visualize this: gilbert procrastinating, scratching head, wondering if he should update this blogger thing...

found everything. all is well. continue on with your days. blogs to return... maybe

crap... most of my blogs from last year-- and the china trip diary are gone. holy sh*t! someone help!

Breaking the 'Furd curse

hey kids... happy new year to everyone. my apologies for the lack of updates. guess i've been out and about having fun. hope this entry makes up for lost time...

today's wednesday but we're only a couple of days from the start of the nfl's second season, the playoffs. here's hoping that the 49ers beat the packers up in green bay. i'm not quite ready to stop watching football yet so i'm hoping that my niners can pull off the big win in wisconsin. last sunday was a glorious sports day for me. the niners crushed the saints, the raiders lost a heartbreaking loss and my cal bears hoops squad beat stanford for the first time in 5 years.

i've been following this cal this year with great ease because most of their games have been televised but it was a true pleasure to watch the stanford game in person. although the bears were not playing their best-- they had the fortitude to hang in the game and win it pulling away. i love teams that scrap... and more importantly-- teams that rebound. i attended the game with a bunch of friends and there was such a feeling of jubliation when we won that game. it may seem a bit silly but my friend cheryl and i ended up in the mob that stormed the field. (ok, for the sake of accuracy... our seats were up in the nosebleeds so we didn't technically storm the court. we sort of walked on during the madness.

i had a feeling that the bears would pull it out... i had a feeling that it would be a perfect sports day for me! =)

some more random thoughts...

what is the deal with the georgetown hoyas? a nationally ranked team with decades of tradition and history this team, known for their toughness and steel will, is now wearing baby blue-ish uniforms. i hope patrick ewing and john thompson weren't watching the hoyas getting creamed by ucla in their putrid unis....

who doesn't love macy gray? with a song titled, "give me all your loving, or i will kill you" she brings her artistry to new heights. *smile*

lastly, i was reading an issue of asian week earlier this month and i noticed a girl who looked familiar on the cover. (the cover story was about asian american sex providers/strippers) i finally realized that the girl on the cover was one of my floormates in the dorms. i thought she was a bit funky back then but the article reinforced my impresssions. it appears that she just quit working at the local strip club, crazy horse. i guess life takes all of us on different paths, eh?

piano stylings

i don't know about you guys but alicia keys' debut album sort of puts me to sleep... don't look now but she doesn't have the piano prodigy title to claim solely anymore... check out Vanessa Carlton, who reminds me a little of Michelle Branch. Her piano stylings are pretty refreshing though... and she's a classically trained ballet dancer.

makes me wish i had mtv2 all of the time...

hey peeps... happy holidays to everybody. i guess i'm a little late in warning all of you about the movie, ali. i don't think that the movie is going to suck or anything-- and i'm a big fan of ali... but i'm a big "will smith hater". remember, if you purchase his cds or go to see his movies you are just reinforcing his overinflated perception of himself. before you know it will smith will be president of the united states (or so he believes). anyways, i'll get on my will smith rant one of these days... trust me... it would get ugly too!

anyways, just wanted to pop on this bad boy to say goodbye to dick schaap, who was the bomb, and to wish you guys a safe new year. let's hope that i have a chance to update this before next tuesday!

more about my xmas gifts later! whoo hoo...

talk about a total tragedy... this is a sad story any way you look at it....

from the why didn't i think of that category...

Man allegedly impersonated Jeter, Nomar
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- A con man impersonated baseball stars Derek Jeter and Nomar Garciaparra in e-mails to get bats with their names, and then sold them for thousands of dollars to unsuspecting collectors on eBay, federal prosecutors alleged Tuesday.

Herbert John Derungs of San Francisco was indicted on six counts of mail and wire fraud and one count of sending threatening e-mails, charges that collectively carry up to 32 years in prison. He was being held without bail pending a court hearing Wednesday.

Derungs claimed to be Jeter and Garciaparra in e-mails to the Original Maple Bat Co. of Ottawa, according to a detailed affidavit filed by a postal inspector.

"I am interested in your product, due to the fact that Jose Canseco let me use it last year, and I liked it, although it was too heavy," read one e-mail in 2000 from "derekjeter222@hotmail.com," according to the affidavit.

"I will place an order for 50-60 for the 2001 season, because my contract with Louisville Slugger is up, and I am trying to get a feel of what's out there before I decide what bats to use next year. The sooner the better. Thanks Derek."

After those e-mails -- and follow-up phone calls purportedly from representatives of the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox shortstops -- Original Maple sent 60 bats worth $3,319 to addresses in Lakewood, Wash., and Brisbane, Calif., the inspector said. The company never got any money for the bats, prosecutors allege.

Using multiple screen names, Derungs offered the bats on eBay and claimed they had been used in games by the players, prosecutors said. One victim allegedly traded $6,000, a Mark McGwire bat and a Rogers Hornsby bat for 15 of the Jeter and Garciaparra bats.

Derungs also allegedly sent threatening e-mails to a San Francisco Giants employee who turned down his application to be a tour guide at Pacific Bell Park because the position already was filled.

A phone call to Derungs' home for comment Tuesday afternoon was not returned.

just when i thought that i was getting the hang of this job... i get fired. nah, just joking. i am getting tested everyday though. yesterday i was in fremont trying to make some contact among the arab community and that was rough going. today i had a chance to meet with a taiwanese government agency and that was pretty difficult too.

i have a conversation partner in mandarin but i guess i'm not really well equipped to discuss business in chinese. i need to improve in a hurry though. it isn't that bad when you are speaking with someone who "prefers" to speak in chinese face-to-face because you can sort of fudge the stuff you don't understand or ask for an english translation.

but its a lot harder when you are on the phone with someone and they don't speak english at all. i just had one of those conversations and it was pretty rough. urgh. time to enroll in a chinese for business people course. i think i'm going to have a seminar at the next cable television conference-- key cable terms in chinese.... at least my officemates weren't around to hear me gagging on my chinese.

hey blog... i think i almost forgot that you existed. employed life is definitely different than unemployed life. all that time i had for watching dvds, updating this blog and visiting the library has suddenly disappeared. (don't even mention going to the gym). but i digress.

i tried to update this bad boy yesterday (after the niners, raiders and steelers all won... again) but blogger was down. oh well, i think that any attempt to blog yesterday would have been a miserable one in comparison to today's-- if for no other reason than i have a couple of libations in my system. i just got back from bimbo's 365 club where i had a pair of red ales while watching the one and only robin williams perform.

now, i've been known to get lucky with tickets and performances but i was very very fortunate to catch this show. it appears that my friend wyman had an extra ticket it had my name on it. (yeah, i know... i owe him one). anyway, williams was in his top form-- with lots of new material that was just tremendously funny. i have a poor habit of not laughing at comedians-- almost making them "work" to earn my laughter but with robin the laughs flow so easily. his trademark physical humor and presence is magnified when you are in the same room with him so the performance was remarkable.

i think my gut still hurts from laughing. the rest of the week should be pretty hectic too.... going to see teatro zinzanni again on tuesday. al flies home on wednesday. i've got a bunch of things i'm forgetting this weekend... =p and of course, i can't forget to update this dang blogger....

alright, so now that you've read about the physical accommodations of my trip-- let me tell you about the fun that me and my cohorts had in colorado springs. i had heard that these kids knew how to party but i didn't really have any idea about it. now, remember, this was a national sales meeting so we had folks from new york, chicago, denver, and los angeles all stuck in colorado springs for training and FUN.

i don't know about the people that you guys work with but i almost seemed like hanging out with this crew took me back in time-- back to college where every night was a big fraternity party. (and i'm not talking an APO party either). after the first night of cocktails, dinner and a ceremonial roast, where every member of the sales team "roasted" their secret roast partner, we hit an old-time bar within the broadmoor. i'm not sure who usually frequents this establishment but it was pretty clear when we arrived that the old-timers read: rednecks who were in the bar would be no competition to us.

the unique thing about this bar was that it wasn't your ordinary dispensary of libations-- it was an ragtime piano bar. what did this mean? essentially we were in an old-school karoake bar with lyric books and a piano man playing tunes. our group, loosening up by the minute, jumped into various songs ranging from new york, new york to brown eyed girl to my personal favorite, baby got back. it got so ugly at one point that two senior sales directors started dancing as if they were in "A Chorus Line" with full on kicking.

oh... for your information-- the name of the bar was the golden bee and the waitresses have little bee stickers that they toss onto patrons. i probably didn't have to explain this but lots of bees ended up being placed on strategic parts of various bods.

before you knew it, the piano guy had abandoned his station and i was helping belt out bon jovi lyrics. (for some reason, i don't think i'm going to have a difficult time fitting in with this crowd). after shutting down the joint, we piled into the shuttle bus and safely returned to the hotel. my damage for the evening? 1 jack/coke and beer during cocktails. 1 beer and 2 glasses of wine at dinner. 3 beers at the ragtime bar. and this was only day 1.

after getting to bed at about 2:30 i was hating life when i had to be up for a 7:30 meeting. (this is why i was complaining). i'm going to jump to the fun stuff because the work stuff was pretty much mundane training information that you don't want to read about. we finished up our meetings at about 6 o'clock and we were giving a homework project that would have to be presented the next morning at 7:30-- no problem, right? well, it was a slight problem because we still had a couple of things on our agenda-- cocktails, a dinner show and sleep-- if that one could be fit in!

the dinner theater was a total disaster. again, another event held within the confines of the broadmoor, the winter holiday show seemed to have the makings of a fun time. maybe some dancers, maybe some caroling... the ticket was $50 so it had to be good, right? the performance was the most godawful thing that i have ever had the unfortunate luck to sit though. we're talking worse than a 2 hour session with a dentist. completely and utterly brutal. essentially what it was was this-- a collection of the whitest people on the fast of the earth but together together in a corny skit straight out of the '50's with christmas music and themes mixed throughout.

ok, so i admit it-- maybe this show wasn't made for our group of multicultural, internationally trained professional staff. maybe it didn't seem completely odd to have a person in a snowman's outfit dancing on stage during "Frosty the Snowman." all i know is that no one in the audience was clapping loudly during any part of the presentation. personally, i took great joy in the continued reaction of my coworkers, one of whom walked out halfway though and another pair who simply tried to sarcastically enjoy the show.

me? i kept pouring the wine and trading comments with the senior vice president of the group. i think it was safe to say that he was mortified by the performance as well-- here's hoping that we got a chance to bond that evening! =p

anyways, after the show was over we all shared lots of good laughs about how brutal it was and we adjourned to a more social setting-- the bar adjacent our hotel, named Stars! now this place seemed to be pretty happening when we got in it with its swanky tile floors and jazz band in the corner. as we started to settle in though we noticed something a bit peculiar-- the high number of bluehairs who were frequenting the place.

our group started to get pretty active on the dance floor with various members of our team strutting their skills to various swing tunes. we were all doing just fine with the dancing and our drinks until this other bar guest (read old ass geezer invited one of the admins to dance). now this was a classic moment... a guy who was about 85 dancing with a woman no older than 40. what a hoot. there was another guy who entered the bar with a mobile respirator until-- i wish i was joking about that. although we had a couple of girls who wanted to dance with him, we figured we didn't have the insurance for such an incident and left well enough alone.

anyways, the international channel team was in full force, shaking tail feathers, drinking cosmos and smoking stogies... i'm not sure you can have much more fun than that and still remain on the good side of the law. i turned in for the night relatively early-- about 1 in the morning because i still had to complete my homework-- and pack up my room, and get online for the first time in 3 days. my damage for the evening? 1 pre-dinner jack/coke, 3+ glasses of wine during the dinner theater, 2 cosmos and a jack/coke during dancing. oh, i don't think my liver could take much more of this.

ok ok ok.. maybe i shouldn't have been complaining so much about my trip to colorado. seeing as how this was my first formal training meeting ever-- i guess i should have been expecting long days and busy evenings. but i wasn't. i guess a part of me wanted to just relax in the gorgeous resort that i was staying at.

the broadmoor was definitely no joke. the place had a huge man-made lake which sat in the center of its facilities and had golf and tennis facilities as far as the eye could see. the rooms weren't bad either as they were fully furnished with all of the amenities and an outside balcony. the sad part about my trip was that i probably spent a grand total of 3 waking hours within my room-- all of the time necessary to wake up and get dressed-- and go to bed and watch the late night edition of sportscenter. among the other perks the hotel had to offer... room service prepares your room in the evening (they turn down your bed, add some mood music and prepare some chocolates), some sweet robes in the closet and items you could take away as gifts (the hats were $22 and the polo shirt was $55-- a bit pricey for me). i have to admit... the king sized bed was might comfortable... but i digress.

ok... i'll stop spouting about the resort-- but i wanted to make sure that all of you guys who were curious about the broadmoor got your fill. our company got a great deal for the rooms... we paid $99 a night for rooms that normally price out at $400 a pop. i'm sure the rate that we got was based on the fact that the hotel was basically empty without us.

the broadmoor has been awesome and last night was a blast with lots of drinking, singing and hanging out with my cool new coworkers. today has been filled with meetings and i'm soooo busy.

i guess this is why they call it work. =(

hey everybody... if you don't hear from me for a couple of days next week.... it will be because i'm maxxing and relaxing at the following resort.... the broadmoor.

yeah, boy. too bad its freezing in colorado right now... and that i'll have work training the whole time!

today was the first day all week that i wasn't stuck in traffic for hours. my new job is going pretty well but i'm still a little weary of the commute to san ramon. if anyone has any advice on how to avoid the traffic to san ramon-- i am all ears. yesterday was particularily tough because of the rainfall and because my boss and i were in the car all day driving from appointment to appointment.

today was much more mellow as i was able to work on some projects from home. about two plus weeks into my new job, my comfort level is starting to plateau. i've had a chance to meet most of my important contacts and i think that i'm getting a pretty good handle on the cable television and ethnic marketing industries. after another training in denver next week i'm going to be on my own to rock and roll... whoo hoo!

i finally remembered what i wanted to write about on the 26th... i had been digging through some old letters and cards and it made me reflect on all of the friends from college that i had lost touch with. i guess with the holiday season rolling around i better buy an extra pack of holiday cards.

saw a couple of movies that were pretty horrible... snoop dogg's vehicle bones is one to stay away from. tomb raider is pretty braindead but has some redeemable qualities.

here's a news article to scare the living bejeebers out of you... better call your credit card company to make sure that no one opens a credit card under your name.

sheesh... i had some things to write hear-- i swear i did. i think i've forgotten them all. damnit. more later-- if i can jog my memory.

Bears ruin perfect season.. thankfully

ah... the niners win again! whoo hoo... days like this i wish i was still at ticketweb. among my coworkers there were three hardcore football fans: brian, danielle and me. as improbable as it may seem all of our teams have 8-2 records... brian loves the steelers, danni is a hardcore raiders fan and of course my allegiance is with the niners.

i predict a pittsburgh.niners super bowl. =p (sorry danni)

sign up for milesource.... earn free stuff. =p

oh... i almost forgot-- the BEARS won!!!!! we beat rutgers for our lone victory of the football season! long live the 2001 football bears!

has it been a whole week since i updated this bad boy? i must apologize to all you loyal readers-- 7 days is much too long to wait for an update!

i guess part of the reason why i've been so busy is that i'm employed again. =p i spent monday and tuesay of this week in los angeles training with one of our regional offices and that kept me pretty busy. the flight down to la was my first post 9-11 trip and i thought that the newly instituted airport security was well done. i didn't have to wait in line on either flight and that was pretty cool.

the best part of flying down to la was running into my college friend mike, who has been commuting from berkeley to la for work every week. we were able to catch up before the flight and that was a bunch of fun. training and work in los angeles was a positive experience. my coworkers were pretty cool and i sort of wish that i was going to be working with them in los angeles. although the training was a bit overwhelming i'm sure that i'll be able to apply my newfound knowledge more effectively as time goes on.

the only problem that popped up during my los angeles trip was the fact that my new laptop had a busted period key that i couldn't get fixed until yesterday. i actually went with out with mike on monday evening to see the harry potter film. it wasn't a bad movie but the best part was that i got to see it at mann's chinese theater. it was a totally cool movie house with an awesome sound system. the difference between the theater business in la and sf was quite noticable when they showed 8 previews before the film. (among them... lord of the rings, the britney spears vehicle, the mandy moore movie and of course, the extended star wars, episode 2 preview).

oh, for whatever reason, before i got to mann's chinese theater, they allowed martin lawrence to put his hands in cement. one hopes that they move that block to the back entrance of the theater.

had a great dinner yesterday with old friends who i won't mention here because of their incessant worries about their privacy. dinner was yummy and the conversation was unforgettable. don't you love nights like that? i followed that up by losing my shirt in a poker game with some other buddies. i swear that i was born under a bad sign when it comes to cards. oh well.

more later my friends.... hope everyone had a happy and healthy thanksgiving!

i'm in a good mood today.. =) i woke up early and visited the new krispy kreme donut shop in daly city! i have to admit that waiting in line for 30 minutes wasn't that cool but the donuts were worth it! =)

more good news... star wars, episode ii (i'm not going to refer to it by its stupid name) is being released on may 16th next year... whoo hoo! i don't think i'm that interested in seeing the harry potter movie (too much hype) but its going to have the trailer so i might have to buy a ticket for the movie.

alright... time to decide whether i want to see u2 tonight...