who's drinking my milk?

someone's been drinking my milk! i only bought a half gallon, maybe i should buy a gallon for next week?

randomness

traffic sucks! it sucks away your time that you could be spending doing something else. i keep trying to figure out different times to leave in the morning. all of a sudden this week traffic has gotten wayyyy worse! of course it doesn't help things that i woke up late today. my mom put thicker down comforters on everyone's beds and now i my internal alarm clock is failing me. normally i wake up 15 min after i snooze my alarm. today it was ....snooze....zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

i also highly recommend people to get a mattress heater. it's a heated blanket that you put on top of your mattress (under the mattress sheet) and keeps you nice and toasty. you would think that i wouldn't need it since i have the thick blankets. problem is that my feet get so cold that they don't have enough heat on their own to get trapped in the blankets. so i'll remain shivering for a good hour or so until my body warms up. socks don't help because there's no heat in my feet!

i really really like the show heroes. just awesome! i wish there were more episodes...the finale is next week. the writing is really creative, the camera angels and video editing are colorful and bring life to the characters. i love how each episode's title is displayed by handwritten looking text on different surfaces of the image. just like a comic book...

hunny and i leave for HK and Thailand on dec 26th! counting down the days.

healthy eating

to counteract all the holiday eating, i've started eating healthy breakfasts. monday morning i bought a bunch of oatmeal, nonfat milk, and smart start cereal: antioxidant to work. i've also been taking my vitamins since i brought a bottle to work so i won't forget. i ALSO went for a 3 mile run on saturday. however my lungs are still recovering from the months long cough. it took a few minutes of *cough cough* to clear my lungs so i could run. i felt like a really old car...*put put**slow vrooooooommmmm*

black friday

my brother's friends asked "are your mom and your sister waking up really really early for all the friday sales?" my brother's response was "heck no, do you know my sister? my sister is sleeping!" haha...

my brother and parents however did make it out for some early sales. since my brother had some friends who were waiting in line at best buy since 11pm the previous evening, they were first in line. my parents and jon joined the line at 4:30AM. crazy! however my parents ran into the store when it opened, and ran around comparing which product had a better deal. they did this for over and hour...and ended up not buying anything. hahaha!!! but they did end up getting a price match for a 48' LCD TV they just bought and saved a few hundred dollars. only my parents...well, actually jon woke up early also and didn't buy anything either!

i sure enjoyed sleeping in. hahaha....

thanksgiving feasting

my family really knows the definition of FEASTING. thanksgiving dinner was filet mignon, seared scallops and sweet peas. my family has never really loved eating turkey, the leftovers last way too long.=P friday was dimsum with uncle william and uncle raymond's families....mmmm....ha gow. saturday i cooked a prime rib roast for diana's potluck - prepared with salt, fresh pepper, olive oil, inserted slivers of garlic within the roast and lots of fresh thyme. turned out perfectly! i even had au jus! :D sunday i brought home the other half of the prime rib roast (uncooked- since i bought a huge 16 pound roast from costco and cut it in half to save some for my family) . we were going to wait to cook it later, but then decided we didn't want to wait, so i cooked about 4 pounds of the roast for my family. it didn't turn out as good as the first one however since i didn't have a convection oven. therefore i'm going to bring the last 4 lbs to hunny's house so i can use his wonderful convection oven. hehe. here's a pic of the filet and scallops. another pic of the prime rib later on.


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twas a wonderful vacation. saw tons of family and friends , yay! - need to have someone to share all the good food with! oh, i even tried a new dish, there is this place in SF, right next to the green colored chinese place - yummy vietnamese crab noodles. mmmmmm....

presents!

my camera has shipped! i love ordering things online, it feels like i'm going to get a present in the mail! haha.

gadget time!

i ended up buying the Olympus Stylus 720SW 7.1MP Ultra Slim Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Silver) and a 1G memory card for $313 (after rebate), free shipping. i got the amazon card so i could get $30 cash back. i decided against the canon since it doesn't have a battery indicator (i know i'm horrible with charging up so i need that feature) and i decided against the sony since it's too pricey. the shock proof and waterproof features of the Olympus won me over since you all know about my pool parties...water everywhere. also hunny and i are going to HK and Thailand after xmas and will see the beaches of Phuket. I thought it would be nice to take pics in the ocean. =D when i was in college i used to have a little olympus stylus that i LOVED. it got ruined at the beach when sand got into it. hopefully i will love this new stylus just as much.

HS students make a soy bean powered car!

GO GO SOYBEANS!

way cool!

high school students who were previously in gangs and doing poorly in school built a soy bean powered (actually soybean bio-diesel fuel) car as an after school project. it goes 0-60 in 4 seconds and gets 50mpg!

sandily's bday

pete, sandy, hunny and i all went out to celebrate sandy's bday last nite. we had indian food at Empress of India (5825 Cottle Rd, San Jose, CA). yum! hunny had garlic chicken, i had butter chicken. so i learned that chicken Makhani is actually butter chicken! that makes a whole lotta sense now because in pittsburgh, yanni boy would always order chicken makhani. those that know yanni boy (best friend erik from grad school) know he loooooooves butter. when he orders a bagel, he asks for extra butter. hahaha...who does that in these health conscious days!? so now i know why he loved that dish so much, it tastes like butter! haha. anyhoo, it was yummy yummy since it's been a long time since i've had indian food.

we talked about a whole lotta things. i also learned a whole lot about babies and being preggars. sandy is like an oven! i was shivering in my cashmere sweater with a shirt underneath. she was wearing only a light shirt! also , i learned that when a baby drops, it gets painful. =P when you're in labor, try to use the restroom before going to the delivery room so your bladder doesn't block the baby. soo many things to think about when having a baby! we also chatted about family members. she has two younger sisters who are finishing up with college now. i have many younger cousins that i'm "meme jieh jieh" - older sister. when we were 21-22, we thought we knew everything! learned all we had to in college, out in the real world making money. but now at 30 (well 29 for me since my bday isn't until dec), we realize there is ssoooo much more to learn. so much more to experience. and we are already 10 times wiser than at 22. a cousin of mine is finding her way in the world now. she's in nyc and wants to find a job. it's hard finding a job when you're right out of school, figuring out what you want to do. thing is, you don't figure it out until you start working and the best thing is to find something that gives you the most options. oh and she believes she can find a high paying job with a somewhat low amount of stress in nyc. i've met thousands of people with all my networking, travelling, etc. unless you don't mind lower pay, i've never seen a low stress job in nyc! (all of you can feel free to vouch for me) anyways, it's really hard to step out of big sister mode when talking with her sometimes. it's like, i know what's going to happen but sometimes you just have to let people make their own mistakes. sandy and i were discussing this because her sisters will be graduating soon and she hopes they will find jobs they are really happy with. good luck to the little sisters out there! i hope you find your way.

mixer 1.8

had STIRR mixer 1.8 on wednesday at a new location this time. Illusions in PA. the venue seemed to work a lot better than our other venues - larger, more open, has a stage. but still, volume is an issue. it got hard to talk with everyone since it was so loud. but then, it's always loud when you have over 200 people talking at the same time. sooo...kinda hard to do something about that. although people liked the patio area in F&A so that they could have a quieter conversation if they wanted to. well i suppose that's what one on one meetings are for. :) since i've been involved with the group, each event just keeps getting better. we're attracting great people and generating quite a buzz! people are getting funded, managing directors of venture capital funds are attending and asking to sponsor, more events are getting added on, big industry folks who are now angel investors are attending, companies are getting written about and generating free marketing for themselves. it's great! when you're in the room, you just feel that something big is happening. the next myspace, google, yahoo is being put together. i really feel so lucky to be involved, although i wish i could do more than what i'm doing. working seriously puts a damper on being able to make stirr phone calls. =P our holiday party has just exploded and rather than the 150 people we were initially having, we're now going to up the numbers to 500 people at the exploratorium on dec 14th. it will be an awesome party! but in the mean time, all us stirr people are working our butts off to keep up with our full time jobs and plan stirr events at the same time. go STIRR!

sandy's baby has dropped!

dropped in her pelvis that is. that means new baby Erin will soon pop out! i'm going to leave a set of older clothes in my car. i'm in charge of holding down her leg while she gives birth. *flex*

hi greg!

and so the mystery of the disciple is solved. i met greg at sandy and pete's wedding in 2002 in minnesota. did you guys know that both the governor of california and the governor of minnesota were both in the movie predator? and scotch tape was invented in minnesota?

head cold

i'm losing all productivity because my head feels like it's all clouded right now. ugh. hopefully this cold clears up in a couple days. good thing i bought lotioned tissues for the office!

avatar

what do you guys think. likes or no likes? i'm thinking it looks a little lame so am leaning towards taking it off.

clues number 2 and 4

still thinking about how they can be connected...my imagination is just too bizarre.

ramen conversations

had ramen with jennifer and donna on sunday. it was nice to see them since i don't see them very often. jennifer lives in sf now and i rarely make it up there these days due to laziness. it's actually funny how i've met both girls. both were invited to my pool party by other people. however i don't really talk to the person that invited them that much. i do talk to jennifer a lot whenever i get the chance.

we chatted a lot about dating...of course. jennifer was divorced and is now dating quite a bit. she's tall, smart, in excellent shape and hot. so she has no problems finding dates of course. however she says she's always attracted to the "player" types. such types are fun to hang out with, but they are flaky and don't return calls. i think i've been lucky that i've always been attracted to the good boys. saved me a lot of headaches... and heartaches.

we also talked about rules. many women are a huge fan of rules. only hang out with guys as group events unless it's a date. if you are in a relationship, no hanging out with another person of the opposite sex unless it's just lunch. dinner is off limits. the guy always has to ask first. if a guy doesn't have good manners, he's out.

funny thing is, the girls used to be complete opposite. independent women who didn't care about gender rules. however after meeting many flakes, they now feel like the rules help keep them out of trouble (eg. guy friends who think one on one dinners are dates) , increase their motivation to date (less time is taken up with one on one dinners with only friends) , and only the ones who are truly interested in something serious will call (flakes don't return calls).

my conclusions after the ramen conversations...i'm a complete abnormality. i like good boys, i don't care who calls first, i like having one on one dinners with friends no matter what gender and will feel somewhat dissed if those stop after the friend has a sig other (of course the sig other is always welcome but sometimes it's just nice to catch up one on one), i don't get jealous if my sig other has dinner with another girl, i don't get jealous if sig other even travels with other girls without me as long as i've met the other girls, and i'm completely ok with not seeing sig other every day. although i would like to see my sig other every day, talking on the phone every day is good enough for me. oh and btw, i don't like shopping, i love gadgets, and i display many "mars" characteristics (i'm a problem solver). yes...a complete abnormality.

P.S. the ramen place we went to was the Ramen House Ryowa, 859 Villa St on Mountain View. i still like Santa Ramen in san mateo better. although Ryowa has better noodles and gyoza, the broth is much better at Santa Ramen.

Borat and house hunting

went to watch Borat on Friday...OMG the hotel scene. i can't believe they did that! ewwww~!!!! i won't ruin it for you. it's a hilarious movie , but you have to be prepared for it's complete lack of political correctness. Donna watched it while not knowing what to expect, i don't think she enjoyed the movie. haha...

went house hunting on sunday. i think i still like the first place i looked at in mountain view. however i'm trying to keep an open mind and do more shopping just in case there is something better out there. everything is so expensive in mountain view. =P

Rosenblum Cellar

went to check out the openhouse at Rosenblum Cellars in Alameda on saturday with will, john, marlyanne, sanford and micki. there were sooooo many different wines to taste. zinfandels, chardonnays, syrah and many many more. some of the favs were Clara's , the Planchon, the Paso Robles, the Rockpile Petite Syrah, and the Desire Chocolate Dessert Wine. I bought a bottle each of the last two. hehe. although i didn't really drink all that much, only tasting. i had caught a cold on friday :( booooo. however i didn't want to flake since it was my first time meeting marlyanne, she's amy's friend who just moved here from NYC. overall the event was really fun. good food (smoked cheeses, good bread, amazing tri-tip that we couldn't get enough of, and zinfandel ice cream with chocolate chunks) the crowd was perfect, all wine lovers who didn't mind getting to know new people. will is trying to learn to appreciate wines so he seemed to be enjoying all the different things to try. wish i had a camera so i could take pics. i will decide on one soon. :) the only thing i didn't like about the event was that there were sooooo many people, it made it hard to get around.

clue number 2

umm....i asked to borrow scotch tape? you're part scottish? you like mike meyers from SNL?

this one is more difficult...

bdays

i'm not especially fond of making a huge deal about my birthdays. last year i actually almost forgot it was my bday since i was in the midst of doing so much school work! i look upon it as a good time to get together with all my good friends. but it doesn't really matter to me what we are doing. people always say - "it's your bday so it's what YOU want to do" but i've never been comfortable with dictating like that. i would rather do something everyone enjoys, not just me. we could be all hanging out at someone's house, eating at a restaurant, or clubbing --i could do anything and have fun just as long as my friends are there. however this year, it's the big birthday. you know, the one that everyone dreads, turning 30. it's not that i dread turning 30, i feel like i'm at a good place and have accomplished most of my goals that i've set for myself. (except the buying my own house thing, but i'm working on that one) however i almost feel i dread turning 30 just because everyone else dreads turning 30. but what really needs to change? do i stop going dancing in sf? do i start drinking black coffee? do i stop going out to meet up with friends so often and start staying home? do i start dressing up more so i look my age? well maybe if i have to see a client, but other than that, i'm perfectly happy wearing my comfy jeans all the time--much to my dad's chagrin since he's always wanting me to wear dresses and act more like a lady. well maybe this year i'll actually wear a dress out to dinner and we'll go to a lounge afterwards. i suppose just a little more mature and elegant is a good thing. all depends what people feel like doing i guess.

another thing, stacey, one of the people we met in vegas, wants to do a joint event since our bdays are on the same day. although, other than vegas, i don't know her that well so i was apprehensive at first about doing a joint event. since i'm somewhat ambivalent about what to do however, i guess i'll just go ahead and tell her i'll join her. it's always good for different groups of friends to meet. i just don't want it to be an all out clubfest. =P

eiswein

Blue Danube Wine Shop

ok i happened to delete my other post my mistake while fixing this link. opps!

my fav is the Weinrieder Eiswein

disciple's scavenger hunt

the disciple has offered a fun way to uncover the mystery. a scavenger hunt!

i thought i'd repost the comment from the disciple for the rest of you...

"the scavenger/treasure hunt online would work by giving searchable clues, or posting links to sites that have something to do with who/what/where I am. As the clues are interpreted, that would lead any that are so inclined to venture guesses as to which of our friends would know me. Once they are uncovered, the mystery would be solved! "

i've also posted a link to the disciples's blog on the side so you can see if you can find any additional clues.

Kenafeh

Kenafeh: A sweet and special Middle Eastern dessert: Shredded filodough with sweetened cheese in stairated rose water with a garnish of pistachios. Freshly made, so need to wait for 10 minutes from order.

cmu roomie jeff won a bet. bears beat the bruins. so i paid up by treating him to dinner at dish dash. yummm!!! i had the mansof again. oh so tender lamb with almonds, saffron rice and yogurt sauce. i had the glass of merlot, however the glass of pinot that jeff had, which i had last time, was better.

we also ordered the kenafeh. ohhh soooo delicious.

which to choose

back to buying things that i need but didn't buy before working...

it's been a while i know, what can i say, i've just been too busy! it takes time to fully research my gadgets online. hehe...

i've narrowed it to two for my camera selection.

Sony Cybershot DSC-T10 VS. Canon Powershot SD630

the Sony is 329 bux. the Canon is 248 bux but no steady shot and a little larger/heavier but with stronger flash and better picture quality. i could also use the saved money from the Canon to buy a 2G memory card.

hrmm......decisions, decisions.


as for the other things i needed to buy, still need a new battery my baby (aka my powerbook laptop). however i did buy some new clothes for work. for now, i'm shopped out and don't really want to buy anymore clothes for a while. however diana did tell me about those really comfortable cole haan shoes with nike air in them. i'm all for finding comfortable dress shoes!

lunching in the park

just got back from lunching in the park with some coworkers. such a nice day outside, although it's a little chilly, i still say the weather is great! i remember when the weather hit 60 degrees in pitts, students started sunbathing outside to try to tan. haha. brrrrr....i got cold just watching them, as i zipped up my thick jacket.

lunch was food from home, yummy porkchops with rice and sauteed onions and mushrooms. dessert was a couple of mini bananas. now i sit at my desk, looking longingly out the window to be outside again.

i shouldn't complain though, i really enjoy my firm. the coworkers are all so chill and fun to talk to. however, i'm still trying to figure out the office dynamics. the younger ones don't seem to hang out with the older ones much. i'm kind of in between. some days i'll have lunch with the bosses, other times i'm with the other bus dev person, and other times i'm with the young-uns.

as the weather gets colder...makes me think of winter sports! boarding trip anyone? i want to try to make it out to whistler in feb!

mystery of the disciple

apparently someone i met a long time ago has found my blog and has decided to create another blog to interpret my entries in the most creative manner. this person seems highly educated and playfully makes parallels to religion. i've read the entries and absolutely love the blog! i had to try really hard not to bust out laughing at work. specially the part about "Those that shriek the teachings, and ignore the path laid out in the Good Blog, The Great Mel shall send them to the Pitts place" HAHAHAHAHA!!!!

well, i wish i were as creative and prolific as the disciple. perhaps one day the mystery will be solved. any guesses anyone??

i don't understand

so hunny has tried to invite my parents out to dim sum more often. but they don't want to go because they don't like it that i stay over at his house. hello, i'm 29!! other people my age live together with their sig others! i completely agree it's not ok to live together when too young. in fact, personally i don't plan on living together with someone unless we're married. hunny has offered that i move in with him, he's also offered to buy a house together since he knows i'm looking right now. but i prefer to get my own place, more because of a personal goal of mine to own my own home. also, i prefer not to live together until marriage so that we feel a huge change in our lives after we get married. but staying over is a different thing. since hunny and i are as busy as we are, most of the time we can only see eachother at night. sometimes we'll even just sit there doing work together , but it's just nice to sit next to eachother.

anyhow, so my parents don't want to have dim sum with him when he asks. but they say he should initiate since i'm the girl and they are the parents of the girl. his parents have asked for me to invite them over to eat, but i know that they won't like to do that if they already don't want to have dimsum with hunny.

but then, yesterday mom starts asking when i'm going to get married, yada yada. i tell her, well, in the next couple of years probably. have kids a couple years after that. and then mom starts talking like that's too late, i should get married faster? ok...so she wants me to get married soon, but doesn't want to go out with hunny when he invites out my parents. and doesn't want to go meet hunny's parents?

oh and another thing! everyone knows how career and schooling are important to my parents. so hunny has been studying for certifications...one of which not many people attain and is very difficult to get. so as he's working a full time job and a part time job after hours, he's also studying. and now my mom wonders if he'll have time for kids?!! but if he weren't doing all that work and studying, she would have problems also! an she asks if he's doing the working and studying for them or for himself. if they talked to him more often, they would know it's for him! his parents ask me to come to dinner all the time. when they don't see me, they always ask where i am and what i'm doing. but apparently my parents don't want to ask hunny to come over, and they don't want to go out if he invites them. ok....

and then! there is also the issue of my parents getting along with his parents. funny thing is, my parents can get along with any stranger on the street. they will just talking to random people sometimes and invite them to our house. but when it comes to my sig other's parents, they must be perfect in every way for them to get along.

argh!!!!

ucla vs cal

will, diana and i went to watch the ucla-cal game on saturday. we headed over to bart around 2:30 to meet up with people at 4 and then make it to our seats by 5ish. along the walk from bart and the meeting point however, we got distracted by Top Dog and got a bite to eat. will and i both had two hot dogs (i had the bratwurst and the german) while diana got a hotlink. we were chomping down while walking to our meeting point, will was dropping a trail of mustard and onions along the way. haha. we got to the meeting point at stratta cafe and met molly and a bunch of dave chen's friends. poor dave organized the whole thing and couldn't make it at the last minute because he work sent him to China. as we walked to the stadium, there were masses and masses of people to wade through. so many bruins came out for the game! of course a ton of cal fans. while walking, we saw a bunch of faces that looked familiar, but it was too hard to chat since everyone was going off in different directions. i think i saw an old peer health counselor - robin. she was with her husband and her new baby. i think i also saw eric, an old floormate from my days in sproul hall.

it was fun being at the game with my close friends and cheering against all the cal people around us. even though ucla lost. although the bruins had so many chances to score and they would just let the ball slip through their fingers! ugh! maybe they were freaked out by the huge cal players. they were HUGE! i would just hand the other players the ball to avoid being smooshed if i were them. good thing i'm not a football players. ;)

chill friday night

since hunny needed to work over the weekend, we decided to have a chill friday nite and catch up on our TV and movie watching. started off with grey's, then 6 degrees. then watched Stick It, a pretty funny movie very similar to Bring it On. just one of those stupid but funny movies. my goodness, gymnasts are so buff! then we watched two episodes of smallville to complete our tv watching. haha. so now we're totally caught up on everything! :)

so tired

i've been working on a business plan for work for the last couple days. ugh this has to be record for having one person writing a comprehensive business plan. my eyeballs are going to fall out if i look at one more figure. although the idea that i'm writing about has actually become very interesting as i've been learnin more about the industry. basically it's a business plan for a site search company. site search is actually a somewhat untapped mechanism which companies can use to better market their products on their website. a majority of website visitors will leave the website if they don't find what they need within the first 2-3 simple keyword searches. however the company can increase revenues by offering similar products or marketing products by using terms which they tracked users searching most.

anyways...ok back to work