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!

Stuff It

It was bound to happen.

Really, how can you say you have raised kids unless one (or both) of them has stuffed something they shouldn't up their nose/ear? Sara has been sticking things out of her nose lately (usually her finger, which then goes in her mouth. Mmmmm...). She was playing with the pussy willow plant at my parents house when she started to complaint about her nose hurting. I thought she might have scratched her nose on the inside so I told her to stop and left it at that. The next day it occurred to Britt that whatever she was messing with might STILL be up her nose. So she took a flashlight and there it was. A quick trip to the doctor, a sturdy pair of tweezers, and out came...that thing. Sara didn't complaint. Apparently it was all lube up so it was easy to pop out.
We now return you to whatever meal that you were thinking about having. Good luck with that.

Fall Seasoning

I think I have found my new favorite tv show.

Since this is looking like the last season of Scrubs, I started to check out some new shows this season to see if my Tivo is going to get much of a workout this fall. I fell for the hype and watched Studio 60 on Sunset Strip and was really impressed. I have always been meaning to check out an Aaron Sorkin creation. I had one of the "always meant to watch it but never did" things with Sports Night and The West Wing, so if I wasn't going to get in now I won't watch this either. For those of you who have experience the Sorkin style of writing, this is like comfort food. For a novice like me, I was blown away from the quality of dialogue and just the smart wit. Now, people don't really talk like that in real life, but at the same time I like to think it encourages people to talk more intelligently. It's the witty dialogue that gets me to watch Gilmour Girls with Brittany every week. (there, I've admitted it. I watch Gilmour Girls)