it’s about 6:00 pm and i’m about to take a run before the party – the party we are about to host for aya and mitsy to celebrate their birthdays. meanwhile, riechan is preparing dinner for us and the guests. i do a personal best (ever?) for a 5 mile run in 38:31. this amounts to a 7:41 per mile pace! not bad ‘eh? well i attribute the speedy run to the anticipation of a great dinner with guests over at our house. i tightened up my breathing and concentrated on this – it helped with each step!

riechan and i prepared food for the night starting early afternoon. first thing in the morning, we headed to mitsuwa to pick up some groceries. next we went to IKEA – a side trip for some housewares – and then went to albersons and trader joes. she actually should get most of the credit for the menu. but i did do something to help out – spam musubi!

everyone came over to our house at around 8:30 pm. the menu was: tsukune, tofu, spam musubi, nigiri sushi (arigatou aya), secret chicken, smoke salmon spring rolls, shishito, and a nice passion fruit cake (arigatou yoko). we had a great time talking story about our wedding and what’s everyone is up to. it was too bad kenjisan couldn’t make it to the house – kare no atama ga itai deshita. ganbatte kenji san. erichan and machan were also not able to make it. it was erichan’s birthday a few days ago too and this get together was to celebrate her birthday too – unfortunately they were M.I.A.

tanoshikatta!

work furnished me with an iPhone 3gs. now i can (or should i say must?) check emails all day and night. i already have an iPod touch so getting used to the iPhone was not such a difficult task.

today i attempted to do some work on the 2003 toyota matrix. it needs the rotors changed and the oil changed. the oil has been due for the past 2,000 miles. also, the brake rotors are very wobbly. the car has 123,000 miles +/- so i think the rotors are ready to go.

i got the jackstands, jack, wrenches, sockets, and everything else i thought i would need to perform the brake job. but the job came to a screeching halt when i started to break the wheel nuts loose. i ended up snapping my socket extension – it sheared right off!

NOTE TO ANYONE DOING WORK ON YOUR CAR OR ANYONE ELSES WHEN PUTTING WHEELS BACK ON. USE A TORQUE WRENCH PLEASE! THANK YOU!

after some struggles and using some intuition, i got the last nut loose. i ended up using the jack to get some mechanical advantage to break the last nut. it worked and i was able to move to the next step to get the brake caliper off to lift out the brake pads. then i came to another stop. i couldn’t find the 17mm wrench or the 1/4″ socket. it was probably lost during the move. after a few feeble attempts with a crescent wrench, i succumbed.

tools i need:
1/2″ socket extension
17″ wrench
1/4″ ratchet wrench

this week i have to remind myself to pick these up…hopefully i can make a post about how my brake job was a success soon.

aiea janitors profile

today we held our annual work fantasy football draft. we all gathered at dave’s place after work (half days on fridays). pizza, beer, hamachi sashimi, and cognac. perfect mix for a friday afternoon during and after the live draft. we should have done this last year and the year before. now the league will become so much more personal.

we were lucky to come out with nary any technical difficulties – we were worried that dave’s WIFI would not be able to handle 9 laptops simultaneously. in the end it all worked out and now the 14 team line up can get the games started soon when the season starts.

bring it on! be prepared to get cleaned out by the janitors!

tonight we were honored to watch the great yo-yo ma live in concert at the hollywood bowl. rie is a big fan of classical music. as a violin student, she has an appreciation for his work on the cello as well as an appreciation for this genre of music. i know him from his work on the crouching tiger hidden dragon soundtrack. he did all of the music with tan dun.

well, after watching for the first time – live as well i might add – i’m astounded by his gift for music. rie pointed out that he is among the few performers who is so expressive. he enchants you with his facial expressions and his deft and delicate movement of the bow.

we had some bahn mi and wine…a little too much! good thing we took the bus to the bowl!

i need this! it’s a flashback to my first digital camera – the canon s40! it’s a ‘manual’ point and shoot camera, which essentially allows you to control the exposure of your photos. this is unlike most point and shoot cameras you often see people toting around. it’s also a step in an uncharted direction since the image sensor has LESS capacity than the previous canon line of point and shoot cameras. canon seems to be reacting to consumer concern for better image quality rather than size. this is GOOD!

so anyone reading this…feel free to send one my way…this would make for such a great gift! haha!

the garage still only holds 1 car…ours is a garage made for 2 though. it’s about 10:15 pm right now and i’d like to spend an hour of quality time cleaning and moving some boxes into the house. that way another car can sleep warmly in the abode.

we just got through watching a program on HGTV called property virgins and it reminded me about the trials and tribulations we endured on our own search. watching the couples go through the experience made me remember ours. my love for our house was rekindled and now i feel an urge to keep the momentum going on cleaning the house! がんばる！

yesterday was my first golf outing since almost two years. the last time i played was at our company golf tournament in october 2007. it was a fun day at the el dorado golf course. rudy, david, malcolm, and i headed out there for a 12:30 pm tee time (thank you again malcolm!). i shot a personal best 131. with that score, i’m sure you wouldn’t have expected me to brag about any birdies or pars. the closest i got was a bogey on a 4 par. that was the highlight of the day. AND that bogey will keep me coming out to a future course.

my future father-in-law is an avid golfer. he tells me he shoots (or used to?) in the 80’s. i want to learn how to play for many reasons. one of the main reasons is to have something in common with him. second reason is that the game is very challenging and it teaches you quickly how your fortunes and arrogance can make a quick turn around and bring you back to earth.

we discovered this place not on our own but from rie’s friends who are big food conneseuers. we highly respect their recommendations and had to pay this place a visit.

the la times featured them here: http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-find20-2009may20,0,5079559.story.

i found that another article to praise the restaurant wouldn’t hurt.

check out this restaurant if you’re ever in the area. they open from 5:30 until midnight. but expect to wait as everytime we’ve patroned this place, we’ve had to wait.

what to get:
momo もも (chicken thigh)
tsukune つくね (chicken meatball)
daikon oden だいこんおでん (simmered daikon raddish)
soboro そぼろ (ground chicken rice bowl)

we want to try more as we continue the eat here. oh, and did i mention $10 nama biru pitchers???

confusing title i know…but think about it for a bit.

if you’re one of the few who actually subscribe to cable TV (we are actually considering discontinuing it), then you probably get the travel channel – in our case the HD version since we have the so-called ‘HD option’. it’s about the only show that we watch if or when we even have time to watch. they’ve got three great shows:

anthony bourdain no reservations
adam richman man v. food
andrew zimmern bizzare food

from these shows and through conversations with friends, i’ve found out that in general people either:

1) are on this earth to enjoy food
2) or eat food to be on this earth

it’s a terribly simplified way to look at it. the neat thing is that these three guys and these three shows are a representation of the former. rie and i also follow the former. we love food and do extraordinary things to have it. for instance, rie dances and sings when she eats something she really likes. i tease her about this and the funny thing is…she doesn’t even realize she is doing it. on the other hand, i will do a 5 mile or 10 kilometer run just to enjoy what the night will serve at the table!

one thing is certain…food is for everyone. it depends how you want to enjoy it.