Archive for the year 2009
Brian’s Birthday
Posted on June 15, 2009 by Ching under Poker, Things to Do, Travel.
Brian and I were a little nutty and decided to spend Brian’s birthday in Kansas City. In order to save some money, we decided to do a day trip. In other words, driving up and coming back home without staying overnight. This meant getting up way early in order to make it in time for the 80-person $30 buy-in poker tournament at Harrah’s.
As you can see from the picture on the left, Brian wasn’t exactly elated to be up that early. He was really excited to play in the tournament, though.
Neither of us did well in the tournament, but I did outlast him. He went downstairs to play our favorite Texas hold ’em table game when got knocked out. I played for a few minutes after I got knocked out also. We would have played that table game longer, but we were both really hungry. When we cashed out, we made back our tournament buy-ins. About the only thing we lost was the $20 I put in a slot machine while waiting for Brian to come out of the restroom. Not bad, all in all.
Our next stop was Dave & Buster’s, our favorite place at Legends Mall. We usually do an “eat and play” combo and have fun for hours. I made Brian play Virtual Tennis with me. It is my favorite game at D&B because it’s the only game where I can beat Brian. We played a few shooting games (those are Brian’s favorite) and a racing game. He always beats me at those. I normally beat him at skeeball, but not that day. I fared horribly.
We walked around Legends for a while before finally heading home. We actually ran into Mike and Trisha (a couple we play poker with at Highlands) there. They were on vacation and doing some shopping. We didn’t really buy anything except for a denim jacket for me. I’d outgrown my other two. I had an XS one that I gave away after I picked up a size S a few years ago. I outgrew that one too so now I had to get a M one. 🙁
There were some amazing sales going on at the Ann Taylor and Banana Republic outlets, but I just couldn’t get myself to spend any more money. We spent quite a bit already this year.
Brian did pretty well gifts-wise. He got his Nokia E71 (early birthday present), his Munny (which he is yet to paint/decorate), and some brothel tokens. Oh, and his new Dell notebook arrived just in time for his birthday; although, it’s not technically supposed to be a birthday present. The DTR (also known as “the tank top” because it is the biggest laptop you have ever seen) died. I’m still kind of suspicious of its demise. It seemed like a weird coincidence that it happened around the time of his birthday. Smells like foul play to me. =P (I’m kidding, baby!)
With the exception of the year that I got him the big screen (which he hacked up with a chainsaw a few years ago), I think this is his most expensive birthday yet. Now we have to do a budget to recover from all this wanton, unfettered spending. It is a little irresponsible and so unlike us.
Anyway, spending the day in Kansas City playing poker and arcade games was a lot of fun. Driving up and back in one day was a little crazy, though. We probably won’t do that ever again. Next time, we are spending the night.
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Brian’s Birthday Cake
Posted on June 14, 2009 by Ching under Moblog.
P.S. We were thinking that we were just coming over for a home game. Cory and April were so sweet, though. They surprised Brian with a birthday cake. It had “Happy Flippin Birthday” written on it. Bad pun, I know, but we all got a kick out of it.
Alright. Just wanted to share a couple of the mobile photos I took yesterday. Longer blog post is still coming.
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Brian Looked Like a Deprived Child
Posted on June 14, 2009 by Ching under Moblog.
Long day yesterday. I was up for about 24 hours with only two naps (less than an hour each) in between all the time I spent awake. I will tell you more about it later.
Anyhow, this is a picture of Brian playing Metal Gear Solid 4. It was so sad and pathetic looking. He was playing like a deprived child locked in the basement for ten years. He looked like he would cry if you pried the controller off his hands.
I’m beginning to think that going to the Phelps’ last night was just a ploy to play video games all night. =P
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3 Down, 8 More to Go
Posted on June 12, 2009 by Ching under Movies, Wishlist.
Brian has made it his mission in life to make me watch all 11 (I’m counting the new one by J.J. Abrams also) Star Trek movies in sequence. We watched the prequel on opening weekend with Chad, Jan, David and Donna. That has inspired us to put the other 10 Star Trek movies on our Netflix.
So far we have watched Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan. I liked the former because of its philosophical nature, but the latter was far more entertaining. The latter had better effects, too. Still hokey, but far less hokier than its predecessor. I also thought Ricardo Montalban did a great job as Khan.
I think what I liked most about Wrath of Khan is because I now understand some of the references they used in the new movie, particularly the references to the “Kobayashi Maru” simulation. I love the continuity of the Star Trek movies. It seems like, no matter when the movies are made/released, the movies all fit together nicely like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
I didn’t want to watch all of these Star Trek movies at first. I thought they would be boring. Two movies into it, though, I find myself lost in the Star Trek universe. Now I understand why Trekkies are so into them. It makes me want to relive the whole Star Trek Experience all over again.
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The Cold Within
Posted on June 11, 2009 by Ching under Leadership.
Our speaker Judge Tommy Webb shared an enlightening poem by James Patrick Kinney with us this afternoon. The message is an important one so I thought I should share it with everyone.
The Cold Within
by James Patrick KinneySix humans trapped by happenstance
In dark and bitter cold
Each possessed a stick of wood–
Or so the story’s told.Their dying fire in need of logs,
But the first one held hers back,
For, of the faces around the fire,
She noticed one was black.The next one looked cross the way
Saw one not of his church,
And could not bring himself to give
The fire his stick of birch.The third one sat in tattered clothes
He gave his coat a hitch,
Why should his log be put to use
To warm the idle rich?The rich man just sat back and thought
Of wealth he had in store,
And keeping all that he had earned
From the lazy, shiftless poor.The black man’s face bespoke revenge
As the fire passed from his sight,
For he saw in his stick of wood
A chance to spite the white.And the last man of this forlorn group
Did nought except for gain,
Giving just to those who gave
Was how he played the game,Their sticks held tight in death’s stilled hands
Was proof enough of sin;
They did not die from cold without–
They died from cold within.
The presentation this afternoon was an excellent recharge of the concepts we learned and developed in Diversity Champions.
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