Fantasy football: addendum

And... I lost in the 2nd round of playoffs. T_T

Fantasy football

I'm in the playoffs for the first time that I can remember!! Woohoo!! With a first round by no less.

Too bad the Niners' chances for the same aren't that good... Oh well...

Kendo practice: 2009-12-04

Got many comments at today's practice. Figured I should write them down so I remember.

Matsuda sensei: Timing of kiai (気合い) and strike. Need better ki-ken-tai-icchi (気剣体一致). A more complete cut. Start with a sharper kiai.

Yoshida sensei: Push-pull w/ the left hand. Relax the right hand onto the left hand. Raise the kensen by pushing forward w/ the left hand and then strike by pulling, while pushing forward w/ the right hand at the end.

I remember trying this before and wasn't happy w/ the results, but it may be time to revisit it.

Nishiura sensei: He was watching my practice after practice and then asked me to try a couple men strikes in front of him. He reminded me to push with the left foot, kicking the floor, and move forward with the hara (腹).

Waaahhhh!!!! So much to work on... T_T

(Thank you to all of the sensei-dachi (先生達) for their advice. ^_^)

Kendo

On my recent trip to Japan and Taiwan, I was able to practice kendo once in Japan at the Noma Dojo at its new location and once in Taiwan. Both times I was told the same thing by sensei, so I should probably, probably, write it down and work on it. :p

After I go for men, I am too rigid and tense and unable to strike again if my opponent steps back and I miss.

Sigh >_<

Camping at Pinnacles

Last weekend Erwin arranged for a car camping trip at Pinnacles National Park, which is about a 2 hour drive south of here, past Gilroy and Holister. Hsin-tien and I decided to join in. This would be Hsin-tien's first camping experience. The plan was to drive down Saturday, go on a hike, relax at the campsite, and go on another hike Sunday if people feel up for it. The main attraction at Pinnacles were the caves, which aren't always open due to the bats.

Originally there were 5-6 families/couples going, with 4 babies involved. O_o Scary... In the end though, due to various circumstances, it went down to 4 families/couples with 2 babies. That made it a lot more tolerable. I think we all concluded after the trip that more than 2 babies would be impossible. :) Eric and Ce joined us from Fresno, and Simon and Yoon came down from the Bay Area.

Hsin-tien and I met up w/ Erwin, Amanda, and Oskar around noon at Bear Gulch. After we ate lunch we got our gear together for the day hike. It was to be short, 2-3 miles. But there is a cave, and a baby involved. It was fun. The cave was interesting, and we got to go through the upper caves as well, which is often closed for the bats. Parts of it were a tight squeeze and I don't know how Erwin did it w/ Oskar on his back. O_o Oskar was a very cooperative and happy baby. :) After stopping at the "reservoir" we had a leisurely stroll back.

For dinner Erwin put together a terrific spread. My only real experience w/ camping so far has been backpacking, where we had to carry all of our equipment and food for multiple days, hiking many miles per day, and ending on freeze-dried food (which were delicious then :). So this car camping w/ cutting board, knives, cooking and eating utensils, was quiet different for me. Following are some pictures of the food and camp.

Unfortunately the shower facilities were... adequate, but a little spooky, since there were no lights. O_O

I think Hsin-tien came back fairly unscathed. We decided to take it easy on Sunday and just came back after cleaning up camp. We stopped at Gilroy for Hsin-tien to pick up some gifts for our trip to Taiwan. Both of us are a little under the weather right now because of stress and general tiredness, but nothing really from the trip. Perhaps this means more camping for the 2 of us in the future... ^_^

So disappointed...

I really should have known better...

I got a letter saying "2009 Obama Agenda Survey." Then I noticed that it's from the Republican National Committee. I figured I would still take a look. The letter says that there is a questionnaire included and they want to hear back from people. I'm thinking, "Ok, maybe they're interested in getting their message out and getting some feedback." Then on the other side of the letter it asks for money. >_< I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, but still, I figured I would look at the questionnaire.

But going through that questionnaire I was really disappointed. They basically listed a bunch of topics in a divisive manner, and gave the options for Yes/No/No opinion. There is almost no way I could answer these questions w/ just Yes or No!! The first question was do I agree w/ Obama's budget plan. The 2nd question was do I believe the federal government went too far w/ the bailouts. And the 3rd was do I support amnesty for illegal immigrants. Is it just me or are these questions that cut and dry?

I especially liked the one that asks if I believe that Obama's nominees for federal courts should be immediately and unquestionably approved for their lifetime appointments by the U.S. Senate. I mean, a) I don't think he's going to be able to change how the system works, nor is he proposing to, b) if you just bow down yourself then you're not doing you job, and c) didn't you guys basically do similar things after 9/11 when you had the popular and media support?

And at the end of the questionnaire there was just the contribution reply. No space whatsoever for additional thoughts or comments. Granted, it may be next to impossible to go through random responses, but still.

To me, this questionnaire just seemed like a hoax. They list a bunch of divisive topics that appeal to what their current core constituency already believes in, build up their fervor, and then have them send in money. Makes me wonder if they would even take the results of the questionnaire seriously...

Alpine Lake Wilderness Backpacking Trip

I joined Ian's yearly backpacking trip this year at the Alpine Lake Wilderness near Seattle. He has a great write up with pictures here. My pictures can be found here. I flew up to Seattle from San Jose and met up with Todd, Andy, and Kevin, who graciously drove and picked us up.

I just wanted to add that my left knee started hurting part way through the first day. I think I was not used to changing elevation, especially while carrying a 40 lb pack. :p Managed to go through the rest of the trip w/o too much problems. Really appreciate Ian loaning me some trekking poles. Definitely picking up a set before the next trip.

The tent Ian got for me in OR, to avoid the sales tax, also worked out well. :)

AC/DC Rocks!!

Went to see AC/DC concert this Wednesday. It was great!! The crowd was very energetic and the band was basically going all out non-stop for 2 hours. Angus Young was very impressive.

Unfortunately I had gotten tickets on the side of the stage. This was one show that should definitely be viewed front and center. They had a lot of props and theatrics that are best viewed from the front, including a train, the Rosie blow-up doll, cannons for "For Those About to Rock", a bell for "Hell's Bell", and more. In the first picture you can see the circular platform at the end of the catwalk where Angus performed part of his solo and the bell in the second picture. If they're ever in town again, I would be tempted to see them again.

ため。ちょっと分かるかな。

今週の金曜日の稽古でいい攻めて面を打っていました。左右田先生も思いました。しかし、一回、二回だけ打っていました。：P　まだまだ勉強しなければなりません。

上個星期五的劍道練習的時候我有打了不錯的面。連左右田老師也同意。可惜只有打出一兩次而已。:P 還得在更加磨練。

At the kendo practice last Friday I was able to hit a good seme men. Even Souda sensei stopped me to comment on it. Unfortunately I only did it once or twice. :p Need to keep practicing. The footwork actually felt awkward... >_>

SIGGRAPH at New Orleans

I went to my first SIGGRAPH at New Orleans last week. It was an interesting experience. Much different from the other conferences I've been to due to its size. Unfortunately, according to my coworkers and others, it was much smaller than previous SIGGRAPHs. The economy has hurt a lot. Still, it was very impressive to me given that there was a huge party at the beginning at a club, a parade to the reception at the end of the week, and attended by several thousand people.

Much of the technical graphics talks were above me. But there was such a huge range of topics that I did find some that I could relate to, such as OpenCL, animation talks for fun, and physics simulation in games. Will Wright's keynote was interesting and inspirational, even if it was so fast I don't remember most of it. He went through ~240 slides in 2 hours. @_@

I also did some limited touring of New Orleans, and ate a LOT of good food. I was not expecting to see so many strip clubs on Bourbon St. O_o Most of the bars did have decent live bands though. We ended up just walking around and talking on the street. I visited Emeril's Restaurant, where I had an excellent pork chop. The sauce had an interesting contrast between the mango mole and tamarind. Most of us were sick of Creole and Cajun after a couple days because there was just too much fried foods and too oily. Another treat we found was Cafe Adalaide, which had 25 cent martinis at lunch. I had a terrific shrimp salad, to try to clear my blood vessels a bit. :) Rio Mar was an excellent Spanish restaurant, and then lunch at Cochon blew me away. The oysters were fantastic and the meat plate was very interesting. I loved the bacon. ^_^

First real VFF run

Wednesday last week I actually tried a real run w/ my VFF. I aimed for about 3 miles, w/ a stretch along the railroad tracks because I wanted to see if I could actually handle trails w/ them.

It was a mistake. :P A minor one, thankfully.

I could run in the dirt along the railroad tracks fine. The small jagged rocks right by the tracks don't work though. Walking in them is barely tolerable and the footing is too loose to run in.

The real mistake was trying to run 3 miles off the bat. My calves were tired after about 1 mile, and threatened to cramp up towards the end whenever I stopped at a light. I think I'm not running toe-first correctly yet. I suspect I wasn't landing on my heels at all for the first 1/2 to 1 mile, which stressed out my calves. I also probably ran too fast at the beginning. The pacing and timing are different. It also took quite a bit of concentration to keep the form.

Next time, shorter distance w/ the VFF. ^_^

ため。。。

ため。剣道によるとどんな意味かな。僕ができるかな。。。

Monterey and Carmel

This Fourth of July weekend I went down to Monterey and Carmel with Hsin-tien. We were aiming for a nice leisurely and relaxing trip. And the thing dictating our itinerary... food. ^_^

On the way down, we stopped at Phil's Fish Market in Moss Landing for an early lunch. Unfortunately that also meant we weren't very hungry so we passed on the cioppino. Instead we had some sauteed oysters, which were one of the day's specials, a bowl of clam chowder, and steamed clams. I was not impressed by the sauteed oysters, but the clam chowder and steamed clams were good. I would definitely have to try the cioppino next time. Maybe when it's crab season.




We had to spend some time driving around Cannery Row to find parking for our visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. All of the lots were full, but the aquarium didn't feel too packed after we got in. We took our time walking to the aquarium before entering quickly (and for free) thanks to my parents' aquarium membership. :) The current special exhibit, "The Secret Lives of Seahorses," was interesting. And my dreaded nemesis the Sunfish was missing. :D

There was a bit of traffic between Monterey and Carmel. Upon arriving in Carmel, we checked into our bed and breakfast, the Colonial Terrace. Then we walked down to the beach and had a nice stroll. The sand was very fine and comfortable, and there were many people starting up fires on the beach. Unfortunately it had become cloudy so no sunset for us. :p

We cleaned up and went to dinner at Anton and Michel. Unfortunately we forgot to take pictures of the food. :p The food was good, but nothing too exotic or different. The atmosphere is very nice though.


The next day we slept in before heading to Carmel Belle for lunch. We found the place w/ relatively little difficulty. It is a nice quaint place, and the food was pretty good. The prociutto was a nice reminder of Spain. Hsin-tien and I have trouble remembering to photograph our food before digging in. :p

After a little shopping along Ocean Ave we decided to head back. For dinner we tried Tanto on Saratoga Ave. We got there early, around 6 o'clock, and they were hesitant to seat us w/o reservations. Guess they're really popular and crowded. O_o They seated us anyways, ahead of a reservations I assume, and somewhat pushed us to order quickly. They were nice about it though. We had kakuni (stewed pork), asari ramen (clam ramen), and kaki ika (grilled squid). Hsin-tien also had an order of egg nigiri. All of it was really good. Again, we forgot to take pictures of the food. :p

VFF and stairs: Feels like cheating

Did a lot of stairs this past Saturday w/ Shannon and Kaori. Of course I wore my VFF. ^_^ I swear it feels like cheating given how light they are and the ability to use your toes. My calves are like dead still though. :p

VFF 1st workout: Exhilarating!!!

So after wearing my Vibram Five Fingers (VFF) off and on this week, I finally took them out for a workout this Sunday morning. I decided to do a short jog, about 1 mile, to the De Anza College track to do some core workouts, since I didn't think I was ready for a long run yet. (I haven't run since my marathon in January. :p) The jog there was ok. Felt a little odd, and stepping on a joint between pavement hurt a little bit, but it was fine. Slight detour on gravel was fine, as was grass and mulch under trees. I realized that there are places you can't step in/on though, such as grates with wider holes. I think your ankles also get more of a workout, since the VFF allows and forces you to use your ankles more, for both stabilizing and pushing.

I always disliked stair works, but it was a lot more tolerable with the VFF. Being able to bend and use your toes more made the stairs much more tolerable, both going up and down. Lunges were also interesting being able to use my toes more, but my left toes were not too happy due to a tough and tense kendo practice on Friday. It was also easier to stay on my toes and stabilize during burpees.

But the real surprise came on the jog back. It had felt like the one thing that feels off w/ the VFF is actually running fast, or sprinting. I don't have a good sprinting form. I'm not used to running only on the balls of my feet and my toes. Rather, I lengthen my stride and power faster. But then landing on the thinner heel of the VFF kind of hurts. On the jog back I tried to jog in the toe/ball first form, which is landing on the balls of your feet and not your heels. It's supposed to be how you do barefoot running and how the Kenyans run. It was not easy, but easier in the VFF than regular shoes. It was more of a strain on my calf and ankles, but I kept going. On the last stretch of my block, I started to up the speed and start sprinting. And I could actually sprint on the balls of my feet! And I kept going faster and faster, and soon it felt like all that was touching the ground were my toes!! It was exhilarating!! So it was a great fun first training w/ the VFF and we'll see how we go from here. ^_^

Vibram 5 fingers

Kenney my coworker has been talking about the Vibram 5 fingers for a while now. He's a pretty serious runner and keeps up with the running trends. One of the trends is the benefits of running barefoot, and the Vibram 5 finger is trying to simulate barefoot running as much as possible. I always walk around barefoot at home and kendo is also always barefoot, but I was still kind of interested.

So yesterday afternoon during lunch we went down to Palo Alto to Zombie Runners to try them out. I wasn't sure if I would like them, but neither of us could take them off after having them on. And in fact both of us wore them out of the store. Kenney even threw away the shoes he was originally wearing since they were worn down quite a bit already! I think I'm going to try a little running and core work w/ them this weekend.

The picture is of our feet after coming back to the office. I'm the one w/ white pants.

四段が取りませんでした

今回五月の審査でまだ四段が取りませんでした。本当に難しいでした。今回が十一月の審査よりいい稽古をしたと思いました。だがまだ「四段を取った』と思いませんでした。やっぱりまだ駄目です。もっと練習しなければなりません。先生達、先輩達、とみんなの稽古感謝しました。また四段のチャレンジをします。

Well, it's official. I did not pass my yondan test this May. I thought I did better than my previous attempt last November, but I did not have the feeling of "I got it!" during the test. It really is difficult. I need to practice more, which I plan to do now that I no longer have soccer on Saturdays. I must also thank my senseis, my senpais, and everyone at the dojo for their practices. And the challenge continues.

On a separate note, Tanaka sensei told me during kata practice yesterday that I'm too stiff. Kata needs to have emotion, but also needs to look smooth and beautiful. I am focusing so much on displaying emotion that my motions are jerky and unpleasant. I think my keiko is being affected in a similar way as well.

Black eye from kendo!!

That's right, I actually got a black eye from kendo. Hopefully it will be my one and only, ever. It was from practicing kata.

It happened on shoutou ipponme (小刀一本目). I was shidachi (仕立ち) with the shoutou (小刀). I was a little late with my sidestep and my block wasn't strong enough, so the uchitachi's (打太刀) strike knocked my shoutou (小刀) into my face. :p My left eye teared up but I finished the rest of the kata (形).



The next morning my coworker asked if I had a black eye, which really surprised me. It's not very noticeable, but there is a bruise on my left eyelid. So yeah, I got a black eye from kendo. ^_^

Update: Another picture, this one is 2 days after, on Tuesday. The bruise is even more apparent. :p

Optometrist visit

A couple weekends ago I went to visit the optometrist. He was startled to find a scratch in my left eye!! He said I should have been tearing and hurting like crazy from it, but I can't even remember when and how I got the scratch. :p So I had to wear a soft contact lens in my left eye as a bandage for a couple of days before going back again. Luckily everything healed up fine. Whew... 

He took some pictures, which I've attached. The blue one is when he put that dye in the eye. He said the scratch was fairly deep, which is why the dye pooled into one spot.

Facebook ads again

Ok, now I'm being bombarded by ads saying it's ok if I loose my job, because I can make tons of money via Google somehow. Haven't checked yet. Haven't needed to yet, thank goodness. :)

Interspersed with the dating ads still, of course. ^_^

A more complex cruise control?

So I started using the cruise control on my new Prius. Given the feedback on mileage the car gives, I started thinking if a better system for cruise control can be provided. One that takes mileage into consideration.

Instead of only specifying a speed for cruise control, the driver specifies a range of speed. The car will then restrict its speed within that range while maximizing the mileage. I was thinking that this could then adapt to elevation changes and wind. I think the biggest problem would be user interface, and making the system understandable to the common driver. Maybe instead of the driver specifying a speed range, the system just assumes a range of 10 mph around the specified speed.

Wonder if I should look into patenting this crazy idea... ^_^

Piano

I've been back in CA for 6 months now (time flies! O_O) and yesterday was the first time I touched the piano. I am both ashamed and proud of myself. -__- But, I promised myself that I would play the piano first before playing video games from now on. We'll see how long that lasts... :p

Deal w/ the devil?

If this was true, we wouldn't, or at least shouldn't, be loosing money. ^_^

New car!

Yesterday I decided to finally go test drive a Prius. And ended up getting a silver one. :p The Jetta was starting to have some problems and I guess the bells and whistles (and gas mileage) got to me. ^_^

My first marathon!

I finished my first marathon! I did the Disney World marathon on Sunday, 1/11/09, with Shelly and Aqeel. It was a lot of fun. Painful, but fun. :p

The run began with a bang, with fireworks. After winding through Epcot center, the run proceeded to the Magic Kingdom. We got to run out from under the castle. The run then winded through Animal Kingdom, made a short side trip to the Wide World of Sports, before going through Hollywood Studios and ending in Epcot. One of the best part was going by the costuming department in Hollywood Studios, in my opinion. 

I really wish I had brought a camera with me on the run. All along the run characters like Goofy, Donald, and Mickey, showed up at various intervals. People lines up to take pictures with them. There were also people dressed up in costume running. There were many Disney employees lining the route cheering us on at the beginning, who were replaced by spectators as the day wore on.

I didn't have a finish time in mind, but I was trying to maintain a 11 or 12 minute pace. When it looked like I could break 5 hours around mile 18, I made that my goal. I finished with a time of 4:38:15, a 10:46 pace. I pushed really hard for the last three miles and flew through the last mile. I guess that meant I was holding back and could have ran faster earlier. :p There were many water, food, and aid stations available. I ate everything and didn't hit the wall at all. My hamstrings did tighten up between miles 18 and 22, and I had to use Biofreeze and stop to stretch. Aqeel hit the wall at mile 18 unfortunately and couldn't accomplish his 4 hour goal. Shelly did pretty well despite not having had the chance to train and doesn't know how to feel about that. ^_^ 

Lastly, there is apparently something called the Goofy Challenge here, which is to run the half-marathon on Saturday and then the marathon on Sunday. Crazy... This event is also really popular and fills up fast. Apparently the sign up for next year begins on Monday! O_o

2008 Vacation to Spain

This winter I joined Shelley and Pablo on their trip to Spain. Two more of Shelley's friends joined us as well. Pablo graciously planned out our itinerary, which was a tour of Southern Spain and spending New Year in Leon with his family.

I left San Jose on 12/25 and I met up with Pablo and Shelly in the O'hare airport in Chicago. We were on the same flight to Madrid. Thankfully there was no delay whatsoever.

After arriving in Madrid in the morning, we decided to walk around. We started it off with a snack, some brocadillo calamares, which was basically fried calamari in a sandwich roll. It was so good. We visited the Plaza Mayor, the Plaza del Sol, the royal palace, and other places. We also had chocolate con churros, which was fried dough with a very thick chocolate. We met up with Ryan after lunch while Helena arrived in the dead of night. :) We spent most of the afternoon w/ Elena, Pablo's friend in Madrid. The next morning we had reservations at El Prado, which was a fantastic museum, featuring El Greco and many other artists. After lunch we got on the train to Grenada.

At Grenada the big show was of course Alhambra. It was very intriguing and beautiful, and personally I think the Muslim portions outshone the Christian parts, with the possible exception of the Palace of Charles V. We also went up Albayzin for the view of Alhambra. We concluded with a visit to the cathedral.

Next up was Sevilla. The cathedral of Sevilla was very impressive. It also holds the supposed tomb of Christopher Columbus. The first night Pablo wasn't feeling well, so Ryan, Helena, and I wondered around for a long time before trying our best to order dinner for ourselves. I must admit I think we did fairly well. The second day we visited Alcazar and its gardens. We also visited the Plaza de Espana. Pablo says it was used to film part of the Star Wars prequel. I vaguely remember it from one of the scenes cut out of Episode 2.

We finally head for Leon on 12/31, New Year's Eve. We arrived just before lunch. Ryan and I were fairly tired, and with a long night ahead of us we decided to take a siesta that afternoon. However, since Helena would be leaving Spain that night/early next morning, Pablo and Shelley took her around Leon on a tour. That night Pablo's mom put on an incredible spread for dinner, which lasted 3 hours. ^_^ We also participated in the Spanish tradition of consuming one grape on each ring of the New Year bell. Then we headed out to the bars before concluding with chocolate con churros at 5 in the morning. I think we would be considered to have stopped early. O_o

Everyone took it easy on 1/1. On 1/2, Pablo's parents took us to Astorga where we visited the sights and had an INCREDIBLE lunch. We also stopped by a small village on the way back. Ryan left that night. The next day I joined the family at the "Presentation of Shelley" lunch with family and friends. :) 

I was originally going to leave in the early morning of 1/5 by bus for the airport, just like Ryan. However, Pablo commented that Leon is a small town and suggested that I might want to look into visiting other cities instead. So we scoped out what's available and I ended up heading down to Madrid on 1/4 in the morning. I attended a Real Madrid vs. Villareal game, which was exciting and good. And I went to Restaurante Sobrino de Botin for dinner, which is certified by the Guiness Book of Records as the oldest restaurant in the world, established in 1725. I originally wanted to go to La Broche, but they weren't open on Sundays.

In conclusion, I had an awesome time. Without Pablo, I think our culinary experience would not have been as terrific. Also having 5 people meant we could order and share many different dishes. I will definitely want to go back. After all, I still have at least Barcelona to visit and so much more food to eat. ^_^

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