The Month of September - Top 10

Why hello all....... Since it has been a while since I've contributed to this blog and I know how highly anticipated postings are, i figured I should take the remainder of my work day to give you the Top 10 from September 2010. Here is goes:

10. Concerts - Something Corporate and Jimmy Eat World - Memories, Memories, Memories.. Oh how it takes me back.

9. Playing cornhole (otherwise known as bean bag toss) in front of our house during the Folsom street fair... Most uncomfortable moment occured when a naked man walked down our desserted street up to Raman and I and chester bolts to sniff him.... Awkward....

8. In my last post, i talked about the season finales... Well good news!! September was filled with season premieres!!! Grey's, the Office, Modern Family, Gossip Girl, 90210, Jersey Shore... need i go on further - probably not.

7. September has been the month where shamelessly I have become addicted to online shopping..... Just a click away and you can trade in your life savings for a kate spade bag.. Seems too easy..

6. The first month of enjoying our new laminate floors and hard wood stairs. Best part of it is watching chester slip and slide around as he tries to go up the stairs at an excelarated pace... I think he might have to get him little booties so he'll have some traction.

5. Received the invitation to my high school reunion during September and was ever so pleased to see that it's during the time we're in DC/NY in November!!! That could have been an awkward evening.

4. Our birthdays were celebrated by friends and family aboard a little yacht with a green screen covering it. Enjoyed a beautiful day on the bay with too much booze... Bad decisions did occur (like purchasing shots for 25 people at Public House) but good decisions did occur as well (I still believe walking from Public House to union square was brillant thanks to good company (Erin, Wang, and Simon)

3. Figured out the receipe for a Chipote burrito bowl! Chili rubbed pork with corn/tomato salsa and cilantro lime rice.. That one's going into the routine.

2. Half Dome - September 18th... Zach, Raman, Jami, Chris, Chris, Al, and I completed Half

Dome!! What a feat! There were times when I didn't think I would make it but we all did it!! Best part (besides for making it to the top was coming down the cables to see Chris and Al making their way up! - we thought for sure they'd turned around and had been enjoying beers back at the camp!)...

1. While this did not occur during the month of September, it might be one of the cutest, funniest, sadiest, most annoying, and more endearing moments of 2010. Chester in a cone.......

South Africa: 5 more pictures, 5 more stories

Bunny Chow

A truly South African dish, bunny chow has nothing to do with rabbits and everything to do with deliciousness. Making bunny chow goes something like this:

1. Take a loaf of white bread, and cut it into quarters

2. Hollow out a quarter piece, saving the insides for dipping

3. Fill with delightful curry

4. Eat with your hands

The Indian Wedding

Raman's mom and Durban relatives put together an amazing wedding reception for Raman and Christie. There was a feast (so much food!), everyone was dressed to impress, and there were a bunch of traditions that I don't claim to understand. All I know is I had to trade some nuts or something for a pineapple, which I felt pretty good about. Anyways, the real joy of the occasion was seeing the love and support of Raman's family (well that, and seeing Raman up on his throne like Eddie Murphy in Coming to America). It was definitely an honor to able to not only witness the event, but to be able to participate as well.

Zulu Beer

While in Durban we went to a Zulu village where we were able to try beer made with the traditional Zulu methods that they've been using for hundreds of years. Wasn't the best beer I've ever had, but it was definitely the most unique. They also let us try some of their beer mixed with pineapple and other fruit juices, which was so good even Christie drank it.

If you can't bring South Africa to the Bay...

...then bring a little bit of the Bay to South Africa. April and Raman conspired to get everyone the same San Francisco t-shirt from Chinatown for $1.88 a pop. We all wore them when we went over to one of Raman's relative's house one night for a braai. Several people liked them so much that most of us left our shirts in Durban, and one of Raman's younger cousins wore his at least twice before we left. But don't worry, Raman kept one and it made an appearance in Vegas.

Relationships Blossomed

We were all friends before heading off to South Africa, but some relationships were taken to new levels while we were there. Chachee seemed to do the most blossoming, going on "dates" with April and Mandy, making friends with Raman's 80 year old aunt and, as seen above, showing his appreciation for Igor in idyllic South African wine country.

South Africa: 5 pictures, 5 stories

The Vuvuzela

Chachee was the undisputed king of the infamous vuvuzela. He carried his with him almost all the time, and did his best to abide by the rules set forth by his fellow travelers: no vuvuzela in the van; no vuvuzela before noon; and no vuvuzela at World Heritage sites (namely Robben Island). The vuvuzela is not just your run of the mill noise maker, however. It was also used for drinking champagne (as seen above), as a make-shift beer bong, and to smoke out of a hookah.

Braai

Braai is basically South African barbeque. Only it's way better. Pictured above is the braai we had in a township outside of Durban. This establishment featured an array of uncooked meats that in the US you could never find outside of a butcher. You pay for any and all meats that you want, which are piled on a cutting board which you take out back to a giant grill, where it's cooked for you and then brought to your table. Then you just hang out, drink, and eat meat (sorry Beth!). The platter above featured sausage, pork, lamb, and kidneys, and ran us about $20.

Wild Animals

Hopefully you at least sort of tell what's happening in the picture above. In case you can't, allow me to set the stage. We went on a sunrise safari drive (after already going on a sunset/night drive the evening before and seeing tons of animals) and didn't see a single animal for the entire first hour. Just when I was starting to give up hope, we pulled along side two other jeeps on the side of the road who clearly had something interesting going on. Lo and behold, three female lions have caught something and are having a nice little breakfast for themselves. Turns out breakfast was a baby rhinoceros (Sorry again Beth)! One lion was off to the side gnawing on big gray leg. Another was pulling entrails out of the rhino (which I'm pretty sure is basically just showing off). All in all, pretty spectacular.

Korea DPR

Better known to most Americans as North Korea, Korea DPR played Portugal in the last match we attended in South Africa. Since the Ronaldos, err, I mean, Portugal, had no shortage of people rooting for them at the World Cup three brave souls (Chachee, myself, and another traveler who wishes to remain anonymous, I guess to preserve his future in politics) decided to support the underdogs. So we bought flags, we painted our faces, and we made up cheers ("Hana, dhool, seht. We're not done yet!"). We got other people in our section rooting for the Koreans. And I have to tell you -- I may get the CIA knocking on my door, but it was a blast.

Just Because...

...this is maybe the most amazing picture ever. This was after the Spain-Switzerland match, and I have no idea what was said to get the policemen to offer up their vests. But the looks on both of their faces cannot be taken lightly.

I have grand desires for a part two to this post (5 more pictures, 5 more stories). I'm only telling you that so that I feel guilty about not posting another.

SHAME!!!!!

If this virtual shaming doesn't guilt people into posting, I don't know what will. Oh yes I do! Dun, Dun, Dun! You have two weeks, or embarrassing pictures of the following people might begin to surface on this blog....
Erin
Raman
Danielle
Jami

Things About Things

(In case you forgot what I looked like)

I don't have a ton to say, and this blog post is being written more out of guilt of not posting than out of actual, interesting news... but here it goes, a top ten list of things about things (or "potpourri", as Jeopardy would call it).

10. I am on my way to turning into my fantasy; a thick skinned, hard scrabblin', ole country boy from Texas. The person that I want to be when I grow up has invited to mentor me, and I am getting my first lesson on Saturday. He has already gifted me with a corncob pipe, and will provide sipping Wild Turkey and a garage. I need to provide a dog, and we'll sit in his garage with our dogs, and the aforementioned whiskey and tobacco. I hope I can live up to his expectations.

9. The Bay Area will be graced by the presence of a one Chachee Ramos over the weekend. Our South Africa encounters went swimmingly, so I am optimistic that this weekend will be great. I just hope that he has weaned himself from his biltong (South African beef jerky) dependency by Saturday, I really don't want to find him sleeping on a couch covered in jerky with one hand in a biltong bag and the rest of his body twitching occasionally.

8. My father got married on Saturday. It was a fun, mellow, casual affair filled with family, friends and good food. I raided the bar at the end (at the bartender's suggestion), which made the event that much better. For all of those with questions: no, I'm not going to call her mom, and; who knows, maybe we'll paint our toes and braid each others hair someday, I'm not ruling it out.

7. The UCSB crew is heading to our annual Vegas trip in a couple weeks. Madness will surely ensue. There are 17 Gauchos (or those that love Gauchos) making the trip, and to up the ante, the other Bible sister is bringing along another 20 or so friends, including 11 boys who have decided to treat this weekend as a bachelor party for one of his friends. I'm assuming that we'll find deuce deuce with them at the Crazy Horse II at 3:00 am on Sunday.

6. I've been thinking about instituting a "jello shot Friday" tradition. I think it will be something to look forward to.

5. Our book club is tonight. I chose the book Lowboy, and I'm interested in seeing how it went over. I'm afraid the bar was set too high by the author and Zach Galifianakis, who had a pretty funny interview/short video on amazon.com. I've somehow conned Zach (my Zach, not Zach the one man wolf pack) into making dinner, so our readers can look forward to oxtails and polenta. Yum.

4. I'm beginning a slow transition to a different unit over the summer. Sort of a "helping out" probationary period type of thing. I'm optimistic that it is a good move, and it should allow me to travel (although not to South America). If anyone wants to be my traveling buddy to Asia, let me know.

3. Zach and I ran the tables at darts in SB over the weekend. It was the closest thing I've felt (and will probably ever feel) to glory. And, I hit three bulls eyes during out reign of terror, which, I'm pretty sure, is a personal best. Autograph requests and personal appearances are currently being considered.

2. I recently got Mandy and Z to watch Grownups with me. This is an official warning, don't.make.the.same.mistake.I.did. On a vaguely related note, I know the guy that made the poster. He is an amazing designer who gets stuck with shitty movies. The last one I remember him telling me he made was "don't mess with the zohan," maybe he is cursed?

1. With SA under our belts, I'm beggining to feel a little restless. I think Z and I are going to plan to visit the sister (overrated) in June and do a little Italy, Slovenia, Croatia trifecta. It sounds like fun, but I'm also willing to hear other suggestions in case something better pops up! Either way, any ideas of which region of Italy to go to is highly appreciated.

0. (Bonus!) Although I am thrilled that my star-eyed wandering buddies are having the time of their lives abroad, I am really beginning to miss them pretty badly, and as I am a selfish person, I would really appreciate it if they got their wandering out of their system so they could just come home already, okay?

N.O.L.A.

My girlfriend and I went to a wedding in Lafayette, Louisiana for my buddy Mark. I also, stayed in New Orleans for a few days beforehand. In keeping with the top 10 lists here we go...

10. Plantation - So after spending a couple nights in New Orleans hanging w/ the guys, we drove over to Lafayette, LA (more technically New Iberia) for the wedding. We obviously took the less traveled highway 90 with a whole day to kill before we needed to arrive in New Iberia. Along the way Jen (our navigator and factologist) found a historic plantation that did daily tours, however, by the time we got there it was closed. From the fence that read, "Beware watch dog on premises." we could see the main house and it was pretty impressive.

9. FOOD - While in New Orleans I got to eat at several good restaurants. On the first night we went to Dickie Brennen's Steakhouse (http://www.dickiebrennanssteakhouse.com/) because Travis owes me 3 (now 2) steak dinners. The other reason we decided on this place is that in the if you eat in the bar the only restrictions was that you had to have sleeves on your shirt. I didn't pack the cut offs so I was good to go. Had the house filet w/ fried oysters for good measure. the following day we ate at Acme Oyster House and this small divey soul food joint called Mother's. Had a shrimp po boy and some red beans and rice. It was probably the best po boy I've ever had.

8. La Quinta & Chilis - New Iberia, despite the great name, is not the most happening place in Louisiana. All the guests of the wedding were pretty much staying at the La Quinta Inn (newly remodeled and very nice). The only place that had a bar was Chili's. Don't get me wrong, I do like Chili's, but there is only so much chain food atmosphere I can handle. This Chili's did have an amazing deal as all draft beers were 2 for 1. This deal was taken advantage of over and over again throughout the weekend.

7. Omni Pool - After a night of long dirnking there is nothing more this pasty white guy likes to do than hang by the pool and by pool I mean covered area by a pool that has a bar. A few people were staying at the Omni in the French Quarter so we decided to take advantage of the rooftop pool w/ bar. Nothing like getting rid of a hangover by drinking Corona cans all day ;)

6. Beignets and Cafe Ole - I have never had a beignet before and apparently Cafe Du Monde is the most touristy place to go for them but they sure are good. Not a big sweets guy but something about the outdoor seating, the street musicians, and the cafe ole made this a great experience. In the outdoor seating area they have ceiling fans to help you cool off which reminded me of Hong Kong.

5. Acme Oyester House Balcony - If you go to New Orleans there is one thing that we all think of and the is Balcony's. Instead of doing a really expensive dinner Travis decided it would be a better idea to rent out the top of the Acme Oyster House place that has a balcony looking over Bourbon street. We ordered a ton of Oysters and had a 2 hour all you could drink deal. It was definitely a highlight of staying in New Orleans.

4. Tabasco Tour - Avery Island is really close to New Iberia and this is where Tabasco is made. If you look closely on the bottle is says "McIlhenny Co." and "Avery Island LA." McIlhenny is the founder of the company that got a patent for the recipe which goes something like this...Take Tabasco peppers, vinegar, and salt ground up and age it for 3 years in a bourbon oak barrel. After the mash is aged you strain it, add more vinegar, and stir for 28 days and then bottle. They have a tour and gift shop that has all kinds of Tabasco products. Overall it was pretty cool and i bought wood chips that they chop out of the oak barrels that they are done using for Zach, hopefully he smokes something good (thanks Dickers).

3. Pre-Jeans - This is traditional cajun restaurant that was recommended by Laurie (the bride and LA native) and her family. The food was really good as we tried fried crawfish, alligator, frog legs, crab legs, and oysters. For my entree I had crawfish etoufee which was ridiculously good. The funny part of this story is that the entire time at the restaurant and when a buddy was talking to Laurie's family about where we went to dinner we pronounced it Pre-Jeans which they had no idea what we were talking about. It is cajun country so obviously it is pronounced with a French inflection.

2. Air Boat Tour - You're not in the Bayou until you do a air boat swamp tour. This was really really cool. Basically a air boat is a raft with a V8 engine that powers a fan. It can go really fast and basically glide on the water or it can maneuver deep in the swamp land even jump over floating tree stumps. We saw some birds but no alligators. It was told to us later that because it was so hot and late in the day (around 2PM) that they had already called it a day. Despite wearing headphones I still can't hear.

1. Wedding - It was a very nice wedding where there was a live band, friends, booze, and tons of fun. During on part of the night they broke out a bunch of Mardi Gras masks and handed them out to everyone w/ beads. Truly a great end to a fun weekend.

PS My girlfriend, who wishes to go nameless on the blog wants to add, I ate Alligator

I can't be original...so I decided to go with the flow...here's another top 10, possibly 7.

I promised April that I would contribute at well, and 2 weeks after she sent me the email to signup, I'm finally doing it. Which, to my credit, is alot better than Christie and her 30 days apparently. I'm intrigued by these lists that people are doing; it's straight and to the point, but at the same time it's evenly spaced out so that it makes it easier on the eyes. Here are the top thoughts currently going on in my head at the moment. These are in no random order.

1) After multiple people telling me that they watch Glee and that it's a good show, i've also decided to start watching it. I have a lot of episodes to catch up on, but being the savvy Asian that I am, I will "download" them like I do all shows that I missed or aren't on hulu. Also, the show must be half decent if Raman has urges to youtube Glee songs when we were in Santa Barbara for New Year's.

2) Wang-Dang Consulting is in full force, the following positions have been filled. If you thin you can help this company, please contact one of the following people:

CEO- Janea Marking
CWO (chief weed officer) - Arlen Marking
CPO (chief porn officer) - Wang Dizzle
Muscle- Dickers
Venture Capitalist- Gordon Chang

At this current time Gordon has yet to venture any capital into our company, so if you do see him, please slap him on my behalf. What the company does is consult currently on weed, porn, and strippers. Given the recession we feel that these 3 things are recession proof, much like Pabst Blue Ribbon. CAO (chief alcohol officer) is up for grabs...anyone?!?!

3) I'm still in my tequila phase, I've had Patron Reposado, which I found out that reposado means aged between 2 months to 2 years, and anejo means more than 2 years. Very smooth. I enjoyed it.

4) In July is the Annual Vegas Trip, I am excited to look forward to Vegas just like the other 3 times already this year. Should be fun. It's not where you go...it's who you go with.

5) Happy Wife...Happy Life

...gotta run for a bday dinner!

GO COLTS!