Customer Service

I rented a car today from Enterprise. Panda chan is coming into town again tomorrow (yeah!), and I decided it would be better to pick her up in a car, instead of taking BART (the train). Plus, she's getting in at 7:30 in the morning, which means I'd probably have to take a 6 or 6:30 train to make it there in time.

I used Enterprise because a) last time I rented a car through them I had a great experience, b) it's close to my apartment c) it's usually cheaper than other places (though not this time) and d) perhaps the most important part, they pick me up. Last time it worked out great -- I called, and 20 minutes later they were at my school, ready to take me to their location.

This time, however, I waited outside for 30 minutes AFTER the agreed-upon time before they finally came. So, when I made it to the counter, I was somewhat less than pleased. This bad experience had completely colored my image of Enterprise, and not in a good way.

Fortunately, it didn't end there. Sensing I was NOT in a happy mood (and remembering that I had been in a few weeks ago), Kenny, the young guy behind the counter, offered to give me a free upgrade. Not only that, it was from a compact to a convertible (which apparently they had just gotten from the airport). AND, he offered to cut me some slack on the amount of gas I needed to fill the tank with before I brought it back. So he turned a potentially bad situation into a great one. All for the price of MAYBE 2 bucks in gas, and the use of a convertible which otherwise probably would have sat idle on the lot.

So, yes, I'll be going back to Enterprise for my next rental car need.

I was an early adopter

Way back in '93 and '94, I had already started using the internet at Amherst. Unfortunately, at the time all it was good for was sending e-mails to classmates (few people outside of school had e-mail yet), IRC (EARLY version of chat) and downloading crappy quality videos of Tori Amos concerts (it was a long time ago, okay?).

I really wish we had had something like this. I can't figure out if this is officially supported by Amherst or not, but either way it seems pretty cool. Especially the schedule function. Ah, to be young again...

Radicalicious

I want some! I can't recall seeing any Lavazza's in the Bay Area, but I wonder if they're bringing this out here anytime soon... Or maybe the Lavazza's in Japan have it??

Goooooaaalllll!!!!

After a multi-year hiatus, I recently started playing soccer again. A few weeks ago, the soccer club held a first-years vs. second-years match, and so I signed up. I ended up playing in the field for 10 or 15 minutes (talk about out of shape!), and then spent most of the 2nd half in goal.

Surprisingly, despite the fact that I gave up a goal (I was, admittedly, a bit rusty), I was invited to play on one of my classmates' intramural "Speed Soccer" team (basically, 6-aside on a small "field"), because they needed a keeper. My debut game was supposed to happen two weeks ago, but the team roster was full, so I wasn't able to play.

Last Tuesday night (a week ago), I braved the cold, cold weather and showed up, this time with my name on the roster. And in my debut, not only did I manage a shut-out, but in the last 5 minutes I switched with another player and managed to score a goal!! Granted, the other team only had 4 players to our 6, and the final score was an embarrassing 15-0, but still! That didn't take away from the excitement of scoring (my first goal in YEARS...)

Turns out that was the last game of regular season, so in two weeks we have the beginning of the playoffs. Here's hoping for another shutout/goal combination!

This sucks...

I’m writing this post sitting in front of my gate at Oakland Airport, on my way back to Baton Rouge. It’s 5AM, and my flight doesn’t leave until another hour and fifteen minutes. Being 75 minutes early during the middle of the afternoon is bad enough, but at 5 AM it just plain sucks. Especially when getting here this early required me to wake up at 3:40 this morning. Especially when I didn’t get to sleep until almost 1 last night. Especially when I didn’t get to sleep until 4 the night before (although, the extra hour of sleep I got from missing my alarm and being late to class was pretty helpful…)

The first shuttle company I called told me I needed a 3AM pickup for a 6:15 flight. Talk about stupidity. What kind of freakin’ idiots are they?? 2 hours to get to the airport?? Even the San Jose airport doesn’t take 2 hours to get to from Berkeley, especially at 3 o’clock in the freakin’ morning! Morons.

So instead, I called around until I found a place that gave me a (what I thought was) more reasonable 4 AM. Oh well, better than taking public transportation at this ungodly hour.

Now, if only I could figure out why the hell I still have to take my shoes off every time I go through security. And what was up with the TSA guy bitching at me about putting stuff on top of my laptop? Do you mean to tell me that the x-ray machine can see through my bag, and through metal, but it can’t see through my jacket?? Whatever.

Wheels!

Suhweet! After about a month of not having wheels (other than the occasional rental car), I finally got a new bike! Ah, I can taste the freedom. And it tastes kinda like creme brulee! Mmmmmm, creme brulee.....

Anyway, I ended up getting a cool Trek hybrid bike. In this bitchin' red color. And I figured since I was at it, it was best to get some of the options -- helmet (gotta stay safe!), lock (MAJOR Kryptonite U-lock, so the thieves can't strike twice), chain lock (for my front tires, which are now quick-release) and a new mount for my bike light, since the old one was on my stolen bike (but fortunately I had the light itself up in my apartment).

Ready to roll!

PS -- thanks go out to my folks who got me the bike for my (now belated) birthday.

Will it blend?

I don't know why you would ever want to blend a rake handle or marbles (or create cochicken for that matter), but I'll be darned if it itsn't GREAT salesmanship (and a great use of YouTube, to boot).

If

Anybody else is reading this, this one's for you, my loyal readers (who aren't my parents).

Real posting to return shortly....

And

Just so my Mom doesn't feel left out, Mom, this post's for you.

Ouch

Wow. Now even my DAD is giving me crap for not posting. What can I say? I'm lazy (as if you didn't realize that 20 or 30 posts ago....).

Well, here you go Dad. This post's for you.

Hillarious!

One of my friends was recently bemoaning the fact that I haven't been updating my blog much lately, and that when I do, it's just links to stuff on the web. Well, I know I have a lot to catch up on (finals! Trip to LA!), but unfortunately, little time (well, maybe effort is the better word?). And besides, a lot of the great blogs I read do the same thing -- point to other things on the web. That's the viral nature of the internet.

So, in keeping with that tradition, I've posted the above link (in the title) to a ridiculously funny video a friend passed on to me. And the greatest thing about it is it was actually made by Nike in Japan. If you go to their nikeid.com website, you can even "order" a custom version (unfortunately, when I tried to put it in my cart, it ended with "Just a joke!". Would have made an AWESOME Halloween costume....)

Good to the last drop

I've been using my new coffee maker pretty regularly lately. On weekedays, I'll usually make a pot in the morning, before I go to classes. Depending on long a day I have, I sometimes put what I don't drink in a thermos, and take it to school (helps keep me awake during the more boring lectures...).

Never having bought coffee beans before, I've been experimenting with a few different varieties. The Berkeley Bowl sells organic coffee at 8 bucks a pound, which is a great deal, considering the exact same stuff is 10 bucks at another grocery store, and Peet's coffee sells their stuff for 12 bucks a pound in their cafes (not sure what Starbucks goes for, but probably something similar). I tried a couple of different flavors/types, and they were all pretty good (alhtough, I can't really recall if one was better than the other).

Much to my surprise, the Bowl also sells French Market coffee, Chicory coffee from Louisiana. I've had it at my parents' place several times (I think), and since it was only 6 bucks for a pound, I thought I'd give it a try. Not only is it going to last me twice as long as what I had previously used (because you only have to use half as much), but it tastes really damn good! Add some soy milk (vanilla or plain), and it's even better! There goes any attempt at limiting my coffee intake....

Sheer Genius!

And with English supertitles, to boot!

Love it, or get your ass off the internet, 'cause you don't belong!

(and next time you wonder why I like Japan so much, just think back to this video -- what's not to like?!?)

a great idea

Maybe it's just a reminant of my childhood fascination with legos, but I think this is really cool. Can you imagine stacking blocks of ice cubes in your drink glass? Brilliant!

Curry Rice

I made myself a big ole' pot of curry rice for dinner. Mmmmmm! Good stuff. Although I should have cooked it a little longer to make the beef a little more tender.

One of the great things about curry rice is leftovers! I used to make it a lot when I lived in LA, and it always lasted at least till dinner the next night (including lunch!). So guess what I'm bringing to school tomorrow? You got it, a tupperware container full of curry rice!

You learn something new...

File this one under the "I feel a little silly, yet I'm glad I found out" department.

I was talking with one of my classmates yesterday about new bikes, telling him how mine had gotten stolen. We started to talk about gears and what's good on a bike. Then it became clear to me that the reason I was having so much trouble pedalling my (old) bike was because I was using the wrong gears. I had thought high gear was for going up hills, because it seemed like each time I pedalled it propelled me farther. Turns out, high gear (I think it's high gear. 3rd on the left, 5th on the right kinda thing) is for going DOWNHILL. Huh. Who knew?

Can't wait to try it out. Yet I have to wait, at least until I can get a new bike.... Oh the irony.

damn

My bike got stolen the other day. The kicker is, it was chained up INSIDE the gated garage of my apartment building. Whoever stole it was nice enough to leave the cut chain behind...

It was quite the shock finding out. I had gone down into the garage, to hop on my bike and ride to my evening class. My first reaction was "huh. Did I forget to bring my bike back from campus the other day?". Then I saw the chain.

So I had to call the police yesterday morning to file my first-ever stolen property report. Then called the insurance company (my deductible is $250, though, so the chances of me getting anything are slim) and my building's property management company.

Fun stuff....

Chocoglllllrlrlrlrlrh.......

I just got back from a cooking class, sponsored by the Culinary Club at Haas (one of my favorite clubs!). It was held at a place called Kitchen of Fire. I was expecting a similar experience to my cooking classes in China and Thailand, meaning a small class size and individual cooking stations, so I was a little disappointed when 15 or 20 people showed up, and all of us collaborated on 4 different chocolate deserts, at 4 simultaneous stations.

Nonetheless, it was a lot of fun. Only now, I'm suffering from a combination of a chocolate-induced high and a general bluh-feeling caused by too much chocolate. In a good way, though.

I've come to a realization, though, that while I really like chocolate, I'm not that big a fan of chocolate cake deserts. Brownies, yes, cakes, not so much. Even the chocolate lave cake wasn't that awe-inspiring (although, maybe that was just because by the time I had some, I was already suffering from a minor-soon-to-be-major overdoes of chocolate...). The truffles, though, well, that's a whole 'nuther story altogether. Deeeelicious! Whether dark or milk, rolled in almonds, hazelnuts or cocoa powder, they were mmmmm good!

Definitely going to make those again. Maybe tomorrow??

(BTW, this post's title is the sound that comes out of my mouth when I try to say "chocolate" now. See above-referenced chocolate high/chocolate bluh.)

Tipping Point

For those of you who haven't read "The Tipping Point", you should. For those of you that have, I wonder when the global warming topic reached it's tipping point, and what caused it. Whatever it was, I like it!

Check out this video of Ted Turner and David Letterman talking green.

Disgustingly Ridiculous

And yet fascinating at the same time...

"He doesn't know it's a competition..." Of course not, you idiot!!!! He's a freakin' BEAR!!!!