¿ù¿äÀÏ ¾Æħ: monday, monday...   the weekend's over, n' most'f the snow on the san joseacute; mountains has melted or washed 'way (cos'f rain).   4 1 wknd, the sobay mtns were a winter wonderland.   this past wknd was magical.   i still haven't posted up pix'f sooni n' me in the snow; but i shall soon.   it's just that i'm in the process'f clearing all my personal files off my werk.com laptop in case i gotta get a new 1 or whatever.   it's a bit'f a messy task.   man, 'twas a fun wknd, i've gotta say, n' 'twas also surprisingly produktive n' relaxing/refreshing.   can u believe that?!   yes, 'twas!

• 03.10, ±Ý
• werk... lots'f werk... in fakt, a bit'f a stressful_day@werk.com; had a big mtg, which had some nice snacks...
• grx t3s couples bible study small group movie nite
• 1 couple was in charge'f pickin' up a big, family.size togo's #9 pastrami sandwich.   the rest'f us were to bring some drinks or other snacks.
• since i was stuck_late@werk.com, i drove from werk to the movie nite w/o stopping by home.   however, i went to albertsons to pick up some drinks 4 the movie nite n' then some other gro¢eries.   i overshot the host couples' home's freeway exit on 101 on purpose to exit @ blossom hill rd / monterey rd by my mom's office to go to albertsn's.   aktually, i wasn't sure if i was gonna go to evil wal*mart or albertsons but ended up @ albertsons.   i bought some "simply orange" ¿À·»Áö Á꽺 oreinji jyooseu, some 8th continent fat.free soy milk, some cholesterol.free (i think) egg substitute, some albertsons brand grape.nuts... nething else?   i 4get.
• then i returned up (north) on 101 just an exit or so to the host couple's house.   they have a beautiful house on a hill.   personally, tho' i prefer living in a more cnetral location like where the beautiful kaela hwang n' i currently live.   the turnout 4 the movie nite was surprisingly small as many ppl cancelled @ the last min.   as i didn't have access to my e.mail all afternoon, i didn't know.
• we watched timeline.   we picked that over lost in translation cos i'd cn last in translation.   honestly, i was a li'l disappointed w/ lost in translation but maybe only cos it was so hyped up as an oscar winner.   i snacked on microwaved popcorn.   i've been eating 2 much lately.   i was pleasantly surprised by timeline.   i think the casting'f paul walker in the lead role worried me b4, making me think it'd be an mtvish the fast n' the furious on horses or sumpthin'.   i didn't realise 'twas a michael chricton book, but as i watched the movie i totally sensed 'twas based on a book cos the movie just so obviously ached to tell details that were left out in the movie.   the host husband made some chocolate.dipped mangoes, strawberries , n' bananas !
• after the movie n' after eating some choco.dipped fruit, i carefully drove home in the rain.
• 03.11, Åä
• woke up early but not as early as i wished.
• jogged w/ sooni 'round the neighbourhood, waving hi to some woman in this old.ladies' hair salon.   she always waves hi.
• kaela had some chiropraktic seminar.
• i quickly drove sooni n' me up big basin way in saratoga to visit the snow.   we had plenty'f fun.   the park ranger kindly kicked us out but also took a pic 4 us, which i'll soon post.   he was very nice 'bout it.   dogs rn't allowed in the park up there.   sooni got very dirty.   it was cold but the sun came out now n' then.
• i drove back down into the valley n' took sooni to pet fud express 4 a wash.   the nice ¢a$hier woman there let me wash sooni 4 free, telling me to give her a token next time.   usually, i have rubber gloves, a rubber brush, n' stuff w/ me but not this time.   i took off much'f her shedding fur.   the whole time, i had to go pee so badly, so rt after the wash, i used the bathrm, leaving sooni's leash hanging out the bathrm door.   it was an odd situation cos this mobile pet vaccination clinic was setup rt outside the bathrm, so well... like... yah, that's weird.   sooni's so well.behaved tho'. :-) then i bought sooni some ymmmy chummies, n' we left.   she loves yummy chummies.
• after that, i picked kaela up 4 her lunchbrk, n' we ate @ taxi's diner in the mercado.   the restaurant's better than i'd remembered.   i chose it cos it has outdoor seating n' a buy 1 get 1 free ¢oupon in the gift checks book.   in the end, cos'f the cold weather, we ate inside, n' left sooni tied to a chair outside.   she was very well.behaved!   i ate a mushroom swiss burger, n' kaela had a grilled chicken baked potato.   we shared a large order'f onion rings.   un4tunately, i've taken a liking 'gain to red meat, 2 much'f a likng.   i've gotta cut back on my intake'f red meat, if u ask me! *sigh* the meal was great.   an employee came 'round n' distributed sweepstakes cards.   i won a buy 1 get 1 free ¢oupon, n' kaela won a medium pepsi.   i guess we're going back sometime.   next time, i'll order 1'f their nice vegetaian or grilled fish sandwiches.   i recalled that teh 1st time i visited taxi's i had a grilled fish sandwich.   that was in early 2000, @ the ol' oakridge mall location.   @ the restaurant, kaela saw her classmate w/ her husband.
• i dropped off kaela @ the techmart bldg 4 her seminar, then dropped off sooni @ home.
• then, i drove up to the east bay.   @ 1st, i 4got roland's n' toby n' betty's christmas presents, so i had to return from fremont, pick 'em up, n' go back up!   crazy, huh?   neway, i saw that 880 was a parking lot, so on my 2nd trip up, i used 680 to 580 to 13.
• i drove thru the city'f berkeley to get to roland's condo.   i parked n' used the restroom @ his place.   roland was watching cal (mens) basketball on tv when i got to his place.   dude, cal bears rock!   shoot, i just read online that they lost that game to ucla. :-(
• i drove roland n' me up to the lawrence hall'f science's parking lot to get a good view'f the beautiful bay area on such a beautiful day.   ah, 'twas magnificsent!   i took some pix.
• i was curious 'bout bay st. emeryville, so i drove us down to that.   wow, i drove up, down, up, dwon on sat!   lots'f elevation change! :-)   well, bay st. emeryville's nice, not as ritzy as santana row n' w/o as much nice "hanging out" spots.   it's really crowded, n' they charge 4 parking ($1 4 0~4 hrs).   it's still kewl n' hip tho'.
• after that, roland n' i ate @ some chinese fud joint in the emeryville publik market.   the fud was just ok, but i was glad to get an affordable meal, u know?
• then we picked up toby from beckett's (a pub in berkeley) n' found phil w/ his ol' friend mike @ the oasis (an afghani restaurant).   the bunch'f us guys went to what used to be mel's diner but is now "the original burger" owned by some asian dude w/ short hair named mike.   that's how the waiter described him, so that's all i know.   i had green tea aisukuriimu n' decaf coffee.   oh yah, it's funny that the desi/indian aisukuriimu joint near our house has a sign written in bad korean that seys they have green tea aisukuriimu.
.   'twas most excellent (to use a 1980s keanu term) to hang w/ these guys in berkeley.
• after i dropped roland off, i drove home in the rain, stopping by a shell station in union city to use the bathrm n' buy a li'l bit'f overpri¢ed gas.
• 03.12, ÀÏ
• to my utmost, pleasant surprise, kaela came w/ me to church, so we went to the early service.
• afterwards, we tried to get a quick lunch, so i could go to the church town hall mtg, but a series'f wrong turns n' not.so.good traffik led us to a prolonged lunch @ the cheesecake faktory in valley fair mall.   'twas so great to spend time w/ kaela tho'.   i had this "incredible eggplant sandiwch," n' kaela had this frençch country salad.   the waitress kind'f pressured us to order drinks, so kaela got a iced mango smoothie, n' i got a tropical fruit smoothie.   i hate when servers pressure u to order more, but i knew the restaurant was crowded, n' thus we were occupying valuable seats.
• after lunch, we strolled thru valley fair.   luckily, i didn't buy nething.   phew.
• then we went home.   'twas hard not to fall asleep; but i guess i succeeded.   i pulled weeds out in front'f the house w/ sooni tied.out in front.   i figured i'd best do some yardwerk while it wasn't raining.
• later, i made a 2nd strip out 4 the day:
• santa clara costco to buy gas... from afar, saw mike yee there w/ his family.
• milpitas mccarthy ranch's evil wal*mart to buy some men's nivea facial cleanser 4 myself n' some aveeno calamine creame 4 kaela
• sunnyvale's orchard supply to buy a plumbers snake 4 our shower drain n' a made.in.china 4" adjustable wrench to keep in my car 4 snowboard/skateboard stuff.   man, amerikan tools r 2 much more expen$ive than chinese 1s. *sigh* hand tools were 20% off n' the weekend was a no sales tax wknd.
• trader joe's: i'd parked in the trader joe's lot n' walked over to osh.   @ tj's, i bought some blueberries, some flax seed tortilla chips, some tiger's milk bars, some anti.oxidant trail mix, some frozen burritos, n' this pack'f frozen naan that i was embarrassed to buy in front'f desis.
• upon my return home, i used the plumber's snake to unclog the shower drain.
• then i did dishes n' cooked some Ä®±¹¼ö kalgooksoo 4 dinner.
• kaela n' i watched the final episode'f kbs's drama ¿þµù wedding, n' i then fell asleep soon after a shower.   i'm glad i went to bed early last nite.

this morn, i woke up early to take out the trash n' burn pix from my laptop to dvd.

ad: $10 off $75 @ footlocker march ~ april 2006 - use promotion code: LKS163M7

[later] ¿ÀÈÄ: a return to fitness? - i hope so.   during my lunchbrk 2day, i werked out in the werk.com gym.   ah, doesn't that feel good?   yes, it does.   i lifted just a li'l, then did precor (elliptical trainer) 4 20 mins, then stretched n' did abwerk 4 a while.   i've had back probs lately, so it felt good to do some core area stretching exercises.   this is my self.prognosed, self.diagnosed, self.prescribed physical therapy.   diy.   *sigh* ppl've sed that's how healthcare n' dental care has become, rt?   self.medication, etc.   well, heh... that's not a topik 4 me to discuss.   kaela'll talk 'bout it w/ u, but i won't.   after my werkout n' shower, i microwaved leftover chinese fud from chef lee's on thurs nite.   the leftover orange chicken sure tasted unhealthy: all that fried breading.   oh well...   i've gotta watch my fat n' sodium intake, u know.   i feel out'f shape from my wk'f inaktivity last wk.

on sat, while driving, i aimed my camerafon @ myself n' recorded a video diary'f sorts.   maybe someday i'll share it w/ u, maybe i won't.   however, i basical just gave a narrative rundown'f what i'd done on sat up until that pt in the afternoon.   that's what i do here in text.   i watched myself in the video.   how do i sound?   do i really talk like a calisurferboy?   back in hi skool, i 1nce had a substitute princeton review instruktor from harvard.   as soon as we started conversing, he was literally taken aback, n' he sed i had such a strong cali4nian accent.   that comment surprised me so much.   he then explained that he was so used to boston n' bostonian accents.   i asked him what a cali4nian accent is, n' he sed it was like surferish n' all.   oh, ok.   well, i guess i have a thick cali4nian accent.   do u think i do?

no hip hip hip hip hip, no hippie chick: over a decade 'go, a eurodance femme duo called soho made a r&bish, grooveish, club dance track called "hippie chick."   the song used a sample'f the beginning of the smiths' popular hit "how soon is now?" as its essential substrate.   i later learned that the widely recognised sound in that smiths clip was generated by smiths guitarist johnny marr's rhythymically oscillating the volume knob'f his guitar.   "got no flowers for your gun, no hippie chick.   won't make love to change your mind, no hippie chick." - some lyrics from soho's song "hippie chick"   i always figured the song was 'bout a situation where a casting direktor or musik producer is rejekting a female applicant cos she's 2 much'f a "hippie."   *shrug*   i'm not sure.   neway, when i was doing my 1st engineering co.op, @ ebmud, during my undergrad college yrs; a cowerker/mentor/friend'f mine there explained the diff btwn beatniks n' hippies.   he sed altho' beatniks n' hippies r both kind'f political n' "liberal," beatniks r smart whereas hippies rn't.   lately, as i find myself feeling @ home @ whole fuds, trader joe's, n' in berkeley, i worry that i'm 2 much hippie n' not 'nuff beatnik, under those definitions.   am i this free spirit that's a rebel w/o a cause or brain?!   i hope not.   i'd rather 'least be an eco.hunk! ha ha ha.   (simpsons joke/reference...)   when i told kaela last nite that i enjoy being @ places like @ whole fuds n' trader joe's cos they're environments that make me feel like i can be who i am; she laffed.   'pparently, i'm already 2 ordinary n' can fit in in ne middle.class, suburban supermarket.   it's like when ned flanders tries to freak out maude by not trimming his moustache, but maude just sez he's "ol "silly.billy" ned:

Maude:   Where have you been, Neddy?
Ned:   In the bathroom ... not trimming my moustache!   What do you think?   Do I remind you of troubled troubadour David Crosby?
Maude:   No. You remind me of silly-billy Ned Flanders!
[Maude and the kids laugh]
Ned   Would a "silly-billy" sit like this?
[pulls up a chair and sits in it backward, causing his back to emit a cracking noise]
Maude:   Rod, call Dr. Stein.
plz visit http://www.snpp.com/episodes/AABF06 4 the full transcript.