One Big Puppy

Readers of Roni's blog will know that our pet rat, Puppy, died a few weeks ago. Well I was looking through the news, and among stories of Britney Spears's little sister being pregnant, and "don't tase me bro!" being the top quote of the year, there was something actually interesting!

In a region of the Indonesian rain forest that is rarely explored and has been called the "Lost World" a team of scientist found a giant rat.
Now, keep in mind that this isn't some new breed of rodent, but this is actually a BIG rat. Apparently the rat had no fear of humans, and would wander in and out of the camp on a regular basis. They think that this rat might be a new species of rat altogether, a larger than average rat.

One disappointing omission in the article was when these guys will become commercially available. Why just settle for naming a rat Puppy, when you can have a rat that is the size OF a puppy?

A New Hobby

No, the new hobby is not making lobster bisque. I am taking a student development class this semester. This past week we talked about stress and ways in which we can deal with stress more effectively. One of the suggestions was that you take up a hobby. I thought that I could use a good hobby, and thought if the Roni and I could share a hobby, it could be something we enjoy together. That way we could have something that we can do together.

Roni and I talked and we came to painting. She mentioned that she had a watercolor paint set (not just one of those awesome crayola ones either) and so we went out and bought some brushes and some stuff to paint on. I haven't painted in a long time. I think the last time I used watercolors was when I was in elementary school, maybe even the first half of elementary school.

So we got home and each picked something to paint. I figured that a bowl of fruit is pretty safe, and traditional, so why not try that for my first attempt. I picked this picture to go off of.
I started with a simply sketch and then just kind of went for it. Since blogs are all about putting yourself out there for everybody else in the world to see, I thought that I might as well post my finished picture on my blog. Here it is (don't pay attention to the stuff on the sides, that was just my color testing area):

Adventures into Bisque

I was first introduced to the word "bisque" in an episode of Seinfeld. It is actually one of the most famous episodes, The Soup Nazi. I think it is Jerry that orders the crab bisque and says that it is so good that your knees buckle, so you have to sit down before eating it. I don't know why, but I can remember sitting there on the couch, and wondering what bisque was, and why it was so good that you had to sit down to eat it.

I never really had a chance to eat a bisque until fairly recently. I think it isn't really something that is all too common in the type of restaurant that I went to growing up. I always imagined something rich and hearty with a strong tomato-ish flavor to it. Kind of like minestrone, but it would actually taste good, and have bits of sea food in it.

Fast forward 11 years, to my honeymoon; Roni and I went to Monterey. We had already decided that we would eat out at better than average places pretty much every night (especially after our experience at the worst restaurant of all time... Norma's Res ran!), because we wouldn't be able to do so again for a very long time, maybe ever. So in the spirit of 'living it up' we went to the Sardine Factory. Now, I bet you are thinking, "Sardine... Factory...? I thought you said that you were living it up?" But in all reality, it is a really nice place, and I really doubt that they serve canned sardines at the Sardine Factory. It is often said to be the nicest restaurant in Monterey, and that should be saying something.

[funny sidenote from while we were there, maybe Roni has blogged about the lady with the cat plate? If not... I will request that the story be put up soon, it is pretty awesome.]

I figured that since we were at a really nice place, we might as well order some really nice food. I just about died when I saw "abalone bisque" on the menu. Here was my chance! The waiter assured me that it is world famous, so I figured I would indulge my childhood fantasy and order the world famous abalone bisque. When it came out I was surprised. It looked like he had brought out a bowl of thick cream. Where were the chunks? How was this going to have any flavor that was worthy of the title "world famous?"

A first impression has never been so wrong. It was a wonderful soup. A soft, almost velvety texture with a most amazing flavor. Best. Soup. Ever. No kidding people. If I am ever in Monterey again, I might go to the Sardine Factory and just order a bowl of the abalone bisque. Maybe two bowls. It is that good. I was in love with bisque, and I suddenly understood that yes, this soup is so good you had better be sitting when you have it.

A few weeks earlier, I had eaten, for the first time, lobster. Mom and Dad took Roni and I out for a congratulatory dinner at the Buckhorn, a few days before our wedding. I figured that I would try lobster, and it was SO GOOD. I thought it would be like a big shrimp, a jumbo jumbo shrimp if you will, but it was so much better than any shrimp.

So as I sat there eating my bisque, contemplating the creamy goodness of it, an idea struck me. LOBSTER BISQUE! I became obsessed with the idea of it, and finally, this past week, my opportunity came. The local grocery store was having a sale on lobster tails, and I somehow talked Roni into putting it into our budget for the week.

I searched online and found an easy, but still tasty sounding, recipe for lobster bisque. It took a while to do, and it ended with me dumping the hot soup into the blender and then straining it. Well, it wasn't as good as the mind altering experience at Sardine Factory, but it wasn't bad either. My appetite for bisque has been satiated once again... for now...

Street Pirates and Gypsies

As you may have noticed, yesterday was black friday, the biggest sale day of the year! People go out to get things that they otherwise would not need, because "it is a great deal." Well, Roni and I fell for the we-don't-really-need-it-but-it-is-a-great-deal-so-we-have-got-to-get-it trick. Best Buy put out an add for a $229 laptop. In our apartment we have one computer that is 5 years old, a janky laptop, and an old tablet PC. We don't really need another computer, but we thought, let me rephrase that, I thought it would be a great idea to get a working laptop.

In order to obtain said laptop, we went to wait through the night at Best Buy's doorstop. We had a list of a bunch of different Best Buys in the area, thinking that if the line were too long at one, we could simply jump over to the next one. We ended up just going to a Best Buy in South Salt Lake. What time did we go? Well... we went at 10 P.M. on Thanksgiving. What time did they open? Well... they open at 5 A.M. For those readers who are not math savvy, that is 7 hours. When we got in line we were within the first 100 people, so we thought that we might have a chance at getting what we wanted.

Not long after we showed up, other people fell in line behind us. We soon learned that interesting people show up for door buster events. Of the two girls directly behind us, one had only dressed in a hoodie and a pair of jeans. Let me emphasize how cold it was that night. On the way to the store, I decided to wash the windows of the car as we filled up the gas tank. Within seconds of putting the window washing fluid on the window, the fluids froze. I ended up scraping off ice more than actually cleaning the window. So, back to the story. The other girl behind us was a chain smoker, and would only go about 5 feet away when she smoked; I think my clothes still smell like smoke.

The chain smoker was very talkative. VERY talkative. She kept on going and going and going; she was the energizer bunny of conversation. I don't know how many times I heard her say "I'm going to be fine all night long. I am wearing 5 shirts, 4 pairs of pants, 5 pairs of socks. Yeah, I'll be just fine. No way that that I'm going to be cold." And then she told us about her life story. Three times. Three hundred thousand times. Maybe more. When somebody stops talking only to breathe, you get to hear a lot from them. Including an hour later, when she, while pacing to keep warm, said, "I'm so cold. I don't get it, I am wearing 5 shirts, 4 pairs of pants. . . (etc)." I wasn't really surprised she got cold... she was very waif-ish.

So around 1 A.M. this guy on a skate board comes up and starts talking to everybody around us. We ask him was he came for and he said, "Bum rush. I'm here to see somebody get trampled." To which, the waif again told us how she got trampled at Walmart two years back when she was trying to put bikes back standing up.

After talking for a while, the skater, who was dressed in all black, and was wearing a black leather jacket with metal studs all over it, starts asking us if we have seen the gypsies. I was very puzzled. Gypsies in Utah? I thought gypsies, or Romani, were more of a European thing? He then tells us about how whenever you see a green light in a van, or in the front of a house, you should go up to them and ask to trade stuff, because that means that they are gypsies, and they have stuff to trade. He called it the "green light movement."

He then told us that he is part of a lot of movements. He then extolled the "straight-edgers" and denounced the "hate-edgers" (who beat up old ladies who have pills in their purses). He told us about drum circles and how the cops are cool with it. This was all pretty normal compared to what he said next.

He said, "There is one thing that I don't see much of in Utah. The Jolly Roger." I could only blink. Did he just say "jolly roger?" As in the pirates? As in "Yarr me maties!"? No, no, I must have heard him wrong. He can't have really just said the jolly roger. He then pointed to a jolly roger patch on his jacket, and said, "You know, the sign of the pirates."

Now I really don't know what to think. I am dumbfounded, at a loss. He then goes on to explain to us about street pirates. They used to be hard core pirates I guess. Robbing, mugging and plundering all they encountered on the streets. He then went on to say that they have calmed down a lot, and how there are all sorts of "rules and regs" now. I wanted to ask if they are more of "guidelines." So there you go. Street pirates, gypsies and waifs. That was my Thanksgiving, what do you think about that?

Harry Potter

Ok, so if you thought that I was a late arrival into the world of blogging, then you are definitely are going to go into a state of shock when I say that I just finished the last Harry Potter book. I started with Sorcerer's Stone and moved up from there. I swore up and down that I would never read the books, and then I got married. The Roni is an avid fan of the series and she was sad that she would not have anybody to discuss the final book with when it came out. So I told her that I would get as far in the series as I could before the release of Deathly Hallows.

Well, in the week and a half before the book came out I got through book 1-4. I stopped after the book came out, because I figured I had missed the deadline, and... well... I had just seen the movie for Order of the Phoenix and it really didn't make a lot of sense to me. The movie just seemed jumbled together. For people that had already read the book (and probably re-read it leading up to the movie) I'm sure that leaving out so much of the book was necessary; It took two hundred pages just to get through the first two weeks of the story. However, the point is that the movie was really just confusing, and I wasn't too keen on reading the book.

Again, enter the Roni. She began to read the book out loud to me any time we were making a trip up to see parents, grandparents or other relatives. This made me see that the book made a whole lot more sense than the movie. So in the past 4 days I finished books 5-7. So here are my favorites of the series.

Favorite Character: Without a doubt, Luna Lovegood. I laughed more at the parts with Luna in them than any of the rest of the books combined. She is such a great character. It makes me wish that I had friends like Luna growing up.

Favorite Villain: I think most people will agree with me when I say Dolores Umbridge. Sure Voldemort is the main bad guy, but he knows he is bad. He takes no joy in hurting others, he does it just for power. Umbridge, however, takes a perverse pleasure in the pain of others, and to make matter worse, she thinks that what she is doing is for the benefit of society. To me, that makes her worse. Plus she is just so easy to hate!

Favorite book: The book that I enjoyed the most was Half-Blood Prince. In that book I was the most involved in the story. The characters seemed to be people that I could relate to. Also, who doesn't like it when Luna does the announcing for the quidditch game?

Least Favorite Good-guy: Hermione Granger. Especially in book 7 when she keeps harping on Harry about occlumency. I just skipped over those parts because I wanted to start yelling at her. And when you want to start yelling at a fictional character, it is time to move on.

My First and Last Day in Customer Service

I work, or rather worked, at a security system company. We don't take calls from customers who have had a break-in, or dispatch the police to save a person's life. In my department, data entry, we simply take calls from the sales representatives and from the installation techs. We just make sure that all the signals are coming from the various devices installed around the house, and run credit checks on people to make sure that they can afford the monthly bill.

A few weeks ago, near the beginning of October, our company finally closed down the last of the sales offices. This meant that there was even less for the morning shift (6-10 AM) to do. Personally, even during our busiest days in the summer, I never got many calls before 8 o'clock, and since school started, I have only been getting about one call every day before my shift ends. I barely noticed when they closed the offices, because honestly, I wasn't that busy to begin with.

Well, the higher-ups thought that it was unacceptable to have so many people working data entry that early in the morning when all of the sales offices were closed. They began to think up new jobs for us. My manager emailed everybody in data entry a list of about 50 existing customers and their phone numbers. She told us to call these people, and ask them for the names and numbers of people they know that might enjoy the system.

There are two things that are horribly wrong with this idea. First, I started work at 6 AM. Even if I spend all my time calling people on the east coast, I would calling them at 8 AM eastern time. That is early. If somebody called you at 8 AM and tried to get a referral from you, would you be happy? I sure wouldn't be!

The other thing that you need to realize is that these people have no idea that they will be contacted for referrals. On the contract there is no check box that says, "it is ok to contact me for business purposes" or anything like that. They had no idea, when they signed up for a security system, that we would be calling them at ridiculously early times so that we can con their friends into the same junky system!

So, mostly due to these two reasons, everybody on the morning shift for data entry decided to pretend like we never got the email. We decided that if it came down to it, we would rather quit than continue working for a company that would go to such great lengths to annoy its customers. Another reason for our defiance was that in our mandatory script we were basically forced to lie to the customer. We tell them that if they refer their friends, then their friends will be able to receive the exact same system that they did. However, this is not true. If the person that we got the referral from got a lot of free extras with their system, then it is very doubtful that their friend will get a system half as good. The only system available for our referrals would be the basic system, which is very limited, and very expensive.

That same day, however, I found out that I would be moved over to customer service, along with a few other people from data entry. Customer service deals with people that realize they have a system that is basically worthless, and want to cancel. These people did not read their contract, and failed to see that unless they cancel their service within three days, they are unable to cancel their contract. Well, let me rephrase that, they can cancel, but they have to buy their contract for 80% of their remaining payments. At $45 a month for 3 years, that quickly adds up.

I worked there one day, and then quit. I kept that job because it allowed me to study and do homework. The customer service folk talk to a lot of people. A lot of people. I spent the day listening people angry that they cannot cancel their contracts. Realizing that I would not be able to study, and if I was not studying, I would rather be sleeping, I quit.

I did get, however, some funny stories from my one day in customer service.

a hot chocolate kind of day

There is something about fall that makes me long for something. Maybe it is because I have spent 3 of my last 4 falls in Korea... Whenever I am walking around and I look at the colors of the trees, and feel the coolness of the air, in short, those days when it is especially autumn-ish, it makes me feel really nostalgic.

Now I now what you are thinking, "hey, who is this kid, he's like not even 25 and he is talking about nostalgia??" But I think that you can feel nostalgic at almost any age. How you feel that nostalgia might differ over time, but I believe that even a 7 year old kid can be nostalgic for the days when he didn't have school.

Back to nostalgia, it seems that when I look at the myriad of colored leaves that autumn has to offer, it reminds me a lot of my freshman year of college. Back in California, I don't especially remember trees changing colors, and all the leaves falling off the trees. I think that trees feel this "fall" nonsense is superfluous when the coldest they are going to be is about 60 degrees. So when I came to Utah in fall 2002 and the leaves started changing colors a few weeks later, I really began to notice.

In particular, there is this big tree with broad leaves that I passed every day on my walk from the dorms to campus and back. When I noticed that the colors were changing on the tree, I thought it would be fun to get a leaf for each color. So about once a week, I would pick a leaf from the tree. By the first snow I had yellowish green, yellow, orange, red and even brown leaves gathered in my dorm room.

So now, to this day, when I see the leaves beginning to change color, I am reminded of this. And for some reason this makes me want to have hot chocolate. Really good hot chocolate. In fact, I think I can hear the Ghirardelli hazelnut hot chocolate calling my name right now...

TRAVESTY!!

Though this isn't exactly breaking news, the company that makes the Pop'ables brand candies, Masterfoods, has decided to no longer produce these delectable little morsels! They have been out of production since 2006, which could explain why they have been so hard to get a hold of. This is truly a cause to mourn! These malt-ball sized treats were easily the best of the snickers line! I feel robbed as a consumer because I have been denied the pleasure of ever again tasting the soft nugget and caramel mixed with just the right amount of salted peanutty goodness! They were just the right size, and were amazingly addictive. Maybe the company cut production because the sweet little guys were just too good to be true...

Leaping Lizards!

Roni and I have had Mu for over a year now and he still seems to be doing new things all the time. Last night Roni wasn't feeling well, so she went to bed early. I stayed up and fed Mu, Remington and Puppy their food. I like to let Mu run around because he is pretty easy to spot not matter where he goes. Remington is still a bit small to let him run around all day. Mu, however, is big enough that I can let him wander without worrying too much about how to find him later.

Anyways, back to the story. I took Mu out of his two-story condo in order to feed him. He was REALLY hungry today, even though he ate yesterday. Usually his appetite goes in waves. So after downing about 20-30 crickets, I let him wander around the living room while I brushed my teeth and looked up ways that we could grow our own food for him (if he keeps eating 30 crickets a day, we will have to buy about $3 of crickets a day in order to feed him and Remington).

I started to get tired so I hunted Mu down and put him back in his cage. He went in without much of a struggle this time. Mu is a bit emo and can get a bit upset when you pick him up to put him back in his cage; he likes to run around. So I put him back, and then go to turn off the computer when I hear what sounds like a bird chirping. Now, you may be thinking, AHA! it was just the crickets! But Mu ate almost all the crickets, and the only ones left weren't big enough to be able to chirp. So I looked over to Mu's cage, and he is sitting there moodily looking out of his cage. Then, while I am looking at him, he opens his mouth, tilts his head up and moves his throat while he makes the chirping sound again! It was pretty wild. I've never heard him chirp before, and everything that I had read up to this point had never mentioned chinese water dragon vocalization before. I kind of hope he does it again when Roni is not dead asleep, so she can hear it too!

End User License Agreement

So you know that contract that comes with pretty much anything that you buy? It even comes on the software that you buy. Well, do you ever actually read what it is that you are agreeing to? I'll be honest, I don't ever really pay attention unless I have to start entering in credit card information. I just assume that if they don't have a way of directly taking money from me, they must not really care.

Well, I was really bored before my class, and I had nothing to do. So I began the ritual of rummaging through my backpack to see what all was in there. I came across the End User License Agreement for the SanDisk Cruzer Freedom which Roni and I had purchased on during the beginning-of-the-year-sale at our university. Mind you, I was really bored, so I thought "what the heck" and gave it a read. Here are some of the highlights. (oh, here is the key, so you know what is going on. Device = the thumb drive. Product = the thumb drive + all programs on it. Licensor = SanDisk. Documentation = paperwork that came with the drive)

1. "Do not click on the "I accept" button at the end of this document until you have read this entire document."
- OK, so this is a piece of paper that I pulled out of my backpack. It is not on a computer screen. Unless this is a VERY high tech piece of paper, I cannot "click" on any button after reading this paper because it is a piece of paper. Does this mean that I cannot agree to the EULA, and that I am not bound by it?

2. "You may print and keep a copy of this License Agreement."
- Again, this is not a computer. It would be awesome if I could print a piece of paper from another piece of paper. That would be like... getting the paper to clone itself, and I could sell that for a pretty penny. Now, you might be saying that this is being nit-picky and that I could just as easily copy the paper with the EULA printed on it, and save that for my records, but then we must keep in mind our next item...

3. "You may not copy the Documentation."
- Now hold on a moment... I am allowed to print it off, but not to copy it? Really, what is the difference between me printing this thing or copying it? Especially considering that it is a piece of paper and cannot print a copy of itself.

4. "You shall promptly report to Licensor any Product that is damaged, stolen or lost or reported as damaged, stolen or lost."
- Keep in mind that "product" means not only the flash drive, but everything that comes with it, including the EULA. So, technically, if my dog pees on the EULA, then I need to report it to SanDisk. If somebody steals the drive, then I have to report it to SanDisk. Isn't that crazy? Why should they care if somebody steals my usb drive? Are they going to replace it for me?

5. "Upon termination by Licensor, you agree to destroy, or return to Licensor, the Software, Information, and the Documentation and all copies and portions thereof."
- Again, why? Are they paranoid that I will be naughty and make photocopies of it? And where and I going to get these "copies and portions thereof?" I'm not even allowed to make copies of it in the first place. If I don't care about the rules enough to the point where I am willing to make copies of it, why would I listen to them when they tell me that I have to destroy the copies?

6. "By using the Product, you are agreeing... and warranting that you are not located in, under the control of, or a national or resident of [Cuba, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Iran, Syria] or any other country to which the U.S. has embargoed goods."
- Wow... I guess they are serious. I like the part about "under the control of." Like I am a robot or something. And I don't think that anybody that is from those countries and under the control of some wild regime will care about the EULA... Maybe they are worried that the North Koreans will get a hold of the EULA and ::gasp:: photocopy it! Yeah, I bet that is it. Or maybe they don't want the servicemen in Iraq to use usb drives?

Do you have any fun stories about EULAs?

North Korean Blog?

So, as a few of you know, I have fully joined the blogging bandwagon by creating yet another blog. This one is for my Korean friends, so don't be surprised if it is all in Korean. Blogs are pretty standard in Korea, so I thought that I might as well make one in Korean to keep people up to date on what is going on in my life.

Well, I didn't want to use the exact same color scheme as this blog, so I chose a different template from the options, shown here.

I then sent out an email to all of the Koreans that I have an email address for, and told them that I had created a blog and that they were welcome to take a look at it if they so desired. One of my Korean friends, a man that I met near the end of my mission and was baptized a few months after I left, sent me an email about my blog.

It started out with the usual formalities of "how are you? I am great." and then he began to talk about my blog. He said that he was glad to see that I still miss Korea, and that the blog was generally well made. He had only one complaint. He said that the design of the blog reminded him too much of the North Korean flag, and so it made him feel "rigid" and uncomfortable. The North Korean Flag (or as they would like to say the flag of The Democratic People's Republic of Korea) looks like this.



So, what do you think? Do you think that google is trying to send subliminal messages about our unfriendly neighbors to the east?

Lack of Study

So, as many of you know, Roni and I are rather fond of our reptilian friends. We want to be good pet owners, we really do. I spend a lot of time looking up information in books, and online about the best way to care for Mu and Remington. I am always surprised to find out how little is really known about the animals we keep as pets.

Chinese water dragons are not all that uncommon. You can find them in pretty much any pet store, from major chains like Petco, to the little pet shop down the street from where you live. But not much is really known about these guys. I haven't run into one scientific study on them, in or out of their natural environment. Most of the information that is available on water dragons is anecdotal evidence that owners have come up with in their own time. A lot of owners disagree on what is best for the lizards, and with no evidence (beyond "my lizards like it when I...") to back up what people say, it is hard to decide who is right and who is wrong!

Even companies that make products for reptiles seem to know very little about the creatures that they make the products for. We recently spent about $60 on a lighting system that broke down in a few days. The bulbs alone where $16 each, and were supposed to be guaranteed for a year. I stumbled on a website that went out and actually tested these bulbs and found that they are almost useless after 4 months!

Utah Driving

Dear Utah Driver,
I have lived in your state for a few years now, and would like to attempt to explain a few rudimentary driving rules which, up to this point, seem to have escaped your grasp. Some of the things I talk about will be difficult for you to understand, but please try.

1. The fast lane
Are you aware that the freeway has a fast lane? In other places throughout America the slower traffic stays to the right, and the people that want to go faster stay in the left lanes. I realize that you are filled with a righteous desire to "sustain and honor the law," but some of us have places to be. I don't know how the driving test for Utah is, but in CA, they teach you that the the safest speed to go is the speed that everybody else is going at. The lane farthest to the left is not the lane for you if you want to go 55 miles per hour. If you are going 55 in the fast lane, do not be surprised when the people behind you get angry. They want to be going at least 75mph. If you want to go 55mph then go to the farthest lane to the right, and the big rigs will laugh as they pass you, thus making at least somebody happy. Nobody is happy when you stay in the fast lane.

2. the carpool or HOV lane
Yes, Utah has created a special lane for cars with 2 or more people in it. This does not mean that if you have more than two people in your car that you are legally required to go into this lane. If you have 2 people in your car, and you do not want to go faster than 55mph, then I suggest that you stay in the right lane. Even though you are not riding alone, I think that the "slower traffic keep right" signs on the freeway should apply to you. The HOV lane is also called the "Express Lane." Look at the signs when you are on the freeway, I'm really not making that up. Express is defined as "Of, relating to, or appropriate for rapid travel." "Rapid Travel" means fast. 55mph is not rapid, when taken in context of freeway travel. It is fast for a city street. The freeway is not a city street. If you are having difficulty with the idea of going fast on the freeway, please see the item titled "the fast lane" above.

3. The freeway on ramp
The on ramp is the place that you enter the freeway. 35mph is not an acceptable speed for entering the on ramp. I do not have a good car. I know that your Lexus can accelerate faster than my car, and yet you seem to have trouble gaining speed for the freeway. Again, maybe it is different in the Utah handbook that the DMV hands out for you to study, but in CA, it tells you to put your foot on the accelerator in order to reach and appropriate speed for entering the freeway. Going slowly onto the freeway does not make it easier OR safer to get onto the freeway. It makes it so that the rest of us have to swerve out of the right lane so that we do not hit you.

4. lanes
Now I sympathize with you, in that the government of Utah seems to be completely inept at building roads. In California we have shiny little markers that help you see where the lane is. Now, people here seem to think that this is impossible to do in Utah because of the snow. This may come as a shock to you, but it snows in California. The tallest peak in the lower 48 in in California. California has mountains with snow, but we still have decent lane markers. Regardless of how the lane is marked, you should be able to get the general idea that the dashed white line in the road is the border of your lane. Your car should not straddle this line. The line is not a suggested guideline. When you start to drift into my lane in your chevy suburban that is scary. I do not want to die, and I would appreciate if you could somehow figure out a way of paying attention to the road and your surroundings long enough to not kill me on the road.

See, was that too hard? Simple right? If you listen to this, then you will be able to make the rest of us very happy. Thank you for understanding!


- the Romgi

Success!!

Well, after several weeks of being entertained at work by Microsoft's Club Live, I have finally earned enough points for the zune. It really did not take as long as I was expecting, only a few weeks. It actually happened yesterday and I am quite relieved to be done with the whole process. Or am I?

Last week, Apple announced the new iPod touch. Now, I am not one to be easily swayed by Apple's latest gizmos, but I will admit to a certain fascination with the iPod touch. Not only does it look amazing, but it has such great potential! I'm sure that as new applications are released by 3rd parties, the iPod touch with transform into the next generation of PDA/mp3 player. Some might say that he iphone already IS the next generation, but I'm really not interested in a lot of the features that are present in the iphone. I know there are a lot of people out there that are disappointed with the iPod touch's 16GB of max storage capacity, but let's face it, all of the music on my computer currently takes up about 6 GB. I could probably fit my entire music collection onto the 8GB version of the iPod touch, and still be happy. Though it would be impressive to say that you have 160GB of storage, what would you really fill that up with? My hard drive isn't even that big on my computer. Also, I like that the iPod touch uses flash memory, making it more suitable for exercise activities and the like.

Now, even the 8GB model at $299 is a bit steep for me (as a starving student). And after Apple's $200 price drop in the iphone after only a few months, I am certainly not going to be the first person in line to get one of these guys, but how I want one! So here is the plan that I have schemed up in my head, let Microsoft pay for my iPod touch. And just how do I plan to make this work? Well, I have already explained club live, and how you can get all sorts of prizes for playing games that run the Microsoft search engine. I have earned the zune and it should be in my hands by mid November. There are a myriad of other prizes that are still available to me- bluetooth headsets, xbox 360 controllers, and the like. I figure if I win enough prizes from club live, I will be able to sell the prizes to earn money towards my real goal, the iPod touch. So what say ye? What do you think of my plan?

Freshman Fashion Show

So, one of my favorite parts about the new school year is watching all the freshmen. They all look like they are 12 years old. I have put off a lot of my general education requirements because... well... they aren't very interesting. However, this being my last year, I really have no choice but to take the ones that I have been putting off. The upside is that Roni and I get to see what is in fashion.

A young face and lost expression isn't the only way to tell who is a freshman, and who has been at BYU a few years. Judging by the amount of parents that have been floating around Provo this past week, one can assume that there have been quite a few freshman that had their parents drop them off. Anyways, for whatever reason, it seems that parents wanted to buy their kids new school clothes "just one last time" (though I don't think my parents bought ANY of my clothes since freshman year of highschool). As a result, ALL of the freshmen look remarkably similar. They are all wearing BRIGHT flower print shirts. I mean BRIGHT. Now, maybe they think they are in high school, and people actually care? But wearing garish flower print is like putting a huge sign on their heads that says, "LOOK AT ME, I'M A FRESHMAN!" Just give them a couple years, they'll get over it.

Worst... Food... Ever...

So do you all remember the Tracer, it was old, it blew smoke, but still could get from a to b. On the it died, over a year ago, I went to meet up with Roni in Concord. There was a festival or something going on in a nearby park, so we walked around and enjoyed the music that was playing. As we were walking around we saw this Korean restaurant, and decided to check it out. Maybe we had even decided ahead of time to go there, I can't really remember. Anyways, the point is that we had never been to this place, and so we didn't know anything about it.
First, you must understand there are several criteria that I use to judge how good an ethnic restaurant is. 1. Does the person greeting you at the door have an accent from the same country the food in question is from? 2. are there people from that country eating in the restaurant? 3. Are people from that country in the back cooking? So, for example, if you walk into a Chinese restaurant and the person at the door speaks with a British accent, there are elderly white people eating in the restaurant, and it looks like some kid that got fired from McDonald's is working in the kitchen, it is best NOT to eat there. The food is probably sub par.

My first warning should have been that the door greeter was not Korean, and did not even understand the Korean greeting. My second warning should have been that there were no Koreans, or even Asians, eating in the restaurant. And, the place smelled more like a taqueria than a Korean restaurant. Nevertheless, we were hungry for Korean, so we just thought we would order something simple. I asked for bulgogi, which in all honesty, is pretty hard to mess up. This place found a way. Bulgogi means "fire meat" and it simply marinated meat cooked on a grill. My order of bulgogi came out with more vegetables than meat, and tasting like it has been seasoned with a packet of taco seasoning instead of korean pear and soy sauce (the way every bulgogi should be). Worst... Bulgogi... Ever...
However, I would have gladly traded the meal on that fateful day over the food I got yesterday. I think we can all agree that a fajita is pretty hard to mess up. But the good people of Delta, Utah sure found a way. On our way back from camping in Nevada's Great Basin National Park, we all stopped in Delta for some food. Dad was in the mood for Mexican, so we pulled into a Mexican restaurant. Now, Mexican food in Utah is hit or miss, and this place already looked like more like Denny's than a Mexican restaurant. But hey, I wasn't the one paying, so my vote didn't count for much. I was the first one to order, and I ordered fajitas off the menu. Everybody got their food before mine. When the waitress came out from the kitchen, I could hear the sound of sizzling meat and I could see the cast iron skillet she was bringing over. My hopes were high.

However, when she put it in front of me, I almost wanted to ask her if she had heard me right. I think of fajitas as looking like this. However, the mass of mush in front of me looked like peppers and onions that had been boiled in equal parts of grease and tomato paste. Everything was limp and mushy, except the chicken. The chicken looked like it had been grilled, then fried, and had the flavor and texture of slices of wood. You know how paper looks when it has oil spilled on it? That kind of translucent property it takes up? That is what happened to this poor, poor piece of meat. Add to that the fact that some of the pieces of meat still had the fat and skin attached, and it did NOT look appetizing.

I somehow managed to eat three small tortillas worth of the mush before I had to stop. Everybody seemed to wonder why I didn't finish the whole thing. The Be of Besta even offered to finish off my uneaten portion, but after one bite of the chicken he put the rest down and said, "Well, now we know. Order the beef." My stomach was sick for the rest of the day. Honestly, worst food ever. Maybe I will just have to lower my expectations for Mexican food in Utah...

Busiest Day of the Week

So the company that we work at is sales based, so not surprisingly, our busiest day of work is on saturday. Saturday never seems to actually be our busiest day though... In lieu of having saturday off, we have monday off. Even though monday is supposed to be our day off, it always seems to be our busiest day. It is the day we shop, get haircuts, bake cookies, and cook more complicated meals. It always feels busier and shorter than the days that we spend in front of a computer desk waiting for the hours to tick by. It is one of the cruel twists of fate.

Blogomgi

I have pretty much been able to avoid the whole blogging scene all my life. When I lived in Korea, everybody had a blog. Everybody. I thought it was kind of strange then... but then I came back, and everybody here had a blog too. I have managed to hold out. I mean my wife has her blog and I figured because we work at the same place and live in the same place, I was safe... I was lulled into this false sense of security. But now people want me to blog, so... here I am.