Black Friday Buys and Price Rewinds

First Black Friday in which I was actually looking at deals.  Ended up buying a $250 laptop for $150 (after tax + shipping) - which should work very well with the Chromecast that we bought.  Bought this right at the stroke of midnight-ish at Fry's... my first ever Black Friday purchase!!!

Also bought a new Surface Pro 2017 (with a type cover) because I sorely need a new computer.  The current one warns me of low battery, even when it is plugged in, and the processor works at half speed half the time.

In addition, as one friend puts it - I also spent most of Thursday 'rebuying' stuff.  I was basically looking online for things that I already bought to see if they were on sale.

With the Citi Price Rewind feature from Citi, we had bought a bunch of stuff ~50 days before Black Friday, so that if Black Friday comes and a deal was present, simply snipping a screenshot and uploading it to Citi should allow us to get the spread back.  We'll see how this goes and whether Citi does in fact honor this.  If they do, they will have elevated themselves to my most favorite credit card company list.

Cleaning Cleaning...

Tub is clean.  New water heater is in.

Trick - this soft cleaner for Barkeeper's Friend, and scrub.  A little 220 sandpaper to round things out.    Looks like new! 

Up next, the stove.

Credit card opening spree...

After almost a year of no credit card opening.  This past week I have gone on a spree and opened two credit cards (one with Amazon, one with Chase)

What was the deal you ask?
Amazon - $75 gift card
- 5% cash back on Amazon purchases if you are a Prime member

Chase Sapphire Preferred - 50K points after spending $4k in 3 months
- 0% foreign transaction fee
- points are worth 1.25 on their rewards website
- first year annual fee waived

weeeeee!!!

Lobster Miso soup!

Grocery shopping today, cheap lobster!

So we made lobster miso soup with the head... Mmmmmm

Prepping... T-39 days

Culture Day and Capital Grille

After a little culture day at the SAM, we proceeded to take advantage of the perks offered by AMEX in giving us $50 off at Capital Grille.

Had a pretty good time - looove getting a discount.

Getting Ready...

Had a volunteer willing to try to make sure the seat is ready!

Bye Bye Couch

Out with the old, in with the new...

Bye bye couch... you will be missed.

Charmander Glowing Belly

A little pumpkin carving outing today.  Never knew wifey had such skill with the knife!



Sooo happy!  I helped make the belly.

Cotton Anniversary Celebration - Secret Outing: Popeyes and Hama Hama!!

The instructions from the Friday night were - pack enough clothes for an overnight stay, with one outdoor outfit.  With that, the anniversary celebration plans are set in motion!

We woke up somewhat early on Saturday morning, and headed down towards the ferry terminal (as I had correctly guessed).  What I did not realize though was that we were headed to Bremerton, and more did I not know was that we were headed to Hama Hama - the land of oysters!!!

The first unexpected surprise was after getting gas, we stumbled upon a Popeye's.  Popeye's as folks here know is pretty rare in the west coast, but this Popeye's was like no other.  This Popeye's in Bremerton is probably the best Popeye's I've had in years.  Clean, super hot, super crispy, great service - if every Popeye's was like them, they'd take over the world!



After the brief surprise, we would proceed northwest towards the first destination.  Hama Hama Hood Canal.  Eating oysters by the picnic table with a bottle of wine, facing out into the bay... Ahhhh life is sweet!

After the snack, we headed to Alderbrook Resorts, where we would spend the night at.  This is where we discovered how helpful a pillow fortress is...

 

The next morning, we got some breakfast in bed.  Then after started off with a light morning hike.

Then we proceeded to Oyster Fest!

Oyster Fest was really really fun even though it was not what we expected.

Given it was an Oyster Fest, we (or at least I) was expecting it to have tons and tons of raw oysters waiting for me to buy and devour.  Instead, it turns out there was only one small stall shucking oysters, and the rest were mainly cooked food (some oyster related liked baked oysters, or bacon wrapped oysters, but also other food like coconut shrimp, shaved ice, candied apple, etc.).  Luckily, that one stall had 3 shuckers, and 3 different types of oysters, and not a long line up.  I would easily end up eating 18 oysters when all is said and done.

We also witnessed an oyster shucking competition.  Pretty amazing to see these shuckers go.  2 dozens oysters shucked and plated in less than 3 minutes (~7.5s per oyster).. and they were not even the fastest of the day!!!

The coconut shrimp was actually the best tasting (yes, even over the raw oyster), and I got a free beer at the beer garden when someone who was leaving gave me their ticket (so nice of them).  We also found some high quality candied apples, which we gladly bought a few of.

So in a nutshell, this was a very well run event that showcased a lot of the local organizations.  There was even a couple booths with kids making food and what not (ie. a booth for boy and girls scouts, and even the local high school).

Thank you lil friend aka wifey for organizing.  You are the best wifey in the world!

Planting Season 2: Tomato.. The lone survivor

This year has not been a good season for our tomatoes.    While everyone else has had a good haul, our result is shown in the picture.

3 plant stalks, 6 months, one baby tomato.

Hopefully we do better next year!

(PS. This one tomato was very juicy, and delicious)

First concert - Eagles...

Today I went to my first live concert.  The Eagles. 

While I didn't know most of the songs, it was pretty fun.  Love drinking beer on stadium seats.  It was also pretty interesting to see all these older folks all under one roof, having a great time.

There was also a crazy young dude in front of us - who looked like he was really enjoying himself.  Good for him!

Thank you to lil friend to organizing and taking me to my first ever live concert!

Stealth Surprise

I drop her off, park the car.   Walk in, and then up the stairs, and boom! ... I see that it was a stealth surprise.  

Had a buffalo rib eye.. Mmmm... Oh, and the dessert was really really good.

Very well done!  Didn't suspect a thing.  Thank you lil friend! :)

阿一鮑翅 Dinner Celebration

With very many weddings in a row now without shark's fin, today was the day I take destiny into my own hands.

Came up with an excuse that we need to celebrate (Cocoshower, becoming a dinsoaur), so we ended up at 阿一鮑翅 (Grand Honor Restaurant)  where we will definitely get to have some shark's fin! Mmmmmm....

So we arrive, and the place did not disappoint. They had a 天下第一翅 on their menu!  So of course we had to order that.  Served in a a clay pot, it was delllicious.

As part of the set menu, there was abalone as well.  The other two courses (beef and vegetable), was also very well done.  All in all, very happy :).

Congratulation... to me!

Coco Shower

Cousin Wannabe #1, in her continued quest to be the number one cousin, threw a #1 cousin worthy shower for her future nephew.

Anddddd, she delivered!  While there was no baby pong today, she outdid herself just like last time in the Coco reveal.  Cake, games, fun - now that I think about it, she's pretty good at throwing parties.

Some of the boys couldn't make it, after basically barely being able to make it home.  And for those that were present, not much damage was done to the cases of beer brought up from Coco's home brewery.

Thank you again #1 cousin (for 2 weeks), and all the people who came to celebrate with us!

Mochi is baddddd girl

Mochi is quite the delinquent.  In the last month, she has gotten a parking ticket, got dinged,  and tonight, got puked on.

Also as part of this, dropped my new phone and the top corner cracked :(.  Siggnnnnnn

Infinity Mirrors by Kusama @ the SAM

Went to the Infinity Mirrors exhibit at the SAM today.

Really cool exhibit.  We were lucky enough to have a membership this year so we were able to score free tickets to see this exhibit.  It turns out folks have been lining up for blocks and tickets have pretty much been sold out for months.

The exhibit is all about mirrors.  Most of the exhibits have you walking into a room that is all mirrors, and from there, you stand for 10 to 15 secs trying to understand what's going on.

Aftermath of Obliteration of Eternity was the coolest.  I guess one would call it an interactive exhibit.  How it works is you enter a pitch black room, and eventually, the lights start lighting up.  Thought it was really cool and fitting of the title.  Phalli's field is on the right.

The Love Forever and Obliteration Room exhibits were as pretty neat.  The Love Forever exhibit has two people staring into two different sides of a container.  Inside the container, well, you can see for yourself what it looks like below.  The Obliteration Room is a room for of dot stickers - everyone gets a sticker to stick!

More info: http://kusama.site.seattleartmuseum.org/

Bringing Toilet Master Home from PNE

Our goal today at PNE was to try and win a dragon for our wannabe dragon stealer friend.  But there were really none within our reach.

So we proceeded to play some games.  Highlight was winning Toilet Master (he is named this because we won him by throwing balls into the toilet without them popping out).  Also won a snowman looking thing shooting basketball into a hoop (which with one hand, I did surprisingly bad at).

As always, the BBQ at PNE is amazing.  Sooo delicious.

I am a dinosaur.. Rooooar!

Was not expecting to become a dinosaur this year, but today I am officially a dinosaur!

Roooooar!

Mochi Grande

After being left sitting for hours last night, today we wait for the dealer to come to bring Mochi Grande over!

Sooo pretttty and white :)

PS. Thank you oyster eater from east coast for letting us drag her along and sit around for hours.  ext time you come it will be much more fun!

Almost Total Solar Eclipse

Today we stayed at home so that we could see the solar eclipse.  Supposed to be a big thing because we would get close to 100% total eclipse.

Couple things I learned.
1) The couple % points matter quite a bit.  We never did see a total blackening like the folks we saw on the TV experienced (nor did we see the 'diamond' and the ring of fire).

2) Telephoto lens will burn, so don't use them unless you have bought a filter.  I did not dare use it for fear of breaking the lens, the camera, and my eyes.  Ended up using my phone for most of it, which actually provided a somewhat ok shot.

3) Do not stare directly into the sun without the special glasses.  Very very important.

Surprise Visit!

The plan: A surprise crashing of Aman's place, to celebrate his upcoming bday.  Organized by her sister, the plan would be that she would pretend to take a long time getting ready, in time for us to show up.

What happened: He got too hungry, started ordering pizza, and then ate a whole pizza before we came with the 'second' pizza to surprise him.  He was pretty surprised.

We also decided that there would be a power hour Despacito evening to follow in a weeks' time.

Happy pre-birthday!!!

Stitches Update

Another 2 weeks later, the cast was off last week.  First day off (left), it looked pretty dirtttty.  But after a few days and lightly showering, looking mucho better!

While my fingers are somewhat nimble, my wrist is pretty much stiff as a rock.  PT, here I come!

Wolverine!

As expected, one week later and one surgery later, I now have a metal plate and 7 screws in my wrist.  The plate and screws are not adamantium, just titanium :).

Colles fracture is the term.  Surprisingly, doc says that in one week, the cast can come off.  We will see how it goes.

Drugged up Mson the Wolverine out.

ER for 5 hours...

First time playing soccer in a month... ended up spending 5 hours in the ER.  A pretty freaky fall where I was doing a spin move and got tripped, and just fell sideways.  Landed with my left hand and snap, it was definitely broken.  Wrist was totally distorted - and it was very very painful.

Receptionist: How is it?
Nurse Person who walked me in: Yea, it's pretty deformed.

Yup - that sums it up.

Two morphine shots, and some 'D' drug later, the pain was controllable.  But supposedly they were about to hang me (my hand) for a few hours, to try to let gravity pull me into place - so I was originally going to take one more dose (since this hanging was supposed to be painful).  But I ended up not taking this second dose, as the same thing when I had bruised my ribs a few years happened.
I actually warned the nurses and docs that if this happened, all I needed was some apple juice and cookies.  Of course initially they did not really believe me, but as they were just about to give me my next dose, it started to happen.  Apparently my face and lips turned white, and my blood pressure plummeted... but they quickly stabilized me by putting me on more IV juice and started sticking more stickers on me.  Needless to say, shortly after that, I got my juice (thicked apple juice), Gatorade, but no cookies :(.

2 hours later, they tried to push the bone back into place, but no such luck.  So they sent me home with some painkillers.  As it turns out, the reason they didn't give me my cookies was because they were afraid that they might need to put me under general during the push the bone back process (since it was suppose to be super painful).  But nope, I have to say, after them drugs inside, I was actually not in too much pain.

Returning home, our haul from grocery shopping earlier in the day was waiting for us.  We had found a good deal on crab and spot prawns.  So getting home at midnight, after having had nothing other than 2 eggs, thickened apple juice, and Gatorade, we made a quick dinner with the fish and the spot prawns, and boiled the crab to be saved for another day.  Good thing I know how to open prawns with one hand (and a mouth :) ).  These prawns were pretty yummy!

Thank you to my soccer teammates for driving my car, giving me some emergency advil, taking me to the hospital, giving them there jersey for a splint for the car ride.

Lexus Test Drive

Went to the Lexus dealership today to test drive, in our continuing saga of looking at cars.  It was a pretty big fail.  Perhaps it's just not our thing to test drive cars.

A few weeks ago, we went to a Mazda dealership in U district and we thought the service was pretty bad.  The guy brought a manual with him into the car and read it out as I asked questions.  Then the  guy tried to be all gung ho and said that I can drive the car without him in it (which I took his offer on), but then after 5 minutes he calls and says I need to bring the car back thinking that I would run away or something (even though he has all my information???).  Then if that wasn't enough, as I was parked waiting for the salesperson who told me to come back (who at this point was no where to be found), I sit there where another other salesperson with another potential buyer basically walks towards the car, and in fact, opens the trunk.. while I was still in the car.  Needless to say I was not impressed.

But today, this would be topped.  We would get a salesperson who was supposedly new to the job.  That's fine - but she knew NOTHING about the car or what was being sold. 
a) We asked for something specific, then we are shown an excel spreadsheet of codes and prices (which of course made no sense to us), but apparently made no sense to her either. 
b) Then we asked to test drive a car, and 30 minutes later, we still do not have a car to test drive.  We finally asked around and finally got a a car to drive, but it wasn't the model that had the features we wanted to try out. 
c) We drove it anyway to try, but there was very little explanation on what the car does - guess she should have opened the manual...
d) We get back, and supposedly the car we wanted was supposed to be there.  But it wasn't.  Salesperson kept saying the feature we wanted to try (all speed adaptive cruise control) was on the car, and told us to try it.  I had to basically yell at her to stop telling us to try since i) she never showed us how to use it, and ii) the feature actually wasn't there (so if we did try it, we would have rear ended some poor person's car).

For a dealership so large, you would think there would be better sales... nope!

As a consolation for putting ourselves through that, we went to Ginza for dinner.  They had some delicious Japanese uni.  And their staple horse hair crab soup for $30.  Delicious!

Small 10 year reunion

College Roommate was in V. town, so we went up to meet him.  By stalking on Facebook, we realized that Hochi was actually also in town, so it quickly became a 10 year reunion!

First night, we had 1.8L bottke of sake… effectively between two ppl… :)
Second night, went to Cha Time! wuhahahaha!