A Tale of Two Sandwiches

Ok, so I went to Quizno's on Wednesday. It's been a while since the
last time I've been there, so I had to think a little bit about what I
wanted to get. I stood there for maybe 2 or 3 minutes deliberating,
and I finally settled on the Ranch Swiss Turkey, and gave my order to
the guy behind the counter. The Quizno's is set up so that you follow
your sandwich. There's a certain order behind the whole process. You
start at one end, where they take your order, cut your bread and put
stuff like mayo on it... then you shift over a little to the next stop
where you choose what vegetables you want, and then they put it on a
conveyer belt which rolls into an oven. (mmm, toasty!) As it goes
through the oven, you mull over your choices of chips, drinks, etc,
which you should have all picked out by the time your sandwich comes
out the other end of the oven. They wrap the sandwich up and then it
goes to the cashier, where you pay, and by this time you've slowly
drifted over to that side. So the food should come out the same order
as it's ordered, right? A little sandwich factory. There's no
parallel processing here. It's all serial!

So a small disruption in the well-oiled machine happened when a girl
jumped in the line between me and the person who ordered ahead of me.
Little did I know the chain of events it would set off. At first I
glanced at her, giving her that look, hey, what do you think you're
doing?... don't you know there's a system here?...
...ok, fine, not really. I looked at her to check out her butt. but I was thinking
those other things, too. I quickly forgave her, though, not because
her butt was anything special, but because she just ordered a soup and
a salad: no sandwich. That's fine. I'm sure the workers at Quizno's
can handle this sort of situation. So of course she pays in front of
me, so I have to linger a little bit away from the cashier. So I'm
standing there waiting for my sandwich, when this guy runs up to the
cashier, and asks, "Is that turkey? Yeah? Great!" and takes it. What
the? Wait. Was he in front of the guy in front of me? I can't
remember... anyway. This guy is quick. As the realization that this
guy just swooped in and took my sandwich sets in, he's already at a
table, chomping away. Well, fine. I guess he must have just ordered
the same sandwich as me. And yes, I do think now that this guy was not just behind me, but behind two other people who
were behind me as well! I guess he was really hungry... and maybe he
took a cue from not-so-hot-butt girl that it's ok to just ignore the
structure set up in the Quizno's sandwich assembly line and just jump
in and grab a sandwich if it's the same one that you ordered, though
he should have known he wasn't exempt from the rule because 1. he
ordered a sandwich and 2. he's not a hot chick with a nice butt.
(everyone knows hot chicks with nice butts are exempt from all rules)
Ah well... it's too late now.... Besides, I hate stirring up a
commotion over something so small and stupid. I'll just wait two more
minutes and take his sandwich, since he ordered the same thing, right? no big
deal... His sandwich comes out, "oven roasted turkey?" Sinking
feeling. Ahhhhh, maaaaaan! Nobody claims it. I walk up to the
counter slowly and say, "I wanted Ranch Swiss Turkey." Some confusion
behind the counter. Should I just eat the regular turkey? I should
just take it, huh?

Wait.

No.

It's not so much that I love Ranch Swiss Turkey. I've never even had
it before. It's just a stupid sandwich....

But...
I'd made a deliberate decision earlier.
I had looked over the menu, and decided, "I want the Ranch Swiss
Turkey sandwich." If I didn't care what kind of sandwich I got, as
long as I just got a freakin sandwich in my mouth, like
sandwich-stealer-man, then instead of looking at the menu before
ordering, I should have just turned around, and asked the guy 3 spots
behind me, "hey, what do I want to eat?" and then he would have told
me, "you want an oven roasted turkey sandwich." No... I must have my
Ranch Swiss Turkey sandwich. It's a matter of principle. A funny
thing about principles. They suddenly become so much more real, or
matter to you so much more than you thought they did, when 1. you're
at the short end of the deal. and 2. especially when it concerns food,
or a girl, or sleep. Down to the most primal motivating forces in
life.
"Is that a Ranch Swiss Turkey sandwich?"
"No, it's oven roasted turkey"
"I ordered a Ranch Swiss Turkey."
"Oh. Ok..." The guy quickly opens up the sandwich to double check
what it is. I'm thinking, well, it can't be hard to fix, anyway. Just
add whatever. Ranch sauce, right? and what, Swiss cheese? and charge
me like an extra buck more. What's the problem? Just do it. But in a
little while, the guy comes back, and says, "the Ranch Swiss Turkey
sandwich is like the oven roasted turkey sandwich, except it has
sauce, and red onions.... blah blah blah... are you sure you want
Ranch Swiss? Is that what you want?"
"yeah, I want the Ranch Swiss..."
"you want the red onions?"
I gave him a blank look. "I ordered the Ranch Swiss Turkey Sandwich.
That's what I want. Can I have that, please?" Now at this point, the
guy behind the counter is breaking a higher protocol. I understand
where he's coming from. He's sure that he got the order right. Which
he did. But I'm not going to sit there and explain to him the whole
story. It's not my responsibility to make sure other people get what
they order. I just want my Ranch Swiss Turkey sandwich. And it doesn't
matter, anyway. I told him what I should be getting, he should just do
it. Give the customer what he wants. Don't come back and double check
after he's already corrected the order. And so now I'm pretty irked,
over a stupid sandwich. And I feel like I'm being an ahole, which I
hate. I think that usually I'm a pretty unemotional guy. I don't get
mad at other drivers on the road and stuff... It's a funny thing about
emotions. They suddenly come out of nowhere and grow really quick
when 1. you're at the short end of a deal. or 2. it involves food, a
girl, or sleep. okay fine, maybe not sleep, but it sounded funny.
Actually I know some people get really mad when you wake them up when
they didn't want to be woken. An unfortunate (well, I guess sometimes
fortunate, it depends on the situation) result is that sometimes it
makes you do things you normally wouldn't do. I actually walked over
to the grabby-sandwich-hands guy, and asked him (maybe a little louder
than necessary) "did you order a oven roasted turkey sandwich? they
got an oven roasted turkey sandwich there"
Mr. Guilty looks up at me, and says something like, "no wonder it came
out so fast!" and gives an embarrassed, apologetic laugh.
My only response is a loud, "yeah..." and I go sit down with my
friends to wait for my sandwich. My friend says to me, "dude, give it
a rest..."
"...you want some of my sandwich?"
"No. I want a Ranch. Swiss. Turkey. Sandwich," I declared. The guy
at the other table heard me, for sure. Literally 30 seconds later, my
sandwich is ready. I pick it up, (the guy behind the counter
apologizes profusely, and I give him a cheerful "don't worry about
it!") and when I turn around, the sandwich speedster is already gone.
Wow. If he was in a hurry before, he really took it up a notch after
my comment. Ah man, now I felt like a real ahole. The guy must have
just crammed the sandwich down his throat and dashed out to get out of
that small, uncomfortable dining area made suddenly smaller and quite
unpleasant by my unpleasantries. What if he gets indigestion or
something later because he ate so fast? Aahh... man. Stupid, stupid,
stupid.
I start eating my sandwich. It's just a sandwich. Nothing marvelous
or anything. A sandwich...

About halfway through, I realize there's no cheese in it.

Cafeteria food

We've all been disappointed by a cafeteria at one time or another. On Monday, the cafeteria at work disappointed me yet again, and this time I gotta say something.
I know I shouldn't complain. It's very convenient and all. When I joined the company, we had just moved to a new building, and so the cafeteria was still being built. I was kind of excited about having the cafeteria, mainly because of the convenience aspect, but also because of the social aspect it would bring.
They had a contest to name the cafe... I submitted two brilliant entries... which lost out to Baybreeze Cafe. Oh c'mon.... That was the first let down.
As days went by, I realized people don't really socialize in dining area. They all just take their food to their desks. Glumly, I learned to do the same.
Once, they put on the menu "Free pastry when you buy a Starbucks coffee" (there's an internal webpage that they post the menu on) It was new, and the people that worked there didn't know what I was talking about, and so I had a hard time getting my pastry. Other people were looking at me like I was an ahole, wondering why I was trying to get a free pastry. :'(
Every Tuesday is Indian food day. Every Thursday is Mexican food day. Every Friday is grill day. At first I thought it was genius. I even started to like Indian food. But I've been let down by the Mexican food a few too many times, I've gone back to not liking Indian food, and whoever thought you could get tired of burgers. I'm only mildly interested now on Mondays and Wednesdays, which are wildcards. Usually it's like, pasta tho, which I like, but at Baybreeze cafe,... eh... it's whatevers.
Well, this week on Monday morning I checked the menu, and "Country-fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn on the cob" piqued my interest. Though disappointed time and again by the cafeteria, I felt a glimmer of hope. Once in a while they managed to serve up a gem. Maybe this would be one of those days. I remember when I first started buying food in the cafeteria, I thought they served a lot of food, and the price was decent. (about 5.00-6.50) But as the weeks went by, I started to think that they were serving smaller amounts. It's not just my appetite growing. I think they really are. Like, they would fill up the to-go boxes with food, but this Monday, my box was half-empty. (That's right, I can't say it was half-full) This is something I didn't really get. Why are they being stingy with the food? Do the workers have to buy the food with their own pay?? Maybe they're genuinely concerned about my caloric intake. I mean, it's not even subtle... it's blatantly obvious!! I swear when they hand me my food, and I look at them and give them the quizzical eyebrow raise, they gotta know what I'm thinking... they just close the box quickly and slide it over to me sheepishly. At least use smaller to-go boxes so it doesn't look so bad!! Anyway. So now I'm thinking, it's gonna be hard to enjoy this. because I just feel ripped off now. I figure I'll try to make the best of it by splashing Tabasco over the chicken... I look at it... it looks so sad. The chicken is so small. There was a breast piece that looked like it was from an anorexic chicken. And two wing pieces, that were also very small. Like the chicken was a dwarf or something. Who knows. Maybe the cafeteria got a great deal on sparrows and don't have any qualms misleading me telling me it's chicken. I looked at it again... and reconsidered.... maybe this is a normal amount of food, and I just eat too much. Maybe the box is just huge and it's an optical illusion. It does look like at least they gave me a lot of mashed potatoes.... I finished my food in 13 minutes. I'm not a fast eater. It really was as little as I thought it was. And I still felt hungry. Boo.

Eating season

They say the average American gains seven pounds between Thanksgiving and New Year. Here's what I did over the past few days to do my part:

• Company lunch at Arrivederci Italian restaurant. Had way too much lasagne that had way too much cheese.

• Dinner at Amarin Thai restaurant. Everything was spicy. Yeah, I was sweating.

• Late night snack (ok, meal) at Denny's. Country-fried steak and eggs. Oh dang.

• Thanksgiving dinner. All the usual Thanksgiving food + an odd assortment of korean foods, and pieS.

• Thanksgiving late night. Got an early start on the leftovers. Turkey, mashed potato, gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce all mixed together. Cold. Still tastes good.

• Chinese hot pot at Johnny's. Raw egg sauce? And more pie.

• Church potluck was pretty good this week.

• 9 slices of Domino's pizza. Tremble in fear.

taqueria la bamba

today i went to taqueria la bamba (rengstorff and old middlefield in mountain view) and i had the pollo asado super burrito. it was a dang good burrito. how good? it was groin-grabbingly good. you'd figure a burrito is so simple, how good can it be? it's hard to put my finger on what it was. it's just good. i took a bite and i thought, ok, this is different. i thoroughly enjoyed it. maybe it was the meat seasoning, very flavorful. maybe it was the tortilla, warm, soft, chewy. perhaps the rice, it had a nice texture, and it didn't fill up the whole burrito like at some other places. or the beans, they were very well cooked, almost creamy. perhaps it was that the sour cream, guacamole, and salsa were all well distributed through the whole burrito, and not all clumped in one part so i'd get a whole mouthful of sour cream and not taste it again for the rest of the burrito. i don't know. all i know was that it was good. check it out.

Weekend report

Just finished reading Timeline by Michael Crichton. It was pretty entertaining. Just like reading a movie. Except it lasts longer. And it's a lot cheaper, because I read it on my Palm Vx. Reading books on the Palm has its upsides and downsides. Downsides are that there were no pictures, and I have to recharge it occasionally. Upsides are I can carry around like 5 or 6 books in my pocket. I think I'll put the movie in my Blockbuster.com queue. I'd imagine it's probably a terrible movie. I give the book a 7 out of 10.



Watched the movie Shopgirl this weekend. It was mildly interesting. It had some funny parts, but also a lot of random drawn out scenes like, panning over the Los Angeles cityscape with dramatic music going. I guess it's a comedy, but it's not one of those constant joke after joke type comedies. I give this movie a 6 out of 10.



Ate at this sushi place in downtown Mountain View, Yakko Sushi. I thought it was pretty good. They make a lot of spicy rolls, which I like, as long as they're not too extreme. Cuz you know, I gots a bit of a problem with the spice. But I guess I'm ok as long as I have plenty of green tea!
They had this one dish, it was called something like, spectactular seared sashimi orgasm. No kidding. The picture looked pretty crazy... seared slices of what looked like tuna sashimi arranged in like a flower, and some bright red and orange sauces sprinkled all over it, with some other things I can't remember. It was a bit pricey, though. I decided to skip it. Remember kids, you should never have to pay for an orgasm. I give this restaurant an 8 or 9 out of 10.

Oh yeah, and I went to this chinese place in that ranch99 plaza, you know, the chinese side of mccarthy ranch on the west side of the 237-880 interchange. And i found a worm in my food. That was pretty gross. Charles found one, too. It was white, and it had segments. Looked like some kinda insect larva. Dat no belong in heeya!

it tends to do that

I was doing pretty good until the first 5-letter word threw off my concentration.

I hope it's not too harsh

I saw this at Long's Drugs and I thought it was funny.

And they want you to know they've formulated it to get the results you want.

Making a career change

I think I've found my true calling.

the toilet seat

you know how girls think it's rude when boys leave the toilet seat in
the up position? i think if i were a girl i would actually rather have
the toilet seat left up. because then i know at least it was used in
the up position, and i don't (theoretically) have to worry about
getting a wet surprise when sitting down.

Finally, one to call my own

Yes, I finally have one I can call my own. I love her. She's so pretty. At first, I wasn't sure. There were others I were considering as well. But the more I saw her, the more I wanted her. She's black. Yes, yes, I know what you're thinking... But that's OK. I'm going to do my best to keep her from getting too dirty. My friend commented she's got a big butt. Yes, it is sort of big, compared to some others, I guess. But I like it. Actually, one of the first things I noticed about her was how good she looked from behind. She looks good from the front, too, though, in case you were wondering ;)
The first time I was in her, I was so excited, I kinda trembled. Yes, yes, laugh at me if you will. Everything felt right though. The way she felt in my hands, her responsiveness to my touch, and even the sounds that she made. Still sorta in the "break-in" stage, though, so I'm trying to be kinda gentle with her, but I can't wait until I can let loose a little and handle her a little more rough, because I know she's quite capable. In the meantime, I've been slowly getting more familiar with her little details, like where the buttons are and what they do when I push them. It's funny because I get a little excited each morning when I wake up, and also when it's time to go home near the end of the workday, because I get to ride her again.
Well, I'm pretty happy with her. I better be, because I'll probably be keeping her around for several years. Alright, well, I'm not the greatest photographer, and I don't think these pictures do her justice, but here's a looksy...
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Re: Comments

Alright, so I guess I'll take a minute to respond to some of the comments, since I notice I've been getting them somewhat regularly now, and I want to encourage that behavior.

ek: Alright, then, I'll stay away from The Fountainhead until I can find someone to read it with. Why do others not comment as much as you? I've wondered that myself. I suppose they are not as interested in the subject matter of most of my posts. Perhaps if I talked more about scandalous events or big boobs or something I'd garner more comments. But you know how classy and tasteful I am... ???

Anonymous, aka theoneandonlyjiaehur: Thanks for recommending Set Phasers on Stun. I'm always receptive to book recommendations. I added it to my ever-growing Amazon wishlist, so I may get to it someday, although a paperback version accompanied by a drop in price would probably make me want to order it sooner than later.

steph: I realized that I when I make time to read, I actually can read quite a bit. I think I watch less TV now, which is kind of funny, because I didn't think I really watched much before.

ek: I got it (The Kite Runner) for $9.22 on Amazon.com, so I guess you got the better deal. I guess not walking is worth $1.22 to me.

Johnny: Well the book said it was the one on Fremont Blvd. close to the train station, so I think I'm thinking of the right one... How many Indian movie theaters are in Fremont, anyway? Does anyone know?

ok, I was going to respond to all the comments I got in September, but I'm tired of blogging now and I want to go and do something else.

*edit: haha, one more.
Anonymous, aka Melissa Lee's friend and Jack Kerouac fan: Thanks for commenting. I wanted to post a response, but I don't think I have much intelligent to say. I enjoy reading, but I guess I'm not really "literary" when it comes down to it... more of a dabbler I suppose. I guess you could tell from how I said, "I like the song...", hahaha... I talked about the book with my cousin, too, who actually had comments similar to yours. Anyway. Thanks for reading. (and commenting). It's fun to know that people read what you say.

Life of Pi

by Yann Martel

I loved this book! When I was little I loved books that were survival type stories. Like The Hatchet, My Side of the Mountain, and The Sign of the Beaver are a few I can remember. This book has quite a fantastic survival story in it. But then it's got this whole religion theme that fits into the story in a pretty crazy way. Alright, fine, maybe not CrAzY, but I thought it was pretty fantastic.
*edit: oh, I almost forgot, I gotta put in a little quote in here that I liked from the book, like I've been doing with the other books. Here's one that particularly struck me: It is simple and brutal: a person can get used to anything, even to killing.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

by Stephen Chbosky

Yes, I've been reading a more lately than usual. This book reminded me of the movie Almost Famous. It is now my favorite book of all time, but then again, I always think that until I read another book. That's actually from the book, but I think I'm like that with a lot of the books I read, too. The main character in this book, Charlie, reads a lot of books through the course of the story, and one of the books he reads is On The Road. Charlie seems to have liked it more than I did. Maybe I'll try reading some of the other books that Charlie read that I haven't read yet. Like The Stranger, Naked Lunch, The Fountainhead, and This Side of Paradise. And maybe also Peter Pan. Also I kinda wonder what The Rocky Horror Picture Show is all about... maybe I should watch that.

The Kite Runner

by Khaled Hosseini

And that's the thing about people who mean everything they say. They think everyone else does too.

Read a novel for once. It's about a rich Afgani boy that grows up in the 70s in Kabul, with his servant friend that he treats poorly despite his servant's loyalty. He escapes when the Soviets take over (to Fremont!) and is ridden with guilt about the friend he left behind. I liked reading about Fremont in the book, like when the writer would mention street names that I know... although there was a bit in the book about Fremont that I know is inaccurate: he mentions an Indian movie theater on Fremont Boulevard, and the year is supposed to be, sometime in the mid or early 80's. I remember when that theater turned into an Indian theater, and it wasn't that long ago. I remember it showed the Rocky Horror Picture Show every Friday night. But I never watched it. I just know because they had the sign outside. Anyway, this book was pretty good, I thought. I told Kathy I'd lend it to her, but she reads books pretty fast, so let me know if you wanna borrow it. (You gotta live relatively near me, by the way. Like in the Bay Area.)

Avast!

I'd almost forgotten if me matey hadn't reminded me. Happy Talk Like A Pirate Day!

*edit: oh yeah... and it's an important holiday in korea, too. today, or yesterday... i think they celebrate it for like 3 days actually... so happy TLAP Day and happy Chusok, too!

The Sex Lives of Cannibals

Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific

by J. Maarten Troost

I guess I've been reading more lately than before. I felt like this was a great book to read after Guns, Germs, and Steel. I didn't plan it out that way, it just turned out that way. I learned a lot about the history of those Pacific island countries in that book, so I think that it let me appreciate this book more. If reading GGS is like watching the History Channel, TSLOC is like watching The Daily Show on Comedy Central. It's really funny, yet not that mindless, devoid of substance type of humor.
So what's this book about? Basically it's this guy's personal account of two years he spends in Kiribati, (pronounced keeribas, like a fobinized "Gilberts") a remote country made of small atolls out in the Pacific ocean. He goes there thinking what could be better than lounging around in a tropical paradise, but of course, life there turns out to be much different. Read this. It's a pretty quick read, educational, and very funny... it turns out the "sex lives of cannibals" doesn't competely refer to just South Pacific islanders...

Guns, Germs, and Steel

by Jared Diamond

Just finished this book today. This book tries to explain why Western societies in general rose to such dominance in the world, as opposed to say, Aboriginal Australians. When I was younger, my dad told me, "people in more Northern latitudes had to struggle to survive, so that's why those countries industrialized sooner, while people in tropical climates could just lounge around and pick bananas off of trees." I guess that idea is not uncommon, because this book actually addressed it at one point. Basically, the book tries to explain differences in rates of technological advances, political complexity, and immunity to communicable diseases between societies based on geographical factors of the location where the society originated. Like the local plants and animals that were available for domestication, and the ease or difficulty for people to interact with neighboring societies because of mountains, deserts, or seas. And then how those differences usually led to one society pretty much completely decimating or swallowing up the other when they met. Along the way you also learn some interesting history and linguistics. I think if you like watching the History Channel you'll enjoy this book. Warning though, it gets pretty long, and a bit repetitive.

O.No.

Last week:
Me: "Hi umma. Watching TV?"
Umma: "Yes"
Me: "What are you watching?"
Umma: "O.C."
Me: "Don't watch that. It's not for you. It's for high-school girls."

Yesterday:
Me: "Watching TV?"
Umma: "Uh huh"
Me: "What are you watching?"
Umma: "O.C."
Me: "I thought I told you not to watch that!"

i joined a league

hahahahhaha

slim wallet

so i used to carry around a really fat wallet. don't get the wrong idea. it was definitely not because i carried around a lot of money, but rather because i just carried around a lot of junk... old receipts, a whole mess of those, "buy 10 get 1 free" cards from various stores, etc., and i think my wallet was made out of pretty thick leather to begin with. it's been a long time since i moved the wallet from the back pocket to the front pocket, because it's quite uncomfortable sitting on a big lump. also one day i tried cleaning it out, and i found that having so much junk in the wallet had stretched out the leather, so that after i cleaned it, the contents fell out very easily.
so i bought a new wallet. it's very slim, and takes up a lot less room in my front pocket, which i really appreciate, because now it's a lot less crowded in that area, giving much more space to other things...
...like, um,... my keys.

*edit: At the request of all (1) of my adoring fans, here are pictures of the old fat wallet and the new slim wallet. The old wallet is a lot slimmer after I took everything out, so I put a small notebook in there to approximate how fat it was when I was using it.
The quarter is in the pictures as a size reference point.

FAT

slim

Sandy Feet

Sandy feet, you're covered with sand.
Running on the beach, hot and dry.
Hit the salty water, foam and froth and avoid the seaweed.
Smooth, even coat of sand, but skip the shiny toenails.
Sandy feet, run on the beach. Sandy feet, you're covered with sand.

if gasoline comes from oil...

...then is it slippery like a lubricant? I can't remember if I've actually ever felt it in my hands. I usually have to get gas on Thursdays but yesterday's prices were so bad I waited until today. Today I didn't have much of a choice... tank was pretty empty. Paid $3.07. Not as bad as yesterday, but it still came out to $46.82. Someone tell me when I can let go of my ankles.

And now, your moment of zen.

On The Road

by Jack Kerouac

It took me a long time to finish this book. I guess I didn't really "get" it. If you read this book and you thought it was good, post a comment on what you thought was so great about it.

I do like the song "Hey Jack Kerouac" by 10,000 Maniacs, though.

hoily moily

i emerged from my home this morning after being holed up for 2 days (i had a bad cold) and drove past the valero gas station right by my house on the way to work, and it said, 3.09, 3.19, 3.29. d'oh!!!

a few pictures from indonesia

By popular demand, I will share a few photos I took the week before. Ok, I guess not that popular. Just one person. I just like to think I'm popular and in demand.

We took Malaysian Airlines, and they give you this nice menu to look at so you can read about what food they're serving. Service was much nicer than any american carrier I've ever taken.

It was kinda funny because on the wing of the plane, you can see it's written, "no step" and then there are footprints all over...

I think Kuala Lumpur Int'l Airport is the fanciest airport I've ever been to. It was also surprisingly empty. It was sort of eerie because of how slick and modern it was, but then so empty and quiet. Kuala Lumpur is in Malaysia.

View down a terminal corridor at KUL.

Had to wait a while in KUL for our flight to Medan, so we had some noodles. I'm not really left handed... I needed to use my right hand to hold the camera.

I don't get out of the country much, so I thought this plane looked peculiar enough to take a picture of it. I think the plane in the background is Qatar airlines.

We drove through an Indian neighborhood in Medan. The hospital director called it "Indiatown." I guess it's like the Chinatown or Koreatown neighborhoods we have in SF and LA. There is like some sort of Indian temple in the picture.

Another picture of the streets of Medan. Note the hazy air. It's the worst air pollution I've been in ever. You could feel that the air was dirty. I read in the newspaper that a number of people had died a few days before from the haze.

RSA Hospital in Medan, Sumatra, Indonesia.

They fed us some takeout Indonesia food at the hospital. I'd never had Indonesian food before, but this was quite tasty. *Everything* was *so* spicy, though... even the banana. Haha, just kidding! The banana was very sweet. And very cute looking.

Here we are landing in Nias, a small island off the coast of Sumatra. We landed on this small strip in a field, and our plane was the only plane there. I got off the plane, looked around, and thought about how remote this place was, and how far away I was from home. That mexican in the photo followed me all the way from San Jose. Haha, actually, he's an impostor mexican. That "sombrero" is from Chevy's.

Driving out from the airfield, I saw huts on the side of the road, and I took a picture. Their neighborhood sure looks different from mine.

Meeting some of the people of Nias.

Sharing Southwest peanuts with the children. (We flew SWA from SJC to LAX). I shoulda saved more peanuts.

At the construction site of one of the houses we helped build. These people are pretty poor.

Many of the concrete structures were damaged by the earthquake. Many people are living in tents right now.

Passing through a marketplace.

A bridge that was damaged by the earthquake. People still use the bridge though... crazy.

Trying durian. I ate that whole quarter durian. It wasn't so bad once I got going. But then the burps several hours later were so nasty, I regretted eating it earlier. It sorta had the consistency of smushy avocado, or maybe kinda like baked potato. The flavor wasn't fruit-like at all. More like.... meat. It gave off a pretty pungent odor... kind of like really smelly onions, mixed with like, rotten meat or garbage or something... even kind of like poo. Hahaha... don't eat durian before you meet someone you're trying to impress, that's for sure.

I think these were students riding their bicycles to school.

Sunrise in Nias.

It was the 60th anniversary of Indonesia's independence day while we were there. Here they were having some sort of ceremony, with some government or military officials giving some sort of speech. All these children were all lined up in their uniforms, listening.

We started attracting a bit of attention. I guess we looked a little different.

pirates and movies

International Talk Like A Pirate Day (Sept. 19) is just around the corner!

You are The Cap'n!

Some men are born great, some achieve greatness and some slit the
throats of any man that stands between them and the mantle of power.
You never met a man you couldn't eviscerate. Not that mindless
violence is the only avenue open to you - but why take an avenue when
you have complete freeway access? You are the definitive Man of
Action. You are James Bond in a blousy shirt and drawstring-fly pants.
Your swash was buckled long ago and you have never been so sure of
anything in your life as in your ability to bend everyone to your
will. You will call anyone out and cut off their head if they show any
sign of taking you on or backing down. You cannot be saddled with
tedious underlings, but if one of your lieutenants shows an overly
developed sense of ambition he may find more suitable accommodations
in Davy Jones' locker. That is, of course, IF you notice him. You tend
to be self absorbed - a weakness that may keep you from seeing enemies
where they are and imagining them where they are not.

What's Yer Inner Pirate?
brought to you by The Official Talk Like A Pirate Web Site. Arrrrr!

Do you guys do Film Affinity? My username on Film Affinity is benklee if you do. Tell me what your username is. We can stalk each others movie habits.

Pirates of the Caribbean is one of my favorite movies.

w.c. skillz

what's up party people. i *know* you've all been waiting for me to return, i can tell by all the comments! 
so i'm back home now, and man oh man it sure is good to be home.  oh mild bay area weather how i love you. oh my hot shower how i've missed you. oh my familiar foods that won't make me sick how glad i am to come back to you.
i realized that i am woefully unskilled at using the asian restroom.  not just the squatter toilet (which i couldn't get quite right, so i just ended up completely removing all garments below the belt to avoid any mishaps, and oh how my knees hated it as well), but also the bathing with a bucket part, (i got water all over the place, but it's so hard to get to the right places) and the brushing your teeth and trying not to gag while foul odors overwhelm you part.

brb!

i won't have access to internet or cell phone for the next week, just in case you're looking for me. (i know that you all are)
i'll be back on the 22nd.

2 short video clips

And now it's time for two short insensitive but funny video clips.

For all of you who work too much

For all you cat lovers

southbound 880 yesterday

In case you were wondering what was up with the insane traffic on southbound 880 yesterday, it's because the police shot a man.  I was sitting there in the traffic, and when I saw the coroner's van pass by on the right shoulder, I took the next exit, Thornton, but there was still a ton of traffic on Fremont Blvd.  The guy jumped out of the car while it was going like 50-60 mph
http://www.insidebayarea.com/argus/localnews/ci_2907454
At least the weather is nice.  I hope the weather is well.

my ocf account got disabled

i tried to log into ocf today and i got a message that ocf staff suspects someone else besides me has been accessing my account.  so they disabled my account :'(
i don't get much mail at my ocf account these days (or much mail at all, actually) but just in case you were thinking about mailing me at my ocf account, please mail my gmail account instead, as i don't have access to ocf.  my username on gmail is benglee.

in other news, today seems to be a particularly painful monday.  hope you all are making it through the day ok.
went to audrey and joel's wedding on saturday.  they looked happy.  it was also nice seeing all the old friends from HS.  in a way it's sad to see people moving on in life.  kinda feel like, left behind, like, hey, what about me?  the good thing about something like the wedding happening is it brings all the old hs friends together again, and for at least for short while, we may hang out a bit.  yesterday i played basketball w/ two of them, out in the scorching sun.  ohh i got burned this weekend.
on tuesday a few of us are going to go see cinderella man at the discount theater in milpitas... $1.50!  i think it's at 830, it'll be fun. maybe we should go get something to eat before... call me if you're interested/need directions/etc...

i wanted to be an astronaut

When I was little, I wanted to become an astronaut.  I'm sure many guys have wanted to become an astronaut when they were young.  Well, except maybe for the ones that played with dolls...  they wanted to be dancers when they grew up.
So did you watch the Shuttle Discovery launch today?  I watched the webcast on the computer... it was pretty interesting to watch... you got to see the boosters fall off, and then later the shuttle separate from the fuel tank.  There was a camera attached to the fuel tank, and so when the shuttle got high enough, you could see the curved outline of the earth.  It's pretty amazing, sending that huge thing up into space.  There sure are some smart people in this world.

Tip Of The Day

Don't go out running in the scorching sun.  You'll get really hot and really tired really fast.  Probably one of the dumbest things I've done in a while.

Finished War Of The Worlds.  It was pretty good.  I thought the movie was good, too.

Read happy news today that Konfabulator had been acquired by Yahoo! and that it'll be given away for free now. 

The weather was wonderful this past weekend.

wtf??!!

From AP

Fri Jul 22, 8:35 AM ET

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. - Police are on the lookout for the naked tickler. Investigators said they believe one man could be responsible for a series of bizarre break-ins in which a naked man enters victims' rooms while they are sleeping and tries to tickle their feet.

The naked tickler struck again in New Smyrna Beach over the weekend.

Investigators have been working on five similar, unsolved cases since 2001. Most of the victims are women over age 60, said police Cmdr. Wade Kirby.

Kirby said no arrests have yet been made because they don't have a lot to go on.

New Smyrna Beach is 44 miles northeast of Orlando.

google moon

moon.google.com

go there and zoom all the way in.
hahahaha

really bad math joke

WARNING: You are about to read a *really* bad math joke.  I love corny jokes myself but this one even I had to admit was *really* bad.  I happened to chance on it while surfing the web.  I had to read it three or four times, and sit there and blink for a while, and when it dawned on me, I had to let out an audible groan and bring my hand up to my forehead.

Q: What do you get if you cross an elephant with a grape?
A: Elephant grape cosine theta

Of course then my next thought is to share it with everyone.

willy wonka! willy wonka!

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  This movie is *so* good.  Go out and watch it, boys and girls.

Modern Marvels

I'm sure many of you heard about how on July 4, NASA's spacecraft Deep Impact shot a comet flying out in space, creating a huge explosion and taking some spectacular pictures.  The Deep Impact website says that impact velocity was 23,000 mph. 

Isn't it so amazing what people have accomplished?  We live in a time of technological wonders.

As civilization has progressed, there have been a number of revolutionary ideas and accomplishments.  Like the invention of the printing press, or the modern understanding of medicine. 

One could say that thousands of years of civilization's advancements culminates to the modern world we live in today, the pinnicle of human achievements.  We've put a man on the moon and harnessed the power of the atom.  We watch television programming that is beamed down to us from satellites that orbit the Earth and take digital pictures with our cell phones.
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And we eat In-N-Out burgers.




Ah yes, good times....

Me Talk Pretty One Day

So I just finished this book, Me Talk Pretty One Day, by David Sedaris.  It's a collection of short essays, largely autobiographical.  But when I was reading through this book, I kept thinking, "this just sounds like he kept a blog for a few years, and then compiled his good entries into a book!"
It's a pretty funny book.  Quite entertaining.
I gotta run now. Maybe I'll write more about the book later.

a case of the mondays

something about monday just makes me want to cry...

black with soot

Check out the caption with this picture from the New York Times.

OK, looks like when it gets squeezed into the page like that, it's hard to read the caption. So just click on the picture to get a bigger view. I think you can figure that out.

I like saying things that make no sense!

I should write a book

Finally read Tuesdays With Morrie...   A number of people had recommended it.  Well ok, maybe two people.  I had already read the other book by Mitch Albom, The Five People You Meet In Heaven.  The good thing about these two books of his are that they are nice and short.  You finish them pretty quickly.  Which is good, because if they dragged on any longer, they'd get really old.  These two books read kind of like greeting cards.  You can only stand there in the supermarket and read greeting cards for so long before you get tired.  And like most greeting cards, I can't even really remember much from Five People anymore... I thought the interesting part of Tuesdays was that Albom talks a little about his own life.  How he became a sports writer, and how it's not REALLY what he wants to do, but he's pretty good at it... and how most people are like this... they don't really do what they really want to do... just do what they do because they're pretty good at it... I guess books like Tuesdays and Five People are what he really wants to write about.... but reading them makes me think, man, I think I could write this!
There was a time when I was little when I wanted to be a writer when I grew up.  I wanted to write novels.  It was when I was a little bit older than when I wanted to be a fireman, but younger than when I wanted to be a genetic engineer. (I read Jurassic Park in 6th grade.)  Now I write short little emails to hardcore (and I mean Hard Core) computer nerds about enterprise data integration software all day long.  This is just a guess, but I don't think you'll find any novels about that on Amazon.com.  Is it something I'm good at?  I suppose I'm not bad:  I haven't been fired yet.  Haha... So what happened to me?  Somewhere along the way I found formal writing increasingly difficult, in terms of meeting the expecations of my critics (read: teachers) and that solving little math problems came with relative ease.  I guess I just really like to please. 
Well, I'll let you know when I get my novel published.  Maybe I'll even sign it for you. 

a tribute to cheetos

you can't go wrong with cheetos.  when faced with a myriad of choices at the vending machine, but limited by the change in your pocket to a single choice, go with the cheetos.  i'm sure we're all familiar with the problem with potato chips... their shape and arrangement in the bag is less than optimal, resulting in much of the bag being filled with air.  you finish those small bags and you flip it upside down, shaking the last paltry crumbs into your oily hands thinking, what? that's it? there was barely anything in there!  then there is the flavor dusting problem.  too often i've found that the flavor is distributed quite irregularly on chips... some chips have nothing on them while others have the flavor powder literally caked on.  whoever is in charge of cheetos over at frito-lay deserves a prize.  the shape of the cheeto is ideal for packing.  those cheetos are packed in there real good. and each cheeto has a generous yet not overwhelming coat of cheesy goodness.  a close runner up to the cheetos are the fritos.  fritos also pack well in to the package, surprisingly so, despite their curly shape.  and fritos have two flavors that are works of genius: chili cheese and chili lime.  i'll admit that i'll sometimes choose one of these flavored fritos over the cheetos when i see them in the vending machine.  they do seem to be a bit less ubiquitous than the cheetos, however.
you may be wondering, oh, what about the spicy hot cheetos? those are great!  if so, i applaud your refined cheetos palatte.  i, too, can appreciate the fine flavor of the spicy hot cheetos.  however, those of you familiar with my relationship with spicy foods know that my body has a quite unfortunate reaction to them.  it's quite painful at times, and often strenuous on my body, demonstrably so, which often shocks or startles onlookers.  Hahaha, I remember one time I ate a whole bag of those spicy hot cheetos, and my body got rid of it FAST.  and quite uncomfortably so, i might add. interestingly enough, i don't have this sort of negative reaction to all types of hotness. it seems like it's just for chili spice... for instance, i'm able to amiably enjoy, and actually have a great affinity for hot wasabi, and hot girls.

today i read an article about some of the observations made by soldiers who are guarding saddam hussein.  apparently he really likes cheetos, too.  it cracked me up how he was grumpy when they ran out, and how he ate those doritos they gave him instead. 

come to think of it, i like doritos, too... although they do fall victim to the packing problem, and flavor problem...

cheetos, fritos, and doritos.... i guess i must really like corn meal.

little pink triangle

i spent all day in the sun today, and although i wore sunscreen, i forgot the spot under my neck, around my collarbone, and so i got burned real bad there.  that's the little pink triangle. hehe...
oh yeah, and of course i forgot to wear chapstick, too, and so now my lips hurt real bad!
haven't posted in a while... but i did watch some movies during that time...
wicker park this movie had some pretty poor reviews online, but i thought it was really good! it's a love story, with some mystery, and some stalking, and some bits of comedy.  wasn't unbearably long, and kept me pretty entertained the whole way through. 
national treasure this movie has the same girl that's in wicker park.  but it's just coincidence that i saw them so close to each other... i'd actually never seen that girl in any other movies before... anyway, this movie is just about what you expect it to be.  it is pretty fun, i guess,... because it's one of those movies where you follow along, and the puzzle is revealed bit by bit... and it has good action and stuff... just don't expect any deep story or anything like that.  the lines were pure cheese.  especially the part where they kiss. oh man that was sooo lame.
i've been pretty bad w/ blockbuster.com lately... probably haven't gotten to the point yet where it would be cheaper to rent each movie... but i definitely haven't been taking as much advantage of it as i should be.
sin city saw this one at the discount theater in milpitas for $1.50.  it was pretty good. definitely different from most other movies... don't watch this one with your parents tho. you'll probably get a lecture about how movies are corrupting your soul if you do.
mr. and mrs. smith this movie is about the same caliber as national treasure.  don't have anything really interesting to say related to any content of the movie, but i have a good story that has to do with when i went to see it... when i went to see it, i went with a group of some friends, but one of our friends was going to meet us at the theater, because he went on a date with the cousin of one of the friends.  of course this is all we were talking about the whole time, about how he's a serial cousin-dater. anyway, we were at the the great mall theater in milpitas, but because of some unfortunate miscommunication and a dead cellphone battery, this friend ended up being stranded at the mercado theater in santa clara.  by logic that still baffles us, he concluded that his best option was to walk to his car which was parked in mountain view.  he spent about two hours between the hours of 10pm and 12am walking across the city of sunnyvale.  needless to say, we all had a good laugh about this the next day.  especially me.

Return of the Dorks

Ah yes, so Star Wars episode 3 is finally out.  It was pretty entertaining.  So now is a great time to re-watch the Triumph skit when he goes out and makes fun of all the people who were standing in line to watch episode 2.
You can easily find it by searching for triumph the insult comic dog on google, but you can also see it here.

pho-pho-pho-RIDAY!

Yes, today is pho-riday, and appropriately, I had pho for lunch. It was great. It was phobulous. Phontastic. Wonderphol. You get the picture.
You know I probably wouldn't like pho that much tho, if it weren't for the plum sauce. That is some good sauce. Plum sauce.

I have little post-its on my wall right in front of my desk, to remind me things. Here's one I put up recently:



I need to read more books! My brain is turning to mush and I think I'm turning dumber by the day.

love is in the blood....

We all love to hear a good love story. Here's a good one taken from Parasite Rex, by Carl Zimmer. Start the sappy romantic music now.

Here the fluke lodges itself in a vessel and finally has its first meal since leaving the snail: a drop of blood. It now begins to mature. If it's a female, a uterus starts to take shape. If it's a male, eight testes form like a bunch of grapes. In either case, the fluke grows dozens of times bigger in a few weeks. Now it is time for the parasite to search for a partner for life. If it is lucky, other flukes sniffed out this human host and are lodged in the liver as well. The females are delicate and slender; the males are shaped something like a canoe. They begin to make blood-borne odors that lure members of the opposite sex, and once a female encounters a male, she slips into his spiny trough. There she locks in, and the male carries her out of the liver. Over the course of a couple of weeks, the pair make the long journey from the liver to the veins that fan out across the gut. As they travel the male passes molecules into the female's body that tell her genes to make her sexually mature. They keep traveling until they reach a resting place unique to their own species. Schistosoma mansoni stops near the large intestine. If we were following Schistosoma haemotobium , it would take another route to the bladder. If we were following Schistosoma nasale, a blood fluke of cows, it would take yet another route to the nose.
Once they find their destined place, the fluke couple stay there for the rest of their lives. The male drinks blood with his powerful throat and massages the female to help thousands of blood cells flow into her mouth and through her gut; he consumes his own weight in glucose every five hours and passes on most of it to her. They may be the most monogamous couples in the animal kingdom--a male will clasp onto its female even after she has died. (A few homosexual flukes will also get together. While their fit isn't as tight, they will keep reuniting if a disapproving scientist should separate them.)

The liver, what a romantic place to meet. Haha, speaking of liver, it reminds me of a joke about a Chinese man looking for love...but it's one of those jokes you gotta hear. It doesn't work reading it.
Think of this love story next time you eat grapes... hahahahaha...

Read more about Schistosoma at Wikipedia.

What's used for the title of the blog when using the online editor?
There's no subject header here like there is for post by email...

*edit. oh, there is none. hmm... there is still some room for improvement for Blogger. I should be working for Blogger!

ipodwar and religion at work

some people in ny are playing this ipod game where they go around and show each other what song they are currently playing on their ipod.  i mean, i love ipod, too, but this is seriously retarded.
rules
an account

an article from LA times about religious groups at work.  for the most part, it's only a mildly interesting article, but the part that cracked me up was

Even with those limits, however, the introduction of religion is changing the workplace atmosphere. Though it frees Christians such as Clark to bring their "whole selves" to work, it troubles many who are unaccustomed to seeing a Bible on a desk or hearing a supervisor respond to a casual "How's it going?" with an earnest "I'm blessed."

Re: Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich

This book is about the experience of a journalist who tries surviving for a few months by working several minimum wage jobs, like waitressing, housekeeping, and working at Wal-Mart, and her thoughts on some of the things that are messed up about the way businesses work. Her story confirms what I already suspected. That it sucks to be poor. It is pretty alarming, though, to read about the life conditions of some of her co-workers. I wonder if there were as many people this poor even long time ago, like before there were big corporations, and everyone was farmers. Yeah, I guess there were... because I remember in school learning about how there were landowners and then there were sharecroppers, and how the sharecroppers got screwed. It got me thinking about what my life would be like if I had to work those kind of jobs. Where you have to work really hard jobs, where you work up a real sweat because you're working so hard, like a horse, and you're paid so little you can barely afford to house and feed yourself. Like what would it be like to be a farmer. I do think though that there has to be a sort of gratifying feeling about doing physical labor for one's livelihood. Like, if you were successful, you'd really feel like you built something up. But then I'm sure that people who do manual labor because they have to probably think they'd feel more satisfied making more money while sitting on butt in an air-conditioned office. Maybe at some point in my life, I should do some really hard manual labor for a period of time. Just to know what it's like. You know, it can be like, character building or something. Form some tough callouses on my soft woman hands. I read an article today about farmers, and some of the innovative ways they find to keep their farm running. In the article, there is a young couple, pretty close to my age, starting out their lives as farmers. Both went to college. They made about $40,000 combined over a year for all their work. It's pretty mind-blowing why they would choose to do this... become farmers, I mean, but also admirable in a way. Anyway. Read the book... it's pretty interesting.

i think i'm not getting enough rest

i feel an overwhelming urge to fall asleep whenever i sit passively.  this makes it extremely difficult to watch NBA playoffs!  yet when it's time to goto sleep at night, i feel wide awake!  and then when i wake up in the morning, i hate myself for feeling crappy.

Hee Seop Choi, Octavio Dotel, Dontrelle Willis

Since I know you care...

Hee Seop Choi (Korean!!) has been playing pretty good lately.  He had 2 HRs in a game last week, a HR yesterday, and he's 3-3 right now against the Cardinals.

Octavio Dotel, Oakland closer, gave up walk off HRs to blow the save in back to back games... :'(

Dontrelle Willis, Bay Area native, has been pitching phenomenally.. He won again today, so now he's 8-0, w/ a 1.08 ERA.

Yahoo! News Story - Kenyans are eager to adopt baby girl found in litter of puppies - Yahoo! News

what the??? i can't edit the title of the post?? :'(

Here's the news story so that you don't have to navigate away from the site.
Can you imagine that dog dragging the baby across the road? Amazing...

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - Kenyans are eager to adopt a baby girl abandoned in a forest and later saved by a stray dog, officials said Tuesday.

"The publicity on the way the baby was rescued has sparked a lot of public interest in helping her," said Hannah Gakuo of Kenyatta National Hospital, where the newborn, dubbed Angel by health-care workers, is being treated for exposure and an infection in her umbilical cord.

"People have been calling the hospital, asking about the possibility of adopting her," Gakuo told The Associated Press.

Unwanted infants are often abandoned in Kenya, with poverty and failed relationships frequently to blame. Kenya's weak law enforcement and poor social security system mean most people who forsake their babies are never caught.

The stray dog that saved the child also was being cared for Tuesday, a day after its last surviving puppy died for unknown reasons, said Jean Gilchrist of the Kenya Society for the Protection and Care of Animals.

Animal welfare officials named the dog Mkombozi, or "Saviour," and gave the dog its first bath and de-worming.

"She looks a bit depressed, so we'd like to examine her to see if she has a temperature or any other problem," Gilchrist said. "She wasn't happy when we all poured into the compound. She decided to leave, but kids in the compound brought her back for the bath because she was full of ticks."

Mary Adhiambo, a resident in the compound where the dog lives, said Mkombozi apparently found the baby Friday in a plastic bag.

The dog reportedly dragged the baby across a busy road and through some barbed wire to the shed in the poor Nairobi neighbourhood where puppies from two stray dogs were sheltering.

The infant was discovered after two children alerted elders that they heard the sound of a baby crying near their wooden and corrugated-iron shack. Residents found the baby lying next to the mixed-breed dog and a own pup.

Residents took the child to a nearby police station to record a statement before taking her to the hospital.

interesting fact about two digit numbers

When you're watching the NBA playoffs or MLB games, here's a little fun game you can play using the two digit numbers on the players' jerseys.

Take any two digit number. For example, 13, the number worn by Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns, 2005 MVP. (He's Canadian, by the way. Just thought I'd mention that.) Add the digits that make up the number together. 1+3 = 4. Then subtract that number from the original number. 13-4 = 9. Then add the digits of the number you get. 0+9 = 9. You'll get 9 every time. Fascinating.

Why does this happen? It has to do with the structure of our base ten number system, I think. Basically, it happens for the same reason that the sum of the digits of two digit multiples of 9 always add up to 9. We learned this trick when trying to memorize our 9s multiplication tables as children. (18: 1+8=9, 27: 2+7=9, ...) If you could explain why that happens, I'd be impressed.

so much rain

a picture of mission peak on a sunnier day...

it rained a lot today... not that i'm doing all these outdoors activities that are hampered by the rain... well, actually, i drove my brother to PUC today, so it would have been a little better if it wasn't raining...
 
today, i installed konfabulator on my computer.  if you've heard of dashboard, a new feature that apple is touting as one of the top reasons you should get tiger, this is where apple ripped off the idea from.  konfabulator is pretty fabulous.  there is also a version for windows, if you're so inclined.

i saw a banana slug today

It was quite large. And quite bright yellow. Someone said, "Pretend we're on Fear Factor and eat it!" You know, for an animal that I would think has a lot of natural predators, it sure is bright. Is it poisonous or something? But then they wouldn't eat it on Fear Factor.... I'd venture to guess it probably doesn't taste like banana.

I know how it was just yesterday I gave my ode to PanEx. But I think come next Friday I will have to patronize Great Steak & Potato, instead. I had a cheesesteak from there today, and it was quite satisfying. My only complaint is that's it's a bit pricey for mall food. Great Steak & Potato doesn't sound as catchy as PanEx, tho... hm... G-SAP?
hahahahaha, what about G-S.Pot.

picture from Oakland A's game last week

This is the picture I took with my cell phone from my seat.  Best seats ever.  It was a crazy game, too.  I took another picture, but Paul accused me of trying to get a picture of Durazo's butt, so I'll keep that one for myself.

maybe links will work if i send rich text email...

instead of plain text email... maybe blogger assumes all email is rich text.
how about a link to a baseball blog

post by email with picture as attachment

where does it store the picture?

edit: niiiiiice it gets stored somewhere on blogger. i hope they don't erase the pictures after some time. anyway, that picture above was taken using my cell phone. i was driving home when this car pulled out from the sun microsystems campus. the license plate said "SUNOS". the picture was taken on the dumbarton bridge...

post by mail is buggy

it doesn't linkify my link, and also returned my mail to me, even tho it
posted the update.

Pan Ex

Panda Express should start calling themselves Pan Ex, and pay me a
junkload of money for giving them the idea. (pun intended)
On their <a href="http://www.pandaexpress.com/">website</a>, they say
Panda Express. Chinese for: Yummy
I think the PanEx lady is holding out on me, or my appetite is growing,
because although I think a 2-entree plate should get me stuffed. (I had
Kung-Pao Chicken and Eggplant Tofu w/ fried rice) I finished my plate
today and felt a little unsatisfied. Joel kept offering me some of his
food, which I declined. Jason suggested I should have gotten the 3-entree
plate instead. To which I responded, "3-entree plate at PanEx. Chinese
for: Rip-off"
The Kung-Pao chicken was a mistake, tho. I shoulda stuck with the tried
and true: Orange chicken.

considering switching from xanga to blogger

the only thing stopping me is that blogger seems less popular, and w/out
the xanga subscription service, i think even less people would read my
blog. pretty sure i'd get less comments, which is the most fun part of
blogging anyway.

Testing MacJournal with Blogger

Wonder if pictures will work, too.
Probably not...

Testing MacJournal with Blogger

Wonder if pictures will work, too.
Probably not...

DSCN1139

DSCN1139
Originally uploaded by benklee.

testing out flickr w/ blogger

snowman