Back

Yes, I'm back. I'm not really sure how to articulate some of the thoughts that have been floating in my skull. That's probably why I've left the title of this post as bland and uninteresting as it could possibly be.

Well, let's see...

I've been working at the same job in Petaluma, blending some of my multimedia skills with that of my military backround. I like my work environment. The people I work with are cool and the galley is awesome. On top of that, everyday, I get to experience the sight of what one source has mentioned was one of the most beautiful views in the world: the 101 stretch before the Golden Gate Bridge going back into the City from Marin. Of course, I'm way too scared to take a picture while I'm driving. It's way too narrow and winding as it is. I'll probably run some tourist off the road! The only bad side to my commute is that its an hour going northbound and its an hour-and-twenty going south. Whatever the case, in this economy, I really can't complain. It is a blessing.

I've also been learning Chinese on my own. I already speak nominal Cantonese but I'm also trying to learn Mandarin as well. Yup, I'm using grid paper to practice my characters and I'm using flash cards to work on the memorization. However, with my crazy schedule, commitments, and my long commute it's hard to put that much continuous effort into it. None the less, I hope I keep it up. I want to be able to pick up a newspaper and read it.

On another note, Facebook is awesome! It might be the greatest thing in the world since fire, the wheel, sliced bread, AND Tivo! I've had all kinds of people from different places and periods in my life find me (sometimes I find them). It's nice to see that folks are still out there doing well. It can be a nice trip down memory lane sometimes.

Oh yeah, we had a Presidential inauguration not too long ago. Pretty slick, eh?

I've been requested by a full-bird to go to Korea to do my photo/video thing over there. Might be a 30+ day gig. We'll see if orders actually come through.

Daylight savings is lame.

I guess I'll conclude this posting. laters...

Updates of the Late Summer

Ok, looks like it’s high time I blog now. Man, things have been so busy at work that I just don’t have the time write anything meaningful in the blog. Well, let’s see. Since the last time, there’s been a flurry of changes here and there. For starters, I bought a huge TV and mounted it to my living room wall. It’s a Philips 47” LCD. Honestly, I have never owned a television with a screen so large. It’s so awesome. Now, the only thing that I’m debating is whether or not to spring an extra $10 onto the cable bill for HD signal. We’ll see.

Pak seems busy like me. From time to time, she’ll bring work home with her and work on it at home. In fact, she’s working on it right in front of me as I speak. Yes, we live some rather busy lives. I do sort of envy the fact that she gets to travel to different towns around the Bay Area though, it can be as far south as San Bruno, east as Oakland, and as far north as Marin County.

Also, my garage is slowing being transformed into an office/gym. More so on the former. Just this last weekend, my hunny and I went to IKEA (which is a place I’m starting to get used to) and bought 2 desks. Yes, friends, this garage is just missing the bench press set that I want. Once I find a bench I like, I’ll be back into batman, man-of-justice, ass-kicking shape. *flexes*

Saw Avenue Q at the Orpheum a few weeks ago. Very good musical. Although simple at first, it’s a very good satire on adult life as we know it. I recommend it.

Looks like the Niners look ok this year. I really mean that: Just ok.

About 2 weeks ago, the boys come over to my house to play LAN games, Command and Conquer 3, no less. In retrospect, I don’t see how 2 brutal AIs could defeat the 5 of us who were playing. Not enough coordinated offense perhaps?

I’ll stop here….for now…

Major Milestones and Things...

Unbelievable. So much much of my life has changed in recent months and I have yet to blog about it. Pardon me while I sort out everything in my cluttered mind:

Just to update for the record, we've been living in San Francisco for the past 2 months. Fun city. Expensive though.

Yesterday was Father's Day. P and I cooked for both of our fathers and hosted it at my folks house. We marinated a lot of meat for the BBQ. Good times were had by all. Of final thoughts, I'll be making a lot of bruschetta in the future. Kabobs too. I'm bummed that we didn't get to play mahjong. I also kinda miss video games.

Paul and Leeya's wedding was about 3 weeks ago. Man, it was a beautiful wedding. I was glad to help out in the reception. That was cool. We all pitched in. It was great.

We bought a condo in Daly City and we are nearing the final stages of our escrow period. In fact, the final walk-through inspection is tonight. Good times. Now to see if we can get out of our apartment a bit earlier. Hopefully we can pro-rate some of the rent back to us. We'll see. I'm very excited about the new place, though. It may be small, but IT IS OURS!

Seems like P is settling into her job really well. She works in the heart of the Financial district near the B of A building. For those of you who aren't sure which one that is, it's the large, dark monolithic rectangular building that is as inherent to the skyline as the pyramid. She's lucky. She probably has access to some of the best lunch place in the city, well within walking distance.

I'm leaving my job for a non-profit in South SF. I start in almost two weeks. It's slightly less money but the staff seem to be a good bunch to work with. I'm hoping for the best. My current boss isn't too terribly happy about this but this is the common story for all of us transitioning.

I was promoted last month. 1LT is a nice rank since you're just below a CPT and no longer have the perception that you're an inexperienced officer (despite whatever you've done in the past). It's funny though. I don't really feel any different. I guess it's just a matter of perception.

My semi-annual qualifier is next month. I hope I do ok. Although I'm a decent shot most of the time, I worry because I haven't been training very much with all of the changes happening.

Last week, I saw a 2 kids (perhaps 4-5th grade) skate by us at Foster's Freeze while waiting for the signal to turn on Taylor. Clearly, school was out. One of the kids looked chinese and had a bowl haircut. It was hot that day too. I kinda miss being a kid. I love warm weather and not having a care in the world (until september, that is). I couldn't help but smile at the sight of that. Actually, I tend to smile a lot more during the summer months since it elicits all kinds of nice imagery from my childhood. Good times, they were.

It's not greed. I'm just curious what we must do to get money. A lot of it, that is. Thoughts, anyone?

Catching up with Blogging

Man, it's been a very long time since I've written. It's gotten to the point where it's no longer part of any kind of routine. thus, I completely forget at times that I even have a blog. Well, what I could do is go over everything that I've been doing up to this point.

You might say that 2007 is the year of the wedding for my friends and I. It started with ours in mid-February down in Southern California. It was a tad stressful leading up to it. However, the wedding turned out much better than we expected it. The ceremony went by without a hitch on that beautiful sunny morning. Then it was onward to the reception at Lawry's. The lunch was good and everything. However, what really made me nervous was the dance number that we had worked out. We were dancing to the Frank Sinatra tune of You Make me Feel so Young. We made a good number of mistakes on our routine. However, people applauded all the same. Some people even went to say that it was "perfect!" If only they knew.

After the lunch reception, the wedding celebration was over. However the day wasn't over for us as we had another celebration with the gathering of both of our families for a Chinese New Year celebration in Monterey Park. After another wedding celebration at her church the next morning, we were gathering our last minute things for our honeymoon in sunny Hawaii.

We went to Hawaii to embark on our cruise. We first went to Hilo, spent 2 days in Maui, we spent one day in Kona, and then 2 days on Kauai before going back to Honolulu to fly back to Cali. Maui was my favorite as we got to snorkel and see a lot of the aquatic wildlife. Of course, the 50 minute tube rafting down the river in Kauai was über cool too.

I'll write some more soon...