Christmas Holiday

Went back to work today.
Had a few days off while Maria was here.
Christmas season means 4 days to me.
24th - Christmas Eve
25th - Christmas Day
26th - Frickin' Birthday
31st - New Year's Day

BAM! All done in one month. No pressure though! Don't try to milk it for all it's worth. Just be chill - it'll all come around again next year... if you live that long!

Had Christmas dinner with Maria and Edward. Edward was extremely proud of his mashed potatoes. I made rainbow jello. "A" made tofurkey.

Went to Moss Beach and tide pools on my birthday. It was cloudy but not raining. We saw sea lions pretty close and star fish and... other stuff too. Y'know tide pool stuff.

Now I'm 35
YAY.

Going to commence with experiment and cut calorie intake down. In half maybe? This could double my lifespan from 72 years to 144. (Or more possibly.) It happens in rats, but they say it won't work for humans. I guess the rats who don't get enough food stop reproducing, so the energy spent on that can be saved for living longer. Well, I haven't done any reproducing yet, so I might as well try to force my body into living longer than it thinks it should!

The truth is, they don't know if it will work because no one has ever tried it to the fullest extent... or have they? There seems to be an organization that promotes CR (calorie reduction) but if the pictures are any indication of how I might turn out in the end, I think I'll quit before I start.

I need to read up on this more... if I live long enough.

HELLBOY!

Today I took Maria over to see the office. (She came to visit for Christmas - Drove from Arizona!)
On the way out we ran into Craig who said Tower Records had Hellboy figures on sale. We ran over there and sure enough they had 'em for 50% off! WOO!
I got the large 18" Hellboy, the small 12" of Hellboy and a 12" of Lobster Johnson. All for under $50!
HOT.

Corn sock

Tonight I made a corn sock for "A". She often gets these migraines that knock her out for a whole day. However, the rice sock was retired after a few years since the rice couldn't hold heat very well any more. We decided to use dry corn instead. This site goes into detail. I didn't bother grinding the corn up - I just picked out corn from some "critter feed" we got for the squirrels (live kitty entertainment) and tossed it in the sock. We'll see how it works.

Chronicles of Narnia

We actually got out of the house to see this movie today. The weather is awful. It's been raining for the last 3 days straight. It's overcast and dreary. We needed to get out and do something even if it was just being inside watching a movie.

Well, the movie itself was great. They remained pretty true to the book. The pacing was nice and slow. Not forced, rushed or disorderly. Some say that this makes it a kids movie; I say it made for a good movie. But I am a kid at heart.

The only drawback to the movie was that it was in a theater. A crappy theater, with other people. People who were rude, loud and SEAT KICKERS! WTF is up with seat kickers!?!?!? Do they think that people can't feel their bumping, knocking, tapping and shifting through a thin metal chair?!?! The idiot behind "A" was the worst ever. No amount of glaring helped, I had to actually turn around and say, "C'mon, watch your feet." before he would stop. But even after that I had to repeatedly turn and glare, cuz he decided he'd rest his foot on MY chair and shift around every ten minutes. Obviously he had it out for me then. Pretty pitiful.

This is on top of the theater being full of people eating. And drinking. Never go to a movie around lunch. You will only hear bags crinkling and straws squeaking in the plastic cover. You know that noise? Yeah. I don't mind that so much - especially at a kid oriented/safe movie. Kids are forgiven. Parents? Never.

Don't go to the theater in Redwood City. Ever. The screens are small, curved in an effort to make up for their smallness and seating is sparse. I think there were fifteen rows. And you HAD to be in the back 6 or you were right under the screen! (Did I mention it was small?) The only screen I have EVER seen that was smaller was in Japan. I'm not going into that here.

We made a pact today never to go see a movie in the theater again. It's not worth $10 (nor even a matinee price of $6.75) to sit with a bunch of inconsiderate buffoons and not actually enjoy the experience. I'd rather stay home.

TOFU CABIN!

Yesterday we went over to Chu & Grace's house. We drove the van (which did quite well) and after making Bryan cry a bit, left for dinner. We had asked them if they would take us to the veggie-dim sum they knew, but it turns out it doesn't do dim sum anymore.

SO - we went to a Korean place they know called "Myung Dong Tofu Cabin". Well, they had us at "tofu cabin". We would have liked it in any event. But it was gooooood. I got seafood tofu stew. "A" got seafood bim bim ba. Basically it's piping hot tofu stew with an egg cracked on top and mixed in. (If you don't do it, the server will insist that you do... or she will do it FOR you.) I got mine spicy! Everyone looked at me like "Are you sure?!?!" Let me tell you... order mild... or maybe medium. Spicy will sear your stomach. Not to mention your lips, throat, nostrils and eyes. It was awesome! We took the leftovers back with us and hung out at Chu & Grace's place for a good while after dinner.

Bryan doesn't like us so much. We invaded his comfort zone and we probably look pretty damn weird to him. Especially "A". Every time she tried to talk to him he bust out crying. Who would have thought that blond hair could be so scary?!? It makes newborns scream bloody murder! I keep trying to tell her it's unnatural. Even babies can tell!

Go get some Korean Tofu!

Myung Dong Tofu Cabin
1484 Halford Avenue (at El Camino near Lawrence Expressway)
Santa Clara, California 95051
(408) 246-1484 (map)

Animal Crossing: Wild World

Animal Crossing is the only game I can get "A" to play.
It's ultra-cute and super easy to pick up. It's wholesome and inoffensive. "What's left to make it fun?" you ask? Catch fish, dig for fossils, create constellations, talk to animals, write letters, collect furniture & even pay bills. It's funny how a game can turn into work... at least it's cute - better than looking at my coworkers all day! LOL

Like money in the bank

I went shopping for A's Christmas presents last night. I was pleasantly surprised at the customer service at our local "box stores". Maybe it was because they weren't slammed, but people were pleasant and helpful.

I'm amused by the "suggestive sell" tables lined up by the checkout counters. Maybe you'd call them "impulse buy" tables... I seem to be a sucker for Christmas things... I got the Charlie Brown music. :) Ya gotta love Charlie Brown. Good Stuff.

Tookie

Stanley "Tookie" Williams is the co-founder of the CRIPS.
He is on death row and scheduled to be executed tonight.
At 12 midnight.

That's in about 30 minutes.

Many people think that Governor Schwarzenegger should grant him clemency, but "The governor rejected pleas from Hollywood stars and petitions from more than 50,000 people. Supporters say Williams redeemed himself during more than 20 years in prison by writing a memoir and a series of children's books about the dangers of gangs. "

I don't know what to say about the death penalty. Obviously it doesn't stop people from doing stuff. I don't know what's up with letting this guy sit in prison for 20 years and THEN killing him. I don't know what kind of message it will send people when you kill a guy who "tried" to make amends. Maybe he is just trying to fool everyone. He can't be that dumb if he started a nationwide craze along the lines of a religion in and of itself. I think I'm glad that this isn't my responsibility. I think I would vote against the death penalty if came up. I think my opinion only matters to me and isn't going to change anything in my lifetime.

Thus the ranting ends.

Farming in WOW

This will only be amusing if you play World of Warcraft.
Farming Talent Tree
If you don't play WOW just keep moving along.
Nothing to see here but us geeks.
But remember, Blizzard will kill your account if you whore-farm.

Buy the rights to publish a game...

Acclaim went bankrupt.
They need money.
They auctioned all their office furniture.
Now they are auctioning the rights to publish all their games.
Go check it out - see what you could make for around $5,000 - $75,000.
Some tempting games on that list!

SUPAMONK!

Here's a silly CG animation to watch.

SUPAMONK!

I like the pseudo-game art at the end - makes me want to make an old school SNES game! Pixel pushing must be my calling... Now if I could only finish these bloody schedules so I could push some pixels around. sigh~

Christmas Tree!

Today we went out and got a tree. We went to a street-side vendor, but they wanted my left arm in exchange for a tree. So we went to Target instead, they only wanted my pinky finger. We paid $10 less for a better tree in NY last year.

We asked Chu & Grace if to come over and decorate the tree with us. We had some pizza and hot eggnog. Soynog. It's good!

No pictures of Bryan this time because the camera's still in limbo.

The Japanese have outdone themselves...

Here's a link to a really weird game that's coming out... probably only in Japan.
Basically it's a fighting game. But only girls. And you're supposed to take pictures of your opponent's underwear.

Brilliant.

If you don't believe me - here's a video.

The author says it best: "The Japanese are done. They can now return to planet Japania, leaving all the people of Earth horribly confused and scarred for life."