Which Superhero Are You?

Apparently, I'm Superman.



Your results:

You are mild-mannered, good,
strong and you love to help others.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

House Hopping In Arizona

Just got back from spending Christmas with in-laws in Arizona. We looked at a couple of houses there in the desert--compared to California, they're practically bargains. There were a couple of houses we looked at where the backyards were so big, you could build (a) another house, or (b) an olympic-sized track and a pool. All for about the same price as ours at current market prices. Sheesh.

Of course, the weather isn't exactly agreeable. It was fine when we were there, but that's because it was winter. Otherwise, during summer, it's HOT. I like my environment to have a bit of green.

Apples and Oranges, part 2

Well, PJ's warming to the idea of using a Mac. I've explained what Boot Camp is (allows you to install Windows on an Intel Mac), so she'll be able to use it for the coffee shop. So it's possible that we'll keep it--if her friend doesn't wind up buying it. We're going to visit an Apple store in the near future, and she'll play with it--if she likes it, the plan is:

(1) Try to return the MacBook, explaining that we won it, but would rather upgrade
(2) Get credit for it and apply it to the purchase of the 15" MacBook Pro (that thing's pretty sexy)

Let's see if that works. We'll wait until the Christmas crowds are gone (the Apple stores are like Divisoria with all the people frantically buying iPods), and then proceed to test drive it.

If someone *does* wind up buying the MacBook from us, it's off to Power Notebooks for this little puppy.

Apples and Oranges

We've come into possession of a brand-spankin' new MacBook (the white one) via the luck of the draw. Question is, what do we do with it? I've told the wife to go ahead and familiarize herself with it, so she can use it at work. She doesn't want to. She's worried that she'll have a difficult time navigating it, preferring the safe environment of Windows. I've told her about Boot Camp, but she's having none of it.

*** cue gasps of shock and dismay ***

I have to admit--I'm not really an Apple fan. I have no problems with Apple in general (except for the fact that I had the opportunity to buy Apple stock at great prices and didn'tAAARRGGGGHHHH), but I'm just so sick of some of the Apple fanboys (not the sane ones who leave you alone to do what you want) that I'm tempted to just boycott all its products. It's an irrational dislike, I know.

However, now that we have a MacBook at home, why not poke around OSX? Check out the iLife suite, Delicious Library and Comic Life? I'm not married to Windows, so why not check out the water on the other side?

It's her laptop, though, so she'll decide whether she wants to use it or not. Another thing going against it is the small screen (she has trouble reading text and prefers bigger fonts on large amounts of real estate). Now, if we had managed to score the MacBook Pro (especially the sexy 17-incher) I might've been able to convince her to get over her fears, but we got the wimpy 13.3" screen. We just might wind up selling it.

No Pain, No Gain

A couple of months ago I posted that I've been trying to lose weight because of my high cholesterol. I set out to be more aware of two things: (1) my food intake, and (2) exercise. I cut down on the rice I ate and started walking around a mile or so every other day.

I managed to lose around ten pounds using this method, but at some point I hit a wall. I decided to take some sort of fitness class just to keep myself motivated, and have someone actually pushing me. I wound up choosing Krav Maga, which is a form of Israeli self-defense. I had heard good things about it from former co-workers. I tried a class, found it kicked my ass (in a good way), and signed up.

Today we did around thirty minutes of warm-up, which consisted of push-ups, jumping rope, crunches, leg lifts, hitting a punching bag, jumping over obstacles, running, wheelbarrows, jumping jacks, shadow boxing, and doing squats while carrying a two-hundred pound partner. My arms and legs were about to fall off after that; and these were only the warm-ups!

The rest of the training session was easy after that (not to mention fun). It gets embarrassing sometimes, though--especially when you're partnered with a pretty girl and you're told to hit her (although we do use pads and such--you don't hit anyone directly). Of course, she has no such qualms. After a while, though, adrenaline takes over, and all you see are the pads. You punch, elbow, knee and kick those pads like your life depended on it. Sometimes, you inadvertently hit your partner, as I've (painfully) found out (knees to the groin are not fun).

What's great is that I get to burn calories while learning self-defense at the same time. Hopefully I'm never in a situation where I need to use what I've learned, but it's always nice to be prepared.

Oh Christmas Tree

We decided not to get a tree this Christmas. The main reason is that the kids are in their terrible twos, and are prone to just grab ornaments and pull, risking (a) injury and (b) an electrical fire or two. It was supposed to be the year we switched from a real tree to a fake one; we put that off as well.

Instead, we went all out decorating outside. We have the snowman, and the snowflake lights, and even put a garland around the front door. The ornaments that were supposed to go on the tree went to the garland instead. Thankfully, everything's pretty tasteful and understated (in as much as a snowman in California is understated). No Mickey Mouse skating around beside Santa Claus, the baby Jesus, and a big cross with an inflatable snow globe and a Christmas tree in the background (yes, that's one of our neighborhood displays. Talk about tacky).

Hopefully next year we do get a tree. It was always fun putting it up, then my mother-in-law shooing us all away as she trimmed it. That was her baby.

It's a Sony

My friend recently lucked into a PS3 this past Tuesday. He was heading to Circuit City to pick up Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest when his wife called him up, telling him that Best Buy had the PS3 in stock. He immediately drove there, paid $50 for a pick up ticket, and scored a PS3. When he left, there were still 30 in stock.

Lucky bastard, huh? Except his kids really want a Wii. Whoops.

So, now, he just wants to return the PS3. He thought about putting it on eBay, but decided that it was more trouble than it was worth (plus he feels guilty about fleecing people). I told him to just sell it to our other friends.

I admire him for not succumbing to greed (i.e. selling it on eBay). Hopefully the good karma will net him a Wii before Christmas.

Say It Ain't So, Greg!

The news that Greg Page is leaving the Wiggles was quite shocking and sad. We've been quite fond of Greg's silky-smooth vocals, and his replacement Sam (Professor Singalottasonga) just isn't the same.

First Larissa, now Greg. *sigh*

At least we got to see the original Wiggles in concert before Greg left.

Be Yourself

I feel like I just got tagged by Calai.

IF YOU WERE A _______, WHAT WILL YOU BE, AND WHY?

1. An ulam/meal

Fried Chicken. Because I've eaten so much in my entire life, it's a wonder I haven't started clucking yet. KFC extra crispy please! (nothing beats homemade, though)

2. A furniture piece

A table, because you can put a lot of stuff on it and it just sits there, not complaining.

3. An item of clothing or apparel

A white T-shirt. Comfy, yet bland. No prints--okay, maybe a small understated logo at front chest pocket, which you have to really look at to notice.

4. An album or a song.

Alanis Morrissette, Jagged Little Pill. Because I literally lived that entire album.

5. A fruit or vegetable

A tomato. Because it could be either a fruit or a vegetable, depending on who you ask. Thus spake the Gemini. Plus it's a base in so many dishes.

6. An animal.

A turtle. Slow but steady.

7. A place.

Orange County, California. The weather rarely changes, but a lot of times it's smoggy. And sometimes the Santa Ana winds causes wildfires.

8. A cartoon character.

I love Family Guy. It would be quite interesting to be Quagmire (giggity!), but I'm more like Brian (a bit too serious for his own good). Although Brian's a drunk, and I don't really drink. Maybe Adam We?

9. An office item/ equipment

A Solaris box running Oracle. Because I'm chock-full of useless information.

10. An international celebrity/ personality.

Someone British, I would think, since my sense of humor leans towards the English. Maybe John Cleese, but not as funny.

11. A book.

One of those books filled with fascinating trivia that proves ultimately useless in the grand scheme of things. In my college days I would be a compilation of "Dear Abby" columns, since I was a sounding board for a lot of friends, both male and female.

12. A movie.

Dead Again. Because it had Roman and Marga(ret) as main characters. Marga and I always got a kick out of it. Ah, carpool days.

13. A mode of transportation.

A Mack truck. Starts slow, but then keeps on truckin'. Plus, Optimus Prime was a Mack Truck. Awesome.

Come Stop Your Crying, It'll Be All Right

Funny how a song reduces a guy to tears. I hosted a wedding reception this past Thanksgiving, and the groom danced with his mom to "You'll Be In My Heart", by Glenn Close from Tarzan. And boy, was he emotional. Tears were flowing down his cheeks. I looked at his buddies, and they were practically bawling as well. Their partners were looking at them in bemusement.

It is a bittersweet song, I have to admit. I get misty-eyed when I see the scene where that song is played--Kala singing it to baby Tarzan. That along with "The Living Years" by Mike+the Mechanics remind me how much I appreciate my parents. They also remind me that I'm a parent now, and hope that one day my kids appreciate me as well.

Excuse me--something's in my eye.

Pacman Power

I saw the Pacquiao-Morales fight last Saturday on a glorious 60-inch HDTV (my brother-in-law's). It was pretty cool--I'm not that big a fan of boxing, but I have to admit Pacman was pretty impressive. That last knockdown reminded me of Roberto Duran, though (¡No más!); Pacquiao hardly touched him. Morales just went down on his own, and quit.

Oh, and the Nuno-Viloria undercard? Vilario was robbed. Not just because he's a fellow Pinoy, but c'mon, Nuno got knocked down twice.

THIEF!

Somebody stole my Creative Zen Micro MP3 player over the weekend at work. I had left it in my work drawer and had forgotten it (something I had done for the past month). Today, when I wanted to block out the world while I worked, it was gone.

Bastard (or bitch, as the case may be).

What's worrisome is that someone was actually going through our drawers after work--one of my co-workers lost a small optical mouse for notebooks.

Anyway, the silver lining is that I get to buy a new one. My wife's asking if I want an iPod (which they're giving away at her company's Chrismas party), but I'm looking at alternatives (I have a decent-sized WMA collection, which would be painful to convert). Right now I'm looking at the iRiver clix, the Sansa E260, and the Cowon iAudio U3. I'm leaning towards the Sansa, if only because Costco has a great deal on it, but the clix is tempting.

Zune? Um...a bit over my budget, and first gen products just aren't my thing.

You've Got Mail

The Mail Fairy was good to me today.

First off, she delivered my very first non-kit lens, a Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens. I've never used a prime lens before, but I guess it's time to get serious about learning how to take good photos. Besides, my sister-in-law is getting married next week, and I promised her I'll take candid shots. Good practice, that.

Speaking of Prime...

Then, she brought me my Transformers: The Movie 20th Anniversary Edition DVD, complete with lenticular cover. Remember? "Bah Weep Grah Nah Weep Nini Bong". Oh, and "Megatron must be stopped--no matter the cost." Can't forget the classic songs "You've Got The Touch!" (immortalized by Dirk Diggler in Boogie Nights) and "Dare".

Finally, she brought me my Cars lenticular poster, which came free from Best Buy. It's a nice 11x17 poster; while I'm not that big a fan of the movie (it's still The Incredibles for me), freebies are always nice. This one was especially impressive.

Hopefully she brings me more good stuff during the holidays!

Lake Show

I think I've mentioned before that I'm not a particularly big fan of the Lakers. Showtime...irks me. I was so happy when Detroit just crushed the so-called Dream Team of Shaq, Kobe, Glove and Mailman--and I'm not even particularly fond of Detroit!

The 2006 edition of the Lakers, though...well, they just seem so likable. Andrew Bynum's coming up aces, Jordan Farmar is pretty good, Rony Turiaf is coming along, and Luuuuuuuke Walton is playing well. You gotta feel for what Lamar Odom went through as well.

The fact that they're doing it without Kobe at 100% is pretty cool. The fact that they opened at 3-1 is pretty amazing (not as amazing as, say, the Hawks, but amazing nonetheless).

What happens when Kobe is at 100% will be interesting, to say the least. Will he disrupt the chemistry at all? What about those Garnett for Bynum and Odom rumors? How will that affect the team if it comes to pass? I think they'd be crazy to do it, since Bynum could develop into a monster.

Any chance that this makes me a Laker fan? Nope. =)

Of Dental X-Rays and College Theses

I'm no stranger to dental offices; ever since I was a little kid I've been in and out of the dentist's chair. If it wasn't braces, it would be a root canal. Wisdom teeth extraction. Prophylaxis (which always provided a quick laugh or two, bringing up images of teeth condoms. But I digress), at the very least.

I've gotten so used to the dentist that I sometimes fall asleep on the chair, even while they're performing some painful stuff on my teeth and gums. No anesthetic; I just get pretty relaxed. The sound of the drill is soothing--at least to me.

Anyway, this past weekend the family (daddy, mommy and the kids) was in the office getting a regular teeth cleaning. I got my dental x-rays done as well. Now, I remember dental x-rays taking a long time; they would do the x-ray, and then send them out for processing. After a couple of weeks they would call me back, show me the x-rays, and then tell me I needed more stuff done (boy, was I a gold mine for dentists everywhere).

Now? It's all computers, baby. My x-rays were ready on the screen as soon as they took the bite wings out of my mouth. Nothing surprising, really, but it got me thinking: boy, this would've been a great thesis way back in my senior year. Instead, we came up with a pathfinding algorithm. Nothing sexy, just a lot of coding, but it did the job, and managed to graduate.

Still, though, imagine if we had done this back then! Oh, it would've been an expensive thesis, and I believe the school would've owned it (so we wouldn't have made any money, really), but it would've been so exciting! So groundbreaking!

Oh, well. Shoulda-woulda-coulda. At least the x-rays showed that I didn't have any cavities.

Halloween - The Disney Princess Edition

Today marks the fourth Halloween we've celebrated in this house. The first year it was only me and my sister-in-law (no kids yet, and PJ was still at work). The second year was when Amelie and Camille were six months old, and dressed up as pig and cow. Last year was the third, and the kids dressed up as witches.

This year was the Disney Princess year.

The night started quietly enough. I set up the table and the candies on our front step, and waited around for the first kids to show. Sure enough, three kids came around along with their mom--or was it their sister? Her cleavage confused me. Not that I minded too much, but it seemed inappropriate--like she was heading to a party right after, and she was hurrying the kids along.

Anyway, there was a steady stream of kids after that (with more appropriately dressed parents). One thing I noticed was that the kids more often than not just took one piece of candy when told that they could take whatever they wanted (probably because they were being watched closely by their parents). The most popular item seemed to be the Skittles, Sour Bursts and Starbursts (yup, the "fruit" candies).

Around 6-ish the kids were finally dressed up in their Princess costumes, ready to get their candies. Amelie dressed as Cinderella, while Camille went as Aurora. They looked really regal in their outfits, although the tiaras didn't seem to agree with them. Mommy came home, and off we went to trick-or-treat.

The girls were shy at first, but eventually they warmed up, with Camille even learning "trickortreat!" It got a bit too chilly, though, and we headed home after hitting around ten houses.

They seemed to enjoy it, though (especially the candy part). Hopefully next year they're a bit less shy, and they can walk up and ring the doorbell on their own. Wonder what their costume would be then, though...

Very Short Stories

Wired has this story about several authors that came up with very short stories (6 words!). The list of authors is pretty stellar--Neil Gaiman, Arthur Clarke, Joss Whedon, Stan Lee, Alan Moore--heck, even Steve Meretzky, Infocom god, had an entry.

The most poignant one, though, was from Ernest Hemmingway:

"For sale: baby shoes, never worn."

It can be read many different ways--but to me (as a dad), it's pretty heartbreaking.

Stating the Obvious

"A new study from the University of Illinois indicates that more weight in the car means lower gas mileage."

In other news, studies have shown that water is wet.

Someone actually funded this study? Oy.

Play Ball!

The NBA season is going to be starting any day now (actually, next week). I haven't really been following that closely; my love for the NBA has been eclipsed by the NFL and MLB (go Cards!) I don't really pay attention until the playoffs--and then it's more about the teams I don't want to see win. I do have a couple of things I'd like to see:

(1) Yao Ming do well. Playoffs for the Rockets!
(2) Orlando make the playoffs with Dwight, Darko and JJ. I think they will, but I'm not sure how far they'll go.
(3) The Clippers repeating (if not surpassing) their run
(4) A rematch of Suns/Lakers in the first round
(5) King James vs Flash in the Eastern Conference Finals
(6) Timmy wins another championship. Yes, I like boring.
(7) Raja Bell vs Ron Artest. Did you see Raja Bell take on Brad Miller? Wow.

How do I see the playoffs shaking out? Hmm...

WESTERN:
(1) Lakers/Suns, Rockets/Mavericks, Clippers/Nuggets, Spurs/Hornets
(2) Suns/Mavericks, Spurs/Clippers
(3) Mavericks/Spurs
(4) Spurs

EASTERN
(1) Bulls/Pistons, Heat/Magic, Cavs/Wizards, Nets/Pacers
(2) Bulls/Heat, Cavs/Nets
(3) Heat/Cavs
(4) Heat

Spurs in six.

With that, I just jinxed the Spurs. Oh well.

Master Baker

Heh. That was our team name way back in college, when we were performing systems analysis on a bakery.

Anyway, after our apple-picking at Julian, we had a bunch of apples we didn't know what to do with. One of my ma-in-law's friends sent us a recipe for apple loaf. Came out pretty well (my kids loved it). A bit too much sugar, though--I'll probably cut it back next time.

APPLE LOAF
4 cups apples, peeled and diced
2 cups granulated sugar
3 cups flour
1 cup butter (2 sticks), melted then cooled
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs

Mix the apples and the sugar in a large bowl. Mix thoroughly and let sit at room temperature for two hours. Watch a football game or something.

Mix the flour, baking soda and cinammon in another bowl. Combine with the apple/sugar mixture. Mix the butter, eggs and vanilla together with this mixture. Keep mixing until it's combined pretty well.

Heat up the oven to 375 degrees. Grease/spray down two 4.5 x 8.5 loaf pans. Pour enough mixture into each. Bake for 90 minutes. Cool in the pans. Enjoy!

Word Sandwich

I've always thought that I'm fairly good with words. I'm pretty good at Scrabble, and I'm fairly proficient at crosswords. The game Word Sandwich kicks my ass, though.

The game is pretty easy to pick up--you'll need to guess a five-letter word. If you're wrong, it'll place it either on-top or below. Keep going until you manage to narrow it down to the correct word. The earlier you get it, the higher your score. You start with 1,000 points. Each incorrect guess subtracts points, and the multiplier goes down as you try to think of the word.

It's hard to think when you see that slider go from a x5 multiplier all the way to x1 as you try to think of a word between hoary and horse.

So far I haven't even cracked 10,000 points. Some people just think better under pressure, I guess. Me, I think I need to create an index on my internal dictionary to speed up queries.

Pic of the day: 10-16-06/10-17-06

Hmm, this "every day" posting's not gonna work. I wasn't able to post yesterday, and it just gets difficult. I'll just go ahead an put it on picasaweb (yes, I'm a Google ho) and update it at least weekly.

Loveseat

Back to Back

Pic of the day: 10-15-06

Whoops, looks like I posted Saturday's pic on Sunday. Is Blogger on EST or something?

Watching Tarzan

Pic of the day: 10-14-06

Taken during a birthday party. The girls didn't like being cooped up inside, so we walked around in the park behind the house where the party was.

Walk the Line

Quickie Book Reviews

I read all these books in a span of a week. They're not really that thick, and I don't really need to engage any brain power to get through them (unlike, say, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell--excellent book, by the way).

The Righteous Men, by Sam Bourne (aka Jonathan Freedland). "It's like The Da Vinci Code, only with Jews!" is what you'd think. Actually, no, not really. It doesn't reveal a "hidden secret the Jews don't want you to know!!!!" like Da Vinci Code did; in fact, the peek into Jewish life was probably the most interesting aspect of the book. I'd say it's probably more like Angels and Demons. Not great art by any stretch, but a good little diversion. A bit predictable, though, and the end sequence made me roll my eyes.

Dragons of the Dwarven Depths, by Weis and Hickman. I think I wrote elsewhere that this a pure money-grab. This felt more like it was written by Weis rather than Hickman, as it reads in the same stilted style as Soul Forge, which I didn't even bother finishing. DotDD I actually finished, but it didn't have the same magic as the Chronicles and Legends.

Bad Twin, by "Gary Troup". Yeah, "Gary Troup" is an anagram for Purgatory. I only read this because of the Lost tie-in, which apart from mentioning Sydney, Oceanic Airlines, Hanso and Widmore, wasn't really connected in any way. Oh, I'm sure there's some hidden message or dome throwaway line which reveals all the secrets of Lost, but I was too bored with it to care.

Pic of the day: 10-13-06

Friday the 13th! Anyway...

Wake Up!

Pic of the day: 10-12-06

Picked up a great idea today...why not take a photo every day just to see how life changes? I'm going to start taking pictures of the girls daily and see how they change. This'll be interesting...

Today's photo:

Trying on shoes

Choychoy Favorites: DVDs

I've amassed a pretty big DVD library over the years; I've probably collected around a hundred of them since they came out. My very first DVD was The Matrix, and I've since gone on from there.

One thing I try to collect are the classic animated films--I've bought everything Pixar has come out with, most of the Disney titles, and the odd smattering of anime (Miyazaki's a favorite). Of the DVDs in my collection, these are the ones which get the most play. Not surprising because of my kids.

What DVDs are the most played in our house? Well, if I were to rank them, it would come out like this:

(1) Barbie's The Twelve Dancing Princesses. This gets played every single day (sometimes more than once!). When this comes on, the girls immediately begin to "dance". It's pretty amusing to watch them.
(2) Sleeping Beauty. Number one before Barbie knocked her off her throne. I'd argue that Aurora is the prettiest Disney princess of them all.
(3) The Little Mermaid. "Ayyel Mahmayd" was one of Amelie's first phrases.
(4) Beauty and the Beast. "Belle" was Camille's favorite.
(5) Howl's Moving Castle. The first feature-length film they really sat through, after watching The Wiggles and Maisy all the time. Heck, they pretty much memorized the dialogue!

They've also started branching out to stuff like The Incredibles and Tarzan, which is good. But if we want to quiet them down, we just put Barbie on.

The Little Mermaid

So I originally had the "Limited Edition" DVD of The Little Mermaid, which I received free when I bought the "Platinum Edition" DVD of Snow White. Last week Disney came out with the "Platinum Edition" of The Little Mermaid, and I told PJ that no way in hell were we going to buy it, as the content was the same. Who cares about "restored footage" , "special features" and "enhanced for widescreen TVs", right?

Of course I wound up buying it. What made it a bit more attractive was a free Sebastian plush when I bought it from Best Buy. This was to go along with the plush Flounder we already had; the only thing missing was a plush Ariel. Of course, we could always get the Barbie edition, but we figured the girls would just break it anyway.

What bothered me, though, was a trailer on the disc: The Little Mermaid III! Geez, I thought John Lasseter killed all sequels when Pixar took over Disney?

Fall TV

Fall TV has officially kicked into gear today, with the season premiere of Lost. And boy, was it a doozy! What sucks is that we'll only be getting six episodes before it goes into hiatus until February. Matthew Fox--or at least his character Jack Shepherd--is one intense dude (also, he's a bit of an ass). Looks like we also settle the Jack/Sawyer/Kate triangle.

We stayed around to watch the series premiere of The Nine, with Jack's little bro Scott Wolf. I guess it was okay--the only problem was I kept thinking that Audrey's boyfriend Jack Bauer could've saved them with little fuss.

Heroes is also a pretty cool show, although it moves a bit slowly and is a bit angsty. It's cool discovering their "powers", though--so far we have a telepath, a prognosticator (or "prognostipainter", as I read somewhere), a person who can bend the space/time continuum (who is also the best character, kinda like Naruto in his innocence), a person who can fly, his brother who might be able to fly, a girl with a healing factor to rival Logan, and a stripper who has a doppelganger.

Oh, and Hannibal Lecter's lurking around somewhere. Braiiiinnnnnssssss....

The Amazing Race is also back, and is slowly washing away the bad taste of the past two seasons.

Surprisingly, one of the better premieres is Ugly Betty, which is Salma Hayek's Americanized version of a telenovela. I didn't expect to enjoy it--but I wound up watching it while I was washing the dishes.

The only thing left is the season premiere of Battlestar Galactica. So, my TV viewing week is like this:

Sunday : The Amazing Race, NFL
Monday : Heroes, Studio 60 (if we get around to watching it)
Tuesday : nothing, really. I missed the premiere of Friday Night Lights
Wednesday: Lost, The Nine
Thursday : Ugly Betty
Friday : Battlestar Galactica
Saturday : Legion of Superheroes

Telephone

I was listening to Doug and Jackie Christie being interviewed on ESPN today. Remember Doug Christie? He's the guy who was on the Sacramento Kings who always flashed a hand signal whenever he went downcourt. Apparently, it was a sign to his wife to indicate that he loved her. A bit creepy, don't you think? What's even weirder is that his wife doesn't allow him to look or talk to other women. Not even normal day-to-day conversation. The producer of the talk show was female, and she indicated that while Jackie Christie talked to her, Doug just looked down all the time. Talk about whipped.

One thing that stood out to me during the interview was the fact that they talk to each other every day for around four hours or so. Four hours. Every day. Geez, what do they talk about? I'm trying to recall if I ever talked to anyone that long. I was pretty much tongue-tied when it came to talking to girls on the phone. JC still makes fun of my aborted conversations with a couple of girls that I tried to call up back in high school. I can't help it; I didn't inherit my dad's charm or my mom's gift of gab.

Some people are just born with the gift of making small talk. True, sometimes there has to be mutual interest between the two people talking. I guess the aborted phone calls I made back then were all one-way, so both of us were eager to put down the phone to avoid further embarrassment.

Thankfully, it got better after high school. College was particularly good; when I started working it got even better. When I was courting PJ we talked to each other every day, just to catch up on things. We were living pretty far apart, since I was in Orange County while she was studying all the way in UCSD. At most we'd talk for an hour, and we'd find stuff to talk about, considering she was going to school and I was working. But four hours plus? Couldn't do it then, can't do it now.

Thank God for Instant Messaging and e-mail. I'm a writer, not a talker.

Ready...Set...Race!

Yay! My favorite reality show is back--The Amazing Race is back, better than ever. This was probably the most diverse bunch--Korean-American brothers, Muslims, Indian-Americans, and a girl with an artificial leg (who's as cute as a button!). Of course, we have your usual models, beauty queens and gay guys as well.

The premiere was pretty exciting--and a bit different from the last two installments. It just felt like a race again. A couple of interesting changes, perhaps brought about by the criticism (not to mention lower ratings) of the previous two races. I liked the challenge before the pitstop.

Not liking Lyn and Karlyn. Why do they have to diss artificial-leg girl? Way to go fulfilling the stereotype with their sense of entitlement. Karma got some measure of revenge at the end, though. Tom and Jerry? I was all set to dislike them, as they're fulfilling the stereotype as well, but their subtle cheerleader mocks and their moans of despair at the climb were just hilarious.

Did I mention I love Sarah (ALG)? Although her boyfriend reminds me of a stressed-out Will Ferrell. She's just too cute with her can-do attitude. Hopefully they win--although the hydraulic leak worries me...(never thought I'd think THAT of a racer).

Vipul looks awfully familiar...

Rockstar: Supernova Finale

Dilana makes a small comeback with Roxanne; that was such an excellent performance, and the guys backing her up were pretty hilarious. Although as usual Lukass tries to steal the spotlight by moving next to Jim and doing his own harmonizing, while Toby and Magni pal up. *sigh*

Ryan came back? Still looks like a postal worker about to explode! Heh.

Anyway, I think I know who wins this. Actually, I know who wins this, having read all the spoilers. Stupid pre-determined outcome. *sigh*

Where's my Jordis CD, Burnett?

Singin' the Donut Blues

So the Krispy Kreme near my freeway onramp just closed for good. What a pity. I've always been fond of Krispy Kreme, back when I still lived in my condo and there was only one in the area. It was always a treat to go there, line up, buy several boxes, and then wolf them down. Even my diabetic aunt couldn't resist--she had a couple, then had to lie down afterwards. They were that good.

(I understand that there's a Krispy Kreme competitor in the RP called "Gonuts Donuts". I went there, bought a dozen, and almost threw up when I ate one. Blech. It's waaaay too sweet, in my opinion).

Then they began to expand too quickly, opening stores left and right, while selling their donuts in grocery stores. They didn't seem to understand the concept of keeping them wanting more (like In N'Out); they just wanted to expand, and expand they did.

Now? They've begun shrinking down again to what they were back when I still lived in my condo. Although I heard from my co-worker that they closed that branch as well. Sad.

Neighbors

So apparently I live next door to a semi-famous author (she writes romance books). I just found this out because she had a flyer advertising a book signing on our communal mailbox. Huh. Interesting.

I'm not a particularly sociable person, but I do know the people who live next door (both sides) as well as the people who live across the street from me. We're probably closest to the one on the other side of the author (he's Filipino as well), but we're pretty much on good terms with everyone else.

*sigh* would've been cool if I found out I actually lived next door to Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett or George RR Martin. Oh well. I'd go to Suzie's book signing, except I don't read romance stuff.

Monkey See, Monkey Do

*sigh*. Another timewaster:

Monkey Kick-off

My personal best.

Such a simple game, but I.cannot.stop.playing.it. I've pretty much gotten the hang of getting monster kicks, but most of the time I'm always at around 3,000 monkey meters or so.

Nation States

I've been trying to run my own country these past couple of weeks, and I think I've been doing well so far. No, I don't have any megalomaniacal aspirations--I've just always been fascinated with the Sim type games (SimCity, Civilization). I'm usually lousy at these games, but Nation States intrigued me. There's no real goal in mind--you create your own country, and then you're given a set of issues to decide on everyday.

Some issues are serious, others are just plain laughable (one issue had the "Agricultural Sector" asking that the hippo overpopulation problem be solved by serving them up for dinner. I followed Australia's example). Your decision affects the country's Civil Rights, Economy and Political Freedoms. It's an interesting exercise.

If you decide to create your own country, do let me know so I can visit from time to time.

Rockstar: Supernova, Week 10

What the F... is Ladylike was my favorite original, with Toby's uh-oh song (can't remember the title!) following close behind. I can't believe Dave said that Lukas was a "fun" performer; then again, maybe that faux emo crap is what PPoD considers "fun". I really don't get the attraction the "Rossi Posse" showers on li'l Lukas, and their willignness to defend him to the death; can't understand what the dude is saying when he sings, and he ruined Living on a Prayer. Then again, that's just me.

All the rumor sites have Lukas winning (and already recording!) though. My money's still on Toby--like JD last season, he's not necessarily the best singer around, but he's the one who suits SN the most.

Dragonlance

Hmm, so they're making an animated movie of Dragonlance. Jack Bauer plays Raistlin! That'll be interesting...

Although to me it seems like they're milking this for all it's worth. I was pretty happy with Dragons of Summer Flame being pretty much the end for the original companions; The War of Souls trilogy and the new Lost Chronicles set just seemed to be, at first glance, attempts to extend the cash cow a bit more.

Oh, who am I kidding? I'll be there to watch the movie, and I'll probably be borrowing the Lost Chronicles as well.

Hi, my name is daddychoy, and I'm a Dragonlance junkie.

Rockstar: Supernova, Week 9

This Rockstar is far different from the original Rockstar with INXS for me--I mean, I had one early favorite (Jordis) who I stuck with throughout the entire competition until she was eventually booted out.

With this edition of Rockstar, I've changed my mind several times. I started out rooting for Toby, got on the Dilana lovetrain, began liking Magni and Storm, got off the Dilana train, and then liked Toby again.

One thing which hasn't changed is my dislike of Ryan and Lukass. Just can't stand the two. Lukass is just an ass while Ryan is too TH (Trying Hard to non-Pinoys out there). You just felt that the SP boys were secretly laughing at Ryan's "intensity" behind his back.

Toby kicked all sorts of ass with Rebel Yell last night. It was a fun performance, and I was rolling on the floor laughing when he brought those girls up. The guy's so cheeky, and if Suave Porn wants to project a "Party Band" image, then Toby is the way to go.

Hokage

I've been spending waaaaay too much time on YouTube lately. Why? This little anime called Naruto. I've always been a big fan of the fight-style anime; Ninja Scroll and Dragonball Z (although a bit cheesy and drawn out) come to mind. I've always liked how the creators came out with different powers for each of the combatants, and how each one matches up with the other.

I'm also a big fan of the fighting-style video games, although I'd rather watch experts duke it out, since I'm a lousy player. I'd say Tekken and Soul Calibur have the best backstories, with Soul Calibur having the plus of having a Filipino character (Talim).

My favorite character in Naruto? Rock Lee, the odd-looking Bruce Lee/marionette bastard child. Works hard, and has killer moves. Naruto's annoying, and Sasuke's just too-cool-for-school.

Teacher's Pet

There was a segment on Kevin and Bean @KROQ where they talked about the different pranks played on teachers by students. It got me thinking as to whether there were any Great Pranks played back when I was in school. We had some very interesting teachers back in grade school and high school; one teacher was a Menudo fan, and had a poster in her cabinet. Another was a "keeper", keeping stuff that me and other students left behind in the classroom (since none of us had the guts to call him out on it). Still another "mined for gold" and then flicked 'em to the class. Then there was the "English" teacher who said that my definition of "gumption" was incorrect (a check of the dictionary later on proved otherwise).

Playing pranks, though? I think a couple of my classmates made Ms. Menudo cry once. Other than that I can't really remember (or I blocked it out, or I wasn't involved--I was too much of a goody-two-shoes back then). Personally, the biggest prank I ever pulled was convincing the Science Teacher that my "project" was worthy of making it to the Science Congress (when it was really just a Capsela project running off a potato). Exciting stuff--not.

The best prank I remember was similar to what one of Kevin and Bean's listeners did--their teacher was a former Playmate, so they hunted down the Playboy where she appeared and stuck it to the blackboard. In our case the teacher had posed for a promo calendar--nothing as revealing as Playboy (I believe it was either a swimsuit or a wet T-shirt--I guess she wasn't that memorable). In any case, she was pissed, and her boyfriend was pissed as well. Good times.

Rockstar: Supernova, Week 8

*yawn*

I'm off the Dilana lovetrain. Another case of "peaked too early", like Jordis. EBYT was boring, and the "Di-laaaah-nuh, di-laaaah-nuh" part was just freaky-deaky. She fits Supernova, though, along with Lukas.

Speaking of Lukas, I'm not sure why they gave that tongue bath to him. That was my favorite Killers song, and he completely sucked on it.

Patrice is so bored right now, they should just do a mercy elimination.

I liked Toby and Storm this go-around. Storm is such an attractive woman. Toby was cool with Layla, although the lame "EVS" tattoo was cheesy.

bookoftheweek: Cell by Stephen King

Remember when I said that Stephen King writes really killer openings but sucks at endings?  Well, he did it again with his newest book, Cell.

The premise is pretty simple, but cool: everyone with a cell phone has turned into zombie-like creatures.  People without cell phones are normal.  The book then follows a group of these normal folk as they try to survive.

Simple, right?  King captured me from the get-go with that premise, and I eagerly flipped the pages, wanting to see what would happen.  What was also interesting to me was that this felt like it happened in the Dark Tower universe, with the event seemingly caused by the Crimson King.  Heck, I think he even makes a cameo appearance, although obliquely (you'd have to be familiar with school mascots).   Things were building up to an exciting finish when...

He ends it.  Just like that.  He ends it.  No sense of closure.  Nada.  I nearly threw the book at something, except it would've woken up the wife and kids.  He addresses this somewhat on his site (scroll down towards the middle, posted April 26, 2006), but to me it felt like he didn't know how to end it, so he just did.

Nonetheless, it's an entertaining page turner and is worth the read. 

Just make sure you don't hit anything if you throw away the book in disgust.

Going to the Dogs

Shih-tzus have invaded the choychoy household.


The two dogs, Lola and Pepper, are owned by my sis-in-law (AZ) and sis-in-law (CA) respectively. Lola's older, and she's pretty mellow, while Pepper is your typical teenage boy, full of hormones. They're cute dogs, and the twins love them, except when Pepper starts getting all hyper and starts nipping. Hopefully he outgrows that.

Anyway, this was taken this past weekend, and was the first time the dogs met. Pepper immediately took to Lola; I believe they're hoping to breed the two at some point. They said they were going to give us one of the puppies, but I doubt the wife would go for that... 

Rockstar: Supernova, Week 7

Well, that was an interesting show. It was probably the best show overall in terms of performances--no real "weak" performance, except for Zayra, and only because she sang an original which nobody knew. She sang it well, though.

Ryan still scares me though. Magni may look more like Chris Daughtry, but Ryan's up there with Chris in terms of "intensity". Dude looks like he's going to kill someone.

I think Patrice is gone. She looks like she wants out already. Maybe she can sing Jordis' Try Not to tell the band she doesn't want to be there anymore.

(I actually think Try Not was the best original song from RS:INXS. Trees was kinda light-hearted fun, while Pretty Vegas...well, let's not go there. Try Not is still in heavy rotation on my Zen).

Message In A Bottle

I'm a big fan of messageboards. Ever since the day I first got a modem (I think it was a 14.4K or something), I've been logging onto BBSes, talking to complete strangers about absolutely nothing. There was a time when 99% of those logging into BBSes were guys; when that occasional female wandered into one by mistake, everyone would start hitting on her (not that I did, though. What?).

Of course, no one ever thought that it could be someone pretending to be female, just to elicit a few laughs and giggles. But I digress.

Now? Everyone and his second cousin are arguing about something on amessageboard/forum. Here's a couple I read on a regular basis, because they're pretty interesting:

• The Straight Dope is probably the most interesting, with some very intelligent people, some very political people, and some people who are just weird. This is my favorite messageboard as it covers a broad spectrum of topics. There was a time when I was actually a full-fledged member, but then they started charging for the right to be able to search, and I figured that I spent more time reading rather than posting, anyway.
  
• Digg keeps me up-to-date with the latest technical news, and the forums keep me entertained. Especially when a Microsoft or Apple story gets on the front page. The fanboys come out in full force.
  
• Mac Daily News/http://Apple Matters are Mac-centric sites, with some of the scarier zealots posting on the forums. There are some sane ones, like "Beeblebrox" and "Ben Hall", but there are others who are of the "Jobs-can-do-no-wrong" type. At times I've been sorely tempted to post something, but I never do, since nothing I say would change their minds anyway. I don't have a Mac, but I've been close to buying one at times. Maybe I will at some point, but it's a bit scary to associate myself with the rabid fanboys (who will then say "Good, we don't want you here anyway!")
  
• Slashdot is something I visit on occasion, especially when "Anonymous Coward" was rumored to be either Steve Jobs or some high-up Apple executive. This was also a fun read back when the "Hack-a-Mac" challenge was running.
  
• Engadget keeps me up-to-date with the latest toys. This is where I first heard about Zune, and the hundreds of opinions regarding it; the back-and-forth banter between Microsoft and Apple fanboys was a thing of beauty.
  
• Television Without Pity is where I get a lot of spoilers regarding my favorite shows. The snarking also makes it a worthy read.

I'm a big fan of sports, but not that big a fan of sports messageboards. This is because most posters can barely string a coherent message together, with most posts barely going beyond "Your team sucks" and "{player name here} sucks". I'd rather read the actual stories.

We've come a long way from those BBS days.

Rockstar: Supernova, Week 6

Loved Magni. I'm a casual Live fan, and he just did that song perfectly. Better than that Chris fellow on that other show. His kid is soooo cute too--and surprisingly mellow. Duuuuuuude.

The rest? Storm reminds me so much of Shirley Manson of Garbage, Dilana's becoming forgettable (sacrilege!), Ryan's still a tool, Lukas is still annoying, Toby was good but JD-esque and Zayra is still out there on planet Zayra, sans underwear.

Did I forget anyone? Oh yeah, Jill, Patrice and Josh (who butchered one of my favorite songs. You bastard!). See ya.

Hanging with Mickey and Friends

This past weekend we finally took the kids to see Disneyland. It had been building up for the past month or so--hardly a day went by without the twins watching one of the Disney Princesses on DVD. Their favorite was Ariel, followed by Belle, then Cinderella, and then finally Aurora (because the kids had only recently started watching Sleeping Beauty). They were also big fans of the New Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, complete with a new theme song from They Might Be Giants. Hot Dog!

PJ and I were also keen on seeing the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, due to the fact that it had been remodeled to tie up with the movie.

We broke down and got two four-day passes from Costco--at $119 per pass, it was a bargain, considering that a single-day ticket was $79. Kids 3 and younger were free.

We got to the park at 4pm. We figured that this would be plenty of time to see what we wanted to see, since the Park closed at 11pm. The smaller crowds and the cooler temperature were also a plus.

We decide to watch the Snow White mini-play first. Unfortunately, we were unable to catch the 4:15 show, so we had to waste some time until the next show, which was at 5:30. To kill time, we went to the It's a Small World attraction, since the lines were relatively short. So we lined up, and waited.

And waited. Whoops, the ride broke down. And it was only 4:45! We decided to head to Toontown to see Mickey Mouse's house. No lines! So we walk in...and hit a line. By 5:15 we were this close to meeting Mickey Mouse, but no luck. We had to leave if we wanted to catch Snow White. So, we leave and proceed to the ampitheatre to watch Snow White's Scary Adventure.

It was pretty much the cartoon, except with Live! actors. Snow White was a cutie, but here face was a bit long. The dwarves were rather tall; I'd say they were my height (if not a bit taller). Then again, from an American standpoint, that's probably short. The Magic Mirror, though, was pretty awesome; the wicked stepmother was cool. The stage production of Beauty and the Beast still beats this, though.

We then went back to It's a Small World to find that the ride was now up and running. I wish it had stayed down; that was seriously annoying. I was ready to jump out of the boat and start ripping up displays.

After escaping from that creepshow we staked our claim to a prime spot to watch the parade. Once the music started the kids hid their faces, but when Ariel came out they got interested, and just proceeded to watch (Amelie got scared by the Ursula float though).

Ursula, the "o-pus" as the kids call her

Unfortunately, the girl who played Ariel wasn't as attractive as the one who played her the last time I went and saw the parade. The other princesses weren't so great either; I'd say Alice was the prettiest of the lot.

After the parade was over we went and had dinner. Of course, the price of food at Disney is off the charts. We pretty much had classic kids food--mozzarella sticks, chicken strips and fish and chips. We spent around $30 for the carcinogenic nightmare. The good thing was that I managed to find a seat fronting the Rivers of America--a primo spot to watch the Fantasmic! show. The kids, of course, hid their faces again--but once I pointed out the Disney princesses in their barges, they began to watch.

Jack in Night Vision!

As a finale, we went and rode the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction just to see what changes they made to match the movies. They've added Jack Sparrow in various areas (three in all), and the dummies look amazingly like the real deal. Sadly, no Keira. Davy Jones and Captain Barbossa do make appearances, though.

After that, it was 10:30pm! We headed home.

I'd say the twins' first trip to Disneyland was a moderate success. We'll see how they react to California Adventure, which would be our next stop.

Photos by me. All characters are owned by Disney, except of course for Mommy and Camille.

King of Pain

Bianx took issue with me saying that The Dark Tower series (which I mistakenly referred to as The Gunslinger series) ended badly. Yeah, I felt let down pretty much after Book 3 (The Wastelands, probably my favorite installment, with Blaine the Mono and all that riddling).

King took a long time between Book 3 and Book 4 (5 years, I think), and it shows. It's like he couldn't decide how to advance the story, so he bought himself some time and wrote a prequel-of-sorts instead. Then another 6 year hiatus between Wizard and Glass and Wolves of the Calla--and a different direction again. There were some clever touches in Calla (such as the sneetches! You half expected Flagg to pop up saying he was Voldemort...and he still could be, come to think of it) but again it felt like a filler book.

Things finally got moving in Books 6 and 7 (especially 7!) but the fates of Randall Flagg (a kickass character) and Roland were ultimately unsatisfying to this reader. Maybe it's because I was expecting a showdown between Roland and Randall Flagg, just like the Westerns that heavily influenced the series. I wanted an epic battle, something that would make up for all of Flagg's evils in books like Eyes of the Dragon (my favorite, and the only King book I own) and The Stand. I wanted a real ending, darn it, not the ending which I saw coming a mile away.

Instead, I got an ending that felt like a cop-out. Which is one of King's biggest problems: a lot of times he doesn't know how to end his novels. It happened with It, and it happened here (sorry, Bianx).

Despite my disappointment though, I can say I still enjoyed the series. It didn't turn out to be the epic I was expecting after Book 3, but still quite readable. YMMV, obviously.

In The Blink of an Eye

The winners of The Blink of an Eye contest over at Flickr were announced, and unfortunately I wasn't one of them. I wasn't expecting to anyway, after seeing the other pictures that were there. Here's my entry:


That's Camille at the CityWalk over at Universal Studios, after we had watched the Wiggles concert. Camille's consistently photogenic; if only she wasn't constantly aburido like her daddy. =)

Peanut Butter (No Jelly) Time!

I've discovered the goodness that is Peanut Butter - Dark Chocolate Dreams. Made by the Peanut Butter & Co., it's only available in health food stores such as Whole Foods. Dark chocolatey goodness without the partially hydrogenated stuff, and (supposedly) can bring up my HDL levels (the good cholesterol).

I may have to buy a case. Yum!

Rockstar: Supernova, Week 5

Tommy Lee's right--the reason why guys try to learn guitar/play piano/learn the drums is to get the girls. At the very least, it gives you an opening. Hey, it worked for Billy Joel.

With that said, that was a great performance by Ryan "David Blaine" Star. Normally I dislike the guy, because he just seems so angry all the time, but all that angst worked this time around.

Unfortunately, Dilana was just okay this time around. Hopefully it's not the start of a Jordis-spiral. Zayra was awesome.

Good: Ryan, Storm (ch-ch-ch-changes!)
Bad: Jill, Lukas

EDIT: Dana gets a tattoo--and it's a freaking clef note! Take that, SuavePorn! She's a rocker now!

The High Cost Of Living

Coming back from my annual checkup I find out that my high cholesterol levels have returned. Not really surprising, since I haven't exactly been exercising ever since the twins arrived (heh...blaming the kids). Plus I hadn't seen a doctor in a couple of years, so the high cholesterol was expected.

So, time to make a lifestyle change again. On tap are (a) more exercise (probably walking/running, since I can never get to a gym--plus, trying to save money) and (b) better diet. Yeah, time to lay off the cheetohs and anything with "partially hydrogeneated oil", since that turns into bad cholesterol.

Unfortunately, eating healthy is expensive. I bought natural peanut butter for $5.00 ($3.00 more than the regular stuff), and "good" butter for around $3.00 ($2.00 more than the regular stuff). Bread costs $4.00 (around $2.50 more than the wonder bread type). Less fastfood as well (which I guess is okay, because I don't eat that much anyway). Still, though, it would be nice to have that option.

Gotta do it, though. Otherwise I'd get to meet the cute little ankh-wearing lady sooner rather than later.

Rockstar: Supernova, Week 4

The good: Storm, Magni and Dilana. Good version of "Time after Time", although my favorite still remains that by EBTG (Tuck and Patti isn't bad either).

The bad: Josh, Ryan, Phil and Zayra.

Posers: Ryan, Dana. "I'm wearing denim skirts! Combat boots!" Yeah, those make you a "rocker". Sigh.

Everyone else...*yawn*

Bye, Phil.

Miss Universe

Since there's nothing on this summer, we decided to tune in to the Miss Universe pageant. It's mostly irrelevant nowadays around here, but I remember being all excited about it when I was small, hoping Ms Philippines would somehow make it into the finals. I still remember Pebbles de Asis' answer when Bob Barker asked the question:

Bob: "So you have The Price Is Right in the Philippines?"
Pebbles: "Of course, it's my favorite show!"

The answer, innocent as it was, made me cringe. The answer probably didn't matter one way or another, but I'm still convinced that contributed to her not winning.

This year, it's Miss Japan...yowza. Talk about mysterious and attractive...unfortunately, she was only runner-up to Miss Puerto Rico. I'm also convinced that her slip-up (when she didn't answer the "How did you learn French and Spanish" but instead said "Hello" in English) during the first Q&A that did her in.

Oh, and Miss Philippines winning Miss Photogenic? Pinoy vote-in power at its finest--the same folks who got Jasmine and MiG all the way to the top three.

Photograph

I think I've mentioned before that my wife had given me a Canon Rebel for Christmas, but wound up returning it. In exchange, we got a Canon EOS 30D. It's a lot of camera, and sadly I haven't been using it to its full potential. I brought it to Manila and all, but at times my trusty old Canon ELPH S410 seemed to outperform it.

I'll start taking it a bit more seriously, though. My goal is to get good enough so as to take pictures of my sister-in-law's wedding in November.

 

Sometimes, though, I get lucky. The shot above is of Amelie. The scab on her nose was caused by an overzealous puppy. 

Rock Star: Supernova, Week 3

Yes, Storm, I did use Google. Didn't know she fronted a band called Storm Large and The Balls (heh), with two bald guys. "Laura Domela" is the search term Tommy Lee should use, if he were so inclined.

Anyway, Magni rocked, I liked Jenny but she's so terribly wrong for this competition, and was disappointed in Toby. And then there's Dilana. Wow.

Hopefully she doesn't flame out like Jordis did.

Doubleheader

The wife and I played hooky from work today, in order to watch two movies:Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's and Superman Returns.

Loved POTC:DMC. I'm not sure why so many people are dissing it--it was a pretty good thrill ride, and I though the plot points meshed together nicely (a sharp contrast from other comments I've heard, which complained of the disjointed nature of the movie). YMMV, of course. Johnny Depp was fabulous as CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow, while Bill Nighy was fantastic as Davy Jones. His crew was pretty creepy too. A lot of people were saying that the first one was a lot better; personally, we watched POTC:COTBP the night before and I fell asleep! I guess they just looked fondly upon the first movie because they remembered the ride. Of course, I missed the "extra" scene after the end credits, like when I missed the monkey extra scene from the first movie. I'll see it on the DVD, I suppose.

Liked Superman Returns. This one went on too long; I found myself wondering what time it was. Lois Lane wasn't pretty enough (then again, Margot Kidder wasn't too hot either), and Jimmy Olsen just seemed annoying. PJ's in love with Brandon Routh, though. And, like Calai, I found out about one of the plot points--on a freakin' technology website! Argh. Anyway, that ruined it a bit for me.

Oh, and the trailers for Night At The Museum and Talladega Nights were pretty cool too! "Lord, thank you for my sons, Walker and Texas Ranger." Hee!

Rock Star: Supernova, Week 2

(all hail Leper Pop!)

These are the "14 best undiscovered rock talent in the world"?!? A Marty Casey wannabe (who kinda looks like Michael Hutchence, IMHO, but without the talent or the charisma)? A bad Courtney Love impersonator? A camel-toe showin' Warrior Princess? Daddy's little girl playing dress-up (Born to be Mild...hee!)? Lindsey Lohan?
Creed homeboy who smiles too much?

*sigh* The only ones worth a damn are Dilana (who's still scary, but is apparently a sweetie offstage) and Toby. Oh, and (barely) Magni, who opened the show quite well. Other than that...meh.

I watched the performance show in thirty minutes (gotta love the DVR), as I was fast-forwarding through all the crap. RS:INXS was so much better, with practically everyone a good singer (yeah, even Asshat).

And yet, I'm still strangely compelled to watch. OB:House still kicks ass, and Bwak-bwak's good eye-candy. Plus, it's always fun to guess what Tommy and Jason are on that particular night.

EDIT: Wow, Jill killed EvenAsia...er, Evanescence tonight. Interesting that if they just tone down all the "peacocking", they're all actually quite good. Even Chris.

Rock Star: Supernova Week 1

(or, as I like to call it, "Tommy's Diner". Seriously, though, it's like a buffet for Tommy Lee, don't you think?)

Boy, that was interesting. Although I can't help feeling that Tommy Lee was heavily involved in the selection process. Most, if not all of the female rockers are all hot in some form or fashion. Well, except for Dilana, who's a bit scary. And (again, except for Dilana, who's one of a kind) is it just me, or do all the females look like or perform like someone who's already famous?

• Dana, the sweet little rich kid looks kinda like Winnie Cooper and performs like Jessica Rabbit from RS:INXS
  
• Jenny looks and sings like Liz Phair. I think she's better as a solo act.
  
• Jill looks like Charo, along with the *ahem* frontage to match. PJ thinks she looks like Pamela Anderson with those lips
  
• Patrice looks like Miranda from Sex and the City...so I can't picture her as a "rocker". More like a lawyer moonlighting as one.
  
• Storm looks like Tiffani Amber-Thiessen, or (depending on the camera angle) Lindsey Lohan. And who the heck names their daughter "Storm"?
  
• Zayra looks like Lucy Lawless, and makes like Daphna Dove with the flowing scarves

The guys...well, only Toby stood out for me, with his acoustic Knockin' on Heaven's Door. Lukas, although he sounded great, felt like Ty part 2 to me. Which may not necessarily be a bad thing, but he's too emo and seems to be too high-maintenance for my taste.

It's only Week One, though. We'll see if people improve, and if Tommy Lee can manage to keep his hands to himself. Doubt it, though. =)

Teaching Kids How To Spel

I like to think that I'm a good speller--after all, I did win a Spelling Bee waaaaay back in grade school (heh). Imagine my horror when I stumbled upon an article in Yahoo!, where an organization called "Simplified Spelling Society" is pushing to change the spelling of words to reflect how they're pronounced. Yes, change the spelling of words to reflect how they're pronounced.

Wow. Just...wow. After the initial outrage (and wincing at the writing style of the author...I picture her patting herself on the back, thinking how clever she is), I continued reading, if only to find out what their motivations were. From what I gather, Simplified Spelling advocates are arguing that the current system of spelling is "confusing" to children; words like "enough" is pronounced "ehnuf", but "dough" is pronounced "doh"; their way, they claim, would accelerate learning among children. This way of thought even had some high-profile advocates such as Benjamin Franklin, Daniel Webster and Mark Twain.

Now wait a minute, I thought. Franklin? Webster? Twain? Big names! Of course, I googled it to make sure. Franklin, yes. Daniel Webster, not really sure, might have confused him with Noah Webster. Mark Twain--well, I managed to find his essay on it, which seemed to argue that it will save pen strokes; unfortunately, this doesn't really apply in this day and age, when more often than not people bang away on a keyboard, and some words such as "education" spelled as it is currently require less keystrokes than "edyukayshun". Twain also seems to be promoting a sort of shorthand as well.

So what to make of all this? Well, personally I think it's nearly impossible to implement. It's too massive a change--imagine all the textbooks that have to be re-written, all the teachers that need to be re-taught. Most important of all, it's too confusing for the wee ones. Imagine mastering several difficult words in the third grade, only to be told to forget everything you've learned in the fourth grade. It's like that Twilight Zone episode Wordplay where the father wakes up to find that the meaning of words have changed.

It's impossible to change something completely overnight. The English language is an evolving beast, though, and it wouldn't surprise me to see some of what SS is pushing make it to the language. For example, l33t speak such as pwned! and pr0n have made it to common everyday usage. They will undoubtedly make it to Webster's at some point (if they haven't already). The texting phenomenon is also an interesting case, one I see quite often whenever my family sends me a message from Manila. You see Simplified Spelling in action, since you're trying to cram an entire message with a limited amount of letters, to wit: "m gng hm now. wil be hm soon. cya". It's only in text messaging though; their e-mails use regular, boring spelling.

So, for now I'll continue to live in the past, and revel in the fact that I once won the Spelling Bee (oh, and pray that Gaudere's Law doesn't come back to haunt me).

Petals Around The Rose

If you've been following the strange-but-funny idealogical war between Windows, Apple and Linux faithful, you've almost certainly heard that Bill Gates is stepping down from day-to-day activities at Microsoft. This has lead to some people praising Gates for his charitable work (he's stepping down to concentrate on his Foundation), while others continue to villify him, wondering at the hidden agenda Gates has in giving away his wealth.

Myself? I think he's a pretty smart guy to have been able to do what he did. He's also been very lucky. Anyway, what does this have to do with Roses? Well, some of you might know the game Petals Around The Rose. I certainly hadn't heard of it--until I came across an article about a young Bill Gates from Lloyd Borrett's excellent site, which provided an insight into his thinking.

The parts about Gates were pretty interesting (especially the last part--pretty funny, and a reflection about how programmers are lousy spellers); the part that grabbed me though, was the game itself. It was the first time I heard about it--essentially, the set up is this:

There are five ordinary six-sided dice that are rolled. There are only three pieces of information that you can have:

(1) The name of the game is Petals Around The Rose.
(2) The name is significant.
(3) The answer is always an even number or zero.

The Potentate of the Rose (the carney running the game who knows what the deal is) rolls the dice, and then tells the crowd what the answer is if they ask. Some get it immediately. Others never do (according to the Bill Gates story a lot of geniuses and math whizzes think up complex algorithms to try and solve it, but still come up with the wrong answer).

If I read the article correctly, Gates got it in the span of around three hours. After playing the game on Borrett's site on-and-off for an accumulated hour (and running scenarios in my head in the shower, which is where I work out the answers to most of the great mysteries in life, such as "How do I open that jewelled egg in Zork?"), I was able to rise to the level of Potentate. I won't give anything else away--it's pretty satisfying to solve it yourself.

Sad Songs Say So Much

So I just received my copy of Breathe's "Peace of Mind" the other day. Remember them? They who spawned the vest craze back in High School with the video from their song "How Can I Fall?" Yes, I'm a sap. I bought this CD because I was looking for the song "Does She Love That Man", which partnered with Breathe's older song "All This I Should Have Known" are a one-two punch to the gut for someone who just broke up with their significant other.

I had Breathe's first album, "All That Jazz", so I already had a copy of "All This I Should Have Known"; however, I wanted "Does She Love That Man" as well, and I couldn't find it on any of the legal sites. I was hesitant to buy the CD just for that one song, but I found one used for 47 cents. 47 cents! Shipping was $2.49, but hey, $3.00 for two songs ("Say A Prayer" was also on the CD) seemed to be worth it.

So why the sudden urge to look for this song? It's not that I'm suddenly pining for a lost love (happily married with two kids!); it just started after hearing an 80's New Wave CD in my friend JC's car ("We're always fighting for the state of the natiooooooooon." Heh.). It got me looking for "Burning Flame" by Vitamin Z (another why-did-we-break-up song). I thought I found it at Landmark, but instead found out it was a cover (the Pinoy accent gave it away). Finally, I was able to find a podcast that played it (along with an excellent Sting cover of "Aint No Sunshine"). I then started looking for other songs which I hadn't been able to find before; like "I'll Get By" by Eddie Money; "Distance Between Us" by Fra Lippo Lippi; "Different Seasons" by Johnny Hates Jazz; and "Does She Love That Man" by Breathe.

Come to think of it, those are all break up songs from the 80's. Huh. I guess I really am a sap.

Mensa this!

Found these games while reading through The Straight Dope Message Board. The games are deceptively simple; however, since there are no instructions, you have to try and figure it out on your own. Kinda reminds me of those old Mensa tests. I managed to get everything except 7 and 9 on my own; I needed a hint for 7 and 9.

Whiners, Not Winners

So as I'm writing this Dallas is playing Miami in Game 6 of the Championship. I used to like the Dallas Mavericks, starting from the days of the Three Js; they were somewhat loveable losers at that point, until Nash, Nowitski and Finley changed their team and they began winning. Then Game 5 of the Finals occurred, and I began to seem them as Whiners, rather than Winners.

It all starts at the top, with Mark Cuban, of course. Oh, sometimes his antics are funny, like the Dairy Queen stuff he pulled. But more often than not he gets out of line, getting fined $250,000 (!) for his outbursts after Game 5.

Then we get to "The Little General", Avery Johnson. Boy, this guy's a whiner. Remember after Game 1 of the Dallas-SA, when he complained about Bruce Bowen's defense? I don't think Bowen ever got a fair call from the refs after that. Johnson then hung a reporter--a reporter, mind you, for the Dallas Morning News--out to dry for asking a simple question (pretty much "What did you think of that call on Wade's drive?").

The players? Well, there's Josh Howard, being surly. Dirk's kicking a ball to the stands. Devin Harris is throwing a tantrum on the floor as I watch Game 6, legs flailing like a little boy.

And, of course, the fans. Complaining about the free throw discrepancy (forgetting about the 50-32 FT difference during Game 3 of the Dallas-SA series). Complaining about that ticky-tack foul that resulted in the game-winning free-throws by Wade(forgetting about the ticky-tack foul that resulted in the game-winning free-throws by Dirk in Game 3 of the Dallas-SA series). Complaining about the fact that Wade went to the free-throw line 25 times (forgetting about Dirk's 24 FTs in Game 3 of the Dallas-SA series). Boy, those fans sure have a short memory, don't they?

Whine, whine, whine. Just play already. Dallas may ultimately win, but they would've whined themselves to a championship.

UPDATE: Well, congratulations to Miami. I guess Dallas spent too much time whining that it took their eyes away from the prize.

Thirty Three

So I turn Larry Bird today, and would drink Rolling Rock if I could. How did we celebrate? Well, we tried watching Cars, but the kids got restless halfway thru. Being the good neighbors that we are, we took the kids outside, where they proceeded to run up and down the hallways, screaming their little heads off. Pretty soon a couple of parents followed suit, and came out with their toddlers in tow. I never did find out whether Lightning McQueen learned humility. We then had some dinner, whereupon Amelie proceeded to finish a whole bunch of tortilla chips. I had some country-fried steak, and wished I had regular steak instead. Unfortunately, I've never really had a good steak in a restaurant chain, except for Hungry Bear over in Fullerton, so I didn't want to be disappointed again.

33. Just another day, I suppose, until 40. Then it's mid-life crisis time.

Goooooaaaaallllllllll

Huh, I don't get it.

I tuned in to watch the USA and Italy kick their way to a draw today in the World Cup. I'm still not sure if I get it, much less like it. Oh, it does get exciting when a goal is scored, primarily because it seems so hard to get it into the net; however, the constant back and forth, just kicking the darned ball gets boring after a while. Maybe it's because I'm not really rooting for any particular team; I guess I'm partial to the US, seeing as I live here. There's no particular player I really like, unless you count Keira Knightley.

Or maybe it's just really boring. Then again, I like baseball, and I got absorbed watching the Ashes in Australia back when England was a sorry bunch of cricketeers (quite a while back).

It's all really a matter of taste, I suppose.

Another Waste of Time

In the vein of that Virgin find-the-musical-acts, here's another Time Waster:

LOVEFiLM

Right now I have around 75 for sure, with around 8 maybes.

Tagged

Unfortunately, I don't really know any other bloggers, so the chain stops here.

4 jobs I've had in my life
1. Tech Specialist/DBA
2. Consultant
3. Analyst
4. Um...barista? (as soon as our coffee shop opens)

4 movies I could watch over and over again
1. Howl's Moving Castle
2. Spirited Away
3. The Incredibles
4. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

4 Places I've lived
1. BF Homes, Paranaque, Philippines
2. Orange County, CA
3. San Francisco, CA
4. Chicago, IL

4 TV shows I love to watch
1. The Amazing Race
2. Lost
3. 24
4. ESPN News

4 Places I've been on vacation
1. Amsterdam
2. Cancun
3. The Caribbean
4. Boracay

4 websites I visit daily
1. gmail.google.com
2. The Straight Dope
3. Yahoo!
4. ESPN.com

4 of my favorite foods
1. Pad See Yew (or however they spell it--the Thai flat noodles)
2. Bun + ____ (Vietnamese vermicelli noodles with BBQ pork/egg rolls/shrimp)
3. My mother-in-law's fried chicken (just salt and pepper)
4. Bacolod Chicken's Inasal na Manok

4 places I'd rather be right now
1. Florence, Italy either in a walking tour or guiding said walking tour
2. Snorkelling in Cancun, Mexico
3. Hanging out with family and friends in The Philippines (afterglow still there)
4. The Louvre (didn't really get to see it, we were so tired)

4 bloggers I'm tagging
End of the road, I'm afraid...

I'm Back!!!

Yep, back from the Philippines. Went on vacation for three weeks, visiting Cebu and Boracay. It was kind of a bummer, since I didn't see a lot of my friends--they were either out of the country (Calai) while I was there, or was in the city while I was in Cebu/Boracay (Richelle). Oh well, at least my parents got to enjoy playing with the twins.

Overall, I had a great time in the Philippines--a lot had changed since the last time I was there four years ago; my old subdivision, BF Homes, seems to have morphed into one big strip mall. I was also pleasantly surprised that everything seemed clean--no stacks of garbage lying around! Unfortunately, the pinoy driving style was still in full effect. I had also forgotten the way we pinoys watched movies as well; the wife actually yelled "Would you please SHUT UP" to the geeks behind us commenting on everything in X3 (it worked, though). Plus, of course, it was humid.

Everything else was great--the islands were fantastic, and the wife was in shopping heaven. I actually got tired of eating while I was there.

Going back to the US was a bit of a nightmare. I'm still fuming over the fact that you need to get your bags x-rayed and searched not once, not twice, but THREE frickin' times--with the last x-ray/search not a hundred feet from the last one! That seems so inefficient. Maybe it's a way to show foreigners that the airport is safe? It's more inconvenient than anything.

Celebrity sightings:
* Fidel Ramos was in our plane going to the Philippines. He posed for pictures, and walked once around the plane
* The former NCC sharpshooter, Chip Engelland, read one of my previous posts and dropped in a nice little comment. I'm starstruck, I tell ya, starstruck! Maybe I can ask for an autograph. =)

Sailing Around The World

I hate to admit it, but...

THAT was an amazing concert. I'm talking, of course, about The Wiggles concert I was moaning and groaning about last week. The songs were great (despite the fact that they sang a bunch of songs I didn't know), the ad-libbing was pretty funny ("Grease" and "Stairway To Heaven" played prominent roles), and Greg was a bit pudgy--but had such a smooth voice, I forgave him for it (the only downside was Larissa wasn't there. Caterina had to do, although Lucy was surprisingly pretty with longer hair, instead of the butch haircut she normally has).

Actually, everyone in my group (wifey, mom-in-law and sister-in-law) seemed to enjoy it far more than my kids, who were either concentrating very hard watching the show or were sleepy--they weren't reacting at all.

Oh, well, hopefully next year (if the kids still like The Wiggles, and if they haven't retired yet), the twins will show more life when we watch them again. And hopefully we'll have better seats.

Edited to add: the picture was taken by me during their April 22 concert at Gibson Ampitheater over at Universal Studios, Hollywood.

Howl's Moving Castle

Howl's Moving Castle is the latest film from Miyazaki, the genius behind Spirited Away, one of the all-time favorite films here in the daddychoy household. When the DVD arrived from Netflix we eagerly popped it into the player, and sat down to watch it. It was pretty enjoyable; while not as good as Spirited Away, it was definitely better than Castle in the Sky, and a bit better than Princess Mononoke.

Some observations:
* The opening sequence reminded me a lot of Kingdom Hearts--what with the "mud" people, the jumping, the balcony--heck, it's Traverse Town! I wonder if that was intentional.
* Interestingly enough, the film seems to suggest that dark hair=ugly, while blonde=beautiful. Look at Sofie--she's not all bad (actually, she's pretty) when we first meet her, black hair and all; yet she considers herself homely, compared to her sister, who has blonde curls. Howl himself has naturally black hair, but when we first meet him, he's blonde.
* I'm curious to read the book now. I've heard that it's quite different from the written word.

Studio Ghibli's next film is apparently Earthsea, from the series by Ursula K Le Guin. Can't wait.

Sportsfan

I was discussing some work-related stuff with my officemate today when another co-worker passed by. "Dude, that much!" he said as he sauntered past.

"What was that about?" I asked.
"Oh, he was referring to the Lakers just losing to Denver last night." my co-worker replied.

This then lead to a discussion about how much I disliked the Lakers. I mentioned that I liked Luuuuuuuuuke Walton and Rony Turiaf, but Devean George and Brian Cook were softies. We even talked about the Sacramento series from way back, when Mike Bibby "fouled" Kobe with his nose, handing the Lakers a ring.

The question remained, though, as to why I disliked the Lakers. It's actually a pretty silly reason--growing up, my sister liked the Lakers, so naturally, I gravitated towards the Celtics (mostly because of Larry Legend).

This got me thinking about the Sports Teams I liked and disliked:

PBA - Philippine Basketball Association
Liked:
Crispa - because they were Toyota's archrival
San Miguel - because they were the successor to Crispa
Northern Consolidated/Cement - because of Chip Engelland's sweet stroke

Disliked:
Toyota - because my sister loved them
Ginebra - because of Jawo, who I considered "dirty" (but was loved by millions)

NBA
Like:
Celtics - at least during the 80's, with Bird, McHale, Chief, DJ and Ainge); not so much now
Spurs - because of how self-effacing Tim Duncan is
Rockets - because of Yao Ming, the Great Asian Hope
Pacers - because of Reggie Miller

Dislike:
Lakers - because they're the Celtics' arch rival, and because they seem too smug
Knicks - because of their ugly style of play during the 90s. Loved the jawing between Spike Lee and Reggie. Now they're just pathetic.

UAAP - Pinoy College Hoops
Like:
DLSU - my alma mater. Although the recent school scandal kinda makes it hard to root for them. Still, though, the Limpot years are fondly remembered.

Dislike:
Ateneo - La Salle's archrivals. Think of this as Duke and North Carolina in the NCAA. Both considered "elitist" schools
FEU - because of the championship they won in the boardroom against DLSU. Take it to the court, folks! Talks a lot of smack against DLSU. Heck, everyone hates DLSU anyway.

NCAA College Hoops
Like:
Duke - because of a comic I read when I was a kid called Blue Devil
UCLA - because they're the local team, and a couple of my close friends are alumni

Dislike:
North Carolina - because they're Duke's archrivals. I still don't understand why Duke is almost universally loathed (kinda like DLSU), when the Tar Heels seem just as smug.
Connecticut - because they didn't try during the just concluded Tournament, despite being the best team on paper (unlike Duke, who did try, but were so obviously overmatched)

NFL
Like:
Indianapolis Colts - big fan of Peyton, despite the fact that he's probably never going to win the big one
Pittsburgh Steelers - because of Sgt Slaughter look-alike Cowher; I'm happy he won the Superbowl, but was disgusted by the officiating.
San Diego Chargers - duuuuuuude.

Dislike:
Oakland Raiders - because they try hard to maintain their "thug" image, when they're actually just pathetic. Plus their fans scare me.
NY Giants - because of Jeremy Shockey. Although I'm trying to like Eli.
New England Patriots - because they got smug after they won, and just keep beating up on Peyton (heh).

College Football
Like:
USC - because they're the local team
UCLA - ditto, although in a game between UCLA and USC I'd have to go with the Bruins
Notre Dame - because I'm Catholic by default

Dislike:
No one, really.

MLB
Like:
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim - because they're the local team
Seattle Mariners - because of Ichiro. Started liking them during the Griffey/A-Rod/Buhner era. Buhner looked like one mean SOB.
St Louis Cardinals - because of Mark McGwire

Dislike:
NY Yankees - because they're the Evil Empire
Boston Red Sox - the very first time I liked in the MLB, I slowly grew to dislike them after they won the World Series. Their fans just got smug.

Going over this list, I found a couple of common denominators between certain teams I disliked:
* They're usually labelled as "dirty" (Raiders, Knicks, Jaworski teams)
* They're dominant, winning several championships, and are smug about it (Lakers, Yankees, Patriots)
* I just like being opposite with my sister (Toyota, Lakers)

My preferences will evolve, though, as I grow older and crankier. Who knows, maybe at some point I'll start disliking the Colts as well (unlikely, since they'll never win the Superbowl). Heh.

Baldur's Gate II: Complete

Woo-hoo, finished this last weekend, using Yuan Chung, my monk. I'm now working on Throne of Bhaal. It's kinda difficult playing when your kids are sitting on your lap and are trying to mash the keyboards, but somehow I managed to get it done.

I'd still rank Planescape: Torment above this one, though. Finishing that was bittersweet; I managed to finish it the first week after I was laid off from my last job--i.e., when I had nothing else going on. *sigh* Oh, well, life, what can you do?