Archives 2003
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YEAR 2003

Year 2003 has been quite a year!  To start off, the company I was working for got bought by bigger firm, which caused me to feel the 'pain' of being laid-off AGAIN, which wasn't as bad as I thought.  We traveled to a bunch of places this year as well, since I had so much vacation time available - France, Amsterdam, Kauai, Taiwan, Las Vegas, LA, and of course, a couple trips to Tahoe.  Among other changes, this year represents a big shift in my work status from being employee to self-employed.  Kinda scary but at the same time, it seems like the right thing to do.  You can read all about it in  'Shawn Speaks'

Click here for this year's 'Shawn Speaks!'. 

Year 2003 Photos
Dec 12, 2003 (Zipped Copy)

bulletBrian's 27th Birthday - A toast to Brian who was able to drink only 12 drinks to everyone who came to Bubble Lounge to wish him ...Happy Birthday!  Check out how Brian became more ...umm...sloppy as the night wore on!  
Much thanks to Ginger, Jeff, and Grace for taking these awesome pics!  For up-protected pics - click here.
Dec 6, 2003 (No Zips)

bulletTaste Test - Beef Stroganoff  - Another Taste Test by Shawn & Mags!  This time, I said that Hamburger Helpers (just add meat meals) can be just as good as any home-cooked meals and be done in less time!  Mags feels otherwise and so, we chose to do Beef Stroganoff since our intrepid test subjects would have the least amount of bias towards it.  
Much thanks to Henry, Tony, Jean, and David for helping us settle this debate!
Please click here for the FULL details on the test.
bulletTaste Test - Vanilla Ice-cream - Yes, on the same night, we did a blind taste test on which is the best vanilla ice-cream!  Before reading it, think to yourself and decide which how would you rank the following 5 brands in taste - Dreyers, Haagan Daaz, Good Day, Breyers, Ben & Jerrys.  Now, check out our results!
Thanks to Henry for administering this test!
Nov 27, 2003 (No Zips)

bulletThanksgiving Day 2003 - It was a busy Thanksgiving Day this year.  Thanksgiving lunch with Maggie's family - chinese-style turkey and assorted seafood dishes.  Then dinner at my aunt's place for a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner - Turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, and 4 different kind of desserts!  Then it's on to my friend Kevin's place for dessert.  HUGE eating day!  Time to work out now!  =)
Nov 26, 2003 (Zipped Copy)

bulletSan Francisco Auto Show - A huge collection of cars under one roof/street!  Every single make/model currently available on the market today!  Unfortunately , my camera ran out of batteries after only a hundred shots.  Oh I think Henry might have saw his future car!  (Mazda 3 or Subaru Forester?)
Nov 22, 2003 (Zipped Copy)

bulletFriendskit Thanksgiving & My b-day celebration - Another mouth-stuffing crazy-ass cooking, totally yummy Friendskit Thanksgiving!
A HUGE 22lb turkey, 15lbs of mashed potatoes, 5lbs of sweet yam, dozens of lemon bars, 9 cups of chinese oily rice, 6 loaves of bread, and a home-made 'Poo' birthday cake by Mags.  Everyone brought a ton of food and we stuffed ourselves silly!
Thanks to everyone who came and for those who couldn't make it, you missed out on some great food!  =)
Much thanks to Tony for taking so many pictures of my bright red face!
Nov 21, 2003 (No Zips)

bulletDell 19" LCD monitors - My first LCD monitor had to come in a set of 3!  Cost me a ton of $$$$, but when it's 'Buy 2, get 1 Free', you don't argue with that!  Finally, I get dual-monitor capability on my system!  =)
Nov 1, 2003 (Zipped Copy)

bulletCorn Maze - Wow, I didn't even know there was corn in Fremont, let alone a corn maze!  Pretty cool stuff, a 5-acre field of corn with a maze carved out of it and people haunting you.
Oct 31, 2003 (Zipped Copy)

bulletHalloween 2003 - Joined An at one of his friend's party in Japan Town in downtown SF.  Pretty cool costumes - Jean (bruised boxer), An (hairy hippie), Mags (Ms Martial Arts), Ginger (Sponge Bob), Marge (vampy witch), and the twin Deaths (Brian and Kevin).  
Oct 26, 2003 (No Zips)

bullet3rd Annual Pumpkin Carving - (Ginger's copy, Jim's copy) Another year of competitive fun with even more entries than last year!  Another awesome potluck with varieties such as drunken chicken, pumpkin pastries, fried rice, pies, etc. Similar to last year, my entry lost!!!  However, due to technical difficulties, the punishment was unable to be administered.  hehehe!  =)
Much thanks to Henry for volunteering his new townhouse for this event!
Pictures courtesy of Ginger and Jim.
Oct 13, 2003 (Zipped copy)

bulletBartending School - An intro course to bartending in SF.  A bunch of us got together to learn some basic vodka and gin drinks and how professionals make & remember them!
Oct 5, 2003 (Zipped Copy)

bulletBMW Driving School - A 2.5 hr course on how to drive a BMW 330i the proper way!  Mags got 'Most Improved' award by posting the 2nd fastest time around the track (for students) at 29.8 secs in a Z4.  I did it in 30.8 secs and Alex, Tony, and Sophia was close behind.  
Sept 28, 2003 (Zipped Copy)

bulletPhilip and Susie Wedding - After almost a decade, my college buddy Phil finally 'ties the knot' with Susie and Phil officially handed the ball & chain!  Nice, brief outdoor ceremony with a Chinese seafood banquet afterwards. 
One thing to note:  first time I'm a groomsman....it's not that stressful as people make it out to be!
Hey, doesn't Susie and Phil look great in their gown and tux?  =)
 Had to say that or Susie will kick my butt! haha!
Sept 16-21, 2003 (No Zips)

bulletFilm pics of Kauai - Here are 3 rolls of film from our waterproof cameras on our vacation to Kauai!  Lots of underwater shots, some good, some ok, some downright embarrassing!  Have fun browsing!
Sept 10-21, 2003 (No Zips)

bulletTaiwan-Kauai Vacation - It's time to visit my folks back in Taiwan and on the way back, Mags and I decided to swing by Kauai for some R&R.  
Taiwan was hot & humid, lots of awesome food and plenty of shopping.  We went during the Moon Festival, so there's some celebration going on.  Met some uncles, aunts, cousins, and nephews & nieces that I never knew I had!
Kauai is your ultimate activity island - kayaking, ATV riding, catamaran cruises, lots of snorkeling, laying around in the sun, plenty of sights to see, and of course, a great of food to eat!  We both got a good tan and some much-needed rest! 
Once again, there's audio, so you'll see duplicate pics.
Aug 29-30, 2003 (Zipped Copy)

bulletPhil's Bachelor Party in Vegas - An intensive 24 hours of fun in Vegas!!  Lots of gambling (craps, blackjack, pai-gow poker), posh accommodations, and a dazzling display of female bodies at the Sapphire Gentlemen's Club!  
Unfortunately, no pics of the inside of the club.  =(
Aug 23-25, 2003 (Zipped Copy)

bulletLA Trip:  Raging Waters - A 3-day trip w/Tony and Amelia to downtown LA where we went to the GM Auto Show to test-drive a bunch of cars, rollerbladed on Santa Monica Beach, and played in the water at Raging Waters!  Unfortunately, due to the bulk of my camera, there are no pics of the last two events.
Aug 16, 2003 (Zipped Copy)

bulletGrace and Susan's House Party - A pretty chill party at a really cool house in SF!  Nice variety of edibles, a plethora of jello shots, and of course, tons of alcohol to wash it all down!  
All pics courtesy of drunken Ginger!
Aug 9, 2003 (Zipped Copy)

bulletTony and Henry's Birthday - A crazy dinner at some Thai restaurant in SF where the waitress SCREAMS her orders and commands!  Then a round of drinks and dancing at the Dragon Bar.
Pics courtesy of Ginger.
Aug 2003

 
bulletVarious Scanned Pics - Below are some pictures from events earlier this year that I just got around to.
Boreal - New Years 2003
Sierra - Jan 13, 2003 
Alpine - Feb 2003
Aug 2, 2003 (Zipped Copy)

bulletMountain Biking at NorthStar - A weekend trip to Northstar and Reno.  The weather just didn't cooperate, raining on & off all day Saturday....BUT that didn't stop us from having a load of fun biking down black diamonds trails on rented full-suspension bikes!!  It was freezing cold, wet, muddy, slippery, and surprisingly, no one got hurt!  Northstar's accomodation seriously rocked given the price that we paid too!
July 5th, 2003 (Zipped Copy)

bulletAmelia & Linda's BBQ/Pool Party - A day of fun in the sun and by the pool in the Emerybay Apts!  Although no BBQ pics, there was a tremendous amount of food consumed such as 10lbs of kal bi, 10 oysters, chicken, watermelons, chips & dip, and of course, sushi rolls by Brian!  After the food, most people took a dip in the 'wading' pool and the spa.  Lots of great water action shots and blindingly WHITE skin!
All pics courtesy of Ginger!
July 4, 2003 (Zipped Copy)

bulletJuly 4th Celebration - A fun-filled trafficky day in Santa Cruz! We got there earlier this year, played on the beach, played some sand v-ball and had a fancy dinner on the pier.  Bought some 'sane & lame' fireworks to play with and we had a blast!  Then we ended the night with a little chat around our 'driftwood' bonfire.
Link to Brian's pics.
Pics courtesy of Ginger and Brian.
June 21, 2003

bulletLiz & James Wedding - a beautiful classic church wedding with an elegant luncheon afterwards.  Some unique touches are the bubbles (instead of rice), the Chinese tea ceremony, and the awesome Powerpoint presentation of their life together so far.  
Pics courtesy of Kevin, but unfortunately, these do not do the wedding justice.
June 6-8 - 2003 (Zipped Copy)

bulletSequoia Camping Trip - A 3-day camping trip to the land of big, ole' trees! In this land, everything comes in massive quantities - the trees, the food, the hike, and of course, the damn mosquitoes! Thanks to 'great' foresight on our part, we actually managed to run out of water during our 9+ mile hike from Sherman Grove -> Crescent Meadow -> Morro Rock and back!  =)
Thanks to Tony for organizing such an awesome event!  
Pics courtesy of Henry (HC) and Tony (TH) and me.  =)
May 31, 2003 (Zipped Copy)

bulletMoving Tony to PS - Out of the house and into the Matrix-like Personal Storage halls!  With 9 people helping Tony move, we loaded the rental van and moved him in one trip.  Afterwards, lunch at the Silver House for just rewards.  =)
May 10, 2003 (Zipped Copy)

bulletFirst BBQ at my place! - Ok, I couldn't think of a better title.  A impromptu get-together at my place for some tennis and rollerblading, then an evening of burgers, dogs, kabobs, pork cutlets, and shrimp!  Tried my hand at poker again, but got cleaned out this time!  =(
May 2, 2003 (Zipped Copy)

bulletCars and Poker - An interesting mix of new car and old car with a flat tire! Marge bought a new Subaru Forester for $700 under invoice!  In that same week, Amelia had a flat tire while on her way to my place to have dinner with us.  Mags cooked up two types of curry and we all played some poker afterwards.
April 19, 2003 (Zipped Copy)

bulletAmelia's 26th B-day Celebration - A full day of spending time with Amelia!  The day started at noon with a gathering in the park for some BBQ and a wide assortment of cookies, chips, kabobs, and drinks.   Entertainment included grass v-ball, basketball (Tony's got ruled both times!), a little catch with a football or baseball, and of course, just chilling with Amelia!  Dinner in Berkeley and karaoke followed later in the evening until 1:30am! (Pics courtesy of Mai and Alex)
April 12, 2003 (Zipped Copy)

bulletVan & David's Dinner Party - Van invited a small cadre to an intimate dinner party at her boyfriend's (David) apt in SF, so that he could meet us and vice versa.  David prepared some very tasty dip & guac and hummus, then served up a scrumptious 3-course meal of Mango salad, chicken & wild rice with scallops, and Mango Icee.   A few rounds of Scrabble-thing and Mafia rounded out a relaxing evening.
April 11, 2003 (Zipped Copy)

bulletPoker Nite - Another round of poker and fun at my place on a Friday nite.  Jeff, Mike, and Tony walked away with fairly equal amounts, while Dan T and I were the big losers!  Mags' spinach dip and chocolate cookies were a hit as well as Tony's pizzas to both the poker players and 'asshole' players!  Check out some of the cool videos of demeaning tasks the peons had to do.  =)
Mar 29, 2003 (Zipped Copy)

bulletBBQ at Christine & Jamin's - A relaxing evening of scrumptious food, competitive entertainment, and of course, wonderful company!  Crazy people played MJ until 2am, even though they had a 6am tee time (golf)!  Thanks to Christine & Jamin for a joyous evening! 
Mar 22, 2003 (Zipped Copy)

bulletNhieu & Jim's Housewarming - A little tour of Nhieu & Jim's humble abode in the little river-side town of Riverdeck in the city of Sunnyvale!  A whole bunch of eating bbq, desserts, bread & dip, and pie!  Of course, no party of Nhieu's is complete without a few rounds of Mafia, courtesy of Dictator Nhieu!  =)
Feb 14-24, 2003 (No ZIPs)

bulletEurope Trip to France - Our 10-day trip to Europe.  Due to the enormous amount of pictures and voice annotations that we took, I've dedicated an entire page to it.  
Please note:  In the pictures, you will see DOUBLES.  The second thumbnail is a voice annotation (ie. sound file) of the picture before it.  Best viewed with IE 6. 
Feb 7-9, 2003 (Zipped Copy)

bulletFriendskit Snow Trip to N. Tahoe - A nice leisurely snow trip to Tahoe.  Snowboarded/skied at Alpine Meadows, although the snow sucked, but we had a blast at the cabin where everyone pulled together to make dinner (and eat it!) and played some pretty LOUD games!  Pretty crazy, we squeezed 17 people into the 4-bd cabin!  Oh, lots of car pics, since we got bored on the long drive in our rental Explorer.
Additional ski pics - Alpine - Feb 2003
Feb 2, 2003 (Zipped Copy)

bulletGinger's 24th Surprise Birthday Party - A smashing success of a surprise as you can tell from Ginger's smiling face!  Awesome BBQ by Richard's friends along with awesome snacks and cake.  Here's a quote from Ginger - "Yes, this has made me very happy.  You guys are what I miss the most about CA."  Kinda touching, yet kinda fobby.  =) 
Pics courtesy of Hank, Liz, Jenny, and Kevin.
Feb 2, 2003 (Zipped Copy)

bulletBenny's 26th Birthday and Housewarming - It's my old college friend's birthday AND his housewarming!  The guy turns 26 and bought his first piece of real estate in a quiet suburban town of Fremont.  He has a real nice wood deck in the backyard where his bro Dave, who lives with him, flambe some chicken thighs for us.
Jan 19, 2003 (Zipped Copy)

bulletDrive to Mt. Hamilton - On a lazy Sunday afternoon, we decided to take a leisurely drive up to see Lick Observatory on Mt. Hamilton.  Since I drove the S2k, I had a great time carving up the narrow, tight mountain turns for over 20 miles!  However, Mags didn't feel so hot since she had to sit in the Protege!  =P
Pics courtesy of Hank.
Jan 12, 2003 (Zipped Copy)

bulletDay Trip to Sierra at Tahoe - A beautiful day to go boarding at Sierra!  Not too bright, not too cold, and everyone was on schedule!  10 of us crammed into two little SUV and had a blast snowboarding all over the mountain.  
Pics courtesy of Hank and Wayne
Additional pics - Sierra - Jan 13, 2003 
Jan 4th, 2003 (Zipped Copy)

bulletMaggie's 24th Birthday - A surprise birthday dinner cleverly disguised as a standard Poker Nite w/dinner!  Only thing different was Mags got presents!  We still played poker, so Mags wasn't the only winner that night!
Dec 31, 02-Jan 1st, 03  (Zipped Copy)

bulletNew Years 2003 in Reno - A wonderful day of snowboarding at Boreal, great buffets, gambling, and of course, New Year's celebration in the Biggest Little City in the USA!
Thanks to Jeff for making an awesome start to Year 2003!
Additional Scanned pics - Boreal - New Years 2003

Shawn Speaks! 2003

12/31/03 Last day of the year and my last chance to blab...until next year!  It's been a pretty decent year, a few new changes, still uncertain if it's for the better or the worse.  We'll see how it goes next year.  
Well, what happened over the last couple months?  Brian had birthday get-together (which included mostly girls!), Christmas with Mags family, food-filled Thanksgiving with friends and family, another Poker tourney (found a new game - no-limit hold-em), another taste test (this time with real test subjects!) and a pretty good birthday celebration.  
It's interesting.....even though I'm on the computer far more now, I seem to have less time to devote to updating my website.  Some dumb reason I keep forgetting.  Oh well!  OH!  Recently, I found out that companies like mine have some pretty big competition and that firms usually like to go with the bigger firms when they have a choice....something about breadth of experience and ability to get help from within.  I'll need to focus on selling my firm rather than myself in the future because I think I probably come off as pretty small-time, so it doesn't give bigger firms a good comfort level when trying to choose their IT provider.  
Well, Year 2003 is finally over and boy, did we have a start to Year 2004!  Please feel to ask Jeff or Henry, or Mags or An all about it.  
11/2/03 Oooops!  yeah, I'm late once again!  Much has happened in the last two months.  Went on a 10-day trip to Taiwan and stopped over in Kauai on the way back.  The trip was awesome!  Just what I needed to relax and get on track to working for myself.  What I found is that it is quite different to work for an employer and being self-employed.  There's more to worry about like insurances, cash flow, accounting, customer service, and trying to sell yourself.  But I think the biggest change is that there is NO backup person to fall back on.  In a company, there's always someone that you can turn to for advice or assistance whether it's your boss or a colleague, but there's no one when you're self-employed.  Yeah, you have public assistance and other stuff, but you can't just push your mess to some other dept or person.  Other than that realization, being self-employed has a lot of perks - flex hours, no commute, save on lunches, lots or write-offs, and of course, time with my babes!  
Anyways, Sept turned out to be a traveling month for me and Mags and Oct turned out to be the exact opposite.  Didn't go anywhere this month, just worked from home during the week and stayed in the Bay Area during the weekends.  Poker seem to be the game of the month as evidenced by 3 consecutive weekends of poker until 4am!  Man, I am losing my ass!  Oh well, hopefully, my luck in business is better than my luck in poker!  =)
9/5/03 Well, I'm a little late, but I have good reason.  I got laid-off from my last job due to merger-related cost cutting!  =(  So, I've been trying to sustain myself on my consulting business.  Don't feel bad, it's not as bad as it looks!  Got 4 months severance and health benefits through the end of the year.  Wow....it's been almost a month since my layoff....Aug 12.  Funny thing is that this is the 2nd time I got laid-off and by the SAME boss!  Kinda funny, eh?  
On other news, I'm now a MCSE 2000 (Microsoft Certified Peon), courtesy of my last job.  Still trying to see if I should try to get my MCDBA (just one more test!).  Besides studying and working for myself, I've been going on a couple weekend getaways to LA and Las Vegas.  Still to come is my trip is a 10-day trip to Taiwan and Hawaii.  Kinda short, but hey, I thought I still had a job to worry about when I scheduled this!  
You know, working from home is pretty relaxing....hopfeully, I can get enough clients to keep this up!  =)
7/25/03 Dude!  Check it out.....exactly one month from last time!  Perfect timing, I think, but that's just pure coincidence that I have time to write today.
Anyways, it's been a pretty packed month - finished a major project, passed my 6th (of 7) test for MCSE, and had a fun time at the beach. Yeah, month is kinda lacking in pictures, but that's because of dumb ol' me for forgetting the camera.  I think I need to buy another camera, something smaller and easier to carry around.  But I bet if I tried to buy one, Mags will get mad at me, so I guess I'll wait to see how things pan out at work first before purchasing a 'capital' good.  =)
Man, I think I'll dedicate the next month to working out and trimming some fat, so that when I go to Hawaii, I don't scrap my fat on the corals when snorkeling!  hehehe!  Let's see, what else is there?  Hmmm.....not much, just usual work stuff....oh wait...mountain biking next weekend!  Whooee!  
6/25/03 Ok ok....I know.....I'm way behind, but I have good reason.  It's been a pretty hectic last few weeks, although my picture album probably doesn't reflect it.
Well, I'm now a Microsoft Certified System Admin (MCSA....like I didn't know that already!  hehe!)  Two more tests and I'm done with MCSE.  Yup, that's three tests since the last time I blabbed, which accounted for three of my precious weekends!  (C'mon, you only get 52 a year!) Anyways, in case you're wondering why, here's why:
- I usually take the test on a Monday, so I take that day and the previous Friday off to study.
-  I never study before-hand, which means, I have to cram all sorts of Microsoft facts & stuff them into my head by Monday.  I usually use Transcender practice exams and Microsoft Press books (I figured, they wrote the test, why not?)
So far, that regime has worked out for me, but the next two tests will be pretty tough, I think.  Well, besides studying, I've gone camping with a bunch of friends in the Seqiouas National Park.  Man, the mosquitoes are swarming there, but it was quite comfy in our big ole' tent and an AIR BED!  hehehe!  I also went to my first wedding in years, but I have a feeling that this is just the beginning of much much more.  Must be coming to that stage of my life....weddings, proposals, weddings, and most likely, thereafter, kids.  Oh well!  And lastly, I think I finally figured out what line of business NetworkSetup will be.  Check out the website and see for yourself.  And that's it....well, almost....except for the bunch of 'friendship' issues that's been going lately.  Dude, things would be so much easier if people could just learn to communicate properly and respectfully!  
5/6/03 ok, it's only been 3 weeks, but I figured that since I have some time today, I might as well do some writing.
Well, not much have happened in the past month or so.  Just another poker nite, passed another MS exam, washed the cars, and just pretty much relaxing.  It's been quiet month. Everyone is kinda doing their own thing, not to mention it's been raining a lot, so that kind of puts a damper on things.  Other than that, I've been just watching a lot of DVDs, finished Robotech, which sucked at the end because almost everyone died.    Well, that's it for now.
4/13/03 Dang, another month has passed!  Time flies when you're really busy and this past month has been busy for me!
NetworkSetup has been been keeping me busy, along with an increase workload at work.  Two weekends ago, I crammed all weekend for the Windows 2000 Server test and now I'm finally officially certified as a Microsoft Certified Professional!  (uh..yippee?) I had to do that because work wants us to be certified, but at least they pay for the tests!  Another interesting thing to note this past month was that I re-visited a few old friends - Van and Christine.  Haven't seen either of them for about a year until just recently.  Besides that, I've been feeling a little bit lazy and fat because Maggie has been baking up a storm of desserts like chocolate chip cookies, coconut shortbread things, little cupcakes, and a whole bunch of other stuff that I can't remember I ate.  Oh, Sean and I are hooked on Robotech ....been watching the cartoon series for what seems like forever, trying to finish it!  Well, that's it.....until next month!
3/7/03 Wooh!  It's been almost two months since I've updated this section!  Lots of stuff going on in Feb.  We had a Friendskit snow trip to Tahoe and a few of us took a 10-day vacation in Europe.  With all the planning and fun, I forgot to update 'Shawn Speaks!'
Anyways, a new enhancement has been added to the site.  No longer will you have to have an email program to send me emails, you can just fill out the form here. Also, my home page has been modified to include upcoming and recent events as well embedding the random job section in there as well, courtesy of Maggie!  I learned a valuable lesson on using DFS as well this past weekend.  Changing hard drives without taking the share offline first is bad, but at least that's over with now.  Another thing that I've been working on is trying to find a digital photo program to manage my pictures and voice annotations.  It seems that many photo organizational applications don't support the .wav files and it's really pissing me off!  I mean, digital cameras have had that feature for several years now and there's still NO program that adequately handle it?  Oh well, I'll just have to make do with ACDSee 5.  
1/16/03 Ok, I'm a little off this month, but better a little late than never, right?  Anyways, I finished archiving all 2002 pics into the Photo Archives along with last year's BLABs.
So far, this year has been pretty slow.  Not much new pics posted yet, but there will be definitely more to come.  In other news, my company got bought by bigger competitor this month, but that's it until the deal is fully closed.  Other than that, I can't wait to do my taxes because of all the new tax laws which could possibly benefit me....waiting to file for that big tax return!  =)  Well, chat you next month!