Photos From Last Night's Dinner: Cha-Ya Japanese Vegetarian

See the full gallery on Posterous

I always like to start with the Gyoza ( with a special treat of Asparagus and Peanut Sauce). I went with my usual "Kinoko" noodle dish (invaded with so many mushrooms!) with Soba. Mmmmm. It's a perfect meal for a rainy San Francisco evening. I also ran into a bunch of friends who were trying it for the first time. Yay!

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Dinner at Woodhouse Fish Co.

I went out to dinner with Joey in Pac Heights at Woodhouse Fish Co. (which I've seen strolling in the 'Stro and on Check Please! Bay Area)  on Saturday night. We ended up there because Fresca had a 40 minute wait. Le Sigh. I was in the mood for Peruvian and Joey never had Peruvian cuisine before.

Woodhouse is super laid back with a friendly atmosphere. I would say it's on the pricier side for what it is, but it's good quality. I wasn't blown away, but I would go back and try other things. Apparently, the Castro location is a bit cheaper.

Ordered:

- Beer: Their IPA (Me), Amstel Light (Joey)

- Appetizer: Onion Rings

- Soup: Clam Chowder (Joey)

- Entree: Fish Tacos (Joey); Buttered Dungeness Crab Roll (Me)

- Dessert: None, because we were stuffed, but we wanted the Sourdough Bread Pudding

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Bonus:

- Battlescar stamp photo from a night out on the town. It had been a while since I've been out in the 'Stro.

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Cookin': Turkey Breast Enchilada Casserole

I felt like cooking tonight after work. I ran to Safeway off 19th/Taraval to grab a couple of items I didn't have to create this imagined dish I had in my head.

I had some left over Turkey Breast from last week and I felt like Mexican. Why not whip up something delicious? A Turkey Breast Enchilada Casserole is what came to mind.

I took a mixture of Tomatillo/Avocado Salsa and Onion and marinated the leftover Turkey Breast. I had some canned Enchilada Sauce along with bought low-fat mexican cheese and corn tortillas.

I layered the casserole similar to how one would make a lasagna.

Layers: Enchilada Sauce to coat the dish so the tortillas don't stick, (1) Corn Tortillas, Turkey Mixture, a light amount of cheese, Enchilada Sauce and (2) (1) Corn Tortillas, Turkey Mixture, a light amount of cheese, Enchilada Sauce.

I baked for about 30 minutes at 375 degrees. The result was pretty tasty and took very little effort!

 

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Roomie Dinner: The Indian Food Edition

In my household, we've instituted roomie dinner nights where we dine out at places around SF. Even though we have completely different schedules, we take the time to spend some QT with each other. We usually have nightly discussions in our kitchen -- the day's news, topics in our lives, random moments. But having a meal, that's just special.

Prior to going to DOSA on Fillmore (with a dessert pit stop at Fraiche Yogurt) a couple of weeks back, We've been to Bistro 9, Saiwaii Ramen and Social Kitchen and Brewery --- all in the Sunset (Minus, DOSA, that is)! We've also taken a few trips to local places like Schweet Boks (hello, cute owner/barista --- Dexter!) and cooked a few meals together.

How did we end up at DOSA? When dining out at Bistro 9, Danny and Greg originally wanted to go to an Indian Curry place. I vetoed as I'm not a huge fan of Indian Food. However, we agreed as a group that our next meal would be Indian and somewhat boughie. Thus, DOSA.

The flavors were powerful, the presentation was artful and the atmosphere was airy. I'd definitely go back.

You know what's funny? Indian food and Mexican food have very similar ingredients and flavors. Fascinating.

See the full gallery on posterous

 

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Ain't no thang but a chicken wang

So, I was tipped by a twitter post from Bao that one of my favorite set of chicken wings made a quiet entrance in the Bay Area. What you may ask? The Korean "Bon Chon."

During one of my recent visits to New York Citay, my buddy Joe insisted we go to Bon Chon in NYC's K-town. That was a lovely decision.

It's a simple menu, really. A couple of flavors. A couple of types of chicken parts to choose from (wings v. drums v. boneless). Voila. You have magical Korean Fried Chicken. Hooters got nothing on this. Down a beer, and you're good to go.

I think the good thing is that it's crispy but not fatty. It's a really really nice way to eat chicken. I approve.

So what's the deal? Bon Chon recently made an entrance to my old hood in Sunnyvale off El Camino Real.

Here are some photos from my NYC experience:

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High School Friends

Back in August, I got brunch with my High School Buddies, Mark and Laurence, as well as Laurence's friend Mike. Mike went to school in SF for Psychology and happened to live right around the corner from me in the Central Sunset. He now lives back down in So Cal.

High School friends help give you perspective. They know where you've been. They inspire reflection.

Here is a photo from with Me, Larry, Mike and Mark from Pacific Catch in the Inner Sunset on August 29th, 2010.

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Rick Bayless Makes Me Want To Discover My Roots

... and eat a lot of yummy Mexican food in the process.

In August, he visited Google in Mountain View to discuss his new cookbook, Fiesta at Rick's.

It was an honor to get to meet him in person. I've been to Frontera Fresco in Chicago and SF (multiple times) since. One day I'll go to his other restaurants. I've always enjoyed his show on PBS. His passion is infectious.

More importantly, I want to discover Mexico, One Plate At A Time.

See the full gallery on posterous

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Back to cookin'!

Tonight I cooked for the first time in a long while. I cooked something Mexican-ish, mainly because it's what I'm most comfy with. My Mexican heritage always tends to come out with food. :)

I modified a recipe that I grew up with and made it more for my lifestyle and change in taste buds.

So, I made Turkey Tacos, sort of an old standby of mine. They never have to be the same, but I decided to use stuff I had around.

• Ground Turkey Breast + Salt + Pepper + Seasonings
• Avocado Salsa (from El Pollo Loco, but you can make your own)
• Extra Sharp Cheddar
• La Victoria Medium Taco Sauce
• Iceberg lettuce
• Corn Tortillas

The version I grew up with used beef (which is mighty damn tasty) and had more stuff like avocado, tomatoes, sour cream, etc. I decided to just use some natural sharp cheddar because I like the flavor and the dish does need some fat. Also, the risk of making this dish with white meat turkey vs. ground beef is that white meat turkey tends to dry out (hello, no fat!).

The other flavors such as La Victoria Medium Taco sauce is just something my palate grew up with and it reminds me of my youth. I'm sure there is better, but to be honest, the ingredients are minimal and it doesn't have much in the preservative department.

Also in terms of using Iceberg lettuce, I think the flavor goes well, similar to how it would with a burger. I could fancy shit like micro greens or whatever. But I'm not that bougie, well at least with home cooking. ;)

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Yelp Review: Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea (Silverlake, CA)

I've never had the often raved about Chicago-based Intelligentsia Coffee before, although I have been inside of their location on Abbot Kinney in Venice, CA. This location is in hipster-ville/gipster-ville in Silverlake (LA's answer to San Francisco's Mission District). It's surrounded by gentrification --- fancy pupusarias, brunch spots and shopping. More importantly, it's also across the street from an El Pollo Loco.

I was originally going to meet my friend Paul at Casbah Cafe for a cup of coffee but I got a text from him exclaiming, "The coffee at Intelligentsia smells good." So we made a quick change of plans.

Upon entering, you'll notice the cute outdoor seating area. Once you enter it was semi confusing on where to go as the interior layout is sort of like a gay bar, but taking into account nicer materials and the fact you can see people in the lighting. It sorta reminded me of a coffee bar in Rome with the bar style seating that was available as well.

I ordered my friend an Americano while I had to ponder for a minute on what to get. My take on a good coffee house is drip coffee straight up. No cream, no sugar. They had 4 drip coffee specials today starting at $3.50 and going up to $7. I asked the barista which one he liked. He suggested the most expensive one, that being $7 for a cup of Joe. I said, okay, what the hell? I think it was some sort of reserve coffee called La Tortuga from Honduras. However, I wasn't quite paying attention, but that's what I deduced from their website. He described it as any gay man would, "lush" and "bold."

I finally sat down with my friend and sipped on my $7 drip coffee while we caught up on life. Holy hell it was like heaven in my mouth. I hadn't quite tasted anything like that before. It started out super light but finished bold and smooth. Maybe lush. If it weren't for the fact I could have gotten a meal at El Pollo Loco for the same price as an exquisite drip coffee here, then I'd place it at 5 stars. So i had to knock it down to 4.

Now go rush there... and have a gay barista suggest the $7 drip coffee. Mmmm... lush.

Link to my Yelp Review

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From North Beach to SoMa; A case of the Ex(s)

Friday was quite the interesting evening. I went to Tony's Pizza Napoletana in North Beach with my friend Greg. I love hanging out with him because he's so real, genuine and willing to open up. We both share each other's perspectives on subjects and never really have a dead conversation.

The wait wasn't too bad, maybe a half an hour when we arrived around 6:30pm. We walked around North Beach while we waited for our table. We ordered two pizza's... the daily limited edition Margherita (They Make a Max of 73 per day) and the 'Cal Italia.' I think the Margherita Pizza would have had potential to be delicious had they not actually sliced the pizza (leaving the juice to soak into the crust.) That's not how the serve pizza in Italy. Instead, the don't cut it and you can fold it over. :)

However, the Cal Italia, holy hell. That shit was like an orgasm in my mouth. Total foodgasm. I'm going back again to get that again. It must have crack in it. It has Asiagio, Mozzarella, Imported Italian Gorgonzola, Sweet Fig Preserve from Croatia, Prosciutto di Parma, Parmigiano and Balsamic Reduction.

After dinner, I chatted more with Greg at his place. I eventually left for the Castro to hang out with Harrison. I met Harrison at The Cafe, but it was a bit awkward of a crowd... blame it on tourists and Folsom Weekend.

I then headed to Dragon @ Eight in SoMa to celebrate with Charles for his 21st Bday bash. The night was going well. I ran into many friends, co-workers, etc. But there was a moment when my mood took a swing downward. I saw my recent ex, dancing on stage, grinding in some dude's dick. Classy. It's so ironic how he gave me shit for going out (when I don't even really drink) and then has the nerve to go out and act super trashy. I saw him again upstairs and decided to leave after saying hello to my friends and wishing Charles a happy 21st.

Just when I was going to leave with a frown on my face, I was greeted with a hug by a sweaty shirtless guy. I didn't see his face. So I pulled back and looked down to see who it was. My jaw dropped. My frown turned upside down into a smile. It was my oldest ex. My first real (and longest) relationship. He was 34, I was 24. Now I'm 26 and he's 36. He's here for Folsom Weekend. One of the main reasons we broke up was due to distance. But I was really close with him connection wise. He always lived in San Diego. I always lived in Nor Cal (and at a point, Michigan). So it didn't really work out for that alone. But it's nice to see him considering we haven't really interacted since 2007 or so.

I dunno, I'd never rekindle an old flame, but I would catch up. Coffee. Tea. Something. I guess it's the curious side of me. We'll see what happens...

Cooking Class Tonight @ Sur La Table SF

So I'm excited that tonight I'll be going to the city to take a cooking class with my old manager Dara.

We're going to do it at Sur La Table in SF.

The Menu is a 'Sunday Roast' theme.

Description:
The tradition of the Sunday roast is alive and well at Sur La Table. We know it's the perfect time to relax with good friends, good wine, and good food. We'll lead you through simple yet refined dishes that are perfect for a cozy Sunday, or any day that calls for that extra something.

Menu:

• Polenta and Gorgonzola Corn Cakes with Pan Roasted Wild Mushrooms
• Roasted Whole Fish and Fennel with Crushed Potatoes, Perserved Lemon, and Charmoula
• Simple & Elegant Roast Chicken
• Autumn Trifle with Roasted Apples, Pears, and Pumpkin-Caramel Sauce

Check back later to see the results!

Random Bits

So here's a recap of what's on my mind, what I've been up to, etc:

WORK

• I'm really content with work, probably more so than any other time in 2008. Not sure if this is a good or bad thing, though.
  
• I can't believe I've been at Google for 2.5 years. It feels like no time has past and yet at the same time everything has changed so much.
• I've noticed my managers have always been good at convincing me to stay on my current team. I'm not sure if this is a good thing in that they want to keep me or a bad thing in that I'm not good at making an argument as to why I need a change. I've been on my current team for a while and I was thinking about a switch... but got good perspective to nix the idea. I love my current team because the people are amazing.
  
• Very shortly, I will be become a volunteer mentor for minority college students through a new program called BOLD. Nai and I wanted to start to do some volunteer work and thought that this would be a wonderful start.
• Coworker drama is at an all time high. I really can't believe the small bullshit people make judgements on.

SCHOOL / MBA CLASSES

• I'm taking an Organizational Behavior MBA class at Google from Berkeley Professor Holly Schroth. She is amazing. Like quite possibly the best teacher I've had. She's super engaging and loves to teach in a way that you absorb the information.
• This is the 2nd MBA Class I've taken at Google, on top of the Business, Management and Society MBA Class I took at UC Riverside.

LOVE LIFE

• At this moment, my love life is not my strength. The well of guys has run dry for the moment.
• I've learned I REALLY lost my ability to flirt in public. I would honestly say I was much better at it a year ago and now I'm just pretty much holding on for dear life.
• Confidence seems to be an issue again. It's like I know on the exterior people might think I'm confident on initial glance, but little do they know how bad my confidence is.
• My buddy Ty set some goals for me... that are quite impossible to achieve. I laugh, but hopefully I'll make improvement.
• I need to be more honest about feelings and expressing them at the moment I feel them, rather than waiting for shit to drag on forever.

MISC

• I'm going to be taking a mini-break next week. I'm taking Fri 6/6 & Mon 6/9 off work. I'm flying to LA on Thursday 6/5 to just chill and enjoy LA Pride Weekend. I'll be flying back to the Bay Area on Monday Night.
• My Canon SD630 Camera died suddenly. I quickly purchased a new camera because I can't stand not having something I'm used to. My replacement is the Canon SD1110IS in Bohemian Brown. It's slick looking...
• I bought the Wii Fit last week on the morning it was released. It's totally fun and relatively motivating. At moments, It's pretty bitchy at you. Lol. I have really bad balance. :P
• I'm thinking of buying Madonna concert tickets tomorrow morning for her Oakland Arena show.
• I'm seriously considering buying an iMac or Macbook. I would buy an iMac immediately but would wait until the next Macbook is released if I got that. My parents are getting a new iMac! I'm so happy for them! Finally they're dumping AOL and Microsoft Windows Sweet!
• When I'm back in LA, I plan on spending time with Jack and Cindy to plan our birthday celebration vacation. Cindy and I are turning 25 and Jack will be 26. Exciting! It's going to probably be around a 2-week vacation.
• I went to the restaurant Xanh in Downtown Mountain View last week, making it the 2nd time I've been there. The food was much better the 2nd time around. I went with Danny, who apparently knows exactly what to order. :P
• I went to Thaiphoon in Downtown Palo Alto this week. The food was also very yummy. Score!
• I'm a total Red Mango lover, now! I've done Pinkberry, Fraiche, Yogurtland, etc. I'm a huge fan of tart Fro-Yo and Red Mango is a great choice! The hottie winner of Survivor Cook Island and former Googler, Yul Kwon, is the owner of the new Red Mango downtown Palo Alto location. He actually serves the yogurt, too! Mmmm... eye candy!
  

Road Trip Back Home - Los Angeles April 16th to 20th

I drove down Wednesday afternoon last week to visit my family and friends in LA. I haven't seen much of my family since the holidays and even then, that time was minimal due to holiday craziness.

WEDNESDAY

• Drove down around 3:30pm... arriving around 8:30pm.
• Surprisingly, in the middle of no-where on the 5 freeway had the cheapest gas... around $3.62/gallon for regular unleaded.
• My car was covered in bugs... icky.

THURSDAY

• Had a 7:30am meeting to video-conference (VC) in to. I thought leaving a hour before work, around 6:30am, would be enough for the 15 miles between the Valley and the Santa Monica Office. Geez. Even at 6:30am the 405 is painful. I got there a few minutes late, because I ran into security issues and weird office logistics.
• I had lunch with Cindy at this cafe called Abbot's Habbit on the hip Abbot Kinney St. in Venice, CA. That area is pretty spiffy. Kinda like a modern version of Melrose.
• Left around 5pm to get dinner for my sister's birthday at PF Chang's in Woodland Hills. My sister, mom and dad all sat down and ate together. It was kinda nice to be together. My sister likes chains, I guess. The food and service is usually good.
• Since I was taking off Friday, I decided to party it up like a person who is either unemployed or doesn't have to work in the morning. I decided to meet up with Albert at the scandalously delicious Tigerheat, who I met a few weeks ago at Ty's Birthday in SF. Tigerheat is the one place that continuously makes anyone over 21 feel old. However, I had a blast because the venue moved from the Arena to Avalon. Avalon kinda reminds me of the classier big brother of The Abyss in Sunnyvale. I know... you can't compare Sunnyvale to Hollywood, but there was my attempt. One interesting moment was that I think I was dancing next to Danny Norriega, former Top 12 contestant on this year's American Idol. I also won a 102.7 KIIS FM beanie, when i caught it in mid air. Aww... fun times...

FRIDAY

• I had an early Dentist Appointment with my family dentist, Dr. Pinter. I love her, even though she has a tendency to tell me to 'brush and floss more.' She even complimented my mouth this time. 'You have a beautiful mouth.' Aww.
• I chilled for a significant portion of my afternoon at Panera Bread in Northridge. It's got free wi-fi and yummy food. Plus the staff at this location is usually uber friendly, because it's quite new.
• I took a bit of a nap and then decided to meet up with Ty and company in WeHo. I had dinner at Topz, ordering a turkey burger combo. It's always fun to dine in WeHo, because you can find healthy stuff fairly easily... unlike the Castro in SF. I then had dessert at Pinkberry. Yes, a fro yo run is required in Los Angeles.
• I met up with Ty at Rage (Friday's are Gameboi), after spending a bit of time at the Abbey. Ty's friend John was in town from Washington DC. He also went to school at the University of Michigan and was born in Northridge! So there was a bit of cool things we had in common. Albert who lives in WeHo, so he also came out.
• Ty, shall we say, had a bit too much to drink, but it wasn't his fault. The shot we had was a bit much and twice the normal size... so I took care of him. Everything turned out okay and Ty crashed at Albert's place. I also ran into Chase, who was studying his law school stuff at Java Detour, the posh new Coffee Bar in WeHo but later joined Sherif and I at Rage.
  

SATURDAY

• Saturday was super chill. I shopped and had lunch with my mom at the Westfield Topanga (Topanga Plaza to all of the old school peeps). I came up empty handed, but bought a pair of shoes at Nordstrom and had them delivered to my work. They were out of my size. They are these black Adidas shoes designed by Porsche that look super sleek and clean. They're called Men's Porsche Design S2.
  
• I took a break to run and then meet up with my friend Galen at The Grove (and Farmers Market). We chilled at Pinkberry and just chatted away. We did a bit of shopping too. Fun times. I tried not to judge his shopping at Pac Sun. Lol.
  
• I ended up meeting up with Ty, Albert and his roomie for some Sushi at Niko Niko in West Hollywood. The sushi and service were good. Ty was obsessed with Angelina Jolie in TV and couldn't get his eyes off the TV screen. Lol. Whatever new roll that Albert got was amazingly tasty.
• We mad a pit stop at Walgreens for booze that I didn't drink, and neither did Ty. Lol.
• Ty and I then headed to Here Lounge to meet up with John. I also met up with my friend Kenny and middle school friend Sherif. It was a chill night overall.

SUNDAY

• Woke up uber late and went to Target to get some jams for the road.
• Took the 101 North to the Silicon Valley because the weather was nice outside and I wanted a bit of an ocean view free of Big Rigs.
• Got home around 6:30pm, with bugs attached to my front bumper and all...

Trip Back Home to LA - April '08

Red Mango Invades Yuppieville

I happened to be roaming Downtown Palo Alto for a late lunch at Pluto's, my favorite customizable salad joint when I noticed some new University Ave. signage.

One would have thought Pinkberry (originating in West Hollywood, CA) would have beat the 'original' Red Mango (originating in Korea) fro yo chain to Nor Cal. Alas, Red Mango acquired some prized University Ave. real estate and looks to be opening shop soon. The only other real competitor is Fraiche Yogurt, the yummy organic mom and pop shop over on Emerson. Of course, you know I've been raving about them for ages...

Making It On Valleywag

Every day I usually check Valleywag.com, the Silicon Valley's answer to Perez Hilton. In fact, their tagline is 'Silicon Valley's Tech Gossip Rag.'

Yesterday, I saw a post on Fraiche Yogurt in Palo Alto being the new 'hangout' if you're looking for Venture Capital (VC) money. I looked at the entry and noticed the photos looked familiar. It's because they were my photos! Whoa! Super cool. =)

I was excited they credited me too. It was just a nice surprise to my day.

Check out the entry:
http://valleywag.com/371610/fraiche-yogurt-palo-altos-new-vc-hangout

Random Food Combination

I just had 'Golden Brown Sugar' Quaker Oatmeal with Organic Vanilla Soy Milk. It says to use water... but I thought I would be different.

It was a phenomenal decision. Super scrumptious. :)

Chilly Sunday in A2: Brunch & A Movie

I must admit I'm kinda jealous that I'm not in Kauai, Hawaii with my family right now. They left on Friday and will be staying for about 10 days. I haven't been on the annual family Hawaii trip in 2 years... I'm starting to feel left out. *Le Sigh*

On the bright side, I am having an AMAZING time in Ann Arbor. Today was rather chill, but I did still do stuff.

I went out to brunch at Aut Bar (on Yelp!) with Mo and Megan, the local gay bar in the Kerrytown District of Ann Arbor that also has pretty good food. The waiter was cool. Kept us entertained with commentary every so often. Lol.

After that, we strolled the shops and Farmers Market in Kerrytown. We then strolled the streets to end up at Megan's new house that she recently bought. It's super cute with very unique architecture. Buying houses... in your 20's... pretty much not doable in Cali. *Sigh* It's the benefit of living in Michigan.

We then caught a flick at the Showcase Theatres in Ypsilanti. We ended up seeing Elizabeth: The Golden Age. I liked the film. There were some parts that will definitely stick in your memory. There were some very graphic scenes.

I then was able to work out for a bit at Gold's Gym and grab some dinner at Boston Market (my substitute for El Pollo Loco).

UCR San Diego Reunion 2007

Last weekend I spent my weekend in San Diego, California.

I had a nice mini-vacation with several of my fellow UCR Business buddies. It was a nice way to catch up.

What did we do? Here are some highlights:

• Rented a 10 person speed boat and cruised around Mission Bay.
• Chris proceeded to get pulled over from the Ocean 'Police' pretty much as soon as he took the wheel. Haha.
• Loads of stories from Cindy that shocked pretty much everyone.
• Salt water in eyes = Ouch.
• Dinner at Black Angus. I hadn't been to a Black Angus is years...
• Loads of silliness in drug stores. I think we almost got kicked out of one store.
• Random Hotel Antics. Pretty much the worst bed I've slept on in a long time. Go Ramada. Haha. But we made the most of it.
• Late breakfast/brunch at Denny's. I hadn't been to Denny's in years either. Dan and Mike ate wayyyy too many packs of sugar. That's what happens when too much testosterone is at the table.
• A lovely stroll and picture session in Balboa Park.
• Drove back up to Irvine. Got loads of Fro Yo at Yogurtland. Coolest Fro Yo concept yet. This is the longest line I've stood in for food in a while. You pay by the ounce. As much yogurt and toppings as you want. You can totally go overboard... like me... haha.
• We departed ways after taking some final pictures.
• Drove back with Dan to his Apt. and played with his doggie Smokie. Cutie pie. :)

Pictures can be located here.

Crap TV Night

I got out of work kinda late because I decided to work out with Nai. Dinner was slim 'pic'in's (referencing the new cafe on my Campus 'PIC' -> Pure Ingredients Cafe) on Crittenden (Googleplex #2) this evening. So after the workout, Nai and Audrey (Nai's GF) went to main (Google lingo for 'main campus') and I met them there. Now didn't you like that lesson in Google Lingo 101?

I'm thinking about getting a personal trainer sometime soon. Since the new gym on our campus opened, trainers are giving out some trial sessions to get some clients on their plate. Now that I'm about 15-20 pounds from my 2nd weight goal... I need to Step It Up!

After work, working out and dinner, I ventured home and watched a load of crap TV. Somewhere in the middle of watching all the crap below, I chatted with Norm. Awww.

TV Consumed:

• SYTYCD -> I Watch Yesterday and Today's episodes. I'm glad Dominic stayed but I was sad to see Hok's old partner go. And Mia Michael's was nominated for an Emmy? Weird. Mary Murphy is as crazy as ever. And what's with having to watch the same dance 10 times? Kinda boring. And my cubemate extraordinaire brought up the point that if Cat Deeley didn't have a British accent, she'd be super boring to watch. Vickie thinks that Cat has a tendency to add r's to the end of words randomly. Haha.
  
• Two Episodes of 'True Life' on MTV -> 'True Life: I'm celibate' and 'True Life: I'm moving back in with my parents.' Both were relatively entertaining. I never knew there could be 3 different reasons for being celibate: (1) Finding Jesus after a car accident, (2) As Revenge for being Cheated on, and (3) To Prove you aren't a whore when you once were. Go Fig. I don't want to knock the other episode of 'True Life' because who knows... one day I might move back home. Yikes!
• Big Brother 8 -> The results of Thursday's episode was good. Dick's probably squirming a bit.
• Welcome to the Parker -> Episode 1 on BRAVO was rather entertaining. My favorite part was the quality control aspect of the show. It's pretty much my daily life at Google. Quality Quality Quality! Who knew they threw random 'room service' tests like that to their staff. I just realized that if I were to move into quality control in any other industry, It would be rather difficult. Oh... and this just reaffirmed my loathing of stupid drunk straight men when they're not around women. They need to be bitch slapped!
  
• Sex in the City -> I caught a random episode on KRON 4 in the Bay Area. The topic? Sexpectations. Why is it always something?
  

Whew... I'm spent. Nighty!

Weekly Recap: 7/9 to 7/15

• Hit my 1 year anniversary at Google. Yay for more perks!
• Lunch on Monday with Tin and Megan to celebrate our 1 year. We went to my favorite Cafe- 5ive. Always solid, simple, and elegant food. We talked about boys boys boys. Yes!
• I visited one of only 12 7-Eleven turned Kwik-E-Mart's. This one happens to be by my work in Mountain View, CA. Very cool indeed. It even has Yelp reviews. Lol. More pictures on Flickr.
• On Tuesday night, I headed to dinner to celebrate the re-arrival of two of my favorite guys- Calvin and Roy. They both returned from being ambassadors in different Google offices abroad. Calvin went to India and Roy went to China. We had a great meal at this Mexican place right next to my apartment called Casa Lupe. It's a nice family run restaurant with solid food. We had a fun convo- mostly consisting of trash talking. But who doesn't love doing that on occasion? We were the last ones in the restaurant and they didn't kick us out. Haha. We then suffered a minimal amount of PLS (Parking Lot Syndrome.)
• This week I tried the equipment at the new gym on my part of the Google Campus. It's pretty big- although not as large as the main campus' gym. However, we have some cool tricked out gym equipment. It has super high tech vibramachines, quadmills and arc trainers. Love it! This will help add a little bit of flavor to my workout routines. Not to mention it's in the building next door- which makes a quick cardio workout a lunch totally do-able.
• Friday night I headed to SF with Mike. We went out to dinner at McCormick's and Kuleto's in Ghirardelli Square. Yes... a seafood restaurant. I ate Grilled Halibut, which I've grown fond of over the past year. We then ate a bit of dessert at Ghirardelli's next door. We tried this new Dark Chocolate Raspberry Sundae. I only had a few bites and let him do most of the eating. Haha. But it was super yummy. We then headed to the 'stro to dance at Badlands. I was happy to see Tommy back as the Bouncer. YEA! The music kinda blew, so we headed to Dragon in SoMA around Midnight. It was 'Flip The Dragon' night. That meant the music on the dancefloors flipped. Hip Hop was on the bottom floor and the dance music was on top. That just made the first floor super crazy. It was nice to see Ty and the gang, though.
• Saturday was super chill. I had a lazy afternoon and eventually added some spice to it. I met up with some Chris M. and James S. at this dive bar in Portola Valley called the Alpine Inn. We sat in outside in vast back patio area. The weather was great to just sit back and have a beer. The weather in the South Bay has been fab. Nothing like a Fat Tire with some straighties. After that, I headed to Palo Alto for some grub at the Counter, my favorite burger place.

• The rest of my weekend consisted of watching trashy TV and making a new music mixes. I totally have fallen in love with this new TV show on A&E called 'Confessions of a Matchmaker.' I also made time for some laundry and working out. Yay!