He's Alive!!

Yes, I'm still here. I know it's very out of character for me to go almost a month without posting on my site, but it's with good reason this time. As I alluded to in my previous post, I have started a new job. Before I get into the details, you know how when you start a new job, you're just sitting around for the first week or two, twiddling your thumbs, reviewing documents, etc? Not at this job. I hit the ground running. On my first day I had a two hour HR orientation and then I was in meetings for the rest of the day. In one of the meetings someone said "Alex, we're looking to you for guidance on this," and I had a room full of people looking at me. My first instinct was to say "ummmmm, I've been here for like 3 hours." But I didn't, I told them what I would do and it was greeted with a great deal of enthusiasm.So here I am, exactly one month into my new job and I finally have a chance to take a breath. Not since my time at Cathay back in Hong Kong am I able to say in all seriousness......I love my job. I finally feel like I'm living up to my potential, I finally feel like I'm being challenged, I finally feel like I'm using all my skills, and I finally feel like I'm being given the responsibility I deserve. It's a very different environment as well. Smaller company, new industry, etc. I'm wearing a shirt and tie every day. I'm in meetings with CIO and Senior Vice Presidents, and get this, they're actually LISTENING! Imagine that. When I speak, they listen. It's very refreshing. So I'm happy. I've gone from getting 9-10 hours of sleep a night, to getting around 6 or 7, but I have more energy than I've had in ages. Deanne has been wonderfully supportive and has answered the question "Does this tie go with this shirt?" about 600 times in the last month. Anyway, I've started a new chapter in my career and, as a result, my life. Let's see how the rest of the story goes.

I should probably start today

Inspired by Tricia and Heidi's posts, I thought it was about time for me to publish my list of things I intend to do before I'm 30. Less than 5 years to go, so I better start cracking. There's some things I've left off the list for various reasons, but feel free to guess what they are in the comments.

  • visit all seven continents       - Africa: DONE (South Africa, and Morocco next month)       - Antarctica: Not yet       - Asia: DONE (Hong Kong, etc)       - Europe: DONE (England, etc)       - North America: DONE (duh)       - Oceania: DONE (New Zealand, though I won't properly count Oceania until I've been to Australia)       - South America: Not yet

  • have visited a total of 50 countries in my life       - only about 20 so far, I've got a long way to go

  • have a book published       - I'm working on that one at the moment

  • own at least three pieces of property       - Might be able to achieve this by the end of the year

  • have my pilot's license, instrument rating and mult-engine ratings       - This one is a priority, I want to get the first two done this year.

  • own a plane       - Considering some Cessna's are cheaper than a Honda Civic, this might not be too far fetched.

  • live overseas again       - DONE

  • run my own business       - I'm working on that one at the moment

  • hang glide       - There's a place in Gilroy that I want to check out

  • take the trans siberian railway (i've been putting that off for way too long)       - This one might take a while

  • be written about in Wired       - This one might be quite hard

  • drive across America       - All I need to do this is time

  • learn either Japanese, Cantonese or Mandarin       - These are the languages of the 21st century

  • teach a class       - DONE!

  • go to the World Cup       - Germany 2006, gotta happen

  • run a marathon       - Once I complete this, I know I'll be as fit as I can be

  • own a convertible that was made before 1970       - Owning this will force me to learn more about cars

  • be able to fix said convertible       - See above

  • watch a Shuttle launch       - I think this will become more and more rare

  • learn to play the guitar or piano       - I've wanted to do this for a long time

  • climb one of the top 10 tallest mountains in the world       - I need to get fit first

  • break the speed of sound       - intentionally

  • fly in a private jet       - considering all the people I know in aviation, this can't be that hard

    • Who knew Spring Cleaning would be so rewarding?

    mikef4.jpgIt would appear that spring cleaning has benefits other than filling the garage with even more useless crap. While Deanne was at work this weekend, I was tasked with cleaning out the office closet, which has gathered random bits of electronic equipment ever since we moved into the house in 2002. After a few hours of or zip-tying cables, sorting random PC peripherals, and cleaning up cat piss, I was beginning to feel quite pleased with my progress. I deserved a break. I decided to go through the stack of CDs that I had uncovered in one of the darkest corners of the closet. Using my PC and laptop I began examining the contents of each CD. Most of it was useless crap; random drivers, audio CDs, and coasters. But then I stumbled across the mother lode. The missing photos from the legendary 2000 road trip that Mike, Deanne, Quinn and I took. I had been looking for these photos for four years. I had initially thought they had been destroyed when my hard drive failed back in 2001. But no, here they were on a CD-R. But alas, my joy was short lived as I tried to access the files. They had been corrupted. So close, yet so far. But I was determined not to be beaten. I scoured the internet for data recovery tools, and three hours later I was browsing through the 210 photos from our roadtrip. Take that, data corruption! Also on the CD were photos from our time in San Ramon, a trip to Monterey Deanne and I had taken, more photos from my College football days, and some photos I had taken at SFO. Quite a trip down memory lane. I immediately uploaded most of them to my website, so I wouldn't lose them again. The gallery now has over 2700 photos and I haven't even uploaded some photos I found from my buddy Jack's birthday party back in Canterbury. I'm also looking for the best solution to digitize a bunch of hard copy photos I have. If anyone has any solutions for scanning about 300 photos quickly and cheaply, let me know. So anyway, enjoy the photos, a quick glimpse into my past! P.s. The two photos at the top of the post are (l) Mike at Mojave in 2000 and (r) Mike at Mojave in 2005.

    Good Eatin'

    With our ongoing movie mission well underway I thought it might be a good idea to start compiling another list. This new list is collection of Bay Area restaurants that I want to try. Deanne and I have not fully taken advantage of the fantastic and diverse eateries that the Bay Area has to offer. We obviously have our favorites (Sansar) and there are a couple in the city that we enjoy going to, but I thought it was time to broaden our horizons and try some new places.To be honest, I'm surprised that we haven't already. We both love trying new food and there's almost nothing we won't eat at least once. I guess it's a question of time; trekking out to the city, especially on a weekday evening, can wear on the patience quite quickly. So I figure with the compilation of this list, it will give us some motivation to explore San Francisco (and the greater Bay Area)'s culinary delights. So without further ado, here's the list of restaurants I want to try: (note: all of these places come with a personal recommendation from various peeps, even more reason to try them out.) LaFondue - recommended by Dan Sandler as his default "special occassion spot." As the name suggests, it's a fondue restaurant. Aqua - generally considered one of the best restaurants in San Francisco, as the name suggests it's primarily a seafood restaurant. French Laundry - one of the most famous restaurants in the Bay Area (it's actually in Yountville), it's classified as "New American-French" food and it's reputation is second to none. Betlenut - this place was named as one of the top new restaurants in SF when it opened in 1995, it's contemporary southeast Asian food. I think this one is top of my list. Blowfish - a sushi restaurant with a twist. When you come in, there's Japanese techno music playing and anime playing on a large screen behind the sushi chefs. Sweet. Andalu - I haven't had tapas since I was in Hong Kong and when I heard about this place it suddenly made me crave the delicious Spanish dishes. King of Thai Noodle House - apparently when Thai people come to San Francisco, this is the place they go to get real Thai homecooking. Can't beat that endorsement. Stacks - the legendary Bay Area breakfast eatery uses some fairly hi-tech ordering tools; wireless PDAs transmit your order to the kitchen. Gotta check that out. Buck's - this place is famous for the venture capital negotiations that go on at it's humble tables. The owner has had to sign an incredible amount of NDAs. Jupiter - apparently this Berkeley brewhouse is a fun place to hang out, and their pizza is incredible too. Cityscape - I just want to go here for the view. It's on top of the Hilton San Francisco and the walls are 14ft windows in almost every direction, offering an incredible view of the city. That's it for now. Should keep us busy for the next few months. If you know of any great, preferrably unusual restaurants in the Bay Area, leave me a comment and tell me about it.

    Mr. and Mrs. Moviefone

    Deanne and I have have embarked on a movie crusade of sorts. We've gone through the IMDB Top 250 Movies (as voted by IMDB users), and crossed off all the ones we've seen. I'd say altogether we've seen about a third of them.So last month we started renting Top 250 movies that neither of us had seen before. No point in only one of us crossing it off our list, we'll do those ones after we've watched all the movies that neither of us have seen. So far we've watched some really fantastic movies, many of which we probably wouldn't have chosen to watch had it not been for this little project. In the last few weeks we've watched: - Dr. Strangelove (Brilliant, Peter Sellers is fantastic.) - Fargo (Really enjoyable, easy to see why Frances McDormand won an oscar for it.) - Fight Club (Good story, typical David Fincher movie) - Princess Mononoke (Stunning, easy to see why this was the highest grossing movie of all time in Japan for a very long time.) - Garden State (Funny, well written and well acted.) We have Requiem for a Dream and Twelve Monkeys lined up for the next two days. I'm looking forward to discovering more movies that I might not have watched otherwise. About 20% of the list is made up of foreign films, a genre I have sorely neglected recently. It's hard to keep up with all the great movies that come out, I think this is a good way of at least trying.

    Landon is Officially Gone

    http://www.mlsnet.com/MLS/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20041123&content_id=19573&vkey=news_mls&fext=.jsp
    "Landon Donovan has played his last Major League Soccer game, at least for a few years. The San Jose Earthquakes star and U.S. national team captain said Tuesday he will be going to Germany to join Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen when the co-sharing deal between MLS and the German club expires on January 1, 2005. Leverkusen exercised its option to recall Donovan this summer, and now Donovan has decided to return to Leverkusen, fulfilling his obligation to the club that originally signed him as a 16-year-old in 1999." Not unexpected, but still difficult to take. It's good for him, it's good for the MLS and it's good for the National Team. The Earthquakes get an allocation but it's unlikely whoever we pick up will have the same impact that he did.

    Quick trip to LA

    la.jpgBack from our quick jaunt down to Southern California. It was really a fact finding mission, as Deanne wanted to check out some of the universities down there for future reference. The drive down was very easy, and we got to Valencia in under three and a half hours. We arrived with Tricia a little after 10:30pm and she greeted us with red wine and halloween candy. We spent most of Saturday driving around the greater Los Angeles area, stopping at UC Irvine, Cal State Long Beach and UCLA. Irvine, both the university and city, was beautiful. We stopped at John Wayne Airport where my camera let me down, as always. We also stopped at LAX and ate at the famous In n' Out that sits right next to the airport perimeter fence. Saturday night was spent with Tricia's sister Nikki and her husband Michael. They were kind enough to have us over for drinks and Michael whipped up some of his famous Mai Tai's after returning from an unsuccesful search for Curacao. Nikki and Michael live in Newport Beach which is now my favorite town in California. We had dinner at a beautiful restaurant on the water. Afterwards, we took a stroll through the charming town, looking at the ridiculously expensive homes that lined the waterfront. The day's endeavours had left us rather exhausted so we collapsed pathetically early on Saturday night to prepare for the following day's journey home. Sunday morning gave us an hour extra to sleep, thanks to Daylight Savings. We packed up our things, said our thank yous and goodbyes to Tricia and her parents and hit the road. Part of the bargaining that resulted in our trip to LA was that we got to stop at Mojave on the way home. It's actually not that far out of the way, and only added about an hour to the journey. We ate at the fantastic restaurant underneath the old tour which has amazing views out over the field and the storage areas beyond. We took the car across the brush to the edge of the storage area to get a better view. There was not a soul to be seen anywhere. The number of aircraft has certainly increased since we were last there earlier in the year. This is probably due to the high price of oil. After snapping some photos, we hit the 58 and headed home. Deanne promptly fell asleep for most of the journey until her bladder woke her up in Fresno..........we didn't stop until Turlock. We made it from Mojave to Tracy in 4 hours, which isn't half bad. So a successful trip all around and our thanks to Tricia and her parents for allowing us to stay with them, and to Nikki and Michael for the excellent Mai Tai's. And yes........I got a new car. explorer.jpg

    Diet Update

    Well the scales are broken (not surprised after 4 years and 3 moves) so I can't tell you what my weight is this week but I'm pretty sure it won't be good.I'm sucking at this diet. I was doing well for a while but I find it very difficult to maintain a healthy eating ritual during the work week. By the time I get home, water the yard, and spend some time with Deanne, I'm usually exhausted and the last thing I want to do is cook a decent meal. That said, dinner is probably my healthiest meal of the day. There are some positives though. I'm eating breakfast regularly again which is very important. And since Noel is on this ultra-diabetic lowcarb diet, I've been forced to eat well at lunch as well. I usually end up getting a salad at Carl's. So we'll see. I need to start taking it more seriously, and find some exercise, besides the weightlifting, that I actually enjoy. Biking in Sycamore Grove was fun, but a pain in the ass, not to mention out of the question now that the days are getting shorter. Nevertheless, I will strive to continue and I will keep you updated with my progress.

    It begins

    Here were are, October 1st and my new diet and exercise regimen begins. I've taken a lot of time to prepare this one, as the only success I've had with other plans is when I've taken the time to plan things out in detail. It prevents any ambiguity that I might be able to take advantage of.I've had limited success with diets, I will admit. It's not so much the dieting that I find hard, I just can't seem to sustain it for more than a few months without getting really fed up. The last major diet I went on was pretty successful. I dropped 15lbs in 2 months and was working out everyday. I felt pretty good by the end of it. But life got in the way and I wasn't able to sustain the pace and sure enough, I put all the weight back on again. But that proved to myself that I could do it and get results. I actually enjoyed working out, especially lifting weights, as I could really see changes happening. I've taken the plan I used then and modified it based on the lessons I learned last time. A quick breakdown: My current weight - 221lbs Goal weight: 200lbs (I'm realistic) Current daily calorie intake - 2500+ Target daily calorie intake - 1500 My Basal Metabolic Rate is 2081. This means that I burn 2081 calories a day sitting still. To lose weight, I must eat less calories then my Basal Metabolic Rate. Hence my target calorie intake of 1500. Coupled with the dieting, is an exercise plan. For me, this part is much less painful than the dieting. I love my food. I really enjoyed lifting weights, and the cardio isn't so bad either. I'm starting with 30 minutes a day, increasing by 5 minutes each week until I reach 45 minutes a day.

    Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
    Cardio (Walking/Jogging) - 30 Minutes Weights - 30 Minutes Cardio (Eliptical) - 30 Minutes Weights - 30 Minutes Weights - 30 Minutes Cardio (Eliptical) - 30 Minutes Weights - 30 Minutes

    I'm putting all this info on here because I think it will give me some accountability. Each Friday, I'll weigh myself and post the weight on my blog, regardless if the number goes up or down. It will give me some motivation because I know you bastards will hound me if I don't lose the weight or if I fail to post an update! So wish me luck, hopefully this lifestyle change will get me back on track.

    Earthquake

    Just had a fun little shaker here in the Bay Area. Just under a 6.0 on the Richter Scale. It was enough to make people here at work stand up and go "Oh My God, earthquake!"To those of you who have never been in an earthquake, this one felt like the floor was rolling underneath me for about a minute. It makes you feel kinda dizzy and nauseous. It's rather disorienting. Anyway, it doesn't look like it's caused any damage, just rattled people a bit. Go California! Here's more info on the quake http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/recenteqs/Quakes/nc51147892.htm Update: The epicenter is about 135 miles south of San Jose on the San Andreas fault. There have been a bunch of aftershocks, some in the 4-5.9 magnitude range. quake.gif

    Kickball: A True Underdog Story

    I had the pleasure of playing in the first annual Sports4Kids Charity Corporate Kickball Tournament. That's right, I said kickball - as in the sport we all played in the 2nd grade. Apparently there's a thriving adult kickball community, even a World Adult Kickball Association. Who knew?



    Anyway, a couple of weeks ago a colleague approached my cube and the following conversation took place: Colleague: "Hey Alex, you used to play soccer, right?" Me: "Yup." Colleague: "So...you could kick a ball pretty far, right?" Me: "...uhh.....yeah, I guess." Colleague: "Cool...Cool....so hey would you wanna play in a kickball tournament Me: "...a what?" Colleague: "A kickball tournament, it's for charity and we're putting an RHI team together." Me: "I dunno man, I got tons of stuff going on and I ne.. Colleague: "We're playing marketing" Me: "I'm in." So on Thursday I found myself heading towards Treasure Island (for those of you not familiar with Bay Area geography, Treasure Island is the little island (duh) in the middle of the Bay that connects the two spans of the Bay Bridge) Funny side story: my drive out there almost ended rather badly; when I was merging onto 580, I floored it and when I took my foot off the accelerator....I kept accelerating! It was stuck! So I quickly reached down and pulled the pedal up, hit the hazards and pulled off the road. Seemed as though the floor mat had jammed up against the pedal. Bit of excitement. Anyway, the tournament took place on a large field right on the water (see photos. There were a total of 10 teams, including 2 from RHI, a very drunk Oakland Fire Department team, and various other Bay Area companies. We had a fairly strong team including a former cleanup kicker for his Navy OCS team, and of course Deanne who played MUCH better than I did. We played a total of five games, won 3, lost 1 and were ROBBED in the final game. We placed second or third (I left before the final standings were announced.) I pulled muscles I didn't even know I had, got sunburned and blown around by the 25mph winds. I woke up Friday morning feeling like an old man. Don't let anyone tell you Kickball is a kids' game....it's not.

    Not so much if, more like when...

    LD.jpgIt's finally happened. After years of speculation, complex contract extensions, intricate loan agreements, and much wailing and gnashing of teeth, Landon Donovan is finally returning to Germany. Bayer Leverkusen, who owns LD's contract, decided it was time for the Landon to earn his keep and return to the Bundesliga. The Bayer Chairman Reiner Calmund flew out to Boston where the US national team was busy destroying the Honduras 4-0. He had made it clear he had come to the US to tell Landon that Leverkusen wanted him back. Landon has made it clear over the years that he loathed his time in Germnay. In the handful of interviews I've done with him in the last few years he always maintained that the weather was crap, the people were rude and the quality of life was not what he was looking for. San Jose was his salvation and clearly he's thrived here. But recently he began to make noises about a possible return to Germany. He began to feel that he was at a level that would warrant a first team place with Leverkusen - his omission from the first team in his first stint with Leverkusen was a contributing factor in his desire to return to the U.S. Now it has happened. Landon will return to Bayer Leverkusen on January 1st, 2005. He seems to be excited about the prospect - "I look forward to my return and the challenge at Bayer 04 Leverkusen." I'm pleased for him. It will certainly be sad to see him leave the Earthquakes but it's about time he is able to use his talents on a larger stage. This will give him the chance to play Champions League soccer and really make a name for himself outside of the U.S. So good luck Landon, remember us fans back in San Jose when you're scoring goals against Germany's best.

    It's ever so fashionable

    kcbsplane580.jpgToday started off like any other Monday. I was unusually chipper after an unusually great weekend. As I made my way along 580 at about 7mph, I listened attentively to the KCBS traffic report, as always. I thought I was experiencing major Deja Vu when I heard "Bit of breaking news here, we're getting reports of a small plane down on 580 in Castro Valley..." Not again!This time though, the pilot managed to land the plane safely, no accidents, plane intact and all. Well done. As the details and eyewitness accounts came in, a morbid thought entered my mind, "wouldn't it be funny if that was one of the KCBS traffic planes." I began to chuckle to myself "Oh the irony," I thought. Then as the news anchors came back from a commercial break, they lead with "Well sometimes when you're reporting the news, you sometimes end up IN the news." What's this...could it be? "The plane that landed on 580 is in fact KCBS Sky 3" HA! What are the odds?! Well pretty good actually as it was 8:30am and they were headed back to Hayward for their scheduled landing. But the irony was just delicious. Morbid fascination aside it sounds like the pilot is both hero and villain. He landed the plane in an emergency situation without incident, avoiding traffic while keeping the plane intact. Kudos. HOWEVER...he ran out of fuel. Rule number one of flying, know thine airplane. No matter how impressive his emergency landing was, he shouldn't have been in that situation in the first place. Unfortunately, it's going to leave a nasty blight on his record, and the traffic watch guys are usually budding pilots trying to build hours. But all's well that ends well. Everybody's safe, plane is intact, and most importantly, I got to work before the traffic backed up.

    A tale of two kitties

    I think that title alone justifies the blog post. Anyway, on Saturday Mike came over and brought Nigel. Now Nigel and our black cat Mandy look quite similar...ok VERY similar. Now they have only met once before, when Nigel was a kitten and it didn't go very well. Mandy took on the role of agressor and repeatedly bopped Nigel on the head.So we were all curious to see what happened when the got together this time. Our other cats didn't even notice something was awry - they figured the black cat sitting atop the cat tree was Mandy....that was until Mandy came waltzing around the corner. There was a unanimous look of "....WTF? from all the cats. Nigel played it cool and stood his ground. Kitty...well Kitty just stared. Mandy proceeded to investigate. She climbed up onto the counter and reached up to the top platform of the cat tree. He peered over the edge and looked at Nigel as if to say "....is there something I can f**king help you with?" But that was about as heated as it got. Sure there was the occassional hissing, and the classic "goodbye" howling that Nigel and Mandy did. It was certainly an entertaining meeting.