judyonthenet

Kelvin’s mother Lyn and her friend Paul came over Saturday to have dinner and check out the new apartment. We were still cleaning up and making dinner when they came, so we let them play Wii Sports as a diversion. Lyn and Paul got into Wii bowling very quickly. Even though Paul was much better at delivering a throw, Lyn scored better with her totally bizarre throw form. (Check out her insane follow-through.) Our place isn’t very big, and Lyn came very close to hitting the TV a few times. The wiimote even flew out of her hand once (thank goodness for wrist straps)! Now we have to find a Wii for her (along with one for my mother). It still amazes me how much non-gamers get into this thing.

Sunday, Kelvin and I went to his grandmother’s one year memorial in San Jose Japantown. We got to see all of Kelvin’s uncles and their wives (who were interested in knowing when we’re going to tie the knot… I think they want to go to a wedding), along with with a couple of Kelvin’s cousins and all of Kelvin’s immediate family. Kelvin’s cousin Bronwen has a really cool son named Logan Kai. He’s 9 years old, has a big head, and likes Naruto and Transformers. He said he’d help out with wedding decorations; he suggested a Naruto-themed wedding :)

Yeah! We can decorate with walls with shurikens and kunais!

Kelvin and I were fairly overdressed for the occasion, considering the uncles were wearing shorts and Hawaiian shirts. The younger generation were all in nicer outfits, guys in dress shirts and ties. Kelvin used the occasion to really dress up so he could match the nice watch I got him. Of course, I forgot to take a picture of his getup.

Kelvin’s starting school again, so he’s getting up pretty early. The alarm clock wakes me up, but usually I can go back to sleep. I can’t go back to sleep, however, when loud obnoxious cell phone talker neighbor guy is walking around the apartment complex. We’ve been closing our windows, so he doesn’t wake us up anymore usually, but if I get waken up by something else, I can’t go back to sleep with him talking, even if the window is closed. Yesterday at 7AM, this was the case. I was so tired, I ignored my avoid-confrontation-at-all-costs tendencies to actually go outside and asked him very timidly to move elsewhere. And he did. He even went back into his own apartment and shut the windows, so that was nice of him to not be mean to me (which I kinda expected him to be since he kinda sounds like jerk… his cell phone talking voice sounds like loud sleazy car salesman). And for some reason, he felt the need to mention to me it was a “medical emergency”, which I’m pretty sure is BS (unless he has a medical emergency everyday all day for hours at a time). It started getting really hot yesterday, so we’ve had to keep our windows open overnight. I wasn’t awakened by loud cell phone talking, so I guess he’s being considerate for at least another day. I’m really proud of myself for getting guts to ask him to stop. But I mean, really, who the heck talks that loud on his cell phone at 6-7AM in morning (actually, he talks all day, but the early morning is the only time it really bothers me) OUTSIDE OF HIS APARTMENT WALKING AROUND THE COMPLEX? Weirdo.

I saw a giant plume of smoke in the sky today when I was driving back to my mom’s place. It turns out it was from an apartment fire near where Prospect crosses 85. I wish I could have taken a picture, but I was busy driving. After dropping by my mom’s house and heading home, two more fire trucks passed me by. I remember thinking it was odd that firefighters were showing up this late, but apparently it was a really big fire.

New thing I learned today: Sydney White is a college comedy (teen comedy, really) starring Amanda Bynes coming out this September 21st. It’s based off the story of Snow White; the original working title for the film was Sydney White and the Seven Dorks.

Mike and Bobby somehow obtained two pairs of sneak preview passes for the movie at work. I get the feeling they were never used…

… but I have a DS game to play. I got my Play-Asia copy of Phoenix Wright 3: Trials and Tribulations in the mail yesterday. I was attempting to make a legit blog post, but all I can think about is playing that game. I know I’m not hip with all the cool kiddies who are playing Metroid Prime 3 right now. I ordered my copy online, so I’m still waiting for it. Though, it’s mainly for Kelvin to play; I still want to play the first Metroid Prime. And Super Metroid. And Metroid Zero Mission. Bleh.

Anyway, I just finished the first case in PW3, and I love it so far. I miss my adventure games. I can’t wait for when Zack and Wiki comes out! Hopefully, a blog post about my boring life will eventually conjure up tomorrow.

New thing I learned today: Screw learning. Time for Phoenix Wright!

Edited to add: Okay, I told Kelvin to teach me something. VPS stands for Virtual Private Server, which is a step up from shared hosting (thousands of domains to one machine) and below dedicated server (one site to one machine). VPS is usually about less than 40 to one machine. Apparently, Kelvin is tired of our crappy hosting, so we’re going to be switching soon from shared hosting to VPS. And I’m gonna get my own domain name (judyonthenet.com)… yay!

A little over a week ago, I went to downtown Willow Glen during lunchtime to pick up Kelvin’s engagement ring (yes, he has an engagement ring now). I decided to get lunch while I was there, so I went to the local Noah’s Bagels and Jamba Juice to get some bagels and a smoothie. I figured it was a fairly healthy, not-greasy meal, especially since I was still recovering from a bad cold at the time.

Little did I know something like THIS would come up. Potential hepatitis A exposure for people going to the Willow Glen location on August 1-3, 6-9, 11 and 13-16. I remember seeing the article yesterday and thinking, “There’s no way I went on one of those dates”, going through leftover receipts in my purse, finding the Noah’s Bagel receipt, seeing the August 15th date, and muttering “Oh shit.” Then I spent a lot of yesterday reading articles on the Jamba Juice exposure and reading up on hepatitis A to figure out what I should do. I was worried about exposing or spreading it to other people, particularly Kelvin or maybe even Mike, who ate a leftover gyros I couldn’t finish last week (btw, those things are gross). After much reading, I learned that hepatitis A has an incubation period of, at quickest, 2 weeks, so I couldn’t have been infected and contagious yet since it had only been eight days. That’s why the vaccine is still an option for folks exposed within the last two weeks; earlier than that, well, you get to wait and see if you get fatigue, loss of appetite, jaundice, nausea, diarrhea, and fever.

I sorta got all these thoughts settled today, so I decided to go get this hepA vaccine that was recommended by city health officials ASAP (otherwise I’d keep being paranoid about if I’m really diseased until I did get the vaccine). Earlier today, I went to a lab to do routine blood/urine tests (the same tests I was supposed to do MONTHS ago… oops). It was next to a doctor’s office, and I asked if I could get the vaccine. The lady said I have to go to a clinic, so she gave me the phone number for the immunization thingy for the county. All the city clinics are not close to where I work, so I called nearby Good Samaritan Hospital to see if I could get the vaccine there. Apparently, hospitals don’t have hepA vaccines? The lab person I was directed to didn’t even know who I should contact about getting one. Lame. Actually, if I hadn’t dropped by the random doctor’s office this morning, I’m not sure how I would have found out about the city vaccine locations; it’s really hard to find straightforward info on what to do and where to go.

I finally accepted the fact I had to go to one of these stupid city clinics during their stupid limited hours to get the vaccine. I left during a meeting (yay!) to head to the clinic near downtown San Jose. These clinics also offers cheap vaccinations and other small clinic services, so there’s usually a bunch of people waiting there. The website had warned that people should show up earlier than 30 minutes before closing, since often times the maximum amount of patients allowed has already been reached by then. The clinic closes at 4PM, I arrived at like 2:10PM, and there was already a sign up saying no more patients for the day. Luckily, the exception was for people looking for the hepatitis A vaccine, so thankfully I didn’t waste my time driving all the way there.

Even better news was that I didn’t have to pay for the shot. To get the shot, they make you fill out some forms with some personal information and some basic medical history. One of the questions asks when you ate at Jamba Juice. They don’t ask for any proof about whether or not you went to Jamba Juice. So basically, it’s free hepA vaccine day at the clinics for the next few days. I think hepA folks were getting priority or something, as people around me had been waiting for like over an hour, but they saw me in like 20 minutes. My visit was quick tho. They just verified my information, poked me with a needle (the nurse was super-good at vaccine injections… didn’t feel a thing), and sent me on my way, telling me to come back in 6 months (hepA vaccine is a two-part treatment). Not that it was affecting the regular flow of people much. According to the nurse, only about 10 people had shown up for the vaccine that day. I remember seeing an elderly couple after me who were also there for hepA cuz of Jamba Juice. So apparently not many people are as paranoid as me. Not that they’re wrong or anything; it’s very unlikely that anybody got sick. But if there eventually does turn out to be an outbreak of hepatitis A, I know I’m good to go :P

While this was all a hassle, I was at least glad I was exposed during the period where I could still get the vaccine. If I had been exposed earlier, I’m sure I would spend the next five weeks being incredibly paranoid of any weirdness in my body. Being exposed later, I can still have some peace of mind, and I get a free vaccine. Despite all this, I don’t think I’m hesitant about going to Jamba Juice again. I think they did all they could given the circumstances.

New thing I learned today: A chronometer is an automatic (no battery) watch that is certified as meeting strict Swiss timing and precision standards of the COSC (Swiss Official Chronometer Testing Institute… in French). Quartz watches (that use batteries) are not subjected to these standards, as they are considered much more accurate than purely mechanical watches.

A chronograph is a watch with both timekeeping and stopwatch functions. When you see a fancy watch that has a bunch little dials on it, those dials are probably for an analog stopwatch, and the watch is a chronograph.

I got Kelvin a fancy shmancy watch (a chronometer, but not a chronograph :P ) for an engagement gift (to balance out the ring he gave me). In the process of picking it out, I’ve probably learned more than I ever needed to know about the world of luxury watches. Basically, it’s a guy-with-too-much-money hobby. It’s weird reading popular watch forums; it’s pretty much like a jewelry (women-with-too-much-money hobby) forum, except with men. They talk about which watch they wear with what and what bands they use and what works with their wrist type. I guess it makes sense, since a watch is pretty much a man’s main accessory.

I was originally going to complain about how neurotic and high strung I am (and how I can’t parallel park worth shit), but the last couple days I’ve discovered something that has greatly improved my mood. I went home during lunchtime last couple days, and I’d eat a quick lunch and take a nap (sorta… it was a really light nap, so I’m not sure if I actually fell asleep). The nap (plus a soda after) greatly increased my energy and improved my mood for the rest of the day. While it’s nice to find a fix for the bleh-ness during the day I’ve been feeling, I’m hoping this isn’t something I’m going to be dependent on.

Kelvin and I went to check out Rush Hour 3. You know, it was bad… but I didn’t think it was 20% bad. Sure, some situations were totally unbelievable, and half of the jokes were racist or not that funny, but overall I left the theater feeling positive. There was enough action and non-sucky action sequences. Jackie Chan is the man, even if he is getting old. Chris Tucker is just… annoying. The French taxi driver was pretty cool. 4.5/10

I saw this article today about May Zhou. She was a girl in my year back in college. I didn’t know her personally, but I remember she was in some of my classes, and she did problem sets with folks in my dorm hall. Based on what I saw during those pset sessions, she was REALLY smart. I think she had a boyfriend or something at one point, because I remember thinking she must be perfect: she’s smart, nice, pretty, works hard, and has time for relationships. So when I first read that she committed suicide in weird circumstances, I figured something MUST have happened to her, especially since the cops were revealing no info about their investigation. But after reading this new article… it seems like it really was suicide (despite what her father says). It really hits home, that someone who had so much potential (A LOT of potential) just wanted to go to sleep forever. I wish she had known there were better options, and I hope she’s happy whereever she is.

New thing I learned today: A “free right turn” is where it’s legal to turn right at an intersection without stopping when the light is red. Most common example is where the right turn has its own designated lane, with a sidewalk island with the traffic signal separating the lane from the rest of the intersection. When the traffic signal is to your left (and no other traffic signal or stop sign is to your right), you may yield (meaning if there’s no cars, you don’t have to stop) into the intersection. I also learned those triangular islands are called “pork chop islands“.

You know, I always thought you had to stop at every intersection when you right turn, unless you had a dedicated lane in the road you’re turning into. Kelvin always said it was a yield, so I guess he’s right. While it’s good to know this, I’m worried that people think this gives them a right to go barreling into your lane when you have the green. (People already do that a lot now… Mr. Roadshow really needs an article to remind people what “yield” means.) Or people will think it’s okay to turn right on red without stopping at EVERY intersection. This newfound knowledge doesn’t really change my way of driving, since I have to significantly slow to almost a stop to see what’s coming in my direction. Before knowing this law, I’m pretty sure I was doing “California stops” anyway; it’s just now I know I shouldn’t get a ticket for it.

If you have, I just want to make it clear “milk brothers” has absolutely nothing to do with my personal life. If you haven’t, well, you’re clueless like me, and you should either ask Sandra or consult Urban Dictionary about what it means.

While my Friday was pretty busy, my Saturday was also busy. It was Kelvin’s brother Keni’s 40th birthday, so there was a family dinner at Kelvin’s dad’s place. (There’s a bigger celebration over Labor Day weekend, celebrating both Keni and his wife’s b-days.) So we were there for most of the early evening, playing with the niece, watching small clips of various DVDs since Naomi kept wanting to switch movies, and talking with family.

While we were there, Greer (Kelvin’s stepmother) asked us if we were free next Sunday. I was like, we should be free, what’s going on? Greer looked puzzled, and she said (Kelvin’s paternal) Grandma’s 1-year memorial was on Sunday. Kelvin and I were confused; we’d never heard of this happening. Greer said an email was sent out while back about the event. We ask Susie, Kelvin’s sis-in-law, and she said an email was sent a long, long time ago. Sure enough, when we got home, 1) I never got this email… which is fine, since I’m technically not family (but I always get emails now, since Kelvin’s apparently have little faith in him responding to anything, so they send it to me instead), 2) Kelvin’s dad sent out the email to Kelvin (& family) over 6 months ago. It’s very informal, says lunch location is TBA, asks for comments… so even if I had gotten it, I wouldn’t have thought about putting it in my non-existent calendar. I mean, are Kelvin and I weird? Are we the only one who don’t use calendars? I used calendars and planners for school to keep track of assignments, and at work we use them because, well, we have to. But I don’t have a calendar for personal events. Usually, last minute discussion of the organization of the event through chats and email is enough for me to remember. Do you guys keep calendars? Would you have remembered? Time for a poll!

Should I have let these comments through?

• Yes, you should have let chris’s comment through.
• Yes, you should have let jane’s comment through.
• Yes, you should have let both chris’s and jane’s comments through.
• No, deleting both was the best action.

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After dinner, it wasn’t too late, so we gave Sandra a call. She was in town for her dad’s birthday (also on Saturday), but because of all the different things happening this weekend, we didn’t have a chance to meet up until now. She came to check out the new apartment with other people from high school: Chris (we all know Chris), Brian (who also happens to be Clarence’s cousin), and Jay (who I’ve seen… maybe once since high school graduation?). There wasn’t any activity planned, so we just sat around and chatted in the living room. Despite only have seating for two people, it was pretty nice and chill, and it was good to see friends I haven’t seen in a while. I have to go down to LA sometime… just need to figure out a good time…

Kelvin bought Super Metroid (AKA one of the greatest games of all time) on the Virtual Console and has been playing it all night. It looks decent, but I didn’t have an SNES as a kid, so it’s not as nostalgic for me, nor am I as fully aware of its innovation in gaming (in 1994). And it’s not a fun game to watch, as there’s like no story, and all Samus does is run around (reeeally fast) and find upgrades for her upgrades for her suit. Part of the fun is exploring and figuring out what to do next, so Kelvin showing me all these secrets probably isn’t good for when I want to play this eventually.

You’re not going to play this anyways, so who cares?

New thing I learned today: The K in K-mart stands for Kresge, as in Sebastian S. Kresge. Along with being a founder of K-mart, he was a philanthropist. Apparently his legacy includes contributions to colleges around the country.

When Chris mentioned Kresge College (or Kresge something) at UC Santa Cruz, I was surprised it shared the same name as an auditorium and oval lawn at MIT. I didn’t realize Kresge was the kajillionaire behind K-mart… felt kinda stupid once Chris told me.