Suuuperman returns.....

Ahhh Superman returns. I've read good things about the movie, not much action but keeps to the story just like the old movies. We might not watch it in the movie house though, I'll probably wait for it in DVD as I find the price of theater tickets unreasonable but maybe the matinee shows will be cheaper and maybe we'll watch it during that time. Can he still reverse time by flying counter the earth's rotation? ;) Well he may not be able to bring time back this time around but ladies would be happy to know that he's not only the Man of Steel, he also brings massive bulges in the right places.

Articles:
SuperBuldge.
SuperBuldge 2.

LOL!!!!

Shopping in SF

Shopping Center Rest
Cable Car
Tiffany the Union Square Muse

What happens when two women go shopping?
My brother and I walked along the streets of San Francisco, walking and looking, just walking and looking. Street performers dancing in the plaza, religious groups discussing with people willing to talk to them, tourist looking at maps and street signs, shops filled with people inside, homeless sleeping under shades, a cat lying on a towel with a bucket in front for money. Unfortunately there weren’t much electronic shops in the area so there weren’t a lot place for us to check stuff out, we went to Ritz camera and Comp USA just walking and looking, as my brother tested out the digital cams there that he’s planning to purchase for his wife, he decided to get the Fuji Coolpix but he’ll order it online where it’s cheaper.
We walked again, looking and walking, back and forth, now I let out my Canon S3 we decided to take some shots and he gave me pointers in using the camera (he does photography too) which is good because I’m not too much into photography yet to try and decipher what the AF, AE’s, lightings and ISO’s are.
What happens when two women go shopping?
Six hours of looking and walking, walking and looking.

Short Story Fiction Contest $1000

California voters gotta vote

Every man gotta right
To decide his own destiny
And in this judgment
There is no partiality
-Bob Marley (from the song "Zimbabwe")

Are you Californian?
Can you vote?
If you're a resident alien and can apply for citizenship already DO IT! NOW!
Well it's time to take a stand, take your stand and register:
https://ovr.ss.ca.gov/votereg/OnlineVoterReg

Vote for your issues. Vote for business. Vote for immigration change. Vote for green. Vote for schools. Vote for water. Vote for life. Vote for choice. Vote for power. Vote nuclear. Vote like you've never voted before (maybe you haven't and 1st time is a good time). Vote for rich. Vote for poor. Vote for religon. Vote for science. Vote for food. Vote for Fur. Vote for land. Vote for safety.

If you're just like me, a working middle class man, have no time to be a political junkie but just enough time to enjoy the weekends and prepare for the weekdays. I think we have stayed in the sidelines for too long, work, career and family life eating much of our time. Too much distractions that politics rarely enter the house, well politics is all around us now: Gas prices, grocery prices, road conditions, war, terrorism, soldiers, spying, marriage, etc. So let's have those in power feel the pinch, it's time to put who we want to lead so do not delay because this is our time. If you're lazy use the absentee ballot so you can just mail in your vote. Go! Now! For California's future. For our future.

Photo Story June 21- iSteak

The weather here in North California has been great after all the rain we had from December to April... Now we have the perfect weather for backyard activities and BBQs so we've been using the burner for a while, when my wife's classmates in college dropped by up to just a regular dinner. The latest and best BBQ was not because of the steak or the wine, but of the news that my sister and her husband had when they dropped by our place, they just finished inspecting the house they were going to get as their offer was accepted. 4 NY Strip Steaks, chips and wine + the American Dream (Home and Mortgage ;). Meanwhile I'm getting the hang of cooking, wifey like the last one I made, so I hope I remember what I've been doing with the burner.

Photo Story June 20

Shadow Shot

Rest Easy

Tommy the Hunter

One afternoon just after work and resting in the sofa my wife from the kitchen yelled to me that our fat cat Tommy got a bird. I ran out the backyard and saw in Tommy’s mouth a bird. I wrestled it out of his mouth and left it in the garage to recover from the trauma. After an hour I left it in the backyard where the bird rested for a while then flew away.

401K allocation again...

I've just recently been able to contribute to my new company's 401K plan, I've selected a percentage to get all the matching that they will be giving (free money). Now I'm in the position to roll over my previous 401K from my old company to the new one but I'm still holding off on it because the gains on my previous one seems pretty good. I'll probably have to move them soon for easier maintaining and to have a one stop shop for my retirement funds.
401K Basic Tips:
1. If your company matches always take advantage of this to whatever extent they match (free money).
2. Make sure you get no load funds and check the expense ratio of the fund you're getting. 1.x% ratio is high for me. Funds following index' normally have low expense ratio.
3. Research the funds. Check the top companies they are holding and what the fund is about.
4. Don't over diversify. Some funds might have holdings of funds you already have, getting similar funds might put your holdings in the same basket.
5. If your company doesn't have a 401K program look for a different company. And donate to an IRA or ROTH IRA.
6. Determine your retirement age as there are funds that are offered that would automatically adjust to when you'll retire. Something like aggressive to conservative.

My current holdings are:
1. International
2. Small Cap (Aggressive)
3 Mid & Small Cap Blend
4. Large Cap

Here's to retiring early and free.

Cars...

Fun movie to see...though I'm disappointed to know that the movie house charges $10.50/person now. I didn't know they raised their prices.

Funny Ads...Poser...Yo!

These ads cracks me up...they are controversial, some saying racist others saying they're just funny and no harm done. I say the advertising team of T-mobile got my attention (and many others I bet so good job) but I'm NOT getting their service anytime soon B!@7(4, "Fees shorty." Stereotype? Yes. Racist? Maybe. Funny? Yes. Check them out.

T-Mobile Poser #1
T-Mobile Poser #2
T-Moblie Poser #3

Amnesty at last???

No...not to US "illegal" immigrants. Amnesty for the "insurgents", "terrorist", etc.

Gist:
An ex-aide (resigned after leaking this information) of Iraq Prime Minister Maliki told reporters that the PM is considering Amnesty for guerillas who attacked US troops but has not killed Iraqis.

From Kung Fu Monkey
From Washington Post

What I learned from my previous post.

Well we're destroying the earth which will result in cannibalism and the only way for our species to survive is to go interplanetary BUT we must make sure all parrots are locked and sealed otherwise our space flight will be delayed.

..WOW it's Thursday already...been soooo busy that I thought it was just Wednesday...

Interesting Read:

Polar Cannibals:
Due to the shrinking Ice Pole Polar Bears are turning to cannibalism for food.
Read More

Moon Base:
Hawkins says humans must go into space for species survival.
Read More

Parrot Delays Take-Off:
Bird got out of her box and nibbled on passengers.
Read More

oola! Oooo lala...the food is great

After the busy Saturday night we went to Oola Restaurant in Folsom S.F. and had our dinner there. The food is great, I initially thought it was just a bar but it's actually a restaurant-bar type of scene. It wasn't too crowded, people were having fun and being merry, lots of laughs and stories. Not a dancing scene, kinda posh barlike atmosphere where you can just relax and hang out with friends and maybe dance in a corner. Cheers...

More Pics again!

More Pics "The Movement: Roots, Rocks, and Resistance"

More Pics. If you had the chance to watch it and didn't go you BLEEP! BLEEP! BLEEP! :P

Final Show for "The Movement: Roots, Rocks, and Resistance"

We again watched the play "The Movement: Roots, Rocks, and Resistance" by Bindle Stiff Studio yesterday and all that well we (me, wifey, sister, bro-inlaw and friend) can say is that WOW!!! They did some additions to the play vs. the last one we watched and it's great. Wifey got emotional too on various parts of the play. Amazing work, We will definitely be following their works and supporting their endeavors.

Crack House

Critter on a pole

Crack

Well there is this crack on this path leading to the house and a critter on top of the electric pole. What good symbolism to see while we went with my sister and her husband in hunting their first house, I think of it as a crack to the continuous rise of housing prices and a critter for those speculative buyers who plans to flip houses which makes it harder for "real" home buyers to get reasonable deals. It's great to see and hear that at last in the housing market in the bay area the bidding wars have stopped and the constant comings and goings of house hunters have diminished as it seem to suggest the bubble has burst, or rather the bubble lost a lot of air. For Spring time it seems to be as slow as the Winter season housing market during the peak period of house buying, which is a good sign if one is buying a house soon. We've seen some potential houses, it's really up to my sister on what and when to move but soon I'm sure she'll live the American dream of owning a house and a mortgage ;)

P.S. There is still the case of people who bought the house that did not do their math well, bought too much of a house for them OR was fooled by their loan agent into getting in a house that they really can't afford. They might not be able to handle the rising interest rates and in those cases there will be a lot of selling going forward which will correct this situation.

Local Politics. Schwarzenegger-Angelides

Angelides (looks like Eugene Levy)

The Governator

Primaries are done I did not vote though but the winner is Angelides who will be facing the Governator for Governor of California. I'm not a political Junkie, this coming election will actually be my first time to vote because I'm itching to get something done for our sake, the middle class hard working people that doesn't have time to vote or listen to BS from politicians. Also because I read that the primaries made history for the lowest voter turnout and would like to help change that.

The Stand:

I'll be voting for Arnold Schwarzenegger unless he messes up big time because:
1. Jobs Family and friends were able to move from one to another with not much hitch. The job market is getting better and I see the difference. It's not like the dot-com days (which is a good thing) but if you have skills you should be able to get something going. If it's working why change it, right?

2. Taxes I don't want taxes to be raised YET. I don't think it's the right time, interest rates are rising, economy is improving slowly but more taxes will make me and folks like me to definitely not spend. Well I'll probably purchase stuff online and out of state where there are no taxes just to compensate for additional taxes if taxes went up, besides taxes are high enough it's the spending that should be CURBED. Maybe when the economy becomes stronger, yeah I wouldn't mind taxes but now, I think it's still shaky.

3. Difference and Looks Sorry but Angelides looks kinda like a rat and I don't want a governor who looks like that. Then he's also a millionaire, he was a developer and with some allegations of taking advantage of his position before??? I would rather have the richer one to be on the bench because the rule of BIG NUMBERS apply, if you're very rich already (like Arnie estimated at $800Mil) the next $100 million will be harder for him to get or easier for auditors to trace, just like his position on the Weider publishing company, I think a year ago he had to give up his position because he became governor and someone was able to trace his active position in the publication. I think Angelides is not "clean" enough or doesn't look "clean" enough to differentiate himself from Arnie.

My position might change, I have not done my research yet because I have no time right now with work and all. I'll be doing it before the election comes and I don't think it will change unless the Governator does something really stupid. Cheers!

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi killed

At last, the Al-Qaida terror in Iraq has been taken down. Al Zarqawi has been killed, I hope going forward there will be less blood shed and violence in Iraq (but I assume they will be out for revenge first so it would be a tough time for the security forces there AND the "civil war" or for a positive spin: The sectarian violence will still be around until Iraq does get a grip on the population). I won't even post Zarqawi's pic here to make sure no one remembers him, but only the acts he did.

Eye Spy from the center of the lake

Humming Bird Flower

Don't know what this flower is called but I've noticed humming birds like getting the nectar from them. I should plan to try and shoot them (via camera) when I get the chance.

Shaky Market...good time to buy

Tech stocks seems pretty good lately. Prices are low and there might be a lot of value in some of them. I wish I have a lot of disposable income right now I'd grab some of the top tech stocks for the long haul.

My tech stock holding went down as expected, would like to purchase more while it's down but can't seem to scrounge up enough cash for now, I'm targeting in 2 months I'll be able to get more. Energy and ETFs are up a bit, I expect the trend to continue for a couple more years then it will probably correct and hopefully I'll be able to capitalize during this period.

Eye shot...

When Water and Land meet.....Land Gives Way.

Tommy too fat to climb the Tree

Fur Ball

Practice Shots...

Been taking random shots to work on getting better pics;) Time just flies soooo fast and moments should always be captured. After all, our memory do loose the details of our history. Cheers!

Here's a funny video of cats too: Cat Video Compilation

The Movement: Roots, Rocks, and Resistance

This weekend we watched a BindleStiff show named "Roots, Rocks and Resistance" The show incorporated shadow play in the program to great effect. Wifey, the one who gets better pics, got great pictures, but because we didn't use flash so the actors and audience won't be disturbed, the pics ended up grainy, not something a good photo program can't handle though. Talked to my brother about it and he gave me some ideas on shooting pics (his "sideline" is photography). To sum up the show it's a History lesson for Filipino/Filipino-Americans, a play worth watching just to see the mix of styles used in the play. And for a mostly volunteer organization their work is great, congratulations to the BindleStiff team.

Protest against Big Oil (Shell)

Boycott Shell

Defiant gas dealer battling Big Oil Goliath in protest:

Gist:
Mehdi Shahbazi is/was a gasoline dealer that is battling Shell because he didn't want to take down signs he posted on his station reading "Consumers' pain is Big Oil's unearned profit! To oppose it see cashier.''
Of course Shahbazi says it's free speech, Shell says it's against franchise contract to disparage your franchise. Then his station was getting upgraded but after the changes Shell contractors didn't take down the fence and Shell hasn't been bringing gas to the station so he's been living off the store there selling chips, soda and stuff.
Their first fray seems to have been back in the early '90s when Shell instituted "zone pricing" meaning that the more profit you make the more they charge you, more like price fixing (greedy bastards). No I'm not against profits, any company should be profitable but this is too much, it seems they're trying to get rid of the "middle man" by penalizing them in eating much of the profits if the station is selling more.

As a sign of support I'll refrain from getting gas from Shell (like it matters). I'll make sure I get it from independent dealers first before going to the Big Oil, and Shell will not be even on the list.
Personally I'm sick of paying high gas prices that's why our travels this year will be limited to closer places and I'm sure a lot of people will be doing the same thing. BBQ in the backyard is great with friends and family, no need to go to Vegas, Reno, Tahoe, Out of State, or any so called "fun" places it's all a matter of perspective right. Just pop open a bottle of wine or a bottle of beer and enjoy the sun ;)

Fight The Power!