http://www.jackstorm.net

Time to simplify life!

HAR HAR!! I crashed my site...let's see how long this will take.

Username: My father, on Wednesday
Password: My family's hometown (pinyin)

Thursday:
- Walked over to the area around Trophy Cupcakes, had lunch at Chutney's.
- Pike's Market :) Lots of raspberries, was tempted to buy crab, bought peaches from California...I FEEL CHEATED!! Ate mini-donuts :)
- Walked around furniture area with Jery. Found interesting sofas, like inflatable air mattress tops on pull-out sofas and coffee tables that popped up to be at the ideal height to put a laptop or drink on it.
- Ate bratwursts from a Bavarian place at Pike's Market. The lady was pretty awesome, telling us about travel in Europe. We also bought a pack of Dutch syrup waffles, Stroopies :) Tried to eat artichokes, as in the large green thing. I found out that it's not for me.

Friday:
- Brunch at Voulas with Jery. Eggs benedict is good.
- Stood in line for the iPhone for three hours. THREE HOURS a week after the phone was released! But it wasn't a bad wait. Talked with the people around me, found access to the Apple Network and chatted online.
- Phone's nice :) 3G is worth it, good apps, pretty easy to use. I'll buy more protective gear later :)
- Visited Jery's work and watched "Dr. Horrible"...Doogie Howser, what have you done?
- Went to Ivar's and enjoyed the setting sun at 9 pm.
- Brett arrived!

Saturday:
- Watched Firefly
- Went to "Bite of Seattle", had alligator skewers, jambalaya, Crayfish stew, stood in line for organic stuffs. It was pretty big!
- Walked over to the Olympic Sculpture Park
- Started walking back home, kinda, and then got lost...which is a typical occurrence in Seattle for me. Walked over 4 miles before Mike picked us up.
- Went out for Mexican food and Coldstone (had a butterfinger waffle cone; next time, we bring lactaid)

Sunday:
- Finished "Firefly" and "Serenity"
- Brunch at Silent-Heart-Nest, which is a bit...odd, but the food is good. I don't recommend the pomegranate juice, as it is REAL pomegranate juice. I diluted it with water and added sugar @_@
- Went to Theo Chocolate factory
- Went to BBQ at Jerylin's lab mates. They had rockband :)

Monday:
- Hemi, in his over-exuberance, ran over my face. That was how I woke up today.
- Missed Will's calls, when his flight was delayed. I'm sorry :(
- Had "vegetable soba", at the Uwajimaya Center
- Pudding tea at the Chinatown area
- Visited Dry Soda and walked around the area, where they sell utility kilts and have underground tours.

Summer has hit, in all its mind-numbing glory. To be complete, I think I need to exercise and maintain several aspects of myself...

Mind - which means I need to read, a lot, and talk to people, a fair deal. I have a tendency of forgetting how to talk during the summer. It's not very abnormal to me; it happens on an annual basis.
Body - ...which means I need to buy a bike. I'm too utilitarian to run around in circles, or to nowhere at all. I actually live very close to a good number of places (Target, restaurants, Guitar Center...which means nothing because...)
Finances - As in restraining or abstaining from the usage of...no more impulse buys. I also need to live with the fact that I simply don't have any room in my current apartment for something wonderful like a reading chair or art station.
Discipline - I'm feeling it in my posture and in my drowning fatigue. I'm more tired now than I am when I'm working, though "tired" isn't quite the word. It feels like my mind is sleepy in the summer, fatigued but quick during the year. My back, too, is hurting more and more, probably because I'm slouching in my chair...or just sitting in my chair. I don't really sit well, or for very long. It's a change that I don't like. I understand why folks who work desk jobs feel the itch to run miles and miles.

Some things I've done these last two weeks (more for me, as a record of what I did...):
- Took Grandma grocery shopping at Hong Kong Supermarket, because I needed to make food for Will. I'm recording this because Grandma always claims that she hardly ever has a chance to go grocery shopping. I wonder how much food she wastes; she goes a bit crazy, as if she's stocking up or she'll never have an opportunity like this for months.
- Made curry for Will, too much of it. REMEMBER!! 4 carrots, ONE potato, 1 lb of meat, 1/2 to 1 onion. Will and Mom couldn't finish their share, and I ate curry for three days...bleeeeeeeh.
- Dishes, laundry, garbage, sweeping, scrubbing...today was fairly productive. I cleared off one of my desks (three more to go...), which gives me a sense of accomplishment! I can start drawing now, if I want to, since I have a work station now.
- Settled money matters between the Student Bank and Yearbook, closed books for this fiscal year.
- July 4th Fundraiser was a lot of work and a bit odd. Auntie Dora wanted to have my mother's birthday lunch that day, which did not work out well. The fundraiser itself seemed like more work than it was worth. The booths and participation in them was smaller than I had expected; in my mind, I had thought of a sort of Farmer's-Market-type set up. The students had fun though, I think, so if they want to do this again, we'll go into this in as wise veterans next year. I think what was most surprising was Smart-and-Final during July 4th...MADNESS!! I've also NEVER seen a place sell out of 20 lb bags of ice until now. Both locations that I go to sold out by around 1 pm. Thus, BUY ALL INGREDIENTS BY JULY 3RD!
- Met up with Kristin, Andy and Gary. Andy and I watched "Wall-ee". Andy, Gary and myself, we were going to watch "Wanted", but time ran out. Instead, we indulged in Rockband. Will and I had bought it earlier this past Saturday. It's a lot of fun! Neither of us will sing; it WILL NOT HAPPEN! But I'm doing OK with medium, on the drums (3-5 stars). Not bad for 3 days of playing.
- I moved Bill back from home to home. WOOOOOW...Feliway did NOTHING. He kept whining so much that I just waited (him in the car, me with a book standing behind the car) for him to finish screaming his lungs out, before attempting to move him. That didn't work! Instead, he had the bright idea of soiling himself, which means...yup! A BATH, to top off the already traumatic day. The moment he's done eating his treat, what does he want? To be petted and loved...while he's soaking wet. I turn around and he's already lounging on my bed, atop my pillow. Grand. I did brush off enough fur to form a mini-Bill, so that might have been why he actually enjoyed his post-bath self.
- Andy, Gary and I went to see the Ameriana in Glendale, which is much like Santana Row. It's an interesting place to be, when the weather is mild outside. There was an outdoor band, trolley car, sandbox and play area for children, plenty of shops, and across the street from the Glendale Galleria, just in case you want to walk in air-conditioning instead of staying outdoors, in 90+ degree heat.
- Booked a flight to Seattle. Will's going to China. Then I leave for Vegas. It's going to be an interesting summer.

. . .

Michigan to Pennsylvania isn’t a long drive, at least in terms of distance. What kept us from our destination was yet more road construction. Maybe it was because we had driven so quickly and so far that it merely seemed like the roads were perpetually under construction. It didn’t make us feel better, knowing that we had to pay our way into Pennsylvania (toll road), only to be stuck in traffic for an hour.

When we finally arrived at Son and Linh’s place, we were pretty darn tired. When Linh said that she was going to live above a violin shop, I didn’t quite know what to make of it. But the store is very interesting. The shop actually handcrafts (and thus takes custom orders for) violin, violas, cellos, guitars, banjos, mandolins…that’s all I managed to gather from looking into it. It is pretty nifty. The apartment itself had…presents for us. The previous tenants didn’t take everything with them in their move, which proved to be both awkward and disgusting. They left things like an air conditioning unit (don’t know whether it works…don’t really wanna try it out), curtains for what seems to have been a little girl’s bedroom (pink curtains), and miscellaneous kitchen stuffs, including a loaf of bread?! Nastiness.

That night, Linh said that we still had more driving to do, that we needed to drive to Washington DC to meet up with her friend. I thought she was crazy! But I understand now. We didn’t actually drive to DC that night.; we unpacked as much as we could, ate ramen, and slept on the floor. Had we gone to DC, we would have had beds waiting for us, food, and good company…well, an extra night of it. ☺

DC, by or on Capital Hill, is a beautiful place to live. Linh’s friend explained to us that houses with a certain emblem are historically kept, to match the original color scheme and exterior, in exchange for a nice tax deduction. Although that may seem limiting, it keeps the neighborhood very uniform, in a good way. It promises that flowers are planted, kept, and blooming, and there were plenty of flowers in bloom. I think that Will would probably like taking a walk, photographing flowers as he went, and if he didn’t mind the humidity.

It is definitely more humid there. It’s not “Asia” humid, but the temperatures weren’t high yet. I kinda wanted to experience rain during my trip, just to feel the water, if it was warm or cold. I’ve written about this before, that the rain in southern China is actually warm and pleasant to walk through. So I’m curious. Unfortunately, my experience with rain there took the form of sudden thunderstorms, like God dumped a bucket of water. It came down fast, hard, and left just as suddenly. This was especially interesting on Pennsylvania’s 4-lane highways (two lanes each way), when a big rig driving the opposite direction along the center divider splashed a tidal wave of water onto us. You just see the water coming at you, and you KNOW you’re not going to get wet, but it still scares the CRAP out of you!

This post isn’t in chronological order, in case you haven’t noticed.

Visited Gabe and Janey in Baltimore, with the help of Son and Linh’s GPS (Baltimore freeways can be confusing) and a few calls to Gabe. We had a very nice dinner and dessert, where we caught up with a lot of news and life. They showed me, in the safety of their car, Baltimore at night. Johns Hopkins is a gorgeous campus, and Peabody is much smaller and in the middle of Baltimore than I had thought. Gabe also lent me a DVD of Battlestar Galactica, so I can begin to be hooked to the series as much as others have. ☺

The next day, Linh’s friend took us to a park in the middle of DC, where we read the words of Theodore Roosevelt engraved into huge solid slabs and hiked. Hiking…certainly isn’t the first thing that comes to mind, as a top activity to do at our nation’s capital, but it was good. The quotes were inspiring, and the foliage reminds me of what settlers probably saw when they traveled around the Potomac.

How to make CHEEEEEESE!!

OK, back to catching up.

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OK!! XM radio has kinda dropped to only talk stations. D: D: D: Not having music readily available has been REALLY BAD!! It's tough to drive so many hours without good music. Station surfing has been futile, since most of the music is either really cheesy Christian soft rock or Country...a LOT of Country music. Now that we're closer to Detroit, the music shifted to more grunge Rock and R&B, which is better. But yeah, XM radio if I EVER rent a car.

Nothing much to report, in terms of scenery. It's pretty much...green. Lots of grass, trees, ominous thunderclouds but no rain. We've been reading up and listening for changes in weather forecasts and levy statuses. Luckily, we were clear of any danger.

Being a Californian, I haven't actually seen first-hand the destruction of a twister. We passed by a spot, where a twister traveled, from one side of the freeway to the other. It was like God drew a very quick line with His index finger, through the length of a metal barn house, two rows of trees, just missing a house. It's not something I'd want to experience, I think.

Yesterday, I thought the driving was fine. Today, though, I have decided that I will NEVER drive from Des Moines to Michigan again. NEVER!! The farther east we traveled, the worse the drivers were, leading up to driving through Illinois, Indiana, and now, Michigan, with the ones with Illinois plates being the worst. The road construction and conditions didn't help either. I know...in my HEAD I know...that I should just drive and let it be. The Los-Angeles in me thinks differently.

I should buy jellybeans tomorrow. It helps with the road rage.

Today, we're staying with Linh's friends. Their daughter is behind me, rearranging her stickers and using the computer. After several days of driving, sandwiches, and motels, this feels like a little sanctuary.

For the curious, I have a link to Linh's pictures. I gave up taking pictures; they turned out REALLY bad because I was blindly shooting them at whatever I thought I was pointing at. I'll send them to people, if they wanna see.

Time to sleep, to drive for another day.

Driving through the Rockies wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It was a gradual upward grade, not a steep one, and the top of the Rockies, at least where we were, was kinda...flat.

Utah, when going towards Salt Lake City, looks more like the Nevada area. Green but dry brush, with the mountain/rock formations in the back. It looks a lot like the scenery in Cars (we only saw one Nascar big rig, sponsored by Sprint). Wyoming is more green, with white, fluffy clouds and green pastures. Prairie dogs are very little and very daring! They actually walk onto the freeway, and then make a mad dash back into the grass.

Lots of construction, lots of big rigs, gotta go! Will write at our next stop: Des Moise (not Michigan...I have no sense of direction!)

Highlights from the trip...

- 4.5 hours of sleep, awake at 5 am, and packing/cleaning/having An wait for me and my unorganized self, and driving out at 6 am
- At the security check, I was stopped because my DRIVER'S LICENSE WAS TOO OLD to go through security. STUPID TSA and their wanna-be advanced designs with UV light detection! My license doesn't expire until 2011.
- Hertz is really nice. They found out that I was sitting outside, waiting for my car, in 50 degree weather (I was stupid enough to just come in a t-shirt, jeans, and flip-flops) and told me to come in...and then showed me the ways of the e-brake on an American car (it's the random pedal to the left, btw)
- It is the end of an ERA! I have no reason to visit Berkeley now except to go on campus...and eat :)
- Fog...unto San Rafael Bridge and then sunlight! Oh, and the toll is $4 now...
- Around Sacramento, little punk-drivers. I decided to play with one of them (civic) for tailing me with about 5 feet between me and him. Kept pushing and pushing...into NOTHING because we were being held by a car a few cars in front of us, thus not our fault. Did I mention that renting a V6 is nice? Renting a V6 is very nice. Having Arizona plates also adds injury to insult :)
- Passed such locations as Floriston, Devil's Gate, Fallon and Ely (Prestige anyone?), and other such Biblical and epic sounding places.
- A preaching truck...basically, a truck with a Bible verse, and a message stating "A man + A woman = Marriage"...so yeah, apparently polygamy is acceptable.
- The scenery is amazing. Lots of salt flats, just white areas where nothing grows, and mountains, since this is considered the high desert area. And there is a very obvious division between Nevada and Utah. Nevada has shrubbery and is thus kinda green. Utah is brown and BROWN...and white, with more of the salt flats. High for today, or at least according to the car: 97.

Also, gonna buy instant Tom-Yum noodles when I get home. They're really good. :)

It has been scheduled!

How will it be? We'll see!

- Took car to dealership, to get it checked for the long drive up and down. Made an appointment, yadda yadda, they took one look at my car and sent me away. REJECTED!! But yeah, it drives fine. :)
- Yearbook was distributed on Friday....FRIDAY!! I'm tired from all the behind-the-scenes work and heavy lifting, but the actual distribution of the book was as calm as ever. They look good this year; the clarity of all the printing went up and my kids immediately noticed it.
- Drove up with An, picked up Jerylin from the airport, arrived at Linh's, and got to work :)
- By work I mean, after Linh fed us, that Jerylin and I were assigned to make sushi rolls. And not just sushi rolls, hana rolls. We took a picture of it with Bryan's camera, so we have to wait for those to arrive first, but yeah. The idea is, with ingredients, we construction a rice roll that has a cross-section image of a flower. Think of it as...instead of having the middle stuff of a California roll, that there was an image of a flower instead. Yeah...we read the directions for a LONG time, trying to figure out what they meant. Made a midnight run to Albertson's, which turned into Lucky's (WHEN did that happen?!), to get eggs, pizza dough, and cucumbers. We managed to make the rice (white, yellow, and pink), and rolled them the next morning.
- At around 6:30 am, the day of the wedding, I realized that I had left my dress in LA. Linh immediately understood why; mental overload from the yearbook distribution. After constructing the pizza and rolling one semi-successful roll (not enough rice on top of the flower o_O), I made the mad rush to Target (washing my car via drive-through and filling up on gas along the way), bought a dress that matched my shoes, luckily grabbed the last can of anti-cling spray for Linh, and continued with the day.
- Wedding, Mr. and Mrs. Nguyen became Mr. and Mrs. Nguyen. :)

:)

Congratulations, Mr, and Mrs. Nguyen! We all enjoyed your one day, under the eyes of God, holding this name. So congratulations on today, when you will become Mr. and Mrs. DOCTOR Nguyen!!

When it comes to IM away messages, it gets tricky. Hopefully this will clear things up.

Away message: working on the impossible
Computer: Mac or PC
Program: google web-based IM
Avatar: not a CLUE!
Likelihood of me replying: Depends on the time. I have this on mostly during work, but will not reply until around 2 pm or later, usually later. If I stop typing, it's because I'm working and away from my desk.

Away message: Mac
Computer: Mac...
Program: Adium
Avatar: default purple flower
Likelihood of me replying: Low. Working on the Mac means that I'm working, and most likely that means that I'm working on something at the last minute, and I REALLY need to get it done. I might also be writing and shouldn't be distracted.

Away message: Available
Computer: Mac
Program: Adium
Avatar: default purple flower
Likelihood of me replying: High. I'm on my Mac, enjoying the fact that I don't have to be connected to anything.

Away message: anything other than the above
Computer: PC
Program: Trillian
Avatar: Teletubby-ish photo of a baby monkey...SHUDDUP! You think it's cute too!
Likelihood of me replying: Medium. Sometimes I leave my PC on while I'm away. Obviously, if it says that I'm buying groceries, that's where I am. If it says that I'm friggin' pissed and gonna kill the next living thing that comes my way (Bill excluded)...you get the idea. Most of the time, I'll respond when I return.

I'll write more when a little more of the above comes to me.