Laundry Anyone?

in

Well, after only having to go one day without a laundry washing machine, it was time to get a new one. Learning from two different resources and the fact that Maytag Legacy Series was a piece of junk, I decided that it would be beneficial to buy a brand new one. Needing a new transmission, knowing that it would break again because of the faulty design, and having a ridiculous cost of labor to replace, I found a good one at Best Buy.

Most of you know me and although I always want the best, money has really been an issue lately. Spending has been curbed and the ideas of the awesome front loading LG machines will have to wait unitl I start earning some cash. So, I went with this one. http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=1077628669210&type=product. I was able to find an Open Box Buy (supposedly damaged cosmetically, but nothing that I didn't see) and they discou nted it to $330.99. I'm a maniac! I also had Matty P and JZ to help me regain my senses into practicality. Thanks guys. I was in the dilemma that it would be smarter to buy a better one that would last longer for renters in the future, but of course, its not always wise because you never know what may happen or whether or not they would take care of it the same way when you are present in the house.

Here's a picture of it. Moral of the story?! --> buy only Whirlpool, LG or Roeper (not familiar with the last one)

1st Weekend back...

in

One of our recent graduates, William Wang, is moving back home to New York for a little bit and planned to drive home today (Saturday). So a bunch of us got together at Chi-Ling's for some good sushi dinner. We had about somewhere around 17 people there at one time. Just imagine how separate checks looked like. Food was good as always and the shots of sake kept us going. It took somewhere around 30 minutes to get the orders. It was ridiculous. But we had a good time at the restaurant. I think that we were the last ones there again. Here's a shot of the gang at Chi-Ling's. Nearing the end of the dinner, Matty P came up with a bet that if Matty E (Elliott) would put a teaspoon size chunk of wasabi in his mouth, he would give him $5. Peterson also chipped in $5 and some others threw in dollar bills to raise the stakes. After a little convincing...He did it! This is shot of right after the fact. You can see that he was just beginning to realize what he did.

What do you do when you come home to Daytona? You hit up Mai Tai's Bar and Grill. For everyone in San Diego, its a cheap shot at PB Bar and Grill without the huge outside and dance area bar. With that being said, it's really a tiny place with an outdoor patio. And babe, don't worry, there aren't that many girls there as you already know. Mai Tai's upgraded all their furniture and is trying really hard to step it up a bit. They have a live band that plays inside which creates a huge racket throughout the entire place. Sometimes I just want to bring ear plugs so I don't become deaf. But its okay. The music they play apparently is repeated over and over again each week. They're just a cover band really.

Last night was the first time that I actually found my limits in drinking. It is the first time that I have ever rid my body of the alcohol by throwing up. Of course, it was just sushi rice with liquid spewing from my mouth. Exciting stuff. I just couldn't stop either. It was just a constant stream of junk. Not fun really. I also came to the realization that I still don't like beer. That's maybe the honest reason why I just down my beers every time I get them. It's just so hard for me to drink. I prefer water or diet coke and lately, sweet tea seems to be working out really well. :-)

Another good shot of the gang.

It's coming!!!

in

Well, being that tomorrow is Friday already, I can expect this month to go by fast with the ATP test actually happening within the next two weeks. Am I ready? Not yet...but I am definitely getting there. It actually isn't as bad as I thought it would be. It's good stuff. I mean, there are some really tedious questions. Just long computations and such. Not fun, but hey, you gotta do what every pilot must do in at point in his/her life. Class has been really fun with Dan Barnes and Randy Hetz. Rick and Jim are two new Jet IPs that are hanging out with our class. I definitely feel like this is what I have been waiting for. At the end of the month, we begin out King Air Simulation and LOFTs. That will be the next step in getting use to faster approach speeds and everything else. I can't wait!!! Oh the excitement!!!

Make sure you check out trelijah. I updated it with a picture with me in 06, with a new hair style, and three stripes. I also have 241 hours to date. Only 89.1 of those are Multiengine though. Anyone with a King Air and MEI time that wants to help me out?

Drew Brees also had a successful surgery today but the recovery should be a little longer than suspected. He is ready though for his aggressive rehab he says. Also in other Charger news, Shawne Merriman was nomiated NFL Rookie of the Year. I can't wait to see what other draft picks will bring the defense next year. There are quite a few good picks out there to chose from.

So, speaking of football, did anyone not figure out that after the 2nd TD from Vince Young, that he probably was going to go for it on fourth? Come on guys!!! I mean, definitely it was an exciting game, but you can't win unless your defense contains a man like that, but then again, who can? Next questions is, who will be the first pick in the '06 Draft?

From bushy, kid 'n play to monk

in

Well, I'm not sure if it was the sleep deprivation or just me being a little annoyed with my haircut being really uneven and just not that great, I decided to call on my roommate for a little New Year's Fun. Yeah I paid for a bad job ($16) and no, I did not keep the mohawk. To be more exact, my hair is just a size 1 (1 mm) all around. Feels weird, but nice. I'm not sure if it was a good idea being that this weekend's weather is calling for 31 - 32 degrees F at night. Maybe I'll find a beanie or something. Adelle pointed one out at Banana Republic, but I didn't get it because: 1) You don't need one in San Diego really, and in Florida and 2) my hair is big. Of course, there are always exceptions and both of them are now null & void. Oh well. I'll take another pic in the next month or so, and you'll get to see how fast my hair actually grows. It's a chia pet I tell you. But, I get to sleep an extra 10 minutes due to the less time spent in the shower and gel-ing my hair.

Jet classes are great! I wish that I had more time to study and do a lot more other things. Back to my last post of being 4 in 40, the official count is now, 4 in 49. Stupid Texas vs. USC Game. It was a great one though. Vince Young better just make his NFL draft run now. Stats, stats, stats...just incredible. I'm going to bed! And I still have laundry to finish folding...

Anti Florida RANT: So I finally found another dry cleaner today that hooks it up for $1 a shirt and $3.25 for a pair of pants. Of all places, this is in Ormond Beach. It's the nicer area of Daytona you could say. I finally went there today because of the haircut place, so it wasn't for nothing I guess. For some odd reason, Palm Coast thinks that they can charge $2.25 for a shirt and $5.00 for a pair of pants. Seriously people...how much greed can one have? Not even the NYC, LA or San Diego or SF charges that much!!!

less 2000 lbs., WX then 9 to 27

in

Alright...I started the 2nd day of the year with a plane scheduled to leave at 11:20 AM from SAN. It was a 767-300 operated by Delta and seemed like everything was going swell. Adelle and I didn't wake up early for breakfast, but we still grabbed some Breakfast combos from Jack in the Box (Chibatta bfast and sausage jack), dropped off my comforter (dog pissed on it) to the dry cleaners, and then headed to the airport. There didn't look like there was a huge security line, but it was the check in line that was long. Deceiving I tell ya. I didn't want Adelle to spend any money on parking, so she just dropped me off at curbside. It was a long goodbye, but definitely a good one.

When I finally arrived at the counter to checkin, I noticed that the flight was delayed to 12:00PM. So, with about 1.5 hrs to spare, I got some Starbucks inside the terminal and just relaxed for a bit. I met an interesting PhD that brought his parachute rig with him on the plane and he was questioned by the TSA. They actually made him unpack the main chute and repack it. It wasn't a big deal for him really, but it was a good story. He also started telling me some good news in the oncology side of things. WHat he does, etc.

When I got to the gate, it didn't mention anything about a delay, so I was enthusiastic, up until a piece of dot matrix printer paper was posted over the time saying 12:00PM, then it moved to 12:20PM then 12:35PM. All these delays were because of weather at Atlanta. After boarding, the first officier told us that we were 2000 lbs. over weight in fuel and had to get rid of some. That took about 1.5 hours or so. After that, the weather started coming in thick and heavy, but we still managed to position for #1 departure for runway 9...then we pulled off again to the side. Another announcement, "Looks like the winds are favoring runway 27 and we're going to have to taxi back for departure for that runway folks." I felt bad for the flight crew because all the passengers were already fed up. He made up some good time though enroute. It only took us 3 hours and 20 minutes to get to ATL. That's almost 1 whole hour faster than normal! It was awesome.

I had 5 minutes to get to another terminal only to find out that it was delayed for another 30 minutes. I bought some pizza, call up my ride and just relaxed a bit. Thanks Matty P for the ride back to Club Zorlou!

My friend posted some pictures of the both of us enroute to Santa Monica from Carlsbad, CA. Check it out at http://www.livejournal.com/users/thejoj/89071.html. Here just one of the two pics on his site.

Prayers go out to Drew Brees. Good luck on the surgery. You definitely deserve a contract!

Goodbye Saan Geego

in

Because most of my favorite sushi places were closed, we had to end the night with some Thai food from "Taste of Thai" in Hillcrest, San Diego. Still the best, no competition comes close. I did ask for an extra spicy Hot Basil with Duck, but it still wasn't good enough for me. I guess that I'm just asking for it. =)

Here's a pic with Jojo, Marella, Adelle and me closing out the night! See you guys in three months!

Jojo and Marella also introducted me to a new Nintendo DS game that just makes me want to get one. It's call Trauma Center: Under the Knife and is a pretty addicting game. You play a doctor with the stylus in the emergency room and try to operate on a "patient." You guys have to try it out. My PSP just isn't as fun. Umm...

Happy New Years!

in
Just hanging out with my best friends for New Year's (well, right before anyways) topped off the night. I drove home right before 12:00 PST to hang out with my mom and Adelle and just got lazy after that. I've been getting some stupid running nose type thingy. Not fun at all...congestion, and all the fun stuff.

I ended up going to 5 different places last night. I mean, it all started at 1300 with a birthday party, then my uncle's place at 1800, then Vince's till 2200, then Adelle, and then back home at exactly 2355. Good stuff I tell ya! Vincenzo's house party was awesome last night! That's him in the picture being a door man. They decorated the entire house really well with a champagne fountain, red carpet, VIP lounge and everything! I was definitely impressed. We left there early to hang out with Marella and Jojo and his cousin Pat. Good stuff at Fashion Hills with a lot of doughuts. Need to eat the rounds for some good luck or something.

Mom's Company Party

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read the post below if you haven't already by clicking here or scrolling down...it's awesome!

Today was a relaxing day of just waking up late, eating some good food at Islands (Maui Burger + Loaded Fries and some sweet water) and heading down to Fashion Valley to return some goodies. We met up with Marella at their house in Fashion Hills and headed to the mall right after just for a little bit. I never knew that the Apple Store was that busy. It's ridiculous! At least I know that they have plans to make the Genius Bar much larger in the anticipation of more customers after their initial batch intel co branded computers.

I bought a new pair of Khakis from Banana and figured that's all I would need for my Mom's party and indeed it was! There was a lot of food and dancing (Adelle and I chose not to partake in the latter ^_^) Pictured above is: me, Adelle, Taylor, Jorene and Mom. Good times. Now, the dilemma is where or what to do tonight for New Years!!! It's crazy that its already here. NUTS!

Bad Service / NFL Star Struck?

in

I wanted to take Adelle to Rei de Gado in Downtown, San Diego and my friend Anh also wanted to hang out, so I made the best of it and combined the two. Ang was hung over like crazy and he needed food badly. I even called in for a reservation, but the service was just horrible. They didn't have our reservation and we didn't get seated until another 20 minutes later. After that, it was more than 15 minutes before we got our drinks and even then it was just painful to watch other people get refills while we haven't even gotten our first cup! We were all definitely just not having a good time or enjoying the restaurant in general. The food was good, but the waiters were absent from their duties. To say the least, one of the skewers fell on Anh's face and we only got a free dessert from it. I mean, it hit his eye pretty hard and I thought with all the events leading to that, we should have at least got comped. We ended the day though on a good note with him showing me his new Ecco (not Marc Ecko) snow shoes that he bought for his stay at Boston and that we would hang out again sometime later. Sorry that it was such a crappy first time there guys! On to the next part of the day...

The last few days have been me lingering on the idea whether or not I needed some new luggage for my frequent traveling. I went to the luggage store at Fashion Valley a couple of days ago to find out that Tumi was having a sale. Now, the only dilemma was deciding on what kind of design I wanted; duffel shaped with extra compartments or the traditional style. Of course, there was gray and black too. Tonight as I was looking around, I noticed a guy around my height looking at the same kind of bags. His mom, dad and wife were also helping him decide. I finally noticed that it was none other than Drew Brees! Starting to turn red and sweat a little, I just walked off to another part of the store trying to tell Adelle that it was freaking Drew Brees! She didn't hear me the first couple of times and asked, WHO?" in a loud whisper. It finally sunk into her head and she was telling me that I should go over and say hi. She even just started to follow him around the store trying to pretend to look at little pens and stuff. She definitely wasn't as embarrassed as I was. I didn't know what to do. For those who do not know who Drew Brees is, he is the #1 Quaterback for the San Diego Chargers.

Well, to make my star struck stupidity story short, I called Jojo and he told me that he wanted to talk to him and that I should hand over my cell phone to Drew. I was just so freaking nervous. I didn't even want to ask for his signature either. After talking to his wife for a little bit (asking advice on which bag to chose) I calmed down a bit and finally when they were checking out, I asked the store clerk for a Sharpie and politely asked Drew to sign my luggage. I think that I might have even said, "Do you think you can sign my bag for me?" I sounded like such a dork. He even turned a little red because I don't think that he has ever gotten such a request before. I told him to sign it large and he did just that. Check it out! Now, any suggestions on how to protect the signature? And yes I'm going to use my new bag. I just hope that no one takes it away! :-)

Another good day of flying in San Diego

in

Weather wasn't the best, but my co-pilot definitely was. Being his first time in a single engine aircraft, I thought that he did a good job of helping me out with checklists and going over different procedures. I decided that we could take off VFR to Ramona from Palomar airport and once I got in the air, I noticed that the haze was just too constricting. We did a little maneuvering around Escondido, but nothing too intense and decided to stay in the pattern at Ramona. I completed 4 touch-n-gos and we got on our merry way. It's great to give someone their first flying experience.

Afterwards, I headed north to get out and high just under the Class Bravo airspace and decided that we would ask for flight following to Montgomery Field, but ATC offered an IFR clearance. WX was reported as skies clear with haze, so I decided that I might as well get an approach in. I love flying the mountain ranges around socal, but it definitely can be kind of scary. I was approaching rather close to a mountain waiting for my vectors inbound to intercept the final approach course and right at the last second before I was feeling uncomfortable, they turned me in. Wasn't that great of a landing, but still good. We stretched out for a while and I filed for an IFR back to KCRQ.

That entire flight went by really well and at 4000, we could see the haze layer and I thought that it was choice that I got the clearance. Got a full stop ILS 24 into KCRQ and coupled the auto-pilot for almost the entire way, but I just couldn't get the Glideslope to work properly. I disengaged it 4 miles and 1500 feet above the runway and made an AWESOME landing! I kept the noise wheel up until the next taxi way. Show-boating you might call it, but it was damn smooth.

I got to meet the aircraft owner (a doctor of course) of N440JP and spoke to him a little. I wish that I could have flown with him and learned that he pre-ordered a DA42. That's the new multi-engine aircraft from Diamond Star that just debut this past month. It would be amazing if I could fly that plane sometime soon. I might not even have to go to China to instruct anymore if I chose that path.