harman kardon avr 254

2009-03-29 | #AVR 254 #Blu Ray #Geekyness #Harman Kardon #HDMI #Home Theater #Movies

todo HK AVR 254 It is no secret that I love watching movies in the comfort of my own living room. I get to eat what I want, drink and not have to worry about driving, and most of the time I’m by myself so I don’t have to worry about shushing people. What can I say, its a great way for me to recharge and get lost for a few hours.


let the right one in

2009-03-28 | #Movies

todo Let The Right One In Let the Right One In is a very memorable horror movie. It’s in the vein (HA!) of a vampire movie, yet it never really addresses the question and creatively dodges it. The two characters are a boy and a girl. Oskar and Eli. The young boy lives in an apartment complex with his single (and very absent) mother. Like most boys, he has a bully problem.


lullaby

2009-03-15 | #Books

These noise-aholics, these quiet-ophobics I liked that statement, it is mentioned many times throughout the book with some variation. There is a great part where the protagonist, Carl Streaton, talks about his apartment tenets “sound wars”. Where its not about the music anymore, but the volume. As much as I dislike loud noises and chaos, I was able to relate very well to the main character. The book isn’t about noise-aholics, peace-ophobics, but about a childrens lullaby that kills anyone who hears it.


wushu west 2009 03 12

2009-03-14 | #burpees #frog leaps #Wushu #Wushu

I didn’t know, but this class marked Mark’s 14th year wushu anniversary. Thats awesome, he remembers the exact day, time and the fact that it was partially cloudy outside. Sheesh, I remember mine was around October 2001, around the time The One was released in theatres, not the exact time and day though. With that, congrats Mark! The rule for showing up late is that you have to do 20 burpee’s.


mount diablo hike

2009-03-13 | #General #hiking #Jenny

I didn’t want to forget to blog about this, it is a little late. Over a month ago (Jan 31st), Jenny invited me to hike Mount Diablo with the Stanford Outing Group, lead by “V”. I’ve posted her photos to the gallery here, and you should read her post on our trip. Its more entertaining than mine :) http://jettagirl.wordpress.com/2009/02/01/mount-diablo-hike-to-the-summit/ This was a 14 mile hike, took about 6-7 hours (I think) and made my legs feel like jelly.


christmas in february

2009-03-01 | #Caralyne #Christmas #Family #Owen

Group photo todo My Dad and I are very similar, one of those similar traits is that we procrastinate and push things like Christmas off until ALMOST March :) This get together worked out last year, so we did it again. The traditional holiday schedule is so crazy and overwhelming (especially for an introvert) that it is miserable to try and cram everything in within a few days. With us getting together two months after settling down from the real event, its nice and relaxing and we get to have Pizza without worrying that the place will close due to a holiday.


wushu west 2009 02 26

2009-02-26 | #Boxing #mark #Wushu #Wushu

Another awesome class of basics with Mark. I like the basic wushu movements now more than ever, for two reasons. I’m so out of it now, I can’t remember an entire form, so its all I can do. If you can do basics well, then all of the rest comes a lot easier. Its something we should always work on. What I also like are little combination, you know, not a full section, but just a short string of punches, kicks, and stances.


setting up my own openid server

2009-02-22 | #Apache #FreeBSD #Geekyness #Java #OpenID #PostgreSQL #Tomcat 6

I’ve configured this blog to use my OpenID accounts. I have two (which totally goes against the single identity mindset of OpenID :) ) http://mcarlson.myopenid.com/ http://openid.evil-genius-network.com/mike The second one I just stood up today. I’m always concerned with who has my information, and if I can, I try to keep it all within the realm of my control. Also, the evil genius domain has absolutely no purpose besides a testing ground that I have no problems destroying :)


the amazing adventures of kavalier clay

2009-02-17 | #Books

A fantastic novel. This type of book makes re-examine yourself, which can be good and bad I guess. The book is essential about two cousins, Sam Klayman (or Sam Clay) and Joseph Kavalier, who decided to pitch a new line of comic book characters during the 1940’s “Golden Age” of comic books. They both bring their own ideals and messages to their fictional characters. What I found interesting is this isn’t about a particular event, but the two characters lives in whole.


the road

2009-02-15 | #Books

It is hard to say that I’ve enjoyed a novel that was sad and depressing. It was a great read, and I really liked how the dialog was arranged, it was very sparse but not at all wasteful. The book is about a father and son traveling to the pacific coast in a very dreary post-apocalyptic south western. I guess this is all supposed to be after a comet hits the Earth.