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YEAR 2004

Year 2004 was another great year!  Many pictures were taken, over 6,000 this year in 64 seperate events!  There was a bunch of 'FIRST' this year like First round of golf, first casino poker tourney, first time winning any poker tourney, first Valentine in Napa, first Tahoe/Vegas dedicated for just gambling, first Christmas away from SF area, first visit to Southeast Pacific countries, first opera in the park, and many other items.  It was a good year, had lots of fun, not too much pain and my business grew quite a bit.  What more can one ask for?  =)

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

Year 2004 Photos
Dec 23-36, 2004

bulletChristmas 2004 in Tahoe - We went to South Lake Tahoe with Jean & company for this Christmas.  Most of them snowboarded/skied on Friday (Heavenly) and Saturday (Kirkwood), while I played poker all day Saturday.  It was fun and relaxing especially after a particularly rough month of work.   Too bad we missed out on great by only hours!!
This event is not password-protected.
Dec 18, 2004

bulletFriendskit Christmas 2004 - Holiday pot-luck and a White Elephant Gift Exchange at our place!  The food was interesting this time as there was plenty of side dishes, but hardly any entrees!  Fourteen people participated in the gift exchange this year and everyone walked away with something unexpected.  =)  As usual, we played poker afterwards with Diana coming in from behind to be the big winner!
Dec 12, 2004

bulletPoker Tournament 2004 - Henry held his semi-annual poker tourney at his place.  20 players showed up and cashed in $10 for $1000 worth of chips plus $2 re-buy for another $1000. Tony was one of the first to be out and final five consisted of Ginger, Jim, me, Henry, and David. A couple miracle hands lands me the tournament!!  YAY!!
Link to Henry's page for more photos.
Dec 8, 2004

bulletTony's Nasty Fall - While playing volleyball at Milpitas Rec center, Tony went up for a block and landed on someone's foot, twisting his ankle and dislocating it.  Check out the pictures from this camera-phone to see how nasty it looked!  (you're lucky, this isn't 'smell-a-webpage')  hehehe!
Dec 3, 2004

bulletBrian's Birthday - A nice outdoor dinner in the cold of winter followed by some dancing at the dance floor at Club Rouge.  Brian can't say no to girls, so he ended up pretty smashed within the first hour he was there.  Anyways, Happy Birthday, Brian!
Nov 25-28, 2004

bulletThanksgiving 2004 - My Family gathered at my aunt's place in the Bay Area this year to celebrate Thanksgiving.  There was a ton of food, mixed Chinese (stir-fry, soup, etc) and traditional American food (ham, cakes, etc).  My cousins hung out at my place most of the time playing PS2, cards, watched movies, and other stuff.  
Nov 20, 2004

bulletFriendskit Thanksgiving - Thanksgiving dinner with friends around the Bay Area before everyone heads home to their family.  Like last year, Maggie combo'ed the dinner with my birthday.  She made an ice-cream cake for me this year!  As usual, lots of great food and like Henry's birthday, poker w/shot chips.  Don't think I did too well in poker, but it was fun!
Oct 29, 2004

bulletHalloween Fun - Friday Nite of Halloween weekend, we went up to SF to go clubbing and to check out the costumes.  On the same day, however, our new laptops came in, so we included pictures of those as well.  Mags got me liquored up before we went, so things were actually pretty fun!
Oct 23, 2004

bullet4th Annual Pumpkin Carving Contest - This time Kevin volunteered his place to be buried in pumpkin goo and smelling like burnt pumpkin.  As usual, we had a nice little potluck which included some pretty interesting food.  While we were eating, Henry, Jim and I decided on what the punishment should be and I went around and 'sold' the idea to everyone.  Some people backed out after hearing about the 'horrific' punishment, but it was still fun!
Oct 8-10, 2004

bulletLas Vegas trip - A gambling trip to Las Vegas with my friends, Ted, Yuji and Makoto , where we played $2 dollar craps w/100X odds, 4-8 Hold-em poker, $0.25 roulette, blackjack, casino war, switch-em blackjack, and even sports bets!  Even though I lost money, I had some good ups.  Won a 3-game parlay on Sunday football, put (2) $5 chips on two numbers on roulette and actually got a number, and pulling a couple good bluffs in poker.   Most pics are of Ted's friend's wedding though which is why we're there...to keep him company!  =)
Sept 20 - Oct 3, 2004

bulletSoutheast Asia Tour - Phil, Susie, Maggie and I went on a 10-day Southeast Asia tour through Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore with a stop-over in Taiwan to visit my mom.  Since there's so much picture, I split up the albums by country.
As usual, due to the large number of pictures, a script error might pop up, just say no.

Thailand (Sept 20-25) - Flew into Bangkok, went to Pattaya, back to Bangkok, saw lots of wild animals and petted some.  Fun place, highly recommend it for a vacation.   See captions for more details.

Malaysia (Sept 25-28) - Flew from Bangkok to Kuala Lumpar.  Sleazy tour guide, people trying to rip us off and crazy casino.  Don't recommend for a vacation.  

Singapore (Sept 28-29) - Drove from Malaysia into Singapore.  Small city-state, saw most of the sights in one day.  Nice, clean, very American-like.  Personally, I think we should came here first, then end in Thailand.

Taiwan (Sept 29-Oct3) - We had a stop-over in Taiwan to visit family.  Phil & Susie was forced to stay over one night, then flew back on the 30th.  Mags and I visited Hualien, ate lots of great & cheap food, and relaxed.
Sept 18, 2004

bulletSean & Melissa's reception - Sean finally got hitched and has a second (casual) reception in LA for his family and friends here who couldn't make it to Virginia for his wedding there.  We chilled, drank boba, and checked out woman's underwear.  =)
Sept 12, 2004

bulletSF Opera in the Park - On a nice Sunday morning, Maggie woke me up early (~10am) and dragged me to SF to picnic in Golden Gate Park and listen to Opera in the Park.   We dined on hot & spicy KFC meal while listening to people screaming their heads off, while being attacked by spiders and smelling like dog shit because I stepped in some on my walk through the park.  But, it was still a fun and relaxing Sunday.  =)
Sept 5, 2004

bulletBrian's Fajita Nite - One of Brian's trademark evenings.  A night of eating on Brian's cuisine!  This time, it's fajitas with a ton of steak, chicken and shrimp for meats, with 2 different types of beans, corn thing, and probably a ton of other items that I'm forgetting.   Thanks again to Brian for a great meal!
Sept 5, 2004

bulletVisiting Coit Tower - On Labor Day weekend, we visited Coit Tower in San Francisco for the first time with Maggie's family.  Impressive view, interesting history, and one long-ass walk!  
Sept 4, 2004

bulletPolk car speakers - I learned a tough lesson today.  Installing component speakers in your car's factory location is really really difficult!  The tough part is not what you might think either. Taking apart the car, mounting the speakers in factory locations was no problem, but trying either pull new speaker wire or trying to figure out how to splice out the old cross-over is f*cking near impossible!  So, after attempting this for 6 hours, I did what any pissed-off, sweaty, tired person would.....I paid someone else to do it for me!  =) 
Aug 27, 2004

bulletGM Autoshow & Pier 39 - Picked up Daniel who's car-less in the Bay Area and we went to GM's AutoShow-in-Motion, where you test drive all sorts of GM cars and its competitors for FREE!  Among the more infamous models are the Hummer H2, the Corvette Z06 (stick and damn fast!), and the 350Z (we didn't drive but some guy did a couple 360's in it).  Great show, though it was super-hot, but we got free food and drinks, which was nice. Afterwards, since we were in Alameda, we dropped by SF's Pier 39 for some fresh seafood before playing some billiards. 
Aug 21, 2004

bulletVball/BBQ/Poker - An all-day get-together in our neighborhood to break-in Tony's brand-new volleyball net (which lacks boundary ropes!), have a BBQ (to try Linda's Korean Spicy pork and Mags Kalbi), and of course, to play some poker!  11 people started the game, but after 5 hours of play, only 4 people ended in the money.  Congrats to Dave for the being the big winner!  Also, thank you to everyone who helped with food prep & cleaning!
Aug 13-15, 2004

bulletLassen National Park Camping Trip - Our annual summer outing this year is a camping trip to Lassen Volcanic Park for 3 days.  In case you're wondering, Lassen is about a 4-hr drive north of SF.  Trip was a HUGE success, lots of fun and great planning by Tony!  Due to the huge amount of pictures from people (David, Rich, Ginger, Tony, Kevin, and me), I've split up this trip by days.

Friday - Alex, Sophia, and Kevin arrived early to claim campsites and most of arrived around 3pm.  Went on a 3-mile hike to Mill Creek Fall and had Korean BBQ and salmon and veggies for dinner. Late car arrived around midnight.

Saturday - Brian's car got in early.  Group split up:  Lassen Peak hike, Bumpass Hell hike, and no hike!  Everyone converged on Summit Lake afterwards for a dip (& cleaning!).  Dinner consisted of hot wings, ribeye steak, and pork chops!  (Script on this page will run slow)

Sunday - Got up late, packed-up and left by around 11:30am.  2 cars stayed a little longer to check out the rest of the park by car. 

PS:  Couldn't resist the last picture! It's the only one of its kind in the entire collection! =)
Aug 7, 2004

bulletHenry's 26th Birthday Party - Henry's girlfriend, Diana, planned a nice surprise birthday party at my place in honor of Henry's 26th Birthday.  Since Henry is getting old, we had a nice quiet evening playing hold-em poker with SHOT CHIPS!  Don't think Henry is used to playing with that kind of stakes as he tell us afterwards in the backyard and in the bathroom!  =) 
July 31, 2004

bulletNancy & Jerry's Wedding - Maggie's friend, Nancy got hitched with her long-time boyfriend.  A nice wedding at a local winery (Clos de la Chance) with food by Le Papillon.  Great appetizers - tuna tar-tar, pate on crackers, foie gras, and a couple of other items.  Dinner was very tasty as well.  Anyways, Congrats, Nancy & Jerry!
July 29, 2004

bulletNew Kitchen Faucet - On a rather un-eventful Thursday evening, Mags decided it's time to change the kitchen sink a $55 version she got from Costco.  After pulling out the dirty, mildewy, rusty old faucet, the new one went in without a hitch.  Only problem is that the new faucet didn't seem to be much higher than the old one.
July 24, 2004

bulletArroyo Seca River Hike - A rather interesting hike through a river near Salinas, CA.  We started around noon and hiked from the parking lot to a deep freshwater lagoon and a private cove w/waterfall where we dined on expensive deli meats, pate, sliced baquette, and other snazzy food which managed to stay dry during this very wet hike!
July 13-20, 2004

bulletSteak Test and other food - A side-by-side comparison of ribeye and filet mignon w/mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables.  With this test, I find that I like ribeye more than filet mignon.  Other pics include Dan's peach cobbler, pesto pasta, and other dessert.
July 16-18, 2004

bulletEric's Bachelor Party - We headed to San Diego to celebrate Eric's last days as a bona-fide bachelor, although technically he hasn't been for while.  =)  Went to Sycuran Casino and Singing Hills Golf Resort to play a round of golf and gamble for three straight days!  
We played in two poker (Hold-em) tournaments and Philip won the Sunday morning tourney!  Awesome way to end our weekend getaway!
July 10, 2004

bulletMag's Friends after Raging Waters - After a rather nice day at Raging Waters, short lines, nice weather, we stopped by Pizza Hut and grabbed 3 larges to chow down on!  Here are some pics of that yummy meal!  (Food tastes sooo good after a day in the sun!)
June 18-22, 2004 (No Zips)

bulletPamela's Graduation and Vegas Trip - Went to LA to see my sister graduate from UC Irvine.  After a whirlwind of visits to old family friends and relatives, we took off to Vegas for some R&R.  Ended up losing, but what did we really expect, right?  Stayed at Bally's and ate at Vegas Chinatown and the Paris buffet.  Otherwise, it was pretty relaxing, except for the long drive back home!
June 5-12, 2004 (No Zips)

bulletChicago/Wisconsin Trip - Took a week-long vacation to visit the Mid-West!  Never been there before and we thought it would be a great opportunity to check it out while we have Milly & Jay as our tour guide.  =)  Checked out most of downtown Chicago, then went to Wisonsin Dells passing through Milwaukee, came back through Madison, visited a bunch of tourist traps and two museums.  Ate lots of Chicago-style deep-dish pizza from different places, checked out their hot dogs, and even had a really really expensive dessert tasting at Tru (some classy restaurant).
Over 600 pics, pictures will take some time to load.
May 31, 2004

bulletMemorial Day BBQ/Picnic - A bunch of us drove out to the East Bay (Dublin) to enjoy an afternoon in the sun and each other's company. We couldn't have asked for a better day!  It was warm, but not too hot with partly cloudy skies and even when it was sunny, Jim's canopy saved the day by providing some much-needed shade!  A ton of grill-able food including some delicious chicken and yummy kalbi!  A few games of sand volleyball allowed us to work off all the food we ate.
May 23, 2004

bulletAlex and Sophia's Wedding - We drove all the way to the middle of nowhere in Central Valley to celebrate Alex and Sophia's union as husband and wife in front of all their family and friends.  Notice Sophia changed in the middle of the reception!  Tony needs to practice is Wushu (and his speeches!) some more, but hey it was all in good fun!
**Notice: new format includes slideshow option, captions and filmstrip (thumbnail) view on left side.  Pix are reduced to 640x480**
May 9, 2004 (No Zips)



bulletMother's Day 2004 - For Mother's Day this year, my bro & I sent Mom a 'care package' of lotions.  Mags, on the other hand, gave her mom the gift of food in the form of a 6-course meal!
Course #1 - Superior broth soup w/fresh shrimp
Course #2 - Prawns in sweet Chili sauce
Course #3 - Ants climbing on tree
Course #4 - Red-roasted pork shoulder w/bok choy
Course #5 - On Choy w/garlic
Course #6 - Lemon Bavarois w/raspberry sauce
All courses was "very delicious"!
May 2, 2004 (Zipped Copy)

bulletCinco De Mayo BBQ & Poker - A leisurely BBQ on a warm Sunday afternoon at my place!  In celebrating Cinco De Mayo, we busted out fajitas w/the works, fish tacos, and of course, tequila shots!  Among other items, there were fruit salad, strawberry aqua frescas, sangria, chicken w/rice, tapas, and strawberry shortcake for dessert!  Once again, poker was enjoyable as usual and no real big winner this time.
April 24, 2004 (Zipped Copy)

bulletCherry Blossom Festival - A yearly festival held in JapanTown in San Francisco.  Lots of the different booths - cultural & cuisines.  The shows were a little disappointing, but the food more than made up for it.  Afterwards, we went to ChaChaCha in Haight for some Caribbean Tapas and then headed to a local bar down the street where Mark got a little drunk.  =)
April 23, 2004 (Zipped Copy)

bulletBay Meadows Horse Races - A nite of $1 hot dogs, $1 sodas and $2 beers at the race track!  Finally learned how to bet on horse races and the odds associated to it.  Won 2 out of 6 races and I think I'm hooked!  Thanks for Jean for putting it together and we had lots of fun placing our bets!
April 22, 2004 (Zipped Copy)

bulletAN COOKS! - An actually cooked corned beef and steamed vegetables!  It was actually edible! HAHAHA!  Actually, it was quite good considering I never had corned beef before.  The dessert was made and plated by Mags though....come on, you didn't really think An could do that!  =)
April 17, 2004 (Zipped Copy)

bulletNike Golf Day at Tilden Park - Finally some direction/instruction on my putting!  The lot of us (Grace, Dan, Tony, Mags, Chason, Rose, Linda) had lots of fun learning how to putt and how to properly hold a golf club.  A few of us even signed up for lessons at a discount rate!  Mags won a raffle prize and got a golf glove!
April 9, 2004 (No Zips)

bulletCrepes Nite - Got bored one night and decided to try my hand at making crepes.  We had zucchini cheese and mushroom crepes, strawberry and vanilla ice cream, strawberry and banana, honey and sugar, and I think that's it.  I found that a crepe is pretty easy to make as long as you don't use any oil on the pan and set it to medium heat.  You learn these things after you mess up several times!  =)
March 28, 2004 (No Zips)

bulletDriving Range Pleasanton - Another session at practicing my golf swing at the driving range.  Linda, Kevin, Mags, my sis's friend, and my bro & sis went with me.  Not sure if my swing is any better, but I can consistently hit about 90 yards with a 7 iron.  Check out the burst shots of everyone's swings!
March 21, 2004 (Zipped Copy)

bulletAlex's Birthday BBQ - What's great way to follow up a nice sunday drive?  A BBQ!!  An afternoon bbq at Alex's place to celebrate his birthday.  Lots and lots of food - salmon, burgers, sausage, 2 types of chicken, almond cake, brussel sprouts, and a ton of other bbq items.  
March 21, 2004 (Zipped Copy)

bulletMT Diablo Drive - A not-so-early Sunday morning drive to Mt Diablo from Walnut Creek to Livermore.  A bunch of people were able to show up, so we had 7 cars total.  It was a beautiful day for a drive and interestingly enough, all the cars kept up except for one (guess who!).  Oh, once again, we got stopped by cops because other people who can't drive were scared by our driving, so they complained.  
Select un-protected pictures are on Checkauto.
March 20, 2004 (Zipped Copy)

bulletPaintball at Santa Clara Paintball - Charlotte organized a paintball trip to Santa Clara Paintball and over 25 people showed up!  It was a beautiful day to play and the company was great!  Though all the fields were speedball-types, we still had a lot of fun shooting each other.  Lots of videos by Mags, so make sure you have a Quicktime plugin. 
For un-protected photos, please give this link http://www.checkauto.com/photos/paintball-sj/
March 14, 2004 (No Zips)

bulletSunday Fun - A visit to the Farmer's Market on Santana Row netted us a crappy crepe, a huge bear claw, 2 pomellos, and very fresh asparagus.  Afterwards, we headed over to the Tech Museum in San Jose for their monthly FREE 2nd Sunday admission prices!  (courtesy of the B-List)  A relaxing, easy Sunday stroll through museum showed that a lot of people bring their kids when there's free admission.  =)
March 13, 2004 (Zipped Copy)

bulletHail and Golfing - Yeah, I bet you never thought you'll see that in that same caption (or at least not on my website!).  Anyways, it hailed here for the first time in 3 years and I went golfing at the driving range for the first time in 9 years.  Both activities were pretty interesting.  Check out the speed-burst shots on our golf swings for Linda, Tony, Mags, and I.
Feb 15, 2004 (Zipped Copy)

bulletDim sum at Koi Palace - After an exhausting Valentine's Day, a bunch of us decided to get together and relax over a cup of tea and some food at Koi Palace!  Actually, it turned out to be not so relaxing...lots of waiting, trying to get service and food, etc, BUT the food was worth it!  Definitely unique in some ways and quite tasty and the price wasn't too bad.
Feb 14, 2004 (No Zips)

bulletValentine's Day - A day of romantic (and expensive!) fun with my little babes!  My friend Yuji came to visit with his friend, Pei, who has never been wine-tasting, so up we went on Feb 14.  Went to a couple wineries, tasted their food (not wine!) and headed to Hilltop Cafe in Novato for dinner.  Afterwards, we stopped by Ghiradelli Square for some ice-cream dessert before returning home, fully fattened by all the food we ate!
Feb 6-8, 2004 (Zipped Copy)

bulletFriendskit Ski Trip - Our annual ski trip this exploded from under 10 interested parties to over 20 people!  However, like they say, the more, the merrier!  
Compared to last year, we totally lucked out this year!  It snowed on Friday night and we went to Kirkwood the next day...over 6in had fallen overnight!!  Beautiful snowboarding weather, SOOO much powder!  This year, we got a hot tub which 10 of us soaked in after a day of boarding, then we all went to Waterwheel for sushi-eating FRENZY!  Casinos weren't very nice to us this time, so we played poker in the cabin until 4am!  Some die-hard people went boarding a 2nd day, while the rest of us went to the casino's to win our money back.  
Pictures courtesy of Ginger, Kevin, and me!  For Jim's pix, please click here. 
Jan 31, 2004 (Zipped Copy)

bulletGinger's 25th Birthday - A birthday celebration, 20's style!  A night of murder/mystery with Ginger being the hostess of the night as the Madame opening her newest brothel.  Most people came dressed to their part with some even going as far as renting their outfits or digging through Goodwill!  In all, a wonderful evening with lots of food and people!
 Ginger loved her outfit, her presents, and the company - click here for her pics.
Jan 4, 2004 - (Zipped Copy)

bulletMag's Surprise Brunch & Karting - An unexpected surprise brunch at Stacks in Redwood City in honor of Mags birthday where almost everyone showed up!  Mags was totally surprised and had NO clue whatsoever that the brunch was for her!  Yay, no one leaked! 
We followed up with Poker and Sex & the City while waiting for our track time at Lemans Karting for a 30-min session of kart racing.  Check out the full suits, helmets, and neck brace!    The last pix is the rankings for our 20-min sprint competition - I got the fastest lap, but I was in 2nd place most of the time.
Dec 31, 03 - Jan 01, 04 (Zipped Copy)

bulletNew Years 2004 - It's Mags pseudo-surprise Birthday celebration at Macroni Grill followed by a New Years celebration in downtown San Francisco where we viewed the fireworks from the 22nd floor right by the Bay Bridge!  As you can tell from pics, the view from the balcony is un-matched from anywhere else I've been!  Wonderful company, beautiful view, and we rescued two damsels in distress, what more can you ask for?  (See pics #99 and 101)

Shawn Speaks! 2004

12/29/04 Well, it's almost the end of the year, so I figure I better update this now or else I won't have any more time this year!  
Man, I just looked at my last few entries and it looks I have really been slacking on this!!  Well, the good news is that we were able to land two new clients this month which is truly awesome!  All the hard work last month was not for nothing after all!  In the meantime, I hired someone full-time, not just part-time to help me with my business.  Hopefully, it'll just snowball from here!  hehehe!
We managed to get our first snowboarding trip in and actually did something different for Christmas. I tried my hand at no-limit poker and man, what a rush!!  You can be up $200 and in one hand, be down $100!!  And the beauty is that you're playing against the house, but against other players!  I was doing ok, but in one hand, I made a bad read and took my chips all-in when I shouldn't have and got creamed.  Oh well, you live and learn, right?

This year has been quite interesting.  My first full year working for myself, hiring my first full-time employee, gambled almost every month, went to a couple weddings, tried golfing, and seeing the group of friends I hang out with change.  I also saw all of my family and some of my extended family this year, some of them I haven't seen for over a decade!  In conclusion, it has been a good year and I hope 2005 will be even better.  Happy New Year and best wishes to all who read this!!
11/19/04 Holy cow!  I just realized that I haven't updated this in almost 3 months!  Man, it's been a hectic past 3 months.  Trying to increase sales for my company, re-signing existing clients, working on existing issues, going on vacation, and all that stuff.  Over the last three months, I went traveling to Asia, visited 4 countries (Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan), went to Las Vegas and Los Angeles, and basically, I'm all travelled out!  Not many new pics this past few months, because I hardly had time to do anything but work.  You might say that's a good time, but trust me, I haven't seen any $$$ from the work yet.  It's all just 'potentials'!  Hopefully, with some luck, loose pockets, and some smooth-talking, we can land a couple of new clients in December.  This way, all my hard work will not be for nothing.  
I don't really have much to say tonight except that for some reason, my spirits are in a slump lately and hopefully, it'll pick back up soon.  This probably has something to do with me losing a client this past week and potential losing another.  Kinda bummed.  Oh well, you win some, you lose some!  Hopefully, I remember to update this by year-end, so we can close out this year on a happy note!  =)
8/22/04 It's not quite a month, but I had some free time today, so I figured I'll update my website and put up all the pictures that we took from our summer camping trip to Lassen.  Man, my summer is flying by really fast!  I have no idea where all the time went!  Guess being busy with work really just makes time go by really quick!  Speaking of work, I think I've come to the conclusion that summer times are my busy times and I should no longer have summer vacations but have fall/winter vacations.    At least, that's what it seems like!  Picked up a new client this month and everything is running pretty smoothly, but it's probably going to be a good time to look into some kind of expansion soon.  
On another note, it's been a little over a year since I left my last job and I must say, it has been quite interesting to be working for oneself rather than for others.  I think I really need to be able to 'read' people better, so that I know how to 'sell' my services, but other than that, selling is actually that funniest part!  I guess it's the thrill of following up each new lead, hoping it would turn out to be another long-term deal, which essentially is like giving myself a raise with each new client.  It's different than having to ask for a raise or working your ass off hoping for a raise in the future.  This is actually working for that 'raise'.  If I do a good job, I close a deal and get a 'raise' or 'bonus'.  If not, I know it was me and not someone else deciding for me that I should or should not get the extra money.  Feels rather good, I must say....=)
7/29/04 Ok, it's been a rather busy summer, especially June.  We traveled all over, visiting Chicago and Wisconsin for a week, went to LA for my sis, Las Vegas, and I think that's it.  But still, that's a lot of traveling in one month!  Totally tired of traveling, but in July, I went to San Diego for a friend's bachelor party and had lots of fun!  I played my first round of 18-hole golf and actually hit PAR on a Par 5 and a Par 3!  July 4th this year didn't go as planned, but next year, it will be much better!  Stupid fog!
What else.....work has kept me busy and I think I'm ready for another vacation!  Otherwise, I was actually surprised to find out that it is already the end of July!  Can't really figure out what happened to July.....seems like yesterday I was looking for parking in SF for the fireworks and now it's the end of the month.   Well, that's it, just the same ole, same ole!
6/3/04 Well, I've upgraded my photo organization application, so all future albums will have a 'filmstrip' on the left side with the main picture (640x480) in main frame with captions and navigation buttons including a slideshow feature.  Some people might experience some partial download issues, but unfortunately there's not much I can do as everything is auto-generated.  
Anyways, it's been hectic month of May!  Unfortunately, it was not in a 'fun way' as it mostly involved much heartache and pain as I learned the hard way on how to recover a downed server after I demolished it accidentally.  That occupied a good half of the month and yet, that server will never be the same.  
On happier notes, there was a lot of cooking involved this month including two BBQs, a Mother's Day chinese gourmet meal, and basically, a lot of munching.  Also, I finally signed up for Voice over IP phone service and I'm happy to report that the service is all it is advertised to be.  It's relatively inexpensive, user-friendly, and efficient.  As for golf, I haven't had a chance to play this month and it doesn't look too good this coming month either.  Oh well...maybe July?
4/27/04 Ok, so I'm a little late again, but I have good reason to be!  It's been actually a pretty hectic month for me and company.  A bunch of sales calls have running around a lot in addition to 'spring cleaning and upgrades' from existing clients.  Recently, I started picking up golf a bit...just hitting around the driving range and seeing if I really want to pick up this expensive sport.  I relate it to snowboarding....a set of golf clubs will cost around $500 and each round of 18-hole golf will cost about $50-70 depending on which resort you go to.  Both offer several hours of fun with either a fast run or a few good strokes, and then downtime walking to the next hole or waiting in line to back up the life.  I figure I already have one expensive sport, should I be picking up another?  I'll let you know how what's decided next time.
In other news, I think I'll have to give up on Friendskit as it is project way beyond the scope of my abilities and means.  It sucks, but what can I say.....I'm just not up to it.  
3/15/04 Man, am I bummed!  WTF!?!!?!?  Next time I get a good idea, I'm going to write it down, expand on it, and actually DO IT ASAP!  I had an idea called FriendsKIT, a type of social networking idea back in 2001, but I did nothing.  When Friendster came out, it wasn't quite the same thing, but I should have done something, but I didn't.  Now, there are like 10 different types of social networking companies out there, but none with critical mass.  I should have just gone ahead with my idea and get a head start, but now I'm about 2 million members behind the leader.  This truly sucks.  It seems that I couldn't catch a break even when it was lodged deeply in my head. 
On another note, our Feb snow trip was a blast and I had the chance to go up to Sugar Bowl for a day-trip with awesome powder runs.  We also picked up drop-in volleyball on either Mon or Wed at a local recreation center, which is pretty entertaining.   Had our first spring BBQ along with a poker game afterwards.  Dude, I almost forgot how to start the charcoal grill!  Took about about 20 min to wash the grill and another hour to start it!  Oh well, you know how it is, kinda get rusty if you do it often.  Luckily, in all my haste, I forgot to take pics, so there's not much evidence of my incompetence!  hehehe!  Well, that's it, chat you next month.
2/11/04 Not bad, eh?  Just a little over a month, but since I was posting some pics up today, I thought I should update this as well.  It's been a pretty quiet month of Jan.  Went to two expensive places to try their fixed menus since there was this 'Dine-About-Town' special in SF at participating 4-5 star restaurants.  The food was awesome at Farrallon, but only so-so at Citizen Cake.  Other than a ton of food, didn't do much.  Oh, I am trying to move my server back to my place, but the DSL company is having some problems with my line.  Hopefully, they can fix it, so I can twin-throttle my DSL with cable modem combo!  =)  At the same time, I'm hoping I can get some cheap IPSEC hardware VPN solution implemented, so that it'll auto-reconnect with no issues.  The only other thing is ..... what the heck is up with HONDA BRAKES?!!?  Both my bro's and my brakes had to be replaced at like 30K, 50K marks!  And now my S2K has brake squeal as well!  Man, if the rotors are messed, I'm going to buy some Brembo or Baur brakes instead!  The S2K only has 15K on it!  WTF?!?!  oh well.....
1/5/04 My first blab of the year, but it'll be a short one since I just updated probably about 5 days ago.  I'm finally getting around to posting up all the holiday pictures and organizing stuff for the next year.  Lots of work, I tell you!  I wish I had a online database for all the pics I have without having to learn MySQL or something else like that.  If anyone knows anything like that, please drop me a line!  It'll make my picture database so much easier to use and view.  Oh, it has run on a windows platform.  So, no Gallery and similar items like it. 
Well, that's it for now.  Hopefully this year will be awesome!