inVINCEble

Best Buy A Little Dyslexic

2008-09-22T16:27:00.001-06:00

Looks like Best Buy is a little dyslexic or there's a new iPhone G3 out that I don't know about.

Prestonwood Country Club

2008-06-27T21:31:00.001-06:00

So I went and had lunch at the Prestonwood Country Club because my friend was a member there. The atmosphere was rich and elegant. And the food was pretty good. I was impressed that they had a buffet going. So I grabbed the Chicken Cordon Bleu, Blacked Catfish, and Tenderloin soaked in gravy. I also got some tuna salad. I did sprinkle the world's best seasoning on it though, bacon. The chicken and fish was ok but the tenderloin was good. I had seconds of the tenderloin and tuna salad with bacon. Their dessert was also good. I ended the meal with a creamy rich chocolate mousse cake with a dallop of homemade whip cream. Needless to say that was very good.

Get Smart is Awesome

2008-06-16T20:49:00.001-06:00

Just finished watching Get Smart at a special preview courtesy of DallasPartyRentals.com. The movie was everything I expected it to be. It was totally hilarious. Steve Carell was perfect for the role of Maxwell Smart. It also had kept all the feel of the original series while adding its on flare. This is definitely a movie to be watched.

The Incredible Hulk (2008)

2008-06-15T18:33:00.000-06:00

Went to watch "You Don't Mess with the Zohan" and it was so bad I had to wash my brain out with The Incredible Hulk. It was totally predictable and totally fun to watch. Have to say the special effects kicked the previous Hulk's ass. If you like the first Hulk movie then this one will blow your mind. Ok, maybe not that extreme but it was worth the money that I paid for popcorn and soda. Which is probably more than the actual ticket price.

You Don't Mess with the Zohan

2008-06-15T16:28:00.000-06:00

You don't mess with the Zohan is right. Don't touch it, don't watch it, actually, don't even go near it. The preview of course looked like it would be an awesome movie but this have got to be the worst Adam Sandler movie I have seen so far. The premise was fine and it had a lot of potential but at some point in time it crossed the line from funny to obnoxious. Frankly the first quarter of the movie was the best part. But Emmanuelle Chriqui helped it a lot.

MasterGrill Brazilian Buffet

2008-05-29T08:48:00.001-06:00

Went to eat at the MasterGrill at the Firewheel Town Center last night and frankly I was a little disappointed. Even though it had 16 different cuts of meat to choose from, the meat themselves were mostly over cooked and even more salty than Fogo de Chao or Rafain. They had the usual sets of meat but the most notable are the bacon wrap filet mignon, garlic picanha, and sweet beef. Of course my favorite is the sweet beef. Sweet beef are tender beef cubes marinated in a juicy brown sauce and brushed with a honey like glaze. The price for dinner runs about $34 with 18% tip. That's actually not bad compared to Fogo de Chao at close to $50.

Would I recommend this Brazilian steak house? Probably not as long as Rafain is still around. Just writing this makes me want to go back to Rafain for their lunch meat buffet.

The Porkchop at Carrabba's

2008-03-20T09:15:00.000-06:00

Da Won vs. Chef Hsu

2008-02-09T20:23:00.001-06:00

And the winner is... Sorry, it's a tie. Maybe because Chef Hsu is not a full fledge Chinese restaurant. It's owned by Koreans after all. Each of these restaurants serve different menus so it was hard to judge. In the end, I ended up ordering from both. I ordered Kalbi (short-ribs) and Kimchi soup from Da Won and Cha-Jang Myun (Korean black bean noodles) from Chef Hsu. I think the Kalbi was better than the Korean Garden on Coit and Park. But I still like the Kimchi soup at Korean Garden more than Da Won. The Cha-Jang Myun was very good. The black bean was rich in flavor and the noodles were very fresh. It also had stewed beef in the black bean sauce. As for the Kalbi, the meat was thick and juicy and easily falls of the bones. In the future, I will try out the Sweet and Sour Beef by Chef Hsu.

Da Won and Chef Hsu is located in the new Korean Grocery Store on the Southeast corner of Spring Creek Parkway and Custer Rd.

Update: The sweet and sour beef from Chef Hsu is not bad at all. I ask them to separate the sweet and sour sauce though because that tends to cause the crispy beef to get soggy. The sweet and sour beef was on the pricier side at $10 but I think it is worth it for the amount they give you and how good it tastes. Last time I ordered this, the meat was tender with a crispy shell. I bought my own sweet and sour dipping sauce which made this entree totally awesome.

My New Toy

2008-01-29T13:13:00.001-06:00

My birthday present from Lee. It has flashing lights in the front and is capable of decapitating small animals. Actually, the warning label on the box says not to attack people with it. Which means that is exactly what I will do. :P

Big Texas - The Breakfast of Champions

2007-10-15T07:28:00.001-06:00

Starbucks Greatness

2007-09-28T10:42:00.001-06:00

Venti White Mocha Frappacino Half-Ice Shot of Espresso Shot of Caramel... Need I say more?

III Forks Lobby Ceiling

2007-09-10T17:33:00.003-06:00

The food was good too. :P

Chill out at Shilla

2007-09-04T10:11:00.001-06:00

Darn good Korean food but the service kinda sucks. Get the marinated ribs if you go.

Surfing with an Alien

2007-06-17T13:31:00.001-06:00

Crash

2006-12-20T16:07:00.000-06:00

Geek Musician

2006-09-01T13:31:00.000-06:00

Frets on Fire allows your average geek the ability to play classic music with their keyboards something akin to the PlayStation game Guitar Hero. It brings back the old days of the keytar.
You too can be as cool as the guy in the image.

Click here for a sample of how the game looks.

Update: Frets on Fire is now on SourceForge.net. http://sourceforge.net/projects/fretsonfire/

Moonlight Minigolf

2006-08-05T14:45:00.000-06:00

Floating Water Proof Lamp

2006-04-05T11:47:00.000-06:00

Throwing a cozy pool party at night? Why not throw a couple of these cool lamps in and make it that much cooler.

Hand Washer?

2006-02-04T02:11:00.000-06:00

Definitely an interesting way to wash your hands if you dare to put them in there that is. You can find this nifty hand washer (at least I think it's a hand washer) at Rudy's Bar-B-Que joint on Highway 35 in Austin, Texas.

Multi-Lingual Keyboard

2006-01-12T13:04:00.000-06:00

An awesome keyboard to keep an eye out for. It might cost a lot of money but it does amazing things. Each of the keys is an OLED. The display on each key enables it to show whatever is programmed. Switching between languages is the first benefit but it is also able to have application specific keys too. Not on sale yet but should be coming out soon for a big price.

http://www.artlebedev.com/portfolio/optimus/

King's Mother's Palace

2005-12-27T03:08:00.000-06:00

A view from northern Thailand from the balcony of the King's Mother's palace.

Amazing Water!

2005-12-26T00:42:00.000-06:00

At an island called Koh Larn. Koh means island in Thai where as Larn is the name of the island. The water was amazing. Couldn't ask for a better weather. The only unfortunate thing was that we didn't have a whole day to spend there.

Longbeach Hotel Balcony

2005-12-25T20:08:00.000-06:00

Dawn of a New Day

2005-12-25T19:24:00.000-06:00

The sunrise viewed from Longbeach Hotel balcony in North Pattaya

Chinese Lion Statue - FYI

2005-12-24T06:10:00.000-06:00

Since it is too heavy to pick up and look underneath, it is easier to distinguish a Chinese lion by looking at the paw. If it is a ball, then the lion is a male. If it is a baby lion, then the statue is a female.

Chinese Temple/Museum

2005-12-24T05:04:00.000-06:00

At the chinese temple/museum in Pattaya, Thailand. Very interesting place and house more than several thousand statues.

Flying

2005-12-22T11:48:00.000-06:00

Finally on my vacation and flying above Russia. No matter the view, still kinda hate to fly.

Some Pictures From MS .NET Launch in Dallas

2005-12-01T13:21:00.000-06:00

Not a bad turn out.

Obligatory Driving

2005-11-22T17:31:00.000-06:00

I believe that drivers are obligated to follow a certain set of rules. It's not really written down anywhere but should be followed nonetheless. If everyone follow these simple rules, people will be able to get there quicker with less chance of accidents. The idea is to get from point A to point B as fast as possible while other can get there just as fast.

Obligatory Rules:

Drive with the traffic. If the speed limit is 60mph and everyone other than you is going 70mph, then GO 70mph. This will keep the people behind you from having to either slow down or try to change lanes just to pass you.
Keep a good distance between the car in front. This does not mean to keep a distance of 20 car lengths which is too much or 1 car length which is too small. Somewhere between 2-3 car length should be fine. I know what the scientists tell you that the faster you are going the more distance you are required to break and you will need 18 car lengths to brake while going 60mph, but that means only if the car in front hits a brick wall and stops instantly otherwise the car in front should also be slowing down and trying to brake just like you. Note: Don't follow car into brick wall.
When the light turns green, GO. Stay close to the car in front of you so that the car behind you have a better chance to clear the lights. I don't mean that you should park in the trunk of the car in front of you but don't hang back until the lights turn yellow before you go either. (unless you want to piss off the person behind you)
When the light turns red, STOP. You should stop so that it does not hold the other cars from going either. Because if you ignore the lights then they will do the same when it's their turn. It's a vicious cycle that need to be stopped.
Use your blinkers. It's there for you to tell others that you want to change lanes or turn. The lever is conviently located near your hand that should be on the steering wheel. How hard is it to just flick the lever? Do it for your sake and the other people around you.
Stop using your blinkers! Don't mean to be contradictory but once you are done using your blinkers, please, please, turn it off. We don't want mixed signals. Not from girls and not from cars.
Stop signs. Rules are simple, first person there gets to go first. If it's a multi-lane stop sign, then take turns. All the front cars in a direction goes first, then the next direction gets to go and so forth. It's just a sequence.

Hollow Body Electric = Not Hollow Sound

2005-11-22T12:13:00.000-06:00

I may be a bassist but looking at this baby makes me want to pick up an electric guitar instead. The open architecture suppose to create a rich full sound like no other guitars on the market. Next time I'm at a music store, I'm definitely looking if they have one of these for me to try.

http://www.rksguitars.com/

Fine Line

2005-11-21T23:56:00.000-06:00

There seems to be a fine line between Genius, Idoit, and Crazy.

Combotastic

2005-11-17T13:44:00.000-06:00

If you are like me, then you are carrying around a laptop, a PDA, a MP3 player, and a cell phone all the time, and that's just going to work. Well, Combotronic.com have created a new nifty charger that will charge just about every device you have at the same time. No more carrying 4 different chargers when traveling. Don't get all the excited just yet though. The device is labeled as "coming soon" on their site.

http://www.combotronic.com/about_eng.html

Laziness is the Spawn of Inventions

2005-11-17T01:39:00.000-06:00

Product by NOATEK in Japan.

You are sitting cozy on your couch at home and decided it's time to go to bed. But you are just waaaaay too lazy to reach over to turn off the light before you get up. Well, now you don't have to. Just get up and the pressure sensitive switch will automatically turn off for you.
Gosh, how much lazier can human beings get. Pretty soon we'll have an automatic nose picker.

Instant Labeling Tape

2005-11-16T19:17:00.000-06:00

Instant Labeling Tape is just pure simplicity and genius combined.

Only thing needed is a permanet black marker and you get instant signs.

Brought to you by: http://random-international.squarespace.com/instant-labeling-tape

Interesting Flash Puzzle Game - The Package

2005-11-16T18:54:00.000-06:00

If you want to stimulate your brain a little, try out this Flash game. It's not that hard but interesting.
http://www.compfused.com/directlink/957/

Life is like the ride to work on Monday morning...

2005-11-16T14:28:00.000-06:00

Life is like the ride to work on Monday morning. When you first open your eyes you see the bright light and it’s not very comfortable. You get out of bed and realize it’s much nicer to be able to just stay in bed. Then the drive starts. It takes a long time to just get out of your neighborhood where everything and everyone is familiar to you. Then you get out in the world and see that there are so many people out on the street trying to get to their destination too. Some of them would do anything to be in front. The road is curvy and full of up and downs. There’s also so many bumps and accidents on the way that you have to be able to avoid. Half way there you’re thinking that this drive sucks and feel depress. You should have gotten a different car. The route you have taken might not be a good idea either. Third of the way there you are thinking it might not be a bad choice after all. Who knows what you might have run into if you had taken a different route. Finally, after a very long time of driving you are getting to your destination, you realize it’s not a bad drive after all. All the bad things did happen but that’s all behind you. You get to your destination and think that it might have been much better to just stay in bed…

To Warranty or Not To Warranty?

2005-11-10T19:03:00.000-06:00

There's many many sites out there that keep saying that buying warranties from stores are a rip off. However, with my experience with Best Buy, I have to say that buying their warranty is a good idea. I'm not sure if it is because I am just unlucky and keep getting bad products or not but having a Best Buy warranty have helped me out with 2 mp3 players, 1 camcorder, and 1 digital camera already. Each time, either Best Buy fixes it or the just let me go get a new product from one of their shelves no question asked. I say, if the product is in excess of $300 then a warranty from Best Buy is a good idea. I didn't buy the warranty for the DVD Player that I bought though because the player was $60 and the warranty was like $40. For that much, I'll go buy a new DVD player. So all in all, I'll buy a warranty again from Best Buy.

Techy or Geeky?

2005-11-10T01:09:00.000-06:00

Sometimes it doesn't pay to be on the cutting edge of technology.

State of Mind

2005-01-25T22:27:00.000-06:00

I believe that being bored is only a state of mind. So the only thing you need to do is try to keep your mind occupy. I'm glad that I have the ability to write this blog or I would find myself incredibly bored.