decaffeinated

Chez TJ

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 21:36:48 -0800

The day after Vday the missus and I went to Chez TJ in Mountain View. We were excited, since it recently received not one but TWO Michelin stars - very high praise indeed. During dinner we overheard that the head chef had just left last week to the restaurant in Napa, thank you very much, and today was the first day for the new chef's menu. The service hadn't impressed us - it was fair, but the staff was very young and not as friendly as we expected.

Oh no. Well, we proceeded through several courses of very good, but not outstanding food. I was really looking forward to the lamb I had ordered, and was contemplating that my Cab, which actually tasted like a Merlot, probably would end up pairing with it quite well. I never really got to find out, though, since I got exactly 2.5 bites worth of meat. No joke. And the wife's filet mignon wasn't much bigger. We felt like we were in that credit card commercial, where the couple at the fancy restaurant looks at their miniscule portions and proclaims it "elf food".

The dessert, a licorice-banana foamy affair, however, was to die for, so I left feeling not quite so disgruntled. But we'd both rather go back to Le Papillion, where the wine, service, and portions were much, much better - and for the same price.

Gotta get one

Tue, 20 Jun 2006 13:49:53 -0800

Here's a computer accessory that's good for a laugh.

Creepy Nerds

Fri, 16 Jun 2006 11:47:57 -0800

I had the misfortune to read this blog about binding Swing forms to an underlying database . It is not creepy due to the technical discussion, which is rather straightforward and entirely dull for those of you who don't give a crap about Swing (most of you, I'm sure). No, it's creepy for the Winnie the Pooh references, quotes, and pictures scattered obsessively through the article. Shudder.

Blood Money

Thu, 08 Jun 2006 12:44:03 -0800

An article on Bloomberg today is entitled "Oil Falls Below $70 After Al-Qaeda Leader Is Killed in Iraq". Wow. Who do I have to kill to get my gas back down to 2 bucks a gallon? Wait, don't answer that.

China recently made the press

Thu, 06 Apr 2006 17:23:45 -0800

China recently made the press with a rather dramatic international policy change. Despite years of formal protests over visits to Yasukuni, nationalistic textbooks, ownership of the Senkaku Islands, China absolves Japanese 'people' from blame in bilateral disputes. This is a very interesting turn. Having lived in Japan for many years, I can attest to rising Japanese disgust at the common anti-Japan rallies at soccer games and riots at other occasions. The average Japanese person does NOT have any ill feelings towards the Chinese people. But China's recent comment would make me shiver if the might of the American military forces were not committed to protecting Japan. After all, similar comments were made by Japan before their invasion of China and Korea.

The Japanese reaction was appropriate. As the embassy spokesman was quoted as saying, "I'm not totally sure what their rhetoric really means".

Shaaaaaaaa

Tue, 28 Mar 2006 21:15:50 -0800

Today I ventured into the wilderness of Palo Alto, forced to brave entire neighborhoods of 4000 square feet houses and streets full of cars that cost more than I make in a year. Nevertheless, I managed to navigate to the Palo Alto Kendo Dojo in order to watch my first Kendo lesson. This, of course, being the prerequisite for actually taking a Kendo lesson. The bitter cold of the gym was broken up by shouts of many, many people hitting each other with sticks, the intense shuffling of feet, and the very palpable feeling weirdness that I experience when being submersed in an only partial Japanese culture. One or the other, please. I just get confused.

I managed to annoy Alex (not really that hard when you're trying, to be fair) by waiting until he raised his hand to ask the teacher a question (Alex was facing me and the teacher was facing Alex). Then I waved (back) at Alex. Alex gave me a quick frown and a dismissive hand gesture. Sorry Alex, I couldn't resist :)

There was some unexpected comic relief, though, as one of the small kids somehow managed to pee all over the dojo floor. And man, there was a lot of it.

Looks like next week I'll be getting hit with sticks. Cool. Gotta remember not to step in the pee, though.

As for the title - that's the Japanese sound for a nice pee. Shaaaaaaaa. Yep.

Classicly Despressing

Thu, 16 Mar 2006 22:25:38 -0800

The Mrs. and I just finished watching Mexico vs. USA (WBC). Ken Griffey, Jr., Chipper Jones, A. Rod and the rest couldn't buy a hit. The Rocket didn't look too sharp either, although he's about 5000 years old so I'll cut him some slack. A 2-1 loss to Mexico means that Japan, not the US, advances to the semi-finals. Of course I could count on my loving wife's predictable reaction to such crushing news. At least she held back from jumping up and down. Sigh. And what was with that Jeff Francoeur putz? Did anyone else watch him swing - and miss - at the same pitch THREE TIMES IN A ROW?!?!?! And, of course, it wasn't a strike.

The Dawn of Real-Time Love

Wed, 09 Feb 2005 17:38:35 -0800

I've been playing Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War lately, which I must say is a great game. Makes me hunger for something more than a 9600XT to play in on, but it looks very nice regardless. I typically find that my responses to RTSs are lukewarm, but this one gets it done right. But you will probably want to play it on the HARD setting, as the NORMAL difficulty is, well, not that difficult. I was rather dissapointed that the single player game consists of only a single (although rather lengthy) campaign - the Space Marines. I suppose I've been spoiled by Blizzard. At any rate, they have certainly left the door open for expansion packs. Can't wait!