Who said cover letters couldn't be creative? Marley Mon... you f@ckin' rock!

Female Sushi Chefs

At lunch today, we were all talking about really random stuff and the topic of what women and men could do came up. No, it was not a chauvanistic type of conversation, either!

At one point, I blurted out that women couldn't be sushi chefs. Based on some article I read a while back, it said that women couldn't handle raw fish because they would ruin the freshness of the fish due to the temperature of their hands. Til today, I thought that this theory made sense to me. (In my case, I can't wear gold rings because I end up melting it into odd shapes over time, but that's another story for another day.)

I decided to locate this article via a Google search only to find that some news sites charged for searching archived articles. No luck! Argh! I did happen to find a couple of message boards and even an article on a chef's opinion:

Also, Lee says, "Women have higher temperatures than men." That translates to trouble when the food being handled is raw fish. "That's why we clean our hands with a damp towel," Lee says. "To keep the temperature down."

And, Lee says of women, "They use perfume and oil in their hair, and sometimes, when cooking, they might touch their hair and that smell will get in the food."

For the most part, a majority of the articles clarified that this once thought to be true theory was in fact invalid. So, to the Goldtoe himself, I guess I was wrong!

Weekend Recap

Friday: Angelex Technologies Kickoff party
This was a huge success in my eyes, as most of the interns, friends and family showed up to support the new office in Berkeley. Congrats babe!

Saturday: The Big Game
So I guess I'm not a huge college football (or even sports) fan til lately. It started with the Stanford/UCLA football game I went to and continues to watching the Big Game. I didn't know what that was until watching it at Sneakers Sports Bar in San Carlos. It's the annual football game right before Thanksgiving Stanford and UC Berkeley have and from what Jorge said, Stanford kicks major butt. This year, unfortunately, Stanford lost to Berkeley's offense. I swear, since I've been following Stanford games, the more I realize that their coach sucks with passing plays. Argh. How frustrating!

Also, I went to dinner with my family for my brother's official bday dinner. We went to a new restaurant really close to my house called Penang Garden, serving Malaysian/Singaporean/Indonesian food. Definitely a must try! It's close, but definitely not up to Banana Leaf standards. Mmmm.. On a side note, I still hate coconut.

Sunday: Lots and lots of sleep! I finally woke up and grabbed some dinner before watching the movie, Love Actually. *swoon* That was such a cute, 'put you in the Xmas mood' type of movie! It's not as chick flick as I expected it to be. It was hilarious and very recommended. Check it out!

And today... Happy Birthday to my grandmother (she passed away almost 10 yrs ago) and to my cousin, Adrian (he's 6 today)!

Happy 30th Birthday Melly!!

Maybe this is what he'll look like when he's even older... Melly with a grey afro.. ha ha

How Not to Get Fired Because of Your Blog

Unpredictable...

I commute to Mountain View from San Mateo every day to go to work and every time I think I have the routine down, something always throws me off. I've already figured out that you never drive south on 101 until after 8:45am... leaving at 8am usually takes around 40 minutes while leaving at 8:45am takes about 25 minutes... Also, heading home anytime before 7pm to go north on 101 is just as bad, especially right when Woodside starts.

Last week, I had a presentation to give at 9am... I left my house at 8am thinking I'd still have a few minutes to relax before the presentation. I got to work at 9:05am. Did I forget to mention that my commute is 15.34 miles long? (based on MapQuest)

Today, I worked from home in the morning, had some lunch and then headed to work. Around lunchtime on 101 up until about 3pm, it's usually a breeze. Not Today! Some truck stalled and had police helping him out, forcing them to close one lane down. It was close to an hour before I got into work.

I live right on 101 in San Mateo and work is right near 101 in Mountain View... do I have any other options besides taking El Camino Real all the way down? Argh...

Something I read in Cliff's blog...

Hotter than Hades

A thermodynamics professor had written a take home exam for his graduate students. It had one question:

"Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)? Support your answer with a proof."

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools off when it expands and heats up when it is compressed) or some variant.

One student, however, wrote the following:
First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So, we need to know the rate that souls are moving into Hell and the rate they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the
world today.

Some of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there are more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all people and all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially.

Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand as souls are added. This gives
two possibilities.

#1 If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.

#2 Of course, if Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over. So which is it? If we accept the postulate given to me by Ms. Laura Turner during my Freshman year, "That it will be a cold night in Hell before I sleep with you," and take into account the fact that I still have not succeeded in having sexual relations with her, then #2 cannot be true, and so Hell is exothermic.

The student got the only A.

Afternoon Laugh.. thanks Alan!

How To be a Ninja - http://homepage.ntlworld.com/philbooth/How_To_Be_A_Ninja.jpg

Growing up with my brother, I was forced to watch WWF (now WWE) and actually ended up liking it. Like I said, I was the guinea pig for new WWF moves they featured on TV. For some reason I dug on the tag team duo with the hot pink pants, esp the guy with the longer wavy hair. For some damn reason, it's slipping my mind. I have a feeling it was Brett 'the hitman" Heart though... Anyway, I still remember all the wrestlers from Hulk Hogan to Roddy Rod Piper or even Jimmy the Fly Snuka and even Andre the Giant. I can't forget Kamala the Ugandan Giant or even the Iron Shiek. Anyway, WWE these days isn't as fun as it used to be. There isn't the intensity of the new moves. Remember when the figure four was first used or even when Jake the Snake came out with all his new moves... DDT i think? There's even all this new drama with Vince McMahon's family taking over or betraying the family... and when in the world did we think that Vince McMahon could go from ringside announcer to the damn chairman of WWF? And you wonder why Mean Gene didn't do anything as big. Then again, I wouldn't know because I haven't been watching.

It's funny that I still remember all of this and that I still remember the crazy stuff my brother and I used to watch. What's even more of a trip now though is that one of his college friends just signed with WWE. I met him as Spermie and he pledged with my brother for the same fraternity down in LA. The craziest thing I saw him do was order the biggest cut of prime rib at Lawry's during my brother's going away dinner, only to be still hungry and ask for seconds. He was huge then, but according to my brother, he's completely massive now. From the little I know of him, he's a big teddy bear. Though, WWE would make you think twice.

It's all gloomy and dark outside and it looks like it's about to rain. (I'll have to think about going to yoga or running tonight) Actually weather.com says it'll rain this weekend. My brother's supposed to have a bbq with his gf for both of their 30th birthdays so hopefully they're wrong.

Speaking of my brother, it's a trip that my brother's gonna be 30. The picture here L-->R is Mel (my brother), Gina (his gf), and Tommyboy (our 'adopted' brother). I can still remember when used to make me his guinea pig for the newest WWF wrestling moves. The best would have to been putting me into a DDT hold and slamming my head into the ground. Or was it using the corner of the bed as a turnbuckle and slamming my head into it? Naw, it had to be when he'd take our younger sister as his 'tag team' partner and launch her up into the air and throw her onto me.

It was even better when we played video games. If you remember Colecovision, you had to remember how much fun playing Donkey Kong was. We always played for hours and waited for each other to die so that we could have our own turns. It got to the point where we'd try to psyche each other out by jumping from each moving lever to the next and what he did had to be the funniest now that I look back at it. He would sing the chorus of this song by Billy Ocean called 'When the Going Gets Tough' and it would drive me nuts. I completely forgot that he had done this until I heard the song on the radio last year and couldn't figure out why it was making me laugh. I called my brother to let him hear it and all I got in return was a bunch of laughter on his end. Gawd, we were stupid.

One day, I should write a book about all the stupid things my brother used to do to me. What I've said is nothing compared to some others. I was a pretty gullible idiot growing up. Ha Ha. All in all, time flies. There were the three of us that grew up with my childhood best friend, Deanna. Now that's she's married and expecting, and with my brother's bday coming up soon, it's another reminder that we've all come a long way.

Flash laughs

saw this on Crisafur's blog... He always finds the funniest crap!

I finally made it back to the gym last night to do some indoor rock climbing, after a very long hiatus. Gawsh, I so missed the feel of climbing! Of course I was a little hesitant and scared at first to do some of the climbs, but after I pushed myself a bit more, it all came back to me - almost like what they say about riding a bike. You never forget. Jorge was kickin some butt too and even if he says he's 'jungle climbing', I still think he's come a long way from the first time he climbed (when this picture was taken).


Climbing last night also made me kind of nostalgic and sad. I used to go a few times a week with Sisca and we always knew how to push each other. I know she'll only be gone for a while but dang, I didn't think her being in Utah would bum me out so much.

After watching Matrix Reloaded today, I finally remembered the dude's name... MIFUNE! Now where in the world did I see him before Matrix? (refer to my previous post)

Yesterday, I went to watch the Matrix on opening day c/o of work (Thanks Google!) and if you haven't seen it, I suggest you stop reading this now.



It wasn't all that I expected it to be and the ending was pretty weak. I figured that when the first of the trilogy came out, it was released at a time where there was nothing out there like it. (Eric mentioned the same idea too earlier.) It caught people's eye because of the special effects and because it was a story that the masses couldn't understand. When the second one came out, the masses finally started catching on and of course they had to top the special effects in the first one only to leave you hanging in the end. It's a guarantee to get the masses to see the third one. In short, Matrix Revolutions reminded me of two things. First, I thought of Galaga when all the sentinels were being fired at and second, I thought of L.A. Machine Guns, a game I always play at Dave N Buster's. It was overall an okay movie to me...something you just need to watch once.

Oh yah, one more thing... there's an actor in the movie that looks really familiar. Anyone know who this is?

Disclaimer: this was a humorous forward I received

Top 10 Implications of Microsoft Buying Google

10. Free worm with every search.
9. Google renamed "Microoosoooft."
8. Google becomes default search engine on all computers; attempts to use Yahoo! causes PCs to emit a pungent odor.
7. The search choices on Google will change from "Web," "Images," "Groups," "Directory," and "News" to "Web," "Shop Microsoft," "Buy From Microsoft Because You Have No Choice," and "Steve Ballmer Dancing."
6. Google Image Search will not show Microsoft's dark side.
5. All searches on the term "Steve Jobs" will return bios on Art Garfunkel, Ike Turner, Burt Ward (a.k.a. Robin), and other second fiddles.
4. Long speeches from Bill Gates about how "Smart Appliances" will allow owners to use Google to search for what's in their fridge. When pressed, Gates admits such appliances are only available in his mansion, and that he's never actually seen his refrigerator.
3. Microsoft uses Google technology to search for weapons of monopolistic destruction.
2. All searches on the term "Larry Ellison" will produce lists of garbage-collection websites.
1. "Bill Gates is richer than Warren Buffett" subliminally inserted into all search results.

Thanks Rodney! *laugh*

Guilty 48 times

A man will be pleading guilty, literally saying 'GUILTY' 48 times, to a judge in Seattle. How sick is that.

Go Niners!

How did I forget to blog about the Niners/Rams game yesterday?!? After a night of going out with my housemate and a couple of other girl friends, I managed to wake up early enough to go head to mass and have some breakfast with my pops. We had just enough time to head over to Candlestick Park to catch the beginning of the game. We got to a few miles within the Candlestick exit only to see a ton of traffic. We made it within a few minutes of the first quarter and saw that the Niners had already scored their first touchdown. The seats we had were aweeeeesome! (Thanks again babe! *mwah*) Lower Reserved, Section 20, Row 1. That's about a lil more than 20 rows from the Niners bench. My dad and I were pretty stoked. On a side note, is it me or is food/concession stuff at sporting games more and more expensive? It's neck and neck with the movies! I got a beer, a diet coke, and garlic fries for my pops and I and that was already 19 bucks... damn! Oh well...all well worth it!

Back to the game...these two men sitting right next to me were Rams fans and the shet talking went back and forth. In the end, it was 30-10 ...Go Niners! We finally made it out of the park and on the freeway by 6pm (note we started walking and sat in traffic from 4:30). With my brother and his gf bailing for dinner plans, my pops and I said screw it and headed to Daly City for some dinner. The day with my daddy was the best and I'm sure he'd agree with me. ( I actually caught my dad jumping out of his seat a few times to cheer for the Niners... not the usual with his bad knees).

My new neighbors' presence was short-lived - I heard a ladder being propped up against my place yesterday and couldn't figure out why someone was just outside my window (3 floors up). Jorge headed outside to ask the guy what he was doing and we were told that they were sealing up some holes in the roof awning to prevent any more pigeon nests. This morning I heard the pigeons return, pecking on the wall in an attempt to get back in their homes. Sad..they were evicted! Apparently, my next door neighbors weren't as tolerant of them because they called the HOA to complain. Farewell pigeons!

On a happier note, the first signs of snow in the Sierra popped up early this morning. 2 feet fell and snow resorts are thinking of opening earlier in the season. *crossing fingers*

Halloween recap...

So I lag a lil on updating this page real time... ha ha Then again, I could just change the date/time and still be caught up right? Nawww... So yesterday turned out to be really fun at work. Originally, I wasn't planning on dressing up until Kimmy brought up the idea. After lots of talking on IM and Google searching, it was decided. We were gonna be a pair of dice, even though she kept persuading me to be her sheep. (ha ha read her blog for details.) Overall, I'm glad we dressed up. It was a ton of fun the process of creating our dice was even more fun. I can't wait til next year. Maybe we can get a Blogger team costume?

To complete the Halloween night even more, I headed home to wait for the kiddies to show up for trick or treating. Despite rain, the lil kiddies all showed up and they were sooo cute! Jorge and I followed that up with heading to Mykee's for his halloween get together. After figuring out that Mykee owned 'The Ring' on DVD (VHS would have been soo much better!) and also finding out that he was the only one that hadn't seen it, I popped in the DVD. Let's just say Mykee wanted to go out after watching that since no one could crash at his place with him. (He lives alone.) Let's hope he slept okay last night. ha ha

Off to the Stanford/UCLA game I go...*cross fingers* for sunshine