Chinese Thanksgiving

Every year we go out with my in-laws and their friends to a chinese dinner the day after Thanksgiving. Here's some pics of people milling around and saying their goodbyes. (Forgot to take pictures of the actual evening)

Thanksgiving

Today Sherri had to open her store at 4:00am for Black Friday. So to accommodate her, our family which normally has Thanksgiving dinner at about 6:00pm, had a late lunch or linner at about 2:30pm. I really liked doing it this way. First off, it was daylight outside, so we got to go out after eating way too much and burn off some of the calories. Second, people were not as tired, so there was better mingling.

Here's a couple of desserts Sherri made:

Gingerbread Cupcakes Pumpkin Cheesecake

So after linner, most of us went for a walk. It turned out to be a much longer walk then I thought it would be, but it was good to get out.

I don't know what my expression here is.

Here's sunset around the lake on the walk. My friend Alex, who is a professional animator, is making me an introduction movie for my home arcade. He sent this over yesterday to show which "elements" he has finished. This sample looks so cool; I can't wait to see the finished product.

4D Delay

We went to get the 4D ultrasound today, but Sarah would not wake up, so we had to reschedule. We go back next Thursday, the 4th, and try again. It should be fine, because Sherri is getting a gestational diabetes test that day, so she has to drink a ton of some sugar drink. That should wake Sarah up, and then maybe the 4D ultrasound we originally scheduled last week will happen.
My parent's kitchen is awaiting cabinets which will probably come in next week. They were supposed to be installed a couple weeks ago, but things happen in building. The kitchen should be 100% finished by mid Decemeber, perhaps even by the 8th. The next project they are doing is the backyard - replastering the pool and redoing all(?) the hardscape.

CD Collection Transferred!

I have been trying to do this for years!!! Today I finished transferring all my CDs onto my hard drive. I first started to accomplish this feat sometime in 2000. I have always attempted to copy the music in lossless format which preserves the cd quality exactly. For years I would get close, and then my hard drive would crash and I would start over again. Now I have a backup and everything is in WMA lossless format. I have approximately 1100 CDs, and they fit onto a 750gb drive easily. I hope in the next couple years an SD card will get up that high so I can have my whole collection on one SD card.
I still want to scan in the album art. I have every "cover" scanned in, but I would like to go through the collection and scan in the back of the CDs. I did this for my compilations, and I really like being able to look at the front and back virtually.
My next project will be to make a jukebox, however, it will probably be at least a year until I get started on it.
The sad thing about converting these to hard drive is that I do really like to look at the CDs, but they are probably pretty obsolete at this point.
Also, my dad made me two VERY NICE cd carousels which hold a combined total of 1056 CDs - Not enough to hold my whole collection, but very close. I really like going through these, but I can definitely see a time now where I'll pack up my CDs into storage bins and in some way get rid of the carousels.

Here's a picture of me and one of the carousels after it was first built - sometime prior to 2000 (1998?), can't remember exactly (too bad no digital cameras to take a date stamp).

And here's a picture of the carousels today.

Commitment Ceremony Reception 3: This Time It's Personal

Today we went over to my aunt and uncles to continue the party with Sandy and Chama. We had a very good time, and I ate way too much.

These three pictures are a panoramic view of the party at one moment. Sandy and Chama hired a Sinatra impersonator to thank Sandy's parents for everything. He was good at Sinatra; more important, he was hysterical. The whole room was laughing.Here's a quick video of him singing - along with the rest of the crowd.

Commitment Ceremony Reception Take 2

Yesterday my cousin and her new bride had a reception for the people who could not come up to Oregon to celebrate their commitment to each other. My dad would have married them, but the injunction to enforce Prop 8 pending litigation was issued 2 or 3 days ago. I wish we could have done that part, but the party was very fun nonetheless.
My aunt and uncle rented a party boat and we cruised around the Marina del Rey bay for about 4 hours. After hard judicious pruning, here are some pictures:

The dining room.

All aboard Apple carved into facesMy nephew coloring next to the water. These are neat. My nieces and nephew dancing. He would twirl them both and they would change order.

I think I'm cracking my shoulder ???

The happy couple

We're the dancers

My grandma's best friend, John, and Sherri.

Softball

I played softball last night with the Young Lawyers Division of the Orange County Bar Association. It was fun. I was up 3 times and not only got on base my first time, but made a run. My next time at bat I hit it right into the second baseman's glove. Third time up I struck out because fouls, even with the count at two strikes, count as strikes in softball.
I didn't take any pictures, so here are pictures from the last time I played ball.

Ultrasound Delay

We were supposed to go in tomorrow for one of those 4d ultrasounds, but the doctor's office called us to reschedule until next Wednesday the 26th. I guess we'll have brand new pictures for Thanksgiving.
Last night we went out to Bella Terra with Robin and Logan. I had a really good cheeseburger at Cheesecake Factory.

Duck's Game 2-0!

Yesterday Sherri went to her first hockey game; yep, she's Canadian and hasn't gone to a hockey game before - for shame! It was a fun game. The tickets we got were great, row F Section 210, on the Duck's offensive side for 1st and 3rd period. The 3rd period was especially great; much of the action happened right in front of us. What also made it great is the Ducks won! It's too bad Beauchemin is out, but the Duck's pulled off a victory, in spite of Perry's mistakes and also because of Perry's goal - Perry kept flubbing the puck all night, he also scored the first goal of the evening.
It also just so happened, right before we were going to leave we found out my Dad bought tickets for him, my brother and nephew to go that same night. So we carpooled over and after the game had dinner together. It was nice too, because they were in section 207, so we were relatively close; we didn't have to hunt for each other after the game. This guy sat 2 rows in front of us. My guess is he has worn this hat to every hockey game he has ever been to, and is not about to stop now. There really isn't much hat left.

Fires

I drove to Glendale this morning for an Estate Planning seminar. I left at about 8:00am and there were no local fires. When I was driving home about 12:30pm or so, I thought maybe I took a wrong turn. I drove down the 5 and onto the 91. I had to turn on my headlights because it was as if someone turned off the light-switch for daytime. The air was terrible and I had to take off my sunglasses because it was so dark out. I drove to my folks house to see how it was over there (they've been evacuated so many times in the past), and while I was there, I helped my dad with the pump he has - he has a pump that acts like a firehouse to rapidly drain water from the pool.
Anyway, here are two pictures of the kitchen remodel from outside. They were taken within a minute or two of each other. Notice the thick smoke in one, and in the other angle the sky is blue. The fire can obviously change direction very quickly in these volatile winds.

Powell's Sweet Shoppe

We went to Powell's Sweet Shoppe today. It was great. They had not only a huge variety of candy from all over the globe, and many types which are hard to come by, but they also had many novelty toys I remember from growing up in their nolstagic packaging (antfarms, hand buzzers, etc.).
The main reason we went was to see their selection of rootbeers, since I love rootbeer and like to try different ones. This location had about 7 different rootbeers. The location in Oregon, the original has a soda fountain shop next door which has about 50 different rootbeers. I think next time we visit my cousin or uncle we will have to make another trip.
They even had full sized Wonka bars - it seems most stores I go to like Watson's only have the smaller sized ones.
Of course I asked if they had Blackjack gum, but since I know the company only makes it every three years, I wasn't suprised Powell's didn't have it.
All in all, it was fun.

Sherri in front of one small section of candy and the looping Willy Wonka movie.

Me and my rootbeer

Parents' Kitchen Update

Here's some photos of my parents' kitchen before the cabinets go in, hopefully later this week. All the appliances are sitting in their garage, so definately sometime next week this room will look much less like a cavern (which echos like crazy) and more like a kitchen.

Miniature Golf and MORE!!!

Today Sherri, I, Sherri's sister, Robin, and nephew, Logan went up to Santa Clarita for some miniature golf and FARRELL'S!!!!!!!!! (Author's note: This blog entry might have more excessive uses of exclamation points)
It was AWE...wait for it...SOME!!!
The best part about it, they are looking to start franchising again and there is a high likelihood that Farrell's will be returning to Orange County some time in the future. There was a news crew out there today for local CBS affiliate channel 2 taking some pictures for a story about the expansion (we might be in a shot for the news).
Farrell's was very similar to how I remember it as a child. It even had a player piano (except there are no more scrolls, it has a computer to pick the songs with a touchscreen - I think the player piano scrolls had more charm, but I guess I'm old).
Needless to say, we had a ton of fun.
Anyway, here are some pictures:

Logan and me posing for miniature golf Robin and Sherri

The final score

The person that kept helping us (not our waiter) was great. We ordered a volcano which states only vanilla, but she let us do all the flavors. She got us more hot fudge. She even let me hold the drum they bang for birthdays and when you order the volcano.

Here's a description of the Hot Fudge Volcano. It was so good!!!!!!!!!

Also, I don't have a picture of it, but I liked the bottom of the menu where it listed all the soft drinks and then separately it stated, "Diet Pepsi (But what's the point - you're at Farrell's)."

The volcano in all its glory!!! So good!!!! To paraphrase Homer Simpson, "What's wrong with me. There is still food in my bowl and I don't want to eat it. I've become everything I've ever hated." Us happy and not full. Right before we tackled the volcano.

Here's a video of them bringing out the volcano. I missed the very beginning of her speech.