my mental meanderings...

They're Back!!!

2007-03-29T23:07:00.000-07:00

So I was coming home from Costco tonight and as I was driving along 880, I was rudely cut off by a black Scion. To my surprise, the Scion's back window was plastered with Channel 104.9. I couldn't believe my eyes. Were they really back? So I immediately tuned my radio to 104.9, and was pleased to hear there was no latin music playing, but the sweet, sweet sounds of alternative rock! Now all is right in the world...yeah =)

Getting a Good Deal

2007-03-22T11:25:00.001-07:00

So I'm sure all of you have seen the totally cute Sketchers Biker shoes. You know, the mary jane styled sneakers all the girls seem to be wearing these days. I have been contemplating getting a pair for a while now, but they're kind of pricey. Usually around $50 a pair. I asked my co-worker where she got hers and she said at Mervyn's around $40 a pair. So I went to Mervyn's last night to check it out, and they are on sale this week for $39.99, regularly $50 a pair. So I thought it was a pretty good deal. Their selection wasn't huge, so after searching and searching I finally found a pair in my size in black. I originally wanted brown, but I figured I would settle with the black. They are a little dressier so I could wear them for going out. Paid for them at the register, and the price was $43.29.

So this morning, I decided to do some checking online. I know Shoebuy.com is having a promotion right now: $10 off one pair of shoes, $20 off two pairs of shoes. Since I am a new customer, I also get an extra 10% off. Plus no sales tax and free shipping. Since I already know what size to get from trying the shoes on last night, I won't have to worry about returning the shoes if they don't fit. (Even though ShoeBuy has free returns anyway, I just don't want to go through the hassle of it. ) So I checked their styles and their selection is much better. So I decided it might be worth it to buy a couple of pairs from ShoeBuy and return the pair I got from Mervyn's. Well, now that I've done all the calculations, it definitely was worth it buying from ShoeBuy.

Here's how it all breaks down:

1 pair Sketchers Biker - Blush: $50.95
1 pair Sketchers Active Biker - Step Up: $52.95
--------
subtotal #1: $103.90

Promotional Discount: -$20.00
New member discount -$ 8.39
--------
Total: $75.51

So that comes out to about $37.76 a pair. But wait, I used the ShoeBuy link through my Ebates account, which today gives me an extra 10% rebate off my total purchase from ShoeBuy.com. So that's an additional $7.55 back. So, the grand total will come to: $67.96, which makes it about $33.98 a pair. That's a savings of $9.31 per pair off the final Mervyn's price, which is about 21.5%.

Now that's what I call smart shopping!

Awesome Emmit!

2006-11-16T12:40:00.000-08:00

Woohoo, Emmit Smith won Dancing With The Stars: Season 3. I had a feeling he would win. I knew it would come down to Mario and Emmit. Emmit came out firing Tuesday night and he did not disappoint. I think it also helped that he is such a nice guy and had such a great dance partner. Cheryl is awesome too, and she's so young!

Mario was great too. His freestyle was off the hook. He definitely raised the bar and made season 3 the best season so far.

I can't wait to see who they have on Season 4! I believe it will start in April of next year after all the professional dancers get done with their tour and have time to train their celebrities. I know I'll be watching, will you? ;-)

The Big Hurt is leaving...

2006-11-15T12:35:00.000-08:00

Say it ain't so...say it ain't so. After just one season Frank Thomas is going to leave the A's. I can't believe it. I think when Thomas joined the ball club he really re-energized the A's. You could probably say the same thing about the A's re-energizing Thomas too. Thomas did win comeback player of the year. I'm really sad to see him go, but also thankful for the great season he gave us. Thanks Frank, we'll really miss you!

What's Happening?

2006-10-12T00:16:00.000-07:00

First Harry Hamlin, then Vivica A. Fox, now Willa Ford? Geez...I think it's time for Sara Evans to go. I mean she may be a good singer, but she is no ballroom dancer. It's purely her fans who are keeping her in it. The same can probably be said for Jerry Springer, but at least he is entertaining.

Woohoo....GO A's!!!!

2006-10-06T00:13:00.000-07:00

Feeling old...and stupid

2006-09-28T15:42:00.000-07:00

So I'm taking this Mandarin class at a local community college, and half the students in my class are still in high school! Most of them already know how to read the characters since they speak Cantonese. Not only do they make me feel stupid, they also make me feel old, since I am at least a decade older than them! Arg.

Airline food

2006-08-24T11:58:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it's been a while since my last post. I guess I haven't really found anything interesting to write about...that is until now.

I'm going on vacation to South America for two weeks and I leave this weekend. So I've been wondering what kind of airline food is going to be served on my flights down. I'm taking Continental Airlines and this is the first time I will be flying with them in my entire flight experience. So I've been searching online, and most of the pictures I have found for Continental Airlines food is for First/Business class passengers, who of course get much better meals. But the thing I don't quite understand is that the first class meals look a lot healthier. So just because I can't afford to fly first class I can't get healthy food unless I specially request it?

Rain, rain go away, DON't come back another day!

2006-04-03T09:37:00.000-07:00

Seriously, there has been so much rain around here it's driving me insane! I think I'm going stir crazy from staying inside all the time. Not to mention I am probably vitamin D deficient from not getting enough sun. Ok, so that last part may not be true. But this past weekend I slept so much that it felt like I didn't have a weekend at all. It just went by way too fast. For the month of March out of 31 days we had 25 days of rain, a new record! Can you believe only 6 days of sunshine during that time? Arg, this must be what people in Seattle have to deal with all the time. Although now they're getting more sunshine than usual. So who says global warming is not affecting the weather?!

Tour of California

2006-02-21T14:28:00.000-08:00

Wow, so Stage 2 of the first ever Amgen Tour of California is passing through Milpitas today and the route passes a mere few feet away from where I live! How cool is that? Man, I so should have worked from home today! Well, tomorrow the time trials start right at SVL. Maybe I can sneak away for a few hours and go down to check it out, haha. :-D

We Love Lisa

2006-02-17T21:10:00.000-08:00

Man, I can't believe Lisa Rinna didn't make it to the finals of Dancing With the Stars. She so deserved to be there. Don't get me wrong, I love Jerry Rice and it's fun watching him dance, but really in terms of technique I feel his skills aren't quite up to par at least not up to Lisa's skills. She's definitely the most improved dancer of all the celebrities who were on the show. Just like Tia, Lisa had a great attitude throughout the entire competition. Girl, you RULE!

The Hills Are Alive With Snow?!!!

2006-02-17T18:07:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I was pretty surprised myself when I left work this evening and saw that the mountains in the South Bay had snow on them. It's not a sight that you often see around here. In fact I can't remember ever seeing snow on Mt. Hamilton in the 23 years I have lived here. Too bad I didn't have a camera with me to capture it.

disappointment, frustration, etc...

2006-02-15T10:58:00.000-08:00

Remember the student I had been tutoring at Oak Grove? Well she was out sick last week and then this week she didn't show up for school. So, I just found out that she has left Oak Grove and is now living with her father in another city. Just when I thought I finally got a good student who doesn't flake on me, she leaves the city...arg.

Four months of investment in this student and I won't ever get to see if she passes her geometry class with a decent grade. Now I will have to go through the trials and tribulations of getting a new student. Will s/he flake on me? How much of the material covered so far this year does this student understand and still retain? How much review will I have to do with the student before I can move on to the current material? Is there enough time left in the school year to help this student pass the class?

Poor Michelle...:'(

2006-02-12T09:31:00.000-08:00

Well, Michelle Kwan withdrew from the Women's figure skating competition. So this officially ends her quest for an Olympic gold medal. She was the sentimental favorite, but I doubt she had any chance of getting any color medal even if she was healthy enough to compete. She should have retired long ago when she was at the top of her game. So it remains to be seen what she will do now. I'll definitely miss seeing her perform during the Winter Olympics. I don't think the sport will be the same without her.

6 more weeks of winter?

2006-02-07T16:40:00.000-08:00

Really? Sure doesn't feel like it to me. Rather it feels a lot like summer already. Which is great because it means I can get out and do more hiking! Woohoo...

Smiling inside...

2006-02-04T14:33:00.000-08:00

I'm sure few people know this, but I volunteer for a couple hours Saturday mornings with developmentally disabled kids. They are quite a challenge, especially the younger kids, but this Saturday for some reason unbeknownst to me I was able to get three of the hardest to control kids to actually listen to me. I've been working with them for over three months now, and it just feels so good inside to know that somehow I am able to reach them and get them to listen to me!

"The Big Hurt " coming to the Bay Area

2006-01-26T10:07:00.000-08:00

Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that Frank Thomas would be coming to the A's. Let's just hope he can bring some of that "hurt" that's he's known for and help take the A's to the world series!

Say It Ain't So!

2006-01-03T19:42:00.000-08:00

So a check of the channel104.9 website this morning confirmed that channel 104.9 is no more. It is now "La Romantica." I couldn't believe my ears when I heard latin music on the radio on Sunday while I was out doing errands, but it's true. What a way to start off the new year. =(

Must See: Jerry Rice Dancing!

2005-12-17T22:50:00.000-08:00

So ABC's wildly popular Dancing With the Stars will return for it's second season next month. I just found out tonight that Jerry Rice, ex-49er, ex-Raider, etc., the greatest wide receiver to play the game will be one of the celebrity contestants on the show! How great will that be? Hopefully he will fare better than Evander Holyfiend! =)

Progress...at last...

2005-12-08T10:16:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I've been tutoring a student in high school Geometry for about two months now. Whenever I would meet with her it never seemed to me that she was fully understanding what I was trying to explain to her. I was starting to feel frustrated because it didn't seem like she was making any progress. Well, to my surprise, yesterday she showed me the test she got back and she only missed one point! I've been tutoring at a local high school for almost a year now, and I've had 4 different students during that time. She's the first student I've had where I have been able to see actual progress. Hopefully she'll be able to keep it up and pass the class.

Transformers

2005-12-06T10:33:00.000-08:00

Woohoo, the Transformers are coming to the big screen in a live-action movie. ETA: July 2007

Disgusting!

2005-12-05T09:45:00.000-08:00

Ok, I heard something on the news this morning and it just made my stomach turn. Law makers in California are giving themselves a 12% raise today, which would bring their annual salary to $110,000! California lawmakers are already the highest paid in the nation, and they need more money?! Man, at the rate I'm going, it'll take me probably my entire lifetime to earn that much money in one year. That is just so wrong!

Warriors

2005-12-02T15:28:00.000-08:00

Wow, I can't believe the Warriors have beaten the Kings and are now tied for first place in the Pacific division. What a turn-around. I guess getting Coach Mike Montgomery to leave Stanford and come to the Warriors was a good thing. Hopefully they'll make it to the playoffs! =)

The Day After

2005-11-25T20:44:00.000-08:00

So how many of you woke up early to go shopping today? Ok, I admit I was one of those people. I tried to stay up all night, but at around 2am I had to get some shut eye. My cousin told me that the line for Best Buy at McCarthy Ranch was way past the CK Furniture store. Insane...glad I wasn't in that line. I've gone to Best Buy the last two years and was always disappointed because what I wanted wasn't available, so this year I decided to skip the disappointment and head straight for the Great Mall. But, I noticed that the electronic deals weren't really that good this year, plus I have pretty much all the electronics I want already anyway. Yes, I am a gadget freak/geek.

Anyway, so at the mall there weren't really that many people there early in the morning, so it was nice. I think they were all at Best Buy. But a lot of the Thanksgiving sales this weekend go through Fri and Sat, so I'll probably go back again tomorrow. ;)

Adios Alias

2005-11-25T20:37:00.000-08:00

Well, it's something I suspected was going to happen...so today it was official, ABC announced that Alias is going to end it's 5 year run at the end of this season. It was inevitable, since Jennifer Garner who plays the main character on the show was leaving. It didn't help that ABC moved the show from it's original time slot to 8pm on Thursday nights this season either. But the show is based so much around Sydney Bristow's story that in my mind there was no real way the show could continue if she left. I mean, look what happened to the X-files after David Duchovny left. At least ABC is planning to send the show out with a bang.

Well, in other entertainment news, Pat Morita who played Mr. Miyagi in the Karate Kid movies has passed away. Very surprising since it's not something you expect to hear the day after Thanksgiving. He was only 73 years old.