<center>2006.03.06</center> <a name="benomeetshismatch"><h3>beno meets his match.</h3></a> <p>월요일 아침: 즐거운 월요일 happy monday. i had a bit'f a snowboarding "accident" on the slopes'f sugar bowl on saturday, so my back's really sore. i'll hopefulyl get 'round to telling u the whole macho story later. this morn, i found a kewl link to a kewl story on <a href="http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=edg176" target="new">tim fong's xanga</a>: <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/02/24/DDGA2HCOD818.DTL" alt="new"><font face="times new roman" color="black">"Forget the white-bread '80s MTV. Now MTV Chi and other outlets cater to Asian Americans"</font></a> by jeff chang of <i>can't stop, won't stop</i> (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/02/24/DDGA2HCOD818.DTL). this article mentions an mtv.asia show called <i>d.tour</i>. have u ever heard'f that? i hadn't. here's a link: <a href="http://www.mtvasia.com/Onair/Shows/D-Tour/index.html" target="new"><font face="times new roman" color="black">mtv.asia d.tour</font></a> (http://www.mtvasia.com/Onair/Shows/D-Tour/index.html). it's apparently a reality show that takes a bunch'f latin.american n' asian "supermodels" n' puts them on a roadtrip. hrm, i can't imagine that <i>not</i> being a big hit w/ the <a href="http://www.bjunkyard.com" target="new">bronx's junkyard</a> crowd. dude, have u ever heard'f the rock grp putnam hall?! here's their website: <a href="" target="new">http://www.putnamhallmusic.com/</a>(http://www.putnamhallmusic.com/) dude, we should check out their stuff, man. frickin' a; the lead guitarist / vocalist lillard's bio(graphy) sez he's from "university frickin high." dude, that's the irvine skool that gave hi skool diplomans to a whole mess'f my friends, prehaps most notably philip huang, esq. so <i>s'pposedly</i> mtv's taking note'f the young asian.am market. well, we'll c. here's a qusetion to ponder: <font face="comic sans ms" color="#550077">is it rt that mtv's asian.am pursuits segregate by ethnicity, or should they take a more pan.asian.am approach?</font> <i>that</i>'s a great question, if i don't say so myself. ha ha ha. i've always been <i>more</i>'f a proponent'f the pan.asian.am ethnic identity, but i face quite a bit'f opposition n' have learned that u can't necessarily <i>force</i> sumpthin' to go, u know? [later] i think it's great that "jin da mc" has become such an asian.am hero. 2 bad "mainstream" amerika didn't receive him as well. if u ask me, it just goes to show how racist amerika still is, in gen'l. oh well. <p>[later] on fi nite, i went to our <font color="#ff9900"><a href="http://www.grx.org" target="new">grx</a></font> t3s mtg. 1'f the wives in our group mentioned that she found my journal from a <a href="http://www.google.co.kr" target="new"><font color="blue">g</font><font color="red">o</font><font color="yellow">o</font><font color="blue">g</font><font color="green">l</font><font color="red">e</font></a> of our church's name (or <i>nick</i>name / abbreviation) "grx". she sed she sometimes reads my journal when she's bored. i s'ppose it's sometimes funny when ppl i know "confess" that they read my journal cos sometimes they sound like they're worried that i'll be mad or sumpthin'. otherwise, maybe they think i'll be embarassed. well, honestly, sometimes i <i>might</i> be a li'l embarassed or maybe flattered... *shrug* i'm not sure. however, i've <i>always</i> sed that my journal is <u>an open letter to my friends n' family</u>. consider it more like a mass e.mail w/o the spam faktor. <u><i>don't</i> consider it a secret diary!</u> it's not. does it cm like i'm <i>2</i> "candid" or "frank" here? <tt>:-/</tt> *shrug* perhaps sometimes i am; i'm not sure. i s'ppose i 2 often simply "think aloud" here. neway, the friend who sed she read my journal also mentioned that she found mostly xangas, blogs, etc. when she <a href="http://www.google.co.kr" target="new"><font color="blue">g</font><font color="red">o</font><font color="yellow">o</font><font color="blue">g</font><font color="green">l</font><font color="red">e</font></a>d up "grx," n' i replied that it's great to c such proof that the church has touched so many lives so intimately. i really meant that. <p>well, on sat morn, i woke up early to take my cowerkers up the 80 to sugar bowl. the morning commute was just a li'l rough but has been worse on other days. we stopped by the fairfield mcyukyuk's to get some brkfast. we didn't really hit traffik till the mtns where there was some holdup cos'f chain check 4 the big rigs. it had dumped (snowed) earlier, but the roads were clear 4 us. we fit 5 ppl into my subaru forester. un4tunately, i had to use the bathrm so badly, while i was stuck in traffik. i tried to use a gas station's bathrm, 1 stop 'way from norden (where sugar bowl is), but the line was waaay 2 long. i held it n' stopped @ gas station @ the norden exit. that bathrm was occupied 4 a long time, so both i n' 1'f my passengers chose to do the natural thing instead. when we arrived @ sugar bowl, i hstily took a parkign spot on the mt. disney / village lodge / gondola side, which later turned out to be a bit'f a mistake. on my last trip to sugar bowl, i'd parked on the mt. judah side, which would've been better. neway, sugar bowl was superpowdery. sure, that's s'pposed to be a good thing; but i prefer <i>groomed</i> <font color="black">black diamond</font> runs. neway, i rode plenty'f powder n' moguls the whole day. the beautiful <a href="http://www.realestatesforcharity.com" target="new">kaela hwang</a> would be glad she wasn't riding w/ me. on my last run'f the day... whoo! i made a bad decision! going "off.piste" as i had done on an earlier run, into dangerous, cliff territory, as i had done on an earlier run, i 1st got stuck in deep, deep powder 4 'least 10 mins. my board's totally <i>not</i> a powder board but really more'f a park/pipe board. when i <i>finally</i> swam my way out'f the powder, i boarded a while thru moguls only to find myself in front of sugar bowl's most beautiful n' probably most dangerous, rocky cliff , this narrow, ice squeeze btwn 2 rocks on the "two sisters" <font color="black">double black diamond</font> area. whoa! i saw all the "skull n' crossbones" danger n' liability signs. i sat 4 a few minutes n' honestly just prayed to god. lemme tell u: i <i>knew</i> i was gonna get hurt but that it was just a matter'f <i>minimising</i> the damage. eventually, i started down the dangerous but short descent. getting nervous, i turned onto my back edge. yah, i know i should never use edges on ice, but it's un4tunately still my instinkt to try to use my edge to slow myself down when i'm in danger.... it's like braking in ur car on an icy road. don't do it. well, my edge wasn't doing ne good n' i was building up speed. luckily, i slid in btwn the 2 dangerous rocks ok. then, all'f the sudden i was free.falling. shoot! cos'f the steep, steep slope, i didn't know that the ice, snow, n' land all disappeared. i fell like 4~5 feet off this cliff n' landed on my butt, luckily on powder. my torso folded 4ward, n' i heard some loud cracks from my spine. i the impakt had knocked my goggles down from my helmet, n' i found them 'round my neck, filled w/ snow. well, i was thankful to be alive. honestly, i was also thankful that barely ne1 had cn me fall. i mean, if i was incapcitated, i would've been glad that ppl could've called 4 help. however, being as vain as i un4tunately am, i guess i was glad no 1 saw me fall. neway, i still had to get down the mtn, so i got back on my board n' weaved thru moguls n' finished the run n' made it back to the bottom to meet up w/ my cowerkers. i was exhausted. on our way home, we stopped @ the auburn marie callendar's 4 dinner. my coweker shark helped drive. <p>on sun, i woke up early but not as early as usual. i walked sooni n' did laundry b4 church. .. . [interrupted] <ul>some plumbing tips i found online: <li><font face="times new roman" color="black">Good morning Nate, I've never seen a shower drain that had a screen that was located under the chrome strainer so I don't think that's your problem. Every blockage that I have cleared in a shower has been caused by a buildup of hair mixed with grease from the soap. I'm going to give you several options. One easy and the other "surefire". I don't use nor do I recomend using harsh chemicals to clear a drain. Having said that, tonight pour 1/2 gallon of bleach down the drain and let it set overnight. Next morning flush it out with 2 large pans of boiling water. The bleach will loosen the clog up and make it slippery. The boiling water, (and this is important) will melt the grease and allow the clog to flush out into the main.<br> If that don't do it, you can do it the way I clear all my clogs. Purchase a plumbers snake and run it down the drain, past the trap and out untill the clog clears. TIP: To know when I've cleared the clog and if it's plugged solid I run some water in the shower pan just enough to bring it to the top of the drain. Then when the clog clears the water goes "whoosh" and you know you've got it. Hope this helps and thank you for rating my reply. Tom</font></li> <ul><li>http://experts.about.com/q/Plumbing-Home-1735/clogged-shower-drain.htm</li></ul> <li><font face="times new roman" color="black">Good morning Gail, I take it the toilet's flushing OK. What's happened here is that the plunger acted like a piston pump and pulled water out of your toilet bowl.<br> Most clogs in bathrooms are a combination hair mixed with grease. Your shower branch (drain pipe) has to be snaked out from the shower drain to clear the clog. Let me show you how. First remove the strainer, (TIP: put the screws in the soap dish. They will be hard to replace if they go down the drain.) Now work your snake past the trap and 6 or 7 feet beyond. When you pull the snake back it should have the hair that was clogging your shower on the auger tip. Now pour 1/4 gallon of bleach down in the trap and let it set over night. Next morning pour a few pans of boiling down the shower to flush out what's left and make your drain smell nice. Hope this helps and thank you for rating my reply. Tom</font> <ul><li>http://experts.about.com/q/Plumbing-Home-1735/CLogged-Shower-toilet.htm</li></ul></ul><br><br><br>