05.11.07

Our one year anniversary - a trip to Hawaii

Posted in Vacation at 4:45 pm by flung

Some of you knew this already but in case you didn’t, Yvonne and I took a 6 day, 5 night vacation in Oahu, Hawaii last week and man.. it was a blast. It was my first time in Hawaii and I have to admit - it was a beautiful place to visit. It’s a bit more humid than what I’m used to here in Los Angeles but it’s still less humid than say New York City during the summer months. Best of all - it was a complete change in scenary for us. It’s just nice to get away you know? In any event, we’ve posted up pictures of our trip to Hawaii within our gallery.

Here’s a quick summary of our trip:

Tuesday - May 2nd

We head out to LAX for a flight leaving at around 9am or so. The flight itself was smooth - so smooth in fact, I actually got a chance to sleep for a good part of the flight (and I really hate flying in general).

We land in Oahu at around noon and check into the Hyatt Regency in Waikiki in the early aftenoon. Yvonne and I spent the afternoon walking Waikiki, checking out the shops, and then heading over to the Ala Moana Shopping Center. (The mall is supposedly the country’s largest open air mall?)

In the evening, we dined at the Sansei Restaurant & Sushi Bar which is basically a cool Japanese/Asian Fusion restaurant.

The prices were pretty reasonable and the food was definitely plentiful. However, if you’re a sushi purist, you might not like the place so be warned! As we were heading out of the restaurant, we noticed that Sansei has a 1/2 deal on Sunday evenings (something to consider as you’ll see later).

Wednesday - May 3rd

We wake up nice and early Wednesday morning (6am was it?), catch an early breakfast and then head on over to the Kualoa Ranch for the first of our many packaged tours. This one was for the ATV tour and if you’ve never ridden an ATV before, I highly recommend it! They give you a quick how-to session with the ATV and then you take a short training course around the backside of the ranch. Once you’re familiar with the ATV, you head on out in single file and drive around the Ka’a'awa Valley. The tour itself was pretty quick.. we were back in Waikiki by 10ish?

Since we were back so early, Yvonne and I decided to head over to Waikiki beach where we relaxed for the next several hours. I thought I had applied enough sunscreen during this time.. needless to say, I did not. My back is STILL read (and peeling now).

After my sunburning session, we decided to take a walk from our hotel to Diamond Head Crater. The entire roundtrip was approximately 4 to 5 miles and it took us about 2-3 hours to complete. Once you get to the top of Diamond Head Crater, you can pretty much see the entire southeast corner of Oahu - in particular - Waikiki. It’s an awesome site to behold.

For dinner we decided to try out a place called the Side Street Inn. You’ll typically find more locals at the Side Street Inn than tourists and that was exactly what we wanted. Unfortunately, the prices were a bit high - they even charged us per soft drink refill. WTH? The food itself was OK… but we felt that the prices charged didn’t justify the food and service that we got.

Thursday - May 4th

On Thursday, we did a little snorkeling with Snorkel Bob’s. I’ll never forget the bus ride to the pier as our tour guide (named Jenner? Janner?) was one of the corniest guys I’ve ever heard. OMG.. his jokes were horrible.. yet they made me smile so I can’t complain right?

We snorkeled from 11ish till around 2pm and then got back to the hotel at around 3pm or so. It really wasn’t that long when you think about it but man I was tired.

I took a short nap in the afternoon while Yvonne trotted on over to the beach to play a quick game of volleyball with some locals. Yup.. she can’t get enough of that sport.

For dinner, we headed on over to a place called Tikis Grill & Bar. Not a bad restaurant but not something that particularly stands out if you ask me.

Friday - May 5th

Friday morning was one of those early riser mornings as we went back to Kualoa Ranch for our second tour - this time a horseback ride through the hillside. Same concept here - single file ride through the country side. Our horses were pretty tame although mine was certainly taking his time going uphill (or perhaps I had a bit TOO MUCH FOOD eh?)

In the early afternoon (3ish), we hopped on a bus to go to Paradise Cove where I had my first Luau. I had a blast with the Luau itself. There were activities that people could enjoy - such as making your own Lei, spear throwing, and getting a temporary tatoo. After dinner, we watched a cool presentation from the dancers there and yes - this included a fire dance too.

Oh yes.. I feel I must mention that I was pulled on stage to do a dance (against my will mind you).. and yes.. as Yvonne would describe it, I was “terrible” on stage in terms of dancing. I’m sorry but my knees and butt just don’t move around that way!

All told, it was an awesome night!

Saturday - May 6th

On Saturday, we headed over to Pearl Harbor and visited the Arizona Memorial. What can I say? It was incredibly humbling to stand there on the Memorial - realizing that over 1000+ people died that day on a single ship.. a day that will certainly live in infamy. It also reminded me of the sacrifice that so many people have paid for the life that we live today.

After the memorial, we headed on over to Aloha stadium and checked out the Swap Meet. It’s basically one big flea market circling the outside of the stadium. Here you’ll find tons of trinkets, t-shirts, and touristy goods for cheap prices. Definitely the place to go to find good deals on items.

In the evening, we met up with some family friends and had.. LOTS of food.

Sunday - May 7th

Sunday was check out day in the morning. We then had dim sum with family friends in Chinatown. Afterwards, we headed back to Ala Moana Shopping Center to kill a few hours in the early afternoon. Along the way, we lost our car.. only to realize it wasn’t the car that was lost.. but rather WE were lost. Ha.

As the evening approached, we headed BACK to Sansei Restaurant to capitalize on the 1/2 special before 6pm. For those of you who’ve never gone to this restaurant, you should get there at around 4:45 pm or so. People begin lining up early for this deal - especially since the restaurant doesn’t actually open it’s doors until 5:15pm. That gives you 45 minutes to order your food at 1/2 off. So yes.. we gorged like crazy!!

After gorging for an hour or so, we headed on to the airport and then hopped on a plane back to Los Angeles.

Monday - May 8th

We landed at 5am.. got home by 6am and slept. That was our vacation!!

Technorati Tags: Hawaii, Oahu, Vacation

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12.31.06

Walking the pet pig over at 3rd street Promenade

Posted in Los Angeles at 7:49 pm by flung

Honestly - I thought I’ve seen it all when it came to people walking their pets. Up until today, I thought the funniest pet walking experience I’ve ever seen was back in college when I saw a fellow student walking their ferret through a dorm hallway.

Well - no more folks. Today, we saw someone walking their pet pig over at the 3rd Street Promenade. Yup. I’ve heard of people walking their pet pigs before but I’ve actually never seen one in person. Well. Now I have.

What a way to end the year off eh?

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12.28.06

Best and Worst films of 2006

Posted in Movies at 6:11 pm by flung

With the year coming to a close, we’re starting to see more and more best/worst lists come out on the net. One of the areas of particular interest to us is of course, movies!

To that end, Tom Charity of CNN has published his list of the best and worst films of 2006. We haven’t seen a good number of the flicks listed but at least we have something to look forward to on DVD!

CNN’s best list includes:

• ‘Letters From Iwo Jima’ and ‘Flags of Our Fathers’
• ‘L’enfant’ (’The Child’)
• ‘The Good Shepherd’
• ‘Children of Men’
• ‘Borat: Cultural Learnings of America For Make Benefit Great Nation of Kazakhstan’ - ok we saw this flick and it’s HILARIOUS!!! IS NICE
• ‘The Death of Mr. Lazarescu’
• ‘The Prestige’
• ‘Hollywoodland’
• ‘Three Times’
• ‘Talledega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby’

Their worst list includes:

• ‘Lady in the Water’
• ‘The Wicker Man’
• ‘The Sentinel’

There is one movie that we particularly enjoyed from earlier this year - it was called “The Illusionist” and it starred Edward Nortion, Paul Giamatti, and Jessica Biel.

Now how about a list for the best and worst television shows of 2006?

[Check it out]

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Happy Holidays!

Posted in Site Info at 5:35 pm by flung

Happy Holidays to all of our friends and family out there! We hope everyone had a great Christmas weekend and may you have a warm, safe, and fun New Years! Here’s to a blessed 2007!!!

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11.15.06

Zune Parties Galore

Posted in Events, Volleyball, Weekend fun, Los Angeles, Places at 5:49 pm by flung

We’ve been pretty busy over the last few days and in particular, Yvonne and I had the chance to enjoy two Zune related events for free over those days.

Things got rolling last Thursday night after volleyball as Yvonne and I drove over to the Element located in the Hollywood area. Microsoft held a preview party at the Element and you can find tons of pics here at my other blog - ZuneSphere.com.

The preview party sums up to the following:

Free food. Free drinks. Free music. Play with the new Zune.

IS NICE.

On Friday night, we headed out to the movies and watch Borat : Cultural Learnings of Amerca for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. Oh man.. if you haven’t seen this movie yet - you just have to!! It’s hilarious. Yes it’s offensive.. but it’s hilarious and it really does open your eyes to some interesting things about America.

We spent the daytime portion of Saturday down at K1 Speed which is located in Irvine. What is K1 Speed? It’s an indoor kart racing facility and my company was having a little event there. If you’ve been to a kiddie go carting place before - this place kills that concept. K1 Speed is really designed for adults who want to race each other in small karts.

We had a couple of races and in the end, Yvonne smoked me in the final race. Heck she nearly LAPPED ME too.. but I apparently blocked her

Saturday night - we had dinner with the folks.. and then we headed on over to Elder to help teach some vball to kiddies. I’ll be honest.. I didn’t want to go initially (I just wanted to go home and watch some HD DVD’s!) but the whole experience ended up being a lot of fun. If you’re into vball and you’re in the area - check it out.

Monday rolls around, Yvonne and I manage to get into the official Microsoft launch party for the Zune. This time, the party was being held at Roxy where the Red Hot Chili Peppers were playing. You can find pics and videos at ZuneSphere of course.

Along the way, I also posted a review of the new Xbox 360 HD DVD player at Krunker.com. I’m also working on a review of the new Microsoft Zune which was launched yesterday.

All told.. lots of things going on..

IS NICE..

Technorati Tags: Microsoft Zune, Roxy, Element, Volleyball, Xbox 360 HD DVD player

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11.01.06

Celebrating our six month anniversary in San Francisco

Posted in Events, Weekend fun, Places at 8:09 pm by flung

Time flies doesn’t it? It’s hard to believe that it’s been six months since Yvonne and I tied the knot. We decided to spend our six month wedding anniversary up in San Francisco where we stayed a night at the Hilton down in the Financial District - right across the street from SF’s Chinatown district.

It was a short trip overall - we drove up Saturday morning and then drove back down Sunday evening but it was definitely fun to get away from Los Angeles and enjoy some quality time together.

North-west we go… more like north..

Our trip began Saturday morning as we left Los Angeles right around 11am. Yeah.. we left a little later than we had planned but the overall trip was fairly quick as we got into San Fran right around 4pm or so. We checked into the Hilton and then set our sites on the local neighborhoods.

Immediately in front of us was San Francisco’s famous Chinatown.

We took a nice walk in and around the neighborhood and then decided to head back to the hotel to change since it was getting a bit chillier.

We then walked all around North Beach looking for a restaurant called  “Michelangelo” (Caffe). We literally walked 15+ blocks before nearly giving up. I remember going to Yvonne and saying “What was the name of that restaurant again? Maybe we should just eat someplace else…” and then we looked up and there it was - right in front of us. Yes.. it was destiny that night for us to eat at Michelangelo’s..

So how was dinner? Well I think Yvonne and I would both agree that the restaurant was just OK. I suppose I had higher expectations that what was listed on citysearch.com but overall, it was an OK experience. The interesting thing that they do at Michelangelo’s is.. they serve you a bowl of gummy bears at the end of dinner. Nice touch.. except.. is that the same bowl going around from table to table? haha.. sorry.. if that is the case then I’m a bit squimish on that thought.

We ended the night by walking over to the Wharf and then walking back to our hotel. Oh yes.. while walking back we noticed a taxi driver dressed up as Superman.

Before heading back up to the hotel, we dropped by a night market in Chinatown and took some pics

Nothing like falling back one hour

What a wonderful feeling it was to have one more hour given back to us on Sunday morning. We woke up a tad bit late nevertheless and then headed over to Chinatown for some dim sum. Boy - finding dim sum wasn’t easy. At one point, I convinced Yvonne to go upstairs to this restaurant thinking that it would be serving dim sum.. then we ran into a nice old Chinese man who said “Nah! You don’t go there for dim sum!”

Of course we didn’t end up listening to his suggestions either but we did end up finding a nice restaurant for some limited dim sum. I can’t seem to recall the name of that restaurant right now though.

After dim sum, we drove down Lombard “Crookedest” Street and Yvonne took some snapshots out of the car.

Afterwards, we headed over to the wharf and basically shopped and ate. A stop at Ghirardelli’s for some chocolate and then a stop at Boudin’s for some sourdough bread bowls sure hit the stop.

Oh yes.. we did walk around some of the touristy areas of the Wharf too.

Finally.. right around 3:30pm, we hit the road again and made our way back to Los Angeles. Too bad the 580 was backed up for nearly an hour otherwise we made good time coming back home.

All in all a good weekend trip to SF and a great way to celebrate our anniversary. Happy Anniversary Yvonne!

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09.24.06

Hoa’s Birthday Pictures are up!

Posted in Birthday Party at 11:54 pm by flung

Ok - final post for the day! I’ve posted up pictures from Hoa’s birthday party over at the Orchid from this past Friday night. Funny thing is.. I think we only had one picture of Hoa from the entire night? Happy Birthday Hoa! Enjoy!

[Check it out]

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Birthday Pictures are up!

Posted in Birthday Party at 11:50 pm by flung

We’ve finally posted up pictures to our birthday party held at the Garden of Eden on Sept. 16th. Many thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate our birthdays. Special thanks goes out to Alan S. for hooking us with GOE for the event. We had a blast and we all of you did too!

And yes - we’re still going to have that poker tournament one of these days!

[Check it out]

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Vacation pics from the east coast are up

Posted in Vacation at 11:46 pm by flung

Early September in the Lung househeld found us out on the east coast for a variety of activities. While I spent some time on a business trip in Long Island, Yvonne started her trip off by heading off to Washington DC for the NACIVT tournament. We posted pictures from that tournament on the DSTSgurls.com website. After my biz trip was finished, I drove south to Washington DC to meet up with Yvonne and the rest of the folks for Labor Day weekend.

The tournament ended on Monday afternoon and we decided to head back to NYC that night. The trip from DC to NYC took approximately 3 hours and we were in bed by 1am or so. Good thing too because the next day saw us heading up to Massachusetts to visit my siblings.

Our time in MA summed up to eating, relaxing, and apple picking. Yup.. Apple picking.. ya gotta love it. We picked a bag of apples - some of which became the basis for Michele’s awesome apple pies later on that night.

One of the cooler things we saw during the trip was my brother’s birds and their newborn babies. You can see those birds here at my brother’s website. We took some pictures of the babies too!

Here are some pictures with Lou’s dog - Daisy. She’s such a MUSH!

We headed back down to NYC on thursday and had dinner that night at Blue Ribbon sushi. You’ll find some pictures of the dishes that passed us by. Awesome stuff.

Oh yeah - before that, I got a haircut at Astor Place.

Friday day was just a chill day for us but Friday evening was Kerwin and Priscilla’s rehearsal dinner. Yup the two of them got married on Saturday - congrats to those two! Pictures of the rehearsal dinner and the wedding can be found here.

The trip ended with us flying back to Los Angeles on Sunday morning. Although we were only out on the east coast for about 10 days.. it felt more like 2 weeks. Total amount driven - 1000+ miles.

Here are the pictures from out trip to the east coast.

Here are the pictures to Kerwin and Priscilla’s Wedding

Technorati Tags: East coast vacation

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Orange County Fair pictures are up

Posted in Weekend fun at 11:29 pm by flung

I’ve finally gotten around to posting up pictures that we took from the Orange County Fair. Yvonne’s parents joined us as we spent July 15th in the sun and playing TONS of games. Enjoy the pics!

[Check it out]

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