Everyone wants to be Irish

Happy St. Patty's!

In the spirit of the holiday, I wore a little shamrock around today. Missed out on green beer though, which is a total shame. Unlike many others, I didn't get my drink on at 10am.

While everybody was out at pubs pretending to be Irish, Lauren and Obi came over for Indonesian fare and great conversation. They brought a New Zealand aperitif to go with dinner (goes quite well with Asian) and a little mouse toy to bribe kitty with. Among the night's topics were Dilbert land (work and the brilliant minds at work), $100,000 football pools, the new monogamy and loaded hypothetical questions, Tahiti and Nicaragua, recovering Catholics, Amish kids in reality TV shows, orange cola, mother-in-laws, learning Chinese with kid's textbooks (complete with big colorful pictures and giant fonts), neat gadgets, and hicks. They were a hoot.

I missed watching 'House' tonight, but I'll live.

Gokujou Parodius!

I miss this game sorely. Good ole' 16-bitty horizontal shooter. Then I found it serendipitously - I'm waiting impatiently for E to set it up on ZSNES.



EDIT: My first game of Parodius in years! It's as good as I remembered it. :) (My little Pentaro!)

IB is un-American, anti-Christian?

I'm embarrassed that this is happening where I live.

The gist: a local high school just decided to abolish the International Baccalaureate program because board members claim the program goes against 'Judeo-Christian' values. Now they're shifting the focus to the budget and financial issues, but it won't stop 10 families from filing a lawsuit.

Michelle Pilecki, a local writer, did a short piece on HuffPo that has some good links - worth a read-through. Here's a news article that pretty much covers the bigotry... I mean, story.

Mondays suck...

... big hairy donkey balls. And the suckitude feeds itself - people are crabby cos the weekend is over, so they're jerks, and that makes you crabby, and then you become an ass and make everyone unhappier. It never ends. The one redeeming thing about Mondays is for that one day during the week, everyone feels a secret bond with each other for sharing the same sentiment (ie. Mondays suck).

After a very blah day at the office, I drove to E's workplace to pick him up since it was raining... thought it'd be a cute surprise. Turned out he was in a meeting (should've called), so I sat in the parking lot for an hour. Watched people walk in and out of the building, making plans, arguing, laughing. Seeing the mundaneness of it all made me feel better. E finally got out and we decided it was a good day for pizza, so we headed to Mineo's. Best in town! Rounded dinner with ice-cream from the good ole' fashioned parlor next door.

The best part of the day was coming home; there's nothing that could make anyone feel better than seeing this cutie:



*sigh* :)

Foodie roll call

Cleaning out the camera's memory card this afternoon, the pics reminded me of how strong my passion for food is. Let's just say that come hell and high water, I'd still be dreaming of food. During the one week I was sick, I managed to conjure up more yummies than my lazy self would be inclined to do on any other week. Granted, they tend to be comfort food that reminds me of home, the first thing anyone with a cold needs, but it's no easy feat working in the kitchen under the dismal condition I was in. Maybe I was just sick of E's mac 'n cheese and canned soups. ;)


Rice porridge, of course. Made in the style of secondary school canteen, with dong cai, minced pork, scallions, white pepper, and egg buried under the steaming hot soupy goodness.


Wonton noodles, with homemade shrimp wontons (dough from scratch, the whole nine yards). Thin egg noodles topped with yu choy, shiitake mushrooms, and oyster sauce, sorta like at Crystal Jade.


This... I don't know. It's just a 'nasi campur', everything with rice.


Potstickers, or guo tie, grandma's recipe. Lined in neat little rows, waiting for the pan to heat up. To be dipped in a mix of soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, ginger, and sesame oil.

Fwah! And somehow I still lost a bit of weight from that sick spell. How 'bout that.

Links and Longhorn

Meet Boston Dynamics' toy, BigDog - despite the ominous-sounding name and purpose, it's quite cool. This real-life AT-AT has a miniature counterpart, LittleDog, which E has been eyeing hungrily for his research. It looks more like a mechanical 'roach than a dog; regardless of how it looks or its size, it has the potential for great things (since the AIBO pooped out). How ironic - BDI once invited E to work for them, and now he gets to work with them afterall.

Interesting blog post about the recent ports deal brouhaha, from a Singaporean perspective. Never even knew there was some history with PSA... Anyway, the points raised are insightful.

I just found out that a friend of an acquaintance was a contestant on Beauty and the Geek - the Rubik's Cube record holder. I don't watch the show, but reading the finalists' blurbs, the winners were kinda 'meh' - the guy isn't that geeky (a writer and museum critic?), and the babe isn't all that babe-y. The 'runners up', on the other hand, should've won the quarter million. Philosophy degree and PhD in mechanical engineering... hard core. His academically challenged partner is hotter too.

Went to Longhorn Steakhouse for dinner tonight. I was glad they didn't inflict country music on their customers. It was drizzling, and we had a 40-minute wait; we sat in the car, fogged it up, and watched people pull in the lot. Most of them were couples, some families. There were a lot of big American cars, and many blondes. We finally got seated, next to a very good-looking Asian family - E was quick to note that the 3 young girls, the oldest no more than 10, were beautiful and he hoped we'll be that lucky. :) I ordered an 11 oz. NY Strip medium rare. (I like them as bloody as they come, though I've never been bold enough to try one rare.) If I could eat a whole cow... *smacks lips* I thoroughly enjoyed the meal, it's been a while since we had steak (last Sunday). The place was a little strange (cramp, dim), but the food was yummy and the check was easy on the pocket, so I give it a thumbs up.

Watching movies and bumming on the couch... I love staying in.