Browse Category: friends

Weeee!!

The Sokol-Juns invited us for dinner last night and they made a mean bunch of ribs and potato salad.  I brought creamed corn and Tracy made peach pie.  Jack was on hyper-mode and he’s in the stage where he wants to just show off all his toys and tricks.

This kid has 4 different vehicles parked in the livingroom and took each one out to show us his stuff.

After dinner, Jes was playing around on Ryan’s new iPhone4 and got hooked on the Angry Birds game.  The animation and sound effects are hilarious and Jack got a kick out of watching Jes play and saying “Weeee!” just like the birds do when you let go of the slingshot.

After dessert, Jack went back to Jes and asked “Uncle Jesse play more weeee?”  Haha.  Cute.  And so he played and Jack watched with such delight.  It’s still funny to see a kid that is totally unafraid of Jes.  In fact, he would every once in a while tackle Jes and then nuzzle his shoulder.  You can tell in this photo that even Jes is confused by all the spunk.  What a goofball.

Sweet 16

After 3 weeks of sitting in a dark bar surrounded by LA haters and countless fried zucchini chips, I am one happy camper.  LAKERS WON THEIR 16th NBA CHAMPIONSHIP!!!  Victor and I (a.k.a. 6th Man) have put a lot of hard work into this series and it paid off. We’ve endured night after night of being outnumbered by Giants fans (aka anti-LA fans).  There’s just something so sweet and extra-satisfying about watching the Lakers win in SF.

I was so nervous today at work and hustled to get home early enough to get to Pete’s for one last time this season.  It was packed and we got a good corner of the bar for our group of 15.  Fortunately for us the number of Lakers fans was comparable to the number of people rooting for the Celtics.

It was such as stressful game and I still have a tummy ache from the game 2 hours later.  Artest’s after-game interview was so cute.  He really pulled the team through this game and he was as giddy as a little kid at Disneyland.  Maybe I’ll have to get a jersey with the number 37.  Great job, Lake Show.  See you next year for a 3-peat.

Here’s a little video clip of the minutes after we won:

Rockstar on Tour

Our friend Joel was on a 7-week tour around the country and his 3rd to last stop was San Francisco.  So, we went out on Wednesday night to watch him play.  It was at the Regency Ballroom where it was filled with lots of early-20-somethings ready to party.  I, on the other hand, was ready to shoot some photos of Joel and the band but had to check my camera at the coat check because it looked “professional”.  Bummer.  Next time I’ll have to ask him for a press pass or something.

Everest – Joel is the guitarist on the far right.

So, I got this photo (above) with my trusty iPhone and then later got my camera back to take a group photo by the bar.

Everest came out with a new album a couple weeks ago so we bought a copy directly from them (to maximize their profit) and a couple t-shirts too.  Sounds like one of their new songs is being played in LA on KROQ.  That’s cool.  Good luck with the new album, Joel!

Doc on the Boat


photo courtesy of huy

Just found out that Huy will be deployed again but this time on a humanitarian mission to Vietnam and Cambodia.  He’s going to be living on USNS Mercy, which is a basically a huge floating hospital.  I don’t know if there are more than one but one of them was docked by my house for a few months this past year.  I’d see it on my runs along Mission Bay and admire it from afar.  It’s so big, white, and has a big red cross on it.

He started up his blog once again so you can keep up with his adventures.  He started it back when he was deployed to Iraq for 6 months and it’s back.  I have a link to it in my Blogroll to the right but here’s the link: http://httran.blogspot.com/.  Maybe it should be called “Yet Another Doc on the Boat” now.

Take care of yourself out there Huy!!!

Barrels and FARM

On Saturday, we drove up to Napa for Nickel & Nickel’s Barrel Tasting Event.  It was basically a preview of all the reds that they will be bottling next March and we got to taste quite a few.  They also had cheese and meats out for us to taste as well.  We found a really cool cheese that basically tasted like a Philly Cheesesteak.  Who knew that you could somehow get the taste of meat in a cheese?!

The four of us had a pretty good time sippy and snacking until our lips and teeth turned purple.  I’d have to say that out of all the ones we tasted (about 10 different wines), I liked Dragonfly, C.C. Ranch, and Sullenger the best.  I’ll just have to wait until next year to taste the real deal to see if they’re still my favorites.

On our way down the road, we stopped at Opus One for a $30 glass of wine that was just as mediocre as I had remembered about 10 years ago.  I thought I’d have a greater appreciation for it now but I don’t think we’ll be returning there.

Afterward, we did a little outlet shopping and then headed over to FARM at the Carneros Inn.  We were a bit early so we lounged in their outdoor patio area, which was a really nice relaxing place to rest up before dinner.

For dinner, we were seated outdoors and the weather was perfect.  We all shared a bunch of dishes including the scallops (above), hamachi crudo, lamb, lobster, and beef.  We stuffed ourselves silly, finished off two bottles of wine, and even ordered two desserts at the end of the meal.  We pretty much had to roll ourselves back to the car.

Here are photos from our afternoon in wine country.

Pool Party

Last Sunday it was Mother’s Day but many of us at work didn’t have their mom’s nearby.  However, our dear friend Mai was in town and she wanted to have a picnic.  So, the girls at work and I planned a pool party at my place.  We all gathered outside by the BBQ and Jes fired up the grill for the skirt steak, kabobs, corn, and chicken wings.  It had rained that morning but the sun came out just in time for the guests to arrive.  Unfortunately, the sun was in and out all day and no one actually went into the pool that day.

Instead, we hung out on the patio chairs while the food cooked and then took a short break inside to eat, and then all came back outside for more sun.  We had a fun time chatting, laughing, and making fun of each other, as usual.

Mai also got to meet Koa and they spent some quality time together.  I knew they would hit it off and Koa was like butter in Mai’s hands.  Here are the rest of the photos.