omgh4x denuded

Today's just one of those days, and I heard about this over the radio and it made me do a little bit more research about it. First off, Michael J Fox is awesome... from Teen Wolf, Back to the Future, and Spin City, he's just an awesome actor. I've recently watched his E True Hollywood Story and like always, it's an awesome story. Plus, I'm a big proponent for Stem Cell Research. It WILL save lives. THE END.

So it "angared" me when I heard how Rush Limbaugh was criticizing Fox by claiming that in his ads that Fox was "either off his medication or acting" during the ad.

Man, also looking at the ad on youtube and all the comments about it really bug me to. Some people are just completely igant confusing stemcell research to abortion. UGH

You can read the full story below.

Michael J. Fox makes stem cell vote push(yahoo)

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Just a clarificatory post--when I said "it's official" in my last post, I meant that I'm "officially" an Associate at Jones Day, not that I found out that I passed the Bar heh...cuz I don't find that out until mid-November. Just wanted to clear that up in case there was any confusion.

I also wanted to remark on how weird it is to me that I'm getting paid to do what I'm doing, which is basically a lot of legal research and writing. I seriously love it. All the cases I've been reading are fascinating--I just came across a case the other day where The Wedding Channel sued The Knot for patent infringement--something to do with electronic wedding registries that let you put all your registries from different places on one website. And another case described a patent for a slot machine that decreases the odds of winning--so awesome (and outrageous!!! Screw you, Vegas!) I'm realizing that when it comes to big companies, everyone is either getting sued or doing the suing these days. Maybe it's a kind of right of passage...probably more like a way of life though.

So far I'm having a lot of fun at my new job--I hope it stays that way. My office is of the "work hard, play hard" school, which is very Stanford-esque...love it.

It's official.

WOOOOOOHOOOOOO!

Demian and I got floor tickets to see Christina Aguilera in the spring! It wasn't easy, though. When I first bought tickets this morning online, I got seats in row 24 of the first level, but kind of far back. I was fine with it until I checked Ticketmaster (to see how fast tickets were selling out) and realized BETTER tickets were still available! So I called Demian to ask him what we should do, and he checked on the website and still better tickets were going up. (I'm guessing that people just were viewing the tickets and giving them up.) We decided that before we tried to get better tickets and Craigslist the ones I bought this morning, I'd call Ticketmaster to see if I could just exchange my current tickets for better ones. When I called, I talked to the nicest Ticketmaster representative, Robert. He said that while normally Ticketmaster doesn't let you exchange or cancel your orders, he'd make a one time exception for us. He was so helpful in trying to find us better seats, trying to meet my requests for better sections. All of a sudden, Demian IMed me that he found FLOOR SEATS! I asked Robert if we could switch them out, and he said that because I was looking at the tickets online, he wouldn't see that they were available, so I should just go ahead and buy them and he'd cancel my previous order as a one time courtesy. So thanks to the amazing team work of Team SiuDemian, we got floor seats for Christina Aguilera!

After getting the tickets, I took my mom to lunch at Bistro Maxine (yummy crepe place on Ramona off of University Avenue) and then the Hakone Gardens in Saratoga to check out the place and walk around. It's a gorgeous little retreat--very quiet and serene. I love just sitting in the gazebo watching the turtles and the huge fish swim around and pop to the surface to gobble up algae. It's so gross and fascinating! Their mouths are HUGE!

After walking around the gardens, we went to Fleur de Cocao in Los Gatos for some dessert--man, that Janvier Pascal is one talented pastry chef! He's also a wonderful chocolatier. While walking around Los Gatos (which is just a fabulous neighborhood), we stopped into Site for Sore Eyes, and I fell in love with these great frames from London Fog. They were a little pricey, but were on sale for $100 off, so I decided to bite the bullet. I hate having to wear glasses, but now that I'm working full time, my eyes definitely need the help. The fact that I actually didn't look like an idiot in these glasses (which is a rarity), and the fact that they were shockingly comfortable (so light!) really sealed the deal for me. So I think I'll go to the Site for Sore Eyes store in Palo Alto to give them my prescription, and then hopefully they'll be ready in a week or so.

Didn't end up watching "Fast and the Furious" last night--it's been all checked out for the past two weeks! How can such an obviously lame movie be out of stock! Demian has a pretty astute hypothesis--it's such a lame movie that no one went to see it in theaters and just waited for it to come out on DVD. Well, hopefully we can get our hands on it next week. So last night we watched "Click" instead (that Adam Sandler movie where he uses a universal remote to control his life)...boy, that movie sucked. Hard. It was sappy, unfunny, and nonsenscial all at the same time. How that's possible with a cast like Christopher Walken and Adam Sandler, I just don't know. Oh well!

Anyhoo, I think I should probably get to exercising before I turn into a huge lump. Au revoir!

No need to send out the search party, folks--I've just been so busy that, unfortunately, I've been neglecting my blog, but I thought I'd take a few minutes this morning to update on how things have been going so far.

The last couple of days at work have been great. I spent the better part of yesterday morning learning about integrated circuits on Wikipedia for a patent litigation case that I think falls under the electrical engineering category--I now have a very superficial understanding of transistors, resistors, diodes and inverters. As follow-up, I also read a few cases about the Nintendo NES (Nintendo got sued for patent infringement based on its console awhile back) and how slot machines work. This is what I love about IP litigation. Unlike general litigation, where all the cases you read are about the same facts (real estate contracts, someone's hand getting chopped off by a coffee maker, etc.), IP litigation has cool new inventions and new technology discussed in each case. I know that in doing IP litigation, I'll learn things that I'd otherwise never learn; plus, trying to grapple with physics, chem, and bio is such a refreshing change from just law law law all the time...although I also happen to love the law bit of IP.

Speaking of trying new things, Demian and I went to this relatively new Indian place on University Avenue yesterday called Hyderabad House. I'm not a big fan of Indian food normally, but I've had this craving for the past two weeks and remembered seeing the restaurant while putzing around Palo Alto. It's in the same location that like three other failed Indian restaurants have been, which is interesting, but it looks like it's doing pretty good business, and for good reason I think. I actually really liked the food, which tasted fresh, flavorful, and satisfying to me--like a Californian's version of comfort food. Demian and I had the ginger shrimp and the chicken tikka masala, each of which came with rice and naan. The reason that I don't normally like Indian is because things taste too oily and mushy for me, but this wasn't the case at Hyderabad House--everything tasted freshly prepared and brightly flavored. Demian wasn't a huge fan because he only likes Indian food when it's buffet style and everything has had the crap cooked out of it laff (he said that the chicken tikka masala wasn't mushy enough for him at this place). I also loved the food because it was just the right amount of spiciness--enough to get your nose running, but not so that you start crying from pain. I thought the mango lassi, which was just the right consistency and not too sour, was the perfect accompaniment to soothe our palates. So check it out, people, so it stays in business!

Other highlights from this week include:

* I bought tickets for Demian and me to see "Chicago" at the Orpheum Theater in two weeks--man, I love the songs from that musical!

* Demian and I are buying tickets this morning to see Christina Aguilera perform at the HP Pavilion in March--woohoo! She's definitely an artist that Demian and I both enjoy--her voice is amazing!

And coming up:

* Renting "Fast and the Furious" tonight with my free rental coupon from Blockbuster (hot chicks and fast cars--what more could we ask of a Friday night?)

* Watching "The Departed" this weekend at the theater--Marky Mark, Matt Damon, Leo DiCaprio and Jack Nicholson...explosive combination if I do say so myself!

Alright, NOW it's time for me to get back to work. I'll try not to neglect my blog too much in the future.

EDIT: Whoops. For some reason this most recent post of mine was posted as a Demian Rant...sorry for the confusion!

Can you blame me for wanting to push that horrific picture of Demian down? I am truly scarred for life.

Got back from Boston a couple of days ago, and had a great (but exhausting) time there. My nephew is even more adorable than I remembered, and is growing so big. At a year and three months, he's quite tall and an adept walker. He's also brilliant! He's so observant and quick to learn. He already knows how to turn on the TV, so his parents have had to place a table in front of it to keep him from reaching the button. We took him to the aquarium, and he was totally fascinated and enthralled by the fish. I could watch him for hours playing with a piece of plastic, trying to figure out its texture, taste, properties, even how it sounds when rubbed against other objects.

One quick note about Boston--when we were there, we fell in love with this chain of restaurants called Au Bon Pain, which is apparently big on the east coast but totally absent on the west. It's a bakery/deli with the most delicious baked goodies (the corn muffin was out of this world--it had kernels of corn baked right in!), fresh salads and sandwiches, and yummy muesli and yogurt to go. I was less impressed with our fancy dinner at Sorrelina, but I think I'll save a rant about that supposedly critically acclaimed new restaurant for another night when I'm not so tired.

Started work this week and have had two full days of orientation--it's funny how doing pretty much nothing will really drain you. Makes me cranky and tired. But I'm excited because I have my first assignment that I'll be starting bright and early tomorrow morning. I hope I can measure up to the firm's expectations of me. Oh! Also, today I took pictures for the firm's website--they already sent the proofs, and I'll have to pick a photo by tomorrow evening. I already know I'm picking a toothy grin--whenever I don't smile with my teeth, I look like an anorexic 12-year-old. I liked the photographer--she was chatty and gave good direction, which is nice because I absolutely hate taking portraits and am spectacularly unphotogenic. She made the experience definitely tolerable. Once I'm up on the website, it'll be official, so look for my announcement laff. Okay, better finish watching my LOST DVD--the season premiere's tomorrow!!! So much TV, so little time.

Welcome to the first omgh4x Hall of Shame. I figure I might as well headline this thing.

Here's a little backdrop on the scene. So my company's (Decarolis Direct) president just had his 30th bday party and he was doing a 70's theme. Siu was far far away and she had refused to go to the party with me so I ended up going solo. Luckily, one of my co-workers was going solo as well so we carpooled up there.

Costume's were HIGHLY encouraged so we were gunna stop by the goodwill to pick up some stuff but my co-worker (philip) had shown up at my house in semi normal 70's stuff. Since we're both quite the lazy type I figured I'd just screw it and not go in costume. Either way... here's a picture of 3/4's of our art department (phil, philip, and me).

Hall of shame entry #1: