Dragon Inn

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I bought the Dragon Inn DVD today at lunch and cannot wait to watch it! I think the last time I saw it was 15 years ago when I lived in Monterey Park. This movie is so great, I think it is much better than Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Maybe it’s because I really like Maggie Cheung and Bridget Lin. The swordplay in it is fantastic, and the scenery is neat too. It takes place in the deserts of northern China, and the movie really makes you feel like you are there. Some of the action sequences are so over-the-top, but that is what makes the movie so fun.

Weekend Happenings

This weekend was a really fun one for us. On Saturday we went to Tomoko D’s beautiful new house for a sukiyaki lunch. The food was excellent as expected, and Bay had fun playing with Jamie and Casey. We started at 1pm and ended up staying there until about 7. Not all that time was spent eating, of course! After lunch we all watched “One Night Rock n Roll” (Wannai) which was really funny. Those guys are just too much! We all left tired but happy and Bay fell asleep on the way home and kept on sleeping until Sunday morning.

Sunday was cool too. We drove all the way down to Houston to do some shopping at Ikea. We didn’t know it, but it was the last day of their big sale. The parking lot looked really crowded when we drove up, and I was dreading fighting the crowds, but the store wasn’t very crowded, actually. At the checkout, there was practically no line. I think it was because they had lots of staff on hand to help the customers. There were only two things that we wanted that were out of stock, which surprised me. Our pathfinder was totally packed! We even had stuff tied to the top. Anyways, we got some great stuff, at fantastic prices. I wish that there was an Ikea in Austin, though. That marathon drive down Highway 290 is just too much… The weekend is over, but the Ikea experience will continue this week, because now I have to assemble all of the neat loot that we bought!

Before we started shopping at Ikea, we ate lunch at Todai (the self-proclaimed Mother of all Seafood Buffets), which was right next to Ikea in the Vans Skateboard park complex. The sushi there was decent, with ikura and unagi being the sushi of choice, but there was also maguro, salmon, tai, tako, etc. There were also a lot of rolls :I had to try a BLT roll, which I had never seen before. It was just ok. Other foods that we ate were shrimp and veggie tempura, mussels, ramen, lemon grass pork chops, teriyaki chicken, gyoza and shumai. We were stuffed, and Bay ate pretty good too. Oh, they also had freshly made crepes. Yum!

Miki as a Kitten

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I was looking at some old photo “albums” on Ofoto.com and I came across this snapshot of when we first brought Miki home. This is the first time the “Angel” met the “Cat from Hell”. We adopted Miki from a local shelter when she was a kitten. Now she is much bigger than Amo, and can hold her own when the get into a scuffle.

iPod Mini

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Wow! Apple has done it again with their new iPod Mini. Its tiny, and has a decent 4GB capacity. And it looks totally cool! But, in true Apple form, it costs way too much ($249)! For around the same price, you can get a 20 or 30GB player from Creative. A cool design is one thing, but cold, hard cash is another. Still, you gotta love Apple for creating beatifully designed products that leave everyone else playing catch-up.

New Route to Work

This week, Bay has started going to a new daycare center, so my morning commute has taken me on a different route: Old Spicewood Spring Road. It is fantastic! It is a small two-lane road that winds through hill country, crossing several streams, and finally takes me to Highway 360. I believe the road continues on, and I will have to follow it one of these days. It is a joy to drive on, because of its many curves and interesting scenery. It’s much nicer than looking at tail lights on 360. An added bonus is that not many people take that way, at least not in the time I have traveled on it. A couple coworkers told me to look out for traffic cops with their radar-guns, though.

Lost my CF Card

Please help me find my 128MB CF card. I took it out of the card reader that we use on the laptop and was going to put it back in the camera. But on the way there (probably 15 ft) I got sidetracked and lost it. Bay was no help, although I bet he was the one who sidetracked me. Now I am suspecting the cats. Mariko had a bad back and couldn’t move, so she is not one of the suspects. Of course I realize that the blame is fully with me and it is just sitting there somewhere, and will be found by the cleaners probably…