super fuzzy mochi

random

2012-01-15T19:30:00.000-08:00

How does one's eyes adjust to light and dark? Does each eye's iris contract and expand independently of the other? Or do they always adjust in concert? If I cover one eye then walk from sunlight into a dark room, then will my covered eye see better? Hummmm that's what I was thinking about when I walked my dogs today. In the dark of course.

2011-12-23T13:47:00.001-08:00

I found out today that there is a re-enactment of the nativity scene at Red Wood City call Bethlehem AD. It has hunderds of characters, all the barn animals you can think of AND camels. Oh yeah and baby Jesus, who look sorta asian in the website. Nothing better than singing angels, hay rides, roman soldiers and barn animals ! I always thought they say that Jesus should have been black. Anyhow, so I sent the link info to my friend from Tel Aviv. I don't think he was amused. I remember driving by Bethlehem when I was in Israel. Couldn't visit it because there was a bombing a week before, and our bus driver refused to have to go thought all the check points. Besides he said it is now all cinder block apartments resettlement with a few run down churches.
... it's probably more glamorous at Red Wood City. It's like that Bibleland theme park next to Disney Land in Florida. Why do Americans always Disney-fied everything? Condescending attitude aside, I will have to check it out tomorrow with my snotty upturn nose.

stuffed full of fries

2011-09-01T14:39:00.000-07:00

My entries here are pretty nonsensical? I just reread some of them. That's probably my head is full of nonsensical things, and it just shines through. To keep it all out/in, in my waking hours, I have a sound track running loop and lately it's been this song:

.

Catchy without being depressing or bubble gumy, a + in my book. It this some kind of condition? I am not sure. Last month it was Chopin Op.9 No1 in b Flat. Found one played by Arthur Rubinstein for your enjoyment:

That's not as cool. It's just so snooty and without humor. I feel like I am in some expensive restaurant and the waiters (multiple of them because that's how expensive this restaurant is, each waiter carry 1 piece of silverware) is changing my plate and fork for the Nth time.

To match what kind of junk goes though my head, then life would be more like this:

New world of tv

2011-06-04T16:13:00.000-07:00

We have been having a lot of problem at home with our cable tv, about half our channel line up are missing. Every month or so when I got the free time (usually at around 1am) I will do a Live Chat (tm) with someone at the cable company and chat about the problem. They would invariably send a signal to my cable box, and something* would happened to the box while we traded pleasantries. Channels might appear or disappear, but since the process takes 90 minutes, by the time I know for sure, I am already offline. This process repeats about 3 times, and finally I got fed up and made them schedule a technician to our house. Mr. Technician finally showed up today !
First he torn up the carpet where the cable line is buried, and said because the cable is under the floor we have been stepping on it and destroying it. But that didn't quiet hold up when the missing channels are still missing with a new cable. (ah ha ! I said) He fiddled around a bit more, then finally he went outside to look at the line, not before telling me "if the line outside is badddd, you have to tear up the whole wall!!!" and i was like, uhhh lets make sure it is bad first... After 5 minutes, he came back and said Oh! i found a filter on the line! So there was this ancient filter on the cable line that's been blocking everything. He took it out, and now everything is working. A physical filter ! That concept is somehow strange to me. Hufffffff Thought everything is digital, guess not so 15 years ago.

It's been 15 minutes, and I am still browsing through all the new found channels. My eyes are glazing over and brain turning into pudding. I found a channels that ONLY plays trailers to movies. The best part of a movie in 1 minute and 30 seconds chunks....

VLT Very Large Telescope HD Timelapse

2011-05-30T22:09:00.000-07:00

Enormity of the universe on display. I feel so tiny...

Hair spider

2011-05-27T11:56:00.000-07:00

When I get the motivation to go to the gym, I usually go at lunch time. This means I have to take a shower after I am done or I will just stink up the entire office. This also means I am forced to use the gym shower stall. As soon as I open the shower door, the first thing you see is the porcelain goodness that is the shower stall wall. And on this porcelain tiled surface sometimes cling big clumps of black hairy mass that's fighting the force of gravity. Sometimes these clumps are like 9 ft off the ground, on the wall. I often wonder how in the world it got there? I call these black mass 'hair spider' because I think when the stalls are empty, these hair spiders would come to live and start their upward trajectory. Their secret climb to heaven. I usually try to stay as far away as possible, and often it become a game of 'keeping-one's-elbow-tuck-in-as-much-as-possible-while-shampooing-with-soap-in-one's-eyes'. If I knock one of these spider down, they might come after me for revenge or I will just puke at the disgusting-ness of it.

Matchbox cars

2011-05-26T11:54:00.000-07:00

I normally have to commute about 40 minutes to work everyday. 40 minutes is a long time to be alone and think, and I have to do it twice every day. When you are driving on the high way and everyone is driving at about the same speed, don't you have a feeling that time stops. Everyone is just sitting and intently looking forward, each of us lost in our own world. I'd imagine each little car can be put into a 3-sided cardboard box, and one side opened and wrapped in cellophane. Little plastic driver inside is frozen with back hunched, eyes ahead and sitting slightly forward in his seat.

Happy Towel Day

2011-05-25T15:06:00.000-07:00

The universe is dangerous
I think will just take my towel and lay down in fetal position and just go quiet for a while .
(Whoooop ! Don't Panic.)

*Happy Towel day!
** On page 46 of W&P now.

what to do when apocalypse is postponed?

2011-05-23T23:46:00.000-07:00

So i was eagerly awaiting the arrival of apocalypse last Saturday (Note: I wasn't hoping for a Rapture per se, but at least a confirmation of something or the other would have made an exciting weekend.) I was disappointed once again (the foretold 6pm deadline came and gone without as much as a trumpet note or squeak), and since I had no plan for the night, I dug out the copy of War and Peace I have been postponing to read for the last 20 years. Let's read about manners of the Russian court and the Napoleonic war, that gotta be only slightly less exciting than the apocalypse. It's been 2 days, I am on page 16. Fun. Oh and I have decided to write more often. Mental vomit. Boredom broadcasted.

Blue berry scones

2011-01-11T22:24:00.001-08:00

Made some blue berry scones at night. I had to grate a stick of butter for them. Doesn't the grated butter look like flower?

SUPAKITCH & KORALIE - VÄRLDSKULTUR MUSEET GÖTEBORG

2011-01-03T18:54:00.001-08:00

SUPAKITCH & KORALIE - VÄRLDSKULTUR MUSEET GÖTEBORG from elr°y on Vimeo.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

2010-12-24T23:09:00.001-08:00

finger painting

2010-12-11T14:08:00.000-08:00

I downloaded Brushes on ipad and played around with it for a bit this morning. Here is my first finger painting:

Kinda hard to control details with my big fingers. But all in all, pretty easy tool to use.

Oh and here is a slice of blue berry cake

2010-12-09T23:45:00.001-08:00

It's missing an egg and I used skim milk instead of whole. Still it was pretty moist and delicious.;)

... while waiting for blue berries cake to cool

2010-12-09T23:19:00.000-08:00

I had a tub of blue berries to use up today, so I did a late night rendition of blue berries cake from my big cook book. While waiting for the cake to cool, I came across this bits of quote from this blog I have been reading. The blogger Sean D. Kelly, is a philosopher professor. Here he is recounting the different facets of the replacement of religion by nihilism:

.... But there is a downside to the freedom of nihilism as well, and the people living in the culture may experience this in a variety of ways. Without any clear and agreed upon sense for what to be aiming at in a life, people may experience the paralyzing type of indecision depicted by T.S. Eliot in his famously vacillating character Prufrock; or they may feel, like the characters in a Samuel Beckett play, as though they are continuously waiting for something to become clear in their lives before they can get on with living them; or they may feel the kind of “stomach level sadness” that David Foster Wallace described, a sadness that drives them to distract themselves by any number of entertainments, addictions, competitions, or arbitrary goals, each of which leaves them feeling emptier than the last. The threat of nihilism is the threat that freedom from the constraint of agreed upon norms opens up new possibilities in the culture only through its fundamentally destabilizing force.

Woah. I had to take a deep breath. I need to read more philosophy.

Santa Cruz , Monterey Bay and Carmel

2010-11-23T23:55:00.000-08:00

Parents came over to visit over thanksgiving so we went south to get some fresh air and ocean for 2 days. The weather forecast was rain rain rain and cold cold cold. But it turned out the weather man was 80% wrong. But that 20% of rightness landed us soaked to the bone at Point Lobo. We were at Point Lobo National Reserve hiking when it started to pour like it never poured before. We were also hiking at a cliff side, with some loud clashing wave to accompany the fierce wind and horizontal rain. After cursing at the sky for about 15 minutes, the rain finally stopped. Soaking wet fun!

We also went to Natural Bridges State Beach where a lot of Monarch butterflies congregate in the winter as they migrate from the north. The beach and the arch was nice, but the butterflies was hanging out way high up in the tree, and we couldn't see much except several huge clusters of something that pulsate and flutter. It kind of creeped me out.

Natural Bridges State Beach's arch. Yeah it looked nice but the water is freezing cold

Sea gulls at the beach.

Point Lobo State Reserve. This is after we got totally soaked then suddenly the sun came out.

The bell tower of Carmel Mission Basilica. It is the first mission church built in California. It is very rustic and beautiful.

I can't resist from taking picture of receding parallel lines.

Crazy cactus at the church court yard.

* I took all these photos with my cell phone.

feeling kinda sick again

2010-11-21T00:15:00.000-08:00

I was just feeling much better last week after recovering from whopping cough. But now I am starting to feel sickly again. We are also getting our first rain of the season plus the first T-Storm. Blast this weather. . .

big blanket

2010-10-28T23:38:00.000-07:00

The new super strength cough syrup I got is super delicious. I can drink a whole bottle in one sitting. Oh yeah, I got diagnosed with whooping cough this morning at the doctor. :|. I always thought whooping cough has something to do with a horse or the whoop* that created the universe or was it destroyed. Turned out it is a pretty serious illness for infants. :P Ignorant me. Non-fatal for adult thou (phew), just super annoying as I haven't been able to sleep for 4 straight days now.
A cue to start blogging about nonsensical things again ...

(*Hitchhiker Guide to the Galaxy?)

Joseph D. Grant County Park

2010-05-16T21:44:00.000-07:00

Finally remember to bring the GPS on training. Let's see if this works...
Joseph D. Grant County Park by mochipoo at Garmin Connect - Details

然後怎樣

2010-04-22T10:27:00.000-07:00

完成了所謂的理想　放縱了情緒的氾濫
汗都流乾　天都微亮　然後怎樣
擁有了旅行的空檔　卻遺失流浪的背囊
沿著軌道　一直流浪　然後怎樣

假期過完　有甚麼打算
走過一個天堂　少一個方向
誰在催我成長　讓我失去迷途的膽量

我怕誰失望　我為誰而忙
我最初只貪玩　為何變負擔
為何我的問題　總得等待別人的答案

我的快樂時代燦爛　才領悟代價多高昂
不能滿足　不敢停站　然後怎樣

Night of the Iguana's Poem

2009-12-23T09:42:00.001-08:00

Just finished watching Night of the Iguana. You know, that movie base on that Tennessee Williams play from the 60s. I didn't know, but Richard Burton rocks.Seen it?
It ends with this melancholy poem which is quickly becoming my favorite upon re-reading.

How calmly does the olive branch
Observe the sky begin to blanch
Without a cry, without a prayer
With no betrayal of despair

Some time while light obscures the tree
The zenith of its life will be
Gone past forever
And from thence
A second history will commence

A chronicle no longer gold
A bargaining with mist and mold
And finally the broken stem
The plummeting to earth, and then

And intercourse not well designed
For beings of a golden kind
Whose native green must arch above
The earth's obscene corrupting love

And still the ripe fruit and the branch
Observe the sky begin to blanch
Without a cry, without a prayer
With no betrayal of despair

Oh courage! Could you not as well
Select a second place to dwell
Not only in that golden tree
But in the frightened heart of me

Lemon Tree

2009-11-22T21:58:00.000-08:00

A very old song that I came across. I remembered, during freshman year in college, I used to listen to this song on repeat for like weeks. I am not quiet sure why now. It's kinda upbeat. I am pasting the lyric here too, just for you.

Lemon Tree - 苏慧伦

一个人孤单单的下午
当风吹得每棵树都想跳舞
记得昨天你穿蓝色衣服
你说对爱太专注容易孤独
这句话什么意思……
我不清楚
我爱上了云爱上你
多么希望像你自由来去
原来星期天容易思念
反覆看部电影一遍一遍
孤独的流著眼泪
回忆太美------
爱多美丽充满香气
只是在心里它总是酸溜溜地
我不懂我自己
越来越像 Lemon Tree------
我一天一天更爱你
我不管不管不管爱会苦苦地
海蓝蓝的天气
我的爱是 Lemon Tree
DA DA DA DI DA DA

(哦....不管不管)
Isolation 想住进你心里...
Isolation 期待下雨
的一棵 Lemon Tree
你总是望著蓝蓝海面
说著流浪过的梦容易实现
这句话什么意思---
我不清楚----
海蓝蓝的天气

Pachelbel's Canon in D

2009-08-31T13:34:00.000-07:00

I am listening a CD worth of Pachelbel's Canon in D. 15 variations worth. I am still not tired of it.
Something in the melody is turning on something in my brain, I don't know why I am so addicted.
Here is the CD. And here is one of my favorite variation:

Backpacking at Haleakala posted.

2009-08-24T11:49:00.000-07:00

Finally posted the trip report for Haleakala in Maui. Here is the link.

红豆方大同

2009-08-24T10:31:00.000-07:00

A classic Faye Wong covered by 方大同. I think I like this version better.
The lyric just hit the right note of melancholy ... 也许你会陪我看细水长流 ...

天空之城（吟唱版） - 小娟&山谷里的居民

2009-08-24T10:25:00.000-07:00

From 天空之城. I find it soothing and a little bit sad.

Jacques Pépin Chocolate Chunk Cookies

2009-07-19T23:14:00.000-07:00

I had all those Scharffen Berger chocolate chunks left over from the chocolate cake so I made cookies out of them with the recipe on the back of the package. Very tasty and sweet. Nothing makes you feel better faster than some chocolate, for a few hours anyways. :D

* Late night lighting. yuck. i really need a light box.

Here is the recipe:

* 4 oz unsalted butter
* 2 egg yolks
* ½ cup granulated sugar
* 1 cup all purpose flour (4.5 oz)
* ¼ teaspoon sea salt
* 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
* 1/2 cup baking chunks

Set aside chunks and 1 tablespoon of sugar out of the 1/2 cup.
Mix remaining ingredients in food processor for 30 seconds or until smooth. Transfer dough to a sheet of plastic wrap and roll it into a 10 inch log about 1 inch thick. Chill 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Put rack in center. Unwrap cold log and sprinkle evenly with remaining tablespoon of sugar. Cut log into 20 cookies each about 1/2 inch thick. Spread chunks on board and press each cookie into them . Line a cookie sheet with parchment and arrange cookies 1 inch apart chunks facing up. Bake 14-15 minutes. Cool on rack. Enjoy!

Humming bird babies

2009-07-19T23:01:00.000-07:00

Humming bird babies that was in our tree flew away yesterday. I miss these cute little buggers.

mayflies

2009-07-09T22:06:00.000-07:00

A friend told me that he just witnessed a horrible motorcycle accident in which the cyclist slid into an SUV then burst into flame. What a way to go. I was a bit bummed out about loads of stuff today, but then hearing the news made me paused. I feel gossamer light. Life is difficult not because of the heavy burdens we bear, they are all unimportant. Life is difficult because we are all light as breath on window pane. Don't I, no we all, constantly grasp at some form of anchor? Love, sex, family and friends? What does this journey amount to but a final burst into flame. This reminds me of a Woody Allen quote, "Death doesn't really worry me that much, I'm not frightened about it... I just don't want to be there when it happens."

ha ha.
Anyways. I don't think I am getting any take away here, except random musing on a bad day and remembering Woody Allen quote always make me feel better. :D

Backpacking Haleakala National Park

2009-06-27T22:39:00.000-07:00

There seems to be a lack of information of what's in store when you hike Haleakala so here are some essential info and pictures to entice you to make the trip next time you visit Maui. This link provides you with a link to the best resolution park map that we were able to find. . Maybe you want to follow along with the map open.

Our Maui trip was booked for a total of 10 days. We planned the the first 4 days/3 nights camping in the Haleakala National Park on the west side of the Island. Haleakala National Park is the home of the active but not currently erupting Haleakala Crater and also the highest peak of Maui. "Haleakala" means House of the Sun in Hawaiian. Legend has it, the demigod, Maui lassoed the sun from Haleakala to slow its journey across the sky.

Our plan was on the first night to camp at the easily accessible car-camping site, Hosmer Camp; then next morning, head to the Park Headquarters to pick up the free wilderness permit. When obtaining the permit, we were required to watch a 15 minute video on safety and do's and don'ts during our stay in Haleakala National Park.

With our permits, we headed to the Halemau'u Trailhead to begin our 3 day/2 night adventure.

First hike was the Halemau'u Trailhead to Holua Camp Site, a 3.9 mile/6.2 km hike down from 7,9900 ft above sea level to 6,940 ft above sea level.

Along the way, we climbed down a zig zagging switchback to the Koolau Gap on the crater floor at the 2.2 mile/3.5 km marker (approx. 1,500 ft decent). On the switchback, we got to see the rolling clouds coming into the crater floor through the valley and magnificent bird's eye view into the crater. From the Koolau Gap, we continued the next 1.5 miles through the crater floor prairie with knee high grass and arrived at Holua Camp. At this point, we passed a group of girl scouts heading out of the crater; however, we had not met anyone heading in. After a brief snack at Holua Camp, we continued our trek towards Paliku Camp Site, which is to be our home for the night, still 6.6 miles/10.7 km away from where we were. On our way out to Paliku Camp, we didn't bother taking the Silversword Loop trail to save our energy (more on this trail later on our way back). In the stretch between the Silversword Loop trail and Halali'i Crater, we passed through a surreal landscape of black volcanic ash flatland littered with occasional volcanic boulders. Imagine the surface of the moon with black sand.

This is a picture taken at the top. The color have not been photoshoped. It is really colorful like a painter's pallet from afar.

This is taken at the trail head. We are way above cloud line.

Away and up we go.

There are about 600 Nene birds living in the park. We spotted at least 6 of them (whole 1%!).
They are pretty much the only living thing in the valley, and they are gravely endangered. All of them have a metal tag on their foot. I wouldn't be surprise if each of them have a name too.
We camped at Paliku after 10.2 mi hike. There is gap between the enclosed mountain ridges that we can see through all the way to Molokai island. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking.

An up close shot of all the Silversword plant that littered the landscape. You can spot one from really far way since the leaves shine and reflect sunlight right into your eye. Set against all the black sand, they look like scattered gem stones in the rough.Here is some perspective. The little white spec in the middle of the picture is someone that we passed on a switchback.

This is our second camp site at Holua. This site is pretty crowded, and it also has a cabin at the bottom. We met a bunch of really nice Maui natives that rented out the cabin for the week. They showed us where the entrance of the lava tube that traverses Holua. It was a bit hidden, but remember, turn north at the fork right after the 10 foot sink hole. There are vertical piles of rock that mark the entrance about 500 yard away.You will understand when you are there. :) The lava tube suppose to have been a burial ground for Maui royalties back in the days. I only managed to peak my head in for a minute, because I was kinda freaked out. The tube is about ~half mile long, completely dark, and cold blast of air kept blowing out of the hole. Just remember to bring backup flash light, if you are going to venture in.

A beautiful sunset from Holua.
Our return trip to civilization is all uphill to the top. In this picture we are at the bottom about to climb the 2000ft+ of switchback out.

Yay. This is at the top. Finally.

And away we went above the cloud line and back to the parking lot after about 3 hours. This is definitely a worthwhile trip. Exhausting at times, but you can't find this kind of out of this world scenery any where else.

Washing

2009-06-27T21:51:00.000-07:00

Paia Contemporary Gallery in Maui

2009-06-27T14:56:00.000-07:00

I finally have time to sit down and organize all the material I collected in on my vacation. On a postcard that was stuck to my side pocket was a pointer to the Paia Contemporary Gallery where I picked it up. There is a link on the card, and so away I went. The gallery was in this pretty cool but tiny space in Paia on the west side of Maui. We chatted with the owner, Kenn Briner, briefly who was fixing some light fixture on the ceiling. He does these pretty awesome large abstract photo that you can totally lose yourself in.
<-- See left. This piece Line Var No6 I really like.

by David Ivan Clark. Landscape 12_09 - oil on stainless steel - 25 x 60 inches - year 2009
This piece has this really cool texture that doesn't really show online.

by Bill Moore.
"The opening and Closing of the Day" - mixed media on canvas - 48 x 36 inches

Definitely worth a drop by if you are ever in Maui. If not, at least browse through their catalog, may be you will find something you like too. Now if only I can afford a piece...

neglect

2009-06-23T23:28:00.001-07:00

I have been neglecting this blog for quiet a while. Too much passed and the back log finally grew too big I stopped wanting to update. :D So for a quick summary of the past months in my favorite lazy-ass format, a list:

March, I went for a lazy camping trip with friends to Big Basin. We were suppose to do the 3 days Skyline-to-Sea trail but gave up in the last minute. We did the 8 mi to the water fall instead. The hike was good and the waterfall huge. A good weekend. We saw a few banana slugs and a huge carcass of a deer. M keeps wanting to get closer to the deer and I was screaming "Careful don't catch the plague!" like a crazy soothsayer's mother with ADHD.
Became obsessed with Airborne Toxic Event. It became the sound track of me life.
We went to Yosemite with friends from the UK for 3 days. The view was breathtaking and I didn't want to leave. Soaking under the huge Mist trail and Nevada fall was superfun, super-freezing-fun. It started me thinking about doing the John Muir trail. One day...
Got mail back from Mt. Whitney that we didn't get the lottery to climb it this year. Better luck next time huh.
Went to San Jose fanime con to take portraits with friends from work. Good flash practice. I am always surprised by the amount of dedication and effort everyone put into they cosplay. Escapist to the utmost. Hey, good riddance to whatever rock your boat right? Even if your boat happen to involve a 10 foot tail and full body leather, that's cool with me.
Started learning Taiwanese from KC. But he wouldn't teach me anything decent. All I remember are stupid soap I watched like 10 years ago when I was in Taiwan.
Started suffering from pang of meat guilt. Tried and failed to eliminate red meat from my diet. I did stop eating refine sugar thou. ;D We all know how hard that is. Booya!
First time ever, met someone whose tech blog I have been reading by chance. I didn't know blogging is a networking tool too.
Went to Maui for 10 days with 4 days of backpacking in Haleakala's volcanic crater. It was a total of ~24mi hike. The crater must have been the most quiet place on the planet. For stretch of hours at a time, all I could hear are wing flaps of nene bird overhead and our labored breathing. Long hours of meditative marching.
Got my summer reading book - Infinite Jest. I hope to finish before the winter solstice.
This list is starting to look like a CV. Hummm.... I feel like I should end with a mission statement or something.
Nah ...

St Patrick Day Cornbeef and cabbage

2009-03-17T22:55:00.000-07:00

Every year St. Patrick day is our excuse to make a slab of fat corn beef and drink Guinness to excess. This year is no exception. I bought a 3 pound slab and boiled the hack out of it. But, boy, was I surprised when I opened the pot after 2 hours. Where did my beef go? The morsel of meat has shrunk by 2/3. Good thing I made two pounds of cabbage. I used the recipe "The World Best Braised Green Cabbage" from Molly Steven's All About Braising book. It's a good compliment to the greasy corn beef bites.

Does this look like 3 pounds of meat to you?

This braise cabbage dish is super easy to to and super tasty.

Ingredients;
1 medium head green cabbage
1 large yellow onion thickly sliced
1 large carrot, cut into 1/4 inch rounds
1/4 cup chicken stock or water
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/8 Tbs crushed red pepper flakes or to taste

1) Heat oven to 325 degrees
2) Cut cabbage into large wedges
3) Arrange the wedges in a lightly oiled baking dish. Do your best of make a single layer.
4) Scatter in the onion and carrot. Drizzle over the oil and stock or water. Season with salt, pepper and pepper flakes. Cover tightly with foil and slide into the middle of the oven to braise until vegetables are completely tender, about 2 hours. Turn the cabbage wedges with tongs after an hour. Don't worry if the wedges want to fall apart. Just do your best to keep them intact. If the dish is drying out, add a few tablespoon of water.
5) Once the cabbage is completely tender, remove the foil. Increase the oven heat to 400, and roast until vegetable begin to brown, another minutes or so. Serve warm or at room temperature, sprinkled with coarse salt.

Some crispy roast potatoes to complete the meal:

For the potatoes, cut them into cubes, and boil them until their edges are soften. Then pour out the water. Put the lit back on the pot, then shake the hell out of the potatoes inside. This creates a rough surface on the cubes so that oil and salt can stick to the skin for it to become crispy. Then pour the potatoes onto baking pan along with a generous splash of olive oil. Toss the potatoes around a bit on the pan too. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bake on high for 15-30 minutes until the surface turn golden brown.

Threw in a tofu dish, just because. Nothing to this one, just pan fry some tofu. Then eat with some ponzu dipping sauce or grated diakon radish. Admittedly not very irish, ;p but we had to clean out the fridge and they were about to go bad.

Purisma Creek

2009-02-24T21:13:00.000-08:00

Spring rain has been keeping me indoor the last few weeks. I was starting to get cabin fever and dream about getting away from it all. All my readings turned into trail guides and REI.com became my default homepage. Just in the nick of time rain cleared up, and we hiked in Purisma Creek last weekend. It was a perfectly cloudy day for a perfect hike up the Santa Cruz mountain. Everything was lushly green, and the usual low hanging fog cleared up for an awesome view into the Pacific ocean.

At the entrance of the park, there was a warning sign about mountain lion. The sign said if you have a small child with you, make sure you throw the child at the lion before you wave your arm around to try to escape. It also says to fight back, but I am sure the lion will be too preoccupied with eating the baby to give you any care so you can quietly slip away.

The trail was mostly shaded under red wood canopy. The climb was about 1750 vertical feet, 11mi and it took us about 5 hours with 30 minutes for lunch. Here is C and N walking leisurely up the slope.

There were a lot banana slugs on the ground. I am not sure if they taste like banana. Go ahead give it a try next time you see one, and let me know.

The trail was very well maintained. Lots of sturdy bridges for creek crossing. There were also the occasion bikers and horse riders. Here is Ardbark and N striding across one.

This is definitely a hike that I will come back to and the best part is that the trail head is only 20 minutes from my house. Onto the next trail !

大学芋 (Daigaku imo) Candied Sweet Potatoes

2009-02-11T22:55:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we went to the farmers market and picked up some sweet potatoes. I have never really made sweet potatoes before except throwing them in a grill in the summer. So I dug around and found this recipe of 大学芋. 大学 means university and 芋 means potatoes. These potatoes are made by first pan frying them then dipping them into caramelized sauce. They sure are addicting, salty, sweet and chewy at the same time. I don't know why these particular potatoes are college bounded. I didn't feel any smarter after eating a whole bowl but may be just a bit wider horizontally.

Ingredients:

1 pound sweet potatoes
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp soy sauce
2 tbsp water
1 tsp sesame seeds
Vegetable oil for frying

1) Cut a few small sweet potatoes into bite size pieces.

2) Pan fried the potatoes with a few spoonfuls of oil.

3) Mix water, soy sauce and sugar in a pan on low heat.
4) When the liquid turns sticky, remove from heat and mix in potatoes.
5) Garnish with sesame seeds. Careful, the caramelized coating is really hot, don't burn yourself like I did. Yumm...

節分太巻き (Setsubun futomaki) Season division festival's fat sushi roll

2009-02-10T21:52:00.000-08:00

February 3rd was 節分 (Setsubun literally means "season division"). In Japan, Setsubun is a festival with a bunch of rituals to get rid of your bad luck from last year and invite good fortune into your life in the coming spring. One of the rituals involve a lot of yelling and throwing beans out of the house (Out demon! Luck in!) (鬼は外! 福は内!). We did get a bunch of beans but I ended up eating them :P instead. Our neighbors already think we are kind of a crazy zoo already so going around the house outside in a demon mask, throwing beans and chanting probably won't help. On Setsubun, you are also suppose to eat a whole uncut fat sushi roll in a one sitting facing a lucky direction (this year is north north east or something). Eating, I can do. So on the rainy Tuesday night, we ended up making a stack of fat sushi rolls. I think our rolls were super-sized. May be our luck will be super-sized as well. You can read more about Setsubun here.

Font too tiny to see? Just click on the image to see the enlarged version.

みたらしお団子 (mitarashi odango) - rice dumpling with salty-sweet sauce

2009-02-10T20:57:00.000-08:00

Coco made みたらしお団子 a few weekends ago out of the blue. These sweet rice balls were top with caramelized sauce which made them chewy, sticky and delicious. I just took a snap shot to make you jealous.

It is actually pretty simple to do. She did it the Osaka way which doesn't involve any steaming. She said she did it the Tokyo way before which require streaming the dough, but that comes out way to sticky to work with.

Ingredient
220g Rice flour
200cc warm water

1) Mix water and rice flour in a large bowl
2) Then knead the mixture until it reach the consistency your big fat ear lope.
3) Then divide dough into small balls the size of a ping pong ball.
4) Boil water and drop the balls into water. Cook until they float to the top.
5) Take them out of the pot and string 3 balls on a bamboo stick.
6) Now we are ready to make the sauce.

Ingredient
2 Tbs soy sauce
80g sugar
100cc water
1 Tbs mirin (sweet rice wine)
1 Tbs corn starch

1) Mix everything in a small pot.
2) Slowly heat the mixture until it is bubbly and sticky. It should look caramelized, be careful not to burn it.
3) Top mixture on each odango stick. You can also put red bean paste on top. yummm!

pedipaw

2009-01-27T10:05:00.000-08:00

We got a pedipaw for our dogs for Christmas. All my dogs react the same way when the pedipaw come even 5 ft to them, they all recoil in horror. Junior runs away as soon as the motor is turned on. It does make a good torture device thou, ha. So sadly we returned the device.

Chinese New Year 綠茶發糕 Green Tea Fa Cake - 恭喜發財 !

2009-01-24T22:28:00.000-08:00

Chinese New Year is just around the corner, so I thought I'd make something for the occasion. I found a pretty easy recipe for 發糕 (fa cake). 糕 just means cake but "fa" 發 is a pun to mean both cake raising and getting rich, so people usually eat them around lunar new year time for good luck.

Original recipe: 楊桃文化 (in Chinese)
Cake flour 100g
Sugar 60g
Baking powder 4g
Water 105cc
1) Sift cake flour and sugar into mixing bowl.
2) Slowly add 95cc water. Then mix until all the sugar dissolve. Optionally, I added a bit of green tea powder （お抹茶) for flavor and color.
3) Mix baking powder with 10cc of water, then add the baking powder mixture into the flour and sugar bowl. Mix well.
4) Get a steamer ready, and prepare 5 small cups with cupcake lining.
5) Pour the batter into the small cups at about 80% full level.
6) When the water is boiling in the steamer, put in the small cups and steam for about 20 minutes. Do not open the cover during 20 minutes. Only open at 20 minute point.

That's it. That's 發糕 . 恭喜發財 for everyone !

Kimchi buta (キムチ豚)

2009-01-12T20:16:00.000-08:00

We got a huge jar of kimchi at home and since we got pork left over from yesterday. It's perfect time for kimchi buta! Kimchi is the Korean spicy pickled cabbage and buta means pork. This dish is a popular Japanese dish that you can get at any izakaya because it is salty and spicy and goes really well with a tall glass of cold beer.

Ingredients
6oz of pork slices, cut into strips (like bacon)

1 cup kimchi, or more if preferred

1 tsp of sugar

1 tsp of sesame oil

salt to taste

1) Cook pork over high heat in single layer. Then dish up when the pork is done.
2) Then add kimchi to the pan, and let it sizzle for a few minutes. At this point, add sugar and sesame oil.
3) After a few more minutes add the pork back into the pan and mix.
4) That's it. Dish up and serve with a tall glass of cold beer and/or a bowl of rice. We made a big salad to go with it for dinner. It was just perfect to cool down the spaciness.

Shouga yaki 　(しょうが焼き) U1 style

2009-01-11T21:28:00.000-08:00

Today we made shouga yaki for dinner. Shouga means ginger and yaki is grill or stir-fry. This is not very tradition because we made it U1 style which means we added lots and lots and lots of vegetable. We got the thinly pork slices that usually go into shabu shabu and added bean sprouts. But I think this works fine with just thinly sliced pork loin or even pork chop strips.

Here are the ingredients:
12 oz (400g) pork slices
3 tbsp grated fresh ginger
1 onion sliced
lots of bean sprouts
Marinate sauce:
4 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp sake
2 tsp mirin (sweet Japanese rice wine)
green onion to garnish.

First combine all the liquid for the marinate sauce, then take the sliced pork and let it marinate for 15 minutes. Heat some oil in a frying pan. Place the pork in the pan, in a single layer over high heat. Let these babies sizzle for a bit, then turn down the heat to medium. Add the remaining sauce, and cook for a few minutes until almost done, then dish up. Combine all vegetable and cook until soften. I threw some extra sake and soy sauce in at this point. Also added some left over mushroom, but that's entirely optional. Add the pork slices back into the pan and mix right before you dish up. Serve with a hot bowl of white rice. Yummm!

Lotus root stir fried

2009-01-08T22:01:00.000-08:00

We made lotus root for dinner today. I loved the texture and the pretty pattern.

You can get whole lotus root from any Asian market. After thoroughly washing it (a lot of dirt!) you thinly slice it cross-wise. Then stir fried it with a little bit of oil, half a tablespoon of sugar, a bit of soy sauce and some rice wine. That's it. Leave them in the pan for a bit, and you will get this nicely caramelized crunchy edge. umm umm good.

Coco's big shave

2009-01-08T21:24:00.000-08:00

We finally decided that Coco's been a scruffy monkey for too long. She is almost unrecognizable as a schnauzer. It was time for the big shave. We watched a few videoes on YouTube, then took out the borrowed shaver and the sheering began.

yep she sure look happy... right.

We even threw in a free bath...

Coco: Thanks but no thanks.

Emoticaroler

2008-12-18T13:33:00.000-08:00

Cracks me up.. make your own songs.

Offensive english test

2008-07-21T12:51:00.000-07:00

Offensive english test -- hehehe

YouTube - Vocalise by divine mechanism

2008-07-15T09:06:00.000-07:00

A friend's music video. Katie's band Divine Mechanism evokes a ethereal electronica sensibility. She has the most surreal voice. They are starting to get picked up. Well deserves, I'd say. Take a listen:

Hello kitty anti-virus ...

2008-07-14T12:15:00.000-07:00

Speechless ...
Kitty 防毒軟體防火牆官方網站

Still alive

2008-06-10T18:38:00.000-07:00

I am back from Mt. Shasta and I am still alive :). For a few times the last weekend, my life flashed right in front of my eyes, I am surprise I still have all my limbs. ha!

While going to the second base camp at Helen lake, we took a wrong path and went up this sliding rocky scree field. About midway through, rock slides started happening with every step I took. I was like, holycrap, I am going to be pancaked. I channeled all the cockroaches that I have ever let live, and tried to scramble out of the way. At one point, there was this slap of boulder about twice my size started sliding toward me on at 45% incline. Like I said, I am lucky to be alive.

Leisurely picture taken before rocks started tumbling down:

3 out of 8 of us made it to the summit. One person that made it, got into a glissading accident, twisted his ankle when his crampon got caught, lost his ice pick, then when we headed home, he went blind for 2 days because of snow blindness from the high altitude UV rays. Yeah, fun time. ;D

Other than the life-threatening bits, the trip was a blast. Mt. Shasta was beautiful ,the air was clean and the weather was perfect.

Oh Mt Shasta, I didn't make it to your summit but I will be back, I will...

Here are some pictures from the trip:

preping

2008-06-02T13:20:00.001-07:00

This last weekend I have been doing all the prep work for our backpacking trip to Mount Shasta. I think I am pretty much done, except for getting the crampons and ice picks.

I also handed in my letter of resignation at work. :) Outta here in two weeks!
I am going miss the people and the old team. After all, we have been through a whole lot of stress together. That's life, huh, you gain some and you lose some. :D

henri the cat

2008-05-31T15:30:00.000-07:00

random stuff

2008-05-17T14:03:00.000-07:00

I am a sucker for panda .. oww... and a sneezing panda?

Last few weeks week has been pretty hectic. I took a day off to do some interviews in addition to phone interviews I have been doing. During my down time I wrote an entry on my tech blog on interviewing tips just for future references. Also managed to read the newspaper every day except Tuesday. To prep for the interview I re-read a programming textbook cover to cover last weekend, I think that shocked my system into information overload.

Still, I managed to sneak out of work with some co-workers, and visit this tiny little middle eastern dive cafe hidden in the middle of an office park. They have these turkish coffee that is da bomb. Turkish coffee or greek coffee is made by boiling finely grind coffee beans with sugar and serving it in a tiny espresso cup from a metallic ladle. Since the whole coffee bean is pulverized and used, no flavor is lost. Each cup contains the complex fragrance and nuance that permeates your head. When I take a sip, I can feel the coffee flavor going from my jaw into my brain directly. I definitely recommend it. Not to mention that it's like triple the caffeine I normally get, so I get all hop up for the rest of the day, and ran through my assignments like speed racer.

procrastinating project in mn

2008-05-03T22:12:00.000-07:00

On the 2nd to the last day in MN, I finally stop procrastinating and started on a portrait drawing I promised my mom since forever. Worked on it for a few hours, will have to see if I finish by tomorrow before I fly home. Here is a bit of progress:
The left side is coming along nicely, right side is a bit off, and the background is still missing. What should I put in the background? I am thinking about a circus with elephants? ha ha. probably just going to go with something tame so my mom won't make me redo it. :P

world pinhole camera day.

2008-05-01T19:13:00.000-07:00

Just missed the World Pinhole Camera Day by 2 days, but no matter here is a blue print to build one yourself. Super cool.

Here is instruction to build a digital one. It's not as fun, but much easier.

snow country

2008-04-26T17:04:00.000-07:00

I just arrived in Minnesota to visit my folks. As the plane descended down to Minneapolis airport, I looked out the port window and all I saw was these these unfamiliar fluffy white things falling and drifting. (!) Could it be ... snow? At end of April? You have got to be kidding me.

It turned out north east Minnesota got 16 inches, and even Minneapolis got 2 inches. I have forgotten how cold can the Midwest get. But then again, if it weren't so cold, the hot fish soup Mom is making wouldn't taste so good. :D

awwww kittens

2008-04-25T15:12:00.001-07:00

overload

2008-04-25T11:36:00.000-07:00

So the birthday cheese cake cracked. Cracked like the grand canyon in the middle. :|
It tasted good, but just not pretty. When we were giving present, I gave Ardbark a shoe box filled with old slippers to fake him out before I show the real present. I don't think he fell for it thou. ha ha. After he opened the little box of old slippers, he just had that blank look. Then I carried down a 6'x3'x2' box down the stair. He was like WOAH! what is that?! The big box has the Rock band set for PS2. Pretty good game. We tried it out for the rest of the night. Ardbark was on drums, Ted on gaitar, and I had the mic. It was a blast. :D

Happy birthday, ardbark!

2008-04-24T13:11:00.001-07:00

It's ardbark's birthday today. I got the day off, and I am making Ardbark's favorite desert - chheeeessseee cake. First time ever. I hope it turn out ok. I went shopping for the ingredients this morning. While in the checkout line, I just had this moment and thought, wah, I am in such a geek town. On the magazine racks right next to Star, Sunset, and People, there is this:

j drama 鉄板少女アカネ

2008-04-19T21:22:00.000-07:00

Why is there so many Japanese drama base on comic books when over-acting is the norm, and lame-o-plot devices are a-plenty. I am watching this one call Teppan Shoujo Akane (鉄板少女アカネ) on the local station. h-o-r-r-i-b-l-e. Sometimes I think the entire creative industry in japan caters to teenage girls. Stupid brain dead shows.

Need a vacation

2008-03-10T12:25:00.000-07:00

Finally back from Vegas, the temporary capital of geekdom for the week. The conferences was interesting, bars and the after parties were good. All in all a good time. The highlight thou has to be the H&K MP5 sub machine gun that I got to shoot. muhahahahaha My friends shot AK47 and much bigger guns, but i stuck with the SWAT standard issued little thing.

bamm bam bammm bammm

MIX08 Conference in 2 weeks !

2008-02-23T13:55:00.002-08:00

Las Vagas here I come !

dolphins and bubbles

2008-01-27T12:22:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year

2008-01-06T19:45:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year ! This new year eve my parents were visiting so we welcomed the new year with the cluttering and chattering of mahjong tiles on the kotatsu table. Tehe. We got sparkling grape juice to fill our champagne flutes. We also had Japaneses new year soba, and I made taro and tapioca soup. We were totally stuffed afterward, what a way to bring in the new year. In the morning Ardbark's mom made a home-styled traditional osechi ryori and mochi soup for brunch. The mochi was sticky and chewy, just perfect. I always want to try making mochi by hand, it looks like so much fun and ... dangerous.

Here is a video of mochi making in japan:

Ad campaign clock from Uiqlock

2007-12-27T10:59:00.000-08:00

Quirky flash clock from Japaneses clothing store Uiqlock.

(I turned off the music by default. But I actually kinda like it but didn't want to hear it for a month on the blog. Click on the little speaker in the lower right hand corner to hear the background chime and music.)

More baby panda...

2007-12-18T22:39:00.000-08:00

This has even more cuteness overload in it...awwwww

You can tell I am wasting a lot of time on YouTube huh.

more panda surrealism

2007-12-18T22:37:00.000-08:00

tehe.. i like this. I had a panda outfit just like this too...

Baby panda wrestling

2007-12-18T22:32:00.000-08:00

Can't take the cutneesssss, I think I am going to overdose.

Stalking santa ... on Fox news.

2007-12-17T10:21:00.000-08:00

The semi-serious tone on Fox news is a bit disturbing actually ... yep definitly crossed the line from mock funny to freaky disturbing.

stalking santa trailer

2007-12-17T10:16:00.000-08:00

"leave me alone ! I am not an elf !" hahahahaha

mio ad - the fly.

2007-12-04T21:44:00.000-08:00

hehe... crackes me up.

Thanksgiving

2007-11-25T22:10:00.000-08:00

Oofff I need another weekend to break from eating so much. We had an entirely home cooked meal on Thanksgiving this last Thursday. Oh man, we woke up at 9am and started cooking and it didn't end until the last guest left our place at 10pm. We made so much food, we were still eating it on Sunday. Bucky the turkey turned out alright. I have been getting acquainted with it quiet well the last four days, exhasting every which way one can consume turkey.
Here is the slide show from Thanksgiving:

Since I didn't bring my laptop home from week this weekend (yay!), I had no excuse but to run errand, do chores around the house, and mostly just relax. Finally, Friday I got a chance to sit down and started reading Harry Potter 7 that's been sitting on my shelf for ages... What a relief when I finally finished it Saturday night, late night. The prose is a bit more cliche that i remember 1-6 to be and the ending was predictable. The ride was enjoyable while it lasted thou, albeit a bit long. That book is freaking 759 pages long, it just felt like it would never end. It could have accomplished just as much with half the book, seriously.

Since I finished the book, I got Sunday free up. So we pulled out the Christmas decoration box and put up the Christmas tree. :D I like the tree's twinkling itsy bitsy lights, I can stare at it for hours. We also set up the kotatsu to gear up for winter. I have never had a kotatsu before, it's a japanese style low table with a blanket over it and a heater inside to keep your feet warm. I think I had a post about it a while back. Ardbark's brother happens to have one, so we are putting it to good use. Since I am too cheap to crank up the heat, this will at least keep our feet warm. I will post a picture of it sometime.

croc dog

2007-11-18T16:24:00.000-08:00

Awesome costume !

Fun at Fort Funston

2007-11-18T15:43:00.000-08:00

We went to Fort Funston yesterday for some off leash hiking. (It's a a real place and the real name. I couldn't stop saying "Fort Funston is fun!" the entire time I was there. Which remind me of the F.U.N song from Spongebob squrepants (... F is for fire, U is for uranium bomb, and Nnnnnn is for no survivorrrrrr, Planktan! ...)

Anyways, when we got there, we could smell and hear the ocean crashing onto the shore, but all we saw was this completely opaque fog enveloping everything. Well the dogs had fun (the good kind) anyways. There were still a ton of off leash dogs walking the trail, and they were sniffing butts up to their eyebrows.

Tonkatsu night

2007-11-14T23:02:00.000-08:00

We made tonkatsu for dinner over the weekend. I didn't notice how messy the kitchen looks until I took these pictures. ha ha ha. We made so much, we had tonkatsu then katsudon for 3 meals. umm umm good.

Bread from the machine

2007-11-14T23:01:00.000-08:00

We went back to the basic and made plain white bread in the bread machine. It turned out pretty tasty, which kinda surprised me. I think this time is the best result I have ever had.

Roast in Black

2007-11-14T22:59:00.000-08:00

We made roast in black.

Sukiyaki

2007-11-14T22:58:00.000-08:00

We made sukiyaki last weekend. I loved the color, so i took some pictures. :D

Oohhh i want to go to 四川

2007-11-07T09:15:00.000-08:00

Came across this blog of this photographer who went to Szchenchan and Wunan in Western China. Her pictures are breathtakingly beautiful. Ohhh I so want to go now.

reading

2007-11-06T22:28:00.000-08:00

Currently reading Edward Luce's "In Spite of the Gods". It's a portrait of modern India's political, economic and social progress and its future directions. It's pretty interesting. Full of observational insight from the author's love-hate relationship with his host country.

Speaking of which, Diwali -- Festival of Light-- is coming up and the girls at work want to do a henna party. :D. I have never done henna tatoo before. So I am totally looking forward to some crazy semi-permanent scribble I will be designing. Now I just have to find a guinea pig.

2007-11-05T09:48:00.000-08:00

From foxymcdee blog entry:

今天讀到王小波的一段：
傍晚時分，坐在屋檐下，看著天慢慢地黑去，心裡寂寞而凄涼，感到自己的生命被剝削了。當時我是個年輕人，但我害怕這樣生活下去，衰老下去。在我看來，這是比死亡更可怕的事。
那就是我。best of youth, 該在幹甚麼？我又在幹甚麼？

... how well it describes our generation's sentiment or may be just my own. I need to get some 王小波 books ...

steve reiche - eight lines

2007-10-28T20:31:00.000-07:00

The first 10 minutes of minimalist Steve Reiche's Eight Lines.

It is totally mesmerizing. The repetition and graduate phase shift is somehow meditative and refreshing at the same time. I will have to find a recording of the entire piece.

plain white ts' - hey there delilah

2007-10-27T22:42:00.001-07:00

This song makes me sad...

I like it.

Junior Bee

2007-10-21T20:58:00.000-07:00

hahah Junior was not happy in the bee outfit we got for him today.

pot roast

2007-10-21T20:41:00.000-07:00

Pot roast made in a heavy cast iron pot.

race pics

2007-10-19T18:04:00.001-07:00

Race pics came in. I looked like I was about to pass out. hahahaha

new resolution

2007-10-18T17:34:00.000-07:00

My new quarter year resolution: To have at least 1 original thought, and learn 1 new thing a week. I think it's really hard to write or think anything that's truly original. When I talk with friends, I am starting to make mental notes of where certain joke or story or comment come from. As I grow older, I think I am beginning to recognize the cyclical nature of things. Often conversation are rehashes of previous conversations. Ideas holds patterns of previous ideas. Its a bit disconcerning. It's easy to fall into a grove and just let habit oscillates between two comfortable end points. Laziness crypts ever so close. I need to make a concert goal if I want to get anything done, so that's my resolution.

been away

2007-10-15T21:35:00.003-07:00

no i am not missing. I recently got a facebook account and all my net activity have been on there instead. :) It's a terrible time suck.

Let's see what's been happening, work have been quiet mad lately so I have been really busy. Last weekend ardbark and I went to see Lust, Caution. I will have to write a review sometime.

We bought a new car this weekend yipeeee! And I ran the San Jose Rock n' Roll half marathon yesterday. I did 20 minutes slower than the race in June. :( I guess not training for 3 months and running on a busted ankle really made a difference. No more slacking from now on! I think I need to do more variety of thing... Anyone want to train for a triathlon with me?

Путин знает

2007-08-29T14:37:00.001-07:00

May be a new career for Putin after he finishes oppressing the masses and killing off his opponents. It's strange world out there.

おしりかじり虫 (oshiri kajiri mushi) ....

2007-08-28T12:58:00.001-07:00

Don't say I didn't warn you, the weird song totally get into your head ... it's about a butt-biting bug ...

most delicious looking meat ever

2007-08-25T21:21:00.000-07:00

We had a BBQ with K & M's family. 2 kids 3 dogs 5 adults. It doesn't sound like much but it was quite a mad house. Ardbark cooked up the most delicious looking grilled meat. umm ymmm ymm. Least you say I am selfish, here my dear, feast you eyes on them:

From 2007-08-25 BB...

2007-08-24T23:46:00.000-07:00

This week at work has been the same old crazy shit that hit the fan, and I am down in the basement shuffling away. The GM actually showed up in our lowly status meeting today, and started beating on me about the project schedule. Seriously, he is like 3 managers level remove from me, talk about hyper-micro-management. And it's not like its anything new, my director have been starving the project of resources for 4 month, and finally they realized my team of 3 is not going to do the work of 8. What the freak. I keep complaining to my direct manager, I think he eyes gloss over when I start bitching about stuff. ha ha. I really don't give a care privately, but I just hate sitting in meeting to defend something against the same old bull shit every week.

We are about to move out of our office to another building. I am going to miss our old place, away from the CTO and VPs. I don't miss the 'them', just all the food they order when they have meeting. Must be nice to have a big shot budget. Also, the old place is next to some money making group that keeps having party with junk food and drink. The "good" kind of drink. I will have to use my connection to get ping when they have their monthly drunken party again.

Self protrait

2007-08-19T20:21:00.000-07:00

I got my new lens last week (50mmf/1.4 & 70-200mmf/4 IS),

I love them~ so far. Thou I haven't had a chance to really try out the telephoto lens yet, but the 50mm prime is awesome! Last week, CM got me sign up on facebook. This is the picture I am using for it now, ha ha what a big dork.

In other news:

* TS moved in with us this week. We got 3 people and 2 dogs in the household now.

* My ankle is still sprained but I did 3 miler yesterday. Now I am really paying for it, I can't even walk without wobbling in wincing pain. Wearing an ankle brace 24/7, hope it get better soon or I am going die in the SJ Rock&Roll 1/2.

* Vacation count down starts today. 14 days until Bermuda !

SF half marathon

2007-07-29T18:40:00.000-07:00

Woke up bright and early at 430 today for the SF half marathon. I guess bright and early is a subjective term since there was only moonlight and cloud. T & L came and picked me up. They are a funny pair, cracked me up during the entire ride to the city. I was suppose to be at wave 7 but both me and T snucked into L's wave 5 section just because. We just strutted right into the fenced area. Orbital is suppose to be meeting us too, but I didn't bum into him until after the race started.

The first half of the course was nice and easy. Flat and cool. Then came the hills. They were just a bitch to do, one after another other. Steeper and steeper it got. When I reached the end of one and looked up, BAM! another even steeper hill was in front of me. It was pretty grueling, especially I didn't train on hills at all. The hills didn't stop jumping in front of me until the very end. Even the last bit to the finish line was an incline! It sure felt good to finish thou. :D

After the race, we walked what must been 5 miles uphill to meet up with L's friend near union square to have breakfast. The walked was worth it, coz they had these tiny swissdish pancake that was delicious! I over ordered, and stuffed myself with pancakes, sausages and hash brown.

The rest of the day I just bummed around in the jacuzzi since my brain and body have stopped working properly from exhaustion. Going to sleep. Ciao!

lens

2007-07-22T00:44:00.000-07:00

I got alerted about a good kite day today, and went over to the beach to test out some sport shot (plus hide some water for running tomorrow). It was super windy and it was a struggle to ride up to the beach. It took me forever, but lucky for me I wasn't too late, lots of people were still in water. Also there was already this teen with a Canon and a humogous EF 70-200mm f/2.8 UMS lens. I was standing with him with my tiny EF 18-55 kit lens. I felt so tiny. I chatted with him and his family for a bit. All that I time I kept thinking, 'how could this kid afford his lens!' Must be nice to have a rich family...

Anyways, I think I took like ~200 pictures. Out of the batch, most of them were bad. Only a handful of average ones and only 1 was decent. All the figures are way too tiny. I really need to get a better zoom lens. I chatted with people there, the kite boarding community is pretty tight knitted it seems. I am getting to know a lot of the faces. And I chatted with the pro afterward, and got an email address from him. I didn't even know there is a pro circuit for kite boarding. Here is the one and only decent one of the pro:

From Kiteboard II

manufactured beauty

2007-07-20T23:01:00.000-07:00

An effective ad by Dove about perception and manipulation. How media creates an unattainable image of beauty so we buy more crap to feel better with our low self-esteem. I know the trap is there but I still fall right into it. More producst and more material goods are going to make me prettier and happier... it will right?

mini

2007-07-18T09:16:00.000-07:00

Every morning I pass by this mini cooper ad on the entrance of the freeway. The ad billboard has a giant LED sign that has a different saying on it everyday. Today's was "Take a long cut". Ha ha. The sign makes me laugh every day. I really like their ad campaign. Very inventive. Here is another example and some others:

skunked

2007-07-14T00:15:00.000-07:00

Two days ago, when I let my little dog out to do his business, he darted away and came back with a stupid smirk on his face. I took a sniff and almost fainted. He got skunked, and he liked it. I immediately dumped him in a bath tub and started shampooing him. But it was too late, overpowering scent of puke, burned rubber and rotten meat has sipped into every nooks and crannies of the entire house. Patien Zero gave me the sad puppy stare, while soaking in the second round of shampoo. I said, 'ha! you deserve it'. The smell didn't go away. Ardbark came back and took a sniff and he almost fainted too.

Thank goodness for Google. We eventually found the formula to remove the stink. Hydrogen Peroxide + Baking Powder and dish detergent. Thou I still had to wash the dog 3 times to weaken it. Even now his fur still faintly reminds me of skunk, but then his fur has never look shinier

Doing business in China

2007-07-11T10:51:00.000-07:00

Just read an interesting Fortune article on
How Microsoft conquered China . The key paragraph in the article is Gate's admission that piracy is not all that bad:

...Today Gates openly concedes that tolerating piracy turned out to be Microsoft's best long-term strategy. That's why Windows is used on an estimated 90% of China's 120 million PCs. "It's easier for our software to compete with Linux when there's piracy than when there's not," Gates says. "Are you kidding? You can get the real thing, and you get the same price." Indeed, in China's back alleys, Linux often costs more than Windows because it requires more disks. And Microsoft's own prices have dropped so low it now sells a $3 package of Windows and Office to students...

I am just beginning to understand how different the Chinese business environment is. I am also reading James McGregor's book One Billion Customers. Being an expat Chinese it's like reading something wholly familiar yet completely foreign. Okay, have to get back to work, more on the book later.

umm....

2007-07-02T21:52:00.000-07:00

yeah i was re-reading my old blog back in easyjournal. I seemed to write a lot more before. Now i just put bullshit in. Filler of sort. I don't know what the hell i am doing, OK? I guess the blog kinda reflect what I am thinking. Just a lot of crap going on and I don't really want to think about it or deal with it. But even with bull crap I still managed to inadvertently hurt someone. I have been told straight to my face that I am insensitive to other people feeling, many times. Many many times. Apathy? I think thats the word that would describe it. Well its less apathy than just being selfish. Anyhow, I am stupid and I don't like thinking about consequences. Anyways, that person in question currently vowed never to read my blog again. So it really doesn't matter what I say, but I am really really sorry. sincerely sorry.

USB humping dog

2007-07-01T11:51:00.001-07:00

The first minute of the video made me laugh. USB humping dog humping away to cowboy tune. Do I need to say more? Click on it!