Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category

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What makes my daughter look this sad?

November 27, 2007



Photo_112107_001

Originally uploaded by kungfu_kc

Did I take away her favorite toy? Did I verbally abuse her? Did I do mean things to her? — No, no, no

We went to dinner the other night for grandma’s birthday — we went to Sakura, our favorite Japanese teppan-yaki steakhouse. As part of the chef’s cooking routine, they spray alcohol onto the oiled surface and then light it up. This results in a big wall of fire just inches from your face, much to the delight of the audience — unless you’re a 3 year old, scared of fire…

She (and her brother Thomas too) did not want any part of the fire. They would not go anywhere near the cooking table, without kicking and screaming. They were scared of it from a previous experience, and although we seldom go to Sakura - they remembered. They kept saying they had to go “poo-poo” so that they could leave the table area and go to the safety of a bathroom stall (where this photo was taken). They didn’t use the potty once as I recall.

We ended up ordering at our table, but then got sat in the back of the restaurant (which was mostly empty on this Wed night) at a table without a chef. We sat there and ate our meal, secluded from the other customers, and abandoning the others at our table.

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Like Sister Like Brother

April 9, 2007

Lauren recently got in BIG trouble with Po-Po. Po-Po was trying to put Lauren down for the night, and Lauren, being her usual self, was not ready for bed yet.  She apparently didn’t like what Po-Po had to say to her, so in her childish voice she said: “Po-Po, go home,…this is MY house,…I buy house.”A few days later, after dinner while the family gathered in the basement watching TV, Thomas was laying on top of Snoopy and preventing Lauren from putting on Snoopy’s diaper. Nien-Nien asked Thomas to get up, and in response, he muttered, “get off MY couch”.

Goodness.  At least they don’t play favoritism… they managed to offend both grandmas in one week!

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My Traveller Profile…

January 12, 2007

Your travel type: Culture Buff

The culture buff needs to see a museum, an art gallery, a 16-th century church every day during his holiday. When he travels he is always well prepared. He has read history books, speaks a few words of the lingo, knows about the strange habits the locals have.

top destinations:

Venice
Amsterdam
Beirut

stay away from:

North Korea
Ciudad Perdida
Darien Gap


get your own travel profile

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The Departed - Great movie!

October 26, 2006

Alice and I went to go spend our last day as parents of 2 kids (oh, and my birthday too) with a nice lunch and a afternoon movie. We saw The Departed, which stars several big name actors including: Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Mark Walberg. It was directed by Martin Scorscese (sp?).

They all did a great job acting — Leonardo in particular gets no respect as an actor, but personally I think he’s actually quite talented as an actor. The story was great — “lots of twists and turns” says Alice.

Although there was quite a bit of graphic killing by bullet to the head, I’d highly recommend it. Oh, and “Sleepy Alice” gives it a no Z’s rating (the highest possible, meaning she didn’t sleep at all in the movie).

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Toot-toot!

September 27, 2006

I recently finished a tour of the Novell Southeast Area, visiting 5 cities in 2 weeks and being the primary presenter for Novell’s SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 “Your Linux Is Ready” Tour.

The cities I presented in were:

I thought the event went very well. Turnout was great (very high) and excitement generated by the event was terrific. Apparently that’s not just my biased opinion…

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Wow, I’m almost famous! Generally, I’m not a big fan of tooting-my-own-horn — but how often do I get a mention by name in the press? :-) A member of the press was apparently at the SLE 10 Tour event in Charlotte… Big THANK YOU to everyone who supported the event - it was definitely a team effort!!

http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/70337/

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Last night I took a cab…

September 15, 2006

Last night I returned from a business trip and took a cab back from the airport — Washington Flyer cabs from Dulles Airport. Usually they’re very reliable and fine. After last night’s ride home, I felt compelled to fill out the comment card and mail it in…

“Cab No. 469

This cab driver should NOT EVER be allowed to drive at night!! It was a scary ride! 11:30pm @ 9/14/2006.

45 mph on Rt 28 (a 55 mph road) — WTF?!?! On Herndon Avenue, high beam headlights AND he was straddling the line AND going 25 mph in a 35 mph road. CLEARLY he cannot SEE at night!!!

Kevin, South Riding VA”

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Don’t believe everything you see in print…

August 16, 2006

Check out these photos that have been doctored digitally… What’s really amazing is that most of them have been published in the press as if they were fact. Scary!

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Runway Trash

August 9, 2006

Hmmmm… I flew from Atlanta to DC today. As we were taxi-ing to the runway in Atlanta, I saw a guy picking up trash in the grassy areas between the runways. I just thought that was odd… I mean, how does the the trash get there in the first place? It’s not like someone on the plane opened their window and threw out a bag of fast food.

So how exactly did that trash get there in the first place??

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Pitiful Service - Cheesecake Factory in Tysons Corner, VA

June 21, 2006

I’d say I’ve been to the Cheesecake Factory restaurant (different ones) at least a dozen times. Never was the service so bad as it was last night… I had to record this for posterity…

My family went out to dinner for my sister’s birthday… It was a Tuesday night, 6:30pm. We were told a 15-20 minute wait for our party of 8. An hour and 15 minutes later we finally got our table. We asked for 2 high-chairs and they were not present when we got to the table. We had to wait another few minutes for those.

Did I mention, that if my kids aren’t eating, they get cranky, which makes us cranky, and stressed out — no fun. I wanna go home.

I don’t even know the waiter’s name… it’d be nice to be introduced at some point.

Drink orders, fine. I had a Diet Coke with lime… Appetizer order, fine. Ordered our food, fine.

Drinks came… “I’ll bring you some limes” (which he forgot)…

At the table next to us, were some kids (maybe in college or high school) — who began a food fight and wrestling. Cheesecake was flying and smeared on a couple of the girls in that party. The commotion was enough to worry our kids. It’s not the restaurant’s fault (I know), but it just added to the fun of the evening.

Appetizer was done. We asked about the food… He said food usually take 12-17 minutes to come out (SO precise) — and yet we ordered at least 30 minutes ago… BTW — I HATE when waiters do that. It’s not cute. It’s not classy. It’s ANNOYING! As soon as we order, start cooking. Or at the very least, after our appetizer arrives, put in the food order. Do you think that people who’ve waited an hour or two to get a table are okay with delayed food service??

[Still no limes]

We rarely see our waiter helping us… mostly taking other people’s orders. Very strange.

[Finally, limes. Wait, no those are lemons. "I'll bring your limes right out"]

Food comes out. Limes come out. All should be right in the world…

At last, it’s time to be done. The kids have been cranky, routy, and wanted to get up and be held (started daycare this week and have been clingy ever since). Half the table is now out of their chair, walking the kids out in the mall to keep them calm and under control, etc. Where is everyone?

You’d think the waiter might notice… NOPE.

My mom requested some additional sauce for her meal. Kristin too.

30 minutes later, we see the waiter taking another table’s order. They seem to have much better service BTW, but sat down well after us. “Excuse me, can we get the check please?” [Time to go...]

“Yes, would you like some boxes for these” [our plates were quite full still between caring for the kids and a long run up to the meal] “I’ll be right back with those]

Now, mind you we have 6 adults, all with food to take home. He returns with 2 boxes and 4 hotdog sized boxes. I kid you not. Did he even look at the table? AND, he didn’t bring the check. Strike ONE. “Uh, can we get some of these bigger boxes? — Here’s our [credit] card”

“I’ll be right back with the check” he says as he refuses the take the check.

Ummm… Okay?

He brings more boxes as requested. Then he turns to take another table’s order. No, I’m not exagerating. “Here’s our card” I say as I hold out the card for him to take. “Sir, I’ll be right back with your check…” Strike TWO.

Apparently this man is incapable of multi-tasking. I wonder if he has to count as he walks… “breathe, one. breathe, two. breathe, three…”

He comes back, but not with the check. He actually comes back to clear some of the plates away. Remember now, our table is half empty. It should be quite apparent that we’re itching to get out of there. “Here’s the card” Again, he actually refuses to take the card. Strike THREE. Kristin steps up and says, “Can you just take the card and run it. We don’t need to see the check. We’re kinda trying to leave.”

He finally takes it.

Then the secondary wait staff brings these bowls to the table… “Did you ask for more sauce?” Strike FOUR, FIVE, and SIX (this one’s worth 3 strikes by itself).

“Are you serious??” I asked. All of our meals were already packed up in boxes, and most of the plates on the table were now gone. I can’t believe they actually had the guts to ask us if we wanted the sauce. What planet are they from???

The waiter came back with the check and card. Tip was already included. If I was paying for dinner, I’d have added an additional negative tip. I don’t know what the percentage was they added… maybe 18%? I am a normally very good tipper. I would have given this guy $5 on the $140+ bill… Just to let him know how much we cared.

I would hate to add Cheesecake Factory to my black list of restuarants I won’t eat at… but I’m seriously considering it. Some levels of service are just inexcusable.

I’m sure there are some details I’ve left out…

Happy Birthday, Kristin!

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Dinner at Ten Penh

May 18, 2006

Soft shelled crab with soba noodles…