36 hours in Chicago

With a free weekend, I flew last minute to Chicago to meet up with Teen and John. Teen's firm sent him there to sharpen his lawyerin skillz in a mock court. John's still off from work for another few days.

The main event of the weekend was dinner at Lawry's The Primb Rib Saturday at 8:30. It's a pretty sweet place. Carvers wheel the meat right up to your table, and they wear medals around their neck like they're achieving something great with each slice of beef. The steak was good and dinner was surprisingly affordable too. Afterwards, we met up with some of John's friends for some drinks. On a side note, surgery residents are weird. After drinking with a few of them, Teen and I quickly concluded that we would not let any of them touch us with any sharp instruments. If they can't carry a decent conversation, then how can I trust them not to do damage on my innards.

On Sunday, we went to the The Art Institute of Chicago to culture ourselves. We saw some Monets, Picassos, Van Goghs, the Seurat, and others.


Georges Seurat - Sunday on the Island of La Grand Jatte. It's so much better in real life.

They also have American Gothic at the museum, but we didn't go see it. It's ok because we walked over to Millenium Park and made our own, which I like to call Asian Gothic (pictures pending). We also had our fun with the big bean. DA BEAN!

Afterwards, we stopped off in Chinatown to celebrate Chinese New Year with dungeness crabs. After confirming with the wait staff that we indeed wanted two, they were brought out quickly and to the gasps of children nearby. They were devoured with total focus and concentration. Nothing was left, except the broken pieces of leg shells stuffed inside the main carcass. (We're a classy folk.) And finally we washed it down with a freshly squeezed sugar cane drink.

These two dinners we had in Chicago were fit for a viking. Now I just need to go find some mead and my weekend will be complete.

Da Feud is Ovah!

Apparently the feud between Shaq and Kobe is over. They finally greeted each other at midcourt for the first time before the tip-off of their game on Jan 16, 2006. I think it's funny how Shaq shook hands with Kobe.



Hmm...Kobe, your thumb hurtin' a little bit more?

Four Men and an Iguana

Flew down to Ft. Lauderdale over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend to meet up with DAAAAA BOIS! It's a rare occurence we get to hang out together nowadays. We're all busy growing up and gettin' busy with our lives. Teen's lawyerin' up in NY. John doctorin' it up in Chicago. And Dennis is analyzing business and stuff in LA. With John off for the month of January, we were finally able to pull it off.

We adequately planned the weekend full of chillin', tubbin', golfin', drinkin', and chicken eatin'. Coincidentally, there was even a MD basketball game on that weekend. Hopefully, we can make this an annual tradition. Below are a few pictures from the trip:

The gambler


The backyard


The golfers: me, Teen, and John.


Dennis


Teen passed out from someone's gas.


The neighbor


The other neighbor


The drive thru


The rumble in the Jungle, asian style

Stay classy Ft. Lauderdale. Stay classy...

Hawaii Pictures

Y and I


Our hotel, the Kauai Marriott Resort


Pimpin' out in our Mustang convertible


Hanalei Bay


Palm tree on Tunnel Beach


Wailua Falls


Jody, our helicopter pilot


Aerial view of the Waialeale Crater


Aerial view of the Waimea Canyon


Kalua pig, after being resurrected from the earthen fire. Too bad it looks so much better than it tastes.


That's mah lil' guava lover


Funky circle rainbow we saw from the plane descending into SF.


Sunburnt Hello Kitty. Actually, I think it's supposed to be ethnically correct Hawaiian Hello Kitty. I think it's hilarious.

New Years in Hawaii

Y and I decided to start 2006 off with a bang on the island of Kauai in Hawaii. We flew out there December 29 and stayed at the Marriott resort in Lihue. I can't think of a better way to spend winter than in shorts and a t-shirt and newly bronzing the cranium. We chose Kauai because it's less developed and touristy than the other islands.

The trip started out well by first being upgraded at Hertz. They originally gave us a Camry, which was fine, just not really fitting for a Hawaiian vacation. I went to the Hertz counter to work my magic. They gave me a free upgrade to a Mustang convertible. I would like to believe that I sounded very slick flaunting my status, but it went a little more like "Puh-lease can I change cars. Puuuuuh-leeeeeeaaaaaase, my girlfriend really loves the Mustang. I'll be your best friend." Then when we got to the Marriott we got a room upgrade. We got a room with a full ocean view room that overlooked the pool instead of a garden view. Shweeeet!

The weather was a completely different beast in Hawaii. It's so unpredictable. To some degree, it was almost hard to plan activities or it was a constant concern whether outdoor activities will be affected. It did hold up well enough for us to get in some great hikes in the Waimea Canyon and around the Wailua Falls and our helicopter tour. It didn't hold up so well when we tried to go on a sea kayak tour. An 8 mile paddle turned out to be a 1 mile trip to sleep on the beach. We should've seen several beaches along the south coast of the island and ideally marine life. When we reached our first stop, a beach only 1 mile from our launch, the winds picked up to almost 25-30 mph which made it too difficult to continue any further. It was disappointing, but as an afterthough, it was probably for the better. My shoulders and arms were tired after that 1 mile stretch. I think I could've continued for the whole trip but then they would've fallen off when we reached shore.

We also took a helicopter tour of the island since much of it is unreachable by car. That was amazing since 1) I've never flown in a helicopter before and 2) simply seeing everything from the air. We flew by the Na Pali coast and the Waialeale Crater which you can only see by air, boat, or foot. There were supposed to be many more waterfalls and sights. Unfortunately, the island was in the midst of a major drought, so some falls were smaller than usual and others dried up to brown streaks down the side of the mountains.

Finally, I collected my Christmas present from Y. She got me a spa package at the Anara Spa at the Grand Hyatt in Poipu. That was a great way to top off the vacation. I got myself a nice lomi lomi massage in which the masseuse uses her forearms and elbows. I think I could've fallen asleep. The spa also came with a eucalyptus steam room, sauna, swedish shower (a stall with 12 shower heads hitting you from 3 different directions), numerous hot tubs, and a pool. Oooooh baby, it was nice.

I'll post some pictures we took on our trip later.