Bloggin'......

Mikey

One of my old college apartment-mates, Mikey, came by the farm to visit this weekend. This was the guy who I had pillow fights with, and no, it is not what you may think. There was no "girly" pillow fights, but fights with ten pound pillows, round house moves, and lost teeth (almost). I knocked him unconscious once, but he won't admit to it....

Anyway, no he didn't come by to re-live those days (thankfully), but just to road trip himself to the Bay Area. We hung out on Saturday and somehow, we started talking about cars. Then, we got real curious about cars and decided to go to the car dealerships. Guys and cars... go figure....

We went out to dinner with everybody for Thai food, later that evening, and kind of moved from one place to another, afterwards. Hope 'ya had fun Mikey, visit again!

new bloggin' software

This is a cool thing; Mike recently helped me update the publishing software I use on this website to the latest version and I have to say I love it. I am a big fan of Six-Apart's MovableType web publishing platform simply because of it's ease of use and the ability to handle many file types, most importantly, my pictures!

Though as readers, I don't think many people will notice much of a difference, but for me, it has been heaven-sent. One of the newest features is the ability to view comments globally, a relief, since in previous versions, it was difficult to control the comments I received. It is not so much freedom of speech or expression, but I was being flooded with comment spam for sex, drugs, and money, and I would tediously delete each piece of spam, before recompiling the site. Pain, I tell you... (ok, well there were lots of spam for drugs, anyway)

Another new feature that readers may notice is in order to post a new comment, the user must enter a special code at the bottom of the comment prompt to continue. Hopefully this will deter those pesky "spam-bots", so I've started allowing anonymous comments, again. I had it on to help deter the comment spam, but really.... who was I kidding..... =)

Overall, the funtionality remains the same and I really like the new interface. Hopefully, I'll get in another great year of snapshots of the life around me! cheers! =)

Oops....

I found a bug in the software at work, today. It only took my only prototype sample and about $4000 dollars in damage.... sucks....

Forever a farmer....

So when was the last time you ever saw a lowered, fixed up John Deere TRACTOR?!?! ....AND with cross drilled brake rotors! I was doing little shopping today, when this caught my eye. I grew up on a farm and I've seen my fair share of tractors, and actually own my own John Deere. Just not one with low-profile tires, chrome muffler, and blacked out glass. =)

Stirring the soul...

I love music that stirs the soul and has "fire in the belly"....

Sent Sovi Restuarant

I've been on a restuarant kick lately and this week's new restuarant is Sent Sovi Restuarant in Saratoga. It's not exactly new to me, I had dinner here just before Christmas and thought it was pretty darned good. That time, I had a Sea Bass that was amazingly buttery soft and crusted with a toasted pistacios. Mmmm! We thought the food was so good, we met the owners of the restuarant, and found out they were also UCLA graduates! They mentioned they were hosting an UCLA Alumni Association event, a "Bistro Crawl", in January, which was tonight.

It was a fun night to get out and meet other Bruins in the Bay Area. People came from all over. We talked all about our successes, struggles, and travels we've had, great restuarants in the bay area, and of course, the good old days in Westwood.

Unfortuanately, I can only say the food was OK this night. I had a seared pork loin, though was absolutely delicious by itself, was topped with an overwhelming amount of stilton cheese and pecans. Too salty for my tastes. I also had a butternut squash bisque, which didn't disappoint me, but I found good and very straight forward. It was the kind of soup that you would want to make at home. Dessert was an interesting vanilla poached pear, served in a light chocolate sauce. I got in my daily allowance of fruit. =)

Nola's

This week's restuarant, I went to Nola's in Palo Alto for a kind of pre-celebration for my birthday this week. Kind of low key but as I'm getting older, I think I really prefer it that way.... Seeing as how I already had a "30th Birthday" celebration once before (an inside joke), I don't know how my 25th could be any worst.... =P It was great to be able to get out with so many people at one time. Especially when they're treating! hahah, thanks guys!!!

I've always had the skirt steak at Nola's. It's a big piece of meat, with a bit of a sweet teriyaki flavor, and oh, so utterly satisfying. It's probably one of the more underrated steaks I've had in the area, so I absolutely reccomend it! So juicy and tender, you can still cut it with a butter knife. Really! =)

sights (sites)

Frank sends his regards from France. =)

Joy comes in a box

I have bad days every now and then, and the past couple of days feel like they have been a majority of them. Work has been stressing me out lately, but imagine my surprise when I saw my package from the Apple Store arrived early today!

I never seem to have enough electrical outlets at home.... sigh! =P

Fringale Restuarant

Last night, a few friends and I met up for dinner at Fringale Restuarant in the city. It's a quaint little restuarant, with an exquisit menu. I had the steamed mussels, and though it was a little work to dig the little critters out, it was worth the effort. They tasted very fresh and flavorful, and was not overcome by the sauce, typical in italian dishes. This was a french dish! Bon appetite! =P

Visits with George....

Actually, George was visiting us from Maryland, and we all finally got together for dinnner at Krung Thai in Mountain View. People came out in droves, some brought the kids, others left them at home, but we all had a great time.

Funny thing, this was the first time I've had Thai food since my trip to Thailand in September! Crazy!

Jimmy-isms

Over the weekend, when I was having lunch with some friends, I discovered I've got some really nasty habits. Ok, well maybe not disgusting habits (that'll be another post), but I need to polish my image. One habit I have is when I get excited, I have a tendency to repeat myself, three times! Always such, "yeah, yeah, yeah", "hey, hey, hey", or "yes, yes, yes". Is it really that annoying?

I think i've gotten enough readers who actually know me, though I have no idea who actually reads my dribble, to ask what are some of your favorite stories about me. Old or new, it's all good. Everyone's favorite stories were always my college rivalries with my buddy, Ansen, so any other stories out there? Maybe even suggestions on other topics? I am a non-believer in New Years resolutions, but I'll take'em under consideration.

Details, details...

So I'm at home today, and I'm thinking back to an earlier entry I made. There were a few details I left out, and as it turns out, pretty important details. As the story went, I was asleep in my hotel room in Seoul, when I was awaken by loud banging at my door. I was hesitant to open the door, not because I was afraid it was buglars, robbers, or attackers. I was afraid they were hookers and prostitutes looking for a score! .... AND THEY TOOK MY KEY!

It's the first thing you learn when you take on a job like mine to not open doors in these instances, but these things are actually more common in South East Asia. It has never happened to me, yet (knock on wood...), but one night in Singapore, after a late night out, I was returning to my hotel room, when I saw the hotel security escorting a scantily clad, "obviously not a hotel guest", female out of the hotel. Details, details....

Dumb, dumb day.....

Well, that's a drag.... Apparently I didn't get the memo that today was still a holiday, so here I am in my empty office building. I should have turned around when i saw the parking lot was empty, but.... here I am. looking for people to go to lunch with at 10AM..... If YOU are not busy, give me a call!

Lunch at Santana Row

It was such a cold and dreary day today, I went to have lunch at Santana Row in San Jose. Not just because it was cold and dreary, but for the sake of getting out! =) I have had the past few days off from work and really feel as though I wasted most of that time. The days started to really seem like they were running into each other, because since I had not had days off like this in a very long time. I simply didn't know what to do with myself.

Lunch out was nice. We had lunch at the Left Bank Bistro, a french brasserie, near the center of the mall. Afterwards, I set out and took a few pictures of the outdoors mall, in the rain and all.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! May the coming new year bring you all joy and happiness!

I spent the new years eve at a club in San Francisco this year. Should have followed Diana's idea by taking a nap before going out. I got real tired as it got closer to midnight, and turned into a struggle to stay up afterwards. Age is not doing me any good. Hope everyone had a happy and safe New Year's!