HAPPY HOLIDAYZ TO Y'ALL!!

I am just a couple of hours away to my first flight that will eventually hit Hawaii by the end of the day.

So, how as my xmas? Not too bad considering that most of my friends here were out of town and I was going to be content to just spend it by myself at home, catching up on Tivo and getting some sleep. Instead, I was invited by Sylvia and her family for a small and nice Xmas dinner on Saturday, followed by a nice small Sushi dinner on Sunday to help celebrate Karen's birthday, whom's birthday happens to be on Xmas Day (must suck to have a birthday on Xmas, heh).

Actually, I should be lucky that I at least get a xmas break, a whole week off from Xmas to the New Year (since the office is shut down, anyways) since most of my friends had to go back to work on Monday.

Anyways, Happy Holidayz to y'all and I will talk to you in the new year with tales (and pics) of Maui...ALOHA BITCHES!! :)

Holiday Holidayz

Just a lazy holiday is my excuse for not posting. Not really busy at work, just finishing up some loose ends and preparing for the onslaught that will be NEXT YEAR!! I mean, work is kinda dead now. Everyone took the holiday a week or two early. In fact, right now, there is only 3 ppl in the office and we aint doing jack shit!!

Also been just running around, seeing friends and doin' some last minute shopping. Been also picking up and dropping off a lot of ppl at the airport...I am desinated airport bitch...

And oh yeah, been also preparing for Hawaii. I did mention I am going to Hawaii for New Years and for Denny's sister's wedding? Well, if you didn't know before, you do now...

Anyways...I honestly can't wait for Hawaii. Going on Tuesday Dec 28th to Maui and coming back on the 5th/6th of January. No idea what I will be doing except for the wedding, new years and some beach we are next to...yeah...can't wait :)

Holidayz Shopping

Last minute holiday shopping SUCKS!! I made the mistake of going to the mall this week at lunch during that train wreak known as last minute shopping. Took me about 30 minutes to LEAVE THE FRIGGIN' PARKING LOT!!

Holidayz Gift

Check out the gift Densetsu gave Songco. Its a personalized chest playset featuring friends of Denny and Songco as the pieces. Isn't that fuckin' awesome? Not only that, but I AM THE ROOK!! Must be because I constantly pace back and forth :)

I wish someone would make me a personalized chess playset :(

Holidayz Par-tay!

Last couple of weeks, went to a suprising a lot of holiday parties hosted by different ppl. Here are the highs and lows:

Friday Dec 10: Company Xmas Party at the Edgewater Hotel in Downtown Seattle. We had a hyponotist.
Highs
--watching Pedo get truely hypnotize as he laughed himself to death and saw everyone naked. "Its sooo small!" he once even yelled.
Lows
--my co worker were very anti-social that night, especially to Linh, who I brought to the party

Friday Dec 10, later: Kona Kitchen Toy Drive Karaoke Nite.
Highs
--watching the "crew" sing "We are Family" ("I got all my sisters AND WING with me...")
Lows
--arriving late to the party when everyone else was leaving :(

Saturday Dec 11: Kristine's White Elephant Pot Luck Party.
Highs
--making my fried Mac and Cheese
--my white elephant gift to others
--I got to choose (and win) the biggest and heaviest white elephant gift, only to be revealed later as a Tub of Tide!!
Lows
--trading my Tub of Tide for a useless, not-even working flower lamp. (damn you Karen!!)

Friday Dec 17: Fiona and Chee Chen's Dessert Pot Luck Party
Highs
--making my Lychee and Mango Cobbler and being the first thing to go :)
Lows
--snobby anti-social guests make me leave early

Saturday Dec 18th: Some Pot Luck dinner at some guys house, invited by Alvin a long with Priscilla
Highs
--watching The Incredibles on DVD (yes, DVD quality too...fuckin' pirates!)
--beating a bunch of HKers in multiplayer Halo 2 action (I didn't know Chinese ppl play Halo?!!)
Lows
--snobby anti-social guest make me leave early (actually, I had to leave early cuz I need to go to...)

Saturday Dec 18th, later: Final Holiday Get-together with the "crew"
Highs
--seeing everyone before they went away for the holiday and sharing with them my awesome Lychee and Mango Cobbler!
--playing team Taboo with everyone, with Jennifer calling our team out for losing because we had 3 Non-English Speaking players on our team, including one who just came from Shanghai, one from South Africa (dont they speak English there?) and me, from CANANDA!! (WTF?!!)
--playing Karaoke Revolution Vol 3 til 1am in the morning
Lows
--leaving at 1am not realizing everyone else stayed til 5:30am on Karaoke Revolution :(

First Off...

Andrea.at work says: tell your friends that ACCESS SUCKS
namofni says: i usually generalize and tell them Microsoft SUCKS in general
Andrea.at work says: ah
Andrea.at work says: ok. can you put that in your blog? that andrea says microsoft sucks

Booyah, Grandmama! Booyah!

Secondly...

I have added a new Friend...one of my SF friends / Ex-AOL / Ex-Clubbin' Pimp:

Wen...

Go read about him and his "wedding" plans NOW!! Baby boy is all grown up now...*sniff*

Lastly...

Updated my Captured III album with the few pics I had taken at that Single's party I went last week. Its on PAGE 4. Please note how cool the women's bathroom is...

And oh, one last thing...

Not much to report on my personal life side except I did a lot of shopping this passed weekend (with 40% off coupons for Gap and Banana Republic...I AM THE BARGIN MASTER!!), went to this "poker tournament" at a "pho place" (wink, wink), and just today, went to have TOE SURGERY for the 5th time (or was that 6th? I lost count) on my big left toe (which Jon Ward called "freakishly HUGE!!"). Yes, I am slowly in pain as the painkillers wear off...

My Mini Vacation

So, where the heck have I been? and why haven't I written in awhile (again)? Well, I was technically not busy this time around, I was actually on a little vaction, taking some of my comp time that I have been given after I finished my last project. I took off on a Wednesday November 17th and took it all the way til next Wednesday off, leading into Thanksgivin' weekend, which I also had off. So, I got to take a whole week and a half off, using just a week of my own vacation / comp time! So, what did I do? Here are the long entry of a blog highlights:

Denny's Surprise Hawaiian Birthday Party in SF

How odd was it that I took off on a Wednesday? Well, I couldn't talk about it sooner but I actually flew down to SF on that Wednesday to help celebrate Denny's birthday and to stay for the weekend and hang out with Jon and his broken-ass foot. A surprise party was setup for Denny by Songco that night and I was one of his many "surprises" (not what you think!).

The party took place at this awesome Hawaiian restaurant and all his friends showed up, including some I haven't seen in awhile. While I still think that Denny suspected something was going to happen on his birthday, he definately did not expect to see me there :)

Anyways, instead of telling you what happen, you can check out Denny's pictures and my pictures as well here:

http://public.fotki.com/namofni/dennys_surprise/

Enjoy!

Google Lunch

One of my other highlights of visitng SF that weekend was Songco took me on a tour / free lunch at her workplace, Google. Let me just say, I was absolutely blown away by the work environment here. It is truely a place that is catered towards the employees, where I can see it as a joy to come to work everyday (or at least for the first couple of years, before the stockholders "change" things).

And they were not kidding when they say there's a "free lunch". Not only do they have an incredible cafeteria where they have multiple kitchens serving all types of foods, they have snacks and drinks ALL over the place. And not the cheap stuff either, nor just junk food, but tons of variety of just about everything, all free for employees (and lucky guests). And just about at every corner, there was also a lot of onsite "recreational" places. I saw a fitness center, pool tables, ping pong tables (with a fold out bleacher for spectators), a beached volleyball court and they were even building an outdoor swimming pool when we got there!

And then I was told about the 20% rule, where 20% of your work week must be spent on your own project...wow...just awe-inspiring...

I guess I can go on and on about this place but...hmmm, ya know, Google just openned an office here in Kirkland...hmmm...

Anyways, pictures of that can also be found in Denny's Bday pics as well...

Turkey Days

So, I got back to Seattle on Sunday where I spent the rest of the week basically doing nothing but staying home. I say, doing in nothing because I "tried" to clean my house. In fact, it took me one whole week to just finish cleaning my LIVING ROOM ONLY! What can I say...I caught up on my sleep.

The actual US Turkey Day, I spent it at my friend's Sylvia's and her family. Last year I went to about 3 Thanksgivin' dinner but this year, since everyone was out of town, I only went to one. Oh well, I made Jon Ward's cobbler recipe with a nice asian twist. I made it with Mango and Lychees. And it turned out quite good too.

Black Friday

Being the internet geek that I am, I already knew ahead of time what was going to be on sale this post Turkey Day (aka Black Friday, the biggest shopping day in the US) and already decided there wasn't anything worth fighting traffic and crowds of ppl to get to. And plus I am broke from spending way too much money these past months. So I wisely decided to skip the shopping and go see a movie instead. Went to see Alexander (it sucked ass, btw) with Alvin who too didn't care to buy anything that day. Oddly enough, after the movie was done and we had dinner, it was about 8pm at night when decided to go head to Fry's and Best Buy, "just to see" what was on sale.

Anyways, long story short...ended up buying $200 worth of computer stuff (with about $125 worth of rebates)...damn you Black Friday!!

"Here, you are either meeting new people or Cock-blocking others"

So, this past Saturday, it was Albert Shen's traditional Holiday Single's party that he throws for charity. Albert is very well known Seattle socialite who is actually one of the first persons I have met here in Seattle. Very nice guy who throws great parties with this one not being an exception. This party was held on the 75th floor of the Columbia Tower overlooking Downtown Seattle.

This year around, though I met a couple of new peoples, I mostly got to know better some other people I have met briefly before. To tell you the truth, I wasn't too interested in meeting "new" people but getting together with my old friends who I haven't seen for awhile because of my "crunch" time. Regardless, I had a good time...highlights being our attempt to get our friend Sylvia hooked up with this "guy" and trying to sneak into the women's bathroom, which is an incredible bathroom in which each stall had awesome view of the city. No joke!

Pictures coming soon (though I didn't take much).

Speaking of pictures...

I also posted that Scholarship gala I went to last week. Go Here:

http://public.fotki.com/namofni/naaap_scholarship/

Back in Work

Back at work. Meetings. New projects. Tireness setting back in...