Recently Watched Movies
Posted on December 21, 2006 by Ching under Movies, Reviews.
Now that school is out Brian and I are catching up on some movie watching. We’ve watched almost a dozen movies in the last couple of weeks. Last Saturday Brian and I watched The Pursuit of Happyness. We went home and decided to play a couple of movies as we wrapped gifts. We watched The Break Up and Accepted. Needless to say, we were up until the wee hours of the morning.
Today we watched Eragon. It was a lot better than I expected. I was thoroughly entertained. The little dragon was really cute.
On the drive home Brian made the comment that we’ll probably discover in sequel that Arya is really Eragon’s sister, which made me realize that the story is a lot like Stars Wars. Eragon was left to live with his uncle much like Luke Skywalker. Arya was raised as a Princess like Princess Leia. There are a lot of parallels in the two stories. Eragon had to rescue Arya from Durza’s castle like Luke rescued Leia from the Death Star.
The Varden were like the Rebel Alliance, Brom was like Obi-Wan, Murtagh is the Han Solo character, King Galbatorix is Darth Vader, his army are like the Storm Troopers, and all we are missing is a wookie. Then again, there is a sequel! Let’s just hope they don’t bring Jar Jar Binx. LOL. This is just the beginning. There are a lot more similarities but I won’t ruin the movie for you because it really is a must see. The visuals are breathtaking.
Kidding aside, here are my thoughts on the other movies that we have seen lately..
The Pursuit of Happyness was good but I expected more out of it. The movie previews kind of built it up so much. It made me cry but it wasn’t the bawl-fest that I expected. Not that it’s a bad thing. It’s probably good that it didn’t make me cry as much as I Am Sam did. I don’t think there was a second in that movie that I wasn’t crying. Anyway, The Pursuit of Happyness is an inspiring movie. It shows that hard working people prevail against all odds. Believe in your dreams and persevere. Happiness will follow.
The Break Up was disappointing to say the least. It wasn’t funny and it wasn’t enlightening. I could relate to some of her concerns and his concerns but none of it was entertaining. Why would I want to watch something that I experience in my daily life? It was a waste of two hours. Thankfully, I was productive. I was wrapping presents as I watched the movie so at least my time wasn’t completely wasted.
Accepted was pretty funny but it’s not the kind of movie that I would really go out of my way to see. Obviously, this one came from Brian’s Netflix queue.
The movies that I borrowed that we (or I in some cases because Brian refuses to watch some of my films although I always watch his with him) watched recently include, Intimacy (a foreign film), Somersault (foreign also), and Girl with a Pearl Earring. I have a thing for foreign films.
Intimacy is a French film and had lots of nudity. I’m not sure I quite got it. I think I was distracted by all the sex scenes.
Somersault is an Australian film. I really only rented it for one reason. I wanted to see Abbie Cornish, the girl that Ryan Phillippe cheated on Reese Witherspoon with. I figured she has got to be something special. She’s okay. She is youthful and vibrant, but probably not someone worth throwing a marriage away for.. Somersault is a pretty good movie, as indie films go. What he did, though.. Cheating on his lovely wife, who I love and admire dearly… That was really stupid.
I watched Girl with a Pearl Earring because I love Scarlett Johansson. We’ve had it in our movie collection for a long time but I’ve not had a chance to watch it until now. It’s a good period piece and even better considering that the movie is about a woman in a Vermeer painting.
It’s amazing how many movies I’ve seen in such a short period of time. Even crazier is the fact that I have so many more to watch because we are completely behind in our movie watching.
If I don’t post another entry until after Christmas, I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!
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There is a God
Posted on December 17, 2006 by Ching under Flickr, School.
The unofficial grades for fall term have been posted. Somehow I made it through with three A’s and only one B despite all the obstacles I’ve had to overcome this semester. Like, not realizing that I wasn’t supposed to take four courses in one semester while working a fulltime job. I’ve dropped it down to three classes next semester so I don’t have a nervous breakdown and don’t kill Brian. I wanted to finish my MBA in three semesters and received a rude awakening. That may be possible if you don’t work at all and you just focus on your studies. However, it’s not realistic for someone like me who actually has to work to pay the bills. You live and learn.
Anyway, it was such a relief to receive a B in Operations Management (DS 850). That class is so horrible. It was the first business class that I thought I might fail in. It was the only class I had this semester that required so much effort. It was so challenging, in fact, that it almost discouraged Ray from pursuing his MBA. In all my other classes the learning came very naturally with minimal effort on my part. Minimal effort is all I can afford to exert right now for school because work is requiring a lot out of me as well; which is really difficult for me because I don’t like turning in mediocre homework and projects but this semester the quality of my school work is just not at the level I would like it to be. To all the potential employers who might be reading this, I just want you to know that I am very much capable of superior A-plus work. I just spread myself too thin this time is all. I learned my lesson, though. (more…)
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Present Woes and Future Plans
Posted on December 10, 2006 by Ching under Life, School.
It’s hard to believe that it has been a month since my last blog entry. They say that time flies when you’re having fun. Well, I can assure you, the last few weeks have been anything but. The end of the semester usually brings with it many challenges and frustrations. This semester has been no different. To be sure it has been one of the most challenging I have ever experienced in my entire academic career.
It was a crazy idea to take four courses this semester. It is challenging enough to take four courses without being employed fulltime but I had this crazy notion that I would complete my MBA in three semesters while continuing to work fulltime. After having performed below expectations this semester and submitting mediocre (in some occasions sub-standard) work to my professors, I realized that this goal is not attainable. I really hate turning in crappy work, but sometimes because of time and resource constraints you just have to settle for what you are able to reasonably accomplish. Then again, we are our worst critics so maybe they won’t see the work as “crappy” necessarily. Maybe. If I’m lucky. Seriously, though, by my estimation I should come out with a B overall so it’s not like I’m flunking out. I just made a bad decision (driven by my desire to finish early) and now I’m paying for it. Anyway, I should still be able to finish my MBA come spring 2008.
The plan is to take three courses this spring, two in the summer, two in the fall and then one last course the following spring. Then I should be finished. At least for the time being. I’ve often thought about pursuing a doctorate later on as a retirement plan of sorts. I figured I would be really bored if I stayed home after retirement. Teaching seems like a fun thing to do to pass the time. When the time comes, hopefully, I will have had many interesting experiences to share with students. Besides, in this day and age we have to be creative because (let’s get real folks) when the time comes for our generation to retire there won’t be any social security. I’m not even counting on it. To this end, I’ve been more aggressive with my 401k contributions.
When I first began it I was actually content with contributing 6% of my income, which is all the company will match. As I get older and closer to retirement I’ve decided that it really doesn’t matter if the company won’t match the rest of my contributions. The more that I save the more that I will reap later. My current rate of contribution is 10% and I’ve elected to increase my contributions by 2% each year. This is something that I’ve picked up from Jan. I wasn’t aware of the One Step option until Jan told me about it. I’ve learned so much from her.
It’s so strange to be so future-oriented. I used to not be so. When Brian and I first met, I was completely directionless, hedonistic, lived only for today, motivationless, and driven solely by the need for instant gratification. It’s remarkable how life can change and mold us to the people we are..
Anyway, I just wanted to check in because I hadn’t posted anything in a while. I will try to blog more after finals. Check back next week.
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McAlister’s Deli
Posted on November 10, 2006 by Ching under Flickr, Food and Drink.
Brian and I finally got to try McAlister’s Deli. Their restaurant reminds me of Jason’s Deli. The prices are about the same.
They are located on Rock Road where Hana Cafe and Red Beans used to be. They took over both units and converted it into one. There’s plenty of room inside. Their process is a lot like Jason’s Deli except they have multiple registers instead of only one.
The food offerings are pretty similar except Jason’s Deli offers better quality fruit and has a salad bar. Brian also wanted me to mention the free dessert from the autodog. That’s what Brian calls their frosty machine because frosty comes out of the spout like dog poop. I’m not sure if that’s the official name for it but that’s what Brian has always called it.
Anyway, our food was good. Brian had the Spud Max and he really liked it. I had a chicken salad wrap just because that is why I usually get everywhere else and that’s how I compare different places. So far the Upper Crust is in the lead. They have the best chicken salad sandwich (and chicken salad period) in Wichita. McAlister’s chicken salad wrap is pretty good too but what I really liked was my Kentucky pie. It’s pecan pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream covered with whipped cream and drizzed all over with chocolate syrup. It was yummy!
Anyway, the place is pretty nice and the food is good. I wouldn’t mind going there again. You all should try McAlister’s Deli if you haven’t already.
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Thanksgiving Plans
Posted on November 10, 2006 by Ching under Family, Flickr, Food and Drink.
For the first time in years Brian and I are on our own for Thanksgiving (his parents who usually host Thanksgiving will be visiting Aunt Verna in Houston). You’d think, having been married for over four years and as old as we are, that we would have plenty of experience hosting Thanksgiving. Sadly, though we thought we were the entertaining type years ago, we realized we don’t like to entertain at all. Thus, our house is often in grave disarray and not in the best form to accept visitors.
I tried to see if mom would mind hosting Thanksgiving dinner. After all, her house is perfect for parties. There’s lots of room for everyone, their home is beautiful and always picture perfect, and mom is a consummate host. She even has all the fancy chaffing dishes and stuff. Alas, mom already had Thanksgiving plans. Because we’ve never really celebrated Thanksgiving (there’s no Thanksgiving holiday in the Philippines) we just treat it like any other day. As it turns out, Tita Beverly is having a fancy soireé for her 50th birthday on this very day. So mom and dad are out. Back to the drawing board we go. (more…)
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