SF Freeway Collapse

Wow. My jaws dropped when I heard the news. How does a tanker truck just collapse a freeway like that? Are freeways vulnerable to fire like that?

The MacArthur Maze is super heavily traveled. So the solution is free public transit for a while. Won't that just shift the problem? It's not like there is another option at this point, since Arnold declared the collapse a state of emergency.

This is what happens when I leave the Yay Area. This kinda reminds me of the Northridge Earthquake... just a tad.

A Nice Thursday: From LA to the Bay

IN THE BAY

I had lunch with the President of GLAAD, Neil Giuliano, along with some of the other Gayglers. We talked about what is on their agenda for 2007/2008. It was nice. I guess they're focusing on Gays in Sports and Progressive Thinkers in Religion (rather than those representing the far right).

Nai drove me to SJC Airport. We were really pushing it. I figured since my flight was at 7:40, I could grab some dinner at Google. We grabbed some food and jetted around 6:40. We arrived just shy of 7pm. I had to check in a bag, so i was praying that the lines would be short. They were and I flew by... so that made me happy :)

IN LA

I arrived in Los Angeles... err Burbank... yesterday night. Somehow my flight arrived 10 minutes earlier than scheduled. So it was a super quick flight from San Jose. About 50 minutes.

My parents picked me up. It's good too see them. I came home to a new bed and a kitchen with new appliances. Little changes here and there.

I went out to West Hollywood and met some friends at the Abbey. We ended up staying in the parking lot for like ever waiting for random people to show up. I didn't drink but I still had a good time. I tried to meet up with Kenny while he's in LA, but it didn't work out. He surprised me in a good way, letting me know that he's coming back to San Jose for a project. After he left so abrubtly last week, my heart sank.

This one white guy from Seattle with his friend that was a girl (from SF) came and chatted with me for a second. The girl was from LA and now lives in SF. So we're in the same boat. The dude was like, "I wanna move to SF. I'm in the job process for this really cool job. It's at Google." I'm like... "I Work there. I just flew down like an hour a ago." How random?

There was a bit of Drama with a bartender who was treating my friends like shit, but all is resolved. We then go to a different part of the bar to get away from the Drama. They ended up getting a bunch of free shots.

While there, I noticed I was surrounded on all sides by several people from the cast of Work Out (as seen on Bravo). First off, I love that show. I was sad to see Jackie hanging out with her ex Mimi that she broke up with like a billion times. They were all very glamourous... so LA. I smiled at Jackie. She smiled back. Yay! I think she was pretty buzzed, but who cares. :P

UC Riverside Success Spotlight

Stefani Schaeffer, selected this week as Donald Trump's newest Apprentice, is a 1996 graduate of UCR.

Schaeffer majored in English and psychology, according to her "Apprentice: Season Six" bio.

According to UCR, Schaeffer, formerly of Palm Springs, was selected as a Los Angeles Magazine "Young Rising Star" in 2006 for excellence in law, and now works as a trial attorney in Los Angeles

Story

My Kind Of Public Access TV

I saw this earlier in the week. My cube-mate Candace and I laughed like no-one's business. Alexyss Tylor hosts a show on 'Vagina Power 'and 'Penis Power' with her mother. Talk about a quotable YouTube video...

Snip Snip

Friday was really chill. I just needed some time to relax. At night, I headed to Lauren and Stephanie's place to watch some trashy TV in Milpitas. After browsing through their huge pirated movie and TV collection, we decided to watch my legit DVD's of Nip/Tuck.

I bought them at Target for really cheap a while ago and just now removed the plastic from them. We watched the first two episodes of Season 1. Oh man... this show is brilliant. We laughed our pants off and closed our eyes like little children when things were really rough to watch. Squirting fat from lipo and self-circumcision were just some of the frightening sights in these episodes.

Now I'm hooked and will watch all 3 seasons I have on DVD sometime soon. Yay! Oh... and Yes I know I'm late on the bandwagon... *sigh*

Comedy in Suburbia

I ended up going to a comedy show at Rooster T. Feathers in Sunnyvale on Thursday. It was sorta random when I ran into Danny when leaving work when I decided to go. I met up with Danny, Raina, and Thanh.

It was pretty funny. The headliner, Maryellen Hooper, was named Best Female Stand-up Comic at the 12th Annual American Comedy Awards - stand-up's highest honor.Her style was pretty interesting. It was mainly female and marriage centric - but with physical comedy that reminded me of mix between Lucille Ball and Don Knott's 'Mr. Furley' character on Three's Company.

It was a nice diversion to end the week. I felt bad because there weren't too many people there, but it was a Thursday in Suburbia.

Only In Hong Kong

Well, this is the first I've heard of such a thing.

In Hong Kong, a restaurant fines diners for leaving leftovers on their plates. I can see how this makes sense at 'All-You-Can-Eat' establishments, but not so much at other places. Can you imagine this happening in Vegas? Haha.

The Story Here: http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0418/p01s02-woap.html

New Flair, A Bit of Fun & A Rant

YOUTUBE TEE

Sometimes we need a little flavor in our life. The folks at YouTube visited campus yesterday. I finally got my hands on a coveted YouTube t-shirt. I have so many Google shirts and not one YouTube one. Now that problem is solved. Oh... and I finally got to see Steve Chen in person. He's one of the co-founders of YouTube. He's pretty tiny in person, but has some spunk.

SKETCH CRAIGSLIST POSTINGS

I read a fascinating and funny article in the SF Chronicle last week about what requested sexual acts correspond to what particular parts of the Bay Area.

Example Quote / Warning of Graphic Material Ahead:

"Palo Alto was the most surprisingly sexed-up burb in the whole mix. It turns out that 1 in 5,000 in Palo Alto are seeking anal. compared to San Francisco, where 1 in 4,000 are looking for backdoor action"

Article Link: http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/violetblue/

FUNNY AD

Oh... How I miss LA Advertising. This is the latest ad roaming around West Hollywood for BMW's 3 Series Convertible:



BOYS

Conclusion: Boys Suck. But you knew that already, huh?

FRIENDS

Nai is on vacation all this week. He's on a cruise in Mexico with the GF. You don't know what you have until it's suddenly gone. We've gone through a lot together this past year... and I really appreciate his friendship.

Oh... and 3 of my friends decided to go to AdSense for a quarter. Nai, Ayumi and Tin will be gone for the next few months... but will be back in action in AdWords. Sadly, I'll have no one to eat lunch with. *le sigh*

BIRTHDAY SHOUT OUT

It's my sister's 26th birthday today. She's old haha. Also Bill, one of my favorite co-workers, is turning 1 year older. Happy birthday to the both of you :)

Flying Back, On A Jet Plane

I just bought airline tickets back to Los Angeles at the last minute. I'll be flying out next Thursday night (4/26/07) and leaving the following Monday Night (4/30/07). The mini-vacation is 3-fold really:

1. College Friends are getting married on Sunday night in Newport Beach. I'm really excited to see them and their family.
2. My dad is having a really serious surgery on the same weekend. I just found out about it this morning. Luckily he has the best doctor working on him in the business. Plus, a un-named celebrity will be helping my family out with some of the finances. Our family is truly blessed. I miss seeing my family on a regular basis.
   
3. I need a vacation. I want to go to a bar and actually have a drink. I want to shop. I want to see the beach. I want to chat with friends in person. Maybe throw in visiting a random tourist site in there. I just want a little bit of LA back in my soul.

Quite A Day: The Tragedy At VA Tech

So everyone knows what went down in VA today. That massacre was really tragic. I suppose it hasn't quite hit me yet. I didn't know much about what happened until I was talking with a co-worker and he was listening to a live news feed. I suppose running around and not being at my computer much was the cause. Ironic, considering how I work at an Internet company.

I can't believe 30+ people were murdered in cold blood by one or more individuals. We cried at Columbine, and now we shed tears for what happened at VA Tech. We let it happen at CNN and the Jewish Community Center in the San Fernando Valley. What happened at VA Tech could happen again at any university, school, or workplace. Now we need to look back, learn something, and make sure it doesn't happen again.

Random Bits from this Week

RESTAURANTS & FOOD

• On Tuesday, I went out to dinner with Kenny at Santana Row. We ended up eating at Maggiano's Little Italy. That's the first time I've been there... even though most of my LA friends rave about it. I had a great time. We watched the multiple baseball games at the bar and just talked. We got some wine, salad and massive amounts of pasta.
• On Friday, I tried a burger at The Counter. It's Oprah's favorite burger... so it must be good. There are two locations currently open... and more on the way. The original location is in Santa Monica. There is another location near me in Palo Alto, near Stanford University. There will be a location in Sunnyvale in 2008, according to their website. It's basically took what Coldstone did for Ice Cream and applied it to burgers... except it's chic and contemporary. I loved it. The staff is awesome and you can get wine, beer and mixed cocktails. I ended up getting a 1/3lb Turkey Burger with yummy toppings and a version of the 50/50 (1/2 Regular Fries and 1/2 Sweet Potato Fries). Yes, it's yuppie... but I like yuppie sometimes. The place ain't cheap, but it's worth it to treat yourself or your friends and not worry about the cooking.

ENTERTAINMENT, MUSIC & TV

• I watched the whole 8th season of America's Next Top Model on MTV on Saturday. I've never watched that show before. I was sucked in while lounging around on Saturday.
• While watching loads of trashy TV on MTV, I found out that there will be a new series starting this week called 'Living Lahaina.' Lahaina is this cool part of Maui, Hawaii. So, I'm sure it will be scandalous, laid back, fun.
• A little whole was created in my heart now that Top Design has finished its run on Bravo.
• I was happy to find out that Fox is releasing the whole series of Kitchen Confidential on DVD in May. I really loved that series and was sad to see it go only after a few episodes.
• I really like the local television in the Bay Area. My favorite series' are Bay Area Backroads, Check Please! Bay Area, and In Wine Country.
• It looks like LA's 102.7 KIIS-FM's yearly Wango Tango concert event line-up took a nose-dive.

LIFE

• It looks like I'll be heading down to LA two weeks from now to go to a couple of my High School friend's wedding. Becky & Jose will be getting married on a Yacht in Newport Beach, CA. I remember when Jose was afraid to ask Becky to Prom. Haha... those were the days. Now they also have a cute baby boy, Isaiah. I can't wait! Now I just have to figure out how I'm getting down there because it's on a Sunday Night. Damn... I can't believe how time flies...

Katie's Birthday at Dragon Bar SF

So my co-worker Katie (who now works in a different department *le sigh*) decided to have her birthday party at Dragon Bar in SF's North Beach district. I really don't like going out to North Beach.

For some reason, I had a really good night. It wasn't gay clubbing... but I was just with people I like and having no worries. First off, there was no traffic. Second, I got STREET parking near the club... which is unheard of. It was only a block away... so the parking gods were with me. Third, there was no $15-ish cover because I got there before 10:30 and was on the guest list. Fourth, I got to see Mo, who came in all the way from Ann Arbor, Michigan. Fifth, I got to dance and make fun of straight people with my co-workers. Haha. It was all in good fun. Katie was looking fab too.

I've been to Dragon Bar two times before. It usually gets packed really quickly. I noticed it's one of the few clubs in SF with air conditioning, so it never feels super icky like the rest of the bars do. The music was random, but fun. Justin Timberlake at one moment, with the beats of Tupac and Kris Kross randomly thrown in. I didn't drink, because I had to drive.

There is always a group of bridesmaids or some huge party going on. I always forget how much more conservative straight people are at clubs in comparison to gay guys. I only observed two couple make out. Not too shabby. Plus, no one was shirtless!

When I left the club, I somehow ended up in this motorcycle too-fast-too-furious moment at 2am. It was near the Metreon in Downtown and there were hoards of rebellious teens pounding on cars. My window was only tapped, so I felt I got out lucky. Haha. I'm glad I got away safe.


Group Picture: Albert, Ziv, Mo, Katie, Me & Marci


Excited!


Because I like randomness... The Transamerica Building at Twilight

The Sunnyvale Town Center - Circa 2007

So one of the reason's I initially chose to live in Sunnyvale is because of the potential of its Downtown and 'Town Center.' I knew that the once indoor mall was going to be knocked down and changed into an urban lifestyle center. Plus, as Bryan put it, Sunnyvale is 'a piece of So Cal in the Bay Area.' I think that's why I feel so comfortable here. Anyways...

A couple of years later, not much has happened. A few things got bulldozed and the Target and Macy's are the only things still open to the public. I love that Target. It's clean and two stories. The town center was originally going to be constructed by Forum Development Group and the plans changed hands to RREEF/Sand Hill Company.

Originally, Target was going to just be remodeled. It turns out that Target will indeed by knocked down and be rebuilt to be bigger. It will now be one story (with parking below). This plan is almost identical to the Target near my house in the San Fernando Valley. The outside will sport modern architecture with very clean lines.

Sunnyvale released the new plans last week on their Downtown website. The plans look really nice. It looks like it's going to be a massive 5 story urban lifestyle center with Shops, Restaurants, Bars, Grocery Stores, Movie Theatres, other forms of entertainment and some residential mixed in. It's sort of like a mix between urban Santana Row in San Jose and suburban Victoria Gardens in Rancho Cucamonga. I love how it has a natural feel with lots of open space, redwood trees and water fountains. It even has bike friendly routes too... so Nor Cal.

Here are some of the Perspective model pictures:


From East McKinley St.


Food Court


Redwood Plaza


Redwood Plaza 2


Target on McKinley St.


Movie Theater on McKinley St.

The Unveiling

So Alex had his apartment warming/'unveiling' last night. I recently mentioned how he moved to the Pac Heights district of San Francisco.

His Apartment is way cute. It's a small-ish studio, but has AMAZING features. I love the eggshell color, the kitchen, the gigantic closet, and the crown molding. I can see why he fell in love with the apartment. It really does feel like a home. You can literally make the closet a bedroom (a prison size one), but a bedroom nonetheless. The kitchen has marble counter tops and gorgeous fixtures. A big upgrade on his last apt but a small amount of price differential.

After visiting his apartment, we headed down to Vertigo on Polk St. It was NOT poppin' like the last time I was there at the Pub Crawl. I think most of the straight people were just preppin' for Easter. So we headed to the Castro. We knew people would be there. I headed there with Nai, Anna, and Bill and met up with Alex, Fouad, Audrey, and Adam. We met up with them after they got a midnight snack at Naia. We ended up at Badlands and somehow got in for free. (Although, I paid out of kindness). It was packed like usual... probably even more so.

The night ended, I took Ana home, then talked with Bill for a while at his apt. We thought it might be wise for Nai to get a bit of rest because he wasn't feeling so good. Bill has a cute Studio in Hayes Valley. Okay... the more I visit friends Studios in SF, the more I want one. But I REFUSE to commute to work. So... I'm staying put in the South Bay. Around 5am, yes, 5, we headed back to the South Bay and I fell asleep on my bed...

Pictures

The Path

I think I mentioned this a while ago, but when I moved into our new building at work, I noticed just how beautiful the area behind our campus is. The wildlife, bay, hills, grass... just amazing.

Nai, Tin & I took a half hour break on Friday afternoon just to ride bikes on the path behind our new building, near Shoreline Amphitheatre. It's right near a golf course and I'm just in awe how I've missed this nice bike, running, and skating path.

I've been twice now, and I plan on going weekly. I could even just bike to the shore, have lunch, and go back to work all on my lunch break. How sweet is having the Bay in your back door? SAAAAWWWWWEEETTT.


A Taste Of Shoreline & Mountain View

The Book Club - Googler Style

So people in my team decided to start a book club. The books will be business related to start out with. So far it's starting to feel like school... but in a good way. I haven't had talk this stimulating since college at UCR.

Today was our first meeting and we discussed the first chapter of Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies.

Before we started to talk about the book, we went around and talked about our favorite business-related books. Some are not completely business related, but you can draw concepts that apply to business. These books came up:

• Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-free productivity
  
• The One Minute Manager
• Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game
• When Genius Failed: The Rise & Fall Of Long-Term Capital Management
• Liar's Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street
• How To Win Friends & Influence People
• The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make A Big Difference
• Freakanomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
• Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable
• Lucky or Smart?: Secrets to an Entrepreneurial Life
• Good to Great
• Who Says Elephants Can't Dance?: Leading a Great Enterprise through Dramatic Change
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
• Runaway World: How Globalisation Is Reshaping Our Lives
• Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
• Ismael: An Adventure of the Mind & Spirit
• Wisdom of Crowds
• The Best Business Stories of the Year
• Winning

Concert Whore

I've started to buy some concert tix for the summer.

This weekend I bought:


John Mayer - Tuesday June, 5th, 2007 (HP Pavillion - San Jose, CA)


Gwen Stefani - Tuesday June 19th, 2007 (Shoreline Amphitheatre - Mountain View, CA)

And I will probably also go to see:


The Fray - Saturday July 21st, 2007 (Shoreline Amphitheatre - Mountain View, CA)