The weather is once again gorgeous out. How I love living here – moderate year-round. While it was only in the 60s in SF, a quick drive down the Peninsula, and it was basically 20 degrees warmer. We attended a pool party, soaked in some rays, and enjoyed drinks and desserts. Hopefully the extra vitamin D will kick me back into shape. Usually gloomy weather brings me down, so I’m hoping the sun will have the opposite effect on me.

In other news, I have two exams coming up this month – one at the beginning and one at the end. It’s weird being so close to a turning point. I’ve always seen the passing of exams and the fact that I’m only a few months away from a possible promotion to manager as a marker, a goal. What lies beyond that point is not completely clear to me, but I’ve started thinking about it.

I’m starting to think outside of my auditor box. Industry, perhaps?

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Rob Brezny!
Maybe someday you will allow yourself to act more like an Aries. You know, you’ll barge ahead along a path of your own making. You’ll follow the siren call of your good instincts instead of the waffling questions of your fine mind. You’ll relish the scary sounds from up ahead as potential opportunities to triumph over your fear and hone your willpower. Don’t do any of that stuff yet, though. You’re not ready for the challenge. Maybe in a few years. APRIL FOOL! Here’s the truth, Libra: Now is an excellent time to act more like an Aries.

So RV’s mom just emailed him a photo of his great great grandmother with her cat. Look familiar?

Weird coincidence that the cat looks exactly like Serg, RV’s cat now? He hadn’t seen the photo till now. Crazy! Would that explain why Sergio is possibly the nicest cat ever?

RV is preparing for the few days that he will be in attendance at the 2009 Game Developers Conference. Part of that includes creating a reel, updating his résumé, and printing out business cards. Before actually printing them and rather than selecting a generic design, he began designing his own. Of course, I’m the nosy type and can’t seem to butt out, so the end product became a collaboration of efforts.

[front]

[back]

Yeah, I’m proud of my work and input. The cave on the card is what he’s been working on for the last few weeks, so we had to incorporate that. Sure, it’s not in some weird crazy shape or on some funky paper, but given the budget and amount of time spent, we didn’t do too badly.

Doubt I will, but if I ever gave up accounting, I might go get that technical training required to throw my creative side out there. Of course, that’s only considering if someone would hire me!

An update on the 101 in 1001:

020 – Document jaw surgery. Before and after.
My orthodontist is pretty high tech. “Before” photos are accessible upon logging into their system. Why I didn’t bother to look before is beyond me. They’re not pretty. These are definitely unflattering photos of me. Class III Severe Malocclusion – Woo!

The underbite is rather severe. I haven’t taken updated photos at the orthodontist, but basically all the teeth are straightened out now. A few teeth were removed. And now, there’s no more overlapping of the teeth in the front. The braces don’t fix the fact that my lower jaw is a lot larger than my upper jaw, so I still have a horrible underbite. Jaw surgery will fix that. Can’t wait.

Yesterday was a beautiful and random day. Sure, it was really cold, and the wind chilled me to the bones. But spending it entirely with a friend [Hi Keane!] with no strict plan in mind, just ideas that popped up on a whim, was what made it fantastic.

It started off with an attempt to have lunch at the Fillmore Mexican Grill. Wasn’t sure why it was closed randomly, but I was able to get my salmon burrito fix today instead. So we ended up having lunch at a Thai place in the neighborhood that he had wanted to try for some time. We ended up missing Watchmen because it was only after running into two other closed restaurants that we found ourselves at this place. By the time we were done, the movie had already started, and there were no other showings nearby at the time we wanted to watch the movie.

Then we decided to hop on the bus towards the Mission and Potrero Hill. When we hopped off, we took a quick tour of Mission Dolores [something I've not done in the 25+ years of being in San Francisco].

After Mission Dolores for the first time, we found ourselves at Monk’s Kettle for the first time also. Grabbed some quick drinks before wandering to the Yerba Buena Gardens to kill some time before an event at 111 Minna. To continue with the day of firsts, we took the cable car up California to Bob’s Donuts, where I purchased my first two Bob’s donuts – sugar [for me] and glazed [for RV]. Donuts in tow and after a quick Whole Foods run to pick up some snack items for the following day, Keane drove me home.

I love random Sundays.

An update on the 101 in 1001:

042 – Drink a Guinness Float.
Attended the joint birthday parties of two very awesome friends [Hi Jamie, Hi Faithy - both who don't read this!] last night and came across the opportunity to complete this task. Yay, another one off the list! So the float itself wasn’t so bad. It was a little on the bitter side, so I ordered an extra scoop of ice cream to sweeten it up. I’ve come to the reasoning that chocolate ice cream would have been better than vanilla since Guinness already has that chocolaty taste to it. I’ve not tried that yet, but have tried Guinness flavored ice cream, which was a dark chocolate ice cream.

I probably won’t be experimenting much with the Guinness and ice cream anymore though. My stomach didn’t appreciate the mix of beer and dairy, and I spent quite a bit of time with the porcelain goddess, reeling over from sharp pains to the stomach. Not fun. It was probably made worse by all the moving and shaking going on the dance floor last night too!

An update on the 101 in 1001:

045 – Donate blood.
Attempt #1 to donate blood was just that. An attempt. Due to other body issues, I wasn’t feeling so hot in the morning and figured that I probably wouldn’t be able to donate blood, but I still went anyway. All I ended up with was a card detailing how to maintain an iron rich diet. Three points off! Bummer.

On the brighter side of things, both RV and Keane came along to donate blood! They were both successful. I guess even though I’m unable to fulfill my goal at the moment, I brought in two extra pints of blood.

In any case, the card still has some useful information. Low iron levels can be remedied by changing the diet a bit. Here are the iron rich foods suggested:

FRUITS: All berries, grapes and raisins, grapefruit, oranges, plums, prunes, watermelon

MEATS: Hearts, kidneys, lean beef, pork, poultry

WHOLE GRAINS: Whole grain bread, enriched pastas, tortillas, soy bean flour, brown rice, wheat germ, bran

VEGETABLES: Beets, broccoli, brussel sprouts, green beans, lima beans, tofu, tomato juice

SEAFOOD: Clams, crab, fish fillets and steaks, oysters, sardines, shrimp

LEGUMES: Dry peas, peanut butter, dry beans, lentils

Most of the food items listed on the card are things I eat anyway, so I will give it a shot. Perhaps I’ll be able to donate again in two months when RV is eligible to donate again. Not sure if my recent diet was already iron rich since I’ve been drinking peanut milk, eating fish and all of that… We’ll see!

An update on the 101 in 1001:

045 – Donate blood.
My workplace is holding a blood drive on Thursday. It’s on my list of things to accomplish, so I figured I’d give it a shot. I am not sure if I’ll be able to donate blood, but I do meet the general requirements listed. I’m over the age of 17, have generally good health, and am over the weight requirement of 110 lbs. I don’t, however, meet the requirements for the double red cells.

If I pass out, they’ll revive me with orange juice and crackers.

For those donating during March [via Blood Centers of the Pacific], there’s a chance to win a 50″ Plasma television. Seriously, plasma for plasma!

My sister and I were there. It was the restaurant of someone who I went to high school with. It was much smaller than we expected. Small to the point where it seemed to be a narrow walkway with barely any stools. I don’t even remember ordering food. There was also a raffle, but there were two distinct categories. If you bought three of them together, they were in one raffle, while the single tickets were in the other raffle. I don’t recall if there was winning of a prize, but all I remember now is that then there was running. It was more like a race, and at the end, we had to try on these black running shoes. I asked for an 11 in women’s, but it didn’t fit. They didn’t have a 10.5, so they gave me a 9 in men’s. The styles differed slightly.

In an effort to improve memory of dreams, I’m writing down even the little things I do remember…

Fairlady Media brings to the iPhone world a mobile version of the popular arcade game, Whac-A-Mole.

Is it just me, or does it seem like I find joy in playing games where the cute and cuddly creatures on the little iPhone screen are smacked around? Just this one and that Crazy Penguin Catapult.

It’s one of those games that keeps me on my toes and makes my fingers spastic! Each level is about 30 seconds long [there are time bonuses if you whack a clock], and you can’t miss any or there are penalties.

Whack ‘em All! is for all ages and tests your hand-eye coordination. You have to whack those goofy-looking moles, rabbits, gophers, and skunks, while watching out for kittens.

The silly music will stick to your head as you advance from level to level, knocking the animals out with the mallet. You get extra points for multiple whackings at once, and when you shake your phone, there’s a special mallet that takes care of all the pests in the garden.

Best of all, the game is free if you’re not afraid of a few ads. Otherwise, contribute the 99 cents to check the game out!