Back at last?

Wow - the last post said 'a week or so'. With reliability like that I should be a politician. Anyways, let me attempt to cover the major bases and we'll move on from there. Clearly, I cannot update everyone with all of the details, but I'll try my best.

First, some major happenings... I moved from Mesa last month to my new apartment in Chandler. Brad came out and visited for his Spring Break. He was here from March 29th thru April 9th (I believe). I've officially finished my last college class for my degree, and this week and next should wrap up the majority, if not all, of the remaining work I had to do with the College District after I left. I'm really excited to finally have some 'free time' again. Not that it is free in the traditional sense, but that I can unpack, get caught up on paperwork, my reading, and perhaps get some sleep worked in there as well. I also need to focus some on my health, as I'm very worn down of late. OK, moving on categorically...

Apartment
OK, so I'm officially in my apartment... that doesn't mean, however, that I'm un-packed. Far from it, unfortunately. Anyways, here are some details on the complex. I'm in the small one bedroom - c. 730 sq ft. - so it is bigger than my last apartment, and the balcony and storage is larger too. It's just about right. I would like a small den or larger bedroom so I have room for my full desk, but this is fine. I got new carpeting when I moved in, so I'm thrilled about that. I hate getting carpet that has been shampooed. It always has left over stuff in it and is all stiff. It is a lot quieter here than where I was in Mesa as well - neighborhood is still in good shape. It's about 10 years old or so I think (which is pretty old for the Phoenix area). However, they have kept it all up and don't seem to be cutting corners and letting the place slide. Some of the things I particularly like is the fact that there are 9 ft. ceilings (more important for us cursed tall people), ceramic tile floors in the entry/kitchen/bath, and wood cabinets. For pictures, floorplans, and other details on the place - click here. I'm in floorplan A1.

Brad's Visit
Brad was out here around the same time I moved. In fact, I feel bad for the poor guy because he had to help me move the first few days he was out. Then we had a chance to relax on Sunday - well my version. We went in streetwork at 6am, we had meeting at 9:30, then I went dancing at 6 - then we went to dinner at 9 up in Phoenix. (delux - great place - click here)

Unfortunately, one of my friends we were with in streetwork and at dinner was sick - and managed to give it to every single one of us. :-( Brad and I were sick by Monday night. After the Memorial we went to a dinner thing in Phoenix (about 10) and by the time we got home, I felt terrible. So, we spent the next three days in bed - so much for the poor kid's vacation.

On the up side, we did manage to get some fun stuff in. I took him to the Malls shopping and got him a bunch of new clothes (good thing too... we all know how much those North-Westerners have such a great appreciation for style *eyeroll*) We also went to see the BodyWorlds3 exhibit at the Science Center (Bodyworld's site here). And we got to go to Jillian's and use up some of those billion credits I have had forever. It's a great place - 65,000 square feet of food and fun. (Site here) It isn't all old people either - there is a massive arcade (where we were headed). Afterwards we went and ate at Islands' which is a great burger place. (Site here - location here) We also were able to do go-kart racing - which was a first for Brad. We went to the F1 Race Factory downtown (site here). That was fun - Brad did really really well! We didn't have a chance to do much else because all of that time we had been sick - but it was great to see him!

OK, so I will have to do a more comprehensive update on my car and school soon. I'm trying to get a bit caught up so that I can start doing little posts each day.

Talk later ~~

Update Dos

OK, so it has been another week since the last post, but such is life. This time I'm going to update on a few of the places I've gone in the past month (so no, I didn't hit all this in like one weekend) and I'll give another update on my car... if I have time I'll tackle school in this post as well...

First, the car... it went in and they updated the control arms and couldn't find anything wrong with the engine/turbo etc. for the funny noise and vibration. So I drove it with a tech and got it to duplicate so they are *supposedly* working with Mazda on finding a resolution. Since I haven't heard from them this week, then I'm going to call them tomorrow.

Back to the alignment issue - they said everything should be fine but I went over to a co-worker's house (who incidentally has a knack for tweaking performance vehicles... bit of a hobby) and he measured it and found the my wheels were off (at least the toe was) by like 1/4 inch. So he was able to correct it and now it seems to be much improved. Not sure if it is spot on, but still a drastic improvement. I'm hoping the tires start wearing properly now... because if they don't, then the Mazzie 6 models have no way of adjusting camber or caster (rumored to be two other types of alignment measurements - don't ask me... I can barely check the oil)... so if it has further issues then I have to get some sort of kit to give me the ability to adjust them... or keep taking it back to the dealers who can't seem to get it right. :-(

OK, enough about the car... only other things is I'm getting ready to do a filter change and an oil analysis - almost at 5k miles. And it is still just a fun to drive as ever... Zoom Zoom. :-D

Let's see where are some of the places I've been recently...

I went to Stringray's with some friends a few weeks ago... its a really nice Sushi place in downtown Scottsdale (click here for location - here for official website [has photos]). Bit of a story though...

I had some good sushi... they have a really nice spicy tuna roll... and I had flying fish eggs for the first time... they are tiny and orange... they didn't seem to have much taste. Other types I had were raw tuna, salmon, and eel - nothing very exciting. ;-) Sorry, no pictures... they have a cell phone policy that is summed up as "touch it and get kicked out" type thing. Oh well.

The interesting part was the sake. There was only one menu (and there were 6 of us there, Mark and Emily, Sunny and Eric, Jill, and me) and so I told the waitress to just pick one of their cold sake's and bring it to me. And that is what she did... and it was good... but then we got the bill and that one thing of sake was $40! And that's a small one person sake! So I was a little peeved, but I guess I left myself open to that one. Note to self - when eating at a restaurant that automatically tacks on gratuity, never ask the waitress sporting 'fake ones' to pick your sake... she's busy trying to get them paid off. *sigh*

OK, after that we went to E!ba Cafe in Tempe, right by ASU for some boba, and I got cheesecake. (Location here - official website here). Both were good... the boba is a little different than Lollicup's, but not worse.

Then we went to Chuy's (location here) because Emily was craving a karaoke moment. So that was short and sweet - but nothing interesting to report there.

I also went to the Big Bang with people recently (Mark, Emily, Sunny, me, and three other people I hadn't met before... can't remember the names - they were from both Em's and Sunny's halls). That was a lot of fun - dueling pianos - wooo! I guess it started as a show somewhere in New Orleans and they decided to open one up here on Mill. (Official site here - location from Google here) We only stayed for a few hours - like from 8 - 11. No use staying later because it gets too packed and you get all the college kids in there - which is nothing but aggravating. The dueling pianists were pretty good... and they could almost all play at least two instruments. Sometimes they would play the bass or the drums in addition to the pianos. It was fun to watch... not that I'm biased to the pianos or anything. ;-)

Other than that mostly just lunch/happy hour spots for the past few weeks... I had Keegan's (location here - site here) in Ahwatukee, and Rula Bula's in Tempe (a great little Irish pub - site here - location here), and awhile ago 56 East Bar & Kitchen in Chandler (location here - site here). That's about it - haven't been eating lunch out very often - too busy.

Oh from last week at the Microsoft Training I went to the Park Central Deli for lunch... and had some awesome food. :-) Real deli food. (location here - site here) They are kind of famous - I guess they have been around since the '50s. I actually had some pictures - but I accidentally deleted them. :-( Of course I had a little Starbucks while I was there, it was just begging me... (try the peppermint mochas if you haven't... they are doing them year-round now... it's like Andes mints in coffee - really delectable)

Oh, last Saturday I was at the Buckeye quick build... 12 hours in the sun... and it hit about 100º... so I have a tan finally. ;-) It was waaaaaaaay out there. Like 25 miles west of Phoenix city limits... it took me more than an hour with no traffic and I'm barely on the east side of the Valley! Saw some people I haven't talked to in awhile... which was nice (Brigham's from way back in Payson - Cambell's from Ahwatukee and some others). I would have taken pictures but my phone's battery was low and I was stationed at the main entrance which was about a 1/4 mile from where my car was parked... so recharging would have been a problem.

School will have to wait... as will moving and apartment news (and pictures) as well as info about Brad's upcoming trip and work related stuff....

So stay tuned for Update Tres sometime in the next week or so. ;-)

- C

Raw Fish...

Seared Ahi tuna salad... w/ avocado... I'd ask you to wish me luck... but... well you know. At least I have my sake in case I have to *choke it down*... Oh, and the Suns are down three points according to the telly. :*(

Moandays... lovely Moandays

Mondays are always kind of a pain. The week shows back up and, without so much as a hello, plops itself back in your lap. Oh well such is life.

I better finish off my weekend update first, huh? Let's take the tour, shall we?

Suns
Well, as you know (from the posts below) the Suns game was good... but not so good. They lost by 3 points... close enough to make it a good game (my voice took a good 12 hours to recover)... but far enough to make them lose.

And we're walking....

Dinner
We went to Elephant Bar to grab food... in addition to the beer I mentioned we had calamari and I had a smokehouse or stackhouse or something sandwhich. Good stuff... grilled chicken breast covered with ham, and I think bacon, and lots of cheese... and covered in hickory sauce. :-9 (That must be where the stack thing comes in)

Here are some better pictures of the resturant, and click here for their locations in Phoenix, Chandler, and Peoria.







And we're walking....

Sunday
Let's see what happened on Sunday...

I went to Sunday meeting with friends at their hall in Phoenix, instead of my hall's. (I forgot mine was moved to 9am and so when I pulled an hour late, I decided it might as well catch the whole meeting somewhere else). Turned out it was the CO's visit so that made seating fun. :) But I saw some people there from way back... (James Cassell from when we were in Payson - that's because Tiffany and Johnathan are in that hall - and then I saw Barbara... used to be Smith before she got married... can't remember her name now... the one who played paino... not that it makes me partial or anything, lol)

And we're walking...

Lunch
After that we (Jill, Catie, Emily, and I) went to Houston's (in downtown Scottsdale - not the one in the Biltmore dist.) for lunch... good stuff. (to visit their site, pick Houston's on the Hillstone restaurant group's site here, to see locations on Google maps click here) I had some type of breaded chicken/avocado/spinach something salad. Very good.

And that's it... I think... oh wait...

Let's see then I went and did my salsa lesson and dancing on Sunday night and that was it.

And we're walking...

Today... not much happened today... I did get a call from someone who is interested in buying my Acura off of me. So, I'm supposed to meet him tomorrow and he'll take a look at it. Now just to remember to drive the Acura instead of that loverly Mazda.... :-D

Oh, and I might be getting sick. Sore throat when I left work, got worse at meeting, and not so hot now... (Yes, I doped up -- to all of my collective mother's out there) So, let's see how it goes...
Ciao ~

A Blip on Boba

OK, so I'm hooked on a new drink (new to me, that is). In general, its called boba. So, since I've mentioned it to many of you, I figure I should put provide some explanations that are more informative than my cryptic descriptions over the phone.

Bottom line is boba means bubbles, and the 'bubbles' or boba, are small balls of tapioca. It's added to a lot of different beverages, commonly teas or milk teas. Some of my favorites are Boba Milk Tea, Coffee Milk Tea, Almond Milk Tea, Honey Milk Tea, and Thai Tea. (I tried Thai Tea w/ Egg pudding instead of boba last night... that was interesting).

Turns out, it came from Taiwan. Anyways, click here for an article on boba milk tea found on Wikipedia - which gives pictures and a much more interesting description of its history (go wikis!)

The place where I go is called Lollicup. It's in Tempe. Click here for their official site or here for a link to its location from Google. By the way, they also have really good steamed pork buns... and other food that's good if you're in a hurry.

So, the next time you are looking for something to drink that isn't the same 'ole thing (that means you "meat & potatos" types), go for boba!