Fat Tuesday

I have to start thinking of cooler names for my blog entries. Whatever. So! Tuesday. Nothing exciting has happened since Saturday. But here's an update anyway. Sunday, I woke up semi-early only to waste time online. I eventually got my ass out of bed and went to walk around the Serramonte Center in Daly City. That ghetto mall has a huge Forever 21 store! It's huge... and overwhelming. I was trying to look around but there was just so much STUFF. Anyway, I also looked at Victoria's Secret and Hollister and yet I bought NOTHING. Which is pretty amazing. After the mall stores, I went to Target and bought some essentials (cotton rounds, car freshner thing, milk, bread, cheese, yogurt etc etc etc). I didn't really make any fun purchases.

Yesterday was just another boring day. Had work and then hit the gym with Ty and Nirada. Ty really beat me up with all these damned abs exercises. Today I had to call a candidate in China at 8 am and it was kind of a waste of time. Maybe it was just a bad phone line (as I was calling from my laptop) but she didn't really understand what I was saying. I had to repeat everything a few times, which got annoying, and she seemed kind of out of it. Granted, it was 11 pm in Beijing when I called... but she was the one that suggested the time. You would think she would be awake prior to the phone call if she was anticipating it. Hm. Whatever. Michelle came to visit Emily and I for lunch, which was quite delicious! It's also her birthday, so Happy Birthday Michelle!

And now, it is 4:30 pm. I think Emily and I are going to go to the Great Mall of Milpitas which is a giant outlet shopping center (like Ontario Mills). So no gym for me today. Boo. But I'll go tomorrow!

And this is all for my crappy update.

Ah weekends

So! The picnic yesterday was quite fun! There was free food (hot dogs, appetizers, cotton candy, ice cream) and drinks (water, soda, beer, margaritas, frozen lemonade). YUM! Delightful. I ate a crap load of junk food. It was fab. Then there was the "American Idol" type competition which was pretty entertaining. I really liked the Indian guy with the long hair that sang a rock song... he screamed and everything. I was surprised and delighted.

After the picnic, I decided to just head home and relax. I ate my Cheesecake Factory leftovers and watched Robot Chicken until I passed out at around midnight. Wow, I'm an old lady. Saturday, I woke up around 9:30 am and just lounged around the house in my PJs. I got ready for Khanh's wedding and drove over to Ty's house at 2:30-ish pm. We drove down together to Los Gatos where the wedding was held at a vineyard. It was a beautiful ceremony (Khanh looked really pretty!!) and a great reception! For dinner there was a summer type salad with a raspberry vinagrette and the main course was either stuffed chicken (with olives and veggies inside) or a big chunk of beef (I'm not sure what type of cute it was) with gravy, cheese mashed potatoes, and asparagus. I got the chicken dish and it was really yummy.

And now I am back at home, in bed, watching Robot Chicken. Nice. Tomorrow don't really have any plans... Cheech is coming to the city so if she's free maybe we'll hang or somehing. Other than that, I have nothing much to do. I just want to relax mostly. My next few weekends are pretty packed: next weekend my friend Jenn is visiting, after that I'm going to Pismo, after that I'm going to a BBQ. Then I get one more free weekend after that and then it's Labor Day Weekend to drive to LA and then OFF TO EUROPE I go. How exciting! Wooo.

Okay, here are some picture slideshows for your viewing pleasure. :)

**EDIT: So I tried to post three slideshows altogether, but it was kinda overwhelming... so instead, just links to the albums.

Vancouver AAAI Conference July 23-26 2007

Brian's Dinner & Company Picnic

Khanh & Chris's Wedding - July 28, 2007

Back in the USSR

Just kidding. USA. Not USSR. Isn't that a song or something though? Hm. Anyway, I am back in California. Mountain View to be exact. The last few days have been fun but tiring. Tuesday, I had the conference from 7:30 am until 6 pm and after I was so tired, I just ordered some Thai food takeout and bought a movie from this pretend Virgin Records type of store (Rat Race, it was only $6 Canadian... nice). It was nice to just relax and fall asleep watching tv in my really nice hotel room.

Wednesday, I woke up a bit later (around 8:45 am), got ready, and had breakfast at Denny's. I was tempted to just order room service, but I just couldn't justify spending $25 on the same food I could get at Denny's. Of course, I really should've just ordered room service because Canadian Denny's is HELLA expensive. Grand Slam breakfast was like $10.50... WTF! So it all ended up being $15 after tax and tip anyway. And it wasn't too delicious. Dammit, Denny's... After breakfast, I walked up and down Robson St... again. Because I didn't know where else to explore. Also, I only had like an hour before I had to get ready for the conference at 1 pm. So up and down Robson I went! I tried on lots of things at FCUK and Zara... and amazingly, I was able to walk away. FCUK had a really cute billow-y type shirt but it was ripped in some parts. Boo. And Zara had a cute grey cardigan, but it was ripped in the sleeve. What the eff. So the conference went on from 12:30 pm until 9 pm. But we left around 8:30-ish since no one was really paying attention to us. After, just went back to the hotel room, took a loverly bubble bath, watched tv, and fell asleep around midnight.

Thursday, woke up and packed... checked out of the hotel and headed to the conference for the last day! It was a pretty quiet day because most of the people have already talked to us. Packed up around 11:30 am and shared a cab to the airport with another exhibitor. Got an earlier flight that left around 2:30 pm, sat next to this giant man that had a stomach cramp and started freaking out at the end of the flight (weird and scary), and then supershuttle'd it back to my apt. After I got back I dropped off my junk and drove down to Palo Alto to have dinner with Cheech and Brian at Cheesecake Factory. After dinner, we walked around Border's and I was able to get Season 1 of Robot Chicken for like $20. SWEET.

Today, I've just been working and doing my "thing." What that "thing" is, I'm not sure. I did manage to call Sooz and have her order a few pairs of shoes for me from Nordstrom.com! Woooo. I got a pair of cute Michael by Michael Kors wedge polka dot red sandals and a pair of Jeffrey Campbell flat thong sandals (as shown above)! So cute. Also, I went to Target with Emily and bought a plain black tank top and a cute blue stripey short sleeve button down shirt. Wearing it makes me feel kind of like a cowgirl or something. Hm.

And now I am just waiting for Ellen to get here so we can go the company picnic! Weeee!

Christy Does Vancouver

Wait a minute... is that the name of a porn title? Just kidding, I already knew it was... I'm just a dirty old (wo)man. Anyway, I've arrived in Vancouver! It's actually very nice here. All the people are really friendly and nice! It's weird. So I woke up this morning around 8:45 (oops, I meant to wake up at 8), got ready, and was picked up by Super Shuttle at 9:45 am. I was pretty early to the airport, but whatever. Got an early lunch around 11 am from this Japanese place near my terminal (I got teriyaki salmon and it was decent). Boarded the plane a bit late and arrived safely at YVR (Vancouver Airport) at 3 pm. I was semi-lost since I had to go through customs and tell them why I was there. I was a bit lost, but made my way through. Also, I never realized how that Vancouver is HELLA HUMID. I was sweating. It was a bit gross.

Cabbed over to my hotel and arrived around 3:45 pm. I sat down, checked email, then put my flip flops on and began my Canadian shopping adventure! I forced myself to avoid all US stores that I can visit anytime I want. So instead I went to lots of Canadian stores. Although, they MIGHT be US stores and I just have no idea. But they all were brands I had never heard of. I got a really cute white shirt from this one store called RW & CO., a cute brown deep v-neck sweater from this store called Plenty, and then some MAC stuff. I never knew that MAC was from Canada. Hm. I got my usual brown eyeliner, a really cute peachy pink lushgloss (aka, lip gloss with lip plumper... although I think my lips are pretty fat already), and a dark brown eyeshadow. Very naice.

After I walked around the Vancouver Mall (Pacific Centre) and had dinner in the food court (Thai food... it was OK, not great). But I had this weird craving for Thai food. After dinner, I started walking back into the mall and realized it was all closed. CLOSED at 7:30 pm (the food court was closing as I was eating, but I thought they were just closing the food places). Apparently, the mall closes at 7 pm on Mondays and Tuesdays. Weird. Must be nice to work retail in Vancouver. Also, everything here is kinda expensive. After dinner I walked to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Company and got a waffle cone with Rocky Road ice cream! So yummy. It was funny, I was waiting in line to pay and the cashier asked everyone if they wanted a sample chocolate. She asked me and I said, "umm... I think I've got enough here, thanks" and then all the line people laughed and the guy in front of me let me go ahead of him. YES. haha. That was weird. Anyway, now I'm watching Robot Chicken in my hotel room. I wish I called and made sure I would get one bed. Now I have two twin beds when I could've had one KING bed. Assholes. Whatever.

Tomorrow is the conference and I have to be there at 7:30 am. Unfortunately, I'm wide awake and the fact that it's still sunny outside is f'ing with my brain. I feel like Robin Williams in that movie Insomnia... but not crazy. Hm.

Oh yeah! Weekend updates... Friday: hung out with Cheech, Brian, and Ty. We ate Costco pizza and chicken wings, watched Pulse (which was terrible), Jackass 2 (which was hilarious), and The Office (which was awesome, of course). Fell asleep there, woke up on Saturday morning, went to Costco and bought HARRY POTTER, went to Target, went home, did a shit load of laundry, cleaned the house, and read read read. I actually read pretty much the rest of the day until about 4 am. Sunday, woke up and went to the Stonestown Mall, got my nails did, bought a cute hat and earrings from Nordy's, met up with Rebecca in Hayes Valley, walked around and chatted, went home and read Harry Potter. I actually finished the book last night (technically this morning) at 3 am. Which explains why I woke up a bit late today. I admit, I did cry a bit in the end of the book... but overall, it was a great ending to the series.

Tribute to Brian:

We'll miss you, Mother F'in Brian (aka Vlad, aka The Nintendo Godfather of Terror). Good luck with law school and don't forget about us cool people in CA. Don't worry, we'll come visit and harass you. That'll give you something to look forward to in the new year. Woooo. Take care, Brian... you dirty old man.

Ahh updates.

So nothing exciting has been happening in my life. Which is quite on par. Hmm what have I been doing? Last Friday just went home, got Panda Express for dinner, and watched some FREE Comcast movies! It's awesome. If you have Comcast Cable, go to Channel 1! They have a bunch of random free movies. So I watched Starship Troopers. I wonder why I have a weird fascination with space/alien movies. Very weird. Anyway, I went to bed around 1 AM and it was a very chill Friday night.

Saturday, woke up around 11 and went to the Stonestown Mall (which apparently is my second home) and had lunch at the Nordy's cafe, got an Anniversary catalog (which was a bit disappointing, I hope the actual sale is better), walked around and wasted my time, and finally found a cute plain black clubbing type shirt at H&M. After, I just hung out around the house, watched another free movie (Ernest Goes to School... wow, it was awful. *duh) made myself dinner, got ready for Mr. Smith's, and headed out to pick up Andrew and company around 10 pm (company = Cheryl, Ruth, Arty, Grace). Mr. Smith's was OK... I had more fun the last time I went, but it was still a pretty interesting night. It was good to see Shelly again, even if she was pretty wasted and I didn't get a chance to really chat with her. And hey, I left the house. So I'm pretty proud of myself.

Sunday, I went to GG Park to meet up with Zzipper, Jen, Ashley, and company for a little BBQ. It was a lot of fun! I'm glad I got to spend time with all of them, even though it was terribly terribly cold. I also go to see Ashley's new little baby and he is ADORABLE. Cutest baby ever. He smiled in his sleep!! After the BBQ I just hung out at home and watched TV; third free movie of the weekend - Benny & Joon. I've actually never seen this before and I really enjoyed it.

Monday, just had work and went home. No biggie. I was craving chicken tikka masala, so I drove to Mehfil and had a DELIGHTFUL dinner! Yum. Tuesday, was a bit more exciting. I went to work, did some work, left to run errands around 11 am with Brian, Ty, and Emily (got gas, got a key made, bought shave gel, ate at McD's), and after our errands met up with the rest of my coworkers at Malibu Grand Prix!!! Woooo. That was a LOT of fun. We rode the little go-karts which was awesome (I'm a pretty good go-kart'er), played in the batting cages, and did a bit of mini golf. Around 4 pm, the team left for Gordon Biersch in Palo Alto for food and drinks. We were there for about 2 1/2 hours and had tons of FOOD and fun. After Gordon Biersch, we headed to the Blue Bonnet in Sunnyvale for some dive-bar-fun and karaoke! Unfortunately, they didn't have karaoke on Tuesday nights, so we headed a few miles away to the Quarter Note. They had a pretty serious stage for karaoke, and there weren't that many people there. So we all sang a few songs, dance around on stage, and had fun. I eventually left around 9:30 pm because my sister and her bf were coming to visit (Tracee has an interview with a community college in the east bay!).



My sister and her bf, Jeremy, arrived at about 11 pm. I spent some time with them before heading to bed at 1 am. Wednesday, went to work a bit late, had a normal work day, Tracee and Jeremy came to visit me at work for lunch, after her first interview. After lunch they explored around the SJ area when she got a call for a second interview (yay! congratulations!). So they drove back to work, picked me up, and we headed back to SF. We just hung around the house for the rest of the day and didn't do very much (ate leftovers for dinner, watched The Office Season 2).

And today... well it's pretty much just started. So nothing new to report yet. Tomorrow is the start of the Anniversary Sale and I will be at the Palo Alto Nordy's at 7:30-ish am with Emily, Cheech, and Michelle. YES! I heart shopping... actually, more like I'm obsessed with it. How delightful.