This and that ...

T'was an interesting weekend. On Saturday morning, when I went to Fry's to buy a new alarm clock, I saw Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett Packard (before the scandal), giving a free talk. She also stayed to sign her new book: Tough Choices. I was there, in perfect timing for the signing line-up and the talk. Didn't go for the book though: couldn't spare $18.


Saturday night was really fun at Golfland USA. It's a mini-golf place plus arcade right next to my place. We spent almost 3 hours there from 9PM and on. The holes were surprisingly tough, but really fun; like the Candystand golf. Definitely worth going back again.

On Sunday, we went to the Mazda Zoom Zoom Live testdrive event at the Oakland Alameda field. Good thing it was 18 over requirement, unlike the Taste of Lexus. It was really packed, so many people showed up. There were only 4 courses, so the wait-time was killer. The cars that I got to drive were: Mazda 6, Miata, RX-8, & CX-7. It was fun to drive them on the closed courses without a single care for the car. The cars themselves were pretty good, but nothing amazing. Same with the event; I was kinda disappointed by the overall organization: too much standing in line and too little sitting behind the wheel. Still though, I liked the sweet feeling of driving new cars.

Never thought I'd say it, but ...

I am now officially homesick. Due to the fact that I am actually sick. I don't know what caused it, but being completely taken out for the whole weekend is not pleasant, at all. I got my suspicion on the canned chicken soup or the dust in our place, but damn, my stomach got really screwed up, I had to vomit 7 times last night. Today, I even missed the intern vs. ex-intern paintball competition. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day.

The season's a-changin'. It's getting cold in California and for the first time in over 4 months, it rained last week. It's a good thing I changed new windshield wipers a couple weeks ago. I guess the summer has come to an end, but I'm interested to see how fall, oops I meant "autumn", looks like in Cali. Reflecting back, I must say, it was a really fun summer. Coming here to Bay Area, starting real work, finding a place to live, cars, and all that independence stuff, exploring California, and having a good time with the gang.

Last Monday, Michelle and I went to see Mariah Carey (or MC as they call her) at the Oakland Arena. Busta Rhymes opened for her, and was pretty good. Mariah's performance was also not too bad. She sang a lot of her old top hits songs, which was good for me, because I have no idea about her recently songs. I'm not that big of a fan of Mariah, but it was certainly fun times.

Lake Tahoe

For the Labour Day long weekend, we went to Lake Tahoe. We rented out a cabin, and a couple cars, and left straight after work on Friday night. We didn't arrive at South Lake Tahoe until midnight.

The cabin was pretty damn nice, except that contruction was going on around it, so gas was cut off, thus no hot water was available. When we complained the next morning to the management, they upgraded us to a giant cabin nearby. The new place had 14 beds, a jacuzzi, cable tv, barbeque, games, the whole sh-bang. On saturday, some of us went on ATV tour, but I went hiking instead. It was damn tiring, without water. We went to Stateline that night to enjoy the buffett and the small casinos on the Nevada border. Penny slots all the way!

On sunday, we went kayaking in the Lake. Quite a few of us fell in, fortunately I was able to balance myself the whole time. It was refreshing. That night, we drove 2 hours north to Reno, Nevada, the biggest small city in the world. It's the old school version of Vegas. The place was a little disappointing overall, especially considering I got kicked out of one of the casinos there. So not gnarly, dude.

The next day, we rented a power boat and a tube and went crazy all over the lake. Some of us got bruised and cut and had our shorts ripped off from it. I didn't do the tubing since I can't even swim, but I drove the power boat around, which was pretty exhilarating. I posted photos some here.

New guitar

I've finally got around to getting myself a guitar. I've long wanted to learn to play a guitar, but was always held back by something; work, money, time. I figure now that I have some free time on my hands, I could pick up the guitar as a hobby.

The guitar I bought is a brand new Epiphone. The sweet baby's perfect for me. It sounds great! (after I spend 15 minutes tuning it) I also learned that I have fat fingers, since almost every chord I play my fingers are touching a string it's not suppose to. My goal is to become fluent at it by the end of the year, such that I can play songs smoothly from the top of my head. I'm visioning myself with a pickup guitar at CalTrain stations playing some Coldplay, collecting Washingtons in my bucket.

Las Vegas

Our final stop was the crazy Las Vegas, the city that never sleeps. Everyone made a big hype about Vegas, and it certainly did not disappoint. We were there during the 4th of July long weekend, so The Strip was crazy packed.

The first night, we watched Cirque du Soleil, KA. The tickets to this show were $125 each. The show was pretty amazing, it was a total surround stage setup, and the actaully stages people performed on were totally gyrational. It was tilting and moving 360°, and at one point the performance was done with the platform tilted at 80°. The technical effects are absolutely second to none, some totally rad scenes were performed. All in all, a fantastic show, definitely worthy of checking out.

We walked down the main Strip and check out almost all the hotels/casinos. This is believe it or not a whole day affair. It takes a loooong time to walk around everywhere and it gets really tiring by the end of day. Here are things I noticed about the different casino and hotels:

• the most luxurious: Bellagio
• the biggest monster: Caesar's Palace
• the cooliest themed: tied Luxor & Treasure Island
• the best one no-one's ever heard of: the Venetian
• the one with most hot chicks: Mandalay Bay
• the bully: MGM Grand

What's a trip to vegas without buffets? We ate at a different buffet each day we were there, with the last being the best, the Bellagio Buffet. We went in at late lunch and stayed 'till dinner. Another absolute necessity in Vegas? the strip clubs. We went to the DejaVu one night, and this was by far (and I mean far) the best club I've been to. Anywhere. Most my friends would also agree. I had front row seats to jello wrestling match, which was a real treat. I don't think I can go anywhere else now after this.

On the 12-hour drive back home, we went through Yosemite National Park. This was a beautiful park with tons of mountain/snow/valley scenery. Too bad I slept through almost all of it.

San Diego

Our next destination is the southern-most city of San Diego. It's about 30 min. away from the Mexico border, and the city of Tijuana. Since the legal age in Mexico is 18, I went across the border on two nights, since I wouldn't get in anywhere in San Diego anyway. I also just wanted to check out what Mexico was like.

To which I respond extreme disappointment. Tijuna was very run down and ghetto. When we went to strip clubs, it felt really dirty and I had constant thoughts of a loooong shower. I didn't really feel like staying and if anything, the club turned me off.

Now back to the civilization of SanDiego. We caught the sunset at LaJolla beach the first day there. The interesting part is that, the water was actually warm here. All the other beaches, a dip was comparable to ice water, but here we stayed in the water for 30 min enjoying the warmth. We took a cruise around the Harbour and also checked out the University of San Diego campus. It was a beautiful campus; very clean and cool architecture all around. We spent a full day at the San Diego Zoo. It's pretty famous, but after looking through it all, it seems like any other zoo to me, except they have pandas here. Worthy to see nonetheless.

the OC

Right below Los Angelos county is the infamous Orange County. This is where Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, and Laguna Beach all lie. Newport Beach is where 'the OC' takes place, Huntington Beach is where Hollister CO. gets all it's inspiration from, and Laguna Beach is obviously where the show 'Laguna Beach' happens.

I must say Newport and Laguna are the two best beaches I've ever been to in my life. Everything about them is superb. Definitely wouldn't mind going there again, but next time, I gotta slather on hella lot of sunscreen. Going to all these beaches everyday did a number on my skin, I got burned on my shoulder and feet quite bad. Right now is the peeling-skin-stage. And the chicks, oh the hot chicks . . . wow. I was secretly hoping to catch a glimps of maybe a cast member from Laguna Beach, but... I don't think that happened.

Once away from the beach, the city themselves are quite impressive too. The residents here are mostly rich, which is reflected in the upscale downtown areas and starring at the huge houses on the hills was fun too.

LA

Next, we came to LA. It was really overwhelming, because there was absolutely endless stuff to do here. Every corner of this giant metropolis offered something unique to check out. The 3 days we were here seemed really short.

We first checked out Malibu beach. Again, awesome beach, worthy of its famous statuary. We hung out in Hollywood quite a lot. Visited the Universal Studios Citywalk, Hollywood Boulevard, where all the famous entertainment landmarks are; such as the Kodak Theatre, Walk of Fame, the Chinese Theatre, and Jimmy Kimmel Live. Some of us toured the NBC studio and lined up for taping of the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, while others went to see the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. I was sooo close to getting into Leno. In a line up of 400+, there were only 15 people in front of me before they filled up. While in Beverly Hills, we drove to the Playboy Mansion. It's actually quite cleverly hidden so as to avoid random visitors like us. It was gated real good, and we couldn't see much of the property, but the fact that we were at the gates of the Mansion is story enough. We also went to Long Beach, only to find a freakish scene of total absence on the stretched-out beach. We did however find West Coast Choppers. This is the bike shop where Jessie James works on the show Monster Garage. Pretty rad display of rides there.

One thing I have to mention though: driving in LA is absolute horror! the highway gets jammed on Sunday nights at 8, people honk at random, and no one gives any room. I was so glad when I drove out of LA.

Santa Barbara

Our first stop was the beautiful Santa Barbara. Just as important as the destination is the route to get there. We drove down the gorgeous scenery of Highway 1. It does not get better than this; wind blowing in your hair, California tunes cranked high, mountain side curves along the coast and the Pacific ocean to your right the entire way. This road is actually where a lot of car commercials are shot.

The small city of SantaBarbara is very lively with the college crowd. Everyone from UCSantaBarbara comes downtown to party at night. We were only here for one day, but I really enjoyed the atmosphere. Unlike other places we visited, majority of the crowd here is around my age, which was very good at the beach. Surprisingly, the sand was so hot, it was impossible to walk bear feet.

SoCal 2006 roadtrip

Whooooooooo!!!
I just came back from an 11-day roadtrip all through southern California and Las Vegas. We went to Santa Barbara, Los Angelos, Orange County, San Diego, and last but not least Las Vegas, Nevada.


All this came together with most of us Actel new interns, with some of the old ones too, who planned most of it. There was a total of 21 of us, renting 5 cars. Driving through Cali is absolutely awesome! It's great to be on the open road, but riding on the California west coast is way above anything. I'll describe each destination separately, and here are some of the (above par quality) photos I took along the way:

• album 1
• album 2
• album 3

Moving to new apartment

This weekend, Will, Joe and I moved into our new place. Our 1-month stint at Oakwood came to an end and it was time to move on...

Our new apartment is awesome. It's a townhome complex called Willowbend in Sunnyvale. This is where we'll spend the next 12 months. Our apartment is 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, living, dining, balcony, etc., but it's different than everyone else's in that it's two floors; bedrooms upstairs, everything else on first floor.

It was a hell of a job moving all the furniture this weekend. On Saturday, we went around to 5 old interns' apartments and U-Hauled everything into the living room. On Sunday, we organized the furniture into separate rooms, but it wasn't easy getting beds up the ridiculously narrow stairs to second floor. I originally bought a queen size bed, but there was no way to fit it through, so I traded it with my good buddy Jacques' double, which is actaully quite a bit better. I also like all the other furniture in my room; a desk, dresser, cupboard, floorlamp, chair, and drying rack. The whole room cost close to $200, but it's a pretty complete set.

Santa Cruz Beach

The beach is a religion in California. On recommendation of the old interns, we headed to Santa Cruz beach today, being a long weekend Memorial Day. It's a 40 min drive away, but we made an hour and half trip out of it.


The beach itself is beautiful. It's not as big as I thought it might be, but it was still way better than any beach in Toronto. I really need work on my tan. It was super crowded when we arrived, but was pretty spread out by the time we were leaving. The water was surprisingly calm, but cold as hell. None of us fully dipped in the water. Another cool thing about this place is the 'Boardwalk'. It's like a carnaval fair, with food, games, and rides, located right on the shore. Overall, a really fun day on the beach. Here are some pictures.

San Francisco

We went sightseeing in San Francisco today. It was our first weekend together, and of course we had to make our way to SanFran. Just to make things more justified, it was George's birthday on saturday and Michelle's today.

We left Mountain View around noon and took about an hour to get there. Obviously, it wouldn't be a trip if we didn't get lost. The places we visted were: the Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman's Dwarf, Lombard Street, Full House houses, Chinatown and ChaChaCha. The unfortunate thing is, we missed the last Alcatraz tour, which was at 2:15. This definitely has to be made up for. I personally would like to go through the downtown area again. There's sooo much stuff going on.

Here is the link to my facebook album for the day.

California Dreamin'

The Eagle has landed folks. I am now in Mountain View, California. I arrived in San Francisco on Saturday morning. The flight here was very smooth. From the airport, we were picked up by a limo service to our corporate housing in Mt. View called Oakwood. This place is sweeet, it's basically a resort. A fully furnished 2-bed, 2-bath apartment, tennis court, basketball court, swimming pool, jacuzzi, barbeques, game room, excercise room, free breakfast every morning, and happy hour every Thursday.

I started work at Actel on Monday 22nd. First day and a half was the intern orientation, which was mostly HR paperwork. Got my rental car and a bank account opened up. I only get the free rental for a month, and have to share with my roommate, and it's a Chevy Aveo, but hey, I'm not complaining when it's free.

I still can't believe I'm here in California. It's hot and sunny outside. Life is good.

OW Ow ow oW OW

My entire lower face is in severe agony right now, due to getting my wisdom teeth pulled out this morning. I had the operation done at 9:30. They said it would be about an hour, but actually lasted 2 hours. During the entire procedure I was knocked out by anesthetics through my arm and some laughing gas at the begining. Overall, the surgery went quite smoothly.

I couldn't feel anything below my upper lip when it was done. Almost the entire mouth was numb, but now that it has wore off, all I feel is the stinging pain of my swollen jaw. It's so swollen, I actually look different. I look like I have a very broad jaw, like Chuck Norris. My best friends right now: Tylenol3 and antibiotics. And I can't eat anything, my mouth can barely open to drink water. This will probably last for another couple days before the swelling goes down and I'm able to use my mouth a little bit.

I just pray there won't be any post-operative problems or complications, like an infection or anything like that. I only have until next friday before I leave, so it's quite critical that my recovery is full, and without any complications.

Preshness

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, finally done exams! And no more exams for another 20 months.

This term's exams were that bad, I think I did good on most of them... I think. It was super busy at the very start of exam session, due to everything cramming together, and it was super lazy at the end, because of all the time I had to study for courses that don't need much studying. Even though the exam period was exactly as long as December's, I wasn't as anxious about finishing it. I guess Christmas time really had me on my toes back then. I do have reasons to be just as excited now though.

To reflect back on this semester, the best way to describe it would be how relaxed it was. This term's workload was surpringly low. Shocking, isn't it? As always, with more free time means more time wasted on stupid things. I'm definitely not naming them. One thing that primarily occupied my mind, and I 'm sure many others as well, were the PEY internships. Applying to jobs, doing interviews, waiting for offers, the whole process was quite tiring.

I now have about 2 weeks to get ready before leaving to California. A few things I need to get done before going:
+ pull my widsom teeth out; since I won't be seeing a dentist for a whole year, better to get it done now
+ clean up my desk, room, and other parts of the house
+ learn how to cook
+ get a fake ID that says I'm 21
+ meet up with friends to say goodbye
Alright, let's get to it.

New laptop

I bought my new laptop today. And wow, is it a sweet-ass machine.
It's a Toshiba Satellite. Intel Centrino PentiumM 1.73GHz, 1 GB memory, 80 GB hard drive, 15.4" screen, thin and sleek. Basically, it's everything that I need and want, I love it.

My desktop has served me very well until now, but I really do need a laptop in California. My dad owns a Toshiba, which he's had for the last 6 years, and it's still working fine! I'm sure mine will endure just as long.

Actually.... now that I think about it, I never officially announced it on this blog. I will indeed be going to Actel in California for the year-long PEY internship. After that mishap in the first round of interviews, I landed another position with them in the second round as the Verification and Validation Intern.

Preparations have been well underway, such as the TN visa application in Buffalo, which turned out to be a good hour's worth of stories, much to my annoyance at the time for the amount of precious clocks it took out of studying for my first couple exams. Speaking of which, I'm almost done, just one more. Wednesday at 9pm, that's my 'Saved by the Bell'. But having this luscious new laptop sit here on my desk next to the work doesn't help very much.

Two for the price of one

V for Voluptuously-awesome

"A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having"

I saw V for Vendetta tonight, and it totally blew me away. The film was great on so many levels. An amazing storyline, tons of action, politically charged, a real message underneath, and a super hot chick; what more can you ask for? Watching in IMAX made it even better.

credit: legofish.com

Facebook fasting

I'm going to try an experiment. For one full week, that is between Mon. Mar. 27 - Sun. Apr. 2, I am NOT going to use Facebook. No wall-writing, no messages, no friend-confirmations, no stalking, no nothing.

It'll be a cool challenge to test my self-control. I have 6 important interviews this week, so what better time than now. I did the 30-Hour Famine a couple years back, but I have the feeling this will be even harder than that. MSN Messenger, you're next.