my relatives are in town. specifically, my uncle and aunt from hong kong via canada are visiting with their three kids. i have to admit that i enjoy hanging out with kids in small portions. they are all very well behaved so i can't complain. yesterday, we all drove up to the outlet stores in vacaville. the nike outlet store was pretty neat.. i enjoyed looking at the variety of merchandise but i have to admit my self-control chip was in full force. i put down the reversable shorts and came away with _only_ one pair of tear-away pants.

my uncle and his family, weren't as lucky. =) its all good. they bought a new piece of luggage for all of their outlet purchases! otherwise things have been pretty mellow... not much other news or complaining to do...

need to find a place to vacation. got a suggestion? got a time share you want to lend to me? let me know. =)

i'm driving down memory lane.... again. =) it must have been my senior year of high school and i was driving through golden gate park on the way home from my afterschool job. i was zooming along in my 81 Volvo-- (zooming is a relative concept) and all i can remember is singing my heart out to shai's "baby i'm yours". now i'm the kind of guy who signs his heart out in the car... well, that is when i'm alone-- and when its a killer song!

"baby i'm yours... if you want me... and if you want my sweet love, youuuuurs...."

at this point i'm probably driving about 20 miles over the speed limit and screaming/singing at the top of my lungs....albeit i'm still a safe driver during this performance....

i'm only a couple of blocks away from my house and i look over to the car next to me.... looking back at me are my parents with their mouths hanging open as if they've never seen anything as horrible in their lives. upon arriving home they proceed to inquire about what i was doing and if i truly thought that singing that strenuously was safe. one question they didn't ask was "what song was it?"

guess what is in my cd player, right now? the boys from shai.

remember how i mentioned that i will sometimes give in to the occasional guilty pleasure? i'm partaking in one right now-- i'm listening to something that no "right" minded fella should be listening to while job hunting.... i'm listening to cross roads, the greatest hits cd of bon jovi. you can send your hate mail now to gil@gkelly.net. heh heh heh.. what can i say-- i loved the slippery when wet album.

had a telephone interview today... the position is far from being perfect but it does have some attractive features. we'll have to see what other prospects pop their heads up. today is a glorious day in the bay area... went to have lunch with a college friend downtown. it was very cool to sit in the sun and enjoy the cool sf breeze. i think i will miss the breeze more than anything else if i move away.

ahh... life is about simple pleasures... reading the sunday paper... visiting the children's section of the library... walking in the park with a sweet breeze blowing. am i appreciating all of this during my hiatus? you bet.

short original post today... just wanted to wish a happy father's day to all of the 'pops' out there... and a quick birthday wish to my little brother, bobo.

'til tomorrow

hey kids... sorry for not updating this recently... i've been a little under the weather lately but i think that i've gotten over the small cold that i picked up. of course, part of the reason that i've been busy is that i've been searching for work-- but you'll hear more about that later. =)

as the ultimate sports fan i'm sort of sad that the 2000-2001 NBA campaign is finally over. the lakers have lived up to their billing and have repeated as champions. i wasn't all that excited about this series and i think that i find championship series to be sort of anticlimactic. i guess i enjoy the journey through the playoffs with the different teams, players, and storylines. i have to say that my admiration for the sixers and for allen iverson has grown a great deal with their performance this year. they played with grit and toughness which is totally admirable. props go to the fellas from philly.

i guess now i have to go to the gym and practice my jump shot for hours every day so that i can shoot like derek fisher--- that way i can extend the defense with my perimeter game. =p the way he shot the ball during the playoffs was seriously phenomenal.

barry bonds hit another two homers yesterday… he’s well on his way to breaking baseball’s record for home runs in a season. big deal….i’ll believe it when he breaks the record. even the homers that he hit yesterday were both solo shots—which are practically worthless to his team. I have never been and never plan to be a huge barry bonds fan. so everyone else can give him the spotlight—i’ll pass, thanks.

damn.. trying to recreate this blog was sheer torture. i guess I’ll have to compose something original now to make up for this.

damn... my laptop just froze up... the 6 paragraphs of text that i just wrote for this freaking thing have just gone to waste. shooooooot! time to rewrite everything that i had just written. sufferin' succatash.

ok... i admit it. i used to be a big r&b music fan. now don't get me wrong, i still enjoy my occassional "i love you baaaabeee, don't leave me plllllleeease" ballad but i just can't past all the crap that is on the radio now. i admit that i that i liked sisqo's first solo effort, unleash the dragon. it was probably because his singing style and voice makes me harken back to k-ci hailey's glory days in jodeci. even i wasn't able to deny the catchy hooks of tunes like the ubiquitous "thong song" and unleash the dragon. sisqo's asian-influenced garb and backgrounds... sure it was corny but i gave him the benefit of the doubt-- plus, who really takes this blonde/silver haired dude seriously? i surely didn't. then he started doing movies... and those decisions were bad at best too. again, i give him the benefit of the doubt.

but let me be the first one stand against the masses and speak out against sisqo! have you seen his new video, "can i live"? what a putrid, piece of garbage. now, i enjoy a guilty pleasure as much as the next guy but this was really crap. sisqo with his gigantic ego is running around with his clothes constantly being tugged and pulled by hoochie-mama types. he wears a t-shirt appropriately enough with the words, can i live... umm sisqo, if your horrible tunes create the next son of sam-- only you, dragon-boy will be to blame.

even the dance routines with the dancers (can you say eye patches) were horrible... man, i hope the rest of the album isn't this bad. while i'm at it.. destiny's child-- get off my television screen. overexposure is deadly... and you are flirting with disaster! shaggy, give juice newton her song back. ray j... stop gravytraining off your sister. jagged edge, go find an old shai album and take some notes.

man, it is truly sad when i welcome hearing a usher or eve song on the radio. i guess this is why people listen to national public radio.

my knee is bothering me. played a lot of basketball today and i think that my knee got hit by another knee. for the first time in a long time i didn't lose while playing basketball so i didn't have a chance to rest much. its funny how playing basketball for 3 hrs can totally sap all the energy out of me.

have you seen josie and the pussycats yet? i can't say that i loved the movie-- it was a nice flick with plenty of eye candy but i was a bit dissapointed. i only mention it because i just finished downloading a bunch of songs from the soundtrack. the stars of the film tara reid, rosario dawson and rachel leigh cook sing background on the album but they are not the true artist behind josie and the pussycats. it seems that the former singer of letters to cleo is the voice of josie and she's pretty awesome. i'd encourage you to check it out-- especially "3 small words."

birthday wishes go out to angela chen and to my uncle leland. we had a party for angela's birthday yesterday and it was pretty cool. brian just got a copy of crouching tiger, hidden dragon and after carrie's request we paused the film on a shot of zhang ziyi's wet t-shirt. i think that she is a star in the making but she looks way too young. i wasn't that impressed with the wet t-shirt either. =p i had a couple of drinks at this party but after a couple of hours the slight buzz that i had going wore off. (which is good because i needed to drive!)

after the party most of us cruised over to club bas, which was housing the element party last night. as always, i had to wait in line for a while which sort of sucked. waiting outside a club can be a harrowing experience-- between the cigarette smoke and the cold, i'm not sure why i bear with it at all. the club was pretty crowded last night and i had a decent time. didn't really dance as much as i would have wanted. most of our crowd was hanging in the trance room, which was insanely hot. i would have preferred to hang out in the hip hop area, which was a little more comfortable.

the 4 raging bulls that i had were a nice compliment to the evening. =) i ran into my cousin donny at the party which was a nice change of pace. donny is only a couple of months younger than me and many summer days were spend with dink bowling and playing other sports. unfortunately we don't get to hang out nearly enough anymore.

on friday night we celebrated my cousin dianna's graduation from elementary school. =) i had dinner for the first time at the bubba gump's shrimp company. i had the coconut shrimp... quite tasty! alright... that is enough for now. did that satisfy your interest in me?

sorry that i haven't updated for a while. been pretty busy looking for work and working on draftnik. did you see allen iverson last night? damn.. he's a baaaaaaaad man! ok. check back for more later!

my eyes hurt... must be using the computer too much. built a bunch of Draftnik pages outlining the WNBA's draft history. I didn't find it all that interesting but I'm trying to serve a diverse population, you know? physically i'm not feeling that hot either. somewhere between working out today and playing basketball yesterday i tweaked my heel. i'm going to have to figure out how i caused this injury... and avoid doing it again.

yesterday i actually dusted off my bicycle and took it for a quick spin. the weather was nice yesterday and it was pretty cool to cruise up and down the great highway via bicycle. i would take my bike to the gym or to lowell, when we play basketball, but i'm a little scared that i won't be able to make the trip home safely after a long workout. wouldn't want to be on my bike, dehydrated and tired, weaving back and forth on my bike.

props go out to joel for tossing a cool housewarming party on saturday. aside from dk and y showing off on Dance Dance Revolution it was nice just to hang out and see old friends. the collection of mike's hard lemonade and smirnoff ice wasn't bad either. =)

it looks like jerry rice is going to become a raider tomorrow. i guess i might have to wear black tomorrow. not because i'm a raider fan--- but for mourning purposes. good night folks...

urgh..... hotmail seems to be down for me... this is sooo frustrating. i know that i'm too attached to my email but i actually have emails that i need to get before the weekend. i'm not sure how widespread this outage is but i know that my cousin Nora has access to her account. she just logged into my account for me. suffering succotash! time to go shoot myself.

sorry that this update took so long. got distracted by other things i guess. for those of you who don't live in the bay area-- you guys are all missing an epic heat wave. makes me wish that i had a swimming pool to jump in. (then again, anybody who has a heated swimming pool is probably filing for bankrupcy with our jumping electricity rates). man, it is just a bad time to be in california.

yesterday, i took cheryl to the giants game for her birthday. it was a lot of fun kicking back and just hanging out. i've always looked to cheryl as a mentor and she has never let me down. unfortunately, the giants found a way to lose the game in 18 innings. YES... 18 innings. not being total baseball purists, cheryl and i left after the 10th inning. the giants are a sad case. marvin benard is sucking eggs and barry bonds is still a huge jerk. (yes, i am not a bonds fan no matter how many homers he hits--- until he comes through in the clutch he gets no probs).

do you ever think about friends that you've totally lost touch with? i had a bad knack for losing touch with friends from middle school and high school and i've worked hard not to lose the people i met in college. one guy who i lost touch with was john, one of my roommates from my taiwan trip in the summer of 95. as these things turn out circumstance has brought our circle of roommates back together. this is a random story but john was looking though the photo album of a friend and came across a picture of elton, another roommate of ours. it turns out that john is marrying the girl that he met in taiwan and we're totally excited for them.

i guess life can deliver positive surprises sometimes. i'll conclude this entry with a song that i was reminded of during the wedding in arizona two weeks ago. now, please don't read into this song-- i simply bring it up because it was so so catchy back in the day. ok, maybe the song came up because there was a hottie at the wedding who we were checking out. *grin*

No One is to Blame by Howard Jones (early 80's)

You can look at the menu but you just can't eat
You can feel the cushions but you can't have a seat
You can dip your foot in the pool but you can't have a swim
You can feel the punishment but you can't commit the sin
And you want her and she wants you
We want everyone
And you want her and she wants you
No one, no one, no one ever is to blame
You can build a mansion but you just can't live in it
You're the fastest runner but you're not allowed to win
Some break the rules
And live to count the cost
The insecurity is the thing that won't get lost
And you want her and she wants you
We want everyone
And you want her and she wants you
No one, no one, no one ever is to blame
You can see the summit but you can't reach it
It's the last piece of the puzzle but you just can't make it fit
Doctor says you're cured but you still feel the pain
Aspirations in the clouds but your hopes go down the drain
And you want her and she wants you
We want everyone
And you want her and she wants you
No one, no one, no one ever is to blame
No one ever is to blame
No one ever is to blame

hey kids... thanks for reading. i think i need to spend the whole day at home and not go anywhere. but i can't =(. my homebody tendencies are definitely screaming out for attention. ok... here comes a quick update on the rest of the weekend...

went down to the south bay for cheryl's birthday bbq. had a great time watching cheryl get drunk... heh heh heh. got to meet and hang out with some cool peeps. the best part of the night was spending time with some old friends. i don't get to see cheryl or howie nearly enough and i'm going to have to amend that. =) although some other folks went clubbing on sunday i didn't have the energy to join them. five and a half hours of beer and bbq was enough to wear me out.

on monday i hung out with a lot of old friends from berkeley at a picnic in daly city. although the weather was cold and windy we had a terrific time. thanks to evance and angela for making it all happen. lots of football tossing, tennis and basketball followed the food. my hair was sky high after playing a couple of hours of basketball... i guess a strong wind can do wonders with anything!

more about the weekend in the next blog... coming up in a couple of minutes...

so the memorial day marathon of socializing and fun continues. i have to say that i am still very tired from the wedding that i attended last night. jen(n) was nice enough to invite me to her coworker's wedding yesterday and i had a terrific time! best wishes and happiness go out to ana and andrew for their wedding.

the ceremony was performed at a catholic church which was just a little different from the jewish wedding i attended last week. although i didn't mind this ceremony called for lots of standing and combined prayer-- as if we were attending a sunday mass. i think i decided yesterday that i wouldn't get married in a church unless i was marrying someone who was religious. i'm starting to think that it is inappropriate to get married within a house of God unless you actually believe in him. i guess i'll have to make sure chuck e. cheese's is open to doing weddings.

the reception and dinner that followed at the college of notre dame in belmont were very nice. ralston hall on the notre dame campus was gorgeous with huge mirrors and an old-time quality. the meal that we had was also delicious with a chilean sea bass that just melted in the mouth! jen(n) works at a company called coalesce with andrew and there were about 7 other coworkers at the wedding.

despite being jen(n)'s guest i had a good time meeting and hanging out with her team. they aren't as fun as the ticketweb family, of course, but they were very cool nonetheless. before the usual dj mix of songs like celebration by kool & the gang and unforgettable by nat & natalie cole, the wedding "singer" was playing tunes on his guitar. being the dork that i am i kept trying to "name that tune". got most of them... i think. =)

hey i worked on some more pages for draftnik (shameless plug). if you see any banners at the bottom of the pages that are not for valueclick-- hit them. you'll be helping contribute to my retirement fund! today we get to hang out in the south bay with cheryl! whoo hoo....

hey kids, thanks for returning to my web log. as most of you know blog*spot, the company that hosts web logs for folks like me has been down for the better part of the week. thankfully the frustration is over and we are back online.

i bet you are asking yourself what i've been doing all week.... hmm. good question. let me see if i can recap for ya. friday was pretty mellow- woke up early and looked for work. completed a couple more pages of draftnik. building this site is like furnishing a house. the more stuff you add to it the mor e that you think you need to add. urgh. that isn't good news. =)

in the afternoon i went to pick up my boy ian from the airport and did some shopping at tower records. unfortunately for me, tower had an in-store appearance by the cowboy junkies. i hadn't really heard of them and wasn't really looking to check them out so i was kind of bummed as their fans were inhibiting my shopping experience. man, the life of a rock star can't be easy-- from constantly doing radio appearances and record store signings life can get pretty brutal.

last night, one of this site's loyal readers, kai was nice enough to host a dinner last night at postrio. maybe i'm just a commoner, but i don't generally don't frequent restaurants as nice as postrio. kai also brought an exquisite wine from his collection which capped off a great dinner. kai, props go out to you!

alright i'm going to do a load of laundry. more updates in a couple of minutes.

blog spot is back up... is this working yet?

urrrrrrrrrrgh. blogspot has been down for about 3 days now. no one can read any of these insightful thoughts! yesterday i busted some hump and worked on draftnik. we've been getting a ton of hits recently and i took the time to start updating the site. still have lots of work do though. please check out the site and let me know what you think.

decided yesterday that i'm being much too selective on the jobs that i'm applying for. i think i need to expand my window more and hopefully that will help me decide what i want to next. alright, enough for this update. see ya see ya.

blogspot has been down for most of the day... so i guess you can't read this even if you wanted to! =) hopefully it will be back up soon...

another bonus of the trip to arizona was the opportunity to spend some time with my family in the area. my Uncle Roland and his family lives in Phoenix and his kids are growning up so quickly! i flew into phoenix with the explicit goal of spending some time with his family and they were a lot of fun. yesterday, i had a couple of hours to kill before my flight so i went to the mall with them. i guess i can look forward to having a brood of my own someday. =)

my first jewish wedding was an interesting experience. maria's family rabbi proceeded over the ceremony and it was quite fascinating. the ceremony was held underneath a canopy and instead of a traditional bridal party surrounding the bride and groom-- this ceremony emphasized the importance of family with parents and siblings forming a circle. among other things there were prayers in hebrew and the passage of a glass from which each member of the family drank. a part of me wishes that chinese weddings were more inclusive of family members in their ceremonies. our banquets usually involve introductions of the families which is sort of cool.

[NOTE: i had rewritten this blog but it appears that i didn't update it correctly on blogger. darn it]

one of the cooler things from the reception was that Maria and Andrew opened up the floor for an open mic session. any family member or family friend could take the mic and share a story about the couple. a lot of the speakers were very touching and the positive wishes were quite heartfelt. there were a couple of speakers who weren't crowd favorites--- especially an uncle who had a bunch of anti-wedding jokes. his acumen at bombing jokes reminded me of Fozzie Bear from the Muppets-- only we didn't have any tomatoes. Plus Fozzie's jokes might have actually been considered appropriate or funny....

i didn't share my story with the audience at the wedding--- but i think that i'll send it to the bride and groom later. i'll even publish it here for folks to read. props out to Irene and Victoria on their respective graduations. Happy Birthday wishes go out to my beefyfolk ladies, Ying and Monica. more later, readers!

greetings everybody... i'm back from a relaxing weekend in the desert. =) this weekend was terrific and i have to express my gratitude and thanks to andrew and maria for having me. the wedding was perfectly planned from the gift bags that met us at the hotel rooms to the traditional jewish marriage ceremonies. the "margaritas and moonlight" reception on friday was a fabulous opportunity for me to hang out with the ticketweb team, past and present. the actual wedding was a beautiful union of family, faith and love. the festivites were perfectly placed at the tuscon museum of art. i would be hard pressed to find a better place to enjoy a live performance of karl denson's tiny universe than underneath the perfect arizona sky.

for whatever reason i seem to have a knack for turning vacations into adventures. this trip was a totally different-- aside from the wedding festivites I tried to do as little as possible. my entire saturday afternoon was spent by the pool... swimming and tanning. the cool water of the pool was a nice contrast to the hot arizona sun. i also had a lot of fun learning how to do summersaults and handstands in the water. i guess i was making up for growing up in the big city without the swimming pools and lakes. i've got a little bit of burn on my shoulders... but i think that hanging poolside was a big plus! (going to have to do that again soon!)

ok... more about this weekend in the next update.