ketchup

ok, it's been more than half a year since my last post. not sure why i haven't written for so long or why i'm starting again. let's see, major happenings since january:

* i left accenture at the end of march and joined invesco - no travel, more dough.
* got involved in a not-so-fun courtship with a gal (for reals) - it was either him or me, i opted out. at least i got to beat it up a few times. seriously tho, i liked her.
* i bought a 99 mazda miata for kicks in april and sold my 98 honda vfr 800fi.
* i just bought a 04 infiniti fx35, now i'm trying to sell the miata and wrx.
* went to bill hsiao's wedding in the bay area - someone actually married that fool.
* an mri shows i have a labral tear in my right shoulder. that means no spiking, no serving, no throwing. in other words, no fun at all. it used to hurt all the time but now it hurts every now and then. if it continues while i'm still resting it after another month i may opt for surgery so that i can continue my sporting ways.
* neo, paul, and sucka visited me in houston again - tons of food, treasures and dim sum with my folks.
* the band played a benefit gig at tokyohanna.
* i went to a few concerts - radiohead, john mayer, the cure, school of rock, foo fighters, one republic, jersey boys.

these are the only things i can think of right now, my life is generally pretty boring. hopefully i'll have more exciting things to report in the future.

deep

i feel like i'm being tested. i really do. tonight i went to kroger to get a few groceries - cereal, fruit, ice cream, etc. i get into one line to check out and notice a gal in the line to my left. she's dressed in some khaki's, a dark golf windshirt type pullover, hair in a pony tail, and some old school nike running sneakers. she reminds me of a movie star, i couldn't remember who at the time and i still can't now although i could picture her in my head. jennifer something. the one with the amazing eyes. co-star in "a beautiful mind". jennifer connelly, i had to google her to find out. anyhow, i notice that she's got a six pack of blue moon in her grocery cart. i hate beer but if i have to drink one it'll be blue moon. somehow i get the idea we have something in common. doesn't everyone have something in common with jennifer connelly?

anyhow, she checks out before i do and heads out of the store. oh well, no biggy. i check out and head towards my car. as i get to my car, i notice that look alike jennifer connelly is parked directly across from me. she just put her groceries in her white jetta and is looking for a place to park her grocery cart. she looks puzzled so i tell her that it's ok to just park her cart between our cars, no one will tell. it's at that point that she responds in a deep voice. deeper than mine. i mean really deep. i just smile, get into my car and drive off. i felt like i should be at the coffee shop with jerry and george.

i've found a golf swing

i've been a casual golfer since about 1998 or so. it started when i was living in stamford, ct, and tiger woods was the biggest thing. i went to the driving range with some friends and coworkers from factset. i borrowed a 7 iron and hit about a hundred balls with it. no one told me how to hit it, i didn't ask for any tips. but i was able to hit this thing pretty consistently around 150 yards and hella high. things are pretty much the same, on the driving range anyway.

lately, if you've played golf with me, you know i hit about 4 clubs. my adams tight lies 4 wood off of the tee and everywhere outside of 200 yards, my 7 adams tight lies 7 wood everywhere outside of 170 yards, my sand and lob wedges, and my putter. i could never hit my driver straight. if i did attempt to swing the driver the ball would take this wicked high banana hook right. without fail.

then at the driving range about two weeks ago i randomly discovered that i could hit it by combining these steps in order:

1. grip the club loosely
2. smooth backswing
3. accelerate the forward swing
4. exaggerate the right wrist turning over the left
5. keep your head down and still through the swing

i'll take a half speed practice swing incorporating all of these steps and then step up and take a swing. for the most part they're going straight. i'm still working on sweeping upwards at the ball on a high tee instead of swinging down on it like an iron.

of course, this works at the driving range. it could all go to shit on an actual course.

are you sure?

so my friends tim and elaine shen in sf have a blog (www.elaineandtim.blogspot.com). they wanted to link my blog to theirs for some reason. i go to their blog and all i see are pictures of them, their beautiful daughter, and all of their friends with beautiful babies. i told him he might not want to link his blog to mine. i was about to post the fact that i saw a "support road head" sticker on some gal's suburban in la last wknd.

that's right, it's back

starburst pineapple upside down cake guarded by a piggy bank dog.

random pics

if you're a girl, here's why you might want to pull your pants up in public. your thong might be posted on someone else's blog in full magazine print quality. this was taken at the daily grind on washington. thank you thong girl.






this was taken at the new target close to the crib and used for a collage in 002 magazine. i could use it for a networking/dating site but they might think i'm a bum pushing around my house or see all the toilet paper i had to buy.

no african hookers

so i went into the doctor's office on friday to get a few shots. i'm going to lima, peru, in november with some friends so it was suggested that i get a few boosters. the nurse talked over which shots she'd recommend i get if i'll be going to lima and india again in the near future. anyhow, we decide on one of the hepatitis varieties and typhoid. as she's leaving the room to go get the vaccines she says to me in a motherly warning kind of tone "no african hookers".

i thought this was a pretty strange thing to say. i was a little perplexed, why the hell would a professional say something like that to me? i played back our conversation and may have found the answer.

as she's going over the vaccines she says hepatitis x is usually contracted through sexual contact or sharing needs. she was about to move on to the next vaccine but i interupted with "sign me up!"

not much really

it's been a while since my last post. what's been going on...

i went to a poker game at a friend's friend's place. its a really nice townhouse, 3-4 levels, exposed beams in the living room. he orders veggie pizza and serves it with wine. at a poker party. with no girls present. yeah, i think he is. not that there's anything wrong with it.

i was in manhattan beach last last wknd to catch the avp tournament. karch kiraly was supposed to be there but he pulled out with a bad calf. the usual suspects won: walsh-may and dalhauser-rogers. even tough the beast is 6'9" i'm still amazed at how high that fool gets up over the net. he gets his sunglasses smashed in on a regular basis since he gets his shoulders up over the net when he blocks.

last weekend i was in new jersey for yet another younger cousin's wedding. another one got engaged and will be getting married next august. jerry and i keep getting asked but we don't have the answers.

so i'm in san francisco for the weekend for andrew's birthday. he turns 25 or something. my flight from houston to denver is late by an hour so when i get to denver my flight to sf has been taken off the departures board. i'm not able to make the flight but somehow my luggage makes it on the plane. i get booked on a later flight to oakland so at least i get into the bay area thursday night. after neo picks me up from oakland we trek on over to sfo to pick up my luggage.

after we get back to neo's place we play a mini hold 'em tournament between me, neo, and x (christine, neo's gf). $10 buy-in, winner take all. i knock mr. tao out first, then take out mrs. tao. sooo sad.

friday morning the three of us take the day off and play a round of golf at alameda. we used to play there a lot back in the day, it's cheap and wide open. since we haven't played much lately we decide to play a best ball format, less pressure on each of us to strike the ball well. x plays pretty well for a beginner. after a relatively relaxing round we decide to grab a bite in the east bay. chicken and waffles is the call but we don't know how to get there. did you know you can text "chicken and waffles oakland" to the numerical equivalent of "google" and you'll get a few text messages back with an address and a phone number? it's pretty awesome! the funny thing is the address wasn't enuf. i call, get directions, and we promptly go the wrong way. then x calls and we finally get there, altho we almost made neo call as well.

so this place is or was a franchise of the famous roscoe's chicken and waffles house from la. the side dishes were really good but the chicken was a little dry. i had a chicken breast with candied yams and mac and cheese (pic above). the latter two were da tza dan!

i'm a little drowsy right now so i'll speed thru the rest of the weekend:

friday nite: andrew's bday dinner at delfina in the mission. italian, different, tasty! there were bone marrow chunks in our steak frittes.

saturday am: vb at the oval with me, neo, paul, frank, jack, and byron (pic above). euge showed up to watch as well! we all joked about nicole kim's bday party.

saturday pm: x makes cold soba noodles and sashimi for dinner (pic above). real decent! afterwards we drop by whisper to say hello to steve and jamie chen.

sunday am: meet vanessa, pp, and mia for dumplings at 34th and balboa (pic above). mia is a real cutie with a lot of personality at 2.5 years of age. then neo and i head to blue bottle for coffee (pic of dog above) and the transformers movie. both were really good, megan fox is a, well, fox. beard papas after that.