Welcome Crichton, Farewell Sunny
Posted on April 1, 2007 by Ching under Babies, Life, News, Toys.
This is probably our biggest news this week. Brian, who has been wanting a truck for a while, finally got his wish. Here’s how it came about..
When we arrived back from Kansas City.. KC was a lot of fun, by the way. I neglected to write about it because school and work have both been very hectic since our return. We didn’t win any money, but we didn’t spend all the money that we had set aside for the trip either so overall I am satisfied. I won almost all of our money back and then some because we had spent almost $50 in tips to various dealers if added all together. After cashing out on Friday night, I had all but $60 of the $200 we spent in poker entry fees recovered. Then after dinner and watching a bit of TV, Brian decided he wanted to play some more so we went back down to the World Series of Poker Texas Hold’ Em table game (our favorite) and we all of the money we allotted. Overall our gambling loss was minimal. Probably $100 more or less. It would’ve been nice to win one of the poker tournaments we participated in but we weren’t so lucky this time. Most of our expenditures were food related. Each time we had lunch or dinner it cost about $60 so multiply that by five and that was the biggest chunk of our trip expenses. We also found a couple of things at Legends Mall so that added to the spending. But being the pragmatic people that we are, Brian and I didn’t go overboard. We were well within our spending budget. We actually opted to forego the breakfast room service this time because you hardly get any food for $30 and for about the same amount you get all the food you want at the buffet downstairs. In short we were very practical, probably even borderline frugal, but we had truck loads of fun. (more…)
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Honesty is the Best Policy
Posted on March 21, 2007 by Ching under Flickr, Life.
The other day Brian and I discovered that ABC Wine and Liquor (the liquor store around the corner from our house) also carries Lindeman’s lambic and at a lower price to boot. All this time we’d been going to Jacob’s when we could’ve been saving money and gas (ABC is literally within walking distance from our place) by going to ABC.
We decided to go there yesterday after work. I wanted to buy a couple of bottles of fruit beer to take on our trip. While there we saw a sign for their free cigar promo. So we bought my stuff and Brian picked out two cigars and his free one.
The two cigars he picked out came out to almost ten dollars altogether but when the guy rang it up he only charged Brian $2.83. I was surprised but there were a couple of other people waiting to be helped so we went ahead and took off. As we were driving to Dillon’s, I told Brian he (being the store clerk) really messed it up. Your cigars should have cost you more. Brian said that he must have neglected to ring up the third cigar (the free one) before taking it off. Our guess is that he just rang up the first two cigars and then took the discount. The proper way to do it is really to ring up all three and then taking the third one off.
“We have to go back,” Brian says. “I can’t smoke these with a clear conscience if we don’t.” I think we were almost to 29th Street when Brian has this epiphany. He copped a u-turn risking life and limb just so he could point out the error get the charge corrected. Seriously. (more…)
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A Pleasant Surprise
Posted on March 17, 2007 by Ching under Flickr, Life.
We are tying up some loose ends before going out of town. Yesterday Brian took Bebot to Eddy’s for an oil change. It’s important to do these things before driving any long distances. I took the day off work to catch up on school work. I figured since we will be out of town next weekend I should devote some time to my group project work and my own work, not to mention studying for my upcoming MIS exam, so as not to get so far behind. Not much school work got done, though.
Anyway, since Brian and I would miss poker next Friday we figured we’d go last night. In the middle of playing Brian got several calls from work. He actually had to come in to work right after we were finished with poker. Crazy, impatient German customers. “Just because it is daytime over there doesn’t mean it is day time over here,” Brian complained. Despite the interruptions, however, he managed to take first place during the first poker session. Very impressive considering he outlasted and outplayed about 200 people, some of them donkeys.
I went with Brian to his work. We were both hungry so we picked up some Sonic on the way there. It was well after two o’clock in the morning by the time we walked out of there. The crazy thing is that I had to be up very early the next day. I had a waxing appointment at nine in the morning, do some work (approving time tickets and such; it was my turn to come in to work and Brian’s turn to hang out), and then a hair cut at one o’clock in the afternoon. (more…)
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Good News and Bad News
Posted on March 14, 2007 by Ching under Life, News, School.
The good news is that I got a 98 on my Accounting exam. I think I only missed one multiple choice question. They were worth two points each. After a brief exam post mortem with Chad, I really thought I messed up on the second problem. He is very studious so I take his opinion very seriously. Anyway, it turns out I actually did it right. So I’m guessing I got everything right except for one multiple choice question. I think I know which question it is, too. There was one question that I couldn’t decide between two of the choices. I was confident about all my other answers, though. So I’m pretty sure it was the question that I was uncertain about.
It’s a relief to know that I actually did well on the exam. I didn’t think I was completely prepared for it, specially since Brian helped me procrastinate over the weekend. I guess I was more prepared than I realized.
Now for the bad news. Are you ready for this? Sanjaya is still on Idol, therefore we’ll be subjected to more of his pitiful performances. Thank God for DVR! So at least we can fast forward through the more horrific parts. But what is the deal?
I felt sure that he might survive this elimination because the majority of Idol viewers clearly have no taste. I was so convinced that yet another undeserving person would be sent home that for the first time in my entire Idol-viewing history I actually felt compelled to vote. I tried to call but the lines were busy. After a few tries I just gave up.
Either Sanjaya has a really big family or the show is rigged. Brian is now completely convinced of the latter. The results tonight actually make me think of the movie American Dreamz where the terrorist actually wanted their representative to win so that he could assassinate the president. Maybe Sanjaya has been sent to assassinate Simon Cowell. He’s probably made one too many people mad. I usually agree with his critiques, though. I don’t understand why people subject themselves to the contest and are upset when they get honest feedback. Simon is just telling it like it is. Maybe this is punishment for all of us Americans who watch too much TV. Now we have to endure more of Sanjaya. LOL.
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A Wonderful Afternoon of Procrastination
Posted on March 10, 2007 by Ching under Flickr, Food and Drink, Movies, Reviews.
Brian drug me to see 300 today. Prior to actually watching the movie, I really had no idea what it was all about. Brian, being the comic book freak that is, had already read the graphic novel. He’d been eagerly awaiting the movie’s release and could hardly contain himself. Although, it was I who had to be shushed in the middle of the movie for vocalizing my awe and excitement.
I highly recommend seeing this movie. It is rated R because of the graphic battle scenes and occasional nudity. The gore is not gross, though. It is very beautifully done. In fact, the entire movie is beautifully done. Every scene is picture-perfect. Nay, painting-perfect. It is the best movie I have seen thus far in 2007. Granted, I have been too busy to do much movie watching, but I expect that it is the best movie that I’ll see this year.
Since Brian drug me to do his thing, I drug him to do my thing. So we went to Cocoa Dolce after our movie. Cocoa Dolce is this new (they’ve only been around for 15 months) gourmet chocolate shop on 37th and Rock. Master chocolatier and proprietor Beth Tully likes to call her shop a chocolate lounge because it’s like a cozy little coffee shop offering chocolate beverages and gelattos besides the vast offering of delectable chocolate confections.
We’d driven by the store many times going to Dillon’s and QuikTrip and other places in the area but we’d never really considered going in until after we saw Ms. Tully speak at WSU on Thursday. She is a very articulate, impressive, amazing woman. I suspect she could sell a refrigerator to an eskimo. Our curiosity was piqued and so we went.
At $52 per pound, she was quite accurate when she described her demographic. In decribing her niche target market, she described her product as a luxury item. Most of us don’t really think of chocolates in that way but she is absolutely right. Gourmet chocolates such as these probably wouldn’t appeal to the average person who is satisfied by your run of the mill grocery store candy. Although, for those with enough discretionary income to indulge, the delicious morsels are an indulgence worth every penny.
Brian and I don’t see ourselves going back every week, after all we are pretty pragmatic and frugal these days. However, we agreed that we could afford to splurge just this once. Or maybe a few more times in the coming weeks. We have already talked about returning to try some of the gelatto. One patron described it as putting even Coldstone Creamery (our favorite ice cream shop) ice cream to shame.
Oh, their sugar free chocolate selections are also worth mentioning because they don’t taste sugar free at all. You can buy some of their stuff through the Cocoa Dolce online store. I promise that you will not be disappointed. Brian and I give Cocoa Dolce our seal of approval.
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