Troutmaster

Da Boys and LOTR

Timber left this morning for a week in Las Vegas. So at home it will be me, Toby, Fuzzy, and LOTR. When we got home last night my Christmas present was sitting on the front patio. I guess I have sometime to keep me occupied while she's gone. Now if only I could get the 50 inch TV to make the movie watching experience even better. :-)

Dionicio

Congrats to Donald and Angel, and happy birthday to their son Dionicio. Timber's brother Donald, and Angel had a son over the weekend while we were out of town. We got a chance to go to the hospital and see him once we got home. He's a beautiful baby boy. He weighed 6 lbs, 15 ounces and was 19 inches long. He was born at 5:54 PM PST on January 29th. I think they will get to go home sometime in the next few days.

Great Snowboarding Conditions

We had an action packed weekend. On Friday morning we got up early, headed to Alpine Meadows and almost drowned in powder. I almost forgot how much work snowboarding through a lot of powder can be. There were only a few places on some of the double black diamond runs where there were patches of ice. Other than that it was all powder, all day. We hit Claim Jumper for dinner and then did some gambling at Silver Legacy. I made a little bit of money playing blackjack. On Saturday we hit NorthStar where the conditions were really nice. The powder was not as prevalent as Alpine Meadows, but we found a few really nice runs. Overall the snowboarding this weekend was excellent. For dinner we hit the buffet inside the Silver Legacy. The food was very bland overall and I would not recommend it if you're looking for quality. After dinner we went to Circus Circus and saw a few of the free shows for the kids. One thing that really disturbed me was a tranvestite gymnist and tied a noose out of some cloth and then put it around his/her neck and got raised up and then swung around on this weird cloth that was a lot like curtains. It was pretty disturbing overall. That night we did a little more gambling. I ended up giving back about half of my winnings, but at the end of the weekend I ended up ahead. Today we had breakfast and drove home. Timber is going to be in Las Vegas all next week, so I'll be at home with her parents' two dogs Toby and Fuzzy.

Snowboarding This Weekend

This weekend is going to start a little early. :-) Tomorrow morning we are heading to Alpine Meadows and on Saturday we are going to hit NorthStar. We'll be coming back early on Sunday. I just checked the conditions, huray for powder!

A Few Minutes Can Make A Lot Of Difference

I started tutoring again yesterday, and I showed up at the customary time, but my student was nowhere to be found. So I waited around for a few minutes organizing my thoughts for work into my notebook while periodically looking at the clock. After about 10 minutes I was going to go ask the tutoring coordinator how long I should wait before leaving when she beat me to the punch and told me that she was really sorry that my student hadn't shown up. She told me that she would have a different student for me next week if I still wanted to tutor. I said that I did and we briefly discussed the time slots for tutoring because I'd like to get a time slot that is a little more convenient. And right as I was about to depart my student showed up. My student apologized profusely for being late and we got right to tutoring. Later on I thought about what would have happened had my student been 1 or 2 minutes later. That student would have been kicked out of the tutoring program never to be let back in. Luckily all is back to normal.

Crasian Defined

Timber came up with the term Crasian over the weekend. A crasian is defined as a crazy asian driver. We have plenty of those in the Bay Area. You'll see them if you go to any Asian shopping center. Crasians do a horrible job at parking, often park in the firelane, and drive really fast through a parking lot while not watching where they are going. I am always on my guard when entering an Asian shopping center parking lot. Net:Net -> watch out for crasians.

We Survived The Weekend

On Saturday we ran errands during the day (Home Depot, Expo, Ikea, etc...) and in the evening we went to Peggy's wedding reception. In typical style we were later than we even anticipated. The wedding reception seemed to be a traditional Chinese wedding reception. There were toasts by the family members and an introduction of both the bride and groom's families. Then the new married couples went around to each table (15 or so tables with about 10 people at each table) and did a toast. The reception was at a Chinese restaurant, and the meal must have been 10 courses (with some of the dishes being things that I'd never seen before). I was wondering if they were ever going to stop bringing out the food. After the dinner we went down the street to a Korean karaoke place. I'd never been to one before, and I'll probably not go to one again. You basically go into the place and they assign your group a room and ask you what language you would like to sing in. The room you get has couches, a TV, and a stereo system. They have a little book where see the songs you'd like to sing, you then type in the songs number into the remote control. The funny thing about it was the video on the TV never changes with the songs. For a while they showed the Korean equivalent to American Idol and then they showed a Shania Twain concert. Overall the real karaoke experience was pretty gay. On Sunday we were in adventure race mode when we ran around town getting food and other odds and ends for dinner. All of our work started to pay off as our friend started to arrive a little after 5 PM. The theme for our dinner was Thai, and we made thai rice, pad thai (with chicken, shrimp, & tofu), and green curry (with chicken & eggplant). Our guests brought a thai beef dish (forget the name), roti w/yellow curry (the star of the dinner), garlic cheese bread (not really matching with the theme). We also had Thai beer and Thai tea to drink. For dessert we had lemon moraigne pie, mochi ice cream, and crem bule. Of course I ate too much this weekend, but everything was excellent. Now I can get some rest by getting back to work. :-)

Busy Weekend Ahead

Timber and I are in for a busy weekend. First, we are going to a wedding tommorrow, and then on Sunday we are hosting a dinner at our house. It is going to take a lot of work to get our house ready for the guests. Yikes!

MacWorld 2005 Keynote Analysis

I finally got a chance to check out the Keynote from Steve Jobs for MacWorld. He had lots of good news about how Apple is doing and new products that are coming out. I was particularly interested in what he had to say about Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger. He seemed to be a little uncertain when he said that Tiger would be available in 1st half 2005. But when he went on to demonstate spotlight, dashboard, and other features, it looked like Tiger is really coming along. It makes me want to get out and start using it ASAP. But I would be willing to bet there will be plenty of problems when it does come out.

What Are You Listening To?

I know a lot of people where I work listen to music throughout the day. I always wonder what types of music they listen to and how they do it. Do they listen to music through their computer, an iPod, a clock radio, on a walkman, etc... I generally listen to music either through iTunes on my desktop or on my iPod. If I listen to radio through iTunes it is generally bassdrive which is just drum & bass which is a good beat to work to. The other good thing about drum & bass is that since it is essentially just a beat, my full concentration remains on my work. But I change the type of music depending on my mood, and I sometimes prefer to listen to my iPod. What music do you listen to had how do you do it?

Science Extravaganza

I signed up to take part in the 2005 Science Extravaganza that is taking place at San Jose State on February 5th. Here is a link to the one held last year. If you are a scientist or engineer and would like to take part let me know and I can get you in touch with the coordinators. Overall it is an effort to get kids interested in science and engineering by putting on workshops that let kids apply their problem solving skills, math skills, and logical reasoning.

Not So Good

Never one to shy away from the bad as well as the good, here's an article that doesn't put my project in the greatest light. I have no official comment.

Photos From Alcatraz

I just posted the photos from our Alcatraz trip this weekend. You can find them here.

Alcatraz At Night

We did the Alcatraz at Night tour yesterday. We cut it close by arriving at 4 PM when the boat was leaving for Alcatraz at 4:20 PM. Mary, Patty, Margaret, and Elijah were not so lucky. They were late and consequently missed the boat. We checked out the prison as the sun went down and then had some great views of San Francisco at night. It was cold at night but a nice trip overall. After we got back to Pier 41 we went to the Crab House to let loose on some dungeness crab. Overall it was a pretty good day.

General Airport Observations

When I left the Anchorage airport earlier this month I made a few observations. They are:
1. The Anchorage airport is really nice and cost about $280 M for the addition which is a gross representation on what pork barrel politics can do for you.
2. The Alaska Airlines part of the airport is huge and they are equipped to handle lots of people very quicky. (very nice)
3. In general I like and prefer Alaska Airlines because they make it easy to check in (web check in), check your baggage (sky cap), have pretty good service, and generally have things pretty well thought out.
4. While waiting in the airport for my flight I wish there were more power outlets and wifi (none in Anchorage) so I could check flight status, weather, and of course post stuff to my blog. :-)
5. There was a flat panel display on the entrance to the airplace that had the flight boarding time, flight deptarture time, duration of flight time, and weather forecast for Seattle. I though that was great.
6. Here's a website to check ahead of time to see what kinds of delays you might run into at the gates -> http://waittime.tsa.dhs.gov/index.html

Caught Up On 24

I was finally able to get current on my 24 viewing. Thanks goodness for Tivo. I wonder how my work environment would be if I were the Jack Bauer of my workplace? I can see trying to get into a meeting that I wasn't invited to and when people ask my why I'm there they get shot in the leg and beat up until they tell me what I need to know. Now that I think about it that really wouldn't work in my workplace.

What Would Jack Bauer Do?

If you live in a place where you can't watch 24 I feel sorry for you. The new season started earlier this week and I finally got a chance to start watching it. Jack Bauer rocks.

Escaped The Office Only To Work All Weekend

I left the office on Friday to get away from all the distractions only to work about 20 hours over the course of Saturday and Sunday. I did all that work for an important deadline today. With all the snow we have been getting I really would have rather been on the slopes. This weekend at least was not a good one to drive to Tahoe. I'd like to go this next weekend but I think we will be staying in town doing something for Timber's birthday.

Need To Escape Office

Today is one of those days that I need to escape from the office. I still have a lot of work to do, but people keep pulling me into meetings and coming over to my cube to try to thwart me from getting my work done. I'm going to escape at 5 PM, go home, and work in peace from there!

Happy Birthday Timber!

This is a message for Timber. Happy Birthday!

Skyline-To-Sea-Trail

In an effort to shed a few pounds I've set a goal for myself to reach a certain weight by March 8th or earlier. If I reach that goal my reward will be backpacking the Skyline-To-Sea-Trail. It is really close by and can be done any time of the year. I'm actually getting excited about doing it.

Hilarious Thread

I'm on several mailing lists for technical stuff and one of them is on testing automation. Here is an exchange that I found to be hilarious.

To: blah@lists.blah.com
Subject: [func-test] Re: Re:I hope never more need this forum..
Which poor and rotten comment you are doing!!
why you does not worry in help me instead of want to keep appearing publically, since you want so much to appear, solve the matter for me that is much more ethical, and you are going to to show to all the how much is good spiritually.
You know the matters above!!!
I created several e-mails with different questions but with the same context and Somebody answered!!!
I on the other side am a beginner user in Robot's Utilization, it will be that you do not realize this yet!!!!!

To: blah@lists.blah.com>
Subject: RE: [func-test] Re: Re:I hope never more need this forum.. <-- PL ONK
That's the sound of you landing in my "delete email from" rules. I hope you
never more need this forum, too.

To: blah@lists.blah.com
Subject: Re: [func-test] Re: Re:I hope never more need this forum..
Looks like you will be a beginner for a long time.. That is unless you
develop some self help skills..

5th Year Anniversary

Today is my 5th year anniversary at IBM. I've learned a lot and gotten a lot done between when I started and now. I still find it hard to believe that I've been here for 5 years already. Time has really flown by.

Mice In Cube 8

Even at the Almaden Research Center we have problems with rodents. I came back to my cube today and discover that mice had been in my drawers eating whatever food they could find (crackers and gummy bears) and chewing up any paper they came across. They further went on to leave mouse droppings in the mug that I use for water and tea (since I don't drink coffee). I called site maintenance and they created a ticket for me. Their description of my problem was "Problem Description: wants 2-3 sticky strips for the mice he's in cube 8." I can't say whether I prefer sticky strips or traps, all I care about is that those little varmits die and go away forever. To be fair to Almaden, this is the first time I've seen anything like this in my two years here. At the building I used to work in at another IBM site we had a problem with racoons getting into the building and building a nest up in the roof. That culminated in a giant pile of feces falling through the roof into someone's offive. Needless to say they realized they had a problem at that point and promptly fixed it. So I can't really fault the company for that.

Back From Alaska

I got back from Alaska yesterdy and I have a few comments to make later about the overall flight experience. Today was a site holiday so I got to unpack and go for a hike at Santa Teresa Park. I had tried to go to Colero Reservoir but the trails were closed due to being in bad condition from all the rain we have been having lately. My hike in Santa Teresa Park was not much better. I was slipping and sliding around in the mud but I felt that I had to get some kind of hike in since I had the day off. It was a nice hike overall.

Eskimo II

We got to go ice fishing at Jewel Lake and caught quite a few rainbow trout. I must have caught 4 or 5 myself. We finally got to use the ice shelter that my brother got for Christmas. I wish I could do some ice fishing in California so I could get one of these.

Moose And Baby

I ran across this Moose and baby pair this morning when I went to my mom's house. They are cruising the neighborhood looking for the good food. This is a view of them behind our fence.

New Years In Downtown Anchorage

We spent New Years in downtown Anchorage, just kidding. This photo was taken around 6 PM. We went downtown for the 6:15 PM fireworks show and then went over to my brother's house for dinner. It was a low key New Year's which is what I prefer. I wish Timber had been here.