Slow days I no longer worry about things I used to worry about. This is a good thing.

Yes I'm being vague ...

Anyways, I've tried to compartmentalize aspects of my life as much as possible. Kinda in line with the whole "organizational motif" that I got into in the previous year. Plus I do like the fact that if I chose to do so, I'd be able to walk away from anything and still have everything in order. I still have more clutter than I'd like, and am in the process of sorting through what I really need. I do think I could fit most of what I needed into my tiny car, although my snowboard would take up way too much room.

Speaking of snowboarding, my team recently did a day trip to Northstar. Day trips are great, especially if they happen on a Wednesday. Heheh. My boss didn't mind cuz he went, and so did the big boss (formally my boss). It was great except for ... well ... the snow. There's no snow this season. Nothing like the powder that we had on 12/26/06. This meant I was gun-shy about doing jumps, and I completely botched on rail due to lack of speed. I improved speed-wise, even with my board desperately needing a wax. The hard packed snow shaved the rust off my edges which was nice. The most memorable moment was obviously people biting it hard, as well as this one black diamond with a million moguls which destroyed us. I spent most of the time in the air on that run with my back parallel to the ground. Everyone had fun and we'll definitely go again if it ever snows in Tahoe again.

(Company day trips are nice cuz someone else drives and picks up the tab for gas which will probably get redistributed somewhere.)

I finally figured out how to access my voicemail, and the first message was from EMC security asking me to call them.

Security: "We noticed you badged in at 4am and were standing outside next to a silver Lexus, SUV and a white mercedes. Several bags were moved from one car to the other."

Me: "snowboarding trip."

Security: "ok then sir you have a nice day."

Stop spying on me b**ches.

One last thing to reiterate to myself -- find yourself a teacher for everything you are interested in! (a good teacher cuz a bad one will teach you bad habits, then you are screwed because bad habits are worse than no habits ...) This came mostly from ping pong, but the other day I was in the gym and some guy taught the correct technique a few of the exercises I was doing. Good looking out bro.

I also need to occupy my time more productively in spite of the lull at work. I try but it's hard. Somebody motivate me. Nothing is worse than the feeling doing absolutely nothing the whole day. It's been happening too often for me lately, since I don't have to hide under the guise of actually doing work (working from home). And here I am blogging about not doing work :/ probably not the best idea ...  ¶ 9:16 AM 0 comments

  Edible Art by Oga's I decided to start posting pictures of my sushi exploits -- starting with the finest sushi restaurant in the states.

	Sashimi Omakase (~$28). This one is particular nice due to the color pairs. Ikura (salmon roe) or sea urchin over sashimi is exceptionally tasty.
	Sashimi Omakase $35. The presentation is always flawless, I'd say the best in the business. Seared toro is my favorite.
	Some crazy dish involving seared yellowtail chunks and potato flakes ($9).
	Salmon Tartare ($9). Has chunks of mozzerella, the sauce is soy with some garlic added.
	Iwai-Zen. New Year's special with 23 different types of Japanese food. I seemed to notice kobe beef (sashimi), black cod miso? - $30
	Kani Harumaru $7. The curved shape of this dish is stylish. The crab spring roll was good (inside was creamy) but not spectacular like everything else.
	More Sashimi Omakase. This dish cost $45!!! I suspect the large pieces of Spanish Mackerel were the main infringers. Kanpachi and toro too.
	Hamachi Uzusukuri - $12. One of my favorite dishes ever, the ponzu sauce is perfect and the dab of hotsauce adds the right amount of spicy. You must get this. Beats Nobu's yellowtail jalepeno
	More more sashimi omakase ($28). For some reason much cheaper than the previous one. Note the tiny raw oyster and sweet shrimp over grapefruit chunks. I never liked raw shrimp until Oga's.
	Green and White Tofu. Insane concoction of tofu, tuna chunks, sea urchin, salmon roe (Oga's roe is excellent, not too salty), sweet shrimp (currently in season).
	Oysters with Yuzu sauce. Set over carmelized onions and baked with mozzerella on top. Hard to tell from this crappy photo but this dish was terrific.
	Another sashimi omakase ($29). Liked the sweet shrimp which they put some sea salt on. Uni on top of toro is always killer and the cut up Aji was good.
	Blurry closeup. Damn Treo camera phone. I also had the resolution set to 320x240, instead of the standard 640x480. DOh!

Oga's is not unknown (food is rated 26 in zagat) but I always like to give this place extra recognition. That plus Oga himself is a cool guy and always very accomodating. Actually I'd rather this place maintain its identity rather than become super-mainstream like Matsuhisa. They definitely destroy all the LA restaurants I've been to, and the prices are extremely reasonable for what you get.

  ¶ 10:04 PM 0 comments

  ping pong level up Drove down to CT twice this week to play ping pong. Lack of sleep almost doomed me again, plus the fact that I left the lights on the 2nd night and had to jumpstart the rental. It got so bad I had to repeated get "high" of a small cup of wasabi to maintain alert (really clears the sinuses).

My aunt took me to a seafood place which was average at best. Too much Oga's clouding my judgment maybe. Uncle had some interesting stories as usual, he was still pissed at one of his doubles partners not moving out of the way (this was like ten years ago).

Note to self: Loop drive kills blockers.

My plane takes off just before the Colts-Ravens game, so I'm pretty pleased that I can watch the game during the flight (Jetblue!).  ¶ 9:53 PM 0 comments

  2007 arrives...

Had two sips of Corona to celebrate. Plus a lot of fluids as I caught a cold the day prior. After spending the previous week having fun at Tahoe / Reno, I REALLY REALLY NO WANNA WORK. Hence me booking some training for middle of January (hopefully the boss lets that slide).

I've also transitioned to running Vista Ultimate as my sole OS. Was dual-booting this for a couple weeks then decided to just get rid of XP. Most of the apps that I need run just fine, plus I have VMware workstation in case I need to run any legacy apps. Sure Vista has some issues here and there, but for the most part it works great. Sure UAC can be annoying at times, but the sound it makes is exactly the sound in Half Life when you gain some health. Woot! The UI touches are nice enough that it's rather jarring to go back to XP. Aero Glass is simply gorgeous.

You can see a smidgeon of my sidebar on the right. The gadgets are pretty basic but I've grown to rely on them. I'm waiting for the killer IM gadget.

The other new app I've been using a lot is OneNote 2007. Much better organizational tool than my old Excel spreadsheet. I'm a little peeved that it doesn't have the Ribbon UI, but it's got a ton of new improvements over the first version . As I've been handed more and more projects to manage, this will help me keep a handle on things.

  ¶ 4:28 PM 0 comments