Bloggin'......

The sad view

Tough night at home.

Sigh....

This month is really turning out to be an expensive month for me. Not that it is all bad, I went on vacation to Thailand and such, but it seems a whole other string of things is starting to happen. First, there was my "mistake". I mistakenly bought a highend bicycle frame for fairly cheap money. It wasn't somethign I needed, but rather than getting returning it, I decided to turn it into a "project" bike, my hobby for the month. I've spent my time since then shopping for good bicycle parts, which has also added to my woes.

Then the most craziest thing happened when I returned from Thailand. The operating system on my computer at home corrupted itself and will not start now. So, I began using my backup computer (my old IBM laptop) to process my pictures from Thailand. The screen was a bit bright, so my pictures became a bit dark, when I posted them. No bother, I thought, I'll just repost them when I fix my personal computer, later. Horrifically, last night, my laptop hardrive failed. It Bombed. It went Kaputz! I will have to buy a new hard drive now.

Technology.... sigh.... It does keep me employed.

I did finally fill out my travel reimbursement from my last business trip. Surprisingly, I may break even this month. For now, no pictures until I can get my computer back up.

Hanging out at the Bubble Lounge....

Hanging out at the Bubble Lounge in San Francisco.

Sabrina is here...

I remember, long time ago, I was at my friend Melanie's BBQ, and her Dad yelled at the top of his lungs, "Beautiful Sabrina is here!"

Well, Sabrina flew up to the Bay Area to visit again last night, so it's always a treat to see her. I picked her up from the airport and met with Caroline and Diana for dinner at Picasso's in Downtown San Jose. We went to a poolhall/bar afterwards and when we went in, all the guys at the bar turned to look. Usually, a guy would feel a great sense of accomplishment with three girls, but I suddenly had the funniest feeling.... I must be the most whipped guy in the world with the "biggest ball and chain" following behind the ladies into a bar.

Shame aside, Caroline's boyfriend, Sam, showed up later and helped even the ratios a little better.

Thailand! - Day 7

My funny story: So last night, after returning to the hotel, I hung out with Diana and Jen in their room for alittle bit. As it got late, I decided to go back to my room to get some sleep. My room was on the 16th floor, while theirs was on the 15th, so naturally I took the stairs. It's quicker than waiting for the elevator, of course, but on this night I decided to take the stairs at the other end of the hallway, just to see what kind of view is seen out the window. Not much, is what I saw, so I proceeded up the stairs to my floor, but then the door to my floor was locked.

Strange, I thought. So I went back down to Diana's floor and that door too was locked! Oh no, I thought, I'm trapped in the fire escape! I had no choice then, I must go down the stairs to the bottom floor to get out. Fifteen flights of stairs, and I stopped on each floor to check just in case a certain door was open. But as my luck went, nothing was open, and I continued my way down the stairs.

The bottom floors took several turns, as these were the conference levels, kitchens floors, and service floors, until fire doors began to seprate these floors as well, each one locking behind me, as I made my way through. On one floor, I heard a conference going on, but I didn't want to disturb them, as my new plan was simply to exit at the bottom of the stairs and just re-enter the hotel from the front. However, as I got to the 2nd floor, the last emergency door was locked! I was trapped again! I can't go down, and I can't go back up! There was an emergency phone on the floor, so I gave in to the embarassment of being trapped in the stairwell, and decided to call. Who would have thought, the phone was dead! The emergency phone!

I took a look at my surroundings, and found the stairwell opened down into the courtyard in front of the hotel. I flagged down a parking lot attendant in the courtyard, who waived over his buddy to look at the funny-looking guy waving at him on the second floor stairs. They radioed the hotel security and they escorted me back to my room, back through the conference where I had heard people talking, just before. Wonderful.

The next morning, news about my travel had spread, so one of the ladies chimed in, "Were you dressed at all?" My tour group was filled with funny people.

Homeward bound! One more picture for the road.

Thailand! - Day 6

This morning, we had more free time. I spent my time well, as I slept in until it was time for our next activity. We toured the Grand Palace of Thailand in the afternoon, where we got to see first hand some of the natural history and the ornate structures of Thailand, including one of the world's largest jade Budhas.

We continued our tour on a river boat tour of the Chao Phraya River, and ended it with a dinner cruise on the same river. We were also presented with orchid and jasmine leis, which the girls proudly modeled for me.

Thailand! - Day 5

Another day only means more delectable foods. We can only be in a state of heaven.

This morning, we went to the Nong Nooch Tropical Gardens for an amazing Thai cultural show. Music, arts, and history were displayed in a one hour show that included dance and a recreation of a battle that created the Thai kingdom. Afterwards, we were treated to another elephant show, which claimed to have the smartest and most talented elephants inthe world. They had acts in which the elephants kicked soccer balls, threw darts, and painted artwork for sale to the audience. Diana, Jen, and I continued out of the show and toured the garden outside which was full of orchids and other tropical plants. We didn't quite make it to the Orchid garden, so we had to settle for the open gardens outside of the theater.

Once we finished up at the tropical garden, it was time once again to get on the bus. It was time to move to our next destination, back to Bangkok. We were stuck in the notorious Bangkok traffic, but after almost over three hours, we arrived at our new hotel, the Merchant Court hotel in Bangkok. Upon our arrival, we got our surprise warning, "No Durians Allowed." No problems with me!

In the evening, we visited a local night market for a little trinket shopping.

Thailand! - Day 4

CORAL ISLAND

We met up again in the morning with our fellow tourists for breakfast at the hotel. One thing I've always enjoyed at hotels is the continental breakfasts where they prepare a wide variety of foods, and the variety of fruits and juices. Here at the Marriott, the variety is an understatement! Through a little mix up, we forgot to get a picture of the juices, but Jen, Diana, and I had an impromptu tasting session.

Today's actvities included an excursion out to Coral Island, a local island off the coast from Pattaya. It's an amazing island, with its white sand and clear blue waters. Our first stop before the island, though, was a platform about a mile from the the shore for some parasailing. I, myself, and a mother of one of the other families, were the only ones to take a trip up in the air. It was a only a short flight in the air but I had a lot of fun, none-the-less.

We gathered our things, and made our way on the final approach to the island. It was a bit crowded, but there was plenty of space for us to play in the sun and water. We even rode a bannana boat, an inflatable "water toy" that can seat up to four people, pulled by a jetski. The guy driving was a bit crazy, as he would weave through traffic in the water and then jerk the rope to make us spill all over. We got a lot of good laughs, though the first ride was a bit unexpected and we thought for sure, we'd run someone over.

We spent the rest of the morning just swimming off the beach and playing in the water.

FREE AFTERNOON

After returning from Coral Island, we were given a free afternoon in which we could tour and explore Pattaya by ourselves. The girls went to the spa and I decided I could explore the city by myself. "Great", the girls said, I could go find a post office for them and mail their post cards. Girls can be mean. =P

Finding the post office was not hard. It was the wait that completely surprised me! When I got there, it was a post office on a seedy street, full of bars, and "hotels", but it was a post office, none-the-less. It was crowded inside, people sitting, people standing, and a numbering system that seemd like it was on infinity. I looked for a stamp vending machine, as stamps were all that I needed. Alas, I had to take a number, 584 or something! I looked up at the board and saw that they were only up to 450 something. Sigh! This only brought back memories of the DMV back home. Double sigh!

I paced around the room for a little bit, trying to think if it was worth spending my free afternoon at the post office. But then the strangest thing happened. In the back of the room, there were sacks of what appeared to be mail and someone's ticket. I picked it up expecting it was someone's discarded ticket, when I saw the numbers: 468. I looked at the board and saw 466! I had found Gold! Was it real? Was it a trick? I was in a foreign country. Did some mobster expect me to pay a "convienience fee" for it? I was scared! Then the number was called. 468! I took the number, and darted to the counter. 17 stamps for postcards, I said, and they gave me the stamps.

Now in Thailand, it seems self adhesive technology has yet to appear here on the streets, so I decided it was best to go back to the hotel in which I could wet the stamps with some water and mail them from the hotel. But as I made my way to the door, the person who stood next to me when I found the ticket preceded me out the door. Now, thoughts of the mob really started to run through my mind! Do they break knees or cut off fingers I thought!? I quickly turned around, and thought not to attract attention to myself and stall for time by licking each stamp individually and mailing the postcards right there. I've forgotten how disgusting stamp adhesive was and by the end, I think I lost all taste/feeling in my mouth.

I dropped off the postcards and proceeded cautiously out the door. No one in sight! Great! I was going to go back to the hotel, but I decided to walk around for a bit. The streets were filled with shops and street vendors peddling their wares, from fake watches to manufacturer rejects. I saw a lot of "orth ace" backpacks and jewelery, but I didn't have much need for those things, as I had plenty of junk at home already. I spent the rest of the day sitting on the beach, peering out into the open sea and reflected on my day's adventure.

We met up again in the evening as a group for a seafood barbeque buffet and we all had a great laugh over my adventure today.

TIFFANY SHOW

In the evening, we attended the Tiffany Show, Thailand's first tranvestite caberet show. It was a fun filled show, of culture and entertainment. Transvestite style. Interesting indeed. We sat pretty close up to the front of the audience, so Diana kept poking at me, "oh, so pretty... quick take a picture, take a picture...." However, she was just as tired from her day, as she fell asleep halfway through the show. So did Jen. =P

Thailand! - Day 3

We arrived in Bangkok at about noon. Luckily we did not check in any baggage and simply made our way to the airport exit. Altogether, there were 12 people in our tour group, 5 others had arrived ahead of us from other cities and were already waiting for us on the bus. This was it. These were going to be our friends for the next four days. It began with our tour guide laying down the law of the land. Aparently, it is leagal in Thailand to have more than one wife. *ponder*

Our destination for the day was Pattaya, a beach resort community two hours southeast of Bangkok. But before starting this road trip, we stopped off in Bangkok for a lunch buffet. I think this was where the realization hit me, "let the gorging begin!" If you can imagine, buffets are just dangerous to the waistline to begin with, but it gives you the biggest variety of foods to sample, especially in a foreign country. Sorry no pictures of the food, i was busy with my plate(s).

Two hours on the bus is not as bad as one may think. The tour guide gave us a lesson on Thai history and culture, but unfortunatley, it turned into blah, blah, blah to me. I am not making fun of the Thai culture, but I simply took in the scenery of the Thai countryside as we drove along the expressway to Pattaya.

We first stopped at an outdoor park where we got to ride and play with the elephants. Elephants seem to hold a very important role in Thai culture. Everywhere in Thai motifs, you can find elephants carrying warriors into battle and being a part of everyday Thai life, much like horses in western culture.

After playing with the elephants, we made our way to our hotel, the Pattaya Marriott Resort & Spa, checked in, and washed up. We met up as a group, and walked to our next destination, a local restuarant for a nice Thai dinner. We were spared the dinner buffet for a contemporary dinner, with fried fish, fried chicken meats, fried fish cakes, local vegetables, and a nice seafood Tomyum soup. I forgot that most southeast asian cuisines really like to deep fry their foods. Really DEEP fried. =)

Then, we were treated to a nice Thai massage after dinner. I hesitated, but Diana conviced me I should at least try it. Besides, it was already paid for, so it would have been a shame to waste it. I have to admit I had never had a professional massage before, so the whole experience was new to me. We were led to a large room, where there were individual beds, and we were prompted to change into these pajama-like suits. I got my massage, but when it came time to apply massaging oil to my back, I think I was laying under an air conditioning vent, because it got really cold when my massagist (?) lifted up my shirt, and applied the REALLY cold massage oil. I bursted out laughing, as I became extremely hypersensitive to being ticklish! Diana even got up to see what was going on, because I was the only one making a stir. Hmph... interesting. You will have to imagine this, because this went on for most of the evening.

After the massage, we went next door for some herbal soups to help clear our bodies and health, a shark fin soup and a bird's nest soup. The bird's nest soup was really delicious, served cold and sweet. We spent the rest of the night hunting for postcards, to send to our friends and family. OK, well, Diana and Jen's friends, anyway. I simply approved them.

Thailand! - Day 2

Our path to Thailand lead through Taipei, where we stopped for an overnight stay. I was a little disappointed it was thunderstorming, so we didn't get a chance to walk around after we arrived. Maybe next time. We were, however, more than happy to get off the plane after being in the air for almost 12 hours in one of the most cramped planes I can remember. When we arrived, Jen gave me the impression were were staying very close to the airport, because we had to fly out very early in the morning. That's fine, I thought, though on our customs forms to enter Taipei, Jen wrote, "Hotel across from Airport". Not surprisingly, the customs agent took one look and said, "no". Not much of a surprise.... Jen!... sheesh.

After exiting the airport, we met up with the rest of our tour group. Four others, in total, had traveled along with us from San Francisco. The tour coordinator rounded us up and drove us, it seemed like, forever! "Hotel across from Airport" my arse! I started to wonder if we were with the right tour group! We drove from town to town, but suddenly, it seemed like we just "found" our hotel for the night.

In any event, we woke up the next morning to misty rain, and took off bright and early back to the airport for.... Thailand!

Thailand! - Day 1

Well, this was our last chance for some distinctly American food, namely pizza from the California Pizza Kitchen. Diana, Jennifer, and I are going on vacation to Thailand! Leading up to this trip, all of my collegues at work warned me to watch out for transvestite prostitutes. Wonderful, I thought, they seem to have a lot of faith in me.

This first day was spent in the airport, of course. SFO, my home away from home. Cheers!

New addition to the Family

One thing I forgot to mention in my previous posting, is that I have an uncanny habit of buying someting completely insane after a hard crash on my mountian bike. During my last bad crash, I went over the handle bars, and cracked my helmet. I ended up buying a new bike, which is "Betsy" now. So, over the weekend, I had another bad crash in the Soquel Demonstration Forest. I hit a log on a fast downhill and landed on my shoulder. I think I bruised the interior of my shoulder pretty badly, because I couldn't lift my arm without feeling pain. It must have been an internal muscle, because I could not see any bruising on my shoulder. But anyway, aside from the ugly facts (I finished the ride and went home, by-the-way), I bought a new car.

Well, sort of. I helped buy a new car. As some people might know, my brother was in an accident a couple of weeks ago, which "totalled" his car. It was a bit sad, because the car was my car, previously. It was a Calypso Green Ford Probe GT, or Neon Green as some people called it. But it was amazingly fast with a 165 hp V6, sport suspension, and 16inch 5-spoke wheels. I rememebr it won the Motortrend's Car of the Year Award, the year I bought it. Pretty advanced for an early 1990's car.

Anyway, more importantly, the airbags worked wonderlessly, and my brother was able to walk away with only a few abrasions. And as the ER doctor who was examining my brother said, "it had airbags?"

Being the youngest in my family apparently has some perks, as the pictures above might attest. I helped my brother and family do some research into buying a new car and the Volkwagen Passat 1.8T with 4Motion was borne. With a little haggling at the dealer, we got the car for about $800 under invoice, with leather and wood trim. Not bad. =)

Mountain Biking Soquel Demonstration Forest

So I have been away for a while, and I have not been able to mountain bike for a while. Greg had been bugging me about mountain biking Soquel Demonstration Forest for quite some time now, but I had been busy in some form or another. Something about being out of the country.

It started ok, with a slight climb, which turned into a very long climb, then a cut through some fire roads, and into the forest. The most amazing thing was how well kept the park was. The paths and trails were very well groomed and free of sharp objects. That is not to say this ride was easy! Just as it seemed the trails were finally leveling off, we rode into one of the steepest descents I could remember, over logs, rocks, and tree limbs. In all I think we rode 16-18 miles, in about 4 hours. Not bad, but I defintely need to get back into shape.