yup, that’s right. the ban on beef is officially lifted. it started last week when i went to straits cafe and had an excellent steak dish. the following day i finally indulged in a much-needed big mac meal. i know, it is a sad day in one’s life when you crave a big mac. but it’s done with and i’m happily eating beef now.
i have not yet grilled my own steak, though. that’s the next big beef bonanza. mmmmm.
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is it considered tacky to publish your own birthday wishlist?
i remember for xmas, my friend and his sister made wishlists for their parents and put various things on it of varying prices and then the parents got them whatever they wanted on that list. i always thought that was a rather efficient way of giving gifts. at least you’ll always get what you want.
part of the surprise and mystery of your birthday is seeing what people might get you. but lately, my brother and sister have been asking each other, what do you want? and we’ve been getting each other those gifts.
[url=http://www.tow.com/photogallery/20040130_iso/]adam[/url] posted the results of the comparisons of the Canon 1D vs 10D high ISO shooting in low light conditions. a few days before the comparison, adam and I were debating the performance of high ISO shooting with these two cameras. I had felt that the 1D’s high ISO performance was still better than that of the 10D, particularly at ISO 3200, but adam thought that 10D should have been a better performer.
apparently there is a lot of talk about the stellar performance of the 10D and its high ISO performance. and i would agree that its performance is particularly amazing when compared to that of the D30 or D60. the d30’s ISO800 noise is the same as that of the 10D’s ISO1600. So you do get a full stop more at the same level of noise due to the DiGiC processor on the 10D.
but i feel the noise exhibited on the 10D is more splotchy than that of the 1D, especially in low light. in bright light conditions, the noise is less noticeable.
am i disappointed? no way! this is still a whole lot better than what i was getting with my old D30. besides, the 1D is a professional camera, you’d expect it to yield professional results. any less and i’d be pretty disappointed. i’ll be the first to admit that the 10D is not a professional camera but instead of prosumer camera. and it’s true, it’s cheap. compared to the 1D, it’s half the cost!
still a great camera, though.
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i went to this club/lounge last night in sunnyvale. i can’t remember the name of it, but it was across the way from the forum. anyway, there was no cover for the place, but this organization was accepting donations to support the fight against cancer. sounds noble enought, right?
but the girl who explained what the cause is about and collected donations was too busy smoking outside the club to collect donations, holding up the line. then she explained to us, with smoke heavy on her breath about the cause.
she said something very articulate about fighting cancer and raising money for this organization, but all i heard was something like:
yeah, uhhh…i’m collecting money for the fight against cancer because, you know, cancer is bad. but uhhh, i’m going to smoke this cigarette, because, damn, it’s just so good. i mean, i know that smoking can cause cancer and i know that it’s bad and all, but i’m going to do it, anyway. that’s my right. and furthermore i’m going to raise money for organizations that fight cancer, because who wouldn’t want to fight cancer? it’s a bad thing, yo. i know cancer’s bad, i want money to fight that bad, but i’m going to invite the potential for that bad in my life too, because well…it’s just so damn good.
…
yes, cancer is a bad thing. yes, smoking isn’t the only cause of cancer. yes, i believe that there should be a fight against cancer. but ask me for donations for the fight against cancer when you so openly invite that risk into your life and it just seems wildly hypocritical to me. it inspires this anger from me because though you are doing a good thing, you are doing a bad thing for yourself…and it’s sad.
did it seem a little hypocritical that there was a crowd of organizers and/or their friends smoking outside? did it seems a little hypocritical that their smoke was wafting into the club forcing us to inhale their second hand smoke? all to help support an organization that fights cancer? just a little.
my aunt passed away after her fight with cancer. she did not smoke, nor did she live with anyone who did. she was a genuinely sweet woman and was one of the few adults that i grew up with who i felt i could talk to about anything. i believe that she had pancreatic cancer and in the past i’ve made donations to organziations like the american cancer society to aid in research to fight cancer. i believe in the cause. i believe that minimizing the suffering or abolishing the suffering through medical means is a worthy cause. she didn’t make a choice to put herself at higher risk than others. this just happened to her and i’m sorry that it did. i’m sorry that she had to go through so much suffering. it makes me sad and i wouldn’t want anyone to go through that.
now, maybe this makes me vengeful, but i believe that people should be responsible for their actions. if you are going to put yourself at risk, you should be prepared to accept the consequences of your actions. but don’t look to me to bail you out if you got yourself in a jam. you are your own person, you are fully capable of making your own decisions.
i didn’t make a contribution to the cause last night. it felt too much like bailing these people out. i don’t wish ill for them, i hope they all lead healthy, fruitful lives. and though i support the greater cause, i don’t support the way that these organizers were going about it.
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last night i celebrated ann’s birthday by taking her out to straits cafe in santana row. whenever i’ve walked by the place, it was always packed and crowded and tonight was no exception. it was a good thing that i got reservations because it looked like every table and standing space in the restuarant was packed.
the food was surprisingly good. i always thought that the place may just be a little overrated and that people go for the ambiance instead of the food. but i was wrong. the appetizers we had were delicious. we had the roti prata and the fried calamari. the main dishes were also rather good.
i also ate beef. it was the most tender and juicy bit of steak i’ve had in a long, long time and i have to say that all of this fear i have about beef is quickly evaporating. beef is just too good. mmmm. we also had this seafood fried noodle with gravy dish that i thought tasted a little too seafoody, but still was good.
i’m pretty impressed with the food. the ambiance is nice, but it was also pretty loud. definitely not a place to have a quiet intimate meal, but still it was cozy and quite satisfying. they are not outrageously priced, either, but they were on the nicer side of dining.
good food, i’m glad i went, and i’d probably go again.
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man…average joe sort of pisses me off…wait, no. larissa of average joe sort of pisses me off. she continues to be the superficial wench that we all suspected her of being. sure, put a bunch of hot guys next to the average joes and i guess one should expect that the beauty queen would gravitate towards them…but argh.
what’s surprising to see is that all of the insecurities of the guys really comes out. one of them was quoted as saying “all of the insecurities of 6th grade came rushing back.” which is kind of sad.
insecurity is such a powerful force. it can take what normally is a sane, rational person and turn them into an unreasonable and mean person. these guys on average joe who suffer from the insecurity problems immediately became hostile to these average joe hunks just because they felt threatened by their presence. nevermind that these hunks did nothing to provoke such hostility. nevermind that these guys could actually be decent, good guys. no, instead, we let insecurity reign in and insults are thrown, hostilities mount, and everyone is left uncomfortably mad at each other.
it’s a shame because we see that these average joes are actually pretty good guys and then their insecurities get the better of them and they turn into these monsters which ultimately is a big turn off for larissa and they shoot themselves in the foot.
it’s a pity, really.
i’m not really liking this season of average joe much. i wonder how it is doing in the ratings.
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ooooh, i haven’t seen one of [url=http://www.daydreamy.com/2004_01_01_archive3.htm#107519333481314656]these[/url] in a long time. it’s an ally mcbeal quote! i thought i was the only one who remembered that show. i guess i’m in good company with [url=http://www.daydreamy.com]gg[/url].
i miss the show. i thought the first several seasons were quite good. before all the insanity started to kick in. but it was nice to see the spirit of the show live on.
speaking of which, i think i have the dvd of the first couple of seasons. maybe i ought to go watch them again for nostalgia’s sake.
oh man…the super bowl starts at 3pm on sunday. 3pm. i have a volleyball game on sunday at 7pm. which means i should be there at 6:50, which means i need to leave my place by 6:20. which means i have to start getting ready by 6:10. which means that i probably won’t be able to throw the usual super bowl sunday party….what’s worse is my fear that the game will last more than 3 hours….what if i miss part of the game? i wonder if it’ll be a good game.
hmmmm. what to do? what to do? i had grand plans of BBQ’ing up a storm too! maybe i’ll have a very early dinner….or a very late dinner. hmmmmm.
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i bought a shirt from geoffrey beane over the weekend. today, i decided to wear it. in the shirt pocket was a little scrap of paper. it read:
BE AWARE OF WHAT YOU WEAR
Over 2/3 of the clothes supplied to us are made in SWEATSHOPS.
Was this garment made in a sweatshop?
Ask the manager or owner — Let them know your views on worker exploitation.
More info? www.u-can.org
Don’t wear their suffering on your back!
hmmm…i wonder how many people check the pockets of the garments they are going to buy before buying it. it never ocurred to me to check the shirt pocket.
but this begs a greater question: did a bunch of people raid this store and secretly put all these scraps in every pocket without the salesmen finding out? hmmmm.
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i learned a few new games last night to try out for poker night. the two new games introduced were steal my heart and duck, duck, goose! both games were interesting, i think that i enjoy the heart stealing game more. i want to learn a few more games to vary the card night. we had quite a lot of people last night, so much so that 7 card games were not possible.
i think that i may have to start expanding the games to something that may span multi-decks or learn more card-sharing games. we’ll see.