コンビニ

Ah, the good ol’ convenience stores (or “konbini” for short) in Japan... how I miss the corporate jingles, late night bento runs, paying for my Amazon Japan purchases, and clerks asking me if I want that heated. I too have mistaken the 50 yen coin for the 100 yen coin countless times, hehheh.

Three Day Break @ Chicago

Since I never been to Chicago before, it was on the top of my “places to visit” list and this past Memorial Day I finally got the chance. Flew on a Delta Connections (Comair) flight, which was surprisingly comfortable ride. At first when I heard the word Connections I thought it was going to be one of those noisy small jets with no service whatsoever. I was right about the small jet and we actually had to walk out the terminal and onto the runway partially in order to board and leave the jet probably due to its small size. The engines however were not as noisy as I expected and there was actually some in-flight service… got two bags of peanuts and some cheese crackers with Coke!

I stayed at the W Hotel in an area called “The Loop” in Chicago. It’s like the financial district of the city where it’s packed with people during workdays and deserted during the weekends and being that it was a holiday the area was pretty quiet except for the occasional tourists walking around and bums asking for spare change on every other corner. Speaking of bums, this area was like bum center. In front of restaurants, banks, hotels, train entrances, and even Seven-Eleven, I saw bums everywhere rattling their cup of coins. After numerous times, I finally caved and gave some change to one. He soon pissed me off when he asked for $2, then $5, then said “can you make it $10” once he saw me open my wallet.

The hotel itself was a trendy little place with some cool and dark interior colors and upbeat music playing in the lobby. When I say dark, I really mean dark! There was lighting, but even with all the lamps and lights on this was one of the dimmest rooms I ever stayed in. To make up for it though, the bed was one of most comfy beds ever! It was the equivalent of those “heavenly beds” you find in Westin Hotels.

Thankfully everything I wanted to see were within the city and was easily accessible by subway or bus. The elevated rails, aka L, were cool (especially when making turns and the cars tilting quite a bit) and a great way to get around the downtown area, but the stops were extremely close to each other. You can literally walk to the next station because it was only two blocks away.

Other activities included taking the architecture boat ride along the river, shopping at the Magnificent Mile, checking out the local Chinatown, looking out to the neighboring states at the top of the Sears Tower, and of course eating deep dish pizza. Chicago is also known for their hot dogs, but since I’m not a hot dog fan at all I skipped out on trying one.



The pizza here is famous for their thickness of the slices, hence deep-dish. For dinner on both nights, I ate deep-dish pizza at two different well-known and reviewed pizzeria restaurants in the city, Gino’s East and Lou Malnati's. Both places were good in their own ways. While the pizza Gino’s East felt like there were more ingredients and material stuffed in, the pizza at Lou Malnati’s was cooked just right and wasn’t as sloppy/messy to eat. In the end though I’m still a diehard fan of NYC pizza, sorry!

Oh, and at both restaurants I was able to entirely skip the whole line waiting for a table and eat directly at the bar because it was just me. That saved me at least an hour at both places! Then earlier at the Sears Tower I was able to follow another group in and didn’t have to wait 45 minutes to get in and upstairs! See, sometimes it’s good to be a solo traveler.

Additional pictures at flickr.

Unexpected Workload

In what was supposed to be a group project when initially volunteered now turned out to be a solo assignment. Great, this is what I get for volunteering. Well, at least I have previous versions to copy and follow. Just have to update some information and overhaul the layout. Currently the thing is clear cut and basic, but at times doesn’t seem to flow right.

Returned and Burned

Back from a fun three day holiday in the Windy City. Recap and pictures will be up soon, but in the meantime I’m recovering from really noticeable sunburns on my face and forearms. I do have suntan lotion and wanted to bring it along, but didn’t in the end because of the liquid and gel restriction on airplanes. Thanks TSA.

FFIV Elemental Musical

From the creators of the Mario MV, here is another one of those cool but “uh... okay” MVs. Whoever is doing these videos is really good at it!



Well that’s it for now. Gonna be heading out to the Windy City this Memorial Day weekend eating pizza and riding the L. Hope everyone enjoys the break!

Message

This morning as I turned on my DS Lite I noticed the opening chime wasn’t a little different. At first I thought my DS was already showing signs of breakdown, but when I tapped on Pictochat I got this colorful auto-message...



A happy little machine, ain’t it? Heh.

Space Food

Earlier this evening went out to dinner with some friends at a Mars-themed restaurant in Midtown called Mars 2112. Short version: good food (variable at times), but needs some structural improvements.

Long version: From the outside it looks like a unique restaurant with a large UFO in front. Upon entering though, from looking at the décor around you have a feeling like you’re about to be in a 1970-era sci-fi movie. That cheesy space ride before entering the actual restaurant area further solidified my notions. If possible, avoid the cheap ride and save yourself $2! It was like of those virtual roller coaster rides except the screen cut the words on the top off and had really noticeable stains.

They didn’t take reservations, but there was virtually no wait for a table. The area was decked out with fake rock walls and TVs showing fake sci-fi news. There were also some photo ops with people dressed up as Martians walking around the tables. The food was surprisingly good. The burger (Big Joe Bacon Cheeseburger) I had was cooked well and the pasta dishes my friends had looked tasty too. The portions were really generous as I noticed many didn’t finish their meal and was full already.

By the end of the meal, the place was eerily quiet and nearly deserted. For a Midtown restaurant this was a sad sight to see. Apparently this restaurant is also a bar half of time (that explains the Christmas lights all over the place... maybe) so I’m sure things will pick up once again during those hours.

Mario Kart Wii Survey

Today I received an email from Nintendo to partake in an online survey about Mario Kart Wii. I thought this was finally a chance for me to officially sound off to Nintendo about the notorious “rubber band AI” in the game and how irritating it is to almost cross the finish line only to be hit by a barrage of POW blocks followed by a spiny shell and drop from first place to ninth place as the computer drivers somehow drove in light speed and miraculously caught right up to me. Owning all the prior Mario Kart games, I can say I’m a veteran player in the series, so this is not about me being some newbie and not having enough skills.

Alas no, the survey was simply a general “Are you satisfied?” type of survey with a little indirect part towards the end for me to rant.

Northern Blvd. the New Union Street

After having dinner in Little Neck last night, we drove along Northern Blvd. and I noticed a lot of Korean stores along the street. I admit that the last time I was in Bayside was years ago, but I don’t remember that many Korean stores and restaurants on Northern Blvd. Is this the result of the Chinese community in Flushing pushing them out of Union Street like what they did in Lower Manhattan with Little Italy? I hope Union Street doesn’t turn into another Brooklyn 8th Avenue scene with crazy drivers, Chinese run Vietnamese restaurants offering lackluster food, and fish markets dumping sewage-smelling water right onto the sidewalks.

Noodle Time

When you can’t decide what to have for lunch and too lazy to head out the door, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with breaking out the instant noodles. Simply add some hot water and in three minutes, presto! Instant lunch!

Still New?

This past Friday, the late 80s/90s boy band New Kids on the Block made a comeback performance at Rockefeller Center during the Today Show after a long hiatus. I’m fine with that, but what surprised me was that I never knew there was still such a large fan base. Geez, those are some hardcore fans… even after 10+ years where everyone is in their 30s (and probably even 40s) they are still willing to wait out in the rain and cold for these new kids.

Speaking of which, in what way are they “new?” It’s been over 20 years! It’s like if 20 years later the original cast of High School Musical got back together and made another High School Musical.

The Many Faces of Sue Simmons

As most New Yorkers should probably have heard of the Sue Simmons incident by now, let us look back at her other on-air antics. There was the dozing off bit:



And of course her signature groundhog face for Groundhog’s Day (in HD now too, fancy!):



Sue Simmons... you’re one strange, but cool, character and an awesome newscaster. Don’t ever change!

Free Electronic Recycling Sunday

Attention Brooklynites! Do you have some bulky electronics to recycle, but don’t want to pay that $10 handling fee per item at Staples? Well this coming Sunday (May 18) NYC Sanitation Department is hosting a free electronics recycling event at Prospect Park. They’re also accepting clothes donations too! I’m going to get rid of my old CRT monitor (finally), a printer, some Li-ion batteries, and while I’m at it, some old clothes I don’t wear anymore.

For more info, visit Prospect Park’s or NYC Department of Sanitation's webpages.

Through the Looking Glass on a Bus

Today was a day where you had to make up some excuse just to go outside and enjoy the awesome weather. After having lunch with a friend in Midtown I took the M6 bus down to SoHo. Granted it took nearly an hour whereas on the subway it would’ve taken only a fraction of the time, it was nice to sit and stare out the window to do some people-watching as the bus barreled down the island.

What wasn’t a pleasant sight was this guy that sat in front of me. I could’ve sworn he picked something out of his hair or ear and then put it in his mouth!

WiiWare

Nintendo finally rolls out their version of downloadable games yesterday amidst the Sony’s Playstation Network and Xbox LIVE Arcade. It’s different than the Virtual Console which is a library downloadable games on various gaming machines from yesteryear.

So did anyone download any of the games? There wasn’t much fanfare yesterday or even before its opening day (probably due to all the resources used on bombarding consumers with WiiFit ads), but people following this knew it was coming really soon. There’s only a handful of titles at launch, but a lot more are expected along the way. Guess many were shocked to find out Dr. Mario wasn’t one of the first titles despite all the promo videos around the internet. Speaking of Dr. Mario, for those who have played the game before, have you seen this comic of vgcats yet? Funny stuff!

The Brighter Side of Rain

If there’s any positive thing coming from today’s rainy and windy conditions, it’s that it kept those two noisy kids next door inside all day today. Every morning those two kids would come out playing in their backyard taking turns screaming and crying with their high pitch voices. It almost felt as if their screams and cries came on a more regular schedule than the buses in the area. Today was an exception however as their voices were replaced by peaceful (in comparison) noises of rain drops and trees rattling in the wind. Thank you!

Mother’s Day

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there! Hope everyone took time out to celebrate in some way this day with their mothers. As for me, we went out to dinner a three nights ago under the advice of my mom because she wanted to avoid the crowds and the special spike of prices for this one day. This is certainly a much more enjoyable experience than fighting for a table today as droves flock to restaurants.

Telemarketers Pushing Back

Telemarketers are getting more relentless! From calling several times in the course of one day (I’m looking at you Anna/Ana Carter from American Express!) to edgy ones with attitude problems, they are becoming beyond unbearable. It’s to the point that now I just shut off the ringer and don’t answer the home phone at all. I am on the national Do Not Call List, but the loophole is that if I have done prior business with a company in the past, they can still call with their god awful offers.

Mario MV

Don't know what to say exactly about this one expect that it's one of the stranger music videos with Mario in it. Yeap, definitely not your usual game sprite music video. They got the perfect tune though.

Hisashiburi Omurisu!

Whoa, who knew you could get such delicious omurice right here in the city! Props to my friend for showing me this place: Hiroko’s Place on Thompson Street in SoHo. Maybe it was because it was tasty or maybe it was the fact that I haven’t had omurice in a long time, but I scarf the whole thing down in minutes. The hamburg steak (which was really large compared to ones I’ve eaten before) and curry spaghetti the others order looked quite good too. With so many good dishes offered, I’m surprised the place wasn’t packed. In fact, it was the opposite… quiet with a couple of customers and one even napping on the couch they had in the restaurant. This is probably more of a lunch hangout option rather than a dinner one.

Tipping Style

When paying for a meal with your credit card while dining out, you usually will get a receipt for you to sign and also a line for you to write in your tip (that is if they haven’t already done so for you). At this very moment when you write in an amount, do you follow any rules or styles of tipping?

Let’s say the total amount came to $68.23. Do you: a) write in an amount to make the tip whole (ex. $13 tip), or b) write in an amount to make the total whole (ex. $12.77 tip)? While I have tipped both ways before and both are acceptable, I have received criticism for the latter method. The most frequent complaint I hear is that it looks tacky to write in such a weird number. I fail to see the validity of this argument because to me this is no different than paying in cash and telling them to keep the change. Also, I’m pretty sure all their tips combined at the end of the day will be a “tacky” looking number.

Oh yeah, I forgot a third option. You could also c) be a cheap bastard and not tip at all. This option is available, but I strongly suggest you do not choose c. The old-fashioned idea that tip used to be based on the level of service you got is almost non-existent. I say “almost” because in situations where the service blew you away you would up the tip a couple of notches, but if the service totally sucked you are still expected to give some sort of tip or face the possibility of a waiter running after you asking for one.

CT Guests

My relatives from Connecticut are coming down in need of some tech support... and dinner of course. Their laptops need some cleaning up and they like to sign up for email. The cleaning of the hard drive might be tricky, but I don’t understand the part of not knowing how to sign up for email. They have knowledge of using the internet and very good command of English, so I don’t see what difficulties they could face in the sign up process.

Cheapo Chicken

Today for lunch I went to claim my free sandwich from McDonald’s from a coupon I received that I told you about earlier. It was for one of their new Southern Style Chicken Sandwiches.

From the outside it looked like one of those premium sandwiches with its fancy cardboard box and design all over it. Once opened, the sandwich didn’t look anything premium about it. It looked like one of those regular chicken sandwiches you buy on their dollar menu exact that the chicken patty was slightly thicker and instead of mayo there were two pickles. I would’ve preferred the mayo in that it probably would have made the sandwich less dry. This sandwich reminds me of the ones you can get at Wendy’s from taste similarities. It’s an okay sandwich at best, but it retails for $3.29? Whew, I’m glad I didn’t had to pay for this sandwich.

No Transfer For You!

I can understand why so many people are frustrated over those countless Wii codes and different friend codes on each game, but I’m surprised there aren’t as much people upset over the transferring of save modes.

I’m sure there are security concerns since SD cards are used, but during times when you want to go over to a friend’s house to play Smash Brothers Brawl with all the characters, levels, and music you unlocked in your mode this restriction can be very frustrating. There are methods to make your saves mobile and transferable, but it’s not as easy as simply dragging a save file to a SD card, and there are some risks involved like reading errors or worse if there are incompatible firmware versions between the two systems.

So here I am replaying all the games I bought, played, and saved earlier with another Wii. Well, I guess this could count as a game’s replay value.

Sandwich Surprise

Upon opening a box received from Amazon today, inserted along with my order were some coupons for some free sandwiches at Mickey D’s. Usually the coupon requires some sort of purchase first or just a partial discount, but on the back of these coupons it said no purchase necessary. These are totally free sandwiches! Score! Free is good.

Clash of the Social Networks

Social Networks up in your face and one another, good times!

A Right to Push In

Boarding an already packed B train today at Grand Street during the PM rush hour there was these two guys in front of me that were also boarding but were dragging their feet through the door and into the train. At one point one of them just stood there in the doorway with plenty of room in front of him popping his head in and out of the car as if he was looking on someone. After a few “excuse me” with no avail, I turned my messenger bag to my front and gently pushed them into the car to hint them that were people behind them that also wanted to get in. Just because we’re both Asian, don’t think I won’t shove your ass in! Move!

I think after two or three failed attempts of “excuse me,” everyone should have the right to use physical force. I don’t mean ramming and knocking the person over, but something like a gentle push or bump to let the person know to move along. Step all the way into the car, please! They don’t make these announcements for nothing you know.