Santa Clara

So Thursday was my first full day in Santa Clara. I worked all day while Sylvana studied. Sylvana's place is pretty quaint and nice. There is a TV room, a connected dining room. The kitchen connects to the dining room and is fairly big w/granite tops and stone tiles. Her roommate Joyce owns the place and has the master bed/bathroom to the left of the TV room while Sylvana occupies the guest bedroom and the full bathroom on the right. We ate lunch at home w/Joyce. Sylvana cooked and kind of got tilted when Joyce asked how we met. I was surprised by this question because I expected Sylvana to at least mention something about who I am to her roommate. I responded with a "our parents are friends (and didn't mention the dating part)". She didn't speak to me for a while and I slept after work until her first class.

We got to her school and we walked around to check out the sites. I saw that they have a really SICK library... it is HUGE and they have computer stations with 24 inch screens. There also is an automatic book finder; you just type in a book name and apparently the robot goes and finds a book in the stacks... really cool! After I dropped her off; and went home, I did some more work and watched some TV. Joyce came back and I explained to her the deal between me and Syl. Later I picked Syl up to go to her friends' place and explained the deal to her; she seemed MUCH better post explanation.

We ate some interesting anchovie and other thing dish made by her friend who doesn't cook professionally, but her cooking is professional (do you understand this?). The friends also made a pack of spicy ramen for me (it was freaking spicy). The best part of the night is when we broke out the Mah Jong!!!! I love playing; last time I played was in Shenzhen, China. My dad is trying to get into it, and I love the game. It's too bad you need 4 people to play.

We started off w/me Carol, Yi and Sylvana playing. I had a helper and we went at it. I wasn't having any luck for the first hour or 2. After my helper left, I won 2/3 games!!! Mah Jong is really like poker. You get 16 tiles and just try to get trips or 3 card straights. It's a lot of fun, but it's not as skilled as poker; I think you need more luck.

On the way back (their place was in San Jose), we drove to 101 and out of the corner of my eye, I saw a medium sized building that said "Bay 101" on it. I know of this casino that's somewhere in NO Cal that is called Bay 101, so I just figured we could go check it out. The cool thing about Sylvana is that she was fine w/checking it out even though she was dead tired. We went in and walked around. They were playing some weird ass blackjack, so we walked in/walked out and left.

Friday I worked and ate at my first vegan restaurant, The Loving Hut for lunch. It was pretty bangin!!!!! Fake fish is pretty good. We had make your own spring rolls w/the vegan fish, noodles and glass looking wrap (very tasty, looked like thai spring rolls). We also had this rice salad type deal that was good and I ordered a chow fun (poorly made because it was fried so it was not good).

We used Yelp to find a mexican place for dinner and went to Viva Tacqueria which was close to Syl's place. We had torta (spanish sandwich) for the first time in my life. I chose chorizo cuz i love it so much; unfortunately it turned the torta into a hamburger which was disappointing. The Camarones Diablo (spicy shrimp) was BANGING. It was so freaking good; while you wait you also get free tortilla chips and salsa. Great deal!

Later that day we decided to check out downtown San Jose; it was a freaking ghost town for the first couple blocks especially near the HP Pavilion which is the home of the San Jose Sharks hockey team (the building looked nice). We rolled into the heart of downtown and there WERE people around. We found parking and walked around to check places out. It was livestock night at this pub on a corner, so we walked by and went to Mission as the guy outside persuaded us to go in (free cover). We did a Bay 101, in/out and the guy told us the Loft was a good place to check out w/dancing. We immediately went there and the music was bumpin. I was having a great time but noticed Sylvana going through the motions. I quickly decided to leave and was kind of on tilt for some reason.

After going outside I asked her why she wasn't having fun; she said it wasn't ideal. I asked her what Ideal was, and she said it was just based on a feeling. She then said the reason she didn't have fun was because she held her bag and jacket. I berated her for not telling me to hold it for her. We decided to check out farenheit which was super wack; barely any people and terrible DJ. On our way out, we noticed people NOT being let in (all dudes). Still there was max 30 people inside; how do they make money?!?!?!

On our way back home we decided to hit up Garden City Casino... big mistake. They had a poker room, but since Sylvana was around, I went to play blackjack. What WACK BJ Rules. Every hand you play you must put an extra $1 that goes to the casino (you don't win anything for it). A person from "corporate" sits w/a huge boatload of chips and distributes winnings. The dealer deals cards and collects the initial bets. It's a really weird system. Oh yeah... BJ is paid out 6:5. How horrible is that?!?!?! No advantage and it's 6:5. I actually was up $4, then went down $75 before we left.

We planned to hit up SF on Saturday... more to come.

SF to SC

During the day wednesday I worked and went out to grab a bite from Safeway. I also tried to get my pic taken near the water, but some asian lady coulnd't figure out how to take pictures... it was so weird. She wouldn't hold the camera still, she'd just move it around and then say no. It was such a weird thing. All she had to do was hold the top button and she coudln't do it. I coudln't believe it. Needless to say I was on tilt.

After work I walked around the AT&T ballpark and its surroundings. It is a nice area; I took some pictures near the ballpark of McCovey Cove and the fishing walkway behind the stadium; it was beautiful! Lots of people finishing out there.

I got a bagel omlet as a snack before dinner; egg, jack, tomato and avocado!!! It was awesome (Bagel Bakery). I tried to get Andy to go to this mexican place near his house, but being the picky eater he is, he said no. Instead he went against Erin's wishes of being a vegetarian and suggested Moes, a burger place. We drove down there; instantly found parking and walked in (looked like a deserted poorman's Johnny Rockets. I got a burger w/barbecue sauce that was amazing!!! So tangy and sweet while Trills and Erin both got bacon cheeseburgers they said were good. We also shared some fries that were delic and a chicken pita whose chicken was grilled to perfection.

I took one out of the 2 pitas to Santa Clara with me. We left Moes and watched some Man against food (DC edition for old times sake). We also watched the beginning of so you think you can dance. I had to go though, so I ran down to the Caltrain station to buy a ticket.

Luckily the train hadn't come yet; a lot of people were waiting and it seemed the train was late. We found out there was a bomb scare in one of the Caltrain stations, so the train was late. When we got on, we were informed we'd have to get out at San bruno, take a shuttle bus to san mateo (or vice versa) and get back on to resume the rest of the trip. Pretty annoying. I had a lot of bags and decided to check out the 2nd level of the double decker cars (I was above the bike rack car; an entire car's 1st floor just had ties for bikes). It was a bitch getting up through the skinny stairwell. There literally was only space for my body.

After about 30 min I found out the situation was resolved so we definitely didn't need to get off and get back on at 2 different stops. An hour and 40 min after departure, I finally got off at Santa Clara and waited 5 min for Sylvana to get to the station in her new Mazda 3. Pretty nice car! It was my toy for the week. Handled very well, very smooth, and light so it accelerated from a stop very well.

We just went back to her place and chilled for the night.

I'm Going Going, Back Back, to Cali Cali

I woke up at 4:45AM on Tuesday morning and showered. I planned to go to the deli, but my cab was supposed to show at 5:15, so I waited. Unfortuantely he came around 5:30 so there was no time. We took 22E and unfortunately they decided to have construction at 5:30AM!!??!?? So we got stuck and I got to the airport (WITH 2 bags to check!!!) at 6:15AM, 45 min before my flight. Luckily before leaving my house I checked in and input 2 pieces of luggage. Since I'm a flirt on Continental, I don't need to worry about ANY fees.

I showed up and quickly checked luggage outside. I rushed in and got to the elite security line and went through w/in 3 min. The only hold up was the money clip I forgot about. I walked straight to the gate w/o food and unfortuntaely I had to check a 3rd bag because everyone was in the plane and there was no overhead space. After rearranging a few things, I got in and sat next to an Israeli guy I chatted up. He told me to go to some island called Eilat off Israel. He said that place is amazing... and the ladies dont' like wearing clothes hahaha.

The flight was not so comfortable, but we had on demand TV so i watched the 1st 2 episodes of HIMYM, The Office, 30 Rock and Parks and Recreation (same show as the office but just a chick instead of a guy manager... I didn't really care for it, except for the indian guy aziz who is hilarious.)

The flight was hot and stuffy basically the entire time. I did some sudoku and banged out a category 5. When we finally touched down I had to wait for bags to come out from Check in, but luckily I had to wait for my sister to get out of class to pick me up, so the long wait wasn't for naught. My 2 checked bags came out first since I'm elite, but the bag I had to check before i got on the plane at the actual gate came out sooooooooo much later... they didn't note it was an elite bag. When it finally came literally 25 min later, I sat down and signed on to tweet and facebook as there wasn't enough time to fire up a poker game.

When she arrived, she for some reason parked in the middle of the crosswalk while madd people were behind her; so many people were pissed, but I just put my stuff in the car in spite of it and we bounced. We headed straight to in n out which tastes REALLY GOOD and really fresh. By the way, tax in CA is >9%. That's pretty ridiculous if you ask me.

My sister's dorm at Stanford is really a nasty freeeeak. I walked her to class and almost got ran over by bikes in a main intersection (they actually have bike circles that bikers have to abide by traffic wise. My sister went to class in basically an enclosed gazebo, and i headed to the cactus garden (interesting cacti) and the Stanford mall. All the walking took about 2 hours; so as I walked back and passed my sister's class, she came out to get me.

The walk home covered the athletic track field and tennis courts. Stanford has NCAA champions and other worldy feats posted up as placques near each of its athletic facilities with respect to each sport. These were so cool as we saw all world records by track athletes and Major Tennis Champions in Tennis. I wanted to see the tower, but we'll do that in November when I'm back w/my parents.

We went to dinner later w/Ja Ling at Mantra, an indian restaurant w/50% off the entire menu before 6:30. We freaking ordered madd food and it came out to like 90 total. It was awesome!!!! The food there was delicious. We got naan and other dishes I forget. There was some big ass piece of ravioli that was kinda like quiche shaped and maybe tasted like one (I forgot how quiche tastes).

After dinner we went direct to the Palo Alto Caltrain station. I hopped out of the car, went to the ticket kiosk and attempted to buy tix. I heard the train coming and saw the light, but for some reason the machine wasn't reading my AMEX. I tried twice and started to panic. I quickly swiped my MC and thank god it worked (also thank god I looked at a schedule and how fares work, so I knew I'd have to pay per zones). I rushed onto the train and relaxed for the next 45 min to Trizz's place.

When I got out, I literally walked half a block and met Andy and his dog Kody. He took him out for a bathroom break because apparently, when Kody gets excited, he pees allllll over the place. It's really sick because Andy lives 3 blocks from AT&T park where the SF Giants play, has a mini full bball court in his apt. complex, a big hot tub, and overall the apt is really nice (he can even see the ballpark from his window!!!). When I went up, I greeted Erin who had recently baked cookies that were freaking delicious. We hung out for a bit and eventually went to bed as they had to get up for work the next day, while I had to work from their apartment.

Hangin with Rajul

I don't even remember what I did thursday which means I probably did nothing. Friday I was planning to hit up philly, but again got kinda nexted by Brooke, so I stayed around NJ. I went out to NYC to hang w/Rajul and was pleasantly surprised to see Neha there. I also met her friend Celenia, Rajul's bro, and his friend (I believe his name was paul). La Caverna was nice, great music as usual, with the one techno/trance set in the middle which is bearable at best. Hangin w/Rajul is always a pleasure of mine, especially at a club w/good vibe/music.

Saturday I hit up the Big Brothers Big Sisters Casino Night specifically to play in the poker tourney for charity. Hanley called me up right as the event was starting, but eventually didn't show up cuz of work. I met a couple people there (Forget the company's name, but their director of recruiting, saw their CEO, met the CEO of BBBS, Rebecca and Brian from BBBS, and alot more random people who were all really nice. The casino night was surprisingly fun and packed w/people. Mostly people playing the casino games (there were tickets at the end you accumulated w/your winnings to put into raffles to win prizes. One dude won all this wine (a couple prizes). I didn't have any raffle tickets but I stayed just to hang out, and there were these food baskets that looked delicious.

I came in 7th out of around 18 people in the tournament, and unfortunately only top 5 were prizes!!! I made a nice all in bluff on the river of the 4th hand of the tourney to get a lot of chips. I picked up aces once and got a guy to fold the flop, but the rest of the time just really passive and folding. At the final table I was severely short and couldn't get anything going. I waite too long for all ins, and the guy to my right, CL kept raising w/at least an ace, so I had to fold, coudln't ship. I finally shipped w/10 high or so and couldn't suck out. A couple hands before my bust out, two people were all in and both had similar stack sizes, so one person would basically be out when they lost; except they both flipped over Aces, and no one sucked out on a free roll.

After I walked out, I tried Hanley, but to no avail, so I decided to just go home and sleep early (i.e. play online poker for a little).

Sunday we went to Fox And Hound. I went to the mall to get some Lindt Chocolates for Sylvana. She had requested Raspberry, so I got a bag of those truffles as well as a bag of mint and a bar of chili chocolate. I'll let you know how that is.

As I walked over to the bar from inside the mall (I parked in Nordstrom under the parking deck), I got stopped/held up by the israeli hadn creme people. I told the guy that my mom works for J&J and he asked me, "really... your mom works at J&J and you have dry skin all over the place?" Damn he got me.

After another 10 min I finally just said look, I don't spend money; and he let me go. F&H is a great place to watch football. I watched w/Daigo, Matt and his friends. It was a lot of fun albeit the Giants lost. My fantasy team did ok, Randy moss scored 3 TD's in a quarter in a losing effort. I spilled a glass of water and the waitress came back w/a cup w/a rubber top on it... hahaha Got me!

Daigo was straight depressed; his fantasy team blows, his jets team did terrible, and his 1 out of 2 suicide picks lost. Felt bad for him at the end of the day!

Victorious Tie?

We only play 2 sets max in the tennis league; you get a point for any set you are up 2 games or more (that you don't win) and a tie if not. My results in the tennis match were as follows: 2-6, 5-5 in doubles and 3-6 6-3 in singles. Doubles with Tina is usually fun, and this time was no different. I was playing like (pardon my 40 yr old virgin french) really a nasty freeeeak. My serve was decent on the deuce side and soso on the ad side (I struggled all night w/my mid box or wider slice serve on that side); I even threw in 3-4 double faults which is unusual for me.

In doubles when I got to net, I couldln't miss any volleys (well most; there were some that I would chunk into the net like the good ol' days). I remember in the 2nd set I hit a big serve down the T on the ad side to the better of the opponents; he hit a looping shot he coudln't get much pace on because of the serve placement and I just banged a backhand volley with authority into the corner for a winner. That felt so so good.

Well doubles started out ok, w/the 2 better players holding; unfortunately Tina struggling with her serve toss all day coudlnt' hold, so we were down 1-3. We couldn't break either of the 2 guys so we lost the first set pretty quickly. I started taking more chances in the 2nd set so we ran out to a 5-2 start basically the exact opposite of the 1st set, but unfortuantely, for some reason we couldn't close them out. We lost 3 straight (COUDLNT EVEN HOLD MY SERVE!!!!) so we ended up tying :( Not only is that my first tie in a doubles set, it's my first loss of a set as well!!!! I NEVER get broken in doubles in that league!!!

Singles started out well. We both held the 1st service game, I held my 2nd service game and broke his. Although I was up, I was a bit nervous because anytime I'd hit a ball to the middle, short or decently deep, he'd just flick a forehand or backhand to a corner, then hit the next shot for a winner to the other side.

We both held once more, and the wheels came off. During his last hold he got me running a bit and I really ran (no pun intended) out of gas! I remember the thought going through my head, "this whole match may be over soon". The wheels came off and the set was over.

I regrouped by getting a drink and a rest (we don't have changeovers). I came out in the 2nd set determined to do something, although I lost confidence. I went all day to his backhand for my serve. I mixed in serve/volley and staying back well and held serve twice. During his 2nd service game I noticed he was shanking shots and missing w/a lot more frequency. I kept it up and just won the next 4 gamesto put the set away. We ended up tying, and I was extreeeeemely tired.

The night of sleep was AMAZING...