Sporadic Blogging

New York Cares Day

2005-10-17T14:56:00.000-07:00

http://www.yojenny.com/index.php?bid=9

Keys To The City

2005-08-29T19:10:00.000-07:00

Yay! I'm finally getting the keys to my new apartment tomorrow morning. It feels like I've been waiting forever, but in reality the first time I saw my apartment was last Wednesday! Ever since then, the days have been dragging on and on and on...

Today, the whole lease signing and approval process was completed, so I could finally call the super of the building to schedule my move-in date. I called around 5pm and the doorman picks up. Apparently the super is out today. So I go ahead and schedule the move-in date with the doorman. Here's how the conversation went:

Doorman: So what day would you like to move in?
Me: This Friday.
Doorman: Ok, this Friday the 3rd.
Me: No, it's the 2nd.
Doorman: Ok, this Thursday the 2nd.
Me: No, this Friday is the 2nd.
Doorman: (mumbling to himself) Hmmm, let's see...June 30th is a Thursday...then 23rd, 16th, 9th...then the 2nd...so Thursday then Friday. Ok so you want to move in Friday June 3rd.
Me: ...This Friday is September 2nd. (what's wrong with you?????)
Doorman: (pause) ...oh ...OH ...OOOOOOOOOOOHH. Wow I'm really behind!
Me: Hehe yeah. (crack head)

Anyways, I need to get furniture for my place. The only piece of furniture I'm moving to my apt is my mattress and TV. Everything else I need to buy. Bah! I looked around at furniture the past few days. Damn it's mad expensive! Freaking A. I'm gonna be in the poor house for the rest of the year.

Interview With God

2005-07-20T16:17:00.000-07:00

http://168.143.173.209/IWG_net.swf

(Thanks Pat for showing me this.)

My Broke Ass

2005-06-12T21:59:00.000-07:00

Man, I am going to be so broke after I move. I used these checks my credit card gave me to deposit money into my bank account. Blah. Had no choice, since I don't have enough cash in my account to cover my relocation expenses. Shipping my apartment stuff is going to be a little over $3,000. Then I have to ship my car, which will cost be an additional $1000. Luckily I had enough freq flyer miles to get a free plane ticket home. That's $400 less off my total debt. Moving home is supposed to save me money so that I can start making ends meet and pay off my student loans within the next 5 years. But that's not going to happen for another 3 months, since I'll need to pay for my relocation expenses first. > :-O

Trying to sell my stuff, but I find myself giving away stuff to friends for free. Maybe I should just donate it all to Goodwill so I can at least write it off and benefit from it later. Blah. Thinking about my debt is making me depressed. Break over, time to go back to packing.

Oh hey, I know, I should start one of those websites where I can ask people to donate to the Help-Jenny-Make-It-Back-Home Fund. If people are stupid enough to send money to that Save Toby website, then maybe they will help me too. Hey I have a rabbit too. Don't-Leave-Buster-Behind Fund.

Pack Rat

2005-06-12T18:32:00.000-07:00

Ugh. Why do I always save EVERYTHING. Everytime I move, I swear to myself that I won't collect junk anymore. But as soon as I settle into my new home, I start saving everything again, thinking I'll have use for it sooner or later. It's a vicious cycle, and now I'm feeling the burn of it again.

Does anyone know where I can donate college textbooks? The public library doesn't accept them, damn them. Wah!

5 bdrm ... ONE BATHROOM

2005-06-11T21:42:00.000-07:00

Just read a craigslist post for a shared apartment. The current tenants are looking for someone to rent a room in their 5 bedroom loft which has ONE bathroom. Is that even legal? They must have converted the loft to 5 bedrooms, because what architect would be stupid enough to design a 5 bedroom loft with only ONE bathroom. Unless it's one of those communal bathrooms that have multiple toilets, showers and sinks (like how they have it in MTV's Real World).

$40,000 4-bdrm apt on the UWS?!

2005-06-11T18:43:00.000-07:00

During my (many) breaks from packing and cleaning, I've been browsing craigslist for apartments in Manhattan. I'm not in a rush to find an apartment, but I like wasting time looking online.

I want to find an apartment in the upper west side. My older brother says it's a boring place to live, "It'd be like living in the burbs". Which is the reason why I want to live there. I want to be surrounded by as much greenery as I can get in the city. I'll take having Riverside Park and Central Park on opposite sides of me any day over being surrounded by bars, clubs and shopping. The only problem is that it's one of the more expensive areas in the city, for the exact reasons why I want to live there - comfort, cleanliness, less crowded and upscale. Unfortunately I won't be getting a bump in my salary to match the New York cost of living. I asked my manager for one, but she thinks that the cost of living is the same as Silicon Valley. :/ Uhmmm, I don't think so. Everything is definitely more expensive in New York City - rent, food, entertainment, toilet paper, everything! Even if the real estate is within the same range, keep in mind for 2.5 mil, you're getting a nice big mansion with a yard and 3 car garage in Silicon Valley, compared to a 2bdrm/2bath 1500 sq ft condo which doesn't include parking. Comparable? I think not.

Jenny Go Away

2005-06-09T21:03:00.000-07:00

On Sunday June 5, Andy, Pat and Ray took me out for a going-away dinner, or as Andy titled it on his photo gallery site - "Jenny Go Away". He said it was a typo...suuuure.

Leaving CA
Originally uploaded by yojenny.

I'm Baaaack

2005-06-08T10:12:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I broke my website, and using blogger as a fallback.

Brief update on the past few weeks:
-- 05.18.05 : Had a talk with my manager about moving back to Jersey. She offered to relocate me to our NY office instead of having me quit. SWEET.
-- 05.27.05 : Got approvals from VP and EVP. *Doing the cabbage patch dance*
-- 05.27.05 : Started packing. Two words: Oy Vey.
-- 05.28.05 to Present : My apartment has become a packing nightmare, boxes and crap everywhere. Buster's having fun with it though, it's like a gigantic maze for him to roam in.
-- 05.28.05 : Buster bit a huge chunk out of my finger. OW!! Note to self: Don't poke bunny when he is sleeping. Grouchy bastard.
-- 05.31.05 to Present : My cube at work has become a mini-version of my apartment.

Defunct

2005-04-12T00:44:00.000-07:00

Sorry, this blog is now defunct. I'm trying to move all my numerous blogs to my website, and actually make use of the service I actually pay for!

www.yojenny.com

Buster's Day @ the Park

2005-02-14T23:33:00.000-08:00

I took Buster on an adventure to the park this past Sunday. Ray was nice enough to come along and take some professional portraits of Buster. Click on the picture to check out the rest of the photos.

Buster's Day @ the Park
Originally uploaded by yojenny.

Snowblading

2005-01-19T23:03:00.000-08:00

I know this isn't a photo, but it came from a digital camera, so close enough!
Here is a very short video clip my friend took of me going over my first hill on the snowblades I learned how to use that day. I played around with Quicktime and was able to put a little tune in the background. Hehe.

The snowboarder in the video watching me go over the jump was probably thinking how lame I was. Haha.

CNN Headline

2005-01-19T01:09:00.000-08:00

Did anyone else notice something funny with this headline? I wonder if it was intentional...

Sneak Peek

2005-01-18T01:00:00.000-08:00

I've been pretty lazy with putting up the photos from my trip to London. Okay, I've been REALLY lazy. The thought of going through over 600 pictures just makes me want to crawl back into bed and hide under the covers. But I finally started to sort through them today. Here's a picture from the fun bus tour I went on. This is one of my favorite pictures because it captures the experience of zipping through London ontop of a double decker bus. (It was so cold!)

iPod Shuffle

2005-01-11T23:12:00.000-08:00

Today Apple came out with a few new products. Thanks to my Apple junkie friends for informing me. One of the new products is the iPod Shuffle, an addition to Apple's line of mp3 players. Looks like Apple finally decided to get in on the lower-end mp3 player market. The iPod Shuffle is basically a USB drive with music playing capabilities. This type of technology has been around for quite a while already. However the iPod Shuffle lacks a lot of features that a majority of the existing USB drive players have, such as a LCD screen, FM tuner and voice recording capabilities. The only thing the iPod Shuffle has one up on the other guys is Apple's signature trendy white plastic casing and slimness (which is the reason for it's low-feature diet).

As innovative as Apple would like to make their shuffling feature sound (which is the basis of it's marketing campaign), I'm hoping people aren't too blinded by that shiny white case to realize that all mp3 players already come with this shuffle feature. Don't cast a sour look on the rest of the mp3 players, people! They too can bring you the excitement of unpredictableness and drive the rebel deep inside of you bursting out, screaming at the top of your lungs "Screw you world, I'm part of the Random Revolution! I reject your routines and spit on your orderliness! Patooey." Geez, where the hell did that come from. Sorry the shuffling got me all excited. Damn Apple marketing, you're good!

Anyways, I must admit though, the iPod Shuffle does look pretty slick (but still reminds me of a home pregnanacy test) and would certainly give even the dorkiest guy some style. Score one for Apple.

I'm still going to look elsewhere and continue my search for "the one". MP3 player that is. I'm still searching for a mp3 player that has the perfect balance of functionality and beauty. Okay fine! I'm just looking for a cute little red one! Gosh! Is that so wrong?! It's a lot harder than it sounds yknow. Currently I have my eye on the Mach Speed MP3 Player.

It's not red, but I like the 9 folder feature which could be used to save 9 different playlists to fit your mood. Shuffling is cool, but sometimes I like to stick with a certain theme depending on my mood. If I feel all wired and want some music to pump me up (like if I'm at the gym), I don't want to be listening to any sappy love songs that will drag me down. And it'd start to get annoying when I have to keep clicking through to find a good song. Especially clicking through 512MB worth of songs and having to listen to the first few notes before figuring out what song it is. That would really mess up the flow of music. Another cool feature the Mach Speed has is the multi-color backlight, and you know there's gotta be a red option! Whoo hoo.

iProduct

2005-01-11T22:59:00.000-08:00

Oh how true it is, even the shit part. Haha. Apple is the king of brand marketing.

DEATH!

2004-12-13T23:45:00.000-08:00

What a headline. I was caught a bit off guard finding this on my doorstep, but then I remembered that today was the sentencing of Scott Peterson.

Yield to Ducks Partying

2004-12-10T15:27:00.000-08:00

There's this sign that I always pass when I go to Pet Club to buy hay for Buster. It's on Fashion Blvd under Rte 92. It always cracks me up when I see it. Notice the third duck. Quack!

Art Show

2004-11-22T16:58:00.000-08:00

Thursday night I went to an art show with James to check out one of his friend's stuff. Some of the pieces there were pretty amazing. Whenever I see great art, it makes me regret not going through with art school. It makes me wonder what my ability would be now if I did. Ever since I finished high school, I think my creativity has decreased exponentially. I never realized how much time you really need to commit to do stuff like that. In school (pre-college) there was always an alloted time to do it and more importantly, free supplies. Now when I find myself trying to get back into it, the time and money issue becomes more evident and restraining. Oh well, practicalness always gets the best of me. I'm happy being an engineer making money, it pays the bills.

You can check out some of the artists that were at the show at this website: http://www.culpritresearchproject.com

My hair really isn't that puffy (only when I wake up in the morning) It's the shadow created from the flash that's adding the extra locks.

Change of Season

2004-11-15T21:52:00.000-08:00

I love when the seasons change. Seeing the physical changes, smelling the change in the air, it puts you in a special mood...it's hard to explain, it's like each season brings back the same feelings I get every year as far as I can remember from my childhood. It's irreplaceable and something I always appreciate when the seasons change.

Unfortunately in the part of California I live in, it's more like 2 seasons. Sunshine and rain. No extreme hot summers, no spring showers, no autumn colors, no white Christmases. It's rather boring. Not to say I don't appreciate sunshine and warmish weather. But I hate wet winters and cold summers suck. The first time I actually wore long pants during the summer was when I first moved out to California.

Having the same mediocre weather for most of the year is like having one really fucking long day and not knowing what time it is. The change of seasons makes you see and feel that time is going by - life is happening! I miss the smells and the visual displays of mother nature. Fall is my favorite season. The air turns brisk and the landscape morphs into a rainbow of colors. I just love it. Inhaling the brisk air clears my mind and just makes me feel warm and cozy inside. Hehe.

Thank you E*TRADE land management for planting deciduous trees in the parking lot. I started parking my car in this part of the lot when the leaves started to change colors. Sitting in my car a little bit longer every morning right before going into the office helped bring back the feeling of being at home sweet home.

Softball - Fall 2004

2004-10-17T22:41:00.000-07:00

This year is the first year our company signed up for a softball league during the Fall season. We joined the Palo Alto League this time. The number of games is less than the Spring season, I dunno if this is because of the season, or because the rules for the Palo Alto league is different from the San Mateo league. Anyways, we're really kicking butt, we're going into the playoffs this Wed with an undefeated record of 5-0. Wish us luck!

Baking Is For Girls

2004-10-05T19:56:00.000-07:00

Not. I hardly ever bake even though I LOVE sweets. Today I felt adventurous and decided to try and bake something. There were a lot of pears left over at work from Fruit Week, so I took 4 and brought it home. Then they just chilled (literally..har har har) in my fridge for a day because I didn't know what to do with them. Last night I found a receipe for Pear Mini Turnovers and knew it was love at first sight! :)

That's my poor attempt at presentation. Hershey's syrup just doesn't drizzle like the syrup they use on tv. I put the turnover on top of the big blob of chocolate that first came out of the squeeze bottle. Heheh. Regardless, it all went down with a big smile. :) Shouldn't have eaten them before dinner though, now I'm not hungry anymore.

Mount Tamalpais

2004-09-26T21:00:00.000-07:00

Went hiking at Mt Tam today. Or maybe I should say we went driving. It was a long and windy drive through Mt Tam to get to the East peak, the highest point of elevation of the mountain (about 2500 feet). There's a large parking lot at the base of the peak, then we took the Plank Walk trail (which is literally a plank walkway, like a boardwalk) up to the top of the peak. The trail is really short, about 0.54 miles. But it's steep and really rocky and narrow towards the top. At the very tip of the peak there is a watch tower which is used to look out for forest fires. Pretty cool, but we noticed that the door had a padlock (which was locked) on the outside of the door, yet there was someone in the tower....not cool if you're that guy in the tower. I guess they really force you to do your job.

It was nervous trying to take pictures while balancing on the rocks, so I only took 2 pictures that day. I tried sitting down, but the rocks were really hot from the sun. Here's one picture: (Click on it to enlarge to full size)

You can see the San Francisco Bay, East Bay, North Bay, San Francisco, the Peninsula and the Pacific Ocean all at once! How crazy is that! There was also a trail that went around the base of the peak, it's handicap-accessible too! The trail is called Verna Dunshee and is about 0.62 miles. Very nice relaxing walk along a paved path.

I definitely recommend visiting Mt Tam's East peak to anyone who wants to be blown away by scenery.

iMac G5

2004-08-31T10:23:00.000-07:00

http://www.apple.com/imac/

Pretty cool idea. But the only shortcoming is that you can't upgrade the hardware. If you want to add anything, like another harddrive or a tv tuner, they have to be connected externally through firewire. Which kinda misses the point of having an "all-in-one" computer if you have a mess of external devices cluttering your desk anyways. That's not a problem for the basic computer user, but for geeks that like to add toys and upgrade their hardware, this would probably be too weak. But then again, most people only buy Apple for the looks, which is pretty much the only thing Apple has to offer that makes them any different from other computers.

My Picasso Heads

2004-07-16T14:42:00.000-07:00

My First Picasso Head
Portrait of Me by Marcus
Self Portrait by Marcus

Pharcyde and X-Ecutioners Show

2004-06-26T17:42:00.000-07:00

Thursday night I went to go see Pharcyde and X-Ecutioners at the Fillmore with James and Ricardo. The crowd was a weird mix, think most of them were stoners though. The place reeked of weed and kids were toking up right in front of me left and right. But besides that little nuanace, the show was awesome! Pharcyde is excellent live, it was amazing to see them in person. I've heard of the X-Ecutioners before, but wasn't too familiar with their stuff. Their performance was awesome too, spinning around each other and just feeding off each other's energy, you could tell they were all really tight with each other. Roc Raida is a cutie too. :) Check out their website.
Pharcyde is coming out with a new album called Humboldt Beginnings, I think sometime early July. I hope it's alot like their first album, Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde, that's gotta be my favorite one, with their original crazy and funny style. The X-Ecutioners have a new album out as well, called Revolutions, I'll be sure to check that out now. Oh yeah, I can't forget to mention the opening act, C-Rayz Walz. I've never heard of him before, but the dude's got skills! I couldn't put my finger on who he sounded like (voice-wise not style-wise). If anyone's familiar with him, help me figure it out.

Bootie Brown, me and Imani

More photos from the show can be found on my website.

Beat LA

2004-06-23T23:32:00.000-07:00

Went to the Giants vs Dodgers game today with Jassen. Jassen got awesome seats on the right side of the stadium...great view of the Bay and the Bay Bridge (and the field of course). It wasn't as cold and windy as I expected it to be for most of the game, towards the end the wind was picking up though. Not sure if that's because the people around me left and they were originally blocking the wind off me. Anyways, the game was exciting the first 2 innings, Dodgers scored 2 in the first inning (we were late so missed it), then in the second inning, Giants had bases loaded and 1 out, Ray Durham at bat and hit a triple, putting Giants in the lead with 3. The rest of the game was uneventful, with neither teams getting any more runs. But at the end of the 5th inning a fight broke lose at first base. It's funny how fast everyone from the dug out ran out into the field. Weaver from the Dodgers was trying to tag Tucker from the Giants at first, it was really close, but he was called out and I guess Tucker wasn't happy with Weaver and someone shoved first and that's when both teams rushed out into the field. It was awesome! They need more fights in baseball.

Tandem Biking

2004-06-20T23:30:00.000-07:00

Today I went to Golden Gate Park with Chris and Benoit. We rented a bicycle/cart at a bike rental place in the park. I don't remember what the name of the bike was, but it can fit up to 6 people (4 sets of peddles)! We biked along JFK Blvd, visited the bisons and then headed to the beach. We were freezing our butts off, it was cloudy, cold, and windy! That's San Francisco weather for ya. But it was alot of fun (even though we looked like dorks), especially when kids would stare at us in awe and be like "That's SO COOL, I want to do that!". Haha.

The bike didn't go that fast at all, it felt like it had a set maximum speed it could reach, because no matter how fast we all peddled, we were still going like 10 mph. It was quite a workout for Chris and Ben, but less for me since I sat in the back and would take a few secret breaks from pedaling. Hehe.

Softball

2004-06-15T23:00:00.000-07:00

Today was the playoffs for our softball league. Our company did pretty good this season, so we were really hyped for the playoffs. Our first game was with one of our bigger rivals. We only played them once before, and it was a hard lost for us because they aren't that good. We've beat many better teams before.

The game started off great for us, I don't think we let them make any runs for at least 2 innings. We scored a couple points and were beating them by a fair amount. Then towards the end of the game, seems like the strike zone mysteriously changed and they were getting walks left and right. Their first 2 points were walks. If the batter is a guy and he walks, he gets 2 bases. The bases were loaded at that time, and we were pretty pissed when the umpire called the last ball. It was all very suspicious to us. Later on we found out that some of the team members were buddies with the umps because they all worked at the dept of rec together. Also, one of our team members heard the home plate umpire say to one of the opposing team's member "Don't worry we like you guys". I'm not gonna go into details on all the bad calls they made, but needless to say we were all very bitter when we lost our first playoff game. But we headed to the bar afterwards and had a few beers to wash away the bitterness. :)