Random Ravings

End of Immersion Week

2011-08-08T16:52:00.003-05:00

Immersion week has been fun. Been such a long time since I was last in any kind of school, but once I picked up that pen and got to the first lecture, it all came back to me. Waking up at 6 am and getting back at 11pm certainly sucked, but I had fun, especially with my competitive strategy class. That professor was the best professor I have ever had. Period.

Second Time Round

2011-07-29T12:32:00.002-05:00

It's that time of year again, it's time for Happy Girl 2011! This year, the competition is fierce including "The Pro", "The generic good singer", "The dances well but can't sing", "The spectacularly pretty but can't sing", "The cousins pretending to be lesbian couple", "A bunch of generic singers who have no real differentiation who are just there to add drama", but for me, I am rooting for Duan Ling Xi! The middle school drop-out whose parents refuse to acknowledge her, but who has a heart of gold and a voice made of awesome!

A New Pursuit

2011-07-28T11:01:00.002-05:00

My MBA program starts at Rice in roughly 4 days. It has been 9 years since I was last in school and it will be fun shaking off all the rust and getting back to my study schedule: ~~Play Everquest!~~ The first week is like a back-to-school bootcamp of sorts so it's time to hit the ground running!

Status Report

2011-04-25T13:36:00.001-05:00

Currently playing: Dynasty Warriors 7, Etrian Odyssey 3, Mass Effect 2
Currently maintaining: Vacuuming, Dish-washing, Toilet-cleaning, Blogging...???
Currently wondering: How to eliminate corruption within PRC government.

Couldn't make a year..

2011-04-22T13:11:00.002-05:00

Yes, been a year since I have updated, most likely out of laziness =) Let's see what happened since August of 2010, got a new job at OXY, got into Rice MBA program, ~~created cure for cancer~~, ~~attended another Veg-out~~, ~~Watched as the Astros, Texans, and Rockets won back-to-back-to-back championships~~

Not Project 365

2010-08-13T07:49:00.000-05:00

Interesting news here.. At least now we sound like a private security firm.

Project 365: Day 193

2010-07-17T20:33:00.001-05:00

I love these Chinese baked cakes called Ma La Gao. So fluffy, so tasty...soo...many calories...

Project 365: Day 191-192

2010-07-17T20:28:00.002-05:00

More pictures from PP's wardrobe. We have been doing some serious cleaning around the house: throwing away old things, getting new furniture, general spring cleaning type things. The biggest problem we have is old furniture. Need a ways to get rid of it but don't really have the manpower needed to carry it downstairs.

Project 365: Day 190

2010-07-14T21:31:00.003-05:00

I recently discovered the awesomeness that are Rainier Cherries. Wikipedia says they were developed in 1952, so they have been around for a while. However, I only recently discovered them on sale at a local Chinese supermarket. They don't have that cherry after-taste and imho, taste more like a grape than a cherry. They are very sweet and juicy and just filled with all around deliciousness. Go try a batch!

Project 365: Day 189

2010-07-13T21:01:00.003-05:00

I think we may be headed up to Austin in a couple of weeks to enjoy some good times on the river in a tube. Last time we went, the water levels were extremely low and while the first part was extremely fun, we made the nearly fatal mistake of opting for the full 5 hour experience instead of stopping when we were ahead. What started as a fun excursion soon turned into Man Vs Wild as we all fought to survive and reach land. By the end, we were all exhausted and some of us were incredibly sun-burned. The BluPnutMM couple will be hosting us again and we are excited to visit their new house! Ummm, another of PP's outfits. jOrange, what's the next theme?

Project 365: Day 188

2010-07-12T21:47:00.003-05:00

I can totally see the effects of P90X now. I started with not being able to do any chin-ups nor pull-ups, but today I was able to do 10 chin-ups and 7 pull-ups. Not a tremendously awesome improvement since I still have a ways to go, but I am quite proud of that achievement. If this were a game, I would probably get like 50 gamer points or something. Don't really have a good idea for a picture, so I fall back on PP's wardrobe collection.

Project 365: Day 187

2010-07-11T21:10:00.002-05:00

What's a good weekend outing without some yummy Hotpot! The trip to College station served as a nice reunion of sorts for PP's close group of friends and classmates. Hotpot was always one of the most common ways to bring everyone together so this time was no different. We had the usual assortment of hotpot fanfare including thinly sliced meats, crab sticks, various types of fish balls, mushrooms, and other various vegetables as well as specialty dishes of which my favorite was "mules rolling on floor." Tasty!

Project 365: Day 186

2010-07-11T00:00:00.001-05:00

This is Catcat the Cat. She used to be the center of attention for one of PP's friends in College Station..until a baby came along and usurped her position. She's been bitter ever since.

Project 365: Day 185

2010-07-10T00:27:00.003-05:00

Heading up to College Station for the weekend for PP's MBA classmate pseudo-reunion. It should be a good time! Another outfit!

Project 365: Day 184

2010-07-08T21:29:00.002-05:00

LeBron joining Miami? I hope they lose and he ends up at age 31 with bad knees and no title. I don't see how this decision works for him. Even if he does win, it will be Wade who will be the local hero because he stayed with the Heat all along and also recruited other stars to the cause. Can LeBron deal with being relegated to "that other moving piece" instead of being the Alpha Dog? Completely unrelated to this topic is another picture from PP's wardrobe.

Project 365: Day 183

2010-07-07T21:25:00.002-05:00

Another day, another outfit. For some reason, it just looks extremely tall.

Project 365: Day 181-182

2010-07-06T22:23:00.003-05:00

This will be the first couple in a series detailing the many working outfits of PP. She recently purchased some fantastic new clothes during the 4th of July sale and on a whim, PP decided to use some creative IKEA closet racks to create her ensemble of outfits. Luckily, because of her stroke of creativity, I finally have enough pictures to get fully caught up on my Project 365. So I present PP's "Project Runway!"

Project 365: Day 176-180

2010-07-06T21:56:00.007-05:00

The 4th of July weekend turned out pretty awesome. We did a bunch of miscellaneous shopping during the day including some electronics/food/upholstery and met up with one of PP's friends for dinner at this wonderful place called Straits. It served a family style Singaporean food but what made the restaurant stand out was the awesome decorations and style in the settings.

We ordered 5 dishes in total and it was more than enough food to go around. We started out with some sliced spring rolls for an appetizer. I had some beef with fried taro strips, PP ordered the coconut fried rice with shrimp, and PP's friend had some traditional chicken Pad-Thai. The presentation of the food was exquisite while the taste was fantastic. Even though we didn't have room, we still ordered dessert which came in the form of these dipped cheesecake bites. (Oreo, Dark Chocolate, and Peanut Butter)

After dinner, we were walking to the car when I noticed lots of people sitting on the sidewalk in lawn chairs. We found out that in 15 minutes there was going to be a fireworks display so we just decided to stay. The display was pretty awesome as the fireworks exploded really close to the audience and it lasted a good 20 minutes while the 1812 Overture blared in the background.

Project 365: Day 174-175

2010-07-03T19:37:00.002-05:00

The buying craze continues as we headed next to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to pick up some curtains and an ergonomic, back-supporting, stress-relieving, and possibly cancer-curing seat pad.

Project 365: Day 171-173

2010-07-03T19:31:00.002-05:00

New Ikea furniture for the homestead! We had put off buying new stuff for long enough so we decided to spruce up our upstairs living area a little. Got a nice little clock, shelf organizer, and lamp. It certainly feels more cozy now.

Project 365: Day 169-170

2010-07-01T22:05:00.003-05:00

Well, I have certainly managed to keep this updated *sarcasm* My computer broke down because of a power supply last week and that caused me to fall behind. Add to that the whole P90X tiredness factor and here we are with my being almost 2 weeks behind. So here's a couple of make-up pictures as I hope to slowly get this up to date. These strange looking vegetables were grown by M in the backyard. We were supposed to harvest them while they were good to eat, but we kinda....harvested too much in Frontierville so these became overly ripe.

Project 365: Day 168

2010-06-22T21:01:00.005-05:00

Went to the mall the other day and saw these creepy neck model thingies. I am not sure why they are so grotesque to me, but I imagine it has something to do with the fact that they look like ducks with human heads. Maybe it's that strangely serene expression on their face, almost as if the heads were freshly decapitated.

Project 365: Day 160-167

2010-06-21T21:15:00.009-05:00

Last week was a crazy week around the office since everyone was gone leaving me to take care of everything that goes on. Add on top of that our imminent upgrade and lots of production issues and I had hell in a cubicle. I was so tired after each day that after P90X I basically just wanted to relax. Well, I suppose this will be the make-up post for a weeks worth of procrastination. This weekend, we went to a party hosted by some of PP's friends. The theme of the party was "complete duck feast." Every dish featured duck in some prominent way and were all entirely home made and absolutely delicious. After the dinner, we played a bunch of 三国杀 and it was amazingly fun. It's basically like Chinese Bang! but with different abilities and some different rules. Before we knew it, it was already 12 am and we had to disperse.

Project 365: Day 159

2010-06-13T20:38:00.002-05:00

Went to the mall today and just happened to wander into a Vitamin World. I have been hearing so much about this "P90X Recovery Drink" from the videos that I wondered if they had any available. Well, apparently, the official P90X recovery drink is proprietary technology from BeachBody, but they had a replacement that is basically the exact same formula, but repackaged as something else. It was also pretty cheap so I am going to give it a try.

Project 365: Day 158

2010-06-12T21:55:00.003-05:00

Soo it starts again. Last year, I got deeply involved in the "Happy Girl" singing competition. This year, it's time for "Happy Boy" Right, now, it's still in the stages of going from 61 down to 30 but so far, the talent has been much better than previous years according to PP.

Project 365: Day 157

2010-06-12T21:23:00.003-05:00

PP's father was curious about what a US kitchen looked like so I took this picture. I didn't think there was that much of a difference, but perhaps that perception is there. I can kinda see how they could be different because there is a lot less space to work with in a Chinese kitchen. Also the cooking style is pretty different.

Project 365: Day 156

2010-06-12T21:21:00.002-05:00

Here's another attempt at shadow.

Project 365: Day 155

2010-06-09T20:48:00.003-05:00

Second attempted shadow picture. It's a shadowy hand grasping a gyro ball wrist strengthening thing.

Project 365: Day 154

2010-06-09T20:42:00.003-05:00

jOrange informed me that the next theme was "shadow" so here are some attempted pictures of interesting shadows. This first one represents the deepest internal human emotion of peace. The black frame represents the emptiness of the material world, while the shadow represents how it always lingers over normal existence. I call this picture Black Shadow or BS for short.

Project 365: Day 153

2010-06-09T20:39:00.003-05:00

Continuing the food theme. We had hotpot last Sunday with some of PP's friends. I wish I could have gotten the "before" picture but it was so good that I totally forgot to take a picture until it was almost over.

Project 365: Day 152

2010-06-06T21:17:00.002-05:00

A while back, I was over at PP's friend's house and the conversation somehow drifted to the best childhood eating experiences. Her friend mentioned that her most memorable childhood moment was eating this particular fruit. At the time, she only knew the Chinese name and it took forever to actually find out the English translation.

It just so happens that today while grocery shopping, I saw this fabled "king of fruits" on sale and just had to try it. At first, I had no clue how to even eat it, but after consulting a youtube video on how to eat this exotic fruit, I was able to get to the delectable flesh within. It was like nothing I had tasted before, kinda tangy, but very juicy. Very very tasty indeed!

Project 365: Day 151

2010-06-06T17:09:00.003-05:00

More food...This is because I am quickly running out of ideas for Project 365. Where's that next theme jOrange!! On a very awesome note, I managed to do my first un-chair-assisted pull-up today. It wasn't just one, I actually did like 7 or 8! P90X is totally effective!

Project 365: Day 150

2010-06-06T17:07:00.003-05:00

Mmmm, Milk Tea. Yes, the cup is empty. This is because despite my best efforts, it could not last the distance from The Teahouse to The My House.

Project 365: Day 149

2010-06-03T21:24:00.002-05:00

T-Minus 1 day until CFA exam time. PP is in full panic ZOMGWTFBBQPizza mode with the last couple of days before the exam. It seems like even the surroundings are feeling the panic. I know she will do just fine on the exam though. Add Oil!

Project 365: Day 148

2010-06-03T21:21:00.004-05:00

My trusty Speedstream modem/router. It provides the sweet nourishment of internet that I need for survival.

Project 365: Day 147

2010-06-01T21:35:00.003-05:00

Behind one day on taking pictures because of the extreme hotness that is upstairs from having no AC. This is just a picture of some lychees that PP's friend brought over.

Project 365: Day 146

2010-06-01T21:31:00.002-05:00

PP is in her final week of panic for the CFA examination. She also decided to invite one of her friends to live with us just for these last couple of days before the exam on Saturday. Her friend is very pregnant and her husband works in Austin and is only in Houston on the weekends so it's mutually beneficial. Today, PP cooked some delicious chicken wings...sooo not good for P90X...but so good.

Project 365: Day 145

2010-05-31T20:54:00.002-05:00

AC unit is broken upstairs. Sooo hot, will upload pictures from another location. Must fix AC immediately.....

Project 365: Day 144

2010-05-30T19:31:00.002-05:00

PP's coworkers are so nice. One of them made banana pudding while the other bought a huge assortment of balloons for PP's birthday. They are still going strong today.

Project 365: Day 143

2010-05-28T21:14:00.002-05:00

Definitely not just a box! I actually hand-wrote the font for the letters. I probably should have taken more cursive lessons...

Project 365: Day 142

2010-05-28T21:08:00.003-05:00

Today is PP's birthday! Knowing that she loves seafood, I decided to cook up a seafood semi-extravaganza consisting of lobster, crab cakes, bacon wrapped-asparagus, and potato salad. Having never cooked lobster before, I consulted some online resources and they all pointed out that it's actually very easy. It turns out they were right. I think the key was the thyme and bay leaves tossed in with the water to add a little flavor to the lobster. Following the instructions provided, I managed to cook up some delicious lobsters. I think I missed the timing by about 5 minutes as they could have been even more tender, but it was delicious nonetheless.

Project 365: Day 141

2010-05-26T21:18:00.002-05:00

Perhaps not just a plain white box...

Project 365: Day 140

2010-05-26T21:14:00.002-05:00

A full month into P90X and still going strong. I really think this is something that I will be able to start and finish, something that sadly doesn't happen too often in my workout world. So far, I feel a lot more energy and can feel some tightening around the neck and chest area.

Project 365: Day 139

2010-05-24T21:34:00.002-05:00

A plain white box...

Project 365: Day 138

2010-05-24T21:23:00.004-05:00

It's been a while since I played anything on Xbox360 outside of P90X videos. This weekend, I finally had some time so I decided to get Lost Planet 2. Despite all the negative reviews of the game, Kingpet and I found the game to be quite awesome. It puts the focus of the campaign heavily on cooperative play. So much so, that without human players, it's almost too difficult to complete. From a solo player point of view, this sucks, but from a coop point, this is exactly how a coop game should be played. Every player's actions matter. For instance, the very first boss we faced, we actually had to strategize and come up with a plan of attack. Kingpet occupied the boss' attention and held the strong close ranged weapons, while I took the minigun and attacked the boss' appendages from afar. This caused the boss to collapse after enough appendages were taken out, letting Kingpet devastate the weak spot from up close. Before the plan, we had tried this level 3 or 4 times, with each time depleting less than 1/4th of the boss' life bar. With the new plan, none of us even died once. It's rare that a game gives such a satisfying sense of accomplishment.

Project 365: Day 137

2010-05-22T22:10:00.002-05:00

This is probably the most painful fruit in terms of P90X. Superman Banana!

Project 365: Day 136

2010-05-21T21:53:00.003-05:00

PP has been reading this book lately filled with philosophical principles. Even though it's very old, a lot of it can still apply to the government structures of today. Ideally, the highest level of government is where no one notices the government is there. It's a little hard to imagine such a scenario, but I suppose if every person is inherently viewed as being good, then it's possible.

Project 365: Day 135

2010-05-21T21:49:00.003-05:00

Plane tickets to China is so expensive right now. Typically, a round trip is maybe $1000 to $1100 but right now, the cheapest available is at $1500. Big part of the reason is probably because of the Shanghai Expo 2010. Even though I haven't been there yet, I did manage to win an official T-shirt from a raffle drawing. Woot!

Project 365: Day 134

2010-05-19T20:21:00.002-05:00

We have this dilapidated cabinet sitting next to my almost-dilapidated computer desk that is just falling apart. The draws are coming apart, the frame is warped and half the draws don't even close properly. Time to head to IKEA!

Project 365: Day 133

2010-05-19T20:15:00.003-05:00

I have really been enjoying P90x so far, but I was having trouble doing the Military style push-ups because of my wrists. I went looking for some nice push-up bars but the only kind that I could find were those "Perfect Push-up" kind that could swivel which were overly expensive for what I wanted. I was shopping at Walmart one day when I saw these for only $10! They worked perfectly and now I can do Military push-ups in good form and go even lower on the regular push-ups.

Project 365: Day 132

2010-05-17T22:39:00.003-05:00

My grandfather is closing in on his 90th birthday. Since I can't make it back to China until October/November, I decided to give him a digital picture frame filled with my pictures from birth until now. It was a bit tedious putting it all together, but the finished slide show turned out very well. Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Project 365: Day 131

2010-05-17T22:14:00.003-05:00

Went to a gala for the Chinese Civic Center on Sunday. This association has been in existence for 14 years and every year they hold such a gala for fund-raising purposes. However from what I hear, the organization is becoming more and more political and as a result, the quality is suffering greatly. They are always looking to recruit fresh faces, so they made PP one of the MCs for the event despite her objection because of her CFA exams. She did a wonderful job given the rather dry material and lackluster entertainment from performers.

One aspect that sucked greatly was an auction to try to raise money for the association. The first item was some random painting that got about $900, and only because the person who donated it had to buy it herself to save face. The second item was of all things, a hunting pass to go deer hunting. Now, I think they are catering to the wrong audience here. I hardly know of any 50 year old Chinese people who enjoy hunting, much less any who actually own a gun.

Perhaps with a nice presentation, they can convince some people it's a fun activity to participate in, but they presented it all wrong. First they showed this wonderful picture of some cute little deer with what looked to be its mother. Then they said, "if you want to KILL this deer, then this permit is for you!" This was immediately followed by, "if you don't have a gun, we will provide you with an AK-47!" (I am not making this up, those were the exact words). They then proceeded to start the bidding at $1,000. No one bid anything for this permit and only after about 15 minutes of awkward mumbling, did they lower the minimum bid to $100. Even then, only 1 person bid that amount and finally after spending almost 30 minutes on this stupid pass, they sold it for $100.

Project 365: Day 130

2010-05-15T20:19:00.004-05:00

My pillows are so cool, they create rainbows...It's been raining for the past couple of days; so much so that we had to cancel the company softball game. The clouds finally lifted and low and behold, it bestowed miraculous powers to my pillow.

Project 365: Day 129

2010-05-14T21:15:00.003-05:00

PP's favorite cookie. I always try to hide some little sweet snacks around the house just in case she gets the munchies!

Project 365: Day 128

2010-05-13T20:35:00.002-05:00

Mmmm....Watermelon. One thing great about living in Houston is its close proximity to the watermelon fields near College Station. We always have the best watermelons during the summer time.

Project 365: Day 127

2010-05-13T20:29:00.002-05:00

The problem with Chinese cooking is the use of oil and the resultant oily fumes. Normal kitchens around here are designed with the ventilation slots on the bottom, but since fumes rise, they don't catch all of it. To combat this, M developed her patented mobile cooking canopy. She just puts this thing on the stove and it blocks the vapors from coating the space above. She should patent this and sell it.

Project 365: Day 126

2010-05-11T21:14:00.002-05:00

While doing P90X, I usually have difficulties with the stretches where I am supposed to open my chest because I am not flexible enough to reach my hands all the way to the ground. The videos recommend a Yoga block but I kept forgetting to go buy one. Today, I finally went out and got one from the local Walmart. Just in time for Yoga X on Thursday.

Project 365: Day 125

2010-05-11T20:49:00.004-05:00

Went and saw Ironman II today with a friend. The movie was pretty good, but I feel that it's just missing something that the first movie had. Perhaps it's that sense of earning one's powers and creating something from nothing or perhaps it's because the characters actually seemed plausible in the first movie. A couple of things bothered me a lot in the second movie.

First, Whiplash was either the most idiotically lucky or pathetically stupid villain ever. Why didn't anyone just shoot Whiplash in the head in Monte Carlo? Those stupid whips he used only had maybe a 5 feet reach. What's to prevent the security officers from just opening fire and hitting the parts that are completely unarmored like his arms/legs/head? Towards the end, why would he leave his head uncovered? Is the view just too restricting inside the helmet? Gee, let's cover all the rest of my body with impenetrable armor, but leave my most vital appendage completely uncovered because I want the IMAX experience.

Second, Ironman has these super duper red beam gundam sword of crazy awesomeness that cuts through anything..but he can only use them once. Then he discards them and they are revealed to be these tiny little pellets that attach to his hands. Why doesn't he just cover his entire arm with these little pellets and have his own little laser disco show every time he encounters enemies?

Despite these things, the movie was altogether enjoyable if in a semi mindless way.

Project 365: Day 124

2010-05-09T19:12:00.002-05:00

Another weapon in the kitchen arsenal is the pressure cooker. This thing is excellent for making porridge or flash cooking meat. It's not as convenient for meat, but for porridge, it's basically the same as the slow cooker. Leave it on and forget it.

Project 365: Day 123

2010-05-09T19:06:00.002-05:00

Mmmmm...Homemade Black pepper beef short ribs. PP says these are incredibly easy to make yet they are so delicious. I can use more adjectives, but the picture speaks for itself.

Project 365: Day 122

2010-05-08T18:13:00.003-05:00

Sometimes....the craving is just too much to handle. Yes, it's probably not very good for me, but they taste oh so good!! It ain't easy being cheesy!

Project 365: Day 121

2010-05-06T21:41:00.003-05:00

P90X is going well. I upgraded from 10lb to 15lb for the weight training sessions and still didn't feel quite as dead as last week. Yoga X is still a struggle though, especially the latter exercises where you continuously stand on one leg during the poses. CFA reading is progressing better than expected as PP may be a couple of days ahead on her schedule. This picture is to commemorate the opening of Iron Man 2 in theaters this weekend.

Project 365: Day 120

2010-05-05T21:27:00.003-05:00

All this talk of a "recovery" drink from doing P90X got me curious about the various "protein" drinks out there. eLemonator swears by Silk chocolate milk but I wanted to try something with a bit more protein. I found this Muscle Milk at the local Walgreens on sale so this will be my recovery drink for the next week of P90X. Hopefully it doesn't taste like crap.

Project 365: Day 119

2010-05-05T21:19:00.003-05:00

We use the slow cooker a lot at home. It's so simple to use and the food it makes is so delicious. We usually go with some beef shank, or chicken feet, or pig feet, or just about anything and it always turns out flavorful and very tender. The best part is the ease of use. Just put the meat in at night, leave it on over night and turn it to low the next morning. Come back from work and it's ready.

Project 365: Day 118

2010-05-03T21:27:00.002-05:00

PP found out today that her request to have her CFA enrollment fee reimbursed was approved! Of course the reimbursement is dependent on her passing, but still, it's pretty nice to get that $1100 back. Maybe she can use it to buy something more practical like a new Gucci or LV or something....

Project 365: Day 117-Connection

2010-05-02T20:39:00.003-05:00

This is my entry for the "Connection" theme mentioned by jOrange. I actually took another picture today, but the lighting was pretty horrible so this picture was taken while at VO:VI.

Project 365: Day 116

2010-05-02T20:33:00.002-05:00

I think the realization that the CFA exam is only a month away is finally dawning on PP. She's been seriously hitting the books for 2 weeks now and progress is good. If everything goes according to plan, she will finish with the reading in about 2 weeks and be able to devote another 2 weeks to practice tests. Here's her little study area in the computer room. It's right below a window so it's well lighted, plus the beanbag and shoulder/neck rest thingy is super comfortable.

Project 365: Day 115

2010-04-30T19:32:00.003-05:00

I had gotten an Academy coupon for my birthday a while back but totally forgot about it until recently. I just so happened to need a new set of weights, so the timing was pretty awesome. I wasn't too sure exactly how much I needed, but after a consultation with =VGI= eLemonator, I decided on a set of free weights with a bar-bell handle. It goes up to 25 LB for both, or 65 LB on one hand.

Project 365: Day 114

2010-04-29T21:20:00.002-05:00

I can't seem to get away from Diet Coke. I force myself to stop drinking it for about half a year, but then slowly started to drink it again. Perhaps it's the taste, perhaps it's the sweetener. I have been taking it lightly though, I drink maybe a cup every day as opposed to treating it as my alternative to water.

Project 365: Day 113

2010-04-28T21:33:00.003-05:00

Yeah, I know, this is cheating since it technically isn't a picture. But with P90x kicking my butt around all day, I think it's only fair. Plus, this screen shot is just so awesome. Courtesy of =VGI= KiraTomato. Could The Illusive Man actually be the boss? Only time and reapers will tell!

Project 365: Day 112

2010-04-27T20:39:00.002-05:00

This is Ground Zero for the P90X workout sessions. The yoga mats are mainly there to absorb the ludicrous amounts of sweat that these sessions cause. So far so good, but it's only Day 2.

Project 365: Day 111

2010-04-26T21:25:00.002-05:00

First day of P90x and I am ashamed to say that my ability to do any sort of pull-up is severely limited. Of course, according to the first day, my push-up, sit-up, and generally anything to do with up all suck. Luckily, I know things will improve as the days go by so all I have to do is stick with it.

Project 365: Day 110

2010-04-25T21:50:00.003-05:00

What lies in the package? It could be like Pandora's Box and as soon as I open it, it would unleash all the evils of the world..or it could just be =VGI= eLemonator's care package containing the beginning of our salvation.

Project 365: Day 109

2010-04-25T21:37:00.003-05:00

I missed VO:VI's excursion to Rays the Steaks restaurant so I have had a hankering for some delicious steak. Being in Texas, it seemed like it wouldn't be too hard to find a good steakhouse and I was right. We went to a steakhouse called Truluck's on Saturday. I found some reviews online that said it was pretty fantastic. While the name isn't nearly as awesome as Rays the Steaks, the food definitely made up for it. The complimentary bread they gave was really really good. So good in fact that we ate 3 servings of it. They also served special "Truluck's Filtered Aerated Water" which kinda made me wonder, since water naturally contains oxygen..wouldn't all water be "aerated?" The steak was deliciously seasoned and perfectly cooked. The only thing that I didn't quite like was the price of the steak. At a whopping $42, I feel like I paid way more for the ambiance and the air in my water than the actual food.

Project 365: Day 108

2010-04-23T23:06:00.004-05:00

I was crawling around the storage area today looking for M's camping tent when I stumbled upon an interesting looking box. I didn't remember ever seeing it before, but upon opening it, I discovered this awesome tripod. It was basically brand new, with the plastic wrapping still covering the tripod. I think my father had purchased this tripod a long time ago, but never got to use it. Call it luck, but I can't shake the feeling that maybe he meant it to happen like this.

Project 365: Day 107

2010-04-22T22:24:00.003-05:00

Woot, NFL draft day. I am not so sure where all the hype comes from as the months upon months of analysis all lead to this day..yet for all the analysis, the actual chances of drafting a franchise player is about the same as flipping a coin. On a completely unrelated note, I managed to sprain my left ankle playing basketball because I landed on another person's foot. Does that lower my draft stock?

Project 365: Day 106

2010-04-22T22:11:00.002-05:00

Getting more and more psyched about doing this P90x workout series. I think my enthusiasm is pretty contagious as PP is getting pretty psyched as well. It should be a fun...and probably painful 90 days. Much thanks to =VGI= eLemonator for sending us the DVDs...and one misplaced towel.

Project 365: Day 105

2010-04-20T21:09:00.003-05:00

Recently got back into playing baseball/softball and realized that whatever skill set that I had before has eroded greatly. In the first game, I missed an easy pop up and managed to let a grounder go between my legs. Even managed to pop my left shoulder twice while swinging a bat. Luckily, I can still hit the ball pretty well as I scored my team's only run...while costing my team 3 runs on the two errors. A negative PER is awesome!!

Project 365: Day 104

2010-04-19T22:16:00.003-05:00

Sooo tired today at work. I was just dragging myself through the day, trying to not fall asleep. I am definitely feeling the effects of sleeping on a metal rod for 2 days straight. Besides the lack of sleep, VO: VI was totally awesome. Had a great time seeing all the old Veggies and even meeting several new Veggies and Veggies-to-be. Just wish it were longer...there were many other party games we didn't get to try. Since I am too tired to take a picture today, here is a picture of Lincoln.

Project 365: Day 103

2010-04-19T21:57:00.003-05:00

Sunday was another jam-packed day filled with sightseeing. We woke up at around noon which was really late considering our flight was at 5:40. We hurriedly made our way onto the subway and towards the Smithsonian again. We met up with one of =VGI= eLemonator's friends and set about visiting the many monuments around the National Mall. Because of the time constraint, PP and I were only able to see the World War II Memorial, Washington Monument, and Lincoln Memorial in any sort of detail. Since the last time I went was when I was maybe 8 years old, I found all of it very new and exciting. The World War II Memorial was done very nicely and was my favorite. We ate a hot dog at the Lincoln Memorial then hurried off to our flight. The flight came into Houston under pouring rain, but luckily we were able to avoid the flooding before it got too serious. If I had to do it again, I would definitely take a day off and stay another day. There are just so many other things I wanted to see but didn't get time.

Project 365: Day 102

2010-04-19T21:13:00.002-05:00

After playing Taboo into the whee hours of the morning, we woke up on Saturday semi-refreshed and ready to do some Museum hopping. We first dined at Jaleo, a Tapas restaurant very close to the Smithsonian. We met up with PP's friend there and along with the rest of the Veggies, enjoyed a fantastic meal. After the meal we headed off to the Museum of Natural History where we saw the Hope Diamond. This cute little boy remarked "Wow, that diamond is much bigger than Mommy's diamond!!" After taking in some natural history, we next went the the Aerospace Museum to take in some not so natural history. The highlight was seeing the actual original Wright Brothers flying machine. The Spy Museum was the last stop for the day where we all played spy for a day. Just like Afghanistan and Iraq, we took the "screw diplomacy" route and ended up getting our agent killed, losing the nuclear trigger we were supposed to retrieve, and getting the president of a small country ousted. Dinner was at Southside 815 where we experience the Cajun in Washington D.C. After quite an eventful day (destabilizing small countries is hard work!), we got back to =VGI= eLemonator's pad and pretty much crashed. I stayed up to play a great game of Munchkin while =VGI= KiraTomato and =VGI= Catnipped went on their respective killing sprees in BF.

Project 365: Day 101

2010-04-16T22:47:00.003-05:00

First impression of D.C is that is has beautiful weather. Feels so nice, no humidity, cool temperatures, spectacular food. We went to Five Guys for dinner since we don't have any of those down in Texas. The burger was pretty good but I would have eaten less if I knew the other delicacies waiting for me later on. =VGI= Honeydew brought some delicious crab cakes that were just too good to resist. Unlike the doughy 20%-crab crab cakes served at most restaurants, these were around 80% crab. So delicious. I also got to play Munchkin for the first time. I can't believe I went so long without knowing about this game. It's like anti-RPG, RPG card game. I must get this when I get back. PP also wants to get an iPad, Casio Keyboard, and mobile pull-up bar. I think she just wants =VGI= eLemonator's apartment.

Project 365: Day 100

2010-04-15T21:11:00.002-05:00

Heading off to Washington D.C. tomorrow for VO: VI. =VGI= eLemonator has been gracious enough to host all 8 of us in his apartment. Hopefully the rain will keep away as I am looking forward to hanging out with the other veggies again.

Project 365: Day 99

2010-04-14T21:05:00.003-05:00

So what exactly is my "nationality?" Sure, I was born in China, but I really don't feel any intense Nationalism for China. PP and I were having this discussion and we couldn't really reach a consensus. It's more like I am pretty ambivalent towards foreign affairs and don't have this great desire to love my country, be it China or US. I feel like this isn't necessarily a bad thing as it makes one highly adaptable to any environment, but PP feels like it's a great loss to not have a deep sense of nationalism. Both arguments have good points. Any thoughts?

Project 365: Day 98

2010-04-14T20:57:00.004-05:00

I went to a seminar the other day on Enterprise Asset Management solutions. They talked about maintenance and reliability for about half the day, then all of a sudden, they started talking about inventory management. This comprised of discussions on using the EOQ method for inventory control. As terms like safety stock and reorder point started being tossed around, I totally had a sense of Déjà vu. It was like Callister was standing there, with his slicked back hair lecturing us on how important this stuff was going to be. Can't believe he was right.

Project 365: Day 97 =VGI= Profiles

2010-04-12T20:49:00.005-05:00

=VGI= GrapesOfWrath has always been the resident handyman during our BF escapades. Equally good as medic and support, =VGI= GrapesOfWrath was always there to collect those support points that no one else collected. No opponent could easily evade Grape's wrath because even if they dodged the first bullet, there were 99 more headed their way in an ever widening deviation from the center. =VGI= GrapesOfWrath's Achilles Heel was grenades. For some reason, grenades and Grapes didn't get along, often leading to spectacularly hilarious consequences. =VGI= GrapeOfWrath recently had a little bundle of joy in =VGI= Kiwipedia so his days on the battlefield may be at a close, but some day, when that last clip is spent, we just might find little bundles of ammo strewn about, waiting to be used.

Project 365: Day 96

2010-04-12T20:42:00.002-05:00

More flowers from our backyard. They grow so fast this time of year and they are so fragrant!

Project 365: Day 95

2010-04-12T20:10:00.003-05:00

Potluck day! PP make a smorgasbord of awesome food for the potluck encompassing almost all the food groups. I even baked some awesome fresh bread for the event. Along with the dishes that the other guests brought, we had a wonderful feast. Afterwords, we played this Chinese version of Pictionary that had both English and Chinese. It seemed kind of sketchy because the translations weren't exactly right as it misspelled Crocodile Dundee as Crocodile Cundee and translated cockpit as 斗鸡场.

Project 365: Day 94

2010-04-09T22:51:00.003-05:00

Pictionary! This version is actually Chinese, but you can't tell from the picture. Tomorrow is the big Potluck and hopefully we can have a lot of fun playing Pictionary.

Project 365: Day 93 =VGI= Profiles

2010-04-08T21:03:00.004-05:00

Ahh, so we are at =VGI= Cucumbernator. =VGI= Cucumbernator always likes a fair fight. Mano a Vegetable..except the vegetable is surrounded by 10 tons of armor and firepower. =VGI= Cucumbernator specializes in the unfair fight where others cower in fear of his awesomeness while he can destroy others with merely a thought. Unfortunately for him, I couldn't find my old GIJoe Avalanche battle tank, thus leading to his grotesque demise. Medic!!!!

Project 365: Day 92

2010-04-08T20:59:00.003-05:00

Ahh, that time of the year, where the government takes the hard-earned money of its constituents so that it may waste it on senseless things like bailing out big companies who specialize in generating wealth from nothing and then turning around and turning that wealth into nothingness.

Project 365: Day 91

2010-04-06T21:32:00.002-05:00

M has been complaining that the laptop screen is way too small so I hooked up the computer to the HDTV downstairs. This comes with the advantage of bigger text, but also comes with the disadvantage of having to move to the laptop every time she wants to type or click to a new page. To solve this problem and to satisfy my own curiosity, I went out and got a Gyration air mouse. I guess it's just like a Wii controller but more responsive. I have to charge it for 9 hours before first use so test runs will begin tomorrow.

Project 365: Day 90 =VGI= Profiles

2010-04-05T20:38:00.002-05:00

Ever since the days of BF2, =VGI= has always found it difficult to combat planes. It was next to impossible to shoot them down from the ground because the AA were so crappy. =VGI= Tomato finally got fed up and did something about it by whipping out his trusty but exceptionally squeaky joystick. =VGI=Tomato was always one of the extraordinarily awesome ground-pounders, skilled with all sorts of ARs while also specializing in the GL. Chances are, if you see him, you are already dead...but you can probably hear his joystick a mile away...

Project 365: Day 89 =VGI= Profiles

2010-04-04T20:31:00.003-05:00

Like =VGI= jOrange, =VGI= eLemonator is a relative newcomer to the BF series. He was one of the original Veggies during the Ghost Recon days, but he was a bit slower migrating over. Once over, =VGI= eLemonator soon developed into a force on the battlefield. Often times he would amaze us with his impressive multi-tasking skills: chatting with his family members, only pausing to squeeze off that next headshot with his trusty sniper rifle. He and =VGI= theDragOnfruitS would often team up forming a dynamic duo.

Project 365: Day 88 =VGI= Profiles

2010-04-03T21:55:00.003-05:00

Sometimes, a player is so incredibly skilled and powerful, that her appearance would cause grossly unbalanced gameplay and tip the scales heavily towards her side. This is the power of =VGI= Princess Pineapple. While she has never made an appearance in any Battlefield game, perhaps this is for the best as a mere thought would cause instant victory for her side. She makes the impossible possible like actually taking down a J10 with an AA turret on Wake Island. She caps the Airfield..from the carrier and she wins Shaarqi Peninsula without the TV Station. Perhaps most amazing of all, she always waits for team members to board the Blackhawk before taking off.

Project 365: Day 87

2010-04-03T21:43:00.003-05:00

Today was a gorgeous day in Houston...until the sun came out, then it became almost as hot as during the summer. (In fact, we actually have the AC on right now...) We had lunch with some of PP's friends at 阿啦上海人 then decided to go take some pictures of flowers. Unfortunately, those were in short supply near where I live, but we managed to find some nice wild flowers blooming. Here is a picture of one such flower. Anyone know the name of it?

Project 365: Day 86

2010-04-02T21:06:00.003-05:00

Well, didn't get to the store so M decided to give me some subject matter. What the heck is this you ask? I hardly know...but it's pretty grotesque....

Project 365: Day 85 =VGI= Profiles

2010-03-31T20:25:00.004-05:00

With the coming of BF: BC2, the days of =VGI= online domination may again be at hand. In celebration of this momentous occasion, I present the first in a series profiling each =VGI= member. Because I have no cucumbers, lemons, grapes, tomatoes, dragonfruits, catnip, or DataSixes at this moment, =VGI= jOrange is the first subject. =VGI= jOrange is probably the newest member and while initially a n00b, jOrange quickly developed into every Medic's dream: tirelessly running into enemy fire to "take one for the team" while keeping them on their toes by providing valuable experience using the defibrillator. If you see =VGI= jOrange on the field, do not even attempt to engage as the army of Medics behind ensure his invincibility in battle.

Project 365: Day 84

2010-03-30T21:31:00.003-05:00

I recently took some advanced PL/SQL training from Oracle University which turned out to be the biggest hassle I have ever experienced. Originally, the course was scheduled for October 2009, then it was canceled and moved to November 24, 2009. Hmm, does that date look familiar? Why yes, yes it is during the Thanksgiving holidays. I opted to not take the training then and called Oracle to change my time. Oracle said okay, but only if I paid half of the $1200 course fee first, then the other half upon completion. I agreed to this and they rescheduled it to January 2010.

Well, they canceled that one again and scheduled me for one in February. February comes along and I finally get a phone call from our Oracle rep saying the one in February was canceled, but that there was online training I can take. By this point, I was pretty pissed since I was not going to pay $1200 for some stupid online material which I can probably get for free through Google. After telling my rep I wanted my money back, she finally "found" a course in March that she guaranteed would run. I agreed to this, but then she tried to charge me the whole $1200 for the course even though the previous agent had already charged me $600. At this point, I just flat out asked for my money back, but then the agent "checked" some records and determined that I should only be charged the remaining $600.

Course finally runs and the first day of class, the instructor hands out these free notebooks that were probably printed in 1995 or something. One of them even had writing from a previous course.

To be fair, the instructor was very knowledgeable and taught the class very well. I learned a lot of tips on how to write better code and ways to improve efficiency during coding. Even though the class was ultimately useful, I would highly not recommend training from Oracle because of the horrible enrollment process.

Project 365: Day 83

2010-03-29T21:28:00.002-05:00

It has been a while since I have used the ole Nintendo DS. The last game I tried was Phantasy Star and that was quite good. Finally decided to pick up Infinite Space after reading some good reviews. So far, it's been very confusing as the UI isn't exactly intuitive and the plot is a little thin. On the plus side, at least I will have something to do again on those bus rides to and from work.