I wish my dogs would wear doggles.
Maybe Louie would.
BTW Doggles were invented in Los Gatos, California.
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Thursday, November 17, 2005
Q
In my never ending quest to visit the all of the out-of-the-way corporate junket spots, I spent the good part of this week in the wilds of St. Charles, IL at the infamous Q Center.
Q Center is a corporate training center that Arthur Andersen created back in the day to train their new recruits. After Andersen ran into, ahhhh, troubles this century, they recast themselves as a self-contained corporate retreat.
Being a Chicago-native and Q-newbie, I looked at this trip as a simple boondoogle to catch up with my old hometown. Of course, the purpose of having events at these kinds of centers (think all inclusive cruise) is to keep employees isolated and therefore focused. And since St. Charles is about 2 hours outside Chicago city limits, they are pretty effective: No rental cars, no public transit and 5 miles from the nearest city.
While the Q Center's foo was strong, I proved stronger. Late on day two of the event, a co-hort of mine and I skipped a general session, bribed a cabbie to come get us and made our way into next town where they had two of my favorite Chicago-land eateries: Portillos and Giordano's Pizza.
Not wanted to waste my chance, I had tapas consisting of Chili dogs and crinkly fries at Portillos before adjurning to Giordanos to demolish a medium stuffed pepperoni and black olive pizza. The picture at right is the freshly delivered pie.
Q Center is a corporate training center that Arthur Andersen created back in the day to train their new recruits. After Andersen ran into, ahhhh, troubles this century, they recast themselves as a self-contained corporate retreat.
Being a Chicago-native and Q-newbie, I looked at this trip as a simple boondoogle to catch up with my old hometown. Of course, the purpose of having events at these kinds of centers (think all inclusive cruise) is to keep employees isolated and therefore focused. And since St. Charles is about 2 hours outside Chicago city limits, they are pretty effective: No rental cars, no public transit and 5 miles from the nearest city.
While the Q Center's foo was strong, I proved stronger. Late on day two of the event, a co-hort of mine and I skipped a general session, bribed a cabbie to come get us and made our way into next town where they had two of my favorite Chicago-land eateries: Portillos and Giordano's Pizza.
Not wanted to waste my chance, I had tapas consisting of Chili dogs and crinkly fries at Portillos before adjurning to Giordanos to demolish a medium stuffed pepperoni and black olive pizza. The picture at right is the freshly delivered pie.
Friday, November 11, 2005
Mariachi Night
Nothing much going on lately, just travelling back and forth to the Bay Area for work. However, yesterday I decided to stop over in Pacifica (my old hometown) to eat at Celia's.
Celia's is my favorite Mexican restaurant due to the greatest menu item, Cancun Platter: crab, shrimp, scallops, onions, cheese and guacamole over rice. Nice.
Even better, it was Mariachi Band night.
Celia's is my favorite Mexican restaurant due to the greatest menu item, Cancun Platter: crab, shrimp, scallops, onions, cheese and guacamole over rice. Nice.
Even better, it was Mariachi Band night.
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Bus Home
Twenty seven hours, four airports and three flight later, I am back in Northern California. I was supposed to be home 5 hours earlier but I was once again screwed over by the third world airport we call LAX. Anyhoo, it's good to be home.
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Sydney FFF: Starbuck Pies
Since I've stopped frequenting McD's and Starbucks has become so international, I think it is time for my first Starbucks' FFF.
Today's FFF: Chunky Meat Pies.
Captured at Starbucks at Circular Quey in Sydney.
Today's FFF: Chunky Meat Pies.
Captured at Starbucks at Circular Quey in Sydney.
Friday, October 14, 2005
Queanbeyan
My trip to Australia got off to rocky start. It appears that every hotel room in Canberra is booked due to some flower show, so I got stuck in a hotel outside of the ACT in a village called Queanbeyan. The hotel (really motel) is not the best of accomodations, there is no food anywhere around but it does have a nice countryside. During my run yesterday morning, I saw three Kangaroos hanging out in some farmers field near this railroad bridge. No, I didn't catch the roos for a picture -- I'll try later this week.
Monday, October 10, 2005
Sydney Brekky
As you can see from my LOCATION bar on the left, I am off travelling for business again in Australia. It's been a year since I left my job in Asia, so this is the first time that I have been back to Australia (or even travel) in a while. And it shows -- I don't think I am ready to get back into the 20-hour flight grinds. The 22 hours that it took to get from Sacramento Intl Airport through LAX and Sydney to Canberra seemed really long.
All bitching aside, I do enjoy eating overseas. I don't know what it is, but some of their food tastes better. For example, take this breakfast in the Sydney airport. It's your normal English brekky, but this place does it really nice -- no worries about cholesterol here.
If you are ever in the Sydney Domestic terminal, check it out over near the Hungry Jack counter.
All bitching aside, I do enjoy eating overseas. I don't know what it is, but some of their food tastes better. For example, take this breakfast in the Sydney airport. It's your normal English brekky, but this place does it really nice -- no worries about cholesterol here.
If you are ever in the Sydney Domestic terminal, check it out over near the Hungry Jack counter.
Monday, September 26, 2005
Louie Dog Year 2
I forgot to mention it a few weeks ago, but September 6th marked Louie's first adoption anniversary (and his second birthday, we think).
Monday, September 19, 2005
Cougar Mountain 2005
I finished off the bike racing season last weekend at my first NORBA event, the Cougar Mountain Classic.
Cougar Mountain is held at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California. Sonoma is just south of Napa and north of San Francisco. While a Indy car race track isn't the most ideal place for a mountain bike race, this event did have road and downhill racing also, so I guess it wasn't a bad compromise. The hills outside the race track are rolling and are tall enough to see the Pacific Ocean. Since Cougar Mountain is an official NORBA event, the top 10 finishers in each race's age bracket and category qualify for NORBA National Championships in Mammoth, CA (which was held last weekend.)
I competed in two events: cross country (XC) and Mountain Cross (MTX). I race cross country fairly often (PCRS and Tahoe series are XC) but I hadn't ever actually done a MTX race before.
My XC race was an eye opener. A lot more people, a longer course (8+ miles), a lot faster people and a lot hilly course. That and they used the high-tech RFID-like chips around your ankle to time you. Very high tech, but pretty cool -- they time you down to hundredths of a second. Apparently, the NORBA races are a tad more serious than the PCRS get-togethers. Either way, I finished in the middle of pack, just outside of the top 10 finish that I needed to qualify for nationals. The guy who won my age bracket ended up placing fourth at NORBA Nationals this weekend.
The MTX race was just a lot more fun. MTX races four people at a time down a short, steep track with a number of motocross style jumps. The top 2 from each heat advance while the last two get eliminated. Needless to say, the race can be a little dicey. However, you've got a lot of pads to make sure you don't break too much. My age group had about 10 people and I made it to the semi-finals before I got ousted (So I finished 5th). This means that I did qualify for NORBA Nationals in MTX, but I didn't make the trip down to Mammoth, CA since I had to work.
Cougar Mountain is held at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California. Sonoma is just south of Napa and north of San Francisco. While a Indy car race track isn't the most ideal place for a mountain bike race, this event did have road and downhill racing also, so I guess it wasn't a bad compromise. The hills outside the race track are rolling and are tall enough to see the Pacific Ocean. Since Cougar Mountain is an official NORBA event, the top 10 finishers in each race's age bracket and category qualify for NORBA National Championships in Mammoth, CA (which was held last weekend.)
I competed in two events: cross country (XC) and Mountain Cross (MTX). I race cross country fairly often (PCRS and Tahoe series are XC) but I hadn't ever actually done a MTX race before.
My XC race was an eye opener. A lot more people, a longer course (8+ miles), a lot faster people and a lot hilly course. That and they used the high-tech RFID-like chips around your ankle to time you. Very high tech, but pretty cool -- they time you down to hundredths of a second. Apparently, the NORBA races are a tad more serious than the PCRS get-togethers. Either way, I finished in the middle of pack, just outside of the top 10 finish that I needed to qualify for nationals. The guy who won my age bracket ended up placing fourth at NORBA Nationals this weekend.
The MTX race was just a lot more fun. MTX races four people at a time down a short, steep track with a number of motocross style jumps. The top 2 from each heat advance while the last two get eliminated. Needless to say, the race can be a little dicey. However, you've got a lot of pads to make sure you don't break too much. My age group had about 10 people and I made it to the semi-finals before I got ousted (So I finished 5th). This means that I did qualify for NORBA Nationals in MTX, but I didn't make the trip down to Mammoth, CA since I had to work.
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
MNF Time Again
It's September and Monday night, so it can only mean that it's time for the Powerhouse Pub's Monday Night Football party.
Although this year's edition appears to have some different cast members than last year's edition, it's nice to see they didn't loose the "classy" feel they have worked so hard to obtain.
Although this year's edition appears to have some different cast members than last year's edition, it's nice to see they didn't loose the "classy" feel they have worked so hard to obtain.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)