Friday, June 1, 2007

In The Air Again.

I took this shot while on my flight out to Houston this weekend. My noona Amy is getting married and so I'm flying out to join in the festivities. The crazy thing about us is that her parents have been close with ours ever since we moved to LA in '84. In fact, her parents knew my aunt (my mom's older sister) before they knew us, and they helped my parents when we first moved out to Cali. The last time I saw them was when I was seven, during the summer before we moved to Moscow, Russia. We lost touch, but as with all random connections, she found me on xanga, since one of my profile pictures was from when I was like 4.
We've been in touch ever since, and so I'm really excited about this brief family reunion. I probably shouldn't be flying in my current headache/coughing condition, but hey, anything for family.

Thursday, May 31, 2007

More Toys.

I've been meaning to buy a flash and get my own 50mm lens. I initially wanted to have the equipment with me by July for missions, but since I'm traveling to Houston this weekend for a wedding, I thought it'd be nice to get it sooner than later. I just hate how the older you get, the more expensive your toys become.

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Punk Rock Babies and MFGG.

For our quarterly offsite, my department invited the punk cover band Me First & The Gimme Gimmes to play at our Summer Kick-Off Bash. I listened to them in high school, so I was excited when I heard that they were coming.

In the middle of their first set, the band's wives walked in with their kids in tow. Each kid had earmuffs on, and it was the most adorable thing, because they were still jamming to their daddies' music. When the two girls just stood in front of their dads' band, I had to steal a shot.

I turned around saw this kid playing with the soundboard. Too cute.

And in the end, me and Brian were able to grab a picture with the band, sans Spike (their lead singer). We think that he was testing out a Google bike and thus was unavailable.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Still Sick.


The title says it all. With all the stuff I'm taking to try and get better, I feel like a walking medicine cabinet. Please pray that I get better soon!

Monday, May 28, 2007

24/7 Memorial Day BBQ.


Since none of us had to work today, our small group met up in Alex's apartment by the ballpark for a huge barbeque. 1/2 lbs burgers, 6 oz steaks, hot dogs, and NINE gallons of homemade sweet tea by yours truly and Steve Chen made this a memorable 9 hour BBQ. Good times.


Jen Han, also known as "NOOOOO!!" (To my NC peeps, she's Judy Pham's best friend. Small world, huh?)

More photos can be found here.

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Tea: How a Pro Does It!

While making the nine gallons of sweet tea for tomorrow's barbeque, Ben "The Stonecutter" Chen decided to whip up some cinnamon-lemon tea for all of us. Since I've been coughing for the past week, it really hit the spot. Ben, one of the owners of The Public (a local restaurant), went into the kitchen and was making this concoction in a skillet! I've never seen tea made like this before, so I had to take a picture.

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Rona's Birthday

Today was Rona's birthday and we celebrated in grand style at Ben Chen's loft in Potrero Hill. A whole bunch of us got together for dinner, and we got to just chill and spend some time catching up with each other. (Rona is the girl with the "I [heart] Mom" shirt)

I was initially taking a picture of just the ladies, when the fellas all decided to act a fool in the background. :)

More pictures of the night can be found here.

Friday, May 25, 2007

Paris, Je t'aime.

18 short films directed by 18 world-famous directors about 18 different arrondissements (districts) in Paris. This two hour film made me fall in love with Paris all over again and made me want to go back. While two or three of the stories were not as memorable in my opinion, I thoroughly enjoyed this film and would recommend it to those who would love to take a two hour break and travel to one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

A Night With Chung.

Tonight, Chung (one of the brothers from our small group) performed at a local coffeeshop during open mic. He was by far the most talented and polished performer, and it was great to see him in his element, performing his own songs in front of a crowd that consisted of mostly friends.

Nights like this really make me realize how uniquely talented and gifted God blesses each and every one of us and of how talented the members of my own small group are. Among us we have musicians, designers, animators, dancers, poets, and comedians. I'm guessing it's this uniqueness that allows us to have such good times and memories when we're all together.

Good job tonight, Chung.

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Jam Session.

We had a jam session at Chung's house. It was interesting. I've been trying to play my guitar more often, but it's just too hard to find the time. I've been realizing that there's so much I want to do, I wish there were more hours in a day to get them all done. But then again, with more hours, I'd probably just sleep more! :P

Friday, April 27, 2007

Just Another Friday: Cricket & Bluegrass.

While Google is always pictured as a chill place to work, Fridays at work are awesome, not just because they mark the beginning of the weekend, but also because there's always something cool going on. After we wrapped up work today, we went to Charleston Park (which borders our main campus) to watch some Googlers play cricket. And that's when it hit me again: what other place can you watch your fellow coworkers play cricket in front of a giant palm tree on any given Friday? haha...

After chillin for a little bit, we headed over to main campus to watch a bluegrass band perform. Man, I seriously need to count my blessings daily when it comes to my employment situation. God is good.

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Barracuda Sushi.

Tonight, Chung, Andrew, Kwang Ho, Sarah, and I went to Barracuda Sushi in Burlingame for dinner. Among five of us, we ordered more rolls than could fit in this single frame. The picture can speak for itself on how good the food was. I'd love to go back just to see Chung order the "Oh! Wasabi!" roll again! haha...

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

[Stop] Caring.

There's an alley near my apartment where I park sometimes. Tonight was the first time I noticed that the stop sign at the end of the alley was graffitti'd. I thought it was an interesting shot so I grabbed a quick shot and headed home.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Jones Black Cherry Soda.


Taken at Panera Bread. There's not really an interesting story to go with this. I just took this picture because I thought the framing might be interesting. I just wish the lighting was better.

Oh and just for your info, the Jones Black Cherry soda tastes like cough syrup. Eww...unless you like that taste.

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Family Time.

I spent today with two of my cousins from my mom's side of the family. The beautiful people you see next to me are Daniel and Esther, two of my closest cousins. They're both working in the city and took some time to just chill with me and wander around NY, since I haven't been able to do so in such a long time. It was so great and refreshing to see them, and just being around them helped me really take a break from the deep emotions I've been dealing with recently. So yeah, thanks, you two, for making things a bit easier to cope with and reminding me of the importance of family.

Later that night, I spent time with cousin's son (which I guess makes him my second cousin). His name is Zubin, he's two years old, and is as adorable in person as he is in the picture. Man, I love kids.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Miyazaki Keeps Me Company.

My mind needs a break. After hearing of my grandmother's passing, I bought the next plane ticket out to Jersey for her funeral service. With all the craziness that's been going on in my life, I was glad that I got some time to just sit and let my brain numb out while waiting for the plane to start boarding.

When I approached the gate, I realized that I had alot more time than expected, so I put in Porco Rosso, one of Hayao Miyazaki's earlier films. It's quite different from his more recent stuff like Spirited Away, but just as entertaining. This was Miyazaki's first film in which he was targeting an older audience, and while the film did seem a bit more "dramatic," it had elements that appeal to people of all ages. Before I sound like another movie critic, I'm just gonna end by saying that I recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys a good animated feature or anyone who wants to just take a break from life for a little bit.

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

My 23rd Birthday.

Wow. What I intended to be a pretty low-key birthday turned out to be random yet enjoyable. It started off with me getting to my desk to find the white board decorated by my cubemate Annie.

I didn't really want to make a huge deal at work, because I didn't think it was groundbreaking news, but the day continued with coworkers and friends stopping by and calling to send their birthday greetings, which was really thoughtful of everyone.

At lunch, a group of Googlers from 24/7 and my coworkers in my department headed to main campus for some good grub and good company in what turned out to be a gorgeous day.

As the day progressed, Julie- a friend from 3:18 (a different small group at GrX)- found out that I hadn't made any plans for the day and invited me out to the driving range to chill with her coworkers. I was hesitant in going because it would have only been the second time at a range, and I was a bit hesitant on going because I knew I'd embarrass myself.

However, much to my amusement and surprise, I was actually able to consistently make contact and send the ball flying. I guess the whole getting older thing has improved upon my skills in old-people sports like golf! We wound up staying at the range for about an hour and a half, and then we headed off to the next event of the day.


After grabbing a quick bite to eat with Henry and Jules, we headed over to Daly City to meet up with the rest of their small groups for their weekly bowling get-together. While waiting for the lanes to open up, we went across the lot to Tapioca Express, where I was treated to a peach smoothie boba.

It wasn't until I was almost halfway done with the smoothie that I realized it had milk in it. For those of you who don't know, I belong in the community of those who are lactose intolerant. However, luckily, there were no problems to be faced tonight :)

Finally, after waiting for about an hour for our lanes to open up, we headed across the parking lot to the alley to get our bowl on! However, it did not turn out to be the casual, leisurely bowling that I've grown accustomed to.

I learned a couple of very important lessons today: 3:18 small group members are pretty hardcore about their bowling. I haven't seen so many 100+ players in one game ever, and it was kind of amusing to see how into it some people got- i.e. they'd beat themselves up for not clearing each frame. Yeah, for me? I was just glad if I didn't gutterball!

And the second lesson of the day?: Whenever it's your birthday, prepare to be embarrassed. Just when I thought I was in the clear, Julie pulls out this hideous purple boa and a birthday hat, forcing me to put it on to the amusement of others.

Regardless, what was expected to be a pretty low-key birthday turned out to be very eventful after all.

Thanks so much to everyone who called, emailed, im-ed, Facebooked, and whatnot to wish my a happy birthday. As lonely as it gets in this city sometimes, I felt really loved today.

Monday, April 2, 2007

Meet Mark.

Mark is yet another coworker of mine. At a previous department conference, they handed out these authentic construction hats as a memento. Mark decided to rock it with some brown overalls, so I needed to take a picture of him taking five from work.

Sunday, April 1, 2007

Family.


I flew down to Southern California this weekend to visit my parents and brother, who was in town for spring break. While I can't really get myself to call it home because I never lived there, it was great to be back together with them again, regardless of how short it was.

Saturday, March 31, 2007

Food = Yum.

Regardless of where my parents live, every time I got and visit them, the one thing that I always wind up doing is eating. While driving around the neighborhood, a familiar sign caught my eye.

I had to do a double take.

And my eyes did not deceive me. I saw Chick-Fil-A. Having freaked out about getting sweet tea, we decided to stop by, and my brother, getting carried away, decided to get two gallons. I guess the southern lifestyle has rubbed off on him as well!

Later tonight, we went to a sushi buffet. Yeah, you can't go wrong with that either!

Friday, March 30, 2007

Practice Shots.



A coworker let me borrow his 50mm f/1.4 lens so on the way to the airport, I decided to mess
around and take a couple of shots. I love this lens and am probably going to get the f/1.6 soon. I'm excited.

Thanks to Jane for pulling through and giving me a ride to the Oakland Airport. That was crucial.

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Self-Portrait.

Ran out of time and energy to look for a picture today, so I decided to take a self-portrait. I know, I got lazy.

It won't happen again, I promise!

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Scrub-A-Dub.


After a long overdue wait, I finally was able to get my car washed today. Now it's sparkly clean. I just hope it doesn't rain anytime soon!

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

The Hukilau.


Our team had an offsite at a Hawaiian restaurant today in Palo Alto. It felt great to simply get out of the office for a few hours and hang out with my coworkers. Above is a picture of Matt, one of the OGs of our team, and Thu.

Monday, March 26, 2007

A Night at The Public.


We had our weekly Creative Arts Ministry (CAM) meeting at Ben's restaurant The Public in SOMA. I love coming here, because the atmosphere is chill and the food that Ben prepares for us is great.

Sunday, March 25, 2007

A Trip to Pixar Animation Studios.


This morning, Alex invited us to watch a screening of Disney's Meet the Robinsons at Pixar. The movie was okay, but the storyline was a little weak- Alex explained how Pixar got involved in this project after it was more than half completed, so they couldn't tweak the story to make it work better. Oh well. It was a free movie, so that made it pretty decent!

This was my second visit to Pixar and both times have been very enjoyable. It's so amazing to see the artwork that was used to storyboard and create Cars. While touring the place, I almost forgot my own workplace and the amenities there, and was thinking "Wow! This must be such a cool place to work!" I guess there's alot to say about this area, since there's so many good companies out here to work for.


Saturday, March 24, 2007

A Night On the Town.


Tonight, we headed to SOMA (South of Market) to celebrate Grace and Timmy's birthdays. I snapped the first shot from the car as we were looking for parking, and although it came out a bit pixelated, I like the b/w-effect.

This is Timmy. He knows Jen Lin from back in NC...Small world. Happy birthday, bro!

Friday, March 23, 2007

We Run This!


Meet my friend Christina. She's a graphic designer at work and we both share something in common: our ties and love for the state of North Carolina. Since it's game day (we're playing USC), I told her yesterday that I'd be very disappointed if she didn't rep any Carolina Blue.
I guess I was convincing enough.

Go Heels!

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Last Day in the Cube.

Today was the last day that the four of us shared our first cube in the new building at work. It's been one of the most memorable experiences so far sitting with these guys- from playing "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" to bringing up bags of honey dipped pretzels and Haribo gummy bears, it's been fun. And it's not like we're splitting up forever either, because we'll still be working together! I'm definitely going to miss the gang tho. Ah such is life....


[l-r] Zach, me, Annie, Lexi

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Lunch at Fuki Sushi.


A few co-workers from my team decided to have lunch at Fuki Sushi in Palo Alto. Good food, good company, good times.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Urban Art.


While walking home from work today, I was walking through one of the side streets that led to my apartment, and I noticed for the first time how the side of this building was tagged up. While graffiti is considered vandalism, I appreciate "good" graffiti art because it's just one of those elements of a city that give it more character. The only problem is that there's too many bad tag artists out there.

This wall wasn't that great, but at the same time, the bright colors caught my attention.

Monday, March 19, 2007

A Hospital Visit.


Toadie had her appendix removed today, so we paid her a visit at the hospital this evening. We were all relieved to know that that surgery was a success and that she would be discharged tomorrow morning. We knew that she was fine because even in her drugged up state, her dry humor kept us all laughing. Get well soon, Toadie!

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Church Wildlife.

Someone at church dressed up in this panda suit for Fall Launch. I don't think anyone understood the reason why he decided to do this, but at the same time, with the scratching heads and questioning faces at the mall, I found it to be hilariously random.

Saturday, March 17, 2007

"Alpha- Find Me Five Teenagers With Attitude!"


While driving down the US-101 today, Jeff and I noticed the communications tower found near Twin Peaks peeking through a thick layer of clouds surrounding the city. With the clouds masking the surrounding area, the tower reminded me of the big zords in the Power Rangers, or something random like that.