Can't sleep.... sleeping patterns are all off now. Haven't been like this since summer.

Lately I've been annoying my mom with really stupid and obvious statements like

"Hey mom! Losing money is bad!"
"Free money is good!"
"Injuring yourself is not good!"

Two more days to go...

EDIT: I was so bored I called up Citibank for account processing information. After that, voice-chatted with a girl in Taiwan until 7:30. Now I'm half-asleep at work...

  ¶ 3:57 AM 0 comments

  Out with the old, in with the new Over the past month been trying to sell a bunch of stuff that I no longer use / need. Somewhat due to alleviating my snowboard costs but also to clean up my room. After selling off most of my high-profile ps2 games except for the ones I still play, I went to blockbuster to see how much credit I could get for the rest. (don't worry, I made legal backups of all of them ;)

The Rock DVD $6.50
Deep Rising DVD $5
PS2 - Tekken Tag $5
Traffic DVD $6.50
PS2 - Ridge Racer $3
PS2 - Baldur's Gate $3
PS2 - Metal Gear Solid 2 $5
PS2 - Devil May Cry $5
PS2 - Ace Combat 4 $8
PS2 - NBA Street $3
PS2 - NFL 2k3 $1.50
PS2 - NFL 2k2 $1.50
PS2 - NBA 2K2 $1.00

$1 for a PS2 game! That is pretty sad. But after thinking about how much it would cost to ebay these, plus shipping fees, I swapped them in for store credit. They do have some nostalgic value, but I really never played any of those games except for MGS2. Sad thing is that I wanted to get rid of Tekken 4 but they wouldn't accept it due to some scratches on the DVD. I hate that game! And no one will take it!

To make myself feel better I ordered MGS3: Snake Eater which Gio LOOOVED. Off Amazon, with GCs applied - $11.76 total. Must beat it before going to Boston ...

  ¶ 10:47 AM 0 comments

  Christmas... Why is it I always wake up so early every Christmas? When I was younger it was the thrill of wanting to open presents. Even though I more or less knew what I was getting. Aunt #1 - clothes + some kind of GC. Aunt #2 - something wacky like binoculars. Last year I got a magazine subscription to GQ from them which I promptly forgot to send in (they gave me a check for $20 and I lost it). This year I think they gave me socks from GAP (since John got socks). My parents never surprised me w/ anything, though they always asked what I wanted (takes the fun out of it though!).

Oh wait I remember. My stupid brother woke me up so he could borrow my beanie for his Tahoe trip. And my jacket. And my pants. Damn him. I want to go to Tahoe.

At least I got to talk to Ken in Taiwan for a bit. Back to sleep ...  ¶ 7:52 AM 0 comments

  Earning $50 - the not so easy way. I wanted to earn $50 by using this promotion. Reason being that John had my other checking account linked to PartyPoker plus I needed a new account for my new job (direct deposit). Anyways having signed up a few days ago, I received notice that my application had been withdrawn. So I went to my local bank to enquire about it.

The branch manager told me to call online banking so I went through "transfer hell" for about 30 minutes as I was mistakenly transfered from the correct division to the wrong one, back to the correct one again. I found out that the reason I couldn't open any online accounts was because when my personal banker closed my two money market accounts in September, she had mistakenly typed in code "03" which means "lost or stolen."

The manager didn't know how to change the codes so I had to talk to the PB that helped me out last time. Yeah the one with the smoking body :) After she changed the codes for me, somehow I got ANOTHER account upgraded in the midst of a bunch of smalltalk. Then I told her about the Ipod Mini Citibank deal and other various Citibank promotions and she was like "Citibank checking sucks" (not verbatim). Then she mentioned that she goes snowboarding every week in Tahoe and I said "take me please" (not actually said). I got a really cool free calendar too.

So I thought everything was cool, but I decided to check with the online banking rep I spoke to earlier. It turns out that to change the codes, my PB had OPENED and closed those accounts, but forgot to close one of them. So I would have been hit with a ton of fees. Phone person's exact words: "what an idiot!" ... "what a mess" ... "that was about the only thing she did right (upgrading one account)." So that's twice she's kinda messed up things. Luckily the rep was nice and fixed everything so I could get the $50. She even offered to call me once the account was approved and everything. Total it took me about 2 hours+ of talking but I'm glad it got straightened out. Did I mention free calendar?

$50 down, $150 to go (citibank deal)

Oh yeah, it's Christmas Eve and I'm right on schedule (haven't bought anything!)

Suprnova.org may be dead but a new site has surfaced (I hope this one is hosted in Antarctica).

I need a new cell phone ... and a messenger bag.  ¶ 10:28 PM 0 comments

  Mammoth trip log - LONG FRIDAY: Woke up with the sinking feeling that neither my boots or my bag will arrive in time. I give my signed offer/documents to my mom so she can fedex them. Check the door everytime I hear something, hoping my boots have come. I do find a really nice gore-tex jacket in my dad's closet, so that was cool. Eventually get mad, throw a rock, and drive over to Steve's place so we don't screw everyone by being late. Forget to withdraw money, I have to make do with ~$17 for the whole trip.

During the long drive down to LA we listen to some mp3 CDs and just talk. I make the mistake of putting too many mozart songs onto the CD, we get really sick of classic music. Ran into a patch of heavy fog that freaked me out. Well prolly freaked Steve out more, since he was nervous about me usually braking late. But hey, the IS has awesome brakes! I decide that we should meet up at my lil bro's place so I can borrow his boots. Then he can take care of my car over the weekend. Bad move in hindsight since his boots didn't fit me, and he drove my car to some parties (glitter all over the backseat!), hehe. Ambar picks us up and miraculously everything fits in his car. Now here comes the SIX hour drive to Mammoth. I sleep most of the way. The cabin turns out to be really nice, better than the one at Big Bear.

SATURDAY: Mammoth is amazing, huge mountains with pristine runs. Relatively uncrowded compared to the masses at Big Bear. Lots of snowbunnies too :) First we hang out at the bunny slopes as the beginners try to get their bearings. Eventually I realize that scrunching my feet into small boots isn't worth it, and rent a pair of boots. These rental boots are terrible - inner liner doesn't have laces to tighten them, my feet aren't locked down and shift a lot during heel/toe edge. I also need to oil up my bindings and retighten them for future trips. So at first I was tentative and trying to get used to my board/crappy rental boots. For the trip I blame a large % of my falls on the boots, :) Eventually I get comfortable and reach higher speeds w/ my carving. The Custom does ride really nice.

SUNDAY: Probably the best day of snowboarding yet for me. I made a conscious effort to really attack the mountain, regardless of my bad boots. I did have a few spills but nothing I couldn't bounce back from. Basically me, Daniel, Hakam, and Ambar decided to go off in our little group so we could get as many runs in as possible. Selfish yes, but tons of fun. We even did rails for the first time, as everyone got peer pressured into doing it when Hakam successfully landed one. The first time I tried it, attempted to do a jump at the end and paid for it by wiping out. Second time I was able to land and slow to a stop. I'm still very leery of doing regular jumps (I do too much speed-checking) but at least I did a rail! Daniel landed a really nice jump, I was in awe.

So the morning consisted of attempting jumps and rails. After a nice lunch (the cashier undercharged me $1.50!), our group heads higher up the mountain. Mammoth has these incredibly long and steep runs that are semi-challenging and quite exhilarating. So cool to get from point A to point B way down the mountain in a matter of seconds. We made numerous runs in the afternoon. My technique is improved but if I had my boots I would be that much more confident in carving at high speeds. Regardless it was a ton of fun. Except for the time when Daniel, following closely behind me, freaks me out (i hear his board cutting into the snow REALLY CLOSE to me).

At the end we split up since I have to return my boots and they can just go straight to the car. The mountain closes at 4pm and it's just me and the mountain. My right thigh cramps up and I'm forced to take a short rest. Lying in the snow with no one else in sight - very surreal moment. Then I hop back up and reach the main lodge in a matter of minutes.

Mammoth is expensive but everyone should experience it.

SUNDAY NIGHT/MONDAY: Long ride back to LA. Stay at Daniel's nice condo for the night. Loaf around. Watch TV. Eat hotpockets. 5-hour drive back to Palo Alto. Try out my new boots which are really comfy. Northwave makes some nice boots. Hopefully I'll get a chance to break them in soon.

PICS: courtesy of Hakam who organized the whole trip!



  ¶ 10:26 AM 1 comments

  Arrested Development... ... is by far THE funniest show ever!

ok maybe that was a bit of a hyperbole. I love it tho. Humor is so offbeat and zany. Thanks to Steve for recommending it to me. Will Arnett is hilarious.

"These are lawyers! That's latin for lier!" (When talking about whether to lie to a woman for a one-night stand)

"Let's take the plea ok? It's so nice and thick!" (Lawyer referring to the size of the plea bargain documents which he has not read because he was out trying to date)

"I had a really interesting date last night, a woman who actually works two jobs!" (same lawyer, then it cuts to two of his mug shot photos... HOOKER!)

And the humor never lets up. A son who is a part-time magician ... kissing cousins ...

EDIT: ok saw a few episodes that weren't LOL funny. But most of them are. Tobias and Buster are a riot. More acclaim ...  ¶ 9:00 AM 0 comments

  tech bits Yahoo Maps offers real-time traffic conditions - very cool

Yahoo tests video search engine - I know I'll be using this! *wink*

This made me laugh really hard ... round and fat, lol
  ¶ 10:39 AM 0 comments

  Job interview Yesterday I had a job interview w/ EMC @ their Legato office. Position is for an associate implementation engineer. EMC does storage networks and storage management software. So kinda like consulting for their storage software setups and what not. Sounds interesting, and I got nothing else to do.

Yeah interviewing sucks, but this one went ok. I got off to a bad start though. As I stood up to shake the hiring manager's hand, I banged my leg on the glass coffee table. Ouch.

Anyways, I had done a bunch of studying over the weekend (Shocking!). Usually I go into an interview w/o too much preparation, but my last interview did not go so well so I wanted to be better prepared. Luckily for me the interview had been postponed. Initially it was supposed to be last Thursday, but something urgent came up and I had more time to prepare. I looked over a lot of technical notes but also read several "job interviewing for dummies" ebooks. Very useful and this helped out a lot. The main point I got out of this was "ask a ton of intelligent questions."

Unlike the last interview (stress) I had, this one was an indirect interview. Very little probing of technical knowledge, mainly he wanted to see what kind of person I was and whether or not I would be a good fit for the organization. I fired back a bunch of questions as well. Hopefully he sees me as someone he can manage. My interview actually overlapped into the next candidate's time so I guess that's a good sign.

Just waiting for the job offer now ...

...and my SNOWBOARDING BOOTS! Too bad it's not possible to strangle someone over the internet...  ¶ 10:08 AM 0 comments

  New hotness The box -


The base -


The topsheet -


woot! -
  ¶ 10:38 AM 1 comments

  Free poker chips Loaned my bro $100 and he got some free poker chips from partypoker.com. Good thing he didn't lose any of my money ...

Anyways, the case must weight 100lbs, the chips are so heavy!



  ¶ 8:01 PM 1 comments

  Girls are crazy! That is all ...

no details, sorry.   ¶ 2:22 PM 0 comments

  Dear BCS ... I hate you.  ¶ 3:34 AM 0 comments

  AMBAR HAS A GIRL throw it down big man, throw it down ...

j/k but well done Jesus Shuttlesworth.   ¶ 7:54 PM 0 comments

  Bought a snowboard. Was pretty crazy yesterday night. Basically found a good "buy-it-now" deal on Ebay, but was playing phone tag all night with my lil bro who was at Ski-Dazzle. I wanted him to confirm that there wasn't a better deal out there before I bit the bullet and shelled out the cash. Once he finished his recon work and assertained that no Customs were at the show, I bought it.

So my rig cost me in the neighborhood of $600. :p Yeah yeah. Way too much but I can live with it. I'll take some pictures of my setup before I ding it up on the slopes.

My bro got a good rig too. Basically bought the same shit, just a grade lower. Northwave boots, Drake supersport bindings, Burton Clash. He's pretty savvy, trading in his lift-ticket which lowered his cost to $400. Now we can board together!

Now addicted to apple cidar, keep buying those Martinelli bottles. Should grab some Apple Sidra next time I go to 99, cheaper.

Stopped playing HL2 for now, it was making me sick to my stomach. I'm not the only one - link. I lose interest in games real fast nowadays. Pro Evo 4 is fun tho, especially playing on LAN w/ my bro.

And lastly... yah Cal. Never watched a game while I was there, but now they're my team! heheheh, j/k. Must reiterate, BCS is stupid. Dunno how these coaches agreed to allow a COMPUTER PROGRAM to decide their fate. As any programmer knows, there are prolly a ton of bugs. Voting is stupid too, a playoff system is the only true way to decide who the national champion is.   ¶ 11:05 PM 0 comments

  :) Good day for me today... I got my snowboard boots! Internet deals are always dicey, but if this guy cons me I will jack him with negative feedback. Pretty happy about that, now I just need a board.

When I went the bank to deposit money, place was completely packed. Never seen that many people there. Anyways, my teller happened to be the "incredible-hot-girl you were lucky to get since the rest of the tellers are either guys or 60-year old grandmas." The kind of girl that makes you want to hit the gym, change your life, etc etc. Yeah, very inspirational, they have no idea what kind of power they wield. Or maybe they do ...

Yawn, time for a nap.  ¶ 7:47 PM 0 comments

  my mom... hehe so annoying and funny at the same time. My mom has this thing about saying exactly what is on her mind while watching a movie. Like "oooh he's a bad guy." More often then not it's a question about something she doesn't get.

After watching Sixth Sense she asks "So .... the wife was a ghost?"

After watching Collateral I asked her what she learned from the movie. Response: "Nightclubs are scary!"


  ¶ 11:01 PM 0 comments

  Greasy chicken! Just ate a bunch of KFC. Yeah I know, I resolved to eat healthy. However, co-worker treated everyone and I was basically forced to eat at gunpoint. Really.

I prolly took 5 years off my life :(  ¶ 2:18 PM 0 comments

  Snowboards ... Recently my thoughts have been obsessed w/ snowboard gear... this has to be resolved soon. So I can get back to my normal routine of thinking about girls 99% of the time.

I lost out on a couple auctions on Ebay by bidding too early (per my younger brother advice: ARGH!). Inquiries to CL classifieds have been ignored. I only have two weeks left to scratch something up, otherwise Mammoth is no go. On the other hand I guess I could borrow some gear again, but that wouldn't be as cool. I also need someone to drive down with otherwise I'll (a) be bored as hell, (b) become sleepy and require poking.

I WILL buy a board if it's the last thing i do!  ¶ 11:21 AM 0 comments