Energy Saving gadgets...

Green Is In...One thing about energy saving gadgets that we've noticed is that they do work. Last year we had quite a high PG&E bill during the start of fall, I think it went up and above $200ish a month. This was all due to having a light on inside the house, sometimes forgetting to turn off the light somewhere and the use of the heater. So Decemberish of last year I decided to create a fusion reactor just like Doctor Octopus, the power of the sun in my hands,, unfortunately I didn't have the metal arms that he had so I wouldn't be able to control the instability of the fusion reaction and quickly thrashed that idea, instead I purchase some stuff that would help us reduce our energy cost, the stuff I got were:
1. A couple of those light saving bulbs-$10 (they are not as strong as the normal bulbs but in places where you don't need to read they are good to use)
2. 3 timer plugs-$15 (the ones that you can set what hours it can be on and off)
3. More efficient ceramic heater-$20 (patton is the brand I think, can heat up a big room well)

The light savings bulbs I got on sale and I placed them in the garage, hall way and bar area (since these are the stop that we normally have lights on). The timer plugs were used for the lamps and the heater so the lights go off by the time we head out to bed while the heater turns off and on in between a few hours to ensure that it will just be warm enough in our bedroom.

After these changes our bills from Jan to end of winter was less than $200ish, I think $150 avg. so it did really help ;) The savings can either go to investments or maybe restaurant funds...cheers

Memorial Day 2006.

It is a 3 Day weekend for a lot of people, barbeque, friends and family getting together and relaxing, enjoying the company. But I do hope people remember that memorial day was created for the memory of the fallen heroes, soldiers and in some cases civilians who died fighting for what they believe in. From the civil war to the world war and to the Iraq war, to the right wars and wrong wars, and the wars that have yet to come. May God watch those who carry the arms and walk the front lines to fight for the freedom that we live in so that we can drink our wine, eat our steak and watch the games. And may they return safe to their families and friends.

Memorial Day 2006:

In Flanders FieldsJohn McCrae, 1915.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead.

Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

Moina Michael 1915

We cherish too, the Poppy red

That grows on fields where valor led,

It seems to signal to the skies

That blood of heroes never dies.

Funny Monkey...

Seems like this is my 100th post.... cheers!

This guy, John Rogers, is funny as heck...here's a sample:

Top 10 John Wayne movies that could also be porn titles
10.) Men Without Women (1930)
9.) Rough Romance (1930)
8.) Seven Men from Now (1956)
7.) Girls Demand Excitement (1931)
6.) Maker of Men (1931) or Two Fisted Law (1932) -- tie
5.) Ride Him, Cowboy (1932)
4.) His Private Secretary (1933)
3.) The Star Packer (1934)
2.) Pals of the Saddle (1938)
And the winner is: 1.) Chisum (1970)

check out the true geek conversations.

Verdict...GUILTY!!!

Yes, Ken "$$ The Laid Back $$" Lay and Jeffrey "$$ The Preppy Boy $$" Skilling have been convicted of their crimes of corporate fraud and conspiracy in the greatest corporate scandal in U.S. history. Though sentencing will be on September 11 justice is at last served if the sentence is heavy enough. Do remember that these two top dogs of Enron have depleted the workers' savings, retirement and health benefits, people could and probably have already died because of loosing their job and savings in the company. I say heavy sentences to them both, they are murderers of a different kind, they murdered their employees livelihood and future. Greed is good but not that kind of greed where you destroy lives and manipulate everything for your gain.

Ken "$$ The Laid Back $$" Lay

Jeffrey "$$ The Preppy Boy $$" Skilling

Reaching Destination....Book-CD by Nerisa Guevara

I've been meaning to read something other that work related stuff for a while now and at last I was able to get my hands on a poetry book/cd combination that IS superb.
I was originally looking for Sue Elkind's book "The Final Season" but was not able to find it in stores and I didn't want to get it online but I guess I have no choice now, I love her book "Bare As The Trees" and would like to get more of her work but then one thing led to another and I forgot about getting the book, fortunately when I was chatting with my sister a few weeks back while she was on vacation in the Philippines she asked me if there was anything I need, then I remembered I'd like to get a book of poems, I looked around and asked if she could get me two books from Palanca Award winners Nerisa del Carmen Guevara (1999) and Joel M. Toledo(2004-2005) but she wasn't able to find any from Joel so she got me "Reaching Destination" by Nerisa. Thanks to my sister for the gift ;) The book is great, it came with a music CD or rather poetry-music CD that is just amazing, of course I'd be a litte bias too since I know the author back in college. The poems in the book was like a time machine brining me back to the places that I came to know. The images are great, the places are real....the whole work is great. To add to that the CD is such a merger of artistic talent, bringing in various musicians and have them choose and transform the art of poetry to music is amazing. Such a great and wonderful work, and for one person to fund, organize and produce it is fantastic.

Congratulations Ricci for the great work!

Pulic Radio

I've been listening to public radio for a while already unfortunately my commute only gives me 5 min of radio time and other than that I only get to listen to them more if/when I do cardio. I like most of their program and you can listen online too at http://www.npr.org

Weekend Wine Train!

Weekend celebration of my cousin-in-law's baby shower went great. It didn't rain, people had fun eating, drinking and talking. Kids were playing and running around, everything went great. For the guys we had to battle the flood.....the flood of wine that came in, but we were successful as there were only 3 bottles left ;)
That night the top ones were Hyde Syrah and Rosemont Shiraz.
Topics ranged from politics, war, oil, enron to wine features and the next wine profiling that we will be conducting :)

Live Strong! Work Hard Play Hard!

Enron jury deliberation

With the jury deliberation close at end and justice at hand, I hope Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling goes to Jail and gets ass, ear and nose raped and their assets takey away for what they did to the company and their employees. Greedy bastards!
The Biggest Corporate banckruptcy in the world and the two top guys says they didn't know of the financial problems it was having while they get millions from their stock options. Appeal to ignorance at that level is stupid and I hope the jurors see that.

Actually I hope the same thing happens to the traders who were also jerking California during the fake power crisis in order to jack up the prices of electricity.

rotten-Enron
wikepedia-Enron
enronownsgop

You're Thrifty but.....

You buy your stuff like electronics, toys, clothes, etc. only when they are on sale, you NEVER buy retail anymore but do you invest the money you save by buying stuff on sale or just use it to buy more "cheap" stuff?????? So in essence you're still not saving, just spending and getting more stuff for your moolah$$$, It's all good though, spend to run the economy and let people like me take care of saving and investing ;)

Mass and Health

About a decade ago I remember reading about this bodybuilder who was a rising star. Now he's a runner-up for the Mr. Olympia, his name is Jay Cutler and he's one of the top guns for the bodybuilding sport. We went to a local competition on fitness and bodybuilding (our first time) and he was a guest poser there and he's pretty amazing, well a 300+ lbs walking mass is amazing. The rest of the competitors were great too.
I miss the times when I have time to schedule my workouts and go to the gym whenever I wanted to.

With rising health care cost and the country's girth size increasing I have to nail it in my head to go to the gym and eat healthy. I'm not planning to be a beef cake, just loose more weight and maintain it. I've always liked going to the gym and try to when I have time or when I'm not tired, now I should really push myself as I'm not getting any younger. Hopefully by December I have reached my goals ;)

Simmer down in the Concrete Jungle.....

Roots.....Rock.....Reggae...!

All Reggae Day today....

In memory of the icon, Bob Marley , who passed away this day in the year 1981.

Greystone and Sterling!

GREYSTONE

eMily's First Napa Trip

GREYSTONE BUILDING

The weekend was great, Saturday we went to my sister-in-law's Bday celebration and on Sunday wifey and our uncle and aunt went to napa for lunch and to see Sterling Vineyards. We went to the Culinary Art of America - Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant for lunch first then to Sterling afterwards. The Greystone restaurant is pretty good, their house wine is nice, we tried their merlot. Then after the meal we toured the place and found out they have a yearly event, for $40 you can eat and drink wine in the event. We're planning to go next year. We went to Sterling and rode their tram, went around and just relaxed. For dinner we hit Nations Giant Hamburger, yes forget about your weight weekend. Pretty much a good weekend.

FOT extras!

Some more pics I took.

Flower of the Tongue

Some of the artists: Julius, Lian and Marius

Yesterday night we went to Bindlestiff for the Gallery Exhibit "Bulaklak ng Dila" ("Flower of the Tongue") The Gallery is from May4-May6. Visit if you can, just $5 for entrance and they have wine, beer and water too for a reasonable donation.

Lian Ladia, a friend of ours is showing some of her films there.

Also some of the art works there are scandalous ;) The performance was great too well worth the time and travel.

Gas Prices!!!

Where does the BUCK $$$TOP??? WTF!!!! BUSH!!!!

Wine and Dine! Part Food!

Meat is good...on the weekends....
Now the food we had were great too. At lunch time our cousins brought their electric grill think, we had a Korean style food, where you put the fresh meat on the pan and it cooks there afterwards you dip it in some kind of teriyaki sauce and then eat it. Together with Kimchi, rice and veggies....yowza!!!!

At dinner time our aunt cooked steak for us, so much great food with great wine for a great time.

Wine and Dine!

Wine and Dine Inhouse!

Our Relatives dropped by Saturday for a wine and dine session. Actually it was primarily for my wife, aunt and cousin to set up our cousin's baby shower. But we (the guys) were in it for the "get together" sessions for wine profiling.

NOTE: I'm not a wine connoisseur! We just love wine and the conversations that comes with it.
On our wine list for the day were:
1. Bogle Merlot
2. Wente Cabernet Sauvignon
3. Rosemount Estate Shiraz
4.Benziger Cabernet Sauvignon
5 & 6 Were home made Hyde Wine Syrah (2001 and 2002) by my cousin.

We were not able to finish the Wente, and the Syrah 2002 was given to our uncle so he can try it out because we had it a month back already.

Wine feedback: Bogle is good, a standard Cali Merlot which is good, just a complete wine in itself. Since we're so used to drinking Cali wines it's really easy to profile how they compare to the rest of the stock. The Rosemount Shiraz was full bodied, really full taste, not acidic at all and full flavor that we all agreed it's a great complete wine, and it's from Australia too which is nice.We'll be trying out international wines for our next session. Afterwards we went with the 2001 Hyde which was home made by my cousin, and it was really good. Very full bodied and flavorful, a lot better than the Rosemount as flavor comes. We did finish our session with the Benziger Cab which is good too, standard Cali Cabernet flavor.