Orangeyolk

Never mind that it's Escondido...

Never has buy one, buy one free ever been more ridiculous...

Thanks to : http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laland/2008/06/in-escondido-bu.html for the link

This post is Legend...wait for it....

...dary. In fact, it should be posted in Orange.

So a couple of judges of mine come from an event in San Diego to drop some stuff off at my house and I figure I should at least take them out to dinner. Problem is that it's already 10 and what's decent that's still open? In and Out Burger. Good dinner with a good conversation about the event and such. However, we were kinda itching for desert so I recommended Yogurtland, and off we went.

I drive into the parking lot and it's crowded. Mind you, it's 11pm at night. So we start waiting at the Disney ride sized line. I swear, the thing should have little posts saying "you are 30 minutes away from getting a delicious yogurt treat."

We contemplated why there were so many people in line. I mean the yogurt must be hand stirred and must be composed of liquified angels or something. The entire time, we're standing and standing in line just slowly moving at a snail's pace.

We finally get to the entrance of the store and one of my judges goes, "man, this better not be a Disney line trick where there's an extra back room that you have to wait through."

Thing is, it almost looked like it. I was desperately wanting some kind of funny video like they have at the Space Mountain Rides, or even an instructional video on how to maximize your yogurt value.

So, we're still standing, and we're really close to the yogurt pumping stations when I realize that homeboy in a Varsity Tennis Hoodie Sweatshirt has sat down in front of us. I found that ridiculous. You're in High School and you play a varsity sport and you're sitting down because you're tired of waiting in line? Are you jk?

So I bring this up to him, totally out of the blue. His response? "Blah Blah Blah, excuse excuse excuse." and then the kicker.

"I asked if she would sit on my lap."

He's referring to I assume his date, which was in my estimation, was within his league.

However, the look she gave him as soon as he said that line was burning. It was like "You had a chance, but man, you totally blew it with that line." My judges were basically hiding behind me snickering, because with my outgoing personality, they never can really tell what I'm going to do. They too had realized that this guy had blown it.

It was another awkward 3-4 minutes until we got to the yogurt pumping stations, which had classic lines like "Don't eat from the pump."

There was about 10 different flavors and about 40 different toppings to enjoy. I had just regular vanilla, chocolate and some chocolate chips. My judges had some odd fruit concoctions, with one of them trying a bunch of different fruit toppings. We took our yogurt outside to enjoy and dug into our treats. Mine was just okay, and not made out of liquefied angels like I had hoped. The judge who got the different fruit toppings said a lot of them were good but you could definitely tell which ones were fresh cut and which ones were frozen. We all finished our yogurts though.

After eating the yogurt though, I realized I still like Golden Spoon Yogurt better and that waiting for 45 minutes through a line for substandard yogurt was probably not a good use of time.

Bad Value

So I was in Vegas recently with one of my coordinators (Let's call him Rod) , and having finished the conference for the day, we decided to go out to eat. It is Vegas after all. I decide that we should go to the Bellagio Buffet since it was close and it's pretty much one of the best buffets in town.

So we wait in about a 35-40 minute line, all the while Rod was checking his voicemail and I was checking Baseball and Basketball scores. We get to the front and I pay for the Buffet (35 a person) and get our seats. We get out and start getting some plates together.

My courses included
First Plate: Sushi, Crab Legs, Smoked Salmon
Second Plate: Herb Encrusted Prime Rib, Lamb, Jasmine Rice.
Third Plate: Veal (Dry), Salmon cooked on an Oak Plank (Smokey)
Fourth Plate: Assorted little items
Dessert: Creme Brulee, Low Fat Cheesecake, Sorbet

So I feel I got my money's worth. What did Rod get?

Salad
3 kinds of Soup
Pasta
Pizza
Random Desert

Never again. That's really all I have to say...

There's just no winning.

First I find out on Friday that the product that I need for my event on Saturday won't be here til Tuesday because someone didn't read the part of the email that said that I needed the product for this weekend.. That's at least 1.5k that I'm going to be spending on product that I didn't have to.

Then I get home on Friday to find out that my shiny new laptop isn't working. It hangs. Well crap. That's at least an hour on the support line with Dell next week.

It gets better. I boot up the Xbox360 on Sunday to play some Call of Duty 4. It keeps freezing and then I get the inevitable Red Ring of Death. Well. so much for playing any kind of games. Can't play Magic Online because Version 3 is buggy and unplayable. Can't play poker because I've emptied out all the online accounts of money. Stuck with playing Command and Conquer 3 which is annoying since the computer cheats all the time.

The capper comes on Sunday when I find out that I've double booked locations for a single event. Well, isn't that just grand.

Hopefully my current streak won't extend into my Vegas trip on Thursday - Friday. Thankfully I'll be busy most of the time with a conference and meetings but you never know what will happen in that spare hour or two...

SICK!

Everyone is sick. It started out with the wife, then the daughter, then the wife again, then both the mother and father in law that had to watch the daughter and now me.

God I hate being sick.

Aggressive Job Hunting

I was reading this article from CNNMoney about how we need to be more proactive in job hunting. After reading the article, I realize it's more and more important to build connection s but even more, build connections in the areas that you're interested in working.

Is it enough to be happy monetarily, but not psychologically? Would you accept a lower paying job in order to do something you really like? What if you have others to support?

All questions that should be answered, before you take a job, while you look for a job and even when you have a job.

Labels: Employment

Inflation + Rising Costs =

More I have to pay at Jamba Juice.

It wasn't long ago I was paying 3.60 for an original Mango Mantra and a 1.45 for a Apple Cinnamon Pretzel. However, I haven't been going recently because I just make my own smoothies at home.

I ran out of smoothie making stuff last night though and didn't get to replenish it before this morning so I went to Jamba Juice this morning. 4.40 for an original Mango Mantra and 1.95 for an Apple Cinnamon Pretzel that look suspiciously smaller than what I remember.

Man, I better not forget to pick up smoothie stuff on the way home today.

Fishies!

Went to the Long Beach Aquarium last weekend with the family and met up with a friend. The one thing I noticed right away that it was small. I mean, I'm used to the Monterey Bay Aquarium (The one in Star Trek IV) and the numerous exhibits it had.

Long Beach? Eh. not that much.

It was kinda cool to see all the different fishies and see how the kid dealt with it, but mostly she wanted to run around.

I could have brought her to a baseball field if she wanted to run around. I wonder if Angel Stadium is available...

Too much stuff!

I don't know why I keep doing more and more stuff. Here's a list of what I'm doing now...

Full Time Parent to my Daughter
Full Time Job as a Software Engineer
Part Time Job as a Premier Tournament Organizer
Taking a Class for my .NET Certification
Working on a rules engine for a TBA project

I barely have time for gaming, poker or anything else. When I get home and need to do something, I'm usually just vegging out because that's the only time I get to breathe.

Now I also have to alter my sleep schedule and set better deadlines for myself. I need to translate thought into action more.

Oh and as a side note to the last post, I picked up a Wii from Amazon.com and another one from Target this last sunday. I think I'm giving them both away though...

Labels: Gaming, Life, Time

Wii Hunting

I just spent the last couple weeks looking for a Wii when it came to dawn on me. Why am I spending so much time looking for a console that I'll play like maybe once? I gave my last one out for judge comp because of that fact!

Is it the thrill of the hunt? Is it because of the idea more than the substance?

I've now made a pact with myself. Unless it shows up online where I can order it with one click, or just happens to be there, I'm not spending anymore time looking for a Wii.

Labels: Gaming, Wii

Sometimes you don't get what you imagined.

So I'm at Tea Station and looking at the menu. I'm really in the mood for some Almond Slush, but all they have is Almond Milk Tea over ice. Actually, I felt like having an Iced Chai Latte, but I need to cut down on the Starbucks.

Anyways, I have to make another selection and Coconut Grass Jelly Tea catches my eye. I'm thinking it'll be a light tea with Grass Jelly on the bottom and that it'll be delicious.

I get my order and it's some odd monstrosity of Grass Jelly on the bottom, Ice in the Middle, Red Beans over it and a big scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream on the top.

I was quite taken back as this was nothing like I imagined. I'm trying it now at my desk and it's not bad all mixed up, but I think it's only because I set myself up for disappointment already.

Labels: Tea

Ring of Infinite Sorrows

Now this is an ebay auction.

This guy does the funniest Photoshop tutorials I've seen. I'm not learning anything from it, but the video is hilarious.

Labels: Comedy, Photoshop

Um. When do we eat?

I have so very little time to cook these days. I think the thing I dread the most about cooking is the invariable cleaning that must occur afterwards. Also, I hate it when I just try something new and just blow it.

So I watch a couple shows on TV when it's on to see if I can get quick and easy recipes that I can quickly bang out. I think one of my current favorite shows is Sam the Cooking Guy since he breaks things down so easily. One of the recipes that I've been using is a simple Pasta with Parsley drenched in Garlic infused Olive Oil. Slice some Garlic, cook the garlic in low heat in olive oil, toss in pasta (that's been cooked of course) and mix in chopped Parsley.

I'm looking for other quick ideas though so I'm trying some of these Dinner in a Hurry ones to see if I can make anything good.

Labels: Cooking

Rated I for Immature

So I was in Best Buy a couple weeks ago to buy Call of Duty 4 because one of my friends said it was really good. If my friends say that a game is good, I'll ask a couple follow up questions and if those answers appease me, I'll usually go pick up the game.

Friend: "Mass Effect is awesome."
Me: "In what ways?"
Friend: "I'm playing it my 3rd time through."
/me goes to pick up the game.

Was Mass Effect fun? Eh. I didn't like the combat system, there's a glitch in the game that will get you all the money that you really want, but it was passable. My game of 2007 is still Bioshock. I had a lot of fun playing the game and it really did scare the crap out of me during certain levels. Every Extend Extreme is a lot of fun too, even though I only have the trial version of the game. I really should pony up the 800 points to unlock it.

Anyways, diverging from my original point, I picked up COD4 at Best Buy when it went on sale for 40 bucks. When I get to the register with my purchase, I was posed a question.

Cashier: "You do realize this is a Rated M For Mature Game right? Are you 18?"
Me: "Um yes."
Cashier: "You're not buying it for anyone under 18 are you?"
Me: "Nope. It's for me. But thank you for asking and checking."

Through all the time I've been buying games, this is the first time a Cashier has even bothered asking or posing that question. And guess what?

I was happy.

That's right. I was happy that a Cashier asked me that question. It's an important question to ask and something that needs to be brought up. I am not going to be one of those irresponsible parents that lets my kid just play anything. I actually will use the game rating system. If I want my kid to play something that might be challenging for them, I will introduce them to chess and collectible card games or logic puzzles.

Remember, you have the responsibility to control what you child can watch and play at home.

Labels: Games, Parenting

Orangeyolk

Monday, July 07, 2008

What I'm reading

Thursday, July 03, 2008

What I'm reading

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

What I'm reading

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

What I'm reading

Monday, June 30, 2008

What I'm reading

Friday, June 27, 2008

What I'm reading

Thursday, June 26, 2008

What I'm reading

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

What I'm reading

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

What I'm reading

Monday, June 23, 2008

What i'm reading today

Friday, June 20, 2008

What I'm reading today.

Monday, June 02, 2008

Never mind that it's Escondido...

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

This post is Legend...wait for it....

Bad Value

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

There's just no winning.

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

SICK!

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Aggressive Job Hunting

Thursday, March 06, 2008

Inflation + Rising Costs =

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Fishies!

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Too much stuff!

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Wii Hunting

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Sometimes you don't get what you imagined.

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Ring of Infinite Sorrows

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Um. When do we eat?

Monday, January 14, 2008

Rated I for Immature

About Me

Previous Posts

The "List"

Archives