Cruise Trip to Ensenada was tons and tons of fun. It was my first cruise since going with my family about 15 years ago (also to Ensenada) and was an awesome trip all round. Our ship was the Monarch of the Seas, and was a mighty fine ship, despite the rooms being pretty tight (as in small, not sexy). The food of course was awesome, with a couple buffet breakfasts and lunches and of course some unbeatable sit down dinners. We ordered multiple appetizers, entrees, and deserts including such things as shrimp, lobster bisque, snail (yum), steak, beef, turkey, pasta, and others I can't even remember. Our table of six guys often saw up to 18 plates of food overflowing the table space. Good stuff, and props must go to our waiters. Besides the food, we also spent half a day walking around Ensenada, which included eating at an authentic Mexican restaurant (cant tell the difference from Rodrigos in penasquitos). On the boat we enjoyed such things as a comedy show, magic show, musical, 70's night at the club, pool party (where they played the same songs), sleeping by the pool, playing cards, playing basketball, playing in a trivia game, and hanging out at the bow of the ship singing songs. Without a doubt a vacation to remember.







Other events of note worth mentioning include a return to the Fair to see engelbert humperdinck (my mom's favorite singer) and eating a krispy kreme fried chicken sandwich (awesome). Also, I finally left the lab of doom!!!!! Whooooooo!! Hendrik (in tears when he realized he would have to start doing work) treated me to lunch in la jolla at a place with an awesome view of the ocean, and the half of the lab that hadnt left for italy took me to Rendezvous in Del Mar (french name serving chinese food). All in all a busy last couple of days, and now its time to start enjoying my last weeks in San Diego.

"Can I get four tickets for Fantastic Four for four oclock?"


This weekend I got to see Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer, starring Jessica Alba, which was awesome, exciting, beautiful, profound, and perfect. And the movie wasn't bad either. Lots of fun action and super powered special effects, and defintely better than the first one. Plus Jessica Alba was in it. Silver Surfer looked pretty cool too, and Dr. Doom got to fly around and shoot lightning bolts at people. Really the only complaint I have is that Jessica Alba only got naked once (although at least she didnt disappear as often in this one). The movie was good fun all the way through though, and between Spider-man, Pirates, and Fantastic Four, this is actually my favorite blockbuster thus far this summer. And Jessica Alba was hot.

I actually saw this movie with the folks, which puts into perspective the fact that these next couple weeks will see the last few times that the Imus Fantastic Four (that was clever) will still be a team. And one of the themes of the movie was the idea of teams and families and solidarity, which makes me kinda sad that our Foursome will be temporarily disbanding in the near future. You dont expect to learn many things from superhero movies, but this one really did get me thinking about how much our family is gonna change. And I think the most important thing I've learned in comparing my family's challenges with such similar struggles as alien invasions and molecular instability and planet consuming immortal beings is ... I wish Jessica Alba lived in my house.

An Ode To Vic's Birthday (first seen on Vic's facebook wall)

Victor Chiu is the best
He's the coolest guy in the West
I've known the guy since first grade
Many video games we both have played
After all these years as friends I now must say
I never opened the present you gave me for my birthday.

Last weekend the folks and I made it out to the San Diego County Fair thanks to some $1 tickets courtesy of Ralphs. The last couple times that I've gone there (all with Vic and Mario) we've always parked in that free dirt patch and taken the London double decker shuttle, but seeing as how i was the driver my parents thought it would be worth me paying for parking and trying to find a spot. So as soon as I pay $9 and head right into 2mph traffic, my mom says something like "turn in here, i think some people are leaving" to which i respond "There's not gonna be a spot right in front of the park!!" which results in my mom giving one of her famous lectures about how finding a spot in a parking lot is a metaphor for life, and if I'm ever going to be successful in the future I have to be more aggressive at finding parking spots. So long story short, I turn into the second row and find about three parking spots in front of the park.

The park itself was just as good as usual, and consisted of funnel cake, little kids running screaming out of rides, overly expensive midway games, salesmen saying things like "Want a good buy? Goodbye!!", gardens with lots of flowers, a wood crafts room, and a rock exhibit with displays called "Paul's Big Balls" and "Paul's Small Balls". Good fun.