dracil

Watched Pirates of the Caribbean 3 last Tuesday. Decent enough, but I stupidly did not stay past the credits, even though I had a strong feeling there was going to be an extra scene. I managed to find the clip online so I'm satisfied I guess. But if you're planning to watch PotC3, remember to stay after the credits. I went by myself for a 2PM showing so it was very empty and I had a very very good seat. Felt awkward for a bit as almost everyone else there was with someone else. But some other solo viewers came eventually. Main reason I went ahead and watched it in the theaters was that 1) I hate accidentally seeing spoilers (so the sooner I watch it, the better) and 2) my current circle of friends aren't really avid movie watchers (not social enough for them)

While there I saw the trailer for The Golden Compass. It intrigued me enough that I've been going to the Milpitas Library almost daily for the past 4-5 days and borrowed 9 books. Of the 9, I've finished one book so far (The Golden Compass), and almost finished another (an etiquette book, because Joyce had mentioned some interesting things you learn from etiquette books during my graduation dinner).

Also went to Tzu Chi on Saturday to help out with what was supposed to be a computer class for children with special needs. Instead it was more a play session, so we mostly just watched them place plastic beads on differently shaped plastic boards, and then helping them iron the beads so they're stuck together as a single shape, like a car, or a horse. Interesting experience. There's a picnic next week, and I assume the week after that will be another computer class.

Meanwhile driving lessons and job search continues. The driving instructor keeps dozing off I think. Received a response from a company that I'd very much like to work for, but my lack of interviewing experience may lessen my odds of succeeding. But maybe I'll get a lucky break (like finding that $270/month housing I had for my sophomore year in college which I found within a week or two)
Currently feeling tired

dracil

http://edge.i-hacked.com/a-ring-tone-that-adults-cannot-hear

Interesting article. I'd heard about the anti-kid device earlier.

First file is very easy for me to hear. The second file is still readily audible to my left ear but my right ear has trouble.
Currently feeling amused

dracil

Hmm, this entry disappeared into the twilight zone. Only showed in Edit entries but nowhere else. Reposting (from last night)

Tzu Chi picnic today. All vegetarian food as expected. And wow, ice cream trucks. And not just one, but several. Haven't seen those in years. Also went on freeway to get there for my driving lesson. Wasn't bad at all.

My phone usage has increased a lot in the past several days. So far, my choice of prepaid plans seems to have worked out in my favor ($1/day of usage, $0.10c/min of usage to non-Cingular users as opposed to the flat $0.25c/min to all users). Just 7 minutes of usage in a day makes the first plan better, and if there's a reason for me to use my phone in a day, I'll probably end up using it more that day. I keep fretting about accidentally dialing people though when I'm just trying to add their phone numbers. Has happened a few times but I stopped it immediately so wasn't charged.

Been trying to decide what ringtones I want to use. Haven't been able to get the MP3 ringtones to work for some reason, but WMA will work fine. While full length song ringtones are nice in theory, realistically you only get a max of 30 secs before it goes into the voice mail.

So back to ringtone choice. My idea is that a phone rings, people are already generally conditioned to frantically grab the phone, so why use some really fast-paced song? Instead, better to counter it by using a slow, soothing song (at a loud enough volume so you can hear it). It's also better for the times when you forget to turn your phone off and you were supposed to. Less embarassing.

Which meant maybe some classical music. Like Pachelbel's Canon in D. Nice song, was infatuated with it for a short while after watching My Sassy Girl because of that one scene. While looking for a good version to use, I came across this:


I've watched it at least a half dozen times now because it's that good.
Currently feeling content

dracil

So first, a great big thanks to David C. for taking me on it!

It was mainly to make sure it was satisfactory as a reception place for his wedding. We went with David's sister and mom as well. Boarding time was at 6:30, ship left at 7:00 and returned around 9:30. The particular ship was called the California Hornblower, was 3 decks, and could fit several hundred people. Every group was seated at their own table, and every seat had a dish of two prawns together in a sort of embrace (which they thought would be a nice touch for the wedding) in some green sauce and peas. There was also a bread and whipped butter. The bread and butter was good and we almost finished a second basket.

After that was a salad with feta cheese. The dressing was a bit heavy, and after a while we had the main course. Pork chops, tuna, stuffed chicken breast, and a pasta thing whose name I don't remember. Generally we were pleased with the food. I had the chicken, and very occasionally there was a taste like the roasted chicken I bought back in Thailand. Which is surprising given that I don't recall noticing that taste in other chicken food I've had over here. It ended with a fruit tart dessert that was very good. The cream and the crust felt like eating ice cream. There were also upgrades to the entree and dessert (filet mignon and some chocolate dessert) that we didn't try as they cost quite a bit extra.

There was live entertainment playing the usual dance/love songs. David and his sister went up first and broke the ice as everyone else started going up afterwards.

Sunset atmosphere was nice. It's warm enough inside (but of course very windy outside), but the candles and dim lighting could be somewhat romantic.

It actually felt a bit like the graduation boat dance event at Cal, but a bigger ship and a lot fewer people, which makes it much more enjoyable.

Oh, random note: A bird tried to land on my head before we boarded. Did my hair look like a bird's nest?
Currently feeling content

dracil

Got bitten by one of those critical driving errors. And I felt pretty confident otherwise. Subconsciously I knew something was wrong (because I could feel that where I was on the road was different from the practice runs) but it wasn't until she said to turn into the DMV before half the test had even started that I knew I'd failed.

And it's probably gonna be harder next time/longer wait because all the kids will be out of school now.
Currently feeling disappointed

dracil

Today was Sophia's birthday celebration (actual birthday was on the 11th)

So we went to Monterey Bay starting at the Fisherman's Wharf. We tried all the free clam chowder samples from different stores while we were waiting. Had lunch at the Old Fisherman's Grotto. The calamari was nice, rest of the food was okay for being a tourist place. Veggies were > seafood was the rule. I think I would've still preferred the fried combination platter though (because I generally like to try out fish and chips at these types of places, which was included) but we didn't end up getting it.

Then we went to the Aquarium. Saw some stuff I missed last time with my parents, including more time with the otters. But some of the people missed a jellyfish section. And would've loved to go into the aviary but it was closed (at 6PM) before we noticed it.

Split up after that, some people were going to do 17-mile drive but it was closed already (they close at 7:30). Our car decided to stay at Cannery Row where we looked at the Ghirardelli there and then we had some dippin' dots. Eventually the others came and we looked for a relatively cheap place for dinner and ate at Willy's Bar-B-Que Smokehouse (it was the one with kids so it couldn't be that expensive ), which was pretty decent. I had the pork chop special which was good, but The Dino seemed to be the best dish (or at least the kind that I would enjoy the most anyway). Basically a huge beef rib. Dessert was decent. Both this restaurant and the one we went for lunch had very very good service.

Currently feeling tired

dracil

'nuff said.
Currently feeling amused

dracil

http://www.jambasummer.com/freesmoothie/thankyou3.htm
Currently feeling SLEEPY

dracil

So morning was Tzu Chi. Last event for a month. Was actually older kids this time. More watching them play with perler beads (I also made my own custom pattern), and then some actual computer lessons (typing) this time.

So Laura's back here from Canada/Seattle with Chongsun and we went to have dinner at Pepper Lunch. I guess in typical IVCF style everyone else arrived pretty late (that's one thing BST peeps have improved on )

Dinner was good with 6 people. I had the Garlic Butter Black Angus Rib Eye which was tasty especially with their steak sauce. So no complaints from me. The smell/being sprayed by the sauce wasn't as bad as other reviewers had said. Surprisingly nobody said grace which I do not recall having ever happened in the past.

Turns out all the guys were board gamers. Which meant afterwards we just had to go play board games at the place they're staying at in Cupertino. We got one game of Carcassonne in with me winning with 98 points and Chongsun close by with 93 and the rest (Howard, Charity, and Steven) behind. Not sure but I think Chongsun and I are the bigger gamers (or at least known by our friends as probably most likely to win?) so that may explain the score disparity. Taught Chongsun and Nat(?) how to play Hive before Howard and I had to leave so we didn't get home too late. 'twas nice since I have not had a chance to play board games in quite a while.

But once again, I forgot to take a picture of the board games. But I did take a picture of my food. This was with my phone so the quality's not very high.


Currently feeling content

dracil

Went there Sunday but only blogging about it now.

So I went early so I could check out the game store there. Good thing I did because I got some free stuff as Saturday was actually Free RPG Day and they had some extras still.

Then I headed over to the festival area and looked around got there early so I saw them setting up. Took pictures throughout the day. Several booths had some free samplers, and $1/item deals. The one I picked for lunch, unfortunately, did not and it came out to $5 which I think was a bit expensive for what it was. Saw some dancers (kids) doing some Mayan-like thing. Bought a $10 event shirt as a souvenir. Had a very nice non-alcoholic "Ginger Beer" thing with 26 grams of ginger. Jenny arrived some time after that. We went to all the booths after that. Had snowies (shaved ice with flavored syrup?). Watched food demonstrations (including a very cool mixer powered by pedaling on a bike). Had more food sampling, including several types of cheese. Took lots of pictures of capoeira dancing. Finally went to a bakery for a $1 pastry and then we went home after that.

Currently feeling content that day

dracil

In the past 32 days or so, I have used 260 minutes. With my current prepaid plan that comes out to $33.2 ($1/day, $0.1/min, free to other Cingular users, which was more than hour's worth). If I had gone with the flat $0.25/min plan it would've cost me $65. If I had gone for the prepaid monthly, I would've racked up $29.99 + $8 overtime (actually less since about 40 minutes were from the past 2 days) + taxes/fees. Every other plan would've cost more.

So I guess my choice was right so far.

Now if only the phone companies would offer me a discounted plan instead of a phone I don't want for their contract plans...
Currently feeling thoughtful

dracil

So I finally passed my driving test. Only had 1 error, which was not doing a traffic check at a stop sign, which I think might've been a critical error if the tester wasn't as nice. Basically it was a left turn over a wide street without a good view of the cars coming from the right and the moment I picked to turn wasn't ideal so I had to stop in the intersection waiting for 2 cars to pass. She actually stepped on the brakes before I did, but asked me if I was going to brake afterwards and I said yes, so I guess she let it go.
Currently feeling happy

dracil

So last night while I was out taking a walk in the park near here, I looked at the sky and noticed the Big Dipper was very visible. That actually surprised me since most of my life whenever I've decided to look up in the sky I don't usually see much (most of my life has been spent living in polluted cities...). I guess it helps that the sky is almost always clear here (which isn't good for my skin but that's another matter). I wanted to find the North Star but didn't know which one it was.

So I actually stayed out again tonight and at a nature trail/different park to if I could get a better view and maybe see more. It still wasn't optimal as there were bright street lights around and the moon was very bright too, which is something you don't usually think about.

With the aid of a program on my PDA (Pocket Stars) I was able to see quite a few <4 Magnitude objects. So some of the brightest things were actually planets (specifically Venus and Jupiter, although Saturn was pretty clear too). Finally found Polaris and two other stars in Ursula Minor. Saw part of the rest of Ursula Major as well. Also saw the Summer Triangle and parts of their constellations, as well as parts of Draco, Bootes, and Cassiopeia. Yeah, this program is neat (aside from being portable, it also updates the sky in real-time and uses the GPS to find my current location and you can hide objects above specific magnitudes. Would be even better if it could update the facing automatically via the GPS). :D

But to see more I'd probably have to stay up later, wait a month, find a much darker place, and/or get myself a good binocular.
Currently feeling satisfied

dracil

So yeah, turns out the backyard is actually a decent spot for looking at the stars as well. Very dark, especially after everyone else goes to bed (mainly so there's no lights). The problem is the walls and trees making it so steep angles are required which makes the neck ache after a while. Actually ended up just lying on the ground at certain points.

But anyway, could see a lot more stars and I had a binocular this time. Was a little cloudy in the day and evening but was clear by the time I started the session close to midnight (9PM brief report: while taking a walk outside, was able to see the three planets and the Summer Triangle, I think the first thing I saw was Venus). Moon was mostly blocked by the house so it really was quite dark, so more was readily visible to me.

Saw all of Aquila and Lyra and almost all of Cygnus, as I couldn't really tell which star was supposed to be 2 Cyg (especially at Mag 7+ viewing conditions). Also saw all of Ursa Minor but Ursa Major was mostly blocked by the walls and trees. For a while I saw Hercules, but eventually I got disoriented (it was overhead) and couldn't tell what was what. Ended the night with Pegasus, with Alpheratz, Schedar, and Markab being the most easily seen. At one point I thought I saw some other constellation but later realized it was Cassiopeia.

Also saw some double stars, like 1 Lyra and Yildun/2 Ursa Minor. Forgot to try to look for Jupiter's moons although I guess they were pretty close together so it was hard to see. I should also try to look for DSOs.

I think I'm gonna need a proper star chart. It's great for naked eye observation. Not as easy when you're holding other stuff in your hand. Plus it's actually pretty bright even at the lowest light setting when everything else is so dark.

Oh, and that moon is really bright when you look at it straight on (it's pretty much full moon now). I actually wondered if it might actually be harmful to the eyes to stare at the moon...

Also still need to figure out the proper level of eye relief so I don't get the blackouts.

Side note: There is one extremely noisy bird outside my window as I write this
Currently feeling sleepy