Pillars of the Earth

Finally I'm done with my third book of the year, this one had approx a thousand pages, 973 to be exact. Took me about 20 days but it was a fun read, definitely a very entertaining book. So I have fifteen more books to read for the rest of the year. I started with Half Blood Prince last night. I can't wait to finish the Harry Potter series. After this, I have one more to go before the end.

Anyway Pillars of the Earth is by Ken Follett and it's his best selling book ever, which is ironic because he usually writes thrillers. POTE on the other hand's a spellbinding epic set in 12th-century England, and tells the story of the struggle to build the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has known—a struggle between good and evil that will turn church against state, and brother against brother. The characters in this book; Tom Builder, Alfred, Martha, Jonathan, Prior Philip, Ellen, Jack, Aliena, Richard, William Hamleigh and Waleran Bigod will forever stay with me.

Oh I forgot Happy Leap Day!!

Since my last post, I went in to St Louis one more time for my second interview with Nordyne. I also went in to talk to FKI Logistex. The interview with Nordyne went pretty well, got there at 9:30am and I didn't get out till 3:45pm, the whole thing was very well put together. FKI on the other hand was totally disorganized, probably won't accept even if I was made an offer. I won't find out from Nordyne till next week, so keep your fingers crossed :) The night before the interview was Valentine's. I went out to dinner with Dwane at Little Saigon which was sweet. Then on Friday night we had drama at Mangia's and then between Patricio and Dwane and we ended up going to 1111 again. I stayed in all weekend, didn't go to any bars at all! The next day I had dim sum and then later that evening we went to Matt Reeg's dinner party which was fun. And the next day, had brunch with James and Nick at Mokabe's and then I drove home. Last weekend, I didn't do much, just stayed in and relaxed as it was my first weekend in town in four weeks. Went to watch Jumper with Don but I wasn't too impressed. Hayden looked great but that was about it :)

OK I think that's it for now...looking forward to this weekend, the weather's supposed to be real nice, 60's! I'll probably be out more. I'm really tired of Winter and Spring can't come any sooner. Later y'all and enjoy the weather this weekend!

Interesting Fact: Did you know that every fourth year's a leap year unless it's divisible by 100 and not 400? Like 2000 was a leap year because it was divisible by both 100 and 400 but 2100 will not be a leap year and neither is 2200 or 2300. I had no idea!

CNY & StL

Oooh I forgot all about Chinese New Year, Keong Hee Fatt Cai you guys!! Well Feb 8th was officially the first day of the new Rat year according to the Chinese lunar calender. I didn't do much myself. Went to dinner with KK. His client (Great Wall) had invited him and he brought me along, the food was good but it was a little awkward as I had limited speech ability. That night and the next day, I called most of my family members. It was really nice talking to them and I'm really feeling homesick lately. It's been over 2 years since I've been home :(



Friday, work took us out to lunch at Sophia's and gave us the rest of the day off since January had produced such great numbers. I was going to take the afternoon off anyway but I guess I got to save on my vacation days :) I got home and packed in like 5 minutes and hopped into Justin's monster truck and off we went to St Louis along with Chadd, Beau and Justin. It was fun. It felt like we were going on a field trip. We got in early Friday and later went to dinner at 1111 Missisippi. Dinner was great, we were really lucky because this was a really nice restaurant and we just walked in and asked for a table for eight (Dave, Justin, me, Chadd, Beau, James+Nick and Dwane) and pretty much got it! After dinner, we went to Amp for a little while then proceeded to party the night away at Novak's. It was great, I had alot of fun with Dallas and Scottie McHottie.

The next day we had breakfast at First Watch in Clayton. After breakfast, we went to the Cathedral Basilica of St Louis in the Central West End. It was really gorgeous inside and out and has a really rich history. In 1912, the cathedral began installing mosaics in the interior and it was finally completed in 1988! It contains 41.5 million glass pieces, covering 83,000 sqft and it is the largest mosaic collection in the world! We left for Columbia pretty early that day. I spent the rest of the weekend just relaxing and watching TV and try to keep warm. I somehow had it in my mind that Winter's over and the weather was gradually warming up but little did I know this whole week's been terrible. It's snowed and iced and the temperatures are back down to single digit, brrrr. Anyway this Friday I'm taking a day vacation and I'll be back to St Louis for my 2nd interview with Nordyne and FKI Logistex. So keep your fingers crossed....

Mardi Gras 2008

Mardi Gras in St Louis is total craziness! It's the 2nd largest celebrations in the US after New Orleans. The City of St Louis was definitely cashing in from all the out of town party goers. Anyway I drove in Friday after work with Carrie and headed first to Ryan's. We couldn't park down in Soulard so we had to leave my car at Ryan's and he then drove us all back to James'. We sat around watching ads of AB for superbowl and finally had dinner at Chuey's. Bunch of us (Ryan, James+Nick, Dave+Wes and Carrie) went to dinner but Dwane missed out on the entire weekend celebrations because he had to work and he was down with a cold. After dinner, we met up with Scott and went to McGurk's for a little bit and then went to bed semi-early in anticipation for a wild day the next day.

We woke up fairly early Mardi Gras morning and James was nice enough to make us breakfast. We made it out to watch the Parade in time since the parade's like 2 blocks from where we were staying. We all brought tumblers of Hurricane which made me drunk as hell. The parade was fun and I collected a ton of beads. The weather was surprisingly perfect. We didn't even need our jackets. The past couple of years has been frigid cold right around Mardi Gras time. After the parade, we came back to Dave's and partied at his house. All kinds of people came (young/old, straight/gay, drunk/drunk) and it was so much fun and everyone was wasted. We stood by the windows and screamed at random strangers to flash us which totally worked. I got to see so many boobies and pee-pees it's ridiculous. I guess those beads I collected came in handy. By the time 5pm came, I felt like it was 4am especially since I've been partying and drinking since 10am. James, Carrie and I finally called it quits at 7pm and went to have pizza at Talayna's. James and I also didn't want to be apart of the orgy that was developing at Dave's. We later heard all the details...very juicy indeed. At that point we had not eaten all day but for the breakfast that James fixed. Oh I had a slice of Pizza down at Soulard as well which I had a fight with the crazy pizza lady. She refused to give us change and gave me half a slice. I cussed her out, kicked her booth and flipped her off twice. I guess it probably didn't help since both parties were drunk LOL. After dinner, we pretty much chilled out and went to bed. Initial plans were to go to Novak's but we were all too tired. The next day we had branch at Mocha B's which is great and then hung out with Ryan at Hodak's (fried chicken!). We drove back and went directly to Beau's Superbowl party. So you can see the weekend was definitely full of activities. After the party, I pretty much got home and crashed...

Here are few other pics from Carrie's camera...

L: At Parade with James & Carrie; R: Craig and me

L: Parade w/ Dave, Scott and Jame; R: Dave and me

L: The beads I collected; R: Don't ask why i'm unbuckling

The Jungle

This book by Upton Sinclair is quite interesting. Set in the early 1900 and talks about Chicago's meat packing industry and immigrants that worked it. Due to the popularity of this book coupled with the public outcry, it led to the passage of several acts, which established the FDA. This book's usually reading material for most high school and college kids in America but I decided to read when I noticed that James too was reading it. I wanted to gain a further understanding of America. So I'm still on target for my resolution, I finished this book in late January it's beginning of February and I'm starting on my 3rd book; Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett which looks like it's going to be good as well.

Anyway this past weekend was Mardi Gras which was full of fun, friends and drunkenness. I'll be posting about what happened over the weekend along with the pictures soon so hang on tight :)

The last few weeks prior to Mardi Gras was spent keeping warm. The weather was so cold and just this week it's starting to thaw and show little signs of Spring. Not much happened so therefore no postings, here are the few things that were worth mentioning; there was a weekend when we celebrated Doug's 30th birthday where I was out till 6:30am and on the way home my car's thermometer registered at 1 degree. I think there was another weekend that I just spent relaxing and watched Cloverfield which gave me motion sickness. I have also been going to the dentist to have a crown put into my chipped tooth. Everything's finally completed and it looks and feels pretty good. The crown cost about $370 which I had allocated funds into my FSA. I talked to my aunt and looks like crowns in Malaysia's WAY cheaper. Last week though was mainly focussed on interviews. I talked to 3 companies; FKI Logistex, Nordyne and Monsanto so we'll see which one works out. Anyway I'll be posting my Mardi Gras pictures next so I'll be back soon!

James and Dave w/end in CoMo

The boys were in town this past weekend. We just hung out and had a good time. Unfortch, I came down with a cold and had to call in sick to work on Monday morning. We went out to a bunch of bars over the weekend; On The Rocks, Generic, Deuce and Heidelberg. The weather is cold again after a Spring teaser last weekend where it went up to 70 degrees. Now I just need to get through January and February and it'll start getting much better, weather wise that is. Monday morning, I also had a phone interview with BJC for a Performance Improvement Engr position but I don't think it'll be a good fit as it's a new department and they want someone with experience in healthcare to come in and implement changes. We'll see where it goes.

PS - I just got done reading The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. Not too bad of a book, I guess good enough for me to want to read the 2nd book, The Subtle Knife. I'm about half way through The Jungle by Upton Sinclair now. Looks like target of three books every 2 months is well on its way :)

Wicked the Musical

Spent a lot of time driving last week. I took Wednesday off work and drove in to St Louis on Tuesday night to get fingerprinted yet again on Wed afternoon. I was applying for my EAD card and apparently every new document requires a new set of fingerprints. Went to dinner with bunch of people (Dave, Wes, James, Nick F, Clint, Jimmy, Ryan Applebees, Dwane and me) at McGurks. After dinner we just hung out at Daves. The next day I pretty much got fingerprinted and hung out with Dwane and drove back.

Worked Thurs and 1/2 day on Friday and then drove back again for Wicked on Friday night 8pm. We had bought tickets couple months back so we were all very excited. Carrie and I were supposed to go together but she wasn't feeling well so Nick F went in place of her. The show was at the St Louis Fox Theatre and I must admit, it was a gorgeous theatre. The theme of that building was Siamese Byzantine which I thought was interesting. There were very detail and ornate decorations all over and the inside was huge. Ryan, James, Dwane and I all got dressed up and went together. The show lasted for over two hours and I must say this is probably one of the best Musicals I've seen. It was witty, funny and had a great twist of story line adapted from the classic movie, The Wizard of Oz. I only wished I've seen the movie before the play as there were many references made because this musical was kind of a prequel to the movie with minor changes/adaptations. After the musical, we went to South City Diner and had a late, late dinner and pretty much went home and crashed.

The next day, we woke up to snow and more snow. We stayed in most of the day and tried to stay warm by drinking lots of tea and played a game of Scrabble with Wes and Dave over breakfast. Later Ryan, James and I went to dinner at California Pizza Kitchen and then watched I Am Legend, which turned out to be a really entertaining movie. After the movie, we found more snow (it snowed a total of 6-8" throughout the day in both StL and Col) and made a really slow ride home due to slick roads and stupid drivers. We got back and all of us started playing a game of Monopoly which turned out to be incredible fun. It was fun to see how everyone got to be sneaky, conniving, catty and mean. Initial alliances between Dave and me was a sure win against Wes, Ryan and James but later Dave decided to turn on me, so I recruited the other team and we proved to be victorious. We ended up playing till 5am which reminded me very much of the time when I was a young boy and stayed up late to play board games such as Monopoly and Risk with my brothers and childhood friends. It really brought back and added great memories for me. Sunday we all had lunch at Joanie's and I hung out for a little longer and headed home to Columbia.

This week is the final work week for the 2007! It's scary how fast this year has flown by. I have a feeling 2008 will be filled with many new challenges. I will be heading to New York City (for the 3rd time this year) a week from today on Xmas eve with Beau and then returning New Year's Eve to celebrate with the StL crew. I'm really looking forward to this trip, hopefully it won't be too cold. I'd like to maybe check out Atlantic City, Boston or DC. It's another total last minute trip, we bought the tickets on Friday! And it only cost us $109!!! ($160 after taxes and fees). The next time you hear from me will probably be after my NY trip and I promise to post lots and lots of pictures :)

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!!

Goblet of Fire

Man this is definitely the longest HP book I've read so far. It feels like it's taken forever to finish -- 734 whomping willow pages! Lately I've been making many HP references, I hope my non-HP reader friends will forgive me :) Like the other day, I described some person I knew as having a Hermione hairday. So the big news couple weeks ago was JK Rowling revealing that Dumbledore's gay! Well of course he is, who else but a queen would use "lemon drop" as a password to his office, LOL!

Well I'm finally done with this book! Just like the last few, it was really good, I can't believe I didn't read HP series much earlier. Somewhere along the middle, this book got a little slow but the end was great and I liked how everything tied together and it all made sense. This book is definitely setting up the scene for the great Voldermort to go all out and declare war. I especially liked how in the end of the book, Dumbledore went into aggressive mode and started giving everyone instructions in preparation of what is about to happen. Now it's time for me to go get Goblet of Fire, the movie eventhough I just recently watched it with Chadd. I have also gone to the library and picked me up the next book Order of the Phoenix. Woo hoo...can't wait :)

Boo, Happy Halloween guys! I didn't do much this past weekend, just rested and stayed home mostly. Gym on Saturday morning and later that night watched 30 Days of Night, starring Josh Hartnett. It had been out for about a week, so the theater wasn't too busy. It was a pretty good movie, a little too gory for my taste but it's good compared to a lot of the scary movies lately. After the movie, we (Chadd, Beau and me) went to Houlihan's for dinner and it happened to be happy hour and it was half off drinks and $5 appetizers. We had a feast and the bill only came up to be about $10/person. It was awesome! Will definitely have to do it again. Sunday, I stayed in all day, did some cooking and cleaning. It was nice after the last few hectic weekends I've been having.

Homecoming 2007

This past weekend turned out really well...really well indeed. Beau and I skipped gym and went to the mall instead to help Justin buy some new shoes. James and Scott came in on Friday night and together with Carrie, me, Beau, Justin, Colin and Cynthia we had a late dinner at Addison's. Ryan and Nick came in later that night. I haven't seen Justin all week long so he gave me my birthday present (a digital photoframe, awesome!) that he split with Dave. It was good catching up with Scott (last time I saw him was last year's Homecoming!). Speaking of Homecoming, I just found out that MU is where the tradition of Homecoming started, pretty cool fact. Anyway after dinner we walked to the Penguin bar and as soon as we got in, we were doing shots. The yaeger shots were ok but the one that really screwed me up was the Irish Car bomb. We all got so drunk that night as you can see from the slide show. Beau had to drive me home and take my car home with him that night!

The next morning we all got up early for the Parade. We were all amazingly perky, especially after a night of partying and getting drunk. After the parade, we had lunch at Shakespeares and followed by the football game (thanks to Beau for getting Justin, Chadd and me tickets!). The weather by the way on both Saturday and Sunday was a beautiful 70-80 degrees! The football got boring as we were kicking Texas Tech's butt and we decided to leave after half time. Later that night we went out to Deuce and then later Tellers. I got to meet up with Don and Jesse. The next morning we had brunch at Ernies as usual and then later went to watch Elizabeth: The Golden Age with Chadd and Beau. Movie was pretty good, Cate did a great job portraying the Queen. After that, I just pretty much relaxed and got my mind ready for work.

My dirty Thirty!

What a weekend!

We (Beau, Chadd, KK and me) drove in right after work on Friday and directly to Zoe for dinner. The food was pretty good and they had a great atmosphere. Ten of my good friends (Dave, Wes, James, Carrie, Chadd, Beau, KK, Dwane, Patricio and Matt) came to dinner that night. Food was great and so was the dinner conversation. The guys got the usual DQ ice cream cake and that was great! After dinner, we went to Novaks and had a lot of fun.

The next day, we spent most of the day buying and preparing for the party. The party turned out to be a big success, about 50-60 people showed up and Dave's place was completely trashed but we helped clean up the next morning. I'm so glad Egwin and Rachel drove in from KC and my coworker Kelly drove in from Jeff City.

Sunday we just cleaned up, went out for brunch and pretty much drove home after that. Weather was great so Beau and me went out for a little 3 mile run and later that night, I just relaxed and watched DH and B&S.

Dwane's visit

Dwane from St Louis decided to come visit Columbia for the first time. He took the train down Saturday, went to get him and then decided to give the Capital building a tour. The building was totally cool, unfortunately that's about the only cool thing about Jefferson City. After walking around enjoying the beautiful fountains and statues, we came back to Columbia for lunch where we had very yummy beef pho. After lunch we walked around downtown, the weather was just amazing the entire weekend. Later that evening Dwane, Beau and me had dinner at Murry's, the food was very good. After dinner, we checked out some of the bars including Arches, On the Rocks and Shattered. The next day, we had Shakespeare's for pizza and then went to the local Art Festival. Pretty much stayed in for most of the evening where I cooked dinner and watched Sunday night TV. Monday, I worked half day and came back and hung out for a little more and then drove him back to the train station. So that's pretty much it for the weekend. It was fun and Dwane got to see Columbia for the first time.

Prisoner of Azkaban

I just got done reading and watching this title! I am now officially a HP fan! I have immediately started reading Year four: Goblet of Fire. The book was absolutely astonishing but I was a little let down by the movie. The book was full of details and did an excellent job at expanding on the three favourite characters; Hermione, Ron and Harry. The end, like the first two books, were also filled with twists and turns, revealing the good from the dark side. I thought the first two movies followed the book pretty closely but left out a few minor details but for Year three, the movie decided to leave out, sometimes even changing certain plots from the book. The movie was still entertaining but in my opinion absolutely cannot be compared to the book. Like how the movie completely left out why Black, Potter and Pettigrew became learned how to become an Animagus. It was because they were very compassionate of Lupin's condition and wanted to keep him company during his transformation. They were best of friends, just like Hermione, Ron and Harry. The movie also completely left out the second quidditch match, where Harry rode his Firebolt, that won Griffindor the cup. Another character development that was left out was how Snape was almost killed by a prank only to be rescued by Potter but suspected him of causing it all to begin with, therefore the huge hatred Snape has for Harry. Ok enough HP for now.

So the last two weekends, I didn't really do anything or go anywhere. The first of the two, Joe and James + Nick came in to town to visit. It was really good seeing Joe again after about a year. He seems to be doing well and liking his new life in Michigan. We spent quite a lot of quality time together and that was nice. James + Nick drove in to attend a wedding. Last weekend, was beautiful, weather wise. I just hung out downtown with my book and laptop for majority of the day. Tried going out on Fri and Sat nights but just getting tired of the scene here. I spent three whole hours washing and waxing my car on Sunday, so much for lazy Sunday afternoon!

Chicago

I was really excited as I had been looking forward to labor day weekend for quite a while. I headed for St Louis pretty much right after work on Friday and got in at around 7pm, the traffic was bad. Interstate 70 came to a complete stop several times for no apparent reason whatsoever, just stupid drivers I guess. Driving in, I was sure the trip to Chicago would have been cancelled since we had not secured a hotel room but soon after I arrived, Patricio made a reservation at Hotel Cass (Holiday Inn Express) at the heart of Magnificent Mile. That night we (Dave, Patricio, Applebee's Ryan, Dwane and me) had dinner at Maggiano's and then later met Nestle guy at Freddy's and H2+Mas at Novak's. I had so much fun but the weekend had just started. Spent the night at Dwane's that night, Angel's loft is really nice!

The next day, got to Dave's bright and early but we didn't leave for Chicago till about noon because Patricio's tire blew out. On the way up, we had some really strange but serious conversations, topics ranged from religion to phylosophy to sexuality. It was interesting though and made the drive go by very quickly. Before we knew it, we were there. It's been 3 or 4 years since I've last visited Chicago, the tall buildings and large crowds immediately reminded me of my recent trip to NYC. We checked into our Hotel Cass and signed up for valet parking eventhough Dave was against the idea but it just made life easier. We walked around Mich Ave for a awhile and later met up with Elliot and Bill for dinner. After dinner, we took the cab down to boys' town and went to Sidetracks, Roscoes' and then later Hydrate.

The next day, I got up and left the two boys still sleeping and went to have brunch with Elliot and Bill. We all later met up again and walked around visiting tourist sites; Libraries, fountains and of course the bean. That night, we had dinner at the Grand Lux Cafe (apprently operated by the same people as Cheesecake Factory) and then skipped out on Bill's cousin's party. Dave and I took the train down to Boys' town while Patricio stayed back to study for the MCAT. We didn't party too hard, just checked out all of the bars and got home at a decent hour. Monday was check out day. We paid our bill and took the train down to Chinatown where we got to enjoy some Malaysian cuisine and walked around. Dave and Patricio seemed to like the chinese bakeries very much. We left Chicago around 5pm and got back to St Louis at around 11pm, where I immediately got back on the road heading back to Columbia. I finally made it home at around 1am, but on the way, around where HWY 40 meets I-70, I got my first ever speeding ticket in Missouri. Fortunately, I know an attorney so Dave's trying to get it fixed, I'm keeping my fingers crossed....

Dave's 1st Party in STL

The weekend really started when James and Owen drove down to Columbia on Thursday. We all had dinner at Addisons and then all went out to Soco later that night. It was ok, the whole Soco routine's getting old. The next day was a little foggy at work. Friday night, Beau and me had homemade pizza then went out to hang out with Don, Jesse and Sassy. I haven't seen them in forever! The next day we left for St Louis at around 3. We got to Dave's house and immediately went out to help him buy his Tiki torches and came back and got ready for the party. The party was held in conjunction with Chris C's birthday and Andy Briscoe's going away party. The intention was also to stock up Dave's liquor cabinet and boy was it a success ;) That night we stayed up till 5am! It was fun and got to meet a ton of new people. The next day we had Iphone-Nick's delicious omelette and then to Harry's for lunch. After that we somehow ventured over to Illinois and visited one of UN's World Heritage Sites, the Cahokia Mounds. It wasn't all that. In fact the whole area was quite ghetto actually. We did crack up reading about the Steam Rooms or Steam Lodges and the boy's role (Amazingly, the displays and signs had alot of sexual innuendos in them!) and later climbed up the biggest mound. After that we got back and Beau and I drove back where I passed out at home at 9:30pm that night. I was really tired, I barely slept the night before :) And that is another fun Summer weekend. Below you can see some pics from Carrie and James' cameras.

Pictures from Carrie's Camera

Pictures from James' Camera

Lazy

I know it's been forever since I last blogged but I've just been so lazy. I know it's a bad excuse but I've also been really busy. So to help my alzheimer-ish memory out, I'll start writing about the most recent activities and work my way back :D

I'd like to start by wishing all of you Happy 4th! Click for pics here.
Right after work on Wed, went to catch the 7pm showing of Transformers, OMG that movie is soooo good! Well I might also be bias since I did grow up watching the cartoon. The next day went to Beau's party where there was so much food! And then later went to the same spot on the same parking garage last year to see the pathetic Columbia fireworks.

This past weekend, nothing much happened. James, Ryan and Dave came in Friday night for Carrie's birthday. We went to dinner at Sophia's and then just chilled at the Berg. They all left the next day which was odd and Carrie drove in to the Lou. I went car shopping with Justin and later had a movie marathon at my house with Chadd, KK and Justin.

The weekend before that was absolutely DA BOMB! Left for NYC with James on Thursday and returned Monday. I had so much fun. Hot, hot boys everywhere and got hit on by quite a few too ;) Right after we got in, went to happy hour and then dinner at K (Jap fusion place) Then went to Splash and had a blast! The next day I went down to Soho while James went to the beach. I did a little shopping and hung out with Alex where he showed me his Soho loft which was absolutely fab! Had dinner with EVERYONE at the Bohemian Beer gardens and had so much fun. After dinner, went out to Mr Black. Was fun but extremely crowded. Saturday we had a big Malaysian lunch then walked around and shopped alittle. Later that night we went to G Lounge. Sunday was the parade, we spent majority of the day watching the parade and then later that night we checked out View and later Hiro which was also very cool. As you can see, we definitely partied a whole lot this trip. It was awesome!

Here are some pictures from the trip but definitely beware, there are some PG13 shots!!! :)
Enjoy...