Project 365: Day 115

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

=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

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

Project 365: Day 95

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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....