What's been up with me?
Last weekend
Danny and Cal think it's funny that I write about my previous weekend on the following Thursday or Friday. Ah well.
On Saturday morning, hit up the De Anza flea market with a few folks... first one I've visited in quite a while. Typically I like getting stuff like used CDs and used books... usually there's this pretty large CD vendor at the flea market who sells used CDs for around $7 each. He typically has a pretty good selection. I was specifically looking for either of the two CDs by Lifehouse (No Name Face and Stanley Climbfall), U2 (The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby), and perhaps some stuff by Gershwin. As it turned out, the regular CD vendor wasn't there... sadness. However, there were a few other vendors, and so I was able to pick up both Stanley Climbfall and the Joshua Tree.
After the flea market we went to Sushi Boat in Saratoga, part of Westgate Mall. Talk about a revival... a few years back, that entire area of Saratoga was a barren wasteland. Then, a large movie theater (AMC Saratoga 14) got built, a few big-name stores (REI, Target) moved in, and all of a sudden Westgate Mall is a happening place to be. That's probably a blueprint that dead shopping centers (read: Vallco) need to follow... beg, steal, borrow some way to get a major movie theater to move into your area. On a side note, it's kind of funny that since Westgate has several discount stores (Ross, Burlington Coat Factory, Nordstrom Rack), there's a huge percentage of Asians that frequent the mall.
Anyway, back to Sushi Boat. Apparently George discovered relatively recently that right now the place is having a special where each plate of nigiri sushi is priced at $2 each, regardless of the type of fish (the fancy rolls go for $4 each). So, armed with a 20% off coupon that my aunt thoughtfully provided a few days ago, we sat down at the bar and patiently watched the boats float by, waiting for particularly fresh-looking pieces of fish. I ended up having 4 plates (8 pieces) of salmon nigiri, plus 2 of California rolls and one more that I can't seem to remember. The quality of the salmon was actually pretty good.
Later that night, bunch of us got together at Byron/Jerry/Ted's place in Mtn View to cook dinner - some good old-fashioned Mac and Cheese with salad and some sausage. Reminded me of the college days where John and I would get some Kraft Mac and Cheese, supplement the relatively meager amount of pasta in the box with some fresh macaroni, augment the amount of cheese with loads of fresh cheddar, and chow down. Afterward, we sat around talking and choreographing dance moves to "the Jerry" - coming soon to a dance floor near you!
Sunday night, we had an impromptu bday bash for Drew Wu, marked by some relatively rowdy picture taking and dogpiles. Good stuff.
This week
- Been listening to the Stanley Climbfall album in the car for most of the week. Initial reactions - good music, melodic rock in the vein of Creed/Pearl Jam, and lead singer Jason Wade has a very resonant voice. One significant annoyance that I had during the first few listens was that periodically during certain sections of singing, it's nearly impossible to make out the lyrics that are being sung. I've read through a few of the lyrics in the CD booklet, and they're actually very insightful and poetic. If only we could understand them upon casual listen...
- Saw the doctor on Wednesday re: my arm injuries and concerns over carpal tunnel... he put me through some strength/pain tests on my hands, an dbasically said that I need to be doing some light exercises to re-build up my forearm muscles (particularly the ones that control the fingers). So, I've been working on a Gripmaster (that JPoon gave me a few years ago) and I played ball Thusday for the first time in a few weeks. Didn't do as badly as I thought I would... hit a few jumpers and had something like 7 blocks. Still felt kind of slow though.
- Watched the 2nd half of the Lakers-Kings game on Thursday night. While many of my friends know me as a Lakers-hater, truth be known, I really have nothing against the Lakers as a franchise. They've generally been pretty classy and respectable. I really have a problem with Shaq. Take Shaq off that team and I don't have much animosity towards them whatsoever - well, aside from the smug arrogance of some of their fans :-) (y'all know I'm just playing). As a basketball fan, for that matter, I really enjoy watching Kobe Bryant play. In the 3rd quarter, Kobe took over and for approximately a 15 minute stretch, played almost flawless basketball. Hit every open jumper, set up teammates with passes in rhythm for open looks at 3s, played good team defense, and had a back-breaking dunk in the 4th where he crossed over on Bobby Jackson, took off outside the key and dunked it. Great display of basketball.
With that said... Go Spurs! for the #1 seed in the West, and Go Warriors! to somehow miraculously make the playoffs this year!
- Stayed up till 2 am on Tuesday finishing Tolstoy's Confessions. Will write some more about it in a future post.
- Giants are on a ROLL.
Last weekend
Danny and Cal think it's funny that I write about my previous weekend on the following Thursday or Friday. Ah well.
On Saturday morning, hit up the De Anza flea market with a few folks... first one I've visited in quite a while. Typically I like getting stuff like used CDs and used books... usually there's this pretty large CD vendor at the flea market who sells used CDs for around $7 each. He typically has a pretty good selection. I was specifically looking for either of the two CDs by Lifehouse (No Name Face and Stanley Climbfall), U2 (The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby), and perhaps some stuff by Gershwin. As it turned out, the regular CD vendor wasn't there... sadness. However, there were a few other vendors, and so I was able to pick up both Stanley Climbfall and the Joshua Tree.
After the flea market we went to Sushi Boat in Saratoga, part of Westgate Mall. Talk about a revival... a few years back, that entire area of Saratoga was a barren wasteland. Then, a large movie theater (AMC Saratoga 14) got built, a few big-name stores (REI, Target) moved in, and all of a sudden Westgate Mall is a happening place to be. That's probably a blueprint that dead shopping centers (read: Vallco) need to follow... beg, steal, borrow some way to get a major movie theater to move into your area. On a side note, it's kind of funny that since Westgate has several discount stores (Ross, Burlington Coat Factory, Nordstrom Rack), there's a huge percentage of Asians that frequent the mall.
Anyway, back to Sushi Boat. Apparently George discovered relatively recently that right now the place is having a special where each plate of nigiri sushi is priced at $2 each, regardless of the type of fish (the fancy rolls go for $4 each). So, armed with a 20% off coupon that my aunt thoughtfully provided a few days ago, we sat down at the bar and patiently watched the boats float by, waiting for particularly fresh-looking pieces of fish. I ended up having 4 plates (8 pieces) of salmon nigiri, plus 2 of California rolls and one more that I can't seem to remember. The quality of the salmon was actually pretty good.
Later that night, bunch of us got together at Byron/Jerry/Ted's place in Mtn View to cook dinner - some good old-fashioned Mac and Cheese with salad and some sausage. Reminded me of the college days where John and I would get some Kraft Mac and Cheese, supplement the relatively meager amount of pasta in the box with some fresh macaroni, augment the amount of cheese with loads of fresh cheddar, and chow down. Afterward, we sat around talking and choreographing dance moves to "the Jerry" - coming soon to a dance floor near you!
Sunday night, we had an impromptu bday bash for Drew Wu, marked by some relatively rowdy picture taking and dogpiles. Good stuff.
This week
- Been listening to the Stanley Climbfall album in the car for most of the week. Initial reactions - good music, melodic rock in the vein of Creed/Pearl Jam, and lead singer Jason Wade has a very resonant voice. One significant annoyance that I had during the first few listens was that periodically during certain sections of singing, it's nearly impossible to make out the lyrics that are being sung. I've read through a few of the lyrics in the CD booklet, and they're actually very insightful and poetic. If only we could understand them upon casual listen...
- Saw the doctor on Wednesday re: my arm injuries and concerns over carpal tunnel... he put me through some strength/pain tests on my hands, an dbasically said that I need to be doing some light exercises to re-build up my forearm muscles (particularly the ones that control the fingers). So, I've been working on a Gripmaster (that JPoon gave me a few years ago) and I played ball Thusday for the first time in a few weeks. Didn't do as badly as I thought I would... hit a few jumpers and had something like 7 blocks. Still felt kind of slow though.
- Watched the 2nd half of the Lakers-Kings game on Thursday night. While many of my friends know me as a Lakers-hater, truth be known, I really have nothing against the Lakers as a franchise. They've generally been pretty classy and respectable. I really have a problem with Shaq. Take Shaq off that team and I don't have much animosity towards them whatsoever - well, aside from the smug arrogance of some of their fans :-) (y'all know I'm just playing). As a basketball fan, for that matter, I really enjoy watching Kobe Bryant play. In the 3rd quarter, Kobe took over and for approximately a 15 minute stretch, played almost flawless basketball. Hit every open jumper, set up teammates with passes in rhythm for open looks at 3s, played good team defense, and had a back-breaking dunk in the 4th where he crossed over on Bobby Jackson, took off outside the key and dunked it. Great display of basketball.
With that said... Go Spurs! for the #1 seed in the West, and Go Warriors! to somehow miraculously make the playoffs this year!
- Stayed up till 2 am on Tuesday finishing Tolstoy's Confessions. Will write some more about it in a future post.
- Giants are on a ROLL.
posted by Bob at
12:14 AM
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