KC Trip

I didn’t realize that The Raphael had a late check-in time (I spepcified 11:00 AM on my order when I did my reservations through the Kansas City tourism website) so we had a lot of time to burn when we got here on Saturday. First thing on our list was lunch at Kona Grill, a restaurant recommended by my friend Ashley for its excellent sushi. She was right! It’s so awesome that we are going there again on Monday before returning to Wichita. I mean, even the best sushi place we know of and frequent in Wichita cannot complete with the sushi at Kona. Yes, it’s that good so you really must try it.

Our room wasn’t ready yet so we did lots of shopping (Brian bought a pair of Docs sandals at Steve’s and I got some clothes from A&F, even though we have our own A&F in Wichita now it’s about one for the few places that I can afford to buy stuff at here because when we went into BCBG and Anthropology I found some things that I liked but the items cost much more than I wanted to spend), window shopping, took a whole bunch of pictures, ate some ice cream and had some Starbucks. We got finally got our room and the first thing on the agenda was take a nap because we were so pooped from all the walking around that we did.

We had dinner at reVerse in hopes of doing some dancing afterwards. The food wasn’t that great exept for the chicken on a stick appetizer thing that we ordered. Brian had chicken and mashed potatos for his entree. The chicken was good but nothing spectacular. After you try the rotiserie chicken at Red Rock Canyon Grill, nothing really compares. The mashed potatos were really flavorful though. Brian, who never eats his mashed potatos at Red Rock, even liked it. So between reVerse and Red Rock you can get the best chicken and potato entree. LOL! I had tilapia. They prepared it in a breaded, almond encrusted fashion. It was different and new but not that good. I wish that it would’ve been grilled like the chicken satay appetizers that we had. Perhaps I should suggest that next time.

Anyway, we went down to the Red Room but it was still too early so there asn’t anyone there. We decided to do a carriage ride around the plaza and then return to see what it was like later in the evening. The carriage ride was brief and cost us $40 with the $7 tip that Brian gave to the carriage driver (horseman? coachman? not quite sure what they are called). After that we walked by the river and enjoyed the evening. We never did return to the Red Room because Brian and I agreed that it didn’t look too promising. Instead we went back to our hotel room (which is just a short distance away – Brian really liked the fact that we could just walk everywhere but was disappointed that there was no pool so I think we will try one of the bigger hotels next time) and watched Along Came Polly before bed (which incidentally cost us another $10).

I guess this is it for today or the rest of the weekend of that matter. Our room service (breaksfast) just arrived and by the time we return to our room after today’s activities we will no longer have our overpiced internet access.  

May 30, 2004 | Posted by Ching under Life, Travel

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Blogging from Our Room

Guess what. I’m blogging from our hotel room. Isn’t this neat? At $10.00 for a little over 12 hours, it’s kind of pricey but I’m glad that the technology is available. Of course, I’m one who won’t pass up a chance to try new things.

The device is kind of crude. It’s by Lodgenet. I guess they are the media provider for The Raphael. It works kind of like WebTV because it uses the TV in the room. The response time when you type is really slow though so it kind of gets annoying after a while. It also makes websites look funky. Anyway, at least it works.

I figured since we only have this until noon tomorrow I might as well blog about it. Thank God, there are two TVs (Brian is in the bedroom watching cartoons) otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to do this because you can’t part Brian from his cartoons.

I guess this is it for now because we gotta walk to reVerse now for our nine o’clock dinner reservations.

May 29, 2004 | Posted by Ching under Life

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Memorial Weekend Plans

Next weekend Brian and I will be sleeping in our posh hotel suite (yes, we’re supposed to get a separate living area with a sleeper couch and everything — how exciting is that) at the Raphael Hotel on Country Club Plaza.  I’ve planned all the details and everything!

Saturday will be spent doing some shopping.  You better believe I’m hitting Bebe, AX, BCBG, Betsey Johnson, J.Crew and all the other stores (even just to window shop, I don’t care, we don’t have them here so it’s fun to actually try on the stuff as opposed to my normal MO which is to just shop via the internet).  I haven’t decided where we are going to lunch yet because there are so many yummy restaurants to choose from.  I know that we will be at the Mermaid Courtyard (by Eddie Bauer) in the afternoon, though, because they are supposed to have some live entertainment there.  I believe the band will be playing some swing music.  Then it is back to the hotel for some R&R (and maybe a little somethin’ somethin’) and to get cleaned up before we hit Mi Cocina or reVerse (maybe both depending on how much energy we have left).

I’m thinking we will be spending Sunday at Union Sation.  Maybe have brunch at Union Café and then browse the Crown Center shops if Brian doesn’t protest.  I figure we have to be there somewhat early anyway to get a good spot for the Celebration at the Station.  The Kansas City Symphony will play an hour and half concert followed by a fireworks display.  I think it will be similar to the symphony and fireworks conclusion of the Wichita River Festival only much cooler.  At least, I hope so anyway.

Brian took Memorial Day off and at my work it is schedule on volunteer basis.  I purposely didn’t volunteer for it so we don’t have to rush back to Wichita.  Hopefully it will be a relaxing drive or at least I’m hoping that the Memorial weekend traffic would have subsided by late afternoon.

Anyway, Brian and I are both very excited.  He tells me he is excited, anyway..  But if he doesn’t say anything, you can’t really tell that he is.  He’s not quite as expressive as I am.

We have a lot to celebrate this month.  After all, I just had my naturalization ceremony on Friday (yes, I am official now) and I had straight As this spring semester.  Very cool, celebration-worthy stuff.

May 23, 2004 | Posted by Ching under Life, Travel

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On Making the Dean’s List

Mom and dad, you guys owe me a dinner!
He!  He!

Not only did I make the Dean’s Honor Roll this semester, I got As in all of my classes!  Yay me!  That’s 4.0, baby!

Actually, instead of dinner, I think I will just ask mom and dad to pick up our June ball admission (if they don’t object to it) because it’s $35 per person.

We just got our invitation yesterday.  I love getting my own invitation to the June ball.  It makes me feel so grown up.  I remember for the longest time my invite would come as Mr. and Mrs. Rico Alonso “and kids” and that would mean that Jen and I could come too.  Now that I am a “Mrs.” myself, I’ve started receiving my own invitations.  It’s pretty exciting.

Anyway, mom and dad, if you are reading this — let me know if my request is a problem.  Here is a screen capture of my grades.  I will send you an official grade report, if you want! =)

 

May 22, 2004 | Posted by Ching under School

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Veet

I saw the Veet commercial a couple of months ago and almost immediately I wanted to try it. I am every marketers’ dream. If you look up the word sucker in the dictionary, you’d probably find my picture right next to it.

Veet doesn’t really work that great. Not only that, the three minute stuff contains super strong chemical ingredients. When they say not to leave it on for more than eight minutes, they’re serious! I only had it on for like five minutes (I left it on longer because the hairs wouldn’t scrape off) but it ate away at my skin. I have a small patch on my right forearm that is raw because of it. The bladeless shaver thing is totally just a gimmick. It doesn’t work for shit. I finally just had to use a wet face cloth to wipe off the cream. The tv commercial makes it seem so simple. It works in theory but in reality, the old fashioned way works better.

Anyway, here are some webcam captures of me with straight hair (taken after I had gotten my hair dyed back to my natural hair color; no more two-tone hair for me, yay) and then next with my hair curled.

May 10, 2004 | Posted by Ching under Life

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Movies

Brian and I went to see Van Helsing yesterday with his friend Keith (he went with us to Exploration Place last year).  I think I would’ve enjoyed the movie more if it weren’t for the crappy dialogue.  They obviously spent a lot of money on the effects — hell, even their website isn’t the kind that you get on the cheap — and then, of course, you have to spend a pretty penny to develop a game..  I think after all the spending, it suddenly dawned on them that they didn’t have a script and there was no money left!  Either that or the script writer was asleep or drunk most of the time because the quality of the dialogue just wasn’t up to par with the special effects and actually the rest of the movie.

I’m not sure if they were meaning for it to be a satire and the cheesiness was on purpose (think LXG, that would be a good example of “good” cheesy).  But throughout out the movie I couldn’t decide if they were wanting us to take the movie seriously or if they’re intentionally trying to be cheesy.  I just didn’t get it.

Thank God for Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsdale (two actors that I happen to like) even though they got screwed in the dialogue.  They’re both good looking people who are pretty to look at (that’s not enough for most folks, though)..  Carl, the friar, had the best lines (I thought) and that’s pretty sad considering he’s just the bumbling sidekick.  Actually, what saved me from utter boredom was the good special effects and action sequences.  Remember Hellboy was the opposite: more story, less action (not to say it was better because I was kind of bored during that movie and struggled to keep myself awake — could be because I was really tired that day, though, hard to say).  I think if VH would’ve had the same depth as HB, it would’ve made for a much better movie overall.  But then, with limited resources, certain compromises have to be made.  It is obvious that the dialogue was not a high enough their list of priorities.

I felt bad because Brian had been eagerly anticipating the release of this movie and it turned out to be crap.  He didn’t seem phased by it, though.  He says he liked it.  So all is well that ends well, I guess.

P.S. Great previews at the beginning of the movie!  That’s something that I was truly excited about.  Three interesting films that I want to see: The Village, The Bourne Supremacy (a sequel to one of my favorite movies, The Bourne Identity, if you’ve been living under a rock) and The Chronicles of Riddick (I think this was the theatrical trailer because it showed way more scenes than what they’ve been showing on TV; I actually found out that Thandie Newton is in the movie so I am even more eager to see it now).

May 9, 2004 | Posted by Ching under Movies

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Poker Update

Brian made an interesting comment about my hair today.  He saw me part it to one side and he said he liked it that way, with one side of my face covered.  Why, I didn’t know he had a thing for cyclopses!  I should’ve known, though.  No wonder he is addicted to Futurama!

Well, the semester is almost over so my stress level is starting to decline.  I just have to stick to my study schedule so I can guarantee good results for finals.  Speaking of which, book buyback is just around the corner.  And thank God, for it!  I am super duper broke and could really use the money right now.

Despite my current broke-ass condition, I did manage to scramble $20 for our entry fee for the poker benefit tomorrow.  It’s for charity so I don’t mind chippin’ in.  Besides, if I do well I get to win prizes!  And you know me, I’m all for prizes.  I’m not that bad at poker either.  The first time I played at Fingers, I ranked #8.  Skipped the next two weeks because I was sick one week and the next week I had an exam to study for.  The next week I participated, I got to #5.  Both times I outlasted Brian.  The next week (which was this Monday that just passed) I told Brian I’m going to try to get into one of the top three spots.  His goal, rather modest compared to mine, was just to outlast me no matter what.

Anyway, Brian made it to the final table which was great considering that the previous week he didn’t even make it to any of the top sixteen spots.  Unfortunately, I knocked him out of the game so he didn’t accomplish his goal of outlasting me.  He didn’t feel too sore about it.  He figured if he was going to lose his money to anyone, he’d much rather lose it to me.  I feel the same way.  His stash actually helped me last longer against the remaining competitors.  And I’m proud to say, I finished in second place.  So at least one of us accomplished our goal!  

May 7, 2004 | Posted by Ching under Poker

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