Band: Bon Jovi
Sometimes, you come across a song with this kind situation. You hear a song, you know you heard it before. But, somehow you cannot name it. Wanted Dead or Alive for me is one of this type. This song is famous. I like the drumming part particularly. Thanks to Rock Band, I learn how to appreciate the drumming part.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Where to find it
A practical and beautiful storage caseIt is hard to find a good storage box. I came across a similar box (or chest of drawer) when I visited a friend's house. Its design and color attacts me a lot. I have spent some time surfing online. But, I just could not find a right one.
Bistro Elan
A place for small stomach
We heard this restaurant from a friend. He loves this restaurant and highly recommends it. We went there and wow, so crowded.
The place may not be designed to be crowded and noisy. But, due to its popularity, Bistro Elan becomes a hot dinning place. This place is good for people with small stomach. The rock shrimp appetizer, mussels, and fish fillet are recommended. If you are a meat person, you can try Elan's steak. Tender, moist, and with fragrant smell.
Location: 448 N California Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94301
We heard this restaurant from a friend. He loves this restaurant and highly recommends it. We went there and wow, so crowded.The place may not be designed to be crowded and noisy. But, due to its popularity, Bistro Elan becomes a hot dinning place. This place is good for people with small stomach. The rock shrimp appetizer, mussels, and fish fillet are recommended. If you are a meat person, you can try Elan's steak. Tender, moist, and with fragrant smell.
Location: 448 N California Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94301
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
CNN Center
This is about CNN's studio tour
Atlanta is where CNN's headquarters locate. Totof and I drove to Centennial Park and decided to participate the CNN tour. CNN Center did not look fancy. It w
as ordinary. The inside was huge. We took 2 min to cross the corridor and arrive the atrium. We found the ticket center. We looked at the price. Wow. $12. One thing we learned from Atlanta was that tickets were expensive. For example, the sky ride for Stone Mountain is $9. The Atlanta aquarium is $27. The CNN tour is $12.
The Studio tour was behind-the-scenes type. Our group had a guide with us. The first stop was a long escalator (we were told this was the world's longest escalator.) The second stop was a cinema room. The guide introduced the basic CNN program shooting. We learned how executive producer, director, and technical director led the CNN team. We saw CNN's robot cameras. Then, we went to the third stop which was CNN Headline News. We saw through a glass. Of course, CNN staff could see us but not hear us. They must be quite familiar with tourists. They might be annoyed by tourists sometimes. Or maybe just feel distracted. The fourth stop was CNN (no real time news were produced in Atlanta at that time.) We were told the supervisor editors had the power to select, edit, link, and air videos (and supportive stories.) The fifth stop was CNN International Network. Then, we were led to CNN Espagnol. Along with each stop, the guide briefed the histories. By all means she tried hard to insert some jokes. The last stop was in another cinema room. This time, we saw four main CNN anchors. The guide told us that the salary among anchors varied. From $300,000 to $14,000,000. Larry KIng was the most expensive anchor.
If you are interested in journalist type work, then try to attend one of CNN's studio tour. You can see more reality about anchor, journalist, editor, technical editor, lighting control, audio control, and program producer.
Atlanta is where CNN's headquarters locate. Totof and I drove to Centennial Park and decided to participate the CNN tour. CNN Center did not look fancy. It w
as ordinary. The inside was huge. We took 2 min to cross the corridor and arrive the atrium. We found the ticket center. We looked at the price. Wow. $12. One thing we learned from Atlanta was that tickets were expensive. For example, the sky ride for Stone Mountain is $9. The Atlanta aquarium is $27. The CNN tour is $12.The Studio tour was behind-the-scenes type. Our group had a guide with us. The first stop was a long escalator (we were told this was the world's longest escalator.) The second stop was a cinema room. The guide introduced the basic CNN program shooting. We learned how executive producer, director, and technical director led the CNN team. We saw CNN's robot cameras. Then, we went to the third stop which was CNN Headline News. We saw through a glass. Of course, CNN staff could see us but not hear us. They must be quite familiar with tourists. They might be annoyed by tourists sometimes. Or maybe just feel distracted. The fourth stop was CNN (no real time news were produced in Atlanta at that time.) We were told the supervisor editors had the power to select, edit, link, and air videos (and supportive stories.) The fifth stop was CNN International Network. Then, we were led to CNN Espagnol. Along with each stop, the guide briefed the histories. By all means she tried hard to insert some jokes. The last stop was in another cinema room. This time, we saw four main CNN anchors. The guide told us that the salary among anchors varied. From $300,000 to $14,000,000. Larry KIng was the most expensive anchor.
If you are interested in journalist type work, then try to attend one of CNN's studio tour. You can see more reality about anchor, journalist, editor, technical editor, lighting control, audio control, and program producer.
Café 101
A stylish Taiwanese restaurant
My brother brought us (7 people) to this restaurant. This place is one of my sister-in-law and brother's favorite dinning places. The restaurant is stylish. High ceiling, brown and black theme, wood decoration all over the place. A quite dizzying and delightful place.
What we ordered
Braised tofu: my brother highly recommended this dish. The tofu was tender inside and with nice sauce. Totof is not a tofu person. We encouraged him to try it. He liked this dish.
Basil chicken (a.k.a. three cup chicken): this is Totof's and my favorite dish. We wanted to see if Café 101's basil chicken was better than the Bay area's basil chicken. The dish was unexpectedly spicy. Other than that, this dish was good. (hard to tell whether this dish is better or not than its counterpart in the Bay area)
Corn soup with ham: Totof told me the soup tasted funny. I tried it. Oh no. It was sweet. I asked my brother to try it. The consensus was that Café 101's chef must put sugar instead of salt to finish the cooking. The owner came and apologized. He said the kitchen would give us another soup.
Chicken soup with dried bamboo (free): this soup was a bonus due to the corn soup. This soup was quite expensive according to my sister and brother. The chef put some ginger and Totof somehow did not appreciate the strong ginger smell much. He told me my chicken soup was better. Well. I was glad to know that. But, in my opinion, this soup was great.
Cashew chicken: Josh ordered this dish. The chicken part was tender. But somehow Totof said the chicken was tasteless.
Pea sprout: a vegetable dish.
Leeks with smoked ham: Totof wanted to order this dish when he reviewed the menu. I was hesitant since I was not sure if this dish would turn out good. My sister said it was harmless to experiment. So we ordered it. It turned out quite tasty.
Dessert
We were all quite full after these wonderful dishes. But, we still asked to look at the dessert menu. My sister-in-law told us Café 101 had some nice desserts. Of course, no one wanted to miss to taste some nice dessert. We ordered three desserts: two mango shaved ice and one green tea and red bean shaved ice.
Mango shaved ice: my sister-in-law told me this dessert was gorgeous. So, around the dessert time, we ordered two mango shaved ice. The mango was not sweet at all. Maybe due to the wrong season. We were disappointed.
Green tea and red bean shaved ice: Josh and my sister ordered this. I did not try it since Josh was having a severe cold. According to my sister, this shaved ice was excellent.
My brother brought us (7 people) to this restaurant. This place is one of my sister-in-law and brother's favorite dinning places. The restaurant is stylish. High ceiling, brown and black theme, wood decoration all over the place. A quite dizzying and delightful place.
What we ordered
Braised tofu: my brother highly recommended this dish. The tofu was tender inside and with nice sauce. Totof is not a tofu person. We encouraged him to try it. He liked this dish.
Basil chicken (a.k.a. three cup chicken): this is Totof's and my favorite dish. We wanted to see if Café 101's basil chicken was better than the Bay area's basil chicken. The dish was unexpectedly spicy. Other than that, this dish was good. (hard to tell whether this dish is better or not than its counterpart in the Bay area)
Corn soup with ham: Totof told me the soup tasted funny. I tried it. Oh no. It was sweet. I asked my brother to try it. The consensus was that Café 101's chef must put sugar instead of salt to finish the cooking. The owner came and apologized. He said the kitchen would give us another soup.
Chicken soup with dried bamboo (free): this soup was a bonus due to the corn soup. This soup was quite expensive according to my sister and brother. The chef put some ginger and Totof somehow did not appreciate the strong ginger smell much. He told me my chicken soup was better. Well. I was glad to know that. But, in my opinion, this soup was great.
Cashew chicken: Josh ordered this dish. The chicken part was tender. But somehow Totof said the chicken was tasteless.
Pea sprout: a vegetable dish.
Leeks with smoked ham: Totof wanted to order this dish when he reviewed the menu. I was hesitant since I was not sure if this dish would turn out good. My sister said it was harmless to experiment. So we ordered it. It turned out quite tasty.
Dessert
We were all quite full after these wonderful dishes. But, we still asked to look at the dessert menu. My sister-in-law told us Café 101 had some nice desserts. Of course, no one wanted to miss to taste some nice dessert. We ordered three desserts: two mango shaved ice and one green tea and red bean shaved ice.
Mango shaved ice: my sister-in-law told me this dessert was gorgeous. So, around the dessert time, we ordered two mango shaved ice. The mango was not sweet at all. Maybe due to the wrong season. We were disappointed.
Green tea and red bean shaved ice: Josh and my sister ordered this. I did not try it since Josh was having a severe cold. According to my sister, this shaved ice was excellent.
Scuff
Scratch vs. scuff
Josh corrected me on the way to Stone Mountain. He said the worn-out on the car door due to the shoes was not called scratches. It was called scuff. I learned something from Josh.
Josh corrected me on the way to Stone Mountain. He said the worn-out on the car door due to the shoes was not called scratches. It was called scuff. I learned something from Josh.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Stone Mountain
This place is better to be appreciated by walking then by sky riding.
On a cold Friday, four of us decided to visit Stone Mountain. Four people: my sister, Josh, Totof, and myself. We did not know we could hike up to the top of Stone Mountain. So, we spent 45 min waiting time on the sky ride station. The weather was cold. Not friendly. We four people needed to entertain ourselves to kill the waiting time. Of course, the entertaining work was mostly done by Totof and myself. (we played silly to entertain ourselves, Josh, and my sister)
The sky ride was spectacular by all means. We took a nice picture of the carving when we were on the cable car. The ride was quick. Around 5 min. There was another station on the top of the mountain. We walked out and saw a fantastic view.
We took some pictures. Some were quite stupid but fun. I am not ready to share them. So I will not exhibit these pictures. When we were on the top, we came across a couple and the couple told my sister and Josh that we could walk up and down to the bottom station instead of getting anot
her ride. This information was valuable. We liked hiking (they three people are hiking type and myself like short hikes.) We decided to abandon the sky ride. The hiking was not too long. I did not check but guesstimated the time would be 30 min. Of course we took some other fun pictures and videos. Among them, I wanted to share a picture with you. This picture was in memory of the chewing gum art. What? You may ask. At the first glance, we thought these trees were decorated with some small color stones. At the first glance, they looked pleasant. If Josh did not say these ruby like things were chewing gums, none of us would pay attention on this detail.
On a cold Friday, four of us decided to visit Stone Mountain. Four people: my sister, Josh, Totof, and myself. We did not know we could hike up to the top of Stone Mountain. So, we spent 45 min waiting time on the sky ride station. The weather was cold. Not friendly. We four people needed to entertain ourselves to kill the waiting time. Of course, the entertaining work was mostly done by Totof and myself. (we played silly to entertain ourselves, Josh, and my sister)
The sky ride was spectacular by all means. We took a nice picture of the carving when we were on the cable car. The ride was quick. Around 5 min. There was another station on the top of the mountain. We walked out and saw a fantastic view.
We took some pictures. Some were quite stupid but fun. I am not ready to share them. So I will not exhibit these pictures. When we were on the top, we came across a couple and the couple told my sister and Josh that we could walk up and down to the bottom station instead of getting anot
her ride. This information was valuable. We liked hiking (they three people are hiking type and myself like short hikes.) We decided to abandon the sky ride. The hiking was not too long. I did not check but guesstimated the time would be 30 min. Of course we took some other fun pictures and videos. Among them, I wanted to share a picture with you. This picture was in memory of the chewing gum art. What? You may ask. At the first glance, we thought these trees were decorated with some small color stones. At the first glance, they looked pleasant. If Josh did not say these ruby like things were chewing gums, none of us would pay attention on this detail.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
I have a dream
It was an informative tour. Totof and I went to Martin Luther King, Jr. Historic Site at Atlanta yesterday. We had some knowledge on American Segregation a
nd Dr. Martin Luther King (due to the holiday) before we visited the historic site. But, we did not have a big picture of the histories and the non-violent protests.
My sister highly recommended us to spend some time there before we took off. We were supposed to visit the historic site on Sunday. But we did not go due to the gloomy and windy weather. (we wanted to visit the historic site and Centennial Park together.) It was a good decision to visit the historic site on Monday. Not too many people. The site was quiet. The historic site was huge. Based on the parking lot size, I assumed this site was quite popular during the holidays. We saw Gandhi's statue there. We did not know why at that time. We entered the main exhibit hall. We wanted to take a tour. But, since we could not stay there long, we decided to pass the chance of the tour on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. birth place.
Many small sections in the main exhibit hall. Each section has a TV and the TV is surrounded by relevant posters. The videos on TV are informative. We spent 10 min at each section on average. I felt emotional when I saw those videos. The colored people signs and vivid execution pictures made me shacked. With various emotions: anger, sympathy, and surprise.
We heard there was going to be a 30 min video on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and we decided to go. The video was well done. The message from the video was clear. We were glad we went there. The video briefed the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his vision: all men regardless of skin color should be equal and free. The video contained some Dr. King's speeches. I liked the one presented in front of the Washington Memorial Hall the most (I have a dream speech). The mountain side speech was also touchy. I looked up to Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr. after this visit.
It was an informative tour. Totof and I went to Martin Luther King, Jr. Historic Site at Atlanta yesterday. We had some knowledge on American Segregation a
nd Dr. Martin Luther King (due to the holiday) before we visited the historic site. But, we did not have a big picture of the histories and the non-violent protests.My sister highly recommended us to spend some time there before we took off. We were supposed to visit the historic site on Sunday. But we did not go due to the gloomy and windy weather. (we wanted to visit the historic site and Centennial Park together.) It was a good decision to visit the historic site on Monday. Not too many people. The site was quiet. The historic site was huge. Based on the parking lot size, I assumed this site was quite popular during the holidays. We saw Gandhi's statue there. We did not know why at that time. We entered the main exhibit hall. We wanted to take a tour. But, since we could not stay there long, we decided to pass the chance of the tour on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. birth place.
Many small sections in the main exhibit hall. Each section has a TV and the TV is surrounded by relevant posters. The videos on TV are informative. We spent 10 min at each section on average. I felt emotional when I saw those videos. The colored people signs and vivid execution pictures made me shacked. With various emotions: anger, sympathy, and surprise.
We heard there was going to be a 30 min video on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and we decided to go. The video was well done. The message from the video was clear. We were glad we went there. The video briefed the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his vision: all men regardless of skin color should be equal and free. The video contained some Dr. King's speeches. I liked the one presented in front of the Washington Memorial Hall the most (I have a dream speech). The mountain side speech was also touchy. I looked up to Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr. after this visit.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
We got Rock Band
Super excited
Yesterday was Rock Band launch day. Totof went to Best Buy and got one home. I could not wait. We opened boxes after boxes to get all elements out. The packaging was quite sophisticated. By all means manufacturing requires good amount of knowledge. We removed all protections and assembled elements with extreme care. The bass was not hard to be assembled. But the drums were not easy at all. Parts were all over. We took the instruction and put elements in order. We followed the instruction and connected the drums to X box 360. But somehow, the drums did not get connected. We tried to do trouble shootings by ourselves. It turned out the USB hub came with the Rock Band package needed to be charged. After 10 min, everything was ready. We put the disk inside and wow. We were all standing up to appreciate the introduction of Rock Band. The intro and the menu and the background were aesthetic. Absolutely prettier than Guitar Hero. (Rock Band vs. Guitar Hero = 1:0)
In Rock Band, you can create your own characters. A similar way to Wii. Quite fun. (Rock band vs. Guitar Hero = 2:0) Just one thing to complain. The name entry part is not intuitive and not easy-of-use. Totof, myself, and Fabien created our own characters. We all looked cool.
Good thing is that the Guitar Hero guitars are compatible in Rock Band. We got our instruments and started our worldwide tour: Totof played guitar, myself played drums, and Fabien played bass. We chose San Francisco as our hometown. We started our tour from a small pub. We were thrilled to know we got fans and gigs after our performance. So, here is a major difference between Guitar Hero and Rock Band. In Guitar Hero, you perform and gain money and advance your band. In Rock Band, you perform and gain three things depending on your performance: money, fans, and gigs. It was entertaining to see the number of fans increased. (Rock Band vs. Guitar Hero = 3:0)
The drums were not easy to perform. We spent some time to understand the coordination. We should have consulted the manual but we did not. We realized the orange horizontal line was for the foot part after several songs (we failed many times). Rock Band is totally about team work. If a member fails, other members need to save him/her by using star power. Every member has three chances to fail. If a member is permanently failed, then the team will be in danger. The team will fail quite soon. It is like reality. Your band cannot survive if the drum or the guitar member fails her/his duty. Your fans will get annoyed or upset.
Another difference is that if you give up trying a song in Rock Band, you will get penalty by losing some numbers of fans (oh, no). It hurt when we abandoned a song.
We also tried the vocal part. I can tell you Rock Band will bring us tons of fun.
Yesterday was Rock Band launch day. Totof went to Best Buy and got one home. I could not wait. We opened boxes after boxes to get all elements out. The packaging was quite sophisticated. By all means manufacturing requires good amount of knowledge. We removed all protections and assembled elements with extreme care. The bass was not hard to be assembled. But the drums were not easy at all. Parts were all over. We took the instruction and put elements in order. We followed the instruction and connected the drums to X box 360. But somehow, the drums did not get connected. We tried to do trouble shootings by ourselves. It turned out the USB hub came with the Rock Band package needed to be charged. After 10 min, everything was ready. We put the disk inside and wow. We were all standing up to appreciate the introduction of Rock Band. The intro and the menu and the background were aesthetic. Absolutely prettier than Guitar Hero. (Rock Band vs. Guitar Hero = 1:0)
In Rock Band, you can create your own characters. A similar way to Wii. Quite fun. (Rock band vs. Guitar Hero = 2:0) Just one thing to complain. The name entry part is not intuitive and not easy-of-use. Totof, myself, and Fabien created our own characters. We all looked cool.
Good thing is that the Guitar Hero guitars are compatible in Rock Band. We got our instruments and started our worldwide tour: Totof played guitar, myself played drums, and Fabien played bass. We chose San Francisco as our hometown. We started our tour from a small pub. We were thrilled to know we got fans and gigs after our performance. So, here is a major difference between Guitar Hero and Rock Band. In Guitar Hero, you perform and gain money and advance your band. In Rock Band, you perform and gain three things depending on your performance: money, fans, and gigs. It was entertaining to see the number of fans increased. (Rock Band vs. Guitar Hero = 3:0)
The drums were not easy to perform. We spent some time to understand the coordination. We should have consulted the manual but we did not. We realized the orange horizontal line was for the foot part after several songs (we failed many times). Rock Band is totally about team work. If a member fails, other members need to save him/her by using star power. Every member has three chances to fail. If a member is permanently failed, then the team will be in danger. The team will fail quite soon. It is like reality. Your band cannot survive if the drum or the guitar member fails her/his duty. Your fans will get annoyed or upset.
Another difference is that if you give up trying a song in Rock Band, you will get penalty by losing some numbers of fans (oh, no). It hurt when we abandoned a song.
We also tried the vocal part. I can tell you Rock Band will bring us tons of fun.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Alexander's Steakhouse
Ranked # 1 among Top 25 Silicon Valley Restaurants
As mentioned in the previous post regarding Las Vegas, Totof and I came cross this restaurant. The spectacular entrance and the high end looking printed in our minds. We told ourselves some day we would give it a try.
So, we waited and waited... unless our wallet was full as well as the occasion was right.
The welcome thing at Alexander's entrance was unexpected. Their reception area was quite inside. We passed a 50 ft long corridor. 50 ft was alright. No one would complain or feel surprise. But, 50 ft with lots of raw meat in front of you was a different story. Imagine you walked in a high end restaurant. You expected something extraordinary or extravagant waiting for you. Right? You expected to see, to feel, to listen, or to smell something. Not too strong. Something subtle but memorable. Something would print in your mind so that you could tell others your own story about this high end place. The last thing I would imagine was arrays and arrays of raw meat. I would not say the meat looked attractive.
We sit down in the reception area. The reception area was spacious. Some nice sofa for people who needed to wait for their tables. I looked around. Some people dressed formally. But some other people just dressed casually as us. Alexander's liked arrays. One corner of Alexander's reception area was filled with wine bottles (arrays and arrays of wine bottles). Based on Totof's limited wine knowledge, he told me these wine bottles were quite expensive.
We were led to our table after 10 min waiting time. The table was pretty secretive. We looked at Alexander's menu. Absolutely, its menu revealed Alexander's dishes were fusion type. We spent a joyful time dinning out there. To share with you, I listed what we ordered and highlighted some of them.
Alexander's is absolutly an upscale steakhouse influenced by Asian touch.
As mentioned in the previous post regarding Las Vegas, Totof and I came cross this restaurant. The spectacular entrance and the high end looking printed in our minds. We told ourselves some day we would give it a try.
So, we waited and waited... unless our wallet was full as well as the occasion was right.
The welcome thing at Alexander's entrance was unexpected. Their reception area was quite inside. We passed a 50 ft long corridor. 50 ft was alright. No one would complain or feel surprise. But, 50 ft with lots of raw meat in front of you was a different story. Imagine you walked in a high end restaurant. You expected something extraordinary or extravagant waiting for you. Right? You expected to see, to feel, to listen, or to smell something. Not too strong. Something subtle but memorable. Something would print in your mind so that you could tell others your own story about this high end place. The last thing I would imagine was arrays and arrays of raw meat. I would not say the meat looked attractive.
We sit down in the reception area. The reception area was spacious. Some nice sofa for people who needed to wait for their tables. I looked around. Some people dressed formally. But some other people just dressed casually as us. Alexander's liked arrays. One corner of Alexander's reception area was filled with wine bottles (arrays and arrays of wine bottles). Based on Totof's limited wine knowledge, he told me these wine bottles were quite expensive.
We were led to our table after 10 min waiting time. The table was pretty secretive. We looked at Alexander's menu. Absolutely, its menu revealed Alexander's dishes were fusion type. We spent a joyful time dinning out there. To share with you, I listed what we ordered and highlighted some of them.
Filet Mignon with seared Froi Gras:
The meat was super tender. I never had seared froi gras on top of my filet mignon. It was an excellent combination.
Cow & Crustacean:
Don't get confused by the name. This dish was basically two kinds of steaks: one is beef steak and the other is lobster steak. Nice portion, not something you would be overwhelmed. The filet mignon part was smaller but as good as the one just mentioned. The lobster steak was quite tasty.
Creamed Spinach:
This was a side dish. To be honest, it was the least liking dish among that night. The spinach was too dry.
Dayboat Scallops:
This was one of the small dishes Alexander's served. I googled Alexander's before that night. Many critics and customers recommended Alexander's small dishes. Besides, some of them claimed the small dishes were the most fabulous part in Alexander's part. So, we particularly ordered this dish for our small appetite. This dish was theme with scallops. Came with corn coulis, cauliflower purée and corn salsa. Dashed with rosemary essence. A nice touch.
We did not order much. But we were so full afterwards. A side track. We saw some people were served with super large steaks (Bone-In Dry Aged New York 26 oz or T-bone 24 oz). It was amazing to see people finish something more than 20 oz. 20 oz steak may take Totof and myself 2 meals to consume. Another interesting thing was that you could order hot rock and put your steak or dish nicely on top of the rock. A fancy and witty idea for Alexander's.
Location: 10330 N Wolfe Rd, Cupertino, CA 95014
Afterthought:Alexander's is absolutly an upscale steakhouse influenced by Asian touch.
Rock Band is available today
A good toy for Thanksgiving
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/NYTU07620112007-1.htm
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/NYTU07620112007-1.htm
The Mysterious Affair at Styles
Mysterious and dramatic
This book was my second Agatha Cristie book. I did not finish this book at one day. Instead, it took me around a month. Why? Since I would like to read just a chapter a day so that I could appreciate and digest the plot more. This story was very brain challenging. Most readers would like to guess who the murderer was. Tried to lay out all the facts. Tried to link all the facts. Tried to picture what had been occurred. Tried to get the motivations. Tried to repel the ambiguity. Tried to justify some nonsense facts. Tried to use time line or character oriented method to unveil the fact. Tried to reconstruct the murder scene. And most importantly, tried to beat Hercule Poirot. (it was the fun part in reading detective novels)
Allow me to brief the story of the mysterious affair at Styles. Poirot was there as a refugee. His best friend, Hastings, was invited to be a guest at a big house at Styles by his friend, John Cavendish. Hastings saw some interesting facts in the Cavendish family. John's stepmother, Emily Inglethorp, was a wealthy old woman. Somehow she was a dictator in this family. She put great amount of control over the family. Emily re-married to Alfred Inglethorp, who was much younger than Emily. Mary Cavendish, John's wife, was a pretty woman. But, her coldness and pride repelled people. It seemed like Mary and John had some issues. Lawrence Cavendis, John's younger brother, was an artist type. Shy, quiet. He had a medicine degree but somehow did not go for doctor sort job. Evelyn Howard, Emily's companion, seemed having a problem in getting along with Alfred. Cynthia Murdoch, a pretty and healthy young girl, lived with the Cavendish family. Cynthia seemed quite easygoing. She was working at a lab.
At the murder day, a quarrel was overheard between Emily and someone else. Then, it seemed like Emily was depressed afterwards. She decided to revise her will. She retired earlier to her room with the document and her document case. But, no one knew if this task had been done. Because Emily was poisoned at the same night and no revised will was discovered. The case was found forced open but no will was inside. Only a piece of burned paper was found in a fireplace in Emily's room.
Alfred left Styles earlier in the evening and stayed overnight in the nearby village. He had a perfect alibi. He was a prime suspect for his 
wife's murder. But his alibi was so strong that no one could prove his link to the death. Doctor said Emily was administered with some strychnine. But no one in the house knew when or how the strychnine was be given to Emily.
wife's murder. But his alibi was so strong that no one could prove his link to the death. Doctor said Emily was administered with some strychnine. But no one in the house knew when or how the strychnine was be given to Emily.People's descriptions were somehow contradicting each other. Some members turned quite pale when Japp, the Scotland Yard, and Poirot inquired them. What was hidden? Many covered facts were forced to be shown. Of course, these facts shed some light. Gave out motivations surly. Alfred was found presenting in a drug store for strychnine some days before the death. John was found possessing some strychnine as well. Cynthia had access to strychnine at her lab. Lab claimed some strychnine was missing. Lawrence gave some untrue statements. Why? The house looked more and more mysterious.
Besides, you saw some psychology games. True murderer tried to take advantage of double jeopardy. True murderer tried to smoke the death. Some tricks succeeded to lead Japp and Poirot to a wrong track. Some tricks made innocent people got arrested.
I do not want to spoil your pleasure. So, I stop here. This book was quite entertaining and rich. A nice choice for some boring time.
Gyros House
Fast, but not fast food
Gyros House is on Castro, Mountain View. The food is authentic (our Turkish friend confirmed). If you want to have something quick but with a good quality, Gyros House is one of your choices.
Many people would recommend you to take Lamb and Beef Kebab Gyro. But, not me. I wanted to recommend you to try something else. Lamb and Beef Kebab is already good. But, if you try Adana Kebab Gyro, you will say to yourself "oh la la, this is a gold in a small and plain looking restaurant."
Adana Kebab 101 (from Wikipedia)
Adana Kebab is a long, charcoal grilled, minced meat brochette mounted on a wide skewer. Only salt and dried red pepper flakes (sweet or hot according to desire) are added to the meat. Red bell pepper can be hand chopped into very small pieces and be used instead of red pepper. 4 or 5 ounces (100 or 150 grams) of meat are mounted on a special skewer which is about 3 feet long (80-90 cm) and about an inch wide (2.0-2.5 cm). Then it is grilled over hot charcoal. During the grilling the fat melts and burns on the charcoal. The fire is not allowed to reach the meat; otherwise it leaves black soot on the meat. The dripping fat is usually removed by a piece of fresh flatbread - pide (also known as berberi) bread or lavash.
Location: 212 Castro St, Mountain View, CA 94041
Gyros House is on Castro, Mountain View. The food is authentic (our Turkish friend confirmed). If you want to have something quick but with a good quality, Gyros House is one of your choices.
Many people would recommend you to take Lamb and Beef Kebab Gyro. But, not me. I wanted to recommend you to try something else. Lamb and Beef Kebab is already good. But, if you try Adana Kebab Gyro, you will say to yourself "oh la la, this is a gold in a small and plain looking restaurant."
Adana Kebab 101 (from Wikipedia)
Adana Kebab is a long, charcoal grilled, minced meat brochette mounted on a wide skewer. Only salt and dried red pepper flakes (sweet or hot according to desire) are added to the meat. Red bell pepper can be hand chopped into very small pieces and be used instead of red pepper. 4 or 5 ounces (100 or 150 grams) of meat are mounted on a special skewer which is about 3 feet long (80-90 cm) and about an inch wide (2.0-2.5 cm). Then it is grilled over hot charcoal. During the grilling the fat melts and burns on the charcoal. The fire is not allowed to reach the meat; otherwise it leaves black soot on the meat. The dripping fat is usually removed by a piece of fresh flatbread - pide (also known as berberi) bread or lavash.
Location: 212 Castro St, Mountain View, CA 94041
Visa IPO
For your morning reading time
http://www.epaynews.com/index.cgi?survey=&ref=browse&f=view&id=1195080963837043222&block=
http://www.epaynews.com/index.cgi?survey=&ref=browse&f=view&id=1195080963837043222&block=
Monday, November 19, 2007
Guitar Hero 3 - Even Flow
Pearl Jam's Even Flow
The more I play this song, the more I appreciate it. I did not know Pearl Jam until I came across their song in Guitar Hero 2. On Guitar Hero 3 song list, I recognized this name right away. Even flow is a good song. Very Guitar Hero. If you are a Guitar Hero fan, don't miss to try it out whenever you can. You will say to yourself "I was thinking to do something else. Luckily I did not"
The more I play this song, the more I appreciate it. I did not know Pearl Jam until I came across their song in Guitar Hero 2. On Guitar Hero 3 song list, I recognized this name right away. Even flow is a good song. Very Guitar Hero. If you are a Guitar Hero fan, don't miss to try it out whenever you can. You will say to yourself "I was thinking to do something else. Luckily I did not"
House warming cocktail party
How can you say no to a Santa Cruz house warming party
The party was hosted by Yasemin and Dustin. We knew Yasemin through Fabien. Yasemin used to live in Los Altos. Her previous house mates were quite fun. The crazy kind fun. Her house was a party generator. We have been there some times.
This summer, Yasemin told us she might go to Los Angeles for education. Both Yasemin and Dustin were students in Foothill college. They were trying to apply USC and UCSC. They got the admissions from UCSC at that time. But the USC decision was pending. We did not know if they would move to Los Angeles. No one knew.
Then, around a month, we got the news that they decided to enroll UCSC. After a month, we got an invitation from Yasemin. A house warming party. Why not? As mentioned in the lost key post, the day was quite eventful. After this tiring and worrisome event, we were happy to relax ourselves. We four people went to Yasemin and Dustin's house: Herve, Fabien, and us.
The house is cute. It has its own yard. With Santa Cruz air, the house looks laid-back. We started to entertain ourselves by Chess. It was an accidental decision. It was a team vs. an individual game. The team was led by me. My team had Fabien, Dustin, and Totof. The individual was Herve.
Herve was quite experienced. At the second move, he almost checkmated me. The beauty of our team was that each individual contributed but not contradicted. Each individual in my team would not have a chance to win Herve. But, as a team, we were strong and smart. We reacted fast and defended tactically. We converted the attack-defense situation. We survived from some severe Herve attacks. We wonderfully positioned chess and got some fantastic moves. As a team, we won.
After the chess, other guests arrived. We had 8 people. The first course was a Turkish appetizer with some cheese. Wonderful. We chatted and knew the other two guests were exchange students. One from Spain and the other from France. Of course, French would not miss this wonderful chance to speak French. So, French conversations were here and there. The Spanish guest was on my side. We protested. So, the conversation went back to the English mode.
The main dish was a Turkish dish. Apparently Dustin had Yasemin's mom's cooking. So he knew the original version. Personally, I liked the dish. Quite tasty. Yasemin complained that the meat was too dry (she convinced us the meat was supposed to be very dry. wink, wink) The meat was on top of arrays of tomatoes and potatoes. The juice was great.
The main dish was followed by Dustin's mom's Brown Belly. Brown Belly is a kind of Apple pie. Dustin's family live in Fremont hill. The family has many apple trees. So, when the season is right, the house will be stocked with piles of apples. Fabien and Totof had a Brown Belly before and they praised it a lot. I was curious about it. The pie turned out good.
After the dessert, Dustin showed his skills of making fire and S'mores. S'more is an American thing especially for camping. S'more is the abbreviation of some more according to Dustin. S'mores start from mash mellow. You grill mash mellow. The mash mellow then becomes brown outside and melted inside. You take two graham cookies and put the grilled mash mellow inside. Under the mash mellow or above, you put a slice of chocolate. Then, you have S'mores. Interesting.
The entire party was always with cocktail or wine. I did not try any so I could not comment any. But, the rest was very fun.
The party was hosted by Yasemin and Dustin. We knew Yasemin through Fabien. Yasemin used to live in Los Altos. Her previous house mates were quite fun. The crazy kind fun. Her house was a party generator. We have been there some times.
This summer, Yasemin told us she might go to Los Angeles for education. Both Yasemin and Dustin were students in Foothill college. They were trying to apply USC and UCSC. They got the admissions from UCSC at that time. But the USC decision was pending. We did not know if they would move to Los Angeles. No one knew.
Then, around a month, we got the news that they decided to enroll UCSC. After a month, we got an invitation from Yasemin. A house warming party. Why not? As mentioned in the lost key post, the day was quite eventful. After this tiring and worrisome event, we were happy to relax ourselves. We four people went to Yasemin and Dustin's house: Herve, Fabien, and us.
The house is cute. It has its own yard. With Santa Cruz air, the house looks laid-back. We started to entertain ourselves by Chess. It was an accidental decision. It was a team vs. an individual game. The team was led by me. My team had Fabien, Dustin, and Totof. The individual was Herve.
Herve was quite experienced. At the second move, he almost checkmated me. The beauty of our team was that each individual contributed but not contradicted. Each individual in my team would not have a chance to win Herve. But, as a team, we were strong and smart. We reacted fast and defended tactically. We converted the attack-defense situation. We survived from some severe Herve attacks. We wonderfully positioned chess and got some fantastic moves. As a team, we won.
After the chess, other guests arrived. We had 8 people. The first course was a Turkish appetizer with some cheese. Wonderful. We chatted and knew the other two guests were exchange students. One from Spain and the other from France. Of course, French would not miss this wonderful chance to speak French. So, French conversations were here and there. The Spanish guest was on my side. We protested. So, the conversation went back to the English mode.
The main dish was a Turkish dish. Apparently Dustin had Yasemin's mom's cooking. So he knew the original version. Personally, I liked the dish. Quite tasty. Yasemin complained that the meat was too dry (she convinced us the meat was supposed to be very dry. wink, wink) The meat was on top of arrays of tomatoes and potatoes. The juice was great.
The main dish was followed by Dustin's mom's Brown Belly. Brown Belly is a kind of Apple pie. Dustin's family live in Fremont hill. The family has many apple trees. So, when the season is right, the house will be stocked with piles of apples. Fabien and Totof had a Brown Belly before and they praised it a lot. I was curious about it. The pie turned out good.
After the dessert, Dustin showed his skills of making fire and S'mores. S'more is an American thing especially for camping. S'more is the abbreviation of some more according to Dustin. S'mores start from mash mellow. You grill mash mellow. The mash mellow then becomes brown outside and melted inside. You take two graham cookies and put the grilled mash mellow inside. Under the mash mellow or above, you put a slice of chocolate. Then, you have S'mores. Interesting.
The entire party was always with cocktail or wine. I did not try any so I could not comment any. But, the rest was very fun.
Lost key
It was a bummer
Yesterday after the surfing, we were told Robin lost his car key. Oh, no.
Robin's key did not attach to any key chain. Besides, he did not have any spare key. Herve asked Robin if Robin and Sarah could leave their car in Santa Cruz and go home. The answer was negative. Robin and Sarah's belongings were in the truck. Their apartment keys were in the trunk. Their money and ID's were in the trunk. Their cell phones were in the trunk. Without their belongings, they were stuck. How to open the trunk? The answer was not normal. Robin could not open the trunk from the driver's seat. He needed to use his key to open the trunk.
OOPS, but the key was gone. How to deal with this? A random guy said he could help open the window and then used a hanger to unlock the handle. Sounded good. So we did a scavenger hunt and got a wadge and some wire. We managed to open the passenger window a bit (not too hard). The guy put a wire hanger inside the window. But the wire was too short. The action did not go successfully. Everyone was frustrated.
So the plan B was to get some longer wire. Herve went out and returned with a roll of wire. These three boys worked hard to get the door open. In the meantime, Sarah and I looked into the yellow book to get some lock smith's phone numbers. On the yellow book, they claimed they operated 24 hours and 7 days. It was not true. We contacted all lock smith's. None was reachable. I asked Sarah to go back to our car since she apparently was pretty pale due to the cold. She said yes. Sarah looked much better after some bites of LU Le Petite Ecolier. She looked calmer. She told me how bad this lost key event would be. She needed to get the key and her belonging. She had an important presentation tomorrow and there was no way to cancel or put the meeting off. She did not have her colleagues' phone numbers. She did not have her boss' number in mind. She always used speed dial. She did not remember her friends' phone numbers either. She used speed dial. Her parents were out. So her parents could not help in this bummer either. Her brother was around. But she used speed dial to call him (everyone got a lesson - you need to remember some important numbers by heart)
I tried my best to make her feel better. I tried to make her look positive. At least, she and Robin were fine. The worst case was that they needed to stay in a hotel nearby and got AAA's help tomorrow morning and got a half day off from work. (AAA said they could not help with this make model and year car. Quite disappointed) Robin and Sarah may need to spend some money to get the trunk open and remake a key. But, at least they were fine.
After 10 min, Totof called me and told me a good news - the car door was open. Sarah was relieved. Right now, boys were working on how to unscrew the backseat and reach the trunk. It was a matter of time. Sarah wanted to go back to the car. We went back. The Subaru doors were open (it was a coupe). Herve was gone for some special tools. Robin said they needed to have a hexagon driver to unscrew the attachment. Sarah said she was chilled. We went back to the car. I tried to turn on the engine but could not. I asked Totof to come over. It was a manual car and I did not know how to turn a manual car on. After the car was on, I proposed to have some hot drinks since Sarah's face was quite pale. We drove around and found a coffee shop. Since the coffee shop just grand opened, all drinks were free. We got two large hot chocolate. One for Robin couple so at least they could warm themselves with some hot chocolate.
Things went on better and better. Herve returned with a tool kit. After 10 min, Robin managed to dismantle all backseats and racks. The passage to the trunk was just ahead. Robin removed the last obstacle and the victory was his. He searched the mechanism inside the trunk to open the trunk (the safety mechanism in the trunk). After 2 min, the trunk was open in front of everyone. We were all yelling load to celebrate this moment. We took some pictures of Robin and the trunk. In memory of this special event. After this memorable moment, one lock smith called back and said he could arrive at 45 min.
Everyone was glad this lost key thing was with happy ending.
Yesterday after the surfing, we were told Robin lost his car key. Oh, no.
Robin's key did not attach to any key chain. Besides, he did not have any spare key. Herve asked Robin if Robin and Sarah could leave their car in Santa Cruz and go home. The answer was negative. Robin and Sarah's belongings were in the truck. Their apartment keys were in the trunk. Their money and ID's were in the trunk. Their cell phones were in the trunk. Without their belongings, they were stuck. How to open the trunk? The answer was not normal. Robin could not open the trunk from the driver's seat. He needed to use his key to open the trunk.
OOPS, but the key was gone. How to deal with this? A random guy said he could help open the window and then used a hanger to unlock the handle. Sounded good. So we did a scavenger hunt and got a wadge and some wire. We managed to open the passenger window a bit (not too hard). The guy put a wire hanger inside the window. But the wire was too short. The action did not go successfully. Everyone was frustrated.
So the plan B was to get some longer wire. Herve went out and returned with a roll of wire. These three boys worked hard to get the door open. In the meantime, Sarah and I looked into the yellow book to get some lock smith's phone numbers. On the yellow book, they claimed they operated 24 hours and 7 days. It was not true. We contacted all lock smith's. None was reachable. I asked Sarah to go back to our car since she apparently was pretty pale due to the cold. She said yes. Sarah looked much better after some bites of LU Le Petite Ecolier. She looked calmer. She told me how bad this lost key event would be. She needed to get the key and her belonging. She had an important presentation tomorrow and there was no way to cancel or put the meeting off. She did not have her colleagues' phone numbers. She did not have her boss' number in mind. She always used speed dial. She did not remember her friends' phone numbers either. She used speed dial. Her parents were out. So her parents could not help in this bummer either. Her brother was around. But she used speed dial to call him (everyone got a lesson - you need to remember some important numbers by heart)
I tried my best to make her feel better. I tried to make her look positive. At least, she and Robin were fine. The worst case was that they needed to stay in a hotel nearby and got AAA's help tomorrow morning and got a half day off from work. (AAA said they could not help with this make model and year car. Quite disappointed) Robin and Sarah may need to spend some money to get the trunk open and remake a key. But, at least they were fine.
After 10 min, Totof called me and told me a good news - the car door was open. Sarah was relieved. Right now, boys were working on how to unscrew the backseat and reach the trunk. It was a matter of time. Sarah wanted to go back to the car. We went back. The Subaru doors were open (it was a coupe). Herve was gone for some special tools. Robin said they needed to have a hexagon driver to unscrew the attachment. Sarah said she was chilled. We went back to the car. I tried to turn on the engine but could not. I asked Totof to come over. It was a manual car and I did not know how to turn a manual car on. After the car was on, I proposed to have some hot drinks since Sarah's face was quite pale. We drove around and found a coffee shop. Since the coffee shop just grand opened, all drinks were free. We got two large hot chocolate. One for Robin couple so at least they could warm themselves with some hot chocolate.
Things went on better and better. Herve returned with a tool kit. After 10 min, Robin managed to dismantle all backseats and racks. The passage to the trunk was just ahead. Robin removed the last obstacle and the victory was his. He searched the mechanism inside the trunk to open the trunk (the safety mechanism in the trunk). After 2 min, the trunk was open in front of everyone. We were all yelling load to celebrate this moment. We took some pictures of Robin and the trunk. In memory of this special event. After this memorable moment, one lock smith called back and said he could arrive at 45 min.
Everyone was glad this lost key thing was with happy ending.
Pre-Thanksgiving dinner
Thanksgiving series
We arrived as the first couple as the tradition (we did not know why but we always arrived before other guests). Sara and Mathieu gave us a warm welcome. Glad to see them. Sara asked me if I would like to have a cranberry cocktail. Normally I would say no. But this time I said yes due to the holiday atmosphere. Sara took a champagne glass, put 1/3 amount of champagne, and then filled the glass with cranberry juice. After the filling, she put two cranberries inside. The cocktail absolutely looked pretty and Thanksgiving.(we were told cranberry was commonly used for Thanksgiving)
We noticed Mathieu and Sara had a new piano. It was a grand piano. Mathieu did not hesitate to say yes for our ask. Mathieu sit still in front of the piano and put his hands on the keys. Then, the fun began. The first song was performed by pure memory. A nice song with professional performance. Impressive. Then Reda and Julien arrived. Mathieu continued to play some nice songs for us. With the nice piano performance and red theme decoration, the house was filled with holiday atmosphere.
The dinner table was huge. A long table with 11 seats. Guests were Eureka, Julien, Reda, Clara couple, Robin couple, and us. Guests gradually arrived. Greetings and chats were all over the place. Mathieu took a huge tray out. It was a turkey tray. Mathieu disappeared a while and then returned with an apron (it was a blue apron and we teased him of this). Then, the following 10 min all guests were standing around the table and witnessing how Mathieu and the turkey dualed each other. Of course, Mathieu got an K.O. at this turkey thing (so we guests had a nice turkey slice to eat). Sliced turkey meat got laid out nicely on a plate. During the turkey fight, we were chatting with Robin and Sarah (Robin's girlfriend). Everyone got some appetizers: Pate, Blue Bree, Bree, and olives. The Pate was tasty. The cheese was excellent. The olives were of high quality. Other side dishes were subsequently taken out. It looked like we were going to have a feast.
No one could resist the delicious looking dishes. Everyone got a plate and started the buffet like serving. I got some turkey, cranberry sauce, string beans, potato gratin, and bread scrambles. All dishes were traditional Thanksgiving dishes. The sitting was casual. Totof and I sit side by side. I sit across Clara couple (during the serving part, I accidentally discovered Clara was from Taiwan). Mathieu sit on my left side. Lots of fun conversations were here and there. One conversation was about the turkey. Apparently not many people there were fans of turkey (majority were not Americans). Indeed tonight's turkey was good. But, people could not resist to asking this question. Mathieu said he was not a turkey fan either. But since Sara would like to have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, they got a turkey. Then, the talking turned to how to clean turkey. We heard the turkey bath story, the turkey package story, and the turkey defrost story. Quite entertaining.
Dinner topics were with no restrictions. We talked fun things, serious things, casual things, and silly things. The dessert part was as good as the dinner. Metieu and Sara served us three deserts: an apple crumble pie, a pumpkin pie, and madeleines. Everyone was amazed by Metieu and Sara's hosting. It was absolutely a wonderful dinner. A wonderful pre-Thanksgiving dinner.
We got an invitation from Mathieu and Sara for a pre-Thanksgiving dinner. We were glad to accept this invite because it had been a while since our last meet. The dinner was at 8. Totof and I went to get some truffles and cheese before taking off. A side thought: BevMo! had good amount of nice cheese.
We arrived as the first couple as the tradition (we did not know why but we always arrived before other guests). Sara and Mathieu gave us a warm welcome. Glad to see them. Sara asked me if I would like to have a cranberry cocktail. Normally I would say no. But this time I said yes due to the holiday atmosphere. Sara took a champagne glass, put 1/3 amount of champagne, and then filled the glass with cranberry juice. After the filling, she put two cranberries inside. The cocktail absolutely looked pretty and Thanksgiving.(we were told cranberry was commonly used for Thanksgiving)
We noticed Mathieu and Sara had a new piano. It was a grand piano. Mathieu did not hesitate to say yes for our ask. Mathieu sit still in front of the piano and put his hands on the keys. Then, the fun began. The first song was performed by pure memory. A nice song with professional performance. Impressive. Then Reda and Julien arrived. Mathieu continued to play some nice songs for us. With the nice piano performance and red theme decoration, the house was filled with holiday atmosphere.
The dinner table was huge. A long table with 11 seats. Guests were Eureka, Julien, Reda, Clara couple, Robin couple, and us. Guests gradually arrived. Greetings and chats were all over the place. Mathieu took a huge tray out. It was a turkey tray. Mathieu disappeared a while and then returned with an apron (it was a blue apron and we teased him of this). Then, the following 10 min all guests were standing around the table and witnessing how Mathieu and the turkey dualed each other. Of course, Mathieu got an K.O. at this turkey thing (so we guests had a nice turkey slice to eat). Sliced turkey meat got laid out nicely on a plate. During the turkey fight, we were chatting with Robin and Sarah (Robin's girlfriend). Everyone got some appetizers: Pate, Blue Bree, Bree, and olives. The Pate was tasty. The cheese was excellent. The olives were of high quality. Other side dishes were subsequently taken out. It looked like we were going to have a feast.
No one could resist the delicious looking dishes. Everyone got a plate and started the buffet like serving. I got some turkey, cranberry sauce, string beans, potato gratin, and bread scrambles. All dishes were traditional Thanksgiving dishes. The sitting was casual. Totof and I sit side by side. I sit across Clara couple (during the serving part, I accidentally discovered Clara was from Taiwan). Mathieu sit on my left side. Lots of fun conversations were here and there. One conversation was about the turkey. Apparently not many people there were fans of turkey (majority were not Americans). Indeed tonight's turkey was good. But, people could not resist to asking this question. Mathieu said he was not a turkey fan either. But since Sara would like to have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, they got a turkey. Then, the talking turned to how to clean turkey. We heard the turkey bath story, the turkey package story, and the turkey defrost story. Quite entertaining.
Dinner topics were with no restrictions. We talked fun things, serious things, casual things, and silly things. The dessert part was as good as the dinner. Metieu and Sara served us three deserts: an apple crumble pie, a pumpkin pie, and madeleines. Everyone was amazed by Metieu and Sara's hosting. It was absolutely a wonderful dinner. A wonderful pre-Thanksgiving dinner.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Porsche
How many Porsche's can you bump into per day
How many Porsche's can you bump into per day? Not in dealership. Just on the road.
My most fantastic experience was 7. It was a Thursday. I recall I had a dinner gathering on Castro. On 101, two Porsche's were on my side at some points. That triggered my interest in knowing how many Porsche's I could see per day.
I took a Palo Alto exit. I saw another 3 Porsche's on Alma. So the number jumped by 3 to 5. I was pretty happy already. Wen I approached Castro, I saw one on the other lane. Ok, I got 6. After I parked my car, I saw another one. 7, good job. On my way to the restaurant, I saw a Ferrari. What a day.
How many Porsche's can you bump into per day? Not in dealership. Just on the road.
My most fantastic experience was 7. It was a Thursday. I recall I had a dinner gathering on Castro. On 101, two Porsche's were on my side at some points. That triggered my interest in knowing how many Porsche's I could see per day.
I took a Palo Alto exit. I saw another 3 Porsche's on Alma. So the number jumped by 3 to 5. I was pretty happy already. Wen I approached Castro, I saw one on the other lane. Ok, I got 6. After I parked my car, I saw another one. 7, good job. On my way to the restaurant, I saw a Ferrari. What a day.
Detour
A way to avoid 101 traffic
Traffic became worse these days. I did not like being stuck on 101 (who would like it?)
I got stuck on 101 Embarcadero ramp. I was not on 101 yet but already became a victim of the traffic jam. I suddenly had a thought - how about take El Camino to work? It was a crazy idea. I went back to Embarcadero and thought of my options hard. Would El Camino be a good option? I may have many traffic lights and may lose more time on waiting. Then, da la la. I saw Middlefield. How about trying Middlefield? Middlefield should allow me to go at least Willow Rd. Good thinking.
I made a turn and drove on the narrow Middlefield. It was not a short way. I was careful since I never took this way to Willow. I paid attention on each cross road. I saw Halmiton, University, and knew I was on the right direction. I continued and saw Willow was ahead. I was glad to see it. I went on Willow and after a while I saw 101 sign.
Before I went on 101, I glanced at the traffic. OMG. Pretty packed. I gave myself a precaution. It turned out the way I saw was on the south bound. I was taking the north bound. The north bound was ok good. I arrived at the office 10 min late compared to the normal schedule.
Middlefield is a way to avoid traffic on 101. If your commute is similar to mine, you can give Middlefield a shut.
Traffic became worse these days. I did not like being stuck on 101 (who would like it?)
I got stuck on 101 Embarcadero ramp. I was not on 101 yet but already became a victim of the traffic jam. I suddenly had a thought - how about take El Camino to work? It was a crazy idea. I went back to Embarcadero and thought of my options hard. Would El Camino be a good option? I may have many traffic lights and may lose more time on waiting. Then, da la la. I saw Middlefield. How about trying Middlefield? Middlefield should allow me to go at least Willow Rd. Good thinking.
I made a turn and drove on the narrow Middlefield. It was not a short way. I was careful since I never took this way to Willow. I paid attention on each cross road. I saw Halmiton, University, and knew I was on the right direction. I continued and saw Willow was ahead. I was glad to see it. I went on Willow and after a while I saw 101 sign.
Before I went on 101, I glanced at the traffic. OMG. Pretty packed. I gave myself a precaution. It turned out the way I saw was on the south bound. I was taking the north bound. The north bound was ok good. I arrived at the office 10 min late compared to the normal schedule.
Middlefield is a way to avoid traffic on 101. If your commute is similar to mine, you can give Middlefield a shut.
The Legend of Zelda - Mercay island
The first adventure in Phantom Hourglass
Mercay island was where your character was saved. I would use "you" instead of "your character" in the rest of the post.
You were awaken by a white little spirit. She told you to meet the Grand Pa. You used the stylus to move yourself around. You crossed a bridge and saw a house. You entered and saw the Grand Pa. He looked kind and wise. He told you to go to the harbor on the other side of the island to meet a guy called Lineback. You left the house and realized the bridge between the west side and the east side of the island was broken by the earthquake. You did not have the choice. You needed to go to the north part where many monsters presented.
You went there with bare hand. Of course you got yourself killed by the monsters. After a revival, the spirit told you that you should get a sword. (shouldn't she told you earlier?) You followed her suggestion to visit the Grand Pa. He told you to get a sword from a cave next to his house. The sword control was a piece of cake. You became a sword expert in a second. You revisited the north part and defeated all monsters swiftly. You saw an Oing-boing and got a hint stating that a tree on the north side of Mercay would return a treasure. (Oing-boing is a device that is meant to tell you info in Zelda) You entered a cave with scary background music. You knew something must be waiting for you. You explored the cave, and slayed some other monsters. You got through the cave exercise and arrived at a harbor. Lineback was not there. You went to a bar and the bartender told you Lineback went to the Temple of Ocean King.
Then, you went to the north part of Mercay. Before you left, a guy you bumped into told you many scary monsters were on the north side. You prepared yourself and took off. After some time, you arrived the Temple of Ocean King.
Stay tuned
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Rock Band - Welcome to the Jungle
Band: Guns N' Roses
Name: Welcome to the Jungle
This song was chosen by both Guitar Hero 3 and Rock Band. So, people can see feature and design difference between these two hot games through this Guns N' Roses song. You can have some basic understanding from my previous post on Rock Band. Throught the attached clip, you saw four tracks: three on the bottom and one on the top. The bottom three were for Guitar, Drum, and Bass. The top one was for singing.
The clip will be replaced by another better image quality one if there is any on YouTube.
Name: Welcome to the Jungle
This song was chosen by both Guitar Hero 3 and Rock Band. So, people can see feature and design difference between these two hot games through this Guns N' Roses song. You can have some basic understanding from my previous post on Rock Band. Throught the attached clip, you saw four tracks: three on the bottom and one on the top. The bottom three were for Guitar, Drum, and Bass. The top one was for singing.
The clip will be replaced by another better image quality one if there is any on YouTube.
Rock Band
Another highly anticipated game
Fame sometimes ruins the collaboration. The success of Guitar Hero 2 destroyed the team. Harmonix and RedOctane split. The fights between these two former partners got heated. RedOctane announced to launch Guitar Hero 3 in late October and Harmonix said Rock Band would be released in November.
Good for gamers. It meant there would be two high quality video games on the market soon. Excited.
Totof and I went to Best Buy last week and accidentally saw Rock Band's demo. Wow. It looked super cool. The design was quite aesthetic. We alternated with other customers to try different controllers. Basically, Rock Band had three main controllers: Guitar, Bass, and Drum. You could sing in Rock Band. Since we did not try it, I did not know how the microphone functioned in Rock Band.
We were glad to find out the Guitar Hero guitars were compatible in Rock Band. The Bass looked cool. It had 10 buttons instead of 5 buttons in Guitar Hero. The Drum was crazily difficult but super fun. Go to try Rock Band. It will surely delight you.
Fame sometimes ruins the collaboration. The success of Guitar Hero 2 destroyed the team. Harmonix and RedOctane split. The fights between these two former partners got heated. RedOctane announced to launch Guitar Hero 3 in late October and Harmonix said Rock Band would be released in November.
Good for gamers. It meant there would be two high quality video games on the market soon. Excited.
Totof and I went to Best Buy last week and accidentally saw Rock Band's demo. Wow. It looked super cool. The design was quite aesthetic. We alternated with other customers to try different controllers. Basically, Rock Band had three main controllers: Guitar, Bass, and Drum. You could sing in Rock Band. Since we did not try it, I did not know how the microphone functioned in Rock Band.
We were glad to find out the Guitar Hero guitars were compatible in Rock Band. The Bass looked cool. It had 10 buttons instead of 5 buttons in Guitar Hero. The Drum was crazily difficult but super fun. Go to try Rock Band. It will surely delight you.
SAW IV
With the large screen, the impression was at least 10 times stronger
We went to cinema to watch this movie. With the large screen, the impression was at least 10 times stronger. 
After watching SAW I and SAW II, SAW IV looked less repellent than before. Totof and I would like to give it a try. Navaline suggested to watch it on a Friday night. We had five people. Laurent (went back from Brazil), Stephen, Navaline, and us. Before SAW IV, we went to Dynasty for dinner. None of us had ever been there for dinner. We only had its dim sum.
I should have posted this sooner. But, I just could not do it. Every time I tried to recall SAW IV, I got myself scared. The beginning part was an autopsy. The autopsy for John, the Jigsaw. I did not watch SAW III before watching IV. So, this fact was new to me. The autopsy was horribly detailed. When staff tried to cut John's scull, I was afraid John would wake up and kill these two staff (then SAW IV would become a ghost movie). This revival apparently did not occur. Instead, the staff found a tape in John's stomach. The story began.
According to the tape, we knew someone else was doing the work that the Jigsaw used to do. The question was that who this new guy was? Two detectives were trying hard to unveil the fact. In one discovery, they found their colleague, Kelly, was executed brutally. It was absolutely a Jigsaw's work. Then we saw another two FBI agents arrived. During the conversation, someone discovered a vital fact - this hidden person must be tall enough to pull Kelly up to be hanged on the device.
In this discovery, we also learned detective Rigg's personality. Rigg was tending to do things impulsively.
The movie showed two men. Both were chained together. The left man was a disability because his eyes were sewed. The right man was a disability because his mouth was sewed. So, they could not communicate with each other (or could they?) These two men were in an extremely angry and desperate condition. The man who could not see asked questions to the man who could not talk. By no means the right man could say anything to the left man. The misunderstanding made the situation worse. Accidentally the right man found the key to his chain was on the back of the left man's neck. He wanted to get it to save himself. See, the greedy and hope made this weak looking man different. This man decided to get the key by force. He got advantage which was that he could see. His plan did not go well so he got violent resistance. The right man succeeded after 5 min. The price for his success was the death of the left man.
The movie showed two men. Both were chained together. The left man was a disability because his eyes were sewed. The right man was a disability because his mouth was sewed. So, they could not communicate with each other (or could they?) These two men were in an extremely angry and desperate condition. The man who could not see asked questions to the man who could not talk. By no means the right man could say anything to the left man. The misunderstanding made the situation worse. Accidentally the right man found the key to his chain was on the back of the left man's neck. He wanted to get it to save himself. See, the greedy and hope made this weak looking man different. This man decided to get the key by force. He got advantage which was that he could see. His plan did not go well so he got violent resistance. The right man succeeded after 5 min. The price for his success was the death of the left man.
Then, one detective went missing. Through the conversation between a FBI and Rigg, we got a hint - all missing or dead detectives were all Rigg's colleagues. Rigg could not just sit and watch his colleagues missing. He wanted to do something. He became obsessed by this mysterious Jigsaw successor.
Rigg went home. His wife wanted to leave him for some time. Rig went sleep. During the midnight, he was awaken by some noise. He became alert. The scene was constructed quite breathtaking. Rigg was ambushed. When he woke up, he saw a red paint on a door saying "you see what I see". He walked to the library and saw a girl was trapped. Her hair was sucked by a device. If no one stopped the device, the girl would be killed. I chose not to see this scene. Then, after some mess, Rigg saw a box with two keys. One key to save and one key to kill. Rigg took both.
Audience followed Rigg and his flashback. He recalled some moments with the missing detective. It was a child abuse case. Rigg arrived at a center and entered a room. Two people were trapped together. These two were the parents of the abuse child we saw in Rigg's memory. These two were linked by some iron arrows. Through and through. On wife side, every point was harmless. But on husband side, every point was fatal - linking to artery.
After this mess, Rigg went to another location which was a cheap hotel. This time, Rigg discovered the receptionist had committed many crimes. Would Rigg ignore what would happen to this fat receptionist? You need to discover by yourself.
The scene went to two missing detectives. They were trapped together. The left detective was the one we saw in SAW II. He was hanged on a big ice cube. It seemed like if this detective slipped, then the device underneath the ice cube would trigger a vital impact on the right detective. The right detective was sitting and surrounded by water. There was a cable connected between his chair and a generator. Both detectives were guarded by a man. We thought this man was the Jigsaw successor. But he was not. He was also a victim. He was a lawyer and was the survived right man mentioned before.
And, what occurred afterwards? I did not want to mention too much. I wanted to save this pleasure for you.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
May this music soothe you
For those who have a tough day
It is from Smashing Pumpkins. The name of the song is Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.
It is from Smashing Pumpkins. The name of the song is Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Phantom Hourglass is designed for Nintendo DS users
At the beginning, you thought your ultimate goal was to rescue the princess (Tetra) from the Ghost Ship capture. You were wrong. The game was full of layers. The Tetra part was just one of the touch. I listed all layers here.
18. Temple of the Ocean King revisit
The ease-of-use features of this version attracts me a lot. I am not a shooting game or fighting game fan. So, when Totof told me he was going to get this game, I was not enthusiastic. But, after some trials, it turned out I did not have much difficulty in getting used to Stylus control mechanism. Most importantly, this game was filled with fun.
At the beginning, you thought your ultimate goal was to rescue the princess (Tetra) from the Ghost Ship capture. You were wrong. The game was full of layers. The Tetra part was just one of the touch. I listed all layers here.
1. Intro
You can go back to see my first Zelda post.
Mercay Island was where you were saved. You saw a spirit in front of you. The fun began.
3. Temple of the Ocean King
4. Sea chart (finding uncharted islands and treasure)
5. Isle of Ember
6. Temple of Fire
7. Temple of the Ocean King revisit
8. Cannon Island
9. Molida Island
10. Isle of Gust
11. Temple of Wind
12. Temple of the Ocean King revisit
13. Cannon Island for the Salvage Arm
14. Molida Island
15. Temple of Courage
16. The Ghost Ship
17. Zauz's Island
18. Temple of the Ocean King revisit
19. Goron Island
20. Goron Temple
21. Isle of Frost
22. Temple of Ice
23. Temple of the Ocean King revisit
24. Sea Chart
25. Isle of the Dead
25. Isle of the Dead
26. Isle of Ruins
27. Mutoh's Temple
28. Zauz's Island revisit
29. Temple of the Ocean King revisit
Monday, November 12, 2007
Cicero's Pizza
A surprise
Cicero's Pizza was not on our plan. Totof and I wanted to go to a place to have some small dishes. I used to have these kind small dishes with soy milk when I was in Taiwan. But, we arrived too late. We went to that plaza at 3:30. The place was close. We wandered around and saw this pizza place. Apparently Cicero's Pizza was open. Many kids were there. I was a bit hesitant. I was afraid this place might be cheap and non-healthy. Suddenly Totof said he recognized this place. He said he came here with coworkers. The pizza was pretty good.
So we walked in. Cicero's Pizza appeared to be run by family. We ordered Belly Buster. Belly Buster was half Cicero's Special and half Baker's Pride. We sit down. Cicero's Pizza was absolutely for families. It had Arcade machines and candy machine on the back. Friendly people. No nice decoration though. We waited 10 min and got our pizza. It smelled good. I tried Pride first. Pride had cheese, mushrooms, sausage, onions, and bell peppers. It was tasty. After Baker's Pride, I took a slice of Special. Special had cheese, olives, mushrooms, salami, and pepperoni. Special was more greasy than Pride. But still delicious.
Cicero's pizza was thin crust. The very thin type. It was crispy and thin. I like this type of crust much more than the thick one. The thick one fills me fast usually. Overall, Cicero's pizza is among the top 10% pizza in South bay. Cicero is a good place when you want to have something quick but still with good quality.
After we finished the pizza. We saw some olive oil. Perhaps, the olive oil touch was the secret why Cicero's pizza was tasty.
Location: 6138 Bollinger Rd, San Jose, CA 95129
Another Power Grid night
The longest game ever
This time, people played psychology games a lot. When someone bid, someone else would try to make the power plant very hot. This increase was performed deliberatly. This someone else knew how much this someone wanted this power plant. I saw this kind games here and there. Quite entertaining.
How long? 5 hours.
Last Friday we had a game night. Six people were there: Charles, John, Sophy, Darren, and us. Totof picked Power Grid among his board game collection. We laid the game out. We took United States map. After 30 min explanation, we started the game (yes, Power Grid has a higher difficulty level). You can see my previous post.
For some reasons, Power Grid became popular at game nights. I have already played Power Grid 3 times during October and November. Thanks to the designer, I always had fun from Power Grid. In addition, I always discovered something new from each play.
This time, people played psychology games a lot. When someone bid, someone else would try to make the power plant very hot. This increase was performed deliberatly. This someone else knew how much this someone wanted this power plant. I saw this kind games here and there. Quite entertaining. Charles and John pair was a perfect example of this psychology game. Charles always blew the price high up when he knew John wanted the power plant. By all means, John gave Charles the same thing. You saw flames and fires between them often. The attacks cracked us up.
All cheap connection cities were on east coast. For example, it was low cost to go from New York to New Jersey. So, Totof, myself, and Darren decided to power east coast cities first. Charles took a different strategy. He picked Oklahoma as his hometown. Sophy preferred the great lake area. She picked Chicago first. John started his game from the Midwest.
John had a completely different strategies. He expanded his union to west coast where the connection fees were high (20 ~ 30 connection fees compared to 4 ~ 20 connections fees for east coast cities). He deployed his city to the northwest city group first. He then followed the coast down to San Diego. Sophy played conservatively. She did not bid for high cost power plants. She expanded her cities slowly but firmly. I could not tell what her strategies were.
Darren was the opposite to Sophy. He played aggressively. He was leading at least 40% of times. He got a very good spot. He owned all New England cities. All New England cities were inexpensively connected to each other. The good start point saved Darren a lot. Darren was the first person from the east coast gang to cross Midwest to west coast.
Charles and Totof's cities mingled. Charles wanted to go east while Totof wanted to go west. They blocked each other and made city deployment expensive for each other.
Myself was happy to acquire Florida cities. Nice weather. Good connection. Far from the attacks.
Of course, the blocking became more and more violent. You saw people slowed down their deployment on purpose since no one wanted to cross 7 cities (where the step 2 began). Darren went for it. The step 2 triggered many aggressive city deployment plans (aggressive city deployment meant the player bought 4 cities at least at one turn). Many dramatic flips occurred in step 2.
Another interesting phenomenon was that uranium became very cheap. The unit price for uranium went down to $3. The initial unit price for uranium was $12. Owning an uranium power plant gave you a good advantage in budgeting. Clean energy power plants were popular at some time and then replaced by traditional resources (coal and oil). John was very green. His power plants were all green energy ones at step 3.
Another funny thing was that we all learned how to piss off others completely. I got the most inefficient power plants. Two power plants in my possession required 3 resources for each. Both power plants were coal power plants. At one buying resource turn, I bought 9 coals. This huge extra storage was costly. It cost me $49, enough to buy another power plant. The extra storage resulted in coal shortage. This shortage triggered a heat. Totof played after me. He got the hit. He could not power up all his cities because he needed 4 coals. But he only got 3. He deliberately left one coal on the market. Neither Charles nor Darren could power up their good power plants with one coal. Charles and Darren were totally screwed by this.
We did not stop when someone hit 15 cities. Everyone had fun. So we continue to play and said the game would not end until someone hit 21 cities. This playoff was filled with strategies. Most strategies were auction related. Everyone tried to get a good power plant which allowed to power up at least 5 cities. Everyone tried to prevent others from getting good power plants. The bid price went to skyrocket high many times. For example, the ultimate clean energy was bid with $120. The uranium power plant for 6 cities cost Sophy $124 which was all her money.
Totof won this time. We ended this game at 2:30 AM. Wow, we spent 5 hours on this game. It was my longest game ever.
Ratatouille
Everyone can cook
Saturday night the usual movie gang watched Ratatouille, a Disney and Pixar movie.
The beginning part was in a countryside. You saw the main character Remy the rat immediately. You saw his behavior was quite unusual compared to his brother and family. Remy had an excellent sense of food. He could detect disguised food poison, he could distinguish ingredients, he could appreciate food, and most importantly, he liked to cook. He accidentally saw Chef Custeau's TV show when he sneaked into an old lady's kitchen. Since then, he was fascinated by Chef Custeau and his ideas of cooking.
Chef Custeau owned a restaurant, Custeau's, in Paris. He always said "everyone can cook". Custeau's was a five star restaurant. However, Mr. Critic Anton Ego did not like to give Custeau a cozy life. In a visit, Ego downgraded Custeau's star from 5 to 3. You saw from the TV that Custeau could not bear this fact and died. In the meantime, Remy and his family were discovered by the old lady. The old lady disliked rats very much. She was so determined to kill all rats. All the rats evacuated and went to the sewer system. In the evacuate, Remy was floating with Custeau's book "everyone can cook". However, he was separated from his family.
Remy arrived Paris. He was so desperate. Then, you saw Chef Custeau's image appeared from his book. Custeau cheered Remy up and encouraged him to go up to see the world. Coincidentally, Remy saw Custeau's kitchen. He was thrilled to see the kitchen. All the cooking, all the activities, his eyes became huge due to the happiness.Then, Remy saw another main character - Linguini. He was a trash boy. He did not have any cooking talent. He accidentally messed up the soup. Remy was so worried that he decided to stay at the kitchen to correct the mess. Somehow Remy was caught. During the quarrel between Remy and the Kitchen chef, the soup was accidentally brought to the table where a lady critic sit. The lady apparently liked the soup very much. The kitchen Chef could not let Linguini go. He kept Linguini and wanted him to dispose of Remy.
Linguini was desperate. He sit on one side of La Seine. He discovered Remy's talents and brought him home. You saw how Remy and Linguini discovered a funny techniques which allowed Remy to control Linguini's hands and to guide him how to cook.
With Remy, Linguini became more and more famous. All Custeau's guests liked Linguini's dishes. In the meantime, Remy discovered a big secret - Linguini was Custeau's son. With this fact, the evil kitchen chef should not inherit Custeau's but Linguini should. Of course, the kitchen chef tried hard to hide the secret. His effort went in vain. Everyone knew this fact. Linguini owned the kitchen now.
Then, the scene went to a dark, coffin looking room. You saw Anton Ego was there. By all means, Anton Ego did not like Custeau's revival. He decided to visit Custeau's. Everybody in Custeau's feared.
Remy reunited with his family. Remy taught his brother how to appreciate food. His brother periodically brought some friends to Custeau's to "appreciate food" since then. Remy needed to steal food from Custeau's storage room for the food appreciation. Chef Custeau's image appeared 
few times to give Remy caution. But Remy did not listen.
few times to give Remy caution. But Remy did not listen.The night before the important night, Linguini caught Remy's stealing. Linguini was pissed and decided to split with Remy. Remy was hurt. But Remy could not let Linguini down. Around the dinner time, Remy went back to Custeau's. Everyone in the kitchen saw Remy. The rule of thumb in the kitchen was no rats. Of course, everyone wanted to kill Remy. Linguini stood up to protect Remy. In addition, he revealed the secret - it was Remy who cooked those fantastic dishes.
Everyone in the kitchen disgusted the fact. They left. Colette, the female chef, returned. Ego and other guests were outside. Three people were not enough. What to do? Then you saw Remy's dad summoned all family. Tons of rats. All of them followed Remy's orders in food preparation. Linguini, Remy, and Colette teamed up and served "Ratatouille" to Ego. The Ratotouille dish reminded Ego of his childhood. Ego was moved. Ego would like to talk to the Chef. Of course Colette would not allow this. The consensus was that Ego needed to wait til all the guests left. Ego saw Remy. Ego was shocked. But, Ego did not disgust the fact. Instead, he published a very genuine critic for Custeau's - "Chef Custeau said everyone could cook… I think what he really meant was that an excellent cook could come from anywhere…"
Custeau's was forced to stop due to rats. Did Linguini and Colette stop restaurant business? No, they opened another restaurant where all Remy's family resided in the loft area of the restaurant. Now, Remy could enjoy Paris from the loft. You saw Ego afterwards became Remy's fan. What was the name for this new place? It was called "La Ratatouille".
Afterthought:
I liked the movie. Not just for the scenes. I also liked the way how director Brad Bird presented all crews after the movie. Nice ideas. Millions of nice ideas and imaginations there. Ratatouille is absolutely an appreciable movie
Friday, November 9, 2007
Tamarine
"Home entertaining Vietnamese style" from the View of the Bay
More and more friends recommend this place. I was told this place was for special occasions (due to $$). I have not tried it. And will post my review once I have tried it.
http://www.tamarinerestaurant.com/main.htm
More and more friends recommend this place. I was told this place was for special occasions (due to $$). I have not tried it. And will post my review once I have tried it.
http://www.tamarinerestaurant.com/main.htm
Arturo Sandoval intro
You saw my post in October regarding Arturo Sandoval. You wondered why?
So here comes the answer. Arturo Sandoval is a Jazz trumpeter. He was born in Cuba. Due to his talents, he managed to create a new Jazz style. Besides, his talents allowed him to link to other great musicians. He is quite essential to today's Jazz world. You can see many stories about him online if you are of interest. But still, why I listed his music here?
I was in Trumpet team when I was in a Marching band (another post). I have left my music trail for a long time. But, still, particularly like to listen to good trumpet music. Before I discovered Arturo Sandoval's music, I preferred classical music. A good example is Peter Tchaikivsky's 1812 Overture.
Someone introduced me Arturo Sandoval's music. I spent some time on enjoying Arturo Sandoval's music. The more I listen, the more I like his music. His style is more Latin. You may need to rewire the music clip many times before you start to appreciate the beauty of his music.
So here comes the answer. Arturo Sandoval is a Jazz trumpeter. He was born in Cuba. Due to his talents, he managed to create a new Jazz style. Besides, his talents allowed him to link to other great musicians. He is quite essential to today's Jazz world. You can see many stories about him online if you are of interest. But still, why I listed his music here?
I was in Trumpet team when I was in a Marching band (another post). I have left my music trail for a long time. But, still, particularly like to listen to good trumpet music. Before I discovered Arturo Sandoval's music, I preferred classical music. A good example is Peter Tchaikivsky's 1812 Overture.
Someone introduced me Arturo Sandoval's music. I spent some time on enjoying Arturo Sandoval's music. The more I listen, the more I like his music. His style is more Latin. You may need to rewire the music clip many times before you start to appreciate the beauty of his music.
Muse time
A remedy is not enough, I need to muse
Band: Muse
Name: Starlight
Since this song is highly rated, it perhaps can heal me.
Band: Muse
Name: Starlight
Since this song is highly rated, it perhaps can heal me.
8 AM meeting symptom
8 AM meeting is a pain in the neck
The pain grows when you know you are going to meet some tough people. My 8 AM meeting symptom varies. This time, I suffered from yesterday. I did not have a good appetite. I could not join friends to F & A in Palo Alto. This morning, I needed to get up at 7. No matter how reluctant I was, I needed to get up and leave my warm blanket alone. I needed to put water on my face to wake myself. I need to get my hair right so that those old gentlemen would not make fun of me (these tough people like to tease me and they think it is fun to do so.) Right, I also needed to water my roses (roses looked as sleepy as me.) I did not eat any breakfast. I went straight to work.
The traffic was good. I arrived 10 min before the meeting. I saw my manager. She was on the phone. I was hesitant to knock her door. Maybe I should just call in instead of walking across buildings to cold myself (Foster City is quite windy). I was so sleepy. I went to the kitchen to get some hot tea. Did not work. Still sleepy. As time approached 8, my heart beat increased.
I knew my mind strongly against this 8 AM meeting. I called in. Right, only two gentlemen were on the bridge (this term is widely used in my company for a conference call). I recognized one person's voice but not the other. I called the wrong name. Shisky. How could I anticipate HIM would be there?
8 AM meeting. You saw how director level people managed or manipulate small potato.
The pain grows when you know you are going to meet some tough people. My 8 AM meeting symptom varies. This time, I suffered from yesterday. I did not have a good appetite. I could not join friends to F & A in Palo Alto. This morning, I needed to get up at 7. No matter how reluctant I was, I needed to get up and leave my warm blanket alone. I needed to put water on my face to wake myself. I need to get my hair right so that those old gentlemen would not make fun of me (these tough people like to tease me and they think it is fun to do so.) Right, I also needed to water my roses (roses looked as sleepy as me.) I did not eat any breakfast. I went straight to work.
The traffic was good. I arrived 10 min before the meeting. I saw my manager. She was on the phone. I was hesitant to knock her door. Maybe I should just call in instead of walking across buildings to cold myself (Foster City is quite windy). I was so sleepy. I went to the kitchen to get some hot tea. Did not work. Still sleepy. As time approached 8, my heart beat increased.
I knew my mind strongly against this 8 AM meeting. I called in. Right, only two gentlemen were on the bridge (this term is widely used in my company for a conference call). I recognized one person's voice but not the other. I called the wrong name. Shisky. How could I anticipate HIM would be there?
8 AM meeting. You saw how director level people managed or manipulate small potato.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Your company doesn't provide free snacks?
Man, you don't have free stuff at work?
It seemed like I worked at a horrible company. No free drink, no free water, no free chips, no free snacks, no Foosball table, no pool table. Well, after a series of questions, the person gave up. Somehow, I sensed strong sympathy from this person.
Think on the bright side. At least, I will not be eating chips all day long and then accumulate some unwelcome fat on my belly and hips. Think on the bright side...
It seemed like I worked at a horrible company. No free drink, no free water, no free chips, no free snacks, no Foosball table, no pool table. Well, after a series of questions, the person gave up. Somehow, I sensed strong sympathy from this person.
Think on the bright side. At least, I will not be eating chips all day long and then accumulate some unwelcome fat on my belly and hips. Think on the bright side...
Wii
For those who has not tried Wii
http://images.bestbuy.com/BestBuy_US/en_US/images/musicmoviegame/videogames/features/wii/mov_01.wmv
http://images.bestbuy.com/BestBuy_US/en_US/images/musicmoviegame/videogames/features/wii/mov_01.wmv
Guitar Hero 3 - Paint it, Black
Paint it, Black
Band: The Rolling Stones
Something good for you to listen to at work
Band: The Rolling Stones
Something good for you to listen to at work
What would you interpret?
Would you make the same mistake?
Around 5 days ago, I got an email reply from a friend for a game night.
"i have succumbed to the bug that was circulating around the office"
With my first glance, I assumed this person was talking about a bug, a programming bug. I assumed this person could not join the game night since he needed to fix the bug. So, I replied something. It turned out... this person was talking about Influenza :p
Around 5 days ago, I got an email reply from a friend for a game night.
"i have succumbed to the bug that was circulating around the office"
With my first glance, I assumed this person was talking about a bug, a programming bug. I assumed this person could not join the game night since he needed to fix the bug. So, I replied something. It turned out... this person was talking about Influenza :p
Guitar Hero 3 - Cliff of Dover
Cliff of Dover
Eric Johnson
This is another Guitar Hero 3 song. Guitar Hero is cool. I always discover new songs from playing. I like Cliff of Dover's melody. I have not tried this song in Expert yet. Don't know its difficulty. I will keep you posted.
Eric Johnson
This is another Guitar Hero 3 song. Guitar Hero is cool. I always discover new songs from playing. I like Cliff of Dover's melody. I have not tried this song in Expert yet. Don't know its difficulty. I will keep you posted.
Guitar Hero 3 - Knights of Cydonia
Knights of Cydonia
Band: Muse
This song is at level 8. I barely can finish this in Hard mode. And this person, he finished it in Expert mode. Insane.
Band: Muse
This song is at level 8. I barely can finish this in Hard mode. And this person, he finished it in Expert mode. Insane.
If you want to see the original performance by Muse, you can click on this, http://asyang.blogspot.com/2007/11/knights-of-cydonia.html
Nintendo Wii
Another Nintendo breakthrough
Wii looks cute. My first experience was in Valley Fair where Nintendo had an open demo. I liked it immediately. The 
control part was not hard. Non professional gamers like me could get tons of fun from Wii.
control part was not hard. Non professional gamers like me could get tons of fun from Wii.The second try was in Navaline's place. That night we had four people: Navaline, Laurent, and us. Wii came with Wii Sport. We tried Tennis first. The motion was easy. I got some Aces accidentally. The computer opponent was a bit difficult for me (others did not have any problems to beat computer. Only me). I had tried at least 3 times. I got some luck and defeated my opponent eventually. Everyone liked tennis a lot.
We then tried Bowling. I barely played bowling. I only knew my goal was to get a turkey. Turkey? In real bowling, when a player got three strikes in a row, the player would get a turkey on the screen. For me, I did not expect to see a turkey. A spare was good enough for me. I knew I would be thrilled if I got a strike.
Here came the beauty of Wii. With the controller, you could adjust spin, direction, and start point. As long as your arm did not shake, you had a good chance to having a strike. Of course, sometimes you would encounter some difficult situation: two pins left and one on each side. Based on our experiences, everyone got good scores, at least 100.
After bowling, we tried golf. Golf was intuitive. You turned 90 degree and held both hands on the controller the same way you would do for your golf club. Then, kneed a bit. Then, swung. Wii tried hard to mimic golf. With the controller, players could adjust efforts (one to four points. Four points are the maximum. If you swing too hard, your ball will be under control. It can go anywhere it likes) and adjust directions (to follow or go against wind). With the map on the right hand corner, players knew how far from the hole and how strong the wind was. Players could also change clubs. If you did not like the default club, you could switch to another one. One amazing thing was that players could see the contour and knee down the character when the balls were on green. Quite real. We initially just wanted to see how Wii designed golf games. It turned out the golf game was my favorite among these Wii Sports.
Significant other
People here don't use boy friend or girl friend, they use significant other
It is interesting to learn something like this. Significant other is not specified. This term can refer to married or unmarried life partners. Perhaps it is because gays and lesbians are quite active here. It is common to have gay or lesbian coworkers. It might be hard for life partners to disclosure the role. So, people tend to use a common term like "significant one" in conversations.
It is interesting to learn something like this. Significant other is not specified. This term can refer to married or unmarried life partners. Perhaps it is because gays and lesbians are quite active here. It is common to have gay or lesbian coworkers. It might be hard for life partners to disclosure the role. So, people tend to use a common term like "significant one" in conversations.
AUDI or LEXUS
Test drive experiences
Test drives are fun. Totof and I went to three different dealers, 1 Audi dealer and 2 Lexus dealers. We tried Audi A4 and Lexus 250.
Audi A4
Audi was and still am one of my favorite brands. We went to Anderson Audi in Palo Alto. At that time, they only had a few A4s available. We tried a smoky one. The outside looked luxurious. The front bumper area looked gorgeous. But, the interior disappointed us. We had a friend who got an A4 (same model) in 2004. His car's interior was exactly identical which meant Audi had not changed A4's interior for 4 years.
I drove. Neither I nor Totof appreciated A4's horse power. We did not feel its power at all. Besides, Anderson's sales was quite lame. He was not enthusiastic in talking. He even gave us a wrong brochure after the test drive.
Lexus 250
We went to Stevens Creek Lexus first. I had seen 250 many times. Still, I felt wowed when I saw it in front of me. The exterior attracted me a lot. The car looked sexy. The interior was elegant. Its elegance and luxury were implicit. What I liked the most was its safety design. Lexus 250 had 3 air bags.
I drove. The car was quite powerful. We could feel it. We liked the sport design gears. We also liked Lexus put the gear control around the steer area. We felt like we were playing Arcade.
Next week, we went to Fremont Lexus. We picked a black car. It was around afternoon time. The weather was hot. We were surprised to discover another Lexus design: Lexus used tech to reduce the heat absorb so that driver and passengers were not overwhelmed by the heat at hot days.
This time, Totof drove. The laid-back style of our sales astonished us. He did not come with us for the test drive. Basically, he just gave us the key and let us play around. How nice.
Conclusion
Overall, we preferred Lexus 250 than Audi A4.
Test drives are fun. Totof and I went to three different dealers, 1 Audi dealer and 2 Lexus dealers. We tried Audi A4 and Lexus 250.
Audi A4
Audi was and still am one of my favorite brands. We went to Anderson Audi in Palo Alto. At that time, they only had a few A4s available. We tried a smoky one. The outside looked luxurious. The front bumper area looked gorgeous. But, the interior disappointed us. We had a friend who got an A4 (same model) in 2004. His car's interior was exactly identical which meant Audi had not changed A4's interior for 4 years.
I drove. Neither I nor Totof appreciated A4's horse power. We did not feel its power at all. Besides, Anderson's sales was quite lame. He was not enthusiastic in talking. He even gave us a wrong brochure after the test drive.
Lexus 250
We went to Stevens Creek Lexus first. I had seen 250 many times. Still, I felt wowed when I saw it in front of me. The exterior attracted me a lot. The car looked sexy. The interior was elegant. Its elegance and luxury were implicit. What I liked the most was its safety design. Lexus 250 had 3 air bags.
I drove. The car was quite powerful. We could feel it. We liked the sport design gears. We also liked Lexus put the gear control around the steer area. We felt like we were playing Arcade.
Next week, we went to Fremont Lexus. We picked a black car. It was around afternoon time. The weather was hot. We were surprised to discover another Lexus design: Lexus used tech to reduce the heat absorb so that driver and passengers were not overwhelmed by the heat at hot days.
This time, Totof drove. The laid-back style of our sales astonished us. He did not come with us for the test drive. Basically, he just gave us the key and let us play around. How nice.
Conclusion
Overall, we preferred Lexus 250 than Audi A4.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
300
Tonight we dine in hell
If you like computer effect oriented movies, if you enjoy fighting scenes, if you like to know Battle of Thermopylae, if you like to hear people screaming Sparta, or if you are a geek, you will enjoy this movie a lot.
Or if you just want to be wowed...
I saw this movie at a movie night. 300 is a fictionalized Battle of Thermopylae (I knew this history after the movie). The main characters are Spartan King Leonidas, Spartan soldiers, and Spartan Queen Gorgo. The beginning part was to show how Spartan men were raised, what Spartan boys had to go through before their manhood, and how strong Leonidas was. The middle part was to let audience understand what was going on between Persians and Greeks. You saw how determined Leonidas and other Spartan soldiers were, how strong Spartan soldiers were, how insane Spartan people could be (Spartan men's specialty was to kill, to fight, and to protect), and how corrupted and shamed an politician could be. Of course 300 vividly showed how Spartan fought against Persians. Tons of fighting scenes during the movie. Interesting and creative fights were here and there. The producer and film script writer had a lot of imagination. Many scenes were filmed aesthetically.
If you want to know more detail on 300, you can click on this link, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/300_(film)
I really enjoyed this movie. The story is quite straightforward. But, the way the film was produced makes 300 stands out. Totof and I were totally wowed from the beginning to the end.
If you like computer effect oriented movies, if you enjoy fighting scenes, if you like to know Battle of Thermopylae, if you like to hear people screaming Sparta, or if you are a geek, you will enjoy this movie a lot.
Or if you just want to be wowed...
I saw this movie at a movie night. 300 is a fictionalized Battle of Thermopylae (I knew this history after the movie). The main characters are Spartan King Leonidas, Spartan soldiers, and Spartan Queen Gorgo. The beginning part was to show how Spartan men were raised, what Spartan boys had to go through before their manhood, and how strong Leonidas was. The middle part was to let audience understand what was going on between Persians and Greeks. You saw how determined Leonidas and other Spartan soldiers were, how strong Spartan soldiers were, how insane Spartan people could be (Spartan men's specialty was to kill, to fight, and to protect), and how corrupted and shamed an politician could be. Of course 300 vividly showed how Spartan fought against Persians. Tons of fighting scenes during the movie. Interesting and creative fights were here and there. The producer and film script writer had a lot of imagination. Many scenes were filmed aesthetically.
If you want to know more detail on 300, you can click on this link, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/300_(film)
I really enjoyed this movie. The story is quite straightforward. But, the way the film was produced makes 300 stands out. Totof and I were totally wowed from the beginning to the end.
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