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June 07, 2009 10:53 PM -
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| | YEAR
2005
Year 2005 was another great year! Not much pictures in early
portion of the year due to work, but we really started picking it back up in
May. Lots of summer of activities including a trip to Vegas, our annual
camping trip, plus a couple rafting trips and bunch of various events during the
fall and winter. Major thing this year is I finally got engaged as you can
see in the latest picture album. The last month was seriously crazy on the
traveling including our trip to Italy, where we got engaged in Venice.
Actually, there's so many pix from that trip that we are still kinda sorting it
out. Also, since it's been so busy this year, I really didn't have much
time to post much in Shawn Speaks, but I'll try to improve that next year. =)
Click here for this year's 'Shawn Speaks!'.
Year 2005
(Click on the pictures or the links to view each
album)
|
| Dec 23, 2005
 |
 | Engagement Ring - Yup, I
finally proposed to my little babes. Here are some close-up
pictures of the engagement ring - version #1 and version #2.
Version #1 is the one where I chose the setting and Version #2 is
the current ring that she chose with a matching wedding band. |
|
| Dec 18, 2005
 |
| Jeff's Xmas Party - Jeff V threw
a Christmas party at his new place, which turned out to be one very
nice bachelor pad! Foosball table, swimming pool w/slide, dive
board, and hot tub, and a DJ stand! Afterwards, we headed to
Henry's to compile our Italy pictures. |
|
| Dec 4, 2005
 |
| Day trip to Heavenly - We rented
a Buick Rendezvous to do a day trip to Heavenly, Tahoe to use our
free passes. Luckily, it just snowed, so there was decent
coverage throughout most of the mountain. It was a beautiful
day and it was cheap! |
|
| Nov 6, 2005
 |
| Lexus Driving Event - Dude,
this was the nicest autoshow I've been to! You have caterers
all over the place with food and drinks, comfortable couches, cafe
tables, and plasma TVs everywhere! All the cars were
top-notch, matched up properly against the competition - IS350 vs
330i, GS430 vs MB E500, GS300 vs 530i. We test drove the
RX400h as well...nicely done! |
|
| Oct 23, 2005
 |
| Friendskit Pumpkin Carving Contest
- This year we hosted the contest at our place. As host, I
changed up the voting method...instead of a raising of hands, we did
the diplomatic way...voting via ballots based on specific criteria.
Also, I hid my entry from view as much as possible, so that people
can't be sure which pumpkin is mine. After all the effort for
equality, I managed to come in 5th place out of 9 entries! YAY!
This means, that I can carve!
Oh, click here for link to the
spreadsheet. |
|
| Oct 22, 2005
 |
| Willis Birthday - A bunch of
us gathered together for a night of karaoke to celebrate Willis
birthday. Afterwards, we retired to Ginger's place for some
ice-cream cake that was accidentally left in the frig rather than
the freezer! |
|
| Oct 15, 2005
 |
| Van and David's Wedding -
Van & David got married at the Kohl Mansion in Burlingame. The
place was cozy, but very well-decorated. Tons of flowers and candles
and everything seems to have gone very smoothly! Wonderful
food and wedding! |
|
| Oct 8, 2005
 |
| Girl's Day Out: Trapeze -
The girls went out for an afternoon of trapezing. Basically,
learning to do what comes to monkeys naturally! HAHAHA!
Looks like they had fun swinging and checking out the guys in
tights! |
|
| Sept 17, 2005
 |
| Jim's Surprise Birthday -
This year, Rita hosted another treasure hunt around Union Square
with the ultimate goal of having the teams find out where is Jim's
Birthday BBQ will be at. The clues were quite complex, but
very entertaining. Check out the pics to see where it took us! |
|
| Sept 11, 2005
 |
| SF Opera in the Park - On a
leisure Sunday afternoon, a bunch of us headed to SF Golden Gate
Park to listen to some FREE opera. We bought some Vietnamese
sandwiches for lunch and Dan bought the drinks. The opera
music was so soothing that I fell asleep under the warm afternoon
sun. Afterwards we had drinks, then dinner at a chinese
restaurant. |
|
| Sept 5, 2005
 |
|
| Aug 26-28, 2005
 |
| Big Basin Camping Trip - Maggie
went on a camping trip to Big Basin with a bunch of our friends.
It was a tough decision to either go camping or Northstar, so we
split on this trip. They had a BIG eating trip and a
very short hike. Oh, there was an encounter with the local
wildlife as well. |
|
| Aug 27-28, 2005
 |
| Northstar Mountain Biking -
8 of us went up to Tahoe to go mountain biking, but only 3 of us
managed to actually get on the trails! Other 4 went hiking and
1 went gambling. We all had fun in Reno and 4 of us stayed and won a
bunch of $$$ at the Hyatt on Sunday. |
|
| Aug 20, 2005
 |
| Arroyo Seco River Hike -
Based on our wonderful experience last year, Linda planned this
river hike for the whole group! A hike through a small river
that consisted of walking, wading, jumping, and swimming through a
beautiful river to a tiny little waterfall at the end. Our day
started at 9am and ended at almost 11pm. Although our hike was
between 12pm-6:30pm, the drive was quite long. |
| Here's pics from Tony's
camera |
|
| Aug 7, 2005
 |
| Henry & Tony's Birthday BBQ
- To celebrate Henry and Tony's Birthday, we planned an afternoon in
Golden Gate Park to have some BBQ, play v-ball, and some poker
afterwards. Although the weather was a little cold, we all had
a good time and everyone dug in for the ice-cream cake! |
|
| July 23-24, 2005
 |
| Middle Fork Rafting & Reno -
After a couple times in Cache Creek, doing Class II-III rapids, we
decided to upgrade and head to some Class III-IV rapids in the
American River. Even though it was 16 miles of river, it went
by pretty quickly. A couple of injuries and David fell out of
the raft while we were 'surfing' the rapids. Afterwards, some
of us headed to Reno to do some gambling and have some fun! |
| Click here for pictures from
Tony's camera. |
|
| July 16-17, 2005
|
| Rita/Jim Blackjack & BBQs -
Rita and Jim organized a blackjack tournament where there are 3
rounds and you have to be in the top 3 (money-wise) to advance or be
in the money. Afterwards, we went to dinner and the Cellar, an
underground club in SF with Elaine and bunch of other folks.
Next day, we went to two BBQs, one after another. Whew!
Busy weekend! |
|
| July 4th, 2005
 |
| July 4th in Santa Cruz - This
year, we headed to Santa Cruz for a day in the sun eating bbq,
playing at the Boardwalk carnival, and watching fireworks at a beach
that seems to allow anyone to play with any type of fireworks! |
|
| July 2-3, 2005
 |
| Cache Creek Rafting - Dan,
Linda, Mags, and I went to Cache Creek for 2-day rafting trip.
All the meals were provided for and all we did was wait around to
eat and try not to fall asleep since we only had 3.5 hrs sleep after
Grace's birthday nite. A couple big tumbles, lots (and lots)
of water gun fights, and some cool rapids. |
|
| July 1, 2005
 |
| Grace's Birthday Dinner - For
Grace's birthday, we went to the House of Prime Rib for a little
feast where if anyone didn't finish their meal, they drink with the
birthday girl! Luckily, everyone was pretty hungry and managed to
polish off everything. Afterwards, we went to a club, but I
wasn't allowed in because of my shoes, so I went to another club
across the street. =) |
|
| June 24-26, 2005
 |
| Letts Lake Friendskit Camping Trip - Our annual camping trip to
somewhere out in the boonies, where we go to eat, drink, be merry
and put ourselves through physical exertion, all without proper
cleaning facilities. This year, we went to Letts Lake where
the weather was truly awesome (cool, not hot, not wet) and the fish
was biting like crazy. Since there was quite a bit of
pictures, I broken it down to days we were there.
Friday - left in the morning,
ate in Vacaville, arrived, pitched camp, walked around the lake, ate
dinner, slept.
Saturday - Got up, ate
breakfast, made lunch, drove to trailhead, hikes 7+ miles, made
dinner and ate.
Sunday - Got up, ate
breakfast, packed up camp, left for home. |
| Tony pics - A great big
thanks to Tony for organizing.
Please click here for the some
commentary from other folks regarding their insights on this
trip. |
|
| June 17-19, 2005
 |
| Las Vegas Trip at Venetian - Willis
put together a weekend getaway to Vegas for some fun in the sun, at
the gambling tables, and in the strip clubs! 9 of us crowded
into a luxurious Venetian suite for 2 days/2 nights and had a blast
gambling, watching shows, and .....other stuff! |
|
| June 4, 2005
 |
| San Francisco Art Festival -
A beautiful day to look at some art and the beautiful scenery.
We enjoyed some festival food and walked around until we had to go
home. Man, the art was seriously expensive, but the food was
really good! Never had cinnamon almonds before. |
|
| May 30, 2005
 |
| Memorial Day and Diana's Birthday
- Monday turned out to be a beautiful spring day! Not too hot,
sunny, and a little breezy. People from all over the bay
traveled to a park near my place for some ribeye, flank steak, kal-bi,
sausages, chicken, and of course, to celebrate Diana's birthday! |
|
| May 28, 2005
 |
| Elaine and Grace Visits -
These two long-lost childhood friends came to visit the Bay Area for
Memorial weekend. Took them up to Napa Valley to do the wine
tasting thing, then went to one of their friend's restaurant in
Burlingame, where I had some really good Thai food, which I managed
to puke it all up. |
|
| Jan 28-30, 2005
 |
| Friendskit 5th Annual Ski Trip
- This year we went to North Tahoe, stayed at a 5-bd, 2.5ba house
with hot tub within 10 min to all casinos on the North Shore.
Rented a Yukon XL for $50/day, snowboarded at Squaw Valley, hit a
tree, won some money at Hyatt, won more at craps at Biltmore, and
everyone came home pretty happy! Hard to imagine, but
$15/person worth of food lasted from Friday evening through Sunday
morning for 19 people! Some people went to Sugar Bowl on
Sunday, while the rest of us played craps!
Click here for Ginger's pics.
Click here for misc pics. |
|
| Jan 22, 2005
 |
| Brian/Grace/Jae Housewarming
- The threesome moved into a nice flat in SF and celebrated by
having a theme house party of famous people of 2004. Tons of
people showed up, a few dressed up, and some people got totally
wasted. |
|
| Jan 17, 2005
|
| Dan's Fried Turkey - On MLK
weekend this year, we had lots of food. Farallon on Sat lunch,
dim sum for Sunday and on Monday, we had Dan's fried turkey!
This album shows how Dan (and Mags) worked from Sunday through
Monday evening to put together a delicious turkey dinner with
homemade desserts! |
|
| Dec 31-Jan 1, 2005
|
|
Shawn Speaks!
2005
| Dec 22, 2005 |
Ok, If I thought I was neglecting this website last time,
I just realized it's been over 5 months since I last posted on here.
Damn.
Any case, big news is that I got engaged this month after several
months of planning and keeping things quiet. Spent a small
fortune, but it's worth it. I guess after you've been with a girl
for so long, this needs to happen, right?
Feel free to read all about it here.
Just went on my first long vacation in over a year and for some funny
reason, it felt pretty hectic as well. Maybe I won't try to pack
so much into one trip and try to relax some more. What can I say,
when you find cheap airline tickets for a round-trip to Europe for $200,
you take advantage of it, right? I'm hoping that I have more free
time to post more next year as this year draws to an end.
Wow....major changes for me this year. Somehow, everything seemed
to go by so fast, yet so slow. Not sure if I'm hallucinating or
whatever, but that's kinda how I feel.
As for the holidays this year, I kinda gave myself early presents in
the form of a new dual-core computer and tri-screen display (read - 3
monitors) operating on 4GB of RAM (courtesy of Hank).
Next year, it'll probably be a new cell phone if they come out with any
good Windows Mobile 2005 Smartphones and maybe a new super-zoom camera.
Yeah, but that's about it until after the wedding since that's where
another major money pit will be. Oh well, that's life, I guess.
See ya next year! |
| July 12, 2005 |
Crap.....I've been seriously neglecting this section of my
website. Actually, I've been really busy lately as business really
picked up quite a bit. If you take a look at my pictures, you can
see that it's not until recently that I even had a chance for some
weekend fun! This year has really flown by really fast! I
can't believe 2005 is half over already! So many things that needs
to be planned and done. Why does life have to become so
complicated?
Well, with any luck, hopefully, it'll become less stressful, yet more
rewarding in the future. =) |
| Feb 26, 2005 |
Yup, it's almost two months into 2005 and this is my first
posting. Yeah, it's been that crazy! I never had to work so
hard in my life! Hard to believe that even with Mags, we were
pretty overwhelmed with work. Major migration project along with
new clients and prospecting for new clients, the last two months was
seriously health-threatening. Luckily, I finally got it under
control now and things are returning to normal. Whew!
This year's snow trip was truly blessed with both good snow and fortune!
Half the people came out with a free trip, the others had two days worth
of fun at a very cost-conscious price. I believe everyone felt the
extra few bucks was worth the upgrade in the cabin quality and space.
Despite having so much work, I still played a ton of poker with friends
and at the casinos. It's not so bad, playing at casinos.
People there aren't that much better, only difference between playing at
home is that the stakes are higher. But, with the way the chips
are, it doesn't feel all that different.
Anyways, next month should be a series of changes as my business moves
on to the next stage of its life. Hopefully, we can continue to
move forward, picking up good people on the way. |
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