I bought stuff again

I met up with Uyen and Helena at Cafe de la Presse today after work. Helena showed us around her class where she's going to make me brooches. After that we went to the Apple store so I could spend the gift card my sister got for my birthday/xmas. I've been wanting the new Airport Extreme because now you can hook up an external hard drive to it and use it as a kind of server. I talked to one of the employees and he assured me that I'll have it set up before I even knew I had done it. LIES!

I unplugged my Airport Express which I've been using (it kicks ass) and plugged in the Airport Extreme. It seemed easy enough using the setup program that came with it. After going through the setup step by step, it congratulated me and said that I was set up and connected to the internet. I was able to log onto the wireless, but it had no internet connection. I tried for another 15 minutes and gave up. I plugged my Express back in and called it a day.

Damn you, Apple. I guess I'll call tomorrow and get everything in order. I'm excited to use my external drive as a server for my computers.

I'm afraid my building might get blown over today

With the constant hurricane-grade winds and the spurts of heavy downpour today, I have a feeling we're gonna be blown over and the worst part is that I'll go down with the building.

Also, Pringles Select gets a thumbs up from me. I know what parmesan rolling through a field of garlic tastes like now.

just kidding

those were my feet.

best regards,
young sebastian tran

Those were NOT my feet

My blog was hacked by evil itself.

my latest purchase

while i was out shopping for karate pants today i came across these:



i wasn't even looking for new shoes, but i found these irresistible

what do you think? i can't wait for the weather to get warmer so i can play volleyball in my new tevas!

Uh oh...

Happy new year

Happy year of the boar. Time to eat lots and collect money.

Readers, your opinion counts

I'm at a fork in the road, and you have the power to driect me in the right decision. Recently, I've been on the hunt for a garlic press, since chopping garlic is, in my opinion, yucky. I've narrowed my options down to two OXO brand presses. The first has soft rubber handles and self-cleaning. The second one has a removable plate for easy cleaning and is really nice looking. It's also more expensive.

Help me choose.



UPDATE: I went with the first choice. It looks nice, but I haven't had a chance to use it yet. Stay tuned.

I just bought a couch

I wasn't even looking for one, really. I was just clicking on links and BAM!, a couch. Supposedly it retails for $800, so it was a good deal in the end. If there was an impulse buy champion, it'd be me. Now to finish it off, a leather-bound book and a nice brown throw.

Watch for falling hearts

The Bay Area's news channel, KRON 4, calls for a partly cloudy day in the mid-60's with a chance of bubbly hearts today. I guess I'd prefer hearts than a shower of arrows.

Red Wall Series coming together

Friends, I want YOU to be part of this series. Come by and stand in front of The Wall for me. I'll bake you cookies.

My spelling is atros...atrocis...bad

I went through my entries and found a shitload of spelling and grammar errors. I really need to take advantage of Blogger's spell check (although the feature is disabled when using Safari and its limited capabilities). In my defense, I'm an immigrant who claims English as his third language.
So solly.

Fuck you, Muni

Twenty-five minutes for the 14/49 in the rain.

Consumerismingliness

There are 29 branches in the San Francisco Public Library system, most of which are easily accessible. I can reserve a book online through their website, or even request to have it transferred to the Mission branch a block away. Why then, did I spend over an hour online browsing and buying books last night?

The answer to that question is three-fold. The first and most consequential answer is that I'm materialistic. I don't necessarily like shopping, but I love to buy and own things. If my financial situation would ever allow it, I'd have a personal shopper who'd tell me what to buy and I would happily pay for it all. Second, the online shopping experience has become much too easy. Click to add to cart, another click to check out. No people, no lines, no hassles. And lastly, I like to showcase my literary prowess by displaying my books on a little shelf. My Dreamweaver MX 2004 For Dummies sits proudly next to a half-read copy of Thomas Pynchon's V.

One of my latest acquisitions:

Walking downtown

Walking in the rain listening to Leonard Cohen sing about getting head on an unmade bed is perversely romantic.

Impromptu adventure

A last minute Outdoorsy Adventure Club excursion lead to some awesome night photography. We had lots of photo ops on our extended walk starting at Pier 27, the resting place of the Queen Mary 2 during its stay in San Francisco. What kind of adventure club would we be if we didn't come out to see the largest ship to ever enter the bay? A sucky one, to be sure.

We walked along the Embarcadero, down to Fisherman's Wharf, right through Fort Mason, and ended up in the Marina. All along our route, people were gathered in scattered groups in hopes of seeing the ship go by. I think Brian might have sprayed on some tour guide pheromones that night because people kept flocking him and asking what time the ship would set sail. Katie and I were spared.

The night ended up with us cabbing back to the wharf and eating at In-N-Out. I got the usual: a Double Double, fries, and a strawberry shake. Heavy, fattening, and delicious.


Behemoth!


Alligator bread


The creepiest photo I've ever taken


QM2 slips under the bridge


Alcatraz


Awesome tree/building/bench trio


The water scares me at night

Outdoorsy Adventure Club does the tracks

Today we headed to the East Bay to Golden Gate Fields. Our mission: to win a 42" plasma TV...and cash.

Like our last adventure, it started out with Audrey threatening to not go as soon as the idea was brought up. And like last time, our transportation was a bit screwy. Last time we almost missed our ferry to Angel Island, this time our bus never showed up. Well, maybe it showed up, but we didn't know which bus line to take and where to catch it. Who knew the Transbay Terminal was so huge and strangely vacant on the weekends. Brian saved the day and got us a Prius through City Car Share.

Once there, we ate overpriced hot dogs and nachos and drank overpriced sodas. We also filled out our raffle forms, crossed our fingers and hoped we'd win one of the 8 plasma TVs they were giving away. Then, of course, we placed our bets. Today was the day I learned about the superfecta box, where I bet on the first four horses to cross the line. The cool thing about the "box" option is that I can chose all 24 combinations of the 4 placements at 10¢ a bet, totaling a cool $2.40. Katie won using this method and landed herself sixty-something big ones. Congrats, Katie. I won a couple bets and Audrey (who claimed she wasn't going to place any bets) did pretty well for herself with Mike's money. And Brian? Well, he's won in the past.

In the end, none of us won a TV (damn you Rodrigo Something of Hayward!!!), but a good time was had by all.

Week in review, plus: some future stuff

• Stressed out at work again for another pitch/book


• Designed a kick-ass logo and business card for Lee and his startup


• David nearly went banaaannas over a disgruntled client email


• Finally picked out and put together a montage of some Polaroid 669 and 665 (discontinued!!) photos taken with various Land cameras; the Polaroid group I started in 2001 on Yahoo! Groups still has people posting...though I rarely check it anymore :(


• Rediscovered Ross (the dress for less store, not the fantastic web author); they carry lots of great kitchen brands for cheap (calphalon, anonlon, pyrex, faberware, cuisinart, kitchenaid, etc.)


• Audrey deleted me from her MySpace friends, citing that I'm "evil" and my "bitchiness knows no bounds"; Brian gets off scot-free; I petition for a recount


• Redeemed and hand-picked my pound of candy from See's; I'm certain the term "like a kid in a candy store" originated there


• Tomorrow I will win a plasma TV at Golden Gate Fields; I will also win lots of money


• Come Monday, Jocelyn and I will wander the halls of Gyro aimlessly due to the week-long loss of our leader who'd rather be in Hawaii

Work in progress (top) and live and in action (bottom).

I'm a bad, bad, yucky man

It's been a while since I've seen Peter Shaffer's Equus on PBS. The part that I could never watch is when he mutilates the horses with a sickle or pick or some sharp metal...stuff. It featured a psychiatrist and his patient who diefies horses, then wants to do the hanky with their pankies.

Recently there's been talk of the new play in London starring Daniel Radcliff, aka Harry Potter. Like Hair, Equus is known for its nude scene (before and during the horse hacking), and I was kind of grossed out about the thought of Harry Potter running around naked on stage. Grossed out until recently...until I saw the promo shots. It's still kind of disturbing, and yes, I feel extremely dirrty, but I found the photos kind of hot. Sure, he's 17, but he's legal in the UK, yeah?

Ok, I've thoroughly disgust myself for the bad thoughts. But check out the awesome poster for the play. The typography is lacking, but the image is brilliant.