Rico's

First time in a milion years

2008-09-05T13:53:00.001-07:00

I'm finally posting something again for Raptr:

2008-09-05T13:51:00.001-07:00

My Favorite Music Video

2007-07-19T23:48:00.000-07:00

uuuuu NOT!
I'm just jealous....ummmm NOT!
Alright that's enough I'm dying of laughter.

Gettn Keyed

2007-07-06T01:06:00.000-07:00

How many of you guys have had things happen outside of your house only to wish you had a camera to capture. Well I was able to capture this man keying/scratching my car as he walked by it. This has been an on going situation for months until I finally put my foot down and went out to get a digital surevelliance system:

I'm going to Mexico

2007-04-19T23:41:00.000-07:00

No I'm not going to Cancun or Puerto Vallarta or Mazatlan or Tijuan (what a hell hole)....I'm going to Tepatitlan. You're probably wondering where the hell that is:

You're next question is what the heck is out here. Well this region is pretty famous for the production and exportation of Tequila. Heck the town of Tequila is here. But I'm not flying down there to pick up myself a bottle of Jose Cuervo, but I'm going to be here to visit my family.

The town is called Tepatitlan in the state of Jalisco. It's next to Guadalajara and considered to be in the highlands. My parents are from this region but the rest of their family still remains. It turns out Tepa is famous for a festival that goes the last two weeks of every April. It's such a big hit that people from other states and countries come out for this festival. I'm glad to share this with my bud Travis who will be joining me on this trip.

This festival has many attractions. From nightly fireworks displays to bull fights (if you're an animal lover DO NOT GO). There are tons of parties, clubs, and social atmospheres. Best of all I've got my cousins as the main entertainment.

Hopefully I'll be able to get some good pics.

"FUCK!"

2007-04-05T12:02:00.000-07:00

Those are the words that come out of my mouth every single time a rock hits my windshield driving down 101. Everytime a rock impacts my window it sounds like a gun went off. The sound of the impact is so piercing I have hearing loss for 30 seconds. Damn now I have to call my insurance company to get it fixed.

I Got A New Snowboard!

2007-04-03T21:35:00.000-07:00

This is probably the most expensive board I have ever bought. It's suppose to be Burton's top board utilizing bleeding edge space age technology. I can literally fly on it! I can't wait to hit up Tahoe.

Check out Christophes new toy!

2007-02-26T13:23:00.000-08:00

So last weekend I went with Christophe and filmed him a bit:

This is one dedicated musician

2007-02-16T22:24:00.000-08:00

I have a new appreciation for classical music

2006-12-30T18:24:00.000-08:00

Woo Hoo!

2006-12-30T16:00:00.000-08:00

After 2 months trying to compile drivers reformatting....I finally got my wireless network card to run on Fedora Linux on my IBM t41 laptop. I like to thank this website for providing instructions that actually work.

http://www.ippp.dur.ac.uk/Computing/wirelessLinux.html

I can't believe I went to this school

2006-12-23T02:10:00.000-08:00

I was bored today or early morning an stumbled upon some video footage about my old school at UC Davis. How many nerds do you spot?

Janice got drunk!

2006-12-17T22:26:00.000-08:00

The story has been told so I'm just going to be lazy and post their links. Each has it's own interpretations:
patrickli.blogspot.com
xotelle.com
yotowoti.com
I hope I don't do anything embarrasing :-P.

India: Day 26 Traffic

2006-11-09T21:20:00.000-08:00

Just to give you a little perspective the traffic I have to endure every day I found this little video clip that was shot here in India. Keep in mind this is just a typical intersection. If you watch closely you might spot a whole family on a single motorcycle.

India: Day 25 Indian Cowboy

2006-11-08T00:13:00.000-08:00

Everyone is familiar with the phrase "Cowboys and Indians" in the US. How about an Indian Cowboy? Watch out Clint Eastwood, Murali is the new Sheriff in town.

India Day....I don't know... I'm in heaven!

2006-10-31T10:18:00.000-08:00

So I met the beautiful women named Zuleyka Rivera. They say she's the most beautiful women in the year of 2006. I guess that's why they crowned her Miss Universe.

She only spoke Spanish and a little bit of English. But I managed to get on stage and ask her in Spanish if she could take a picture with me. She immediately pushed everyone out of the way to take a picture...with whoooo....ME!. Major props to my best photographer Roger Hoover he is the man.

India Day 8: 4th July was nothing compared to this

2006-10-24T06:36:00.000-07:00

Matt lighting the "Mummy" and shot out a hundred rounds of fireworks.

Me lighting up a Rico 400 round firecracker modified for optimal explosive performance.

India Day 5,6,7: Diwali

2006-10-20T20:06:00.000-07:00

The "Festival of Lights" is what it's called here in India and it symbolises the victory of good over evil, and lamps are lit as a sign of celebration and hope for mankind. It usually occurs in October/November, and is one of the most popular and eagerly awaited festivals of India (thank you wikipedia).

What does that mean for me? I get to blow up the biggest and baddest fireworks I can find. Fourth of July sucks compared to this. Roger, Matt, and I had our driver take us to a stand where we eventually wiped them out for their best fireworks. I'm definitely taking some video footage. Too bad I can't do this back in the Bay Area.

India Day 4: The art of honking

2006-10-18T11:03:00.000-07:00

The day I walked out of the airport and into my car I thought my driver had the worst case of road rage cause he would honk that horn every 5 seconds...I'm not kidding every 5 seconds. Well I've been noticing everyone honks their horn every 5 seconds. It turns out that they honk horns not to flip another dude off but to alert a driver infront or next to you that you're with in proximity. So instead of using your turn signals you'd honk your horn before you would merge into another lane.....except there are no lanes. It's just one strip of road and everyone just piles in and plows through narrowly missing other cars, motorcycles, or pedestrians. So if you hear me honking my horn, I'm not flipping you off....I'm just saying hello ;-).

India Day 3: room service

2006-10-18T10:51:00.000-07:00

I think these pictures pretty much explains it all :-). I felt lazy one day and had breakfast early in the morning in bed. Then realized I needed clean clothes so I had someone hand wash my clothes and press them. At the end of the night I relaxed back in my room with a nice traditional Indian dish....Damn that was good. I feel like a KING! Don't kings conquer land? hmmmmm...I should conquer some land.

India Day2: The streets of chaos

2006-10-16T14:25:00.000-07:00

So this morning as I was going to work it was the first day light I've seen since I've arrived in Chennai, India. I was surprised by how 3rd world it is for a place where large informaiton technology offices are located. Half the roads are still made out of dirt with the shoulders with litter. Houses are made out of brick or straw or little aluminum. Manual labor for construction is common. Actually manual labor for anything is common (they won't even let me server my own food...sorry dudes thats cool and everything to be pampered but I don't like to be dependant on things).

Traffic is worse than NY or LA. It took me an hour for me to go down 10 miles. This is because there's no organization when people drive in the streets. Pedestrians, motorcyclists, buses, cows, dogs, and cars all share the same road cutting each other off. I'm not kidding. I freaked out when a father, son, and daughter riding on the same motorcycle with no helmets cut me off not realizing he could have been hit if my driver wasn't looking. Seems like it's common because all the motorcyclists were cutting everyone off including buses. Now I'm wondering how often are there accidents here?

India: Day 1

2006-10-15T14:18:00.000-07:00

So after spending 22 hours flying, eating, sleeping, and having champagne literally shoved down my throat I've finally reached Chennai in the middle of the night.

Apparently they lost one of my suit cases. Someone from Lufthansa was helping me out and said it never got onto my transfer plane on time. Then they handed me 8000 ruppees...I was like what the heck is this for I don't want to sell my luggage. But I guess it turns out since I was in business class they automatically compensate you for your troubles :-). Score!...that's like 150 bucks!.

Next I walked out to be greeted with someone holding my name up. I'm thinking...what are the odds of an Indian named Ricardo Gomez? It turned out to be my own personal driver (score x 2). My Driver tells me he's gonna be my driver for the next month :-). Next he hands me a brand new cell phone to use all around India (score x 3).

I finally arrive to my hotel and it just hit me. How do I tip out here? I usually give taxi drivers a couple of bucks in the US. So I guess taking into account people make a fifth much and gas is still just as expensive AND makes a standard salary....100 ruppees cool? that's like 2 bucks. But damn what are the standards of tipping in India....sooo I found this online:

1) Guy that tries to grab your bag and take it to the car at the airport.
2) Airport pickup/dropoff driver
3) Bellhops taking/placing your bag from/into car
4) Bellhop bringing/takig bag to/from the room
5) Room service delivery person
6) Local run car driver
7) Hotel restaurant/bar waiters
8) Waiters outside hotels

So do y'all tip all of them while in India? How much do you tip them each?

Here's how I do it generally:

With regards to Person:

1 above. Only gets tipped if I ask for the help and he's not pushy. (For those that try to milk me, I have a bunch of old Turkish lira that look good -- a million old Turkish Lira, you know, a big amount :D -- which I give them. They can't even get it converted into two INR. :D ) Never more than 40-50 rupees.
2 above. Never more than 50 rupees.
3 and 4 above. Never more than 50 rupees and only to the person who did the last or biggest delivery step.
5 above. 50 rupees regardless of bill
6 above. 70-100 rupee tip per day for local run driver if he negotiates down things on my behalf but never more than 300-500 rupees per month in total.
7 above. Never more than 100 rupees regardless of tab.
8 above. Restaurant waiters never more than 10% with a cap of 150-200 rupees.
Not tipping has not yielded me any trouble either. There have been some trips where I have not even tipped more than 200 rupees in total on the entire trip and my service the follow-up time was not impacted negatively as far as I could tell.

Damn I did good!

36000 feet in the air and sleep deprivated

2006-10-15T06:14:00.000-07:00

I'm on wireless internet in business class 36000 feet in the air. I just can't figure out what day is today and if I'm supposed to be sleeping. In a 14 hour span it's been day,night,day,night....wow....I think I'm seeing little gnomes running around the cabin.

Spinach E. Coli outbreak linked to cow manure

2006-10-13T01:40:00.000-07:00

I found this article about Spinach, E. Coli, and cow manure.
I ate some spinache dip today so does that mean I just ate a mouth full of cow manure with a hint of E. Coli? Am I gonna die?

India

2006-10-05T21:38:00.000-07:00

So I'm gonna live in India to work for about a month. So I'm thinking I may try to check out the Taj Mahal. This is great since I definitely need a change of pace.

I could never stand being in one place for too long. For example for each year I was in college I lived somewhere different with different roommates. Another example, I have a house but I sleep there half the time (think this is more of a commute issue). But interesting enough I'm happy to have a sleeping bag in the trunk of my car and go visit friends and crash on their couches. I like the comfort to see and be in different environments. I wonder why that is? Maybe I don't like to be confined to boundaries which could explain my phobia of living in the middle of San Francisco. Ehhh traffic, cars, long commutes, too many people, stepping in dog poop, noisy, smells like pee everywhere, bums chasing you down for money. I'm going wayyyy off topic .... done .

So the plan would be to be in Chennai India from October 14 - November 14. From what I understand it's one of India's "silicon valley's" the other being in Bangalore only an hours drive. I'll just make my driver drive me there to at least check out the area ;-). Did I mention a driver? hahah yeah!

To prepare for this trip I had to endure 4 freakn painful shots, spend a day at the Indian consulate in San Francisco to obtain my Visa (minor complications), and spend the majority of time at work in meetings discussing the game plans and progress of the trip.

So what should I bring back from India?

Ever wish your T-shirts glowed in the dark?

2006-09-10T14:27:00.000-07:00

My parents are saving the earth!

2006-09-07T23:43:00.000-07:00

Check this out. My parents are helping to save the earth! They've just ordered a new Toyota Prius!.....hmmmm but the dealership said it's gonna take 180 days for it arrive....wait......that's like 6 months...WTF?????????

When it arrives I think I'm gonna customize it for them. First I'm gonna add some tinted winows. Next I'm gonna slam it, add some hydrolics, 22" rims, 500 watt amp. That be the shiznit.

Labor Day Weekend

2006-09-07T23:28:00.000-07:00

Jenny came down from NY to visit us! It's always a blast to hang out with Jenny. She always has a smile and isn't afraid to be adventurous. Highlights of the weekend: first time I had good crab at R&G's in China Town (sorry people not named after me even though their my initials), had some excellent Rib's at Houstons, and we all went surfing at Linda Mar. Props given to Roger and Wilson for being awesome surf instructors! Unfortunately later that day I had to bail to head up to Folosom Lake to do some wakeboarding. Face planting videos to be posted soon.

Old times

2006-07-24T13:20:00.000-07:00

This weekend brought back memories of old times when us co workers went out and partied. This occasion was TPBBE (Trevor P. Birthday Bash Extravaganza) and Leo's "I quit my job" party! I'd say more than half of these guys left for better opportunities.

Microsoft + Apple .... what if?

2006-07-21T18:55:00.000-07:00

So Microsoft is once again copying one of the the greatest ideas in history from their one and only rival Apple. They're copying the IPOD and calling it the Zune. They've modeled their Windows OS from Apple for those who didn't know. I'm thinking why don't they just merge. I bet no ones thought about it. It's a billion dollar idea!!!!! Microsoft has the mass market while Apple has a dependable and more reliable platform. I'm a genius!

words I hate

2006-07-19T13:22:00.000-07:00

Ok so there are words that just irritate me for some reason.

ETA - Estimate Time of Arrival ..... or people use it in emails to get an idea when you will be completing a task .... to me it translates to "Hurry up and get this done!". Really the more they ask the less I pay attention to the task ;-). It's just lame too. The only time I'd actually use it is if I have to ask FEDEX the status of a shipment.

Ping me - Ping is a term in the technological world to see if a remote machine is active on the network and can be contacted. But people in the tech industry use it as part of their communication lingo and try to make it sound cool. Example "Hello Joe, I will ping you before you go to lunch". To me that's like talking warcraft, Klingon nuqDaq 'oH puchpa''e' (yes this is real I found it on the net ;-) )......it just aint cool.

recon - what the hell is that word? Looking it up in Merriam-Webster recon is a referrence to reconnaissance. But I don't think that's right? I've heard George Bush Jr. say that word.....If the president says the word "recon" in his speeches then it better be in the dictionary!

I think those are the top 3 on my list of words I hate. Any of you guys got any other ones?

Rafting Pictures are up

2006-07-18T22:00:00.000-07:00

Cool my friend Bryan posted up the pictures.

Burnt

2006-07-05T16:40:00.000-07:00

Words of advice for anyone going rafting:
Wear sunscreen when rafting in the hot sun.
Do not apply sunscreen when under the influence of alcohol.
:-)

Bay 2 Breakers 2006

2006-05-26T19:05:00.000-07:00

I should have posted this last week but enjoy.

Funny Quote of The Week

2006-05-15T10:37:00.000-07:00

person1:"Where are you from?"
person2:"I'm from here"

Thanks Pat that cracked me up!

Freakn Allergies

2006-05-13T15:17:00.000-07:00

Ok I guess it's allergy season. The lamest season. My eyes water as though I look like I'm about to cry, throat iches, and snot comes out of my nose as though I have a reservoir in my head. The question is should I take clariton and feel all drowsy or should I just put up with this crap?

Computer Engineer Professor Jihad terrorist

2006-05-01T16:51:00.000-07:00

There's a computer engineer professor at the University of Southern Florida that's a high ranking member of a militant Middle Eastern group. WTF !!!. One he's giving engineers like I a bad name. Two if he hates the US so much to lead Jihad terrorism against the US then why live, get educated, and dedicate his profession in the US. Hypocritical? It's a good thing they caught him and put him in to protective custody cause I would have gone all Jihad on his freakn computer!

The stupidest Harvard student

2006-04-28T16:32:00.001-07:00

Ok it turns out this chick who's a sophomore at Harvard published a book. This book she published basically has the same sequence of events and similarities of characters as another book but with different names . And then she has the audacity to publish it not thinking no one would notice it????? She think the public is that stupid???? How the F#$%@#$% did she get into Harvard any way? I bet she plagerized her personal statement and stole someone elses SAT answers.

Stupid Cell Phone

2006-04-05T23:52:00.000-07:00

Alright it turns out my phone decided to go to shit. I thought it was kind of odd I hadn't recieved any calls today until I looked at it. I guess I've got to bust out the old Motorola. Feels good not having a leash.

Cancun Pics are up!

2006-03-29T09:27:00.000-08:00

Even though 40% of Cancun is under construction from the hurricane, they're still rocking. Just make sure you stay at a hotel that isn't under construction and close to the strip. We had and awesome hotel at Dreams Cancun. I totally recommend it to anyone.

Cancun Here I Come!

2006-03-08T21:36:00.000-08:00

I'll be staying at the tip of this Peninsula at the Dreams Cancun 5 star resort. For years I have always wanted to experience Spring Break but school has always seemed to get in the way. Now that I'm out of school, stable, and have some cash flow it's time to experience the tranquility of the beaches, Mayan ruins, snorkling in tropical waters, and getting wasted!

Time to shred!

2006-03-03T11:39:00.000-08:00

I heard about this sale going on at this snowboard shop. I figured I need a new pair of boots. It turns out I walked out of the shop with new boots, board, and bindings. Not just some plain boots, board, and bindings but the top of the line high performance space age technology could offer. I'm not kidding....my board is 90% air by volume and 10% aircraft aluminum.....aluminum bindings...and feather light boots. I'm literally going to be flying down the slopes. ......... now is a good time to invest in a good helmet.

My setup:
156 Burton T6
MIG Ride Bindings
Burton SL8 boots

Anyone wanna challenge me to a race? The first one down the "WALL" at Kirkwood without dieing wins.

My nightmare

2006-02-23T13:36:00.000-08:00

I had this nightmare that I woke up and my harddrive crashed on my computer system. The same harddrive where I have been storing all of my digital photo albums. I was thinking there must be a way to easily and efficiently back up that specific drive automatically to an external device. Also if I have a lot of stuff to just only backup the differences between the two locations.
So I went to my favorite toy store in the world at Fry's in Palo Alto and found exactly what I wanted. An external harddrive by western digital. All I had to do is just intall the software and connect it to my computer. I tell the software that I would like automatic updates of the specific drive. It also gives me the option to just push a button at any time and it would check to see if anything needs to be backed up to the external drive.

Now I can finally sleep until my next nightmare.

Flying

2006-02-19T10:52:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I was actually flying around Sacramento for a bit. I went to go visit Tyler at his new crib in Sacramento when his father arrived that morning. Odd thing we had to pick him up from an airfield in Sacramento. It turns out he flew in from San Carlos to Sacramento in his own plane. What was really cool was that he offered us all a ride on his plane. So me Tyler and Ana hoped into the plane along with Tylers dad and flew all around the Sacramento valley. I got to see sights you'd never see in a commercial air liner.

A little bit about Tylers dad. It turns out his father flies every weekend since 1968 and seems to have a passion for it. The Cessna you see in the picture is actually his 7th plane.

Stupid Wheel Bearing

2006-02-08T13:23:00.000-08:00

Lately I've been noticing this weird humming noise comming out of my wheels of my Subaru. At first I thought the wheels needed to be rotated. I rotated them but the noise still there but in the same area. Talking to a Subie mechanic and some googling I found out that there's a common problem in the earlier models of the wheel bearing wearing out with in 35 - 50 k of use. I'm at 45k.....and the mechanic said with the current warranty I have it may be covered to! If not then I guess I may have to replace it myself. Doesn't sound to hard. Heck I replaced the clutch of a 1984 Honda Civic.....but was left in pieces for a week :-).

This whole time I thought I was tripping. Even my passengers thought I was on crack. Just ask Pat.

2006-02-01T16:20:00.000-08:00

My first NBA basketball game

2006-01-26T00:22:00.000-08:00

My first NBA basketball game courtesy of one of my VP's who came out from Texas. It was the Golden State Warriors vs the Houston Mavericks. So I guess I went to go SEE the game but really I spent more time observing everything else around me. Sorry I've never really been much of a sports fan....I'd rather join the game than watch by standing on the side lines with my beer gut hanging out painted with the teams colors ....just my opinion :-). But anyway here are some of my interesting observations:

* Why do basketball coaches wear suits and football coaches wear jeans/jacket? Baseball coaches wear their own teams uniform...

* The ideal basketball cheerleader seems to be gaunt and anorexic compared to football cheerleaders.

* Basketball fans tend to pay particualar attention on looking more business casual...does mean you'll see more attractive people.........but dress up for a basketball game?

* They have a live band!

* Their garlic parmesian fries need less oil and more cooking

*DO NOT SIT next to white trash. They will spoil the atmosphere regardless if they are fans of the winning team. Do not make any eye contact if they are fans of the losing team. They're generally in the mood to physically take their anger out on someone especially after they have guzzled 8 drinks of the cheapest alcohol beverage they can get their hands on.

Other than that it was an experience.

The Bathroom Man

2006-01-22T14:00:00.000-08:00

Ever gone to a club or bar and after you do whatever you need to do and wash your hands you reach over to grab a paper towel and there are none and some dude hands you one? First time I saw that I thought how convenient it was. But then it just gets annoying. I don't need someone to help me pour soap on my hands and dry my hands. I can do that myself. And then you feel obligated to give them a tip.

Another puzzling thing is where do they come from? Are they an actual employee of the club? If so he must have been interviewed for the position as the "Bathroom Man". What do you ask in an interview like this? How many hands have you poured soap on? How many pieces of paper towels have you passed out? What do you do in a situation when two people need paper towels at the same time? What would the Bathroom Man have on a resume...I mean he's got to work his way up to fancy clubs right? Maybe something like the local Mc Donalds to Studio 55 catering to the biggest stars. Do they travel to other countries as well? I was in London and the idea of "Bathroom Man" seems to be catching on there to.

But seriously .... It's getting annoying .... Can't I just pee in peace without having to worry about whether or not I have change to give a man money to dry my hands?

I got my parents a GPS

2006-01-19T23:25:00.000-08:00

I kind of got it late but I decided to get my parents a GPS navigation system for Christmas. So it came in today and arrived at their door step. They give me a call at work and asked if I had bought a map. I'm think ... a map why would they think that...or even call me at work to ask if I had bought a map. Well it turns out they were referring to the navigation system..... and in the package was the receipt :-(. I honestly couldn't tell if my mom was pissed because I spent a ridiculous amount of money for a top of the line electronic gadget or happy to get something really high tech. (keep in mind my parents just learned how to turn on a computer a month ago and this week they just learned about the internet). I was trying to explain to my mom that she would never get lost visiting her uncle in San Jose or visiting my brother in San Francisco. (my uncle has lived in the exact same place for 30 years and still seems to get lost to his house every weekend). Also this meant the end of printing door to door maps off of mapsquest for my parents ;-) So I decided to take her out for a drive to show her how it works. The device seems to be pretty accurate ... in a ladies voice it tells you what streets to turn on, how far away the next turn is, the closest gas station, restaurants...it's pretty cool. Now my mom thinks it's just incredibly magic and starts trying to see if she can have a conversation with the GPS navigation device.......after I told her that the voice prompts are all pre-programmed she becomes puzzled. I finally tell her that the little box with a screen doesn't have any ears and only has a mouth then finally understood what I was trying to say. By the end she realized how practical this little device is and was very happy.

Moving Sux

2006-01-19T17:16:00.000-08:00

Guess what I'm doing this weekend. I'm helping my parents move from one house to another. Not fun. My parents are low key pack rats. What I mean is if you walk into the house you wouldn't really think they're pack rats until you check out the attic or the garage. That's where you would find 5 type writers 4 computers car parts from cars owned like 20 years ago and such.....and then check out a house warming party :-). If there's time and the weather is calm maybe pick up the old surf board and hit the waves...I haven't done that in 7 months.

London

2006-01-16T14:57:00.000-08:00

For Christmas and New Years I decided to tag a long with the group and head out to Spain and London. It was awesome! It was the first time I was in Europe which meant I needed to get a passport for the first time. In all, there were like 7 of us in Spain and like 10 of us in London and managed to coordinate all of our arrivals and stay at a flat in London thanks to Christy.

The picture to the left was Travis's idea to cram into a urine infested phone booth that has phone sex advertisement posted all over. I really don't think phone booths get appropriately used now a days except when a bunch of tourists get this crazy idea to cram themselves into one and take a picture. That is one funny picture!

You are what you eat part2

2006-01-14T00:53:00.000-08:00

After going on the little eating spree and traveling around Atlanta, Spain, and London I gained 7 pounds. Not bad compared to Mr. Super Size Me. He gained like 25 pounds eating junk food. Kathryn managed to lose 5 pounds... yay good for her. She didn't really need to cause she looks gorgeous anyway :-). Well it's back to working out 4 times a week now.

You are what you eat!

2005-12-19T22:49:00.001-08:00

For the past week I've literally been on an eating spree kinda like the guy from the movie "Super Size Me" . Except instead of visiting a fast food restaurant I'm going to "sit down" restaurants. I don't know if you would still categorizing them as fast food but here's a list of some of the places I've been:
Fire of Brazil Steak house (All protein served on swords ;-) )
Macaroni Grill
Taco Mac (Best Buffalo Wings and Draught beer)
Mellow Mushroom (pizza...I guess this is fast food)
China Bistro
Sushi Nami
J. Christophers
Atlanta Bread Company

I'm just trying to take advantage of the foods I'd typically never get a chance to eat :-).

Wew......I've got to hit the treadmill!

Airborne

2005-12-14T12:19:00.000-08:00

Ever seen this before? Kathryn showed this to me and I went out to get some at Costco for like 15 bucks a pack. It's like a drink you take if you think you're going to get a cold. You can take it if you're going to be in an environment most likely to get sick like being in an airplane where all the air is recirculated. I figured since I'm going to be traveling for 3 weeks I'd get some so I stopped by costco in Alpharetta. I don't mind sharing it then I'd least likely get sick from the people around me :-).

Stupid Cavity

2005-12-08T12:55:00.000-08:00

Crap ... I just came back from the dentist office and they found a cavity. It's been so long since I've had a cavity. They should just premanently replace all my teeth so that I wouldn't have to worry about cavities again. So that would just be one less thing I'd have to stress about in life.

Coffee is good for you

2005-12-04T23:06:00.000-08:00

+

= Long and Healthy life

I saw this article which says drinking two cups of coffee or tea reduces liver damage for heavy drinkers. I'm going to add 2 cups of coffee a day along with 2 glasses of red wine. Scientists have also said that red wine reduces risk of heart disease!

It's snowing!

2005-11-30T13:57:00.000-08:00

Finally I've been waiting all year for this. It's odd cause usually there's enough snow for resorts to open up usually Thanks Giving Weekend. Time to bust out the board and tune it up.

Black Friday ... worth it or not?

2005-11-23T11:25:00.000-08:00

Check out the adds for friday's early morning shopping spree. Are these discounts really worth waking up at the butt crack of dawn and run around like a bunch of chickens? You're not gauranteed to get the item unless you line up at the store 5 hours before they open. It seems like every store is opening up at 5 am! "wow I got a DVD for 5 bucks and all I had to do was wait in line for 5 hours, sacrafice sleep, and play tug - o - war with an 80 year old lady over the Mary Poppins DVD edition"

http://www.blackfridayads.com/
http://www.bfads.net/
http://www.gbcue.com/bf/05/
http://www.blackfridaydeals.net/
http://www.theblackfriday.com/
http://www.dealtaker.com/blackfriday.html

Crazy Blogger

2005-11-16T22:13:00.000-08:00

You know that 18 year old kid David Ludwig who shot and killed his 14 year old girl friends parents? Here's his blog and myspace. Here's his grilfriends blog and myspace.

Is Michigan on crack?

2005-11-11T12:49:00.000-08:00

The new mayor of Hillsdale Michigan is a highschool senior? I'm thinking well maybe this guy is pretty well involved in politics and knows how to walk the walk and talk the talk....then I saw his interview....

ummm I think this kid was running as a joke and people voted for him as a joke. I don't think people were really thinking he'd win....right?

We'll it's probably not the oddest thing you'll hear about Michigan. I heard if you walk into bank and open an account they give you a free shotgun! Aint that sweeet! Now I can take that shotgun and point it to a tellers face and ask for all the money in the vault.

Bastards they killed Baby Beluga

2005-11-10T15:47:00.000-08:00

I can't believe Eskimos shove explosives down a whales blow hole to kill them. That's like shoving a bunch of fire crackers up your nose hoping you'd die in 60 minutes.

Something funny to try

2005-11-08T10:46:00.000-08:00

My co worker Christy sent me these instructions...Coincidence?
1. Go to www.google.com
2. Type "failure" (without double quotes) in thesearch text box.
3. Press "I'm Feeling Lucky" button just next to"Google Search" button.
4. See what happens. Find it out yourself.(Do notworry, its not going to harm your computer.)
5. Check it out before google corrects the bug ....

Guess it isn't cause Abijit found this:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2005/09/googlebombing-failure.html

Proposed ban on Cells and Segways at national parks

2005-11-02T14:10:00.000-08:00

I found this article about how senators want to baned cell phone usage and segways from national parks. I could understand they want to keep the park peaceful and stuff. But damn...they should start by banning old farts to bring in the freaken RV's with 10 satellite dishes, 3 ham radio antenas, 3 CB antennas, 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom, a fridge , two TV....and a kitchen sink. The way I see it a cell and a segway are just little things. I'd actually keep cell access in case someone gets stranded on the road.

Damn .... my tax dollars are paying for stupid people to make stupid decisions.

Dim Sum: The attack of the "Poo Berries"

2005-10-28T19:31:00.000-07:00

Earlier today I went for Dim Sum at the Golden Wok with Pat, Andrew, Ray, Debbie and Ray's And Andy's friend Zhen. Every single time we walked through the entrance of the Golden Wok I'd notice the stench of dog feces for some reason but I'd look around and no dog poo around. Debbie and I finally figured out that there's these berries thingies that fall of the nearby trees and get crushed by pass buyers. These same berries.. after being crushed and exposing the juices give off the awful stench of dog poo!.

I think if I were the owners of this place I'd get rid of the damn trees. I'm sure people would most likely have a better appetite if they didn't walk in with the stench of dog poo around them. Then customers would be most likely to order more.

Now if I can just figure out what kind of berries those were it would make good material for a practical joke.

Nerdy IM conversation

2005-10-25T19:43:00.000-07:00

Some one from work IM'd with a term usually used in the computer world. The short conversation sorta went like this:

Co worker says:
ping
Rico says:
7 packets transmitted, 0 packets received, 100% packet loss
Co worker says:
haha good one

Rico cut's off connection :-).

VW's

2005-10-20T22:41:00.000-07:00

Besides my Subaru I think the Volkswagen Jetta is my other favorite car. Did you know that
Volkswagen is known as the largest smallest car maker in the world.....? How does that work? Eventhough I was in a Jetta for a short amount of time, the passenger seat was pretty comfy with a pretty cool round looking adjustment.
Volkswagen manufactures parts for the Porchse. Have you compared the Porsche SUV against the VW tourage (something like that)? They look pretty similar. The first Porsche's were made out of VW parts any way......I've always wondered if I could put a Porsche engine in an old VW Beetle and pull up to a racing line against some dude in a corvette or a mustang :-).

Fleet Week

2005-10-10T10:31:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I ended up checking out fleet week in San Francisco. Instead of driving, a buddy if mine and I decided to take the train to avoid all the traffic.

Turns out we had to walk a ways to the area where the air show was happening which was located a little after fishermans Warf. What we thought was going to take 15 minutes to like an hour. I think it was mostly because we had to take a rest.

We found a bar with 80 beers on tap called Jack's Cannery Bar. Then all of a sudden we heard this harsh crashing noise. It turned out to be an F-16 fighter flying right above the bar. The noise coming from the two engines resonated through the brick building.

Later the Blue Angels came out. It was pretty cool. They'd flip around do cork screws and even stall in mid air. I took some video shots but I'd have to figure out a way to share them on the web.

My Master Piece: "Sarcasm"

2005-09-30T10:36:00.000-07:00

It's finally finished! If you guys remember and refer to my blog under "Before" you'll see a blank canvas. Now....a master piece. Hey if a life sized tin can stick figure of cokes holding a pepsi can go for $3,000 I wonder how much I can get for mine? I'll throw in the matching living set for free if I can get half a mill for my creativity. My canvas painting is a painting of my living room where the painting resides painted inside the painting. Confused? Just take a look at it carefully. It's a painting with in the painting with in the painting of pretty much itself. Art critics would think this a reflection of my "ego"or "self centered". I like to call this piece .........sarcasm.

BleU Cheese

2005-09-29T14:02:00.000-07:00

Damn ....I think I just killed my taste for moldy cheese.
I just came back from lunch and had a salad with some blue cheese. Apprently I didn't monitor how much I put into my salad. I like a small hint taste of it but today I bit into a large piece. It left this strong like bitter/animal like taste in my mind. Ever seen that bitter beer commercials where some dude drinks some bitter beer and his face literally explodes into an old geezer with no teeth? That's how I looked like for 10 minutes.

Reading up on blue cheese doesn't seem to appealing either. For those of you out there who don't much about blue cheese the green you see is actually veins of Penicillium mold that appear after a couple of months of aging. Does that mean if I get a cold I don't have to go to the doctor and get some anti-biotics now and make a quick stop at my local Safeway to pick up a container of blue cheese? Hey....it's cheaper than paying for penicilin :-).

I read up on some dude making his own blue cheese. Ummmmm....I don't think I'd trust myself growning mold in my garage to later sprinkle on my salad. Who knows if it would turn out to be toxic.

Redwoods, Wine, and Sea

2005-09-27T13:59:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Kathryn and I decided to go checkout what Santa Cruz had to offer. This is what we had planned:

Check out what's so mysterious about the mystery spot
Pass by an all organic winery called Hallcrest Vineyards for some wine tasting
Wine tasting at Bonny Doon's
Then end the day having dinner at Ideal Bar and Grill

Well we kind of got a late start and arrived at the Mystery Spot an hour before closing. It was wedged in an area surrounded by huge seqouia redwoods. It turned out that the last tour was at 5 an hour later and the same time all the wineries were suppse to close. It really didn't look much but we decided to skip it and Hallcrest Vineyards and head straight to Bonny Doon's

We got to Bonny Doon's just in time. We tasted 7 different types of wines including two dessert wines that stood out the most. This one particular dessert wine called Framboise Infusion of Raspberries just completly knocked our socks off! It some kind of rasberry wine fortified in rasberry brandy. It was served to us in little chocolate cups where the flavors of both chocolate and rasberry wine fused together. I also give props to another dessert wine called Moscato de asti.

Next we were getting hungry and decided to head down to the Santa Cruz shores. On the way down we found a nice little beach called Natural Bridges. We got there just in the time to watch the sun set over the cliff's. We continued on and found a cool little resaurant right before you get on the warf/pier. I have to say I've never had better clam chowder and coconut battered prawns in my life. We were seated outside over looking the Northern portion of the Monterey Bay. (A little geography lesson...santa cruz is part of the monterey bay). I do have to say that the restaurant did need more of those outdoor heat lamps cause we were starting to feel the sea breeze.

Overall I had a blast visiting Santa Cruz with Kathryn. For those of you out there, I'd recommend making the same trip and with someone special.

EXTRA EXTRA UC DAVIS KICKED STANFORDS ASS ALL OVER THE FIELD!

2005-09-18T15:12:00.000-07:00

It ain't April fools. The title pretty much says it all for the football game UCD against Stanford!
I went to the game with my friend Kathryn from UCD along with Pat, Andy, and Anita(Former UCD's Alumni and Anita an honorary member). We were all in complete shock when with in the last 30 seonds of the game UCD scored the winning touch down! It's no joke ...I'm still pinching myself wondering if this is for realllls.

Funny Quote

2005-08-28T15:30:00.000-07:00

Funny quote made by Anita about Lulu's dog ... "The dog's so ugly it's so cute"

wasting tax dollars

2005-08-26T10:02:00.000-07:00

Sniper Goes on Hunger Strike

Am I the only one who thinks this is a waste of tax dollars playing a convicted murderer's game? Seems like he's expecting the whole world to revolve around him.He's a freakn baby who needs to be hand fed.
If a convicted muerderer wants to starve himself to death then let him do it. Anyone see the irony? He's going to die in jail anyway and plus if he starves himself to death now then less of my tax money goes to feeding and housing a criminal.

Mexico

2005-08-19T18:17:00.000-07:00

I was gone in Mexico for just about 2 weeks. Here's a little summary:

Flew into Guadalajara airport but it took 3 flights (SFO->Vegas->Vallarta->GDL).
I could have taken a direct flight but it would have costed me another $100.
At each stopover I tried connecting up to the wireless network at each of the airports. What can I say .... I'm a freakn nerd. I can't live without my internet.

Once I arrived in GDL, I had my father, brother, and uncle pick me up. My parents had already flown in a couple weeks before I arrived.

On August 4th there was a huge party thrown for me for my bday. All of my cousins and extended family were there. It was acutally pretty overwhelming since I'm not really used to having a large family party. Typically it's just my parents and my two brothers.

3days later and we decided to drive across the state to a little beach right below Puerto Vallarta called Guayabitos. On the way there we passed by a valocano and volcanic rock all along the highway. I basically veged for about a week sitting on the beach sipping on my carona.

At the end of the week we stopped by Puerto Vallarta. We checked out some nice time shares along the beach. Later inthe afternoon we were dropped off at the airport in Puerto Vallarta and flew back to San Francisco. Well that pretty much ends my journey. Next time I return in Mexico I'll be in Cancun!

I'm in an article I didn't know about

2005-08-18T06:56:00.000-07:00

I was looking at some of googles new features. I found this feature where you can run search engine searches based on Universities. So I decided to pop my name in it. A bunch of pages came up. There was this article I was in and I had no idea! The article was about undergraduate students promoting undergraduate research at the UC Regents meeting in UCLA. I actually was invited by the Vice Provost to fly down for the day in 1999 with my professor for support. Trippy...........

Blog Spam

2005-08-15T20:47:00.000-07:00

I guess a new type of spam has originated. Blog spam. If you get an anonymous comment posted for one of your blogs...it's most likely some kind of annoying spam.
Trevor has some ideas to counter act spam. He proposed an idea of having a little hidden tag on a blog page. This tag would signify to spammers and their bots to not post spam on the site. If so then they are liable to be prosecuted. It's a similar idea with the DO NOT CALL list with telemarketers. If a telemarketer calls the second time after you have asked to take your number of the list, you'd have a right to prosecute. I don't know the fine details but it's the same idea.

My Birthday Bash

2005-08-15T13:34:00.000-07:00

Boy was this a great birthday bash....I can't even remember the last half of my night. I can safely say this is going to be my last "college style" party but I hope everyone had a blast. Friends from work, college, and mutual friends were all there. There was a keg, pinata, and plenty of hard liquor. Ever get the feeling when you drink you end up doing stupid little things you regret?

More pictures

Killer Disney World Ride

2005-07-13T09:06:00.000-07:00

This ride called the "Twilight Zone Tower of Terror" at the Disney MGM studios is so good it's literally giving kids heart attacks. I'm not kidding a British teen had a heart attack soon after she stepped off the ride. I don't know if she had a prior heart condition but her heart stopped at some point and she had to be revived by medical personel.

The Twilight Zone ride is described to be one of the tallest rides at the theme park. This ride throws you up and once you reach the top of the tower you reach a state of weightlessness. You're suspended for a few seconds before it drops you to the bottom of the tower. This sounds like my type of ride!

Stuff that sucks

2005-07-10T20:46:00.000-07:00

Don't you just hate it when things just suck?

Here's my list of things that suck.
1. country music
2. stupid people that ask a question that was already asked before
3. questions that could already be answered doing a google search
4. people who take advantage of your generosity
5. Britney Spears......do I need to say more?
6. tiping waiters that don't deserve a tip
7. homework
8. telemarketers who wake you up at 6am in the morning on a saturday....(I really thing they deserve a beat down)
9. waking up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom
10. famous multi million dollar music bands sueing 10 year old kids for copying their mp3's
11. flossing
12. hangovers
13. freaken hot ass days
14. 20 bucks to get into a club, 40 bucks for drinks, and 10 bucks for food afterwards
15. classes before noon
16. judge Judy is a bitch
17. people who suck are on the cover of rolling stones
18. a missing semi colon in a computer program
19. bay area traffic
20. nothing to do
21. stupid reality tv shows
22. infomertials
23. people trying to teach you things you already know how to
24. hippies
25. losing important stuff
26. Olsen twins

Farewell Pat

2005-07-03T20:20:00.000-07:00

Friday was Pat's, my co worker's, last day. He's one of the best guys to work with. If there was a word that describes a person who "works hard and plays hard" you'd find his photo in the dictionary.

It's funny though cause I know a lot of these fun hard working people through a program called the NCA program. The New College Associates program lead by a very cool recruiter who recruited us from different parts of the country straight out of college. We tend to group together for fun and events. It really felt like being a freshmen in college once again meeting new people from different areas and backgrounds for a common reason...this time to exploit our knowledge obtained from school at an enterprise company.

I've always expected that working for a tech company I'd be working around the biggest nerds that ran around with their pants up to their chest and a button up shirt sporting a pocket protector. Instead I've found myself working with the coolest guys and the sweetest girls. But one by one they are disappearing. Once again it brings me back to the college days where the guys that I have met my freshmen year end up disappearing after graduation. So happy to see everyone advanced higher in life or move to another area....but so sad to see them leave.

Pat I give you props and I hope you do well as you continue your journey in your career.

War Pisses Me Off

2005-06-30T10:46:00.000-07:00

Every single time I see articles about how our US military lost another man it really pisses me off. I'm not pissed at the people responsible for shooting the helicopters or ambushes, I'm pissed off at the people responsible for sending them.

I remember when I was little kid I used to have a set of plastic set of toy soldiers. I lay out my German troops out and my brother would take is British troops and kick my ass. I'd stand up and stomp all over his plastic figurines in retaliation. We were careless with our plastic figurines because they were cheap, not important, and replaceable. If one of our figurines broke, heck we toss it and buy more at the local toy store.

I really don't think when the president or politicians make a decision to send troops overseas acknowledge troops as a "thing" rather than a group of people. I see the George Bush and his politician fellows as the boy who owns the plastic figurines making careless decisions. If one dies then he/she will get replaced by another soldier. Politicians don't reeeallly understand these are human beings and not just replaceable "things". They have family's and kids. You think they really give a shit? NO cause it's not them or any of their family members ding.

Really these politicians aren't in it for the people....It's a freaken popularity contest and corporations paying them under the table to bend rules to prevent certain laws from passing. If anyone has a chance to win presidency it's Arnold, the current governator of California.

Pardis B-day on d party bus

2005-06-29T15:23:00.000-07:00

Last Friday my friend Pardis decided to host her birthday party. For all of those who don't know Pardis, she's the persian persuasion ;-) who's always down-to-party friend of mine from back in the highschool days.

We got this huge bus to pick us up at Pardis's house. We brought along champagne bottles to initiate the celebration on the bus. We've pretty much packed that bus with all of our aquaintences from back in highschool. Very rarely do I get to see these guys but it was great to see the crew.

These guys just bring back old times. They're just not afraid to have fun any time. If it's a bond fire on the beach on a weekday cutting out of our highschool classes or attending BFD concerts at the shoreline, we were always having fun.

Funny Comment Today

2005-06-23T22:39:00.000-07:00

Today Pat and Andy invite me over to watch the NBA finals. Before we met up at Andy's house, we went into to the near by safeway to pick up a few items. Since I didn't have my Safeway rewards card with me, Andy punched in his home phone number into the check out line keypad. After I paid and the cashier handed me my items, the cashier said "Thank you Mr. Choy". Andy and I started busting out laughing. Now how many Mexicans do you know have the last name Choy?

Business idea #1

2005-06-15T09:34:00.000-07:00

Ok I'm on this trek in search of a business idea. I don't know why but I just have this urge to create something from scratch and watch it be successful. Maybe it just runs in the family or something. My father might be a slight exception since after getting his degree in Business Administration and moving up to the San Francisco Bay area he got into contracting and maintenance engineering.

From what I understand my grandfather on my dads side owned a bunch of businesses and was what you would call a ranchero, land owner. He had clothing stores, bicycle stores, and even a gun shop! All profits were invested in land and his ranch which had cattle ... cows and stuff. I met my grandfather at a glance when I was 3 before he passed away. I never met my grandmother who died before my bothers and I were born.

My great grandfather was a well known land owner. I've heard stories about him from a lot of people. During the Mexican revolution soldiers would raid my GGF house looking for wealth, livestock, and food. My GGF had a secret hiding place in a hay bin compartment in the roof of the house where he would hide his wife in daughters. All of his gold was said to have been buried in the adobe walls and floor. The last time he was raided by corrupted soldiers, the soldiers became very hostile and frustrated because they couldn't find any sign of wealth or food. They ended up threatening to hang him unless he revealed where is wife, kids, and money were kept. He kept his mouth showing knowing that death would be awaiting him. From the bits and pieces I have been told were that one soldier persuded to hang my GGF but another was against the idea. Well it seemed like one soldier was just to damn greedy and went ahead and placed my GG
F in a nuse and let him hang until he lost conciousness.... and the soldier was shot immediatly for his wrongful actions. My GGF was cut down from the rope and revived, but never again did he function normally. Apparently his body lacked oxygen for too long that it ended up causing brain damage. Today his adobe house still stands in the middle of the acres of land he owned, but riddled with holes in the walls and floors from random people digging. Legend still has it around towns is that his gold is still buried. Little do they know it was unearthed ... of the sacks of platinum coins, my brothers and I have a few of them given by my aunts. Up to this day no one really knows what happened to all the gold.....but most of my GGF's land has been widely distributed among my fathers family.

I've never really met anyone in my fathers extended family. From what I understand greed destroyed the social atmosphere of my fathers family. My family pretty much associates with my mothers extended family which are all still in the mother land. I know my cousins and aunts on my mom's side better than my aunts on my fathers side who live just a few blocks away from my parents in Belmont.

I went off tangent which brings me to my first business idea. A spanish version of craigslist :-) . I figure there is a high concertration of the hispanic community in the Bay Area or throughout California. Craigslist is great but only caters to the english speaking community.

I figured this would be a good way to give back to my fellow hispanic community. I rarely do....it's funny how I didn't grow up in a hispanic community at all. I'm not mexican enough and neither am I american enough. I'm just myself absorbing the influences that surround me.

Tsunami in San Francisco!!!!

2005-06-14T22:44:00.000-07:00

Can you believe that! An earthquake measuring 7.0 hit off the coast of Northern California close to Eureka and they've issued a tsunami warning till about 9:00 pm today. If it did happen I would have been either in the middle of moving a desk for my co worker MJ or in the middle of having dinner with the fellas from work and Jenny (who's going back to NY :-( ). Seriously people....a tsunami in Silicon Valley????.

The key word here is vallllllllllley. The valley is created by MOUNTAINS along the coastal range located down the middle of the peninsula. So if the tsunami would have to magically fly over the mountain range (considered to be the santa cruz mountains) and makes it's way back down the San Mateo hills to actually affect the area I was in....But would it be possible for the tsunami to flood all of the bay?

Well I can't argue with natural disasters. Whatever happens ...happens ...knock on wood.

Jar Of Pitt, Jolie Air For Sale On eBay

2005-06-10T10:24:00.000-07:00

I can't believe somebody would bid on a jar on ebay??????
Really it's an empty worthless jar. At least swipe a napkin from either Pitt or Jolie used while having dinner and fill in the empty space in the jar? The add in ebay claims all proceeds will go towards some sarcastic journalist site. How do you know it's legitimate? I'm sure it's not registered. People are dubm for placing bids...I bet all proceeds are going towards someones pocket. Alright I'm going to place bid

Dinner with RedHat CEO

2005-06-03T23:30:00.000-07:00

Wednesday night me and a few other guys gathered with Mattew Szuilk (CEO RedHat) and John Buckman (CEO of magnatune) to have dinner in one of New Orleans fine restaurants. It's funny cause I never knew RedHat's CEO's name or how he looked like until I arrived in New Orleans. I was asked if I'd to have dinner with some dude named Matthew. I was like sure just as long as I get a free meal ;-). We ended up walking from our hotel and on our way over to the restaurant we got lost because his administrative assistant seemed to not have a sense of direction or had one too many hurricanes. We made a few wrong turns and pretty much ended up walking through the wrong part of town. We were pretty much passing by strip bars where people were trying to intice us to peak into their clubs....thats funny.

We arrive at the restaurant and we all sit down. We all start talking....and damn can that CEO from magnatune talk. I thi nk we were all done with our dinner before he even took a bite. Oh well. But it turns out that Matthew is a June Reactor and Creed fan. John's got a wide range of music taste from Baroc (OOOOOOOlllld school music...older than Classical) , classical , indian to heavy metal.

Talking with Matt turns out he's got a family. He's got a daughter in college majoring in dance. Seems like he was expressing some concern about his daughters decision for being a dance major.

In general this experience kind of inspires me to create a company and run it. Doesn't matter if its a dot com or mybe a bar. I feel like I kind of want to veer off of being a pion techie and create something and lead it.......got any ideas?

Matthew CEO RedHat

John CEO Magnatune

Broke my freakn finger!!!!

2005-05-31T23:25:00.000-07:00

It was a nice sunny weekend for the first time this year. So some buddies and I decided to throw a football around. The stupid football decided to slam against my finger on my left hand. It's the one in between my middle finger and pinky. Today I can barely move my finger because it's swollen and it freakn hurts. The damn finger is even turning purple. I heard if it turns dark purple it's a sign of internal bleeding...:-(

Bay 2 Breakers

2005-05-16T15:50:00.000-07:00

This was the second time I have done Bay to Breakers and it was a blast. It started off with a train ride where I met up with my long time friend Becky. The train was late but it really didn't matter. Once we got off the train we headed towards a friends place where they hosted the pre game.

We arrived at Todd's and Mark place for the pregame party. There were about 20 of us wearing "white trash" constumes. So pretty much everyone was wearing the infamous wife beater. We pregamed it and loaded our shopping cart with a keg and plenty of alcohol.

I thinks it's pretty funny that the city allows such a party to happen in the middle of streets. We've even walked a keg next to the police and they just laughed. I don't understand the concept of tortillas been thrown but cleaning crews I know would be working overtime.

We lost Brian My. Poor kid didn't even know where he was half the time. The guy disappered and no one heard from him until the next morning. We were all pretty worried and he seemed to not answer his cell. Turns out he left his cell back home. The Boy had an adventure but I'm glad he made it safe.

In general it was all pretty fun.

Funny Rap Video Maker

2005-05-14T12:51:00.001-07:00

Technology: Major Value Depreciation

2005-05-12T15:41:00.000-07:00

I thought it was ridiculous when I bought my new car that the second I drove my car off the lot the value of my car depreciated by 20 percent. But technology.... That's a different story.

I just bought a canon s410 digital camera for like $425. There were some mechanical issues and decided to take advantage of the manufacturer warranty. I hesitate at first since I had to spend 20 bucks for the shipping since the nearest canon servicing department is located in Illinois. There's no guarantee additional charges may even apply for non-mechanical defects. I just received my camera from the servicing department but I still notice another sound as I zoom in and out. It's not as apparent as it was before or am I just anal? If there's potential for the item to bust I figured it would be smart to take care of it now. Is this even all worth it?

I decided to make a trip to the Best Buy to see if they had my camera. I wanted to see if it's just a common functionality of the camera. It turns out my camera has already been phased out and no longer carry the model I have. The s410 has been replaced with the SD400 and SD500 which are half as thick, twice as fast, and it's screen is twice the size of the s410. I look down at the price tag in it's a hundred bucks cheaper. HIGHWAY ROBBERY!!!!.

I'm just going to ride with my camera until it breaks. There's no point trying to keep up with the latest technology. In a matter of a year a two my camera would end up obsolete. The real value are the memories it captures.

Computers.......Another bad investment and another story.....

I say boycott technology and revert back to living like the Amish.

Buy My Art

2005-05-04T11:44:00.000-07:00

I adopt a style somewhere between realism, naïve art and impressionism.
I studied at the Art Students League and the School of Visual Arts in New York.
I am a member of the South Hampton Artist Association and my work has been exhibited in the East End of Long Island and the Parish Gallery, New York.

Trevor found my secret website where I'm selling all my art.

If you're interested in purchasing one of my master pieces, I gladly take or Check payable to "Ricardo Gomez"

Please consult with my dealer Patrick Li

Memorial Day Weekend Planning

2005-05-02T22:43:00.001-07:00

My buddy Tyler and I have been eyeing Memorial Day to go to Pismo Beach. What's so special about Pismo is that it's the only beach that has a designated highway. Not only that, you can literally drive on to the beach and camp. Away from the beach are some amazing sand dunes. You're allowed to take off road vehicles and dirt bikes into the sand dunes. I most likely would rent an ATV. They're actually pretty easy since it's semi automatic. Sounds really fun huh. But today I came across some disappointing news. I called to make reservations for the weekend and it turns out they're fully booked. It's only 30 days away and they're booked for the whole weekend!!!

Well we decided to go with plan B and move foward with our yearly Yosemite backpacking trip for memorial day weekend. Every year we spend a few days back packing through Yosemites vast forests and encounter some of it's largest and spectacular water falls(Vernal Falls Mist trail probably the best water fall I've seen). We also take on the strenous challenge to climb Half Dome.

I'm thinking this time around I'll change the plan. I'm thinking to leave one car in Yosemite Valley and the other car at the top of Glacier Point. We'll start our trip decending from Galcier Point towards Little Yosemite back packers camp site. We'll spend the night at the back packers campsite. At the campsite we will have the ability to use the restrooms, pump/filter water from the near by river, and enjoy the late night breeze in front of a campfire...and then go bear hunting.

When I say bear hunting I mean I want to capture some nice pictures of these curious beasts. They say there are lots of black bears all over Yosemite...yet I have never had the opporunity to encounter one. There was this one time when my buddy Tyler and I left our packs and sleeping pads outside. When we returned Tylers sleeping pad had a huge claw mark left by a curious mother bear. That's probably been the closest we've been to an encounter.

We'll all I have to do is wait to see if the rangers will grant me my permits for Memorial Day Week

I heard Pat's going to be in Yosemite as well and has no excuse for not being in shape for the hike up to Half Dome since he's running the Bay to Breakers!

Family Techie

2005-04-28T01:38:00.000-07:00

Do any of you guys who work in the tech industry all of a sudden become desktop support for your family? I swear every single time I see one of my brothers and meet up with my parents I get the special treatment. In 10 minutes I'll be on a computer getting rid of a virus or installing a new drive. I like helping my family out and all but after staring at a computer all day long and I get off of work and I'm still doing the same thing? I like helping my family out but I need to rest my eyes a bit before I become cross eyed or colored blind like Pat:-) (sorry to hear that dude).

Not only am I the families computer desktop pc doctor, but there's something called inheritance. No I'm not talking about programming data structures where one object inherhits the characteristics of another object. I'm talking about how I become my mom's, co-workers, sisters, husbands, aunts, step sisters desktop technician. I could have sworn I told her that the cd rom is NOT a mechanical coffee mug holder :-)
I my mom tell's one person then that person tells her family and friends and sooner or later I've became free desktop support for silicon valley. I'm sure all those guys who run a business off of craigs list for desktop support must hate me.

I'd rather be outdoors enjoying the fresh air. If it's being a beach bum on the shores of the Pacific Ocean or sitting on top of half dome enjoying the sunset...those unproductive days I cherish.

Time to hit the hay...

Fuck'n Nail!

2005-04-19T23:41:00.000-07:00

I'm busy trying to get things done this week and now I have to deal with a potentiol flat on my car????? Not only is it not patchable, but I have replace ALL 4 tires on my car instead of buying 2. Why, cause I thought I was slick in buying an AWD car. It's really nice to have in Tahoe since I don't have to put on chains at all. And my car outperforms the semi-lifted Toyota Tacoma I used to drive in the snow and gets way better mileage.

I went to a gas station to figure out if I can get it fixed. They said it's too close to the wall of the tire. But I thought it was kind of fishy that they wanted to quote me on a whole set of tires for about $600. Shit...like I walk around with a big wad of cash in my back pocket. On second though let me bust out my savings account located in my shoe. He said I wouldn't such a good deal any where else.

I decided to take a trip to COSTCO. COSTCO is da place for everything. In college I used to shop there once a month. All the food I bought at bulk would literally last me the whole month. So if you think about it, I went grocery shopping 12 times a year!...alright getting side tracked here. Well I ended up getting a quote for 4 tires for 400 bucks with installtion, lifetime balancing, and rotation included. Now I'm saving $200 compared to the guy at the gas station selling them for 600 bucks. Best deal my ass!

So I guess tomorrow I'll be making a visit to COSTCO. No matter what I still think AWD is still worth it.

Before

2005-04-14T08:16:00.001-07:00

After getting my couch, coffee table set, barstools, some fake plants (cause I'm lazy to water them) I figured I need something on my walls. So I went out and got some big blank piece of canvas about 36x48 to create my masterpiece. Some place in San Carlos was having a huge canvas sale and it costed like 20 something bucks. That's a pretty good price compared to what I've seen at Michaels and whatevers on the net.

I have and idea what to make. Either I'm a genius or it's just one of the stupidest ideas I've ever had. I'm not going to say much cause you're just going to have to stay tuned until my next posting "After". But all I can say is it will ONLY work on my living room wall and no where else.

I figure a big piece of canvas aint going to be enough to fill walls. I'm working on obtaining a large piece of glass. Around the edge of the glass I'm going to add oak staind wood. I guess I'll be making a trip to Home Depot for some stain, oak wood, and some blades. The challenge would be getting the stain to match the same tone as my coffee table.

Stay tuned....

Google it

2005-04-12T13:09:00.000-07:00

TP found this funny link. http://www.fuckinggoogleit.com/

Foward this link to those who ask stupid questions that can easily be answered by the almighty google. I wonder what would happen to the internet if google ceased to exist today? Google killed the encylopedias! Reminds me of the Buggles...."Video killed the radio star" Those bastards!
http://www.poptix.net/funny/videostar.swf

Funny quote

2005-04-11T15:50:00.000-07:00

I thought this was a funny quote a friend of mind posts in her emails:

* When you go into court you are putting yourself in the hands
of 12 people that weren't smart enough to get out of jury duty *

True huh? Funny thing is my whole family got summons with in the same week. Luckily my bros and I had moved to different counties. My parents were just dismissed. I probably wouldn't mind to be a jury member just for the experience.

At one point I was considering law as a career when applying to colleges. It was either being a techie or some evil blood sucking lawyer....but without the evilness. I guess that came about when I used to argue my way through elementary school with all my teachers. They'd get frustrated every single time I stump them. They always said I'd make a good attorney. In highschool I was in a prosecution mock trial team for an honors English class(haha...I actually suck at writing). The case was funny though. The case revolved around a book called Lord of the Flies and on Trial was the kid who savagely killed his school mate. The question was should he be acquitted from all charges based on the situation. The stage: These elementary/middle kids were stranded on a deserted island. They've thrown out all their social values and became savages. With no authoritive figure, they managed to organize themselves into two tribes. One thing lead to another and a one classmate kills another classmate. The only threat of the classmate was a voice of a positive conscience to establish order. Ahh...I can go on and on but it was an experience.

My final decision was not become an attorney by the time I applied. Why...cause 90 % percent of the time is writing and re interpreting the law for loop holes. I would like to participate in trials but in reality in law you avoid trials at every cost. It consumes money and time. Law really revolves around money. But if there is a real legitimate purpose....I may consider it in the future.

Funny Yo Mama Jokes

2005-04-01T14:35:00.000-08:00

Yo mama so fat she lay on the beach and people run around yelling Free Willy

Yo mama so fat when she sits around the house, she SITS AROUND THE HOUSE!

Yo mama so fat when she gets on the scale it says to be continued.

Yo mama so fat she rolled over 4 quarters and it made a dollar!\

Yo mama so fat when she wears a yellow raincoat people say "Taxi!"

Yo mama so ugly she looks out the window and got arrested for mooning.

Yo mama so ugly she made an onion cry!

No offense to moms out there. Just thought these were funny. I appreciate my mom ;-)