Sunday, December 25, 2005
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Oh my goodness!!!
Oh Tifa!!! Final Fantasy VII will never be the same!!! (Click picture for animation)
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Test your might!!!!!
On a different note I'd like to thank those who joined in celebrating my birthday with me yesterday at Denny's (and to those who remembered and wished me a happy birthday). It's people like you who rock.
Thanks again!
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Banned Xbox 360 commercial.
I thought this video is quite good and reminds me of being a kid again (playing guns). Now it just seems that everything is to PC so even fun things like this are put in the crapper because of anti-gun groups/anti-violence groups/anti-fun groups. People its a freakin' game! And if your kid cannot discern between reality and a game, you have done a poor job in raising your kids! Anyways,here is the video.
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
The snow is here to stay!
<=== You see these? These are my new winter tires that I have on my car! Well they aren't too new as I had them put on my car a week ago (what good timing!). At first when I had these on I was so scared it wasn't going to snow (no snow in Calgary, what was I thinking?) and it seemed like the chinook winds would never stop. I was scared that I was going to wear the tread down to nothing before it even got a chance to touch snow. But all that ended just a few days ago when the cold wind started coming in, and since last night, the beautiful white stuff has been falling down ever since! I know its not the first snow, but it is the first snow fall that is not melting away. Now usually I'm not a morning person and have no urge to wake up and take that long boring drive to school every morning. However, when I saw the snow as I exited the garage this morning, all I wanted to do was drive! I was so excited, I could not hide it.... :D They gripped the snow/ice like nothing I have experienced before. I stopped with ease while others slid by me. I took corners with confidence. It was like driving in summer, but with snow everywhere, so I guess it's not like driving in summer. Ahh it was awesome! After class I did a few laps around the neighborhood. Attacking corners at safe speeds (no more than 60km/h), slamming on the breaks and experienced the awesome gripping power of the Kumho kw19's. Ahhh :DAnyways as I write this blog, I look out the window and see that it is still snowing. I definitely can't wait to drive tomorrow morning!!!!!
I love snow! But more so the significant other snow :D
Monday, November 28, 2005
Friday, November 25, 2005
R.I.P Noriyuki "Pat" Morita
For those of you that are relatively as old as me (and that's old!) you will most likely remember Noriyuki "Pat" Morita from the Karate Kid movies, if you're even older than me (my parents age) you will remember him from Happy Days. He past away yesterday in his Las Vegas home of natural causes. He has 3 movies in production now so I wonder will happen with those. Anwyays the story is Here. Rest In Peace Noriyuki Morita.
Thursday, November 24, 2005
Harajuka girls weekend.
So this past weekend I went up to Edmonton to see Gwen Stefani's Love.Angel.Music.Baby. Concert with Christian, Michal and Kevin. It wasn't bad at all. I didn't go in expecting much and so I came out not disappointed.
M.I.A. was the opener for Gwen and she was fantastic. She pretty much did all her songs from her CD Arular. It was her dance moves (running man) and her dj throwing in a bunch of old school flavour (eurythmics, reel 2 reel) that made it awesome. Oh and I think the fact that we had about 3-4 beers by the end of her act had a lot to do with it as well. I swear that the beer they serve up at the stadiums are laced with heroine. It is the only plausible/possible explanation for the feeling that one experiences when drinking the first beer.
After a 30 minutes or so break Gwen came on to the cheers of high school and junior high girls all around the stadium. The screams were piercing and I think at one point my ears might have been bleeding. I could barely see her, even through the zoom on my camera she came up to be no more than 1 1/2 inches tall from my perspective. But you can definitely tell she was wearing short shorts and showing off her legs. She pretty much played every song from L.A.M.B. and then she had about 2 extra songs that weren't on there, and after you heard them you would know why they were excluded. Her sound set up was very good and her performance was okay (she didn't work the stage that much, which really sucked if you had tickets to the direct right/left of her). Her Harajuka girls weren't very visible but were there and she introduced them. They were pretty good dancers though.
So after the concert we went back to the Marriott Courtyard and grabbed some donairs on the way back. Then we headed off to The Urban Lounge to meet up with some friends of Kevin. When we arrived we lucked out that his friends were 1 back in the line up and so we joined them (not without complaints from others in line) and after about 20 minutes we got in. The place had a live cover band so I wasn't to thrilled so I just sat there the whole night till closing drinking a few red bull and vodka's and a jagger bomb (drop shot that is red bull + jaggermeister); what a mistake this will turn out to be when I went to sleep. Now we stayed till close and then we left and tried to catch a cab. Who knew it would be so hard to do so? The bar was off of Whyte Ave. So we went onto Whyte Ave. to try and hail one down. After what seemed like an hour we were finally able to catch one. This was not without some drama after a few of them [taxi cabs] would tease us by pulling over and slowing down and then driving off as we grabbed for the handle. I suppose they did this to prevent people from fighting for cabs. However I found this truly annoying. Why can't they line up like they do in front of Cowboys or any other bar here in Calgary.
Anyways we got back and most of us were asleep by 4am, except for me. Those Red Bulls came back to haunt me. I would fall in and out of sleep throughout the hours and I could feel myself shaking from what I can only guess can be caused by too much Red Bull. To top it off our room felt like it was 30 degrees, Kevin snored, and the room walls were paper thin so you heard everything (no this was not a case of heightened senses caused by Red Bull). It was so noisy that by 8:30AM everyone was up and very tired. We finally managed to get to Denny's by noon and left the city by 1pm. I had Michal drive as I was coming down off the Red Bull buzz and wanted to catch a few winks before I got home to Calgary where I would have to attend a Christmas party for Tuyet's company. I managed to sleep until Red Deer and that was it. Our trip home was without incident and it ended up to be quite the experience. I have learned a great thing from it as well. Do not drink Red Bull close to the end of a night if you cherish sleep, and to not exceed the recommended maximum of 2 Red Bull's/day (I had 3).
That was my Harajuka girls experience. I will post the videos I took of the concert later when the server I normally put stuff on is up.
M.I.A. was the opener for Gwen and she was fantastic. She pretty much did all her songs from her CD Arular. It was her dance moves (running man) and her dj throwing in a bunch of old school flavour (eurythmics, reel 2 reel) that made it awesome. Oh and I think the fact that we had about 3-4 beers by the end of her act had a lot to do with it as well. I swear that the beer they serve up at the stadiums are laced with heroine. It is the only plausible/possible explanation for the feeling that one experiences when drinking the first beer. After a 30 minutes or so break Gwen came on to the cheers of high school and junior high girls all around the stadium. The screams were piercing and I think at one point my ears might have been bleeding. I could barely see her, even through the zoom on my camera she came up to be no more than 1 1/2 inches tall from my perspective. But you can definitely tell she was wearing short shorts and showing off her legs. She pretty much played every song from L.A.M.B. and then she had about 2 extra songs that weren't on there, and after you heard them you would know why they were excluded. Her sound set up was very good and her performance was okay (she didn't work the stage that much, which really sucked if you had tickets to the direct right/left of her). Her Harajuka girls weren't very visible but were there and she introduced them. They were pretty good dancers though. So after the concert we went back to the Marriott Courtyard and grabbed some donairs on the way back. Then we headed off to The Urban Lounge to meet up with some friends of Kevin. When we arrived we lucked out that his friends were 1 back in the line up and so we joined them (not without complaints from others in line) and after about 20 minutes we got in. The place had a live cover band so I wasn't to thrilled so I just sat there the whole night till closing drinking a few red bull and vodka's and a jagger bomb (drop shot that is red bull + jaggermeister); what a mistake this will turn out to be when I went to sleep. Now we stayed till close and then we left and tried to catch a cab. Who knew it would be so hard to do so? The bar was off of Whyte Ave. So we went onto Whyte Ave. to try and hail one down. After what seemed like an hour we were finally able to catch one. This was not without some drama after a few of them [taxi cabs] would tease us by pulling over and slowing down and then driving off as we grabbed for the handle. I suppose they did this to prevent people from fighting for cabs. However I found this truly annoying. Why can't they line up like they do in front of Cowboys or any other bar here in Calgary.
Anyways we got back and most of us were asleep by 4am, except for me. Those Red Bulls came back to haunt me. I would fall in and out of sleep throughout the hours and I could feel myself shaking from what I can only guess can be caused by too much Red Bull. To top it off our room felt like it was 30 degrees, Kevin snored, and the room walls were paper thin so you heard everything (no this was not a case of heightened senses caused by Red Bull). It was so noisy that by 8:30AM everyone was up and very tired. We finally managed to get to Denny's by noon and left the city by 1pm. I had Michal drive as I was coming down off the Red Bull buzz and wanted to catch a few winks before I got home to Calgary where I would have to attend a Christmas party for Tuyet's company. I managed to sleep until Red Deer and that was it. Our trip home was without incident and it ended up to be quite the experience. I have learned a great thing from it as well. Do not drink Red Bull close to the end of a night if you cherish sleep, and to not exceed the recommended maximum of 2 Red Bull's/day (I had 3).
That was my Harajuka girls experience. I will post the videos I took of the concert later when the server I normally put stuff on is up.
ph33r teh 1337 h4x0r
1337
-Alex 2005
I ran across this picture today while searching up "elite speak" on google while talking to Andrew. It made me chuckle.
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Addicted to Lost.
I don't know what spurred me to "find" all of Season 1 of Lost on the internet but there I was two months ago "finding" it like mad. Then I proceeded to watch the episodes to see what the guffaw was all about. And you know what? I wasn't disappointed one bit because there is a lot of guffaw! Sure these shows are quite a "cock tease", always ending off on some sort of cliff hanger, which will never be resolved until 3 episodes down the road. But damn does it keep you on the edge of your seat wanting more! I guess it is the whole point of a cliff hanger. I ended up watching the first season in the span of a few days! What I liked about having all the episodes from one season available to me was that I didn't have to wait a week for the next episode to air to cure my curiousity! Having them on hand was terrific in quenching my Lost thirst, all I had to do was double click :D
Since then I have had to do the unthinkable. Wait. That's right I wait till the next week like every Dick, Joe and Jane for the next episode to air. And you know what? It sucks!!!! I should have just ignored the complete second season and "found" it during the summer. That way I wouldn't have to wait and my life on Wednesdays at 10pm MT/8 ET wouldn't be so booked up. But now that I'm suckered into it already its hard to get out. It's an addiction! So bad this addiction that I quench my thrist for Lost by visiting sites that deal with Lost debates on Theories of what is really going on to visiting sites made specifically for the show such as Oceanic Airlines and The Hanso corporation! What scares me is what is going to happen when the season ends? Will I go into shock from Lost withdrawal? Will I have the shakes? Oh I hope not!!!!!!! Maybe reruns will satisfy me and I can be really nerdy/geeky and nit pick each episode.....oh wait I might just being do that already!
The last time I was like this was for ST:TNG. For those of you who don't know what that is. It stands for Star Trek The Next Generation! I know, I know, I'm a nerd! Some will call me a trekkie but damn did I ever love the world of Star Trek. So much so I have a nitpiker's guide to the Next Generation world and I have Tech manuals and even an Encyclopedia of all things Star Trek. I even have Star Trek playing cards (similar to Magic/Yugi Oh cards). But never did I cross the line and get myself spock ears or the Star Trek uniform. I knew when to draw the line, hehe.
Anyways, all I have to say is that Lost is damn good. It's a tease at times filled with useless flashbacks and brings up questions that never seemed to be answered but I guess that's what makes it so good! Alright I think that's enough about my addiction to Lost and all things geeky from the past and I'll leave you some interesting links if you are also a Lost fan. Definitely check out the "Ultimate Theory" and "What is the Island" link. They are very interesting.
Enjoy!
P.S. Another reason to watch this show is to support another native Albertan!
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
iPod pains
So I basically found out what happened with my iPod and how it was completely wiped clean. iTunes apparently just updated my iPod with nothing, clearing all my songs, when I connected my iPod to the computer. Since the default setting on iTunes (right upon installation of iTunes) is to automatically update your iPod with songs from your library. But if you didn't save your library, or have nothing in your library, "nothing" will be uploaded to your iPod and the end result is your iPod music library being obliterated into nothing. The stupid thing about it all is that you cannot change this setting of an automatic iPod update to doing it manually until you connect your iPod. So basically you're screwed if you don't have your old library saved in some manner. Boo. Oh well, at least I have the PC and its a lot faster at importing CD's than my laptop was. Now I have a dilemma about importing though. Which format should I import the songs? MP3 or iTunes standard AAC. I've read many reviews on the net and its pretty much a mixed review. Some say AAC is better, some say MP3 is better. Some say MP3 is the standard and others say AAC will be the standard. All I want is the format that will sound the best but be reasonable in size when stored on my computer and iPod.
Enough geeking for now, tell me what you think about AAC and MP3.
Enough geeking for now, tell me what you think about AAC and MP3.
Electronic woes.....
Long story short. My brother and our step-cousins infected my main PC with a worm. I tried removing it but went a little gung ho and accidentally removed a critical file. The computer wouldn't start up after that. After installing windows on a different partition I was able to save all the data from my account and my brothers. After a few successful reformats to install windows on the proper partition I was informed I could not install SP2 for XP because I did not have a legit code for the copy of windows I had. So I finally gave in and went and bought a legit copy of XP Home. After hours of installations of drivers/programs and restoring everything to almost near normal conditions before the virus I noticed there were quite a few bugs in it. First bug was that before the start up screen it would ask me what copy of windows xp I would like to use (even though there was just 1 OS on my comp). I fixed that by editing the boot.ini file in the C:/ and reformatted all my other partitions to make sure that there was no "second" windows on there. After that I installed my external soundcard and then finally iTunes to listen to some tunes. It was all going okay until I plugged in my iPod. I had 20gigs of music on that thing. But when I plugged it in, something happened. I don't know what, but when I clicked on "Alex's iPod" I noticed I had nothing on it. Absolutely nothing. It registered nearly 40gigs of free/unused space. Now that's a feeling of devastation. Why? Well about 15gigs of my 20 gigs on there was from music I imported from my CD collection. I wasn't able to salvage my entire iTunes music collection from my computer before I reformatted so that basically means I have to re-import all my music back on............MOTHER F&!@#$#^%%^*^*(&$!!!!!!
That's it I've had it with electronics for quite some time now. That PC can rot in whatever level of hell, along with all the loser programmers who code viruses. I really hope that there is a special place in hell for these programmers. Heck if there isn't maybe I'll draw up a petition for there to be one. Ugh.
That's it for now, I'm mad and tired and I don't think I can refrain from writing more profanity if I continue.
Alex.
That's it I've had it with electronics for quite some time now. That PC can rot in whatever level of hell, along with all the loser programmers who code viruses. I really hope that there is a special place in hell for these programmers. Heck if there isn't maybe I'll draw up a petition for there to be one. Ugh.
That's it for now, I'm mad and tired and I don't think I can refrain from writing more profanity if I continue.
Alex.
Sunday, October 30, 2005
2-4
It wasn't the season we were hoping for but at least we ended it off with a win giving us a 2-4 record. Will there be a next year? I don't think so. We could barely spark enough interest for people to come regulary this year so I doubt we would get a minimum of 9 people to come out to each game next year. Though it would be nice to get to the championship once. I guess we'll have to stick to the city league from now on. Therefore I can't wait for the spring/summer to come up! Our next venture? Crazy 88's basketball team. Our goal is to win one season game, hehe.
Crazy 88's Football Fall 2005
-Alex 2005
Crazy 88's Football Fall 2005
-Alex 2005
Monday, October 24, 2005
Drool......
Now that's a watch (Casio Databank EDB610D-8C) that will definitely satisfy the geek/nerd in me!
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Ain't so Crazy 88's.....
Well we have suffered our 3 straight defeat in the UC Intramural league today and our record now is an embarassing 1-3. With only 2 games left it looks like we will have to pull one out of our asses to make it to the playoffs. Our division was pretty tough this year and we are stuck being matched up with the best teams for 4 out of 6 regular season games. Our defence is seriously lacking at times and the fact that we don't have enough players show up for each game is also a problem. Our offence is okay, but I think we really need to draw up those plays again as it kept us more organized. It would also be nice to get a practice in but there is never enough interest. Anyways with this season done in about a months time I hope the Crazy 88's venture into another sport for the winter as it would be nice to be active. Perhaps we can do volleyball, hockey or even basketball?
Monday, October 10, 2005
Lost.
Last night I had the most real dream I have had in awhile. There I was just waking up from what seemed like a plane crash. However the plane wasn't anywhere to be seen and there weren't any survivors around me. The only things with me were a few sleeping bags, my laptop and Tuyet. We were in a desert and it was night time and for some reason I had no shoes on so the sand was really cold in between my toes. We seemed to have no injuries and were just a little disoriented. I tried my hardest in the dream to try and remember where I was going, and why I was on the plane. But it was useless, it was like I had something blocking from remember. As I looked around me I couldn't help but feel scared, I looked at Tuyet but she seemed too shocked to even speak. So I started walking with my laptop and sleeping bags in hand while Tuyet followed. It was so dark that I could barely make out where I was going and to make sure I wasn't going around in circles I made sure that I never walked over the same texture of land twice. After awhile I felt really tired and the Sun didn't seem to be coming up any time soon and I knew that when the Sun did come up Tuyet and I didn't have a chance of surviving, as we didn't have any water with us. But I was so tired so I decided to take a nap. I rolled out the sleeping bags and we quickly went to sleep. As I was sleeping in my dream I was digging my hand in the sand, and for some reason I found a bottle. Quickly waking up in my dream I looked in my hand and noticed that I had amazingly dug up a bottle with my hand from the sand! The Sun was coming up and I was able to see that the bottle was clear and was corked. In the bottle was a piece of paper. I quickly opened up the bottle and took the note out to see what was written on it, and to my disbelief it said "You are here....." and then it listed the location and the coordinates. I was ecstatic! I knew with the name of the place and the coordinates I could use my laptop to find out exactly where we were. When I looked it up, the search in my map program revealed that I was in Zambia on the African continent!!!!!! This is when I woke up from my dream.....
Sunday, October 09, 2005
Hockey, Hockey, Hockey!!!!!!
Well some of you might know, and some of you might not. But I and a few other friends have started a little blog about hockey. Now its nothing too fancy but it should prove to be interesting if you are a hockey fan. Now the main team we focus on is the Flames, but we also talk about things happening around the league. So if you like hockey come check out the new blog at http://fiveholefanatics.blogspot.com . And tell your friends about it! Feedback is welcomed.
Alex.
Alex.
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Vacation Photos.
Here are some pics that I took while I was vacationing down in California. Enjoy!
Andrew at the main entrance into Disneyland
-Alex 2005
Mom and Brother
-Alex 2005
tuyet and I
-Alex 2005
Mom & Brother @ Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco
-Alex 2005
Tuyet and I @ Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco
-Alex 2005
Some Ship in the Harbor near Fisherman's Wharf
-Alex 2005
Tuyet, Andrew and my Mom at the street vendor eating fresh crab, calamari and chips! YUM!
-Alex 2005
Brother, Mom, Tuyet in San Francisco
-Alex 2005
Lombard Street, San Francisco
-Alex 2005
Coit Tower, San Francisco
-Alex 2005
San Francisco view from Coit Tower
-Alex 2005
Tuyet and I, Lombard St., San Francisco
-Alex 2005]
Bay Bridge view from Coit Tower, San Francisco
-Alex 2005
Downtown San Francisco from Coit Tower
-Alex 2005
Another look San Fran from Coit Tower
-Alex 2005
The good ol' red, white and blue on a ship in San Diego
-Alex 2005
Andrew with a submarine in the background
-Alex 2005
Andrew and I in a Helicopter Cockpit Trainer
-Alex 2005
Top Gun!!!!
-Alex 2005
Andrew on the Deck of the U.S. Midway
-Alex 2005
The main helicopter used in the Vietnam War
-Alex 2005
Check out my huge gun!
-Alex 2005
Whoa Andrew has a huge gun too!
-Alex 2005
Andrew off in the dsitance looking at something, with a bridge spanning the San Diego Bay off in the distance
-Alex 2005
Andrew at the bow of the U.S. Midway.
-Alex 2005
You can see Tuyet walking away underneath the "E".
-Alex 2005
Andrew at the main entrance into Disneyland
-Alex 2005
Mom and Brother
-Alex 2005
tuyet and I
-Alex 2005
Mom & Brother @ Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco
-Alex 2005
Tuyet and I @ Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco
-Alex 2005
Some Ship in the Harbor near Fisherman's Wharf
-Alex 2005
Tuyet, Andrew and my Mom at the street vendor eating fresh crab, calamari and chips! YUM!
-Alex 2005
Brother, Mom, Tuyet in San Francisco
-Alex 2005
Lombard Street, San Francisco
-Alex 2005
Coit Tower, San Francisco
-Alex 2005
San Francisco view from Coit Tower
-Alex 2005
Tuyet and I, Lombard St., San Francisco
-Alex 2005]
Bay Bridge view from Coit Tower, San Francisco
-Alex 2005
Downtown San Francisco from Coit Tower
-Alex 2005
Another look San Fran from Coit Tower
-Alex 2005
The good ol' red, white and blue on a ship in San Diego
-Alex 2005
Andrew with a submarine in the background
-Alex 2005
Andrew and I in a Helicopter Cockpit Trainer
-Alex 2005
Top Gun!!!!
-Alex 2005
Andrew on the Deck of the U.S. Midway
-Alex 2005
The main helicopter used in the Vietnam War
-Alex 2005
Check out my huge gun!
-Alex 2005
Whoa Andrew has a huge gun too!
-Alex 2005
Andrew off in the dsitance looking at something, with a bridge spanning the San Diego Bay off in the distance
-Alex 2005
Andrew at the bow of the U.S. Midway.
-Alex 2005
You can see Tuyet walking away underneath the "E".
-Alex 2005
Monday, September 05, 2005
Back from SoCal!
Back from the trip. It was definitely well deserved time off on my part after taking spring and summer Chemistry courses. I left for Southern California early (5AM) on Saturday the 20th of August (a day after my chem final). I was barely awake when I reached the airport with Tuyet and my little brother.
The trip started off pretty shaky as well when we got to US Customs. Every other time we have traveled together Tuyet has come to the Customs desk with me to see the Customs officer. This time he asked if we were related and we said "no, just boyfriend and girlfriend", then he rudely sent her back to wait where another prick Customs Officer ordered her over to his desk and asked question she couldn't answer (such as what is the address of your bf's mother), he really shook up Tuyet and it made me super angry.
Back to my guy. He was a super prick. He asked if I was bringing any food and I told him I was bringing Vietnamese Subs. He asked what was in them, and I said beef, ham, veggies. He then yelled at me and said "You can't bring beef! Either go back and eat them or throw them away!" So obviously I can't eat them there because my flight leaves in less than 45 minutes, so I look around looking for a trash can to throw them away. But there were none in plain view ,I'm guessing so people can't throw illegal stuff in the garbage before they get to the customs desk, and meanwhile the jerkoff is yelling "NOW!", "DO IT NOW!", "HURRY UP AND THROW THEM AWAY". I look at him and said calmly "well I would throw them away if I could find a garbage can". He motions at me to give him the subs and he holds them high over his trash can and lets them drop with a huge "thud!" in his garbage can, then hands over our passports. I then told him in my most calm voice "You have a terrific rest of the day", which completely threw his guard off and he responds with a "uhhh thank you, you too".
Really do they have to be such big pricks? Do you need to yell at me? Are you bitter because you are a customs officer? Do you think yelling will throw off potential terrorists? Perhaps you should re-think your people-people skills over. Too bad there is no "comment card" I can fill out to file a complaint that would be sweet. Perhaps I should video tape my next encounter with these pricks. Is this how you welcome people into your country? I might be a colored boy going traveling but don't treat me like a dog. Asshole.
Anyways with that done, the trip went well for most parts. I had a few more spats with my Mom than usual, but they were all resolved so its all good. I'm too lazy to describe in detail what I did every day so for those of you reading my blog you'll just have to settle for point form.
1st Week
- Ran errands with my Mom, drove her all around So Cal
- Went to Ontario Mills Outlet Mall for some shopping.
- Went to my favourite store, Fry's Electronics
- Went to see my parents new home they are building in Riverside, it was 40 degrees Celsius outside! The house is being built by KB Homes, which are the builders who build all the houses on the Sunday show "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition". It's a 4800 sq ft home, and its gorgeous! It should be done by the time I come down again for Christmas, I can't wait!!
- Made a trip to Portos in Glendale to get some amazing bakery treats! I have never had a cheese/guava strudel like that in my life! Plus their meat pies and croissants were to die for! It was our first trip to this place and definitely will be a regular visit for each upcoming trip to SoCal, because I want to try one of their famous sandwiches!
- Went to Disneyland, it was great times. My brother was really gung-ho on going on more roller coasters this time. So we hit up Space Mountain, The Matterhorn, Indian Jones and Splash Mountain. Splash Mountain was the scariest by far with an 80 foot drop at the end!
- Went to San Jose to visit my Grandma Friday Morning. We stayed there till Monday morning.
- While there we did all the touristy things we could, so we went to San Francisco to Fisherman's Wharf to eat Seafood. We found this great street vendor where we had a fresh 3-4lb crab done up on the spot, and you just stand up and eat it beside their cart, pretty neat! It was so delicious! Tuyet and I finished one to ourselves! My Mom and brother had calamari and fries which wasn't as good though (because it was under the heat lamp a little too long. It was a great experience overall and recommend it to anyone who likes seafood and is in San Francisco because the guy who worked the cart was really outgoing and kept us entertained and laughing through our entire meal. After that we went to see the "most curved road in the world" which was on the top of the hill on Lombard Street, and then we went to Coit tower afterwards.
- Went to see the movie Red Eye with Tuyet and my brother at our favourite movie theatre down in San Jose, where they have free re-fill popcorn with no extra for added butter! Mmmmmm fattening, but oh so good.
2nd Week
- Did a bit more shopping when we came back. Went to places in Costa Mesa and such. I wanted to get a le tigre shirt but didn't have time to come back and pick one up,
boourns.
We Went to eat at all our favourite places down in SoCal. Such as:
- Noodle World in Alhambra for their awesome Shrimp Fried Rice and Thai spicy
Beef Salad!
- The Double Cheeseburger (or single cheeseburger) from In & Out Burger.
- Nem Nuong rolls from this place I forgot the name too.
- Banh Mi Lee's, which you get REAL AUTHENTIC vietnamese subs that are made from ACTUAL baguettes, vietnamese coldcuts and pate!!! Not that shit you can get from Banh Mi Thi Thi here in Calgary (who claim authenticity but really aren't, but that's a whole other rant for a whole other blog and thread, heh).
- Pho 79 for terrific Pho Dac Biet and Tra Da!
- Norms for their great deals on great meals! Here is an example of a great meal. T-Bone Steak (14 0z) cooked to perfection with your choice of potato (mashed, fries or baked) plus your choice of starter salad and your choice of homemade soup plus a loaf of garlic bread (1 foot long), and a brownie ice cream dessert. All for $9.99(that was there August special!). And they have specials similar to this for every month and available at any time of the day! It had a similar feeling to Denny's, but the food was a lot better.
- The Sizzler in San Jose. We go here when we are at my Grandma's It has become somewhat of a tradition. It is also a steakhouse.
There are many other places that I can't think of anymore but I spend most of my trips eating! And come back at least 10lbs heavier! But its just so good! hehe.
- We went to the beach on our second last day in SoCal, and we went to Newport State Beach. It's a lot nicer (cleanliness and not as busy) than most other public beaches
in SoCal and so its one of my favourites. I convinced Tuyet to come in the water with me and we had a lot of fun waiting for big waves to jump into. Tuyet was having so much fun nearing the end that she didn't even want to leave but rather wait for the next wave! haha what a cutie! We both got a tan that day since we forgot to put on sunblock before we went out in the ocean. But we didn't tan too much and it gave us a nice looking tan. Gosh I love the beach, and we are definitely investing in a beach umbrella for next summer so that my Mom can hide in the shade while we frolic in the water. Yes I said frolic, deal with it.
- Went down to San Diego and visited the U.S. Midway Aircraft Carrier and did the tour of it. It was pretty cool to be on an aircraft carrier and to see first hand how big it really is. Even cooler was seeing all the jets/helicopters that were on display as well. I left with a souvenir paper that was a reprint from a St. Louis paper of the day that the U.S. Declared war on Japan after the bombing of Pearl harbor. It's really cool looking through the pages to see what it was like in the 40's. It was funny to see Radio show listings instead of T.V. listings and Ads for cigarettes that claim they are healthy for you. Even the comic section was a blast to read since they were filled with war propaganda against the Germans. Also seeing ads for women's suits for $2.99 was neat. It definitely was a different world back then.
- Finally went to the bowling alley which is literally across the street from our place. We always notice how busy it (24 hour bowling!) is every trip and try to make time for a game or two but never get around to it. So this time we made time for it. I went with my Mom, Tuyet and Andrew but my mom didn't play though. When we went in we finally knew why it was so busy. It has an all night diner/cafe, and a bar with karaoke, plus it seemed like it had a program for kids to go to instead of hanging out in the streets. It wasn't too bad for 3 people at $32 for an hour (including shoe rental) for 10 pin bowling. My poor little brother had not played 10 pin before (only 10 pin) so was not used to the big bowling balls (get your mind out of the gutter!). So he didn't do well for the two games we played. I think he scored a 35 and 39 while tuyet had 69 and 85 (I think) and I had 87 and 135. It was a lot of fun and we will definitely have to bowl more often from now on.
That was my trip. Damn we did a lot of things in two weeks. And it doesn't even seem like a "vacation" but mind you we would go to sleep at 12AM evernight and wake up at about 10 or 11AM in the morning. We'd only had two meals a day because we'd wake up too late for breakfast everyday. But we made up for it by stuffing ourselves full of food on the subsequent meals.
Coming back from the trip sucks, cuz school starts in a week. I definitely like going down to SoCal in August as its not too hot like June or July and I think I will time my next trips for August from now on. However I don't think I will take spring and summer courses anymore and will just take 2 in spring if I need them. Anyways back to the grind soon, pictures of the trip are coming soon!
Pieces,
Alex.
The trip started off pretty shaky as well when we got to US Customs. Every other time we have traveled together Tuyet has come to the Customs desk with me to see the Customs officer. This time he asked if we were related and we said "no, just boyfriend and girlfriend", then he rudely sent her back to wait where another prick Customs Officer ordered her over to his desk and asked question she couldn't answer (such as what is the address of your bf's mother), he really shook up Tuyet and it made me super angry.
Back to my guy. He was a super prick. He asked if I was bringing any food and I told him I was bringing Vietnamese Subs. He asked what was in them, and I said beef, ham, veggies. He then yelled at me and said "You can't bring beef! Either go back and eat them or throw them away!" So obviously I can't eat them there because my flight leaves in less than 45 minutes, so I look around looking for a trash can to throw them away. But there were none in plain view ,I'm guessing so people can't throw illegal stuff in the garbage before they get to the customs desk, and meanwhile the jerkoff is yelling "NOW!", "DO IT NOW!", "HURRY UP AND THROW THEM AWAY". I look at him and said calmly "well I would throw them away if I could find a garbage can". He motions at me to give him the subs and he holds them high over his trash can and lets them drop with a huge "thud!" in his garbage can, then hands over our passports. I then told him in my most calm voice "You have a terrific rest of the day", which completely threw his guard off and he responds with a "uhhh thank you, you too".
Really do they have to be such big pricks? Do you need to yell at me? Are you bitter because you are a customs officer? Do you think yelling will throw off potential terrorists? Perhaps you should re-think your people-people skills over. Too bad there is no "comment card" I can fill out to file a complaint that would be sweet. Perhaps I should video tape my next encounter with these pricks. Is this how you welcome people into your country? I might be a colored boy going traveling but don't treat me like a dog. Asshole.
Anyways with that done, the trip went well for most parts. I had a few more spats with my Mom than usual, but they were all resolved so its all good. I'm too lazy to describe in detail what I did every day so for those of you reading my blog you'll just have to settle for point form.
1st Week
- Ran errands with my Mom, drove her all around So Cal
- Went to Ontario Mills Outlet Mall for some shopping.
- Went to my favourite store, Fry's Electronics
- Went to see my parents new home they are building in Riverside, it was 40 degrees Celsius outside! The house is being built by KB Homes, which are the builders who build all the houses on the Sunday show "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition". It's a 4800 sq ft home, and its gorgeous! It should be done by the time I come down again for Christmas, I can't wait!!
- Made a trip to Portos in Glendale to get some amazing bakery treats! I have never had a cheese/guava strudel like that in my life! Plus their meat pies and croissants were to die for! It was our first trip to this place and definitely will be a regular visit for each upcoming trip to SoCal, because I want to try one of their famous sandwiches!
- Went to Disneyland, it was great times. My brother was really gung-ho on going on more roller coasters this time. So we hit up Space Mountain, The Matterhorn, Indian Jones and Splash Mountain. Splash Mountain was the scariest by far with an 80 foot drop at the end!
- Went to San Jose to visit my Grandma Friday Morning. We stayed there till Monday morning.
- While there we did all the touristy things we could, so we went to San Francisco to Fisherman's Wharf to eat Seafood. We found this great street vendor where we had a fresh 3-4lb crab done up on the spot, and you just stand up and eat it beside their cart, pretty neat! It was so delicious! Tuyet and I finished one to ourselves! My Mom and brother had calamari and fries which wasn't as good though (because it was under the heat lamp a little too long. It was a great experience overall and recommend it to anyone who likes seafood and is in San Francisco because the guy who worked the cart was really outgoing and kept us entertained and laughing through our entire meal. After that we went to see the "most curved road in the world" which was on the top of the hill on Lombard Street, and then we went to Coit tower afterwards.
- Went to see the movie Red Eye with Tuyet and my brother at our favourite movie theatre down in San Jose, where they have free re-fill popcorn with no extra for added butter! Mmmmmm fattening, but oh so good.
2nd Week
- Did a bit more shopping when we came back. Went to places in Costa Mesa and such. I wanted to get a le tigre shirt but didn't have time to come back and pick one up,
boourns.
We Went to eat at all our favourite places down in SoCal. Such as:
- Noodle World in Alhambra for their awesome Shrimp Fried Rice and Thai spicy
Beef Salad!
- The Double Cheeseburger (or single cheeseburger) from In & Out Burger.
- Nem Nuong rolls from this place I forgot the name too.
- Banh Mi Lee's, which you get REAL AUTHENTIC vietnamese subs that are made from ACTUAL baguettes, vietnamese coldcuts and pate!!! Not that shit you can get from Banh Mi Thi Thi here in Calgary (who claim authenticity but really aren't, but that's a whole other rant for a whole other blog and thread, heh).
- Pho 79 for terrific Pho Dac Biet and Tra Da!
- Norms for their great deals on great meals! Here is an example of a great meal. T-Bone Steak (14 0z) cooked to perfection with your choice of potato (mashed, fries or baked) plus your choice of starter salad and your choice of homemade soup plus a loaf of garlic bread (1 foot long), and a brownie ice cream dessert. All for $9.99(that was there August special!). And they have specials similar to this for every month and available at any time of the day! It had a similar feeling to Denny's, but the food was a lot better.
- The Sizzler in San Jose. We go here when we are at my Grandma's It has become somewhat of a tradition. It is also a steakhouse.
There are many other places that I can't think of anymore but I spend most of my trips eating! And come back at least 10lbs heavier! But its just so good! hehe.
- We went to the beach on our second last day in SoCal, and we went to Newport State Beach. It's a lot nicer (cleanliness and not as busy) than most other public beaches
in SoCal and so its one of my favourites. I convinced Tuyet to come in the water with me and we had a lot of fun waiting for big waves to jump into. Tuyet was having so much fun nearing the end that she didn't even want to leave but rather wait for the next wave! haha what a cutie! We both got a tan that day since we forgot to put on sunblock before we went out in the ocean. But we didn't tan too much and it gave us a nice looking tan. Gosh I love the beach, and we are definitely investing in a beach umbrella for next summer so that my Mom can hide in the shade while we frolic in the water. Yes I said frolic, deal with it.
- Went down to San Diego and visited the U.S. Midway Aircraft Carrier and did the tour of it. It was pretty cool to be on an aircraft carrier and to see first hand how big it really is. Even cooler was seeing all the jets/helicopters that were on display as well. I left with a souvenir paper that was a reprint from a St. Louis paper of the day that the U.S. Declared war on Japan after the bombing of Pearl harbor. It's really cool looking through the pages to see what it was like in the 40's. It was funny to see Radio show listings instead of T.V. listings and Ads for cigarettes that claim they are healthy for you. Even the comic section was a blast to read since they were filled with war propaganda against the Germans. Also seeing ads for women's suits for $2.99 was neat. It definitely was a different world back then.
- Finally went to the bowling alley which is literally across the street from our place. We always notice how busy it (24 hour bowling!) is every trip and try to make time for a game or two but never get around to it. So this time we made time for it. I went with my Mom, Tuyet and Andrew but my mom didn't play though. When we went in we finally knew why it was so busy. It has an all night diner/cafe, and a bar with karaoke, plus it seemed like it had a program for kids to go to instead of hanging out in the streets. It wasn't too bad for 3 people at $32 for an hour (including shoe rental) for 10 pin bowling. My poor little brother had not played 10 pin before (only 10 pin) so was not used to the big bowling balls (get your mind out of the gutter!). So he didn't do well for the two games we played. I think he scored a 35 and 39 while tuyet had 69 and 85 (I think) and I had 87 and 135. It was a lot of fun and we will definitely have to bowl more often from now on.
That was my trip. Damn we did a lot of things in two weeks. And it doesn't even seem like a "vacation" but mind you we would go to sleep at 12AM evernight and wake up at about 10 or 11AM in the morning. We'd only had two meals a day because we'd wake up too late for breakfast everyday. But we made up for it by stuffing ourselves full of food on the subsequent meals.
Coming back from the trip sucks, cuz school starts in a week. I definitely like going down to SoCal in August as its not too hot like June or July and I think I will time my next trips for August from now on. However I don't think I will take spring and summer courses anymore and will just take 2 in spring if I need them. Anyways back to the grind soon, pictures of the trip are coming soon!
Pieces,
Alex.
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Calgary Weather Theory
Now for those of you who live in Calgary like I do probalby know all too well that the weather here is very unpredictable. Even though forecasts might call for a sunny cloudless day, within mere moments black clouds roll in and the rain starts a pourin'.
Now I have stopped relying on going to sites such as http://www.theweathernetwork.com to obtain reliable weather reports because they have failed me at one time or another. And of late I have notice a pattern/correlation between the Calgary weather and the hotness/ugliness level of the online sunshine girl from:
http://sunshinegirl.canoe.ca
What I have notice is that the weather (9 times out of 10) is directly related to the hotness factor of the sunshine girl. For example if she is butt ugly, then it will be a miserable day (rain if its spring/summer, snow/cloudy/cold in winter). If she is relatively good looking then the day will be nice, sunny and warm. And if she is just average than the day is partly cloudy.
Don't believe me? Well lets see this past weeks forecasts and the girl that goes along with that date.
Saturday, August 13th 2005
Mean temp of 11°C, high of 20°C, low of 2°C. Partly Cloudy.
Sunday, August 14th 2005
Mean temp of 13°C, high of 17°C, low of 10°C. Overcast and Rain.
Monday, August 15th 2005
Mean temp of 10°C, high of 12°C, low of 6°C. Light to Medium Rain.
Tuesday, August 16th 2005
Mean temp of 8°C, high of 10°C, low of 6°C. Rain.
Wednesday, August 17th 2005
Mean temp of 9°C, high of 10°C, low of 7°C. Rain.
Thursday, August 18th 2005
Today's predicted forecast.......high of 16°C. We will see.
All the data was taken from the weather underground at:
http://www.wunderground.com
So you decide for yourself. I think its pretty accurate myself :D
Alex!
Now I have stopped relying on going to sites such as http://www.theweathernetwork.com to obtain reliable weather reports because they have failed me at one time or another. And of late I have notice a pattern/correlation between the Calgary weather and the hotness/ugliness level of the online sunshine girl from:
http://sunshinegirl.canoe.ca
What I have notice is that the weather (9 times out of 10) is directly related to the hotness factor of the sunshine girl. For example if she is butt ugly, then it will be a miserable day (rain if its spring/summer, snow/cloudy/cold in winter). If she is relatively good looking then the day will be nice, sunny and warm. And if she is just average than the day is partly cloudy.
Don't believe me? Well lets see this past weeks forecasts and the girl that goes along with that date.
Saturday, August 13th 2005
Mean temp of 11°C, high of 20°C, low of 2°C. Partly Cloudy.
Sunday, August 14th 2005
Mean temp of 13°C, high of 17°C, low of 10°C. Overcast and Rain.
Monday, August 15th 2005
Mean temp of 10°C, high of 12°C, low of 6°C. Light to Medium Rain.
Tuesday, August 16th 2005
Mean temp of 8°C, high of 10°C, low of 6°C. Rain.
Wednesday, August 17th 2005
Mean temp of 9°C, high of 10°C, low of 7°C. Rain.
Thursday, August 18th 2005
Today's predicted forecast.......high of 16°C. We will see.
All the data was taken from the weather underground at:
http://www.wunderground.com
So you decide for yourself. I think its pretty accurate myself :D
Alex!
Sunday, August 14, 2005
Maple Leaf Future...
The Maple Leafs Suck!!
-Alex 2005
I can't begin to tell you my contempt for this team. From their buying of players in previous seasons, their stupid coach Quinn (who coudn't buy the cup), Sundin and calling themselves "Canada's Team" makes me hate them. But with the new CBA and their inability to adapt to the new salary cap system I think this upcoming season will prove the incompetency of the general manager/ower of the Leafs. It should be entertaining to watch.
Alex.
Saturday, August 13, 2005
Half-Blooded Prince
Harry Potter 6: The Half-Blooded Prince
-Alex 2005
I just finished reading the latest installment of the Harry Potter series on Thursday and I must say I was a lot more satisfied with the direction that this book has taken on as compared to the previous book. The previous one was just filled with annoying EMO Harry who spazzed out every single moment he could. But in this installment he is more calm and collected and it makes for a pleasurable read. I didn't mind the ending as much as others have and I actually think it has finally taken a turn for the best and that this final movement towards the ultimate ending will definitely be worth it. If I were to compare this book to Star Wars, this book would be the equivalent to "The Empire Strikes Back". So basically don't hope for a happy ending but by the time you finish you will know that there's going to be a lot of action going down in the the last few installments of the series, and I cannot wait! Too bad we'll have to probably wait another few years for the next one.
On a different note, but totally related to Harry Potter. I recently discovered that the Harry Potter Line has audiobooks in the form of CD's. They are quite pricey though as each audiobook is about $50 - $80. So it looks like I will be trying to find the torrents until I am more wealthy and can afford it! I want them so I can put them on my iPod. It would be great for trips and when I'm just too lazy to read. Plus they are read by Jim Dale who has won a grammy for his Harry Potter audiobook work. Apparently for this series alone he has over 1000 voices for it. Crazy!
pieces,
Alex.
Friday, August 05, 2005
Finally....
Friday has arrived and I'm estatic about it. This week has been so busy when dealing with school homework/assignments/quizzes/labs. I really thought it would be less busy after the mid-term but boy was I wrong. My online quiz on Tuesday night proved to be very drama filled. It included forgetting to open up a critical data sheet and then logging onto another computer to see if I could open it up without logging me out of the computer I was doing the quiz on. Luckily it worked, but then I ended up having to run back and forth from computers to attain numbers to answer my questions. During this process I stubbed my toe on the couch, ouch. Then with 15 minutes remaining until midnight (when the quiz was due) my internet cut out! I debated on what the problem was so I wiggled the cable for my modem box and the internet came back with 10 minutes remaining on my quiz. Not knowing if it logged me out of my quiz when it disconnected I crossed my fingers and clicked the "next question" button. To my relief it worked. I got a 9/10 on it eventually. Was it worth it? Not for all that drama. The next night was filled with lab writeup. I was almost finished by 1AM when I realized I made a HUGE mistake and I had to redo most of the lab. So I was finished my lab by 4am, gross. Yesterday I had a very easy lab though and we were the second group done and left an hour before lab time was up.....sweet! And today is Friday! All I have is a one hour lecture then I'm going to take my car in for a Type 1 maintnance.....oil change heh. Tomorrow I will be going to Christians for his bbq birthday party, and I'm looking forward to it. Should be good times. Anyways I better get going to class, going to be late!
pieces,
Alex.
pieces,
Alex.
Thursday, August 04, 2005
You and Me Go Fishing in the Dark......
Andrew, you and I have to DEFINITELY find this fishing spot and get into fly fishing!
mmmm Fishing :D
-Alex 2005
mmmm Fishing :D
-Alex 2005
Soccer Anyone?
We are definitely playing this team! hehe.
I vote the Crazy 88's play this soccer team :D
-Alex 2005
I vote the Crazy 88's play this soccer team :D
-Alex 2005
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
Can't win them all.....
Our Football game on Monday was probably the best comeback ever by the Crazy 88's and to be a part of it was a fantastic feeling. For most of the game we were down about 12-14 points but slowly decreased their lead by the time 5 minute warning came up in the last half. At 5 minute warning both teams are allowed 4 plays each to get one last attempt of scoring. The score was 58-52 for them and they had first possession. After 4 nail biting downs we managed to stop them a few yards away from a touchdown and it was our go at it. Our first down brought us a quarter of the way up the field, our second down was incomplete and our 3rd down brought us to the halfway mark of the field. It was now or never, our 4th down was a hail mary into the endzone and was caught by Christian (Jacklyn's friend) and we had just tied it up!!!! We were already celebrating but then we still had a convert to complete. We decided to go for the much easier 1 pointer (rather than the 2 pointer) and get our W. Christian caught it again for a 59-58 win for the Crazy 88's!!!!!!! Woooohoooo!!!!! Usually being on the Crazy 88's means that you are usually on the losing side of a clincher but this time around we were on the winning side, and it felt damn good! Yeah that's right, it wasn't just good, it was damnnnnnnnnnnn good.
The very next evening it was the Crazy 88's weekly venture into soccer. As of late we have really done well and we went into this game with a 7-3 record. Which is spectacular because if you ask anyone after our first two games we thought we were going to be spanked each and every game. But with the addition of AJ to our line up and our increased skills in passing, defence, offense and aggresiveness we have managed to get 7 W's. However this night would prove to be fruitless. We played our heart out but started losing very early in the game when a kick from just over half sailed right into the net. Then a corner kick was headed in from a rebound and the last goal was a pass that shouldn't have gotten through. The first two goals were pretty flukey and the first one was assisted by the Sun being in our eyes. The second goal was pretty flukey as well, and the well the third one was pretty flukey too as the pass went through 2 sets of legs to find the person waiting in front of the net that I should have been covering, so I feel pretty bad about it. The team we played were a cheap and hardcore bunch. They would tell us to take it easy if we nudged them but then they would do the exact same thing to us. They would run over our girls and they even pulled up their goalie into our crease during corner kicks (even though they would be winning by 3 goals already). After the game I was still pretty worked up about it, and realized one thing about it after. I hate playing defence. I think I like playing mid-field the most.
Anyways that's good for now. Way to go Crazy 88's! Keep up the effort!
pieces,
Alex.
The very next evening it was the Crazy 88's weekly venture into soccer. As of late we have really done well and we went into this game with a 7-3 record. Which is spectacular because if you ask anyone after our first two games we thought we were going to be spanked each and every game. But with the addition of AJ to our line up and our increased skills in passing, defence, offense and aggresiveness we have managed to get 7 W's. However this night would prove to be fruitless. We played our heart out but started losing very early in the game when a kick from just over half sailed right into the net. Then a corner kick was headed in from a rebound and the last goal was a pass that shouldn't have gotten through. The first two goals were pretty flukey and the first one was assisted by the Sun being in our eyes. The second goal was pretty flukey as well, and the well the third one was pretty flukey too as the pass went through 2 sets of legs to find the person waiting in front of the net that I should have been covering, so I feel pretty bad about it. The team we played were a cheap and hardcore bunch. They would tell us to take it easy if we nudged them but then they would do the exact same thing to us. They would run over our girls and they even pulled up their goalie into our crease during corner kicks (even though they would be winning by 3 goals already). After the game I was still pretty worked up about it, and realized one thing about it after. I hate playing defence. I think I like playing mid-field the most.
Anyways that's good for now. Way to go Crazy 88's! Keep up the effort!
pieces,
Alex.
Sunday, July 31, 2005
Long Weekend.....
It's civic day this Monday which I believe is Heritage Day in Alberta. I get the day off so its my second long weekend in a row. I hope to go fishing, but I don't think that will happen as I wake up so late (11pm!), yeah I'm a bum. I am however pretty stoked for football this Monday. Hopefully we kick some ass and remain in first place! Today I will be going to a bbq at Tuyet's and then perhaps some evening fishing? Hmmmm sounds like a plan. Anyways time for some sushi breakfast and then off to the bbq!
pieces,
Alex.
pieces,
Alex.
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
¿Hola cómo es usted?
It's been so long since I've last posted! Why? I'd like to give you some kind of decent excuse as to how busy I was but in all honesty I was just plain ol' lazy. What's new with me though? I'll try to list it all to the best of my abilities.
- The Crazy 88's Soccer team has improved ten fold! Not without the help of a new recruit by the name of AJ. He's 15 and has the stamina of a horse and the skill of Pele....well heh not that much skill but he has some pretty good skills that has given him at least one goal per game. As for the rest our team we have improved a lot since our first two games of the year. Our passing is really good now and our goalie is amazing as well. We still have to practice clearing the ball out of our zone when we get a goalie kick and perhaps better coverage of your position. But besides that we have been doing awesome with a 5-3 record! Yeah who knew we could actually win 1 game let alone 5? Crazy! Go Crazy 88's!
- I recently joined the Crazy 88's city football team as well. My first game was yesterday and we destroyed! We are in the beginner's league but yesterday we played like pro's. All 6 of us managed to catch one or run one into the endzone. At first I wasn't going to play in this league because I didn't think I'd have time too. But a few people have screwed over Andrew by either quitting the team or not showing up at all when they said they would. So yesterday he was pretty screwed, the game is 5 on 5 and he only had 4 on his team, so he asked me to play and I agreed. And I am glad I did because it was a lot of fun! Tuyet was out there too, not playing, but cheering us on. She is now officially the Crazy 88's cheering section, heh.
- The entire team (5 + Tuyet) went to Yamato for 20% off sushi right after the game. And I must say I was very impressed! Usually Tuyet and I don't stray away from our love of Sakana but we decided to try it as the rest of the team was going. And I'm glad we did! It was so yummy! Usually when Tuyet and I go to Sakana we order the 30 piece love boat plus extra sushi on the side. But even after all that sushi we don't feel satisfied at times. However at Yamato we had 8 pieces of sushi and it was so filling and satisfying! That's because each piece of sushi was huge and the rice was so little. It was so big that I had trouble picking up the pieces of sushi at times! Crazy! We are definitely going back more often. Sorry Sakana....feels like we're cheting on you but we have found better....hehe.
- I went on an amazing trip to Saskatoon with Tuyet during Canada Day Long weekend. I didn't go visit old friends because I didn't feel the urge too. But I went back to see the place where I grew up for 15 years of my life. It was heartwarming to see my old schools and my old house and all the other landmarks that I remembered from my child hood. We did so many things together and took so many pictures (about 300pics!) and stayed at a fancy hotel to boot! We booked a Signature Club room with a guaranteed 6th floor room (8 levels total) and a river view. It was awesome. I have so much more to write about this trip so I'll leave it out for a later post that I can devote entirely to the trip.
- Chris's Birthday is coming up on August 6th, kinda stoked about it as partying with those guys is always fun. I wonder what a guy like him could use for his birthday. Stripper? Haha. Actually sounds like he is going to through a BBQ in his backyard, weather permitting of course. Now we just need games/activities to plan and play.
That's pretty much all I can think of to update at the moment, and I promise to try harder to update. I will also bring my camera out to the soccer game today and try to take some sweet pictures and post them up too. But that's it for now!
pieces,
Alex.
p.s. Andrew if you read this, we have to go fishing again....and sometime soon!
- The Crazy 88's Soccer team has improved ten fold! Not without the help of a new recruit by the name of AJ. He's 15 and has the stamina of a horse and the skill of Pele....well heh not that much skill but he has some pretty good skills that has given him at least one goal per game. As for the rest our team we have improved a lot since our first two games of the year. Our passing is really good now and our goalie is amazing as well. We still have to practice clearing the ball out of our zone when we get a goalie kick and perhaps better coverage of your position. But besides that we have been doing awesome with a 5-3 record! Yeah who knew we could actually win 1 game let alone 5? Crazy! Go Crazy 88's!
- I recently joined the Crazy 88's city football team as well. My first game was yesterday and we destroyed! We are in the beginner's league but yesterday we played like pro's. All 6 of us managed to catch one or run one into the endzone. At first I wasn't going to play in this league because I didn't think I'd have time too. But a few people have screwed over Andrew by either quitting the team or not showing up at all when they said they would. So yesterday he was pretty screwed, the game is 5 on 5 and he only had 4 on his team, so he asked me to play and I agreed. And I am glad I did because it was a lot of fun! Tuyet was out there too, not playing, but cheering us on. She is now officially the Crazy 88's cheering section, heh.
- The entire team (5 + Tuyet) went to Yamato for 20% off sushi right after the game. And I must say I was very impressed! Usually Tuyet and I don't stray away from our love of Sakana but we decided to try it as the rest of the team was going. And I'm glad we did! It was so yummy! Usually when Tuyet and I go to Sakana we order the 30 piece love boat plus extra sushi on the side. But even after all that sushi we don't feel satisfied at times. However at Yamato we had 8 pieces of sushi and it was so filling and satisfying! That's because each piece of sushi was huge and the rice was so little. It was so big that I had trouble picking up the pieces of sushi at times! Crazy! We are definitely going back more often. Sorry Sakana....feels like we're cheting on you but we have found better....hehe.
- I went on an amazing trip to Saskatoon with Tuyet during Canada Day Long weekend. I didn't go visit old friends because I didn't feel the urge too. But I went back to see the place where I grew up for 15 years of my life. It was heartwarming to see my old schools and my old house and all the other landmarks that I remembered from my child hood. We did so many things together and took so many pictures (about 300pics!) and stayed at a fancy hotel to boot! We booked a Signature Club room with a guaranteed 6th floor room (8 levels total) and a river view. It was awesome. I have so much more to write about this trip so I'll leave it out for a later post that I can devote entirely to the trip.
- Chris's Birthday is coming up on August 6th, kinda stoked about it as partying with those guys is always fun. I wonder what a guy like him could use for his birthday. Stripper? Haha. Actually sounds like he is going to through a BBQ in his backyard, weather permitting of course. Now we just need games/activities to plan and play.
That's pretty much all I can think of to update at the moment, and I promise to try harder to update. I will also bring my camera out to the soccer game today and try to take some sweet pictures and post them up too. But that's it for now!
pieces,
Alex.
p.s. Andrew if you read this, we have to go fishing again....and sometime soon!
Sunday, June 19, 2005
Crazy 88's venture into Soccer wasn't so crazy.
On Thursday the 16th of June @ 9PM MST, The Crazy 88's tried their hands... or rather feet at the sport of soccer (futbol?). It was a late time to play and proved to be quite the work out as well. We joined the rec league which was supposed to have less "hardcore" players but from our first encounter we know better now (they were pretty hardcore with matching jerseys!).
We were pretty unorganized on the field and at times lacked any real knowledge of how to play the game at all. The other team capitalized on our lack of "know how" and even though being substantially better than us still thought it was a good idea to cheat and be offside for many of their attacks and goals. Now we had a below average goalie in net for our side,a mediocore defensive line and no real forwards to lead any kind of attack so we were nothing more but annoying pylons to the other team at times. And all of this was just on the field.
Off the field we were victims of brutal mosquito attacks. And after our record rain falls for the month of June there were a lot of hungry mosquitos waiting to feed on our blood while we stood on the sidelines trying to look at the positive side of getting destroyed. I myself have counted 17 mosquito bites on my arms, legs and left shoulder and am pretty worried about West Nile Virus. So for our next game I will definitely be bringing some mosquito repellent to avoid this current itchiness and possible infection with the West Nile Virus.
I got in a few picture shots when we were warming up before the game but the day was overcast with cloud with no decent lighting so I put the camera away early. Hopefully the game on Tuesday will have better weather and since its earlier (7PM) I will be able to take a lot more pictures. I'll have to read up on how to take "sports action" photos this time so I know how to set my camera properly to take good pictures! I'm excited!
Overall I had a good time even though we loss, I think as the games progress we'll improve as a team and play a lot more organized game and hopefully our endurance will improve as well. I bought new equipment over the weekend, new shin pads/socks and sweatbands for the new game and can't wait to try them out. We are going to win the next one!!!!! *knocks on wood*. Anyways enjoy the pictures that I have added to the bottom here, and if you want full size ones just msg me and I'll see what I can do!
pieces,
Alex.
p.s. I want to buy a soccer ball soon and this device that I can somehow tie to my waist so I can practice foot eye coordination (I saw it on tv a while back). Anyone know where to get such a device/contraption in Calgary?
p.p.s. Does anyone know how to post more than one picture in one blog at the same time using the "hello" program? I had to do a lot of cutting and pasting in the dashboard to get all my pictures posted with hello into one blog.
Game Face #1
-Alex 2005
chip shot!
-Alex 2005
His forehead has an affinity for balls
-Alex 2005
Game Face #2
-Alex 2005
the "oooooooh" kick
-Alex 2005
We were pretty unorganized on the field and at times lacked any real knowledge of how to play the game at all. The other team capitalized on our lack of "know how" and even though being substantially better than us still thought it was a good idea to cheat and be offside for many of their attacks and goals. Now we had a below average goalie in net for our side,a mediocore defensive line and no real forwards to lead any kind of attack so we were nothing more but annoying pylons to the other team at times. And all of this was just on the field.
Off the field we were victims of brutal mosquito attacks. And after our record rain falls for the month of June there were a lot of hungry mosquitos waiting to feed on our blood while we stood on the sidelines trying to look at the positive side of getting destroyed. I myself have counted 17 mosquito bites on my arms, legs and left shoulder and am pretty worried about West Nile Virus. So for our next game I will definitely be bringing some mosquito repellent to avoid this current itchiness and possible infection with the West Nile Virus.
I got in a few picture shots when we were warming up before the game but the day was overcast with cloud with no decent lighting so I put the camera away early. Hopefully the game on Tuesday will have better weather and since its earlier (7PM) I will be able to take a lot more pictures. I'll have to read up on how to take "sports action" photos this time so I know how to set my camera properly to take good pictures! I'm excited!
Overall I had a good time even though we loss, I think as the games progress we'll improve as a team and play a lot more organized game and hopefully our endurance will improve as well. I bought new equipment over the weekend, new shin pads/socks and sweatbands for the new game and can't wait to try them out. We are going to win the next one!!!!! *knocks on wood*. Anyways enjoy the pictures that I have added to the bottom here, and if you want full size ones just msg me and I'll see what I can do!
pieces,
Alex.
p.s. I want to buy a soccer ball soon and this device that I can somehow tie to my waist so I can practice foot eye coordination (I saw it on tv a while back). Anyone know where to get such a device/contraption in Calgary?
p.p.s. Does anyone know how to post more than one picture in one blog at the same time using the "hello" program? I had to do a lot of cutting and pasting in the dashboard to get all my pictures posted with hello into one blog.
Game Face #1
-Alex 2005
chip shot!
-Alex 2005
His forehead has an affinity for balls
-Alex 2005
Game Face #2
-Alex 2005
the "oooooooh" kick
-Alex 2005
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)