Anniversary dinner

Ah yes, the dinner. Eating a a big part of this blog and I would be doing a disservice to you all if I don't at least mention the slightly fancy meal that I had for my anniversary. After last year's extravagantly enjoyable dinner at Gary Danko and before next year's...uh... something special for a nice round 10 years, we weren't really looking for anything extra fancy. As luck would have it, the semi-annual (that's twice a year, right? I always get bi-annual and semi-annual mixed up) Dine About Town coincides with our anniversary so I looked for an interesting place to try. By pretty much random chance I went with One Market, who has a recent reputation around the city and I am a fan of it's locale...well, on One Market, across from the Ferry Building, where I always try to take a stroll if I am in the area. My sister's favorite casual meal, Foreign Cinema, will have to wait until next time....

Overall, I would say that One Market is a good reliable place for good food. It didn't blow me away with any of their offerings, but it was all well prepared, well portioned, and overall satisfying. The ambiance can be a little on the loud side as there are a lot of business folk who work near by who drops by for drinks and a bite to eat. It may seem unromantic to you, but Britt and I like the bustling crowd as we can people watch a little bit. I don't want to say we like to make fun of other people... well yeah, we do that sometimes...but when you are married with kids, getting out around other adults is part of the fun. There is always alone time every night after the kids go to bed. You know, those couple of hours where you are half asleep while the TV is on sitting next to each other? What is more romantic than that?

Oh, but back to the food. At One Market, the Dine About Town special allows a choice of two starters, two entrees, and two desserts. It's a great deal for getting a full meal at a reasonable price. Britt went with the white poppy seed encrusted skate wing (following a hilarious discussion of whether Skate was fish or fowl. Thank God for my iPhone). I scanned the menu and decided that maybe if I forgo dessert, I can get something else for about the same price, along with a side (which for me, can count as dessert. I'm a savory man). So after much deliberation, I decided on Alaskan halibut "Sous Vide" (which I learned, is like poaching, but with the food in a vacuumed sealed bag) over bamboo rice, peanuts, shitake mushroom, shrimp-coconut nage (another poaching like method). As I said before, it was solid and satisfying, if not spectacular.



The sides you see behind the fish are what are known as "Big Fries", and big they are. Britt remarked that they look like French Toast sticks and indeed they do. I wanted to try them because I had heard that fries at One Market were fried in duck fat, and who wouldn't want to try that? I can tell you now that ...I can't tell if they are fried in duck fat. It was a delicious fry, don't get me wrong. How they get just the right doneness inside and out with just a thick cut is something to be admired. I couldn't even eat them all even though there were only seven fries (to the equivalent of what seemed like 3 potatoes). Any uniqueness of duck fat frying though, I can't really say...

Finally, good thing one of us had dessert planned. The kitchen would never be able to send their congratulations if Britt didn't order the Peach Brown Butter Tart with blueberry compote as follows:



Aww what a nice touch. It was delicious too. I like good vanilla ice cream. And yes, we did try to eat the letters. The chocolate was hard to get off the plate, but it was delicious. After a brief, and intense discussion, we decided that licking the plate would just be a bad end to the meal.

So there you have it. Another year capped of (or is it kicked off? ah well, one of those) with a good meal, good atmosphere, and most of all, with my wife of 9 years.

Happy 9 Years!

Oh my god that picture is from a long time ago. Granted, technically, this was while we were dating so it's more than 9 years old, but this picture is way funnier than some stuffy wedding photo that I could have showed you. I always liked my wind blown coif that day... and if I remembered correctly, I hurled after the tilt-a-whirl that day too. How romantic....

So yes, 9 whole years. Certainly no less significant because the big 1-0 is looming. It's still a wonder to think that is has already been that long. I don't really have anything profound to say, other than the somewhat generic, "It goes by fast" or "I wouldn't have changed a day of it." In today's society, we may already be viewed as a couple who have "made it". Our marriage have probably lasted longer than about 30 celebrity marriages combined. At the same time, I very much look forward to what lies ahead for us in the next 9, 19, or even 90 years. I may have read it in a fortune cookie once, but I believe the best part of marriage is the journey. An adventure that you take with someone who can share in the joy and excitement of each day. So from that perspective, my trip is only beginning. Through 2 kids (and working on a third), and a few interesting places we've called home, I wouldn't want to go get more stamps in our passport of life with anyone else. So Happy Anniversary, honey! We are just getting started.

Oh, here is us today. Right before dinner which I guess I'll share next time...

Get it your way (if that involves a flame thrower)

Is there such a thing as, too hot and fresh? Walked into the strangest Burger King in Stockton the other day. I don't know what it was before Burger King, but the kitchen is off to the side away from the cashiers where you can't see them at all. Then Hannah's kid's meal comes in the singed bag above. What exactly are they doing back there??

Not fresh (or REALLY fresh) Onion

This why you should store onions in a cool, dry place....and probably use it within two weeks.

Sharing Spam Musubi

Sharing Spam Musubi
Originally uploaded by Alanmine

Nothing says Spring and warmer weather than fair season. We are warming up ourselves at the Cherry Blossom Festival in Japantown in San Francisco. Fairs are big on crafts and culture, but honestly, we go for the food. While I didn't find the Japanese take on Funnel cake, I did expose Hannah to the wonderful world of Spam Musubi. No matter what your feelings are towards Spam, wrap it around some rice and you are pretty much good to go...

....The Apsaragus festival is next. Please don't let me have to use the port-a-potty too much!

Take Me Out to the Buffet...

The Oakland A's has decided this season to join a growing trend among Major League stadiums to offer an All-You-Can-Eat section. For one flat fee, you can choose to knock off yet another one of those pesky deadly sins off your list with ease. It just so happens that my work decided to organize a little outing to a baseball game, and took advantage of the group rate to make all the food even more of a deal. So I rounded up my daughter Sara to come help me try what $35 can get your average, hard working baseball fan besides the A's brand of baseball.

(side note here. The A's always has a better campaign than the Giants. It makes a Giants fan like me jealous. The A's always have a clever campaign that really engages their fans (all 36 of them) out there. Don't even get me started on the Giants "Gamers Play Here" campaign. Gamers don't whine about their teams inability to sell themselves, and apparently they also can't hit they way out of their shirt.)

Anyway on with the food...or rather the three flights of stairs you have to walk up to get the section. A stroke of genius really, get the fan's heart pumping a little bit before clogging it with an over abundance of food. Lawsuits averted!

Pictures speak louder than words here, so I'll let Sara show you what is on the menu...

First, we have the nachos. Not quite stale chips. Gobs of warm cheese from a can. How can you go wrong? (Does that count as a Haiku?)



A rare chance for Sara to drink soda. The only non-carbonated choice was Powerade. I'll take clear soda over the blue anti-freeze any day...

(You notice the tiny paper shot glasses they used to sodas? You would think since it's All-You-Can-Eat they would just give you a big cup. Go Green, Coliseum!)



Now that we are warmed up, the hot dog is next. Sadly, they serve the same hot dog as the Dollar Days at the park. Tiny little things that might as well have a toothpick in it. With a 4 item limit on every visit to the concession window, my personal first visit involved 3 hot dogs and a drink....



Next come the highlight of our meal, the ice cream sandwich. If it wasn't melting so fast in the warm afternoon, we would have gotten more than one at a time. Simple cheap ice cream sandwiches, but one of those things that I rarely splurge for at a game, so it was nice to get one. We haven't sampled everything yet, so we decided to go back for a second one later.....if we had any room left.



For some reason Sara always ask for popcorn at baseball games. I wished it was Cracker Jack myself. Decent size bag. I kept thinking to myself, this would have cost me 6 bucks at the theater!



No Cracker Jack but peanuts! At least some tradition holds. Little paper bags of peanuts. Would have been better warm, but I might have just been pining for too much nostalgia.

That's all we could handle. One of everything. We left with the popcorn and peanuts and the ushers made us throw the popcorn out before we left. I totally understand not letting people leave with food during the game, they wouldn't want people to be hooking up their friends in a different section, but the game was over, and they would rather me waste the food than bringing it home to eat. Fortunately the peanuts were in my pockets and they didn't notice (just happy to see you!). Out of spite, of course, I then gave the peanuts away to Zach who was sitting in another section. Take that, Oakland A's!!!

So in conclusion, it's probably not worth the $35 regular price. But for $25, we got what we paid for, which was cheap food, a sunny day, an A's win (versus the Eating Champ himself, C.C. Sabathia), and for Sara, a big stomachache when she got home....

Root, Root Root for the Home Team...(or Adventure in Parenting, Part II)

Now I may just have been being snobby when I found it difficult to go to Hannah's school functions, but she started to play Little League and you would think this would be more up my alley. I mean, I love sports, especially baseball. I have two daughters but fortunately they seem to like sports so far so I was glad that Hannah wanted to play baseball this summer. But maybe it's because she is playing with mostly younger kids, and I just don't have the patience for youth sports at such a young age. It's hard for me to watch practice. It's really slightly organized chaos most of the time. It doesn't help that the league is new and not the most organized. Brittany can find the humor of watching kids run around in circles(as you will hear), but me, I am subjected to two hours of this three times a week and it's hard. It's very, very hard....



Is it the scrum that occurs after every batted ball? Is it the kid that doesn't even bother touching all of the bases? Is it my daughter just standing there swinging her arms? The choices are endless...

We done read good.... (An Adventure in Parenting, Part I)

I tried to be a good parent. I really do. It's important to me to be as involved as possible with what my kids are doing. There are some things, however, that I admit are hard to really get into. Here are two of those things:

1) School sponsored family activities

Every once in a while Hannah brings home fliers from school for activities at school to promote families learning together and getting parents more involved with their child's education. Nothing wrong with that, right? Except that I think we do alright doing things with Hannah, and I just don't think we are the target group of such activities. The other night was something called Family Literacy Night. Hey great, the family reads together is a family that stays together, I get that. I already read to the kids, I thought, we read before bed every night. The kids love to read and look forward to new books. I think we do a good job promoting literacy...The excellent promotional work by Hannah's teacher, however, really convinced Hannah that this was a big deal, and therefore it meant a lot if we attended, so I begrudgingly went along to see what the big deal was about...

...And boy was it everything I thought it would be. The idea was good, there were different stations ran by teachers to promote certain aspects of reading. My critical eye, however, quickly noticed alarming things. First, Hannah was coloring pictures that accompanied different Haikus. At first I thought, "Oh great, never too early to teach kids what a Haiku was all about." Then I tried to read it...



You obviously can't read that, so let me read it for you:

"Shooting Star
For the First Time
Fantastic."

Now I haven't written a Haiku since probably the 7th grade, but I'm pretty sure those words above does not constitute a Haiku. Maybe in its original Japanese form this would be correct? Anyone? Help?

If that wasn't puzzling enough, on the back wall of the cafeteria, there were butcher papers full of words that supposedly came from children's books. The point was to see how many of the words your kid can both say and know the meaning. I started to go through them with Hannah, and we came upon this list:



Now you can return the favor and read it to me. Chirped? Ok, I guess that's what it says. Curiois? Sounds like an illness the Man with the Yellow Hat caught from a diseased monkey. Ohey? ok, bad penmanship. Gracefully. Clumsy....I have no idea what the next word is. Peculior? At that point we left. Hannah went home with a few new books. And you can bet I will proofread them before I let her have at it.

Thirsting for Change....

I miss my Tivo.

Not getting to watch TV on my own time is terrible to have to transition back into. Not getting to skip commercials is an even more painful change. So many commercials don't make any sense (Can anyone explain to me exactly what a HeadOn does? It's weird if not borderline dirty), and most just insults the audience intelligence.

Take the recent Propel commercial attacking Vitamin Water. They are in a gym telling people how there are 125 calories in a bottle of Vitamin Water, and how it's like 492 sit ups to work that off, and almost 5,000 extra steps to walk off that drink. The people are appalled! They don't want to do all that extra work! Good thing there's Propel, with only 25 calories per bottle! Yipee! Let's drink away!

I'm not a math genius, but 25 is still a one-fifth of 125. Sure that is less, but a one-fifth of 500 is still 100, and one-fifth of 5,000 is conveniently 1,000. If you walk up to those same people and ask if they want to crank out an extra 100 sit ups, wouldn't they be just as upset? Who wants to do "extra" exercise?? Come one people! Use your heads! Just drink some water!

What's Your Verb?

Ah March 4th, one of my favorite days of the year. The only day of the year that is a verb. I think I will celebrate this day of action...by sitting at home tonight and doing as little as possible.

I really am trying to take it easy at home as my right wrist is kind of sore. Oncoming carpal tunnel? Probably. Ironically enough, while a lot of the blame is on all of the computering I do at work (specifically, the mouse work. hence the pain on just the right wrist), my work setup is 10 times more ergonomic then what I have at home. The work computers are heavily restricted as far as using only sanctioned equipment though, so even though I have my own nifty cordless trackball mouse (that I "accidentally" took from my last job), I can't use it at my current job. The only trackball option here is this jenky thing that looks more painful to use then the mouse (if not physical pain, then certainly mental ones). So this all lead me to just take it easy with the computers at home. Nothing was on TV though (except a pretty good episode of No Reservation where Anthony Boudain was in Argentina watch calves get castrated....yum!), so I ended up watch TV.....on my laptop. Hey, it's still minimal use of the hands! (Tons of crude jokes I can be making here, but I won't. And you shouldn't either)

Being kind of a tech happy family, (as much as this poor family can afford, anyway) it was inevitable that my kids would get all into it too, especially with games...



No, Sara here has not been taken into the addictive realm of World of Warcraft by her father. (It's actually Hannah that likes to play WoW with me. My Blood Elf Paladin is just girly enough to be appealing to Hannah. She loves to slay those undeads in the Ghostland! Ok, enough nerdiness...) Sara is actually playing a very educational game on PBSkids.org (my laptop can never handle WoW anyway). The headset is a toy from her High School Musical dress up kit. Still, I don't think it's ever too early to get your child's frag count up. I wonder if she'll help me play some Army of Two (shameless EA plug)......

Let them eat bread

I am not a baker. It's too much pressure. Cooking is forgiving. You can skip an ingredient or make some minor substitution and it may not end up being what you started to make, but it will still taste good. When you are baking, almost every ingredient has their specific roles. So if you use the wrong item, or even in the wrong amount, your cookies might taste like cake, your cake might looks like a scone, and your scones just may looks like a cookie....dropped on the ground and stepped on.

"But Alan," you say, "you claimed that you like to cook for the geeky science of it. Baking is where all the science happens!" You're right. If I really am trying to bring out the Alton Brown in me, I must venture into the world of baking... Laziness still comes first, however, so when I caught wind of the No-Knead Bread phenomenon, I knew this was my chance to further my cooking repertoire.

Bread also works for me because so much of the baking world takes place in the land of desserts. I don't have that much of a sweet tooth (heh, try telling that to my dentist) and who wants to make food that you won't really enjoy? Bread-making, however, involves playing with yeast, which seems like entering the baking game at 'Advance'. I can't even keep the whole baking soda/baking powder thing straight, and now I have to grow some gas emitting little spores?? This better be as easy as they claim...




The first great thing going for it: Minimal ingredients! Flour, salt, yeast, and water. So far so good....



Mix all together and you end up with this gloppy mess. I believe the original recipe called it "hairy." Not much work far....



Then it sits....for a long time...this is the key, let the yeast slowly rise and develop the complexity of good bread. I was a little worry since it really should sit somewhere reasonable warm. But it's February at 10pm. Where would it be warm short of taking it to bed with me? The oven seemed like the only way to go. I just have to remember to tell Britt that it's in there in case she decides to preheat the oven for something while I am at work....yikes! ....Off to bed...

The timing of the whole thing is really the trickiest part. You should give it 12, preferably 18 hours to rise. It's pretty much impossible to do this on a weekday and still have it ready for that night's dinner. After much false starts (thanks to some untimely road construction outside my house), I decided to go ahead and just make it whenever I can. I may not eat it that day, but I'll still have fresh bread at home the next day. As luck would have it, we were being treated to Zachary's pizza the next day, so I didn't even need to worry about dinner when I got home. Just open up the oven to be greeted by my growing glop.

I was a little anxious and didn't get a picture of it after the long rise. I took it out and folded the glop once or twice, which turned out to be incredibly sticky. I think I lost a quarter of the bread by leaving it stuck to my hands. But I did the best I could and ended up with this...



After 15 minutes or so, I had to handle the glue dough again and try to form it into a ball before placing it onto a towel that has been floured or in my case, cornmealed. I don't really remember why I have cornmeal at home, so I figured this was a good time to use it. Then covered with another towel (more flour or cornmeal!) and let it rise again for 2 hours. This is where I went to have pizza. Mmmm pizza....



So this was the product that was going into the oven. Mostly round, but the best I could do without just baking my hands with the bread. I then came to my favorite part of the recipe because the baking takes place inside a dutch oven or other oven safe pot (like the one I used. I do not have a dutch oven. It is currently the other thing that I am coveting in my life, along with that camera that I begged you for last time). Baking is 30 minutes with the lid on, follow by 30 minutes or so without the lid, or until golden, brown, and delicious.



With all of the sloppy mess that I was handling, I was pleasantly surprised that what I ended up actually looked like bread. In fact, it looked like damn good bread. One problem though, by that point, I was all doughed out from the pizza I binged on, so as good as the bread looked coming out of the oven (and smelled even better), I just could not sample any that night without committing a deadly sin (gluttony, for those of you scoring at home). It tasted great the next day though, and the people that I shared the bread with seemed to agree.

It is somewhat time intensive, but the effort is minimal and the results well worth it all. It is such a cheap way to always have fresh bread around the house, that I am preparing another hairy glop as we speak. Let the baking begin!

Birthday Party

Sara & MK
Originally uploaded by Alanmine

Saturday was Sara's 5th Birthday party, and as strange as it sounds, the weather cooperated and it rained for most of the afternoon. You see, being an election year, my street is scheduled to be repaved. The original plan was for the construction to take place right through the weekend of the party, which means no parking for anyone on the street. Luckily, it did rain (not as much as on Jan 4th though, the weatherman on TV said) and construction was delayed and party guests were free to take park wherever they want.

Of course, that meant 30 some odd people were crammed into my smallish house with no place to hide. It was festive and cozy, but I think it went pretty well. Thank you all who came and ate and partied. We readily admit that we are terrible at thank you cards so we didn't keep very good track of the many, many presents Sara receive. Just know that they were all very appreciated (even the messy and loud ones).

Of note:

- Who knew a plastic afro would be such a hit? I think I will start a Photo Set on Flickr of people in the 'fro. Stay tune, but here are some quick samples....

- Occasions like this allow me to play with my sister's fancy photography equipment. It's fun and I like how it makes me look like I am good at photography (which I most certainly am not). At the same time, it makes me want one SOOOOO bad. If anyone knows where I can get a cheap Nikon D70/40/60, please let me know. I don't know how much longer I can hold out and there really are more responsible things I can do with my tax refund.

- The first picture at top is currently my favorite picture anywhere. I told you that camera makes me look good....the beautiful subjects doesn't hurt either.

- I still can't believe we never took advantage of the Valentine's Clearance sales to decorate Sara's party before. A Love party every year! wait...that doesn't sound right....especially when she becomes a teenager....ack!

I Eat Your Brussels Sprouts! I Eat It Up!

Oh, a quick word about the brussels sprouts. I love roasted vegetables. It is my preferred way of cooking almost any vegetables. The dry heat intensifies the flavor rather boiling it away in a big pot of water. It started with asparagus, and then broccoli, and now I even eat brussels sprouts!

(Ok, a clarification here. I don't actually remember ever having brussels sprouts before. I may have as a young kid, but I don't recall, so I was going along with their poor reputation along with everyone else. Britt claims to love it and always ask me to make it for her, so I figured if I was going to start, I would at least apply the best method possible)

Thanks to my new Food hero, Mark Bittman of the NYT for the inspiration. I liked it with a little balsamic vinegar, Brittany liked it the way it was. It didn't quite pass the Hannah test, but that might be shooting a little high....

The Food Section

So apparently I've been kicked out of sharing my food exploits from my "food band" because everyone wants to have their own solo projects. I am certainly not the Paul McCartney of the group, (or even the Justin Timberlake...maybe I can be the Joey Fatone of the group. "Fat One" I love that....) but I have been a little more inspired to try some new things lately, courtesy of all the food blogs that I am suddenly subscribed to (thank you Google Reader, you have pretty much monopolized the last remnants of my free time), so I need to share things somewhere. (wow, I just looked back and realized that last sentence was like 89 words. my old English teachers all probably hate my right now) So the 'mine has a food section as well...

There is a general theme to the cooking renaissance . First, it must be relatively cheap. No running out to the store and buying exotic things like saffron , Italian ham, or fancy French goat cheese (or red meat, with the way food prices are going....har har). All of those things are delicious, but just too costly to buy, for possible one time use only. The family is in the midst of trying to be better about finances, so along with living without cable for a while (and Tivo! Nooooo!), we are sacrificing as much eating out as possible. So I am cooking to save money, not for extravagance.

Secondly, it must be relatively fast. The second thing I usually hear when I get home from work is how my kids are starving and about to pass out (they should get honorary Oscars. just take one from the Coen brothers. Do they really need two?). I have probably an hour or so before they walk into the kitchen with forks and look like they are ready to pick out my meaty parts (too many of those parts, if you ask me) for dinner. So I have to be creative sometimes. If I am extra good I can make some preparation the night before, but honestly, when have you known me to be so prepared and un-lazy? (Yes my wife is home and can totally handle dinner, or at least help. But cooking has sneaked its way up to being a genuine hobby with me and I like to try new things, along with the challenge of making things my picky kids will eat. You will just have to live with my wife's baking after you get through my dinners...)

So with that in mind, I decided to go with a classic and made Tilapia with broccoli in parchment paper packets. Not only is it easy, but a cinch to clean up, and the kids truly feel extra special getting their own little packet to open up. It was a last minute decision so I just threw a bunch of stuff together. There is some inspiration from here, but what I ended up with bares little resemblance.

First I cut the broccoli into small florets and place them in a bowl. I tossed with olive oil, soy sauce, and a little salt and pepper. I also wanted lemon juice and realized that I was all out, so I went out to my yard and picked two blood oranges off my tree. We have some decent size fruit this year for the first time, but they are WAY sour, so I thought that would be perfect as a lemon substitute. Besides, the color is cool....



I place some broccoli on each of the parchment paper sheets, and then placed the tilapia in the bowl and rolled it around in the remaining sauce. I placed it on top of the broccoli, and crimped closed the packets, making sure that there is enough room for the steam that will be doing the cooking.



The packets were placed in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes. Let the packets rest for about 10 minutes before opening, being careful of the hot steam escaping. Made some cous cous while the fish is cooking as a side. Roasted some brussel sprouts while the fish was cooling, and a meal was completed....

Snow Day

As promised, I took a day off during the kid's ski week vacation and took them to the snow. We realized that it was Sara's first time in the snow and that is really a shame. We tagged along with a friend's family and ended up at a snow park that is barely two hours away. Why didn't we do this sooner? The kids had a ball, getting braver as the afternoon went on and going higher. Unfortunately, our seldom visits to the white flaky stuff also meant that we don't really have the cloths for it. The rain boots you see on the kids are cute, but they are far too loose and snow got into them easily. Sara went through 4 pairs of socks and is now the proud owner of $8 wool socks, courtesy of the snow park store. If it were up to me, she will be wearing those on all future trips to the snow....until she's 16.



As a bonus, I also learned something that probably everyone who lives in the snow already knows: Never park your car next to a slanted roof full of snow. I had never seen snow smash a windshield before, and if I wasn't feeling so bad for the guy, I would have taken a picture to show you. Alas, you will have to just watch my kid in action:

Get it while it's hot!

Overexposed events like the Super Bowl makes it hard for me to be motivated enough to say too much about it (and from the scarcity of post here, one would think not many things motivate me to say anything here). I didn't have too much rooting interest in the game, so I was glad it was entertaining. For once, I think the game was better than the commercials...

...I did come across this for sale at Amazon though, which I thought was pretty funny. I wonder if they also sell those Dewey Defeat Truman posters too....

Watching MORE TV?

Out of habit, while I flip through my daily newspaper (who still reads newspapers? like on paper? apparently I still enjoy scrubbing the newsprint off my fingers everyday), I scan the back page of the entertainment section where the tv listings are to see if anything of interest is on. Lately, of course, I always end up with the conclusion that, well, nothing is on! I have as fond of memories of American Gladiators as the next guy (Larry Csonka! Nitro!), but on one of the networks? in primetime? what's next? update of Knight Rider? (oh wait) Reinvent Bionic Woman? (what? damn it!) Cast Dakota Fanning in the new Small Wonders? (Yes!)

The way I see it, there are two things preventing a resolution to this writer's strike business. First, the writers have not done a very good job of getting the average American to give a crap. Ask any Joe Schmoes in Middle America if they know that the writer's strike was still going on and at best, you'll get an answer to the effect of, "The writer strike? Is that still going on?" How would picketing a Hollywood studio lot bring your cause to the public? Last time I checked, I don't happen by the set of CSI:Walnut Creek on my way to work, and I certainly don't see anyone telling me that they are getting robbed of their online content royalty on my way to Safeway. Worse, while the writers are whining in their little corner of the world, the networks are getting away with sprinkling just enough new programming into the schedule that people don't even notice something it changed. There has been a steady increase in the hour of reality programming anyway, so what's 3 or 4 more opportunities to see what people would do if they were tied up to an alligator while trying to travel across the country trying to hook up with their high school prom date for a chance to win a hundred bucks and a bottle of ketchup? and I suffered through all sorts of interruptions during Heroes last season, isn't it coming back on in a few weeks just like last time? Television executives have effectively trained your average viewer to have basically no expectations when it comes to their programming, so really, no one gives a crap. How are the writers going to drum up any kind of support? (I know movies are technically affected too, but we are still a couple of months away from the well running dry on those...wait, Rambo opens this week? ah geez....)

I know one way that the writers can rally the public and put more pressure on the movie execs (which, incidentally, was my second point from earlier, but I am way past an organized rant by now), keep count of the length of the strike! Nothing revs up the urgency in a situation (and that is exactly what the writers need at this point) like some big number highlighting how long it has been going on? Does anyone know how long the strike have been going on? No! If you got into writing because numbers aren't your strong point, count weeks or something! Wouldn't you be more concerned if you turned on the TV and were told that we are entering week 13 of the strike, with no end in sight!?!? Come on! You guys create drama for a living! This has not occurred to any of you? Did all of you at one time wrote for the WB??

(Stepping off the frothy soap box)

For me, I think the strike has done me a lot of good. Mostly a financial decision, but made simpler because of the current situation, I have canceled my satellite TV subscription. For getting 200 channels there wasn't really ever anything on anyway. I will probably breakdown and resubscribe sometime after baseball season start (hear that, Comcast? DirectTV? I am declaring my free agency), but for now, I don't feel like I am missing anything at all.

And thanks to the magic of technology, there is more content online than ever. Through the magic of services of Joost, Hulu, Fancast, and even Netflix, I can actually watch more TV than ever, in bed on my laptop. So really, thanks you writers for taking a break so that I can catch up. I am trying to watch some recent shows that I never got around to the first time. I started watching, from the beginning, Arrested Development, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and that 800lbs gorilla known as Lost. So I'm going to stop looking at that depressing TV grid everyday (I switched to a weekend only newspaper subscription) and start figuring out how to best watch my TVs on my iPhone....

I Don't Think We Are In Kansas Anymore....

And you thought the storm last week was a hassle for you...

Of course, the kids now have the roomiest yard to play in....

End of another year?

I thought as we draw close to 2007, I will acknowledge the year that was by finally taking part in one of its technologically hip trends. Yes, this was the year that the social networking phenomenon took off and I finally succumb and joined one. It's not really the whole networking with friends that I really care about (although it does seem to do some of the keeping in touch with others that I am otherwise so poor at). I just want to play with all of the web apps that are developed for such sites. So if you ever visit my page, don't be distracted by the endless random social applications (or not, it's experimental that way). As I am shocked and surprised that anyone reads this blog, I will be pretty impressed that you leave me a message as well.

Oh, I never mentioned which site I finally joined, huh? I have been telling everyone that since I am such a Google whore that I want to join Orkut, with the tag line of, "It's the number 1 social networking site in Brazil!" In the end, I will just have to play with OpenSocial apps elsewhere....

Parental Quiz

So when I open the fridge and see this:

Should I think:

a) Man, if there is room for individual pieces of candy in the fridge (it's on the bottom shelf too), I obviously need to do some grocery shopping.

b) Well, at least they want to take care of the candy they have and not let it melt in my couch.

c) Why haven't I eaten their Mr. Goodbar yet??

The crazy things kids do....

New! Bigger! Improved!

As much as some are seeing me develop into an Apple whore, my heart (or flower, if you want to keep the dirty metaphor going) already belongs to another. If you are talking about me willing to at least try to use every product that they spit out, just put the word Google in front of it and I'm there. I admit I did stray for a while there during the getting-to-know-you honeymoon phase with my iPhone, but with Gmail now supporting IMAP, the Google Reader coming out of beta, and my continual quest to better organize myself with the help of Google calendar (sharable so my wife/secretary can do the actual tracking of dates), I am back to being a faithful follower of all things G. (incidentally, if you are one of the lucky people with a few shares of their stock, I am waiting for my residual in the mail)

All of which leads me to introduce the newest feature of this humble blog. To the right you will see all my shared items from my Google Reader.....Who gives a crap what I am reading while at work everyday, you may ask? ... Well I don't know, what are you doing here now reading about my technically promiscuous ways? As you will probably notice, the items are heavy in tech and food items. Because if there is one thing that I like to do, it's eating good food and playing with gadgets...preferably both. (I'll be awaiting my invite)

Save Your Allowance....

Caught up on some TV today and watched the 100th episode of Family Guy. Stewie finally kills Lois, and it leads to an entertaining cliffhanger...then I see this blurb on the 'ol Internet...

Boy hires hitman to kill parents ground denies Playstation, TV

I think there is a social message that I can be ranting about, but my soapbox is in the shop, and I'm sleepy...

On a related note, I am almost ashamed to say that new Hitman movie looks good, and I never played the video game.

Public Service Annoucement

IMG_8355
Originally uploaded by Alanmine

Now, I understand people not giving out the best candy on Halloween. I would buy candy and keep the good stuff for myself too. I also understand you getting rid of candy that you don't want. I have also sorted through my kid's bounty, pulled out the crappy stuff, and gave them out to the 15 year old kids who come by at 9:30 at night with no costumes and a pillow case. But please, use a little common sense. Please do not give out those old chocolate laying around thinking, "Gee, we should get rid of those cute little chocolate that looks like little bottles of wine." Because kids biting into razor blades are no fun, but making my kids drunk before bed is not acceptable either. Thank you. *cue cheesy music*

Losing it all...

As if the Cal football season isn't being flushed down the toilet fast enough, now our most famous moment in the sun is being surpassed. Life as a Golden Bear is not good right now.....

(Got to admit though, this is a pretty awesome play in a totally ridiculous way)

Who needs the Kwik-E-Mart?...I Doooo!!

As a tie-in to their long awaited movie, the Simpson has a promotional deal with 7-11 to give the Kwik-E-Mart experience at their stores. As an even deeper tie-in, a few selected stores were.... er.....selected to be completely transformed to look like an authentic Kwik-E-Mart. Now if that isn't worth a little trek down the peninsula, I don't know what is. So down in Mountain View, nestled between the Computer History Museum and Google headquarters, one can live like any citizen of Springfield and get themselves a donut with pink icing and sprinkles, and wash it down with a Squishee or perhaps a Buzz cola. If all of that isn't enough of a surreal experience, how about...

- We waited in line to basically shop in a 7-11. How crazy is that????



- At the Computer History museum, there was a wedding taking place....I don't even know what to say to that.

- At said museum, at said wedding, we heard a mariachi band playing....I need to be invited to weddings like that more often.



- While in line at 7-11 (let us digest that last statement again......), the person regulating the line at the door was heard soliciting a job from the guy in front of us (who was wearing a Google t-shirt) I should have known that Apu probably has a Computer Science degree and probably worked at a call center for Adobe in Bangalore before becoming an entrepreneur in Springfield.

Anyway, they ran out of Buzz Cola, I didn't feel like buying overpriced Krusty-O's, and none of us were brave enough to eat donuts with bright pink frosting (well, Hannah wanted one, but this was one of those rare instances where my good parenting sense kicked in).


(Thanks Sis for the help with the pictures)

Item #463...

...things you would not see in your house if you did not have children.


Courtesy of my iPhone!

Karaoke Sara

Sara singing Seasons of Love from Rent. I don't have anything to add. It speaks for itself.

Temptation

I want to give a sincere thanks to all of you.

Really, I appreciate your efforts.

You have used very good reason and common sense to try and talk me out of it You tell me it's just not my time yet. If I can just wait, it will only get better.

Well, I couldn't do it. It sucked me in like nothing ever before and I found that I can resist it no longer...

Purely a Business Decision...

Enjoy the scene now, the tickets will be sold soon. I have to get that iPhone fund going somehow...

Bad Luck

Losing your driver's license mere weeks after your renewal. (My last license lasted a good 5 years) - Bad

Having to spend my lunch break sitting at the DMV, surrounded by the weirdest looking bunch of people ever. (Doesn't normal people need to go to the DMV anymore?) - Worse

Coming home to a letter from the Coliseum letting you know that they have a "property" of yours. - Priceless!

Where's Webster? (not the short kid)

I had a discussion with a co-worker today where she told me that she doesn't think she is "nerdy", but that she was more "dorky". I didn't know what the difference was except that she claims that dorky is just basically a little un-cool where as you are nerdy if you are a math major or play a lot of WoW. (I only hit .500 on that one). Well I looked it up and came up with these definitions:

1. Slang A stupid, inept, or foolish person
2. Vulgar Slang The penis.

I don't think either of those about my co-worker. Maybe she should find a new term to describe herself, like ghee, or even, chipmonkey! Suggestions welcomed.

I Really Am Not That Geeky...

Breakthrough brings 'Star Trek' teleport a step closer

Disclaimer:

- I am not a Star Trek fan at all. I've seen a few, mostly Next Generation ones, but that's it.
- I do not claim to completely understand what the article is talking about. For some reason, quantum physics fascinates me. I like how I, at best, barely wrap my mind around the ideas. Somehow, having something just beyond my mental reach is stimulating.

Of course, I can say the same about woman. (Probably not the only time women has been compared to quantum physics)

Yattai!

Serial dramas are so much better when watched all together. How many of you have had '24' marathons? Who is still planning to finally rent 'Lost' season 1 and start getting into the mythology? (Is it just me?) Heroes lost a significant number of viewers this year because it kept going on extended leaves where people was held in suspense for weeks at a time. I think I might have quit caring if I was put in that position as well. But I got to the party late, and sure watching it online leaves some things to be desired (No more Orville Redenbaucher commercials!!!!), I took two and half weeks and watch 23 pretty engrossing chapters of ordinary people discovering extraordinary chapters. Like any good fantasies, your level of suspense must be...er..suspended quite a bit to fully get into the story (my favorite moment of the finale: Sylar stopping bullets before they hit him, only to be skewered by Hiro running at him with a sword. Was he distracted by Ali Larter's hot body too?), but I had a good run, cuddling up to Britt in bed with the laptop.... Now if anyone wants to check out some resourceful folks wandering around an island in the same outfit for 3 years, I am ready to go....

A Good Run

3 more chapters online, one finale on the Tivo.

So I was about a week off. I figured NBC would at least keep them online that long. With the announcement of the DVD release (with HD-DVD version too. Another reason to get my Xbox 360 fixed), and the launch of summer contents like graphic novels to keep people interested, maybe I had more time than I thought. There's a lot on how TV viewership is down this season and this should really get those Nielson folks and revamp the way they measure TV viewing. Does anyone have on record that I have just spent the past 2 weeks revolving my life around their show? Does it make it into any widely published totals how many people have shows on their Season Passes on their DVR? All these datas are more available than we think (Tivo knew how many people hit the rewind button to see Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction). It's time it all gets factored into the equation. Despite the amount of crap reality shows that clogs our airwaves out there, we are still watching TV. We are watching TV differently than our parents, so please stop counting us like them. Perfectly good TV shows will only suffer because of it.

A Stroll in the Park

You should be glad to hear that my couch-potato fest was interrupted by exercise. I carefully say exercise, rather than a race, because the Bay to Breaker is really about 1000 people who likes to run and 59,000 who likes to wake up early and be drunk by 9am. It's good to know so many people are versatile enough to stagger down the street first thing in the morning as well as they do last thing at night....Anyway, people always ask the same two questions when they hear that I was there, so to be efficient, I'll answer them here and just hand people a card with this blog's address. Remember, there are no stupid questions, just stupid people. (I am tired of the questions getting the blame. Another tactic by the liberal left, I think)



1) How was it? - Honestly, that is exactly what most people ask me. Aside from just generally being a stupid question (except for when I ask my wife that in bed, which is a different, NC-17 blog), being at a Bay to Breaker is pretty much what you would think it would be. For me, it's like attending a convention of live-action bad jokes. Everywhere you turn...

- A priest, a bear, and Darth Vader are crossing the street....

- Nacho Libre was pushing a stroller at the park...

and my personal favorite...

- Malificent asked the nun to hold her bag before using the port-a-potty...

...I wish I had a punchline for even of those these jokes. Maybe that's a different race....



2) Did you see any naked people? - Really, you all know that the quality of any possible nude runners would not exactly be aesthetically pleasing. Why must all of you torture me by reminding me of the traumatizing images? In short, yes, mostly male, and it is certainly bigger than yours. Now please never speak of this again...

Still in Pursuit...

Ok, so I didn't quite make it. Monday is here and I am just finished with chapter 14. The quest is still on though, like Hiro on his mission, I am still determined to catch up before NBC pulls them off of their website and force me to buy their DVD (of course, if I am obsessing like this now, I think the chances of me owning the DVD is good). I thought I would get through more of them yesterday after the Bay to Breakers, but I was too tired after dinner (and stiff. There should be a Frankenstein impersonation contest after next year's race) to watch more than a few. So two more down today, the finale is on the Tivo (right next to the Departed. You get the feeling that I save my TV watching just like me saving up my blog entries. Every six months, it's all I can do...), and I am going to be TIRED at work tomorrow (more than usual, of course).

Day...whatever it is...

.....Counting was never my strong point....

Scrubs is probably my favorite show on TV. I was glad that it's coming back for one more season. I'm even content that the next season will be it's last....so I wasn't able to stiff-arm the season finale in my quest to catch up on Heroes. I did catch chapter 6 afterwards, so I won't have to stay up all weekend...calling in sick Monday, now that's a different possibility...

...Friday was a day of higher determination. I was doing a few random things on World of Warcraft (I am just easily obsessible, aren't I?...if that is a real word, anyway) and it lead me to a later start. I talked myself into the fact that it's Saturday tomorrow that I watched chapter 8 right after 7. So 15 episodes to go, and I better get started. But first....

- In case you forgot, in chapter 6, future Hiro's message to Peter was the fame "Save the cheerleader, save the world" line. I can be in on it now! (I know, those of you who watched it 5 months ago think I am just so cute right now...)

- My sister just alerted me to the fact that they are also showing Heroes on Sci-Fi channel. I might have invested the time to watch it on a real tv, but the online version is so much more flexible. I would enlist my Tivo to help, but I have some stuff saved on there so I don't have room to be recording a whole marathon. (Including The Departed that I rented from Amazon Unbox. Rentals straight to your Tivo! I'll let you know how the quality is...uh...Tuesday.)

Day 4 of Heroes Catch Up

Due to the premiere of Zach playing in the pit band in Damn Yankees in Stockton, and an inconvenient (albeit brief) interruption of my DSL service, there was no Heroes last night. I'll have to wait another day to hear what Hiro had to tell Peter from the future.

4 days for 19 episodes...the marathon is definitely on for this weekend...around my Bay to Breaker commitments Sunday morning. It should be fun....

The Race is On...

(Don't you hate it when someone disappears for months and just comes back like nothing happened? No explanations for where they have been for the past four months? I know I do)

Recently, I have been wanting to get on the Heroes train. At first I figured, "I already missed the beginning, I'll just wait until the season 1 DVD comes out." Then I remember that the episodes are available online, so I've been meaning to check if it was just recent episodes or the whole season. After overcoming the procrastinations and laziness I finally found out that the whole season is online. Upon hearing that the season finale is Monday, I have an need to get caught up and watch the finale with everyone else on tv (watching shows on the computer, while, convenient, still isn't the most comfortable). So with 6 days until the end, the race is on to watch the last 19 episodes. This will probably mean a mini marathon this weekend, so if anyone want to join me for a few hours of comic book fun, give me a call.

- So far the story is pretty engaging and they balance the different characters pretty well. It's hard not to like the (mis) adventures of Hiro and Ando the best. I've always been a fan of Ali Larter and her Niki character is pretty hot. I hear her story gets kind of dumb later on, but as long as I get to watch her, I'm ok with it.
- Seeing the various handiwork of Sylar is pretty cool too. It's not everyday that you see a guy frozen solid with the top of his head sawed off (unless you watch CSI, I suppose, which I don't). My favorite so far though is seeing Claire on the autopsy table with her chest opened. Neat!
- I'm trying to watch the whole season in a week also because I am afraid that after the finale on Monday, NBC will soon pull it off their website and I will really have to wait for the DVD in August. So I better hurry and get back to it...I'll let you all know my progress as the week goes on....

A Million Little Pieces....

There is a very simple rule when it comes to getting presents for my kids. It must not be noisy, or we will keep it at your house. Over time, some amendments have had to be made (playdohs are not really recommended either. Sara was pounding it into the carpet the other day with her Whack-a-Mole hammer), and I think it is time for yet another friendly reminder. My daughters are older now and can handle smaller toys without worrying about them being choking hazards. But this rite of passage does not simply mean that they are moving from the toddler-friendly Duplo to real Legos, with smaller toys some smaller parts. Smaller parts have a ways of being everywhere, from couch cushions to pockets to (too often) the bottom of my foot (ouch!). My kids are not (like I imagine many other kids their age) exactly the neat types so five minutes of playing Battleship turns into 2 hours of getting them to take the pegs out of my shoe (ouch again!). So please, it may seem like a good idea to get the girls the Totally Real Barbie playhouse (with real toilet flushing sounds!), but 50 little pieces later, that do NOT have some storage place to return to, just will not last very long in my house. I'm as glad as anyone that Barbie has a dining room set complete with flowers in a vase, but take a good look now. I doubt that all of these pieces will remain for very long.



BTW, thanks Jason for the present! The girls love it!

mERry christmas

Merry Christmas, all! I hope that all seven of you that reads this blog had a good Christmas. Personally, I have decided this year that I am finally over getting too much stuff. Sure I enjoyed getting a new game to play with on my Wii (no Wii jokes today, but I foresee a Wii-ful 2007), or a good book to read (both of which I got. Thanks everyone). But I also noticed I get a lot of "stuff" that I just don't need nor particularly want cluttering my house. Probably due to the fact that my house is now smaller with new tenants squeezing in, but I am so not about random boxes of winter peppermints or cute little penguins in santa hats singing Jingle Bell all over my house. Thoughtfulness is still the most important thing to me. A little something that you actually set aside 2 minutes to think about what I would like is all I need. That even applies to gift cards. I used to think that gift cards were the height of apathy in gift giving. Today, however, I think it would be great if someone knows that I would occasionally enjoy a Coldbuster from Jamba Juice or would like to download the latest Norah Jones cd from iTunes. Now if you give me a Petsmart gift card, then please, allow me to share some snowmen marshmallow chews with you....

Incidentally, I am happy to report that Santa does indeed know where you are in case you were not home with those sugar plums dancing in head (or pink elephants, depending on how much "help" you need to get through being with your family). Britt started having some lower abdominal pains while we were at her cousin's house on Christmas Eve. She tried to tough it out but it got worse while we were back at our house for a gift exchange with just her immediate family. So we rushed through some of the present openings (no problem for my kids) and were off to the emergency room at Kaiser at around 10pm Christmas Eve. In keeping with the industry average, after an IV with some morphine, a pelvic exam, a CT scan with a delicious barium beverage, and a lot of waiting, we were out of there in six hours. There is nothing like driving around at 4am Christmas morning. A peace that is hard to find at any other time of year...especially on 23rd St. in Richmond...So that was Christmas...well, after a few hours of sleep, we retrieved the kids from my parents and the orgy of presents continued. Britt is slowly recovering. They believed it was a cyst that had ruptured. She sends her greeting...


(She will probably be none too pleased if she knows that I posted that picture....but since it's technically a festive occasion, I might use it as our Christmas card next year....)

Too sick to play with my Wii

A trip to Stockton, some big football games to watch, a Wii to wait in line for....and I did almost none of it. I've had what was later termed, a "viral respiratory infection compounded by dehydration". I can tell you what it was to me: bad ouchies. So I watched some football in two hour increments, missed enough work to put in a day and a half work week for Thanksgiving, and have now drank enough liquids to knock down a levee or two. Missing out on that Wii though...well...

...so the day of the Wii launch comes and I was getting all caught up in the hype. I heard that a Toy's R Us in San Mateo was having a special midnight opening for the occasion so I thought that would be a good place to try and get one because:

a) the special event (only 18 Toys'R'Us in the country were doing it) maybe meant that they would have more instock then your typical Gamestop.
b) a midnight opening means not having to sit outside in the middle of the night.


The the whole "too sick to get out of bed" thing came and I was bummed. I was glad that Britt was around to take care of me, but she decided to do one better. She offered to go out and wait in line anyway so I would maybe still get one. Now I suppose having someone around to get stuff for you is nice, but really, how many of you have a significant other that is willing to wait in line out in the cold for hours so you can wave a remote around and potentially ignore her as a thank you? Well she took her brother out at around 7 or so and found a long line already there. They figured they made the trip so they would wait around. Time came to pass out the tickets and she ended up with ticket numer 111 of 150.



I'm sure there were all sorts of fascinating stories of her being in line, meeting people, etc. But I wasn't there so I can't tell you any of them. In short, she got me Wii and the Zelda game to boot.



I still haven't been able to play it a whole lot with Thanksgiving weekend keeping me busy, but what I have played is pretty cool. My wife have been called the coolest, and others want to know if she has a sister (she doesn't). I just know that I am lucky. And you are all welcome to come play with my Wii anytime -- when my wife isn't playing with it.

Tricking and Treating

I've came down from my sugar high to give a quick round up of Halloween at the Kwong household. Fortunately my kids are still at that age where really, I don't let them eat most of the candy they beg out of strangers on Halloween...before I shake your head at my exploitations of my flesh and blood, remember that I walked the neighborhood too! I can't help it if I am not as cute as the little lion or the sparkly Tinkerbell. Consider my cut the service fees....

I always like the houses that give something different. Besides the razor blade apples and Bibles, the girls got some pretty neat stuff. There is almost always one house that gives a matchbox car, which I am beginning to suspect is from the collector who buys cases of cars and once a year gives out the crappy ones he doesn't want. Then there was the house that gave this big fancy German chocolate bar (see? my kids would never be able to appreciate that one)....my favorite was when we were almost home and a police car pulled over and offered us candy from a bowl they had in the car (wonder if they had confiscated the candy earlier from some bad kids). My least favorite was when we were three blocks from home and the kids from one house told my kids to come in and pick some candy from their bounty strewn out on the living room floor. Who taught these kids to re-gift already? Not to mention the whole luring of young kids into their house....crazy....

I really wanted to bring the girls over to Jason's for the festive movie, but we walked around way more than I had originally planned and Hannah fell into a sugar induced coma quickly after returning home.....oh, a picture. I guess you all would rather see that...

Maybe I should be a scalper...

Thanks to the fine folks of Oregon St., I decided to take an early look at what it would cost me for tickets to the Rose Bowl this year. It would be pretty swell to see the Blue and Gold on New Year's Day in person. The few outlets that I found where someone was selling tickets, the lowest price I saw was $498.....for one ticket. I'll let that sink in for a moment.....

So I guess I'll have to make plans for a Rose Bowl party at my house. Or know someone who knows someone who can sneak me into the halftime show or something....egads.


On a not really related ticket note, I also see that the latest Canadian children import, the Doodlebops, will be in the Bay area in February. If you don't know who they are, you probably don't have kids nor have babysat recently. I am also taking donations to pay for those tickets for my kids. If you are having trouble deciding which fund to contribute to......please, send me to LA.

City Pride

Psh, and people shudder and make jokes when they hear that I live in Richmond. According to the latest research, we aren't even in the top 10 of the worst! Number 11, baby! Woot!