Comments (0) It’s official! Just picked up my first Apple system. I got myself a Mac Mini with a Core 2 Duo 2Ghz processor, 1Gb of memory, and 120Gb hard drive.
Finally did it after a couple months of contemplating. I’ve been actively using a mini at work but it’s an old G4. Now I need to get Windows XP running on it.
Technology, Toys
| 
Apple, geeky, Mac Mini
What an October this will be in terms of guilty-pleasure consumption. There are 3 things I’m looking forward to buying this month.
I’ve already pre-ordered the game and will be placing my order for the Radiohead’s disc box set soon ($80). I am still debating about adding another computer system. It’ll probably be a little after the initial release of Leopard just so I can read about other people’s experience. It’ll be my first OSX system.
With the ever growing “wants” in my life, I find myself wanting less. For the past couple of months, I’ve been cycling through various “wants” and desires. I first absolutely wanted a new Macbook Pro laptop. My current Dell laptop I’m using is 3 years old and I was running out of hard disk space. I was in the middle of doing some development project for my non-profit and realized that my machine needs more than the 1.5GB that was left. That was my justification to get a whole new machine.
Then there was the lust of buying a new car. The targets of my desires was a Toyota Tacoma truck or a BMW 335i. The truck was an excuse for me to get more physically active by allowing me to carry my mountain bike and other ‘outdoorsy’ items. My justification for a truck was to help persuade me to get more exercise. The beemer was just something I’ve always wanted. Since my car is starting to show it’s 6 years of age and 130K miles of driving, I wanted something luxurious and “nice”. I deserved it damn it!
With my mind preoccupied with these superficial items, I was online on a daily basis looking and researching about them. But then one day I snapped out of it. (Probably with the help of my gf but we don’t need to let her know.) Ever since reading “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” and “The Millionaire Next Door”, I have been practicing the art of not buying crap I don’t need. After this short memory lapse, I decided to buy what I needed at this point in time, a larger hard drive for my laptop. My car is perfectly fine and should last me for awhile so I don’t need a car. Ah it’s good to come back to my senses.
I just started reading again tonight. The reason this time was that I have 2 books to read by September 17th. I plan on finishing those well before that deadline. In fact the book, “The 4-Hour Workweek” by Timothy Ferris
So many distractions these days with the Xbox, birthdays, weddings, and other social functions. The only device that has been good for me is my iPod
Books, Toys
| 4-Hour Workweek, book, Xbox 360
Anybody in the market for a 100% street legal Indy car? This was on sale last December on eBay but did not meet the reserve price. This is definitely not your everyday driving car and completely impractical, but totally cool if you owned one! Almost like a motorcycle. 
As our society steer themselves away from being dependent on gasoline, I find myself wondering if there was a 2 wheel alternative than the ever popular hybrid cars on the roads. Apparently there will be a fully electrical motorcycle available for my fancy. The company Bammo Motorsports created the first cool looking electric motorcycle called the Enertia. The bike has similar power to riding a Kawasaki 250 motorcycle but without the noise, feel, and smell of a standard motorcycle. You can drive 40-50 miles between charges and charging takes only 2 hours for a 80% charge and 3 hours for complete charge.
Obviously, you would not try to take it out on a major highway. This would be so cool to ride around town locally. A much better alternative than a scooter with their beefy suspension and fat tires. The price ranges from $12-15K and will be available next year.
I spent 07/07/07 watching Transformers at the Arclight Cinemas in Hollywood. Not only did the movie met my expectations, it completely blew me and my friends away. Great visual effects, the occassional reference to details from the 80′s cartoon series, and Megan Fox brought smiles across most of our faces. Ok maybe only for the guys. She was SMOKIN HOT! 
I managed to get some pictures of the Autobots parked outside of the Arclight on my camera phone.
I also was able to capture all the Autobots on video. Listening to myself speak makes me sound like an idiot. Freakin amateur!
Ok I’m not going to make this an all-Transformers post. I forgot to post earlier last week to wish Samira a Happy Birthday! The rollerskate party and cake was good. Rollerskating after not doing it for awhile was pretty scary. I guess it just comes back to you when you pick yourself up and go!
I’ve been obsessing about this for about 2 months so far and finally my wish was granted. I received a nice shiny iPod 80GB in black in exchange of my Magellan Roadmate 2000. It was a great gps. I got me out of some weird neighborhoods and showed me how to get home from work through paths I’ve never been through. I felt confident when I had it and was never afraid of ever getting lost. The reason why I opted to go with an iPod was because the Magellan’s cradle that held it on my mount kept on breaking. So after the 2nd time happening, we decided to return it to get something else. Originally I was okay with just swapping it out for a 3rd one but these things sell out! So with a little bit more money, I am a proud owner of the an iPod. Thanks to my hon who bought this for me. A great Chistmas/Valentines day gift.
I used to hate iTunes. But now that I have an iPod, I don’t think I can live with out it. It is so great to organize all my music and build playlists so easily. The ability to filter certain songs from a shuffle is ingenious. The more I learn about iTunes and its simple ways but yet powerful organization features, the more I enjoy using it. Unfortunately while updating my library it’s been very slow due to my slow 802.11b wireless connection. It took me over 12 hours for the first sync of half of my entire library. I eventually took my system off the wireless and plugged it directly to my wired network. It finished the remaining half in less than an hour.
I’ll also be picking up an Xbox 360 this weekend. The extended warranty on my PS2 runs out on the 21st so I have to take advantage of that purchase. This will be great on my 3 day weekend!
Some pictures of Kylee’s birthday dinner earlier this month.
I’ve been riding about 3 years now but never really got to go canyon-carving or taking myself to the twisties in the canyons and mountains. Sunday’s impromptu ride took care of that last riding goal of mine. We met over at Garrett’s place at 10:30am. I sent my invitation to a group of riders I know at work and besides Garrett, Praveen was the only one who showed up. The Friday before, we were playing at a poker tournament at Douglas’ place and found out that he bought a bike that day. So we invited him on the ride as well. He came with his friend Brad. Brad is probably one of the most “hardcore” riders that I’ve ever met. He started riding when he was a kid and now he rides to work everyday plus he services his own bike. He also did some long riding trips with his father when he was younger. You know, the kind where you ride somewhere far, camp out, and continue riding. I can only wish I was able to ride as early as he did.
So at 10:30, we all suited up and rode towards Sunset and PCH at the Unocal gas station to top off our bikes. When we were done, we took PCH up to Las Flores Canyon Road where our adventure began. Las Flores eventually forked to Piuma Road. We eventually got on Mullholland either through Cold Canyon Road or Mullholland Highway. I’ll have to ask Brad. We past Malibu Lake and eventually ended up at our first stop for lunch. The place was called Rustic Canyon Grocery & Grill. One of the popular places where bikers hang out.
At this point Douglas had to go solo to run a few errands so he took off. Unfortunately for Douglas, the ride became much more interesting afterwards. We past The Rock Store and was all over the place in the mountains and canyons. We took roads such as Latigo Canyon Road, Mullholland coming from PCH, and one other one that I forget. Mullholland from PCH was one of my favorites. You’re able to hit 100mph on this road because the road was much cleaner than the rest and the turns are not as twisty so you can really practice your lean. After about 2 or so hours we ended up back at Rustic Canyon Grocery store for some well-deserved hot beverages and fire.
The day ended with a casual ride from Mullholland to Las Virgenes Road / Malibu Canyon Road near Pepperdine University to finally PCH. We all eventually split away from the pack to our relative homes. I had the furthest ride so I got to see everyone go.
I learned alot on this ride and feel much more comfortable with my bike. I guess it made up for some lost time in the 3 years I shied away from riding the twisties.
Ambiguous, Motorcycle, Toys, Travelling
| Malibu, Motorcycle, PCH, riding
I can’t believe I’m on the half-way mark of my vacation. Can’t say they were dull. Spent the first day of my vacation in Sun City, Ca at our 4th Annual Christmas Party. We had lots of food to eat, had our gift exchange, played a home-made game by Sophorn, sang karaoke, and finished the night with a Trivia Pursuit game. The fun didn’t stop there. I delivered some gifts on Christmas Eve and went over to my sister’s for our annual tradition of opening gifts at midnight.
I received some great gifts this year! I received a set of Memory Foam Contour Pillows, which by the way eliminated all the shoulder pain I’ve been experiencing with my old pillow. I received a pair of Converse All-Star shoes, a GPS, and some motorcycle and car related toys. It’s amazing but I didn’t get any gift cards this year. I did however received alot of picture cards from friends.
Christmas day was spent with the parents eating Hot Pot and hanging out at Billy and Jen’s watching movies and eating at a buffet. The day after Christmas and the Wednesday afterwards was spent at the Harrah’s Casino in Rincon, San Diego. Played some poker and lost about $130. Still on that losing streak. Thanks Drew for setting all that up.
Here I am today with nothing to do. It’s a great feeling and I’m glad I do this every year. Gives me a chance to reflect the events of this year and usher in the new year. I’d have to say 2006 was one of the better years in my life. I became debt free, went to new places, continue to challenge myself at work, began investing, and just enjoyed life. There really isn’t anything else to complain about. Except maybe living on my own, but I have feeling I may be able to make that happen in the coming year or 2. Hope everyone have a safe and happy holiday. Let’s make this new year a good one too.
Panorama Theme by 
Themocracy
