so we had a little stanford reunion last night at amber india in santana row. to my dismay, they didn't have bhindi (okra) masala on the menu. the food was ok, and way expensive as far as indian food goes. i had high hopes for the butter chicken, but the sauce wasn't as rich and buttery as i wanted it to be. but i did have a jameson on the rocks ($8), so at least i got to enjoy my whiskey. it was great to see jay and margaret (and jeremy, too!).
sometimes, i get really disappointed that i became a smoker. it's such a nasty, disgusting, and deadly habit. i used to despite smokers, and now i've been one for twelve years. when am i going to quit? there are times when i'm having a smoke, and i ask myself, "what the fuck am i doing?" ugh. but i know i am addicted, and i get these insatiable cravings, especially when i'm waiting for someone or walking or driving. man!
so it turns out that the "simple" solution to my engineering design problem that the senior guy proposed yesterday doesn't work. aha! so he's not as brilliant as i made him out to be. and yeah, i gotta think some more on this new feature that i'm asked to implement. damn. after yesterday's meeting, i was all happy because it was going to be a very easy change, but now, it's going to be a lot tougher. rats. fyi, this new feature is going to be pretty nifty; it's going to be a split-screen demo where one of half of the tv screen is going to be normal, and the other half is going to show off a feature that we have.
i had lunch with benboy today at the new expanded thai basil today. their red duck curry is pretty good. at $7.95 (w/o tax or tip), i expected it to be small and paltry, but there was actually a decent amount of duck in there. and it was spicy, too. ben showed up in a hot pink polo with the collar folded up. sexay! haha. i invited him to come play basketball with us tomorrow.
my friend amy (one of my oldest friends) called me up last night, and we chatted for half an hour. she forwarded me this craigslist post where this 25-year-old woman in NYC asked where she could meet a guy who makes at least half a million dollars. talk about a gold digger! outrageous, man. and what's funny is that this dude (who makes that much) responded, and he left his full contact information. haha. whoops! how embarrassing. anyways, it was good to hear from amy; her stint at the world bank in DC ends next year, and maybe i'll try to pursuade her to move out here afterwards.
so summer has finally ended. it was a very mild summer, as far as temperatures go. unlike last year, there wasn't one night where it got so hot in my 2nd story bedroom that i couldn't fall asleep. nice! and now, it's getting nice and cool, so i love sleeping. i think that's part of the reason why i've been sleeping in lately. today, i got up at 10:46 or so. yup, those days of early rising seem to be over.
/an hour later/
ok, i just had an intense whiteboard discussion in my cube over MPEG frame/field mode and histogram stuff. my brain is fried. and plus, i have to be here early tomorrow to interview someone. i don't have any questions prepared! somebody e-mail me suitable engineering questions (and answers, please)! i've only interviewed someone once, and that was like 8 years ago; it was very awkward, as i think i was younger than he was. and he told me i looked like some taiwanese rock star. ha!
all righty-o, going home now. ciao!