Happy BELATED Turkey Day and Black Friday!

went up to sac-town to visit my aunt and uncle (whom we only see pretty
much once a year) for thanksgiving... my parents drove separately to
pick up my grandparents so pat, my sister and i drove separately.... we
definitely took a roundabout way but it was really neat.... we ended up
driving along the river along the levees and going through small towns
we'd never been through and crossed several draw bridges....

we probably left like an hour after my parents but got there 10 minutes
after they arrived.... but we almost beat them!!! oh well... we
definitely had a much more pleasant drive than they did sitting in
traffic!

got to eat DELICIOUS, moist willy bird (turkey) my aunt got at the
market... soooooo yummy.... it was nice to catch up with them.... they
always go on interesting trips and stuff... and the typical dinner
converstations.... with my grandpa repeating things.... etc...plus we
got to show them our wedding pix... we actually spent a much longer
time than usual there, which was nice, but the drive back was more
trafficky than expected..... although the only time we encountered a
traffic jam was over near the bay bridge heading into the city... but
that was it....

woke up early today to go to best buy.... i set my alarm to 430am but i
couldn't get myself up.... so finally ended up waking up at like 630/7
and decided to head over around 730... missed out on some of the really
good deals i wanted but settle for still other good deals.... watched
part of the texas/texas a&m game and then headed over to rei for
some more shopping... and then came home....

hope you all had a good thankgiving and shopping day!

T2K5 & Disneyland

this past weekened pat and i few down to la just for T2K5 which we
missed out on last year.... pat's friends have been having it for
probably 8 or 9 years now and i started going a few years ago... it was
where i met all his friends...we missed out last year but it was for my
good friend's b-day and we had an awesome time there too.. ANYWAY... it
was really nice to see everyone there...and some new faces as
well....about 30-some people at the dinner...and the food was
sooooooooooooooo yummy... it makes me want more
turkey! which will be coming in 3 days!!!! yeah for thanksgiving!

since pat and i had really a limited time only managed to have lunch
with billy and  now  "three fi-dee"... no longer "buck
fi-dee" but still it was nice to have... for old times sakes... walked
around westwood a bit to see the changes in businesses over the past
few years/months.... then we were supposed to meet up with pat's friend
but changed it to seeing harry potter and the goblet of fire that
night.... we bought tix to see it at the village mann.... we could have
seen it anywhere else but i INSISTED that since we were in la... and
esp west la i HAD to see it at the village mann (if you haven't already
figured it out it's MY FAVORITE movie theater!)...after buying tix we
headed over to the ucla store to buy some new gear... GO BRUINS!!! got
to meet up with my cousin who got me a discount on some sandels... b/c
it was soooooooooo hot, well nice day... i wanted my feet to be
freeeeeeeeeeee!

headed over to santa monica for the foooooooood.... caught up with a
bunch of people........ left early from the party... although pat and i
didn't feel as bad b/c some other people left slightly earlier than us
to see harry potter too!  unfortunately they were seeing it at a
different movie theater... we left kinda late... but we managed to get
an AWESOME parking place and i thought the line was going to go around
the block but it didn't... met up with pat's old roommate, and he and i
discussed his theories on the upcoming book... anyway...it was
sooooooooooo nice... i thought the place was going to be packed but we
got to sit where i love it... the balcony...
the movie was good too... although packing all of the 4th book is quite
difficult.... so they definitely had to cut out a lot of stuff... but
since i had read it like 3-4 years earlier i was trying to remember
everything.... i think instead of rereading i may listen to the books
on tape which i hear are pretty awesome....something to look forward
too while waiting for the 7th book...then went back and crashed at
pat's friend's place...

woke up late... well i woke up late... i thought pat was gonna wake me
up to leave but let me sleep... and we headed over to disneyland! 
i REALLY wanted to go b/c of the 50th anniversary... it was a lot of
fun but we didn't make it on all the rides...since it was near the
holidays they changed a few rides, which i never knew they did b/c i
always went in the summer....

• the haunted mansion was turned into a nightmare before xmas theme... that was awesome

• it's a small world (YES we went on it)... was changed to singing mostly
  xmas carols and stuff... and it was all lit up... it was pretty cool...

we didn't get a chance to go on space mountain b/c the wait was just
too long and we didn't have much time there... i guess we had a total
of like 5 hours there... and 40 minutes of it was standing in line to
get LUNCH!  in which one lady was making a BIG deal about it...
but we did manage to go on the buzz lightyear ride... TWICE... it's a
new ride and one of our friends told us it was fun so we got the fast
pass for it... and boy it was fun... you get to shoot at stuff and you
get points!  then at the end you can e-mail your scores and
picture.... first time i did okay.. then pat and i switched places and
i MAJORLY sucked... i went from a L-3 to a L-2.. but pat went from an
L-3 to an L-4....

it was an awesome but tiring weekend... luckily i got to sleep in today!

jury duty was really interesting... i brought a bunch of books but i
never read any of them... i spent most of the time listening to the
questions and the whole selection process it was quite intriguing....
it was a misdemanor b/c this guy was arrested high on meth or something
to that nature.... and he wanted to represent himself.... i was there
for 2 hours or more... wasn't too bad...  so now i know what it's
like... i'm just glad i didn't get picked b/c i'd have to stay longer...

*EDIT*
i did actually get to go into the court room with the judge... and no kimura gallery does not pay me for jury duty...

JURY DUTY

yup yup... i got it... and now looks like i have to go tomorrow.... i missed the
cut off number by like 145.... oh well... i gotta serve my time... i
guess it will definitely be an interesting experience....although i
have to drive up to south san fran... bleh.... not looking forward to
that.....anyone done jury duty? i'm thinking of bringing a book... b/c
i hear the waits long....

Some questions answered...

Mary Lou Zoback from the USGS gave the talk... and pat and i went to a
joint AEG and some other engineering society (A something or other...)
meeting over at spengers, a berkeley restaurant, where they usually
hold the AEG meetings... anyway... a description of the talk is given here....

EARTHQUAKES ARE COOL

we just went to a talk about the 1906 earthquake.... it was titled The 1906 Earthquake--lessons learned, lessons forgotten, and future directions....it was pretty
cool.... since the centennial is coming up next year.... it compared
the 1906 eq to loma prieta and by no means was loma prieta the "big
one"....it was neat learning about the data that was collected and
published on this quake a few years after and the beginnings of
studying earthquakes and what everything meant... plus the history of
earthquakes before the 1906 earthquakes and the studies that are being
conducted....and in the end noted the various utilities,
transportation, etc. that may be damaged in the event of the "big one"
and how it'd effect people.... anyway... it was just cool!  i mean
i can't mention everything... but it was a really awesome talk...

The 1906 Centennial Alliance

You're Canada!
People make fun of you a lot, but they're stupid because you've got a much better life than they do.  In fact, they're probably just jealous.  You believe in crazy things like human rights and health care and not dying in the streets, and you end up securing these rights for yourself and others.  If it weren't for your weird affection for ice hockey, you'd be the perfect person.
Take the Country Quizat the Blue Pyramid

duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude... i wanna sleep but i can't... NOTE... don't eat
halloween candy before going to sleep!!!!!!!!! i think that's why...
freakin' sugar high or something! aaaaaaaaahhhhhhh... k... try # 2 to
sleep!