Mm, port and icewine ...

I like to inform people when I find things I like. Here are a couple of adult beverages I am recommending.

Montevina Zinfandel Port: It is less than $20 and not really bad at all. Here is a little description I stole from another website. "Montevina's non-vintage Amador County Zinfandel Port displays a fascinating aroma of raisined berry fruit, chocolate, toffee, caramel and orange peel. The wine's rich, lush, grapey flavors also evoke raisin, cocoa, coffee and toffee. This delicious, fortified wine is the perfect accompaniment to chocolate desserts, walnuts, and rich goat and bleu cheeses."

Jackson-Triggs Vidal Icewine 2005: I never had icewine before this wine. So I have a reference to compare. However, this does not stop me from wholeheartedly recommending this wine. I just wanted more after it was gone. Here is a blogger with a review.

Holy crap, two copters clashed midair?

Last Friday, two Phoenix area news copters collided with each other in midair. All four people involved perished.

Okay, how does this happen? I am still dumbfounded about two news copters following a police chase colliding midair. I mean it is not like cars where there are only 2 dimensions to work with. They have 3 dimensions. What is the chance of that? Apparently, it is a noted danger for these pilots, but I would think the chances are pretty slim.

Affordable organic local milk?

I was grocery shopping yesterday when I found out Shamrock Farms now sells organic fat free milk. I don't drink much milk so I would pay a little more for this organic milk as long as it is not too much more. Better yet, it is local. Here is a link to the Shamrock Farms Organic page.

It is good to know that I can pay about $3 for a half gallon of hormone and antibiotic free milk! Score one for me.

A week of lying low ...

I did very little this week. For one thing, I blogged only once this week. I really did not find anything I really care enough to blog.

On a positive note, I have managed to go for 5.4 mile run five times this week so far. If I go tomorrow, then it will be six. That would be great. I cannot remember running 32.3 mile in one week recently. I would like to get in shape so I can run a decent race in near future.

I managed to watch a couple of movies. I watched a Korean monster movie, The Host, on HD-DVD from Netflix. It was critically well reviewed as well as by regular viewers. I guess my hope was too high. I liked it, but I am not too keen on it.

I recently acquired a Toshiba HD DVD player, because Netflix offers next gen movies already. Blue ray is too expensive still. I already have HDTV and surround sound. My Toshiba player did not set me back too much. It comes with five free mail-in HD DVD's. I have not regretted buying it. Movies look very sharp and sound great!! It is not VHS to DVD difference, but you definitely notice the higher quality.

I've seen Letters from Iwo Jima, Children of Men, Jet Li's Fearless, and The Good Shepard in addition to The Host. I've noticed that regular DVD's look soft even when they are upscaled to HD resolution. I guess I am getting real spoiled.

I also went to see The Simpsons Movie yesterday. I was worried it would not good, becuase I read a bad review. USA Today, I think. I am happy to say the movie was not bad at all. Is it the best Simpsons? No! However, it is full of what makes The Simpsons such a joy to watch. Physical comedy mixed in with current pop twist and real wit. Bravo!

I am going to go see Ratatouille tomorrow. I guess I am not done making Steve Jobs rich when I purchase his phone, iPod, and computers. I am actually looking forward to watching it. Critics really love it.

I am all over the place with my thoughts today. Scatter brain, I guess.

I wish my iPhone could do this ...

Check out the video below. It would be very cool!

Oops! No more grapes for you ...

I recently learned dogs can have very bad reactions to eating grapes and raisins. In fact, dogs can be poisoned with as little as seven grapes. Check out the following link.

Hmm! I need to put this on the list of things I should not feed Cenya, my dog. I already refrain from giving my dog wet treats (for good of Cenya's teeth), or chicken bones (choke hazard), or chocolate (poisonous).

Good ole days, we could give anything we wanted to dogs.

Where is Bart?

I used http://www.simpsonizeme.com/ to transform myself into a cartoon character. I wanted to meet Bart once I became a cartoon character. I flew to Springfield.

The first place I went to meet Bart was his home. Marge said kids went with Homer. It's bring your kids to work day at the power plant.

I spoke to Homer when I got to the power plant. Where are Lisa and Bart? Homer said that they were with him in the morning. They went to their school for the afternoon. Homer seemed preoccupied with his boss, Mr. Burns.

Once I got to Springfield Elementary School, I spoke to Lisa as Bart was nowhere to be found. Lisa thought Bart was ditching again. Of course! Maybe Bart went to find some memorabilia in the cartoon studio garbage again, we both thought.

I stopped at Kwik-E-Mart, because I got thirsty on my way to Krustylu Studios. I spoked to Apu as I paid for Squishee. Mm, lemon Squishee. Apu said I just missed Bart.

The last place I looked was at the cartoon studio, where Bart's favorite, Itchy and Scratchy is made. Well, I missed him again. The main gate security said, "Bart just left for home." May be I can catch him another day.

I feel the earth move ...

Well, I didn't. I thought of the song as I needed a title. What is this about earth moving?

I just read about an earth quake that just happened early this morning in the Bay area, California. My sister lives in San Francisco, so I was worried obviously. I called at 5:30 AM. I would not normally call that early, but I figured this is an emergency.

My cellphone call went through right away. This is a good sign. No damaged cell towers. Too bad, she did not answer. I left a message saying I would call again after my run and hope things are alright.

I called again after my run around 7 AM, but still no answer. Crap. I am starting to worry.

Sis called around 8. She said everything is fine. The quake was around 4.2 and epicenter was on the East Bay. It was good to hear. I am not familiar with Richter scale, so I asked her if things fell off or new cracks appeared. Sis said, "it was like a small movement that can be felt if one was on water bed."

Well, thank heavens!

Score one for cloth bags ...

Do you know San Francisco has already banned plastic bags for large stores? I thought that was a pretty awesome move. I just read a story that would further the cause for cloth shopping bags. Whole Foods are selling awesome British designer, Anya Hindmarch, grocery bags for $15 each, and people are waiting in lines to get them. In fact, there might be after market demand for reselling them. Read about it here.

I hope more and more people buy and use cloth shopping bags. I, personally, use four cloth shopping bags. Most grocery stores credit you for using cloth bags, so they will be paid for in time. And IT MAKES YOU FEEL GOOD!

Las Vegas Trip ...

I was in Las Vegas last week for a conference. Since I don't want to be uncool, I don't want the nature of the conference known. Let's just say, having a conference in LV does not sex up my profession. Anyway, I still had fun when I was not attending various sessions during the conference.

I usually detail my trip, but this time I did not really keep little notes reminding me what happened and when. So I am trying a different method here. Highlights and lowlights.

Highlights

• Playing blackjack with Garrick. Dealers were not kind to us.
  
• Seeing Tobey McGuire at World Series of Poker in Rios Hotel.
• Just joking and having fun with Garrick.
• Having cocktails and people watching. There were a lot to watch.
  

Lowlights

• Two hour delay at Sky Harbor caused by US Airways.
• TSA pulling me aside for bomb sniffing my laptop.
• No wifi connection at the conference or the hotel (WHAT!)
• The most expensive buffet at Bellagio turned out to be mediocre!
  

San Francisco Trip ...

I journaled the trip to see my sis throughout last three weeks or so. Here are links to them.

• Day 1: Getting there. How I got lost and went to Richmond instead.
• Day 2: Hanging out. Eating out. Visiting a museum.
• Day 3: Drive out to Sonoma. Transsexual pre-Pride Rally
• Day 4: Trip to Palo Alto and Pleasanton. Garrick's graduation
• Day 5: Pride Parade and Scrabble games

Here is the last part of my journal, Trip back home.

I woke up at four in the morning to the sound of my sister's alarm. I did not want to get up. Luckily, I packed up last night. I washed up and got ready to leave. Sis hugged me bye. As I walked out the door, I remembered I need to get an electric cord. I felt dumb, but I rang the door. I grab what I forgot and we hugged again.

I walked into the nearest BART station, 16th & Mission. There were a few people there. In fact, there seemed to be other Oakland Airport bound passengers. When we got to the Coliseum stop, where I waited for the AirBART bus with others. More and more came to wait, but it did not seem like a real line. This could be a problem. I had that foreboding feeling.

When the first AirBART showed up, I did not rush to it. I figured there should be enough room. Well, wrong! I was the last person to be let in. Talking about cutting it close. I was very relieved that I would make the flight on time. Spoke too soon.

Since sis did not have a printer, I had to line up get a boarding pass. It took a little time. I then had to go through TSA check point. I walked up and a TAS lady pointed outside where a line was snaking around. I was now not sure I would make the flight. This is leaving almost two and a half hour early. CRAP! Luckily, I went through the TSA without any problems. It just took sometime.

As I walked away, a stranger told me I dropped my ID. I quickly checked. I indeed lost my ID. I had to go back to a TSA agent to get my ID back. At least that was not a hassle. I board about twenty minutes later. I realized then and there, I left my favorite running gear at my sister's.

I cannot wait 'till October ...

Most people know of Guitar Hero. It is this awesome game where you pretend to play guitar to awesome rock songs. It is like air guitar but with a guitar controller. So cool! I played it on a friends XBox 360, and I just cannot get over it.

Well, Guitar Hero III is coming to Wii this October. I will certainly get one. Here is a preview.

Full blown consumerism ...

I am totally opposite of what I like to be right now. Like Buddha said, material things do not bring happiness. Well, how come it always feels like they do. I know after a while, I will be tired of these things I acquired recently and have a full blown regrets and such.

What have I acquired:

• iPhone: I love it. Everyone says I need a cellphone, but I lived without one for many years.
• HD-DVD player: Watching Netflix HD-DVD is awesome, but what is wrong with regular DVD?
• Zinfandel Port: I love port. Are there anything better?
• Emeril Steamer: Do I really need to steam food as well as Emeril?
• Insulated six pack carrier: Who ever wants to walk in with lukewarm beer?
• Cigar: Occasional smoke never hurts. I hope.
• MacBook: I was very tired of awfully slow iBook anyway.

Some of thses are gifts, but I need to curve some of my buying habits. Or do I? Being a responsible good human being is hard!!!!!

Day 5 of San Francisco Trip ...

Date: June 24, 2007

Alcohol Consumption: 1 Watermelon Vodka thingy

Money Quote: "Is that guy completely naked?"

This is the last day of my trip. I got up late. No running today. I really did not feel like it. I shouldn't have to. After all, it is a vacation.

This morning started off with a little spat about going to church. Apparently, mother called to let us know we should be attending church today. Hmm, how nice of mom. Sis mildly insisted we go to church this morning. I insisted back that we don't go. I told her I felt a little sluggish from staying out late yesterday. Sis let me off the hook as I insisted she can blame me if mother called us on it.

We instead went to a late breakfast. Unfortunately, we rode bikes there. I really wish the bike I rode had a better supportive seat. At least there was no real traffic. When we arrived, I was a little confused. It said ice cream parlor. Huh? Ice cream for breakfast! I guess that would work. It turned out the little place served up meals as well as malts and ice creams. Cool!

The name is St. Francis Fountain. It is a nice cozy place. I ordered corned beef hash. It came with a slice of grilled banana bread, which my sis is crazy about. My hash was very awesome. Most restaurants serves hash from a can. They are really greasy. However, St. Francis served shredded bits of deli quality corned beef. It was delicious. Sis and I talked congenially. I logged some highlights from this trip so I could blog later. She looked at her case brief.

We rode back slowly. We took a little down time before heading to Pride Parade. We took BART to get to the parade route. First thing is first. We went to SF Apple Store. Sis needas a cover for her new nano. The store was two story building. Pretty nice. Phoenix Apple Store is about a half the size.

We slowly walked our way over to the parade. SF takes the parade pretty seriously. There were corporation sponsored floats. Politicians and celebrities were on floats. It took us some walking around to find a little nook where we could watch the parade.

While walking around, I saw a guy completely naked. He had on some type of a ring on his bare genital. I was wondering how this is possible. Unless public nudity is legal, his bare butt should be in jail. I had to look away quick. What the heck!

We made our way over to the concert area where the parade ends. A huge area around the city hall was blocked off with several stages. There were many booths for us to peruse. I think it all comes down to people making money. There were many vendors. I had a chance to see the new Scion xB. It is cool looking, a little bigger and a littel less boxy.

We walked over to Japan Town for noodles. I pigged out on a large bowl of ramen. Wow. It was large, good, and inexpensive. Relatively speaking, of course. What is cheap in SF! Sis had a lunch special that had a piece of grilled mackelel. After eating, we visited Japanese bookstore and grocery. Sis bought a few things at the grocery store.

We started walking back and then decided to catch a bus back home. A wise decision I think. Although we could have used the exercise.

We unwound by doing very little and just hanging out. We managed to play Scrabble twice. It was not like when we were little. No more passing and spelling two and three letter words.

We took a last walk together around Dolores before splitting some ice cream from Bi Rite Creamery. Mm!!!! I did not feel guilty because I was not having dinner as I had a big lunch.

We turned in early as I had to leave around four in the morning to catch a plane in Oakland.

Wish I could been there ...

I just got this photo from my friends, Rohrers. They were married and honeymooning in New Zealand, Bora Bora, and Tahiti. Wow. What a great picture! Think about vacationing somewhere else on this Friday and enjoy this photo, everyone.

Do you like live music?

I don't make it out to concerts as often as I like. There are many reasons such as expensive tickets, very high decibel, pushy fans, etc. I still enjoy concerts when I do make it out to these events.

What is the next best thing to going to concerts? Listening to taped concerts. Thanks to tape friendly musicians, people taping quality recordings, and archive.org, I can enjoy concerts without undesirable factors.

I find these concerts worth listening many times and buying their pristine studio records.

• Gavin DeGraw at Bogart's
• Jack Johnson at Dodge Theater 8/5/2005
• Smashing Pumpkin in London 6/19/2007
• Gin Blossoms at Canyon Club 1/24/2003
• David Gray at Webster Hall 8/2/2005
  

I hope you enjoy the above shows and explore the live music website yourself.

Here is a couple of iPhone photos ...

I took these two photos of my godson, Aidan, during his second birthday party. Let the terrible two begin! He is so much bigger, moves around, talks, and understand much better than I remember. It was great seeing him. I need to spend more QT with him.

Do you believe in local businesses?

There is a non profit group in Phoenix, Local First Arizona, that wants you to support local businesses. Not big national chains. It totally makes sense. When you use local businesses, most of money spent stays in that area. I always make a point to shop at Bashas, which includes AJ's and Food City, because it is the only local grocery chain. In addition, Ed Bashas gives back to post secondary education in Arizona.

Why am I mumbling about local businesses? Because Local First Arizona is offering free 20% off coupons to local businesses. Participating businesses includes Cowboy Ciao, Spinato's, Don & Charlie's, and much more. You print it and use it. Save money while doing good!

p.s. Expires this Sunday 7/8/2007.

Hey Moe, one beer please ...

I just visited Moe's in Springfield. Cool!

What happen to freebies?

I always look forward to freebies on my birthday even if every new birthday depresses me. You know getting older without good benefits like being able to drive, to buy tobacco, to buy alcohol, drop in insurance, or VOTE! I could always count on Harkins to cheer me up with a free movie. Well, no more. They no longer offer the free birthday movie! I need to find one lousy freebie to cheer me up on my birthday.

If I lived in Springfield ...

This is what I think I look like if I was in The Simpsons. You can create your own avatar by visiting The Simpsons Movie Website. I think making your own avatar is hard as you think you are either better looking or not as good looking. I would love it if someone else would make an avatar for me. Who to recruit, hmm?

Is this the future of toilets?

I don't know how one can refrain from clicking on a link that shows smiley butts. Click here to find out what the future of toilets look like. Be prepared to laugh!

Day 4 of San Francisco Trip ...

Date: June 23, 2007

Alcohol Consumption: 1 glass of wine, 1 bottle of beer, 1 Jack and Coke

Money Quote: "No pain, no pain!" by Garrick

Again, I made sure I ran first thing in the morning. I ran up 18th Street again. I felt the burn at the top. Wow! It is good to be alive. No pain, no gain. Right?

Today, I am visiting Garrick down in Palo Alto. He is finally finishing all his glorious schooling, which includes BS from Harvard and MD & PhD from UPenn. His residency at Standford/VA is done. Garrick is a full blown psychiatrist. It is a proud day.

I am nervous about getting to Palo Alto in time, but my sis does not seem to understand my apprehension. I never used Caltrain before or are used to riding the bus/subway in SF. We had a spat. I explained to her I have not figured out the public transportation and where things are. I decided to leave little early. My sis walked with me to a bus stop, where I caught J-line, which was a hybrid of bus/subway. I had to catch T-line at Embarcadero for Caltrain station. It was a good thing I left a little early as T-line did not run as often on weekends. I bought a small bag of pretzel, a Sneakers bar, and one ticket for Zone 3, which includes Palo Alto. The train ride south was quite comfortable although a little slow from making many stops along the way.

Garrick picked up from the Caltrain. It is always nice to see Garrick. I met Garrick's parents and oldest sister when we got to his place. I waited as they got ready for graduation ceremony. We chatted a little and it was time to leave.

There were already people there when we got to Stanford Faculty Club, where the graduation was. My name tag was there much to my surprise. It was really nice of Garrick to put me on the official list. Cool! It was a little hot, but we were all mingling with free hors d'oeuvre and open bar flowing. Even cooler. Nice touch by Stanford. Garrick's middle sister's family joined a little later.


I sat through all eight graduates being introduced, bragged about, and each reminisce about their residency together. It was very nice ceremony. It was nice to hear other graduates mention Garrick throughout their speeches. That goes to show he is well liked. One of them mentioned Garrick's mantra, "No pain, no pain." I don't know why, but it struck me funny. I am sure it means more significantly among psychiatrists.

It was late in the afternoon when the graduation was over. Garrick's sister invited me out to her house out in Pleasanton. I left my sis a voice mail to let her know what I was doing, since she did not answered the call.

Garrick's sister lives in a beautiful two story house with two great kids and her young at heart husband. Garrick and I played with Garrick's niece and nephew while others slaved over preparing dinner. They were expecting some more guests. In the meantime, I played Wii against various opponents.

When it got late after good dinner and conversations, Garrick drove me home to SF. It would been a real shame if we did not go out for a drink on such a happy occasion. Garrick called up a couple of classmates and got one of them to meet us at Bar XYZ in Hotel W. It was really cool just hanging although I was not really dress for the joint.

It felt good to have spent a day getting reacquainted although it never seem like Garrick and I don't spend very much time on the phone, or corresponding, or meeting.