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Had dinner at Herbs with a bunch of my friends. A nice time was had by all. The ambience is very laid back with a very intimate feel. The restaurant is fairly small, but I believe there's a second floor. The service was decent, if a little curt, but they did put up with us 12 screaming kids, (all Asian) and we did shout down the length of the table on several occasions. Wild. Food was decent, but nothing really spectacular. For starters I had a bowl of mussles steamed in a hearty and tart tomato sauce. Good, but nothing special. For entree, I had the Alantic salmon with a blend of herbs fried, and greens on the side. Although the presentation was good (modern French cuisine), the salmon was rather bland. I had to salt my food, and I rarely do that. We had a nice rosse wine to go with our meals. I'm not one for fermentated grapes, preferring to damage my liver from barley and hops, so I can't comment on the wine too much, well being a rosse, it was nice and light. Little fruity, but not overly bitter. We had two bottles between the 12 of us, so big drinkers we're not. For dessert, I had a coconut pineapple cheesecake. Again, I was a little disappointed. It just didn't have the taste that I had envisioned in my mind. Of course, this was real expensive type cheesecake, as the filling itself was definitely light and fluffy, as to the cheapy kind at Loblaws that has the cheesecake very hard and compacted. The whole mean was definitely on the pricy side ($54 CAD per person). At least it's pricy for me. But the ambience and hanging out with good friends certainly made it worth it. The great thing was that we weren't celebrating anything, other than the fact it was a Friday night. Okay, so I made a toast to the coming summer, but that's about it. All in all, a 5 star evening with 3 star food.

We were supposed to go watch a movie afterwards, but most of the people were too tired to go, including yours truely.

....I'm not a picky eater; anyone that can stomach my cooking, can't be one.



posted by losir at 4:31 PM

Getting lax again in my working out regiment. Each time I get to start looking good, I flubber it up with a week of inaction. Sucks. And I KNOW this, I just don't have the motivation to workout today.... haven't hit the gym once this week. I really have to start sleeping earlier again, so I won't be so tired. Oh well.

I'll hit it big this weekend.

...I do love my body, I just love it more when I don't look raily. posted by losir at 6:06 PM

So my car is finally fixed. Turns out the tire wasn't leaking, it was the tire valve. Changed it free of charge. Also did my first oil change. Folks, this isn't your father's VW. First oil change is at a seemingly high 8000km/6months before first service. I was at a paltry 7600, but I figure I'm already there, might as well do it.

Oh baby! The car feels heck fast. Really, it felt so much better, I squealed my tires all the way out the parking lot. Wicked fun, that. Hey I know my 2001 GTI only has 150 hp (VW numbers, independent tests show 160hp), but it's still nice and quick. Too bad the 2002 will have 180 from the factory. GRUMBLE. I'm always a year too early.

[End of car report]

I was out to lunch with Kimchi yesterday, and while parked, 2 kids in a BMW 5 series pull in beside me. Young kids, I would guess high school, but you know us Asians, always young looking, so at most they're college kids.

Anyway, I make a joke about how they're probably driving their mommy's car, spoiled brats and all that, when Kimchi turns to me. "Well you're just like that too, don't your parents spoil you now? Look at the car and the bike you have." (Ed: Not verbatim, but that's the gist.)

Newsflash folks: My parents didn't spoil me. All my toys are bought with my money. (Okay, they're actually bank approved loans, but I'm the one paying them back.) To which I told her so. I've never been spoiled by my parents, not ever. I was too much of a rotten kid for my parents to ever love me that much. No, that title went to my little brother, perfect in every way. It's not sour grapes peoples, I'm just poking fun. But honestly, my parents knew better than to reward the "demon child" (c'est moi.)

I'm a little proud of the fact I turned out OK. I mean, I'm not making THAT much money. Plenty of people are making way more, and don't advertise to that fact. If you do, you're probably laughing right now, thinking "Son, you don't even know what money is." But to be able to afford a $30G car, at the same time have a $15G bike, and be able to eat out everyday, in nice restaurants on the weekends, I'm not doing bad at all. Of course, I'll never save enough money for my retirement, but I figure I'll be dead before then anyway. With all the fun I have, and the life I've lived, heck, it'd be worth it too. Sounds pretty morbid, but I don't fear death. I fear old age to the point where you're not self-contained nor self-sufficient. I'd rather die early then be a burden to the people around me. So let me live the way I want, and I'll try my best to be plesant when I'm allowed out of the cage every other weekend. Okay?

Enough patting myself on the head, back to real life.

....Stay grounded buddy, your ego is starting to swell again, and the lack of oxygen to your pea head can't be good for the ol' noggin.






posted by losir at 11:42 AM

I woke up today, expecting to drive my car. It's wasn't too cold to ride this morning, but it was going to rain/snow by evening. I just didn't want to get caught in either at these temperatures.

So taking the car, I backed out of the driveway. The car felt funny, and heavy. As I backed it out, something definitely didn't feel right. So I stop and look, to my surprise, my front-right wheel was completely flat. Rats.

So I decided to change my wheel on my own for the first time. I mean, how hard is it to change a flat right? I got all the tools ready, and was marrily whistling a cheerful tune. I jacked up the car, pulled out my spare. When I went to unbolt my wheel, I noticed that there wasn't any visible nuts to unscrew. Okay, so it's no big deal, it's probably just hidden behind the big VW sign in the wheel. I gingerly pried at it with a screwdriver, but it didn't come off. I pried it harder, still no go. I gave a 2 handed tug with my screwdriver, and I bent the stupid VW sign hub, but it still didn't come off.

So I'm thinking to myself -> "It's a $30,000 (CAD) car. And the last thing I want is to mess with the wheels. I'm just not mechanically inclined. I can put your computer back together nearly blindfolded, but I just don't know anything about cars." I'm not ashamed to admit that I can't change a flat. I'm a product of the 20th century, where equality has made me into somewhat of a wuss. I don't know how to rebuild an engine using duct tape and colour dye #4. I'm sorry. I know that changing a flat is infinitely easier, and I was willing to do it by myself, but my initial attempts at getting the wheel cap off did nothing for me.

I take out my trusty owner's manual, looking for how to change a tire. I find it on page 65. It makes references to either the crappy 15 wheels (non alloys) that are standard on the TDI/Golf 2.0, and the 17 inchers which are upgraded wheels that I didn't have. However, it makes NO references to how to remove my 15 inch alloy wheels. Lookit, I just don't have enough guts to blindly try to fudge at my wheels w/o some kind of step-by-step. Call me a wimp. Don't bother, I already know.

To make an agonizingly long story short. I caved in and called RoadSide Assitance, which is free when I purchased my car for 2 years. When the buddy showed up, he took out this huge mother-screw driver, and pried my hub off. Voila. Brute force overcomes everything. Sick.

...The shame. I'm going to learn how to work on my car from now on. Note to self: buy life insurance.
posted by losir at 4:46 PM

So I'm riding to work this morning, and I'm actually laughing in my helmet. Overjoyed at the fact that I can actually ride again.

I'm riding in a side street that has a speed limit of 40km/h (~24mph). I look down, making sure I'm not speeding. The digital dash on my bike says 24ish. "Okay," I think. "It's been too long, even at this slow speed, the bike feels pretty fast. But I better not hold up traffic...." So I gas it until the speedo is showing 40.

Yup, little ol' me. I'm one law-abiding citizen..... but the bike still feels pretty fast. I mean, faster than regular 40km/h would show. After another 2 minutes of trying to keep the speedo to 40, it hits me....

It IS showing 40 MILES PER HOUR! Doh!! Whoops. You see my bike can show the speeds in both mph and km/h, all the push of a button. While I was setting my onboard digital clock, I must have hit a wrong button and made the speedo to mph.

....And for a while there, I just thought I was getting old, and the bike felt too fast for me. posted by losir at 5:03 PM

Oh baby. I'm back, with a vengence my friend.

Although it was only a high of 1c this morning, I rode the half hour ride to work, and it was amazing! Utterly and simply mind blowing, jaw-dropping, bug-eyed, and all that! Wooooooohooo.

I'm grinning ear to ear baby. I'm smiling just thinking about the ride. I'm totally stoked. Goodbye Old Man Winters, and good riddance! Take that tube of Fixodent and stick it where the wind doth blow. *BLAH*

...30% chance of snow tomorrow. Sigh, can I revoke my Canadian citizenship now, please?
posted by losir at 11:21 AM

I'm a loser. I really am. I'm getting soft.

Today was a high of 7 degrees Celcius, and I took the car.... Granted, the battery wasn't back in the bike, and there was a too much junk for me to carry in order to ride, but I should have ridden nonetheless. Oh well, tomorrow then. With a high of 11, you KNOW I'm going to ride for sure!!

I haven't had much inspiration to write lately..... my content has suffered considerably.

I don't know what happened, but none of my pieces lately have been very satisfying. Oh well.

....Too bad. Maybe this blogger can't be daily like I thought it'd be. posted by losir at 5:19 PM

Hi all. Sorry I haven't been diligent in keeping up with my blogs. Real Life happens.

I have a big confession to make. It's pretty awful, and I'm not proud of it. So please, if you're not sitting down, well you should be.

Here it is:
I've had a secret desire to see Wile E. Coyote catch the Road Runner. Just once I'd like to see him get the little bugger and eat the bloomin' bird. I always cringe each time I see Wile E. cook up another brilliant scheme, knowing full well the plot is destined to backfire. It erks me to know that no matter how clever the Coyote's plans are, the smirking little Feathered-brain always seem to come out on top in the end. How is it that a mad genius (and obviously higher-placed in the food chain) never get to taste phesant? Oh, I'm upset just thinking about it!

It's really not fair. It says to me that no matter how smart a person is, he's never going to succeed, because in the end, it is the smirkingly crafty ones that make it in life. Just think of the times Wile E. set a trap using food. It doesn't matter how elaborate the setup, Road Runner always get away with eating it without reparation. You know what that's like in real life? It's like you trying your hardest at work, only to see the brown-noser at the other end of the cubes getting the promotion.

Conventional wisdom says that Wile E. Coyote was the bad guy, while the Road Runner the saint. In all honesty, that's not true at all. Natural selection dictates that the smart ones outlast the dimwits. So why are there episodes where it ends with the Road Runner chasing down poor old W.E.C. with a bus, trying to run him over?! How demented is that? Fine, you got away with being caught, why try to punish him more? That's like our brown-noser getting the promotion, and then sticking you with all the work just because you too, had inclinations of trying to get the same position.

So, Wile E., hats off to you bud for trying your darnest in life. You may never get to use your recipe book for cooked bird, but at least you'll always have my respect and my support in your future endeavors. Salute.

.... A toast then, "May that foul chicken one day be the fowl on your table."

posted by losir at 12:22 AM