Thanks for a Great Birthday!

I'd just like to thank everyone who came out last night to help me celebrate turning 26 and everyone else who couldn't make it but sent me your best wishes. I had a great time last night seeing so many of my best friends (almost) all at once and seeing what great friends I have. It really means a lot to me and I hope you all had a good time, too. Since I was sick the week before I've lost my voice from shouting over the music, but I don't have a smidge of hangover and feel hopeful and loved going into my late 20's.

Check out all the pics from the party here

T-Shirts Are Fun

These days, the only clothes I buy are work clothes that would be appropriate to wear at some future mystery job I may have one day after I graduate and pass the bar. I guess I figure that the more I invest in work clothes, the more I'll be motivated to look for a real lawyer job and the less panic-shopping I'll have to do once I start said job. However, my heart of imature hearts still years for funny shirts with strange slogans that I can wear out grocery shopping and bar hopping with my girls. So, I've decided that I'm going to get one of these shirts and give you lovely people a chance to buy me one for my upcoming official entry into the second quarter of my life.

Those of you who know of my love for nerds - or at least intelligent men - and my hatred for generic pickup lines from guys that think they're all slick get why this is perfect for me. I also like that T-Shirt Hell offers it in a "boybeater" tank. A great going-out shirt.

Naturally, this is Aaron's favorite of the bunch. Rather than referring to some imaginary penis I don't have, it's a throwback reference to those pesky NES cartridges that you had to blow on to get them to work. I still don't know why you have to blow into those things, but I know this shirt is damned funny.

Another great shirt for going out to bars. I like that it's sarcastic, but also reflects a little bit of how much I love to cook for friends. Once again, also available in a "boybeater" tank - sassy!

This shirt is a nod to one of my biggest pet peeves in the world: people who don't know when to use "you're" from when to use "your". I especially like it when people type it into blog comments in an attempt to tell me that I'm stupid or into online poker chats to tell me that I'm not a good player (although I just took all their money). No, you're retarded!!

I love this obvio Myspace reference... and the fact that the shirt is blue. Who is Tom? Why does he send me more messages than my real friends? Can I delete him from my list of friends? I bet he's either a dork or a jerk I wouldn't be friends with in real life and I'd like for people to know that.

My Olympic Hero

I watched A LOT of the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino (Turin), Italy thanks to my trusty DVR, which allowed me to watch the games at my own pace and skip commercials and lame events like ice dancing.

Aaron's favorite event is short track speed skating because it's fast, action-packed and skaters can fall and take each other out at any time. We were glad to see Apolo Anton Ohno medal in the 1000m and 500m after his fall in the 1500m prevented him from getting into the final of the event that made him such a (controversial) star in the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. However, the big short track winners this winter were the South Koreans, who won 10 of the 24 short track medals compared to China's 5, Canada's 4 and the US's 3 (2 of which were individually won by Ohno). While this may lead one to believe that the South Koreans excel at winter sports, they only won 11 medals (the 11th was for normal speed skating), putting them 9th in the over-all medal count along with China, while the US was 2nd and Canada was 3rd (Germany got the most medals - 29). So the South Koreans are the best in the world at short track speed skating - particularly Ahn Hyun-Soo who won 2 individual golds, 1 individual bronze and 1 team gold - but NBC still made it seem like Ohno was the biggest news in short track.

While I enjoy watching short track, the various downhill skiing events, half-pipe snowboarding, ski jumping and luge, figure skating is my favorite winter sport by far. Figure skating got off to an unsurprising start with the favored Russian pair taking gold, two Chinese pairs taking silver and bronze, and the US pair coming in 7th due to lack of experience, technical difficulty and a serious fall on their only difficult trick. However, I still enjoyed watching the pairs skating because the lifts and throws are both really dangerous and exciting. In fact, the Russian winners had a bad fall doing a one-handed lift at Skate America 2004 in Pittsburg, PA, where Tatyana was knocked unconscious for several minutes and had to be briefly hospitalized.

Xue Shen gets some serious air in a twist with her partner Hongbo Zhao

Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang do some of the most creative lifts

The men's figure skating is interesting to watch because they do bigger jumps - some even do quadruples but it tends to be kind of boring because the "program component" (formerly the "artistic component") is usually lacking. The ladies' competition is of course the best event in the entire Winter Olympics and this year's competition was great because there was an actual struggle for the top spots that kept you on your toes. Michelle Kwan dropped out of the games on February 12 due to a groin injury, bringing up alternate (and little sister of 2002 gold medalist Sarah Hughes), Emily Hughes, whose lack of major competition experience transferred all US hopes for a medal onto Sasha Cohen. After the short program, Sasha was in 1st and Russia's favorite Irina Slutskaya was 2nd, but falls in their long programs affected their entire performances leaving the door open for the incredibly graceful and beautiful Shizuka Arakawa of Japan to take the gold. Although she didn't get nearly as much hype as the US or Russian girls, Arakawa beat Cohen and Kwan in the 2004 World Championships and is probably the most graceful, stoic, creative skaters I've ever seen. To make her victory even more wonderful, Arakawa's gold was the only Japanese medal of the ENTIRE 2006 games! So, I'd like to give some mad props to Arakawa, my new Olympic hero - you go girl!

Arakawa took gold in the 2004 World Championships over Cohen (2nd) and Kwan (3rd)

At the 2004 World Championships

Arakawa workin' it at the 2006 Winter Olympics

Anniversary

Flowers and Champagne are nice

Last night, Aaron and I celebrated our 6th Anniversary of being a couple. He brought me some very pretty flowers, I finally gave him the Ecco shoes I had been dying to give him for a week and we went out to an unbelievably, awesomely tender delicious steak dinner at Boboquivari's (Bobo's) in the Marina.

The word is that Bobo's is only one of three places in the US that dry-ages its steak for several weeks and the only one on the West Coast, which sounds scary, but it was honestly the best steak I've ever had in my entire life. Both Aaron and I got the bone-in fillet mignon, which is Bobo's specialty since they have to special order that cut because they have to break a bone or something, which ruins the New York steak cuts that usually come from that part of the cow. (The manager gave us a long explanation). The service was great, the wine list is extensive and has great choices, and the desserts look fabulous.

However, we skipped dessert because we wanted to get home and drink the bottle of Moet&Chandon 1er ("Premier") Cru that I purchased at the Moet&Chandon cellars over the summer. "1er cru" (best translation, if that's possible: "first growth") refers to the class of grapes that are used in the champagne. "Grand cru" grapes grown in the Champagne region are reserved for the finest champagnes and are also aged the longest. Dom Perignon is made solely of grand cru grapes and aged from 6-8 years. 1er cru is the next level of grape. Vintage champagnes are a mix of 1er cru and non-rated (yet still high quality) grapes, aged for 4-6 years and regular champagne is this same mix aged only about 2 years. So, this 1er cru bottle I got is only aged 2 years but made solely of the best grapes you can get outside of Dom. I've been talking up this bottle ever since I got home to the point where Aaron was almost sick of it, but it did not disappoint. It was crisp and sweet in the perfect amounts, making it sweeter than the brut or a vintage M&C, but not overly sweet the way some champagnes can get. I've tried to find this bottle in Bay Area wine stores or on a US website and haven't had any luck, but it seems available from UK or French websites for about $40US.

Anyway, we had a great anniversary and I couldn't be happier. Yesterday was also my mom's birthday and we had invited her to join our fabulous Bobo dinner for her special day, but she's been ill so I'll go visit her today. Happy B-day mom! Lastly, today is Jessica's B-day, so I'd like to give a B-day shout out to her, too! Oh... I almost forgot... Happy Anniversary Dr. V!

New Year's 2006: From P.Hill to Vegas

As you may have heard, the new year 2006 recently began. Aaron and I ushered in the new year by attending a fun party at Kati's new house in P.Hill where I don' remember taking most of these pictures and I guess Aaron and I took a long nap post-midnight and post sharing 4 bottles of champagne with our common very-good childhood friend, Renee. Good times. (Please feel free to send me picture-caption ideas or requests to delete any unflattering photos)

Renee, Gene, Kati and Aaron celebrating the arrival of 2006

The next day, we headed to Las Vegas where we stayed at the Mandalay Bay, played poker, ate good food and my uncle Albert took me to see the Hoover Dam. I loooooove the Mandalay Bay, not only because it's asian themed but because it's gorgeous everywhere you look, the waitresses are actually pretty so their skimpy outfits don't gross me out as much, it's not too cold inside (probably to accomodate the asian ladies comme moi), the poker room is small and friendly (and offers bonuses on "high hands"), the rooms are very nice and we saw Chris "Jesus" Ferguson as we were going down to the lobby one day. I thought it was cool he was staying on the same floor as us, but we didn't want to harass him so we didn't get an autograph or anything. Bummer. The only bad thing I can say about the hotel is that the beds are a little hard, but not nearly as hard as other hotels we've stayed at. All in all, I give the Mandalay Bay two thumbs up... but that's not shocking since it alreayd has the reputation of being one of the best hotels on the Las Vegas Strip.

The official site of my first truly enjoyable trip to Las Vegas

The Chronic-les of Narnia

I really, really want to see this movie. (This link will play sound) I read all the books in elementary school; my favorite was The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, but it all started with The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, so I'm really glad this movie is finally out... although everyone knows the BBC productions are super good too.

A Ton of Fun, Cool Pictures

I've had a pretty busy semester, switching back-and-forth between extreme work and extreme procrastination. Often I feel like I have nothing to blog about because nothing exciting happens to me, but looking back on all these pictures, I guess I could have blogged about all this cool stuff. Check out my pics!

Joy's 27th B-day (1-9)
We had chicken adobo and lumpia at Joy's house before heading to Solstice where we had great drinks and a lot of fun. Joy got a lot of cool gifts and I wasn't feeling so great at my Friday morning class.

San Francisco Love Parade 2005 (10-36)
This was much better than the 2004 Love Parade because it was at a more central location, it wasn't freezing cold, the beer lines were shorter, there were more "facilities" (but we used the ones at Hastings because it was so close) and more famous DJ's were there. I was particularly excited to see Dan The Automator and be able to dance in the streets of Civic Center.

A's Game with Julia and Susan (37-39)
We didn't get much from the game, but we got hot dogs and plenty to drink. It was the first time Susan and Julia had met, but I knew they would get along great and of course they did!

Visiting Erica's real house, Temescula, CA (40-49)
Erica and I drove down to Temescula for the weekend to get some much needed sun and some desperately needed distance between us and school... although I managed to read quite a bit while sunning my back. Her house is big and super cool... you could have some awesome parties there! We drank wine, ate good fodd and listened to a lot of Kelly Clarkson. Good times!

Hastings' Barrister's Ball 2005 at the San Francisco City Club (50-55)
Aaron took me to Barrister's Ball this year. It wasn't that great because they played nothing but (mediocre) rap, very few 3L's were there and the drinks were pricey, but the venue was very nice, the drinks were strong and we all looked great!

Renee's Halloween/Welcome Back party (56-64)
Brandy came with us. I was DD. I got some fun pics, but none of me in my super pretty costume. Oh well.

Our trip to Jamestown, NY (65-81)
We'd just gotten engaged and my grandma was recovering from radiation therapy for breast cancer, so Aaron and I thought it would be good to go visit the Almquists back in Jamestown, NY. We had a pretty good time and my grandparents were very glad to finally get to know Aaron a little (and to see me).

The BALSA Katrina Fundraiser (82-84)
Susan, Erica and I went to the BALSA Hurricane Katrina fundraiser at Soluna where we dance to early 90's hip hop with Josh. We later went to Kezar in the Haight, of course.

What do you think?

Once again, The Onion does a better job commenting on national affairs than CNN. I've always thought these man-on-the-street blurbs were funny, but these are the best yet:

Greenspan Retiring: After 18 years of service, Alan Greenspan is retiring as chairman of the Federal Reserve at the age of 79. What do you think?

Francis Englund, Programmer: "He's irreplaceable. This Bernanke guy may be an anti-inflation fiscal conservative, but you just can't run the Fed if you've never screwed Ayn Rand."

Lily Putnam, Nurse: "Wow. He's quitting at the same time as the American economy."

Personal Bankruptcy Laws: A new bankruptcy law went into effect last week, making it harder for consumers to clear their debts with Chapter 7 bankruptcy. What do you think?

Kelley Wyler, Bank Teller: "If they didn't want to go bankrupt, people should have thought about that before deciding to pursue their dreams."

Don Rensalear, Systems Analyst: "I'm sure that whatever happens, that man with question marks on his suit will be able to help."

Claude Connelloy, Dairy Farmer: "And just in time for the new restrictions to apply to the hurricane victims, too! Who said there's no such thing as miracles?"

Nuñez

Do you read the PBF (Perry Bible Fellowship)? You should because it's friggin' awesome. Awesome, I say! My past favorites include "Gotcha the Clown" and "Colonel Sweeto", but I saw this Nuñez cartoon tonight and almost died laughing.

Click here to browse the PBF archive (beware of spontaneous giggles)

Random

I saw this on my little brother's MySpace page and was so amused I thought I'd rip it off:

Hilariouscope by ChibiMarronchan
Real Name
Astrological Sign
Your immediate future:	The radiation from your computer will give you super powers
How you will die:	Ninjas will propel off the roof and slice you in half with their shurigans
Your afterlife:	You will haunt your enemies
Quiz created with MemeGen!

More Entries

Thanks for a Great Birthday! - March 11, 2006
T-Shirts Are Fun - March 08, 2006
My Olympic Hero - February 26, 2006
Anniversary - February 22, 2006
New Year's 2006: From P.Hill to Vegas - January 06, 2006
The Chronic-les of Narnia - December 23, 2005
A Ton of Fun, Cool Pictures - November 13, 2005
What do you think? - October 27, 2005
Nuñez - October 25, 2005
Random - October 22, 2005
Helping Children Affected by Natural Disasters - October 11, 2005
Pick your model pony - September 25, 2005
Weapons of Mass Deception - September 11, 2005
Janice Dickinson is a frightful beast - August 19, 2005
Engaged - August 18, 2005
My Paris Trip: Episode IV: Bureaucracy - July 15, 2005
My Paris Trip: Episode III: Museums, Churches and Monuments - July 10, 2005
My Paris Trip: Episode II: Le Musée du Louvre - July 03, 2005
My Paris Trip: Episode I - July 01, 2005
My Hero - June 26, 2005
The Best Batman Movie Ever By Far - June 05, 2005
I Hate Consignment Stores... and They Hate Me - June 05, 2005
Spring Selling - May 30, 2005
Our Maui Vacation - May 28, 2005
Only In America... - May 12, 2005
ANTM's Bitch of the Season - May 11, 2005
Bollywood Film Review: Humraaz (2002) - April 17, 2005
I am Wu the Lotus Blossom, a humble student searching for my master. - April 16, 2005
No-Brainer - April 12, 2005
The Scariest Move I've Ever Seen... Besides Candyman - April 11, 2005
Mr. Hagar Always Said to Look for Irony... - March 30, 2005
Kati and Kris Play Dress-Up - March 24, 2005
Bollywood Film Review: Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) - March 13, 2005
Expansion of Internet Surveillance Authority Under the PATRIOT Act - March 06, 2005
Bollywood Film Review: Bride and Prejudice (2004) - March 02, 2005
Happy 50th Mom!! - February 28, 2005
Suicide Barrier for the Golden Gate Bridge? - February 27, 2005
Bollywood Move Review: Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999) - February 25, 2005
Pachydermatous - February 22, 2005
Bollywood Film Review: Kabhi Kushi Kabhie Gham (2001) - February 20, 2005
Bollywood Film Review: Devdas (2002) - February 20, 2005
I Hate Wendy - February 16, 2005
Jess and Mike's Wedding Reception - February 13, 2005
Retirement for Everyone! (When Pigs Fly) - February 08, 2005
Criminal Procedure (a.k.a. Cops: The Class) - January 18, 2005
I'm a Phooner - January 16, 2005
Our wonderful fabulous gorgeous January vacation - January 12, 2005
Kris and Aaron's New Year's '05 - January 02, 2005
Photos of Renee's Birthday and Christmas - December 31, 2004
Ode to Outlining, etc. - December 01, 2004
My Day is Made - November 23, 2004
They're Out There... - November 18, 2004
My Complete Comments on the Re-Election of Not-My-President - November 03, 2004
Halloween in the Castro 2004: The Pictures - November 01, 2004
I'm so in love!.. with the BEST REALITY TV SHOW OF ALL TIME! - October 29, 2004
Ballin' Barrister-Style - October 23, 2004
Look out Derek Zoolander, the Manhunt is on! - October 17, 2004
I'm Only Good at Inviting More Trouble - October 08, 2004
Oh, No She Didn't! - October 07, 2004
Where is the Love? - October 05, 2004
Who Won the First Presidential Debate? - October 02, 2004
America's Next Top Model: It's Back! - September 29, 2004
Newsworthy - September 29, 2004
Damn I Wish I Was a Lawyer Already! (and Joy's B-day pics) - September 16, 2004
Public Disclosure of Private Facts - September 14, 2004
Legal Reading Pet Peeves - September 08, 2004
Poker Dating Game - September 03, 2004
Shopoholics Beware! - September 02, 2004
Simple Pleasures - September 01, 2004
Vacation Pictures 2: Phish's last show ever (Coventry, VT) - August 27, 2004
Vacation Pictures 1: Jamestown, NY - August 20, 2004
Pre-Vacation Photos - August 06, 2004
Aishwarya Rai v. Shakira: It's On! - July 27, 2004
Bollywood Goes Hollywood #1: Chori Chori Chupke Chupke - July 21, 2004
Work sucks - July 20, 2004
I want a cat - July 16, 2004
Baseball Bat Law - July 14, 2004
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Happy 4th of July! - July 02, 2004
R.I.P. My Dear DX3600 - July 01, 2004
Bollywood Bridal Beauty - June 26, 2004
Three Things - June 17, 2004
So Much For That... Next! - June 15, 2004
Thank God for Larry David and Hookers - June 02, 2004
Lazy Dayz - May 28, 2004
I'm a Bitch - May 18, 2004
I'm a Nerd - May 14, 2004
Sexual Discrimination - May 12, 2004
Actually Relevant Women - May 09, 2004
A Comment &My Day - May 06, 2004
American Prudery - May 03, 2004
14 Going on 20 - April 25, 2004
My Dream Schedule - April 23, 2004
Oh, the wrongness! - April 22, 2004
Some Good News (for once) - April 18, 2004
Bizarro Holohan v. Lucky Stores - April 13, 2004
UC Berkeley Hell: Just Like Old Times - April 12, 2004
Party Like it's 1998! - April 11, 2004
Bling-Bling, Baby! - April 07, 2004
Some light reading - April 02, 2004
New York Trip: Days 3-5 Recap - Fun, Fun, Fun - March 24, 2004
New York City Trip: Day 2 Recap - Snow! - March 17, 2004
New York City Trip: Day 1 Recap - March 16, 2004
Happy (Belated) Birthday to Me - March 14, 2004
Hotness on the Range - March 10, 2004
Inflatable Supermodels Rock the Stork Club - March 04, 2004
The Economist Makes the Case for Gay Marriage - February 29, 2004
Real American Idols - February 28, 2004
Dear Governor Schwarzenegger, Please help *all* of your citizens exercise their right to marry - February 20, 2004
Oh, Hell No! - February 17, 2004
Thursday: It's the New Friday! - February 13, 2004
Speak Now or Hold It for Four More: A Major Change of Heart - February 08, 2004
A Bond Film I'd See - February 04, 2004
Kill the Beast! - February 01, 2004
Depressed, Need a Drink - January 28, 2004
Shameless Endorsement - January 22, 2004
A Filipino Thanksgiving - November 29, 2003
Thanks for helping us warm it up! - November 24, 2003
Love, Marriage and Registration - November 22, 2003
Happy Halloween Dr. Schwarzenegger - October 29, 2003
Law Quote of the Day #3 - October 27, 2003
sexual harassment law 101 - October 15, 2003
Law Quote of the Day #2 - October 08, 2003
Where is she? - October 06, 2003
Moving to San Francisco - October 05, 2003
Be a Rave slave - October 02, 2003
Drugs and Narcotics at Law School - September 24, 2003
Oops! My head just fell off... - September 23, 2003
Law Quote of the Day - September 09, 2003
Liars! - September 07, 2003
Becoming My New Me - August 22, 2003
Law School Hell: Story #1 - August 20, 2003
How to not get sued - August 01, 2003
More of a Comment... - July 30, 2003
Whah, Whah, Whah... - July 28, 2003
An Evening at Badlands - July 26, 2003
Cody on Audrey - July 24, 2003
Fear & Loathing in the Workplace - July 17, 2003
Hail to Radiohead - July 14, 2003
In Lieu... - July 11, 2003
Shit, I'm a Ghost Blogger... - June 25, 2003
The Greatness of Cody "Brain" Sisco - May 20, 2003
What really pisses me off... - May 08, 2003
Village Idiots - April 30, 2003
They used to be hot... - April 29, 2003
E-Government - April 17, 2003
Saddam Hussein's New Crew - April 14, 2003
Hozac - April 11, 2003
April 5, 2003 Oakland Anti-War March - April 09, 2003
Do Not Disturb Me During Dinner, Bitch! - April 06, 2003
Sleeping on the Job - April 04, 2003
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - April 03, 2003
Digital Johnny, Real Johnny - April 03, 2003