Going Up.

My room is on the 9th floor of the hotel.  I got in the elevator today, which happens to be one of the slowest elevators i have ever ridden.  It's the type of elevator that stops at a floor, seems to suspend for a minute, then climbs that last inch, only to wait for another minute before releasing its prisoners.  Someone got off at the 3rd floor.  A couple started to enter.  "Going up?" i asked.  "Oh no."  They stopped in the way that people do when the stop is so sudden that their momentum makes them lose their balance and tip forward slightly.  The backed out of the elevator to wait.

As soon as the doors closed i realized what i should have done:

A couple entered the elevator.  I knew they were going down, but i was going up.  All the way to the top floor.  They were chatting and not paying attention.  There would not have recognized that this was an "Up" elevator.  I watched them enter the elevator nonchalantly.  I said nothing as the doors closed.  But when those doors touched.  I immediately looked at them and started laughing aloud.  The elevator slowly started to ascend.  Slowly.

Elevator Art (see more here)

And what if i had let one go as i walked out?  Some people apparently don't appreciate it, but i find it absolutely hilarious.

Beware olfacto-claustrophobes.

Intersection of Korea and the US (Shop Smart, Shop H Mart)

Alton and Jamboree.

I love my business trips to California.  It is nice to get out of Ohio and see a different surrounding.  In addition to the rare case when i get to set my favorite medical doctor friend, the parts i love are the atrociously nice weather (it was 70 degrees and sunny while Ohio was 30 degrees and snowy) and the diversity.  I love finding random restaurants with different cuisine.  I once took my coworkers to this Jamaican place.  The windows were decorated with bars and you had to walk around the block to the bathroom.  "Where did you take us?" was the common question upon arrival.  But the jerk chicken was out of sight!

Back A Yard Grill 

This time in Santa Ana (Orange County) we stumbled upon a mostly Asian shopping corner strip mall at Alton and Jamboree.  The place is anchored with an H-Mart, which i learned only a couple months back is a Korean grocery store native to the US.  They have locations all over the US.  My coworkers and i wandered through the store.  The fruit was ridiculously cheap.  One coworker who is of Middle Eastern descent commented how dessert was always fruit when he grew up.  It would be nice to have that as a part of my culture.  But really, when you have these....

Schmidt's cream puffs

or this...?

Jeni's Ice Cream

So what did i buy?  My favorite Korean snack, which is so hard to find.  찰떡파이(chal dduk pie) is like a chocopie but with glutinous rice, like 떡 (dduk).

찰떡파이!

And i found some liquors!  I like this guys, but i bought it mostly because it reminded me of the first real meal i had in New York after the girlfriend moved there.  It was a K-town Korean barbeque extravaganza.  Meat everywhere.  So good.  A great send off to Korean barbeque for the GF, who has since dropped meat from her diet. 

벡세주, a delicious twist on the normal 소주(soju)

We ate twice at the center.  Once was a mediocre Buffalo Wings place.  The other was a pan-Asian joint that was good. I was eyeing the Korean tofu joint that is open 24 hours.  Spicy tofu soup, now that would be good if you had a few drinks too many.  

While we were sitting at the wing joint, we were being served by a young Asian girl.  She came over and took our order.  She stepped a couple feet over to help the next table.  As she did, one coworker commented, "Well she speaks pretty good American doesn't she?" .......  There are so many things happening in that one question that it completely blows my mind.  Mind: exploded.  Ever seen the movie Pi?

Pi: Brain and Drill not like Strawberry and Chocolate

This Smocks of Boredom

Today i went into a clean room.  I had to wear a hair net, booties, an orange onesy, safety goggles, mask for the mouth, and two sets of gloves.

Some good things about bunny suiting up:

• You can yawn as many times as you want.
• You can make the most ridiculous faces at people, continuously, and they will never know.

Some bad things about bunny suiting up:

• Your goggles fog up with moisture and you can't see poo.
• Everyone around can make the most ridiculous faces at you, continuously, and you will never know.

One of these...

looks like me.

Post #1

Blogs.  Why not?  But then again, why?  I suppose it's like a journal that you would write to yourself.  Except that you no longer have control of your audience.  An audience of one makes for easy filtering.  An audience of "the Internet" makes for another level of self-imposed security control.  Is life getting more complicated with different ways to provide immediate access of ourselves to the public and different associated security levels?  With so much personal content out there, is it getting near impossible to manage your image?  Is this picture just for my friends?  Is my family reading this note?  Is this being shared with the world at large?  How much energy do we spend on ensuring certain people do NOT receive the data we put out there for others?

I always had a hard time understanding why people would be interested in reading about my life.  What would the world do if every single person had a blog?  Would the term "catching up" with someone become removed for society?  Or would "catching up" mean reading that person's blog?  No more "So what have you been up to?"  No more, "How have you been?  What's new in your life?".  But rather, "Hey Larry. Sucks about your dog Tweezers (the dog i never even met because we haven't seen each other in years), but i totally would have had him stuffed too.  It's a shame there won't be anymore videos about canine trampoline tricks."

I wrote a blog for a while.  It was more like a journal.  Much to my surprise, some people even read it.  It seemed like there were things to talk about back then.  Let's see what happens with this attempt.

Go Doggy! (click here)