hockey crazy we are in this country. Damn near every commercial has a hockey theme to it - JVC, Ford, Tim Hortons, Robitussin, Royal Bank, Chevrolet.
*****************
Alright so after an unbelievable 2nd period where we scored 4 goals, 3rd period was a matter of playing keep away with the Russians and throwing in a couple shots on the Russian goal just for good measure. Unlike US hockey coverage which cuts to some other sport's highlights as soon as the buzzer goes off, our game was followed by neverending replays, analysis, commentary and interviews with the players. Hard to believe the guys are under 19. They must have some serious media training because, not only are they humble (unlike certain athletes south of the border), they are all incredibly articulate and speak with maturity and class that you just don't expect from a bunch of teenage guys. So congrats to Team Canada and let's hope to hell we have NHL to watch next year. Canada cannot take any more hockey deprivation, at least I can't.
"Da da Canada, nyet nyet Soviet"
"I missed math to be on TSN"
"Team Canada fueled by Canadian beef"
"Take Silver, No"
It's interesting how hockey crazy we are in this country. Damn near every commercial has a hockey theme to it - JVC, Ford, Tim Hortons, Robitussin, Royal Bank, Chevrolet.
*****************
Alright so after an unbelievable 2nd period where we scored 4 goals, 3rd period was a matter of playing keep away with the Russians and throwing in a couple shots on the Russian goal just for good measure. Unlike US hockey coverage which cuts to some other sport's highlights as soon as the buzzer goes off, our game was followed by neverending replays, analysis, commentary and interviews with the players. Hard to believe the guys are under 19. They must have some serious media training because, not only are they humble (unlike certain athletes south of the border), they are all incredibly articulate and speak with maturity and class that you just don't expect from a bunch of teenage guys. So congrats to Team Canada and let's hope to hell we have NHL to watch next year. Canada cannot take any more hockey deprivation, at least I can't.
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