What happens in Vegas...

Stays in Vegas...
So I'm not going to blog about Vegas since it's kind of sacrarelig to discussed what may or may not have gone down at my brother's bachelor party, but we all survived it!  However, I will put down 10 things I have learned about this Vegas experience.

1. Never gamble at a club, it's distracting and you will lose!
2. When there is 11 of you and the taxi line is a mile long, just ask how much a limo will cost, it'll end up being most likely $10 a person.  You save on time and you get to ride in style!
3. 2 Deck Blackjack is kind of BS, just stick to 1 Deck.
4. Redbull is the devil in the form of liquid.  However, if you want to power through four days of partying, I don't see any other option.
5. The Cosmo buffet at Wicked Spoon is hands down the best thing ever.
6. Don't attempt to walk 1 mile in 106 degrees heat, especially if you need to leave the strip and you can't cut across hotels.
7. The Vegas Monorail might be the most inefficient and useless thing ever.
8. Bottlerats come in the masses. 
9. You can hear the music at Wet Republic from near by pools.
10. The Southwest flight from any of the LA airports to Vegas is the best pre-game bar ever!

2,800 Plus Miles Later Part 3

I know it's taking me about three weeks to finish this saga, but the road trip really did feel that long at times.  It took 10 hours to get out of Texas!  Before we started this trip, we had high hopes for New Mexico.  We were hoping that by the tail end of this trip, we hit up a spa in Santa Fe and just relax the day away.  Instead, plans changed when we opted for San Antonio instead of Austin and we just decided to ride the 10 all the way to LA.

Southern New Mexico was awful to say the least.  The only thing different about that and Texas was that New Mexico had red dirt as opposed to yellow dirt.  Land of Enchantment my ass.  The border patrol was funny though...well, depends on who you are and how you define funny.  For those of you who haven't picked up a map lately, New Mexico borders Mexico, so obviously, there would be a check-point.  There were cars ahead of us while we were waiting and they were checking IDs.  When it got to our car, the patrolman basically just said "you're both citizens right?"  "Yes," I responded.  "Okay now, have a good day."  No ID checks, no nothing!  Stephen's probably used to this because he's white, but as an Asian-American, we never get the same treatment that the white man does!  I didn't know what to make of it, but hell, I'm not going to complain about not being racially profiled!

When we finally arrived to Scottsdale, AZ, we checked in to the cutest spa and resort the Double Tree had to offer.  Leave me alone, I used Hilton points okay!  I know there are better spa options, but what's better than free!  The rooms had this who cabin feel to it, I felt relaxed, especially after saying at this janky hotel in San Antonio the night before...

Our old college teammates were in town.  Well, Sean lives in Phoenix (which, I'm not sure why) and Tom was visiting, so we all met up at Hi Fi Kitchen and Cocktails.  The people of Scottsdale really reminded me of Long Island.  The guys were all meat heads with more gel than one should ever have and the girls were just slutty with fake tits and very plastic.  In fact, I think the only major difference was that the tans were real as opposed to the fake tanning that happens on Strong Island.  This is in one way to knock to LI, I love it there.

Now, all four of us have not seen each other in about nine years.  I mean the four of us collectively.  I saw Sean like seriously a week before for his 30th birthday in Vegas and I think I saw Tom at Mark's wedding like 7 years ago.  We did the brief catch up on what's going on in our lives even though that's what Facebook is for and then moved on to sharing good ole volleyball memories.  The thing is, we all had stories that no one had any recollection on.  However, we all remembered one memory and that was when our coach got so mad at us during practice that he just lost it and kicked a volleyball up to the ceiling of the gym.  I know!  It totally happened and it was really the only on-court memory I have.  The rest of the memories were off the court that I shall not discuss due to the various NCAA infractions that may or may not have been violated.  Wait, I can't take money for autographs?

The next day, after some time at the pool and then a full on workout, we packed our bags and headed back to LA.  We stopped for some lunch by having the greatest Mexican food of all time: Chipotle.  I love it!  The drive was going really well until we drove through a wild fire in the Palm Springs area.  I know they existed, but I never been in such close proximity to one.  It was rather intense as we had to roll our windows up and turn off the AC in 106 degree heat and drive with somewhat limited visibility.  Alas, we pushed through and ended up in 5pm traffic.  Home sweet home!

2,800 Plus Miles Later Part 2

Welcome to Texas where you're told when you cannot bring your gun into establishments like restaurants and movie theaters.  It's just common sense everywhere else. 

 There's a second part to this mostly because Texas itself deserves a second party considering the size of that state.  It took us pretty much half a day to drive through the entire state.  From the moment we set foot in Orange, Texas to get to a Wells Fargo Bank to the moment we left El Paso, Texas.  It was probably the most non-scenic drive ever and that's saying a lot having driven through Kansas. 

Ribs from Pizzitola's BBQ

 Upon arrival of Texas, I really wanted to do two things: (1) eat some Texas BBQ and (2) shoot guns.  Apparently, it's the easiest state to do both, especially in the city of Houston.  Unfortunately, we were only able to do one of the two due to time constraints.  After a quick late lunch in Houston at Pizzitola's BBQ, we were on our way to San Antonio.  Pizzitola had great ribs and that BBQ sauce was to die for.  Stephen bought two bottles and didn't want to share one with me.  As Stephanie Tanner would say: "How rude!"

San Antonio was pretty chill.  I'm actually glad we changed the plans as the original plan was to spend the night partying up in Austin.  I think what really happened was that I realized I was 30 and that the last time I was in Austin, it was just messy night in and night out.  The Alamo was pretty and historical.  Although, I'm still not quite sure what the Alamo was significant for.  Like I kind of know, but I don't really know.  Trust me, I read up on all the signs and even read Wikipedia on my way over.  Next up was the San Antonio River Walk.  There's an actual river walk!  I was wondering how many drunks fall in per year.  I'm sure there's a census out there somewhere.  Drinks were had at the Esquire Tavern.  I would recommend the Milan Julep even though it's more indigenous to New Orleans.  The La Pueblita was okay too.  I actually think any cocktail with crushed ice is okay in my book.  

The next morning, we were on a 12 hour driving trip to Scottsdale, AZ.  I happened to really enjoy my time in San Antonio, but boy was it rough getting out of Texas.  Although, in the suburbs of San Antonio, you can get an estate starting the the $500's.  Here in LA, you can get a 2BR apartment in DTLA if you're lucky or a studio in Manhattan.  So as it turns out the rest of Texas on the I-10 between San Antonio and El Paso had nothing.  I mean nothing...It was all rocks, and mountains, and yellow, and dirt.  I think the only thing I got excited about was when we went from central to mountain time and we saved an hour.  Well that, and I got really excited about the Mexican border.  You can see Juarez from El Paso.  I valued my life too much to even considered hopping over for an hour.  Not even for cheap Tequila.

El Paso felt like Mexico.  I figured since it felt like it, there has to be amazing Mexican food.  Yelp can be so handy sometimes.  I found this place called L & J Cafe.  Don't be fooled by the name, it is supposed to be the best Mexican food in El Paso.  That says a lot.  This place had amazing food and the people looked like they were straight out of what you would imagine a Mexican drug lord to look like.  The cowboy hats, the boots, the plaid shirt, the stache.  It was scary and exciting all at the same time.  To be fair, when you're Asian and going cross-country in the deep south, it's always scary and exciting at the same time.

Well, that's it for Texas, the last leg of the trip will need to be continued...   

2,800 Plus Miles Later Part I

Off to an adventure...

The Southern Experience of my USA road trip with Stephen was a success.  It was a success because we're both alive due to the fact that we did not kill each other or were killed in some random state like Mississippi.  I was also able to achieve another goal when I ate something I've never had before, but I'll get to that later.

I landed in DC and flew to Fayetteville, NC in what was allegedly an airplane.  I'm sure I've seen bigger school buses and what kind of plane has steps on the door for you to walk up to?!?  Stephen picked me up from the airport and I'm pretty sure I drove by three Bojangles by the time we got to his sister's place.  I'm not sure why there needs to be three in the same town, but whatever floats the boats of the North Carolinians.  This was my third trip to Fayetteville, but I'm not sure why I was still so surprised by many of the trashy things I saw.  I did meet the cutest four day old baby though!

Piedmont Park

Atlanta Botanical Garden

 After some lunch and a endless hours of television on some network that I never heard of, we were off to the ATL.  We got to Atlanta around 10pm and went straight for some food.  We found this place called Marlow's Tavern in the Midtown area where I may have possibly had the best shrimp and grits ever.  I'm not really a fan of grits, but the way they did it up...I can't even begin to explain how I could eat that everyday.  After some drinks, we headed back to our hotel for an early morning exploring Piedmont Park.  The park actually puts Central Park to shame.  Mostly because it's so clean and there's all these athletic venues that one can use.  They also had this botanical garden that pretty much charged an arm and a leg to get in, but what the heck?  How often is one really in Atlanta?  What should have really been a quick tour of the park became a much longer stay as my photographer friend needed to take artsy shots of anything that would look good on a picture frame.

If someone can tell me what the license plate number says, please let me know.

Bourbon Street, Gator Tail, and the Infamous Trollies

 After a hot afternoon in Atlanta, we made our way down and west to New Orleans, or as they would say down there: N'Awlins.  We had to drive to Alabama on the way down and one interesting fact about Alabama is that everyone is a Crimson Tide fan, but when you look at the people who are in the pick up trucks driving it, they don't look like they could have gone to college at any point in their lives.  Anyways, I digressed.  We got to N'Awlins around 6pm thanks to a time zone change and boy was it crazy to still see some post-Katrina neighborhoods.  I'll have to admit, my first and last impression of NOLA was that it's just dirty.  Like Fremont Street in Las Vegas dirty...or maybe even worse.  We got to the hotel and it could not be a more perfect location: across the street from the French Quarters, three blocks from Bourbon Street, and across the street from Harrah's Casino where I lost $6.  It was also a couple blocks from the St. Charles River and the Superdome.  I'm not sure how I got that kid of deal for like $65 a night, but I'm not one to complain on a deal.  It was at Old N'Awlins Cookery where I tried gator tail for the first time, both fried and blacken.  I knew that if anything, this road trip would allow me to enjoy great regional food.  We also ordered a fried seafood platter in which I had catfish.  If anyone is wondering, gator tastes like chicken.

The following day, we went about an hour west of NOLA and ended up at the Evergreen Plantation.  It was by far the coolest thing I've ever done.  Not cool because I thought slavery was cool, but cool because I got to witness in a sense a part of history that we were taught.  It was also the set for Django Unchained which Stephen was really excited about.  Let me tell you something, there is nothing more eerie than walking from the master house to the slaves quarters.  There's this feeling you have that you knew shit went down at some point.  I also learned a lot of Louisiana and Creole history like how they are still governed by French law and that's why they call their counties "parishes."  I also learned that the port between New Orleans and Baton Rouge is the biggest port in the world.  That I need to actually check up on.  Finally, I learned the true definition of "Creole."

To be continued...

The Dog Days of Summer (August) Goals

July Recap

#awesome #jt #jayz #legendsofsummer #bestconcertever #fomo

July has been a very positive month for me goal-wise.  I'm convinced I accomplished everything on my list.  I even got the to JT and Jay Z which was a bomb-ass concert.  In other news, I found another reason why the metro in LA sucks this morning during my commute to work.  A fight broke out, literally.  Two guys got angry and started fighting in the middle of the platform in front of metro officers.  My initial instinct was to walk away as you never want to be caught in a crossfire, but I just stayed and watched.  I figure, they could just beat other other to death and end their miseries. 

Goal #1: Exercise 13 times...try 14! (1.1)

Goal #2: Spend no more than $20 on parking for work...try $14! (1)

Goal #3: No more soda unless I'm having a cocktail.  Done and done.  It's weird not drinking soda while having lunch. I wonder if I can give up soda for good. (1)

Goal #4: Save $300.  Check (1)

Goal #5: Started the home-owning process and got pre-approved for a mortgage!  Now I just need to find a real estate agent to look at houses. (1)

Goal #6: Hang out with a friend you haven't seen in a while: Well, I think I over extended myself on this one.  I'm pretty sure between hiking with Trent and hanging with Jocelyn and then Vegas with Sean and Marc, that qualifies as four friends!  I haven't seen Marc since his wedding in like 2007 or 2008?!? Maybe it was 2008.  I felt like I went to a lot of weddings that year.  I can probably figure it out by looking at my archived checking statements.  (1.3)  3/10th extra credit for hanging out with 3 other friends! Duh...

Goal #7: iTunes organization.  This one is questionable as I did organize the iTunes on my phone, but not the computer...Maybe half credit? (.5)

Goal #8: Unpack my suitcase from my trip to New York.  Done!  I now have a suitcase to unpack for when I get back from my road trip next week. (1)

Goal #9: Wash my car!  Please...I got it fully detailed. (1)

Goal #10: Stop looking so melancholy all the damn time!  So I had feedback from my job one day that I looked like I was in pain when I was handing out handouts.  WTF?!?  Like I looked miserable.  How am I supposed to look when I'm handing out handouts?  Should I be smiling the entire time, because that's just creepy.  I'll take the hit and not give myself any points for this since I was called out at my place of employment!  Although I'm not sure that melancholy and miserable are actually the same thing, although one can argue that they are not mutually exclusive as well. (0)

Not to shabby this month.  8.9/10.  I really need to start writing down goals that will make things an easy 10.