Wednesday, March 30, 2011

BBTB: Summer in Spring

We had a spontaneous BBTB today! Well, in my case it was NBTB -- nachos by the beach. But.. everyone else had burritos, from Chino's :) Being in outer Richmond reminds me of high school, oh how far we've come. It's absolutely unreal.

The weather this week is gorgeous and I'll gladly take a taste of summer in March (or anytime for that matter). Warm weather just makes me feel like a million bucks! We watched the sunset at Cat's Eye.. or "Land's End" as everyone else calls it, and I remembered for the zillionth time how much I love San Francisco.







And finally, there's something just magical about country music and the hot sun. I can't put my finger on it, but I can feel it in my bones.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

A YouTube Gem: "YEAH YOU LIKE THAT IDIOT"



After extensive Googling and YouTubing, I FINALLY found one of my favorite YouTube videos of all time. This is definitely top 5, along with the honey badger video!

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Preparing for the worst, or at least something moderately scary

I'll bet anything that at least 70% of the people I know don't have emergency kits. And those that do have kits, probably didn't assemble them. What fools. I used to be one of those dillydallyers - but no longer! Most of the things that I ordered for my emergency kit have already arrived. LOVE AMAZON PRIME!

I ended up spending about $200 to cover the essentials for three kits. Pricey you say? I say I'd spend $200 to give my family a chance to survive ANYDAY. Even IF my brother wasn't willing to chip in for it. Whatever, family is family. Two go-kits for the cars and one more substantial kit for home. I'll be honest though, I put a lot more stuff into my own kit - if disaster strikes I REALLY hope that I'm with Klaus.

Once finalized, all of the kits will have:
Duct tape, medical grade scissors (that can cut through pennies), zip ties
Books of matches, firestarters, hand-crank flashlight/usb chargers (cars), cash$
Hand-crank radio/USBcharger/LED flashlight (home only, since the cars have radios)
Packets of tissue, paper cups, bandages, neosporin, latex gloves, dust masks,
Medicine (Tylenol, Immodium), 3-day supply of food rations, emergency blankets
Paper plates, paper cups, chop sticks, garbage bags, zip lock bags, multitool

My kit has extra thangs:
Handwipes, mirror, emery board, hair ties, hair clips, earplugs, feminine necessities,
Plastic forks, plastic knives, plastic spoons, safety pins, tablet towelettes
Lotion, toothpaste, toothbrush, extra socks/undies/tshirt, hand warmers, beanie
Index cards, two pens, Apple USB charger, USB to mini USB charger, map of SF bay area

I think I've got most of my bases covered! I'll still be thinking about extra things to add over the next few days (while I wait for the dust masks to show up and Alex is getting me duct tape next week) then I'll be satisfied. The coolest items by far are the hand-cranking devices. I got the Eton Clipray and the Eton Microlink Self-Powered 3-in-1, and I am VERY happy with both. Even though some reviewers on Amazon said that they didn't produce enough power to charge smartphones, I tried it on my iPhone 3G and my brother's iPhone 4 and it worked with BOTH! The radio also gets great reception, both are very small and compact. The radio is the size of a desktop tape dispenser. Yeah, it's f'ing impressive.

I'm putting everything in a Jansport and I'll have more than enough room. I hope that I never have to use the kit, but I'm not stupid enough to risk not being prepared. Get ready people, disaster is no joke!

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Red Cross CPR Certified !

I am officially ready to help save lives! I took a CPR course this morning with Charles and we learned how to assess situations, help choking conscious victims, and attempt to resuscitate unconscious victims who cannot breathe. The class wasn't too boring, we learned a lot and the volunteer instructors had some funny jokes. The best part of the class was when I had to roll Charles over (he's like a head and a half taller than me) and he said "good luck" and started cackling. But I managed to roll him over, even though it took a while LOL.

The part of the class I didn't like was when I was the "victim" and I got rolled into the recovery position. It required Charles to support my head by touching my neck and I kept screaming. I hate people touching my neck!!! I'm sure I made a scene... oh well. We got through it eventually..

I'm so proud of myself for getting certified! Now I have NERT and CPR under my belt, I'm just that much more prepared for the disasters to come -

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Heavens to Murgatroid, even!



I've been watching this crazy cartoon all evening, about a presumably gay mountain lion with an impeccable vocabulary tainted by preposterous pronunciation. He likes the opera and show business, and he enjoys reciting nonsensical Shakespeare-like verses.

This is my kind of cartoon. All kinds of ridiculousness and randomness. Snagglepuss is a honey badger, he doesn't give a shit! He does what he wants when he wants, and he always keeps his cool. He's also always running into hunters and outwitting them. But he wears a bow tie and cuffs for goodness sakes, the guy has got style! Lots of wordplay and literal interpretations - some which make sense, all of which make me smile.

Before I did some light research, I didn't even know that this was the same animation studio that put together the Flintstones, The Jetsons, Yogi Bear, and so many more! I've heard the phrase "Hanna-Barbera" before but I never paid much heed. Now I know, but Snagglepuss is my favorite by far.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Tiesto Weekend in Vegas!

Thursday night, we flew into Vegas right after work and checked in at the Wynn. What a fancy smancy hotel! We upgraded to the Panoramic room with the view but really the view wasn't THAT great. I prefer the Venetian Suites for group trips. More mirrors and places to hang things! Although, you can't beat the convenience of clubbing inside of your hotel.

Soon we were out the door heading downstairs to Tryst. While we waited in line, we played Stinky Pinky! Our new friends played with us too and it was pretty fun. Andy had 25 saved up from earlier in the day at work but we burned through those quickly. When we finally got in, the drinking and partying madness began. The layout of Tryst is EXACTLY like the inside area of XS, an probably 1/3 the size because it doesn't have an outside pool area. However, even though there seemed to only be two bars, there wasn't ever a long wait to get a drink! The waterfall in the background was gorgeous. At some point, a captain hat came down from the sky, and landed on my head. Captain power!!!! I love uniform costumes, the captain hat was AWESOME! Overall it is a nice venue, but I'd prefer Surrender and XS. I guess I'm a water person. But I definitely had a great night!

Apparently Alex and I left early to gamble, and everyone else met us at the tables. We had quite the lively conversation with the dealer and I ended up more than doubling my money. LOVE ROULETTE! They say that game has the worst odds in the house.. but I swear I never lose money on roulette. And I like it because it involves absolutely no math :) Brian got pizza at the bar and it was yummy. Didn't get back to the room until around 4:30 I think, and went straight to sleep.

Friday, it took a while for everyone to get out of bed - namely me. We went to Maggiano's across the street for lunch and the FUNNIEST THING happened. We were seated outside and while we were waiting for our food, a cigarette butt rolls off of the level above us and HITS HENRY ON THE HEAD, LOL! I couldn't stop laughing, FOR DAYS! I know it's mean.. I thought it was really funny though. I was feeling pretty hungover so I didn't enjoy my chicken pesto linguine. After lunch we went back to the room to chill out. Some of us napped while others walked around the casino. I actually did eat my linguine after napping and it was DELICIOUS!

In the evening, we got ready for dinner at Del Frisco! The last time we went to Del Frisco during the Halloween Vegas trip I vowed to return. And return we did! I got the Prime Rib again and it was delicious, no surprise! Andy and I got the crab cake and it was like seriously 90% crab meat, no batter or anything else. THAT's SOME SERIOUS CRAB! The truffle butter was tasty, and Alex ate like a beast.

After dinner we took this STRETCH TRUCK / MONSTER LIMO to the Cosmopolitan! It was so insane, and I FREAKING LOVE TRUCKS!!!!!!!!!!! I was so excited when we got out of Del Frisco and saw it. O M G SO COOL! The inside has this crazy sound system, and there's room for 20 people.. like seriously 20 people! The lights inside change with the music, and even a mini bar. They played Like a G6 at one point and shit got crazy. Foreals. That stretch truck is awesome. If I ever get married, I'm showing up in something like that! So badass it needs an emergency exit. YEAH!

So we got to the Cosmopolitan and had drinks at one of the bars because we were early. Eventually we went to Marquee and got in immediately with the table service. Our table was outside, but luckily there were heatlamps. I got a chance to check out the lower and upper floors with Alex and Andy and I have to say, I really wasn't impressed. The main level was not bad, girls dancing everywhere and lots of tables on the floor. The dancefloor, I think, was too crowded though - even for Vegas standards. I don't plan on going back there. Still, XS and Surrender are my go-to's! I was thoroughly exhausted from the first night, and so Alex and I left at midnight to get pizza. When we got back to the hotel room I went straight to sleep.

Saturday morning was WAY more pleasant for me than Friday morning, because we left Marquee early. I am GLAD! My feet though, weren't doing so hot. I got three large, juicy blisters on my feet and I couldn't even put my Jacks on. I borrowed P's flip flops and went on a mall adventure with Alex and Andy. Al Pals! We went from store to store in search of a pair of cute yet comfy flip flops, and finally found a pair at Macy's! Andy picked them out for me, I actually love them. Andy is the shoe-man! When we got back, we all checked out of the Wynn and cabbed to the Hard Rock.

Once we arrived, Alex and I went to the Sports area to place our bets. He explained the whole betting thing to me and I ended up doing a three game parlay puck bet with the Blackhawks, Red Wings, and Sharks - each needing to win by 1.5 points. The Blackhawks won their game by more than 1.5, but the Red Wings totally bombed their third period. Damn! I could have won $960! Oh well, it was fun betting on the games. I wanna do it again! Next time I'll probably do a line bet though.

After we were settled in at the Hard Rock, we all went across the street to pick up food at Capriotti's. THE PASTRAMI SANDWICHES WERE DELICIOUS! With cole slaw inside! That is ingenious! I love cole slaw, and I love that sandwich. We hung out after eating, and were watching Tosh.O in the room. Definitely lots of laughs. We went to dinner at the Pink Taco. Aside from good chips and salsa, everything else was kind of meh. Especially the super slow service!

I got coffee from Starbucks after dinner. GOOD CALL! It kept me energized through the night :) We went back to our rooms to get ready, and then downstairs to Tiesto! I liked that it was set up like a Vegas show, so you can just walk in without really waiting in line like a club. Tiesto was basically an upscale rave. Like if you took a regular massive rave, added an overabundance of security guards to kick the sloppy people out, bathroom staff to keep all of the bathrooms tidy, janitorial staff to clean up spills immediately, and place it at a really nice spread-out, ventilated venue. That's Tiesto.

And while I could never imagine myself going to a rave sober and having a spectacular time, I was able to do this at Tiesto! We drank a bit in the beginning but I was having SO MUCH FUN I really just wanted to be sober and dance my ass off. So I stopped drinking and danced. I danced until 4:30 in the AM! Who knew I had that in me?? The lights, the music, the energy was insane. I was enthralled by everything around me and I didn't even know most of the songs! During the concert there were streamers dropped from the ceiling, and paper doves. There were also high pressure steam cannons on stage and all kinds of other really cool effects like the globe screens in the background. Geez, everything about it was cool! I seriously would NEVER have imagined having THAT much fun, in fact I didn't even really want to go to Tiesto. But now I am SO glad that I went. My favorite part of the whole show was when he played The Island Part I. Such a fantastic time.

That was pretty much the end of the trip. After leaving Tiesto, I went back to my room to finish packing and say farewell to everyone. I rested for about 30 minutes before Alex and I left for the airport. 7:00 flight! Booking Virgin's Main Cabin Select was excellent. We had a separate security scanning entrance, got to board first, didn't have to worry about overhead bin space, there was SO MUCH legroom, we got free movies and free food. Except, we didn't get any free food because we both passed out. I was so exhausted I don't remember most of the flight or the ride home. Chad picked us up from the airport :) Thanks Chad!

The trip overall was a success. It wasn't as crazy as Halloween Vegas but it was definitely fun with good eats and TIESTO! Alex and I tried to keep a vlog but neither of us know how to edit videos. If we ever figure it out, it'll be posted. I rested all day today and I don't know if I'm ready to go back to work tomorrow. Oh boy, another Monday. The weekend was a blast though, another ridiculous trip with awesome people!