Joey Update

So Joey is at the age where she will mimic EVERYTHING that we do. We shake our head...she'll shake her head. we say "Oh No!" She will say "Oh Nho!"...LoL So we are watching very carefully at what we say, since Betty and I have a propensity at times to say a curse word here or there out of frustration.

She's now 16 months old, and I honestly don't know where her learning development should be, but she seems to be learning things very quickly. Betty and I are both trying to expose her to more books, music and language learning as we go along. Joey LOVES music. She listens to music as she takes a bath everyday, and she just loves to dance. She swings her hips from side to side and she throws both of her hands in the air. It's really funny. She ESPECIALLY loves the Chicken Dance song (thanks to mommy). Joey and mommy dance to this song all the time.

Betty and I both agree that this is probably the cutest stage there is in a child's development. They are old enough to walk, babble, and be cute but not old enough to talk back or be mad at us =). They say funny words, make funny sounds, and just love to cuddle. Sigh... They grow out of it so fast... Hopefully we will be expecting another one by the time joey grows out of her cute stage. And I hope the next one looks EXACTLY like Joey...boy or girl! LoL

Here are some photos of Joey from July and August:

Joey - July 2008

Joey - August 2008

Olympics...

I always catch the Olympics on tape delay every 4 years, but this time around I am armed with the DVR and the internet! I gotta say...this is about the most Olympics coverage I've been able to watch EVER! Nbcolypmics.com has pretty much every event on rewind hours after the event conclusion.

I always hated that Olympic TV coverage almost never had Badminton. Not anymore. Well, Badminton is still barely covered on TV, but with nbcolympics.com I haved been able to catch virtually EVERY match online, which has been friggin' AWESOME!

As usual China has been dominating in this sport, which make me root against them =) What can I say? I'm and underdog supporter. Last I checked China had 3 women's singles, 2 men's singles, 2 women's doubles, 1 mixed doubles, and one men's doubles team in the medal round. That's pretty incredible... Of course by the time I post this half of the medals will have already been won in Badminton. Curse this time difference!

Go any country but China (in Badminton)...oops...I think that's only Malaysia and Inodnesia left...=(

Yosemite 2008

My buddies and I took a camping trip a couple weekends back to Yosemite. As usually we did the Half dome Hike, and as usual we all came back tired, hungry, and sore (some more than others)... If it were up to me I would do it every year, but I have a feeling (read: I have been told) by even the most loyal of friends that they are Half-domed out for at least another 2 years. To be honest he has been complaining about the hike for years now (DAT!) but he puts up with the hike since he knows I like to do it (DAT!).

It was fun as usual, lots of beer and meat...you know...the healthy food groups... When you put 6-7 guys together on a camping trip it ususually results in a normal amount of flatulence. However, this trip had to have set the record. There was an inordinate amount! If I had to average it out...it seriously felt like there was a stanky-ass fart every couple of minutes. I'm dead serious!! No one person was farting more than the others (although some stank more than the rest), but by the end of the night on Saturday, it was clear that one person had pulled ahead by a wide margin (PHUONG!). This person actually went into his tent to sleep while everyone else was hanging out by the campfire. All we would here were loud bombs coming from the tent (PHUONG!).

Beer, flatulence, sex acts (Bucking Bronco??? Teabagging?? Superman??? - WTF - I've never heard of these before!) and phallic photos.... that's what you get when you go camping with guys...LoL!

Warning...some photos in the gallery below are not meant for children:

Yosemite 2008

The video below is of me paying a bet (I was duped!!) to Dat. I would have done my full 3 sets of 20, but the fool had to call me out in front of everyone...so I stopped. How embarrassing! All good, since he wrote off the rest of my debt for doing it on top of Half Dome...LoL



The video below shows us near the top of the cables of Half dome. I'm not sure if you can see from the resolution on the video, but there are people waiting and resting at the bottom of the cables when I point the camera downward:

Finally...

My workplace finally decided to turn back on the A/C. Helping the environment and saving eneregy/money is great and all, but if they want us to be productive at work, they need to throw us a bone with the A/C. Seriously...especially in this heat. The temp. gauge in my Camry read 108 degrees yesterday! 108 !!!!!!!!!! That is straight crazy. I was sitting at my desk after lunch...sweating... like... continuously. I wasn't even doing anything.!! Just sitting at my desk... Arghhhh!

I've seriously been wearing shorts since the beginning of June. hahahahah That's all I wear to work. I use an occasional pair of jeans here and there whenever the temperature goes down to the low 70's (which has been rare lately). I so take the dress code policy for granted here...

Hopefully this freakin' heatwave dies down. I might have to wake up at 3AM in the morning to start my hike on Half Dome (Yosemite) just to beat the heat!

Woohoo!!! 2 days and counting....

Gas Limitation

I was at the local Valero pumping gas for my Camry SE, and the pump suddenly stopped at 14.5 gallons (exactly $65.00).

I usually run my tank down to the E-line in order to maximize my mileage, and this takes roughly 16 gallons.

I've had this happen to me before (pump stops at 14.5 gallons) at this very same Valero, but I just thought that I had extra gas in the tank for some reason.

I never realized it, but there appears to be a limitation on the amount of gas that you can purchase per transaction... I'm not sure if it's due to the current gas price crisis, but it was intersting to note...

I had to create a new transaction to top off my tank =(

Dear God...

That had to be the worst basketball game I have EVER watched my Lakers play. Atrocious, disheartening, pathetic, lacadasical, overwhelmed, dominated, demoralizing...you name it...

I tried my best to not tear my eyeballs out while watching that game. Absolutely NOTHING went right for the Lakers. They just got man-handled...period!

And Kobe...suck it up...be a man...and stay in LA.

Kupchak put some quality shooters/players around you... Everyone is young and healthy still... Get that finger fixed...come back next year...and compete again. You'll still be one of the NBA's elite teams... I don't want to hear any talk about leaving LA or trades...or any pointing fingers. You are as much to blame as everyone else. You stunk it up out there in the NBA Finals just like your teammates...

Let me place my tail between my legs and go cry in a corner now =(

Tidbits...

I hope everyone had a good Father's day...

Mine was actually quite nice and very fulfilling. I got to do almost everything that I wanted to do this weekend.

1. Woke up early Saturday morning to wash both cars. Detailed My Camry SE very nicely. She looks reaaallly purty when she is clean =)... One of the nicest cars on the road IMO (SE model only)...

2. Finished priming the damn arbor! Ugh!! I swear...I'll never use rollers again. I ended up purchasing a Wagner Paint Sprayer to do the actual painting. Priming took wayy too long (1 month)...

3. Cleaned the whole house including the bathrooms! Woohoo! Yes, I'm a clean freak...

4. Betty and I left Joey for the first time so that we could spend some time together. She stayed at Grandma's and played with her auntie Van and Uncle Tuan...
Betty and I ended up going to see the Hulk movie, which was AWESOME!! I normally despise computer animated movies, but this was done in very convincing fashion. The Hulk's skin texture, facial expressions, movement, and even his teeth (!!) looked very realistic and life-like. My brother has been collecting comics since he was a kid (and still does), and I used to read them (when he would let me take them out of the mylar protective sleeves)...so I'm a huge fan of the Hulk. I think this movie did the Hulk justice. Edward Norton rocks. One of my favorite male actors... It was a very entertaining movie, and I highly recommend it to everyone. The only nitpick I have of the movie is that I do not remember The Abomination looking like that in the comics. I remember him being a bit more scaly and green/sage in color. The Abominations head in the movie was wayyyy to small for his body. The Hulk's physique (and really everything about him in the movie) was done to perfection. I really hope they have a part 2 (I don't count the first one since it sucked ass...).

5. I went and used a - $8.00 coupon to get a Sandisk 4 GB Compact Flash card at Costco. Always good to have more memory =)

6. ...Went to visit my dad at the cemetary. It was CRAZY crowded there. Tons of people visiting their fathers and loved ones. Betty and I saw people literally having a picnic out there. They brought their fold-up chairs, bags of food, and drinks... Not a bad idea actually. I think I might try that next time to spend a biut more time with my dad. That was actually the first time I visited on a few months. I've just been busy and negelectful, which will need to stop soon...

It actually felt a bit wierd to not have my dad here this year. I was talking to Betty about it, and we both always remember my dad coming from out of his room, hands clasped behind his back, dressed in slacks, and a polo (yes...he wore this to sleep as well) with an army jacket (yes...he is wierd, but he's my dad)... This year it was just me really. I was the only dad there. Colby (my brother-in-law) was away with his daughter (my niece) Claire on a fishing trip.

So you see...it was a very good weekend...

And to top it off...I will share some new photos of Joey. I told Betty that I would stop the whole Joey every month series since I don't have time to process all of the photos...but really...when do I ever strop taking photos?...

Joey May 2008

WTF???

So me and my buddy Dat are sitting in front of Home Depot having lunch when some kid (teenager) walks up to us while we are eating and asks if we have some extra fries that he can have.

He had a skateboard, skater shoes and he was wearing skater-like clothing. Dat and I were a bit bewildered since he clearly did not look like a homeless person.

Dude...get a job or go to school.. WTH was he doing in front of Home Depot with a skateboard at 1:30Pm on a weekday anyway??? Cutter!!!

To make things even funnier I watched the kid as he slowly walked about 20-30 feet away. He then pulled out a cell phone and proceeded to make a phone call!

Ummm...okkkayyyy....

Not 5 minutes later...ANOTHER guy comes up to Dat and I asking if we have a dime so that he can take the bus home. WTF? Do we look like a charity or something? LoL... This guy didn't look homeless neither... and he barely even wait for us to say "No", which we would have had he stuck around. He just asked about the dime...and then brsikly left.... hahaha That was a wierd sequence of events...

We ended up finishing our lunch, and went into HD to look around. I swear....that place is like Toys R Us for home onwers. I could stay in there for hours just looking around.

By this time lunch is over and we head back to our cars. On the way to my car...I see that same skater kid waving a car down. At first, I'm thinking...here he goes again...begging for food when he clearly is not homeless. Then the car (a brand new VW Beetle) stops. And he gets in! Doh! He called his mother to pick him up....LoL

Man...Dat and I are mean mofos!