Since I've got some catching up to do...
I haven't always dressed up for Halloween, but I think I did a pretty good job this year. In case you don't know what I dressed up as, I'm imitating René Magritte's The Son of Man
Thanks to Ed for giving me his extra Cal football ticket when he couldn't make it to the USC v. Cal football game. It meant I could join Jason & Susanna in the Cal Student section. Lovely job remodeling the stadium and an even better result for the game (from my perspective rather than theirs).
To celebrate Jason's b-day, we headed down to Morgan Hill for some Sporting Clay shooting. There I am lining up a shot from the station, while Susanna triggers the trap machines and Willy & Scott watch on (Jason took the pic).
I haven't really had a chance to attend many opening receptions for art exhibitions, but I got an invite for Mari's last one at the Cantor. Quite a fancy shindig, particularly since they exhibited a number of works from the SFMOMA's collection. Flesh and Metal: Body and Machine in Early 20th-Century Art continues for one more month until mid-March and gives you a great opportunity to see these exceptional works for the low, low price of free!
This year, generosity returned to the corporate world and Abbott once again granted turkeys to their employees for the holidays. So, for the third year running, Nick and I held our Friendsgiving dinner. Check out the before (above) and after (below).
A brief glimpse of the spread. We had a good turnout and, thanks to another year of experience, managed to finish a respectable amount of the food.
Finally, a snapshot of this year's Movember results. No thanks to Due to Susanna's encouragement, Jason, Ed and I did a true "no shave November". Not sure whether this would qualify as a success or not, but I did earn a decent amount on behalf of the Movember Charity. Thanks so much to all of you who took the time to donate. I greatly appreciate your support from year to year!
Thanks for stopping by. Keep an eye out for the next post!
Alright, so let me begin the long journey of catching you all up with this the rest of this year's activities. As the summer began coming to a close and College football got its start, I decided to watch a couple of USC games. Both would take me away from the Bay Area with one in LA and the other in NYC. Check it out:
It had been several months since I last drove down. Here I am rolling down the I-5 towards LA in the twilight with a lovely moon in the background. A nice image to break up the monotony of the otherwise uneventful drive.
The next day, I found myself back in good old DTLA (Downtown Los Angeles) on a sunny September morning enroute to the USC campus.
On campus for the first time in ages, we head straight to McCarthy Quad to immerse ourselves in the college football tailgating experience. Lots more folks than I remember, though you can really see how the success of the teams during my college tenure really laid the groundwork for this increased popularity. Just saying...
A brief pep rally in front of Bovard Auditorium (and near the Tommy Trojan statue) prior to the masses begin to migrate towards the Coliseum.
A beautiful sunset over the LA Coliseum as USC exerts its superiority over a gallant but overmatched Hawaii team.
Some of the folks I enjoyed the game with including some key friends from my time at SC (Cat, Claudia, Melissa, Ryan, Brad and Diane). Such a glorious start to the season!
We even got to use our football ticket stubs to get us into the Galen Center to watch some Women's Volleyball!
The very next weekend, I headed out to the East Coast to watch the next game in the season against Syracuse. The awesome weekend began with a late night dinner in Koreatown with Phil (sorry, no pics). The next day, I met up with Kurt for a bit of wandering about town starting with lunch at Ippudo. Good ramen, though I'm a bit partial to Ramen Dojo in San Mateo.
After lunch, we ventured to Queens to check out MoMA PS1 (called so due to it residing in Public School Building #1). One of the memorable exhibits was this room filled with confetti and industrial fans. It looked kinda like a colorful snowstorm as the paper swirled around in the wind. Quite pretty.
After getting our fill of art and also having sufficiently digested lunch, we headed down to Brooklyn to grab a Steak & Cheese pie from Down Under Bakery. Yum as usual!
After our quick snack, we tried to decide what to do next and ultimately came up with the idea to have dinner at Kurt's apartment. We bought some fresh lobster in Chinatown on the way back and carried them all the way back on the Subway. Quite an experience cooking live lobster and I'll simply say that next time, we'll have to try the freezer method to see if that might be better for them.
The ultimate result of our combined cooking: Surf & Turf (steak & lobster with mixed white/brown rice and a wilted arugula salad). Delicious!!!
The next day, we ventured to New Jersey for the USC v. Syracuse game at the New Meadowlands (home to my beloved NY Giants). A very modern and beautiful stadium on a lovely summer's day.
An early possession for the SC offense who got off to a bit of a slow start, much to the chagrin of the sizable traveling SC fan base.
After enjoying halftime, authorities alerted the thousands of fans at the game that the second half would be postponed to allow a thunderstorm front to blow through. You can see us all here calmly evacuating our seats to take shelter in the relative safety of the stadium. The storm generated significant wind gusts, heavy rain and lightning/thunder to boot. I'm glad we stayed dry as we waited out the storm. An hour later, everyone went back to their seats for the second half and USC overcame the lengthy break to score enough points for the victory over Syracuse.
It took a longtime on the NJ Rail to get to the game and they did a slightly better job getting folks out. Here we are waiting for the next train back to Manhattan (with Traci's friends, Traci, Kurt & Gigi).
After a yummy dinner of Japanese Izakaya, we met up with Phil for desserts at Kyotofu (a dessert bar that uses tofu in all their dishes). All the desserts tasted great and I'd recommend this place for a late night sweet tooth indulgence.
I had heard a lot about Shake Shack from many friends and I figured I should go see what the fuss was about. I'll say the burgers tasted great, but I don't agree that it warrants all the high praise that others have heaped on it. Ultimately: good but not exceptional.
Certainly an odd sight to see an aircraft carrier and the Manhattan skyline, but here we are at the U.S.S. Intrepid.
Of course we came to see the Space Shuttle Enterprise in its temporary home in all its glory. I know this shuttle hasn't made it to space like the others, but it certainly has a lot of prestige being the first of its kind and also being named after such a prestigious ship...
Kurt on the Bridge of the Intrepid, just in front of the wheel.
The Enterprise aside, this Lego model of the Intrepid could possibly have been the next coolest thing I saw there (complete with crewman overboard).
Ultimately a busy, busy two weekends but an immense amount of fun for sure. I'm glad I got to see my football team at the peak of their season (all downhill since those first two, glorious weeks) because it had been a while since I tasted College Football. More importantly, I'm glad I got to see a lot of old friends during these two trips on both coasts! Much thanks goes to Grant, Phil, Traci & Kurt for letting me stay over during my visits!!! Keep an eye out for the next update and Happy New Year/新年快乐！
So, I celebrate the 100th entry on this blog with a post about my graduation from graduate school. It's odd because it doesn't quite feel as big of a deal as it was last year, however, it was quite a lot of fun and will be remembered for the camaraderie exhibited by all of us fellow BME graduate students. As usual, let me get right into the photoblogging:
On wednesday, Travis & I took another trip back to Stoney Point for some more rock climbing. Climbing on natural rock definitely beats climbing indoors. The photo above is of Travis in an "egyptian-like" pose on Turlock/Boulder 2 while the photo below is of me on the top of the very same boulder.
Thursday marked a trip to Santa Monica to check out the Pier with Travis and Meera. Above, you can see us on the pier in front of the carnival rides. It was cloudy, windy & cold when we first got there. It did clear up as you can see us below on Santa Monica beach enjoying the sun & playground equipment.
Then, we walked around 3rd Street Promenade for a bit before enjoying some cupcakes. Here we have Meera's Red Velvet on the left and my Strawberry on the right. Travis' Coconut is not pictured.
Finally, we've arrived at Friday. The morning ceremony featured a great speech by former ABC News anchor Ted Koppel and an appearance by Clint Eastwood. Both were awarded honorary degrees by the school and were distinguished guests. Following the main ceremony, which was markedly better than last year's, I headed over to the Rossier School of Education ceremony to support a fellow, local brother: Ryan. He had the honor of delivering one of the speeches and I had to be there to witness it. Much respect for using a quote I greatly admire from Gandhi.
After that ceremony ran a little longer than I expected, I bolted over to the BME reception to meet up with my fellow graduates & classmates for a few pics and a bite to eat.
Nick, Claudia, Puja, Leah & I.
Me & Dad.
Claudia & I.
Claudia, Nick, Travis, Myself & Meera with the BME sign. Funny story: Nick & I ripped off the tape holding the sign to the easel and were preparing to take the sign to the ceremony before BME staff members came to ask us what we were doing and had us return the sign. We were so close...
Instead, we did nab this sign which was used to organize the graduates by departments. All the BME grad students signed it and now we have a neat piece of memorabilia from the ceremony. That sign will be worth a pretty penny in a few years, just you all wait and see...
Meera's sister Tasha was kind enough to run to the store to buy us a bottle of Champagne for us. We were gonna sneak it into the ceremony but they took so long to get everyone seated that we couldn't wait and preceeded to celebrate before the ceremony began.
Nick opening the bottle.
Meera boozing.
Claudia guzzling.
Travis chugging.
Leah drinking.
I couldn't help but partake in a bit of the bubbly myself.
The whole lot of us after finishing the bottle.
Meera, Nick, Travis, Me & Brandon after having received our diplomas. We're all smiling because we didn't yet know there were gonna be many more names and another couple hours of the ceremony left...
I'm glad I was able to sneak out for just a bit to congratulate Erin at her commissioning ceremony. The Air Force's newest 2nd Lieutenant was a fellow Paris buddy of mine from the Engineering summer program.
Ryan & Darren (and also Claudia's friend) were on hand to see Claudia and I get our degrees. Thanks for the support!
Me, Meera & Travis. First picture was the "serious" one and the second was the "fun" one.
Grad season isn't complete without a couple of grad dinners. Here are two that I've been to so far.
Right after commencement, my dad & I had to rush off to Hollywood for Meera's dinner at Palm Thai. Here are 3 graduates: Me, Meera & Kevin.
24 hours later, I had the privilege of celebrating Claudia's graduation with her parents, Kellie, Jeanine, Ryan R, Ryan C, Aaron, Priscilla, Darren & Phil.
A couple days after the graduation festivities were well in the past, Brad & I took off on the first of, hopefully, many forays into the wilderness. This hike was the Big Santa Anita Canyon trail. We got a great view of Sturtevent Falls from the bottom here.
We also hiked to the upper falls to see what it looked like from above. Here's Brad (decked out in more burnt orange gear - backpack, sunglasses, shirt & shoes - than you can shake a stick at) at a little mini falls.
And here I am at the very same place.
And here we both are after completing the 5+ mile trail.
So, I hope you enjoy all the pics. The past week has really been memorable and a heck of a lot of fun. It essentially marks the end of an era (that of my college years) even though I've technically got another class to go. Most of us will be headed off to work in the "real" world by the time the end of this summer rolls around. It hasn't really hit yet (though I can say I've certainly begun to feel just how big a deal this is). It's all been a lot of fun and I'm definitely looking forward to what might be there for me just around the corner. So, to conclude this post (and to mark the century of entries), I'd like to wish all of the 2007 Graduates (High school, Undergrad & Grad) the best of luck and here's to the future!
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