Modern Day Gandhi?

I talked about the nice sunshine fun half of Saturday, but later on that night things took a turn for the crazy.  I went out with my cousin (let's call him GS) and his friends for some drinks and dancing at a local college bar and it started out like a normal night.  When we leave the place, we're all in great moods just joking and laughing in the streets.  All of a sudden some husky fellar comes over and kicks GS in the behind.  I'm laughing thinking this guy knows GS.  Then the husky fellar starts mouthing off:

"Get the F out of our corner! You're embarassing our house!"  (oh.. it's some douche frat kid)
"I'm in a bad mood today! F off!"

We are all totally confused, this guy was totally looking for a fight so we all start walking away from his crazy ass.  Then from the corner of my eye I see him walk up to GS and straight up punches him.  This couldn't be happening.  I wasn't even sure if GS got punched, because GS was standing there apologizing and reasoning with the guy trying to calm him down.  So I walk toward them to see what was going on.  Out of no where the frat guy punches GS right in the face again.  oh hell no,  something snaps in my drunken state and i go up and shove the guy to get him away from my cousin.  The crazy thing is that GS was completely unfazed by this punch and was still trying to reason with the guy.  When we got back to their apartment we found out that one of GS's friends got punched too.  This was ridiculous.  Who the hell would do this to people who showed no signs of animosity?  We were all outraged and thoughts of vengeance flashed through our minds.  But GS told us to stop, and not to blame the frat guys.  He said that the guy was probably just having a rough day, and was drunk. 

I looked at him and I saw that he was completely sincere.   I stopped my vengeful thoughts and realized that I really respected what he did or didn't do.  I was proud that he took the high road and didn't retaliate against that fool.  I don't know if I could have let it go like that.  We were joking that he was like our Gandhi haha. Before this incident, I always saw GS as the strongest and toughest in our family.  Meaning that if it came down to it mano-a-mano he'd be capable of ending some one.   I remember me and my other cousin GC were thinking that it would be freaking awesome if we got to witness someone getting destroyed by GS.  But we (including GS) found out that it wasn't his personality to resort to violence.  Even though some jerk kicked him, and sucker punched him in the face twice.  He stood tall.  He didn't flinch.  He didn't waver.  He just looked the guy in the eye and taught him a thing or two about humanity.  I really see GS as one of my role models for doing this. 

Unfortunately GS just found out from the doctors that his jaw is broken, requiring surgery to re-align.  Right now only two teeth make contact when he bites down, and if nothing was done his jaw would stay like that.  It's so unfair how GS has to go through this.  It's ridiculous.  That frat fool was probably so drunk he wouldn't remember what happened.  But now GS has to have surgery even though he did the right thing.  I hope everything works out so that those responsible would pay for the medical bills. 

Return, View and Review

Return

I'm back! it's been a while because of this fixture design and manufacturing project that I've just officially finished. WOO! Boy, there was overtime, and weekend working, and major hurdles, but I'd rather not get into details.  This weekend was just what I needed to unwind and I didn't even know it was coming.  My uncle tells me on Thursday night that I have to drive him down to Eugene so that  he can drive my cousin's car back to Portland to get it Smogged.  Oregon has this crazy backwards rule where you have to get the car DEQ'ed (Smogged in Cali) in the city that it was registered in?  So instead of having it smogged conveniently in Eugene, we had to have two cars travel over 200 miles roundtrip to get it done.  Thats great for the environment...

View

But it was a blessing in disguise, because when I showed up in Eugene I found out that we were going to the beach on Saturday.  Woohoo! I forgot how long it's been since I've seen the Pacific Ocean.  I've taken living 1 mile from an ocean for granted.  This portion of the blog shall be in pictures.  I present to you:: Hobbit Beach (credits to LN and JY for their beautiful pics!)

Nice view of Hobbit Beach (left) We spent probably over 2 hours building our  manly wave protection wall hahah.  It was destroyed in 15 minutes.  Damn you nature! (right)

 We then proceed to fight back against nature by trying to destroy boulders.  BAMM!! ROCK SMASH! 

You always gotta do handstands at a beach.  Guess who's the gymnast and who's a good fer' nuthin' scalliwag?

 The Ferocious Five

 I draw the only thing that I know how to draw, Turtle Power!

 I get buried, and it was so comfortable I damn nearly fell asleep!  (feel free to caption-ize this pic)

Heh, thanks to Jenny's action picture taking skills, I had to make this.  He was merely helping me get all that sand off, don't judge. 

 Then we went into town and ate Prime Rib for $12.95.  Hell yes. 

Ahh it was a great Saturday at Hobbit Beach in(around?) Florence.  Thanks for bringing me guys!

What else is new? ah yess, I splurged and bought myself something nice and shiny.  So let's get on to the

Review
I always despised Bluetooth Headsets.  So hard to use!  The first one I got was this crappy cheap logitech one where I was never sure when it was on or connected or off.   It would drain out of batteries cus I left it on, and I probably spent a total of 9 minutes actually using it.  So since then, I stuck with the tried and true wired earpiece or the even more tried and true "cellphone held by wrenched neck" method.

But then I decided to look for one recently, because I had this Call of Duty session where there were 5+ buddies with headsets trying to talk to me, but I remained a mute.  It was like I wasn't even playing with them at all!  And plus, I was tired of the CHBWN method.  And plus, I'm going to be driving a heck of a lot and will need emergency calling to keep myself alert (like last time when I played "I Never" over the phone).  Anyways I scoured through the net seeing what the most recent new fangled reasonably priced Bluetooth headset was, and I came across this baby

Behold the Motorola H17

This thing is so cool! the microphone boom flips open and close to turn the headset on and off! Now I'll definitely know if its on or off, and it's super quick so that I can flip it open, put it on my ear and still be able to answer the incoming call.  Another big feature for this is that it can connect to 2 devices at once.   So imagine this: I'm playing COD with my friends, smack talking, yelling, having a grande time when suddenly my phone rings.  This headset will let me switch over to my phone with one touch of a button, and when I'm done I'm back in my game.  Yay!  Now I understand this use case scenario doesn't apply to a lot of you, but I really love the design of this headset.  Simple, elegant, and it just works.  Plus it charges in 15 minutes haha

So when I'm driving back to home, feel free to give me a call.  I won't end up in a ditch trying to fumble for my phone, I promise! (plus, thats illegal)

RIP CITY

I had another chill out weekend, and it was sunny to boot! (I don't know what that means, I just heard that somewhere and I hope I used it right).  Tiana and Julien were in town and we went to go yum cha at Wong's King.  It was so good, I haven't had good Fung Jaos (chicken feet) in a long time.  Julien never had them before and I was hoping he'd try them but he mentions that they look like a baby's hand O_O.  Haha, I see where he's coming from, but I still love my Fung Jaos.   They went to Saturday's Blazers-Suns playoff game and got me these!:

(thats the sound it makes, for real)

Now I can twang by myself in my living room!  (you're sick)  Ahh.. they're so lucky to be there, it was a great game too! With Brandon Roy making a surprise appearance and Blazers with a W. RIP CITY!!!

So a lot of people wonder why Portland is called Rip City.  Even my cousins didn't know.  So here it is:

From Wikipedia: 
"The term was coined by the team's play-by-play announcer Bill Schonely during a game against the Los Angeles Lakers on February 18, 1971, the Blazers' first season.^[13] In the days prior to the three-point field goal, Blazers' guard Jim Barnett took an ill-advised long distance shot that nonetheless went in, giving the new team hope for a victory against the powerful Lakers. Excited, Schonely exclaimed "Rip City! All right!" Schonely admits that he has no idea how he came up with the expression, but it became synonymous with the team and the city of Portland.^[14]" 

Interesting how Jim Barnett is now the announcer for the Warriors!  Also from Wikipedia, Portland is called Razorblade City....for its relatively high depression and sucide rates....wonk..wonk..wonk....

ANYWAYS, on Monday Nate called me up to go watch the Blazers game at Mission Theater (a bar theater).  It was awesome, packed with Blazers fans watching the game on a movie theater screen.  Man the 1st few minutes of this game was a blast! We came out in full fury and the Sun's were ice cold.  The theater was going crazy, it felt like I was at the game, so fun!  but.. the Blazers streak got stopped dead in its tracks with relentless foul calling the whole game.  The most memorable and ridiculous one is this one:



Watch it! Even if you don't watch basketball, its so ridiculous!

McMenamin's Mission Theater was a great time out.  They show movies here too and you get to drink, eat meals while you watch!  For those that don't know McMenamin's owns a bunch of restaurants and pubs in Oregon.  Nate and Emily told me that they even have a place called the Kennedy School, which is a ex-school turned into a hotel!  wowza.  another place on the "to check out" list

 What it kinda looks like in there.  Imagine a sea of red and black, with an endless supply of beer pitchers.(please excuse my poor photochopping skills)

Goals in Brief

It's been awhile! Half because of all these goals.  I gotta learn how to pace myself.  I was tackling them down full speed the first week, and I got burnt out.  The other half is Call of Duty again, I starting using the sniper rifle and I got unhealthily hooked. 

Here's my first installment of Goals in Briefs:

1.  Cantonese/Mandarin Fluency:  My mom was so excited that I was doing this that she bought me this!  The 跑跑高 E-900.  Thanks mom! This gives me extra motivation to keep up with this goal.  The writing translator function is what I really need.  I've been reading, writing (typing), watching, and speaking Chinese almost everyday now.  My uncle helped me hook up the Direct TV and I now have TVB! Haha, I never had that stuff as a kid, so now I'm catching up.  I will 加油 and 努力进步。 

2.  Juggling:  I was thinking first that I'll be able to scratch this one off my list first, but the balls aren't falling my way.  So hard! So far the best I've done was 5 catches.  3 pairs of socks are no longer in my wearing circulation :P

3.  Violin:  Working on Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto all 3 movements.  I've been off and on playing this for yeaaars now and I'm going to buckle down and learn it!  Problem is, with all these goals, I'm finding less and less time to practice.  Or maybe it's the video games.  damn video games.

4.  Free Throws:  I'm seeing big improvements in this.  I'm actually expanding this to basketball in general.  My free throw drill right now is to make 5 in a row before I can leave.  Haha, the first time I tried it, I started at 8PM and didn't leave till it was 8:40PM and it was almost pitch black.  So many 4 in a rows!!!  and then I cracked under pressure.  I felt like one of those kids in those movies who has a dream of being in the NBA.  The only thing is I'm 23, not 12.  I shot again today,  and it only took me 5 minutes to get 5 in a row.  woohoo .

5.  Write Left-Handed:  This one's kind of fun!  I was talking to Angel and she said she wants to learn too, so we're now Left hand Pen Pals.  It's pretty ghetto how we do it.  It's a form of snailmail and E-mail.  or... E-Snail?   chicken scratch on paper, take a pic, and send through email.  Anyone else want to be left hand pen pals with me?

6.  Pullups:  meh, i'll get around to this soon.  Doing pushups with Kenneth for now.

7.  Swimming:  Last week I swam 1/2 mile.  I was so determined going in, and when I came out I almost passed out haha.  It was 18 laps and my leg cramped the last 3 laps.  I think I'll be able to do a mile soon, but my main problem is I'm helllla slow.  I shared a lane with this overweight dude thinking, meh no pressure, nice and easy.  The dude was passing me every other lap! man the guy was blazing and he didn't look like he was trying!  damn.  I found out from this cat that I was kicking all wrong.  I was bending my knees and now that I'm relearning how to swim with my legs completely straight, I get tired in one lap.  Bummer. 

8.  Reading:  I picked up some books at the local library!

• Catch-22: Read the 1st 2 chapters and it's ironic as hell.  Nice!  I'm liking it so far
• The Art of War by Sun Tzu:  Heard good things about it concerning strategy.  Recommended reading for managers and business peoples, something that I'm not very keen in.  Interesting, but kind of textbooky.
• Rich Dad Poor Dad: college roommate told me about it.  Read the intro, sounds pretty interesting.  I think I'll like it because it's about money but is also written so that I won't fall asleep.
• Freakonomics:  (on the cover) "a rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything" and with chapters such as: What Do Schoolteachers and Sumo Wrestlers have in common? and Why do Drug Dealers Still Live with their Moms?  heh Haven't gotten to this one yet.  But looks promising!

Yea this post is pretty long, but I gotta do it so that I stick to my goals.

Toodle-oo!

Food Tour Weekend

This past weekend was very eventful.  I've been wanting to post about it, but I was waiting for Angel's pics to be uploaded.  That and I got lazy.  Julia and Angel decided to come up for their spring break to checkout the raved about food scene in Portland. Yay! Friends!  Dillon and David (happy bday) came up too, I was psyched. Now I got the chance to try food places with buddies.

Food Tour:
1.  The Big Egg:  Great breakfast egg sandwiches and wraps here.  Only 4-5 bucks!  I got "The Portlander" and it was this stacked egg sandwich.  The bread was thick and flavorful and the scrambled egg was perfectly fluffy.

2.  Voodoo Doughnuts:  After many people telling me to go, I finally got some!  They have two locations here and they are both RIDICULOUSLY packed.  We had to wait half and hour to get into the store.  We got a dozen of our own picks but they ran out of my long awaited Bacon Maple Bar.  I gotta say my favorite was the Portland Creme. mm..  Chocolate covered, custard filled.  The other ones were unique but sugary as hell.  The bubble gum flavored one actually tasted like bubblicious, blegh. 

3.  Potato Champion:  Known for making the best french fries ever.  I gotta say, they are pretty good.  Not big on french fries, so I won't be rushing back.  But I did invent my MusKetchRacha sauce here! Equal parts mustard, ketchup, and sriracha, with 3 drops of vinegar.  Stir until evenly orange.  It's damned good.

4.  Waffle Window:  Really delicious waffles.  You order from a window in the side of a building!  I got the strawberry cheesecake waffle and it was the best waffle I've ever eaten.

5.  Pok Pok:  Southeast Asian dishes.  This was our last stop of our tour.  This place is so popular that the wait was an hour long! So what did we do?  We ordered to go and ate in the car in front of the restaurant lol.  It was ghetto as hell, but we were hungry.  Hey, they had the top 10 best chicken wings in the US in 2007!

Devil's Point: At the nudie bar!  It was my first time at one, and it was a lot of fun!  This place is great, totally deserves the 4.5 stars on Yelp.  No cover, cheap beer, friendly staff (talking about the bouncer and bartenders).  Judging from the dive bar interior, I did not expect the girls to be very pretty.  But they were hot!, and a few were extremely talented on the pole.  We missed out on their fire dancers and Stripparaoke (Stippers + Karaoke on a Sunday night!)  So next time ya'll are in town, let's gooooooooooo.

[Sorry no pics haha]

Dollar Scholar:  The coolest dollar store I've been to.  It's on Hawthorne (I missed it the 1st time I went).  The guy is hilarious.  When I was about to walk into the store, he starts throwing sticky blobs at the door. haha I was like wtf.  I go in, and he gives me a turn while other people try to walk in.  He lets you play with anything in there, and the best thing is everything is a dollar or less.  When I left, he gave me a flier for a Pirate Treasure Hunt on 4/18 on Hawthorne Blvd.  Damn! my costume is in SF

POGS HAHA

Powell's City of Books: It is definitely a city of books.  You can get lost in here.  Great place if you love books! Me not so much.  So Dillon and I mischievously browsed the Erotica section.  Point, Laugh, Giggle, "what the??"  I spot the name 'Chadwick' 

Places we didn't get to hit up:  Ground Kontrol Barcade,  Glowing Greens (black light indoor mini-golf!), Pho Le (Vietnamese Sandwiches and Pho from a cart!, Koi Fusion. 

It was fun to go exploring with friends, despite the gloomy rainy weather.  I bet it'd be an even better time if it was sunny.

Thanks Angel for the pictures.  In return, I will use your Yelp posts as links.