Birthday Potluck

or this one?

Which photo has better lighting.. this one?

I hadn't planned on doing anything for my birthday as I really just prefer my birthdays to be simple and low key. Diana was nice enough to round up some folks. In keeping with tradition, I supplied the King Egg rolls, Diana brought over some chinese take out, Mel brought over some terrifc wine and wine glasses, Jim - some Chili's wings, Jenn - some softdrinks, Mike - M&Ms and the "Doritos with the secret codename and tastes like MickeyD's cheeseburgers", Josh - the "how many hours of cardio are you willing to put out ?"chocolate sandwich cookies. Jason showed up late as usual and we wrapped up the evening with some Texas Hold'em.

Warning: Heightened level of sentimentality/corniness ahead. Proceed with caution. So after people left I got to thinking maybe I should relish these times more. As we each get married off, have children, life event change(s), etc. it is reasonable to assume that we may not be able to do these kinds of things as much.

Giants vs Braves game

I went to the Giants game with Viks and some of her residents/classmates. Taking Cal Trains turned out to be a good way to avoid traffic and parking woes. Of course we had the GB garlic fries, shared a hot dog, and some hot cocoa for good measure. And true to form I didn't bring my jacket and it was pretty cold up in the bleachers. One of Viks' fellow residents Arvind was nice enough to lend me his jacket. To not miss the 10pm train back and have to wait 2 hrs for the 12am train, we left at the top of the ninth when the Braves were up 4-1 since we were sure there was no way the Giants were gonna win. After we left we found out the Giants tied the game. We were miffed and knew Bonds was gonna pull 754 along with a grand slam to win it and we were not there to witness it. It's true in sports (baseball especially) that it ain't over til it's over. Luckily, Bonds did not homer that evening and the Giants ended up losing in the 13th and so we didn't feel too bad for bailing out early.

Napa trip with the family and residents

Visit to Robert Mondavi

Lunch at Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen

Visit to V Sattui - I liked the Muskat there!

Combined birthday lunch with family

What? your birthdays are only within a month apart? --> The econo way to celebrate birthdays..lump em all together. Our siblings are/will be in Chicago so my mom wanted to do a bigger family event since it would be more difficult to get us all together in the forseeable future.

Dinner with Kevin & Jeanine

Since it was a weekday Kev and I thought it would be smart to meet halfway at Chevy's in Redwood City. At the risk of sounding like a food snob, I have to be honest and simply say the food there was just not very good and the surrounding area was ..well, less than ideal. Nonetheless, it's always a treat to spend time with Kev & Jeanine irregardless of what dive we eat at.

Family dinner and DL's birthday

Viks and joined DL's birthday dinner a bit later. Happy Birthday DL! I did very much enjoy the frosted mocha at Cafe Borrone.. but then again, it's harder these days to fully enjoy sweet items without thinking in my head " dammit, how many hours do I gotta work out to burn these calories off? "

Dinner with in laws and family friends at Darda.

I took a brief hiatus from the blog. It almost felt like one event / social obligation after another... non-stop with minimal downtime. It was great to see people but at the same time it was also a bit exhausting (for me anyway.. being an old fart).

Get a fixer upper

Eric, Ivy, Viks and I met up at Jim & SMC's new house. ..very "quaint and charming." I remember Jim saying how those charactistics were important to him so their house seems to be a very good fit . I am still amazed by just how many houses around theirs that are either remodeled or in the process of being remodeled. It's the reoccuring theme in the BA these days -> once you buy your home it's time to fix it up. In addition to "When are you having kids?" many conversations these days center around remodeling or home improvement. Viks and I are really well adjusted to what have today and at the risk of sounding like a snob, quite honestly it would be a little hard for us to live in a smaller house. I haven't exactly been shy about my opinions on BA housing prices but I have come to terms with the realities. Even though we are not yet guaranteed to be able to come back to the BA in a few years, we are taking a hard look at remodeling vs buying "move-in ready." So far it seems if you can deal with the time and hassle, remodeling is the way to go to get the customized home that you really want at a relatively less outrageous price and also save on property tax.

Later Diana joined us at Santana Row and she made the awesome suggestion to eat at The Counter. Great gourmet burger place! It made me think of Barney's near Berkeley.

Perfect (geek) Day part 2 - Autobots, roll out!

Later in the evening Eric, Ivy, and I met up with Viks, Josh, Jim, and SMC to see Transformers. It's been a while since I've seen a movie with a group of friends. I was in agony the whole week because no one was really willing to see it with me on opening day. If it's a big release I am willing to wait 1+ hour on opening night. Sure it's a long wait and the crowd can be obnoxious but I think the opening night atmosphere is part of the experience.

I have fond memories of the cartoon series and the toys . I remember being envious of my cousins who had most of the G1 toys that were meticulously cared for and often in their original boxes. Some of my favorites were Optimus Prime (of course), Megatron (of course), Jetfire (clone of Macross VF-1 Valkyrie), the Constructicons, and the Predacons.

With regards to the movie itself, all I have to say is WOW. Believe the hype. Throughout the film I was reminded of just how much fun a summer blockbuster can be. I just don't understand all the hate towards Michael Bay. It almost feels like he is expected to be making films on the human condition or something. When I watch a MB film I quite satisfied to be able to turn off my brain and just enjoy the ride. And with regards to the authenticity, I personally didn't mind the liberties he took. The usual Michael Bay rants apply here -> somewhat weak storyline, thin dialog at times, weak character development, hyperkinetic editing. But all those minuses are redeemed by the fact that the film nevers takes itself too seriously and has argubly the best blend of live action & CGI ever committed on film. The attention to detail is simply astonishing! Maybe Spielberg, Bay and company felt that today's technology could finally do the live action CGI requirements justice. Transformers is definitely one of those movies that deserves repeat viewings to soak up all the mind boggling "transformations" and intricate action sequences. I think I read in Entertainment mag that the budget alone for the ILM CGI effects were in the 40 million range (don't quote me on that) out of a publicly released budget of 150 million.

This movie should be the killer app for HD DVD & Blu Ray and could very well be the definitive reference disc when it comes out. Man, it's gonna be a LONG 6 months for me until the HD DVD comes out.

Perfect (geek) Day part 1 - Speaker auditioning

It really was. In the afternoon, Mike, Eric, Ivy and I spent 3.5 hours at Magnolia Hi Fi listening to the Mythos line of speakers from Definitive Technology. Even though I was not the one buying anything I had a great time just listening to the different speaker set ups. Mike brought in some nice demo discs featuring carefully selected movie clips that highlighted different sonic characteristics (soundstage, dyanamics, dialog, LFE, etc). As we demoed more and more material I was pretty amazed by how well the Mythos performed for their size. I think the Magnolia demo room was poorly set up (ie one of the center channels was mounted way too high) and didn't showcase the full potential of the speakers. I am pretty sure they will sound better at home. It also nice that Mike and Eric were able to negotiate a better deal since they bought together.

Happy 4th

Some neighbors down the street from my mom's house couldn't wait til the 4th and decided to start their fireworks during the previous evening. Damn, it was hard to sleep! In the morning we had brunch with the cousin of one of Viks' fellow residents in Los Altos Hills. A really nice guy who own his own Oracle consulting company. We had an interesting conversation on how he hired his consultants and his company attrition rate. We then stopped by Mel's BBQ for a little while and it was nice to catch up a little bit with Diana, Alan and Ted. Most of the day was spent with our parents shopping at Valley Fair. I had tried to walk around as much as possible and not sit around with the other "men who did not come by choice."