omgh4x denuded

Checked out Studio 8 in San Jo with Demian last night--it's quite a rarity that Demian and I go clubbing, but we were intrigued by the weird radio commercials advertising the club. It turned out to be a huge club, and quite pretty. People were already lining up to go in at around 10 p.m., and the place was pretty full by 11 p.m. And by people, I mean Asian people--Studio 8 is THE Asian club of the Peninsula lol. Maybe it has to do with lucky number 8 laff.

All in all, we had a pretty good time getting our groove on, but there were a couple of downsides about the club. First, the bartender sucked--our drinks were VERY heavy on the alcohol, and weren't done correctly. I ordered a Surfer on Acid and ended up with a brown, minty-flavored drink...yeeeuuuck. Second, the DJs weren't very good--whether they were playing hip hop or trance, the transitions between songs were very rough and the song choice was lame (either too fast or too slow for dancing, so that either way, dancing made me feel sleepy and slow). Not sure I'd go to this club again--maybe only if I knew that the DJs would be good, and if we got another bartender.

So turns out that shopping on Black Friday isn't so bad anymore, but it's probably because I finished up all my Christmas shopping on Thanksgiving via the Internet, so I wasn't fighting lines at 5 a.m.

Our first task was to pick out a tree. We ended up choosing a very beautiful 12 footer, which is smaller in comparison to past years, but much more even all the way around. We're just waiting for the branches to come down before we decorate it, probably tomorrow. Among other places, we hit up Fry's (pretty busy, but not deadly), Any Mountain (my brother and I are finally getting parabolic skis and new boots for Christmas! yay!), Stanford, and Target.

Forgot to mention that earlier this week, I got to try Bistro Vida on Santa Cruz Avenue for a work lunch--it was great! Way better than Left Bank. I had a delicious carrot soup, creamy, but not too rich, and the pear and quail salad. The cinnamon spiced pears had been poached briefly, so they were flavorful and slightly soft, but retained some crunch. The quail was hot, moist and seasoned just right. The salad was brought together by a delicious, creamy, dijon vinaigrette. The only things about the restaurant that I was not impressed with included the service, which was just so-so (our server forgot to mention the soup special), and the dessert, a very bizarre tarte tatin. Where one would expect a tarte tatin to be delicate and flaky, with thinly sliced apples, this dessert was heavy and cakey, with huge chunks of sweet apples. The dessert itself wasn't bad (I'm always a fan of baked apples, although these had a weird, rubbery texture), but it also wasn't tarte tatin. I think I might try the crepes for dessert next time.

Listening to the new Josh Groban CD now, "Awake," and I just love it. Most of the songs I can't understand because they're in Italian, but it doesn't much matter because I'm enamored of his voice.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Cranberry sauce is done, butter pecan ice-cream is chilling, and molten chocolate cakes are ready for the making. I'm so glad that my family has started to celebrate Thanksgiving. I can't believe I missed out on 20 years of turkey and stuffing!

On a random note, I recently decided that "When Harry Met Sally" is no longer my favorite movie. I used to think that it was so romantic how Harry and Sally hated each other first, then became friends, then finally got together at the end--maybe because I could identify with the story. But when I watched the movie again this summer, I realized that Harry acted like a complete jerk and made Sally feel like total crap! And it wasn't because Harry was particularly jerk-like--it was just because he was acting like a normal guy. WEAK SAUCE. In any case, I think my new favorite movie is "Love, Actually," which actually has been a close second to "When Harry Met Sally" for awhile. At least "Love, Acually" is more honest about love and relationships. I remember that when I went to the theater with Demian to watch the movie, I cried like three times.

On that note, I'm going to go pop in my DVD of "Love, Actually" and watch it now!

Went to the Suns vs. Warriors game last night, and it was SUCH a great game! The Warriors ended up losing at the last minute because of a down-to-the-wire three-pointer by Nash, but they played the best I've ever seen them play--much improved defense, fast-paced and effective offense. Nellie is putting in all the small, quick, passionate bench guys and some rookies. Monta Ellis, whom Demian and I refer to as "High School," was starting point guard and got over 30 points. DAAAYYAAAM! After such a tremendous effort, I was crushed when they finally lost to the Suns, who have really lost some of their sparkle over the last couple of years. Nash was very good, as always--he's so observant and always exercises good judgment. And man, some of those passes--between-the-leggers! But the rest of them--Amare, Marion, the twins (i.e., Raja Bell and Boris Diaw)--were pretty quiet and subdued for most of the game. Anyway, it was refreshing to see what an improvement Nellie has made to the team, and the CROWD! I've NEVER seen the crowd get so loud and into the game--people were on their feet!!! That didn't even happen when B. Diddy came over. Overall, awesome experience.

But now I am so freaking tired (got back around 12ish last night). Can't wait til Thanksgiving break.

Forgot to mention that this weekend Demian and I saw "Casino Royale," which turned out to be quite decent. Personally, I like Daniel Craig better than wussy Pierce Brosnan, who is definitely more of a playboy than a rugged, kick-your-butt secret agent. I think Daniel Craig is a nice mix of manly and debonaire. It was definitely a departure from the more recently James Bond flicks--fewer gadgets and gags, more substance and grit. I can't wait to see more in this series. The only thing that was a little annoying was all the product placements--we must have seen the "Sony" logo a billion times, including on 007's laptop...which is the same as mine teehee!

Speaking of series, we also saw the "Spider-Man 3" preview--it looks awesome! I l-o-v-e Spidey's black costume!

Lastly, I want to give a shout out to the teacake bake shop in Emeryville. As congratulations for passing the bar, my little bro bought me some cupcakes from this bakery, and they are to die for! The best icing I've ever had--when you bite into the frosting, you encounter the most delicate, sugary crust (not really a crust--just the shell of the icing that's hardened) before you hit the delicious, thick, creamy icing below. Super duper yum! I wish it were closer, but I guess it's a good thing it's not lol.

Tonight, Demian and I are off to watch the Suns play the Warriors--at the rate this season is going, the Warriors should kick the Suns' butts. Too bad--even though my heart belongs to Troy on the Warriors, it's much more fun to watch the Suns pummel other teams.

Teehee.

Demian and I bought tickets to see Josh Grobin in concert in March, and I am SO excited! Ever since I saw Josh Groban on "Ally McBeal" all those years ago, I've been smitten--what a voice!

Thankgiving's next week, and I can't wait to have those two days off. I'll be making my excellent NON-CANNED cranberry sauce from SCRATCH and my famous molten chocolate cakes. Finally, some baking! And the day after Thanksgiving, we'll be picking out a tree--hooray! The tree is always my favorite part about Christmas--I still enjoy just sitting on the steps in our foyer, watching the blinking lights and inhaling that wonderful, nostalgic scent of Christmas tree.

Just finished up some take-home work, and am getting in the Christmas mood by making a list of Christmas presents I want to get my peeps. Can't think of much else to say at the moment, so I'm outties!

I passed!

Now I'm REALLY in the Christmas mood!

: : : EDIT : : :

The bar! I passed the bar! Sheesh!

I think my annual I'm-So-Excited-That-It's-Almost-Christmas post might be a little earlier than usual this year (it's not even Thanksgiving yet!), but ever since I got back from D.C., I've been in a Christmasy mood. I think maybe it was all the changing leaves and the crisp, cool air. In any case, I've officially marked the beginning of (my) Christmas season by playing my Celine Dion Christmas carols CD...even as I write that, I can feel Demian shudder in his office all the way in San Jose.

That said, however, I'm a little behind in thinking of Christmas presents for everybody this year. I've only got about half of the presents figured out, which is uncharacteristic of me. Chalk it up to busy-ness and work, I guess.

Demian bought the newest FoxTrot anthology for me yesterday--hooray! That's also a holiday season-esque thing for me, since I usually end up getting one every few years around Christmas time and spend Christmas Eve reading it before bedtime.

Anyway, I just had to get that out of my system! Merry Almost Christmas everyone!

Dang folks... this is a shout out to all my fellow nerds and past MUDders. (Make sure to read Jaci's post on her DC trip! I don't mean to push it down, and I'll actually delay the publishing of this page but this was some must post news!)

So CCP, the makers of EVE online, have just received rights to use White Wolf stuff on their MMO. I never really played EVE and the last time I saw it was on Donahoe's computer, but it looked like a pretty standard MMO. Either way, what this means is:

CCP is bringing a range of White Wolf's role-playing properties online, while the table-top publisher will develop card games, RPG systems, novels and more based on the EVE Online universe.
[gameindustrybiz]

Bottom line, this looks like it means a Godwars MMO, which has me pretty durn excited =P

Eep--sorry for not keeping up my D.C. blog. After our first night there, things got a little crazy. Here's my feeble attempt to catch up.

Day 2: Tuesday

Tuesday was our one free day, and we did our best to get to know the city before the orientation started at 4 p.m. We left the hotel around 8:30 a.m. and made our way down towards Pennsylvania Avenue to check out the Whitehouse. I know I've seen the Whitehouse before in movies and pictures, but to see it in person is just really cool.

On the Way to the Whitehouse: Farragut Square (I think)

House in Farragut Square

Tee hee hee

The Whitehouse

In general, D.C. has this fantastic historical feel. We continued our trek through the city, passing the FBI Building, the Spy Museum, the Department of Justice, the IRS, and tons of other government buildings. A mist had descended over the city that morning, bit the gray was punctuated with the bright fall foliage, red, orange, and gold. In the distance, we could see the Washington Monument and the Capitol Building towering over the streets. Apparently, no building is higher than the Washington Monument, which really lets the light into the streets.

Capitol in the Distance

Washington Monument in the Distance

We finally stopped into the Museum of Natural History, which was a mistake--not because it was lame, but because it turned out to be really interesting and basically took up our entire free time for the rest of the day! I thought dinosaur bones would be retarded, but it was just so awesome to see these REAL dinosaur skeletons...it's so surreal! I just thought these things were made up! The only thing was that I thought the T-Rex would be bigger, but maybe it was a baby T-Rex.

Triceratops Skeleton!!!

We also made our way upstairs to see the Hope Diamond, which is blue and 44 carats and has a bunch of history behind it. There was also a national jewelry collection, which was so impressive--huge, elaborate (expensive!) jewelry donated by a bunch of rich people and jewelers like Harry Winston. By the time we had seen only three exhibits, it was already getting late, so we went in search of a place to have lunch. After consulting our handheld Nuvi to find an Italian place, we ended up at Tosca. To say that we were a tad underdressed would be a gross understatement. It looked like it was the business lunch capital (haha) of D.C.--everyone was wearing a suit and looked like a politician. We, on the other hand, were dressed in jeans and fashion equivalents of t-shirts. But we were hungry and it didn't seem like a problem for the restaurant, so we were promptly seated and given menus. Man oh man, I wish I had been more hungry so I could try more items, because they ALL looked delicious. In the end, I settled on salad of radicchio and Bartlett pears, with imported Gorgonzola cheese terrine and toasted walnuts. It turned out to be one of those dishes that is simple but displays the clear talent of the chef through impeccable execution. The crisp of the slightly bitter radicchio contrasted nicely with the sweet, soft poached pears, and both elements played off of the nutty crunch of walnuts. The entire dish was pulled together by the creamy, rich, sweet-saltiness of the mild Gorgonzola. Totally yum! I thought the salad showed thoughtfulness in the combination of ingredients, and playfulness in that each ingredient was plated separately from the other, so that the customer could enjoy each individually and in succession. Sadly, after lunch, we had only about an hour until orientation began, so we took a taxi to the hotel, just as it began to drizzle.

I won't bore y'all with any details about orientation and my efforts to overcome my fear of networking, so let's just move on to Day 3.

Day 3: Wednesday

The better part of Wednesday was spent indoors at orientation, but afterwards, we got a chance to take a late afternoon bus tour of the city. I actually had a great time on the bus--it was the perfect way to see the city so that I'll know exactly where to go when I return in the future. We passed through cute Georgetown, very much like a hip college town (a little like Vancouver), embassy row, a national forest with gorgeous fall colors, a bunch of monuments, the Capitol, Washington Monument, Jefferson Memorial, the WWII Memorial, and the Lincoln Memorial (which is just beautiful when it is illuminated at night). The tour guide seemed very knowledgable and passionate about his work, although as the tour began to push two hours, my butt got pretty sore from sitting and my attention started to wane. After we returned, we went upstairs to change into clothes appropriate for...the Wizards vs. Pacers game! I was so excited to go, and Demian had prepped me on the players (I'm not as familiar with the Eastern Conference as the Western Conference). The stadium was great--very similar to the Warriors stadium. Well-maintained and not too big. We also had fantastic seats, nineteen rows back on the lower level, slightly to the left of the away team's basket. The game turned out to be something of a blow-out--we didn't stay until the very end, but at one point, the Wizards were up by 40...it was a pretty big disgrace. But good for Demian's fantasy team! I enjoyed watching Gilbert Arenas though--he reminds me a little of Amare Stoudamire...not the way he plays, just the way he looks. He's very good at fundamentals.

Verizon Center

Around 9:15 p.m., we took off for dinner near the stadium, at this French-Indian fusion restaurant called IndeBleu. It turned out to be pretty delicious, and not bad price-wise--three course dinner for $50. I had the "Lilliputian Tower of Lobster and Lump Crab with Marinated Mango, Pinenuts, and Curry Oil" to start with, which was actually a quite good version of the staple crab salad you see in many fine dining establishments these days. I thought the mango elevated the salad to a higher level, although I thought that the chef could have done even more to make the salad his own with the pinenut and curry flavors, which were curiously absent. For my entree, I enjoyed a red snapper dish with coconut curry mussels. I was impressed with both the flavor and the texture of the fish, which was sweet, soft, and moist without being mushy. Unlike the previous dish, the flavors were brighter and richer. I finished off with a "Pineapple Tarte Tartin," which turned out to be more like a delicious pineapple upside-down cake. The carmelized pineapple was juicy and sweet, and added terrific texture to the slightly crisp, cakey "tart" on which it perched. Overall, a very satisfying meal.

Day 4: Thursday

Thursday was an even longer day than Wednesday, especially since I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. But it was capped off wonderfully with a dinner at the firm's D.C. office, which has the most coveted view of the Capitol in the whole city--in fact, CBS tapes its news show with Katie Couric from the balcony of the firm's roof!

View of the Capitol from the D.C. Office Roof

After a delicious dinner created by the office's chef, we all went back to the hotel to change into comfy clothes for clubbing at "Heaven and Hell," which apparently is a yearly tradition. The club is located in the Adams Morgan district, which is basically the ethnic district of the city and resembles Berkeley a lot. Aside from the asphixiating smokey atmosphere of the club, I actually ended up having a great time with my office mates and other people from the firm (which generously paid for the cover charge and drinks for all). I loved that it was an 80s club, and we danced to songs like "Like a Virgin," "Billy Jean," "Come on Eileen," and, downstairs in the 80s hip-hop room, MC Hammer classics and "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It" lol.

Day 5: Friday

Suffice to say, after clubbing Thursday night, it was Friday morning was tough, but I had known that'd be the case when I went out the night before, so I sucked it up and went downstairs for our last sessions. We wrapped up early, around 3:30 p.m., got our luggage, and made our way to Dulles Airport to await our flight. When we finally boarded, I totally conked out for what I think was two hours (however long "Talledega Nights" runs lol), and then chatted with my co-workers the rest of the time, which made the flight go by super fast! At long last, we arrived in SFO, and Demian picked me up to go home. It was an amazing trip, but I was sooo sooo glad to be home.

Thus concludes the D.C. Chronicles! Thanks for stopping by!

Greetings from D.C., y'all! It's almost 11:30 p.m. here, and just got back from dinner with my peeps from the Menlo Park office and one great gal from the Shanghai office. We went to what turned out to be a fabulous Malaysian place near the hotel--we are simply stuffed, and all for only $25.00 per person (appetizers, entrees, desserts, and a bottle of wine!). Plus, the conversation was quite the amusing! My co-workers seem to have this innate talent for making me laugh so hard I cry lol. Flight was good--five hours flies by pretty fast when you have an in-flight movie ("A Prairie Home Companion," which I didn't really "get") and "Sex and the City" DVDs. The hotel, the Mayflower Renaissance, is just gorgeous--big bed, huge bathroom. The actual room is a little small, but definitely more than enough space for one person.

Can't wait for our adventures tomorrow. We're planning on walking down to the Whitehouse, the Museum of Natural History, and perhaps an art museum in the area. I'm just hoping the rain can hold off until we have to come back inside for training at around 4 p.m. Cross your fingers for me!

The last couple of days have been just what I needed. I've been in a little bit of a funk because of the crappy weather this past week--misty and gray and moist is the worst--and because things have been a little slow at work. But Friday evening with Demian was a real pick-me-up. We were both exhausted from this week, so I decided we'd just go somewhere close for dinner--La Bodeguita on California Avenue. It was pretty packed that night, but fortunately, we were able to grab a table that was reserved for about an hour and a half later in the evening. Sadly, the restaurant doesn't serve its delicious fish sandwich in the evenings, so I opted for this wonderful Palmitos Salad (baby greens, palm hearts, avocado, candied walnuts, and grapefruit segments) and the yummy crab cakes with fresh corn salsa. Dee-lish! Demian got the Cubano Sandwich, which was basically the equivalent of a croque monsieur) and which turned out great. Demian was in the delirious/silly phase of his tiredness, which was very amusing and made for great conversation. After dinner, we went back to the house to watch Smallville and Top Chef. This season of Top Chef kind of sucks; aside from the crappy new host of the show, the chefs just aren't that talented. I don't see the same creativity or competence that I saw in Harold and Tiffany and even LeAnn last year. Too bad. I'm going to give the show another chance, but if it doesn't shape up in the next couple of episodes, I'm outtie.

Yesterday, we took the BART up to the city to see "Chicago." Overall, the show was adequate, but not amazing. I think one of the worst parts, sadly, was Huey Lewis, who played the part of Billy Flynn. His range is really limited, and he has problems projecting his voice--definitely not a Broadway kind of guy. The other actors were okay--at least their pitch was good, unlike the actors in "A Chorus Line"--but I really thought they lacked that extra spark to send them over the top. A lack of charisma maybe, which really affects a production like Chicago, which is all about charisma. After the show, we had dinner at Sammo's, which also played it's part in rejuvenating me. Black cod, arctic char, and butterfish were all available...mmm! It just really hit the spot. Went home, watched "Grey's Anatomy," some of "Mr. Deeds," and "Dr. 90210." Towards the end of the show, I started to fall asleep I think, so we decided it was about time to bring me home.

And that brings me to this morning! Not much planned for today--maybe a little shopping, gotta get a pedicure, and need to pack for tomorrow's flight. Sucks that the only day it'll be raining in D.C. is the only day we have free to explore the city. Oh well! I think I might hit up the Museum of Natural History anyway, and hopefully do some shopping (5.75% sales tax, baby!).

Last thing--on Wednesday or Thursday morning, I can't remember, I was driving to work and there was this HUGE rainbow stretched over my office, one end behind the building, and the other end right on top of the entrance to 280! But there wasn't a pot of gold! Damn leprechauns and their dirty tricks! Anyway, it was beautiful. I tried to take a picture once I parked, but after I had taken out my camera, the sun was out and the rainbow was gone. Ah well.

My god I can't believe it's November. Only 1 month and 20 days til Christmas! Woooohoooo!

: : : EDIT : : :

Oooh I almost forgot! Demian and I bought tickets to see the Suns vs. Warriors game on November 20! Hooray!

Man, the weeks seem to go by so fast these days that by the time I get to sit down and blog about them, I've forgotten everything I wanted to say. Maybe if I just start typing, I'll remember...

So first of all, Halloween sucks. The first year associates were "highly encouraged" to dress up for the Halloween costume contest yesterday, so I decided to go as Kate from "Lost"--jeans, dark green wifebeater, black backpack full of mangoes and water. I should have listened to Demian's warnings. If there had been an award for lamest costume, I would've gotten it. Apparently, NO ONE in this office watches "Lost," so they just thought I just came to work in jeans without washing my hair or face (I rubbed brown makeup on my face to look dirty). So embarrassing. What made it worse is that everyone loved my co-workers' costumes--one of my co-workers MADE this awesome Jack-in-the-Box head, and another one dressed up as Pippi Longstockings, with crazy pointy hair and all. So continues the Lew legacy of lame Halloweens. Anyone who knew me in high school probably knows that I've never gone trick-or-treating in my life.

On a happier note, Demian and I went to "Inside the Kitchen" at the Ritz Carlton in Half Moon Bay this weekend, which featured an Iron Chef challenge between the male chefs at Piperade and Aqua and the female chefs from Citizen Cake and Fifth Floor. It was a good idea, but the execution was pretty poor--the producers who were managing the TV screens for us peons in the back were horrible, and the announcer pretty sorry. He clearly had no background in food, and no idea how Iron Chef works. It made me miss Alton Brown. But the chefs were clearly pretty amazing in putting together a three course meal from the secret ingredient--locally made goat cheese. Just getting a chance to see them display their knife skills was amazing. It was also cool seeing all these famous chefs from San Francisco, including Hubert Keller of Fleur de Lys, who I recognize from sight now after he was on Top Chef. After the competition was a huge buffet, spread all around a wing of the hotel, with super delicious food from all these great local and Vegas restaurants, including Bouchon in Napa. This was seriously schmancy food--Demian went back for seconds of the poached lobster with caviar...yum! It was like tapas on steroids...very expensive steroids. One of my favorites was a mini burger made of dessert items--donut hole bun, chocolate ganache patty, strawberry tomato, and passion fruit mustard. SO delicious. The only problem was the layout was really stupid--there weren't any tables, so people were jammed in the corridors trying to get to the food, eating while standing up, etc.

As for what's coming up, well, this weekend Demian and I are going to see "Chicago" at the Orpheum Theater in the city, and on Monday, I leave for D.C. for a weeklong new lawyers' orientation. I'm excited and anxious at the same time--I've never been to D.C., but I've also never traveled on my own before. I know I'll have coworkers with me, but it's not the same.

Anyhoo, I'll try to keep y'all posted on those things as they happen!