so last night, we went to alexander's to celebrate peter's birthday. i was hungry, but i wasn't particularly looking forward to the food. it was surprisingly good, actually. i arrived first, got a bushmills on the rocks, and waited at the bar, enjoying my whiskey. peter and barbara arrived soon after, followed by jay (sans margaret, who was feeling sick). then, alan and ting arrived just in time at 8:30pm.
the service was impeccable, and our waiter joseph scored us free champagne, some amuse bouches, and a small birthday cake for peter. my prime rib was (only a 14oz cut) was really good. but the best part of the meal was the white truffle oil french fries. they were so fucking tasty. the only surprising part of the meal was the tab: $84 a person! (the five of us paid for peter.) but still, it was a good experience, and i hope the three of the first-timers at alexander's enjoyed it.
one interesting thing was the bread pudding we got for dessert. it came with BACON. yeah. bacon in bread pudding?! it was definitely odd and out of place. i wouldn't recommend it. but anyways, dinner took 3 hours, and by the time i got home, i just crashed.
today's morning song: "please forgive me" by bryan adams. weird song choice by my brain. i don't like it, and i don't know what got that song stuck in my head. the only song by bryan adams that holds any particular meaning is that one from the kevin costner _robin hood_ movie. i watched that movie with amie, the girl from high school that i was in love with my junior year. she's the only blonde girl that i've ever liked, and i really dug her. she went to harvard (both undergrad and law school) and now works as a lawyer in nairobi. and her last name has a "von" in it, which i pay homage to if you've ever gotten an e-mail from me. :)
i took M (the gratious helper) to lunch today in cupertino village. we went to szechuan era (i reluctantly agreed to try it out after my bad first experience with it), and we ordered two supposedly "spicy" dishes. the first one wasn't spicy at all, and i was really disappointed. it was a shredded duck dish, and i like duck, so i wasn't too upset with it. we did complain to the waiter about it not being spicy, and he just shrugged and said, "that's how we make it." the second one was ok, but the beef strips were really hard. all in all, a mediocre lunch, and i won't be going back there again.
my 401(k) has fallen by over $10K this month so far. crazy. my company switched custodial institutions, so i checked my account today for the first time in ages. man, i guess the good thing about the stock market being low is that it's low *now*, as opposed to when i actually retire. but still, it hurts to see my retirement fund dropping.
i'm itching to go to mel's yogurt place again. when i tried it out for the first time a few weeks ago, i asked for the mochi topping, and the girl just looked at me like i was on crack. but mel told me at jimmy's birthday dinner that she just got a shipment of the mochi topping in. yay! that's probably the best part of the frozen yogurt experience. man, what i wouldn't give for a pinkberry here in the bay area. (mel's "tart" yogurt is similar to pinkberry's original, but it's a little icier in texture, which isn't as good.)
today is my dad's birthday. i e-mailed him last night (so it was the 22th taiwan time), and he wrote me back, saying simply, "thanks for reminding me that i'm almost 60." ha! the thing is, my family doesn't really celebrate birthdays. when i was a kid, sure we got gifts, but once we grew up, we just got mainly phone calls. (my brother didn't even call me for my birthday a few months ago.) and we never really celebrated the parents' birthdays. i think i bought my mom a gift once. i sent her flowers a few times, though, back when she lived in dallas. and for the longest time, we all thought my dad's birthday was another date (two days earlier), and he never bothered to correct us. *shrug* it's just not a big deal in my family, i guess.
i bowled a 160 on the wii the other day at greg's house. if only i could do that regularly in real life. (the only other time i bowled on the wii, i got a 179!) i'm not very good at wii tennis, though. speaking of tennis, i miss playing in real life. hm. maybe when the weather gets better, i'll look for a tennis buddy. my last one (byron) moved down to LA a few years back.
have you guys seen the naked picture of natalie portman? hot. maybe i'll post it one of these days.
i was shocked to find out that heath ledger died. i always thought he was kinda cool, although i haven't seen him in many movies. (or any, in fact, now that i'm thinking about it) anyways, he was found naked next to some sleeping pills. i'm wondering if it was suicide. so sad. he was only 28! he looks pretty cool in the new batman movie. *sigh*
ok, i've run out of steam. taking off now. ciao!