jonocorp

Labor Day is June's birthday. I don't know the exact date, so I'll treat Labor Day as her birthday because that's the day I found her. It's easier that way than to remember the exact date, like Thanksgiving.

I made her a doggie meatloaf cake. I tried to write her name in ketchup (catsup?).

No work today! Whoo! I'm drinking coffee and watching the U.S. Open. It'd be a total shame if Oudin didn't make the finals.

Yesterday I got to hang out with Mike at Redondo. We hit up Naja's and that place is cool but also weird at the same time. It almost seems like a place the Real Housewives of OC would go to "slum" it and party. I'm still a little surprised that they have Pliny the Elder on tap. I didn't get it because I still wanted to be standing at the end of the night. We split a few pitchers and then headed towards the food. I had to get lobster because I haven't had it in so long and the price was right. In addition to that was snow crab and more beer. Yay. A few fresh churros capped off the night.

All the snow crab reminded me of both real and fake Vegas.

I wonder what'll be for lunch. Your move, Michelle.

I've been eating a lot lately. I had dinner yesterday and I swore I wasn't hungry, but I polished off my Chinese cafe fried rice and still pulled off two buckets of balls at the driving range. Today was taco extravaganza. My sister and I went to Yuca's and got many carne asada items and afterwards went to the market to get things for June's cake. The market had a deal on Choco Tacos so I had to get them. Choco Tacos are like the "ethnic" Drumsticks. Haha. For dinner I had a lot of chicken and kimchi. They went so well together. I imagine tomorrow will be more food, and Monday I'm having lunch with a great friend so the food won't stop.

I made mojitos today. I need to refine the recipe without adding more sugar. I should've just made a mint simple syrup. It would've been less work than muddling everything together.

I'm still on vacation mode. The day I came back, although happy to be back, I wasn't happy to be back to work. If I was a better blogger I would've taken pictures of the trip and posted them everyday, but I'm not and I didn't. How many pictures of food and beer can you look at? Haha.

It's going to be a long weekend and plans are totally up in the air. There's a lot of "call me" or "I'll call you," so it's unsure what'll happen.

The air outside is still a little stinky. I'll walk outside and it'll be raining Californian snow (ash).

June is howling and that means she wants something. It's almost time for her walk. It's almost her birthday day, too!

The trip was soothing. My only regret is getting a better hotel in the center of Portland. It'd make the walking to and from easier. It was such a chill town, I enjoyed it. If I had known that UFC 102 was going to be in Portland, I would've stayed an extra day. Tickets still available says the TV ad. I saw a bunch of UFC guys at my hotel. They were like walking doors. I wonder if I could last five minutes with one of them. They'd remind me of tracksuit.

I biked for a while and it was extremely easy. Why didn't I do that earlier? I should've bought a cheap ass bike at the Goodwill and just dumped it at the end of my trip.

When people ask what did I do, the answer was pretty much eating and drinking. So it was a good vacation.

Rogue = Thumbs up
Hopworks = Thumbs up

So, as some of you know, I'm in Portland, Oregon. The question I got a lot when I told people is, "why Portland?" I just told them it sounded nice. I guess if you know me, that's a pretty acceptable answer.

I'm mostly downtown and it's a nice place. It's really small. I've been all over Portland in almost two days. I've already hit up some brewpubs and did some shopping. There is no sales tax here so what you see is what you pay.

They have these neat food trailers. It tripped me out to see them. I just happed to be walking near the Portland State College and saw a pho place. It was more hipster pho instead of SGV pho.

Today I went to the famous Voodoo Donut shop and got me the bacon maple donut and the evil snowball. Bacon, is there something you don't make delicious? I also went to a art museum, but I'm sure none of you want to know about that.

While eating my bacon donut and looking at art, it made me wonder what my life would've been like if I pursued my love for art, music, or food instead of trying to make people happy and proud of me. Lord knows they aren't happy nor proud of me now.

There's more to say but I'm not in the mood to talk. Maybe later.

Ciao.

2 Laptops (my old rig that's typing this right now, and my Dell Mini 9)
Ethernet cables
An ethernet coupler
Phone charger
Wifi dongle
3 books to read if bored
Camera
Razor
Earphones
VGA cable
DVI cable
VGA to DVI adapter (I don't know why I would have these last three items)

I needed a mind and body refresh, and that's what the weekend was for. I chatted with Michelle for a while, but I just couldn't keep my eyes open and had to bid adieu and passed out. Saturday was slow, but I tied up some loose ends and chilled. I've been spending a lot of money lately, and I sincerely need to stop that.

On Sunday I watched "Inglorious Basterds" with my first ever friend I ever made. I thought the movie was great. I can see it being slow for others and illiterates. I could here people getting sick of subtitles. The moment you here the music, you can feel that it's a Tarantino flick. He even did an old skool movie thing where the credits are in the beginning of the movie instead of in the end. He writes a movie so well where you are craving more from the characters. There are so many characters in the movie that you want more screen time. You'd almost want to watch a 10 hour movie just for more.

Haha. I can't wait for the new season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Here's a picture of my new car shoes. The cobbler (or elves) did their work on them and they don't make noise when I hit bumps. These shoes are size 18.5" and they are definitely going to be expensive to buy tires for. 255's!!!

I also got phat new laces for these shoes, too:

Dinner was good tonight. I haven't had good Korean in long time. Surprisingly, the wait staff was really helpful and nice. There are good Chinese drivers, and there are good Korean waitresses. The world will shock you.

The new car shoes look good, but need a bit more refining before I can truly enjoy them. They need to go to the car shoe cobbler. Will magical elves fix them while the cobbler is sleeping?

Adam did this thing, and I also did it. Enjoy, it was fun.

RULES: Using only song names from ONE ARTIST, cleverly answer these questions. Pass it on to at least 10 people and include me. You can't use the... band I used. Try not to repeat a song title. It's a lot harder than you think...

Pick your Artist:
Wilco

Are you a male or female:
I'm The Man Who Loves You

Describe yourself:
Misunderstood

How do you feel:
Should've been in love

Describe where you currently live:
California Stars

If you could go anywhere, where would you go:
Via Chicago

Your favorite form of transportation:
Airline to Heaven

Your best friend is:
Jesus, ETC. (It isn't, really.)

What's the weather like:
Sky Blue Sky

Favorite time of day:
100 Years From Now

If your life was a TV show, what would it be called:
Wishful Thinking

What is life to you:
Shot in the Arm

Your fear:
Muzzle of Bees

What is the best advice you have to give:
Either Way

Thought for the Day:
Shouldn't be Ashamed

How I would like to die:
You Never Know

My soul's present condition:
Everlasting Everything

My motto:
One By One

Ugh. My mind has been elsewhere this weekend. It hasn't been this weird in a while. I feel totally confused and scared at the same time.

On a second note, I probably won't buy Mickey's again.

I hate parks that charge money for entry. What's up with that, San Marino?

I remember watching Are-Oh-Vee (R.O.V - Rock On Video, I think) and saw my first ever Travis video for the song "All I want to do is Rock" and it solidified my decision to buy a guitar. Plus, it hooked me into being a Travis fan. In college I had a part-time job at the school library that really paid shitty and it took forever to afford to buy my first crappy used Fender Squire at a pawn shop. If you know your musical instruments, the Squire was the entry level guitar. I tried to play the poop out of that guitar. I probably picked up that guitar more than I have my others.

I don't nearly touch my musical instruments as much as I should, but I don't regret buying so many. In eye-shot, I have 3 guitars, 1 bass, 1 banjo, and 1 drum kit. My Telecaster (Mexico made) was purchased in Pedrini's before it closed for good, and the bass was bought on my first trip to the Hollywood Guitar Center. The banjo was a "congrats, you got a good paying job" gift. I love my banjo, but I don't know how to play it.

What's up with all these cops this morning? I saw six cops in less than 5 minutes on the way to work, and 3 of them were giving tickets.