Archive for the year 2005
Posted on October 23, 2005 by Ching under Web.
I’ve sold out and decided to start my own Yahoo! 360° page. I mean, even Ritchie‘s mom has one. I should have one, too. Anyway, some of the features are pretty cool. I can tell that Yahoo! is trying to infuse their usual boring applications with some great Flickr-inspired ideas to make things better and more attractive to users. I think it’s working. So anyway, some of the things you’ll find of note in my 360° page is the Netflix news feed. It shows you the last three movies that we received so if you ever want to keep tabs on our movie watching habits, now you can. The only downside is that the page only allows you to have three news feeds. So I have a news feed from my other blog and the two Netflix news feeds. I wish it would allow more so that it can pull all the entries from my other blogs and make them available in one place for easy access. Speaking of Netflix movies, the last two that we watched were Monster-in-Law and Robots. Monster-in-Law was alright. It had some funny moments but it didn’t really move me. Robots was pretty good. I almost cried. I’m not sure if Logan has seen it, but that would be a great movie for him to watch. That, and Iron Giant. I love those types of movies. They’re inspirational. Sappiness aside, we got to hang out with our poker buddies after the hockey game last night. We didn’t qualify for the final event at Neighbors (not yet anyway), but we had a blast reminiscing at IHOP after poker. We being Corey, Brian, Dill, Becca and I. Tony, Niki (Tony’s wife), Nick (who Brian always calls Lance for some strange reason) and his wife all came but they arrived late and didn’t get to play. They got tired of waiting for the rest of us to get knocked out so they all left to go dinner separately. It’s a shame they couldn’t wait two seconds. It would’ve been fun to get the whole group together. The funny thing is, I got a text message from Dill about a $10 buy-in home game at Tony’s slated for that evening. I replied saying that Brian and I had made plans to go to Neighbors. Apparently, Corey replied with the same thing. When Dill and Becca showed up at Neighbors we knew the home game was canceled. Anyway, Brian and I have decided that we will return to Neighbors on Saturday to try again. So no home games on Saturday nights guys. At least until the tourney at Neighbors is over. “Never give up. Never surrender.” P.S. The person who names the movie that the quote comes from gets a cookie. =P
Brian’s parents had mentioned Beijing Bistro, a new Chinese restaurant in the East side of Wichita, a couple of weeks ago. They said that if we ever wanted to check the place out to give them a call and they would join us for dinner. Brian and I don’t really have anything edible in the house so we decided to give his parents a call and have dinner there tonight. We figured that it would be a great excuse to do a restaurant review.
The location of the restaurant itself is unassuming. They don’t have a fancy building or anything. Instead they just occupy half the space of a commercial building next to Wally World. The other half is occupied by Play It Again Sports.
The inside decor kind of reminds me of a PF Chang’s minus the fancy statues, lighting and ceiling work. The booths provided ample space and the tables were quite sturdy.
The service was so-so. We could tell that the hostess who seated us was fairly new because she received instruction from a couple of other employees. She also plopped the menus in the middle of the table instead of placing them carefully in each place setting like you’re supposed to. A server who was waiting on another table came over, called her on it and rearranged the menus.
I didn’t plan to drink an alcoholic beverage but I took a moment to look over the drink menu. They offer a wide selection of domestic and imported beer as well as wines, spirits and mixed cocktails. They had a list of exotic drinks which I thought was pretty good.
The food menu wasn’t bad either. The menu offered your usual Chinese dishes and the prices were very reasonable. The one thing that caught my attention was a disclaimer on the last page that says “Substitutions are subject to additional charges.” The message practically screamed deviate from the menu and die. It’s something that I’m not used to because I’m pretty particular when it comes to the ingredients that I want to be included or excluded from certain dishes. I guess I am spoiled because I’m used to places that cater to consumer needs without question.
For instance, at PF Chang’s Brian and I will normally ask for the Mongolian beef and substitute eggplant for the green onions. We hate green onions and just pick them off anyway so they might as well cook them without. PF Chang’s Also encourages you to mix different meats so you can have a combination of beef and pork and chicken and whatever you want mixed in with your dish. You can pretty much create your own dishes. I think it’s great and I think restaurants shouldn’t discourage you from doing that.
I’m afraid that places that do not allow you to do this just have vats of pre-made food in their kitchen. That’s the reason why they cannot deviate from the menu selections (or at least penalize you for doing so).
Anyway, that aside, Brian and I decided to order some dumplings and lo mein. Portions at these restaurants are typically pretty large so we opted to share the triple delight lo mein that consists of beef, chicken and shrimp.
The pan fried dumplings were pretty cheap. You get six for $5.95 which isn’t a bad deal at all. The dumplings themselves weren’t spectacular. I like PF Chang’s dumplings better. They only give you four, but you get four big meaty ones. These dumplings were really doughy. The shell was thick and there wasn’t a lot of filling inside. [By the way, if you want a good deal on dumplings you need to go to Japan Express. You get about a dozen yummy steamed, deep fried or pan fried dumplings for a really low price.]
The lo mein, on the other hand, was outstanding. There were large pieces of chicken and beef. The vegetables were easy to pick off. The sauce was delicious. The dish which was supposed to included shrimp only consisted of about three pieces. They were jumbo shrimp but I couldn’t help but be disappointed that there weren’t any more in there. Despite the scarcity of the shrimp, the lo mein was one of the best I’d ever had. It totally made up for the so-so dumplings.
At the end of our meal, Brian and I were considered some chocolate cake for dessert. There was a three layer cake that was pictured on the menu and I was curious about it. However, when we asked to see the menu for some dessert our server said they didn’t have a dessert menu because their dessert offerings vary. He mentioned cheesecake and chocolate mousse. Brian got a little excited to hear there was chocolate mousse, but the server who was not very confident about what they had said he would check and then let us know what was available.
When he came back he said they were out of dessert. It was like five o’clock in the afternoon. The evening had barely begun. How can you be out of dessert already? That was another strike against them.
In the end the fact that there was no dessert, mediocre service and no substitutions outweighed all the pluses of the nice, private ambiance, cheap prices (our bill was only $14.75 which got rounded to $18.00 after the tip; you can’t eat that cheap anywhere else; at least not at a nice sit-down-restaurant type of place, anyway) and good lo mein offered. Overall I give the place three out of five stars which means I probably won’t avoid the place but I won’t go out of my way to eat there either.
Now that you all have read my wife’s review on the restaurant, I will take a stab at the place. This way you have something that is a little more that just a one sided opinion. I found the toned down atmosphere to be very inviting. However, the T.V. that blasted sports in the bar portion of the building was a little distracting. If the place had been packed and the bar full it would have been expected, but their was no one in the bar (only a few couples in the entire place actually) this should have been a sign to turn down the volume till it was actually needed. The place was obviously new and still very sterile and clean. The decor was very subtle and not over done like PF Changs, and overall atmosphere was simple. Our hostess was new and still nervous and needing training (proper training) you could tell that the only reason she had the job was because she was the relative of one of the owners, or managers of the place, otherwise she would not have ever got the job. The food was actually very good. I liked the dumpling, I thought that they had a very good flavor and I was not thrown off by the amount of dough they used like my wife. I thought the filling was a little small but ample. Our main dish was not bad but I think they could have balanced it a little better. We ordered a triple meat meal that was supposed to have Beef, Chicken and Shrimp. Instead we were brought Chicken, Beef and 3 pieces of shrimp. Their could have been more here but I guess when everything is prepared in a somewhat large vat, you are left with little choice. Our server was very nice and very patient with us as far as our waiting for my parents to arrive. In the end our check was very good and not expensive at all (we did have to ask him to split the check, he did not ask nor offer) and the food was decent. The downplays were, We did not get any desert due to the fact that they ran out. This was very disconcerting, the waiter was not actually sure that they had anything and then checked. In my opinion, you should never run out of desert. As my wife stated, I wouldn’t go out of my way to avoid the place but I wouldn’t go out of my way to go to the place either.
Posted on October 18, 2005 by Ching under Poker, School.
It’s almost 6:00 pm on a Tuesday. Normally I would be getting ready for Accounting but we don’t have class tonight because of fall break. I had thought about going to the gym to workout last week, but decided against it this morning because the Tuesday fitness class is usually always full. I usually don’t enjoy working out when it’s elbow to elbow, so I was left with no plans. I sat in front of the computer and pondered my options. I could stay home and work on my take home exam for Accounting which I have been procrastinating on since the first day I got it. Or I could just nap. Lord knows I need to catch up on some sleep. Or I could play poker. There’s Heroes or Side Pockets. Actually, there’s a plethora of other options according to the Wichita Poker Review website but those are the two places that I am familiar with and I’m not really one to try the unfamiliar when I am by myself. Poker sounded good. I settled on Side Pockets and because I’m contemplating on boycotting APL for a while. The reason for the boycott? I mourning the loss of Brian Day, my all-time favorite APL dude. He is no longer with the organization. I’m not quite sure what is doing now, but I hope he knows that he is missed. At least, Brian and I miss him dearly. I sent a text message to Dill to find out if he wants to go to Side Pockets for poker. No sooner than I had sent it, my phone starts ringing. It’s Dill. We exchange greetings and then he goes, “You gotta bail me out.” “You’re in jail?!” He started laughing. He then explained that he needed someone to sub for Saif on their poker league. Naturally he tries to butter me up. He tells me how they are in first place and they want to keep their lead because there is only one more week left after tonight. He goes, “I’d much rather have you play because I know you can play. When you use one of their alternates you never know what you’re going to get.” I didn’t need much convincing, though. I was just glad I had something to do. The catch? I had to be at Sharky’s by 6:30 pm. I hurriedly got off the phone because it’s was like two minutes until 6:00 pm and I was almost a half an hour away from the joint. That, and I needed to change. I wasn’t going to go play poker in the dress I had worn to work that day. I ran to the bedroom to change clothes. Just my luck, my zipper gets stuck. Don’t you hate that? When you are in a hurry, something inveitably goes wrong. I struggled with it for a while (cussing and griping and wishing Brian were home to help me undress) until I finally got my dress unzipped. I just put on the same short denim skirt that I wore to Neighbors on Saturday. I had no time to pick something else to wear. The skirt was right there next to the bed. I just needed to grab it, wear it and go. By five after I was out of the house and on my way. I sped like a bullet train which is amazing because I don’t ever speed (ask Brian; I’m the safest driver in the world). I arrived at Sharky’s with ten minutes to spare. When I got there I had no idea what I was supposed to do. I called Dill and he instructed me to find the table labeled “But It Was Suited,” their team name. I found the other members of the team there and got assigned to table ten. All the other teams were short one or two people also (they didn’t have the foresight Dill had to call in their own substitute; that or maybe they didn’t really care anymore because they had no hope of winning) so they ended up disbanding table ten and I ended up sitting at the same table as Dill. This didn’t make him happy. Each team member was supposed to be assigned to a different table. The goal was to try to win at your table and earn points: two points for taking out the bounty (there is one designated at each table), one point for third place, two points for second and three for first. The first place finishers get to play against each other at the final table where they have an opportunity to earn even more points. The points are tallied at the end of the evening and added to the total points for each team. The team with the most points at the end of the league period (next Tuesday is their last day) wins $3000. I wasn’t too happy about having to sit at the same table as Dill either. I actually drove all the way from the East side, where I live, to the West side, where Sharky’s is located, to supposedly fill in for their missing team member, Saif, so that they have their ten people but since the other teams were short one or two members anyway, they didn’t really need me to fill in. I felt totally worthless… But whatever. I was there. Might as well play and have a good time. At least I didn’t feel any pressure to do well because there were two of us on the same team at our table. I decided to order food and just hang out, hang in there for as long as I can and enjoy the game. Although, when Dill’s stack began to dwindle I had to start playing more seriously. I had a job to do. My job is to earn points for the team. By the time I finished eating and started playing seriously we were down to about five people. I think I did a pretty good job of hanging in there considering that it was slow going at first. I was short stacked from the get go because I had flopped top pair and ran into pocket aces. That was within the first few hands. I had no idea what I was up against because there were no aces on the board until the river. That hurt. But I play a pretty tight game so I hung on to the rest of my chips until there were only two of us left. It helped that I got some good cards and won a few hands too. The pots I’d won were pretty small compared to others that were won at our table, but enough to keep me going after a horrible start. Incidentally, the player who I went up against on that momentous hand was the one who eventually won our table. I placed second and earned two points for our team. I think Dill had high hopes for me because I was the last person in our team still playing but I knew there was no way that I could win. The dude had systematically knocked out the last few people at our table, thus further contributing to his chip stack. Dill tried to encourage me by saying that he’s won from the same position I was at (a severe underdog in terms of chips). He even said that the guy only had a three-to-one chip stack against me. He really had like four or five times the chips I had, but that was Dill trying to be optimistic. In the end his chip stack prevailed. The guy earned three points for taking first and an additional two points for taking out the bounty earlier in the game. I don’t think his team was anywhere close to Dill’s team in the rankings, though. Dill said they had 19 more points than the second place team. I don’t know what rank his team is, but they weren’t in second place so I don’t think the five points are going to harm Dill’s team any. I think Dill’s team will hold their first place rank and win the $3000 that they’ve been working for all these weeks. Dill said that Saif won’t be back by next Tuesday and asked if I could sub again but I had to decline. I would have Accounting then and I can’t miss school. Not for poker, anyway. Dill said he has school next Tuesday also, but he has decided to miss because he has his eye on the prize. Talk about dedication. Overall, I had a fun time. My total expenditures for the evening were less than $20, $10 of it went toward my food bill ($6.99 for the club and I gave the rest to the server because she was nice) and then $5 to the dealer. I had tipped him when we first started playing (in hopes that it would change my luck and I’d start getting better cards) and then I gave another $3 to counteract another player’s mojo. I’m not sure how much he tipped the dealer but after he did I tipped the dealer right behind him and joked that was to counteract whatever luck he hoped to have by tipping. I think it worked because he got knocked out soon after. I hope he is not mad at me for trying some poker voodoo. You gotta do what you gotta do to win, you know? I was tempted to drink but I was driving. That, and I was on a tight budg
et. We are going out to lunch on Friday to celebrate Rush’s belated birthday and I needed to save some money for that. I’m really glad that I didn’t drink, though. I got so lost going home. Well, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. I found my way eventually. It’s challenging to find your way in the dark when you are practically blind like I am. Specially since I’m not used to driving by myself. Brian is usually the one who drives so I never have any idea where I am when I’m on my own. It’s hard enough in the daylight. You all should’ve seen me tonight. It’s embarrassing. I really should wear my glasses when I drive. Anyway, I’m too tired to work on my Accounting take home exam. Brian will be home soon and I think I will just chill with him and watch TV for the rest of the evening until it’s time for bed. So much for school work. =P
Posted on October 15, 2005 by Ching under Life, Movies, Poker.
With the semester being as stressful as it has been, I can’t believe I made it to fall break in one piece (if at all). You all know how I’ve thought about jumping off a bridge a few times. Anyway, I have another take home exam in accounting to work on but since there are no classes on Monday or Tuesday I figured I would take this opportunity to relax a bit. Last night relaxing involved dinner and movie. Brian got out of work around ten-ish. We were going to play poker with Rush and his friends, but they play their cash games a little differently. I like the buy-in, tournament style format. I was going to go over there around nine thirty to hang out, but then I realized I still didn’t have a pin number to my debit card. There was no way for me to get cash out and I didn’t want to go and just hang out until Brian showed up with the cash. I just ended up calling Rush and canceling. Brian picked me up and we went to PF Chang’s for dinner. I love how late they are open. At least you can always count on getting good food after ten o’clock and not having to settle for Denny’s or something. Over dinner we discussed my debit card woes. As long as I can use my debit card as a credit card I am fine, but I am otherwise pretty helpless. I can’t get cash out. Isn’t that nuts? I have no access to money without Brian. We’ve talked about going to the bank to set up my pin number in case of emergency. That way I’m less of a damsel in distress and will actually be able to take care of myself. Then we never get around to doing it because my schedule is super tight and I guess we both don’t think it’s that much of a priority. I don’t even think of it really, until I need to get cash out. I typically only use my debit card for lunches and stuff and most places will allow me to use it as a credit card except for places like El Patio who are stuck in the middle ages. They only take cash or check. Is that dumb, or what? Brian actually doesn’t mind my inability to get cash so much. I mean, he worries about emergencies and stuff but he looks at it as a form of job security. He says this guarantees that I will always need him. He joked about fearing the day that I gain my independence because that will be the day that I leave him. That’s a pretty funny way of looking at things I guess. To date, Brian’s job is pretty secure.
After dinner we went home and popped one of our Netflix movies, Kingdom of Heaven. It was pretty good. Of course it helps that Orlando Bloom plays the lead character. I also recognized that one of the guys in the HBO series Rome (Vorenus) is in it. These days Rome is on top of our DVR list. That show is addictive. Anyway, we stayed up until almost three so I couldn’t get up early enough for my usual Saturday morning workout routine. I’ll be at the gym tomorrow, though, because when I saw Pam on Thursday I promised her I would come to try her new Sunday fitness class. They’re trying out a brand new class format. Before it was an our of pump and then an hour of step. Now it’s an hour of pump and then an hour and a half cardio medley consisting of hi/low, step and kick boxing.
We got up around eleven-ish today. Brian did dishes, I had some of my leftovers from dinner last night, and I started working on the laundry. We also watched Jet Li’s Unleashed. It was better than I expected. It had some pretty moving scenes (Brian actually caught me crying a couple of times; but I’m a cry baby, you all know that) and of course the obligatory fight scenes. Naturally. I don’t think I’ll ever see Jet Li in a movie without any kind of fighting. After the movie Brian went to the bank to deposit my reimbursement checks. He picked up some food and got the mail. Nothing interesting. Just catalogs and you all know I’m too broke to shop. Although, my birthday is coming up. I hope my mom gets me like a Visa gift card or something (hint, hint). I could use some extra shopping money to go towards a much-needed therapeutic shopping spree. It’s been like a year since I’ve bought something significant clothes-wise. Brian said he’s going to give me the $50 Visa gift card that he won at work since the memory stick duo that I bought a couple of weeks ago isn’t compatible with my phone. I thought it was going to be a plain memory stick duo but instead I got a memory stick duo PRO. I can’t use those with my phone, but it works with Brian’s PSP so he is the one using it now. We figured he could just have it instead of sending it back. I hate returning stuff. Anyway, I need a little bit more than $50 to get the stuff I want. I need to learn how to bargain shop, but sometimes I just see something I really want and I can’t find anything else that will suffice. For example there is this wide jeweled belt that I’ve been eyeing at Victoria’s Secret, but it’s $68. Back in the old days (when I had no qualms about spending $150 in just makeup), I wouldn’t even flinch. I would have ordered it as soon as I set eyes on it in the catalog. Ever since the epiphany of Thanksgiving 2004, however, I have changed. Now I have to save up in order to buy the things that I want. It’s been working out pretty well, though. I like the responsible version of me. We were going to play racquetball this afternoon, but I think I’m going to use the afternoon to work on my accounting exam (which is really what I should be doing right now). For tonight, we don’t really have anything major planned. I do know I want to hit Neighbors to try to win a seat in their current mini poker tourney. It started last week and it’s going to be a six-week event, if I’m not mistaken. You try to win a seat in the finals and what you ultimately play for is a $400 cash prize to first place and $200 for second. Not bad. I think it works because Brian hates Sharky’s anyway. I figured this way, we’ll still get to play poker and it’s going to be for pretty substantial prize and it won’t be at Sharky’s. So Brian is happy and I’m happy. It’s all about compromise. Wish us luck.
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